Monday, March 30, 2009

the awesomeness of march.

why march was such an unforgettable month.
  • caught jason mraz live. amazing.
  • caught many good movies with good friends (benjamin button, he's just not that into you, slumdog millionaire, marley&me).
  • had a great time at MH's. chilling to nice pizzas from serangoon gardens and a night of guitar hero world tour and good company.
  • had many catchup sessions with various friends from NIE, bethany, and all over, over good meals. always enjoying good fellowship and the fruits of our labor.
  • work was both satisfying and frustrating at the same time. which made for many laugh-out-loud moments at my silly students (and other teachers' silly students).
  • work-life balance quite easily obtained at my workplace (for now). the ability to work hard and play hard is something i hope to achieve when i start work for real.
  • the march holidays.
  • the many rehearsals and practices for the upcoming easter musical. and witnessing the tremendous progress made in just a few weeks, all credit goes to the ones leading the choirs, costumes, stage, props, AV, music, and the Lord's blessings and grace.
  • caught coldplay live, for the 2nd time. amazing x2.
  • bought my tickets to london for june. i'll get to see zeh, watch musicals and hopefully plays, and travel in UK and europe again! :)
  • caught the winter's tale. my first shakespeare play live on stage. seeing ethan hawke (and the rest of the pristine cast) on stage. hearing him sing and strum the guitar. hokay. the entire play was kind of amazing in a shakespeare way. more to come in another post.
  • caught sight of EH and several other cast members heading out the B1 stage door when i was turning out of the esplanade carpark. and for a split second i contemplated stopping the car and winding down the window to say hi. of course i didn't, and totally regretted it. till now.
all these joys and blessings come to me and i'm ever so thankful and grateful. :) i wouldn't expect any more months to be so filled and enriched, with songs and music, with art and soul, with praise and worship. but hopefully, with the Lord's grace, it can be, and will be.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

my funny friends.

on the way home from church,

discussing the WGA writer's strike some time back.

ML: oh i think the simpsons did an episode about the strike.
LY: yahhh parody and all.
L (note: this is NOT ME): oh (J) where do you watch the simpsons?
ML: channel news asia.

silence. then laughter all around the car. :) haha.

LY: you meant starworld.
L: starworld shows channel news asia??

silence. then everyone was laughing twice as hard.

L was going to say: starworld shows the simpsons?

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

love(r)s in japan.

(spotted on montage of lovers in japan, coldplay concert 2009)

Kinkaku-ji (the golden pavilion)
Kyoto, Japan

the coldplay gig was nothing short of awesomeness. this year has brought many good gigs (stars, jason mraz, rachel yamagata, ethan hawke) and talented musicians to our sunny shores and i can live through this year a happy girl. :) i think i'm very blessed and lucky to have caught all these gigs and to have been to 2 coldplay concerts. to think that i just bought the tickets without anyone to go with (so in the end if i really didn't find anyone, i can sell them and make a decent profit). but J my concert buddy is a dependable girl for a rocking night. :)

well i really enjoyed this one better than twisted logic back in 2006. ironic, since chris has visibly aged, but still has that boundless energy. running everywhere onstage.

even though i didn't know lyrics to most songs on viva la vida and the EP (having just bought them not too long ago), i really like this album at the first listen, 'cos it's more layered, textured, melodious, soulful, meaningful and emo. the lyrics speak of deeper meanings and emotions, and you can see how the band has matured through the years, both in terms of the musicality and also the writing and arranging of songs.

so in a way, not knowing the lyrics allowed me to just listen to the music that is playing. to hear the words being sung. and to really enjoy the concert without screaming and singing. :)

highlights:
12,000 strong crowd singing along to familiar favourites from all albums and EPs.
watching chris's hands work the piano as he delved into tortured-artist-emo state.
the giant screens flashed a super impressive live streaming of the stage, complete with effects and b&w, sepia and much more. it really looks like the end-product live concert DVD kind (after post-production editing and special effects added).
the impressive set design. the laser shows, the lights, the backdrops, montages.
the awesome jackets. :)
the coldwave aka mexican cellphone wave aka kallang wave with handphones in darkness. the twinkling lights were magical.
the acoustic 2-song set opposite us. damn those $188 seaters who can reach out and touch the guys.
the set done on our side of the stage. which includes my favorite part of all concerts - the stripped-to-bare-essentials the hardest part, feat. chris on piano and will on backing vocals. the harmony sent shivers up my spine and arms and piano-only postcards from far away.
the many piano-only interludes and intros and outros of life in technicolour - sounds so good live.
discovering that everyone in the band plays more than 2 instruments, and that will (the drummer) has an amazing voice.

and of course, the beautiful butterfly glow-in-the-dark confetti that rained down on the center block during lovers in japan, the montage featured sights of japan that i love so much (it was hard to focus my attention 'cos there's so much to look at!), chris going a bit nuts with the japanese umbrella. thanks j and d for saving us some butterflies. :)

Coldplay Live in Singapore!

Life In Technicolor
Violet Hill
Clocks
In My Place
Yellow
Glass Of Water
Cemeteries Of London
42
Fix You
Strawberry Swing
God Put A Smile Upon Your Face
Talk
The Hardest Part (Chris piano, Will)
Postcards From Far Away (piano instrumental)
Viva La Vida
Lost!
Speed Of Sound (acoustic)
Death Will Never Conquer (acoustic - Will vocals)
I'm A Believer (Neil Diamond Cover - acoustic)
Viva La Vida (remix interlude including Coldwave)
------
Politik
Lovers In Japan
Death And All His Friends
-------
The Scientist
Life in Technicolor ii
The Escapist (outro)

- photo: joshuachan28, coldplaying.com

hokay. despite my fatigue from coldplay concert, lesson observation went as well as it could. my prof gives very good constructive comments. gotta work on it. and hopefully he doesn't come the day after rachel yamagata. :)

Sunday, March 8, 2009

the cure for monday blues.

is your boss declaring no lessons after 10am, in the light of the stellar results of the class of 2008. :)

thinking about the high-energy jason mraz concert and the high-energy guitar hero world tour marathon at MH's on sat night. our very own rock concert!

singing my weekend away. at guitar hero, at easter musical rehearsals sat and sun. being able to sing for the Lord.

reflecting on the Lord's goodness and grace. and being challenged once again to hide His word in my heart always, in all wisdom. (colossians 3:16)

Friday, March 6, 2009

details in the fabric.

there are really no deserving words to describe the AMAZING jason mraz concert. but i shall attempt anyway.

the energy of the stadium, mostly standing right from the start.
the dancing during the fast energetic pieces. :)
jason's energy, and those amazing hips :) and dancing. very sexy.
his super-talented super in-sync 7-piece band. no scores. no wrong notes.
his flawless chemistry with his backup singer.
jason's many guitar changes. akin to a bride at the wedding dinner.

his effortless, 4-octave range voice. the round tone that is always pitch-perfect.
the operetta interlude in between mr. curiosity, stretching his vocals and falsetto. not to mention the stripped-to-the-bare-essentials of jason's voice and the piano. perfect. i was struck in awe and mesmerized, and he almost brought me to tears.
his emotions, so evident in his face, in his voice.
his funny impromptu sing-along competition in between i'm yours, bob marley's three little birds (every little thing's gonna be alright!)

his light banter with all 8000 of us. improvising on-the-spot, the audience doing a great job echoing and singing.
those amazing songs of his, not just from the current we sing, we dance, we steal things. and those crowd favorites.

i just went by jason's journal entry written when he was in japan (ahhh i wanna go back there!), and he wrote,

"haven't you ever listen to music that made you cry? it's like the melodies reach in through flaring nostrils and caress your skin from underneath, making all your hairs rise at attention, they too trying to listen. and then all the tingly sensations, the unnamed emotions, culminate at the dam on your eyelids until they fall from your body like a stream flowing over the top of a mountain."
(jason mraz official site)
mr. jason mraz, you have just described what your music does to me. :)

jason mraz live in singapore!
5th march'09
set list

the dynamo of volition
geek in the pink
unfold
you and i both/sleeping to dream
who needs shelter
live high
lucky (feat. joi chua)
only human

a beautiful mess

make it mine

i'm yours/three little birds (bob marley)

-superband interlude-

-encore-
mr. curiosity (unplugged)
the remedy/wonderwall
no stopping us
i'll do anything
butterfly


my 2 favorites from we sing - details in the fabric and love for a child - was not sung. :( but i'm so not disappointed with this concert (save for joi chua, who totally spoiled lucky with her shaky weak vocals, and the flat notes). and though jason has aged visibly (he was so young during mr. a-z times!), he's now well-built and no longer skinny and scrawny. :)

this is the best concert i've gone to so far. it tops damien rice (and damien is a hard act to top), the last coldplay concert for X&Y and rufus wainwright. i hope he comes soon. :) i have a sneaky feeling he likes singapore, having been here many times.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

thoughts and epiphanies.

my 2nd week at T is coming to an end. so far, all is good. i'm thankful to be posted to T as my first place of work because it's in my comfort zone, and the staff culture is nurturing, caring and holistic. though there is a lot of work, and people do succumb to the occasional (or sometimes often) complaining, i'm a firm believer in stop-whining-and-suck-it-up!

after a series of websites-surfing i came across a page which totally just explains the state of our education system. all these whining people who complain and complain about the mountains of work that teachers have to do, and whine about our horrible state of the education system and all its ugly truths - hello! stop and take a look at yourself. YOU are part of the system, and YOU whine, so YOU are contributing to the horrible state of the system.

so until YOU leave the system, it will continue to be horrible. (oh come on, if you are having such a horrible time, any recession should not stop you from resigning. that said, if you're worried about not finding another job, then suck it up!)

it just irks me out.

*

anyway before i came across that horrible page, i had a sudden epiphany. i was reading david plouffe's (obama campaign manager) commentary on washingtonpost.com about the state of the republican party. even though i know that his commentary may be verging on a tiny bit of bias-ness (though his points were supported by stats), i realize why i get to thinking about american issues much more than singapore issues. it's due to the lack of social and political commentary (that is readily available and out there) on singapore issues. whether it is through blogs, news websites, on tv news, or even in tv shows and movies. singapore media, (biased towards you-know-who) tend to report on the good things. and i say report, not comment. and even the slightest forms of comments are the superficial good ones.

the social and political commentaries readily available on the net has been my source for unfiltered news. and no surprise, singapore-related commentaries do not appear quite as often. reading opinions and commentaries are the things that set my thinking about those issues critically. to be able to form my own opinions based on the differing views and opinions that i read.

so i'm kind of lamenting on the fact that i don't have access to the same kind of sources to get me thinking about the issues that affect singapore and singaporeans in that same way. and you may say that "why don't YOU comment on those issues." and i would say that i'm not smart enough to do that. :) easy way out. but also true.

**

you know you have had a special day when you attended a wedding service in the morning, rehearsed a musical of the easter story in the afternoon and attended a vigil funeral service at night. somehow many thoughts about life, change, salvation, and death comes to mind. and it is a big theme to dwell on. more on that when easter draws near.

***

work will be piling on soon. but i still need to have a life. singapore will be playing hosts to some wonderful people that i'll be seeing - jason mraz, coldplay, sam mendes, ethan hawke and the cast of the winter's tale, rachel yamagata. and many more for mosaic and arts fest that i won't be seeing due to the rapidly depleting bank account balance.

and my happening life has brought me to see 3 movies within the space of a week. marley & me, he's just not that into you and slumdog millionaire. more movies to watch. :)

****

psalm 23 is keeping me. :)