Somewhat A New Layout.

I managed to get in touch with my extremely rusty knowledge of HTML codings, and I've made the right part of this blog a little bit wider to fit my extremely fat iMeem player.

But there's a catch. I guess your laptop's resolution needs to be a little bit higher resolution. Probably more than 800x600 to view this blog now?

Since I'm running on Vista, I come automatically equipped with 1280 x 800.. But what's the point of high resolution when you've only got a 14.1 inch screen, eh?

I just double checked this current layout. It should be fine now. The volume control's visible now. Haha.

Wheeee

Sweet Joy!

I made it!

I got the news I've been wanting to hear for a few weeks already! I got a call during my first day of class and it was from none other than.. Starbucks, Ikano!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got a call from Mr. Fery just now, and he said that my first day of work should start this weekend, and my first ..uhhh ..quick tour of the outlet thing starts this Wednesday!

Wooo hoooooooooooooooooo!!!!

Besides that, KDU PJ's nonsensical. Without fail, there's always the time where I have to run back to the administration side to confirm the subjects I can take, or can't take, with the drastic change of schedules.

And I think I dropped the wrong subject. I will retake Taxation, or re-register for it, and will drop Commercial Law, because my coordinator, or whoever it is, said he can't do anything about Commercial Law.

Urgh. Well, at least I won't be failing my law subject - again. HAHAHAHA. Like what happened a year ago back in KDU PG.




Wheee work work work work work work work . XD

Makes Me Wonder.

Three guesses who am I listening to now?

Haha.

Anyhows, I was listening to that song, and I still find it very catchy. Talk about commercialised songs. I don't have Maroon 5's original album, nor do I update myself with the producers that comes up with the album (Something I should do VERY soon, by the way), but there's definitely a slight change of their songs. I'm not sure if it is the usual recording label's politics, or they matured in a musical sense?

Could be anything.

I know Dream Theater's record label hired some producer to make some of their songs sounds commercialised. I'm not sure if Through Her Eyes is one of them, but I can tell you one thing. It's bloody good and extremely sentimental. It's kind of short for a song, but if you follow their conceptual album - Scenes From A Memory - it's a very good transition. Not the climax, but a mellow drop. I don't mean that in a bad way, but I find it very.. nice.

But anyways, it's 4.43am in the morning, and I can't sleep. I just woke up out of nowhere, and trying to sleep with the oddest positions, but nothing worked. Haha.

While preparing a quick meal of disgusting but healthy quaker oats, I was thinking back about.. How badly I did in high school back in Penang. And how I always arrived to school late, always got marked down by a lot of teachers. Then the discipline teachers. Then the assistant headmasters. THEN the headmaster himself.

.. And being the black sheep of the family. In what sense? Oh. I was a prefect and I only lived 2 2 large and 1 mini corners away from school. Yet, I went late without fail everyday. Until today, I still owe one of the assistant headmaster a letter explaining why I come late everyday for about.. I don't know? 7 years now? Haha.

Those were the days. Honestly speaking, I miss the friends there. The ones I hated, and the ones I liked hanging around with, and the people I felt like strangling myself. But one thing about me.. Or them. We never hung out as a group outside of school. Probably wasn't the coolest thing to do?

.. Nerds. Lol

But besides that, right, I remember I did do badly in school. I remembered taking 10 subjects in total, always failing 5, and passing the other 5. Sometimes it's failing 6 to 8, and passing only 4 to 2 subjects. It's really insane. I scared the crap out of my parents like usual.. SPM came by, and I only failed 1 subject. But how many I got credits for, was another whole different story.

And now, I'm all alone. In KL/Selangor side, working my butt off in college when it's not too stressful, and taking it super easy when it gets really stressful. I still do music, but not on a very heavy scale now, compared to last time, just that I take it as a religion now.

Gah.

I don't know that either if I got smarter, or.. it just feels easier?

I still get confused from time to time seeing what I'm doing, comparing it to my passion for music. It's two different fields. But if the vocalist from Frequency Cannon is a dentist by day, and a rocker by night.. I guess I'm not the only one in the music scene?

Odd..



Okay, I'm making no sense now!

iMeem!

After about 6 hours with a bad connection, I made the iMeem available, so you can check out the stuff which is somewhat audible so far.

Please do remember that some of the tracks belong to other artists, but I helped them out by laying down the tracks via Reason 3!

Guitars recorded with Adobe Audition 1.5, all arrangements done via Reason 3 (except for Break Free which is a semi-mix of Reason 4 now..)..

Hope you all enjoy the add-on :)

PS.  iMeem takes extremely long to load, and the songs take EVEN longer to stream, by the way, so please be patient!

The Re-Mix.

As some of you might know, I'm working with my friend, and boss, Iz. Only because that he approached me with a whole new genre to mess around with for his song, Gonna Be Alright.

This remix version that I worked on a few weeks ago will be featured in his upcoming EP which will be released probably next month after a few more recording sessions I guess?

But ignore the above.  Last night, I went to The Ark Studios @ TTDI.  Managed to literally see the almighty Nick Lee for a brief moment, before he retreated to his shell of ideas on the upper floor.

I always loved studios.  But last night, was rather tiring for me.  I don't know if I focused too hard in figuring out the mistakes, planning lyrics (which was eventually forgotten the second right after it came out of my mouth), and assisting Iz in timing and ideas, I guess?

But it was a really good experience.  I always tend to learn more and more regarding mixing, recording and music production.  It's inspiration, get what I'm saying?

Anyways, I won't let out too much information regarding about this little.. project, but here are some pictures of The Ark Studios @ TTDI with my crap Nokia 6151 camera.  The rest of the pictures are in Iz's camera.  Waiting for those to come by, and I'll post them up here too :)

In the meantime, try and enjoy the low quality pictures.  Lol

Bunch of pre-amp racks for mics and guitars.. AND a Microsoft machine!  *boo!!*

Maestro Izzie at work

Too bad.  No wide lens was on the market for Nokia handphones.  HAHAHAHAHA

The always-so-patient-and-constantly-contributing-ideas audio engineer, Keith.  Very down to earth person.  I never get pictures of his face..which means he needs a haircut!!!

I forgot who's Yamaha synth is this, but what Keith told me is that she's a very famous arranger in the Malay music scene..

Ah.  The other Microsoft machine  *booo!* .. This needed to be on because I had to re-bounce some tracks on a last minute basis.  Some of my files were 'corrupted' earlier on.  Stupid Vista.

Until I get the clearer pictures from Iz, these will be the current eye candy.  Lol

Maybe Not This Time..

Maybe everything's not going according to plan.  Somehow, everything's not.. perfect.

....

*listens to Children of Bodom*

Safari Vs Vista.

I think I'm rather comfortable in using blogspot now.  Besides that, I just installed Safari onto this laptop through the Apple Software Updater that came alone with iTunes and it does remind me of the times when I was using my friend's MacBookPro ..

The reason I switched from using my Mozilla Firefox to Safari was because.. I already had a skin for Firefox to look like Safari, but since there's the original thing, might as well use it.

<3

I loooooove Safari so so much XD hahahahahaha.. Eat shit Internet Explorer _|_

Besides of not having a job, my classes won't even start until next week.  BOOOOOOOOOO.

Now I'm gonna be REALLY bored and emo.  Urgh.

On top of that, after I get a job, I was planning to work for.. maybe a new laptop?  But the problem is, I have no experience in downloading Mac applications or anything, so I will settle down with the overrated Windows, but will have an XP OS mounted onto it IF it's a bloody Vista.  Going to use that as a full time music machine..

.. Since I just found out that Native Instrument's Battery 3 uses about.. oh, not much.  14 WHOLE GBs OFF THE HARD DISK?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

*dies*

The Excitement Kicks In Again!

There's only one reason why I'm here in KL. Or rather, Selangor. And that is to study my balls off and get good results. It's the 25th of March, and yes, the new semester is coming! Wheeee

I'll be taking 5 subjects:

• Taxation
• Introduction to Finance & Banking
• Management Accounting 1
• Financial Accounting 1
• Commercial Law

I'll be taking bloody law, again, after what happeend last year's semester - I FAILED. Haha.

But I'm going to drop either one of these subjects. I remember one of them clashed like mad, but I can't really remember which one. Oh well. Sucks not having your personal class schedule when KDU refuses to give you one. Or something like that.

.. I blame the government for it, not the lovely people who works in it.

Except for the bloody motherfucker who told us during our orientation that we can park anywhere outside unless if we don't block the entrances of the houses or something. Got my first summon during my whole driving period and that HAD to be in Selangor, not in Penang.

Wheeee

Vista Nonsense.

Trust me, I can get really bored. Especially at the edge of me, trying to uninstall Vista and booting it up with XP until I decided to do something rather.. basic.

To shut down whatever's unneccessary.

And that's what I did. I switched off this only-built-for-looks Windows Sidebar, and guess what?

I can't be any more happier.

My Reason 4 stops lagging, my SCAR doesn't lag and is harder to play now XD .. and.. well, MSN isn't being a bitch anymore.

In fact, my web surfing's performance dratically improved after I shut that damned thing down.

Hohoho, am I a happy man. Now I can go mobile once again to do music in the bus if I'm ever going back to Penang. WHEEEEEEEEEEE

Let Us Have A Look At Reason 4..

I copied this off from my other blog, http://glacius.multiply.com/journal

Precaution:
Here's another blog you can kindly click the large X on your top right.

.. Only if you're not interested, or if you're bound to get lost in the midst of whatever that's going to come out.

A little introduction for this programme that I've been using since the release of the Sentimentalities project by Fundamental Mentalities. Besides Wormy laying down the beats, I assisted him in the desperate composition stage, only because I found a new toy to play with along with his Oxygen 8 ..

.. AND the MacBookPro.. how could I ever forget blocking my brother's Internet Connecton with Wormy's AirPort and disallowed him to play WoW for the very first time XD.

I grew fond of Reason 3, and got my own copy sooner or later; and that's when music production began for me. The first song I really did for someone else is still Love Letter by none other than Schizzow a year plus ago.

With 1gbs of nonsensical instruments, I managed to expand my creativities and really let loose upon the world of MIDI, and understanding rewiring cables upon devices and learning what they're capable of through automations.

But not only have I expanded my creativity thanks to Reason, but I've messed around with everything possible. Velocity lanes, understanding effects, controller lanes, etc. God knows what I've went through, and what I will go through. But, having the knowledge to beat the person who introduced me to this programme can be unforseen.

And just as I was getting used to Reason 3, Propellerhead sent me an email saying that the latest version's about to be released -_-

Honestly, whatever I've done, or my knowledge with Reason, is only 5% of what this programme really can offer. Despite the book I have with me, I still can't learn much.

And of course, I'm sure you all know that I have already obtained the latest version of Reason..

.. Reason 4 :)




The first few things I noticed about Reason 4 is that they did give a facelift to the bottom Reason Transport bar. It's more..robotic with the green on it now.


Yummy!
And if you're experienced with Reason's automation device, the green outline on a certain device would mean that somewhere in the song, the value is bound to change for the corresponding rack. AS for this, In Reason 4, you're able to toggle the tempo AND the most important thing for Progressive Rock fans - the time signature - halfway throughout the song. If you've listened to DJ Paul Van Dyk (SP?) and some of his stuff, the crazy trance/techno stuff, the tempo automation's definitely your next best friend in Reason 4.

Now there are a few more things that comes with Reason 4. Beside the Record button, you can finally record layers of stuff on a single sequencer track. In other words, multitrack recording! New Dub means that you can record harmonies for a certain sequencer track, and the New Alt means that you can record a whole new track with different ideas, and later compare what you've done during the final stage of the composition. Definintely something Reason 3 was missing of. And I can't show any examples because I still haven't purchased my MIDI keyboard. Saving up on one so everythign doesn't sound so stale!


The ability to toggle the change of time signatures throughout the song.

You are able to set the preset time signature changes in a song, or input one yourself if you ARE insane enough.

..And this brings me the new interface for the sequencer window. I loaded Break Free on Reason 4, and I thought everything was screwed, because everything came in tiny little bars as you've seen. That's not.. exactly normal. Where were my notes? My pitch bend automations for my drums during certain parts of the songs? The panning? The volume control? Changing from Bypass to On at certain parts of the songs? So on and so forth. With the new interface, it was made to look neater in some ways like this..


Urk.

This was when I found out that with a mouse click away, your confusing and messy work will be tucked away into single lines instead of having every single setting all over the place.


Even a bigger headache now.

And the best thing I found out about Reason 4 now, is that the Controller Lanes (marked in blue) can be viewed in both the edit and the arrange modes, so you can have an overview of what is really going on. Especially when you're mixing through Reason 4, and not depending on other DAWs to do the work for you, this is one of the best updates compared to the rest.

Another thing when it comes to messing around with controller lanes, it now can be humanized. If you're working with a MIDI controller to hook your knobs to whatever Reason has, then it's not really a big deal. But to people who hasn't gotten our controllers yet, who still depends on the mouse to do everything for us, then it is sort of, an interesting update. Now with the controller lane, you can humanise whatever automations it is with Reason 4's amazing Vector Art thing. This is an example of a simple automated channel panning from 0 value, hits hard to +63, then -64..



Let's have a closer look at this..



And with the Vector art thing available, you can use your pencil tool and do something like this..


It may look messy, but you can adjust them manually by dragging them, or setting them at the right position with settings provided by the toolbar.

Speaking of which, you can't really work with Reason unless if you have clips. It's kind of confusing to explain now, but for those who are interested in Reason 4, you'll find out sooner or later. I used to have a problem with Reason 3 on Vista. Everytime when I group a particular bunch of notes, even if they're seperated, they turn out to be the same colour and there's no way you can tell the difference between parts of the song.

.. Which brings me to this:



Lame update, but I'm very fond of this, mind you. Except in the Mac version, you don't need to study the colour languages and just pick the colour you SEE which you like. Not which you READ to like, and end up picking a horrid colour. Way to go, dumbass Microsoft.

Besides that, as you can see, with the shortcut key, M, you're able to mute clips that you don't wish to hear. Something else that Reason 3 doesn't provide, obviously. Quite helpful when you're planning to pull off acapella stuff to silence off a drum loop for that certain part of the song, etc.

And here's another minor update when it comes to clips too..



Perfect. Though I don't label my clips in Reason, but it's available for those who gets confused in between of their works.

Of course, there're 3 new racks in Reason 4. It gives awesome sounds and very cool automation settings and programming, but I haven't got the time to experiment with that yet. There's more to this programme than what I just wrote above.









And Wormy.. I still can scroll down in the picture below. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL












That's it for my side. Reason never fail to amuse me everytime when I want to come up with songs. Instead of assisting me in what I need, its amazing preset sound banks come up with more nonsense and I tend to expand whatever I originally had in mind. Rather a good thing, but in the long run, we lose that certain inspiration to create our tracks.. So yeah.

As per system specifications for the installation of Reason.. For both Windows XP and Vista, you need 2gbs of HDD space. For XP, you need at least 1gbs (yep 512mbs more compared to Reason 3) of RAM, and 2gbs of RAM for Vista. And guess what? For XP, that's no problem. But Vista, take my advice. You need at least 1503850187089127409817234086150716 times MORE RAM than the given specifications for it to really run smooth. Vista rox :D

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee that killed some time. Time to semi-mix and complete this song. Urgh.

Edit: Some of the pictures were automatically cropped, so you can head off to my original Reason 4 journal post to check out the larger pictures there.

Just Another Puppet.

I lay beside you;
Realising that you're not my sanctuary.
Realising that I'm only needed when I'm needed.
Realising that others can bring a smile to you.

I lay beside you;
Realising that when I'm in need, you're not there.
Realising that when my heart breaks, you're involved.
Realising my stone heart, cripples when you're around.

I lay beside you;
Realising all these thoughts, and keep running away.
Realising that I'm worth nothing.
Realising that superiority doesn't exist.

I lay beside you;
Realising if it was right to walk out on you, when it happened to me countless times?
Realising if I really did like inflicting pain upon others?
Realising what if I never met you?

I lay beside you;
Realising, once again, how I've changed.
Realising what love has done to me.
Realising what a puppet I am to you.

Untitled - 220308

Smoke rises into the air;
The rain dances; for whom they hit, did not care.
The speed devils are out again.
The innocent, once again, are in pain.

I sit, in the smoke, watching the clouds of Indonesia.
How the world has changed, what phobia.
The grass may be greener on this side,
But the tall grass that blocks my path, makes me lose sight.

The cool breeze, starts to get warmer,
Dreams are coming to an end, and yet, I ponder.
What do you speak, stars?
What do you see, stars..?

Once again, the sun rises with its pleasant shine.
Shall I judge this one? Or should I just be blind?
Another day, another light.
Another day, another life ..

This Is A Nice Self-Note Thing.

I was talking to my friend, and guitar mentor not long ago, Kelvyn Yeang, and we talked of all sort of nonsense, ranging from MIDI programmes to.. people. All's good, and I learnt a few things from him today. One of the most important thing would be this..

Polyrhythms .. It's something to do with combining 2 independant time signatures into one audible one. I don't know how that works, but it looks kind of interesting.

.. Don't ask me how it works! I'm still learning.

And I managed to answer his pop-quiz question he asked me a few months ago! He asked me, what is a C Delta Augmented 11# 13 .. Which is..

C Major 7th sharpened 5th & 11th note and an additional 13th note.

According to the CMaj scale, that would mean that the notes to build that chord would be C E G# B F# A !!!!!

Bwahaahhaahhahahaha..

Sooner or later, I should have BFD installed in my system here. Just that it will take a few ... months to finish up the DVD image file downloads. My Top Gear Season 1-8 is about to be done! My collection's about complete!!!!!!! Wheeeeee

Thanks, Kelvyn! You've always been a great inspiring artist for me. It's good to learn new stuff from you everytime I talk to you. Hahaha..

Cancelled. :(

I was looking forward to my first day at Starbucks @ Ikano tomorrow, but Mr. Fery brought bad news to me.

Unfortunately, the first lesson/day for rookies to learn about the shop outlet and all session is..full.

And due to my late application, which is still because of that OTHER guy's fault, I can't enter this month's class.

Who knows, I could've gotten in earlier?  After all, one week does make a little bit of difference.. Hmmm.

So Mr. Fery told me that full operation for me should commence in early April. I hope he remembers to call me and inform me of that. I really need the job..

Besides! I can't wait for my 30% Starbucks discount!!!! HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA.

I WILL get accepted by Starbucks, right? Now I'm confused if I'm actually hired or.. not. Gah.

Someone Who'll Kick My Ass.

And I'm not joking. My friend passed me this from youtube..



My word.. I should retire from guitars already!

And check that capo out. Only capos 4 strings and not all 6. That's pretty interesting and tough to play, I guess.. bravo!

The Other Side Of Music That A Lot Of People Miss.

This time, I will explain what inspired me to learn sound/audio enginnering. I can't actually predict how long or short this journal can be, but hey, you never know you want to write.

I'd say, probably 70% of the population listens to music, and only saying it's good or bad music. The other 30% would be those who appreciates music as a whole.

As a whole? In what sense? For those who don't know the production's work, why don't you get your headphones, and listen to any songs from any albums. It's like, the effects being used for vocals during some parts, the instruments being on which speaker during certain parts of a song, how thick or heavy a sound can be when it's just a simple tune.

But how is that possible? Even a vocalist who is not able to sing like Mariah Carey can have very thick, and powerful vocals? That brings us to technology, and recording theories.

What I believe is that 50% of the work is contributed by the recording artist/artiste, and the other 50% is contributed by the production crew so that it sounds good. As I said, not all vocalists can sound like a powerful singer, but after a song is being mixed, magic happens.

Probably the term, ear orgasm, would come into play at this point.

Recording a song, doesn't mean that you step into the vocal booth, and then you get all your ideas laid down and it'll eventually sound good. That's the thing that pisses me off during this century. Nobody really opens their ears to listen what IS going on. Plus, during the recording session, there're a couple of rules and theories to follow so that a song can be properly recorded to be presented.

Even if you lay down all of your ideas, remember who's the one balancing the volume levels so that your backup/harmonies wouldn't drown the lead vocals.

Plus don't think that being an audio engineer is all about the technical stuff. Although they may get twice the tension and stress at work rather than the person recording it, but for those who really enjoy their work, the mixing is not about work, but rather art.

Like modern digital art, once you put the wrong paint onto the canvas, there's always the Ctrl + Z button to help you out. As for the mixing process of a song, the same goes. Besides that, it's like a digital canvas where you can simply pour your ideas on how the song you're working on should really sound like. Sometimes if you're biased towards some artists and all, you might end up making the song sound like the song that inspired you earlier on.

More to like, ripping off ideas.

I admit that I never really gave a shit about how a song should sound like, and how it should be done after it is being recorded, as long as it comes out on the album. But after quite a while, I guess I opened up a little bit more to really see how music is done in the modern age. It's interesting after you get hooked onto, but hey, not everybody's the same.

Although when I talk about it through this entry, I know that it would make complete nonsense. But once you step into the recording world, your experience will definitely broaden - and you will definitely appreciate the artist you usually listen to even more, along with the production team.

So please don't forget about the people who are usually behind the scenes! They're the reasons why our favourite artists are being award winners and usually topping the daily music charts on radio stations!

The Clouds Hate Me.

It's really funny come to think of it.

Sometimes when it rains, I'm in my room, mingling around the cyberspace and not noticing that my clothes would be soaked wet.

But most of the times, when I change to a new pair of pants, wear different shoes, or when I leave the apartment without an umbrella, it just happens to.... rain.

Wonderful. The roads here are flooded and I don't think it would be a wise choice to head to Ikano/The Curve/1Utama at the moment. UGH.

Ciggawhuuuuut.

Can't wait for Saturday to come by! Hohoho.

Short Span Of Attention.

I made it through the Starbucks interview! It didn't go that bad. At least a lot better than the FIRST interview. Bah.

My store manager (I think) confirmed with me that I shall attend my first day at the outlet this Saturday on the phone. The best part is that she told me all the details on the phone and guess what?

After I hung up and 2 hours later, I forgot what time I was supposed to go -_-" .. Either 4pm, or 8pm. I called her up again and managed to get the right time. Ha-ha.

Wheee starbucks :D ..

Let's hope I don't charge customers RM3.50 per Ice Blended drink.. That's not even a staff benefit!

Guitars: Cheating In Recording Sessions.

Hello all. This will be my very first post on Blogspot.com regarding music tips, if anybody would find them quite useful, of course. But anyways, back on my other site, I provided plenty of ideas, and tips about what I do. Regardless if they're valuable, stupid, or you can find them anywhere else through google.com, I'd still spend most of my time sharing what I know. And I was always known to post up musical nonsense that none of my friends that I usually talk to, would usually understand because they're detailed, or my friends just aren't musicians.

Because I'm kind of sad that people who are good in musical instruments, can't expand and broaden their experiences in music.. Especially Malaysia!

There're some of us who are constantly trying to improve the music scene by playing many gigs for free. We don't even ask to get paid, but we're trying to show how important music can be to others, only if the authorities allow it, of course.

Don't believe me? Better read on how Bob Marley united Jamaica as one through MUSIC only. Should be availble on Wikipedia.

Anyways, with all of that aside, I will share today's tip about recording. I was messing around with my guitar a few minutes ago, and I think this would be well applied on soloes which uses anything BUT the 1st, 2nd and 3rd fret of the guitar.

I learnt this from my guitar instructor, Kelvyn Yeang, for legato exercises. Or rather, the thing that looks like this..


Two-hand-on-the-neck trick.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is Steve Vai. A symbol, an icon, and a wizard when it comes to the guitar. What he is doing in this picture, would be a signature. Many guitarists practice this method, which is to only hit the notes with their left hand without picking - called legato. A series of pull-offs and hammer-ons along the neck of the guitar is a good example of how this is being put to play. You can refer to youtube.com and check out "Tender Surrender" by Steve Vai and see how this is possible.

The trick is, you use your picking hand to mute the strings by holding the neck, and your fretting finger to perform your solo.

Doing it while you're on stage can be fun. But what about trying to get some practice? Would you practice the same solo over and over again for let's say .. an hour?

Your armpits would probably stink the whole room.

So, here's the method to cheat: use a sock, a cloth, a wristband, your cat's tail, or anything that's able to tie around the neck, so that would be the alternate to your right hand which should be holding the guitar's neck.

With this, you can practice your legato. And if you're sick and tired, you can start shredding your soloes with the cloth still being tied on the neck.

In fact, that's what I did. What's the difference? It's simple. If you haven't practiced on clean picking and if your style is messy, you can use this cloth to block out all that muffled strings, accidental open strings, etc, while recording your solo.

I never came across this simple method, but try it. I guess it'll save your time on recording if you have clumsy fingers.

Though this may be a cheating method, but please do remember to always practice the right picking positions and always play it right! Try not to cheat. But if you don't have a choice.. Then.. GO figure!!

Accepted.

I think I made it. Did I ever mention that I'm usually never aware with whatever's going on around me? Right now, I'm not sure if I'm accepted, or.. nearly accepted by Starbucks, Ikano.

Thing is, my store manager (I think) will call me up regarding my quick tour around Starbucks, to make new friends with the espresso machine and.. so on.

Does that mean I'm accepted already or not? Hahaha.

'Till I get my uniform, then that's when I'll confirm I'm under Starbucks.

But what.. the pay is not RM5 like what many would say. It's RM4.75 .. Whatever it is, its definitely better than F.O.S @ The Curve.

Maybe there're better job offers, but having 30% off Starbucks foodstuff and 2 free drinks per 5 hours is more than enough for me. Bwahahahahahahaha.

Now I can't wait to really start A.S.A.P. ..

Note to self: Blogging through the HTML mode is a lot more faster and less memory-consuming. Gahahahahaa..

Round Two!

The first interview at Starbucks went quite.. Well. A little bit bumpy because of my own experience. I have no whatsoever experience with the F&B line before, and I think Mr Fery was kind of.. disappointed.

I heard that tone in his voice I swear!

But nevermind! I've been given the second chance to proove my very best, to show that I really need this job! My next interview will be done tomorrow. Can't wait :D

Ho ho ho.

And I just came back from another outing with Shaz and Advertlets.com .. Managed to watched Ah Long PTE LTD. Good stuff, for a local made sort of thing. Although the main actor was ..gay. Ugh.

But it really made me feel like I was back home.. Penang..

How I miss the Hokkien dialect!

Now I'm hungry and bored. Anybody wanna feed me? LOL

Microsoft Vista Is..

.. The last thing I would recommend anybody to get. Although I'm running on a Vista OS at the moment, I'm telling you, I never faced problems as much as using this laptop before.

So far, I still think it's a market failure despite its release for nearly a year. Anything that comes after Vista should be just.. horrible. So far, XP is still the best.

Now, if you're interested in getting a new PC or laptop, get one which comes with Windows XP, and not Vista. Although for laptops, most of it would be powered with Vista, and the ones that comes with FreeDOS, you can install a pirated version of XP on it.

Then Microsoft comes by and starts telling you that you're not using the genuine version of Windows. Blah, blah, blah. Serves you idiots right for creating or coming up with something chaotic for the market.

Apple rocks!

But I don't have the money to get one.

So, the Pros are..

• It looks nice.
• Looks like a Mac.
• The blind can finally read!
• Updates are usually available to protect your system
• And I've never seen so many nice colours before in my life.

And so, the Cons would be..

• It's shit slow. I've got 2gbs of RAM, and now only it runs as smooth as a 1gb of RAM on an XP OS.
• All available VST/RTAS plugins are NOT compatible with Vista even if you toggle the compatibility mode. Trust me on this, I can't get my music projects properly mixed because of.. Vista. When I blame Vista, I blame the OS, and not the programmes that I use for it.
• Your laptop will probably die in a few hours if you don't have a graphic card installed individually to support the beautiful graphics.
• "Hey, this looks like a Mac! Oh no. Wait! It's that new Windows thing. What was it called again? Windows Visectomy?"
• .. Games aren't smooth on this piece of shit.
• At some parts, it just looks..weird.
• A lot of CD Image Readers programmes are nearly incompatible. The biggest issue was Nero.
  

I'm not entirely giving it a bad review, because for normal work, it seems to work just fine. But anything that has to do with the music/sound industry, it'll never ever work. Don't even think of investing a lumsum of money just for something like.. this.

*pukes*

I need a MacBookPro!

My Word..

It's raining heavily outside, and for some reason, I'm not fond of blogspot. It's lagging my laptop through its convenience in blogging and all, but by the looks of it's taking up too much memory.

And back to the raining issue. It's raining really heavily, and well, my clothes can't seem to be dry, no thanks to the weather. Besides that, I hope it stops real soon because I have an interview with Mr. Hadee of Starbucks @ Ikano ..

Yep. Applied for a job last Monday, but I didn't even get a phone call. There were some.. technical difficulties somewhere around, and I had to re-apply for the job again. This time, I didn't need to wait for them to call me regarding the interviewing time. They already set the time and date for me on the spot!

This will be my very first time about being interviewed. God, do I know nuts about what they're going to ask me. All I know is that, I can't be bothered, but I need a job badly!

And quickly too!

Anyways, I'll keep you all updated about this, I guess. For the meantime, let me retreat to my Dream Theater sanctuary..

First Post..

Of course, the first post usually means.. Nothing.

A little bit of introduction would be more appropriate, I presume?

*cough*

Name: Jean Louis Sibert
Alias: Glacius
D.O.B.: 20th October 1988
Address: Disclosed - was born and raise in Penang, now staying in Kota Damansara, Selangor.
Schools attended:

1. 1995 - 2000: S.R.J.K. (C) Union (Penang)
   
2. 2001 - 2005: S.M.K Westlands (Penang)
   
3. 2006 - 2007: KDU College - Penang Campus (August '06 - July '07)
4. 2007 - Present: KDU College - Petaling Jaya Campus (August '07 - Present.)

Hobbies:

• Enjoys listening and studying music.
• Enjoys reading about new cars
• Loyal Top Gear fan..XD
• Sound/Audio Engineering
• Music Production
• Music Composition
• Playing musical instruments: Guitars, Bass, Drums, Keyboards.. But the guitar IS my only major!
• Is socialising considered as a hobby? Haha
  
• And a lot of automotive nonsense.

.. And I can't think of anything else. For the moment, I guess I'm enjoying life as it is :)

Stay tuned! I will share more of my musical experiences through this blog, I guess. Previous projects can be found at http://glacius.multiply.com. I'm still very active there..So yeah.