Moment Musicaux

No, that’s not our new girl band’s name (cue stifled scream & oMgaDdzxzX*), but we’re positively stuck coming up with one. Any suggestions? No in your face girly, no emo, no THE-something, no extremely long names, no obscenity, no phallic nuances please.

After a one-hour jam session last evening, we adjourned to Inch’s too big of a room and attempted to fit lyrics into our latest song (2 1/2 songs, woo!). Eve and I were all too distracted by her glorious paintings (too talented lah she) and her… Dog. He humped my leg ARGH. For REAL! That’s when Inch chased him out of the room and I changed my mind about naming our band after him.

I only went home at 2am — waking up late for work and feeling ‘hungover-ish’. =\ It was really fun at her place though, cleaning up the song and practising licks. The 3 of us have some great chemistry (dunce point system and all) going on… I can’t wait to gig with them!

I never thought I’d be saying this, but yes. GIRRRL POWAH KHAN!!

(Rather drastic) new haircut this weekend. I think I’ll feel like a NANHUARIAN all over again. Eep.

This version of Neil Young’s Like a Hurricane almost brought a tear to my eye the first time I heard it. I’m adding him to list my favourite musicians…

Also, Old Man and Heart of Gold.

Aaron was blogging about his dream, so I thought I’d share some of mine.

The Boy gripes that I always have very interesting dreams and he doesn’t. Do feel tired or find it hard waking up when you dream? I do. And my dreams are pretty clear, but I’m not sure if they can be considered ‘lucid dreams‘ — I’m not conscious of my physical surroundings when I’m dreaming — yet I am aware that I’m dreaming. 

I’m also able to induce sleep by thinking of a fictional or non-fictional scenario. (Whether I continue dreaming about it or not, I don’t really know.) I can also wake up from a dream, go back to sleep in a short span of time and continue the dream. Which is probably this:

"Mnemonic induction of lucid dreams (MILD)

The MILD technique is a common technique developed by Dr Stephen LaBerge, used to induce a lucid dream at will by setting an intention, while falling asleep, to remember to recognize that one is dreaming, or to remember to look for dream signs when one is in a dream." - Dreams, Wikipedia.org 

I don’t really look out for ‘dream signs’ because (as mentioned earlier) I’m aware when I dream. Which is also why I can recall the clearest ones (probably in a state of R.E.M.).

Brief examples of my dreams:

• Meeting all kinds of random people from my past and present, then going into a huge mansion owned by a couple and realising that they’ve captured my comrades. I become a Superhero and the next thing I know I’m escaping from the their firing spells. Their backyard is my primary school.I’m going to have lunch with a churchmate’s dad (I somehow called him my uncle) at a restaurant, and somehow we were walking around the Bedok market where a lot of papayas were on sale. My mom insists on buying some.

• ____’s family leaves him. He then pours out his sorrows to me. Well, the whole city/world’ is divided into 3 divisions: Intelligent, Strong, Agile, and one more I don’t recall.

  We (__ and I) are under the same division (Intel) and stay in this big warehouse thing. A war ensues between the 4 divisions, and his wife leaves him to join another division.

  So the battle begins. The Strength group bombards us. Apparently, the way to trick them is to praise them and make them stop in their tracks (Strength = low intel). E.g. "Hey, you’re really strong and powerful!" and they’ll stop, a la a dumbass, and scratch their heads and say "d’oh, really?"… Then we close in. You get the drift.

• The latest (last night’s): I’m the bridesmaid for a group local celebrity wedding. I can remember 3 out of 6 celebs, one couple which is a real-life dating couple. I was in a mad rush most of the time, being invited at the last minute to be the bridesmaid, but things keep going wrong.

  I’m wearing the same white dress I that wore in one of the pictures in my recent blog posts, then I stain the sleeves with my lipgloss. -_- The wedding is held in a Theme Park, and I see many of my NH juniors working there. Crystal, my band junior, is there too, and she’s a pool shark. Wearing gloves to play pool and all…

  The wedding dinner was delayed because dinner was a DIY one, and it’s already 11pm when my mom and I are frantically taping pieces of paper together with cut-outs of newspaper recipes for the guests. I remember being flustered.

Or they’d (quite usually) be running either from bad guys/to save people, trying to run (from things like but not seeming to move — think treadmill), some adventure, or some scene that I’ve never been in reality but recurs in my dreams etc. Thomas the Train even cameos as a real train in a recent adventure-dream.

This year, my dreams have been relatively less evil — I used to dream of the apocalypse quite often. Not that I read much into them, but I sleep deep because of dreams yet wake up feeling not as refreshed after.

Sayeth the doc:

"You know what’s the best cure for you now?"
(I answered it for him. "Sleep.")

"The average Singaporean adult falls sick 4 times a year."
(I’ve fallen sick 4 times already.)

"You should exercise more you know… It’s all about priorities."

"You don’t breathe the maximum capacity of your lungs. That’s why the mucus gets stuck and you get breathless."

"I want you to rest these 2 days. It’s time to slow down and give yourself a break." 

YARGH. I’m an AVERAGE adult!! I don’t want… Really, it’s when I don’t get to exercise and am in confined spaces that I fall sick.

I want my fitness from the primary/secondary school days back.

I’ve finally managed to overcome the EgoBattle that had ensued within myself for a couple of weeks. It’s dumb, really, but as long as there’s any nuance of it — I have to admit to an issue that exists. Absolutely no compromise here. Thank You, God.

After reading some of my ex-coursemates’ blogs on schooling, I sometimes wish I could also go back to school. But I know that I’m in this situation not without reason and direction. Just that I’m getting… Lazy. My desire for knowledge and curiosity levels have gone down notches. And that’s not a good thing at all. Gah.

So the Home Club gig is done with. Response says that we played okay, so that’s cool. The metronome and I were quite on good terms that night too. Phew.

My weekend literally came and went. I felt too tired to run as self-promised on Saturday morning, then it was CG, then there was the Boy’s Mom’s concert later at the Esplanade. It was great fun to watch 7 senior adults (best I could describe) dancing and having witty repartee on stage with so much energy; not forgetting their amazing vocal pipes, testimonies and the bit of tear in my eye.

I still feel a bit strange meeting well-known personalities in flesh after years of seeing them 2D or as printed beings. Not to show off, but I guess I’ve got to get used to it. But yes, it’s interesting to observe how they behave real as opposed to reel; one activity that’s quite common is the G-word: Gossip. A lot of whispering.

My rest that night was disturbed by my schizophrenic neighbour’s piercing screams. And another insensitive neighbour’s shouts at her to shut up. I was amazed at my ability to think in such an earthly hour (and the Sister next morning), groggily taking out my Shure earphone plugs and stuffing them into my ears. Ah, silenceeeee.

Sunday: I woke up too late to run my postponed run, barely sneaking in a decadent KFC lunch with the not-so-kids-anymore-kids after church and rushed down for rehearsal with KM for a supposed gig tomorrow (it’s cancelled by the way; authorities disallowed the Burma tribute).

The pace slowed with the much-needed time alone with the Boy in town and a bit of shopping for Graniph tees (indie siol!). We’re going into our first year! It’s been amazing, and amazingly fast. I always thank God for such a great blessing. =)

Eh, this post is another one of those ‘what I did posts’! Argh. Sorry to bore, just felt like writing.

I’ve just realised how much willpower I’ve subconsciously wielded recently in order for me not to slip back into being that unfocused, free-wheeling soul I was. Actually, realising it doesn’t do much good either. It’s like a hypnotised person who has (or had) a phobia of heights walking on a tightrope, then snapping out of that hypnotic mode in mid-air. You don’t know if you’re able continue down the tightrope on such a conscious level.

It’s hard enough to manage my own life as it is – God, Church, Boyfriend, family, band, friends, work, health, etc. I’ve already observed even proper adults (both single or married) who fail to effectively juggle their priorities. And even escape them.

I can only learn from their mistakes. And not without a ton of that dratted keyword, ‘discipline’. All these for the sake of family. For the sake of my future plans.

Yay, it’s a gig for You and Whose Army?! I’ll be playing with a metronome. And I is scared.

Saturday was the first time most people ever heard me sing solo, my parents included. Well, it was for a couple of lines only and I screwed up the first word by coming in late. My mom said that the three of us (Jasmine, Christina and I) blended very well for a trio. Anyway, I’m glad that Emiline (the bride in question; I’ve known her since I was a baby) appreciated our little item =) It didn’t help that she threw me and Chris (especially) off because she (Em) teared so hard when Jas was dedicating the song to her!

After the wedding, I was off to Earshot Cafe at the Arts House for the gig with Kevin Mathews. Adam (drums) and I (keys) are the groovy people! And yes, I was overDRESSed for the part.

I played quite a lot of wrong notes But well.. The little (and I mean LITTLE) vintage $20-cash-converter Casio keyboard’s keys were about the width of my thumb, so you could imagine how cramped my style was. Ha ha.

The Karl Maka was there too. I quite prefer them acoustic! The light-heartedness of their songs make me smile.

Inch and Bonk were there to support us, so we had some to drink whilst Inch and I had a rather heartfelt talk. She, AMN1 and I are jamming this Sunday! Whee!

The men / boys…

Walked to Bras Basar’s Macs after that. My feet wanted to die with the heels and my eyes were positively shrivelling up from the contact lenses. Gah. A tiring, but nice day!

On Sunday afternoon, I hung out with some of the church people and that was NICE. Really, it’s only healthy that my life doesn’t revolve around the Boy day in and out!

I do need my fix of friendships with my brothers- and sisters-in-Christ. So don’t think that because I have a boyfriend, my life is dead set around him. Call me out more!!

On a final note, my pet peeve is last minute-ness that could have been prevented.

Radiohead’s latest album is coming out in December!!!

Disc 1 (of 2) will be available for digital download, and you pay the amount you think it’s worth. For downloading info, go to the In Rainbows website.

Wikipedia here. Can’t wait!!

On other music-related stuff, I’m officially on the Bjork bandwagon (sorry I slow). Unique is the most cliche but apt word to sum her up. I’ve been youtube-ing her, and my. Brilliant music AND videos. The latter really puts a face to the tune. My favourite songs so far are Unravel, Who is it? and Hunter.