Tortured By My Own Ideals

I am an idealist at heart. Yes, I do have my realist ends, but it is that belief in what can be and what should be that drives me to learn and grow in intellect, ability and stature to hopefully influence others who are still clueless at the top of their own ladders. I don't blame them, perhaps ignorance really is bliss, but it is not enough for me to just live my life when deep down I know, and I know I can, transform this landscape that we are in.

Perhaps I was born a few centuries too early, but this is my time. A world full of possibilities. Yet, at every corner, people still amaze me with how backwards we can keep going.

I mourn for our present, and for the death of our possible future, yet I do not give up.

Who else is going to push on?

Not Eating Enough

I need more food.

Of Surprising Ringtones and Earlier Than Expected Exits

My new ring tone is this:

Gershwin Piano Concerto in F, Movement 3.

Yes, it gives me a heart attack when I least expect it, but it is so fun and so me.

One of my favourite contestants in X Factor UK has been voted out. I knew she wouldn't last till the end, but how can she not last longer than Rylan Clark... :( Her performance of INXS' Never Tear Us Apart is a craazy combination of Cruella de Vil, a generic psychotic serial killer and The Godfather. Kudos to her for being the most experienced singer in the competition (not only for being the oldest), I hope she releases something in the future.

Melanie Masson, Never Tear Us Apart. 

Instead Of Panicking Because You Are Without An Umbrella,

do you stop, look up, close your eyes and breath in the air of impending rain. What a calming aroma.

Have a great weekend guys!

Of Multilingual Eunuch's, Post-Midnight Assholes, and Good Byes

The Empress Wu musical at KLPac was such a great experience! The dialogues were in English, but the singing and the honorary titles and greetings were in Mandarin, giving the musical a very fusion theme. However, the content and the script was written in such a way where the historical importance was retold in a relevant yet objective manner. The costumes and set changes were impressive, making use of depth of the audience's vision, directive lighting and a multitude of textures to great effect. Two Eunuchs became semi-narrators of the entire show, showcasing a classical angel and devil element and inserting humour to great effect.

The Empress Wu Musical.

Just, wow. Thanks to my mum for getting me tickets at such short notice. I even set third row from the front in the main auditorium, which meant I could see everything to even greater detail.

Then horror struck.

On my way home, an idiot car who was driving parallel to me suddenly started eating into my lane and I could see that he did not see me. I slammed on the brakes and kinda did a whiplash flick of the steering wheel to the left (and I would lie if I said I wasn't panicking at that exact moment).

Then I heard the loud "BZZQTTKXKXKDDDDDTTT".

Crap.

The car started to feel like the entire left side of the front of the car had been decimated. I quickly made way to the most safe spot on a sloped highway area to survey the damage, keeping my fingers crossed at all time.

I came out and was shocked at first. I couldn't spot any damage on the car. It took me a few seconds more than what a normal person would have taken to see that I only burst my tyre (note that I used burst instead of puncture). I was practically driving on my wheel and a scrapped tyre for a few hundred metres. Took me about 30 minutes to change the tyre, not because I'm clueless, but because it was quite a steep slope and Toyota was an ass for keeping the car jack under the front passenger seat for I-have-no-idea-what-reasons.

I was more irritated an annoyed by that driver with car WNM 6228/6628 (can't remember clearly) than was I scared.

Ass.

Have been feeling lethargic these two days despite having sufficient sleep (7-8 hours).

Oh, and I would like to dedicate today towards a person I have never met, a friend of many friends, but mostly, a stranger. Edwin Siaw, whose condition over the past 2 weeks have gone viral over Facebook, has passed away. I shall not pretend that I am extremely sorrowful, or that I care that much to the point that I share his memorial photos with my friends and visit him. However, it doesn't mean that I am indifferent. I know what I am to him: as much a stranger as he is to me, yet I love him as much as I would love any other human being. I'm not the one to mourn for him and comfort the grieving ones in his inner and outer circles. I am just a good soul, reaching into what remains of his memories and connections to other people to appreciate his existence in this world, the legacy he has left behind during this past 24 years.

God bless you Edwin Siaw Won Kien, 1988-2012.

Empress Wu's Sudden Invitation

Suddenly managed to get a single ticket to tonight's performance of the musical Empress Wu at KLPac (I could have gotten more for people to come with me, but it was a very last minute thing and no one seemed to respond to my invitation). Will just go enjoy myself.

Yesterday performance of Ovation by The Canticle Singers is indeed great effort. Yes, there were sections where the chorale went a little flat and I hate the narrator breaking the fourth wall and flow, but it is still worth going for.

And I saw the closest thing to a bag I am finding for myself. It was sold at Fossil at RM1149...

I'll pass for now. T.T

Yesterday's cheat day didn't seem cheat-y at all. I felt more like just getting back to the diet plan. Maybe I'll just switch to having cheat meals after my workouts rather than a cheat day.

Push and Shove Food Into Mouth, Swallow, Don't Vomit and Reward with Culture

Was too unmotivated to blog although I did have content, but here's a photo-laden update.

Over the weekend, I bought my very first ever original album:

Push and Shove, No Doubt

I'm proud of myself. It's not a big feat or anything, but I've finally come to the point that I can selectively support artistes which I love. It is an album with mixed songs, but stays true to their roots in ska rock.

Another great person I'm looking out for is Melanie Masson of the X Factor UK. She probably won't win (because she doesn't seem to have mass appeal), but if she releases anything I'll buy it. Shut up and take my money.

Every Time You Go Away, Melanie Masson

I had a close friend come up from Singapore during the weekend too, and he recommended and lent me a book: The Four Hour Body by Tim Ferris. I'm not a person who likes to subscribe to a specific health paradigm that fast, but the arguments in the book is compelling, and I decided to try the Slow Carb Diet (I started this Monday) and also Occam's Protocol (probably starting next week). for perhaps a month and see what happens. I liked the analogy called The Harajuku Moment (which is something I kind of already know, simply a tipping point, but I liked the choice of words he used which happened to coincide with Gwen Stefani's love for Harajuku culture).

The Harajuku Moment

The Malaysian diet availability is not very conducive to the Slow Carb Diet, and diet is key to the success of the workout system (like every other program). It's nothing new to need to stuff your body with food, and technically I get the freedom to load up on anything that's allowed to unlimited amounts (and also have several ingredients that I can eat in small amounts, like nuts and butter).

There is also a sad disparity in pricing of goods in Malaysia. My staple for lunch for this diet is cap fan or mixed rice, where I include two vegetables (usually spinach which is highly recommended and another choice vegetable or beans which almost never appear) and one protein, and obviously exclude rice. This was what I had yesterday:

Slow Carb Diet, Lunch 1

Guess how much it costed? Ten freaking Ringgit. I could buy 4 raw huge chicken breasts for that money (or perhaps even more). Today I ate lunch at a shop just at the opposite corner of the same row of shophouses:

This only costed Four Ringgit. I could buy 2.5 times what I bought yesterday. I think even these food operators should still be bound to some sort of consumer board control, tsk.

Will update the blog with my progress with the diet and workout.

Other than that, I'm just flowing through life.

Oh! And enjoyed my MPO concert last weekend too. They were playing Beethoven's Symphony No.1 and No. 3 (Eroica). I was worried that I wouldn't be in the mood to fathom that music, but it was the perfect pieces for that moment for me. :3 Happy days indeed. With the Ovation concert coming up this weekend and Yundi Li and my godbro's performance next month, I'm musically fed well. So happy!