I think the last time I had a post titled as such, it was four years ago and I went out with my dad to get a new laptop in preparation for university life.
It's amazing how the experience yesterday was almost like a reflection of the outing four years ago. A nice lunch, followed by the trekking through 4 levels of a computer hardware centre to look for the best buy, and making the purchase to much excitement. We bought a new desktop computer yesterday, and man it is a beaut. I've never seen posts spread across 19 inches of screen before so it's actually quite tough to read. But then again that's just me bragging in disguise.
It's strange how the familiar feelings come flooding back. The small talk at lunch and tea.. My dad talking to the salesperson like he knew all his stuff.. The bits of excited chatter about nothing at all after the purchase is made.. it made me feel like a kid again recalling these same experiences that came up all through my life when my dad took me out to buy me something. I guess the most important thing is that these experiences reconnected me with a dad that I've sadly not caught up with as much as I'd like to in the recent years. I saw again the man that I had grown to love and respect, and not the one whom I only speak to every other night with two word conversations like "Goodnight Pa".
For a man who does not do well to express himself outwardly, these little actions speak so much louder than anything else could in the language of love. And I think I see it now. Love doesn't always have to feel right. Sometimes you give it by choice, and sometimes you give it simply because you are giving it to one of the two people responsible for giving you life.
My father is capable of teaching lessons even without the use of words. He's truly born to be a lecturer.
My weekend was spent in Dayang beneath the deep blue sea. This trip was rather significant as it was the first time I was diving for fun, meaning that I didn’t have to pass modules and be assessed for my proficiency in diving. This was also meant that I could go about eating all the live sea cucumbers and sea slugs I wanted with no instructor to stop me. Woohoo!
However, I failed to anticipate the loss of skill accompanying a drought of dive trips in the last couple of months, and therefore several hiccups came along the way that marred the dives that I made during the trip.
1. Headaches. Somehow, my ability to regulate air was not as proficient as it used to be, and not breathing enough gave me headaches after the first dive.
2. I had problems equalizing. For those who don’t dive, this is like when you’re in a descending plane and the pressure builds up in your ear and you cant pop it no matter how hard you blow. I found out that there’s nothing more frustrating than not being able to clear your passages while you watch your friends descend with relative ease. I also found out that screaming vulgarities is not a solution to any underwater problem.
3. Losing my left contact lens underwater. While clearing my fogged up mask (I meant it both ways), I accidentally flushed out my contact lens in the process. I was still wondering why my vision was blurred after the 947th time I cleared my mask. It didn’t help that this occurred during the night dive.
4. And the most retarded… I brought out my underwater housing for the camera, but left the camera at home.
Okay enough with the griping. It was actually a really wonderful trip! We stayed in a nice bunk with air conditioning…
Had time to read books and snack all we wanted…
Got nice tans from the sun amidst a beautiful beach lagoon.
Saw really amazing creatures, including a huge cuttlefish!
Learned to respect aquatic life…
Had wonderful meals prepared after every dive.
Oh I forgot to mention. By “we” I actually meant Rowie and I. Though I made many other friends during the trip, the only familiar person was Rowie prior to the trip. In fact I have her to thank for taking me aboard this dive trip in the first place!
Oh yes. I’ve taken the initiative to censor what might be deemed inappropriate with a drawn on T-shirt as my common friends with Rowie happen to be from church and this might be a little stumbling. I also took the liberty (since I was already in photoshop) to draw on abs for myself. Nothing much else was changed.
My next dive trip would be to Bali, which promises a whole new world to explore. I hope I right all my wrongs before then, so that the next post on diving would be a lot better to read. I care only about you, my readers.
My world has not seen a better day It’s a lovely place being by your side. There’s no place that I'd rather stay Next to you I’ll lay my heart tonight. We’re driving in circles watching time go by Oh how fast it flies when there’s nothing to chase With your hands on my face, sweet lips holding mine, Girl it’s paradise in your embrace.
In you I’ve discovered my weird toothy twin, And a liking for shirts that don’t cling to my skin Oh my, you are my little
Pretty girl Evee you colour up my life With smiles that light the sun in skies so grey. Don’t take me away from my Evee I'm sure we will make it if we try So dance the joys of passion down my way I know from this day we’ll fly.
I’m gently gazing through starry eyes Love is in disguise no matter how hard we try Not to say with our lips with our eyes we lie Shyness leaves us so electrified. So take my hand as our fingers lace Let our two hearts race as the hours go by And know that each night alone I pray A little prayer I say for you and I.
I’ll dance for you baby without fear or shame And call you by all the sweet words I can name. I’ll sing you this song when you’re feeling alone And I’ll be the last one to hang up the phone. Oh I love the fact that girl you’re on my page I hope that this bliss will grow sweeter with age Oh my, you are my little
Pretty girl Evee you colour up my life With smiles that light the sun in skies so grey. Don’t take me away from my Evee I'm sure we will make it if we try So dance the joys of passion down my way I know from this day we’ll fly.
I used to think that blogging was something that would never die out.
It was after all, a form of diary-writing, and diary-writing has been around for a very, very long time in human history. Now however, with the onset of platforms like Facebook and Twitter which allow updates on-the-go, sitting down to pen (or keyboard) your thoughts seems to occupy a huge portion of your precious time.
However, even though the readership of this blog has trickled down to one (me), I shall still continue to be faithful in documenting the milestones in my life until, I guess, blogger gets shut down because of a shift of its clientele to the previously-mentioned internet platforms. Or when H1N1 takes out the world.
Why I haven't been blogging however, isn't because I have been updating about my personal life elsewhere. For those in the know, I guess this is really old news, and for those not in the know, it's probably quite shocking, but yes, I have found a new girl in my life.
This is usually the part of the post where I leave a huge space for readers to scroll down, only to be greeted with a nice picture of Jessica Alba and a whole paragraph of me gloating and thinking I'm funny as hell. In fact you're actually pretty puzzled that you're reading something that's not to do with a fictional female character.
It's true, I've found someone more special than that. Much of my life as of late has been dedicated to this one girl, and to keep a long story short, I'm just going to say that I am having the best time of my life with her. This blessing came upon me in my final semester in NUS, and hence blogging got shifted way below in my list of priorities which included studying, stag parties, DOTA and lots of guitar playing.
Nevertheless, she's become important enough to be a constant part of my life, so I cannot refrain from talking about her on this blog any longer. So without further ado, allow me to present to you the girl who has brought the smiles back on my face, and the joys back in my heart.
Eve.
There will be more posts to come as long as there is a life to live, and I'm so glad you're a part of it.
Seeing Jason Mraz live at the indoor stadium brought a whole new definition to “an awesome performance”. With the versatility of his singing ability, the man single handedly brought down the house with one amazing performance after another. It was awe-inspiring, yet wildly entertaining at the same time.
We were stunned from the get-go, expecting an opening act to get the crowd going, but having Jason Mraz himself walk up on stage to begin his own concert proper. With the confidence of a seasoned performer, he single-handedly got us off our seats and into our dancing shoes with the popular ‘Dynamo of Volition’ and ‘Geek in the Pink’ which were pop-cum-rap songs certainly fast enough to get the groove going in all of us.
Not to burn the audience out with too many upbeat songs in a continuous chain, his performance was interspersed with slower songs that allowed him to demonstrate his immense singing talent. From the frequency of rapturous applause, I guess I was not the only one being constantly lulled into a sense of wonder by his voice. Coupled with great musicianship with the guitar, the man was able to affect the moods of the audience with merely his voice and his hands.
It is certainly well established that this three-time Grammy Award nominee can wow with his vocals and musicality. What distinguishes Jason Mraz from the rest of the artistes is the way he interacts with the crowd so comfortably, making an audience of strangers feel like his closest friends. He was in fact comfortable enough to play conductor with us in the middle of his songs, separating the guys from the girls amongst the audience and making us sing different parts with to create a beautiful harmony. It would certainly not have been possible if he did not have a great command of the audience’s respect.
He also brought the concert a little closer to home by inviting local singer Joi Chua to sing ‘Lucky’, a self-composed duet with him midway through the performance. Looks of unfamiliarity were transformed into proud smiles when the audience realized that our local standards were actually compatible with his talent. However, he definitely left many girls feeling more than a tinge of jealousy at the end for giving Joi a hug that ran several seconds longer than necessary.
Jason Mraz spared no opportunity to show off his vocal expertise under the guise of entertaining the audience. He launched into an impromptu sax battle with the saxophonist in his band, follow-the-leader style, where he would sing a short tune mimicking the sound of the sax with his voice and coaxing the saxophonist to replicate the tune. It was hilarious seeing the pitch of each challenge going higher and higher, but we also could not help but feel a tremendous respect hearing Jason hit every note perfectly. He followed this up with a vocal battle with the audience, asking the girls to accompany him to sing the lowest pitches and the guys to his absolute highest. I would dare say that no one in the audience could match up with his vocals that night. He was spectacular!
The man certainly knew how to spice up his act. He kept the audience from losing interest by constantly making conversations with us, and also through more subtle means like altering chord progressions and lyrical modifications. This worked especially well with those who were very familiar with his songs, as we would be very aware whenever he played or sang something our ears were not used to. He even went to the extent of transiting to the well known song “Wonderwall” by the band Oasis, which left the audience thrilled because our closed mindsets could not wrap around the fact that he also enjoyed good music by other artistes like we do.
My favourite performance of the night has to be ‘Mr. Curiosity’, which already had a lovely tune and lyrics to start with. What made it so special was the instrumental portion, where Jason Mraz started singing in a female opera voice that was so convincing that if I closed my eyes I would certainly not have known that it was him singing! Rounds of laughter and applause erupted amongst the audience. If we were not already flabbergasted by his performances before, this certainly left us feeling that there was nothing this man could not sing.
You know that you have been to a great concert when in the days after you find yourself picking up the guitar and trying to sing the songs, or listening to the songs in a constant loop in your mp3 players. I am sure that I am not the only one cursed with a Jason Mraz obsession now, and I simply cannot wait for him to perform here again.
You never know when it finds you, but when it does, most often you discover that it was at the point, no.. brink, where you were all ready to give up hope..
...and then it comes, in 6000 pounds of glorious metal.
Cold sweat dotted his brow as he steadied his horse. “There, there Dumbo. Nothing to worry about ol’ boy.” Fernando knew that he was addressing his own fears in telling that white lie, and talking to Dumbo was the only way he knew to preserve his confident exterior which was rapidly giving way under the tremors that were his nerves. There was no way he could have felt otherwise. This was the day he had been waiting, and training for his whole life.
In Vivolasia, the young men were taught to be masters of beasts. From the age of 7, every child was spiritually bound to a foal from the family herd through an elaborate procession conducted by the village priests. The boy was then taught to travel, hunt and live with his companion, and he was not to leave its side for 3 years so that both boy and beast would form bonds so deep that they could communicate thoughts and emotions through a single glance. It was no mere feat, and yet such mastery of communication alone was insufficient to the Vivolasian men. The final test came in the form of the most grueling game of the survival of the fittest, where the pairs of young men and their horses would be exiled into the forest of Kraktau for a year. Armed only with their robes, it was in these most desperate times that the two entities learnt to become one being, for it was only then that they would survive the predators and dangers of Kraktau. Life and death alone determined the men who would return to Vivolasia, but those who did return certainly came back as real men.
Fernando stroked Dumbo’s mane affectionately as he recalled all the trials that they had been through together. “I need you today to complete this one last task Dumbo.” His horse had a uniquely long snout and large ears, and would have been shunned by most boys at the age of selection, but it was Dumbo’s uniqueness that made him irresistible to Fernando at the time. Fernando was in the midst of such thought when a loud sounding horn shook him out of his trance and he immediately looked over at the source of the blaring noise. His eyes glazed over as he caught a glimpse of his prize, who had just come up to the podium from her guarded tent. It was almost time.
Even as the young men of Vivolasia were made to battle for survival, the young women were also busy in a different kind of battle. Every year, the most beautiful Vivolasian girl of mature age was voted by the village priests to be given the title of Haiga, which was the utmost honour that any of the girls could ever hope to receive. The title was given to the Vivolasian girl who performed the most rigourous dance routine, who demonstrated the most kindness in their daily life, and who possessed specific facial features which were believed to relate to fertility. The young men, upon returning from their exile, were entitled to compete for the Haiga in a race involving the Stallion that they had spent their lives with. It was as though their whole lives had led up to this one point. All they ever wanted was a lady to fight for.
Fernando knew from the moment he saw her that they were meant to be together. As tough as he was on the outside, he could not help but melt upon gazing into Albalay’s gentle eyes. Seeing her again gave him a new courage, and he strode confidently to the starting point, sticking out his chest in an attempt to catch the fancy of his beloved maiden. As he approached the starting point, his excitement soon turned to resentment as he came in the presence of his two other competitors.
The first of them was Nico, a brave man from the tribe of Ongbak. The other was Leonai, his half-brother, who was just as chiseled as he was. The three men steadied their horses at the start line, and acknowledged each other only with grunts of aggression. They saddled up to their horses in eager anticipation for the race to start. “Fly, Dumbo.”
The horn sounded a second time and the horses blazed a trail of clouds and dust.
