Hoping for a raincash to catch Mraz's concert

Event Info

Artists:
Jason Mraz
Description:
12:00 AM @ Fort Canning Park Fort Canning Centre, Cox Terrace, 179618, Singapore Singapore TICKET PRICE (Exclude Booking Fee) 2 Aug 2008 Pre-Sale - S$150 3 Aug 2008 Pre-Sale - S$200 Week-ender Pass Pre-Sale - S$300 price: S$150-$300

"I want to see Jason Mraz's concert but it's so damn expensive!"

"How much?"

"Well, ticket's from 150 bucks.."

"That's ridiculous! I mean, how many albums have this guy made? He'd wanna be the Beatles on a reunion tour for that price!"

"5 albums! And yes, that is expensive!"

"Never heard for the guy. He's not big in the west or at least in Europe. He had three albums, dude, liar liar pants on fire. Says on Wikipedia three!"

"He has two other live concerts and accoustic albums!"

"THEY ARE NOT ALBUMS! I just find that price absurd, never heard a concert that expensive. For 75 euro you'd probably staring at someone's ass.."

Considering that I am currently jobless and I've pretty much had only three hundred bucks on my account (the pathetic remains of my three months job's salary), perhaps the concert is a bit pricey. Isn't it funny how you could remember vividly what you did to earn that cash but have almost no recollection of spending it?Is that possible?

But I spent half an hour trying to convince Mr. Skeptic over here that Jason Mraz is way cooler than ice cubes.

But his only respond when I said his lyrics are unique and catchy was, "So does Radiohead..." (clearly disinterested with everything I have said in the last 30 minutes)

Well, a plane and a bird both can fly but we hardly look at them the same way, do we? Fine, that's an absurd comparison, but...no buts!

Once

It's quite obvious from the picture selection to my new page header that I'm a Once fan. To me, the image itself is beautiful, even without knowing the context of which it represents, without seeing it in a scene of a continuous story which is filled with memorable moments and tunes.

Coming across this movie is entirely a story in itself; not through cinematic trailers, not through billboards and posters in the theatre. Rather, I was in a little DVD shop back home, carelessly rummaging through piles and piles of disks selection. This unknown movie, Once somehow managed to stand out from the rest. I learned that it essentially is an Irish movie, which miraculously was an added appeal.

Glen Hansard (and not far from the role that he plays) is a real-life musician more well known as the lead singer of The Frames, a popular Irish rock band. Funny because not long before I even knew who this guy was, an irish friend of mine who happened to come and visit mentioned him during one of our conversation. We were on the plane and he was letting me hear some songs from his IPod, and apart from David Gray, none of them were familiar. And when I asked who his favorite singer was, he said The Frames was pretty cool. Star Star was their first song that I listened to, but it didn't make that much impression yet. Only until I have watched the entire movie weeks later that I realized that Glen Hansard is truly a talented singer/song writer.

With only a budget $160,000 this movie was shot and it became an international success. You should hear to all of the songs because they really are amazing, from Falling Slowly, Lies, and When Your Mind's Made Up, three of my favorites.

The songs speak for themselves, and thus, no elaborate narratives were required more than necessary. Music is the conversation in itself.

What I like particularly about this movie, aside from the songs obviously, is that everything is just really natural. No embellishment, no dramatic effects, no exaggeratements, it's really real as real can be. The story is simple yet heartfelt. The guy and the girl connect through their music, and through music itself it's apparent that they care for each other even when nothing actually happened, not even a physical contact in a romantic context. But yet 'Hansard and Irglová were quite happy with the unrequited ending for their onscreen characters'. The fact that they didn't end up together at the end of the movie made it even more meaningful.

And I suppose that's the most innocent love of all, right? Unpossessing love. It's a story of romance just as much as it's about the journey of a street-musician who struggles to make a record. And deals with life, basically. Past failed relationships, daytime meaningless jobs, and pursuing dreams.

Scenery of Dublin is also captured in the movie and it's absolutely gorgeous. The streets and alleys are like straight out of ancient times, and lakes, mountains, clear blue sky,...how could anyone not think they're pretty? You don't see those things here.

Listening to the songs hasn't bored me yet and now I've got the entire album, whether you've seen the movie or not, these songs are definitely worth checking out.

Crazy Little Thing Called...

Job.

I don't intend to bring myself to the state of idiocy, and whereas it suits some people perfectly, I would prefer not. But I'm sorry, bitterness is not a way to live, and a friend pointed that out to me yesterday. They say life is way too sweet to be bitter. So I'm going to set aside the nasty comments and just proceed to the point.

The thing is, being away from work or school for that matter, does make me feel stupid. Hence, the idiocy reference. I suppose I shouldn't be too hard since I just completed my last subject a week ago, but it does feel longer. I don't wanna get used to it.

I remember feeling completely determined to make the most of my time at the start of this year, but somewhere along the line, it vanished just as quickly. Now, I would hate to think that I'm simply unmotivated, but I'm afraid that's the case. I've always had it easy, and that makes me lazy. I said this too many times before, that I had many ambitions but I ended up not doing much; sadly, that is true. Having a short-attention span does this to me.

I wonder if only I have stayed there long enough, if only I have beared myself through the hard process, that things would eventually start getting easier. After all, the starting point is always the hardest. Am I just too quick to judge? But patience is not my best virtue and I suppose it's this girl's fatal flaw. Among many others.

To make myself feel better, I sent two applications today but it's a bit far-fetched, I mean, Jet Star? Why didn't I just apply to...Superstar Virgo or, oh heck, I don't know, was I even serious about this?

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So, among the little food poisoning episode that I got last weekend and in the midst of my moral dilemma (to be a pig or not to be), Eric is back to China today! And whereas I sympathize that he was saddened to bid farewell to his family and friends, the selfish me is glad that he's far more reachable again, and we don't have to endure another broken conversations over skype which did nothing but increased my blood pressure.

We spent hours discussing how I was called a traitor for my own country based on a quiz in facebook. Ah, good ol' times. Glad to have you back, dude!

You

"And it's very real. It's so real that it's kept me moving, mostly running from it, never ready for it. I can't be let off the hook because I might just get the notion that it's ok to keep running."

I Stole From The Less Fortunate...

I feel like I'm back to stage 1. You know, the bumming days? Since the beginning of this year I've been actually making money, believe it or not. Or at least trying to, and I know, I know, if you refer back to my earlier entries, you would hear me complain every bloody day because of it. ("Why am I doing this to myself? Why?!") And now, here I am, exactly out of the so-called-misery that is working life, and what am I doing again? Complaining. Right. I should put that on my resume under 'hobbies and interests': complaining. Or maybe whining sounds better?

I'm officially pathetic. My class won't be 'til another two weeks, so now I'm pretty much...doing what? Well, let's see..Watching movies, having karaoke, eating out, notice a similarity there? Yep, those can be categorized into: spending money. I'm telling you, spending money feels good but it makes you feel guilty afterwards. Especially after you check your balance up in the ATM. I'm trying to minimize that, and you know usually when you withdraw money, the screen will show your balance whether you ask for it or not? Well, UOB doesn't do that, so I can avoid all the thrilling suspense. It's the way to go for cowards such as myself.

But okay, speaking of which, I just saw Hancock yesterday, and to me, it was...dissapointing. The beginning and near the end were fine, but the middle..just didn't make any sense. It did, but well, it just seemed a bit forced. "I can't believe I'm actually bored," I whispered to my friend beside me, and she just chuckled. Was that a 'yeah, me too' or a 'oh, shut up, you whiner', I don't know.

But perhaps today promised a better outcome from the look of it. I went out to get some food this afternoon and it should have cost me two dollars and eighty cents (yes, everyone! Come to Jurong, the food here is cheap! I'm a cheapo!), and I gave the seller a ten dollar note. She came back, handed me $12,80, and left to serve another customer.

Now bear in mind this happened in a matter of seconds and I still stood there, waiting for someone to yell 'cut!' or something, but noone with a big lighting bulb or a giant camera set showed up. But just in case, I stayed for another few seconds while the angel and devil kept whispering on both my ears, and then I left.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I left. I'm a shameless thief. Some two-dollars-thief, but thief nevertheless. That is even more pathetic! If I were to be a thief, I wanna steal something really big and expensive and impressive, and certainly not a 2-dollars-worth-of-chinese-food!

On second thought, no, today isn't any better! I'm still a bummer! A bummer who happened to be a thief, somemore!

Dissatisfaction Isn't Always Negative

"Whenever I see people who can do so much better than me, I always feel..inferior, like I'm not good enough, I'm just never satisfied," he said, holding on to the nearest handle when the bus jerked slightly. We were on a bumpy ride home from a night out in the town, and I looked at him, exasperated.

It's because I know very much what he's capable of. And he has accomplished things I never thought he could, and if he's allowed to feel any pickle of human emotions, it should have been pride. It irked me that the one person who should be proud, wasn't. It's ridiculous how some people who really deserve to feel good after their hard work, just still manage to feel inadequate somehow, and those who spend their days just bumming around and talking without making any efforts, have the decency to boast and think they're smart. It's amazing how delusional some people are.

"You shouldn't be too hard on yourself," I told him. "Realize that there are things you ought to feel good about, but at the same time, never stop moving."

In my school years, whenever semesters ended and reports were collected, and my scores were impressive enough to put me on the top rank of the class, I always boasted. You could practically see me gloat. I went up to my mom and showed the report book to her, grinning from ear to ear like a madman, and demanded a raise in pocket money for performing excellently (in my own mind), and she would smile with the 'ah, look at you, you're so full of yourself' but-pleased-look and congratulate me for the good job I did, but she has always ended it with a reminder that I should never be satisfied, no matter how great I thought I did. She always managed to...make me feel like she was proud of me, but at the same time, still encouraged me to do better. I don't know how she did it. That, is a precious lesson.

It's true when people say that you're the hardest judge for yourself, and I can sympathize. The truth is, there are always gonna be people who do anything better than you, and if you spend your entire life measuring up to them, when will you ever stop to pat yourself on the back and say, "good job, me"?

In the broadest sense, we can never be satisfied if we know that there is something above what we’ve got. But it's a beautiful thing, not being perfect all the time, because there are imperfections, those call for needs to improve, to change, and to not just stop there.

Because there will always be sky above sky, we won't ever stop wanting, right? How scary it is when you don't want anything anymore? Feel good, but don't stop.

So he said, "I want to lose some weight," and I replied, "Good for you."

A Kid

I miss.....the time when life seemed to be a lot simpler. When worries were disposable, and ambitions in grasp.

I miss.....the time when what you're looking for was looking for you, not the other way around.

I miss.....my limitless positivity, my youthful energy and innocent outlook towards people.

I miss.....my bimbotic attitude.

Man of the Day, Sweet and Low

First of all, congratulations is in order to Ko Davin who will officially be Mr. next week! Yesterday was his bachelor's party and okay, okay, everybody who heard about it wonders, "If it's a bachelor's party, what are you doing in it?!" I have to assure them that I still have my breast intact and none of those genitalia, so let it be! The guy wanted girls in his bachelor's party, why should we question it?

After we put him in Captain Jack's costume (he couldn't stop swaying his long, thick and nasty hair on our direction!) and drew fake mustache with eye-liner (he wouldn't let us line his eyes..what's Captain Jack without the heavy eye-liner, right?!) while restraining his hands from wiping it off, then the drinking began!

Happy bachelor's day, Captain Jack! ;D

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I'm in love with Augustana's Sweet and Low right now and I just keep playing it over and over again I'm pretty sure surrounding neighbors would have thrown raw eggs at me if they could. And that's why walls were invented, supposedly, because it's so not fun sharing things with strangers, and as far as I know, I'm serenading them with this awesome song they should thank me. Where else are they gonna find someone with such delicate taste of music like me?

Politics no more

Exam's done! My Politics, Economy, America and The Future's exam is done! And yep, I just said a mouthful there, sista! Before you assume that I did brilliantly, though, I'm merely celebrating the fact that my studying days are over at least for now and I can bury all these notes on Nixon, Reagan, New Deal and movement conservatives!

How well I did in the exam is totally a different matter and something that I would rather not go into right now. I decided that the only time that I'm gonna start worrying about this, is when I finally get that result slip in my hand, a few weeks from now, not a second earlier and not a second later.

And if I did so exceptionally (I wouldn't hope too much), you will be the first to know, and if I did so poorly (which is highly more likely), well, then by that time you will have forgotten about it and nothing on that subject will be even remotely mentioned, in this blog.

Sounds like a fair deal to me.

Gasp! Fair Deal! Harry Truman! Marshall Plan! Truman Doctrine! Taft-Hartly Act!

I'm such a geek!

The past is still a part of you

Good day, all! I would like to start this entry by posting a nice picture that has been rotten in the corner of my old space on MSN. I love this picture, though, we looked so free and spontaneous (well, hardly, considering we had to count one, two, three, jump! to get the perfect shot) but..oh geez, I love it, leave it at that!

In the spirit of old picture, then, let's make this entry about that.

Three years ago, when I first came to Singapore, my sister and I stayed in a three-bedroom HDB flat in Clementi. It was different, to finally live on my own without the luxury of maids. We shared the flat with two of my sister's friends, S and J, both Malaysians. I can't recall much about them, they were busy people and the only time we really got together was this one night we all played mahjong until morning.

After series of 'skimping so we slept without air-con every night', 'the laundry's pole falling down', and 'the bathroom's door that got stuck everytime', we moved out after one year and ended up....here. You know, they say every kid's first car was always awful, and that way parents taught them to work hard and appreciate better things next time? Yep, it's something like that. Now that I'm in Mayfair,...well, hello!!

Time sure flies, and now another two years have passed. Things changed, new friendships are found. Even an old friend said I looked really different now.

But of course change is bound to happen, right? We move on, we go through phrases.

Like, I hardly see Irene, my best friend for two years, and we're still in the same island! We still talk and we make time to see each other occasionally, but it's just different, you know. Having said that, who knows about the future?

Sis and I were talking one day, and suddenly she said, "Sis, you know, things might be really different some few years down the road..We probably won't even live here anymore."

"Yeah..All's possible..You will be a successful consultant, travelling around, and the only time you will have time for you dearest little sister is between flights!" I joked back.

"Who knows? I might be in some hotel room somewhere and I'll see you on TV...I don't know..Being a presenter or news anchor, or something..."

Right. What's holding us back, right? The prospect is scary and thrilling at the same time.


But it got me thinking. Sis, I know we had our share of differences, we had our moments of frustration towards each other. But no matter how greasy my face looked some years ago, and no matter where we lived in the past, you're there. I didn't mean to write this post about you, but somehow throughout writing it, I remembered our conversation, and okay, you may be right, we might not be in near proximity to each other anymore, and there's a part of me who wants to see how it feels like for I know we're both determined to do something more than just...leading a working life.

I don't know about that yet, but our lives will always be intertwined, and I'd like to think that it's more than just because we're sisters. I hope despite our differences, we are still good friends above everything else.

GOSH! Can you believe how funny we looked back then?!

The Best

Babe,

You're the only one who thought of putting the camera on any solid surface so both of us could fit into the picture.

We made ridiculous faces and laughed so hard for our own silliness, despite people watching us funnily.

You're the best late companion and I'm guaranteed to have good time everytime.

So for that, and so much more, cheers, babe!

Reason why you should just trust yourself

I learnt something today. In the end, when you present something, whether it's a school work, exam or job responsibility, it's all you on the line, not anyone else, and you alone are the one judged for it.

I learnt that I'm the only one I can count on, really. And whether it takes time to trust someone else, the bottom line is, I believe in myself. In certain cases, we might not even have time for the process of trusting others and when it comes down to the important thing, why should we wait?

This is why I've always been skeptical when we're doing group assignments. Of course, I have people I've worked with that were undoubtingly responsible, smart and hardworking as well. The problem is, they don't come by that often.

I've always wanted to have full hands-on even when the tasks were divided, at the end of the day I would want to run by everything and so far it has worked. If we were writing essays, I tried to make sure everyone sent their final drafts to me so I could make last changes and complete everything. You won't believe how some people can't even do such simple thing like making their documents look only decent (problems with font, margins, unorderly and messy arrangements, etc.)

Well, today reminded myself as why I have always had enough reasons to be like this. It's not like I don't trust people, but a lot of times they let you down, and I learn to trust myself more. I won't let myself down and I know best what's good and bad, at least according to my own standard. And I'd like to think that my standard is at least decent.

For this particular subject, the materials were simply too much that some friends and I decided to divide the work among us, and we could just easily exchange notes after we're done with everything so naturally it should have made things a lot easier, right?

Wrong. Because once again, I depended on all the wrong people. And that's the thing. That's the risk that I shouldn't have taken in the first place if there was only a tiny bit of uncertainty that they could very well be unworthy of your trust.

They were just so dissapointing and irresponsible and they drove me mad. It pissed me off!

A week before the exam and you said all this bullshit and I don't even wanna know what your excuse is, I don't wanna listen to any of it.

Fortunately I still have time to do the rest on my own and I should have done it since the beginning. I shouldn't have bothered. Here I thought some people could be trusted.

So, I know better. I have known better and I know even better now. Your best asset is yourself. Rely on it first before you try depending on someone else.

Romance

There's something about wedding that warms your heart, even when you're the cynic Miranda who laughs at the face of romance.

It goes way beyond the beautiful chartered room in the most expensive hotel, beyond the dim flourescent purple lights, the gorgeous decorations and banquet of flowers, beyond the champagne and the lavish eight-course meal.

It's not just seeing the couples in their most beautiful faces, it's not the wedding dress and dear tuxedo.

The moment he opened her veil and the moment they sang 'Valentine' brought smile to my face.

And for this, I wish them all the happiness in the world.

Show us that romance still lives.

One Love, for ourselves

Convince me to please you, Made me think that I need this too, I'm trying to let you hear me as I am, I'm not gonna write you a love song 'cause you asked for it, 'cause you need one..

Am serenaded by Sara Bareilles' Love Song, I love this since I heard it the first time on MTV...

Perhaps I've learnt too, that you can't force love, if it's there then it's there. I used to think feelings could grow, or at least, repulsiveness could turn into neutrality, or tolerable could become...fondness. Surely it works on a certain level, just like time could help the wound heal, but when it comes to the matter of heart?

When I was younger I forced myself into a relationship because I wanted to try how it feels like, now even anyone could tell me straight in the face that it wasn't the right reason but you know, I was young, and he was even younger...What could be better, right?

I think when you get to the point where you don't need to be in love, then you could be in love. You have to just be OK with yourself-and that's a long process.

Perfectly put by Mr. Cusack himself.

It's just not right to be with someone just for the sake of being with someone and just because you're afraid to be alone. The most important thing is you ought to be okay with yourself first.

It's about not minding being on your own when you simply haven't found someone who thinks you scrunching your nose is cute. It's about willingness to say 'no' even when he wants you to say 'yes'. It's about you still being yourself even when every label says 'youandhim'. It's about standing up for yourself when you believe it.