That Promise

Its been about 6 months since I last wrote but it's not like many people read. I just reminded my self that I started and kept this blog for 3 important reasons. Firstly, doing engineering the need of having a great command in grammar is not part of the curriculum. As long as we keep to the point and sounds relatively reasonable then marks will be given. I keep this blog to maintain, even better, improve my writing skills. Secondly, another reason is to keep the creative side of me alive. I'm not really good at drawing or even using photo editing softwares (proof of that is my blog layout and looks). I sincerely believe people come in two types: gifted and worked-hard-for-it. Obviously I am not gifted when it comes to being creative but I'd settle for the latter.

Lastly, when I started the 'Facebook' stories I realized that this blog can be an outlet. No matter if its a physical, emotional or spiritual outlet. Even writing football related articles helped me let go of some things that are on my mind.

At the moment my beloved HP laptop gave up and decided to call time so the World Wide Web is only available to me on my iPod or University computers. However, once I got my hands on a new laptop/desktop, I've decided to hold up my end of a promise I've started years ago (Feb 2008) and continue blogging.

Firstly I want to revamp the whole looks. I really have no idea why I chose black background last time? Emo much?!

Definitely there won't much writing of my ranting (honestly, its not like people want to know my life stories), but my first plan is to write people's life stories from whom I've met over the years. Of course I am writing using anonymous names. I'll continue writing other random things when ideas comes up, which I really am hoping to continue the Facebook stories.

Besides my personal aims for the blog, I sincerely like to generate a little more readers. But my thanks to the number of people who took their time reading my posts (small number to others but very big numbers to me).

Looking foward to writing more (well, after my exams)
-the12thplayer

P.S. I'm thinking of switching from the12thplayer to something else. We'll see.

That Day When Other People Celebrated

There is only one team for me and will always be Manchester United. I may have joined the United band wagon because they were winning titles over the years. One of my previous post pointed out one other reason I support Manchester United; Paul Scholes. With the Ginger Prince retired, I still provide United with my undying support. I try to watch their games as much as possible.

With the sour taste of defeat at the hands of Manchester City still lingering despite it being weeks ago, I've noticed something.

Track back, when United beat Arsenal 8-2 weeks earlier or other demolitions such as last season's 7-1 against Blackburn Rovers, other fans just looked and turned away.

This time it wasn't only City fans were celebrating, other club fans were celebrating the very humiliation United players and fans suffer in the hands of our very own neighbour. Which also brings back to when United was beaten 1-0 by eventually relegated Burnley in 2009 when other people are sticking out their tongues to United fans.

No, I'm not mad or spiteful at other fans for I believe they have their rights to throw banters against United fans or any other club fans. Further understanding when it comes to the very mention of United being in 3 Champions League finals in 4 years. People turn to look and say, "Too bad Barca beat United twice."

Correct me if I'm wrong when I say United's success is what caused all this. When Sir Alex Ferguson took the hot seat, it took him a while before trophies start coming. Then winning doubles (FA Cup and Premier League) comes along. At one point its hard to see United ending a season without a trophy. Clubs start to come in to challenge United to the title and one by one Sir Alex tugged the titles away from them. Started off with winning the title from Liverpool and Leeds United. Then Blackburn Rovers surprised many. Arsene Wenger came along and thus started the battle between Le Professeur and The Tactician (Sir Alex later will be known as The Master) which lasted around 7 years when Roman Abramovich started to pour millions into Chelsea.

Then came the 2008/2009 season where Liverpool and United were battling for top spot with Liverpool winning 4-1 in the process. To make it unbearable for Liverpool fans but sweeter for United fans; United winning the league that season means standing on level terms with Liverpool in terms of English League titles.

Now its the challenge of Manchester City. I sincerely believe that City can win this season but highly doubt they can continue mounting title challenges over the years to come with Arsenal and Liverpool and Chelsea still tugging at Sir Alex's tail coat. Also, if Tottenham can keep their star players (yeah, you heard me Modric), next season they could be one to watch.

To conclude with a daring statement; other fans maybe oblivious but their hatred towards United is based on the simple basic jealousy. To watch many teams, whether its the beautiful football of Arsenal or the riches of Chelsea or City or even individual talents of Gerrard, be dispatched by United is very heart breaking. But know this, United fans envy achievements of other clubs as much as other fans. For me, I envy Liverpool the most for their achievements in Europe.

Understand your hatred,

the12thplayer

That Day I Rage Quit

Rage Quitting (online gaming) - is the act of leaving the game before it ends usually due to a fit of rage.

Having picked up FIFA 11 online recently, I've spent quite some time on the PS3 and munching on snacks from time to time. At first it was a series of losses before I start having a win. Back to back wins eventually came by and then at one point I accomplished the '5 wins in a row' trophy.

Once you reached around level 18, I plunged back to the old routine where grabbing a back to back win is a rarity and almost no one wants a rematch. It is here around this level where rage quitters are regular.

Rewind to around level 3 or 4. I was down 2-nil at the half when my opponent started taunting me with juggles and back passes. I pulled one back past the hour mark. At this point my players are being hacked down like a grass cutter attacking the 'lalang' fields. Then I scored on the 89th minute. Oooo he was ticked off. This time he ran to the corner flag (my half of the field) and shielded the ball. A simple nudge, he fell over and no free kick was given.

I ran up the field with the ball and to make the victory even sweeter I rounded 2 defenders and then the goalie. Just before scoring he tackled my player from the back and the goal was deemed own goal.

"Menangis tu eh!" I thought.

Before the replay finishes the screen darkens and a message telling me that the connection has been lost shows up. Yeap. My very first rage quitter. I won't forget it. Though I forgot the username but that's not important at that time. You can imagine how pissed I was at that time.

I looked up the internet and found out about the term 'Rage Quitter' and also found out that if either players got disconnected, both players will receive a loss in their statistics and lose points. I was bitterly disappointed because its a very bad rule and there are countless of forums writing that EA Games should implement a better pointing system for such cases. No matter, on that day I've decided to never rage quit.

How true to my word I've been. One time I was losing 5-0 at the hour mark and decided to make substitution. Half way through my changing of players my opponent sent me a message saying 'quitting?'. I laughed quietly and continued playing till finished where the game ended 7-3.

He decided to rematch. While our game loads I messaged him 'Won't quit!' where he replied 'That's the spirit. P.S. Why on earth you left Drogba on the bench? Hahaha'. I thought to myself, 'There's still good laughs going around in the world'

Fast forward to this morning. The usual day on the controller. I played 5 games. My first two games was a win with rage quitters. I lost my 3rd and 4th game with one of the guys messaging me 'looooooser'. I guess he has a right to banter since he's beaten me 3-0. At this point I was very demotivated to continue playing given all I've done is lost points.

By luck my fifth game was against the guy from the first game. How I remembered? The username was silly and easy to remember. I decided to humour myself (and hopefully him too). As soon as he picked FC Barcelona, I quickly picked FC Barcelona B. Clearly this is going to be a very one sided match but he continued on.

Yup, I went and picked the same coloured jersey and he still played along. 10 minutes into the game I played hard. You know, like my life depended on it. I ran my players all over the pitch. Then by some sheer luck I was 1-on-1 with this goalie. This is to be the goal that give me the lead. I passed the ball to a player facing the open goal.

THEN HE SHOOTS. What?! Yeah. I paused before scoring. Quickly typed the message to my opponent. It writes:

"Hahaha SUCKER!"

Then I quit. Since it was around 6 am I rolled around holding back my laughs.

The thing is.... Typing all this down, really proves how much of an idiot I can be. But I'm sharing this because given whatever situation, don't ever forget to appreciate it with a laugh. May it be because of hardship or happiness. But when its because of your own idiocy you should laugh.

Thanks for reading,

the12thplayer

That Ginger Prince

Paul Scholes

Some call him "The Ginger Prince" for the colour of his hair and his majestic football style.

(picture credit: mirrorfootball.com)

Some call him "Satnav of Manchester" for he knows where his team mates are and how to give them the ball.

"Gary Neville was having a piss one day, 45 yards away by a fence. Scholesy picked him out, sent a long ball and whacked him right on the arse."

-Sir Alex Ferguson.

"I love watching little Paul Scholes, he's so in control of what he's doing and is always so accurate and pinpoint with his passing - it's just beautiful to watch."

-Sir Bobby Charlton

Some call him the "Greatest/Best player of his generation" as no one compares or even comes close to his level of playing.

"Without any doubt the best player in the Premiership has to be Scholes. He knows how to do everything, and he is one who directs the way his team plays. On top of that, he has indestructible mental strength and he is a genuine competitor."

-Thierry Henry

Growing up watching football next to my dad, he kept telling me to watch out for Manchester United number 7 players. He's a big George Best fan. He went on and on how Best influenced his style of play. Step overs, over head kicks, ridiculous volleys and of course that burning pace. At that point we were watching the highlights on a Sunday where King Eric doing his thing against Liverpool in the FA Cup final 1996. I barely remember the game as a whole, but I definitely noticed a small ginger haired player jogging around doing one touch passes. Number 22? Who's that? My dad went "No idea!".

Then came that game winning goal where King Eric blasted a volley through the Liverpool players. My dad just raised his arms and smiled. "See I told you to keep out for the Manchester magic number 7."

I became a United fan that day. Me and my dad talked football ever since. I still wondered who is that number 22 player. I asked why field a small player? My dad could only answer: "Maybe he's a Maradona or Keegan. Small players definitely have speed and balance to beat players."

Paul Scholes didn't need speed nor quick feet skills. His game is all about creating space for himself and others, finding open team mates on the wings and executing that final pass. Yes, he has that killer right footed rockets if given the time and space.

Despite his retirement from football, players, pundits and managers alike thought that Scholes would have made a difference for the England squad in the 2010 World Cup tournament. But Capello decided to test Scholes' resolve by giving him a 24 hour notice and through his number 2 Franco Baldini.

That aside, the quotes from various players and managers proves how much he's contributed to Manchester United as well as providing a style of football to others where the fast modern game needs a creative variety.

Though there are very small number of fan video compilations of Scholes on youtube.com, I believe his magical moments are, even at least one moment, left a mark on anyone (fans, haters and neutrals) who've watched him played.

"My toughest opponent? Scholes of Manchester. He is the complete midfielder. Scholes is undoubtedly the greatest midfielder of his generation."

-Zinadine Zidane

My greatest thanks to the Ginger Prince of Manchester. Though this post is not fitting for a great legend, I realize there is no need for an awesome post, the name says it all.

-the12thplayer

That Facebook Girl (Part of That Facebook series)

That Facebook Girl

You could try and 'like' her status updates. Try to 'poke' her. Or even throw in trying-too-hard-to-be-funny-replies whenever she commented on a mutual friends' pictures or status. You wonder why she never notices your status updates or the funny video you put up on your wall. Why she never laughs at your jokes when others did. You sit there flipping through her pictures and thought she looks beyond beautiful no matter the pose.

Is she too cool for me? Am I trying too hard that it creeps her out? Or I just didn't do enough to impress her? When you greeted her on her birthday, all you got is a 'like'. You scrolled through and she did the same to everyone, no comments-just 'likes'. You stayed online on your Facebook messenger just hoping she would start a chat with you. Your heart beats wildly when you she a green dot next to her name (which means she's online and available to chat). But you hesitated. You chose to wait for her to make the first move because the same thing might happened when you said 'Hi' to her last time.

What happened last time?

After gathering all the courage you clicked on 'chat' and then her name.

-types- "Hi"

After pressing 'Enter' you waited for her reply. You open other pages like your e-mail and BBC news just to calm yourself down. While reading articles on minor happening which doesn't really pose a threat to yourself you shift your gaze on the Facebook tab to see if she replied. The reason you pick to read minor news is so that you will be able to shift your gaze every now and then. Three articles and junk emails deleted still no reply. After half an hour of wait you decided to check on the chat box only to see a 'moon' next to her name (status: idle). You wanted to see if she has any activity on her Facebook in the last half an hour, but you feared being labelled a 'stalker'. You slump back in a mixture of relief (in case you might chat with her and make a fool of yourself) and disappointment. Like a person who's tired of working on the computer you shut down your computer and shook your head.

"What that girl can do to me," you sighed.

The next day:

Knowing her kind nature, you sensed she may have replied your chat. You quickly turned on the computer and logged on to Facebook. A box appeared at the bottom of the page.

"Sorry, I was busy yesterday and just noticed your text. Chat soon ok? Hugs"

This was 3 hours ago and her status is neither 'online' nor 'idle'. She's offline. You sensed she is trying to avoid you and some other creeps.

-to be continued-

the12thplayer

Note: I got this idea from a song a friend wrote which I've posted at the bottom. See you guys soon.

Lyrics:

Facebook Girl

I sit here watching your pictures go by

Your profile picture makes me feel so fly

I could fall a sleep staring in your eyes

I really do wish to know who you are

Facebook girl, oh Facebook girl

If only you knew I existed

Facebook girl, oh Facebook girl

Poking you ain't gonna cut it

Facebook girl, oh Facebook girl

I just wanna know you more

Please approve it

We've been poking each other all this while

Everytime you do it, you make me smile

Waiting for your reply would made my day

But baby, that's not enough I wanna know who you are

Facebook girl, oh Facebook girl

If only you knew I existed

Facebook girl, oh Facebook girl

Poking you ain't gonna cut it

Facebook girl, oh Facebook girl

I just wanna know you more

Please approve it

You post your pictures,

With guys who looked like they're asses

You changed your status, you're no more single

I don't wanna feel this, this heartache is breathless

I guess Im gonna wait until you dump that jackass

Facebook girl, oh Facebook girl

If only you knew I existed

Facebook girl, oh Facebook girl

Poking you ain't gonna cut it

Facebook girl, oh Facebook girl

I just wanna know you more

Please approve it

I could fall a sleep staring in your eyes

I dunno why, but I feel butterflies

That Exams of Mine

They say Confucius started the examination system that we have today. Well, its true. Examinations are designed to test the level of knowledge within a person. The months and years of studying and learning comes down to the final few hours which determines your future.

I sincerely believe in the examination system but I utterly dread it. Or I thought I did. Examinations creates classes. Labels are put upon the results each individual obtained. I'm sure you've heard some of these labels; smart, intelligent, genius. Its the negative results many people refuse to label.

A person have equally good and bad points just like cars. An Echo for example; affordable, small, convenient and sips on fuel. Bad points are such its rarely a chick magnet, slow on highways, small space and you do not expect to tow another car with this. All this is as opposed to, say an X5. You get the big gangster look which definitely is a chick magnet and can pull a boat with ease. Downside is that the X5 is expansive, the fuel meter moves like the rev meter and there never seem to be any parking spots big enough.

The point is, if you put the car through the wrong examination, no matter how big the plus points are, it will fail miserably. However, human beings are much different. We are made to adapt to our environment. If you grab a small guy and get him to drag the piano up and down a street, he will fail the initial attempts but give him time he will eventually buff up and drag the piano with ease. But logically you don't want to do that. Be smart and grab a big bad-a$s guy to drag your piano to start off with.

Because examinations come at abrupt times, we are often caught off guard or, at most times, caught where we are no where close to being prepared. If the small guy is examined while he's still getting used to the weight of the piano but couldn't pull it fast enough, he will be marked as fail. Even when the big bad-a$s is not felling well on the examination day, he too can fail.

Eventually, I don't look at examinations as a monster waiting to gobble me up if I answered wrong. I now look at it as a wall. If its too high to climb, I'll walk around it. However, at one point I believe the wall will be to wide to go around. At that time, I will punch the wall hard enough to make Chuck Norris sweat and Confucius start eating the exam papers.

Good luck for your exams guys,

the12thplayer

-forget the big bad-a$s guy, get Bruno Mars.

That Facebook (Part 4)

*the following story is fictitious and does not represent anyone dead or alive. Any resemblance is purely coincidential.

LET

Single guy = Mr.E ;took it from Batman comics - the Riddler's name

Opens his browser and typed out 'fac' and ta-dah! The browser fills in the rest automatically. Just to make sure the browser get it right Mr.E glances on the address bar.

www.facebook.com

suggestions: facial massage, face lift & face/off (movie) etc

*click* -Enter-

Three red spots blotted the signature blue facebook page heading.

That will be 1 Friend Request, 1 Inbox Messages and 4 Notifications for you sir!

"Wow! That's a hell lot of notifications since I logged on about 2 hours ago."

Mr.E made wild guesses on what's the notification all about. Looking at it, people usually get more notifications per hour compared to messages and friend requests put together. So if we write from left to right why not put the Notifications tab on the left rather than the right. Hmmm. Well I'm not a super awesome programmer. Just a simple dude. Of course there's a reason to putting it on the right, just like there is a reason to why the 'Friday' song is catchy but no one wants to admit liking it (since we're on the topic, why do they let 13 year olds drive?).

*click*

Almost everybody check out their notifications first. Its as if the tiny globe button fixes their addiction or something. Clicking it gave Mr.E a little tingle down his spine.

"Look who decided to 'like' my status update."

Mr.E

Damn tired. Don't feel like getting out of bed

2 likes 1 comment

Friend

I know right. Like omg. Bari malas. Kalau bukan pasal kraja malas tah ku ingau!

Other notifications didn't really surprise Mr.E. The usual tagged photo comments and comments for other people's status which Mr.E liked.

*click*

Clicking on the facebook logo takes Mr.E to the Newsfeed. Its much busier than a BBC or CNN newsfeed. I bet that most of you guys heard about big-news-but-not-important-enough-for-BBC/CNN-headlines on facebook before you see it on tv. You know, news such as a passing of a superstar or a highway accident.

*scrolls down*

One update struck Mr.E.

-Dude and Babe is no longer in a relationship-

Of course guys click on the girl first. Whether the relationship just started or they just broke up or they upgraded to married, guys always click on the girl first.

"Awww... that's too bad. They were good together."

"Hmm... I wonder if this works?"

*types* -single-

Before pressing enter, Mr.E waits if the facebook search bar suggestions will show up single girls.

-Searching-

"Damn! Of all times for the internet to lag!"

*click* refresh

*types* -single-

"Ah damn! All it shows is group pages with the word 'single' on it."

"If only facebook has that search feature. Nah! nevermind. I'll look up all my friends and see who is single and not in a relationship. But that would make me desperate."

"Hahaha. Who needs a partner! Im good on my own!"

A small part of Mr.E feels lonely.

-to be continued-

the12thplayer

"Kalau ia suka aku, ku bagi chan pulang.."

-Anonymous on the eve of 2010 New Years