How I met my girlfriend through football

football

I remember the 2006 World Cup like the back of my hand. I was single and earning quite a bit so I had a little something riding on each of the matches. I was on a total winning streak, raking it in like nothing else. I supported the underdog in every match and stayed up late to watch the matches.

Anyway, after a long winning streak (and a couple of losses) I decided to bet higher during the semis. I lost in both of the matches as well as the 3rd place ranking game so I was forced to try and cover my losses by putting RM 20,000 in the finals on France.

I went to a sports bar with a couple of my friends (who were all betting on Italy) to watch the kick off of the final match of The Beautiful Game (TM). I thought it would be wiser to put it on Zidane, despite having to concede 1 goal. I was right.

Zidane scored at the 7th minute! SEVENTH! It was a penalty kick and I downed my beer in celebration while my friends complained about the controversial goal. I just needed ONE MORE GOAL to seal the deal. Unfortunately, Italy equalized within the first half and I kept on waiting for another goal for the rest of the match. By the 80th minute, I was practically praying for France to score just so I wouldn’t lose any money. I just needed 1 goal to keep my 20k – I’ve already given up on winning so I wasn’t gunning for 2. Alas, it was not meant to be. It tied 1-1 at the 90 minute point.

fortune reversal

It was fortune reversal most foul.

I had to be extremely frugal after that and stopped seeing my expensive psychiatrist and went to another one at a private hospital. I remember seeing a cute pharmacist there and it so happens that my bookie takes bets from the hospital as well. I still remember the conversation when I passed him the 20,000 smackeroos:

Me: Hey, I saw this really cute girl at the pharmacist today.
Him: Oh, that’s Stephanie.
Me: Really? You sure? I thought her name starts with an A from her tag.
Him: Yeah man, her name is Stephanie – hottest girl in the pharmacy.
Me: Hmm…alright I’ll call her.

I did just that and went out on a date with her the next day. She asked me what car I was driving and the licence plate and the next thing I knew, I saw this girl smiling while walking towards my car.

I was aghast

It wasn’t the person I had my eye on.

She was hot but it was not the cute girl that I was interested in.

sri_shan_meal

I couldn’t very well bail (gentleman here k?) so I opened the door for her and we went out for lunch. That was a very memorable lunch coz halfway through it, she told me she knows me and reads my blog. Next thing I knew, a bottle full of DF-118 slid across the table.

It’s for you. A gift. I know you like this so I got it for you

I was delighted and abashed at the same time. I didn’t even bring her flowers!

We started going out after that and went to Thailand together during a pharmacist’s convention there. It was a whirlwind romance and she was the person I loved the most – I was 24 and she was 29 and oh so worldly and wise.

fansign_hc

She even did a tattoo of a stylized “6” for sixthseal.com on her chakra.

iberry_sorbet

She dumped me about six months into the relationship though.

You know what they say, with one hand He giveth and with the other taketh away. πŸ˜‰

tuk_tuk_me_driver

BTW, I never did tell her I was originally interested in her friend, who I later found out was called Amanda. Heh!

What is your football story? Living in a football crazed nation where “World Cup Fever” (Symptoms: Unexplained medical leave, fatigue in the office, et al) I’m sure you have a lot of interesting stories to tell! It’s every football fan’s dream to watch a football match live. Sony Ericsson is running a contest where you just have to email your football story in to stand a chance to win a trip to South Africa to watch not just any football match but a FIFA World Cup 2010 match live!

Zakumi

Yes, the prize is an all expenses paid trip to watch a FIFA World Cup 2010 match live! Fulfill your dreams and get bragging rights by writing your football story, posting it on your blog and sending the permalink to extratime@waggeneredstrom.com. Your entry can be in the form of pure text, a photo story, video, slide show or just about anything, so go crazy with your creativity!

The Sony Ericsson Extra Time contest is only open to bloggers in Asia. Please submit your entries before 31st March 2010. The blogger with the most public votes from 1-15 April 2010 will win the contest! You can also email extratime@waggeneredstrom.com for more information.

More details about this once in a lifetime chance here.

Sony Ericsson K700i review – my new phone

se k700i

I finally have a new cell phone after my old trusty; the Ericsson
T-28s finally kicked the bucket and went to cell phone heaven. I’ve
been waiting around for the right model to come out, going without
mobile phone service (the horror!) for days, before my tardiness was
rewarded. My girlfriend gave me a Sony Ericsson K700i as an early
Christmas gift!

se k700i box

I’ve used this cell phone for about a week now, to familiarize
myself with it for a review. The contents of the Sony Ericsson K700i
box consists of the charger, the hands free cum FM radio ear buds and
the mobile phone itself. There are also manuals, a CD and other
miscellaneous stuff at the bottom.

se k700i pc suite

The CD contains the PC Suite software (sync software) and several
other software like an Image Editor, MMS Home Studio, Sound Editor,
Mobile Networking Wizard (the K700i also functions as a modem) etc.

se k700i contents

Here’s a photo of the full contents of the Sony Ericsson K700i box.

se k700i phone

This is what the cell phone looks like. There’s a peel off scratch
guard on the screen that shows several features of the phone – 65K TFT
screen, VGA camera and video recorder, Bluetooth, 41 MB of inbuilt
memory, 4x digital zoom etc. I love how the Quickshare text on the
bottom of the phone changes the color hues as you turn it around.

se k700i back

The Sony Ericsson K700i is billed as a “dual front” phone – a
marketing buzzword that essentially means one side looks like a digital
camera and the other looks like a phone. This is the back of the cell
phone, the one that looks like a digital camera.

se k700i cam

Here’s a close up of the digital camera bit. It’s very nifty –
there’s the sleek lens module, a nice shiny mirror that’s used for
self-portraits, a bright LED light for night/dark conditions.

se k700i side buttons

There’s a quick start button on the left side of the cell phone to
go to the digicam/video recorder feature. There’s also up and down
toggles for various functions, depending on the context. It’s a zoom
in/zoom out feature in the camera, a volume control while on calls, and
an up/down button while text messaging (SMS).

se k700i online

The other side of the phone has an “Online” button which makes the
phone go into connectivity mode. It has various modes of communication
– GPRS, Bluetooth, IrDA, etc.

se k700i irda

The top of the phone contains the IrDA (Infrared) port, which I use to sync with my notebook. It works with a Palm as well.

se k700i keypad

Here’s the keypad of the K700i. It has nice, (relatively) large
buttons so there are no problems with using the keypad. There is also a
joystick which is not so easy to use…or maybe I’m just having trouble
getting used to it.

se k700i tft

The screen is a generous 176 x 220 pixel TFT display capable of 65K
colors. I was surprised by the richness of the screen when I first used
the cell phone. It has really rich and vibrant colors with a fast
refresh rate.

se k700i startup

The Sony Ericsson K700i boots up with the Sony Ericsson logo and the keypads also illuminates with a purple hue.

se k700i setup

It boots into a setup wizard the first time it’s on, which is easy to complete.

se k700i main

In no time at all, the cell phone is up and working. There are
several build in themes to choose from, all animated! The animated
display is very nifty…

se k700i glow

I switched to a futuristic design as my personalized main screen.
The light blocks flicks in a rhythmic manner and I’m keeping this one
for the sheer Nifty Factor (TM).

se k700i apps

The main menu shows all the applications that are on the Sony
Ericsson K700i…there are several features on this phone – MMS, EMS,
SMS (any S basically), MPEG-4 playback, MP3 playback, radio (FM), Java
applications etc.

se k700i card

Heck, there’s even a place to input business card details which I’ve
successfully beamed (using IR) to my Palm, since supports various
formats, including the Palm vCard specification.

se k700i light

The most nifty feature in the SE K700i is the light that comes on at the back of the camera. It’s very bright and allows photo taking in dark conditions.

Here is a photo taken with the Sony Ericsson K700i:

se k700i photo

It has been downsized from 640 x 480 to 400 x 300.
Click on the image for the original photo.

Download: Movie clip taken by K700i [sixthseal.com]

This is a short clip taken by the Sony Ericsson K700i. It’s in .3gp format and can be viewed with Quicktime.

I love the Sony Ericsson K700i. It has the right balance between features and size. Thanks Louisa! πŸ™‚

The only problem is that people complain that I’m shouting at them
on the phone. I have to explain that my old cell phone has a really bad
mike so I had to talk really loudly. I’m still getting used to the much
more sensitive one on the SE K700i. I’m slowly learning not to “shout”.
πŸ˜‰

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