recently, a couple of my friends commented that there has been an increase of sleazy reports in singaporean newspapers. various stories of underground prostitution, mistressess, and statuatory rape cases had been reported with considerable column inches in the papars.

has squeaky clean singapore cleaned into a sleaze hub overnight?

well, i doubt very much so. the reason behind such an so called 'increase' in sleazy reports would be that with the loosening of the censorship board standards, there is less of the self censorship that editors had to keep to previously. thus the increase in such reports as after all sex sells. thats an undeniable fact.

the point here being, singapore, whether u like it or not, has a seedier side to it and it has been so for as long as one can remember, with colonial roots.

its so near chinese new year now but shall blog instead on football! the recent man utd vs liverpool match that i witnessed 'live' in the comforts of home.

the latest installment of this eternal rivalry was played out 3 days back. pool went into the match with a envious record of taking 13 of the 15 points on offer in the league. contrast this with utd's morale sapping derby loss the previous matchday and you were get a less then rosy picture from the utd fan's point of view.

lots of noises were heard from anfield with various players making their statement of intent, a few choice ones were, reina's conclusion that rooney isnt one of the league's best and gerrard's musings about utd not being the utd of old. with the benefit of hindsight, they do look pretty with their foot in their mouths when they make public such statements.

utd on the other hand was just soaking it all up and waiting for the chance to let their brand of football do the talking in front of their adoring fans. what an apt backdrop the theatre of dreams is to the stuff that were to be unfolded in the 90 minutes....

the start was cagey with both sides trying to suss each other out with tentative passing and not much goal mouth action. it all sprang to life near the half an hour mark when a magnificent 30 yard pass from gerrard found cisse in the utd penalty box. the ensuring flick cum shot from cisse was disappointing to say the least as it failed to beat the van der sar from close range.

it was only in the 1st minute of 1st half injury time that utd fashioned their 1st decent chance of the match. giggs' perfect ball over the top of the pool back line saw van nistelrooy run free in the box but alas, hypia did just enough to put the dutchman off and he delayed his shot thus making it nothing more then a routine save for the pool keeper.

saha's introduction at the expense of o'shea at the start of the second half showed ferguson's intentions in no uncertain terms. the closest pool came to scoring was in the 66th minute when a sissoko through ball found morientes, a substitue for the ineffective crouch, whose shot beat van der sar but ferdinard was on hand to clear from the goal line. failure to clear the loose ball enabled kewell to ping the ball goal wards again. this time van der sar mananged to make the save ableit a desparate one, but only managed to parry it into the unmarked cisse's path in the six yard box.

the moment for cisse to cover himself in glory ended when he blasted the ball high high into the cool manchester sky. how did he managed to miss that?? old trafford breathed a collective sigh of relief.

the next significant utd effort was a 25 yard rooney screamer that had reina scrambling across the goalline in the 80th minute. it was just a warning for what was to happen.

utd was awarded a free kick on the left channel in the 1st minute of injury time. with giggs standing over the ball, there was no question that it was going to be send into the penalty box unerringly. the only question was that is there anyone in a red shirt that will convert the chance.

as the saying goes, cometh the moment, cometh the man. up went ferdinard who powered a unstoppable header off giggs' cross that all reina could do was to help it into the net.

old trafford erupted with all its might. the breakthrough came and it came at an important time. a time where pool had just switched off at the back.

minutes later, the final whistle went and the job was done. another 3 points off the nearest challenger for that final automatic champion's league spot and a reminder to those who think they can write off manchester united.

tis is the new year again, i must have endured quite a few new years in my lifetime to feel so fatigued by it.

nonetheless, i still haven got tired of setting new year resolutions. the only reason being i have never ever accomplished my new year resolutions.

so here goes,
be a better person.....

gosh, tis is a such a all encompassing one that i would be well off if i just accomplish a quarter of it. haha, a dearth of creativity here..

the holidays are almost over...time to look forward and at the same time take stock of what have happened and continue on with life.

been doing all the things that i shld not be doing, keeping late nights, mahjong, sleeping in almost every other day, so much so, to the extent that the powers that be in the home isnt too happy with me. yah...shld not mahjong convenor for some time to come...

2 long lost fren came over for mahjong today, long lost meaning not much contact since JC times..those 2 were brought over by a sec sch fren of mine..well...the world is just so damn small..lotsa catching up to do..and so..i lost money. hahahaha.first time in a long long time, i have lost, hope it isnt the start of a losing streak and tt its just an aberration. a blip.

sometimes, in my life, there are times when i have gone against better judgement and did things that are not correct per se and regret doing it. after the regreting, the willing to not to commit the same action begins, and yah, u guessed it, the breaking of the promise not to do it again ensues.

this reminds me of Pip in great expectations, i am of cos not talking abt ethan hawke not paltrow here.. i am talkin abt the literary character. always being made to feel guilty and yet keep doing things that are perceived to be wrong and getting sucked into the vicious cycle...

of cos, that would be so unlike me to be sucked into such a vicious cycle...i am wayyyyyyyy too smart for that...or i hope.

last monday, i got caught on my shin while playing soccer. read as i injured my shin while playing non competitive soccer. quite bad..can feel the swollen lump underneath the skin..then 2 days back..i got kick again at the exact same spot!!! it was luckily not a full blooded kick but it wasnt a wimpy kick either..shit...now really comtemplating if i shld seek medical attention. crappy things that happens.

a fren has left..for greener pastures abroad..wun be seeing his ass for 8 months...and another coming back after half a yr abroad... so...zero sum applies.. cant complaint too much too.

frens ard me have complainting or bitching abt the messy rltnshps that seems rampant nowadays. the way i see it, the messier it is, the better it is. hahaha. cos it makes for easy conclusions at the end of it. hahaha...of cos, i am just trying to be funny/ controversal here...

time to check out and pack it off.

cya.