EPIC Health!

Snapped just a little away from the present house. How apt. EPIC health for the E.P.I.C band. :P

Band

Now I can say "One time at band camp" (thought planted in my head by Ron), all over again.

Attended Monash's Wind Ensemble practice today. It's been 13 years since I last played in an orchestra with any proficiency so it was hmm... challenging.

VERDICT - It was amazingly difficult trying to read scores again after so long.

More to come on this chapter of my life!

Transformers + Chessboxing

Transformers fans, please go here. My jaw dropped.

And...

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This is so far out I had to share it.Chessboxing. Combining brain with brawn. If you have time, check out the videos. Extreme. Blurp below!

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The basic idea in chessboxing is to combine the #1 thinking sport and the #1 fighting sport into a hybrid that demands the most of its competitors – both mentally and physically.

In a chessboxing fight two opponents play alternating rounds of chess and boxing. The contest starts with a round of chess, followed by a boxing round, followed by another round of chess and so on.
A contest consists of 11 rounds, 6 rounds of chess, 5 rounds of boxing. A round of chess takes 4 minutes. Each competitor has 12 minutes on the chess timer.

A round of boxing takes 3 minutes. Between rounds there is a 1 minute pause, during which competitors change their gear. The contest is decided by: checkmate (chess round), exceeding the time limit (chess round), retirement of an opponent (chess or boxing round), KO (boxing round), or referee decision (boxing round). If the chess game ends in a stalement, the opponent with the higher score in boxing wins. If there is an equal score, the opponent with the black pieces wins.

http://site.wcbo.org/content/e14/index_en.html

Inerrancy: Is the Bible free of error?

Something that I chanced upon from a rather intriguing read of a site - http://www.religioustolerance.org/.

This article discusses the matter of inerrancy of the Bible. Is it truly free of error? What piqued my interest was the question if apocrypha (books removed, forcibly or otherwise aka known as "those having been hidden away") from the Bible we know today, are actually inerrant too?

Here's a glimpse...

In the early days of the Christian religion, there were about 40 gospels, hundreds of epistles, and a few apocalypses in circulation. Each was deeply revered by various theologically diverse Christian faith groups. Nobody knows exactly how many books there were. Many did not survive until the present time. Some are known only by having been mentioned in other Christian writings.

Larry Taylor comments that in order to decide on which books should be accepted into the official canon in the fourth century CE:

"...some bishops [at]...several church councils voted for conflicting lists, the contradictions of which took centuries more to resolve. These votes came after a long period of sorting and choosing by the churches at large, so that the choice was not haphazard..." 6

The bishops' main criteria was whether the book in question was actually written by an important leader in the primitive Christian church -- usually an apostle or someone closely affiliated with an apostle. Some theologians suggest that a second criterion was the degree to which the book's religious beliefs were compatible with the theology of the bishops in the fourth century. The Gospel of John, for example, barely made it into the canon. There was considerable resistance to its inclusion because of its Gnostic content.

The question remains: did the bishops make the right choices?


I then wonder if it's a matter of devotion if we go and find out exactly what was taken out.

Go here for the full article.

Home-cooked food

After 3 weeks of enjoying my mum's tender loving cooking it's back to cooking for myself.



Here's my first home-cooked meal since returning. I've got a Lenthil-soup thing by Windsor and Stir-fried Beef with Tomatoes with rice.

Back in melbourne

Am back, and amazingly given best seats in the universe again. I must say Tiger's definitely been kind to me. Although I doubt I'll fly with them for international flights again, 11 hours of self-entertainment is a bit too much to bear. 4.5 hours to Darwin, 2 hours plus transit in Darwin then another 4 hours to Melbourne. Too much.

For the flight from Singapore to Darwin, I had a whole row to myself (see photos) though all around me were filled to the brim seats. Must have been a great cause of envy.




Wasn't too great sets from Darwin to Melbourne, but had a seat next to me empty.

Simple pleasures! Oh yes, if you're in the mood to sponsor this struggling student's quest for a drum kit so he can start playing in a band again, feel most free to donate (see Paypal donate option to the right)!

to the point.

"you ripped the dreams right out my mind."

Ever felt that happen before? Or have you ever been guilty of causing such?

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On a sidenote, congratulations to Singapore for winning the Youth Olympics Bid. Big performance bonuses for a few happy ministers-to-be I can imagine.

Is Obama a Mac and Clinton a PC?

From the NY Times...This makes for a good leisurely read.Is Obama a Mac and Clinton a PC?

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In other news, went to catch Santana with my dad at the Indoor Stadium. Was never a great fan, I felt anyone who wrote a song proclaiming his own name on lead guitar was not quite my cup of tea (Think Maria Maria). At the other end of the spectrum, he was responsible for Oye Como Va, one of the great dance tracks of all time. So I went. And I became a fan. 3 hours non-stop action showed great stamina and musicianship, and a massively tight 12-piece band deftly attacking gaps in time with dexterous big hits, was enough for me to say. Santana rocks. And, it's a great feeling going for a gig with your dad and seeing him enjoy himself. Santana was one of the groups his band covered heaps back in his band days, what more can I say? And I can see why he keeps up the effort collaborating with contemporary artistes to keep his brand name up there instead of staying irrelevantly retro.

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And oh yes, please do click on 'em ads :)

For something completely different...

Check Uncyclopedia out.

Quite evidently an alternative take on wiki, here's a glimpse of the stories they spin -

1. Homeland Security valiantly protects America from brown babies
2. Survey on apathy cancelled due to lack of interest
3. Bush travels to Africa in search of country to invade

Go read!

Out, up and about

Butterflies at Insect World, Sentosa. If you want to relive primary school days circa 1980 or abouts, head there. They still feature the same boards and pins with laminated vanguard sheet-type display boards.

Home and Zen

Want to know who you are? Read and watch on.

Had the fortune of spending some time with Luke, my dear friend and guide. He shared this video with me, and I thought it massively worth sharing. A former Yale graduate now Zen Monk who has an amazing presentation style.

In a nutshell, very engaging and a slightly more direct and less parabolic, and if parabolic, nicely explained approach to understanding Zen with a few good parallels drawn to Socrates, Descarte and Jesus Christ. He shares great insight into the parables of Jesus, which was very enlightening.

Go here

5 stars worth.

Return

Am back in Singapore! Flew tiger and despite all the horror stories I was one blessed one.

First the domestic part of the flight - had to fly to Darwin and amazingly despite being last in the queue (made a nice friend in the process), got front row seats with maximum legroom and no one sitting next to me, I had the window seat. I could seriously sprawl. On a full flight!!!

The international part of the flight - back to Singapore, managed to get huge as emergency seats on the aisle, and again with no one sitting next to me, on a full flight, again. So I slept like a baby.

I'm back!