My ICT (Part 1)

This week was my 1st in-camp training since I ORD-ed.

So I had to return to the place which was my home for almost 2 years - Sungei Gedong Camp.

My NSman's career began with yet another parade; my nth one since I missed my POP in Tekong. NDP, CO COC, Turn-ops Parade, Brigade CO COC, you name it and I was certainly in it.

Standing under the hot sun in green is rather alien to me now. However it was always good to see so many of the familiar faces back for the ICT.

Many familiar things trigger a sense of nostalgia in me: the scents and sounds in the vehicle shed, the food in the canteens and Jimmy's lousy car in front of Attila Company line all bring back memories of the NSF days.

Some things do remain unchanged. Platoon 3 still has a bunch of people who report sick to 'siam' the training; the toilets are still as filthy and hands are bound to be dirty at the vehicle shed.

However there are also things which have changed. Attila drains are full of weeds now; Swee got himself a girlfriend and some of the platoon 2 guys are actually more 'garang' now.

Somehow everybody are more cooperative and more willing to share the work as compared to last time. Perhaps it is all about being more grown-up and mature after being exposed to the harsh realities of working or studying lives.

I will update more on the ICT after it ends on Saturday evening.

In Athens Greece We Screw Up Big Time

Last night we lost the Champions' League Final against Milan.

Milan was poor but we could not take advantage of that. We do not deserve to win if we did not take our chances. It was kind of heart-breaking to come so far and fall at the final hurdle. Nobody will remember the losers as Carragher rightly pointed out in the post-match interview.

I feel that we actually regress from last season: Firstly we finished 3rd again but 13 points worse off compared to the previous campaign. Secondly, we finished the season winning only the Community Shield while the year before we were the FA Cup and European Super Cup holders.

The main reason to me is that our strike force has not been ruthless enough. Very often defeats should have been draws and draws should have been victories if the strikers have taken the chances.

It's really the time to look at each and every player and decide who are good enough to continue to wear the famous red shirt. The players must understand how much the club means to the fans and how privileged it is for them to have the Liverbird on their chest.

Rafa had done a great job in the 3 years so far and I have faith in him to bring us the long-awaited Premier League title. Clear-out is inevitable and more quality definitely has to be added to the squad. Rafa will have a long summer ahead of him to assemble a squad capable of challenging for the title.

Last night's result may be disheartening but we walk on with hopes in our hearts.

You Will Never Walk Alone.

SYJ Triple Header

What's SYJ?

It actually stands for Son Ye-Jin.

So who's exactly Son Ye-Jin?

I'm sure that most of those familiar with Korean dramas/movies should know who she is.

Son Ye-Jin

For the uninitiated, Son Ye-Jin is one of the prettiest and most talented Korean actress around.

I managed to watch 3 of her movies over the last 3 days: Classic, A Moment to Remember and April Snow.

Keulraesik

Classic was the first show that I watched and is easily my favourite among the three. I like the way how the story is being told; although SYJ played both the mother and daugther in the movie, it was not too difficult to follow the story. The most memorable scene for me was at the cafe whereby Ji-Hae discovered the truth behind her chance meeting with Sang-Min the other day; I thought that it was really heart-warming.

Nae Meorisogui Jiugae

A Moment to Remember was next on the list and I could only say that it was really very sad. I was reminded of 50 First Dates but at least Drew Barrymore can keep the memories for 24 hours. Personally I do not think that I will be able to handle the situation. My mind also raised some questions for myself while watching the movie: What defines a person? Is it his/her memories? Or is it just the physical body?

Maybe I will leave the philosophical discussion to some other day. Anyway it seems that a recurring phenomenon in Korean shows is that almost all the people in them are so unbelievably 痴情. (devoted?) Somehow the Korean shows portrayed Koreans as a 痴情 ethnic group. I wonder how true this is. LOL...

At the start the heroine was seemingly the one who treasured the relationship more but in the end the love shown by her husband was truly touching. Although there was no happily-ever-after ending it was sort of a nice closure for the entire movie. For the emotional people who intend to watch the movie, the advice is to prepare packets of tissue of standby.

Oechul

By the time I watched April Snow, diminishing marginal returns had set in. It was not that I was sick of the pretty face of SYJ but everything should be done in moderation. Furthermore there was not much dialogue and the slow pace of the plot did not help at all.

However the movie is not without its redeeming point; there are several GOOD scenes which showed SYJ dressed in her undies. Oh my god... She has a super hot body to go with her pretty face.

Bae Yong Jun is such a lucky fellow.

I'm now really looking forward to watching Alone in Love. (SYJ won an acting award for her role in that.)

Two Hundred Pounds Beauty

미녀는 괴로워

I watch this movie on the recommendation of a few friends.

The story is so-so I guess. There are some parts which are really funny (e.g. the car accident) but the director did not build on from there. The plot got a little bit predictable and the supposedly touching part did not affect me much. Perhaps there are some hidden meanings in the movie that I fail to grasp.

The Beauty from 200 Pounds Beauty

Eye candy-wise, the movie scores full marks once the female lead turns from 'Han-na' to 'Jenny'. The lead actress Kim Ah Joong has a resemblance to a couple of other Korean actresses whom I have seen before (Kim Tae Hee, Son Ye Jin, Kim Hyun Joo, etc) and all of them seem to exude a type of 'aura'. It is kinda hard to explain but I think that it got to do with their expressive eyes; they always have the 'come-protect-me' vulnerability in them.

I'm not sure whether the songs in the movie are really performed by the lead actress herself. She will definitely be the Next Big Thing if her voice is really so powerful.

However fiction is so often derived from the truth; perhaps she has a fat back-up singer in real life too, just like in the movie.

Heaven's Coins

Hoshi no Kinka

I just discovered crunchyroll and nearly completed the serial Heaven's Coins in one day. Nearly because I could not load the 2nd part of the final episode because I had exceeded the amount of bandwidth for the day. Of course I was feeling super pissed off but I cannot do anything about it. In the end I still catch the finale the next day.

Although the serial was shot in 1995, the story was very engaging and kept me to watch continuously. However the plot of Heaven's Coins is also one of those which makes you feel like throwing the chair at the TV. Somehow the storyline is contrived to prevent the two main characters to be together; while I'm no fan of happily-ever-after Hollywood ending, the numerous ordeals which the heroine had to go through were really overwhelming at times.

The ending was good in a way; there is also Heaven's Coins 2 which is the continuation of first part's storyline. Most probably I will watch it when I find the time.

My Favourite Song at the Moment

Fuck off Chelsea FC
You ain't got no history
5 European Cups 18 Leagues
That's what we call history

Time Wasting

Last Saturday some of us went to eat at Vivocity after the football tournament at NUS. At around 9.45pm when most of the shops were either closing or closed, we decided to make our way home.

All the shoppers seemed to be heading home at the same time as us and my car got stuck inside the multi-story carpark for more than HALF an hour.

Lesson learnt: Never drive to Vivocity on weekends; public transport is much more convenient.

Athens Here We Come

Nuff said...

I haven't blog anything about football in the last seven posts which is kind of unusual. It has already broken the record but I really can't help blogging about this.

Liverpool is in the Champions' League Final!!

I am feeling so happy that I could not find the proper vocabulary to express my delight properly.

Two finals in 3 years; not bad for a small club isn't it? However we are never a small club and even Sir Alex agrees to that. According to him, Liverpool away is the first fixture that he looks out for at the start of every season. The Anfield crowd is always intimidating to the visitors and once again the Kop was at its most glorious on yet another historic European night.

Despite so many things spoken in the media, only one thing matters. We are the ones going to Athens. We could yet win another European Cup. Man Utd and Chelsea can decide between themselves who's the third best team in Europe on 19th May.

For the last few days I have been reading through the book Fever Pitch. It is a book that I've been wanting to read but haven't got a chance. I am roughly two-thirds through and it is interesting. The author uses many metaphorical concepts to illustrate the obsessive behaviour of some football fans.

Lives are revolved around match dates and timings; June and July are a blur compared to the rest of the year. Sound so familiar aren't they?

One would experience a sweeter success only after going through setback and heartbreak. Glory-hunters will never understand that.