A Day In The Life Of An Oblivious Ape.: December 2008

It's less than an hour to the new year, and I'm stuck here at home.

Not that I'm complaining.

Okay, maybe I am. But things have been this way for many a new year, so I guess it isn't much of a big deal.

So...

2008.

You have been both a BFF AND an unforgiving motherfucker to me for 365 days. Yes, you have.

2008 was a year to remember to remember, for sure. A lot of stuff happened (and I mean A LOT) that I both regret and am thankful for. I was hoping I could list 'em all down, but the list only came up to this:

Bloco Singapura
Upbeats Percussion
(Relatively) good health
One (still) living parent

Well, since I'm out of Bloco for at least the remainder of my education in TP (no points for guessing why), it kinda feels shitty.

With Zat going to NS, I don't think the Upbeats will be getting many gigs anytime soon, and Allah knows how much I need my percussion fix.

Good health...well, considering I haven't gotten diabetes or hypertension - not that I want to; we're just looking at the worst case scenario here - I'd say my body's in an 'okay' condition right now. I do wish the beard would grow a little faster, though.

Ah, mother. Life's been fucking hard for us both, and it still is.

As I type this, I find I have nothing much to say, though I know there's much more that I can. I guess life has made me detach myself from the people and things I care about that... I don't have much to say about them. Well, that's another revelation for 2008's list of regrets.

To those who have cared back unconditionally this past year,

THANKS.

A LOT.

Really.

But I regret to say it'll be an arduous process for me to do the same, and I don't know when I'll be ready to do so.

Emo? Fuck no.

It's just great to look at yourself in retrospect once in a while.

So 2008, that's my tribute to you.

Hope you fucking liked it.

(If any of you were looking forward to a video like the one I did for last year, here's a personal box of "SORRY" for each of you. You could always type in the keywords 'ape' and 'new year' in the Youtube search fields, find the video I made for last year, and imagine that it was made for this year instead. Imagination keeps life interesting =D Feel free to quote me on that one. Heheh.)

Urrghh, couldn't think of a proper post title.

Moving on....

It's been a really eventful past few days, to say the least.

For the sake of posting an interesting picture (at least, I find it interesting), I'll mention one of the gigs I had last Friday. This one was held at Bukit Timah Shopping Centre, and if any of you know Bukit Timah Shopping Centre, you'd probably go "What the FUCK?" right about now. Not that I have anything against the gig or the shopping centre; I mean this place was fucking DESERTED. Not a soul in sight save for the shopkeepers, and most of the shops were closed.

The gig was held by Percussive Arts and Music School who had their branch at the shopping centre, and if I'm not wrong, it's something like a community Christmas gathering. Not like there were many people to gather in the first place. Anyways, the thing was pretty short, and we got our pay shortly after that. The money was in blues, so we had to change the notes at the nearby shops to split it among ourselves. Since a lot of the shops refused to change money with us, (What's the fucking deal with THAT anyway?) me and Uan eventually came to this betting centre within a Shop and Save outlet.

Here's what I saw on one of the name plates at the cashier:

If you're not snickering by now...well, you're not snickering. I don't know if the Hanyu Pinyin spells the same, but the english translation sure gave me a laugh when I first saw it. It's like, you really only see this kinda thing on websites like Engrish.com or Talking Cock and what not... at least, that was me. But when you really see it up close for yourself... I don't know, it feels like a whole new experience.

LOL.

My highlight of the day today was having the oppurtunity to JAM WITH WICKED AURA!

HOW ***KING COOL IS THAT?!

Okay, so it was more of a drum circle session than a jamming session, but playing alongside the big boys...

Wow.

They were holding a short workshop at the Malay Village a.k.a. Kampung Melayu today, so we stopped by for awhile to check it out before we had to head to Woodleigh Park for the gig with Lady E. I'm not trying to 'membodek' or anything, but those Wicked Aura guys...they're really a nice bunch of people once you get to know them... oh, and extremely talented percussionists too, not like you guys didn't know that.

I hope we get ourselves a gongue (Thanks eh Zat XP) soon, and maybe a cuica. Yeah... *drools*

The gig at Woodleigh Park was a bit of a letdown, probably cos it was held at some ulu and obscure corner called the PUB Recreation Center. I mean, who the fuck even goes there to... recreate? The place doesn't even have satisfactory facilities. I'd rather go to SAFRA centres for my recreational needs than this place, honestly.

Apparently we were kind of a half-time performance for this teenage woes talk held by a bunch of people who really need to work on their event management skills.

B-O-R-I-N-G

We probably could have gone to Orchard Road and busked for 3 sets while waiting for our damn performance slot to arrive. We did busk in the end after the gig, though. LOL.

Anyway, oppurtunities like that Wicked drum circle will probably come by more often in the future (I hope) but for now, lemme just wrap that memory around me like a blanket and snuggle in to sleep with it. x_x

There it is, I coined a new term.

Ambush shopping:

Used to describe occasions where one gets suddenly approached and persuaded by a salesperson in a shopping mall to buy a certain product.

It just so happened that when me and my mum were on our way home today from eHub at Downtown East after a whole day of shopping and a movie, we got ambushed by this salesperson from the row of shops that were along the original Downtown East. My mum pushed her away at first, and as I was trailing behind her, I did the same.

Then this saleslady called me back saying "Dik, dik, mari skejap! Sini skejap!" Translated, it means, "Child, come here awhile!" I could have just walked away and not give a fuck, but my curious side refused to let my legs move. So there I was, a sitting duck for a seemingly irresistable deal she was about to offer.

And then she started to put a dollop of this cream called 'Dempo Snow' on my arm.

Right there, in the middle of a shopping mall.

And right there, I was officially trapped in the clutches of some extremely persuasive salespeople. Before I knew what was going on, I was gagged, hogtied and strung up like some roasted chicken in the display of a chicken rice stall.

Apparently, they were peddling some kind of exfoliating cream that had a guarantee of working on any skin type. So another guy comes up to me and starts spreading this cream all over my left forearm, which felt kinda weird really; having another man spread cream on your arm. But that's beside the point. =P

So he's telling my mother all about this cream; how it's made with natural ingredients and can help lighten my skin's dark areas (For those of you who don't know, I've got eczema), in this mixed Malay-Indonesian accent. And I tell you, Indonesian merchants can be some of the most persuasive salespeople in the world, right next to Indians and Arabs. They leave no room for error or compromise, because it is they who make the compromises for you. In fact, they think of everything for you, even before you do! If you were thinking about asking him for a discounted deal, he's already there offering it to you. It's like they're telepathic! Freaky, I know.

It seemed like this guy was the real deal (my skin did exfoliate and look somewhat lighter than before), aside from the fact that he was offering the cream at like 15 bucks per 50g tub. But he did give us an extremely irresistable offer; it was a tub for $15 and 3 for $45, and he gave us 3+1 tubs for $45. In the end, he decided to give us another 3-pack, so on the whole we bought 7 tubs for $60 when the usual price would have been $105.

We got ambushed, with a good deal! I'm still in shock.

Lol.

Oh, and I finally got my high cut skate shoes~

They're kinda 'bling' for my taste, but I guess I could get used to that. Hurrah for good shopping deals!

Oh me, Oh my...

I'VE FINALLY BOUGHT MESELF A PAIR OF SKULLCANDY HEADPHONES!!!

WOOOOOOOO

Okay, now my life is complete.

Okay, maybe not. Still...

Wokay, time for that long-anticipated review of teh Skullcandy headphones. Remember when I said I wanted the G.I. Rasta ones? Well, when I saw them up close, they looked kind of...underwhelming? I decided on the Skullcandy G.I. Green Core in the end simply 'cos they were relatively higher on the 'loud' scale than the Rasta ones.

I couldn't bear to wait till I got home to cop a feel of my new buy. Decided it was too risky so I took a picture instead.

I'm feeling a little lazy to rotate the picture, so there.

The packaging pre-mutilation-by-swiss army knife. It took a LONG time to delicately peel the equipment off the plastic wrap.

The whole package.

From left to right: Interchangeable Ear Pads, Warning pamphlet, Warranty information plus Stencil (how cool is that?), Skullcandy sticker, 6.5mm gold jack adapter, screwdriver tool (the one that looks like a pager), and finally the headphones resting atop the travel bag.

Cool eh?

OH OH and phones themselves have a surprise hidden inside 'em. Well, the packaging said that a micro bottle opener was included. But then I couldn't find it anywhere in the pack. As that feeling that I had been duped started creeping in, I saw this flap at the top of the headphones:

So I opened it, and look what I found neatly tucked away inside:

The missing bottle opener! How ingenious is that?!

Way cool.

Okay, now for the testing bit. I tried the phones out on my PSP and found that I had to turn the volume way up on both the PSP and the volume control on the headphone cable to actually get some aural satisfaction out of it. It was a bit disappointing, and I kinda expected it, but I guess I can live with that. After all, we all know how incompatible the PSP is with most headphones. If I need my audio fix that badly, I could always revert to my trusty ol' SonicGear Ear Pumps.

The phones are pretty tight on the wear; head movement's pretty restricted when they're on the neck, but that's to be expected. The cups, however, only swivel one way, and that's outwards. So it looks pretty awkward if I try to put 'em flat. If only they'd let the cups swivel both ways, but oh well.

On the whole, the workmanship is definitely satisfactory; I can see myself wearing these phones for a long time to come. The travel bag and interchangeable ear pads both ensure some longevity to the phones, and with pluses like the screwdriver tool and Skullcandy stencil, I guess it makes up for the almost $120 price tag. I just wished that their warranty extended to internatioal countries outside of the US.

Now excuse me while I fondle my camo cups for a bit.

So, I finally posted huh?

Well, one of the more turbulent parts of my academic storm has passed, so at least now I have a brief respite from it.

I should be listening to my Multimedia and Electronic Publishing lecture right now, but instead I'm here revealing my innermost secrets to you guys.

Okay, maybe we can exclude those innermost secrets.

Right, time to drop the bombshell here.

I might not be able to pursue my passion as a percussionist after all.

Well, maybe until I graduate from my poly education.

Which still remains a year away, that is, if everything goes according to planned.

Which pretty much SUCKS.

Urrgh, it's complicated.

But apparently I still have something to prove to my mum.

Damn, this is killing me. =S