In what has become close to a yearly tradition for my blog (2007 and 2008), here are the 20 albums of 2009 I enjoyed this past year.


A Fine Frenzy - Bomb in a Birdcage


Barcelona - Absolutes


The Fray - The Fray


Jack Savoretti - Harder Than Easy


John Mayer - Battle Studies


Kelly Clarkson - All I Ever Wanted


Kings of Convenience - Declaration of Dependence


Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You


Mat Kearney - City of Black & White


Metric - Fantasies


Miike Snow - Miike Snow


Mika - The Boy Who Knew Too Much


Monsters of Folk - Monsters of Folk


Norah Jones - The Fall


Paolo Nutini - Sunny Side Up


Patrick Watson - Wooden Arms


Regina Spektor - Far


The Swell Season - Strict Joy


Uninhabitable Mansions - Nature is a Taker


Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
Onward to the sounds of 2010! Have a happy new year.

If there was one thing I wished I was good at, it is to be more musically inclined, be it in playing an instrument, singing well, having a good sense of rhythm, or understanding music theory. Growing up, the only exposure to music instruments I had was the simplistic recorder that all primary school kids were allowed to fiddle with during Music period. It is a pity my family did not push us beyond what was required; but who can blame them - the arts and music scene in Southeast Asia years back were not particularly the supplier of bountiful jobs with promising, long-lasting careers.

In 2006, the last time my brother and I were back in Kuala Lumpur, my aunts enrolled us in a guitar course for beginners with a one-on-one private tutor. I remember the classes being fun but nerve-wrecking. We invested in a handmade classical guitar from Romania (to my embarrassment, an acoustic guitar was what I thought we had up until recently), which we brought over to Toronto when we returned from our summer vacation. Even though I had meant to continue with guitar classes here and build on this one musical skill whose seeds have been sown, the instrument had been in the storeroom ever since our return. Until now.

One of the To-Do item this free semester off from school was to dust out the guitar. The year is almost at an end and school starts in a couple weeks, while the guitar is only making its way out. I purchased new strings, a tuner and a capo, and I am happy to report that I have successfully strung and tuned the guitar for the first time. I have also been reviewing the lessons I did 3 years ago, and to my surprise some of them are coming back to me easily. All I have to do now is practice, practice, practice. "Practice makes perfect" - we will see about that. Maybe for once, I can become adept with a music instrument if I keep up with this...

My brother loves replaying this clip from The Kids in the Hall, a Canadian comedy show from the 1980s. Not going to lie, I usually get annoyed with the videos/music he plays on loop (it's an underlying brother-rivalry thing on my part), but some of them are actually good, like this one.

My day off today, I did three loads of laundry, cleaned the toilet, cooked dinner, read more of George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones, and obsessively listened to the soundtrack of Where The Wild Things Are. Furthermore, not a single speck of snow for the month of November, a record for Hogtown. It has been a good Monday.

When I read that model Daul Kim was found dead in Paris this morning, I was shocked. I have always admired her body of work as a model, her blog and videos are entertaining, plus she grew up in Singapore. Apparent suicide at the age of 20. To be young and beautiful with a future ahead of her, I wonder what pushed her over the edge? Perhaps how Korean netizens were on her case over a nude modeling gig she did, and we all know how they are. May justice be upon them for their viciousness, not only in this case but the many incidences of Korean celebrity suicides resulting from these netizens' words and actions. And why did Daul give in - if only she hung on and sought the help she needed. I can never comprehend how anyone can take their own life, no matter how tough the world is for one.

Making things more depressing, she blogged yesterday with the title "say hi to forever". Rest in peace Daul.

I cannot believe this, I actually miss school. Not so much the studying part, but the rushing off to classes, having erratic sleeping times, being under pressure from assignments and all. At least I somehow manage to have more of a social life than I do now. Ever since returning from the cottage and Montréal, both I also miss greatly, my life has revolved around waking up at the dawn of the day to work, lazing around upon returning home in the afternoon, falling asleep till dinnertime, then heading back to bed at hours that will make my mum proud.

January cannot come sooner! Oh, last night I officially indicated my intent of graduation for the June 2010 Convocation! (:

I hate being a lazy bum. Especially when there is a mountain high of errands to do, like clean the house, laundry, books to read, things to learn. My mind lists the items to do at the start of each day right before work, I get home and that mental list evaporates. Believe me when I beat myself over it when I turn it at night. More to do another day, I tell myself.

But sometimes, one gets too lazy trying not to be lazy. So the cycle persists.

YYYs should do a purely acoustic album.

A new look for my blog. It was time to retire the old layout seeing how that has been in place for some years now. I am very pleased with how this turned out.


The three most eventful activities during my absence here have got to be:

1) Being away from the city at a cottage for one full week with people I enjoy being with.










2) Visiting Montréal my very first time with my siblings during Thanksgiving weekend. Met Yixuan, who is on an exchange, there too.


















3) Attending Mika's concert the Thanksgiving Monday straight after returning from Montréal.






There are so many pictures and videos to choose from - just looking at them again bring back plenty of good memories! I miss Montréal, tremendously! I do hope we get to go on another mini-Canadian trip soon. Perhaps Ottawa, Vancouver...? Also, I definitely have to work on getting licensed to drive, learning to play the guitar again, and picking up the Korean language. If I might say myself, I appear busier even with my supposed semester off from school.

But till then, I am volunteering with the World Wildlife Fund which hopefully will serve as a good job prospect in the future, and I will be working at Indigo for the holiday season (6AM shifts god dammit!). Christmas is in less than 2 months!