A cobra was caught in my company over the weekend. It was hiding among the goods that had been sitting in the parking lot for months due to the impending corruption investigation. There are actually tons of goods lying around in the company premise, all meant to be recycled but were on-hold by the investigators. We are gonna conduct a 100% physical stock-count on the coming Monday and it may last for at least two weeks. Goods will be moved around for re-weighing. Hope we won't see more snakes for the next few weeks.
Finally, the result was out. London has beaten its long-term foe Paris with 54-50 to win the right to host the 2012 Olympic Games. There were five candidate cities competing to be the host of the Games: London, Paris, New York, Madrid, and Moscow. Paris was the perceived front-runner and London came in second. In the end the result just sent the ecstatic Londoners cheering on the streets while putting tears into Parisians' eyes. Well, tough luck? I don't think so. The French President's unbecoming remarks about British and Finnish food must have pissed off some voters. Of course London has its fair share of "insults" towards Paris too but at least they didn't implicate other countries in their remarks. Hope the arrogant French learnt their lessons (i doubt so).
There are several things i've observed during the fuss over the event:
As the voting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was held in S'pore, this has been the media buzz for the past few days here. All you could hear, read and watch were about the IOC Session. It was followed so closely that the TV station even did a live telecast of the whole thing for one full day! Huh, since when S'pore is so concerned about who's hosting the future Olympic Games?! I guess S'pore is too small to host an Olympic Games, so this is the closest they can ever get akin to hosting the Games itself. (I could almost hear S'porean calling me "sour grapes")- Bets were placed on which country would win the Games. It's amazing that people can gamble on anything nowadays, from reality show's winner to Michael Jackson's verdict. What's next? How about betting on whether or not President Nathan is gonna run for next year's presidency? Ah, even better, let's bet on what color of underwear he will be wearing to the coming National Day Parade (the problem with this is how are we gonna find out who wins the bet?).
- London's stock went up after the announcement of the good news. The market was very fast in reacting to the news with investors picking up stocks that would benefit from the Games, such as construction and hospitality industries. Huh, whatever happened to the spirit of Olympic? Hosting Olympic Games has now become an opportunity for a city to reap economical benefit$ through tourism and endless Olympic-related merchandise. So, previously, Olympic = sports. Now, Olympic =
The 2012 Olympic Games aside, I'm really looking forward to the next Olympic Games hosted by Beijing in 2008. This will be the first time for China to host this international sports event. As a Chinese-educated M'sian Chinese, i'm always in touch with my ancestral root and am darn proud to be a Chinese. Hmmm, just to get myself prepared for 2008, maybe i should consider start blogging in Chinese instead...As i was just about to finish writing the above in the afternoon, London was hit by terrorist attack that not only crippled the traffic but also resulted in hundreds of casualties. What was supposed to be a happy occasion turned into disaster; celebration became mourning, laughters became tears, joy became sorrow.
The way the bombing took place at different locations in close timing sure suggests that it was a planned attack. It was reported that an Islamic terrorist group had claimed for the responsibility of the act and apparently it was targeted at the G8 Summit.
It is understandable how devastated the Londoners must be feeling. As for the French, I reckon they must be thinking, "Damn those terrorists! They should have done it one day earlier. Then we would have won the bid to hold the Olympic Games. F*** 'em!"
Ok, sorry, i shouldn't make fun of such tragedy. My heart goes out all the way to the victims and their families, really, ALL THE WAY, from M'sian to London. May the souls of the victims rest in peace, and whoever responsible for this barbaric act be burnt in hell for eternity.
