The Murky Waters of Songwriting XXI

Hmm.

Alvin did an updated version of It's All Joon Kiat's Fault and frankly... it's weird. I dunno, he finds my old version weird.. and I had a seriously hard time keeping up with his timing on the 'updated' version.

Apart from the weird timing... it's also my dirty guitar sound. When I did my old version, I managed to create this fat, thick, creamy lead guitar tone which literally screams BLUES righty-oh in your face. You can hear this fat tone on the version which is playing on my blog.

So I re-did the dirty electric for the updated version, and Alvin mixed it in... when I heard it, I was so disappointed because:

1. The sound was thin, gritty and sounding too metal.
2. It was soft.
3. It sounded like it came from some, cheap taiwanese-made, slapped-together guitar.

So I took out the dirty guitar track, re-EQed it and stuck it on... and it came out all-right in the end (because of the added volume and bottom end), but with one glitch: it now sounded like a dirty Les Paul, instead of a creamy, Clapton-like SG... the blues edge was gone, and frankly I despised that sound... it didn't have my character coming through although it was me who played that guitar track. How do I know it sounded like a Les Paul? I played one after my test yesterday in a guitar shop, and it sounded almost exactly like it, the blank space being the lack of sustain.

I also added on a bass track which might have done some good due to the hugely different sound which hits your ears, but it only succeeds in making the dirty electric sound much more gritty.

It's almost like I'm in the shoes of Malcolm Young when he had to cut 'High Voltage' and he broke his guitar, and the only thing which was lying around was a Gibson L-5 (which is mainly used for Jazz) and he had to use it for the rhythm track for the song.

Anyway, when Alvin is free (and hopefully recovered from his bout of suspected appendicitis), I'm gonna sit down with him and re-mix the song.

However, there is an issue which I'm not too sure how to handle: should we continue to use Joon kiat's name? It might seem fun, but I think it may be overly politically-incorrect to use his name, especially since he was a pretty good teacher (to me), but his methods were undoubtedly taxing on the nerves.

Tell me your opinions.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Clutch that matey! XIV

Hmm.

Had my M&M test yesterday.. officially threw away 12 marks, hands down. What the heck man.. I thought I had it all worked out... at least the rest of the paper wasn't too bad: the MCQ was at least 85% there, and the remaining open answer questions were ok.. but it's just that damn 12-mark question which made me crash and burn... sigh.

I ended the test early... I felt that I had done my best and I guess I'll let god decide how much i will get, because I did put in the effort to study (last minute as it may be) :p

Last night's work was pretty good.. but it was the first time I wore a bandana to work... I had some mixed feedback; some said it was ugly, some said it made me look as though my sexuality was controversial... McCraic owner Colin McDonald (the owner of Molly Malone's), and a couple of people said I looked like a pirate, and some just asked: 'bad hair day???'

Ah well, had a nice time singing a couple of songs before legging it to the mrt... the same stuff as usual: 'Hide Your Love Away', 'Take Me Home, Country Roads', 'Hey Jude' and 'Highway to Hell'. Hehe.. I broke a string just before I screamed out loud during 'Hey Jude'... much to Gerry's dismay.

I guess yesterday was pretty good... Colin's wife, Gilian said my singing was great (no thanks to the combined effect of the string breaking and I screaming out simultaneously before the chorus to 'Hey Jude') and lots of people were bellowing out the chorus to 'Take Me Home, Country Roads' and 'Highway To Hell'.

I was planning for Alvin to come by today and finishing off our handphone models (frankly, I can hardly give a flying damn about it because my class has sooo many other projects to work with which do not need model-making), but he text messaged me this morning something about him having appendicitis.

Here's a peek at what's appendicitis is all about:

Appendicitis is a condition characterised by inflammation of the appendix. While mild cases may resolve without treatment, many require laparotomy with removal of the inflamed appendix. Untreated, mortality is high, mainly due to peritonitis and shock when the inflamed appendix ruptures.

It is possible for matter to become lodged in the appendix, leading to bacterial infection, which can cause appendicitis. If the condition is untreated, the appendix can turn gangrenous and can eventually burst, leading to peritonitis, septicemia and eventually death.

Shit. IP4UMF.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Another one for the road

Hmm.

how's this for a change?

You Are an Emo Rocker!

Expressive and deep, lyrics are really your thing. That doesn't mean you don't rock out... You just rock out with meaning. For you, rock is more about connecting than grandstanding.

What Kind of Rocker Are You?

I guess this does reflect who I am, actually.

Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Hello.. hello

Hmm.

Just saw this on Rebecca's blog.. thought I might want to *try it out*... hehe


ERRIKWONGSHAOHUI

E: Energetic

R: Rebellious

R: Remarkable

I: Insane

K: Kinky

W: Warm

O: Outrageous

N: Nutty

G: Gifted

S: Scary

H: Hyper

A: Adaptable

O: Old (this is debatable)

H: Humorous

U: Unreal (equally debatable)

I: Intense


I suppose many people will be wondering if I am insanely kinky, or possible unreally intense ..ROFL.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

PS: I had to hot wire the damn HTML cuz for some odd reason or another it (the html version) wasn't turning out well on the post.

The Murky Waters of Songwriting XX

Hmm.

Well, Sunday night was really dumb... I was chionging for my graphics stuff until 2am, and rushing to school, and along the way I met Grace who was looking perfectly calm, and whom I noticed, was onyl carrying her schoolbag.

C: 'Hey, where's your stuff?'

G: 'In my bag' (gasp)

C: 'But what about your p-board? Aren't we handing up our project today?'

G: 'Huh? What do you mean? Our Graphics is it?'

C: 'Yeah... I thought he had to hand up everything today?' I had slowed my pace considerably by now'

G: 'No lah... it's next week!'

C: 'Thank God!!!'


In any case, I was feeling very dumb and I had some trouble printing my stuff at Block L's print shop, and it didn't help with the auntie yammering at the back of my head.. telling me to shrink my files before printing them... as if I had no idea how to work out my images properly.

I had printed out my stuff, spraymounted them together and created my CD cover mock-ups and waiting for my turn to see Miss Tan, my graphics lecturer, when I noticed that a lot of people had not even finished their concepts, whereas I had already completed 4 mock-ups. I suppose I feel half-dumb, half-gratifying that I was paranoid on Sunday night, and finished all of the computer stuff by 2am, but even my classmate noticed that I was severely short of rest.


Alvin and I had come up with the lyrics and music to a song, titled 'It's All Joon Kiat's Fault', which I felt was pretty hilarious, particularly since this song was about our art lecturer whose name was Joon Kiat. This song is meant to (in a humourous way) blame Joon Kiat for our lack of sleep during our tenure in his module.

The song is really an old-school blues A-D-E chord structure which I had morphed to fit our 'modern' context, which included a cleaan and dirty electric guitar, doubled acoustic guitar, bass and even a street gang as back-up vocals. Since Alvin was unavailible to provide lead vocals, I decided to fill in for him in the time being.

One thing about this song is that when you have Alvin's sense of humour coupled with my 'street gang' effect and some nifty guitar work and full-sounding bass, you can never go wrong. I'll wait and see if Alvin's free enough this holiday to come down and throw in his vocals.. and hopefully this song isn't out of timing like the first version I cooked up saturday afternoon.

So give it a listen (it's already on this blog) and tell me whether you like it or not!

(here's the lyrics)

working every night just to get work done
slaving away and I can't get no fun
all I want is just some time in the sun
It's all Joon Kiat's fault

spending money like water from a tap
I'm painting like crazy, no time for a nap
I think it's good, but he thinks it's crap
It's all Joon Kiat's fault

It's all joon kiat's fault X2
when everything I do just comes to naught
It's all Joon Kiat's fault

Open up my freezer and there's no more food
crashed in my garage and I screwed the hood
Hayden Christensen acts no better than a piece of wood
It's all Joon Kiat's fault

it's getting kinda late and we have to stop
it's all Joon kiat's fault


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Clutch that matey! XIII

Hmm.

Wow.. last night's set at the pub was really good... just before my shift was over, a bunch of people (around 15 in total) came into the pub dressed like hospital staff, and one of them (a lady, btw, but nontheless drunk unless I'm much mistaken) somehow just kept having me within her sights... constantly keeping me on a short leash.

In any case, I ended my shift at 11pm sharp, went down back to the pub after changing my attire and proceeded to play a set of three songs: 'Take Me Home, Country Roads', 'Hey Jude' and the all-time sure-to-break-Gerry's-guitar-strings rock anthem 'Highway To Hell'.

I was really having a ball of a time, especially since the pub was soooo crowded, I knew at least 70% of them were singing along to 'Take Me Home, Country Roads' and during 'Hey Jude', there's a part of the song, where everyone goes 'better, better, better, better, better' and then just before everyone went 'na na na na na na na... na na na na.. Hey Jude'.. I screamed my heart out for a whole second, much to the surprise of everyone.. even Gerry's eyes went OO, and a few people whooped.

Haha.. I broke a string during 'Highway to Hell', much to Gerry's chagrin 'I suppose my job has gone from singing songs to changing broken strings!!!', to which I gave him a hearty grin.

Oh yeah.. I discovered yesterday morning that my SG is actually a real Epiphone through and through.. apparently, the guys over at Guitar Workshop had just spray painted over the headstock and applied on their own decal.. which I must admit looks absolutely like a piece of crap from a graphics points of view.

In any case, I'm still deciding whether or not I want to sand off the offensive layer of paint and then re-cap it with lacquer or maybe I should leave it alone? after all.. I'm not great shakes at such 'jobs' but maybe I'll give it a shot during the holidays next week.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Lunchtime dumbnessness

Hmm.

Today I was having lunch with Alvin, and I was quoting a bit of my lesson with Khairul the other day regarding an example relating to the marketing efforts done by Apple and Creative for their respective MP3 players, the Ipod and Zen Touch.

So Khairul was giving us this example of a restaurant being situated somewhere in Changi, and as a prospective diner, since this restaurant came highly recommended (just like an Ipod), "I" would decide to give this restaurant a go.

However, along the way (I'm still continueing with the example, btw) I'd get lost, and I even have to ask the transvestites near changi village for instructions, to which the 'bapoh' would reply:

'Hey.. dahhrrling, wanna have some fun?' (try saying this in some deep, manly vocal)

At this, Alvin laughs and carries on eating his lunch with his knife and spoon. Then he suddenly asks me:

'What's a bapoh?'


Previously, I had mentioned something about one of my lecturers being something like a fruitcake (a fruitcake, is a term used to delicately describe someone as being effeminate, for those who do not know what effeminate means, in a nutshell, an effeminate man is someone who behaves in a girlish manner), to which Alvin inquired what a fruitcake meant.

I don't think I want to repeat what I just wrote in the parathesis above, but I did explain in short what a fruitcake meant... to which Alvin went:

'aha.. ok'

So to his question: 'what's a bapoh?'

I replied: 'remember what I told you just now about fruitcakes? A bapoh is a fruitcake who looks exactly like a woman'

Alvin: 'Eww...'

Yeah, so I guess Alvin has finally taken another step into the bigger world of reality, and hopefully he can remember to keep his thumbdrive with himself more effeciently the next time 'round.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Do I have A Disease? III

Hmm.

I dunno, but somehow lately I feel like Murphy's law has been breathing down my neck and gnawing at my privates. It's like a huge blanket of uncertainty, unnerving calm which envelopes my being, while allowing me to breath normally and even coming up with a new song late last night, still slowly suffocates, unfocusses my eyes and makes me feel so...

Sedated.

In any case, it's like I've been missing the train every time I try and be on time, my fears are always realised and for once in my life... I'm lost. Maybe it's just a dry spell, but I'm not going to let it take over.. no it's not gonna be without a fight, but all I can say is that I will be praying hard, and of course, I'll be getting to work now... gotta big day tomorrow.

Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Model-making! II

Hmm.

Man.. this model for thursday is just driving me nuts... it's supposed to rock back and forth, but it just falls unto its side and can't get up!! I've been heaping wall putyy to the base to make it bottom-heavy, but to no avail... gotta try harder.


I'm still clam, despite the fact that it's the deadline for the model by thursday, and at least XiWai and Jia Ying are working on the presentation board, and packaging and powerpoint. I just pray very hard we'll get through all right. Especially since my model has difficulty rocking.

Alvin says that the base is too rough at this stage to make a smooth rocking motion, but I dunno... by right it should be ok, but I guess that sometimes, JWLIAB, BHP.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

At Last, some time to complete VI

Hmm.

I've received some good news today, the Materials & Manufacturing test has been transferred to next week's Friday, which leaves a huge gap in study time for completion of my Vertical Integration Model. On top of that, my Handphone model dateline for Kuou has also been pushed back due to the impossible circumstances which have been plagueing our module: especially since we get so little marks for so much work done and effort being put into it.

I'm just glad that at last, I have time to complete the VI modle, which starting to become exceptionally tricky to complete, partially due ot the fact it is made out of three main shapes, but on top of the fact that it also has to rock back and forth, which the wall putty I've been applying to it has made it rather difficult to accomplish since wall putty becomes a very heavy material after it hardens.

PH4MMF (Pray Hard For Me, My Friends), and I'll also pray for those in a similar plight.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Blast From The Past II: Travelling Blues

Hmm.

I remember quite well, during my brief three-year stay in Shanghai when I was very little, my family would often travel to the various cities over the weekend, which resulted in long journeys along the country's bland highways, which were accompanied with their infamous chinese toilets.

Remember how China's successful bid to host the 2008 Olympics was immediately followed by the city's campaign to clean out all of the city's toilets, which were (expectedly) filthy and unpresentable?

Highway toilets are no exception, in my time (between 1995 and 1998), the toilets along the highway were poorly, if not seldom maintained, with poor flushing systems and perpetually faulty taps, which might have yielded mud from the faucet for all I can imagine.

I just pray the situation has improved.

In any case, my parents would zoom us around the country by car, which would allow my brother and myself to have a good look at what China was all about. One of my favourtie journeys was a car drive to Huang Shan, which was situated two provinces away, and the journey there was absolutely breathtaking... I even remember my dad filling up the gas tank from a provision shop owner, who promptly dragged out a huge can of motor petrol and poured it into the car tank by the means of a funnel.

Similarly, chinese mountain scenery can be breathtaking as well as treacherous... there is a common chinese tour guide saying: if you view the scenery, refrain from walking, when walking, refrain from viewing the scenery.

That's pretty good advice to me, and I think that can be applied to many other things as well (especially for the Big Z):

'When talking rubbish remember to start thinking, if you start thinking, then you can stop talking rubbish'


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Righty-Oh....II

Hmm.

Alright then, I've managed to consolidate all of my 'Legends Of Zelda' Material from my blog, and push them into a new blog, aptly titled: 'Crawldaddy's The Legends Of Zelda', which includes all of my posts which relate (no matter how insignificantly) to the Big Z.

On top of that, I've also created a new blog for my acronyms (UG2BKM,MF, right?) not just for the pure pleasure of idling my time away, but because of the fact that I do believe that I'll be trying to confuse people shorten some of my blog-space-invading comments.

These two new blogs can be viewed under my 'Other Links' on the menu (left hand side of Blog), which will directly connect you to instant veiwing pleasure.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Red For Warning III

Hmm.

I've been anticipating the re-discovery of such a person, but I'll give you a fair warning (not for people who hold filthy names in respect) so that you won't go saying:

WTF???


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

PS: I bet you guys would say WTF anyway.

Clutch that matey! XII

Hmm.

Today's mock interview went so horribly... I got shot down like every other sentrence by the 'board of interviewers', all because Grace made me speak Chinese, and due to my inability to do so, got shot down for not being able to say something constructive by everyone. *shudder*

Why do we have to saboh each other? I mean, I try not to take it personally, but the simple fact remains is that my interview has already turned into a fucking trainwreck, all because my weak point is the chinese language... whatever the reason, maybe it doesn't matter anymore.

This goes out to one of my classmates (who apparently goes ga-ga over Ang Moh guys):

Thank you for making fun of my inability to speak chinese today! I feel such "honour" to be ridiculed in your exhalted presence, but yet again, I can hardly feel that you are the best individual worthy of such praise simply because you are NOT ENTITLED to take the mickey out of me, neither are you someone whom I can remotely respect.

Personally, I do not know you very well, and I'd rather have nothing to say to you at all than have to put up with your stuck-up attitude to both your classmates and lecturers. What's so great about you, I wonder? I scorn at the fact that you are such a noisy individual in class, and all that ruckus which you create from your pie-hole. I pity your desire for attention.

Ever wonder why I'm relatively silent? It's because I've got nothing much of worth to mention (in your irrelevant conversations) and I'd rather keep my mouth shut and let others talk crap while the joke is still "fresh".

Also, please stop screaming.. it's not good for both your voice and your possible image as a sane person. And do not think I'm taking pleasure out of mentioning this on my blog... try anyone who doesn't believe you're plenty noisy (unnecessarily) in class and outside. And try growing up while you're figuring out what it means to be respected by others.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Oh Well...

Hmm.

Tonight was the first time I ever (I hate this word so much) posed for a bunch of people for their drawing benefit. I guess it was all right... no one giggled throughout like childish schoolgirls, but rather everyone was pretty cool, although my arms and feet were rather numb after maybe 10 mintues of sticking in the same position, albeit shifting slightly to ease the pins and needles in my limbs. I also got paid immediately after the session :p

Tomorrow I've got a mock interview for Communications Skills, so I gotta spiff up once more, and then quickly get back home and get ready for work. I just pray I can get through all right.

Oh yeah... I've finished the basic shaping of my V.I. model!!! Called the 'Rocker', due to both my inclination towards rock music which caused me to coin the term, but also because of the fact it is sort of a humpty-dumpty toy, which can return to an upright position after being pushed in any direction. Cool.

Anyway, I just hope my recent spate of reasonably good luck can continue, and also I hope I can have more time to play 'Need For Speed' with Alvin, like just now in the com lab :)


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

It just Keeps Getting Better And Better III: Human figures!

Hmm.

At long last I've finished up my presentation board for my studio project-cum-YADA awards entry, which was a pain to do and a bigger pain to wait for the dman computer to finish rendering just one snapshot of the product... I wasted like a minimum of 15 min for just one rendering, and after that if it fouls up, I'd have to redo the damn thing.

Anyway, got an indirect complement from Vincent (my Studio project lecturer), in front of the whole class, when he saw my presentation board:

'Ah, you all see, but not to say anything ah, but this (my p-board) is how Vincent, when he was your age ah, this is how I like to do my presentation board... (sucks teeth) and I like it.. ho leng (cantonese for "very nice")!'

LOL... anyway, handed in my presentation board, and now just hoping I can finish up some stuff for my V.I. on thursday, tomorrow I'm going to have an intensive model-making session after design seminar in the morning, after I collect all the cash from everyone for the entry into the YADA (Young Asian Design Awards).

However, something peculiar happened today... I was in the midst of adjusting the layout of the items and images on my presentation board using photoshop, when Micheal Gan (my V.I. lecturer-in-charge) called me out of the computer lab. I got a glimpse of one of my seniors laughing and then vanishing as I proceeded to resolve the mystery of the need of my presence by Micheal Gan.

Mike Gan then proceeded to introduce me to a DMD (Digital Media Design) lecturer, by the name of Jimmy. Apparently, they need a model for their human-sketching classes, to which I responded with a courteous but curious smile. In the end, they asked me whether I was interested in becoming the model for the class, with a substantial pay and all... for two hours per week, every thursday night in a secluded classroom and I would have been very interested if not for the final glitch:

I can only be dressed in a pair of shorts, and nothing more.

Oh well, the price of human dignity has always been rather high, apparently that senior who laughed and then disappeared was not satisfied with the pay, and decided to give it a miss. I personally fel that if it's just in the name of education and the enhancing of one's sketching skills, then why not? I just pray that the class isn't filled with giggly girls like Sian Lee, or I'd be in for a 'wonderful' time.

P4MMF (pray for me, my friends), because I really, really, need it.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

The Day After Tomorrow

Hmm.

Today passed like a blur of colour and dust... had model-making this morning, and I arrived all exhausted and dripping with sweat because I was carrying my toolbox, and my hugantic bag to boot. In any case, I had to re-do the model of my handphone like three times, before I got the best shape out of the third one.

I managed to get 75/100 for my mouse model, although "it was the best amongst your classmates', ergonomically" according to Kuou, my model-making lecturer. I still feel that 75% is really rotten, I should have gotten at least 80%, if not for the glitched finishing, which was the result of too many a coat of paint and lacquer.

Anyhow, I've completed my 3D renderings for my studio project combo of plant pot, accompanying trowel and ph meter. I'm still irked by the fact that my lecturer sprung the dateline on us so abruptly, but I still wished him a happy birthday today...

Happy Birthday, Vincent! (and please invest in some tooth-whitening toothpaste)

In any case, a lot has been filling up my mind, and somehow I'm still very calm considering I have a test next week and I think i lost a lot of my lecture notes for that module (!!!) but I'll try and find them asap. School is starting to get really time-consuming both during school days and off, I have to keep fighting my boss off regarding the number of days I can work.. it's not that I don't want to work, but I just have too many projects to complete within the next two weeks or so.

Sigh... I guess that's enough blogging for today, I'll see you folks around.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

What a Sunday

Hmm.

Well, you can call it bad luck, or you can call it God's will, but when I tried to download my Rhino file off my briefcase, it ended up as a text file! Oh man.. so early saturday morning I had to sit down and re-create the whole of my flowerpot once more, and at least I managed to re-do the clamping device, which looked like crap back in school.

The end result looks pretty good, even Vincent said it looked not too bad, but I still think there's some need for some more spit and polish. For instance, I find the base of my flower pot a bit too plain, but anyways.. it needs to be printed unto and presentation board and handed in (along with all of my development sketches) by tuesday.

In any case, I'm now doing the rendering for my flowerpot, or rather letting my insistantly slow and obnoxious computer render the flowerpot, which takes a grand total of 45 min per image. It's just so bloody slow... I can like go off somewhere and come back and it's still not done yet.

Anyway, went out today, and met my date (!!!!!) but the weather fouled up almost immediately. In the end, went back to her place, had a great time chatting about work and school and looking at her pictures of her travels. She's a great gal, and I feel that it's great that I managed to get to know her.

Sigh, got so much stuff left to complete before tuesday... stress is hitting me at an all time high, but I'm not giving in to it: I'm not panicking, but I've got this amazing sense of urgency, but at the same time, I have this desire to sit back, say a prayer before moving on.

So I'll say a prayer then.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Surprise, surprise...

Hmm.

I'm not sure what forces are at work nowadays, but coincidence cannot be ruled out entirely. I'm sure all of you have received news regarding the bomb attacks in London, and how amazingly that it occured one day after the city was slated to hold the 2012 Olympics, and it also happened right in the middle of the G8 summit.

While differing reprots have surfaced regarding how many people were killed or injured, one thing remains the same: the grim reality that we are all living in a world where uncertainty will prevail if we do not counter these extremists, and faith in a better tomorrow can bring us through this sad tragedy.

I find it interesting that certain groups of people would choose to make a living out of causing terror and destruction... where's the glory in causing pain and suffering? Would achieving their political and military ends through such means cast them in the favourable light of whichever God they pray to? Such people, in my opinion, are not even entitled to pray to a God.

God spreads the word of peace, harmony and obedience. If such individuals and organisations wish to perform such acts of horror, then I would say that they are selfish and incomsiderate towards those who share the same religion, but without a doubt abhorr such actions.

Yet again, there are those who find such individuals worthy of respect and fear. Respect and fear? Are persons who extinguish the lives of innocent people needlessly worthy of such appraisal? As a designer-in-training, I believe that we must respect the dignity and pride of our predecessors, peers, and preciders. This means that even for individuals like Leonardo da vinci who are supremely brilliant in the areas of design and the arts, their decision to come up with weapons of manslaughter and destruction would mean that they have no respect for the meaning of human life.

As such, I believe that being able to treasure the ones around us, appreciating their opinions and desires will make us grow into better persons, not only by being able to know what people want, but also how we can work around such opinions and desires which are indesireable.

For those who find it hard to find faith, I think I've managed to find a ray of light, as diffused as it might seem. In as few words to the point as possible regarding this subject, let me just say that: I might just be able to leave the bachelors' club soon enough, but nothing is confirmed.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

In a Little While II

Hmm.

Oh well, I managed to get to know a certain someone on friendster. Apparently she's taking a course in sound and audio enginnering (or something like that), and she also knows one of my classmates from their secondary school days.

In any case, I had just found her love for writing songs very interesting, on top of the fact that she plays guitar and some musical instruments as well (I think).

Eventually, I had sent her some songs which I had recorded down, to ask her for opinions... whether the song was well recorded, which parts are good, which parts aren't fantastic etc. She gave me pretty good feedback.

She then sent me one of her own compositions, which was so badly recorded, I could barely hear her voice.. but I couldn't blame her: she barely knew anything about sound recording because she's only a freshmen in her course.

I listened to the music, and it sounded rather michelle branch-ish, which is something which I didn't mind, but isn't something you would hear me sing all day long. So I decided that maybe since she can't really record her songs quite well, I'll just help her do something about it: I'll record a version of the song with me on vocals, guitar and bass.

And so I did... the final version is now playing right here on my blog.. just pray hard your computer allows you to hear the song, because it is known that some net users can't hear the songs.

My final version includes two vocals (one lead and backing vocal exchanging lead and backing roles), two guitars (one very chimey, one very clear) and one bass, which gives the song a rather norah jones kind of feel. Ialso accidentally mis-read the lyrics a bit, so I guess i changed the song unintentionally as well :p

What ever it is, the song turned out qute all right, but for all of you reading this, I need to know what you think of this song... good or bad, fair or foul... I need opinions.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

The Murky Waters Of Songwriting XIX

Hmm.

I've just recently updated one of my older songs which I composed like, last year. The title is 'Starry Night', and according to Alvin, a lot of my slow love songs sound similar. I supposed he's right, because I do start off a song in a very signature manner i.e. either picking or soft strumming, and can you blame me? I only know how to play guitar and mandolin.

I've been listening to some Eric Clapton blues music, and somehow it seems to be very similar to AC/DC minus the twin guitar wallop on your ear canals, the screaming I-just-had-a-truck-dropped-on-my-foot vocals, the thumping bass drum and driving bass. In essence, AC/DC is like some sort of hyper-overdriven version of John Mayall and his blues-breakers.

I dunno, I personally approach all of my songs in a new light, I seldom repeat old stuff although the structure might remain the same (intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, chorus, verse, outro) with some minor variations etc.

My key concern is that I seem to be running dry on acoustic material (plenty of acoustic material, but most of it is repetitive, nothing much is fresh) but I'm coming up with good electric-based songs which of course include a wacko guitar solo, driving bass and I-just-had-a-truck-dropped-on-my-foot vocals.

I've noodled long enough on my electric to come up with some interesting riffs, which might be good enough material if Alvin and I manage to bring in a bassist and drummer (personally, I wouldn't mind a second guitarist apart from alvin while I concentrate on the vocals for some songs).

I've also seen news for the Strait's Times School of Rock, and I thought to myself: 'what would I do if I had the power to bring three/four more people into a band, write some good material and actually take them to the top?' then came the reply: 'you don't even have a proper bassist and drummer at hand, so quit thinking until they are availible'.

Sigh. I've got a good head for rock riffs, especially boogie riffs and stuff which I can just improvise over a repetitive bass riff. Since I've been exposed to so much Led Zeppelin, which is the premier improvisational blues-based rock band, I've got a pretty good head for improvising in the style of blues, but throw me a pop riff and I'll just go 'huh?'.

I just pray I can find new material to play around with, but hope it won't come too unexpectantly.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Mother's Love XX

Hmm.

Today's my mother's birthday, and I completely forgot all about it until my classmate asked me for the date, to which I thought really hard, reflected upon why there is an american flag flying on the yahoo webpage, resorted to looking at my handphone's calender before replying:

'The fourth!'

'Wait... it's my mum's birthday!!!'

So I decided to be a very good boy and text messaged my mum with a wholesome 'Happy Birthday!'

To which she replied a simple 'Thank you'.

Ah well, mum's been really nice for the past week (was she behaving nicely in the anticipation I would give her something?), especially understanding that I wanted an Ipod, and being rather patient with my desire to check it out at Harvey Norman last night.

There was this blonde-haired bloke at the counter who was pushing forth Creative products. For the record, I thumb my nose at most creative mp3 players because they're simply fugly, and also because Alvin's Zen micro conked out on him prematurely. That kind of thing does not go down well with me.

In any case, I'll be keeping my eyes open, for any Ipod bargains heading my way.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Model-making!

Hmm.


Just went through a morning and afternoon with alvin, procceding with our work on the model of a computer mouse which is due on monday. So far, I have managed to complete the form and coat it with one layer of lacquer, one base coat (white), and one layer of silver on the top of the mouse.

I've discovered that partially sanding down the dry paint would allow for a better second layer of paint which is sprayed on. In the past, I made the mistake of adding too many layers, and on top of that, I had no idea that sanding the paint or lacquer would aid in the finishing process. Eventually, my item had been covered in fingerprints and finishing flaws... all too obvious to mask at the last minute.

So I have learnt my lesson, and now I am much patient, and I will sand down my layers of paint and lacquer before proceeding on to adding more layers of paint.

I've decided that my mouse will be silver in colour, but I want to add a final coat of lacquer to make the surface look like a high-gloss plastic finish. I just hope and pray I will eventaully achieve such a good-quality finish for my mouse model.

I've just come back from my shift at the pub... there's this uncomfortable feeling inside my stomach and an aching in my head... wonder what's that all about.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy