Lotsa things happened today:

Took bus, but forgot that my farecard was out. So i dropped a dollar coin and i was through. My usual fare is $1.18 per trip to sch. So if i keep doing this, i save 18 cts everytime. Tt's a free trip every 3 days, counting to and fro. Hmm.

A 50+ lady boarded the bus, came up the stairs, and then started to ask people for 2 dollars. Just because she wants enough money to buy some smokes. And she's pretty rude when going about doing her "begging". Heck she wasn't even begging. She's more like "you have 2 dollars? No? Ok sorry next." Tt's damn wtf. I feel like slapping her if she walked to me. But i had to alight before she had a chance.

I felt super bloated today. For the whole damn bloody day. It's not like i skipped meals, or i had a super bad diarrhea. It's just gas in me. Like fuck, what happened to you my dear stomach/intestine? It's still bloated now. Think i shall sleep with a balloon in me. Ugh.

Went Timbre for the very first time. I din even know it's just nearby Mr Raffles. Oh well, i really need to get out more often i guess. Goodfellas were playing today i think. Quite a solid band, very polished sound, very experienced, and a pretty nice repertoire. Speaking of which, most of the songs they played, i've actually jammed them before. Maybe i can sub their guitarist if they need one.

It's interesting to note that they choose to play all covers instead of their own originals. Why? Cos frankly speaking, no one in Singapore gives a shit. Covers pays the bills. Originals add on to the bills. I believe i'm like the only badass rocker amongst the working class customers. I highly doubt anyone there appreciates the high skill level of the drummer, the creativity of the bassist, the vocal harmonies of the 2 singers and the technicality of the lead guitarist. Or even the overall rearrangement of the songs.

Every girl there is just to look sexy and get picked up. Every guy there is just to be really smart and charm the pants off the girls. I'm there cos Shirui somewhat dragged me there. Luckily the pizza and the band is good. And u look damn pretty today, so eye candy for me ^^.

Saw Key and Gabriel on the day i went out. What coincidence. Apparently Gab chiongs so much that it's becoming an issue. And apparently Key's hair is really short. But still longer than mine i guess. Oh well. Nice to see they are still alive and well. (Johnny Winter)

Got myself an Erdinger just now. Havent drank beer for a v long time. I'm not much of a drinker, cos firstly i dun really dig the taste, and secondly i'm cheapskate, and thirdly the people around me dun drink at all. And i really dislike to order anything fancy, cos i dunno what they are, and it will look very gay if my fancy drink comes in a small slim martini glass. Beer is safe. I know what i'm getting, and i wun look like a retard.

Sad to say i missed the Erdinger black on the menu. Or else i would have ordered that instead of a white. Erdinger black is really smooth for a draught/stout. And it adds on to that "rock" factor. And apparently blacks gives u that oomph when you have to workout at night. No wonder all the ah peks love drinking stouts. They need some help when it comes to the ladies of the night eh?

Guitar Update: Lesson 9: Trail Offs

Trail off is another technique that i like to use. Basically u play a note and u slide it until it fades out, in a quick fashion. Tricky part is that u tend to accentuate the trail off instead of letting it die off, so it's important to realise the difference. I usually just slide downwards towards the neck, cos it sounds more normal. Sliding up the neck sounds abit funny, but there's quite a bit of examples in the book tt slides upwards. Hmm.

Anyways, the entire lesson today is actually 1 giant solo for a 12 bar blues, which is broken down into several short segments to make learning the entire solo easier. I practised abit on the individual segments (like 2 times per key) and then went straight into learning the entire solo in it's entirety.

There's some parts which are typical blues licks, and there's some unconventional ones as transitions to the IV or V chords. Everything's in root position, so it's quite simple to play, tho bending at the first string is a bitch at times. Nothing much to say i suppose, guess the hardest part is to actually play it slow enough to keep to 72 bpm. Yes it's quite tricky to play really slow, especially connecting licks that do not start on the accents. Takes alot of control, and also focus, cos u have to play, keep in time, add emotion, figure out the nxt key, and sink in on the weaker parts. Today i was semi-shag, so probably couldn't focus v well and messed up quite alot of times.

Been changing my picking technique from the anchoring with the pinky, to the "clenched" fist floating style. I personally believe any picking technique is fine as long as you are comfortable with it, but the floating style transitions to the hybrid picking style more easily. So i'm sorta prepping my style first, to embrace hybrid picking next. I really feel it's gonna be the next big thing in shred.

Oh and check out Sonny Landreth on Youtube. He's bloody amazing for a slide guitarist. Derek Trucks comes a close 2nd though.

Alright peace out.