think

You don’t have to put up a fight
You don’t have to always be right
Let me take some of the punches
For you tonight

——————

i cant wait for COMEX. i want my external hard drive. now.

——————-

i really need to get down to work. but theres so many other things.

——————

the nadal vs gonzales match was pure awesome. not because of the way nadal won, but because of the way gonzales played the final match. holding off 4 gold medal points. at least he didnt give up. thats the way, put up a fight. even if its pointless.

——————-

If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, even if we don’t speak often, please post a comment with a memory of you and me. It can be anything you want — good or bad. When you’re finished, post this little paragraph on your blog and be surprised (or mortified) about what people remember about you.

weary

back to reality

—————-

so its over. and its with mixed feelings that i say this. 

you may not agree with me, but somehow, i have never felt so good during a concert before. we were never a main event, nothing compared to the big shows like drama. and yet, somehow, this experience has been much too incredible for words to describe. in those two hours or so, i would like to believe, that at least for that moment, we truly were the best. at least in my world.

thanks to everyone for the encouragement. its made me realise, that the festival of arts isnt just about the music. its about the people. the entertainment. the rush of adrenaline that makes singing the school anthem at the end of it all feel so wonderful. its the work you put into it. the bonds you make. the time it takes. just everything about it. 

for those who came to watch the show, i hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. regardless of what happens after the concert ends, its the look on the audience faces that matters. that makes the weeks worthwhile.

for the guitarists. thanks for all the effort. sorry if i was randomly moodswingy and stuff. but you guys did a great job. <3

——————-

and now, its back to reality. 4 IAs to be done this weekend. studies to catch up on. after missing a whole 2 weeks of chem lessons, i have no idea what kinetics is about. and yet i still cant bring myself back to earth. this feeling of elevation is much too addictive for me.

——————-

its good to have you with us
even if its just for a day. 

wait

anticipate

————-

tomorrow is the day. the final festival of arts performance of the year. the culmination of our efforts. i only hope we pull it off well. and yet, ill never know. because after all, one can never be at two places at once.

and everyone knows honesty is an expensive commodity in our current times.

————-

i never expected to have a full house. but seeing as how everyone was rushing for tickets today, i must say its quite a shocker. all thats left is to see how many of those tickets actually translate to seats. 

to think that we’d have to get permission to sell standing room tickets. the world is full of surprises.

after this is all over, ill have a lot of catching up to do. wish me luck.

————-

and beyond.

elevation

a state of the mind

—————

is it just me, or did the wordpress interface get inverted. i always thought the links to dashboard were on the right side. oh well.

————–

3 days to FOA. its still not too late to get tickets and get amazed by our wonderful guitar orchestra.

i find it highly amusing how i can belatedly realise how fun guitar actually is only 3 days before concert. still, 3 days is enough time to enjoy the guitar practices. although i pity all those muggers who suffer in the cpa trying to study while waiting to go on stage. its so much more fun to just sit and talk. and soak in the moment. of course. some people have more interesting things to amuse themselves with (:

so now i know that i can easily get high around louis and joshua lim. and its not just because tony is such an amusing awesome guitar god. man. the retarded things we do.

—————-

its funny how easily we change. i have a feeling that if there were no one around us to remind us, and nothing to record our lives, we would never believe that we had ever thought any different to our current views. so easily our interests change. what i would be tremendously interested in at this time last year no longer holds any attraction for me. for now at least. 

—————-

priorities, eh.

ergh

because

———–

life just sucks sometimes.

———–

out for the whole day in school, coming back after moving stands and guitars back and forth, with no mood to do any work whatsoever. until you realise that you have two giant pieces of work due the next day, and despite having to leave class for practice at 11, you conveniently miss none of the lessons involved. 

and whats more, my guitar now has a crack in it. how sad.

————

maybe, just maybe, it wouldnt make a difference even if i tried.

————

just, whatever.

blurred

understanding

—————

china is really something quite amazing. watching the olympics opening ceremony yesterday made me wonder if the athletes there for the games should be feeling amazed or intimidated. i mean, such a large scale performance with so many thousands of people, all perfectly synchronized. talk about deterrence. if they can get so many people to move at the same time, to run in perfect circles and form up in absolutely flawless formations, who knows what else they can do. rising power indeed.

—————

so our full run on thursday wasnt as bad as i though it would be. somehow we got her seal of approval. even receiving commendation for the variety in our programme. the only thing thats left to do is to brush up all the pieces and make sure that we know what we are playing. and somehow she got the idea that i was pro, even though i screwed up some of the songs. oh well, looks like im gonna have to practice that stupid concerto this weekend. maybe ill get it right. eventually.

its not too late to buy tickets! look for me or any other guitar orch member for your once in a lifetime chance to catch FRETS 2. get ready to be amazed.

—————-

i collected my contacts yesterday, wasting 1 and a half hours at the shop putting them on and taking them off. leaving with my eyes totally red. at least today i took a lot less time to put them in. now, with my lenses on, i can read what i’m typing, but not very clearly. its like its clear but still blurry. as though i stole someone else’s glasses to wear, or im looking at the world through a screen of water. i only hope its normal. for now.

—————–

its amazing what music can do to people. the emotions it can bring out, the utter unison with which we sing. community singing is something we should do more often. 

—————–

3 short days, so much to do.

—————–

because she waits for no man.

tearing

up the streets

—————–

one step at a time. one small step each day. sometimes thats the only way to make it to the finishing line. when the alternative is burning up the first few laps and then collapsing from exhaustion. just because we dont know the meaning of real straining.

——————

and so the real practices start. the walls close in with every passing minute. will we pull it off? guitar gets tiring when your arms ache.

coming home at 830, rushing through your iop. have i been so far away for so long that ive forgotten what reality tastes like?

——————

Tough, you think you’ve got the stuff
You’re telling me and anyone
You’re hard enough

You don’t have to put up a fight
You don’t have to always be right
Let me take some of the punches
For you tonight

Listen to me now
I need to let you know
You don’t have to go it alone

And it’s you when I look in the mirror
And it’s you when I don’t pick up the phone
Sometimes you can’t make it on your own

We fight all the time
You and I… that’s alright
We’re the same soul
I don’t need… I don’t need to hear you say
That if we weren’t so alike
You’d like me a whole lot more

Listen to me now
I need to let you know
You don’t have to go it alone

And it’s you when I look in the mirror
And it’s you when I don’t pick up the phone
Sometimes you can’t make it on your own

I know that we don’t talk
I’m sick of it all
Can you hear me when I Sing, 
you’re the reason I sing
You’re the reason why the opera is in me

Where are we now?
I’ve got to let you know
A house still doesn’t make a home
Don’t leave me here alone

And it’s you when I look in the mirror
And it’s you that makes it hard to let go
Sometimes you can’t make it on your own
Sometimes you can’t make it
The best you can do is to fake it
Sometimes you can’t make it on your own

——————

close your eyes, and imagine.

sequence

numbered

————–

a week had passed since he first saw that gleaming tower in the distance. now, every moment he had between waking and sleeping was focused on that single image. the shining city with its promises of glory and happiness. even in sleep he was not spared, for he in his dreams was haunted continually by that glimpse of paradise. as each day passed, his longing for that city grew.

slowly he became numbed to everything else in the world. nothing else mattered but his goal, which was to finally reach that utopia where he could finally lift himself out of plight. simple things that used to bring him some small measure of joy now lost all appeal, and he felt himself becoming more and more distant to everything around him.

days grew into weeks, and months flew by with the waxing and waning of the moon. slowly his enthusiasm faded, leaving him wandering with no rationale or purpose. he distinctly remembered a goal which he had been so taken up with just a while ago. yet now he could not think of why he had first been so inspired. now all that was left. was nothing.

—————-

walking home from school is an interesting experience. on tuesday i decided to walk from school to dover mrt with crawshaw because the buses were much too crowded for out liking. and the conversation we had on the way there was certainly more entertaining than any jostling on a crowded bus could ever bring. to top things off, i actually got home faster than i would have if i had taken the bus. kiwis ftw

—————–

surprising as it may be. im beginning to enjoy staying back for guitar. the feeling of coming home at 8pm brings back memories. or it could just be that as the earlier half of the school day loses its appeal, the later half benefits. its funny how interests change so easily. and how easy it is not to care.

—————–

incoherence is a skill

exception

to the rule

————–

on this rare occasion, i shall declare my love for apple. go to iTunes now. and click on the 6th link. and yes. change your country. to that little red dot named Singapore.

————–

give us the music.

drifters

skid

————

once again he found himself on the road. the next one, he told himself. the next time, ill get it right. shouldering his pack, he bent his head and trudged on. the gravel crunching beneath his worn out sandals, his coat, torn and tattered, flapping in the wind. the sun set silently in the distance, colouring the landscape with a slight pinkish hue. yet all the beauty around him, he did not see.

this time he had been lucky. it was he who had made the decision to leave, climbing over the city wall in the dead of the night. other times, not so. more often than not he found himself waking to the stench of a drain or stable, only to remember getting thrown out the night before. each time he felt the sting less, settling into the rhythm of it all. he would travel from town to town, searching for a place to settle in. get a job, a home, maybe even a family. but somehow he was never satisfied. each time he seemed to fit in, distant rumours of a town that was better, richer, happier, seemed to drift in. tempting him out onto the road again. he could still remember, no, thought he could remember the day he decided to seek out his own fortune. leaving his home behind, confident of finding a place for himself. surely there was somewhere out there where he would be happy. yet, after 5 years of wandering and searching, he was beginning to wonder if that place even existed. if his dreams could ever come true. maybe the old stories were just that. stories. tales of an imagined past. of warriors and kings that could never survive in the real world. the world with its dystopian horrors and conflicting ambitions. 

he looked up. there was no one else on the road, at least not in these deserted parts. ah the road. once a symbol of hope. of dreams. the proud guards at each checkpoint, the glowing lanterns that lit the way. but now it was just a relic of the old empire. a silent remember of times past, fallen into disrepair. just like so many other things.

he didn’t always travel alone, as he did now. companionship came and went. some of them left him, getting tired of his so-called escapades. others he left, feeling they would only weigh him down with their lack of stomach for adventure. either way, he was now by himself. the lone traveller shuffling down that long road, softly whistling a haunting tune.

and as the last rays of the sun passed behind the mountains, he thought he glimpsed a reflection of a tower. a shining tower atop a hill. could it be that in the distance lay what he sought? that the years of searching would eventually pay off? that it wasnt all for nothing?

no matter. he had time to spare. the questions could wait for another day. 

———–

picasaweb.google.com/danielyeews/OCS

———–

chapter 139 of naruto. i blame zhang for getting me addicted to a never-ending series.

———–

maybe, just maybe