the curse of choice

People still ask me why I chose bioeng over law, PUB over astar et cetera, and I always give the same answer. Given the circumstances, it was a matter of choosing the least of the evils. In the absence of expectations from parents and society, I would choose none of the above; instead I'd probably enrol in Laselle and pursue a career in illustration. Or, like Jerick, enrol in music school and become a session guitarist/form a band and keep doing gigs. or if nothing else become a chef (eh stop laughing. yes you there.)

So why not? - that's what my non-singaporean friends ask me. The Singaporeans understand better - simply because this is Singapore where societal and parental expectations matter. A lot. when I spoke to daniel sassoon a couple years back (electrico's guitarist) I realised that he was practising law outside of Electrico. Then sometime last year he announced that he was leaving the band to concentrate on his career. That is indeed a slice of reality, Singapore-style. It's no place for dreamers, unless your dreams happen to have something to do with law or medicine, in which case I say you are very, very lucky.

So I actually resigned myself to this reality sometime back. I put myself in my parents' shoes and imagined what it was that would make them proud, in the process applying for every darn thing under the sun. In the end it was down to three major choices - NUS law, A*star/Imperial biomed sci or PUB/bioeng. Law was something I applied for on a whim. Very self-indulgent I know. But I actually toyed with the idea for a while before finally deciding that I'd prefer something sciencey. A*star or PUB. I liked PUB's working environment, very warm very friendly. Very family-friendly working hours too, I heard. Excellent. More time to pursue my uh..-dreams- on the sidelines.

I allow a bit of doubt to creep in every now and then. But it's always natural to wonder about the what-could-have-beens I suppose. What would I be doing if I were in A*star now? Pretty much the same actually, except that I'd be worrying about my phd applications. UK universities are notorious for their recommendations. If I were in law? I haven't the foggiest. The friends I made at Law Camp are so distant now.

Easter hols begin today! The calm before the storm or waiting for the shoe to drop or whatchamacalit. I want to go out and do something.

this is anfield.

I don't recall a time where I'd felt more at home wearing a Liverpool jersey before. Everyone who wore it that day weren't just supporters - we were family. Strangers similarly clad in red would smile at us or give us a thumbs up, all the way from Euston station to the city of Liverpool itself. They knew we'd travelled far to support their team.

Liverpool is a really charming old town, with a decidedly small city centre surrounded by vast expanses of fields dotted with rickety old houses. The city centre itself is pretty happening, boasting more tantalising clothes stores than High Street Kensington. I even suggested to Mel that we come back someday just to shop. We did lunch at Macs, somehow ploughing through the thick Scouser accent with a few intelligent guesses.

Anfield was a 45min walk away from the city centre, and looked to be pretty worn down itself. Not that it was really noticeable that day as hoardes of fans were there to liven the place up, but I imagine it must look realllyy sad on non-match days. You'd think that someone would be out to capitalise on the regular stream of human traffic to the stadium, but no; the stalls and pubs that surround Anfield are as humble as you can get. We got dinner from this Chinese shop which sold sausage and chips for two pounds.

As for the match itself, there really isn't anything much left to say about it that hasn't already been said in match reports all over. Liverpool 5 Aston Villa 0. Probably the biggest margin so far for us this season, and we were there to witness it. The atmosphere was of course incredible, with all the same chants that you hear on TV, only a million decibels louder.

In an alternate reality, we'd probably have been at home, watching the match live on SCV or at the kopitiam downstairs, with all its bookies and uncles smoking and drinking and yelling "hohseh lah." And I'd probably be watching it with my dad, while sharing a plate of cai tow kway.

But we weren't! We were right there, savouring the victory with the Kop itself.

anfield here we come

Three weeks ago I got to see my guitar heroes of 8 years Metallica live at the O2; today I make the pilgrimage to Anfield, home of Liverpool Football Club, the club I've supported since primary school. I remember all the wednesday and saturday soccer sessions in sec sch where I'd imagine I was Patrik Berger. (one of the reasons why I supported the club in the first place; the other was that my sis supported Liverpool too because her good friend Liling had a crush on Michael Owen)

This is all so surreal! okay got to go.

Walk on, walk on With hope in your heart And you'll never walk alone You'll never walk alone

Ah!Yum

We were doing our last full run before the show when Kok Chong commented on how amazing this whole thing was, that we were staging a Singapore musical in London. Said it felt like he never left home. (the only reminder that we were in London was ol' Alex sitting opposite us, one of the rare genuine Brits in Imperial) It definitely did feel surreal.

Ah!Yum was a huge success. I seriously don't think that it could get much better, given the fact that planning only began last Dec, and our limited funds of course. I still remain in awe at the sheer magnitude of the entire production - somehow the entire batch of Singaporean freshers from one college managed to come together and contribute their various expertise to put up an incredible show.

Everything started one day in the JCR when Anne, Shiwei, Dikai and Joshua came together to write the script. The main plot was decided upon, and we never looked back since. Back then it was to be called Spices of Life. Then we had a meeting to revise the name, which threw up all sorts of ideas. (for eg. chicks and cocks, courtesy of you-know-who-you-are) I suggested that Ah Huat be renamed Ah Yam since he was a chicken rice seller. Then Josh said no, why not let that be the name of the musical. And so Ah!Yum was born.

And so work began on all fronts - I'd initially auditioned for Ah Hock and was just about ready to play the lead antagonist when I got roped into music/songwriting. I resigned myself to the fact that I was probably doomed to be a musician for life - and started work on the songs. That was around the time I watched Les Miserables for the first time, and as it turned out I Don't Care was heavily inspired by Les Mis.

But the deadlines were looming and I still couldn't get enough ideas out. Then came along this guy named John Chua, a student from RCM doing masters in....composition. He worked his compositional prowess and in a matter of weeks came up with 4 more songs. Soon we had enough songs and began our practices - very draining but no end of fun, almost invariably ending up in dinner at Oriental Canteen. Music practices have become such a regular fixture in our schedules - I imagine life will feel pretty empty without them from here on.

I think Singaporeans are an insanely talented lot. Everyone had some form of expertise to contribute! In the music team alone there was piano, drums, violin, guitar, bass, clarinet, dizi (played by none other than Ben Ang, champion dizi player from the 87 batch), flute, sax. And as I've mentioned before the dance team is just so professional, with amazing choreographies by Liu Qian and Dexuan and Guiyi. The logs team was also really impressive in their attention to detail (love that roast chicken) And the actors/singers...omg don't get me started on how amazing they were. No prior training at all - to this! In something like 3 months.

And the CD! The ultimate token to remember that whole experience by - at least to someone in the music team. Those 11-hour weekend recording marathons were worth it.

The audience last night was amazingly responsive and encouraging and as performers we really couldn't ask for a better audience. I think the highlight of the night must have been when this middle aged man came up to me and asked if I was the guitarist. He then went on to commend us all for a wonderful show, that we were all really professional, that everyone was on task and knew exactly what to do. Said he'd visited Singapore before in the 60s, and that the Singapore we recreated was exactly like what he saw (I seriously doubt so..but oh wells I'll take that!) And just all the people who came up to me saying the music was fantastic and the comments that Listening Ear (what a horrible title) was their favourite song. It's moments like this that make you realise that as a performer you've done your job.

Thanks to everyone involved in Ah!Yum for the beautiful memories! (:

When you actually bother to sit down and examine each stage of your existence you suddenly realise how much you've been through. So many chapters, each one remarkably unique in its own right.

For example, about a year ago at this time I was doing cell culture at IBN. Go back a couple years more and I was probably cleaning my rifle or something in BMT.

Then you look at your current self and realise that you are the distillation of all these experiences, that this was the same person that went through all those phases. Then you marvel at how life is such a gift, that it allows us to experience all these things, and you congratulate yourself for making it so far, and wonder about the wonders that lie ahead.

Then you go back to doing your mechanics problem sheet, as I am about to do so right now.

one more week to major event!

I'd feel guilty if I had to sell tickets to something I didn't believe was good. Ah!Yum is one of the rare shows I'm actually excited about promoting, cos I actually think it's going to be fantastic. So far the work put into Ah!Yum has been phenomenal - I think practically the entire batch has been involved at some point or the other.

The song above is Dancing by Elisa, which plays in one of the dance scenes. The first time I watched the scene during rehearsals I swear I caught myself tearing. Liu Qian's choreography is just stunning, and our dancers are prolific.

Went to UCL on Saturday night to promote the show at VinE night with Joan, Andrew and Jasmine. But something happened to the sound system and we ended up with a very watered down performance with one guitar instead of two. Guess it wasn't very effective in the end, but what the heck it was fun! These overseas school gatherings offer a pretty good glimpse into the school's culture I think. Was pretty impressed by HC night. VJ was fun and games but didn't seem to give me the same sense of family.

METALLICA DEATH MAGNETIC WORLD TOUR 2009

I first came across Metallica when I downloaded a live performance of Fade to Black. Watching Kirk Hammett's melodic guitar solos made me see the instrument in a whole new light - until then I'd just been playing chords on it. Lots of people cite Metallica as the reason why they learnt to play guitar - it was certainly one of my reasons.

And so about ten years on, I finally saw them live at the O2 Arena. There is no experience quite like it I swear. These guys are living legends, and that night they delivered the best of their 30 years of music with authority.

We were lucky to get really close to the stage. Of course that came with a price - it also meant that we were embroiled in the mosh pit where the most insane fans held sway. Which meant being battered and elbowed by hordes of crazy headbanging sweaty big-sized guys as everyone attempted to outmuscle each other to get to the front. At some point I managed to get to the 2nd row, and was promptly pushed away by this huge towering dude.

There is nothing quite like watching classics like Master of Puppets and One live. I could even see Kirk's fingering as he played the Master of Puppets solo, running through the exact notes that I'd played myself many a lazy afternoon at home in Bedok. Not to mention the fact that they were the very songs that accompanied me through my O and A-levels. Touching moments indeed!

When we emerged from the arena we all looked like we just fought a war. It was pretty physical alright. But aside from the back and neckaches and ringing ears I also managed to get a guitar pick (from Rob Trujillo's hands) that will be a reminder of the night I watched the greatest metal band that ever lived.

Just returned from a thoroughly exhausting recording session when I got the msg from klyder: "hey we're leaving at 4 tmr." Turns out the metallica concert we were going for was the 2nd march one not the 28th march one!

and so..less than 24 hours before metallica!