Racist Bread

Who says there are no rednecks in this country?

A Tribute To Dad

"...Masculinity is bestowed. A boy learns who he is and what he's got from a man, or the company of men. He cannot learn it any other place. He cannot learn it from other boys, and he cannot learn it from the world of women. The plan from the beginning of time was that his father would lay the foundation for a young boy's heart, and pass on to him the essential knowledge and confidence in his strength. Dad would be the first man in his life, and forever the most important man. Above all he would answer the question for his son and give him his name. Throughout the history of man given to us in Scriptures, it is the father who gives the blessing and thereby "names" the son..."

Excerpt from Wild At Heart by John Eldredge

Did you know that to have the closest glimpse of God's love here on earth, you don't need to go to the poorest places where people give up their lives to help others or to the sick and abandoned where people like the late Mother Teresa would be, embracing them? You just have to look no further than home. Yep, there's a little of God's love in Mom, and a little in Dad, both of which, when combined, serve to give us a picture of the unconditional love of our Father in Heaven.

And in the spirit of Father's day, we shall talk about Dad for now. Year in and year you'll see people running to and fro buying gifts, cards, booking up restaurants. Talk to people (youths, and adults alike) and you'll hear of their plans to celebrate the man who heads the house. And of course, Dad deserves it all. After all, it was Dad who worked hard to put food on the table. It was Dad who taught us the value of life. It was Dad who disciplined and loved us. And for that we love him too.

It's a totally awesome sight to just see father and son/daughter, especially those in their teens or young adult years, just hanging out, doing things together, laughing together, sharing life, and giving and receiving advice, among other things. And I'm sure you understand what I'm talking about. For me, at least, that's as good as a father-child relationship can get. And I certainly do see it in some of my youth members, as well as among cousins whenever there's a family gathering. It's encouraging to see, but yet it aches a little every time.

It would've been good if I had the opportunity to sit and just talk with my Dad today.

It would've been nice if I can call him for counsel when life gets hard.

It would've been helpful if I had the chance to consult him over making major life decisions.

It would've been uplifting if he was there standing in the crowd as I graduated.

It would've been memorable if there were road trips and adventures with him during my teenage years to recall.

It would be perfect if I could wish him a "Happy Father's Day" and tell him that I love him.

Now don't get me wrong, my Dad's the greatest father I could ever ask for. The man that I admire most, and I dare say till today I have not met anyone that I can look up to as much as Dad. He was mild-mannered, dedicated, honest, loving, and most importantly, God-fearing. If there was a model of what a man should be as far as I'm concerned, it has to be Dad. At least that was what a 3-10 year old kid could perceive. And that perception still holds true for me today.

I remember how Dad used to teach me about God. To a 3-year-old who can't make head or tail or much less, read the Bible, I learnt a great deal from the stories he used to tell me.

I remember how he'll tell the stories of Moses, of David, of Jesus, and many others again and again whenever I asked for a retelling.

I remember how he used to say, "Believe in Jesus and you'll have everlasting life. Hold on to Him and you'll never go wrong". Words I remember till today.

I remember how I'll watch him when he was praying, and how he would put his hand on my shoulder and pray for me.

I remember how I'll look forward to him coming back from work so we could go out for a game of soccer. Well, not actually soccer, but just a simple game of ball-kicking. But that was the daily highlight for a 5-year-old me.

I remember how I'd come up the car from school with a gash on my knee and had him patch it up with a bandage, only to come back with another one on the other knee a week later. A scar is still there to remind me.

I remember how he would tirelessly tutor me on math and language. And also the pride on his face when I came back with first place during the first grade.

I remember how he made me feel that I could achieve everything that I wanted to reach for. I remember once when I was about 5 or 6 when I told him, "Daddy, I wanna be a pastor", and how he would smile softly and say "Sure, serve God with all your heart".

I remembered what he told me about the name that he gave me. "Your name means 'victory', and I'm sure you'll be victorious."

Well, Dad hasn't been around for 15 years now, but yet the memories are still as clear as day to me. The first man in my life, and the most important one. The one who laid the foundation for my life and showed me where to go. The man who showed me that I've got what it takes. The man who gave me my name. And for that I'm forever grateful. Dad, you'll forever be my #1.

Happy Father's Day. I love you.

Gear Updates

First, the bad news: My dear old POD XT Live, which has been serving me well for the last 3 years or so finally died on me 2 months ago :( Had a friend of mine check it out and he found a burnt IC which needed replacement. So much for hours of playing and jamming without turning it off :/ As of now it's still not known if the entire rig could be salvaged or not (I guess I'll only find out when I get back from Pangkor). Kinda sad to not have the luxury of endless sound combinations right at your foot...

...however... the good news is...

I got this for my birthday 3 weeks ago from someone really special ;) :

Yep, the Noah's Ark Distortion B pedal, boutique and known for its crunchy smooth Mesa Boogie-ish distortion. And it delivers just as well as it's been reputed to. Very much different in sound and feel as compared to the ProCo Rat, with enough mids to cut through the mix plus the heavy overtones, this is one fine beast. And ever since I've been renegaded exclusively to my analog rig, I think I'm beginning to move away from multi-effects to preferring analog pedals. Prob won't feel so sad if the POD has to go now :p

And as of now, this is what my current setup looks like:



Sweetness :p

For Work & For Play

Been away for almost 3 weeks now enjoying a despotic military-styled camp complete with political indoctrination nationalistic camp at Pasir Salak for a week and then an introduction to the government’s unnecessarily oppressive tyrannical modus operandi induction course for another 2 weeks at Pangkor. Yep, that's where I am at the moment.

Amidst the imprisonment busy schedule of the course and endless lectures, there was yet still time for fun. And new chums as well ;)

First off, group work: Our subgroup with the banners we made and during games.

But the highlight was still the sneaking out and making our way to the beach (which, for some reason unknown to us, wasn't allowed). Anyways, here's one of the many 'biceps shots' that were taken:

On the banana boat:

And another one while we were island-hopping:


Will be back home on Thursday, and starting work on Friday. And oh, by the way, I've been posted to Manjung Hospital ;)

Guess What...?

They used to teach us in the Otorhinolaryngology (Ear Nose & Throat) posting that digging your ear is wrong and that it introduces infections. And I've never dug my ears in the 25 years of my life either......

...until now.



Turns out to be quite a terrifying an enlightening experience.

Upgrades

Recently got these lil' babies:





The top one's a Seymour Duncan SH-1 ('59) and the other's a SH-4 (JB).

And it all went into this baby:





Looks pretty much the same visually, besides the engraved SD name on the pickups, but you wouldn't believe the improvement in tone (something that I can't demonstrate here, so you'll just have to imagine :p)

Closest thing to a Gibson Les Paul for a total of less than 20% the price of an original ;)

First Class Service... My Foot.

I'm in a real sarcastic mood right now.

All you internet junkies frequent internet users in Malaysia would've noticed the amazing speed at which your webpages were loading the past few days, no? Well, no thanks to the excellent services provided by the nation's No. 1 internet service provider TmNet. Well, in view of such wonderful services rendered to its PAYING CUSTOMERS of late, I'm dedicating a post just to commend them (I'm a grateful person, really).

Well, first off, a little something off their official website:



And I'll break it down for you one by one how well they fulfilled their promises.

1. High Speed

Well, for starters, an example. 2 days ago I was loading a page to a forum I frequently haunt. Nothing fancy, just a load of HTML and text. And it looked a lil' like this:

OK then, no biggie. Thought I'd wait a little while. 2 minutes and it looked like this:


5 minutes...


After 2 hours of afternoon nap (I'm not kidding on this):


There you have it. High speed. Well, if this was high speed, then I guess what the regular Singaporean household is using must be nothing short of the speed of light.


2. No Disconnections

Well, aside from having an amazingly swift connection we're guaranteed little or no time-outs or disconnections.


I guess most of the websites I frequently visit just happened to be down these days. The ISP is of course still serving tip-top service.


3. Great Value

Yep, at the low fee of RM66/77/88/99 (whatever package you're using), who can complain, right? I mean, having HTML webpages loading in, what, 5 minutes? Where else on earth can you find such a bargain? Considering the average employee making 2k a month and giving 5% of it for e-mail that goes through after retyping and reloading it 3 times. So much easier than snail-mail!

So, broadband your life and experience agitation the internet like never before!















PHOOOEYYY~~!!!