Why Would I Write

  • 1Partridge4Me

    Promo codes are great. Especially when they help you save money on something you were going to buy in the first place. But sometimes, they compel you to spend money on something you weren’t even thinking about. Case and point – today I took an Uber to lunch in Kuchai Lama. Normally, I’d drive there but there were a few factors that pushed me into riding an Uber today:

    1) Parking there sucks – if you can find a spot (a difficult task, especially during lunch hour)
    2) My car was low on fuel, which meant I had to pump petrol before I headed out for lunch
    3) I had entered the Uber Christmas promo code which gave me 4 free rides worth RM4 each (1Partidge)

    Because I had the promo code, I decided to make use of it. It’s not a bad thing. I mean, the ride cost me RM3 after the promo code, which was cheaper than driving there and paying for parking. Also, I saved myself the trouble of looking for parking (I also did the same thing last weekend when I couldn’t find parking in Mid Valley, I drove my car home, parked and took an Uber instead).

    If I didn’t Uber to lunch, I would have been very late. Also, I would have been stressed out in the car looking for a place to park. Fun fact: my Uber driver had over 1,500 trips which I found very impressive. He also didn’t try to start small talk with me. He just drove me to my destination with no questions asked. I gave him five stars, of course.

    Speaking of five stars, do people even bother rating anything other than one or five stars? Very rarely have I encountered a driver who was just average at his job and didn’t warrant a five-star rating. I’ve met more bad drivers than average ones. Maybe Uber’s rating system should change to – would I ride in this car again? Yes/No. It’s not IMDB or Metacritic. There’s no subjectivity to this. It’s either the driver did a good job or he/she didn’t.

    Have you ever bought something from a store just because you received a voucher for it before? I have. A few months ago, Google rewarded me for my contributions to Google Maps (I tend to leave reviews and answer questions on the app when I’m bored). I received a RM40 discount voucher (minimum order of RM160) for Zalora, so I went on the store, signed up an account and did some shopping.

    Because I had the voucher, I felt like I would have wasted it if I didn’t use it. Even though I didn’t have to, and I could have saved RM120 by not spending on anything in the first place. But I guess that’s how vouchers work right? I did the same thing previously on 11street (but my order turned out to be the wrong product in the end and I was refunded after a long and troubling process – never shopping there again).

    Steam sales and Humble Bundles do that to me too. When I see a game I’m remotely interested in playing that’s on a deep discount, I pick it up. Now I have hundreds of games that I’ll probably never play in my lifetime (I’m slowly making my way through them but Dota 2 has consumed me).

    On a side note: I’ve torrented a lot of music, movies, books and porn for free – I’ll never finish them in my lifetime either. There’s just so much content available online, and even if you were strict in what you want to enjoy, you’ll never get to finish everything you want to. Maybe if you didn’t need to work for the rest of your life and you started at a young age. Maybe. If the internet died today, I would have enough content stored locally on my computer to last me for the rest of my life.

    Also, if you don’t have an Uber account yet and are thinking of signing up, you can use the promo code: georgew3261ue ?

  • I Loved The Way She Said ‘L.A.’

    Spitalfield is another one of my favorite pop punk bands I have on rotation. I discovered these guys when I heard the song ‘I Loved The Way She Said “L.A.”’ on a Victory Records sampler that I got with my Taking Back Sunday – Where You Want To Be CD. Yeah there was a time when I still purchased CDs. The sampler was full of gems that I had never heard before and grew to love – Hawthorne Heights, Bayside and these guys.

    Spitalfield – I Loved The Way She Said ‘L.A.’

    The song had relatable title and lyrics, which drew me into them. You know the feeling you get when you listen to a song and you think that it was written just for you? Yeah, that was me listening to that song. Of course I had to check out the rest of their discography, and predictably I fell in love with the band. Positive lyrics, upbeat music, and just enough gruff that made them more punk than pop and one of the smoothest vocalists in the scene.

    Mark Rose, the band’s vocalist, had a soft singing style that wasn’t aggressive in the slightest. But it somehow fit over the band’s pop punk guitars, creating a mellow, easy listening experience. It’s much more evident in his solo records that his voice was meant for pop/blues, but with the band the combination was a unique combination.

    The band eventually split up after their last release and Rose went on to release music on his own, as well as creating a songwriting service. I’m still looking forward till the day the band reunites (if it ever happens) but for now, here are some of my favorite tracks from the band and Mark Rose:

    Spitalfield – Five Days And Counting

    Spitalfield – Make My Heart Attack

    Spitalfield – What Were You Thinking?

    Spitalfield – The Future is Now

    Spitalfield – From The Desk Of B. Larsen

    Spitalfield – The Only Thing That Matters

    Spitalfield – Won’t Back Down

    Spitalfield – Novocaine

    Spitalfield – 16:49 Army Time

    Spitalfield – Are We Still Here?

    Mark Rose – I Can See You (With My Eyes Closed)
    https://markrosemusic.bandcamp.com/track/i-can-see-you-with-my-eyes-closed

    Mark Rose – Watch The Water Dry

    Mark Rose – She Doesn’t

  • Another Year Gone By

    Last year I wrote a couple of reflection posts, and this year while thinking of what to write I reread them and realized that I haven’t done what I said I would do. My first game still remains in development hell (LUL – more like I haven’t made much effort to start it) and I’m still terrible at keyboards.

    A lot of things have changed for me this year. Not sure if it’s for better or worse, but such is life and changes are inevitable. It is the only constant. This year, I experienced snow for the first time. While it wasn’t a lot of snow, it was more than enough for me and I realized that it’s not the best thing ever despite how romanticized it has been portrayed in film. Snow means the weather is really cold. I’m not a big fan of the cold. Cool weather is great, freezing temperatures not so much. Also, having to get rid of the frost on your windows every morning before you drive your car seems like a troublesome.

    I left my job at Big Bad Wolf and took a long break before getting another job. During the break, I went on a solo retreat in Cameron Highlands. It wasn’t everything I thought it would be, but it was still an enlightening experience. Ideas don’t just come to you (or me at least). I wouldn’t say it was a waste of time, petrol and money – but I clearly didn’t accomplish what I had set out to do. It wasn’t a complete waste since I managed to come up with a couple of songs and did some preparation for my Nanowrimo novel, but it wasn’t my Morning View.

    Speaking of Morning View, Incubus is coming to Malaysia again. I’m not going to see them since I’m not a big fan anymore, but it’s nice to know that this country is still on the map for artists overseas. The XX is coming as well.

    I spent the whole of November working on my Nanowrimo novel. This year, I went in with a plan which worked great for the start, but I finished my novel before the 50k mark, so I had to expand and make up a whole bunch of other stuff to hit the target. The last time I wrote my novel, there was not much of a plan and it felt easier to hit the target since I just wrote whatever came to mind. Maybe the next time (if I ever do it again), I’ll go in with a looser plan.

    I recorded a couple of songs this year. I didn’t manage to record an EP in a studio. I think I’ll focus on doing some home recordings for now. I’ll put some money into recording them when I feel like I really need to. Plus, it’s been a lot of fun doing recordings at home anyway. GarageBand and Audacity are pretty fun.

    I’ll probably do more reflecting over the next few days but for now this will do.