Friday 30 December 2011
After I saw another guitar review of a guitar product, I initially wanted to buy it. However after some thought, I decided not to.
Sometimes I don't really get why I'm spending so much time and devotion on the guitar. Of course as a hobby it's ok, but if I were to spend that much and want to practise that much (especially since I got the amPlug, I can practise all night), then wouldn't it be a waste if my future doesn't depend on it for a living? And yes, you know what I mean.
However the hard truth is that I'm in Singapore. A place with hardly (or no) music industry. There's almost no support for local music (I myself do not know many) and there certainly isn't much opportunity to gain recognition. Just because the singaporean mindset and stand is that if there are songs from other countries and they are good, what is the point of listening to those from Singapore? And I'm not blaming them for this mindset, because I heard some songs from local Singaporean artists and I personally didn't like them (it could be because I am a metalhead). There is a thriving underground heavy metal scene here in Singapore but of course, it isn't well known, and not many people like such heavy metal subgenres.
Ok, so maybe there is, but these people had to go to Taiwan/China/Malaysia or wherever it is and become successful there, then singaporeans will find out about them. And that means chinese or malay pop songs which unfortunately I'm not that interested in. Metal forever
So, is spending too much on your hobby a bad thing? My band wants to pursue the rock star dream, but of course, it's going to be a very hard one. And besides there's no guarantee that we'll stay together; nobody can predict the future (damn, if 2012 happens that would definitely put a stop to the dream). And here in Singapore, its going to be hard unless we move to another country. And then you have to fight and outshine the others to be recognised. *Sigh*
Even if not pursuing the rock star dream, fighting to outshine others can be found in life. Apparently its something you can't escape from, and it seems like living in a large community makes everything worse and everyone more competitive. And living in a small space (yeah ;D) makes it even worse. In school we do have to compete with so many people to be the top student, but I can't really be bothered, especially when there's all the scholars from china and vietnam. And then probably at work (I can't say much, I'm only a student) you have to outshine others to get a better post or whatever....
Life's not a journey, it's a competition which ends when you are defeated by death.
:/
And now school's going to start really soon (just 3-4 more days I think). Its time for more shit. But then again, if I don't work hard I don't have to live anymore (unless I live in the rural areas overseas) because education = work, unfortunately. Its a paperchase society in Singapore; the more qualifications the better your job. With so many people being educated that means a lot of competition (no I'm not saying that mass education is bad). And not to mention the fact that once we start working, the time we stop is when we die.
And then the natural alternative is to choose a path not many will choose (such as that mentioned above, and of course, I mean in Singapore) but it is indeed going to take a lot of time and effort and there would be a lot of setbacks to be faced.
Ah well. Guess I'll just leave it up to fate. But hey, we choose our own future...
:/
*edit* and I find it interesting that my post comes out in different colours. I set it to white, but the last time it was yellow.... and now pink.
Right people today I went to the guitar shop to get the amPlug. I asked for the AC30 but they said it was out of stock, so I bought the classic rock one instead. I played my guitar until 9+pm (didn't feel like playing afterwards) and the sound quality's great! Now I can finally practice everyday (if I had the discipline to, that is :D)
So yeah, here, the amPlug is attached to my guitar, and its battery-powered, so I can move about.
And I remember something about Universal studios, so here are the pictures.
On the 18th of Dec, my dad brought my entire family to Universal Studios Singapore to play. Most unfortunately we forgot to bring our camera. My phone camera's only 2 megapixels so as you can see from the pictures below, the quality sucks and hence I didn't take much. It was also raining then, but of course it did nothing to destroy our mood.
Ok, this's the entrance, made to look like a street in US. Hollywood, maybe?
Far away in a bygone age, where the stories all were true!
Legends told by the men of old, have brought us here today!
*music*
Anyway this's the castle Far Far Away, and yes, its the castle in the movie Shrek.
This is Sci Fi city, where all the Transformers stuff are found. Yeah, the Battlestar whatever-it-is-called rollercoaster can be found near this sci fi city.
Yup, no more pics from USS. This is found outside USS (but still in Resort World Sentosa). Its two huge robotic cranes "dancing" in the sky. What exactly RWS was trying to tell us through this show, I still don't know. There must be a hidden meaning to this! *hides in paranoia*
Yeah, still dancing.
The cranes have screens attached to them (actually only one each).
And this is the Lake of Dreams. There was another show here but it didn't make much sense and was mostly music so yeah, we left before it ended.
So there you have it, RWS. We did go to Marina Bay Sands earlier this year, and if I have photos, I will upload them soon!
:)
Ah, I finished all my homework today (that's not a lot, it's only one :))
Anyway, I've updated the blogskin. I'm going to design a better picture to replace that picture of Malaysia from the hotel I stayed in two years ago. The picture seemed lonely, so I wrote some words on it. Don't ask me what they mean though, I have absolutely no idea. Was trying to make the blog as emo as possible.
So yeah, a better, less cramped blogskin, not original and with a stupid picture. I just edited chunks of my previous codes here and there and this was what I got. The picture was edited with GIMP, and the background is the same as the one you can find on my class blog (6G2008, I designed it as well).However I edited this one a little; the original picture was tiny and I copy-paste it all over a canvas in GIMP. But the edges were sharp so for this blog I smoothened the edges by using the healing tool which copied pieces of picture from other parts of the image and pasted it at the edges to blend it in. Yeah :)
And tomorrow, I'm gonna get my amPlug! Thereafter I'm not sure if I'm going to post as frequently as before... Probably going to play my guitar the whole night!
:)
Ok, I've made up my mind.
I don't exactly have to use one amp only; I just realised I can chain up the amPlug to my present amp! Such a simple thought, but took me days to figure out and come to a decision. Now I shall wait for the time to buy it at the guitar shop quite far away...
Oh yeah, I remember saying something about Universal Studios. I'm just too lazy to attach my phone to my computer now (it's a desktop and I have to stand up, kneel behind and put in the memory card reader, since the front USB port was damaged). I'm going to upload it soon though. Not today; it's late, and I'm tired (couldn't sleep last night as my mind was too active).
I'm trying to find ways to spice up my blog, it seems like a dead place. I'm guessing this's because of a lack of pictures, but with the hassle of uploading pictures to the computer (I shall buy an extension USB cable) and the hassle of uploading it to the internet (remember I blew my Piscasa size limit, so I need imageshack), and coupled with the lack of stuff to take photos of, and along with such few people commenting on the tagboard, my blog's like some dead place (or rather close to be).
Perhaps a new blogskin? I'll see if I have the time and if my HTML skills are still there. Otherwise, its time to rip someone off and use chunks of codes which I did last time to make a new blogskin. This time, I won't use boxes; I'm going to have the post flow all the way. The boxes seem to make my blog look cramped... But I'll see if I have the time.
:)
BOXING DAY! TIME TO WATCH WWE!!!
(ok, I know I'm lame)
Argh damn, I'm stuck in a dilemma.
Everytime I want to buy something, I would always weigh the advantages and disadvantages. And then after much thinking, I would usually decide not to buy the product. It is irritating, considering I spent so much time researching and making sure that it is worth buying that product. And right now I'm stuck with the same problem.
It's about my guitar. I want to be able to play late at night (not that I have a choice, since school's starting) and I live in an apartment building, so I can't blast out my playing (and I play hard rock to metal) otherwise my neighbours would come knocking on my door. I've tried headphones on my practice amp (a Peavey Backstage II) but it doesn't sound really that good through headphones (I've tried a few headphones, same results), and then mobility's another problem since I'm stuck to one position, and the cord length of my headphones is 1.2m (I'm not tall too, but I have to sit close to my amp and there's no point sitting and practising). So I can't move about much.
And there's a solution - buy a headphone amplifier. I was quite interested in the Vox AmPlug series, especially the AC30. It plugs directly to the guitar and so mobility isn't much of a problem. However, it costs $50+ SGD and I don't know if its worth or not, considering it runs on batteries (and lasts maximum a day) and I would have to replace it a lot of times. And after I buy this, my present amp may be left in a corner to collect dust, like my classical guitar. And I hate to waste stuff away. And then there's the tone issues as well, I've heard the AC30 and its meant for stuff like Queen but I prefer a hi-gain overdriven sound,like what my overdrive pedal gives me. I think this's not a problem, I can go to the shop and try out the amPlug series, unless the shop doesn't allow that, which, of course, is ridiculous.
So that's the dilemma I'm in. To buy or not to buy. I can use my hard-earned money to buy the stuff, but the problem is whether it would be worth the money or not. I'm already not using my Boss OS-2 as frequently as I thought, having bought it last year with my salary, since whenever I connect it to a Marshall in the jamming studios it hisses a lot (for reasons I know not) and sounds extremely compressed and fuzzy even when the gain is reduced. I've read positive and negative reviews about the amPlug AC30, which adds to the dilemma.
And yet another thing. Unless I'm super lucky or something, I think there's no point spending a lot of money on musical stuff, considering there's no future for bands in Singapore. So yeah, to buy or not to buy.
It sucks when you can't play at full volume..... And it sucks more when you think too much just to buy a product.
Any opinions?
I think I shall just plug in my guitar to my amp and try out the headphone output one last time before coming to a decision.
:(
Oh yeah, I've returned. At last.
For the whole of November and December I've been working full-time since it's the holidays now and there's virtually nothing to do (well I had some homework, but I'm not going to bother about them. Until now of course).
So, about work. Given the long distance I have to travel it was quite tiring (however with Singapore being a small country, I can't complain much :P), but hey, at least I've earned some money. Now I can finally buy stuff using my own money. Like last year, I worked in the same company, doing the same stuff, and that's because my towkay (hokkien for 'boss', and yes I am hokkien) is my uncle. Otherwise, at my age, I won't be able to work (or rather no one would bother to employ me). But I'm 16 next year (which is just a week away) and soon I can search other places for jobs. At the expense of my band's jamming time.... :( Well, really seems like you can't have your cake and eat it.
Damn, school's starting in a week, and I'm still in the holiday mood. Come January, I'm going to have a lot of crap and work to do again. Sadly that's life. :(
Right, during the holidays I went to the Universal Studios here in Singapore, and I must say it was a great place to be. The most unfortunate thing however, was that my family forgot to bring a camera along. I took very few pictures of the place since my camera is only 2 megapixels and it sucks if I were to increase its size. However, I'm still going to upload those pictures (not like there's a lot anyway) sometime this week if possible.
On a side note, I've passed my senior resuscitation test for my lifeguard course! That should increase my chance of being a lifeguard for a part-time job. :)
Time to start studying and complete my homework on the last week of the school holidays... which are weekly diary entries in chinese. The main topic of the entry must not be the same, but hey, I spent almost the entire hols working, I can't really write much can I? I think this would be the best time to improve my bullsh*tting skills :)
It's 2310hrs here in Singapore now, that's 50 more min to Boxing Day, but I have nothing to open, and I'm not complaining; I specifically told everyone I don't want a present. Weird, am I? :)
After I saw another guitar review of a guitar product, I initially wanted to buy it. However after some thought, I decided not to.
Sometimes I don't really get why I'm spending so much time and devotion on the guitar. Of course as a hobby it's ok, but if I were to spend that much and want to practise that much (especially since I got the amPlug, I can practise all night), then wouldn't it be a waste if my future doesn't depend on it for a living? And yes, you know what I mean.
However the hard truth is that I'm in Singapore. A place with hardly (or no) music industry. There's almost no support for local music (I myself do not know many) and there certainly isn't much opportunity to gain recognition. Just because the singaporean mindset and stand is that if there are songs from other countries and they are good, what is the point of listening to those from Singapore? And I'm not blaming them for this mindset, because I heard some songs from local Singaporean artists and I personally didn't like them (it could be because I am a metalhead). There is a thriving underground heavy metal scene here in Singapore but of course, it isn't well known, and not many people like such heavy metal subgenres.
Ok, so maybe there is, but these people had to go to Taiwan/China/Malaysia or wherever it is and become successful there, then singaporeans will find out about them. And that means chinese or malay pop songs which unfortunately I'm not that interested in. Metal forever
So, is spending too much on your hobby a bad thing? My band wants to pursue the rock star dream, but of course, it's going to be a very hard one. And besides there's no guarantee that we'll stay together; nobody can predict the future (damn, if 2012 happens that would definitely put a stop to the dream). And here in Singapore, its going to be hard unless we move to another country. And then you have to fight and outshine the others to be recognised. *Sigh*
Even if not pursuing the rock star dream, fighting to outshine others can be found in life. Apparently its something you can't escape from, and it seems like living in a large community makes everything worse and everyone more competitive. And living in a small space (yeah ;D) makes it even worse. In school we do have to compete with so many people to be the top student, but I can't really be bothered, especially when there's all the scholars from china and vietnam. And then probably at work (I can't say much, I'm only a student) you have to outshine others to get a better post or whatever....
Life's not a journey, it's a competition which ends when you are defeated by death.
:/
And now school's going to start really soon (just 3-4 more days I think). Its time for more shit. But then again, if I don't work hard I don't have to live anymore (unless I live in the rural areas overseas) because education = work, unfortunately. Its a paperchase society in Singapore; the more qualifications the better your job. With so many people being educated that means a lot of competition (no I'm not saying that mass education is bad). And not to mention the fact that once we start working, the time we stop is when we die.
And then the natural alternative is to choose a path not many will choose (such as that mentioned above, and of course, I mean in Singapore) but it is indeed going to take a lot of time and effort and there would be a lot of setbacks to be faced.
Ah well. Guess I'll just leave it up to fate. But hey, we choose our own future...
:/
*edit* and I find it interesting that my post comes out in different colours. I set it to white, but the last time it was yellow.... and now pink.
Labels: rant
人之命，若无意，何生乎？23:21
Right people today I went to the guitar shop to get the amPlug. I asked for the AC30 but they said it was out of stock, so I bought the classic rock one instead. I played my guitar until 9+pm (didn't feel like playing afterwards) and the sound quality's great! Now I can finally practice everyday (if I had the discipline to, that is :D)
So yeah, here, the amPlug is attached to my guitar, and its battery-powered, so I can move about.
And I remember something about Universal studios, so here are the pictures.
On the 18th of Dec, my dad brought my entire family to Universal Studios Singapore to play. Most unfortunately we forgot to bring our camera. My phone camera's only 2 megapixels so as you can see from the pictures below, the quality sucks and hence I didn't take much. It was also raining then, but of course it did nothing to destroy our mood.
Ok, this's the entrance, made to look like a street in US. Hollywood, maybe?
Far away in a bygone age, where the stories all were true!
Legends told by the men of old, have brought us here today!
*music*
Anyway this's the castle Far Far Away, and yes, its the castle in the movie Shrek.
This is Sci Fi city, where all the Transformers stuff are found. Yeah, the Battlestar whatever-it-is-called rollercoaster can be found near this sci fi city.
Yup, no more pics from USS. This is found outside USS (but still in Resort World Sentosa). Its two huge robotic cranes "dancing" in the sky. What exactly RWS was trying to tell us through this show, I still don't know. There must be a hidden meaning to this! *hides in paranoia*
Yeah, still dancing.
The cranes have screens attached to them (actually only one each).
And this is the Lake of Dreams. There was another show here but it didn't make much sense and was mostly music so yeah, we left before it ended.
So there you have it, RWS. We did go to Marina Bay Sands earlier this year, and if I have photos, I will upload them soon!
:)
Labels: RWS
人之命，若无意，何生乎？23:42
Ah, I finished all my homework today (that's not a lot, it's only one :))
Anyway, I've updated the blogskin. I'm going to design a better picture to replace that picture of Malaysia from the hotel I stayed in two years ago. The picture seemed lonely, so I wrote some words on it. Don't ask me what they mean though, I have absolutely no idea. Was trying to make the blog as emo as possible.
So yeah, a better, less cramped blogskin, not original and with a stupid picture. I just edited chunks of my previous codes here and there and this was what I got. The picture was edited with GIMP, and the background is the same as the one you can find on my class blog (6G2008, I designed it as well).However I edited this one a little; the original picture was tiny and I copy-paste it all over a canvas in GIMP. But the edges were sharp so for this blog I smoothened the edges by using the healing tool which copied pieces of picture from other parts of the image and pasted it at the edges to blend it in. Yeah :)
And tomorrow, I'm gonna get my amPlug! Thereafter I'm not sure if I'm going to post as frequently as before... Probably going to play my guitar the whole night!
:)
Labels: New blogskin
人之命，若无意，何生乎？23:39
Ok, I've made up my mind.
I don't exactly have to use one amp only; I just realised I can chain up the amPlug to my present amp! Such a simple thought, but took me days to figure out and come to a decision. Now I shall wait for the time to buy it at the guitar shop quite far away...
Oh yeah, I remember saying something about Universal Studios. I'm just too lazy to attach my phone to my computer now (it's a desktop and I have to stand up, kneel behind and put in the memory card reader, since the front USB port was damaged). I'm going to upload it soon though. Not today; it's late, and I'm tired (couldn't sleep last night as my mind was too active).
I'm trying to find ways to spice up my blog, it seems like a dead place. I'm guessing this's because of a lack of pictures, but with the hassle of uploading pictures to the computer (I shall buy an extension USB cable) and the hassle of uploading it to the internet (remember I blew my Piscasa size limit, so I need imageshack), and coupled with the lack of stuff to take photos of, and along with such few people commenting on the tagboard, my blog's like some dead place (or rather close to be).
Perhaps a new blogskin? I'll see if I have the time and if my HTML skills are still there. Otherwise, its time to rip someone off and use chunks of codes which I did last time to make a new blogskin. This time, I won't use boxes; I'm going to have the post flow all the way. The boxes seem to make my blog look cramped... But I'll see if I have the time.
:)
人之命，若无意，何生乎？23:36
BOXING DAY! TIME TO WATCH WWE!!!
(ok, I know I'm lame)
Argh damn, I'm stuck in a dilemma.
Everytime I want to buy something, I would always weigh the advantages and disadvantages. And then after much thinking, I would usually decide not to buy the product. It is irritating, considering I spent so much time researching and making sure that it is worth buying that product. And right now I'm stuck with the same problem.
It's about my guitar. I want to be able to play late at night (not that I have a choice, since school's starting) and I live in an apartment building, so I can't blast out my playing (and I play hard rock to metal) otherwise my neighbours would come knocking on my door. I've tried headphones on my practice amp (a Peavey Backstage II) but it doesn't sound really that good through headphones (I've tried a few headphones, same results), and then mobility's another problem since I'm stuck to one position, and the cord length of my headphones is 1.2m (I'm not tall too, but I have to sit close to my amp and there's no point sitting and practising). So I can't move about much.
And there's a solution - buy a headphone amplifier. I was quite interested in the Vox AmPlug series, especially the AC30. It plugs directly to the guitar and so mobility isn't much of a problem. However, it costs $50+ SGD and I don't know if its worth or not, considering it runs on batteries (and lasts maximum a day) and I would have to replace it a lot of times. And after I buy this, my present amp may be left in a corner to collect dust, like my classical guitar. And I hate to waste stuff away. And then there's the tone issues as well, I've heard the AC30 and its meant for stuff like Queen but I prefer a hi-gain overdriven sound,like what my overdrive pedal gives me. I think this's not a problem, I can go to the shop and try out the amPlug series, unless the shop doesn't allow that, which, of course, is ridiculous.
So that's the dilemma I'm in. To buy or not to buy. I can use my hard-earned money to buy the stuff, but the problem is whether it would be worth the money or not. I'm already not using my Boss OS-2 as frequently as I thought, having bought it last year with my salary, since whenever I connect it to a Marshall in the jamming studios it hisses a lot (for reasons I know not) and sounds extremely compressed and fuzzy even when the gain is reduced. I've read positive and negative reviews about the amPlug AC30, which adds to the dilemma.
And yet another thing. Unless I'm super lucky or something, I think there's no point spending a lot of money on musical stuff, considering there's no future for bands in Singapore. So yeah, to buy or not to buy.
It sucks when you can't play at full volume..... And it sucks more when you think too much just to buy a product.
Any opinions?
I think I shall just plug in my guitar to my amp and try out the headphone output one last time before coming to a decision.
:(
人之命，若无意，何生乎？23:42
Oh yeah, I've returned. At last.
For the whole of November and December I've been working full-time since it's the holidays now and there's virtually nothing to do (well I had some homework, but I'm not going to bother about them. Until now of course).
So, about work. Given the long distance I have to travel it was quite tiring (however with Singapore being a small country, I can't complain much :P), but hey, at least I've earned some money. Now I can finally buy stuff using my own money. Like last year, I worked in the same company, doing the same stuff, and that's because my towkay (hokkien for 'boss', and yes I am hokkien) is my uncle. Otherwise, at my age, I won't be able to work (or rather no one would bother to employ me). But I'm 16 next year (which is just a week away) and soon I can search other places for jobs. At the expense of my band's jamming time.... :( Well, really seems like you can't have your cake and eat it.
Damn, school's starting in a week, and I'm still in the holiday mood. Come January, I'm going to have a lot of crap and work to do again. Sadly that's life. :(
Right, during the holidays I went to the Universal Studios here in Singapore, and I must say it was a great place to be. The most unfortunate thing however, was that my family forgot to bring a camera along. I took very few pictures of the place since my camera is only 2 megapixels and it sucks if I were to increase its size. However, I'm still going to upload those pictures (not like there's a lot anyway) sometime this week if possible.
On a side note, I've passed my senior resuscitation test for my lifeguard course! That should increase my chance of being a lifeguard for a part-time job. :)
Time to start studying and complete my homework on the last week of the school holidays... which are weekly diary entries in chinese. The main topic of the entry must not be the same, but hey, I spent almost the entire hols working, I can't really write much can I? I think this would be the best time to improve my bullsh*tting skills :)
It's 2310hrs here in Singapore now, that's 50 more min to Boxing Day, but I have nothing to open, and I'm not complaining; I specifically told everyone I don't want a present. Weird, am I? :)
人之命，若无意，何生乎？23:10
Morse Code
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