life as seen thru rose speckled glasses

my clients like to text me with such, "ah mo, wat is the latest update?" nabeh this kind of question is like a double-edged sword.. it realli means, "ah mo, did you get an offer at the same rate or at a rate more than my ridiculously high asking price!!!" i always get very nervous when i see such a text from my clients, so i need to be extra careful when i reply.... anywayz, i digress............

i also have my personal updates... on my ownself lah

1. thyroid condition is stabilised with medicine liao... today doctor told me the happi news that the medicine dosage is ngum ngum so i will onli see her in half a years time.... happi pom pipi coz i hate blood tests each time i go see doctor.... so the next time vampire suck my blood again will be sometime in November, yippeee!!!!

2. i lost a big fish.... sigh..... i was trying to close a big deal but in the end the tenant said our asking rental is too high, bo pian liao lor, that is wat the developer wants for the f&b space... no go

3, happi news!!! my corporate client chairman is a veri nasty man and i heard the good news he might be leaving to go back to his country, yippeee!!! i am happi for myself and the people working inside who had been traumatised and terrorized by his evil temper

4. though i lost a big fish, the same fish is considering to buy a small unit in the same development as an investment... hope they have no problem with the bank financing then i hosay liao.... small $$ better than no $$ at all rite?

5. no more guitar lessons for me and no more drums lessons for ah boy..... we are now exercising cost saving measures.... actualli online got alot of free sites giving free lessons and i am currently learning how to play "tears in heaven" (see on the left side of my blog under free stuff), since i was already trained in playing classical style when i was young, it is realli not too difficult lah, onli difficulty is in memorising it (i.e. playing without looking at the tabs) and trying to play and sound like the pro (more practice needed lor)... the advantage of online lessons is that, i can go backwards and repeat many times until i get it, cool!!!! thinking of purchasing for ah boy some drums instructional dvd (kill 2 birds with 1 stone hehehe i can also learn mah!)

6. i have been sleeping very late (sometimes 3 am or later!!!) and it has become a bad habit.... i wan to kick this bad habit!!!! coz i know it affects my skin and the shorter hours of sleep is making me very groggy in the day and my brain juice cannot flow properly when i need to think on my job

7. my ah boy can be very rude and i am so angry with him..... i have told him he makes my life feel so shitty.... i am sure if his father was still alive, the father will sure discipline him jialat jialat unlike me... ah boy onli knows how to bully the mother becoz no matter how angry, the mother is still too soft

8. tomorrow is a public holiday!!! yippeee!!! but i still have to work lah... but at least i feel a little more relax coz it is a holiday

9. ah boy is organising a bbq at our condo for some of his close frens next tuesday... i have to go out and buy the bbq stuff

10. i am putting on alot of weight, yucks!

i think that is about all that is to my boring life, for the time being at least!

household budget

last nite i did a household budget and presto it was a moment of truth for me....... that there are many fixed cost which i cannot avoid e.g. rental, car loans, road tax, car insurance...

the others which i can try to save will be utitlities bills (don't use too much aircon?), hp bills (talk less?), pocket money (cut down, cook and eat at home more often?), cease music lessons (luxury?), etc....

good thing i actually sat down and do a simple calculation coz now i realli have to seriously consider whether i can put ben thru university

he said: i can get a scholarship!

i said: you think so easy meh! (i am secretly v happi he said it)

he said: can we break the lease here?

i said: leh cheh lah wait they forfeit our deposit.....i already sank it money to paint and do up this place.... just stay put! this is a good place for you to study and do well for your O level... we can stay here until u finish jc1

he said: hmmm.... can we stay here until i finish my A level? if you could still make it....

i said: when the time comes, we shall see what is the situation then and of coz we shall go for the best option

ben said he noes what to do and how to cut down on household expenditure... he is trying
i am glad i showed him the spreadsheet and roped him into brainstorming ideas
he wun spend unnecessary money from now on
i can try to squeeze some money out for a small endowment plan to help defray some future university costs.... i am realli trying

beautiful

last nite i shifted my desktop computer and table to next to the window in the living room.... wow i am so glad i did that coz now i am sitting here and before me is the beautiful scenery of rolling hills and matured trees...

think i can work better

tele-evangelists who con people's money

This is hilarious!!!

See Phil Collins and his two bandmates impersonate the greedy television evangelists in the USA. These programs are very common in America and I am glad somebody wrote such a song to speak out against false teachings. These so-called Christian evangelists are con-artists but their "prosperity gospels" are very popular and many people donate large sums of money to them. Well, the love of money is the root of all evils. In this video, you will see how the con-artists enrich themselves with the money. This is not just a fun video. The story portrayed here is all true.

I Hope this video helps in warning people against believing in "prosperity gospels" that if you give money, God will bless you financially and miraculously.

I am a Christian. I know it is wrong to dupe people, in the name of the Lord Jesus.






Jesus He knows me (Lyrics)
==========================

You see the face on the TV screen
coming at you every Sunday
see that face on the billboard
that man is me

On the cover of the magazine
there's no question why I'm smiling
you buy a piece of paradise
you get a piece of me

I'll get you everything you wanted
I'll get you everything you need
don't need to believe in hereafter
just believe in me

Cos Jesus he knows me
and he knows I'm right
I've been talking to Jesus all my life
oh yes he knows me
and he knows I'm right
and he's been telling me
everything is alright

I believe in the family
with my ever loving wife beside me
but she don't know about my girlfriend
or the man I met last night

Do you believe in God
cos that's what I'm selling
and if you wanna get to heaven
I'll see you right

You won't even have to leave your house
or get out of your chair
you don't even have to touch that dial
cos I'm everywhere

And Jesus he knows me
and he knows I'm right
I've been talking to Jesus all my life
oh yes he knows me
and he knows I'm right
well he's been telling me
everything's gonna be alright

Won't find me practising what I'm preaching
won't find me making no sacrifice
but I can get you a pocketful of miracles
if you promise to be good, try to be nice
God will take good care of you
just do as I say, don't do as I do

I'm counting my blessings,
I've found true happiness
cos I'm getting richer, day by day
you can find me in the phone book,
just call my toll free number
you can do it anyway you want
just do it right away

There'll be no doubt in your mind
you'll believe everything I'm saying
if you wanna get closer to him
get on your knees and start paying

Cos Jesus he knows me
and he knows I'm right
I've been talking to Jesus all my life
oh yes he knows me
and he knows I'm right
well he's been telling me
everything's gonna be alright, alright

Jesus he knows me
Jesus he knows me, you know...

Ben

A week ago, Ben sat down and tried making small talks with me. I wasn't ready to have these small chats (and I have been very edgy lately) because in the past, it all leads to him wanting me to buy new stuff for him... expensive stuff to be exact, well into the thousands of dollars. I have been so sick of all his demands and his "dreams" to own this and that, so naturally I was pushing him away. On top of all these pressures he has been giving me (he never gives up), I was feeling very bruised because every month, we are spending way beyond what we should and I am nervous - what if I have no money to pay the next few month's rent (we live in an upmarket district so that he can get on a direct bus to school.... see, I make all these sacrifices for him). So, his small chats with me only make me throw sarcastic remarks at him.

Now, Ben is a smart boy and he knows I have been real pissed with him and with everything else. I think he wanted to hear me say for certain why I am angry with him. So I did and I asked him what is actually wrong with him and his attitude. I asked him why he cannot put himself in my shoes and understand what I have to go through, blah blah, and that I am growing old and my energy is diminishing and would he want me to end up destitute and in my twilight years continue to slog for a living working in MacDonald's??? To be honest, I am so scared. I just wanted him to cooperate with me. We don't need to keep up with the Joneses.

There and then, he promised he would change and be a good boy and that he would also go to church every Sunday. I told him I am real skeptical because I have given him so many chances but his attitude had been very corky and negative.

This morning (Sunday), he woke up early (before me) and went to church!

I hope it portends more happy and positive things in the near future.

I don't mind working very work and making the necessary sacrifices all for the right reasons.

I am happy he understands.

Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing three legendary musicians....

BB KING, ERIC CLAPTON AND PHIL COLLINS

Song Title: The Thrill Is Gone

enjoy!!!!

my music, my distraction, my love

from left to right:

epiphone alleykat, fender stratocastor and yamaha acoustic FG730S

(one more, a yamaha classical guitar not shown here)

vicious circle of life

almost everyday got the shitty feeling
work until so dulan
come home and still feel dulan
think about my mother also dulan
ah boy's attitude makes me damn dulan
and then think about tomorrow all the work i have to finish
f**king dulan
everyday every minute dulan

vicious circle of life

blogging the blues away

on sunday nite, i get the monday morning blues.... hahaha... but what is so funny??? sigh

the working class, the underdogs...

we work harder

make it, make it

we will

one day

ah mo will play the drums

yes... one day...

soon

no mood

i have been feeling depressed for a while already

i wan to psyche myself up

how?

tuner and capo found!!!!

hurrah!!! found my tuner and capo

very tricky....... not so easy to locate them

look at the picture below and you can understand why:-

both my tuner and capo are kept inside a black case


















after thinking very hard, i was pretty sure it must still be somewhere in the living room

so i guess the only place would be the sofa area

my sofa set is made up of two pieces

the black case fell right into the gap

as it fell vertically upright on the floor between the two pieces, when i look under, it was hard to see it because it was black (which i had previously look under several times)

this time round, i was very very sure it must be there so i spread open the sofa set

presto! saw something black!


















now to avoid the same problem again as black is not a very obvious colour, i have changed to another case:-



















tuner, capo, pencil, eraser and some picks

wtf

very pissed

today purposely spent two hours searching high and low but still cannot find my guitar tuner and my beautiful red kyser capo

haven seen it for about 1-2 weeks

text kev my guitar teacher to ask him to check whether i left it at his place

he text back saying unlikely but he will still check

yesterday i was also pissed.... very very pissed

at mom's place there is a very old guitar which is in bad shape and not playable

but because mom is moving out and going to stay with my big brother H

she asked me to go fix it up

it belonged to my late dad and it is by now an abandoned "child"

as in, not properly stored (it's been kicked around, not even in a case), nobody polish it, and nobody gave it any shit at all nor want to play it

okie, so i noe where to find some luthiers to get it fixed

i called mom (after checking out one luthier) and told her i will get it up to a playable condition

she was so happy and asked me to pick it up from her

and since it is going to be restored to a playable condition, i might as well take possession and give it tender loving care and of coz , use it and play it!!!!

guess what my mom said to me:

she wants me to restore it and then she will give it to my youngest brother J

i dun believe this!!!!!!

look here, i am the guitar player not him!!!!!

he plays the sax!!!!

well this guitar is a vintage electric semi hollow with two f-holes and of coz after restoration it will become somewhat a collectible, actualli by virtue of its age, built and era, it is already a relic (not gibson lah, otherwise my bl***y brother would have brought it to HK long time ago.. that's where he is living permanently now)

wat LJ thing to say to me that after i restore it, she will give it to my brother J!!!!

well, she said that if he does not want it, then i can have it

ok fine, i said, f***, i am not going to spend time restoring it... it is not going to be that easy either because i have to go back and forth, also find a case to transport and store it, test and check, etc... if he wants it, he can go and restore it himself

and there was an argument between me and my mom over the phone

well, i called my sister and she said, yes it belong to my brother J (my dad will his possession to my brother J) but i said, the guitar is already an abandoned child and since he could not be bothered to do anything to it or bring it to HK... i am ok if mom wants to keep it after i restore it but i dun agree it should go to HK with my brother J after i put in time and effort to bring it up to a playable condition, afterall I AM the guitar player but my sister said, just dun do anything, leave it

F*** F*** F***

phil collins - in the air tonight

i luv phil collins... i realli luv this guy

legendary in every way

world class drummer

unique voice

songwriter who can express emotions so well

he performed In The Air Tonight many times but this video may be one of the best live performances he ever gave

the song begins with a hypnotic beat and climaxes with phil on the drums and singing his heart out

i am so going to learn how to play the drums





updated on 4 May 2010

i found one more vid

this one is equally awesome and haunting

just look at the crowd

from the time phil hits the drums at the exact moment until the end of the song, i just stop breathing... it is that entralling

phil collins is a multi-talented genius






read the interesting story behind this song and how the sound was created:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_air_tonight

retribution - fact or fiction?

work can get so shitty and dreadful *shake head*

some ppl so @!^%$*&@(#!!!!! (i leave that to your imagination)

nvm, one day he get retribution lah, honest i noe this does happen

deja vu, one time, i was so upset with somebody becoz she was so f****** ngiao, she wants like this like this, like that like that, so one fine day i exploded and screeeaaaamm at her! guess wat, a week later retribution happened to me, i was screamed at by a difficult, unreasonable client, for 8 f****** hours!!!! not onli that, i think i lost an account prolly forever (actualli i also dun care or mind coz it was too time-consuming and full of nonsense)

since then, i have learned that what goes around comes around and do to ppl wat u wan ppl to do to you (the latter is from the bible)... it has made me more human and more considerate for others that no matter how shitty some ppl treat me, i must remain constant

i am grateful for life's real lesson