Celebrate!

It was 8:10pm. I woke up to the the alarm of my handphone, those annoyingly cheery alarm tones and then, flashes of lightning. For the first time I was slightly afraid and I cowered a bit under my blanket but still everything lit up and I felt invaded and vulnerable. I checked my phone again and saw Colin's MMS - King King Jane ascended to #4 on the HMV Charts.

I stared out the open window at the sky defiantly, wistfully. More than six months of hard work ended yesterday with the Go Red For Women Picnic Day at Sengkang. It was unreal. When it ended, Amos' mentioned that it was as if it didn't happen. I agreed. We knew it happened, we were aware that it was carried out but it was so unreal. We didn't feel any different physically or mentally. We were still the same, but the momentous event happened.

There were many moments. The sponsors who were there saw engagement with their brands, which was fantastic because they did something interactive and integrated well with our event - Gardenia's huge bread mascot and Amore's Stretchfit demonstration. Kite-flying was successful in terms of number of attempts. It was heartening to see so many people running like crazy to get the kites off the ground despite the lack of wind. Can't complain when it didn't rain!

My moment happened when King Kong Jane took the stage. I had just seen them at Esplanade the night before and here they were at my event, playing a 30 minute set. It was special. I could finally show my friends why I liked King Kong Jane. It's not just because I am friends with Colin. It is all because I am friends with Colin! He mentioned that the event was not just organised by the Singapore Heart Foundation, but also 4 NTU students, his juniors. He told of how we slogged for the event and that he understood because he had done an FYP before. He said that he was invited by his "old friend Jason".

For four years I've been seeing King Kong Jane take the stage in NTU, in polys, at Suntec, at Raffles Place, at Timbre and just like their album which has risen to new heights, they were performing at new places, at the GRFW Picnic Day, at Sengkang!

QQ and I were there together when this took place and we were very moved. A bit wanna cry. After these many mentions of my name, my family stood and applauded loudly after their set. The crowd was appreciative too... I saw people around me, unfamiliar faces, happy and clapping.

Till now I still feel it, how touched I was at that moment. It was crazy. Colin has really went out of his way to do so much for the event, for my team. Amos, Ruiqi and I listened to a copy of the newly-bought and signed album in Amos' car on the way back home.

Thank you, the three of you... we brought our ideas to life.

Thank you, my family, for being there in full force.

Thank you to the people of SHF for all your hard work.

Thank you, the 6 of you, for being there and bringing friends.

Thank you to all the CS people who turned up to help at the event - we really couldn't have done it without you.

Thank you to the CS people who came down to support our event - it just wouldn't be the same without seeing all the familiar faces.

Thank you Stanley for being my programmer. But I minus some marks cos like me, you were also running around everywhere!

Thank you Weetz and Firus for being possibly the only friends outside CS to come down for me.

Thank you to all the sponsors who made the event possible and our goodie bag valuable.

Thank you to all the people who didn't come down but SMS-ed me and wished me luck.

Thank you, if I forgot to thank you, for your support.

Qiqi tweeted that "Happiness is surely only short-lived." But Weetz has taught me that there should be things to celebrate! Celebrate often! Celebrate success! Find things to celebrate, to be happy about.

And King Kong Jane's success has brought me such happiness and given me things to celebrate! Pages in the newspaper! Album on the charts! Celebratory gig at the Home Club on April 1st!

Celebrate that the event is done! Celebrate that FYP is about to end! Celebrate that my friends came down for me! Celebrate the fact that on the 20th of March, all the people who mattered came down - it was a celebration of relationships that we have with the people in our lives.



From the four of us - Thank you all.

Madness

I know all I've been talking about is FOC. And that happened last week. But I still miss the guys. I've got memories that'll stay with me forever. And I'm trying to find the best way to blog about them, but I'm waiting for the photos from Ahmad. Other than that I've been posting lots of nonsense for Ravioli on facebook and on our new blog!

Other than that I've been busy with a lot of nonsense. It's been a great week for me to catch my breath but at the same time I've done a bit of shopping. I've got a pair of jeans from Topman and a T-shirt from Fox. I know that I really shouldn't have but I just couldn't control myself. I watched two movies, 21, which was really awesome, and Hancock, which was blockbuster-ish but less awesome. It was satisfying nonetheless, but if there's one thing that I've learnt is that it's never about the budget, always about the storyline. Anyway, the feeling of being in the cinema is simply magical. I've also had the chance to be a Kiehl's boy on Friday, along with Samuel Low who got me the job! I haven't done something like that in a long time. It was fun. After that I managed to catch King Kong Jane at the Esplanade. The sound system was really good and I think they also changed their songs a little bit. I guess the reason I keep watching them is that it's always a hell lot of fun.

Ooh and I think I'm going to go for a casting call for a short film directed by Shannon, next week. Actually it's pretty much confirmed. I'm freaking out, as usual, because I don't really know what I'm getting myself into. On top of that, the uncertainty of being chosen really messes with my head. But as with all the "firsts" that I've been through this year, I'll just take it with my usual optimistic attitude and hope it'll all work out for the best.

Yesterday was great too. I saw Milk (ex-Energy) perform at J8. His dancing was pretty good. Haha... Also, us Hall peeps got the chance to party at a condo, courtesy of Yu Lian.



All of us came in green, the colour code that Yu Lian gave us.



She looked stunning. Glamorous. We were left with our jaws on the floor.

The food was great too - we all had second helpings of the buffet! I had a great time catching up with all of them. I missed them a whole lot. I know I've been rather crap this holidays, attending to stuff here and there. I'm happy that school's starting cos that'll mean that they'll be stuck in hall and we'll get to see each other till we're sick!



Stormed in for a photo and after that... I don't know for whatever reason... we burst into birthday song soon after.



And the cake was damn good. In fact it was so good that there was really none left after everyone had their fill! Super amazing.



The hunks who turned up for the very special event.



And yeah... my Hall 12 gang. Here's to another year of awesomeness. WE ROCK!

King Kong Jane @ Timbre

King Kong Jane kicked off their first gig for the Singapore Arts Festival at Timbre yesterday. I hadn't been to Timbre before and neither has Liqi. The both of us went a huge round before finding the place. Thank goodness for the google map though, and boo to the Singapore Land Authority for taking down the shizzle that's on streetdirectory.com.sg.



When we got in, they were already finished with their first song! It was a surprise to me because I haven't been to a single gig that started on time. If I'd knew I'd reach ten minutes earlier in stead of later.

I don't know how it's possible but they sound better every time! The songs that stood out for me this time round were Go Away, Lemonade (I managed to ooooh along at the last part of the song!) and, if you only have 5 minutes and I can only interest you in one song, If It Wasn't For You. It has officially dethroned Lollipop as my favourite KKJ song!



Liqi got this Pico-thing while I got Long Island Tea. I have a low tolerance for alcohol and like I always say, it's great because it saves money if I ever were to have an addiction problem. I got really high after my drink and combined with the great music, I don't remember being so... woah! in such a long time. Good drinks, food (ordered Louisiana fries after that), great company, amazing music. Stellar combination for an amazing time.

I love the covers as much as the originals so it was a real treat to hear Umbrella again as the encore song... I loved the fact that I was one of the few people who knew their version! Also I heard a rumour that they'd be doing Bleeding Love! If it's true, I can't wait to hear it.



We had a chat with Colin and Weetz after the performance and also saw Yeo Yann Yann of 881 fame.

If you're looking for a good time and solid music's your thing then there's no better way than to go to a King Kong Jane gig - start stalking them here.

Rock It!

The best I've heard from King Kong Jane ever!

The Big Birthday Rock Show

I would've gone done earlier if I didn't have any commitments but as it turns out I had a lecture that ended slightly later than usual followed by water polo training. Despite sometimes being apprehensive because of my obvious incompetence, I enjoyed myself a lot, and yes, it is good exercise. Dan, Kel and I rushed back to have dinner at Can 13 before I went for a short Publications meeting where we took a group photo! After that Clarence and I made our way down to The Big Birthday Rock Show at WKWSCI! (That's our school!)



The highlight and draw for me was definitely King Kong Jane. I've been a big fan ever since I first saw them live at NTU's Vertical Marathon on 11th March last year. Since then I've seen them perform at Singapore Poly, this year's National Vertical Marathon (during my 1 hour break while I was working at Sony Wisma), Bar None, East Coast and JASH! YES! So this is the 6th performance I've attended so far... and I must say there's something new to look forward to every single time!

I loved the "old" favourites being performed - Crowded and especially My Brown Lollipop. I don't know why but all of a sudden I got "If It Wasn't For You". I've heard it a couple of times but this is the first time it really got to me. Maybe it was the small venue, maybe it was the slight drizzle... but that performance was outstanding. The Quan Dao Shou Bo (World Premiere) of The Emo Song was amazing too. The new sound took command of the audience's attention almost instantly. When Umbrella came on... the crowd went crazy and Kenneth even took out his hp to record the performance, while I recorded it on my camera. It's just something you'd want to experience over and over again. Colin cracked a few jokes that were really funny but I can't remember the one that was especially hilarious! Dammit. But he used the "Crowded" thing super a lot of times already lah!

You can take a look at their MySpace where you'll get to listen to some of their original works and check out the dates of their upcoming performances!



Spotted my Sec 1/2 best friend Derek. He was one of the bands who played. An accomplished singer, guitarist and writer... Yep, kind of wasted that I didn't get to see him perform. It was really cool seeing him again after about 2 years? I last saw him at a run at Sentosa, and we've already known each other for 9 years already!

It was great to see some of the other cool people around especially comm historians Yiling and Sheila, who were hosting, and Kenneth as well as Melvin and Pamy.



Ou Xiang!!!

Ooh, and my room has been kind of quiet recently, after my roomie packed his stuff and left on Saturday.



Sad. Sad.

Hall 12 Havoc

First I'd like to thank Colin for this. Woah, as a birthday present it's even more significant! Haha... All that's lacking is an autograph! I was really really excited to get it, but I've only managed to hear one song from the laptop! You're right man, I need a DVD player. Bringing it home to blast!



Terence dropped by for a drink at around 11pm with ice and Baileys! I was really damn happy that he came down for a chat and a drink. It's really quite rare that he drops by even though we live a mere 3 minutes from each other! Haha... I had only a little to drink but it was enough to get me rather high as you'll be seeing in subsequent photos. My face was as red as a lobster.



Quite a few people trouped down to my room, and I was pretty fearful for what was ahead! Haha... but the birthday box made its way down, and it contained gifts from Dan, Mei Si, Yi Ping and Jing Ying! It's quite cool (excpet for the fact that my floor is littered with many bags and the extra box). Then somehow the thing started and they gave me the birthday cake box to see my cake for myself. It turned out to be empty except for my OG-mates' signatures! They then brought in the real thing!



Which was really quite impressive. After a really loud birthday song (we controlled ourselves after an email was sent out last night regarding noise after 1130PM!), we proceeded to cut the cake.



Yes, the crowd loved the pageant pairing so much they were demanding for it non-stop. Without warning, I was scooped up by Shu Qi. And quite effortlessly I must add. Then came my first experience with poling. I think I went through 3 objects before they were satisfied and were willing to throw me into the disgustingly smelly NIE pond. I had trouble getting out because the sides were so slippery.



And so before I managed to get myself out, they took the opportunity to take a photo. Such good friends I have! I chased quite a few of them and rather successfully I might add. I didn't actually managed to catch anyone but I gave them a bloody good run for it. I wanted to catch Shaun and was camping outside his room for a bloody long time, but he was too smart and stayed there till there was a huge enough commotion outside. I gave up and went back and I jumped onto Ivan.



Who then got me on the ground and took revenge by emptying Weihao's Gatsby on me. It was freaky. It's something apply everyday before going toi school and the smell's so damned strong and he actually spread it over many parts of my body.

The assault then escalated as camou cream (yes lao ba I know it was your idea!) and toothpaste. Seriously it felt like Initiation Night Part II!



Photographic evidence... I'm going to pay you guys back double when your birthday comes! Haha... The security guard sort of came after us then I think. I can't get the timeline very very strict.. but yeah, he sort of broke up the fun. We finished off the birthday cake (which tasted pretty good btw), and went for one good group photo, taken by Kai Rong!



Thanks for celebrating for me, with me. I haven't had such fun in a long while! Although it was kind of torturous but still... haha...! More on presents and such another time. Look at the time! I need to sleep! OH NO!

KKJ @ East Coast

Bar None

I cannot believe that I admitted to being drunk when I wasn't. Anyway, what kind of drunkard would admit to being drunk right?

Jie Yu and I went to Sakura for dinner. The food was really good, but after this time I don't think I'll go back there again. The reason for choosing the place was because I've only been there one other time, and I had the urge to taste all the food there again. We suceeded in stuffing almost every available type of food into our mouths!

After that we made our way to Bar None. Initially I was kind of worried that we wouldn't be let in, and thought of many stupid ways to get ourselves in. This is one of those damned times where looking 16 isn't an advantage. However we had nothing to worry about as the guys at the door only asked to check our bags before letting us in. I guess I worried too much because it's a given that these bands would have a young fanbase, and I am turning 21 this year so it's not like it's illegal for me to drink alcohol.

Drinking alcohol wasn't the plan, but once Jie Yu got his hands on the menu there was no turning back. I had a gin-something, which was supposedly very diluted. It was merely one shot mixed into this big, fat cup that was close to double the size of what Jie Yu had. I don't know what he had because I'm not too good with drinks myself. I just know that it wasn't beer, tasted nothing like it, and got my face red-hot within awhile. Luckily enough the first band was on its way to finishing their set and they announced that KKJ would be next, when in fact I was worried that I'd already missed their performance!

But I've been to enough of these things to know that they always start late!

While we were getting our drinks Weetz spotted me, and we exchanged greetings. He was armed with his trusty handycam so people who couldn't make it to the venue, and for people like me, who can't get enough to catch it on youtube!



I'm proud to say I know most of the original songs that they performed, although I couldn't sing along word for word. The band kicked off with Don't Take Me. They also played Stranger and Low, which was rather different from the previous songs. Jie Yu and I agreed that the track really stood out (in a good way) for some reason we couldn't quite put our finger on. This performance is probably one of the best that I've seen from them. The music was really good. Absolutely flawless. No mistakes that I could hear of anyway! It was a pity that they didn't do a really slow and quiet emo rock track like Chasing Cars, because it would've worked like magic in such a cosy venue and showcase the diversity of the band.

I'm not a big fan of The Arctic Monkeys and I've never heard Dancing Shoes before but KKJ's rendition of the song really got everyone moving despite its unfamiliarity. I'm going to have to hear TAM's version though I dare say that after witnessing them play it live, it might just fall short of expectations. That was exactly how I felt about This Boy.

That was not the case when Mr Brightside was played, because from where I was seated I could see everyone singing along. Enough said.

The icing on the cake was definitely My Brown Lollipop. It was definitely deserving to be the song to wrap up the entire set - a treat for fans who've been following the band closely enough to know that it's one of the songs that they feel strongly about. I knew almost all the words and was singing along to the wooohooooyeahyeah (just like how I was singing along to Jolin's concert, not 'cos I was drunk Colin!) with wild abandon. Hey, it's my favourite song!

After that I went to the toilet and my face was really, really red. Okay, I was very high, but not drunk enough to be stumbling around nor puking in people's faces. Colin came up to me and he also got introduced to Jie Yu. We chatted for a while about the performance and he said that it was the longest set he'd ever play. Not only did he not sound like he ran out of steam during the final song, he sang his way to a rousing encore. Well, one can never get to much of a good thing, and I was enjoying myself so much that I didn't notice the amount of time that passed. It didn't feel that long to me! Anyway he introduced us to the next band, which surprisingly fell short of our expectations, and so we left in the middle of their third song.

I've got to thank Jie Yu for being such a sport and going with me on such short notice. Ooh, and it's past midnight already! Happy 21st Birthday bro!

Music Makes People...

Where do I begin? I truly enjoyed myself today because there were great people and music! Hence the title of this entry.

Kickstarted the day in camp, and booked out as quickly as I could. I was still kind of tired after yesterday's 15km run and asked Ryan if he wanted to go KLunch instead. Thankfully, he had no problems with it and we spent our early afternoon there. For the first time, I think the number of fast-paced tracks equalled the slow ones! It was quite amazing to alternate between the different moods. It was also one of our most diverse singing sessions. I found a lot of English songs that I could sing too. What disappointed me most though was my flop rendition of Everytime. I realised that I couldn't sing the verse properly due to a crapped out throat which was straining from trying to reach the high notes of other songs. I enjoyed the session thoroughly as I think we've conquered more musical ground. And they let us sing for a longer time too. Both of us were better than usual.

We were torn between taking the bus and the train, but chose the train when 105 went past us and we didn't have much time left. Before that, we stopped by at 7-11 to buy some drinks and batteries for my camera. I idiotically bought the wrong ones earlier!

We were a tad lost in SP, and it was only my second time there. However there came the sound of singing and music so we went towards it and found the place easily! There was still a bit of time before King Kong Jane came on, so we sat down at one of the benches and chatted for awhile. I was kind of excited that even my ears became red. Hmmm. It was only after the soundcheck and a faux starting of the first song alerted me to go find a seat in front of the stage.



The photos are kind of crap because I took them as an afterthought. I was too busy enjoying the performance.

We scrambled in just in time for Take Me Out. I realised that I should've found a place earlier. Haha... Overall it was real tight, and Colin was bursting with energy, and armed with a massive stage presence to boot. The Mickey Mouse singlet and cap was damn cool too. He was every bit the seasoned performer. The rest of the band were on form too (although I think I did spy a misplaced note during Wake Me Up When September Ends!) and I was thoroughly impressed by the near-perfect renditions of all the songs. I sang along to the numbers I were familiar with like Franz Ferdinand's Do You Want To. Dani California, Hemorrhage, Last Dance With Mary Jane and Time Is Running Out (my other fav) were very well done and impactful too. I did get lost during one of the songs though, can't remember which one it was! Of course the highlight for me was This Boy, a song I first heard performed by them at the National Vertical Marathon 4 months ago, on the 12th March! I loved it! It really made my day.

I don't know how to describe the performance enough to give it justice but I think how much I enjoyed it was written all over my face!

Colin was nice enough to come talk to me and Ryan after his performance. I'd probably have been too starstruck to go talk to him! It was great to finally get a chance to talk face to face. Anyway, they'll be performing at IMM next Sunday and I really hope that I'll be able to see them again even though I've got other commitments on that day already! Maybe Britney's Crazy again? Haha... And you can check out King Kong Jane's official website here.

After that our plans were messed up thanks to some particular individual, so we decided to go to Swensons before going home.



And it certainly was the right decision! It perked me up. I think ice-cream really makes people feel good. It's kind of expensive but really worth the money. Both of us really enjoyed tasting the 8 flavours of ice-cream. We also learnt that cherries look better than they taste. Simplying experiencing the sweet and cold sensations on the tastebuds was a great joy. I was just flooded with endorphins after that.

Ahh... A whole lot of music today. Something that I can't live without; something that I'm strongly connected to.

Simply fantastic.