Simplicity is the fundamental of all happiness

Continuing my post yesterday, i was mentioning about my work at Levi's and there are some series of events that happened throughout this period and they make me see another side of this world.

Recalling back to the first few days of work in Levi's, it's not difficult for me to realise that everyone has his/her own tales waiting to be told. If my memory hasn't fail on me, on my 5th day of work, Desmond and i hang out after work and we started discussing about our past. And that's when i learnt about Desmond's band and his own tales. Everyone definitely has his/her own sad past and somehow they will linger in one's mind for as long as he/she can remember. May it be sad or happy memories, one is forced to remember them.

Not sure how many of you guys have been following my previous posts, but i'll just mention it here again, Desmond is my colleague and pretty much a emo-guy. He wrote a song for a gal after his unfortunate break-up with her. Of cos, many of you guys might just shrugged it as he is just doing something to make himself feel good. Just a piece of fair note, i must say, you guys might feel that the song may just be a way of relieving his sorrow or pain, but it's more than that. The song literally changed a guy. Someone who used to be involved in fights, a guy with a big-ass attitude has now changed to someone who will discipline himself to jamming every Tuesdays and Fridays with his band. One who will do anything, almost everything to make sure his band has every single chance to perform at any gigs or even Dinner and Dance for Levis'. Now tell me, is he trying to do all this simply just only to relieve his sad past? Or it's a change in the mindset of a guy?

To some extent, one grows at every stage of our life, may it be positive or negative influence, we are responsible for who we are.

We, young adults at the age of 18-20, probably relationships is all that we have in mind. We will be trying hard to go after someone who we hope to be able to secure our fragile spiritual minds. Someone who we hope to be able see and hear whenever we need him/her. And often it is also something which will brings out all the evil side of us.

Ida, another colleague of mine, was telling me that ever since she started work in Levi's, she's been down with tears everyday without fail. Cause? It's down to relationship matters yet again. Something i don't understand about some guys out there. Why is it that you will want your girlfriend to delete all the contacts of her guy-friends in her mobile, forbides her to talk to other guys, question her about why she's so close to her colleagues, demand her to quit her job just because there are too many guys working nearby? Call this possessive or anything you wish, but i'll call this J-A-I-L.

And the best thing, at the end of the day, you tell the girl, "I control you is because i love you and i hate to lose you". Read between the lines man. I bet any moron out there is able to tell you, the more you continue being a jerk, the higher the chance is that you will be alone at the end of the day. Sometimes, it's also fair to say that, perhaps you have a wonderful girlfriend that attracts tonnes of bees and butterflies, but if a girl is one who will be easily attracted by them, is she the one for you? Of cos, there are alot more other factors for one to lose his/her promises to someone and head for another one, but it's down to one fundamental; happy.

Sure you can control your guy/girl as if he/she is your pet or something. After all, it's all about; one dares to hit and one is willing to bear the blow. Trust, understanding, care and concern, all these are just bullshit then. Cos, having a partner is just to make him/her abide to your say and demand this and that.

Of cos, there are also fair share of loving couples i have seen. Regardless of whether you're in a bad relationship or not, at the end of the day, if A + B = more sadness than you should A - B to get more happiness.

Best solution? Simplicity.

Simple is the cheapest and the best word to get happiness. Just take my colleagues for example. Desmond will probably be jumping up and down if he will to be able to get a sponsor for his band, to do a 1 night live pay-per-view band performance which is exclusive to their band only. And for Ida, she will probably be smiling brightly away if she will to receive some Roxy wallets or slippers. And come to think again, these things aren't even close to the big word call "relationship". How ironic.

"Sorry, i can't be perfect.."

Heard before this line somewhere? Being able to accept the fact that no one is that perfect in this world, we should learn to accept the imperfection side of one. Instead of whining what one isn't, accepting what one is, makes yourself and your 'one' more happy.

All animals except man know that the ultimate of life is to enjoy it.

Quality Never Goes Out of Style

It's been a long 5 weeks since i started working in Levi's. Wasn't that bad and i've made some nice punk-rock friends. Yes, friends is the word i'll use here, not colleagues. For that most of the time, colleagues are one who will put up fake smiles and kindness in front of you during work and when we leave and head home, we are merely cold strangers.

Work remains boring especially when the crowd is pathetic low and sales are rock bottom. Of cos, making the best out of the worst is what we are capable of. Just yesterday, when all 5 of our store staff were working, we came out with the topic of condoms. And as usual, our "dirty" 1st-in-charge, Don, came out with that. To think that it started off by Desmond, who was mentioning about the movie, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. So Don, the usual suspect renamed it as, Don and the Condoms Factory.

So the topic changed to Levi's should come out with Condoms as freebies to attract more customers buying Levi's products. And of cos, to make it unique to Levi's style, the condoms will come with different cuts. 593 for super super low waist, Square cut for the latest trend. Rinse, washed and eroded for the color style. Not forgetting the Red Tab trademark logo stitched on it, with a mini pocket. "Use at your own risk!" printed on it, and again, it's courtesy of Don who came out with the last point.

So that's how Levi's Plaza Singapura functions. Probably the only Levi's Boutique in Singapore, playing punk-rock music, with a big heck-care attitude, a dirty 1st-in-charge in store, racism towards Chiese Nationals and Indians, and not forgetting staff who idolize My Chemical Romance, Simple Plan, American Hi-Fi, Blink 182, Bowling For Soup, all the emo-punk rock bands and not forgetting the local SweetPunk Revenge!

Life in Levi's has been beyond my imaginations at times. My colleagues will definitely be raising their voice now, screaming a big "YES!" and nodding their heads off their necks.

Gotta run for work, shall continue my story some other time. All that i've got to say for now:

"I never want to let you down or have you go.."

Simple Plan - Untitled

Dedicating this song to all Simple Plan fans and punk-rock fanatics. Rock on! If you're neither, just remember, drink don't drive. Be responsible for your life and the lives of those on the road.

Before i leave, remember about the local emo-punk: SweetpunkRevenge? I mentioned in my previous post about this local band formed by my colleague Desmond. The next gig for them has been confirmed. They will be playing 5 songs. It's definitely a gig not to be missed.
Catch them live!

[[ Information ]]

Gig ------------ Punkrock Return 2
Location ------ The Substation, Guinness Threatre
Date ---------- 6th August 2005 (Saturday)
Time ---------- 1500, 3pm
Admission ---- $8
No. of bands - 12
Location map - Here

Untitled

Sometime in life, you will pause and stop. There will be some moments whereby you will just want to be alone and start thinking. Not sure how many of you guys feel about life, but my conclusion is, there are 3 very loyal friends in each of everyone's life. They are called, "Myself", "My shadow" and "Time". These 3 are the faithful ones who will never leave your side for even a split second. Probably with 2 of out 3 is all about ourselves, we tend to be too self-centered and status-conscious. At the end of the day, how we judge others and how we percieve things, they are nothing but personal self-oriented views. The day we start to realise how sad the world is, it will never be the same again.

"I open my eyes
I try to see but I'm blinded by the white light
I can't remember how
I can't remember why
I'm lying here tonight

And I can't stand the pain
And I can't make it go away
No I can't stand the pain

How could this happen to me
I made my mistakes
I've got no where to run
The night goes on
As I'm fading away
I'm sick of this life
I just wanna scream
How could this happen to me

Everybody's screaming
I try to make a sound but no one hears me
I'm slipping off the edge
I'm hanging by a thread
I wanna start this over again

So I try to hold onto a time when nothing mattered
And I can't explain what happened
And I can't erase the things that I've done
No I can't

How could this happen to me
I made my mistakes
I've got no where to run
The night goes on
As I'm fading away
I'm sick of this life
I just wanna scream
How could this happen to me

I made my mistakes
I've got no where to run
The night goes on
As I'm fading away
I'm sick of this life
I just wanna scream
How could this happen to me"

Local Emo-punk band "Sweetpunk Revenge"

This post is dedicated to my friend cum colleague Desmond and all those singles out there. Together with this post is the song you're currently listening to: "Jac". It's a song by a local emo-punk band and written by Desmond.

For the benefit of those out there who hasn't got any idea how they were formed, in short; A gal Jaclyn was behind the theme for the song "Jac". Desmond was the writer of the song and the song itself literally started the whole jamming of the emo-punk band.

The gal Jaclyn was here in the store we work today. Too bad the song wasn't played when she's around. (Desmond: Why didn't we think of playing it, since it's just like only a change of disc?) But nevertheless, Desmond has already played the song live for her and it's nice to be able to see her in real person.

Alright, before i go, gotta do some advertising for this hell-break-loose band: Sweetpunk Revenge. Do support them by visiting their site at SweetpunkRevenge and of cos, if they are performing any gigs, i'll post the time and venue here.

That's all for now, i'll leave you guys with the song; "Jac". Stay cheerful and may the force be with you. To Sweetpunk Revenge, keep rocking and punk-ed your way to success. For those thinking wassup with me these days, Jeri is still Jeri. The faith never dies.

JaC

-verse 1-

Lunch time, i couldn't find someone to go with
i focus hard it out with myself
then i saw her
she walked over and tried a top
and the music played real slow
oh yeah, she is so beautiful

-chorus 1-

walked over and asked her if she wanna be friend
she smiled so lovely and then said yes
we met out and we had so much fun
we met again and we had fallen in love

-Verse 2-

i couldn't believe it
you are just what i always dream of
how could this had happened
to a guy like me
and when you told me u wanna go
i can't help but to let you go
you broke my heart time and time again

-chorus 2-

holding you tighty and as i watch you rest
i had never been so close to heaven
there are time i wish that i could turn back time
that time we both had fallen in love

-emo- (guitar solo)

-repeat chorus 2-

Just a story 2 - For the last time, take a good hard look.

Just like any regular banquets, there is always an ending to it. The smile never last long for the chicken. The duck didn't manage to find out what's the problem that caused the chicken to be pretty upset. Even when they finally met up again, all that the chicken said was, "I'm seriously ok."

Days passed.

The excited and happy feelings were slowly losing their spot. The chicken and the duck are slowly decreasing their hang outs to play too. Even if they do meet up at times, the topic would be on the new huge playground built by the farmer. The swings, the slides were among the few to be discussed.

The chicken will be exploring the new playground everyday, looking for her favorite section. Thus the topic for the duck to bring up to the chicken will have to be nothing but the new playground. They would just share their opinions on how's they feel towards each section of the playground.

On days when they didn't catch up with each other, probably they were having fun at a certain section of the playground. The new playground literally took their attention off the old games of police and thief and earthworm digging.

The big scale of the new playground is enough to keep one occupied for some very long time. The chicken was also getting busy with her personal work and stuff.

Slowly, the duck realized that he is not really that needed by the chicken anymore. On days when he feels that the chicken is down, he can't do much to help her too. Even though the duck is now a chicken, he is still unable to fully understand the chicken's thoughts and feelings. He started thinking if its time for him to leave for good.

One day, the chicken broke her leg again while she's playing with the slide in the playground. She has a history of fragile legs, and it's probably the 5th time she has broke her leg.

The duck saw her in bandages and a sad face hang around her. The chicken was upset that she couldn't go out during the day anymore. All she can do was to sit and rest for most of the day. Waking up everyday, hoping the injury is completely healed.

Seeing that the chicken is having a tough time coping with the boredom because of the in-house confinement caused by the injury, the duckie tried to cheer her up. Realizing that the chicken was very keen into the worms found high up in the tree trunk, he decided to get one for her.

So the duck went to search for the tree with the worms and made careful planning of methods to capture a worm for the chicken. After the plan was done, the duck decides to start his plan the next day. But when he got up the next day, he was down with fever. Nevertheless, he went on with his plans and managed to get a worm for the chicken.

The chicken was without doubt happy and surprised that the duck managed to capture the worm just for her. She thanked him and was reasonably touched for what he did.

After weeks of rehabilitation, it got back to the same. The only common topic among them was still the new playground. Slowly as the time passed, they have covered most of the discussions about all the sections of the playground.

The inevitable has to come someday. The duck know that nothing in this world is forever. And only by starting to let go things you know you will lose someday, it probably won't hurt you as much. But he just doesn't want to lose the chicken as a good friend.

As the days passed, the farm is slowly getting more and more crowded with new chickens. The chicken made new friends and started hanging out more with them. The hang out with the duck was almost cut down to zero.

To keep himself occupied, the duck volunteered himself to be part of the group to help the farmer to build a bigger trench for the ever increasing flock of chickens coming into the farm.

Whenever the duck is free from his work, he would just stay at the area where they used to play earthworm digging. But most of the time, he was not able to meet up with the chicken. He would just leave a mark on the ground hoping the chicken might just notice it.

The farm soon got really too big to be handle by the farmer alone. He decides to send some of the chickens to his friend's farm. So he did some random picks and the duck was one of those selected to be send over.

In a month's time, those hand-picked by the farmer will be deliver to the other farm. The banquet is drawing to an end soon.

The chemistry between the chicken and duck was slowly dying off. At times when they do pass by each other, it's just a simple, "Hi" or just a gentle smile.

The duck met a wise chicken while he's working out on the new trench, and he learnt something about being, "Too much".

It's not difficult to see that in this world, too much of everything is no good. May it be too much sugar, too much salt, too much work, too much play, they will probably be doing more harm to one.

Learning this fact, the duck decides to be less persistent over things in life. At the end of the day, what he wanted was just to see the smile hanging round the chicken's face. There are stuffs he would probably never be able to let the chicken know about it. And looking back at the thing he has done, he is just trying to be someone.

Just the day before the chickens was send to the other farm, the farmer told them, "For the last time, take a good hard look."

The duck stood far away looking at the chicken while she's playing at the playground. The beautiful smile was still there. Everything seems fine and well, but the only difference the duck could see, was that the duck wasn't the one there beside her smile.

Ending what he has started off, and that's just to see the beautiful smile on her face, he left the farm without biding goodbye, and left a note to the chicken...

Backstreet Boys - Climbing the Walls

Close your eyes, make a wish
This could last forever
If only you could stay with me, now
So, tell me what it is that keeps us from each other, now
Yeah, its coming to get me
You're under my skin

No, I can't ever let you go
You're a part of me, now
Caught by the taste of your kiss
And I don't wanna know the reason why I can't stay forever like this
Now, I'm climbing the walls cause I miss you

Take my hand, take my life
Just don't take forever
And let me feel your pain kept inside
There's gotta be a way you and I together, now
Yeah, it's coming to get me
You're under my skin

No, I can't ever let you go
You're a part of me, now
Caught by the taste of your kiss
And I don't wanna know the reason why I can't stay forever like this
Now, I'm climbing the walls cause I miss you

It's an illusion how can I feel this way
(If I can't have you)
It's an illusion nothing is real this way
(If I can't have you)

No, I can't let you go
You're a part of me, now
Caught by the taste of your kiss
And I don't want to know
The reason why I can't stay forever like this
Now, I'm climbing the walls cause I miss you

I can't let you go no
And I don't wanna know the reason why
I can't stay forever like this
Now, I'm climbing the walls cause I miss you

Stop Crying Your Heart Out

Hold up
Hold on
Don't be scared
You'll never change what's been and gone

May your smile (may your smile)
Shine on (shine on)
Don't be scared (don't be scared)
Your destiny may keep you warm

Cos all of the stars
Are fading away
Just try not to worry
You'll see them some day
Take what you need
And be on your way
And stop crying your heart out

Get up (get up)
Come on (come on)
Why're you scared? (I'm not scared)
You'll never change
What's been and gone

Cos all of the stars
Are fading away
Just try not to worry
You'll see them some day
Take what you need
And be on your way
And stop crying your heart out

Cos all of the stars
Are fading away
Just try not to worry
You'll see them some day
Take what you need
And be on your way
And stop crying your heart out

We're all of us stars
We're fading away
Just try not to worry
You'll see us some day
Just take what you need
And be on your way
And stop crying your heart out
Stop crying your heart out
Stop crying your heart out