Piece of Mind

just got hold of the eight-page booklet distributed all over campus detailing all the alleged dirty secrets and tricks of the government in choosing and sponsoring aspiration candidates to win in the upcoming campus elections all over malaysian public unis... the booklet reveals a lot on the conspiracy in utm especially... i urge u to have a look and ponder over it... anyway... they have a site too... check IT out... together we can make a difference...

seems like the chili paste i choked on last week really has killed my oesophagus... the burning sensation it caused was felt from my throat to the stomach... much worse den drinkin' vodka neat... and it lasted much longer... man... shit happens... so for now... silence is golden... it's terrible when u can hear all these tunes in your head but you can't sing them out... i don't think i have ever been in this situation before... now i even hum like a tone-deaf person... sigh... but anyway... even with my handicap... it was a great time we had last sunday when mr j (not me) was the butt of our endless jokes and one-liners which left us all in stitches... i'm sure most of you would have found it funny too had u been there to watch the comedy unfold... haha... if only we had a vidcam... then we should make some indie comedy that will put all other slapstick local shite to shame... hehe...

it was an amazing recharge jam session yesterday where we played for two hours... by we i mean two bands... gobling... which consists of fariq and his mates... and the one i'm in... and we finally got a wicked new name for the band... serpent... had it recorded on video... most of it at least... what a big crowd it was... more than a dozen... hopefully we'll have more groupies in jams to come... hehe... so things are startin' to pick up... with a gig comin' up in a couple of months... it's time to get a lil serious to practisin' and well... practisin'? hehe... it's all about it if u want to take the path of becoming a virtuoso... not that i can be one... but it's all about polishing your passion and taking it to another level... ever since gettin' those thick bottom hybrid slinky strings that i had mentioned a few weeks ago... there hasn't been any breakages... hmmm... it is indeed more suitable i must say...

after searchin' high and low in all of cyberspace... i finally got the video joiner that's hassle-free and able to join two different bitrate videos... shame on all the other more famous programs including the official divx converter... as its name suggests... easy video joiner is quite certainly the program with the simplest interface and best results... now i can have the matrix trilogy on dvd soon... by that i mean one dvd... oh the wonders of divx... do i sound like some hardcore dvd peddler or what... my hdd is gonna be full soon of various assorted serials which i can't burn out yet until there are enough episodes of each serial to maximize the usage of a dvd... i guess that's my only other hobby besides music... bulding a dvd collection of everythin' in the world... recommended new tv show: weeds

made two trips to singapore in two days... guitar-hunting... swee lee had a 40percent discount on all ibanezes over the weekend... it was cool cos i actually got to test a guitar with a peavey jsx stack!... the exact same model satch uses... all the gear were considerably cheaper and really worth it... but in the end... alvin got a b.c. rich mockingbird with an interesting artwork on its body... peninsula plaza is definitely the place to check out music stuff... davis, luther and a whole lotta other stores are based there... got a cool dream theater top too... and some guitar accessories which are like 25percent cheaper than those in malaysia... getting around with a car in sg was extremely convenient... although the parking fees are exorbitant... we passed by orchard on the way... and man were there throngs of people... and eye-candy... unfortunately... we were racing against time so we didn't get the chance to hang around there... there's always another time... :)

after an unwelcome test early in the week which i was unprepared for... it was time to unwind... there's this lounge on level 5 of the eden garden hotel which has nice ambience and cheap drinks... a cool place to chill... live band isn't impressive though... not that i'm into top 40 stuff nowadays anyway... we went there after dinner at sayam... which normally has great food but the fried rice i ordered this time around was pretty bad... anyway... six jugs were enough to last us for the nite... and it wasn't pricey at all... we made it just before happy hours ended... hehe... didn't go home to sleep... knocked out... the next day we were lunchin' twice... greedy fellas... went home for a while to freshen up after that... hadn't been home since the past afternoon... and we were off once again to jam... fariq was around too... man he can shred like malmsteen and i'm not jokin'... met up with another friend for dinner... and she was doin' some homework at my place afterwards ... i was pretty tired by then... well... at least it was an enjoyable after-test outing...

so anyway... we were playin' some blues and improvisin' on lyrics as we went along... which was really funny and full of friendly insults directed at one another... and i was just soloing all throughout it... and we never did stop at all for one hour straight... a personal record i must say... we were on cloud nine(ty-nine)... see the pix and you'll know what i mean... my amp even got dissected that night because by some freak accident, the strap of my backpack actually got stuck inside... so we had to take it apart... earlier we were at jj havin' dinner and snooker-ing after that... it was swee's birthday... i suppose everyone must have had a helluva night... as u can see... the acoustic was left with three strings after the burnin' jam session...

friday... did some real quick shoppin at IP... bought two radioactive t-shirts in 15 mins... didn't wanna waste much time (and maybe money if i had looked around more)... so finally... our plan has materialized... the eight of us went to sitiawan for a seafood dinner... after much talk-and-no-action in the past year... we had a great time... the crabs were not up to expectations but overall i guess it was ok... eight of us went in two cars... an after-dinner stroll at the teluk batik beach was refreshing... i would have preferred goin' there in the evenin' though... where i can see the sunset... the journey to and fro was probably as interestin' as the dinner itself... the alphabet game kept us occupied and entertained all along the way... while the endless barrage of jokes and witticisms left us in stitches most of the time... saturday... another two wanted mates were in town... raph and rich... met up with them in the afternoon... paul and weeweng had just returned too... ex-sc1 classmates... we had breakfast... along together with peipei and weiway... spent the rest of the day (and night) at home... it was my last night in ipoh after all so i guessed i should at least hang in... :) well... this holidays were probably the best ever... nearly all of my close buddies had their holidays at some point or another during the span of the week... which was really great... i'm sure i won't see a number of them till maybe a year from now... hmmm... like i said earlier... all good things must... u know what i mean... everyone's gotta go back to their studies... and i have to return to my business too :P take care people...

wednesday... throngs of (window)-shoppers flocked to jj... hanging out at malls is a malaysian number one pastime anyway... so on national day... where else better to parade than with your family and friends in a cool albeit crowded shopping complex... :) it was joanne's birthday and a group of us had a lunch & movie outin'... and jj being as popular as it is... it was unsurprising that i happened to meet a number of people there too... i was hardly at home the whole day... after dinner at home... i was off to greentown corner to meet up with the whole bunch of ex-class/school mates... including anil who had just touched down at klia in the morn... yuanzhang... amber... who were still on summer break... and the rest as mentioned previously... thursday... went to ip... checked out the newly-renovated wing... and also scouted around for some good deals... megasale what... got blank dvds from yf too... to continue my booming business now... and since i've been gallivanting all over the past few days... it was a quiet night at home for me...

monday... was lazing around after lunch when justin came over for awhile... and after a few calls and sms-es that afternoon... we were all at nasmir... along together with rene... dillon (who had just reached from outstation)... cheeheng & kelvin... a great time it was as some of us haven't been meetin' each other for the past year or so... later at night the six of us were out again at infinity & abc... this time with ding around too... and we had a rather okay jammin' session at revival... reminded me of the old wanted days... after all, four of them were in the band before... haven't stepped foot into that studio for nearly four years now i think... but nothin' has changed much i think... same old rig... and for those of you wonderin what wanted is... it's the high school band consisting of five/six of us... and we haven't been playin' together for years... so it was a reunion jam of some sort... :) tuesday... bought a marshall for my current fellow jammer alvin as there was a good deal in ipoh... scouted around numerous other music shops to get an acoustic for dill... he got a yamaha f-210 in the end... being the eve of national day... the whole gang of us planned to celebrate it somewhere different that night but after much running about and contemplating... the clubs were full already... so there we were at ye olde english... just chattin' and drinkin' as usual... dropped by at polo ground around two in the a.m. to see the place crowded with people... even parents brought their kids to the playground... when i left at around three i think those lil kids were still swinging around... hmmm... very active indeed...

it was a pretty quick journey home... the bus was racing all the way to ipoh... we took less than six hours... including a half-hour plus stop... i still remember dozing off at around midnight when the bus was about to leave yong peng... and the next thing i knew... it was roughly 0215 and we were already in sg buloh... man... normally that would take like three hours plus... especially during daytime... anyway... i'm still here... friday... it's not really clear what i did... more than a week ago... must've been relaxing the afternoon and night at home... hitting some keys on the yamaha piano... strumming some strings on the concerter acoustic... a guitar which goes a longgggg way back... i even accidentally dropped it on stage five years back... in the middle of a song... hmmm... red-faced moment... saturday... musicraft in the afternoon with my fellow bandmate who hails from ipoh too... khairul... he wanted to get his squier fixed a lil... then church in the evening... and off to greentown corner at night... (well... i've never mentioned any names before in my posts... probably will start doing now... or else everyone will end up as friends)... there were six of us... and unluckily... five of them are future docs... amrit n his 2 pcm mates, ding & keen... which resulted in parts of the conversation so full of medical jargon... it left me speechless literally... so i just enjoyed the chelsea vs spurs on the big screen... duff & del horno were the scorers... and by luck... i just transferred them into my fantasy team this week... :)... so anyway it was the last time i got to see keen before he left for leicester on mon... from their enthusiastic discussion on parasitology earlier on in the night... the conversation slowly progressed to lighter topics... some of which would not be suitable for blogging on ;) sunday... khairul's guitar repair was complete... very efficient job done i must say... so we went to collect it... watched some tv at night... man i am not impressed at all with any of the remaining finalists in malaysian idol... i haven't been watching all along so i wouldn't know how the earlier ones of this season were... but anyway... i am pretty sure i do not idolise any one of them... i do respect their hard work and determination and whatever though... but alas... i don't really see a shining star among them... wrote a part of a song... more of a chord progression and melody only... if i like it enough then i'll work on it more later...

well... i suppose u know the ending to that saying... well... there goes the most fantabulistic (some American coined this) one-week holidays i have ever had... like i said... i will only be postin' when i'm back... so here i am...

quite an interestin' bus ride... sat next to a lady who was a friend of my parents... they were chattin' earlier on before the journey... halfway i exchanged seats with a man (presumably her hubby) across the aisle upon their request... well... no problem for me... i got a single seat while they could enjoy their ride together... and then it was around 1pm... the man came up with a bunch of bananas and asked me to have some... well... he must be returnin' my favour... so i had two... after a while he came up with two slices of oat bran bread with butter spread... hmmm very kind he is i thought... and just when i thought he had ran out of food to offer... he came along with a packet of prawn crackers... well... i jus smiled and said my thank-yous and accepted the free lunch... maybe i should give up my seat more often... :)

before we left ipoh... apparently my mum was chattin' with another lady whose daughter was in the bus headin to utm also... and her mum was worried that she would be unsafe hailing a cab alone to campus... so my mum n hers requested that i see to her safe return... which i did... turns out she was a friend's friend... yeah... ipoh is small... just go to jj and u'll see what i mean... more to come...