God Gave Rock And Roll To You

GOD GAVE ROCK AND ROLLLLLL TO YOU
GAVE ROCK AND ROLLLLL TO YOU
GAVE ROCK AND ROLLLLL TO EVERYONE

GOD GAVE ROCK AND ROLLLLLL TO YOU
GAVE ROCK AND ROLLLLLL TO YOU
PUT IT IN THE SOOOOOOULS OF EVERYONE


Ich liebe dieses lied

You're better than drugs

!

Finally watched The Breakfast Club yesterday after having it on my list of things to do for so long. It was really good! Pretty stereotypical, but, american movies. Haha. I loved all the characters, especially Brian Johnson and Andrew Clark. I thought Bender was too much of a douchebag (although he was pretty funny sometimes), Claire was spoilt and Allison was problematic.

I felt so sad when Brian cried that I felt like crying too. I don't remember the last time I saw an actor cry so convincingly. I just wanted to step into the screen and give him a big hug :(

Went to play ball with Carmen and her friends in the late evening. It was a lot more than fun than expected :) Twas a little awkward at the beginning and when they talked about anime hahaha cause I know nuts about anime.

Reached home late and slept at 1am. Woke up drowsy from the slack of sleep and the aches in, I quote Carmen, "muscles that I never knew I had."

Spent the day lazing and watching movies on tv. Had drums at 4pm, first lesson in 3 weeks. Found out I'd been practicing a stroke all wrong and now I'll have to start over haha. Anddd we are finally starting on other parts of the kit next week! Yay yay I'm so excited

Also, it somehow slipped my mind that Baybeats starts tomorrow! I thought it was the day after. Anyone wanna go with me? I might have no one to go with :(

You gotta keep em separated

Hey ho again

Met up with Carmen yesterday

Twas good meeting with her because I always feel like we can talk about anything in particular :) Had 18chefs at Cine, then went around running errands together. Thanks Carmen for the fun but tiring afternoon! Heh

I finished my other book today, it's called 'Up In Honey's Room' by this apparently famous writer called Elmore Leonard who's written books that were turned into movies. It was really good, a little draggy in the beginning but redeemed itself by being quite the page-turner towards the end.

I think, weirdly, one of the nicest things about the book was the names Mr. Leonard came up with. The main character is called Honey Deal, an American lady who gets herself involved with a group of Nazi loyals during the first World War. You have a Ukrainian spy called Vera Mezwa, her transvestite manservant called Bohdan Kravchenko, and also in the loop are Honey's ex-husband Walter Schoen, his crude friend Joe Aubrey and a timid doctor, Michael George Taylor.

So yeah I really liked the names, I thought they said a lot about the characters haha

In other news, Baybeats is this week!!! It's an annual three-day band festival and it's the closest thing we get to a Warped Tour down here (why do I feel like I've said this before somewhere on my blog)

So it's kind of a big thing for me. Went for the first time in J1 and I was hooked. So many great bands out there! There were a lot of stereotypical people there too, not gonna describe them here, but let's just say there were a lot of mohawks and the air was foggy with cigarette smoke. Would've been hard to pretend it was dry ice even if you plugged your nose.

Then I had to skip the one last year because of As. But yayyy I can go again this year I'm so excited

I'm at CBTL now, had Sumo Salad for lunch and it was so yumz but I'm hungry again.

Gonna find some food now bye

Come out and play

Hey ho

Was supposed to have drums last Thursday and meet Wums in the evening for blackball but both were cancelled :( another wasted day

Met Lumpy and SJ on Friday evening at SJ's workplace, a cafe at TK road. I sort of got lost while finding my way there haha I should really download Google Maps shouldn't I?

Had dinner at A Pinch of Salt- food is as good as I remembered! Satisfied my craving for pesto pasta and we shared a sesame salad that came in a decent-sized portion too, so yay :) Lumpy got chicken and SJ got a fish & chips. Service was great! We were also terrorized by mosquitoes, and a fat lizard on the wall next to us that kept coming close to our table. #outdoordiningproblems

Then we went back to SJ's workplace to plan our staycation. If all goes well it should be somewhere in late July. Can't wait for it heh

Put on my JC uniform again yesterday for the first time since A Levels ended. It still felt the same- as baggy and stuffy as ever. Had to go to a small sorta ceremony at my neighbourhood CC to get some merit award money. The event was much smaller than I expected. For the tertiary kids, there was only me and another MJ guy and we were also the only ones who came alone hahaha all the pri school kids brought their parents and siblings.

I felt bad that people were only clapping for their own kids so I clapped heartily, earning a judgemental glance from the kid next to me... even had to initiate applause when no one clapped a couple of times.

Before they dismissed us they got everyone in the room to stand up and the kids had to turn to their parents to hug and kiss them and say thank you... oh lordy hahaha I just stood awkwardly with my hands behind my back, then I saw the MJ guy sit down so I sat down too hahaha

Stayed home again today. I love sunday home-cooked meals :)

Went to throw out the trash just now after dinner and saw the neighbour's kids at the stairs with a guy around my age, probably a cousin cause I've seen him around a couple of times before, pretty cute but bad timing man cause I was in these pink shorts and wasn't wearing a bra hahahaha shit my life seriously

I speed-walked with my arms in front of me as discreetly as I could back to my house

Always

I've always thought Mark Hoppus was the best-looking out of the three of them but Travis is drop dead gorgeous in this video and even Tom who sometimes looks a little too pervy looks great here and their hair ermahgerd the hair is killing it

Whoever did make-up, hair or wardrobe for the shooting, you guys are awesome and you all deserve a raise

Yeah that's all

Drummer jokes

So, some time ago I found a page full of hilarious drummer jokes.

Told them to my band while we were sitting around at semi-finals and our drummer, understandably, didn't look like he found them too funny but oh lord they were so gold I just have to share some of them hahahhaa

Don't get me wrong I love drummers but seriously


1. What do you call someone who hangs around with musicians?
A drummer.

2. What did the drummer get on his IQ test?
Drool.

3. What's the difference between a drummer and a drum machine?
You only have to punch the information into the drum machine once.

4. Two cowboys were waiting in their fort for the Indians to attack. They listened to the distant pounding war drums. One cowboy muttered to the other, "I don't like the sound of them drums."
Just then, a distant voice came over the hill, "It's not our usual drummer!"

5. How do you get a drummer to play an accelerando?
Ask him to play in 4/4 at a steady 120 bpm.

6. How do you know if a drummer's platform is level?
The drool comes out of both sides of his mouth.

7. Did you hear about the drummer who got into college?

No.

Neither did I.

8. What's the difference between a drummer and a drum machine?
A drum machine can keep a steady beat and won't steal your girlfriend!

9. How many drummers does it take to change a lightbulb?
Five; one to change it, and the other four to stand around and talk about how much better Neil Peart would have done it!

10. What do you call a drummer who's lost his girlfriend?
Homeless.

11. What do you call a kid with a set of drums?
The poster child for birth control.

12. What is the difference between a drummer and a savings bond?
One will mature and make money.

13. How do you get a drummer off your porch?
Pay for the pizza!

14. How do you know when a drummer's outside your door?
The knock gets faster.

15. "Hey buddy, how late does the band play?"
"Oh, about a half beat behind the drummer."

16. What do you call a drummer with more than one brain cell?
Pregnant.

17. "Mom, when I grow up, I want to be a drummer."
His mother scoffs and says, "Well, you can't do both."

Felix Abe

It will all be forgotten. 

Won't it? No one will remember. No one really cares. Even now, it is in the newspapers, but people buy the newspapers why? For the same reason they watch movies or read a novel. To be entertained. It is entertainment. They read the stories and they gasp and they tut - tut tut tut - but nothing is real to them. Not really real. They look at the pictures, the pictures of him, and they shudder and they say, just look at his eyes, you can tell, can't you, it is all in the eyes. And they will tut again and turn the page and move on to a story about fox-hunting or tax increases or a celebrity taking drugs. But if it were really real to them, they would not be entertained. If they cared, they would not turn the page. They could not. If what was in the newspapers seemed real, they would not buy the newspapers at all. They would lie awake at night, like I do. They would weep, like I do. They would despair, like I do. They would despair. 

Even you, Inspector. Why are you here? You do not care. Maybe you think you care but you do not. You are here because it is your job. Would you be here if it were not your job? And the questions you ask. Why do you ask them? How will what I tell you change things? It will not. Felix is dead. Felix was murdered. My son is gone and I will be the only person in the world who still remembers that he lived at all. He died in vain, Inspector. That is the phrase, is it not? He died in vain and that is the hardest thing of all for me to accept. 

Do you know what Felix survived? You do not. I do not blame you for not knowing because how could you know? Even Felix did not know. He was not yet a baby and already he was as close to death as I am to you, here, now, in this room. Children that would have become his friends were dying. His relatives were dying: his aunt, my sister; his uncle, my brother; his grandmother and grandfather. His father, who did not even know he was a father, was dying. They died for no reason, just like Felix. They died because someone told them, believe in this God, He will save you. But it was the wrong God. Someone else, someone who had a gun and had friends who had guns, decided it was the wrong God. And the real God, they said, was angry. The real God was vengeful. The real God, it turned out, was a devil. 

But Felix survived. I survived, which means Felix survived. We came to England. We came to London. The Greatest City in the World. In London, they told us, only the old die. Only the sick die and usually not even them. Nobody dies for no reason. Nobody dies for a God that does not exist. There are no guns, they said. Not even the police have guns. To die from being shot, in London. Ha! Not unless a bullet finds its way over from Africa. So we felt safe. We thought we were being saved. We thought coming to London would save us. 

He wanted to be a waiter. In a restaurant. That was his ambition. I laughed when he told me and he asked me why did I laugh? I stopped laughing. I said, Felix, you will be a waiter. You will be a waiter if that is what you choose to be. You could be a doctor too, you should consider becoming a doctor, but if you decide to become a waiter I will love you just the same. He told me he would think about it. He said, waiters get tips, Mother. Doctors do not get tips, do they? I had to agree with him. I had to say, no, Felix, they do not. He said, yesterday I was watching at the window and I saw a man in a restaurant give a waitress paper money. He folded it and he put it in her pocket, just here, in the pocket on her shirt. So on the whole I think I would rather be a waiter. But I will think about it. If you want me to think about it, I will. That is what he said. 

He worked hard. He tried to work hard but his imagination interfered. He would dream. He would listen to a teacher and not know later at which point he had stopped listening. He would stare at the page of a book and come to a word and that word would carry him off, to somewhere other than the end of the sentence. He told me this. His teachers got angry with him and then they got angry with me so I spoke to Felix and that is what he told me. He said, Mother, what can I do? I want to learn. I know it is important that I learn. But I have so much thinking to do. I try to hold it off but sometimes I cannot stop it. It swallows me up, like it is thirsty and I am a glass of water. What can I do? 

I could not get angry with him. How could I have got angry with him? I think, Inspector, that he would not have been a waiter. He would not have been a doctor either. He would have written stories or sung songs or painted pictures. He would have made something beautiful. He was beautiful already and everything he did was beautiful but others would have seen it just like I did. They would have seen it too. 

Because they did not see it. Before he died, they did not see it. Felix was not popular. Partly it was because he dreamt so, I think but mainly it was because he came from Africa. He was British, English, a Londoner, but he came from Africa. So the teachers complained about his attitude and the children, the other children, they complained about the colour of his skin. Even black children, Inspector. Especially black children. They said Felix was too black. They called him Africa as if the word itself were an insult. They beat him sometimes. They beat him and laughed and said, if it hurts so much then why don't you ever bruise, why do we never see a bruise? 

This was in school, out of school, before school, after school. Felix would shrug. He would say to me, do not worry, Mother. Do not cry. It was my fault, it must have been my fault. Do not cry. And I would wish then that his father were alive and that he were here and that he were with us. Because that is what a father is for, do you not think? To protect his family. I tried but I failed and I failed and I failed. I would walk with him, to school, from school, but then we would both end up running. I would talk with parents and Felix would watch his mother get shouted at, spat on, laughed at and he would learn exactly the things I did not want him to learn, about what people thought of us, what they thought of where we had come from, what they thought we were worth. I would talk to the school and the people I spoke to, the teachers, the headmaster, they would nod and look concerned and tell me that boys brawl, Mrs Abe, it is the way of things in this country. This country. Like it was their country and not my country, not my son's country. The way of things. Like the way of things was fixed and decided and unchangeable. I have heard such words before, Inspector. Where I come from, such words are like medicine, they make it easier to cope with the pain. But not here. Not in the Greatest City in the World. 

So I expect nothing. I have learnt to expect nothing. You seem nice. You look kind. But you know, I think, how this will end. It has ended already. Not for me, for me it will never end, but for everyone else it was over as soon as it began. Felix lived and now he is dead and already the world is forgetting his name. Tell me: will you remember his name? In a year. In a month. In a week. 

Will you remember his name? 

Divided we stand, together we fall

Hey

Lazy to organise today so we'll just do this in point form.

1. I feel like when a song kicks off with the drums and then the bass comes in and then the guitars, you just kind of know it's gunna be a good song.

2. I got no plans for tomorrow. What shall I do? Stay home with my books? Go out with my laptop? Shop alone? Hrmm.

3. Got meself a couple of nice books from the library. One of them's pretty good, it's about an inspector who takes on the case of a local school shooting. I picked it up and read 140 pages at a go. Only put it down cause I had to pee. Will blog about that more later. (the book, not the pee. ha ha.)

4. Met Tania just now in the evening to run. It was good! Then I went home and had yuzu juice. Ahh.

But right now I need some sleeeeep

(am vaguely aware that it's only 10.25pm)

As I bleed my heart out to show

Underclass Hero might just be my favourite album by Sum 41. I am almost too ashamed to say it. Hahhaa. But it's soooo good.

But honestly, alongside Underclass Hero, I've only listened to Chuck and Does This Look Infected? so far. The latter two are great but there's something about Underclass Hero that just pokes (I would say tug, but somehow it doesn't sound quite right as poke) at my heartstrings, despite how pop it sounds... I don't get why all the butthurt punk fans are bashing it. A good album is a good album regardless of genre.

Also, I have officially fallen out of love with Pierce The Veil. I don't exactly know how or when it happened. It's like one day I just woke up and decided I didn't want to listen to them anymore. Weird, huh? Feels like just yesterday when I was so crazy about them. I have their latest album, a MerchNow snapback and tank top and about 30 of their songs in my library (after deleting some), and suddenly the fangirl feelings just stopped.

I think my taste in music has definitely changed since graduation from JC. I used to be almost bloodthirsty for heavy music, especially songs that used screaming. I listened to A Skylit Drive, Pierce The Veil, Alesana, Bring Me The Horizon and Sleeping With Sirens on a daily basis, even in class. If it didn't have screaming in it, it wasn't heavy enough for me. Looking back I guess it was probably stress. Lots of unhealthy stress.

But yay, I've finally graduated and am listening to slightly more mainstream music now. Hello, pop punk and punk rock. Goodbye, variated genres of modern hardcore.

Met Wumsy and DT today to 'study'. They studied, I read my book and watched Dazed & Confused again. So many memorable quotes hahaha and this is one of the rare movies where I love nearly every character in it. But favourite character? Hands down, Slater. Love love love Slater. 'You cool man?'

Wiley Wiggins also gets cuter the more I watch him.

I felt a bit high on air today and I was really bored visiting at my aunt's place after dinner with my rents, so I was talking a lot of nonsense on a WhatsApp group, kinda regret it now esp since I'm not that close to most of the people on there. But it's hard when they just keep silent yknow?! Oh wellll. Damage's been done. Hahhaaha

It's been two weeks since I quit work. Thought I'd be really bored but somehow I've been finding lots of pointless things to do. Anddd I miss Bangkok :(

(sorry Lianne nothing much for you to read today HAHA)

xofrnk

5.13.14
yesterday i found a mouse on my back porch. i named him herbert... possibly because that name kinda sounds like "her butt" to me and that made me laugh, but also because his face looked like 31st president of the united states, herbert hoover. google it. 
he was lying very peaceful and still on an old tupperware bin i had some yard tools and such in.
     for a moment or two while watching him sleep i thought to myself;
            'really? so this son of a bitch climbed up on my tupperware and took a nap huh?...wow, that's fucking ballzy...and also quite lazy. shit, i wish i had thought of that...i could use a nap. actually if i were a field mouse who looked like the 31st president of the united states, herbert hoover, and had fuck all to do today i would probably have thought of that. i'd climb right up on some dumb human's porch, take a shit on their picnic table, eat some old junk they left lying around, and take a big fat nap right there on their comfy ass tupperware bin they provided me, conveniently located on their shady back porch on a lukewarm day. because of course that's clearly what it's there for... mouse napping. no way anyone would travel to a store and purchase this tupperware bin for any other purpose. say housing yard tools, or the storage of things important to the upkeep of a property. and you know what? fuck it if they did. cause i'm herbert the chubby cheeked field mouse and i can do whatever the fuck i want with no goddamn sense of re...'
     ...and thats when a cool spring breeze carried the waft of pure decomposition that stopped me mid thought like a bright red train crossing.
sorry herbert... you go ahead and rest awhile. xofrnk


2.28.14
i love putting on a shirt or jacket i haven't worn in awhile and finding pocket treasures. an old receipt, a crumbled up piece of paper with a note scribbled on it, maybe a movie ticket from a few years ago. are they insignificant pieces of garbage? or relics of a former life, begging to remind you that there was in fact a world you existed in before you woke up this morning?
at times it can be easy to get wrapped up. to take things for granted, to forget our surroundings or the small experiences of our past... but make no mistake, these neural connections, no matter how tiny, are important to the person you are and the person you may become. nothing is trivial, everything matters even if it's been pushed to the back of your mind for a little while. i enjoy being made aware of that from time to time.
we are who we are, because of who we were and where we've been. xofrnk.



Oh, Frank Iero. Just as relatable in music, as you are in writing.
Sometimes I read his blog and remember why I wanted to get his name as a tattoo. 

All I want to do is trade this life for something new

Been feeling kinda blue lately... 

I think it's partly the feeling of flying back from a good holiday. And the lack of music. I didn't touch my music player at all during the time I was in Bangkok. 

I also suddenly feel stressed, thinking about starting university. There seems to be so many things to do and I still have almost no idea about how the whole uni system works and the thought of having to socialise and make new friends... :( meeting new people is really not my thing man. 

With the exception of meeting potential bandmates of course. There's endless things to talk about when you meet someone with similar music interests, or maybe that's just in my case. By the time I was sixteen I'd been in more bands than relationships. 

Today Lianne and I went to the briefing on LPP at NUS. It was quite ok, at least we got to learn more about it. I think we're both kind of gluttony hahahaha so after that we went to have a quick snack at Clementi Mall. 

Met a nice lady who happened to sit down next to us and showed us this newspaper article on a girl who got raped by her JC guy friend of 5 years in the UK, saying we should read it. 

The ride home was damn tiring I tell ya. Stood all the way from Clementi to Tanah Merah, that's a grand total of 19 train stops! And there was a baby screeching uncontrollably in the later half of the ride. Everyone was so annoyed. 

I can't imagine feeling deadbeat after a long day at school and still having to stand all the way to Simei on a packed train. The thought of it is so :( 

Abrupt end haha bye

You and me were kings over the parkway tonight

Nihao.

I am back from Bangkok!!!!

It was totally gr8. And I think a 5D4N trip is just nice. I had fun!

The great thing about travelling with your rents is that they seem to know everything and easily take care of all the technical stuff like passports, transport, and of course, costs. -wink-

But I felt pretty bad spending their money since I was earning my own keep already, so I didn't buy a lot of stuff. Only bought 3 tops and some paper products. I really love paper products! Pretty paper, notebooks, wooden things bla bla.

Oh and Thai guys are cute! Saw this tall guy on the train from the airport on our first day who had a polished arctic monkeys look ermahgerd so sad that I'll never see him again :'(

The trip was super shiok because literally all we did was shop, eat and sleep. Stayed at Centre Grand @ Terminal 21 and it was so pretty! The room was big, view from 30th floor was stunning and service was excellent. Ate all kinds of cheap and good food for the past 4 days. Felt so good to be stuffed full every lunch and dinner hahaha.

I think the pace was also just right for me because my parents would shop for 2 hours tops before getting tired, and I always get tired easily (or rather bored) from shopping so we would go find food and sit down to eat.

I remember going with the hotbabes to Taiwan at the end of sec4 and I was so shocked at how girls can be so crazy about shopping. Hahaha. There was one night when I was so exhausted that when we finally sat down, I got a dizzy spell.

So anyways, in the end I ended up spending the least out of the 3 of us, and my dad bought the most. Haha

It feels good to be back home!! I haven't showered since coming home and I'm super sticky now but the thought of washing the clothes I bought... :(

Can't wait to surf youtube again and play Neopets after my bath! Heh heh

Leaving for Bangkok today :)

I'll be in another country by the evening today! It's so exciting. Hahahahaha

Will be back by wednesday the 11th, so I don't think I'll be blogging till then.

Goodbye my friends

What if I say I'm not like the others?

Ugh. I love it when drummers play like they're trying to drill a hole right through that snare.

The drugs begin to peak

Watching Silverstein play My Heroine live acoustic now on Youtube, and it's so awesome. They sound amazing.

There's a guy in the front row, spiked hair, gotta be more than six feet tall, a whole sleeve on his left arm, and a guy with a really thick beard on his right, and a young girl to his left, and none of them know one another but they're all singing the same songs in their different voices, the same words on their lips. The sound combined makes a wonderful chorus.

Makes me think of the Mayday Parade concert when I was standing between a malay guy and a gay girl, and despite our differences, for those few hours it felt like we were all the same. Just a swarm of sweaty bodies pressed against one another, singing our hearts out to the songs we all loved, having the time of our lives.

Music really does bring people together.

I hope it rains there all the time

I'm in the mood to go out and play some music. I miss band meetings. Can't wait for July to come. The hiatus will be lifted by then.

Today was the first day of June and it was spent lazing around. I missed the noon church bells :( I actually made a list a few weeks ago on all the things I wanted to do for the next two months but I haven't gotten started on anything yet.

I shall start soon!