Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Freaky Friday

Someone somewhere managed to sum up the cause of stress perfectly.

It was said that stress results from lack of resources and power to do things you need to do. Actually that someone somewhere summed it up much more eloquently than that but I couldn't remember the exact wordings and for this purpose my cruder definition should suffice.

I am stressed. And I am stressed because I am insufficient.

Dr.Lim wanted us all to have a weekly lab meeting and this friday it will be my turn and Regina's. (I've just made a rough version of the Power point presentation which explains why I'm up and running at this time. It's way past my bed time and I'm pretty awake right now - for all the wrong reasons).

Anyway I named that file FREAKY FRIDAY.

That should express my sentiment enough.

Grinning Goat at 9/12/2007 04:42:00 AM pontificated

|

{buzzz out}

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Slide along side

The guitar club's welcome tea was today.

The guys were playing Velvet Revolver's Slither while people were meditating next door.
Guitar club's welcome tea meet Buddhist Society's.

What a wrong pick of function room. It was quite peculiar.
I hope the wall is sound proof but of course it isn't, NUS being NUS.

I was looking at the street directory for directions to my student's house just now and for the love of me I COULDN'T READ MAPS. I couldn't even figure out the orientation. @,@

It's a good thing my student doesn't want me to teach her GEOGRAPHY, I would fail at the map reading section. Sigh.

Grinning Goat at 9/08/2007 01:04:00 AM pontificated

|

{buzzz out}

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Silent recognition

Pavaroti died today. What a big loss to the world.

Grinning Goat at 9/06/2007 08:14:00 PM pontificated

|

{buzzz out}

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Local music scene

I was invited to watch this event Radiopulze organises. Radiopulze is our campus' radio run by the students. To be honest I have never listened to it but I have a friend who is the music director of Radiopulze.

For some reason I have always thought she was the president (as to why I would think that a radio station would have a PRESIDENT at the helm instead of a DIRECTOR, I am not sure) and today I embarrassed myself again by asking her, "So are you still the president?"

To which she patiently replied with a look of resignation that I would never have this fact straightened out in my head, "I'm never the president, Ross"

She's the music director of course. And a patient one at that. Shiva has always been kind and considerate. She has the highest level of tolerance for my frivolous comments (something which Regina has referred to as my "entertainment value").

I sat on the second row but when someone started to play something I had to move to the back. One of the Radiopulze guys said we would be welcomed to sit in front and when none came forward he mumbled something about Asians being shy. That was a convenient assumption. I was not shy and I am an Asian. I moved because when the music started to play, the sound from the amplifier was so loud it assaulted my ear drums. Ear damage is accumulative so I wasn't taking any chances.

Anyway Radiopulze was trying to promote the local music scene. A local band called Amateur takes control was invited to the studio to put on a show and had their songs recorded. So I sat there and for the first time had a taste of a local band.

"Amateur takes control". When Shiva mentioned their name, instead of asking who? (which I undoubtedly am bound to, under normal circumstances since I don't listen to the local bands very often, I actually choked). Clearly, they have a sense of humour and that's always a plus.

But Amateur takes control, for all their sense of humour was late. Minus 10.

The lead guitarist was wearing a sandal (not the fancy kind mind you, but the kind you buy to wear to flood-prone area because it dries very fast). That's a minus 20.

The guitars weren't pre-tuned. Ok so perhaps I'm expecting too much but the least they can do if they can't pre-tune them is to come early for sound check, which they even failed to do. Minus 20.

The bassist had his back to the audience. MINUS 50.

The drummer was quite impressive though, although the vibe I got from him at first was bad what with his Batman t-shirt, his peculiarity (removing one of the Toms - he rather plays on a crippled drum set and that's abnormal surely) and his small stature.

His small stature though does not prevent him from having a strong leg. As he played he inadvertently pushed the base drum forward (for lack of a drum mat - I don't blame him) and the guitarist had to sacrifice his designed-for-the-flood sandals as a wedge to prevent the base drum from sliding and failing that (clearly, while the sandals may be built with a flood in mind, they are not designed to hold a base drum in place) he had to prop up the base drum with his barefoot which was unsightly and that is a further minus 20.

What struck me though (although I suppose this is not their intended reason in inviting me to attend the event) Radiopulze has a great radio deejay. Shiva's friend -Winnie- who was the host deejay for the evening was a charming woman who has a way with words. If Regina was around I bet she would've abandoned me for her for her greater "entertainment value".

The deejay - she has a nice tone to her voice. I found out in the end that she can sing and so I shamelessly made use of the opportunity to recruit her into my band. Which was to no avail of course because shiva - a kind soul she might be- would never let such a fine deejay go and I don't blame her. I would've kept Winnie for myself too, and for a more valid reason than for her "entertainment value".

I am jealous of Radiopulze's drums though. It looked so shiny and new.

Well I apologise for being on a hiatus. I have been swamped with work. And while people might think that I am hardworking, I am actually not. I just feel insufficient and when you feel insufficient it is only natural that you do more to make up for your insufficiency. Because you need to balance things out, you wouldn't want to be on the negative side like this Amateur takes control clearly is what with all their minus points.

Having said that I meant no disrespect to the local musicians of course. It's just that there's plenty of room for improvements. A room the size of a football field.

Grinning Goat at 9/05/2007 10:27:00 PM pontificated

|

{buzzz out}