5:51am musings

So today is the 22nd of September. So fast, man! It's gonna be Short+Sweet Musical next week!

Tomorrow, I mean today, we're gonna be having our very last rehearsal for Dim Sum Masala. I'm so excited for it to be staged! It's gonna be so kool! Also I can't wait to (not) see all the other musicals. Harumph. They're so strict this year that we can't even watch the musicals that are going on and have to sit in the dressing rooms. 

But I'm not gonna let that deter me! It's gonna be amazing! Some of the people who were involved in Stand Up Comedy and Song are also gonna be involved in Musical. Sooo yeah.

On other aspects of my life:

1. Exams are over. I'm temporarily free. That is, till exam results come, thus determining whether I'll be permanently free of the shackles that are the UTAR system.

2. Jordan is having PMR in two weeks, nay, TEN DAYS. Kill me la.

3. Well that's pretty much it. My life aint that eventful.

4. Oh yeah wait I need to introduce someone who has come back into my life after moving to Ipoh for the longest time!

Friend of 15 years, Kesha!

KESHA! She's now back at Bukit Antarabangsa and we have all the time in the world to meet up and chat. Before this I really thought we'd have to settle for the meager hours she could spare whenever she came down from Ipoh to visit relatives. I'm really glad that she's back in my life! :) 

HAS ANYONE NOTICED WHAT AN AWESOME BAG I HAVE? THANK YOU! :D

Congratulations Jordi!

Tonight was the end of Short+Sweet Stand Up Comedy and Song 2013. Another year has gone by and I have met more amazing people. One of the best things I love about taking part in Short+Sweet is the chance to meet people and work with them. But this year the best thing I love about Short+Sweet is that...

JORDI JENKINS WON 1ST RUNNER UP FOR STAND UP COMEDY!

I'm so proud of Jordi because let me tell you, he's always been so hard on himself. I remember the countless nights talking to him on the phone and on Skype, encouraging him and sometimes consoling him. Haha. I remember working on his sets for the shows he was gonna have the next day and how he'd be freaking out when I tell him what I thought. I remember going to his shows and watching him perform and see him slowly get better and more confident. :)

Stand up comedy has always been Jordi's thing and this year he's really proved himself. Since the opening night of Short+Sweet Stand Up Comedy people kept telling me how confident they thought Jordi was this year and how good he has become. :) So it was no surprise that Jordi won this year and while it's 5.30am and I'm sounding very incoherent and repetitive, I'm just so happy for Jordi that I decided to blog about it.

Ohhh on our third night, Jordi was very well received by the crowd. He was thronged by girls who wanted to have their picture taken with the stand up comedian who was by no means the funniest that night and apparently the most charming. ;)

Okay so I haven't blogged in more than a year. Trust me I have been trying but I've been feeling very bleh about my writing. So I'm just gonna let it be and try to continue and hope that it gets better. :P

Anyways! So that's that for Stand Up Comedy 2013! On to Musical! :)

Accomplishment!

There’s no better way to achieve the highest level of satisfaction than escalating productivity. Okay so I’ve only been working, so to speak, for two days, but it feels great to have completed something.

Yesterday I learned a bhajan from a video on YouTube. It was quite a nice bhajan in Ragam Shankarabharanam. The guy taught the notations as well so it was easy to understand. At the spur of the moment, when he sang the first line of the song, I took a pencil and paper and started writing. So now I’ve added a new entry to my list of bhajans. I can’t wait to start teaching bhajans. Teaching has always been what I expect to do after studying. Once I’ve learned something I can’t wait to show someone else how to do what I do. Hmm I think it’s a mixture of pride and my insatiable need to show off. Not entirely selfless. Oh well. What to do?

I did not stop there though. Later that night I looked for a song called ‘Ksheerabdhi Kanyakaku’ by Annamarchaya. It describes the beauty of goddess Lakshmi from head to toe (it gets a little vulgar at some parts, but in a devotional way :P ), and the composer’s desire to worship her (or maybe ‘worship’, if you know what I mean :P ). Anyway, the version I have is by Anil Srinivasan (piano) and Subiksha Rangarajan (vocals). Oh my god I could die listening to Subiksha’s rendition of the song. The first time I heard it, it was during Anil Srinivasan and Sikkil Gurucharan’s concert during India Beat last year. I cried teared heavily when they opened with this song. I almost died la.

Anyway I think you get how much I love this song. Subiksha’s version is quite heavy with all the brigas and all. So I found one with simpler rhythm: MS Subbulakshmi’s. My connection was a bitch last night but tonight it’s being such a good little discovery of physics that allows us to connect with the rest of the world so I’m going to attempt to download it. Then I shall learn it one of these days.

And by telling you that it was being good I jinxed the connection. It just told me it was unable to download the video. Thank you you useless discovery of mankind that is of no use to me whatsoever.

Oh look at that. It’s downloading now. I love my connection.

Just now I was watching Friends and Facebooking. Tired of virtual conversations and the eye-strain causing glare of the screen while watching Friends, I decided to do my usual Carnatic research. I tried to search for songs by Muthuswamy Dikshitar, one of the Trinity of carnatic music. I found a video of a woman singing a Dikshitar song in Hindolam ragam in absolute horrendousness. So I scrolled down the list of suggested videos and somehow thought of searching for a long forgotten video of Jai Khalsa performing Pushpanjali.

Ah Nattai! Such a wonderful ragam. I’d forgotten how much I loved this Pushpanjali that she performed so I decided to learn it. I’ve seen my teacher perform this many many times but of course I’ve never known the words to the song. It’s quite difficult and I’ve never been able to find it online. Screw the world, I thought, for not being dependable enough. I took the bull by the horns and took out my pencil and paper.

PUSHPANJALI Ragam: Nattai Taalam: Adi

Tham ×3 Tham Kita Taka Thit Tho Thanga Takutham

Dheem ×3 Dheen Kita Taka Thit Tho Thanga Dikuthai

That Tho Takatham Than ×4 Thim ×4

Thakatho Than ×4 Thakutha Thim

Dit ×4 Thai Dhikuthaka Dit Tho Hastanga

Dhiku Thaka Dit Tho Hastanga, Dit Tho Hastanga, Taka Tom Tha

Dut Thakita Thimtha Thomtha Thom Thom Taka Tham Tom Dheem

Thom Dikku That That Tom Tom Thakatham Tom Dheem

Tham Tham Thim Thim Thim That Tho Thanga Thakutaa Dheem

Mooshiga Vahana Mothaga Hasta

Shyamala Karna Vilangkita Sutra

Vaamala Roopa Maheshwara Putra

Vikna Vinayaka Paada Namaste

Thikutham Thikutham Thikuthat Thari That That Tham

Dut That Kita Janu Thaka Tom Tom Thakatam Tom Tom Thakatham Tom Them

Phew. It was not so difficult to get the words. But I feel so accomplished. :D Oh the words might be wrong here and there because I might have heard wrongly. Especially the “Vaamala roopa” and “Vilangkita sutra” parts. The second words I know are right but I’ve no idea what “Vaamala” and “Vilangkita” mean.

But there. Now I shall never forget the words because I can always check here if I lose the paper I wrote them down on.

Bye for now. :P

The OC

It's been so long that I forgot that there used to be an awesome show called The OC long long ago back in the day. It was friggin awesome show.

We've been on the run, driving in the sun, lookin' out for number one, California here we come~

Oh god I miss this show. I remember the first time I watched it. I saw a box set sitting on the table one night, and found out that my sister had borrowed a new show from her friend called The OC. Sounds dumb, I thought. Who knew a newfound love and adoration for a television series started there and then itself.

Okay so it didn't start with intrigue or curiosity, I can tell you that. It started with boredom and the lack of studying for PMR. I used to stay up late to 'study' for the impending doom (or so I thought it was, as I always assume for upcoming exams) that was PMR. The prospect of death and massacre whilst attempting the exam didn't scare me as much as I thought it would because I managed to squeeze some reading and tv watching during those 'study' hours. And when I say some, I mean a lot.

I started reading the Shopaholic series during my 'study' time. That was only because I had no other books to read in the house except for the (tons of) motivational books ('Who Moved My Cheese?' anyone?) my dad kept upstairs and the the books my sister had. So obviously I chose the latter.

Then came The OC. Ah. The OC. Once I started I couldn't stop. I watched at least three episodes per night. Two seasons. Oh the joy.

The show started off quite well, with Ryan Atwood the bad boy brought to a new town he was most unaccustomed to, by his lawyer, when Ryan gets into trouble. When Ryan's family leaves home without him his lawyer, Sandy Cohen decides to take him in. Ryan, while being smart and grateful to the Cohens for their hospitality and kindness just can't help but get into trouble. He frequently drags the Cohens' son Seth into his issues mostly because Seth pretty much an asshole who can't shut up to save his life. Despite his track record, Ryan's an awesome guy. He's nice to Seth; they become best friends (obviously). A lot of typical high-class society drama comes up in the show as expected of these kinds of shows but they weren't so bad. I mean the town bully who was the girl-next-door Marissa Cooper's boyfried (typical) found out that his dad was gay (atypical). Looool. The show was so awesome.

And I can't remember why I stopped watching it. I should go get the box sets. <3

Update

I'm finally going back to music class tomorrow after three weeks of not going. I'm so excited. The only thing I'm worried about is that I haven't been practising so... :S But that's never stopped me from having fun. We'll be preparing for our Navarathri performance this coming September. I checked the date and guess whaaaaat? Navarathri is after my finals. Yaaaaaaaays! :D:D I'll get to follow my teacher for all the performances like last year. There's nothing like a spiritual experience everyday to get you through a religious celebration.

Anyway after the online quiz that's due tomorrow I'm free for two weeks. No tests, no assignments, nothing. Nada. I felt a wave of relief passing through me as I submitted my assignment today. But when I handed it in to the officer in charge of collecting the assignments she told me that the lecturer forgot to mention that we are required to submit a soft copy of the assignment. So that means more work. Must submit on Thursday to him. Sigh.

But still. I'm not gonna let that put a damper on my spirits. This week's week ten. That means the bar list will be coming out next week. Which means I have till the end of the week to make sure I don't get barred from the exams. Which pretty much might happen because...well...my attendance leaves much to be desired, namely the attendance itself.

Well now I'm stressed all over again.

Damn it.

Education is wasted on today's kids

Jordan did a good job at pissing me off today. Zomg la. The kid's thirteen and he's still confused by division and multiplication problem questions.

Kids nowadays are too smart for their own good.

Me: Jordan, 10 apples cost RM50. How much does one apple cost?

Jordan: *laughs like a maniac* So expensive ah one apple?

=.=

Me: 10 pencils cost RM20

Jordan: *bursts out laughing*

Me: Fine. 10 multi-functional pens (red, blue, black pens and a pencil all in one) cost RM20

Jordan: That's too cheap! Haahahahaaahaha!

Motherf-

Me: Jordan, 10 books cost RM30. How much does one book cost?

Jordan: Well, that would depend on what book it is.

Good god.

Me: FINE. 10 laptops RM10,000. Is that reasonable enough for you?

Jordan: Well that would depend. A Toshiba laptop would cost RM2500.

And then I choke him to death.

The end.

No more god damn pie.

Flash Forward is a dumb show that should have been cancelled the moment the script was finalised

I was just looking through the videos I have on my computer and I can't believe I still have Flash Forward, that piece of crap, rotting away in My Videos.

You know what a piece of crap Flash Forward is? Let me show you.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

The first episode was kind of good actually. I was really intrigued with the idea that the whole world blacked out for about two minutes and saw what they thought was their future.

Also the part where they checked the security camera in that stadium where everyone was blacked out BUT THIS ONE GUY WHO WAS JUST WALKING AROUND. Like woaaaaaah! I shriveled at that part. Zomg orgasmic.

The first episode ended with them looking at the computer screen saying "Who the hell is that? An why are they awake?" TEN-TEN-TEN-TENNNNNN!

There's nothing like a good conspiracy theory. They suspected that he was involved in the planning of the black out. Yes they started assuming the possibility of an arranged operation in the works.

Anyway, as the show proceeded into the later episodes the plot thickened.

Dead birds. Oooh creepy.

I stepped into my "Oh-give-me-a-break" mode then and there itself. But I thought that I shouldn't be so quick to judge. There's bound to be an explanation and a consequence to that part. There was.

Big tall structure in the middle of Somalia. Thousands of birds flocking towards it and all drop dead.

THE CREATORS OF THE SHOW TRIED TO MIND FUCK WITH US.

It all went downhill from there. I couldn't take the show seriously anymore.

Episode four was quite good though. Aside from the fact that Dimitri took the entire team on a wild goose chase to god knows where and found nothing but some dude carrying drugs. That would have been a valuable plot for, I dunno, Law and Order maybe? But let's forget the fact that episode four was probably made to stall the audience from focusing on the real plot of the story because the Mosaic team accomplished nothing but wastage of thousands of dollars of taxpayers money. Look at me, talking like an American. What the hell, I'm straying from my point. Now I'm talking like a Malaysian lawyer. Whooooop. Lol.

Anyway I was saying why episode four was so good. Because of Bryce and Olivia's latest case, a man who survived a bus crash and felt no stress response. So kool. Like something off Grey's Anatomy or or ER or something. But that's all.

Ooh the introduction of a new character, Alda Hertzog. That was unforseen. I mean. They practically nabbed a pedestrian and starting asking her "What do you know about the black out?" Dumbasses. Alda, the bitch, told them "You're wasting your energy on what caused the black out, who's responsible. You're ignoring the most profound question of all: Why?"

AH-HAH! TAKE THAT BITCHES.

And then she started blurting out these Sufi parables. Who the fuck was this lady? WHY was the black out caused it seems. More questions.

At this point I nearly gave up watching this dumb show. And I was only in episode four.

And then that motherfucker with the bloody British accent (who had a vision that he slept with Olivia, which he eventually did because the both of them decided that they couldn't fight "Fate") had to get a call from that guy from the LOTR movies saying that they were responsible for the black out.

JENG JENG JENG

This pretty much went out till the end of the series where, honestly speaking, bias aside, no questions were answered.

- The viewers found out about a double agent working in Mosaic.

- The double agent had a contact who made it look like there was something really huge going down (of course she had to, the creators of the show might have been grasping at straws for anything that would keep audeince viewing) that she, the double agent couldn't know about because she wasn't high level yet.

- Then they were attacked by Chinese dudes who came out of nowhere.

- The double agent was actually a triple agent. Yow-za.

And there was another black out.

I am NOT kidding.

And the show got cancelled. Go figure.

And then Joseph Fiennes had the gall to say they were going somewhere with the show its just that it was taking just a little while to unravel. Yeah right. They probably didn't even know where they were going with it.

Such a dumb show.

Oh well at least there's pie.