Date: Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Time: 12:51:00 PM

I had difficulties sleeping again last night. I wondered why.. cos I was feeling quite sleepy last night. Initially, I thought of sleeping at 10 pm since I have planned to catch the Man Utd vs Europe XI friendly at 4 am. But, I couldn't sleep after tossing on my bed for some 15 minutes. So, I decided to switch on my PC. And, after 45 minutes.. I decided to get some sleep for fear that I will miss the match. But, 12 am went by, 1 am went by.. I am still wide awake! I gave up. I switched on my PC again. I played some online game and did some memory tests to verify how fantastic my memory was as I was always complimented for that during my Spin days.. Around 2.30 am, my head was hurting big time, maybe I have over exerted my brain cells.. Haha

I decided to try to sleep AGAIN.. It took another 15 minutes before I finally managed to sleep. But all that came to a naught when my alarm rang at 3.30 am. It was time to wake up and refresh for the match.

It was an entertaining match. United raced upfront with a goal from Rooney and 3 minutes later through Wes Brown whom read my Giggsy's mind and went for the cross. It was entertaining and intelligent play by the United players. The Euro team was like schoolboys playing their weekend soccer game.

The thing is, United have nothing to win or lose during the match, only fears were injuries as the queue on the injury list have been increasing. I could see how the United players were enjoying themselves in the middle of the field. That was the kind of free roaming style of the United team that I felt have been missing of late. They were more daring to attack rather than their current style of defending and counter attack when the chances arise.

But no disrespect to the Euro XI.. we should understand that they were only formed recently so it kind of explained why there were no chemistry between the players unlike the United team whom have bee playing together for a long time.

Right before half time, it was 4-1 to United. So you see, when United applied their attacking mode, they are capable of scoring a lot of goals just like how they do it earlier in the season. Without their regular strikers, they can score 4 goals so what's the worry when most of the strikers are injured? I am sure Sir Alex is able to come up with some magic with his vast experience in the football scene.

The table was turned when the second half was played. The Euro team made a substituition of almost the whole team during half time with the exception of Larsson. And United, they also made changes to the senior players as they have a match this weekend and they definitely want their players to have sufficient rest and avoid injuries. So, came in the younger players to outshine.. but nothing interesting when on at the United half other than several missed chances.. Dong Fangzhou was introduced late in the game. I thought he showed some potential and almost scored.

The Euro team played better in the second half maybe because most of the players were from EPL sides and maybe it was a weakened United side.. so nothing exciting went on in the second half.

It was nice seeing Gabriel Heinze on the field. He's a good player. A player, whom I would describe as a hard tackling defender who is willing to lend a support in the attacking department. With Evra, Silvestre and Ferdinand injured, I foresee Heinze to get his chance to win back his place.

Ok, I have been talking a lot about United and soccer these days.. I am sorry if it bores anyone of you out there. Its one of my passion and I have missed it for quite a lot in the past years.. so its like letting off some steam before I get back to reality and start working. Furthermore, its the final stretch of the season, the most important moment.. haha..

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Back to the memory test that I tried this morning.. I scored 83%! It was truly amazing because I was kind of tired at that moment and lethargy can affect the result. It was scary when they show you images and numbers and you get to repeat the sequence or figure out which number appeared before.. I thought I would flunk the test.. all the good memory that I have (according to my ex-customers) is just a fluke.

But the result says otherwise. 83%.. I am amazed at myself. And according to the analysis, I have better long-term memory capabilities. Whatever.. don't ask me how I did it. Maybe its just one of my strength.

During those Spin days, I have customers coming to me and asked how I managed to remember their orders and names.. despite most of them have difficult name to begin with and complicated orders to comply. I am not sure how I did it.. it came naturally. I did make an effort to remember the customers' other half if they come in together and introduce them to me. Who says expats are an arrogant bunch of people?? Well, there are some black sheep but a majority of them are nice people. They let you see things in a different dimensions. So, to those who have this misconception, let's go back to the basic.. don't judge a book by its cover and don't just rely on hearsays..