I hope this FA Cup win gives Guus Hiddink a fitting farewell gift for his three extraordinary months at Stamford Bridge :) Honestly, Guus came just when Chelsea needed him and he really salvaged the lads from a potential zero-silverware season again. That aside, I thought Chelsea deserved to be in the Champions League finals but oh well as long as Man Utd didn't win, the situation's not so bad after all haha. Messi all the way! Lol who says shorties can't score headers.

I know I haven't blogged in a really long time but I guess it came to a point when I was just too lazy to login to Diaryland since Facebook kinda settles every random shoutout I'd need to make. Which reminds me, no prizes for guessing who's the Chelsea Player of the Year 2009: Frank Lampard! I just knew it haha. Where are you going to find another goal-scoring midfielder who's just as consistent as Lamps! Okay I admit he's not the fastest one around but surely he's one of the more dependable (and intelligent) ones who can actually deliver spot-on assists, tackle well and whack in beautiful goals. Food for thought: Lamps has reached the 20-goal mark every season without fail for the last four seasons whoa :D

The month of May has been thoroughly enjoyable because I became unemployed and suddenly I've got a lot more time to catch up with family and friends. Btw I think my grandma is super hip and happening - she wears hairbands from Aries and Mini Toons haha how cute is that :p And now she wants me to buy a few more in different colours so that she can match her hairband with her clothes. Cool huh? Family aside, I'm finally honouring all my long-overdue badminton dates with ppl like Lynnie, Rachel and Shuks haha! And playing handball/bball/table tennis/badminton/squash/tennis with random 27ths who happen to live around Bishan; ahem for the record, friends, I do not live anywhere near Bishan k aren't you glad I turn up almost all the time! :D Plus I'm finally catching up on my driving and omg I hate idiots who think they own the road. They seriously cross anywhere and everywhere and I stop in the middle of nowhere so I won't bang into them and then the cars behind honk at me like siao. Open your eyes damn it! Don't close them like those irresponsible pedestrians do hmph. Sigh those are my test roads somemore rawr there better not be fools jaywalking every 2m during my practical test!

Oh and I finally went Kbox whoohoo! I told myself one of the first things I absolutely have to do after A's is to go Kbox but guess what I haven't done that at all...until last Tuesday that is :D It's amazing how long I held out haha! And managed to catch up with 4567 yay seven years and we're still going strong! I hope we don't embarrass ourselves while bowling on Thursday. How come everytime we go bowling we end up laughing at our pathetic scores and wondering how we'd fare if we add up all our scores and compete against a pro? Heh nvm I still believe that practice makes perfect come on let's go!

Okay I'm ending off with a more mellow note but it really touched me. Today I watched a repeat telecast of First Touch and in the show there was a little boy who was dying from cancer but had just been abandoned by his mother. In his dying breath he told the doctor, "I wish my mother hadn't forgotten that although I am dying, I am still alive." He brought tears to my eyes, and I will always bear these words in mind. If you're reading this, I hope it means just as much to you too.

Crashed O'Nite on Friday and I guess even though the original intention was to watch the Highlights finale, we kinda forgot all about that and just cherished the opportunity to meet up with our peers, seniors and juniors alike. Even the army dudes came back lol! With all their shaved heads and pixelated uniforms and brown duffel bags :D And all the girls in their formal office-wear despite the fact that most firms consider Friday a dress-down day. But oh man I feel so old now; my little juniors from wayyy back are now J1 and suddenly they've all grown up. Then the 27ths went for dinner, sang songs and basically had a very hilarious night together. I miss Council! I never thought I'd miss all the meetings, proposal writings, banner paintings and even the miscellaneous saigang-ing...but when I was churning out proposals and abstracts at the NCC the past few weeks, it felt all deja vu again and I actually found myself enjoying the process heh.

Sometimes I wonder how relationships are sustained without verbal or even virtual communication. But then you meet someone whom you haven't seen in ages and then suddenly you speak as if you're best friends and you easily find so many common topics to laugh about. It's refreshing, really, to know that some things in this world are beyond logic and that friendship is truly one of these things. As we build new relationships and get acquainted with more people, there is the fear of losing friends from the past simply because we've lost contact with each other. But somehow it never happens. You click instantaneously over the most ridiculous things, you find yourself reminiscing about the past and what you used to love then, and then you find yourself many years younger immersed that same innocence...that's when you finally realise the sacred entity of what we often too casually term 'friendship'.

I'm rattling in my sentimentality again haha. But really, spending the last month at the NCC has thoroughly challenged my views on alot of things - including life and death. Somehow I've just come to accept the things I initially disagreed with. But the last month has been an amazing learning experience that I gratefully embrace, as I gradually mould my opinions, thoughts and beliefs. And indeed, there are far too many things in this world that money simply can't buy :)

And you wonder why, after an entire decade, my heart is still with the Westlife lads. Actually, I probably can't answer that question either. I don't think anyone can deny that Westlife indeed caught our attention with their first singles such as Swear It Again and If I Let You Go way back in 1998. The lads sort of grew up in the spotlight, but I think what I really love about them is the fact that they have never succumbed to what is often termed 'modern pop'. They stuck with the contemporary ballads and the clean-cut image. They went on topping charts despite Bryan's departure in 2003. They went public with their love lives, their partners and children, and even Mark's sexuality. Somehow, regardless of what they did, the general public continued to accept them genuinely for who they are and the music they create. And ten years later, with 14 UK Number Ones, I can ascertain that the lads are still stealing hearts and breaking records :)

Perhaps you may reckon that there's no big deal in having 14 UK Number Ones, but that feat puts Westlife in 3rd position on the Number Ones chart just behind Elvis Presley and The Beatles (and tied with Cliff Richard). And although some of these hits were covers, Westlife never failed to make these songs their own. In fact, the band is probably synonymous with any one of their 14 Number Ones: Swear It Again, If I Let You Go, Flying Without Wings, I Have A Dream/Seasons In The Sun, Fool Again, Against All Odds, My Love, Uptown Girl, Queen Of My Heart, World Of Our Own, Unbreakable, Mandy, You Raise Me Up, The Rose. Lol I think there's no way you can look at that list and not know any one of those songs heh.

So anyway, 2008 was Westlife's 10th anniversary for an amazing decade in the music industry. The lads are taking a break now but will be releasing a new album later this year so I can't wait! And then there'll be a tour in 2010 but they haven't been touring Asia in the last two years so hopefully that's going to change yay :D Call me a loser, but apart from Westlife I've never liked another English pop group (okay technically, they're Irish but I'm referring to the language bit). And I know my fave was always Shane from the start and well, it still is. I guess some things will never change haha.

Alright, enough about Westlife. As you probably would've noticed, I've tweaked my layout a tiny bit. I think it became too troublesome/annoying to scroll down substantially just to get to my blog entries so I changed the design a little. Stuck with the original silhouette theme and colour schemes, snagged some beautiful brushes (links on the right) and basically played around with Photoshop for a while. I'm not 100% satisfied but I didn't want to spend too much time on it and I guess it looks presentable enough heh. Comments are much appreciated!

Chinese New Year is just around the corner but I haven't gotten new clothes/CNY goodies yet haha. I'm looking forward to all the extended family gatherings though! Sunday's lunch+karaoke+dinner outing was really fun and we (especially Grandma) were all enjoying ourselves. I think the world today is much too fast-paced for my liking. Sure, there have been revolutionary improvements to our living standards thanks to industrialisation but many relationships have been compromised -whether directly or indirectly- as a result. It's hard to find time to be together as a nuclear family, much less as an extended family, and I really don't think there's anything more important than family in our lives. Unfortunately, the world today is results-oriented and materialistic, so much so that family becomes a mere identity - not an obligation or even an utmost priority. I think we are reaching the peak of the Earth's potential and we're starting to experience all the bitter truths about exploiting the very planet that sustains us. Globalisation needs to slow down, so that we can learn to appreciate the present and treasure the people around us now ♥