Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Mirror Football Launches iPhone App!

Fresh from launching their brand new website, Mirrorfootball.co.uk has this week entered the mobile market with the launch of it’s new iPhone app. Now all football fans can benefit from their news and views from hard hitting columnists, including respected Arsenal fan and journalist John Cross.

The launch of the app, which will have a one-off price of £1.19, will bring the Mirror’s specialist, standalone football website to a new audience of iPhone users. Building on the success of the Mirrorfootball.co.uk website, the app allows users to personalise their homepage with a bookmark for their chosen Premier League club.

It will also offer extensive photo and video-led content, club-specific news and live match-trackers for up-to-the-minute results. As well as having instant access to a 24/7 news service and a wealth of exclusive daily opinion pieces from some of the best writers and names in the game, users will also be able to comment on articles, send them on to friends and publish to Twitter and Facebook.

Rick Gleave, Head of Interactive and Mobile, Trinity Mirror, said: “We’re really excited to be launching our Mirror Football App. It condenses Mirrorfootball.co.uk’s extensive content into what will work best for consumption on iPhone or iPod touch and it offers users a level of interactivity around video, social media, comments and wealth of content that competitors’ apps simply can’t match.”

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Super Bowl Betting

The Super Bowl XLIV may be a few weeks away, but that hasn’t stopped people from going nuts when it comes to precognitive Super Bowl betting action. One team that is getting some major love is the +800 Minnesota Vikings who have a first week bye, and perhaps one of the most balanced teams in the league. Ranking second in the league with 29.4 points per game, and 19th overall with 19.5 points allowed on average makes them heavy favorites. Of course, those of you that have undying faith will rally behind Brett Favre who has been a Super Bowl betting favorite in the playoffs many times.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

October skies...

Song of the day:
O.A.R.

"Shattered"



October is always the most interesting month for me.
October is a month when so many of my friends celebrate their respective birthdays.
October is never boring as I will always have the chance to have two separate big feasts.
October never fails to bring smiles and laughters to me.

October skies may not be the clearest nor the darkest.
October skies bring rain but not extreme sorrow and depression.
October skies cool down the heat on earth due to the heat from the sun.
October skies never fail to bring relaxation to me.

However, things change dramatically in 2009.

October fails to bring smiles and laughters to me.
Instead, extreme sorrow and depression engulfed my life.
October fails to bring excitement to my life.
Instead, it causes anxiety and nervousness in my soul.

What is wrong with October 2009?

Is it temptation?
They say temptation is an strong evil character.
Temptation pulls you away from reality and buries you deep into the ground.
They say temptation brings darkness into your life.
Temptation shields you away from positivity and pushes you into negativity.
They say temptation never fails to fail you.
Temptation blocks you away from miracles and welcomes you into the open arms of extreme misery.

What is temptation then?
Is it the opposite sex?
Is it lust?
Or is it love?

No no no idea.

I just wish to get out of temptation.
I just wish the temptation would go away from me.
I just wish to have good memories instead of temptation.
I just wish my wish is fulfilled.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Le Retour

Song of the day:
The Script
"Breakeven"

Like any other comeback, it is special in somewhere.

After a long exile from nowhere, kevlinefm is back on his own blog.

A big HAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPAAAAYYYYYYY NEW YEAR to all.

I've been pretty lazy of late to update my blogsite. Mercy!

I checked back my last entry and it dated back to October 2008, which was a blog about my birthday.

Well, in the next few months, not a lot has happened, BUT those months DID change my life a little.

I'm glad to be able to update my blog now as I thought it's about time to do all the crapping again.

Hehe.

++ Career Check ++

Did I ever mention on my blog that I'm currently working in Penerbitan Pelangi?

If no, I'm gonna say that again.

I've been working there since September 2008.

Work has been averagely okay. Nothing interesting, nothing major, nothing worth noting.

Repetition is the key word to describe this job.

Well, it's January now and that means I've worked as an editor for approximately 4 months plus.

To be honest, and I really mean it, working as an editor is just so frustrating.

Never ending projects, never ending deadlines to meet, never ending proofreading, editing, e-mailing etc.

It's a job for the unambitious; a job for the "I want stability FOREVER" people.

So, it'll be inevitable that I might aim for other things very very soon.

Options?

Option A: Further studies.

I've mentioned this a few months ago in my blog after I graduated.

And now it's 2009.

The story is that, I've intended to apply for a JPA scholarship for PhD studies in UTM.

"Intended", mind you.

But when I was about to send in my application, I've accepted a job offer from Penerbitan Pelangi.

Therefore, I've made my decision to work for a couple of months before reconsidering it.

NOW, the time has come for me to make this decision.

At the moment, I'm busy preparing documents for NTU NGPS scholarship and most likely be involved in electrical engineering again.


Taken from NTU's website for NPGS

There are also other options of location of study: UTM (my own turf), and oversea universities.

After all the "I wanna get out of engineering" claims by me right after I graduated, I think it'll be inevitable that I get back into my own "field" to further studies.

It isn't a rash decision after all.

My main purpose of furthering studies is to pursue a career as a lecturer.

9 to 5 office work is just not for me. What I am referring to is the private sector's 9 to 5 office work.

I just can't accept the fact that I've to work blindly for just some miserly small amount of money everyday.

I want to work for myself, the money and my future.

Myself - my own satisfaction, happiness. Something which I can obtain while working.

Money - Reasonable enough for my use and to support my life (and probably my family's if I ever have one)

Future - The existence of promotion.

My current job as an editor just can't provide me with those stuff.

Option B: Quit my current job and dive into other opportunities.

I'm also currently thinking of teaching tuition as my part time job.

Well, if I were to do that, I might not quit my current job right away.

BUT, I might also further studies on a part time basis, and teach tuition at the same time after quitting my job.

This is an option you know.

All in all, it very much depends on one thing: Study scholarship.

I'm still not sure whether I'll obtain the NPGS (NTU) scholarship or not.

And I'm also very keen to know whether the JPA scholarship thingy still exist or not (because the scholarship is attractive enough for me too).

There're too many "if"s now and I'll definitely provide updates on that.

++ Interest Check ++

Arsenal have had a terrible season, starting from don't know when till the Aston Villa game.

But to be honest, Arsenal fans are pretty frustrated with the team.

I'm frustrated with the team as well.

And to make things worse, a die-hard Arsenal fan friend of mine, Jamie, has been so frustrated with Arsenal that he now doesn't watch the Arsenal first team game very often.

It is THAT frustrating.

I always say one thing about Arsenal.


Arsene Wenger needs to give us, fans a reason to believe again.

"Give us a reason to believe again".

Arsenal fans really need a reason to believe in the team again.

And the winter transfer window proves to be the key to keep the faith in Arsenal.

Since last summer, Andrei Arshavin's name has been linked to Arsenal on and off.


Andrei Arshavin - Arsenal bound?

I've been an admirer of the Russian player from Zenit St Petersburg since his superb performance for Russia in the Euros.

And I always believe that Wenger wants him.

But how much will Wenger want him?

The cost has been a stumbling block ever since Zenit declared that they want 20 million for the midfield playmaker.

Anyway, fast forwarding to January 2009, the latest news are reporting that Arshavin's arrival at Arsenal is "imminent".

I for one will be very happy if that ever happens.

Just to sum things up at half way of the season, Arsenal's season have been hit hard by injuries, lousy refereeing, negative football and Wenger's lack of ruthlessness in the summer transfer market.

Injuries?

Walcott's nasty one during preparation for England; Fabregas' nasty one by Liverpool's Xabi Alonso (whom we were supposed to get in the summer); Rosicky's never ending visit to the hospital (what's wrong with him!) and some niggling "here and there" injuries.


The new Arsenal captain, Cesc Fabregas is injured for a few months

Lousy refereeing?

I don't want to comment on that.

Negative football?

We have just had one example last week when Bolton travelled to the Emirates Stadium. Imagine teams playing 10 men in the box, defending in "kamikaze" style just to get a point.

I think only yesterday Manchester United are starting to feel that way too while playing against Bolton. So, don't say Arsenal are moaning about negative football.

Negative football is... NEGATIVE and that's it!

Wenger's lack of ruthlessness in the summer transfer market?

He should've bought a defensive midfielder. That's the sentence that will be repeated over and over again, especially when we might not win a single title at the end of the season.

Xabi Alonso was available in the summer. If he spent that 15 m, we might have a lot of stability in the middle of the park. Even if Wenger doesn't wanna buy Alonso for that sort of money, there are also other options.

That's my half season report though.

++ Summary of 2008 ++

2008 has been a pretty good year for me.

If I were to pick the best year out of my four years in UTM (that is from 2004 to 2008), 2008 should be the best.

Why?

Firstly, it has a lot of emotional ups and downs, which has made the year interesting enough.

Secondly, I've finally achieved something which I think I couldn't possibly have done, that is to graduate from my course (which I totally have no interest in).

Thirdly, I've managed to find a job in a short period of time when I want to. However, whether I like the job is another question.

Here is the month by month summarised events in 2008:

1) January - The last semester of my entire 4 year course started, which also meant that the final part of my final year project started too.

2) February - Basically the same as in January.

3) March - Job hunting began for me as UTM had several career carnivals for students. I've a few offers from different companies but eventually I rejected them.

4) April - My final final examination in UTM. Testing times as I've to endure and live in piles of notes and books for the first and the last time throughout my whole university life.

5) May - Singing Vitamin C's "Graduation (Friends Forever)" while sighing at the same time about me not getting a job YET.

6) June - Holidays for me. Lazing around while surfing the net everyday, anticipating Arsene Wenger's first signing.

7) July - Holidays continued. After a long wait, Wenger's first signing has arrived and he was none other than the kid from Marseille, Samir "The New Zidane" Nasri. And also, Euros kicked off and I basically watched most of the games.

8) August - Convocation! I've attended the pre-convocation ceremony at my faculty and also the convocation ceremony. Took lotsa pictures with friends and family as well as my juniors. Very thankful to see them again. And also attended several interviews after convocation.


Me and Dy during UTM's Convocation ceremony

9) September - Eventually I started my "career" as an editor.

10) October - It's my birthday on the 19th of October! And that's the only highlight I could ever remember during this month, besides from my dad's birthday too.

11) November - My training trip to Bangi, which lasted about 4 weeks, starting from mid November. Love the office in Bangi. And the people. And the surroundings. Starting to feel annoyed about JB office.


The reception area in Bangi office of Pelangi Publishing Group

Not forgetting my first time experience of driving along highways. Now I feel the "velocity" in my blood. Hehe.

12) December - My company's annual dinner. I've managed to win a lucky draw prize which I think is pretty useless. Then, return to Bangi for the last 2 weeks of my training before getting back to JB office with heavy heart.


Kelvin with the arsenal on top of Penang Hill

Later in the month, I went to Penang for vacation during Xmas period. Visited a lot of places and took lots of pictures too. (I'll post pictures on my facebook soon too.)

Basically, that's my 2008.

I don't expect anything in 2009 though. But something gives me the feeling that 2009 is the turning point of my life.

Whether my life will be better or worse will surely be determined by the next step that I'm going to take. :)

Monday, October 20, 2008

How I spent my days (before and during my birthday)..

Song of the day:
Kanye West featuring T-Pain
"Good Life"


Don't get excited!

The way I spent my time this weekend is never gonna be interesting enough to make anyone feel excited.

BUT...

I think it is worth mentioning them on my own blog.

After all, it's my blog and I can do whatever I want on my blog, right? Haha..

So, on Friday (17th October 2008), after having OT (initials of the phrase overtime), I headed back home, had my dinner and then sit on my bed while watching TV and surfing online. 

Then, predictably, I fell asleep without even switching ma TV off.

I know I know, energy wastage, I know, stop reminding me!

I slept from 9 pm Friday night to 3 am Saturday (18th October 2008) morning, when I saw my TV showing an old drama during the 3 to 4 am slot (which I usually watch anyway due to my early sleeping time during weekdays) but this time, I couldn't be bothered to wake up and watch the show since the show wasn't as interesting as the previous one.

I continued to sleep until I woke up at roughly 11.45 am Saturday morning.

Once I woke up, I started chatting with Eng Xiang and Aifen (if I am not wrong) online.

Saturdays have always been boring for me and till now it's the same old thing.

I chatted the whole afternoon while watching an old traditional Chinese costume drama on NTV7.

And also, I took a bath and then went out to have my ocassional car ride at roughly 5.30 pm.

This time around, I took my car to Tmn Universiti, a place which I've not been visiting for quite some time due to my job commitments which usually leads me to town more than to my old varsity.

I also have other reasons for car riding around the Tmn Universiti area, which of course cannot be announced here.

Usually, I have my car ride with my MP3 player in full blast while listening to various songs, ranging from hip-hop to my favourite alternative rock.

While listening, I twisted and turned to look for the stuff I wanted to look for, but of course to no avail due to the number of houses in that area.

Well, after feeling satisfied, I headed back home to meet my parents for dinner.

After dinner, I started to facebook and found that Kin Lik was the first fella to send me a birthday wish. Thanks to him!

While doing that, WeeJie and me had a huge discussion about Arsenal.

Well, I was moaning throughout the discussion about Arsenal and he almost got fed up with me and changed our topic to something else.

Then, he sent me an interesting quiz/questionnaire thingy which is basically a personality test.

Click here to go to the personality test page.

And this was my result:

Paranoid: Very High
Schizoid: High
Schizotypal: Moderate
Antisocial: Moderate
Borderline: Moderate
Histrionic: Low
Narcissistic: High
Avoidant: High
Dependent: High
Obsessive-Compulsive: Moderate

Try it and understand what these terms mean and you'll be amazed.

Then came the big game after the un-anticipated international break, Arsenal vs Everton.

I didn't watch the game at the beginning but I livescore it.

As I've predicted, Arsenal went down 1-0 as usual, only after 9 minutes ffs!

I was damn angry but I was joking about it with WeeJie.

But at the beginning of the 2nd half, we equalised and I walked to my living room and switched on the TV to watch it.

van Persie scored the leading goal and then my beloved Walcott (I'm straight okay) scored the 3rd, which basically made my day.

"Such a simple goal which would have solved our problems earlier," I kept saying that.

After the game, my dad was the first family member to wish me happy birthday.

My other family members were either busy with their own stuff or sleeping.

I headed back to my computer and found that Eng Xiang sent a birthday message too. Thanks to him!

Midnight followed after that.

25 minutes after midnight, I received my first sms greeting.

Guess who was it from???

It was.... AMIRA! Haha...

I was soooooo happy that she was the first one to sms me.

Amira, thanks a lot for the sms greetings. Really really appreciate it. 

SMS birthday greetings have been one of the most important birthday greetings for me nowadays. 

Nothing beats SMS birthday greetings, especially those early ones when they reach you just minutes after midnight (of your birthday). 

In the past few years, I would receive quite a number of early SMS greetings during midnight but I anticipated now that they would be much fewer and that actually happened.

Nevertheless, I felt really happy to receive Amira's birthday greeting so early.

We exchanged a few SMSes before I shoo-ed her to go to bed.

I slept at 4 am and then woke up at roughly 11.30 am.

And to my surprise, I received 4 SMSes, each from Serena (Siangling), Tong, YiXian and Chek Ru.

If you can't remember who they were, Serena (Siangling) used to be my MSN buddy from KL, who's now studying in USM, Penang; Tong and YiXian were my godsisiters, whom I think are more like my friends (than godsisters) now; and Chek Ru used to be one of my old pals' girlfriend, who's still keeping in touch with me.

Also, as I usually leave my computer on overnight, I received a message from an old pal who's currently in Sabah.

Well, I wanna take this chance to talk about old pals and my views/opinions about them.

My definition of old pals would usually involve those who are very close to me, i.e. those who have studied with me in the same class or conducted activities during my Interact Club and Sea Scout days.

Nowadays, I don't really give much attention to any of my old pals due to several factors.

One is that they won't really give a damn about me since they've their own lives now.

Secondly, most of my so-called old pals are "supposed" to be better than me and thus they think I'm redundant.

I'm not saying all are like that but the feeling they gave me are like that.

Thirdly, they always give me that "can't be bothered about Kelvin" kinda attitude, especially when I try hard to keep the friendship going and stuff.

This attitude annoys me to the max and makes me think that the "friends forever" thing is actually crap to be honest.

Therefore, if any of my old pals are reading this, please, don't blame me for not joining any gathering because to be honest, some of you are very ignorant about stuff.

Moving on, I spent the rest of my afternoon chatting with Eng Xiang and Aifen again while ocassionally received SMSes from different people, i.e. my unit trust agent new friend, Yuki or Charis. Thanks to you too, Yuki!

I also received a lot of facebook birthday greetings, from people like Chee Wei, WeeJie, Gigi (an Arsenal fan friend from Hong Kong), Kugan, Zhe Yuan, Lih Kang and somemore la who I can't remember.

But nobody beats one friend who actually made a sacrifice for me during the afternoon.

She called me from Melbourne, Australia just to talk to me on the phone because of my birthday.

She's none other than.....*drumrolls pleaseeeeeeeee*

AIFEN!

Hehe. Just to refresh your memory, Aifen is a friend whom I got to know during a Golden Key UTM event known as Appraisal Night 2006.

We kept in touch after that night and chatted online numerous times even after she graduated shortly after the event.

We sometimes exchanged SMSes and also we chatted online whenever we have the chance to.

Common interests kept us together as friends and now even when she's in Australia, I'm glad that she doesn't forget about me la.

That's what I call true friends la.

No matter how far the distance is, communication shouldn't be a problem, but many of my old pals basically just give up on my friendship with them when distance comes into the fray.

Special thanks should be given to Aifen for the sacrifice, which also became the highlight of my day.

After all the excitements in the afternoon, came the traditional Lye family celebration.

It always starts off with a dinner thingy, where my cousin would usually be invited to join the dinner together with all our family members.

After dinner, we'll always have a "cake-cutting" ceremony. A short and simple one, and the main character would usually be the type of cake, not the birthday boy or girl. Haha.

Anyway, it has been a pretty simple 24th birthday but it wasn't a bad one.

However, I still haven't had my special birthday till now, the dream birthday that I've wished to have.

I'll blog on that one day la.

Till now, tata. (: