In the beginning of 2008, I spotted an ad of a NAFA piano diploma student seeking students to teach for a report on "Modern Teaching Methods". Whatever his reasons were, I know a good opportunity when I see one. Hence from March till 2nd Dec of 2008, I had been practicing piano, another endeavor in music.

May marked the end of year 2 in NTU. Things weren't that great. There seemed to be have been a marked jump in the level of difficulty of the subjects taught, focusing more intensely on actual engineering issues. This paradigm shift resulted in a strenuous semester, one which eventually led to the worst results ever. It also sapped the will and strength out of me.

This was further exacerbated by the module Engineering Innovation and Design (EID). More than one month's worth of lessons plus project work, although ultimately we did clinch 2nd prize which was quite surprising. All that for the loss of 2 month's worth of holidays. Looking back it still didn't seem to be worth the effort.

In this period of time, I also made some heavy "investments", shall we say. I bought a "new" piano, a 2nd hand Pearl River, which I kind of regret now because it doesn't play as well as a japanese made piano, say a Kawai or a Yamaha (its Chinese-made). But in any event, it sure beats having to rush to Hall 16 everytime I have a long break to practice on an even worse piano. In that respect, I have no complaints, my own piano is still my own piano.

Over the holidays, my entire guitar rig was also upgraded. I love my new Schecter to bits, goes to show that a lesser known brand can still compete in quality and price against the big boys. Ibanez, Fender and Gibson beware. Another similar case in point is my new Blackheart amp, another very very sweet purchase. I also put some money into recording equipments, plus lots of time into researching and understanding how to do home recording. It was truely a good experience and I've never had such a fulfilling holiday ever.

This experience culminated in 2 covers, which eventually led to a band extending an invitation for me to join them in July. I'm glad to finally get back into the gigging circuit, playing my favourite music. We've had 2 gigs so far, one was good, one was just plain weird. But all in the name of good fun. Made more friends along the way too.

The opening of the first semester of the third year saw another hectic crunch. But having experienced last semester, I was more mentally prepared to slog, which I did. Incredible amounts of energy was exerted in the name of improvement, which just this week proved to be somewhat successful. I managed to total 4.05 this sem compared to a 3.8 last sem, which I thought was totally shitty. But my cumulative GPA still slid by 0.2, which I hope can be considered to be minor.

December also marked my first piano exam ever, which nearly turned into a farce. My teacher's sms indicated 2th Dec (sic) which I took misunderstood as 12th Dec and I thought I had lots of time to practice. But of course ultimately the reality was that it was on the 2nd, so I had to rush a lot of things. Good thing my 3 performance pieces are totally done. Results are not known yet, hope I can at least pass. The costs are simply too high to fail.

December was also the season of great spending. Very economy-stimulating I suppose. Lots of gatherings of old and new alike; JC, sec sch, even one for my old band cum #JJC friends which I haven seen for quite a few years. There's another on next year fr my pri sch, but I'm seriously doubting whether I would attend. Imagine never having talked to them for a grand total of half your lifetime and meeting them suddenly.

All in all 2008 was a year of more highs than lows. I did not regret an important decision made in 2007, which freed me of all obligations to explore my own life and potential further than ever before. And for that I am thankful. With that, I wish all readers (however many there are, tag me on the board!) a happy and gratuitous new year. (Phew, end of epic long post. =D)

Setting off from Changi Ferry Terminal





Desaru Beach, nice long beach with practically no one, probably cos its a wkday anyway.



View from the room




Fruit farm in Desaru





Coffee Bean




Owl with really big eyes




Lots and lots of goats





Beehive, bees for pollination



Went all the way up to Kota Tinggi from Desaru. Kota Tinggi waterfall.

latest single from our upcoming album.

plus another vid of our old single

latest single from our upcoming album.

plus another vid of our old single

Gig Pass



Blurry photos of myself





Things sort of decided to fall apart. Many parts of the drum set came apart. Including a flying crash that flew between my legs lmao.

ok geek post alert. one of the reasons why numbers typically are undefined when divided by zero.

With the following assumptions:

0 x 1 = 0
0 x 2 = 0

The following must be true:

0 x 1 = 0 x 2

Dividing by zero gives:

0/0 x 1 = 0/0 x 2

Simplified, yields:

1 = 2

The fallacy is the implicit assumption that dividing by 0 is a legitimate operation with 0 / 0 = 1.

A long quote from an incredible movie, Network. A movie made in 1976, look at how relevant it is even in this time and day.

"I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's work, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV's while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad - worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone.' Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot - I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad."

haven been blogging for sometime. guess some things are just a little too normal to blog. tuesday was my piano exam, and quite a farce it was. my teacher sent me an sms stating that the exam date was 2th Dec. no thats not a typo it really says 2th dec. i tot i read 12th dec. and i happily thought i had more than ten days after the exams to prepare. but NOOOOO it was 2nd dec. so overnight i had to rush thru all the various exercises, learning them literally overnight. managed to play decently within 2 hours. and i also realised i had the harmonic minor key all wrong. blasted maggots, i tot they were supposed to be the exact same notes as its relative major.

in any case, went down to paragon on the 2nd, hands were shivering a little when i played. good thing the old brit was pretty nice. hope i can at least. bloody hell its 190 bucks of my money. nxt gig is on the 13th dec, Kamikaze Assault. poster right below.