Mother and baby are both safe and healthy…. Congrat to Suan and Uglymen; Ugly family had added another new member!!! Welcome her to the world and congrat to suan again!!!

I forgot to ask what is her name???? sorry…..

it all started on a drowsy, sleepy friday (27th feb) morning when i casually took up my phone and dialed paul, my half brother, i asked him whether he could help me buy jason mraz live concert ticket, as i only came to know the concert less than two weeks ago. since he is a die-hard mraz fan and has stuck mraz's tunes in his ears since early 2003. well, i did not expect myself to be in kl the following week anyway…

me: paul, u sure go to see mraz one, bought how much one ticket? can buy the cheapest one for me (rm88)?
paul: oh.. i think rm88 sold out liao loh… i bought seated one.

me: wa… expensive la over rm200…
paul: wait wait… (talking to some one bside him)

me: so how ah?
paul: u come kl for holiday la and we can watch together, i buy you the ticket la…

me: wtf… u serious? no need la…
paul: come come… come la knnccb, so long no see you. dont worry the ticket la.

me: ok ok sure…

*****************

*good old puppy still sleeping when i walked pass her at 7am

* wat happened to the airport? some UFO landed?

well, here am i, in kl, 5 days later. i coundnt remember when was the last time i had a holiday. since early 2008. i was actually quite excited since the night before boarding my flight here after 1am at flamengo, went home and could not sleep at all. there was only one thing i miss after landing, i wish silver was here.

arrived 9.20am in kl, took in-flight breakfast (not bad to be frank), then skybus to kl sentral, first stop was a coffee bean where i took my own sweet time to finish the whatever-it-is-called blended drink, it was really relaxing as i could feel i just literally dumped everything behind in alor star and revitalising myself here. hmm…. eh…. infact, coffee bean was the only stop i made there. you just coundnt understand how much i missed the coffee, yeah yeah, there are coffee beans in penang, sp, wherever (for those who dont know, kampung alor star no have coffee bean one) i know, but my work does not permit me to travel at all.

around 2pm, i boarded the lrt to pasar seni, where i never been before in my entire life, but heard people saying many cheap knock-offs stuff there… so i bought a pair of sunglasses and fake lv bag… ate a bowl of prawn mee minus the prawn which is reasonably priced. later spent around 45 minutes at popular bookstore

*infront of masjid jamek lrt station

4.30pm lrt to masjid jamek (or watever the spelling is) waiting for paul to pick me up.

*most important piece of paper of the day

5.45pm….damn, that mutherfxcker got a new car.. got to meet edward (met in alor star), and a cool guy eugene from penang, they are all colleagues with paul. we drove by stadium negara and at 6pm already so loooooooooooong the queue. paul said, u see, smart people buy seated ones, those queuing up are free standing infront of the stage, we got our seat booked… that reminded me of the BEYOND concert i attended in 1991 at the same venue, where i almost suffocated in front the stage, seeing people fainting, vomitting, shoving, screaming, and… did not enjoy the music myself.

*double, triple parking?

6.30pm we ate some noodles at some road side stalls, which tasted like what i cooked at home…nothing special.

*back – me / paul, front – eugene / edward

7.30pm we reached the venue and damn, it was so so so fucking hot inside, what happened to the air cond? there were mraz t shirts selling as expected…at sky high price, anyway, i didnt think they got my size.

*8.15pm

8.30pm lights off show starts. it has been so long i did not pen long blog entries til i cant recall many words to use now. mraz was simply amazing as once the show started, we almost forgot about the humid, sweat, and thirst. i am so glad that paul bought one of the best seats in the venue. just fine to listen on the whole (balancing, loudness), comfy, and no need to shove here there. together with mraz were drummer, bassist, horn sections (three), keyboardist, and partner-in-crime toco rivera.

the crowd started singing with mraz from song number 1 to the very last beat of the concert, this was really crazy, even i cant remember all the lyrics. mraz is one of the very best, and few entertainers, espcially with his stage presence and sexy voice.

its a shame he lost out, just, on the grammy to john mayer. however, who cares, he made my trip so so so worthy that i will bang my head on the wall til i die if i did not come.

*my RM700 two year old canon just couldnt make it to the front

not many international live acts i have been to…hmm… BEYOND (1991, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2005), gloria esterfan (1990,91?), but jason was just simply too outstanding from what i have seen so far, live, or on dvd of other artistes…

*some white chicks beside edward and me kept on screaming geek in the pink!

one funny thing at the concert was special guest penny tay duno go where liao when mraz was singing Lucky, and she came up to the stage just right before her part in the song. like many others said in the forum, including all my friends who went there, it was a total miss-matched.

*special guest penny tay (photos from chinapress.com.my)

the song could have been better if jason were to sing alone. not saying penny sounded bad, but jason was simply too good and blown penny away.

the concert was pretty short, about 90minutes, but there wasnt a single second that i failed to enjoy.

i took a video of “i'm yours” and you can see thousands of fans singing together. the attendance was just below 10,000 my guess. (i've uploaded the clip on youtube, see above)

*goodbye stadium negara…

10pm i followed paul and eugene back to their office, where i witness their data room, wahaha… including uglymen.net also stored there, paul is a no-nonsence kick ass guy and he is more than deserved of what he is today by climbing the corporate ladder to higher grounds, patiently, diligently, and smartly, i am really proud of him, make me feel so paise to what i have achieved…sigh….. after this holiday must go back work hard liao…

11.30pm back to paul's house where ah siong (long-lost brother, hehehehe) is also staying there, we chatted many things, catching up some pre-historic stories of us.

12.45am went out for dinner (i mean supper).

*siong and me waiting MU to start at paul's place…

2.45am waiting to see MU kick newcastle's butt…

3.45am watch MU with ah siong, paul went to zzzz awhile

5.15am match not ended, but i have to catch my flight back liao. paul drove me to airport together with siong

6am reached lcct, waved good bye…

7.15am flight delay…

7.30am flight delay…again

8am flight delay bcos of heavy fog

8.35am finally took off….

when i reached alor star, i only realised that i havent slept for over 40 hours since waking up 11am tuesday morning.

*****************************
nice time with edward, eugene, siong and the gang.

thank you paul for the holiday

hello hello I am beh jia min, only 81 days old as 5th September of 2008. I dunno why I will appear in uglyGAY.net's I think my father “uncle beh” want to show me off kuar….

Another picture of me….

Hmmmmmm…I dun want to appear in here liao..wanna go liao…..

wah wah wah….(crying)…..

okie okie okie…no more your pix….

I wanna share with the ugly families here!! Watching my girl growing from day to day I really realize that how hard to be parents…From Little to adult and from single to married then move to Parenthood its totally different progress in life; many of us have to move forward and carry on.

Move into parenthood make me understand what is responsibility; Responsibility is very important in life; we have to care and make sure every step that we step are in “correct” positions and right move. We cannot siao siao(playful) as our “age” grow from 10s to 20s and then move into 30s. When going into 40s' time, our time no much left if you really think of it. The time passing by very fast!!! There is no way back once the time pass!!! 10 years by 10 years…Like watched Jimmy Page rock in the china's olympic closing, I was like wow!!! He is really OLD, long time didn't see his appearance(time move very fast)!!!!BUT still rocking the world!!!!

Grow older the “responsibility” will grow with our age and became “greater”…. Ten years time every easy to pass by; when I first met SUAN that time his baby girl still little, if not mistaken I think cheng yang only few years(1 or 2 years) old; Now watching her wishing me “hello” when I visit suan's place. I met Suan 5 or 6 years…. Half of the 10 years pass……

I dunno why I wrote such things in here; I juz base on my feeling while I look up the pictures from my baby's taken by my wife day to day and got such feelings….

This is not music or guitar related topic, juz wanna show off my baby!!!! Hope you guys won't mind!!!

ROCK ON!!!

HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY!

you are the greatest!

******************************************
Do something good for your mom this on this big big day. instead of buying flowers, take out to dinner, buy gifts blah blah…. use the money donate to people who are DESPERATE for some cash to survive…. and put down your mom's name as the person who contributes that amount. by doing this, u help the person who needs cash, u help your mom (blessed), most importantly, u r doing a good thing and u should be proud of your self.

here's a recent one to donate (click to read):

kids serious illness in need of cash for treatment and medication.

1) print out the above page.
2) take the paper, go to your local China Press office, show them the print out
3) donate the cash, write your moms name as the person who donates
4) keep the receipt, as it is tax-deductible.

off course you can donate to anyone you like (who really direly needs donation)…

China Press office Malaysia (address and phone numbers)

******************************************

Source: http://www.songlegacy.com/StandardSongs/MothersDaySong2.html

*Deadliest Diseases Of Our Time: CANCER-INFO & ADVISE*

Some health tips which are useful for all of us .
If you have been practising them , please forward to the people you care.
*1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not
show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion.

When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in
their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect
the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size. *

2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's
lifetime.

3. When the person's immune system is strong, the cancer cells will be
destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumours.

4. When a person has cancer, it indicates that the person has multiple
nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food
and lifestyle factors.

5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and
including supplements will strengthen the immune system.

6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells. It also
destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastro-intestinal
tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs
etc.

7. Radiation, while destroying cancer cells, also burns, scars and damages
healthy cells, tissues and organs.

Caner cell migration

8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor
size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in
more tumor destruction.

9.. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation
the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can
succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.

10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become
resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to
spread to other sites.

11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not
feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.

*CANCER CELLS FEED ON: *

*a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important
food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal,
Spoonful, etc are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural
substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses but only in very small amounts.
Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in colour. Better
alternative is Bragg's aminos or sea salt. **

b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the
gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and
substituting with unsweetened Soya milk cancer cells are being starved.

c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic
and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork.
Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites,
which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.

d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts
and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About
20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juice provide
live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels
within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain
live enzymes for building healthy cells, try and drink fresh vegetable juice
(most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3
times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40
degrees C).

e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine. Green tea is
a better alternative and has cancer-fighting properties. Water – best to
drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in
tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.

12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive
enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines become putrefied and
leads to more toxic buildup.

13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering.. By refraining from or
eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer
cells and allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.

14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac,
anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the body's own
killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are
known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's normal method
of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.

15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and
positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger,
unforgiveness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic
environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and
enjoy life.

16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising
daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular
level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.
*
*(PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO PEOPLE YOU CARE ABOUT)* U won't regret it.

Image Source: google images search

“everyone has their every own right to be their own rock and roll star”

“don't give a crap to anyone who talks you down”

this is going to be a long post… so, take your toilet break, put some nice songs, have a cup of tea/coffee with some biscuits near you. this post is about our band but most precisely about my journey being a drummer for uglymen. if i were to compose this post in microsoft WORD application, it will take 8 pages. enjoy the short story.

in case you guys don't know, i was a guitarist with uglymen, backing michael while he wailed his guitar or screamed our songs on top of his lungs. mike and my guitar collaboration was truly a great combination since the legendary pair of cheah soon kit and soo beng kiang graced our badminton kingdom on TV. my guitar tone was mellow, mike's guitar tone was bright and edgy. we sounded big combined with ah hooi supporting us at the back (bass). we played with conviction and strong human tightness that we enjoyed very much. we were technically strong in our performance delivery; and musicianship was flawless in terms of amateur musicianship. we spent many years crafting our musical skills, learning music arrangements, analyzing bands performance, improving our song writing skills and carefully rehearsing our songs to the smallest detail. phew~~~ that was hard but fun.

“we need to stay long in the competition — which means we have to win the heats, the finals and hopefully going to the national finals in KL”

to asian beat participants, our band participated in 4 asian beat in 5 years (1999, 2001, 2002 and 2003/2004). 2003/2004, we competed in malaysia 2003 as well as in taiwan 2004. because of not many gigs being organized in northern malaysia, we would participate in band competitions. asian beat was one of them. and in order for us to play in as many gigs/competitions as possible, we need to stay long in the competition — which means we have to win the heats, the finals and hopefully going to the national finals in KL. well, we entered a lot of other bands competition but i just want to share with you about yamaha asian beat band competition because this is quite a wellknown band competition held yearly by yamaha.

in 1999, the competition was called yamaha band alert competition and we participated in kedah/perlis region with 45 bands competiting, we got 2nd and went to KL for the national finals to get our ass kicked back. our song for the competition was ROBOT.

in 2001, we competed in penang region and got 3rd. being 3rd did not get us into the finals in KL. our song for the competition was SUPER HORSE, its a Sam Hui's cover song.

in 2002, we competed in kedah/perlis region and got 1st. we went to KL national finals and got our asses kicked back home. our song for the competition was HAPPY — our attempt to play progressive song which sounded complicated, difficult to remember parts and extremely complex to play. we swear we will not WRITE such song anymore. its such a pain in the butt to play this song.

in 2003, we competed in penang region and got 1st. we went to KL national finals and won the championship. flew to taiwan and my ass and mike's ass got kicked back. metal sow ah hooi got a small gift from billy sheehan though. oh, the song that brought us to places is SI AI BIN.

while playing in this band, our relationship grew stronger and our determination to achieve something grew stronger everyday. myself in particular, i love to analyse bands competition. i love to see what makes a band strong in competition and what makes a good performance. what is it in their songs that pull the crowd and gain points from the judges. we think, we analyze and we detailed those information into research and study. i watched at least 4 to 5 grand finals of asian beat competition (asian level). we put so much effort in it… but why? cause its FUN! i have fun analyzing those bands playing, figuring out what made the crowd go crazy and what is a “high” performance. i spent many years doing that and NEVER GIVEN UP on anything — especially on our pursuit to UGLYMEN band. i have been consistent in playing bands and enjoy music. if you ask me what makes a winning band, i'd sum up in 3 attributes: GREAT DYNAMIC PERFORMANCE WITH GREAT FEEL, UNIQUELY CREATIVE and LOTS OF FUN FACTOR. these 3 attributes will make u think for the rest of your lives. i'm still using these 3 attributes to inject motivation to myself. some people may not agree but it's ok cause everyone has different perspective on this.

all these analysis, research and thinking were actually in our head right now. mike knows about it, hooi knows about it. and we tried to use this knowledge to see where we can go. then came OCEAN OF FIRE, they are our lovely friends — such cool and humble guys. we departed our knowledge to them cause its of no use for us to keep it and bring it to our graves. we *think* those knowledge has helpded them in realizing their little dreams. we didn't do anything to them, we just talk crap to them. anyway, they deserve every inch of a success that came to them.

then came the crash down, in early 2006, we were reduced to 3 hand held string instruments (hooi, mike and myself), no more drums. no drummer for uglymen. what are we going to do? quit the band? no, find a new drummer? well, a drummer who can play at a pro level may already played professionally and earns well. an average drummer may have played in other bands and even if we found him/her, our characters and musical taste may not be similar. a new drummer may not have the experience in music performance and trouble is we got gigs laid for us in 3 months time — we need a new DRUMMER!!!

ah hooi said: “both of you don't argue, i will play the drums!”

mike, hooi and i were TOTALLY DEVASTATED. the feeling was down and nothing was positive except for agreeing that we have to play as 3-piece UGLYMEN. easier to manage, easier to communicate, our characters are quite similar: i like watching english premier league, mike loves to play street fighter and hooi likes teaching music. we decided the drummer has to come from the 3 of us. mike and i looked at each other and said “either u or me will play the drums”. meaning, one guitar has to be sacrificed. in the end its me — why not mike? at that time, i have 3 strong reasons: 1st – mike sings the most (about 80%) and he will look awkward sitting at the drums and singing all the time, 2nd – mike teaches guitar and he should NOT sacrifice his career by jeopardizing his MAIN instrument, 3rd – i rather take the pain than making mike losing focus on the guitar. it's a hard decision but BUT BUT ah hooi did try to help, seriously. ah hooi said the most touching sentence UGLYMEN has ever heard, he said “both of you don't argue, i will play the drums!” mike and i “BWAHAHAHAHAHAH @#$%^&*#$%^&* KAKAKAKAKKAAK @#$^&#@$%^&* BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH”

during early 2006 (when we just went 3 piece), mike and my drumming SKILLS are about the same. mike knew lots of musical style and fills but no proper technique. i have some basic gripping stick technique and extremely simple beats playing. before u think of anything else, CURRENTLY (as of today) i have been playing the drums for 1.5 years for UGLYMEN. last year, i tried taking drum lessons. there's a few teachers in penang, A, B and C (no names). A is a latin drummer – and in no way that uglymen songs are anything latin. B is a jazz fusion drummer – and in no way that uglymen songs sound like an octopus playing complicated stuff. C is a good overall drummer but his reputation is bad, he likes to “eat snake” – bad teaching. in the end, i have decided to go back to alor setar to take lesson from my ex-drum teacher, badrul cause he has a strong ROCK drumming style and techniques. i asked for purely rock drumming techniques from him cause i cannot afford to start from pop drumming which is the correct way because i need to fill the drumming responsibility in uglymen as soon as possible. we have gigs in 3 months time. he taught me as much as he could but time was my constraint — i took only 3 months of drumming lessons cause i can't go back to alor setar every weekend. i have my 93-year old grandpa staying with me and every time i go back to my hometown alor setar, i have to drive him back. but he has difficulty traveling far and he has weak legs. its not convenient for him to go back often you see?

nevertheless, the band moves on… with GREAT pain. here's the pain where i'm going to share. in every band rehearsal in 2006, the band sucked! it still suck now but not THAT much. the band lost a drummer and a guitarist(myself) and was replaced by a new drummer with no drumming experience. every time during band rehearsal, my drumming cannot cope with the band. the guys were frustrated. mike din't say much cause he knew my ability was not there. ah hooi got even frustrated — for one f*king year, he has requested us to get a new drummer. without fail, he has voiced this concern over and over again. this year, he hasn't said anything about getting a new drummer, NOT because i can play already but because he's tired already… kekekeke

being 3 piece is not only affecting the drumming area, it has a big impact on mike's playing as well. mike's guitar sound has to be extremely big (cover mellow and edgy) and hooi's bass sound has to sacrifice heavy bottom with more mid. we did that change this year. mike's got a new guitar and hooi's got a new set of pickup. mike is having a hard time too because he has lost a dependent rhythm player when he needs to focus on his singing or when he needs to play guitar solo. this also gives some burden to hooi because he has to make sure that his bass lines are extremely clear and concise. and when mike is playing guitar solo, hooi's bass and my drums have to cover from head to toe. it was hard but it was fun. with only 3 instruments around, we have to make sure that we cover full sound spectrum of HIGH, MID and BASS sound.

“you guys are no longer uglymen”

more pain continue – we lost some fans base because we sucked big time. the first 2 gigs were in KL; and when those crowd who was familiar with us saw us performed, they gasped, some dropped their jaws. adding salt to injury, to the others, our band is no longer *the* band. we can't perform decently, we were asked to get a new drummer. we were questioned WHY WHY WHY. the drummer sucked, the band is not sounding tight. the performance was weird. most people talked down on us. we were sort of being embarrassed suddenly. our pride was dropping into the drain, u can actually hear people sigh. the worst was: you guys are no longer uglymen.

insults are part of the parcel. every little fame comes with a price. where on earth do these people never get any insult? for example michael jackson, britney spears, westlife, metallica, nirvana, green day, blink 182 had their share of media/verbal/accusation abuses hurled at them. well, maybe if you are freaking begger or homeless then people will leave you alone. it's a strange world indeed.

here's some famous insults we had:

1. you bunch of uncles still playing some oldies? you have past your prime already. (pls tell hai lang not to play anymore… because oldies mean insult? bwahahaha)
2. you guys are copy cat with no originality.
3. how come a band with a kid can compete? (i want to ask ah yin to abort babies already cause rockers musn't have babies)
4. its not fair for them to compete cause they have a music teacher in there. (michael, please stop teaching and do something else… like maybe a car park attendant or clerk or drug smuggler)
5. your songs are old fashioned, you should play more modern rock. 80's and 90's songs are dead. (hey kelvyn, people insult your guitar playing la… bwahahha)
6. please get a new drummer, you guys are weird without one.

imagine have to take the insult, setback and losing the expectation — it was hard on us. it was like STARBUCKS suddenly making their biggest loss in a few days time. and worst, i have to give up playing the guitars after nearly 20 years. 20 years of knowledge is down the drain too, sigh.

in this whole darkness, there was a glimpse of brightness from a few true brothers and sisters: uncle beh, ah paul webmaster, silver isle, ric, fleaman, ah yin, family and friends. of course there's bunch of mike's and hooi's friends which i can't recall all their names (sorry guys). these people believe in us. when we went 3-piece, they were happy that we have decided to stick as 3-piece but when we performed, they'd hope we were 4-piece. well, the problem is ME! i can't play the f*king drums. and its no help either when people started to talk down on my playing because i really REALLY suck in playing the drums at that time. i'm like a new apprentice learning the drums. i even take advice from kids who haven't finished schooling.

i got to do something. i used all my wit and my head (not the bottom one, the one with brain). i still remember that i have one unique ex-coworker who has the ability to teach himself on anything. for example, he sees people play golf. he will ask a few people how golf is played and asked for some basic techniques and he WILL analyze/research from TV/actual golf playing and TEACH himself to play golf. and he can virtually teaches himself anything he wants to learn and achieve. by the way, his father is a professor and head of faculty in a university. i tried that method but i am not as good as him but i'm getting around there to teach myself playing drums. i get my hands on all the DVD concerts that i can get, drums lesson on DVD/CD/books and from the internet and asking people around. i need to learn FAST. i have concerts from beyond, lamb of god, slipknot, red hot chilli peppers, bryan adams, metal hardcore festival, queen, stevie ray vaughn, metallica and many many more. i purchased drums lessons in DVD/CD/books from KL bookstores, amazon.com and learn from internet (drummerworld.com) and subscribed to modern drummer magazine. i listen to rock and metal bands CD while driving/working. i need to learn faster. occasionally, i purchased U.K. drums magazine called RHYTHM and learnt as much as i can. i must work hard to be un-suck.

i asked better-than-myself drummers but tend not to do so nowadays cause i get my ass kicked for asking too much. one simple question that i asked “how do you tune the drums, especially the snare drum?” i got an unhelpful answer as well as dissing me that you cannot depend on people too much, u have to learn on your own and try on your own. how the f*k i'm going to learn something which i dont know? drum tuning is difficult to teach BUT to me, there are ways — it depends on the person whether he wants to impart the knowledge or just talk crap to me. well, luckily hai lang drummer ah thye taught me. he said “i can't teach you cause i dont know how to teach. i just use a DRUM TORQUE to tune. i use it as a guide”. i went to a music store and bought a DRUM TORQUE and my snare drum is sounding nice now. so, there is a f*king way to tune a drum kit, its a matter whether these people want to teach you or not. damn!

“why are you asking stupid questions”

why i said i seldom ask professional drummers nowadays? here's another story: my snare drum has a problem of the tension rods (screw) loosening. the screws actually came out the longer i play and the harder i hit. when i posed this question to a drummer friend, he said “why are you asking stupid questions? the tension rods WILL always loose when you play longer and hit hard.” i was frustrated but i never give up, i find my internet friend, his name is GOOGLE and he gave me answers. my tension rods no longer loose. in case people ask what is my faith, i will say “GOOGLE”.

my pursuit of drumminess is far from over. everyday, it's a new day for me to discover new things. new drummers, new ideas, new songs, rekindle inspirations, cool techniques, etc etc. luckily enough, i got a kind band member by the name of michael who decided to lend me his newly bought drums practise pads. the pads alone allow me to woodshed/practise as frequent as i can. i try to practise everyday, at least an hour. if its not for mike's drums pads, i would have SUCKED even more.

“the security guard called me via intercom and visited me a few times because i was disturbing the neighbours”

i practised as much as possible with my 12 hours working time, family time and sleeping time. after deducting my daily routine time, i only have like less than 2 hours a day to do my own things (including phak chui cheng). sometimes i have to work at nite but that's a different story. i tried to practise my drumming as much as i can. at that time, i only had like 3 months of drum lessons. what can i know about playing drums? i started practising until late at nite. until midnite, like 12am and 1am. but, i live in a “who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire-flat” in penang. then a few misadventures occurred. our resident flat security guard called me via intercom and visited me a few times because i was disturbing the neighbours. argh!!! a dent to my practise regime. i mean, when i practise drumming on the practise pads, the sound (banging) absorbed through the walls and disturbed the neighbour upstairs. i was devastated. i think the guards called me 3 times in a span of few days.

i decided to go up and talk to my neighbour. they were a nice family: a young couple with 2 little girls. they said their kids are having exams and one of the daughters was having fever and couldn't sleep and i asked what time is the latest limit i can practise the drums. they said 12am. then i thought for a while and told them that i will stop my drums practice by 11pm. they were fine and at least i dont feel that bad about disturbing my neighbours.

happily, i went back to my flat and practise again… after a few weeks. my house maid told me that: “suan, itu auntie punya rumah bawah cakap suan main drum banyak bising, dia tak boleh tidur” (the downstairs neighbour lady can't sleep because my drumming is noisy). man! u see my problem now? i have neighbours upstairs and downstairs. i went down to see the lady. she's a 70-year old lady. i asked her what time she sleeps, she said 9.30pm. @#$%^&* i told her that i play drums for a living and i need to practise. she said she needs to sleep by 9.30pm and i negotiated with her that i will stop practising by 10pm. from then on (since last year), i practise my drums daily up to or before 10pm. sigh… and when i got back from work, it's usually 7pm. between 7pm, i need to dinner, spending sometime with my family and practise my drums. usually, after 10pm, i dont practise anymore.

so, how does it feel being a drummer and being a guitarist? well, honestly speaking, being a drummer is more difficult than being a guitarist. using a guitar, u can play a song in a few minutes. Nirvana 2 chords (in the verse) song called “About A Girl”. or play any string on a guitar to imitate any song u can think of. being a drummer, wahhhhhh…. die…. what can u play to “produce” a song? difficult. u gotta learn the rudiments/techniques, having a steady timing and good groove. being a drummer is a pain in the butt. u gotta have lots and lots of interest in playing the drums TO BE ABLE to love playing it. if you play drums just because it is cool, then u wont last long playing the drums. to me, i love a band rock music than the drums… the bass, guitar and drums are just tools for me to express my musical performance. i play drums because i love to play in this band. if i have to play the bass for this band, i will learn to play the bass, same goes to guitar etc. my situation is a bit different, i play the drums because i love the band. if the band no longer exists, i probably play the guitar cause i can't really sing with a drum and drums do not have melody! BUT hey, this does not mean that i HATE drums. after some time playing the drums, i find the drumming experience to be an exciting one and a journey that will take me to places (literally).

at this point of time, my physical ability does not allow me to absorb all the technical requirements of a good drummer. i played less than 2 years and i need to compensate a lot of weaknesses with groove and feel. some techniques take years to master and i can't afford to wait for years. a month is also too long already for me. i need to crack my head to be on the same playing par with hooi and mike. however, there's one element in MUSIC that RULE them all. pop, rock, hard rock, metal, RnB, jazz, classical must be played with FEEL/EMOTION/DEEPEST SOUL. even with limited technical ability, a song performance can be decently good with a good feel and emotion. if someone says that playing technically IS MORE IMPORTANT than playing WITH FEEL and GROOVE, then… he/she is probably right loh… i was wrong loh… i'm only having 1.5 years of drumming experience only mah… bwahahaha… cin tulan nia… kekeke.

every now and then i discover a lot of things on drumming. drumming needs a lot of persistency, patience and determination. when i was a guitarist, i only have determination and some patience. being a drummer means having to endure the boring technique when i practise cause there's no melody of song during drum practising. however, that totally changes when we meet up for our weekly band rehearsal. i always look forward to our jamming session every week in penang. it is a wonderful experience every time. our first performance of me playing the drums was extremely weird. it was the first time i sat during a performance. and i sat at the back. its so strange to see hooi's and mike's butts. practising thru a drums technique(rudiments) is far more boring than a guitar. u have to endure the pain. i have to keep motivate myself. i always remember these 2 things when playing in a band: “the band is as good as the weakest link” AND “the band is as good as the drummer”. to do anything you dream of, you need tenacity.

stages of me playing drums:

1. when i first start playing drums in live performance: i hope i dont drop my drum sticks
2. when i played for a few months in live performance: i hope i dont play mistake
3. when i played for a year in live performance: i hope my timing is steady
4. when i'm playing live right now: i hope my feel is right
5. when i play live in future: i hope my drums sound and feel are great

when i practise, i focus (1 being the most important):

1. steady timing
2. technique and accuracy
3. groove and feel

when i play live, i focus (1 being the most important):

1. groove and feel
2. technique and accuracy
3. steady timing

“that's why i worked hard on my drumming so that uglymen doesn't suck”

uglymen has gone thru several phases in life, with success and pitfalls. it doesn't mean that we get smarter but we gained a lot of knowledge and experience which we can apply in real life and understand how precious life is. the band is everything to me and has made my life more colourful (than it already should) and i'm willing to sacrifice musically to the band. the band is more important than my drumming (that's why i worked hard on my drumming so that uglymen doesn't suck):

1. if we are NOT in this band: we dont know how taiwan looks like and how cute the taiwan girls are. errrr… malaysian girls also not bad.
2. if we are NOT in this band: we dont know how does a TV programme recording feels like.
3. if we are NOT in this band: we dont know the appreciation of being charitable and using our little talent to collect donations for the needy, independent fire brigade, kidney patients etc.
4. if we are NOT in this band: we dont know how recording an album feels like.
5. if we are NOT in this band: we wont be able to make so many friends all over the country and overseas.
6. if we are NOT in this band: we wont know how to deal with press (newspaper), designers, t-shirts manufacturer, TV station, organizers, recording engineers, producers and a bunch of business people.
7. if we are NOT in this band: we wont know how to manage each other and being in the band is just like being in a company. the longer the band members stay with each other in the band, it means that these members have great relationship with the other members/partners. its just like a business, if u get along with people/partners well, u gain a lot of trust/friends/contacts. you learn how to compromise, respect others, manage little things, planning ahead and think rationally.
8. if we are NOT in this band: we dont know how to do promotion or sell a product (CDs, t-shirts).
9. if we are NOT in this band: we wont be traveling much and discover singapore, KL, kampar, nibong tebal, teluk anson, taiping, bukit mertajam etc.
10. if we are NOT in this band: we wont be inspiring a few people to start their own bands.
11. if we are NOT in this band: we wont know there's so much great music out there, so many awesome bands and so many inspiring individuals.
12. if we are NOT in this band: hooi, mike and i wouldn't have known each other.

we get inspired by things, we get inspired by new people/places/activities. this world doesn't stop u to achieve what u want. if u want something badly, work towards it. no one is stopping u. read the above 3 quotes in bold at start of this post.

the drums is my tool for musical expression. our band has exceeded us. the band is bigger than any 3 of us. i just know that i have to push the band further up, not sliding down even though i do not have an exceptional ability on the drums. everyone has their every own right to be their own rock and roll star. all they have to do is to work on it all the time without losing focus. if mike, hooi and myself were to split, we are nothing but a regular 9am to 5pm guy and we'll ended up me watching english premier league, mike playing street fighter and hooi teaching music full time.

p/s: in the end, drumming is like studying or working or pursuing your dreams. you need to work hard, stay focus, persistent to your whole objectives, never give up and don't give a crap to anyone who talks you down. in the end, being 3-piece uglymen is a blessing in disguise. i haven't given up hope since we started this band in december 1993.

油站業者提供省油貼士，只要油缸添滿及不在大熱天添油，車主可省下一筆油錢。

一名油站業者指出，當車主前往添油打開油缸時，一股氣體會從油缸內跑出，主要是車主的油缸內出現太多空間，導致汽油在沖撞下，汽油化為氣體，讓汽油平白浪費。

此外，他也說，在炎熱天氣下添油，汽油蒸發的比率，也會比冷天氣添油時來得高。

“所以若要省油，最好把油缸添滿或在晚間及早上添油，可讓車主不必平白浪費寶貴的汽油。”

author: 话说回头, actually if buy full tank, car will be heavier and if your vehicle is travelling on a long trip, your car will also consume more petrol bcos carrying more litres of petrol. Just like F1 one-stop or two-stop strategy. Well, the choice is yours though.

Ric the lick was back in Alor Star, and he joined us in the tower. Ah Hua, Ah Foo and me (Hai Lang), were there to help out on PA and preparing some songs. Shao An was at his very best again in singing spontaneously to the full house amazement and thunderous applause. There were one sentense in his on-the-spot-compose-song… “la la la… 你们要把我灌醉,难道我今晚不用洞房吗? la la la…” He is a genius in his own right.

No place to sit! Full house at the award-winning-company's tower

view from the very top

” I do, I do”

proceeding to the ring-changing ceremony

For her…

For him…

You may kiss the bride now

Cutting wedding cake with a knife parang

hong tou is always there to zheng ku people.. good one.

Congratulations again from Uglymen.

Some stories behind the photos:

26th May 2007
Uglymen were not scheduled to play on 26th May Sat previously because i had aranged Signature band to perform, unfortunately, Teik Yan's (Signature's guitarist) had a major family tragedy few days ago and had to cancel the show, thus Uglymen substituting at the very last minute.

“å–‚,不用给红包啊?” (设计对白) kekeke….

beautiful back drop

Closer look… the story written on the back drop is very romantic.

新人入场就座

Thanks to 娟 for snapping photos of Ugm

i made a big time blooper in the only Ugm song for that night, too funny to tell you what happened

Ugm performed for 1 hr 15 min

敬茶仪式

切 cake

倒 champange 咯!

交杯酒!

Yaaaaaaaaam Seng…

One more time…

lovely scene…

and the crowd went crazily happy for Shao An…

at his spontaneous best.

trilling the crowd with his hillarious lyrics

The bride's 姐妹

Shake your baaaaaady

truely a night to remember for every one there.

i always included ways of donating to them, and once again, all donations are tax-deductable.

All of us know too well that, there are many swindlers, fake beggars, especially from some syndicates, or even young people who went up to buses or at coffee shops or taxi stands, begging money from us, with hands and legs all still functioning well. We might wonder, how many of these people are the real ones in financial troubles…

i want to share a story with all of you here. Not too long ago, about 3 weeks, my friend Ric, sms-ed me late night at 12am, saying his very good net friend (for those of you who duno, net friend: friend known through online, not friend who makes fishing net), the net friend is quite close to him, and Ric also said the net friend is his customer too. Amazingly, Ric sms-ed to i-have-no-idea how many people asking donations for his net friend, because his net friend's mom was in hospital, almost fatal and need urgent cash to do some surgery. I could sensed Ric was very kind and helpful as even my PC customer also received the sms from Ric. As i was driving back to kedah from penang, i did not reply his sms-es but read all of them. One of the sms says: Suan donate RMxx, who else want to donate.

After reaching home, i made a call to Ric, he was very kin cheong (in a rush) in getting more donation for his net friend, and told me he himself was going to donate RMxxx. First, i thought no problem if donating, but i have a principle before i would donate to any one. They have to be GENUINE. As Ric was telling me his net friend's mom is very near-death and need urgent cash, i asked Ric to send his net friend the following sms:

“my friend mike is a reporter, take foto of ur mom, write brief description on sickness and family back groud, email to my friend, he want help u put up in newspaper get more donation. email to (michael at xxxxxx.xxx)”

the net friend replied: “i have no mood to take foto and write now, help me thank your friend”

wtf is this? if some one is so DESPERATE to get cash to save a LIFE, can the term MOOD be taken into consideration? no mood, then dont save la…???

i classified it as a CHEAT. Poor Ric was so kind and helpful, but thank God he woke up before been conned deeper, bcos if anyone finds out this was a cheat, Ric will be considered a cheat too as nobody will blif he was helping a friend's “dying mom”.

Friends, i hope you know what to do, and be CALM when some one ask you for help, you need to VERIFY the situation.

Meanwhile, below are REAL people in REAL trouble, as usual, i wont talk too much, just read on. Thanks to everyone who is willing to donate

Case 1~
Name: 劉鈞耀
Location: Telok Anson
Age: 34
Sickness: Kidney Failure
Condition: worsening, mom 57 years old work hard to food medical bills. dad already dead
Link:
http://www.chinapress.com.my/content_new.asp?dt=2007-06-03&sec=malaysia&art=0603mo20.txt

Case 2~
Name: 陳玉珍
Location: Telok Anson
Age: 35
Sickness: Kidney Failure and other illness
Condition: unable to work, son and daughter to look after, high medical bills
Link:
http://www.chinapress.com.my/content_new.asp?dt=2007-06-03&sec=malaysia&art=0603mo21.txt

Case 3~
Name: 梁啟慶
Location: Telok Anson
Age: 57
Sickness: prostate gland
Condition: wife is housewife, himself cant work now, both kids still in school
Link:
http://www.chinapress.com.my/content_new.asp?dt=2007-06-03&sec=malaysia&art=0603mo22.txt

How to help:

1) You can walk in to any China Press branch http://www.chinapress.com.my/contact/ , donate directly, and quote the name of the person above you want to donate to. You will get an official receipt which can be used for tax deduction.

2) Pay your cheque to “YAYASAN NANYANG PRESS (CHINA PRESS)”.
No.80, Jalan Riong, Off Jalan Bangsar, 59100 KL.

3) If you do not have time to do both the above methods, simply pass the donation money to me, and i will take it to China Press Alor Star. Remember to provide your english name as all donations are tax deductable, and get the official receipt from me.

Taking Pills with Warm Water is Dangerous… 
Most people when they're suffering from flu commonly consume Capsulated tablets with warm water, not knowing whether the pill would safely reach the stomach. This could be serious and perhaps you should consider proper ways of swallowing pills.

Doctors Advice: 
* Pills can be taken singly by using cold water. After swallowing, a person should drink a lot more water. 
* Take your pills 30 minutes before you go to bed, don't go straight to bed immediately after taking pills.

Incident:

 
One day a guy took some antibiotics and for not drinking enough water to flush it straight down to the stomach, the pill was lodged on the food tract and caused an inflammation. For six days he could only take cold milk and water-soluble food and was hospitalized for five days. The Doctor warned that should it get any worse, an ulcer in the intestine may result. So please exercise caution.
When taking medicine in pill or capsule form: * DO NOT use warm or hot water / fruit juice / all kinds of sweet drinks to wash down the medicine. * The right way is to down it with cold water. If you feel discomfort in the throat after taking a pill, drink lots of water or cold milk. Stand or sit straight when you take your pill and do not lie immediately.

(Klang 24th Apr 2007) A lady just finished pumping gas at a petrol station, when she was about to drive away, came two people who “kindly” told her that her petrol cap was not closed. The lady went down to check, the “kind” guy got into the car and drove off. Worse still, the lady's 9 year old daughter was in the car. The robbers later called the lady for a RM100,000 ransom…

So guys, when you are about to leave the petrol station next time, and suddenly two guys (or one) came knocking your window and tell you your petrol cap is not closed, you can react in two ways:

1) ya, thanks, then can you please shut it for me.

2) shut down your engine, take out your key, lock the doors, then only go check the cap.

3) tell that guy  “yaya, go fxvk your mothex, lu knn ccb”

假稱油蓋未關騙車主下車
匪搶車擄女童

（巴生24日訊）匪徒在油站向婦女假稱油蓋未鎖緊，騙婦女下車后，駕走其豐田ALTIS轎車，將車內女童一拼擄走，事后更向她勒索10萬令吉，才肯釋放其女兒。

兩個小時后，該名9歲女童被發現丟棄在莎阿南地區，驚慌不已。

此案于昨晚約7時許，在巴生百家利花園某油站發生，警方較后于晚上9時許，在莎阿南17區找回該名女童。

據悉，這個專門利用假車禍劫名車的兩名印裔匪黨，看準這名婦女下車打滿油后，上車準備離去時，其中一人假裝好心告知事主，車子油蓋未鎖緊。

這名婦女（46歲，保險從業員）當時不疑有詐，下車到座車左側旁查看，匪徒趁機跳進事主司機座，踩油門而去，車內女童也被載走。

勒索10萬

婦女隨即撥打女兒的電話，卻由匪徒接听，更勒索她繳付10萬令吉贖回女兒。

據說，婦女表示沒有如此多錢，希望把贖金減至5000令吉，惟匪徒卻沒有回覆並且關機。

婦女心急如焚，前往巴生警區報案，而家人也發出手機短訊給親友，協助追尋女兒及車子下落。

結果，案發約兩小時后，警方發現該名女童，然后將她帶返警局交回給家人。

巴生警區主任羅萬助理總監今天接受《中國報》詢問時，證實此事。

他說，這名女童已平安獲釋，警方尚在追查被劫的轎車下落。

他也說，警方不排除幹案匪徒與過去在巴生發生的豐田VIOS車劫案，同屬一夥。

據知，這也是該匪黨于過去3個星期內，在巴生幹下第3宗案件，前兩宗被劫車子皆是豐田Vios款型，包括本月21日在峇都勿拉，印裔婦女遭尾隨而來的匪黨搶走豐田Vios轎車案。

今年1月13日，在巴生斯里安達拉斯花園也曾發生2名孩童遭人搶車擄走，結果棄在班達馬蘭地區，警方最后逮捕涉案者。

http://www.chinapress.com.my/content_new.asp?dt=2007-04-25&sec=malaysia&art=0425mb28.txt