Does Anybody hear me?

Trouble with people in current times is that we are all narcissistic in our own ways. So much so, almost all of us can relate to Carly Simon's rendition of "You're so vain".

Through the age of the internet, we always deem ourselves more up to date than we ever were, with information just being at a click of the finger. But how much knowledge do we really have? How much can we consume through our eyes?

So much so, we actually tend to get very arrogant after a while and only see what we want to see. Or what we perceive is correct. So, in similar themes to love and work, we always think that we know what is best for ourselves, deciding first then asking around for similar view points. And we all hate criticism. So, we blank out all the negative criticism and compile a list of the positive ones, ultimately 'pre-deciding' the outcome. Then we go on to bitch about the choices we make six months down the line and yearn for the lost opportunities we gave up because we 'felt' it was right.

How do I know this?

Because I can imagine myself in Carly Simon's song...

which way?

You reach an intersection in the pathway called life. You evaluate the choices in front of you.

The straight forward path shows you working on your current '9 - 5' (if there is any such thing anymore), slowly taking you up the corporate ladder, but seemingly stuck in a vicious cycle like a clockwork man. Vicious because, the more you remain at the company, the more dependant or secure you get, and it makes you less effective to change.

The other path seems more rocky and unstable evidently more risky. It may see you going through a variety of jobs, some not paying you enough to make ends meet, but you adapt to change pretty effectively. Then there is the possibility for this path to lead to two outcomes:

a) You gain from your initial risk and manage to build a respective portfolio over time

b) You just wither along quietly job after job, strengthening the notion that a rolling stone gathers no moss.

How do we know we are at a certain junction? Some people argue that after being in a company for 3 years, you would have relatively known all you need to know in the company to move on effectively to a new challenge, keeping your mind up to date. But, how many 3 years should a person go through?

Choices. So varied, so much excitement in prospect, yet so much potential for disaster.

Prelude

10 January 2008

Michael and Beng have a drink down at the pub in Covent Garden...

Michael: "So what are you doing this weekend?"

Beng: "Nothing much, why?"

Michael: "I'm planning to go and watch Man Utd before I fly back for good... blah blah blah... interested to join us?"

Beng:"OK"

... and so the Manchester edition of 24 commenced two days later.

24 - The Manchester Edition

12 January 2008

5.40am - wake up

6.15am - got to bus stop

6.25am - head towards north Greenwich for the jubilee line to Green Park

6.40am - switch to the Victoria line to Victoria station

7am - arrive Victoria station, call Michael to see if he will be on time to arrive at 7.30am

Get a cup of coffee and relax in the station till 7.40am

7.40am - head to the coach station about 5 minutes from the main station.

7.55am - start to panic as Michael and David have yet to arrive.

8am - wait with the rest of the passengers at the mega bus company gate 20 as Michael and David are seemingly rushing to the bus.

8.10am - depart from London

12.30pm - arrive in Manchester city centre near Piccadilly area.

Walk around looking for china town

1pm - decide to "try Thai" in Chinatown.

2.15pm - depart to Salford quays to look for the Copthorne Manchester to get the tickets. Some hardcore supporter leads us to the hotel. I predict to him that Manure would win 4 - 0 with Christiano Ronaldo and Tevez scoring (although I cleverly failed to answer his question of which team I support...)

3pm - get tickets and take the walk to old Trafford down Trafford road

3.30pm take photos and enter the merchandise shop to look around. With thousands of supporters around, there was hardly any of the Barcode army.

4pm - walk towards the south end and hear the boom of supporters singing in the stadium. The excitement is building up. I guess this is what they call pitch fever

4.30pm - enter entrance S20, Block STH122, Row EE, seat number 194

The Goalkeepers are warming up.

4.40pm - the Manchester team come out to the roar of Stretford end.

Ten minutes later, Newcastle emerges sheepishly to the rings of boos around the stadium.

By 5.10pm, the players are making their way back to the locker as the announcer reads out the team sheet for the day. Alan Smith and Nicky Butt get a special round of applause as returning former players. As 'England's' Michael Owen is introduced, there is some banter about Scouse Bastards ringing around our seats.

5.30pm - when the players return for the start of the match.

6.20pm - the first half was totally boring without much incident. no wonder Sir Alex has been lamenting the lack of noise as Old Trafford seemed to have reminiscence of the former 'Library' down in North London (for those who are not familiar, Arsenal's former ground was Highbury, also known for England’s best behaved supporters - they just watch approvingly every match, without much cheers)

Kudos to the Toon Army, being probably 10 percent of the stadium (75,000 + attendance for the day) they sang their hearts out - we also realised that the initial singing we heard from outside the grounds was actually coming from the lands 'best supporters'.

6.30pm - the players come out for the second half. Being close to Stretford end and having the opponents, Michael cursed my earlier predictions, asking me how it would be possible to achieve that score line. I reassured him that it is possible, and we are in the Theater of Dreams. Furthermore the support from Stretford end is so ferocious that it will definitely stifle the Geordies resistance.

Within minutes of the second half the floodgates have been opened. By the time the final whistle had been blown, the following songs had been sung and the Toon Army was finally shut up.

My blood boiled when the hardcore Manure supporters taunted Smudger, Milner and Viduka as 'we all hate Leeds Scum'... One day we shall rise from the ashes of relegation and send the bloody devils straight down to where they belong - Hell.



7.30pm - we make our way back to Salford Quays to get the tram back to the City centre. Along the way some poor Geordies were taunted pretty badly by some Manure fans all the way back... All of this is the light hearted banter which epitomises the crux of English football - The True fans.

By 8pm, we had ordered our burgers at Burger King and enjoyed a slow meal still finding it hard to believe that the Toons were stuffed 6 - 0...

At 9.15pm, we headed to the Coach station near Canal Street to catch our coach home to London

9.40pm - Depart to Birmingham

12.10am - after several stops along the way at Stoke-Upon-Trent and Wolverhampton, we arrive Brum.

12.45am - depart to Heathrow Terminal 3

3.10am - we reach Heathrow Airport and switch to the night bus to Trafalgar Square at 3.30am

4.50am - get the bus back to Charlton

5.30am - reach home, take a shower and crash to bed.

Crazy? More like "This is Football"... Hope my next adventure would involve the team close to my heart, Leeds United. Till then, this is the Manchester edition of 24

Same shit different day

It was a new year just a week or so ago, but God it does seem like an old day now. Would it be due to the simple equation of same shit, different day?


Or at least during the Christmas break, if I could have remembered the days. Over a two week period, I must say that I have completely lost track of time and referring as December as last year makes it all seem an eternity ago.


Must be the build up to Chinese New Year though, there seems to be a huge sense of optimism and a spring in my step everywhere I go.


Another new year coming up?

Where has the passion gone?

Malaysian football has slowly fallen out of the radar of interest of their local population. With more people owning Manchester united jerseys compared to Selangor jerseys, you know where the money is going.

Just when did the rot start? Was it the bribery that went on during the 90s? Was it when most of the local teams started parading almost fully Malay football units? in the 60s and 70s, we used to have multi racial teams, just look at a list of past great footballers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_national_football_team) of the nation - out of a group 22, there are 8 Malays, 8 Chinese, 5 Indians and 1 Samah. Compare that to the team selected to represent the team for the 2010 qualifiers. Only one Indian representative compared to the all Malay team.

Although I tend to support the Perak team, I detest some irresponsible supporters who smash opposition fans car windows or vandalise their transportation based on the number plates. Are these patterns on hooliganism brought from watching too much English football?

I remember back in the late nineties I actually followed a couple of games in Penang, when their stadium was still around Dato' Keramat Road. I particularly enjoyed the multi racial element of support that brought the fans together. Several things that we had to remember -

1) Always curse the opposition, (even the visiting Perak team)

2) Never drive to a match, get on your bikes and go, and

3) When you need to pee during halftime, join the rest of the people at the 'longest' public toilet in Penang.

With the mega marketing product called the English Premier League, I fear that our state and national teams support will slowly wither in time.

The Dawn of a New Era

It doesn't really matter who we spend New Year's Eve with or where we spend it. What matters is the for 5 seconds, I have taken up your thoughts and this is a fact that has happened and it cannot be changed.*

Happy New Year everybody...


*concept from Ah Fei