Cruz

There was a CNY gathering to attend and a concert to watch. And there were the usual pre-CNY chores to be done. Everything was cancelled because I’m not feeling well. Apart from the coughing and sneezing, the nails inside my left foot were protesting against the chilly weather.

In lieu of the physical shopping, I still managed to spend US$110 and £133.50 online.

If I don’t have time to get new banknotes, I’ll probably stuff cheques into the angpows for my parents. It sucks to be immobile just before CNY, but it sure beats being sick during CNY… And I’m off to Round Two of online shopping.

Edit:

End of Round Two: £354. Woohoo!

I had the pleasure of hosting 插班生 The Freshman‘s very first autograph session last Saturday. I left Bugis Junction feeling all warm and fuzzy, having felt the sincerity of Diya and Carrie- who are so passionate about music, and the show of solidarity by Kewei, Peifen, Ivy and Auntie Lucy- who showed up to support the girls.

For industry players, the music business is largely about dollars and cents. Profitable acts get bigger promotional budgets. Artistes which bring in lesser money get neglected, or receive material otherwise rejected by the A-listers. The cycle goes on… In the course of publishing my *ahem* very first lyrics composition, I heard of people who churn out song after song with zero emotion, only hoping to rake in a quick buck. And there are the obviously non-talented and non-hardworking ones who depend on their looks and/or connections to release an album in their name.

I truly hope that The Freshman, together with many other local acts, achieve commercial success at home and abroad. Passion alone cannot guarantee a livelihood in this competitive arena. Some money along the way will be good. So, would you cheapos stop downloading songs and buy an original copy of the music you like?! Thanks.

Very careless and stupid of me. Oh well. Steamboat ended the otherwise sucky Saturday.

史上最无聊的龙眼大赛 on Vimeo

Somewhere on Caldecott Hill…

We’re six weeks away from 25 Dec- a religious holiday that now reeks of commercialism. Then again, it’s always nice to give and receive presents lah.

My friends haven’t been getting Christmas presents in recent years. The budget goes to strangers many kilometres away, people whom I’ve never met and probably wouldn’t ever meet. I’m getting the guys in Vietnam a new drainage system. Sure beats the chocolates, candies and what-nots.

I’m doing this earlier this year so that this message can reach people who have yet to begin Christmas shopping. You might want to consider sending your friends a mass email, and tell them that they don’t need an additional photo frame to prove the friendship. Then proceed to get a gift for people in need.

⋯⋯但是对虾肉OK！哈哈哈！

我喜欢虾肉的鲜甜，但不喜欢剥壳的麻烦。
有时会因为懒得洗手，索性不吃虾。
聚餐或是婚宴，我会一脸认真说出这句对白。
我真的不是在暗示什么，不过昨晚还是有热心的人⋯⋯

这是颁奖典礼之后写的。是刻意等到金曲奖热潮平息之后才登的。

和往年一样，圈内人除了好奇颁奖典礼出席名单，也关心司仪阵容。不少广播同行与唱片界人士认为我主持金曲奖是理所当然的。承蒙大家的错爱。

其实，我去年是带着“最后一次”的心理主持第十五届金曲奖。这几年学了很多，也累积了一些正面的评价。也够了。可是因为我还站在最前线，公司不会主动把我从电台一年一度最重要的活动撤下。但，没人退下，就无人能上位。不是每个人都像我那么幸运，阿哥们在我正式签约前都走光了⋯⋯

我今年还是没有提出换血的主意，因为我需要一个雪耻的机会。

这件事我没跟任何人提过。去年冬天到北京主持全球华语歌曲排行榜颁奖典礼，那是近年来表现较不理想的一次。不知道是不是0度气温造成 brainfreeze（？！），还是水土不服（？！），反正就是一直没有办法“进入状况当中”，就是没有发挥至丁志勇应有的水平。别人说“还好”，但自己知道其实能做到“很好”。结论就是：“不好”。

是。处女座的人就是这样造成自己不快乐。

所以，我今年“需要”主持金曲奖，“需要”证明给自己看，我还是行的。我做到了，所以我可以退了。

八年内，五届金曲奖、四届全球榜。谢谢。明年，我做别的。

Nine months to go before the railway station finally moves out of Tanjong Pagar. The authorities have said that the building would be preserved, but I highly doubt that keeping the hawkers- who mostly speak only Bahasa Melayu- would be part of the plan.

We were rowdy (and irritating) teenagers taking a train for the first time in our lives back in 1997, so we obviously missed out on many details before we headed to Taman Negara.

HG, who had been there several times, still couldn’t contain her excitement at the Ramly stall and took this photo of a half-headed man. I don’t like chili sauce in my burgers, but I took two bites anyway. The rest of the table was full of very affordable and absolutely delicious Malay fare. The place isn’t spick-and-span and there isn’t a no-smoking rule on that piece of Malaysian soil. But it was a very interesting experience, especially when the train pulled in.