319am. Thats the time i start to write this. My mind keeps me awake. Just like how a baby is pretty much like a ticking time bomb in the house, once it wakes up, u pretty much have to wake up altogether now, and carry it around and then u find yourself awake already. Therefore ....My mind is like a baby?? ANYWAY... At first i was sleeping very well, then my mind literally woke me up (darn u Mr mind). I would start thinking of things, hopping from topic to topic (I wonder what i need for my new room,hey i need a lot of shelves hey we need a washer i wish i had a longboard Is Israel still bombing When should i buy my books I am glad i didnt buy the car I wonder if the engine on the plane DID blow up would i die from the explosion in my face or the drop from altitude 2billion feet from the sea or killed by the others,WAS there a terrorist on the plane??? Gee i'll never know...)
So thurs night i woke at 130am, Fri night 3am, Sat night 5am Sun morn! 9am Mon night......1am... Tues night.....319am...
I think i should sign up as a night security guard. My body seems to tell me, nay, my MIND seems to tell me i dun need that much sleep. If only that were true. Only need 4 hours sleep per day. That be my mutant power. 4hourman!! Ok, maybe not.
So here's what we're doing today. Chrissy, Gloria, Pat and myself are gonna go to RockStar Supernova at 845am (means leave the house 7am, and i'm driving Chris' Beetle, ugh girly girly!, lime green plus flowers, i'd better wear shades...) Then go to Universal studios to get tickets for the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and attend the live taping at 4pm, then at night 8pm Gloria wants to see Andrea perform at Zephyr coffeehouse.
omg...theres actually a little hole to put flowers in a VW Beetle.
What a long but fun day!
So i decided NOT to buy the car
I had lunch with Mariko and Chris at Sam Woo's yesterday. Amazing HK food.Lunch Specials are 2.99. Yes yes, i can hear u say "OMG...He's eating Asian food again!" Anyway. So we talked about the car situation and we pow-wowed abt it. It made sense. It could be a good deal on the car,but its above what i wanted to pay for a car. Same theory of 1 shirt for $15, 2 for $25, would u buy 2? Becos i didnt need to, and i could save the cash first.Cash is power. And Mari made a good point abt spending some money to fix up this current car, while taking my time to look for a better car, with more research and less pressuring this time. Good call. So i called AAA to tow the car to the mechanic. It might cost even $1000, but at least its not $3600. And someone reminded me about having good stewardship of my money. God can bless u with riches, but can He trust you with it?
I was so tired today. Eyes just so tired. Maybe its the air. Californian air is dry. My eyes feel like rubber (Eeww, i actually grossed myself out).
I saw an ad today about this car...
1997 Chrysler Sebring Convertible
Was going for $2800. Kelly Blue Book posted the value at "Fair" (other than Good and Excellent) at abt $3400. I thought it was a good deal. So i had to find a ride.
Thank God for Andrea, she's amazing. She was so willing to loan me her car to drive down to Whittier (30mins) to check out the car.
So i checked the car and thought it was pretty pimpin. I liked it. The seller was a Romanian guy, clean cut good looking soccer player look. We got on pretty well and was soon talking about our horrid experiences as Internationals in the US. He was a nice guy, price was good, car looked good (though the Chrysler brakes are pretty tough, u need to jam it reeeal had) But i had to be sure.
I sent it to a nearby mechanic and had it checked. Turns out.... Lots of oil leaks, a couple of problems. Though the car is absolutely driveable and not likely to break down tomorrow (or after i drive it out of the garage), these things are there. So i needed to jnow the damage, how much to fix it up. Everything, $1500. But the minimum to fix (like oil leaks etc) $790. And george (the seller) wouldn't budge on the price cos he thought he was selling it waay low already. And there were other interested parties.
I couldn't make a decision. I had to leave first and get back to him.Plus, I needed to return Andrea the car.
Here's the weiiird thing. I prayed and asked God if it's His will, bless the whole process. I even boldy asked Him for a sign ( i usually dared not, becos sometimes u confuse yourself too). I told Him "God if it's your will, let him drop the price a little, and let there be peace in my heart about this car."
George didnt want to budge about the price. Cos he had calls while we were checking out the car, and people who tested the car before called him back. Then, as we parted ways, he said he would drop it $100 if i wanted it.
Sigh. A sign or not a sign? I would then have to spend $1500 to fix it now? God? How? $2700+$1500 ?
Thats why i dun like to ask God for a sign. Cos even when He shows me, i cant read it, or read it wrong or choose to think otherwise. Sigh.
The car might even be gone by morning already. (Do you know its 444am now??)
Mental note: new prayer. Pray that if the car IS meant to be, then let it still be avail tomr morning. Stefan, you're hopeless. Then if its gonna be available, what next stefan? "Let the Romanian guy mention my IC number (Which would be virtually impossible for him to know) AND in Cantonese, AND in rap,...............then i know its a sign and i will buy the car."
Go slap yourself to sleep stefan.
PS, can you tell me Blogging HTML Skills have improved?
OI! You read here you better say hi in the chatbox ah! Or else u have to pay ah!
I was almost in tears when i came back. No one will really understand why i feel so much happier when i am in the US.It's tough for people to understand and hard for me to explain. But let's just keep it that way.
On the way to Taipei (where i lay over for 1 hour), i had the window seat, and there was no one on my right but a HUGE man on the isle seat. So it was me - empty chair - HUGE MAN at isle seat. Its like having a ferrari in Singapore. (Ok,this one's a real weird analogy). It's like you can pretty much zoom so much quicker to anywhere in Singapore, but u still have to be restricted and stopped by traffic.
I mean, i have all this space now, but i still have to WAIT for Mr Andre the Giant to close his laptop/try to find the seat belt buckle lost in his fats/unbuckle that with his fat fingers/pull himself out of the seat (i swear i hear a "SHWWOORP!" sound like u pop a cork of a wine bottle)/struggle 3 times to stand up/stand up to avoid slamming the other people with his massive butt,
THEN after all that, can i go to the bathroom. Same process for me coming back (it takes about a good 15mins to stand there waiting for this whole procedure to take place u'know?), EXCEPT the coming back I MYSELF have to watch from being slammed by his massive butt. Sorry, he was just huge. HUGE.
Once again, i just simply LOVE flying.
The Engine
I sat next to the left engine this time. I've always had seats next to the wing, which pretty much covers whatever already little view i have of the outside. And i strangely (and responsibly) skim my eyes through the exterior of the engine, as if i was anywhere close to knowing what i was looking for, to make sure that everything looked fine.If not, i wanted to be the hero guy that went "Excuse miss stewardess ma'am, i think theres something wrong with the engine and maybe you should take a look at it".
But even when the engine looked beautiful on the exterior, i just stare at it everytime i look out, like i was hoping i'd be the first one with the front row seats to catch the first sight when the engine explodes in midair. So when we all end up in the hospital, the press can come ask me, and i will be the ONLY one who could tell them stuff like "At first there was smoke from the upper lefter bolted section (my version of airplane technical language) and then sparks from the C2-5LP5SG (again) and then it just blew up!" Wow, THEN they'll understand me. I'd shed such light on the investigation.
"People say i watch too much LOST"
This is pretty much where i sat. I was that close.
So for all you similar Singapore Airlines fans, ( i dunno if it's already been there), but i noticed a new change in the "stuff" in front of you when u sit.
1) New side screen holders. (I basically use it to put the plastic wrapping they wrap EVERYTHING they give me, blanket, headphones, toothrush, fork/spoon, sheesh).
2) That little cup holder. Now i dun have to pull the whole tray down just to place my tiny cup down. It was handy.
3) Now u can pause / start from beginning / fast forward / rewind every movie or tv show u are watching on your personal screen. Thats cool. It's handy when they INTERRUPT YOU WITH DRINKS EVERY MINUTE! "Would you like a drink sir?" "Would you like peanuts sir?" "Would you like the Asian or western lunch sir?" "Would you like me to stop interrupting you sir?" "Sir?" "Sir?" "Sir sir sir sir sir sir sir?" "Hullo Sir?" "So would you like me to stop sir?" "Sir?" "Sear?" "Sere?" "Snake?" "Sire?" "Majesty-ness?"
4) New games and new tv shows now. I watched Mission Impossible III, Shes the Man, Over the Hedge, Stick It, Simpsons, Futurama, and some video-mentary about Maroon 5. The rest of the time was interrupted by stewardesses.
Eva Air has Hello Kitty painted on their plane. No wonder planes get shot down by missiles by "accident"
For Cleveland, Ohio-based artist Derek Hess, life is nothing but a series of lines – connected by color and explained by perspective – that offer both the questions and the answers. Since he was a child, entranced by the escapades of Captain America, while inspired by the works of Gil Kane, the lines were always present but as time progressed, they often became unfocused and blurry.
Invariably, all artists seek the truth; however, Hess has based his creative energy in peeling back the layers to expose the core of society, which oftentimes reveals a vision of gritty imagery and an oblique point of view. It’s called real life. Hess describes his art as “meditation on paper,” where a clear mind opens the soul to a universal energy and emotions shape the movement. As a contemporary artist, he metaphorically strives to find the perfect line that causes riots in the streets and touches the spirit of the soul. It has yet to reveal itself to Hess but he’s admittedly getting closer.
Hess’ clarity of mind hasn’t come without a price. A 10-year battle with the bottle and such ended on Jan. 16, 1989, leaving the starving artist to confront his demons and configure his dreams. While studying drawing and printmaking at the Cleveland Institute of Art and the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit, Hess began booking shows at Cleveland’s then underground venue The Euclid Tavern (1989 – 1995). While he never graduated from art school, working in the environment of indie rock’s DIY aesthetic prompted Hess to design rock posters for each show. Ultimately, it was the perfect excuse for an artist to find his voice and to explore his craft.
Said Hess: “Why am I driven by the music? It’s just something that inspires me. It’s just something that I connect to. I’m not out to draw guys with guitars. I try to capture the essence of whatever they are trying to say or just the mood and the common thread that the bands have within the same style of music that I may be relating to.”
Eventually, people began taking notice of Hess’ poster work, which used basic artistic fundamentals and Sci-Fi humor to capture his interpretation of the band’s music, vibe and place in society. What followed was a frenzy of concert poster requests and global attention during a renaissance in the popularity of rock show announcements. Hess created hundreds of posters for varied bands, ranging from Pink Floyd and Pearl Jam to Thursday and Dillinger Escape Plan. The triumphant and surprising moment for Hess came when the Louvre, perhaps the greatest institution of art on the face of the earth, requested his art to be added to their permanent poster collection. This was the dream of every art school student and it was surprisingly fulfilled for Hess by doing his own thing – discovering his own expression through purity of intention. His first portfolio is also part of a permanent collection at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
In time, the continuing self-discovery of Hess as an artist evolved to include CD covers (R.L. Burnside and Converge) and fine art printmaking. Then, Marvel Comics called and the little comic-book-reading-boy-from-Cleveland-turned-modern-artist received the ultimate thrill when he was asked to create three covers for the Captain America series (Hess has three Captain America tattoos, so you know this was on the same level as meeting one of your childhood idols). Hess’ art has taken him around the globe for one-man art shows with growing recognition within the art world.
- These are the 3 Captain America comic covers done by Derek
Today, Hess is continually challenging his craft as he rediscovers his art-school passion for fine art pieces, as well as CD cover expressions. Although far removed from his childhood in the ‘70s, Hess is still honing his fundamentals and forever creating the perfect Captain America cover for his own life.
- Some Album covers by Derek Hess
Says Hess: “What I strive for in my art is, technically, I would like to be sound. I also like to imply things rather than lay things out for you. Not give you the instant gratification that our culture kind of demands. Kind of draw you in and give you a minute to ruminate with it. And unlike the spirit of today, where it has to be now, now, now, I’m not here to save the world.”
Born in Singapore, lives in LA.
I've always felt the country was too small to be stuck in for the rest of my life.
My ridiculous passion for music landed me in Los Angeles to pursue my music career.
God played a huge part in it as well.
