Practice Proper

I have been playing the guitar for the last 3 years now. In the period, i never had an amp to call my own.
It was always borrowed from someone else. Well, actually the only amp i had was the crapped up washburn from Bryan aka
BJTMJ. The 3 pin plug was busted, so it wasn’t properly grounded, causing occasional shocks to the arm as current passes through the guitar and shocks via strings.
Another form of my alternate amplification during the ampless days of my guitar life, was my trusty dvd player. Being a device powered by 2pin plug, i was also subjected to occasional shocks via strings as there was no ground.
But now, i finally have a decent practice amp to use. A Laney LX20 sitting nicely in right hand corner of my room. Its a simple amp, sufficient enough for practice. Perharps recording? Who knows. Not yet tried. Anyways, now i can do my practice properly. I may get another amp down the road =] We’ll just have to wait and see. Stereo gas!! xD
Cheers!

Chinese New Year

Yay! Chinese New Year(CNY) is here!!
Bust them angbaos out married people.. and people who are suppose to give… err HARHAR i am here to collect them!
Anyways i think i’ve told everyone on a previous post that i bought the Master Grade 1/100 Scale Destiny Gundam sometime back. Well, i’m happy to say that i have completed it yesterday. It looks fantastic if i should say so myself. This would make my 2nd Master Grade kit. My next kit would be the Nu-Gundam. Fin funnels are teh rocks! But that would be like 3/4 down this year before i fork out the cash to buy the kit.
A lot of pictures coming your way after the ranting is done. Gundam cam-whoring hmm.. is that even a term? =3
Next up would be an update from my band. We have our myspace done out erm, quite nicely. We even have one of our originals uploaded there. So, if you guys have to time to check it out, do visit –> http://www.myspace.com/weareavis
Well, i guess that’s about all i want to say in this little rant. Coming up are all the pictures taken of Destiny and Freedom too.
Picture count = 20 printf(“Enjoy LOLZ”);
(P.S. I think the many weeks of programming just got to me =3)
Destiny Gundam

Freedom & Destiny (With Outdoor Shots)

Cheers!

In your friendly neighbourhood there is….

Ang Mo Kio. A busy little district tucked in the north-east region of Singapore. In this humble heartland, residents have seen decades of change. From the wet markets that used to be in the area, mega structures now erect from the ground ala AMK HUB. Now, im not here to rant about the history of Ang Mo Kio and whatnots, but the happenings after school. So in this little heartland getaway, at the hawker centre beside the AMK HUB lies a little elevator with the capacity of 3 up to the maximum of 5 individuals. Where does it lead to? A KTV lounge and snooker. Typical neighbourhood pastimes. Chill.
It’s got what i call an intense atmosphere. The smoky air in an air conditioned environment, filled with ABALs, but i may percieve wrongly =x
Dim lights, and an almost hostile environment yet i could still find a small tinge to feel that it is at the least bit friendly. Mainly cause there is Mr.Quek and Mr.Aaron. So we played pool and they taught me the finer details of the game; posture, angles, terminologies etcetc. Of the years(well maybe since secondary 2 i think) i played pool, never was i presented with these set of tips they set me thinking and working on. Well this calls for more practice. Thanks Quek and Aaron of the great learning session. But of course, studies are still of utmost priorty. I guess i could take a just a little breather since most of the projects are done and over with. Only one that is left and am currently working on is the C# programming project.
Laurent has just bought the Zoom H2 handy digital recorder. Now, hopefully, we can get decent sound files for our originals.
I guess thats about it for this rant, now on to C# and final exams studies!!
To the users of the toilets in AMK HUB, for the love of god…AIM!! =.=
Cheers.

Got Radio?

Got radio? Hell Yeah!!
Very very big thanks to joel for helping me/giving me tutorial on how to setup online broadcasting.
Now, ive got my very own radio station!! Well, online that is.
I think i have sorta came up with a schedule, my broadcasting starts every Wednesday all the way up to Sunday.
The station is called ALTRadio!! Joel is broadcasting as well so check em all out
Wednesday: Indie Night – 8pm to 2am

Thursday: Your Japanese Fill – 8pm to 2am

Friday: Reverbia – 8pm to 11pm
OnJazz – 1110pm to 2am

Sats&Suns: The ALTernative List – 3pm to 2am(May have some live commentary, watch out for it xD)

So people, if you have the time, winamp, windows media player, itunes, real player, try tuning in.
http://58.182.253.12:2401/listen.pls —>My station
http://218.212.168.171:8000/listen.pls —> Joel’s Station
The ip for these links changes overtime due to unforseen reasons =x thus do check for updates

My schedule will start proper on the next week. The station still broadcasts music right now, so check it out!!

Thanks and Cheers!!

So What the F@#$ is Up With That

Not to worry this is not a rant to pour the infinite profanity-ism on any company, business or anyone. Just a little thought about something i came across during a small conversation with a neighbour that i haven’t met in quite a while.
So showbiz, the music scene, everyone knows, everyone expects it. The good looks, the good music, the talent, the entertainment value.
But wasn’t it all about the music that moved the crowd, the music that revolves the world, that entertains the masses.
Since when did it ever switch to visual perspective. “”"A lot of people tell me ar 95% says you gotta look good man, they look at you first then listen to your music”"” , That, my friends, is the biggest load of FUCKING BULLSHIT, i have ever heard, thank you very much.
I for one do not agree that it’s all about looks and not the music. If that were to be true, the music would have died many deaths. Seriously, tell me, is one willing to watch a band that is superbly good looking but plays like shit. Imagine that, when one hears the album, the music coming through is like a constipated bunghole. Resulting, in one always having to watch the performer live just so that the looks can kill the distorting music being played/sung/etcetc..
I guess, it would be better to bring back the good old spirit of music back to the world, where people would gather and enjoy good music, share music with each other and not look at pretty faces and big asses playing crap sounds.
Some may think otherwise. Just to sound not so one sided. Yes, a person’s appearances does play a part in promoting the person or the band. But still it comes down to under all the good looks and visuals, does the person/band play good music.
Cheers.

Woot

Well well, it’s been a long time since the last update. School has been pretty fast paced since it started. Cropped with kendo sessions and lessons week after week, everything just passes me by so quickly. My god, i have a feeling this is going to be a long post. The common test just passed by. I have confidence i would pass every paper this time =.=
Studied pretty much a hell lot for maths. Ive recently went on a DJMAX rampage. With the ever increasing number of PSPs and everyone having DJMAX in it, i just couldn’t resist =]
The sinful pleasures of playing a reaction time cum coordination game. I can’t wait till i get mine >_<
Come to think about it, at this very moment as i type this rant/blog, i am thinking of the events that happened and was rant worthy. Maybe i should just start with the most recent of events. The bi-annually kendo grading has just ended on Sunday the 16 of December 2007. It was a serious event i would say. I’d say i felt pretty relaxed and just a bit tensed at the point. Kept my focus and just went for it, shouting at the top of my lungs, doing the cuts as instructed. At the end of it all, i was pretty happy with my results. My whole group got 6th Kyu! 6th Kyu for the win lar !!
Made a new friend in the process. Mr. Sasaki. A St’Pat’s guy, at Sec 2 coming Sec 3 next year. A pretty easy going person to talk to, and well i think he can be quite hyper o.0
That aside, Youth tournament camp is just next week. Crossing fingers that i won’t get K’Oed.
Ok so what’s next…..hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…….. if you thought that was to waste space to make it longer……………..well it’s really up to your vividly wild and amazing imagination =]
Ah yes, just bought the MG Destiny Gundam. It’s a real beauty i tell you. Right now, i have just done up the Body, Right arm without the shoulder unit and the Head. Long way to go. Im going to make this real nice and smooth looking, hence taking my time to do it up slowly. Pictures of it will be at the end of this maybe or maybe not extremely long post of various events of my miserable little life xDD P.S I am not Emo. Thank you very much. xD MEZOR AVATAR OF POSITIVITY =]
I just bought my high end patch cables for my pedal board. Ai say, it’s looking real professional. Everything is very neat. I love my board.
I am so fucking tempted to get a Xbox 360 solely for Ace Combat 6, such a fabulous game.
Buying buying buying…..ah yes. Another new item i acquired is the Command and Conquer, Saga.
It is a collection of 13 games. From the very first command and conquer all the way to very recent, Tiberium Wars.
It just brings back so much fond memories of how i was contented with simple yet ferociously addictive RTS games.
Not to mention, Tiberium Wars is of course fantastic. Good job Westwood Team although now under EA.
I have to say this though, this game would require a pretty powerful processing unit to run this game with full graphical capability, and optimum speed.
Another recent event, i just got my guitar fitted with the zvex fuzz factory, which in the past i had to stuck it on the guitar.
Now, it built in, internally. Godlike guitar is. mmm the force is strong with this one feel I xD
The knobs are all conviniently placed for my ease of use and theres a very nice bright blue LED to indicate whether the effect is engaged. Again, pictures will be at the end of the rant.
I wonder if there is anything else rant worthy. How about this for one, for all NYP students, here thee here thee. The snack store beside the drinks store at the south canteen sells fantastic hot dog buns. Cheesy hot dogs in a nicely fried bun. Heavenly. Coming to band updates now. My band has pretty much done quite a few originals. 6 up to date. 4 of them are still under heavy arrangement while the 2 are almost done with only lyrics left to write.
Hyperion has a GIG!! Coming this 29th December at DXO esplanade. Whoever is interested to come, contact me!! @ 96839080 for tickets. 1 ticket is priced at $12. I pray and hope for your support! Thank you.
I wonder if i mentioned anything about the Rubik’s craze going on. Recently, many people have started to pick up the cube again, including myself. Right now, i am able to solve it in under 2mins. =]
Walking around, ive seen many people playing with the cube as they walk. There are those that even have the 4×4 and 5×5.
The cube is a pretty amazing toy i would say. Works the brain at the same time amazing those who watch the puzzle solvers. Good job Prof.Rubik
I wonder if i have covered everything that i needed to rant. I hope i did =/
Gah, i still have my creativity and innovation project to do up, DE as well, and oh what the fuck English “GameShow” oh what the fuck =.=
I like the month of december, constant rainfall. Nice and cooling. I like.
Well i guess thats about it. Finishing the rant with some pics. 2 of which are relevant, and i may put in some random stuff,
haha Cheers!



I feel like having some onigiri all of a sudden =]
Yar Nasu, i was again lazy to press the publish button xD
Cheers.

Kendo Camp

Returned from what i would say the most physically demanding camps. Comparing it to NCC camps, NCC camps are really really very slack. It was also a really fun camp. A camp that i have learnt alot from, a camp that was a refreshing experience to me.
Checked in on Tuesday, also known as day zero where everyone settles in to the rooms and gets ready for the next day. Everyone headed off to Ang Mo Kio Hub, NTUC, to get drinks, snacks and various items. After everyone got back, we awaited for Suresh’s mom’s dinner.
Ai say, good job auntie. Love the rice!! It was delicious, really does go well with the chicken.
After dinner, everyone retreated back into their rooms or just sitting around outside, chatting or PSPing. The rooms are relatively big as compared to the classrooms of my secondary school days. It has air-conditioning, so no complains there though it switches off at about 11pm, that’s where the industrial fan comes in. All hail the mighty industrial fan.
The room is pretty comfortable in my opinion, one can really sleep well in there.
Everyone watched a “documentary” on a particular practitioner of kendo, named Naoki Eiga of the Japan national team. It was about how he has been as a kendoka. I shan’t go into details as it be frightening. It’s really inspiring to see how he has picked up from defeats and just decides to go back to the very beginning of his training. He finally realized he was too obsessed with victory and decides to put all his focus to putting that one hit on his opponent no matter be it victory or defeat. It really reminds me of how a natural flow of mind can be a powerful factor.
Day 1, the beginning of training. PT was horribly tiring. The jogging was still manageable but when it came to the exercises, it was TEH killer. After morning PT and breakfast, we began learning katas. In my opinion, it was like the footdrill of kendo. All that seriousness and focus together with precision of movement. Katas are really fun, interesting too. Then it was on to the bogu training. Training would be spilt into about 3 to 4 sessions a day. This carried on till Thursday. The after-trainings were just basically free time/rest time. Everyone would be out at AMK, chit chatting, some already deep in their sleep, PSPing, and even PS2ing thanks to kian chew for his contribution =x
If i recall correctly, the seniors had an evening training at Clementi on one of the nights. Respect to them for their hardwork(bows). By Friday, everyone was bushed out, at their limits, and thank goodness everyone had a half day break before our final night training.
Other kendokas from NUS, SMU and the AKT, gathered at our humble NYP hall/dojo to train. Damian sensei was also present at the training. It was a really heart warming, encouraging and fun training. As the numbers were great, everyone’s morale was boosted and all trained their hearts out on this final training of the camp. Though we were training our very most basics, i feel that it was also good as it is important for one not to forget their very basic foundations that are important for performing wazas correctly and as accurately as possible. After training ended, Damian sensei ended it with a traditional banzai cheer. Everyone though exhuasted both mentally and physically, all still had high spirits.
Dragging our burned out, muscle aching bodies back to the SA forum, everyone retreated back into the chilled rooms and just laid still to rest. Cold showers rock by the way. Washing up and all done, everyone decided to order in MacDonald’s for dinner. I turned in at about 4am.
The camp was a really tiring camp, but still a lot of valuable lessons have been learnt from it and i can never forget them. I personally feel that i have brushed up on my basics and took note of the many mistakes that i have committed and will definitely do something about. Sorry Nabil, still working on that left foot! I will make it parrallel if it’s the last thing i do! Also, everyone bonded even more in the camp, got to interact more and played games together, it was great. Wearing the hakama with a t-shirt is cool !!
Special mention for the muslims in the camp. Totally salute them as it was their fasting period but still went through the entire camp. Thank you to all seniors that have put this camp together, it was great. Though honestly i would dread the next camp, solely because of the trainings that i would expect but still i would endure with all my strength.
So, i shall end my post about camp here, till next time.
Cheers.

Dreams

It’s about 5am, and im sitting down here in front of my computer blogging.
Now, let’s get to the topic at hand. Dreams.
I mean come on, im sure many of us or all of us have had it before, whether nice dreams or nightmares. Things that we dream about or dream of having. All things relating to dreams.
But what im really focused on, on this post is about the dreams we have when we are asleep. This maybe a bit awkward but heck im still going to speak my mind out.
I’ve been wondering about ever since the start of this year.
Dreams, could it be that we are connected to some alternate world?
Why do we see images/visions of things or situations that we could never imagine ourselves to be in.
Why do we envision places that cannot relate to our daily lives.
Why do we dream of people that we may never meet.
Why do we see dreams.
Could it appear to be that even the “people” in the dreams we see every night when we go to sleep could be dreaming too? And could those people dreaming in our dreams have people dreaming in their dreams so on and so forth…
Is it possible that this fantasy world that we see every night actually exists?
I mean based on personal experience, i have seen places in my dreams that when i wake up in the morning/afternoon, how in tarnations did that come up in my mind?
Could it be the imaginative juices entertaining us in our sleep? Or is it events in the day kept in the back of our brains translate into a moving image that is exaggerated.
Yes, there are scientific explanations about dreams, no one can definitely doubt that.
But, isn’t it possible that other theories could be true about dreams. Why not right? Anything is possible as every one says it.
It’s complicating yet fascinating. Terrifying yet beautiful. Dreams are so fragile, the moment one awakes it’s gone and leaves one thinking what did i see.
Dreams would also appear to be some sort of a dejavu, i have experienced it personally.
Events that i seen in my dreams happened in real life. I can find no explanation to that.
It’s a weird feeling, it just crawls up your spine and renders you speechless and dumbfounded for that instant of a second thinking SHIT didn’t i see this in a dream before way way back? There are in my personal opinion no doubt countless theories and explanations to dreams but i believe there is never a answer to this.
I may not make any sense with all my senseless sudden ranting about dreams being some connection or future telling or anything that i have not or cannot state in this sentence but why don’t you think about it for a moment, im sure you’d begin to wonder as well.
Sometimes…things like this go far beyond what science can present to us.
Life is really one heck of an interesting journey….
On a lighter note and to end this post here’s a little comic.
Cheers, Good day and have pleasant dreams.

Being Organised

Saturday, i should be jamming but it got shifted to the day before, haha.
So, i spent the day at home, organising files in my laptop which until now is still not done.
I would say it’s about 67% complete? Haha, i don’t know the calibre of my estimation skills o.0
Took a little break, eyes off the screen. I looked at my cupboard and i see the pair of Altec Lansing speakers up there. Thinking to myself, its practically rotting up there, might as well take it down and use it for my laptop. Thus, i took it down from the cupboard, cleaned off the dust and set it up. Now both my computers have speakers!! woots!!
Heres a little look of how its like now….

Cheers!

Great!!

Today was a pretty good day.
In the afternoon, i went with my parents for lunch at a long lost restaurant that use to be at Seah Street. It’s a herbal restaurant but the food is absolutely to die for! This restaurant’s name is Metropole Herbal Restaurant. It is now located at 3B River Valley Road #01-12 Clarke Quay S179021.
It seems that my folks have good relations with the management in the restaurant. Had a nice chat with the lady boss about how the business is doing, etc. The joint moved to clarke quay about 9 months ago. Of course to the quality of the cuisine served, it is amazing. The traditional taste has never changed. It still tastes great as before. I really missed the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall ( it is a soup with loads of goodies in it =] abalone, shark’s fin, and many more.), the egg white with scallop in potato basket ( the potato basket is the highlight, its fine shredded potato made into a basket for the egg white)
I must say their quality has never dropped one bit, instead they have improved! So for all chinese herbal cuisuine lovers or those that would really like to try, do drop by the restaurant to savour the delights it has to offer. Also not forgetting the customer service which of course is world class. It is WORTH every cent you spend. It was my best lunch up to date.
Ah, my band now is starting to move on, today’s jamming session, though the often occuring cock-ups, time to time equipment failure, mis-timings, mistakes, it was still overall fun and not to mention a new song was born just like that. The magic of “anyhow whack”. The tune is pretty interesting, don’t really know how to describe it, kinda has this muse/pillows fusion haha. Now arranging and perfecting. First original is almost done leaving only the lyrics to settle.
Well that’s all i have to blog about for today. Do look out for my band Hyperion. Maybe having gigs really soon xD
Till next time folks,
Cheers!