monkeycrap's Diaryland Diary
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Silver bells, silver bells, it's Christmas time, in the city.
Ok, so here's the deal. 4 friends and ex-JC classmates, for some weird reason as unexplainable and unfathomable as the magic of Christmas itself, decided to, just one miserable week before Christmas, do something slightly different for Christmas, something that would deliver them away from the usual routine of stoning at coffee bean.
On the 23rd December 2005, armed with only 2 guitars(which was reduced to one 5 songs into the set), 2 untrained voices, 1 battery operated keyboard, 1 shaker, 1 tambourine, 1 rehearsal, 0 volts of electricity(we weren't allowed to use the power sockets, government probably used up all our scarce supply on the christmas lightup), and no license or permission whatsoever, we decided to screw authority and set up shop at the underground tunnel leading to wheelock place just for the sake of doing a number of Christmas carols.
The result? A fantastic and memorable experience for all of us, and a great step out of the comfort zone for me, personally. Why wait till 2006 to kick off the new year with a great start? As for the performance itself, it went pretty ok, considering we had only one practice session. One lady went to make change, for purpose of donating to us, only to be told that we weren't accepting donations, just doing it in the spirit of things. Another lady, according to my sis, ys and josh(who took time to risk getting deaf to come down to spray green confetti and support us, thank you guys so much), was singing and moving to our music by the trash can. Of course, there were mixed reviews, such as the one from the lady who told her boyfriend rather vocally that we sucked. But that's not the point. The point is to do something different and crazy, and when better than 2 days before Christmas and where better than right smack downtown?
Stayed over at Tim's place after that with the rest of the band(heh.)and spent 1st half of X'mas eve swimming and playing half naked soccer in the basketball court. After that went home. Josh/YS came over at night and we marked Christmas by watching Love Actually. It's my record 10th time watching the movie, and I still get all heartwarmy and you-know-whaty watching it. My friend said any guy who can watch it more than 5 times should get a medal and be inducted into the hall of shame. Oh well. But i still am unafraid to admit it. It's my favourite movie, a true blue intricately well thought out work of art. Watch it 10 times and you'll know what I mean.
Slept at 5am, woke up at 9am because I dreamt that I had to go back to camp. On Christmas. I've been in the army for way too long man. It's my 3rd Christmas in green, damn it. Anyway, because of lack of sleep, was lethargic for the whole day. Went out in the morning with family for breakfast, before going home to nap. Wanted to ponder about the meaning of Christmas to sleep, but ended up watching Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson's Family Christmas on TV. Holy Xantarinas. It's tres mindnumbing, and the corniness of some of the jokes will make you cringe.
Hey Nick! Look who's here! It's 98 degrees!
Oh, no worries Jess, just turn the thermostat down.
No, it's your band! 98 degrees!
Oh.
(They all say hi and huddle around the piano, singing)
Went to Gabriel's house for Christmas dinner and party at night. Drank a little too much. Let's just leave it at that ok? =)
But seriously, so many people, Phua Chu Kang included, are going on and on about what the true meaning of Christmas is. Well, it's hard to disagree with a curly haired moled yellow boot wearing unfunny ah beng wannabe when he says it's about giving. Like duh, Christmas is the time of the year when you spend next year's allowance on presents. Of course, it's also about giving thanks. I feel that Christmas = Thanksgiving + a little more magic. And of course, as cheesy as it sounds, Christmas is about hope. And there is hope. For example, haribo sweets now come in mega packs of five. All is calm, all is bright! Man, if only we had that during our JC days. It would've given me better 'A' level grades. And diabetes lah, for that matter.
This Christmas, amidst the fun and the joy and the parties and the drinks and the presents, I received news that my uncle, the brother of the one who recently passed away, had a heart attack and will be going for an operation soon. On Christmas eve, heard that my grandmother, one of the people who means the most to me in this world, the one who's watched me grown from a wee little idiot to, well, a larger version of it, will have to go for an op in February to prevent her from not being able to walk ever. Yeah, it's bad news. I'm not trying to dispel joy, or be grinchy for that matter. Christmas is still christmas after all. But I guess what I want to say, for I don't know what reason, is that be it whatever happy joyous magical occasion, there's a need to stop to smell the longkangs. Life goes on as normal for many(and by life, i mean general fear and unhappiness all around), and guess what, life gets worse for others. Maybe that's why people stock up on copious amounts of alcohol for Christmas. So that there's enough to go round for those times in the upcoming year. I guess that's something for me to take away this festive season. Besides the presents, side effects of Jack Daniel's whiskey and haribo mega packs.
To all reading this, to all my friends and family, have a blessed Christmas and happy holidays. Go rockin' around the Christmas tree!
6:16 p.m. - 2005-12-26
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