JH's Birthday Celebration

JH's birthday celebration was at Watami @ ION orchard. It was my first visit there since its opening and it was literally flooded with people from all sorts of shapes and sizes and age. Anyway, yup, it was JH's 21st birthday and he decided to celebrate it in a Jap restaurant. We bought a Picard Wallet for him at Isetan at Shaw House there, the design really looks cool and suits JH's style. We were deciding on whether to choose this or braun baffel's wallet but in the end we choose this due to its nicer design and suitability for jh's age. Glad he like it a lot.

I did not bring a camera with me on that day so i cannot meng pai the photos but the others do and the photos can be seen under jh's account. Obviously most people who cared about his birthday should have his name under your frens' list.

Life is still as busy as always, with endless tuition lined up. Although it seems like i am earning a lot of money, the fact is that I have to put in an equivalent amount of effort and energy to convert that into money which i would only be getting after the 4th session. Not forgetting i am literally drained of energy to even socialise and to my surprise i did not even got the chance to watch Harry Potter movie! Too bad this shall be the harry potter movie i failed to watch in the cinemas since the 1st one. If i am kind enough i shall wait for its release of dvd and watch it at home.

Tmr is the matriculation fair and I dunno whether i would be buying the mini netbook or not to kill time in between lecture for my undergraduate studies...

Last day of work

Today is my last day of work at hwachong as a teacher assistant. The stay was really too short and I felt that the most important thing was I enjoyed working here and the working environment suited me also since i would become a teacher one day.

Next up would be a series of NUS events coming up, all the welcome tea, matriculation fair, bidding of modules and orientation camps till 2nd week of august.

And my house is still under renovation. Really hope that the renovation quickly ends so that i can get back to my original life. Now my computer is wrapped under plastic sheets and i can only access my brother's com. 2 weeks of no access to my own computer, and of cuz i am worried the dust will somehow make its way to my cpu and damage it somehow. Hope everything turns out fine since it is a new com!

I have kind of planned out my modules already after using the timetable builder, which is really convenient to plan out everything. It appears that sometimes you cannot take the elective modules you are interested in because they will clash with your core modules and since your core modules are the priority, of cuz you have to sacrifice your favourite elective modules. This is sometimes quite irritating because you are being forced to study something you dun enjoy and probably wun score well in the end, which affects your CAP score and eventually, everything.

I wonder how busy i would be when in uni life since my tuitions are still on-going and i dun think i can give up on them at this point of time as they are busy preparing for their big exams.

范玮琪 - F One

我期待已久的专辑终于买到了！

我喜欢范玮琪的原因是因为她的声音，音色，唱高音时的feel和她温暖的情歌，就是可以融化一切的力量，听她的歌就是一种温暖，无人能比。

第九张专辑，是时候带来一点不一样的风格，虽然我还是比较喜欢唱温暖情歌的范玮琪，但为音乐注入新生命也是应该的，这次范玮琪为《灰色的彩虹》和《零距离》作曲，和词曲了《对不起》，展现了她多元化的音乐才华，这也是她作为音乐创作人的优点。

《灰色的彩虹》由王雅君作词，起初以为曲也是王雅君作曲，因为在编曲方面，钢琴声的安排和旋律有《是非题》的影子，这就是这首歌的瑕疵，但整首歌还是很有卖点，很主流，也让范玮琪唯美的高音展现出来，很好发挥。

《爱的盲点》由姚若龙作词，陈小霞作曲，也是专辑另一首卖点的歌曲，只是觉得这首歌范玮琪的呼吸声特别明显，听歌时难免会影响到感觉。

专辑比较大胆地玩起音乐，不再走安全路线，像第一主打《1到10=我爱你》和MC Hotdog一起合作，有点意外，但还算新鲜，惊讶的是词曲作者是黄义达，风格落差很大。

韦礼安词曲的《别再生了》词非常特别，也跳出了框框，毕竟多数歌词都写爱情。《别再生了》的bridge有趣和特别的地方是它有谈到性的话题，但点到为止，还蛮幽默的，也为“写词”带来新的主见和想法。

其实听整张专辑后的感觉我本身觉得歌曲方面还可以加强一些，特别是非主打歌曲，因为感觉主打有足够的话题和架势，但来到其他fillers的歌曲就显得有点没什么卖点，而我觉得范玮琪还可以玩得更疯，加入多一些自己的音乐作品。

可惜，专辑没有《热血精神》这首歌，太浪费了。

Rating: 3.5/5

黄雅莉 - 雅莉不怕

超女出身的她，在衆多女新人歌手來説，造型和形象有點模糊，不夠鮮明，但專輯歌曲選得還不錯，只是歌聲有點像郭美美，特別是高音部分，可以聼聼《不一定快樂》副歌的轉音吧，本身覺得有點撐強，不夠唯美的感覺，聼時相當刺耳。

還是喜歡《懵懂》抒情搖滾情歌 :D

專輯不缺好歌，歌曲旋律容易記，適當的時候又帶來爆點，是張相當精彩的專輯。

至少勝在歌曲素質好，但很可能歌紅人不紅，畢竟沒有什麽賣點，有些可惜。

Rating: 3.5/5

Harper’s Island – Season 1

Finished watching the finale episode of Harper’s Island a few days ago. Frankly speaking, the reason why the ratings for this series were not very good was because of the plot. The worst decision was to make John Wakefield alive and the supposedly twist at episode 12 was not as shocking enough that it should be. The reason behind all the killings was also not explained thoroughly and it seemed that the ultimate blame went to “being psychotic” and being insane, not some kind of revenge or intelligent ploy. I don’t understand why John Wakefield was kept alive even though he was caught by the characters in the show – trying to act noble and “we are not like them, we are not killers” – in the end some people died because of this – doesn’t that mean stupidity rather than trying to be saint?

Also the filming technique of the whole series seemed more like a ghost story rather than a mystery story. There were some cheap scares throughout the series and I just felt that the intriguing aspect and the suspense were not captured in the show at all.

萧敬腾《王妃》

坦白說，對專輯有點失望。

我期待的是蕭敬騰在抒情搖滾上的爆發力，在K歌展現的歌喉實力，但這張專輯太“玩音樂”的感覺，少了代表歌曲。

《王妃》雖是主打，但在氣勢上已經輸了很多，比起上張專輯首首都是爆點歌曲來説，作爲第一主打真是有點撐不起。

還好還有《會痛的石頭》 ，《愛過了頭》來救救這張專輯，至少還有考慮到普儸大衆要聼到的蕭敬騰。

但真的不明白像《Say a lil something》，《愛遊戲》，《 小男人 大男孩》，《Green Door》這四首歌爲何會在專輯裏，風格不搭，想要“玩”音樂，或找新歌路，似乎有點言之過早，還沒穩固地位就想要多元化，有野心但好像在這次專輯有點失策，畢竟專輯真的少了好歌，印象也沒有比第一張深刻。

Rating: 2.5/5

店小二 Dinner + Changing Appetites Mudpie with Joel & Genehow

Outing with joel and jun hao. 1st outing with my scamp mate joel haha. Too bad both of us did not turn up for the official osaris outing. For me coz i was in genting la.

Anyway, we decided to dine in dian xiao er and being early birds there we got 12% discount plus the food was really in quite large proportions so we did have a good dinner there. 21 dollar each person for the family set meal.

We then walked around marina square, talking about random stuff b4 settling down at changing appetites to have my favourite mudpies as dessert! :D

煩死了!

最近心情變差了，有時好像逃避，至少不會壓得喘不過氣。

真的是stress。

接二連三的不順心，已經累了。

厭倦在背後搞小動作的人。

厭倦了承受壓力的環境。

覺得心裏憋了很多，有時候真的很想很自私地一個人，別來煩我。

談到在背後搞小動作的人，有時覺得爲什麽要這樣做，把關係搞僵，我也不了解人爲什麽會這樣，就是要惹事，就是要別人不爽自己好像就贏的感覺，就是要在氣勢上大過你。

人爲什麽這麽複雜？人爲什麽不可以很簡單地活著？

那件事困擾了我好幾天，真的。。。因爲太失望，心裏超不爽的。

林依晨 - 幸福遇见

演員發行專輯時最怕就是選歌做得不佳，讓唱歌的人被淪爲偶像派歌手，只會靠臉蛋賺錢，但林依晨很幸運的是，專輯收錄了不少能夠讓她發揮的作品，歌曲也不會太沉悶，太普通，旋律至少是主流又好記的，而歌聲方面也交出很好的成績。

專輯裏面沒有《幸福遇見》這首歌，而《幸福遇見》是來自《依靠》的詞，歌曲也算動聽。

本身喜歡《淚光雨》和《螢火蟲》，還有就是重唱王藍茵的《惡作劇》，林依晨的版本有一種獨特的味道，只是嫌最後副歌方面key起得有點高，若是唱現場的話，應該會很有挑戰性，對不是專業歌手的林依晨也是一種考驗。

《麵包的滋味》是我喜歡的另一首歌曲，就是因爲它與其他歌曲不同。而這樣的不同讓人對這首歌留下更深的印象，我想這首歌能夠為專輯加分不少。

還好專輯沒有過度包裝得很偶像，聽衆也會覺得比較真實。

Rating: 3.5/5

许茹芸 - 爱。旅行。一公里

專輯似乎太過平淡無味。

收錄的歌曲大多是小品音樂，簡簡單單不是不好，只是整張專輯找不到一首高潮迭起的歌曲，只是輕輕淡淡地唱著每一首歌，聼的人不知道有沒有那份耐心去聆聽？

《慢熱》在結尾時一直重復副歌，真的很考聽衆的耐心。

《和你一起》也似乎很重復的感覺。

推薦曲有《一有爱就走吧》和《另一半》

真的覺得專輯需要一些有爆點的歌曲作爲賣點，若只是淡淡地唱歌，專輯只能達到催眠效果，引起不了任何共鳴。

Rating: 3/5

Genting Trip (120709 – 140709)

Genting trip was really fun! Me, jun hao and gum went for cheap-cheap holiday trip to genting to have fun before uni starts. The weather was really good and cooling to calm our nerves down and allow us to nua :D

We took a lot of photos and stupid videos which can be viewed at all our 3 facebook accounts. They are really hilarious haha!!

I believe we really have a lot of fun in just the 3 days even though the trip was very short.

Here are some of the selected photos:

答案是 The Answer Is…》孙燕姿 2009 世界巡回演唱会

孫燕姿終于回到舞台上了！

3D的visual effects，美麗的視覺效果，首首動聽的金曲，和五彩繽紛的表演方式，使演唱會高潮迭起。

演唱會幾乎爆滿，孫燕姿真的過氣了嗎？答案不攻自破。

首次聽到新歌《愚人的國度》，單凴這首歌，就對下一張專輯信心滿滿了，也滿懷期待她的音樂作品。

以下是我拍的照片，更多照片請看我的facebook photos album。

 

Kbox @ Safra Jurong

On thursday me and jun hao went to safra jurong kbox to try out the new system there. The touch screen system was really cool in the sense that the whole feeling was very professional. The TV was also better (there are 2) and the sound system was definitely much improved. The overall singing experience was way better than the other old outlets and the most fun feature of the new system was that you can record your own singing and send the mp3 to your handphone via bluetooth!! Haha. Since this feature was so new, we decided to try recording our own versions of our favourite songs and meng send to our handphones HAHAHA!

Ninjatown

Very fun! Concept is the same as tower defense 2 but this game is much more fun and thrilling. The storyline is not very insignificant actually. The main attraction of the game is to try to win every stage with A. Of course, it isn't very easy to achieve that also. The last stage was rather difficult to finish actually. I tried 3 times then can complete the last stage with the use of lava ninja that I never even used before.

Rating: 8/10

棒棒堂 - 我是传奇

第一個問題：爲什麽這張專輯可以賣到$26.95??

第二個問題：既然可以賣比張惠妹貴，爲什麽專輯裏的歌曲就不比其它歌手來得動聽？

偶像組合還流行嗎？六個大男生，至今我誰也不是很熟悉，只是覺得他們比黑girl幸運多了，至少還可以發三張專輯，但可惜的是，選曲方面做得不好，選到的歌曲平平無奇。快歌方面太預料之中了，我還嫌曲風方面太過老土，像《Loga Loga》和《沖破封鎖綫》這類歌曲真的無法引起我的興趣。

慢歌方面不比上一張專輯突出，沒什麽能夠發揮的作品，而且《說說》的詞一直重復一直重復，簡直是騙吃和偷懶的行爲，而歌曲是王子詞曲的作品，曲方面還算可以，但是詞真的不夠深度。

聼完專輯最大的致命傷就是無法找出最突出的作品，所謂的代表作，真的覺得這張專輯發得太浪費了。

Rating: 2/5

Coughing

I am still coughing like mad after taking in days of chinese medicine (coz dun wanna spam myself with western medicine which is not very good to the body and given the situation of H1N1 dun wanna anyhow take medicine).

But apparently the stupid cough refused to go away. In the end told my mum to get medicine from the doctor to help me SETTLE the cough quickly so that I don't look like a potential H1N1 person and later kenna SENT HOME from school!

And today i happen to take a relief class for chinese. Their chinese teacher has this letter writing assignment for them to do so I am just there babysitting them. First hand experience of real classroom kind of condition where I am the only person controlling the class. Sounds difficult. Seems difficult. But luckily the class is okay la, they did make quite a lot of noise here and there but at least they were controllable. I wonder how to survive if the class turned upside down.

And being an assistant to proed, i am beginning to use more excel than anywhere else in my entire life. Luckily the task was not that difficult to comprehend with too many functions to make use of, otherwise i can say i am rather noob in using excel la haha.

And yes, seems that it is confirmed me, jun hao and gum are going to genting from 12th to 14th july! Finally with all the drama happened, it is finally settled and I have applied leave already. Hope we can take a good break and enjoy ourselves there. It would be a cool (no pun) experience to travel entirely on our own and with friends (the other times are all with family).

And because of this, I have to take 2 days leave. Some more there is this MOE meet up session again on 20th july (monday) which means another day of leave. I keep taking leave la, when in the 1st place i don't work for very long, so actually i feel very bad to proed because it seems that i am not of very good use to them since i don't stay for very long term. Hopefully in future can come back some more to help.

戴佩妮 - 原諒我就是這樣的女生

(Scanned from my album :D)

我覺得專輯最重要就是真誠和熱愛音樂，就夠了。

聼戴佩妮的專輯，就仿佛在聼她的故事，個人特色及風格強烈但卻又主流和討好（雖然這次有些歌有些許太另類 - 像Lafite）。

托了俊豪的姐姐從網上購買專輯，畢竟新加坡無法找到，聽説是因爲copyright的問題，本身覺得非常可惜，因爲希望專輯可以被更多的人聼到。

14首歌，多數歌曲已經在之前推出過單曲，但放在專輯和在編排方面很適合。

聼聼《原諒我就是這樣的女生》，《兩難》，《一念之間》，《冷落 》 吧，這些歌曲我比較喜歡，也覺得會滿足普通大衆的口味。

整張專輯的態度真的做到了，感覺也是對的，方向也對了，音樂就這樣配合起來，呈現出一場有素質的秀，什麽銷售成績或其他獎項其實還是其次，最重要是在音樂作品上對得起自己。

Rating: 4/5

品冠 - 一切为了爱 新歌+精选

好唐突的一張精選輯，而只有7首舊歌的情況下，這張“精選”比較像mini-album吧，至少有6首新歌和1首粵語歌（adapted from one of the new song of course）

新歌方面沒什麽突出的作品，就是一貫品冠的音樂曲風，比較動聽的是《比想像更想你》。《一切爲了愛》有點和以往不同，但作品素質一般，沒辦法出位。

和李心潔合唱的《当你想著我》也很一般，要說得上好聽，我想只有《比想像更想你》了。

還好舊歌都算經典歌曲，是之前專輯的主打歌，或許能夠刺激買氣吧，不然整張精選輯真的沒什麽看頭。

Rating: 3/5

言承旭 - 多出来的自由

安分守己的專輯對像言承旭這位偶像歌手來説是明智之擧，反正強項不是真的在唱歌，至少選的歌還容易接受，但唱腔方面有點弱，有點空。

《Thank you》，《在KTV說愛你》和《一半》是典型的偶像情歌，反觀《我會很愛你》和《黑咖啡日記》太過甜了，曲風似乎有點老套

專輯裏我還蠻喜歡《去闖》的，至少不是很expected的曲風，也為專輯添加一點驚喜，不然整張專輯聼起來真的有點沉悶。

《Lost Love》雖然還算好聽，但曲風太像周傑倫了，完全沒有自己的影子，而歌曲重點似乎是女歌手而不是言承旭。

單看封面和暌違5年未發片，應該很容易就讓歌迷自掏腰包買專輯吧，但素質來説是蠻普通的。

Rating: 3/5

Bleach Talk

Omg, i just read the latest chapter for bleach manga and at the end, the visored finally came! I am thinking whether all 8 of them will showcase their powers in their battles, because there are 8 of them, so to showcase each of their powers would really take quite a bit of time ya? (a lot of chapters then haha)

But the irritating thing is the 3rd and 2nd espada never die la! Still have to battle all over again...but how come the powers of the captains cannot match with the espada sia

And i wonder whether the four captains trapped inside the hollow world would return back to the main world to help out in the battle.

And technically the visored are much stronger than the current captains since they have hollow powers and also they are more senior than the current captains right now. I would hope to see more exciting battles, not kenna defeated again and win by luck that kind.

Earning more money OR saving more money

Tues i watched transformers with deng si and and yesterday watched ice age 3 with fan hao. Within one week watch 2 movies (paid movies some more, not free tickets hor!) so besides the daily expenditure, close to 20 dollars are gone due to these movies.

I am thinking whether it is better to save more money so that you can spend more in future or you earn more money so that you can spend more in future.

There is a difference in the two approach, one is you let yourself go unsatisfied by making certain sacrifices (not being able to buy the things u want, eat fancy food etc) which compromise a certain level of freedom in life. The other option, though it sounds good, also tires you up since by earning more money you have to spend more time in work and hence, less time to enjoy life.

I was chatting with fan hao yesterday and he told me some of his frens are earning really big money but work like siao around the clock. As usual, tuition seems to be the big sucking machine with plentiful of cash to be earned if you want to teach. Booking the weekend slots can be rather tempting and the money that comes in is rather satisfactory, but is it really that satisfying when deep inside you you feel so tired and you just want to take a break from all the hectic life (but couldn't due to tuition committments)?

But being a workoholic myself, most of the time i believe in earning more to spend more rather than to save because for my character, i hate to limit myself and lose that bit of freedom to do something i want. It is the 要就要 kind of character, but not the extreme level and spoilt brat kind la, but seriously, i really dun like it when i lose this kind of freedom to spend my money on the things i decide to spend on because "i have to save money". Well...to me, if need money in future, earn more lor, not by saving, but to quote fan hao's "a bit no life leh", which is entirely true, sometimes even if you have the money also might not even have the time to spend. Then, it would be rather sad la.

Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

The whole movie was good! Warm and hilarious at the same time. Scrat is really the essence of the whole movie! There are numerous scenes that are really very stupidly funny and the link between the main plot and the scrat personal show was nicely done.

Rating: 4/5

周蕙 同名全新专辑

睽违了两年，出来的作品比起上一张在Sony发行的专辑来得讨好，歌曲也考虑到市场要求和充分表现出周蕙歌声优美的优点。

《自己的电影》和成龙合唱，第一主打很自然地有了话题，至少能够提高周蕙的知名度，毕竟这是她第一次可以露脸的专辑，歌曲也算好听。

接下来的《守约》感觉很像锦绣二重唱的《我的快乐》，在背景钢琴配乐下让整首歌突现出来，很好听，又有点忧伤。

周蕙尝试像《Complicated》的曲风不错，让专辑增添一点多元化的因素，又不是像之前的《赤裸》那么感觉不对，《Complicated》选得不错。

其他歌曲像《也许你》，《守护者》，《老地方》属于小品音乐，不算很突出，但仔细听也很有味道。

最大败笔其实是封面设计，好不容易等到发片，而且终于可以露脸了，但封面黑白脸和粉红色的背景感觉很莫名其妙，也不好看。

Rating: 3.5/5

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Way too boring and predictable...and very long (2 hrs +). It really tested the patience of the audience and too bad I did fall asleep while watching. The humour in the movie was a little too unnatural and forced and some are rather lame. Maybe all these actions by these machines was no longer fresh anymore and they will turn stale in no time (there is a transformers 3 movie coming up in 2011 or 2012).

Rating: 2.5/5