All Performance Videos - Posted by Reuben!

Hey, back with the updates on the performance. Reuben actually edited all the videos for me and posted all of it in You Tube! So kind of him! Thanks Reuben , I owed you a big fat meal! Here I shall post all the songs again:



1st Song: 我愿意 (Wo Yuan Yi)

2nd Song: Sway

3rd Song : Black Magic Woman

Last Song: Wonderful Tonight

Thanks guys for supporting us! And, thanks Reuben once again.

We did Great for the Performance!

We had just finished our performance few hours back and I felt it was a great outcome. I was satisfied with my singing and I was pleased with my band members. They did faboulously. I felt really good with the supports of friends, colleagues, students and even some graduated students who came and witnessed our live performance. I sang naturally and wanted to give the best and not to disappoint my band.

I did introduced ourselves by saying - "We called ourselves After Hours because we practiced after works". And then intentionally, I didn't tell them about our first song because it was differently interpreted and re-arranged to match instruments used in our band. The first song is popularized by Faye Wong, 我願意(I'm Willing (Wo Yuan Yi)).

The second song we attempted was Sway by Michael Buble. I sang much better compared with many occasions because it was played live and collaborated with this band.

The third song was Black Magic Woman by Santana. This was the song I mentioned earlier where I faced so many obstacles because the pronounciation and rhythm doesn't sticks to the beat and count. But I did it well tonight. It gave me an opportunity to change genre of singing differently.

I'm still uploading some videos taken from my digital camera of the performance. Now, there's only half of a song had been uploaded. Take a look first:





I will upload more next time. And, I would also like to thank Reuben, Mafex, Jo and Boyce for recording video for me as well as take photographs of our performance. Appreciated it!

Final Practice before the Show!

Finally, after a month of anticipations and jammings, the show is about to begin! Our final jamming will be tomorrow and everything must be PERFECT ! - yes, I mean PERFECT. For every band members as well as my goal, is to ensure everything goes as smoothly as possible for a performance. For everyone's information -whenever I sing karaoke for practising my vocal, if something doesn't sounds right, I can always "replay" and sing again. But, for a "live" performance, all the hardships and sweats for perfecting pitch and sound, all goes to only one-take of a performance - No "rewind", nothing non-linear. It's totally linear.

I wish it to be a great performance on Friday. Maybe it is not a big event, but I always appreciate performance's opportunities especially this round, where I met talented band members who are willing to put up their efforts for the show. I shall do my best!

Friday is our finale, our due and I hope it will be glorious. I will post the songs as I did converted it into MP3 for post-events! I remembered Bern (bass guitarist) said to me earlier about this statement "Take care of your voice!". I think I should. I should even sleep now. Seeya!

Here are short clips of them warming up before jamming:

Date : 12 December 2008
Time : Approximately 630 - 700pm
Venue: The One Academy
Event: Moon Cake Festival

Wish me Luck!!!!!!!!!

Bali - My Ideal Paradise - 01

I wanted to edit all the photographs and put it up here, but it was too much tasks for this near-midnight. I think I shall stop look at other photographs but just post few interesting photographs first for this first post about Bali. The trip was fun but short.. I think it was too short to enjoy the Balinese breezes and sun. I wanted so much to dip in the clear water ocean, but well, I guess I have to give and take for the trip. I shall called it as "Sight-seeing, relax, shopping and shopping" trip. My post this time is not going to be in sequence, but would like to tell my trip's stories here and there.

Let's begin my story with the place we stay: Kuta- yes, we stayed at Kuta Beach, - well as many people actually said the beach is polluted and messy, but I actually enjoyed it well enough. We got to stay a little bit further of Kuta Beach and the hotel is called Haris Hotel. It is different from the rest of the hotels because it is modern. I noticed alot of Malaysians who took the same flight, stayed in the same hotel. I think it must be economical, but clean and looks great in the same time. Luckily, I woke up early in the morning for a quick swim before our day tour. It was fun and cool. The hotel is decent enough, really.

I managed to travel with friends who are nice and warm, as we did managed the trip with satisfaction, compromising with each other, despite the time, few of us spent alot of time to choose paintings to buy back! Ops.. we shall not do that again! Promised! If given another chance, I shall travel with them again.

Next , let me talk about a great dinner place called Jimbaran. We went there on the first night. It is famous for their beach restaurants where one can enjoy their fabulous dinner and if lucky enough, will be able to feel the breezes, hear the sound of strong waves, and also, enjoy a great moment of warm sunset. Romantic. I did experienced all of it except the sunset. The meal that we took was equally tasty: a combo meal that comprises of a rattan basket of seafood with a bowl of rice. (Our dinner was in the package of our tour. It was decent).

The reason of missing the sunset at Jimbaran (on the first day of tour) was because we spent a better view in Uluwatu. Uluwatu is an art spot as well as temple where people would be able to do their prayer on top of the high land facing the ocean, and if interested, there's another spot for people to watch traditional dance (but need to pay for it). We skip both of it anyway, and concentrated on the impressive sunset. The view was great, with high cliffs and rocks near ocean. It reminded me of Great Ocean Road of Australia. It was superb, really breath taking. Despite the great view of Uluwatu, we were warned by our tour guide about the monkeys who happen to be "pencuri" - they always take advantage by stealing spectacles and anything that looks edible and playable. They even opened zip of bags too! My friend was a victim and I did "Hooooii!!" the monkey away. So clever. Uluwatu is amazing except ... the monkeys - they are.. hmmm.. not so beautiful.

We were lucky to experience Balinese's prayers and ceremonies alongside of our trip because we were told that on the Saturday when we landed, it was a holy day for prayer, and in fact, it was a holiday for all Balinese. We saw alot of people wearing their traditional clothes: sarong for males, see-through kebayas (with their bras) and sarongs for females. I did captured some photographs of their prayer in Tanah Lot. I also did took photographs of these group of aunties sitting nearby the pathway, preparing their folds to sell to people for prayer. They were co-operative. One auntie saw me taking photograph of them. I walked really quickly away.

Tanah Lot is really mystical. One of the temples is on a small island where nobody shall cross the ocean to reach it when it is high tide. Only low tide, it is permittable for people to worship their god in that temple. The other temple is located at the other side of the rocky island where it forms a curve below. The temple is located at the far end where one have to cross over the small path to reach it. If it's really big wave, it could hit the top of the temple. It was really amazing.

Tanah Lot also comprises of so many small shops where I did many bargains to buy alot of things there: rattan handbags, percussion drum, wood carved cats and animals. Quite alot to mention. I actually took photograph of this little boy who was selling pencils with wood carved animals on it - It costs Rupiah 10,000 for 10 pencils (which is about RM3.85 for the packet). He is so cute and I bought one packet from him. It was the first thing I bought from Bali. It was a nice trip. Well, I need to stop here and look out for the second post about Bali soon! Seeya!

I'm Back!

Hello everybody..! Sorry for such delays. I wanted so much to write previously when I got back after the excitement of Balinese treats, but I got into feeling exhaustion and depression due to post-Bali trip's depression and also, really feeling sickening in some extends. It's much like the people who are in Beijing, who feels Beijing Olympic was actually over. I was not well as what I am always be. I was down and needed alot of rests. I'm fine now, really.

I have a lot of great photos taken in Bali trip and I will post it very very soon. Bali is such a paradise especially their culture and art. I was lucky to witness their prayer ceremony on the few days; I also have the opportunities to understand the friendliness of Balinese. Now I really understand about why people never complain about holiday in Bali because it is so all-rounded: Everything you need is there: leisure, art, shopping, culture, beach.

I have to make a move now. Will get back with more updates with my photos from Bali. Meanwhile, I actually had the 3rd jamming with my band, and we got it much better this time and we will be performing next Friday! Finger cross! Look out for our performance in TOA's Moon Cake Festival on Friday, 12th September 2008!

Seeya!