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Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Evening Sun


0 exposure
-1 exposure

-2 exposure

I like the original and -1. Lovely. Comments anyone?

posted by aLv @ 10:47 PM 0 comments

Monday, May 29, 2006

Hanjie Shipping Company

Click to enlarge
I didn't know Hanjie owns a shipping company...
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

posted by aLv @ 4:57 PM 0 comments

Cursed Morning

Woke up with a choked up throat, almost denying me the ability to speak. At work, I called up CMPB to check my enlistment date. It’s out. It’s faaarrrrr. Very very faaaaarrrrrr. I wasn’t told the exact date. All I was informed was it will be the end of Sept, beginning of Oct. -.- Do you have any idea how far from now that is? It’s another 3 months!!! Yes on the bright side I am C1L3, but another 3 months is kinda long, and I will have to disrupt before I ORD to start school.
To make matters worst. I dropped my phone and it’s GONE. So now I am kinda phoneless. CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! Guess I will have to make do with the old phones at home, if any.

posted by aLv @ 4:09 PM 0 comments

Friday, May 26, 2006

Feeeeveeeer

If I have to be plagued with fever in order to tame my rebellious nature, then so be it.

I won’t consider 37.4° as high, but it is enough to put me down, to make me miserable, to force me to stop rebelling.

Oh well.

posted by aLv @ 8:35 AM 0 comments

Monday, May 22, 2006

Who am I?

I am heartless, uncompassionate, arrogant, demanding, cold and the list goes on.

Am I expecting too much from people? Yes.

To all who feels that I have been demanding, a zillion apologies.

I am unworthy, yet I am called into light. Called to bear His name. He knows I will fail; yet He still calls. Moulding me, slowly into a masterpiece, a masterpiece pleasing to His sight. But I rebel, deliberately, going against His will. Yet He still gives me time. I am waste, but He chose to use this junk for His work. It’s heavy to carry. Yet He says He will carry it with me. But somehow I can’t seem to trust Him enough, thus I am always crushed under the weight of it. I’m a fool. How can I ever carry it with my own strength, fool. During pastorial pray yesterday, only was I reminded that 'His yolk is easy and His burden is light'. I wept. When I am good, He blesses me. But I end up loving the blessing more than the blesser. Thus He is taking back His blessing. Fair enough.

The road seems so long, so much more to walk. I have stumbled, tripped and fell. Many times I find myself sitting down refusing to continue. But somehow I will find myself walking again. As I walk, there are always jeers, temptations to lure me away from the road. Walk, walk, and walk. That’s all I can do. How I wish I can run or even fly to the end. Haiz. But at the end of the road, all I want is to hear ‘well done, my good and faithful servant.’ Will I?

posted by aLv @ 11:59 AM 0 comments

21st April

Woke up to a lazy Saturday morning. Was dragged out of the house by my brother for breakfast. I must have not walked the Hume Ave road for quite awhile, as I was completely oblivious to the 4 new bus stops that sprouted out of nowhere. Now I am excited to see what bus services will be provided. Hopefully, its one that is able to go to town. *Grinz*

After breakfast, we made our way to the Ford Factory. It’s more like an impulse decision, since none of us had gone there yet. It’s situated along Upper Bukit Timah Road. Ford Factory was where the Brits surrendered to the Japs. *Useless Buggers* Anyway, the authorities had decided to revamp it, making it a little museum. In it contains various artifacts from the war. It’s pretty interesting. FOC till Feb 2007. All of a sudden, I am a Hillview tourist. Hilarious.

When was the last time you went to the Singapore Museum? I have no idea where it is. Don’t even recall going there before! Dear Dear.

posted by aLv @ 11:55 AM 0 comments

20th April

Friday evening, as I was waiting for 176 at the B.B central bus stop, 2 IJ girls, 14 the most, were happily smooching each other behind the bus stop, in full view.

As I was walking pass the pool, 3 girls were standing ahead of me laughing and talking. All of a sudden, 2 of them pushed the 3rd girl into the pool. She was fully clothed and was now completely soaked.

Girls. Go figure.

posted by aLv @ 11:54 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

I am dumb

I feel so stupid.

I am so stupid.

How stupider can I get?

Such an idiot, such a moron. Go kill yourself.

posted by aLv @ 3:50 PM 0 comments

Monday, May 15, 2006

Santo Tomas Singer

It was out of the world, phenomena, mind blowing and a definite eye opening experience! The performance started with a few conventional style of presentation, followed by some ‘unusual’ ones before turning into almost a musical. The opening pieces were dynamic; show casing the magnificent voices of the presenters. The ‘unusual’ pieces includes them making funny, yet beautifully harmonized noises and using various small pieces of instruments to create a phenomena class of act. Towards the midst of the performance was when it slowly became a musical. The pieces were various Broadway pieces, and the choreography was amazing for a choir. That earned them countless rounds of applause and standing ovations.

As it was a one-night event, the turn out was humungous. The age group of the audience was mostly between 13 – 18, all the secondary and college choir students. It’s a pity that after they leave their schools is where their choral singing will end. Yes there are alumnis, but when other commitments come into play, that will be the end.

How I wish I can have a couple of years to do such stuff. Training with a choir full time, going for competitions/performances, even at a local level, it will be so awesome. If given a choice of playing tennis or training with a choir full time for a couple of years, I will choose the choir. After all, choir was my first love and the satisfaction is much more deeper then playing tennis. Mindless ranting, ignore me.

Vinnie verdict (based on how much I enjoyed the performance): 9/10
Ironically, I enjoyed this much more then Aspects, not the mention the price was like 6 times cheaper. I felt that the choir sung better then the Aspects cast. One reason that I felt why the tickets were so low was because, since they have not performed in Singapore before, thus in order to prevent a low turn out, they had to set it low. But since now they know that they are well received, I feel that the next time they come to town (should they decided to), it will be more expensive. Hopefully not. But either way, we will still go catch them, right Chris? ;)

After the performance, should have stayed behind longer to interact with the singers. There is so much to learn from them. Since it’s a Sunday night, thus had to return earlier. Tragic, but not without a ‘souvenir’.

I kinda like the conductor. Initially, I thought he looks kind of Jap. He carried himself in a very sophisticated, elegant manner, with a deep sense of pride yet a smile of humility each time he thanks the crowd after the pieces. How I wish I can work with him… vinnie’s dreaming…. Ignore me.

With that, I have come to end of my 3 weeks ‘Theatre, Musical and Concert’ extravaganza. Death and The Maiden, Aspects Of Love and Santo Tomas Singers.

posted by aLv @ 9:47 AM 0 comments

Thursday, May 11, 2006

MI 3 / 10th May

It’s much better than the 2nd one. From the start till the end, you will be strapped to your seat as the non-stop action unfolds itself. For those who simply loves action-packed movies, this is a definite must watch. Tom Cruise, though aged, still look pretty good on screen. The orange Ferrari that they blew up is also another beauty to look out for.

Vinnie Verdict: 4/5

Before the show, was going through the CD Deport at Marina Square. They happen to have the RENT soundtrack as well, for $24.90. Couple of dollars lesser than THAT CD SHOP. As usual, I was tempted to buy. But, I manage to resist the temptation. ;)

Before MI 3 started, they showed the trailer for Da Vinci Code. It was presented as a much-anticipated thriller. However, sad part is, they presented the ‘truth’ as if it is a Gospel Truth. From the way it is presented, I have the hunch that the ‘truth’ is going to be readily accepted by the viewers and it will be very hard to ‘reverse the damage done’.

Initially I know that I am definitely not going to watch such a blasphemies show. But after watching the thriller, I feel that it is better to have knowledge of the movie, and be able to point out the ‘loads of crap’ that it shows and explain to whoever’s asking why the ‘truth’ is nothing but pure nonsense. The thought of watching it has already brought much disturbance to my spirit, wonder how I will survive through the show.

posted by aLv @ 9:40 AM 0 comments

Monday, May 08, 2006

Aspects of Love

Just by the cast and performance itself, I will give it 7/10. If they have used more instruments instead of 2 pianos, it would have been much better. On top of that, the tickets were also kinda costly for a 7/10 performance.

Nevertheless, it was enjoyable. I was completely absorbed into the musical from start to end. The cast acted well in bringing out the emotions and expressions of the various characters. The only few disappointments include, ‘She is better off with you’, ‘First man you remember’ and ‘ At the circus’.

‘She is better off with you’ and ‘First man you remember’
They sorta changed the way the duet is sung. I prefer the London Cast version. I thought George was pretty good until he sang ‘first man you remember’. In my opinion, it was horribly done. However the part between Jenny and Alex was much better. Ironic.

‘At the circus’
For this act, they dressed up the actors as clowns etc. But the set wasn’t really changed. Thus it didn’t really felt like it was at the circus, but more like a few ‘fools’ jumping around in colorful costumes on stage.

‘Outside the circus (Falling)’
For this piece, I felt that it was good. The music itself combined with the blending of the voices was already well written. They placed the actors each under a spotlight in a darken stage, which effectively brought out the feelings of the song.

All in all, the musical was quite an experience. No doubt it must have been hard work for the cast. Should have gotten a rose, so that I can throw it onto the stage for little Jenny.

After the musical, I was so tempted to buy the Aspects T-shirt. It is black in color, with the print Andrew Lloyd Webber Aspects of Love 2006 at the front, and the picture of the vines at the back. All prints in white. Tempting! If Christine stayed in the bathroom for another 5 min longer, I will have bought it.

Aftermath

Whenever I listen to the London Cast version, I can see the play unfolding before my eyes, feels like I am watching the play all over again. Marvelous.

Should the London Cast decide to come to town, no doubt, you will find me there.

posted by aLv @ 10:56 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Jamming at Marco’s 1

Took ‘half day leave’ for this session. Why Marco’s? Reason being, he has a mini studio at his place, a synthesizer, an electric piano, microphones and some fancy sound recording gadgets and programs. The idea was to each record our individual part and put it all together, instead of recording everything ‘live’.

Han was there since 11 in the morning playing with the electric piano! (Which I guess is the norm for a piano geek =P) We did ‘I Had A Dream’, ‘All I Ask Of You’ and “First Man You Remember’. Took us 6 hours from 2 – 8 just for these 3 songs. The first 2 were ok, but definitely not the last. Well, for some reason or another, shortly after finishing my recording for ‘All I Ask Of You’, the flu bug decided to launch an invasion against my vulnerable defenses and crumpled it. So sorry Christina, George sounded like a dying old man instead of an energetic one. * Guilty Grinz *

On the bright side, we will be doing it at Marco’s again. Question is when. I don’t think my boss is gonna be please if I take ‘half days’ often. Probably a weekend, if that is ok with Marco’s family.

posted by aLv @ 9:04 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Tennis and Me

Hmmmm, what can I say? Picked up the sport 4 years ago when I was 16 simply because I like the sound of the ball coming off the racket face. Before I know it, I had already joined the club for tennis nuts. Started learning to play the game by ‘trail and error’. That is borrowing books from the library and trying out the ‘theory’ taught. Spent hours on the court against the back wall working on my groundstrokes. It wasn’t until I got into the 2nd year in Ngee Ann that I joined the Tennis Club and had my first tennis lesson. Though it was a group thing, I still managed to learn and weekly playing with the club players did play a part in honing my strokes.

At that point in time, I was attending an AOG church. My cell group leader just can’t see eye to eye with my tennis and me. According to him, I was putting tennis as a priority higher then God. *Guilty Grinz* All I cared then, was to improve my backhand and work on my serve.

Anyway, that was the time when I was really CRAZY about tennis. Began to follow the ATP league and the Grand Slams, purchased apparels, shoes, bags, rackets, balls, wraps, magazines etc. I practically, eat, sleep, and drink tennis. That was all that matters then. What’s with tennis? It is just the joy of outplaying your opponent, moving him from coast to coast, attacking his second serve, making him run for a drop shot before throwing a lob over his head and see him desperately trying to hit an overhead, hitting an approach shot before finishing off the point at the net and the adrenaline rush when you ace him. To top it off, there is always the ‘come on’ cries and fist pumping action to celebrate the winners. *Grinz*

Well, during my attachment period, I went for one to one lesson with my coach, and it was during this period of time where I brought my game up to another level. Unfortunately, not high enough to beat my opponent, a 15-year-old German kid, in the STA Immediate Open Tournament. But enough to be a reserve player in the varsity team in my last semester. Oh well, can’t expect me to be better than players who have been training since they are 5 right.

4 years down the road, tennis has changed from being my life to part of my life. I still enjoy playing tennis, but I guess the craze has died down. If I love tennis, then I can’t love God. During my tennis craze period, my walk with God was really terrible. Right now, I am not going to make that mistake again.

Tennis is a sport that I feel everyone should give it a try. Initially, it can be rather boring, but once you have mastered the basics of the various shots, is when the fun really begins!

posted by aLv @ 9:46 AM 0 comments