The Cape of Frog

Yosh.. enjoy these photos from The Cape of Frog LOLz.. XD


The entrance..


Some fishermen's boats... ;)


The frog-like rock :P ..


See that ray of lights from heaven ? :P LOLz


A journey to "world's end" LOLz


The small lighthouse...


"Don't JUMP over the fence !!" XD


The theme park..


Silhouette...


A cloudy sunset..

Pohsarang

Below are some photos from Pohsarang.. Enjoy! :)


Paddy field nearby...


The church (multifunction hall)


The 'cave' itself... :)


6th Station of The Cross : Veronica Wipes The Face of Jesus


7th Station of The Cross : Jesus Falls The Second Time


8th Station of The Cross : Jesus Meets The Women From Jerusalem


13th Station of The Cross : Jesus is Taken Down From The Cross


14th Station of The Cross : Jesus is Laid in The Tomb


An endless path... :P


The marketplace.... ;)


An endless staircase... :P

InDo iNdo IndO

Yosh.. almost one week already here in Indonesia.. and... yeah this stupid asthma stroke me again.. =.=" swetee... phew.. not that bad actually.. yeah.. hopefully by the end of this week, that stupid mucus will be all gone..

I lurve Indonesian foods so much hahahaz! I've been bored of NTU canteens' foods wew.. hahha.. I tried soto ayam, Cianjur-style roasted fish (Ikan bakar Cianjur), tahu telor, gado2, pecel..etc.. :P (yeah I write them in their native lang.. ^^) LOLz.. I hope I dun make you all drool to your knees (esp for all of you who haven't gone back home yet.. XD peaceeee) :P LOLz..

The first week in Indonesia, nothing much happened.. We just went out (regardless of my sickness :P) to Pohsarang, a holy Saint Mary cave situated in Kediri East Java, and went to Tanjung Kodok (Cape of Frog) situated near the city of Tuban East Java .. well it is called like that coz some of the reefs there look like a frog :P XD Actually it was my sis who needed some ideas for her drawings and perhaps the sea is the best place to accumulate ideas.. hehe dunno.. :P I'll post some photos in the entries that follow. Enjoy it hohoho.. Yosh, I still have two more weeks before my departure back to Sg.. haizz.. Back to 'hectic' school life again.. It's final year man! hohoho... I haven't finalized my timetable as well.. huhu.. The registration day will be on this coming Monday.. I have only few days to finalize it.. Sure, I'll finalize it very2 soon... :) no worries.. hehehe..

Enjoy your holz pals! :D

del'Dante Fifth Meeting @ Beat Merchants Studio (14 June 2007)

Yay! It's our fifth meeting already ! hohoho.. Finally we were able to go outside for a studio (thou the studio was not the best studio I've ever seen :P ) hahaah.. We still prefer the Cultural Activities Room @ hall 16 to this studio thou.. XD However, the drum was a very2 nice one actually! hahaha... We played our 2 original songs, Maafkan Aku Yang Mencintainya and Akhirnya Ku Sadar... but we only recorded Maafkan Aku Yang Mencintainya since the other song was kinda messy.. We made a recording two times LOLz hahaahz.. Nice one.. (thou after conversion to mpg video, the sound esp the vocal can't come out clearly huhuhu).

After the practice, we had our dinner at Food Junction, Bugis.. hohoho.. den we went to Dela's "secret" place, Starbucks @ One Fullerton LOLz hahaha.. Unfortunately, Davin couldn't join us since he had to wake up early for Professional Attachment on the next day.. So only me, Raymond, Johan, and our boss Dela left :P There, we were gj-ing hahaha.. playing truth or dare but most of the time it was Dela who bullied to answer all the questions.. :P That place was actually a very cozy place to sit back, relax, and have a chat hehehe.. Yes, the ambience was great XD Anyway, the funny thing was, we (Edmond, Raymond, and Johan) sang the boyband version of Maafkan Aku Yang Mencintainya LOLz XD wakakaka.. Well, actually we dedicated the song for Dela hahaha.. accompanying her story :P yeah, Dela shared her story about her love life yesterday.. hohoho.. yosh.. you know wad Del, you haf to move on k? hohoho.. and we glad that you finally made it thru the rain.. :) hohoho.. Gratzz. XD hahaah..

Yeah, you can say that probably we are the narcist-est band of musicians XD LOLzz ahahaha.. We took loads of photos on the bridge near Fullerton Hotel.. with Esplanade in background hahahaa.. LOLz.. We had great times there! Taking photos like mad already wakakakaa.. :P We will keep these photos in our memory.. memory of our band.. of our togetherness.. :) That was a very great nite! hohoho.. Well done everybody! XD




reaching for the stars....


the boyband..




someday.. we will fly together...

Welcome to [Sechzehn] hohoho..

Yosh.. HOLA (Hall Online Application) results were out on Friday, and finally I got the room that I wanted! hohoho.. Our plan succeeded! (please refer to this entry :P) Hahaha.. Raymond got a single room on level 3, Jordan got his current single room, and I got Raymond's current room, with Ong as my roomie (again... XD). hohoho :D Well, I realized that some failed to get their choice of halls (even some ppl who tried to retain their current room were also dumped out... =.=").. haizz.. I also heard that 6 out of 16 JCRC presidents din get their choice of rooms... :s I guess HAS (Hall Allocation Scheme) is still incomplete, and perhaps hasn't been tested and gone thru' pilot run thoroughly.. =.=" (It was said that ppl who retained their current room would have priority among others who applied that room) What a weird system.. However, most final year students (in AY 2007-2008, which is the coming AY) got their choice of rooms.. I think final year students have some kind of priority or sumthin' phew... I dunno.. It's their job (SAO ppl) to review the current HAS after the allocation results... to develop a better system next year.. (thou actually im 'out' already next year :P LOLz)

8 June 2007

ACCOMMODATION IN HALL FOR AY2007/08

I am pleased to offer you admission into the Hall of Residence 16 for the academic year 2007/08 beginning 6 August 2007. The room is 16A-05-14. Hall and room allocations are processed by the computerised HAS.

hohoho... Thanks Lord for everything You have given to me.. :)

del'Dante Fourth Meeting @ Hall 16's Cultural Activities Room

Hohoho.. That was a very great practice.. I guess.. :P Finally we could practice in the so-called 'studio' hahaah.. We were practicing our two original songs, which are Akhirnya Ku Sadar and Maafkan Aku Yang Mencintainya in full band version hahaaha.. The current line up is.. Davin and Dela as vocalists, Ray as bassist, Johan aka Jon as keyboardist, and me as drummer :P (Sony was absent that day, but surely he will be our guitarist) wakakaka.. Yeah, I think I haf to practice the drum again.. hehehe... Still a lil' bit messy here and there.. The two songs were video-ed yesterday :P haha.. but for personal view only.. LOLz XD hahahaha.. We rearranged the two songs into the full band version hohoho.. nice one, great job everyone! Maafkan Aku Yang Mencintainya is kinda mellow.. still.. and Akhirnya Ku Sadar is kinda upbeat and more cheerful XD Anyway, a big thanx to Rica for the key to the studio as well as the drum stick, and Sam for the semi-acoustic guitar :D Can't wait for the next practice on Thursday.. Thank you everybody ! ^^ Below are some pictures taken on Friday :D

Last Day of IA !!

Hohoho.. finally.. the day that I've waited for since December 2006.. :P hahha.. Yosh! Today is my last day of internship with Datacraft! hahaah.. Nothin' much to do today, yeah, as always.. XD having lunch with my colleagues including my supervisor, and was treated by him! hahaah.. Hontouni arigatou ne.. :) As a token of appreciation and gratitude, I gave him a Parker pen.. bought yesterday haha.. Well, I learned a lot too during this 22 weeks of IA period.. Thanx to Datacraft for giving me such opportunities..

Yosh, what do I do after this? hahha.. plan plan plan! I have 1 week before my departure to Indo hahaha.. del'Dante fourth meeting is tonight and fifth meeting will be on Thursday next week XD Hopefully we can practice well tonite.. :) We have 2 singles already :P the second single titled Maafkan Aku Yang Mencintainya by Dela (lyricist and music arranger) hohoho.. Nice song, yet another mellow song by Dela. Well, we will re-arrange it for full band version..

Still waiting for hostel allocation results! Haizz.. I can't wait to put sechzehn tag again in my MSN nickname :P :P hahhaa.. LOLzz...

-slacking2...... -

del'Dante 3rd Meeting

Yeah.. It started a lil' bit 'late'.. hahaha.. We played 2 songs basically, Akhir Rasa Ini by Samson (me and Dela's favorite :P) and Kejujuran Hati by Kerispatih (as requested by Raymond XD) hohoho.. Well, actually the song choices haven't come out yet, but Dela knew for certain that all the songs are Indonesian band songs. First we played Kejujuran Hati, it took a while til' everyone knew how the song is, and how to sing it :P hohoho.. In the end, we can play it quite well actually hohoho.. thou it sounds different from the original one (yeah, it MUST be different, no point of copying) XD

Second, we played Akhir Rasa Ini, yeah my favourite.. We tried to arrange the song by ourself.. and the temp line up for this song is Dela and Davin as vocalists, me as rhythm guitarist, Jon aka Johan as bassist and Ray as Keyboardist.. where's the drummer?? haha yeah, no drum set can be used at that moment anyway.. hahaha LOLz.. After a while, we planned to book a studio for our next practice to have a drum set to be played, so that we can practice several songs in 'full band' version hohoho.. The GREAT thing was, del'Dante finally has a single! hahaha.. Jon played the demo version of the song yesterday.. All credits goes to Johan (Music arranger) and Adela (Lyricist) XD hahaha.. I kinda like the melody, esp in pre-chorus and chorus parts! hahaha.. great job Jon! The title is.. Akhirnya Ku Sadar hohoho.. :P XD Juz wait til' we play it in full band version wakakakak..

I din know what it was called, but it was some kind of 'luck' maybe :P Rica sms-ed Raymond and asked him to do a sound check in Hall 16's Cultural Activities Room. Yeah, Hall 16 has new instruments for its band there. hohoho.. and the good thing is, there's a drum set! hahaha.. But, guitars are not there yet, so Ray had to bring his own bass guitar and I brought my own acoustic guitar down.. (so sad, my guitar can't be plugged to the amplifier.. ). I tried playing drum again yesterday, and I kinda feel bad.. not so good.. hahaha.. It's been so long since last time I played it.. haf to practice again if it is decided that I haf to play drum :P XD We played several songs down there, like Akhir Rasa Ini, I Will Survive, Naek Delman (I will survive version :P), Bukan Pujangga, Bila Nanti... etc.. :P

Below are some pictures taken yesterday (in Raymond's room.. again :P LOLz a big thanx for Ong and Raymond *again* for their room XD)

Some Thoughts... Inspired by "Bambino"

Hoho.. Inspired by this Japanese Drama, Bambino, I'd like to share sumthin' with you from the drama.. morale of the story .. I can say.. ^^

Hm, This drama is about a guy, Ban Shogo which later on called 'bambi', who is good at cooking Italian dishes and when he did his internship on Baccanale Italian restaurant, he felt that his dignity was flattened since everyone there was a pro and what he did was actually not cooking, but helping with stuffs, just like a slave. However, from what I can see, he learned a lot during his times there, like efficiency of work.. thou his partner, Katori, yelled at him all the time to prepare the ingredients for the dishes.

After the internship period was over, he went home, and had good times with his girlfriend.. until that night when he told his girlfriend that he wanted to go back to Tokyo with her and work for Baccanale.. quitting his college.. coz he has fallen in love with that restaurant.. His girlfriend refused to come along with him, she told him that she had her own life and more over she thought that Ban was too egoist coz he thought about himself, about reaching his own dreams without even considering her future..

In the end, Ban decided to let go everything in his hometown (broke up with his girlfriend and quitting college...) and go to Tokyo for Baccanale obsession... There, the shocking thing was, he had to work in Dining Hall as a servant ... This shocked him so much since his dream is to be a chef.. to cook and prepare dishes.. not to be a servant... And he started to grumble....

Yosh... Morale of the drama are... (so far.. coz the drama is still airing :P)

1. In working life, we can't expect to have a good and nice working environment... It's not about how good the working environment is.. it's about how we adapt with the current environment.. (it's hard thou..) Our working environment is our battle ground.. You'll have to get used to your surrounding before you can tackle the jobs aka enemies 'perfectly' and efficiently... (yeah.. nobody's perfect thou.. well it's not about perfectness, but about how to be a better person each day..)

2. Everything is done step by step.. like for example.. you can't expect to be a CEO directly when you graduate later .. It also applies to 'bambi'.. he can't expect to be a good chef without to be a servant first... Quotation from the drama (rephrased) "if you want to be a good chef, you have to first understand how the customers feel about the foods.." Sometimes you need to go thru' the worst.. before reaching for the best..

3. Focus on what you are doing right now.. Treasure what you have right now.. For working matters, just simply... love your current job.. coz, every job has its own pro and cons anyway... has its own struggle also... and still, everybody is working hard... "One who can't focus on what he is doing right now, doesn't have right to pursue his dream.." hohoho...

4. Always learn from every little mistake we made.. Let it be our own good teacher.. for a better tomorrow... Try to cope with an inevitable bad feeling.. and inability to forgive yourself.. (at least you try..) coz everybody makes mistakes too, so don't give up on what you are doing.. keep on trying.. :)
(well, somehow it's not as easy as I thot...)

Yeah.. just some thotz.. hehe..

Comments about Minutes to Midnight ( II ) - End

Okay, I'll continue my comments about Linkin Park's new album Minutes to Midnight hohoh... We stopped at track 6 in the earlier entry, so.. here we go again..

7. Hands Held High
"With hands held high into a sky so blue... as the ocean opens up to swallow you..."

Guess wad?? This song is a solo performance by Mike Shinoda! wakakaka.. LOLzz.. He sang the whole song by himself.. In this new album, Mike Shinoda sang in collaboration with Chester only for Bleed It Out hohoh.. That's why, I told you that Mike Shinoda is becoming more and more melodic here :P It begins with a rap.. as usual, another cool-rap style from Mike.. The drum played by Rob is another different and unique drum sequence.. It sounds more like 'marching band' or sumthin... In the background, Brad played repeated and continuous notes with his guitar... hoho XD den, near the end of the song, he sang a melody.. Yoshh.. I never heard him singing a melody before leh! hahaah... Diz is the very first time he is really2 singing .. not just rapping hahaha.. Thou he sings in a very2 deep vocal range (i.e a bass), that's still nice bro... hohoho.. Gratz to Mike Shinoda! I kinda like the melody sung by him near the end of this song man.. :D Finally, this song is simple, but nice.. :)

8. No More Sorrow
"No, no more sorrow.. I've paid for your mistakes.. Your time is borrowed..Your time has come to be replaced......"

Another 'rough' and 'tough' sounding song from LP hohoho.. This song is also a reminiscence of their old style.. nu metal.... :D hehehe.. I like the drum sequence and some effects in background hohoho.. Again, Mike Shinoda played the second guitar in this song... playing the riffs most of the time while Brad played the melodies and some riffs to support the second guitar in the chorus part. Overall, yeah, nice piece from LP ! and another head-banging song hahaahazz..

9. Valentine's Day
"So now you're gone, and I was wrong.. I never knew what it was like, to be alone..On a Valentine's Day........."

When I saw the title for the first time, I din have any idea about what this song is about, how is the melody and the style.. is it the very first 'mellow' song from LP .. yeah, many questions are echoing inside my head.. ahahaha.. But when I heard the song for the first time, my first impression was.. In the beginning, the song sounds uninteresting, and it's not a mellow song anyway.. (thou you see the title is about... Valentine's Day :P). It begins with solo guitar melodies played by.. not sure.. Brad I guess .. hohoh.. then the drum and the bass come in gently.. The mood of the song is rising from gloomy to bright.. and finally it goes to chorus part.. and the song ends.. When I listen to it again, the beginning part of this song is actually cool enuf man! hahaha.. In the chorus part, when Chester is shouting "on a Valentine's Day..." repeatedly, the mood is suddenly different.. Expresses voices from the hearts of ppl who are lonely on Valentine's Day.. LOLz huhuhu.. Well... Valentine's day is also a Friendship day rite.. :P dun haf to be so mellow den... hihihi.. :)

10. In Between
"Let me apologize to begin with.. Let me apologize for what I'm about to say.. But trying to be genuine was harder than it seemed.. But somehow I got caught up in between........."

Another solo performance by Mike Shinoda! wow... He is singing for the whole song! hahaha.. With his unique bass vocal range.. that's cool ! I heard, this song is one of the band's favorite.. that's why it is not left behind and is included in this album hahahaz.. Sometimes, songs need not to be so complicated and so skillful-sounding to attract people.. This song.. I can say, is VERY simple one yet it's nice! Background musics are all originated from turntable and effects played by DJ Hahn! hohoho.. The background melody somehow reminds me of an Aborigine traditional oboe.. :P (forgot the name :P) The vocal uniqueness of Mike is another added value to this song. So... KISS... Keep It Simple Stupid... hohoho.. :P :P

11. In Pieces
"So I, I won't be the one, be the one to leave this... In pieces......."

Hmm, the song begins with some effects.. including the percussion.. Not bad but it's kinda an OKAY for me dude.. I like the solo guitar melodies played by Brad in the middle of the song thou :P hehehe.. The drum played by Rob took over the percussion effect from DJ machine after a while.. hohooh.. Overall: nice arrangement and interesting guitar and drum techniques (they have really gone beyond their boundaries!) :D Sumthin' new from the band! hohoho.. Well, nothin' much I can comment about.. :P

12. The Little Things Give You Away
"Don't want to reach for me do you? I mean nothing to you.. The little things give you away......."

Wow, it starts with some effects from DJ Hahn and an acoustic guitar! haha.. They are completely evolving! Their music is getting more mature.. and skillful ... Yeah, this piece shows their skillfulness in playing their own music instruments! I like the drum sequence.. and the solo guitar played by Brad! This piece emphasizes his guitar techniques, other than just riffs.. and gives him more solo part :P This is really really another something new from them! It's not just plain nu metal with shouting and DJ effects here and there.. It's more melodic.. deeper in meanings... and it's the new Linkin Park! hohoho..


It's the end of my comments.. Recommended album this year... in my version :P


-i'm out..-

del'Dante Second Meeting @ Ray's Room :D

It's our second practice ! Yay.. hohoho.. Yeah, we played some Indonesian songs yesterday, medleys from some traditional Indonesian songs too ! XD like Bengawan Solo, Rayuan Pulau Kelapa.. etc.. :P Thou the line up is still not decided yet (except for Sony as guitarist and Davin as vocalist), but everybody is very2 great in their own way ! hahaha... Well, I still can't spontaneously figure out the chords for some songs I've never played before hahaha... Need your guidance.. my band mates.. hohoh :D Yeah, we work as a team rite hahaha XD Thanks everybody ! I had a great nite yesterday ! Thanx for Ong and Raymond too for their room.. as our second meeting's venue :D haahah... Below are some pictures taken yesterday.. XD


Dela with bass guitar.. haha you look cool ! :D XD


Sony sang a song while playing his classic guitar :D Wow.. He's great ! :D


Raymond with his own bass guitar hoho.. with Ong in background (playing WOW... XD) LOLzz


Me on bass guitar :P (err.. playing 'Rock n Roll' I guess.. :P)


Davin, our vocalist :D browsing for lyrics on i-net :D


Dela with my acoustic guitar hahha... Cool2 :D XD (oops.. i guess the strap doesn't match the guitar color.. :P)


Master Raymond on keyboard.. :D and Sony as his 'pupil' hahhaa :P

Yoshh... looking forward for our third meeting next week.. hohoh.. Let's work hand-in-hand ! ^^

Comments about Minutes to Midnight ( I )

Yosh.. I'll spend few minutes to give some comments about the brand new album from Linkin Park, Minutes to Midnight. hohoho.. Before I start, I think it will be good if I let you know what Minutes to Midnight means.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Minutes to Midnight is typically associated with the Doomsday clock, which is a symbolic clockface maintained since 1947 by the Board of Directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at the University of Chicago. It uses the analogy of the human race being at a time that is "minutes to midnight" where midnight represents destruction by nuclear war."

Hope it's clear for you.. Let's start the comments.. I'll go track by track and .. here we go:

1. Wake
There's so called distortion of sound in the beginning, and continued with the 'awakening' of sumthin' big as the music is getting louder and louder.. The guitar riff is conclusive and this short piece somehow could be a reminiscence of Linkin Park's old style..

2. Given Up
"I've given up... I'm sick of feeling, Is there nothing you can say?........."

The sounds of clapping hands (or I dunno wad it is.. :P) and tinkling keys makes this song sounds 'ethnic' or sumthin'.. This song sounds rough and tough .. Good enough to rise up your mood and wash away all the mellowness .. Commonly called head-banging song :P LP's old style is still rooted in this song, the new stuff here is the drum sequence sounds somethin' different, not another nu metal style anyway..

3. Leave Out All The Rest
"When my time comes.. forget the wrong that I've done.. Help me leave behind some reasons to be missed........"

As I mentioned in the earlier entry, this is the most melodic piece of the album. When I first heard this piece, I was instantly falling in love with the melody! hahaha.. The lyric is also great! It's not LP that I knew 2 or 3 years ago, but this is still awesome! What more can I say, this song is just perfect! XD Thou I realize Brad's guitar technique is not the core of this song... He did the single-string strumming in every chorus part of the song, except the last one, Brad tried to conclude the song with single-strumming style in each chord played (similar to wad he had done in the song Numb).... 10/10 from me ! :D

4. Bleed It Out
"I bleed it out diggin' deeper just to throw it away..."

An old school rock style.. hoho.. The solo guitar from Brad is also not bad, at last, he tried sumthin' new, other than just riffs. Playing each notes repeatedly blended in few riffs here and there.... This song is really really sumthin' new from LP! hohoho.. They used wider range of musical instruments in this album, particularly tambourine in this song.. Another effect is the sound of clapping hands of the audience, somehow depicts that the song is played live somewhere...

5. Shadow of The Day
"And the shadow of the day, will embrace the world in grey, and the sun will set for you......."

It starts with dark mood.. and when the drum gets in, slowly but sure the song is getting brighter and brighter. It's like going to a climax or sumthin'. Wad I thought as the climax of this song is when the guitar enters the higher octave of notes (the nicest part I guess.. :P). Nice and conclusive ending.. I thot I saw the sunlight in the end of the song :P thou the lyric conveys a different thing XD

6. What I've Done
"I’ve faced myself, to cross out what I’ve become... Erase myself.. And let go of what I’ve done......"

This is the very first and the only single released by Linkin Park before the release of Minutes to Midnight. When I heard diz for the first time, I knew sumthin' has changed... their music style.. They have said goodbye to their nu metal style and developing sumthin' new... Another nice piece, especially the chords progression in the chorus, intro and bridge parts of the song. There are 2 guitarists for this song, one played the lead (the melody) which is Brad Delson and another one played the riffs.. which is.. surprisingly.. Mike Shinoda! hahaha.. He's becoming more and more 'melodic' in this album. The song is not as 'harsh' as Given Up and No More Sorrow but it sounds somewhat dark.. and reflects the meaning of Minutes to Midnight itself. I noticed the drum effect played by Rob in the beginning of the song, represents the ticking of clock... Doomsday clock...

-to be continued.....-