Musical sour grapes

By chance I stumbled upon videos of Lang Lang lately and was reminded of how talented this boy from the tiny industrial district of Shen Yang is. He's a typical product of a feudal Chinese regimental parenting, one Americans will not approve. But harsh parenting is not the only key to his success. God knows this lad is talented. Prodigious, really, and 30 this year - a good age to get hitched. I wonder if he likes boys...

And then I stumbled upon this video of a 20-year-old Irish boy vlogging his commentary on Lang Lang's musical style. He had Evgeny Kissin and Lang Lang on a side-by-side comparison on their renditions of Schubert's (god rest his soul) "Die Fledermaus". Nothing good about Lang Lang, apparently, and that he's a terrible musician with a fan base. His playing is horrid beyond comprehension. He's just a famous, flashy, supposedly talented classical pianist. He is just. downright. terrible.

Irish boy also adds that it wasn't just his opinion but it's a fact, that Lang Lang's playing is shite. I get an icky feeling after watching his little commentary. Then I realize it was anger. I was angry that someone ridiculed a person I have high regards for. I suspect that his attacks had something to do with the fact that Lang Lang is, well, Asian.

So you're not a fan of PSY and his silly pony dance - you may even hate him and his music and ALL his fans. Then don't go look for his videos! If they play it at a party, make a dash for the loo, cover your ears and chant! If you don't like the taste of crap, don't eat it. What's the fuss?

Sour grapes. Why would it be anything else? See, here's an Asian dude playing a European instrument and making big money out of it. So you stage a little "commentary" to criticize and ridicule him. He's a crappy musician! Don't listen to him! Listen to ME instead! My commentaries are VERY relevant!

Weatherman, you big fat liar

The weather forecast on my HTC One X cannot be trusted a day in advance. It was supposed to be "mostly cloudy" today when I checked yesterday. But guess what, it RAINED. Heavily.

My poor laundry.

Last night we did a show for the company's Long Service Award. Me on the keys. Received very positive comments from the drummer. He remarked that I'm pretty good for a new birdie. Made me a very happy boy.

It's Saturday today, I slept for a ridiculous number of hours, and I'm not on duty tomorrow. That can only mean one thing...

The Return of the Absent Writer

It's been so long. I hadn't been missing. Or depressed. Or been cut off from the world. Or bimbotically forgotten the password to my blog. Simply... hadn't find updating this blog more important than the other things in my life.

Reading a friend's diligently updated blog gave me the motivation again. So here I am.

Where was I? The Italian rendezvous. Right.

Following that very scandalous affair and many boring episodes later, I found myself dating somebody. A lad quite out of the ordinary considering my taste in men - he's short, doesn't speak French, hereditarily tone-deaf, doesn't drive a posh car, and he's...

asian.

OMG, right?

Yes so I've dated this Chinese boy seven months my junior who happens to be a hairdresser.

Fast-forward to two and a half months later, we amicably parted. Notice the italics. He gave me the impression that he didn't take it too well. How could you depend on a person (or a relationship, for that matter) for life's happiness? There are so many more things to be happy about. Like a new hobby, that new song on Youtube you just can't stop listening to, the weekend, the many beautiful boys and the many ecstatic sex you'll be having with them. Just think about it!

I guess we're better off as just friends. Two drama queens just don't go well together. He renders me amateur when it comes to being emotional.

(Yup, that bad.)

Spare you the details. People I've bored with the events leading up to the break-up have told me that it was a wise move. I feel justified.

I moved to my 5th home in Singapore in two years' time. Each moving process is more back-breaking than the previous ones. When you travel, you buy stuff, stuff that has no real use to you but you're too reluctant to let go of. And the mystery of the missing pans.

I bought a set of frying pans several months before the move and the night before I went for a short getaway to Bangkok, the pans went missing. When I came back from the brief holiday and had to relocate the same day, the pans were still missing. I have no proof who took it, but I guess I knew who did, anyway.

I'll write again some time this week. I swear.

Refreshing Italian experience

I went to Tantric last night with a very close friend. We had a few drinks - strictly beer and red wine only, because the last time I had two vodka drinks I puked the entire content of dinner out on the sidewalk on my way to the taxi stand - and we dropped by PLAY thereafter, finding ourselves in a whole different company. The crowd at Tantric were mostly lofty and unapproachable and, well, a little aged. Meanwhile at PLAY the patrons were largely, if not all, comprised of younger, bubblier people in their 20's. We even saw two harmless amateur drag queens there with ill-fitting wigs there. Nice try though.

And I got picked up. By an Italian dude in his 30's. And we went up his condo. And... Oh well, you know. Things boys do.

Europeans don't like sleeping in the cold, I find. They sleep without the air conditioners on. But surprisingly I didn't sweat through the night. Amazing. And after a few hours of between sleeping and looking at the ceiling (barely seeing anything in the pitch darkness, really) I awoke to him getting out of bed and taking a leak in the bathroom - the sun was already up. It had been raining last night, and I haven't been taking in fresh crisp morning air like that for a very long time.

No contacts exchanged. Perhaps we'll meet again at that little club called PLAY.

I'm done!

Just came back from KL yesterday, made a quick trip to SAE to submit my web design assignment - that one, last, annoying little bitch that's been keeping me from my diploma. It's stupid, really, that a simple little thing that was overdue since SEMESTER ONE of my entire diploma course was the ONLY thing that's keeping me from graduating. I can beat myself up for that.

But it's okay now, I got that royal pain bashed and battered and delivered straight to SAE. No more worries about diploma. No more praying to God for the courage to finish that one last assignment. No more scratching my head bald trying to figure out how-what-where and -why. It's finished. It's accomplished. It's DARNED DONE!!!

The trip to KL was an interesting one though. In order to get the cheapest possible air ticket two nights before my planned trip, I was left with the oddest time to fly - depart Singapore at 11 PM on Tuesday, and depart KL at 6 AM on Thursday. Sound like a lot of time? Nope, not really. Not when I don't have a car and a place to stay in KL. Not only did I travel solely by public transport (I didn't even take a cab because cabbies in KL are scarier creatures than... than something scary) - I said I didn't have a place to stay right? - I spent the hours after landing at LCC-T at KL Sentral. Seriously. I have never done something quite as insane as that before: sitting and falling asleep on the seats in front of a closed KFC, walking around a deserted KL Sentral, having sundae for supper at the 24-hour McD's. When morning came, I took the bus to Subang - haven't showered - waited around for the lecturer who would be marking my work, and who happened to be coming only in the afternoon, so I killed time between chatting with Mr Aarif and sleeping on the couch in the student lounge. I'm sure it seemed odd, but I couldn't care less. Then I went for lunch with the admin gang, went on a joyride in Neo's car to Bukit Jalil - falling asleep in his car - and back to SAE to see the lecturer who would be... oh darn! The lecturer who would be marking my assignment was reassigned! And it was the lecturer who had been there all morning! Ass!!! *faint*

So after SAE I went for a quick bite at the new mall in USJ 19, then walked a mile to the nearest bus stop to spend one and a half hours in a bus, on a congested highway, on to KL Sentral, with a full bladder. That's at least 60 minutes of holding my pee and falling asleep in a crowded bus, luckily I had a seat in the back of the bus. But still. Hmm. *rolls eyes*

Back in KL Sentral, I finally took a much needed shower. If killing time was an actual action, I would have massacred a hell lot of time. Imagine 6 hours at the airport doing nothing. Oh actually I did do something - walking about, having a ciggie every one hour, eating at McD's, falling asleep on the seats where everybody else was falling asleep in, reading a book I bought at the airport. Depressing. But the thought that I made this trip and delivered a coup de grâce to my diploma made me feel that it was all worth the effort. Tiring trip, though, but whatever.

A million days later...

My sister told me several weeks ago that it's been months since I last posted anything. Anything at all! How unacceptable!

So I've been busy with stuff. On days I'm not busy with PAC stuff, work stuff, moving house stuff, re-organizing stuff, thinking up funny stuff to put on my Facebook page, I killed time by walking around malls looking at stuff. I'd dearly love to buy them (and after the annual bonus came in I was totally capable of doing so) my conscience told me not to.

So I'm living at a new place now, since July. My cold-hearted ex-landlord evicted both me and my brother at the eleventh hour. It was the end of the month - I just came back from Dubai and was having a nap before flying off to Zurich the next day - my ex-landlord texted me saying that we had to get out of the house by the 30th of June. In my mind I was like, "B*TCH!!!"
So I literally dragged myself out of bed in the late afternoon and went online to look for a place.

Long story short, I'm now staying at a place $400 more expensive than the old place, but waaaaay nicer. It's got air conditioner, pretty walls, mini TV with a DVD player in the room, and a curtain. (my old place didn't have a curtain. I swear.)

But before that sad incident, I was involved in this talent competition the company had organized. I didn't get the top three positions cos the three guys before me all had fantastic voices, but I bagged the Best Showmanship Award, cos I was stunning on stage. Nyehehe~

What else is new?

I suddenly miss a guy whom I'd had an intimate moment with. He's caucasian but born and raised in Singapore. He's skinny, skinnier than I am, but what he's packin' down there... Mm-mm-mmmmm..... Sorry but I'm a slut. Can't help it.

I'm gonna get my tonsils snipped off! Made an appointment with the doctor for the 27th this month. I'm gonna get hospitalized for the first time in my life, and hopefully the last time ever. The thought of having a cannula up the back of my hand just scares me shitless. Jeez I'm feeling woozy already.

One tooth less

I recently had one of my four wisdom teeth removed by a dentist who calls himself Logan, but I'm sure he's named Loganathan by his parents, because he is, well, Indian. One wisdom tooth less, but I don't feel stupider.

That is also to say I just returned from KL. One crucial thing that made the trip necessary was getting the darnedest Dreamweaver installer from Mr Rabi, who I later realized didn't have the installer for a Mac system. I should be so damned right now. But it's alright, he said he'll send me the link from where I could download the installer (for free). I will wait patiently for his blessed email.

I sent my 40kg Roland RD-700SX stage piano to Singapore, still waiting for the delivery people to arrive as I type. 40kg includes the formidable flight case that I custom ordered from a hard case maker. It's so big my brother calls it "the coffin". And it's unnecessarily heavy. I don't know why I even bought it.

Did I tell you that I'm taking part in a singing competition my company organized? To enrich our lives when we're not toiling on duty, our company established ECA (extra-curricular activities) and I'm already in two of them, the dance circle and the performing arts circle. (so predictable, no? :P)

Oh about the competition. I went for the audition and they took me for the semi-finals. I'm planning on singing Whistle Down The Wind by Andrew Lloyd Webber. I think it'll be pretty impressive. They said I'd do pretty well in that competition, I hope so too.