something bottled somewhere.....

a month has passed so quickly.... 2011 is motoring thru its days and weeks....

i feel like im still being left behind in the dust....

the more i try to pick up the pieces, the more strenuous and stressful it gets......

the moments of motivation that kicks in.... i try to do a lot of work then, and really try to squeeze in as much work as i can do during that short stint of energy.....

whether its work or exercise.... the drive and will power is definitely lacking.... and im definitely trying to nail the source of that energy.... but cant seem to find it.... my mind is all fogged up.... maybe shackled is the better expression....

i grabbed this picture from my china album..... definitely full of energy at this time...... maybe this is when everything started going pear-shaped......

definitely.... -.-

Happy Australia Day~~!!

Australia Day 2011.... its literally freezing cold in Seoul at the moment, and i miss sydney more and more as i think about the weather....

watching the australian open tennis, and the cricket isnt really helping either.....

jan 26... australia day.... it's a day off back at home.... but of course in korea, its not a day off.... but its wednesday!!! and every wednesday is a day off for me~ so that worked out well....

for the sake of australia day, i ate my own little sausage sizzle in korea today.... of course it wasnt exactly the aussie style sausage sizzle.... but it was a sausage on a stick wrapped in bacon..... actually... its pretty delicious~~

one of the things i miss alot about home is the wooloomooloo meat pies.... harry's cafe de wheels~ but something that is definitely as good as those pies is the 2 dollar sausage sizzles u have at the sporting grounds on saturday.... after playing soccer... or DURING ur baseball match... u grab a 2 dollar sausage sizzle with onions and BBQ sauce..... and a can drink is usually a dollar too....

i wonder if inflation has hit the weekend sports canteens.... is it still 2 dollars??

ah~~ im hungry now~~

double dipping...

the up's and down's in sport.....

today was the day i started with a down, but ended with an up....

korea were beaten in a penalty shootout to japan.... which to most koreans doubles the pain of losing a semi final match to any other country.... korea led early, but japan equalised pretty much straight away..... at 1-1, they went into extra time, and japan was awarded a penalty which was DODGY at best.... bias? maybe.... but really.... it was dodgy... it was outside the box!!! haha....

korea dramatically scored the equalising goal in the 120th minute... that last minute goal took the match into a penalty shootout where korea really gave themselves no chance of winning by missing all of their first 3 shots.... from there, japan converted 3 shots, and won easily.... (probably the least suspenseful penalty shootout i've seen EVER!!!)

the 2nd semi final was australia vs uzebekistan..... final score... 6-0 to the aussies~~ 6-0.... another shocking scoreline.... but at least it was to the right team this time... it really was a "feel good" game after seeing the koreans lose the first semi....

cmon socceroos.... don't lose the final to the japanese..... im double dipping into the asian cup by having australia and korea in the tournament.... i cant have them both lose to japan consecutively~~

australia day comes early~

we don't often see aussie tennis players winning tournaments... but yesterday in the lead up to the aussie open, we saw hewitt and groth both win their finals in straight sets....

i said at the turn of the new year that hewitt had fight.... and he played in the kooyong classic as the lowest ranked player, and went through the tournament undefeated, beating monfils in the final in straight sets....

groth on the other hand has played well recently as well, and has been on the up for a while now.... she's still 2nd to stosur in australia, but she's probably the in-form female player right now....

both groth and hewitt are unseeded at the aussie open.... and they both have a very tough first round draw..... going on ranking and statistics, they are looking at first round exits...

groth... monday night match!! and hewitt.... tuesday night match!!!

i wanna see an aussie win the aussie open!!!!

stalemate~

last night was the big asian cup match....

South Korea vs Australia....

it ended up being a 1-1 draw....

i dont even support one team anymore.... i'd have to say, when they used to play each other in the past, i supported korea.... but i think that was because i was in australia... watching with mates who obviously support australia.... so i'd support korea coz nobody else does in australia....

now that im in korea.... and everyone supports korea.... u would think i should support australia.... and last year, when i went to the friendly match here in seoul, i did support the aussies.... but they got thumped 3-1.... and i cant be upset if korea wins.... so..... i dont support anyone now... haha

last night.... yes.... stalemate.... but in chess, stalemate is a draw, but sometimes one person clearly is dominating, but stuffs up a move to cause an accidental stalemate.... last nights match was a bit like that.....

australia were scrappy at best.... they need to stop playing that crash dummy style game.... yes, the rough tactics work.... against some teams.... and even then, after the initial 20 minutes, u gotta stop.... u gotta play soccer.... their passes were off, no tactics, no teamwork, and i think everyone on the field had a hopeless attempt at goal from 30m away....

korea on the other hand.... good running game, good short and long passes.... but nobody wanted to shoot the ball!!! grrrrr.....

in the end, the korean coach felt they missed out on the win, and the aussie coach was happy with the draw.... thats how the fans probably felt too.....

me? i thought it was a very liberal outcome~

Into the Fire....

this was a korean movie that came out last year.... i wanted to see it at the cinemas but never got around to it.....

finally.... saw it today....

the movie is set in the korean war.... based on a true story.... well... based on a true situation.... then produced into a movie plot....

the story is about the high school students who were left to defend a post.... south korea had been pushed back all the way to the south coast, and in order to fight a bigger battle, the trained soldiers had to leave the city of Pohang, and left 71 students at the post to defend it....

when the troops left Pohang, they hoped that the north korean troops would not run through that city, but they did... and of the 71 student-soldiers, who had no prior training, only 2 survived to this day....

like all war movies.... so its BASED on true scenarios, but characters are reproduced to a degree to make it a movie.... also probably due to the sensitivity of the north korean agenda, there is still some parts in the movie where they sympathise for the enemy.... im sure even during that time, since it was a "civil" war.... that kind of thought ran through some soldiers minds....

now.... in 2011.... the korean divide is still an issue.... i wonder in the minds of the soldiers today.... if they still sympathise and question why the 2 koreas are at war....???

obviously i wish there isnt a breakout of war again.... but seeing that movie.... and now knowing that in the beginning it only took 3 days for the north to run through seoul..... i really wish there isnt a 2nd chapter to the korean war....

filthy soccer....

the asian cup soccer has started....

its the asian cup.... korea is in it... and australia is in it.... they will always be 2 of the favourites to win the tournament, so its obvious im going to watch it....

having said that.... im definitely not a fan of filthy soccer.... it actually pisses me off sometimes.... some of the bone-head, uneducated stupidity seen from some players is pretty disgusting....

we've already seen a handful in the asian cup....

we talk about soccer players diving all the time... which drives all fans insane... but yesterday was a scene of insanity.... a kuwaiti player after tangling with a chinese player just stomped on his.... groin.....

the third picture is him stomping on the chinese players groin.... and the middle picture is him acting like he is injured while the referee waits to give him his red card.....

after he gets his red card..... he cries..... D-I-S-G-R-A-C-E!!!

today, during the bahrain-korea match.... while jumping to head the ball, a bahraini player jumped up stepping off a korean players thighs with his studs.... and also we had the classical, "jump in the air with two studs out" tackle..... saw one from gerrard on the weekend as well....

some really disgraceful soccer players that i've seen..... kevin muscat..... danny tiatto..... if ur an aussie soccer fan... u should know who they are.... they are both players who average 10 red cards a year.... watch em on youtube.... haha

i hope we see some clean fair sane soccer~~

ashes.... gone~~

its over.... its official.... the ashes series is over, and england have won the series 3-1....

i cant believe aussie cricket fans had to sleep on it and wait till this morning to see the poms clean up our final 3 batsmen, and win the series...

i wonder how it felt for them.... im sure they wanted to celebrate and party last night.... but they had to wait another day to get the final 3 wickets....

the aussie team is being dubbed as "the worst ever".... and honestly, since i started watching cricket in the early 90's..... yes... they are the worst i've seen....

yes, maybe the poms were just too good.... yes, they were good.... but the aussies also dropped catches... misfields.... run outs.... all these schoolboy errors just made them look so awful.... it was painful to watch....

the funny thing about aussie cricket is... they've been successful for so long.... i still look forward to the T20s and the ODI's thinking that we can beat england again.....

well.... lets hope....

queensland floods...

usually the beginning of each year would be bushfire season, and the news would be covering massive bushfires destroying land and property....

2009 was the victorian bushfires that hit australia, and too many people suffered...

2011.... its the queensland floods.... i heard that the emerald river broke its banks and the water thru the city submerged houses by upto 4 metres....

this photo is from the floods.... and that floodway sign is obviously a roadsign.... so under all that water, there should be a road..... a little bridge.... and a creek that runs under the bridge.... the sign means that the creek might flood, and water may come onto the road.....

obviously.... the water came onto the road didnt it~~

well.... one good thing is that its cricket and tennis season.... not that sports is more important, but just like the victoria bushfires, they are doing alot of fundraising and donations for the flood victims....

definitely a bad start to the new year for the people in queensland, but things can only get better now~

Happy 2011~~!!!

2011 is here....

this year, i avoided the crowd near bo-shin-gak.... dont have to see them ring the bell anymore...

on the other hand.... its just fireworks, but i always want to see the sydney fireworks.... when the state govt decides to spend millions of dollars every year.... its always going to be a fairly good show....

yes, there are people who say it is a waste of money, etc etc.... but really.... why not start the year with a big bang like that then spend the year saving money on small things....

well.... photos of the sydney fireworks are brilliant yet again....

missing home~~

i wonder if i will set foot on the land down under this year.....