small alley: 2023

About this blog

The name of this blog is small alley. As in an alley, I hope to post a variety of things that I find interesting and as you walk through the alley, you would find things that you like.

I have posted some songs that I wrote. I am not a great singer. I sing and play the guitar purely for fun and I hope people who thinks they can't sing can be inspired by me. No former singing lessons and no former guitar training. Just pure fun......

The recording is also done at home with a drum machine and one guitar through a small amp. The sound file has been touched up slightly by removing the noise. Otherwise the songs are as original as it gets.

I practise Taiji regularly. For me, it is a great exercise requiring control of mind and body to perform well and for it to be enjoyable. You can get more videos of Taiji from YouTube.

Other posts include places and events that I think are interesting and more important, which I have time to upload.

Enjoy your walk through this small alley.....

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad - Jose Feciliano

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and blessed 2024.

Thursday, December 7, 2023

Sketches in Gili Air, Lombok, Indonesia

Did 2 sketches while on holiday in Gili Air, Lombok, Indonesia.

One is a boat anchored on the beach during low tide.

The next sketch is the public transport in Gili Air. It is used for passenger and transportation of goods. There are no cars on the island.

Monday, November 13, 2023

有酒今朝醉 (You Jiu Jing Zhao Zui) - Sam Hui

Adapted from a catchy American folk song, Oh Susanna (Stephen Foster).

Thursday, November 2, 2023

Houng Dog (Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller)

Trying my hands on a rock and roll song.

Sunday, October 8, 2023

You Are My All In All (Dennis L. Jernigan)

A very nice and inspiring Christian song. Some times my grandchildren and I sing this song on our way to Church.

Sunday, October 1, 2023

最后一夜 (Zui Hou Yi Ye) - 蔡琴

Jamming to a Mandarin oldie.

Sunday, September 17, 2023

Performance at the Jurong Spring CC Youth Festival (Sep 2023)

Performed at the Jurong Spring CC Youth Festival (Sep 2023)

Tell Laura I Love Her

朋友 (Emil Chau)

胜利双手创 (葉振棠)

Sunday, September 3, 2023

一百万 - Yi Bai Wan（黄一飞）

My first Hokkien song. Hokkien is not my mother tongue so may not pronounce every word correctly. But enjoyed playing the song.

Saturday, August 5, 2023

Scarborough Fair - An English Ballad

A popular English ballad.

Using the song to practise some piano techniques.

Tuesday, August 1, 2023

勝利雙手創 - 葉振棠 (Sheng Li Shuang Shou Chuang)

Cantonese version of a very popular Hokkien song.

Thursday, July 13, 2023

Bengawan Solo - Gesang Martohartono

A very popular Indonesian oldie.

You can download my piano arrangements here.

You can download my guitar arrangement here.

Thursday, July 6, 2023

Thank You For Our Priests - Mark Leong

An original composition dedicated to all priests.

Earlier video (guitar version) can be viewed here.

Sunday, June 11, 2023

小李飞刀 (Roman Tam)

Watched this TV drama when young.

The song is still popular.

Friday, June 2, 2023

Just A Closer Walk With Thee (Martin & Morris)

Trying to play some jazz chords at the keyboard.

You can download my guitar arrangement here.

Saturday, May 20, 2023

Setting up 2 LANs using 2 routers with 1 Internet connection

This post shows the steps I took to set up 2 private networks (192.168.1.1/24 and 192.168.2.1/24) using 2 routers. Not only does this gives me extended wifi coverage (also can be done using the router as Access Point), if I like, I can also have more control over the LANs (eg. prevent Internet access on 192.168.2.1).

I will not go into how to access the router using the web browser (which I did) or any applications as the nitty gritty could be specific to the routers. I will only list the settings which I made.

I used Router 1 as the primary router connected to the Internet and it will have 192.168.1.1/24 as the LAN addresses. Set up Router 1 to ensure that it functions and you can access the Internet as per normal.

Next, reserve 1 IP address in Router 1 for the WAN IP of Router 2. I will call this reserved IP as 192.168.1.2. You will need to use the IP reservation setting of Router 1 to do the reservation so that this IP address will not be used by other devices.

Still in Router 1, set its NAT such that all traffic going to 192.168.2.1/24 will be directed to 192.168.1.2. This is important - otherwise you may not be able to access 192.168.2.1/24 when connected to Router 1 and traffic will be routed to the Internet.

You should be done with Router 1.

Resetting Router 1 may be necessary.

Connect Router 2 to Router 1 using a LAN cable - one end to a ethernet port of Router 1 and the other end to the WAN port of Router 2.

Now connect your PC to Router 2 (I suggest giving it a factory reset) using a LAN cable.

Power up Router 2 and access its admin page. See your router documentation on how to do this.

Assign 192.168.2.1 as the IP address of Router 2. I used 255.255.255.0 as the subnet mask.

Assign 192.168.1.2 as the WAN IP (use static IP). I used 255.255.255.0 as the subnet mask. Still at the WAN setting, set the gateway of the WAN to 192.168.1.1. I set the DNS servers as 192.168.1.1 and 8.8.8.8 (Google DNS server).

Set the wifi setting (SSID, passphrase) of Router 2 to settings you desire (but SSID should be different from Router 1).

That should be it. You may need to restart Router.

You should be able to connect to the wifi of Router 2 and access the Internet and when connected to the wifi of Router 1, access devices connected to Router 2 (and vice versa).

You can enhance the security by fiddling with the firewall settings of the routers.