ive been listening to this pretty generic sounding emo-ish band called Broadway lately. They more or less sound like Saosin. i sort of miss the music we all grew up listening to even though we've all kinda grown out of it. i think the music scene is becoming stranger and stranger. and i'm not just talking about singapore. (enough about the local scene. much to my disappointment, it's pretty dead and uninteresting now. yeah, i'll say that, even though i'm supposed to be in a local band that's about to release an ep and shit, supporting this whole scene and stuff. haha.)

i remember roughly around the late 90s to early 2000s, pop music was incredibly uncool. there was a very distinct line between alternative music listeners (i speak for everyone) and the norm, well, the mainstream. (i don't hear that word anymore.)

Now, every artist seems to have crossed the once definitive line, and everyone's music collection seems to have a fair share of contemporary pop and "alternative" music. The line has faded, the once clear target audience is now not really broadened, but blurred. It's not necessarily a bad thing, because you can now just sort of sell everything to anyone and everyone. i now even think it's possible to have a music festival with a mash up of artistes like justin timberlake, paramore, lady gaga, incubus, rage against the machine, lilly allen, katy perry, jason mraz, carrie underwood, muse, fall out boy, john mayer, cobra starship, gym class heroes, and many more. and there wouldn't be much crowd conflict because right now everyone just listens to everything.

to be fair, it's not really absolute because there will always be your music stereotypes in almost any given genre, no matter what. (music has grown so much, even the bands i just named have sort of got their own stereotype; the commercial-ready rock bands and pop artistes.) but i'm not talking about absolutes and stereotypes, i'm talking about the general mainstream acceptance of music that was once considered 'alternative.' take for example, the existence of one recent big ass top selling mainstream-level game: guitar hero. It's not just the pop people though, the rockers too have totally erased the 'uncool' factor when it comes to pop music. More 'pop music listeners' are checking out rock records, and many more 'rock' bands are doing pop music covers.

at one point i thought we were all just growing up and opening ourselves to more music, but seriously, everyone right now is just listening to everything. i don't quite know what to make of this, but it's honestly quite fun to think about. it's like skateboarding and how it grew. in the 80s and early 90s, you could spot a skater a mile away and instantly know that he or she was a skater. there was a clear line between skaters and well, normal people; it was like this really rad 'gang' you'd belong to. but then in the late nineties to early 2000s, the skating culture and fashion trends infiltrated the commercial and mainstream population. suddenly everyone was sporting skate shoes or tees with skate logos plastered all over them. not that people were 'posers' or anything, it's just the way the fashion and culture trends grew. i guess the huge world of alternative music's sort of becoming like that now. its becoming so huge, it's infiltrating the mainstream world in the same way skateboarding did about a decade ago. i think that if paramore were to come to the level they're at now about 5 years ago, they wouldn't be as successful. mmm. so is it just me, or is alternative music really just not that alternative anymore?

hakuna matata. i just thought about it, and it's quite ridiculous actually. in The Lion King, Timon and Pumba assume parental positions for Simba the fucking lion when he's all alone, and they simply teach him "hakuna ma facking tata," which basically means "to throw all problems out the window instead of solving them straight away." What the hell was Disney trying to teach kids growing up in the 90s???!!!!! This probably directly resulted in my very well developed talent of procrastination. Another mission for 2010, do not procrastinate!

This weekend was pretty sweet.
friday was spent at supperclub. again. but it was, cheap, good, and fun. so it was quite a good night. even though i was tired as shit.

i went riding today with my cousin and godbrother at some random place in punggol. it was a light ride, but it just felt so good to taste some dirt, spray some mud and kick some gears. finally, my bike got ridden the way it's supposed to. can't wait for the next ride!!!!

meeting joey tomorrow to do some work. our ep is considered done. we're confirming the launch date asap. if all goes well, it should be on the 10th of april. i love it, love it, and love it. can't wait, it's like cooking dinner for your family and repeatedly (and annoyingly) asking if they like it. and i am going to treat each and every single one of you people out there like my family. HAHA. GOODNIGHT YALL!

back to civilization for another two days. YAY!!!!!!!

and another weekend just sort of disintegrated like that. hours feel like minutes from friday night to sunday evening. i dont know how i found the energy to run around this weekend instead of just sleep at home. i think if i was in the army, i'd be dead. really, i'd probably be one of the recruits who die in tekong cause of a random heart attack. thank god policemen don't need to hang out in the frigging jungle.

spent this afternoon touching up the ep at roland's place. i left them in a crisis, but im sure they can handle it. haha. i hope everything turns out okay. our launch will be moved from march to april cause arts house is fully booked. but that means more time to finalize everything.

there's so much to do. i really dont know how to fit everything into two days a week. music's the only thing that's keeping me going. and i cant even bring my ipod into camp. ARGH.!! 

just came back from an awesome jamming session. super tired! this weekend was fun. it consisted of my first time at supperclub, left 4 dead 2 at quite possibly the best lan shop in singapore, an acoustic show at nyp's open house, hanging out with my homies, sending a friend off at the airport, good jamming, and good tidings. i like a ligit. the band seems healthier. pay's coming in soon. girlfriend's fucking amazing. my mom bought breakfast bars and thirsty hippo for me to put in my cupboard in camp. life is good. 2010 is looking up! hope i can keep this positive vibe up throughout the year. time to book in now, here's to another mundane week of illogical punishment and "training." i hope my body doesnt give up before my mind does. think positive!

2009 has been, in all its worth, an extremely enriching year. i've grown to hate growing up, i don't know if that's possible, but i really hate growing up. as you get older, life just gets shittier. all the wonder and excitement in things slowly go to shit year by year. Most people grow up and go their different ways. As a kid, I used to wonder why old people had such few friends. I suppose people just grow apart, it's just the natural way things work. i'm not a pessimist, in actual fact, i'm probably one of the most optimistic people out there. i was the dude who said "yeah avery, big ear music would totally earn you some serious money." and "our band will make it!!!!" look what that got me. haha! i'm kidding. it's not that bad. I'm just not that big a fan of this whole growing up thing.

i think the trick to living is to find happiness in everything, and that will be my mission for 2010. not a resolution, just a mission. i've got no resolutions. i think staying off some shit for 2 years is enough to make me go slightly mad. that's enough of a 'resolution' to keep, even though it has been forced upon me by the government. ns has been a big change for me, which i suppose is a good thing. i am now somewhat healthy, and have grown from a splinter to a toothpick. ive gained 2.5kg in 4 weeks. which is a real feat for me, because my metabolism rate is probably faster than the speed of sound. it's a bad thing by the way, please don't think its good. it makes you skinny and weak, you eat all the time but dont build up at all, and what's more, you feel hungry 2 hours after eating and that makes you waste more money getting food. ah, new year mission: i shan't say im wasting money getting food. i'll simply get good food, then it wouldnt be wasted, would it? 

i'm really surprised that nik has been able to put up with me the entire year. i am one of the most annoying people on the planet. cheers to her and the love we have. i really fucking love that girl. damn. i'm super romantic.

i'm surprised that my band has been able to pull through this year despite going through so much shit the whole year. i think our friendship's damn awesome, im super lucky to be in a band with these people. really can't wait to get the E.P. out and, and hopefully finally put some smiles on certain faces. i really hope we dont let the people who support us down. if any of you people read my blog, i have to say that we are honestly very lucky to have your support and friendship. i really really hope you like what you hear when we release our ep in march. The future of the band kinda depends heavily on the response from the EP release, so I hope all goes well. it's been a tough year, but cheers to a better 2010. live and learn, guys!

My friends are the biggest bunch of morons in the world for deciding to be friends with me, but and I am really grateful to every single one of you guys and girls for that and you all kind of know it. i am one spastic boy who really doesnt deserve the company of such wonderful people. yall know who you are!

i think 2010 is gonna be a 'okay, lets see how this goes' kinda year. NS, the band, maintaining friendships, theyre all challenges but i think what makes us happy is overcoming these challenges and coming out on top. I think I'm ready for everything that's gonna be thrown at me this year. I don't think this was the case last year. But oh well. live and learn. and as we all love to say, SUCH IS LIFE!

i think i am the first person to bring both a ukelele and a guitar to camp.

fatigue has now not only altered the amplitude of my brainwaves, but has also successfully made me much more inarticulate than usual. especially at this exact point in time. the words coming out of my mouth arn't really the words that are in my head today. but discomforts aside, i am fucking LOVING Christmas. last night was spent with good friends, good booze and good presents. and i believe that joey and i successfully made leon more tipsy than we have ever seen him. that's actually not alot, but by leon's standards, that's already quite an achievement and we all ought to give him a big round of applause for downing that many shots of whiskey and rum. leon wan is a pirate now.

my family really enjoys pigging out on every occasion possible, but for christmas, we really take it to another level. we start the day off with a massive breakfast at my grandpa's place. loads of eggs, sausages, ham, cocoa, and all the bread you want enter the digestive systems of eight Bongs to warm up for the rest of the eatage in store for us. Next up, lunch at my grandmother's, but since that's the eurasian side of the family, manners are a must, and gorging down on beef and prawns is not acceptable. Despite this, we are still able to fill our tummies yet again. The hours between lunch and dinner are spent resting and recuperating, physically and mentally preparing ourselves for the biggest feast of all, dinner. which is a couple hours away. as i sit here digesting my breakfast and lunch, i wander if other people partake in such ardent eating. i swear, if there was an award for pigging out, my family would definitely win. at any given time in our household, food is being consumed by at least one person. the funny thing is, only my dad has the tummy to show for it. well, we arn't complaining, are we? haha! can't wait for dinner. lamb is always fucking OWNAGE.

apart from the usual festive activities, i really hope i get to hang out with everyone this long weekend. it's another short week next week, i book in on monday evening and book out on thursday afternoon which is absolutely ridiculous, but who's complaining? They say december's the best time to enlist because of this very reason. oh and also, two years from now, i'll ORD at a very convenient date. everyone will be on holiday. NOICE.!

This year has been, um, educational. (for the lack of a better word.) some parts of the year really sucked and some parts of the year were extremely fun, but for the most part, i think i've learnt far more this year than any other year. my my, arn't we all growing up!

I really can't wait for next year. Hope it'll be a good one. Can't wait to release the EP.

But for now,
MERRY MOFO-ING CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!
CHEERS AND HERE'S TO MANY MORE.

enjoy the hell out of yourselves.

fatigue has permanently altered my brains. oh well, either that, or ns has just re-routed my brainwaves.
first book out, show today was fun as hell. the guys from closure in moscow are amazing musicians and really wonderful people. learnt so much from them. ended the day with a lan session. now, my eyes can't wait to be shut. goodnight!

hit http://www.myspace.com/trellaband for the new song.

i cannot wait to find out what really happens in 2012.

this weekend was fun. for me the weekend was from thursday till sunday. in no particular order, there was l4d, jamming, joey's birthday, old friends, new friends, a gig, good bands, music i couldnt keep up with, a night of drunkenness, the rescue team, role models, kfc, billy fucking bombers, lamb shank, mixed grill, soccer at the fucking cage, unfit people running around, body aches, body odor, food, food, food, and awesome friends.

"I SAID DONT FUCKING PUSH ME!!!"

I am a sucker for steak. I think I probably make a strange sight at restaurants. Surely you'll look twice if you see a terribly skinny boy gorging down a medium-rare and eating all his vegetables. a month ago nik and i went to jack's place. i have no idea what posessed us to agree to waste good money on food, but that was money well wasted. you could almost say it was well spent. but our dinner made my wallet considerably thinner than usual and we all know that's not a good thing. Food for thought, would you spend your money on an amazing dinner or like, clothes?

The weather's been awesome lately. It just makes you wanna sleep the entire day away. It's cool but not terribly cold, which is definitely better than being at the mercy of the unmerciful and that fucking horribly hot raging sun beaming at the equator. I think the sun forgets about the rest of the countries on the equator, it just focuses on singapore. what an evil bastard. but not now, now's been awesome. i havent seen that evil bastard in days!!

Only drawback's that riding in the rain is a suckfest. hahaha.

November's a month where you're supposed to like, look forward to christmas but I'm not even looking forward to december. it's just one huge looming sense of SIAN!!!!!!!!!!!

There are so many things to do when you have a bike and so many things to pay.

There are also so many things to do when you wanna release an ep next march and your deadline for CD masters and artwork is january. blargh. im trying to get as much as i can done before i go in, cause the rest of the boys are just so fucking busy. suckfest.

I don't know why, but i think it never properly hit me that in less than a month, the singapore police force would have me as one of their little bitches. Until tonight i think. National Service, what an amazing chapter of every dude's life here in this sad little country. You know when you're aware of something that's coming, but it just doesn't feel like it? Like when you're aware that Muse is coming to play here again, it just doesnt feel like it till the date draws nearer and everyone's talking about it.

 No one's really talking about it and my enlistment date isn't like next week, but it definitely feels like it now and it SUCKS. It's completely random but it like suddenly hit me. shit, soon I'll be waking up when I usually sleep and sleep when i usually eat and eat when i usually fart and fart when i usually bathe and bathe when i usually walk and walk when i usually lie down and lie down when i usually stare at the computer. oh and ill have to exercise when i usually um, do other things. i don't exercise. i am nothing but a weak whimpy skinny twig, and therefore, am terrified of physical exercise. that shit is gonna totally destroy my limbs. i swear, god made my bones out of cardboard. and used actual tissues for muscle tissue.

Oh well. on the other hand though, I guess that's just two years for me to really think about what I'm gonna do with my life and how I'm gonna get there. And try to fill the gaps while doing my time. I don't feel like I've wasted the past year even though I haven't exactly done anything legit. I've learnt so much I wouldn't trade this part of my life for anything else. It's weird. It's not like I was doing a whole lot of shit, but neither was I bumming the whole time. You might say that I wasted the entire year. But John Lennon once said that time you enjoy wasting, is never wasted. I rest easy on that..

Oh and I havent written this down but i really, really hope that copeland would come to singapore again on their final tour and by our good lord's grace, i will be able to book out of camp and see them for the last time. i'm bummed that i probably can't make it for soundwave next year. the lineup's incredibly amazing. the least fate could do for me is give me copeland! or muse! (i really wanna see them play their new songs live. theyre probably better than they were in 07 and that was already one of the best shows at fort canning ive ever been to, along with incubus)

Had a pretty interesting halloween, involving some crystal-reading-your-personality thing, tarrot card reading, one whole hour of gay self-realization (cause we all were listening in on each other) and an enjoyable night in a familiar place with good people.

im tired but i like how today turned out.

yowza. had a nice quiet day today.
the rain and dustin kenrue is gonna put me to sleep tonight.
ive been with nik for a year and two months. it feels much longer than that, in a good way. i know i'm seriously bad at being romantic and shit, i probably look like one hell of an awkward motherfucker when i try to say nice things, but dayamn, i have never known love so sweet. it's been a bummer lately, cause some company has hired slaves for a sizable pay (but seriously not sizable enough for the kind of work she's doing) and it's eating up all of her time and energy. all that pay goes to helping her mom keep that roof over their heads. i have no idea how she gets her shit together, but she does. respect yo.
i have never truly understood the word amazing until i got myself into this whole thing. :)

happy fourteen months, luv.
it's garlic bread.

technology has depleted my creative energy. i spent all night learning new ways (or at least the proper ways) to do stuff with my sequencing software, and by the time i was half done i forgot what i was trying to do in the first place. fuck you midi controller, fuck you reason, fuck you cubase, fuck you and fuck you rewire!!! arrrgghhh!!!!!!!!!!!
all my problems would be solved if i could actually sing decently. GOD, RANDOMLY GRANT ME A GOOD SINGING VOICE WHEN I WAKE UP TMR PLEASE? I WILL NOT SIN AGAIN!

wow, i have no idea what to do for halloween this year. last year was so much more fun, we released a couple songs and everybody came. what amazing friends we have. i miss everyone! we're all so grown up and scattered, it sucks. it's really hard to keep in touch with everyone. sometimes i feel like a diplomat going from clan to clan. everyone's so busy. haha. oh and i havent blogged about this yet but i enter ns on the 8th of december. i'm gonna be a policeman. how fantastic!

I fall three times as hard
If it's from nothing at all
You all seem twice as tall as I will ever be.

And I feel terribly small
When my head works too hard
When you think with your chest,
There's not a thing that you don't see.

I'm hardly capable of half the damage
That I would like to do
I could swear that I don't care,
But you know I'm too full of shit
To think this through.