:+: Fine after rain :+:

Whew 2 DVDs back to back . I finished watching Muse's Hullabaloo Soundtrack DVD last night . I actually watched it before but I didn't managed to finish it cos back then I still wasn't familiar with Muse's older material but yeah their Hullabaloo Soundtrack DVD's really good .

I think it's even better than their Absolution Tour DVD . The songs that they did in Hullabaloo such as the live versions of Plug In Baby , Bliss , New Born , Cave , Muscle Museum , Hyper Music & etc are very good .

The way that frontman Matthew plays the guitar & piano's sheer bliss (pun intended) .

I still wanna kick myself sometimes for not going for their Fort Canning Park gig when they came down to S'pore to perform in January but I really do hope that they will come back to perform & should that becomes a reality , by then I would have been familiar with material from their Showbiz days to their current Black Holes & Relevations material .

& between salmon & tuna , I prefer tuna anytime !

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Monday, July 30, 2007

Instead of going out yesterday , I stayed in & watched Muse's Absolution Tour DVD . Great stuff going on in there . The DVD contains footage of most of the band's headline performance at the Glastonbury Festival 2004 & it also features some previously unseen footage from the Earls Court Exhibition Centre and Wembley Arena in London , and the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles .

I only watched the Glastonbury Festival footage , I probably will watch the rest of the footages later on at night or something . Most of the material that Muse did were from their 3rd album Absolution & a few songs from Showbiz & Origin Of Symmetry & they didn't do any songs from their Blackholes & Relevations cos obviously back then it wasn't released yet !

Frontman Matthew's 1 genius man . Not only does he sing & plays the lead guitar but he also doubled up as a pianist/keyboardist too . It was really cool when they did Butterflies & Hurricanes live as in the middle of the song , there would be this fab piano solo which was great & I think he's really a great performer .

Muse's performance was tight & the songs that they did from their 1st 3 albums were good . I like New Born , Bliss , Plug In Baby . I was hoping that they would do Hyper Music , Citizen Erased , Micro Cuts , Uno , Cave & more but it's ok . Better than nothing I suppose .

Maybe this coming weekend or in the days to come , I will finish watching their Hullabaloo Soundtrack DVD but it's good to get accquinted with Muse's older material since I came to know about them via Supermassive Black Hole . It's funny but I remembered when that song/video 1st came out on MTV Asia , I absolutely hated it but now I really like it & it's 1 of my fave tracks on their Blackholes & Relevations record . I still find the video a bit creepy though .

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Friday, July 27, 2007

I received a PM reply from Suzy when she replied back to me yesterday . I PM'd her as I noticed that she hasn't got back to me a while since the last thing I PM'd her & what I saw in her latest PM , it looks quite worrying .

Among the things she mentioned's that she's slipping back into depression again . No wonder I was wondering how come she has gone slient for a while . I replied back to her & hoping that things will go ok for her .

I know how it feels when someone's suffering from depression . I myself has experience it countless of times . For some unknown & unexplained reasons , I used to get depression spells which can last between 2-3 months in the 1st 1/4 of the year . Thank goodness I never experience any of such incident this year as I used to get it on a yearly basis which's pretty weird .

I remembered that the worst 1 that I experienced was last year . It was the most hellish & the mother of all . I wanted to crawl into a hole & I wanted to die , it was that bad . I didn't snapped outta it til later on .

I thought it will affect my studies in Uni as it took place during the time when I 1st started school in Uni but as cheesy as it sounds , time really did played a part to help me get over it & of course the support that I got from people as well .

Being a survivor of depression , should the next wave of it hits me , at least I know what to expect & what important measures to execute . When I was younger , my life was very bleak & I was a miserable cow overall . There're many times that I thought of taking my own life but right now in a way , I'm happy to have turn my life around .

I still get such thoughts occasionally but I'm able to battle my inner demon thoughts & get along with life . I wouldn't want to spend my whole life living with negative thoughts & being a miserable cow .

I believe that in every negative aspect in any situation , there's bound to have something positive which comes outta it which's what I'm gonna try to make things work in any/every aspect in my life .

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Thursday, July 26, 2007

Congrats to my boys & girl of Electrico who won Best S'pore Band at the 2nd S'pore Music Awards at last night's PowerJam which was held at Zouk .

They were nominated for 2 categories namely Fave S'pore Band & Fave Local Song for Love In New Wave but for some reason/s , it was changed to Best S'pore Band & Best Local Song .

They lost the Best Local Song accolde to The UnXpected's lead singer Shirlyn Tan for her solo song , a great single titled Window . Incidentally , Shirlyn was the biggest winner at last night's S'pore Music Awards . She also walked away with the Best Breakout Band title too .

But still it's all good & to me , being nominated's already good so kudos to both Electrico & Shirlyn & haha , Des & Dan both got drunk silly on my behalf at last night's PowerJam/Spore Music Awards . See this's what happens when you got an endless free flow of booze coming your way .

Electrico will be performing a 30 mins set at KL's Zouk tomorrow night so if you happen to be in KL , go & catch them in their maiden gig in KL's Zouk . They will bound to rock & bring the house down . Indie Love !

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Monday, July 23, 2007

My weekend has been pretty good despite the fact that I'm still feeling sick but I'm sure within the next few days to come , I will recover in no time .

I still cannot believe what I did on Sat afternoon which I think it's 1 of the most garang things I did , ie. I got my ears pierced again ! So it's official that I have 2 holes for both of my ears now instead of 1 hole for each .

Initally I didn't want to go for it as it has been almost 7 years since I last got my ears done . But after I saw & read Shelly's post/thread in the ggates forums where she got 2nd holes for both her ears , I thought why not ?

I 1st got my ears done when I was 11 but then later on I suffered an ear infection for 1 of my ears & I repierced them again when I was 13 & on both occasions after everything has happened , I would cried like shit as my tolerance for pain's terribly low .

So on Sat afternoon , when I went to Westmall to get it done for the 3rd time , I was worried whether would the same thing happened to me again . For all 3 occasions , a gun was used & not a needle . If it's a needle I would probably faint beforehand !

There're quite a few jewelry shops in Westmall so I went to make enquires as to how much they charged for their ear piercings services . I didn't went to make enquires for every single jewelry shops in the shopping centre , only a few & 1 of the shops was ridiculous man .

The staff told me the minimum price they charged is S$41++ which's insane . I mean do I look like someone who would pay that kinda $ to get my ears done again ? I don't think so & eventually I went to this shop that's located near the escalator & at least their prices are reasonable . If I pierce just 1 ear , it will cost me S$5 & if it's 2 piercings it will be S$10 & you get the drift & the price's including the stud too so it's worth it than paying S$41++ .

I thought it will be done at the same time for both my ears but nope the process took place 1 by 1 . The lady 1st draw a mark on both my ears before she load the gun with the stud/s that I picked beforehand .

My right ear was pierced 1st followed by my left . There was pain yeah but the pain wasn't as bad as I thought it will be , people said that it's like an ant bite & all & no I didn't cried like crazy after that .

I cannot take out the studs til this Sat & til then , I have to put some solution at the back of my ears to prevent infection once a day .

If not for Shelly , I probably wouldn't think that I would get my ears done again for the 3rd time . Not sure if I want to go for it & get a 3rd hole for 1 or both my ears but never say never & you know what this means ? I can wear more earrings right now in the near future yay

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Sunday, July 22, 2007

My mum came back from vacation eariler today & ooh wee she brought & bought back a whole bunch of goodies for me & the other 2 mostly in the forms of bags , bags & more bags & other stuff like almond biscuits .

She had a good time with her friends thank goodness but I was so psyched when I saw the bag that was chocked full of goodies that she brought back home from her trip .

I got myself a new Kipling pencil case with a matching bag that came along with it , a LeSportsac long wallet & a LeSportsac multi functional case that came with 3 zips & I like what I have gotten from my mum so heads up to her !

I have been using my current pencil case & wallet for a very long time now , about 5 years or so & I figured it's about due time that I should change both items to make way for new ones . Initally I didn't want to take the Kipling pencil case but thank goodness I changed my mind at the last minute as it managed to fit all of my stationery perfectly to a tee & the Kipling bag's lovely & compact !

It's the 1st time that I have a long wallet & for once I have so many compartments in my new wallet so now I wouldn't have any problem/s putting/locating all the cards & whatever rubbish I had & now I can find things easily at the drop of a hat , unlike previously .

The coin compartment in my old stingray wallet gave way long time ago & at least this time round , everything can fit under the same roof including my house key too .

Ooh so many new things & no surprises that I'm happy with what I got from my mum & so are the other 2 . What can I say , my mum knows best !

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Saturday, July 21, 2007

It's official , I'm not heading to MoS later on tonight to catch SkiVe & 3dash1 perform simply bcos my period came today this morning of all days !

I practically had a hard time getting myself outta bed & eariler I looked like a big pile of mess so I guess the next few days I will be recuperating at home . I texted Soon about it & he was understanding about the whole incident . At most I tried to make up to him by going for their gig next Thurs where SkiVe will be playing at the Heeren .

The fact that there's 1 huge pimple at the bottom of my chin ain't helping matters too .

I was browsing though the net drifting though people's blogs that I always tend to frequent & I cannot stand blogs in which the blog master/mistress keep on writing about their fucking love lives in every single blog entry & also splashing pics of the blog mister/mistress together with their spouse/s from every corner of their blogs .

I mean here & there it's ok to write about it but to include your fucking love lives in every single fucking entry , it's so bloody boring to begin with & it's a total bore & turn me off super duper big time .

I don't need to know how bad/amazing your other 1/2's . Do people who read your blog will want to know all about it ? Every single boring fucking detail about it ? Unless you're a kaypoh by nature , then probably but I can't be bothered about it .

For me I always try to write whatever that's relevant & going on in my current life/state . I do talk about my personal life & that was 1 point in time where it got too personal so I managed to cut that down cos I don't want to get into un-necessary trouble .

At least saving grace's that they don't talk about their stupid sex lives . It's a blog period , whatever you write on the net & when you click the Publish Post button , the stuff that you have written , it wouldn't be private anymore unless there's a switch you can switch on/off for it to go public/private . You choose .

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Friday, July 20, 2007

Takashimaya's currently having a food fair which started yesterday & it will conclude this Sun . I was there eariler & I almost went nuts seeing so many food stalls selling various type of foods .

At the end , I only went to buy food from 1 stall that sells some yummy Korean food like Bulgogi which's essentially the Korean answer to Japan's Yakitori except Bulgogi's beef .

I like the sauce of the Bulgogi but I think it's a tad too salty for my liking but still other than that , I like it . It's not everyday I have Korean food you know . Aside from Bulgogi , I also had some chicken , pork , a combination of shrimp & cuttlefish (or is it squid or sotong?) on the stick .

I actually wanted to go to Bugis Junction after Takashimaya but the cramps got in the way . I realised I'm hit the worst at night after observing for the past few days so I probably head to Bugis another time .

Later , I stopped by HMV to enquire about the whole presale order of the soundtrack to High School Musical 2 . I only saw the What Time Is It single on the racks that's going for S$18.95 . Apparently I have to buy the single & HMV will give me a coupon so that after Aug 13th , I have to come back & redeem the soundtrack from them .

I didn't bought the single as it seems silly to pay almost S$20 for a single which only contains 1 song but if you look at it in a different way , should I decide to preorder the soundtrack , I'm actually playing S$18.95 for both the single & soundtrack .

I don't need the single as I already have the song , so it's not really worth it so I might as well wait a while before the soundtrack's released . It's not a long wait I think , about less than a month or so & I don't mind .

& yup HMV does imports for The Click Five's Modern Minds And Pastimes after all ! In their database they actually have 2 copies of it in stock but both copies are already reserved by people & it's so expensive ! ie. S$32 !

I'm surprised over this & despite the hefty price , people are willing to get their hands on the import of Click Five's new record . All the more Warner Music should release & distribute the album locally as I really want to get a copy of it .

If you think S$32 for an import CD's daylight robbery , if you go to the JPop section of HMV , there're some CDs that HMV imported straight from Japan which can cost a whopping S$72 ! That's the price for a CD only version of Koda Kumi's Black Cherry , I'm not kidding .

I only paid about S$21.95 for my copy of Black Cherry which's produced & distributed locally by Warner . Somemore it comes with a DVD of some of the music videos that she has made for some of the songs in her Black Cherry CD .

But of course if I can afford to , I would definitely pay S$72 for the imported CD only version of Black Cherry as I think the album cover of it's hot !

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Thursday, July 19, 2007

For a nice change , it has been raining heavily for the past 2 days which has been cool . It beats having a dry & humid day anytime but I realised that for the past 2 days , I found myself getting outta bed a bit harder than usual .

Not because of the weather but rather it's cramps . I have been having cramps of all yesterday & it ain't funny to begin with . The funny thing's that prior to before my period comes , I will never get cramps at all . At most PMS yes but cramps ? zlich .

Terrible , just when I thought I will only suffer a week per month , now it looks like I will have to suffer 2 weeks aka 1/2 a month in a battle of the cramps & etc . Sniff .

So now I'm having 2nd thoughts as to whether do I still want to go down this Sat night to go watch SkiVe & 3dash1 perform at MoS as it looks like the cramps are slowly cramping up (pun unintended) my life & it's pretty painful . I was having a very tough time trying to get some sleep last night & so far things are not going smoothly :(

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Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Usually when comes to remixes & all , I'm not really big on them cos for remixes & all , some of them tend to sound longer/worse/horrible/crappier & etc than the original so with the exception of some really good remixes , other than that I prefer to listen to the original song anytime .

Yesterday I downloaded a rearrangement of Ayumi's Ladies Night which's found in her (miss)understood album & it's renamed as Ladies Night ~another night~ . Before I heard the remix of Ladies Night , prior to before I download it , I have heard a bit of it in a Panasonic ad where she advertised the Panasonic LUMIX camera & for the background music , Ladies Night ~another night~ was being played .

The full length song of Ladies Night ~another night~ is amazing & sounds totally different from the original in which by the way she sampled Sweetbox's Ladies Night . I wasn't a fan of the original but oh man the remix of the song's kicking !

It's hard to describe the remix but I believe it's a mixture of rock with splashes of techno & trance . Ladies Night ~another night~ was re-arranged by tasuku whom I think is 1 heck of a great composer . I know tasuku has composed many of Ayumi's songs so I wasn't surprised when I saw that tasuku's responsible for a great rearrangment .

I haven't stopped listening to Ladies Night ~another night~ which shows how good the song's . Too bad it wasn't released as a single , but rather it's a B side single in Ayumi's BLUE BIRD single cos I'm sure if it's released as a single , it will definitely do well !

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Monday, July 16, 2007

I caught a new episode of Martin Mystery last night that's titled Return Of The Imaginary Friend . Actually I was just flipping though Disney Channel Asia when I saw that they were broadcasting it from 9.30pm - 10pm so I thought why not especially since I haven't watched that episode yet .

My mum said that it's a silly & stupid episode but I think there's probably some truth to it . The skinny on last night's episode was that in a village , a young girl was playing tennis alone , then she discovered that her friends don't hang around with her anymore so she wish that she things would how it use to be when they were young . Her wish was granted by a living tiny bear .

& I tell you that teddy bear soft toy of hers's plain ugly & scary . It was missing a button for an eye & it's not those cute cuddly kind of teddy bear . Rather it's a small , mean , vicious 1 with sharp claws that came to life & when it clings onto someone , it will transformed that someone into some mini dolls like statues which it did to that girl's friends & Diana . The mini dolls looked cute on 1st glance but it's actually creepy .

The mini dolls like statues were talking but their mouths weren't moving . Man after seeing last night's episode , the way I look at soft toys wouldn't be the same again .

There's another scary Martin Mystery episode like the 1 where people's own shadows comes to life & it drags you into this creepy shadow dimension where you will be trapped forever .

I know this only happens in reel life but what happens if it does happen in real life . It got me thinking .

Disney Channel Asia advertised that you can preorder a copy the soundtrack of High School 2 for a limited time period only . I'm thinking of preordering a copy but I'm not sure if I want to or another option's that I wait til the soundtrack's released in stores by next month .

At most I don't get the What Time Is It? single which comes with the soundtrack should I decide to preorder a copy .

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Friday, July 13, 2007

Well what do you know , today's another Friday the 13th & thank goodness nothing bad happened to me .

Have been in PMS mode the past few days & it was pretty bad . Among the symptoms that I will always experience in PMS mode is that I get the strangest of cravings & yesterday I suddenly had a big craving for Carl's Jr so this afternoon I went to the outlet at Plaza Singapura to satisfy my craving .

I had the low carb Chilli cheeseburger without tomatoes & pickles . I enjoyed it definitely but I think next time I should probably try some low carb grilled chicken burger as I realised I haven't tried any of it from Carl's Jr yet .

Luckily when I ate at Carl's Jr eariler , it wasn't as messy as my previous experience . This time I took out the extra paper packaging that was wrapped around the burger & just ate the burger as a normal 1 .

There's an Action City outlet in Plaza Singapura . I went nuts eariler when I saw the House of Mushrooms merchanise that they have in stock . There was a corner where it was stock full of red , red & more red House of Mushrooms merchanise from pillows , handphone holder , handphone soft toy accessory & etc .

Strangely I never saw any slippers in stock & for the pillows , I didn't see any pink colour ones . I was quite tempted to buy everything off the rack but I didn't at the end .

Heard 3 tracks so far from the soundtrack to perhaps 1 of the most anticipated sequels that will be hitting Disney Channel Asia real soon , ie. High School Musical 2 ! At the moment only Zac Efron's Bet On It , Cast Of HSM 2's What Time Is It & a duet of Zac Efron & Vanessa Anne Hudgens's You Are The Music In Me have been premiered on Radio Disney in US .

I really like all 3 , it's in the same vein as the songs found in the 1st High School Musical soundtrack although I'm against the title What Time Is It's a bit as it reminds me of a time when Tiger Beer did an ad with the same title .

The duet You Are The Music In Me's lovely & Zac's solo take on Bet On It's not bad & yes this time it's just Zac that will be doing all the singing unlike in the 1st movie where Zac's voice was blended in together with Andrew Seeley's voice so it gives Zac a better opportunity to showcase his vocal chops .

I really cannot wait for High School Musical 2 to hit Disney Channel Asia on 9th Sept , Sun & not to mention the soundtrack too & I'm sure millions of ardent die hard HSM fans will echo the same sentiments as me .

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Thursday, July 12, 2007

I finally managed to use my free Golden Village movie voucher eariler & what better way to use it than to watch the 1 & only Transformers which's like 1 of the most anticipated movies in 2007 !

I know there was a lot of hype about it right before & right after the movie was released & was it worth the hype ? The answer's a definite yes !

I just went in with an open mind & I have to say I'm real impressed on what I saw eariler . I mean it's the Transformers we're talking about man . I practically grew up watching the original animated series when I was a kid . You don't expect me to play Barbie dolls when I was growing up eh ?

I'm sure kids who were born in the early-late 80's/90's would have plenty of fond memories of the original animated series & a lot of them right now are probably in their early-mid 20's/30's , I think a lot of them were overjoyed when Transformers was finally released on the big screen which has been almost 20 years since the original animated series was 1st aired on TV .

Despite some critics trashing the movie , I don't think it's as bad as they make it out to be . Transformers has smashed box office records in US in which it scored a whopping US$152.5 million over six days , which already gives it the largest seven-day opening for a non-sequel in history , more than Spider-Man (US$151.6 million) , The Passion of the Christ (US$144.6 million) , and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (US$129.4 million). The gargantuan haul included US$29 million on July 4 and US$67.6 million over the weekend. Add in US$93 million from overseas markets & it's clear there's not much more than meets the eye to this one : robots finally , mercilessly , have us humans dominated .

So it's obvious that there're plenty of die hard Transformers fans out there & so am I . There's nothing more cool than watching the Autobots & Decepticons transforming themselves in robot/vehicle mode man & it's official , I want Bumblebee as my own personal car haha

The movie was a bit long , clocking at 2 hours 12 mins but it's worth the watch . There was a bit too much of an overdose of violent scenes in Transformers at 1 point in time but other than that , it's a kick ass movie & the scene where the Autobots accidentally tramped on Sam's family house's garden was pretty funny .

The voice actor of Optimus Prime who goes by the name of Peter Cullen , he's also the guy who provided the vocals of Optimus Prime in the original animated series . If you somewhat find his voice familar , now you know . Not only that , Peter also provided vocals for erm Eeyore in Winnie The Pooh ! I know , what ?!

The design of the Decepticons were downright bad ass down to the very last minute & don't get me started on Megatron whose personality/attitute's as ugly & bad as its apperance .

But still on whole I really like it ! Initally I was quite hesistant to watch Transformers as I heard quite a lot of non very nice reviews about it . But for old times childhood sake & not to mention after hearing what Dan said about it , I decided to give it a shot . Glad that I did & it was worth using my movie voucher or else I will never get the chance to use it as I usually watch movies in Eng Wah & not in Golden Village as it's out of the way for me .

Next on my movie list to watch's Ratatouille & Rush Hour 3 . Especially Rush Hour 3 ! I saw the trailer of Rush Hour 3 just before Transformers was aired & it looks great ! The scene will be set in the City Of Love aka Paris so I'm sure it wouldn't go wrong .

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Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Wow madness , recently there has been an onslaught of new handphones that seems to be released every single month . It's pretty insane to keep up with technology , not to mention when it comes to handphones & all .

It looks as if Sony Ericsson's fast to eclipse Nokia , in terms of popularity , selling points , phones & the works . I noticed that in the past , Sony Ericsson weren't really good as their phones's design/layout was pretty bad , there weren't any standout function which separates itself from Nokia , Samsung , LG & Motorola .

But I realised as soon as they released the K800i which's the 1st phone comes with the Cybershot function & when they introduced their own range of Walkman phones , everything started to change . Now whenever I hit the streets , a lot of teenagers I see are using Sony Ericsson phones .

Sony Ericsson crank up the design/layout of their phones , established a niche among the other competitors which able themselves to step things up a notch & I think Nokia's fast losing out popularity wise cos it looks as if Sony Ericsson's target market's on teenagers &/or people who wants a phone that doubles up as a walkman whereas for Nokia , I think they focus more on people who wants big size phones or should I say smart phones .

I'm not sure what's the selling point of Nokia but for Sony Ericsson , it's the Cybershot function & Walkman phones that're serving them well . The sound quality of their phones's good & you definitely can't go wrong with a phone that has a Cybershot function .

The walkman phones are nice yes but I don't need 1 of them as I already have an mp3 .

Having said that , when comes to gadgets & all , I'm a pretty stable person . I would tend to spend a bit more than usual on gadgets that I use but they go a long way for me .

My 5GB Creative Zen Neeon (the 5GB series's not in sale anymore so mine's old school) has been with me for almost 2 years as compared to Hui Li who seems to have a thing against technology . Hers has died down long time ago whereas for my current phone a Sony Ericsson K800i which's my 2nd phone , I think I spent almost close to S$400 just to change it & buy the memory stick to boost the capacity of the phone as my 1st phone which was a Motorola L6 was just plain terrible but I don't regret changing it as I think the current 1 I'm using , it serves me really well .

Somemore I realise despite the release of other Cybershot phones , the demand for the K800i's still strong . The price of it hasn't really dropped that much as compared to other Sony Ericsson phones so that's saying something & I also have seen quite a lot of people using the K800i & I know quite a few who uses it too .

Which was why before my contract hit the 11 months mark , I was scouting around , asking people to recommend me a good phone instead of the crappy Motorola L6 that I was using . The only good thing about it was that it's a very slim phone but other than that , it's just crap .

I don't think I will be changing to another phone again unless my phone goes beserk or dies on me . I know that Sony Ericsson has subsequently launched more phones with the Cybershot function such as the K800i's successor the K810i , the K550i , the K850i & I'm sure there will be even more of such phones that will be launched in no time .

& here's a tip if you want to purchase the Sandisk memory stick mirco (M2) , it's better to buy it in Sim Lim Square as M1/Singtel/Starhub charged outrageous prices for it . Recently I bought a 2GB memory stick from Sim Lim at S$60 . M1/Singtel are selling it for S$89 so I knocked out almost S$30 just to buy it .

I used to use a 1GB memory stick but I have since give it to Hui Li for her to use or else it will become a white elephant in my room .

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Monday, July 09, 2007

Han Lei sent me the long awaited 2nd album from The Click Five eariler on MSN . I gave it a listen & I have to say it's amazing & I think it's so much better music wise than their debut Greetings From Imrie House .

I love the album cover of their 2nd album Modern Minds And Pastimes & this's the debut of their new frontman , 21 year old Kyle Patrick after the surprise departure of their former frontman Eric Dill .

Kyle's the guy right in the middle . The rest of the members are keyboardist Ben , drummer Joey , lead guitarist Joe & last but definitely not least bassist Ethan .

It's a huge pity that the album flopped big time in the US . I found out that only 5,800 copies were sold in the 1st week of release in which it debuted at a very low 136th position of the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart which's a sharp contrast to their debut which peak position was No.15 .

Which brings to the ever growing list of 2nd albums which I think sounds better musically but sales wise it underperformed . 2nd albums that were put out by Jesse McCartney , Gareth Gates , Ashlee Simpson also unfortunately fall into this category .

I seriously think that there's not a single bad track on the new Click Five album & honestly I was a bit skeptical as to whether Kyle can put things off nicely since obviously he has huge shoes to fill in since Eric left but after I listen to the whole album , I can safely say that he has done himself a great job .

Because I downloaded their debut , I know whether Click Five's new material sounds good/bad & what do you know , I love it . It's more polished , edgy & matured .

Thank goodness Han Lei sent me a link to download Modern Minds And Pastimes or else I have to wait for ages just to get to hear the whole album but right now since it has underperformed sales wise in US , I really don't know will the album still be released in S'pore . I really hope so as I definitely would go & grab a copy .

I really don't know why Modern Minds And Pastimes has did really badly in US . Probably due to stiff competition as artistes such as Hannah Montana's Miley Cyrus , Kelly Clarkson also released their albums on the same date as Click Five .

It's just unfortunate sales has to get in the way & not to mention it has to be a deciding factor to determine whether an album's ace or not . For me personally I don't care about sales . It's pointless to give me a 2nd album which it sucks musically but it can shift millions by the truckloads .

I rather you give me a 2nd album which sounds fanastic & a whole lot more better musically but it underperformed sales wise cos at the end of the day , I believe it's all about the music .

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Saturday, July 07, 2007

1st of all , a big happy birthday & headups to my Uni classmate Khairil who has turned the legal age of 18 today . Happy birthday Khairil & such a nice no. ie. 07/07/07 . It's not often that your birthday's on a day where such no.s co-exist with each other side by side but in anycase , hope you have a great one today & it's official you're legal to do stuff now haha

I was 18 once anyway so I know that feeling which was 2 years ago where I passed the 1st huddle of 'legalisation' heh heh so the next huddle for me to get over's next Jan when I will turn 21 .

Very nice no.s I would say 07/07/07 . My turn will probably come soon in 3 years time in the form of 10/01/10 . Too bad I'm not born in Oct or else it will come up to be 10/10/10 . A triple perfect strike !

Heavy rain in the morning which shook me up from my sleep . Has been a while since it poured heavily from the last time I could remember . The weather has been very bad these days , not to mention really hot . My brain was almost fried yesterday when I went out man .

SkiVe's gonna be playing at a Youth & Family Carnival later on at 4pm at Bukit Batok Ave 3 between the blocks of 283 & 288 . I found out that it's organised by Ain Society & I found out about this only last night & for once the venue's quite near to where I'm staying so I will be checking them out later again .

Not counting 987 Home's acoustic performance , it will be the 1st time I would see SkiVe perform later on . They will only do 3 songs so it's basically 1/2 a set but it's ok , Soon said that it will be fun , it better be & he stil owe me the EP !

Hope they will do Lost Again later on , bliss !

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So SkiVe played eariler at the Youth & Family Carnival . Even though it rained heavily in the morning , it was fucking hot & humid eariler in the afternoon . They didn't start playing til about 4.20pm or so .

They did 3 songs in the form of The Same Old Sky , a cover of Hinder's Lips Of An Angel & Lost Again . I was surprised when they did Lips Of An Angel cos honestly it's a song that I hate to listen now . Well I like it before it was overplayed to death but their redition's pretty decent & frontman Marcus's voice's still great as always & he was so overdressed just now ! Turned out that he rushed from work & he had to go straight back to office after that .

Poor thing , even on weekends he also has to work . The crowd was pretty lacklustre as most of them in the audience were Malays & I don't think they were buying SkiVe's music + the terrible weather pretty much spoiled everything .

The sound wasn't good as well . I couldn't really hear the guitars properly & somemore I saw the guys doing their soundcheck prior to a few mins before they were due to perform but ah well things do happen but I must say that their new drummer John's pretty good .

Soon finally passed me the EP like about time I say . Although their performance eariler was a take $ & run kinda situation , I'm sure their next gig at MoS will be even more better & kicking .

& just now when I got back home , I received in the mail a copy of Gareth Gates's comeback album Pictures Of The Other Side . After 4 years of being outta the limelight , he's finally back & I have to say I'm glad that he's back with new material , a new sound , a new image & last but not least a new record label in the form of Universal .

Someone from ggates was so kind to mail me a copy of his album . What's more , the album cover's signed with my name on it which caught me totally by surprise !

Aside from Changes & Angel On My Shoulder , the rest of the 8 tracks I haven't heard them yet with the exception of some snippets that were posted on Gareth's MySpace . So far I like what I'm hearing as it displays a more mature sound from Gareth . At the moment , I really like 19 Mins & New Kid In Town .

When I called Universal S'pore , they told me that the album probably might be released in S'pore in the months to come but as to the exact date of it , I have no idea but I don't care , I already got hold of his new album !

Now the next album that I will lay my hands on's The Click Five's 2nd album Modern Minds And Pastimes in which Warner Music S'pore said that it will be released in here yes but only in late Aug or early Sept :(

Wah kau have to wait for a while before it hits the stores man tsk but hopefully it will be worth the wait .

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Friday, July 06, 2007

I know a while back that the media was over-covering on Trans Fats & that it's bad for your health . It's true since Trans Fats are reportedly to be twice as bad as saturated fats .

But I feel that the media should have covered on another item that should be taken in moderation or better yet to be avoided at all costs . Something that's called Aspartame .

Aspartame's a sweetener & is the primary component in Nutrasweet, Equal, Spoonful and Equal-Measure . I think a lot of products are being sweetened with Aspartame such as in Coke Light , Sprite Zero etc .

If there're so many products that're sweetened with Aspartame & are being sold in the market , why's it bad for your health ? Many doctors feel it causes serious mental slowdowns when taken over several years .

According to Lisa Shea's article take on Aspartame , she wrote that "Some people react to Aspartame immediately , while others can take 10 to 20 years for the Aspartame reaction to become noticeable . Problems attributed to Aspartame include :

* anxiety and panic attacks
* problems concentrating and focussing
* loss of memory
* depression or irritability
* dizziness "

I know it sounds crazy & believe it or not , I have some of the symptoms that she mentioned in her article such as panic attacks , depression which scares me & I experienced them immediately as soon as I consume food/drinks that're sweetened with Aspartame . Even the Vitamin C drink that I tend to take after I come back from the gym , it's also sweetened with Aspartame too !

Somemore the past few days I have overdosed on Coke Light so I decided from yesterday onwards , I ban on all foods/drinks sweetened with Aspartame in my diet & I experienced some sugar/sweetener withdrawal yesterday as I was so overdosed with Coke Light/Aspartame but hopefully it will be worth it .

Wouldn't wanna risk getting another bolt of depression for nothing & that an innocent looking bottle of Coke Light's the 1 to blame for all of this .

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Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Terrible terrible terrible . Of all the things I lost in the early hours of the morning , is a ring ! & somemore I don't even know how it managed to slip off my finger just like that !

I was sweeping & cleaning the house before having breakfast & after that was done , I suddenly realised the ring that I'm wearing on my left hand's gone ! I searched high & low for it in the house but to no avail :( . I even dig though the trash in the dust-bins too but I found nothing boo hoo .

At least the ring on my right hand's still intact but I have since taken it off my finger as I don't want to lose another ring again .

Then again might as well cos I realise that I have a very very bad habit of taking my rings in & out over & over again when I got nothing to do or just feeling plain bored . I bought both rings at Perlini Silver to begin with . Still pretty bummed over the loss , somemore each ring's about S$30++ each & they're unique in that it's 3 small rings joined together as 1 .

At most I use the other ring that I didn't lost as a pendant from now on .

But on hindside this might mean something positive in that I think the reason why I lost the ring & it slipped off me just like that is probably because of the weight I have been losing steadily since the last week of May so yeah I should probably look at it in a positive manner .

& what do you know , eariler when I went to King Albert Park & eat , I saw my old Primary school friend Sor Lay & it's pretty something that I still can recongise her after so long as the last time I saw her was 8 years ago !

In a way she couldn't recongise me but she hasn't really changed that much to me but it was cool , we talked for a while , catch up on things & the usual stuff but it was nice to see an old friend again .

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Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Met up with Des outside his workplace just now for a while . I met up with him today to get something in the form of an official Electrico T shirt !

When I 1st saw the rough design sketch of it when it was send to me via email , I have to admit that the design was a bit disappointing to me but the final product that I saw eariler , it looks even better so it goes to show that pictures really do & can lie after all !

Des went upstairs his workplace to get the T shirts while I waited outside as I think only staff members are allowed in . He brought down 2 T shirts , namely a Ladies T shirt that's size Large & a Guys T shirt that's size Small .

Initally I thought I would fit into the Guys T shirt size S but surprisely it was BIG . The Guys T shirt that's size S looks like it's in size M/L as the cutting was unusually big . If I were to take it , it will fall to where my hips are which's that long & I don't like to wear such long T shirts .

I tried the Ladies T shirt size L & you can say that it fits me to a T like iterally . I can't wear to wait it in a bid to plug more for the band haha

Des was down with flu when I saw him eariler which surprises me cos he doesn't look sick to me . He took MC yesterday but poor thing he's back at work today as there're a lot of things for him to do & clear . He told me that Amanda's down with flu as well & hers's worst but I'm sure both of them will recover in due time .

Thanks for the T shirt Des & I'm looking forward to more funky T shirt designs coming from you !

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Monday, July 02, 2007

I didn't realised today's Youth Day but then again to me it's just another day as I don't really celebrate it . For Hui Lin it's a holiday while for Hui Li it's not & I realised that this year's sorta like my last year to enjoy Youth Day before I hit the legal age of 21 next Jan .

Eariler something funny happened when I was having lunch . Someone who I think was an old lady was singing karaoke . I don't mind if the singing's good but this was really BAD & just plain awful .

The weird thing was the singing only took place when I was eating & after I finished my meal , it stopped . I don't know if it's just a concidence or something but I iterally had to close my ears when I was eating just now & the singing was really bad , it's a cross bred between a getai singer whose singing has gone bad or just some contestants trying his/her luck in auditioning for the next reality singing show competition .

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Sunday, July 01, 2007

Heard some of the tracks of The Click Five's new album Modern Minds And Pastimes off their MySpace & I gotta say that on what they uploaded so far , it sounds really good & definitely more polish & edgier than their debut album Greetings From Imrie House !

I heard some tracks eariler such as All I Need Is You , When I'm Gone . Initally I thought these will be covers as artistes also have such song titles too but thank goodness that the songs are originals & they sound great & of course the 1st single off the record Jenny's nice !

They also uploaded Addicted To Me & a ballad called Empty which I think it's sweet but I find Addicted To Me a bit weak as compared to All I Need Is You & When I'm Gone but I like the synth keyboard beats on Addicted To Me , courtesy of Ben Romans which I still think he's hot & of course bassist Ethan Mentzer too haha

The new frontman Kyle Patrick has some serious big shoes to fill in after the surprise depature of their original frontman Eric Dill but I'm sure Kyle will do fine .

Am thinking of getting Modern Minds And Pastimes at this moment & in the tracklisting of the album , they have a song called Happy Birthday which they didn't uploaded it but hopefully it sounds good .

Then again I love their debut album so hopefully Modern Minds And Pastimes wouldn't disappoint & suffer the much dreaded 2nd album syndrome , musically . If you ask me , I prefer a 2nd album that sounds so much better musically & I don't really care if it cannot rack up bigger & better sales as the debut as usually it's pretty rare for a 2nd album to sell & sound even better than the debut but that's not to say that it cannot be done .

So if you give me a 2nd album that sells well but musically it suck , I wouldn't buy it .

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