Youtube Videos + God makes us happy?

I finally uploaded my first YouTube video. Pretty exciting stuff. I have repeatedly tried to upload Switchfoot live in Sinagapore concert performances, but its keeps stopping at 95%. Ugh pisses me alot. I guess this would help me avoid legal issues from EMI or something haha.

If you want Singapore Switchfoot videos i got two. (24 and Awakening). But i was pretty new with the camera, so the zooming in and out can be abit irritating lol.

Anyway I think I was waiting for something or what I dunno it was after church I think... This busker at White Sands was playing my favourite song (Knockin' On Heaven's Door). So I videoed him. Later he did Let It Be, another beautiful song. You can also see this video on my Facebook





Sometimes I wish I have the time to stop and watch buskers for extended periods of time. Some of them are really talented like this one.

I have 3 or 4 or more videos that I feel like uploading. I might go back to my old craze of doing stop-motion videos too haha.

Since we are at the topic of videos, heres a really funny one i saw recently! Old people are sexy.



The first one was pretty bad, like a Methodist church Holy Communion done wrong.. But the rest just cracks me up! The Ridin' Dirty one is actually quite impressive.

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Does God wants us to be happy? LG session made me think about this. Jesus said stuff like love your neighbour or obey God, but not stuff like "Be happy dude".

I mean, God even says we'll have suffering and hurt. Sometimes, obeying God feels like a chore, like loving not-so-lovable people or serving in Church. Does that make me happy?

But then again, the Bible never said God did not want us to be happy. (The old twist the statement around argument technique lol)

I guess if we live our lives out like how God would want us to, joy would come in as, for the lack of better word, side-effect. Loving others obviously makes one happy, despite the repercussions that come with it. Serving God is also something that gives me great joy too.

God promises to bless us in the Bible. There's no hard and fast rule that one of the blessings He'll give is happiness, but definitely true "clean" (not sin-induced) happiness should come from God. Besides He also blesses us with other cool stuff. If being alive, with sufficient food to eat, a roof over our heads, basic human rights like education and even luxurious stuff does not at least make us content, let alone happy, we need to look back and count our blessings.

And the joy that one gets when earnestly worshiping God... whats that? Its not just some "happiness"...Its much much more than that. Its something I can't really explain in words.

Holiday plans

I have just emerged from the warzones of exams... dazed, wounded and barely alive. It dreads me that he might have to return for another battle.

No seriously. I know you guys keep telling me to chill and stop dreading supplementary papers, to stop being so pessimistic and stuff. But the truth is, I did not put in any real effort during this term, and screwing up exams big time is only what i deserve. Argh. Hopefully i can manage a D for edev and Dfund, and hopefully biochem can be reasonable. rrr

But enough ranting. Heres something to liven up the mood!

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh yeah!

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Plans for long holidays! Have way too much to do.

1. Play guitar everyday. Must instill this discipline
2. Play harmonica.
3. Play guitar and harmonica at the same time.
4. Draw
5. Write songs.
6. Play guitar
7. Tidy up my room
8. Then re-deco/paint it.
9. Play guitar
10. Find work?
11. Exercise
12. Play basketball
13. Play guitar
14. Study lol

If you're in poly, you're probably not reading this... unless you are. But you should be studying.

Jia You!!!!

The week in summary

Many stuff happened this week. I'll get the bad parts done and over with:

I did not know how to do a single question for the last 3 quizzes. Not one. So its 30% in the toilet. X/
Its time to chiong for main exams liao.


Timbre Tuesday:

The last time I went to timbre was when i was 14 or 15 with my brother. The band was Ublues AKA Universal Blues Band, one of Singapore's forerunner Blues band. If they perform again sometime you guys must follow me and watch them. Thats an order.

We wanted to watch Goodfellas doing an acoustic set. Goodfellas is a pretty good bad (pun not intented). So when they swapped the band for some other group I got really dissapointed...They were not very fantastic, just another coffeehouse band. The problem is that they chose songs that were "normal" and already acoustic. You know, the Jason Mraz and John Mayer stuff. (John Mayer, live, is a hot Blues player! Stop listening to his studio work ppl)

They did got interesting when they played Justin Timberlake. It really got everyone's attention when the did LoveStoned. It brought back memories of S.R.C. It shows how much potential they have if they chose the right songs. They got a nice bassist and an above-average singer who can do falsetto. Maybe they just need more experience.

The songs they chose kinda stirred up not-too-distant memories:

Apologize by OneRepublic: If you are from BIE and u are reading this blog, chances are u know what i mean ^^ We need to jam again!

Creep by Radiohead: We were singing this songs in my cousin's cousin house during CNY. I don't know their uncle/my auntie's-in-law's husband, but when he saw me trying to figure out the chords to Creep, he joined in... haha, my cousins and him were singing the bridge part... Thats what my auntie meant by "music brings everyone together".

Lovestoned by Justin Timberlake: The song the dance team danced to during Solid Rock Cafe.
I wish there would be another SRC. Then we can have a Hard Apple Fan Choi reunion gig!

Where is my Goodfellas!?!!?!? They should at least put the change on their website! gggggrrr...

Oh, i got drunk.





This is me with a huge glass of Coca-Cola. I didn't know it was spiked

This was my vision before i drank the coke.








After a few sips, my vision was like this:




Its was powerful stuff. Half of the stuff and i was gone.



at this point of time all i saw were neon-light emitting fairies flying everywhere:




It was inevitable. Here is a kind stranger checking if I was alright. Thanks mate


When i woke up i was here:





Wednesday: Got a proper haircut finally!

Thursday: End of a damn irritating CDS! + A pleasant surprise

After lunch i went to the bookstore to buy a cd for my presentation... As i pass by there was a live band! AND FOR THE FIRST TIME I KNEW EVERY SINGLE SONG A BAND PLAYED DURING A GIG

Whiskey In A Jar - Metallica's rendition
Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne
Smoke On The Water - Deep Purple (a song that is perfect as a Classic Rock 101 introduction)
Paranoid - Black Sabbath

To understand the big deal over Classic Rock, listen to these 4 songs. These are is a goodClassic Rock starter-pack songs.

Useful information on why ppl listen to classic rock! Click! Its true! But i belong to neither section... mine is not parents or friends, its brother. haha

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We had one last burst... A final final presentation for our project! I took Management of Enterprise btw

It was all over... the crapping of reports... the wednesday long meetings...the calling of Mediacorp and other advertising companies pretending to be a legit business enquiring about the cost of advertising.... the whole damn thing is over. I thought my leader would be even more bossy towards the end... but strangely he did opposite and mellowed. I guess he knew everyone did their part, and everyone did.

Finally! Its over! I have emerged from this, with some business skillz, and a little pride from enduring this unneccesarily overbearing subject.. Ooooooooooh yeah

Friday: "First" LG session for the year + Songwriting and guitaring in BIE clubroom

Haha Jason, Wyman and I went to the clubroom to "study"... fail! Hafiz was playing guitar, AND HE'S A DAMN GOOD SINGER. He got the ang-moh kind of voice... Basically he's a stereotype mat haha. He plays "normal" guitar better than me, i.e. He has a good sense of timing and is gentle on the strings, unlike me.


Then we tried to play other songs. I was the handicap: I was the only one among the 3 of us who could at least strum some chords, but i didn't know any chinese songs except Jay Chous, Fish Leong and Na Bian De Nu Hai.. -.- But we finally found one that i could strum to,a David Tao R/B song. Damn nice

Then we tried to write songs using Jason's poems. Wyman was on to something with Jason's Chinese zuo pin. I was on to something on his poem "Melancholy Angel"... then Hafiz came back from prayers, saw what we were doing and joined in. His interpretion of Melancholy Angel thrashes mine!!!! Urgh... not fair! I gave him the chords!!! He's a great singer and i'm tone-deaf! Haha now it wont do justice to impose my melody on it, so i guess I'll use it for my own songs.

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wWe had our first "proper" official LG session for the year. The new book that we were going to use as our LG material was pretty exciting. It had the run-of-the-mill material you would find in any group study. BUT it did more than that. Half the book were group studies, the other half is pretty cool stuff. Accountabilty stuff (so i won't pretend to get drunk again!), extra-Bible study help, MEMORY VERSES, prayer logs.... It was a whole QT starter-pack material! It even had a page on "Group Covenant" where we would have to sign later....

Why so serious??? Lol.... looking forward to the lg sessions of this year.

AND we merged lgs...Thankfully not too many of them made fun of me and Michele. Luckily that ah piu never come.... He would have a freaking field day with us. Urgh.


Oh, and thanks for the little belated 2nd febwuawy celebwation.

Ben is old.

Title: 'Nuff said


Thanks for visiting my blog! As a reward you get to see a candid shot!




Any questions? Good lah! NaDH


This is PURE COINCIDENCE. RAWR!


Qwantz comic for SECOND FEBWUAWY 2009
Dinosaur comic is dinosaur.

Link placed to avoid lawsuits: www.qwantz.com

For the more blur ppl here, febwuawy 2nd is the day i celebrate myself for reasons I'm not very sure of. Something about birthing or what, i dunno lol. But this year was special. I had a proper celebration with my friends.
Last year, i spent febwuawy 2nd as mentor time with someone in church.
Last last year, i had training in East Coast Park, afterwhich i went to the police station to report my lost wallet and IC. Only the policeman knew it was my bday lol
Last last last year i had training too. I narrowly escaped tao pok from my rowdy seniors. I had dinner with family at Pasta Fresca (lol pasta again??? did someone mentioned copypasta?). My childhood favourite restaurant now sucks.


So when ppl suggested that I actually celebrated my birthday with friends, it caught me off-guard. I got a lil' shy (lol Royston). I don't really celebrate febwuawy 2nd. I thinks its abit... narcisstic. So i got a little apprehensive when I was asked where i would like to go.

Timbre.

But that was out of the question (hopefully I'll go there TODAY haha), so i thought about something cheap for my friends but not too cheap. Pastamania was it.

Thanks Jason, Jian Le, Jolene, Kat, Lynette, Royston and Wyman (no way is this in any particular order. Look carefully. Nope, totally random), for coming down for dinner with me. Thanks to the rest of my classmates who wished me a happy febwuawy 2nd too. Thanks to those who smsed me. And thanks to those who wrote on my wall.
MANY THANKS TO THOSE WHO WROTE ON MY TAG BOARD. YES MANY PPL TAGGED ME!!!!! LOVE YOU ALL. get the bloody hint :)

Oscar speech aside, lets get into the pictures:





Thanks for the cake guys. You guys rock.

When i went back home, theres moar!



Near PoPo's (Grandma's) nursing home, theres a donut shop called Donut Factory. My parents went for their regular visit to her, and decided to buy some donuts for me haha. How thoughtful of them. :)


This poor donut was never seen again


Once again thanks everyone who wished me a happy Febwuawy 2nd! It might be a small gesture, but I really appreciate it!


Timbre!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hopefully i can go

Radical life-changing decision + Ottos + forced memes

Persuasive dog is persuasive

Forced meme aside, i have decided to make a decision that could change my life forever.

This decision will forever alter people's perception of me. It marks end of an old beginning and a new beginning of an end. It heralds the transition of getting past yet another phase in my life, especially now in my impressionable teenage and almost-post-adolescent years.

In fact, this could change the world.


I have decided to be a proper male now.
I will leave my hair short.

It all started when my MUM (like wth) pulled a surprise attack on me, strapped me unto a chair, and did the unthinkable:

She cut my fringe straight.

This is outright child abuse.

After hours of wimping about my lost dignity and wallowing in self-pity, I persuaded my mum to at least cut my fringe properly. Now its a freaking bang. Still sucks, but at least its not a bloody coconut.

But i came to realize: My hair is not growing the way i hoped it would. I kinda wanted a mat-style headbanger curly rocker hair, but instead i was getting a post-modern emo look. I guess long hair doesn't work on me. Come to think of it, my "best" hairstyle in secondary school was an ah-beng japanese style trimmed short thinned hair. Okay, i dun really know how to describe it, but its short and thinned.

I will get my hair cut by a REPUTABLE hairdresser/barber on Wednesday.


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To break the monotony of yet another long winded post by me, i shall put another forced meme here.



Because of teh internets, Mudkips are now THE coolest pokemon in the world since the big fatass sloth-like one. And its underlying innuendo is much worst than Squirtle. Don't ask.

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An Aussie family missionary band came into PMC today and led worship/songs for Ympact. I liked the whole "live performance" style format that they used: We (the youth congregration) "watched the band perform" rather than the usual "sing along with the worship leader" thing. They're called the Otto band or something like that, cos' thats they're surname.

They are kind of like an Aussie version of Corrine May. Not outrightly "Christian music" yet not to subtle. Just sub Corrine's pianos with acoustic guitars, and ang moh singer instead of English-ed Singaporean voice. The lyrical style is kinda the same, except the Ottos are more "direct" and "Christianish" than Corrine, i.e. less subtle.

And everyone agrees they sound like Colbie Caillet. White ang mohs girls with acoustic guitars. What did u expect?

All this time during corporate worship I/we have been singing songs that praise God. That is, we sing songs about His glory, His majesty, His awesomeness, and calling Him to work in our lives. Also, I have been inuanded by many a sermon proclaiming the glory of God, His majesty and His awesomeness etc etc.

Yet I seem to have a dislike of writing Christian songs. For some reason I just can't write them. I kinda realised, pardon my language, that I don't like sucking up to the Big Guy above.

I guess I forgot one important attribute of God:
He is our loving Father.
He saves us because he loves us.
He is the loving shepherd that tenderly cares for us.

The Ottos' songs were like love songs. In fact, you can take their songs in an entirely different context if you didn't know they were singing about God, and imagine that they were singing a love songs to another lover and not God. I know. I just read through some of their lyrics.

Here's a sample of their songs.

Its Alright

It's alright
He's by my side
And He'll take good care of me
It's alright
He's on my side
And He knows my every need
He said,
Oh you of litte faith
See the sparrows in the sky
Unencumbered by the cares of the world
I feed even them
Clothe the lilies in the field
How much more to me are you worth that these
I gave my Son for you
It's alright
I'm by your side and I'll take good care of you
It's alright
I'm on your side
And I know all that you go through

If you go to church and listen to Christian songs, you'll proberlly hear the standard stuff:
"All majesty to the God of creation"
"We worship You"
"Falling before the wonder of Your name"

Yet the Ottos were singing songs that were like...love songs. Its as if God is an intimate lover.

Its important to adknowledge the majesty of God, his attributes of Holiness, Powerfulness, Sovereignty and Worthiness-to-be-praised-and-worshiped.

But I guess, sometimes we have to remember that God also came down as Jesus Christ. He loved the people around Him that He fed them, ate with them, talked to them, fratenize with them, healed them. He loved us so much he actually died a horrible death for us. A king who came down to our level? Thats much food for thought.

I guess i got inspiration to write different kind of "Christiainish" songs now. But i kinda fail as a songwriter lol.

BTW i got Melissa Otto's CD, featuring some of the songs played during service. If you want to hear it just ask nicely and say please. :) I also got the DVD.



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Yet another long winded post by Ben? I'm sorry. Heres another forced meme to make it up to those who bothered to read through this post or those who just scrolled down in boredom.


This.... is......Breakdaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaance!!!!