ERhz, life's pretty mundane nows that its E-learning week for SP ( or Slack week or Self-proclaim holiday or watever you name it...) so here i am typing the latest entry, cos there aint any good games to play out there anymore... ( nuuuu.... ) But here's my last resort to entertain myself... and thats to entertain yuuuuuu!

~~~~~~~ BLog GOGOGOGOGO~~~~~~~~

Right! Time to get things right. Audition is this thursday, nervous cos its bigger than the other competition... and the fights between hard core rockers ( ROCK ON !..! ) and those poor EMO singers... ( argh, i dun like emo, makes me feel down everytime i hear one, nice tune but sad lyrics, one way to kill me...). Thanks to Doctor Sid, the bassist, He Zeng-ed the song to a more "VertiCross" style. makes me feel better to own a song rather than playing covers...

Haha, i cant wait till i play like...
-Micheal Angelo Batio
-Yngwie Malmstien
-Steve Vai
-Stevie Ray Vaughn
-Hyde of X japan
-Angus Yung
-Paul Gilbert
-Peter Chan Kum Soon
- many more...

Argh, the world of guitar! seh man, I really want to play like them... But first things first i want to settle something thats preventing me from doing so and i really want to settle it first.

1) Finding a new YF chairman : Wonder how come we still have not settle this yet? Cant pick any Tom Dick Harry to do this, or like Hazel told me "The Youth will collapse" in a sense i cannot agree more. A chairman's job is not very pressurising and demanding, but it requires you to make proper decisions. How to make? Lead a God fearing life, in constant prayer. Its God's ministry not mans. So still praying hard for the candidate to appear

2) My diploma : I already decided that aeronautical is not my field, i am just not interest enough to advance to that stage. However, not to let my mother down, I will study hard to at least get a masters in Mechanical engineering. Maybe over seas... but see what the Lord wills.

3) Guitar skills ( like a baby learning to walk ) : Its seems that i still have a long way to go with the guitar. Very inspired by Don who is so motivated to play guitar for worship. His talented i guess. I know i am not really. But I picked up a line in Naruto and thats " I am a genius of hard work ". Someone once told me that i am a fighter, i fight hard with watever little skills i have. I really wish to agree. How ever i really lack motivation.

Apparently, being single is really getting to me. Me being single child, most of the time alone by myself, wanting companionship. its draining to see couples happy together. I mean, really happy. they dun often get into fights... and they always do things together... I see that in Justin's relationship sometimes... although he is a little abusive of authority. The secret? Submission and understanding from the GF.

Haha... Submissive GFs... ironically, although guys always display higher authority and girls always want the guys in charge, you just cant seem to find a girl who is understanding enough to let the guy lead the way... Couples beware if your relationships are one sided.

Here's a check list based on my experience to break ups.:

1) You are always giving in : Its true that if you want a balanced relationships, sometimes you gotta learn how to say no. If you are tired, and she wants you to send her home, just explain the situation and head straight home.

2) You tend to lie to your GF: I tell you, girls got 6th sense. They can easily tell ( not all the times though ) whether you made a detour to a friends outing or a LAN outing when you said you are not free to meet her... Rather then avoiding some guilt trip or nagging from her (which you are not suppose to have), just throw the truth in front of her, and watch how she react.

3) You take constant advantage of the girl : If you engage in anything not good. like watever, abuse her or often scold her, prepare to lose her man.

4) You often do not have time : I should say that this is the no.1 killer of relationships. They take time to grow. Chasing Girls once, you know you will invest all the time in the world just to get her ( all you money as well... sobs...).Then when things settle down, you find out that there's more to be down, the world does not revolve around just the two of you, then you get involved in other things. then you do not have time for her. Slowly, she will fade away from your heart.

5) You tend to flirt easily : Not that i am a flirt, but when my self esteem was built up, i realised my wanting to look good. And when flaunting watever assets you have eg. good looks, good voice, big muscles... etc etc... It can be quite tempting to flirt, to show off to girls whos boss. There will always be girls who are prettier than your girlfriends out there, and sometimes you being friendly to them is really not helping...

6) Your eyes wander easily : Like I said you know that there girls prettier out there. I know why you tend to have this problem even though your relationship maybe settled and thats because you chased your current girlfriends with good look factors. Its may be so for some of you, so my only solution is to accept her and appreciate how she is.

7) You complain about your GF more than you praise her : Not saying that you say things with no base, just that you got nothing nice to say about her thats all. And why? maybe you should analyse why, sometimes a breakup may be the only solution for this.

8) You cannot let her go : I think sometimes you just dun see the right reason to break up. When the time comes for it, pray and then let go. Its not the end, and people wont say things about you. Rather people talk bad about me than i have a sour relationship.

So there you have it, some of my indicators to breakups. I mean, not that i often experience them, its just that i dun want to see others going through what i did.

And if you. Yes you, try to see that i am not trying to exploit you in anyway.

I really want to be single, now my substitute is the guitar. Till i find one who is willing to love me for who i am, i will not enter one.

There still are other stuff that the YF needs to do, and i will update further next time.

Your truely, whos mouth has unlimited ammunition, the rare christian IVan signing out.


~~~~SINGING (YEEEEEAHHH) OUT!~~~~~~~~~~~

WOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHOOOOOOO!!!! KAY KAY KAY! Time for .....


~~~~~~BLogogogogogogo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Time to keep the intros short... and the content more satisfying... (to my own standards) Kinda realise i have a urge to satisfy everybody needs, whether stupidly or out of the way... Must be a gift ( could be seen as a curse at times ) anyway...

Shocker! in School! In Singapore Polytechnic, In mY Class! FUU!

Its the new and improved Ivan! He Does not wake up late anymore, does his homework, pay attentions in class, and looks more ah beng than ever ( sobx... :( )

His latest systems updates will be :

- Money Management
- Time Management
- Realistic Goal Settings
- Reading God's Word consistently
- Keeping Mouth shut to prevent saying stupid stuff
- Trying to wear contacts ( for performance sake )
- and many more

SOOOOOOOOO! WHILE STOCKS LAST!!!! THE FINAL PIECE LEFT FYI!
So Girls! grab him while he is still HOT, no point waiting to get him when his cheaper, cos his value is growing exponentially! HAHAHAHA

But you came back to my dreams... I keep seeing you and i realised that i desire for you, but my sinfulness will be my motivation to respect you as a good friend, whom i care for. I dare not be with you for i still cannot conquer my body... forgive me.

Anyway, promised i will update on my guitar regimes ( want some competition by year 2008) :

Nov 2006 - Jan 2007 ------------ Scales mastery and application
Alternate picking
more and more songs!!!!!

So ya, you wanna compete! Come along and let me know, I will gladly give you the materials and learn with you... ( actually just want to jam whenever ... play alone quite boring at times.... haha )

So not to boast or anything... I remember i made 2 promises and i plan to keep them

- To Edwin : To remove that dying christmas tree from the church and replace it with a fountain in 9 years time.

- To Joshua : To play the guitar for Hillsongs and City Harvest Church.

Dun plan to disappoint them... Anyway, starting to make up my mind about not pursueing aeronautical, but general mechanics for future studies, then i will pursue music all the way with a masters in engineering (any one...) So planning to keep my day job then pursue stardom for the Lord!

Applied for electric guitar course, and hope to see Kum Soon soon... ( no pun intended :)) He seemed quite excited when i was talking to him about it... Argh, I also so excited... And not to mention i am going to pick up piano to furnish my music creativity and theory! FUUUU! master musician in the house...

ARGH SO EXCITING!!!!!! CANT wait to play till i bleed! sweat or vomit! i just want more time for myself to practice my guitar!!!!!!! ARGH! i never really have the luxury... I want a new GUITAR!!!!! daryl told me about gibson SG... AND NOW I AM OBSESSED! STUPID AMERICAN GUITAR GOT ME HYPNOTISED!!!!! ARGH!

anyway, since i am learning to save money now, i plan to get the prized guitar in 1 year time, plus that ps3 next... but if i win some band competition or something like that lah... GO VERTICROSS! play your best!

Seems like they want to go heavy jap rock, like Alicenine... so unedifying, yet so addictive to the ears...

Ok better stay true to my words! better sleep now! NIGHTO!

~~~~~~~~~OUTOUTOUTOUTOUTOUTOUTOUTOUTOUT(COUGH)OUTOUTOUT~~~~~~~~~~

ERHZ!!!!!!! SUP MY lovely PEEPS! wa ha ha ha. I miss typing for this blog of mine, gotta keep up the habit, or all my lovely would not get written down! FUUU! alright, lets get this "party" startin'!!!!!!!!!!


~~~~~~~~~~~~BlogGoGoGOGOG0G0~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Alright, as you all know, i want to be proficient in my guitar, so from now on i will be adding my guitar training regime! Some of you may wonder, "why is he such a idiot, let everybody know what is he doing..." Let me tell you, I want everybody to be good in guitar, Its good for everybody and for me, so i have a lot of rivals to compete with! Exciting man!

I am so happy when i see Don, Chris, FengNan... all becoming better at the guitar! I mean, its like seeing your children growing up... so proud to be their teacher... But Ah hah, this is where i will grow stronger as well, my theory will improve when i teach others, and because i dun wanna lose out i will learn more songs and train harder as well, not to mention i will learn more songs as they request me to teach them songs! So guys continue to Pump me with questions KAY! mwa hahahhahhaa.

Future Pro worship guitarist in the house... Actually Kum Soon is such a influence, my teacher i mean, I mean he is not cool or anything, He will let his guitar do the talking, instead of we yapping away about how good we are, Kum soon let his guitar speak for itself! I can just imagine him, ripping away with spanish licks and rolls...

Ya My dream is to help out in my church as a proficient guitarist to train future youth guitarist to play and lead worship, I also want to establish the church as a Song producing church, kinda like City Harvest Church. I mean we got so many talents lah, look at Norman and Jasper, and not to mention all the guys and gals who are picking up instruments, there shall be equality, nobody guitar better than the other, so no one can boast.

However, I want to gain credibility, thats why i joined VertiCross, I will go all the way for them! As guitarist, i learn many techniques through the many songs that we play, Yahoo! music paradise, not to mention, its getting more and more fun with the song list piling up!

Ahaha, you think i let this take over God? No, the further i go, the more i depend on his strength to sustain me, and his will for me for i know its perfect. I will expand his Kingdom through music! And i want everybody to join in the journey! LEts start a crusade, rocking away for the Lord!

VertiCross is entering another SP band competition, Band Edge, YES ITS ANOTHER COMPETITION!!!! audition is this friday, so gotta chiong. Anyway, you guys probably wondering about how the finals went.

~~~~~~FLASH BACK!~~~~~~~~~~


The Finals began, and Kurage(the band name then) was fidgeting as Harlequin was finishing their song "Sweetness". We began setting up behind the closed curtains, and could hear the crowd (which sounds pretty hard to please) echoing away. We set up based on the rehearsals we had earlier, praying for the equipment to go well... Then Mike (male emcee) called Rita for a short interview about our group and song choice, The reaction from the crowd when they heard a japanese name was nerve wrecking... Soon the curtains rolled... Song began...

Weird thing is that you cant see the crowd as the turn off the lights on them to focus on us, Worse is that i cannot really see my guitar as well, i began playing by fill and ear... The guys seems quite nervous, although they were cooly playing away... Cameras from the school photography club flashing away, was distracting, and makes you wanna act more cool cos you dun wanna look like a idiot out there, very pressurizing cos if you dun act cool and give something for the people to admire, the crowd will be disappointed, So i know all those entertainers why they have to act cool.

We tried out best but i guess our nervousness got the better of us, we did not played as well as we practiced... As we though we won fourth place, out of the four finalist... Means last. But i was not disappointed, I was excited, cos i know there is a long way to go! means theres alot more to experience!

Haha we won a miserable $50 ... prob to cover future jamming cost... I was happy that we even won something for the not so good effort given.

Anyway, story might be too long for you guys, Kudos for reading all the way.. And guys, as much as my appearance change, i am still the same.

The rare christian ivan Signing out

~~~~~FUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!~~~~~~~~~~

Welcome back my dedicated lovely readers (enough suck up yet?, nvm >.< ) Anyway, sorry band kurage if i have offended you in anyway yesterday in my blog, its just that its very pressurising to play something you not used to...

~~~~~~~BLoG GO go GO~~~~~~~``

Alright!, heard that Band-X is a gig, not a competition, so not much of a pressure there, playing the song Summer Days from the band Do As Infinity, such a pity that they disbanded already... just when i am appreciating their songs... But hey lots of other Jpop and rock band to listen to. So gonna rock every Jrock song that we like, already having like 2 others songs in queue after the whole thing, "Kimi to iu Hana" and "Rewrite" from Akanji, or Asian Kungfu Generation.! Cool!

Got my self a 3day per lesson plan to improve my guitar skills, and going to learn piano starting december! FUUUUU! music paradise!

So guys, Stay dedicated to the things that you like to do! You may never know, something worth chasing may just be out there, of course, as long as its not against God's will! haha, SEe you guys!

~~~~~~~~~~Signning OUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!~~~~~~~~

Gyah! Welcome back for another wacky day with the rare christian ivan! WOOHOO! OKay ay ay, lets get this party movin' ! Ready! set! ACTIIIIOOOONNNN!!!!

~~~~~~~~BLOG GO GO GO GO~~~~~~~~~

Today i bring to you the first hand experience of Hagane Kurage's audition for the band competition. Its in narrative, so bear with me k? here we GOOOOOOOO!!!! FUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




28 sept 2006, Its around 5.20 pm, I called the bassist, Siddik, who said that he and Justin, the drummer, and Bobby, the lead guitarist, was waiting in the nearest foodcourt which is FC 4, haha, and boy when we met, we could not say a single thing cause we were so nervous man... It did not help when Rita brought her friends along... As the lead singer, she should be more nervous than the rest but here she was, smiling brightly...

After a little touch up from Bobby, also our hair-stylist, We headed to the audition room. Got a little lost but eventually found it in the middle of a dark alley. Haha, a dark alley in Singapore Poly... Scary ar... Anyway, I went in and first person i noticed already there, was Daryl, sitting on the pianist seat. Daryl, lead guitarist and back up vocals of St Patricks birthed band, TealFault, which reached the finals of a local band competition called "School of Rock". He's one of the reasons why i picked up the electric guitar, and he being my classmate constantly influence me as well... Well, now we are rivals. This time he is not playing the guitar, he got the percussions for his band.

Hagane Kurage sat at the corner of the audition room, I picked a comfortable spot near the audition platform with the guys, and began observing my competition. Many of them i knew, Some from another band whom i am playing the bass, and my classmates whom daryl is in the band, and from the buddy classes... Before the actual thing began the competition seemed to be already heating up... However, I prayed a slight prayer under my breath "God, clam my nervous heart, give me strength, and grant me love so i would not treat these people with biasness and selfishness."

As soon as i opened my eyes, Siddik came back with the results of our performance queue, which is the second one... ARGH! at first i thought it would be better to go last, but haha anything lah orh? >.< We sat back down and began checking our equipment, and the first band began setting up. They looked quite amatuerish, but who am i to judge? We are worse... 5 minutes passed they began playing. They played some song from this band, named the vines... One of those punk hard rock... not bad, but then Siddik began telling me how lousy they are... I mean come on, i though they were good...

Finally its our turn... I began setting up the equipment, Siddik gave one suggestion that the bass will help to set the tempo, then the drummer give the cue, then i start the song as usual. Sounded good, so i said ok. setting up infront of everybody is nerve wrecking... All those eyes, observing how you set up, already having some first impression on how "pro" you are... man... I was already shaking and palm sweating... argh! After some minor complications, finally we are ready to rock and roll.

Siddik began the timing when i nodded my head to show that i was ready, however the drum cue was a shocker cos it came in so sudden. Yikes! First second of the the song and we showed how nervous we were... I could not look up... I began to play.... Palm mute strumming... it went quite well. Then Rita sang, it sounded a little off pitch... ARGH!! and the lead guitarist part was although slightly softer than mine, the clariness of his sound drowned my muffled overdrive rhythms... yikes i began to panicked a little, but soon it was ok... A minute passed... The intro and first verse went quite well, very rockish. Then suddenly in one of the drum fills, we heard empty rolls, argh! Bobby and I turned back and saw to our horror, Justin struggling with one collapse floor tom and crash cymbals! ARGH!!! How bad can it turn out!? wat the!!!!! but we continued. Its our responsibility to rock out the rest of the song with one of our comrades down. I began to increase strumming difficulty to make up for the lost sounds, and began string scratching whenever i see an opportunity to increase funkiness. Bobby began to play better as well, it seemed that we got our cool together and we rocked till we dropped... ....


An hour passed, the auditions came to the end, only Siddik and me remained to see the other bands, and boy were some of them good. We came to the conclusion that we would not make it to the finals, i was upset at first but then it came to me, whether we get in or not, we accomplished something. I was happy and told this to Sid. Both of us brightened went back day looking forward for the nest opportunity to shine as a J rock band...

News got to Sid that my friend, Daryl's band, got into the finals, I mean i was not suprised, the lead singer was good, clear and can pull of some nice pitch, I went to leak the news when i saw them in class and congratulated them. In my heart i was dampened to see their happy replies. But then i was not despaired, when they asked me whether we got in, i told them it does not matter, we will try our best the next year... i knew i have to improve myself...


Today, 2 october, Got news from Siddik, WE ARE IN THE FINALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WAHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot believe my ears at first! ARGH!!!!! so overjoyed till it hurts! wahahahahaha! man...

So this is my experience! Thanks for reading, remember that i said i want to become a pastor? I really do hope that one day i can be one... I mean fuse what i am doing now and my dream? I WILL BECOME A ROCKING PASTOR !!!!!!!!!!! FUUUUUUUUU!


wahaha, okok, gonna rock my joy with DOTA! NIGHT!


~~~~~~~~~~~IVAN OUT TO TO TO TO!~~~~~~~~~~