Dion & Streisand

I remember my mum was next to me when I first saw the MV for Celine Dion and Barbara Streisand's Tell Him. 

I loved it when I first heard it. It was so powerful for me, when these 2 women joined voices. All that passion when they sang, and somehow it still sounded like a sad song. I still listen to it so I keep it in my mp3 player. It just brings this uplifting feeling when I hear it. And I'm brought back to the 90s, sitting in the Bishan living room with mum beside me as we enjoyed the company of these women on one of those nice afternoons. 

Celine Dion & Barbara Streisand - Tell Him

12 August

WHO'S GOING FOR DEATH CAB?

WE IS!

Death Cab For Cutie

Death Cab For Cutie - I Will Follow You Into The Dark

I think i sinned

Is it bad when you suddenly talk to your baby brother as if he's an adult and expect him to understand like an adult, and when he didn't and threw a tantrum you're caught off guard cos he's just five and you forgot it and you go all road rage and start babbling things you're not even aware of. I think it is bad. Damn i have to stop all this expecting. Expectations expectations. Don't do that, you limit people you hurt people. When will i ever learn.

Biore pore pack is best. If you got uber zealous blackheads studding your face and you want to get rid of them get a pore pack! 10 mins and zoot, its the best feeling when you remove it! You get a clean face with holes. 

Purchase of the day

I went down to purchase one of them good tasting Nutellas but oh Nutella, Nutella, where have ye gone? Why did you hide when I was so in need of your good tasting fillings. So craving for that smooth, heavenly, out of this world chocolate. 

You weren't there. So I purchased a Nova coffee pack instead. But have no fear Nutella, I still love you.

 

Power of opposites

But there's also that tingle in your tummy when you're uncertain. Fear, maybe. Or excitement. Ready to see how it turns out, like an experiment. 

When opposites meet, whether siblings, friends, love partners, or colleagues, either disaster or magic could happen. If they possess two completely different characteristics from different extremes. It's contingent on the person's background, how the person grew up, the type of people that surround him, what his family's like, who he hangs with, the person's current well-being, how he views life, how he reacts to different people and situations, etc. 

When you put two humans together you never know what can happen. And that's what's exciting about it. Because these humans can move on their own. And who knows which way they'll move towards. 

So it's up to us to either make that 1 + 1 = 1 seamless whole, where differences are expressed and shared, where we hold the ying and the other holds the yang that helps to keep both stable and balanced, where we could use the differences to fill in the 'gaps' of the other, discover things about yourself or the other person you never knew; or continue making 1 + 1 = 2 separate entities where the differences will never be resolved, and both ignores each other's skills/flaws, and thus, they shall never rest in peace.

MAA 2 August 08

MTV ASIA AWARDS 2008

This weekend, Saturday, 2 August

11 pm

showtimes:

Sunday, August 3, 11am and 8pm
Monday, August 4, 7.30am
Tuesday, August 5, 1.30pm
Wednesday, August 6, 11.00pm
Friday, August 8, 10.00am 
Saturday, August 9, 2.30pm 
Wednesday, August 13, 11.30pm 
Thursday, August 14, 6am 
Friday, August 15, 6.30pm 
Sunday, August 17, 7.30am
Monday, August 18, 11.30pm 
Sunday, August 24, 10.00pm 

Ignite

Was quite rad, there was crowd, responsive RP crowd. Which was cool. Nice atmosphere. They should have more events like these in RP. 

30Y

I have to get my hands on that yearbook... must... must... must.

1 + 1 = 1

I was watching Oprah at 5 am today. 

So there was this story of an 8-year-old Indian girl, let's name her Rani, in the 1960s who was taken away from her family because they were poor. A lady came to her and told her everything will be alright, she will bring her to a safer place. Next thing she knew she was being sold as a slave. She was constantly beaten, and almost sold into prostitution. Somehow someway, she got lucky. She was brought to America where a lady adopted her and gave her everything she needed to heal. 

Nearby in Vietnam, a 9-year-old boy, Tron, too had to leave his family. It was wartime and they were taking away boys as young as 8 and 9 to be recruits in the war. His family didn't want that to happen to him.  So they sent him off saying he's going over to his granny's and they would come visit soon. He aboarded a ship full of refugees without any relatives with him. Along the way they were founded by an enemy ship. He watched as people were shot in front of him, mothers being raped as their babies were taken away from them.  

The ship reached a deserted island of Indonesia. He stayed in a cave for 6 months by himself until he was found by Indonesians, and sent to America. 

It was there that Tron met Rani (on a blind date), and today, they're married with 4 kids. 

If you can Dream it, they can Ice Cream it!

COLD ROCK ICE CREAMERY

Lionel introduced us the place cos he heard it on radio. If you have a couple of friends with you, looking for a haunt to sit, talk, and eat ICE CREAM ALL DAY. Then this is the place to go. Interestingly, Singapore only has one outlet down at Holland Village. 

What's special about the place is you get to pick 2 ice-cream flavours of your choice, and as many toppings as you want ranging from gummi bears, marshmallows, snicker bars, oreo cookies, MnMs, Freddo the frog, biscuits, etc. They will then bring it over to their 'cold rock' table, which prevents the ice-cream from melting, where they will mix and mash everything together. It's a really fun experience. 

A video demo-ing how they do it at COLD ROCK:

Mmmm mm.

Itchy fingers

Fingers feeling itchy for designing? Better still, great rewards await!!! 

Some fun-ish competitions.

1. Baybeats 2008 - Silkscreen Design Challenge

2. Allmightys

3. Teetonic

4. Split the atom

1. Baybeats 2008 http://www.baybeats.com.sg/

Design a quirky character that rep. Baybeats 08. 10 designs will be selected and of these 10, public will vote for the best. The winning design will make it to the silkscreen counter where everyone can transfer the design on anything printable. (deadline: 25 July 08, oops this Fri!)

2. Allmightys http://allmightys.com/features/index.htm

Holds frequent design competitions following themes. Designs will be put up for voting. Winning designs are printed on tees and put up for sale. Artists earn commission from sales. 

Current theme: "Future-Past-Perfect" 

Description: "... Refers to a time that is in the future, relative to another point in the past, but is in the past relative to a point in its future." (deadline: 25 August 08)

3. Teetonic http://www.teetonic.com

The non-stop t-shirt design competition. No theme, no deadlines. Submit whenever you want about whatever you want. Designs are put up for public vote. Winners get 100 pounds. 

4. Split the atom http://www.splittheatom.com/designashirt/index.asp

The neverending T-shirt design comp. Design of any genre and theme for printing on T-shirts. Winner gets 250 pounds.

Battle of One

"Be a hero, kill your ego" 

Just something to share. In recent weeks, I've been thinking a lot more. This extra voice in the head. It used to be so excessive I simply couldn't control it at all. Now it's back but more controllable. I can tell it to shut up once in a while. 

It's not a completely bad thing, this voice, and neither is it completely good. The thing about my sensitivity is that the slightest things make me think throughout the day and even into my sleep. From the slightest things to biggest things worry me. Whether it's about my dad, my baby brother, my best friend, my boyfriend, my ex-, my sec sch friends, my ex-facis, my sec sch best friend, my kindergarten friends, my future, etc. 

It's tiring but it can't stop. 

I'd wake up with headaches and a thousand images flashing in my head at an instant (eh, is that why my headaches often?). But good thing about all the thinking is, it helps me improve myself if I think I haven't been acting fairly to people. I rewind and replay several times before deciding to change. Change is constant, and so is learning.

But lately. All these thoughts flooding my head. Some so redundant, some just replaying. It's become so used to thinking it's starting to generate on its own. So much so that I'm oblivious of where I'm physically standing, who I'm physically sitting next to, what my ears are realistically hearing, and what my hands are physically touching. Because I'm so caught up in thoughts.

Frequently I tell myself, stop it! You have to concentrate on the NOW. 

The more my mind went to the past and the future, I realised I became more expectant of people and situations, more arrogant, more selfish, more hot-headed, more judgmental.

I would get mad at myself because of these things and not really understand why. It wasn't easy but  it took me weeks to understand a little better. 

I've told this to myself many many times before but didn't completely adopt it - Hindsight is often a blessing. 

So I said - Concentrate on the now, don't expect too much of the future. Cos if you do, you will not see the Value of yourself/people/things/situations/etc. Be aware of your surroundings - sight, sound, smell, touch, taste. Appreciate the people around you, appreciate the things you currently have, appreciate reality. Take things in as they come. 

So I'm a fan of subtitles no more (unless it's a foreign flick).

"Love is the only rational act" - Levine

That's what I'll do. Learn to love everyone/thing. At the end of the day when you have problems, it comes down to a bit of loving and it's all okay.  

-----------------------------
"It is said in martial arts that, you must slice your ego first before slicing the opponent's head."

[for quick read, 'ctrl F' the words "ego" and "now"]

"Kill your ego, recognize the true you"

Loud music makes my bowels move

I have purchased 'Michael Jackson Live: The Dangerous Tour' DVD. It's a damn good feeling watching Michael again in clear quality. One day I'm going to share this with my children. And they'll look back on it like how we looked back at The Beatles, and hopefully embrace his music as well. He was one of the best thing that happened to my 90s. 

Here is a great song to look back on. Get lost in the music. 

Michael Jackson - Will You Be There

Hold me like the River Jordan and I will then say to thee, you are my friend

carry me like you are my brother, love me like a mother, will you be there?

weary, tell me will You hold me, when wrong will you scold me, when lost will you find me?

But they told me a man should be faithful, and walk when not able, and fight till the end
But I'm Only Human

Everyone's taking control of me, seems that the world's got a role for me
I'm so confused will you show to me you'll be there for me and care enough to bear me

Hold Me, Lay Your Head Lowly, Softly Then Boldly, Carry Me There
Lead Me, Love Me And Feed Me, Kiss Me And Free Me, I Will Feel Blessed
Carry, Carry Me Boldly, Lift Me Up Slowly, Carry Me There
Save Me, Heal Me And Bathe Me, Softly You Say To Me, I Will Be There

Lift Me, Lift Me Up Slowly, Carry Me Boldly, Show Me You Care
Hold Me, Lay Your Head Lowly, Softly Then Boldly, Carry Me There
Need Me, Love Me And Feed Me, Kiss Me And Free Me, I Will Feel Blessed

In Our Darkest Hour, In My Deepest Despair, Will You Still Care? Will You Be There?
In My Trials And My Tribulations, Through Our Doubts And Frustrations
In My Violence, In My Turbulence, Through My Fear And My Confessions
In My Anguish And My Pain, Through My Joy And My Sorrow
In The Promise Of Another Tomorrow
I'll Never Let You Part, For You're Always In My Heart.

Treasuring the finds

Today was PHASE 3 of 'Operation Clean This Nasty Room'. Which will be the final phase, I believe. Originally, it was like this mixed-up complexedly-composed song. Then, it was stripped to its bare minimum of just voice and acoustic. And thats what I've done. Stripped my room silly.

I have to say it's been fun. Cleaning and organizing can be a real sucker when you suddenly realise you have tons of shit in the room. But the fun part is trying to come up with categories, re-organizing and abit of redesigning where the things have to go. The bonus is, almost every item brings back a certain memory, which slows down the process. But hey! All in the name of fun and reminisce.

I have organized the junkyard into:

1. (Sec) School-related

Things like textbooks, notebooks, excercise books, assessment books. I want to keep them just in case I get bored one day. And I have a hunch that I may feel like re-educating myself sometime in the future. Or perhaps look back at my books and go, awww I hated this chapter. You know, it's like precious memories I want to keep. 

So throwing of textbooks is no go. They're here for keeps. And they'll probably go into my future fantasy library.

2. Magazine/Comic 

For memories sake too I guess. Magazines from as far back as 1997 [the pop era manz!] like Lime (when it was superb),  Teens, Teenage, Bop, 8 Days, Tiger Beat, Smash Hits, It's Hot!, Top of The Pops, etc. It would always remind me of my high school days where splurging on a magazine once/twice a week was a necessity. It was irresistible. Every week, there was someone interesting on the covers. Now, not so much. 

3. Photo albums

Very important.

4. Spare

Mainly consisting of past incompletely utilised exercise books, papers, files, etc. for future use.

5. Gadgets

A drawer full of chargers, product packages, warranty cards, receipts, external hard disks, etc.

6. Important things/Religious books

This one's a pretty big drawer so there's room for one more category of things. Things like diploma certs, O level certs, death certs, religious books, all go in here. 

7. Precious things

Given by precious people, belongs in this drawer.

8. Books

Yay for fiction, non-fiction, thriller, suspense, and fantasy!

9. CDs/DVDs

Gelora! I love staring at entertainment. and knowing a lot of stories await me, exciting. 

10. Misc.

Old toys, accessories, board games, watches, pouches, insert here.

The room breathes new life again.

Re-wound

Such a nice time for reminiscing. Remember

THE OSMONDS

I loved watching Donny & Marie (the 90s one). They always had new stuff on the show. I remembered Donny introducing medicine for kids that was made into a lollipop so kids would eat it. That was interesting. It was from there I started learning more about them and their songs. Aaron Carter did a cover for 'One Bad Apple', and S Club Juniors did a cover for 'Puppy Love'. 

Here is they performing their best energetic moves in One Bad Apple. It's really good. That little kid is Donny btw. Gerekz!

One Bad Apple

MICHAEL JACKSON

King of Pop or what. What would the Pop era be without him? Probably different but we don't know. I'm just happy he was a part of my childhood. The "HO!"s and the "Hi heeee!"s. Who can resist. 

Here's a great performance I found online, done during his History world tour in 97. It would probably bring back some memories if you watch. It's called They Don't Care About Us.

They Don't Care About Us

THE HANSONS

My family haven't really subscribed to cable yet in the 90s. But there was a short period of time when I think we got free previews of cable channels. And I got excited everytime I saw Aaron Carter or Hanson, Nsync or BSB on MTV. I remembered always seeing "I Will Come To You" by Hanson appear on. I love the song so much, I still do. The brothers were great songwriters at such a young age it's impressive. 

So here we go, I Will Come To You with The Hansons.

I Will Come To You

it's not fair...

i'm 21.. not 12. i've never asked for anything why are you still keeping me in this shell..