September

In the blink of an eye, September just gone by like that. I don't know why but I've always felt that September is a month that always goes by quickly. It's that month of the year, just like February. And also, somehow I always feel that if you've survived these 9 months, the next three months are just going to breeze by. Well that's my experience so far in life.

September has been quite a busy month. I don't know why but yeah I feel that there's a lot of things going on and I don't know why. Business wise, we've an increase in sales and that's awesome I suppose. I hope the next month is going to be great as well. Like I said previously, life is nothing but to get better and better as time goes by! That's a goal I want to work towards to.

We're left with three more months to the end of the year. And I am already looking back on the odyssey I went through so far. 2014 has taught me a lot of lessons. I'm looking forward to learning and discovering what this year has in offer for me, in its remaining three months. It seems rather shocking to me to realise how quickly time flies. It's like week by week went by, months, and soon, year. I suppose it's a sign that we're growing up? Time is no longer something we track of.

Alright it's the end of the month. Time to share with you the great music I discovered in this month!

Okay before I begin listing down the music, there are a lot of music I discovered this month because I just started listening to the albums I bought in Iceland in this month. So yeah that explains it. And also there are a couple of releases which are awesome!

Great Music of September:
- Begging For Thread by Banks
- Someone New by Banks
- Dreamer by Low Roar (Found them in Iceland!)
- Breathe In by Low Roar
- Phantoms by Low Roar
- Superheroes by The Script
- Every Breaking Wave by U2
- All Night by Icona Pop
- We Got The World by Icona Pop
- Stay By You by Hjaltalin
- 7 Years by Hjaltalin

Banks is a new favourite artist of mine whom I discovered this year! I love her song Bedroom Wall from her EP and she just released her LP titled Goddess in September. Although the album contains songs from her past EPs, the new ones are really nice as well! The two above are my favourite. Love the beat and rhythm for Begging For Thread, and the lyrics as well. I think she's a talent and she will go far in the music scene! All the best Banks! :)

Low Roar is a band I discovered in 12Tonas at Reykjavik. I could still vividly remember the moment I first listened to them. I was listening to Dreamer at 12Tonar. While making my purchase, I asked the shop keeper what CD is playing currently. And their album "0" was on display. So I decided to give them a listen at the shop and well, fell in love. I love his deep voice and ethereal accompaniment. Couldn't stop listening to Dreamer when I got back, cause it reminds me of Iceland so much.

The Script released their new album in this month too! I've bought the album but didn't have the time to give it a proper listen. Superheroes is by far my favourite one from the album. Love love the lyrics and also the video of the song! Too touching. The Script has been my favourite band since their first album. And what I love about them is the fact that they never really change their style, they're true to themselves the past 4 albums! So yep, love them.

U2 released an album exclusively for iTunes. Though I appreciate their hardwork, I think it's quite creepy how Apple can just put these songs in your device without your permission. Don't you think they can put whatever they want to put! Hah. Anyway Every Breaking Wave is my favourite from the album. I'm not a fan of U2, but that song is cool so yeah, no complains :P

As usual, I'm always late in discovering music. Although Icona Pop released their album "This Is.. Icona Pop" a year ago, I just discovered their great songs now. I was driving when I heard one of their songs on the radio. I knew it was them because they sound familiar. After searching on the net, I found out it was "All Night". So I discovered that it's in their latest album so I bought it via an online shop and well, loving the songs from the album. Their songs are adrenaline and happiness inducing.

I discovered Hjaltalin years ago through their song Feels Like Sugar. Bought their 2 albums at 12Tonar and just gave it a listen. I discovered more songs from them and I still have their latest album "Enter 4" to listen to! Will do so in October. I still have a couple of albums to listen to so yep, I'll give them a good listen in this coming month.

Alright, these are the great music of September! I hope you'll give them a listen too, and hope you like them :) Three more months of music discovery! Lets go.

Give Peace A Chance?

 Give peace a chance

When I was in primary school, I took part in a drawing competition themed "Give Peace A Chance". So I seeked my sister for help and she helped me with the idea. But I drew and coloured the whole thing of course. Come to think of it, that's a difficult theme for primary school kids heh.

So I drew people of different nationalities on the right side of my paper, releasing doves from cages, and beside them is a rubbish bin filled with nukes and guns. On the left, a big dove giving planet earth a big olive twig. Come to think of it I think that's a pretty cool drawing. It's kind of like the people of the world working together, trying to bring peace (the big ass olive twig) back to the world.

But now as I read through the news and scroll through my timeline, it feels like world war three is brewing. News of bombings, countries joining forces etc. I don't know. As a history student it really feels like a war is starting soon. Of course I never hope, in fact I prayed that the world will be war-free. I don't see the point of war. Innocent people die, because someone wants to be better than the other?

How can we ever give peace a chance if we are all engulfed by our own egos?

Dear world, I really hope things will get better. It's just saddening to read all these news. So saddening that at times my heart can't bear with it. You know whenever I see a shooting star, my first wish is "world peace". But then again someone, somewhere in this world, is wishing for domination when he/she sees a shooting star. So yeah, my wish will get cancelled, if you know what I mean.

Lets all pray for peace around the world. For the safety and well-being of others.

Sabbe sata bhavantu sukhitatta - May all living beings be happy.

Two Kinds of People

I am generally a positive person. Or maybe I am one. I am definitely someone who always looks on the brighter side of things, and try to seek out the positivity in everything. Unless being positive is taken out of context of the situation. Many of us think, or feel that the world consists of two kinds of people. Some will say it only consists of men and women, some say money-minded and non-money minded people. And if you watched Swing Girls, there's a quote there where it says that the world is made up of people who swing, and who don't.

To me, the world is made up of two kinds of people: positive and negative people.

In my 22 years of existence, these two groups of people exist in my everyday life. I've known a lot of positive people, who always look on the brighter side of things, who are happy-go-lucky, who are calm when it comes to facing problem. And there are negative people too. Always looking on the negative side of things, or more like looking for the negative things, and definitely people I don't want to spend my life with, or even my time with.

There's a simple way to see whether someone is positive or negative - when they're making assumptions. For me, I always make "positive" assumptions about things I don't know. For example, when I go to a restaurant, and my food takes a long time to come, I'd think that the kitchen is super busy or maybe they lack in manpower, instead of thinking that the waiter who took my order forgot about it. See? Thinking of the positive and thinking of possible scenarios (positive ones) instead of jumping right away to conclusions.

Another example: when I realised I lost something in class, I'd think that I either left it at home, or dropped it somewhere instead of thinking that someone stole it from me. There are a lot of examples. But I think you should get my point. In my opinion, positive people don't jump to conclusions (or worst, negatives ones) but come up with positive assumptions and different possible scenarios of a situation. And I think it's not a difficult thing to do.

Of course there are instances where I jump into negative assumptions. Say I found out that someone stole my things with proofs. I wouldn't go "all nice" to this thought. I will feel disappointed and sad. But then again, what's on my mind would be something like "there must be a reason to why he stole my things, maybe he needs help and I should help him". But of course, I would tell him that you shouldn't steal people's things even if it is a way to help yourselves (and others).

I think the world will be much better place if we all start making positive assumptions first, rather than negatives ones. Because I think it is a win-win situation too, it's not something of a disadvantage to do. Okay lets say we go back to the first scenario. You go into a cafe, place your order, it's been 30 minutes and your good hasn't arrived yet while your friends are tucking in, and you ask the waiter where is your food. Before you ask, in your mind, you think that "oh maybe the kitchen is busy, or maybe there's a problem there". And then the waiter came and apologised "oh sorry I left out your order, I will get the kitchen to cook it right away!"

Okay you'll have to wait longer. But now you know your food is coming, and well... What else is there to be upset about right? Unless the waiter told you "haha I forgot your order so you won't get it".

So yeah, the world is made up of two kinds of people: positive ones, and negatives ones.

What are you?

First music

Today I asked myself a question about music. I wonder what was the FIRST music that I listen to in life? Well it's most probably a lullaby my mum sang for me when I was a baby. Or maybe a song my mum was listening to either on the radio or TV. I often wonder though, what is the first proper song that I listen to when I was young? That made me love music so much.

I do remember that I love to listen to lots of instrumental music as my parents love it too. One of the earliest musicians I know of is Richard Clayderman. I listened to his music a lot when I was young in my dad's car as we were driving around my hometown. Also thanks to my late aunt, who introduced me to more classical music as she loved to play the piano at her home. I discovered Tchaikovsky through her, as we played Swan Lake together on a duet!

Actually to be honest it was after I went to Singapore to study that I discovered more music. For example I get to know Enya from my Anklung and Kulintang Ensemble instructor, Ms Ho as we played a lot of her songs in the ensemble. Through music classes I discovered more classical composers like Chopin and Bach. Then I discovered more artists like Sarah Brightman, Kitaro, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and through them, my love for music grow more and more.

I discovered a lot of music by buying CDs at HMV. I still remember spending my money on CDs after every semester in primary school. My sister would bring me to HMV and I would just go to the Classical music section and see what I can get with my hard-saved money. I bought a compilation of classical music once and my whole music dictionary expanded a lot.

And then I joined band in secondary school, and I also met the internet, and boom, my world of music just exploded really. Sometimes it feels pretty cool to realise that all of these events sort of link to one another and made me who I am today, musically. But then, still, I couldn't find that one music which sparked my interest in music. Is it Richard Clayderman songs? Or Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky? I still couldn't find that one song yet. And perhaps, I won't find it.

I do remember musical moments that changed my life forever. The first was my first Angklung performance at St Margaret Secondary School for some award ceremony. It was my first time playing in front of a huge crowd in an ensemble. We played Only If and Hua Xin, and the feeling was really wonderful! And then my second performance with TSMB at SPCC during Arts @ Tanglin in 2006. Playing in an auditorium in a band, wow the feeling was just great. It's a dream come true for me because I've always wanted to perform in a band.

And last but not least my performance with SPSB at Esplenade. For my first MD and for my last. Whenever I go to Esplenade to watch a concert, I always dreamed of performing there one day. So to play there for my first MD is one of the greatest achievements in my musical journey. And yes, it definitely has changed my life forever. I will never forget that moment.

I never regard myself as a musician. I am just someone who truly and deeply loves music. Someone who can't live without music. Someone who enjoys listening to it as much as making it! And I want to keep it that way. Because I knew that I most probably won't make music my sole career. But  definitely want to live alongside with music for the rest of my life.

11 Things I Love About Iceland

Okay so I'm really missing Iceland ever since I received that postcard I sent to myself. So I decided to do this post about 10 things I love about that beautiful country! Although it's been more than a month since I got back but oh well here goes!

 1. Reykjavik

Okay I just love everything about Reykjavik. I think it's a beautiful city bustling with life. The beautiful murals, the people, the ambience, everything! I feel that Reykjavik is a big city that is small and a small city that is big. Like I mean I walked everyday around the city when I was there and I realised that this street is nearby this street and at the same time I realised how much of the city is left unexplored by me. Seeing new sights everyday, and finding shortcuts made me feel this way hah.

 2. Murals in the city

Reykjavik is filled with colourful houses and rooftops. And it is also filled with so many cool art murals around the city! I found out that some people actually hired artists to have a mural painted on their house's wall. And the one above is one of my favourite!

3. Landscape, landscape, landscape

Iceland definitely is the most beautiful country I've visited so far because its landscape is just too surreal and amazing. As I drove around the country (kind of), every few minutes of driving will welcome you to a new landscape. For example you'll pass by a moss field and then you'll pass by a volcanic field next. It's really something I've never seen before. The beautiful variety of the landscape truly made this country a uniquely beautiful one. So please go to Iceland :P

 4. Empty spaces

Well Iceland has a population of 300.000, with the island covering an area of 100.000 square kilometres. So there is a lot of big and empty spaces. Well I'm a person who enjoys emptiness, and enjoys being surrounded by it so yeah. Iceland is the place to go heh.

 5. Clean air and awesome tap water

I realised how crisp and fresh the air in Iceland is, even in the capital itself. Iceland is powered by geothermal energy so there is very little pollution! The air is refreshing and I was trying to breathe as much air as possible haha. Also during my 5 days there I didn't bother to buy mineral water as I was told that their tap water is good enough (or even better). And yes, the tap water there is really clean and has no smell! It's like free-flow glacial water or something heh.

 6. Land of fire and ice

They don't call Iceland the land of fire and ice for nothing! There's snow capped mountain, and then beside it there's a volcano, a drive south will land you in a glacial lagoon filled with icebergs. Truly the land of fire and ice! Thankfully I get to experience both, well not seeing the lava and magma etc but seeing Snaefellsjokull is good enough!

7. 12 Tonar

Best music shop in the world for me. Nuff said. I wish I can spend a longer time there though.

 8. Bæjarins beztu pylsur

Also best hotdog I've had, found in Reykjavik! I get random cravings at night for this beautiful, savoury, delicious hotdog. I miss their crispy onions.

9. Arnastapi

I must say that Arnastapi is my favourite place in Iceland. So thankful I got to spend 2 hours there to enjoy the serenity and beauty of that place. I always feel sad listening to Sigur Ros songs now because they remind me of the place a lot. Walking along the cliff listening to Vaka and Ara Batur was just so eargasmic and lifegasmic really.

10. Jokulsarlon

And of course Jokulsarlon is another favourite. Well it's simply because it's the first time in my life that I see icebergs! And also I've been wanting to go there too. Unlike Arnastapi, which I didn't know of heh. I want to camp at Jokulsarlon one day when I go back to Iceland! :P

 11. The people

Of course, I feel that the interacting with the people of the country is the most important aspect of traveling. I did manage to chat with a few locals, but the shy me don't have the guts to take their photos. Except for one! Unnur. She's the guide for the Snaefellsnes Peninsula tour and she's really friendly. I asked her to pose for a photo here at Arnastapi and she gladly did! Generally the people in Iceland are very friendly and welcoming. Well I didn't meet anyone that left me with a negative impression so yes, I love Icelanders haha.

Right so here are eleven things I love about Iceland. There is obviously more than eleven things I love about this beautiful country. But I'll just stop for now! :)

36 days

So today I finally received the postcard I sent to myself from Iceland, which I sent 36 days ago! Weirdly my friends in Australia received it like three weeks ago. Well apparently Indonesia is further away than Australia from Iceland hah. Or maybe our postal service is just too awesome. If you get what I mean. But I felt really happy when I received it just now. Cause reading what I wrote back 38 days ago at Cafe Babalu in Reykjavik made me smile like an idiot.

Sigh, I've been missing Iceland ever since I got back here.

Missing Inner Mongolia

 

 The people who shared one of the best days of my life

September is always a sweet month of reminiscing for me. Because three years ago I went to Inner Mongolia for the Green Desert Project with SP, with my team The Green Transformers. Going to Mongolia is in my wildest dreams and well although I went to Inner Mongolia instead, the memories of the trip never leave my mind. It will always be there, because that two weeks were just so memorable. The people that shared my memories of this trip, the wonderful town of Duolun we spent our days at, the beautiful grasslands and the people there, made the trip so unforgettable.

At the same time we are doing something great for the environment. Recently our team leader, Jesslyn, went back to Duolun with another group and checked the progress of our trees. Although they're not growing super quickly (we planted fir trees by the way), they still showed progress and I'm so ever proud of them. I can still remember one of the uncles who helped us to water the trees back then told me to come back to Duolun with my children and show them that we planted these trees __ years ago. I will definitely do that if I'm given the chance to.

Inner Mongolia is one of the most beautiful places that I've been to. I just love the grasslands, the cooling autumn breeze, the locals and the abundance of empty spaces. Sometimes I wish that all these places would be left untouched. But I'm sure progress will make their way on top and all these spaces will be used for other greater purposes (I hope).

I'm longing to go back to those days again. The tree planting days we had. Where life was so much simpler, and reality seems to forget itself.