• what is a gift? for me today it was waking up from a three-hour nap on a sunday evening, and then realising that the next day, a monday, is a public holiday. oh JOY!

• 2012 for me was also about chinese songs. i don't think i've ever heard that many chinese songs in the span of 9 months. granted, 90% of the time i was listening to one particular singer who doesn't need to be named but i shall, just because. hello, leehom :) along the way, i revisited david tao, and took some interest in the songs from mayday, sodagreen and khalil fong. i kinda realised that i would never be able to fully get the whole chinese pop music scene. not that i want to: the thought of another sappy ballad makes me bleh.

• i am aware that i've not set any goals for my spiritual life for 2013. it's not that i have not been thinking about it. perhaps i'm afraid of all the resos i could make, that i would not be able to keep these. i don't think it's any different from other resos, but not achieving the ones in this category is like breaking a promise to God, which i have done often enough. maybe it's all in my head. but perhaps it's to do with my not wanting to commit to this form of sp discipline. 

• tentative travel plans for this year: Taiwan (yes, again :) and maybe Bali and hopefully Singapore w00t! i had hopes to visit Beijing, not now but one day when the air quality becomes better (right now it's off the charts bad!)... and maybe Wuhan next year and someday LA! :D and New York! and Lapland! and Tokyo and London! when oh when is money gonna pour down from my sky? hehehe

• i am halfway attempting to translate this song from Khalil Fong that i've been looping the entire evening, but i feel like i'm falling short. i think it's a simple but poetic piece, and my direct translation is just killing it. but because i'm halfway done, i'm pushing forward with it. forgive me, 大同! so here's 春風吹 Spring Wind..

吹紅了桃花　吹綠了柳樹
你在路上總會安慰誰
吹醒了青蛙　吹來了燕子
我在城裡剛好缺了誰
你縱然帶來地下的玫瑰
能否收回地上的滋味　有人唱胡不歸
the wind blows and makes the peach blossom red and the willow tree green
who will you be comforting on this journey?
the wind blows and wakes up the frog, and brings the swallow
in the city, i just missed someone out
you brought with you roses from the undergrounds
could you take back the taste of the ground
someone's singing recklessly and not returning

春風一吹想起誰
有所謂　無所謂　只要不後悔
春風一吹忘了誰
我上一次流淚又幾歲
when the spring wind blows, who are you thinking of?
does it matter? it doesn't matter as long as there is no regrets
when the spring wind blows, who have you forgotten?
the last time i cried and how old was i?

你會退　我想追　會不會　對不對
也難怪我有點累
洞裡蛇　冬日睡　原上草　春風吹
到夏天我變了誰
you will retreat, and i want to follow after you
would i? am i right? no wonder i'm tired
the snake in the hole, hibernating in winter
grass in the meadow, the spring wind blows
when summer comes, i have become someone else

吹過玉門關　吹過南泥灣
你在北方註定拋棄誰
吹皺了河水　吹散了雲堆
我在世界不巧背著誰
你可以慫恿三月的悶雷
能否保證十年的約會　有人放生烏龜
the wind blows past the Jade Gate and past the Southern Muddy Bay
from where you are at the north, who have you decided to abandon?
the wind blows and creases the river and scatters the clouds
here on earth, i have had to carry the burdens for someone
could you instigate the melancholic thunders of March?
could you ensure our date on the tenth year
someone's releasing a turtle to its freedom

皺/皱 zhòu - to wrinkle / wrinkled / to crease
堆 duī - to pile up / to heap up / a mass / pile / heap
慫恿/怂恿 sǒngyǒng - to instigate / to incite / to egg sb on




春風吹
方大同

作曲：方大同
填詞：周耀輝
編曲：方大同

吹紅了桃花　吹綠了柳樹
你在路上總會安慰誰
吹醒了青蛙　吹來了燕子
我在城裡剛好缺了誰
你縱然帶來地下的玫瑰
能否收回地上的滋味　有人唱胡不歸

＊春風一吹想起誰
有所謂　無所謂　只要不後悔
春風一吹忘了誰
我上一次流淚又幾歲

你會退　我想追　會不會　對不對
也難怪我有點累
洞裡蛇　冬日睡　原上草　春風吹
到夏天我變了誰＊

吹過玉門關　吹過南泥灣
你在北方註定拋棄誰
吹皺了河水　吹散了雲堆
我在世界不巧背著誰
你可以慫恿三月的悶雷
能否保證十年的約會　有人放生烏龜

REPEAT＊

你可以慫恿三月的悶雷
能否保證十年的約會　有人放生烏龜

REPEAT＊

春風吹

Привет, мои русские друзья! *

for whatever reason, more than half of the people who come to this blog are from... Russia. am I a joke there or something? i hope not! actually, other than Malaysia or Singapore, I can't imagine anyone I know being from the other countries listed below. maybe i have something that they were looking for something for (i can't imagine what). but hello, i spent the whole of last year talking about leehom and yet, NONE of the queries about him were directed to my page, but some obscure detail in my blog are showing up all over Russian search results? oh Internet, you will never cease to confound me.

* that's hello, my Russian friends! 

The missing contacts saga

I don't really want to dwell on this because it's given me much heart ache over the past few days, but let it be recorded that I lost all my contacts from my iPhone after I tried to save them to iCloud. I don't want to recap what I've done to try to restore it, or why my backup didn't help, or how much time I spent with all the parties who could have helped (I'm too tired to do that now), I'm just devastated that they were unretrievable.

For a scatter-brained person like me, I had kept meticulous records so that I could have access to those info at my literal finger tips. The loss is very painful and I'm not kidding. I am aware that the world didn't end because of this and in the grand scheme of things, this is by far inconsequential. But I would prefer not to talk about this anymore. D*** you, iCloud.

Yeah I'm still a huge fan of Leehom, if you are wondering lol! I can't wait for his March concert (the tix should be on its way to me right about now). Alas, Mayday is also scheduled to perform here in March, and I'm quite sad having to choose between them (I mean, of course I'd go for Leehom's show, but watching Mayday live is also on my bukkit list, you see).

Back to Leehom, one of the nice things he does for his fans that is set to be a tradition is the free show he holds on New Year's night (yup, FREE. who was the last superstar you know who forks out his own money to treat fans this way? :) This year is his second in a row, and he's pretty smart to use it as a marketing tool as well. Last year's show was held in a small cafe in Taipei, while this year's was in Beijing in what seems to be an auditorium. We had to depend on dubious quality fancams last year to get a glimpse of the show, but this year, he has hired professional videographers and what he's been doing is releasing a song from the show every Tuesday on his social media network. I love to have something to look forward to every day in his weibo, and every week in his video. Brownie points for excellent fan service!

So last night he posted this song (here's the link to my Youtube playlist of the free show) called 如果妳聽見我的歌 If You Heard My Song from his second album, and on FB/weibo he described why the song holds a special meaning to him:

在送妳上車以後　我獨自站了好久
雨像一整夜的夢　痛卻怎麼也不走
after sending you off, i stood alone at the station for a while
the rain was like a night-long dream, the pain didn't seem to go away

猜不透是那裡出了錯　或許只是該結束的時候
想起妳那句還是朋友　為什麼我竟如此痛在心頭
i couldn't guess where it went wrong
perhaps it was time to close the chapter
was thinking about what you said about remaining friends
why did it hurt so deeply in my heart

如果妳在寂寞的時刻卻聽見我這首歌　妳眼眶是否會發熱
如果妳在快樂的時刻卻聽見我這首歌　妳心裡是否會有一點捨不得
if you got lonely and heard my song, would your eyes start to burn
when you're happy and heard my song, would you begrudge me in your heart

淚不會輕易地流　妳也用不著歉疚
愛就像覆水難收　情又有誰能強求
the tears wouldn't flow easily, you also don't need to be apologetic
there's no point crying over spilled milk, you can't force love


It's a simple song (perhaps even for a 19-year-old) but it's still pleasant to the ears 17 years on.. Perhaps it's its simplicity that makes it easier to build on, so here are my two favorite versions of the song:

• from the 2008 Music Man concert 

• from the 2013 New Year Free Show 

如果妳聽見我的歌

作詞：劉虞瑞
作曲：王力宏

在送妳上車以後　我獨自站了好久
雨像一整夜的夢　痛卻怎麼也不走

猜不透是那裡出了錯　或許只是該結束的時候
想起妳那句還是朋友　為什麼我竟如此痛在心頭

如果妳在寂寞的時刻卻聽見我這首歌　妳眼眶是否會發熱
如果妳在快樂的時刻卻聽見我這首歌　妳心裡是否會有一點捨不得

淚不會輕易地流　妳也用不著歉疚
愛就像覆水難收　情又有誰能強求

New.

Happy new year peeps! We're three weeks into the new year already, just like that! It's been a super busy Dec leading into Jan, with work and Christmas and holiday and work (in that order), I haven't found the writing mojo to sum up the year gone by and talk about my aspirations for this year, and thr's a tinge of sadness accompanying that sentence, like watching a part of you slipping away and not doing anything to hold on to it.

Well, I've had a good year and I'm thankful for it. Its highlights included Universal Studio and Wicked musical in Spore at the beginning of the year, participating in the Bersih 3.0 rally, my trips to Melbourne and Taipei, our 10th anniversary, my month-long birthday celebration with love from my amazing friends, and of course, Leehom (!)(can't believe it hasn't been a year, it feels like ten already) and through him, D and S who are the awesomest people I could ask for in fellow fangirls. I am so blessed!

It was also my first year being uprooted from the church I'd known my entire Christian life and finding my place in a new church, which frankly, hasn't happened, due to our constant being away for preaching engagements, but mostly also due to my anti-social behaviour and resistance to a new environ. I think it's gonna take me a while.. sigh. Career-wise, nothing much happened for the bulk of the year and I was rather demotivated. However toward the year end, I was getting some interesting opportunities but I'm not sure how to make the most of it. The uncertainties are unnerving but I'm happy to be reminded that this is a great chance to rely on God. Still, I'm rattled.

Here's hoping for an interesting and fulfilling 2013. Lord, I commit the year and my life into your hand. Guide me and may I be sensitive to your prompting. Thank you for every blessing that had come my way, and make me a blessing to someone else too. Thank you.

random photo from phone