Today in my life!

Barcelona's Last Laugh!

Goals from Pedro Rodriguez, Lionel Messi and David Villa helped Spanish giants barcelona clinch their fourth European Cup against Manchester United in a clearly one-sided spectacular final at the Wembley stadium on Saturday.

Despite a 36-minute leveller by United striker Wayne Rooney, Pep Guardiola’s men proved that they were just not done yet when they returned from the dressing room with an aim to finish their business. The superb superiority of a Xavi-Iniesta combination in the midfielder ensured that Messi, Pedro and Villa led constant attacks into the depths of an unsettled United defense.

Overall, the clash was reminiscent of the 2009 final in Rome featuring the two clubs, where Barcelona enjoyed the last laugh with a 2-0 victory over United. Last evening, the English Premiership winners had inspired a spirited fast-paced start of the game, creating goal-scoring opportunities but were soon snatched of their dominance by the Catalans.

Following a wave of fluidly-engineered yet futile first-half attacks, Pedro finally confirmed his name first on the scoreboard with a swerve past retirement-bound Edwin van der Sar —an error blamed on Patrice Evra, who left his mark at the wrong time to opt for a go at a dangerously looming Messi.

Just as the game had started to appear as training ground for the Spaniards, a quick succession of shot passes along the sidelines between Michael Carrick and Rooney caught the Mascherano-led defense by surprise. Rooney managed a pass to Hernandez, raising an off-side alarm, but was soon to be forgotten when the young Mexican shared it back to Rooney, who eventually directed it past stopper Victor Valdes into the net.

A 1-1 halftime score came as a relief to Sir Alex Fergusson’s boys, who were left to run in the ghostly trails of their Spanish rivals. Bossy ball possession, accuracy, speed and architectural attacking truly defined the kind of football the now four-time European champions exhibited in an emotionally-gripped Wembley stadium.

Barcelona stormed the second-half with a ‘view to kill’— and so they did. Totally, disarmed of any more chances to have a sniff at the other end’s goal, the United side gave in for a 3-1 final victory to Barcelona, raising arguments from the football-watching fraternity that indeed the Barca side are the crème de le crème of this football generation.

Claustrophobia: The Ultimate Fear for Most People

Once, when I was a kid, I screamed my head off when I tried to peel off my school jersey on a hot day but it just wouldn’t go through my head. Panicking, I knew I was going to suffocate and die for I felt confined, alone and restricted. Even after finally managing the [goddam!] sweater off, my heart kept pumping at a good 150 or so beats per minute. Little did my naïve self know that it was only claustrophobia at work.

Claustrophobia is a natural form of anxiety disorder where a person exhibits extreme fear of small or closed-in spaces, resulting in severe panic attacks. If it is any confession, claustrophobia is my greatest fear—and many other people out there will admit it is theirs too. Remember when RnB icon Robert Kelly confessed he has a fear of flying in planes?

For a better feel of this, try watching Fear Factor, a TV reality show that involves participants confronting their fears by performing outrageously daring stunts for an ultimate cash prize. Some stunts have lasting claustrophobic effects—being locked up in chains and dipped in a pool filled with live snakes and tasked to unlock and free oneself, or swim through three layers of icy water in a dark pool, pick up glowing sticks planted at the bottom and break the surface in limited time.

A research carried out by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s neurology department revealed that about two to five per cent of the world’s population is affected by severe claustrophobia, but only a negligible percentage of this group receives some kind of treatment for the disorder.

Other studies have shown that if one has a family member suffering from claustrophobia, one has the potential to develop the disorder.

Treatment to either manage or eliminate this disorder depends on its severity. The most common treatment used is psychotherapy, which involves counseling to help the affected person overcome his/her fear of closed-in places.

Among several other treatment forms is the use of medicated drugs to treat depression or anxiety. Such drugs will not cure the disorder; rather they help the person regulate physical symptoms linked to the disorder.

A week's flashback

Time-check: 11 15hrs EAT. I am seated at my work desk and am still pondering on what I should be doing today. of course I have moved a step closer to calling it a day [not to mention that my day officially ends at 5pm]..so why the hell am I saying am edging closer to the day's end? Well, I cannot afford to ignore the cute weather outside my window. A warm [not so hot] and breezy [not so chilly] day does it for me! This past week has cruised along with it a number of high and lowlights.

I will not forget the day this bastard broke into my place and dashed off with loot worth a couple of dollars! What hurt me most about my long-gone laptop is the amount of data I had stored on it. Now all that is gone. i wouldn't sulk too much over the phone, wallet and a few other light stuff, for I can easily replace that with time. But for a months-worth amount of data, i cannot! All that happened in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, as i soundly walked through the paths of dreamland, busied with cascading fades of country music playing in my ears. I usually sleep on music.

It wasn't such a bad morning though, as I was able to live to tell this. My life was spared by that good, even with a sharp-edged knife smiling yearningly at him as he executed his evil. Maybe he was too distracted by his newly-found fortune to notice that he could have taken my life too! Prayers work, i know..and even as I knelt down beside my bed on that fateful night to communicate with the Omnipotent , little did I know that I was asking God to protect me from some creep who was plotting against me. Prayers work, for real!

Enough of that now. he comes the highlight of the week: Manchester United is finally crowned Barclays English Premier League champions. I had long waited for this day to come so we [Man Utd family] finally brush it off and set our guns onto the next BIG one against Barcelona. Certainly, the time has come for us to mess up the impossible Messi! This young man sure is outrageously incredible with the ball! Sorry for him this time, though.  We are well-armed this time, for we were fore-warned in 2009 following that 1-0 defeat the hands of our Spanish nemesis. Undoubtedly, it was Mess to do the spoils on behalf of Pep Guardiola's side!

I was even more delighted to find out that one of my good friends managed to win some cash from a bet on the Man Utd v Blackpool match. In simple monetary conversion, the dude bagged himself a cool USD 200 after months of resilient  endeavors on the betting game creamed with frustrating futility. And finally, on the last day of the season, his season-long trips to the Sports Betting Centre paid off rather handsomely.

The fella bet that Jin Sun Park would convert United's first goal, which later turned out to the outcome. That only single bet earned him a rare bunch of cash! I was so happy for him that I had to dedicate some space for him on my my blog to write this, as he was a true living epitome of resilience, optimism and faith. I guess I felt his success more than he actually did himself--only that for my case, I did not have money to brag around with.

As if that was not enough, a friend calls me on a breezy late Friday evening and his voice screams before he can say a word that his sister has given birth to a baby girl. Isn't that wonderful! Peter, that is his name, phoned me as I maneuvered my bearings into a take-away restaurant in Wandegeya, a city suburb. the excitement in his voice almost sent me thinking whether it was his own baby or his sister instead [as the latter was the case]. For some reason, my craving for the French Fries and chicken almost faded due to the overwhelming delight that had quickly swept inside me from that call, but I was too agile to let it go. Such moments through this past week, after my Tuesday morning fate changed my emotions from worse to better.

Well, it is a new week now and I don't know what the hell to expect of it. You know, we never really get to know what's going to happen to us until it finally strikes. So what is someone supposed to do about it? Pray hard for a miraculous outcome? Just sit back and wait for whoever-knows-what? The staunch believer will tell you to pray, pray and pray. the economist will assure you that optimism is the best channel to think through. While the meteorologist will say that prediction is better than anything else, Joe here thinks otherwise: "Don't do anything out of your control. Just sit and wait until it happens!''

SURVIVAL SUNDAY!

It is no doubt it is a beautiful day for a football fan like me! Despite my team, Manchester United, being confirmed English Premiership champions for 2010-11 season, I am eager to celebrate a 19th title with a win over Blackpool. But these fellas are quite resilient and don't wanna get back to Division II. It's tight right now, with the relegation survival still on, there should be prayers for the fans at the peripheral levels. 

I'll be back laters!

A dramatic year

Looks like we are headed for mid-year, and 2011 has had some interesting tag-along scenarios. Right from the beginning, all Ugandans and a substantial portion of the world out there had been itching with anticipation of a historic presidential elections, with the main political actors on each other's throats.

As some predicted a violence-marred poll, others knew things would run smoothly without any sprinkle of mayhem. Well, it turned out to be as the latter section had thought, save for a few complications here and there..we are speaking ballot-stuffing and things like that. Joe here thinks it's the characteristic order of any voting process regardless of which part of the globe you are at. Thankfully, things went on well, and before the day's curtains reeled slowly along to shut the day, President Museveni was the victor!

Of course his nemesis, Dr Besigye could not take it down like a creamy dessert. He declared his opponent's victory fraudulent. Well, everyone expected it, right! He even went ahead and held a press conference to announce his own tallied results, which concluded that he{Besigye] was the winner. Politics!

Lets meet here again to see what transpired after all this.

Cheers!