that's only my 4th HIO in the entire career =)
also broke own record for blue lagoon =)








The geog CT wasn't as tough as I thought it would be. Yah. Like real. The essay part on sustainable development confirm no hope. Even if I have 120% confidence in my DRQs, not getting B grade seems like a foregone conclusion.

Next and last paper: Physics @ container block (421/422) on fri. Once again, I choose to be pessimistic. The topic on measurement is a goner. Too chim already. Will be satisfied if can score C grade for this paper.

Speaking of targets for the common tests, here's my conservative aims.
-GP: min 46%, 54% and above = exceeding expectations.
-Econs: min 55%, 64% and above = exceeding expectations.
-Math: min 50%, 57% and above = exceeding expectations.
-Geog: min 55%, 65% and above = exceeding expectations.
-Physics: min 46%, 55% and above = exceeding expectations.

No World Cup action today and tomorrow. Time to get back to reality for awhile and catch up on what I've missed over the past fortnight.


Tough nut 1: There's only one word to describe the maths paper today: evil. The questions may look routine but are really complicated, to the extent that it's impossible to apply every single concept we know of all at once. Out of the eight questions, only had confidence in like two of them. Hope can pass though. It'll be such an irony that a subject that I used to ace in secondary school ends up in such a pathetic state here. Then again, A levels is much tougher than O levels. For my Geography paper this afternoon (1330 hrs), I've little confidence either. Haven't been paying close attention to the case studies. But to prevent having to take extra lessons, aiming for a minimum B grade is a must. Yet another tall order there =x

Tough nut 2: Still remember the resolutions I had made before the June holidays. Well, failed to achieve both milestones. Was close for PangYa though. 14 more exp to Senior E. Maple? Far loh. Just levelled to 63 as of yesterday. Sad case.

Tough nut 3: Meanwhile, focus back on the World Cup. Brazil demolished Ghana 3-0 but their defence leaves much to be desired. France got through as well, 3-1 winners against Spain. But things are different now. The French squad is facing the problem of "ageing population" (ie. ageing squad) and will find it hard to counter Brazil's charges come the quarter final. Good luck to the Les Bleus, man.


Once again, both my predictions were way off.

Firstly, a penalty by Francesso Totti at the dying seconds of injury time sent Italy through to the quarter finals. Tough luck, Australia. But their midfield really gave the Italians lots of problems. Maybe they're just missing out on the luck element.

Secondly, I was expecting Switzerland to breeze through against Ukraine. Not at all. I wonder if the Swiss was off-form, but a goal-less draw after 120 minutes is simply unacceptable. Worse, their players misfired during the penalty shoot-out. Even though Andriy Shevchenko missed his shot, the other Ukraine players delivered. 3-0 to Ukraine, bye-bye Switzerland. And the Ukrainian fairy-tale continues. Wonder if Ghana will have this kind of luck against Brazil tonight.



nice eagle chip in at 3rd hole. but didn't win for obvious reasons. firstly, too many pros. secondly, a double bogey at 17th hole screwed up my record. still, record pang (1578) as shown below. =)




Moving on to tonight's predictions of second round matches.

Match 5: Italy 1-1 Australia, Australia goes through to quarter finals with a goal in extra time.

Match 7: Switzerland 2-0 Ukraine.

Will the curse of Guus Hiddink, whose South Korean team back in 2002 demolished the Italians, return to haunt them again this time round as Hiddink leads Australia, a team not fancied to make it past the group stages against, gasp, Italy once again? Marcello Lippi must be aware of Hiddink's in-built strength in strategising and will thus have second thoughts before naming his first XI. In my opinion, I have a strong feeling the Azzurri might falter in the face of the more physical approach of the Socceroos. They have already experienced that once, against the United States, and nearly lost the plot. Lucky to scrape through with a 1-1 draw. But Australia is no USA. I foresee swift players like Tim Cahill and Harry Kewell giving the Azzurri's defence many problems. Therefore, I wouldn't be surprised if Italy indeed got dumped out of the tournament.

For the latter match, Ukraine is highly unlikely to produce any sort of upset against a young and consistent Swiss side. This time, I'll take the advice of the Lianhe Wanbao columnists. Cause Ukraine's defence is indeed a major concern. If they can score 4 goals in a game (4-0 Saudi Arabia) yet end up on the opposite side of the scoreline as well (0-4 Spain), even their top prolific striker, Andriy Shevchenko, would not be able to help things much. And their opponents' defence is no joke. 5 goals scored, ZERO against. Not that I underestimate the Ukrainians, but let's face the reality. There is still a wide gulf between the two sides. For World Cup debutants Ukraine, reaching the second round has very much exceeded their countrymen's expectations. But they will still give their 100% in every game. And put on a brave show despite the odds stacked against them. Too bad, tonight's game will probably be their last appearance in Germany.


This week, I'll be taking my mid-year common tests. But can't really be bothered. As my general paper CT was in the afternoon, no prizes for guessing what i did the few hours before that.

Happened to find empty coolie map after just FIVE minutes. Trained 25% experience in the space of 3 hours. =)

How was my GP test then, you may ask. Well, not too badly done. At least managed to finish within the 1.5 hour time limit. But my answer script looks kinda short-changed, as usual.

Will not have this luxury after today though. Rest of the days will be morning papers except thursday, where I don't have any relevant papers. Tomorrow's paper: Economics. Confirm won't do well. No need to study. Hahas. (Setting bad example as Economics rep? No choice. This subject is getting more and more boring, and I guess the rest of the class also agrees -_-)

Match 2: England 1-0 Ecuador
Match 3: Argentina 2-1 Mexico (1-1 after 90 minutes)
Match 4: Portugal 1-0 Netherlands

Thanks to a superb David Beckham free kick, England managed to scrape through to the quarter finals. If England's defensive display disappointed me, Ecuador's equally uninspiring performance let me down even more. The Portugal-Netherlands game was a much more physical affair, with 4 red cards flashed out, 2 on each side.


Second round, Match 1:
Germany 2-0 Sweden

Predictions for Matches 2 and 3:
Match 2: England 1-1 Ecuador, with ecuador sealing the game with the winner in extra time.
With key striker (some may beg to differ) Michael Owen out for 5 months after injuring his cruciate knee ligament, only 3 strikers remain in the England squad - Peter Crouch, Wayne Rooney, and the young and probably inexperienced Theo Walcott. How far England will progress will depend on them to a large extent, and in my opinion, I'm sorry, but I don't think they will be able to progress beyond the second round. Rooney is not in top shape, Crouch is constantly misfiring, and Walcott has not be tested yet. These make me really concerned about how they're gonna deliver the goods (ie. goals) England desparately need.

And Ecuador will not be easy to beat. As seen in the group stages, they were able to defeat Costa Rica and Poland convincingly and only lost to a far more superior host, Germany. But as long as the English do not underestimate their opponents, a draw will still be likely. But a victory? Wait another four years, England.

Match 3: Argentina 2-1 Mexico.
Likely to be an entertaining game. Both sides have a strong attacking flair, coupled with relatively solid defences (though Mexico's defence isn't that convincing so far). Argentina is on top form after that 6-0 thrashing of Serbia & Montenegro and rested many of their key players against the Netherlands, yet were still able to fight to a goal-less draw. This clearly illustrates the depth of the squad. I believe Mexico will fight to the end though, as in their past encounters, but Argentina will still prevail by 1 goal at most.


final group games:
Group G: togo 0-2 france, switzerland 2-0 south korea. switzerland and france go through to 2nd round.
Group H: spain 1-0 saudi arabia, tunisia 0-1 ukraine. spain and ukraine go through.


what's gone:
Group C - netherlands 0-0 argentina, ivory coast 3-2 serbia & montenegro
Group D - portugal 2-1 mexico, iran 1-1 angola
Group E - czech rep 0-2 italy, ghana 2-1 USA
Group F - japan 1-4 brazil, croatia 2-2 australia


(foreword: in my engrossment in the ecuador-germany encounter, i actually missed out the Group B matches last night. apologies for that -_-)

both occasions i predicted 2-2 scorelines. both ended in one-sided, 3-0 results. unbelievable. guess i can't gauge ecuador's true ability as yet. and i thought they could stun the hosts, germany. what rubbish. they lost so terribly that i should reconsider whether i should always pray for upsets.

and again, the lianhe wanbao columnists proved me wrong once more. the five of them had unanimously predicted a massive germany victory by at least 2 goals. i thought otherwise, in an attempt to discredit them. but upsets don't happen often as yet. oh well.

ecuador 3-0 costa rica
ecuador 0-3 germany
it's obvious, they're simply inconsistent.

other results from last nite's matches:
Group A: costa rica 1-2 poland
Group B: england 2-2 sweden, paraguay 2-0 trinidad & tobago


as the World Cup reaches the final stages of group matches. the timing of this third round of fixtures is also somewhat different from usual. tonight, Group A will kick off the last games with ecuador vs germany and costa rica vs poland, both starting at 10pm singapore time.

current situation in Group A:
the winners and losers have already been decided by the previous round. ecuador, the surprise package from the south american continent (GF 5, GA 0, 6 pts) and germany (GF 5, GA 2, 6 pts) have already secured places in the round of 16. on the other hand, costa rica (GF 2, GA 7, 0 pts) and poland (GF 0, GA 3, 0 pts) are on their way home. but the fixtures have to go on.

for the latter match (CRC-POL), there's only pride to redeem and nothing else at stake. so no point making any prediction for that match.

moving on to the focus: ecuador vs germany
venue: berlin, time: 10pm

my prediction: 2-2 draw, with ecuador topping Group A with a more superior goal difference.

all the factors appear to be pointing to the hosts' favour. despite a two-goal deficit in terms of goal difference (+3 against +5), the germans look poised to turn that into their advantage.

but do not be too quick to rule out ecuador's abilities. the stats so far show that this team is no longer the team that becomes a flop outside their home ground in the highlands of Quito (2,850m above sea level).

therefore, i anticipate a closely-contested battle as the teams are likely to push their limits in pursuing top spot in the group. surely they will relish avoiding the eventual winner of Group B, which will probably turn out to be england.


apologies for not being available the past 5+ days, was busy revising for the upcoming mid-year common tests.

what's gone during this period:

(Group B)
-england 2-0 trinidad & tobago
once again, T&T failed to live up to my expectations. england's play was obviously still kinda scrappy, the main reason why they only managed to score in the final 10 minutes of the game.

-sweden 1-0 paraguay
another late goal in the 89th min from ljungberg saved sweden's blushes and sent the paraguayians into an early exit from this year's tournament.

(Group C)
-argentina 6-0 serbia & montenegro
and the stats showed that serbia & montenegro boasted one of the best defences from its qualifiers results. how spectacular this defence collapsed against the argentinians.

-netherlands 2-1 ivory coast
the ivorians put up stiff resistance yet again, were unlucky to end up on the wrong side of the scoresheet.

(Group D)
-mexico 0-0 angola
commendable performance from angola, down to 10 men for much of the 2nd half.

-portugal 2-0 iran

(Group E)
-italy 1-1 USA
an intensely fought battle that saw 3 red cards being flashed, 2 goals and a bloodied face.

-czech republic 0-2 ghana
the first, and probably the only african team to collect 3 points in a single game. the czechs understimated their opponent's strengths and paid a heavy price.

(Group F)
-japan 0-0 croatia
lots of end-to-end action, unfortunately, both teams failed to make good use of the many opportunities presented to them.

-brazil 2-0 australia
still not impressive enough, that's what many fans think of the brazilians despite this victory.

(Group G)
-france 1-1 south korea
finally, the french broke their goal drought through a ninth minute thierry henry goal. but an awe-inspiring fightback from the so-called red devils of asia turned things even. now france is in danger of going home early once more. sad, but true.

-togo 0-2 switzerland
plagued by money woes, it was obvious from the start that togo will lose out.

(Group H)
-saudi arabia 0-4 ukraine
great recovery from the ukrainians.

-spain 3-1 tunisia
they might have progressed into the round of 16, but leaking early goals like this (Mnari, 8th minute) is a no-no if the spanish hope to advance even further.


analyses and predictions for tonight's matches:

-(group A) ecaudor 2-2 costa rica
-(group B) sweden 1-2 paraguay

the highlight:
-england vs trinidad & tobago (group B)
-venue: nuremberg, 16/06/06, midnight (s'pore time)
-odds: england 1.12, draw 6.45, trinidad & tobago 15.00

my prediction: england and T & T will share the spoils with a 1-1 draw.

after the disappointing performance in england's last outing against paraguay, in which they only won after a 4th-minute own goal from carlos gamarra, who ironically wears the number FOUR jersey, certainly they'd want to prove to the world their true abilities. but sorry to say, despite the obvious gulf in standards between the 2 teams, the best result they will achieve is a draw.

england fans, please don't flame me after reading this. i don't hate england. in fact, i support them too. but the team hasn't given me sufficient confidence so far. i have two reasons why yet another upset, starring trinidad & tobago (will be abbreviated as T & T in rest of entry), will be likely tonight.

firstly, the english strikers are apparently not in top form. michael owen, peter crouch and the rest looked like wandering spirits in the paraguay game. so don't expect too much of an improvement from them after a few days' rest. i believe frank lampard will rise to the occasion, though. always an inspirational player, he should be able to provide the misfiring strikers with some scoring opportunities. however, like i had said in the previous entries, if your team can't score, half the battle is already lost. unless the forwards can find their scoring touch in time for this potentially crucial fixture, i bet england will find this going much tougher than they might initially expect it to be.

and secondly, the T & T players displayed plenty of grit and hunger in their opening match against sweden, despite being numerically outnumbered (11-10) for most of the match. the result? they successfully held out the swedes to a goal-less draw. one key defender who will play a major part in containing england's attacks will be dennis lawrence. towering at 2.01m, that is even taller than crouch (1.98m). and shaka hislop, the goalie, looks set to continue his fairy-tale run in the tournament. with several crucial saves in the sweden game, he's on track to deny the english from making an impression if they do not buck up on time.

true, the england squad features many players from big name leagues, while T & T players mostly come from the lower division leagues. but what the english style of soccer fears most is combative, physical play, and T & T could well be one major blind spot in their continuing hunt for only the 2nd world cup trophy. and one last point: complacency. as mediacorp actor/comedian mark lee pointed out, the england players tend to be less efficient against the so-called "weaker" teams. and that will prove to be their downfall.

will my bold prediction come true? stay tuned to your tv set tonight to find out.


the expected goal feast i had predicted, unfortunately, turned out to happen not in the germany-poland match.

Highlight of the day:
-germany 1 poland 0 (wtf?)
was too quick to jump to conclusion that the german defence will not be shored up in time against the polish. but at the same time, klose and podolski let me down. perhaps they didn't feel good scoring against their native country? indeed, this turned out to be a debatable issue. poland held out strongly as a result up till the 91st min, the heartbreaker from neuville, which could possibly send them packing home even without passing the group stages. no goals scored, 3 conceded. what more can i say?

Other matches:
-spain 4 ukraine 0
after following the 1st half of the game, i already knew that a 2-1 scoreline was a foregone conclusion. the spanish strikers were far more creative in the face of a ukranian defence that looked seemingly solid in the first 10 minutes. but after alonso's goal in the 13th, everything collapsed. a brace by david villa in the 17th and 48th(penalty) and the finisher by torres in the 81st minute sealed the fate for the ukranians.

-tunisia 2 saudi arabia 2
amazing fightback by the saudis. didn't believe they'd even stand a chance after tunisia went 1-0 up in the first half, courtesy of a 23rd-min jaziri goal. but goals from yasser and sami gave them a near-scare before jaidi came to the rescue with a 92nd-min equaliser. guess i had underestimated the strength of the saudis, who nearly did a carbon copy of south korea's 2-1 come from behind victory against togo 2 days ago.


so i've given a brief overview of what has happened over the past 4 days of the WC 2006. but i know this isn't the thing you're looking out for.

as promised in the tag-board, will provide predictions to some of the world cup matches.

tonight's focus: the group A game between germany and poland.
venue: dortmund, 15/06/06, 0300 hrs (singapore time)
odds: germany 1.38, draw 3.90, poland 7.40. (payouts for S$1)

it's easy to notice why poland was stunned 0-2 in their last outing against ecuador. by putting up a 4-5-1 defensive formation, they're simply too conservative! at the end of the day, goals are the most important. if your team can't score, half the battle is already lost, and lost they did.

so for tonight's encounter against germany, the polish will probably do a 4-4-2. but i'm sorry to say, no matter how many changes they make, it'll still be useless. the german's attacking force has been strengthened with michael ballack's return, and certainly he'll want to prove his worth. however, two of the german forwards, klose and poldoski, are born in poland. this adds some suspense to how they will fare against their so-called home country.

well, in terms of goals, i sense yet another goal feast. germany's defence strategy against costa rica was a flop, to be honest. what makes you so sure this defence will be shored up in time against the hungry poland, who desparately need a victory to harbour any hopes of staying in the tournament? but on the other hand, the poles' defence is also shoddy at times, the way it leaked the 2 goals against ecuador makes me shudder.

in conclusion, i believe the st germain's attacking flair will be too strong for poland, suffering from low team morale at this time and unlikely to recover anytime soon.

my prediction: germany will emerge 3-1 winners.

predictions for other games tonight:

-spain 2-1 ukraine (1st half has already ended by the time i finished typing)
-tunisia 2-0 saudi arabia


sometimes, i wonder why some people get so hyped up over the FIFA World Cup. true, it only comes around once in 4 years, and also is the best chance to practise nationalism (standing by your national team and cheering them on). but how much this event has affected people's lives, that has been widely reported in the media, so i don't see the need to elaborate more.

this year's edition, with germany as host nation, once again saw brazil as the hot favourites. but i caution against pinning your hopes too heavily on them. no one can guarantee that the 0-3 humiliation they suffered against France during the 1998 final will not repeat itself.

so far, after 4 days of intense competition, among the winners are:
-germany, 4-2 winners against costa rica in the opening game of the tournament, but their woeful defence leaves much to be desired.
-england, 1-0 paraguay, apparently sat back after scoring the solitary goal. have to put more emphasis on attacking instead of playing boring football.
-south korea, 2-1 togo. overcame a shaky first half to turn things around, have to improve on overall performace if they wish to progress further.
-and of course, brazil, scrapping to a 1-0 win against tenacious croatia. perhaps the samba boys are just treating this game as a warm-up?

and some of the losers:
-united states. poor thing. never had a chance against the czechs, didn't have that many opportunities. tamed 0-3. hope they'll do better in the next 2 matches. perhaps score some goals?
-ivory coast, 1-2 argentina. the african team most likely to produce an upset. did their best. lost, but still earned the admiration of many worldwide.
-iran, 1-3 mexico. the gulf in standards is obvious there. with the iranian team plagued by injury problems, unlikely to make much of an impact.
-japan, drubbed 1-3 by australia. three heartbreaking goals from 84-92nd minutes denied the land of the rising sun any hope of a surprise result. so close, yet so far. facing a gritty brazilian side next. just hope they will not lose too badly.

not to leave out those encounters that didn't produce a winner:
-france and switzerland played to a goal-less draw. come on, les bleus, this is already the 4th consecutive match without scoring a goal since that embarrassing 1st round exit in 2002. really need to recover that long-lost scoring touch if they hope to reach the quarter-finals at least. fast.
-sweden vs trindad & tobago. down to 10 men, but the latter still put up a spirited fight to deny the swedes from finding the net. commendable. this match also ended without any goals.


two words to describe taiwanese cutie pie rainie yang's autograph session at junction 8 today: orderly, messy. why the contradiction there? though barricades were in place, the people were squeezed like packed sardines. i had no place to sit even though i was quite far behind in the queue. then when the queue moved during the session, it wasn't even single file. okays. there wasn't any shoving/pushing. but certainly this isn't the way to manage a large group of like 400+ people.

nevermind. spotlight back on rainie. she looked great even without much of make-up. from close up, she was really, really chio. serious. especially her hair. kudos to the crew.

today happened to be rainie's birthday as well, and she was treated to a great surprise. a birthday cake with a figurine (must be influenced by anime) on top of it, plus a large bouquet of flowers, plus a tiara (obviously, from a brand name and not cheap at all). that's what i call superstar's reception. oh well.

honestly speaking, till now i stil dunno what her autograph means. been thinking about tat the moment she finished signing. mayb shld ask my relatives later.

working on geog presentation on migration for tmr's presentation. die loh. the readings on population i only read the first few sheets. the tip of the iceberg. haiz. too engrossed in gaming perhaps? need to switch back to reality though. whole of next week except sunday will hav some activity or the other. (make-up lessons, ava camp, etc)


ludibrium, the place where toy monsters and, if u go deeper, monsters linked to time prevail.
some screenshots on my brief journey there:

• platoon chronos --> chance of dropping esther shield, the highest level shield a magician can hold. 99 exp per kill. weapon damage ~85, magic damage ~35.

• soul teddy n master soul teddy --> quick exp (245 and 265 respectively). perfect if there's good spawn at one spot. magic damage ~260, weapon damage ~250 (normal ST), ~325 (master ST)

` chris;
` twenty-six;
` 21st august;
` ORD since 12th march '10;
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[ ] iPhone 6+;
[ ] new nike trainers;
[ ] macbook pro;
[ ] settle cashline debt in full by end 2017;
[ ] be more independent and sensitive;





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