Beckoning of Spring

28th April 2012 marked the day of the first ever TP Alumni Band concert ever since its establishment in 2001. Of course, having been able to play for its debut was definitely an honour. It felt really gratifying to see people from different batches coming together to work hard for this milestone that took eleven years to accomplish.

Message of encouragement from mum in the morning! Reminding me to breathe before playing my solo. Haha! 

Photos with Nigel and chiobus during rehearsal

The repertoire was one of the best ones that I have ever played. I really enjoyed playing most of the pieces although 'Phantom of the Opera' and 'Persis Overture' spelt nothing but pressure. And I was especially nervous for the latter because of the French horn solo. And it absolutely didn't help that it felt really warm on the stage and I was perspiring like crazy. Gahh.

But I managed to play it well - maybe even better than I did during the practices and rehearsals. Thank you whoever is up there. I totally couldn't afford to screw up during my favourite piece.

In any case, I really had lots of fun for this concert, especially with my awesome French horn section! A big heart for the four of you. The concert would not have been the same without you guys!

With one of my best guy friends since Sec 1, Chin Kiat!

Find me!

My TK French horn juniors who came to support! This one was the fourth concert of mine they have attended and I can't thank them enough for coming down even though I feel so bad for asking them to come year after year :'|

My Vice-President/partner-in-crime, Jeyanthi!

A big thank you to the Poly bunch who came though even though I couldn't bring myself to ask them to. Haha!

With Maestro Wang!

Main band and alumni band horns! Without Jasmin though.

I really like this photo!

Gifts from those who came ^^

That's me with my horn. Hahaha.

It was a great experience performing with so many good players and being under the baton of the two conductors. I can't wait for the one next year, although that means that I have to worry about selling tickets again. But that's another story.

Till then, have a great weekend!

Keep It Real

Just ended my 6-day stint at the Singapore Conference Hall as part of the crew managing the Singapore Youth Festival Central Judging for Primary Schools. I definitely had fun with Jon and Yiyun and the new friends we made.

Lol we look like we're on a rollercoaster.

Omg full of derp.

Too bored.

My favourite pokemon hehe

We're gonna watch The Avengers next week and I can't wait to meet this group of awesome people again. And of course I can't wait for the movie.

I can already tell that it's gonna be epic from this illustration.

Speaking of epic, B.A.P has just released their new music video, 'Power'.

It's really amazing how they have only released two single albums and they already have established their own sound. This song really feels like a 'Warrior' Part 2 with all the heavy beats, guitar riffs, and the alarm sounds in the background. The spray paint dance break in this song is genius! I can't wait for their comeback stage.

And here's another recently released song, 不敗, by Vanness Wu and 2PM's Junho.

I really like the sound of it. And Junho sounds really good singing Mandarin! I still remember when Vanness was part of F4 really long ago and he was my favourite member. Still is, now.

Two days to TP Alumni Band's concert and I'm really nervous for the Persis solo. Bleah.

Goodnight!

Even the Sun Sets in Paradise

I have been replaying and replaying this song whenever I have the chance since yesterday. Really welcoming back the Maroon5-ish genre and it is so much better than 'Moves Like Jagger'. Totally digging Wiz Khalifa's rap as well because he sounds so smooth and I absolutely love how he says 'nothing'.

Finally got down to planning the itinerary for Seoul with Stef and it took a significantly lesser time to finish than we thought. I was really happy with it till I found out the bar at Hongdae that we wanted to go to had already closed down.

Pictures from here

Amazing place, ain't it? Furthermore, all the reviews I read about this place were all really good. Just imagine my disappointment.

Other than that, I'm really contented with the plan - not too hectic but it keeps us busy as well! Let's just hope that we will be able to stick to our rise-and-shine timings! As for the bar part...well Hongdae definitely has plenty of those so we're planning to go bar-hopping. Haha!

Anyway after planning we headed down to meet Brenda and Yiyun for some BBQ food at Geylang (I think the name of the restaurant was 串). The place made me feel like I was in China because of the setup and also the beer they served. I didn't take any pictures of the place (I should have) because I was too busy complaining about being very hungry.

Meat and mushrooms oh god both the oyster mushrooms and the normal ones are to die for.

Usually I get sick of dumplings after a few but this was really nice!

Brenda's photo of 炸酱面

Dinner was filling and Brenda kept us entertained (as usual) with her unintentional derpy antics. Seriously, who takes half an hour to finish one chicken wing? I even took out the skewer for her! Even Stef couldn't stand it lol. I think there should be a camera following us wherever we go because I think we all make very interesting subjects. Viewership is not gonna be a problem. MediaCorp, anyone?

Anyway, I was a full and satisfied Michy because I had lots of chicken. Hehehe. 

Before heading back home, Brenda and Stef gave me my 5-month-late birthday present done by themselves and Jon which they failed miserably at surprising me with. Hahaha.

Seriously though, I do appreciate it very much even though the DVD is busted lol. Thanks for all the hard work you guys put in. I wasn't expecting it to be of such...epic proportions.

Now I just gotta find a spot in my overcrowding room to place it at. Thank you, y'all, again! I can't wait to hear what is, or what was supposed to be on the disc.

And a good night must end on a good note, literally - just downloaded Infinite's and FT Island's newest Japanese singles. I'm a happy fan.

Bonne nuit!

Satisfaction

This is probably my favourite Jap song from FT Island sigh I wish I get to see them perform this why did they not perform this for their concert in Singapore? /cries a river

Anyway, I spent almost the whole of last week working for SYF Central Judging for Primary School Bands at the Singapore Conference Hall with Jon and Yiyun. Although I was separated from them I pretty much enjoyed my job - I hardly had to do anything! And since I was inside the concert hall itself I got to listen to all 80 bands perform. I got to say that some of them really awed me because I didn't think primary school bands were able to play at that standard! The most memorable band for me has got to be Yishun Primary School's. They were unbelievable, like really.

One of the adjudicator's kept eating the Mentos we provided - like 9 in 1.5 hours! Omg sugar overload.

Hahahaha defensive shit.

Had dinner with Jon, Yiyun and Stef on the last day. This was dessert and this makes me really really happy.

TP Band Concert's coming soon and I'm pretty nervous and I just hope I'll do fine on the day itself. Practice has actually been really fun - it's definitely the company.

With Caiyu and Lihua. There's Jasmin and Nigel in the French horn section too and it's great since I already knew them pretty well before this alumni band thing.

But what I REALLY can't wait for is Seoul! It is less than one month away oh gosh where did the countdown '93 days to go' run to? Planning the itinerary with Stef this coming Wednesday and I still don't know where I wanna go to except for Lotte World. Sigh I love theme parks.

Can't wait to try all the rides that I didn't get to try the last time round I went there (which is everything minus the Sinbad ride and the infamous carousel from the Korean drama 'Stairway to Heaven')...alone.

I'mma conquer all you hardcore rides!!! Okay maybe not all, heh.

Making History

So this post is gonna be about SM's newest boy group - EXO.

EXO definitely caught my attention with their gazillion number of teasers released. By the tenth teaser I think many people were getting bored and irritated but as for me it really just made me look forward to their debut even more. When they finally debuted on April 8 - both EXO-K in Korea and EXO-M in China, I was really excited.

EXO-K's first stage was well...lip-synced, as with many other SM artistes but I knew they'd sing live soon so I waited. I didn't have to wait very long though - they showed their prowess earlier this evening during Music Bank!

It may not be perfect but it is sure darn good for a rookie group. And woah, Baekhyun (my bias in EXO-K, along with Kai) sure pulled off all those high notes flawlessly. What a beast.

Baekhyun. 

Kai the dancing machine.

On the other hand, compared to their group mates promoting in Korea, EXO-M has visibly less coverage and exposure. I feel kinda bad for them since they have been off to a rocky start in China so far, and they are still so reserved during interviews and all but I am sure they will break out of their shy selfs soon. And speaking of shy, somehow I find myself drawn to the two most reserved members of the lot - Tao and Chen. It is kinda weird considering how most of my biases aren't what you would call shy haha.

Chen. I liked him ever since last year's SM Orchestra Stage in SBS Gayo Daejun when he awed me with his crazy vocals.

And this is Tao, the maknae. He was the first member of EXO-M I was able to remember easily due to his sharp features and his stare that pierces right through you. He looks really intimidating but from all the interviews and showcases so far, he has shown that he is really the opposite from what he seems to be. 

I was intending to buy their mini albums actually but they only ended up having six tracks so I'm gonna wait for a full album. Sigh they have like at least fifteen songs already can't they just release a full album. Eeesh.

But anyway, these boys are destined for great things and they are gonna be big just like their SM seniors and I wish them all the best!

P.S. I really need to hear them sing What Is Love, Angel and Baby Don't Cry live. Still my favourite songs from them although History and MAMA are brilliant. Hurhur.

Ode to Joy

7th April marked the day of the biennial SYF Competition of Marching and Display Bands. As with any other first Saturday of April of every even-numbered year, I woke up early and braced myself for a long but fulfilling day ahead.

I met Ian and Chin Kiat for breakfast before heading to TK but I probably should just fast-forward to the performances.

While the bands performance we made comments among ourselves but honestly most of the performances looked pretty much the same to me since everyone was using the DCI marching style which is something foreign to me. The only factors that differentiated the bands from each other were precision, dressing, prop usage, music and entertainment value. Okay that's a lot of factors. Hahaha.

Anyway, TK was the 7th band to perform and like most of the audience there, that was going to be my first time seeing their full performance. I didn't really know how to feel but I remember I was really nervous and the whole time I was grabbing Vanessa's arm, lol. Check out the performance below!

I personally enjoyed the performance although I thought that the pieces used could have been a little more intense, especially the closing piece. But well, one can never go wrong with classical music. There was definitely a marked improvement from 2008 in DCI basics-wise. However for some reason I preferred 2008's display though - apart from the repertoire. Nevertheless, great show put up by TK. I'd expect to see more big balls and lying down on the ground two years down the road.

Of course, the most nerve-wrecking part of the whole event was the announcement of results.

I do not own any of the videos.

Many of the results were unexpected - like Deyi's Silver. Just listen to the commotion when their result was announced.

So results of the subsequent bands were announced and after Bowen's Gold award was announced I already knew TK won - since no Gold With Honours winner was announced yet and there definitely had to be one. No one believed me when I said I heard 'Gold With Honours' being announced. Eesh, everyone just started screaming after the 'Gold' but I swore I heard the other two words. Anyway, when the emcee said, "and the Best Display Band award goes to...", my heart still stopped for a moment and when she finally said, "Tan...", all the emotions that I have been bottling up for the past couple of minutes just started flowing out. Hahaha. It totally brought me back to 2006 - same scenario, except now I was in the audience, and that it was less intense compared to 6 years back but still, the feeling was indescribable.

2006's performance will always have a special place in my heart - not because that performance won us Best Display Band for the 5th consecutive time, but I truly believe that it was TK Band's peak. As I mentioned on Twitter: "Lol no matter how many SYF videos I watch, 2006 will always pwn them. Sleek drills, insane spinning, almost perfect dressing. *_*" Everything has changed now though - uniform, marching styles, etc. And the fact that there were always two competition days - April was to announce what medal each band got. In July, the top three bands would battle it out to see who would emerge the champion. Good times.

/text continues after pictures

French horn juniors :)

Batch of 2008. Or whoever that was left.

Through SYF 2012, I have realised that no matter how much I say I don't really care much about the band now seeing that I hardly go back and all, I still really do. And no matter how much I say I much prefer the old TK Band, because change is needed to progress, it is inevitable, I will just have to accept it. So with this, I wish my band, TK Band, all the best in everything. And to anyone in regard reading this post, never ever let pride get the better of you, because arrogance is a one-way road to failure.

Anoneh Pakuke. I love you, TK Band.