Tachikawa NO JIRETTAI BURO-GU!

What an excellent Monday evening! (: I’ve no idea why things in my life felt so..depressing in the past few weeks when in fact, its been really wonderful. Really really wonderful. Maybe I’ve been deluded by the social norms around me sooo much, that I forgot what I told myself a long time ago: I am NOT a social norm.

I never intended for myself to be a normal. I never wanted myself to be normal. And I will never be normal, ever. I’ve gone too far for this. And when you’ve been stuck in the mundane for the longest time, you tend to loose a little bit of that drive, day by day. Slowly, but surely, you’ll conform .. bit by bit.

..but thank God I caught myself in time. I was on a downward spiral for a while these past few weeks. I’ve been looking at what other people have that I didn’t so much, I failed to look at what I had that people wanted. And what I failed to look at numbered wayyy more than what I wanted from them.

Oh, and if you haven’t been up-to-date on the latest Syahms news, I’ve gotten myself into the Ship for South-East Asian Youth Programme (YAY!). Representing Singapore as a Youth Ambassador in the Singapore Contingent, I’ll be travelling to Japan, Phillipines, Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei (and also to Singapore, back home for a bit, yay! (: ) over a period of 2 months, travelling by cruise liner! HOW AWESOME IS THAT? Programme’s fully sponsored by the Japanese government (had to pay just a little bit to cover misc. costs), and will be on board with the other 9 ASEAN countries and Japan’s youth ambassadors as well WISH ME LUCK WHEN I DEPART AT END OCTOBER! ^_^/~

Some pictures follow!:

There are actually tons of other pictures on my facebook account (and don’t actually be surprised. Most, if not ALL of the participants are photo whores..and we’ve actually been training for over 2 months now so..XD), so do head down and take a look if you have the time!

Ah…what’s next. AH YES! I’ve actually completed working on my first local movie soundtrack ((: After 1 and a half weeks of 17 hour days working with the director, I’ve actually managed to produce a PROPER movie soundtrack! Sure, when I was actually working with him, there were times when I just wanted to give up. Trying to match creative differences and concepts on so many levels with such a perfectionist was DIFFICULT, but I really appreciated the fact that it made me a much better music composer after. Working under that much pressure and still producing works that matched what he wanted was a feeling just … indescribable! Just wanna give a shout out to Duke and the people from the Crazy Straits Production company. You guys TOTALLY rock (:

Check out one of the pieces that I did!:

Spies Amongst Us – TachiFEELY

A few pictures from the private screening!:

..and yes those are eyebags, andddd no. I did not have enough sleep when the pictures were taken. Heh.

…anddd ALSO! I spun at Blujazz. (again), as you might have noticed from my previous-previous blogpost. PICTURES FOLLOW!:

A picture with miss Shannnnnnon, Jeremy, anddd a totally awesome DJ Neboet (with cap) and rapper Yama (aka Monkey King). They’ve totally awesome productions!

Now, the 2nd last thing that happened would be the Yummilicious 2 Food Tour! Once again, I was the project director of the whole event, leading an organizing exco of about 10 people to organize an event for over 170 foreign exchange students from NUS. It was TIRING but everyone had a lot of fun; many (including me) made a LOT of new friends. I couldn’t have done it without my supportive EXCO. Thanks guys! (:

Peektures follow!:

We totally overwhelmed the Peranakan Museum entrance! hahaha.

A picture with my exco + the group facilitators!

With staff from the Office of Student Affairs Ms. Deborah and Ms. Lim, along with fellow project director Ivy in the middle, and the assistant project director Diana on the left!

Last, but not least (I saved the best for last! ).

I’ve…actually been appointed President of the NUS Original Music Society! ((((: My current exco had actually worked together with me when I was the Marketing Director for the last 2 semesters, and I’m glad all of them accepted their current positions. You guys have been great, and I hope that all of y’all would guide me if I were to diverge, and I would do the same for you guys as well! love y’all! ((:

I guess that just about does it (: This shall serve as a personal reminder to me; if I were to be down about something I’m not getting / becoming, I’ll read this blogpost to bring me back to MY reality.

…and MY reality ROCKS!

peace out. oh, and HAPPY RAMADHAN to all my fellow Muslim brothers. Fast well! (:

I watch you, surrounded by these pale grey walls of the ward, painting pictures of your past grandeur in the Emergency of decades past.

Your arms;hands;body tell the story like it was happening at that very moment in time!

“I worked hard for them. Didn’t you know that? The British commended me for my valiant efforts!” you said in Malay, as you carried on narrating your story with your weathered voice.

You suddenly stop.

I watch you, as your thin and bony palms hold the warm teh susu up to your cracked lips.

I’ve only noticed it, but you’ve lost so much weight!

You silently but gently sip it, closing your worn and tired eyes as you savour the refreshing aroma and the warm liquid flowing gently into your body.

Your face relaxes as you proceed to place the Styrofoam cup back onto the wooden table.

You take a deep breath, and carry on telling your story.

The surroundings fade out of focus as I saw your face smiling…

I’m so sorry grandpa. I’m so sorry for not being there when I could have.

sigh.

I’ve been lost in myself for a long, long time. Blinded by the ideals of how I should be; how I should appear to be.

I reminisce through to those times when you cracked jokes, whilst I was having lunch during my lunch breaks with you and Grandma.

I reminisce to those times when you’d always go for your 6pm jogs.

I reminisce those times.

I can only.

Looking at you from this chair I’m sitting in, I look at how you seem oblivious to the fact that you were reliving a moment in time that was long past.

But you seem so happy; almost child-like!

It pains me to see this; yet almost instantaneously thrown back by the fact that you can find so much happiness and joy in that moment in time.

As much as your memory hath faltered, you still find ways to break through it.

I watch you… surrounded by these pale grey walls of the ward, painting pictures of your past grandeur in the Emergency of decades past.

It is you, my grandpa. The Time Traveller.

And I salute you, Grandpa.

I Salute You.

..and I still love you, no matter what.

Oh wow, its been a really long while since I’ve waxed lyrical about the random stuffs in my life! So many things’ve happened since my last blog post, that I’m finding a little trouble recalling stuffs to…oh wait. Looking at how much of a Facebook bitch I’ve become, I’ll just look through my Facebook photos for a chronological breakdown XD

*update. My mom’s just called me to go visit my uncle. I’ll have to continue really soon BUT BUT before I go, I’m gonna spin tonight at Blujazz, for Goodtime’s MJ Tribute! ((: Do come and visit if you have the time (whoever you are! ). Taaaaaa