Snooker As I Remember It

My friend Pat likes my old post about snooker (man, that was a long time ago, in the early days of my blog). I used to like snooker a lot, and still probably do – unfortunately, there isn’t a parlour for me to play in within a 10 mile radius.

Snooker was huge in the 80’s. we’re talking HUGE, that was when our local TV started airing the world championship and Pot Black series. But after a few years, it sort of died out, and the snooker parlours were converted to video arcades (early 90’s) which were then transformed to handphone shops (mid 90’s) and then were taken over by cybercafés (late 90’s) and are now are probably DVD shops.

Ah, the evolution of Malaysian retail space.

Anyway, back to snooker. They still show the game on Astro these days, I think it’s the UK Premier League. It’s still much the same, except I don’t recognize the players anymore, and the vests worn by them are now covered in seedy looking ads. I guess guys like Jimmy White, Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and Dennis Taylor have all long retired.

I like watching the game, but I prefer playing it more. The thing about watching the pros play is that I get geram (miffed) about how good their shots and placing is! After each pot the cue lands in the perfect place for the next shot, unlike the ‘pot already and see where the cue ball lands’ style we’re used to. And another thing I geram is how new gleaming the balls and table is. Here in Malaysia, the tables are always torn (and patched) and the balls are all chipped and scratched like kiddie toys.

Man, I miss the smoky snooker parlours with the sound of clacking wood, interspersed with swearing by Chinese thugs enjoying a game after their daily round of extortion…

Technorati Tags: snooker, Jimmy White, Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, Dennis Taylor

A Brisk Walk in the Field of Daffodils

Ah, the fresh smell of roses in the morning, as take a brisk walk in the field of daffodils. Especially when it’s on the elegant throes of the new year, and everything is fresh and beautiful…

Except it’s midweek, and you have to go to work, and that pretty much sucks.

To all my fellow lackeys who are slaving at the grind, to make this country great, welcome back to your job. Yes, my friends, after more than a week of public holidays and breezy traffic (school holidays ma…), it’s back to work.

And it’s not looking good.

In tray stacked high.

E-mail inbox bold with 68 unread mails (the work kind, not the funny e-mails you forward to all your slacker friends).

The tea-lady is in a bad mood and has cut down the caffeine quota in the coffee maker.

Toilet’s backed up with some weird floating stuff.

Fish in office aquarium floating with belly up (and they aren’t practicing pilates either).

Worse still, you turn on your PC and find that the Internet speed still crawling.

And you’ve hardly started your morning coffee, and your boss (who believes the gahmen “should limit the number of public holidays to four per year”) calls for a project progress meeting at 9.10am.

When is the next public holiday again? Jan 20th, izzit?

Simon’s Resolutions For 2007 (Since Everyone Else Is Doing It Anyway)

Apparently it’s a new year already. The calendar says 2007. Woo-hoo. So where are the flying cars? The universal remote that can control people? The instant microwaveable French fries? The X-ray specs?

Never mind.

Since it’s cool to make resolutions, let’s make some that I may (or may not) try to keep for at least 16 days into the new year before giving up.

Simon’s resolution for 2007

• Try to keep current job as long as possible not to get his a$$ fired (may not be applicable after disappointing Chinese New Year bonus. If there is one, that is…)
• Read more books*. Yes I know, I say this every year, but heck, I can try every year, cant I?
  (*books, not including the following – software manuals for work, newspapers, Empire magazine, any toilet-time reading materials, etc.)
• Take down my Christmas tree before May. If it stays up until after May, it’ll probably be there until the next Christmas…
• Eat less junk food. (Definition of what is deemed ‘junk food’ may vary from time to time, depending on how hungry I am at the moment…)
• End world hunger (and I also wish for world peace and goodwill to all mankind).
• Finish ‘Catch-22’ that has been on my desk for almost 2 years.
• Be more considerate to lane cutters, road hogs and imbeciles who can’t drive straight. (While I’m at it, I might as well wish for a million bucks.)
• Learn to do at least one of the following:
  1. Diving
  2. Filmmaking
  3. Learn either French or Japanese.
  4. Play the saxophone, just in case some one asks me to join an all-night cabaret in Paris.
• Learn to sleep less.
• Keep blogging.

Cheers, folks, and a Happy New Year.