Of Football And Politics.

Euro 2008 are nearing the end,3 teams have qualified for the semi's,with one more team will be decided today between Spain and World Champions,Italy.The winner of this game will meet Russia,with Germany and Turkey contesting for a place in the finals.Heartbreak for Croatia who lost to Turkey on penalty shootout,and The Netherlands who play great attacking football in the group stage to beat Italy,France and Romania,only to lose to Russia,missing yet again another chance of winning a major tournament.Portugal,another tournament favourite have to bow out after losing to Germany 3-2 in the first of the 4 quarterfinals match.

Right after his team lost to Germany,Cristiano Ronaldo made another statement that suggest he wanted to move to Real Madrid for the new season from Manchester United,which does not goes down well with Man U boss,Sir Alex Ferguson,and Man U have made a statement saying that the winger is not for sale,and he still have 4 years more out of his 5 years contract with United.He is currently on a 120,000 pound a week wages,but with the reputation of scoring 42 goals for United in all game last season,plus winning the Barclays Premier League and The Champions League,he will surely want and increase to it,and Real are reported willing to pay United 50million euros or even up to 80million euros with a player or two going United way just to get this star player.Real are looking to start their "Galacticos" era again if they really insist on wanting Ronaldo.They started this trend when they bought the likes of Luis Figo and Zinedine Zidane with record breaking transfer fees but still fail in finding real success.We just have to wait and see in this coming weeks where Ronaldo will be next season.

When a team fails,the blame will fall upon the coach,like what happen to France,finalist in the last World Cup,but fail to win a single game in Euro,and only manage to score 1 goal in their 3 group games.All are calling for Raymond Domenech to be sacked,even players and former players are joining in by saying that he made some bad decision resulting in France failure.This is football,you win,people will heap all the praise on you,but when you lose,these same people will be the first to criticized,asking for your replacement.The political scene here in my country is not much different,when the Prime Minister first took office,and face his first election,the ruling party have a very good win,everybody says that he is a good Prime Minister,he has done a good job since taking over from the old one,yet,4 years later,on March 2008,the ruling party suffer one of their worst defeat in election,but still manage to rule this country,everybody is asking him to step down,even the former Prime Minister who pick him as his successor ask him to resign,saying he made a mistake in choosing him!Tomorrow there will be a no-confidence motion table against him in the Parliament,but I don't think it will materialized.It is just like football,the coach are the one to blame,in politics,since he is the party leader,he is the one they blame for the party failure.Football and politic require team effort,work as a team,and you will be strong,you will achieve your target,but if there is bickering within,one or two person with personal agenda,it will create unbalance in the team,making it weak,and fail to perform accordingly,because each team member have their own responsibility,and they have to support each other.

Blaming someone,forcing them to resign,is a stop gap measure,it won't solve the problem,and there is no guarantee that the new person can bring changes,or make the team perform.It is up to each person in the team to give full support to the leader,and the leader have to listen to what the members have to say,this will not create a perfect system,but at least it will create harmony,and all action taken is based upon collective ideas and agreement,not one made by one person.

Politics are like football,and football suffers when people start politicking it.

We Are Getting Worse.

There are certain things that we have to pay to achieve something,but is it worth the price to pay?We live in a modern world,life is much easier today compared to 20 or 50 years ago.We can travel easily,we get all the latest news at our fingertip,we can reach anyone anywhere in the world when ever we want to,most of our daily task have become easier with the help of washing machine,microwave oven,vacuum cleaner,dish washer.We can relax and enjoy good movies,good music in the comfort of our living room and a lot of other things.Life is easy,but what have that turn us into?Did we become a better person?Do we or our next generation inherit the good trait that our parents,grandparents teach us?

I took the bus today to go to the city,but unfortunately,the bus that I took have a broken air conditioning system,so it was an uneasy journey for the passengers.The bus driver should check it first before he start his journey.One very unhappy passenger walk to the driver,and scold him,it almost started a fight,and to my surprise,that passenger works for the same bus company!He can tell the driver politely instead of yelling,or he can just get down and wait for another bus.

Bus drivers have some bad attitude too,they drive as though it was a car,weaving in and out,suddenly braking which at times almost got some passengers falling.They didn't stop to pick up people,how could they are driving so fast.They are being paid monthly salary,not by trip,so I don't understand why the rush.I doubt it that they are running on a tight schedule because they can relax at their stops and they certainly know what the traffic is like during certain times of the day.

I actually hate taking the bus,but I have no choice,I hate it because I have to wait sometimes for an hour for the bus,people don't know how to queue to board the bus,they sit in the bus like it was meant just for them,they give you that certain look if you want to sit next to them,they couldn't care less for the older,they even reserve a seat for their friends if they manage to board the bus first.We have a lot of foreigners working here,and most of the time,these people are the one who do this sort of things.I don't have anything against them working here,but you are in a different country,so try to follow the rules and the way of the local people instead of acting like it is your own place.

If you ever come to my country,especially in the city,try to avoid using the bus,use the monorail or LRT(Light Rail Transit) system instead,it is more convenient and efficient.I'm waiting for the LRT to extend their service to the area where I live,it will much more easy and convenient to travel then,even though it is a bit expensive.One more thing,avoid driving to if you can.The drivers here are mostly trainee stunt drivers or racing drivers wannabe!That is just the driving part,did I mention about the bike riders,motorcyclist?You will be amazed at how they ride their bike,especially dispatch or delivery riders,small bike,at full speed and zig zagging in and out of traffic!I sometimes feel like there is no meaning of all those traffic signs,traffic lights..they are always being ignored.Going into a one way street because it is a shortcut,beating red lights and speeding like you have a pregnant women in your car,changing lanes whenever you feel like it,without signaling,parking where you feel it is convenient to you,the best is right in front of the shop you want to go,even if it is blocking almost half of the road.

I can write about this and divide it into 4 parts and I'm still not done I think.These are the attitude of people in my place now.Inconsiderate,selfish.Most of them are educated,coming from a good family.Most Malaysian no matter if you are Malay,Chinese or Indian,we are brought up with manners,respect as the most important things.Yet when we grow up,we change,we lost all that value each time we get into our cars,each time we are among friends.I don't know why,but there is a certain Jekyll and Hyde character in most of us now.Is this the price that we are paying for the life that we have now?Is this what we are going to pass to our children?What kind of person are they going to be?

I love the old days..everything is at a much slower pace,everybody say Hi! to almost everybody,smiling at someone you see,always helpful,always respect each other,going out of our way just to help,just so other people will feel comfortable.We not only know our neighbours,but almost everyone living in the neighbourhood..

Small People,Great People.

While I'm still in school,I like this quote so much that I wrote it down nicely,as beautiful as I can even though I lack an artistic skills,and put it almost everywhere so I can see it everyday and I want others to see and read it too.I can't remember where I found it actually,and today I suddenly remember that quote again.

Small People Talk About Other People,
Average People Talk About Things,
Great People Talk About Ideas.

I know now why I remember that quote again,I read in Daily Blog Tips about the Top 25 Celebrity Blogs and how this blogs become famous,simply because people love gossips.Who can deny that..people just love gossips,and gossips can spread very fast,because being the first to talk about the latest gossips sure make that person some kind of a celebrity figure,and that is why celebrity blogs is among the more popular blog.I think I'm more of a small people,because I sometimes talk about other people,especially in my blog,but sometimes I think I'm an average people,because I also like to talk about things,how I like to do something,not that I want to make this world a better place,but maybe make a difference.I have to be a great people if I want to make this world a better place,I do have some ideas though,but then,I'm just a small people who in some way tries to be an average people so someday I can be a great people.If we look at the popularity of celebrity blogs,can we say that most people are small people?They do like to talk about other people,that is what gossips is all about,isn't it?

My blog is almost in its second week of life on the blogosphere,I have lots of people coming to read it,and I really want to thank all of you for supporting my blog,I even have some subscribers and I feel honoured,thank you very much.I have people commenting on some of my post,thank you again.I get mixed reviews too,most of it are very encouraging,some I just don't understand and I want to ignore,but it does hurt you know,considering the time I spent to start this blog,to make a post to it,to expose it and some people can just write a few lines,pass remarks and give you some lousy score..but I never retaliate by writing back bad things..if I find the site not worth to be reviewed,I don't,if the site is OK..I'll give it a good review,and because of that,today I've been rewarded with an A rating for the reviews I wrote.Even though you will feel hurt because of what some people do to you,try not to retaliate,and try to be nice,to them and to others,because someday,somehow you will get your reward.

Nobody's Perfect..I totally agree and because of that,I share with you another one of my favourite quote..

If Nobody's Perfect..Then I Must Be Nobody!