Musical Delights

 Memories

The 16th of November has always been a bittersweet day for me. Since 5 years ago that is. 16/11/2012 was probably the last band concert that I'll ever perform in. Although I always hold on to the hope that it won't be my last, looking at the rate my life is going right now, it's probably gonna be my last! Haha. Well no one knows how our lives will go, but you know what I mean right.

Well joining a band has been a childhood dream of mine. I wanted to be in an orchestra but there isn't one in Tanglin so band was it! And also band is also a wonderful platform to share my love for music with other music-loving bunch of people. I'm very glad that I decided to join band again in SP. And I'm ever thankful to have the opportunity to perform in Esplenade. It's a dream come true!

Nothing can ever describe the feeling of playing music. Or to be more exact, performing music in front of an audience. Concerts/performances are really a platform which we show our passion for music to other people. It's an amazing feeling to just play your heart out to other people, especially after months of practices and rehearsals. Just for a 2-hour concert! Music taught me a lot about discipline.

I will never forget MD36. The sight of the grand Esplenade concert hall in front of you. The sound of people clapping after the concert. And a sound I will never forget in my life will be the sound of bells ringing through the concert hall during Overture 1812. It's one of the most incredible sounds I will ever hear. It feels like a proper send-off for me 7 years band journey.

Well I don't know when I'm going to perform again. I still play my ukulele and the piano sometimes. Though I'm finding it more difficult now cause I'm getting really busy. But when I grow up and have my own house, I'll definitely buy a piano and play my heart out more often. Till then, I'm just going to enjoy music by listening to them! Spinning my records, sipping my tea.

I can never imagine life without music. Happy November 16th everyone. Special mention to my wonderful clariboe section. I hope one day we can all play together again! :)

11.11

So apparently today is Single's day? Well in China only I think haha but I remember seeing an article once that it is celebrated because the date, 11-11 looks like singular people together. Anyway, happy single's day to all the single people out there. Including me! HAHAHA.

Which makes me want to talk about something today. Something I rarely talk about - love.

I have a confession to make. Maybe most of my friends know this. I'm 25 now, and I've never been in a relationship. Zero, none haha. I've never even tried to sort of "try" to go into one? I do have crushes, but that's all heh. And especially after I returned home, it's even more difficult for me to find my significant others. Also I'm working now, and thus I'm less free as compared to when I was still in school, as a student. And hmm. I feel okay with it to be honest.

I do have a conversation with a few of my friends about this issue. Okay back when I was young (like in secondary school/early poly era), I always have the thought that I need to find someone else who will be my significant other. I want to get married, live together etc etc. But as I grow older, the thought of leading a solitary life seems to be okay with me. Don't get me wrong, I still am open with the idea of finding that someone. Just that if I don't, I'm okay with it too.

A few of my friends were telling me that maybe we have entered that comfort zone of being alone? So comforted that we are "against" the idea of being attached. I'm not sure, it maybe is; since I've lived a majority of my life alone when I was in Singapore. Hence I'm totally used to, and I'm okay with doing things alone. I mean I eat out alone, I watch movies/concerts alone, I cool alone etc. 

So in all honesty, I can see myself growing old alone too hah. Okay in this context, what I mean by alone is without a partner. I'm pretty sure I won't be -totally- alone when I'm old.

Also I have this belief that you'll never find true happiness until you've learned how to create it by yourself. Many of us have this idea that like our partner is a source of our happiness. Yes I believe in that too, that couples should be able to "complete" one another. Be a source of comfort and happiness when times are rough and so on. But we should never solely rely on them to be happy.

I kind of realised that there are two kinds of people in this world. There are people who are in their 30s, single, and they are feeling okay. And there are people who got stressed and worried because they are not married/attached. See what I mean? Some people have that belief that they need their other half to be happy to have a lesser stressful life. But can they?

Sometimes I feel annoyed when people are questioning why I'm still single, or why I don't seem to find interest to find someone else. Because personally I don't feel the need and rush to do this. I mean I'm only 25, and also I strongly believe that love shouldn't be forced? Especially if you are not ready! And I really see nothing wrong with not being attached yet. Like why are we rushing to be attached? 

I don't get some people to be honest.

All in all, I just wanna say that I see nothing wrong with being single. Because really, there's more to life than just "rushing" to find that special someone in your life. But at the same time yes, it's alright to have someone too. I guess one of the good things about being single is that you'll have more freedom? And one of the bad things about being single all your life is that you can't relate to the myriads of heartbreaking songs out there hahaha. Unless we're talking about our crushes.

Well happy single's day to everyone out there. Don't rush things, I hope we'll all find someone. And if not, I hope you'll find happiness and a peace of mind by yourself too.

Reunions

Alright let me blog about my trip to Singapore last weekend! Though I went for three days, it really felt like I only went for one. It was an awesome weekend after all, meeting people I haven't seen in ages. And definitely a fun one too, everyday seems to be packed. Alright here goes!

So I went to Singapore on Friday, my flight got delayed! I just realised this fact after seeing the clock at Changi when I left the plane. It was 3 PM, when I was supposed to land at 2. So I rushed to the hotel, checked in and rushed back out to meet Vithya! Gosh it's so long since I've seen her, almost two years! So good to see her again :) And we headed out to.....

Get myself a tattoo. More about this in another post!

So because of my flight delay, everything on Friday got pushed back too. Felt guilty to the people I met on Friday. Firstly to Ash, the tattoo artist who did my tattoo for being late for my appointment, and to Candy, whom we're meeting for dinner! So sorry guys, should have planned my time better and calculated my delays and stuff hah. But yup then we went to Holland to meet Candy!

Had an awesome dinner at Fat Boys burger restaurant. Thank the vegetarian god cause they serve portobello burger haha. Felt awesome being reunited with Candy and Vithya again. Kai couldn't join us as she had plans at work. Really reminds me of our poly days where we would hang out at Holland for drinks on weekends. Back then we were complaining about FYP and now we're talking about work and being adults. Crazy, time flies so quickly.

 Trying to fill their glasses ahaha

After dinner we went to Three Crowns for more drinks. It is out go-to place at Holland, even after all these years haha. Had an enjoyable night with them, trying to pour more beers from the tower to their glasses haha. It was all fun until... It was pouring hard. Bleah, what a way to ruin our night! So we went to call it a night. Despite the rain, it was still an awesome Friday evening!

Went back to my hotel and got knocked out right away cause I only had about 2 hours of sleep throughout the day? Didn't get much sleep on the plane sadly!

Woke up pretty late the next day. Did some work before leaving to meet Vithya for lunch. We were also out to get some stuff for my parents and grandma. And before we left, we had more drinks! Haha. Oh goodness sorry to my liver for overworking you last weekend haha. But it was such a pleasant Saturday afternoon spent with Vithya, talking about a lot a lot of things over pints of beer and a wonderful lunch. I'm gonna miss her, for I don't know when we'll meet again :/

 Gonna miss this woman :( Hope to see you again Vithya!

Oh well all the best in your new chapter ahead Vithya! We'll meet again for sure :)

Went back to the hotel to drop my stuff. Got changed, and then headed out again to meet the GT for dinner! I met with Candy and Kai first for dinner, followed by Vivian! And then we went over to Scapre for drinks as recommended by Azmi. Azmi came and then Jess! Oh and Candy's boyfriend hi Hong (is that how you spell it?) joined us too. Went for a drink at Al-Capone and wow the price of the booze was so so affordable. Got myself Guinness and some Heineken mwahaha. 

And then, Kai suggested we should go... Club! Okay I am very open to any suggestions, after all this is like a "proper weekend" that I had in a very long long time. Also all of us are here in Singapore so lets do it! So yup, we head over to Attica to end a night. Okay first of all it's been almost two years since I last clubbed (last time was Zouk with Brenda and Jeslyn in.. 2015?). It was a crazy night. Couldn't really remember what happened LOL. I knew we went for supper after that.

 Thanks for the great night! <3

But nevertheless, thank you Candy, Kai, Vivian, Jesslyn, Azmi and Zhi Hong for the awesome night! Like I said above, it's been so long since I last enjoyed a proper weekend. Thank you so much for meeting up, and for the awesome night. Special mention to Vjie's brother and mum for sending me back to the hotel. Which I knocked out right away after that. Whew.

Woke up the next morning to a really bad hangover. It was so bad. And also my fault cause I didn't have any water after reaching back. I should have flushed all the alcohol away but I didn't! So I was just bearing with it till noon. Packed my luggage and bag, checked out and met Brenda for lunch! Jeslyn was supposed to join us but she was down with fever :( Hope you're ok now!

 Awesome bandung popsicle!

Felt really bad to Brenda cause I was really feeling out of the radar in that lunch. But felt so much better as the day progresses. Had a great lunch with her, talking and catching up with out lives. Crazy to think we've known each other for 11 years now, and are still keeping in touch <3 Headed over to a place nearby to get some popsicles. We got the bandung and lychee one which was really good! And then it was time for me to go to the airport. Man, what a great weekend!

Thanks Brenda for the lunch! <3

Yup. That was all for my short but crazy good weekend in Singapore! Felt really happy to see a lot of people that I haven't met in a long long time. It's insane to think how much we've all grown up now. I mean, we are now proper working adults haha. Felt like yesterday when we were all still in poly. Well I'm happy to see all of you again, and I wish all the best in your careers!

To be honest I don't know when I'm going back to Singapore again. But whatever the case is, I'm always looking forward to the day that I'll be on the sunny island again, meeting all my friends. Thank you once again to everyone I met, I hope we can meet again one day! :)

Back Again

Hello! Haven't been blogging since November began and yes, cause there were so many things happening in the past 6 days! I just got back from my trip to Singapore like last night haha so yep. Returned to Singapore on Friday till Sunday to catch up with some people! Especially Vithya who's returning to Australia in January, so seized the chance to see her before we're so far apart again. 

It's been almost 2 years since I last saw her can you believe it!

And I was just catching up with work in the past 2 days. I even brought my laptop to Singapore to do work there hahaha. Busy busy man I've become. But it helps, at least I don't have to rush to finish them once I'm back eh. Also I managed to squeeze some time to do them. While waiting at the hotel, and even while waiting to board my plane at the airport yesterday. 

Well just wanna say it was an awesome weekend meeting some people I haven't met in years. Also it was a good short break, the past 4 months have been pretty intense. And the last break I had was my trip to Cambodia so yep. I deserve this I suppose? :P 

Okay just a quick update before I blog about the whole trip. Hopefully tomorrow! Here's me wishing you a neat November ahead! See you soon :)

Summer Days

Summer days are obviously long gone, now that it's almost raining everyday hah. Anyway time to talk about the great music I discovered in this kinda gloomy month of October!

Great Music of October:

- Apocalypse by Cigarettes After Sex

- Affection by Cigarettes After Sex

- 13 Beaches by Lana Del Rey

- White Mustang by Lana Del Rey

- Summer Days by Rhye (Roosevelt Remix)

- Willowbank by Yumi Zouma (Album)

Great Song of October: Depths Pt 2 by Yumi Zouma

Okay yes I know the albums from Cigarettes After Sex (CAS) and Lana Del Rey were released way earlier in the year. Like I said last month I actually ordered them back in August! They were supposed to arrive in end of September I think but I actually just received them like in early October heh. So late. Not sure why, this is the first time it happened to an Amazon order!

Anyway I discovered CAS earlier in August I think cause they had a concert in Jakarta! I was scrolling through instagram when Ismaya took a video of their live performance in their Insta story. And I really love the songs. So I checked them out and fell in love. Although I'm still a virgin and that I don't smoke, their songs really feel like Cigarettes After Sex haha.

I actually enjoy Lana's new album, unlike her previous "Honeymoon". Which was an album that I really couldn't "connect" with? Not sure how to explain it haha. But Lust For Life is really a good album I suppose. It reminds me of her first few albums. Some of my favourite songs from the album is Love, Lust For Life (not a huge fan of the lyrics tho) and White Mustang!

Rhye released a few new songs in the last few months and Summer Days is one of them! I just discovered that Roosevelt did a remix to one of his songs, Summer Days, and it's such an awesome song and remix! Looking forward to a new album from him soon hopefully.

Last but not least I just received Yumi Zouma's new album today! Was so concerned that they won't arrive cause it actually got shipped on 25th September, and arrived in Indonesia in 12 October actually. Then the status just got stuck at "Arrived in customs" since 16th October. So yeah I was afraid that I'm gonna lose it but nope! It's here today weee.

I really really love this album from them. I think it's a great follow up from their debut, Yoncalla which was released last year. This album was kind of a surprise cause I saw them post on Facebook that they were releasing an album in October and I was like wow! Haha. 2017 just got better. Their dreamy instrumentation and Christie's voice really shape the whole album beautifully. I'd like to describe the album as "having tea on Saturday night". Yep.

Definitely one of my favourite albums of 2017! 

Alright we're left with 2 more months of the year. There isn't much music I look forward to in the end of 2017. There's Sam Smith next week, Bjork in end of November, PREP just posted a photo that they've finished mastering the new EP which will be out soon, First Aid Kit has a new album in January and yup that's about it. Looking forward to more announcements!

I Only Tell The Truth

"Nobody likes the truth, because we live in a world where we create our own versions of it"

I came up with this thought a few weeks back, after kinda realising how much the things that people "believe" are pretty much made up by their thoughts. Okay I'm not talking about religions and philosophies but more of people's daily beliefs and perceptions.

I once read a short writing about how the world we live in are nothing but the projections of our minds. I'm not exactly sure about this statement because it's a pretty "huge" statement to say. The world? That's pretty huge isn't it. Maybe more of our thoughts right?

When I was young I got a quote from a movie (I forgot the title!) but it says something like "People believe in whatever they want to believe in". This quote stays within me till now, because I encounter a lot of times where this statement is pretty true, through people's interactions.

There are a lot of times when I talk to people and share with them about my opinions and beliefs, only to be "attacked" back to say that I'm wrong. Without giving me a proper listen, or time to at least digest my thoughts. Sometimes I tell them the truth, what really happened and so on. But they just wouldn't listen, and dismiss me right away. But such is life.

One of my favourite lyrics from a song, comes from "The Mother We Share" by Chvrches. It says "Cause if I told the truth, I will always be free". And this is what I really feel. I just tell the truth to people. And whatever, and however they react to this, it's really up to them. But I feel free because I've told everyone the truth, and I have nothing else to hide.

Which makes me wonder how easy and wonderful life will be if we can all just do that. To just simply tell the truth without caring what other people think.

But then I'll come back to where this post begins - how some (or most) people would just dismiss the truth. And why would they do that? Because they hold on to their own "version" of it. How the "truth" should be like. It's kind of sharing the same frequency as you. If they do, that's good but if they don't, that's when life gets pretty pretty interesting.

If only telling the truth, is as easy as keeping a facade.

But then sometimes it's tough to keep a facade too.

Perhaps we're all fated to pretend.

Sneeze

Been down with a horrible flu for the past 2 days. Still having it slightly now, thankfully the headache is gone now, and the fever has went down as compared to yesterday. Last night was so so horrible. I spent the whole evening on my bed as I was having a huge migraine. It really felt like someone was kicking from the inside of my head. It reminds me of AMS! Heh.

Did some calculations at night with my dad for a while and then I just couldn't take it anymore. So I went back to my room to lay down and yup, the pain was getting worst. Any slight head movement causes the pain to pulsate on top of my head. Standing up made everything worst. So at 12 AM-ish I went to take a shower and just lay down again. Ate dinner, went back to my room and just went to sleep at 4:30-ish. Today I woke up feeling so much better.

It's pretty annoying whenever I have a fever from a flu/sore throat/random infection. Cause as you know, I can't take anything! No paracetamol and ibuprofen. And I don't wanna try aspirin since my doctor said I'm most probably allergic to it too haha. So all I can do is to rest, and just drink lots and lots of water. And raw garlic helps a lot. A LOT. Haha. Fight the infection!

Also the only thing I can do to bring some relief to my body is taking a hot shower. But I can't possible take a shower every hour or so isn't it heh. Well drinking lots of water helps a lot I think. Water does wonder I suppose. And garlic too haha. Well garlic is famous for their anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties so they do work when you get the flu mmhmm.

I try my best not to get sick. I hate it when I am. Especially flu, because having a blocked nose is really really annoying. You can't sleep, and sometimes you got woken up in the middle of the night just because you can't breathe easily haha. It made you grateful for breathing HAHA.

I know this may sound absurd but we actually have this belief that people start falling sick here because of changes in weather. For example when it's always raining, and suddenly the weather turns hot and sunny. Or vice versa. Come to think of it, it was really hot and sunny on Monday and Tuesday. It didn't rain on Sunday too (but it was cloudy). So perhaps it's because of this sudden change in weather? Cause I realise everyone around me is sick heh.

And yes they're having flu. Maybe it's just the virus flying around the air.

Alright I hope you're doing well in this month of October. It's 3 more days to November WTF really. 2017 you have become the fastest year that I went through. Pretty sure 2018 will take your place haha. Hope you had a great weekend. See you soon! :)