Kittens

Sick and tired, and hearing conflicting advice from people I do consider friends. I have kittens now though, yay. Haven't studied for my exam, whoop-dee-doo!

Comic Relief #253 - 254

Introducing the new minah, Nina...

Comic Relief #246-252

And introducing Jilyn, the racist flower-girl!

And Jilyn's side-kick, Fel!

Early Morning

Some folk who frequent this space have a tendency to look too deeply into things. When you look hard enough and want to find something, you'll find it anywhere. This is just something I wrote on a whim, not sure if it means anything at all. Don't overanalyse. Probably too emo for my taste, but it sort of wrote itself.

Do you think it's fair that everything seems to be uneven?
To let me live this way seems so cruel sometimes.
Don't you think I care about things enough to want to know more?
Enough to want to say everything I want to say.

Do you think it's only a foolish dream?
The laughter and the smiles that everyone has seems so different.
Don't you think it's lonely watching and listening?
Counting down the miles and listening to the radio.

Do you think it'll ever happen like others have said?
Be the way I see and the way I've always seen.
Don't you think it's never going to happen, like you said?
The way it needs to be seems like the way it should be.

Do you think that dreaming means anything?
Is all that I can do to keep myself from cracking everyday.
Don't you think that trying is even worth the effort?
Is what I want from you more than what should be?

Don't you think that sunsets like the one while you slept
Are the highlights of the sky but pale beside you.
Do you think that I've yet thought of how it could work?
Learnt to say goodbye and dreaded when I have to.

Do you think that I'm naught but a stupid prankster?
But another worn-out joke and nothing else?
Don't you think that I aught to be more honest?
To mend the thing that's broke the only way I know how.

Do you think that roses can be brought onto airplanes?
Hide a story in their scent because they remind me of so much
Don't you think we're closest and closer than anyone else?
When you finally relent and let me in.

Do you think it's easy for me being this way?
To watch you when you frown and mope and sulk.
Don't you think it hurts me just to try and pretend?
That I can't help when you're down and you don't seem to care.

Do you think and ponder about me at all?
If the chance is there to take would you?
Don't you think and wonder if things were different?
If a better choice it'd make and if the risk is worth it?

Comic Relief

Well, Blogger is being a bitch again, so I think I will limit any future additions to Comic Relief to Facebook. You guys can either add me and take a look at the albums or simply become a fan of the page titled "Comic Relief - Everyone's Favourite True-Story Stick Figures".

...at least until this little problem clears up.

You Just Got Owened

So everyone is like OMGWTFBBQ at Manchester United signing Liverpool legend Michael Owen. The move has been met with general disdain in every corner, both from the die-hard United faithful and the angered Kop fans. Neutrals are either being neutral about it or pessimistically cynical, as people tend to be towards Man Utd.

At first glance, signing Antonio Valencia and Michael Owen to replace the loss of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez seems feeble, at best. It's like, what, taking off a 30-million pound international striker and thrusting a raw 17 year old rookie when your side is down in a big game. Oh right...

Even with Owen and Valencia in the books at Old Trafford, will it really hamper the team? Last season, Ronaldo wasn't nearly as amazingly talismanic as he was in the season before. Save the game against Arsenal in the Champions' League, one might argue that United might have performed just as well without him, or even a lesser (and perhaps more traditional) winger. In the striking department, people need to realise that Dimitar Berbatov is NOT a targetman like Adebayor or Drogba. At Spurs, he played best when he played BEHIND a true striker. The hole. With Ronaldo's departure, Rooney has voiced his hope that he be alloted a more traditional striking position. With Rooney upfront and Berbatov supporting him, his clever play linking the creative and industrious Man Utd midfield to Rooney's work rate and predatory instincts, you could see how it would work much better than it did last term, with Rooney wide left and Berbatov isolated.

Alternatively, you could look at Michael Owen and call him the better version of Defoe or Robbie Keane at Spurs (pre and post Anfield).

"Oh, but Owen will get injured every week!"

Well, that's what people said about Ryan Giggs when he first started and blew people away. Unlike Berger, Smicer, Redknapp and a few others, Giggs has proven that with a combination of intelligent use by the manager, a top-notch medical team and personal professionalism, injuries did not become a problem for him in his later years at United. Hargreaves aside, of course.

I also question the 'Pool fans who seem to be outraged by the "traitor" Michael Owen. Didn't you guys sign Paul Ince, and make moves for Gabriel Henize, and supposedly Carlos Tevez? You're also telling me you wouldn't want Vidic, Ferdinand, Rooney or even Macheda?

Macheda might be someone concerned about Owen's arrival though. Him and Welbeck had a genuinely impressive season last time round, as did the likes of the Da Silva twins, Gibson, Evans, Foster and the now-on-loan Rodrigo Possebon. Hopefully he won't suffer with less playing time.

Another criticism of this signing is that Man Utd have not gone out and bought a big-name, top-quality star striker. Firstly, let's look at Owen. He's ranked number 4 in the all-time scoring records for England, and is in fact the only player in the top ten still playing today. He's just ten shy of becoming the all-time top-scorer. Alternatives?

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the lanky and beaky Swede, is a class act but he's proven time and time again that he chokes and simply does not perform in the big stage. At a club like Man Utd, such is unacceptable. And at 90 million, it's a tad overpriced anyway. David Villa wants to stay in Spain, so he's probably off to join the Galacticos or the Catalans if Eto'o goes to Manchester. City. Ruud van Nistelrooy? Andrei Shevchenko? Adebayor? Not really. Luis Fabiano falls in the Diego Forlan cetagory for me. Alexandre Pato is a personal favorite, but Milan are unlikely to let go of him after also already losing Kaka, Beckham, Maldini and the aforementioned Ukranian double flop.

Being able to sign Sergio Aguero, the son-in-law of God, or orchestrating the return of one Giuseppe Rossi would be something to cheer for indeed. Or even landing the hugely impressive Marcus Berg, who lit up the recent U21 Tournament. Ribery seems a lost cause anyway.

As a Manchester United fan, I do look at Owen's signing with skepticism, though I implore everyone else to stop with the negativity until it is warranted. Remember Henrik Larsson and Teddy Sheringham. Who knows, maybe Michael Owen can do something at United he was never able to at Anfield - win the league, something that escapes his best buddy Steven Gerrard to this day.

The Edge

"If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room."

I repeated that kind of funny and sometimes true line to a good friend of mine recently, and he has been spouting it ever since. It's amusing, of course, especially since he is genuinely one of the funniest people I have had the priveledge of knowing. Still...

The past few weeks have been tumultuous (whoa, first time I've used that word) for me. People around me having a generally rough time in many corners, not to mention me having to lose several components of my facial hair due to regimental restrictions. Thankfully, the shorn fuzz is well on its way to recovery, but I don't know if the same can be said about everything else.

It's not nice hearing someone cry over the phone, even if you're (hopefully) not the root of the despondency or frustration. It's frustrating to watch someone's hopes get raised and dashed in a span of days or hours, knowing that perhaps the chance has passed. Heartwrenching to listen to someone you cherish speak about the shortcomings of others, the void that you know you can fill, but not being able to because...

Because. Because it's a risk that apparently can't be taken, to risk what is already there.

In recent weeks I've gotten a few things I didn't expect to receive. Flowers and brownies, hugs and CDs, thoughts and memories. Someone told me recently to stop looking for that thing that I want so, but I don't know if I can really help it. Especially today, and after last night or yesterday.

Sometimes I feel like taking the risks that seem too great, making the leaps that seem too dangerous. Other times I just sit and watch, silent and wishing I had more courage, more time, or that things had simply been different so that it wouldn't be a risk at all.