Rest In Peace

Somebody the likes of you will never be seen again. Thank you for all the great years and amazing music. You rock!



1958-2009

Back!

After 10 months of waiting, and 27 hours of flying, it feels great to be back! Wohoo!! And what was the first Malaysian food I had? Satay, followed by Nasi Lemak. All at the glorious hour of around midnight =P

But the best part was at the airport. After getting out of Korean Air's Airbus A330, I literally waltzed out of the airport. No questions asked, except for filling up some health form. No screening, no temperature checks, nothing! Absolutely nothing! So,with this in mind, I've decided to put myself under quarantine, until I can get a proper doctor to run some tests on me to see if everything is alright. As excited as I am to come home and meet all my friends, I have to also think about their safety. But personally, I feel fine, and we shall hang out! For shizzle!

Oh, my mom couldn't recognize me as I was walking out of the airport. This gave me the opportunity to sneak out and approach her from the back. You should have seen the look on her face! My dad was excited too! Oh, and my mom loves my hair. She suggested I get an ear ring to complement it. I'm serious!! =D

Off to bed~

Bye Bye

After 10 months in the states, I'm finally going to make that 10000 mile trip journey back to Malaysia. It's going to be 3 different flights, across 2 continents and one ocean, for a total of a little more than 27 hours of flight time plus transit.

I'm excited. But like I said previously, a little nervous as well.

My 10 months here has been both challenging and fun at the same time. I don't want to go into detail, but, some days were good, while some days didn't go out as how I would have liked it to, but that's what makes life, life. Right? What's the point in sailing through smooth waters all the time? It is only in rough waters that you learn to understand the capabilities, strengths and weaknesses of the ship. Once you understand all these things, then you can go ahead and build a better vessel. If you don't like sailing on the water, you build a submarine. That's how I see life.

Oh well... Another 8 hours, and its time for my first flight.

Sayonara Daytona.

Breakaway

This is why lightning should strike and kill every single idiot out there. This is what happens when two idiots get into power, and run the world's most prestigious motorsport series:

-start-
The Formula One Teams' Association announced on Thursday night that it is setting up a breakaway championship.

Following a four hour meeting at Renault's Enstone factory, the eight members of FOTA - Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, BMW Sauber, Toyota, Brawn, Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso - said they had grown frustrated with the FIA's stance against the organisation, and had no option but to create a series of their own.

"The teams cannot continue to compromise on the fundamental values of the sport and have declined to alter their original conditional entries to the 2010 World Championship," said a statement issued by FOTA after the meeting.

"These teams therefore have no alternative other than to commence the preparation for a new Championship which reflects the values of its participants and partners. This series will have transparent governance, one set of regulations, encourage more entrants and listen to the wishes of the fans, including offering lower prices for spectators worldwide, partners and other important stakeholders.

"The major drivers, stars, brands, sponsors, promoters and companies historically associated with the highest level of motorsport will all feature in this new series."

F1 teams were given until Friday evening to remove the conditions attached to the provisional entries they posted earlier this month, or risk being left off the grid in 2010.

FIA president Max Mosley wrote to the teams yesterday offering them some of the concessions that they wanted to see regarding governance of the sport, but made it clear that he was sticking to plans for the introduction of a budget cap.

In his letter, Mosley also urged the teams to sign up to the championship before sorting out the final version of the regulations and a redrafted Concorde Agreement.

In response to that letter, the teams met at Renault's Enstone headquarters on Thursday evening for lengthy talks, where they finally decided that there was no way a compromise deal could be reached with the FIA.

The teams expressed frustration that their efforts to try and improve F1 had been rebuffed by the governing body and the sport's commercial rights holder.

"Since the formation of FOTA last September the teams have worked together and sought to engage the FIA and commercial rights holder, to develop and improve the sport," said the statement.

"Unprecedented worldwide financial turmoil has inevitably placed great challenges before the F1 community. FOTA is proud that it has achieved the most substantial measures to reduce costs in the history of our sport.

"In particular the manufacturer teams have provided assistance to the independent teams, a number of which would probably not be in the sport today without the FOTA initiatives. The FOTA teams have further agreed upon a substantial voluntary cost reduction that provides a sustainable model for the future.

"Following these efforts all the teams have confirmed to the FIA and the commercial rights holder that they are willing to commit until the end of 2012.

"The FIA and the commercial rights holder have campaigned to divide FOTA.

"The wishes of the majority of the teams are ignored. Furthermore, tens of millions of dollars have been withheld from many teams by the commercial rights holder, going back as far as 2006. Despite this and the uncompromising environment, FOTA has genuinely sought compromise."

The announcement by FOTA looks certain to overshadow the British Grand Prix, which takes place at Silverstone for the final time this weekend and which Mosley is expected to attend tomorrow.

With FOTA's stance now seemingly leaving no room for a deal possible, its likely that more new teams will be added to the FIA's 2010 Formula 1 entry list.

The inclusion of Ferrari, Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso on that roster remains open to debate, however, with the FIA claiming that the teams committed themselves to F1 in a deal agreed several years ago.
-end-

Taken from www.autosport.com

Personally, while I laud the great work done by Mosely and Ecclestone in improving the safety of F1 and bringing more money to the sport, their actions in recent years have been detrimental to the sport. The battle has been raging for quite some time now. I hoped that it didn't have to end up this way, but then again, I wouldn't enjoy a watered down F1. So, whatever this new series is going to be called, lets hope that it is going to be worth it.

Band

Ultimate Guitar has some of the best band stories I've ever read. I got hooked to its stories when Ping Fuan introduced me to one of Nolan Whyte's stories, On The Comeback Road, a couple of years ago. Comeback Road is basically a story about this middle aged guy who is trying to make it big with a bunch of young adults as his band mates. Once that series was done, Nolan wrote a series called Guitargasm, which is a great story about a bunch of college kids trying to make it big. His latest series, Riot Band Blues is also another great story about forming a band. He still hasn't finished that one though. Though it may seem very formulaic, I can assure you that each of these three stories are completely different in their plot, characters, stories and everything else. But one thing for sure is that they all share a common theme, which is to rock as hard and rock proud.

Reading stuff like these really give me inspiration because I really enjoy band stories, and most of the time, I can relate to what is happening because I've been in a couple of bands myself, and I know what its like to be in one. Personally, being in a band, whether I'm playing live or just jamming for fun is among the most exhilarating of feelings I've ever had. I've always enjoyed that sense of "don't know what is going to happen next" involved in it. Sometimes, it can get a little challenging too because being in a band really requires some very good communication skills. Getting your ideas across, choosing a musical direction, or sometimes even getting all 4, 5 or 6 people who've got tremendously different timetables and responsibilities, in the same jamming room at once, is not exactly a straightforward task in any sense. Sometimes, doing it reminds me of a job of a diplomat or a deal haggler. And this is exactly what I miss about being in a band. I miss that whole "rush" feeling. And I'm glad that I don't have to wait much longer anymore. I'll be back next week, and we're going to start jamming again. Plus, I'm already 3/5ths into my new band. Brett spoke to me a couple of days ago and said that Evan has agreed to sing for us. The search for a bassist and drummer is still on, but, once you've got two guitarists and a singer, it becomes relatively easier to get the final two because we can always play random acoustic shows and advertise openings in our band. All we've got to do now, is to meet, and decide what exactly we want to do. Do we write our own stuff or do we do covers?

Many things come and go. Fad's as they would say it. But I like it that throughout all these years, a couple of things about myself has still remained a constant, and one of those, which is the absolute love for listening and playing music. If you knew me all those years ago, you'd still see that same passion and obsession in me about music. Only these day, I've gotten a whole lot crazier.

I Question

The problem with blogging is that, one can never be sure on whether or not to put one's most private thoughts. Not because, the author can't. But simply because of the readers. I have always believed that some thoughts and ideas, should only be shared with people whom are responsible in their thoughts and acts. The reason is, not everyone knows how to be responsible with an idea. Some, with detriment to many, will invariably overreact and come up with false conclusions. Unlike a diary,in cyberspace, it is difficult to say who is and who isn't responsible, because everyone with a basic internet connection and reasonable googling skills can access anything and everything that has ever been put into the realms of the cyber world. Even this post here.

Which is why, I'm reluctant to put down an idea which I have been having for months. An idea, if reasoned really well, might cause the masses to start running out with pitchforks, and possibly with me ending up being .... or thrown into lock up for sedition.

But I will give you a glimpse by asking a simple question. What if everything that everyone has ever told you about who you are is well... not exactly true? A statement built on the aim of simplifying things? What if your government has gotten some things about yourself, and some of the people around you very wrong? I've been doing some research, and I've come to a startling conclusion that there is a decent possibility of this exact thing happening.

This is the problem with thinking. If you think hard enough, and reason hard enough, you will start to ask questions so profound to the degree that it becomes too uncomfortable to answer.

Should I continue to think and do research, or should I continue to live in blissful but ignorant life?

Jamming

It feels good to play lead guitar backed by the sound of another guitarist. I finally found a jam partner to jam with. His name is Brett Johnson. After weeks of planning, we finally managed to get together today in one of the study rooms, and just do some freestyle jamming. We did some blues, some Oasis, some random chord progressions, and just some other random stuff. Apparently, he is going to have a roommate who sings classical rock. We spoke about forming a band, and he is really into it. All we need now is a drummer and a bassist, and of course a band name.