The June Playlist:

GOROD – Process of a New Decline, Willowtip Records, 2009.
(French technical death metal band at its best. The songs were nothing but technical, precisely speedy but pleasantly melodic, cleverly groovy and impressively jazzy at times. Eleven tracks of pure fucking intoxicating holocaust. The vocals were kind of weak and a bit mood spoiling though. This is the third and their latest album and I am still wrecking my stereo, in full blast, with it)

KATAKLYSM – Prevail, Nuclear Blast Records, 2008.
(Canadian Death Metal. The complete fucking package. Brutal as fuck, eccentrically melodic and extremely heavy. 10 heavy and headbangable tracks. This is how death metal should sound like, junior.)

Back to my guitar practice!

Me and My Kapok Guitar Part 2:

It is already 1.00 am in the morning. I am quite still and very much wide awake. Drowsy? yeah, sure, some yawnings here and there, but still pretty much awake. And I need to drive to Shah Alam in the morning. I should have been asleep by now. But I can’t. Why? Because I am very much excited with all these cool chords I have just learned. I am currently practicing Em7, A7, Dmaj7, Gmaj7, C#m7b5, F#7, Bm, Cmaj7, Dm7, G7 and what not. Quite impressive for a beginner who knew only four chords two freaking weeks ago huh? Hell, I do not even know how to pronounce C#m7b5 correctly. Was it C sharp Minor 7 flat 5? Hahaha are you impressed Nina? I am very fond of all these chords with all these seventh in it. It sounded so beautiful and soothing. Learned some basic Blues progression too. Told you, its hard to focus when the computers on.

Hocus Focus:

I really really need to focus and with the computer still turned on, I find getting myself to focus on the thing I should be doing, a very thorny commitment and a difficult thing to do. It is hard to focus when your mind is always on blogs, myspaces and wikipedias. There are always new things to read on blogs, new bands worth checking on myspace and new information needs reading in Wiki.

Turning off the internet right fucking now!

Money, Brokers and Stock Exchange:

I have been busting my ass all day long studying the basics of investment through Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange’s website and some very helpful sites and forums on the internet. It’s a strenuous commitment but I had to do it. But the best way will always be by letting myself sink into the game, open up an account and let the dealers or remisiers (those who buy and sell shares on your behalf) do the job while I get hold of, first hand view of the procedures, actions and dealings. In the mean time I would give them curious calls asking about this and that, everything that I wanted to know about share and stock trading, just to make myself more clear and familiar with what I needed to know about the whole hullabaloo. I need to equip myself with sufficient basic and fundamental information about investments and stock exchanges, especially in Malaysia, and get myself proverbial with the terminologies, jargons and abbreviations so that I would not make myself look like a fool later.

Back to the downloaded notes I go.

Me and My Kapok Guitar:

Just bought my self a new Kapok guitar earlier this month and it costs me RM 90. I was kind of distraught with the price though. I thought Kapok guitars should have been dirt-cheap by now. Dirt-cheap my buttock lah. Anyways, I have also been extensively coaching myself how to play the damn thing by watching numerous Youtube clips and reading tips from the masters from all over the Internet. I got my first Kapok guitar when I was still a undersized little teenager back in the 90’s. Being from a religious and conservative background, my grandparents were not very keen with my new interest. Although I never really knew how to play, I still need to acknowledge and give myself a standing ovation for the fact that I have already been devising my own Power Chords formula due to the lack of the ability to play the proper chords. What an achievement for a little Kampong bugger. I never knew what power chords were until later on in life.

A friend gave me my second Kapok guitar back when I was still in the University. Well, he did not really bestow it to my altar as a present, but I would really like to think that it was a gift nonetheless. I was told that the guitar originally belongs to an Indonesian construction worker who was renovating his house, who often used it to entertain him self after a long day of hard work. One fine day the Indonesian dude gave the guitar to my friend as a token of friendship and my friend gave it to me, as I wanted to borrow it. The legend has it that the guitar became my private property ever since.

My third guitar was bought when I first felt the urge to accept as true that you do not need to know the proper chords to play the guitar, you can always create your own. That was how Kurt Cobain did it. So I bought my self my third Kapok guitar, so that I can come up with my own chords and jam with my friends just like Mr. Kurt. It did not work out too well though because I still had to figure out how to properly place the fingers to get the right sound out. I felt cheated by Kurt Cobain therefore I gave the guitar to my cousin. I also threw in a how to play book so that he could carry on living my dream and one day could teach him self how to play the guitar. No until later that I found out that the book was not really mine but belongs to a friend. I had to move out from the area and live in seclusion for a couple of years.

Thus this is the fourth attempt to teach myself how to play the guitar and I have to say that I am doing quite well. My original compositions are now more organic and varied. Just imagine if I knew more chord progressions rather then just rotating the same old chords over and over again. The fourth one is always a charmer right?