Temptations

It is just soooo.. tempting.

I recently had a chat with kuja abt our travel plans this year. And she suggested "why not go to Spain"?

"Spain?", i said.

"Yeah. I thought u'd wanted to go there?"

"Ya lah.. but then i wanted to go to chiong guitar shops to try out those killer guitars mah... you'd be bored to death", i offered.

"Oh well, i don't mind. I just wanted to get outta S'pore, and go on a long trip", was her reply.

Seems like too good a deal to miss ya? But then, here's the dilemma i'm facing:

I have been planning to get for myself, this guitar which can last me a lifetime. This plan was set in motion more than 7 years ago, when i wrote a letter and sent it to the States, to a Mr. Robert Ruck (yes, he did not even had email at that time! ).

Ruck is a prominent and well-known classical guitar luthier. Just how good is he? I really don't know, but the fact that his guitars now sell for US$10,000 in dealer shops gives you an idea of the demand. Also, Carlos Barbosa-Lima, Sharon Isbin, Manuel Barrueco and Paulo Bellinati gave him thumbs up too, having played on his guitars.

*US$10k is the price for a 2nd/3rd/4th hand guitar (maybe made in 1980s). A brand new Ruck would probably be in the range of US$12-15k.

It seems like i made a smart move then - 7 years back, when i decided to place an order with him, to be put on his long waiting list (which, by the way, has been officially closed 2 years ago. Yep, Ruck is no longer taking orders, since the list is just too long! ). Ordering direct from him will probably cost me half the price - i'm guessing in the range of US$6,000-7,000. But the 'catch' is the bloody long wait of 8-10 years.

What has all that got to do with a trip to Spain? Plenty...

Now if i were to go to Spain end of the year, think of all those wonderfully crafted and heavenly sounding instruments that i might lay my hands on... in Madrid, in Granada, maybe even along the streets in the Alhambra... What if i meet THE guitar of my dreams??? How could i possibly resist the temptations???

I spoke to OG about this dilemma. And all he offered was "just buy lah". Hmm... but would i regret later on? How would i be able to know if this guitar is really the one for me? Afterall, i've waited so long for the Ruck, should i just give it up?

The other problem is - if i should buy a guitar while in Spain, how would i be able to continue the trip with kuja? Lugging a fragile (and EXPENSIVE!) piece of luggage on a Free & Easy trip isn't exactly an inviting thought. It will certainly weigh heavily both on my shoulders (or arms), as well as my mind (worried of damaging it), for the rest of the trip. The trouble it might cause is definitely gonna cause some issues with kuja.

And you definitely do -not- want to antagonize her. Especially not on a holiday trip. :)

So... what's the conclusion? Sigh.. looks like i'll be planning a trip to somewhere else. The one SURE way to resist temptations, is to keep yourself away from them.

If it was my last day on Earth

Saw this documentary on Discovery channel last night... It was called Hyperspace, and talks about Black Holes.

At the end of the program, the host (who was Sam Neil, the Dinosaur man, by the way) speculated about the possibilities of a Black hole invading into our solar system. It would virtually "eat" up all the planets, and our Sun. All life on earth will cease to exist. In fact, Earth itself would end up being sucked in, and would eventually disintegrate.

I then had this thought:

IF this scenario were really to happen, what would I do about it?

Well, obviously, there's NOTHING anyone on Earth can do about the outcome. The only thing we CAN control is what we choose to do with the time we have left.

And i wondered... faced with the inevitability of our demise, who would choose to spend his/her last hours with the material riches that he has gathered? For instance, would anyone choose to go hug his favourite, million dollar sports car? Or go walking through every inch of his 1000 sq metres of private bungalow, just to experience the happiness of ownership for the last time in his life? Or perhaps withdraw all his money and bury himself in the thick pile of cold, hard cash that he has accumulated so painstakingly over the years of hard work?

Though it doesn't make sense to me, I'd bet there are people who WOULD do just that.

But i know i will definitely not be one of them. When all things come to an end, all i want to hold on to are my experiences, my memories of those whom i love, people whom i care about. The company and thoughts of my family and my dearest friends will be what I crave to accompany me through the passing of my life on this Earth. Besides them, nothing else matters at the end.

I believe many (if not most) people share this sentiment. Even in movies (e.g. Deep Impact, The Day after Tomorrow, etc..) , we see that when faced with impending death, everyone rushes to call/contact/find their loved ones to spend their last hours with.

Which brings to mind this :

Aren't we all moving towards this end, every minute, every hour that we spend on this Earth? With every breath we take, we are moving one step closer towards the inevitable.

And we ALL know that. though we try our very best NOT to think about it. Nobody likes thinking about something as morbid as death and The End. It's a fear of the unknown. Something which i can totally understand, since i too am not immune to this fear.

But what I cannot fathom is - if we already know that the day WILL come (it's only a matter of WHEN), why then do many people still take their loved ones for granted? Little things that we can do for them, that we can say to them, we'd prefer to 'postpone' it, thinking there'll always be tomorrow. Simple gestures of friendship, like picking up the phone to call up a friend and find out how he/she has been or just to arrange to meet up for a meal or a drink, are considered too le-che and hence passed over.

What if there's no more tomorrow to do all that? Won't we then regret NOT doing all these while we had the luxury of time on our side?

And even when there's still tomorrow, will showing love and concern for the people we care about cost us anything today?

I do not know WHEN my end will come, but i do know that i am going to tell my wife i how much i love her today, and every day that i can. And I shall also make it a personal commitment not to take my family and my friends for granted.

Then, should tomorrow never come, i shall have no regrets.

Welcome with open arms?

Our dear gahmen (now its official. they've actually used this term to call themselves the "gahmen bloggers" ) has recently gone on a fierce campaign of sorts, to try to convince S'pore citizens that we should all welcome foreign talents with open arms.

We must make them feel at home, so that they will want to make this place their home, and hopefully, they will stay and hopefully apply for the 'coveted' pink IC, and hopefully they will have babies, and hopefully, those male babies will grow up to serve NS..etc.

Frankly speaking, i don't really give a heck about these 'high-level' gahmen policies.. since i'm only an insignificant local non-talent, amongst millions of other like me. :P That's because to date, my life has probably not been affected too much by these foreigners.

Well, maybe that's not true.

Maybe the reason why i didnt get that great job offer is because a candidate from China or India, came for the same job interview, with similar credentials and experience, but... *drumroll* asked for half my salary expectataion!
Darn! how do you compete with somebody who's willing to do your job at half pay??? And if the tables were turned, and I'm the EMPLOYER, i too would readily employ the 'foreign talent'. Reasons:

1) i can now employ TWO workers for the same amount of outlay
2) This employee(s) doesnt need to spend a few weeks every year, going MIA for work, simply because he cant afford to MIA for MINDEF.
3) Or, if the employee is a female, I don't have to worry about paying her a THREE month maternity paid-leave
4) Hey, can i save on his/her CPF too?

Ok.. this is just laymen like me thinking...

Perhaps the truth is not so plain and simple. There could be layers of restrictions and red-tape and what-have-yous, to prevent the companies from hiring all foreigners. But hey, i sure don't know what they are!

And if an educated, graduate and (i would like to think) intelligent CITIZEN like me doesnt know, i can bet many other S'poreans wouldnt be any better off either. To most, i am sure the concerns and considerations are similar to mine own:

As long as these folks (foreigners) don't impact me too greatly in my personal life and space, i willingly to TRY to be a gracious 'host' here. But if i feel that they are threatening my rice-bowl, or enjoying what i am enjoying WITHOUT paying their dues (ie. National Service), then i WILL certainly make a fuss out of it.

Not that it would matter, since the gahmen has never been known to listen anyway ya? Just see what happened the all these increases in tranports costs, and the casino, and you get an idea. Yes - let's hear your concerns, ideas, thoughts.. but end of the day, it OUR (ie. gahmen) decision, and we do what we like.

Hey, afterall, no foreign talents (no matter HOW entrepreneurial or creative) are gonna take over the ministers' job ya?

The face of reality

This thought has recently came to my mind -

Why the heck do people want to blog?

Now, there were a couple of reasons that came to mind.

1) The need to vent our frustrations, our feelings, or just some idle thoughts that won't go away.. Basically, it's another form of self expression.

2) Some of us like to talk cock. So, in the absence of friends whom we can talk cock to/with, we resorted to the seemingly next best thing - we write cock. In other words - BORED (and very idle)

3) To share information with others (namely, the world-wide-web of netizens, or anyone who is connected to an internet). e.g. some blogs specialise in certain topics, and acts as a sort of focus-group forum

4) To assume an alter-ego. Or, to put it plainly, a net-personality. To be that someone whom we aspire/hope to be, but due to certain reasons or circumstances, we fail to become in the 'real' life. e.g. some people are just naturally better writers than speakers. They don't convey their feelings across very well when it comes to face-to-face interactions, but when you put them behind a desk, with pen & paper (nowadays replaced by a keyboard and monitor), they suddenly transform into Mr/Ms. Personality-of-the-Year.

5) .... can't think of it at the moment.

Anyway, reason why i'm thinking about this topic is simple. Someone just asked me why i blog. I was stumped for a short while, then i gave the most obvious (to me) reason that came to my mind - it feels good doing it! But go one step deeper, and asked WHY does it feel good, I could only think of Reason (2) . (see above)

Actually, if you think about it, an internet Forum roughly serve the same purposes right? You can start a thread about any topic under the sun, and get your friends and virtual buddies to jump in and contribute. It also acts as an arena for self-expression and there's more interaction between the forumers.

To which, some people woud say,
Yeah, but the blog is more personal. It's an online diary, of sorts...

Yes well, blogging does give you more virtual "space" to spout your nonsense. It's like you are the Dungeon Master of your own user-defined D&D game. You set the rules, you lay out the boundaries, and you are in-charge of what goes in and what comes out (e.g. if you don't want comments, you can suppress them or moderate them).

But the part about it being a "diary"... i have to disagree. It is -not- a diary. IMHO, a diary is something really personal. It is somewhere you can pour your innermost feelings and unsuppressed thoughts onto a medium (may or may not be paper nowadays, of course). It would contain things that you would NOT expect others to know about, to read about, to learn about. You darkest secrets, your desires, lust, hatred, love - can all be laid bare onto your personal diary. But can it be done on your blog?

At best, the blog is just another 'face' which you want the public (including your closest friends and family) to see. It may reveal some aspects of your life, and allow a glimpse into the blogger's personality. But only a true idiot would lay out all his cards on a blog. That, at best, might lead to extreme embarrassment and social issues with his circle of friends/colleagues. At worst, it could land him in jail.

Boys - Men - Husbands - Fathers

Went to Rachel's birthday celebration at Aranda club (Downtown East) last Saturday. To be frank, it is my first time going to Downtown East (yes, rather 山龟, i know). But then, for someone staying in the west area, to go all the way to Pasir Ris, there's just too much inertia sometimes... Unless there's a good reason to. You know.. our so-called themeparks here in Singapore are not exactly what you'd normally see in other countries' touristy areas.

Anyway, Wolf, as always, was the 'bo-chap' dad, and it was pretty obvious that HL was the busier of the two parents, rushing to buy not one, but two birthday cakes for Rachel. They said one (the ice-cream cake) was to pacify the kids, as it was 好看不好吃; while the other (chocolate flavored) cake was for the adults. Well, i settled for the ice-cream cake. And seriously, it didnt taste too bad what! heh.

Tpk came with Cheryl and baby Megan, who was sound asleep throughout the entire cake-eating session, despite the incredible level of ambient noise. Later, when we went to the nearby hawker centre for dinner, she barely noticed. Initially i thought it must be a wonderful baby pram they bought for her, super comfortable! But Tpk informed me that when Megan goes to sleep, very little seem to affect her. He gleefully revealed that he even went as far as to 'experiment' what could, in fact, wake Megan up - slap on the face, and spraying cold water! Cheryl threw him a disgusted and disapproving look all these while. Haha.. what a crazy dad (and a medical doctor, no less).

It was a pity Pete couldn't make it there that night, as he was busy basking in moonlight and fireworks with his fiancee, Liz. Can't blame that guy... this is probably an important 'honeymoon' period before the couple makes the big leap coming Jan next year.

Sigh.. but i kind of miss those days where a group of us old buddies can just huddle at someone's place and chiong DVD movies through the night, and talk cock till we fall asleep... Now, as most of us are either married or getting married, and some wiith young children and babies in tow, it's definitely so much more difficult to get together for any meaningful actitvity as a group. Tpk actually suggested over dinner that night, that we can go to Bangkok, just the group of us guys, and celebrate Pete's impending lost of bachelorhood! Hah! How incredibly fun that would be.

How incredibly unlikely it is too.

Self interest

I always enjoyed listening to a good sob story. And friends who know me should know I also like to hear about those 错宗复杂的男女关系. The more chaotic, the more drama, the better. Hahaha!

Here's a story I heard about.

Scenario:

Guy and gal have been dating for some time (in this case, say 4 years). Relationship has developed to the point of them having thoughts about marriage.

Ok. Change that to her having thoughts about marriage.

The guy, on the other hand, had second thoughts about the relationship, and eventually suggested a breakup. No convincing reason(s) given, except that he is "not sure" about their relationship anymore...

She is devastated and sad, of course. The "interesting" thing is that, throughout this breakup period, the guy would call her regularly (sometimes even from overseas), to ask how she is doing, and to drop 'hints' that he is not sure if he "did the right thing" (ie. initiating the breakup). Yet, not once did he offer to reconcile their relationship. In fact, the guy even revealed to the poor gal that he is going out with this other female friend, but he's still not sure, blah, blah, blah..
Throughout all these times, the gal actually (bothered to) listened patiently to him.

Fast forward several months.

The gal manages to get over the lost relationship, amidst lots of support and help from friends and colleagues. She starts to meet other guys in social events, and eventually finds this 'special' one. She is back in the dating game. :)

But then, here's the best part: the ex-BF, who's just came back to town from another business trip, calls her up (yet again), and upon finding out that she is starting to see someone, says to her this:

I thought we agreed to talk about our relationship when I get back?

********* End of Chapter **************

When i heard this story from Kuja, who obviously had her own strong, colourful opinions of the guy (ie. the ex-BF), i was rather amused.

Yeah sure, the guys sounds like a jerk who wants his cake and eat it, at the same time.

But then again, which guy wouldn't, IF they knew that they could get away with it? I think most guys are "potential" jerks, who wouldn't mind having a 后备轮胎, in case their 'forays' into greener pastures don't turn out as well as they've hoped or expected.

A Furiosa

I think Paulo Bellinati wrote an excellent original guitar quartet composition in A Furiosa. The first time I heard it was when I listened to the LAGQ's world music album (simple titled "LAGQ"). At that time, it didnt really strike me as anything more than a rather lively and pacy tune, which sounded very complicated and difficult as well.

Since the quartet received the score some time back - in 2004, we've attempted this piece on several occasions. They all ended in similar fashions - we gave up. We confirmed one thing: the piece IS really very complicated and difficult.
I guess after a few attempts, we just felt that we were not up to scratch and that we could not play the piece well enough to feel any satisfaction from it.

A sidenote: flashback to 3-4 years back, when the Canoners famously performed this song to a bemused and amused Genus audience. Personally, i have to give it to Chin Yuen and his gang of stylo-milo guitar afficianados (they were - Alex, Ling Chiat and Hansen) for even daring to attempt the song. They must have been very gung-ho, or very... *ahem* Anyway, it was a relaxed and informal occasion, so there was no harm in doing some of their trademarked inexplicably "timeless" adlib runs, I suppose. haha!

Fast forward to the present - Aug 2006.

Guitaresque today has also gone through a little 'makeover'. We've our new signing from the former Canoners - Alex, to fill up the void left by the lovely Habanera-Someday my Prince will come singer, Ms Karen Ann, who incidentally is traveling around the world with her fiance - Chin Yuen!

*yeah, Genus people and its alumni are a very closed and confused lot of individuals, and yes - we're very much like a Mediacorp mandarin serial, where every person in the story is somehow connected to every other person. *

Sigh.. sometimes i really do miss her lame jokes and 无厘头 crap. She's really a livewire and a talented writer.
She's also a very good guitarist.
By the way, you can visit her blog at http://take-the-mickey.blogspot.com/

Back to A Furiosa...

When we took out the piece and attempted it again last week during our weekly Sunday practice, it sounded much more coherent and neat! Quite a couple of those fiendishly difficult runs didn't feel so impossible now. And Owls even managed to finally get his long-winding triplet descending scale (i always refered to that as his "lizard scale" - as it somehow reminds me of a lizard sliding down a slippery wall) on time!

I can forsee that with each week of practice and work, this piece can finally attain a level of competence which we had not and dared not dream of just 1 year back.

Haha! Looks like we've all increased a level ! Way to go!

Guitaresque's upcoming performance

Guitaresque will be putting up a 45 min show at the Library@Esplanade on 16th Sept 2006. It is part of the OpenMic series of performance which features local music talents and budding amateur musicians. Our performance is from 4:45pm to 5:30pm (est).


Repertoire for the day:

1. Excerpts from the Carmen Suite - Aragonaise ; Habenera (Bizet)
2. Concerto in D Major - Intro & 3 movements (Telemann)
3. Canon in D (Pachebel)
4. Two Spanish pieces - Granada ; Capricho Catalan (Albeniz)
5. Contemporary pieces from LAGQ - Pacific Coast Highway ; Dredlock ; Along the Edge (York)
6. Chinese popular - A medley of oldies (various)

Those classical guitar freaks out there, do come and lend us your ears! :)

Regarding Frankenstein, GPMG and a yukata

hehe. had a real mind-boggling discussion at Coffee Bean last night..

Talked about Frankenstein, yukata, and best of all, an "XL in M-sized" wielding a GPMG!
(don't worry if you have no idea what the heck i'm talking about. Insider jokes :P. All i can say is - Owls and i are truly evil! muahahaha! )

Man vs Woman

Just received this from a colleague. Interesting..

Actually, i dont really agree with the chart leh. I personally feel that during the "Dating" period, the man shouldnt have any chance of 'winning' an argument against the lady. Otherwise, sure kenna "marked", and surely no-chance liao.

Engagement period, his 'chances' are also virtually zero.

But after marriage, the real "action" starts. Since the couple now know each other significantly better (compared to dating period), they would also know the soft spots. I actually think the man has got a better chance now. As they say 知己知彼,百战百胜.

Well, probably still not a 50-50 kind of chance, but nevertheless, its a more level playing field.

Random musings..

Kuja is gone these couple of days, on a company trip to Batam. Think its something like a bonding trip for their HR department. Knowing her, she'll probably come back with lots of complaints and gossips. Haha..

I'm pretty much looking forward to the Bukit Timah walk with some of my colleagues tomorrow. Think Vincent, Sarah, Julia, and maybe Geraldine are going. Some of them are bringing their little ones along, so it's gonna be like a group family outing. heh. :P The good thing is - since there're young children around ,i'm sure the pace will be slow and comfortable, even for fat and unfit me! The next good thing is probably the delicious and hot roti prata waiting for us at the 24hr coffee shop across the road.

Incidentally, tomorrow is gonna be the first Genus practice with Robert as our new coach. While he's not a guitarist, i have lots of respect for his musical achievements, and i'm quite certain that he's input to the group with be very interesting and valuable. I just hope that the attendance for the practice will not be too disappointing. Imagine he had to step into the Altos' sectionals last week, to be greeted by a single Alto 1 player (the president herself, no less!) and 2 Alto 2 players (the VP, and the CM). Quite embarassing really...
Let's hope the Committee do their calling job before tomorrow's session, so that we'll have a decent turn out. Afterall, the new 1st years are about to join us, and we certainly don't want them to come to an 'ghost town'.

Platonic relationships

* Can 2 persons of the opposite sex be so close in a relationship, that they can virtually talk and share everything with each other, and yet, are -NOT- lovers? *

This is probably one of those topics that people can debate till the end of time, and still will not come to any conclusion that is acceptable by all.

I know, the smart ones out there will quickly point out - Possible, why not? If one of them is a homosexual (or lesbian), sure they can develop purely platonic friendship.

Point taken. Bu let's leave the topic of homosexuality for another day, and focus on the majority of us, who are in fact, heterosexual (ahem.. or for some, even bisexual perhaps). And while we're at it, let's also leave out brother-sister relationship yeah?

You see, after watching episodes after episodes of the TV series - Smallville, you kind of get bombarded with the perenial theme of "Can/should we be lovers?" or "Should we keep things at status quo, and 'preserve' this valuable friendship". For those uninitiated ones, i'm talking about the Lovers-Friends dilemma faced by the series' 2 main characters - Clark Kent (aka Superman) and Lana Lang (his childhood neighbour/friend/dream lover).

These 2 characters are basically so tormented (throughout the series it seems. I'm now at Season 3, and they're still at it! Loius Lane, where are you??? ) by their constant change of heart and mind, that they end up torturing each other whenever they bump into the other person. And you know, in this kind of show, that basically means every other sequence in an episode, without exception!

* side comment: isn't it funny, TV shows' characters basically can bump into one another everywhere they go. It's like distance and time don't matter! And best of all, every character is showhow related/linked to every other character, so we can basically draw this nice looking spider-web relationship chart. Well, i guess that's sort of necessary for any show lah.. heh *

Anyway, back to reality.

It may seem a little frivolous (and sometimes even frustrating) when you watch such wishy-washy relationship development in TV shows, but it kinda got me thinking... Perhaps such dilemmas arent completely fictitious after all.

There can only be 2 views taken (or conclusions) from this debate:

1) Yes! A guy and a gal can become the closest bosom buddies (no pun intended), and yet have absolutely no sexual attraction (and hence tension) between them. Basically, a pure platonic relationship.

2) No! There' no way a guy and a gal can become so, so close, and yet no feel any inkling of liking for the other party, in the sexual department.

Of course, the degree of this "sexual attraction" can again, be arguable. But you see, once a party in the relationship starts feeling this... for lack of a better word.. "lust", it creates a new dimension to the relationship, and changes the entire equation completely.

After that, either the parties agree to become lovers, or they must eventually take a step back from their close relationship and become not-so-close friends...

No prizes for guessing where i stand on the issue. I firmly believe that between a man and a woman, there's this invisible boundary, which you shouldnt and cannot cross, unless you are ready to become lovers (and subsequently, husband and wife). Otherwise, good friends they may be, but not to the extent of being "best friends" or someone whom they can "share all" with.

Anyone disagrees? :)

As time goes by.. again

You know how people always say that time flies when you are enjoying yourself, and slows down to a drag when you are suffering?

Well, most of the time, i'd agree whole heartedly with the above statement. Except now, i think time REALLY flies (even faster) when you are going through a mundane stage of your life, where there's nothing really exciting happening, or everyday has become just another almost carbon-copy like replica of the previous day, or the same day of the previous week, etc.. you know what i mean.

I'm not sure if it's a real good illusion (by whoever "up" there), or because of our limited cerebrum capacity, but don't you just find that as we grow older, the concept of time (read: the passing of days , weeks, months, years..) seem to become more and more unclear - meaning, you wouldnt notice the passage of time, until one day, you'd suddenly sit up and declare :

"Shit! It's already been XXXX since I've YYYY ! "

Note:

XXXX and YYYY - may be substituted by any of the following :
1) "3 hours" - "stepped into office". This is typically followed by a sensation of dread, when you realise that you havent really done any real work since coming to work in the morning.

2) "3 days" - "last played guitar". Somtimes, days just whizzed by and i suddenly realised i havent touched my Kohno, and my fingers are starting to feel a little stiff and non-responsive (especially to those bloody barred chords you've to do when playing the Preludium by Bach)

3) "1 week" - "met up with my parents". I feel bad sometimes, when i have to call my parents to tell them i wont be able to meet them for dinner (weekdays), or even a simple lunch (weekends). Sometimes, there's really something going on, but other times, its really an issue of laziness. Just need sometime to rest and be alone, maybe...

4) "4 months" - "started this job". I still feel the side-effects of having to stick to a formal routine of working fixed hours in an office. This unfamiliar feeling is the result of 4.5 years of tai tai-like lifestyle of waking up in the morning, read papers till 10 plus, then meet a fren for lunch, followed by a movie/dvd session in the afternoon, and then some semblance of "work" in the evening. Yeah, i'm talking about the life of an idle, yet stress-filed (ironical isnt it?) life insurance practitioner.

5) "almost 4 years" - "been married". hmm.. coming up to 4 years since kuja and i stepped into the ROM... hey! i'm not insinuating anything here ok? Married life is great! (yeah, i know she reads this blog.. albeit occasionally )

6) "more than 8 years" - "graduated and starting this shitty working life". It scares me to think that those long years of studying (16 years, if i discount the kindergarten years), is gonna be dwarfed by the what... 30 years? of slogging in offices, just waiting for payday every month, so that you can pay off the bills and loans.. oh man...

7) "more than 15 years" - "known these crazy guys, like wolf, tpk, pete..". Man, talk about getting old man.. when we met, we were all crazy young teens talking about computer games, cute girls, horror movies and... not much else. Now? We meet to talk about PS/Xbox games, chio bu's, and banned horror movies. Err? sounds like we didnt 'evolve' much hor?

The list can go on and on..

The thing is, I just feel that my brain is retaining less and less information, and i'm actually remembering less and less things. Strangely, i can actually remember some small silly details of stupid things i did, or simply thought about, when i was still a kid. But nowadays, things and events seem to just fly pass, and not leaving as much as a faint footprint. Can't remember much of any details.

Maybe that's why time seem to be moving on a 'accelerated' pace when you're older. Your brain simply doesnt have to capacity to store all these data, which is coming in at light speed, compared to the times during our childhood (or younger days), where things move at a much slower pace, and the brain can store more details.