lollerskater

I got myself to class on time to face the demon which was my finance test. It was bloody tough, I'm so screwed for it. Super confirm screwed. Anyways I'm not the sort to cry of spilt milk, I've got other tests to look forward to, nutrition...yes bloody nutrition on friday. And econs *GASP!* MIDTERM sometime next week.

I was walking around in Taka with Olivia and chanced upon a group of rather peculiar people. They were wearing neon coloured wigs, jumping around and basically making a spectacle out of themselves. Olivia had the camera close at hand and was ever quick to snap this picture.


Call me mountain tortoise in hokkien but I've never seen strawberries at their source in my life. Not even in real life, yet alone in a photograph. My ppfp sent this picture to me yesterday, apprently her backyard garden is a mini-fruit/vegetable section of a well stocked supermarket, minus the irritating crying children and slow moving human traffic.

Bah Kwa tastes best late at night when you've got nothing to do. I should know, tonight's the second night in a row!

Me and Nicholas went over to Sakae Sushi for lunch today. Bloody hell it's been so long since I've been going to that place and until now they still play the same silly cd filled with the exact same silly jpop tunes of yesteryear. I have nothing against other people's culture, but can't you just change the damn cd?

In other news, I taught Tiffany some guitar today. Power Chords! WooT! Folks she already plays the drums, violin, piano, sings and paints. Now guitar...

Just keep at it and you'll improve. :)

I tried to eat my hokkien mee at the canteen once again, but they were closed for some private function. KNNCCB.

Christopher.

The events which have transpired over the past couple of days translated into my inability to blog. Yeah it sounds so bloody damn big and complicated. My internet connection was down for the past couple of days due to a fiesty router. I used a direct connection most of the time but that was rather selfish to the others in my home network.

Ok so what the hell has been happening in my life?

I shall try and start where I feel most comfortable. I had an awesome jam session today. We tried out a new song, which was written on friday night at my bass player's house. Quite funny how it all happened actually. Benson, the guitarist and I arrived somewhere in woodlands; hungry from the absence of dinner and tired from the journey, we sat around jamming off random chord progressions on Suffian's couch. Suffian recognized our hunger and started to cook up some tasty homestyle nasi padang! WooT! At this point in time we rambled on with my silly chord progression and all of a sudden Suffian comes storming in while still in the midst of fried rice screaming "KEEP THAT IDEA! KEEP IT!". Adding his really nice lyrics and some other progressive sounding parts, a song is born!

It's probably the most complicated thing we've come up with so far. Lots of funny rhythms and keep changes. But trust me it's nothing like progressive metal or anything of that sort. We tried it in the studio today, and it sounded damn bloody kick ass. So kick ass that at the end of the 3 hour session my fingers hurt like a bitch in heat denied of a mate. They're still hurting right now. I'm still getting used to this whole stand up and play guitar thing. It sounds so damn stupid but I'm so used to being a bedroom guitarist, the sitting down stance has rubbed off on me rather well. The pain in my fingers made my playing today sound like crap. I felt so damn disheartened, all my band members remembered their parts and there I was 7 string ibanez universe in hand with a pained expression on my face. And no that expression is not the one seen on most rock guitar players.

My dad came back from his business trip today. He brought back with him a whole roast goose! But alas those sneaky mother fuckers took out the liver before I could get my hands on it. China Foie Gras. Speaking of upper class food, I went with my high life friend Nicholas to the Canteen for lunch. No no not the school canteen or army camp canteen. But THE Canteen, the one opened by The Les Amis group at Shaw Centre. I had beef fried rice and he had hokkien mee. 16 Dollar hokkien mee. And trust me it was the best damn hokkien mee I've ever tasted in my life. BEST EVER! We actually took a break between the main course and dessert for a smoke. Came back and the most wonderful chocolate cake was sitting on our table just waiting for me to have my way with it. Damn good shit right there. It's as if the chef melted down the best tasting dark chocolate, encased it in a deliciously flavoured chocolate cake shell just for my gastronomic pleasure.

FUCKING A !

I'm not really sure why, but I feel as if everyone's out to get me lately.

Other highlights of the week included my various DVD screenings. I hung out with Olivia the other day, we basically did everything and nothing. Shared a chicken wrap at toast and decided to leave the hot day of orchard road behind seeking solace at her place while watching DVDs. I can't even remember the title of the movie, but it had Ashton Kutcher and Bernie Mac in it. Funny really funny. But my eyes betrayed me and I fell asleep only to get my ugly sleeping self photographed by her. I watched another movie with Nicholas, Donnie Darko...I won't even go into it. Damn deep deep movie. I'd watch it all over again. Pretty weird actually, I've known the guy for ages, the only damn things we've watched together are skating videos and nirvana.

I got shitloads of tests this week up ahead. And some silly compulsory graded library session tomorrow from 4 to 5 pm! WTF.

Fingers please heal.

Baby please come back soon.

Christopher.

P.S. Baby is my floral ibanez jem, still in process of refret.

What can I say...

No Pictures No Life.

Correct not Mara?

Christopher.

I spent the whole afternoon today working on the new tracks. It pretty hard though. I'm so used to playing in a rock context, now playing guitar in such a foreign context has really thrown me off. I only hope that he likes what I've come up with.

Other than that I made my way to school on time. SIM looks like a bloody damn market place right now. I shit you not. There's even a stage for people to sing cheesy chinese songs. There's was a music school advertising there wares, with their top talent performing on stage. It was cheesy as hell even the key board player, a guy; wearing makeup. And I'm not talking like manly makeup...I'm talking like all blusher and shit type makeup. Surreal.

Other stalls included those usual accesory selling thingies, trying to catch the ever changing eye of the female kind. I wish they sold guy's stuff though. At a bazaar the last time round I did however chanced upon a tshirt I missed. It was a nike thing with an angry red rooster in the front. It does have some significance to me since my chinese horoscope is that of the rooster.

I'm all cock. And afterall it is the year of the cock. Things better go good for me this year.

I went running again. It was a rather apt way to end the day, I got up this morning and did myself some physical torture in the good old fashion of pushups and crunches. But fucking hell it ain't working, I'm still as fat as fuck. Anyways the run was pretty good, I went for it along with my 2 sisters. Imagine that a family outing. Something funny happened actually. As some of you might know, there are shitloads of models living around my area. I've even seen handsome man Jon Johnson a couple of times at 7-11, along with other eye candy as well. Female of course.

So yea I was running down balmoral road and straight up in front of me comes running this group of 4 models. Yes the need exercise too. I couldn't help but just smile like a bloody gleaming idiot. I smiled initially to myself but it caught on to them as well though.

That kinda made my day.

Christopher.

My weekend turned out to be awesome.

The stress from my week probably added to the level of enjoyment though. Hard as it is to understand I guess it comes from the fact that I've suffered during the week, the weekend proved to be my escape from it all. It's like eating crappy food for a week and then sinking your teeth into a nice piece of perfectly pan fried foie gras, not that I've eaten any recently of course. I mean it's not like I've been doing mad manual labour under the hot sun or roughing it out while someone cracks a whip at my back every now and then to make me work harder. But it sure feels like it. One whip for you're doing fine, and two for wake the hell up.

I just got back from jamming with my band. Things are going really great with the new drummer. I have finally found a sense of calm and solace with these guys. I mean they're all older than me and stuff but still we really can click together. There are no egos, no spotlights, just nice wonderful music. Sometimes I think of it as such. Excuse me while I go off the deep end once again here. I mean there are times I just wanna totally shred things up and play my usual squeeze one million notes into a single bar nonsense, but if I could really get over all the silly ideas that I have of myself, of my insecurities, of what I want to be, of what people think of my playing, I would find myself, my small almost negligable self. I am negligable for I am just a small part of the song, and instrument for it to convey the message it seeks to. I am nothing but that. I just hope my fingers can keep up.
I feel so blessed to have found such musical company.

Really I do. Thanks guys.

I went to zouk for the closing down goodbye see you later party. It was nice to say the least. And also the long break away from the place would give me a chance to stay sober for a month and a half. I met up with a very talented person, plans are in the works for something nice. I won't say much here because nothing is confirmed at this point in time, but those close to me will know that I'm damn frickin' excited.

It was really nice to see all my classmates there. I feel that the whole cycle of partying has been greeted with more enthusiasm of late. But Albert, why on earth did you hook up with 2 lady boys? WHY???? Thank goodness I pulled you away. But jeez they look like they wanted to beat the living day lights out of me after that. Albert I just want you to know, if you didn't want me to pull you away I would have understood completely.

Adnan did the Bhangra to house beats, Felicia danced like a mad woman high on life and other liquified substances while trying to keep her balance, Cynthia just tried to keep her balance. :)

Something bad came to my attention while I was at the club though. I won't speak much of it here, but it involves someone very close to me. And to say the least, I will make sure the bastard gets more than he deserves.

Father Chen's gone off for a business trip and to look and act all high tech, he's taken with him my digital camera. Sadness. It's going to be all words for a week. Hopefully you'll still come here while I sedate you with words from my mundane life.

If you haven't noticed by now, I never post anything remotely private here. I wonder why though. It's as if my blog serves a dual purpose, to showcase all my silly observations in life; the other to showcase the innate silliness that my friends possess. I guess this is the way I am or perhaps would like to present myself as. Happy smiley most times silly on the outside, when so many other fleeting thoughts surround my mind. If you're so damn kay poh I recommend you don't come here seeking juicy bits of gossip cuz it ain't gonna surface here.

Anyways I won't make the same mistake tomorrow morning, economics is at 1045 and not 9. The vicious cycle of school, work, school perpetuates itself tomorrow.

OH JOLLY JELLY BEANS!

Christopher.

I recieved this in the mail a couple of days ago.

Initially I thought I had some blogger stalker on my hands who's decided to take things to a whole new level. But then again I know who's it's from. I'm undeserving to say the least. Some of you might think - heck it's just a stuff toy. But it means the world to me right now. To think that I searched every single cute cute toy store in Singapore for him and even harnessed the help of my Japanese friends to find him. And all of a sudden he pops up in my mail :)

So now I will embark on my photo-journey starring domo in all the random places I go to!

Thanks for being so sweet.

Christopher.

FUCKING HELL I WROTE A POST AND I GOT SOME MOFO ERROR MSG WHEN POSTING IT.

I'm in no mood to regurgitate it now.

Sometimes I feel that inspiration hits me the most when I'm on the john. Could be a simple piss or a number 2 but somehow I just get funny miscellaneous thoughts that somehow prove to be useful. Ok I might be slightly going off the deep end here. But through the course of this week several funny incidents have happened to me during visit to the toilet. On Sunday I took a crap to Richard Clayderman and a piano redition of "Perhaps perhaps perhaps", you know, that song that plays in that local jewellery ad. It was in the Mandarin Hotel while at work. It pisses me off sometimes when I think about music they play in elavators, shopping centres and hotels. What the hell is up with this crap? I mean if you're going to play something so damn bloody mundane and irritating why play it in the first place.

It's like the music you hear when you're holding on the line. Like when I called Starhub this week to change my mobile plans. Fookin' Hell...the music only made me even more agitated. I wanted to go find the call centre and stuff my phone up that guy's ass, put it on vibrate and call non-stop. I swear "Elavator, shopping centre, hotel, call centre "put you on hold" music...they are probably composed or at least compiled by the same folks. Aim to piss the hell out of you.

The music. It almost gave me constipation.

I came out fresh from my dump...and what the hell do I see? This Arab man standing next to me at the sink whipping out his slim jim, pulling back the hood and washing it with SCHOAP AND WARHTER! What the F!@# SIAL.

Ok on to the inspiration part, I guess it could be due to the fact that excretion takes place when your bodies is at its most relaxed state. Admit it. This happens to you too...on occasion when you're not reading the newspaper.

Ok some reflections after the very first week of semester number five. I'm retaking macro economics. I totally botched it the first time round. I shuffled in and out of camp for most part of my first semester. Going to school in the morning, from camp; heading back to camp after school to resume training and getting the full brunt of duties during the weekend. Yes I was the full time COS (company orderly sergeant) and Guard Commander. In hokkien jargon we call this BAO KAH LIOAS!
It was well a nice time though. I actually brought my Xbox to camp, brought a telelvision down as well and enjoyed some really nice bonding with my men over video games, cigarettes and packed food from the nearby kopi tiam. Anyways along to my reason, or in this case; excuse for failing. I didn't have enough time to studying. Hence I am redoing the whole damn module this semester.

Its funny, it's an irritating sense of deja vu.
Just like the kind when you realise you're making the exact same mistake twice.

Finance is a real bitch as well. All the funny terms that I've always heard people using in order to fatten up their conversations in order to make themselves look and sound important have suddenly come to life in an academic context. It's going to be a lot to study with its roots in economics and accounting. And my foundations are already pretty damn shakey to say the least. But I've promised myself to be a good student this semester, I've actually resorted to reading up before class! A FIRST!

Well with all the talk about IPOs during class...I can't wait to start investing.

My baby has been gone for more than a week, my fingers have resorted to being tortured by my 7-string Universe guitar. Sometimes I see it as her revenge exacted on me for neglecting her all this while. My usual number one floral has been sent in for a refret after being abused by my fingers for just about ten years. Ten friggin years and it seems like it was just yesterday that I saw her in the window of a musical instrument store while trotting for annoying organ lessons as an 8 year old child.

I'm taking yet another elective this semester. It should come as no surprise to you if you're in the same course as me. Due to restrictions in time as well as syllabus offered, "electives" are not elected per se and more rather compulsory modules. Put simply You have no damn friggin choice. LAN LAN SUCK THUMB. And for this semester it's nutrition. Every single class makes me so damn hungry. They flash pictures of all sorts of foods, and what's worrying is the fact that the bad foods cause my stomach to rumble and grumble at nine in the morning.

I exercised quite a bit this week.
Ran twice, rollerbladed once, did just about 500 pushups and 200 crunches spread over 2 days. I feel like an ex punching bag once owned by Mike Tyson, used and abused with bite marks in my earlobes. I thought I should be feeling this whole renewed sense of energy caused by all the various releases of endorphins in my body through the course of exercise. Perhaps it's too soon to hope and pray that by the time I wake my gut will be gone and replaced by a six pack.
Soon I hope, it will be soon.

Don't hold your breath for before and after pictures.

Other than the obvious physical and aesthetic reasons, I've also got to go take my IPPT soon.
I want my 400 dollars dammit.

I'm way pass my bedtime right now on a friday night. Yes folks for this wonderful semester, I have magical classes that are slated on Saturday mornings. Career planning and strategies.

I did however had my fair share amount of leisure time. I went out with Marshall today to have lunch with YanTing and her new job as the Visual Merchandiser At PRADA. Yes I know someone working in Prada. It isn't going to help me very much though, those damn robot charms are still so useless and expensive even after a staff discount. We had lunch at Din Tai Fung where I observed each Xiao Long Bao I ingested for the 18 exquisite and precise folds. I also caught the new Eric Khoo movie. Verdict?

Well if you hate slow movies like Lost in Translation and 21 Grams which deal with life and the subtleties involved in human relationships...don't go see it. Save your money and watch something like The Maid.

Me? I liked it. Although I felt it could have been better, I felt that more attention be placed on other characters in the movie other than focusing on the Deaf and Blind woman. That whole thing just turned the movie into an advertisement for the deaf and blind society. No offence, but I'm paying good money to watch a movie. I come to the theatre to be entertained, not to feel like "OMG I'M SO DAMN OBLIVIOUS TO MY FORTUNATE SITUATION"

I'm not saying that I don't feel that way. I do, but the damn movie just made the whole effort go overboard. Don't try too hard please, you just spoil the whole event.

Marshall bought a 99 dollar blazer from Mango. It was nice, but on the whole it made me jealous. I got a talking to from one of my friends who told me that I've been wearing the same clothes from semester one. How brutally honest and apt.

OK ENOUGH BLABBERING. PICTURE TIME.

Photo opportunities strike even in lecture theatres...

Sometimes even with foreign lecturers.

My good friend Felicia and her new earrings.

Marshall being very happy with hibiscus necklace BEFORE the movie.

Ok I got to get up tomorrow at 7.30 am to get to school by 9 am.

Class on Saturday morning, Can it get any better?

I loved the DVD, I really did, thank you.

You're really sweet.

Christopher.

I spent the last two days trekking the depths of our urban nation for this fellow, Domo-Kun. Now just who in the world is Domo-Kun.

If you've seen him around Singapore please let me know.

I checked out Wheelock, all the toy stores in Far East, Heeren, Taka; and today Bugis Junction and Bugis Village (Thanks to a not so reliable tip from my classmate Winston.) Thanks balls! And yes, much thanks also to my friendly white friend Josh, he accompanied me along my hunt. He didn't complain one bit about all the gay ass places we went to, the crowds of school kids we encountered, and my non-stop complaints about me having to take a massive dump amid the madness. But alas I'm afraid I know minimal amounts of Kung-Fu, and I can't cook Chop Suey.

Thanks Josh, no need to pull that face though.

Well you might be wondering at this point of time. Why the hell would a crock act like me want a Domo-Kun for? Well folks, I came up with the idea together with my PPFP (Penpal from Perth). Or as she'd be much rather known as, BEST - Benevolent, and some other good words OR - Belligerent Evil Sinister Terrible.

The idea also stems from a movie the both of us have watched - Amelie. In the movie, mysterious pictures of a cute garden gnome surface with him in various locations round the world. The idea is this, get the Domo-Kun, take pictures of him in various locations, and finally amass a huge useless collection of these pictures for our amusement.

After that take over the world.

But much to my dismay, one of the resident toy experts at Action City told me this. "I've seen him before, only in Japanese magazines, never in Singapore." I've also passed notes round class, much to the astonishment of my fellow classmates...no help in there either. My last resort is Ebay, where I saw a really cool Domo-Kun Hoodie Pullover!

This is my best photoshop clone stamping effort.
But I must say, DAMN THAT SHIT IS HOT YO! SIMPLY STYLIN' PHAT THREAD!
GONNA GET ME SOME BOOTAY FO SHO!

Other resort is to harness the help of my friends in the land of the rising sun.
IKU! Expect an email from me soon bro!

Desperately Seeking Domo-Kun.

Christopher.

Yes folks there's Bear Paw in Avis' fridge. Eh and don't get all bloody PETA on my ass right now, he assured me that the bear was behaving extremely badly, and furthermore if he was smarter than the average bear (ie. YOGI BEAR), you'd see him on Cartoon Network instead of Avis' fridge.

Which kind of brings me to my next point. Why the hell is it people get all mushy and emotional when dolphins or some other animal of deemed extreme schoolgirl anime cuteness gets killed. No one bats an eye when you sink your teeth into your damn 3 piece KFC hot and spicey Cheeekin'. Don't give me that crap about how Dolphins are really intelligent mammals, or they have such a cute face that you grow emotionally attached to them, and how they suscept themselves to the cruelties of captivity while performing dumb ass ball balancing tricks at Sea World.

Those are just Excuses...if you have a Reason let me know.

See how I've digressed. Blame it on that damn Cartoon boy's Bear Paw.

But I can't help but wonder what it tastes like.

Anyways let's move along and continue to talk about Saturday. From the post below you already know how I spent my morning, and right now you've probably wet yourself silly from the excitement and suspense about how the rest of the day went. Well let me tell you, it went like this.

After the damn BLADE BLOODY WATCH, Avis being the nice and kind friend he is, despite the frozen bear paw of cruelty which lurks in his freezer, sent me home to bathe and change. Such a nice fine boy he is. We met up with our new found Brazillian friend Letitia (I hope I spelt it right). It was our initial duty today to take her to the zoo, but since the only Pandas I know exist in my now defunct Gunbound account, we gave it a miss. Instead we started the day going to Little India to sample the wonderful Naans and Tandoori. I bloody love that shit. I want some right now, but koko krunch solves the problem just fine.

The food was a tad bit spicey for her but she liked it nonetheless. She thanked me for putting her through the ordeal actually, equating it to a cultural experience. A double portion of lime juice solved the problem nicely.

In between messy fingerings, the lovers still managed to take time to pose. Bloody naan, chicken tikka lips!

After eating we went to the Hindu Temple across the street. It's the first time I've been there in my life. Studying so much about Indian history and culture, it just seems right to pay that place a visit. I liked it. It was nice.

What even nicer is hunting for cheap bargains in Sim Lim Square on a hot saturday afternoon. The task was pretty gargantuan though. Secure cheap financial calculators for Leticia to bring back to Brazil for profit! Just like the underpants gnomes in south park.

PHASE ONE - COLLECT UNDERPANTS.

PHASE TWO - ...

PHASE THREE - P R O F I T!

But one setback though, running from shop to shop trying my very best to use my powers of persuasion to knock down prices sure can leave one really really tired. But we did it for a cause though. Shack balls.


Went in when the sun was shinning, left when it was dark. Total damage, one time minolta digital camera, three time financial calculator!

HUAT AH!

Christopher.

Well we never made it to the zoo on saturday. I did however make my way to blade watch. I got held up in the morning by some domestic disturbances, I shan't describe them, they make me uneasy to a large extent. Anyways I linked up with Brother Avis around 1030, instead of the intended 930. Sorry balls.

When I got there, every single mofo on skates was in orange. After a few games of "Where's Wally in a Sea of Orange", I finally found him. We spent the next hour skiving in macdonalds over big breakfasts and sausage macmuffins. Everyone in the orange shirts already left macs, me and Avis were the only ones left behind. Army taught us really good lessons. Anyways roller day was actually intended to be an intense one, but Avis had the mother of all hangovers, his eyes were still red in the morning.

The orange shirt was probably the worst thing.

I'm totally cool with the colour orange, in fact it's probably one of my fave colours. But the material was a killer...thick thick cotton. Yes it sucks the sweat away from your skin like a sponge, it sucks it just to let it fester on the material. Bloody uncomfortable.

The highlight of the morning.

Yes it's a skating Ronald, a roller-ronald, or as Crystal puts it a "Rollernald". It's bloody hilarious. One ronald on blades leading a whole damn group of orange shirt peeps on skates.

I didn't get to meet Uncle Goh. I didn't get to show him my roller skills. But we did get some silly certificate at the end of the day.

What I did for the rest of the day was something different altogether.

Christopher.

School's going to start this coming monday. My 3 weeks worth of holidays are soon coming to a close. It hasn't really seemed that much like a holiday to me though. In fact I believe the fatigue I'm experiencing now is much greater than what academic tiredness can possibly fathom. I've been working so much this week. Rising from bed at 7 in the morning, just to make sure I get everything right and in place to be at the shop at 830. In the interim period while I'm working before I knock off, I have to deal with all sorts of characters. Some of them pleasent some really just down right annoying. For example I had this guy coming in to ask me the price of a sculpture...the same guy, the same price...FOR THE WHOLE WEEK.

What the hell is up with that?

Of course I didn't give him a piece of my mind.

I've got a couple of things to do today.

I need a haircut so badly, I look like Mowgli from the jungle boy right now. I also need to head down to holland village to see my guitar tech, I'm sending in my baby for a refret, won't be able to see her for at least a week.

The break from alcoholism has been very successful so far. I survived about 3 events without a drop of alcohol in my system. Even last night when I was at wine bar I resisted the peer pressure exerted on me by Nicholas...even when it was his birthday. I'm feeling much better though, my gut has shrank considerably. Wish I could apply the same principles to my other vice, otherwise known as smoking.

I received a book from Crystal this week. Amazing book, I'm just pretty dissapointed I managed to finish it in such a short time. 2 days. But it's an easy read, I'm not praising myself for the speed at which I completed it. It's a nice break from all the usual non-fictional stuff that I read. I enjoyed it immensely. A nice post-it note to go along as well.

Tomorrow is Blade Watch day. WTF IS BLADE WATCH? Don't ask me, I don't have any idea either. All I know is that some police staff sargeant approached me and Avis while skating there the other day. He wanted us to come down and help out in some event. Must have been the pro roller skills of Avis that convinced him we were appropriate candidates for the job. So this saturday, actually tomorrow we have been tasked to head down and participate as ushers.

Benefits?

I think we get to meet Goh Chok Tong and show off our madskillz.

And I'm also heading to the zoo tomorrow, and zouk at night.

No drinking.

Christopher.

Me at womad.



Me at roller.



Me at circa minus 12 months...