Month: April 2005

Categories
Everyday News

I Support the New Singapore Integrated Resorts

Many Singaporeans are against the Integrated Resorts (IR) proposal because IR comes with a casino. In fact, none of my Singaporean friends I have talked to support the idea of having a casino here in Singapore. They feel that it is not necessary and casino will spell social issues.

Granted, gambling is a vice on its own, and so is alcoholism (heavily taxed) and prostitution (legalised and regulated). In my opinion, casual gambling is closer to alcoholism than prostitution. I don’t gamble but I do know that people here in Singapore do gamble one way or another. Lottery is gambling, playing mahjong is gambling, horse racing beting is gambling, visiting casino in Genting, Malaysia is gambling … How will a casino harm our society when there are so many regulated gambling spots inside and near Singapore? Answer is no, people don’t suddenly pick up or get addicted to gambling because there is a new casino. Serious gamblers gamble anyway, with or without a casino.

Coming from Hong Kong, I do welcome this Integrated Resort idea. This will make Singapore more vibrant. It is time to give back the people the freedom of choice that the Singaporeans are so deprived of.

Categories
Songwriting

One New Song

I did not expect myself actually writing a song tonight. True, during the day, I had an idea and when I shared it with JT, it kind of grew on me. There and then, I have come up with the song title “I Diminish You” written from the mind of an elitist. Tonight, I was tired and wanted to rest and when I picked up my guitar and just strummed a few chords, the song kind of flew out from nowhere. I quickly set up my studio and in an hour’s time, a new song was born.

The lyrics of song is kind of harsh … but it was meant to be an experimental piece anyway. It goes something like this:

I diminish you, what are you going to say?
I devour you, what are you going to do?
I look down upon you, are you going to cry?
I diminish you, that is what I do …

Categories
Diary

Oops I Did It Again …

WoW server shutdown early today at 9pm instead of 10pm. My curious mind prompted me to uninstall Norton programs to see if that would improve the stability of my computer. Duh … Windows registry corruption.

Three hours I have spent installing the Operating System, patched up the various drivers, and most time was spent to download the latest OS patch from Microsoft. Duh …

Determined to try recording again – actually the inability to record previously from my computer prompted my curiosity of uninstalling Norton in the first place – good gracious, everything seems to work fine! (Without the installation of Norton)

I have recorded 15 songs at one go and I felt so good. Back before I indulged in WoW, I spent each and every night recording songs and finding ways to improve. Indeed I am happy to observe the improvement I have made. Perhaps a break from recording is good for me.

Passion always drives me to the extreme. Time always brings me back to balance.

Categories
Whacky Thoughts

What Constitutes To A Good Song

My friend JT and I have a long debat on what constitutes to a good song. To him, a song must be original that has hooks; to him, majority of the commercial songs are “typical” and not worth listening to; to him, majority of the songs I listen to are “typical” and not worth listening to.

The question in his mind is: why would a songwriter like me indulge into songs that are typical?

Tongue-tied is the word.

To him, if a song is branded as typical, he will not even listen to it. To me, however, if I find something interesting that arouse my interest – or I see a potential of me liking the song so as to say – I will give it a few tries just to see if I like it or not. It is hard to decipher what arouses my interest. It could be the special voice, the special lyrics, the special musical layout, the special beats … etc.

Bottom line is, if a song’s tune can stick onto my mind and I happen to like it, does it matter if it is typical or not? Out of typical songs are rare and is like fine dinning to me. More often than not, I do enjoy MacDonald’s if you get my drift.

Categories
Diary

I So Tried … (Part 2)

I so tried to stay sane with my computer but yet again I seem to be drawn into this neverending journey of re-installation. How nice if I could pinpoint what the problems are but I cannot. I am fixing everything from hardware to software back to hardware to software and this infinite loop begins to drive me insane. All these mishaps must lead to somewhere right? Non-computer experts are given computers that never break; computer experts like me are given computers that never work. Irony in life indeed.

All these hardships begin to drive me insane, really insane.

But on the other hands, I am getting numb on the whole thing.

Categories
Everyday News

Pope Dies At 84

It is a day of saddnes for some of us who remember the Pope as “champion of human freedom”, “tireless advocate of peace”, and “wonderful sense of humour”. He was one of the history’s great moral leaders and will always be remembered of. I have an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see him in person at the Vatican during our honeymoon trip to Rome. The memory is still so vivid. The Pope in his bright white robe. Now the question in some of our minds would be: who will be the next Pope.

Categories
Diary

I So Tried …

I so tried not to play World of Warcraft. In fact, I so wanted not to. Wierd as it may sound, today is the day I wish my wife was in town so we could go out for movie or something … but she is overseas right now. In the afternoon, I messaged TK asking if he was free for dinner and movie. At first TK said yes and I was so prepared to go out and have some fun. In the end, TK needed to work so the evening was cancelled.

And first time for a long time, I resumed the recording of my music and guess what? My computer just refused to work. Damn it! I have tried for 2 hours and could just record one song.

What is wrong today? So I ended up playing World of Warcraft … I so tried …