Roma get's SMASHED!

Did I pick a match to not watch!?!

Last night, while I was sleeping instead of staying up and watchin, Manchester United decimated AS Roma by - get this - 7:1 !!! That's right. Seven goals were scored against AS Roma at Old Trafford, the venue of the second leg of the Champions League quarter finals.

In the first leg, as you might remember, we lost 2:1 when we went to Rome. The second game at home would have to be a must win for us if we had to go to the quarter finals. Immediately after this game, we lost a premier league match to cap a disappointing week.

And then yesterday, we demolished AS Roma to breeze through into the semi finals, staying on track for the title. This was the highest margin of victory in the knock-out stages of the Champions League EVER and also Roma's biggets drubbing. If there was a way to demolish a side's confidence, this would be it!

Watch and enjoy!!! (It's great even if the commentary is in Spanish)



See all these great goals being ranked! Yeah, usually people rank goals for a season or a championship, but so many goals were scored, they had to do this...



The Red Devils are at it again!

PR it is

This morning, I went over the the Immigrations and Customs Authority (ICA) to apply for being a Permanent Resident (PR) of Singapore.

The rationale for doing is straightforward enough for you to wonder why I did not apply sooner. The only thing I can say to that is: I was testing the waters.

Currently I am here on an Employment Pass (EP) which is tied to my employer. If my employer decides to let me go (as it happens so often these days) or if I choose to leave for another opportunity, my EP stands cancelled and I have to leave the country, even if it is to come back in to get another EP stamped on my passport. Also, I don't get the Central Provident Fund (CPF) benefits that are enjoyed by Singapore citizens and PRs.

Now, as a PR, I am no longer dependant on my employment and can stay in Singapore even if I get fired or if I leave. I get CPF benefits and a few more privileges that I am yet to figure out. I know for a fact that part of my CPF contribution goes towards medical benefits.

A big advantage is that, as a PR, I can play at the local Marina Bay course for less than $100. As someone on an EP (and therefore a foriegner), I would have to pay $197 to play a round there. Since that would be way higher than if I play in Batam or in Malaysia, I continue to do so. But if and when I become a PR (subject to my application being accepted), I don't have to waste an entire day going out of the country to play golf. I can now get done in less than half a day and still be back at home to spend the rest of the time doing what should be done on weekends. Chill out.

We were sent on a wild goose chase by a friend who mentioned that we had to get birth certificates made from the Indian High Commission in order to submit the application. Rubbish. There is no such requirement. I used my original birth certificate and there's no problem with it.

When I landed up on the 5th floor of the ICA building (right outside the Laveder MRT) where the PR Services division is, the number of people waiting in the queue to collect the token number was more than the number of people who were waiting for an ICA agent to attend to them. After around 10 minutes of standing next to an extremely annoying Chinese lady (who for some reason could not stand still and kept bumping into me), I got my token number and was told that someone from counters 14 to 28 would help me. So many counters for this is a good sign...I won't have to wait long.

And I didn't have to wait long at all. A few minutes later, I was sitting at counter 20 showing my application form. I had carried multiple copies of all my certs and had the entire system quite well organized. So after a few checks, a few signatures and a few questions later, I had the acknowledgement from ICA and the assurance that my PR application would be processed in latest 3 months. That's fabulous.

So that's that. Now all I have to do is wait for the PR application to be accepted, processed and for me to get the letter asking me to get my passport stamped.

Then I am a permanent resident of Singapore.

Best 9 hole score ever

I had gone, alone this time, to the Palm Springs Golf Course in Batam to play. It was my first round in a few weeks, after the last time I played to 84. As the time between my rounds gets bigger and bigger, I think I have started to value each round and therefore each shot, knowing that another round is not coming around the corner very soon.

I was planning to play alone, but bumped into the guys who I played with the last time. And since they were only two, they asked me if I would like to join them. I was of course delighted.

We started on the 4th hole on the Island course. 4th and 5th are fairly easy par-4s. Despite putting my tee shots with the driver in the right side rough (I usually fade with the driver, was not sure what I was doing this time, but blamed it squarely on my not playing for a while), I hit decent approaches to the greens (missing both of them) and then a couple of chips to within a foot of the pin and then single putts for two consecutive pars.

On the 6th, which is a difficult tee shot if you have a problem with hooking your driver, I did just that. I hooked my drive into water and then hit my 4 iron to the far left of the green. My putt lipped out and I made a double bogey.

From then on, I parred 7th, 8th and 9th. I was next to the green in two on the par 5 8th, but messed up my putt for birdie and so just made par.

On to the Resort course, and I bogeyed the first four holes. A couple of them because of bad breaks and bad bounces, the others with miserable putting. I made all three of my 3-putts on these nine holes. I signed off on these 9 holes with a 7-over 43. Not bad considering the fact that I could have been three strokes better had my putts not lipped out. Imagine, I had 21 putts for these 9 holes alone!

So back to the Island course to finish the last three holes and I was determined to make the most of the remaining holes.

The 1st is a par 5 which has the fairway going around a small water body. There is a way to get to the green across this, but that needs a decent tee shot to the edge of the right fairway and then a tight approach to a green which you cannot see from there. So instead of teeing up with my driver, I hit a 3 iron to that exact edge of the fairway, had a great lie to hit my second, hit a clean 4 iron (which turned out to be one club too many because of the wind choosing to pick up around that time) to the right rough over the green.

Then came a marvelous chip, something I will remember for a long time. It landed exactly where I wanted it to and then took the slope of the green to turn right and tracked it's way toward the flag, stopping two feet from the pin. A single putt later, I had my birdie!

I parred the next couple of holes to make it a 1-over 37 for nine holes, my lowest ever 9 hole score! And with that, I shot 8 over for the round, my third lowest score ever! All this after playing irregular golf for the last couple of months!

The last three rounds have been a revelation to me. I have shot an 82, an 84 and not an 80. Not bad for someone who has not had too many rounds in the last couple of months.

The one story common across all the rounds is this: I have got a lot more consistent with my iron play. I am very rarely hitting a bad shot with the irons. The driver has been tricky, fading during some rounds and then hooking during the next. I think I have solved the problem with the driver during the last few holes of the last round, but that I will only be sure when I play next. Chipping has improved dramatically. My decision to try and see, in my mind's eye, the ball running before each chip shot has paid huge dividents since I have made better chips and saved a lot more pars in the last couple of round. The sore point that remains is my putting.

I have made 34, 33 and 36 putts in the last three rounds. I am having at least three holes per round where I end up three putting, for a lot of reasons. And most of the time I am doing it because I have no feel for the distance of the putt.

So I have decided to focus a lot more on my putting. I want to get it down to around 30 putts per round. I also want to work on my chipping to be able to get closer to the pin. These two places alone will work towards saving at least four to five shots a round. And if I do that a lot better, who's to say? I could even play under par in a few rounds.

I know I am getting ahead of myself, but I am just so kicked at playing so well despite the long breaks in between rounds. If I can play this well despite not playing often, imagine how well I can play if I was playing with a lot more focus, practice and regularity.

Just imagine!

Thank you, IRAS, for a wonderful job

You might remember that I came in to Singapore in August of 2005. When I came in, I realized that the taxation cycle in Singapore is as per the calendar year. And as per the rules, I did not complete the required more-than-6-months to get the regular taxation slabs applicable to me.

So I got taxed at non-resident rates with a flat 15% income tax charged to me.

This year, when I filed my income tax returns, I sent out an e-mail to taxqueries@iras.gov.sg appraising them of my situation (that I had paid higher tax because of lesser days in Singapore) and requesting them if it was possible, as I was filing my second tax returns - this time as a resident - here in Singapore, to get a refund of the additional tax paid during the last IT cycle.

What I was expecting as a response from IRAS was either them saying that it was not possible OR them telling me that I had to follow a certain procedure to claim the refund.

Imagine my surprise when I got a mail back from IRAS telling me that my case is noted and that the additional tax amount will be refunded to me! Just like that!

I was obviously thrilled that this was happening. Here again, I thought that IRAS would offset this amount with my tax this year and go about it's business. IRAS surprised me yet again!

They credited the additional amount in my bank account last week! Just like that!

No procedure, no forms, no nothing. Just a simple e-mail request and I got my tax refunded to my bank account! If that's not efficiency and non-red-tape behaviour, I don't know what is.

I am really impressed with you, IRAS. That was a great job done and you have given me another reason to like being in Singapore. You just made me like Singapore that much more. You just made me happy!

I never thought I would say this, but Cheers to you, IRAS!

French train goes really fast

TGV hitting 574.8 kmph setting the highest speed achieved by a rail based train.



You can see the sparks fly on top of the train where the contacts happen with the electricity cable powering the train. Pretty impressive!

Six books in two weeks

I just finished Ashok Banker's six part series on the 21st century's retelling of Ramayana, the great epic composition of India.

The story of Rama is split into six parts which detail his life from when he is sixteen to when he becomes thirty. It encompasses his triumphs at a lot of places, most notedly against Ravana, the evil lord of Lanka. The story starts with "Prince of Ayodhya", moves to "Siege of Mithila" where he finds his lady love, Sita, then to "Demons of Chitrakut" which has Rama going into exile with his wife and brother, on to "Armies of Hanuman" which is the movement towards Lanka, "Bridge of Rama" which talks about the building of the bride to cross to Lanka and then finally "King of Ayodhya" telling about his exploits and his victorious return to Ayodhaya.

It is an interesting series of books in the fact that they actually make Rama out to be a human with extraordinary discipline rather than a god reincarnate. That makes him a lot more endearing and his achievements more staggering.

It is a good series to read.

PS: Personally I was pleasantly surprised to note that I had read six books in two weeks, that too without devoting a lot of time to them. All the reading happened either on the bus or in the loo or late in the evening for a short while. And I was amazed that I read so fast.

A Pro, a Major and a Quadruple Bogey

I watched with shock as Lorena Ochoa quadruple bogeyed a regulation par 3 while she was three under par and only one stroke off the lead in the Kraft Nabisco, the LPGA's first major of the year.

Ochoa hit a 6 iron off the tee, which puts the hole roughly a hundred and seventy to hundred and eighty yards away, as she pulled her tee shot to the right. Though not the most benevalent of lies, but not the most horiffic, she hit an attrocious pitch which overshot the green and landed in what looked like really deep rough and an unplayable lie.

Then she did something not expected of a tour player, much less the LPGA player of the year last year. She whiffed her third shot!!! Whiffed it! The club slig neatly under the ball and the ball was still there!

Her next shot got the ball out of the rough, but rolled more than 30 feet from the pin leaving a really tricky putt for double bogey. And from there, she three putted!

So right then and there, on that one hole, she went from being one shot from the lead with a fighting chance to win her first major to being five shots behind going into the final round. And with the course playing to more than 74 for a regulation par 72, it would be really tough for Ochoa to get her first major title in this event.

Interesting thing was in the way she made tha game played by these high profile tour players look very much like the game some of us mere mortals play. I don't even remember the last time I whiffed my chip shot. Sure I three putt a lot, but that's because I play once in a few weeks. Not like these people who practice the whole day and then some. But mostly, I was amazed at the errant tee shot she hit which got her into all this trouble.

We've all hit that dasterdly shot at least once in a round. In my last round, I hooked two consecutive tee shots out of bounds and that was the only sore quadruple of my round. But for heavens sake, this is the Kraft Nabisco on the LPGA tour!

But then again, I guess it just goes to show that these people are still human.