Band Of Brothers

I watched the HBO miniseries again last night on DVD. Somehow, I have always admired the men of Easy Company even when I read the book written by the late Stephen Edward Ambrose. To see the real men behind the characters of that miniseries, and what they had to say about their wartime experiences, have never failed to bring tears to my eyes. Mind you, one of them, Carwood Lipton, who was Easy Company’s First Sergeant promoted to Second Lieutenant after the skirmish at Foy, at Haguenau, where Easy Company saw its last action in WW2, had died in 2001.

Here’s the video of that part:

Er Ling Ling Ba Nian Er Yue Qi Ri

It’s the chinese new year and I whistled this song to myself at around 2pm just now. It’s a favourite from Jay Chou’s album called “Fantasy” so here is the music video.

fan huang de chuan lian huan can liu zai qiang shang
yi xi ke jian ji ge zi “suai suai ping an”
zai wo mei hui qu guo de lao jia mi gang
ye ye yong kai shu xie yi ge man

huang jin ge pa man le diao hua de men shuang
xi yang xie xie ying zai ban bo de zhuan qiang
pu zhe ju mu ban de wu nei hai mi man
lao lao dang nian nian de dou ban jiang

wo dui zhe hei bai zhao pian kai shi xiang xiang
ba he ma dang nian de mo yang
shuo zhe yi kou wu nong ruan yu de gu niang huan huan zou guo wai tan

xiao shi de jiu shi guang yi jiu si san
zai hui yi de lu shang shi jian bian hao man
lao jie fang xiao nong tang
shi shu yu na nian dai bai qiang hei wa de dan dan de you shang

xiao shi de jiu shi guang yi jiu si san
hui tou kan de pian duan you yi xie feng shuang
lao chang pan jiu pi xiang
zhuang man le ming xin pian de tie he li cang zhe yi pian mei gui hua ban

Year Of the Tikus

Rat!

Let’s welcome the Year of the Rat.

Don’t ask me what rats do or how they are supposed to be good for all of us. The first things that come across my mind when I think about rats are phrases like” “You look like a drowned rat”; “That guy is a rat”; “I don’t give a rat’s arse about that”, so on and so forth. So how can the year of the rat be any good?

How did this topic come about?

Well, it was after paying phone bills at the machine, and I was walking back to my car when I saw a rat trying to eat something on the drain cover. It looked at me while quickly munching just to see which direction I would take. Finally it dawned upon it that I was heading its way when it grabbed another grub and scooted away. Such a greedy critter.

Then I read the chinese zodiac signs. Being a Fire Horse, I am most incompatible with either Rat or Snake – unfortunately, I have had one of either signs in my life before. I don’t have to describe their characteristics to you, but just looking at the type of animals they are is enough for me to know why they are so unsuitable for me. Then again, you will to take these predictions with a pinch of salt, because a Fire Horse is most compatible with the Fire Sheep – and Honey is a Fire Sheep; and so is my first ex-wife. So how do you explain that?

Whatever it is, my outlook for this year – things are going to get more expensive as oil prices have reached peak high, and the government can no longer afford to give hugh fuel subsidies. So, dive rates are going to get higher, as evident in an announcement made earlier by a dive shop here in KL on pool dives and pool usage rates.

Maybe it’s time to invest in my own boat and compressor, and a diesel or NGV-powered 4WD so I can tow the boat anywhere to go diving.

Otherwise, I’ll have to take up new hobbies like killing rats and snakes.