it seems like forever since my last post… i probably haven’t had such a long interval of blogosphere silence… due to poor time management skills… i was too caught up with work and after-hours activities ranging from photography assignments to software research to hanging out… as such… i just couldn’t seem to find the right time to compile the various photos… anyway… i hope i shall be able to post more in the days to come…

here are some shots from the intra-company basketball tournament we had last month :)

our department teambuilding was held in jerejak island two fridays ago… it was exciting with numerous physical activities such as jungle trekking, flying fox, rappelling as well as navigating through an obstacle course of ropes and wires which required good balancing skills… while waiting for the boat home… we even had time for some beach soccer and volleyball… :)

the autocity carnival in juru was full of cars and chicks… with various events such as motorcross… drifting… mini parade… japanese super gt queens… eating competitions… as well as a beauty pageant…

the weather was fickle at nurburgring for the european gp… which ultimately cost massa a potential victory for ferrari during the final laps of the race… from the start it was an eventful and unusual race… with cars sliding off the slippery track in their slicks… as well as a dozen cars pitting together to change tyres as the track began to dry… and of course… the showers of blessing for renault which came at the last ten laps… whereby alonso was able to jump ahead to take the top spot in those wet conditions… a disappointing race for ferrari… with an almost certain victory snatched away… and reliability issues with the other car…

the rain also lasted from evening to night here too… and i was irritated by the intermittent astro transmission… which always happens at the most crucial moments of sporting events… the world cup final last year… and the eventful opening laps of the race earlier this evening… well at least i managed to catch some replays of the messy race start…

the weekend's over… it was just a usual one… eating and hanging out with family and friends… i'll get back to workaholic mode for the next five days…

it was a match worth sacrificing sleep for… despite a long day ahead which will tire me out… the reds are one step closer to lifting the champions' league trophy after a much better performance at home compared to last week's dismal one at the bridge… liverpool had more possession and control over the pace of the game this time around… let's hope they keep this up into the final… it's time to paint the town red today!

the archery game yesterday was… in many ways… reflective of how life is for most of us… despite all the hard work that we put in… we do not get the results that we would have liked… and our true objectives are not realised…

many a time… people don't get what they deserve… and deserve what they get… take for example… the diligent student who is constantly careless in his exams… the hardworking employee who goes unnoticed except when she screws up… and the kind-hearted soul who is always misjudged and prejudiced against…

all of us have our high-flyin' ambitions… but what happens when we fail to achieve our desired target? are we strong enough to pick ourselves up and try again? i might be wrong but i feel that failure is the leading cause of stress… failure in coping with the workload… failure in meeting the high expectations of others…

it would be motivational for me to say that no target is impossible to reach… however… realistically speaking… there are various limiting factors to hinder everyone's aims… and not all of them can be overcome…

as the serenity prayer by reinhold niebuhr goes… Lord… grant me the serenity to accept the things i cannot change… the courage to change the things I can… and the wisdom to know the difference

gun down your opponents… leave none alive… the war must be won…

four-times world champs… this is the moment i’ve been waitin’ for since the azzurri’s unfortunate defeat to the brazilians in the ‘94 penalty shootout… fresh in my memory… and many of yours too i suppose… were the misses of baresi and baggio… the stars of the italian squad at that time… truly a heartbreaking moment it was a dozen years ago…

fast forward to today… all of the italian strikes found their way to the back of the net… and even though buffon couldn’t dive the right way from zidane’s first penalty in the opening minutes of the final till the last one in the shootout… they are the new champions as trezeguet’s crossbar miss proved to be a costly one… well… penalty shootouts haven’t exactly been italy’s cup of tea… but in the most important match of all… it has turned out well for them… and the golden goal scorer of the euro 2000 final kind of handed the world cup to the team he defeated six years ago…

before the final match… no other team had scored against italy at all throughout the campaign… the only one they conceded was an own goal against the us of a… well… and if you exclude zidane’s penalty and the shootout goals… that would mean no opponent could put the ball in the back of italy’s net under normal circumstances… :) simply solid!

it is indeed a day to PARTY!

nobody voted for france to be champs in my sidebar poll… but now they’re down to the last two… let’s hope u guys are right ;) i didn’t watch the match though… was pretty tired out as i caught superman returns immediately after work… and then adjourned to e-gate for some cakes… thanks to the vouchers i have accumulated so far… :)

there’s about six workin’ days left for me… i think i had better get started on my report… documentation… and some last-minute scripting… wouldn’t wanna hand over a shoddy job… :)

so far… everythin’ today has just been perfect… woke up at two plus in the a.m. to… what else?… support the azzurri in their showdown against the hosts… and boy was i ecstatically jumping when they scored twice in the dying minutes of extra time to crush the germans and send them packing home… erm… they’re already home… whatever…

managed to sleep for… an hour or so?… before setting off for work… was greeted with an early mail saying that i’ve been awarded a recognition… that’s my third one now ;)… touched up on my slideshow a lil… and after lunch… made my presentation during the staff meeting… i guess my manager was pretty satisfied with it… and so… i got another recognition… or kudos as they call it here… that means i’ve twenty bucks worth of secret recipe and/or kfc depending on what i choose… surely this is a great place to work… as the intel tagline goes…

it is truly a blessed day…