Zi Rong's Personal Blog

Wednesday, June 30, 2004

Today at school... and euro 2004

Today's PE lesson at school was fun, Mr Chia caught the Euro fever and let us play soccer during PE. I've seldom or never played team soccer before, I only watch it on TV and curl in some freekicks at times . Anyhow, it was great fun and it ended up with a tied score, how I wished we could play longer if not for mrs kwok taking up 10mins of the period writing homework (blerh).

Mrs Haugen was absent and we had 2 free periods. Although I had the Amath homework to complete, I was not in the mood to do it - probably the class was too noisy, I wasnt able to concentrate, heh. Talking of maths, it's surprising that there weren't any Mr Lee's period. We had his period daily last semester, must be the change in time-table...

The assembly talk was like the amaths lesson today - lots of content but boring.

I'd be having my chinese o levels exam soon, it's listening compre this saturday and oral next wednesday - wish me luck!
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It's Holland vs Portugal tomorrow morning! I do hope the Holland team wins. There arent many talents in the Portugal team and they dont deserve to get to the Finals!

Also, tomorrow the Czechs will take on the Greeks. I believe the Czechs will win this match as their team performance is at its peak during this entire tournament - they have yet to lose a match!

Go Czech! :D

Monday, June 28, 2004

First day of the new sch term~

Wow, today has been a great day! First, I get to wake up at 7am instead of the usual 5:45am. Second, I get to take my own sweet time to enjoy breakfast instead of the usual rush hour. Third, the weather's great - very cooling.
This is probably the best start to a schooling day, too bad it's going to be a one-in-a-schoollife-time thing. I'd rather school starts at 8:30am and then end at 3pm or so.

It's definitely great to be back in school again. I stepped into the school compound, greeted by the atmosphere and friends. When I reached the class, there were already so many other mates inside.
After that, it was PE. It was crap, played the stupid floorball game - I'd rather play badminton or basketball, or even go for a jog.
It was all back to normal lessons after that, nothing worthy to be noted of. It was recess later on. Well, it's the same food and drinks again - cooked food with a packet of drink. It was more lessons after that...

Finally it was the end of regular time, went back home and did my usual stuffs. :)
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Euro 2004 again! :D
The Czechs THRASHED Denmark 3-0! All hail to Milan Baros' two magnificent goals! I guess Liverpool will finally have a priced possesion after this Euro Tourny.

There has also been speculations that Wayne Rooney will be transferred to Man Utd for £20 million and van Nisterooy to Real Madrid for a hefty £50 million! We'll definitely be looking forward to seeing these trades done and watch the new teams in action.

Here's the fixtures for the Euro 2004:
1st July 2.35am - Portugal vs Netherlands
2nd July 2.35am - Greece vs Czech Republic
5th July 2.35am - Finals
Above dates and timings are GMT +8

Sunday, June 27, 2004

Back to school!

Wow, a month of holidays' just over in a flash. It had been a good long rest and most importantly - away from books! All the tension's on when the school term starts, teachers will be pushing and trying their best to inspire us to do well in our O levels. Of course, every student would want to do well too. I'm pretty excited about going back to school, it sure beats staying at home the whole day idling.

To "Beckham" the ball

word: beckham (pronunciation: ba-kem) verb.
past-tense. beckhamed
meaning: to miss a penalty by kicking the ball over the crossbar
sentence: I beckhamed the ball during the penalty shootout and was booed by all the fans.

He runs... he slips... and he beckhamed the penalty!
He runs... he slips... and he beckhamed the penalty!


Beckham sure needs this book.

I cannot find a picture of a beckham penalty miss during the England-Portugal, if you have it, please e-mail it to me

Saturday, June 26, 2004

Boring...

Time on PC: 3:10pm
Feeling: tired and bored
Doing: Browsing through some websites and preparing for opening of sch term
Listening: Linkin Park
Want: NDP tix!

First thing in the morning, I woke up to the news of France's shock exit from the Euro Cup! I can't believe that France who's unbeaten since the qualifying stage, was beaten by newcomers Greece - It's as unbelivable as the NBA Finals, nothing is predictable. Who knows Greece might end up the European Champs?

I'm extremely bored now, no computer games to play - sick of nba live 2004. I'm wondering how would the 2nd semester of my Sec4 life be, hectic? stress? fun? exciting? I do hope it will leave me with memorable experiences...

For all 4/9 students passing by, here's the schedule for Monday: PE, Chem, Bio, Geog, Phy, EM, EM

Thursday, June 24, 2004

NDP Balloting Results

You can check your NDP ticket ballot status by calling:

6691 2004



I did not manage to get any tickets for this year's NDP... I've only attended the actual national day parade once since I was born... No wonder people are not patriotic to Singapore, lol.
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Here's the reason why Germany lost 2-1 to Czech Republic yesterday (just a joke):



If you don't get the joke, it's because the referee's siding the Czech Republic.

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

Bad exp lunching @ pizza hut - not the staff, the customers

I was having lunch with my mum and bro at Toa Payoh's pizza hut today. It was about 1pm and there were not many people. There was a mother who was eating lunch with her child, who was about 3-4 years old. She was screaming almost screeching, so loudly at her top of her voice for throughout the time. Luckily, the they was about to finish their food already, and left before my serving came. I admit I was pretty angry already.

To add to my already angry mood, there were a group of 6 CHIJ girls, probably from CHIJ Toa Payoh opposite eating too. They were talking and behaving so rowdily, a total disgrace to their school. They were talking so loudly that I could hear their voices from opposite the restaurant. In addition to that, they were making fun of a customer with her children infront of them. She was fine with the teasing though - fortunately for the boisterous CHIJ girls.

This incident just adds to my very bad impression of students from CHIJ. There was also another incident involving students from CHIJ TK, making fun of artistes performing on stage during an art performance at the Esplanade. An audience was so angry that he scolded the girls with vulgarities - imagine the gentleman's anger caused by the girls. I'm sure the gentleman had tolerated the immature and childish acts of those Secondary school girls for a long time that he suddenly exploded.

Well, I'm not shooting down all CHIJ students but just pointing out the few, or many, black sheep.
The service at Pizza Hut's good though, fast serving and polite.
But, thanks to the girls for spoiling our lunch.

Announcement for Deyi Students

Students will only have to reach school at 8.30am instead of the usual 7.15am on Monday (28th June 04). This is due to the NDP rehersal which extends to very late at night for Sec One to Three students on the day before which is Sunday. Please pass this message on to other Deyi students.
Please NOTE: 8:30am, not 8am! Timing Changed!
Source: Student Councillors of Deyi

Tuesday, June 22, 2004

Fantasia's New Single - I Believe

Fantasia's new single - I Believe has been released in the US. You can download it from here. The song 'I Believe' is 5 minutes long with superb sound effects, especially if you have a subwoofer. Go listen to it!
Diana DeGarmo's new single will be released soon. I'll update it here, stay tuned!

some changes..

Changed the site's banner! Please give comments!

Meanwhile, I read an article in today's Straits Times which featured SG's Senior Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew interviewed by a Chinese TV Station during his stay in China.

He said this: 'Life is an adventure because when you start, you don't know when it'll end, because you don't know what you are going to meet, and you want to go a certain place, you find road blocks, landslides, earthquakes. You change directions. You must have a certain bounce, certain resilience, and you must have a certain optimism in life that you can overcome these problems. Otherwise, you'll give up.' (Source) This is his view on life and I find it very meaningful, so just thought of sharing it with you guys.

Time on PC clock: 2:46pm
Feeling: Bored
Doing: Editing weblog template and chatting on IRC
Drinking: Cooling tea (liang teh)
Listening: Linkin Park - Breaking The Habit (go listen to it, its great!)
Thinking: nothing, very bored.

Monday, June 21, 2004

...a week to go...

Well, it's just a week left before school reopens, and all the stress, homework and exams start again. It's Monday today and didnt really get much going on. I spent 3 freaking hours working on this blog and got nothing outta it. My creativity is really hitting the WALL! I just can't get the right colours to match and just can't design the right template, it all just sucks for me.
I've kinda completed all my homework except for some math worksheets and drawing of graphs which are really boring to do. My parents are out on a holiday and it's kinda quiet at home.
I watched 'Speed' on Chan5 just now, it was downright exciting! Keanu Reeves starred in the movie and was the hero of course. Bad guys always end up dead and the good guys rejoice, heh.
I thinking of dropping this weblog stuff, I give up in designing the graphics and stuff, I'm so so bad at it. OK, enough of me ranting about how bad I am. I'm gona sleep now after staying up till 3am watching the Formula 1 US GP. Bye~
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Euro 2004
England vs Croatia
France vs Switzerland
Both @ 2:35am, one on Chan21 other on Chan22.

added chatterbox

I've added the chatterbox aka tagboard feature to my weblog. It's on the right of your screen. Go ahead and chat till your heart's content! I'm glad my weblog is visited by more people, looking at the counter ticking. Thanks guys! :)
As usual, please post comments on how to improve it. Have a good day ahead!

Sunday, June 20, 2004

Euro 2004 and More

Yesterday was a night/morning filled with superb Euro 2004 live action! The Czechs are the first team to go through to the Final 8 of the Euro competition.
The Czech Republic was 2-0 down against the orange army Holland after goals scored by Bouma and van Nisterooy. Koller struck one back 4 minutes later. They drew level after a magnificent goal by Baros in the 70th min. The Czech and Juventues midfielder Pavel Nedved played a very influencial role in the game. His creativity and strength at mid-field proved too good for the Dutch. His breaks and long range shots challenged the Dutch defense and keeper. In the final minutes of the game, Smicer tapped the ball in after Nedved's long-range effort rebounded off the Dutch keeper to give the Czechs the much needed win. This is the most exciting Euro 2004 match yet - better than the France-England dramatic finish. Both teams were attacking and the fans were treated to non-stop action throughout the 90 minutes. I hope there'll be more of such action in the latter stages of the tournament.

Meanwhile, the Germany vs Latvia ended up with a goalless draw. It was a boring game as the Germans were unable to convert great chances. There're even comments in Euro 2004 forums that Germany's offense was worse than the Singapore's national team. Go figure.
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Guys, please sign the guestbook before leaving so I can keep track of the visitors.
To Justin, Roxanne, Hui Sze, Jerome and Jason, thanks for signing my guestbook. Give me comments on how to improve my weblog, I'd be very happy to hear from you guys :)

Friday, June 18, 2004

Ae Tiring Day

I went to temasek club with my family and cousin. I played basketball for 1&half hour and then went swimming for another 40mins. I didnt know that swimming was so much more tedious than jogging. I was already trying to catch my breath after swimming 1 lap. Swimming really exercises your arm muscles and prepare you for doing chin-ups. I was completely exhausted after the basketball game and swimming...
The club's pretty small and probably should have a bowling alley and more lounges like the Safra Country Club.
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OK, now for Euro 2004! :D
England did exceptionally well yesterday against Switzerland. Wayne Rooney was at his best when he headed in a goal from Michael Owen cross and smashed the ball so hard that the ball rebounded off the goalkeeper's hands and went in. Steven Gerrard score a final third one to demolish the Swiss 3-0.

However, France could only manage a 2-2 draw with Croatia. France took the lead after Igor Tudor tapped in an own goal from Zidane's free-kick. Later, Mikael Silvestre pushed Rosso in the box and conceded yet another penalty. Rapaic converted the penalty into a goal and leveled the score. Dado Prso then scored a magnificent goal after French Defender Marcel Desailly made a bad clearance.
The 4th goal was a controversial one. David Trezeguet clearly handled the ball when Tudor made a poor backpass which rebounded off the keeper and hit Trezeguet's hand. Trezeguet then scored the open-goal.
France got lucky for the second time in this European tournament - after scoring 2 last minute goals against England. Should the poor form of France continues, it'd be unlikely that they will advance all the way to the Euro 2004 finals on 4th July.

The excitement still continues in Euro 2004 when Bulgaria takes on Denmark and Italy versus Spain.

KzR signing off, have a good weekend ahead!

Thursday, June 17, 2004

Gmail Invite to Give Away

I have a valuable Gmail invitation to give away. Many people around the world are dying to get invited into Google's 1GB web-based e-mail system and I'll give one away right now.
For those who wish to get invited, leave your email account, first and last name at the comments section of this post. I'll randomly select one :)
The invite has already been GIVEN AWAY. This post will not hold anymore. :)

@ the Beach

Yep, went to Pasir Ris beach today with my friends and family. Spent about 3hrs there having fun. It has been a long time since I cycled by the beach and played in the sand. :D The playground's fun too, with the flying fox, rope climbing activity and many more. Although its a weekday today, there's still so much activity going - children cycling and running around, guys and gals all having fun BBQ'ing and playing and parents sitting down and relaxing in the cool sea breeze. I didn't know that going to the beach's so much fun! I guess I'd be looking forward to having such trips more often instead of going to the movies and eating out with friends oftenly.
Mother Nature is beautiful too! :)

It's Thursday today

School's going to re-open in a weeks time and I'm idling away at home everyday, except for attending tuition lessons and going out for activities. I must spend my time wisely else I'd not have such freedom after the holidays as my O lvls gets nearer. I'm just worried about how I'd jumpstart myself into the "school and study" mode after resting for a month.
As a Laker fan, I'm still sad about their loss yesterday. I'm still wondering why the Lakers would lose to the very, very underrated Pistons. Perhaps teamwork outcasts individualism. With Kobe's departure, it's unthinkable to see such as successful Laker team with 3 championships in 5 years disband and reform a team with new players and a new manager.

OK, enough of recollecting sad memories. There're two great Euro 2004 matches tonight! England will take on the Swiss @ 12midnight and France look to get another win when they play against Croatia @ 2:35am SGT. I think that France will make it to the next round undefeated and reach the Finals to face probably Italy or England.
My predictions:
England 2 - 1 Switzerland
France 3 - 0 Croatia

Have fun guys! :)

Wednesday, June 16, 2004

Detroit Pistons Clinch NBA Championship Title


Source: http://www.nba.com/pistons

This is probably the greatest upset in the NBA Finals history. The Los Angeles Lakers are a team that was designed to win this year's NBA title. Little did anyone know that the underrated Detroit Pistons would turn the odds around and defeat the star-studded LA Lakers.

Hall-of-famers Karl Malone (PF) and Gary Payton (PG) joined the Lakers hoping, together with Shaq and Kobe, to win an NBA title this year. Malone was initially rumoured to have joined the San Antonio Spurs but instead, he joined the Lakers for half the salary paid if he were to join the Spurs, hoping to win an NBA title before retiring. Malone has never won an NBA title and he will be disappointed not to win one with the Lakers in his final season of his NBA career.

Defense dominates offense. The Detroit Pistons showed total dominance over the Lakers with their 3D (Detroit's Dominant Defense). Everyone was expecting the Lakers to sweep the series but was proven wrong when the Pistons won the first game at Staples Centre. The Pistons also kept the Lakers to their all-time scoring low of only 75 points and then 65 points in Game 3. I must also say that the Pistons have shutdown Kobe Bryant very well. Whenever Kobe penatrates the lane, he'll get double or even triple team causing a miss or turnoever. Shaquille O'Neal (7') has also not played well in the Finals although he has a height advantage over the 6'9 Ben Wallace.

Now comes to the future of the Lakers team. Kobe Bryant will become a free-agent and Karl Malone will retire. Rumours has it that Orlando Magic star Tracy McGrady is looking to join another team - either Lakers or Spurs. It'll be superb to see a McGrady-O'Neal partnership! I think that Kobe would probably join the Spurs or Pistons.


I congratulate the Detroit Pistons for winning the NBA title and for executing defense at its perfection.

I'll end my review here, probably will add more information and opinions when I've the time. Take care guys! If you've any comments, please leave them at the comments section at the end of this post. Also, olease remember to sign my guestbook before leaving. Thanks!

Some pictures from NBA.com:

Ben Wallace slamming it home


Ben Wallace and co. celebrating after clinching title
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Euro 2004 Matches Today
Greece vs Spain - 00:00hrs SGT
Russia vs Portugal - 02:45hrs SGT

The Massive Game - Germany vs The Netherlands


From left: Michael Ballack and van Nisterooy above Christian Worns
Experience taking on youth. That's what this soccer match is all about. The German team has several players such as Oliver Kahn, Michael Ballack and Christian Ziege with lots of experience. The Holland team has many young talents such as van der Vaart, van der Meyde and of course Ruud van Nisterooy.
For every team, there shall be a hero - and this time its van Nisterooy for The Netherlands. With Netherlands trailing 1-0 after a 29" goal from Frings, Ruud struck back at the 80th min to tie the game at 1-1. Of course, not every game will be as exciting as the France-England match where two goals were scored in the final minutes.
Both teams played well and ended up well-matched.

I'll be coming up with a post-NBA Finals review after the LAL-PIS match. The Pistons are at the moment leading by 27 points...

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

Guestbook Added - Please sign!

I've added a guestbook, the link is on the right hand side bar, above the Blogspot logo. Please sign the guestbook before leaving, give me comments on the design/layout of my weblog so that I can improve on it. Thanks!

Can someone also advise me on how to edit my blogger profile? I cannot seem to find the link!
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Anyway, its Germany vs Netherlands tonight! It's a match thats not to be missed! I hope Germany can win the match, probably with a scoreline of 3-1. :)
Germany vs The Netherlands

Euro 2004 :: France v England

France - England
France 2 - 1 England
Zidane's the man, what can you say? His two goals is the final 3 minutes managed to save France. Lampard made his mark of scoring England's only goal, and Beckham, missed another penalty - at least not over the crossbar.

Also, is it purely coincidence? Both players whose mistakes made England lose are from Liverpool. Heskey conceded the freekick, which Zidane beautifully curled it in, and Steven Gerard who made the backpass indirectly conceded the game-deciding penalty to France. Zidane also fired the ball in and made it 2-1.

Well, losing to France is not disgraceful, they are a team with world-class players afterall. I look forward to seeing Thierry Henry and co. play again in the next match against Croatia on the 18th of June, 2:35am Singapore Time.
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Well, I'm still thinking about whether the Lakers will win the next NBA Finals game on Wednesday (SG Time). If they lose it, Pistons will grab the title and all Laker fans, including me, will be crying... Phil, please help the Lakes win........~!!!

Monday, June 14, 2004

L.A. Lakers Shocking Finals

Before the NBA finals started, everyone placed their money, bets, eyes, predictions on the Lakers to win the title. And now... the Pistons are leading the series 3 to 1 - ONE match away from winning the NBA title!

I must admit that the Lakers are not playing at the style/skill/whatever-you-call-it that they used to play during the regularly season. The Pistons' rock-solid defense broke down the Lakers' flimsy defense and offense. Whatever shot Bryant takes, it'll be contested by one, two or sometimes 3 Pistons players. Larry Brown has done a great job in limiting the Lakers offense to only Shaq being able to score.

Malone, Payton and George/Fox have all not been able to contribute to the Lakers defense and offense. It's like Shaq and Bryant against all five Pistons players.

I think that the Finals MVP would be Chauncey Billups for his great consistency in both defense and offense. He has been averaging more than 20 points a game in the LAL-PISTON finals series.

The Great Pistons
Pistons Players - From left: Richard Hamilton, Tayshuan Prince, Chuancey Billups
(Image from NBA.com)

Sunday, June 13, 2004

the huge gmail craze

Now, everyone all over the world wants Gmail! And so do I! Can any kind souls please invite me? My email address is hyperx70@hotmail.com
I also hope to get an Orkut invitation. Someone please invite me! Thanks!

Thursday, June 10, 2004

the NBA finals

I'm a fervent fan of the NBA and I support the LA Lakers! The NBA post-season has finally reached its most anticipated and exciting moment - the Finals. Didn't did I expect the Pistons to beat the Pacers, and then face the almighty Lakers. Although the Lakers lost the first game @ Staples (Home), they still won Game 2 in overtime to tie the series at one game a piece. Kobe's huge magnificent 3-pointer RrrRocks!

I predict the Lakers will win the other 3 games @ the Palace to clinch the NBA title! :) Good luck Lakers!

my first entry

this is my first diary-like entry since i was 6 years old. i hope to collect all my wonderful, sad, angry and joyful moments and memories, and keep them with me forever. from here, i'll try to update the blog as often as i can. :)