www.Go To The Mountain - Musings of a Potential Guru

I told you that Fulham would lose 1-2 to Swansea, that Manchester United would beat WBA 2-0 and Everton would lose 1-2 to Chelsea for Game Week 20 but will anyone in his right mind predict a score of 7-3? It is difficult to predict a soccer match let alone ten matches and every week. Meantime, Sir Alex Ferguson escaped further punishment for harassing match officials. In the heat of the moment sometimes this things happened but if you step out of line you should face the music regardless. There is such a thing as leadership by example. Now for Game Week 21. The pace is relentless. WBA v Fulham - They made Man Utd hanged on to just a one goal lead before conceding another surrounding a three match unbeaten run. Fulham has not won in four matches even when they played at home. In their last five meetings Fulham won both home games 3-0 but never won away drawing twice and losing once and confirmed that Fulham are poor travellers. WBA are now on same points as Arsenal and Eve...

In the wink of an eye, a bat of the eyelid 2012 is drawing to a close but nothing is over until the fat lady sings. Then it is curtains. It has been a tough year in most parts of the world but in Singapore we are left rather unscathed economically or by the fury of nature. Whatever complaints we have are but just whimpers. We ought to be grateful. Singaporeans were reported to be emotionless, unhelpful and then among the world's most unhappy. Are we really all these? While such surveys and samples may not be accurate, there may be some truths in them so we should evaluate and reflect and of course they haven't met my friends and I. We are so full of different emotion, help you even when you don't need help or before you ask and are mostly happy and merry. Well, some of us are in the Merry time industry. Whatever it is, there is a thing called hope so do not despair. After every storm there is a calm. You could even catch a rainbow.  Do not worry unless there is an ...

This is the critical stage of the EPL where you separate the men from the boys. If you have a deep and balanced squad it helps more than just having deep pockets. This is where consistency is key and the ability, experience and determination to turn losses into victories. This is why Manchester United is leading the charts by seven points much as I hated it as I prefer more competition to make it more interesting but I will give credit where credit is due. If the Red Devils stay there and continue to do what they have done, they will win back the title. Sunderland v Tottenham - The Black Cats cast a spell on Man City and continued their revival with their second win in a row. Can they make it three with this home game? The last time Sunderland beat Tottenham was in April 2010 by 3-1. After that they have lost twice and drawn twice and had not beaten the Cockerels again. Among the Hokkien speaking punters locally Tottenham is also known as "tua tua hum" which sounded like...

Let the feasting begins..... Its not even Christmas yet but family has to come together. My wonderful sister brought us all to Kuishin Bo for lunch at Suntec City. It was close to Christmas so I believe there must have been some Peak Season Surcharge or in short PSS. Quite an interesting place for Japanese food. You can have your usual grab of tempura and soft shell crab. This was hard to resist. Felt like having half of them or all! By then I'll be all oil. We need more people with good heart. I only had these few slices actually. The maguro was good. Skinny dipping! The soup wasn't for me. I am not a fan of sweet tasting soup. Angus beef if you like. I do not know what you call it but its toppings were lobster. The Dragon Roll was yummy. I am a big fan of noodles, all kinds of noodles. The Chasoba (not char sio bak) was awesome. I maybe biased but it was really good. Then I struck gold and discovered salmon...

Due to inclement weather, the courses are closed until...xxxx. If it opens again and quite quickly well fine but after too long time has been wasted and your muscles become cold. You feel sleepy and lazy. In a thunderstorm, even if the course were opened the conditions are no longer the same. But as in any storm, a calm comes after a storm. Life is the same, get over the storm and a calm shall prevail. If golfers have one or two hours with nothing to do, it is like being between a rock and a hard place, the devil and the deep blue sea. Some sleepy, relax and lazy indulgence may be necessary. I used to tell people that in a   lifetime, you will need several different sets of skills as the world can be an unpredictable place, as unpredictable as the inclement weather this time of the year here. Whi le your original intention may be to golf but if the weather dictates otherwise, then why don't  we bring along our bowling balls and go indoors to bowl? Then a new ga...

While you are basking in glory after Singapore's AFF Suzuki Cup triumph, enjoying your parties with turkeys (not referring to people but real turkeys) and thereafter Boxing Day, spare a thought for these poor rich millionaire soccer professionals who have to toil for your enjoyment n the EPL. Everton v Wigan - Everton is giving the Goodison Park faithfuls lots of joy for tis the season to be jolly! Though Wigan did not get mauled by Arsenal losing by a penalty at home was painful. Not many people remembered that their Spanish manager Roberto Martinez was the one who started the beautiful game at Swansea before Brendan Rodgers and Michael Laudrup. Towards the end of last season they have beaten even all the big boys one by one. Everton could not claim to be conquerors of Wigan as they only had them beaten once in five attempts but did so well away to West Ham with that 2-1 win. Wigan is languishing again in relegation zone. Their next matches are away to Villa and home to Man U...

The world has not ended as I have told you. The couple of authors created a story to sell books? Did the Mayans said that? Maybe they just ran out of space or stones or faced with other crisis at the time they had no more time to make calendars? With the ongoing recession around the world many have stopped making calendars as well.  The Singapore soccer team is in Bangkok to face the mighty Thais after achieving a great result that surprised many 3-1. Singapore is well drilled, has a good height advantage for aerial bombardments and very good in set pieces. Raddy Avramovic has done very well having brought us three Asean titles and this could be his fourth and also the furthest in the third round of the World Cup.  The Thais are a good team and with a partisan home crowd will no doubt come at us for goals. Singapore must defend stoutly and play a very disciplined and tight game closing down space. The longer it drags without the Thais scoring, the greater the pressure and...

Deck the halls! Shopping centres are quickly doing what they do best - to sell you things. Decor for Christmas are up quickly after Deepavali and soon after the Lunar New Year stuff will follow. I am already seeing CNY stuffs selling during Christmas. With high rentals comes this obsession. Are we overdoing things and over running and over stretching ourselves? When I was young, there were only a few big shopping departmental stores - Robinsons at Raffles Place (and the famous Change Alley), Tangs and Metro at High Street. They had lucky dips for a dollar and children love it. Life was simple. In the midst of our modern world, people are increasingly knowing the price of everything but the value of none. We have giant snowman, rein deers, Santa Claus, snow and Christmas trees in full display. Unashamedly. There are even some displays of  a baby in the manger. It does add to the festive spirit and in a good year, you get your bonus around this time but do we just re...

Continued.....from Part 1: Well if you have started with shark's fins then you should end properly with bird's nest. We didn't do it at the restaurant but my friend recommended a stall outside which was equally good but much cheaper.  It was a great dessert indeed! Where can we find this back home? It was raining each evening/night. It shouldn't be at this time of the year in Bangkok. When we sat down for our bird's nest it was still drizzling. So I wanted a hot one. The quality was really quite good and it tasted heavenly. Would a second helping be too much? We wandered for awhile for this is Chinatown. Just look at the delicacies on display. It was bustling. Yaowarat. That's happening. We found our mojos. We have to go back to the office. Life is tough, the pace brutal. Yes the office. Thank you Aloysius!  The evening after a hard day's work..... Old and new friends from Asia United. From Japan, Vietnam, Taiwa...