Interview With Crawldaddy

Hmm.

Ripping off those crap thingie messages on Friendster:

So tell me, how does it feel to be 18 at long last?

I'll tell you how it feels, I feel like I'm riding the pig's back, but at the same time, it feels like something's straddling my arse for the last couple of months.. must be Murphy's Law.

Right. Had any alcohol in the last month?

I have to honest. Yes. I had one vodka tonic one week after my birthday, and I had a beer coupel of weeks back. Not feeling guilty, because I know I can handle it, and I'm not afraid to confront my inability to consume alcohol in copious amounts. Hence I took only a half-pint that evening/morning.

And you've been playing guitar for 5 years.. feel good being where you are right now?

Like I said, I'm riding the pig's back.. I've got my fingers in all sorts of pie, and the thing which is constipating all my efforts is the damn school system. Fooking miserablist establishment had to make me cancel my Tuesday gigs when Gerry was away, and I had to settle for ONE Thrusday evening gig, which was frankly, utter shite. Nuff said.

And love life? How's that coming along?

Ah.. feeling like a male Bridget Jones, to be honest.. hopeful but indifferent... I'm different.. I'm not desperate like that ficticious character. Not desperate for a shag either, because it's wrong, and I've always thought so. Got my heart broken once or twice, but that's the way things go.. you gotta get trodden on before you can bounce back and knacker 'em back in the kisser. Just kidding... I love the people around me. Excluding dimwits and dumbfooks.

What do you think of your achievements in the past year?

To be truthful, it's been very fulfilling.. winning a merit with Alvin for the chair thingie, and trying to get into the FLY competition (failed, but wtf, anyway) and the Pyramid Gang winning the competition and all. Very Happy for all that, but I still think I've got a long way more to travel, and it's a winding road.

Made any enemies recently?

I don't think so. If anything I've been trying to heal all the old wounds. Fook 'em if they can't compromise... nothing's worse than a stiff neck. Truth to tell, some people will remain as they are: self-conceited and unforgiving... but what's the point in charging in with all barrels blazing? You're only gonna shoot yourself in the foot, anyway.

I notice you're rather conservative this year?

I am? Not sure as to what you are referring to.. maybe I've been doing less bullshit, but I sure as hell still love to imitate my boss who tried to pretend playing the bagpipes with a four-legged chair. I still love to scream with joy, but I guess it's because I'm older, and I was burning out anyways... Remember that I did sit on Jeremy and made him wear that ridiculous scrungie. Bollocks to the idiot who bought me that.

Fact or fiction: Crawldaddy is a biased bastard.

It ultimately depends on how you look at it because I come from a background whereby I believe in my points of view very strongly. Unless you can prove me outright that what I know is wrong, I have no comment, but until then, anything and everything is debatable. I have no qualms saying right now that I'd be willing to change my point of view, but I don't take to bullshit lightly.

If someone dared you to sing the national anthem in front of 500 people, would you do it?

No. First off, I'm not a fan of the national anthem because I think it's much better off as an instrumental. No doubt singing it brings greater pride and joy, but considering that this is a social democracy... it's like waving the flag of political-correctness. Secondly, if I'm the sole performer, it's worse, because I find myself a person who cannot connect very well with the majority of the population (for fook's sake, I listen to Pink Floyd.. who the heck of my generation listens to Pink Floyd??) and hence I would not be an accurate representation of my peers, and I have no desire to be one, but rather someone who can provide a different perspective on things.

So what's the plan for next year?

Try and get into shape. Right now I'm a right slob.. I'm a slacker and that's not who I am. I'm a rocker.. I want to get things done, and I want to shake off this coat of slackedness. Also try to focus better. Too many distractions. Love more. Shirk less. Give more. Procrastinate less.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Crikes VII

Hmm.

It's official, and it's settled: Never use the word 'Emo' in front of my face ever. It's like saying FUCK to a Pastor.

Reasons why I do not like the word 'Emo':

1. It's associated with 'emo-rockers', essentially people who are 'punk-whiners' dun get confused.

2. The term has been over-used, kind of like how 'rhythm and blues' was bursting at the seams from being associated with too many types of groups back in the 40's and 50's.. hence the birth of the term 'rock and roll'.

3. I'm a rock, country, blues guy. I can't that sort of (punk whine) rubbish. It's like a zit on the face.

4. Being misunderstood is one thing, but when your favourite rock/pop groups get mistaken for Emo bands (by blur people)... that's when I pull out my battle-axe.

5. In my humble opinion, Emo is a genre of music which has completely defaced the meaning of music, from something which is pure, cool and awesome (e.g. rock music).. into a tool for whining and just thrashing about with meaningless gusto. You get the point.

Sometiems I wish some people just go and flush their brains out, because they have nothing to lose (pun intended) and because they truly need to start becoming a person, and not a by-product of global commercialisation. WAKE UP!


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Tired

Hmm.

I'm blogging in school.. just finished working on my Pro-E test model.. thank goodness I've managed to finish it within 2 hours because the previous attempt spanned two sessions' worth of hard work. At least now I know that I am able to finish it off within the test time limit of 3 hours.

The end of the year has come, and now that I look back, I see some mlestones in my life:

1. I'm finally 18, beer here I come!
2. I had the best birthday ever.. lotsa presents (thank yew to those people once again).
3. Burnt out two times within one year, such an amazing feat for a design student whose average semester is chocked in excess of 8 projects.
4. Won FLIP Challenge Merit Award with Alvin.
5. Traded in my first electric (B.C. Rich Mockingbird) for an Epiphone SG for $150.
6. Bought a Muddy Waters telecaster.
7. Worked at Molly Malones Irish Pub for over a year.
8. Met a fantastic online friend.
9. Met Robert Bartlett aka guitarist extraordinaire.
10. Celebrated Gerry Cox's birthday (quotable quote:"There are three teams in the EPL with swear words in their team names: ARSEnal, sCUNTerland, and Manchester-fucking-United!!")

I'm thinking of a few New Year's resolutions for 2006:

1. Finish off 'Steak & Onions', our yet-to-be worked upon FGG album which has been temporarily shelved due to (duh) packed schedule.
2. Learn how to play boogie-woogie on the electric or acoustic guitar.
3. Change my electric amplifier.
4. Exercise at least once per week.
5. Get Angus Young signature pickups to upgrade my SG sound.
6. Stop focussing on the negative aspects of life; key phrase: stop writing sad poems.
7. Remove those fucking eyebags from my face.
8. Get a better-paying job.
9. And hence earn a whole lotta more cash.
10. I dunno what else.. so how ti goes along the way :)


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

My handphone and its custom-made pouch... I had no choice, which was otherwise very sissy-like bags 

Mother's Love XXIV

Hmm.

I swear, if I have to, I'll hire some professional account-hacker to wire me some cash so that whatever I buy will be unknown to my mum. Similarly, I'd buy some horse-tranquiliser to shoot her down so that she'll give me at least five second's worth of peace and quiet.

Why am I saying this?

As you guys probably know from my previous posts, I've just got a new handphone, and I wanted to get a handphone pouch for it, so as to minimise the amount of wear and tear inflicted upon my latest pride and joy (ok, fine, only my Muddy Waters Telecaster is truly my pride and joy). As I was searching through the NYP shopping arcade, I soon realised that the phone pouches on sale were too frickin' sissy and frankly overpriced. Hence, the DIY guy in me emerged once more.

I went down to Dhoby Ghaut, Plaza Singapura and got myself a set of electric guitar strings, a bottle of lemon oil (for cleaning my guitars' fretboards), a set of cotton twine and blue-grey velvet. I was planning to change the strings on my SG and I also planned to make a handphone pouch for myself.

So I went home, started on the pouch when my mum came in:

Mum: 'What are you so busy about?' (she seems to be watching my every move, so the moment I'm awake, I seem to be as busy as a bee)

Crawldaddy: 'I'm making myself a handphone pouch'

M: 'wah, where you get the material?'

C: 'I bought it just now'

M: 'can make one for me as well?'

C: 'I have other things to do later lah'

M: 'No, I don;t care, you're going to make one for me'

C: 'Can I PLEASE don't?' (right now I know, resistance is futile)

M: 'No. Do it.'

As you can see, my dear mother is incredibly accomodating and understanding... so much so I think she deserves the frickin' 'Parent of The Year' Award. Yeah, awarded for sheer willpower and ability to enslave any child.

So I made both phone pouches, hers especially grudgingly. I purposely made it too small to show her my displeasure. I don't care. I was so pissed about it I had no mood to touch my guitar afterwards.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Of Earphones and good music...

Hmm.

At very very very long last, I have patched up my old earphones (bought em for <$25, but they sound wicked when plugged into my discman) for let's see... the fifth time? I learnt my lersson: I'm never taking them out of the house for leisurely use.. just solely for sound production and relaxing.

Because of the previous four times I had patched up my earphones, the wire has gone from 1.5 metres to a mere foot (12 inches) long. Mainly because I severed off the old length and 'transplanted' my other sony 'short-length' wire onto it (I had spoilt my sony earpones which were stock earphones for my discman.. accidentally doused it in water, so I just decapitated off the earpieces and attached the remaining wire to my old earphones) and voila... perfectly functioning cans.

Anyhow. The stock earphones for my ROKR phone came with those foam-like earpiece comforters (things which you slip around the earpieces to ensure a snug fit with your ear-hole), and they were frankly bloody uncomfortable. Searching aroudn the shopping arcade at NYP I found a pair of rubber comforters which I'm wearing right now, and frankly, they're a frickin' God-send, and they definitely do not constipate the sound like the foam ones do.

I bought a pair of guitar hangers for my old acoustics, so that they would not take up so much floor space. Thign is.. where to put the darn things as in which part of my room? As a main display item or in a more obscure area? I'm not sure.. and Mother Dearest's not helping because she's always indecisive about such things (namely the potential for disfiguring the walls in case we choose a bad spot).


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

my brand new Moto ROKR E1 with itunes!!! 

One Way Ticket...

Hmm.

I recently managed to get a copy of 'One Way Ticket To Hell... And Back', which is the Darkness' latest album. One word: ROCKIN'!!!

Ok, although fans of the early Darkness sounds may not receive the same sonic whallop from the first album, the 2nd album from the Lowestoft lads still packs the same sense of humour albeit much more subtle now but at least they are experimenting with different instrumentations including sitars, synthesizers, pan-flutes and... bagpipes.

Initially, I wasn't used to this lighter, stadium-rock sound, and I was secretly hoping they could have a hot-shit riff-rocker in store, but I was sorely diasppointed, but largely rewarded with Justin's soaring vocals and Dan's searing lead-work.

I give them 7/10 for their effort, but I'm thinking that many people like myself still wished they could have held onto their older sound, and churn out more riffs, rather than bleeping synth bits.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

This goes show that when it comes to Crawldaddy and his endeavours, resistance is futile. Thanks to Jonathan for the final touch XD 

yes.. I am sitting on Jeremy.. you know how hard he tried to get away??? 

the damn scrungie 

Ahh, the sound of music so sweet...

Hmm.

First off, I hope you guys had a very good Christmas and boxing day. I know I had a nice time.

Let's start off with the 23rd of December, and the SDN christmas party. In a nutshell, I wasn't that interested in the party affairs, and I'm glad to have evaded it 70% of the time. I wrapped my present for Andrea last-minute, and the gift wrap was bought by Micheal, who chose some disgusting floral pattern with a chrome silver background. I ended up using the back of the gift wrap, which was mercifully devoid of disgusting floral patterns.

Thank God Sabby was next to me (or rather I sat next to her) so that i could ask her opinion on the gift wrapping style. I think I went through three styles before the final one was 'reincarnated' such that my gift didn't look as cheap as its previous 'incarnations'.

The highlight of the night was the gift exchange, and guess what I got? I fucking scrungie. I swear, if I find out who gave me that thing, I'll strangle them with it, and shove it down their throat, crystal flower and all. Who the fuck gives a guy a scrungie? Come on! I know I'm no sissy.

Anyway, we (Dee, Andrea, Liesl, Jonathan and myself) tried to make Jeremy wear it, but to no avail. Then we cornered him and finally made him put it on. Cheers to Dee who snapped that oh-so-glorious picture.

My 24th highlight was getting a new handphone. I finally managed to get a camera phone!!! YAY. It's the Motorola ROKR E1 with itunes built in, so now I'm rockin' to AC/DC, Led Zep, Rolling Stones and the Red Hot Chili Peppers whilst on the move, and without the excess baggage.

My 25th was spent largely with a journey to KL to visit my relations and also bring my grandpa down to singaproe to stay with us for a while. He's pretty old, so I have to help him out whenever I can. With him around, I feel so much like a good grandson.. helping him do all sorts of stuff... whatever. The trip was marred by the fact I was so lethargic I spent 60% of the time asleep, and the remaining 40% of the time 30% awake.

Today, I managed to load up loads of songs into my ROKR, and I also devised a couple of ringtones to be used... namely a shortened AC/DC's 'Highway To Hell', which kicks of right at the chorus, so when my phone rings you'll hear Bon Scott going: 'I'm on a HIGHWAY TO HELL... HIGHWAY TO HELL...' then I also mashed up Smashmouth's 'Then The Morning Comes' by using it as my morning wake-up call and dramatically increasing the volume of the intro bit which now goes 'DEEDO DEEDO.. GOOD MORNING!!!'

Tomorrow, I've got an ergo lesson to attend to, and also some model-making to touch up. Hope everything goes alright.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Welcome to the Machine II

Hmm.

I'm working on my entrepreneurship project right now, and my rhino model seems to be having some difficulty with the lighting. crikes.. I seriously need to take a very good look at the flamingo rendering book Jie Hong passed to me.

Anyway, Christmas is just around the corner.. the anticipation of it is so thick in the air, the only thing preventing me from fully embracing it is the fact that I have so much on my mind and on my hands.

Once again I ask myself the question:

'Why can't I have a normal life',

and answer myself: 'Since when did you have such a normal life anyway???'

Out of my entire life, I think this friday's christmas party would be the first I have ever attended. That means 18 years of not having any Christmas cheer in my home. I'm not surprised, considering my folks are free-thinkers and they have been relative tight-wads when it comes to giving us things just for the fun of it.

With the exception of today.. my mum actually bought a pair of shoes for me unannounced, and it was cool: a pair of Dunlop badminton shoes. it fitted me perfectly.. so Thanks MUM!

Anyhow... all I have on my mind is frankly my Muddy Waters Telecaster. I just can't seem to get my mind of my latest toy... when I reached home from Ergonomics class late last night, immediately after I finished my makan and shower I plopped right down and pulled out my Tele for an hour of pure blues bliss.

One thing though, my earphones (Audio-technica earphones, btw) were under alot of strain.. so much so that the speakers were literally rattling within their casings. It's either the guitar is seriously throwing its weight about or my earphones aren't exactly of the quality I believe they seemed to be.

I seriously need to find time to patch together my old Panasonic earphones, which I find are the best earphoens I have ever come across: Warm, smooth tone and fantastic bass response. I remember when listening to 'Burnt Holidays', the bass was so powerful, I would cut back the bass power on my discman and it wouldn't sound empty.

Listening to CSNY right now, and I'm somehow feeling empty. Maybe it's the lack of christmas cheer. It could be the fact that I'm seriously demented and that I have this massive inferiority complex. It could be my expansive amount of projects to work around, and the fact that I still have not bought the present required of me for the Christmas party this friday.

I'm thinking that since it's for a girl: Bracelets, earrings or chocolates? I'm thinking she probably does not appreciate having chocolates to turn herself into a sorry state of obesity, and she probably has plenty of either bracelets or earrings.. so what else can I buy for under $5???

I originally thought of something like a bookmark, or even something useful like a pencilcase, but that's so blase. So here's my sentiments, it's got to reflect my personality in terms of my sensibility and maturity, but also caters to the person's personal tastes.. which are probably far off from mine.

Amanda had some very interesting advice for me when choosing the item:

1. Does it look gross?

2. Is it unique?

3. Do I want to buy it?

(ok, the details regarding this bit of advice are a little fuzzy.. so pardon me if I recalled your advice wrongly, do know the frist one was relatively accurate)


I find that a very sensible way to choose an item, but for me.. I'm too hard pressed for time and money such that I have to find something I'm comfortable giving someone in a very short time and with a limited budget.

Should I exceed the budget requirement because I know her? She's a friend and I think maybe she does deserve it (an item which does not just cost $5 and under). LOL I can't decide.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

I do believe this is one of my better glass renderings... my candle holder for Garry's RP module. 

Mind in Mono II

Hmm.

Ok, I can feel it. It's not depression. It's not the stupid things which I've done throughout my entire life which have come back to haunt me. It's simple: I'm burning out.

I knew this was coming, and frankly I'm just waiting for the fever to arrive and the headaches to start pouring in. I can't escape it.. because I'm burning out.

Not that it hasn't happened before. After all, I did burn out halfway through the semester.. and it's happening all over again. What with 8 project running concurrently, I'm actually doing badly because we had 1q2 projects last semester.

Right now... waiting for my 3D modelling software to finish up the renderings of my candle-holder. I still haven't started on my illustrator toolbox. I am so gonna DIE. I think I might not sleep at all tonight. What the hey.. the burnout is approaching anyway, so might as well go down in all my flame and glory.

I had a go at my Telecaster just now. I love it so much. God knows why I put so much love into my guitars and muscial instruments, music in general and the subtle art of appreciating music. After all, I don't have anywhere else to place my love. I think it might not be my time to enter a relationship yet, and as such, I have to place my love elsewhere where I can. In this case, my most recent musical purchase.

It's not as if I've never tried to make a difference. Come to think of it, it might be the fact that I'm a very intense person. Many a time, people have told me to cool it, take it easy, slack a little. Could my attitude of shoot-em-all-and-heck-with-em be the source of my discontent? That side of me is the reason why I'm going places, but it seems to be accelerating my burnout rate just as effectively. Ok, now I'm getting tired.

I just want some time to myself... read a good book, listen to some Nick Drake, work on Rhino for pleasure, jam with my pals, learn Jazz, pick up a new language (perhaps german?), get a new handphone, exercise... so many things to do, but all screwed because new things keep popping up every now and again. Last weekend was a truly guitar-dominated two days... I had replaced the tuners on my old acoustic guitar, and I bought the Tele.

I need more time. Seriously.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Do I have A Disease? VIII

Hmm.

I just read a post on DMD Sabrina's blog, and it really made me think... what else can I do to make myself a better person? Is there something wrong with me such that I'm always on the losing end of the stick?

It's already the end of the day, and I'm really tired... psyched though I might be about my new toy, Sabrina's post made me sit up and think about who I am, what I do and how I do it. I could not help gloss over my past mistakes and find how dumb I was and still am. As much as I wish I could, I can't change the past, but try and improve and hope for the best in the days to come.

That few moments made me kind of sad once more.

I was on the MRT from the jamming session just now and I could not help but notice all those happy-looking couples and think: 'when will my turn arrive?' It's actually very important for someone to have a companion.. after all (as the English lecturer at the back of my mind clearly states) no man is an island. I feel empty all of the sudden.

I'm man enough to admit I've made very foolish mistakes in the past, and I regret them completely. Turning 18 has proved to be tough for me especially since I have achieved nothing in this department since the day I realised that I might someday be some woman's spouse.

I don't want to go into the details regarding how crap I feel right now, but maybe it's all attributed to me feeling lethargic right now. I could also be the fact that I have to churn out my Illustrator toolbox by tuesday morning. But one thing is for certain: I'm still alone.

Should I shut my heart and continue on as a cold, heartless, indifferent creature? I'm tired of false hopes and directionless aspirations, which end up in cul-de-sacs and never-ending circles. You know what? I don't even care anymore.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Red Twanger

Hmm.

Ladies and gentlemen... as of 3:30 pm yesterday.. I am the proud owner of a Fender Muddy Waters Custom Telecaster!!! Oh man.. the twang from that guitar is just so incredible.. I decided to name it the Red Twanger. Kinky...

I was down at Swee Lee's Sims Drive sale, and the place was chocked with guitarists and drummers... and bassists. I was looking for the Fender Telecasters, but all of the USA standards were sold out, and all that was left were the Squires and the custom and artiste series Fenders.

Anyway, long and short of it all was that I eventually decided on the Fender because I have always wanted a Telecaster, and since it was a one-a-year sale.. what the hey, and grab that bugger before someone else got it.

haha.. had a great time playing it yesterday and just a short moment ago.. I'm gonna bring it for my jam session later.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

The thing about being Crawldaddy

Hmm.

10 things you might not /don't wanna know about Crawldaddy:

1. To make up for an absence of a love life, Crawldaddy instead puts his love into three main things, namely his guitar(s), 3D modelling and blogging/blog surfing. That does not mean he is not interested in girls. Of course he is.

2. He knows most of the lyrics to roughly 70% of the Spice Girls repertoire, because of a certain Brother Dearest, who is an endearing Spice Girls fan. Long and short of it was that Crawldaddy was over-exposed to such music at an early age.

3. He often wonders what might happen if he was given an inexhaustible can of lighter fluid and an auto-refilling lighter. Fire, anybody?

4. Crawldaddy used to have a small collection of bread packet plastic clips. You know, when you buy the gardenia bread and the bag is kept shut with that little plastic thingie? Yes, he used to have a small collection of those little plastic thingies.

5. Accompanying his collection of little plastic thingies (which are, btw, long gone) is the fact that Crawldaddy still possesses most of his milk teeth, which are currently in some remote location within his bedroom.

6. The first song Crawldaddy ever attempted to learn on the guitar was 'It's My Life' by Bon Joiv. Needless to say, he has never gotten down to completely learning that song, nor the subsequent 20 attempts at any other modern rock song.

7. Crawldaddy has this weird first impression regarding pretty girls with long, rebonded hair sporting skirts and tank tops who are more often than not, bimbos. The accuracy regarding this theory is more often than not unreliable mainly because Crawldaddy is too lazy to verify the truth, which is probably so incalculable, it's like attempting to listen to the Spice Girls without forgetting the lyrics.

8. Crawldaddy also has this weird impression that any guy who looks at him more than twice on the mrt has got to be gay. In which case, I ease up along the carraige away from the person in perspective and pray for a distraction, namely a girl who would allow me to speculate whether she might or might not be a bimbo.

9. Crawldaddy has the uncanny ability to write songs about just about any darn thing. You want songs about singing naked in the shower whist the shower door is open? You've got it. You want songs about how to skin your cat alive but still feel guiltless about it? You've got it. Just do not ask me to write any songs which might be inspired by the Bible, because that's Alvin's job.

10. Crawldaddy once recorded the sound of a friend snoring. To prove that he was infinitely evil, he deleted the file in front of that friend, only to restore it and burn it into a CD-R and pass it onto Alvin for safekeeping. He also hopes that Charlotte will not kill him in the very near future for that deed, which has somehow or another, reared its sleepy head once more.

Cheers,

Crawldaddy

My.. am I flattered

Hmm.

Ok, blogging in school, I know I shouldn't be doing this, but I'm always for the kicks in life. One thing which has come to my mind occurred last night when I was talking to a friend of mind.

I had let him listen to one of the FGG songs, and he mentioned to me that I sounded like a 65 year-old person!!! Omg, but here's a list of descriptions people have described my singing voice:

Mother: not very soothing
Brother: whiny
Father: rather throaty
Robert: Mellifluous (which, btw means pleasant)
Gerry: good (haha, very general, but much appreciated)
A couple of friends: very mature
Jamming pals: powerful

I suppose my voice has matured along with my looks, esp when so many people have commented that I look older than what I really am. However that said, I do not admire people whose voice remain squeaky, even though they have reached a certain age... in fact sometimes I wonder why this happens to people. Anyway, I count myself blessed to be able to have a unique vocal capability, crap as it might be from time to time.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

It's just Another Day and a Half III

Hmm.

Wow, great day today.. managed to finish off a couple of rhino renders, and still pull it off pretty well. Then highlight of the day:

I officially went around the SAV (aka St. Andrew's Village). Anybody who says that place lacks sass can kiss my arse.. frankly, I'd love to go back there everyday and just soak in the atmosphere. I went through the entire place with Benjamin Lee (who's back from Oz until early Jan) and Giant Zucchini, who promptly made me trudge through the entire village, INCLUDING the frickin' JC, which used to be the secondary school.. haha so many memories popped back into our minds as we discovered one by one the various familiar places, and all the old memories kept flooding back.

Now, it was great to finally see the JC was getting it all in order (omg, the stadium just took our breath away), particularly when we had contributed good money ($20 bucks back in those days was and still is alot of money) to the construction of the place, and we were probably the first of the old boys to go and see the place. Alvin told me that the JC was officially moving back there sometime in the very near future, and I'm like.. whoa.. that's fierce.

Anyway.

Invited Benjamin back to my place (GZ tagged along, understoodably) and we let him hear 'Burnt Holidays' and thank God he liked 'Searchaway, Spring in Christchurch'... which is really a Magnum Opus to me... kind of how 'Shine on You Crazy Diamond' is to Pink Floyd. Funny thing, I just met another Pink Floyd fan yesterday.. and he's younger than me. I couldn't imagine someone else of my generation enjoying Pink Floyd, but yet again.. I'm no loner... Thankfully.

I recently started listening to Coldplay's "X&Y", which I think is a completely phenominal album. I couldn't put myself into the position where I could comfortably say I was a Coldplay fan, until I heard "X&Y" the second time... although considering the fact that my favourite Coldplay song was and still is "Trouble".

Now I can safely say that I account myself amongst the many Coldplay fans worldwide, because I think at least their sound is progressing... lyric-wise very mature, but when I heard "X&Y" again, I was strongly reminded of a youthful U2 rhythm section along with Pink Floyd's musical sensibilities and of course Chris Martin's trademark fragile yet agile vocal stylings.

For those who are still skeptics of Coldplay's latest album (I know this review is at least 5 months late) there is nothing for you to lose apart from an obviously closed state of mind. That said, I'm still lusting for The Darkness's Latest album "One Way Ticket To Hell... And Back", which I've heard is absolutely fricktastic. Muahaha.. hopefulyl I can get it soon *looks to Brother Dearest*.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers III

Hmm.

Today was an interesting mix of crap and fun. Crap because I had to endure the dental treatment which turned out to be a whole lotta waste of my frickin time (8am-10:45am, wait, go in, check my teeth, talk talk talk, confirm new dental appointment, wait at cashier, pay $32).

Then I had to go down to Bras Basah complex and procure the acrylic sheet for model making, and at the same time get a C2 marker for chu leong (which turned out salah because he typed his sms wrongly and meant C2 refill) and replacement tuners for my ageing 'Tina' acoustic, which has so much tuning problems, I'd hate to play it without tuning it after every frickin song.

Anyway, by the time I walked into AI (Adobe Illustrator) class, it was half-past 12, and I was considered late. What the heck, within 15 min, I felt like sleeping because the room was so darn dim. Praise the Lord for Amanda, who came to kachiow me because she herself was bored.. lol cheers, gal.

I've grown a deep annoyance towards VI... it's like all these big guns walking around trying to beef up our proposals by shooting us down. I find it terribly counter-productive because we feel like crap all the time. and I mean ALL THE TIME.
Anyway, gotta try and scrape together some sketches to show Mr Ego tomorrow... I'll waltz in at 8:50am to show how dedicated I am (righty-oh).

Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Dear Mr Ego II

Hmm.

Commemorating the move-over from my old blog address to the present one, I have a message for good ol' Mr Ego:


Dear Mr Ego,

Once again, you've shown how much gall you possess in order to make up for your lack of testicles (aka, balls). As usual, I'm not remotely amused by your excuse that our supposed VI meeting (scheduled at 2pm) was delayed and eventually officially cancelled at 4:30pm.

Now, it's not cool for you to suddenly call for an unscheduled meeting despite the fact that it might have been a good thing for all of us. Add that to the fact no one was remotely prepared for news regarding a VI meeting on frickin' Monday morning. Throw in the lack of sleep most of my classmates suffered, and my incredibly volatile mood commonly known as 'Monday Blues' and you have a very good idea how annoyed I was when I heard you called up for a meeting.

Now, add that to our obvious confusion when you sat in the staff room having a meeting all the way until 3pm whilst we slogged on with Garry in the stinky room made stinky by somebody's failed attempt at the FLIP! Challenge chair design competition... that event was so long past, I'm sure at least you (aka the deputy course manager) would understand the meaning of 'excess baggage' when it boils down to the removal of items which off-gas and thereby cause great mental disturbance to the students who occupy the room.

Okay, I'm gonna give you some slack because at least you bothered to apologise (although it was a very obvious 2.5 hrs after the meeting was scheduled) to some of the people who were there mainly because most of the people had already gone home... but then you just had to walk in there, coffee mug and folio in hand with that fake grimace and fruity voice (ok, it's already ingrained in you, but it's still frickin sickening) and then just float away hoping everything's all fine and dandy.

Gosh, I'm being bitchy. Heck... I'm only like this to bitches anyway.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Whole lotta...

Hmm.

Ok my friends.. it's final and I've decided at long last.. that I shall ditch the 'crawldaddydiscosuxx' moniker for my blog and move on.. to the next phase in this blog's history.

Now, I've decided to change my blog's address to 'wholelottacrawldaddy' because:

1. Led Zeppelin had a very famous song known as 'Whole Lotta Love', which was ripped off Willie Dixon's 'You Need Love'... so now it is my turn to rip off Led Zeppelin, whom I admire indefinitely.

2. AC/DC had another song titled 'Whole Lotta Rosie'. You do not want to know that the song was named in honour of a, ahem, chicken farmer, and her vital statistics are screamed out after the first verse. You do not want to know the joke which made me alter the title of this person's profession. I just admire Bon Scott, Angus and Malcolm Young's sense of humour for this song.

3. Anyway, since I'm a hugantic, ginormous fan of both AC/DC and Led Zeppelin, I've decided to name my blog after the first two words of those infamous songs (you do not want to know why those songs are infamous).

4. 'Wholelottacrawldaddy' is rather catchy... don't you think so? At least it's better than the questionable 'youcrawldaddiedmeallnightlong' (ripped off AC/DC's 'you shook me all night long') and the troubling 'wouldyouliketogooutwithme' (Sorry, Superdel).

5. I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, and there's nothing you can do about it muahahahaha.


Anyway.. I'll be officially changing it to 'wholelottacrawldaddy' by next week latest tuesday? I'll let you guys know about it.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Moving soon..?

Hmm.

I dunno.. I'm thinking that my blog site address www.crawldaddydiscosuxx.blogspot.com is somewhat too long, as has been fed-back to me by several people over the course of the past two years with which I've been using this blog address.

I'm beginning to think of what could be better blog addresses, help me choose from those below:

(with the inclusion of the "www" in front and the "blogspot.com" at the rear)

1. crawldaddyhome (I think this is lame)
2. rockinandrollin
3. messinwiththeblues
4. frontandcentre
5. shecannotsingfornuts (Alvin knows this one)
6. crazedandinfused
7. hahahaiamevil (hey, I did win the award ok?)
8. wouldyouliketogooutwithme
9. datemeifyoudare
10. crawldaddycommentary (laaame)
11. guysgotrhythm (haha.. another classic)
12. wholelottacrawldaddy
13. youcrawldaddiedmeallnightlong (personal favourite)
14. ifyouwantcdd_yougotit
15. shineonyoucrawldaddy
16. wemightaswellbecrawldaddy (powerful contender)
17. borntorocknroll
18. imbad_imcrawldaddy
19. whydunchagetchajob
20. rememberthe_y_chair (ooh, that gotta hurt, esp Alvin)

Ok, I'll be ready to admit some of the proposed names are dumb, but hey... it's only a scoial democracy we're in and I don't think such names will warrant the ISA hunting me down for a bad blog name... hence I need your help to either select or recommend any others which might pop into your mind.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

The Jam was good

Hmm.

Wow, the performance for Soon's welcome-back party was very good. We sang it right, and we did the vocal harmony so well... I was very happy.

I think today's a very rare day.. nothing much went wrong, compared to the usualy barrage of cock-ups which I have grown to accept as part of real life... I managed to do something on Rhino today, and we managed to polish off the Survey questions for Entrepreneurship.

I came home, and did some fretwork on my SG, in anticipation for the jam session in the evening with Ken, Colin and Jason. I was very nervous about meeting up with Colin and Jason because I had never met them before, and we had only corresponded via msn... so it was cool.

The jam was great... the studio was incredibly well-equipped, although the marshall I had initially plugged into somehow stopped working after I conducted a soundcheck... it just stopped producing sound omg.. what the heck did I do?

Anyway.. Ken, Colin, Jason, myself and the drummer were literally flying blind as we tried out different songs, chord sequences and the instrumental guitar solos (all three of us took turns within one song to do a solo, or maybe even more than one solo), but it was held together by the fantastic drummer who was very easy to communicate with.. haha.. superb guy.

It was very cool for all five of us to stand (or in the case of the drummer, sitting) in one small room, making this noise, and it was all in a spirit of progression.. that fire was in us... and we managed to harness it out and put it together and came out with something that was not mush. I'm very happy.

Well I was also very happy because on the train home, I gave up my seat to a pregnant lady... yeah yeah.. you'd expect that of anybody, but I felt that I had never given much to the people around me, and I felt that I ought to like... be someone whom I want to be, instead of being so cold all the time. I want to be a person.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Welcome to the Machine

Hmm.

This is meant for a certain someone I would like to called Mr Ego.


Dear Mr Ego,

You are a dick. I suppose that statement must have made you somewhat gratified considering the lack of the loose collection of dangling objects between your legs. No, I'm not trying to make you feel better. For one, I'm not always in the best of moods the moment you enter the room, because I can literally feel your ego bouncing off the walls and perpetuating throughout the room via your fruity, unctuous voice that makes Metallica sound like pre-school music.

You are one self-conceited bloke... nay lady boy. When I see you bend down to pick up a fallen object I'm strongly reminded of the fags back in my secondary school days who eventually went to pick up their O level certs all be-decked in mascara and re-bonded hair. Don't make me sick... it's bad enough that when you speak it's like making a speech at the fall of the Berlin wall.

Let me remind you that Alvin and I only agreed to play our instruments today, solely because of our respect for Mr Soon, not because you hold some devine influence over our hearts and minds. In fact we have naught but contempt for your opinions, and your inability to comprehend a simple thing known as flexibility.

I did not appreciate you stepping on my toes not once but twice within the last couple of days when you changed our performance date last minute from next monday to today, and you made it worse when you mocked me in my face... I won't take that kind of rubbish sitting down, in fact I'll bet our performance today will surpass all of ou previous live efforts because we had to practise last-minute for this event, and it ate into our time meant for our projects, which incidentally are directly related to you.. who allowed our semester to be choked with more than 12 projects within a short space of 15 weeks.

I'm also not forgetting you indirectly made me back out on my commitment to do tuesday night gigs when Gerry was away... . You just had to change night classes from friday nights to tuesday nights. And you said 'TOO BAD' with that sickening grin.

Well, F*CK YOU, FAG.

You might be a senior member of staff, but allow me to remind you that we as students do not appreciate being treated like pre-schoolers, much less being mocked straight in the face. We have values. We have opinions, and we do not need your brand of arrogance to tarnish our perfect day. If you feel that you need to impose the leftovers of your ego upon us, you can go and
kiss my cute little butt.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Friends

Hmm.

I suddenly felt the urge to write a poem..


When we first did meet, I knew in my mind there was a connection
little did I foresee how this has bloomed beyond my deepest dreams
and now I want to thank God for teaching me that vital living lesson
of how it is to give, love and care, and what it really means

Then the time came for me to let you go and break my heart
a sundering of lives and the trauma that was fraught on my soul
Now two days on the calendar the two together did I mark
Thank you for helping me through this and making my life less cold

When I saw your face the other day a cheer came into my mind
Forgive me if I was short-sighted, but remember I'm colour-blind
And when I saw you today, I wondered what you'll say to me
But when it was all said and done, my soul t'was thus set free

I remember every smile, every blink and even every blank stare
the little words you utter which you might think that I'd never care
I hope I'll stick by you when I'm old and my eyes fill with tears
Because I'll never forget the girl who helped me overcome my fears.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Soon!

Hmm.

Haha, the other day I was accosted by Hee Kiah, and he was like:

HK: '(my name), do you have a minute?'

CDD: 'Uhh.. now?'

HK: (imagine perilous-sounding voice) 'YES'

CDD: 'oh ok'

So we were in this little photocopying room (which incidentally housed the staff hot drinks) and we talked:

HK: 'So, (my name) do you know Mr Soon is coming back?'

FYI, Mr Soon is our ID Deputy Director, and at the end of my first year, he was deported off to some unknown department within NYP, and we've only seen him less than a handful of times since then. Taking his place during Soon's absence was some Engineering guy who was somewhat cold, so the return of Soon is somewhat welcome.. for one at least we don't need to knock on his door.. it was always open XD.

Now, back to the topic: Soon's return was supposed to be top-secret, and Garry let me and Alvin know about it.. and we accidentally blurted it out to Jie Hong, who in turn asked us how we managed to know about the information, to which I replied:

'Ms Jie Hong, since you know that we know that Soon is coming back, I'm sure you'll know that we know about it, and since you know that we know, we know you know we know, so we'll just keep quiet about it ok?'

Jie Hong: '...'

Anywho, I was supposed to *not know* and I replied Hee Kiah:

CDD: 'Uhh, oh issit? Aha Good!'

Hee Kiah: (expression of disbelief) 'Are you sure you didn't know.......?'

At this point he was staring at me point blank, so I confessed:

CDD: 'Ok lah, yeah I knew, hehe..'

HK: 'ok, anyway, Mr Soon will be coming back this coming Monday and i was thinking if it was possible that you and Alvin could perform a song to welcome him back'

The conversation went on in the vein of how important it was to make Soon more welcome etc, and how much it would mean for us to appreciate his return blahblahblah.. in the end I said

CDD: 'Yes, I'll talk to Alvin about it, and I'll update you on what song we might choose'

HK: 'Good'

So Alvin and I were bantering around on msn what was a good song and we came up with a few interesting choices:

The Angry Thief (FGG song)
No More Tears (FGG song)
The Boys Are Back in Town (Thin Lizzy)
Friends in Low Places (Garth Brooks)
Go Home (Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs)
Money Talks (AC/DC)
Peaceful, Easy Feeling (Eagles)
Drink It Up Men (Irish drinking song)
In Heaven There is No Beer (another Irish drinking song)
Hey Joe (Jimi Hendrix, which went: 'Hey Joe, where you goin' around with that gun in your hand??')
Girls Got Rhythm (AC/DC)
Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd)
Creep (Radiohead)

Now the list went on for quite a bit, and I'm praying you understand our twisted sense of humour.. because all those songs above were pretty much churned out for the fun of it... In the end, we settled for 'American Pie' because it was so darn catchy, everyoen knew the lyrics to the chorus.. and we didn't want to do 'Take Me Home, Country Roads' because it was just too darn cliched.

Alvin and I did a short rehearsal just now, and we've managed to do a very good version of it... with me and Alvin taking turns to do the verses and all... hope it goes well this Friday (as per last minute notice by HK).


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Adobe Illustrator

Hmm.

Never in all my life (with the excption of the MS DOS version of some word processor used way back in Shanghai) have I encountered so much problems with a computer software, especially when my project hangs in the balance of how well I can use this software.

It sucks.. big time. I'm not a pro at Adobe Illustrator, and there are so many things to remember just to execute a simple task, why can't they have easier-to-understand shortcuts? maybe it's just the windows version of this software, but that's no excuse, these people have had so many versions to work on and improve, but it's still as dumb as a broomstick.

For one I really dislike the Selection and Direct Selection and the Convert Anchor Point tool... too many things related to one task!!! I have to switch between these three tools just to create a curved line... tell me is that productive or just lousy programming?

HA! Thought so (Only if you said no).

I've got this boardgame to create, right now it's about 90% done.. but through so much pain and trouble!!! maybe I'm just lazy, but hey... we're all lazy in some way or another, but I'm definitely not lazy when it comes to doign Rhino modelling.

Heck, I'd give Rhino over Illustrator any fookin day. Rhino is like a frickin bed of roses compared to trying to create a curve in Illustrator. I bet if I used Illustrator and Rhino to achieve a 3D model rendering, I'd take only 20% of the time in Rhino compared to Illustrator.

That said, Illustrator is also a blessing in a small way.. at least it can do things other softwares can't do, but it's still troublesome.. so there. I hate it all the same.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

Mother's Love XXIII (It's all Murphy's Fault)

Hmm.

Here's a little something regarding mothers:

If you have a mother, she will wring the truth out of you no matter what, where and how.

Because you are in existence, she feels there is a need to revive the good old days of the umbilical cord.

Rock n roll and your mum don't mix, in fact she told you so, so get your act together.

When you think buying a guitar is punishing your mum, she hands out the chores.

What she says, she says, therefore follow, or else.

The pen mightier than the sword? Nay, the mater's tongue is even mightier than the law.

You know something's wrong when you come home, and you feel like the whole house has suddenly become similar in temperature to Antarctica. She's so hot (from anger), everything else is colder in comparison.

Now you know why she really gave you a handphone... so that you're never, ever out of earshot.

Ever wondered why you can never get a girlfriend? Just look at your mother's face on your laptop's wallpaper.

According to mothers, we're all their little boys.. I guess we're right that they don't have much of a sense of humour.

When in doubt, just speedial mum and she'll help remind you how dumb you are.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy

2nd Annual Crawldaddy Awards 2005

Hmm.

Well, Ladies & Genteelmen, the votes have been counted, they have been rigged and I can't give a damn (MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA)!!! Heeeerrrreeee... are the winners of this year's Crawldaddy Awards.. some surprise results as you can see below, but others I'm sure you won't be surprised at all!!!

Best Hair: Amanda Koh

Well done, Amanda (note: this vote was not rigged)


Worst Hair: Sabrina Goh

Haha.. tough fight between Alvin and Sabrina, but I guess the truth prevails (heehehehe).


Best Wardrobe: Amanda Koh

Once again... a tight fight, but the victor does deserve the (metaphorical) medal.


Worst Wardrobe: Alvin Chee

HAHAHAHAHAAHHAHHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAH... everyone thinks ur dress sense sucks and I TOLD YOU SO.


Best Song: Daughters, John Mayer

Well, he DID win a Grammy for that one.. whaddaya expect?


Worst Song: Push The Button, Sugababes

Again, whaddaya expect from a song with such heartfelt lyrics going 'push the button, baby, push, push the button...' DOTS.


Worst Band/Group name: Gaye Bikers on Acid

Incredibly dumb, and thus deserving of this award... in its full blown, psychedilc, technicolour bravado.


Most Popular/ notorious Character: Crawldaddy

What can I say... I did NOT rig this one, and only tightly contested by Jonathan :p


Least Popular character: Zelda

No Contest. Read LOZ to know why.


Most feared Personality: Hee Kiah

No Comment. Period.


Character (lame): Alvin Chee

Perhaps he does deserve this one... because he tends to make me slap him once every two sentences.


Character (silent): Lim Yoke Shyng

Haha.. no competition for the Minister of Silence *hail*


Character (quirky): Ang Sian Lee

I never doubted her, seriously... for one anyone can make her laugh... even Hee Kiah.


Character (cool): Gain Pantin

*Wha happenin?* just kidding...


Character (evil): Crawldaddy

I'm guessing y'all thinking I rigged this one.. NOT AT ALL.


Funny: Garry Tan

Good on ya, mate!


Quote of the Year: Ayob

"Wow.. hey sitting on this chair makes me feel like I'm sitting on Phuket BITCH, yeah.. Phuket BITCH!!!"


Occurance of the Year: Alvin shitting in his pants

"And now everybody, yeah now everybody knows.. everybody in the whole wide world... knows he shit his pants"


And there you go, the results are out, with minimal rigging (serious, lah.. only one or two) and I managed to win the Coveted "Most Popular/Notorious Character" and "Evil Character" awards... both of which eluded me the previous year... Also a big congrats to Alvin for shitting in his pants winning "Lame Character" and "Occurance of the Year"... you can't say now that life is just shitty.

Also, many thanks to the voters(in alphabetical order): Alvin, Andrea, Char, Jace, Syafiqah and Teja... without you guys.. this would have been only twice as fun.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy