Phobias and Inner Demons

I had to visit the dentist last night. Now, my dentist is great; friendly, mild-mannered and not at all the type to strike fear in anyone. Still, I can't help but get tense just at the thought of seeing her. The sound of that drill alone is enough to give me an instant stomache ulcer. Without realising it, I spend most of the time in the waiting room like a very tightly wound coiled spring.

A phobia is a strange thing. The rational part of the mind knows that the fear is unreasonable and usually unfounded. Yet, the fear is a instinctive reaction and just comes upon you, no matter how much you rationalise. I think the scientific journals may have a perfectly good explanation for it (perhaps something to do with the synapses in our brains?), but I wonder how much of it is psychological as well?

For instance, I fear dentists. At the same time, one of my oft-recurring bad dreams is one where my back teeth fall out due to incessant grinding on my part. The dream books say that dreaming about losing one's teeth symbolises fear of death. I don't know, I certainly don't think I fear death any more than the next person. I rather suspect that the phobia and the dream are linked and may indicate some underlying psychological fear of pain (or perhaps something deeper, like a fear of being made "less whole", as the actions of "drilling" and "losing" may suggest).

Wow, this has been a downer so far! Do I really need to make a phobia worse by endlessly trying to analyse it? Instead of overthinking, I will, of course, make a list, since that is my current modus operandi.


Phobias (or Things that would cause me to lose on Fear Factor)

• Rats (especially black ones - I am having the shivers just thinking about them!)
• Large house lizards. Strangely, this phobia does not extend to really large reptiles like iguanas and crocodiles. I just can't stand the larger-sized house lizards with their damp scaly skins. Yuks!
• Birds. Okay, it's not like I run away screaming whenever I see one. I do tolerably well with birds in cages, seagulls on the beach, even those darned pigeons in public places, as long as there are people around. What I really fear is when they start swooping towards me with their sharp beaks and claws. Or when I am the only human person around and vulnerable to their attacks, if they were the human-attacking type. I think ultimately, my fear of birds is about the claws and beaks.
• Dentists. Well, I have covered that one.
• Monkeys. This one goes back to a childhood experience in Penang's Botanical Gardens (not sure if it's the right name, but it's a big park). I was carrying a bad of fruit and kindly offering a rambutan to a monkey when the greedy bugger suddenly summoned his family and they made a grab for the bag. It was an ambush! I can still remember their shrewd eyes and very nimble fingers. I know they are our closest evolutionary cousins; no wonder I don't trust them!
  
• Dirty public toilets. Singapore is rather blessed that this isn't so much of a problem anymore.

Hmmm ... rather many animal related phobias in that list. I wonder if that says something about my essentially urban upbringing, or perhaps my innate introversion. Enough with the over-analysis! It may not mean anything at all. For one thing, I don't fear all animals. I am fine with cockroaches, worms, slugs, bees and dogs, which are objects of fear for many people.

Phobias: Nurture or Nature? A bit of both, perhaps.

A Truly LONG Weekend

It was a long weekend for most people here, with Hari Raya Haji falling on Friday. For me, it was a LONG weekend, alright, but not quite in the same way. Had to work all three days, which was a serious bummer and did nothing for chronic sleep deprivation. Not to mention the things I missed over the three days because of work. Here's a partial list because list-making is oddly cathartic.

Things I missed out on this LONG weekend (mostly stuff on TV)

• watching ANY of the Australian Open. I will be out of Singapore from mid-week and will likely miss everything from the quarter-finals onwards. So far, I haven't seen more than 2 matches strung together and that would probably be the score at the end of the tournament.
• the Global Edition episode of The Daily Show which normally airs on Saturday and Sunday nights.
• following the final Test in the England v South Africa series. It's been more or less a wash-out with rain leaving little time for actual play. Unless both captains agree to make bold declarations and effectively turn this into a one-day match, and assuming the weather gets better on Day 5, this is heading for a draw. England then wins the Test Series, as they are 2-1 up after 4 matches. It would be a great result for them, ahead of the Australians touring in the summer. But poor South Africa; I hope there are no recriminations for them because of this home series loss..
• the repeat episode of Charmed on Sunday (well, here's another embarassing guilty pleasure revealed!). It's not really a big deal. I missed most of the first half of last season anyway. I just thought perhaps I could try to be more consistent in catching the episodes this year, but given the uneven quality of the show, missing a couple here and there may not be so bad.
• last night's episode of The Apprentice on Channel 5. I did not expect to get home so late (it was 3 am by the time I did get back) and did not set my video to record it. This was supposed to be the episode where Trump shows that he basically just does whatever he wants and fires whoever he wants, regardless of how well the task was performed. I suppose we should have known that all along, but I really did want to see it.
• the Converse Warehouse Sale, although I bought a couple of bags from elsewhere, so that wasn't an earth-shattering miss.
• last days of the Robinsons Warehouse Sale. Not that I was sure I wanted to go, what with all the people that turn up on weekends.
• testing out my newly acquired digital camera ahead of my overseas trip later this week. Will have to find time to figure it out over these next two days.

It seems that things seem to conspire to all happen at the same time, both the good and the not-so-good. If Lady Luck is fickle, how would we describe Countess Karma?

Getting Used to the Losing End

Man Utd 3 Aston Villa 1
Southampton 2 Liverpool 0

Both "my" teams lost this weekend. I think I may just have to disown them. Just kidding. Supporting a soccer team seems to be mysteriously uncorrelated to their performance. I know they are hopeless, but I still root for them whenever they play. If Mourinho takes over at the helm of either team, that may just be the deal breaker!

And two weeks in a row, Man Utd has defeated a team I support. I am getting quite philosophical about Man Utd nowadays; don't seem to harbour as much dislike for them (actually, it was mainly Fergie and Keane that I have found off-putting in recent times). Jose Mourinho has inherited the mantle of 'person I can least stand in the Premiership'. In fact, he has done it so successfully, there isn't much hate left to shower on anyone else!

Realistically, Liverpool won't be able to finish any higher than 5th of 6th. Everton has been losing lately, but so has Liverpool (and loosing to Burnley was not morale boosting at all). Champion's League football may not be on the cards next year unless they miraculously win it this year. I think it may be a good thing for them to have a quieter international calendar and focus on gaining some consistency in their Premiership form.

As for Aston Villa, erratic results so far this season makes it hard to predict if they can pull off an UEFA Cup place. I actually think they are playing better this season than last year, although the results don't always show it. Solano's been a good signing although his temper seems to be a worry on occasion. I do think the glory years of Villa in the mid to late 1990s are well in the past. I remember fondly the team that could dream of challenging Man Utd for the title, and which spent some time at the top of the table. With the current cash-tight club finances, Villa simply does not have the financial clout to get the star signings. Until it can do this, a top 4 finish will be nothing more than a pipe dream.

Which brings me to musing about what makes winning teams. Chelsea is running away with the title and it's a team full of expensive signings. The second and third placed teams are bursting at the brim with internationals and stars. Is it possible to win the Premiership with a combination of decent talent, good coaching and disciplined hard work? I think not, anymore. Neither is it enough to have one blindingly bright spark. Collective individual flair will make the difference in a game otherwise characterised by hard hustling and busy bustling. Winning teams are those with the skill to slow down and find space amidst the usually hectic pace of English football. And truth be told, only the present top 3 can truly lay claim to this distinction. Other teams, like Liverpool, may be lavishly talented, but unable to harness that talent within the context of an organic team. And Villa, the big club with a small club budget, can hold their heads up high that they are competitive with the big guns.

Score: Liberty 15 - Freedom 27

In the end, it was a convincing victory for Freedom, although Liberty was nipping at its heel for a while. Momentarily, it seemed that an upset was on the cards, but Freedom pulled ahead on the strength of a lengthy discussion of American ideals.

I am, referring of course to the Inaugural Address. The handy wordcount function in MS Word tells me that the entire speech had a total of 2086 words. 'Freedom' accounted for 27 of these, 'liberty' for another 15, while 'free' popped up 7 times (showing that a noun always sells better than an adjective; and, for this administration, a verb) and 'tyranny' had a decent showing of 5 appearances.

(Nb. The good folks at the The Daily Show with Jon Stewart were keeping score in an episode that aired way before this post so I can't claim any originality. Perhaps it goes to show that the speech lends itself to word-counting! I haven't seen that episode of the Daily Show yet, nor do I know if this segment will make it to the Global Edition, which is what we get to see on CNN here. In any case, our scores matched! And I had the same idea as the Daily Show team!!! My gosh ... wow, perhaps that writing career is not so out of the question after all, hehe.)

For a speech that mentions Freedom and Liberty so often, it doesn't exactly inspire any great hope for either ideals. The one-line precis is: "Do things my way or else". While many despaired for America after November 2nd, I think we now despair for the world. Even before the inaugural address, the world feared for what may come during this second term. What more now, when the war cry has been sounded? Who is the tyrant and where is the freedom?

On the merits of the speech itself, the White House hires very higly qualified people to write speeches for the President (at least, that's what The West Wing tells me), usually lawyer types that are armed with thesauri, dictionaries and copies of old speeches. All that brain power and they used 'Freedom' 27 times??? Sure, maybe they were going for 'reinforcement through repetition'. But 27 times? That seems to be more a case of 'running out of ideas'. It was aiming for 'inspirational' but landed somewhere closer to 'cliched'. The speech-writers may have consulted Civics text books more than they did the thesaurus. Actually, given that they repeated the same two words so many times, the thesaurus may not have come off the shelf at all (or be summoned on the word processor).

Maybe I shouldn't blame the speech writers. They were probably just working on instructions.

** "See, the idea is that I want to rule the world. I want to get those pesky rogue nations in line. Well, not all of them, just the ones with oil or something else my family business could use. Actually, come to think of it, just go for the whole world while you're at it. No harm having a few countries at the side. My cronies may need someplace to holiday when I am no longer here. And ... what's that you say? I can't just say I want to rule the world? Oh, okay, I guess you have a point. You know what, just tell them I am helping to liberate the world from tyranny. They bought it the first time, right? The election proved it; they gave me an overwhelming mandate, didn't they? Freedom, that's the word. You just have to use that, a lot. And Liberty, to mix it up a bit. Got that? Good. Bring it on!"

I did not actually hear the speech, only read the transcript. That was enough to make the bile rise. I could not have sat through watching and listening to him spout that arrogant, condescending message to the world. I can barely even see a photo of him in the papers or on webpages without instinctively flinching. I call it a "visceral cringe". I have read about others who have similar reactions. One person said that the sight of his face quickened her heartbeat and made the blood rush to her head, but in a BAD way! Another said that he may well be certifiably allergic to the man.

I sometimes wonder if I worry too much about a man who lives in a country so far away. How much does what he says affect my life? Perhaps not much, if we are looking at the direct, tangible aspects of getting about our daily lifes. But what of the rest of it, the things we don't see immediately or can't see or which are in the future? Chaos ascends (hey, first reference to this blog's title!!) and eventually influences everything. I worry because of this but I count myself lucky that I have less cause to worry than many people in many other countries.

** Imaginary monologue purely of my own invention. Any similarity to words actually spoken may or may not be entirely coincidental.

A Chocoholic's Rhetoric

I'm in a bit of a silly mode, so here goes:

Tribute to Chocolate

Sweet or bitter, dark or milky
Melt-in-the-mouth, smooth and silky,
Chocolate is the king of food
Plain or nutty, it's all good!

Praline, truffle, brownie, eclair,
The way to heaven lies right there,
Ice cream, cookie, cake and mousse
Chocolate is the type to choose!

Raising spirits, gladdening hearts,
Boosting sales in supermarts!
With chocolate, who would complain?
Even the economy stands to gain!

Apologies to anyone who may be allergic to chocolate. This was in no way meant to offend or rub anyone's noses in it. I just really like chocolate, and writing rhyming couplets is fun!

Blood Boiler

When scouring a few of my regular boards, I came across this. The US Presidential Coronation (oops, er ... Inauguration) seems to be becoming an ostentatious celebration of the elite and privileged.

Some figures that made the blood boil:

$40 million: Cost of Bush inaugural ball festivities, not counting security costs.

22 million: Number of children in regions devastated by the tsunami who could have received vaccinations and preventive health care with the amount of money spent on the inauguration.

1,160,000: Number of girls who could be sent to school for a year in Afghanistan with the amount of money lavished on the inauguration.

$17 million: Amount of money the White House is forcing the cash-strapped city of Washington, D.C., to pony up for inauguration security.

9: Percentage of D.C. residents who voted for Bush in 2004.

I find America fascinating, as a nation, as a society, as a political entity and as a people. I pepper my conversations with American pop culture references. I like milkshakes and meatloaf and cheese fries. I watch the NBA and the World Series. I read the New York Times online. More than half my Internet bookmarks are American sites. So pervasive are American cultural influences in my life, I sometimes think I understand America.

I was on a plane, enroute to LA, when the Coalition troops first invaded Iraq. In LA airport, large groups gathered in front of TV screens showing CNN's coverage. The lack of chatter in the transit lounge was surreal as people silently watched the images on the screens. I was relatively neutral then, my pacifist leanings tampered by a belief in the threat of WMDs. A number of Americans I spoke to over the next few days uniformly condemned the war. In the many months that followed, it became apparent that they had been right.

And so I watched Michael Moore and am reading Al Franken. I don't believe everything they tell me, but it has been revelatory. They have opened my eyes to the extent of spin that takes place in the media, and perhaps more shockingly, the extent of outright untruth-telling. It has taught me to read even the Singapore media with a more jaundiced eye.

Even with all the media spin, the facts were there: the cost of war, the absence of WMDs, the escalating violence. And yet, November 2nd and soon, January 20th.

I still watch American TV and movies, listen to American music, eat American food, follow American sports and read American publications. But after recent events, I must say I don't understand America after all.

Let's make a few Lists

After several years of writing formal reports and academic papers, one's writing style does tend to lose something in spontaneity and colour (and boy, can a sentence be any more lacking in spontaneity and colour than that one???).

So when I started this blog, I thought I could use it as a chance to write in a free-form manner and just have fun with words, phrases and turns of expression. I envisioned myself churning out great thought-provoking essays, written in an approachable and vivid style. Not aiming for a Pulitzer, exactly, but hoping to post writing that I could read again five years from now, without cringing.

I have realised, though, that it's hard work to churn out thought-provoking essays. Much easier to just note down salient points and dispense with the elaborate descriptions and analysis. Much less taxing on the vocabulary too. So as a gentle ease-in, I am going to test out that nifty bullet point icon in the post editor and make a few lists.

It's the start of the sporting year and with sports on my mind, here's my list of

Sporting Personalities that I Admire

• Michelle Kwan (Figure Skating): graceful in the rink, gracious outside of it.
• Michael Schumacher (Motor Racing): not enough superlatives to describe his driving, but above all, he is to be admired for his generosity towards the tsunami victims.
• Stefan Edberg (Tennis): a gentleman when being an gentleman was becoming unfashionable and pretty darned good to watch on a grass court.
• Steffi Graf (Tennis): maybe I have a thing for people named "Stef"? A great and gracious champion.
• Alexander Popov (Swimming): an inspiring rise-above-adversity story, the best smile in the business and a technique that made sprint swimming look elegant.
• Hicham El Gerrouj (Athletics): an amazing story of fulfillment postponed and finally attained. I cried when he finally won his two Olympic gold medals.
• Michael Jordan (Basketball): the best there ever will be? An artist in an aggressive sport, a consummate businessman, a charismatic spokesperson. Who's going to rise above this?
• Michael Johnson (Athletics): time stopped in my room when he clocked that 19.32 seconds.
• Steve Waugh (Cricket): "enough bottle for a milk float"; an athlete whose sporting life seems written by Homer; epic, heroic and triumphant. And a humanitarian, author and photographer to boot.
• Han Jian (Badminton): gifted AND disciplined, not a common combination!
• Roberto Baggio (Soccer): touched by genius. A career that perhaps only an Italian can have; from heroism to villainy to redemption to rejection to respect, and all the while wholly adored.

To balance out the sheer jock-quotient of the first list, here's something in a more "cultured" vein:

Sights in London that took my breath away

• Westminster Abbey: Seeing this the first time, bathed in the bright sunshine of a summer evening, was like having all the air sucked out of me. Just awe-inspiring.
• The West End Theatre district: It was just such a thrill to see the names of famous plays and musicals (and people!) up in the marquees.
• London Tower Bridge: An engineering and architectural wonder. A highlight was standing right on the spot of the "gap" where the bridge parts to allow ships through.
• The Leonardo da Vinci cartoon of Jesus, Mary and St Anne in the National Gallery: The darkened room and the hushed atmosphere were appropriate; it seemed almost a spiritual experience to see this.
• The Egyptian displays in the British Museum: Cleopatra's mummy was only the start of it. It was truly mind-boggling to wander into room after room of these artifacts.
• The musical instruments collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum: So, so beautiful.
• The Monet painting of Waterlilies and the Van Gogh still-life of the Chair in the National Gallery: They were in the same room (which was amongst the most crowded in the entire gallery) and placed amongst many other paintings, but just seemed to have a vibrancy of their own., which really caught the eye and held it. Prints really do not do justice to great art.

And finally, something completely different, drawing on my embarrassing enjoyment of reality television shows.

Favourite Seasons of Reality TV Shows

• The Amazing Race Season 1: Kevin and Drew, Rob and Brennan, Frank and Margarita. They really don't cast them like that anymore (Current season Jonathan and Victoria? Are you freaking kidding me?)
• The Apprentice Season 1: Such great television; smart alecs, delusional bitches, pathological liars, jealous egotists, ambitious brown-nosers and The Hair!! It was also very cleverly edited and the theme song was as catchy as anything on MTV last year.
• The Amazing Race Season 3: Flo being on the winning team was a big downer, but this was the season with Ken and Gerrard, my all time favourite TAR team. And they came to both Singapore and Malaysia, so that compensates for one Flo meltdown.
• America's Next Top Model Season 1: A fast-paced, action-packed show about MODELS! Who would have thought? Girl for girl, this cast was more interesting than Season 2.Elyse was a brilliant casting find and Adrienne had a heartwarming tomboy to top model story arc. And hate her all you want, but Robyn was a better show-villain than Camille.
• Survivor Amazon: Again, good season let down by a less than desirable winner. Up till the point that Jenna won immunity at Final 3, it was all good, with Rob Castriano redefining Survivor fanboydom.
• American Idol Season 2: In retrospect, the best collection of talent in the 3 seasons. It introduced me to the voice of Clay Aiken, if nothing else, which makes up for the predictability of Simon's manipulation, Paula's incoherence and Randy's "yo, dawg" routine. And they performed really enjoyable medleys every week (the 60's medley on the Final 5 results show is still one of the best moments in AI's 3 seasons) - what happened to these in Season 3?
• America's Next Top Model Season 2: A worthy sophomore season, although too many of the finalists were not too memorable (Sarah, anyone?). Points deducted for that episode which was a glorified commercial for Tyra's music video, but points added back for Janice Dickinson's very funny bitchiness.
• Survivor Pulau Tiga: I liked Richard Hatch, though he was something of an a**hole. He was just so gloriously self aware that it was hard to completely dislike him (notwithstanding subsequent events in All Star Survival). The final tribal council set a benchmark for seasons to follow and many have tried to resurrect the glory of "snakes and rats" but most without success.
• The Amazing Race Season 5: Chip and Kim won!! Not since Season 1 had I been so happy about the winners. The stunt casting of Charla detracted from the season, and Colin's intensity was hard to take (but looking at Jonathan this season? Come back, Colin.) but the whole season was genuinely entertaining.
• Survivor Pearl Island: Rupert eventually wore out his welcome, Johny Fairplay was frankly odious and the self-righteous brow-beating of Lil and her scout's uniform was just ridiculous. But it was a season which reinvented itself with a few fresh ideas. And Sandra winning is fine by me.

Looks like no room for The Bachelor, Temptation Island, Joe Millionaire and shows of that ilk. If I ever get around to those thought-provoking essays, I will do a full on rant about a viewing audience that preferred The Bachelor to TAR. What is the world coming to?

Early to bed, early to rise

Went to bed at around 5.00 am yesterday morning and was up before 8.00 am. Technically, this qualifies as "Early to Bed, Early to Rise". Those wise people from days of yore and their pithy phrases that apply even to our modern sleeping habits!

Took a couple of online tests earlier at blogthings to recover from the hectic whirl of morning activities. What age do I act? 27, according to the sage Internet engine. I can live with that, it's close enough to my current age (oh, note the coyness in not revealing what this might be!). The second test tells me I have Linguistic Intelligence; which is not unexpected. Hmmm, how would this have tested on Albert Einstein or Newton? Might be worthwhile to manipulate my answers and see the outcome.

Some earlier test I took at tickle.com told me that "if you were a dog, you would be a Bernese Mountain dog". To synthesise, I am a 27-year-old Bernese Mountain dog with a thirst for expanding my vocabulary!

First Post!

Well, this is momentous. My first post in my first ever blog. For such an Internet junky, I have taken quite a while to acquire a blog; I think it must be my aversion to revealing my thoughts in a public sphere. Just as well I don't actually expect anyone to read this, except those to whom I choose to tell the URL.

Random musings over the weekend (a sport related motif):

Michelle Kwan won her 9th US Nationals title. Whew! That was a relief. Everytime I have followed her competition progress closely, she has let the title slip; Olympics 98, 02 and Worlds last year. I was tempted by silly superstition (hehe, 'when you believe in things that you don't understand') to keep off the skating boards. My resolve did not last long, and I was refreshing MKF like mad. It's a good thing MK won, or I would be berating myself for jinxing her.

Glad to see Singapore's football fever returning with a vengeance. I was on the train and saw many people in red getting off at Kallang station. I was actually in a red top myself, but (a) did not get off at Kallang station; and (b) do not actually support the Lions because of that small matter of actually being a Malaysian citizen. I was glad the Lions won though, because (a) they played well enough to deserve it; and (b) those darned Indonesians denied me a Malaysia vs Singapore final!! Honestly, though, I was rooting for the Lions to win just on the strength of wanting to see Singaporeans cheer for their local boys. There is something irreplaceable about nationalistic fervour. I was pretty delirious when Villa won the FA Cup back in the 90's and when Liverpool did the 5-trophy season, but that was nothing compared to the delirium of Malaysia's rare Thomas Cup victory so many years back.

Talking about Liverpool, they managed to lose again. And to Man Utd, to rub salt into the wound. Morientes seems promising, so there may be hope for better things next season. This season? I am about ready to call the title for Chelsea and read a few books on Saturday nights. Sigh, if only it was still Ranieri managing Chelsea, I would actually be rather pleased. Mourinho, though, just needs to really shut the hell up. I can see that the man is really good at what he does, and that much of what he has accomplished is most admirable, but could he be any more smug and cocky and just down right full of himself??

South Africa just lost the 4th Test to England. Seems like it was a disappointing batting performance, after England had a rather good go at it in the morning session. My newest favourite cricket player, Jacques Kallis, had one of his off-days. He's had so many really good ones this year, I suppose he's allowed to have a few off ones now and then. Well, that at least sets up the 5th Test nicely.

And for the record, my former favourite cricket player? Stephen R Waugh. What a career! For years, I followed his career, which began its ascendance just as I started to love cricket. With his retirement, I could stop caring about whether Australia won or lost; and just hope for good cricket whoever plays.

On some things non-sport related:

Things I have discovered that work stress will cause you to have:
a) IBS
b) hunger pangs
c) trouble sleeping
d) very odd dreams
e) perpetual muscle aches in the thighs

Plans I have for this blog:
a) upload my photos from my travels last year
b) to actually finish my travel journal and post it online (wishfulness quotient is high on this one!)
c) rant and rave about random issues
d) attempt not to be so long winded (*cough, cough, choke)

Links by Topic

Television and Entertainment

All things television

American Idol, Circus Master: Nigel Lythgoe

Singapore Idol: Ken and Dick's Excellent Adventure

Live the Dream: Ken and Dick's Reunion Show

Entertainment: Reality TV, Talent Shows, Award Shows etc

Pageants: A thing of beauty is a joy for 2 hours

Survivor: Starving for fame



This Sporting Life

All things sporting

Football, the beatiful game

Liverpool: Anguish, Anxiety and Occasional Optimism

World Cup 2006: Rhapsodies in Blue



My Mind is Like a Yard Sale

Memes, Personality Tests and other Ego-massaging Endeavours

Musings, rants and general incoherence

Ponderings of a topical nature: Opinions on current events

Things I did, things that happened

Pictures and other random graphics

Links to Posts

Being Updated - Jan, Feb completed

January 2005

First Post
Early to bed, early to rise
Let's make a few Lists
Blood Boiler
A Chocoholic's Rhetoric
Score: Liberty 15 - Freedom 27
Getting Used to the Losing End
A Truly LONG Weekend
Phobias and Inner Demons

February 2005

Chaos, Culture and Communism
Mentally Maiming Mourinho's Mug
Reformed or Re-formed?
Intervention Needed !!!
So many books, so little time
Another Night of Mixed Soccer Fortunes
Drama at the Death
Roosting Close to Home?
Blogging on Blehdom
Gratuitous Ratings Grabbing
Quad No More
Playing Punter
Playing Punter: The Result Show