Okay, so this is one article that i wrote for fifthname that was supposed to be put up when the site would be upgraded to a Beta version. But that did not happen and i came across this article today while searching for some music on my PC. And i do feel this articles should be read by someone at least, not because it is awesome or something like that, but because it would then just be such a waste if it was meant to be read by people and read by nobody at all! And since this article is more than a month old, it might appear as if i have been reading newspapers dated a long while back. Just thought i would put it up here, on my blog since nobody really bothers reading it anyway.

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                         Champions League status update.

  A day after Liverpool were muscled out of Group E of the Champions League by seemingly  harmless teams such as Lyon and Fiorentina FC, a friend of mine (not so much a Liverpool fan  apparently) updated his status on Facebook to this- "Q-What do Liverpool fans do when their  side wins the Champion Trophy? A- They turn off their Playstations and go to bed." I couldnt  agree more. 

  After having drawn 1-1 with Lyon away from home, Liverpool were only left hoping for divine  intervention as proceeding to the knockout stage now seemed an occurence over which they  had no control. Not only did they have to beat Debrecen away from home, which in itself  looked like an uphill task considering their ongoing poor run and the unconvincing 1-0 victory  against Debrecen at home, but also hope against odds that Lyon would resist defeat against  Fiorentina away from home. Not a very comfortable position to be in I tell yeh. Veteran  defender J.Carragher commented- "We always believe at this club, that we can do special  things."

  Nothing special happened this time though, as the Reds crashed out even after a 1-0 victory in  Hungary. Fiorentina's 1-0 win rendered Liverpool's useless. And the favour which Liverpool  expected from Lyon, wasn't granted. 

  This ouster in the early stages itself, implied multiple consequences with financial uneasiness  heading the list. Even as qualifying to the knockout stages of the Champions league boosted  Fiorentina's revenue by a whopping 25 million euros, Liverpool found themselves in a tight  spot. And the road to recovery isn't an easy one as Liverpool now focus on the secondary  trophy- the Europa League cup. They are also under pressure to raise the level of performance  in the Premier League if they are to qualify for the Champions League next season.

  The ouster was also followed by a lot of talk regarding the end of Benitez's reign as manager at  Anfield. These rumours, however were immediately put to rest. The loss was also followed by  much pointing of fingers towards the owners of the club and their apparent lack of concern  towards towards the current state of the most succesful English club in history. Accusations of  lack of financial support granted to Rafa were made too. In the midst of all this, captain Steve  Gerrard has admitted that each team gets what it deserves in the Champions League. And  Benitez claimed  that Liverpool could have made it to the next stage had Spaniard Torres not  been injured.

   With the 3 other English clubs of the top 4 making it to the knockout stages in a relatively  smooth fashion and this being Liverpool's first ouster at such an early stage of the tournament  since 2002, it definitely comes as a major blow to the club's standing. Also adding disgrace to  their dismal performance is the fact that none of the other 3 clubs present in Group E would  have been considered as a major threat to the Reds under different conditions. Also, the  number of goals scored by Liverpool in Group E matches is only equal to the number of goals  scored by Debrecen. All in all, they screwed up. Big time. Good luck with the Europa league,  suckers!

  P.S.- It was orgasmic watching ManUtd. lose to Besiktas at Old Trafford.

  P.P.S.- If you are a Liverpool supporter, you are probably fat, lonely and gay. No offence.

  P.P.P.S- If you think Arsenal is a great club, you are wrong. Period.

  

  More later.

  Sumedh.   

The change.

 Seema: You know Kd, a couple of years back, i was just like you. I used to dress the way you do  now, play soccer and hang out with the guys.

   Sumedh: So, why did you give that up?

   Seema: Well, i didn't give up everything! I still listen to metal, watch football and stuff. I just  gave up dressing like a guy because i realised being a girl is way more fun and most guys are  jerks anyway!

   Sumedh: No. I think you quit on all that stuff because you started feeling insecure about it.  It's a major personality killer. You fell prey to it.

   Seema: Insecure about what?

   Sumedh: Insecure about not being part of the mainstream. Insecure about being different  from the others around you. Insecure about actually being an 'individual' and not part of the  mass.

   "Why is it getting harder and harder to feel the joy of just being alive?"- Anon

   There exists a phase in the life of each individual when one is an adolescent. When one is torn  between what has been imbibed within his character and what the society has to say. Between  the indoctrination he undergoes for the few years that he is imbecile and between what is  expected of him from the people who know no better. It never ceases to set me off on a train of  thought, to understand and realise the numerous possibilities that could have been, had the  course of my life been just a little different. Sure we are bestowed with a family since birth. But  then, there is also the family that we choose for ourselves. We decide what we look up to and  yet we are completely powerless when it comes to shaping our own individuality. In other  words, we may choose our influences all we like, but what these influences inseminate within  our subconscious self, is completely out of our control. And although it may seem viable in the  present tense, it is, very often resentful at hindsight.

   Insecurity is most often the reason why people change i guess. I have nolong theory to rant  about. But more often than not, people believe that changing the way they are may make them  more acceptable to their peers than they already are. Paranoia, as someone once said, is a  completely natural state of  mind in today's world. And that, is a major reason why a huge  chunk of the mass feel uncomfortable with themselves, with who they are. When one feels the  need to change, it directly implies that the people around them find them unfit to be part of  'the cult'. Sure, people may talk about revolutions against the cult, their militancy towards the  mainstream and their hostility towards the idea of religion more often and more openly than  ever before. But, in reality they follow a thought process that makes them more acceptable and  in a way 'cooler' to their peers with a  similar outlook.

  @Seema: You changed for reasons i am not aware of and yet it is pretty evident that you made  the decision self-consciously. You felt it would make you a better person than you already are.  And that, is the single most deceptive and deceitful fallacy of 'the change'. It never makes you a  better person. It turns you into 'just another person'. YOU then start getting lost behind the  mask that you adopt and the individual within, ceases to surface. You are a wonderful person  the way you are, and a great friend. You never stopped listening to metal. You never stopped  being a football fanatic. This shows that it is within you to decide what you want to be. We are  always larger than our paranoia.

  Now playing: Porcupine Tree-Trains

Train set and match spied under the blind

Shiny and contoured the railway winds

And I've heard the sound from my cousin's bed

The hiss of the train at the railway head

Always the summers are slipping away

A 60 ton angel falls to the earth

A pile of old metal, a radiant blur

Scars in the country, the summer and her

Always the summers are slipping away

Find me a way for making it stay

When I hear the engine pass

I'm kissing you wide

The hissing subsides

I'm in luck

When the evening reaches here

You're tying me up

I'm dying of love

It's OK

 P.S.: The lyrics are for you, "Cma". :P I hope you forever regret not attending PT and not  having a 'limited edition tee'. :P

 P.P.S: And for the love of God, Man Utd. suck!

 P.P.P.s: You are just so, so awesome. Thank you for being a friend. :)

 More later.

 Sumedh.

Random Y0!

   Okay, even as I sit to write this post and get it done with, I am still as clueless regarding what it's going to be about as I was on the 1st of Jan which was the day, atleast according to the plans i had in mind, on which I would start writing as frequently as possible. Now, i'm not a great writer by any stretch of imagination. But i don't let that deter me from enforcing my obnoxious little pieces of Art on the dear friends that are kind enough to read even the most ridiculous  stuff that i write. But if you happen to like any of my random rants, do leave a comment and i may just do a special write-up for you and pray for your mental health at the same time.

   Anywhoo, since 2009 is over, the news channels are totally flipping out. Even as i try to look into my computer, i am unable to contain my attention which keeps roaming away to the "news" being slapped upon me by the channel. Some of the most defining moments of the past year are being telecast on a certain channel which certainly feels the need to remind the viewers of the atrocity which  a certain "Kanye West" ( these hip-hop guys have such weird names, i tell yeh!) committed upon a certain blonde who won some award for some music video, which, btw, the news channel has assumed the authority to declare "well-deserved".

   Random piece of information for you- I am jobless! In case you are wondering, i did have a job. But that was about a month ago. Well, they didn't pay me for my 'skills' and i did work from home and yet, it was fucking awesome for the short while that it lasted. And i just realised that i didn't mention what the job was. I was a 'writer' for a site named 'fifthname.com' And by writer, i mean i was supposed to submit an article every now and then and the article could be anything from a movie/album review to my personal comments on whatever i thought was cool enough to be written about. And i met some of the most awesome people thanks to that 'job'. But, the site was shut down for a whole lot of reasons last month. :(

   Today, i was looking at a beautiful array of fireworks going off in the sky. The whole brightness that it emits and the colour that it spreads and the whole beauty of it, although short-lasting is always pretty awesome to look at. Stuff like that usually cheers me up. But then, i kept looking. The light faded away and in a second something else blurred my vision. The smoke that it had just emitted became visible. And it brought about thoughts of environmental degradation and such depressing like. I would have been so much happier off had i not 'known'. "Ignorance is Bliss" is such a cliche.

   P.S.-   Archie: What sense does that make?

           Chandler: I don't know. It made sense when i started out. But a whole lot of stuff happened in the middle and the sense in it just got lost along the way.

   P.P.S- The name of the blog is courtesy of fifthname. Had they not opted for the fifth name, my blog would just have to be named something else.

   P.P.P.S- I may just include lyrics with my posts sometimes. Do not try to apply too much of thought to understand how the lyrics relate to the post. They just might not.

   More later,

   Sumedh.