Happy Merdeka!

Truthfully, I didn't realise it was Merdeka Day today, until now obviously. Shows how patriotic I am to M'sia. Its Matthew Street Festival here in Liverpool. Huge event. So blame it on that.

Here's a video that I find it amusing.



I guess, no matter how sad the political demographic is, its still tanah tumpah darahku.

Happy Merdeka!

Of Cow Heads and 1Malaysia

Yeap....yet another epic drama of Malaysians. This time involving cow heads.

Protesters threaten bloodshed over Hindu temple
















Utterly outrageous extremist act.

And till now, there are no arrest. No.fucking.arrest.

Guess this is how Malaysia going to celebrate their 52nd year of independence.

Share Share

I don't know whether its proven that if you are depressed or felt stagnant or whatever stress words u can come out with, you share stuff with people. Well, not exactly your misery,anything goes. At least that works for me. So now, I share share abit of my recommended series.

First slot goes to...





















Plot? Undercover cops going, well, undercover. Lots of kick-ass, drugs, sex and alcohol. Hot babe (Nicki Aycox) and lots of cool-looking dudes. Even straights like me can't resist Dylan McDermott. I shall evaluate my sexuality after I said that. Nah, screw that. Me totally straight.

Anyway..... second slot goes to....
















They describe it as described as "part The X-Files, part Raiders of Lost Ark and part Moonlighting." Whatever it is, go figure. I said: Cool show, funny as hell, a must-watch.

Ok. Time to go back to reality. Thanks for listening.

White is the New Black

I decided its time to change skin. So here we go!

Like it? Don't like it?

Article of The Week

I totally like this article. Do read it.

Stories from Bolehland 4

My favourite passage:

There is no need to go to expensive spas, or pay for jamu and facials, forget the botox. To look younger, simply join MIC and instantly regain your Youth. This offer is limited so sign up now!

In summary, if you do not know who Karpal Singh (or Kit Siang) is, please apply for a job as reporter with RTM; if you give money to a political party please ask for official receipt; and finally, if you want to feel young again, please join MIC Youth.

Once again, the epic jokes of a country named Malaysia.

Ish...

What is shittier than a sitch where u got interested in something, try to pursue it, dream of it, being gleeful and then find out its beyond reach as its already unavailable?

Ok, there are shittier things than this...but this is going to be the shittiest feeling to have now.

Hokkien says it best...Kanasai.

Now Back To Malaysia Where....OhMyGod, What The Hell Just Happen?

Here I am trying to peacefully enjoy the stay in England, but tuning back to tanah tumpah darahku, I just can't stop shaking my head.

What happen you say?

Hell happened.





















From the death of a political aide to royalty payments to ISAs, things keep coming up. Turbulent and demented things.

John Connor said it best: The devil's hands had been busy...

I had this tiny feeling of impetus to stay in England and never go back.

Do you?

Malaysian Football Improved

Here is the joke article of the century....

Mr Shabery "totallaughingstock" Chick here says that Malaysian football is on the rise.

How he came to that conclusion? Malaysian National Team lost 2 matches to ManU, with aggregate of 5-2.
















“Malaysian football has become well-known globally, thanks to coverage by international newspapers and Youtube. I see new hope for the national football team,"chirped Chick.

I vomited in my mouth before LMAO ROFL for 60 minutes after reading this post.

Joining The Football Academy

I'm riding the transfer window hoopla here. I noticed a trend among the Premier League clubs' academy. Basically, if you want to have a football career, here is how you want to choose which academy to go to....based on the current trend.

Manchester United
Probably have one of the best academies. Remember Fergie's Fledglings?
Criteria: Must be able to perform bit-part roles for almost your entire career in the first team (think John O'Shea); if want to transfer to other clubs, make sure you rake in a lot of transfer fee; loaned out to not-so-bad clubs often.

Liverpool
Seems to be good. But....
Criteria: Foreign, preferably Spanish; plays pre-seasons, gets alot of promises to play for the first-team, and then get loaned out to other clubs before you know it; collect lots of jerseys, by having yourself loaned out so many times to different clubs; pedigree to win the FA Youth Cup; got sold out, after being told that you are talented enough to get into the first team...other club's first team that is.

Arsenal
Another top class academy
Criteria: Most possible to break into the first team, and play two or three EPL matches; League cup appearances guaranteed; try not to be too English or if better, try being French; commands a good transfer fee; almost possible to be key player in other clubs if transferred.

Chelsea
Rich club, not so famous academy
Criteria: Loyal, always kiss the badge after scoring or labelled Mr Chelsea; very talented and able to tolerate just 5 minutes of fame on the pitch.

Manchester City
Absolutely rich club with almost good academy
Criteria: Don't ever hope of getting into the first team nowadays, especially if you are playing as a striker; large sum packages if talented enough; get loaned out more than one time to the same club, because the other club can't pay your permanent transfer fee.

Tottenham, West Ham United, Everton
Good clubs with famous academies
Criteria: Totally English; very possible to break into first team at a young age; able to tolerate unpredictable table standings for the first team.

Know what club to join now? Yeah, thought so, Barcelona is the best...XD

Random

This morning I just realized that for 20 plus years, I don't really have my own personal toilet. From my home, TARC Hostel (worst of the bunch) to Genting Kelang, I shared toilets with others.

This is my first time I had my own toilet.

















So much so, that sometimes I still walk to the common room to find the toilet.

Liverpool...One Month Later...

When you are enjoying the splendor of things, often time passes very quickly. Its been a month since I landed upon Liverpool, renowned for its distinct Scouse culture and of course, to my liking, its fervent passion towards football.

A great city, though not magnificent. Liverpool has its charm that I came to appreciate and love. Not really busy, but you can get basically everything that is to offer in order to survive. Personally, I don't ask much. Food is adequate, people are friendly, lodging is decent ( if you want to compare to the hostel in TARC, you can use the word "awesome") and environment is very refreshing.





















Some people would complain that it lacks the buzz (most shops closes at 5pm). But I like the way it is. After all, the buzz doesn't help if you want a study environment.

It takes time to adapt. The weather is especially very unpredictable. One day it might be hot and shiny, another might be windy and rainy. Its kinda a ritual here to stretch your hands out the window in the morning to "get-to-know" the weather. But according to the locals, its the best summer they had in 4 years, with the sun shining almost everyday and the occasional breeze. They really like the sun here, unlike us back in Malaysia.

Liverpool has a great city centre. Everything's there. For groceries, its Iceland, Tesco, Home Bargain, Poundland, Sainsbury and 99p Store. For clothings, Primark (insanely cheap stuff) and Sports Direct are really my preferences. As for eating out, Subway and Lobster Pot are kinda the must-stops. McD and KFC for occasional breakfast and there is this Chinese place called Marybone Fast Food Centre which offers super-sized value meals.
























Insane proportion for around 3 pounds.

As for studies, I have to admit that the psychology course is way more relaxing compared to the other courses (as of this post). In addition, the lecturers are pretty much helpful. Very seldom there are left-for-dead situations.

Travelling around is considered a luxurious must (don't know how that works). I regreted that I can't visit every places that are offered. But so far, Chester, London and Manchester have been very enjoying.

Walking is the most appropriate transportation for budget students from a third world country. Bus rides are rare. Bicycle is a luxury. Cars are...well..you get the point.

Not forgetting Anfield, my personal theater of dreams. To actually stepped into it is already ecstatic. If opportunity arises, a feel of the atmosphere of matchday would be perfect.
















So here it is. One month of summary reporting from Liverpool. Still alive and kicking.

R.I.P. MJ

I was having a rare night walk around Liverpool, when words of MJ's death reached. Initially, I shrugged it off as a rumour, because the people discussing it were like gleefully "reporting it". But then, as more streets were being covered, more and more waves of the news comes in. So, yeah. I checked it out after reaching home. It was true.

The King of Pop had left us. Being me, it would be unusual to care much of celebrities' death, especially for a man labeled as "Wacko Jacko" for his antics and weird life philosophies. However, I had always remembered him as the man who had considerable influence on my childhood years with his songs. Who would forget songs like "Thriller", "Billie Jean" adn "Beat It". At least not me.

R.I.P. MJ

Classes and Misc.

It had to be a constant reminder that my "mission" in the UK is for the degree. Play hard work hard, they say, but that is not usually the case here. No matter how, we still need to find the agonizingly hard spot of motivation to do so.

Class structures are almost the same way back in M'sia, instructional style. But of course, they added a bit of creativity here and there when they present their stuff. We were told to draw out a self-introduction and for the next few days we present our read journals in simple (mostly fugly) pictures. Kinda helps actually. One of those psychology thing in helping memory.














Professor....sorry....Mr. Cheah presenting you military art of war.

Often, lectures are filled with lively jokes that keeps us awake. Of course, not all is perfect. There are still some boring lecturers around.




















The real professor teaching

And in a few weeks time, all things will be coming in like a tsunami wave, or waves. Unless I'm terribly free or feeling random, then I will update this blog here. Otherwise, do visit my FB for the pictures.

What's Next?

£59mil for Kaka, £80mil for Ronaldo and €37mil for David Villa...



















"Finally, I'm going to Madrid!"

Motto of President Perez must be: "Credit crunch?! What credit crunch?"

So what's next for Real Madrid?

Probably bankruptcy in September.

At least for rival fans of ManU, the good news is they don't have to see the cocky and theatrical tantrums by C Ronaldo.

Settling In Liverpool

Sorry for the unprecedented hiatus. Its kinda busy week here.

And yes, Liverpool. Its an amazing city. The first week is of course an exploratory week for most of us. Lots of adapting needed. The weather is really unlike M'sia, as we really appreciated the sun very much.
















As we entered Liverpool...

We were then brought to our hostel at Atlantic Point, which I can't help but compared it to the ones they have in TAR College. Of course, its a far cry from that.




















Entrance to one of the blocks.

Each of us have our private room, WITH private toilets. A common room (with TV) and a kitchen is provided. They also give us a storeroom equipped with a vacuum cleaner, a mop set and a iron board. It might sound as if we are sakais to be amazed with all these stuff here in England, but really, tell me, how many hostels does that in M'sia?

Setting up took lots of time. We did some shopping of groceries and needed appliances. The girls would of course make a detour and screamed their way towards the clothes section. We try to get the cheapest stuff available, and the cheap stuff is like real cheap here, especially for beers and chocolates. Say 5 bars of Mars for 99p. Definitely would get hyper if you had all of them.

Next, we went to our induction where LJMU welcomes us.



















Students waiting in the Britannia Adelphi Hotel Hall.

Nothing much here as a couple of welcome speeches and safety advices were given. They made it brief and straight to the point, unlike Malaysians who would always have to go through the Yang Amat Berhormats and addressing every single people and animals and ants that are in the hall.

Much of the stuff are pretty much in pictures for the next few days. So do logon to Facebook for those.

During the induction week, we took trips to Chester and Liverpool Museum courtesy of LJMU. It was absolutely eye-opening and exciting to say the least. Most of the stuff are about history (which coincidently my fave subject in school) of Britain. Chester promotes their rich vein of Roman and Renaissance History.



















Touch of 1600s

























Our Roman guide of the day.

Next up, classes started and of course reality kicks in.

SinEu out for now.

From H to U...Its a Long Way

This time its not about the football club. I am in the city itself! Teehee. And here I got the urge to have the journey and the first day accounted.

Picking where I left off in the previous post, me and my bunch of friends took the Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong, which serves as our transition point. The 3 hours trip was well, awful at the least. Limited space, almost pathetic food, a bumpy landing and air stewardess wearing flu mask.
















HKIA
















Mind you, this is no lecture class. Just us taking up precious time to talk to families and busy updating FB and Twitter.

The first trip makes us think that the next journey to UK will be a helluva torrid. It turned out not-so-bad. Wider seats and better food, although stewardess are still covered with mask. The time on the plane was the only nightmare. 13 hours of doing nothing except sit, toilet breaks, watch movies and fart.

After the dreadful hours, we finally reached London Heathrow Airport. Surprisingly, the entering process was helluva short. A grumpy immigration officer look through your documents, stampped approval, you claimed your luggage and the next thing you are in the arrival hall. Yes, that whole nightmarish customs check that you read, watched and heard about was totally.non.existent.
















Reaching London....
















London Heathrow scene.

It is not the end of our journey, as we had to take another 3 hours to Liverpool in a coach. Another 3 hours before our asses are exonerated from torture.
















The scene that generally sums up what we saw in our 3 hours trip to Liverpool.

Next up, Liverpool itself. Later.

On Route

So the short trip from Penang was smooth. Its been ten years since my last time on an airplane. I was looking through the window like some small kid (or would you prefer the word "sakai") anticipating lift-off and jumping in joy. Ok, cut the jumping, the only thing jumping is my heart.

My departure was so mysterious that only 3 people waved goodbye in Penang. Kinda low-key. And I am not complaining. Afterall, its just 4 months. Meh.

In a few hours time, it will be another take-off. An international one this time. So while anticipating flying international, I will dread through the 3 hours with some crap courtesy of KLIA wifi and a pasar-like McDs.

To my friends and families, Hasta La Vista.
To UK and England, prepare thy land for my invasion.

Finn-ishing on a High Note

Come this Sunday, it will probably be the last of appearance of what Anfield had seen as one of the best defenders in the modern game. Sami Hyypia, the Finn, will finish his career at Liverpool as a reliable, consistent and dedicated stalwart in a distinguished career span of 10 years at Anfield.

















When he came in back in 1999, people were all asking the same question: "Sami who?" Bought from Dutch outfit Willem II for a mere 2.6 mil pounds, he had so far surpassed that value. Looking at the current squad of Liverpool, he was now the only survivor of former manager Gerard Houllier's buys. And what a buy he is. Forming the undisputed partnership with former reds defender, Stephan Henchoz and then the current vice-captain, Jamie Carragher, he has propelled, albeit almost unnoticed and stealthy dedicated performance, Liverpool to many trophies, including the famous Treble in 2001 and 2005 Champions League throphy.













In his younger days.















Eyes on the Cup. He got it after putting in a magnificent performance.

Apart from his formidable defending, he is also an advantage in providing goals in from corners. A great asset with commanding aerial ability and good reading of the game. It is no surprise that he helped Liverpool to so many clean sheets and sometimes deciding goals in critical matches.

A "legend", a "perfect professional", a "magnificent servant". All these tags and tributes cannot describe enough of his service for the Reds. In fact, he has been one of the most inspiring imports and one of the greatest players that had donned the red shirt.

Plug-ish

Apparently, its a relief for Malaysians in UK. Not so anymore in Europe (and a large chunk of the world), at least in terms of plugs. As for the volts, it is pretty much the same.

Check out this website for the electricity in Europe.

Picture courtesy of Unplggd via Gizmodo.

We Are Close

Liverpool had a great season, undoubtedly. Undoubtedly too, ManU got a better one, but that's not the point here.

For the past few seasons, the Reds conceded their title challenge usually when February dawns. This time around, we made it to the final second game and keep our bitter rivals sweating over. The Reds are no pushovers either, conjuring up a double combo victory against them, one of them a empathetic 4-1 away win, to give them a run of their money.


















Then again, its not enough. We will always look back to the what ifs. What if Liverpool had gained victory against weaker sides like Hull, Wigan and Tottenham. What if Torres and Gerrard are fit throughout the season. What if Rafa Benitez did not go berserk and decided to verbally attack Fergie. What if...ok...they are many of them in hindsight, so we shall not go there.

Those said, Liverpool should look back this season and congratulate themselves for the improvement they've made. We have a FWA Footballer of the Year in our team. Step up Stevie G. People had always said that Liverpool is a two men team, consisting of Gerrard and Torres. In my POV, that is so not true. We have squad players with their reown abilites. Kuyt's tireless run, Masch's relentless battling, Carra's defending, Xabi's pinpoint passes and among others. In truth, there are so much quality. Ok, maybe we do not have enough depth on the bench, which probably is a factor that seperates us from ManU, but they are a better team with larger resources. Perhaps there is some fine tuning needed there.




















Gerrard: Fulcrum of Liverpool

This gratifying season has its feel-good factors, including the 4-0 crushing of Real Madrid, a better goal differences in the league, Steven Gerrard at his best, the 3-2 comeback vs Manchester City and of course the forementioned ManU match. Significantly, there are more entertaining football this time around compared to previous season. More free-flow football, more gasping creativity and most importantly, more goals.
















Crushing Real Madrid is no small feat.

Next season, the Reds are definitely going to be better. I will be there to make sure that. XD