why so black and lonely?

Two days ago, while I was on my way home, I passed Cideng again for the first time after going through that route everyday from 1997 till 1999. In the intersection, there was a Chinese-Indonesian family who sold newspapers to passing motorists when the traffic light was red.

Everytime I saw the father, his son & daughter, my heart was always covered with pity. I do believe that they had to be there because they don’t have any other way to make a living. That night, the father was thinner, and the children was thin and already in their teenage year.

I wish they could see them.

They who believe that it’s okay to rob Chinese-Indonesian because they’re rich. They who believe that it’s okay to rape Chinese-Indonesian girls because they deserve it. They who believe that it’s okay to bully Chinese-Indonesian because they’re powerless and uncapable to fight. They who believe that it’s okay to blame Chinese-Indonesian for everything that goes wrong in this country.

They did it in 1998. God may forgive them, but the victim won’t. I hope those people would rot in the damnedest part of Hell eternally.

The next time I pass Cideng, I’ll always get myself a newspaper.

The fun returned to Theatre of Dreams with a 2-1 victory over Benfica last night. However, it wasn’t a stroll in the park, and we needed Ruud to come to our rescue for the umpteenth time.

Our defensive starting line-up was quite puzzling with Josh, who managed to overcome an injury, partnering Rio in place of Silvestre. Phil Bardsley filled in the right back, while Kieran continued Fergie’s experience in left back. The makeshift defense team that people thought would be leaking goals, deserved a collective pat for their solid performance. VDS performed remarkably well as usual, but it’s young Bardsley that caught the eye by defending well and raining crosses from the right side of the pitch like he was Gazza or a certain bloke named Beckham.

The midfield consisted of the usual suspects with Giggsy, as captain of the night, making his first start for the season by replacing Park. Giggsy was spellbinding by twisting & turning like he was 19 again, and even got a goal albeit from massive deflection. Scholesy played well to payback his stinker performance against Blackburn last Saturday. Smudger conceded a free kick which resulted in Benfica’s goal, but aside from that he was his usual busy body sliding tackles here & there, and it was a nice sight to see him & Ronaldo having a chat which meant the supposed rift between them no longer existing. Ronaldo himself was excellent in terrorizing his compatriots, while Fletcher became the bolt that completed United midfield engine.

Up front, Ruud was once again striving alone "by chasing his own flick-on", just like mentioned by an MUFC list member. But, he really looked sharp & menacing with ball in his feet. If his shot in the first half bulged into the net instead of crashing the bar, it would be a contender for goal of the season. However, it took him 85 minutes to finally put his name on the scoresheet by bundling Rio’s header into the net. It was the cue for every United supporter in the universe to chant his name into the night. Here he comes to save the day!

It was just another magical European night at Old Trafford to make you smiling in your sleep. Bring on Fulham!!!

For as long as I could recall, last Saturday was the first time I ever heard Old Trafford ringing from end to end urging their favourite sons to "attack, attack, attack!" I never thought that such thing could happen in Old Trafford. I think we all miss the gung-ho, all guns out blazing, kamikaze, attack-at-all-cost style. That’s Manchester United.

We’ve come to the stage when we could no longer endure the boring style of play. We miss our United, and most of all we miss having fun on the pitch. I hope Fergie and the players will always hear the sound of 60,000 people booing them last Saturday. They deserve it, and they must learn not to hear it at all in the future.

At all cost.

For all the footballing brain & intelligence that he has, apparently Wayne Rooney doesn’t know that you don’t clap the referee on the pitch. Especially, in a sarcastic way like he just did this early morning. You moron!

Once Rooney was off the pitch, the game wasn’t the same anymore. Ruud was totally isolated up front while the midfielders went deep to protect the back four. Villarreal smelt blood and happily tried to take advantage of having an extra 1 man.

Boring game, bad result. I probably should have slept and don’t bother to watch.

Honestly speaking, last weekend was kinda depressing and it wasn’t what I hoped for. The main topic for those two days were "babies", "babies", "babies", and "when were you gonna get one?".

It all started with my folks who happened to be in town, and then a visit to a good friend who became a first-time father. There, that particular question was asked, and even there’s a poster about it in the elevator! I swore that I might have fainted successfully if the parking attendant would ask me the same thing.

The climax took shape during our private session with a Catholic priest who was gifted with a special ability to identify physical illness in someone’s body. It was the icing on the cake for a terrible weekend, the creme de la creme, and it couldn’t come at a more perfect timing.

Even the lads in red & white also had a hand in contributing to my weekend by playing sloppily and promptly dropping two valuable points in the Manchester derby. They seemed to be lifeless in the absence of Keano & Ronaldo. The only bright sparks were Smith, Park, Rooney, and particularly Ruud who kept on scoring.

I really felt gutted when the game was over, but a smile immediately was back in my face when it was revealed that our date with a certain Diego in Villarreal will be broadcasted live on StarSports this Wednesday. I’m sure the stadium would be ringing with the Diego chant.

Hopefully, this time he won’t make us cry!!!

Our first meeting since 16 years ago had finally came true last Saturday. The reunion that even surprised some people considering it wasn’t a college or high school reunion, but elementary school reunion. 9 classmates managed to come to see our changes, share some laugh, and get nostalgic about the good ol’ days. What’s better than to be surrounded by good friends, good laugh, good food, and out of tune karaoke? I’m already counting down to our next reunion. Hopefully it’d come soon enough.

The most bizarre scene from the weekend was a middle-aged Chinese-Indonesian lady who brought a copy of The DaVinci Code with her while shopping in ITC Mangga Dua. I wasn’t sure if she intended to read it while jostling through the crowd, since the only intellectual thing that you could do in such place was winning the bargaining war with the shop owner.

It’s funny how the price for stuffs that I desperately want is always discounted when I’m broke. Why can’t they pick a better time for it? It seems like they’re trying to get me dead broke until my last penny. The latest thing to do it is Amazon which gives a 50% discount for the complete DVD sets of The X-Files for the whole 9 seasons! At $50 each, the whole complete series will cost me a whopping $450 and it hasn’t included the shipping fees etc.

Life is already hard without this kind of temptation