Memories...
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
watched exorcism of emily rose with bobsie, diana baby, ning ning and yuyan on mon nite..wow what a show. I really enjoyed it..and i think e show gave a lot of food for thought..esp bout facts vs beliefs.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the prosecution wants you to believe in the facts of this case. Why? Because facts are non-negotiable, and do not leave room for alternatives. But ladies and gentlemen, what if there are alternatives?? Alternatives, which science alone cannot explain???"hmm..not sure if these were the exact words she said, but the way she said it had such a great impact, and well delivered man..
and it made sense in the end why this movie was based on a true story, and why the producers wanted to film and publish it..
great show :)
Sunday, November 27, 2005
THE POLITICS OF CLUBBINGtoday i shall analyze the politics of clubbing, more specifically, the politics of the bartendar. Just felt compelled to write this after watching my friend Affian the bartendar in action these past 2 nights.
Power can be defined as the ability to make others behave in ways in which they otherwise might not do. In other words, it can refer to "domination of the actions and minds of others". In this aspect, the bartendar is really a very powerful person in a club, at the ground level. Why do i say so?
First of all, the bartendar controls the means of production or the resources, in this case, the booze. Clubbers come to a club ultimately for 3 reasons. 1) Get happy and high. 2) Pick up numbers. 3) Get laid.
In each of this reason, it is imperative to note that alcohol plays a crucial role, even more so than a catalyst. Alcohol can turn wussies into men (even for just that 5 min), enough to get the number of a hot chick, or men into wussies. Which brings me back to my point.
Who keeps stock of the booze and distribute them so that clubbers can meet their objectives in coming? The bartendar of coz!
Using a Marxist approach then, the bartendar can be deemed to be the bourgeoise, while the mortal clubbers are the mere proletariat. By withholding the resources (booze),or even purposely making you wait damn long at the counter for your drink, the barman can have a significant influence on the clubbers' actions.
Secondly, becoz of the fact that the barman controls the means of production, the entire floor crew (and even the manager gosh) has to cooperate with him in a way, otherwise, life can be difficult and tedious. For instance, if the barman doesnt finish stock taking and clearing the alcohol accounts for the night, it means you go home at a much later timing. In addition, the club waiters, having taken orders for drinks from customers, have to relay this information back to the central figure, the barman. Should the barman fail to listen or dun wanna listen (on moody days) to the waiter's orders, there is nothing much the waiter can do. Following which, the waiters would get screwed by the clubber who demands that his bottle of jim bean can no longer wait.
Thirdly, the barman is the one man who knows how to mix all kinds of drinks. And i mean all kinds of drinks. Period. If he decides to wander off, good luck to everyone. The entire dynamics and system apparatus of the club will break down.
Fourthly, the barman, oh well being the barman, has lots of tricks up his sleeve. By this i refer to juggling bottles, corny jokes, wonderful pick up lines and of coz, the perennial "how bout a drink on the house dude/babe?" It is again imperative to note that such tricks strike a core with the ladies, and especially effective in warranting smiles from the ladies, followed by their numbers of coz.
Next, the barman, being behind the bar, has a geopolitical advantage compared to e rest of the clubbers. The club is a place of limited space and territoriality, where personal boundaries often get transcended (kinda akin to globalization). Most of us rem how squeezy it can get in clubs at peak periods, with little room to manoeurve. But this limitation does not endear to the barman, who is safely hidden behind the bar. This can mean 3 sub-points. First, the barman has an overview of the entire club, with the advantage of spotting where the hot babes are. Secondly, he can gawk and ogle at the hot babes dancing at the podium discreetly. Thirdly, no one can do any funny things to him coz he's got a safety barrier in front of him. In other words, if u are unhappy with the barman, the most u can do is to hurl some insults or verbally abuse him, unless you wish to climb over the bar and handle him, failing which, u wud most prob be thrown out by the bouncers.
Six, the barman, especially if he's good-looking, draws in the crowds, esp the girls, as he is such a permanent fixture at the club. Girls know that if they visit the club on this night, they ll find the barman. And when the barman brings in the crowds, it means he ll bring in the coffers. And when he brings in the coffers, it means the manager is happy. And when the manager is happy, the status quo of the barman is given even higher regard.
Finally, i ll just like to end on this quote, which is on a big sign that my fren Affian put up at the bar counter:
"Rule No 1: The Barman is always right. Rule No 2: If the Barman is wrong, refer to Rule No 1."
A TRIBUTE TO KEANO, THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES..Roy keane left Manchester United last week. I felt that i should really write something about him, especially when he was my favourite football player, and one of my idols in life. (Note that i dun really have many idols)
Having spent 12 years at United, and growing up watching him week in week out slugging it out at Old Trafford..keane was special to me. This whole episode just reminded me Cantona's retirement in 1997 as well, which is like wow,8 years ago? How time flies...
Keane was not the kind of player who can dribble past 3,4 other players like Ronaldo, Giggs, Kanchelskis, Best.. He was not the kind of player who score 20 goals (not even 10) per season aka Van Nistelrooy, Mark Hughes, Cole, Yorke...He was rarely the kind who can create a defence splitting pass like Cantona, Sheringham, Scholes, Veron.. nor can he cross like Beckham or Lee Sharpe.
Keane plays a simple, yet effective game. His tackling, ball distribution, passing, influence, tenacity, workrate and no-nosense approach abilities, while seemingly less glorious than e other attributes, has been largely significant to United's success for the past decade.
Most of all, he had one thing: His Rugged Determination and Willpower to win. Something which is above all else and many other footballers. Give keano not a 50-50 ball, but even a 1-99 ball and he ll still go for it.
Not many people know, maybe except my soccer khakis, that keano was a real inspiration to me both on the football pitch and in my life. I always felt that i could identify with him, perhaps thats why i like him so much. He was someone whom i felt u could really count on, even when e chips were down.
The 2 most memorable and outstanding matches which i felt Keane played in were the group qualifying match vs bayern munich, and the semi-final match vs juventus in the 1999 champions league, where united won the treble.
Against bayern, United needed at least a draw to progress through to the knockout stages, and keane i rem, was the one who smashed in a wonderful long range shot to ensure qualification. His all round play was superb that night as well, and united fans realize that how vital it was to renew his contract.
Against the old lady, i rem in 1999 then juve was really the team to beat, not real madrid. Somemore they were playing at home in turin, where no other European team had beaten them that season. Add to the fact that juve got 2 early goals thru the offside man Inzaghi (i have never liked him as long as i can rem). But keane inspired a comeback win for united, by heading in the first away goal from a corner, and then winning the midfield battle against Davids and Zidance, who were then in the prime of their careers. He then received a yellow card halfway thru the match, which meant he ll have to miss the final, but still he kept his head up and led the team to victory. I read somewhere later on that the suspension from the final was one of the biggest disappointments of his career..
So there, keano..a real man and champion. He may have his flaws, but so do all of us.
Thanks for the service to United the past 12 years, thanks for the inspiration, thanks for the lessons...
Most of all, thanks for the memories :p you ll forever be one of the greatest manchester united players and captains...
KEANO!! KEANO!! KEANO!!!
What have I been doing since the end of exams since thurs?
haha
non-stop action..mahjong..gaming..working..exercising..
is it a form of escape hocky?
Maybe..
Have i been happy that the exams ended?
Strangely no..
In fact, it seems to me that this is the least happy post-exams for me among the 3 semesters..hmm i could still be wrong though..lotsa activities to look foward to..
sadly for me, i am no longer able to blog e way i liked in the past..so many things weighing heavily in my heart, yet i am unable to write them down.
Call up others for advice?
Pride is stopping me i think..
Dear God, tell me what i should do. I cannot find the answers. Yet i realize i must.
I am angry, irritated, frustrated, yet sad, very very sad, helpless.. but yet i cannot show e world how i feel.
What should i do?
Have i not made the first move already? Have i not??????
What else can i do?
Dear God please give me some answers...
i dun want to lose him...........
But am i being selfish when i think this way? I dun want to affect his future prospects, but yet..i want him to stay for this journey ahead, so that he ll realize why everything would have been worth it...when fop comes...when we step down at thank you dinner...i want him to be stronger..want him to grow with e rest of us..i want him to unleash the tremendous potential he has inside of him...
i hate to admit it...but i ll miss him....
Dear God, help me..please..i need answers..
Sunday, November 20, 2005
2 papers down, 3 to go, wooohoooo~~ =)
i m the kind of person who doesnt get too affected by my papers after they are done. Coz i believe that once the papers are over, there's nothing pretty much which you can do. My Dynamics paper in the morning was open book, but thats e prob. Coz there s so many things to write, such that i couldnt finish my final essay. As for PS ICA, i m glad that it went fine, coz i really didnt waste my efforts studying~ And to me, this first dae of the exam was the toughest coz i have these 2 papers on the same dae, and ICA, being a level 3000 mod, means its harder to study and faces greater competition with all the PS majors.
anyway, its over. Yeah man! I had a good short break after e papers..Time to go back to mug again liao. Oh well, as you grow more seasoned to Uni exams, u realize they are just part and parcel of life. I rem during my first ever semester as a freshie, I was quite kan chiong bout my papers too, but just an advice to any freshie reading this...Dun be too upset or think its e end of the world if you dun do well in this first sem, coz there are still a few more semesters for you to buck up and catch up.
"The heights by great men reached and kept were not obtained by sudden flight.
But they, while their companions slept,
were toiling upward in the night"
- Thomas S. Monson
How true.
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Isnt it amazing how a person can take 2 months without finishing a single reading and 2 days to finish an entire coursepack?
=)
to all my frenz, all the best for yr exams!
Put aside all troubles and worries temporarily on shelf k! (..cant believe this is the 3rd consecutive exam something major crops up to me before my papers....)
I m starting on Sat with 2 papers, and whadda ya noe, ending on 24th thursday~
HAHAHAHA, WHICH MEANS MY EXAMS END IN 1 WEEK!! WAHHAHAHAHAHA
P.S: Actually i never liked a packed exam..but heck lah, shud milk as much as i can now ahhahaha.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
It feels good to do well in my History and Intro to IR essays..now left 1 more pa essay havent get back yet...
been a long tiring day todae somehow...
Thoughts.
Feelings.
Reflections.
Riding at night is one of the best feelings in the world..it makes me think of lots of things too..
I saw a friend whom I havent seen for a few months todae..and i realize that that person hasnt changed much since the last time we met..
Back to mugging...
Monday, November 14, 2005
i havent blog in more than a week!! heh heh heh, even though i have lots to say.
i shall sum it up in a few lines.
1) I m glad to know a colleague of mine Jason, whos 28 years old, at paradigm and we have been getting along real fine these days. He has been thru some tough times and i have been learning a lot of lessons in life from him.
2) My exams are in less than a week, and this is the first time i am going into an examination so unprepared, unlike my jc days, and the past 2 sems. But strangely, I am eerily unfazed....
3) My cousin got married yesterday and i am so happy for him!! :p And i got to sit at the vip table with him and his bride at the wedding dinner haha..so exciting. It was overall a great experience the whole of yesterday, from the tea ceremony right up to the dinner. After a decade without going for a wedding dinner, I finally understood more clearly why this was a day sought after by almost all the women in the world. The wonders of marriage...wow..I was truly impressed yesterdae.
Seeing my cousin's bride walk down the aisle together with him hand in hand, dressed in a beautiful gown, and looking so so beautiful, with the touching music in the background, with numerous cameras flashing, with over 400 frenz and relatives applauding with gusto, with both their respective parents looking so so happy having seen their once little kids now on their own...
My god... what a truly touching and beautiful sight.
I havent seen my uncle so happy in a long time. It must have felt really really special to see your own son or daughter getting married. Its like, you know, your job as a parent has been done.
Oh yah, and during earlier in the day, during the tea ceremony, my aunt's mum came as well! She s like, 92 years old and a funky granny i must say haha..It was touching as well for her, to see her grandson got married...during the serving of tea, she was like grabbing both the bride and her grandson's hands together, and telling them in teochew to take care of each other for the rest of their life...it was really a very sweet sight..
And yah..back to my cousin's bride walking down the aisle...I have seen her past photos, and really, she looks gorgeous and stunning yesterdae realli..I guess this is what they call the "glowing blissful beauty" of marriage..
And as she walked down the aisle, I think she teared.....
This is the day girls dream of ever since they were young..and this is the day women will remember for the rest of their lives...and one day when they are 90 years old with grandsons and looking back, they will realize that these are the moments which makes life so sweet, wonderful, and meaningful. I like to use the term "essence of life" to describe these moments...
And for the guys, bloody hell better start saving up if u intend to get married by 32 heh. Eh wedding not cheap leh. Estimated costs for a comfortable wedding is
$180, 000.
heh, what happened to my "few lines"???? I feel really happy for my cousin and i wish them all the best for the rest of their lives!
Saturday, November 05, 2005
yeah man, after one whole weeek of essays, finally they are all done!! i was so happy on wed after i finished all of them, partly coz i could once again return to concentrate whole heartedly on club stuff..and it made me so happy haha..Realized that i am enjoying more and more of my work, and my job scope. Last year there were a lot of times when i felt v stifled by IFG..not that i dislike to do IFG, just that i felt that i could do much more, and much better in other areas.
everydae seeing the 26th com grow closer..and seeing what they are doing for the Club..seeing the process they are going thru.. reminds me of why i re-ran in the first place..reminds me of the journey i took one year ago..
seeing all of this gives me the strength to carry on.
The real test will come at FOP 2006 though.
Sub-consciously realized that recently i have been sleeping quite well (haha act at least for the past 2 days)..And i mean really well..Unlike during rop, elections, e handover period that time..Now that things are more settled and smooth..and i feel really happy about this! :p
