lekowala!

Got this book in India in June. Its just published this year and gives detailed background to Burmese political history and background. That and also details about The Lady’s dad Aung San takes up about nearly half the book. The other half is a detailed account on Aung San Suu Kyi’s life, her upbringing, her marriage, education in Oxford England, her children and then her involvement in politics.

She had foreseen that she would one day have to leave the comfortable family life in the UK to help her people. She’s had many opportunities to leave Burma and lead a normal life but chose the noble path instead and continues to be present in Burma for her people.

The book also details the appalling atrocities that the army has carried out on the people and especially the minority ethnic groups.

Its a good read and definitely timely now.

“genetic mix…”

finally got a new electric guitar about a month ago, its a modest one with one a single double-humbucker.   But its an ibanez with a nice feel.  The fret board is pretty smooth and nice to the touch.  Action is pretty low so that means the fingers don’t feel raw after playing for long stretches.

Its suppose to be composed for some science open house for my colleague to present slides with.  But because I was in such a relax mode to compose it since it wasn’t suppose to be in the album, I think there were some creative juices that flowed into the song.  I decided to work on it abit more after I felt I had used too many GB loops in the song.  So I changed the second part so that there was a chord change!  The first version didn’t have one cos it was suppose to be like some short jingle for powerpoint slides.

Spent the better part of 1am to 3am to add in some stuttering guitar leads but overall I am quite happy with this.  Its quite a feat to play the guitar half-asleep.  I remember going into the room and getting ready for bed at 1.30 and then waking up to add more guitar parts…. until 3 am.  then Josh wakes up 5 am tearful and says he can’t fall asleep so we moved to the couch outside and camped out….  eventually he got some sleep but woke up bug-eyed..

So this song is dedicated to teeming life in the sea and the world, the Burmese and also to the poor japanese man who died in Burma.

Thanks to Ivan for tips on layering the guitar leads and most of the fancy stuff I know on Garageband.   Also thanks to Siva for reacquainting us… viva la Ang Mo Kio Sec.  Several more songs to go before the album is complete.  As expected Ivan’s been prolific and providing a good balance to the album as it shapes up.