Well, according to referee Graham Poll, it's 3 yellows apparently before you are dismissed from the game. Let's see ......
Poll dishes out 3 yellow cards to Simunovic before dismissing him.
For that amazing blunder, here's an ode to Poll, sung to the tune of "Football's Coming Home" -- England's World Cup song performed by the 3 Lions. Instead, this song is called "Fool Poll's Coming Home", taken from the Sun Newspaper.
Yeap, Graham Poll is being sent home from the World Cup ...... couldn't have happened to a nicer guy though.
Seven people were arrested Thursday in connection with the early stages of a plot to attack Sears Tower and other buildings in the U.S., including the FBI office here, a federal law enforcement official said.
As part of the raids tied to the arrests, FBI agents swarmed a warehouse in Miami's Liberty City area, using a blowtorch to take off a metal door. One neighbor said the suspects had been sleeping in the warehouse while running what seemed to be a "military boot camp."
Managers of the Sears Tower, the nation's tallest building, said in a statement that they speak regularly with the FBI and local law enforcement about terror threats and that Thursday "was no exception."
"Law enforcement continues to tell us that they have never found evidence of a credible terrorism threat against Sears Tower that has gone beyond criminal discussions," the statement said.
Residents living near the warehouse said the men taken into custody described themselves as Muslims and had tried to recruit young people to join their apparently militaristic group.
A man calling himself Brother Corey and claiming to be a member of the group told CNN that the individuals who worship at the building call themselves the "Seas of David."
P.S. For those who don't know, the Sears Tower is a landmark building located in downtown Chicago --- also the tallest building in the US (standing at 442m tall)
This is gonna be kinda boring, so read on at your own peril. Now, it was recently reported that in some courtesy test conducted globally, Singapore came in placed 30th out of 35 nations. Surprised?
Yeah, I am damn shocked that Singapore is placed so "high". C'mon, I would expect Singapore to be more like 48 out of 50 countries. And what is the big fuss with New York being the city with the most gracious and well-mannered citizens? I've never been to NYC, but let's recount some experiences I've had in 3 years in Chicago.
1) It is standard practice for a person to hold the door for the person behind him. When going into lecture rooms, the person ahead would naturally stand there, holding the door open for 15 seconds even until I got to the door. An expression of "Thanks" would naturally follow.
2) When someone sneezes, someone around would say "Bless you". In Singapore, any person around Mr Sneeze would, as if it were some reflex action, move away, or stare at the person sneezing as if he were some disease.
3) Waitors and servers in restaurants engage in conversations while taking orders. Topics range from sports, movies and their preferred choice of food in the restaurant. The service is excellent, and makes you really feel at ease, but maybe that's cos we're obliged to give 15-20% tips?
4) Social grace is prevalent even among people in a rush. There was once when on board a bus, this woman fainted probably cos of lack of oxygen. Other commuters immediately alerted the driver, and called the paramedics, while some nurse on board immediately went to check on the unconscious woman. I didn't notice anyone glancing at their watches, or scrambling to get off the bus, or seeming damn irritated. In Singapore, expressions of "wah lao", "kns" or "suay leh" would be the order of the day.
5) I dare not say Americans are not kiasu, but when queues form, people line up in a orderly fashion. You don't see the shoving and pushing and squeezing to be ahead of the order kind of shit you see so much here. They pretty much accept it if they are all the way behind .... you don't see much queue cutting except for the ******
I guess there is probably more to talk about, and I am sure Singapore does have some graces, but you can obviously tell I am rather bored to be talking about this. So for now, I am gonna go back to a Brief History of Time, inspired to read this once again after watching the documentary "The Hawking Paradox" last week.
Now is the time for Germany to regain the big one on home soil. Let's go Germany!!!!!
Let us hope we shall see more of such celebrations .... culminating in the grandest of them all on July 9 --- the day before I start work at Biopolis.
And player of the tournament? Don't be surprised it may well turn out to be a defender -- Germany's own LB Philip Lahm. Most people would probably only have heard of him after he scored that sensational opener against Costa Rica .... but hey, he was there at the last World Cup too. And in my FM game, Real Madrid just splashed 29m pounds on him. Perhaps Germany's own Paolo Maldini? Now don't even mention Roberto Carlos .... piece of crap who can't defend and who can't direct freekicks for nuts.
So ruthless efficiency + offensive grace = a Germany victory!!!!!!
Whew ... I am officially back home. Here's the story. After an exhausting 24hr plane ride back from Chicago to Singapore, I landed at Changi Airport at 1230am. After all the ridiculous immigration and luggage check, I finally arrived home at 230am, only to find no one at home. My piss-ness and anger at that point cannot be described .... I was so looking forward to a good shower and proper food while in the taxi, only to find myself locked out of the house. Maybe I should have asked my dad to bring me a set of keys, rather than having to rely on the maid being home. But just like it had to be, I spent 10 minutes pacing up and down, thinking like a crook how best to gain entry into the house. After realizing there was no one to do so (of course lah ... if I can go in without a key, I might as well become my own professional burglar), I spent another 15 minutes kicking and slamming everything in sight, and then to calm myself down, sat in the car, horning away like nobody's business at 3am in the morning.
After spending close to 4hrs playing computer games while sitting like a cock outside my house, I decided at 6am to walk over to my uncle's place, which is where I spent the entire morning at. Fortunately, I still had MSN, though no hp, and so was able to cancel lunch appointments. Perhaps not showering till 3pm in the day was good, since it kept me from sleeping, and minimized any jet lag I might have.
Having finally officially gotten home at 2pm, I proceeded to unpack before meeting up with Gracie and Yihan at Wasabi Bistro -- a poser Japanese restaurant located in the Oriental Hotel. Folks, if you want good Jap food, Hanabi at King's Arcade is by far, a much better choice. The only interesting that happened during dinner, was me dozing off while the 3 of us were chatting, only to open my eyes with Gracie asking me "Are you awake?" Gosh, apparently I had been sleeping for 5 min while the other 2 were just talking away, which was why Gracie mentioned I suddenly became very quiet.
Aiya, then I fell asleep again watching the Argentina-S&M game later on. Well, although I am sleep-deprived, but at least, I think I have overcome the shitty jet lag. For today at least, I needa do some grocery shopping again at NTUC (after having bought ridiculous stuff like facial wash and Pokka green tea, but not any essentials yesterday), and then I'm off to join Cheryl at a pub tonite for the World Cup games.
This is my last day in Chicago, and hence a sense of nostalgia inevitably sets in. Now when you come to a foreign land, you have to set up your home in a place away from home. And as such, it is with fond memories that I leave behind my apartment -- my 36th floor 3-bedroom apartment in Regents Park (with my 2 roommates: Serene and Bertie). Address: 5050 South Lake Shore Drive, Apt 3606-S, Chicago, IL 60615.
Here is my bedroom. I am currently in the process of contemplating whether or not to start packing, which is why the room is in a mess. Furthermore, moving out entails selling off furniture, which is why the room appears to be simply adorned with clothes only, minus bookshelf, table and rocking chair. However, the comfy bed, and lamps are still around, not withstanding the 2 big windows which afford me a brilliant view of the city and Lake Michigan, and which are permanent fixtures of the room.
Here is the living room. 2 couches plus the TV (with cable) makes for a good living room. If you look carefully enough, you can probably see rows of alcohol bottles lined up at the back of the living room. Vodka, Bacardi, wines, ......
This is our dining area. It probably doesn't look much like one now, with a lion head and many letters and paper on the table. But this is where we have our dinners. What I like about this dining area is the big "gap" which connects this room to the kitchen, making it easy to transfer food in and out of the kitchen. Note the zig-zag compartment above this gap: that's for us to display our wines.
Finally, we come to the kitchen. Oven, microwave, sink, refrigerator and freezer make for a complete kitchen. The kitchen looks rather clean now .... trust me, it is usually never clean! This is where I prepare the meat, while Serene does the vegetables ..... making for a nutritous dinner always
Convocation came and went, and now, I have graduated from the University of Chicago - "the best university on this galaxy and any other nearby" (President Randel). Saturday started with all of us gathering at Ratner Athletic Center at 9am in the morning. It's really amazing the see 965 members of the class of 2006 crammed into a tiny auditorium, with exhuberant looks on each and every face. I dare say, I know probably 2% of the students in the hall.
The only dampener was the drizzle that was going on outside ..... it had been raining since the night before, but that was not sufficient to dampen our spirits. This was our day! After briefings from the head marshall, we all marched to Harper Memorial Court. Coming in to the sounds of bagpipes, this was truly an experience that cannot be found in Singapore. That stupid NUS Business ad is just plain stupid .... how can you ever compare NUS to the University of Chicago. That's the same as comparing Manchester United to Leeds United.
Since graduates from the biological sciences divison were awarded their diplomas first, I was the 13th person out of the 965 graduates to go on stage to receive my B.A. diploma from President Randel, Dean Boyer, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. As Xuda said, shaking Bloomberg's hand was probably my first physical contact with a billionaire.
So after 3 years in the University of Chicago, what is the take home message? If a book drops on your head, and the sound is hollow, it may not be the fault of the book! Truly, the University of Chicago is an educational institution like no other .... the drive of its students, the intellectual fervour prevalent everywhere, the freedom and independence afforded to students, the extremely tough but challenging curriculum, and of course, the home of the Bulls and the White Sox.
So it all has to end right? Here are pictures with some of the many friends I have made in my 3 years here.
YC with Luoren and Prof Holly Swyers (our SOSC professor)
YC with Yikley, Serene (roommate) and Jason
YC with Weixiong and Lu
YC with Phoebe, Germaine, Amanda, Dazhou and Shengrong
YC with Wanyun, Andrew, Brian, Jiahui and Adela
YC with Yihan, Shengrong and Xuda
YC with Hannah and Meiyi
I shall be arriving in Singapore the nidnight of June 16 (Friday). Catch up with everyone back home .... hp number's still the same.
Finally, it's Senior's Week -- the week where the rest of the school takes their final exams and submits their final papers, while the graduating seniors go out and have fun. So the fun all started with watching the comedy show "Iraqtile Dysfunction" at the Second City. Interesting slapstick shit, the content of which will never be allowed in Singapore, under a Sinagaporean context. Imagine suaning the Singapore government, and the various races .... yeah, you get the point.
Tuesday, we all woke up early in the morning --- so early that I needed to eat breakfast to function -- to go to Six Flags Great America -- one of the best amusement parks in the US, with roller coaster rides, and vertical drops you can actually call exciting. So being worn out from all the activities, here's a picture of most of the Singaporeans who went.
We also took some other ones, the names of which I can't seem to recall. Aniway, note that I've linked each of the rides above, so you can just click on whatever fancies you, then go read about it, or watch the quicktime movies located on those pages (cos I am too lazy to describe each separately) . You'd so wish you were here.
Then, Wednesday nite, we went to catch the baseball game -- Chicago White Sox (defending world champions) vs Detroit Tigers. Score was 2-2 when I left early, but the moment I stepped out of the stadium, fireworks went off, which can only mean that some White Sox player had just hit a home run. That turned out to be Jim Thome hitting one to put the Sox up 3-2. The Sox eventually won 4-3, moving 0.5 games behind Detroit for 1st place.
Now, you all might wonder why would I leave the game early rite, considering the school buses that take us back to school only arrive after the game? Well, my parents arrived at O'Hare Airport in the middle of the game. So I had to go down to Chinatown to buy dinner for them (considering they must be so tired and hungry), and also to buy lunch for myself tomorrow. Aniway, waited in the hotel lobby for like 45 minutes before they arrived .... turned out their luggage was delayed. I actually anticipated that, so I brought a book along, but after reading 3 pages (and this is usually the amount of readings I do each week for Sosc class) I realized I was too shag to continue. Trying to look cool while sitting in the lobby is not easy ..... I gave up eventually and just looked like a cock with no where to sleep.
Aniway, I've got events lined up for my parents tomorrow. Architectual boat cruise and the musical "Wicked" are certainties .... I may bring them to the Art Institute too, since it's famous and I've never been there myself too. Aniway, I'm tired and gonna go sleep soon
