[bass]

Hello. Call me Bass. My real name is a little complicated and will be difficult to pronounce properly, unless you're German, or a mathematician, or are at least studying it. Besides, bass is a nice pseudonym

I was born into a Christian Family and was raised in a Christian environment. I loved church and sunday school (I still do). I first felt the need to be saved when I was seven, but I never truly understood it until I was a freshman in college. One night in August, I told God, "I am sick and tired of never being sure of my salvation. I've been too ashamed to admit that I wasn't sure, but not anymore. If, seven years ago, You came into my life, then tonight, I rededicate myself to You. But if not, then I want You to be my Lord and Saviour once and for all...tonight and forevermore."

I've been at peace with "The Question" ever since

I'll be graduating from college in a year, having majored in Computer Science. I'm just itching to get it over with so that I can go and drown in my real passion: music. I play bass guitar (go figure ) in my church band and some decent violin, as well as percussion. As a violinist, I study classical music, of course (...at least I try to study...I don't have a teacher...), but as a bass guitarist, I specialize in ska and rock, though I really want to do jazz and funk. Hopefully, I plan to major in either violin, double bass, or composition when I finally pursue music.

I enjoy working with people...mentoring younger Christians, counseling, etc. In my journal, most of the entries will deal with my relationships with God and people. Allow me to introduce my partial cast of characters:

God - God, of course. King of Kings, Lord of Lords, my beloved Saviour.

Arvin - my best guy buddy. He's the principal percussionist in our church band, but it's his honest, realistic relationship with God that impresses me most.

Ryan - The guitar man in our band. He's a hardcore fundamentalist and a dedicated Bible Scholar.

Nellie - My first student in bass guitar, and one of my closest girl buddies.

Jojee - One of my accountability partners (I often call her "Partner") and the epitome of Christian womanhood.

The Girl with the Violin - a violinist I met when we played at a wedding. Obviously, I've got a huge crush on her, but she doesn't know that (I hope). My relationship with her is uncannily identical to that of Charlie Brown and his "Little Red-haired Girl".

Shao - perhaps my best girl-buddy to date. She looks uncannily like the Girl with the Violin (they look so much alike, she's often been mistaken for her. If I didn't know better, I'd say they were sisters).


Other characters in my journal are my parents, and a few other people you'll be introduced to as I encounter them.

My life isn't full of daring adventure and international intrigue, but that's OK (I mean hey, I'm a student! ). I try to bloom where God has planted me.

Enjoy reading!


-Bass

[bass]

When I was a freshman, one thing the upperclassmen warned me about was the cost of photocopying. In my university, students are notorious for photocopying whole books. Hence, there's no such thing as a "slow day" for a copy center around here.

And that fact has been proven today. In preparation for my lessons with Leng, my latest student on bass guitar, this Thursday, I dropped by the library in the College of Music (to be known henceforth as CMU) and got a copy of "Simplified Sightreading for Bass" by Josquin des Pres.

Alas, the rules say that I can't borrow the book (it was marked "For Room-Use Only), so I had to photocopy it.

Twice.

One copy for myself (my sightreading always needs work), and one for Leng. No, I don't get paid to teach her...I just love teaching and music so much, I don't mind actually spending on my students.

Needless to say, I am now 130 bucks poorer. Leng had better practice.

Returning the book back to the library, I discovered that my good friend AJ was on her first day of work as the library's student assistant. Sh e just sat at the control desk, looking bored, so I got her to help collate the three inches-thick stack of paper I had with me, still warm from the photocopier.

In the process, I asked if she could help me track down a little information on the Girl with the Violin. Right there and then, AJ yanked out the girl's information card and wrote her phone number and address on a piece of paper.

Sometimes, my intelligence network is so efficient, it scares me.

Not that I intend to call the Girl with the Violin or anything...call me chicken, but I don't believe pursuing her (or any other girl) is what God wants me to do at this point in my life. There is so much about her I still don't know, and I'm a firm believer in offering my strength as a man in exchange for drinking of a woman's beauty. The fact is, I havn't found my strength yet. Sure I feel like a wimp and a loser (sometimes) , but I'd rather be honest about it and wait for the right time rather than take my chances.

I look forward to seeing her in concert this July.


Well, that's it for now, I guess. If you're wondering who would I be if I were a cartoon character...yep, you guessed it...I'd be Charlie Brown. OK. Half Charlie Brown, half Snoopy.

[benj]

Hey, another new neighbor. Alright! Welcome to the 'B' block. Here's your welcome caserole.

Nice posts so far, Charlie Brown. I look forward to reading this in the future.

[bass]

Wow, a visitor already!

Thank you, benj. As you can see, I'm having trouble deciding what should be on my avatar...do I stick with Bass from the MegaMan series, who is more consistent with my name but not with my character, or do I grab something else?

Hmm...decisions, decisions...

[bass]

Ahh...I finally came-up with a suitable avatar.

It's actually Alex from humberto Ramos' "Crimson" series. But I chose him not because he's a vampire (although, strangely, I wanted to be one when I was in highschool), but because I think I resemble him...I mean, the look in his eyes, the hairstyle...

of course, if you think he's cute, I can't guarantee the same will follow for me. You have been warned

I currently sport a goatee...nothing long-enough to pull on...just long enough to see. I should shave before the yearbook photo-shoot, though...uh-oh.

[Boy Genius]

Hey, if you don't want Benj's green bean cassarole (they're horrid), throw it in the ocean and kill a few thousand fish and whales......

[beanie]

Yay for another B mate.
Welcome to blog-smog world.
It's nuts here.
I am learning to play bass when someone decided to donate me one... next term - God willing.
Ah, studentness.
Nothing like having no money to... eat.
I come home for the holidays, and Mum's claiming to "fatten me up again". Meh.
Keep living and loving the life that the One who loves you lived for you.
Beanie-Shmeanie.

[bass]

I went with my thesismates to see our adviser today...and we finally got our project approved! Yay! Thank God!

That's one step forward in the thousand-mile journey called "The College Thesis".

Today hasn't been all that exciting so far...I overslept , ate breakfast (a rare event), ate lunch at the boarding house (an even rarer event), and forced myself to go to school. Of course, getting the project approved is a highlight, but that's about it.

Well, I'm glad Nellie has gotten out of another "I am worthless, I am uncared-for" phase. It sure is hard to watch your friends go through that sort of thing and not be able to do anything to help But going through that stage myself, I figure my friends don't have an easier time trying to convince me that I'm listening to a big, fat lie.

Did that last paragraph make any sense? Oh well...

No, no trace of the Girl with the Violin today, although Nellie suggested i go after her schedule as well as the address of her boarding house. Hmm... Aww, maaan...this is crazy.

"Love makes fools of us all" ~Shakespeare

"Hormones make fools of us all" ~Bass"

Tomorrow, I give Leng her first taste of scales on the bass guitar...Major, then minor, in several keys. I should probably set-up a drum loop for her to play on top of as well...hmmm...

Oh yeah...the Girl with the Violin also plays the drums (or so I'm told) But can she sing?

Thanx for your posts, neighbors 'Til next time!

[Boy Genius]

Originally Posted by bass

Thanx for your posts, neighbors 'Til next time!

Or now..... Hi and how are you.......

[bass]

Ahh, a new week, a new chance to get things right

Not a whole lot has happened over the weekend...physically at least. Lemme' see here... I was the songleader on Sunday, and I introduced 3 new songs. The day before, less than half of the band showed-up for practice, so come Sunday, things didn't go entirely as desired. But that's OK. Praise and Worship isn't about impressing people with the World's Tightest Rhythm Section. It's all about Worship (An obvious fact, but surprisingly easy to overlook).

In Dreamland, however...well...I dreamt, for the first time in my life, that I was married (gasp! ). It's shocking, really. Now I'm not afraid of commitment, mind you; I AM afraid of marrying the wrong person .

I also dreamt that I was coming to terms with Aileen and Yoni, two girls out of The Darkness (I'll explain a little more on this later), with whom I've had quite a nasty falling-out with (even more on this later). Funny thing is, this theme of coming to terms with them has recurred twice already, both in the same week. Our resident councilor told me to pay attention to the theme...she said maybe this is God's way of preparing me for the opportunity to bring proper closure to my past. I was told to pray about it, and await further instructions from God.

I hope this doesn't sound mystical to anybody. It isn't.

One of the agents in my intelligence network brought some unexpected but very welcome news concerning the Girl with the Violin: She's a serious Christian
Cool

In other news, today, I've decided to launch a series of posts called "Postcards from the Glow-in-the-Dark Road". In them, I explain the history of my major relationships, my testimony, the nature of the thing called The Darkness, etc. It should make for good reading. Hopefully, the postcards will encourage you in your own walk down the Glow-in-the-Dark Road...or if you're on some other road, will bring you closer to switching lanes

That's it for now. Stay tuned for the pilot episode of "Postcards from the Glow-in-the-Dark Road".

[bass]

"Changing Lanes..."

first of three parts

My family has a strange history. Perhaps not as strange as the Simpsons, but still strange in its own respect.

My father was born to a highly-disfunctional family. His aunts and uncles hated his mother, and thus hated him and his siblings. As a result, my father had to claw his way up from the bottom of the well, both financially and socially. The result was a man who loved his family more than any other earthly thing, but who could be as hard as a rock.

My mother was reared in a more loving, accepting environment, although she too had her share of financial ups and downs (it was mostly downs, but hey...).

Both of them became Christians in college (no, they didn't go to same college. In fact, they were born and raised on different islands!). Dad prayed for a wife who knew how to cook. Mom prayed for a foreigner. Mom is an excellent cook (give her the right ingredients and she'll stuff you silly)...Dad is part British. It was a match made in heaven.

Into such a family I was born.

I am Asian by race, but because my dad chose to pursue his doctorate degree overseas, I was raised in America. Where in America? The Murder Capital of the World (at least, it was at the time)...Detroit, Michigan.

Now I wasn't raised "In da hood", as some would call it, but I wasn't raised in some high-class villa either. We lived in an apartment for sometime (where I would drive all the neighbors crazy because I was always yelling and screaming and running through the halls...like a healthy kid should), until a friend let us use his vacant house. But it sure wasn't the hotel Ritz. I remember that everyday, the headline on the paper was always about somebody getting killed in a pretty gruesome manner...now I was only three at the time, but I distinctly recall seeing the report about somebody who got his head smashed with a sledgehammer in his sleep, and reading a headline about a family that got gunned-down in their home because of a drug deal gone-wrong. On top of that, our house got broken-into once, my baby brother got punched in the face by a stranger while he was just sitting in his stroller...

It was a normal childhood, really.

[bass]

"Changing Lanes...

Second of Three parts

Coming back to our homeland was a rather traumatic experience for me. All of a sudden, I was smack in the middle of a culture that I was totally ignorant of before. Oh, sure, I'd read about my country in books and see the news about on TV, but to be in the middle of it...oh, boy...

All the kids in the neighborhood were curious about me...I looked like them, but I didn't act like them. I couldn't understand the language. Pretty soon, I was the butt of some really nasty jokes and pranks. I was hated for my candidness and apparent lack of shame (in America, I would've been applauded. Here, it's frowned upon). Unfortunately, nobody took the time to tell me my personality wasn't appreciated, so I just made a nice little collection of enemies, year after year after year.

In about third or fourth grade, I found the perfect way to shield myself from all my classmates' cruelty: my imagination. I would spend long hours tucked away into a corner of the room, lost in worlds that existed only in my head, acting out parts I had created for myself, not unlike Snoopy and his multiple personalities.

It was about this time that I first felt the need to accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I mean, hell was definitely not a place I wanted to go to. I remember asking Jesus to come into my life when I was about seven (not a bad age to do that ), but I also remember asking Him to do so again and again and again and again...

You see, nobody explained to me that becoming a Christian had little to do with emotions. Everybody seemed so happy when they asked Jesus to come into their lives, but I didn't. Whenever I asked "How do you know that you're really a Christian?", people would say, "There's a change in your life."

But I was raised in a Christian environment, with Christian values! I didn't lie, cheat, or steal, and I sure didn't like it when I did. If there's supposed to be a change from bad to good, what about if you're already good?

The answer to that is trivial, really, but when you're seven years old, that answer doesn't really make sense. It would take nine years before I fully understood what becoming a Christian is like to someone who has been raised as a Christian.

But the walls of imagination remained up, and would not come down for a long, long time.

[bass]

"Changing Lanes..."

Last of three parts

In highschool, the frequency of my classmate's cruelty lessened, but the sting grew no less painful. I was called "gay" because I wasn't into basketball or wrestling or porn (I was into karate and kung-fu and boxing, but I learned early-on not to brag about those things).

Oh yeah, I hated that

So I reinvented myself. My brother and I found this show on TV called "YuYu Hakusho" (you anime fans out there will be familiar with this one), and there was this character there who was really reserved and quiet and spoke only in monosyllables. He was immovable AND powerful. Right there and then, I thought "THAT'S who I want to be!"

My theme song from then on was I am a Rock, I am an Island by Simon and Garfunkel. I worked on suppressing emotions like joy and sorrow. I chose to stop smiling. Soon, the taunts of "gay" and "homo" became "weird" (I still get this a lot) and "inhuman"...which was what i was hoping to hear.

But still, all it was all just a show, a set of walls put up by a boy who just wanted to be loved and accepted by a world that had no love to give him.

College was a glorious experience for me. "AT LAST!!! Nobody knows me here! Nobody knows my past! I am free to be who I want to be!"

When I found Campus Crusade for Christ, and I found a family. I found all the love and acceptance I wanted. Among the people there, I was respected for my American accent, not ridiculed for it. I could be proud that I wasn't like other guys.

But that question kept gnawing at me: Am I really a Christian?

At last, one night, I told myself I had had enough of not being sure. I locked the door of my room, sat at my desk, and prayed like I had never prayed before. I said,

Dear God, You have been a huge part of my life since I was just a little boy. I love You and I honor You and I do my best to obey You, but that question keeps nagging me: Am I really Your son?

I'm sick of not knowing for sure. If I really accepted You as my personal Lord and Savior nine years ago, then this is a prayer of rededication. But if not...then once and for all, I make this prayer known to You:

I confess I am a sinner, and that all my efforts to get into heaven on my own are in vain. I am not good enough for You. I confess my need for You to save me. You said in the Bible that all who come to You will not be turned away, so I come to You now. Accept me as I am.

Forgive me of all my sins, and make me Your child. I proclaim You as Lord of my life. I am Yours through and through, and I will serve You 'til my dying day and forever beyond that. Amen.

I've never prayed that prayer again. I've never had to. Right when I said "Amen", I was sure. I can't explain how...I just knew that I was saved.

"So what about the change?" You may ask. Well, I realized that even if you're raised in a CHristian family, with Christian values, a change still takes place. Of course, if you're not into cheating or stealing or lying, becoming a Christian shouldn't change that. What changes is the motivation behind your good works. No longer do you do those things because that's how you were raised...you do them because you love God and want to show that you're thankful for so great a salvation.

Since that day, has my life gone smoothly? Oh, DEFINITELY NOT! If it had, I wouldn't have to write all this down, would I? No, my adventures had just begun. But I had changed lanes that night...I was on the Glow-in-the-Dark Road at last.

the end

-------------------------------------------

On the next episode of "Postcards from the Glow-in-the-Dark Road":
"The Dreaming" - Bass finds a girl who meets one of the deepest needs of men: the need to be needed. The joy, the laughter, the selflessness, the sacrifice, the suffering...it's all part of this thing called love. But is it real? Or is Bass trapped in a dream that's spiralling rapidly into a nightmare?

[Boy Genius]

Interesting to say the least............

[bass]

Yesterday, our resident councilor dropped a bomb on me: I am going to play at her brother's wedding next Saturday.

"Aaacckkk!!!" I said, "Why are you telling me this only now???"

Well, too late. A gig is a gig. Now my first love is definitely bass guitar (i'd love to try the full-fledged upright bass, but I don't got any dinero...), but I get paid to play the violin..."paid" is a subjective word...I often get paid in terms of "A table has been reserved for you at the reception after the wedding." But I'm not complaining.

Asking me to play at your wedding is asking three or four musicians to play at your wedding: my pianist, the Girl with the Violin, my wedding singer, and myself. Of course, the Girl with the Violin has only played with us once, but we try to invite her at every opportunity...like this afternoon for example.

So there I am at the CMU library, checking out scores of popular wedding songs. I'm checking-out like six books, and voila! The Girl with the Violin is there beside me, checking-out another book. She announces her presence with a simple "Oooh...somebody has a gig..."

I must've been as red as a firetruck on washday as I managed to mumble an embarassed "hello." Hope she didn't notice. I'm relegated to monosyllables around her because I find when I get within six feet of her, I turn into a total idiot: I trip over my English because my ideas want to coagulate as much as premium corn oil and distilled water; I find myself using unecessary words like "feasible", "plausible", "status quo"...ugh...hormones

Somehow, I got my head out of the clouds long enough to select a nice set of songs..."I will be here", "The first time I loved forever", "Canon in D", etc. I'm wondering if "Someone to watch over me" is appropriate for the reception...

No, the Girl with the Violin had to turn down our invitation to play with us She's got a recital coming-up (ooh! Where? When?), and I get the strange feeling she'll be performing at a concert either this Thursday or next. She also teaches, plays in an orchestra, and studies. Wow She's one busy girl...

But our wedding team has a motto: Food and Money first before the Heart. So even without the Girl with the Violin, we play on. I'm going to have to find a way to make Mendelssohn's Wedding march sound good with just one violin


Oh well...what do you think?

Check out the next episode of "Postcards from the Glow-in-the-Dark Road", coming-up next.