yeah in case you're wondering, yup i passed my driving test!! yes which means i can officially drive. quite glad with the entire driving learning process. managed to get pass everything within a try, and perhaps not overdo the lessons as well. can't remember how many lessons i took though, didnt really keep track. anyway if u are looking for a patient, private manual instructor, pm me or smth i can pass u my instructor's contact.

and i sold my Fender Richie Kotzen Telecaster earlier this week as well.. gave it one last good clean and, very reluctantly tucked it away in my guitar bag to meet up the buyer. oh man i was half convinced i shouldnt be doing something so dumb. okay the buyer was a really nice malay guy though, had a good laugh and talk while he tested and checked the guitar. sold it for 1.7k, which was quite reasonable imo. he msg-ed me two days later and told me that he had waited years for a guitar like this, and it was absolutely magical. ahhh it only served to add to my heartache..! asked me out to jam one fine day as well, yeah probably would when i miss my old guitar.

so i initially wanted to get the Fender '52 Reissue Telecaster which i was eyeing last year. BUT! i didnt know Fender increased their prices by SO MUCH!!! i mean i knew they increased their prices but i never thought it did affect me, a mere nobody somewhere in singapore. but by 30%!!?? gosh Clarence Leonidas Fender must be rolling in his grave since he had intended fenders to be sold to aspiring guitarists without having to shoulder the burden of expensive guitars then. so the '52 reissue now costs 2.8k, which was a little too steep imo.

then came the Fender John Mayer Signature Stratocaster.. gosh if u have no idea/wanna know how it sounds, go load a John Mayer Live performance on youtube and check those that he plays with a strat. those Big Dippers pups are awesome..!! not to mention that its the only guitar in the world with them. but of course, costs 3.05k.

i was weighing it between the Fender Eric Johnson Signature Stratocaster though. deciding between the two which to go for. the JM strat seems to be very tailored for blues, in fact, to be EXCELLENT at it. the mid scoops the Big Dippers have really achieves that soothing blues tone that got my ears hooked. the EJ strat however, seemed to be a much more versatile guitar over all. i shant go into the details since it did bore most of you peeps(which i bet by now if u are still reading u probably are interested about guitars as well), but i decided to settle for the EJ strat in the end. BUT.. it costs 3.55k..

haha anyway, right now in my room lies the most awesome guitar every made to exist on earth(okay boutique guitar lovers dont shoot me), an FENDER ERIC JOHNSON SIGNATURE STRATOCASTER!! got a relatively good deal for a mint/literally brand new one from this guy i met online.



GOSH you have no idea how beautifully it sings, how more thought is put behind the craftmanship of it. the nitro finish, the 2-tone burst makes it such a beauty to behold as well. haha dude you've got to try it, and once u do, sell off every other strat u once played.

surprisingly never thought i did be a strat convert though. from an Epiphone '67 White Flying V(haha come on we all had out rocker-wannabe days), to a Squier Fat Telecaster, to a Fender Lite Ash Telecaster, and then a Fender Richie Kotzen Signature Telecaster.. i never thought that one day i would grow to love the strat more..

oh well, enough of tech talk for today. chao.

i know most people think that officers have it all. the slack life, free from all "sai-kang" (dirty laundry work), the good pay, the authority and rank to be above reproach. i don't deny that at least the last few bits are mostly true, and in fact my rank saved me from alot of unnecessary trouble a handful of times. but its times like today where all that seems so negligible when you try to be more than you're supposed to be.

i remember talking to my sergeant in bmt, told him how i didn't wanna go to command school cause i don't quite agree with the way SAF leads people. sure regimentation is all so important esp in a military organisation, but more often then not i find that shouting and barking out orders isnt the most effective way of doing things. maybe i had been in church for quite a while and too used to the all so comfortable correcting method, but i did have sort of a culture shock when i first enlisted. for wadeva reason and moral i stood by, i told myself then if i were ever to become a commander i would make sure i don't lead my men the way the system so very much encouraged. and would i be hypocritical to do so.

and its times like this that sort of make me regret not imposing and exerting my authority to the extent that which would make work so much more convenient and simple. such a fine line to thread between being a friend and being a superior. one false step to the left and u have work undone and having your words fall on deaf ears, yet a unplanned move you find your men thinking you're shoving your rank in their faces. the hardest part of it all is, we are all from the same batch, probably even schoolmates/classmates. all men have egos, and most don't like them bruised. if i wanted to pull my rank over you and adored your melodic voice greeting me 'sir' each time u see me, i would have made u do so from day one, i wouldn't have changed and gone to carry stores for you while u sit in office, and i certainly would not have covered for you guys when you all just magically awol-ed without so much as informing me.

as far as work is concerned, i certainly have to enforce it such that the work is completed. you don't just pretend it doesn't exist and wish it did magically disappear, at least i know that my head is on the line should anything happen or fail to deliver. i have to face the music not you, and yes ironically thanks to the rank i'm given. so yes, i would have to enforce authority to see that it is done, and if you may, "pull rank" over you. i just hope you come to see that its imperative of any working organisation to have a structure of discipline to achieve anything.

sigh. seriously, being an officer is more than a walk in the park.

Good to know it's all a game
Disappointment has a name, it's heartbreak warfare.

hello everyone. okay just a little update before it all leaves my mind for good. been wanting to post some stuff though, just always was too lazy when it boiled down to it. so lets see.. oh yeah. i got a new phone. yes a camera one cause i'm more than ready to embrace Feb 8(79 days btw).. okay actually it was more so cause i had to renew my plan and had a $100 voucher to use. and.. after much deliberation and intense consideration, i decided to get a HTC Touch Diamond 2!!



yes okay now u probably be throwing knives at my sheer stupidity that i didnt get a HTC Hero or Tattoo, or simply wait for the release of android phones but HEY come on considering i only paid $200 for a brand new touch diamond 2(after a promotion and my voucher) i say its rather worth it lah.. and i guess the phone's really smarter than me, of which would probably be reflected in my phone bill this month when i only realised after 2.5 hrs that some GPRS timer was up and running all along..

and also, the all-so-important meeting that i have been all so anticipating for over 6 months now finally took place on tuesday. yes my brigade is gonna have some movement, though it wont be anytime soon. i shant say much here, but im quite relieved that the meeting is finally over. people say as ord draws closer, work would start to die down. i seem to get busier and busier though. spend my every single moment in office on monday rushing the slides for the presentation/meeting on tuesday. it turned out quite okay though, and infact ended off with 2 LTCs(Lieutenant Colonels) and a Major trying to convince me to extent my ord by 6 months. you see i would ord before the movement occurs, as well as right before another wave of ICTS(which basically means work). haha well i cant say the 12.6k isnt enticing, its just that... i basically said "i will consider" lol.

oh yeah. im selling my Fender Richie Kotzen Signature Telecaster though. yes i know i didnt think that this day would come as well. its really a totally awesome guitar and not to mention, extremely beautiful and fine piece of craftmanship as well. its just that, i realised its not really the sound im after. learning blues now from some fella(who's seriously too good i find it hard to absorb at times), and this tele just isn't really the sound im looking for. yes of course there's also gas(gear acquisition syndrome) for a Fender '52 Reissue Telecaster, and i just cant afford to keep both!



okay so if you're interested, let me know and i can tell u more about the specs and perhaps work a deal or smth like that.

oh and did i mention john mayer's new album is just totally.. amazing.

we light fires we can't control;
conceited vacillant in it's orange glow.

been a rather eventful week, those most of the past few days were spend with both my parents overseas. it also meant missing breakfast on most of the days either cause i overslept or simply am too lazy to fix something. out of the few changes there were one was the most significant, the onus was on me to account for my sister's well-being and safety. so imagine my horror when she phoned me and said, "eh i was robbed." oh yes, she was staying at my grandma's for the time-being.

okay i myself aint too sure about the actual details, as most of our subsequent telephone conversations was about me telling her i would go take her to make a police report with her pleading not too as she was too afraid. apparently she either dropped her wallet and some young guy behind her picked it up and ran off, or he might have picked it out of her pocket after bumping into her. yes that isn't robbery, thank God.

and she scared the living daylights out of me when she went uncontactable for a good 5 and a half hours, even my grandma wasnt at home to pick up her phone. plus it was the darn the heaven's cried and it was flooded everywhere. it was so so hard to focus on shepherd's meet while her phone kept going into voicemail. haha funny thing was she actually coaxed my grandma to take her home to get some stuff and "while we are here might as well" help her pack her room.

yeah and went for kim's 21st birthday party yesterday. yes incase you all bought in to whatever she said about samuel and i being so willing and volunteered to perform, and to "climb mountains" for her, let us first establish that she successfully conned both of us to do so some 7 days ago. "fine, i wont mind if samuel agrees." and "okay sure if shawn agrees.", actually turned out to me "samuel agrees." and "shawn agrees" to her lol. so that was how she successfully conned us into agreeing by telling us that the other had already agreed. okay if u are still following that is.

we did "how six songs collide", a medley made out of the 'collision of six songs'(duh) my norwegian recycling. the other items put up was awesome though. her dunman high cg did some cover of michael jackon's billy jean which really quite set the bar. haha that guy, wadeva his name is, can really sing. and then her friend(sheesh i forgot her name!) played the guitar and sang some song, and gosh she sings so awesomely! haha no seriously im wasnt smittened into a poor objective judgement but she seriously was good!! has that style and swagger in her voice, very much suited for the genre of the song. qianjin did 'the man who can't be moved' by the script, which i thought was a considerable effort for such a hard song, though just a tad too fast.

well anyway, quite a fun and memorable party overall i must say? got to meet up with some of the youth peeps whom i havent seen in a while, like finally hearing qianjin sing after like almost 2 yrs. haha back then it was almost every week during ministry time. yeah i guess its true you know. like what kim said, parties no doubt a chore to organise actually is a good time to be used to catch up with one another and foster old/new friendships. oh well. we'll see how i would wanna have my 21st then.

anyway, keith woo came by my place just hours ago to try out the threadless shirt sizes. he wants to order them but dont really know whether the sizes fits. haha yeah i know so yesterday right? lol anyway threadless is having some 2 day free-shipping sale so u might wanna check it out. haha after some deliberation and erm, much nervous moments i decided, that since both my parents were out, and the traffic is minimum at night, and i'm just so tempted and still way too young to die, i took my parents car out for a spin. haha first time driving an auto-car. i was actually quite surprised it moves by itself, yes i know lah that's what it means right. oh man the thrill of driving out onto the main road, without so much as even a triangle plate. haha i duno if it was nervousness, the adrenaline, the fear of getting caught behind the wheel of a mobile without a license, or a mixed emotion of anxiety and thrill that kept us laughing quite abit. and taking the route on the main road was really quite, erm an experience.

anyway, in case you're wondering my driving test is on the nov 26. hope i pass then and finally, OFFICIALLY get licensed. and guys.. 8 more days till 'ALTER THE ENDING'!!!