James Blunt

ja
sick

Orchard Jam

I swear. Today, was one of the most productive day I've ever had in my whole life. What happened?

Wanted to watch soccer but in the end, went to buy food for a friend. 5am.

Slept at 6am, woke up at 9.30am, went to Boon Lay Sec to meet up with the principal and the English HOD. She gave me the schedule, some advance warnings and advices before starting the job.

On the way out at 11.30am, Chinook's cable clutch snapped. This means, when I hit to my first gear, I will certainly do a pop williie. And indeed, IT HAPPENED. Chinook went on the hind tyres and I was literally riding him on the rear tyre vertically for 3 seconds. I was in awe. Chinook was like a wild stallion. I had to tame him. And so I headed down to the mechanic with much annoyance.

12.00 noon. At the workshop, under the sweltering heat, I suffered with my guitar. Wiating for him to repair was such a pain. He took his time while I was sweating like a hog and looking at my watch intermittently. I had to go down to Marion Centre for a charity performance for the kids. It was hilarious! I raced down all the way from Yishun to Thomson Road to be there on time. Luckily, I did.

2pm at the Marion Centre, I was greeted by a huge group of 8=10 year olds, sitting down and giggling away while looking at their friends' individual and group performance. One performance just eeks me out. This little girl was clad in sequin bra, trying have the look of Shakira, and belly dancing. I mean, WTH. It's just distasteful. I was kinda upset that the mom allowed the daughter to be like that. -shakes head- dunnolah.... The kids performed magic shows, recited poems and sang. The theme for today was Marion Idol. Lol. Then it was my turn! Yay!!! And so I sat in front of them and started singing I'll Be by Edwin McCain. Once it was over, I asked, "Do you guys wanna hear one more?" I was expecting a huge yes because I only performed one song. Instead, they said, "NOOOOOOO!!!!" I wanted to laugh. They actually wanted to get on with the program and go on straight to the prize giving presentation. Haha. So cute.

Once that was over, I rushed over to Paragon for Orchard Jam at 5pm. I was totally tired from the fatique but gotta find the energy to get perform and get people to donate. So, Sophia and I started getting ready and started singing. Not bad for the virgin performance. I constantly reminded people that we were actually performing to try and get people to raise funds for the Children's Cancer Foundation. Alhamdulillah! The response was good. The first set was from 5-6pm. The second set was from 7-8pm. The third and final set, was from 10-11pm. The last set was the most happening.

Dedications and requests started coming in. My gosh, it was more than all my timbre put together. I had to turn down a few because we didn't have the chords for it. We even had guests singers from overseas wanting to contribute to the good cause. It was heartwarming. What was even better was, the fact that, there were people who were crowding around in front of Paragon and some sat down near us. Singing along with them was quite a highlight, indicating the crowd knows the songs and enjoys what they are hearing. Oh well.

Tomorrow, I'm playing an acoustic set from 7-8pm and then I'll be shifting to perform with Royale from 8-9pm. I might be performing this Sunday too, depending on slot available.

I'm really tired now. You guys take care. I'll see you guys soon.

ja
zzz

Good Mourning

My top 10 of dunnno what.

1. wears a scarf
2. cheecher
3. cheesecake
4. winning eleven 10
5. in need of new jeans
6. painting
7. sketching of hands
8. Royale
9. Check Republic
10. Ice cream as payment for performance.

ja
nickless

Memories

Just a few pictures that I just love to post up here. My cousin's (the first granddaughter) daughter. The first grand grand daughter on my grandma's side. I'm the second grandchild. She's so adorable. Aaliyah is her name. Haven't been seeing her lately.

I feel like squeeeshing herrrrrrrr. Adorable lil rabbit.

Hmm...

Next up. I feel like posting photos today.



Everybody, meet my first wife, Love Machine. She's my first bike. Love her to pieces even till today. We've been through a lot together; through sunshine and the stormy weather.



This shot was taken when my Love Machine broke down in front of Cheers at the new SMU and we literally pushed it ALL THE WAY to the old campus when I was still in year 2. We fainted at Evans Building straight after that. I can never leave my bike alone anywhere. Worrylah. Can't help it.



Pictures are just frozen moments, allowing one to think about feelings and emotions that has transcended throughout your colourful life. These are just a few of mine.

I would really love to get my hands on a digital camera. The photographer in me is just dying to be unleashed. XLR would be nice. I saw JZ's camera. Haiz... Need to slog a lot before my Thailand exchange. Hopefully that happens.

OK! Next, an artwork by Adibah. She's a good artist, dealing in abstract pieces.


As quoted by the artist herself,

"This is titled, Freakshow. Freakshow is basically about being a freak, not literally of course. I mean strange, eccentric. Everyone has a certain part about their character that nobody ever gets or understands. It's an inherent thing and this aspect basically is what differentiates one from the other. We all have the basic ideals; fears. Just when we all think it's all symmetrical, we realise that this different part about each of us splits us up from ever really knowing each other. Nobody ever gets anyone. So it's like a freakshow, a pretense. People think they know things, but they don't, really."



"This is Freedom. It represents emancipation from the eye that looks into yourself and sees the ugliness there. Some people aren't aware of what exactly constitutes their identity, their self, so to speak. So when you actually succeed in defining what it is, you become conscious and self-conscious and then you realise you actually have the decision to make it or to unmake it and so you set yourself free."

Nice. I like. Any form of art work that comes from the heart and full of sincerity is a masterpiece.

Next up. My youngest brother, Atan.

I seriously forgot how old he is. I think 2 years old already. -shrugs- He knocks on the front door at 6.30am, goes into my sista's room, jump on her bed and sleep. That lazy ass. He'll sleep till evening. Meows in front of the door to indicate that he wants to go out. EXCUSE ME! I swear, this cat thinks he's a diva. Bleah.


The lazy bugger.

Anyways, gonna meet up with HOD of English tomorrow. Wish me luck cuz I seriously dunno what to expect.

ja
always remember, everybody will always have a happy ending. Must believe in it.

Cheecher

Yup. That's right. I'm gonna be a cheecher soon. Relief teaching. I really don't know what's up with my luck. Back then, when I wanted to teach, nobody offered me a job. Now, Nad msged me and asked whether i'm free to teach at this particular Sec Sch. I ain't gonna put the name here. haha. But it's in the west side. WEST SIDE PEOPLE MAKE SOME NOISEEEEEEEEE!!!!

So yeah, gonna be teaching English for 2 classes of secondary 3 (god help me). I'm a lil nervous actually because, when I was in secondary 3, my class was a total imp. Imagine Dangerous Minds. Yup. I'm gonna me Michelle Pfifer. -nods-. Pray hard for me.

2 months. Hmm... I wonder. I've taught before. But that was in the training side when I was a trainer for the Riot Squad. I was hmm.. "different" in character back then. I think I gotta switch into that mode when I'm teaching. We'll see how.

Anyways, gig update. I'm performing an acoustic set with Sofia, lead singer of Pulse, outside Paragon from 5pm - 6pm for charity. It's called Orchard Jam. Saturday, 7-8pm, acoustic set with Royale, then 8-9pm, full band setup with Royale. You can catch our new songs on that day.

Till then, don't forget.
-in English Class at Boon Lay Sec-

Ja writes his name on the chalkboard. Points out to the name to the class with a straight face and said,

Ja: Morning morning class

Class in symphonic harmony: Morning morning Mr Jamiel!

Mr Jamiel nods in agreement.

One geeky student, who wants to suck up to Cheecher Jamiel for good grades raises his hands and asked: Howe come your name is spelt that way?

Ja: My name is Mr Jamiel. I'm half French and half Malay. I come here to teach you guys for 2 months. Any questions? If you do, don't ask. Maybe you can sms your form teacher, who's in labour now.

Class: Yes Mr Jamiel

ja
i'm dead

Royale

Ok guys, anything on Royale, I will update em on Royale's blog from now on. The address is www.royalehighness.blogspot.com.

All the latest updates, gigs and ramblings will be there so that it's easier and more distinct. If not, my blog will be like rojak. lol.

ja
finally finished

Father's Bdae

Today's my father's bdae. So, me and my sis went down to the bakery to check out some cakes. By chance, there was this cake that had a face of a guy with spectacles and moustahce. Lol! I quickly went to buy it. My sis asked,

Farah: "Abang, Abah don't have moustache."
Ja: "Last time he did. So it doesn't matter."

Lol. I just found it amusing to have found that cake. Ordered pizza and some soft drinks. Common stuff. He came home late and that made my mom a lil angry cuz she wanted him to come home early, rest and celebrate with the family. Well, he did came home at about 11pm. Lol. It's all good. Just as long as we get to celebrate with him and show that we really care about him all this while.

Now, I'm stuck with the job of having to finish all the food; the pizzas, Pepsi, garlic bread, hotdogs and the cake. I'm gonna puke soon if I don't stop. England and Sweden won. Another prediction gone right. -nods-

Anyways, here's a couple of announcements. I just finished Royale's blog. So for any updates, just go there and check em out. Make some noise down there if you want to.

We're performing at GasHaus on Friday, 16th June at 8pm. You guys can catch the World Cup action while watching us play. It's damn cool I tell ya. The place is freaking chill out. I wanna play there more often if we could.

This SUNDAY!!!! Finally, a gig where most of our audiences can appreciate Bahasa Indonesia. We're playing at Yew Tee CC at 10am. Yesh, you heard me. 10 freaking AM. Do come down. Treat it as an exercise. Exercise those ears and eyes on Royale this Sunday. If there's anything, just call me up WAY in advance ok?

Till then, ciao.

ja
i want to sleeeeeep

Endangered Species

This is an SOS. Do help to preserve this endangered species. There is only 1 left in this world. Many experts have spotted him walking around a fashionable institution and making noises at Timbre. It's difficult to spot him actually because this species has a tendency to change the fur on his head freaquently. The last time he was spotted, he had curly fur. Please beware of this species. If you do find him and wishes to keep him, please follow the following instructions.



He lives on a strict diet which consists of

Cheesecake
Ice cream
Curly fries
Any Chinese Food

He must have 24/7 TLC. He must lie in bed all the time. Breakfast in bed, lunch in bed. dinner in bed, supper in bed. TV must be nicely situated in front of the bed. There must be multiple electrical sockets so that he can charge his hp, laptop and other electrical appliances without leaving his bed. He must always be updated with the latest Winning Eleven Playstation 2 game.




Please do not disturb his sleep. There has been reported cases of him biting people when provoked. Otherwise, he's the sweetest, gentlest baby polar bear that anybody could ever cuddle. He loves cuddles, hugs, huggles and did we mention cheesecakes? Yup, cheesecakes.





He is toilet trained so no worries. So if you do spot him, don't be afraid. Just be natural and slowly approach him with a smile. If he reply with a smile, you're in luck. If he doesn't, that means, somebody hasn't fed him or somebody woke him up from his slumber nap. Do take care and heed the advice.

ja
while stoock lasts

Farewell

I won't be staying long. Nevertheless, I wanna thank you guys for being part of my life this far. For 4 years, I've met people from different walks of life. Rich, poor, smart ones, super smart ones, kind hearted ones, sweet ones and so forth. People who have opened my eyes to different perspectives in life. Friction is inevitable for one to understand what is the proper thing to do and not to do. I learn. I made mistakes. I learn again. I've made many friends and hope that along the way, I didn't lose any.

Being 4 years in SMU really allowed me to expand my personality; to explore my inner self and to share my personality with those around me. I hope, I've not been of any annoyance to anyone and hope that my contribution is sufficient to the people I've worked with. If I've not met up to anybody's expectations, I apologise and will still continue to improve myself.

Late nights, suppers, drama, gigs, music, gym, upper quadrangle, Biz Lobby, House 1, Food Haven. These are just the few landmarks that reminded me of the great experiences that I had and now, it's time for me to move on to more things. Stepping into the world of the unknown and full of insecurity is really daunting but weirdly, I don't feel that nervous as yet. I'm just taking baby steps right now. Perhaps, as the day draws near, it would be a totally different story altogether.

Once again, I thank those who have supported me in anyway, may it be emotionally or physical support. It means so much to me just to see you guys, sitting down and watching me sing when you guys could have spent it in some other ways. That, I thank you again. I just want to apologize to anyone during my presence in their life if I had in any way hurt their feelings consciously or unconsciously. I am just human. Still learning. I'm writing this with so much sadness, knowing that I have to leave the institution that I truly adore. The institution that for once, I am proud to be a part of.

I'm gonna miss you guys. Take care and do drop a hi or two once in a while on msn or my handphone.

ja
loving you guys always

Freaking pointlesslah

Got stood up. Went to the zoo today. Went alone. Enough said. Thanks for remembering.

ja
don't want to think of anything else anymore except for tomorrow's gig.

Royale @ Singapore Music Festival

I got a shocking call today. I was playing game when suddenly my phone was greeted by a number that I was not familar with. It was Scott from Music and Movement. I had received calls prior to this from them but apparently, somebody called and I don't know who because it was a missed called. Anyway, Scott gave me the shocking news that Royale has been chosen to play for the Singapore Music Festival at Fort Canning this Sunday 11th June 2006 at 9pm till 9.30pm. My heart nearly fell. I was too shocked to say anything. It was too sudden.

I told Scott that we didn't apply for this and asked who actually referred us to Music and Movement. He told me that the organiser like us and wants us to be part of the event. WHO?!!! He asked whether I knew Chris. -ja scans around his head for who Chris is-

Chris!!! Apparently, I sent our demos to Chris with hope that we could be involved in some Substation's gig. He told me to send the demos and he'll get back to me because he was away in Japan for some function. CHRIS YOU SON OF A GUN!!! You gave me Fort Canning instead!!! Woooootz!

Alhamdulillah. Do pray for our preparation. It's too sudden a news for me. Now I'm rushing to organise things, admin, rehearsals and THE day itself. This is the website. I hope our name will be in there. I'd be proud of the boys if the name is there.

http://www.popagenda.sg/event1.php#

ja
blessed

Escapade

Well, body clock is really screwed. Sleeping at 5am and waking up at 12noon. I need to start working next week to cover for my trip to Jakarta. It's really weird to note that, I can clean any rooms, any house, anytime as long as it is not MY room, MY house. I just take more effort in doing something when it is outside my own jurisdiction. So yeah, I think once I get my own place one day, I know I can do a good job.

Anway, this week I pampared my eyes quite a bit. I went to watch Samovar at the Esplanade. A good artistic show that involved the story telling through the usage of caricatures, drawn live and captured on a projector screen by 2 seperate cameras. The 2 cameras allowed then to switch drawings every now and then and even allowed them to overlap one another to see the drawings and the english subtitles that they drew beforehand. I have to admit, I love the concept but to absorb Chekov's work is really tiring and dry. For those who doesn't know Checkov, he is in the same literary class as Shakespeare except that he's Russian. Get the picture now? Good. I was so restless in the theatre. Shifting my body all around just to keep myself awake. I was just hoping that the narrator would be a lil, no make it, A LOT more expressive when she tells the story in Russian.

Apart from that, I managed to catch The Da Vinci Code and the X-Men. Great shows despite the bad reviews that some of my friends gave. It's been a while since I last sat down in a movie theatre and chill out. Sitting down with Emoboy 2 and Emogirl really made my day. Crap and just laugh throughout the night reminded me of our Corp Comms project haydays. Sometimes, you just cannot understand why there's chemistry among some people and not among others. For the Emo group, chemistry is an understatement, it's a natural whackiness fated to meet. X-Men with my lil sis was a promise I had to keep because she was too young to watch The Davinci Code. I guessed she enjoyed the movie, knowing that she and my younger brother have a thing for cartoons. Yup. Cartoon junkie. -shakes head-

Anyway, some pics.



Royale by the bridge at PLAY @ Asean Civilisation Museum. We really need to take a better shot. lol.





Cheeseeeeeeeee...



My hair looks like Dragonball Z. Frizzy...



Here lies the head of the Royale players. The Japanese Occupation finally caught us!



See no evil, speak no evil, do no evil, smell no evil, i-also-dunno-what-to-do no evil

Puzzled

When does a unique individual become an oxymoron? :)

This is the time when even defined words become confused. But do I care? I don't.

ja
not playing at Harry's @ Holland V anymore fyi

Vote

What is your favourite romantic comedy? There's just so many out there and we could easily relate to them through our own personal experience. Some of us may even crave for something like that to happen once in our life. Me? One of my personal favourite, 50 first dates. How bout yours?

ja
drinking milk from the carton is sexy

Naughty By Nature

I've not been blogging lately. Perhaps, I just don't know where to start. There's just too many things in my head. Anyways, this summer has been kind to me lately. Unlike the past summers, I've been subjected to manual labour and distractions away from my music to survive throughout summer and to sustain myself once school starts. Life has never been easy mentally, physically and emotionally. Thus far, it has been great.

Just got back from Harry's @ Holland V. It's amazing how sometimes, as the weeks passed by, you don't feel the strain of work. The next thing you know, you've exceeded the timing for your 1st set. I know that I need to sleep but the body isn't willing to hit the sack. My body clock is screwed up and now, I'm viewing the Simple Life, U2's newest rendition of One with Mary J and Hoobastank's "If I were You" Not bad I would say. It's just amazing to see U2 still continuing to be strong in the music industry despite being a veteran. I aim to be like them.

I'm just rambling right now. There's nothing in my head. Well, there is actually. Things like having to confirm with the event organiser about the Family Day gig and of course, the gig in Jakarta that I'm just dying to perform. Hopefully that happens.

Hmm. Oh! Got a call from sweet Valene. She asked me to come down to her company's focus group session. Ogilvy and somethinglah. Forgot. So yeah. Gonna go down there and then after that, head down to the badminton courts in Woodlands to stroke around with my father's friends. They've been pestering him to get me to come down to spar. I hope I don't concuss. I've not been conditioning myself to do rigorous activities. 2 hours of solid workout = 1 week of home confinement. Why? Because my body will be aching from head to toe.

Anyways, keep on logging to this site because I will be updating on Royale's upcoming performances. Here's a list.

18 June Pertapis Family Day at Yew Tee CC
Timbre Flea Day (Tentative)
24th June (Orchard Jam)
1st July (Orchard Jam)
July (KL, tentative)
August (Jakarta, Indonesia)

Till then, take care of your ownselves and help as many people out there as possible. This is my 4 levels of helping people where everybody and I really mean EVERYBODY can do.

1st Level - Monetary
If you have the financial means, donate as much as you can.

2nd Level - Physical strength
If you have the time and energy, be a volunteer.

3rd Level - Moral Support
If you cannot commit to the above 2, then spread around the need to help while working your way towards achieving the 2 levels of helping people.

4th Level - Doas and Prayers
If you cannot do any of the 3 levels because of certain reasons, your Doas and prayers are certainly the best way to reach out to God with hope that He could ease their pain and suffering and to improve their whatever current state of conditions.

You can reorganise this levels to your own likings. You may even link some of them together. Bottomline, there are always means and ways to help others in this world. Life is short, when you help others, Got will protect you from sufferings or bad events that could come your way.

Word of the day, Faith.

p.s. i know i have to comment on the picture that i posted. Basically, what I'm driving at is, everybody has their naughty days. How I envy that kid. Asshole. Lol

ja
must remain laser sharp focus, pun intended