eat your words

Image via Wikipediafor some weird reason, i had a sudden mental outrage against lip sync-ers. i used to be neutral on this issue, or rather apathetic. because let's face it, it's pretty pathetic and not really worthy of the effort wasted on processing an idea as daft as that in my head.

but today i just felt... angry. so i was watching the evening news, on the chinese channel, and they showed these bunch of celebrities (in the chinese community) at tian'anmen singing. apparently they were celebrating the "milestone" of 100 days before the official opening of the beijing olympics.

firstly i just thought it was stupid to waste money on such a publicity sham. it's not like the olympics has already started. no amount of positive publicity is going to change the public's perception of all their other daft ideas such as the "flame protectors" who were really plain clothes police exercising their non-existent jurisdiction in foreign countries. they might as well have sent some fighter jets over just to be "safe" right? in case some terrorists tried to steal the olympic torch to create some terrible weapon of mass destruction.

ok so these singers were obviously lip sync-ing. i mean they weren't even trying to make an effort to sync it. it was so obtrusively out of sync that i was flabbergasted. i mean if they were gonna spend that kind of money inviting all those people, they should at least give the people who turned up there to see it their money's worth right? why don't they have faith in their own vocal prowess? i'm not sure if i remember correctly, but the last time i checked, those people sang for a living?

imagin eddie vedder, robert plant, ian gillan, etc. lip sync-ing, it would almost gurantee to cause an instant riot. so can someone remind me why are these people lip sync-ing again?


+listening to: monkey business by bonnie raitt

» Read the Full Post of " eat your words "...

free cone day

went to get my certificate of non-criminal conviction at the police cantonment complex in the morning. i must say the building sure looks pretty big and grand and all, but nothing much seem to be going on. there was literally no one inside save for the security people at the entrance.

contemplated on going to town for a free ben and jerry's cone, but then decided against it. besides the fact that i have not fully recovered from my cough yet, i have a problem of going up to the counter at the scoop shop and telling the nice lady behind the counter "hi can i have my free cone please?" it just seems rather... vulgar. i dunno why.


anyways for those of you who are going to get a free cone, good for you. just so you know, satan created ben and jerry's, ben cohen (co-founder of ben and jerry’s) already had a quintuple bypass at the age of 49, burt baskin (co-founder of baskin robbins) died of diabetes, and you're probably gonna die the same way too. now go have yourself a nice free cone.

Bon Appétit!


+listening to: soul serenade by the derek trucks band

» Read the Full Post of " free cone day "...

same old same old

woke up feeling the monday blues again, i think it's in a diminished minor key too. that basically sums up the overall tone.

there's homework piling up: yes i have to complete a stack of ludicrous tutorials before i can even attend classes in uni, that's on top of the placement exam they're gonna throw at me once i get there. and i thought going to uni would be fun, looks like the real "fun" hasn't even started. bleh...

and then there's all the immigration nonsense that i have to take care of, the F1 visas, the I20 forms, financial statements, health/immunization forms, blah blah blah. the list just goes on. i'm staring right at it and i have absolutely no intention of doing anything about them until the absolute last minute. i'm not being lazy, if you were me you'd do the same.

i still have a week ahead of me of rest before my students return from their mid term vacation. i don't feel much energized at all. in fact i'm dreading every moment that i'm awake wasting my life away. i need to go to sleep, at least i won't feel so guilty that way.

watched P.S. I Love You yesterday. a pretty nice flick though love movies are not really my type of thing. i just saw it out of curiosity. and iron man comes out on wed 30th april, can't wait any longer. i hope it doesn't disappoint like some of the previous big name adaptations.

that's it i'm going for a nap until dinner. in the words of the velvet revolver song slither (with certain words substituted):

yeah, here comes the nap
it' comes to wash away the guilt of you and i
this time i sleep...

peace.


+listening to: light of the moon by steve vai

» Read the Full Post of " same old same old "...

the end of a chapter, beginning of another

tourney season official ended today. what can i say, it's been one hell of a ride. as with any good roller coaster rides, there are ups and downs, but overall i'm pretty happy with the outcome.


it's by no means measured with scores. they mean nothing to me, only the indication of certain temperaments on match day. the team has come a long way since the beginning of the year and i'm really glad that i could play a part in helping to mold this team. like i've said this is a sport where you can only go forward if the line has your back, you either play as a team or you die as individuals.

apparently some of you read this blog so let me say this: i am mighty proud of you guys even though all the odds were against you, yet you didn't give up trying. and all the harsh stuff i've said, all the days when i whacked you hard, i meant no harm. it just had to be done. you have also taught me a lot in the process, and i certainly hope you've learnt something from me too.

one day it will happen, one day. never stop believing...


+listening to: life before insanity by gov't mule

» Read the Full Post of " the end of a chapter, beginning of another "...

lost for words

now i know being a professional translator isn't easy.

i just translated 6 full pages of words from english to chinese for my godma in the morning. it could have saved me a whole lot of trouble if she could read more english. she can only read chinese and french (well a bit of english too). so yeah weird combi huh. after i'm done with translating the english passages from english to chinese, she's gotta translate it again into french for her work. i foresee that some things are bound to be lost in translation, oh well can't really help it. but no good deed goes unrewarded, she'll be treating me to dinner at meritus mandarin!


come to think of it i haven't utilised my mother tongue skills since... erm when i graduated form high school. man i feel so rusty i was almost ready to eat my own head after i was done. it was that agonizing. i feel utterly ashamed that i now suck so bad at my mother tongue.

and when i say mother tongue, i mean it. it's not some kinda shit deal where people in india claim that english is their mother tongue. it's not my fault that christopher columbus screwed them over by ditching them, which of course resulted in them getting Effed in the A by the british, hence i suppose the claim that english is their mother tongue is somewhat justified. you can probably guess where they call their mother land - where else but england. so you see, you can't get any more chinese than i am, i was born on the mother land for pete's sake.

on a more serious note, i'm feeling ambivalent towards everything that has gone on lately. too much has been said. time to just stfu and do it.


+listening to: stressfest by steve morse band

» Read the Full Post of " lost for words "...

the final straw

the last straw that broke the camel's back: insignificant it might be by itself.

sometimes i ask myself again and again and again why i do the things i do. i've always avoided answering it. maybe there is no reason, i just feel compelled to do it. so when seemingly trifling events happen that negatively impact me, i simply look the other way and trudge on. i didn't think it would hurt, how wrong i was.

these little things do matter, and they will get to you given enough time. it's exactly how the mighty grand canyon was carved out by tiny pebbles and streams. i only just felt it today, i felt the full brunt of those little things chipping away at my integrity. it really hurts inside.

was it really worth it? did i give too much a damn?


i want to scream, but when i open my mouth all that burst out is silence.


+listening to: nothingman by pearl jam

» Read the Full Post of " the final straw "...

the things people do

one of the more bizarre things i've come across lately: a priest went flying and disappeared. act of god? maybe.


apparently he set off in a bunch of helium filled party balloons and tried to fly to another city to raise funds for charity. while i must applaud his courage, his stupidity amuses me.

it's simply the stuff you dream of as a child, not actually carry out as an fully grown adult. what was he thinking? but then again, it's still pretty cool. i never thought it was possible! the inner child in me is dying to give it a try. seriously i'd give a leg to have a go if it can be guranteed that i come back in one piece. yeah i know, a bit paradoxical.

and on the now full-blown personal war against boredom front, i've also just finished the first 2 seasons of the wire. pretty good drama. hbo is always spot on in making their tv series look incredibly "real", something that other networks haven't been able to do. shows with too much special effects are kinda lame, i'll take the heavy on character types anyday. like the sopranos, which still remains my favourite show of all time, even though i'm heavily biased towards them gangster themed ones.

and facebook has a new chat feature! don't get me wrong i have not gone facebook mad, neither have i swallowed an elephant. i just find it quite a coincidence that right after i complained about starting a conversation with someone on their wall, they came up with an ingenious idea. kudos to facebook.


+listening to: under the bridge by red hot chili peppers

» Read the Full Post of " the things people do "...

ok facebook rocks... for once

i've always thought that friendster, facebook, et al. are synonyms of aimless social circle-jerking: largely targeted at formulating a mass illusion to make people feel good about their status/popularity in their "social network" based on how many friends they've got.

but how many of them actually matter?


then again that's besides the point, i'm not going to tread down that path. i want to thank facebook, at least for today, for helping me find a very good childhood friend who'd seriously gone MIA, whom i haven't heard from in 6 years.

i have tried various methods of tracking him down, but to no avail and then this morning all the stars seemed to align together - all it took was a few key strokes and simply hitting the search button and bam! the name popped up with photo id confirmation to boot.

literally within hours we started a conversation on the wall (you're probably more than familiar with that) before we realised it was quite retarded since there's msn, and the rest was history. lots of memories, lots of catching up to do.

so maybe these aimless social circle-jerks do serve useful purposes? i wouldn't know, i'm just a social conformist who sometimes does what everyone else does, albeit a rather thoughtless and occasionally unwilling one at that.

oh and before i forget, it's april 22 again: salút! to earth day.
peace.


+listening to: for the love of money by the o' jays

» Read the Full Post of " ok facebook rocks... for once "...

damaged goods

you haven't called home for 2 weeks. don't know how things are. couldn't care less. dad called yesterday, can't be bothered to pick it up. you just let the phone ring, until silence was restored once more.

feeling unwell. your respiratory tract feels like it's on fire. don't really give a damn.

haven't left your room for 2 days, except to eat and shower. reading, listening, reading. watching an occasional ant drown in the now 2 days old stale coffee.

looking out your window. you see walls. and what little of the sky that is visible. thinking about where you're going with this still verdictless life.

seems like everything you have ever done, you have failed to a certain degree. some more so than others. why can't things go the way you want. maybe you're doing it wrong. you wouldn't know.

you want to get out and see the world, but you feel you haven't earned the right. there are unfinished business. responsibilities, more responsibilities.

your life seems to be built around disappointments. you don't give up do you? but you want to, even before this new leg has begun. people kept telling you it will be tough, you just shrug is off thinking you can handle it, but can you?

you rarely show your true colours, what's going on inside, you don't want them to know. it's too dark, you feel insecure. you're not outgoing, you will never be. you have intimacy issues, you don't like people getting too close to you, you don't get close to others. it's your subconscious. everytime someone tries to approach you, you turn them away. you don't want to admit it, but maybe you're meant to be alone.

maybe the damage is irreversible.


+listening to: jeremy by pearl jam

» Read the Full Post of " damaged goods "...

once

it's 11.50 pm. i have no idea what i'm doing with my life.

morning was a blur of caffeine induced stomach cramps and absent-mindedness. sorry nick if i seemed not myself, usually it's the teacher's job to remind the student to pay attention, not the other way around. i wasn't doing it on purpose, just that there's too much on my mind. and i think i owe you another session on my dime.

on the way home. phone rang. i was overjoyed. damn... wrong person.

lunch was supposed to be nice, but somehow it's as though nothing has happened. the chatter was all fun and happy and all, but somehow it all seemed superficial. i was trying hard to hide the turbulence inside. i didn't want to be silent, i just wanted to keep talking, so the demons would be kept at bay and the voice be drowned out. i didn't want to lose it.

on the way home. longest train ride. i knew.

afternoon was nothing. silence. no, i had the mamasan trilogy playing in the background and i just sat. the turbulence has turned into an outlandish sense of obscurity. i feel... nothing. not numb, just nothing. void.

i lie in bed thinking, listening, thinking, listening. no. it's nowhere near the bottom yet.

i admit it, what's to say
i'll relive it without pain...
try and mimic what's insane
i'm in it... where do i stand?...
i got my hand in my pocket, so determined, discreet... i pray...
once upon a time i could control myself
once upon a time i could lose myself...

don't look down. once more. once.


+listening to: better not look down by b. b. king

» Read the Full Post of " once "...

BELIEVE

when i saw what i saw
i was mad
it's as though nothing has happened
i shouldn't have stayed mad
it wasn't fair
i've stepped out of line
the timing was really uncalled for
when i needed to keep my cool
i lost it all
when you needed all the reassurances you can get
i turned away
i'm sorry
but...
but...
just believe a little bit
you can
you can
call me selfish or whatever
but just believe in yourself for once
if not for anyone else, for me
i want this one too badly
i'd give anything for this once

» Read the Full Post of " "...

i've found my song

some people can listen to a song over and over and over again and just keep going without ever getting sick of it. they call it "their song". few songs have done the same for me. and i think i've found my song, the one song that i'll never get tired of listening to and pouring my heart and soul into.

i can't think of any word to describe it other than beautiful - the feeling of losing yourself in it, crying yourself to sleep with it playing knowing everything will be better tomorrow. it's when the music speaks for you, talks to you, and you can finally scream out to the whole world whatever that's troubling you in your head without ever moving your lips. the silence so earth-shattering, the epiphany so ephemeral, the sorrow so real, the relief so fleeting.

Don't even think about reachin' me
I won't be home
Don't even think about stoppin' by
Don't think of me at all
I did, what I had to do
If there was a reason, it was you...

Don't even think about gettin' inside
Voices in my head, voices
I got scratches, all over my arms
One for each day, since I fell apart
I did, what I had to do
If there was a reason, it was you...

Footsteps in the hall, it was you, you
Pictures on my chest, it was you
It was you...

I did, what I had to do
And if there was a reason
Oh, there wasn't no reason, no
And if, there's something you'd like to do
Just let me continue, to blame you

Footsteps in the hall, it was you, you
Pictures on my chest, it was you, you

why do i do the things i do? will anyone ever understand? if there was a reason, it was because i believe in you...


+listening to: footsteps by pearl jam

» Read the Full Post of " i've found my song "...

FUUUUCCCK

i have not wanted to punch through something for a long time
i want to say to you i told you so and you didn't listen
i want to be angry
but i dunno if it's justified
i can only blame myself
for not going at you hard enough
for not being a bigger asshole

» Read the Full Post of " "...

ah the good ol' days

found some photos on my hard disk this morning, some of them i've never actually seen before. and then all of a sudden certain memories started flooding back.

the strange thing is, i have no recollection at all of some of the photos, and they all look really funny/weird.

ok this one seems random, but...
look closely at the background xD

click on read more below for more photos!

cny at someone's house

林老板 frantically making business connections in search of more prosperity even during the chinese new year holidays. note the unidentified item in his right hand: it's actually a gold nugget

whose guitar is this?

again, someone's house o.O

yi-en's exposé

that is definitely not my bag i'm holding

where is this and what the hell are we doing???

zi high!

edit: on my way home i bought a bar of hershey's cookies and cream. oh man it tasted so good. i haven't had it since... secondary school i think. it's another one of those nostalgic moment where every other day on my way home i'd make a detour to the 7 eleven just to get a bar of cookies and cream, that's until the bus interchange moved like 10 million miles away a few years back. the good ol' days...

+listening to: the great explorers by frank gambale

» Read the Full Post of " ah the good ol' days "...

wait until tomorrow

• the titanic sank today 96 years ago.
• the howard stern show premiered today 11 years ago.
• the pro-democracy student movement started in beijing today 19 years ago.
• tokyo disneyland opened today 25 years ago.
• 1st modern olympic game closed in athens today 112 years ago.
• johann bach's "Matthaus Passion" premiered today 279 years ago.

how many people actually remembered these events? today passed by just like any other normal day, it makes me wonder what can possibly be happening out there right now, today, that would make an impact and be remembered in the years to come? i guess to find that out we'll have to wait until tomorrow...


+listening to: wait until tomorrow by jimi hendrix

» Read the Full Post of " wait until tomorrow "...

motivation

where does it come from? how do we attain it? and more so how can a group of people attain it on a more or less equal level?


they say that the eyes are the windows to the soul. you can see it, there's the definite absence of that shimmer, that glitter, the absence of that glimpse of "i want it". you can literally feel the emptiness inside, the silence speaks of great volume.

fatigue is a state of mind, so is hopelessness. and want is a powerful drug for the psyche - with enough want, there's few things that one cannot achieve. so want inevitably leads us back to motivation. fear obviously doesn't work, even the prospect of one of the biggest game of the season being just 2 days away meant so little.

i don't know what else there is to do, i'd do anything if it motivates you. come on people, i'm giving it all i've got and then some more, so why aren't you?


+listening to: war pigs by black sabbath

» Read the Full Post of " motivation "...

almost there

something just hit me when i woke up, inspiration calling. finished the 3rd verse in under an hour!

here's what the 3 verses look like, with the same chord progressions outlined in the first verse:

___ E ____ D ___
It's a wayward journey

__ A add9 _
that has no end

__ E ____ D ______
We hitch a ride from where-

A add9 _
ever we can

__ E ______ D _
The winding road - oh

___ A add9 ___
seems endless ahead

F# m7 _____
Sanctuary for the

B add11 __
homeless man

F# m7 __
Sanctity to a

B add11 __
helpless friend

Your thumb never strays
from the northern sky
Walking: christmas, st. patrick's
dreams of pumpkin pies
The hymns that you sing for
the scorned and fallen
Sanctuary from an
ill reprise
Sanctity to a
hopeless plight

Like the Muir's and the Edwards's
the McCandless's before
You hit the road to answer
that whispering call
Death of the innocent spells
poetry of the damned
Sanctuary for the
forever lost
Sanctity to a
bygone cause

still needs a chorus, a bridge and a proper structure. and a real title! argh the rush and satisfaction of sensing something is almost complete, like putting in the last few pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, or licking up the remnants in an ice-cream bowl...


+listening to: rockin' horse by gov't mule

» Read the Full Post of " almost there "...

paranoia is the new paranoia

the weirdest thing happened today.

so i was walking home from west mall, on this footpath underneath the MRT track. and there was this guy walking in front of me. i was just being my usual self, dragging my feet and walking lazily home.

and then all of the sudden this guy just turns around and looked at me, then swiftly turned his head back and started walking at about twice the pace he was walking at. of course i had no idea wtf spooked him. so i kinda walked a little faster too to see what the hell's going on. and he just kept turning his head back and walked even faster, like almost jogging.


i'm truly stumped as to what happened. there's nothing/no one on the path except me and the guy. so it must have been me. obviously the guy thinks my neighbourhood is a ghetto shithole where people get mugged for no good reason. plainly this is not true. geylang is a ghetto shithole, so is the sahara desert. bukit batok? i think not.

do i really look that pathetic/desperate as to want to mug somebody for some petty coins? people are so paranoid nowadays. prffttt...


+listening to: o.d. by richie kotzen & greg howe

» Read the Full Post of " paranoia is the new paranoia "...

McDouche

i'm a McDouche: i just had dinner at mac's and i need to be shot. this is after i vowed never to eat at mcdonald's again.


well maybe the fatigue clouded my judgement, plus the power of persuasion/peer pressure in the form of jupiter and zy. stupid me. but it was fun to catch up with them and all, plus the talk of a perspective bali trip soon! can't wait.

anyways i quite enjoyed today's little run around a bit. especially when i get to be on the attacking side all the time, and with zy and jupe running with me, it was like the old times again. it's been a long time since i had a little run around with the ball. gave some speculative wild passes though, felt kinda rusty. but one decisive super wide pass led to a try, it was ultra sweet, couldn't have done the pass any better: perfect weight, perfect height, burnt 2 drifting defenders at once. i ought to pat myself on the back. even jay was jealous. but then that's kinda normal.

also had a few stabs at some little grubbers here and there, a rather screwed up impromptu call i came up with - "popiah". didn't really work so well. and my tactical kicking's gone down the drain. it was kinda all over the place with no sting. argh... but then again i don't play regularly anymore. jupe then stunned me with his brilliant little chip (just over the head) and chase, it popped up perfectly for him. looked set to be a try but too bad he got taken out right before the try line. had a few little searching runs myself, ran past a few and almost beat the fullback. damn guess i gotta go sharpen my "benji marshall" step again. it's been a while, heh.

i'm reminded of what it feels like to be alive once again. feeling kinda happy. yeah.


+listening to: chevrolet by the derek trucks band

» Read the Full Post of " McDouche "...

have you ever googled your own name?

i was just reading the "paper" (nytimes, my preferred electronic news medium, al jazeera being my other favourite). the word Googlegängers caught my eyes.

some pretty eye-opening and mentally stimulating studies have been done on such interesting human relations. i find the area of sociology fascinating: understanding how people work and relate to one another never bores me. want a real glimpse of human nature? try getting in a queue and standing in the way of someone's morning mocha latte at any good coffee spot.


anyways i've always known there are more of "me" out there. some may call my actions egotistic, others may term it narcissism. i suggest giving it a try (don't forget to enclose your name in inverted commas " " so the exact name will show up).

somehow my name became a western misnomer for what we true easterners know as angbao or hongbao or red packet (literal translation). other than all that rubbish, "I" also hold professions such as a researcher, an award winning artist, some sort of sportsman listed on a what looks like a bookie's website and a product manager at a travel website. interesting.

just some random thoughts in my head that i can't seem to get out:



peace.


+listening to: the dance of eternity by dream theater

» Read the Full Post of " have you ever googled your own name? "...

dinner

once again, totally random "class" outing! the NS men couldn't join us though, they're all in camp, except yx.

when i heard fish & co for dinner i almost had a seizure, i swear if i eat there one more time i will self destruct. their menu is not just monotonous, it's morbid. if you just ingest the stack of bills that you're handing them every time you patronize them, you'd probably find the bills actually taste better. not to mention their bar is a total money laundering scheme. any shot is $9.90, a bottle of bailey's cost a surprising $140. i wonder if you also get a couple of irish chicks with that bottle of bailey's, or perhaps a gold nugget? okay i shall stop ranting, it's not the first time that i've had something against them, but still i kept going back, albeit involuntarily.


everyone had the free candy floss afterwards. even though there were only 8 people, i think we ate about 14? and that's after we told the waitress one for each of us. but we just kept eating and she just kept making them. they kept the machine right after we were done, heh i can't help but think it's because of our doing.

cheers!


+listening to: i got a woman by ray charles

» Read the Full Post of " dinner "...

work in progress

working title: song for the lost and homeless

just completed the 2nd verse, thought i'd share. the first 2 verses:

It's a wayward journey
that has no end
We hitch a ride from where-
ever we can
The winding road - oh
seems endless ahead
Sanctuary for the
homeless man
Sanctity to a
helpless friend

Your thumb never strays
from the northern sky
Walking: christmas, st. patrick's
dreams of pumpkin pies
The hymns that you sing for
the scorned and fallen
Sanctuary from an
ill reprise
Sanctity to a
hopeless plight

+listening to: own thoughts

» Read the Full Post of " work in progress "...

tired

it's been a long day and i've just reached home. dinner's cold, i don't feel like eating anymore.

i think it's the weather. the rain just dulls everything.

kinda annoyed that alex forgot that he was supposed to have a lesson today. afterall it was him who requested this session because of the test tomorrow. and i had to travel so far at such a screwed up time to fit into his schedule. so, again, he didn't do his homework, neither did he revise the stuff that we were supposed to go through today. not surprisingly it became agonizingly slow and torturous. i can't be bothered anymore, at least andréas was good enough to remember to do his homework, so as a reward i gave him permission to eat straight from a jar of nutella throughout the lesson. i think their dad will freak out if he sees it. oh well...

lately i've had a lot of run-ins with middle aged men with really warped fashion sense. i dunno, i think it's some kinda midlife crisis thing. so while i was on my way back, i saw this uncle, probably 50-ish, with blond highlights. and get this: he was wearing them gigantic red-coloured thick frame glasses, a very flowery dress shirt, and black skinny jeans with those white pointy toed lacoste-style gayboy shoes. i almost went blind.

why can't they just be contented with their age and accept it graciously like all the middle-aged ladies do. how often have you seen balding men with beer bellies in those tiny little porches trying to look cool while they are stuck in traffic.

and i also saw another random guy whose t-shirt says KKJ. coming from a neighbourhood primary school, i can only think of 1 possible combination for that acronym. and erm it isn't exactly a pretty word. what self respecting firm could possibly have allowed for such a ridiculous acronym as KKJ? Koo Koo er... Joke?

i dunno. bleh.


+listening to: endless sacrifice by dream theater

» Read the Full Post of " tired "...

i cut my hair...

i finally cut my hair.

after months of resistance, the pain of maintaining a full head of long-ish hair, i gave up. partially because i felt it was the reason i fell sick, partially because i just couldn't stand waiting around forever for my hair to dry after taking a shower, and mostly because it's seriously out of control.

so get ready for some pretty heavy cam-whoring antics:


BEFORE

i forgot to take a pic before i cut my hair, i guess it comes pretty close to this

now...


AFTER

apologies for the totally unintentional hazy mirror effect, the one in my room hasn't been cleaned for ages

so there you have it, no more excuses for making my long hair the topic of conversations... gah!!!


+listening to: ice-cream man by van halen

» Read the Full Post of " i cut my hair... "...

see ya Mr. Heston

Charlton Heston died today. i think it's about time.

of course most people around my age don't know who the hell he is (or was), and no one really seem to give 2 cent about it.

except... well, he sorta looks familiar, hmm... "where have i seen him before?" some of you might ask. well i'm sure an awful lot of you have seen the documentary Bowling for Columbine. if thou hath not, give thyself a big ol' slap across thy face and repeat after moi: thou shalt go to bittorrent and download it NOW.


so now... does the name ring any bells?

"OOH!" you exclaim. that's right. he's the president of the N.R.A. in the U.S. of A. who went to columbine to hold a major gun rally just 7 days after the shooting took place. the N.R.A. or National Rifle Association frankly has very little to do with rifles per se. it generally promotes gun ownership. yep, that includes your assult weapon types too: those PARAs you got in your basement, uh huh, those are included. some Kalashnikovs stowed away in your daughter's room? sure, those too. oh i see you've got some Carbines hanging on the wall, looking good eh... what? you've got bazookas as well? sweet.

you see my logic now? i'd like to think it's pretty irrefutable. gun violence simply will not stop if you've got an organisation full of rednecks who just love to see things get all shot up. or people for that matter. and to make matters worse. they have a renowned oscar winning ex-movie star rooting for their "cause"? gee, charlton must have had some real anger issues as a kid.

so, i guess see you in hell then Mr. Heston.


+listening to: jeremy by pearl jam

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down with the sickness

i knew something was going awry when i woke up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat. something tells me it is not right.

and true enough when i woke up this morning, i thought armageddon was here early. imagine a monkey sitting on your head pounding away non-stop while you are stuck in one of those tea-cup rides in the amusement park, except this one apparently doesn't end. that's exactly how i'm feeling now, also coupled with a slight fever and the ever present cough.


so in a bid to cleanse my body (and soul), i decided to go downstairs to get something to eat since both my cousins are sleeping in. off i headed to the NTUC to get some comfort food/drink.

by the time i was at the checkout counter, there was this old aunty who's apparently just finished her saturday morning grocery shopping. so being a little ticked off i sort of dumped everything on the counter. quite obviously, she checked out what i've bought: a loaf of plain pandan bread, a huge bottle of nin jiom syrup to help with the cough, some panadol extra and a bottle of angus o'neil's ginger beer (i've always had ginger beer when i'm sick, and btw i swear by angus o'neil's, it tastes way better than the ones bundaberg puts out).

for some reason i've yet to be able to explain, she gave me this extremely displeasing look, almost like i've committed one of the original sins or something. and that if i uttered just one more word or bought just one more item i'd be cast straight to hell.

ok i admit that maybe the angus o'neil's bottle isn't the prettiest around, it does have an unkind resemblance to those bottles of rat poison they show on tv. and okay nin jiom and pandan bread doesn't really go together. but come on, it's not as if i can make a molotov cocktail out of a bottle of angus o'neil's? or a biological WMD with a couple of panadol pills, a bottle of nin jiom and some pandan leaf flavoured carbohydrate? give me a break. was it really necessary to go bin laden on me?

maybe she thinks i'm hiding mas selamat under my shirt or down my trouser legs? maybe my hair looks like an active contagion of a scourge of some lethal pandemic virus? it must be my hair then. this whole sickness must have something to do with it. i shall go for a haircut next week.


+listening to: down with the sickness by disturbed

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boot shopping & music

okay so the o' cleats have given up on me. well not completely, but everytime i tried to fill the gap between the outsole and the shank with glue, it only made the gap even larger. i guess its life's coming to an end, after all it's been a year already. most boots of mine last about half a year.

so out of necessity i had to go to queensway to shop for some spanking new boots. i was pretty shocked by their outdated inventory. and it's not just a couple of the shops, the problem seemed universal to all the shops there. most of them are still stocked to the brim with last season's stuff. new boots that came out at the end of last year were pretty rare sights.

i was equally shocked to see weston stocking predator rugby's and almost the entire range of adidas rugby boots. i was so tempted to just grab a pair of predator rugby's and head home. but i just couldn't stand the styling of the new predator powerswerve, it's gotta be one of the ghastliest looking incarnations in the entire history of predators. the bloke who designed this horrendous looking thing must have lost his marbles.

so i settled for a pair of adiPure's. not for the faint hearted. in fact i think most people would think it looks really "dated". well it was supposed to have modern performance with classic looks, i just wanted something comfortable, low key and relatively cheap. besides i'm getting sick of predators, been wearing them since i could remember so it's about time for a change.


also, i haven't been playing music for a while and tomorrow there's gonna be the first real jam since last year if i remember correctly. i just hope that i haven't lost all my chops. all i have been doing lately is just strumming aimlessly and trying to come up with something musical.

anyways i doubt there will be anything inspiring tomorrow. the setlist speaks of different kinds of music from what i'm into normally. i shall just go with an open mind.


and er a little fashion tip to the old uncle i saw on the bus with bleached hair (dressed in black n' white striped top and maroon corduroy pants, sporting a purple velvet belt with a gold buckle): next time best leave the maroon cords and purple velvet at home. it makes you look kinda... erm transie?


+listening to: evacuation by pearl jam

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we can solve it? really?

i'm not a person who assumes a clear-cut stand over political issues at the blink of an eye. i don't like being force-fed ideas. in fact i'm skeptical towards most of such "campaigns", anti-global warming included.

i'm not anti-global warming per se (though i still do my bid to conserve the environment), neither am i an advocate of wasting away precious energy resources. for that you have to look to petrol-heads like jeremy clarkson on top gear going "POWERRRRR" every other episode. he ought to have a conspiracy theory or two of his own about what global warming is all about.

now al gore, the former US vice president and author of an inconvenient truth (i've seen the movie, which proves my point), and his nonprofit climate group have begun what they say will be a three-year $300 million advertising blitz to recruit 10 million advocates to seek laws and policies that can cut greenhouse gases. check out their initiative at http://wecansolveit.org.


while i applaud their spirit to change the world, i think $300 million dollars over a period of 3 years is simply too little, too late, and for too short a time. guess how much pepsi or coke spends annually on promoting their brand name in hopes of swaying the population towards each of their own product? over $1 billion EACH. they call it "brand preference". that is the kind of money you need to have even the slightest impact on people's awareness.


just imagine what kind of money and effort is needed to suddenly influence the population to become environmentally conscious. personally i have my doubts. but then again what do i know? the last time i checked i had the intelligence of a 6-year-old and the intuition of a door knob. so i guess nothing is impossible as adidas would put it. i didn't think people were gonna really turn off their lights during Earth Hour, neither did i expect to see people wear green for the Live Earth weekend. both happened, in fact i saw some kid in green from head to toe (yea that includes shoes) on a bus.

and finally on a totally unrelated note: have you often been feeling tired lately? or experiencing temporary blurry vision? maybe it's time to get your eyes checked. xD




+listening to: any fule kno that by deep purple

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pièce de résistance

tourney season's finally started!

no. not turkey season, tourNey season. the time of year when thousands of people of all shapes and sizes decide in unison that they've had enough of whatever shit they were in and just took to running around in some quite enormous pools of mud all around the country trying to murder each other, i kid you not.

some would agree that only sex ranks better (in fact some say it's better than sex), others would simply stare at you like you've just arrived from pluto in a gigantic penis shaped spaceship. all a bit mad quite frankly.

so after tuition today i ran down to saint andrews school to watch the boys play. imagine the first thing that i saw when i arrived there was some player from the other school being stretchered off the field - i couldn't be happier.

even though the boys lost, i think they played outstandingly well. it was really just unlucky, especially that second try that never was. but it's the experience that ultimately counts, they were the clear winners in my books even though the scoreline might say differently.

well since i'm keeping with the theme of rugby for today, here's something that is immensely humorous:

it's a series of videos from this site called Alternative Rugby Commentary. check it out for the signature kiwi style subtle humour at full tilt.

sorry if some of the non rugby-heads can't seem to grasp what the video's talking about. well, um too bad i guess. for the rest of you nut-jobs out there who do have an idea, right on!


+listening to: back in black by AC/DC

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