Earthquake Triggers Destruction Across East Asia.

This is so close to home. What's one to do or understand?

The province of Aceh lies at the northern tip of the island of Sumatra. I don't know much about its history but I know the Acehnese were among the strongest anti-colonial fighters. (Against the Dutch) Aceh was incorporated into the Republic of Indonesia upon independence in 1949, and resistance to Jakarta's rule started almost immediately. For the past few months Aceh has seen a tumultuous state of affairs. And now this.. god.. and now this..

Please god help my brethren in their darkest hours. Help Aceh and its children find their smiles.

I Swear To God, I Have a Reading Koala!

My Glow in the Dark wrist support taking a break from its Anti-Carpal Tunnel mission.

Merry Christmas!

Noah's Ark and Hollywood Morons

I watched Noah’s Ark on Channel I at about 9pm. It was rather entertaining, the part where the storm and rains come and as the animals and believers entered the ark; while the latter being ridiculed and chastised by others. 20 minutes after that scene I simply lost interest and switched channel. You can always count on Hollywood to turn on the phony schmaltz.

This is a groan a minute re-telling of the Bible, and I don’t even read the Book. Well okay, a little tiny bit. It’s just that back in uni I did a couple of chapters reading for a Literature module, and what I saw in the movie was hardly what I read back then.

At some points of the movie were crass comedy and Lot being portrayed like a Pirate. Utter rubbish! My oh my. So this is true after all, most Americans, especially the producers in the movie industries are a bunch of morons trying to make sense of the Bible by appealing to the masses.

Look at Disney’s Prince of Egypt. The whole aura of the Egyptian civilisation and approach to building the pyramids has been hijacked by a particular American angle to suit popular taste. Asians in general have no taste, we actually belong in totality to Pax Americana. The only taste we have are for for civet cats, ginseng tea, Tongkat Ali and tiger penises. Anyways, not many Producers or Directors tell it with respect and intelligence. Gibson's The Passion was such a rare and astounding example.

Please don't eat me. I'm a racoon! I taste bad for god's sake!

Get Fingered and Right Hand Development

This afternoon I practiced a couple of lines of Speak Softly Love. Nothing extreme, just to sight read and to familiarize myself with the fingerings. I’m not too fond of that word – fingering. Anyway that took about 20 minutes and then some exercises on Giuliani’s 120 Studies for Right Hand Development. I got this Giuliani book a few months back and I’ve yet to utilize it to the max. What is it?

It’s a set of studies, 120 to be exact, designed to aid in maximum development of the right hand technique. Composed by the master guitarist, Giuliani himself, it constitutes an irreplaceable part of the standard study material for classical guitar, and for decades has been used by professional and erratic students like myself, to varying effect and progress. Dear Readers, please exclude me from this label because I’m erratic only when playing in the classroom.

A Necessary Tyrant

Guys Have This Too - Yearn

The Yamaha CGX111SCA Acoustic / Electric Classical Guitar. Well, apart from getting frisked, that's what I really need this Christmas but won't probably buy just yet because I'm still content and sayang my CG111SC. I'd probably get that upon reaching Yamaha Grade 6, at least.

Gollum says ~ Buy Me! Buy Me!

Bourree and The Movie Phantom

Tonight's lesson was Boureee duo for guitar by J. Krieger. The instructor took pains to get us go by the correct beat. I think our performance overwhelmed him, as I've never seen him irked so much. I really could see Christmas glazed in his eyes, seeing us plucking and fretting like beginners. We're jokers are in Yamaha Grade 8, but after the first few plays, we stopped. The instructor himself didn't dare to call for an encore – we might call his bluff.

Anyway he reminded us on the beat again, drew something on the whiteboard and left the room for a few minutes, but not before telling us to practice the music. When he returned, we played slightly better.

The lesson progressed and he handed each a new score sheet – Speak Softly Love by Nino / Kusik. And as usual he ended the lesson by playing the new music, pointed out the key signature and some of the passages to take note. After that he announced with an almost contained mirth, “There is no lesson next week,” and added, “I see you in 2005.”

On my way back, I called my girlfriend and I literally walked and yakked all the way from Yamaha Sun Plaza to Sembawang MRT, in the train and to Woodlands MRT and to the letterboxes at my block void deck.

We were discussing what movie to watch this Sunday. She wanted to see Phantom of the Opera. I’m totally averse to that kind of shit. Chicago I don't mind, but Phantom?

I said I’d probably ended up not paying attention and be doing something else in the darkness of the theatre instead. She laughed. “Ok lah..” She said let’s watch something that both would enjoy. Hmm.. we have till Sunday to come up with a suitable movie.

Who do I like? Disfigured, Pyschotic man or Murderess Sluts going He had it comin' He had it comin'!

Erratic and Switch Off

Today's driving lesson was a flop. I just didn't feel good throughout and instructor No. 4 certainly felt my erratic timing, confidence, and gear shifts. I kept telling myself to concentrate but it was a tad difficult when you're making all those errors and are trying to rectify them on the next round.

A quick review in my training booklet reveals 5 different driving instructors already. I particularly like instructor No. 2 – I remember him to be the one that almost fell asleep while I drove. Yeah yeah I know this is dangerous but, at least he was comfortable enough to feel relax with me behind the steering. Unlike instructor No. 4 who squirmed and cracked his knuckles – he was so tight when he winked his kneecaps moved.

Also, a colleague messaged me if I remembered to send in our PFP (Pay for Performance) to our boss. Don't know why, I just couldn't make my thumb to sms back. I guess he can wait as I am so switching off for the rest of the week. Plus I have a great labour saving device – tomorrow.

For now, it's off to guitar practice.

Hello JRP from Spain!

Well what do you know? I have my first comment from JRP; all the way from Spain. I’ve been busy figuring out how to host a picture for my blog – that I didn’t realise it was there all the while. To JRP, this one’s for you.

Gracias. Puede usted tener un rato maravilloso el blogging.

I have a driving lesson tomorrow morning. It's on Reversing and Directional Change. That has a nice ring to it! Hasn't it? Sounds like Applied Linguistics on the Road. Anyway, I hope that will turn out fine as I've just resumed lessons after a long break of Ramadan and Hari Raya.

For the rest of the afternoon, if I don't deviate too much – I hope to be at home. I still have to practice the guitar for an evening class. On the last lesson my guitar instructor, without even listening to individual play, remarked some of us were not practising enough. I pretended not to hear his words and kept looking at the score.

Rested.

Today I finally got to seat down and rest myself to begin this. Hello cursor. Hello Summersnail. Hello Blogger. Hello Barrios' La Catedral, which is playing in my CD player. And Hello to the afternoon light that warms into my room.