The Gripmaster

Yet another week flies by with hardly any time to practise.

My fingers are still very weak and need alot of strengthening. :( I really should practise the exercises more consistently.

Found this amongst the clutter on my desk.

Gripmaster!

Guess its time to start using this again. heh never used it long enough to see results. My ex gave me his when Yamaha ran out of stock, and according to him, it helps. Its kinda like finger gym. Pressing down against the tension from the steel springs will develop finger muscle.

Addy Cradle in NTU

Went for Addy Cradle's gig yesterday afternoon. At NTU! Finally, some good music. And can you believe this is an assignment for one of my modules? The prof is too awesome.

For 1 hour in LT 19, i was mesmerized. Sure, the genre wasnt really my cup of tea. But Addy's electric guitar technique was impressive. Not sloppy at all when shredding, and he's very creative in note choices. His band was also dam tight. About 6 of them were backing him up, and they were all really good musicians in their own right. Like all can have solo time.

He's also a really down to earth, humble person both onstage and off. A rarity to meet an accomplished musician like him who's not a diva.

Pics!

Pics from Shums' Birthday celebration and CNY.

Spontaneous trip to Overeasy. Was so underdressed that night!

Dinner at Manhattan Fish (Central) before

Butter. Dam crowded! But no cover charge. :)

At Cheryl's house playing Guitar Heroes. CNY!

Me and Momoko. hahaha

House hopping with the CS girls. Let's continue the tradition post-grad!

At Universal Studios. Marie hamming it up. They sell many funky hats!

Relatives! 14 of us at the preview

$100 entry!?!

Adorable little girl!

heh

I MUST try this one day! The Blue line is much scarier. Anyone?

Going in.. (Sorry pics are all jumbled up.)

Other random things

Because im quite reluctant to start on my copywriting assignment...(still havent decided between the Asian Tiger or the African Elephant argh!)

Some random things that happened earlier at Chinatown..

Fiona finally got to try her first cup of KOI bubble tea! Being a fellow westie like her, it was only my fourth time. Needless to say, we were both quite excited when we chanced upon an outlet. Now im frickin full. One cup of milk tea is really potent!

Came across this blind man playing blues guitar on the streets. He was really really good. And he played Blues! Something you hardly get to hear in SG. It was such a pleasant surprise since i've started re-listening to alot of Blues lately. Wang and i were so mesmerized by him that we stopped for awhile just to listen to him play. A 'real musician' as wang put it. His fretboard navigation was excellent. He was so into the music, and such skilled playing despite not being able to see. Beautiful. :)

Full steam ahead till graduation!

I realise i am going to be DAM BUSY till i graduate.

FYP is FINALLY going to be executed as of next week. Not the official launch, but the pre-launch. Still a few kinks to iron out, following our meeting just hours ago with a particular stat board. Still gotta negotiate a few things with various parties, especially budget-wise. But at least we get to start something! haha im just GLAD to be getting things in motion after sitting on it for SO long.

Apologies for the many caps. Those whom i talk to regularly will understand my FRUSTRATION over fyp. Its really frustrating when things are all done and ready to go on your end, but having to wait and wait for clearance, and the last minute revisions that repeatedly spring up out of the blue. Don't even get me started on creative compromise.

So yea, fyp-wise, my group is on quite a tight runway due to all the delays from our partners, and we're really going to have to chiong that launch and report.

Other things on my plate:

1. FYP

2. The final sound design project- designing the audio for a movie trailer. Quite challenging. The trailer chosen is for a war drama. And my prior ProTools knowledge doesn't help much 'cuz i realise im dam rusty after 2 years of not using it!! heh.

3. Copywriting assignments that come on a WEEKLY basis. So if you see me stressed towards the end of each week, you know why.

4. Working with an 8 piece band for my JazzandPop module. Just got our bands assigned yesterday. Am quite stoked with the people i get to jam with! This one's fun, but i forsee many rehearsals. hahaha and its 8 of us. No joke.

5. Leader's meetings I have to attend as an intern.

6. FC Strings rehearsals every fortnight

7. Practisepractisepractise guitar with the remaining time left. Its only the beginning of a long road to be ready for Berklee/MI auditions.

I don't mean to sound like im complaining 'cuz im not. Listing it all out helps me compartmentalize things in my head. Especially since its quite cluttered now following the aforementioned fyp meeting.

Anyway, this verse is very apt for me this season. :)

2 Corinthians 12:9
And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

Closure

He found out that i deleted him from msn.

i had to. It was proving to be difficult, seeing him online, and not being able to talk to him. Felt that a clean break was necessary for us to really move on.

His text came in the middle of sound design tutorial and totally threw me. i exclaimed so loudly that the tutor asked if there were facebook politics going on hurhur. Struggled for awhile, but decided to come clean and tell him. Any excuse would sound phony anyway and i didnt want to lie to him. sigh.

Then came a long slew of smses. It was bad timing too, 'cuz i was rushing a deadline for fyp. He wanted to talk on the phone, but i couldnt, didn't want to also because i knew how that would turn out.

I hate that he's using emotional blackmail against me. He knows that i still care. Yet he cites reasons like my work, my convenience etc as to why i chose to end things. sigh. Im trying to see it as his way of coming to terms with things. But it sure doesn't make it any easier for me. I'm torn between feeling sad and just really pissed at him.

Called xt last night and she really helped. Thanks for riding out all the emotional drama with me all these times! Don't know what i'd do without you.

Anyway. Wanted to blog about cny and vday, then this happened. Will do so soon, if i manage to get pics from my cousin. Got to spend more time with the relatives since my parents were overseas. Felt really blessed this cny. Even though im not that close to my dad's side (mom's side in japan), they are all really generous to a fault. haha and i dont mean that just in terms of red packets. They really go out of their way to be hospitable and make you feel at home. Met up with different groups of friends too and went to universal studios. i missed him during vday, but was glad for jang and yufan who spent it with me hanging out till the wee hours of the AM heh. All in all, quite a good one i'd say.

Aiight. its 12pm. Time to get the day started. :(

Runner's high

Good morning world!

Woke up this morning at 7am for the first time since internship. Voluntarily, not because i have to. Went for a run too, for the first time since who knows when. First time this year, thats for sure. haha so proud of myself that i had to blog about it.

From training 4 times a week in jc, its really bad that i hardly exercise nowadays. Ever since i picked up the e-guit, it seems that my passion for running has been eclipsed. Quite telling in how i read Total Guitar now instead of Runner's World magazine. heh or maybe im just making excuses for my laziness.

Anyway, i think sleeping early really makes a whole world of difference! haha. Despite sleeping for about 6.5 hours, im feeling quite awake now. it's prolly the run too. I want to do this more often. Feels really good to wake up early. To be able to go for run, do qt, practise some guitar...do the things i love before the rest of the world wakes up and i have to deal with fyp, school and other gross things. hahaha im going to have to wake up at 5am then if all thats gonna happen.

Shall try for 7am. i think i can do that for certain days that i don't have school. i hope it lasts! :)