Time for a change

I have moved.

Red Hot Nails

Yesterday, I saw a woman with toenails longer than my fingernails. They were at least an inch long and painted a bright shiny red.

It looked like she stuck chilli padis on to her toes. Yucks!

This rollercoaster life of mine

I'm feeling out of sorts today. Have this nagging feeling at the back of my head that something's amiss. I wonder if it's psychological. I feel uneasy, tired, moody.... just so BLAH.

Maybe it's a balance thing. The past few days I've literally been on a high. And life, I suppose, is like a rollercoaster - you have to come down sometimes. This suddenly reminds me of the Giant Drop at Movieworld. How it slowly moves up, and when you reach the pinnacle it lingers there, allowing you to enjoy the stunning view, and you keep expecting it to drop but it doesn't. Instead it continues to stay up there, and just when you start to think that it's not going to it plummets, nose-diving straight down.

Of course once you're down, there's no other way to go except back up again. I just hope it doesn't take too long for the next ride to start.

Golden Ball

I find it extremely annoying that none of the players up for contention for the Golden Ball come from countries that didn't make it to the semis. And among those nominated, a staggering 7 players are Italians or French. It seems so narrow minded to focus only on the last 4 countries. No doubt the 10 nominated played an integral part in helping their respective countries reach the final 4, but the prize is for the most valuable player in the competition. How about players like Riquelme, Ayala, Rodriguez, Appiah, and in fact, most of the other Ghana players? Even Hargreaves who was simply outstanding against Portugal.

Just because you didn't make it to the finals or even the semis shouldn't matter. If it does, then one of the criteria besides skill, flair and whatever else they consider should be "must be a semi-finalist". The selection panel needs a good knock on the head.

I'm not saying that all 10 nominated don't deserve it, it's the inclusion of a particular few that boggles my mind. I hope Cannavaro wins because of the 10 he's my favourite. And it certainly helps that he's HOT. I suspect that Zidane might have a good shot at it though, for sentimental reasons. Well we'll all know come Monday.

Wimbledon

I've been so caught up with soccer the past few weeks that I've hardly watched Wimbledon. But I'm definitely not going to miss the final between Federer and Nadal. I think it promises to be an interesting match with Nadal having a 6-1 career edge over Federer. Federer, incidentally, is 55-0 against all other players this year (I checked!). Nadal has also beaten Federer in four finals this year, including last month's French Open.

I still reckon Federer is the overwhelming favourite on grass. He is miserly in dishing out errors, and has yet to drop a set in the tournament. If both players carry on playing with the form they've showed the past 2 weeks, it's going to be a fantastic final. Go Roger!

Italy 2 Germany OUT

The better team won. My hope had been for Italy to convert a penalty in the dying minutes of the match so that Germany wouldn't have time to claw their way back, much like their match against Australia but this is even better!

As one report put it, "Klinsmann's team had been clinically picked off by an Italy team too smart to leave their victims with time to reply". Go Azzurri!

Pool Story

I remember going up to the pool around 1 or 2 in the afternoon. Or sometimes immediately after waking up. Strolling down the corridor barefoot, through the door, past the gym, and up the stairs. In the bright afternoon sun, the pool looked as blue as the sky. I would take a quick dip, then lie on my towel and settle down for a snooze or enjoy the company of a good book. Sometimes I would spy on the people and cars crossing the William Jolly Bridge, wondering who they were and where they were heading to. I'd look towards the city, where the shops called out invitingly but the lure of my pool was irresistible.

Sometimes I'd head to the pool in the evenings and there'd be a crowd sitting by the pool, savouring a drink or tossing a ball around. Other times I'd go with a friend or two and enjoy a chat and the company. We'd muck around with a ball or practice doing flips or play silly games. Once our ball sailed over the railing and landed on the ground 4 stories below. A helpful passer by picked it up and attempted to kick it up to us. The ball ended up stuck in a tree. After much prodding and cursing, my friend managed to get the ball back. He then attempted to kick the ball back up to me. His foot connected sweetly with the ball and it flew up, away from my waiting hands and landed on the roof of the hotel next door.

But that's another story.

And so it is

The World Cup suddenly lost much of it's appeal for me. Australia, Argentina, Spain, England. Those were the 4 teams I was rooting for. I can't believe they're ALL out. 3 of them kicked out coz of penalties.

I don't like Germany, France and Ronaldo so I guess i'll have to dig out my Italy jersey.