A Long Good Talk

Thanks Hoi Man who talked to me about faith, life and relationship for 2 hours under the cold weather. You really helped me alot to think about just myself. Please take care of her and help her to go through her problems. She really needs friends to support her. Thanks God that He sent me an angel to talk to me and give me some insight. Now I will try to get closer and closer to God. I will leave the relationship behind me.

For the past 1 1/2 month, I really have to thank alot of brothers and sisters who helped me through my struggles. I will never forget you guys.

God, please let me be closer to you and understand you more everyday!

After all, I need to...

give up, let go and bury my love for her.

Merry Christmas

It was a wonderful Christmas night! Last night I joined my church to have the Christmas carol. It's actually my first time if not wrong. I even brought the acoustic guitar out! We gave gifts to the people on the street too.

Then we went back to church to worship! During the sermon God again tells me to wait and be patient. Yes many times I heard that but I just couldn't stop to think and react. Therefore I bumped into troubles alot in the last month. But thanks God, once again He reminds me that I need to learn to listen to him and follow his time line. It's not easy but I think this is the only exit for me now!

Last night was also a memorial night because I bought my church cell group friends to Mensheng bandroom. I told them the history for this place and we prayed for it. We prayed that God will use this place to glorify him and we prayed that my bandmates from Mensheng will open up their ears/eyes to hear/see the gospel through me and become Christian one day! God has his plan so I am relying on Him. At the same time, I have to be better and to let them to see my life, the life that Jesus saves.

Letter to You, God

Dear God,

Are you listening to me? I have been feeling sad for a long time now. I have no clue why she and I started the relationship at the first place, but I did think it was you God who put us together. Or maybe we didn't pray enough to clarify? Now that we aren't together and was it your allowance that we had to break up? I won't blame you God because it was our selfishness to break up. I blamed myself for not asking your permission. I also blame myself for having a stone-cold heart because she gave us chance before to get back but I refused. For the first 4 months after we broke up, we bumped at each other 5 times, every time I acted like nothing but deep inside I felt sad.

I met girls and I even dated them but when I got closer to them, I started to miss her more. I had to stop seeing those people because I knew it was her that I was so in love with. I looked at our pictures, movie clips and gifts but now those are only memories that couldn't be extended anymore.

And now reading her blog knowing she got unhappy because of someone (not me) from her past, I got jealous and even wondered why she would still be sad. I know she loved me but now she told me she was annoyed when she finally listened to my call last Sunday. Am I really that bad God? I know I have bad temper but why didn't she appreciate the good things I did for her? I never cheated on her like her exs did. I care for her so I would tell her the truth instead of of ignore her like her exs did. Yes, I treated her bad at times, cursed at her for few times and even hit her arm for one time, so that's the reason you let us apart? Now her love for me is dead. God, what's going on? I am not blaming her but she had every right to give up on me.

Someone said God gives us freewill while others suggest God has his plan. I don't know the answer because maybe I am not close enough to you God, but I am trying now! You know it's hard because I am afraid that the reason behind is her not you God. So please give me the strength because I am weak and I am lost. Help me to clear my mind that it was you that I want to rely on and nothing else. I hope that one day I will finally understand you.

Thanks,
Joe

New Baby from the Lee family

Issak Matteus Lee - was born on Tuesday December 11th @ 1:17pm (Toronto Time)

Scott and Ivy,

Congratulation to you guys! I am so happy to hear that the baby was born! God's amazing! I have witnessed a couple for over 10 years! I've seen you guys through the good and bad times. What an amazing story God had shown in your family. Scott, I wish you will get better and better everyday!

God bless,
Joe

God Answers

Last night at cell group, we talked about praying. These days I am trying to learn the true praying. God knows everything but He still wants to hear from us. Sometimes I am afraid to tell Him what I want because maybe I don't have enough faith or simply I am just too logical. The brothers from group told me that I can just pray from my heart because the holy spirit will lead me the way. I still hope that one day we can get back to each other; I know God listens and I think sooner I will know his answer more and more. No matter what's the outcome, I am sure He will give me the best thing that I can never think of.

Anyway, reading the bible today it seems like God answers me with this verse from Matthew 21:21-22

21:21 耶穌回答說：“我實在告訴你們：你們若有信心，不疑惑，不但能行無花果樹上所行的事，就是對這座山說：‘你挪開此地，投在海裡！ ’也必成就。
21:22 你們禱告，無論求甚麼，只要信，就必得著。”

(From http://www.chinesebible.org.hk/)
耶穌這樣說，那我豈不是祈求甚麼都可以得到？
21:22　這裡並不是保證只要我們向耶穌祈求並相信，就可以得到我們想要得到的一切，神不會應允那些會傷害我們或別人的祈求，及那些違反祂的本性和意願的事情。耶穌的話並不是一張“空白支票”。我們的祈禱必須與神國度的原則一致，我們的信心越強，我們的祈禱就越能符合神的旨意，神亦會很樂意應允這些禱告。

Matthew 18:35

18:35 你們各人若不從心裡饒恕你的弟兄，我天父也要這樣待你們了。

不是不想饒恕，只是內心總有點甚麼，不能釋然……你有甚麼辦法？
18:35　因為神已經寬恕了我們所有的罪，我們不應該不肯寬恕別人。既知道基督完全赦免我們，我們就可以自由地以寬容的態度去饒恕別人。不肯饒恕別人的，就是自高，並把自己置於基督的慈愛律法以外了。

Matthew 18:15-17

18:15 倘若你的弟兄得罪你，你就去趁著只有他和你在一處的時候，指出他的錯來。他若聽你，你便得了你的弟兄；
18:16 他若不聽，你就另外帶一兩個人同去，要憑兩三個人的口作見證，句句都可定準。
18:17 若是不聽他們，就告訴教會；若是不聽教會，就看他像外邦人和稅吏一樣

在心中計較著別人的錯，又不敢當面說清楚，反反覆覆，怎麼辦好……
18:15-17　這是耶穌給我們的指引，幫助我們面對攻擊我們的人。這些人可能（1）是基督徒，而不是非信徒；（2）偏偏得罪你；（3）在教會中引起衝突紛爭。耶穌說這話，並不是准許我們正面攻擊每一個傷害或藐視我們的人，也不是准許我們在教會散播謠言或進行教會審訊，這些教訓是為了使彼此不和的人能夠和好，以至所有信徒都可以和睦共處。當人觸犯了我們，我們往往會違反耶穌的吩咐，心中充滿怒氣和仇恨，要尋求報復或用言語來中傷觸犯我們的人。但照主的吩咐，我們應該到那人那裡去，一次又一次地原諒他（18:21-22）；這是極難做到的，但卻讓我們有更好的機會去建立良好的人際關係。

Thank You Guangzhou

I was too busy to update my blog! Finally I got some times to do it tonight!

First thing, a big thank you to the people who went to the show in Dec 1 at GZ. You guys were so supportive, energetic and passionate! I know that people in China won't be able to see this blog, but still I really want to thank y'all for supporting Mensheng. It really touched me because never in my life I would see crowd as supportive as you guys. We are a new band without much publicity but what I saw was all of you tried to give us all. Thanks!

Next, the show in Dec 31! It will be our last show in 2007 haha... Anyway, here's the detail:

噪音之門深圳搖滾音樂會

演出樂團:

深圳：异教、二叉樹、畢加索、曦子 、霍尔頓
香港：門生、戳麻
廣州：裂

演出地點：
深圳福田區上步南路根据地酒吧

演出時間：
2007年12月31日下午3點

門票：
現場票25元、預售票20元

預售票點：
現代音樂教室 0755-25470074
上步根据地 0755-83633533

A Special Dinner

Why a special dinner? Because tonight I got to share my story to a friend who is having some struggles in life. I can't believe how amazing God is because he used me to share with her. She's an ex colleague from my first job in HK 4 years ago. Her relationship problem is leading her to losing faith in God. God is so amazing because our dinner is on Wednesday night, but if the dinner is before Monday, I wouldn't have share the same thing to her.

So my friend I will pray for you and please give yourself to God.

God Love Me

Finally I see some lights in my life. Now I realize what God is doing on my life. I know that the new "Joe" is waiting ahead. Now I am going to build a strong relationship with God and fully rely on Him. With Him, I think I can go through all the struggles.

Again I have to thank all the brothers and sisters who talked to me and prayed for me.

Of course, I have to thank you God!

This coming Saturday, Mensheng will go to Guangzhou to play a show. It will be our first time to play outside of Hong Kong. We are very lucky to get this opportunity because Mensheng is such a new band that very little people have heard of. We still have a long way to go but again, thanks everyone who supports us.

Matthew 8:2-3

8:2 有一個長大痲瘋的來拜他，說：“主若肯，必能叫我潔淨了。”
8:3 耶穌伸手摸他說：“我肯，你潔淨了吧！”他的大痲瘋立刻就潔淨了。

8:2-3　痲瘋是一種可怕的皮膚傳染病，當時沒有治愈之法。人染上這種病，祭司就會正式宣告此人是痲瘋病人並把他遷出家園和城市，讓他與其他痲瘋病人一起生活，直到他痊愈或死去。當這個痲瘋病人哀求耶穌醫治他時，耶穌不怕他皮膚上那令人懼怕的病菌，伸手摸他。正如痲瘋病一樣，罪也是不治之症，而我們全都患上此病。惟有基督的撫摸和醫治才能奇妙地除去我們的罪，使我們復原。不過我們首先要像這個痲瘋病人一樣，先承認自己無能力醫治自己，並祈求基督的拯救和幫助。

Matthew 6

Started bible reading couple weeks ago, but seems like after a few days I would forgot. Anyway, talked to my group leader from church, he suggested me to read the New Testament first so here I am starting Matthew. Found these few lines which I should always remember:

6:14 你們饒恕人的過犯，你們的天父也必饒恕你們的過犯；
6:15 你們不饒恕人的過犯，你們的天父也必不饒恕你們的過犯。

6:34 不要為明天憂慮，因為明天自有明天的憂慮；一天的難處一天當就夠了。

A Better Man

It is too much a lesson to learn.

All the times I know that my temper has caused alot of troubles. No matter it's with my family, friends or my love. I know that I have upset them in a lot of ways. I am a control freak that I must scare alot of people away.

I know you probably don't want to be with me. I still hope that one day you will give me a chance.

God, please give me the strength to fix my problems. I don't know why I am such an angry person with too much the temper. Please release me and give me the peace of mind that I seek.

God, please make me a better man and please take care cching.

Loser

I lost you.

Hurt

We all go hurt by people around us. Sometimes I hurt you, sometimes you hurt me. We all think that we could be stronger but at the same times we could become weaker.

I am hurt.

Tire

Little thing she posted on the net could still got me! Why am I still have that missing feeling? I am mentally tire! Maybe I still miss her, I dont know!

The good thing is tonight I treated my best friend Murphy for his birthday. Due to my grandmom's funeral, I have to wait till today to get the chance to treat him. Can't believe we have met for over 25 years now. Wish you all the best Mur!

Confused, Upset and Angry

It has been 4 months that we broke up. Why would I got upset when I saw her blog saying birthday to someone and wishing that person sweet and happy, but at the end she had the hard feeling. Somewhat I got angry too because why would she missing that person? I think she didn't love me that much because even now she still couldn't get over that someone.

Muizi Video

This is an old video I took with my old mobile phone. You can see how lovely Muizi is. It's not easy to teach her the moves!

Hey, I am back...

I haven't updated my blog for over 2 months. Part of the reasons is that my computer was never home because I needed to use it for recording at the bandroom. After the recording, I was just too lazy to move it back till last night!

Now I just got home from my grandmother's funeral. I feel exhausted. Tomorrow we will go to the cemetery in the morning. It will be another long day.

Hi grandmom, I will see you again in heaven!

Thank You All

Back with the Number 10 Shirt

No More no.7...

Wearing back the no.10 shirt, Ronaldinho put on a good show against USA. He scored twice and led Brazil to beat USA 4-2.

I always think Ronaldinho is a guy who deserves the no.10 because he has been the best Brazilian player for few years. Not saying KaKa is not good but he just doesn’t have that flair, creativity that Ronnie has.

I hope that Ronnie will back to his highest form because we need guys like him in football.

New Job

Tomorrow will start my new job at Jardine House at Central. Hopefully things will turn out great this time. The work hour should be ok maybe some harsh OT during the peak season. Oh yeah, the company does mostly annual reports and newsletter for big corporate and small size company. For me I will just have to create the cover and the layout. Then the production team will insert the text.

It's Friday Night

Met Tsui and other guys for Tsui and Sze's wedding briefing. It's good to see that they are getting married. God's amazing because He put these two different people together, not only that, He also mold them into ONE. It's my honor to be Tsui's brother for the wedding! Can't believe that we have met for over 6 years. Add oil Tsui!

After the briefing, went back to bandroom to meet the MS guys. We talked about Mensheng's direction such as joinning the competiton, releasing a single, playing more and more shows etc. It's good that we all have the same direction which is to take this band as far as we can. I believe that we will be better and better as long as we work hard.

Dusk sent me this photo she took before the 8.18 show.

New Song

It feels good to write new songs and last night we wrote a new song! We just need more time to finish it up and adjust all the minor parts and details. So this new tune is a heavy one and I think it's gonna be interesting to play.

Twisted Sight

After the 8.18 Show

So thank y'all for coming to the show last night! It was awesome to see so many people turn up! I thank you all for supporting us! Last night Fish, Dusk and Apple sent me some photos and I picked some I like from them and to upload here to show u the MOMENT.

Finally 8.18

Finally it's 8.18 and we are ready for the show. It will be our first test. I think many of our friends will come and see. Anyway, I hope we will put up a great show for all of you.

Oh yeah the stickers are ready so we will hand them out. Make sure you will get one if you come see the show!

Good Night!!!

單純無辜像小孩的清徹眼神

A friend told me I have some sort of 單純無辜像小孩的清徹眼神. I really have no clue. I just guess maybe because I am a simple person without much ambition. Anyway , I do wish that inside I am as naive as a little kid because kids are always enjoying their life without worrying too much things happening around.

myspace.com/mensheng

So we finally uploaded two songs to http://myspace.com/mensheng

The recording session last quite long and finally we got to finish the recording. Actually there is still one more song to do but only the vocal recording. We will probably upload the 3rd song later this week. It was a tiring weekend but I really enjoyed every moment of it because I got to learn alot recording stuffs. Here I gotta thanks Chi and Zams who have taught me alot these few days! Thanks dudes!

So Let's Rock this world Mensheng!

8.3 and 7.21 Shows Photos

Mensheng 8.3 Show

8.18 Show Poster Ver.2

Mensheng Logo

Finally we got our logo done! Thanks to our guitarist Billy's mom who hand written both the Chinese and English words for us. She's pretty good isn't she? We all like this logo very much. The Strong Chinese with Lighter English really reflect our music style: heavy mix soft

Danny's New Bass

Went to Tom Lee with Danny to choose his new bass. After couple hours trying and playing, he bought the Ibanez MDB which is a signature series of Killswitch Engage bassist Mike D'Antonio. The bass looks pretty good it has a custom graphic on it. Danny, you gotta practice hard with this new bass because we need everyone to step up to push Mensheng to the limit!
http://www.ibanez.com/bass/guitar.aspx?m=MDB1

Finished watching 向左愛.向右愛 from icable. Good movie with a good story line. I think I really enjoy watching Korean movies.

Haven't slept well these few days so hopefully will have a good sleep tonight.

8.18 Show

Mensheng First Show

Tonight is the night! We Mensheng played our songs for the first time in the public. It's an unofficial show but still some friends end up coming to support! Thanks alot pal! We will do another unofficial show in 8/3. Then we will play our first official show in 8/18! It will be a wicked show because there will also be An Id Signal, Die In Velvet, Chock Ma, Tie Shu Lan. It will be a loud heavy show so if you enjoy this type of music, make sure you come to the Warehouse at Aberdeen!

Nothing Much

Haven't done much on 7/1. Just stay home with my dog Muizi and rest. Watched some movies and that's about it. Dog Bite Dog is a good movie. Edison really tries to work hard and be a good actor/singer. Before I went to sleep, watched Kill Bill 1 and what can you say, it's such a cool movie that you can go back to watch again and again to see some new things. So after this post I will watch the Kill Bill 2.

Got Fired

Not much to write these days because I have been quite busy until yesterday. I was fired from work. Why? Pretty simple because of the office politics. Anyway, It's a new day and I need to look up and be positive. Good is that they pay me an extra month to fire me. Actually if not they fired me, I would quit my job by the end of the year anyway cos I really don't like the people from my department. Just bunch of unprofessional people who play with their power and talk behind back. Oh yeah, why those people are like that? Simply because my manager is like that too. Anyway, when HR talked to me about my termination, I let them know what I saw from my department. Of course they know what happened but what can they do? Cos my manager has alot of power so everyone pays respect to her but do they really like her?

I told them next time they should hire a girl who gossip because being the only man in the department, I feel that they never let me to get into their circle.

So thanks for the money and firing me and I will get a better job!

Some update

It's been awhile I haven't updated my blog. Number 1 is that my home's internet connection was lost for some days. Then I was getting upset from work. Long story short, it's all because of relationship with the colleagues. I mean when you have to deal with a group of "8 pau" everyday, you get tire to work with them. Like a 2 hour internal department meeting. Over 1 hour of time they were talking about stupid stuffs. Then when your manager said you work slow compare to last designer, that also upset me because she has no clue about how much more work I am handling now. Then I got so sick that I hurt my lower back, got a flu and what? intestine pain AGAIN!!! Gosh I kept on going to the washroom back and forth.

Now my girlfriend cching complains I don't write about her anymore. She asked me why I would write about those "8 pau" but not her. I told her maybe in the future when I look back to my blog I remember those "8 pau" around me cos I know soon they will leave me or I will leave them. But to my gf, I think we are pretty stable now and I don't think we will leave each other. hahaha

Drum Tracks Finished

Finally we finished all the drum tracks. So 3 songs and 2 months spent, that's quite slow but oh well the guy is busy so nothing I can do. Now next will be the guitars, bass and vocal. Hopefully we can speed things up and get all these done by the end of next month. Well, at least the hardest part is finished. YEAH!!!

6.4

I will not forget the day.

"人道毀滅" 的真相 Truth behind Euthanasia

Please try to love your animals because they need love! When you try to get a pet, make sure you need to take care of it; otherwise, you are just like another murderer. I couldn't watch the whole movie clip because it disgusted me so much. It's not bloody but just imagine how painful those dogs are.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQLnJawo6k0

Beyond - 1986 台北 Live 誰是勇敢

One of my all time favorite Beyond songs! Enjoy!

Tested on miking the guitar cabinet

Last night went back to bandroom late with Billy. We tested on the mic recording on the Peavey 6505+. We tried different mic placement and finally we got one we liked. We used two SM57, one being close and the other one from far. Both of them are off the center of the speaker. As followed the suggestion by Chi, we put boxes on two sides of the cab. I think that helps to focus the sound being capture from the mics.

Friday we will try to finish drums tracking on the final song, then we can start recording bass and guitars. I can't wait no longer!

FUCK YOU 馬力

天安門母親：坦克輾學生有根據 查證2000多人死 要求馬力親自道歉

「六四」後與丁子霖一起蒐集死難者名單的「天安門母親」運動代表人物張先玲，其子王楠當年遇難時只有19歲。身在北京的她昨日接受本報電話訪問時，對馬力的言論表示憤慨，直斥馬力「為六四屠城辯護」、「污衊死難者」。她說，死者家屬至今已查證2000多人死於六四，部分人是被坦克壓死，有根有據，她要求馬力立即親自解釋和道歉。

對於馬力質疑坦克輾過學生的說法，張先玲說：「我們蒐集的名單裏就有好幾個被坦克壓死的，其中有一個活着的安徽人叫方正，雙腿被坦克壓斷，目前人在合肥，他（馬力）怎麼能說沒有呢？在（北京）五棵松，很多目擊者都告訴我，有人死在馬路上，像紙一樣，當時是用鐵鏟把屍體剷起來的，難道這不是慘無人道嗎？」

「須實事求是 不能為組織出賣良心」

70歲的張先玲語氣嚴厲說：「民建聯左也好，右也好，這個我們不管，我個人不參與政治，但你必須要實事求是，你不能為了你的組織，而把良心出賣！」她說，民建聯要道歉可以，但必須馬力本人道歉，「我們說話都是有根有據的，我們說死了2000人左右，絕不是信口雌黃，名錄裏記載得很清楚，馬力根據是什麼？」

張先玲說，香港有教師在學校和學生討論六四，「這是好事」，即使細節不大相同，但至少把這個歷史事實講給下一代知，才能避免重蹈覆轍。她說，今年是「六四」18周年，一批六四死難者母親會像往年一樣，相聚悼念孩子，她希望有關部門不要干擾。

王丹倡馬力親試驗坦克壓肉餅

身在美國的八九民運人士王丹回覆本報電郵查詢時批評，馬力說法是喪盡天良，「對於這種人，不期待他會道歉」。他重申，有關市民被坦克輾成肉餅，當年有相為證，並有很多相關書籍引用，他說：「如果馬力不信，他自己可以躺到坦克車下面，如果沒有變成肉餅，我向他道歉！」

王丹說，當年中共主要在長安街上殺人，因此廣場內的學生能撤出，但這不代表別的地方沒有死人。他又不滿馬力以豬作比喻來說明當日的死難者，並指馬力若有宗教信仰，難道不怕下地獄嗎？

Intestine

Seems like I update my blog weekly now! I guess I just don't have much time to update as much as before. Though it's still good to write and to share some of my thoughts and stuffs happen to me.

Finished another song's drum tracks few days ago, so one more song to do then we can start to track other instruments. Beside, we can return all the mics for the drums and not to concern the mic placement. In the same time we can start writing new songs.

This week has been quite good except that 2 days ago I got intestine inflammation. It was probably the bad preserved dry mango from bandroom. However, Pak To also had it but he'e fine. Anyway, Saturday morning around 4am I got awaken from the pain. I couldn't go back to sleep and I was in pain continuously. So I had to go see the doctor when they open. The doc gave me an injection and some medication. So my whole Saturday afternoon I was home sleeping and resting. What a waste! Now I feel better but I still can't eat much except some congee and white bread.

Paul Let's Fight Show

The show last night was great. I guess round 2 (on the 12th) was better than round 1. Great to help my friends during the show. It's my pleasure to be able to help out in any way when it comes to music. Got to meet Paul and talked a bit. It's good to know that his pressure is now off since the ticket sales were pretty good. I hope that by doing this, we can together make the music scene more diverse and healthy. I hope this show will become an annual festival like the Ozzfest, Family Value Tour and etc. So let's fight!!!

Busy Busy

Just got home and finished the shower. It's 3am now and my hair is wet so I will wait a bit then go to sleep. These days I am so busy from work as I need to go to all citysuper stores to have photo shooting. Just to imagine that I need to get up so early in the morning and then shoot photos for like 4, 5 hours straight. So now we completed two stores and still have 5 more locations to go. It's a good project because I can learn alot from the photographer also I know more about the company now!

After work today I went to bandroom for recording. While waiting for Pak To for the drums session. I accidentally locked myself outside the room. Gosh, I was just wearing a tee and boxer. My phone, pants and money were all inside the room. So I went down to call Pak To to ask him to rescue me.

So the click for song 1 is done now. It's quite a complicated song with lots of tempo/time signature changes. I think this is a fun song to play. Hopefully we can nail down the drums tracks this week. We are so behind!

Finished Drums for Song 2

Yesterday finally finished the drums tracks for song 2. Took quite a long time to finish since we want to get the best as we can. So now we are going to record song 1 and hopefully we can get this song done quicker.

Raptors are down 1-3 to the Nets. I still have hope for the team because I believe that they can still win the next game when they play at home. But now Raps gotta take one game at a time. Anyway, I think this team is going to be a championship team because we have all the right people. Go Raptors Go!!!

Weekend

This weekend it's alright! On Friday I bought the Line 6 UX-1 with Kat. I still haven't got it running because I need to get some cables and etc. I am excited with this new toy because I can start recording some demo or guitar riffs whenever I have some new ideas. After dinner with Kat and her friend Tommi, went back to bandroom to record drums for Pak To. Billy showed up too!

Then on Saturday I met up Jessie at night for a band show at HK Baptist University. I saw some friends there as usual. When we got there we saw the last song of Hard Candy. They are going to experimental! Then it's An Id Signal, Los En Found, Blackwine and Sea Monster. The sound there wasn't that good and I think one of the speakers died down too. We didn't finish the show cos we needed to go to TST to Gabe's tattoo store. Yeah Jessie is getting a huge tattoo with a Chinese lady and snake all across her back! I can't wait to see when she gets it done! I also talked to Gabe that I wanna do a tattoo of my hero Ka Kui. So I am going to do some sketches and compositions now. After that I went to meet up lowee and her friend to drink at CWB. It was so cool that I got to meet some new friends. Hey to my new friend Ugine! YOU CAN ALWAYS CHANGE YOUR LIFE!!!Went to church on Sunday morning after few hours to sleep. It was tiring and the sermon was soooo long! Sometimes I think when the sermon is too long it's hard to digest! It's been over 2 months that I haven't been to church and I gotta go back because I dont want to lose my faith again! At night we had some big chinese dinner to celebrate my Uncle 1 birthday! Again, I protested not to eat shark fin!

One last thought, I wonder if one day I can become a vegetarian.

pakkin.blogspot.com

Found an article from pakkin.blogspot.com which is about HK singer Kay. I read it and I think Pakkin had a very good point on Kay's pregnancy.

http://pakkin.blogspot.com/2007/01/kay.html

Retreat

Come back from the retreat in Mui Wo. It was good because all the brothers and sisters got to sing, share, being silly in the retreat! Can't believe that we were singing alot of the 80s songs at night. Of course the worship part was great because we got to choose our favorite worship songs to sing and sing LOUD!!!

We also did some great thing on the 2nd day as we went to visit and elderly home. I saw that an old lady she didn't have much smile on her face. After we sang a few songs, I saw tears came down from her face as she went on to wipe her eyes. At the last song, I can see smile on her face after some prayers with the elders. Good job Tsui to organize this surprise event at the end of the day.

All the G-ONE bros and sis, let's work hard toward our goal!

April 7

It's my birthday today and can't believe that last year ran so fast! I enjoyed last year alot because my band finally completed the line-up and we worked hard together! Then I got a decent job at city'super. Even though I had alot ups and downs with cching but we are still happily together. Barcelona is still on the top of the league! My family are doing good so I guess I really have to thank God for giving me alot over last year. I hope that I can do more since I am a year older now.

Chi helped us to set up the recording stuffs at the bandroom today! He will also help us to record our demo. I hope we will have time to record 3 songs in April. We have some expectation but we are not going to put pressure on Chi. Anyway, thanks man for helping us out!

All the brothers from Mensheng, let's rock!

cching

We are back together after some times of separation. We had some serious talks on Sunday night and we are trying to work things out now even though there are still some unknown and concerns.

Thanks everyone who has talked to me! I know you guys must be tired always hearing our problems but yeah, really thank you all!

Friends

Feel good to see some good old/new friends.

Thursday went to Wan Chai to find Kapooo and to have dinner with her. After the dinner went to her office to check out her design works and etc. Nice to hear that Kapooo is going to UK to study some styling/make up class! It's an 1 year diploma so I think it will be a good experience to live aboard.

On Friday I had dinner with Fiski at TST! It's good for us to talk about music and relationship stuffs! Add oil Fiski because I feel so happy that you and Billy are together! Work hard for this! BTW, thanks for teaching me some recording thingy!

Saturday got to meet up Jessie from myspace! What a cool person she is! Brought her to have some local "cha chan tang" at Central then went to HMV and Records Rendezvous (http://rendezvous.com.hk) to check out music. After some coffee times we went to Gabe's Ace Dragon Tattoo to check out! Jessie put down some deposit for her upcoming tats!

My friend Ki is now helping out at Gabe's store! He's the singer for the band Entwine (http://www.myspace.com/entwinehk) so check out their music! Work hard my friend and one day you will get to do me some tattoos!

Give Hime Back the No.10 Shirt

Maybe Dunga is playing a mind game to Ronaldinho. First by not letting him to start for Brazil, then now instead of giving him his usual no.10 shirt, Dunga gave him the no.7 I hope the reason behind it is that he's trying to motivate Ronaldinho to become even better! For all of you who don't know what's meaning to wear the no.10 shirt for Brazil. I can tell you all the best players in each Brazilian team usually wear that no.10 shirt. Pele, Zico, Riverlino and Ronaldinho wore that in 2006 World Cup.

Ok here's the article taken from fcbarcelona.com

釣勝於魚

Learn this Chinese phrase from my friend Fish: 釣勝於魚
Hope all of us will have our dreams come true!

似水流年

Listening this song over and over! What a good song.

似水流年 - 梅艷芳

曲︰喜多郎
詞︰鄭國江
編︰黎小田

望著海一片滿懷倦　無淚也無言
望著天一片　只感到情懷亂
我的心又似小木船　遠景不見　但仍向著前
誰在命裡主牢我　每天掙扎　人海裡面
心中感嘆　似水流年　不可以留住昨天
留下只有思念　一串串永遠纏
浩瀚煙波裡我懷念　懷念往年
外貌早改變　處境都變　情懷未變

Alone at the Room

12:19am
I am feeling sad. Realizing that this is the end, I feel down. I know that it's just a matter of time but somewhat I am not used to. It's weird cos I thought I wouldn't have much feeling, but no. Specially when I am by myself, I will think about you.

Is It The End?

Looks like we are hitting a dead end. Not so much a return this time?

最後的旅程

最後的旅程

作者：張釗維 / 1999-08-12

六月初，我又來到香港。在離開簇新龐然的赤臘角新機場之後，我開始尋找前往山的另一邊的公車站牌。推著沈重的行李裡裡外外繞了一圈，終於找到了。車子隨即出發，離開機場後，沿著僅容一車的狹小公路，彎彎曲曲、上上下下地繞了一個鐘頭，總算抵達我的目的地：梅窩。

才剛把行李弄下車，就看到黑鳥樂團的主唱郭達年向我衝過來，咭式（郭達年的愛人同志、黑鳥的bass 手）推著腳踏車跟在後面。我想：這麼巧！我是來找他們的。但是他上氣不接下氣地跟我說：「啊！你及時趕到，船快開了，我們要趕去旺角的練團室排練！」於是 我連忙將行李寄放在碼頭旁的一家士多 store（老闆的女兒是咭式小提琴家教班的學生），只抓了攝影機就跟他們買票上船了。

我是來拍攝今年六四的十週年音樂祭活動的，黑鳥是活動的催生者之一。一如往昔，他們自己找器材、搞場 地、弄宣傳、找空檔排練，一切 DIY。這天下午，我跟著他們到練團室跟鼓手彼得小話會合；排練完之後，與彼得小話分開，趕往影印傳單。接著搭公車去新界跟朋友借音箱；在下班的塞車時間 當中，花了一番工夫找了輛小發財運回旺角的小辦公室寄放之後，稍事休息，又步行到廟街去找小販，購買舞臺裝置用的煤氣燈。

入夜，拖著疲憊的身子再搭一小時的船回到梅窩，郭達年跟我說：「本來晚上還要在家裡跟咭式排練的，但是今天太累了，所以要延到明天早上才排練。」

在這一天的下午，我如影隨形地跟著他們，親眼看到了一個堅持一切靠自己與朋友的支持，而不願投向文化 工業或官方文化單位懷抱的樂團，是怎樣在運作的。或許你會問：花了這麼多時間與精力去做原本是唱片公司或娛樂公關公司的宣傳、製作助理…等等一拖拉庫工作 人員該做的事，那他們有時間去創作、去練習嗎？他們的音樂會好嗎？

兩天之後，音樂祭結束後的隔天，在對郭達年的訪問當中，他理直氣壯地指出：「這就是生活，我們的音 樂，反應的是這生活的過程，而不是一個被完成的作品。在民間，這種完成了的作品幾乎不存在，只有在商業市場裡才有。」也因此，他根本就不會刻意要去練琴， 或者是為創作而創作，「我們只有演出前才練習，因為我們要自己負擔錢及時間…有一種censorship是：我還沒排練好，不去唱：很多朋友的夢因此就不 見了。黑鳥就是不接受！我們在有限的資源之內盡力去做，完成以後，頂天立地，如果你不喜歡，沒關係！！」

雖然郭達年對這樣的生活與音樂的結合，有著堅定的信念，但是，對於外界，特別是年輕朋友，屢屢要以音 樂美學的標準來要求黑鳥，他仍然是耿耿於懷。去年，《暴風雨前》這張專輯出版之後，有個年輕人寫e-mail給他們，覺得詞曲都非常好，但是唱得太爛了。 對於這樣的批評，郭達年懇切地給了回應，解釋黑鳥的音樂與生活理念。

但是，從這樣的反應裡，他同時也感受到一種危機。對他來講，現在的年輕人受到資本主義文化的影響太大 了，這對搖滾文化來說是一個最大的傷害；過去6、70年代，有許多中立的發行管道﹐任何音樂人或樂團都有發聲的自由、權利、空間與傳播機會；受到歡迎，就 有可能大紅大紫，沒什麼人聽，也沒關係：整個搖滾文化的氛圍，還是會鼓勵人們自主而自在地用他們自己想要的方式----不管是傳統的或前衛的、精緻的或粗 製濫造的，去表達他們的想法與情感。但是演變至今，現在的文化工業，一一既壓制又收編地馴服了各種「另類」的管道與聲音，這過程中逐漸篩選出一些制式的、 典範式的美感標準。過去任意發聲的可能性消失了，而籠罩在當代無遠彿屆之文化工業底下的年輕人，不但因此越來越缺乏真正的、對另外一種聲音的體驗與欣賞能 力，反而用文化工業所炮製出來的美感標準----即便它是「另類的」----來要求黑鳥，甚且認為他們不尊重聽眾（的美感經驗）。對於這種徹底被邊緣化的 感覺，郭達年說：「感到壓力很大。」

但是，壓力再大，黑鳥走了近20年，也撐過來了；未來，還是可以走下去吧？！

「….今年的這張專輯，可能是以黑鳥為名所做的最後一張作品了。」郭達年望著窗外，無限感慨地這樣告 訴我。我瞠目結舌，幾乎說不出話來。我知道，這大多是因為彼得小話決定在秋天離開居住了二十多年的香港，搬到他血緣上的母國----英國----去定居的 緣故，但還不至於讓黑鳥完全停擺吧？！鼓手有那麼難找嗎？

我帶著疑惑與無法釋懷的情感回到台灣，在之後繁忙的工作中，仍不時會想起郭達年的這番話。直到前幾天，收到他們即將來台灣演唱的消息，新聞稿上寫著：「這是黑鳥最後的巡迴演出….」

在感傷之餘，我仍然在思索著我的疑惑。我想，對黑鳥這樣的樂團來說，要找一個鼓手，恐怕不是像更換卡 式墨水匣或抽換抽取式硬碟那樣容易。多年來，彼得小話幫黑鳥打鼓，但他並不認為自己是黑鳥的成員，而是把這樣的參與視為參加一個音樂上的長期合作計畫。彼 得自己另外有屬於他自己的音樂與劇場作品，自己的美學觀，以及自己的文化、社會與政治觀念；他與黑鳥之間雖然接近，但又不盡相同。就我的觀察，簡單地講， 彼得像是無政府主義中的人文主義者，對藝術創作的養成有較高的美學要求，而黑鳥則是深受左派影響的無政府主義者，他們對美學的看法一如前面所提到的。

這樣的合作模式，在西方或者是日本的搖滾文化氛圍裡，或許不難構成；但是在香港，乃至在整個華人地區，恐怕是要經過長時間的考驗才能成形。更何況，這樣的合作伙伴，在今天，恐怕是越來越難找了。

朋友告訴我，一個樂團解散，是常見的事，無須太感傷；黑鳥走完這一段，絕對有它歷史性的成就了。但是，對我來說，歷史還沒有過去，它還在繼續當中；少了具有標竿地位的黑鳥，這段未來歷史的空缺，我們要如何來填補？

PS.黑鳥亞洲最後的演出：8/27無殼蝸牛十週年紀念嘉年華

《香港Xiang Gang》

Player Festival

（本文為SMOOV第4期《唱片箱》的全文。）

大家都可能看過這張合輯：唱片名字喚作《香港Xiang Gang》，在黑白的唱片封套上陳列著Eugene Pao、Powerpak、Tats Lau、Beyond和Ancient這5個音樂單位；唱片是80年代中旬香港樂隊潮爆發前的「地下」產物，當年只作黑膠唱片發行，一直以來從沒有以任何形式再版。所以這儼如一張「傳說中」的唱片。

何以會有《香港Xiang Gang》這張合輯的出現呢？那要追溯到當年的《結他雜誌》(Guitar & Players)以及他們所舉辦的《Player Festivel》音樂比賽。

《結他雜誌》是在1977年由黑鳥樂隊主將郭達年所創辦的本地音樂刊物，由70年代過渡至80年代，曾屢次停刊與復刊。在80年代，他們與《音樂一週》、《搖擺雙週刊》分庭抗禮，但有別於後兩者，《結他雜誌》是較傾向「樂手雜誌」的姿態，故深受樂手／Band友歡迎。

1983年，《結他雜誌》主辦《Player Festivel》樂隊比賽，第一屆的參賽者包括有第一代的Beyond、首支樂隊DLLM解散後單飛發展的Tats Lau劉以達等等。結果由Beyond勝出，奪得「最佳樂隊」獎項。

縱然《Player Festivel》只曾曇花一現，但深資的樂迷都該會認同：日後以較大規模與高調舉辦的《嘉士伯流行音樂節》樂隊比賽，正是《Player Festivel》的延續。

《Player Festivel》不僅是一個樂隊比賽，同時也要覆行「音樂出版」的任務，把比賽的得獎及優異音樂單位紀錄下來，為那個時代留下烙印。

同樣是83年，郭達年挑選了5組《Player Festivel》的得獎及優異音樂單位，把他們帶到Studio A，每個單位灌錄兩首作品(除了Eugene是在美國收錄之外)，《香港Xiang Gang》合輯就是這樣衍生。

一張《結他雜誌》自資印製出版的獨立出品，《香港Xiang Gang》從外到內都散發著一種粗糙而樸實無華的感覺。連黑膠唱片的Centre Label上的「香港」、「Xiang Gang」以及A/B面字樣，也是原始地用人手以蓋章蓋上，而非印刷品。

5個音樂單位，風格各具異稟，有Prog Rock / Art Rock有Fusion有Synth-Pop，其音樂包容性比後來的《嘉士伯》更豁達。

《香港Xiang Gang》的傳奇性，是這5組音樂單位當中，乃孕育了不少未來的知名樂手出來。除了大家熟悉的Beyond和其後組成了達明一派的劉以達之外， Powerpak的領隊David Ling Jr.成為了著名的幕後製作人，而低音結他手Eddie「蛇仔」則組成了太極，Johnny ‘Boy’ Abraham為本地的知名鼓擊手；而包以正Eugene Pao更加蜚聲國際級爵士樂手之列。

當年的《香港Xiang Gang》，記載了這5組Players的初生之犢，大家都玩得多漂亮。

Got Sick Got Mad Got Wrong

Not much nice thing happened since the Chinese New Year. Urine infection and eyes got infected too. Still not 100% healed yet so hopefully soon I will be alright again. It hurts so much when you pee with pain. It may be some internal problem, well will find that out later when I have my blood test. Then got in a fight with cching and her brother. It was stupid because I lost my cool. I gotta stop swearing at people because it's just wrong to do. I don't know why my temper has gone worse again. These days seems like I couldn't manage my anger and always got upset with stuffs.

A Sad Story

Read the news and found this sad story. I can't believe that machines is more than a body part and specially it's from your love one.

【明報專訊】巴基斯坦一名農夫為了買拖拉機，要求醫生將妻子的腎臟割掉出售。妻子一直懵然不知，直至身體不適求診時才發現右邊的腎不知所終。

22歲的薩菲亞04年嫁給艾哈邁德，結婚3個月後，她便因被丈夫毆打及流產被送往醫院。丈夫伺機要求醫生將她其中一個腎臟割掉。她憶述﹕「他送我到醫院藉口治病，其實是割腎，我當時完全不知道。」後來，她因為生病求診，才發現腎臟不見了 回家質問丈夫，艾哈邁德才承認割了她的腎轉售，並將賣腎得來的9000港元買了一部二手拖拉機。

薩菲亞將此事告訴父母，父母逐召開長老大會。艾哈邁德承認指控，但最後只需道歉了事，沒有受罰。在巴基斯坦，不少醫院僱用代理到鄉村游說人們出售器官。

星期日電訊報

Achilles Tendon

My left achilles tendon was hurting pretty badly over the weekend. Though after putting on some cream and taking some medication, the inflammation and swelling have gone better. For anyone who doesn't know me well. I injured both my achilles tendons. My left one was injured about 13 years ago during a basketball game. Then 2 years ago I injured my right one also from playing basketball. So therefore I am pretty much not wanting to play ball as much now. Well, that's life!

Anyone who want to know more about achilles tendon,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilles_tendon

Take care y'all and enjoy your valentine's day!

Media

Read something today and think it's good to share with you guys!

梁麗娟博士認為現今香港傳媒變得性氾濫有不同原因，其一是傳媒與社會同樣過分講求利益，「一位學生曾訪問某報紙的總編輯，『為何貴報那麼少報道道德性議題？』那編輯的回答竟是，『如果道德可以賣錢，我們也可以很道德。』」這反映傳媒的道德力量單薄，在金錢掛帥下，社會責任亦要讓位。另外，她又指出傳媒喜歡將人性的弱點無限放大，尤其是性方面，為風化案大造文章便是其中一個例子。她慨嘆這些不良現象為社會帶來嚴重的代價，例如令人對婚姻和承諾缺乏尊重、婚外情及單親家庭等問題日漸嚴重以及教會、學校和家庭的道德權力受到衝擊等。不過，她亦以約翰福音十七：14-15勉勵信徒，要繼續實踐教會的文化救贖使命，「我們是在世界生活，但並不屬於這個世界。不要與這世界同流合污，我們應該分別為聖，指出它的不義之處。」

For more, please check www.christiantimes.org.hk

Benny

Our vocal Benny's birthady is on this Friday so let's see what we are going to do to celebrate his big day! Man you gotta start writing lyrics if we are going to do shows in May.

Pak To

Pak To, our drummer is getting married on Saturday! We brothers have bought the same shirts and ties to make us look good for the wedding. It's purple shirt with white tie and I think they look good together.

Chris Bosh

iPhone

http://www.apple.com/iphone/phone/
How nice is it!!! Man, it will come out in 2008 and I am sure so many people will be crazy for it. I guess I will be one of them.

The Passage of Song Three

we all know our problems but many times we are afraid to break through. Then when we decide to take a step, we struggle and feel lost; however, if we keep on trying and competing, we can one day escape our darkness and see the light.

Family Reunion & Mesa Boogie

We have some big family reunion over this weekend. It was good to see all the cousins, aunts and uncle (well, most of them as some are still in oversea). I wonder when we will have everyone gather together. I hope that one day it will happen!

Ok, I have got some new toys! dung dung dung dung...

Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Head and 4x12 Traditional Cabinet. Yeah! Well, I have to borrow some money to get them since they are 2nd hand. HOWEVER, they are only 2 months old and played under 10 times. So you can say they are pretty new. Just like you buy new from Tom Lee. Anyway, it's a very good deal that I got! Played it last Friday in the bandroom and wow it's powerful! I sold the Marshall 1960B cab to another buyer, he's a cool dude and also the middle man helping me to get the Mesa head and cab. Anyway, I really like the Mesa cab! Awesome.

For my old 6505+ head, I sold it to our guitarist Billy since he needs an amp head! He actually wants to get the 6505+ too.

We have finished around 70% of our 4th song! Hopefully we can finish it at the end of the month so that we can start to write a new song next month.