I am a frustrated and bitter man. I will no longer return any lost valuables that I come across. However, that does not mean that I will misappropriate what I find, I will probably leave it alone and let the next person who comes across it decide what to do with it, unless I know the owner.

For the first (and hopefully only) time, my handphone was lost and not returned. I think it is fair to say that it will not be returned, since within moments of realising that my phone was lost, I called the number and the phone was already off. Thankfully, I have no sex videos or naked pictures of myself in it. Including my family members and close friends, there must have been a total of at least ten lost wallets and handphones and not a single one of them was returned. The only possible exception was a man who yelled at my mother to alert her that she dropped her purse, because another chap ahead of him picked it up first. The thick-skinned asshole then hinted strongly at a reward and my mother was kind enough to give him twenty bucks. I would have told him in no uncertain terms to fuck off if I was not just a small kid then.

I remain unconvinced by a Readers?Digest report I read in secondary school that stated Singapore was the most honest country in Asia. Writers from Readers?Digest supposedly left wallets in public places containing money and waited for them to be returned. The amount of money in each wallet was commensurate with the standard of living. Eight or nine wallets out of ten were returned in Singapore, thus crowning us as the most honest country in Asia. Bullshit, I say.

Strangers (excludes my subscribers), you have been warned.

I would love to come up with an entry, but I guess I am too drained after churning out 6000+ words for an assignment.

What an obscenely boring match. Villarreal have not displayed much attacking intent despite needing to score to progress. There have been hardly any clear-cut chances by Villarreal. As I write this, a penalty has been awarded to Villarreal. Riquelme act of kissing the ball reeks of someone struggling to shoulder the burden of the penalty and praying for divine intervention. Not surprisingly, he failed to score. His penalty was not that bad but I think he was trying too hard to hit the target and did not try to place the ball. Neither did he employ power. Such penalties are easily saved if the goalkeeper dives the correct way.

Villarreal relied too heavily on Riquelme and paid the price for it as he was quite effectively nullified. Teams with one main playmaker suffer when their main source of creativity has an off day or is stifled by the opposition. I guess that is why the top teams have more than one player who can conjure up a victory or in some cases, nplayable?players (e.g. Maradona).

Manchester United to win the Champions League and finish fifth in the English Premier League and Manchester City to finish fourth in the English Premier League next year? You heard it here first.

The Hougang stadium was rather subdued, but it suited me. I was quite glad for the lack of cheerleaders and drums. Some of the teams?cheerleaders are a joke, they are totally devoid of energy and verve and look like they were forced into cheerleading. They reflect badly on the clubs they represent. As for drums, I find them plain irritating. I believe that they are banned in the stadiums in Europe for safety reasons. For that reason and contributing noise pollution, they should be banned in Singapore stadiums too.

Anyway, Gombak FC beat Sengkang Punggol FC 2-0 in a dull match, characterised by way too many stray passes. For once, I would rather have watched a movie instead. The idiot behind me yelled at the left-back at fault (he did go AWOL and allowed the Gombak right winger to score one and create the other) for both goals like a faggot. After the defender was substituted, he kept describing the Sengkang defence with four letter adjectives (well, actually just one) to the poor chap seated next to him. People like him are why the S-League has a long way to go, too many of the fans are supporters of Singapore Pools instead of the S-League.

It looks like it will be Arsenal VS Barcelona in Paris for the Champions League final. Even the most ardent Arsenal fan would not have expected their team to progress so far, since lame exits before the semi-final stage have become the norm for them and even more so this year, with their poor league form. As for the teams with quite a mountain to climb, I would not consider Villarreal task to be easier than AC Milan, due to the away goals rule.

I did quite a lot of travelling today. First up was Hougang Mall, where I printed my assignments. I must get a printer during the school holidays, I have procrastinated for half a year and doing my printing at the library is quite costly.

After that I made my way to Joo Chiat to deliver my first assignment, as I cocked up yesterday by leaving out the supposedly important subheadings in the report that I mailed out. It was wretched weather to be looking for my tutor apartment in a private estate and I was drenched when I finally located it. I must add that I do not carry an umbrella when I travel alone.

The next stop was Boon Lay and I made the long trip there via MRT. At least this tutor lived in a HDB flat that was easy to locate. I told myself that I would mail out this assignment and I never learnt my lesson for this module. Also, it was the only one I ended up delivering all my assignments. My excuse is that it is quite unusual for assignments to have the exact same cut-off date and I had to skip my tutorial to finish this one.

What luck, there was a match at Jurong East stadium (Albirex VS Balestier Khalsa), which is two MRT stops away and I headed there with a bag of cookies as dinner. I must say that of all the stadiums (apart from the National Stadium) that I have been to, Jurong East is the best, too bad it is so far away from Hougang. It is a stadium built for football as there is no running track, just a football pitch and the terraces. One would feel more involved watching the game. Japanese babes were not on my agenda, so I chose to sit at the unsheltered stands. The slight drizzle meant that the exposed stands were sparsely populated. Two hours later, I was a hundred dollars poorer. In retrospect, I should have stayed away from the Singapore Pools outlet and ventured into the home fans area (where most of the Japanese fans should be).

It was a miserable journey back but I got over it, winning and losing are part and parcel of gambling. A good time at the arcade with a friend helped quite a bit and so did the supper. Anyway, time to watch the Champions League semi-final and no, I did not have any wager on this match.

I hate writing essays, except for General Paper which I no longer take after the completion of my ?level examinations and I will be required to pen essays for my psychology modules during my upcoming examinations. To make matters worse, we have had only four essays graded by tutors so far this semester and those four essays were homework. Quite what the school is thinking by requiring us to complete essays under exam conditions when we have had zero practice is beyond me. Maybe it is all just a show and they will pass everyone (yeah right, dream on). In addition, model essays are not provided and neither are essay outlines. I actually miss my Junior College days, where we were spoon-fed model essays and essay outlines. I think I actually learnt more about writing Economics essays in one tutorial session than writing Psychology essays in all my lessons this semester.

As for the tutors, the following conversation during a tutorial just about sums them up,

Tutor: Feel free to ask if you have any concerns regarding the essay.

Me: (Hmmm, why not) Mam, how do we go about writing the (2000 word) essay?

Tutor: Just answer the question and you will score well.

Me: ?? uh, thanks.

I hate my school, but I should stop thinking about what could have been and be thankful for the opportunity to pursue a degree programme.

One of my friends was complaining that this did not qualify as an actual entry so I guess I will have to add some words to it.

I read all three installments of Jeffrey Archer’s prison diaries but finished part III much later than the first two. Of course, he maintained his innocence throughout while taking shots at his enemies. Some of them were actually substantiated by events that later took place. He also seems to have a valid claim that his conviction for perjury was due to a biased judge. A major witness, former ”friend”, who was supposed to give evidence to support that allegation disappeared as his appeal drew near. All I can say is tough luck, if what he declared was true.

There are some appalling tales and they serve as a grim reminder of how, like it or not, class division exists in society. Most of the well-educated do not end up in prision and do not witness the not exactly pleasant way some people live their life. Also, prisons are classified under four categories, A, B, C and D. A for the most violent thugs and D for the non-violent. I do agree with Archer that defendants should be given their classification during trial. It would indeed be a harrowing experience for a catergory D prisoner to go through a category B prison with all the violent thugs and drug addicts. I think that would help to cut down on the suicide rate.

Finally, Archer repeatedly laments at how prisoners’ families are punished together with prisoners are they are deprived of the prisoners’ company. As much as I am a fan of his, I should point out that there are not a lot of ways to penalise someone who has violated the law without their families suffering too.

Arsenal 2 Juventus 0 ?The Old Lady was comprehensively outplayed and it is worth noting that they were also woeful against Liverpool in the knockout stages last year. Without Nedved, they seemed devoid of creativity and the much vaunted Emerson-Viera pairing did not quite live up to their billing. Come to think of it, even with Nedved against Liverpool last year, they were not exactly threatening to bulge the Liverpool net. Henry is finally turning up in the big games and got on the scoresheet again in an important match. I cannot see Juventus progressing to the semi-finals and Arsenal will have an excellent chance of entering the final as they will avoid Lyon or AC Milan and Barcelona.

Benfica 0 Barcelona 0 ?Did not bother catching the delayed telecast of this match since it was shown at close to five am in the morning and finished without a goal. Barcelona is most people favourites to lift the trophy due to their attractive style of play. Pity they will clash with Lyon or AC Milan in the semi-finals which would have been more fitting for the final.

Lyon 0 AC Milan 0 ?Was decent for a stalemate. It was my first time witnessing Lyon in action and I think they were missing their creative spark, Juninho. On a better day, Shevchenko could have killed off the game before half-time. Both sides kept possession well and played fluid football. There would have been goals if not for the well organised defences.

Inter Milan 2 Villarreal 1 ?I was interested in observing both Veron and Riquelme playmaking, pity the Argentinean coach did not share my sentiments as he did not seem to be present at the San Siro (and I believe there were quite a few other Argentineans on the pitch too). Villarreal were fortunate to score after less than a minute of play due to a defensive error. As if to return the favour, Villarreal failed to clear a cross and Adriano capitalised a few minutes later. Inter then dominated the rest of the match and the scoreline is a fair reflection of the proceedings. Both sides have weak defences and the winner will probably have a torrid time against Arsenal. Of the three matches, the only player who stood out was Javier Zanetti. Apart from defending well, he dribbled past players with ease and delivered dangerous crosses time and time again.

(dozes off due to a lack of sleep)

Manchester United 6 Real Madrid 3 ?Hat-tricks from Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney handed Manchester United victory in the pulsating encounter at the Old Trafford.

(wakes up)

Dammit, the last match was a just a dream.

My life is brilliant.
My love is pure.
I saw an angel.
Of that I’m sure.
She smiled at me on the subway.
She was with another man.
But I won’t lose no sleep on that,
‘Cause I’ve got a plan.

You’re beautiful. You’re beautiful.
You’re beautiful, it’s true.
I saw you face in a crowded place,
And I don’t know what to do,
‘Cause I’ll never be with you.

Yeah, she caught my eye,
As we walked on by.
She could see from my face that I was,
Fucking high,
And I don’t think that I’ll see her again,
But we shared a moment that will last till the end.

You’re beautiful. You’re beautiful.
You’re beautiful, it’s true.
I saw you face in a crowded place,
And I don’t know what to do,
‘Cause I’ll never be with you.
You’re beautiful. You’re beautiful.
You’re beautiful, it’s true.
There must be an angel with a smile on her face,
When she thought up that I should be with you.
But it’s time to face the truth,
I will never be with you.

Sad Shit

Quiet Reading Area ?The sign read. Lured by the comfortable sofas in there, I lugged my bag there and settled down to read my textbook.

Ironically, the silence meant that minor sounds were accentuated to sound like that of pneumatic drills. The uncle in the corner got the ball rolling by repeatedly crinkling his newspaper, which was quite irritating, given that you could almost hear a pin drop. No sooner had the uncle stopped doing that, at the other end of the room, a young chap clicked away endlessly on the touchpad of his laptop. Just when I thought there would be some respite, an old lady coughed. It sounded quite forced, as if she was trying to cough her lungs out. After that, a middle-aged lady began packing her stuff and the rustling of her plastic bag was distracting as she sure took her own sweet time. Not long after she left, I was disturbed by an old man idiosyncrasy of unconsciously audibly mouthing what he was reading. The last straw was a lady handphone going off.

Irked, I hauled my stuff to a corner of the library and completed my reading on a hard plastic chair. Somehow, random noises did not perturb me as much although there were interferences. It could have been the enclosed area that served to intensify the sounds, it might have been the expectation of total quietness that made the sounds annoying, but the quiet reading area seemed more discordant than the rest of the library.