He's Blog

Piano. Chapter Two Of The Music Journey Begins

// April 30th, 2010 // No Comments » // Life, Music, Piano, Thoughts, Videos

While this piece of news is definitely not going come as a surprise to some people, but yes, I’m indeed learning the piano and have been doing so for quite some time already. I must say I really enjoy it. It helps to keep me focused, relaxed and joyful. Not to mention it also makes me satisfyingly high at times. There is really no doubt that playing the piano is one of the most satisfying things that I’ve ever done in my life (right after jerking off. Or so I hear). There is absolutely no other feelings like playing a song on the piano and playing it flawlessly. Really, it’s quite an ego-boost, flex.

Recently, my mom got me a digital piano to further aid me in my learning. It is a P85 digital piano from Yamaha that costs about 1.2k. Well depending on how you are going to look at it. It can be considered economical or extravagant. If you’re looking at it from a beginner’s standpoint, then cheaper keyboards are usually the way to go. But really. After practising for weeks on my mom’s organ, I’ve developed a phobia of not being able to play a piece I’ve mastered at home at my teacher’s acoustic piano. Reason being, the keys on the organ/keyboard are too soft and my fingers grew weak because of that. So with this being said, I guess I was left with no choice other than a digital piano or acoustic pianos. But really, what I really need besides the key pressure is the ability to plug in a pair of headphones and practise. Also, let’s just say I’m not Mozart or whatsoever and I am trying to be considerate for my family members and neighbours. And did I mention, the touch of it feels almost identical to the piano my teacher has. Pianos all have different touch, but I’m sure the digital piano is going to be way closer to it than a keyboard could ever be. What’s more, you can set it to produce sounds from various instruments. My favorite of all these is definitely strings and there’s also the metronome which I still haven’t really make use of. =/

So why the sudden decision to pick up a piano? To be completely honest, there’s no sudden urge. Music, just like any of my other interests, has always been part of me. I’ve always wanted to pick up an instrument ever since I became a teen. So the moment I hit 13, I went ahead to learn drums but it was kinda the wrong step to begin with. It didn’t really serve my purpose very well because you don’t really learn much of music theory. I mean sure, you learn how to read the drum notations but really it’s all just rhythm. However, the pay off is that the drums present in music sounds ridiculously clear to me now. When I hear a piece of music now, drums just clearly stands out subconsciously and you can identify which parts of the drums was being hit, therefore allowing you to play a song by ear. I don’t remember it to be so clear before I started learning drums.

So after the drums but I was 16 that time and had to set aside some time to prepare for the ‘O’ levels, afterwhich I spent a great deal of time investing in computers. Shortly after I went into Ngee Ann Polytechnic in pursue of my passion in filmmaking and hell it was crazy. I practically did not have time for other things during school days. Sure, there were free time during the 2 month holidays that comes every 6 months or so but it’s back to hectic schedule again. And finally, the 3 years of my polytechnic education has come to an end this is where I am now.  This is when I get to continue my music joruney.

So now comes the question: “Where do I see myself 5 years down the road?” Well, honestly, it’s still too early to tell but I’ll be sure to hang on to piano till I’m at least Grade 5 – that’s where most people stop right? I hope to break that barrier and advance through it. But ultimately, I am hoping to reach the stage where I am capable to play most of the pieces I enjoy.

Here are a few songs that I look forward to play. Enjoy them. ;)

Man, I’m still amazed by this band cover. No keyboardist involved but the idea of playing in a band like this just wows me. I’ve always been looking for people to jam and play music. Sadly, not many of my close buddies are into music. Even the few people who play music differ from my taste of music. So… Hopefully, I meet new people that share my interests in the days that come.

Well, till then.

Sign off,
He

The Secret To Happiness

// April 21st, 2010 // No Comments » // Interesting, Thoughts, Videos

The study of our brain has revealed that happiness is synthesized by our brain. In a way it is like cognitive dissonance – the feeling of uncomfortable tension which comes from holding two conflicting thoughts in the mind at the same time (Move back and get your ass f*cked or move front and get oral f*cked). Our mind has an immune system that perceives the world in a way that makes us happy. Watch this interesting and entertaining talk by a brilliant professor of psychology at Havard:

My afterthoughts? I guess it can summarized by this quote from Helen Keller:

When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we took so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened up for us.

Sign off,
He

How To Spam Invites In Garena

// April 21st, 2010 // No Comments » // Computer, Games, Tips

If you happen to use Garena often to play online games with your friends, chances are by now, you know how irritating the 255 room limit is and you long for the day Garena increases the room limit.

Sure, if you’re feeling generous, you can click on the “Buy Gold Member” button to purchase a gold membership (about 4 USD for 1 month) that rewards you the privileges to enter full overpopulated rooms, gold plated alias, double EXP, etc… Well, I’m not here to advertise that plan so if you’re really interested in that price plan, then don’t bother to look any further.

So, you’ve decided not to spend money on Garena huh? But you’re pulling your hair out when you and your friends try to enter popular rooms, especially the Ladder rooms. Spamming your way is one way to enter but that takes time for you and your friends to enter. So even when you managed to squeeze into the room, yoour poor friends are still trying to enter the rooms. Some of them might give up and go do something else. And you’re tired of right clicking on their names and then inviting them again and again.

That’s okay because I’ll teach you a way for you and your friends to enter full rooms. This trick involves at least 2 people and here’s how it can be done:

1. One of you have to enter a full room first. So you got to do this the tedious way. Spamming your way in.

2. For the first person who manages to enter. Look over to your Contacts List, double click on your buddy who hasn’t entered the room to bring up the chat window. Wtf? Yeah be patience, you’ll know why.

3. With the chat window open, close the main window of Garena. You MUST do this in order for the trick to work.

4. Now with only the chat window open. Click on the “Invite to Game” button.

5. A dialogue box will appear telling you that you have invited your friend. Hit Enter on your keyboard and click on the “Invite to Game” button again.

6. Rinse and repeat. Isn’t this so much easier than the right clicking on their protraits and then inviting technique? And now all your friend has to do is the keep his cursor at the same position and click accept.

Spread it around. Cheers ;)

Sign off,
He

New Feature: Contact Form

// April 2nd, 2010 // No Comments » // Site Updates

Hi all,

Since the Shoutbox is down and He’s Blog has no Guestbook. I’ve implemented a Contact Form to He’s Blog. It can be found right at the top of this site at the Navigation Bar. Check the image if you still can’t find it (Look for the male sign). That will hopefully make it easier for people who don’t know me personally to contact me.

Check it out! ;)

Sign off,
He

There’s A Class For This

// April 2nd, 2010 // No Comments » // Life, Thoughts

Just a couple of days back, a few former classmates and I met up with my secondary school teacher Miss Chua (now Mrs Ang) at Parkway’s MOS Burger. It was a fruitful sharing session, considering the amount of information that was exchanged between us.

As soon as everyone arrived, the conversations just kept flowing, never stopping for a quiet moment. The strange thing is that even though we haven’t met in such a long time, we still talked about things freely without any restraint. We didn’t have to worry about filtering about words because we understood perfectly how each of us work. Even if words sounded too direct at times, the tolerance threshold we had was high and none of us took offense from them. Now that’s when you know the bond between you and your peers are strong. And yes, we never get bored about talking about the same old topics. 

It’s times like this that I appreciate and treasure. But sadly they never last for long. Like all good things, they have to come to and end. In a blink of an eye, it was time for us to say goodbye. Come to think about it, I can’t exactly remember when was the last time I met up with my teacher. I’m guessing it was the previous holidays because I was never ever free during school time.

But at the end of the day, it’s not really the low frequency of meetups that matters because we all have a mutual understanding for the reasons behind it – that we each have our own obligations in life. What really matters is whether we seize the opportunities that come to meet up or not. 

And here’s a great photo to end this post off.

Sign off,
He