26 April

I'm 20! there goes teenagehood. Am I what they call a (ugh) yuppie? I don't know and don't really intend to find out.

Since I'm not doing much by way of celebrating, I decided to find out all the happening happenings that happened to happen on this day in history.

1564 - Shakespeare was christened.

1933 - The Gestapo, the official secret police force of Nazi Germany, is established.

1986 - In Ukraine, a nuclear reactor accident occurrs at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, creating the world's worst nuclear disaster.
1994 - Physicists announce first evidence of the top quark subatomic particle.

And i share this joyous occasion with:

1. Prophet Muhammed

2. this dude (baptised on 26 Apr, dunno counted or not)

3. this dude

4. and this dude

Yesterday was loads of fun. We set out on a 4km run at Paya Lebar Airbase, only to have it cut short by a thunderstorm. I saw the cutest tiniest rabbit in the bushes along the way..it's things like this that make running in a thundertorm worthwhile. When it got too heavy, we made a dash for a shack and were pretty much stranded there way past 5.30. And then - bless those kind souls - a couple of air force ppl drove by and gave us a lift to the PLAB entrance, from which we sprinted back to the office. It's interesting to note that the Air Force CAT 1 is highly accurate, compared to the Army one.

So I went back, dried up, changed and headed for the Cathay to watch 200 Pound Beauty. Now it's probably rare for a guy to gush about a really cute actress but she is so totally exceptional. I'm talking about Kim Ah Jung.

The movie was really good too, except for the obvious fact that it does end up glorifying plastic surgery, no matter what anyone says. Did I mention that the actress is exceedingly cute? And talented too. She did all the singing herself!

metal to the pedal

As usual, this post is a week (ot two?) late. Got it last last Saturday for $216, including adaptor :)

Haven't had much chance to use it though-been rushing my med PS and other documents..

in any case I just survived Psychometric Weekend. Had to take the same psycho test twice in two days..geez.

nobody loves instrumentals.

Instrumentals are getting far too little air time. If they are played at all, they're always relegated into the background anyway. And when I ask people whether they listen, the answer is unanimous: every now and then, but they prefer songs. It's as if lyrics make a piece of music worth listening to. Paul Simon reckons it's cos people find it easier to analyse and identify with words, all too often neglecting the music that actually gave life to those lyrics. It's like..lyrics are the crop and music is the field. Who cares about the field?
In the absence of words, there is so much more room for interpretation. Or you can just choose to sit back and feel the music.. Or marvel at how skilfully the artist chooses his phrasing.
Don't get me wrong - I love listening to songs too. I just think that instrumental music is underrated.

All Your Base Are Belong To Leonidus

gonna get this in 2 weeks' time

ta da! Innit such a beauty? I've been eyeing this thing for a loong time now, ever since I first tried it out at Davis. I was on the verge of buying it already, but noo those paranoid xenophiles had to come over and snatch the guitar out of my hands before I knew what hit me. On that note, I have one piece of advice for anyone intending to shop at Davis Guitars. I promise I'll try to be as subtle as I can:

DON'T.

well I tried. Anyway me, Ruiyang, Ken and Jensen were at City Music the other day and i saw it selling at $198, with Cubase thrown in.

What really got me sold was the auto-harmonizer and the USB interface. No more agonizing over intervals and whatnot, for better or for worse..

What Actually Happens

..when a snatch thief comes running towards you.
The natural progression of things, we were told, is that you pluck up all your courage and bring the villian to the ground, subdue him and hand him over to Constable Acai.
Reality was a very different story. Me, Fenglei and my sis just stared in bewilderment as the bugger ran right past us. There were six guys chasing him, two of whom were on roller blades.

Actually we were only assuming that the dude was a snatch thief, cos he was holding a bag and the people chasing him didn't look too friendly. One of them shouted "it's that one!" in mandarin. Plus they even risked getting run over as they crossed the road.

Anyway, I suppose the poor fella got caught in the end, no thanks to us. Must've been pretty suay/stupid to commit a crime in 1. broad daylight 2. bedok central 3. the company of some super fast sprinters and rollerbladers.