I just watched the 2008 Olympics 400m Men's Relay on YouTube, and WOW. Just WOW. It was unbelievably INTENSE. Phelpsy got his 2nd gold medal, he just needs 6 more to surpass Mark Spitz's long-standing record.

I have finally succumbed to the hype and bought Twilight, the first book from the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer yesterday. I'm currently around 220 pages into the book and am liking it so far! It's a real page-turner, and don't get me started on Edward (the main male character). He absolutely dazzles me.

Yes, it is a vampire-themed young adult novel, and I normally prefer literature fictions, but surprisingly I found it a great read. I can't wait to finish Twilight and get the other 3 books in the Twilight Saga. I'm trying hard to resist the temptation of reading spoilers to find out how the story ends hehehe...

Yesterday, the world witnessed arguably the greatest tennis match in history between two of the greatest players of all time. After 4 hours 48 minutes (and that's without the rain delays), Rafael Nadal finally became the new Wimbledon champion, ending Roger Federer's 5-year reign as king of Wimbledon.

I'm really, really sad for Roger. He was thisclose to claiming his 6th consecutive Wimbledon title, which means that had he won, he would've broken the modern record of five in a row set by Bjorn Borg. But I'm still proud of him. He managed to make an extraordinary comeback from two sets down, saved two championship points and went on to win the 4th set tie-breaker, forcing Rafa into a decisive 5th set. What a nerve-wrecking game, a masterclass in tennis. While I'm sad for Roger, I have to give credit to Rafa for playing so well. Just like Roger himself said, "Rafa’s a deserving champion".

And the best thing about these great players is that they have mutual respect for each other. Rafa calls Roger "the best player in history", and Roger also has nothing but nice things to say about Rafa. I've always been a fan of Roger and I admire him even more now. He showed the fighting spirit of a true champion while looking cool, calm and collected at all times. He's gracious in victory and defeat, and because of that, he will always be the true champion in my book.

Rafa on Roger: “He is a great champion. His attitude always is positive when he loses, when he wins. Always accepts the victories and the losses with the same humility. I always have a lot of respect for him. I admire him a lot. At the same time I am very happy for me but sorry for him. Because he deserves this title too.”

Rafael Nadal v Roger Federer
6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-7 (8-10), 9-7
Rafa won. Roger didn't lose.

Roger and Rafa
Love Roger's cashmere cardigan! It's custom-designed by Nike and features gold "RF" on the chest.


Nike's custom-designed Wimbledon suit and bag for Roger
All-white blazer with RF crest logo on the chest along with a pair of matching warm-up trousers, a super preppy V-neck sweater vest and an ultra-lux white and gold leather tennis bag


Love the custom-designed white and gold leather tennis bag!


Cute shoes! ;)


The icons I made using images from the Jura ad
Hmmm... gorgeous ;)

YAY! It's their first major trophy in 44 years! I'm so happy for them!
I think it’s fair to say that the tournament's best team emerged victorious. The Spaniards definitely played a better football last night compared to the Germans. And Spain had a perfect record throughout the tournament: they didn't taste defeat (not even once) in the tournament, winning all of its matches and conceding only three goals in five games.

I'm hoping that Saint Iker (the dazzling Iker Casillas) will be chosen as MVP. He was the hero in the match against Croatia where he saved 2 penalties. Without a doubt he's the best goalkeeper in the world right now. As the commentator last night said, "He exudes confidence". Couldn't agree more with that! Check out my usericon, isn't he dreamy? =)

PS. I slept at 4.30 AM yesterday and woke up at 7:30 AM this morning. Surprisingly I'm not really sleepy right now but I'm sure the lack of sleep last night would start to take its toll on me after lunch...

At the risk of sounding like a teenybopper, I love LOVE LOVE David Cook! I used to be a fan of David Archuleta but over the past few weeks I've been rooting for DC to win AI this year. He's definitely very talented, very original, and very versatile. I (and apparently many people out there) think that he has more charisma and stage presence compared to DA. Not to mention the fact that he seems to be looking more and more gorgeous each week...

My favorite performances of his are "Always Be My Baby", "Music of the Night", and "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face". He did the studio version of the first two, but he did the studio version of "Don't Wanna Miss A Thing" instead of "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", which is quite a disappointment because his rendition of "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" was absolutely brilliant. Don't get me wrong, "Don't Wanna Miss A Thing" was great too, but I just like "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" better.

The studio version of "Music of the Night" and "Always Be My Baby" are equally fantastic. I even use "Always Be My Baby" as my ringtone! =)

As for who will be crowned the winner, well DA has a really beautiful voice (no doubt about that!), but he's only excellent when he sings ballads, and after a while, his singing style becomes tiring and (to steal Simon's catchphrase) predictable. If AI is a talent contest instead of a popularity contest, DC will win, hands down. Even Simon said that DC is the one who deserves to win because over the past 11 weeks, he has shown more versatility and originality compared to DA. But hey, as we all know, AI IS a popularity contest, and DA has the teen and granny votes, so I'm not gonna be surprised if he takes the title next week.

One thing for sure, it's gonna be a very interesting finale! Battle of the Davids!

Beautiful, beautiful lyrics. Definitely one of the most gorgeous songs ever written. And David Cook sang it brilliantly on AI this week.

Nighttime sharpens, heightens each sensation
Darkness stirs and wakes imagination
Silently the senses abandon their defenses

Slowly, gently, night unfurls its splendour
Grasp it, sense it, tremulous and tender
Turn your face away from the garish light of day
Turn your thoughts away from cold, unfeeling light
And listen to the music of the night

Close you eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams
purge your thoughts of the life you knew before
Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar
And you'll live as you've never lived before

Softly, deftly, music shall caress you
Hear it, feel it, secretly posess you
Open up your mind,
Let your fantasies unwind
In this darkness which you know you cannot fight
The darkness of the music of the night

Let your mind start a journey through a strange, new world
Leave all thoughts of the life you knew before
Let your soul take you where you long to be!
Only then can you belong to me

Floating, falling, sweet intoxication
Touch me, trust me, savour each sensation
Let the dream begin, let your darker side give in
To the power of the music that I write
The power of the music of the night

You alone can make my song take flight
Help me make the music of the night

I watched Pride and Prejudice on DVD yesterday and I loved it so much! As a matter of fact, I just finished watching it for the second time! I bought the DVD a few months ago actually but never got round to watching it until yesterday. I'm currently halfway through the novel as well.

Another Joe Wright's movie that I'd like to recommend: Atonement. Just like Pride and Prejudice, the movie stars Keira Knightley alongside James McAvoy. Tragic ending, but overall a beautiful story.

I got this phone as a gift and I initially wanted to sell it to earn some extra cash, but eventually decided to use it anyway. I've been using it for about 3 days now, and I have to say it's a superb phone indeed. Very professional and extremely stylish at the same time, it has almost everything you could dream of: the fastest processor currently used in Symbian OS smartphones and the largest operating memory (RAM) capacity ever used in a Symbian OS based device, 16 million true colors display, built-in GPS receiver, 3-D ringtones, FM Radio, not to mention the cool 3.2 megapixel camera with flash and autofocus. (Full specs here).



Lovely device. Definitely the best phone Nokia has ever made. Love it. :)

And also one of the books I mentioned in my previous entry. Can't wait to start reading it tonight.

Not many people know that although I used to live in Japan for one and a half years, I have never been to Tokyo. Of course I've been to Tokyo Disneyland, but that doesn't really count, does it?

And so I've been thinking, perhaps I should go to Tokyo next year. Why? Well, obviously because I've never been there before (d'oh!), but also because next year would be Tokyo Disneyland's 25th Anniversary. I was there 10 years ago, when it celebrated its 15th Anniversary and it was magnificent. The decoration, the shows, the merchandise. Just lovely. I can only imagine that the celebration for its silver anniversary would even be more fantastic.

I'm officially addicted to Grey's Anatomy. I didn't quite understand what the hype was all about until I bought the Season 1 DVD (pirated one, of course hahaha...) two weeks ago and got hooked ever since. I bought the Season 2 DVD last Saturday and I finished watching all 27 episodes in just 3 days. Can't wait to watch Season 3!!!

Sooo... 2006 is coming to an end. Another year is gone. Does anyone else feel that 2006 passed by too quickly? I have to say that I'm quite excited about 2007, though. Well, I'm not exactly excited about getting a year older, but I'm looking forward to the new experiences and challenges I'm going to encounter in the new year. 2006 has been an emotional roller-coaster ride for me. I don't think I have ever cried so much in a year as I did this year. But despite a series of unfortunate events that happened to me, this year also gave me a lot of lessons to be learned and memories to be cherished for many, many years to come. And for that, I'm truly thankful.

I shall keep my new year resolutions to myself, but I hope 2007 will be a year of discovery for me both personally and professionally, to achieve more than I ever thought possible. I hope it would be a year which allows time for self-development, personal reflection, and time out to actually take stock of who I am and where I want to be. Above all, I will strive to be a wiser and more mature person, to stop sweating the small stuff and always try to be happy instead.

Because nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.

Happy New Year 2007.

Wishing you all a great year ahead filled with happiness and dreams come true. May your tomorrows take you to the summit of your goals, and your joys take you even higher.

May this year's Christmas bring you the beauty of love and friendship, the joy of good health, the comfort of peace, and the blessings of Christ as we celebrate His birth.

With love,
Celia.

I've been applying for jobs on seek.com.au for the past few days (mainly because I've been really bored at work lately), and this morning I got an email from one of the companies I applied to, asking whether I'm currently based in Australia. I replied and said no, but I told him I would be more than happy to relocate to Australia (in this case, Melbourne) as I have an Australian permanent residency. He replied again basically saying that he'd love to get me an interview but it would be impossible to conduct a face-to-face interview in this instance so he would have to pass on me.

To think that the job is pretty much the kind of job I've been looking for...

Anyway, HAPPY FRIDAY! =)