Happy 2013!

Here’s a little something for you!
Happy New Year!

How’s that? I was so amused when I first see it 🙂

December was mainly a blur for me, because there were simply too many activities!

I kicked off Dec with Legoland! 5 days prior to Legoland, I went to Universal Studio Singapore for the 1st time…and I have to say that… USS wins hands down. But I was informed by the husband (the lego-lover) that Legoland is built for kids much younger than for USS (Hmm…i wonder how that reflects his mental age then). It was still enjoyable, but I wished that there were more places to sit around!
Legoland on 1 Dec 12 :)

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Anyway, I really prefer USS :p
Here’s some photos I took from RWS:

The one which took my breath away….the faraway land….

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The other one which took my breath away (in another sense)

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And the one which gave me back my sanity – a swim!

Bev @ RWS, Festive Hotel

Festive Hotel is soooo great I’d really love to be back again, just for a quick runaway.

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On 9 Dec, I was invited by Anaki Records to conduct a songwriting workshop. The participants were totally cool, there was even 1 from London! I was more than happy to share my ideas and tips on songwriting. Granted there are many different genres of songs in the world, but I suppose I did my best to analyse what I know on jazz, pop, rock etc. There were also many interesting questions which bounced up, like “so what do you do when you run out of inspiration?”, “how do you come up with a melody for a set of lyrics?” etc. I’d really love to do another workshop sometime in the future soon!
Anaki Songwriting Workshop 09 Dec 12

Anaki Songwriting Workshop 09 Dec 12

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I also was invited to do a series of performances at Rafflescity with Mei Sheum on piano and Melvin on bass. I love Christmas, and to be able to share the joy of it through songs is….simply awesome. As it was organised by Trafalgar, I performed some Spanish and French jazz classics to (hopefully) bring the listeners to Europe via music….and  of course Christmas songs were a must! I don’t usually do gigs at malls… but it really is very heartwarming to see children swaying/dancing/waving at us during the performance. And people taking photos or videos (with their trembling hands), trying to capture that very moment in time…

I regret not taking at least a photo of what I had seen, from the stage. My moment in time. 🙂
Christmas jazz @ Rafflescity

Christmas jazz @ Rafflescity

Christmas jazz @ Rafflescity
L-R: Melvin (on bass), me and Mei Sheum (on piano)

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I was also invited by COMPASS to be the star judge + performer for the COMPASS Songwriting Year-end Showcase. I was pleasantly surprised that the level of songwriting among these participants was pretty high! Most of them sang the songs themselves, and some of them even arranged the songs on their own! I feel so encouraged that we have something brewing and I wished that we had concerted efforts like this when I first started out in music and was in search of a community!
Compass Songwriting Yr-End Showcase 23 Dec 12a
L-R: Leon, Kevin Matthews, Don Richmond, me & Desmond (from Serendipshowbiz)

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And just a few days ago, I attended 黄城夜韵2.0, which is a stage play put together by HCJC alumni. The interesting fact is, I was in the LEP (Language Elective Programme) class and all my classmates took Higher Chinese (I did not cos I was the odd one out doing computer science, yes ME). I did not attend any of the plays under 黄城夜韵 back then (something I still regret till date, but you know with the hormones, teenagers don’t make much sense sometimes). So to be able to be a part of this play is….something I never would have imagined. Local composer Chi Sheng wrote the melody and Jia Hui did up the lyrics which fitted the play to a perfect T, and I…sang it 🙂

Here’s the song (on Facebook)! Truth is, I’m really proud of this song 😀

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Honestly I have been so busy that I didn’t even have time to think about new year resolutions. If I am still in time for one (or two) hmm, it would be to

1) do things that would make me genuinely happy, and

2) spend more time with my family and friends (and appreciate them even more than I already do).

So… what’s yours?

Let’s make 2013 another memorable year. Have a great one! 🙂

explosive hairstyle

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