The Best Is Yet To Come

Germany team lineup

Spain team lineup

Torres intelligently scored past Lehmann

Torres roars after scoring the match winner

Hero Torres holds the Cup

Spain team celebrates

Yesterday 29th June 2008, was Euro 2008's final, between Germany and Spain. I was very much a Spain supporter because Liverpool is made up of many Spanish players, and our manager Rafa Benitez is Spanish too. In this tournament, there're 4 Liverpool players in the Spain's 23 person team, consist of Torres, Alonso, Reina, and Arbeloa.

Throughout the heart thumping final, Spain played much better football and was more threatening than Germany. However, they cant break the dead lock until my favorite player - Fernando Torres, scored on 33rd minutes. He received a pass from Xavi, run with the ball, but was defended by Germany's Philip Lahm, who is one of the best left back in the tournament. But still, Torres with his lightning speed and sheer determination and bullish-strength, managed to nick into a small space and got his leg slightly in front of Lahm and lob the ball past the onrushing goalkeeper Lehman, and scored the one and only but the most important goal of the tournament. In the end Spain won 1-0, emotionally and deservedly holding the EURO Cup.

Spain well deserved their victory. They played the best football among all teams, scored the most goals with 12 goals, won every single of their matches and are the second youngest team in the tournament. The Top Scorer of the tournament is Spain's David Villa with 4 goals, the Best Player of the tournament is also Spain's Xavi. So altogether, Spain deservedly won the EURO Championship Cup and successfully ended their 44 years wait of a major international tournament cup. Spain was very famous for their underachievement throughout the decades even though their team was always one of the most talented one, so it's finally a "happily ever after" ending for Spain supporters.

Throughout the tournament, Fernando Torres was overshadowed by David Villa's prolific goal scoring record, Xavi's accurate passings, Senna's excellent defensive skills and Sergio Ramos's superb performances, but even though with only 2 goals under his belt, Torres scored the match winning goal that gave Spain their champion's title. At only 24 years old, the best is yet to come from El Nino (The Kid). Hopefully, this EURO win will help Torres grow more as a player and a person, then come back to help Liverpool with a superb 08-09 season. All hail Torres!!

Speed of Sound

I'd bought a Digitech RP350 Guitar multi-effect pedal. It cost me Rs11700. I'd been targeting this music gadget for a very very long time, because all these while i was using my friend's old Digitech RP80, but as i got more used to the sound, i started to get sick of it.

When i brought this new gadget back, i was damn excited and the first thing i did was to jack-in my Fender guitar and then jack in the pedal to my Marshall 10W amp. For an instance, there's no buzzing noise at all when i turn on the amp, unlike the RP80 which produce lots of hissing unwanted noise. Then the second thing i did was to test the difference between direct connection between guitar and amp, with connection of guitar->multi effect pedal->amp, under the Bypass mode, the sounds between both are indistinguishible, which i'm real happy as the old one has so much sound loss at the 2nd test. This pedal brought me to a whole brand new world of tones. It has total of 118 different models of tones, including Distortions, Wah wah, lots of Amps models, lots of Cabinet models, Compressors, Delays, Reverbs, Chorus/FX, Drum machine, USB interface for computer recording and tuning, built-in Tuner, built-in Expression pedal etc etc.. For those who do not know a single term that i wrote above, you're forgiven cz few months ago i was in the same situation.


The sound it produce is very very raw and 'analog', full of power and pump, without any distorted sound, unlike the old RP80 which sound very flat, unreal, muddy and 'digital'. It uses a latest digital music processor (DSP) - AudioDNA2, which is better and more well developed than any other brand's DSP in the market today. The learning curve of this machine is darn simple, and it only took me 15 mins to understand all how they work. I love the tunes a lot, but i'm yet to discover all of them. Imagine mix & match 118 different effects, the net sum is enormous, and the results is never predictable. Sounds are perceived differently by different people, some are sensitive to even slight change in tone and frequency; some are totally tone deaf, while some cannot tolerate whatsoever sounds.. Sounds can hardly be described by words, as i'd tried so hard. It's a very subjective interest and i presume not many people who read this post will understand much, if at all, what i was talking about.

A multi effect processor is never as good as a real life Amp or Cabinet or analog single effect stomp boxes. However, imagine it had digitally combined 118 types of real life huge amps & cabinets and numerous pedals on the floor into one small piece of machine and reproduce them to be as "real" as possible, plus the price is like 118 times cheaper, for an amateur guitar player like me, it's more than enough for daily practicing, even playing live and recording. I love my Digitech RP350, as i think it's better than any other products of the same line of other brands elsewhere. I hope it'll last me for a life time, as long as my beautiful fingers can still dance and tap on the fret board of the guitar. My personal target as a guitarist is to become a guitar player who're able to perform on stage well, so that people will say" oh, this guy is not bad". I'd not dreamt of becoming as good as my guitar heroes like Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), or Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton, or even someone who can invent new riffs and write songs. As long as i can perform well with the "machine gun" baby on my hand, i'm happy. Hopefully my target will be realized.

Good Vibration

 

i bought a new 2.1 speaker. I'd always wanted one really good one, and i'd targeted Logitech Z-4 which cost around RM350. However in India, it's sold for Rs 6000+ and hard to find. Then one day as i was shopping around, i saw a Altec Lansing MX5012. It is the highest line of Altec Lansing speaker product, with THX certification. The boss is very nice n he sell me for only Rs6600, where the ori price is Rs9000. So, after considering for 15 mins, i decided to buy it. So then, now i have one of the best speaker in the world. Altec Lansing MX5021 It is the highest line 2:1 speakers by Altec Lansing. Even though it's the older model, and there's a newer and more expensive FX6021, people says the older version is better than the new one. "Old is gold". Specs:

• Components: 2 satellites, 1 sub
• Satellites: 20 watts each
• Subwoofer: 50 watts
• Output level: 103dB
• Frequency: 30-22000hz

With total of 90 watts, and a output of 103db, the volume is much higher than any speakers. Besides, it is THX certified, which means, it can produce the highest highest quality sound comparable to theatre. Sound quality The first thing i do after bringing this new sound pet into my room is start wiring and set it up on my table. I do not remove my Creative M2500 as i wanna make a side to side comparison with my new AL MX5021. I already have a list of high dynamic songs to test different aspect of the speakers such as the high freq saxaphone or cymbals, the mid range guitar solo and the low freq bass and drums. The results was spectacular. My new speakers just sound so much more better than the old one. The MX5021 sounds much clearer, the high range sounds are so much louder and crisp and you can easily differentiate whether the cymbals are from the left or the flute are from right side. The bass is very solid and even at high volume, there's no distortion at all. The bass can really make ur whole room shattle at high volume, with the songs still sounds nice and clear. Besides, the bass never cover up the mid range sounds at high level, plus every instruments are very clear through the songs and never overlap each other. On the other hand on my old Creative M2500, the sounds of each instruments are overlapping, some instruments loud some soft, and they sound muddy and sloppy compared to the clarity of AL MX5021. The bass is also very easily distorted, and basses very frequantly overwhelm the other sounds. The high freq sounds also easily gets buzzing on some songs. Sound of Music Even though i'm not an audiophile, i can still know what is a "good sound" .I'm still constantly learning and training my ears to be more sensitive to sounds. I can now easily differentiate a good sounding speakers and a cheap one; and find out the difference between a high bit MP3 file and a low bit one. I always keep my favourite songs to 320kbps, which means 1 song of mine is around 10MB. The lowest bit rate acceptable to my ear is 192kbps, and 128kbps sounds too muddy to me, except from those simple Pop songs. Nowadays in a digital world dominated by iPod and MP3s, CDs are already hardly surviving, but mind you they're still sound the best. However, CDs are just too big to be kept, so it's better to rip them into mp3 or AAC files in high bit. I listen to all kinds of music, mostly classic Rock, Rock and Roll, Alternative, Jazz, Blues, R&B, and some Chirstians, Classical and Pop. I let my iTunes play most the time in a day, so i'm constantly exposed to music, so it is necessary my ears are fed with good sounds. I hate all modern musics, especially hip-hop or rap or those meant-to-please-everyone alternatives. I'm still living in a 60s, 70s and 80s era, as these are the Golden Years of music industries. Hardly anything today sound as good as the old days. Appearance The subwoofer is super super tall and heavy, as big as a normal desktop CPU, swt. Even the size of the 2 satellites speakers are beyond what i expected. They're just HUGE. There's a seperate controller for u to put on the desk, with control of Power on/off, Volume, Bass & Treble, plus a auxillary input for iPod or any CD players and a output jack for earphones. It's easy to control the volume anytime and anyhow u like. Another thing i like is there's a wireess remote control, so u can control from ur bed or far away while watching movies. The color of everything is black, with silver color cones and blue LEDs on the controller. The color totally complemet my laptop and all my gadgets. In a Nutshell The size is thrice than that of my old speaker, the price is thrice more, the specs is thrice more, but the sound quality of Altec Lansing MX5021? It's so much better. Nowadays, the best available 2:1 speakers in the market of the world are Logitech Z-2300, JBL Harman Cardon Soundstick II, Klipsch Promedia 2.1, and Altec Lansing MX5021/Fx6021. All of them cost more than RM600 (and i think i'd got a great deal with mine), and they can support any sounds of music, movies, and games at any volume. A good 2:1 is often the choice for everyone than buying a surround 5:1 because most 5:1 do not use drivers as good as 2:1, and 5:1 just cramp up ur room with all the extra wires and speakers. A great speaker can last people forever, and i'm going to use this for my whole life hopefully, if i can find a good way to bring back Malaysia cz it's too huge. I'm really really glad with this new speakers, my ears feel so much soothing and happy now. I wont get headache out of rock songs after long time exposure anymore. I love my Altec Lansing MX5021, it's a perfect companion for my daily needs as it provides pleasant sounds at low volume and cinematic sound at high volume. I would recomend this speaker to anyone if he/she is serious about sounds.

Rainy Day, Dream Away

It had been 6 whole months of scorching sunshine - hot, dry, dusty weather.. But since 2 days ago, it started pouring non stop, indicating it's monsoon again here in Mangalore.. I just finished my exam yday, all the paper were really bad bad bad, cant even write a single thing. Aiks.

Anyway, my 1 week holiday started. Many of the Malaysians went home, some went traveling (i have friends going Turkey, woot!). I chose not to go back, cz firstly, the time is too short, and secondly, i wanna save money. Not much money left in my bank account now (of course excluding my FDs and Mutual Funds). Today is Sunday, i woke up at 11am cz the weather is too cooling and the sun hardly shine through, so i slept so so soundly till i cant even hear my alarm to go to church. i spent whole day buying groceries, and cleaning my room. Ask the cleaner to come and we together cleaned every corner of my room. I'd always like to keep my room very clean and tidy. Phew, so tired now, can have a real nice sleep later.

So what i'm going to do in this one week free time?

1. Watch EURO. Since i'd already given up hope on England 2 years ago in World Cup, and now they dun even qualify for this tournament, i think i would support Spain or France, not so sure which team sto support yet. Every night i'll will be occupied by TV.
2. Play computer games. I'd stopped playing games for the past 3 weeks, so it's time to install again. I'm now playing World in Conflict, and some Pro Evo Soccer 2008 with friends. Good way to spend time and entertain myself.
3. Practice guitar. I'm going to practice guitar 3 sessions a day, each sessions 30 mins, i swear i wanna improve my skills by a lot. My pre-ordered guitar multi-effect processor Digitech RP350 is coming soon, so i would have plenty of sound effects to play on, and at the same time continue to train my ears to be as 'audiophile' as possible.
4. Exercise. Since it's raining season, can't go out to play football, i will do some simple exercise in my room. I already bought a yoga mat and i have a big mirror on my wall, so i can do almost every programmed abs, legs, chest, and arm exercise in my own "mini gym room". Check out YouTube's 8 mins exercise, they're simple, fun, cheap, short and effective.
5. Sleep. "Rainy day, dream away, let the sun take a holiday... Lay back and groove on a rainy day, hey lay back and dream on a rainy day". So it's perfect time to dream a little dream on my bed under the cooling and wet weather. Besides, it will also replenish myself to prepare for my next semester, which is damn hectic and pack. Swt!

Zzz...Zzz...Zzz..

Petrol head

(The top glamours)

Petrol price is Malaysia rose again yesterday, from RM1.92 to RM2.70, by 79 cents.. It was a huge huge amount, almost by 40% increase.. so yesterday, every car packed to any petrol station just to pump in the last drop of "cheap petrol", resulting in severe petrol shortage.. Traffic transportation and river transportation are all suspended, resulting in havoc in almost every part of Malaysia.

The price of petrol in Malaysia is considered one of the cheapest in the world, due to subsidy by our petroleum company Petronas. Petronas is one of the leading oil company of in the world, with one of the world's tallest building in the world as office. Compared with the price in India of Rs60 per litre (RM4.60), Petronas had already subsidized a lot, in fact, most of the profit (about 30%) earned by the company are handed to Federal Government to subsidy the price. That is why we, Malaysians are still having the cheapest oil price in the world. Even with 2.70, it is still comparatively low.

However, for example, how much a Singaporean earn and how much a Malaysian earn in term of Capitol income? Msians earn only 1/3 of what a Singaporeans are earning. Petrol price in Singapore? $RM 5.20, so comparatively we're still at the losing side (they pay twice the amount of petrol but get back thrice in their income). The first impact will be on the citizens.. We're earning less but paying more on petrol. The standard of living will be a big hit. Food prices will go up, almost every items will be more expensive due to increased transportation fee; bus fare will increase, flight fare increase, less people traveling means less mobility in business and less tourism, so business continue to drop.. As income is less, employees suffer more in life, so they tend to earn it the "easy" way, causing increased crime rate. The inflation will be higher as everything become costlier, buying power of the people reduce, life quality will be less.. Already the people in Malaysia are earning hard, buying hard, and living in danger all the time due to super high crime rate here, our life quality will continue to be in jeopardy. Besides, as people do not live happily and safely, they'll start blaming the government, leading to political unrest and instability.

Is it a genuine business point of view to remove the oil subsidy in order to improve the overall economy? Will the reduction in road tax lessen our burden? Or everything is just another way of the federal government sucking up more money from the profit of their largest money making machine? The long term effect is yet to be seen. Hopefully, it'll turn out fine, though i seriously doubt it.. God bless Malaysia..

(The low suffers)

Here Is Gone

Today i just came out from my 1st paper of my 1st sessional exam of 3rd year MBBS. First paper was Community Medicine, a subject which i, together with majority of my class mates, ignore since 1st year. This is a darn boring subject, with all kinds of so called "general knowledge" but actually it's very complicated with all kinds of statistics and definition and methodology. I sat the paper only studied 1/3 of the portions and studied only once, in 4 days time. People spend weeks to study but i use only 4 days, haha, and mind u the 4 days are not those intensive sit-till-your-ass-pain study kind, i still fool around and slack here and there. Today, it only took me 1 n half hour to sit in the exam hall and write, whereas the paper is supposed to be 3 hours long. My paper was super empty. (I'm the 3rd to come out, normally i'm the first, hehe)

Tomorrow is Ophthalmology, and followed by ENT, Medicine and lastly Surgery. Among all, the subject i studied the most is Ophthal (1 week). My mum scolded me through SMS say i lazy, that's why cant finish studying. But think bout it, it wasn't my fault. Let me explain:
I had my Supplementary exam for Pharmacology just 2 weeks before this sessionals, and all these while i was stuck with Pharmac, and every subjects in 3rd year are untouched. So imagine in 2 weeks time to cover these 5 subjects while all other people had 4 long months to cover them, IMPOSSIBLE!! So i tried to allocated my time: 1 week Ophthal, 4 days Comm Med, 3 days ENT, Medicine untouched, Surgery dun even have a book yet, wahaha.. Call me crazy!! Everyone say the professors wont even mark Comm Med and ENT paper, so actually this exam is very insignificant. Besides, i am mentally tired after the Pharmac exam, and few days back when i know that i passed the Pharmac paper, i was relieved and happy, tried to celebrate but can't as this sessionals is coming next.

Come on, this semester is supposed to be a honeymoon sem, everyday max 2 hours class, so of course we're supposed to enjoy and relax and do whatever shit u want. Even the college is not taking this sessionals seriously, so what for crack my head and burn my midnight oil suffering for exam? No way!! So, don't blame me!! It was the lack of time; the insignificance of this exam; the post-exam tiredness; the celebrating mentality, plus the holiday mood which 'encouraged' me not to take this sessionals seriously ..

OK, let's face it.. "Peer pressure".. "Ophthamology" (supposed to be my favourite field).. "They mark this paper".. "I can enjoy even more in the 1 week holiday if i had worked hard for the exam"..
Fine!! Whatever..I should start opening the book right now and study....