Field Day with FIFA

So, I got a job at SIM as a Facilities Officer. I’m guessing my job scope would be just making sure the facilities work. Way to go, Captain Obvious.

Its another few more months before I enlist into NS. That’s why I looked for a job. Why the obviousness today? Hmmm…

Anyway, this World Cup has been disappointing. For the English squad, in the least. They just barely squeezed through to the round of 16, and got kicked out of the tournament with just a shred of dignity.

More than anything else, I was furious with the way they played. Never have I seen a less tactically organized team, or so they appeared to be. Germany was the country beating them with a big ugly stick and England looked like a little boy trying to fend off the blows with his meek physique.

The only consolations for the Three Lions were that they officially managed to pierce the German wall once.

Officially because just before the first half ended, Lampard made a shot that obviously went over the goal line and into the goal! It could’ve been 2-2!

But, no. The referee and the blundering linesmen decided to award no goal. It wasn’t a close call, it was IN. They got it on camera and this wasn’t the kind of video quality that allowed Maradona to keep people guessing whether he scored with his hand. This was indisputable proof. Heh. Getting all fired up just typing about it.

“The human aspect of football is essential to this sport. The big moments in this sport – whatever they are – get supporters talking and go down in history. That’s what makes this sport so vibrant.”

-Jonathan Ford of the Football Association of Wales

What??? Of course the human aspect is important! What the **** are you blabbering about?? The human aspects people want to see are the skills, strength, agility and passion of the PLAYERS. The supporters will only, in the end, talk about how unlucky that that damn referee never saw the goal, or never saw that off-side.

“We were all agreed that technology shouldn’t enter football because we want football to remain human, which is what makes it great. The fans keep talking about these matches again and again, and relive them.”

-Patrick Nelson of the Irish Football Association

Can’t you(FIFA) imitate how umpiring has been so efficiently maintained in professional tennis? They use hawk-eye, a technology that utilizes cameras placed around the stadium to track the flight path of the ball. It is accurate to the millimeter. Here comes the good part. Players are allowed only 3 challenges in a set to question a called. The challenge is displayed on a screen for ALL TO SEE. If they are right, they keep the challenge. They are wrong, they get one challenge taken away from them. Simple enough?

How traditional do you want it to get? You want the shorts back? You want the dismal security back? You want the one pixel per centimeter video quality back? We want the right calls. The fans all seek truth and resolution.

Of course, you can’t decide whether a foul is or not with technology. Not yet. That is an aspect you can’t change yet, we know that! But change what you can! Change the way refereeing works!

“If we introduced technology for goal-line situations, then why not use it for other situations?” said Valcke. “Use it for offsides and contentious moments and you end up with video evidence. That’s not what was decided. We want to keep the game as it is.” Ford echoed those thoughts: “We don’t want the game to be interrupted countless times.”

The game is already interrupted countless times with free throws, setting up of balls, substitutions and the, oh of course, endless bickering of players who thought that the ball was 2000 meters over the goal-line, or that they weren’t offside because their feet were still in line.

Use it to change something bad into something good. Heck, the audience has a good time looking at Hawk-eye’s display in professional tennis!

Technology is NOT a bad thing!

Be a Child

We all have the capacity to love, care, hurt, or bear contempt.

Just today I went for the TYA(Touch Young Arrows) camp. I woke up at 6.30 a.m. and headed to where Tobie arranged to meet me. His mom picked me up and dropped the both of us at Ngee Ann Primary School, where the camp was into its second last day.

We trudged into the school, not knowing what to expect, really.

Still, at 7.50 a.m. in the morning, there wasn’t much to expect. Everyone was having breakfast, preparing for the trip ahead. We were going for a hike at Hort Park!

Fast-forward to hiking at Hort Park…

Hiking was not the word I would use to describe the timing at Hort Park. It was more of a drag people cum hiking session. The kids were whiny, hungry and excited all at the same time. The kids were incredible, but the leaders/counselors held out.

The highlight of the day for me was definitely my reminiscing of my NPCC days during lunch. We cooked using the same old mess tins, stoves and solid fuels in field cooking years ago.

After that, everything else was routine.

What was routine also, was the thought that always comes around when young children are around me. How precious, how lovely are children. Innocent and carefree, loved by our God. Jesus said, “Let the children come to me.” I’m not sure if it was the proper verse, but in the proper context.

The loss of innocence. Its one of those things where, once lost, can never be found again. So, be a child. When people tell you that its adult business, don’t try to grow up too quickly to find out. Be a child.

Beauty and Distortion

Ole, ole ole ole, ole ole~

Oh yeah, you guessed it! Its the 2010 FIFA World Cup! Kicking off tonight will be hosts South Africa versus Mexico! Actually I’m not really that much into it as I am into Wimbledon, which is coming up soon as well. But it is still nice to get into the hype of a prestigious event once ever 4 years!

However, the spoils of the sport are still seen even in the World Cup! Not too long ago, 15 fans were injured in a crowd rush in a warm-up match between Nigeria and North Korea.

Other news like this have also surfaced. What is wrong with you fans? Believe or not, people are going to die during this World Cup, fans and bystanders alike. And its not only this year’s World Cup that’s been like that for sure.

Senseless rioting in the streets is really a common occurrence during this period. Just because your country lost doesn’t mean you can go rioting in the streets. Just because you lost a bet voting for England(often happens, heh) doesn’t mean you can throw cocktail bombs and pillage houses!

Really! Go crazy for the World Cup, but please stay mentally sane!

Anyway, I’ll still be supporting England. Really senseless choice right? But, there’s a saying that whatever football club, or in this case, country, you support as a child will stick with you for the rest of your life. Its just innate human nature!

This is all the Beauty and Distortion of the sport.

Hot, hot, hot. Lemonade.

Oh the heat! Singapore is just hot! Sun-tanning in these sort of conditions would turn you into ash. Its just crazy hot! Today I as I walked under the shelter of a bus stop, I grimaced at the hot sun bearing down on the people outside, making its presence known.

“Yeah, we know you’re there, sun. Just, chill out, okay?”

I was afraid that if I put my hand out into the rays of the sun, it would start melting and soon I’d be left with just bones for a hand.

Other than All That

I think I’m such a nerd sometimes. The girl I like asked me out a while ago, and I have absolutely no idea where to go or what to do with her. Ironic, isn’t it? I think about her all the time and now that she’s outta my mind and in real-life I don’t know what to do! Absolutely frustrating!

Its just pandemonium in my head right now. And I just told her that we should just go to sleep first. Can you believe it? I just told my crush to sleep! While we still don’t have a place to go!

Other than all that, the feeling that she remembers and thinks of going out with me is just heart-melting and smile-inducing.

25 Things you should know about Other People

1. Most people hide their suffering better than you think, you pass dozens of people a day on the street without any idea how well they’re wearing their tragedies.

2. People’s names are the sweetest sounds they hear. You should make a point of being good at learning and using them.

3. People love to spread their misery around, but not as much as they enjoy being lifted out of it.

4. Being young is not in and of itself an achievement. Neither is being beautiful. But people often treat you as if they are.

5. For a lot of people, music is a reflection of who they are and their relationship to life. Remember that before insulting someone’s favorite band.

6. The Golden Age never existed. People are always trying to get back to a time when things were simpler and better. The world was a far more dangerous place fifty years ago, especially if you were black or a woman or gay or diagnosed with cancer.

7. Most people, whatever their choice of profession, feel like complete novices that are about to be found out as frauds and fakers.

8. Most people love quite helplessly, despite what they would have you believe.

9. Show me the most beautiful woman in the world, and I’ll show you a man who’s bored with taking her to bed. Show me the most devoted husband, and I’ll show you a woman who feels that he’s just not doing enough. A lot of people are never satisfied because…

10. Most people have no idea what they want out of life, let alone how to get it. Most others are still waiting for someone to give them permission.

11. Whatever it is about yourself that you’re trying to hide, it’s usually the first thing someone else notices about you.

12. You should call your mother and tell her you love her. Like most women who decide to marry and have children or help take care of a dying parent, she probably sacrificed a lot of her dreams to be there for you, and she wishes that you appreciated her more for it. Susan Boyle represented this demographic powerfully, but for every one of her, was a woman like your mother who will never get that standing ovation.

13. If you tell a man about your problems, he assumes you want some sort of help or advice. If you tell a woman about your problems, she assumes you simply want a shoulder to cry on. Women rarely want to be told what to do about a problem, and men rarely want to be coddled through a hard time.

14. Creative people thrive on feedback. You can never give them enough of it, and you will endear yourselves to them mightily if you do it frequently, thoughtfully, and honestly. They understand far better than most think, the value of time.

15. For most people religion is a social commitment more than a spiritual one.

16. A lot of people who consider themselves intelligent can’t properly label all the states on a map, or all the countries in Europe, let alone Africa or the Middle East. Most couldn’t list off the ten commandments, five pilars, or the amendments of the Constitution, and feel that politics are too complicated to bother with understanding, let alone talking about.

17. A lot of Christians have never, and will never, read the Bible. Most of them will conduct their lives exactly as they would if they’d never attended a single church service. It is nearly impossible to tell a Christian from an atheist by their actions alone. Both Christians and atheists will probably find the previous statement offensive.

18. For nearly every crazy idea, you can find a fully credentialed scientist who will back it up.

19. People are more frequently kind and compassionate than they are fooled by our manipulations or lies.

20. Life often works in reverse. People treat strangers more politely than their family or friends. People will ask a friend’s band to play their party for free, will call their best girlfriend to come over and cut their hair without a thought to payment, but would never dream of calling a mechanic they found in the phonebook and asking them to donate their time and labor to fix a broken down car.

21. Everyone has done something they would be desperately embarrassed for anyone else to know about.

22. Never joke with a man about his sexual performance, and never joke with a woman about her appearance. No matter how much they make fun of these things in themselves, never, never do it for them. They may laugh along with you, but you’ve just driven a tiny needle into their brain.

23. Most women get married because they want to have a wedding, most men get married because they are ready to settle down with a woman for the rest of their lives. Women, statistically speaking are more likely to suffer clinical depression if married, and initiate upwards of 80% of all divorces citing irreconcilable differences. People expect a significant other to change their lives and make them happy without any conception of how this change will take place. Sort of like assuming a college degree is going to guarantee you security in life without ever thinking of how this can be practically possible. I call this the “If you build it, they will come” approach to romance and one out of every two times it ends in divorce.

24. Most people are worried they’re not having as much fun as they should be. This usually makes men cheat and women nag.

25. When you insult or offend someone, always admit it and apologize promptly, even if it wasn’t your intention or you had no idea. It is always better to be a penitent villain than to appear so socially inept as to not recognize when you’ve hurt the people around you. An evil genius is someone to bring to your side, a blundering fool is someone to keep as far away from you as possible.

From Amanda’s Tumblr

This is really boring

No, I haven’t died. I just didn’t have anything interesting to update about.

Recently, I got the letter of acceptance into an NTU course and I’m really excited about it! I guess this is somewhat interesting. Heh. Church is now a weekly affair now that school is totally out of the way. I feel so guilty about this, you know. I only go back when I’m free or need prayer. Note to self: Don’t give yourself any reasons not to go to church on Sunday mornings!

Oh, and Jun Xian’s sister helped me to find a job! I’m going for the interview tomorrow morning. Wish me luck.

19 Things to do During Earth Hour

1. Listen to the Radio!
2. Facebook/Twitter
3. Try to take a dump and not come out dirty
4. ‘Accidentally’ kiss the person you like
5. Wear glow-in-the-dark pants/stickers/paint
6. Take a bath with 100 aromatic candles around your bathtub
7. Have a torchlight-saber fight. Choreographed, of course.
8. Annoy the neighbours next block by taking photos with flash
9. If you don’t have anyone at home, walk around naked
10. Exercise
11. Sexercise
12. Play Darts
13. Play the song ‘The Phantom of the Opera”
14. Have a drawing competition in the dark. Then later look through the debris of bad drawings and laugh.
15. Sparklers!
16. Light-sticks!
17. Look at the stars for the whole hour.
18. Try to paint your room a different color in the dark and laugh at the chaos later(and the mess)
19. Think about Earth Hour and what it means to you!

7 Reasons Why I Hate Injuries

I recently got an injury. Not from tennis really. It happened on yesterday when I went for tennis though. We didn’t get to play because of the blasted wet weather. So we just hit some volleys around. But then I had to crank my head to avoid a hit from a stray volley. At that moment, pain shot up my neck. Ouch.

Anyway, here’s my 7 reasons why I hate injuries:

1. It hurts. It just bloody hurts.
2. You can’t do things efficiently or the same way you did. You always have to do it a little bit slower, a little less. Like TENNIS.
3. Every time you forget you’re injured probably leads to a sudden movement of that injured part.
4. People laughing and scowling as you enter the already packed train with a neck cast the size of a turkey at thanksgiving.
5. Grandma’s “delicious” miracle healing bull penis, pig nose, sea cucumber, ginseng, fish guts soup.
6. “3, 2, 1….. YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOUCH!” “Alright, counter-pain patch removed!”
7. Getting a drink in the kitchen at night suddenly feels like crossing the Sahara Desert.

10 Reasons Why I Love Tennis

I thought I should do something like this. Heh.

1. I just love to hit tennis balls with my racket!
2. Tennis helps me to exercise my scrawny body
3. Daniela Hantuchova (Need I say more?)
4. Its just FUN!
5. Only you affect how you play. No other stupid glory hogger to make a mistake that leads to a loss.
6. It is a joy just to watch this man play.
7. Because I can make the ball move at 90mph!
8. Because I can roar my approval when I hit a forehand passing shot down the line.
9. Thousands of rackets to choose from.
10. Not many other sports where you can look good and play at the same time.