Finale

It's been pretty difficult to blog as of late. But nevertheless, an update on a final.




Royale got into the finals of the IndoAkustik Finals at the Singapore Indonesian Embassy.
Date: Saturday, 4th November 2006
Venue: Singapore Indonesian Embassy (click link for directions)
(http://www.kbrisingapura.com/visitors_getting.php?lang=eng)
Time: 6.00pm sharp
Admission: Free

Do come and enjoy this once in a lifetime experience ok?

Btw, we don't even know what the prizes are actually. We entered because we wanted to see how far we were among the rest of the other Indonesian bands.

If there are any questions, just comment here or tag ok?

ja
indonesian jazz

My Happiness

Another link,
http://www.esplanade.com/SOPApp/espsop/portal_proxy?uri=JljEMCIfny1lP9M@D!FPmw1KqH=pxa90ih-X.=2GPwYu3AFus_zK,@98U7hiGA5052_sPHjosJFM

ja
it finally happened

Surround System

Time is running out for me. It works both ways. I can't wait to get out of SMU but I can't stand to leave it. Looking back, sometimes, it left me with tears when I recall back moments of happiness during meetups with friends may it be during dinner, overnight stays or even events. It's amazing how a short 3 mins conversation with your eye candy would last even longer in my memories than most of my lectures.

When I first came in, I had a vision of what I wanted to do and achieve, one of which was to setup a band CCA and form my own band. That was achieved. Being in a unfamiliar territory, I tend to progress much better. That's how I feel and true enough, sometimes, people keep on questioning me, why I am focusing more on my music then on my studies. On the contrary, I do know where I should draw the line because I would be a fool to flunk my exams just for the sake of PASSION. Yeah, right. Many of the students in SMU tend to complain that school is boring and quiet. HellOooooOO!!! YOU ARE THE BORING ONE. I've had a blast. I'm not too sure about the rest of you or how many share the same sentiments. Nevertheless, this is my take on the students' perceptions on SMU.

Many people opt for SMU because of their initial perception on it; it's fun, different, haven for the fashionitas and just loud. While some found what they were looking for, there are still many who beg to differ. My opinion, you guys are the ones who are not making the school what you perceived it to be. Make the effort. I don't think SMU would be a place full of musicians if the pioneering batch didn't make the effort to make it a reality. Look at the scene now. It was nowhere close to what I have imagined. Now, the freshies have the opportunity to play at Timbre in front of an external crowd.

Back then, the old Bukit Timah Campus was my training ground. It taught me things like, when people eat after the launching of a new club, they have the tendancy to just eat, and not watch you perform, except for the rarity. Lol. That sucks I tell you. I can still vividly remember moments where I just perform for myself, dancing around, screaming at the top of my lungs and not care for whoever was watching. I was just having too much fun. But the most hated part back then was to carry all the equipments back home or to the Annex 2 which was MILES away from Biz Lobby. NOW, you have people not from THE BAND to carry it for you. How pampering. I always thank them sufficiently for helping us out because we know the amount of effort that they have to put in is just enormous. But these are just fond memories that are just irreplaceble.

Remember, if you want SMU to be fun, make it fun. Find fun. Find fun people. Find fun stuff to do. If you want SMU to be a catwalk runaway, then find models, find cloths, find fashionitas and you'll get your runaway. Don't wait for people to make it happen for you because, in reality, not many have the same brilliance as you. You might just be the only one and if you don't do it, nobody will.

Quote I took from Q, "You pay any institution that you are in not for the technical knowledge, but for the brilliance around you"

ja
surround yourself with brilliance

Cloudy Genting

What can I say, free lodging at Genting Highlands seems to be the best feeling in the world. Well, anything that is free is GREAT! Don't you think? I guess getting things for free is just a preview of financial freedom. To me, that only happens when you don't have to think much when it comes to purchasing anything. Perhaps, booking a hotel room is like buying Sneakers chocolate bars at some mama shop. But yeah, pampered myself in the tub, chilled, watched TV, snuggled under the thick comforter and even tried to catch clouds (yeah, dumb but when else are you in GENTING!!!)


It was already 3am in the morning and Malik was busy with Taufik Hidayat and the rest of the Indonesian badminton contingent while I was starving to death. I wanted to try something out and so I looked at the number display on the telephone. I dialled room service.

RS: Hi room service, how can I help you?

Ja in weird Indian accent: OoOoOh! Hello room service, just wanted to ask, how much for a plate of mee goreng?

RS: 25 ringgit sir.

Ja: 25 ringgit is it? Ok. I'll call again. Thank you.

WTH!!! 25 ringgit for a plate of mee goreng? Of course I have to expect jacked up prices here at Genting. It seems that the higher your altitude is, the higher the price of your food... Crapz. Don't care. Too hungry. I need to prepare myself before fasting later on. So I went on my scavenger hunt for cheap food.


I was all alone, cold and asked the bellboy about the nearest place where I can buy biscuits. I asked for biscuits because they are cheap and if he is able to point out that they do sell it here, chances are, there are cheaper food available!!! OoOOoh... a 24 hour shop. I grabbed 3 bowls of instant noodles, 4 sachets of Milo, crackers. Total amount, 20 ringgit. Ahhhh!! Finally, cheap food, happy stomach.


This is Ardian, Singapore Sports School assistant badminton coach. We're about to leave the hotel and just go exploring the rest of Genting on our own.



Checking out. The chambermaid fumbled a lot when trying to capture our photo. My Chocolate hp proved to be a handful for many of you who used it before. Anyway, more to come.

Exploring Genting Mall

Malik and I were walking around the mall when he spotted a massage parlour.

Malik: Ja, let's go for a massage.
Ja: Don't want lah. Expensive
Malik: My treat lah.
Ja with such joy written on his face: Hoooorahhhh!
But yeah, I only opted for a foot massage. I like foot massages. I still prefer the foot rub. I like...


Shiook. I was trying out my cam phone while Malik was busy replying emails. Relaxlahhh brudder!


You could see me squirming my face because it was THAT painful he massaged. I asked.

Ja with his cute squirmy painful face: Eddy, how come my toes are painful?
Eddy: Oh, this means you lack sleep.
Ja: OKOK!!! I'll sleep proper next time!

He massaged the sole of my feet.
Ja: Which part of the body is that?
Eddy: Oh, that's the stomach.
Ja: OoOoOooooh...

He massaged the side of my feet.
Ja: So which part is this?
Eddy: This is the testicles.
Ja: AH!!! EDDY, this one harder please. Lol.


If you can see, that's where they dry their towels. The one on the left said, "ONLY BODY". Wth..... I don't want to open it and see a hand being microwaved, then served to us.

There were many other patrons around. The staff there comes from all over Asia actually. Eddy was from Bali, the rest, China, Java, Malaysia. Malik was actually squirming too. Tsk tsk. He should sleep more. The uncle to his left was actually sleeping when the young man who was massaging him, went all out to make sure he feels pain. But, to my surprise, this old man just kept on sleeping. Many said that people who can withstand a strong massage, means he is a healthy person.


I bought myself mufflers in Genting! Burberry's. Been wanting to get this one for ages. Freaking cold. This saved my neck from being a popsicle. Met some ghosts along the way. They were quite friendly. Didn't talk much. I just asked for a photo and the pontianak started chocking me. Not bad. If they were to hang around after midnight, I'd be scared shit. No kidding.

Before departing from Genting, we went to Genting Hotel and headed down to their spa. Dipped in there for about 1 hour then grabbed a taxi to catch the last bus to Puduraya. I swear, I hate to go Genting. The travelling up and down is the shitty part. I got dizzy and when I reached Pudu, the first thing I did was to go towards the drain and vomitted. Shiooook. I'm quite an expert in Pudu because I used to frequent KL on my own before. So we quickly booked the ticket home, waited and slept on the bus. The 4 hour bus ride felt like half an hour because we were too poooped out after a long day at Genting. I promise I will get a better camera with better resolution. I'm a closet cam whore.

ja
pixies

Reminder

To remind us of our inner senses. Wake UP!

ja
Team Huyt

Why ah?

I sat down at my dinner table and saw no ants when the plate of mee goreng was left unattended. Weird. On other days, the small little critters will be scampering around the table to grab pieces of whatever was on the table. Then something struck me. Ants love sugary stuff. And all these sugary stuff are always 10 times bigger than them and so they must be SUPPPPERRRR sweeet when they taste it. How about spices? Lol. I bet they didn't eat the mee goreng because with chilli of that magnitude, these little critters need to find a large pool of water to get rid of the taste. PLUS! I think they don't want to go through the trouble because my table is sooooo big that I think to get from one end to the other, it would be like running 2.4km in their world.

Everything in their world is upsizedDDDD!

ja
observing the little ones

Egg Please

Just came back from a stroll with my mom and dad. Could really feel that they really miss talking to their eldest son. It's really comforting to look back at the past when we were young and laughing about it. Some of you may be doing it right now. Too much of school and work has distanced me from sparing some time to get closer to my parents. I want to feel like their little boy again in all sincerity. I felt warm and realized that the rat race and the whole academic experience was actually a trade off to what was truly valuable, family.

Not many of us take strolls with our parents anymore. Sit down at the dinner table and sharing the daily happenings in our lives. I share more of my personal life with my mom, the girls that I've met, those who were interesting, those who gave me the hot and cold treatment, those who came up to me and said hi during performances. To be honest, I'm shy when I'm off stage. People approaching me gets me nervous at times. I can't put up the same on-stage persona when I'm off stage. It's totally different. Many would beg to differ and would not believe me. Haha. But yeah, close friends would know and sometimes try to knock some senses into me.

My dad, I share work problems and school activities whenever we have time. Being a taxi driver himself renders him to work long hours and sometimes we seldom meet. And now I know that all he wanted, was to see me at home. That's all. Visually seeing me at home. I'm trying to do that more often. And it would not help much that I will be away from Singapore for 4 months soon.

It's been a while since we last ate out together. Tonight, stopping over at a prata shop and just having a prata or two just relived the memories again. A remembrance of how important family is. Please remember guys. School is school. Do not let school take control of your life. It's a big trade off if you do not know how to balance it properly. Your parents may not voice out that they miss your presence at home but don't let them miss you in silence. Do something special perhaps one of these days.

ja
need to buy a digi cameraaa

Blended

I can't make it, she can make it
I can make it, she can make it
THEN, I can make it, she can't make it

adoi... gotta wait again.

ja
dreamt

Repetitions

I hate it when people repeat their points again to me. I hate it when people purposely go all out to bruise my ego. I hate it when people have no basic courtesy at all. I hate it when people are petty.

ja
gotta keep the job no matter how bruised my ego has been