farewell, grim 2003
in the face of a new year.. i can only use grim to summarize 2003.
people died.. the latest one would be canto-pop star, anita mui. okie.. that's crap right.. there are people dying every year. but it just seems that.. those we know.. whether on screen or in real life.. they die in larger numbers this year. okie. dun laugh yeah. it's meant to be serious.
good things happened tooo.. but sometimes.. we are just gripped by the sadder things in life. u remember heartbreaks better than the laughters. u remember deaths better than the births. u remember epidemics better. it's pretty sad. but life goes on..u move on. time never stops.
this year.. well.. exciting to me. i've been through so many things.. so many stages of life... from getting to job.. to getting back to school.. everything kinda overwhelms me especially at the last half of the year, where everything happened.. so fast.. so much.. i could hardly see my way really.
but some things are certain... and i'm very very grateful for that. my family, my friends... my life. sometimes.. i just feel so glad that i've made it to yet another year... another "new" chapter of my life... it may not be a bed of roses. it may not be the best of everything.. but i'm alive. at least i'm still here.. trying to make a difference. i just want to do things i like and enjoy doing them. music, for one, is the thing that i treasure the most. i treasure my ability to do music, even though i'm still pretty much amateurish. so in 2004, i shall let go of constraints and really do what i like.
i have to thank people.. so many people along the way.. making my 2003 a memorable, despite of it being more melodramatic than ever. these people... too much to name really.. has made me grown up. even til the very last minute of 2003. i've learnt from them.. i've moved on.
so what do i have for new year resolutions?
1. diet -- bloody hell. this has gotta be done.. from the very first day of 2004! or i'll look really awful for feb. haha. and my levis.
2. keep my hair -- and stop drooling over SHORT nice haircuts.
3. practice harder at my cello -- to fulfil my bach suite no.1 dream.
4. study hard -- a new year always gives me a new start. i feel refreshed.
5. do more genres of music -- and stop getting stuck at what i suck best (read: boring ballads)
6. drop my crush -- haha.. well this is inevitable. a new year always spell a new start right? haha... same rule that applies to returning money before the new year. i'm tired to go on.. tired of crushes... and i just wanna concentrate on my music and studies. haha.. how shortlived. i'll just stick to my roy mustang from FMA.
farewell 2003. let's all wish 2004 will be a better year for everyone.
listening to: chemistry -- your name never gone
sleepless
well..that generally describes my weekend camp at raffles hall. i never had more than 5 hours of sleep everyday.. in fact, this morning.. i only had two hours of sleep.. argh.. i'm now beginning to feel the toil of it..
the camp started on friday.. but i only made my way there..like at about 9pm in the evening because of work in the afternoon.. practising for the solo audition.. .my hands are now on the verge of being blister-rampaged. it's pretty painful siaz.. and sitting through a song.. my right arm almost broke. ooooh... time to listen to my instructor's advice on "relax! don't strain!" ...
on the first night.. we walked all the way to fong seng for prata...oh my god.. it's such a long way.. from centre for the arts all the way to kent ridge terminal.. but the prata is good.. had mushroom cheese and a plain one.. oops.. i've yet again violated my diet resolution...
the solo audition was pretty.. screwed. haha.. well.. during practice it was fine.. but the moment the real thing began.. my hand trembled furiously. man.. and my tune went off-key all the way... yikEs! but i have an aim now... hopefully. .by the next camp.. i can play bach suite no. 1. haha.. that'll take me a long long long time.. but.. haha.. having an aim is always good isn't it.
during the last night.. we had ktv sessions.. skits.. and we played indian poker until 6 in the morning...considering that we have a recording session for the competition's cd... two hours of sleep is really crap...
ah... on to the recoding session! we arrived at that place.. over at some ulu corner of joo chiat road.. and for the first time.. i stepped into a recording studio. not the most professional one.. but it's quite cool... would really wanna thank peiying for the piano and jiarong for the guitar.. with jiahui as the backup vocals.. and me destroying the song with my screeching.. the song sounded quite good.. cuz of the piano and guitar combi.. really powerful..
and yes. before i forget.. i've found a target in nus. haha. finally. an alive and kicking person.. 3D and in colour. haha..
listening to: eason chan -- quan shi jie shi mian
sound of colours
the scene that made me wanna watch the movie
it's a wonderful movie.. tony leung was hilarious inside.. he's the kind of person.. whose humour isn't slapstick. he doesn't have to.. look or act funny to be funny. and i just love the way he smiles. his smile's always.. very light... very subtle.. and i like the chemistry between miriam yeung and him.. very soothing.. very natural.
another person to look out for is the angel.. played by a new taiwanese actor.. fan zhi wei. i've always had the impression that he's a very serious and stern guy.. so it was a pleasant surprise to see him as a quirky, impish and mischevious angel in the movie.. oooh.. a new guy in my fav. listS~
i don't like zhang zhen much.. so his part was pretty boring. but i like a part when he ate the chocolates and closed his eyes... hahaa... okie. give him some credit yeah?
the song by elva is very nice... sounds funny at first.. but it grows on you. haha.. and the duet between tony leung and miriam yeung's pretty good too.. haha..
oh dear... i've yet to pack up for camp.. meeting at 8.30 at clementi. grrrr. camps.. i hate camps. cuz it means i have to say goodbye to my comp for three days.
til then~
listening to: elva hsiao -- di xia tie
the journey ends
my favourite character after legolas, aragorn and gandalf.. the elf queen, galadriel
...and what a wonderful way to end it. the much awaited trilogy of.. may i say, the era has finally come to an end. three years of wait.. from gondor to mordor.. from helm's deep to minas tirith.. this wonderful journey, mixed with blood, sweat, hope and courage has stopped.. the fellowship has been broken .. but it stays in memories forever.
the return of the king was a very exciting ride... facing the breakdown of frodo and the ever-so-irritating-like-mr.smith smiggle (or gollum.. whatever)... and the fight at minas tirith.. i shed tears many times. haha.
i cried when frodo told sam to go home. i cried when king theoden died in battle.. i cried when merry and pipin were separated. i cried when the people of rohan and gondor fought bravely against the orges (man they are so bloody deformed). i cried when faramir left for battle while pipin sang. i cried when arwen chose to have a mortal's life. i cried when frodo and gandalf left for the land of immortal in the west (good things are always in the west huh.).
the two of the best men in LOTR
but i cheered WHENEVER legolas came on screen (mr. legolas did a lot of stunts and saved the day again.. as usual. blondes rock! haha.. ). he looked soo good in his non-battle elvish clothes.. hail the prince of mirkwood! he looked very good.. i cheered when aragorm, gimli and legolas (!) fought through the path of the dead. i cheered when legolas finished off that huge elephant-like thing with LOTSA STYLE. i cheered when sauron's eye exploded.. nice way to go blind.
it was a showcase of hope and courage amidst despair and depression. it was particularly inspiring to see everyone responding to gondor's call for help with the lighting of the beacons.. and how the orges showed fear when it seemed that the people of rohan were fighting with all they have. but the witch king quite lousy la.. gandalf say until he like very li hai.. but end up kena killed by a woman.. with lotsa pun intended in the show.. haha.. so sad. actually.. why did they win? because of friendship. frodo made it because he had sam with him. merry made it because he had pipin. aragorn made it because he had legolas and gimli. gondor made it because everyone else came to them. long live friendship!
aragorn is by far the most amazing and good-looking in this instalment more than ever before.. he's shown himself as a king.. and a very very sentimental man.. gentle yet strong.. his love for arwen and his capacity as a king really builds up in this part.. i think other than frodo.. he's the character that has evolved the most.. and he sang pretty well! his voice very deep.. mellow.. nice... and also.. pipin's song was written by the actor himself.. and i love it..
there can be no triumph without loss... no victory without sacrifices... and i could really feel for middle earth. i shall read the book one day.
the steward of gondor
Home is behind
The world ahead
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadow
To the edge of night
Until the stars are all alight
Mist and shadow
Cloud and shape
Hope shall fail
All shall fade
listening to: billy boyd -- the steward of gondor
jazzy starry night
ooooh.. jazz just always get into me. xmas is always the best time to listen to jazz.. in fact, i'm researching on it.. exposing myself to more genres of jazz and bossa nova and even r&b (other than jay's.. haha)... so that we could better equip ourselves and kick butts next year. haha...
well it's been a few days after the competition and i'm still not happy. i think it's really because i'm not doing what i like the best. not jazz, not r&b, not bossa nova, not chill-out.. just pop. and pop is getting on my nerves. but we need sooo much resources and talents to do something else.. and that's bad. that's like REAL hard to find. we're just gonna have to rope in as much help as we can.. but the passion drives us on. haha..
bidding for modules suck. basically all my modules clash with each other. nus is sleeping.
listening to: george michael -- miss sarajevo
it's just not the same
i have this problem.. things that i hate.. tend to go further. take for example.. the most heard (then) song , mary. she's a nightmare. she's haunting. she brought me down and everyone linked me to her and some even asked if there's going to be another song like that. NO! hahaa.. mary is scary enough.. haha.. though i did tell mark seow to do a rock version of it with his then-band.
this time... it's a mushy-lovey-dovey song that got into the finals (thanks guys for all the moral support.. thanks to candy and qiaoyan for giving me their support right there and then.. haha). well.. i'm exhilarated of course.. i get to sign a contract with rock records over publishing copyrights and hopefully (cross my fingers) sign me on as songwriter ($$$$$$$...) but no that won't happen. haha.. for i realized my stuffs are crap compared to the rest.
i've always thought highly of myself.. the stuffs i write that is. i've always thought they were good. but now i think it's mediocre. that's the cruelty of competitions man.. it either brings you up... or it smashes you right down to a pulp. let's just say i belonged to the second category.
when it was my turn to sing.. let's just say i had a very difficult time getting into the i'm-so-bloody-in-love mood. i had to practically see a judge (the shuai-est) as tony leung chiu wai. haha.. i smiled a lot... to cover up my trembles.. and i had to hold the mic with both hands... turned out to be a good bet.. my friend said i looked so calm and composed.. her morale was high... hahaha... i can act better than chen fengling i guess. haha.. and a lot of people.. i don't know them.. cheered us when we ended.. a pleasant surprise.. kudos to these unsung heroes.
out of 5 judges... only one (and expectedly a female) commented that she had an impression of this song. well well.. not that i'm disheartened or anything.. haha.. but that judge! i spent so much time looking at you and you didn't mention anything.. wah lau waste my imagination. haha..
then the contrast of feelings came.. i'd actually rather not get into the finals. because i have to go through the whole confidence-smashing thingie all over again. i have to skip work because of this. haha.. and actually.. i'm more excited planning for entries to next year's competition.
the overall comment for this year's entries were that there were too little alternatives... haha.. that gives me reason to do my favourite genres of music, jazz and bossa nova.. i've longed wanted to compose something of my own.. and thus have decided to go learn the bloody guitar. piano sometimes just doesn't do it. i've already been inspired by chen qi zhen and sung si kyung and norah jones and ono lisa. man... sometimes.. you've just gotta do something you like.
i don't have to be the best. i tell myself that.. and perhaps one day.. i'll just be a pure music-lover.. a pure listener.
listening to: sung si kyung -- shall we kiss?
pure joy...pure music
well well.. i just wanna express my gratitude towards shuz for bringing me to sung si kyung's mini gathering.. for exposing me to such a great voice.. and for introducing me to a wonderful korean album. gamsaham ni da~
sung si kyung is a cha tae hyun-lookalike.. though he probably look twice better and some say he looks like bae yong jun.. and his voice is.. GREAT. mellow... strong.. not too husky.. not too whiny... man.. all guys should sound like that. his cd is really good.. numbers of all genres.. he carry them really well.. jazz, bossa nova, dance-y, piano ballads...
he sang "kissing a fool".. and i must say.. george michael sounds NOWHERE like that... even jazz's answer to Enrique, michael buble don't do it as nicely. haha.. my first korean cd... i'm glad it's a gem.
well..got back my results.. and i'm glad to say.. i've done better than i thought.. 2 Bs and 3 B+s... the fact that i dun need to repeat any single thing makes me wanna jump.. haha.. i struggled for a long time before getting my results. haha...
tomorrow's the semi-finals.. wish me luck.
listening to: sung si kyung -- everyday birthday
poet
loving you has made me a poet..
happy at this moment... teary the next.
when you look at me with a smile... that's already the sweetest melody
man.. z chen always has a song.. that i listen to it once and i totally fall in love with it because of its really really really sweet lyrics... haha....
well.. haven't updated in a long long time.. it's been a very.. busy week...work was pretty busy.. i'm in charge of my office's xmas decor.. someone tell me what the hell they are thinking! i think i'm more suitable for stuffs like.. halloween! haha... and worse still... the department don't have a budget for this crap.. and they want something nice out of this.. right. no money.. no talk.. man.. and i thought people dealing with taxes would know this best?
well anyway... last week.. i was at candy's place... working on our song (okie.. it didn't get into the semi-finals of the competition.. but heck! there's always another year... yeah?) oh man.. been so long since i last spent the night without my pillow, miffy! haha.. would like to thank candy for her tsubasa and xxxholic.. but now i wanna collect them.. so.. thanks ah candy.. thanks for making me burn a hole in my pocket.. muah hah haha...
cello practice!!! man.. i totally dreaded it last week.. i was totally lost.. no idea what was going on.. and my instructor looked really pissed..but yesterday.. i must say i played pretty well.. okay.. improvements at least la huh.. i could get all the bow directions correct and managed to play quite a bit without having to label all the dou gays on my score!!! hahaha.. i feel achieved. haha.. it's pure joy when i hear my cello playing harmoniously with the rest of the cellos... man... exhilaration!
oh well.. it's yet another week coming along.. and xmas is coming!! i have no idea why i suddenly look forward to it so much this year round.. it must have something to do with david tao singing that xmas carol in his concert... haha.. and all the snow thingie falling when he sang
ji mo de ji jie. haha.. and while doing the xmas decor actually.. i was like.. the more i do.. the more fanciful ideas for it! haha..
candy and i have decided to join another competition held by nus' centre for the arts.. haha.. this time in english! her england is so powderful.. so i'm doing the melody!! finally.. my name as composer! haha.. but i guess it will suck.. and i wonder if i do it.. haha..
z-chen.. man.. best ah.. nice song leh.. totally in this lovey-dovey mood..
and yes.. i watched infernal affairs 3 yesterday... my god.. i must say it's a little confusing.. but guess what.. leon lai is wayyyyyy cool inside... nice!!! and i took a very nice photo on the streets.. .have this very winter feel.. shall show u guys asap! hee
^___^
listening to: cheng z-chen -- shi ren
david tao's soul power concert tour 2003
... and man does he have power!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
goodness me.. listening to david tao singing live is such an enjoyment.. it's totally exhilarating.. his voice... strong.. .explosive... powerful... belting out tunes after tunes.. with endless energy... this is what concerts are all about~!! i would ditch all my cds.. cuz it just doesn't show fully how good he can go!!!
he opened the show with an overture of the song "zhao zi ji".... when he came out on the stage... everyone just went wild.. and so did i!!! in fact... i actually wanted to cry.. serious!!!! being a fan since he first started out.. that's in 1997... he has been such a star who's soooo hard to wait for!!! 6 years since then ... and he has til now only 3 albums... but nevertheless.. my support hasn't waived!!! heheh~~~
he then went on to singing my favourite tunes.. such as "10.30 de fei ji chang"..."sha tan".... oh my god.. he sang so many.. i can't name them at once!!! he even incorporated "somewhere over the rainbow" into sha tan... my fav. english song!! haha
tension's appearance was good.. but too short!!! they came out acappella-ing.. doing the backup vocals for "wang chun feng" and "ye lai xiang"... and performed "gonna be your man" and "i'll be with you"...AND THEY ARE GONE!!! no way.. that's soooo little!!!!
he then performed a string of english catchy tunes.. .. and everyone went really high.. i jumped along to his "my anata" and screamed like mad during "zhao zi ji"... screaming as loud as i could!! his encore pieces were "dear god" and "ai hen jian dan"... must sing.. haha.. he added in a christmas song.. but he unfortunately broke his voice at the high notes.. but heck!! considering he only broke it at the end.. he's still da BEST!
DAVID ROCKS!
listening to: david tao -- tao yan hong lou meng
dos and don'ts
how to really piss chen jinglin off? have a bunch of really inefficient workers in the company.... a bus that wouldn't turn up in less than 20 minutes... a killer headache... and there you have.. the PERFECT formula to drive me nuts..
work SUCKS. being in a high-tech place where u can virtually do nothing without the access into a bloody system.. a username and password seems like the only thing u need... but yet it won't come. IT WON'T COME AFTER 5 BLOODY DAYS. i really wonder why the people there are getting paid. WHY. i'm so pissed.. i've stopped waiting. it won't come this week.. BYEBYE. i'm bidding farewell and f**K them.. they can do all the revamping of that bloody system themselve. i really dun give a f**k.
then comes the bus.. someone tell me why our transport fares are getting higher while the quality is getting worse.. oh wait... WHAT quality?! what am i talking about? why am i harping on something that doesn't even bloody exist?! damn it damn it damn it.. i would suppose the LTA's only policy is to make money.. money.. and even more money.
what a day.. what a week.. what crap.
listening to: nothing. bloody nothing
