Underneath the Stars - Apple & Orange

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Signs of getting old

9:28 PM

Had wanted to write something like this for a long time. Got this feeling of getting older by the day especially with the "dreaded 30" fast approaching. How ironic that you wished you were older when you were just a young punk and wishing you will stop aging when you get older.

You know you are getting older when:

1. you can't even remember some stuff that you had told your friends or other half just days ago. My baby can testify to this. Haha.

2. you start to "compete" with those uncles and aunties on getting to the escalators at MRT stations especially during morning rush hours. This may be a sign of getting old or simply just a way of surviving in Singapore. (Last time when I still young, will always give way and sometimes wait until cows come home also not my turn lor.)

3. you thought Restaurant City is a new restaurant that had opened in Orchard. I personally lost interest in Facebook and its numerous applications donkey years ago. Nowadays go into Facebook is just to confirm friend request. Dun really understand why others can stay in Facebook for like hours while I can log off in 5 mins (and that is the max).

4. you start to say "these youngsters or young punks hor...." or "when I was still young hor..." in conversations with your friends. Damn. This really makes me feel old and did I say something like this earlier? Shit.

5. you said you last cheong at Ministry of Sound/Sparks/Canto/China Black/Double O/Mdm Wong/Wong Shan (Please delete where applicable). I am totally out of sync with the nightlife nowadays and the latest cheong place that I can tell my friends is Dragonfly. Haha.

6. a karang guni uncle who is much (x 100 times) older than you asked you "Uncle, you got anything you want to sell boh?". Please lor... Even if I got something to sell, I won't sell you lor!

7. a current picture of yourself and a picture of yourself 5 years ago looks like those before-and-after photos in some advertisments by some beauty and wellness centre. I hate my former colleague for putting up the photo we took 5 years ago in Facebook.

8. you prefer briefs over boxers. Heard in a Taiwanese variety show hosted by Tao-zi that only the older generation wear briefs nowadays and boxers are now the in-thing. I, for one, can't seem to fathom the idea of wearing another pair of shorts inside your jeans/pants/berms. Hot leh...

9. the DJ at the radio station announced a classic, i.e. oldies, love song is to be played and you are, unfortunately, able to sing along with it. Not only songs on radio, even at karaoke, I prefer to sing not-so-new songs liao.

10. you look at the above nine points and say "me too leh!". Welcome to the club! =)

Chipmunk

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

REALly gone

9:59 PM

Last week. Thursday. Switch on PC. Went to ESPN Soccernet. And what came next was I think heartache.

"United accepts Ronaldo bid"

Many Man Utd fans, including yours truly, had been expecting it but I guessed it is still mind-numbing when it really happens. This is especially so when Real Madrid had previously smashed the world record transfer just a few days ago when they bought Kaka from AC Milan for 56m pounds.

Recovering from my shock, I smsed Baby (who's a Ronaldo fan) about the news and that I don't miss him as much as compared to the departure of David Beckham and Ruud Van Nistelrooy. Perhaps it is due to the fact that I have never been a true fan of him. As much as he is gifted, pouting and flapping his hands like a little kid when he lost the ball or his team mates did not anticipate his movement, diving at the slightest touch (and sometimes invisible touch!) etc just dun endear to me, unlike players like Scholes or Vidic. Besides, who can forget his courting of Real Madrid at the end of last season, which really showed disrespect to Man Utd as a club. But i must reiterate that it is still a huge loss to Man Utd.

Ronaldo's move to Real Madrid was not only due to sporting reasons (galaticos project), but also to financial reasons. Reports have indicated that Ronaldo's contract includes a 25% yearly increment in salary and at the end of his contract, he will be earning a whooping 500,000+ pounds PER WEEK, which translates to almost S$1m! It's like....... striking Toto every week! No wonder Ronaldo in the picture looks like he's saying I will be crazy not to go!

Another financial reason touted was the tax increase in Britain. Apparently, high earners will have to pay a 50% (and here we are complaining about how high our taxes are) income tax, an increase of 10%. This worked out to be some 2m pounds loss for Ronaldo had he stayed in England. On the football side, Real Madrid is certainly brewing something big (but RM should really buy some decent defenders to complement the array of attacking talent) and every player, including Ronaldo, would be interested to be part of it. And Ronaldo has won everything with Man Utd, be it in Europe or England, so he might appreciate a new challenge. I think Man Utd fans should really thank him for his service and wished him the best of luck in the future.

Now his replacement. Several names have been touted - Franck Ribery, Karim Benzema, Antonio Valencia, David Silva etc. Now if it is just to boost the morale of supporters and players after the departure of Ronaldo, any of them (bar Valencia) would be a good choice. But my choice, which will surprise many, will be to give Nani more playing time. Nani might be too stressed by the comparisons by the media and fans when Ronaldo was still at the club and now might be the right time to unleash him. I might be wrong but at least give him a chance to show what he can do rather than buying a big name, which will not come cheap - Ribery @ 70m pounds, Benzema @ 40m pounds, David Silva @ 25m pounds and even Valencia is commanding 20m pounds.

Now did I just hear someone say recession?

Chipmunk

Monday, June 15, 2009

Baba King Nonya Deli

9:59 PM

Just had a gathering with my secondary school mates + Don at Baba King Nonya Deli @ Singapore Expo. Reason for gathering? CY gonna take off for Japan in end June for a student exchange programme that I thought I heard him saying that he didn't sign up for it. Anyway, poor Xiuying (CY's fiancee) got to endure for two months, but hey, Skype and MSN will soften your pain I guess.

Don & Yiqing

Long-ge & CY

Yiqing & Long-ge

Doug & me

Whole gang

Back to Baba King. This is a Nonya Restaurant that I suggested going after looking at its reviews on hungrygowhere.com. Was actually worried that the food might not be as nice and everybody will wallop me for a "good recommendation"! Proved that my worry was unfounded as the food there was quite delicious! We had fish otak (heavenly!), kang kong, duck sioh, soft shell crab, ngoh hiang, green curry chicken, chap chye, fish assam thingy and all for a reasonable price too. Oh, Don kept saying the white rice was the most delicious and I nearly threw the green chicken curry at him! haha... Didn't had the chance to take photos of the food as I was busy eating and by the time I remembered, the food was all gone!

Kang Kong (Notice the nice white rice? hehe)

Green Chicken Curry (ok.. pic might not be that nice but it tasted nice!)

Fish Assam Curry

Fish Otak!!!!!!

Guys, we really should get together more often as it was fun catching up with all of you! Till then...

P.S. - Talking about blogging, CY mentioned I keep starting my posts along the line of "I will strive to write regularly for my blog". Haha.. nice observation.. I didnt write for this post so no shooting myself in the foot again! haha..

Chipmunk