the irony of life..

found out today that the guard's men who died recently, happens to be the shopkeeper's (of my block) son. the last time, i saw the guy he was just a kid running around with his younger sis; and today i heard from a friend , a former football kaki, about his death. no wonder there as a huge crowd at a funeral two weeks back at my block. if i'm not mistaken, the kid was barely a month into his national service. we have had a number of deaths within year or so, during training. i could imagine every parents fear of sending their kid to national service now. how much guarantee can the goverment give, that such situation would not happened again? its not happening in iraq or afghanistan, its on our very own shores for god's sakes, something thats is within your control. how much has been done or will be done to ensure safety of our fellow men?? or will it all be swept under the rug and the money put into other use? its funny how when things go high tech, the simplest detail go over looked.

the other side of me!

let me know what you guys think of the songs i have included. for the younger generations, this is music! do check out the 1991 remix of 'we will rock you', totally rocks! Well, do let me know what you think, thanks!

angelus choir - 23rd anniversary

today marks the 23rd anniversary of the angelus choir. founded in 1982 by the late fr fortier, the choir comprised cousins, two sisters and friends, if memory serves me right. william joined in '86, and myself in '87, the same year as tony and aaron. the same people who practically dragged me to joined the choir and so i did at the age of 18. the choir was like 30 strong singing our lungs out at the old church at sembawang. the half-pass-six choir we were called and practises were very much the same as now. we started at 4pm, had mass at 6.30pm (hence the name, the ½ pass six choir) n continued prac till as late as 10pm. we had no mics and of course, there wasn't aircon at all. we had a small choir loft on the second floor of the church but for a very short time, the rest of time of my years there, we were upfront facing the altar. we had to battle mosquitoes and all kind of insects who intruded our practises. getting mosquitoes bites everytime was the norm, until we decided to close all the windows and leave the side door open only. christmas was like the thing we look forward every year. there was one year that i bet all of us will remember for a very long time, it was after mass and everybody was like hugging each other at the church porch. then the girls were happily hugging everybody until they released that they were also hugging some foreign workers who decided to get into action, it was so funny. the girls freaked out and hit behind some of the choir guys. there was this other time when i wasnt in the choir yet but my sis was. i saw william outside my door step with a baseball bat with my sis. apparently someone was following my sis, and she called william who came down with a baseball bat and william called gerard who also came down with a baseball bat. at that time, i didnt really knew the both yet, but looking back now, its a good laugh.

the choir shifted to yishun in '92, reduced to ten to fifteen people and though the years the numbers declined slowly. mass was at six-ten pm, hence we were without a proper name for a year or so. at one point we had only five to seven people. we actually did a wedding mass accapella once with the help of fr j.j. he was a brother back then. without having a name, we had no identity so maria and cynthia approached fr. fortier and hence, the angelus was born. the choir was back in full swing again when hatsuee, anne marie, sarah n joanne joined us in 95, mel, mark, jeremy and others joined soon after. and the rest like the say is history. i've been in the choir now for 18 years and its been a hell of a ride. i have learnt a lot of things, gained loads of friends and at the same time, this is where i learnt to be a soundman, thanks to david who showed me the ropes and got me interested. who in turn i taught melvin and mark. mel helps out whenever and mark have left the choir and current he is a soundman for some joint now. so all the best to him. i have a young padawan now n she is catching up fast; and she is none other than david niece's pat! kinda cool isn't it, how things come around.

well, the choir has lots of history behind it, we have a priest, a nun, a ceo and lots more. all of them at one point were like teenagers in this choir. my eldest sis, the nun, is in london. leon came back to singapore recently to celebrate his first mass as a priest but i am not sure where he is now. and the ceo is none other than the guy with the baseball bat, william. hahahaha...funny how things come around yeah! to everyone from the angelus past and present, love you guys lots.

<<<<happy 23rd anniversary angelus >>>>

emptiness amidst the joy

had a fun day out ytd although i was kinda zombified. had only one hr of sleep ytd, before heading out to meet the rest of the choir mates. jen wanted me to come along so i could have an idea of how the choir and musicians would sound like on the day itself. during the journey there, i got myself occupied by jp's story. something that she wrote and it was like ten pages double sided but didnt get to finish it though. we got off at orchard and took the free shuttle service to great world city and alas we were at st. bern's church. good thing they had the prac at the parish hall, as the main church had no aircon and the weather was not too kind ytd. the parish hall was like soundproof, with a minimal equipment set. unfortunately the rest of the musicians were not there, but nonetheless, at least i could have a brief idea of how the choir wld sound like. the place had a great acoustics and everything sounded so full. the challenge here would be to emulate the sound in our own parish as the acoustics in our own church sucks big time. i heard that they would be hiring a proffessional soundman on that day and they are gonna have the works. man! a good gauge to see where i stand or how good i am. a time to learn and re-learn. the last time i was involved in something big, was 'shoes of the stranger', a musical play by a.c.t.s in '98. it was really an eye opener and i really enjoyed myself. at this point i would give a shout to melvin, "yo, dude, u got that vcd working? we can show it to the choir"

well, after the choir prac, we went for to the nearest hawker center for a late lunch. in btwn having lunch and having a conversation, the younger gals were like moving from table to table to avoid a small bee. at tis point, i got introduce to 'm.v.p' nope its not 'most valuable player ' but 'murderer, victim, police' game. best played with five or more people, the more the merrier. the rules were explained by hatsuee but since the hawker center was not a good place we decided to head back home first. since begin new to this game i watched the others play while waiting for the shuttle service at great world city. it carried on in the shuttle bus to the mrt. melvin bumped into joanne sandhu and she joined in the game. so there they were standing in the circle, the murderer killing off everybody silently while the police race against time to catch him. julia, jp and me, stood one corner and watch the others play. soon khatib came, hatsuee and sandhu had to go off, julia n me joined in the game, but with only a stop away we decided to carry on a burger king. so there we were, in btwn dinner and convesations, we were playing mvp. puden, i must say, improved in the short time, so did melissa. its funny how puden n melissa always had the role of the murderer and they really killed off everyone silently. when gab became the murderer, it was very easy to spot, he wld be quiet. chris on the other hand, was always the usual suspect hence why i was afraid to look at him always, hahahaha. but sigh, the least expected one stole the night away, pudentiana. i will get my revenge soon! hahahahahaaa.....

well, all good things had to come to an end. i retired early only to be awaken an hr later. something awoke me but i was still half asleep. as i facing the wall, i felt something coming up behind me, there even a sharp pain behind my back. i tried to move but it seems that my whole body was still asleep. i could hear my eldest sis and brothers voice behind me, so i called out, "is there anybody out there" as i felt really empty inside but i could not get the words out. finally i awoke, but i had this strong sense of emptiness inside me. at that instance too, i missed my eldest sis n bros and the house felt so empty even though my mom was asleep. went online, but there was no one on msn, wanted to blog it down ytd but soon the feelings left and everything was fine. tiredness took over me once again and i slept peacefully this time. thinking back i wasn't sure why i called out "is there anybody out there?' when instead i should be calling out for my mom, something we wld all do when we're in this kind of situation. at that time, i felt really empty inside, like as if i was all alone in this world. could it be something that i would face in the future? only god knows...

almost blew the speakers....again!

went down to manda today @ kk. the docs removed a 13cm cyst and took a pic of it.i sometimes wonder why they do that. i remember when they removed a tumour from my friends' mom and took a pic of it. it was really huge and gross out. my friend's dad was happily showing it to us, i almost threw up after seeing it. well, his mom is doing fine. manda will be discharged tommorrow morning is everything goes well. pray for her okie, yes i am talking to you, don't pretend to look away now. as long as u don't pray to the underworld, its fine with me, thanks!

i wondered how we had lunch after seeing the pic but we managed to. took a cab to church n prepared for mass. everything was going well until soundcheck, there was no sound initially but managed to solve the problem. was testing the organ first and it went well but as soon as i increased the mic volume for the choir, BOOM went the speakers went. talk about testing the level of feedbacks at the fullest. my first tot was that Pat, my padawan, had touched something by mistake but she didnt. so i did a check again and everything was fine. tried again, BOOM there it is! some parishoners who were there early to pray, started to look back at the choir. told myself this can't be happening, cut down all the gains and tried again, BOOM! . off the phantom and tried again, the feedback was still there. at this point i didnt know what to do, almost broke down. switched off the mixer, pray hard and switched on the mixer again. alas, the culprit was discovered when i switched on the mixer. the monitor which we hardly used was on and the volume was at 90deg, enough to cause the feedback at the level. the monitor is just a few meters away from the mics.everything was fine after that and mass went smoothly. at this point, i would like to thank chris and gab for pointing it to me. couldnt have don't have done it all by myself. good thing it happened before mass, the last time i almost blew the speakers was during x'mas eve mass but compared tot that, this was worse. it was a blessing that the speakers were still okie. i felt much better after mass.

skipped practise and went to town to meet tony and deepak for dinner. saw a lot of weird young teenagers today, doing a very bad impression of angst, grunge or watever u wanna call it. why should you adopt a identity that is so not u. why shld u adopt the lifestyles of the west when u don't know shit what they go through every day. they are living it, whereas you are just imagining it. growing up in a tough neighbourhood during the seventies and early eighties, has taught me a few things. being out after nine pm would be considered suicide. now you can safely walk the streets in the wee hours of morning and not worry about anything. thanks to the goverment for clearing and cleaning up the streets of singapore. so why are u imitating the west who are still going thru it when u wont be able to survive the seventies here. if you got brains, wake up and look yourself in the mirror. is this who u wanna be in ten years time? the world will move ahead but it will leave u behind if u don't do something about it. wake up and smell the coffee, life is never a bed of roses. its either you make things happen or you don't. if you don't do anything about it and yet complain about it, you deserve to be shipped away to some third world country on an exchange programme. sigh, if only the goverment had this kinda programme.

like i was saying, i was out with tony and deepak, we met up at kopitiam. finally we manage to meet up with deeps after going m.i.a for almost two yrs. after numerous attempts to reach him failed as our dear friend here might be the only singaporean without a handphone, or so he says. so tony and i came up with a plan tat i was going to get married and we have been trying to contact him since feb. the mom passed the info to deeps and he finally contacted tony."makal, i heard roch makal getting married, ha?" so the plan was, the 'wedding' was sept 10 and in olsots, but we wanted to meet up for dinner and coffee. so we meet up at kopitiam. found out the deeps got married in dec 2004 n his wife, in fact, works beside my workplace. so he asked me abt the girl that i was going to marry, so i painted a pretty pic for him. half thru the conversations, the two married guys were talking about the right calendar mth to do it or to avoid it. so far i have only heard gals talking about it when they are planning for a kid or the opposite. anyways, at the end of everything, i told deeps the marriage thing was a hoax. it was setup by us to make him surface from whatever hole he was hiding from. so our plan worked and we got his new contact number to his new home. interesting facts i found out today. deeps told me if i was related to a bridget sebastian who lives in yishun and apparently comes to olsots. bridget is a friend of his wife. second interesting fact, tony told me that two girls from his course recognised him n enquired about me, a chinese and an indian gal. told tony to send my regards to them but it would be better if i had some names to it. :p

anyways, so we left and went on our separate ways, both of them went back to their wifes, and me back to work. its been a long day and i am feeling tired and sleepy.... gotta go to st. bern's tmr for a soundcheck for the ordination mass which will be on 28 aug 05. meeting at 12.30pm, which will give me less than 4hrs of sleep only. good thing i am off tmr, night shift for mon & tues and off on wed & thurs. well, thats my life not the routine nine to five life, but i wonder how, if i do find a gal who is having a regular 9 to 5 job, 5 days week. will it work out? any idea? please do leave me a tag. well, its back to work for me now, its been a long day and its just gonna get longer..... i am hungry.

did you know?

i tot to myself wat the heck is a cyst. so i checked the web, first result,

"... Want to know about Cyst upcoming shows and CD releases? Just fill out this form and we will keep you in the loop: Send This Page send this page to a friend! 08.08.05-05:46PM A Huge Thanks... ...to ... "

though to myself this definitely not the one, now, who wld name a band, Cyst!" then it hit me, on the correct pronunciation for it, 'sist' aaaahhhhhhhhhh. you see not everyone is born smart like me! well, i managed to find out what's a ganalion cyst, as they call it.

What is a ganlion cyst?

A ganglion cyst is a bump or mass that forms under the skin. Most commonly, ganglions are seen on the wrist (usually the back side) and fingers, but they can also develop around joints on the shoulder, elbow, knee, hip, ankle and foot. Ganglion cysts form when tissues surrounding certain joints become inflamed and swell up with lubricating fluid. They can increase in size when the tissue is irritated and often can "disappear" spontaneously. These masses or cysts appear to grow sometimes but they are not tumours or cancerous.

well, thats ends our session today on 'did you know?' tune in next time for more interesting facts. This session was brought to you by the letters "a" and "c" and number 8. Now I am going to check out the band named "Cyst".

Saving Face

came across this trailer, "saving face" on quick time movie trailer. it stars joan chen and michelle krusiec. michelle who? well, she recently acted in "cursed". its abt two girls in love with each other, and a mother in btwn them. watch the trailer, its funny. something caught my eye and the end of the trailer as i was going thru the cast and crew and lo' and behold, "will smith" is one of the producers. ok, at this time you might be thinking what mitsuye told me too when i told her that over msn, "hahaha, maybe the name is not too unique, there's more than 1, 'will smith' in the world..." so i ask her to check out the production notes, she replied, "ok, i saw it, wow!". go and check it out, he has his movies to his credit and another upcoming movie this yr. Interesting things you can find on the blog, eh! lol

World of Music, Arts & Dance

well, its back to work again after a well deserved break. was talking to manda the other day on my shortfalls and she basically told me the truth and i took her advice. i am not so sure of myself these days, i think i am mellowing down alot, does it come with age? well, only time will tell. i think my job has somehow changed me and slowly i am learning to control my temper and anger. well, lets hope everything turns out well, and if ageing has something to do with this, then it shall be. let's see where it takes me.

so whats next??? womad singapore 2005 @ fort canning! well, i gotta change my shifts first. not sure who can make it yet but i hope its gonna be fun. corrinne would be able to go, given the green light by her parents and not any having curfrew, mel was over the clouds when he heard this.....hahahaha, okie maybe not over. well, like i said, hope its gonna be fun. sometimes its not having that special someone but having your close friends around that matters. :)

oh yes, if u can, please check out craig david performanes during live 8, it was awesome. i believe his latest album gonna be good too.

WOMAD Singapore 2005

rAIn oR ShiNe EveNT

CATEGORY PRICE (in Singapore dollars)

Adult 1 Day $33

Adult 2 Day $55

Adult 3 Day $82

Concession (Students/Senior Citizens)

$24Family Pass (2 Adults + 2 Students) $80

Kids Under 7 FREE

BRING ALL!

Each group of 10 receives 10% off Adult single day tickets.

Above tickets prices not inclusive of $2 handling and administrative charges.

Drinks will be sold on a coupon system at the festival bars.

Please note that only Adult 1 Day and Concession tickets will be on sale at the gates.

Gates are opened at 6.00pm on Friday and 5.30pm on Saturday & Sunday.

Save the Children

Now fresh from Live 8, nearly a third of Niger's 11.3 million people risk starvation after drought and locuts invasion wiped out crops last year. when will it all stop. Pictured, the fingers of malnourished 1yr old, alassa galisou, pressed against the lips of his mother at an emergency clinic in the town of Tahoua in northwestern Niger on Aug 1. I was watching clips of Live 8 today and it brought to mind what Sandhu told me. Live 8 was overshadowed by the Olympics due to the fact that the voting was on our local shores. The only info we cld get out of Live 8 was from the net. What a world of diff it would have been if the G8 summit was held in Singapore and Live 8 was blasting from every household, sending a mesage right to everybody doorsteps. "Be thankful with what you have!!" every three sec, a child dies in africa. right here, every three secs, we complained about the weather. Africa is not another world, it is in our world that we live in. yes, we can't do much but maybe we can, but for a start, look things at a positive note and take it from there. I have seen families living under a bridge in a make shift home in bangkok. a child sleeping naked on the hot steel bridge while the mom seeks food for the day. do we stop and wonder, what happens to this ppl when the sun goes down, while u sleep on ur queen size bed and still complain its not big enuff?! dude, if only u cld trade places with that kid on the bridge for a day.

I was playing around with this idea a while ago, this christmas instead of buying something for each other, could we buy it for someone in africa or anywhere else? It seem like a far fetched idea but I think its workable. Save the children will be a good place to start. Let this christmas be something special, not just for and me, but for the kids in africa and around the world. it may be a small step but what if everyone, who read this decides to do it. what kind of impact will it give? we might not have the power of G8 or the voice of Bono, but we have a heart too just like them and i believe we cld do it. we cld make a kids dream come true this christmas.

flying high

after working for eight days non stop, i finally got off ytd. not sure why but i was so looking forward to this day but unfortunately, she couldn't make it and i was slightly dissappointed, but nonetheless, i had fun with the ones that mattered, my friends. it was manda n andi 4 yrs 7 mths anniversary, so we had some cake and wine. which made me think. they could have celebrate it with someone else or alone, but they chose to celebrate it with us. to me it was something, it felt that we mattered to them or they just couldnt find anyone else...lol. anyways, congrats to the both of you and here's looking forward to mark the 5th yr anniversary - lets have it at the same place again, i'll get the wine this time ard. :) i had fun today i must say, its been a long time i gotten this high; the last i thing it was at zouk with my ex-colleagues from citibank. well, here's looking forward to mel's birthday next month, but before that its womad singapore 2005, 26 aug 05.

Gibson Asked to Stage Christ's Crucifixion

Actor-director Mel Gibson has been asked to recreate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in the streets of Sydney if the city is selected to host a major Catholic gathering in 2008, a newspaper reported.
Gibson's staging of the Stations of the Cross, a live interpretation of Christ's final hours, would be part of a bid by the city to secure the Catholic Church's World Youth Day in 2008, the Sydney Morning Herald reported Saturday.

The crucifixion reenactment — similar to scenes from Gibson's hugely successful film "The Passion of the Christ" — would begin with the Last Supper staged at Sydney's landmark Opera House at sunset, and would end with the crucifixion of Christ at St. Mary's Cathedral, according to bid documents the newspaper said it obtained.
The Archbishop of Sydney, George Pell, said intermediaries had approached Gibson about staging the event. Gibson's involvement with World Youth Day was on the city's "wish list," Pell said.

"He might well be attracted. I think his devotion to Christ is very real," he said.

The venue for the 2008 gathering, expected to attract an estimated 400,000 young Catholics from 160 countries, will be announced by the Pope on Aug. 21.

averages

this thing has always been playing tricks on my mind and heart, giving me hopes and promises that this shld be the one, only to be laugh at the end. time and time again, it has always played tricks on me and being blinded by it, i always fall for it only to be hurt at the end this crazy little thing called love.. why does it work for some and not for the others? should the same strategic as sales be taken into concept : averages, if one says no, there's always others to fall back on. the more girls u date, the more chances of you closing one i do not know anymore.......

Overplay

check this site out, Overplay, the definitive music site for emerging artists.

Quiet Ambition!

waking up the spirits with my music

It's Friday, what have u got planned! Well, as for myself, I'll be working from 1500hrs (Fri) to 2300hrs (Sat), not sure why I am looking so forward to it. Its will be more like working in the office for 16hrs and working from home for the other 16hrs. Guess I wanna see if I am able to push the limit at this ripe old age of 36. We shall see!

Anyways, I have added some pics on my blog, feel free to browse. Its only two pics at the moment, but there's more to come. So if you have some pics that you wanna share, please do pass it to me, I'll put it up! Still working on my profile though, not sure what to put down...any ideas?? I wanna give a shoutout to Mainey, "Its always a pleasure to be mentioned in your blog. Hope we all could hang next week again, bring along Mr Starbucks if he is still in town and I'll bring along Ms Sweets!"

tears and rain

things have been looking pretty much down lately, not sure why. slowly the walls are crumbling and me within it, . how can something so right suddenly turn so wrong. somehow i got a feeling that you didn't want us to work out, all those words you said were just too good to be true. you were the only one that knew me, and believed in me. i guess its time to move on, there's no point looking back because u were never there. get away from everything and everyone. there are only seven people that matters in my life right now, the magnificant seven.....in time, it will all be revealed. came across this song by james blunt, which kinda explain how i feel right now.

How I wish I could surrender my soul;

Shed the clothes that become my skin;

See the liar that burns within my needing.

How I wish I'd chosen darkness from cold.

How I wish I had screamed out loud,

Instead I've found no meaning.

I guess it's time I run far, far away; find comfort in pain,

All pleasure's the same: it just keeps me from trouble.

Hides my true shape, like Dorian Gray.

I've heard what they say, but I'm not here for trouble.

It's more than just words: it's just tears and rain.

How I wish I could walk through the doors of my mind;

Hold memory close at hand,

Help me understand the years.

How I wish I could choose between Heaven and Hell.

How I wish I would save my soul.I'm so cold from fear.

I guess it's time I run far, far away; find comfort in pain,

All pleasure's the same: it just keeps me from trouble.

Hides my true shape, like Dorian Gray.

I've heard what they say, but I'm not here for trouble.

Far, far away; find comfort in pain.

All pleasure's the same: it just keeps me from trouble.

It's more than just words: it's just tears and rain

{tears and rain - james blunt}

yahoo canada news

early this morning i read about a plane carrying 309 people, skided off the runaway and burst into flames in toronto. my first thought was none would survive the crash but i was wrong, all 309 people on board survived. It is a miracle that 309 survive Toronto Jetliner Crash.

tis is a story of a gal....

i would like to give a shout out to manda and grass for being so sweet to mainey. hope things do work out for mainey! i wish my friend had pals like you. two friends of mine, same situation diff endings..its okie, one day prince charming will come n sweep her away and together they ride towards the sunset, and if u look real hard, u will see the credits rolling.... ;p

its 0520hrs and i am hungry...i have not slept since i came back from work at 0000hrs. a long of things have been happening recently...work has been okie, only the fact that we're short of one person again. i only dread doing the reports and going into the weekly meetings but other than that, its kinda cool. which reminds, i have to do the report later tonight. i feel that i have grown during my six months here coz i have to work independently. i used to dread going to work when i was doing a nine to five job; but this job, however, i do not feel it. be it a sat, sun or a public holiday, i will be there - six days a week. lately, there has been rumours abt retrenchment but up till now, it has been rumours only so i am not placing my bets on anything. on top of that, there is choir of which i wanna give my best shot and bring it to the next level. hopefully, with the help of his grace, i will be able too. and on top of that, there's also a broken heart that i am mending, i guess work has made me busy to think about it but when i do, man, does it real hurt coz no one told that it wld hurt so bad. never knew i wld fall for strike three but i did. i am thankful for fiz though, she gave me something to look forward too instead of looking back...weel, we're still getting to know each other, so thats kinda cool.
well, its 0600hrs and i'm still hungry and sleepy now. gonna hit the sack..working the graveyard shift today! yea, gonna blast my music and wake up the dead! :)

oh yes, before i go, came across an interesting article on yahoo, 'Pacific Coast Life Concerns Scientists' . "Is this just one freak year? Or is this global warming?"

august - a month girls love to hate!

well, its august...another month, another day and as i write this it suddenly hits me! Its August, EPL season kicks off again...its gonna be a great season!!! Man, i can't wait for this EPL season to start. forget man united, forget arsenal, the team to beat will be chelsea and liverpool will do just that.............again! hopefully, owen will come back to anfield, benitez needs to sell baros first to make way for owen. with owen in the equation, the strike force will be complete: crouch, owen, morientes and cisse. of course dont forget about garcia, alonso & gerrard in midfield. last season, most goals were scored from midfield! which makes u wonder, how many goals will be scored tis season, heck even hyypia can score! hahahaha..... well, it just gets better every season and tis season its gonna be great!

anyways, all is well with fiz and me again. i can't wait to go out wif her but sigh somethings always cocks up when i decide to meet her, its either her or me. well, hopefully, things will go as plan next week. i know u dont read my blog (i think nobody does), but i just wanna say, thanks for making me smile and for making my day today! :)

ign.com

came across this site for all gamers and movie buff, http://www.ign.com/. it has Games, Cheats, Movies and more. it previews the up coming star wars game too, "Empire At War", however i must say that the graphics are a letdown, th release date will Feb 7, 2006. However, if i am not mistaken, i have it heard it before that it will be release on the same day as episode III "revenge of the sith" on dvd, which will be released on Nov 1st 2005. Quite fast actually....but i guess, i'll wait for the offical release of all six episodes in 2007, with new added scenes, digitally enhance, 3-D, and wat u have not. guess the price will be about $200 - $250. *whistle* . well, there;s also the movie "doom" which is due released in oct 2005, with 'the rock'. check out the site fr more info.

a note of advise to my fellow bloggers.....tagboards sucks! choose another...