20260915 Hyping up your Balls

  In some cases, there are situations which forces you to make decisions you'd never have the guts to carry it through. It's going to be a very bad day if you're not prepared for the consequences...

 

 Hi, my name is Chow and I am going to use a few minutes to explain some things.

 Throughout our lives, we do face some unacceptable instances which creates stress, conflict, unpleasantness, and more importantly, stress. And, while we're at it, more stress. It would sometimes forces that person to be incapable of rejecting insane logic or even, doing some sane decision making. I would not argue whether stress is good or bad since the results are individually dependent.

 But, there are signs which that person unknowingly projects. Signs that are so obvious to the surrounding, you'd want to go up and ask, "Hey Buddy, what is wrong?" and "Do you want another slap in the face?". Hopefully, this would help them snap back into their dreary, boring and stressful Life. Or, they would just decide to go through with whatever options that was last on their minds. But trust me, eating a burger would be the last thing anyone would think of.

 Unless you have been on a hunger strike in front of a Burger Stall, which no one cares nor would they want to care.

 So, I have an example today and this person has been on the downhill slide of Life since he got married recently, like last year. Or, was it the year before? Anyway, without ever speaking a word or even vocalising it, his behaviour showed. We had so many instances of him slacking that it's no point writing it down since it would take pages. So, it's not my problem.

His Team mates were complaining. Not my problem. 

His Customers are complanig. Not my problem.

Eventually, Management took notice. Not my problem.

 It had gotten so and that more things went downhill because as things escalates as they wont to do, everyone took notice. And so, it is still, not my problem.

When you're at your wit's end, your Balls would have enlarged and doing this is not an issue anymore since you felt that you have nothing to lose. Unless you fucked up the Interview...

 

 So, we come to this breaking point, where the person felt cornered and unable to make any move to escape. And he is desperate and so, he needs to make a move or decision. Either one would suffice because this would, in his mind, convince him that he is doing something to stave off the crushing madness. Yes, it is all in his mind and to do what he did, everyone considered him to be the Hero with balls to make that statement. Yahoo! Go, him!

 But in actual reality, it is like buying expensive stuff and making commitments first because you bought a Lottery ticket that tells you the First Prize was in the Millions. Boy, imagine his Face when the results was not what he expected.

The Sad Reality

  So, what happens after you have announced your anti-stress breakthrough solution and the confetti are still in the box? Yeah, Life as you know it, would be in your Face, waiting to perform plastic surgery with a baseball bat.

 And in real life, that person would need to be isolated since the chances of work sabotage can be potentially high. This is also the instance where he or she will be under the Management spotlight, which, as expected, plies on more stress on top of the embarrassment should they need to crawl back to the Office. In the end, what stayed would be a dry husk of a former person which, by all definition, a useless employee...

20260905 The Obvious Child & Reebok


 The Percussions which got me started

 When I was in the UK in the early 90's there was one Ad which got me hooked due to the drum beats. It was a Reebok Ad where every step or hit synchronised with the beats. Not only did the imaginative visuals centred on the white line, it had a lot of meaning to it (which I was quite oblivious). And so, began my search for that song, naively thinking it could be a CD single or some movie soundtrack...

 

Cue Paul Simon

 So, the next closest thing I could get my hands on was Paul Simon's The Obvious Child, the song which was also used in a 2014 Movie of the same name. I played the single over and over again in my BengMobile I most of the time (until it got replaced with some other songs) because it had a Sony sub-woofer. 


 I was very hooked on the background percussions and not so much on his voice. So, as usual, I will spend some time looking into the Instrumental version (not Karaoke) and maybe, even the Samba-raggae  Grupo Cultural Olodum.

 

 

 

20260901 The anger of being Angry

 Where did it come from?

 I don't think it was because while I was settling for Dinner, we all realised no one (me) was picking up my Kid's end of shift at 1930.

 I don't think it was because of some nut made an illegal U-turn in front of me and I forgot to horn him.

 But it might have been as well. Because I can feel that anger simmering when I got back. And due to the way I drove. With my Wife gone now, my Mind was quite flustered.


The Trigger

 As soon as I plopped my Wallet on the boxes, the Bluetooth earplug set fell off and rattled on the floor.

 Thinking its a non-issue, I reached to pick it up. But its rounded shaped eluded my fingers

 I bent down again and picked it up. Yet is slipped away.

 By the third time, I was already annoyed. So I grabbed the fucking thing. And it slipped away again.

 Last straw. Picked up the fucking piece of shit after I leaned way down. Crushing grabbed the shit and it won't budge. Only thing on my mind was this is a shit earpiece as the sound was all muffled.

 Smashed it on the floor and it broke to pieces. 

 Temper went down very fast after that.

 

The Aftermath


 Saw the pieces all over the hard tiles. Don't give a fucking shit.

 Anyone stepped on the debris? Don't care.

 Phone went silent, realized its Bluetooth was connected to that fucking pink shit. Un-paired the fuck out of it.

The fcking battery is small and everything was snap-fit together.

 

20260831 Mike Oldfield's The Bell MC'ed by Viv Stanshall

For the past few weeks, I was quite a happy camper having converted both my Mike Oldfied's Tubular Bells II CD and the YouTube's 1992 Concert in Edinburgh into FLAC format. Both versions were such melodious delight. The latter, being a Live session, had more noticeable instruments than on the CD.

 

Is that all, Sir? 

 I know that in this World, nothing is perfect and the pursuit of such can be maddeningly challenging. In the CD Album, the MC for The Bell was the late Alan Rickman (aka A Strolling Player). I found out there were others, and surprised that Billy Connolly had the privilege too. Then came Vivian Stanshall.

 Compared to Mr. Rickman, Mr. Stanshall's voice was warmer, almost playful, like that smiling and warm Uncle who greeted you at the Door. And yeah, for a short moment, I was obsessed with it. The first YouTube video was from presumably, a VHS source as this was done very long ago and sadly, Mr. Stanshall had passed away in 5th March, 1995.

 

 This was the first version which got me into searching for a much clearer recording.

 


Which eventually led me to this version. It was the same as on the CD but with his voice as the MC.