ESP vs KSA

After a long wk of work and other stuff, it's time to rest and relax on a Friday evening. Borrowed the van from Merv while he and his wife were bowling at Mount Faber SAFRA. Then my gal and I headed to Somerset to collect her pair of slippers which seemed kinda costly to me. It was a made in Germany product and I guess the exchange rates and all made the price soar a little, I dunno. *shrug*

Anyway, we wanted to catch the Spain vs Saudi match at Mount Faber SAFRA initially but found out that they were televising the Ukraine vs Tunisa game instead. So had to think of alternatives. A decision was made swiftly and GrapeVine it was. Made a wrong turn when I was driving towards CTE, and ended up making a big loop back to "kampong" area. Waste petrol. Sigh...

The game was also disappointing. Spain fielded a second string team who were still gd enough to hold out a 1-0 victory over their opponents. Spain should have scored more in the first half but was marred by the Saudi keeper's gd form. He made countless saves to deny their more illustrious opponents. Everyone was expecting a stroll in the park for Spain but credit to Saudis for making the game more difficult. And so, it was money down the drain. *tsk *tsk











Oww... NO GOAL!!!











Just enjoying each other's company

Lou Po Beng Story

The story of Lou Po Beng, that I've extracted from the box which Mervyn brought back from Hong Kong. Not sure of the authenticity of this story, but decide to put it in my blog as a reminder of the ill-effects of gambling.

Once upon a time, a very famous master baker in Tang Pastry (Chinese style pastry) having his wonderful techniques in preparing pastry items and with good assistance from his wife got his name far-famed within the region. His business bloomed but his bad habit in gambling often let his properties all offset by loss.

One day, he lost so much money in casino as he bet with a borrowing from usrury for even more losses. Debtors forced him to return home trying to cover the debts through mortgage of any remaining stuff. Only on returning home that he realised that no more valuables was left in his empty house to fulfil his wish. This time he had to seek help from his wife who told him: "Ever since you gambled my dear, I have tried so many times to advise you but without effect, our relatives are now not accessible for contact. We could be hopeless to get any help. I think I am the very last thing you could pawn. Go ahead but promise me that you will definitely stop gambling after selling me, because I won't be available for help to you any more."

The man, after selling his wife, felt extremely remourseful. this time he did stop from gambling again. With a view to commemorate such better half of him, he created very delicious Tang pastry in the name of his wife. Lou Po Beng.

How often have we heard of gambling habits breaking up families and taking lives? I sometimes wonder if the inclusion of the IR will give rise to such problems in Singapore. However, I can't deny the fact that the IR may bring in more opportunities and revenue for the country. Anyway, even without the IR now, people still have other avenues to gamble. Hopefully, I'm just being paranoid. Haha...

Till the next blog, cheers!

Soccer Mania

The World Cup is here again! It's been a gruelling 4 yrs wait for this event. Haha... And Singapore has yet to qualify, as expected. Not that I'm not supportive of the local soccer scene but I don't think they'll even come close to it in the next decade or 2. The quality and mentaliy just isn't there yet. Maybe I'm being too critical, i dunno. :)

I've missed one game so far and that's the Poland vs Ecuador game which Ecuador won by 2-0. The opening game was gd, with host Germany winning the game 4-2, which is by far the most goals scored in any World Cup opening game I've encountered. Yesterday and this early morning, I've caught a total of 3 games. Only the England match was a drab. The other 2 matches were gd, lots of end-to-end stuff. Pretty soccer at times. That should be the way, as Pele had put it, soccer is a beautiful game. :)

My gal is off to Redang for the wkend, and so I'm all alone in Singapore, with late nite soccer as my companion. Sigh... Just kidding. Haha... Anyway, it's her birthday this wkend, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! CHEERS!!! Hope she's having a real great time there with her friends! :D

Went to the gym yesterday and found myself wanting. Headed for the free-weights section with Kel and Bryan (Kel's colleague), and did the inclined chest press. Wasn't able to lift as much as I'd like and so was kinda disappointed. Sigh... Think I have to work more on that. Well, the only motivation I've had was from my sister. Went to her place to troubleshoot her PC and she asked if I've been working out, cos my arms seemed to be bigger. Haha... :D Hopefully, I'm on the right track and in time to meet my expectation by Oct. :) My weight as of now is still the same and have yet to increase, but I guess it'll take some time. I'm hopeful that as long as I maintain my regime now, it'll happen.

Till the next blog and hopefully by then I'd have gained some kgs. Haha... Cheers!

Monday Blues

It started off quite alrite this Mon morning, but things didn't really stayed that way. Sigh... Been a busy and hectic morning. Was preparing for the setup at a customer's on Tue, installing the beta driver onto the company's lappy and it seemed fine. Quite gd. :) Then came the preparation for this morning pre-sales presentation. Tried to connect to the video server, which wasn't giving any prob the week before, and it failed. Argh... Tried different methods to change the IP address but to no avail. the video server just refuses to take anything from me. *Disgusted* I was already running late and this made me fumed a little. Argh... To add oil to fire, the remote logon which I'm supposed to show didn't work either. Argh... Think I've failed to deliver a gd presentation today. Seems like I'm losing my confidence in certain aspects. Sigh...

Fortunately, things weren't bad in after work. It was gd. Had a gd time and a gd dinner. I'm a bit worried though. Cos normally when things don't go smoothly on Mondays, my week seems to be in shambles. Hopefully, I'm wrong abt this.

Till the next blog. Cheers!