Just a few days ago I purchased Ricky's latest album, Life, from Joyo. Since fall 2004, when I came to the university, I have cared much less about some of leisure stuffs that I enjoyed before, say, listening to CDs, watching football games, and etc.. Thus it is unsurprising that only until most recently when I randomly walk through pages in Firefox did I notice Ricky released the album in 2005 after Almas del Silencio in 2003.

After listening to all 10 tracks recorded in the CD, I can only find myself less interested in the album, possibly because its style does not match my appetite as well as expectation. In my sense, the album lacks the Latin features which mark Ricky and which are most notably found in the earlier La Historia, for the only one song, namely This Is Good, I believe perfectly matches what is called Latin. And the two songs with the lyric style, which I have always preferred, Stop Time Tonight and Save the Dance, are less impressing the those found in Almas del Silencio such as Tal Vez, Si Tú Te Vas, Asignatura Pendiente, and Y Todo Queda en Nada.

And now I can find my Almas del Silencio CD nowhere. Hope that I have not had it lost.

Guangzhou Pharmaceutical have been able to come back from behind and run out 4-2 winners this afternoon in a tight home Chinese First Division clash with Beijing Insititute of Technology, fulfilling yet another victory in the team's aspiration to attain league title with an unbeaten record. Guangzhou have secured its place in the next season's Premier League after claiming three points last week away in Shanghai in a match also closely contended.

The promotion of Guangzhou stimulates me to reorganize my thoughts of Guangzhou football. My first memory dates back to 1994, when the first edition of what then called Chinese First Division Group A was played. Guangzhou finished the season under the name Guangzhou Apollo as runners-up. But after that, the team seemed to be caught in an unfortunate trend, with its final position in the league table approaching the bottom year after year, and was eventually relegated from the top category of Chinese professional football in 1998. Since then I have little watched live coverage of the team's matches, a change from previous practice for which I cannot make out a reason now. And fragments of memory make up all that I can remember of these nine years of Guangzhou football: last-miniute redemption from relegation in 2000, denial of promotion in 2001, etc..

Guangzhou becoming a Premier League side, what can I expect of it next year? Summarizing the bits of phenomena I have observed of Chinese football, the only conclusion I can draw is the cliche that Chinese football is definitely not something that can be explained with any rational mind. It may be regarded as a miracle that Kaiserslautern won Bundesliga immediately after promotion, yet if the case is duplicated in China, it can possibly be easily accepted. With such a point of view as the starting point, I decide not to trouble myself with the question. Well, whether they will be battling against relegation or competing to be champions or merely aimed at a respectable position, the phrase 'good luck and best wishes' always fits.