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Thursday, May 26, 2005
What a match, what a come back! After the first half, I thought everything was gone. The whole world must have thought so too. But Liverpool are Kings of Europe once again after claiming the trophy for a fifth time with a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over AC Milan yesterdae night.

On what will go down as THE most incredible night, the Reds amazingly fought back from a 3-0 half-time deficit and won the on penalties. Jerzy Dudek was the hero, saving the decisive spot-kick from Andriy Shevchenko, but every player in Red was a hero on an unforgettable occasion in Istanbul. A first minute goal from Paolo Maldini and a double strike from Hernan Crespo just before the break looked to have left the Reds' hopes of Champions League glory seemingly in tatters before an amazing fightback saw them draw level.

It was captain Steven Gerrard who got the comeback underway with a glancing header on 54 minutes. At the time it seemed nothing but a mere consolation but when Vladimir Smicer, in his last game for the club, then fired a long-range effort past Dida two minutes later belief and hope rung around the ground. In the 59th minute Gerrard was brought down in the box and from the resultant spot-kick it was 3-3. Alonso's first effort was saved by the diving Dida but he gloriously made no mistake with the rebound to spark ecstatic scenes among the travelling Liverpool fans. The most miraculous of comebacks saw the Reds send this dramatic match into extra-time. There was to be no further scoring, although Liverpool had Jerzy Dudek to thank for a stunning double late save to deny Shevchenko, and for the second time a European Cup Final involving Liverpool was to be settled by the lottery of a penalty shoot-out. Hamann, Cisse and Smicer scored, Riise's effort was saved but Serginho blazed over and Dudek saved from Pirlo and Shevchenko to win the cup for Liverpool.

After supporting Liverpool for 10 years, This is one of the proudest moments I ever had. One thing for sure, Liverpool have taught me nothing is impossible, as long as you believe! reds, you are the best!
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Look into the eyes of the enemy without fear,
Speak the truth, even if it may leads you to death.

Kingdom of Heaven was pretty a nice show, and this 2 verse struck me deeply. I should look into the eyes of th interviewer bravely, and always speak the truth. HAhah sometimes its quite hard to stick fast right to the truth. For it not only lead to the death of the interview, it leads you jobless. I was so dissapointed with DBS yesterdae, and like many popular tales bout them, yes, officially they SUX. Their HR department is in a mess, the interviwers don't know how to ask questions, and they pursue meaningless and trivial questions like have I applied for other banks. I mean of coz I did, who in the world would apply for DBS and be satisfied. Can't they be more magnimous and admit they are just not as good as foreign banks? A bunch of old people, thats what they are. They asked questions rudely, and I guess I just didn't want to fare well in this interview in the first place. They have no need for talented people, just a person with the quta hitting every month. They don't care if their employee cheat or steal to get the sales, and that to me sounds like an insurance agent. Not all insurance agents, a lousy one that is. Whatever the case, there's no loss for me.

Anyway the movie really reinforced my thinking that god lives in our hearts and minds. Previously I always thought god lives in our indivdual hearts, and everyone gods is equal. It is your faith that keeps it strong, to protect it. Believe in yourself, be true to yourself, and everything will be right as planned. Be happy guys, bless yourself.
Sunday, May 15, 2005
"So hows life?" I asked my friend. She said, "Good, eat, sleep, play and watch TV" I replied given a few more daes of such life, life would turn boring. I mean I have been living this kind of life for the past month I suppose. I almost ran out of games to play, shows to watch or simply even books to read at times. Its true its wonderful as I never had time to do so much things before, but ever since living the life of unemployment, things have pretty much changed a lot. I can go to chalet on a weekdae and stay overnight without really worrying bout I have anything to do tomorrow. In fact, it is precisely the "nothing to do tomorrow" that worries me. I got more than a couple interviews, but I turned down so many that I only end up going for 2 of them only. Perhaps I am too picky, maybe I will land myself into trouble soon if i were to be rejected by this HSBC. I met another friend on my way to the interview and she was shocked I am already going to my interview and she has yet to even write out her resume. I was sshocked too, perhaps she was in marketing and banking are simply too kan cheong or kiasu. Come to think of it, only those from accounting, banking and acturia science people out there looking for jobs. Perhaps people are are better with numbers calculated that the probability of finding a job early when you start looking early is much higher. What am i talking bout here. An idiot would have noticed that. I meant to say number people are more kiasu.

As I wait to fill up the test that HSBC are going to send me before I will know I am shortlisted for the second round, I question myslef if all these are ever worth it. 1 hour of interview, quite intense, never had a chance to breathe, followed by 2 hr of online test, hardly any time to think. I will be given a chance to enter the next round. If not all efforts are wasted, not to mention the resumes tailored to suit the company and the read up of the company. Even if I went to the next round, would I scrap through it as well? If not, I guess it would be another 1 hr wasted as well? Expereince of interview I would gained, just that I hardly remebered anything she asked, she asked so much that the course I went to was probably useless as what she asked was most probably like 15 questions that din came from the so call 15 standard questions. Such that the only question I could remember was the warm up question, "tell me more about yourself and why you apply for this job?"

But of course, nevertheless, I shan't give up. I mean what choice do I have. This is the last chance and only chance I have before I have to start sending out resumes again. I really hope I don't have to open the folder call "my resumes" again.
Monday, May 09, 2005
I just finished reading over some of my old entries in my old diaries and I realize that there are a lot of things I used to take for granted. It also seems that only after certain things happen and misunderstandings forged that we realize we din cherish or appreciate some things. A lot of things in life we take for granted, like simple moments when I am able to write this entry and eat my breakfast at this time of the dae now. Given one month later, I certainly wun have the luxury to wake up late, read the papers and diaries and have breakfast at this hour. Especially for couples in a relationship, we don’t see each other’s efforts till we lose it. We often forgot that it was the other party’s efforts and some magical stuff that got us together. Its almost human nature for people to continue to ask for more in life and we can never be satisfied. The end product may fall below expectation sometimes but do we often bother to ask the story behind them? A gift may be small or not comparable to others but do we ask the source of it, the heart of doing it, or even the mind that conjure the idea of getting you this gift in the first place. I myself have been guilty of such crimes.

If I have been unappreciative to you at any time, I am sorry, Xiao Hui.
If I am unappreciative to anyone of you, my friends, I am also sorry.

If we must learn to appreciate and cherish what we have, why do we continue to ask for more in life? Why do we ask for so much in a job we do? I remember 2 months ago my ideal salary was 2000. By now my expectation has rose to 2300. I think by the actual time I got my 2300 salary, I must be thinking to myself whether others would be getting 2500? If one can never be satisfied, one can never be happy. If one can never be happy, why even bother to find that perfect job you seek so hard for? When we have the money, we blame the job hours are too long for us to enjoy and spend the salary. When we get a job that pays well and yet squeeze everything from 9 to 5, we blame why the job is so tough and so stressful. It’s starting to be corny right? I am going to laugh at myself the next time I complain bout life and I come back to read this. We people never learn, that’s why people can never be happy. That’s why we have Big Macs now where one char siew bun used to make one ancestors happy. I know this is only one side of the story. There will be activist in the other camp which will cry out loud, “We need to continuously improve our lives, only then we can live happier and better.” I know your stand, I just dun wish to go into it, the endless cycle.

Life is only traveled once,
todae's moment becomes tomorrow's memory.
Enjoy every moment,
because the gift of life is life itself.
Saturday, May 07, 2005
I went late night beverage drinking with 3 friends yesterdae at Holland Village. When we reached there, all the pubs were so packed that we decided to stop by Coffee Bean instead to have a drink. 3 of us drank tea while the birthdae girl drank coffee. Haha it looked quite like a SDU date coz 2 of us guys sits next to 2 girls, and we talked of changing seats after some time because the air con is cold. We took interesting pictures of the tea and now I am too lazy to post them up, maybe next time. We drank strange tea, or rather to me…. One contains rosebuds, the other strawberry and finally I would add the disgusting peach. Peach is usually nice in most occasion, and the name “Peach Garden” suggest a nice tea. But just like Forest Gump said, “you never know what you gonna get.”

People are like teabags. You have to put them into hot water before you can know how strong they are.

I used to love to drink coffee a lot, but I have grown over the years to have an inclination towards hot tea, and cold coffee. Hot tea seems to give you that scent of aroma that will lift your spirits. It often leaves you feeling refreshed, rather than the ability to keep you artificially awake by coffee. But then again I really dun have much bias against coffee, I drink both as well. But just that the next time I am asked coffee, tea or me, I will still reply just tea, not coffee nor me….

A Cup Of Tea

When the world is all at odds
And the mind is all at sea
Then cease the useless tedium
And brew a cup of tea.
There is magic in its' fragrance,
There is solace in its' taste;
And the laden moments vanishSomehow into space.
And the world becomes a lovely thing!
There's beauty as you'll see;
All because you briefly stopped
To brew a cup of tea.
Thursday, May 05, 2005
I went to this talk yesterdae regarding how to score in an interview using NLP technology. Wasn't particularly useful, except for some useful tips like to tell yourself "you can, you must or you will succeed" rather than "You try, you wish or you hope to succeed". Another thing we learn is to find out whether a person is lying or not by the actions he does. After the lesson, I realize something else myself, that finding a job is like finding new love.

When you look out for a job, you have some ideals in mind, just like some qualities when looking out for a girl that you may like. But maybe as time goes by you realize you set your goals to high, your requirements start to drop and of course as you get older and you still dun have a stable job/relationship, you most probably take anyone or anything that comes by. People talk about being with the girl you really love; people also talk about finding the job you really love. Some of us feels that it’s not easy to find someone you really love, so they settle for something else lesser. They all think that love can be nurtured, and they will grow to love someone, just as they will grow to love a job they dun like in the first place. Finding someone you really love can be tiring as you put in your best to make sure she don't leave you, same applies to a job you love very much. Can everyone really find a job they love? The answer probably lies in can everyone find true love? What is true love? Then may I ask what is true job suitable for you? A lot of us think we really know the answer, but I think we won't know. It’s only till the dae your boss sack you and you cry because you love the job so much, and not because you wun have a salary anymore. Only when you can tell your boss you will work for him/her for free. Then that’s probably true job eh? Just like you can’t bear to break up with someone coz you cannot live without her and not rather you miss those good times you had. Even then, is that true love?

When we go for interviews, we want to impress the interviewer. When we go for first dates, we want to impress the girl. We might even say things that are not true; sometimes the interviewer might say things that are not true if they are desperate. Haha but the chance of that is pretty slim. So when we are offered a job, if it’s a job we love, we will be happy. When it’s not a job you really like, you will take a little time to consider and in the end they always say, "You never try, you never know". Who knows you might like the job.

That’s true to a certain extend, just that you know some jobs you will never grow to love, so why bother to try? Problem is you have been single/ jobless for so long, any girl and any job is worth a try. Of course some jobs you will never apply, those that you apply for are those you think you may grow to love them, or they have external factors like she's rich, she's beautiful, she's popular etc. Just like a job that pays well, have a nice building, good reputation etc.

Haha finding a new job while you already have one and letting your boss know, you are probably getting a boot from her. Same applies to a relationship. Thinking about another job while you have one wun make you a good employee, or a good lover. Juggling between two jobs will exhaust you, dun ever even try to think of juggling between two women, they will kill you. Haha its seems as I go on and on, there seems to be so many similarities between jobs and relationships.

At the end of the dae, all I want to say is all those out there, whether you are looking for love or job, dun despair, dun give up! For those experiencing hiccups in their jobs or relationship, hang in there! The sun may not always shine, but when the rain dies out, and the clouds go away, we await for not the sun, but the rainbow. Whatever the case, look at not the misery, but the beauty that remains.
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
It's a proud night for Liverpool after Luis Garcia's first half goal gave us victory over Chelsea and we marched towards the European Champions Cup Final. The Reds had to defend resolutely after Garcia's early strike gave them the edge, but Chelsea's Premiership winning bubble was well and truly burst on an emotionally charged night at Anfield. I am so happy that Chelsea are finally gone! Let us enjoy a great night's celebration before we tune in tonight to check out if the final is against AC Milan or PSV Eindhoven.

The sheer velocity of the home support spurred Liverpool into a coat-throat opening that brought them the crucial goal. Only 3 minutes had passed when Gerrard's flick sent Baros surging clear. He appeared to be brought down by Cech as he prodded the ball past him, but cries for a penalty were quickly replaced by screams of joy as Luis Garcia raced in to put the ball in the Kop net. Garcia's goal was the only notable goal action in a first half that saw Chelsea push Liverpool back, but fail to trouble Jerzy Dudek.

As expected the second half was a nervy affair. But the Liverpool defence and goalkeeper refused to give way to Chelsea's wave after wave of attacks. Dudek needed to be at his best on 67 minutes to make a smart save from Lampard. But for the most part he was excellently protected by a backline marshalled superbly by Carragher and Hyypia. For all the Chelsea pressure though Liverpool showed they still had an attacking threat of their own and Cisse almost made the game safe with a header that Cech was forced to save. He had an even better chance in stoppage time, and it created a nail bitting moment in the dying minutes where Chelsea nearly scored. But in the end it didn't matter and it will be Liverpool and not Chelsea who will carry the hopes of England into the final.

Well done Liverpool, especially Carragher and Hyypia, the forgotten heroes in defense!
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