Day 5 of Lent

And I'm proud to say I am keeping clean lips when I drive! Hooray! Didn't curse drivers for 5 days liao, but I think my ulcer has grown bigger cos there are still silly drivers on the road. I had to flash my headlights at a couple of drivers so far cos they were going 70k/hr on the right most lane of the CTE. Like hello?? Don't you know that's for cars who are overtaking??? I wonder why some drivers are so oblivious that they think they're the only cars on the road!

I broke my chocolate sacrifice the very first day but it was sheer forgetfulness! I was happily munching on some cookies when I took a look at the ingredients and HORRORS OF HORRORS! Cocoa was listed as one of the ingredients! No wonder I was feeling so happy when I was eating them! I promptly kept those cookies and after that, I haven't broken that vow yet....think that's still okay, right? Anyway, don't think God is going to take my salvation away for accidental slip-ups!

Tonight is the Carling Cup final match between my beloved Gunners and Chelski. I am praying hard that we beat the Blue boys, but I must admit that so far, Arsenal has not beaten Chelski since Jose the Mouth took over. We drew thrice and lost the other games....But I'm still being optimistic cos I think the young Gunners are capable of surprising Jose and his boys.

Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, which is a forty day period during which we Christians are supposed to remember our sinfulness, repent, ask God's forgiveness, and recognize that God's forgiveness comes at an infinite price -- the death of Christ on the cross on our behalf. It is not meant as a time of false humility or prideful self-sacrifice. It reminds us that our sin separates us from God, who "demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8). We are all sinners in desperate need of a Saviour....

I'm a lousy sinner always striving to become more like Christ, and Lent is usually a period of mixed joy and sadness for me...joyful because I tend to be closer to God at this time of the year than any other time, even Christmas, and sad because I'm constantly reminded of His love and grace for me despite my sinfulness. Every year, I give up something, usually chocolate (I LOVE chocolate! especially brownies from the Chocolate Factory and Starbucks Mochas). This year I already planned to also give up cursing at other drivers when I drive. I already succeeded so far today by not driving to work! (yah, I know that's cheating, so sue me!) But I've been doing a bit of research on the Internet, and came across a post that said something to the effect that a Lenten sacrifice should not be giving up something that I shouldn't be doing anyway, like drinking and driving(oops!)

So I guess that means that I will have to add another sacrifice. So I'm now thinking.....maybe I'll do at least one good deed a day for a stranger? like giving up my seat on the train, or helping out a lost tourist? I tried doing that yesterday to this Chinese PRC couple, but they looked warily at me and walked away fast.....I wonder why?????

Happy Zhu Year to one and all!

Yah yah, I know I'm a little late with my CNY wishes to all, but just got back from a quickie trip to Cambodia with my family, our annual CNY escape act. Went to see Angkor Wat and Phnom Penh...very hot and sunny! ouch, think my skin kenna burned till chao tar liao! Angkor Wat was amazing, testament to the ingenuity of humans to build communities and places of worship despite searing heat, just with human and elephant labour! The right is a pic of my mum and me among the ruins of Angkor Wat Phnom Penh was picturesque, with very nice and friendly people. But the poor were everywhere....tons of beggars and kids roaming the streets...wanna help but how? when they are so many? no wonder so many NGOs are operating in Cambodia.

Also went to see the Genocide Museum in PP. This was known as S21, apparently, and used to be a school before the Khmer Rouge turned it into an interrogation and detention institution... truly horrible crimes were committed by the Khmer Rouge against their own people, and what amazed me was to discover that the leaders NEVER faced any punishment for what they did, and only their minions went to jail for a couple of years here and there! My brother said that's because after the fall of the Khmer Rouge to the Vietnamese, the Vietnamese, being communist, was viewed as the bigger threat and so the Khmer Rouge were supported by the Americans and other powers against the Communists.... talk about stupid politicians! I think Pol Pot was one of the few dictators in the history of the world who committed atrocities against his own people. Historians estimate that about 14000 people were tortured and processed at S21 alone, and there were hundreds of such places throughout Cambodia. After being tortured and forced into confessing whatever crimes they were supposed to have committed, the detainees were then taken to a mass grave to be clubbed on the head (!!!) and buried. My God! It's bad enough that poor baby seals are clubbed to death, but Pol Pot did it to human beings! Shocking! BTW, in the pic to the left, I'm trying to show the barbed wires that were used to stop prisoners from jumping to their death after a woman managed to escape from her guards on the way to being interrogated and jumped to her death from the 3rd floor of the building.

My sis-in-law has posted the pix she and my bro took on the Web, so if you're interested to see us on holiday, check out this link

http://sg.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/delia_wee/album?.dir=/4674scd&.src=ph&.tok=phdk4XGB9gFf6AqA

Anyway, that was my CNY family holiday....holidays with my family are always interesting cos my brother and I share a life-long love-hate relationship, arguing every waking moment over anything. My mom gets pulled into one side or the other, and now Delia, my bro's wife, also has to be a peacemaker! Poor thing! Like I was telling them the other day, if Delia had met us and seen us together before my bro managed to fool her into becoming his wife, I'm sure she would have run a million miles in the opposite direction! But we are family, through thick and thin, and I guess what makes us argue and fight, and then make up the next second, is the strength and security that comes from knowing that we would stick up for each other against any foe. That's why I was so grieved to read TNP's Saturday article on a 66 year old widow who has a truly unfilial son and daughter in law. This poor widow apparently worked hard as a cleaner to put her son through medical school, and then just because the DIL didn't like the mom for insisting on carrying on working as a cleaner, there was disagreement and this ended in the son chasing out the mom after she had signed over the title deeds of her flat to the son and DIL! So "pak hao" of the son! Unfortunately, the mom refused to name her GP son, otherwise I'm sure no one would go to see him any more. This is not someone that I would like to be my GP! I hope he dies of shame!

OK, tomorrow is the start of Lent. I meant to blog about my Lenten sacrifices this year, but guess that will have to wait for another day.....

We're thru to the next round of FA Cup!

Ho ho, my beloved Gunners swept aside the Bolton kickers last night to get thru to the next round of the FA cup. Think they were a bit slack at times...missed 2 penalties for crying out loud! AND let the kickers equalized during stoppage time so they had to go to extra time. Still, the important thing is we got thru! so much for Sam Allardyce and all the nasty remarks he was making about Arsene Wenger and Arsenal before the game.

Will be off to Cambodia tomorrow morning with my family. Our usual CNY family holiday. Not sure what to expect since some folks told me it's very nice, and others say it's dusty, boring and hot! I'm packing my Lara Croft gear since I've always wanted to imitate Angelina Jolie...Anyway, happy Zhu year to all of you in advance! Eat lotsa tarts, bakwa and cookies....the diet can start on the 3rd day since it's the beginning of Lent! And if any of your rude relatives ask stupid questions like "when are you going to get married", just tell them you're gay and married your partner in Bali during Christmas....that should shut them up!

Dinner with the gals

Went for dinner last night with my group of gal pals from way back when...one of them is literally my oldest friend in the world since we've known each other since Pri 1! We went to celebrate HL's birthday in Hog's Breath Cafe at Holland Village. Our server took a shine at HL, commenting that she resembled his mentor....maybe he was just trying to get a bigger tip? But I thought he was really nice for a server, and I gave him brownie points for being honest enough to say he forgot the order when we reminded him that LF had not received her peppermint tea. Definitely a class above the usual server who have a "take it or leave it" attitude! You know, the ones who get your orders wrong and then insist that you made the mistake, or the ones who disappear whenever you want to ask for more water?

The vegetarian salad I had was pretty good for an eggless one...and the curly fries were addictive (I pinched them off my friends' plates...helping them share the calories mah!) We ended it by sharing a mud pie....luscious! One of the last times I'm going to be able to enjoy chocolate till after Easter, since that's one of the things I'm giving up for Lent. Sigh....maybe I'll give up something else instead? That means no Starbucks' mochas or M & Ms for 40 days....or brownies!!!

Ah well, I'll think about that tomorrow....Today I'll enjoy my usual Mocha after gym, my Sunday morning reward for gymming! Gotta go!

What a joke!

Took me the whole day to calm down....Got upset cos of the ruling by the Asean Football Federation (hereafter to be known as the Amazingly Foolish Fatheads) just to warn the Thai football team for their action of walking out! I'm sooooooo pissed off! Not because I want the Thais to be punished (think that was dealt with when we won the cup on their soil last Sunday hahaha!), but because this action was very unsporting, and needed to be dealt with severely so that the right message would be sent to the rest of the teams in the region.

I've made my feelings known by writing to the AFC, and I'm going to urge everyone reading my blog to do the same! Please, we must work to preserve the reputation of regional football! Write in now!

We are the ASEAN Champs!

I am so happy! Despite sucking worse than the Thai team in terms of talent, skills, commitment and work rate, our team managed to hold Thailand to a draw in Thailand, and won the ASEAN football championship by a 3-2 aggregate score. Despite being a patriotic Singaporean, I must admit that I feared the worse for our boys when I saw them playing in the first half, and gave up hope once Thailand had scored their goal. But that seemed to wake up our boys, and the coach must have "humtam" them during the break, cos they fought back in the second half and we equalized! I was so happy at that moment, and even though Thailand tried to fight back, I think they lost hope as the minutes ticked away, and we triumphed!

My friends know that I adore Thierry Henry and my team is Arsenal, cos they play attractive football that is always exciting to watch cos it flows and is like poetry, especially when scoring a goal. Singapore's football team has a loooooong way to go, but patriotism comes to the front and I can't understand my friends who tear down our team and say that local football is crap! Hey, they're Singaporeans so we must support mah! And some were jeering that half of the team are imported talent. Hey, we're a nation of migrants and children of migrants, and our total population is 4 million, so what's wrong with having imported sports talents, anymore with having imported CEOs or construction workers? I think they've showed their loyalty to their adopted country by giving up their original citizenship to play for Singapore. You think they're paid that much ah? To run around for 90 minutes in a foreign country and be booed non-stop? Or face the risk of being hit by flying urine-filled mineral bottles (that happened 2 years ago in Indonesia)? I think they're more Singaporean than all those on-line cowards!

Over the past week, I have been reading some of the on-line forum pages, and I'm appalled that some so-called Singaporeans actually were supporting the Thai team and saying that our team don't deserve to win, that we CHEATED to win the first leg! What nonsense! I was in the National Stadium on Wednesday and I saw a lot of Thai players falling over everytime they lost possession, and how they kept trying to move the ball forward when taking a free kick. And of cos, much has already been said about how they staged a walkout when they got a penalty ruled against them. I've never seen such bad sportsmanship in all my years of watching football, or any other team sport for that manner! For a minute, I thought we had all been whisked by some transporter to Italy.......

Okay, enough ranting for the day. The Lions Rock!

This and That

Feeling a bit sleepy all day today cos went to watch Singapore Lions against the Thai Chickens at the National Stadium last night. Most entertaining game, even though the Thai chickens (I just coined that term, not their official name!) were most unsporting, falling over at the slightest touch from the minute the whistle blew at the beginning of the game, and culminating when they walked off the pitch towards the end of the game when a penalty was awarded to Singapore. Such unprofessional and unsporting behaviour! I was proud of our Lions, not for how they played (frankly they sucked big time!) but for how they worked together as a team and did not react to the Thai players when they staged their mass walkout. The second leg will be played in Bangkok, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who's worried about the safety of our players and fans in the stadium....hopefully the Thai authorities will be able to control the situation properly.

My beloved Gunners won last night against Tottenham Hotsperms...oops, I mean Hotspurs! So now we will meet Chelski in Cardiff for the Carling Cup final. Can't remember when it is now and too sleepy to search the Web for that info, but you can be sure that I'll blog about it when the time comes.

Now for a bit of ventilation...those who know (and love ;-P) me know that I have very strong feelings about most things, especially our international neighbours....I try not to politicize this blog since I've no wish to run afoul of any authorities...but I read that some silly minister in the country north of us blamed Singapore's land reclamation as the reason for their recent floods! Talk about trying to shift the blame for their own lack of competence, foresight and preparation on others! The sad thing is that I'm sure many of their people will believe them and also blame us. And there were we sending supplies and personnel over there to help them! Some people really don't deserve to be helped! Next time we should just laugh at them when their homes get flooded and people have to perch on their roofs while waiting for help! Unfortunately we are too nice and politically savvy to do such a thing...but still, I can fantasize, right?

Ok, gonna log off for now since I'm so super sleepy.....yawn!