A few months back I wrote something about my interesting sleep patterns during the semester. I guess in some ways it's a side effect of our sleeping habits during the holidays. And at least back in KL, if we were still up at 7am we could go to the mamak opposite Heritage Condo and have a nice curry chicken rice breakfast.

******

So I finish my random blog-hopping, Facebook-ing and Youtube-ing and look at the clock. Hmm, 3.45am. Not too late by my standards. So I decide to wrap up and go to bed.

But as I look out of the window...


Now where did my night go?


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It is 3.45am.

Well, here you can't get mamak-style curry chicken rice at any hour, anyway...

So one week has passed. Most of it has been spent eating and sitting at home with my laptop looking for good bargains on eBay or Amazon.

"What, no sightseeing or exploring etc etc bla bla bla?? What a waste of a holiday!"

Well the thing is, I'm staying at my sister's house which isn't exactly the nearest to Central London where all the happening things happen; the local equivalent would be something like from Kajang to KL, give or take about 10km. As for public transport, instead of RM2 think more like £2 per bus/train trip. Also the last time I came to these areas about 2 years ago, I pretty much saw everything I wanted to see then. And yes there have been gigs which I've been wanting to catch but the cover charges here put even places like Groove Junction to shame. Fancy Benny Golson live at Ronnie Scott's? Only £20*, please.

But then, it's Benny Golson after all. And it's the famous Ronnie Scott's after all... But in the end, my kiamsiap-ness won and my £20 stayed in my wallet.

*not taking into account service charges, drinks, snacks, and exchange rate of £1=RM5.80

That aside, the weather has been really nice, just the occasional shower now and then. The temperature is around 20-22ºC, it's like having perma-aircon. So finally I got out of the house on Thursday to take a trip down to London and visit:


The Royal Academy of Music! Apparently they had a free clarinet masterclass by the famous Andrew Marriner, who is the LSO Principal and son of the even more famous Sir Neville Marriner. Being the typical kiamsiap and kiasu Malaysian, of course I had to check it out, and of course I did not bring my clarinet or prepare anything to play. Long live kiasu-ness. It was still a good experience though, I picked up a lot just listening to his comments. For a free event, the turnout was a grand total of less than 10 people, with only 3 clarinetists performing, all of them Academy students. Apparently I'm not the only kiasu clarinetist around.

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Speaking of kiasu, I didn't want to play because I knew it wouldn't be the best performance so does that count as kiasu? Discuss.

****

I have also been eating lots of good food, which makes a welcome change from the 2am teh-o-ais limau and roti bakar opposite Heritage condo. Everything here is just so good to eat - when you don't have time to cook a proper hot meal, you take out the ham, cheese and bread and make sandwiches. Mind you even the cheapest ham here makes our stuff taste like pink plastic. And if you don't have time for that either, you pop a frozen pizza from the supermarket into the oven, which looks something like this:


Yes it tastes as good as it looks. Can you imagine a Tesco frozen pizza putting Pizza Hut and Dominos to shame?

Back home, we have Hartz etc eat-all-you-want buffets, here the angmohs have eat-all-you-want Chinese buffets. Lunch at £4.99 per person only! Of course my mum and I had to try it, so we went on Friday. The food looked something like this and kinda reminded me of MPYO meals at Permata.



This is 'Malaysian Samosa'!!!!

For angmoh-styled fast food, it wasn't all that bad considering the price, but my mum thought she could do better, so on Sunday we had Malaysian Chinese lunch at home, angmoh style.


My mum was right.



Two more weeks to go.




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Someone is 20.

So imagine, you're damn hungry and you can't find anything to eat except the lousy mamak down the road which serves nasi lemak that always makes you shit funny things. But since you're damn hungry, you have no choice but to go there and eat the nasi lemak that makes you shit funny things. This goes on for a while and you're almost getting used to shitting funny things.

One day, you discover right behind the mamak there is a damn nice Italian restaurant that sells awesome Fettucine Carbonara for the same price as the nasi lemak. It is tasty, filling and doesn't make you shit funny things. So then you wonder, why on earth did you settle for the lousy nasi lemak?

I guess it's about time I wrote something substantial here.

***

For those of you wondering where I was the whole of last week, I was attending a music camp with the MPYO. I felt really bad for missing the March camp and was really looking forward to meeting up with my old friends. Yes I do have friends outside college. And somehow it was refreshing to be able to see them again, especially after such a long, hectic and eventful semester.

Some people wonder, why am I still hanging around with the orchestra? After all, it's classical music, it doesn't have much to do with what I'm doing now, they don't pay (I get that a lot) etc etc. And people tell me, stick to the saxophone/keys etc, can cari makan, sell your clarinet la you're only playing it for the orchestra (which doesn't pay) anyway.

But how many people actually know what we actually do in the orchestra? How many people know the depth of talent of the members? How many people have seen and heard these musicians, many of them younger than me, actually play such beautiful music together? Sometimes we 'contemporary' musicians are guilty of looking too much at the monetary side of things, especially with the current state of KL's music scene. But have we forgotten why we are musicians in the first place? I wanted to play because I wanted to give my best and share my love of music with others. Whether I am playing classical, jazz, R&B, funk, pop or ICOM Friday Performance it doesn't matter, at the end of the day it is all music.

And seriously, we make too many excuses sometimes. We always hear stories of people going to Berklee and finding it so tough, the people there are so good etc etc. But my friends in the MPYO can get scholarship offers to study at places like Eastman and YST. Some of them have already left to study in the US and are doing really well; a few more of them will be on their way soon. And these are the same friends whom I've played with since the beginning of the orchestra. If there are going places, there must be something wrong if I'm not progressing. Frankly, I'm tired of making excuses, of bitching about how everything is stacked against us, about how ICOM does not give us enough even though we pay so much etc. I'm tired of being average, of being just an acceptable standard and nothing more. I want to be happening. I want to be the best. And I want to reach the level where if I go overseas, I will be sufficiently prepared and ready to take my music to the next level, not just be another Malaysian who went to the US and found it too tough.

And finally, I how many people know how strong the friendships all of us have built in our time together? Sure, we all have our differences and opinions, but over the course of time we have learnt to accept each others' unique personalities and enjoy our time together. MPYO camps have always been a special thing for me, the memory of which I always will keep.



Thanks guys, for helping me find my passion for music again. And even though we take forever to decide where to eat; even though we sometimes forget to wait for each other and walk too far ahead or behind, that all pales in comparison to the wonderful moments we shared. Whether it be playing Mafia until 3am or playing Beethoven the next day at 9am, I will always remember how special it was to be able to do all these things together. Thanks for showing me how true friendships are like. You guys are awesome.

I'm tired of being sad and cynical and pessimistic about life. For the first time in quite a while I was genuinely very happy.
That actually can be a very good thing or just plain sad; let's not go there.

******

So much to say, but then again how do you put into words all the awesome experiences we've had?

You don't. You check out the photos on Facebook here, here and here. (Thanks Addie and Lu Ee!)

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And seriously, who has a picnic in the middle of KLCC at 1 in the afternoon??



We do.

The better team on the night won.

All the Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea fans laugh, because their teams are
not as successful.


Now I'm going to play FIFA 2009 and thrash the hell out of Barcelona to console myself.

Petrol money

Honey Lemon Tea
from
Old Town White Coffee

More caring, isn't he

******

On another note, I went through some of my really old blog posts. All I can say is, wow.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

He's gonna be all down and sad and depressed in front of you. He's gonna binge on alcohol and cigarettes. He's gonna make you think he's gonna do something bad to himself. He'll follow you around with that sad puppy dog look on his face, and let you know exactly how the world is no longer the way it used to be when you were close to him. He'll sleep at your house outside on the sofa every night just so that he's the first thing you see every morning.

And you'll give in. You'll comfort yourself by saying he's the only guy who accepts you for who you are. You know he will never say anything hurtful to you, even though you deserve it. You think that 'oh, he loves me for who I am' because he doesn't point out your faults. You never did like that, did you, even though it was for better? You'd rather make excuses for the things that you do that aren't right, because you're just too scared of changing. And you will start liking him again because he is exactly what you want; someone who whispers in your ear the words you want to hear.

But you can only sweep things under the carpet for so long. And someday, many of your actions will come back to haunt you. Sparing yourself from short-term hurt won't protect you from the long-term consequences.

And when finally your small illusion of a perfect life comes crashing down (again), I will try not to say I Told You So.






Of course, I am totally wrong. But it just so happens that everything I thought would happen before has already come to pass.

******

To be trusted is a greater compliment then being loved. - George MacDonald, Scottish writer and poet

I just realized I haven't blogged in over a month.

It's like I don't really care any more.

Or do I?