my life in point form:

- internet and phone was down over the weekend cause of a blackout.. didn’t feel so isolated after all =) thankful for deep friendships.

- jazz band had first rehearsal last week, playing bass in a jazz trio is fun! might take a while to adjust. hope it goes well over next few weeks

- performed you and me in our college soiree.. learnt that i have lots to learn about performing, especially how to handle well-dones and good-jobs.. made me reflect on why i actually perform. for my own recognition, or so others might enjoy it and have a good time? it’s sometimes hard to be genuine when i sing, and not think at the back of my head whether i’m just trying to show off

- really getting into conducting, not good at it yet, but it’s something i’d look into. fantastic role to play, when music becomes more than the technical know-hows of depressing the black and white keys, even though that’s fantastic on it’s own, but having an orchestra as an extension of your body, your eyes and physical gestures. =) should be really fulfilling, looking forward to it

- first time writing a devotion/article; it was for the easter period, mini-published in our ocf 2:7 bulletin. thanks khai for the opportunity for me to flex some brain muscles. click for a read

- khai agreed to lend me his pentax until easter, might learn up some photography over the week

- went with kat to the most unique of japanese restaurants in the city for dinner on saturday, hako on degraves street! the venue is only slightly larger than my room! they managed to cram 8 tiny tables in there, really cozy and homy atmosphere. the food was simply to die for.

being our first time there, we didn’t know whether we should open the door and ask for a table, because there weren’t even any space to move between tables! there’s a table right in front of the door too, might be disconcerting having someone stand over your food.. eventually someone noticed us waiting and gave up their table for us =) i had no idea how the other patrons left during our meal, they just disappeared silently without even touching my chair.

the culture in melbourne is just amazing =) i really find it perplexing when i ask others about what they like most about singapore/malaysia, and they say the people are friendly and genuine. what? err?

- forgot how fun it was shopping, only intended to hide from the rain in david jones but ended up leaving with a pair of jeans. don’t worry mum that’s all i bought, the one i usually wear already has a hole in it.

- yep this entry looks like it’s just filling space huh. but i guess it sort of reflects my state of mind for the week, just casual, a little indifferent, just sailing through

Your Personality is Somewhat Rare (ISFP)

Your personality type is caring, peaceful, artistic, and calm. Only about 7% of all people have your personality, including 8% of all women and 6% of all men You are Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, and Perceiving.

kev (kat’s bro) did an analysis for me before, i’m not sure if this is the one =) but i guess it sounds like me. how can you really define someone after playing 10 questions anyway?

You Are Corona

You don’t drink for the love of beer. You drink to get drunk. You prefer a very light, very smooth beer. A beer that’s hardly a beer at all. And while you make not like the taste of beer, you like the feeling of being drunk. You drink early and often. Sometimes with friends. Sometimes alone. All the party needs is you!

what do you do after spending an hour or so on the computer with your guitar, only to realize you’ve written some pure golden crap?

perhaps it’s good to exercise some neurons in my brain, haven’t been seriously trying to write for such a long while =s hopefully it’ll get better. but for now i’ll just watch some family guy, kill some brain cells over shits and giggles.

maybe it’ll make me feel better to consolidate a few points i learnt in this mind-tickling exercise

1. the comforts of your room can be very very uninspiring
2. never write something you can’t imagine yourself singing
3. if you’re not good at it, forcing yourself to write a song is exactly like trying to take a crap while constipated. very exasperating. very unfulfilling. you’re just going to hurt yourself.

that was perhaps the most inspired thought of the entire evening.

just watched the shawshank redemption, recommended by some =) very good movie, very well written.

took me a while, but i finally did the obligatory new year thing, setting my xanga calendar back a year to see what kind of person i was and how i’ve changed.. i was so different! didn’t expect to be so surprised. maybe it’s just the way i express myself here; or maybe it’s really who i am that’s changed..

but i really don’t like who i was a year ago. =s

a year ago i was also here in the same room in melbourne typing my thoughts, but it’s clear that things have really changed since then. i guess we’re always a work in progress. it’s amazing how so much can happen in just a year..

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was just thinking a little.. after listening to schuyler fisk, very natural, gifted songwriter. =) really look up to her.

it’s hard to make sense of the so many areas that one can explore in music, be in guitar or vocal technique, lyric or melody writing, vocab of harmony, band dynamics, production, etc. how could we ask for anyone to step it up another notch, when there’s just so many facets we can explore? how is it ever fair for me to say that our scene is not good enough?

it’s hard to make sense that there’s no clear given road for every musician to tread on, that growth as a musician isn’t necessarily on a straight line, that every musician competes to reach further, and that we sort of have to design our own path, not necessarily knowing where we want to end up.

but it’s rather comforting, at some level i must admit, to know that this field that i study in is not a rat race, to see who reaches where how quickly; but the greatness is in learning to respect and appreciate each other as musicians - but also first and foremost, as people who feel, love, live and lose as well.

i guess it’s important to always remind myself, that it doesn’t matter how many notes i can play a second, or how high and wide my vocal range is. it’s so much more important for people to see who i am, and hopefully, trigger some more meaningful thoughts, other than ‘man he plays fast’

makes this journey for every musician or songwriter so unique, so much more significant. regardless of what skills we lack.

sleep cycle’s a little disturbed.. only slept for 2 hours but i’m really alert, i’ll probably be struggling through the day.

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went to 2 gigs in alexis over the break, caught asiabeat and groove unction with mia palencia, ning baizura as guest vocalists.. and to think we just went there without knowing who was playing that night! but it really gave me something to think about.

we are only as good as who we play with.

that’s the only way i can explain how it is that these amazing musicians are always leaps and bounds above us independant pop/rockers in terms of musicianship. i silently wonder what kind of musician i would’ve been, if i’ve played with that kind of quality for years.

i think we can only grow as musicians together as a collective, to constantly sharpen and push each other to challenge our boundaries. not unlike how jon and godesh have been challenging me to match their level of musicianship, though jon would agree that we’re barely scratching the surface.

our scene has such a great advantage though, being so much more accessible; but that being said, i guess it’s about time we stepped it up a notch.

now that the lightning and thunder of live music has passed =) how did i spend my last evening here in malaysia?

was playing soccer in belinda with the boys, in which a certain someone whom i shall not name had some ‘exhaust’ trouble, so he climbed through the barbwire of the tenaga building, made a doodie, and wiped his ‘bumper’ with some paper from a notebook in his car.

dunno whether to laugh or cry..

had great fun playing, especially when another certain someone whom i shall not name after getting past a few defenders, without any pressure at all, rolled the ball toward the goal, tossed his body down and tried to head the ball to the goal at the slowest speed imaginable. AND HE MISSED!! ROFL!!

i feel it’s rather apt that i spent my last day here as if it’s any other =) goodbye is so temporary anyway

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first time i’ve ever lost my phone. it’s switched off but who on earth would want to steal a 4 year old thoroughly battered and bruised nokia 6510?!?! might not be worth much at all, but all the numbers, the precious few smses that i kept.. sigh.

what a night!!

so hard to find photos this time round =s thanks fazri for taking these! the new laundry is just great to play in; the stage was awesome, impressive plasma screens all over, sound wasn’t bad, crowd was warmed up, atmosphere was just great! fantastic venue

playlist:
play
what’re you doing with me
closing
work (jimmy eat world cover)
you and me

quite ironic that i played both play and work =p lol.. wasn’t intended.. the guitar solos were absolutely delicious to play! thoroughly enjoyed them.. it’s great to play to an attentive audience =) qian did say that i looked rather stationary though when i’m soloing.. haha! need someone teach me to move!

thanks guys for coming; was great to finally meet old friends, and make some new ones as well. hope you guys enjoyed yourselves as much as i did

once a while, a song plays and hits you hard enough, with an invitation to stop whatever you’re doing, and indulge in that timeless moment. such immense, breathtaking musical simplicity; yet indescribably pure and profound. something i absolutely can’t deliver tomorrow.

i guess there’s where virtuosity pays its price. hopefully someday soon after tomorrow, i’ll learn to sit down again, to feel something that mere words (even words like these) and music alone cannot deliver. please listen to it k..

cancel whatever else you’re doing on 8th february night! and make your way to laundry, curve at 9:30pm! jon, godesh and i will be playing some arss-keeking new stuff, definitely nothing you’ve heard before. besides, laundry said that they’ll refund the cover charge if you don’t enjoy the show, so no excuse not to come!

could really use the support of some friendly faces there, will mean a lot to me. it’s really only my first feature show after all! please come! bring your friends!

you can read up more about the show on moonshine or junk.

nicely framed shot! thanks albert! (oh no.. i think i’ve put on weight on my cheeks)

playing again with jon and godesh for moonshine next thursday, the 8th february in laundry, curve. will be getting a half an hour slot, probably between 10:30pm to 11pm! and did i mention? it’s free! please keep thursday night free!

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had my first ‘simple plan’ moment when we were performing on the roof of sunway college for the adp orientation party, and it suddenly started pouring towards our last song! we continued anyway and we just went crazy, water was splashing everywhere as jon whacked his drums! what a great feeling! haha! we quickly rushed everything to shelter after the last song

but the night before was hard to forget. we finished rehearsing so jon, a friend and i were waiting in dharoos for godesh to show up, when jon got a phone call from godesh saying that his car flipped on the ldp.. we really thought it was a joke. rushed there to see a barely recognisable black iswara upside down on the ldp overpass, windows smashed and everything

it must be a miracle that they’re still alive.. his girlfriend fractured her arm but he came out of it unscratched. turns out that he was driving normally on left side of the overpass, and another driver was driving too quickly, lost control and hit the right side of the iswara, flung the iswara to the left railing, flipped and landed back on the road like a helpless tortoise. hope she’s alright now.

my grandparents didn’t have a great month either, grandpa suffered a minor stroke, and grandma damaged her hip while taking care of my grandpa.. they’re both recovering in the nursing home now, hope their quality of life isn’t too severely compromised.

the lord gives and takes away in his own time.. life is just so fragile isn’t it, there’s just so much for us to be thankful for.

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it’s strange.. i open this window wanting to type something more meaningful, instead of just describing what happened. but after i talk about my gigs i just can’t do it anymore.. lol! hopefully i’ll be able to post some deeper, more significant thoughts soon