Chapter 1

15th april 2010 – Celebration with ‘Mammy’

 On our way to Raffles City to…

satisfy Mammy’s cravings for this green tea ice cream, indigenous to the Streets of Japan, Shokodu.

 A photo of the two of us.

We then headed to Ichiban Boshi located at the Esplanade for our dinner.

Here’s a pic of myself and the our meal. As far as I can remember, the food was only so-so but the quiet ambience makes up for it. I remember having quite an engaging coversation with Mammy here.

Here’s Mammy and her share of the meal. 

We then went down to The Cathay to catch a movie. Concidentaly, my birthday was the day Kick Ass was released and I remember seeing some postivie reviews about this film. So, I guess it’s a pity not to watch it, eh? This my friends, is a film that I’ve pretty much enjoyed. It’s been a while since I saw something good in the theatres. Well then again it’s distributed by Lionsgate, one credible sign that a film is decent.

And another photo of the two of us to end this chapter off.  

Chapter 2

24th april 2010 – Celebration with high school friends.

We started the night off by going to one of my favorite restaurant, Empire State.

I can’t remember what we were listening to, but I think i was distracted by something else.

Sadly, we didn’t have any photos of the great food that filled our stomachs. So here’s a quick jump to Sin Chyuan and our cash.

We then headed down to Beach Cabana at East Coast Park to chill out. Over there, we had babes and hunks play a gambling game with us. It was pretty memorable because I lost the bet and had to…

buy a bucket of Mexican Sol Beers. It was aite, but my friends seem to enjoy it. Guess I’m not a beer person.

After the booze and the games, it was time for the awaited group photo. Credits to Yi Ci for taking the photos for my birthday. He’s a great photographer.

From then on, the guys went to grind some chicks at Zouk but I guess I’ll skip this part. It was a fun night nonetheless. Hopefully that many people show up for my birthday next year. A big shout out to those who came, I’ll remember it for a life time. And you know it’s a big deal when it comes from a forgetful person.

Chapter 3

8th May 2010 – Celebration with Poly mates

It was a joint celebration for the April babies and seriously what could be a better place to conduct this event other than Li Qing’s place? We had a great BBQ session again at Li Qing’s place. I think that was like the 3rd time we had our BBQ there, with the first being very memorable.

 Here’s our feast for the night!

And a brawling session with my first friend from Poly, Joshua. It’s Black or White, place your bets now!

Couple shot. Well Yi Chee was merely a standin Ying Ying. So… Haha to his gay look. =X

The extremely mouth-watering cake. Hmmm yum yum.

The April babies without Maybelle =( She will be dearly missed.

And finally, our group photo for the night. Thanks for coming, guys

Last Words

A big shout out to those who have been there to celebrate the day I arrived on planet Earth. Each day were well spent and I just couldn’t ask for more. Well, there are actually still quite a few people that I haven’t gotten the chance to celebrate my birthday with.  I think they know who they are if they ever come across this entry. It’s a real shame. But doesn’t really matter because I’ll be definitely calling them out for my 21st, so do expect to hear from me!

So a 20 year old Jacky shouts out to the people that have been there: ”Good game and thank you guys!”

See you next year,

Sign off,
He

Speaking of mugging, that moments of me scribbling away in the living room can’t help but remind me of the gruelling days I used to practise for the O-levels A math and E math examinations in the same exact environment. I remember spending at least 10 hours everyday of sole practising for a week. Yup, that’s really crazy. Hell I even woke up drenched in perspiration from nightmares of mind-wrecking equations that I can’t solve in my dreams. Looking back, I don’t even know how I even managed to endure through those days. But while I am glad that those days are over, that form of discipline has undoubtedly helped to push and place me where I am today.

Thankfully, while the piano definitely wouldn’t be as taxing as those days I’ve been through, the same form of discipline applies here. It’s all about practising and practising before reaching that standard. The difference is however, at least I enjoy it and I guess that’s all it matters.

Yup, that’s right folks.

Signs off,
He

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

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

What was He to do? Which part was He supposed to listen to? Struck with dilemma, He decided to isolate himself to think about He’s situation. And there, He’s inner voice speaks.

“Your brain is only a part of you, the same stays true for your heart. The fact that they disagree is because they express two different parts of your personality. Contrary to popular belief, we cannot be easily described by adjectives: good, bad, happy, sad. Because the truth is we tend to incorporate the whole spectrum of feelings and reactions to a given situation. The way we choose to act defines us as people since the trigger for that reaction was stronger within us at that given point in time. Your brain gives you a trigger while your heart another.

The solution? Silence your brain and heart for a while, and listen to a small voice within you, your instict. Try to throw away your fears for one second and listen to your true self. Forget about what other people say, forget the fears, guilts and all the negative feelings. Become in tune with who you really are, by silencing all the noise within. Try not to judge yourself for wanting something, since this is the only way to discover what you really want.”

Then He’s inner voice silenced as it has nothing more to say. It has no more answers to give. It only knew that He had to trust He‘s own inner voice to do what He needed to do.

Sign off,
He

It’s been really really quiet in here lately. Almost 3 months since the last post. It’s bad, I know. But really… blame it on school. There is this pile of work that constaly awaits for my attention and it just doesn’t seem to end… I don’t even remember being so “no-life” when I was indulging in the World of Warcraft. But I’m glad that it’s all coming to an end… Or is it? Anyhow, in another couple of weeks or so, we’ll be expecting some noise in here.

Till then, see you guys!

Sign off,
He

The place is located at the basement of Heeren and with its bright glowing neon lights, you can probably spot it at one glance.

The dining style of this restaurant like similar to Marche, where you receive a card and you go around shopping with that card. At the end of the day, head on to the cashier and the chasier will charge you according to how much you spent with your dining card.

Here’s a look at what we’ve eaten at Shokodu.

Jia Jin (Wabafat)

Sin Chyuan (Nekal)

Muzz

Alvin

Gerard

Yi Ci

Joshua

Douglas

Myself and my dishes for the day.

I had chicken chop and the egg fried rice and an extra plate of Rosti for extra carbo and fats. The chicken chop was tasty but honestly speaking, it tasted just like any other chicken chop that I have tasted. Maybe because the chefs were grilling the chicken in bulk or they just simply tasted normal. As for the rosti, it was good too. But if you compare it to its Marche counterpart, Marche gets the crown hands down. The Shokodu rosti here feels soggy whereas the rosti in Marche has a cripsy feel to every single bite. As for my drink, the milk tea that Douglas was advertising in his photo. Please get yourself a bottle next time you go to Shokodu. It is just simply heavenly. And not sure if it applies to you but it reminds me of my childhood when I was in Taiwan. My cousins and I would always sneak out of house late at night and run to the shop across to buy a packet of milk tea to keep ourselves awake. So the verdict is, next time if you go Shokodu, don’t bother getting the Western stuff as you’re probably be better off dining at another Western restaurant. Well for their Japanese food, I heard they are pretty good. So yeah, try their Japanese food next time instead. And yes, please get that bottle of milk tea!

That’s about it, folks.

Laters!

Sign off,
He

I am proud to announce that I have passed both my Basic Theory Test and Final Theory Test, which means I can finally sign up for the 20+ practical lessons before legally driving a car around in Singapore. A big yay for the people who will eventually benefit from this. You know who you guys are =/ But thinking back, I realize that passing them might not really mean much of a deal. I mean, if you take into consideration how many people are there in the Singapore that are driving, it’s not really that much of a deal. But whatever, I passed them and I no longer have to worry about the theory part anymore. Now that’s something remarkable.

Also, I decided to put myself aside and share with you guys my guide for the Theory Tests. For those of you who are planning to sign up for a driving course, this is going to come in handy for you. So sit back, buckle up and off we go!

He’s Guide To Acing The Driving Theory Tests

Now before you can actually sign up for the practical lessons, you will have to pass 2 Theory Tests, namely the Basic Theory Test and Final Theory Test. Your common sense should tell you that you’ll have to pass your Basic Theory Test in order to sign up for the Final Theory Test.

In order to prepare for your test, there are actually three methods you can go by to prepare for the test. The three methods are:

• Study the handbooks supplied by the school
• Study from the school’s e-Learning system
• Study from the e-Trial sessions

You can basically just choose any of the methods and still pass. The driving tests are THAT easy. However, I do have friends who failed them. Luckily for them, I’m not gona shame them here. Heh!

Anyway, if you want to know my method of studying. Here’s how I studied for the tests and if you follow my advice well enough, I assure you that you will pass with flying colors!

First and the most important step of all, book your test date and book an e-Trial session directly before the test. This is very important, guys. Reason being, the questions, whether they are from the e-Trial sessions or the actual tests, are actually repeated questions. So if you did 300 questions, which means 6 papers (no joke, I did 6 papers during both my BTT and FTT e-Trial sessions), during the e-Trial sessions, you’ll most likely encounter the same questions to the point that you can just faceroll on the screen and still get correct. We call that a Faceroll. Yeah, rolling your face on a keyboard and still win.

So after booking, give yourself at least 1 day’s time to prepare for each test. For me, it’s almost always last minute studying so I chose the day before the actual test date. First, read through the entire book and do make an effort to highlight the important points so when you look through it the 2nd time, you’ll be able to scan through the book, paying attention to only the hightlighted portions.

When you’re done with the book, you can safely tell yourself that you will pass the test. But if it’s your first time and you’re not confident or you are just afraid that you’ll get embarassed on the actual day when the big red FAIL slaps you on the face and the bangla sitting beside you laughs at you, you can still log into the e-Learning section of the school’s website and watch the video tutorials there. They’re pretty useful and I must admit some of the things mentioned there are not included in the book. But the best part is actually the self-evualtion tests. The entire content is split into modules and after each module, there are 5 questions which you can do to double check.

At the end of all of the modules, there is an actual e-trial session that you can do at home. Before I go on, these e-Trial sessions are essentially the tests. They contain 50 questions and are similiar to the way that the test is going to be structured, excluding the idea that you have to use a pen or your finger to nagivate around. I’ll skip this for now, I’ll talk about it later. So just go ahead and do them at the end of your revision. If you pass, congratuations! You can safely tell yourself that you will pass the test and go to sleep. If you fail, don’t worry too much about it and take a good look at the explanation for the questions you did wrongly. Have a good night’s rest, there’s still tomorrow where you can attend your e-Trial session before going for the actual test.

At the e-Trial session, which lasts 45 minutes, you will be able to attempt 6 papers if you’re really fast enough. Just go ahead and do them before attempting your actual test. There’s really no reason to fail if you’ve been to the e-trial sessions. OH!!! If there’re any reasons why you might potentially fail the test. Here is why.

• Unlike most touchscreen monitors, the monitors in the classroom somehow only reacts to your fingernails, not your fingertips. So use your fingernails to press on the answers and not your fingertips.

Well. This is it. I hope this guide will prove to be useful to you guys who plan to pick up driving.

Laters!

Sign off,
He

First things first, thank you for checking out He’s Blog. If you haven’t read the About He section, then you probably should. That will help you decide whether or not this humble blog will be worthy of your time. =X

This is my first time setting up a blog from scratch and I’m really glad that it turned out just fine. I have just activated this domain not too many days ago and I was actually quite skeptical about releasing it on the auspicious 9th of September 2009! But thankfully, Wordpress’s user-friendly blogging engine has allowed me to set this blog up faster than expected.

Like mentioned briefly in About He section, I hope this blog will be able to update my friends on the events that have been going through in my life as well as the thoughts that have been crossing my mind.

On a side note, there’s really still quite some things missing, like the links section, videos and the shoutbox. But I guess this should suffice for now. I know it’s still quite empty now but please do patient and I promise to fill it  up with more updates and features along the way! Oh, just to let you know, I will update the Links section over the next few days so do let me know if you I have forgotten about you!

Anyways, welcome to He‘s Blog and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did in setting it up!

Laters!

Sign off,
He

Edit: Wow, I just realized that by doing releasing this blog today, I just added another important event to the month of September. *Strangles self*