New Old Trax Again

Another makeover of one of our songs. Can be considered as the most meaningful piece of music i've ever wrote. Hope you guys will like it.

To the WLNY pple: It's been awhile, and i apologise for bringing up this issue again. But i hope you guys will feel better after hearing this.

To Vicki: It's still for you.

Peace Inside Your Heart (click the hi-fi link! not the mp3 link)

Kinda late right now, and i'm programming the drums for re-doing the next song. Shan't tell u guys which one it's gonna be yet, but Nic shld be able to guess it with a little thinking ba. Hope it's gonna turn out as good as You Wanna Be A Star. Yea plenty of good comments coming from it. Goes to show a good sample matters more than anything else.

And ya Dan, after listening for quite a while, tt intro really seems indulgent. Will shift it to the middle break when i have the time to re-record. See how it'll go.

Route 66 is back home already! Finally after waiting for so long. Still continues to churn beautiful sweet overdrive the way i like it. Just hope the switches dun die on me again. It's agonising to send it for service all the time. So much so tt i kinda lost the bond with it already. Gotta play ard with it more to get back the feel.

Jackin in my Route 66 by itself, i realised that it's surprisingly quiet. Unlike my DS-2 which has this little hiss with it. I think i've found the main source of noise already, and fortunately i've sold it off before i turn insane over tt hiss. Yea, used to think it was the 1SPOT, my guitar, the amp, every single thing comes into mind. But yea, it's just tt little orange box. Bye, will miss ya.

Gotta know this god named Shredcow (no idea y but this cow can sure shred). Gave me plenty of valuable advice on tone and playing too. Yea he's just 1 yr older, but his playing is probably 10 yrs ahead of me? Yup. He's as good as Chan Min, or maybe even better. Hope i can learn as much as possible from him and be as good as him/Chan Min one day. Yea. Finger gymnastics. Gotta love them.

Ever wonder y i never write/talk much abt me and my gal? Cos it's our own world, and u guys dun need to know so much. And also u guys wun understand it either. Maybe if u ask nicely i might let u in on something? Haha. See if i'm happy lor.

Quote from E-kid: Just enjoy what you are doing. Everything else is a bonus.

How true.

New Trax Again.

K i've totally redone this track, cos i really hate the previous few times we recorded. So here it is (once again pls be mindful of bad singing)

You Wanna Be A Star (Click the hi-fi link)

Something u might not wanna miss out. Or shld i say.. U SHLD NOT MISS OUT!


(click the link for more details.)

Went to Peck's party just now, quite fun, but alittle too crowded for me. I think there were 100 pple there? Seems like it tho. Saw quite a few pple tt i never expected to see like Cuiru, Bernard, Junyu, Jiaqi, Selene... the list goes on. Everyone seems to have changed abit, in terms of appearance and mannerisms. Yup, probably it's the age factor and probably it's the environment too. We adapt to survive.

Felt alittle funny just now yet again, partly cos Nic has Nik right now, so i've technically "lost" my buddy. Add in the fact tt Peck keeps introducing me to her friends, esp the *cough* church *cough* ppl.. yea makes me feel even more uncomfortable. And also she keeps introducing me as the pro/zai/godly guitarist tt's gonna wow ur pants off.... haha i wonder how'd they react when they see me play. *snigger* Really la Peck, i'm ur son. Tt's good enuff. They dun need to know the extra stuff.

Umm party's abit hi-bye for me i guess, after all the class pple, i mean how much do i know them and vice versa. There isnt tt much of a connection that we can make. Yea just like Jiaqi said. And the amusing thingy is i also din manage to sneak in tt many words to her too. Shrug. I guess we all only have that much to say, umm or maybe we just bother to say tt much.

Negative thoughts. So many of them tt i couldn't sleep last night.

And i have to wake up in the morning for Beez. Fortunately lesson was good. Or shld i say i was awake enough to absorb the stuff. Good shit. I feel that i'm progressing on to something real good.

Gal just asked me if the song Standstill was abt us, cos truthfully speaking we havent spent time together for quite awhile. But well, no it's not. It's just a nice catchy chorus which kept repeating in my head the other sleepless night so i just have to let it out. And tt melody is also equally annoyingly infectious.

I'm surprised by the fact tt Yilong is very very impressed with the recording of Standstill, even tho it's still nowhere near CD quality yet, but it's good enuff for him and his discerning ears. Goes to show tt a good recording can go a long way.

Standstill

K here's something for ur aural displeasure yet again.

Standstill (click the hi-fi link)

K i've decided to abolish the use of titles from today onwards, simply becos i can't really think of any titles for my entries. It's always just some random jumbled up stuff which doesnt deserve any title imo.

Been lying low lately, blog-wise, cos there isn't much to write about. Everyday's been the same old shit, either guitar or basketball, or more guitar. Yea, nothing that exciting really. Been working on a new song for the past few days, now it's somewhat completed. Layed out the basic rhythm and riffs for the song already. Titled "Standstill" it's about being stuck in a juncture in a relationship, and that there's so much that u wanna do but u just can't do anything abt it. Something like tt la. Gave some of my frens a rough sample of how it'd sound, and the reviews back were not tt bad. Guess it's a workable song. We'll how it will sound with the full band. If u wanna hear the current version just leave a msg on my tag and i'll send it to u.

There's another song which is in my mind, it's been lingering in there for quite some time. Still stuck with simple chords, but i do have the rough melody for it. Kinda like a slow hard rock song, like Creed-style. Yea, but would have to figure out another riff for it to give it that distinct flavour.

Read Daniel's blog and came across that thing abt being permanent away in MSN/ICQ or whatever messenger shit u r using. It's quite stupid to come online and park with permanent away. So what kinda signal are u sending? That u wanna tell the whole world that u are so so so busy? Or that u've left for some unknown country and u've forgotten to shut off ur com? Or what? I mean if u are so god damn busy then just dun come online at all. Yea i've got quite a few buggers on my list that are like tt. It seems impossible to get them to talk. They are always so busy that they wun even reply to u.

Seriously, i dunno what's up with u pple. I've given up on ur already.

Moving on, gear update: I just sold off my Boss Turbo Distortion DS-2 effects pedal. Yea, i sold it off for the same amt of money tt i bought it the other time. It's been a bittersweet moment at the pt where i handed over tt cute little orange box, for it's my first ever effects pedal tt i ever bought tho i've grown tired of it's sound gradually. Yea so much feelings attached to it, and now tt it's gone i find the void somewhat uncomfortable. And my Route 66 is still not back with me to comfort me. It has been with me for a good 7 months, and it's still working fine even when i abused it so much.

Goodbye my DS-2. Even when i find a better sounding unit than u, i'd never forget the fact tt i once owned u. U are still my favourite little orange box.


The little mean orange box of noise


Ds-2 with his friends


The whole family of noise-making.

Ugh been experiencing some pain while playing the guitar lately. Yea tt pain is kinda like a strain instead like u keep pumping irons then ur biceps get sore tt kinda feelin? I've been feeling tt in tt fleshy area right below ur left pinkie. No idea y tt soreness is there, but it stops if i stop playing, or when i play alittle slower. Damn. Hope it doesnt cripple me.

I hate it tt whenever i start to get slightly better at something, there will be something else tt stands in my way of achieving perfection. Just like in the case of basketball. Screw u wotever tt u are.

This Is Just A Filler Title. It Has No Meaning Whatsoever.

K i just got home from hang. Ya, we've hung till this late. So far this is the latest one i've ever had lately, cept for the one which me and Amanda had when we were sec3? Yup tt was till the next morning, quite insane too. Doubt we all have this luxury anymore. Pple gotta work, earn money, and live a life. Hanging has become a secondary concern for us already...well at least not for me.

2nd time tt a chio bu stared at me this week. And this time it was Adele...haha..damn u girls! Can ur pls dun wear makeup till so pretty? Cannot recognise her too. Alumar. Anyways only me and Sichao hanged so she left her grp to join us. And the 3 of us ate stuff and hung till Biao finished joggin with Yujie and Xiang came back from somewhere. Then the half-drunk tipsy Ernest came and joined us too, amusing us with all his stupid funny antics.

Point to note: When u are half-drunk tipsy, pple will not feel offended by whatever u say. Meaning, u can say anything u want, and u wun get a tight slap on ur face. Quite good, like maybe u've fantasized liked this girl for quite long and wanna tell her how hot she is, get alittle tipsy and u'll be well on ur way.

Point to note 2: I think i'm abusing this dashing thingy too much, but it's really fun to use it to play with words. I think that's y certain blogs are funny to read.

Anyways, Sam joined us much later and we din get to talk much and Sichao decided to leave. So the whole gang went home and here i am typing all this rubbish.

Stuff to ponder abt: When u treat a girl slightly nicer than other girls, seems like pple will take notice and starts kaypohing abt u huh. Come on la huh, I have a girlfriend, and Peck Lian's my buddy in the music world, of course we can connect slightly better than U pple. Nothing wrong wot if i decide not to share and buy her something on my own for her bday. Just becos i dun buy something special for Qian Hui and Li Ling doesn't mean anything wot...it's just cos i dunno wot to get for them. If i knew i would too. So stop gossiping behind my back!!

And yea, Elshender is a cool name. I think i'd call my son Lancelot next time. Lancelot Chan Malichan.

1 Week?!

Time seems to move pretty slowly lately. Y? Cos it's only been one week since i left camp for good. Yea..just 7 days, and i felt tt it's been 2 weeks already. Seemed to have done quite alot of stuff within this period of time, tho none of them are really that constructive at all. Time is slowing down to a crawl right now, and like Louis' ORD counter states, we've still got 28 days more to go before tt holy pink piece of plastic gets returned to us.

Today's pretty much wasted, in the sense that it rained the whole afternoon. So no ball, no bullying of little kids, no getting bullied by little kids too. Shucks. Really have to train up, partly to get rid of tt excess bulk on me and also to prep up myself for IVP. Still considering if i shld go for it or not, after all it's gonna take up most of my extra time. IVP = no more jang jang with Cassie already. And yea like Evon said, most prob will sit bench for freshies...tho i'm taking a more pessimistic look at this: sit floor and cheer. After all, the competition for places is gonna be stiff.. gotta think of the number of pple in my batch who are really good, and also the seniors too. Not gonna be easy i guess. But at least go for the training, and come back to jurong and terrorize the kids. Haha.

(Xiuqin can ignore this part)
Spent the whole rainy day on my fretboard...again. Yea, sometimes pple do wonder if i really have so much to play. Ans is no, just tt i keep playing the same shit over and over again. And fooling ard with the notes is also a good way to discover new tunes, as well as burn lotsa time, tho inspiration is not coming to me these days. Nothing much to write abt, and no new tunes worth recording. Not jamming lately too partly cos my Route 66 is still being repaired. Wonder how it is now. Hope it will be ok, and i'll step on it lighter from now onwards. *promise* Really wish Kai can come back soon, so tt every song can be rearranged and re-recorded, with his voice definitely. And tt we can work on the new tunes tt he keeps raving abt too. 1 more mth to go before the prodigal son returns.

Still, it's only been 1 week. And every night we go for supper, well almost ba. Supper to the pt where the 7-11 food goes out of style, the 503 horfun becomes tasteless (it used to be the best horfun ard my area), Steven decides to stop hanging so much which also equates to us not meeting up with WLNY grp. Hangin is my next best hobby haha. (FYI hangin'/hanging actually means to hang out, but yea hanging is easier to type in msn...and tt everytime we jio for hang is also via msn. So yea u get the pt. Do ya?) Nothing beats sitting down with a drink and bitching abt the whole bloody world. And yea add some lame kickass jokes to the mix too. Too bad Gink's not ard with us nowadays, or else we'll have a target session where everything is aimed at him!

Life's slack. Sleep. Wake Up. Eat. Whack Guitar. Whack Ball. Hang. Sleep. Rinse & Repeat.

Nothing Much To Blog Abt

Yea, another one for the missus....since she asked me if i blogged yesterday. Can't really find stuff to write abt actually, cos nothing much has been happening in WenChang-dom. Just guitar and basketball. Wot else. And yea sleeping late. And yea growing fat.

Speaking abt growing fat, i saw Jiali today on the mrt. Couldnt recognise her at first glance cos she was wearing make up so kinda looked a little more chio, tho she's already very decent looking without any. Anyways, so i kept having a funny feeling tt the chio gal is looking at me (she actually is la...not i BHB ok...) so i decided to stare back at her to see the response. And she smiled at me so i was quited stunned. Very stunned in fact. Cos first time got a pretty stranger smile at me straight ma. Yea couldn't believe it, but on second look then i realised it was her. But she was seated quite a distance from where my mom and i were (yea i pat tor with my mom earlier on in the day...can't i do tt?) so i walked over and we exchanged numbers. Then i went back to my mom's and we smsed each other. The first sms i got was...

"Hey u've grown bigger huh." <-- Somewhere along tt line.

Jialat la, another person tt feels tt i've put on weight!! Wot have i done to deserve this punishment? Seriously i've done nothing, and basically tt's the reason y all the bulk is accumulating right now. Gotta work off those fats, and bullying little primary sch kids at the basketball court ain't gotta work much i suppose. Haha, yea Me Biao and Sichao got challenged by 3 little pri sch kids to a 3 on 3 match. Couldn't refuse such a tempting offer.....and we got served big time! Haha... amusing to play with them. It will be epic to capture it on video tho.

Trying out some new insane stuff on my axe yet again. Apparently spanish ain't gonna work this time. Watch this space.

Another "Hmm..." Entry

Bloggin right now, partly cos kinda bored (only Louis is talking to me), and also cos my silly gal says she misses my blogs. Quite amusing, sha mei i can tell u everything by mouth, dun have to do it so indirectly to know what's happening in my life. -.-

Went to Qian Hui's bday party, with the warning "no pink or white" by her. Din really know why it's like tt, but i decided to play it safe and wear some other colours instead. She's kinda fierce u know haha. Upon reaching then i realised y she has to threaten us with tt "death threat". Yea, bday gal was wearing a pink top and white pants, so we're not supposed to be in the same colour as her. More outstanding looking i guess...but no difference la in my opinion. Lighting was poor, so everyone looked dark. Haha.

Anyways, met up with my JC class and my ex-NDU officer was there also. Everyone din change much from the previous party at Li ling's, and got to see Peck Lian in person finally. Gave her my almighty CD compilation which includes (many bands la, too many to list. I doubt u pple are interested too). Still the same spunky mad girl i know, this time she brought her bass over too. A black Samick precision bass copy. Looks good, but the headstock spoils it all la...so sorry. Manage to catch up with her on some stuff, mainly music. Surprisingly the rest of the class is interested in our conversation too. Shrug.

Yanting mentioned tt when she saw my blog she got to see a different side of me, a side relatively dark and mysterious. Technically speaking, i'm like tt. But, to please the general crowd, everybody has to be happy. Or appear happy. Else everyone will think u are dao, attitude, anti-social...all things negative. Like what happened when i was in JC 1. Apparently, people cannot accept the fact tt i tend to be alittle more quiet at times, and tt sometimes i just do not wanna make conversation cos i dun feel like it. When u are moody, pple will probe...ask qns, start gossiping abt u...this and that. We do have our moments alright. Anyways i've learnt to be more approachable and friendly, just so tt pple will talk to me when i really want to talk to them. I guess it's a 2 way thing for conversation to happen. U just can't force it out.

Alot of things pple do not know abt each other, partly cos A doesnt bother to ask, and B doesnt bother to explain. Tt's y pple get so shocked when they find out that Wenchang plays guitar, plays an electric somemore! Has a band! Writes originals somemore! Same thing goes for Peck. Actually, it's nothing much. If u bother to talk to each other more, there wun be such surprises at all. Might be able to discover some common interest too.

For the first time, i actually felt like staying longer to chat with my JC mates, but damn bday gal booked the wrong day la. Sunday...tml pple gotta go work, so all have to leave early. If it was Saturday at least can stay for a little longer i guess, and maybe stay over if bday gal allows (doubt so). Also, quite a bad location chosen this time, actually also not her fault, just tt some of my frens not street smart enuff to find their way over to the place. In the end it was just a small grp, some pple supposed to come din cos they were either lost or just din not come. Quite a waste, but i guess Peck's party is gonna be better. Learn from past mistakes i think.

Sidetrack: Today wasn't particularly good, cos i feel that there was no kick in everything. Yea probably u are new to it, so i hope u can work on it more and be a little bit proactive. Dun need me to spell out everything, u know it yourself. Seriously i feel that he's still better than u in a certain way. We'll try again next time if i'm free.

Sudden Outburst

K i've just finished recording my latest track, Strato's Sundance. Something completely different from the rock n roll stuff tt i've been accustomed to all this while. Stupid tune just came to me while i was walking home with Biao after basketball. Talk abt inspiration :)

Dhani said something abt taking a lighter side of ur music and then u'll enjoy it better. Tt phrase is so true. I really enjoyed playing this new one cos it's just so different in terms of mood and the technical aspects. Can envision myself wearing a giant hat, grow a new moustache and wearing the matador suit, while playing this piece. Haha. Xiang has already chope the maracas shaker position; Daniel shall be my lead singer with his grasp of language limited to only ordering a beer; Samantha has somewhat refused to be the hot gal with tt flower on her head, prancing and sashaying her big skirt and booty ard, so kinda have to get my silly girl to do the job instead haha. Ok it's all just bull, it will never come true. The Spanglish group will never materialize, until the day i go crazy over nachos. Hey, dreaming never hurts.

So many of my friends laffed at this new one. Yea never expect it right. Haha i myself finds it amusing too after a few listens. Can't believe i'm playing this shit. But it's really damn fun. The fact tt i'm still awake right now proves how much i'm into it already. Yea supposed to do chromatics instead...but ar...FUCK CHROMATICS! STRATO'S SUNDANCE IS THE WAY TO GO!!! K another sudden outburst. So sorry abt tt.

Spontaneous inspiration is just so good, but sad to say it's of a different genre this time. Something went wrong in my head man. Seriously, i'm more of a plug in, step on my distortion and go kinda player, not some acoustic guitar wielding, rapid finger pluckin flamenco player. Something really went wrong in me this time.

EH BAH EH BAH ANDELEH~!~!

Flamenco

Tell me if i shld switch over to flamenco before it's too late.

Chang - Spanglish Guitar

Just Some Stuff

K din get to stay at home for the past 3 days cos thanks to some bloody mofo who insists on all the lao jiaos to stay in. Platoon integrity. Sorry ah, my ORD date speaks louder. Dun wanna bitch abt tt mofo already, just know tt he's Mr Tan EK. Mofo..

To set the record straight, yea i'm not going back to camp anymore. Well, i still do need to go back to get my i/c, but umm tt doesnt count la. Yup, so i'm on super long leave now, if u wanna count tt's exactly 35 days (thanks to Louis' superb ORD date counter on his webbie). And after my ORD i'd have abt one and a half more mth before my sch starts on Aug 1st. So tt's abt 2 mths of quality rotting at home.

Been asked by quite a few pple lately abt wot i'm gonna do right now since i'm so eng, and the question of getting a temp job will inevitably pop up. Seriously speaking, i've been thinking abt getting a temp job for quite some time, but the thing is i feel that the money is not a worthy trade off for the time tt i'm required to work. How much can i earn in this 2 mths? 2k? Shld be around there. But if i work i can't do shit with my band. I can't train up for IVP. I can't go for lessons. Things i wanna to do for so long, now it's the chance, but it's gonna be taken up by work. Is it worth it at all? I'm not really sure.

Probably i'll just get some tuition lobangs, since it's more flexible and doesnt take up too much of my time. Pay is relatively good too. Sad to say my 2 ex students have graduated already, so they wun need tuition anymore. Zzz.

Day synopsis:

Went to Beez early in the morning. Almost overslept in the train, heng i managed to wake up in Pasir Ris. Lesson was pretty good, got some new stuff from him. And yea old chap fixed my neck for me. From the way he did it u can see he's really got lotsa experience in doing all the guitar sai kang.

Came home already abt 1 plus cos lesson was somehow extended. Finished lunch at abt 2, then started to fool ard with the fretboard again. The amp sings beautifully right now, thanks to Gink who changed the amp plug to the 3 pin one. The amp hum is not there anymore..wonderful.

Went alone for ball at abt 4, cos couldnt see either Biao or Xiang online. Either out or sleeping still. Hopeless. Anyways i ventured to Hong Kah West myself, hand clutched with a ball, to find kids playing 5 on 5 full court. Alumar, court hoggin again. If it was Street42 they would have been driven out long time ago le. But sad to say it's not my "di pan" so no choice. Saw Xiao Pang so he jioed me to form a next team. Quite amusing la, a 20 yr old guy playing with 14,15 yr olds? I told myself to try not to score, and let the rest of my teammates do the job. Surprisingly i got the first ball and my body just uncontrollably did a fake, qie past tt poor kid completely and finished off with a finger roll. Wot the heck sia. We went on to beat the other team by 1 pt. Haha.

Decided to work on my shots after all the matches, so started to train my shooting form again. After so long the touch is still quite there, most of the shots manage to go in. Can imagine how much i've trained during my JC days, so much so tt now my body still remembers every single motion to shoot the ball. Did quite abit of 3 pts with all the kids sitting there watching me shoot. Felt alittle weird cos it's hard to concentrate when so many pairs of eyes are looking at u. Haha but still manage to awe them with my shooting. Can bluff kids now la, when it comes to ppl my age then it will take experience. Still got a long way to recover my fitness back.

-End Synopsis-

Kai said he wanna buy a Les Paul. I feel like buying a SG. Haha, probably we shall rename the band to The Gibsons. Or The Gibbons. Or The Gibs. Oh fuck. I'm sleepy.

Best of Both Worlds

Ok i've just realised tt i can import my blog back to my Multiply.

So yay! I can start annoying pple with my email alerts!

Good luck with them.

So She Sailed Away Pt.2

Kinda takes quite some time to set in the fact that u are not gonna see 2 persons for the rest of ur life. Yea, my the other aunt who was in a coma a few days ago, din make it as well. Quite a sudden death in fact. The day my mom told me she got cancer, by night she was in coma, and the next day she's gone. It's freaking fast how someone can go, one moment u are here and the next moment u are gone.

I've gotta go back camp tml. So many things had happened in the past 10 days of my leave (yea surprisingly it's only 10 days). Life twists and turns, jolting u when u least expect it.

New Trax

2 more songs for ur to enjoy. There, and You Wanna Be A Star.

Good News? Or Not?

Just when i thought my parents are back home with me, they've left for msia yet again. Yea, my aunt just passed away, and they are going back for her funeral. By right i shld be gg with them, but i've gotta go back to camp on monday. Talk abt coincidence.

My mom called me just now abt 3hrs ago to inform me that they will be away for slightly longer this time. Cos my the other aunt has passed away too. Fortunately, my cousin Koon msn-ed me to correct the information. Well, if it is good news, my other aunt has slipped in a coma instead. When she'll wake up, i do not know. If she'll wake up, i do not know. But i do know that it's a double tragedy for my family.

If it's good news, at least my dad's sis passed away peacefully, with nothing to worry abt anymore. She had 2 sons, both happily married with kids, and her grandchildren are all grown up. My the other aunt, has 3 children, tho none of them married, at least they're well-established in their careers. For both of them, their children have all grown up. And i'm still here chasing my childish dream.

Sometimes i feel that i'm not "dong shi" enough, doing all the stupid nonsensical things that makes my parents angry/worry abt me. I wonder what if one day they are really gone, would they still worry for us in their hearts? Sometimes i hate myself for needing people to think for me and make decisions for me.

Read/heard from somewhere: Growing up is making decisions and living with the consequences. (something like tt)

Somehow a Slipknot Live DVD seems less harsher than reality itself.

On a less grim tone: Today the band has re-recorded some of the tracks. As usual i'll add in the horrible vocals yet again and do some simple mixing and editing to improve the songs. Watch this space.

So She Sailed Away

Goodbye my aunt. Hope your god will bring u to the promised land. Peace

Cancer And My Family

My aunt (dad's elder sis) was diagnosed with cancer abt 2 mths back. When it was discovered, the condition was already quite bad. As such, she was only given 1 more mth to live. Fortunately, or not, she still survived till today. My parents just came back from visiting her in Msia, and said tt she's now just reduced to a pile of bones.

Just 10 minutes ago, my mom walked into the room, visibly shaken. I asked her what happened, in my mind guessing that my aunt didn't made it. No, luckily it was that. Ok it's not so lucky after all. My 2nd uncle's wife was also just diagnosed with cancer. Given 3 weeks to live if chemotherapy wasn't administered. She was extremely close to my mom, and thus i could understand why my mom was so sad abt the incident.

Everyone of my relatives are slowly dying....of cancer. My mom's sis was also diagnosed of cancer a few months back. But after chemotherapy she's still around right now, tho she totally lost her hair and weight too. My paternal grandmother died of cancer on my birthday 14 yrs back. My 4th uncle's wife died of cancer shortly after tt too.

I'm not exceptionally sad abt the fact tt they are dying. To me, everyone has to go thru this phase of life. Probably i'm alittle desensitized to pple dying around me. But the more important thing to be aware is the fact tt, cancer runs in my family. Big time. And it might be the same for u. Do urself and ur family a favour by going for checkups regularly. If detected early it will be curable.

Sad to say, for my dad's side, everyone's blinded by the materialistic side of life. Everyone is striving to make more and more money, and in the process they've forgotten abt their health totally. Sometimes it's good to take a back seat and just relax a little. Money can be earned, but life u've only got 1 chance.

This is probably gonna inspire me to write another song yet again. We'll see abt that.

Cheated

Yea, first time i got played out so so damn jialat. Bloody bugger told me to meet at Kallang at 110 yesterday. When i reached there, i couldnt see him. So i called him. Guess what? Bloody melayu ah pek had already sold off the pedal last night. And he forgot to tell me abt it.

Y am i so angry abt this?

1. I thought we had already agreed on the date and time to deal already. And no, bloody melayu ah pek obviously had some urgent reason to sell off the pedal so soon. Someone apparently can't wait for one night, meanwhile forgot about something called trust.
2. The fact that he did not reserve the pedal was already bad enough. To add injury to insult he even made me go all the way down to Kallang for nothing. Breathe some Kallang air? Fuck u man.
3. He's a melayu ah pek. Fuck. Shldnt have trusted melayu ah peks. Say i'm a racist. Say tt i despise old males. I do not care about what u think.

Sidetrack: Went for lesson today, and umm as usual Beez "taught" me some stuff which i can now only barely understand. Modes are crazily complicated, and the fact tt he's only talking to me abt it the whole lesson kinda makes me feel tt he's trying to "pian chi" abit. Give me some concrete notes so tt i can work on it man. All talk is shit to me.

Anyways, got him to check my neck (guitar neck). There's some serious fret buzz in the 13-17 frets, caused when i lowered the action on my guitar yesterday. Yea the action was surprisingly high and it felt extremely weird playing fast on it. Old chap said my neck was warped, and i need to find the allen key for him to set it right proper. Ok for this i'd say he's the man for the job. When it comes to guitar setups Beez is the man to approach. Hope he'll just charge me a minor fee for it. I'm a bloody cheapo.

Cheapo buys cheap pedals, expects cheap setups, expects cheap repairs and everything else cheap.

So sue me.

A Damn Cute Me.

Taken this link http://www.planearium2.de/flash/spstudio.html from XiuQin's blog. Make ur own South Park character. I think this dude looks close to me. Small eyes, spiky hair, big headphones, guitar (tho mine's not a Gibson Les Paul Goldtop), Metallica T-shirt. Cute sia. First time posting pic too. Hope tml's deal is good. So tt i can post pics of my new toy proudly. Hmm.

Pedal Talk

K, i was just hangin ard Luther Music's classifieds, when i saw this ad which i couldn't believe it's true. Line6 Echo Park pedal going for $100. Yea, pedal whores will know that $100 is dirt cheap man. Dirt cheap. A first hand will set u back for abt $250. So this is really a bloody good deal. So good that i was so excited just now while sms-ing tt guy.

FYI: Line6 Echo Park is one helluva good pedal. So many different modes of delay that u can get from this little stompbox. And u can switch between tape, digital or analog delay. There's tap tempo too, and the way they've incorporated this is also quite nifty. And it's sturdy and well built, like a BOSS pedal. Yea BOSS pedals are like tanks. This one is like nuclear bomb shelter.

But, after so much hype abt this, there's a catch. A BIG catch btw. I can't test the pedal!!!!! And the owner seems reluctant to let me test too. This is my biggest gripe of this whole deal.

101 Reasons not to buy the pedal:

1. I can't test the pedal to see if it's working. Best i could do is to bring a battery to see if the pedal's lights are working or not. Fishy x1
2. I do not know that guy at all. He's a stranger. Strangers cheat pple of money.
3. He had previously posted another ad a few days ago, but with a different email. That's fishy man. Fishy x2
4. It's too cheap to be true. The pedal must be faulty. Fishy x3
5. He doesnt have the receipt for the original purchase of the pedal. But he's got the warrany card for it. But still Fishy x4
6. Fishy x1,x2,x3,x4 will add up to Fishy x5. That's bad man.

101 Reasons to buy the pedal:

1. It's cheap. Really damn cheap. Even if i dun like the pedal i can resell it for $150 and still make a small profit
2. The pedal is loaded full of different delay modes, extremely customizable. And i'm GAS-ing big time for a delay since the day i watched the U2: Live @ Slane Castle DVD.
3. The pedal is built like a tank. So there's little chance that it will be a damaged piece. If my beat up BOSS pedal still sound so awesome, i dun see the reason y this pedal wun be intact.
4. He told me it's mint condition. Like brand new. If it is, then it's probably not gonna be damaged to any big extent.
5. Even if the pedal is damaged, i can send it to MrMisse for a fix. And i doubt the cost of fixing the pedal will be more than the price of buying a new one. And also, MrMisse seldom charge pple for fixing pedals. Esp those tt he carries in his stock. He carries this pedal, so he's the man to approach
6. He's got the warranty card for it. I might be able to get it fixed if anything crops up.

So how? What do u guys think? I'm meeting that fella tml. Fire all comments now!!

Anyways, i just met up with MrMisse to pass him my Route 66. Yea it died on me yet again, this time the overdrive channel also went bonkers. I have a feeling that the switches got loose yet again. Probably i got too immersed while jamming and stomp on the pedal too hard. Sometimes it happens, forgive me pls. Hope it's just a minor problem. MrMisse is just so nice to help me yet again. U gear whores shld buy pedals from him! And yea he kinda reassured me that that Echo Park deal is actually quite worth it.

Probably gonna take the risk. But it's $100 dollars we are talking abt. I'm broke man. *shrug*

Day That Was Not To Be

Planned to run at 7am. Did it, quite refreshing. Morning air is amazing. One quirk: Too many people. If only it was as quiet as the night runs. Then again, today was a holiday. Fair enuff then. Shall judge tml morning.

Supposed to carry on my day as agreed (to myself), which was to practise on my guitar. But lethargy got the over of me. My bed just looked too alluring to resist it. Told myself to wake up at 12pm. However the Zzz Monster somehow won the chess game, and yea i woke up at 130. Shit man. Had quite abit of nightmares during the sleep. Forgotten them though.

Somehow tried to squeeze some playing after lunch. Learnt a new blues solo. But it's still not my aim of practicing. Wanted to do chromatics initially, but JiQing and Zhiyuan jioed me for ball. Kinda paiseh to refuse them yet again so i agreed. I can't and won't practise chromatics unless i know i have enough time. <-- Biggest flaw. Quite fun playing ball yet again. Saw Ong, a fella from my camp. Pretty good. Now i know y Biao n Xiang lost to him before. He's got alittle Miller in him too, tho he shoots a tad bit ugly.

Anyways, bottomline is: I din get much practisin done today. And it makes me feel extremely uncomfortable. I do know that i'm very very very anal abt this, but i really do have to practise bloody hard. I'm not comfortable with my playing standard right now, so it irritates when dun get to practise, or when i get interrupted. I believe i'm spending too much time online too. Probably shall just cut myself off from the world.

Something to think abt yet again: What do u live for in this world? I live for my passion. At least.

Question to think about.

Amusing stuff that happened while we're on our way to hang. K there's this chap on the opposite of the road. He's wearing quite spunky-ly and had a bandana on his head, walking by himself. Then, the feeder bus went past him and he started running, towards the bus stop. The bus left before he could reach the stop, but he continued running down the road.

Question to u is: Is that guy chasing the bus? Or is he actually going for a jog?

I tot it was the first, cos he started running when the bus went past. After all, who wears camouflage bermudas, a nice tee with some bling blings and a bandana to go for joggin?! But the thing is he continued running down the road after the bus stop...hmm

Xiang tot it was otherwise, cos of the fact that he continued running. He couldnt be chasing the bus till the next bus stop right. Quite stupid, could have just waited for another one. Xiang said if he was really late, might as well get a cab. Makes sense too.

Wot do u guys think?

Anyways, i've upgrade to MSN 7.0. Slightly better interface, with more features. But i feel it's alittle too cluttered with the extra stuff. If i could just hide the extra buttons then tt will be nice. And oh ya it has this cool feature of showing what music u are playing in ur com. Good way to get like minded ppl talking. But it doesnt sync with my winamp, only works for itunes. Never tried windows media player tho, but Wei Ye says it also cannot sync. Hmm.

Played guitar for more than 6 hrs today. And yea Louis, i can't even cover all the things i wanna cover. Either it was getting too boring, or getting too hard. Or halfway thru i was interrupted. Even when i wanna focus, somehow somethings will pop up and disturb my concentration. Imagine how much hard work other musicians have put in. I'm just like scratching the surface.

And before u say i'm crazy, let me tell you. 6 hrs a day is not enough still. Live with tt fact.

Third day of my leave is gone. Gonna wake up at 7 tml morning to go for a jog. Yea i badly need one. To brainwash again. And to get me started on doing the other mundane household shitwork. Just when i tot i'm out of the shithole, free from the shitwork, here comes another truckload of them. Ugh.

Yooo......*arms wide open*

2nd day of my leave, still can't really settle in to the fact tt i'm gonna get my pink i/c back soon. Good is the fact that i'm leaving the shithole. Bad is also the fact that i'm leaving the shithole. After all shithole has provided me with food, lodging and income. And also the fact tt i dun need to think for myself at all while in there. Quite a braindead job, and as long as u do the right thing, nothing is gonna happen to u. Somewhat.

Anyways, went out with Joel again, this time we went to catch the Singapore Film Festival. Watched some short animation clips at this obscure place named Gothte Institute (i think i got it wrong but wotever), near Somerset. -Edit- It's Goethe, pointed out by Celena. Thanks. -End- Some of the them are quite good, in terms of content and the direction. But some of them, i dun really quite catch wot they were trying to say, esp those filmed with real pple. Sorry hor, but i'm the average kopitiam guy. U can't fault me for that. Overall it's still a good experience. Hope i can draw some ideas from there.

Rest of the evening was spent shopping around with Joel, and doing that "yooo..*arms wide open*" thingy in the streets. Yea some stupid stuff tt appeared in one of the films, corny but damn funny. Clay Men, they have a way to make u laugh big time. So this is kinda like Private Joke No. 2, with No.1 being the classic "Du...duhh...doo.....DO U DO ANAL!??!". Always something amusing coming out from this chap.

Something that i've realised today: If u noticed hard enough...ok actually u dun, u just need to be bothered to look ard... u can see that there are alot of graphic stickers pasted all over Orchard. The traffic lights and the button, the PUB box, street lamps, behind busstop ads, everywhere. Joel says it's like the calling cards of the artist, u noe like graffiti, just that these pple do designing and use stickers instead. Joel used to do that too, pasting his funky TV head-robot all over the place. Interesting underground culture going on, or maybe it's just that i'm the uninformed. Take a good look around. U'll be surprised how talented these artists are.

One thing tho: There's too many of them. Pasting over each other. Like killing each other.

Sorted out some issues with Kai over the band. Seems like we've come to a common understanding. But still i'm still undecided over the issue of staying in hall. It will be a good experience, at the expense of my band tho. Sometimes i wonder if the band has taken over my life, just like basketball used to. This break will give me enough to think over my life's priorities.

To Kai: Yea gigging will be the minimum goal. If we can really bring this further than gigging then it will be perfect. But i'm not pushing for it yet. Settle the band first, then nail the sound, nail the music, then we'll nail the gigs.