VIVA LA ESPAÑA!!

Spain has just won Euro 2008, 24 years after their last major title, which was also the European Championships. Everyone knows their story, so there is no need to go into further detail. The joyous scenes at the stadium had me wishing I was there, and hopefully one day, I'll get to witness something like this in real life.

Torres scored the only goal of the match, with a chip over goalkeeper Lehmann who had come sliding out to try to intercept the ball. It could well have been 2-0 had Torres' earlier header been about 1 or 2 cm more to the right. As it was, it had ricocheted off the inner part of the near post.

Time to sleep. The things I do for football :) Sweet dreams of Euro and the Torres goal...

*Eye candy*

The big day

It's drawing closer. Don't think about it. But I can't. Stop it. It's ridiculous.

I'm reminded every time I do something simple like write the date. I fine, that I'm getting stronger. But I don't even believe myself. How could I expect anyone else to believe the hollow words that I find myself saying?

In the news...

There have been some pretty strange news reports since the price of fuel in Malaysia was raised overnight from RM1.90 to RM2.70.

The first one was that bus companies want to increase their fares to cover the increased cost of running their vehicles. Like, hello! Economies of scale?! The number of people taking public transport has increased quite dramatically in the last 3 weeks, it would more than cover the difference in operating costs of the buses. If they were proposing to introduce better, cleaner, environmentally-friendly buses, that would be a different story. But they're not. They'll keep running the same, smog-emitting sardine tins.

The second baffling news report was that civil servants would be paid their salaries in 2 installments every month 'to help them manage their finances better'. Never mind that it would cost something like an extra RM600k a month or RM7.2m per year to administer an extra round of payments every month, who is it gonna benefit? How is that gonna help them manage better? It doesn't take a genius to figure that such action would merely be a metaphorical band-aid that shields a wound from the harsh environment. It doesn't actually help the wound heal (unless it happens to be a silver band-aid or some other fancy new plaster on the market). This submission to The Star newspaper by a reader provides further argument about the lack of sense in this suggested move.

Another suggestion that has been made in a supposed attempt to reduce the financial woes of Malaysians is to give senior and top-ranking officials of government-linked companies (GLCs) a 100% pay rise. Hang on, did I miss something here? You're suggesting paying people who get drivers, meal allowances, and many other benefits, and who are already on a decent salary, double? If the government or GLCs really want to help their employees, how about giving the lower ranking officers more than the suggested 3% salary increase that has been proposed?? Are they not the ones who are much harder hit, on RM2000 per month as opposed to senior officers who are probably on at least RM5000? Luckily, our PM, who is also the Finance Minister, has announced that the Government has rejected the proposal of the 100% increase. At least someone showed some sense.

On a brighter note, here are some quotes that were in the newspaper today:

If your wife went out with Brad Pitt, you'd want to prove yourself, you know what I mean? - Chris Martin

Cause my dad always said, "The more you stomp in poop, the more it stinks" - Billy Ray Cyrus

Madness. Good madness

This weekend has been so jam-packed full of activities; it's 9.30pm on Sunday and I was actually contemplating going to bed at 9pm tonight, but decided it's high time I wrote another post.

After a hectic start to the week (which followed on from not much sleep last weekend due to Roland Garros finals and the start of the Euro 2008) which included working til midnight on Tuesday, work went alright for the rest of the week, thankfully. I did not catch up on sleep as I had intended, though, and as a result have consumed more coffee than I (and my bank account) would have liked this weekend.

The weekend started with Friday night at the movies. Mick and I wanted to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull but by the time we got to the cinemas that night, there was a massive line and the session we wanted to see was sold out, except for 2 seats right in the front row. The thought of straining our necks to try and watch the movie from that angle just did not appeal, so we ditched the queue and went to a posher cinema on the other side of the mall and paid more money for roomier seats (kind of like the ones at Nova on Lygon St in Carolton, except this is a new cinema) and got back row centre seats for The Incredible Hulk. The movie was alright though not spectacular, and I'm not saying that because I'm a girl. Mick thought so too.

I had a coffee before the movie at 10pm, so I was not sleepy and ended up watching the first Euro match that night; went to bed at 4am! Had to be up by 9am to attend Adrian and Noelle's church ceremony at 11am. Instead, my silly body clock woke me up at 7.30! The church ceremony was beautiful, and I'm glad I went to a Catholic school and didn't feel too 'sesat' during the service. I was still 'sesat' to a certain extent, though - didn't know a single person there apart from the bride! However, I did recognise the groom and his twin younger sisters from uni.

After the service, I headed over to Robert's place for his son's full moon party. Mick, Kok Ming and formed the 'young and cool' kids club :) Ate too much there.

Then, headed to my aunt's coz my cousin was baking the chocolate chip cookies again. She made a double batch! I brought some home because I was too full from lunch, but discovered today that some genius(es) had decided to eat all but one, and when I opened the jar, ants were all over that single cookie. Not happy!

Had a quick nap at home before heading out for the wedding dinner at Equatorial Hotel. The ballroom was set up so beautifully. And Noelle, in the 3 dresses she co-designed, looked stunning. Adrian, of course, looked really good (and happy) as did the rest of the bridal party. Met some people last night, Adrian's colleagues and some people from another audit firm who looked a little familiar. Turned out, it was their group that I played futsal with when I first started working in KL! How random is that. Went out with some of Adrian's workmates from Melbourne and HK after dinner, but was too tired to stay out too long. Plus, I had to get up this morning for...

Musical Jamboree at KLCC. The performers are students of musicians who are part of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, and my cousin was one of them. This started at 10am, and I had to leave by 12pm to head to Shah Alam for SkyTrex (more on that later). I was pretty tired this morning, and some of the music was so soothing and relaxing, like the solo violin, I let the sounds wash over me, and caught myself dozing off a couple of times. I would have loved to fall asleep in my chair with the music being played, but that would have been rude. Shen's cello quartet was item #6 out of 7 in this first half, so I left during the interval to catch the train to meet some workmates...


SkyTrex is a pretty crazy concept. You climb up to 17 metres above the ground, and get from tree to tree in various ways that include walking planks, swinging on a rope (ala Tarzan or 'Tarzana' (note, not 'Jane')) , walking in U-shaped nets, and flying fox-ing. Of course, it is all done with a harness on, and everyone goes through an introductory talk and exercise (about 3 metres above ground) before they are allowed to tackle the full SkyTrex course.

It took our group of 10 about 3 hours to complete the course, coz we waited around a bit for each other, when it's estimated that it should take about 2 hours to do. Although a lot of fun, I didn't get the adrenaline kick I thought I would. Perhaps I was to busy concentrating on NOT falling. Nevertheless, I made sure I 'woot'-ed and shouted when I did the big swings and flying foxes.
The thing about SkyTrex is that as you go through the course, the sequence of people remains pretty much fixed. So if, for example I have a camera, the only people I will be able to photograph are the backs of the person before me, and the front of the person behind me. To have a shot of me, I'd have to get the person in front of me to do it, but given that she was feeling pretty queasy coz she doesn't like heights, it wasn't really an appropriate request to make. :) My neck's a little sore now from all the swinging!

And now, after cropping a couple of pictures, story-telling, and interruptions by my grandmother, it's midnight and I can finally click on 'publish' and haul my tired butt to bed. Nite!

Bit of this, bit of that.

I hate messing up. But that seems to be what I do so often at work, no matter how hard I try to be diligent and careful. I went into work today (a Saturday) because I had, again, screwed up. Obviously, I don't do these things on purpose. But somehow I can't seem to do anything right, even the simplest things, like getting the date right on a letter. And every time I tell myself to be more careful about something, something else slips past me...

Tara is back for her summer holidays and I can't wait to catch up with her. If there's one thing I've learnt in the last month, it's that there are only a handful of people (if that) that I can count on. Difficult times will show you who really cares about you, and it's not necessarily who you thought you could rely on. It just sucks twice as much when you lose your boyfriend as well as your friends.

But, I have a new friend. She's pink all over, and will never tire of my talking to her. Well, she might at some point, but supposedly if I take care of her, she'll take care of me. That's the idea. Hopefully she won't turn on me one day. She knew about me before I knew anything about her, and that's scary in a way, but it's comforting to know that she chose me and knows what to expect from me. Right after I met her, I was confronted with a slightly challenging situation and I surprised myself with my reaction, which I think I can attribute to her presence. Only time will tell how this relationship develops.

I ended up going for Dinara Safina in the Women's French Open final. Despite the good fight that she put up, Ivanovic won. Dinara seemed very tense, and it looked like Ivanovic was enjoying the experience more. She has more experience in major finals, so that probably played a part. Tomorrow, it's Federer v Nadal in the Men's final, and I know who I'm going for in that one, no question about it!

No SleEp foR me!

Sharapova lost to Dinara Safina in the French Open a couple of days ago. A little disappointed. I was rooting for her. I know not many people like her. It's been said before that Sharapova is a player who is admired by many, but loved by few. It's not difficult to understand why, I suppose. While she has great fighting spirit (even without the screaming and grunting), I think the fact that she's quite beautiful (as opposed to being pretty) can be quite intimidating. Okay, her nutty dad doesn't help her image. But you have to give them credit for not killing each other, being together - training, travelling - 24 hours a day. Ana Ivanovic, on the other hand, is more loved by tennis fans, more 'pretty'. The girl-next-door look, more 'normal', warmer.

Then again, it's great to see Dinara finally come into her own and achieving her potential. She has been so close yet so far for far too long. I used to love watching Marat play when he was world no.1. It was always very entertaining, although such a pity to see him lose games after losing his head. Dinara meets Ana Ivanovic in the final, don't know who I'll go for!

I haven't been able to watch the French Open all week, so hopefully I'll get the chance to watch it this weekend. Euro starts this weekend, so something tells me I'm going to be very sleep-deprived til the end of this month. YAY hehehe. I cannot wait to see Torres in action. *drool* ;)

Pouring Rain

It has been raining so heavily here, especially in the last 2 days. On Monday at lunchtime, it was slightly more than a drizzle. I went out to grab a quick lunch, and while dashing through the uncovered areas, I felt like stopping and just enjoying the rain. Of course, I couldn't because I had to get back to the office, and I was wearing a white shirt, so getting drenched wasn't really an option.
Last night, it poured after I got home from work, and was still raining pretty heavily when I left home for futsal. But by the time futsal ended, the rain had stopped and I had missed the chance to play in it again.
Not to worry, says one of the guys, it rains almost everyday at 5pm. This was the case when I first started working, but hasn't happened for a number of weeks, so I was doubtful that it would happen today, but it did! Pretty much around 5pm, there was thunder and lightning, and lots and lots of rain. And as my luck goes, I was stuck in the office til 8.30pm tonight. Missed it again.
All I want is to play or even just stand in the rain and get soaked. Actually, I don't think I know anyone here who'd be willing to play in the rain, so I'd have to settle for standing in it. And I would. Just that the timing hasn't been right for me...The only upside about staying in the office that late on a night like tonight was that I probably managed to avoid most of the traffic jams!

On current news, petrol prices went up to RM2.70 per litre about 20 minutes ago. Can you say ouch?! It was at RM1.90 before the revision!! There are rumours that in August, the government will remove the fuel subsidy completely. Yikes! Better take all the road trips I can soon!

Open Eyes, Ears, Heart

I'm not sure what's happening, but somehow some things stand out to me a lot more recently. Lines in songs, quotes, happenings, things that I'd love to talk about, but due to my shocking memory, by the time I get to blog about it, I'll have forgotten what it is that I wanted to talk about! I used to have someone to share the moment with, but that's not really possible now. But while I remember some of it...

I saw a few things in Melbourne that I'd never noticed before, or thought were new, but apparently are not. Like some shops along Sydney Road, some things in the city, stuff like that. Ben said my eyes were open coz I'd been away, and perhaps that's true. But perhaps it was too late for me to be taking a new outlook on things.

I liked Madonna's material from the 80's, but I think since I started taking an interest in pop music (around 11 or 12, late bloomer) I haven't been too impressed. Not sure why. But I'm pretty addicted to the new single. Perhaps it's because she's collaborating with Timbaland and JT; I seem to have a thing for music they produce and record on their own and in collaboration with other artistes. I have to say, though, that I'm not too sure about wearing the nude-coloured corset Madonna had on in the music video for the song. Exactly what fashion trend is she trying to start there?

Seriously, though, I am listening to music that I didn't think I'd enjoy. Not that I never thought I'd enjoy it, just that I don't think I ever listened to some of the stuff enough to actually get used to it. I never seem to have enough time to listen to music. I don't often walk around with an MP3 player blasting music into my ears. I usually prefer listening to people around me and observing people rather than being lost in my own world. And because I'm usually unable to work with music on (tend to get into the music a bit too much, even classical music, once I'm familiar with it). Back to music I didn't enjoy. Lately, I find myself a fan of Coldplay's Violet Hill. Would not have thought it possible that I'd enjoy a Coldplay song so much. Bloc Party's good. That one I didn't have time to listen to when I first got it. Now it's a regular on my work playlist, because it's heavy enough that I can listen to it when I want to block out noise, or an just feeling grumpy, yet it's not like techno and trance, where the bass pounds so hard that I can't hear myself think.

A sample of the quotes/lines of late that have popped up when I least expect them, or that I've heard before but really caught my attention when I heard them in the past month:

"The thing about love, is that I never saw it coming. It kinda crept up to me by surprise"

"It's kinda funny how life can change; can turn 180 in a matter of days"

"Love is a journey, not a destination"

At the moment, top of the playlist is Leona Lewis' Better in Time, and David Cook's Always be My Baby, because the lyrics strike a chord at the moment. All of the latter's lyrics just ring so true, except "inevitably, you'll be back again" coz that is not inevitable, and 'I know that you'll be back", though I wish it was true. I wish it so hard it hurts.

One lesson to carry for a lifetime, though, is if you care about something, you don't just give up. You just don't.