Author: Wilfrid

Categories
I See I Write

Where Not to Buy Musical Equipment

Shop name: Sinamex
Address: Parklane Shopping Mall

Recently my wife and I have experienced some electric shock with our bass and electric guitar and after some first level troubleshooting, I suspected that it was the mixer that gave me the problem. Called Sinamex and the technical support asked me to bring the set back for diagnosis. Fine. I was so happy that the support was so helpful.

Bad luck for me, the support guy was not in. The boss was so totally cocky. After a very simplistic diagnosis and could not replicate the problem, here was some of the dialogues.

Poor Customer: (long explanation why I think it could due to a faulty mixer)
Cocky Boss: This is X-file.
Poor Customer: (felt like punching him on his face) X-file doesn’t exist man …
Cocky Boss: You bring it back and most likely it will be fine
Poor Customer: (tried once more to reason with him)
Cocky Boss: Do you play in church?
Poor Customer: (huh? does it matter?) No.

Poor Customer: Don’t you have some more sophisticated tools to diagnose the circuitary?
Cocky Boss: We have a set of diagnostic steps but I don’t see the problem.
Poor Customer: (ah, he is referring to the troubleshooting section in the manul … so much for their help) But I am really feeling the shock man …
Cocky Boss: It is impossible (giving me another X-file look)

And I walked away.

Categories
I See I Write

Jap Restaurant + Rome (HBO)

I lived by inspiration and when it strikes, there is no stopping me from doing it. Just like that, I have braved the super traffic jam of Orchard to my destination at Taka. Well, before I go on, I must say the road planning in Singapore sucks. God knows how many cars travel from CBD to Taka and the number of vehicles changing lanes on that route is phenomenon. And you need to pay ERP somemore. Great brains we have in Singapore.

Anyway, Taka carpark was full so we, again, braved the traffic jam and parked at Wheelock Place. What did I want from Taka? No idea. My inspiration didn’t say. So we spent 75 mins on the road and had no idea what we were supposed to do.

We ended up in the same Japanese restaurant that TK has took us to a while back. Atmosphere was great with dim lighting and Japan-ish images projected onto white walls. The waitresses are efficient and … pretty. And the food quality is good. It is a fusion type. Worth a try. Price-wise, the menu has something relatively cheep (like S$11 for a bowl of chicken rice – Japanese style of course) to something I can’t afford. The Sake is pretty bad though by the way.

Restaurant Name: Sun with Moon
Tel: 6733-6636

Rushed home for the HBO original series ROME. Now, that is a great show. Half way through the show (each episode is 50 mins and we are onto the 6th-ish one), I said to my wife: hey, this show is less about Caesar and his war. And my wife – an avid reader of Life!, OK!, People! – told me that what so original about this movie is that it is presented from the commoners’ perspective.

The dialogue is very funny. Like a guy said to his fellow solder: my wife doesn’t couple with me anymore. Or … this one is the best … the mother asked her son: Son, have you penetrated anyone yet? Her son hesitated and replied: No. And the mother sent a solder to take the son to a whore house. How I wish I had a mother like that …

Kidding.

Categories
Announcement

I am Back

I have finally gathered enough courage to reopen my own website after a shutdown of more than eight months. Funny when I look back, I felt as though I had been passionate about my site for much longer time (actual fact, only about 4 months) and have been away for much lesser time. My buddy Mark had some difficulties in bringing my site back online after I have unceremoniously shut it down couple of months ago. It was at that moment that I really wished that my site would not be down forever.

Now that I am back, just wish to say thank you to all my close friends who have been very supportive of me during this challenging period of my life. You know who you are. Salute! More contents will be on the way. This I promise.

Categories
Diary

It’s so good to be back …

… I guess the timing is just right. I will be flying back to Hong Kong this Thursday and home is where we return when we wish to get in touch with our roots and to do some serious reflection. … I guess the timing is just right. I will be flying back to Hong Kong this Thursday and home is where we return when we wish to get in touch with our roots and to do some serious reflection.

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.