2009

tmr will mark the beginning of a new year, the year 2009. and today will be the very last day of this rather eventful year. this year we have seen many tragedies-cyclone nargis, sichuan earthquake,fall of lehman brothers, mumbai attacks and the great escape of Mr. Mas Selamat Kastari. i guess as we move on, more of such stuff will happen.and i will never fail to relate to the book of revelation in the bible. on the brighter side, theres good stuff happening too. obama became the president, someone benefited from our ocip trip, US withdrawing their troops. maybe it isnt that bad afterall.

every year around this time, i start to countdown, not the new year, but to my birthday on jan20-which is about 3 weeks from now. the next time jan20 comes, i'll be 18 already. time really flies fast, and things have changed much, but except from growing up, i think i didnt change much. my perspective changed, my mentality changed, my thinking changed, my ambition changed. thats quite abit actually. but these changes will be good for me and my future.

my dad asked me what i want to do when i turn 18, and for the year 2009. i gave a good thought, and replied. 'good results, many As, new guitar, new amp, new pedals, visit Canada in dec.' then he asked if im sure, i said no. fine, im just ambitious. its never wrong to paint a perfect picture of the year to come!

im geared up for countdown at home.hope i get a good drink. baileys, elderberry syrup+cordon bleu, coffee liquor which im drinking now, and alize passion fruit liqour.

Honeyburst

beauty of a honeyburst. 1996 Gibson Les Paul Standard Plain Top.

MTV VH1 Rock Honors 2008

got pretty stuck on this 2hour long mtv show on Saturday, so much that i think i wasted my whole short day on it. this year, its featuring this old band called The Who. just fyi, they were rather famous in the 70s. and if you know tenacious D-they are 2 dudes who are rather big sized and have long hair and speak rather funnily, they sang 'squeeze box'. a nice song that is easy to play.its about the accordian by the way, don't get the meaning wrong.there'll be a video of squeeze box at the bottom.

~
friday was well spent at 2nd aunt's place, she's had house warming.the new house looks good, at villa marina opposite victoria school.nicely renovated!food was good, and theres plenty to go around to feed everyone too.i think this is much smaller than the previous apartment that was opposite vivo.but still homely.

~
Squeeze Box

see that man on top?thats john mayer.in his hands is his own signature stratocaster.that will be mine Christmas 2009.

Christmas Day

joy, love and giving. merry christmas. i'll never oversleep again.

woke up in the morning, looked out and the sky's gray.and its raining.its cold too.

was at melodie's place-all the way at yishun-yesterday to help out with some publicity stuff. no, its just the video. thank god yesterday wasn't a really hot day, or maybe it was windy enough to drown the heat from the 1pm tropical sun. quite a cool house, saw alcohol all over the place and this sexy bottle of some liquor i think. i guess the video is almost done, im just guessing, so correct me if im really wrong. after leaving, i thought again.how long more will it take before i come to yishun again.kaixiang said soon.i'll see.

~
i can't get started on math, or maybe get myself to start practicing the whole day long.i started a bit, got bored, picked up the gibson and start playing.and i can't stop.i don't want to kill the whole msa with a lousy math grade, when physics and chem are almost there.did i just mention screw econs? thinking about it, i think my sis is putting more stress on me again.she just got her results yesterday.its A+, A+ and A.its not psle or o' levels nor is it a'levels.its honours year in nus.she's heading for her first class honours for sure.

yesterday was a good day.spent a while at all saint's for pa(rty)lette.left shortly after service with zhengyi, came home with him as he wanted to try out the gibson. christmas will come real soon, and i hope that everyone will remember the TRUE meaning of christmas in the midst of all this joy and celebrations.

who don't want to be john mayer?just watch this, from where the light is.Neon.

Redemption Hill

went for Redemption Hill-The Musical at full gospel assembly yesterday.thanks weiyang for the tix and the good show.

this musical, basically, is about the true meaning of Christmas. yeah, and Christmas is more than just food, snow, presents, santa and the christmas trees and lights. its a musical that made me rethink again about the strength of my faith, and that god had actually made such a big sacrifice to send His one and only son down to earth to save us.

Crazy Train!

its i dont know whats with the japanese and mr zakk wylde.but they seem to love him a lot.his guitar is like zakk's, his playing is like zakk's.



but i still love randy rhoads.but his death is a bit tragic, too bad.fyi, the song is crazy train by ozzy osbourne

practice makes perfect.

out with john in town today to get some stuff to prepare for the 25th-ish celebrations.or christmas, as most of us will know it as.lunch at bk was as usual, except for the choc pie this time. the auntie at the counter made me change my mind.

saw some cards at borders, it will cost than $30 for some sort of 'designer' cards if i were to get it for the whole ocip team+teachers+1 mentor.of course i didnt buy it, as my memory serves me well enough to know that each card will cost less than 50cents. i've been doing this every year. so, we went over to isetan instead.and 25cards cost $10.70.the 70cents is for the GST.so without that, each card is aound fortycents and its around that price.the design looks much better to me.

with money still to last for the afternoon, john suggested that we'll watch a movie-we were at shaw.looking through the different movies, the best time slot is 'TWILIGHT'.and since we were students and have our passes to prove that we are, its $6.im sort of broke now, every buck is like a million to me.went to somerset to see john get some metal miniatures i dont even know what they were and cost around $70.you still have to paint it yourself.i would rather save a bit more and get a good cable or a pedal.

twilight was good.about some good-looking-vampire(edward cullen) falling in love with this lady(bella).at least this has a story.everything else is good when you compare with cloverfield, which i will never forget.but this is really a good show to watch.

it hurts to see you go.it really hurts.

Gibson Custom Shop

the Gibson Custom Shop is called the Custom Shop because they give you stuff that are not ordinary, make you stand out from the crowd and its more that just the price tag that comes with it. when you hear custom shop, expect something like these:

Gibson Custom Flying V, flame maple.price:SGD6.4k

Gibson custom shop zakk wylde zv. price: SGD6.5k

and the Gibson Custom 1959 Les Paul Reissue VOS. price: $11,000.

cool stuff, but for now, gibson usa is good enough.

its raining again now.as usual when its christmas month.

yesterday night was superb, the gibson delivered, so did i. the tone was awesome, just a simple set-up. if you understand: Gibson Les Paul Standard>Jim Dunlop Crybaby>Ibanez TS808>MIJ Boss DS-1>Marshall JTM45. all connected with monster cables. when you are paid to do things, you have to do it well, and you will want to do it well.

Chemistry: DONE!
Physics: 50%
Econs: pending
Math: pending
i'll work hard for msa.really hard.

on a sidenote, i hate to break promises.but i hate it even more when you ask me to do something that is totally against my own will.

no rain today.so it was 61.37km of cycling for me, completed in 4hours 11min. tired, but the feeling is superb.

~

received this msg from zhengyi not so long ago.

This is a forwarded msg.
Forward:
U have 20mins to tell 10
best friends that u love
them , or 2009 will be ur
worst year!
SO I LOVE U!

hope it won't rain today. i want to complete my 60km cycling in the afternoon.

*

how would you feel when your relative is diagnosed with cancer?

i've got nothing much else to say.

the milestone assesment is coming up, and i have finished studying chem-minus carbonyl as i need my sister's help- and starting on physics. but there's still math and econs.luckily there's nothing to study, or say i don't know how to study for GP. even old annie told me that she also don't know what the english dept gonna test us and said it was useless when i asked her before the holidays.

but, at home, i can't study much. there's too many distractions around. a new effects pedal and many guitars lying around, can i do much?now, i need a tube amp.i'll start saving up for one, in search for the tone that i want.currently still doing well catching the tune of the older guns songs, namely jungle, knockin' on heaven's door, civil war and november rain. sometimes the feeling sucks when you have the tab in front of you, yet you keep missing notes or play wrongly and just can't get it out of the system.

now, a pause for photography, i need a break till next year jan, doing some event stuff.ever since the ocip, i know i still enjoy photography, but not the editing and choosing part. usually i dont do it for events, not me at least.

Christmas in 2 weeks.i want a mono guitar bag.

Gibson

the 1996 Gibson Les Paul Standard in Honeyburst.my new love!

Leica S2

as you see, this is the leica S2 that was launched about 3 months ago.

firstly, nothing from leica is cheap, but you pay for quality. this thing here, without the lens, will set you back around GBP20,000 to GBP25,000. need some help?its about SGD60,000. with that price, you can get 6 new Nikon D3x.the quality of leica cannot be matched by either canon or nikon, its in a different class on its own. 37.5 megapixels-my current one is 12.and it made my dslr's sensor a dwarf.

i can only dream about this.not even thinking of getting close to one.

the big muff pi was sold out.but the metal muff with top boost is better!will post pics soon.

and i finally got my claim back, then went for the effects sale and now im doing heavier stuff again. but the epi's pickups seem to be abit screwed, soon i'll change everything, including the pots and caps and the toggle.or you just call it the electronics overhaul.

its raining.

yesterday's dinner didn't exactly go as planned, but its still a good get together time with one part of the ocip team. pho24 no longer exist in singapore, although the website and signboard are still around.

so, we went to miss clarity cafe instead, which is just a stone's throw away from where the pho24 used to stand. the place wasn't very bright, they were trying to create that romantic christmas kinda feel. not a bad try. customer service is not the worst i've seen, but im only paying for the food, so i can't complain that much. BUT, the food with the price was rather reasonable. 'old macdonald had a farm', has all the meat from animals that have legs and can walk. namely the chicken,cow,pig and goat. all drenched in black pepper sauce.except for the chicken, the rest of the meat was dry and tough and hard to swallow.and to make things worse, everything tasted the same, because they are all in the same sauce.at least i got 85%full from this $18.80 main.

after dinner, went to another place along the same stretch of shophouses to this chocolate shop for dessert. about the same type of interior design but brighter. tried the frozen hot chocolate that was rather interesting,not exactly actually.its just thick chocolate with crushed ice. the most enjoyable part was the not-so-honest card games.bridge and the other one.

after everything else, took 166 to amk, mrt to khatib then 39 home.reached home at 2245.

i have about 5 weeks to complete studying for the milestone assesment in 2009. 1 week to perfect master of puppets and sweet child o' mine.

quote john mayer: 'something about the way your hair falls in your face'. its the feel good feeling.

update

the pub head damaged 2 yesterday.
olivia: instant print. $0.50each. lousy quality.
me: 5min express at konota. $0.50each. same good quality as the damaged ones.but, i have to travel all the way from Tampines to City Hall, with a battery dead ipod in my bag.at least everything seems fine for the moment.

*

finally, the world seems to be a better place. thai airports have reopened, the mumbai attacks have paused for a while, hope it stops soon. yet, i still don't think singapore is safe enough.

*
nothing much actually happened today, my ankle is still rather painful plus the tiny infection on the same foot's big toe. red and swollen. and im looking forward to sunday. off to practice new songs!

just saw the email from m.dong, and there'll be a ocip post trip gathering at pho24!

fyi: thats the fantastic pho restaurant from vietnam that managed to make its way all the way down to SINGAPORE.

i'll be looking forward to that, and push the Sunday practice aside for the moment.and talking about ocip, there's one group photo that only i have-i just retrieved it from the memory card.so this is special, its unique, and there's only 1.thats the arrival hall for the budget terminal by the way.

meeting today in school saw the completion of the exhibition boxes for 2009. i think it was a job rather well done. many people played a part, big and small to make this thing possible. and the photos were just good. the people at the Camera Workshop might want to use a couple of them to help them advertise the quality of the Tamron 17-50mm lens. so you get a idea how good that is?

back to guitar, i've been playing everyday when i'm free since i came back from vietnam last week. new gear will be coming in next week.i'll update on that again.got my feel back alright, after all the blocked nose and cough and sore throat.now it's my left ankle, and the next cxmc appointment is pushed back to 6th jan 2009.

this would be a rather random post as i expect it would be.

been listening to the new guns album, john mayer and other stuff.and im hooked on to jm's 'your body is a wonderland'

We got the afternoon

You got this room for two

One thing I've left to do

Discover me

Discovering you

One mile to every inch of

Your skin like porcelain

One pair of candy lips and

Your bubblegum tongue

'Cause if you want love

We'll make it

Swimming a deep sea

Of blankets

Take all your big plans

And break 'em

This is bound to be a while

Your body Is a wonderland

Your body is a wonder (I'll use my hands)

Your body Is a wonderland

Something 'bout the way the hair falls in your face

I love the shape you take when crawling towards the pillowcase

You tell me where to go and

Though I might leave to find it

I'll never let your head hit the bed

Without my hand behind it

you want love?

We'll make it

Swimming a deep sea

Of blankets

Take all your big plans

And break 'em

This is bound to be a while

Your body is a wonderland

Your body is a wonder (I'll use my hands)

Your body Is a wonderland

Damn baby

You frustrate me

I know you're mine all mine all mine

But you look so good it hurts sometimes

Your body Is a wonderland

Your body is a wonder (I'll use my hands)

Your body Is a wonderland

and on a sidenote, you can never challenge Singapore's weather.you'll never know when it will rain

my brain is now infested with the ocip photos. exhibition, iota, stories, and more to come for the presentation and video. meetings after meetings, the pub t.i.c. is such a whore, a troublesome one. sore throat is gone (thanks to loads honey water, honey yoghurt, honeystars and all the honey stuff), so is the cough and most of the blocked nose left too.

but i still lack that extra kick to boost me up. hope i will find it soon. music doesn't work anymore.