Lucky England

Yesterday, I was invited to attend the UNITAR (since March 15 of this year, they're called UniRazak) Toastmasters club meeting, and I was the evaluator for Jefferey Tang who was doing his speech assignment # 4: How to Say It. It's a topic that was close to his heart: "Maxis Customer Service" for the simple reason he works there as a part-timer. Good speech although he missed out on one of the objectives – the use of rhetorical devices. Sorry, he did use them – just once (i.e. "triads"). Still overall it was a good speech and he was duly voted Best Speaker! And I was also voted Best Evaluator – although the GE was right – I should avoid using the Q&A format for evaluation.

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News on the FIFA World Cup 2010. Argentina won their third straight game (2-0) to top Group B and eliminated a Greek side which according to BBC Sport “paid for their almost complete lack of ambition”. The other match saw South Korea battled to a hard-fought 2-2 draw with Nigeria – which was enough for them to secure second place in Group B. The Asian side have previously never been past the opening stage of a World Cup held outside of their own country. Meanwhile, yesterday, England sealed their passage to the last 16 of the World Cup after beating Slovenia 1-0 thanks to Jermain Defoe's first-half goal. Lucky England – but then, Slovenia wasn't really offering opposition. USA also came through when they beat Algeria 1-0 which demonstrably tells you that Group C is an easy Group consisting of mediocre teams. And then, Germany and Australia won their respective Group D matches against Ghana and Serbia (1-0 and 2-1 scores) and although Germany made it to the last 16 by topping Group D, it was.Ghana (having finished level on Australia with four points) who sneaked in by virtue of their superior goal difference. Poor Socceroos!

At Bernard’s where I watched the England game, they served the beer that made FIFA see orange! Yes, we did sample Bavaria beer – it was an ordinary, okay beer with a fair hint of bitterness in the finish. I don’t think I will drink this beer again though!