Kagerou

sigh, still can't get over Kagerou's disbandment... while their music doesn't speak to me as much as, say, Mucc's, Rice's or even Deadman's, but I truly think they're a solid band that has given the vkei scene a good name. & substance.

agree with yuj's comment that somehow, with their disbandment, i can't help but feel as if it's the end of an era.

first deadman, then la vie, and now kagerou... all the bands that i respect are announcing their disbandment this year... why?

Hitting 31 makes you think about things. Lotsa things.

(There. I've finally mentioned my age on this blog.)

Well first of all, I can no longer deny the fact that I'm firmly entrenched into the (double-fingers quoting in the air) 30's. No more "late-20s" but rather "early-30s" from now on!

It's coming to a cool 10 years (a decade!) since I first graduated from U. Just the thought of that is enough to stumpify me.

Simply cos it doesn't quite feel like i've mentally progressed very much since then, haha.

And yet, as I was conversing about this topic with a friend (one who has transversed from the "ex-colleague" to the "friends" zone) who was fetching me back from a night out, it occurred to me that, no, things ARE actually rather different now. Ever since graduating from school at least.

We agreed that we are now at a point in life where we are no longer pushing the angsty "why am i doing what i'm doing" mode, but rather, we are clearer now, at the age of 31 and 32 respectively, about what we want, what makes us tick, what we need to do.

Now, I am able to prioritize my needs. I am financially capable of fulfilling most of them. I know where I'm heading professionally. I react much better to work situations. I'm taking care of my health (finally.. that health check report shook me up.) and actually enjoying the process. I hang out with people I want to, and not because I feel obliged to. My relationship with my family have stablized.

It may sound cliche, but it's true. After that big three-oh, you do get wiser. Perhaps it has to do with shrugging away all that apprehensiveness and uncertainty so prevalent in the 20's. And relieving yourself of the need to put on whatever facade it is to impress.

I'm finally able to say, I'm proud to be in my 30's.

Finally

YES!!! GV is bringing in Deathnote Movie Part I to Singapore!
ooooh yeah

Opening date is 19 Oct... hope to catch the sneak previews earlier
ね～一緒にいこう！☆

House of another sort

Watched Monster House with CC yesterday, as he's back from Cambodia for a week or so. Maybe it's the low expectations (actually there were none), but haha, i must say i really enjoyed it. Didn't think I'd like such animation, but turned out that the effect was pretty realistic (yet not toooo realistic that it loses its kiddiness), the pace was good, and the script was well-written. Most favourite character was Chowder, the regular plumpish loser kid-next-door. Almost everything he did or utter made us laugh out loud XD

I know this will sound totally incompatible, but of the films that i have watched 2nd half of the year, the 2 films I'd recommend would be this one and Sophie Scholl. 2 totally different genres but hey, there's always a suitable movie for every mood.

House MD Season 2 DVD Set

3 Cheers to Bangkok super-efficient pirate people!
3 Cheers to dear brother who bought them back for me!

Hip hip
HOORAY!

pointless post

Need live
Need live
Need live
Need live
Need live

THIS! is the result of watching 10Days Tour AX Finale DVD-R.
uuuurrggghhh
What a marvellous, marvellous performance that was.

*weep*

Can we see something like that again in the 69Days Tour???!!!!!

I want to watch the darn DVD with a bunch of muckers in my room, can???!! Can I advertise for muckers in ST Classifieds??? Am I sprouting nonsense???

Am btw in a 凸-phase.

OK. Early Oct schedule goes like this:
10･1
ｼﾝｶﾞﾎﾟｰﾙ -> 日本
ｳﾞｨｱﾝﾛｰｽﾞ @ Club Addict
10･2
ﾑｯｸ @ Quattro
10･3
ﾑｯｸ @ Quattro
10･4
日本 -> ｼﾝｶﾞﾎﾟｰﾙ

I will basically be konked out at the office on 10･5.
But what the heck.
Marla, if i look like shit on 10･5, you'll know why.

setlist for the first two nights of 69days tour wasn't as 'alternative' as i thought it might be...
not sure what to think of that...
guess i'll have to see what the next few lives bring?

Lighter & much happier news:

69Days Tour starts today!!! Yosh~!!!

Interestingly, yesterday (10 Sept) a mucc cover band by the name of "Robert/Roberto" (ロバート) held its maiden performance at Voice Factory (at 下北)! They're a group of university students, I believe. So cool. If I were in Japan, I'd certainly pop over to see their live and give them some support! :) Tickets are only 1,500 Yen (plus 500 Yen for drinks) anyway!

20 days countdown to 1 Oct...

My phone's gone for good...yeah, am quite certain about that! :(
Got a replacement SIM card from M1 today, using my old phone now. I wanna get the same model that i lost, cos it's a good model. But now I can only buy at the no-contract price which is so darn expensive! Boo! With the contract, the phone costs $198, and without, the cheapest they'll sell me is $498! Daylight robbery! Looks like I gotta check out those independent phone retailers... uuurrrggghhh

Curse the person who stole my handphone !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, made a police report today as advised. There's an IMEI number attached to each phone and the number will be lodged with the police once you file the report. Legit second-hand phone dealers are supposed to check that they're not buying over stolen phones. But well, most likely the thief will either use it himself or sell it to unsuspecting people. Still, good to know about the IMEI. Check out the Singapore Police Force webpage for details (and to check whether your phone is a stolen one!). Talking about webpages, I only found out today how comprehensive the local police webpage is. I should have just filed my report online instead of going to the neighbourhood police post. Cos in the end the report the policeman filed for me at the police post was using the same format & system that i could have accessed at home! So really he was just helping me input the data! Plus the stuff he wrote was grammatically wrong!!! orz...

So I'm still waiting for friends to either email or sms me your numbers, please. So far my phonebook only has my family & KC!!! This morning, silly me, after putting in the replacement SIM card into the old phone, I was thinking of SMS-ing BH to tell her that I lost my phone, then halfway through SMS-ing the message, I realized I dunno what number to send to!!!!!!

I feel so lost. It's sad, huh.

It doesn't rain, it pours

I lost my phone!!!!!!!!
Can friends please email me your contact numbers?
I didn't make any copies of the numbers, so it feels as if my entire social life has been wiped out...i feel so naked...orz...

And what really sucks is the fact that the pics and videos of my niece will be lost forever!!! SOB!!! Memories lost sucks big time!!!

TTOTT

逆ムックの日

Happy Reverse Mucc Day~!

Work's getting to me real bad... I have to consciously tell myself everyday the reason why I chose this job... yes, it's that bad.

If I pinpoint the exact things that are getting to me:
1) yes, that black-faced girl. the sweeping statements that she makes irk me, but i don't say anything of course. but somehow she's just got something against me and refuses to acknowledge my presence. how rude! like, i'll say goodbye to everyone and she just ignores me. or, in the meeting, i just ask a question to someone else, and she's all out to humiliate me by answering in a "duh, don't you know?" kinda tone. yes! she's just refuses to greet me even if i bump into her in the corridor! and the worst thing is she bloody sits behind me and makes a lot of noise all day long. she's also pally with everyone else in the team, so god knows what she's happening behind my back.

but, i'm really not someone who forces myself on other people. i'm not the kind of person who will barge myself into conversations just so that i'm in the 'in' crowd, u'know? so i'm so not myself at work. there was even one day when i spoke less than 2 sentences!!! something i can't even imagine myself doing at my previous jobs!!! i'm not myself anymore!!!

2) people's perception that i'm technically weak. i mean, i don't deny that i'm not very strong technically and that's the reason why i'm here - to learn. but i'm no freshie either and i've seen my work compared to some other colleagues, and hey, i don't think i'm far off at all. but, because of other people's perception of my capabilities, my work gets criticized at places where i don't think is that crucial at all! that's when i realize that even at technical areas, there are many issues that need judgement, a judgement that need not be backed by technical evidence but just an opinion, and if you give people the impression that you know, you get your judgement across, but if you don't give people that impression, it doesn't matter what you say, the default is for people to think you are wrong.

from a position where i was in charge of things, running things, advising people, to a position now where i'm being doubted, i'm feeling it really hard.

3) work allocation. i think the best way to learn is to work. i'm not getting the meaty projects. probably related to points 1) and 2).

i'm seriously at an all-time low at work...

謡声

多亏枕头和利尤的歌词翻译和讲解，我才能了解歌曲的意义！
因为需要时间仔细研究，所以今天在办公室还印出了枕头的翻译:)
然后在回家途中一面听，一面看歌词。
感动。
眼泪都流出来了！

久违了，伍佰& China Blue！Part II

So... now where was i ... oh yeah, now on to Wubai & China Blue's part of the live!
First person we saw on stage was 大猫. Lookin' cool and as usual, in black.
Then...
another man appears...
in a black suit...
cooing to the strains of...
夏夜晚风!!!!!!!!

*dies*

The entire setlist didn't spring too many surprises (and was generally too short!;)), and the sound system left much to be desired, but the band rocked the whole house down, that's for sure! In fact the most awkward moment was when they left the stage to the DJ to spin his stuff. For a moment there, I panicked and wondered how much airtime they were gonna give the DJ chap... haha, o yeah, that reminds me, Dino did this mock-spinning motion with his cymbals that cracked me up.

The gems of the evening to me were 白鸽(where 大猫once again performed an awesome solo), and 真世界。YES!!!!! It's been a darn long time since I heard 真世界 live! I love this song!!!!! BH and I were jumping up and down like some xiao zhar bohs, muahaha...
*feels satisfied*

Didn't see any support guitarist this time round...

伍佰solos...to die for...

Right before 爱情限时批，伍佰 took a jab at the first row audience (who were still SITTING　DOWN!) by saying, hey, now you guys in the front row should be able to stand up and get rocking with this song, cos I expect all you guys to know it well, right?! hahaha... 伍佰brand humour... they should trademark it, y'know!

Final song before the encore was 浪人情歌。Y'know, despite it being played to death and how it may not be particularly 伍佰's favourite song, everytime it comes on, i'm sure it tugs at the hearts of many in the audience. I know it did for me this time. He was going on the soliloquy bit rather deliberately this time round. luv it.

Encore was 爱你一万年。 I know it was PN's first time seeing Wubai live and i hope she liked it, especially this song (cos i was afraid she might not know that many of Wubai's songs). I think she did. :)

Final encore was a collab between the 2 performers. So 伍佰&team + 张震岳&team sang 爱拼就会赢 together. how much more bala can it get???!! the ultimate, siah!!! *swipes nose*

And that was it.

Later we saw the bandmen go off in their vans cos David had parked his car at the carpark there (way to go, David & Tona!). 张震岳lazily made a V-sign to us in the van, catching BH by surprise :) Besides (a very good lookin') Dino coming over to say hi to Marla, I didn't catch sight of anyone else, really. Then the whole lot of us trooped down to Kovan to eat Nasi Lemak & Hokkien noodles XD XD XD

And that finally was it.

Sigh. When's the next 伍佰& China Blue live gonna be? Will there be a concert tour next year after the new album in Oct?

久违了，伍佰& China Blue！

好久没在新加坡近距离参与伍佰& China Blue的live
好久没在新加坡玩得那么乐 :)
伍佰在舞台上的风采依旧，魅力无法挡
（不管是King of Rock名称还是现在的...ahem...Emperor of Rock名称，
跟mucc一样，都是宣传，音乐本质还在，现场实力不变！！！）

It was a 2-man live, so 伍佰& China Blue shared the stage with 张震岳 and Free Night feat MC Hotdog. 张震岳put on a good show, considering that:
1) it was obvious most of the audience was there to watch 伍佰, which resulted in a rather cold audience during 张震岳's performance (who watches a rock concert sitting down? Answer: Singapore audience). Worst behaviour was when in-between songs in 张震岳's setlist, you can hear people shouting "伍佰!". C'mon, give the guy and his band, all professional musicians in their own right, some respect, willya?
2) 张震岳was apparently not in the best form because of some personal situation... read the taiwan entertainment news columns for more information on that, I won't dwell too much here about it...

I enjoyed 张震岳and Free Night's performance, actually. Firstly, there were some familiar favourites like 我要钱，分手吧，自由，爱之初体验，爱我别走，etc (was especially touched by his rendition of 爱我别走). I liked the first part of his setlist with the more rockish numbers. Secondly, although I'm not a fan of hip-hop, it was nonetheless interesting to attend a live with hip-hop bits - a first time for me. It's like, haha, the way you "bob" to hip-hop music is so different from rock XD XD XD Thirdly, Free Night was entertaining. I don't know much about this 5-piece band, but the guitarist (his name 苹 i believe) had a certain flair and looks like he has potential for more fiery pieces - he was half-headbanging at some bits! The bassist was also entertaining to watch - really "on" and a huge rapper-wannabe XD XD

I can see how MC Hotdog gets his reputation. You gotta admit he's a rather good Chinese (language) rapper. And damn the catchy tune of 我爱台妹!!!

(to be continued...)

91

and so my birthday was mostly spent in the office...
reason being the malaysian budget was announced on the same day...
so we had to stay back...
this week had already been a tiring week as there were transfer pricing negotiations...
was going cross-eyed with excel sheets and thinking stats/algebra/econs

anyway, coming back to 1 sept...
left the office at 10.50pm, rushed to the airport to receive marla
prata at jalan kayu with marla, tona & david,
yum~
that was the only fun thing that happened tonight!

tomorrow morning, am celebrating with my family, though
only because my niece can then sing and blow the candle :)
otherwise, i wouldn't really want to celebrate my birthday...
especially after a certain age, huh... ^^;

another event to look forward to tomorrow: Wubai & China Blue!

oyasumi~

saga

mucc will be the death of me!
the exchange of the coupons for the CD/poster was one helluva difficult process...
friend who agreed to help me turned out to be one of the rare few in japan who doesn't possess a handphone,
so she had to ask her classmate to help.

of course before this, as kindly alerted by yuj, the mobile website printed on the coupon is wrong!
had to go through a tedious explanation to my friend on each step to take, and there's like a gazillion of them...

anyway, so then she found out that somehow her classmate can't access the site (phone too old or something, i dunno...),
and in the end she asked her sensei for help!

her sensei was so kind, she passed the whole phone to my friend.
friend tried entering the site, it worked, but after going through all the steps to the final step, which was to enter the mailing address, her lessons started or something, and she instinctively shut the phone, thinking she can enter the website later to register all over again.
little did she know that the next time you enter and try to register the IDs, they barr you from doing so!

so she panicked and sent me an email telling me she failed, asking me for another pair of IDs so that she can key them in again.
but...but... i only have one pair, since who'd be nuts to buy more than that?
so instead of going down that route, she asked for a number to call.
gave her the number and she tried calling.
luckily they understood what she was saying and assured her that they'll look into it,
but my friend has to email them about it.
which she did.

she was patiently waiting for them to respond, when, this time they surprised her again.
by acting so fast and sudden,
calling her sensei (since they could see which handphone was being used)
and asking for her address.
friend's sensei panicked since she has no idea what's happening and class has ended long ago.
sensei tried to contact my friend but to no avail (remember my friend has no keitai)
so in the end, sensei kindly provided her own address instead.

which means in oct the CD will be sent to the sensei, thereby inconveniencing her again!

uuurrrrggghhh

this is turning out to be an essay, huh, and whoever's still following this saga is either cross-eyed now, or totally confused, right?

moral of the story: refer to sentence one of this blog entry.