Say what?

There is one Christmas Carol that has always baffled me.

What in the world do leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won’t come out of the pear tree have to do with Christmas?  

Today I found out, thanks to the Internet.  

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics.  

It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.  

The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.  

Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.  

Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.  

The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.  

The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.  

The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.  

Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit: Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.  

The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.  

Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.  

The ten lords a-leaping were the Ten Commandments.  

The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.  

The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles’ Creed.  

*****

Taken from an e-mail sent by Angela Danker to myself.

Derby almost became, IMHO, the Bogey team of Newcastle United. Thank Gawd Newcastle managed to claw back.

I have a theory. A theory that the ‘Big Four’ secretly sold their players to Newcastle United with the players being brainwashed to play as badly as they can without making it seem too obvious.

Otherwise, why is it that players like Celestine Babayaro, Alan Smith, Michael Owen, Damien Duff etc fails to perform their best?

I still think that the Gaffer should stick Milner on the right, play N’Zogbia (Duff) on the left, with Emre (Butt) and Barton (Geremi). If you wanna play Alan Smith, that’s fine. I kinda like his attitude towards the game. But, in the EPL, you need more than hard work and passion. You need the skills. Obafemi Martins is one player that I really enjoy watching. But, sticking Owen ahead of Martins, seriously isn’t a good move. If you wanna look to the future, I say, sell Owen for 8m quid to Manchester City or whoever wants him. The guy’s a liability. Since you could afford to sell Kieron Dyer (who is out injured again), why not throw them all out. Players should be paid what they’re worth.

And I say, it’s kinda weird. Newcastle has always had this habit of letting teams score. I couldn’t blame them last time, as they had Titf*ck Bramble and Twiddledee (Boumsong), and a whole list of CMIs before. But today, Newcastle boasts a line-up of 2 French club captains, the England U-21 captain, a Croatian National team regular, and a Spanish specialist left back. What the Hell?!

Nuff said. It’s depressing. I’m sure as hell gonna get stick from my colleagues tomorrow. SIGH!

I say, stick to this team currently, and let them gel.

1st 11: Shay Given, Habib Beye, Steven Taylor, Ronny Rozehnal, Jose Enrique, James Milner, Nicky Butt, Emre, Charles N’Zogbia, Obafemi Martins, Mark Viduka.

Subs: Steve Harper (he’s a good man!), Cacapa, Damien Duff, Joey Barton, Shola Ameobi

Alan Smith might make it into the team based on his terrier like style. But, Geremi and Owen, for me, have more to show for.

Caught National Treasure: Book of Secrets, on the 22nd of December at Toa Payoh. Very interesting plot, but I must say that Nicholas Cage looks like he needs Beijing 101, fast.

Other than that, I was very very disturbed by a really really fat guy who, while he should not be blamed for being fat, he should be blamed for having an extremely nasal-unfriendly body odor. That coupled with the fact that his legs reached half into my seat because he couldn’t close his legs cos he was THAT big sized made me a very disappointed man. Imagine finishing a basketball game, being easily able to cramp, and not having enough space. I ended up with a heck of a back cramp. THANKS! And… his gf just had to put her feet over his enormous stomach, and thus, letting me have a wiff of her TOE-JAM! THANKS AGAIN!

p.s. Not all fat people are bad. 99.9% of them are nice people!

Now, anyone who knows me well enough knows that I don’t really fancy watching Chinese flicks on the big screen. And worse still, it’s during the weekend where costs are inflated.

But, that being said, I must say that The Warlords makes my money worth. It was a great movie, must say, 8 over 10. The acting of Jet Li, Andy Lau, and Takashi Kaneshiro were top notch. They really acted out the gore and sob scenes well, especially Andy Lau. No doubt he’s one of Asia’s finest actors.

That being said, go watch it!