My Life Story.
 

Chapter 1 : 

My name is Celestino. I was born in 1963 on an island up north called Penang.
I was an only child.  My mother never had any other children. She was my music teacher.
(It isn't always a good thing to have your OWN mother as your music teacher, because...You may not feel inclined to hit someone else's kids, but you definitely will hit your own._*l.o.l.*_ )
I hated going to school, because I wasn't learning anything of substance.
Then again, I spoke English better than some of the teachers did. Till this very day, I firmly believe that the standard of my English would have deteriorated, had I remained in school.
(Here in this country, all students are required to wear school uniforms.
From what I've seen on TV, I know it's different in The U.S.A. )
I finally became fed-up and walked out of school when I was 14.
Three years later, at the age of 17, I joined a band playing keyboard synthesizers.
In 1984, we performed in West Berlin, Germany.  In 1986, we performed in Bangkok, Thailand.
I was with that same band for 14 years and 6 months, until I quit my performing career in
February 1995. I still recall the many nights I sat on my bed in 1994 asking myself:
"Am I doing the right thing?".
Deep inside, I knew I could never work with people who were caught up in their own selfish interests. Furthermore, I had become paranoid of flying in 1988 and I knew it wouldn't be fair to hold back the rest of the group, if they were to travel far and wide.
Eventually, the band broke up just a few months after I left.
 
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 Chapter 2 : 

 After I left the band in February 1995, I moved away to a neighboring township approx. 30 minutes west out of Kuala Lumpur city and joined a recording studio where I composed jingles (commercials) and did Voice-Overs for radio and TV ads. But the salary was very small, so
I resigned and joined a production house called Sky Music. Unfortunately, this lasted for only two months and on the very LAST working day of the year (Friday, December 29th, 1995) I was handed a letter which read:
" We are no longer able to retain you as Senior Music Arranger...Please be informed that this
action doesn't reflect on your personality, performance or loyalty to this company. " Bla, bla, bla...
I was shocked, for there was no indication that Sky Music was doing badly.
Months later, I discovered that some of the directors couldn't see eye to eye with Jeff Tan, the main director.
So, from the FIRST day of 1996, I spent the next nineteen months without a full-time job.
It was during this time, I suffered a nervous breakdown. My girlfriend paid for everything out of her salary...And if it wasn't for her, I'd be dead now.
Later in 1996, I met someone named Edward Emmanuel, who said he knew about a job opening for an in-house producer. We later discovered he was telling lies upon lies, in order to gain everyone's trust. Edward borrowed money from me and from many others - and never repaid anything. I finally realized that I had been cheated and vowed never to have anything to do with him, ever again.
We gave out of kindness and got the worst in return. 

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 Chapter 3 : 

 From 1997 until 2000, I worked with two other production houses / recording studios - the last one being Digitron Studio. In October 2000, I met Gerry.
He and I became partners/co-founders who wanted to establish the FIRST Gospel recording studio under a song ministry, in this country.
So, I quit my full-time job at Digitron Studio in February 2001 and we began visiting churches all over this country. He sang; I played the piano. Using our own money, we recorded two Gospel CDs with our own compositions and we would retail them outside the churches.
Thinking we were doing God's will, we allowed ourselves to get exploited.
For all of 2002 and 2003, I spent day and night, searching Yahoo! Chat for someone who could represent our song ministry across the globe.
Finally, I encountered someone from New Mexico, who did take me seriously and came here to visit us in May 2004.
Seeing how most people possess 'the internet mentality of chatrooms', it was simply amazing that someone would actually take me SERIOUSLY. Her name was Cathy.
After she returned to New Mexico, she began retailing our CDs and telling others about what we were attempting to do in this country. Unfortunately, over time, my business partner's initial focus of establishing the Gospel recording studio began to fade.
Plus, there were a few others (one of whom is in this country) who would call him over the phone (he wasn't computer literate) and tell him that " Celestino said this; Celestino said that, over the
internet ." Then, as the days and weeks progressed into the first few months of 2005, the trust gradually diminished, till one day, he informed those in the U.S.A. that " all work done over the internet for the song ministry, must stop immediately. " This was done without my approval.
And since 90% of the internet work was handled by me, it only meant that I had simply wasted my time and energy over the years, with this endeavor. I will always consider it: A betrayal of trust!
Trust is a two way street. 
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 Chapter 4 : 
After the trust was lost, I just couldn't go on. In my heart, I knew it was time for me to leave this endeavor, since it wasn't going anywhere. After all, back in October 2002, I had "lost" the only car I had ever owned, when The Antioch Song Ministry ran out of funds.  I was forced to sell it as junk. (From 2002 till now, I have had no car.
Cars over here cost MORE THAN double the amount, than in The U.S.A. )
Finally, in May 2005, everything came to a grinding halt...and that was the end of that.
Four years and three months of my life running around this country and to Singapore was all for nothing. 
Some emotional scars might take months or years to heal; and some just never do. 
Then, in 2006, our six year old Hewlett Packard Pavilion 6506 computer crashed. Words cannot express just how I felt. All song files, folders, pictures and animations were lost.
It seemed as if EVERYTHING from my life had been erased.
When it finally died, my girlfriend borrowed money and bought us a new NEC computer.

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 Chapter 5 : 
After buying that NEC computer, it took the next twelve months to finish paying that off.
Two years later, the NEC quit working.
When we took it back to Pineapple Computer Store, they informed us that it was the motherboard that had quit. Once again, my girlfriend borrowed money and we got ourselves an ACER computer.  I was real fortunate. If we didn't get that ACER computer, I wouldn't be sitting here typing this now.

Which brings us to today...
Today, both my parents are dead and gone.
Digitron Studio no longer exists - and neither does Sky Music. There are no vacancies for an in-house producer anywhere, as there are only a handful of professional post production houses within the entire country - and I am now, too old to form a band.
Physically, I'm not doing all that great. I experience cramps in both feet, at the back of my neck; and I cannot lift heavy objects anymore. With aches and cramps, it is very difficult to get around without a car. 

It doesn't seem like I've had a very happy life, does it?
Well, I wasn't always like this.
In fact, I sometimes wish I could just turn back the clock to 1984 / 1985 and Start Over!
Starting over at my age isn't easy for me. Not with aches and cramps, anyway. 
I realize it is extremely difficult for the majority of those who were born and raised on the other side of the globe, to FULLY understand the scope of things here. (Perhaps those who
survived hurricane Katrina would.) I also realize that many who read this page won't really care
if we live or die, but hey...THIS is My Life Story.     








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