I’ve been quite down recently, but this joke cheered me up a bit. Here’s sharing it with you!

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The pastor entered his donkey in a race and it won.

The pastor was so pleased with the donkey that he entered it in the race again, and it won again.

The local paper read:

PASTOR’S ASS OUT FRONT.

The Bishop was so upset with this kind of publicity that he ordered the pastor not to enter the donkey in another race.

The next day, the local paper headline read:

BISHOP SCRATCHES PASTOR’S ASS.

This was too much for the bishop, so he ordered the pastor to get rid of the donkey.

The pastor decided to give it to a nun in a nearby convent.

The local paper, hearing of the news, posted the following headline the next day:

NUN HAS BEST ASS IN TOWN.

The bishop fainted.

He informed the nun that she would have to get rid of the donkey, so she sold it to a farmer for $10.

The next day the paper read:

NUN SELLS ASS FOR $10.

This was too much for the bishop, so he ordered the nun to buy back the donkey and lead it to the plains where it could run wild.

The next day the headlines read:

NUN ANNOUNCES HER ASS IS WILD AND FREE.

The bishop was buried the next day.

The moral of the story is . .. . being concerned about public opinion can bring you much grief and misery . . even shorten your life.

So just be yourself and enjoy life.

Stop worrying about everyone else’s ass and you’ll be a lot happier and live longer !

Have a nice day !

So 11th Jul 2010 was a mad day for me. In preparation for the performance, I woke up really early for the makeup and the hair, which was kindly sponsored by Jit Huey from The Makeup Room. I have to say she’s the best makeup artist I’ve ever had!

(Jit Huey from The Makeup Room)

And I’m happy to finally be able to use this birthday gift for a performance. For a good cause too!

(Jixiang and I)

I am thankful to each and everyone who came down specially to catch the performance and support this event (you know who you are!). As I’d said (in my facebook invite), I know at least 1 person with a kidney disease who had to undergo a kidney transplant, and I know how stressful and financially draining it is. It’s really heart-breaking though I’m not a victim of this disease. If you know someone with this disease, you’ll know how I feel. So thanks to the new NKF for inviting me to be a part of this very worthy cause!

Great to see this cute handsome boy (+ pretty mum) among the crowd!

(Michelle and I!)

After having a sumptuous lunch, I took a short break before going to GC saloon to have my hair touched up by Edward. He’s been my hairdresser for the past couple of years….he’s goooooood. If you wanna find him, he’s now at GC Saloon, Orchard Midpoint, #04-13 (Tel: 67333417). He’s the one to go to, especially if you have scalp problems (ok ignore the tatoo, he’s really a very nice man).

And then off I went to Compass dinner, which is the annual affair for all composers in Singapore. As spastic as it seems, I often hope that terrorists would not bomb the Swissotel on the day of our annual gathering because that would mean an instant disappearance of our local pool of composers/musicians. Ok, or so I’m mad.

L-R: Dean, Kewei, me, Matt

The first time I’m attending this dinner with the S2S Family.

OK so I’ve been back for 1 week, so maybe it’s about time I share some photos and my voyage!

My Europe trip was packed, with great views + nice friends to catch up + random friendly people (+ horrifying incidents which I may share if I have time)… I was most pleased to catch up with some friends, and also to experience for myself the change from Spring to Summer (i’m curious cos it’s summer all-year round here), and of course La Fete De La Musique (Music festival)!

So I bunked in with a friend who lives very near to Notre Dame, so I walked by this area really often…it’s cool, but after some time, it became too busy and crowded for me cos there were simply too many tourists (the pot calling the kettle black haha).

On the first day there, I went to my favourite corner of Paris, Montmartre. On the way near Sacre Coeur, I saw this lovely couple performing and I was so thrilled. They even performed ‘La Vie En Rose’ without me requesting!

And I had a good time looking at the paintings and all sorts of creativity at Montmartre (and fighting off artists offering to paint portraits of me for free). Then I chanced upon this artist, and I like his work very much. It’s charming that he actually painted for all to see at that time:

Anyway, I was walking so much for the whole trip, there were times I just want to do what the bird did (above). My poooor feeeet!

On the 3rd day, I went to Versailles! I’d been to Paris on other occasions, and this time round, I made sure I do a visit there. I dedicated 1 whole day to it yet I could not finish touring because it’s simply humongous! This is really one of the days when I wish deep in my heart that someone can plonk me and my heavy bag on a cart. The scenery was really breath-taking though:

(Above) The castle at the back and the nicely designed and trimmed garden.

This fountain is not even the middle of the whole area…See how it stretches on and on…

(Above) I really love the flowers…a lot of heart and thought and efforts must have gone into making this so beautiful.. (Below) And these are cute huh! (yes I live in a concrete jungle, deal with my silliness)

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I wish I had more time to just sit there for the whole afternoon, or do some canoeing and picnic… (below)

This room is kinda cool with the harp and the antique piano (I’d want it minus the scary mirror and the curtains). I’d speak with the King later in my dreams

Anyway I just want to say that angels are disguised as old gentlemen in France. 2 stories to support my claim:

1) When I was on my way to Versailles on RER C, I didn’t know I had to change my train to another. I was happily shooting video inside the train, then suddenly an old gentleman called out to me “Versailles!?” “Il faut que vous changiez le train!” (It is necessary that you change the train). I just blindly followed him and be led to the connecting train. Imagine if I didn’t meet him….and he was so nice and friendly to me!

2) I decided to go to Pere Lachaise to visit the tomb of Edit Piaf, and I actually forgot to take a map at the entrance. Initially I thought “Hey i can do this! i have sorta memorised the tombs’ locations!” And I was soooo wrong. After 10-15mins, I realised I was totally lost. And just when I was about to drag my feet back to the entrance, an old man spoke to me from behind. To cut the long story short, he was so nice to offer to be my personal ‘tour guide’ so that I don’t go back to get a map. He took me to the tomb of Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde and some others. I realised I missed Stephane Grappelli’s one!

Tomb of Edith Piaf: I’m really happy I paid my respect to her….And this one is Oscar Wilde’s…with a lot of kisses and ‘i love you’ by his fans…

It’s funny because at the start of the conversation, he told me he lives ‘à coté’ (beside), and I imagined for a split second which tomb he’s ‘living’ next to. I’m crazy…

And ta-dah! Some of the albums I bought…hihi:

Will upload more photos sooooon!! This is probably only 1/3

So I’m back in Paris again, and this time round my visit coincides with the World Cup again. What with the buzz going on, my attention was really on meeting and catching up with FRIENDS, and, FOOD:

The food I had been dreaming for the last 4 yrs - Kebab

Maybe it’s just a kebab…but if you know any other kebabs which beat this, tell me! (btw the kebab is as big as my face)

And, my french friend Dim is so nice to bring me to a nice French restaurant, and the duck confit is to die for (in my opinion). Everything is just right and balanced (the skin, the meat, the juice, the fat):

And the dessert Ile Flottante (Floating island) as the name implies:

It was really a very enjoyable evening (minus the jetlag):

And another friend invited me to this nice restaurant called Bel Canto. What’s so interesting is, the waiters and waitresses break into song(s) in between your bites, and everyone stops talking/eating to look and listen at the performers. The waiters/performers we had that night are all professional singers (as opposed to some of the others who are music students), and the arias they did were simply breath-taking!!

Ok, more updates later! France vs Mexico tmr!

The Eclectic Palate Party organised by Select Group is really cool; first off, I like the fact that it’s a boutique hotel, hence it’s furnishings are really unique and colourful. And from level 27, this is what we see:

Yes yes, I like it cos I seldom see this view! Check out the tiny containers!

We were invited to be the live band, and we brought on a fusion of English, Mandarin, French, Japanese songs for the guests who were savouring all the good food that evening…check this out:

And, other than performing with a full band setup (my fav), I really dig taking photos with these peeps:

Kristen (from S2S) and I

Fabian, me, Shawn and James (Melvin was hmm…somewhere else!)

And my favourite pic:

I honestly have no idea why they feel the need to ruin the picture……

And yes I love how my hair is bunned up, I think I’m gonna do this more often for my future gigs heh. All thanks to Anthony Hair Boutique the sponsor. Muack muack to Amanda at Tampines 1!!!

And this, is so breath-taking

I like today!

“It’s like graduation day for you; after seven years of erratic Uranus in your sign, you are finished studying at the School of Unexpected Changes. Today, Uranus leaves fishy Pisces to enter enterprising Aries and your 2nd House of Self-Worth. You are beginning a long-lasting phase when you can improve your self-esteem and find ways to increase your income. Start by setting new goals at work but remember that the improvements will not happen overnight.”

Everything is timed…Everything in its time

I totally agree with her that there’s no way one can explain how one genuinely writes a song….More often than not, it’s a passing thought which is captured…and if I am under the right conditions to continue be absorbed into it….a song is born.

And this is such a powerful song, and of course sung by a powerful and very convincing singer…

If you prefer the lyrics version:

I stumbled across this song by Fergie…and I think it is really a beautiful song. Beautiful vocals, beautiful emotions, beautiful words, beautiful melody, beautiful arrangement.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Finally

Now my destiny can begin

Though it will have a different set

Something strange and new is happening…

22 Mar, exactly a month after my birthday is when I receive a couple of presents. But the wait was worth it…My crazy friends actually bought me (in partial… hence forcing me to pay the rest of it haha) a limited edition Taylor Swift baby guitar! Only 10 pieces in Spore so far…woooooooo…….I’m so happy! So we had this little jamming session at the resto after I’ve opened up the huge box…

And Tienyao and Ein tested the guitar, and Joey even sang! We really terrorised the resto, even though we were already tucked at one corner far away from the rest of the patrons. Here’s a closeup of the guitar (you have to use a mirror to see the reflection for the words haha):

I’m not a HUGE Taylor Swift fan…but I love watching her perform, and the love and simplicity she has for music. I love the fact that this guitar has the words ‘Love’, and ‘Fearless’ written on it. What great reminders, especially before a performance

And my dear French friend Dimitri sent me this CD, giving me such a fantastic surprise! I certainly didn’t ‘wait’ for this, so for the fact that I didn’t wait for it, the surprise is, SWEET.

The album is by Bénabar, titled ‘Infréquentable’. You may preview the music here.

This is my favourite song (so far)Click here to view the embedded video.:

Thank you to all of you for being my crazy friends. I am so in love.

Hello guys, so I’ve been slacking with my blog updates. Sometimes I just imagine I have already shared what I’d like to share, but of course, it was only imagination. This time round, it’s not laziness at work…many things happened and time just flew by….

My baby wedding-singing group A Little Dream had our AGM again on 30 Jan, nothing formal because AGM stands for Annual Gossiping Meeting afterall. I wish we had more moving space (cos the area was quite small), but it was still heart-warming to see so many of the musicians make time for this meetup.

Then….it’s the Chinese New Year celebration! It’s my favourite holidays of all year, mainly because I get to meet and catch up with some of my relatives….Well, Beanie is not a relative, but he is nonetheless quite family!

And yes..everybody’s been asking about my MV…well, some things happened and we decided to reshoot it. We might make it just in time for the 1st year anniversary of the album ha. But I want it good, it’s ok. At least we had a lot of fun heee:

A lot of things have been delayed….if you believe in astrology, it’s because Mars turned retrograde during this period. Yes….I do believe in all these, haha! (It just turned direct recently, so yeah!)

We had this MV re-shoot on the eve of my birthday celebration. We didn’t quite sleep, hence by the time it was the birthday dinner, I was ZOMBIFIED. Nobody really seemed to notice, maybe because Cafe Iguana was sooooo dark. I’m so blessed to have this group of friends!

And then….the E-awards pre-show event “姜是本地辣” on 27 Feb 2010 @ Bugis Junction. Definitely an honour to be invited back to perform for the organisation after they awarded my EP album with “2009 Best Local Indie Album” last year. This category is so encouraging for the local music scene - not only do they root for fellow musicians who have already made it overseas, they are also showing support for many more of us who are really just trying to reach out to a wider audience. This time round, I played the piano and sing, and had Jixiang to back me on his guitar. I love it! The first thing to strike me when I arrive at the scene was, “Who are all these people with professional BIG and LONG camera lens?” I really don’t think all of them are from the media…how interesting. I’d really like to know!

Someone from Facebook took this photo of me….and I LOVE it. Mainly because I have NO…IDEA…just…what…I…was…doing….ha ha ha ha ha….!

And of course, I went overseas to record the French album of my dreams. But that’ll be another entry when I’ve more time. Going to watch Pink Martini’s concert now. Tata!

….of holdin my head up high all the time…Isn’t it tiring if you keep looking into the sky?

Like a kite on a draft flowing toward the ground….I just need a lift…

But I’m so heavy…..so tired…With constant reminders of real deaths, and manoeuvrings amongst unknowns….

Is it me? Again?

But I did all that I could. It was a different set of situation. I gave my best.

Is this what life is about?

I need the freedom to create. The freedom to take charge in what I believe in.

Do you believe in me?

I do. Because I know myself the best. No second person can claim that.

The wind blows in all directions. Maybe it’s my time to rest a while.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I just attended Babyface’s concert…he’s such an amazing songwriter (and singer). R&B and soul is my love, and I basically grew up listening to his songs…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Maybe I just need to re-find my soul.

Remember my little post last Oct?

It has always been a secret wish…for my works to be part of a movie soundtrack.

And my wish came true tonight! It is actually a project by Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s 2009 Grad students from the Film Sound and Video course (School of Film and Media Studies). 6 groups produced a short film of approx 15min each and voila! Many people’s dreams came true yesterday night, because the films were screened at GV, Great World City!

Funnily, the students used the demo I anyhow-recorded at home as the ending song. Not ideal (cos I hear all the mistakes and lack of right reverb etc lol), but definitely all in good spirit

I am most happy to be involved in one of the films, specifically a musical titled ‘Love Story’. The pride I got when I hear actor Rayve sing my song with the emotions and all that jazz on the big screen - priceless! (Incidentally Rayve is the actor in the recent Koka advertisement which I loveeeee.)

Many thanks to people I’ve come to known because of the film: Calvin, Singwei, Jean (for the wonderful arrangement to my song), JJ, Marilyn, and many others for making this such a memorable one for me. It’s my first time doing this, but definitely one of good experience! Hope for many more of such to come. Here’s the trailer for you:

The CEO of S2S, Kazunari Suzuki (more commonly known as Ken), passed away peacefully on 31 Jan 2010, aged 55. When I received the news, it took me a while before the news sink in, then I couldn’t quite control my grief.

This is a very personal post for me. I finally decided that I should post it.

Amongst other reasons, Ken is the major one which made me decide to sign with S2S. When I first met him, I didn’t know him of course. But during those brief moments of first few meetings, his honesty, sincerity, positivity, fairness (which I’d really never quite seen in the music industry) touched me. As time went by, I knew I was in the right ship, because he was a brilliant captain. After I joined the family, everyone in the music industry I met has nothing but positive things to say about him.

It wasn’t just his capabilities, but also his lack of air as a boss, and willingness to show himself as a mere human being which really impressed me. I don’t really like to talk about my love life (lack of), but I’d like to now, just to demonstrate how fun a person he was.

Anecdote 1:

Close to 2 months after I joined the label in 2008, I was invited to a New Year Eve lunch with the staff. In one of the conversations, one of them asked how I celebrated Christmas eve. I said I hung out with some girlfriends. My very-new Jap boss Ken who was seated beside me, burst out laughing, then tried very hard to quickly contain it with his hand. At first I was bewildered. Everyone else was bewildered. Like, “what!? what was the joke!?” Nobody understood the joke.

After 3 seconds, I quickly clarified, “Oh no, I’m not a lesbian” (just in case he found it funny that he had signed on another lesbian singer. Don’t be offended, that was the wildest guess I could come up with in split second. I mean, I didn’t know him well, and I’ve zero ideas about Japanese humour). Then he shook his head and said in thick Japanese accent in between gasping laughs,  ”No no…. Hopefully next year……you will spend your Xmas….. better “. I got what he meant, and thinking it a Japanese-appropriate answer, replied sheepishly, “Yes yes, I will get a boyfriend next year “. <– on hindsight, my reply was uncalled for, because I really don’t think he cared for any; he just found it funny.

I couldn’t quite believe it. He actually laughed at me!

Anecdote 2:

I can’t remember which month this was; this time round he got me an interview for a Japanese travel publication. As I had been mocked by him in Anecdote 1, I felt that I could let my guards down and be more ‘myself’. He personally went with me to the interview, mainly because the journalist was Japanese, and he could do some translation if necessary. The interview went very well with some help of translation; questions were mainly on my inspirations on song-writing, and music related issues. Then the journalist asked about my love life. When she knew I was single, she asked what kind of guy I like, well so, I replied blah blah blah. Ken, who was seated beside me all these while, looked at me with near disgust and commented, “Tsk. Very difficult“. Then I believe, he shook his head. Almost as if talking to a father-friend, I said (in front of the journalist), “Noooooo….it’s not!“. He said, “Difficult. You want this that.” Shook his head again. Luckily I did not need his translation for that part of the interview. (My standards are really not that high. Just too high for Ken).

As time went by, he was less a boss-figure and more a father-idol figure. His generosity, fairness to artists, kindness, sense of humour, and always on the ball attitude, fearlessness, and passion for living life, inspired me.

There are many other fond memories of him: When he spoke sprinkles of Mandarin to me… How nobody batted an eye when I performed with Aiza, well before the contract was signed… On one occasion he wanted me to sing at one of his Japanese friend’s wedding (we were very fairly paid), and he even came round to my band and I at the end of the performance to make sure we get to take some nice Japanese desserts home (each of us went home feeling really happy about the desserts more than anything else)… My last conversation with him at the Christmas party about Lisa Ono and music scene in Japan….and him spurring me to write more original songs… My best memory will be when he shared with me what S2S stands for. I wish he could have stayed on longer to see the success he envisioned for his artists, and S2S. I had really wanted to tell him, “I think your English has improved over the past year.”

My deepest condolences and sympathies to his lovely family… Here’s a song dedication to Ken for being a dream-weaver, and for everything positive he stands for. It’s my misfortune to not have a longer working relationship with him.

Wherever you may be
In that canopy of stars
I know that you are not so very far
Wherever life takes me
I will carry you
In every dream that comes true

Click here to view the embedded video.

On Saturday, 2 January 2010, close to a thousand RVHS alumni members joined ex-principals, teachers, staff and students of RVHS to walk the entire distance from the Malan Road campus (formerly ACJC) to the spanking new $79M campus in Boon Lay.

And I was there.

I know, it’s a bit crazy. I’ve graduated from RV for…ages…but I still go back almost every Teacher’s Day…it seems like some link which I can’t cut off. I love going back to campus. When RV’s old west coast campus was taken over, a part of me felt crushed…only memories could console. Going back to visit never felt the same ever again (though the familiar faces of the teachers helped). But this new campus feels, right. The colours, the infrastructure, the spaciousness, even a part of the campus resembles the old west coast campus. Going back physically, or mentally, always gives me a sense of protection and feeling sheltered….I didn’t feel it when I was studying there of course. It was only when I was ‘released’ into JC and Uni subsequently that I realised how safe and sheltered I was in RV…the world out there is a deep blue sea. And discipline and perseverance shaped during my teenage years were the 2 best things that came along with the graduation.

The teachers have aged a lot, and of course, so have I. It was a great way to start the year of 2010 by going back to the roots. And this is what I want to do a lot for 2010, going back to the roots of all things. Be it relationships, music or living. In particular, I’ll sing the way I want to sing, the way I love to sing, and follow the way of singing which made me fell in love with singing at the very beginning. No one else can ever tell me how I should sound like (well except for my teacher hiak).

A friend said recently (in his rarest moments of sanity), “If one cannot find beauty in his environment, he can never find beauty in any other places he goes to”. Again, it’s all about appreciation of, roots.

Happy 2010 everyone. May you find beauty in your roots