"Follow the signs, of the crimson thunder~" - Hammerfall

Yea tt phrase kept ringing in my head throughout the day, from the moment i woke up, while doing my exam paper, all the way till now. In case you have no idea what i'm talking about, here's some power-metal 101:


Yea epic stuff.

I wonder if crimson thunder refers to the glistening 10ct coin tt i picked up this morning on my way to school. Or does it refer to the orangey-yellow Winamp lightning logo? It's a sign... of crimson thunder... that i must follow. Argh.

Or maybe it just means Hammerfall is on my side, in the battle for examinations glory!

I finished my paper early, just so i could come to study for clincal trials. But in the end fatigue and laziness took over and i slept + wasted the entire afternoon away. Which leaves me 1 day to study for it. Helpsheet's done, but of course i could have done more. Haiz, shouldn't be too slack even though i already know nothing i do can get first class honours. Pfft.

Alright shall get cracking!

I dun get why people still want to spend on unnecessary things when the world is facing a financial crisis.

I dun get why people still insist on travelling when the world is so chaotic now.

I dun get how some people can drink so much beer in one sitting, like 2 bottles. Which is like 2 litres? I barely drink 2 litres of water a day.

I dun get why people want to do well but not work hard.

I dun get why people want to migrate so badly.

I dun get alot of things. There's still alot more that i dun get.

But some things i do.

I dun like to spend unnecessarily because every cent saved count towards marriage.

I dun like to travel because it is dangerous and i'm not Superman, thus i cannot protect everybody, let alone myself. Holds true especially for Asian countries.

I dun like to drink because it's exp, not nice, and not healthy either. And i dun need to attract the opposite sex.

I wouldn't exchange security in Singapore for anything else in the world.

AGT paper is bad. Haven't skipped so many questions in a while. But as i said, when there's 100 apples and no matter how you count it's only 99 to you, then you just can't solve the question. So too bad.

I'm reminded again that i still lack the maturity to marry and take care of Shirui. My brother moved out about 3 days ago, and from what i sensed from my mom, it's quite a big load of shit. And he's at home all the while. Seems like it's more than just money that you need to build a new life. Time, effort and cooperation is also important.

Reflective night. Non-parametric tomorrow!

1st paper down. Typical LTW, always start with a stunning 1st question to throw you completely off-balance. Fortunately, i dun fall for the same trick twice (got one last sem.. BOO!!), and i managed to regain composure and worked through the other problems before coming back to the killer question. Should be fine i hope.

I always have performance anxiety, but at least the anxiety was yesterday, and i felt more calm this morning. Must be clutch! Like Reggie Miller.

Been reading up on M:TG stuff again. Back to geekiness! Actually i'm very very geeky even though i may not look like it. Yea, so much has changed since the last time i touched the cards. So many new type of cards, abilities, combos etc etc. And the funny thing is they reprinted quite a good number of "powerhouse" cards like Hypnotic Specter and Juggernaut. For pple like me who already cleared stock, i'll be like "phew". For collectors who kept cards hoping they will grow in value, they'll be like cursing right now.

And one thing is they made so many improvements to some cards, made certain older cards decidely useless and valueless, even though they commanded high prices in the past. It's good and bad in a way i guess. I already sold most of my power stuff. It's better to keep money in the pocket nowadays :P

I dun really like cold calls. Asking me to be an insurance agent, or buying insurance. That being said, FA friends who "cold calls" me by randomly msging me on MSN and asking me how i'm doing, sucks even more. It's just so fake, suddenly being so ra-ra about my life. I really dun need such acquaintances in my life. I already have enough needy friends.

To me, selling insurance is a dead-end job. It's like MLM, just one class higher. If you can make it big, kudos to you. Just dun count on me buying from you. I dun intend to let anyone to touch my money, maybe except Shirui. (relationship-ly correct phrase)

6 more papers to graduation!

Pighead: Yes. That would be nice. 30 dollars again?

My parents are unnecessarily paranoid about almost everything. This in turn, makes them cynical and critical about everything. Being their son, i pick up their genetic traits. Therefore i'm paranoid too. And cynical. And critical. I can't really stop these paranoid, cynical and critical feelings. But what i try to do is to be more aware of it. When i'm aware of how i feel, i will hopefully lessen the chance of showing outwardly.

Introducing Superhandles!

Straight out destroy any ball-handlers out there. The stuff he does makes Ganon Baker look like a retard. What is And-1?

I got hold of this useful powertoy named Synctoy (XP only). Basically just an app to help sync your folders. Great for backup-ing stuff. Google for it if interested. Digital Life is slowly getting more informative with every issue.

Just had a ultra sinful supper. It's my 4th meal of the day and i have no idea why i'm so hungry today. Shouldn't be eating so late, and also stuff tt's so oily too. Bad boy Chang. Shall work it all off tml by doing some Superhandles! Rarr.

Stuff like that motivate me somehow. One look, i know i can do it. Stuff like guitar, sometimes yes, sometimes no. Hit/miss. Not very motivating sometimes. If only i have $$ for proper instruction. Guitar probably requires more proper instruction than bball from my experience. Growth during the time with Beez is probably the most. Like from zero to something in 6 mths.

Alright, gotta finish up Euler and Hamilton. Eat shit u 2.

Workout Log:
5 sets of:
10 floors stair climb
20 Swiss ball pushups
20 Deadlifts
20 Trunk twists

Waking up in the morning to work out is bad idea. Especially before you eat breakfast.

Tot i might as well finish up the SQC tutorials instead of leaving them last minute. Graph theory is kinda hard to get pumped about anyways. It's quite an enormous amount of questions to go thru for practice.

My thumb is still sore. It's been like 10 days, still as sore as day 1. Pfft.

Some people can get very very motivated when other people tell them they can't do this and that. They have the "i'll prove you wrong" mentality. I admire people like that.

I need a new ball. The current one is getting furry.

Workout Log:
Ball

Pighead: Dun get too happy. You had alot of help from other pple. 1v1 nxt time? ^^v

Finished the SQC practice exam today. Seems quite easy, but with LTW, he'll sure come out some random stunning question for the finals again. Still not very comfortable with some concepts, guess i will revise those more when the exam draws closer. Tml shall be graph theory day. Stupid prof still havent mark finish the mid-term. I wonder how long he will take to mark the final paper. It's ridiculous to the max.

Tried stair climbing today, 5 sets of 10 floor sprints to be exact. Not really very taxing on the legs, but more taxing on the heart. Somehow as i climb higher my head gets lighter and i feel alittle dizzy. And because you have to keep going it circles, it adds on to the dizziness. I try to go as fast as i can up each flight of stairs, but the inbetween stair landing is kinda tight, so i have to slow down and make a U turn to approach the nxt flight. Which is kinda kills any form of rhythm. But of course this is good in a way, cos it's like burst, slow, burst, slow... for 10 floors.

I took the lift down each time, cos walking down lazily will just pound the ankles more. Which is bad.

Really loving the ice-tub treatment. Make lotsa ice-cubes, throw them into the pail and add water. Instant feet relief. My mom thinks i'm crazy, but if Ray Allen does it, it shouldnt be too bad eh? And my parents get paranoid over me making ice with tap water. Tap water in Singapore is drinkable. Water cooler water is from the tap!

Speaking of which, i think the real issue from me fumbling on the ball this 2 days is the fact tt, i feel i'm constanly playing against 2 defenders. One on ball and one ready to pounce when i pick up my dribble. I dun quite get why some of my friends can drive in and everybody gets out of the way, while everytime i drive in and i meet 2-3 bodies infront of me. Gotta figure out of to play 1v2. Really not good with that.

Swiss ball pushups again. So good la.

Sleep early tonight! Like finally XD

Workout Log:
5 Sets of:
10 floors stair climb
20 deadlifts
15 Swiss ball pushups
20 trunk twists

Played like shit today. Basically just hesitated too much, which leads to bad shots. Poor body control during lay-ups, and just lost focus here and there. Part of it is also due to that i was playing with my friends, and they all pre-empted my moves. Which is bad. Gotta learn to mix it up somehow.

One thing is most people dun set off-ball picks for me, because very few people know how to. Those who know how to, usually dunno how to set it well. And then when you finally find someone who knows and can do it well, you dun have a passer on your team to receive the ball from. So that's something taken away from my game. But ultimately, i just have to learn how to trust my teammates to get the ball to me whenever i start to run off staggers. Now i just dun bother to, which actually is bad.

It's always kinda hard to adopt the beginner approach to anything, especially when you think you've got it figured out already. Seems like there's still more to learn understand and execute. Sometimes it's in the mind. I can't really play fearlessly. I'm afraid of injuries, and because of that i play a very gentle game of catch and shoot. Something to sort it out i guess.

Thinking of doing stair running. Cos suicides look damn ridiculous when you're doing it alone, and i dun really like pple to look at me when i work out. Normal jogging is getting...aimless somewhat. Issue here is, how many floors per sprint? I'm thinking of doing 5 sets of sprints tho. Seems like 4 floors is so-so, or maybe i shld start little and slowly increase as my ability improves. Mmm. sounds like a good plan!

Shagged out. This week is tiring. Woo!

Workout Log:
Yday:
Swim x16
Ball

Today:
Ball

Mmm, i'm not sleeping as early as i want to. That's not good Chang! You can do better than that.

Whole body is feeling very very hot. I dunno if it's the muscle cream, or if it's due to exercising too much. Or worse, fever (nah). Aches all over the upperbody thanks to the Swiss ball pushups. Gotta get used to it somehow i guess.

Think i'll switch to my chair for now, cos the ball is kinda high, which means i will have to bend down quite low to write my uber small helpsheet. And yes, the only person that can further reduce my helpsheet size is me myself. People think i'm writing unnecessarily small here. But it kinda empowers me to know that i have 3 months of information in 1 paper. Fast and easy reference. Takes perfect eyesight though, so sorry my myopic friends : \

It's funny people think that i wear contacts to school. Here's a contradiction proof for you:
- Assume Chang wears contacts to school.
- People who wear contacts to school want to look good.
- People who want to look good, dress up nicely to school etc waxed hair, shoes, jeans, funky tees whatever. New urban male style.
- Chang doesn't dress up nicely to school (berms slippers random tees ugly hair unshaven sometimes)
- Therefore Chang doesn't want to look good in school. (contradiction)
- Because Chang doesn't want to look good in school, Chang wouldn't wear contacts (QED)
Further on i proof that i have perfect eyesight:
- Chang doesnt wear contacts to school
- Chang can handle XJF's horrendously small handwriting in class without any visual aids.
- Therefore Chang must have perfect eyesight. Or Superman's eyes, which would be fine too (QED)

If only such proofs were useful for my FYP.

Had a great ball game today. It's good when i have a center to pair with. High low sets are so easy to employ. Easy baskets, easy wins.

Workout Log:
Ball

Shirui got me a Swiss ball. Turned out to be larger than expected. Feels funny to sit on it now, but i guess i will get used to it after a while. Supposed to be good for the back, but if it turns out otherwise, i can always just use it for my workouts.

The same brace came off again. This is like... #5. Pfft.

Pretty much just slacked the day away. Whole day's so wet and cold, you dun even feel like doing anything at all. But it's alright. Tomorrow will be a better day. And i'll whack the helpsheets hard again.

Nothing much to say tonight. Life is bland lately :)

Workout Log:
5 sets of
15 Swiss ball pushups (tough, but not as tough as using a bball)
20 deadlifts
20 trunk twists
10 single leg dumbbell squats

Not sure what to do on your birthday?

Treat your friends to free ice-cream ala Firehouse Happy Birthday @ Swensens!

Here's how to do it:

- Meet your friend at Swensens.
- Before ordering, ask if there's any promotion for birthdays. The friendly service staff will kindly inform you that they will give a complementary Firehouse Happy Birthday ice-cream when you order anything off the menu.
- Ask your friend to order a bottle of water for you, and anything else extra. You get your free sundae.
- Pass said sundae to best pal for enjoyment.
- Get best pal to pay the bill for 1 bottle of water.
- Contact another friend and meet at another Swensens outlet.
- Repeat step 1.

Everyone gets free sundaes. You get to meet your beloved pals. Everyone wants to meet u too because of free sundaes. It's a win win situation.

My facebook wall is flooded with well-wishes. I really din know i was soooo popular. Nice to know that people would like to get involved in my life. But i really can't reply to everybody cos it's too troublesome. And i also can't just reply to some people cos that would be unfair. So the best solution is to reply to no-one!

Looked back at my bday entry last year. Guess i'm still as sick and funny as ever!

Roar

My family tends to get flak for being over-money-istic. Like money is everything. But the hard truth is that, money is really everything. It's only not everything when you have sufficient money, but otherwise, the statement holds true.

Musicians can give up their ideals and play covers in pubs just purely because their own songs dun sell. They will do everything they can to get signed because it "promises" an inflow of money, irregardless of how ridiculous the contract might get.

People whine about wanting to go overseas not because they are tired of the SG system, but because they feel they can't make enough money in the current system for themselves. You almost never hear rich people wanting to migrate.

Girls will tend to date guys who can give them flowers and drive them around in Porsches and Ferraris. They might not love the guys, but at least the Prada bags keep coming. Ultimately, they will want to marry someone who's going to be financially stable, which also implies being able to afford a flat at least.

Money = Happiness. I've never heard anyone complain about a promotion, i've never heard anyone wanting to look for a job that will pay less.

The only thing that separates everybody is the threshold of money. Some people need alot of money to go about their daily lives. Some people don't require much. High maintenance, low maintenance. When such a threshold is not reached, people whine.

It's not wrong to be money-istic. It's wrong to be high maintenance.

Workout Log:
5 sets of:
20 deadlifts
20 trunk twists
10 dumbbell single leg squats

Some inspiration for lyrics today. Kinda cheesy again, but i guess tt's the stuff for jazzy love songs isn't it? Changed the progression slightly today, but pretty much the samey. Gotta try to think of a chorus or bridge part though, and bridge immediately brings to me to Buble. Chang can't sing like Buble. Sigh.

It's actually quite fun to play the rhythm, cos the chords are constantly changing and you have to be really fast in changing chords and remembering the progression too. Works the brain somewhat, a break from the incessant pursuit of shred i guess.

There are many kinds of musicians: tasteful, technical, versatile, knowledgeable, composing, recording, teaching etc etc. I guess it's important to identify what kind you are and try to fill that role as much as you can, before trying to be another kind of musician. Focus on your strengths.

So what kind of a musician are you?

Workout Log:
Ball

Today's ball session made me realise a few things:
- it takes a team to win. Regardless of how much effort i put in, if my team-mates do jack, my team will still lose.
- I can't play well against short guys, cos i have this constant phobia of landing onto them, thereby injuring myself.
- I can defend well if i remember to. Yes remembering is the word. It's hard to think properly when you are tired. At least i managed to shut down the guy towards the end. Give him the left side. Nobody can dribble left properly.
- My left dribble is improving, good enough to break a double team press. Just need more awareness on the court. Still feels like everything is a blur. Can't help it when my actions are getting faster. I'm not used to the increased speed in me.
- Deadlifts are helping. Better hangtime, vertical, more strength and balance. Helps alot in the game.

I now understand the importance of off-seasons. Cos you can't really get much conditioning done when u are constantly playing matches and vice-versa. It's like all the conditioning u've done during the week u spend it all on the match. And then u repeat the cycle. Your body doesn't progress. The conditioning just prevents it from stagnating.

A jazzy-carpenter-ish tune keeps repeating in my head. I've tabbed out the chord progression already, and tho it looks abit nasty to play, it should be manageable with some practice. Just have to get used to the quick chord changes. Yea changing jazzy chords can be alittle bit tricky. I do like the piano tone for the chords tho, but i can't get GP5 to play it exactly the way i want it aka the lazy feel. Yea i gave up tabbing the melody because of it. Not lazy enough. Not trippy enough.

New-found appreciation for finger-picking. Can understand y Wes Montgomery uses his thumb for everything. It just has this smooth tone tt the pick cannot emulate. Might lose quite abit of efficiency, but if Wes can do it, so can you! Thinking of going full fingers this time. Might work.

A band played below my house just now. Some RC event. Talented and proficient musicians. But playing Here Without You, This Love, Burn and 2 heavy rock originals to 20+ tables of uncles and aunties = fail. I enjoyed the music i must say, they were really really good. But i doubt my parents can appreciate the power metal vocals and the groovy funk basslines and the wah-filled guitar solos and the pulsating drum beat. It just doesnt work.

Classic example of bad marketing.

Sell your band to the right crowd, and you'll be big. Selling your band to a crowd tt's generally conservative and doesnt buy CDs = fail x2.

Shrug. Lucky the MP left before they performed. Perhaps he might have banned gigs after hearing them. *shudder*

Workout Log:
Ball.

A wave of fatigue knocked me out today. Guess i haven't been sleeping much lately. Since the "holidays" are coming, i should try to get my 8.5 hrs of sleep everyday. Yea, tt's precisely how much i should sleep to make sure i dun wake up feeling under/over slept. Dun question that number, i've experimented with various numbers. 8.5 is the best for me.

Oughta hit the books tml. First up, SQC! Ooh 8/10 for the project. Not too shabby. Perhaps the report wasn't very well written. Oh well. Hope for the best for the finals.

Time to crash.

Workout Log:
5 sets of:
12 Clapping Pushups
20 Deadlifts
20 Trunk Twists
20 Single Leg Cross Reach

Booyah! I have internet at night now! Like finally..........

Moral of the story: My router is not spoiled. It must be something else. I shan't blame Stinknet for this cock up cos they allow me to download billions of bullcrap compared to the Hub-using losers. Someone must have attempted to attack my internet every evening or smthing. I want to believe this conspiracy theory. Someone is out to assassinate my internet!

Oh yea, and Obama won. Shirui keeps thinking tt he will get assassinated. I think if pple like Saddam and the Kim guy from N.Korea can stay alive for so long even tho they are assholes, Obama shld be fine ba. Unless, we have another 9/11 conspiracy again!

I really think 9/11 is a plot created by the Bush regime to give them reasons to do all tt shit. Credit to them for designing such a intricate plan. BUT THEY WILL NOT FOOL ME.

My enthusiasm for basketball has been greatly revived, largely due to the deadlifts tt i've been doing. Less back pain/aches, more balance, better ball handling and movement, more strength in shots, more moves. Everything adds up. Just by doing deadlifts. Oh and vertical has improved too. I want to believe that either ways XD.

Classes are almost over, which means exams are coming. Shld start writing helpsheets soon. And also do my FYP, been shelving tt for a while. I'm so lazy with regards to that. Ugh.

Oh yea and i'm starting to DotA again. Due to the lack of internet, i could only make do by playing with bots. Yea quite loserish i guess, but what to do. At least the bots are challenging in some way. Probably shld get over the game in a while. It's always like this, play games during exams. I cannot understand why, but i believe it's a Chinese High culture. The more stressed u feel, the more u play.

As for guitaring, i've stopped playing lately, tho i still transcribe GT when i have the time. I can't really sustain 2 interests at the same time, so guitar has to make way for ball for now. Sorry Cassie (that's my guitar's lame name. Everyone has to name their instruments).

Yup tt's roughly what happened for the past 2 weeks tt i was offline at night. Just in case some people wanted to know. ;)

Workout Log:
Ball. Lotsa lotsa ball. Lotsa lotsa 3 pointers. Lotsa lotsa FT. Lotsa lotsa crossovers, behind the back and swanky moves.

I feel like Agent Zero.

Black President FTW!