Christmas & other things

Blessed Christmas!

Woke up to the sad news of the demise of George Michael.
But nevertheless, it certainly has been a good stretch of days over this festive weekend. After fretting over (just a little bit,really) the food prep (maybe 15%) and the guitar playing (okay, tbh close to 51%) on Saturday, praise be to God for the guiding hand and lifting of spirit. I suppose it was a splendid night, and as it was apparent with most of the food being polished off their plates.

Saturday started with rendering the video for the night; and raced off to hunt for some disposable plates (Mom can't seem to find the party-wares somehow) but we found sets of nifty looking plastic wares at the 2 Ringgit store. With just over afternoon, I decided to send the car to wash, fueled up and also a much-belated haircut, although not in that particular order. Got home with enough time for a good shower before starting my prep. Pretty good our workflow that day; I finished my 2 dishes and Mom was practically finished by the time Harry and I left bout 6ish; picking up the 2 brothers a coupla streets away.
Must've been eons since I last wore a necktie, proper knot and all. Reached TBC with a solid hour to spare; which was a timely thing for me to have my last rehearsal and regaining some confidence I might say.
I suppose I did okay, a few instances of wrong chords were struck and coupled with a few louder bangs of those that I could play decently. As the night wore on, confidence grew of course, and I didn't have to refer back to my 'notes' (or even write on my arm as I half-planned to)
By the 4th house it was already 10pm; (and way past Dad's bedtime) and we braved the night's light drizzle of rain while I placed the call to Mom to get her big-sized helper to plate the dishes etc.

All in all the guests gleaned off the food, and surprisingly the salad was the first to go 86 and we cleaned up by midnight and slept like a log.
Funny thing is, my Christmas 2016 video (that costs 2GB of my limited space these days) didn't get used to its' potential, oh well. :D

Woke up early and went to TBC for service, which doubles as a baptismal, which is also Harry's big day!

I suppose I was pretty exhausted, and with DiGi's coverage being a pain during every festivities, it certainly didn't help with my finishing up my greeting e-cards, (and its subsequent Christmas wishes on social media) I kinda spent the rest of my Christmas with the cat and reading this week's cat comics and er, some Futurama (to clear some disk space; since I have duplicates lying about)
Some of my eventual e-cards that I made, and oh yeah, the recipe!

Thanks DiGi, I'll make my amendments

le Originale

ok, this is 98% Canva

The other one for the other account

The Guitar Story

My,..I certainly have quite a huge task this month.
I agreed to help Pastor C out for this year's Christmas Caroling, since as you might need jogging your memory; Taiping Baptist Church are practically always shorthanded somehow with their almost non-existent of youths. And since I've been helping him out these few months on our fortnightly visits to the Old Folks Homes as backing guitar (and in which became main guitar) I did a Ezra Miller-esque Barry Allen and said "YES" when he asked 3 weeks ago. (oh, of course, not as eager-beaver like in that Justice League trailer)

Went for the first formal practice last Sunday, got the playlist and yeah of course with my recent round of guitar-ing activity, I find myself in increasing difficulty setting to just remember any chord transitions; I do somehow am afraid my memory ain't as good with me being over the hill age-wise; but this nasty short-term memory ain't processing as fast as they used to eh? I might deduce the fact that we somehow just might be conditioned in such as we are too easily absorbed into quick links and our attention span waned thanks to other technologies aka distractions, don't you think?
Anyhow, last Sunday went by pretty OK, and I was pretty upbeat that I can pull it off seemingly how hard could caroling be? encouraging myself; and even Harry asked me have I caroled before (he was with us as he'd stayed on after service for his baptismal class, yay) when I was a wee lad; in which I could be certain I never did play the guitar on caroling, but hazily I do remember doing it somehow or perhaps twice practically a figment of memory with no real comprehension on the when (teen years in Taiping or was it young adult with FGT)
..of course as I shifted through the few bits of both Westworlds (the 1973 movie and the new series finale and writing about it) the days counting until Wednesday when we went to Sunshine Home; I was back to square one: I can't remember the chords, nor some of the rhythm of some songs; both the Christmas hymnals and even the usual few that I alternately played on the Sunshine visits. Thus, I started to feel a bit of nagging fear around the corner that seems to be sneering at me, and spat "Are You Sure?"

I am not even a decent guitar player. Even worse at bass. I suspect I am somewhat tone-deaf in addition to me not being able to read music..but I've played for people and performed in the past. Pretty alright, I suppose, all of the time. I suppose I could carry a tune well enough (imitating-ly ~ I reckon there is no such word, man) and somehow look (half) decent performing it, whilst bandmates/members masked my instruments?
It should be about 21 years ago when I started to hold a guitar and twanged a bit of sound from it. I remember hazily and suppose it must've been some sort of glory days then to have the bunch of us musically illiterate small-town boys learning our chords and practice and jam. Sweat, parched throats, banged ear-drums, tears and blood staked into the mash-up for the simple joy and fame (and dreams, of course)
Eventually some of us went on and became better in playing music, and even 1 of us actually majored in music (I suppose) and in the music industry somewhat. But as for you, Mr Constant Backslider, you have certainly devolved as years go by, of course the bulk of the last 15 years (or so as I recall roughly) of not really touching any instruments has been because of that, although I might say I still do play a mean The Drug's Don't Work still (yeah tried it out finally the other day, albeit with a few mishit of chords; but the feel is still there)
But enough of that.
What I really want to put into scope here is this.

As Pastor C came for a 1-on-1 sesh with me; I was running through the back of my mind that I am facing a sort-of uphill battle to learn quite a bit in this short span of time. Technically in the next 10 days or so, to build up the confidence for the Caroling (should still be able to knock it off easy) and then the 'big one' on Christmas Day for the segmented medley.
But I suppose with prayers, discipline (oh no, something that I lack at times, well most of the time) and with almost all of the tv shows on their mid-season breaks (well, except these additional 5 extra episodes of Vikings Season 4) I suppose my distractions would only come from the few comics and oh, a trip to Penang this Monday; and a wedding to attend this weekend as my run-in to Christmas. Gah! Christmas Cards and gifts!
I am sort-of cramming a few of these: reading sheet music, some easy scales (fingers were forever stiff as *#$k) , remembering sheets and notes and chords, okay, I really do have in good faith the Lord will provide...and of course I've gotta be putting my hours in to getting conditioned to play the guitar.

did this moments ago (yeah took a break since fingers numb much faster) and hey,  I like this quote yo!

p/s: oh, I finally lost my months-old DIY guitar pick/spectrum on Wednesday's visit. Felt a wee bit sad when I was searching for it yet again, but alas it really has gone invisible. Serves me right, as I made it from such a clear looking material. Rested my case, and finally went about to purchase a damn pick from any store...but no! They only sell them in bulks of 4 for RM 10. Hot dang. I seriously don't remember the price of one; but I suppose, nah, forget it. It is high time for me anyways.
But Mom somehow told me there should be a box of my old spectrums lying about in my room amongst my keepsakes...and there I was thinking I lost them years ago when I lost most of my belongings. Oh well...

WESTWORLD

Finally caught up with the season finale of HBO's Westworld and it certainly ranks dead high on this year's Must Watch list. 

Basically adapted from the premise of a (possibly reaching cult status) an old 70's film of the same name written by the late Michael Crichton (and oh, only found out he directed the film too?) and pretty much influenced himself to go on and write his more famous Jurassic Park(s)..(and in which influenced T-800 somehow?)But my, with 40 years or so of film-making advancements and technology; we are certainly in for a treat over the span of 10 and a half hours in its maiden season. 

Sci Fi? Check

Paranoid Androids? Check

Mystery? Check

Western? Check

Nudity? Check

Violence? Check

Existentialism? Check

Nolan-esque twist? Check

Awesome music score by Ramin Djawadi of GoT fame? Yes Please!

Rodrigo Santoro? Check oo-la-la

Perfect cast, no doubt with (Sir) Anthony Hopkins and Ed Harris in their roles; and the rest of the casts as 'hosts' both at times acting splendidly as 'robot' and in their 'Westworld roles' , notably lead Evan Rachel Wood, Jeffrey Wright and Thandie Newton..even a certain ex Mrs Musk shines in her role as a 'host' too.

One does note the many references to gaming world rather than a theme park, as with so many feels of it being 'open-world', easter-egg, NPC's, level hardness, and in The Man in Black that eventually got consumed to be sucked-into being as the completionist gamer. It also serves a healthy dose of trivia in recognizing the few auto-piano (ain't sure what that contraption should be called) tunes of modern classics such as the 2 Radiohead songs and Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun.

I suppose if you are quite familiar with either Nolan brothers' style of writing, (plus, as a series you get a bit more time to figure things out along the way,anyway) you should be able to predict the many twists to the plot(s) and this certainly is the most rewarding imho, as the reveal(s) were stacked up in a very balanced story-telling and always, leave you wanting for more. The pledge and the prestige.

Until next year (or is it 2018?) then, "Cease All Motor Functions"

CW-verse | Arrow-verse Mega Crossover 2016

My, goosebumps all over when they assembled. and many times over too! Then it was Arrow's 100th episode that assembled various casts that has been 'dead' to the timeline that paid homage to the comics (plus 2 cast members that looks a weird yet passable CG; must be scheduling I think) and then tying most of the lingering subplots from all 4 (well, 3 to be exact, nothing from Supergirl I think, except the few easter eggs) for an awesome finish to the best crossover ever.

Tonnes of popular references, and some were pretty meta (ie: Superman, and Tommy being a doctor in Chicago) and they sneaked in Princess Bride, yet again.
Earlier this year when Barry crossed over to Supergirl; it was pretty apparent those 2 had chemistry; (Grant Gustin is just that charming and complements everyone else in almost any scene, right?)but this time around I suppose Melissa Benoist gels with everyone she shares screentime with. and it is indeed a welcome addition to get bit-cameos from the other characters, both on their own show and every bit involves everyone someway or the other. Now that's some level that the showrunners achieved (or in their words, level of insanity every year for crossovers), so you DCEU executive jackrabbits should be smart to learn something you know. I am waiting eagerly for the stink to hit with your next few slated releases, and its companion Full Versions video releases.

Of course, it would've been more of a global scale if every other unaccounted heroes/vigilantes and or villains showed up for the final fight with that world threat..but I suspect we might get that trick later on with the years (or at least DC would stay the eff away from having a say about CWverse)

Can't wait for next week when they resume with the new repercussions of this week moving on.

"To things not being normal, 
To life being full"

November Rain

Surely it must've rained a big deal in little ol "Rain Town" Taiping this past November.
Of course memory serves me short (hazy? pun intended) as I skimmed through the pictures that was automatically ear-marked November by the phone, and with my current Day 4 of CW-DC Arrowverse Crossover Zombie mode; that certainly doesn't help jogging the mind's eye.

November was pretty good, I might say since we had some pretty memorable milestones in our walk with the Lord, as well as it has certainly been a great month of me catching up on my favorable pastimes. Nevertheless, I suppose I've been caught out somehow as I was very much unproductive with my very low output of digital images, I don't think I did even 5 pieces of images in total, across all my endeavors. Shame. Shame. Shame.

Anyhow, on with it. (Remember, K.I.S.S, Kevin. Summarize it and hit the showers and finish up Legends of Tomorrow!)

Sunshine Homes visitations: We hit 2 believers in a day! and one of them was this old brother who'd incidentally became unconscious during our session; thank God as we laid hands and prayed for him to regain awareness to accept and do the sinner's prayer. Hallelujah!

We continued our Wednesday sessions to Emmanuel Women's Home (or something like that, can't recall for sure) Quaint nifty home nearby Sunshine Old Folks Home. 

The womenfolk does have activities, crochet-ing and well, they help with prepping their food too. Of course, this home houses able womenfolk, whereas everyone had seen better days at Sunshine.

We sneaked in a couple of visits to this senior gentleman who neighbors Taiping Baptist Church. Kind and pet-friendly man; he hid behind his house (must've been to light up a smoke) on his grandchildren's birthday one day, and he saw Bunny & the Gang (Pastor Cheah's dogs : Bunny is the humongous Labrador Mix, The Gang refers to the other 2 young clowns) peeking and calling out to him for treats. He took the half of the birthday cake(s) and fed them by hand..and that was how Pastor saw it to tell us the tale.

On the 26th, we joined Taiping Baptist Church's family gathering, a 3D2N stay in Ipoh. 

Of course, I for one was raring to go when I knew about it, since this would totally mark the first time we are going to a family church camp..of course as days sniffed closer; (and with Mom and her worries of us 2 ass-hats sneaking off for smokes) the self-doubt sets in. The elephant in the room was the language barrier; I mean I do understand Mandarin somehow, sparingly; but this is going to be practically a full-on 3 days of Mandarin and even conversing in it (which is technically my worst) 

But I suppose I asked for not the whole nine yards from the Lord as I asked only for the strength to comprehend the sermons, and He did deliver. I am pretty sure I get the implications and hidden messages from all the sermons and this is a mean feat since there were 3 hour-long sessions from this Reverend Bai from China and it was evident as I understood his jokes too in thick accent. (and to a certain degree, playing RoTK 13 with mandarin language)

 Praise the Lord!

Moving along, yeah Ipoh. In the family I had the least things in common with Ipoh (they lived here for some years, years before I was born) but of course growing up in Taiping I had a few flings (both 'with' and 'in' teehee) with Ipoh and the other Perak cities no thanks to my busy/active middle school life, which is a lifetime away. But I do remember one thing, I wasn't like some of my friends that glorify Ipoh and traveled down for leisure, just for the malls, etc whenever they got their dad's car for the weekend (yeah, small townies had to resort to that, but I suppose I was being a dick since I associate Penang as my hometown then, yeah. Dick)

Oh, how different it was. I mean my last pass-over Ipoh must've been 5-6 years ago when I visited an ex-colleague based here; and I've certainly forgot Ipoh for it also being the food capital of Perak. We had a leisurely stroll on the final day, and I must say I did an imaginary tearful joy at having this particular dish I've only been reduced to having the discount version (though not 'discount' in price!) when I lived in KL.. the infamous Ipoh Koay Teow Soup. It should easily be more than 20+ years since I had a sniff of the authentic bowl of noodles; no matter where was the original one.

Bad Photo I Know Right : Ipoh's Chee Cheong Funn, got schooled from Harry that they are somewhat special, as evident in the addition of the mushroom gravy and mushroom bits. Yum yum awesome! But I had their other infamous noodle; which I never did like before this; Hor Hee (yes, in the family, Heidi named it such during our CNY steamboat dinners, little did I know it is named as such as a dish. I was taught that this specific 'space-ship' looking fishball is Hor Hee; if we called it "Space-Ship"...the elders wouldn't know it meant that. But we still call it Space Ship, even though I don't like eating it, since it is fish, somehow. But I can say I love the Hor Hee dish now!

Yes! of course this one is from a tourist-y place, but it still brings age-old memories

Skeptical at first; but I ate my words as I saw it for myself. I must say I was dead impressed. Buns are good, the varieties got me impressed really. But my favorites are the Real Squid Balls, tender juicy bouncy balls.

Our gathering was at the Oasis 5, Jalan Raja Dihilir; an awesome church venue. Huge spacious rooms and I suppose it is very accessible indeed.

Landscape of the back

looks dead like I pawn off an official picture. but no, just an opportune shot. 

Rare occasion to selfie. Of course without much practice, couldn't time a decent one with Mr Ozzie Ostrich

boat ride view of Gunung Lang and it's cleavage?

I only have pictures from the third day, somehow must've been preoccupied with the camp, helping out getting food, picking up speaker-brother Dr Lawrence Lim from his hotel nearby, and making coffee for Dad (and seeing to his tablet too, shared responsibility with Harry)
Guess must've reverted back to the introverted shell as I only thought of getting a selfie with Lawrence after we sent him back to his hotel. It certainly was a good 2 session of health talk from him; as I too am inspired to follow his dietary lifestyle, not his lifestyle, not yet jose. I mean, I can't fathom tuning in the night at 9pm and waking up 5am (he does his morning devotions for an hour and a half) but I will certainly aim for that one day... maybe the 7am's? :D
But I certainly am aiming for a good level of reduction in skipping dinner at 'normal' dinner time. His dinner is no later than 5:30pm, so that is an achievable goal somehow. Of course with staying at home and our meal times (and Dad with his food habits) plus the occasional *ahem* awesomeness of my cooking, it needs TIME for it to be reasonably possible lol. Of course, I'm aware Harry had been lowering his dinner intake ever since the last meet with Dr Lawrence earlier this year, and Mom has always been a small eat; it needs time to adjust our meals as I can't just simply excessively tone down on my dinner intake as this will certainly mean leaving loads of leftover rice for Fried Rice! and Larry isn't exactly stopping by to visit every single month. Okay. I better speed this up. Dominators are waiting to be pawned by the heroes & legends, man.

gosh, can't remember this alley. 

Mom with Rev. Bai

And so here we are, the final month of 2016. Mental note for the Christmas gift list, and of course looking forward to the conclusion of Civil War II, and this coming weekend's season finale of HBO's Westworld. Probably should do a post about Westworld, after I watched the original film and err, the book. But heeyy, I am pretty behind on my Goodreads Book Challenge!
Too many books too many graphic novels, too many Marvel, too many tv series, so little time. (oh, for one, I accidentally missed out on catching Doctor Strange in the cinemas, what an embarrassing relapse in time/day-keeping!)

supposed death of Iron Man. Not too shocking since you kinda have been teased and forewarned with/from other new titles.