I have yet another theory. Ordinary events don’t get stuck in my mind. Extraordinary events do. I love to seek out opportunities to do something crazy, if circumstances permit. To make my life a bit more memorable. For instance, that one time after my buddy Sam and I got our miserable laughable bonus, we impulsively headed for our breakfast at The Fullerton and spent what seemed like more than S$40 for a hotel breakfast in our home land. The power breakfast, as we called it. No local does that. Unless you are very rich. At least we weren’t. At least I am not (can’t say the same for my friend now that he is a big shot). And that probably is the most memorable breakfast I had ever had to date. It is out of proportion. It is laughably ironic.
When I told my band manager Selrol that I was planning to bring along all the band equipment from Singapore and practice with Wieke in Malaysia over the weekend, her response was, “No shit!”. Uh-huh. Everyone thinks that I am nuts. OK. I can be nuts some time, because I can. So I have weighed my gears. Close to 70kg of equipment that filled up the entire car boot. And I had to align them carefully so that they all fitted nicely. So what exactly did I bring to PJ Malaysia with my car (in the order of importance)?
- Cynthia the bassist and backing vocalist
- My Les Paul Deluxe electric guitar
- Cynthia’s Warwick bass guitar
- Wieke’s Yamaha acoustic guitar
- A heavy acoustic guitar amplifier
- My huge guitar amp and effect processor, VOX ToneLab LE
- A 12-channel mixer
- 2 microphones and 2 mic stands
- Handheld recording device, Zoom Handy Recorder H2
- Cables, lots of cables
- Clothes and other stuff
- A laptop to store recorded materials from the handheld device
After that horrifying experience with the Malaysian Custom, I was worried that they would tax my close to S$10k worth of used gears. But they didn’t inspect my car. Phew! At the hotel lobby, I was asked twice: Are you the wedding singer?
I love Facebook. I really do. Thanks to Facebook, my two long lost friends Kah Lok and Kenneth turned up at my hotel room (last seen more than a decade ago with zero contact since then … I remember that one bus terminal scene with tears in my eyes). And we performed for them, inside our PJ Hilton hotel room, with the studio set up. Like real! Like how we are going to perform in The Heeren this November. We played a song, we took a break and chatted. I love the intimacy between our band and the audience. I am inspired. While Jason is aspired for online broadcast, Cynthia is aspired for public performance, I think I have found my own aspiration: private performance.
All five of us surprisingly got along really well. We’ve had so much fun. And that is another story to tell.
Mental note: Write to Ovi by Nokia and suggest that they should display the captions and titles within the slide show.
Related Blog Entry: Yet Another Road Trip, Yet Another Small Step Towards Our Goal






