Africa

Africa is a god-forsaken continent. These were the words uttered by Di Caprio in Blood Diamond and it simply sums up the continent. Africa is a continent known for its breathtaking beauty and raw materials and western powers are not ashamed to do buisness with corrupt regimes knowing that their $$$ is well taken care of and in some cases it's used against their own citizens. I can understand the situation. Corrupt regime or group of rebels crave for power and they need $$$ to buy arms and they sell raw materials to western powers to buy arms which in turn is used in their civil wars. Some of the western countries can simply stop the civil if they press the right buttons but they refuse to do it as money is always the key issue.

Africa is in such a bad shape after many years of conflict within the continent and famine seems to be their friend in some parts of the continent. Aids is spreading rapidly like wild fire and the number of educated people in Africa seems to be joke. EVERYBODY knows what AFRICA needs and that is constructive aid from the United States and the UN. Constructive aid is $$$ spent on healthcare, education and public programmes than on financing the civil wars and feeding corrupt regimes. The best way the constructive aid can be implemented if the developed nations could send a small team of educated professionals to develop Africa. It makes me wonder why hasn't Africa developed substantially over the past 50 years and the number of reasons seem to be plenty ranging from corrupt regimes to countless civil war. The western powers are not stingy with their $$$ over the past few decades but is the $$$ simply given for the sake of giving?

For a country of immense potential, I don't see why they cannot get out of their shit-hole and start to get back on track but then again,I'm not saying this can be achieved in a short period. It takes time and if western leaders and the world do not care about Africa, it will forever be a god-forsaken continent.

Metro Sale!!!

Garang Boy gave me a ring and asked me if I wanted to have dinner at Tampines and I agreed. When I reached Metro in Century Square, it was chaotic. Singaporeans were pratically swarming all over the place and turning Metro into a pasar malam.It was the closing sale of Metro and the discount was close to 70%.I decided to do some quick shopping for my hostel room and men's accessories knowing that I won't get another shot at such a huge discount.

I was disgusted with the men's sections as all the pants and shirts were strewn all over the place and it will be a hassle to look through them and try them on in the midst of the crowd. I avoided that section and went to the 'home' section where I helped myself to a pillow, pillowcase and a bolster. Another thing about sale is that you tend to go weak when items are priced at ridiculous prices and I couldn't resist buying a pair.

Sale also exposes another side of Singaporeans- their ugly side. People will just push you aside without saying Excuse me and some of them do not find the time to even finish Excuse me due to their impatience with you moving out of their way. The worst part was when familes arrived with toddlers in prams making it difficult for traffic movement. The gracious, courteous campaigns can take a backseat when there are sales as $$ wins at the end of the day

The shopping experience in shopping centres is bad as almost every square inch in a shopping centre is taken up by a tenant. I do not mind more tenants in a shopping centre as they offer consumers more choices but traffic can become chaotic when it gets crowded. Century Square was one such example when the MEtro Sale brought the crowds and level one was too crowded as there was only a tiny weeny space for people to move around due to the overwhelming number of shops on the level. I rather have few quality shops and more space than more average shops with lesser space.

Wages

I'm puzzled by the wages which footballers receive today. The average wage a Premiership player can earn today is at least $30 ooo a figure I came up with as the highest earner is at a staggering 130 000 pounds a week. How can these clubs manage such a huge wage bill? It does not make any sense to me. For big clubs like Man U and Chelsea, the wage bill can hit close to a million or even more than that PER WEEK. It can be argued that big clubs can sustain such huge wage bills due to their match-day receipts and sale of merchandise largely due to their trophy-laden cupboard and branding of the club. What about the small clubs? They have to get by with what they have and give their youth a career in the Premiership by offering him a measly contract compared to his Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Man U comrades or the small clubs will start to pray that they are bought by a Russian or American tycoon interested in boosting his income or simply treating it like a past time. I wish sports writers or someone in the industry could enlighten me and millions of fans out there on how clubs sustain themselves and even make a profit when the wage bill seems to be getting out of control. I suspect something fishy.

O-Leary book made me think about today's managers. Their job scope is not simple anymore. They need to explain their chairmen and even their board their transfer signings but he was lucky to have a chairman willing to fork out 18 million pounds on Rio and managers have to get the best out of their team of 11 who must do the job on match day and this is a tricky situation as each manager needs to understand each player. One method which works for one player might not work for another player. I can't imagine taking control of a team where I have 11 players like Wayne Rooney, Lee Bowyer and Roy Keane who are great professionals but have a BAD, BAD temper. I respect O-Leary for taking the approach of punishing his players when they have done something wrong as managers today can't afford to take the decision as it could prove costly.

Arcade, Pool and Starbucks

It's been sometime since I paid a visit to Starbucks and I enjoyed yesterday's visit as I got to chill out with chocalate frappacino and lounging in their confortable sofas and having a chat with Rosy,Jeff and Esther. It's been a while since we got together and we were trading horror and fun stories of our coaching jobs in Primary schools and these experiences has made me realise that you have to be firm with kids right from the start. It also feels good when the service staff goes the extra mile by smiling at you as such intangible service matters to me and it can uplift my mood.

After Starbucks, we decided to pay the arcade a visit and we got hooked onto the basketball game as I couldn't stop myself from playing the game as I felt that I could have done better and Jeffrey was scoring an average of 100 per game and I could only manage a pathetic 70 something and I was disappointed with my performance but that game is a money sucker and it nearly emptied my wallet and it made me think twice of going there regularly to play the game.

I returned to Bugis after my tuition and we went to play pool at one of this classy places where the per hour charge was close to $13 but the atmosphere was worth it but they started to play crap mandopop and techno music after midnight. I started my usual MCP bullshit when I was paired with Jeffrey and I asked the girls to concede the game before they even hit their first shot and they were quite flabbargasted when they heard that. It feels good to play the role of a MCP once in a while.

The main highlight of our pool game was the entry of two ang moh men and a white chick. The white chick was wearing a low cut top until u can see her assests in full view and Jeffrey was speculating that she's from Poland and I wondered how the hell did he manage to come up with the nationality of the girl at first sight and I was thinking she must be a Eastern European. The best moment of the night has to go to Esther when she told me that she was distracted by her and I couldn't control my laughter. Uncalled for. Midnight fare is a money sucker!!

Autobiographies, Transformers and Bus Drivers

I have been catching up on footballers' autobiographies partly to Kopi and mostly to my interest. I'm impressed with Rio Ferdinand's book as it narrates the tough background he comes from and how he still keeps in touch with his roots and gives back to his community. Rio Ferdinand though a Man U player has gained my respect as he's hungry for success and he never lets it get to his head and he has one hell of a fashion sense but I still wonder why did he miss the drugs test even though the answers in his book is damn vague and wishy washy and I seriously hope he's not taking DRUGS. The respect he earned will be lost overnight but the same cannot go for Maradona who has not lost the respect despite taking drugs in World Cup 1994.

Another must read autobiography is Mr Ashley Cole as he told his story on the tapping scandal and I expected this book to be whiny and bitchy but I felt that this was the best autobio. book I have ever read as he spilled the beans on the Arsenal Board and Mr Dein and some of the Arsenal players esecially younger players who do not show respect to the senior players and also talk about his popstar wife- Cheryl. This book also gave me an idea of how celeb couples have to cope with the extra attention and the rumours that comes with them. I'm disappointed with the younger players for not having the same team spirit as of Team 2004 known as Invincibles and I'm starting to dread the new season where the big players have left for big clubs and the only name who can strike terror in other teams is Van Persie. PATHETIC.

I do not understand why Mr Torres had to go to Liverpool when he could have chosen Arsenal as the strikers at LIverpool somehow become duds. Think of Heskey, Morientes and the list goes on. I suspect the Spanish influence at Liverpool might have played a decision. Heck. I don't mind Torres going to Man U but I frankly think that he's wasting his time at Liverpool and I hope to be proven right so that he can go to Arsenal(yeah right) or to Ac Milan(help Gilardino in attack).

Do not reaad Thierry Henry's biography as it's damn boring as each chapter is about each season and the chapters will be on almost every single match and no juicy details. I guess it's not exactly his biography as this was written on Henry and not one where he was sharing his views like Ashely Cole and Ferdinand.

I caught Transformers yesterday and the movie was average. The first hour was a drag save for a few scenes where there were some fighting scenes. I expected end to end action between the robots from start to end like Lord Of the Rings where your hair will stand when the war scenes start but I had perhaps expected too much when my friend said it was good. The second hour was redemption as the robots began to showcase their 'acting' and it was fun to see Robots displaying such emotions. I felt that if Pixar had handled the project , they could have made it into a bigger blockbuster as their animation movies like Toy Story and Incredibles are hits and their man Man,John Lasseter would have made it a better movie but this is all theoratical mumbo jumbo and I might be proven wrong. Another distraction was the lead female in low cut, dirty tank top and it was a good one. If you cannot up the action, up the sex quotient.

I managed to catch the last train and was quite happy when I took the last bus and after the bus driver took off, he stopped and asked the 2 passengers who boarded if they wanted to take the green 291 bus. There are two 291 bus services and the one I take is the green colour. I was quite pissed with him as he talked in Mandarain to the 2 passengers without considering that I was there. However, I managed to understand what he was saying and walked out of the bus and back to the same place where I was waiting for my 'genuine' bus and my bus arrived promptly at 0035 and I took the bus back home.

The trouble with most humans including myself at times was that they are very inconsiderate. I learnt this lesson at army when being a minority, your friends just converse in Mandarin as they don't give a flying fuck about if you don't understand or not and subtle or in your face messages to them won't work. Languages creates boundaries and exclusion. I managed to learn some Mandarin phrases and words and could comprehend what they could say after sometime. Secondary school was also bad as I was mixing with Malays- the hardworking ones and I learnt some Malay words. Perhaps, there should be a Speak English Campaign as I know people some people having problems speaking the language and will rather talk in their mother tongue.

A Lesson Well Learnt

My friends couldn't reach me on my hp most of the times when I'm in hostel as the reception in my Hall sucks to the core and I was toying with the idea of changing my service provider. My phone was also problematic as people calling me couldn't hear me but I can hear them as I dropped my phone too many times and it was another signal to change my phone as well. I decided to do it today since I had two hours to kill.

I settled on a red-colour Ericsson Phone as I love red colour and love a change of colour since I have been using dull colours. Wrong..I bought it because I deserved it. I intially planned to buy a walkman phone and thought that the plan was only $19. When I went to the cashier to purchase the phone, I forked out $199 and I was shocked. I was thinking what went wrong and looked at the promotion again and the assholes conveniently made after $100 trade in in small letters. I was pissed with them and myself for disregarding such vital information. I asked the service staff if I can change the phone and she was kind enough to let me change to another phone which I chose in a hurry(mistake again) and agreed to pay back the remainder in cash to me after she told me that she can only let me take gift vouchers.

Then, the staff said that there was no black and only RED. I agreed to take it as I didn't want to bother the staff again and got my Red Phone. I never thought that by not doing your research, you will end up in a bad deal and I did get a bad deal and I'm surprised as I will always do my research before any electronic purchase. Looking at the handphone will make me think twice about doing something rash again. I can console myself that it's not PINK.

The 4th Estate

I just finished the 4th Estate and the book was damn good. I read this book when I was in secondary school and didn't appreciate the book at that time as my main aim in secondary school when it comes to reading books was to race to the last page of every book and that took the joy of reading and I ended up forgetting the plot and the lessons behind every story. With new found knowledge due to my increasing exposure to news media, I began to understand the problems and the nitty gritty stuff of newspapers. Lester however told me that one of the character potrayal was actually Rubert Murdouch and when I did a wiki search and read his profile, the resemblance was too good to be true right to the detail where the character, Keith Townsend(Note that Keith is Rubert first name) will become American citizen and introduce the concept of Page 3 of the Globe Newspaper(Recall the Sun?).

That book made me wonder the different possiblities of the CEO, directors and chairman as I couldn't exactly understand why some of these characters had to behave in a certain manner and this made me realise how little I know about company law and it's time I start to read some boring company law books to widen my knowledge as I want to know what are the duties and responsibilites Mr Durai as CEO and Richard as chairman.

I don't understand how did Richard Yong got caught so easily. He was smart enough to leave the country before he was barred from doing so but the man should have plannned his trip to a country preferable Czech Republic according to Kopi where there are no extradition laws or some fucko countries like Bolivia where he can live like a king or even Indonesia as he has so much money from the sale of his apartments and properties and he should have chosen a country where it's not Singapore friendly but I suspect he did not expect HK to extradit him back to Singapore.

The little red dot is really becoming boring as life seems to be approaching a full stop for everybody. I'm starting to dread MRT rides especially on weekday mornings where people literally drag their asses out to work and you can see their 'sian' faces and it makes you wonder if you are going to join them in 2 years and worse become like them. Work can really take the fun out of life in Singapore as people are expected to clock long hours and slog. The next 2 years are a critical part in shaping my Destiny. As my sister always say, it's very important to have a vision.

Questions Unanswered

I still do not get the logic behind the DVD codes. I borrowed a few DVDs from the Esplanade library and was very excited as these movies are classics and hard to find in the DVD shops. When I popped one DVD into my laptop drive, they prompted me to change the DVD region. I thought it was a one-off thing and unfortunately, the same thing happened to my other 3 DVDs. I will like to know which smartie came up with this ingenious idea of DVD coding.Is it because they want to restrict the market or they want to restrict the content in the movie since Asian countries are more stricter on censorship.I suppose there must be some logic behind it but can't they make all DVDs universal since we are living in the age of globalisation. I believe some DVDs are universal and I hope that future DVDs are universal.

I had a chance to read Sophie's world and the book requires loads of patience and mental strength as every page requires the reader to put the book down and think about what he has just read. However, there was one question which left me stumped. If God created the world, who created God? I thought of a million possiblities to the question but I still could not come up with the answer of who created God as there must be a start for everything and God himself is so powerful that I suddenly began to realise that maybe someone could have created him and the creator of God if any, would be more powerful than God himself.

I just happened to know sometime back that Lucifer commonly known as Satan was an angel. If he or she was an angel, I wonder why the movies depict Satan as a ugly duckling as angels are supposed to be goodlooking and charming. Perhaps, his good looks have deserted him after he was banished to hell but I have a very strong feeling or call it conspiracy that HUMANS, YES HUMANS like to attach an ugly tag to bad boys. Look at the countless movies that we have seen. In only a few movies, they will use actors who look very dependable to play the bad role. I won't be surprised if Mr Lucifer turns out to be very goodlooking as he can always use him charm to entice people to visit hell cos bad looks put people off and they will be reluctant to visit HELL. Now, that's more like Satan.

Tennis and Soccer

My knowledge of tennis is very limited as I got to know the rules of the game when I was in secondary and my interest was heightened when the French Open came and went and the Wimbeldon tournament is currently ongoing. Tennis offers guys one important benefit- eyecandy. You can get loads of eyecandy from watching Wimbeldon. You can bet to your last dollar that the girls' attire will always be above their knees and I simply love to watch Venus and Serena Williams as they are known for their 'crazy' attire and they have not disappointed me so far as Venus is always attired in a tank top and hot shorts and Serena is always attired in a dress showing off her well-toned body for this tournament. Of course, Maria Sharapova has not disappointed me one bit although I wish that she could tone down on her grunting as it can get irritating at times to hear a woman grunt loudly. I pity the guy who's with her if she brings the grunting to the bedroom. The girls have learnt to use the art of sex appeal to maximum effect and that gives me more encouragement to tune in to Wimbeldon.

Of course, the men's matches are also interesting as I find the matches to be of higher standard than that of females(I have nothing against them) but I will recommend my readers to watch the male matches as they are more entertaining in terms of game play. When you see Federrer play, you will understand why he's DARN good in that game. He just brings tennis to a whole new level.

Although Copa America is currently ongoing, I do not have the interest to follow the tournament though South Americans play an eterprising and entertaining brand of football as I do not feel the same excitement as watching World Cup or European Championships or perhaps it could be the fact that my knowledge of S.American teams could be zilch. Perhaps, it's time to brush up my knowledge on these teams as the Holidays will be coming to an end and I won't get another chance of doing this again for another 4 months.