Monday, January 01, 2007

Generally speaking , I had a pretty good year overall for 2006 even though initally I had a really rough patch but like how my mum put it , the closing of this chapter was pretty much a happy ending on everybody's part.

But yeah like what I said eariler , I hit a rough snag at the beginning of 2006. I lost 1 of my friends Tracie on Feb 22nd '06 which was like a huge slap in my face . She passed away due to her inborn lung illness since young & she was only about 32 I think.

Everybody in ggates already knew her condition all this while but it still came as a shock to everyone . I had been pretty close to Tracie for the past 3 years or so & I remembered all the times that I spent talking to her on MSN about Gareth Gates . Those were the days which I sorely missed & I will cherish it for sure.

Even though I never met her in person , I still remembered Tracie as a strong & tough fighter who was always smiling despite her date with death but at least right now I know she will never suffer again & that she has already joined her late best friend in heaven.

Most of the times , I always had very bad depression spells during March/April & in 2006 I wasn't spared . In fact 2006 was the worst case of depression spells I ever had .

Cos of Tracie's death + some problems going on at home (mainly $ issues) + stupid horrible admin system that took place in which I foolishly follow the leader aka chose the wrong poly course after I finished my ITE education (that's graduated from ITE this April ) + the fact that I couldn't connect with people in my ex poly class cos I joined the class 2 weeks late + other factors , which led me to a major emotional meltdown.

It got so bad that after less than 1 month in poly , I quit my course . I don't blame anyone , I just blame myself for stupidly choosing the wrong course just bcos for the sake of choosing . It wasn't bcos of my lousy GPA even though by right I scored 3.867 overall during my 2 years in ITE . Let's just put it this way , bad decision making on my part.

Even after a while , with my mum signing me up for a private 3 years degree course (initally she wanted me to just do a private diploma programme of my course can you believe it ) , the situation didn't fared any better . I haven't fully recovered emotionally .

& when my Uni course started in late May , I did have thoughts of quitting once again cos I couldn't adjust to the system & life of a Uni student & it was a rather big culture shock & a huge leap from ITE to Uni seeing that the steps that I took were enormous & frankly really frightening . It's like hello my 2 sisters haven't gone to Uni yet & I'm the 1st in my family to go for it you know what I'm saying ? So I had no 1 to turn to for help or so I thought.

My poor mum was not spared from all these trauma that I caused on my part & most nights/days when she came back from work , we always argued over this matter in which I blew it up outta proportion while she just think of it as a silly small matter .

It doesn't help matters that I thought oh I need to score a certain set of grades & that I have to top the class in order to please people as I was so used to getting nothing but As & Bs in ITE . Definitely March , April , May & June were the darkest periods of my life for 2006. But in due time , I successfully fought the dark ages & came out to be a more stronger emotional person & learnt that the only person I should please's myself & also my parents didn't set a crazy target for me to achieve even though I must admit my internal constant struggle with my dark side is a never ending battle so it's not over ... yet .

Luckily , thanks to a tremendous big network of support that I got from my close friends & relatives , I slowly settled into Uni life & adjusted my way of thinking & came to conclude that it doesn't really matter that much on the grades that I will get in Uni but as long as it's a pass & of a decent grade , hey that's good enough .

& besides I had to be realistic now , just like what my former ITE form teacher Ms Sharon Yeo once told me in that it's no longer ITE anymore . It's Uni , which's a brand new chapter in my education life .

I went back to basics with my Uni coursework & applied whatever skills that I learnt in ITE to good use & slowly but surely I saw positive results on my part & I had to be quite disciplined as mostly it's all on my own aka self studying .

Just like any other people , I'm had little or no motivation in carrying out such a major task but after I strengthen my thoughts , re-evaluate my goals & motives in life , I came out in full force & turned my life around which was really amazing & impressive with help from a few friends too.

& what better way to wrap up my 1st semester than to score a fantastic 3 As & a B for my subjects which was like the icing on the cake . I know 2007's gonna be yet another tough year studies & emotions wise but I'm prepared to make things work with tons of sheer iron & willpower.


But on whole I'm glad that I didn't just quit & drop everything like a hot potato or else I will lost the plot.

Onto happier things , I took my interest of music to a whole new level . After getting MySpace this March/April , I connected with local musicians & got to learn & open my eyes to the local music scene which was something that I never thought I will be doing at all .

Also I got to meet a whole group of people who shared the same interests as me in which I eventually became friends with some of them . It's like finally cos for my case , I have difficultly communicating with people who're the same age or younger than me but somehow I have a knack for communicating well with people who're older than me . It's weird I know but it has been a proven fact for me since young.

& probably 1 of the biggest high notes for me in 2006 was knowing & meeting everyone from Electrico including Leonard Soosay who's their 6th member & practically like da man in the local music scene . If you don't know him , it's as good as saying that you don't know who our Prime Minister is & every local musician would know what great things Leonard has done for the scene.

I have been helping & supporting Electrico out almost like from the beginning of their 'relaunched' career & I loved every single moment of it which was priceless on all accounts & when I finally met everyone in person at the NDP eve countdown gig that took place at Esplanade , I was scared initially but that fear soon was replaced with warmth & respect from the guys & girl .

I was surprised when everyone with the exception of Daniel has been wanting to see me for the longest time ever since I got MySpace . I had no idea what Dan has been telling the rest about me but it's super rad & since then I went onto attending more of their gigs in which the last one I attended of theirs for 2006 was LIME Sonic Bang (LSB) .

Strangely enough , the stand out ones that I enjoyed took place of all places was at the S'pore Science Centre & not to forget the one at Esplanade too & you bet that I will attend more of their gigs in time to come in 2007 !

They're doing S'pore proud in all levels & I'm happy that they 'invited' to let me walk with them in this journey . No wait , in fact I'm damn honoured to , right from the start . Hope 2007 will have even more great things installed for them in which I know that will happen as they will be heading to Austin , Texas in March for the SXSW festival & before that staging their 1st full length concert at NUS's UCC Hall on March 2nd !

Other than Electrico , I recently started helping & getting quite close with the kind good folks of Lunarin . I 1st heard about them from Dan cos he's friends with the frontwoman of Lunarin aka Linda but other than that , I didn't know what to expect from them , music wise.

It was only til I got hold of my own MySpace account & I went onto logging onto their official MySpace site which let me to chance upon their music which really blew me away & hard to believe that they played such great music of high calibre.

Is a pity that they're not getting the same kinda recognition as Electrico are cos Lunarin's music's not mainstream stuff & they definitely deserve to if you ask me . Rather Lunarin plays a mean mix of alternative rock music like it's not a bad thing . In fact I appluade them for sticking with their roots & not doing something similar as what other local acts are doing . Hopefully all that will change in 2007 !

I 1st caught Lunarin's performance at the StompCast acoustic gig that took place at Library@Orchard around Sept & I had a great time , before & post gig . I hang out with everyone & they're really nice friendly people to be with which's a major sharp contrast to their press pics man & the next gig I went to was LSB in which I had a even more hella good time with everyone & with their unofficial roadie Tim too & yup you can definitely say that I will attend even more of their gigs in time to come .

In fact I will be attending Stasis 9 this coming Sat so I'm looking forward to it in that Linda said that it will be an electrifying set in which I think it will be great . For LSB , I didn't fully enjoyed the whole set cos they only performed Absolution & MIDAS live . This coming Sat , they better do a full set ok !

Frankly speaking , I can communicate with the folks of Lunarin slightly better than Electrico . Not sure why but it's better than not able to communicate at all !

Other than that , I also went to a lot of gigs , the most I ever went since ... I don't know when ! I 1st started attending them in Aug in which the 1st one was the NDP eve countdown gig & since than I attended a whole string of gigs in which most of them admission's free haha

I saw a lot of local acts's performances for the very 1st time . Some I can think of right now were Auburn's Epiphany , Elsa , The Love Experiment , Serenaide , Force Vomit , Astreal (2x times & counting , they're damn good live . Hope to meet the trio face to face in their next gig ) , Corrinne May (FINALLY got to see her performance at her sold out Christmas With Corrinne May concert that took place in Dec it rawk ! ) , Imran , S'pore Idol 2 runner up Jonahan Leong , Dubious Brothers & many more .

This's my version of partying seeing that I don't like to go to clubs/pubs/discos so yup there you go & another high note for me is when Leo told me on MySpace that I'm the biggest supporter for local music in which it's really flattering coming from him but honestly , I'm just an ordinary person who likes good music but still it's cool , very cool.

& you bet that I will attend more of such events in 2007 !

On the side of friendship , my relationship with Dan has been even more stronger than before even though I have to admit , there were some 'things' that happened in the later part of 2006 in which it's mostly my fault & not his but eventually I managed to banish those negative thoughts & came to accept him as a nice person with a good heart who in turn , can pass off like my older brother in which I'm happy to have for that part . Not his 'bullying' & 'tormenting' antics though , I can deal with less of that haha

But yeah , thanks to his countless support & help on tons of issues from educating me about the music industry , the what's & knowabouts in Electrico , my constant nag of problems , I managed in Uni & he has been a great wonderful guy as he has been there & done that so he understands what I'm going though in which I'm really grateful for his support for the longest time so many thanks dude , I owe you lots & big time !


Sometimes I drive him up the wall with my problems . I know he never says anything or probably I might be mistaken but I can sense it with my 6th sense in that sometimes I do go over the limit so probably this's 1 aspect that I have to change & let go slowly .

So this means in exchange for all that Dan has done for me for all this while , I have to support & help Electrico for life haha not that I'm complaining .

Special shoutouts to the same group of friends that I still have . A big Kallang wave to my ex ITE friends Su-H , Dila , Fieza , Wan Zhen , Liyana . Also to Angeline , Suzy , Jiha , Jenny , Maggie & a big hello once again to my ex sec school friend Kelvin & many more that I might have missed out.

Another big Kallang wave to new friends/good kind people that I met & know in 2006 in the form of Linda , ET , Y , Tim , Fuzz , Des , Amanda , Leonard , Elsa , Saha & so many others that I probably have left out . So sorry too many names to remember you all know who you're . Hope I will get to know everyone a bit more better in 2006 then !

People whom I know then & now , thanks for changing my life in more than ways that I can ever imagine in 2006 . Hope the same thing/s that happen in 2007 !

Before I wrapped things up , thank goodness I decided to revert back to my original real McCoy Eng name of Karen last Feb/March . Was so stupid to change it to a stupid corny sounding Shayera/Shay/Shayren .

Luckily that few weird sounding names didn't stick for long so I can heave a sigh of relief that I revert back to plain 'ol Karen . Sure , it's a common name but sometimes being a plain Jane ain't so bad isn't it ?

Here's to a even better & more fruitful 2007 everyone :)

++++++++

:: Me Me Me ::



Name :: Hui Min / Karen

B'Day :: 10.1.1987

Occupation :: Uni Student

Location :: Singapore

Been Blogging Since :: 7th Feb '05

No Music No Life - My Music Blog @ Blogspot

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* Happy 3rd Anniversary , KAT-TUN !
* On My Mind Eng Translated Lyrics
* RESCUE Eng Translated Lyrics
* Believe Eng Translated Lyrics
* ONE DROP Eng Translated Lyrics
* Last Post Before 2009
* truth/Kaze no Mukou e Eng Translated Lyrics
* The Click Five's Modern Minds And Great Times Tour
* Early Celebrations Of My 21st B'Day
* Inspirations From Hema's Blog Entry
* 2007 On A Glance
* Aust In A Nutshell
* 987 Stripped With The Click Five + Autograph Session
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* Electrico @ Sony Ericsson's Traffic Jam Street Party @ Connaught Drive
* Caracal & SkiVe In Performance @ Esplanade
* Feeling Good With Nathan Hartono
* Rock For Wayne
* Witnessing SkiVe Doing The Recording Of 987 Home
* Lunarin Does Acoustic @ library@esplanade
* Another Sunday Afternoon @ Far East Plaza
* 987 Control Songlist Set
* The Observatory @ NUS's UCC Theatre
* Sending Electrico Off
* Lunarin's Read My Lips @ NUS's UCC
* Live In New Wave Pics Galore
* Electrico's Live In New Wave Concert Details
* Electrico Going On Indefinite Hiatus
* My Long OverDue B'day Pressie
* Electrico Performs At Ngee Ann Open House
* Happy 20th B'day To Me !
* Stasis9 With Lunarin
* 2006 Recaps
* Christmas With Corrinne May
* Say Hello To My New Friend
* Power Rangers - Forever Red
* LIME Sonic Bang Mayhem Round 2
* LIME Sonic Bang Mayhem Round 1
* Explore S'pore With Astreal & Electrico
* Genting Trip {24th - 27th Nov '06}
* Gigs Galore Here I Come !
* A Pet Kitty Named Homework
* Out & About With Lunarin
* Happy 'Unofficial Electrico' 2nd Anniversary !
* Hady Da New S'pore Idol & Then Some
* Love In New Wave's No1 !
* Forums Emerged
* Waterfest Mayhem
* Electrico's Amazing Race Asia Tour Gig Details
* Bar None Rock Affair Gig Details
* Bar None Rock Affair Soundcheck/Before Gig Details
* NDP Eve Countdown Gig @ Esplanade With Electrico
* New Friendship Forged
* Amusing Accident Account
* My CD Review Of Electrico's 2nd Album Hip City
* 2006 ITE Graduation
* 1st Blog Anniversary
* 2005 Recap
* Double Bill Gig @ Bar None Part 1
* Double Bill Gig @ Bar None Part 2
* Fabled Angst Machine Lyrics
* Double Bill Gig Tickets Pics
* Double Bill Gig News
* Electrico's Sound Therapy Gig @ Esplanade

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:: Poem ::

O Mortals !
What is Love
That binds beyond life on earth ?

To all corners
in a pair we fly
Braving summer
and winter by and by

Union is bliss ;
parting is woe !
Agony is boundless
for a lovelorn soul !

Sweetheart ,
give me word ...
Trail of clouds
drifting forward ...

Amid mountains
capped with snow
Whither shall
my lonesome
shadow go ??

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:: Credits ::



Jars Of Jupiter