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.

back.but sick.

cough, blocked nose, sore throat (getting better), no guitar. how much worse can it get? i'll wait and see

Back Home.

finally got back from the technology deficient vietnam, i'll not complain so much. its ocip. down with serious blocked nose and sore throat, fever may be next on the list. hope it won't come yet. skip the details, if not there'll be too much to say. and im tired.

i think i did a good job as the chief photographer for this trip, learnt a lot of life lessons through the lens. life may be tough, but it we still have to move on. time was well spent in bac ha, that place is seriously cold. i heard last year was worse, many kids died there as it was only 3 degrees. it made me feel for them, i want to help them, but such things are not within my ability and control. built an unfinished (a bit of plastering and painting) brick building/kindergarten for the lil' kids in the foggy mountains, to keep them warm during winter times like now till mid-jan. the cultural exchange with the kids and teachers went rather well i think. and i found that my guitar is already a part of me, the 12 days without it was really a struggle that im amazed i pulled through.

thanks john, my bud, who stuck with me for the most of the trip. we are both afraid of flying insects, coriander and mimosa. sharing so many similarities, no wonder we are buds. also miss tay and mr stubborn captain derrick ong, who reassured me that i did a great job as a photographer and saw things that other people can't. and bringing up many good learning points during debriefs. not forgetting the food suppliers melodie and gen, for the biscuits and energy bars, the homestay hosts who did a great job in making us feel at home, fiona who wasn't so innocent after all, the pub head olivia, trip leader mel dong who said i'm vulgar and also the whole team for bringing so much laughter, fun, joy and love amidst the cold weather in vietnam. this is one experience i'll never forget, its a part of me now, its more that service learning and sightseeing.

if i have a chance, i'll return there to the same place, with the same people.
SAINTS OCIP,BAC HA!

VIETNAM

im gone for good this time. 13 days. good luck, good game, have fun.

got nothing to do at all today. not going for badminton either. got sick of playing guitar for now. watched the whole guns n roses "Use Your Illusion I and II Tokyo 1992" concert for 3 straight hours. comparing that to chinese democracy, the latter sounds like greenday to me. but i will still get the album as soon as i get back from Vietnam, release in singapore on 24th, i'll be back on 28th. not too late i guess. it was a 14 year wait since the spaghetti incident in 1994. hope it will turn out real good.

i want back the old guns with the lean Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan, Dizzy Reed, Matt Sorum. what the heck is bumblefoot and robin finck?

its tomorrow.

After all this preparation since quite sometime ago, from the sign up, to getting in the selection camp, to the interview, training camp, prepartion days, dry runs and numerous meetings. tomorrow will be the day the team has been looking forward to. the departure day.

yesterday's gathering was fun, got the socio-cultural stuff ironed out and i ran rather smoothly. i was late, but blame it on the traffic. i promise i boarded the bus at 1, and there was a jam near bendemeer rd. friendship dance and all other stuff should be alright at the end of the day.

i will do my job well, hope u will too!
goodbye, hope i make it back to singapore on the 28th morning alive.
got nothing much to talk about. im tired.

last as a class

i wonder how you will decipher the title, but i dont really care.

the class outing/bbq/gathering/farewell turned out quite alright and i missed one session that im supposed to be there. sorry, but hope you can understand. i shall not go into details as i think you can ref. to other blogs for more info. i enjoyed myself, and please study hard no matter where you are, j1,j2 or poly.

good luck to miss tan too.

the weather reminds me of November Rain. no, its more like Tropical Rain. i've got some sleep to catch, and ocip stuff tmr.

good bye and thank you!

Eventful

lots of stuff happened this week, and im getting tired although i still get around 10 to 11 hours of sleep each day. i think if i sleep any longer i may just turn into a fossil. maybe.

first was the lewis hamilton victory as mentioned earlier.

second was better, Mr Barrack Obama, the new US President. he won by quite alot, 339 to something like 1XX? i hope there will really be CHANGE as he promised. the bubble that promised better stock markets virtually burst on the next day, when world stocks went crumbling again. times are bad, its a good lesson learnt on saving. by the way, this man's swearing in as the next US president will be on Jan 20 next year, along with my birthday and milestone assessment. bullshit.

third was the Socio-cultural & Publicity cooking dry run. for some reason the publicity comm peeps became the backup cookers. which means we will have to be the people who will cook in vietnam in case john or the mimosa falls of the cliff or roll down the mountain. since we are back-ups, we did what we do best. EYE-POWER! while they cook, i took photographs (my job), melodie took videos (her job), olivia watched (her job too). the only person in pub comm who did something was fiona i think, and melodie did a bit of washing. the food did not turn out as marvellous, coconut rice that tasted like charcoal-according to my impression of what charcoal may taste like, fried chick wings that i've got nothing much to talk about, roti john with sliced bread was a no-go. the only thing that was pretty much tasty and edible was ikan bilis. or dried split fish. im too lazy to upload photos here.

fourth, my external hard disk went a screwed up and all the photos were missing. they include chingay, johnnie walker f1 campaign, singapore GP, bangkok photos and many others. so, i ran a software i downloaded from the net called PhotoRec. it worked pretty well, just its a bit of an uphill climb to find your recovered stuff as the files are all renamed to fxxxxxxxxxxx. i took around 3 hours to find the correct folders that my recovered photos are in. relieved to find them, if not i will be screwed inside out with my screwed drive.

fifth, friday morning. or yesterday. got to school much earlier to make a short video for the rest of the ocip team. i brought my photos, melodie brought the vids and olivia brought her notebook. we finished the video in just 2 hours, amazing. i never thought we could work at that rate. the video turned out to be rather good, with some captions here and there. i hoped we have helped the socio-cultural peeps and not made it worse. then went for the usual full team meeting/gathering at trophy room. and we did the usual stuff, dance, dance and dance again. practiced some songs that we gotta sing over at vietnam. i've got an extra job to do which is wear some chinese costume and walk around with josie. went to mac with kaixiang, zhongzi and yijun for lunch. met shane the soloman there. talked a bit of crap here and there and bitch about mimosa.never knew that side of me.

just now, jon came to pickup the les paul ultra im lending him for his prom. hope it will turn out good and do my guitar justice.

7 more days to vietnam. christmas got closer.

The Perfect Les Paul

have been thinking about my dream Les Paul. now, for everything, think customised solutions. and of course, budget. economic downturn is not good for me, as i will need more time to churn out and pay for the guitar with my own specs.

im thinking of something like this from Tokai Japan:

Electronics:

CTS pots.

Orange drop caps

SD 59' bridge and APH-II neck

vintage 59 wiring

Neck:

1 piece mahogany

Deep neck joint

rosewood fingerboard

22 frets

real MOP trapezoid inlays

fret edge binding

Body:

2 piece plain maple top

1 piece mahogany back

Antique Gold finish a.k.a. GOLDTOP!

Hardware:

T.O.M bridge from tonepros

vintage Gibson style tuners

stopbar tailpiece

amber speedknobs

switchcraft

this should be something like my perfect les paul. it should look something like this

update

OP is finally over! only the GPF left, should not be a prob if my grp members can co-operate with me.

Lewis Hamilton got the world champion this year, by one point. all thanks to timo glock. im not supporting hamilton, im a ferrari fan. maybe glock might not get out of brazil alive. hahaha. he cost the brazilian hero the F1 title for this year.

12 more days to Vietnam, hope the trip will turn out well. and the publicity comm will be back-up cooks, when i thought my job is only to take photos. i guess its good too, i got nothing to do now. at least some cooking dry runs can fill up the empty time slots. maybe i can start revision for msa next year. 59 points just isn't good enough.

i know sometimes i may overlook some things, but hope you'll give me a second chance.

Marshall 2245 JTM45

Marshall knows how to make their customers happy. The Vintage Series JTM45. 30W amp head, 2 channels. I'll drop by davis soon to get the price and will be saving for that if its acceptable. its $1850. but wai kay also offered $1850 for an Orange AD30htc that is also great. Yeah, MARSHALL! but its hard to choose. i might order a custom Jarrah wood 4x12 slope front cab to go with it.

BB-2

Marshalls go well with Gibsons. The pedal will do the job too. This is the Marshall Bluesbreaker II.

this is not a Jim Dunlop ad. its the mess i made after playing with my les paul.

update

whether are you a Christian or not, if you are struggling to cope with life, take a few minutes to watch this. think through the words in this video.hope it helps!

Nights in Rodanthe

6 guys who went out of school. 1 guy from home. its 7 guys, and 1 good emo movie. Nights in Rodanthe.

ENJOY.

I enjoy...
the weight of a les paul
drinking
feeling tired
badminton
having your company
being in my class
racing
rock n roll
sunshine and rain
feeling good
travelling
watching mythbusters
music

Results (cont'd)

Got my promos results back today all at one go.

H1 Economics B
H2 Chemistry C
H2 Physics D
H2 Math C
General Paper D

Rank Points 58.
Improvement 14

i'm rather ok with such results, altough some will still repeat JC1 next year, or leave the college. got nothing much to say about this, i'll have to work hard for the msa next year and enjoy the OCIP trip and Christmas.

Believe and He will carry you through.this is a short story i want to share.

A man was walking on the beach with God looking back on his life.

As he looked at his life he noticed there were footprints in the sand next to the pictures. However, every so often in the man's life he noticed that there was only one set, and not two. As he looked at the pictures he compared the pictures that had two footprints to the pictures that had one. He noticed that in all of the hard times in his life there was only one set of footprints. He looked at God and asked "Why were there only one set of footprints God during the hard times of my life? Where was the other set? Why did you abandon me in my time of need?"

God looked down on him with a great and loving smile and said to him "My dear son, those are my footprints." The man was very puzzled and asked, "Well, then where are mine?" God replied "When times are tough, I carried you through"

Results

Promos results are out tomorrow, after the long 3 week wait. Thinking about it, i think its the most important thing or assesment that i've been looking foward to for the past few months. but, think again. is jc1 just about getting promoted? i think we should just step back and take a look at other stuff, before we make the final dash to mark the end of a year. its rather stupid to work hard at the last minute though.

just hope i can get promoted, my classmates too. and you too. all the best for tmr.

32 days to Vietnam OCIP.
Forget about Christmas for the moment.

update

formula one is over, go karting with class yesterday wasnt that bad. and pw?not much to say.

the promos are over, yet im still unable to switch back to the pre-promo-preparation mood. been sleeping later and later and later practising on my les paul. testing out new tones, different settings on the cube and my epi seems to have some problem with the electronics. i need more rest.

Promo Results Out in 10 days
OCIP in 44 days
2009 in 90 days.

Post Exam Mood

right now, im all geared up for the Singtel Singapore Formula One Grand Prix, at the Marina Street Circuit. and put the books aside, the exams are over!was at the first and second practice sessions, from 7pm to 11pm. this will be my 4th race weekend. previous one were in germany and malaysia twice.

will upload the pics when the whole race weekend is over.

end

promos just ended yesterday with physics.guess what, thats a killer.but it shouldnt affect my promotion to jc2. coming up will be project work, ocip, and some other post exam activities like karting. but sometimes, looking back, promos seems like the only thing we have been worrrying for? hope it turns out good this time round.

Hardwork Pays Off.

i've been studying quite hard recently, compared to the sloppiness in term 2 that ended with a 44. 80% for math msa, not bad compared to the S in jct. i will start scoring the As that i should be getting, during the mile.stone.assesment and of course promos, and leave for vietnam happily.aiming for 60 points for promo, and at least C for every subject.

update

back from another camp again.tired as usual. but this time its not as demanding, got pizza for dinner, games and such and ZERO pushups. did some local cip with the vietnam peeps, at the Kreta Ayer Senior Activities Centre. the elderly there were friendly and each has a story to tell.i think we were quite welcome there, although the programme was quite messed up.but not bad, and i made new friends, and know the usual people better.

im looking foward to the vietnam trip =)

Knockin on Heaven's Door, Civil War

Have been back listening to the old guns n roses again.still loved their songs, and the solos, and the crazy vocals of Mr. Axl Rose. knockin on heaven's door, sweet child, jungle, civil war , you could be mine. what could be better than this, i mean the real rock music.Slash, Matt Sorum, Dizzy Reed, Duff and the wonderful background vocals.this is the rock culture that we should know, not some bullshit MCR,Greenday.listen to those rubbish and you get shit in your brain.


Appreciate and rock on. Legends are not a everyday thing.

new lens

toying around with my new tamron 17-50mm lens to fit the nikon D200.here are some samples

got rather motivated to study recently, at the same time being involved in all sorts of stuff...medical appts, ocip meetings, cca and all other crap.leave just so little time to take good care of myself. missed the extra chemistry turorial today to come home to rest.headache, cough and all sorts of illness came crawling on me. life's getting rather insane, but i think it is about 8 more weeks to the promos.study hard now, rather than regretting later.

i wanna run through the halls of my high school,

i wanna scream at the top of my lungs

-John Mayer in 'No Such Thing',room for squares

OCIP CAMP-Crossing Borders, Touching Lives

the ocip camp 2008, im shortlisted for it.so i spent 24hours of my life on this torture camp.

arrived in school at 5 plus in the evening after the student council commendation at the St Andrew's Cathedral in the morning.although this camp is quite short, i dont know why my bag is still so heavy.spent the day doing ice-breakers,typical of camps.i think the group is rather outgoing and fun,and smart.then went on for the station games.these games were designed for us to work as a team.there was a fire drill as expected, they woke us up at 3plus or 4plus in the morning for this. i thnk i should not talk about the activities too much, but the lessons learnt.

i felt now, i know better how to listen to others, work with people, speak up, ask, think creatively, tolerate, endure, care for others.even if im not shortlisted for the OCIP trip this year, i gained new experience, and have a slightly changed perspective from the camp.

"Energy can always be replenished, but there is not second chance for life
moments."

update

don't know where to start from, its been so long since i last updated.the june common test was rather shit i think, didnt meet my expectations, maybe i should rethink and plan out my new strategy to score the As in promos which is not so far away.school's been rather boring for me, getting very busy with this and that.busy with work,ocip,cca,and podiatry, physio and consultation,pw,study.the tv and computer are foreign now, got zero-time for them.

college day went past rather quietly, the carnival wasnt as good as expected,compared to the one in vjc which i helped my sister a few years ago.only thing that i remembered vividly was the Haunted House.cos me and few friends (all guys) went in and just screamed around.when we came out, jason told me the girls outside waiting were saying "my gosh!even guys are screaming, must be damn scary..."it gave us quite a good laugh tho.

for ocip, im the only one shortlisted in the class for the camp.luckily, some of my other friends were selected too.at least im not alone.but its time to make more friends, i feel my social circle in school is not very big.

gear for the moment

what you see now is roland cube 30X, washburn N1, epiphone les paul ultra, boss ds-1(mit), dunlop crybaby classic.i returned the distortion to eugene

night cycling

went out for night cycling after returning from chalet at nsrcc, its really night cycling.met with jon at shell petrol kiosk then went to anglican high to wait for jovan.they were having praise and worship night for student camp.its a rather close and comfortable environment for me at the church, seeing so many people i know from the sat service.i think i should go for the service again, and drag zy along.waited for jov till 11 plus where we really started out trip.its the same usual route except for now its dark.and we shared some spooky stories we know, talked about zy, lots of rubbish and stuff.hope we can have more of such gatherings, but it will be much safer in the day

Sports and Fitness Club Leadership Selection Camp

when you read this post, its after a good nap when i got home today.from a camp full of laughter, fun, pain and loss of sleep.thats what camps should be like, no 2 are the same.



arrived in school before 0829, which was the reporting time with a huge bag with all stuff packed in it.quite a few people were late, and those who were early of course got ranted at and waited in pumping positions on the hot track.chloe is such a *****, james, eugene, alvin, me, jeremy and practically everyone was starting to dislike her.well, but we dont like her almost from the start.got into our groups after much scolding and such.group1 im in, has got siu kiat, alvin, qixuan, liting, firqin,nikki,joanne and i.elizabeth is the group leader.cant believe im gonna miss student camp for this sickening camp.got together as a group to paint a flag, our group identity.since its group 1, the group name is Champ(s).probably we were still unfamiliar with each other, communication of ideas was not effective, got thing done very slowly.in the end we had one that looks like paint splashing, but more artistic.hahahaha....ok,at least now i know some of the member's names, and all are science students.but im starting too much time is wasted on all those punishments, all though some of it was really our fault.



the trip to pulau ubin was still smooth sailing, not much delay on that.but we had to carry the tents under the hot star.we walked one big round but we arrived at the camp site that was not very far from the jetty, probably 5min walk there.but we trekked for roughly 45min?somewhere there i think.tiring like dont know what.i pity those who carried the water tanks as the tap water at ubin is brown.got there, pumping postion for dont know what reason again.they can think of some funny reason just to punish us.and during the trek, chloe was like single file, single file.shout shout shout, dont know whats going through her mind when the road was wide enough.and they walked so fast ahead, she is only carrying a complete seed, thats all.the tent pitching was alien to most of the campers, only 5 out of 3X people know how to pitch one.obviously im not one of them.after finally completing the pitching and settling down, we set off in our groups for treasure hunt.i think my group's navigation skills are superb, provided that the map was vague.but the activity was a bit boring, cos its just take a 'clue', which is only a piece of coloured paper.went back to camp site and chill.dinner was instant noodles, canned food.all cooked on bunsen burner and solid fuel in a mass tin.nice dinner, we deserve it.went off for night navigation later in the day.at 8 plus at night.ubin is so dark at night that you cant even see your fingers, and its a new moon cloudy night, which makes things much worse.even with a bright torch, visibility is very poor.you cant see whats beyond 15m ahead of you.alvin and i were the 2 in front navigating and leading the group.i think one game that really tested out our teamwork and ability to react to situations was the scenario.its someone sprained his ankle, and could not walk.we had to carry the 'casualty' to the next hut.in darkness.when we reached there, we realised that we lost the precious map. i handed over to joanne, as i was the one injured so i need someone to help me take over and read the sketch.siukiat and alvin had to carry me around, im the casualty.next one was the night obstacle course.fun, i love breaking branches from trees.we were blindfolded, so again we have to rely on our teammates to guide us.especially the one in front.communication, teamwork was fully utilised.had lots of good fun along the way, really bonds the group together.by the time we got back at the campsite, its 2plus in the morning.and i still got night patrol duty.bullshit.couldnt sleep.and the slot is 5am to 6am (._.) what we did was sit down and sleep for 10min, walk one round and repeat till time ends at 6.

woke up at 7plus by some people laughing outside the tent.sian la, why must they laugh so loudly?woke up very lethargic.then adeline asked me to accompany 2 girls 2 the washroom.wtf...i still want my sleep.had breakfast which was bread and water.the we rolled the tents back, and make our way back to sajc for part 2 of the camp.

once we got back, we put down our stuff in the bunk then did this activity called squeeze and spread.typically, chloe is being noisy again.and we got punished for some reason again.the guys held on very strongly, none of the seniors could pull us apart.and after that, the guys are really quite bonded together.its much easier, theres only 13 of us.had lunch where we had to go to the trophy room to call the big shots doen for lunch.after lunch we washed the camp equipment we used at ubin.we took very long to wash everything.the tents were the most challenging of all.thats about all for the day activity.rather relaxed, slack.i love it.then had this workshop about proposal writing and planning.the camp we have is a result of a 123 page proposal by the seniors.then we worked as a group again to plan and write a proposal.nothing much, im not gonna talk too much about that.then was followed by a superb buffet dinner, we served the seniors and the teachers.i think its the best night, or the best part.hope the seniors remembers it, with the candles lightin up the tables.

then we had this fire drill at 1am after lights out and washing up.expected, we were unprepared, too slow and got punished.Q.Q push ups again.after that we had one night stand, which is to stand in a small ring till the sun rises.all of us stood at least 4 and a half hours.why?scared lose face, its embarrasing when no one sits, and you sit down.i stood throughout the whole thing.after that i had the exco interview, i dont think i will get in, although my CCA record was good.3 years of vice-cap in Anglican High.but i hope i will get in, some funny post also can.

its the last day and we gonna break camp in a few hours time.adeline was like going around taking photos for everyone.had one last game after a better breakfast of bread with jam.its cardboard wars, and its a wet game, finally. fun, really enjoyed it.i really loved this camp, its memorable, and brings the jc1 cohort together.

Saints, Up and On!

im back

got back from the land of smiles on monday night, at around 11pm.overall, i find this trip rather satisfactory.

some things i found interesting about thailand.

1.the thais are friendly, always there to help you

2.tuk tuks are expensive for tourists, especially the and mohs

3.chinese food in thailand has only 3 dishes.-sharks' fin soup, abalone in red gravy, birds' nest

4.air pollution is terrible in bangkok

5.girls in thailand can be rather pretty, too bad they cant speak proper english

6.the baht is really weak, compared to sgd

7.poor planning in the city area

8.raffles-city-like shopping malls are all over the city centre, the size of vivo city each

9.the thai police love tight-fitting uniforms

that should summarise my short stay in bangkok.had tom yam kung 3 times, roasted pork quite a few times, roasted pig intestine, some roasted organ of the chicken and fried crickets.and last but not least, i got a new electric guitar from bangkok.a washburn N1, Nuno Buttencourt Signature Model.but im gonna change the electronics soon, to emgs and add a tone pot to it.it should be great after those mods.will post some pics soon

Destination Thailand

leaving for bangkok, thailand tomorrow morning.short trip.will be back on monday.hope i see some good gear and taste some good food there. goodbye for the time being, june's gonna be a hectic 'holiday' month.camp, and such.

everyone, lets work towards the A's together

What you can find in a gibson

there are many things you can find with a Gibson Les Paul in your hands.

joy
happiness
satisfaction
quality
passion
&
love

in 6 months, i will feel this way.

life has been tough and busy recently, tests and all those things that keep me too occupied with.as i was taking my shower after a hot day in school, this short story came to my mind.it was one that i heard or read during my days in anglican high.its something like this:

A man was walking on the beach with God,
and scenes of his life flashed across the sky.
When the man looked back,
there were 2 sets of footprints in the sand.
But sometimes,
When times were tough,
He only saw one set.
Then he asked God,
"why were you not with me when i was feeling down or life wasnt easy."

God replied "Those are the times when i carried you through"

i will work through the common tests, God will do his best if i do my best.

bless and be blessed.

bullshit

i sort of wasted 5 dollars yesterday night for the sajc guitar concert.its not totally bad, but quite bad.there was this girl, jc2 i think, whose guitar was out of tune, the low E string, and i dont think she realised.its too unaturally low and flat.lousy.i hate the fucked up conductor too, some purple gay stand there think he very pro, and so arrogant he despised the cultural centre's speakers.what a gay bastard, hope he gets into some trouble for being so arrogant.i think annie tang is bad enough, but he is in another 'higher' league than annie.

update

ok i dont know where to start from since its some time from the last time i blogged.

School is tough, im starting to see my marks dangle around the borderline pass areas.i dont feel good, its time to start mugging for common tests.i want to do well.

my pwoject work group is out.im with ricky, annabel, and darssni.i think its quite a good combination, its quite balanced.my PI is chosen since its unique and tan jq says theres still room for expansion for the GPP.

im the newly appointed CIP rep for S02, sounds cool and rather slack.how busy can CIP be, and furthermore its a class effort,there should be some one out there to help me out.

its been a really busy week:Monday:went for rugby match at ccab, SAJC against ACJC.its a close fight but we still won 20-11.saints, up and on!next monday, at padang, against ACS(I).dont know why theres so many acss around, dont like it.
Tuesday:stayed in school for PW lecture and followed by a math lecture test which i felt so disappointed in myself, im losing self confidence.
Wed.went for chem lecture test, think im gonna fail it, though i did my tutorials and the questions are somewhat similar.then went to ecp for a rollerblading session with sports and fitness club.fell many times and got a deep enough cut on my palm at the base of the mid-finger.saw clarice at the vjc bus stop on the way home.sorry clarice, i think you just got rounder.
Thurs:Ben liang got pissed with the class he dismissed us at one plus.qiang bo is the first to flee, he is the first in everything and he's happy about it.went for physio at CGH at 4, Ting Jun is not my physiotherapist anymore, shes really good.now its a guy, hope he does a good job.got an extended MC with excuse for napfa test, this should shut ben soh's mouth for quite some time.
Friday:chem spa, will be going to guitar concert not because its good, im gonna support Ricky Chong.it should end at around 9.i heard the sales of tix was real bad, life concert was full house.

I NEED SOMEONE TO STUDY WITH.or maybe not.....

im EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS

finally, after 3 drafts, out comes my EE PI for final submission.thats it for my pi for now, but worries lie ahead.chem lect test, math test, physics spa.and i really think that i have a fetish for les pauls.

i guess it wont be that very long till the arrival of my gibson, how i wish it is here right now.have been playing lotsa random stuff, from fade to black to catch your wave.and sajc is gonna have the 2nd cafe, which will be starbucks like.hope it will be much nicer than that pop cafe, and make our $$ more worth it.have been quite busy lately, will update soon.again.and student camp this year, hope i can commit to it.

update

didnt post for a real long time, i really got no time to do so.school's been very very busy recently, projectwork, gp presentation, math lecture test, chem lecture test, physics class test, tutorials.add on to that i've got physio an alt thurs, doc's appt, and some other specialist clinic appt.how i wish money could buy time,really.gonna give a real long update now.

start with talking abt school.

well, i chose journeys over modernisation for the project task, about lky's journey to learn mandarin.i was surprised to find out that he actually started learning mandarin at 32years old.amazing right?i really admire him, a great man.without him, would i even be here?ME,ME of my preliminary idea draft.hope will upgrade to ee,ee.general paper presentation was over today, the group wasnt really well-prepared for this.i hate being not prepared enough.samuel,sheldon,chanpheurum and ricky and i was already considered quite good enough,for the amount of info we gave.till the "60-40"guy jason told me i was like talking to myself.maybe, but i dont know.the way i look at jason is like a sin-curve, sometimes i find him ok.but most of the time not.the girls and her were late for econs class, and ben liang asked them to go for a break instead of lesson.they missed all the important stuff anout essay writing and answering skills req for test and exam.good luck to them.actually, i like my class now quite a lot.better than tpjc, much bettter,at least i found some people who have similar interest as i have.passion for guitar and old school rock music.and theres lots of jokers in o8s02 too, people like kishen and dixon.sajc is real fun i think, packed with activities and lots of other stuff that we can keep ourselves busy with.and jin jin khan has this book which i think will screw up anyone's life after reading. it tells you how to make you life more interesting.got one is to call the police, and say you are abducted by aliens.or maybe call them and say "i want to confess a crime i committed..."and dont say anything.or maybe prank call someone and say"im your real father".will also be running for house council as it will give me a nicer looking SGC.

now, talk about my physio.

i was diagnosed with bilateral patella femoral pain syndrome or PFPS, and will be out on 6 months mc.that means no pe for the time being.the therapist in charge of me is ting jun, a rather nice doctor who is patient at explaining,and jokes quite a lot.shes the type of person that is like my elder sis, it would never come across your mind if you see her and think she is a doctor.start with some easy exercises for strengthening and such and will move on to other stuff.

was at the johnnie walker promotion event for a campaign promotion for drink driving.of course that was not why i was there for.it was for mr mika hakkinen of course, the 2 time formula one world champion.he is here as a spokesperson, and demonstrate the mclaren mercedes formula one car.was at the chingay one to see the RBR car not long ago, and now mclaren.whats next?ferrari with shell sponsor.hope so.and i know now that amg cars are loud beasts.the CL55amg hakkinen drove is one revving loud powerful monster.the F1 car wasnt that quick that day, but still loud and impressive.was also looking through my collection of ferrari car models,i was impressed and snapped some pics of them.i have 17 of them now,plus one larger mika hakkinen f1 car

hope

hope everything will turn out fine tomorrow.but what can i expect when both knees that are injured prohibit me from running,and a faulty ankle that bugs me for 3 years?

just in the mood to listen to "tears in heaven" and get some work done.

end.

yesterday placed a fullstop to competitive badminton or rather sports for me for the moment.its time to hit the books.i also quitted from the rugby squad.

i just realised that i have 2 800-word GP essay, math homework, chem test to study for. how i wished money can buy myself some time.

i need some rest,headache can kill.maybe not.

update

was at the out of place ccab at evans rd for pilot pen cup for yesterday and today.reached there early on both days.the competition's system was nothing but lousy,and the holding area sucks.stuffy,warm,crowded.maybe thats what all badminton halls are like.won the singles yesterday against a sajc guy.dragged the game for quite long, eventually won it.lost doubles and today's singles.representing tpjc, im the one and only person who managed to win a match.

no one came to watch or support today.eileen's at chalet,keith gotta study,john m.i.a.

and eileen has got a slow brain.

update

its been a really hectic period of time in school, lectures, audition, this and that.i feel i really have no time for myself now to sit back and relax for a moment.i got posted to 08S02, one of the only few classes that do not have mother tongue as one of their subjects.100% PCMe class.i find sajc had a rather good culture,or maybe a fun one.here comes the problem, everyone plays so hard in school, that they hardly study at home.to get ahead, put in a little more effort into academic area, and good results will not be a problem at all.

went for the Life Concert auditions as electric guitarist, didnt get in.in fact, no one that went for auditions got in.so they had to ask an ex-student to play for the concert which will be on 11th April i think, part of the school's easter programme.dear friends, tell me if you want to go.its an evangelistic event.

finally managed to get my boss ds-1 distortion pedal.i really love this pedal for its simplicity and price.it cost me around $75 for a new piece.now i have added that to my pedal collection, next up will be my gibson lp standard.hope i will get that asap.then followed by a tube amp.considering either a vox or orange tiny terror.marshall is out of the list, maybe their cabinet speakers.

papa got tix to this year's formula one singapore gp race.so will miss out on the malaysia race, and stay insingapore to watch our very own race.

for the past several days,mr mas selamat kastari managed to "slip" through the doors of the detention at whitley road.dont know how it managed to escape.but from my point of view, this had a very deep impact on singapore's security, especially it happened only just after singapore won the bid for the 2010 youth olympics.im really worried, i hear police sirens everyday near my school.what if singapore really gets attacked by the terrorist.hope he will get caught quickly.

had an economics test today, in lecture.just a short 10 question mcq.thought it would be an essay, so i started studying since wednesday.its simply just on demand and supply and CPE.scored full marks for the test,easy test.there will be more tests to come by after the march break,chemistry and many many others.and i got 2 essays to write for GP during the holidays.

theres a weird feeling from my knees and right ankle recently, refraining me from running by giving my pain in the affected areas.gonna see a doctor after the pilot pen competitions next week.its getting irritating, maybe i wont make it for napfa test this year, should be on mc.

pilot pen cup next monday, at ccab.most likely will stay there the whole day, singles in the morning and doubles in the afternoon.hope will be a double victory on monday.its my last chance at competitive badminton.im going to put focus on my studies,and pursue 2 H3 subjects.chemistry and physics.

blessings for a good day

GIBSON LES PAUL STANDARD TRANS AMBER

i have paid my first installment for my new gibson les paul standard.although trans amber, it looks like natural finish.a very nice flame top, and its new.haha, the 2.9k will be worth it.will post some pics of it soon

ST. ANDREW's JUNIOR COLLEGE

got posted to sajc successfully,was quite happy that i got into sajc.posting results is like o levels results.not everyone will be happy, theres bound to be some people who dont like the outcome.congrats to jibong and guorong for a successful appeal by the way.on the first day of school, i went late.i dropped my wallet on the way to school on the bus.so i took another bus to toa payoh to look for my wallet.thank god i found my wallet.imagine my IC,ez-link,money and many other important stuff.waited for leeyang at the interchange to go school together.reached at 8.30am.the school is rather big, you wont see any soccer pitches around, only rugby pitch.a great new place.went to the cultural centre for a briefing, then had mass dance, subject talk and many other stuff.had rather nice og members, pris tan the ogl.i only could match the face with a few names now.joseph,jamie,jessica,zhixiong,shane,elton,szewee and weisong.theres about 20 people in the og btw.also saw a few ahs people, chermain poon,benedict,chester,wong liting,sinyee.

i love my new school.

update

much had been happening these few days, in school and everywhere.went to chingay 2008 at esplanade area, it was sort of a last minute decision as my father has got the tickets and he told us only after he came home from work.so got changed and rushed out to beat the crowd.the formula one car sponsored by redbull was the show stealer.although it took quite a while for it to come over.before that, there was a short parade of harleys, vintage cars and supercars.all are loud steeds with revving engines.theres a white lamborghini cabriolet, meaning a drop top.and a porsche with dawn yang in it.after that it was quite boring, like the president waving and all sort of stuff. for safety reasons, the roads have to be cleared for the f1 car.the clearance vehicle it the exotic audi r8,which caused much hype last year.

maybe those who dint appreciate racing may think its boring,its noisy, its a waste of $$$.i beg to differ.you have to be there to experience it, yes its noisy, but its the oomph of the cars that bring about so much love from the people who built it by hand.

i got tickets to singapore gp 2008.$698 ea at marina grandstand

to date or to wait?

maybe zhengyi,yuhua and daryl remember this.this is from a church activity a few months back on the 28th july 2007.so 'to date or to wait?'

Aims for 2008 Christmas

i have made up my mind just recently on these few things to aim for this christmas.although its still a good 10 and 1/2 months away,im already preparing to spend to expand my rig.have a budget of around 4k by end of 2008.its possible,if i keep saving and saving and saving and work in the holidays

Currently (L-R):Yamaha G225 Classical Guitar,Jim Dunlop Crybaby Classic,Roland Cube 30x,Epiphone Les Paul Ultra

Hope to Have:

Epiphone Zakk Wylde Les Paul Custom BullseyeEpiphone Zakk Wylde Les Paul Custom CamoGibson Explorer in Antique White
Gibson Les Paul Standard in Heritage Cherry Sunburst

Gibson Les Paul Standard in Desert BurstGibson Les Paul Standard in Vintage Sunburst

Ibanez Jem 7V in WhiteIbanez PGM301Thats for the guitar section.now the amplifiers

Orange Tiny Terror

Marshall JVM 205HMarshall 1960A Speaker Cabinet

Next up are the pedals

Pickups that im gonna put in my les paul ultra

Seymour Duncan Alnico Pro II

Seymour Duncan '59Seymour Duncan Dave Mustaine Signature

That should be all for at least till next year's christmas.my 4K will be well spent