Clint Dempsey. I don’t own the rights to this photo, and I’m not making any money on it.

Part of the weakness of the U.S. Men’s National Team is the lack of a true finisher. Clint Dempsey finished a 34-second goal against Ghana that was nice, but he’s not like the finishers who given half a chance bury it in the net.

Cristiano Ronaldo is a great finisher, but he was injured, so he played poorly. Luis Suarez is deadly as a striker; too bad he likes to bite opponents. Wesley Sneijder took a back-header bouncing ball and rocketed it low into the net to sink Mexico’s hopes for their first-ever World Cup.

Impossible to stop, Sneijder’s goal was part of Holland overturning a 1-goal deficit to win. I don’t own the rights to this photo, and I’m not making any money on it.

As the name suggests, a finisher…

Getting that red inked number on my card was a talking point at home. My father, who was trained as an accountant, did not waste time to needle me no end. He even enumerated my deficiencies beginning with a-1 to a-10. (Get it! A-counting) 😀

To raise a notch for my English proficiency, I turned on to my most dependable ally: Webster. I had the thickest dictionary during that time, even dwarfing my mother’s old Bible. The anagram games in the sixth grade introduced me to the habit that continuing it became a routine.

I chose ten words daily, using them in simple sentences while reciting them loudly in front of the mirror. Of course, my difficulty differentiating between Ps and Fs in pronunciation gave me countless times of laughing at myself.

One time, I had this idea of getting back at my father for his earlier tirades. More confident…

Left Manchester on the 13.55 Emirates flight to Dubai with a 3 hour stopover before a 6 hour flight to Bangkok. Usually enjoy flying, but with a serious case of man flu the trip was a bit of a nightmare with zero sleep on all legs of the journey.

I’ve connected through Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi international airport many times but never had reason to stay overnight in the city. As I couldn’t make my connection to Laos in time it left me with a night free in a central hotel to explore and a chance to catch the Liverpool/Chelsea game. What little I saw and experienced of Bangkok has certainly whetted my appetite to spend more time here, has a great vibe about it, so different to other places in Asia I visit.

Being a girl in the world. This is a controversial topic, so I just want to let you know that I am not here to attack any country’s politics, culture or others.
I’ve always been a strong advocate on women rights. No, I don’t hate men or anything like that, that is absurd. I just want the same rights for both sexes (and yes for good and for bad as well!). We are different psychologically and physically, but we all deserve to be treated equal. However, there are still situations happening to women that need to be addressed and stopped, and they aren’t, unfortunately.

I watched a documentary called “It’s a girl“. For those of you who don’t know it, this a documentary about what it means to be a girl in men-oriented cultures like India and China (in some parts of these countries). So what is it like?…

American Beauty is a movie I like, very much.

It was written by Alan Ball, who later created one of my favorite TV shows, Six Feet Under (which I referenced in this post).

Have you ever had the experience of really liking something, but someone you love and respect feels very differently about it?

My boyfriend Michael dislikes American Beauty.

Somehow, that doesn’t matter.   But I do find our very different judgments imponderable, since I am so very fond of that film.

I thought of that movie yesterday morning, when I saw this, on my way to work.

Here’s the scene I remembered:

(clip at YouTube here)

 It was one of those days when it’s a minute away from snowing and there’s this electricity in the air, you can almost hear it. Right? And this bag was just dancing with me. Like a little kid begging…