After the love has gone* - Earth, Wind & Fire

They were seated at the table next to ours - husband, pregnant wife, little boy, out for dinner at a shopping mall in town. Nothing exceptional.

But after a while, i began to notice something - husband and wife never spoke a word to each other. In fact, they did not even look at each other - they both sat facing the same direction. Wife dotted over the boy but that was it. Food came, and they ate in near slience. The boy was a little excited about the food but that was the only excitement emanating from that table.

Once the food was consumed, the husband turned his attention to his smartphone.

Finally, as we were about to leave, there was some communication!!! They were not strangers sharing the same table after all! But it was for the wife to signal the husband to pay up and leave.

Sorry - maybe i'm being a little busybody. Seem to have a habit doing this (see here). I just felt sad. I pressume they are married. They have a boy and another child is coming. But i just did not feel the love at all. It all seemed like they were there just to eat but they would rather be some place else - with some other person. It seems like the love has gone.

Does having a child and being married for a while do that to couples? I dun think so. I know many frens who have had children and are not like that.

I just feel very sad - and could not help but wonder how did it come to this? I'm sure they were madly in love with each other at one point of time. Or were they?

I begin to wonder also how many married couples are like this? Feeling stuck and trapped in their marriage. Regretting it - but staying together for the sake of...? the children? Avoid embarrassment? But this goes on until death parts them.

I just hope that what i observed last nite of that couple was just the exception rather than the norm. Maybe they had a fight just before they arrived at the restaurant and they just did not want to say anything more to avoid making it worse. Maybe on normal occasions, they are truly very happy together.

At least the boy seemed to be in good spirits!

*Multi Grammy Award winning song. Brilliant stuffs!

Beautiful* - Christina Aguilera

Northern lights - in the south!!!! Beautiful, isn't it?

One of my dreams - to see the Northern Lights!!!For now, I just have to settle for photos and vids of it! Some day...

*A beautiful song about someone who is fighting against low self-esteem and insecurity issues

Again* - Janet Jackson

They are redoing the movie again!!!! 10 years after they first told us the story of Peter Parker and how he became Spider-man!!!

Why??????????????????????????????

Still, i heard good things about it. And i do think that Andrew Garfield is a pretty good actor. Coupled with the good reports i read on my frens' FB comments, i decided that i will watch it - even tho it was not onmy anticipated movies of 2012 list (see here).

The wife however was not interested. So i went on my own - ended up sitting next to a smelly stinky geek and in front of some fella who was kicking at my seat all thru the show.

Still, i enjoyed it! Told the wife that if she changes her mind, i would watch it with her again! She asked if it was really that good until i want to watch it again. I told her that it was good enuf for me to not mind watching it again!!!!

So it's not gonna go on my list of all time fav movies. I still enjoyed it. And perhaps more importantly, i thought it was way much better than the original Spider-man!!!

Why? Well, check out my post here for reasons why i thought so!

But having said that, i am having trouble comparing this with Spider-man 2!!! In fact, i think that while i enjoyed The Amazing Spider-man and think it is better than Spider-man, i dun think it is better than Spider-man 2.

After all, Spider-man 2 had a much better villian - Doc Ock, played so well by Alfred Molina!

But it may not be a fair comparison as TASM had to deal a lot with laying the ground story - which it did much better IMHO compared to Spider-man.

Maybe it would be fairer to compare Spider-man 2 with TASM 2!!!

But for now, Spider-man 2 remains as my fav Spider-man movie. Here is the brilliant trailer to go with the show:-

*Her hit way back in the early 90s when i was studying in the UK.

Back at one* - Brian McKnight

Wimbledon Finals!!! History in the making - we get to see a Brit winning it for the first time in our lifetime or we see Federer equalling the record of winning it 7 times. 

The wife and i were pretty excited - finally, style, poise and grace will win the championship instead of sheer brute strength and pace!

But in the first set, it sure did not seem that way as Federer disappointed us like how he always have been doing recently. Piling unforced error upon unforced error - to the sheer delight of the British crowd!

But he eventually found his rhythm - and it was a joy to see him like poetry in motion!

Eventually, he won it quite easily - but it no less sweeter than the first 6 times, i'm sure!

It was really great to see him win again - and altho he is not as unbelievable as he used to be (see here), there were flashes of his brilliant old self and that was enuf to see him thru. A lot of people said he played really well - i beg to differ as i still remember the time when he was almost invincible on Court. Those days are over, tho. Doubt i'll ever get to see him again.

In any event, i was so happy - and icing on the cake is that he retains back the number 1 spot for a record number of weeks!!!

Well done! Enjoy it, Roger. So will i for i wonder how many more times will i get this opportunity again.

(all pics taken from news sites online)

*The title track of his 5th studio album.

Unwell* - Matchbox 20

I posted something in a lighthearted manner earlier when i said that 2 is better than 1 when it comes to grocery shopping (see here).

But not long after that, something happened that made me really thankful to God that the wife was around!

A couple of weekends ago, it was the dumpling festival. On the same day, i went to the wife's boss' baby party. Lots of food and drinking, tho to be honest, i did not stuff me face too much cuz the food was just alright! And i was saving a little for dinner that nite!

For dinner, me mom made her special "char yoke". There were loads of other food too. I wasn't feeling too good before dinner as there was some uncomfotable feeling just below me chest. It became worse after dinner. It felt like a bad case of indigestion.

I tried to go home and sleep it off - but it got pretty bad. So bad that it kept waking me up. I could not get into any position that was comfortable, standing, sitting or lying down. In the end, i had no choice but to wake up the wife and she took me to the 24 hour clinic nearby as it was oredi 2 am.

It was a little embarrasing when the doctor asked me what i ate for dinner and lunch. She prolly concluded that i just stuffed meself like crazy and deserved the suffering i was going thru. Ah well... i really din stuff meself too much. We think it could be due to the dumpling i had the day before as the glutinous rice used to make the dumpling can be quite difficult to digest.

Anyways... i went back - watched Spain beat France and finally got to sleep. Thank God the medication helped.

It was prolly the worst i've felt for a very long while - so bad that i do not think i could have driven to the clinic meself. So it was indeed a good thin the wife was around! 2 is better than 1, eh?

On another note, i realised how difficult it must be for those who are in worse condition than me, being in pain and feeling uncomfortable all the time. 

We should all be thankful for the good health we have.

*One of my all time fav songs!

Good thing* - Fine Young Cannibals

Last Wednesday, it rained! Woohoo! =)

But that meant i had to whip out the umbrella - and i decided to use my brand new umbrella. But as i was struggling to open it, i got a cut on my finger!!!! It wasn't bad but it was bleeding and it was painful. And it was on the inside part of my right index finger. Being a righ handed person, each time i handle something, it will hurt.

I was like cursing the stupid umbrella la! Sigh...

After the next day, when it did not get any better, the wife suggested that i use the ointment bought from Thailand. Can't remember what it is called. But it is pretty effective to deal with cuts and injuries to the skin. We bought a big bottle of it for me mom when we went there the last time. So i asked me mom to put some in a smaller container - i wanted to put some on after i got home and took my shower and brushed my teeth to avoid washing it away.

Finger got much better. Thank God.

But not the end of the story!!! On Sunday, as the wife was cooking, i heard some crashing sounds and i hurried over to the kitchen. Apparently, the saucepan was falling off the cooker and when she tried to steady it, her hand inadvertantly came into contact with the metal part and burnt badly. I told her immediately to put it under cold running water.

She was in obvious pain - however, it was a little amusing as she held her hand over the sink but she continued to stir-fry the vege with her other hand! I ahd to tell her off and told her to stop cooking as the burnt was quite bad. It started to blister almost immediately!

The cold water was not helping much and i thought of - yes, you are right - the ointment i brought back from me mom's place!!!! I fetched it and a lot of it was applied to hand.

As she sat quietly in the dining hall in tears, holding her hand, i finished up the cooking and cleaned up the kitchen. And it struck me - if i did not get that stupid cut on my finger, we would not have had anything to apply on her burnt hand!!! We may have had to even go out to the clinic or to the pharmacy to get some medication.

I shared with her about that. She was feeling so much better after applying the generous portion of the ointment on her hand. And we both agreed that it was a good thing that i cut my finger the other day. A small price to pay so that her burnt can be dealt with effectively.

People may say that she was lucky. As a Christian, i am sure it was all God's plan. =)

*Their 2nd no. 1 hit in the US, after their more popular She drives me crazy.

The Best* - Bonnie Tyler

Spain are the Champions of Europe again!!! 

2012 will be remembered among other things for the wonderful Euro competition! What a great tournament! Wonderful goals, super football, great drama. 

I'll remember dragging meself up in the strange hours of the morning while trying not to wake up the wife and sitting in our living room watching our small TV - it's reaching its expiry date soon! The tube is about to give way and we can see strange colours around the edges. Still, it was good enuf to follow the game (altho when i go over to me mom's place and watch it on the huge HD TV, it looked like it was a different place altogether).

Our little TV - Thanks TV3!!!!

Spain winning it in wonderful fashion is just the icing on the cake!

No. 1

No. 2

No. 3

No. 4

Seeing Torres scoring a goal which was  not unlike the one he scored 4 years ago against Germany was so satisfying! It was again the wonderful Xavi who set him up with that thru ball - like how he did 4 years ago. It was truly deja vu!

Spain winning by 4 goals is the highest margin in a Euro finals ever!

And Torres ended up with the Golden Boot Award! I thought he was not gonna get it - and he missed a wonderful opportunity to clinch it when he decided to set up Mata for Spain's 4th. In the end, it was counted as an "assist" and he won the Golden Boot award by virtue of scroing 3 goals, having 1 assist and playing in fewer matches! Well done!

The question now that everyone is asking is whether this Spannish team is the best footballing team ever!

I think they are the best footballing team i have ever watched! So yes, to me they are the best! While some felt bored (or even cheated) by the way they played, i found it a sheer joy to see how they passed the ball around so confidently and quickly. Some goals they scored were almost like they were passing the ball all the way into their opponents' goal!

Anyways, most of the BBC pundits seem to think they are very very good, if not the best!

Chris Waddle - "We've seen a masterclass today. Spain have been the best team in the world for the last four or five years. They deserved it tonight again, even with 11 v 11. Italy gave a lot of effort, but unfortunately they'd played too many hard games. They felt the pace and Spain, with that superior technique and movement and talent on the ball have run out easy winners. The Spanish have been criticised but they are the best team in the world without a shadow of a doubt." 

Phil McNulty - "They have now been untouchable in three major competitions and already few would back against them in South America when the World Cup goes to Brazil in 2014. They are the ultimate combination of silk and steel. They conceded one goal in Euro 2012 and have the Barcelona "carousel" of Xavi and Andres Iniesta augmented by Real Madrid's Xabi Alonso in midfield. Del Bosque felt confident enough in this brilliant side to ignore the claims of a conventional striker such as Fernando Torres, although he made a devastating late contribution against Italy. David Silva and Cesc Fabregas more than compensated - and it was all done without their great goalscorer David Villa and iconic defender Carles Puyol. The greatest? It would have to be a very powerful argument against Spain."

Martin Keown - "Spain are going to dominate for years to come. They have to be the best side ever. I can't see any other team getting near this. Spain have really set the bar high and they have time on their side. They're beautiful to watch and there's something extra special about this team. They're a group of winners." 

Alan Shearer -  "This Spain team is the best ever. We mention the Brazil sides with Pele but this is absolutely unbelievable what they have achieved." 

Alan Hansen - "People will talk about the first half of this game for 30 or 40 years' time. Before the game we said this Spanish team are arguably the best team ever, but there is no argument now. I don't think I've seen anything as good. They were picking the passes, making the angles and playing it with such pace. When they pass in that manner it doesn't really matter if they play with a striker or not. It is not only their technical ability, but also they work so hard. Look at Andrea Pirlo's performance, he has been a star in this tournament, but in the final he hardly had a kick. That was down to the pressing of the Spanish players. It was a privilege to be here to watch it and that's what every team has got to aspire to." 

Gianluca Vialli - "This tournament has proved that Italy are the most improved side in Europe, but the final proved we are not there yet. Spain are in a league of their own. They have shown how truly magical they are."

* The original version that was covered by Tina Turner.