Born in the wrong era? No. There is no wrong era.

so...
i have mgs 4 now
i'm playing resistance now
i planned on booking in tomorrow
i just received a call to book in tonight.

SIAN!
and linda is overseas.

so i am at rehearsal.
i enter and big e says that he needs me to play something from the comp.
"ok, that's easy. just plug in loh. oh? wait, where's the cable that is usually there? hmm...it's gone."
ok....so i search and i cannot find. am abit frustrated because this isn't the first time a cable goes missing. even my cable from home that i bring to there also disappear.

fine, nevermind. go to chinese side to take first.
so down to office.
take key.
unlock and go in.
everything locked up. guess that option's out.
oh well go back upstairs and try and pull off some magic loh.
magic happens. and a wire appears(albeit short, but have is have la....rearrange the lousy layout loh)
haha. tada sound.

next set up the mics and let them carry on.
they start practising singing.
everything sounds fine, well, almost. back up abit soft, but they ususally are anyway, sometimes it seems like they expect a mic to transform whatever mouse voice they have into divadom. well, here's a newsflash ladies: mics work firstly by having sound enter them. i.e. no sound = no amplified sound.
alright. so all set up, job's done.

things get pretty boring, as usual, so chat with hsing joo for most of rehearsal.
almost 2 hours later...
"um...ernest ah? can make the back up singers abit louder?"
hmmm? well, they are a bit soft, but that's normal what. anyway, from hsing joo's angle they also like not talking into mic.
but job's a job, so up the volume i will.

make big e softer,
make back up mic's louder(to try and hear some distinction),
up the master volume,
up the amplifier volume,
up the back up singer gain,
mess with the back up independent frequency thing,
mess with the equaliser thing....

"can u hear the back up singers?", i ask hsing joo.
"no leh...."

ok...so it kind of bothers me...
time to check things out...so to the front i go.

hmm...wires are right.
they are still standing too far, but thwat the heck?
i look closer.
ah. i think i've got it.

there on the mic, "on/off"
....so i flick the switch then suddenly,
AIYEEEE!!!
feedback. haha.
SO THEY NEVER TURNED ON THE MIC IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!!!!
GAH!!!!!!

all that trouble!
i go back laughing.
thought i saw big e shake his head...
well, u must admit, it IS funny.
i guess he thought that was a silly mistake of mine.
well, it is. of course i dun see why the singers couldn't check themselves. but what the heck, let's just make it my fault.
it's a funny thing and i could care less what he thought.
haha!

more practice...and then...PANG GANG LOH!
heh, welcome to my life.

fbb moment 1

(i'm playing chess on the comp)
sbb: you wanna play chess?
fbb: i don't know how to play...
sbb: you know what..
fbb: i don't! you know i didn't know got this thing called towering?
sbb: ....castling. it's called castling. there is no towering...haha.

fbb moment 2

(he's looking at the chocs i got from australia)
fbb: so which one can i eat?
(i'm playing chess still...and losing)
sbb: wait later i tell you.
fbb: how come all of them all chocolate coated marshmallow?
sbb: not all what..
fbb: then how come this polly waffle and chokito only got one? never buy more...
sbb: because those is i bought to eat there one but forgot..
fbb: oh. ok good, then i can eat now.

fbb moment 3

(i just lost at chess)
fbb: so which one can i eat? you haven't tell me yet.
sbb: ARGH! stupid mistake!! i lost!! 2 rounds le...
fbb: awwww...too bad(mockingly). so what does that say about you huh? hmmm.....?
sbb: ...
(before i can make any reply)
fbb: i wonder why the chocolate doesn't melt..
sbb: haha!
fbb: why you laugh? because all i think about is food?
sbb: haha, ya.
fbb: ...so which one can i eat?

fbb moment 4

(a while later...I'm still playing chess)
fbb: so which one can i eat?

lol.
waha...ahhhh.
fbb is fbb la huh?

it recently dawned upon me that...

I HAVE NOT VISITED THINKGEEK IN AGES!

ok. i resolve to go check it out in the days to come.
haha. those quirky peices of expensive junk that they sell never cease to fascinate me.

there exist these things called gift cards.
like a k-mart gift card or a nike gift card or an apple gift card.
things like that.
how these cards work is that you purchase a card with a fixed value and you can use it to go down to that particular store to use it just like a credit card.
now they're called gift cards, i reckon, because people buy them for others so that those others can go down to that store to purchase something that they like. so they're like vouchers.
well, i was just wondering if there are people who have taken gift cards to replace gifts.
is this an issue? maybe not.
but i kind of figure that these gift cards may sort of become an easy way out for people who don't know what to get for others when an occasion to buy a gift arises.
i mean, say it's your birthday, and you really wanted something, like a vespa. and your best friend knows you so well that he gets it for you. wouldn't you be thrilled?
but how often do you get things you want without asking?(or hinting) rarely.
but then again, i'd rather someone get me something they thought i'd like even if they were'nt sure.
i mean, that kind of shows sincerity no? and well, it shows maybe what others think of you.
now with gift cards, people don't need to go through the effort of choosing a gift that they think would make you happy. "oh it's fatty's birthday, guess i'll just pop down to k-mart and get him a gift card...again."
you see?
it can be the ultimate lazy, thoughtless gift there is.
heh, something else i thought of. it has no value in itself. just a piece of plastic. even a mug has more value in itself i think. of course, that doesn't mean it's worthless. just simply that it has to be used first to translate it's latent value into actual stuff.
howevever, i must qualify, i am not condemning people who buy them for others.
because, maybe, the thing that makes people happy is the gift card itself, the power to shop.
maybe i go to a store to want to get something for my friend but i see so many things that the person would like. people like me would wish i could just buy the entire store for the guy. but i can't.(maybe my mom can though. haha.)
so in a scenario like this, i may prolly just figure that teh best solution is to get a card for my friend so he can come and buy stuff here. but i pay lah.
which is the diff between this and cold hard cash. gift cards limit your choices on purpose. which can also be good and bad. haha. but that's a minor thing la.

haha. i saw gift cards in australia.