Woke up late recovered from the new year party that Cynthia and I only managed to get home this morning. The write-up on the Insomnia experience was somewhat short (I promise you three interesting stories if you read on) as after getting rid of the cigarette smell off my body from head to toe, all I wanted was my bed.
Anticipated the big crowd at LKF, we have arrived relatively early. Although this was the second time I tried to make my way to LKF, it was impossible for us to get lost. There were big signs saying: This Way to LKF. Along the way, roads were blocked and policemen and police vehicles were stationed. For those who are new to LFK, there were casualties couple of years ago when a big crowd collapsed on a slopped road during the countdown.
Entered into Insomnia and ordered our drink. There is no entrance fee but the waitresses do not hesitate to make you feel bad and say: if you stand here, you must order a drink! We found our little relatively peaceful standing area away from the cigarette puffers and away from the flow of traffic (people making their ways into the toilets and out). We ended up standing right in front of the stage, which was nice. As we were dancing to the Hip Hop music, I have overheard the following conversations.
A girl’s voice said, “What type of girl do you like?”
That question suddenly pulled me away from my trance state of Hip Hop and I smelt a new story. I turned around and saw this pretty young girl, short hair, trendy, nice feature, and with her was her friend looking way ordinary compared to her. Long hair was all I could remember. The man was fat and he looked Mediterranean. He was soft spoken and I could not make out what he reply was but the pretty one continued, “This is my friend.” But I gathered that the fat one preferred the pretty one to the ordinary one.
The pretty one continued, “Today I am on holiday. I will be at work next week. Call me and we shall meet.”
I could only guess what sort of profession the pretty one was having. Okay, that is story number one.
I swear there were more ladies – beautifully dressed up – than men in Insomnia. On the front row of the stage are the fans and friends and family members of the live bands. I knew it by seeing how the band members greeted them like good old friends. One of the waitresses asked the middle aged lady in front of me to order a drink and when she refused, the waitresses was about to give her a hard time. That was when the middle aged lady pointed to the keyboardist on stage and said something that I could only imagine as: he is my son. Immediately the waitress’s attitude changed and even brought the middle aged lady a glass of warm water. On the far right was a young girl – tall, long hair, unblemished skin, wearing yellow – who throughout the show ogling over the bold, handsome, and tall Southeast Asian bassist. The chemistry between them was overwhelming.
During the break, the bassist was at the back stage and the young girl was signaling to him openly that she wanted his phone number and would call and meet him. The word “signaling” was an understatement. She was aggressively gesturing him that she was all his had him taken up the challenge. Yes, she challenged him. Perhaps it is because of the club policy that he did not take up the “challenge”. Or perhaps, the bassist is dating one of the hot female vocalists? Who knows? Girls these days really go all out to get the ones they want.
That is story number two. We wanted to leave Insomnia at twelve-ish – after the countdown and after the live band’s second session. When we stepped out of Insomnia, we were faced with a huge crowd and decided to go back in and hide for a while. In retrospect, we were faced with an even larger crowd when we left Insomnia at two-ish. There were bouncers controlling the crowd entering the club.
For the third session, there was a new band and there were two vocalists – male and female (I suspect all the in-house bands have such a mix). Both were tall and not particularly good looking (I have this theory that if you don’t look good in an in-house band, you must sing well). When the female vocalist took the stage and sang “My Happy Ending” by Avril Lavigne, her friends at the front row all screamed and pointed at the male vocalist who was standing besides her oblivious to all these gestures. Even the female vocalist made a light gesture (a sad face nodding to her friends) to acknowledge the fact. That song was sung with so much emotion that I felt moved. The lyrics of the song can be found in here. “My Happy Ending” is not a happy love song. It is rather sad about unfulfilled love.