the four right chords can make me cry

This day in history...

8th July
1994 - Kim Jong Il, N.Korea, dies. Empire passes on to son Kim Il Song. Or is it the other way around? I forget. Country plagued (up till this day) by chronic famine, expected to crumble under the leadership of the son. Despite various flirtations with nuclear weaponry which put it in a bad position with many aid-giving nations, N. Korea managed to survive, and is slowly beginning to open it's country up to economic reforms.

1954 - Col. Carlos Castillo Armas is elected president of the junta that overthrew the administration of Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman in late June 1954. The election of Castillo Armas was the culmination of U.S. efforts to remove Arbenz and save Guatemala from what American officials believed to be an attempt by international communism to gain a foothold in the Western Hemisphere.

1985 - I was born. According to an account by my mother, it was the hottest month of the year. Admist the sweltering, sultry heat, I arrived. Singapore was in the throes of a recession, economic outlook was poor.

So, what did i do for my birthday this year, 2004?

Allowed myself to wake up abominably late, well into the afternoon. Intended to go out and chill at some coffee joint and just think. But it was raining, so i stayed home and bummed around instead. Finally got off my butt and dragged myself down to queenstown police centre to take my final theory test. That's right. On my birthday.

Mum and bros picked me up and we went to meet dad for dinner. This cool-looking place i spotted called Curry Favour. Specialises in Jap curry, really quite delicious! And filling too, I looked at the plate and thought i could eat the whole thing, but halfway through, i was already full! Amazing!

Walked around after that. Bought me a cool-looking watch for $10! Cheapo! Wanted to go for coffee after that since i didnt get to in the afternoon, but brothers had school the next day. So we sent them back first and then parents took me out to gardens. Intended to go to coffeebean, but Dad decided to try Happy Daze for a change. Walked in a realised it was a pub, but sat down and had some drinks anyway. First time having alcohol with parents ya, interesting. The place was nice and comfy, and coolest part of all, they let you bring your dog in! There were these 2 doggies wearing shirts and all at the other table. (No timo and nick, they were NOT smoking)

Next day Friday 9th July

Was supposed to go to some mrt station at 8:30 to help give out flyers but forgot that i already agreed to meet granny for lunch. ARGH. Hope they dont think im some irresponsible slacker. (but maybe I am?) They called me at 9 and i was still in bed... =(

Went out with granny to Crystal Jade! (^_^) Happy chubby becky! Ate xiao long bao (FAVOURITE), glutinous rice in lotus leaf, roast duck and chicken porridge, roast duck and roast pork (the kind with the crispy skin, IRRESISTABLE). WOAH. I love the food there, excellent stuff! Then after that went to eat chendol somemore.

But wait, the pigging doesnt stop there!

Leaders mtg was at benben's house, we had a BARBEQUE. 'Nuff said.

Wanted to go join them for FNS, but dad didnt let me. Im so ashamed of myself, acted like a total baby, whining and whining about it when he said no. ARGH. Times like these I really hate myself, dont know why i couldnt prevent myself from such moronic behaviour, its like something just came over me.

That put me in a sucky depressed mood for saturday. Woke up so upset with the world that i went right back to sleep again. Plagued by very disturbing dreams, which made me feel worse. But psyched myself up to get ready for BAY, and things started to get better.

But after the meeting, when michael asked us to get drinks out of the bay room, i dropped 2, creating a huge mess on the floor. That really felt like the metaphor for my life, ye bang ye mang, the more I try the messier things become. Felt pangs of despair as I kneeled there, faced by sodden lumps of coloured-sugar-solution-soaked toilet paper. Can you imagine that scenario? Depressing...

And I realised that I had the wrong idea, that the ublues thing was TODAY and not sunday. Sigh, made me feel stupider. But decided to go anyway cos serene was there alone. On the way there with timo, i almost tripped up on a tree root or something. I felt so clumsy and oafish lah. I'm always tripping up, even on my own feet ok, how sad is that. But timo was encouraging, even though all he said was "nevermind la." or something to that effect, I really did feel better. Thanks Bro.

Felt really underdressed going to Esplanade in chapalang t-shirt and shorts. But things got much better at Mrs Field's where we met Serene. Maybe it was the coffee, maybe it was the fellowship, but i felt much happier. There was this cool shop selling movie memorbilia (is that how you spell it) which was owned by timo's friend's sister. Lots of interesting stuff there! Saw this set of Monsters Inc postcards that i wanted to buy for enai cos they had one with Boo, the little girl which i know she finds absolutely adorable. But so chor... and the rest werent very nice anyway.

The gig was by ublues, or universal blues, and they can add to their fanlist one more convert. Maybe i suaku or what, but i thought they were so excellent that i was incredibly hyper for the rest of the night. Couldnt stop saying "Wow...", "Damn cool!", "FWAH", "Inspired!". Really really enjoyed myself. They played some really solid stuff, very groovy, very funky. Felt every bass note pounding in my heart. The bassist was so funky! He got this crazy look, can sing and play bass at the same time, and sings with this rockish-scream voice. And he plays a headless bass! Definetly adding to the cool-factor. And the keyboardist is also a guitarist, he looks so incredibly pro standing behind the keyboards, twiddling with the effects with a guitar strapped around him. And the lead singer! My new hero, man! Really admire his talent. The drummer was a stand-in today, apparently their regular guy is 10 times better (according to Ian), but this guy was so good already its hard to imagine what 10 times better is like. Yeah serene, he really looks like a turtle! Has the tiniest eyes, way smaller than mine.

There was this funky old uncle who got up and started dancing halfway! And he was quite good too! So sporting! Apparently he was the 1980 cha cha champion ok! Dont play play...

Impressed also by how tight the band was, even with a stand-in and guest stars. They had this guy from canada, he played an acoustic bass! FWAH, i've never heard one before, and its got this really interesting tone. The other guest was this guy who played blues harmonica! Take it from a harmonica player, that guy was really a pro. (not that i play blues harmonica, but, anyway) I noticed that they have some sort of code or system, when the lead (trevor) raises the neck of his guitar it means come in again, when the keyboardist counts they know when to stop, when they give each other this certain look it means "hey your turn to solo", another look means "yo, try and beat this". I know cos i sat right in the front.

Really admire that level of communication and understanding they had among themselves. Comes from years of performing and practising together; the intimate understanding they have of each other is evident. If I ever have a band, i want that kind of communication, common love, respect for each other. Rock on!

One thought I had: Thank you God for giving human beings such creativity! I'm amazed at the wonderful music they produced, it was so incredible to me. Even if they arent Christians, their music just speaks to me of a God who is incredibly soulful, artistic, infinetly creative, cos He is the one who made them that way.

I'm going again on sunday, do feel free to come along! Starts at 7:30, Esplanade Waterfront (outside Harry's), they play 3 sets. Good stuff! and its FREE!

posted by beckyboo @ 1:24 AM