Happy birthday to Me.

In 2 days time I will turn 32.

Me: My birthday is common man. I know a few people with the same birthdate as me.

Kersh: Really?

Me: Yeah, Beethoven.

K: No, people you actually know.

Me: Well I was working at this cafe and there was this one guy with the same birthday. And, when I was 10 or 11 I actually got invited to this birthday party church thingy. I felt special la but was disappointed when I saw a roomful of bout 25 kids with the exact same birthday.

K: Weird.....

Me: Yeah, I know. What with 5 billion or so people in the world if you take that and divide it by 365 days, on average you'll have bout 11 million people sharing your birthday! Imagine more than double the population of sg with your birthday!

K: Not mine man. March 7 is special.

Me: yeah......................................................

What I did on the day of Zoukout.

12 december 2009.



2pm
Lunch at Subway. If you're gonna party all night, you gotta eat healthy.





2.30pm
Beer at cafe 211. Okay, not so healthy but I wanted to get started early and Archipelego beers are really yummy.





3.30pm
Home. Did some practice for the upcoming Christmas Concert. Figured that a drink wont hurt. 2 parts vodka, 6 parts mango juice. The one with the nata de coco bits are nice.





5pm
Oaks is back from her mani/pedi and I've still haven't had any sleep yet. (Previous late night with Teochew porridge, an hour's walk to find a pub and an overpriced kilkenny plus the fact that I was teaching early the next morning got me kinda tired. Logically, I should be sleeping right now.





5.15pm
Oaks takes a nap. She does the Rae-ann....fetis fetis. I cant sleep. More vodka and juice. The biography channel is showing something bout nsync and Justin Timberlake. oooh....Interesting. Did you know Nsync sold 1 million albums on the FIRST day of their release of the "No strings attached" album? I contemplate superstardom and try to imagine what selling a million albums would feel like. Random thought....I don't think T-Bat from sg idol can even sell that much in a lifetime. Singaporeans are real puckers when it comes to supporting the local scene. Its funny how all these little lians want to be "japanesey". Actually, I don't really like T-bat's music too.





6pm
I've had my fifth drink now. If you count the beer earlier on, 6. Wake up babe... Time to get ready!!!! But wait... I think they're showing something about David Letterman now...oooh...Another Life story.





7pm
After a light snack of cheese and crackers and more vodka n juice, Oaks decides to get ready. The Letterman bio was good but I still prefer Leno though...hmmm.





8pm
Cab to Vivo.





8.25pm
Jam. We get off opposite vivo.





8 Something.
Dinner at the White Rock Cafe with Noi, DpKL, Damian and Jeanette. Our party buddies for the night. Food was Really good there though its funny how all the food came BEFORE the Beer. Me and Oaks have a pint of Kilkenny each and bitch about how its only 6 bucks here and a pucking 14 bucks yesterday at the pub. Waitress asks for feedback on Food. Excellent. Light Banter. Oaks distributes the zoukout tickets to the gang. Happy vibes and Happy days....oh Yeah.





10pm
Settled the bill. But wait... Damian might have lost his tix. Might have left it in the restaurant. The staff are nice enough to check the trash in the bins. Jeanette has it all along with her. Big relief. Imaginery hugs all around.





10.30pm
To drive in or not to drive. We take the monorail thing in. It is packed. We don't know where to stop so we'll just follow the crowd. By the way, DpKL brought party hats, 2 big bottles of water and Super Lemon sweets. Classic.........


11pm
We walk the sentosa beach stretch. The girls quickly use the loos first just in case. The first drunken casualty was spotted in the girl's toilet. The party's just started la.


11.15pm
The music gets louder as we approach the main entrance. I think its some retro. Will I get to hear "I saw the sign from Ace of Base?" The intro keeps running round my head.


11.17pm
The chubby security guy at the first checkpoint says that we can only bring half filled water bottles in. We all drink up. Water parade army jokes all around... Happy days.


11.24pm
At the second checkpoint, Noi mentions that She left her ID in the car. Jeanette jokes that she should be flattered if the security guys ask for it.


11.27pm
They Don't. We are in our late 20's to early 30's. No one's gonna ask for our ID. :(
I eagerly flash mine. Security has an annoyed look on his face. We have to finish all the water now. Can't bring water bottles in. No water parade jokes now.


11.28pm
toom toom toom toom I've got a feeling....that tonight's gonna be a good night.......


11.30pm
Okay, I've just realised I may have screwed up my timings. Because at this exact moment, we are actually watching the frenchie band Miss kitty and the hacker something. Fast forwarded bits. We got our party hats on and the prices of drinks were actually quite reasonable. The music was quite good for the first few songs at least. oooh... I like the way she sings the lines and it appears on the screen with random visuals from the news, reality shows. I call this Live dance music.


11. something
Our very own Local minister Mr. George Yeo spotted at zoukout! He had backstage passes or something and was watching from the back as the band played a few metres in front of him. I'm guessing we have one thing in common...we both probably don't know what's going on with the music. Oh God...I just realised I'm grossly under prepared for Zoukout and the 2 weeks of listening to strictly Classical music did not help. But I must say, our MPs do know how to carry themselves and project a dignified persona no matter where the location. I take some pointers. :)


12midnight.
The place is really packed! Me and Oaks try to guess the number of people here.I say 8000, she says 10,000 then I say 12 then she says 14350. There were actually 27,000 people at zoukout.
And all I saw were like 5 good looking people at the most.


12.15pm
We walk from tent A to B. Frenchie girl's music was starting to get boring. Tent B....some tribally sounding music thing. We dance. Oh yeah. There are weird trojan warriors and vegas styled showgirls on Stilts. Because this is singapore, everybody must stop and take photo.


12.50am
Take a break. Keeliang brought some empty trash bags and we sit for a little bit. At 1pm the guys on the flying fox will be zooming by just above us with fire coming outta their arms. Then Fireworks....more fireworks....Big ass Laser show. Nice. All around "Waaaah"s from the peeps.


1 something
We walk to tent c. Looks scarily "elite" Smaller group of people dancing here. No understand the music here....But then the Dj plays the Josh Wink track....Ahhh That one I understand.


2.20am
General "wahs" in our group when someone mentioned we actually made it till this late. There's a masage tent. Me and Oaks contemplate having one but what the puck?! 2o bucks for 15 mins?


Closer to 3am.
We walk over to tent D. Retro. Ahhh Now this one I understand. Tell me more tell me more....dum dum dum dum. The tent is situated just beside this simulated surfing thingy called planet waves I think. Some of the guys on it are pretty good. Nice touch. DJ talks to much during the songs though and adds squeaky "trying to be smart" effects. Shut the hell up...Retro music just play and shut up la. Music suddenly goes hip hop for 2 songs, reaggae for one. We dance for a bit and stop when it goes Beng.


3.15pm
Carls jr for some food. Bumped into Pam who gave us 2 discount vouchers for food. We love you pam....you be feed us. Old Chang kee is not a bad idea at zoukout. The music all around is starting to sound the same....I'm starting to get a wee bit annoyed at the fact that I've had 10 drinks so far and I aint getting no buzz.


3 thirty something
We spot the Tay-ster doing his thing wit Feel man. Move them graphics to the music. (Also, thanks for the tix man....) We weaves and bops and slides over ro us for a quick hello and lets dance niggas quip. He's funny. Our 4 buddies are getting tired and they leave soon after. Just the 2 of us....lalalallalala.


4am
We catch up with kersh. He got here an hour ago. He's waiting for that aarmin van buuren guy's set at 5am. Bump into his other friends. They all knowingly nod thier heads and say aarmin...yeah. Ok man... who the puck? Me and oaks nod along. He brings us to this private place called the "moon tent" Someone takes a photo of oaks cuz she's got bunny years on. The 11th drink almost had me but still nothing. I almost puked when the dj did this annoying screeching sound art shit. This private place feels a bit like crystabelle ktv pub.


late 4something till 6.15am
We catch up with The tay-ster and pam at tent C. The music is really good now. Too bad there's only one big tall german looking dude dressed in all white who looks like a wrestler dancing alone. Oaks removes her bunny years and we avoid eye contact. Oaks and the tay-ster do their lil dance. Me and pam discuss music and my complete ignorance of dance music is brought forth to light. I'm basically a goondu at zoukout. We talk a bit bout jazz and classical music and other random stuff. We have our last drink and we're off. The shittiest feeling is to leave a party when the sun is coming up.


7 plus in the morning
We actually got back home by bus! ANd looking all bright eyed and bushy tail. We've got a photo to prove it. My review of it all, me and oaks realised it was fun cuz we took everything in. The sights., sounds, people watching and all that. We were the Watchers..........

Dec is one looooong weekend.

How to spot a Chrysler Cab.

When its late at night, nearing midnight, and you want to catch a cab, you'll need to know this...

Me and Oaks had a fabulous dinner at her folks last night. When we decided it was time to leave, it was already half past 11. The moment we were downstairs, I lit up a cig. Oaks needed to do the foo foo too and was getting a tad grumpy. We were waiting for a cab, at the bus stop when it was long decided that the 54 goes to marymount from bishan and not the other way around and that at 11.28pm, we've just missed the last bus by 7 minutes.

We saw the first cab, it was dark and we hesitated. We didn't want to flag it just in case....It was scary. You could only see the outline of the vehicle at night and there was no way....no way to tell what kinda cab it was. (I pity the dark blue comfort cabs) The next one came and we waited again... to our horror it was like one of the 4 horseman itself passing by, like death...It was a chrysler cab. We hugged each other in relief.

Now, Oaky brilliantly observed 2 points that differentiates a Chrysler cab from a dark blue comfort.

No.1- Observe the shape of the vehicle. The Chryslers are definitely chunkier.

And.... if for the life of you, you can't see shapes too well like me....

No.2- Chryslers, 4 front headlights, normal cabs 2.

I love the chrysler cabs...its so smooth and comfortable And quiet. I just dont feel like paying 15 bucks for a trip that would normally cost me 8. And we're not talking bout midnight charges here...

Top 10 Reasons why B.Menon Should Move to Singapore.

10. The Roads are better to drive on.


9. We work longer hours but hey, the girls are better looking.


8. We have R movies. R...


7. A girl in a knee high skirt is Not considered scantily clad in our Fhm.


6.Sneak a bite during the fasting month...its ok.


5. Earn here....pump petrol there. (Simple street on empty tank)


4. At night it's safe, don't be afraid.


3. Most of his cool friends are here.


2. His cool friends don't need to spend a bomb on phone bills.


And the number one reason is...
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1) We have more than 1 mbps.

This post is dedicated to b.menon from all his friends in singapore. No pun was ever intended in this post. All the characters in this here post are purely a work of fiction. There is no Bustaman Menon. He is nothing. He said so himself. Because if he is something, girls would be girls but we all know that brown sugar is sugar. If you are a govt official reading this from across the border, your roads are fine, who needs more than 1 mbps anyway and your Fhm is brilliant.

Damn you Van Morrison

I had a bad dream last night. I was trying to figure out the chords to moondance along with the 13ths and sharp 5ths. In my dream I kept repeating the chords over and over again till I couldn't breathe and my chest hurt. I kept getting up, breathing hard going back to sleep and the dream keeps on playing like a crazy loop on auto repeat. I kept waking up and falling asleep and I'd still be stuck in the same dream. Gaz told me it was the birth of a genius, practicing while you sleep but it's more savant than anything else. The obsessiveness, the compulsion to do one thing and get it right above anything else. I'd rather be a little slow and enjoy the whole journey of practicing.

Today, I made the first step in getting my theory thing done. I got some basic workbooks from the first 4 grades. It makes for good practice and I managed to finish bout 5 chapters on the train. I've always been a firm believer in getting the basics right and down to pat before moving on.

I was having an interesting conversation on learning with Gazpachos. When you start learning something, (the piano, tennis, chess, whatever) its always easy in the beginning. There is what I see as a steep rise or curve which brings a certain sense of achievement and satisfaction to the student. However, the crucial part is the plateau. That is where many people give up and either feel its too boring, or they're not going anywhere or whatever when it is at this very point that you should be pushing the most. Knowing something and knowing something in depth...Big Difference. Who cares if you've been playing an instrument for 3 or 15 years if you only can play 1 song.

Progress matters. Its a human thing. We were built to continually learn, improve and better ourselves. I started the piano early in life but only took it seriously in 2004. Its a constant embarassment to see way younger kids being able to play better but I remind myself that it's all about bettering myself, the competition WITH myself. The Human spirit to grow, evolve, amazes me. My piano teacher once told me of one of his students who started taking lessons in her late 60's. Arthiritis and all, she would never miss a lesson.

I am 32 this year. Yes I have a diploma in Jazz performance... but honestly, I don't think I'm that good. My sightreading is quite rubbish, my chordwork is far from being at the back of my hands and my improvisational ability is shite. But, I am persistent and one day all that will change. That is my prized possesion. Even rocks break against the gentle flow of the stream, and mountains move for the one who has purpose in life.

Secret Eyes

Secret eyes
reading this letter
by the waxing of the moon
Like a witch's coven party
I want to dance
Scream
Laugh with you
5 billion to 1.

I can feel it coming.

This wave of having too many things to achieve is starting to overwhelm me maybe I should shut up and just start doing

Do ya?

Do you remember the time,
when you said one mean thing to one person ,
and didnt get a chance to verify yourself after that?
Of course you don't,
it was one thing and it could'nt have lasted eh?
Wrong.
You're not a bad person.
I am, for thinking that thought.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder: Wrong.

The one who said that absence makes the heart grow fonder obviously didn't think he was going to die tommorow. We all do in the end.

2 nights ago I sat in bed sleepless, sweating profusely soaking up my pillows. I don't know whether it was the fever or the incessant rambling thoughts in my head. I couldn't breathe easy and my seretide inhaler was empty. Its easy for ashmatics to think about death I think. Its such a direct connection, breathing and life. I was scared I'm not gonna lie. I'm scared about death and thinking about it. I lay awake and watched her sleeping. I tried to clear my head by taking deep breaths and the answer I got was that when you think you're gonna die, you love more. Why not me? Why not you? Jesus Christ, Beethoven, Gandhi, Mother theresa, all dead. That is where you're headed too.
I love you I love you I love you. My old friends, my love, my family.... call them. We put off things because we forget that we are gonna die. We create divisions among ourselves, society and whatever because we forget that someday we will lay in the ground and be food for worms. I share something in common with all you human beings. We will all die. So love. Fuck I'm scared of dying. THat doesn't mean I go all hippie and do shit. I dont need to "love thy neighbour" cuz honestly he smells funny but I do need to love people I know... We let thoughts ramble in our head like some mindless machine that we lose control because we forget that all this is not going to last forever. We are all busy with our lives but not busy with our purpose in life which is to bring love to whoever we meet. We criticize others, ourselves but forget that the relationship between the entire human race and mother earth is exactly like the billions of cells working together in your own body. We fight, we kill but No ONe...NO ONE has the right to kill when they have not the power to bring someone back from the dead. We forget, we forget that one person is both unique but part of a whole at the same time. No divisions. We eat the same, we shit the same, we feel love anger fear anxiety and mind fuck ourselves with shit and ego. The ego is shit. It is not confidence. It is like a whiny child in need of attention. Give it none for the ego thinks it lives forever.
Now is the only time there is.

updates

I havent been writing in a while. Maybe I've just been overwhelmed with my stuff to do. Back when I was in the army there was a poster in camp that I remember till today. There was a picture of a duck or a swan and the caption read;
" Above water look cool and collected, under water paddle like crazy!"

I did pretty good for my jazz dip exams. At least I got that over with so I can now focus on other aspects of my playing. There is more sightreading practice, theory work, learning of all sorts of repertoire, structures, chords and these sort of things cant be learnt in a day. Gotta do more, gotta do more I guess.

I recently had a gig with J last month at the esplanade. Real nice live feel outdoors. Good fun too. I think we sounded great. I'm just waiting to hear the audio. At least this time round I didnt need to puke my guts out before a show. Butterflies in the stomach? Mine's like monsters in the attic. I hope to do more gigs like that. And for those who came that day...thanks a buncH! :)

I also did some recording work on Kel's stuff. Based on his usual speed I think that will probably come out sometime this year. For the first time, I got to record with the whole jin gang of them. Jeremy, kelvin and Justin. Its fully improvised and quite exciting cuz while you're doing the recording, you don't know what's gonna happen. I remember going thru half the song before figuring out that it was in the key of E! Apart from the usual recordings that I have done with KeL, this new batch of em features my new baby, my mm6. Its a Screamer!

Ever since I bought this keyboard it has been very busy. It, not me. It has done gigs at the esplanade, did auditions for my dad's band, did recording work, jamming with the school band and writing some of my originals.

This is quite unrelated but I just gave my cats some nip before this post. Sippy is so cute when he's high. Which reminds me, I've got a friend who reminds me of sippy or vice versa.

Yesterday, me, oaks, kelly and Menon went for lil trip to arab street/haji lane. It was part of this thing where me and oaks thought it'd be cool to take our lil friend from abroad somewhere different everytime he comes down to sg. We started by first walking along that stretch with blu jazz near it. Yes, I'm a horrible tour guide. It was packed so we decided to cruise a bit for a while. We found the museum for little children. Very classic stuff. old toys, things. Entry is $2. For the life of me I do not remember how to get there. I think its near the mosque. Ended up on the same street where we started. There is this Fab coffee joint called coffee nations. I had a cafe royale which kicks ass cuz its black coffee with brandy. The drinks are great, nice cosy atmosphere, there's even boggle to play and the best part....NO GST. Its not net cuz there is still 10% service charge but the prices are damn good. Puk you starbucks.

Tommorow...cycling. We are islanders(for a $19 yearly membership)

Mannerisms....Or

Menon-isms.

If we believe in the wisdom of the ancients, the greats, like socrates, confucius, plato and Benny hill, we cannot deny these wise words.

"Brown sugar IS sugar"

"This is a nice Marbley floor"

"I am.....nothing"

On dating,
"Race, religion doesnt matter as long as I get to go out with a girl"

On being friendly,
" I don't want to be that longface cb f$%$%$. I want to be in with the group that makes fun of the longface cb f$%$%$"

Lemon pledge is good for the maintenence of wallets. Let us all meditate on that thought for a while.........................

An old pal from abroad.

I recently managed to catch up with an ol buddy of mine from school. Bustaman Menon or the international man of mystery as some of the guys in school used to call him.

Now, finding this guy was blardy difficult. I tried myspace and 6 damn bustaman menons' came up. I messaged every one of them and none replied. This joker finally decides to get onto facebook and that's how he chanced upon my handsome mug by doing a name search.

As we grow older, things change abit, I look a bit better and he's looking abit bit like kumar from white castle but its all good. Its the usual catching up but damn its fun. I will always remember the cute lians in tennis outfits, joe's apartment, bustaman and his front pocket with always the exact amount of money for what he wants to buy. It could be a $7 movie ticket or for a 1000 over dollar watch.

He never made it past a year in poly and thank god for that. He could read cases that took us 3 days to understand in half an hour. He twisted my arm abit by asking why he was not mentioned in the blog so here it is. Its the least I could do for the guy that helped me out when I was down and out eh? heh... If you're reading this....ok ok... I'll pass you the 70 bucks the next time we meet.

On a final note, B. Menon also wins the award for the quickest and best BURN for this year. May he always stay cool and funky in a 98.7 kinda way.

This is it!

tomorrow on the 10th of april good friday. Exams. Hope I do alright. I busted my wrist over the weekend. It hurts when I try to stretch it. I tried the chilli koyok at various spots on my hands and wrists and taped it down with scotch tape. Oaks said I look like spiderman. Whatever the outcome, I've learned alot and we'll see what happens.

surrender

The most difficult thing to do is to accept your limitations and just go with it. Watching and listening to all these great musicians gets me down but I gotta do what I can do.

Now I'm gone, now I'm here.

The past few weeks since I've got back have been crazy. When you keep on playing the same ol 4 exams songs it kinda drives you nuts. Yesterday, halfway during autumn leaves I broke out into a metal riff on my piano. I have to give listening to hiromi a break. (Her influences range from dream theater to led zep and others which explains the heaviness in her playing)

I had a practice session with the bassist and drummer in school. We practiced the one track over and over again for over 2 hours. Its not like I kept getting it wrong or anything( I think we nailed it after the 3rd try,) its just that I wanted to drive myself to the point of exaustion and still prove to myself that I'd be able to play. Which incidentally, I find to be a good way to practice. During a gig, the worst can happen but you know you'll still be able to perform the song.

I'm glad I was able to unwind with a couple of drinks with J last week at the prince of wales. There was a pretty rocking band called the london something. The sound was good but the couple of nords that the keyboardist had were striking. I wish I had 1, or 2 or more. I was happy to catch up with him cuz the last time we met I think was the gig at the esplanade. Speaking of which...shit, I haven't touch my keyboard since then! damn... Its been mostly piano work for me and its either the same four songs(autumn leaves, in a sentimental mood, straight no chaser and song for my father) or technical work or sight reading. This is the most work I've done so far on the piano but I'm really enjoying it. I really feel that I don't have enough time for practice cuz the hours really fly when I'm sitting at the piano. Maybe I should start waking up earlier at 6 again.

Apart from my songs, I've been listening alot to billie holiday and the beatles lately. (Yesterday I blasted nirvana and hiromi at 9 in the morning but that was a one off.) Billie Holiday's voice is amazing, not like ella fitzgerald or nina simone but in her own unique way. She's got this beautiful feel and a certain sense of vulnerability which is essential I think for musicians. Alot of times, musicians tend to focus too much on technicality, speed, etc when the important thing is to make every note count.
Feel man... apart from rhythm and getting the notes right, its the most important thing.

Stronger

Although I always think that my time in reservist is a waste of time, I remind myself that my life is now and I might as well enjoy it while I'm there. I was initially a bit worried that 2 weeks away from practice won't be good. Turns out that I had a good workout in there, bonded with a few people and cleared my mind a bit. So yeah, its either a holiday or army camp for me.

I've always wondered what people think about during reservist... when they have no choice but to be present. It was funny seeing this guy across my bunk in constant denial. Sleeping it off. But life is now whether you're enjoying it or not and time keeps on moving. The antics of some of the guys were hilarious and although it was quite tough, I had fun. Don't get me wrong, I do not love the army and all that. The army equals war and that is something that I'm quite against. So I take it like I'm going for some adventure camp and that makes it alright. Oh yeah, and the food is great!

The next challenge for me will be to clear the jazz exams. The date is set! 10th of april at 4.20pm.

I'm finding it increasingly difficult to see beyond the sphere of the present moment so I'll guess I'll just go with whatever I have now. Certain things worry me now like what the hell I'm gonna do after the exams but planning is a bitch right now when I can't see beyond. Que sera sera la... We'll take it as it comes and then see what happens.

Rock and Roll all Night and Party everyday

On her birthday, I surprised oaks with tickets to watch a curious case of Benjamin Button. It was a beautiful movie and we both cried buckets. It's bout this fella who was born as an old man and he lives his life in reverse. His mind however was normal. So imagine an old chap with a baby's mind. The sad part is that when his body was like a 10 year old, his mind was way old with dementia and stuff. You expect the inevitable, which is death, but how they portray it is beautiful. And you appreciate the beauty of God's subtle plan where everybody has their own little part to do.

Watching that movie also made me realize that you never know how your actions will affect others but your part in it no matter how small is important too. I can finally let go of my regrets.

The whole movie experience in gold class rocks man. We might never be able to adjust to the harsh life out there. heh. We walked around abit in Vivo, played a little arcade games, talked, smoked, got high on beer and wine and went for her family birthday dinner thingy. Plus we had black pepper crabs and the babies and kelly and leon over the night before so it was a pretty low key personal affair. Compare that to the party atmosphere we've had for the past couple of months, my surprise birthday with the santerinas and all, new year's eve, our short trip to penang, Cny in Jb, The excellent gig I had with Jeremy at the esplanade, it was a pretty quiet affair but sweet nonetheless.

It's all good now.