Finally i cleared my ippt! Can say it's a big rock off my shoulders. Only managed a silver this time, but it's ok. Be contented. Somemore my ankle is still 50/50. Better let it heal rather than train somemore to get the extra $200. Not worth it.

The only thing tt let me down this time was my 2.4km run i guess. Did a measly 11:13. I can remember the only other time i did over 11 mins was in sec 1 during my first 2.4km run. Other than that, it was all 11mins below. And during NDU it was all below 9 mins. So yea, it's quite a big fall from grace, but i guess the jitters got to me this time. Can't be helped, it's been how long since i took a ippt test man. Anyways i did let up quite a bit during the run. It was a 800m route, so we had to do 3 laps. By my running style, to get a good chance at gold, the first lap shld be under 3 mins. This is to give urself a good buffer for the nxt few laps. And then for the rest of the laps u shld aim abt 3:20 then yea the gold is yours. Btw the time to beat is 9:45.

My first lap came in at 3:30. Not too good i tot, but i was already out of breath and panting really hard. Second lap at 7:07. So i told myself to let go abit since any time from 9:46 to 11:40 would be sufficent for a silver. More than 4 mins to finish my last lap. So i slowed down and jogged slower, but not too slow in case it wasnt enuff. Yup. So 11:13. I think i'd have to train really really hard to get back the fitness that i had during my army days. Those days were the bomb la. Visible 6 pecs, toned torso and arms, super tight calves and thigh muscles. Now im just a nam nua guy. Heh.

Well it's still ok i guess. With the new $200 dollars, i'll go enjoy some solid food. Like the Portobello Mushroom Burger from Carl's Jr and the awesome jap buffet at Kuishinbo (if i got the name correct)

Up la!

Hmm since i'm currently slacking ard, let's give my songs a small review so that my listeners will not go "WTF is this shit?" when they click on some of the more "acquired taste" songs ;)

I Believe - This is a cover of the theme song from "My Sassy Girl". Yes tt lovely Korean movie with tt sick bitch and tt doofus of a guy. Purely acoustic instrumental, both rhythm and harmony played together on one guitar. This is the complete song, tho i might wanna redo the recording cos it seems out of time at some parts. Worthy listen of u are a Chinese pop fan.

InstruMetal - So far the best of my instrumental pieces. As the song name hints, this is a heavy metal song, complete with distortion and fast drumming. Listen out for the harmonising rhythm guitars, the rhythm changes, the transitions and the solos. Heavily influenced by Iron Maiden for this track.

Arabian Nights - The other of my instrumental pieces, this particular one plays heavily on the Spanish scale, twisted to achieve the "arabic" sound. The opening riff is one which many are familiar with, but when the harmony kicks in, it gives a entire different flavour. Solos were pretty slipshod and the song ends alittle to0 abruptly. Another heavy metal song btw. *Song is still being considered as incomplete but Chang has currently no plans to update and re-record the song*

Standstill - Long standing favourite by most, radio-friendly pop rock! Inspired by the performance of the band Serenaide @ Esplanade, song is about a unrequited love. Very catchy riff and chorus, hooks u into the song immediately. But personally i feel the singing is pretty off, so might have to redo the vocals sometime soon. Personal favourite, Shirui's favourite and umm dunno. Haha.

Driven - The first song tt i ever wrote. Abit punk rock-ish but yet has this motivational vibe to it. Catchy riff with a very melodic solo. This track is the best recorded, flawless playing and vocals were on key. Just tt i could have sung with more emotion.

Walk Together - Haha, a song for my girl's birthday. Mushy i know, but listen out for the drums! I'm pretty pleased with this song's chord progression too. Finally something that breaks out of the 3/4 chord progression that we are so used to. Great solo as well, not overly indulgent, just fitting for the song.

Son of the Devil - First song tt involved keys and bass lines. Did some pretty tough drumming lines as well. Inspired by Marilyn Manson, this song was to be sung the Manson-style. But i can't pull it off, no one i knew could/would wanna try. Pretty dark piece with lotsa harmonics thrown in for that sinister feel. Sad thing is the lack of vocals, or else this track would shine.

Peace Inside Your Heart - Written for someone who passed away. A track with a major-ish riff superimposed onto a minor-ish chord progression for that ambiguous feel. The guitar solos basically just further emphasize on the mood. Everytime i listen to this song i get alittle saddened.

You Wanna Be A Star - Rock n' Roll baby! This is what all rock music is about. Bad lyrics, bad singing, solid guitar riffs and wailing solos! Kudos to Daniel Soh for giving a big help in the "bad lyrics" waahaha!

Strained - A heavy metal makeover of my brother's punk rock song. Yea it was so bad tt i had to remake it. His drummer was doing the song injustice! But anyways it sounded heavier, darker now, with a more kickass solo, tho i have to redo the vocals cos it was way way off. Maybe get my bro to sing.

Choice listens if u are a popper - I Believe, Standstill, Driven, Walk Together

Choice listens if u are a rocker - InstruMetal, Arabian Nights, You Wanna Be A Star

Oh btw i din include my latin piece here, cos it's too poorly recorded. As in fuzzy sounding. When i make it better then i'll upload it.

Sometimes ppl ask "So what do u actually listen? U are neither a rocker, popper nor metalhead or jazz guru". The thing is listen to EVERYTHING. Well almost, cept hip-hop i guess, cos i really think tt's filth. Listening widely is good~ esp from a musician standpoint, cos it prevents u from being confined to one particular type of music, and also allows u to do some cross-genre thingy too like Arabian Nights. Very helpful and it opens up my playing alot. Tho it doesnt really help in terms of technique, musically wise i feel i've improved alot over these years.

Anyways here's some recommendations of bands for the particular genre of music u are interested in:

Old School Rock: Deep Purple, Motley Crue, ACDC, Guns N Roses, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Dio, Thin Lizzy, Mr Big
New School Rock: Creed, Alterbridge, The White Stripes, Eagles of Death Metal, Velvet Revolver, The Darkness, U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Oasis, Hoobastank
Fantasy Metal: Hammerfall, Avantasia, Sonata Arctica
Blues: Stevie Ray Vaughn, Gary Moore, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton
Heavy Metal: Metallica, Iron Maiden
Progressive: Dream Theater, Helloween, Symphony X, Liquid Tension Experiment, RUSH
Pop rock: BEATLES, Keane, Embrace, Badly Drawn Boy, Travis, Alanis Morisette, The Corrs, Coldplay, John Mayer, Jason Mraz, Michael Learns to Rock
Shredders: Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Paul Gilbert, John Petrucci, Yngwie Malmsteen, Eric Johnson, John 5
Pop: Boyzone, Take That, John Lennon, Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, TERESA TENG (seriously how can anyone not like her?????)
Alternative/punk/emo/blah-core: Muse, MCR, Blink 182, Ataris, Better Than Ezra, Offspring, The Stills, The Strokes
Jazz/Moody: Morcheeba, Emi Fujita, John Patittucci, Jaco Pastorius, Pat Metheny, Tommy Emmanuel

Umm tt's all i can think of.

1. New recording! Finally completed the song from My Sassy Girl "I Believe". Yea it's pure instrumental so ur ears wun bleed from my singing. Listen to it from the sidebar or click HERE.
2. I met the biggest and the stupidest office bitch today. For 2 weeks tt i've been working behind closed doors with my 2 female colleagues, no one had said anything. And today she has to come in with a "Hey guys i think it's more appropriate for your to open the door. Cos there's guys and girls here then we might not know what you all are doing." Like WTF? I'm so gonna rape my female colleagues?
3. Gal has finally gotten her braces, after like... 5 yrs?. Yea silly indecisive girl. But congratulations. U look so cutely funny now. But i still love u so dun worry.
4. Gotten a new game from Junhao. Heroes 5 baby. But like all other previous titles, it's not as addictive as i want it to be. Maybe i havent got down to really start playing it. Will see how this weekend.
5. I finally understood what's mastering. And Adobe Audition has this wonderful "punch-in" feature which can finally solve lots of recording problems. I have a little attention-defiency, when recording a 4 min song straight i tend to slip in and out of concentration. This feature helps patch up the bad parts. Idea.
6. Noodled out a pretty neo-classical ballady riff. Probably do a simple recording and let Ian take a listen. He's all game for dragon metal, 3rd person whom i see is so onz abt songs tt sing of knights and dragons. 2nd person being my brother, and the first is of course me. Hope Ian can somehow get hold of a keyboard and then we can really make some music. Did i tell u i admire guys who can play good keyboards? And i mean guys. Not girls.
7. Been playing quite bit of DotA with Louis. Somehow or another i just love to play with bots. Probably because i've already lost the competitive edge with me. Louis is nice enuff to play bots with me so i thank him for that. U've been a great pal. Dun worry i will save u in war. I swear.

Kk bye.

Today was the slackest day at work. Cos there really isn't any work in the office for us to do. So techincally speaking, i had to "slack" for 4 hours, which was pretty hard to do actually. We only had 1 speaker in the office, and its permamently attached to my ipod. So tt leaves Youtube, Google Video, and Break.com out of the picture. Reading stuff is also pretty much out, cos we've been staring at pieces and pieces of paper with small prints for days. Porn surfing is too dangerous, and there are girls working with me, er...

So tt leaves us with just web-based games (Yes, u cannot install anything either). But they aren't really great games, designed to just kill probably 10-20 mins of your time. I have 4 hrs to spare dudes. And some really good ones tt kept me alittle hooked, are those demo versions. Darn! Just when u start to get alittle high on ur mini empire, the screen flashes " BUY IT NOW". Wathef.

Btw, my sec sch buddy Ian is working together with me now, slacking together in the director's office playing stupid games away. And sorry tt i dropped the bomb on u yesterday. And wipe tt stupid grin off your face when you see Wendy! Perv!

In light of all these, i decided to compile a mini list of things to keep u entertained when u are bored:

Listening:

1. www.soundclick.com/changsg - My own music site. Blatant self-promotion i know. Dun ask me why i put it on my MSN nick as well. I just feel like it. Now go listen, give me some hits so tt i can squeeze into the top 20 charts, and leave some nice comments to boost my ego.
2. www.pandora.com - This is the sickest music page Jerrard has ever sent me. Simply wait for the player to load, type in the song name or the artiste tt u like, and it will play songs tt are similar in genre and feel. Kinda like a "If you like Metallica... try Iron Maiden!" thingy. Yea, they dun call themselves the Music Genome for nothing. Or something like that.
3. www.radioblogclub.com - To find tt elusive song that u've always wanted to hear. Thanks Lisa for this link.

Reading:

1. www.intellectualwhores.com - Interesting site that talks about the relationships between men & women. Very very true indeed.
2. www.churchofsatan.com - Yes this is the official website of Satanism. Dun get me wrong though. Enter with a open mind and read the "Theories & Practices" section. Gives you a whole new perspective of what Satanism is actually about. Ian has somewhat changed his viewpoints. He's cool just like me. We are both satanic ;)
3. http://blogsearch.google.com - When u are really bored, hunt for ur friend's blogs! And see what they have to write/bitch about. Sometimes u know too much.

Watching:

1. Hard Gay - If you dunno who the hell Hard Gay is, you are really living in the wrong side of the world. Umero Uno. He's my number 1 gay hero.
2. Library Game - Singaporeans should really try to do this in libraries. Funny as hell. This ranks right behind Hard Gay in the funny charts.
3. www.knoxskorner.com - Sometimes watching blue Klay Men can be really entertaining. Especially their stupidly retarded conversations and their "Kenny" instincts. Yes almost everyone dies.
4. Scarified - If you think you know guitar, you havent seen Paul Gilbert play Scarified yet. It's mindblowingly insane. Lisa watched with her mouth open throughout.
5. www.break.com - Lots of junk. Stupid americans doing stupid things. Like jumping off the roof and landing head on.
6. Solid stuff - This one must watch la. Ultimate virtuoso singing and dancing.

K enuff crap. Hope tml will be a better day.

Blogging from work right now. I'm beginning to feel the "no-life"-ness in working.

A typical working day goes like this: 7am - Wake up, 9am - start work, 6pm - go home, 7:30pm - reach home, 8:30pm - finish dinner, 9:30pm - send my gal home, 10pm - hang, 11pm - time to do own stuff, 12pm - sleep.

Yea i only have 1 hr each day to really do my own stuff. I could sleep later, but it equates to less sleep time. And less sleep time = zombie for the nxt day.

I wonder how pple can find the energy to even jam and gig after work. I dun even have time to practise!

Probably it's just purely time management, probably i shld prioritize my activities.

Tt being said, i have a new song coming up. Largely influenced by the playing of Paul Gilbert. It's still in the works, tho i have a pretty good idea of how i wanted it to be. Sometimes shitting in the toilet can just give u the biggest inspiration u've ever had.

Anyways, Paul Gilbert is a great guitarist. Any self-deserving musician shld give him a good listen, not really for the shredding skills, but for the clean-ness of his picking, and his DYNAMICS. Yea after watching his videos and listening to his songs, i got a better idea of dynamics, which were oh-so lacking in most of my compositions. Yup dynamics really bring out the music in your playing and u will sound less like a midi track.

And Paul Gilbert is a funny, honest man. No airs, no arrogance, just mean guitar playing with funny lyrics. You guys shld just visit his self-designed webpage, to see how simple a man this world-class guitarist is.

www.paulgilbert.com

With less time to do my things, i feel tt i appreciate them more. Yes, humans are sluts. The less u have of one thing, the more u want it. Probably, this is why i feel a sudden urge to play lots and lots of guitar. But i just dun have the time right now. This can translate to other aspects of your life. Like u and your girlfriend/boyfriend, ur friends, ur parents, ur car.. whatever man.

Maybe the only way to realize the value of something, is to lose it first. But, tt will be too late by then.

What an irony of life.

*typed when in a state of zombie-ness while remaining in high alert for potential backstabs from my hot lady supervisor. Yes, she's damn pretty, looks like Mischa Barton, and hella sweet voice to boot. Too bad, but i have a gf already.*

Working on a new song codenamed "Paulo"

Ugh not enough on my hands! Nvm watch this space.

Got a data entry job at MIS. Pretty stoned for first 2 days of work. Yea staring at the comp for straight 8 hrs ain't funny business.

Like girl said, must start somewhere la. Agree.

But it's still not so bad, at least get to see office chicks ard. MIS only got one, who happens to be the one giving me work to do ^^.

I wanna rock out...