overstayer

As of today, i am officially not a student anymore - I surrendered my Student Pass and now I'm just another Indon in Singapore! I guess its really a close shave how I ALMOST forgot that my pass expired on 30 Apr, which would mean that, let's say, I remembered in May, they will arrest me and give me free plane ride to Indonesia and forbid me from re-entering Singapore for quite a while. But anyway, that's not really important now.

I haven't updated for donkey years. But it's not like there has been people viewing this blog for a gazillion years. Sometimes it really feels like I'm holding a rock concert in a graveyard. Or whatever. Many things happened, of course... and although at the moment I'm slacking I've been quite busy the past 2 weeks - a $2000 contract with TH to produce a video for one of their events. Thats like err.. $2000 over two weeks. On first view it is a very good deal of course, until you realise the kind of red tape and blockage they make you go through. Can't elaborate about it at all cause I have an NDA with them - Non-disclosure Agreement - cause they feel the data is sensitive.

Of course, me, a humble student, with a "professional rate" given for two weeks work. What I can say is I definitely was a bargain (I'm not being cocky or anything - their toa-tow-kay, the HC person likes the vid and told them to tell me to put my name and pic at the end during the credits. And I was told they were so happy with it they are thinking of showing it to outsiders as part of their first impression thing of the company). So if you think of it, it is really a bargain. Consider that (this is not sensitive knowledge but it's not common knowledge either) Mediacorp charges outside people exorbitant fees to use its clips.

To view their library is something like $250 for 4 hours.

Taking the first 5 seconds of any tape - $1500, with $50 dollars charged per second after 5 seconds until 28 seconds. After which there is a flat rate of $2500 from 28s to dunno how many minutes, then there is another per-second-rate. Of course, means the more tapes you take the more you pay. I mean I can't say how much the company actually bought. But it doesn't make much sense to the everyday person why a company that owns Mediacorp wholly must pay for a few seconds of footage. Okay, the world is imperfect.

See how I think they really got a bargain? HAHAHA.

Anyway, it's been a pretty good experience lah. I learnt really a lot about how to do lots of new tricks - and downloaded a lot of stuff as well.

SO that's that, though I still have to collate a video for them during the event itself, which is pretty much an easy job.

Which also means, that from now till I get another student pass (ie when I confirm that I want to accept some uni's offer) it is illegal for me to work! Lol.

Anyway, went back for AJ Idol today. It was okay, I guess, but the standard of the contestants really dropped for the bands. Between Dania's band and that other group of crap, i think the winner is pretty obvious. Who gets away with a Bon Jovi impersonation especially if your (two) guitarists aren't even playing the song correctly. I think really they were trying to be AJ's next rock band after extasy - but at extasy played music, they played lots of noise, and I was really really trying hard to keep a straight face in the front row ah.

The guest "star" was really damn pro, that beatboxing guy. But that being said, it is something u want to see once and then clap and then forget about - cause other than his ability to use his mouth very quickly and innovatively. Well, it's not interesting. You know, like Zhang Yimou and his colorful spending spree for his movies - but ultimately are forgettable ones. And he's (the guest) someone who is trying to make it pro, like pretty desperate to. Of course I feel bad for him... and why i think music should be just for fun and interest and not for money cause

MONEY SPOILS EVERYTHING!

If you haven't realised yet. how many arguments, murders, frame-ups, crimes are money-motivated?

i want to form a band that really feels our own music - even if we do get signed on we'd have to have the final say over our content - dunch want to be doing over-commercialised numbers do we. Ah. that reminds me cause the others are all in the army, and not as enthusiastic about the music thing anymore, maybe. I'd have to wait till uni days then.

and one more thing i realised - my written english is degrading, or is it the late nights and lack of sleep to correct and recorrect the minor details of my contract job? - note from the first paragraph the english. Then scroll back here.

LOL.

it's quite lonely nowadays, with me being sidelined from my facilitator job (my toe hasnt healed yet, at least i can't wear a shoe yet) and all other guys in the army. other than weekends which have some stuff to do the weekdays have been, well, boring...

with my $2000 pay check, what should I do:
1-save it
2-buy a $295 mockingbird guitar
3-go for guitar lessons

I like the sound of 2 and 3. HAHA. Another idea: KBOX! 4 guys going Kbox is really more fun than it appears. Esp if the first song i chose was 脱掉. Ha.

ahh.. maybe if I'm free, I'd blog more. To the ghosts and shadows who occasionally come by to listen to my compositions (if you havent realised yet, that MIDI track is mine)

that crossroad im uncomfortable with

It's really been a while since I last updated. No not as rarely as some people I know, which really tempts me with just taking this blog down. Though its only been about two weeks a pretty lot of things have happened... like

A Level Results & Uni Admission - I really had my heart and lungs and intestines in my mouth and I swear a coupleofbutterflies-and-moths in my stomach on my way to school. Going gallivanting with a few jokers, playing arcade and messing around 30 minutes before results were out didn't do much to relieve me of the tension I felt (and I'm sure everyone who studied to some extent did. If you didn't study, chances are your grades are predictable so...). Truth to be told like some people I know, if my name didn't appear on the screen it means I did badly. So I was really relieved when my name appeared on that screen that I just grabbed Lao Lai who was sitting next to me and really just hugged him, haa. Its one of those moments in life where it is really so tense - I mean that 30 minutes when Ms Leong was going through the analysis were the longest I ever felt, truthfully - like only very few distinctions in history and GP, etc - anyway, I'm really relieved. And to a smaller extent quite happy. Some people may scold me with scorn with words like "you did so well already, dun complain" or something similar.

Just that now I'm asking, Did I really do my best? If I really did my best I would have been studying full-time in my two years in AJ instead of wasting my time with other stuff, trying to make a doomed relationship work, playing computer games without purpose and staying late in school for no apparent reason. I would have taken the teachers' advice and read up newspapers and sent in essays every week. I would have consulted my tutors after every lesson. I would have went for tuition in my weakest subjects. I would not have waited until Prelims was over to really go for top gear. If I did the above, maybe I would have done better.

Another point I'd say is that, in the 'A's theres really no such thing as luck - you get what you work for. If you just refuse to study your 'flair' and 'genius' remains unproven, you can go moan and complain all you want about how "some other fucker" managed to score better than you. Just get fucking real, you suck and you didn't work hard enough. Others did; and they deserve their grades more than you do. Just stop complaining cause it is really noisy and irritating to my ears. I really admire those people who put both hands up and admitted that they didn't study hard enough and only had themselves to blame - it takes courage to not point the finger on others for your own failures.

I'm not naming any names but you know who you are. You are fucking disgusting.

I was initially a bit surprised by my results of course, and the school encouraged us to apply for scholarships and all. On that account, I'm really apprehensive. I'll elaborate that later.

Anyways went for NTU and SMU open house with some of the SC people and with my class for the first half of NTU. My appraisal, sadly for SMU wannabes, is that NTU seems to be more solid, and I can be assured that as an NTU grad I really have real, valuable skills when I graduate although I might fall behind in establishing my networking connections and et cetera. On the other hand, SMU seems to me like a dubious university. I mean, throughout the Business School talk the guy kept repeating a) SMU's pedagogical classroom environment and b) SMU's extensive networking, as though all the school teaches is for potential businessmen to just smile and charm their way through with confidence and THEN rely on the NTU and NUS graduates to actually work on the specifics of the business deal. Which struck me that SMU seems to aspire in producing empty easter eggs - colorful and vibrant and attractive, but with nothing inside to back it up.

Sorry, but I don't want to be that kind of person.

On the other hand, NTU simply gives the impression that you will join their production line of business graduates - armed with credible skills and a well-recognized degree, but ultimately you are exactly the same as another NTU graduate. Probably the networking opportunities are lesser, but the lesser of two evils dictate that the person with credible skills could take time to catch up with establishing his/her network of contacts after graduation, no? Rather than graduating with an extensive networks but having nothing inside of you.

Maybe I am wrong, and biased cause of my experience in their open house and word-of-mouth from NTU, NUS and SMU graduates. But I am deciding my future and so I'd believe I have a choice and my own rationales on following them.

I have no qualms against NUS and submitted an application there as well, so ultimately if I don't get into Mass Comm then I'll decide between NTU and NUS Business Faculties.

Work @ HATC - Ok, so I just started my facilitator job at HATC, its a cool 12 bucks an hour but it's not so cool knowing that you have to travel ungodly distances at ungodly hours of the morning and face ungodly piles of paperwork when you get home. I'd say I did pretty well in my first 4 facilitations, cause the guy asked me back for this week and the next week to facilitate and have "greater involvement" as a facilitator. THOUGH I am very very very lag in meeting the deadline for paperwork to be submitted.... I think I missed lots of deadlines already, so they might not be happy with me on that.

And it really provided me with many learning points after just a day or two at work. First I realised how lucky I am to be born who I am and to be able to study in good schools and a good environment to get good grades and all. The first one, a facilitation at Yu Ying Secondary School (some ulu corner of Kovan) for Sec 4 N(A) kids was kind of an eye opener, because of how differently students responded to the trainer than, let's say, Catholic High School. For the two classes I facilitated, there were admittedly a very high proportion of good looking girls =D (but facilitators and trainers are barred from giving contact details to them so... =[ ) and a lot of troubled kids. The troubled kids part can get really disturbing at times, especially those who are ostracized cause they are fat, quiet and even for being studious. The second, third and fourth times for me was at St. Patrick's Secondary, which is at friggin East Coast Road. Again at Sec 4 level, but for different express classes and some N(T) kids. Which brings me to the point on how arrogant the Express kids can get. The N(T) kids paid total attention and written some very disturbing stuff like "I hate myself, my friend is unhappy because of me, I hate myself and I want to kill myself", "I am lousy because I am fat and my parents keep calling me stupid" amongst others. They showed that they were willing to change for the better and paid very careful attention. On the other hand those fucking Express kids just frustrate me by simply not caring, listening to MP3, reading novels, even eating Macdonald's blatantly and making a lot of noise and ostracizing other kids blatantly as though it is the national sport. Those kids were really a torture to watch.

Although the hours are short and the pay is good, it is really more tiring than any student job bar teaching, because for the duration you are facilitating you must appear to be 100% awake and listening at the same time, and taking the trainer's cues as well as watching for student responses and trying to get their names all at the same time. It is really really really tiring. Of course, whenever the trainer needs to cab back to the office I get to hitch a quick taxi ride home, which is one of the perks. Yeah. Maybe I'd try being an associate trainer when I'm in Uni for the extra income, which really really helps.

o2 Finale Performance with Blue Exit - I must say Extasy members should really eat their shoes on what they say of this band. With the exception of the bassist who really sucks to the core (I'll get to that later) the other members are really skilled people who in any rate are more spontaneous and are more open to musical styles than the Extasy guys. Sid is a really great drummer who's professionally trained (at least that's what I overheard, but I saw it in action) Shui Yong sounds really good on a Cort (despite it being made in Indonesia) and Dania is a jack of all trades, can play anything from guitar to drums to vox. Felt inferior some of the times cause they are all so spontaneous while I don't even know my guitar theory well enough. Ok, I'd account that to having learnt how to play guitar on my own for only about 8 months and starting an electric only about 3 months ago, and having my own electric only for 3 weeks. But like I said, they are more spontaneous so it's more fun.

So we jammed, got tricked to school and jammed, and jammed, and performed. Overall I was quite disappointed cause the audience (new and bored J1s) really poured cold water on the whole experience for me. And also the school (nobody to blame in particular although I screamed my head off at my direct SC juniors who were so harried and flustered and kept apologizing it becomes funny =D because it is not really their fault) for not investing in guitar amps and proper sound systems - what's the logic of getting a 100W bass amp without any guitar amps and speakers which are really primitive... and what is so difficult about buying that fussy-but-mediocre school band another drum set, not like they would improve with it anyways, but I mean, really, what's an entry level drum set compared to those white elephants they buy for guitar club called nimbori guitars or something which they are so proud of?

I guess I am really pissed cause the broken sound system really ruined our performance in my opinion. In "Kryptonite" my guitar went on and off, and during the two guitar solos it went off halfway which is damn obvious. Wonderful Tonight sounded great so I'm quite surprised at that one-off difference. Then "Knocking on Heaven's Door" really really really made me blow my top cause my guitar went off during the chorous and I had to send sideway glares towards the AV crew while singing my lines. What I could NOT take was that my guitar went OFF during MY solo. Then during the real full solo, Shui Yong's also went OFF/quiet/loud/off/quiet. You can imagine how bad that sounds. Didn't help that the J1s were all unenthusiastic. Nevertheless, I have to praise the SC people and the OGFs this year for trying their best to hype up the performance, they "over-knocked" the entire J1 cohort despite their much smaller numbers. By most accounts we sounded better than the O1 band, which is no compliment but more of an insult cause they really sounded worse than my first time with Extasy (which sounded bad, ha ha ha) and I heard they were booed off stage. My gawd, can they really not hear themselves or something. Some acccounts said we gave a hell of a performance and people did not notice the broken guitar solos.

But I'm sorry if I seem like an asshole, or a fussy piece of crap cause I want perfection. I may be shui bian in lots of stuff, like what to eat, what to wear, who to hang out with. Something I cannot stand is THE BAND I AM IN SOUNDING BAD! Ok, it's nobody's fault but I have my right to be pissed, no? We were capable of delivering a great performance but bad sound not creditable to us made us sound only decent. When people hear it they don't blame the AVA but they blame the BAND and the guitarist/singer for sounding bad. I didn't buy a $1200 guitar to sound like a second-rate guy in a second-rate band. I didn't slog my heart out trying to learn how to play fast and clean only to be tagged with that dreaded second-rate tag. Maybe people will find it weird how I become really fussy when it comes with the sound coming out from my guitar but I AM FUSSY AND THAT'S THE WAY I AM. Ok the steam's off.

Ah, now to get to the bassist. Fucking arrogant bastard who thinks he sounds good. Throughout the whole week of jamming sessions he proved himself to be the most incompetent bassist I have ever seen. He can sit next to the bass amp and play without hearing notes that went WAY off, bad notes which I heard whilst playing and singing at the same time. And by their accounts the other guys heard it too but chose to shut up about it. So I hinted, "Hey maybe you wanna hold the note a bit longer when you play that part, cause it sounds kinda weird" to which he replied "No leh, I think I sound good what. Aiya no need to follow the tabs or what la, I can improvise on the spot." To which I almost fainted. But I just kept quiet for the whole journey back. Okay, so I hoped he would come good. But remember the most powerful and steady sound on the performance was from that bass amp. So when he delivered the performance full of off notes and wayward tunes, I really really really really CRINGED under my cap. And after that my hearing was confirmed by accounts from people who noticed. So I ask him, how long have you played bass, to which his reply was he doesn't play bass often only practices at home on classical guitar.

Like fuck off la.

They say that bad guitarists go to play bass. So bad bassists should just quit it. That's really all I have to say to a bad bassist with little passion for the instrument and no desire to improve himself. Just fuck off and don't call yourself a bassist.

AB Camp & Delta Experience Student Instructor's bonding camp - My takeaway from this camp was mainly sunburn and a lopsided tan. We (me, See Wai, Sabrina, Tony and Xavier) were there in a very peculiar role of J3s - we were to help to observe the students and to deliver facilitation sessions during their activities in the camp as well as to teach them positive examples of how facilitation is to be done. In a way, it was like being a student instructor to student instructor, but your position is somewhat equal to a supervising teacher though you just graduated three months ago. The campsite was damn ulu, at Dairy Farm Adventure Centre which is in some ulu road in some part of the long stretch of ulu Upper Bukit Timah Road. And we shared the campsite with a curious mix of schools and students, from solemn-faced secondary school kids tired from endless PT and tekan-ing from their instructors to loud and high-pitched primary school kids off on a new adventure with hyperactive kidults of their instructors.

The AJ guys really had a relaxing bonding camp. I remember my ABC "bonding" session to start with a loud barking, an order to rearrange all the reading room tables in 30 seconds and a tekan session that lasted an hour, before the teachers told us that we were not supposed to do what he just did to us -_-. Theirs started with an ultimate frisbee game, activities in an air-conditioned room, high-elements activities in Dairy Farm and no PT at all. It was a bit weird at first because we were out of the loop for near a year since we last facilitated at ABC 2006. But of course, we caught on and delivered facilitations to the young instructors. Ok, we got priveleges as well, the teachers treated us really well and Mr Cheng kept buying food for us. We got cream puffs, which we tempted the hungry campers with throughout the build-up to dinner, slept in an air-conditioned bunk with nice mattresses, on which we played cards and IQ Games (they are really fun) and ordered Macs delivery. In the morning we got Mr Cheng to get us Kopi, Teh and Milo while Mr Cheng bought tao huay, fried carrot cake, curry puffs, "bao" and other stuff for everyone. But of course we did what we were asked to do all along although we were decked out in T shirt shorts and slippers - formal holiday wear. At least, I'd think we delivered facilitations which were less mechanical and routine like what some of the teachers actually did, and we managed to hold on to their attention for a great deal longer, but that's my own observation.

So on the way back we had a say on who should be Chief SI and Deputy etc... Sort of confirmed how the democratic voting process really worked. I mean everyone knows what I am talking about, just remember that it is justified cause ultimately they can't take risks on popular but unproven and unreliable leaders. Really quite funny.

Oh. It's been such a long update, and chances are I won't update for quite a long time. Going back to Indon for a week starting tmr for a visit. Not too bad. If you can catch me with a shopping list before I take the plane I'll feel obliged to get it for you. Otherwise, wells. Hahahaha.

by my side

Blinded by the sun again
My eyes, this glare, its not the same
As this feeling starts to fade
I reach for you now say my name won't you darling?

This earth, this sky, they all seem so strange
How do I start if I can't begin?

You've gone away without a trace
And now I'm lost here again
Left to find my way alone again

You've gone away without a trace
And now I'm lost in the dark
Without you near or by my side

Things that lasts are fantasies
Some dream I made 'bout you and me
Wishing it would be the same
I look at you don't turn away don't you darling...

Your touch, your smile, they now seem so strange
Your heart and mine they don't beat the same

You've gone away without a trace
And now I'm lost here again
Left to find my way alone again

You've gone away without a trace
And now I'm lost in the dark
Without you near or by my side

A little bit of history

Found this while sorting out some files... hahaha. Didn't remember writing it, but it reminds me of how fertile my imagination really is..... =P

Wild thought: the chicken or the egg came first?

Whichever school of thought you belong to let me provide u an alternate argument.
A long long time ago before the time of men there was an alien species called the hen, who achieved a level of scientific achievement so advanced that humans could never hope to match. they came from planet cockadoodledoo (i'd explain it later)...
in year xxxxBC that planet was overcrowding. the world government made the unpopular decision to deport some chickens since mass slaughter of chickens by chickens was outlawed by its very own constitution...
hence a general called kentucky was told to pick the planet's dumbest chickens and tell them they were going for a holiday. now, these weren't ordinary chicken we see in our backyards. the 'normal' chickens of cockadoodledoo were super smart and above all, they flew. Given rising oil prices the government could not afford to pay for public transport, so chickens who can't fly were naturally a burden. but as i said, the chicken rights act disallowed the slaughter of chickens by other chickens.
so fast forward, kentucky shortlisted a group of about 100,000 chicks who couldn't fly and told them he was taking them on a holiday. And no prizes for guessing where they went.

on the plane however kentucky couldn't resist the seductions of the chickens and slept with a few chicks. Secretly hoping their offspring could fly one of the chicks who slept with kentucky, who was called "fry" for her pint size, put one of her eggs under kentucky while he slept. so they came, kentucky set up a small settlement and all the chicks had a nice and warm holiday in a group of islands they dubbed macdonalds (the carribean) . a while after that,kentucky and his crew simply flew off, and since the chicks couldn't fly naturally they were stranded on planet earth.

Naturally they were heartbroken and quite lost. Being normal hens they couldn't produce more chicken, meaning they would all die once they ate up all the worms at macdonalds (what we call fries now). until fry remembered the egg she allowed kentucky to fertilize. she took it out and everyone viewed it as their only source of hope for survival. They missed their home planet, which happened to be glowing orange in color. Hence when they saw the sun rise at dawn they screamed its name, hoping to attract enough attention to get back to their homeland.

So they waited and waited. Took turns to incubate the egg. One day a nameless hen who had very bad memory was sitting on the egg, when the first cracks showed on the shell. At first they slapped and abused her for presumably cracking the egg (and killing off their hopes) but the next day they checked the egg to find only the shell! nothing inside. not even egg yolk. so the damned thing could fly. They were overjoyed! finally a chicken (hopefully male) offspring who could fly...

After weeks of searching they found it, and no doubt it was male, for it had a red tab (it didn't write levis) on its crown. Overjoyed, they named him after his true heritage, and credited the nameless hen (who died of her injuries) by putting her name there. Hence, this small little baby was called Kentucky Fry Chicken (KFC).
Pampered it they did, fed it with lots of prime worms and showered it with a lot of care. Once it got to an acceptable age (acceptable enough to *ahem*) only a few of the younger chicks could actually lay eggs...
Suffice to say it caught up with lost time.

By the time the oldest of the chicks died, macdonalds was brimming with chickens. sadly, none of them could fly. KFC grew up to a mature age by then, and began to question why he was the only one he could fly. One of the smarter chickens who got dumped cause she couldn't fly told him the long story of their exile. Angry, he vowed to fry all the chickens capable of flying (except himself)

So he flew and flew and flew, past light years of nothingness to the planet of cockadoodledoo. Once he got there, he did not find an advanced chicken settlement or anything like it. The place was desolate... he was puzzled. The chickens here seemed to have lost the ability to fly. So he asked a chicken soldier who was slumped against the wall... "what happened here?"

The soldier appeared to suffer from a mortally fatal burn wound.

"the grand general kentucky... he... he... fried the whole lot of the army for treason. He went mad! I am one of the few survivors... but cockadoodledoo was so cramped disease was rampant... the shamans call it flu, and as yet we have no cure for it... Kentucky apparently caused the disease too... I.. I.." with that, the soldier died.

KFC was very angry, so he decided to murder Kentucky. So he stormed the chicken barracks (which was guarded by half-dead troops) and easily got to kentucky's office.
inside he saw, to his horror, a chicken which has an identical red tab to him (lets assume red tabs are hereditary and look more or less the same for roosters)
Kentucky was an old and frail chicken by then. Looking at the sight before him, he gathered what was left of his strength and began to talk... "my... my son!!! Chicken, I AM YOUR FATHER!!!"

KFC got pissed and picked up the frier. With a touch of the button, he fried his own daddy. The passing of the grand general sparked off a wave of anti-chicken movements by the oppressed worms of cockadoodledoo. What started off as dissent soon gathered momentum and turned into an uncontrollable rebel movement.. a civil war ensued between the chickens and worms. Obviously the worms lost. Some ingenious worms however, developed a potion which gave them incorrosible skin. They let the chickens eat them, and inside the stomachs of these chickens they carried out guerrila warfare (hence forming the background to Team17's sensational hit Worms: Armageddon). Soon all the flying chickens on cockadoodledoo was dead.
KFC was able to escape the wormage invasions by refusing to eat worms. Instead, he fried chicken with the frier and ate his own kin (hence gaining the dreadful bird flu since most of the flying chickens were infected)... eventually his mission having been a success he flew back to earth.

The few years he had been at cockadoodledoo translated into milleniums... the chickens on earth were enslaved by a new race which appeared from the caves: men. Men developed advanced friers and created pens for all the chickens. Men imprisoned millions of hensfolk in huge automations which existed for the solitary purpose of collecting eggs. Men fried chicken at an alarming rate. And some ill-fated chickens were boiled alive.

Seeing all these, KFC was heartbroken.. he was the only chicken who could fly, and with his abilities he could have fought the humans and scared them off his species. but he was too, too late... Angry, he attacked a farmer who kept thousands of his kin imprisoned in pens.

Obviously the farmer speared him. that was the end of KFC as we knew it...
since the farmer just bought a new frier he decided to test it. hence KFC went into the oil, and voila, it tasted so good with 18 other mixed herb and spices. He formed the world famous Kentucky's Fried Chicken fast food outlet!!!

*disclaimer--- the above excrept is purely fictional and is but a small branch of my avid imagination. The story however is original andprotected by *gasp* the official secrets act. [cue: AJE, them bastards]

yawnz...

It sucks feeling like you are the one and only bum in this world bumming around at home, like you're the world's laziest bugger. It's not my fault I'm jobless. Ok maybe it is half my fault cause I am pretty choosy about employment. But since I'm not tight on cash and I have until August (is it?) before I go to Uni, I do have a right to be choosy. There's a job interview on Thursday, I'm hoping I get it cause staying at home all day really drives you crazy.

And yeah, I love the song "Weekend" by X Japan cause I recently mastered the whole song including the solo! Haha really is bad for a guitarist to have big fingers like me, cause it's hard to do the quick finger movements. Not too bad.

See, I'm so bored I'm just learning how to play many many songs like this one:

Eric Clapton - Wonderful Tonight
It's late in the evening; she's wondering what clothes to wear.
She puts on her make-up and brushes her long blonde hair.
And then she asks me, "Do I look all right?"
And I say, "Yes, you look wonderful tonight."

We go to a party and everyone turns to see
This beautiful lady that's walking around with me.
And then she asks me, "Do you feel all right?"
And I say, "Yes, I feel wonderful tonight."

I feel wonderful because I see
The love light in your eyes.
And the wonder of it all
Is that you just don't realize how much I love you.

It's time to go home now and I've got an aching head,
So I give her the car keys and she helps me to bed.
And then I tell her, as I turn out the light,
I say, "My darling, you were wonderful tonight.
Oh my darling, you were wonderful tonight."

I think my dad got a sudden burst of inspiration to sell the house in a hope to capitalize on rising property prices, although they are expected to continue rising I suppose the old adage of one bitten twice shy convinced him to be less greedy. This however really pisses me off, cause a stupid property agent had to come at 9am and my dad had to wake me up at that time cause it wouldn't look nice to have someone sleeping in a room thats as messy as a pig sty in front of prospective buyers. At freaking 9am. And the viewer probably wouldn't buy the house anyway.

Though admittedly I'm looking forward to moving out somewhere else. Though people think living near town is great (to a certain extent there are conveniences) but I don't really enjoy it that much cause it is far away from most other places that I frequent, which is like anywhere but the town area.

New Year soon, I look forward to a fresh beginning and also ang-pow by the truckloads.

Who you are makes a difference to my life

the white beauty!

sounds great too!!! though i still cant figure out how to use the sustainer properly, but I swear it looks exactly like what is in the brochures and stuff, which is great. Though i was quite pissed when there was a made in china sticker on the back of the guitar. No i didn't pay 1200 bucks for a guitar made in fucking red china. Not being racist or inflammatory, but its just simply cause china-made guitars are total crap! Like, ok so maybe it is assembled in china or smth, i duno, or maybe someone decides to give me a scare and stick it on...

yea it sure is pretty, though the company is a bit queer... they gave me a user manual, which is entirely in Japanese, and it's a general Fernandes manual and doesnt feature my guitar inside -_-...

then they included tremolo arms and some springs which are generally used for tremolos when, gasp. There is no tremolo slot for my guitar! which is really, really really strange. and oh, for the guitar to work it is a must to have a 9V battery in the battery slot, even if you are not using the sustainer, because the whole guitar was converted into a freaking electronic circuit.

Yeap, we have a few songs written waiting to be perfected and recorded, so watch this space for the smashing debuts. With my gleaming new white angel. =D =D =D

otherwise, today was some kind of an adventure for me, passing off as a uni-grad facilitator/tour guide for xavier's company, for some secondary school in Singapore

Who you are makes a difference to my life

This of course, is something thought up to raise their morale, and through some disagreement some teachers just refused to give them to the students, claiming it's not sincere. I mean like what, you have your students and think they are that hopeless that you won't even say this kind of motivating sentence to your charges? Dumb shit teachers la. How to educate the future generation properly like that?

Anyway, so we had to give the students these ribbons instead so I did, and I told everyone I handed the ribbon that he/she really enriched my life today and made a difference.

Of course, one key difference they changed to my life was.

I've decided to never ever ever ever be a teacher, especially if I have to handle them

We travelled all the way to Changi Chapel for the learning journey stuff, and for such a small small place (it's a very nice place btw) to control 35 rowdy, mischievous and hyperactive kids was clearly out of my ability lah. We were told to be fierce and all but I really couldn't bring myself to scream at people, so ended up their teacher took it upon herself to barely manage to control all her students through a combination of threats/punishments/screaming while on the bus journey as well as in the museum itself. Which is kind of funny because I've never ever been to that place before, and I'd think I acted like I have been there for many many times with other groups, cause from the moment I stepped in I launched into a great narrative about the exhibits and told a lot of stories (half of them true) I scrubbed off the internet.

Of course most of them probably weren't listening to me but there were some who were pretty nice =) Yea but still I'd not be a teacher cause looking at their teacher, she looked like she was about to faint.

I mean, like SEC2 guys actually pierce their ears and wear diamond studs openly. Like he's obviously just a kid. And some girls, sec2 talking openly about sex and everything. Was kind of a culture shock to me, I mean yeah in Cat High we get it worse but I mean, its not when you review the situation as a young adult that you get the repercussions of what you are actually seeing.

I mean the teacher can casually tell the student that he/she should just quit school and don't throw the school's face.

Yea, sure was an experience... now waiting for my job applications to actually have someone replying to them... or is that a bogus webbie.

I fought the law and the.... law won!!!

Breakin' rocks in the ... hot sun
I Fought the Law and the ... law won
I Fought the Law and the ... law won
I needed money, 'cause I ... had none
I Fought the Law and the ... law won
I Fought the Law and the ... law won

I left my baby and I feel so bad
I guess my race is run
Well, she's the best girl ... I've ever had
I Fought the Law and the ... law won
I Fought the Law and the ... law won

Robbin' people with a . . . SIX gun
I Fought the Law and the ... law won
I Fought the Law and the ... law won

I miss my baby and the ... good fun
I Fought the Law and the ... law won
I Fought the Law and the ... law won

I left my baby and I feel so bad
I guess my race is run
But, she's the best girl ... I've ever had
I Fought the Law and the ... law won
I Fought the Law and the ... law won

I swear, this is such a kewl song! =D

weeeeekenddd.... i stiiillll lauuuggghhhhh uuuu!!!

Nah the only thing I love right now is dollar signs and my guitar! The best news that made my week, my long-awaited white beauty is finally in Singapore! Yea, and the second good news is the final price is the expected $1200 -odd before discount, which means I'm not short by a lot. Ok actually it's quite a lot, but I can manage that amount. The bad part is because of some very complicated transfers involved to bring the item in, the guy said he had to wait until next week to bring it down to his shop from wherever they keep it, and another few days to handle the paperwork before I can finally test it out and bring it home. Which means I have a few more days to wait. Well, at least now I know where and what exactly is happening to it so I can't complain.

To the Yamaha salesman, thanks a lot! I know I've been pretty irritating asking about the guitar these few weeks and stuff, but yea.

Anyhow there are really some things I can't fathom. The band kinda disbanded in the space of 30 seconds. Ah well, better than dragging such things along. But I've made other plans yea, and being put in a really tough spot doesn't help me one bit.

Either way, my contract at that god-forsaken call centre should have already ended but that fat bitch reminded us of our "Obligation" to finish the project, making us stay on till Tuesday at least. I don't mind, cause that's an extra 100 bucks for my paycheck, and I'm still looking for other jobs anyway. I applied for relief teaching so if I get it i'll really be quite happy, cause there shouldn't be any complications working for MOE, right? And they blatantly had a column "For student pass holders" so I guess I'm not ineligible.

Talking about ineligibility, I am rather depressed from my online job search... my most preferred job would be as a graphics designer, but even those temp positions for graphic designers insist that you have a degree or diploma in graphics design, and to make sure you're not some fucker with a bit of photoshop knowledge. Well, as of now the only cert I have is O levels, so I can kiss my employment chances there goodbye...

Also many jobs say for Singapore or PR only. Like makes me so lonely yaknow. Just cause some loser who can't find a job loses his job to a more skilled foreigner doesn't give him the right to deprive someone more suited for the job a chance. But fuck it, it's not my country anyway. Hence it is triple difficult for me to find a job in SG at least until I am halfway through University and interning somewhere, thereafter getting a work permit and slogging here for a few years.

Or of course, my other plans might just take off and we go touring =D

Right, feet on the ground.

Work tommorow, that's not too important. Arsenal Manyoo is more important. To say the truth I was extremely elated to see Chelsea play like a mid-table team against Liverpool, who incidentally -ahem- got trashed by Arsenal Reserves at Anfield. So I guess that's a positive for Arsenal and the rest of the league yeah? If there's a better time to beat Chelsea, now's the best time.

Hm, someone suggests that I open my own freelance graphic design service and undercut every other fucker in the business. What say everyone?

Hundred plus phone calls

That's how many phone calls I make a day, on average. If only I could make all those calls to my friends instead, that's how bored I am during the job... I am currently working in this telemarketing company as a temporary agent, and this particular assignment requires me to call people for this company called Symantec... It's a very boring narration but I thought I'd just give it a mention, yeah.

So I started work like last Wednesday, and went for a 1-day training session, and got paid about 30 bucks for 1 day of slacking. Thursday was my first full day, took a half day on Friday and worked the full day today. Dunch know how much that amounts to... about 190 I think, minus lunch expenses and travel fare, about 170? Anyways, it was an interesting job for the first hour of Thursday, after that it becomes so repetitive I usually close my eyes and rattle on whenever a call gets connected. And it gets even more boring because the chances of a person who picks up answering your question is about 10% only.

Number #1 cause of rejection is either he/she is busy at the moment, he/she is not in the office or there is no such person.

Number #2 cause of rejection is simply the wrong number/number not available/not interested

Number #3 cause of rejection is the most irritating one, which is answering the questions halfway when the person decides he/she isn't comfortable with telling a stranger about "intimately confidential details" such as my servers run on Microsoft Windows XP.

When #3 happens usually I'd curse some vulgarity when the phone is put down and complain to my next desk people...

And so, the max successful calls I ever made was today, with 39 calls, only behind one guy called Jacob who got 46. The quota per day --> 60. A number set by the fat obnoxious bitch of our project leader who simply divides the number of contacts left altogether by the number of agents. And she proclaims she can easily reach 35 calls in half a day so 60 should not be a problem.

Of course cause we are so shorthanded today she happily goes to call people. And she only managed 8 calls by the half-day mark.

I know I am boring people, but thats how work really is. Yea, and unless people want to know about how I spent my day sleeping, the only thing more interesting I can imagine posting is this:
THE GUITAR I ORDERED!

Damn those people at Yamaha, the guitar has been delayed for quite some time, and it won't be ready anytime soon......

Anyway I imagine I'd be pretty happy with the guitar cause Fernandes made it, and Fernandes is a pretty well-known niche brand for excellent sounding guitars, and the fact that they HAD to make it for me makes it even more special.

Yea. Next time/

two thousand and seven!

Within the blink of an eye 2006 is also over, as I remember it was being touted as THE dreaded year for us, with the A levels and some irritating SC projects to plan and undergo.

Review of 2006:
Despite all the negative things that happened, well 2006 was really an enriching year for me, particularly the experience of handling events and people in SC, which I am finding to be very useful when dealing with assholes and scumbags. Now I find that the meticulous detail that we plan our events for actually makes us better employees, because unlike others we scrutinize detail and hence produce better work, which endear us to our employers and secures us some pretty decent pay. Yea, whatever.

Anyway, it's time for the new year resolution(s). I have never ever made a resolution on new year and got it done with, and I don't think 2007 will be different. But I'll just say it anyways.

1. Have a fruitful 7-month break: Since I don't have to go to the army as all the other guys have to, this 7 month break before University life should not be wasted. Hence my plan is to find work for the first 2 or 3 months and then go on trips somewhere with a couple of friends.
2. Save enough money to buy a bass guitar, another guitar and effects: I think bass is really fun to play and lots easier than playing guitar. Hence I shall buy a bass guitar (very possible cause I just want a cheap one). The part about another guitar is just pure speculation, cause I suppose I would be very happy with my Burny Guitar, which is finally coming after all those waiting.
   
3. Go for singing lessons: Don't laugh, I think I might enjoy such lessons.
   
4. Work at at least 3 different places and environments: To open my eyes to more environments, know more people and update my views on life. Also to train a poker face which I can use to deal with assholes and hypocrites in future.
   
5. Quit being second fiddle-ed: I'm better, so don't try to put me down cause you're crap.
6. Be nice to people who are truly nice to me: I'm a skeptic at heart, so this will be hard. But I'm sure it'd be possible.
   
7. Be more appreciative of what I have: Many people are less fortunate, so I want to be appreciative of what I have (it's true ok , I'm not even complaining about my shit-broken laptop)
8. Deal with my A's outcome no matter what happens: Although I'm pretty upbeat about my scores there's that tingling feeling about my exams. So it'd be great if I could handle whatever comes out of it.
9. Meet up with old friends as often as possible: Singapore is damn small but let's not let friendships rot into acquaintances.
   

And I guess that's that for my expectations of 2007. The best part is, of course, as per every new year resolution, the odds of actually completing them are very low. But I'll try cause I have set really easy and achievable resolutions and not things like meeting Thierry Henry and being hunk of the year. But of course, any of the above 8 resolutions indeed make more sense than the last two.

2007 can also be a bad year!

10 grouses about 2007:

1. Adult fare: grrr........ forgot to tap my EZ-link once already. That's a freaking $1.90
2. Big fat obnoxious bitches as my superviso: What can be worse? But at least it's an experience...
3. Male coursemates who would be 2 years older: when I get to university it's gonna be damn awkward.
4. Everyone else going into the army: I'd feel sooooo alone. * sobs *
5. After these seven months of no-school, there will be no other long breaks in life before we step out into society.
6. With no canteen food to speak about, lunch and other expenditures will increase by a few hundred percent this year. Refer to adult fare.
7. Arsenal isn't gonna win the league. DAMN.
8. I'm actually backing Man Utd to win the league. WTF.

Ah, anyways, to all who still bother to read this blog, have a good year ahead, sincerely, from the bottom of this heart. Yea.