Piano

My old piano tuner stopped tuning pianos, so I had to find a new guy.
He came today, and omg. Is he good or what.

He basically restored my piano to its former glory.
When I first got it.
The heaviness of the keys and its original tone.

Beautiful.

In love with my piano all over again.

Now I have 3 beauties at home. My piano, my Yamaha, and my Roland.

Omg. I'm in piano heaven.

Not sure if having 3 piano/keyboards is excessive...

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NAH.

❤❤❤

X'Mas

From here on out, it's a busy period for all of us.
Me included.

※X'mas rehearsal

Just came back from a rehearsal.

The upcoming shows and worship sets I'll be involved are:

25 Dec X'Mas service
28 Dec Inter-generational service
1 Jan New Year aka Granduncle's birthday
4 Jan Combined service

It's full steam ahead from here on out.
I want to clear my leave. I have a lot of leave to clear.
Even after taking quite a few leaves this month hahaha.

Honestly, my brain cannot concentrate on teaching anymore.
Not for now.

Can't believe how exhausting rehearsals are.

I wonder how in the world S juggles work, fishing competition and adhoc gigs.

No wonder his eyebags are so obvious (lol).

S has also been busy.
He just had a gig on 12 Dec, and 21 Dec he'll be participating in the 3rd leg of the Trout King Championship.

Not gonna meet each other this year, but it's fine.
I guess.
I mean, I thought it was.
But I'm getting a bit bummed anyway.

Still, it's my fault.
I was supposed to fly over this year.

事故

I'm thankful for family.

Despite our idiosyncracies, they'll still stand up for me.

Even after I nearly cost them their lives,

They still don't blame me and say "It's fine. We're all fine. Don't worry."

You know,
Sylphy has been the most wonderful best friend,

who has brought me to and fro places safe and sound,

yet today, it sacrificed itself to protect all of us.
And the guitar.
Thank you Sylphy.
I can never owe you enough for this debt.
Never.

Nonetheless,

I thank God for His protection upon us.

And for a wonderful guy who offered assistance and to be a witness.

Blessed beyond measure indeed.

My brothers have already been plotting their revenge against that fxxking asshole who tried to kill us.
Even the most compliant brother is having his bout of bloodlust.
May that fellow never bump into me in public cos I'll definitely go all apeshit on him, and call my brothers over to have their soccer match.

There are 2 kinds of soccer matches my brothers play.
One is the kind where you team up with friends/strangers and kick the ball,
the other kind is where the person they play with is the ball.

Obviously, that guy is the latter.

I'll kick him in the head like a football. He will die for sure.

Yes, his kick is that powerful.
He has broken a few metal fences with that force before.
Obviously, I'm not the only one with rage problems lol.




I scared the bejeezus out of S this evening.
Probably.
Called him, was in tears (after walking to Sylphy and looking at its damage), and when he asked what was wrong,
I had the most dramatic reply ever.

I nearly killed my family.

And somewhere into the conversation,
I went along the lines of IF there were casualties,
wouldn't it have been better if I died instead?
And,
Thanks for being such a wonderful boyfriend all this while.
I'm sorry for always making you worry (about me).

Well done, DQ.
Most dramatic phone-call ever.
I sound like I'm gonna kill myself.

Even ZW shook his head at me,
although he was glad that I called S up and told him about it.
Apparently, his ex didn't like to say anything and usually kept quiet when she was upset.
And he thinks it's better to,
you know,
talk about it.
Let it out.

Thank you ZW for being an awesome listening ear.
And being a great prata buddy.
More food places to come (hopefully) hahaha.

Sorry S, for the dramatic phone call.
Of course I'm not gonna kill myself.
Thank you though,
for dealing with a crying me even though we're 5000km apart.
I've probably given you enough heart attack to last you a lifetime (lol).

Thank you all for being awesome people in my life.

運命

Loving this self-cover so much ever since it came out, and so I HAD to do a cover of it.

Cover-ception hahahaha.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to S!!

In commemoration, I did a vocal cover of one of his songs (one of my faves!)
Ok fine, it's a sad song, and probably in a sense in appropriate,
but I still love it.

Sending loadsssssssssssssssssssssssssss of ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ to the 33-year-old boy.

Fan bashing

Ok, let me say this straight.

I think it's stupid for all that bashing up of one person for no rhyme or reason.
Not when you don't even know what went wrong.

And from what I know,
S has been suffering for the longest time ever.
So all that cajoling into going back,
or that "you hateful ingrate" comments (for leaving your favorite band) are definitely uncalled for.

I finally understood what he meant by all his hard work went unappreciated,
like it was never good enough.

Cos he has worked very hard.

Only that it never seems to work out right and doesn't seem enough.

Fairly speaking, yes.
His stage presence needs a heck lot more work.
I personally think I can do better than him (LOL),
but we're still two awkward turtles on stage.
As we always have been.

Yes, we can do better.
I'll try my best.
Not sure about him though (lol).

He's happy now, doing what he's doing.
I know I've said that before.
And honestly,
that's all I care about.

Being in a band is not an easy thing.

Different characters,

Some you can work with,

Some you just can't.

In my opinion, there should only be ONE insufferable prick in the band.

Someone who knows what he wants and will make everybody in the band follow him.

And if your character is the kind that just cannot be molded to be their puppet,

Leave.

I did.

So did he.

I'm happy(-er) now,

Without all that stupid drama and all those heart problems that only arose from that stupid drama.

It's always good to know what you want.

Or even if you don't know what you want,

You'll know what you don't want from working with others.

I've somehow come to the conclusion that it's so much better to be a sessionist (lol).

At least, you just do what you're told.

And instead of having some idiot insist on his way after asking you for ideas.

Honestly, then ask me to suggest for what?

p.s: yes yes, I know a new cover is long overdue. It's gonna be a vocal cover since my bro is having his promos and my keyboard is now in an army camp so I have no instrument to film with. Also, I've decided what to do for S' birthday present. I just need to record this soon so it comes out in time for his birthday ^^

9 August

It's coming to that time of the year again.

5 years now, ain't it?

I hope you're resting well up there.

This year, forgive me.
I'll be having fun with friends,
and for the first time in 5 years,
watching NDP,
hoping to spot my brother.

I wonder if you'll be upset.
Or would a minute of silent commemoration on that day be enough for you?

It's selfish, ain't it?
It's only once a year,
yet I can't even fork out a day to remember you properly.
Forgive my selfishness.

Even despite all that "I'll never be happy on this day ever again",

I'm excited and eager to meet my friends at the park to have fun and spot my brother on TV.

最悪ですね。

Continue to watch over us alright?
Even as we carry on without you here in our lives.

Rest in peace.
And till we meet again.

9 Aug edit

Still cry thinking of you on this day.
I'm such a crybaby, aren't I?

I still remember this day clearly, seemed like it was only yesterday when you left.

It was a Saturday too right?

The day I heard the news was the day after.

A Sunday, just like today.

The day I swore off ever celebrating my nation's independence day.

5 years.

Feels so deja vu now.

Feels like I'm back to 5 years ago.

Rest in peace.

Fraud

Last Monday there was an unauthorized transaction made via my Paypal account,

which rendered me broke for the rest of July.

I made a report to Paypal and the bank, which promptly cancelled my card.

Honestly, it's quite pissing off that my money was siphoned out of my account while I was asleep.

But what pissed me off the most was Paypal's reply to my unauthorized transaction claim.

We’ve completed our investigation of your unauthorized payment claim. As the payment was sent as part of a billing agreement, it is considered to be an authorized payment. However, as a courtesy to you, we have issued you a refund for this transaction.

Basically what they're saying is that it's still a perfectly legit transaction even though my account was hacked, and they honestly don't believe my claim but nonetheless decide to give me the benefit of doubt and return my money.

Really.

Fuck you, Paypal.

Your investigations suck.

Do a better job cos this is fucking disgusting.

In fact, I'm raging over their reply more than the fact that my money was gone.

It's not a matter of the money (although getting it back is good).

It's a matter of principle.

Paypal, you seriously disgust me.

You've officially burned your bridge with me.

Whispers in the Dark

Hair Stylist

Went to the hair salon on Sunday to get it redyed and some trimming.

Well, at least that was my initial plan.

I ended up getting a new color (which meant rebleaching my hair) and a new haircut (hello fringe! I've not seen you in years)

Because I rushed to the salon straight after a short meeting (which was right after church),

I didn't get to eat lunch.

Which I thought was perfectly fine,

Until I realized I'd be stuck in that chair for 5 hours.

And when my hair stylist heard that I'd not eaten,

He offered to buy me lunch.

He's superrrrrrrrrrrr sweet.

I initially declined but he said it'd still be a long while before I was done.

And it'd be better to eat something.

So in the end I allowed him to help get me food.

I was starving anyway.

If it wasn't for him,

My first meal of the day would have been dinner.

After devouring that packet of char siew rice (he let me decide what I wanted and he went out and bought it),

He asked, "好吃吗？"

Like duh!

Not only because it was from a nearby stall,

But cos he went out of his way for me!

After lunch, I was more wide awake (had been sleeping while having my hair bleached), and he went, "吃饱了有精神了啊。"

So I told him I slept at 1.30am and woke up at 6.30am.

Which usually would be ok.

But I guess my body was trying to conserve energy so I ended up being really sleepy lol.

But yes, I got more energetic after lunch.

My heart is still very fluttery over that act of kindness.

I mean, he's not my regular hair stylist, although they both work in the same salon.

Yet he'd go out of his way to buy me lunch.

Now you know the way to a girl's heart.

Not so much the food,

But the thought and the action.

Can't believe he recognizes me (even though I've only been there twice and he's never done my hair).

Yeah, you always sit in this chair.

-.-

Cos that was the chair I was pointed to?

Not like it's my favorite seat or anything haha.

But they do remember many of their customers.

And he's super meticulous, going through every single strand to make sure that the bleach and dye are all evenly coated, and also testing out hair dye colors on tissue to see which one would be better.

And he wanted to dye my hair rainbow -.-

No thanks, I don't wanna look like a clown.

And made fun of my regular hair stylist right after she told me that he's a really obedient guy, always doing what he's told.

He taped back the broken namecard holder (that a customer broke) with red tape,

And she was like, "Eh no! I'll just buy a new one. Don't use red, it's so ugly!! Don't we have red tape?"

And I suggested that he color it with marker (since his black shirt got white spots bleaching my hair and he told me, "Our trick. We always color our shirt with black marker and voila! Good as new!"),

And he looked at me,

"Good idea!" And took out a marker to presumably color the red tape black.

Around this time was when my regular hair stylist remarked that he's an obedient kid.

And then he showed her his finished product with the black marker.

She was like, "要死啊你。干嘛写我名字？"

Hahahahahahahahahaha.

Obedient indeed LOL.

I just had to put this out here,
cos you know...

Sweethearts like that are not easy to find in this world.

深紅の花

Can't Get Over You

Taylor Swift Red Tour in Singapore: Opening act audition

So we decided to try out the contest to be the opening act of Taylor Swift's concert in Singapore.
Not that we'll get it,
but hey! For the fun of it, and the exposure haha.

It was really stressful, cos we only had 3 days to record the full band and film.
Change that.
2 days and 1 night.
And we didn't even have the time to rehearse together.
We just jumped straight into recording.

Amazingly, we completed everything right on schedule.
Like WHUT.

Did up the piano recording on Wednesday night.
Since Thursdays are my off days, I could afford to stay up late.

Thursday was busy busy busy.
Had to go back to work to open the school for the new guy,
spent 45min running around the entire area for a locksmith,
went home for pizza (that arrived just after I did!),
dyed my hair,
recorded guitar and vocals.

Saturday was insane.
Packed all my recording stuff to work,
cos I was meeting Matt to go to a concert together before we headed to his house to record the bass.

Sunday was cajon recording and filming.
I know I did the recording backwards (usually it's always drums first),
but we honestly didn't have the time and 27 March is the deadline for submission.
I'm very glad for Lefa cos he's one awesome drummer/percussionist.
Completed the songs in less than an hour.
Like WOW.

Filming was a whole lot of fun, albeit the initial stress and cabbing down to NUS.
Here are some photos prior to filming:

Also, here are the videos that I rushed out after some simple editing.





Enjoy, and please help to vote for us!
Thank you!

P.S. I LOVE U

Been loving this song.
For some reason, I didn't really like the chorus melody at first - thought it wasn't too outstanding - but the piano intro just gripped my heart and made me put this song on repeat ever since it went on sale.

So yea.
I just had to do a cover of this.

I'll do a vocal cover soon.

But that has gotta wait cos my voice is dying on me.

Argh, flu bug you suck.

Passion

S finally made a stand.

He has been getting so many messages asking him to go back to doing music that he got fed-up (lol).
I understand that many want to hear his voice again,
to see him stand on stage and perform again.
In all honesty, I want that too.
And I still think his voice is awesome (and so does he, by the way hahahaha).

But as he mentioned,
currently he wants to focus his passion on other things instead of music.

He even received this message.

It went, "Do you like music?"

I'm sorry, but I think that's just plain rude.
You're asking somebody who has chased his dream of being a vocalist for 30 years of his life.
Surely the answer would be obvious.
He gave his all and persevered for so many years, even though he was having the hardest time of his life.
That only shows his passion and dedication to his dream.
Whether he likes music or not does NOT mean he has to continue doing music.
I wouldn't be surprised he comes to dislike music just because people are forcing it down his throat.

It's not surprising that he's seriously annoyed.
Annoyed to the point that he's putting his thoughts out point blank (like what I usually do ^^)
I'd be annoyed too, if I received such a message.

Honestly, I don't really care what he does,
as long as he's happy.
And that, to me,
is the most important thing - his happiness.
S is happy now, and it shows.
In fact, he's happier now than he used to be while doing music.
I remember all the times when he would go all depressed and say things like, "I want to die" and freak me out.
It doesn't help that my mind runs wild all the time,
so "I want to die" made me think of the worst possibilities.

Of course, fast forward years from then,
we've all grown up and matured.
I don't hear him sounding depressed anymore.
He must have been really suffocated back then.
I honestly don't mind what he does as long as it's legit (ok, fishing is legit.)
It doesn't matter if we don't earn much and never have enough money to fly across 5000km to meet each other.
There's always LINE.
And Skype.
Or Viber.

It doesn't matter if I never get my dream wedding cos we're poor people who only manage to survive on our own salaries.
I'll gladly scrape off that live Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra as I walk down the aisle.
I'll scrape off the expensive wedding dinner at some hotel/restaurant and customized gown.
I'm willing to go cheap and budgeted as long as we're both happy.
(But then, talking about weddings is a little too far-fetched now hahaha. Won't ever happen in the next 5 years maybe)

Of course, I'm lucky (and very glad!) he respects my decision to keep on doing music,
despite what he has gone through (and still has to face from his fans).
Because he understands the importance of passion and dreams,
more than anyone else I think.
So while he never tries to detract me from my dream (and vice versa),
he gives the plain truth of the industry he quit - the good, the bad, the ugly.
He doesn't try to mince his words or cover up because he knows,
① I'd prefer the cold, hard truth,
② the importance of knowing what I'll have to face.
And also I know no matter what, he'll be there to encourage and help me through.
Cos the dream he gave up is the one I'm still pursuing.
And we know that if I succeed,
we'll be living both our dreams through me, while he pursues his other dream(s).

So I shall work hard.
Or harder I should say.
Cos now I shoulder the dreams of two people.

But even if things don't go the way I want them to,
I'll still do music (I think).
There are more ways to doing music than meets the eye.
In the smallest way, I want to keep going.

Valentine's Day

Dedicated to S (who else!?)
Thank you for that little bit of happiness and all the patience you've shown me.
I know I'm not an easy person to deal with,
but you manage to accept what even I don't like about myself.

Happy first V Day together.
Here's my V Day present to you.
Sorry it's not the usual chocolate, but then you know I hate being common.
❤❤❤

Yes, the chorus was actually the NYE's message I sang over the phone to him in public.
Talk about public embarrassment.

Translation:
Your profile is reflected in my eyes
Bathed in warm sunshine
I'm overwhelmed by feelings

I'm sorry for the pain of all those erring days, when we couldn't see each other
"Stay by my side always" I will hug the you who shed tears

Blindfolded we were always looking for the shape of love
But now with you, I will overcome everything, you and me together

Let's share both our love and sorrow

Laughter and tears

Thank you for this little bit of happiness

(I want to be) forever with you

Even if I will stray
On a long and distant path
If I look back, I would definitely find my way back
to our path

No matter where, forever,

I will never forget

Even when we're reborn, you and me
Let's promise that we will live together

The most important thing to me has always been right in front of my eyes
(I want to) embrace you

I love you and I will protect everything that we have
Through the passage of time

Let's share both our love and sorrow

Laughter and tears

Thank you for this little bit of happiness

(I want to be) forever with you

Hair color

R has been tweeting about how he wants a hair color change since last month (or last Dec?),
with something darker and not bleached-blonde-to-the-point-of-white.

Then 2 days ago, he conveniently popped a photo of his new hair color change and I started laughing out loud.

I mean,
the coincidence of the 2 of us doing the same hair color is quite lol-worthy already,
coupled with the fact that we dyed our hair in the EXACT SAME STYLE.
Hahahahaha.

Not sure if he read my mind,
or I read his,
or we just simply have telepathy.

Just to clarify,
I did my hair on 27 January and he did his on 8 Feb.
So I did not (in any way) copy him.

Oh man.
The 2 of us are simply awesome trend-setters hahahahahaha.

Oblivious (顔のない天使)

Happy CNY!
Don't stuff yourselves with too much goodies (lol).

By the way, my brother and I are thinking of uploading 2 songs per month (or every fortnightly) since thinking of songs to cover and trying to rush the recording and filming is starting to take a toll on me.

Also, with JC starting soon for him, and my work hours are increasing now that a new branch of the music school is opening means that we won't have much time to record or film anymore.

It's a bit of a bummer to work everyday, but I don't work the whole day so I guess I'm fine with it.
Also, it means more money and more money means more goes into saving for what I've been wanting to buy for so long.
My monthly expenses won't increase (lol).
Still gonna scrimp for instruments and an iMac and Protools,
as well as overseas trips and seeing S in his homeland.

We just gotta see how things go.
Youtube's been fun while it lasted.
And while I don't plan to end it,
we'll have to readjust our uploads to fit around our daily schedule.

江南

S' dedication to fishing amazes me.
You know I know absolutely nothing about fishing (and I still don't),
despite S' frequent ranting over his new equipment and some "Trout King Competition" etc in his blog.

Hey, if you talked to me about fishing and its technical terms in English,
I'd probably not understand much.
But to rant on in Japanese is a whole other level.
The terminology is too much for me (T_T)

Still, his passion for fishing amazes me so much,
and his endless ranting about it sometimes makes me feel that he'll be happier remaining a fisherman his entire life instead of returning to music (which he plans to do, yes. So much for quitting.)

I'll never understand fishing.
It takes forever to fish.
You literally sit there for hours and burn in the sun while waiting for something to bait.
Wow. Much interesting.

Saying that, thanks to him,
I'm hooked on fishing games hahahahahaha.
Much better than real fishing cos you don't wait for hours to catch, and you don't smell like fish and seawater lol.

But whatever rocks his socks.

I'm trying to plan to fishing trip in the Maldives cos I know he'll love it there,

but given our financial status...

I think we can wait a long long time for it to ever happen hahaha.

Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence

Be Your Everything

2014

First upload of 2014. Let the unhappy things that happened in 2013 go, and look forward to a brand new start! =)

I defaced our collage! Hahaha.
S and I hereby wish everyone a Happy 2014!

About 6 hours before 2014, I called S and told him I had a short message for him.
And I ended up singing it over the phone (since they were lyrics anyway).
Was so embarrassing.

The most important thing to me has always been right in front of my eyes
I want to embrace you
I love you. I'll continue to protect everything (that we have)
through the passing of time

Let's share both our sorrow and joy
Laughter and tears.
Thank you for that bit of happiness
(I want to be) Forever with you

Sounds like a confession (>.<)

Even though we're not together yet.

At least not officially.

Not sure if we want to, haha,

Since we live more than 5000km apart =(

He was really embarrassed by that "message" (who wouldn't? My face was hot was hell. Pretty sure it was flaming red too),

But he was really touched too.

Even though I sure didn't write those words.

Wishing each other HNY was a funny affair.
I had to send him a message at 23:00 while he sent me a message at 01:00 just so we make sure each other got the message at exactly 00:00 where we are living.

Anyway, as usual, 1 Jan is always Granduncle's birthday.
The affair gets grander and grander each year.
Kudos to my uncle and his family.
You can tell by the annual celebration just how filial he is to his parents.

Sneaking some couple shots whenever possible ;)

Tried to get my cousin out of the way to get a couple shot, but my grandaunt pulled him back again.

Damn, I guess she knew my plan *sulks*

Plan failed =(

Selfie in the lift. My brother says I damn pro hahaha.

Happy 75th birthday!