我的幸运

Just got back from Taiwan for like the fifth time in my life and I don't think I have enjoyed this country so much before. Unlike the last few times that I went with my family with a tour group, I went with my juniors.

I'm actually a person who feels very disoriented if there isn't a plan, or if things don't go according to plan. I guess the heavens kinda knew because on our first day there, our train to Ruifang (we were going to Jiufen) ceased operation because of a thunderstorm and flood along the route. We ended up on the wrong train with a bunch of foreigners who were as clueless as us. Needless to say, I was feeling pretty helpless but I was the oldest outta my bunch and was the most fluent in Mandarin so I had to get my shit together, and I also tried to help the two Koreans and one Canadian who were stranded as much as I could.

I think herein lies the charm of vacationing with friends and having things go wrong and you having to solve problems yourselves. It was great because we were all in it together - taking care of each other etc. I went there with the mindset of 'okay I'm the eldest so these kids are my responsibility', but it turned out that we needed each other equally. Without Rashidah getting up in the morning first I wouldn't have woken up for any breakfasts. Without Wenhui I would never have thought I'd be hiking and surfing there. Without Vinnie's persistent coaxing I wouldn't have agreed to rent an electric bike for us to ride (me as pillion) and feel the wind in our faces and get over my mild phobia of two-wheeled vehicles.

I was pretty boss in Taipei though lol I think I could be a tour guide there.

Currently I'm missing Taiwan more than I thought I would. Not sure if it's the nice night skies at the countryside, the food, the super nice people, the awesome pink guava juice atop Jiufen Old Street, the youthfulness and vibrancy of Ximending at night or just everything in general, but I just really miss it okay. Taiwan, I'll see you again sooner than you think. xx

Unwanted expectations

'Straight A student commits suicide over O-level results, mum takes her own life months later'

So I came across this article and it absolutely broke my heart. I mean, as Asians, there'll definitely be at least a few times in our lives where we are compared to our classmates, siblings, cousins, or even your neighbors. But how hard was this kid pushed to the extent that she felt so scared and ashamed to face her mum because of two B grades?

How sad is it to live your life not for yourself, but for someone else? How sad is it to live your life trying to fulfill someone else's expectations? How can a parent even bear to put her kid through this kind of unnecessary stress? How unhappy must her kid have been throughout the years?

It's okay to have expectations for something, but parents gotta understand that their kid is not for them to live vicariously through. My mum might not be agreeable to some of the choices I have made for myself, and she might have nagged a couple of times, but I'm happy with my choices, and she accepts that. In fact, I made all my educational and occupational choices from after PSLE. What kind of wise choices can a Primary 6 kid make, right? Well, this 12-year-old wanted to go to a secondary school because she wanted to join a specific CCA even though her results were eligible for more 'elite' secondary schools. My O-level results also allowed me to go to junior college, but I knew what I wanted, so I went to polytechnic. Was I happy? Not all the time, but mostly yes. Did I regret anything? No.

Parents care for their kids, and many often do things that they think 'are good for their kids', but the truth of the matter is that no one knows their kids better than their kids.

We don't have to be the best at everything. I'm thankful to my parents for respecting the choices I've made - so I can continue doing what I like, so I can continue listening to and singing to songs that I don't understand, so I continue occasionally exiling myself from the world while I do music, so I can continue to live and not just survive.

#심쿵해

AOA's 'Heart Attack' was recently released and I've been going crazy over them again. 'Short Hair' was my jam when it was released and now I'm back to replaying my angels' songs.

Anyway the girls took turns having a fantalk on Twitter last week and GOD MOTHERF*CKING TOP MADAM Jimin and kawaii Mina replied me (typo in my tweet to Mina whoops). Thank you senpais :)

For the life of me I didn't know what the heck Mina was saying till I realised that her tweet was full of spelling errors oh my god I'm not even sure if she was tryna be cute?? LOL but I still love you Minaring~~


I leave you with my favourite episode of their variety show. Please at least watch it for the subs. They are gold. Choa ♥ Jimin ♥ Mina ♥ #midgetsquad ♥

做好人

做好人，好难。
做好人，往往最辛苦的是自己。
但做坏人，可能会伤害别人、连累别人。

做好人，好难。
做好人，可以走在最前锋铺路。
但做好人，也可以在后面默默支持着、安抚着身边所爱的人。

做好人，好难。
做好人，需要时间放的下与放的开。
但做好人，最后心也是最平静的、笑容也是最欣慰的。

做好人，好难。
做好人，往往最辛苦的是自己。
但做好人，为了你，我愿意。

The Ark feels

That harmonization. Just gonna leave these here. If you don't cry watching the music video you have no heart.

Minju~~

Gratitude

Wow, I really haven't been here for a such a long time. This space is for things close to my heart, and this post won't be any different, albeit more sombre than usual.

Today, I got to be photographer for an event organised by my alma mater, TK Band - the Irene Joseph Memorial. She was the founder of TK Band.

This tribute video was done by my talented senior, Sijia. Obviously my emotional self cried when it was screened at the event. But a photographer's gotta do what a photographer's gotta do. So I hid my face behind my camera and scanned for faces in the audience to shoot anyway.

It's amazing how through the lenses, I was able to see a myriad of emotions that I may or may not have been able to capture properly, but the one thing that everyone had in common was gratitude.

It's not easy to say goodbye, and it is even more difficult when it is someone who has touched so many lives.

I never had the pleasure of being taught by her, but I have heard nothing but nice things about Miss Joseph. It is amazing to think about how this strong woman managed to form a band from students who didn't have any experience, to slowly progress and eventually win the Mace of Honor, to what TK Band is today. She devoted such a huge part of her life to nurturing students and making music, it's incredible.

Prior to typing this, I spent a night and a day with people who I would never have met if Miss Joseph never did what she did.

Without Miss Joseph, 

I wouldn't have met these amazing people.

I wouldn't have known how it's like for so many people to come together and work hard for one goal.

I wouldn't have been able to taste success.

I wouldn't have been able to grow stronger from defeat.

I wouldn't have had the honour to be a part of this legacy you left behind.

I wouldn't be who I am today.

Fate is indeed a funny thing. It's funny because you'd never think that a person who you have never talked to before could have such an impact on your life indirectly. 

Thank you, Miss Joseph, for being such an inspiration to so many of us, and I hope the music that you love follows you wherever you go. 

Animo España

Guess my first post to break my spell of lack of blog posts is going to be about the Spain National Team's exit in this year's World Cup.

Whenever it comes to major tournaments, especially the World Cup, 90% of the tweets on my Twitter timeline will be about the matches. Weirdly enough, almost half of these tweets are by my female friends whose football tweets only appear once every four years. Hahaha okay I am exaggerating.

It's always difficult to explain to non-football fans why I am so passionate about the teams I support because I literally go on an emotional journey with them. But, I'm super glad I have ze best friend - hehe hi Stef! - who has been watching the sport longer than I have (albeit supporting a different club in the EPL), and is genuinely interested in every aspect of football that I wish to tell her about. Like, I can actually discuss matches that we're currently watching with her and that is really awesome. I mean of course we keep a lookout for the good-looking players and all too but we ain't that superficial... Hahaha.

One team that both of us support is the Spain National Team and I think I speak for the both of us when I say that the matches against Netherlands and Chile in the group stages of this World Cup were the hardest matches we ever had to watch with Spain playing. And even though I don't like pointing fingers, I think the biggest fault belongs to the traditional mindset of manager Vicente del Bosque who does not want to change with the times.

The squad of 2008, 2010 and 2012 are getting old.

I absolutely love this squad and they have given me so many reasons to smile. And I appreciate it so much that Vincente del Bosque is so attached and dependent on the squad and he is such a father figure to them. But the fact is that age has inevitably caught up with them and the generation we are familiar with looked exhausted and unmotivated. Young Spanish players bursting with potential are not being utilized, and they should, because they are the future of the country's football team after all. So I was absolutely bummed from the start that players like Isco who have been doing so well in the youth team didn't go get into the squad.

Putting hopes on a striker who is not fully fit.

... And who is a Brazilian as well. I don't even wanna say his name LOL but that was one of the most horrible decisions ever. Playing Villa would have been great - even if you put Torres on there I think it'd sit well with more people.

My heart goes out to Casillas, Ramos, Xavi, Iniesta, Alonso and co. the most and I thank them for the past 6 years. My Real Madrid players in particular have had a great season and them winning the Copa Del Rey and Champions League have given me more than enough reason to be happy. Even the best fall down sometimes, and I believe the newly revamped Spain will be back stronger to defend their UEFA Euro title.

Just hoping that their last match in this year's World Cup will not be catastrophic. Please just get the striker who has been playing the last 2 games out, and get Xavi and Villa in. Viva España!

The Best of 2013

It's not only the end and beginning of the year that I feel blissful and blessed for everything in my life, but it's always great to express my gratitude and what better time to do that than the beginning of the new year?

So much fangirling, so much awesome live music

2013 was a fantastic year of concerts and showcases, and I've had incredible luck when it came to meeting my favourite bands (two of them!) and oppars and unnies. I also found a great concert companion in Yiyun - one of the few people I know who cares more about the music than the artiste. Can't wait to rock Music Matters 2014 with her again!

Hong Kong and Taiwan

Still haven't traveled out of Asia, and these are two countries that I've visited previously. But for Michy the pig, visiting two of Asia's food havens is always exciting... and fattening. The former also helped me get closer to some of my University mates.

stereomich hit 1000, then 2000 subscribers

My YouTube channel is one of my most important things and I put in a lot of work into my covers. So being able to gain subscribers is a great encouragement for me. Of course, being able to monetize my covers is a bonus. It's a great feeling receiving e-mails everyday that someone has subscribed to my channel, and I'll definitely improve on my covers and videos.

My awesome friends

I don't have many friends, but I think I'm blessed to have these people that I don't think I deserve. Everyday, I learn something new about somebody and I realised that there are more people who care about me then I think, so for that I'm extremely thankful.

-----

There are too many things to say and too many people to thank, but you know who you are. Thanks for making an impact in my life. There are so many things I wanna do in 2014, but to me what's most important is that the people around me stay happy. I recently learned about this thing called 'love language' from Eudora and I think it's a pretty cool thing to use as a reference.

Here's to a great 2014 - less conflicts and more happiness all around.

Supernova

I think it's every band member's wish to be part of a great show like this. Like, how this is even humanly possible?? The amount of leadership and sweat that went into this is freaking unbelievable. Who needs American football when you have halftime shows like this?

I'm still not a super huge fan of bands with British marching roots switching to DCI (Drum Corps International) Marching... but I guess since they have already, might as well improve on it like crazy and hopefully one day it will be the same standard as this.

Going back to playing my French horn next week. I hope I don't suck too much hahahaha.

2GETHER 4EVER

I'm going to attempt to write this post in Mandarin. Hahahaha I might give up halfway. Here goes nothing.

昨晚去看了S.H.E 2GETHER 4EVER 演唱会... 真的是感触良多。3年没见，其实也不是很长的时间。可是那时间对粉丝真的是一个漫长的等待。

配着 live band，《SHERO》开始的时候，全场一起喊：“S-H-E-R-O”，我的鸡皮疙瘩全出来了。还有，当电脑控制的荧光棒在复歌的部分换颜色的时候，真的让我十分惊喜！超美的！

3个半小时的演唱会，简直唱到疯，笑到爆，也哭得稀里哗啦的。我在第四首歌《远方》已经开始流眼泪了啦！还有，这个Selina真的是爱哭，一直弄得我跟着一起哭。《梦》唱到一半就唱不下去：“这是我唱这首歌最早哭的，很抱歉。要听完整版，请大家去听CD啦！” 哈哈！接下来三个人一起唱《花都开好了》又哭！全场一起帮S.H.E唱，真是温馨。

《魔力》的时候，体育场被分成三组，看哪一组唱得比较大声。Selina 的组赢了，所以我们都变成‘任奶奶’的人。太好玩了！还有，全场的荧光棒都被关掉，剩下全场的手机的绿灯（我们放了贴纸）。三个女生都很惊讶：“好像萤火虫哦！”

Taken from Ella's Facebook page.

E+S: /讲无聊的东西/
E (to Hebe): 你是来做客的是吗？
S: 讲一些话嘛！SAY SOMETHING!
H: 新加坡很好啊...
E+S+全场: /哭笑不得/

3个半小时真的有太多笑话了，一时之间真的记不起。可是，她们好像是唯一可以在台上讲拉肚子，放屁，‘奶’，的东西吧。Ella的英文也让我们笑翻了，不愧是S.H.E的开心果！Hebe真的唱到爽。她的假音超赞的。当然，三个人用了嗓子和超棒的合音唱了34首歌。整个演唱会太完美了- 是我2013年去过最好的。

很感谢S.H.E一直存在着。困难重重，今日能看到三位老婆一起站上舞台为我们表演，我的心情无法形容。这样看起来，唱到80岁的诺言应该不难实现！期待与你们的下一次相聚。爱死你们了，我的superstars!