we are one tonight

these days i'm going back to my bad habit of thinking the worst of people. or maybe i've only just realized that i was at it so frequently (how about almost every person i meet). it's my bad and my apology goes out to all i've offended. i don't understand how i can reply a smile from a stranger by turning away. it's not so much towards the more elderly, and that makes me feel a little better. by the time i turn back he/she's already looked away thinking 'ok wtf'. and anybody who shares any bit of regional (intra-unit) news i label immediately as 'gossippers'.

i think i need to stop passing all the bad gas around and start paying it forward, all the love and kindness people and God have been giving me.

i never really liked 'we are one tonight' by switchfoot until i saw the video and got a rough idea what they're trying to say. in the video, people transform (digitally) to other people from all walks of life. troubled teenagers to even more troubled moms, 9-5ers to the lead guitarist of the band, the lead guitarist of the band's hand strumming his guitar to a kid strumming a piece of paper with his crayon. the idea is (i think) no matter who you are, where you come from, what you stand for, what differences we have between us, at the end of the day, we are still the same. two eyes, one tongue, no matter how different i am from you, strip down these differences and facades, you and i are born of the same mould.



All rise, all fall
I'll fail you all
We built these cities to stand so tall
We've lost our walls

I don't want to lose it, coming down
With the whole world upside-down
I don't have a soul to trust in now
With the whole world upside-down

We are one, tonight!
And we're singing it out!
We are one, tonight!
And we're dreaming out loud!
And the world is flawed
But these scars will heal
We are one, tonight!
Tonight!
Tonight!
Tonight!

Two eyes, one tongue
I've come, undone
I'm no victim
I paid these dues
I came to lose

I don't want to fight about it now
With the whole world upside-down
I don't have a soul to trust in, now
With the whole world upside-down

We are one, tonight!
And we're singing it out!
We are one, tonight!
And we're dreaming out loud!

And the world is flawed
But these scars will heal

I don't want to lose a common ground
With the whole world upside-down
I don't want to fight about it now
And the world was burning out

Let's slow the evening down
Slow it down
Slow down
Please slow down
Down
Down

The stars are comin' out!

We are one
We are one
We are one
We are one tonight
We are one tonight
And were singing it out
We are one tonight
And were dreaming out loud
And the world is flawed,
But these scars will heal

We are one tonight
Tonight

before you get the wrong idea, i just wanna tell you that the we are one tonight video is quite funny and really meaningful. not boring at all in my opinion. i hope you like the video. i love it more everytime i watch it.

you and i, just the same soul

what i wanna be

hey guys now i finally get some time to tell y'all about the week that's just passed.

i just started taking lessons from (2SG) linchow, and it's amazing learning and watching him play. to think that there's actually a guy who's bored(or adventurous) enough to take any piece of rudiment/style and know it inside out, from bebop to ratamacues, dave weckl to lars ulrich. i still got a long way to go, so in a sense i'm safe from the immensurable amount of things i have to learn, for now. he told me to clean up my chops (just like alvin did when i started lessons with him). so now i'm just clicking my hats on 1,2,3,4, the n's, and both combined, playing the kick on the 1/2/3/4, e's, n's, and a's. this particular independence(or unison) exercise is so simple you can finish it in a day, but i (and whoever agrees with me in the importance of it) will be practising it until the day we die.. i'm looking forward to the next lesson (minus the scolding part =X)

it may be too early now to mark it as unforunate, but i definitely feel so about the saf making me play the bass guitar. i mean i respekt bass players(such as victor wooten and ivan yap (heh)), and i acknowledge their utmost importance in a band, BUT i'm NOT the bass player.
i tend to get a bit pissed when mervin asks me to play bass guitar for church service. cause i don't really wanna waste too many moments practising any thing else other than drums. i wonder if it is an issue of pride.
so now the saf is asking me to play the bass guitar. no prizes for guessing when i'll stop.
even theresa's asking me to play bass for her wedding!!(theresa/weiming if you're reading this don't take me wrongly. it's my pleasure playing for your wedding =))

now it's still quite fun because i'm learning how to walk on the bass for jazz and bossa and it's fun too learning some victor wooten bass exercises (mostly for the right hand). but how long will this novelty last, or when will it upgrade to love and commitment, i don't know. but for now i just wanna play the drums.

this, and today's sermon, made me start to ponder what i'm gonna do in life. am i gonna be a drummer, or a bassist, or full-time worker at the loft studios, or a pastor(yikes! hahah), or just something to do in the line of econs? my own business? or get the time-machine thingie hermione got from dumbly-dorr and do all of the above? i mean it all seems like great fun, and greater commitment, but what is it that God wants me to do? i definitely can't afford to go to berklee at this rate(unless maybe if i sign on [double yikes-yikes!], and i wonder if i can brush up my chops in time. does coming to saf ban ds have a part to play in anything?

worries and questions without answers (for now) aside, i'm very thankful to God for my posting to band. i love it here. i get to practise everyday, play music, learn music, and not to mention canteen uncle's wicked-sick popcorn chicken and wicked-sweet milo-peng.

and i also know for a fact that, God gave Noah a seemingly random, and nonsensical mission that'll make him look like Ned Flanders, and Noah, against all odds, did the right thing by walking by faith and not by sight. i think that's one of the most amazing stories in the Bible. may we all walk from day to day in obedience to God.

gtg clean up my mess of a room now. have a great week everyone
life is long don't hurry too much.

this week just started to look up

yo guys! i actually wanted to write in yesterday but i was too shacked out..

yesterday was the end of my first week in central band, and also the last day of my stay-in (whoopie!). i guess it's also the end of the traumatic experience for andrew and richard, my dear bunk-mates, with all my sleep-talking and dead-loggedness type of sleeping. my heart goes out to you guys.

i just passed my driving lesson 3 today morning as well. mr rafael closed one and a half eyes to my plank course, which i cleared successfully only twice out of maybe 10 tries? anyway i'm very thankful that i passed. i prayed really hard that i'll pass. i didn't want to waste any more money on too many lessons because i took 5 lessons to pass my lesson 1.. that was really discouraging, and i nearly wanted to abandon learning riding altogether after spending about $200. those few weeks, plus some other things, made this august the worst month of 2007 for me.. so far. haha just kidding about the 'so far'. couldn't resist quoting homer..

everyone can despair, so what good are we doing by adding to the numbers of sad and cynical people in this world?

going for frontline now.. have a great weekend guys!




P/S: lelong! lelong! i'm selling my 1-week old samsung hp charger (it works only for the older phones.. it doesn't work for the new line of samsung-beyonce type of phones.. my samsung colour phone's dying so once i sell this charger i'll get a new phone.. going only for $15!!

an old man i met

it's friday again! been having ip(individual practice) since monday, except for tues when i took an off day. can't remember what for though. this week feels 4 times shorter than last week when we had ocs rehearsal for half a day everyday. maybe time really flies when you're enjoying it!

on my way home just now i met some 60+ y.o. blind man somewhere near amk hub. he was sounded as cheerful as his bright orange t-shirt, and he asked me if i could bring him to the bus stop on the opposite side of the road. so i said ok, and we walked, and it was nice to hear him laugh and even the silence felt cheerful too. i told him my grandma was also 60+ and she goes in and out of the hospital and he went 'aiyoo aiyooo aiyoo ko lian dai tsk tsk tsk aiyoo yoo ko lian ah aiyoo aiyo tsk tsk tsk'(aiyo poor thing tsk tsk) then i said it's ok she's fighting fit now and then he stopped saying the same 3 phrases.

anyway halfway through the journey to the other side of the road, i wondered to myself, could he be a feigning blind, and maybe when we reached the other side of the road he'll ask me for some money? my dad always told me not to give beggars(especially indian males[no offence]) money when they ask for it cause they'll just buy stout with it. and some of my nasty(or maybe sincerely helpful, depending on how you look at it) insist on bringing people, asking for money to take the mrt, to the mrt and buying the ticket for them, just to make sure that the money they give them won't be spent on any vices.

well for every nike shirt or gibson guitar we buy, we're paying more than we ought to, and mr. nike's just sitting in his own Just-Do-It sweatshop shaking his Nike Air-clad feet collecting cash. i think the only people who shouldn't mind this are the people who are paying to set themselves apart, for they're paying the exorbitant price for its sake. for the rest of us, if we could just insist on getting that 5% discount(it could be from $2.50 to $10), or buy it from queensway instead of buying it from the boutique, the amount of money we save can easily be given to these people for a drink, a meal, or just one less worry for the next day.

so why do we worry about that 1900-5-dollar phone call being part of the next headlines charity scam, and in doing so let the needy people take the brunt of this pound foolishness?

which reminds me, i haven't bought a new shirt (except for the 3 plain white t-shirts for the band) or pants since the start of 2007.. hahah but i'm not that charitable. i spent most of the money i spend on musical instruments.

anyway for the benefit of the integrity of the old man, he didn't ask me for money. i shouldn't have thought of him that way.


david out


p/s: check out plainsunset's new hit! they played it at this year's baybeats.. the first picture that comes to my mind is the merlion lol
River Song(video)
River Song(mp3 just let the website load. the song will be the first one to be played)

paramore

yo guys check this band out.. drummer's only 16 but really killer. the oldest is the bassist who's only 22. amazing young inspiring band.. just goes to show that there's nothing you can't do!

for a pessimist, i'm pretty optimistic
pressure
born for this

don't forget to support our home-grown very-owns!
the suns - cecelia
plainsunset's latest (not so new tho) single (just the song not the video.. nice song about singapore)

it's time to go koonz

is blogging a symptom of egotism and pride?

so.. are our lives that important that others (the whole world, in fact, since all can access most blogs) should be informed about it?

or are our opinions so right and important that we should rally as many as possible to our own sides by presenting them in the most fanciful and palatable manner possible?

but if we were to not care about ourselves, and go over to the other extreme of being ALL outward-looking and not inward-looking at all, would we be a cardhouse counting down the seconds to a monster kill?

but then again, just like marxism, democracy, and many other ideal communities (which i don't know of), don't we all find equilibrium at where we fall short (to varying degrees) in the process of reaching for the ideal? or even if 99% of us try to look out for each other more than we do ourselves, there'd be the 1% that exploits the majority and whips us with our own stupid belief in idealism.

for those who are thinking, why the fog are you thinking so much for? just tell the world about yourself man, the good things that's happened to you, the wonderful things you've seen, it may bring a smile upon someone's face; it may whisper (or shout) to someone in the dark loneliness: you're not alone! i quite agree with you.

i hope this is not boring you. i've been thinking for 2 years if there's a right or wrong, other than God's spoken words in the old and new testament.

hope this picture neutralizes the futility of the discussion. =)
chanced upon it when i ran out of harry potter's to read and when they stopped screening the order of the phoenix -___-
i think, at least it's better than pointing your zildjian drumsticks made of hickory and cock hair at people and avada kedavra-ing people, right deon?




On the softness of her laugh,
I could almost make my bed
But the racket of her absence joined
The sirens blaring ringing in my head

+ Copeland

accio holiday!

hey jeff thanks for leaving your mark on my blog. it just feels better to be connected to the rest of the world.. cause no man is an island eh? if i'm an island, i'd be a no man!

anyway my bro's panasonic camera keeps giving me the screen of death ('system error' on a blue backdrop). does anyone know what to do? wonder if i should fix it or get a new one. i should've made for comex man..

I NEED A HOLIDAY. thanks to Gryphon Coy. and sir william ikhwan's generosity, and some robber i met along the way, i've only 1.5 days of leave left till new year's day! i admit my work is way more relaxed than that of my contemporaries, but i still feel i need to take a break from ninetofivescity and escape from worries for just a few days. i'm sure it'd do anybody some good =)

anyway i got this off the net. same model as my snare drum(pdp sx), just that mine's black. i finally found out why the sound didn't project very well (sorta like a drum corps snare) : the snares were too tight! so i took out the snares and i turned the switch on, and then i put them on. what i did previously was that i put fixed the snares with the snare switch off, so when i turned it on it was waaay too tight. now it sounds sweet and makes me wanna keep playing!


some killer snare drum shit to inspire, awe, and for some, bore.


go away, monday blues,
for today, i choose not you!

the chicken

hey guys here's a nice and happy (and wicked on drums bass and keyboards) tune, the funky chicken. wicked drums to make ur day..

finally got a nice sound out of my new snare drum. been reading prof. sound for months and months but when i finally got the drum his method didn't work! but i guess it's to each drum its own. i tuned the top to be as tight as the canopus at the loft, and the bottom to be 4 semitones higher.. prof sound said that to get the pop top 40 sound i should tune the bottom skin 3 notes higher.. maybe he meant tones. but still my drum doesn't project very well. although there's the 'png!' in it, it still sounds kinda constricted. maybe it's the skin? martin (the seller) gave me a dw stock batter head.. maybe i should try something else.. any recommendations anyone?

my bro's camera is down so i can't put up pictures at the moment.

ok gotta go for ocs commissioning parade now. till the next time..


frodo: (Gollum) deserves death!
gandalf: Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement.

i'm blogging again!

hey guys! guess who's back!~ i'm so inspired by richard (thanks richard) and his innocently amusing blog so much so that i can't help blogging again, despite the grim prospect of it becoming indescribably boring, again.

so here we are. army life's been good i'm posted to the SAF bands. i was told not to blog too explicitly about matters à la militaire, so if you find that it's crossing the line please do inform me, lest i be charged.

i've been whacking rudiments for the past 3 months but i don't seem to be improving very much in terms of speed and coordination on the kit. i wonder why.. hrmmm.. can't wait for linchow to come back so i can ask him to impart to me his skills.

so sian man first 3 weeks already, first batch72-er to get knocked down, to run 1 round around the ocs parade square, and get extra coy BO duty for ONE WEEK. oh man.. but it's ok. running and push ups keeps me fit, and the extra BO duty also gives me some time to read and practise some rudiments.

w.r.t. the unpleasant politics, i echo the opinions of one of the best goalkeepers playing for the best team in the world, Mr Jens Lehmann:

"You write something and then you read it again and think that you were right, so then you ask me what I think of it.

"Don't ask me how I should interpret your interpretation.

"The English exaggerate everything and how can you understand such an interpretation?"

have a great weekend guys and gals~