long-awaited winter

Finally, I’m sitting at T1, waiting for the jet plane to take me away from Singapore’s humidity (won’t be sorely missed) right into a nice, chilly winter. It’s gonna be two weeks with youth leaders gang from Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Auckland. Praying for a super duper fruitful time! Will try to blog if I have spare time (which is rather unlikely). Take care, peeps!

a night with final fantasy

It’s been a week since I caught Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy. Old news I know, but I’d be doing a great injustice if I fail to blog about it. (Alert: if you’re not a gaming freak, please skip this post or you’ll be bored to death. And Justin Chan, this one’s especially for you! I almost brought your photo into concert hall to represent your presence but I figured that’d be too morbid…)

As all FF fans know, all tickets were snapped up within the first three hours of public sales! But His favour’s upon the people who love him (and who signed up as Singapore Arts Festival members). And I have to say, the whole experience was worth every cent of the tickets!

I’d attended several orchestra performances in Esplanade before, but never one so fun! My equally-fanatic sister (together we completed FFX in 10 days, beat that!) wrote an elaborate and overzealous post which you can read if you’re die-hard fans like us…

 

Look how excited we are!

concert hall during intermission

 

When I examined the songlist during intermission, I realised one glaring mistake: there was no Sephiroth’s Theme aka One-Winged Angel. I thought, how could this be, they must be saving it for encore! I savoured all the other pieces till the end. When the concert’s done, everybody’s shouting encore. And so  the conductor came back and did the encore song…… FFVI Terra’s Theme.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo………………………………………

I. almost. fainted.

Under normal circumstances, I’d enjoy Terra’s Theme. But the problem is, HOW COULD THEY LEAVE OUT SEPHIROTH aka One-Winged Angel?!? It’s a sacrilege!! Anyway, the encore ended, the conductor went off, and there was mayhem in the hall. Everyone was shouting for encore again, yours truly being the loudest in the entire Circle 2, much to the shame of my poor friend sitting beside me. I was also sure that if they didn’t do One-Winged Angel, someone might just start torching Esplanade…

So the conductor appeared once again – this time with Maestro Nobuo Uematsu himself!! The crowd totally went berserk! This little Japanese uncle who composed everything from the gentlest To Zanarkand to the grandest Liberi Fatali was such an eccentric character. Like he took out his crocs to clap with them. Anyway, after a little bantering, the conductor finally said, Nobuo Sensei wanted to join in one last song. And he began to sing – veni, veni, venias…

The whole hall exploded with rapturous screaming (me still being the loudest in the entire Circle 2). And at long last, as the finale, they did the most awesomest Sephiroth’s Theme aka One-Winged Angel.

At the end of the night, I went home with a hoarse voice and a huge, huge grin…

 

Nobuo Uematsu in pink shirt and black crocs

 

By the way, during post-show dialogue, I was very tempted to ask Nobuo Sensei out for supper. But was too chicken to do so, stoopid me! If I ever get to see him again, I would live with no regret…

24X Sgoon Babes Outing

My housemates and I had a blast last Sunday. Ever since Arielle moved in three months ago, this is the first time all four of us actually managed to go out together. Our choice of maiden voyage? Star Trek!!

I have to first clarify once and for all: Star Wars and Star Trek are NOT the same thing! The former’s most famous line is “May the force be with you.” The latter’s is “to boldly go where no man has gone before”. Star Wars is about inter-galaxy travel, weird-looking aliens and laser guns that incapacitate bad guys. Star Trek is about… urh… well, they are just not the same!

If I may also add, Star Trek is NOT for geeks! It must be every reasonable human’s dream to be able to go onboard USS Enterprise at least once in his/her life, sit in the captain’s chair and say, “Lieutenant Sulu, let’s activate the Warp Drive. Shirls, out!”

But I digressed. So it was a Sunday filled with kuay chap, cheap $1 bubble tea, spaceships, explosions, earrings, pasta, mango snow ice and more earrings. In order to commemorate our random outing, we decided to do the Vulcan Salute (as reenacted by Zachary Quinto aka Sylar, who must be the most good-looking Spock ever).

 

Attempt #1 - Success! Got it!! Yay!

Attempt #2 - Failure! (my sis will kill me for posting this picture)

Attempt #3 - Failure! She looks happily resigned...

Attempt #4 - Success! Piece of cake, I can also do it with left hand.

Live long and prosper!

the art of growing up

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.

– Pablo Picasso

revolución caliente

I spent two hours on my day off watching The Motorcycle Diaries. The DVD has been on my pile for months. Glad I’ve finally caught it!
 

 
The movie’s based on the journals of young Ernesto Guevara, the man who would later become, yes, that Che Guevara.

I wonder how many people out there have him on their t-shirts without knowing his controversial ideas. Anyways, I think this movie is a must-watch for everyone with interest in social science (ah, the humanistic subject). I can’t say how valid it is as a political science study; nevertheless, it’s fascinating to look into the birth of a revolutionist.

Though this is a personal blog, I understand I have a public ministry; thus, I shall refrain from expressing personal socio-political views here. The most I can say is there are many people who need help out there. So, so many. One scene in the movie that broke me was when they left a leper colony deep within Peruvian Amazon.

The truth is, there are still colonies like this even today on planet earth. Just like there are still numerous slums in this supposedly progressive world. Critics who say Slumdog Millionaire is an over-dramatisation and peddling of poverty are academics who have never stepped out of their air-conditioned office into the real world.

Growing up in Jakarta, I knew this for myself:  A mother who’d break her son’s leg and make him a cripple for life. Why? So that at least he can beg on the streets. No one would take pity on a healthy boy. And no one would give an uneducated urchin a job anyway. Son, I’d rather have you crippled than starved to death, she’d think.

Seeing how sick this world is can get overwhelming. But I’ve found my peace in God. History’s shown that pinning hopes on a certain politician or economist is unrealistically naive and downright dangerous. The world will not be changed by a lone figure. The world will be transformed by a movement of numerous nameless people who, after tasting grace, become vessels of compassion to the ends of the earth. One life at a time. One city of refuge at a time.

So there you go. Confronted with the evil face of humanity, one can either turn to revolutionary war or remain indifferent and passive (I’m inclined to think the latter is the greater evil). OR one can always turn to revolutionary love.

To end a lighter note, watching the movie made me wanna cross the South America continent! Eelee, it’s high time I visit you to make good of my promise! Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Andes, Easter Island, Machu Picchu… I should start eating bananas everyday in order to save up! Maybe I should get a motorcycle license, too…