Some people believe football is a matter of life and death…

I’m very disappointed with that attitude.

I can assure you it is much, much more important that that.

So said the late, great Bill Shankly, legendary Liverpool boss.

*******

In a bar not too long ago:

Tap on my shoulder, I looked over and the lady points to a guy, and he asks me,

“Don’t you have a better shirt to wear?”

*******

A few minutes later:

A guy, obviously drunk, comes over to me; his hand raised to high-five me. As I was about to high-five him, he pulls his hand back, folds his fingers except for one, and says,

“Five - one mate… five – one.”

And he walks away, proud.

A girl that was behind him then comes up to me and says, “Do you remember, goona noona anna?”

“What??”

“Do you remember, goona noona anna?!?”

“Ahah! Yep, yep…!” And we both laughed.

No idea what the heck goona noona anna is, but at least she left!

*******

A few more minutes later:

A group of four guys see me across the floor, start pointing at me, and then break out into a song.

I have to admit, that kind of freaked me out.

Then another guy from behind this group walks up to me, shakes my hand and gives me a good strong manly hug.

“You’re alrite mate…”

I decided then that this was a dangerous place, and I will not go to the gents. If this was how they were out here, god knows how they’ll be inside there.

*******

All this for wearing the jersey of a team I don’t even support!
The only reason I wore Arsenal’s jersey was because I had to wear something red for the Year of the Rat Party, and this free jersey I got was, well… red.

The Year of the Rat Party...

We went out after the party and I didn’t realize how much emotion this garment would evoke in this city.

And what were Tottenham and Chelsea fans doing in Nottingham anyway??

The Gunners’ fans owe me big time for this.

*******

Must be careful with whatever we do in public...

Insanity...

is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Something was not right. I just couldn't figure it out. It should flow naturally, but it just wasn't... flowing.

And then...

At 3.41am...

*******

I'm not too bad at pool. I even have a tournament bronze medal on my shelf from 10 years ago, but when I started picking up the cue again, the balls weren't going where they were supposed to go. I was getting beaten by practically everyone. Including when I was playing against myself.

What was I doing wrong? What was missing?

It's like that dish that seemed perfect but lacking one crucial ingredient (salt).

It's like the most wonderful love letter ever written that would never arrive (stamp).

It's like one of your favourite sitcoms from which you can't remember the name of the main actress (Justine Bateman).

And then, that eureka moment.

Chin on cue.

That was it!

And the balls began flying into the pockets like it were their ancestral homes...

*******

I wonder what other stuff I'm doing are missing their crucial ingredients...

Don't count the days...

make the days count.

sometimes blue

sometimes grey

sometimes both

May your marriage and your life together...

be as beautiful as the love that brought you to this day.

Hobby: Wedding Speeches!

13. I’ve spoken at 13 weddings.

It’s great when someone asks you to speak at their wedding. It’s something which I love doing. And my friends and family have given me the honour to do it that many times.

The preparation is exciting. I get to speak to the bride and the groom, sometimes together, sometimes separately. I get to ask all sorts of questions: how they met, what attracted them to each other, how they knew the other was the ‘one’…

“I really don’t know what attracted me to him… I just knew he was the one.”

“She doesn’t know this, but that one time, when she…”

“We’ve known each other for many years, but when he appeared on my doorstep that day, I knew this was the man I wanted to marry.”

And one couple, when I separately asked them to describe the other, they both used the exact description! :-)

Sometimes, I get to chat with the parents too! Their take on their children is amusing as well. A friend said that a parent’s greatest happiness is when they see their children happy. And at every wedding I attended, the parents were happy.

It’s amazing some of the things these people did, the time they were willing to wait, the ups and downs they experienced… but I guess certain things are that worth it.

Some of the stories are normal, some of the stories are amazing, and some of the stories can be made into movies…

All are wonderful though – coz it has led to a marriage.

Weddings itself are fun, although it can be stressful, what with wanting it to be perfect, and having so many people involved. But we gotta remember that behind every wedding, there’s some sort of magic that has brought two people and two families together…

As much as it’s for the guests to get to know the couple, when I speak at a wedding, I try to make it something special for the couple. A gentle recollection of how they came together and a sharing of their family and friends’ joy with their decision to take, god willing, the eternal promise. Something the couple can cherish… (hopefully!). And it’s usually easy to do when you’re talking about people who are close and important to you too.

I’ve got some good friends who are getting married in 2008, and it looks like I’m going to be missing most of their weddings.

It’s ok :-)

My wish, as always, is that their marriage and their life together will be as beautiful as the love that brought them to their wedding day.

To those who are creating their stories now, you may not know how it’s going to turn out, but one day, you too may get to share your stories with some of us, happy ending and all...

Happy 2008!

I'm like a spider...

who's ice-skating.

In Canada, when your team makes it to the play-offs, the men stop shaving. It’s supposed to bring luck to your team… so that they do well in the play-offs.

We’ve got a Canadian classmate here.

We’re in our ‘play-offs’ now too.

We need lots of luck.

And so the pact was made…

*******

The last time I did something like this…

…I had to reintroduce myself to some child-hood friends,

…one friend did not notice the difference,

…and one colleague asked if I was happy with what I’d achieved in my career as I approached my 40’s...

History does not repeat itself...

but it sometimes rhymes.

A few years ago, I was involved in a reality TV show. An adventure race that was called the extreme journey.

In the first race, we did quite well, despite a few disasters that happened along the way.

I had completed the first task and was on the bus to the location of the second task, which I found out later was to harvest pineapples.

Now, every participant had two people following them, a cameraman and a director. The director told me that I was too quiet, and that I should speak more, as it won’t be much fun watching a quiet race on TV.

Speak more?

Ok, I’ll give it a go. I’ll give the producers some speak to show on TV.

I saw a lady seated nearby, and approached her, but when she saw the camera behind me, she turned away.

This was not going to be easy.

I saw two girls in school uniform seated towards the middle of the bus. They were giggling, so I thought I’ll make their day by talking to them :-) Further, it was mid-morning on a weekday, so what were they doing not in school anyway?

As I approached them, I could see they were excited…

This… is gonna be easy, I told myself, suddenly having a burst of confidence…

“Pergi mana dik?”

A good question to break the ice, don’t you think?

Amidst the giggling and their obvious shyness, one of them answered:

“Pergi sekolah, ada kelas tambahan SPM…”

I was on a roll. Keep it going dude! You have them eating out of your hands already…

“Ahh… abang pun dulu buat SPM…”


*******

I went silent.

The two girls went silent.

The first one to baulk was the cameraman, Chris Jericho. I had a small mike attached to my shirt, and he could hear every word I said, crystal clear, through his headphones. He looked up at me, while struggling to keep the camera steady… and seemed to will me to continue.

The two girls then burst out giggling.

Thank god they had to get down a couple of stops after that.

Of all the things to say… I should have asked about the weather.

That was bad. Could there have been a worse reply?

Apparently not, according to the producers.

They told me they had wanted to bill this the romeo’s race, for that quote and another incident later on in the day involving a girl in a taxi. They decided to focus on some other more entertaining bits eventually, especially the part where we gobbled down raw ostrich egg, the near fall into the crocodile pit, the blood, and the car crash at the finishing point.

*******

I don’ talk much to people on the bus these days.

The Ten Commandments are 100 words or so...

and the European Union regulations on the imports and exports of ducks eggs? About 30,000 words.

Thank god I managed to get out of the way of this beast in time...

I was staring at a group of about 15 ducks on a hill one day, as I was waiting for the bus. I was staring at them, they were staring at me... and it became a staring game.

Suddenly, they lunged forward... spread their wings and flew. Over my head and towards the park, landing spectacularly on the lake.

Show offs.

We're at war.