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Ever Yours,with Love.

It’s a Saturday afternoon in December of 2008. With a Toffeenut Latte at RafflesCity Starbucks, I was waiting for the boyfriend aka ‘Daryl the Shitfu’ anxiously after long months of him being just a 2D figure on my screen. Months of chatting online till wee hours (since he was in Canada for exchange) and never-ending emails, finally we met up to have our Toffeenut Latte ‘real date’ and xmas presents exchange. Rather awkward to see him again after so long but glad I agreed to meet him instead of waiting for the school term to start ! (What a difference it might have been!)

And the story continues when we evolved into this ‘complicated’ status on Facebook (social media dependents..lol) which eventually became this not-so-complicated relationship of ours. Of course, Love is never perfect- we both shared our emotional ups and downs in the relationship from the start. Somehow, it’s the seemingly bad and counter-emotions that enable us to appreciate the positive emotions or happy times together.

There are moments when we could possibly be the most insensitive prick to eachother’s feelings which resulted in even more communication breakdowns or disagreements. To make matters worse, we’re both just as hot tempered and stubborn to listen or give in when we were arguing. I’m glad we are learning to listen and understand, respond to the other person as who he/she really is, having more patience with eachother now. Not easy to state all the changes he/I have made over these 12 months – Something new for the both of us but I guess it’s a good thing because if  you don’t love and care for someone – you wouldn’t bother to change ?

Not to get all mushy, but we definitely put in alot of love and effort into this ‘long yet short’ one year. Despite our differences, I think we’ve grown alot from this relationship and learnt to appreciate each other more each day. Things may be awkward at times because we don’t know how to handle the situations, but I believe as long as there’s love – we can overcome these obstacles =)

Looking forward to each and every coming anniversaries together, with trust and the love we bear each other, I hope it will be sufficient to make them blessed…Thank you for loving me =)

Love is a magical thing, it just happens – and I may have met my awkward ‘perfect’ match

Happy our Anniversary to all ! Hur.

Tags: 2008.2009, anniversary, boyfriend, canada, christmas, daryl, exchange, facebook, Love, rafflescity, relationship, social media, starbucks, toffeenut latte

(AOTW) Artist Of The Week : Never Shout Never

As a Campus Radio DJ on SMU Campus Radio for coming 2 years, I have always been actively promoting local/myspace artists on my radio shows. My co-host from my most recent show, Rachel and I  decided to feature one myspace.com artist per week for our listeners and I really enjoyed doing that because sharing is always fun ! Not only do you get to “interact” with your listeners but you also have the “power” to “force” your listeners into listening to your current playlist. (Haha, Just Kidding!)

I blogged about blip.fm earlier on  where I share my music picks on a regular basis, but it is getting frustrating with the preview clips and youtube videos feature. So I decided to bring the artist of the week (AOTW) segment to my blog instead ! I will feature either a myspace or local artist each week  (but I will keep things short and sweet), so stay tuned !

To start things off with a happy note (no pun intended, you’ll understand later), this week I’m going to share with you this 6 people band “Never Shout Never“.

You can read more about them from their myspace profile. One thing I’ll like to highlight is 18 years old Christofer Drew (vocal) has a really unique voice, it really caught my attention when I first heard their songs.  (And he looks really cute with his ukulele too ! Click here to watch him LIVE *warning : crazy fans screams and shakey hands*)

Here’s my favourite (and their latest single) “Happy”, I was telling Daryl (who also have his  “Music Mondays” )  that I really liked the lyrics. One of those “puts a smile on my face” songs. In fact, their EP will be out soon and their songs are all available on iTunes, do check them out if you like their music !

< Never Shout Never – Happy >

You make me happy, whether you know it or not
We should be happy, that’s what I said from the start
I am so happy, Knowing you are the one that
I’ll love for the rest of my days,
(for the rest of my days), yes, all of my days!
you’re looking so cool, you’re looking so fly,
I can’t deny that when I’m staring you down
right dead in the eye, I wanna try to be the person you want,
the person you need,
it’s hard to conceive that somebody like you,
could be with, somebody like me

I’m happy knowing you are mine,
the grass is greener on the other side,
The More I think, The more I wish that we
could lay here for hours, and just reminisce.

Ooh ooh,
you’re looking so fresh it’s catching my eye,
why oh why, did I not see this before,
the girl I adore, was right in front of me.
and now I’ll take a step back,
and look in your eye and ask why,
It took so long for me too see, we’re meant to be.

I’m happy knowing you are mine,
the grass is greener on the other side,
The More I think, The more I wish that
we could lay here for hours, and just reminisce.

On the good the bad the ugly,
the smiles the laughs the funny,
oh all the things we put each
other through, it’s for you, for you

You make me happy, whether you know it or not
We should be happy, that’s what I said from the start
I am so happy, Knowing you are the one that
I’ll love for the rest of my days

I’m happy knowing you are mine,
the grass is greener on the other side,
The More I think, The more I wish that we
could lay here for hours, and just reminisce.
Ooh Ooh

—

If you know of any good myspace/local artists (or if you’re one of them) and think I should do a feature, just drop a comment or  email to exit18 (at) gmail (dot) com ! Looking forward to hear from you guys !

Tags: aotw, artist, artist of the week, blip, campus radio dj, christofer drew, crazy fans, daryl, ep, happy, itunes, local, Music, music mondays, myspace, never shout never, playlist, puts a smile on my face, radio, smu campus radio, songs, ukulele, youtube

Update on H1N1 : An Epidemic of Stupidity

Everyone is blogging about the whole H1N1 saga of how a fellow SMU student who was “so dumb knowing that US has high infection,yet still decided to travel there.” (antiwisefc, The Straits Times online forum) and being a “troublemaker…should sue her for bringing in the virus!” (deritz, Stomp) It is indeed amusing to see the maturity level of our local news readers who target only on the victims and not the issue itself. I don’t want to be classified as “netizen” because of these people who make such comments. Trust me, I have seen worse on many blogs and other forums – is there a need to start a flame-war ? She did not ask for it.

“The affected student has requested that we not reveal her identity. We request all members of SMU to respect her request and her privacy.” – SMU President’s message on H1N1

I’m sure she is innocent and did not ask for the instant fame for bringing the virus in, who would have wanted to ? It is almost a fact that the virus will bound to land in Singapore any time soon – just a matter of time. Why these personal attacks ? Will it make you feel any better if she dies or be haunted for life because of this ? I don’t think she deserves these treatments. Neither did any of her friends or whichever H1N1 victims out there. Give them a break.  Stop hunting them down for more “personal” information. It’s really none of your business of anyone else’s to know who the friend is or who the boyfriend is or what do other SMU students think about this. We want NEWS not GOSSIPS.

As much as I dislike school, I think SMU handled the situation pretty well. Onecentsworth (The Straits Time online forum) commented that “A common sense decision to cancel the trip by the school management would have prevented all the unnecessary consequences now, isn’t it?” A little too late for being the “Smart Alec” isn’t it? In the first place, if we were all to act paranoid and behave that way – why didn’t you blame the people for going overseas for their holiday trips, why not stop people from consuming rice since there is a high possibility for them choking to death…no?  Let’s just say if the school did cancel the trip, do you think H1N1 will not happen in Singapore ?

It was appalling to see our local newspapers (namely The New Paper) ‘s articles on the matter.  Maybe Ms Joanna Hor and Ms Geraldine Yeo, the newsroom interns did not quite understood the code of professional conduct for journalists.  Not forgetting Ng Wan Ching, Veena Bharwani too. Take a look and be ashamed of yourselves. Are you sure you want a future career in journalism ? If so, I do think the future of newspapers is bleak.

Singapore National Union of Journalists’
Code of Professional Conduct

1. Every member shall maintain good quality of workmanship and high standard of conduct.
2. No member shall do anything that will bring discredit on himself/herself, his/her union, his/her newspaper or other news media or his/her profession.
3. Every member shall defend the principles of freedom in the honest collection and dissemination of news and the right of fair comment and criticism.
4. Every member shall realise his/her personal responsibility for everything he/she prepares for his/her newspaper or other news media.
5. Every member shall report and interpret the news with scrupulous honesty.
6. Every member shall use only honest methods to obtain news, pictures and documents.
7. No member shall accept any form of bribe whether for publication or suppression nor permit personal interest to influence his/her sense of justice.
8. Every member shall respect all necessary confidence regarding sources of information and private documents.
9. Every member shall keep in mind the dangers in the laws of libel, contempt of court and copyright.
10. Every member shall observe at all times the fraternity of their profession and shall never take unfair advantage of a fellow member.

How do you feel to have your names stamped all over the blog for something that you “never intended” to happen ? Terrible isn’t it ? Did you stop and put yourselves in the victims shoes before publishing the article or make those comments? Dear interns, not only did you published their names but you just had to mention the poor Sars patient after 6 years of some peace in her life. Great job on the research done !

I don’t think there’s anything for us to do right now but just pray that the victims will recover soon and the spread of virus will be under controlled.  All i can say is that, I don’t think local newspapers are worth reading anymore if this is what journalism is to them. Oh, and I got all my news updates via Twitter since the official newspapers were down when everyone decided to find out what’s happening.  FYI, netizens to me are the ones who broadcast information and news updates in a responsible and mature manner instead of “flame first H1N1 victim”.

End of story.

–

good read(s) :

Daryl and his views on Why Singaporean Press Are Like Vultures

DK ‘s Shame on you TNP! Shame on you!

Dorothy’s Communication Thoughts Case #1: Crisis Comms & Mainstream Media

Tags: An Epidemic of Stupidity, blogs, code of professional conduct, common sense, daryl, dk, dorothy, flame war, forum, gossips, H1N1, identiy, journalism, local, mainstream media, maturity, netizens, news, newsroom interns, personal attacks, privacy, respect, shame on you, singapore, singapore national union of journalists', singaporeans, smu, stomp, Straits Times, swine flu, the new paper, TNP, Update on H1N1, victims

Fresh Blood On Max : True Blood

Just a couple of months ago, my friend in Canada was telling me about this new vampire show that I might like (I’m a fan of fangs and supernatural beings). You have no idea how excited I was when Daryl showed me the invite to HBO Asia’s blogger event for the new drama series, True Blood.

Being my first time to a “Blogger” event, I didn’t know what to expect but I have to say I really really enjoyed myself that night.  I liked the idea of this small cozy gathering where people just hang out and chill while Karen from HBO talked about the show and the brand new Cinemax, “Max”. We then got to this really long trailer (which can probably pulled off as a summary of the entire season, haha) before the fun begins.

After learning more about the show, a bartender demonstrated how to mix the drink we were actually served that night “Tru Blood“. Being an alcoholic, the cocktail was yummylicious and3 bloggers were later asked to take the stage and  gamely took up the challenge to whip up the same drink.

Enough about the event, let’s move on to the show ! Why should you watch True Blood ?

Here’s 7 (and probably there are more) reasons :

1) It is created by Alan Ball – the guy who created Six Feet Under.

2) It is based on the popular Sookie Stackhouse novels, move aside Harry Potter and Twillight.

3) There’s Anna Paquin (newly crowned Golden Globe winner) and hot Stephen Moyer in it, quite mismatching but we can always drool over them as individuals.

4) Sounds like Twilight ? Hell no ! It’s far more sexy, flamboyant, entertaining and engaging. (I’ll say Twillight is for teenagers while True Blood is for the mature audience)  Just look at how creative their marketing is (sadly, this is not found in Singapore).

5) Did i say SEXAY ? Girls will want to date someone with fangs from now on, and guys…don’t feel too upset over the adult scenes. lol

6) Yes, the adult scenes with the vampires were…interesting i must say. lol

7) And thanks to the generous people at Max/HBO, You can stand a chance to win HP Mini 1000 notebooks and HP iPAQ Pocket PCs when u visit the game site !

I’m really looking forward to finish the season once exams are over (yes, I’m actually having exams next week! Yikes!). Anyways, earlier that night we were also asked to take pictures of ourselves mimicking the True Blood poster (hur hur)! It was a refreshing twist to what I initially had in mind of what a Blogger event might be – sitting down in a room with boring press kits and information shoving down your throat. Nothing like that ! Thanks to the awesome HBO team for the wonderful night ! =)

P.S: True Blood premieres in Asia today (April 9) on Max, Starhub Cable Ch 59 ! ( Encore broadcast on Saturdays 1pm and Sunday 11pm!)

Tags: Alan Ball, Anna Paquin, blogger event, daryl, fangs, HBO, Max, Six Feet Under, Sookie Stackhouse, Stephen Moyer, Tru Blood, True Blood, Twillight, vampire