You’re probably wondering the same thing as I am.

And it was only a miserable $1.50 off per six-pack. And it did not apply to the non-carbonated ones, but I bought them anyway since I was too lazy to change them.

Oh well, at least I hope the isotonic drinks will get me started on running regularly again.

Supposed to be coming up with an entry. Instead, I spent at least an hour helping a Burmese nurse to set up her library account and e-mail account.

And no, she is not at all hot.

Yes, yes, yes! England has crashed out of the World Cup! The most overrated and overhyped collection of players will be taking a deserved early flight home. Those who consider England as one of the favourites to lift the ultimate prize in football either do not watch much football or watch way too much of the English Premier League. Anyway, the match itself was not exactly entertaining. It was quite a waste of more than two hours but the excitement of the penalty shootout went some way to compensating for that as I enjoy witnessing the drama of a penalty shootout or two in a European Championship / World Cup. I must say that Lampard had a lot of courage to step up for the first penalty but he might not have been the best candidate after having a wretched World Cup (more than twenty shots not resulting a goal and he added a penalty to that statistic).

I also caught the Germany VS Argentina penalty shootout after missing the rest of the match. The Germans were their usual impressive self and the Argentine team on the field did not exactly boast a lot of penalty takers. Based on the penalty shootout, Germany were value for their place in the semi-finals.

Anticipating a boring match, I polished off four 330 ml bottles of Heineken just before the Italy VS Ukraine game and actually dozed off shortly after Zambrotta scored. I am not a big fan of beer, but the vodka mixes on offer are awfully weak. I woke up a few minutes before the end of the match and according to my friend, I missed a rather entertaining match. Lesson learnt, stay away from alcohol when one is tired.

Brazil were disappointing against the French and simply could not find a way through the middle of the park, superbly patrolled by Vieira and Makelele. Not much else to talk about, apart from the stunning babe who seemed to be alone and left half an hour before the match and my friend lamenting “I had better savour this Big Breakfast since it cost me fifty-five bucks”. France got it right and the Brazilians had no answer to Henry’s goal.

I am quite glad that the semi-finals and the final will be shown on Channel 5. Almost all my World Cup viewings have taken place outside and I do not enjoy the crowd. For the group stages matches that were screened at or before midnight, there would be no seats near the television at food establishments at least forty minutes before kickoff (for my area, I think the figure goes up in places like Sengkang where coffeeshops are scarce), more if the match involved England or Brazil. That figure rose to an hour in the knockout stages. In comparison, there would be available tables at less popular or more pricey venues for European league matches. I hate having to have to be there so early to secure seats but I have no other alternative. In addition, some hangouts are really packed (like Serangoon Central Macdonalds or Sengkang Macdonalds) and there is bound to be a chap or two with an unpleasant body or feet odour, or both. Oh well, I hope I will not have to experience such congestion again, I should have cable television once I have a fixed abode and that should be hopefully next year.

Goodnight.

Should I be glad that my eight-year old desktop at my parents’ house is still working or should I grumble about how slow applications are running and the 31200 bps at which I am currently connected to the internet? 31200 bps makes 50000+ bps feel like cable. In addition, Microsoft Word just fatally erred when I was in the midst of churning out this entry and I have no choice but to do it all over again. Whatever, I just want to ramble about the World Cup.

This World Cup has been more entertaining than previous editions and it would have been better for me had I been able to watch the matches with a certain someone. Anyway, the goals seem to have dried up after sacks of goals were scored in the group stages. Not surprising, considering most European teams have a cautious approach and that one mistake could lead to elimination since it is the knockout stages.

Serbia and the Czech Repubic were disappointing, especially Serbia, who were spanked 6-0 by Argentina and threw away a two goal lead against the Ivory Coast. The Asian teams were hopeless, Asia certainly does not deserve an automatic fifth slot in the World Cup. I would have preferred to watch Denmark or Turkey in action instead of Saudi Arabia or Iran.

Germany maintained their impressive form by wrapping up the match with two goals in the first twelve minutes. My friends and I were like “GG, time to play cards”. The Swedes’ wretched day was summed up by Larsson’s skied penalty. There were two early goals again in the second match which got the crowd worked up. However, there was to be no further goals in ninety minutes and most of the crowd streamed out of the Macdonalds. I personally was hoping for penalties but I had to settle for what will most likely be the goal of the tournament, a perfectly executed volley by Maxi Rodriguez. It was a bad day for those who punted on Over for Goal Line as they must have thought that the cash was in the bag after two early goals.

England was mediocre but they were fortunate that Ecuador was abysmal, as they did not seem to want to win the match, even after they were down by a goal. The match would have been different had Tenario’s shot not come off the bar and Beckham’s free kick not crept in off the post. I have never been impressed by England and do not consider them one of the favourites to lift the trophy. England are overhyped due to the massive amount of exposure they receive. My friend found Portugal VS Holland entertaining due to all the various incidents. I was impressed by Scolari’s continuation of his streak of wins at the World Cup. I hope Tiago, Petit and Simao will prove adequate replacements for the suspended Deco, Costinha and injured Ronaldo and send England packing.

I caught only half of the Italy VS Australia match and Australia have only themselves to blame for crashing out. It can be argued that Grosso dived but in the first place, he should not have been allowed to advance into the penalty area, the Australians probably slacked off in anticipation of extra time and now they will be booking their flights home. As the cafe decided to close early, I did not intend to catch Ukraine’s battle against the Swiss but somehow I woke up at five am and proceeded to the nearest coffeeshop after learning that it was scoreless after ninety minutes. I got my wish as penalties were required to seperate the teams after it remained scoreless after extra time. Ukraine prevailed after the Swiss bungled all their kicks. Pity, as I cheered for the Swiss. Speaking of penalties, I do not understand why some players choose a straight run-up to the ball instead of a diagonal one (All the players that had a straight run-up failed to score). That seems to leave them with only two options, the middle and the right (for left-leggers) or the middle and the left (for right-leggers). I suppose the outstep of the foot could be employed for the third direction, but I have yet to witness such a penalty.

I guess that will be all for now, time to sleep.

Absoluely, completely, comprehensively, thoroughly and totally bummed. My laptop is out of order and it would take three weeks and $1200 to repair it…

Friday was a disappointment. We were supposed to be playing football on Astroturf but at the last minute, it got cancelled. It was originally a two-hour slot on Astroturf but since we had only five players on each side, they called it off citing fatigue as a concern. What a bunch of pansies. We ended up at a plot of land consisting of three courts at Serangoon Central. My friend friends, the organisers, claimed that there would be space. However, consistent with their inconsistency, they were wrong and there were no vacant courts. We ventured onto the biggest court and played against a bunch of small kids. The others probably felt playing against kids was beneath their station and hardly broke a sweat. Not surprisingly, we got bundled out and faced a lengthy wait on the sidelines. The next team, comprising of football enthusiasts in their thirties, showed no mercy and hustled the kids out in less than five minutes. We returned to the court where my friend friend team was playing, together with two other teams. We never got to face my friend friend team as both our teams did not manage to win more than one game, quite simply, we were outclassed. We were exposed by better teams and our passing and movement off the ball were, pardon the pun, not passable. When the lights went out at ten pm, my friend friend team proclaimed that they would join us for street soccer on Sunday.

Our spirits sagged when my friend friend team no-showed on Sunday. Yet another display of inconsistency and unreliability. They were supposed to make up the numbers as quite a few of us were unavailable. Thankfully, there was another group of teenagers who joined us. It had been barely an hour before it started to pour and they sought shelter as we braved the rain. We were fortunate that we had just enough for four players on each side and we frolicked in the rain for around two hours before calling it a day since it did not seem like the rain would cease. We had a merry time, but I would rather have had proper games of street soccer.

I do not seem to be having much luck with mobile phones recently. After losing a mobile phone (with a different line) which I had owned for barely three months, another mobile phone has failed me after two close shaves. The first one being leaving my mobile phone in my friend’s car and second being dropping it on the bus but thankfully for me, my buddy saw it.

The mobile phone, which happens to be a “clamshell” phone, is not totally spoilt, but I have to keep it open at approximately an angle of less than ninety degrees and hope that it flickers to life. There seems to be a fault with the connection between both halves of the phone. Composing long messages is not possible, but at least I am able to make and receive calls (and send short SMSes).

Apart from staying away from Nokia mobile phones, I am now going to stay away from lamshell?phones too since they have a vulnerability not shared by other models. The mobile phone I lost was a D500C and I am thinking of purchasing a similar model, since it is probably not available anymore. However, it is after all a lide-up?phone and I wonder if I would be ranting about the frailty that is unique to lide-up?phones less than two years down the road.

Sigh, mobile phones, sigh?IMG height=15 src=”http://www.xanga.com/Images/bummed.gif” width=15>

Viktor Frankl, an Austrian existential psychiatrist, has emphasized the importance for people of the will to meaning, or finding a sense of purpose and a direction in life. He quotes Friedrich Nietzsche line e who has a why to live can bear with any how? When we are in severe danger, our ability to survive may be all the point and purpose we need. When continued survival is not immediately at risk, though, we week purpose and meaning elsewhere. In some societies and historical periods, religion serves this need. In the contemporary Western world, Frankl considers, most people live in an existential vacuum. They have few accepted religious or cultural values to guide them. Each person hy? he argues, must therefore be constructed by him or herself.

Frankl distinguishes four ways in which personal meaning may be sought. One way is through actions, in particular creative activity. By building a machine, creating a garden, a poem or a painting we give value and meaning to our life. A second way is through experience ?of beauty, nature or music, for example. A third way is through love, ncountering another unique being in the very uniqueness of this human being? Finally, in situations of inescapable difficulty, we may find meaning through fortitude. For example, Frankl himself spent several years incarcerated in Auschwitz and Dachau. He found that one way in which some prisoners were able to give meaning to their lives, even in these awful circumstances, was by the strength of spirit with which they bore their suffering.

Dear Xanga,

Pick me up
been bleeding too long
Right here, right now
I’ll stop it some how

I will make it go away
can’t be here no more
Seems this is the only way
I will soon be gone
these feelings will be gone
these feelings will be gone

Now I see the times they change
leaving doesn’t seems so strange
I am hoping I can find
where to leave my hurt behind
All this shit I seem to take
all alone I seem to break
I have lived the best I can
Does this make me not a man?

Shut me off
I am ready,
Heart stops
I stand alone
Can’t be on my own

I will make it go away
can’t be here no more
Seems this is the only way
I will soon be gone
these feelings will be gone
these feelings will be gone

Now I see the times they change
leaving doesn’t seems so strange
I am hoping I can find
where to leave my hurt behind
All this shit I seem to take
all alone I seem to break
I have lived the best I can
Does this make me not a man?

Am I going to leave this place?
What is it I’m hanging from?
is there nothing more to come? (am I Gunna leave this place?)
Is it always black in space?
Am I going to take it’s place?
Am I going to leave this race? (Am I going to leave this race?)
I guess god’s up in this place?
what is it that I’ve become?
is there something more to come? (more to come)

Now I see the times they change
leaving doesn’t seems so strange
I am hoping I can find
where to leave my hurt behind
All this shit I seem to take
all alone I seem to break
I have lived the best I can
Does this make me not a man? [x2]

Korn – Alone I Break