Wednesday 30 January 2013



Forgive my absence people. :(

I have been spending way too much time on my guitar practice in lieu of two competitions I intend to participate in - one with my band, and the other with another guitarist playing a harmonized guitar piece. While I have memorised the guitar parts for the songs we are playing as a band (It's Time by Imagine Dragons (re-arranged by our drummer to make it more rock-like) and When We Die by Bowling For Soup), I am still trying to memorise and speed up the other song, Scarified by Racer X, and it is difficult as hell. Well, it's Paul Gilbert, so not really a surprise...

Anyway, my latest updates!

1) I (obviously) have returned from Korea! The weather was superb! And I saw snow for the first time in my life. I shall elaborate more once the competitions are over in March.

2) I have braces now! And it freaking costs a bomb :( Had to extract four teeth for that, probably going to have it removed two years from now.

3) I finally have FaceBook xD Created because most information from my CCA is given out on FB. Add me if you want to, just search for my name.

4) My school is starting in two days' time. Damn.

5) I received my Higher Chinese O Level results.... And I failed. The passing requirement itself is a fail grade (D7) and I got lower than that.... I got an E8. Damn.

I have received a request to post my guitar playing. But right now... I just feel too lousy to post a video of myself playing the guitar. Maybe some time in the future. Or if my band makes it to the finals, there should be a video :) Then I'll link the video here.

So I guess that's all I shall cover now. Back to my guitar practice. After all, when school starts, I won't be able to spend around 8 hours practicing anymore :(

Goodbye for now! :)

Labels:



人之命,若无意,何生乎?21:04

Wednesday 19 December 2012



Today I went to Davis Guitar shop to look at some guitars.

I initially wanted a flying V-shaped electric guitar, but realised how awkward it felt sitting down and playing, since I'm used to leaning onto the guitar body and the V-shape of the ltd v-300 didn't allow for that. So the guy introduced to me the LTD H-351 FR. It feels damn good playing it.

However, I don't know what to do with my present guitar.

After all, it's my first guitar, but it was a display set. As a result the truss rod and the screws are all rusting quite badly. The tuning head for the guitar is damaged and the last E string loses its tune very quickly. There is also noticeable fret buzz.

Still, it stuck with me for three years, and was the guitar which helped me improve my technique (not a lot though). Thinking of selling it away or chucking it in a corner makes me feel damn bad. I don't even know if I can sell it away or not, given its condition. It still works, just that it doesn't look that great with everything rusted. And I don't wish for it to suffer the same fate as my classical guitar, sitting in the corner in the room, untouched for a long time, abandoned.

I don't understand. Why must parting be so difficult? If I never had feelings, perhaps I could make an easier decision. I won't feel the pain of selling away the old guitar. I have one month more of holidays (school starts in Feb since I'm 17 next year), which I intend to work to pay for the new guitar, priced at around S$850. But when that time comes, would I be able to part with my old guitar? Or should I just keep it? But even if I kept it, what good would it do to the guitar? I know that I won't be touching it anymore when I have the new one. I also tend to treat inanimate objects with feelings, and cannot help but think what would my old guitar feel if I were to get a new one.

If only I never jumped the gun and bought my present guitar. But if I never did that, I wouldn't have a band right now, and I probably won't know more about guitars.

Life is so complicated. >.<

Labels:



人之命,若无意,何生乎?21:29

Sunday 16 December 2012



Hello.

I am back from a 3-week NCC course, the Cadet Officers' Course. It was from 26 Nov all the way to last Friday. I'm glad I survived the three weeks, especially since I live quite far away from HQ NCC. Although it was three weeks, it was actually pretty slack, and there were quite a few occasions where the heavy rain stopped us from being able to carry out the activities, such as the flying fox.

Now I'll have a free week, before going to Korea for a holiday starting on the 23rd Dec. Then I'll post a lot of photos here for all to see.

Labels:



人之命,若无意,何生乎?16:09

Sunday 18 November 2012



Shanghai Aviation Course - Day 2 (Nanjing/Suzhou)

I always try to keep promises. At last, Day 2!




The second morning. We left Nanjing on this day and went to Suzhou. But we went to several places first. 


View from inside the hotel. We were having breakfast, I think.


And so we have gathered, preparing to leave the hotel.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

The scenery outside.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

More scenery. That's one nice looking temple.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Construction site! This looks crazy, though, the way they demolish those houses.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Hammering away!

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

The Great Leader, Mao.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

"By uniting, we can achieve bigger goals!"

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

This Nanjing-Yangtze bridge was built in 1968, or so I heard. It was built by China alone during the turbulent era (if I'm not wrong during the Cultural Revolution) and hence is many Chinese people's pride.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Damn windy outside. It was around 14 deg C I think.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

View.


Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Under the bright Sun (evident from my squinting), the temperature is still cold for me. One of the rare shots of myself (I hate taking photos of myself), this was taken by the DC of NCC (Air).

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us


Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

I guess China is still developing. At a very rapid pace, though.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Temple.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

And here, we visit the Nanjing University of Aeronautics (I think). Saw some planes, including those that the students designed themselves.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

It seems the air intake is from the nose of the aeroplane.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

More planes.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Engines! It looks old, must be a turbojet.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

If I remember correctly, this plane is made of fibreglass, is light, and used for flying training. And I think it was designed by the students.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Outside the campus. After which we went to another place.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Ah. We all know this date. We were going to visit the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall the previous day, but then the tour guide changed plans, only to find out that it was closed on that day (Monday). As a Chinese Singaporean, sometimes I just don't know whether to hate the Japanese or not, thanks to those atrocities they committed, despite my recent interest in their culture. And still, the Japanese refused to acknowledge the existence of such brutality.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Statues of people running away from the Imperial Japanese Army. Women and children not spared.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

So after that, we went to the Presidential Palace. This palace has a long history, built in the Ming Dynasty.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

The surrounding.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

I heard from the tour guide that is a library. What a unique design!

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Inside the palace.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

A huge palace indeed.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Taiping Rebels! They don't cut their hair. Anyway they're rebels against the Qing Dynasty. The leader believed he was the brother of Jesus and went against the Qing, causing the Taiping Revolution, where I think the rebels took control of several Southern cities (Beijing was the capital at that time). They took Nanjing and if I'm not wrong made this palace the base. The Qing won, but after a very long fight.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Before and after the attempted revolution, it was a place for some Qing viceroy I think.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

And this is after the overthrow of the Qing. The guy's Sun Yat Sen. Still respected throughout China although he started the Kuomintang.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Chiang Kai-shek. By this time China was almost unified until the control of Kuomintang, after that turbulent warlord era. They shifted the capital to Nanjing. This place was then used as the office for him.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Qing uniform.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

A model of the huge palace.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Sun Yat Sen.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

We're still inside the palace, but there's a huge change in architecture style. This is distinctively Western, must have been built during the ROC era.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Office.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us


Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

After this, we began a long journey to Suzhou.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

I had to take this, hardly see this in Singapore. It's a cooling tower!

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Better looking apartments.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Hokkien food! But I've never tried them before.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

The hotel we stayed in in Suzhou.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

And so that wraps up the second day in China.

:)

Labels:



人之命,若无意,何生乎?15:31

Morse Code






Quantum Entanglement

Friends:

6G2008
JANICE
COUSIN XINYI
CARINA
LINGYIN
CHERYL HENG
JASPER
JOJ
TET
JULIE
EGI
MICHELLE
★★wendy
MAE
VILDA
SONIA
POPPIMESHI
TARA
SUSAN
sHeRrY
Amanda
Su Ann
Nisa
Karl
Selvi


I'm starting to clear those broken links, please do inform me if you have changed your blog URL. Thanks.


Sign by Danasoft - For Backgrounds and Layouts


Powered by web analytics software.



Profile

Darrell Tay. 16. Chinese Singaporean. Normal, ordinary guy. Covered by shadows casted by others. Loves my guitar, heavy metal and darkness. Or rather, I've been used to it. You can probably find photos in the archives, but I take no responsibility if your computer screen's damaged. :)


Tachyons

My blog is four years old! I never stuck to a blog this long before :)

January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
July 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
August 2009
September 2009
October 2009
November 2009
December 2009
January 2010
February 2010
March 2010
April 2010
May 2010
June 2010
July 2010
August 2010
September 2010
October 2010
November 2010
December 2010
January 2011
February 2011
March 2011
April 2011
May 2011
June 2011
July 2011
August 2011
September 2011
October 2011
November 2011
December 2011
January 2012
February 2012
March 2012
April 2012
May 2012
June 2012
July 2012
August 2012
September 2012
November 2012
December 2012
January 2013


MusicPlaylist
Music Playlist at MixPod.com>



Big Bang

Layout done by Darrell Tay Jun Jie with help from Karene

Image done by Darrell Tay Jun Jie

Image hosted by ImageShack