it’s a nice evening in KL. The family and I decided to getaway for the weekend by running into the City 🙂 The Grand Hyatt has a great view of the Petronas Twin Towers.
I was just reminded by my LT that i was supposed to talk about why i hate RVP,
so here is
Arkay’s Gooner Life
<br /
Van Persie,
of all the the players who have left us Gooners over the years, he is the one i despise the most.
Not because he said we had no ambition (we do, but the Clubs ambition is a long term ambition no RVP’s short term vision) or any other reason but for the fact that out of the 8 seasons with us he only had a good 1.5 seasons, Wenger stood by him for all his injured years but when the tables turned and Wenger needed him… he left.
Clichy, Fabregas, Henry, Nasri, Adebayor, Song and Co all left, but they also served the club to their best ability before they left.
Cesc played 8 solid years for us before going home.
Song did’t want to leave.
Nasri was only with us for 2/3 years, so can’t really ask for loyalty there, but he did serve us well.
Henry was looking for a change and a bigger challenge.
Helb & Flamini also left for money we could not give them, but again, they were relatively new and served us well.
Clichy spent 8 seasons with us and gave us his all.
But I expected more of RVP,
He was our Captain, our Hero, our Flying Dutchman
the person we looked to to save us when the chips were down
A Gooner grown that should’ve become a Gunner Legend
The player who kissed the badge and told us he would never leave us
At Arsenal he only scored 96 goals for the club and 48 of them from the last 1.5 seasons, he’s average is a mere 12 goals a season.
8 years and only 96 goals.
96.
Let’s do a little math and extrapolate what could have (should have) been if he was fit.
A peak of about 30 goals last season. 18 goals from the half season of 2010-2011, so let’s give him 30 for that season as well, and for the seasons before an average of 18. that should have been about 168 goals in an Arsenal shirt.
But no, those goals were taken from Arsenal because of all his injuries and just when he gets properly fit he leaves. Now i know my calculations are all just speculative and hypothetical, but they are reasonable, no one can deny he has the quality.
Wenger, the Club & the Supporters stood by him for years, took care of him for years, protected him for years and he turned around and spat in their faces.
Well good for him, looks like he’s on to win the BPL with United and that’s all good and professional for him,
but i hate him because though it may be just Business for some football players,
i’ve been having a few off days, but coping with all the nonsense that’s been coming my way. Progress is happening.
So I’m back at Starbucks Monash with my mocha and my thoughts.
So let’s talk about life.
People change as life progresses, we hope for the better, but sometimes it’s for the worse. We change to adapt, to move forward and to survive. As much as i’ve adapted to Living with Fibromyalgia, i’ve been making one big fat mistake…
I’m holding myself to standards i set out when I was 18. Standards set after leaving school on quite the high: Head Prefect, the President’s Award, Great SPM results and acceptance into a UWC.
All during a time when i had no clue what Fibromyalgia was. And what it would eventually mean for me…
That was the Old Me, and I need to accept the fact that the Old Me is dead. I cannot expect myself to live up to standards of then, it’s just unrealistic and will do me more harm than good; physically, mentally & emotionally. I’m not saying that i’m going to stop dreaming, but i am definitely going to need to be less harsh and more patient with myself.
I need to accept
that it’ll take me longer to achieve my goals than it would be for a regular person
that my health is the undisputed #1 priority in my life
that my potential isn’t as great as it would have been when i was 18
but that doesn’t mean
that i wont reach my goals
that i can’t focus on other parts of my life
that I won’t do great things.
It just means that
I need to allocate resources better
I need Take care of myself
I need to look for different paths, ways and options.
The death of the Old Me by Fibromyalgia doesn’t mean in any way that my life is over,
At Starbucks Monash today with my Mocha next to me and a bright day in front of me (currently). Sleep wasn’t very good, only got 5 hours, so hopefully i don’t crash too soon.
Today I’m going to kick off my Gooner4Life section, starting with a little introduction as a Gooner.
I’ve been an Arsenal fan since 2000 but turned supporter in 2006 (i’ll explain the difference between fan & supporter another time). Before 2006 i never really watched football, or knew much about the team, i was just a fan, i wasn’t really into football. My true life as a Gooner started after i watched the Champions League Final between Arsenal & Barca and felt the heartache after, we should have won that. I starting watching Arsenal more regularly and by 2008 there were not many games i missed. I never had the pleasure of watching the Invincibles go through the season unbeaten, or if i did i didn’t really understand or appreciate it, or appreciate Bergkamp for the magician that he was and all the other good things from before my Gooner Life.
But what i can say now, is that I am a Gooner now and forever, i’ve suffered the heartaches of losing vital games and players but also see some great things in the last 6 years. I’m a supporter going though the trophy drought. I am a supporter who has seen key players leave every season. I’ve seen us throw away a Cup at the end and witnessed the physical breaking of some Gunners.
But also,
I’ve watched my Gunners beat Barca, Milan & Bayern at home, I watched the chemistry of the Rosicky, Flamini, Fabregas & Hleb midfield, i watched our comebacks against Chelsea and Spurs and time after time i’ve seen the team do brilliant things even though we haven’t had a stable, fixed squad over the years since we moved over to the Emirates; which is what i believe to be our main problem, not the lack of quality in our players, but the inability to retain a stable core of team for more than a season, which affects team chemistry and communication. I’ll go into this further in a future post.
Through all that, my support is right behind the club, Wenger, Hill-Wood & the Board. In Wenger I trust. They initiated a plan to take us to the next level, a 10 year plan that started with the move to the Emirates and will be completed when we pay off the remaining stadium debt of £250m . It is all short-term displeasure and we will get through it. We were a winning squad before but a small club, now we are a growing club without trophies after 2017 we will be one of the biggest Clubs Globally, with a Winning Squad, great leader, revenues that will enable us to pay players the inflated market wage and that’s when things will truly be stable again. Again, I’ll go into more detail in my next Gooner4Life post.
So, in wrapping up, I’m a Gooner, In Wenger I Trust, I’m here for the long-term, I believe i what the club, board and Wenger are doing for the Club and I don’t want someone (Oil money, billionaire) to buy us out and make the Club his/her new toy.
Good Morning guys,
Hope you’re morning has been good! I’ve got my Mocha next to me as I sit at my fav table at the Starbucks Monash.
I got hit by a Fibro Spike (sudden, out of the blue, ninja spike of my fibromyalgia symptoms etc) yesterday morning that really took the wind out of me for a big part of the morning, but i managed to eventually (2 hours later) get out of bed. This morning wasn’t as bad as yesterday, it was difficult but nothing like yesterday and took me 10 minutes to shake enough of it off to get out of bed, though today i experienced something that’s been MIA for a long time, waking up moderately disorientated with a hint of nausea on the side. As for now, things seem to be pretty good. Had a good ComBank tutorial and an even better Business Law tutorial, as of now BL is my fav class, the syllabus thus far (2 weeks) has been intriguing. It’s making me wonder whether i should actually be doing law. I know it’s only been 2 weeks, it’s just that fighting against injustice is something that appeals to me, i’m not a big fan of unfairness and if there’s something i can do about something i think is wrong, I’d like to act on it.
Which brings me to today’s main course, though it’s not all that filling.
Last week i published a post about my the Monash Parking Problem, and in doing that I’ve also launched a new category, initially to be called Monash & Co, but decided that Student Life would be more apt. It doesn’t limit my writing to just Monash, but allows me to collaborate with Down Memory Lane to bring write about previous student life in; CPU, UWC.
In this category will be the writings of a student about issues ranging from infrastructure, like the last week’s piece, to academics. Essentially anything to do with my current place of eduction; currently Monash University Sunway Campus. I feel that through writing i can Act, that i can create awareness and hopefully make a change or non-change. I will write about things that i feel can change or praise things that i think have been done right.
Now, just because last weeks post didn’t reflect Monash in the best of light does it mean that all future posts will follow suit. No.
I will praise and I will critique.
I will write the good, the bad & the ugly.
It will be based on my opinion of right and wrong.
I will strive to be as unbiased as I can,
I will do my homework,
but essentially,
I’ll write it as I see it.
Just a heads up, the next few posts will not present Monash in the best of light, but it is something that needs to be put out there, just need to do a little more homework.
Well, i think that’s about it.
Oh wait i forgot!
If you have something you would like me to look into and write about please let me know, and i’ll look into it and see whether i can put a post together.
it’s been a pretty good morning for me so far, got up bright and early (and by bright i mean that my fibro wasn’t much of a problem, fog was like 3/10, stiffness was 4/10, pain 2/10) and got on to my journaling during my Holy Hour followed by a very good jog. That was a little an hour ago.
Now I’m at my Current Fav Coffee Spot, Coffea Coffee accompanied by a fine looking , and tasting, Maestro Flat White, though i’ve now decided that i’m more in favour of the Madonna.
So today,
I’m going to take a look at the Henry David Thoreau quote that i came upon last week:
“What you get by achieving your goals is as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”
The minute i saw this quote i knew i had to write something about it. It’s something that so many of us (myself as well) forget to think about. Now we’ve all got goals and dreams, whether you know it or not.
Some work hard to chase them,
Some work smart,
Some work tirelessly,
Some work in spurts,
And most of us use many of the various combination that can be formed
then there are those who
Pray but don’t believe
Wish but don’t act
Dream but don’t plan
Which I am going to call the Wishful Thinker, not to be confused with The Optimist or The Dreamer. A Wishful Thinker is someone who wants things to happen, dream to come true without lifting a finger.
Now to the point at hand,
The many of us goal chasers will encounter challenges, defeat and pain along the way to the finish line, now something else to keep i mind as you fight to Make It (achieve your goals, get what you wanted, reach the finish line) is who you are changing along the way, are you being Built Up, in which you get rid of the Unwanted Fat (character traits or elements in your life that aren’t exactly good, positive, productive, encouraging etc) or are you being Taken Apart (in which you find that you are losing the best parts of what makes You). It is so important to keep an eye on this, it’s all good if you’re being Built Up, that’s the best way to Keep Moving Forward, but if you find that you’re being Taken Apart, well then something needs to be done.
Do you really want to Make It but then be:
somebody that you’re friends don’t know?
or worse,
someone that you’re inner circle does’t recognise?
or worst of all,
someone that doesn’t know you they’re looking in the mirror?
To have lost the person that made those very goals in the war you fought to get here?
Achievement and Success is all great but it’s who you are that’s most important,
not what you are,
not where you are,
not how much money you have,
nor the car you drive,
how big your house is,
or
how hot your spouse is.
The ultimate goal in life is to be Happy, Pay it Forward & Live –
in a way that is in line with who you are and not try to fit in to what is deemed “normal”. Not only does normal not really exist, it’s contradicting the very nature of Us, we are all different so stop trying to be like everyone else.
Embrace who you are and work from there, don’t lose the parts that make you You. Make sure that when you Make It, You are more than You were, not less.
Ensure that as you Live and move towards your goals, you’re being Built Up and not Taken Apart. It’s not as easy as it sounds but it’ll be worth it.
Hope i got my point across,
if you liked my post and/or writing please let me know by any or all of the following:
commenting below
rating it (the scale is at the top of the post)
sharing it with your friends on Facebook
sharing it with your followers on Twitter.
I’d appreciate any and all of it.
Thank you in advance!
#BacktoClass
A new academic year has started and as such I’m back here at my old writing spot at Starbucks Monash Sunway, it’s been at least 4 months since i last blogged from here. Today i am accompanied by Latte, 2 normals shots topped off by a decaf shot. Good to see that many of the faces from the last semester are still around behind the espresso machine.
Birthday Present!
Now, maybe you’ve noticed a new addition to the pic above and maybe you haven’t, for my recent 23rd birthday my A-Team got me a Logitech bluetooth enable keyboard for my iPad and today is the first time i’m really using it and i have to say, it’s pretty damn nice. Thanks guys. Not that i didn’t like typing on the iPad itself, it’s just that now i won’t lose touch with typing on my macbook, which was happening last year. the iPad on-screen keyboard is way more compact than the physical keyboards and i started having some trouble typing on a physical keyboard a few months after getting my iPad, so now that will not be happening, feels very close to typing on my MacBook Pro. Oh, and now that there is no keyboard on-screen, the entire Retina Display is dedicated to my writing, that’s probably my favourite thing.
Today’s Point
The current issue on mind was kicked off by the Sunway Monash Residence office and their communication failure 2 weeks ago.
I was at the SMR office to apply for the the Non-Resident SMR parking, and was told that they don’t do pre-bookings and that i would have to apply next month. I figured that to mean come on March 1st. i actually thought about applying there and then for February, and i pay for the current month, which would essentially be burning the 50 bucks for Feb, but since I was told that there was no pre-booking i figured that if i come early on the 1st there wouldn’t be any problems applying. However i would not be able to go on the first so i got help from my mum and a friend but that came to nothing as i was told a few days before the 1st, while i was in perth, that not only was the SMR Non-Resident parking lot full but that the waiting list was closed.
Now imagine my confusion,
how can there be a wait-list if there is no pre-booking the week before the beginning of the next month. I was confused and not pleased, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying my great perth holiday; which i will talk about at a later date. So, on the first day of this semester i went over to the SMR office to talk to them but that came to nothing, there was nothing they could do to help me out, even though it was one of them who misinformed and mislead me. All i kept hearing was, “the waiting list is closed” and found out that they were taking-in applications on the 25th of feb….
Wait a sec… let me see if my math and concept of space and time is right…
A week is 7 days, thus 7 days before the 1st of march is = 23rd of February… but wait, that can’t be right because i was told there was pre-booking and that no applications are taken in during the last week of a month,
so…
is the SMR Office using a different calendar system (in which the should be public about it) or is my basic concept of the calendar system at fault?
Dear SMR Office,i think you guys need to get your act together and be very clear on your Non-Resident Parking Application Policies & Procedures, something like the incredibly detailed set rules and regulations for the parking lot that’s on the application form, but for the Application Process. Hopefully this happens sometime soon, hey maybe i’ll go over and suggest it, so that students like myself aren’t let down in such a confusing & bitter manner.
Oh, and in the event that you do actually have formal procedures & policies for applying, why was i not provided with that information when i came to inquire 2 weeks ago, or better yet last year when i got the lot.
So what i learnt from all this and my couple visits to the SMR office is the customer service isn’t all that and that there are people there that just don’t know how to communicate and that you can’t trust what one person communicates entirely as it may not even be right.
Ok, so i didn’t get my nice parking spot, i’ll just revert to the normal parking right?
But wait,
Unfortunately the Monash University Student Car Park (SCP) fills up by 9am, on most days, and the median, mean and mode of my classes is 12pm. So this posed a problem on Tuesday when I arrived at Monash at 10am… which was solved by parking by the side of the road that also leads to the SMR Main Entrance, somewhere in the region of a 10 minute walk from campus, somewhere on the road next to the South Quay Lake.
And I wasn’t the only one who had to park there, there were at least another 40 cars there.
Yes i was irritated and angry that I was misinformed and that in order to get a space at the SCP i would need to be there by 8:45am but I will (and have) adjust(ed). My little parking problem alone isn’t a big deal but i’m not alone in this, there are many students who face problems with parking everyday and some to an extent where they are late for class (even though they came plenty early) or miss class, Monash University Sunway Campus needs to do something, maybe buy some land next to the SMR or near the South Quay lake and build a multi level car park with a proper weather proof student walkway to campus.
Unsustainable Growth
How can you keep enrolling more students when you do not adjust the parking capacity to support the growth? Once upon a time, from a year ago, it was possible to get parking between the hours of 9 & 10am, but by 9 it’s not at capacity but over-capacity and spilling out all over the place.
Just let me be clear,
I’m not whining about this. yes I was on a rant for some parts of this post (at the least haha) but like i said, i’ll adjust and deal with this current problem, i’ve had much bigger problems to deal with over the last year than that of this.
Silver Lining?
Well,
It will give me a bigger push to wake up bring & early to get my morning rituals done and be at the monash parking by 8:30am, it’s going to encourage me to plan for the week and stick with it and i’m going to save a little more money.
Parking a week will cost me now RM8, which is RM32 a month which is Rm18 saved. hahaha.
However,
I would really encourage Monash to help ease this major parking problem as it is their concern, it is a direct problem for their biggest stakeholders, the students! and i also hope that SMR will get their act together, their customer service could be much better and so could their communication & transparency.
arkaysthoughts 