Moblog: Masak masak

My new toy...ASUS A8FM

Formations, tactics and mind games

Wilfing on the web, the new British pastime | Technology | Guardian Unlimited Technology

Right, I finally found a term to call my spending-too-much-time-online-accomplishing-nothing habit.

Speaking of which,I really do have to read up a bit on my work, and look out for some useful information about my company. This is because I have finally been selected for an interview for promotion.

I've been getting great encouragement from my colleagues and also tips on how to best stand out during the interview. My strategy, if I decide to use it, would be self-deprecating humour. I figure many of the candidates are gonna talk themselves up during the Q&A, so me walking into the room and trying to outshine those before myself would probably fall flat as the interviewers would see more of the same narcissistic attempts.

Of course I'm not gonna be too negative about myself, I just wanna stand out amongst the rest of the pack eyeing the few openings available at the supervisory level.

Perhaps I'll draw some inspiration from Arsenal...

Whaddya think??

St. Totteringham's Day

So after some careful calculations, Arsenal Singapore has come to the conclusion that yesterday's draw in effect was St Totteringham's Day!

Enjoy it Gooners, despite the 2 pts dropped within 2 seconds..

2 live crew

So after watching the match at Liz Pub, where Arsenal drew the Spuds, I went on down to The Pump Room at the Cannery.

There was a large crowd of ang moh celebrating a birthday, with costumes and all. I think without them jokers the place would have been d ghost town. At least, with them around, the dancefloor was packed, and some locals were more encouraged to groove it out instead of shimmying at their own tables.

Jive Talking is the resident band here. Their repertoire consists of mostly top 40 covers, and after you watch them a few times you probably would know what song they gonna perform next. Still they have quite a following, with Addy Rasidi on the electric guitar being the focus of many ladies attention. Apparently another singer Abby gets the ladies hot under the collars too.

Addy came up to shake my hand and we exchanged pleasantries, he congratulated my Sis on her album, and I wished him good sales for his coming one. Nice fella.

They put in their best efforts I'm sure, but I suspect if they can really get the crowd going like last night, if not for the bunch of Ang Mo's on the floor.

It was Dragonfly next. Now this I looked forward to. The legendary William Scorpion was gonna perform, and I was hoping to be well entertained.

Unfortunately I was late getting there, and the band was into their last set. This involved all 3 singers performing on the stage together. There was William, who by all standards was a true performer. He could pick out the regulars from where he stood; giving them high fives, drinking with them(while on stage), and backing up the other singers.

Then Celeste, pretty lady with pretty face and a nice voice. She, if nothing, provided the eye candy.

And a forgettable "Ah Boy" who didn't do much except prance around and posed lots, with his best contribution being to mimic Jay Chou's "Huo Yuan Jia".

Still they whipped the crowd up into a frenzy. And what a crowd it was. Mostly consisting of the mandarin/cantonese speaking party goers, there guys with tinted hair, and young pretty girls in their short skirts.

An interesting night out, watching 2 live performances.

So where have you cheonged recently??

A taste of what's to come tonight?

Arsenal 3 Man City 1

Arsenal Singapore, represent yo!

It was a good day out to Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal. The sun was out, there was a cool breeze. I'd set off early from the hotel, in order to take in the sights and sounds of the ground around the Stadium.

Stalls were open selling all kinds of Arsenal memorabilia from vintage past to present day. The fragrant smells of oily burgers and frankfurters filled the crisp air. The tills rang loud at the pubs, and boisterous cheers were heard from fans of both sides. Police presence was high, as it should. Almost everyone whipped out a mobile phone or a digital camera to preserve the majestic image permanently.

I wore the Arsenal Singapore polo proudly, with a scarf around me neck.

A great day to win.

And how we won it! Granted, there were a some suspect defending and the crowd were getting tired of Eboue's antics. And whenever Baptista had the ball there were snigger's around the stand. Then, they struck! Rosicky pounced onto the 1st goal, Cesc volleyed in a beautiful 2nd, and Baptista (surprise, surprise) tapped one in for a 3rd.

I was seated in the upper tier, and there was a lack of vocal support here. Perhaps it has to do with the much higher price that the season ticket holders had to pay, thus consisting of a crowd who were more matured, and the cheers were less colourful than those at the lower podiums. Still, it was a fantastic view from up here. I was hoarse from all the shouting, bringing some local flavour to the match with my KNN's, NB's, WLE's...


Towards the end, with 10min left on the clock and the game in the bag, people started streaming out of the stadium to beat the snarling traffic. It does seem quite rude to the players sweating it out on the pitch to be doing that. However, it was a weekday evening match and Emirates Stadium had in attendance 55913 fans. Surely even getting out of the stadium would take half an hour!

I lingered a bit longer in the stands, taking a few snapshots and being a guest scorer for SGGooner. So far Arsenal have not lost the 2 times I watched them in London, the first being the draw against Spuds at Highbury. A nice record, if I do say so myself.

After the match I went the longer way to escape the long line at Arsenal tube station. Came across this burger stand and settled my dinner with a bacon burger. Across the road, The Auld Triangle still had a huge after match crowd discussing the match just ended. I suppose they lived in the neighbourhood, lucky fellas...

I had to go back the next day to shop for merchandise. Racked up quite a bill on my plastic, as usual...And I'm sure you know now that Arsenal Singapore got mentioned in the match day programme. I've bought extras if anyone would like the hard copy as a memento.

I'm flying back in time for the clash againt Spuds on Saturday at Liz Pub. Will we be celebrating St. Totteringham's Day at White Shite Lane?

Photos here on my Flickr.

Moblog: 3-1

Reporting from Emirates Stadium, home of The Arsenal!

Moblog: Are we there yet?!

Ready for kick off!

With bated breathe...

Gasp!

I could be on my way to Emirates for the coming Man City match.

Thank you Ashley!

3 points is important, if we are to face off with Spuds with some gusto this coming Sat.

Will be moblogging from the match!

Watch this space!

NB Steve-O my fren says it should be 'baited' instead of 'bated'. Sorry ah AhTiong england a bit buay gan type...

7 hour itch

I'd just went through 7 hours of torture. My hands were sweaty, my fingers itching, my throat was dry, and I couldn't function properly.

Why??

I had left my mobile phone at home when I went out.

It's always been there in my right pocket. The textured feel of the keypads comfort me when my hand is tucked in. In it's absence, the fingers just dunno what to twiddle at in the pocket.

There I was in a mall full of people, yet feeling so disconnected from it all. I look on with envy at others fooling around with their little precious, and curse my own muddleheaded-ness.

In the madness of it all, I'd forgotten that there are other ways to stay in touch. The good 'ol coin phone. I almost (almost) yelped out in glee as the ten cent coin made it's way in and the familiar dial tones rang out as each digit on the payphone I pressed, with earnest.

So after rushing home from Yishun to Hougang, I immediately picked up my darling k800i and took a long, hard look at the screen...

Nabez...nobody messaged me!!!

Bo eng...

K so I'm off to Perth now.

Saturday night got wedding dinner to attend, then maybe can catch 2nd half of Arsenal v Bolton at Liz after that.

My Sis Shirlyn also launching her album at Timbre that same night.

Tsk... How deh like that??

Dumbfounded....

WTF??

The strikers couldn't make it, the midfielders didn't get close, the defenders tried their luck, and even the 'keeper had to come up to take a pot shot.

From aiming for 3rd, we are now left fighting for 4th.

When the whistle blew at the Emirates, you could hear a pin drop at The Elizabeth Pub.

2 words: Gek Sim

Gooners, they're everywhere!!

First one of 'em dukes it out on TV...






Then the others gets to go on TV...


Still, some get interviews, with hard probing questions...

8) Club(s) you hate? Feel free to erm... express yourself.

Spurs - pui

ManYoo - pui pui

Chey-si- pui chow nua pui pui pui!

Click here for more

Resistance is futile, come to the light....

Newfound Jealousy album launch at Wala Wala

I was happy to be part of this launch, catered for invited guests and media. As we took our seats, watching the many creative people involved setting up for the night, I couldn't help but feel proud that Shirlyn has began her baby steps into the media spotlight.

Jack of EIC took over the hosting for the night, and introduced Shirlyn and the band playing with her for the night. There's Brandon Khoo on drums, Colin Teo on bass, Joan Chew with her violin and Addy Rasidi, lead guitar. She kicked off the night with 3 of her songs from her album.

The captive audience lapped it up, many are fans who's been following her for quite a while. Like Rajeev and Hock Leng. They follow her wherever Shirlyn goes, and am sure they are happy for her too on her launch.


After the set there was a small presentation of her new website where there's a chunk load of info about her new single album. It's at http://shirlyntan.com and if you go in there's samplings of her music too. Very nicely done! We even saw the music video for "Window"! Hopefully the general public will be able to see it soon.

Then came the speech part. There were plenty of people she wanted to thank, and whoever she missed out her manager Chris picked up afterwards. Just as well it was a closed set, as the list seemed to go on and on. I can understand, cuz it took many people to believe in my baby Sister to make this album possible.

CD sales was brisk. I'll be doing my part hawking it this Sat at the Esplanade.

You be getting a copy, right??

Hi, my name is Anonymous

"In internet terminology, a troll is someone who posts derogatory or otherwise inflammatory messages about sensitive topics in an established online community such as an online discussion forum to bait users into responding."
-Wikipedia

Most times they are a waste of time.

Spunky does good

Yes it's her 2nd album. This time however, she's going it alone. I'm soooo gonna ask you people to buy her album when it launches on the 7th April.

Gunners down, Arsenal Singapore up.

I was part of the launch at last night's Arsenal Singapore launch. Arrived much earlier than 2pm, waiting to give my lungs a workout blowing up all them balloons to dress up the pub. The staff at Liz Pub were also putting up the final touches for the event at night.

Slowly the rest of the volunteers streamed in. Despite some having to come from work, all were in high spirits. Amongst all the preparations, the fine staff from Modesto kept us going with drinks, pizzas and yummy chicken wings.

We kept on going till around 5pm, then the staff from ESPN and StarSports began to arrive to set up their cameras. Sharkee, Jamie and Glenn Ong were on deck too, adding a bit of glam to the night.

SGGooner started putting us through our paces and reminded us about our duties. I was supposed to welcome visitors to the Club with Shai. A jug of Tiger was always nearby to fuel our high for the launch.

Whilst carrying out my duties I met and spoke with a few who came by the pub. There were boys enlisting for National Service, couples who support opposing teams (and came down wearing their jerseys!), whole families who signed up! This tall gentlemen who brought his son along told me he always makes a trip to watch an Arsenal match at least once a year, sorta like a pilgrimage. In fact there were many little children ( junior gooners?) having a good time, taking small sips of the Singooner mocktails and playing around with the red and white balloons. I scared a few away with the wig I was wearing.

Yes, the wig got some attention. Enough to be put on camera with Jamie Yeo! Yes, I was pulled by the camera crew to do a short segment in some pre-match thrash talking against a Pool fan. The mugs of Tiger I had before helped. It was quite fun, we did it in 2 takes. Not bad eh. In fact many of the Arsenal Gooners got on camera. Watch out for them on Football Crazy and Football Extra.

Then the arrival of guests. Some big shot from Tiger Singapore, Ashok the owner of Modesto, Glenn Ong as MC, Hassan, Al, Kev and Tiger gals got in front of a very nice cake and got things under way amidst giant poppers spewing out confetti. The cake should taste nice, for it was gone in a flash when they placed it outside at the buffet table. Trust Singaporeans to do a good job there.

The main event ie. the match was played on 3 big screens inside the pub and at the pool area. We did badly, and lost 4-1 to Liverpool. Would've been the icing on the cake if we won the 4th time against them, but that's football for you.

We did have some mini draws during the half and after the match. Jugs of beer, pizzas, Class95 goody bags, and Arsenal memorabilia were given away. It was very generous of the members to donate their precious Arsenal items for the draw, and I hope whoever won them will cherish it.

After the dust settled and while some team called Manure were playing, the crowd went on home and the cast of Arsenal Singapore took stock of a great night out, with complimentary beer too! The numbers who signed up were encouraging, a ball park figure of 150.

We are hoping many more will come to kua kiu with us in the future.

More pictures on my Flickr here.