taking the leap

就是你了 <3

心情溶剂

ah here we are, and the start of 13022012 marks the end of week 5.

it has been a busy week of performances, rehearsals after rehearsals.
with amplify and xqrj, this week really has been very very tight trying to juggle practices and yet keeping up with presentations and schoolwork at the same time.

i must say i'm relieved that it's over, and now it's the upcoming week 6 to look forward to, where i will need to work hard for lab research proposal and social psych's almost-as-heavy-percentage-as-finals midterm.

yet, i'm really glad to have been able to perform on both occasions.
amplify with sheares band was loads of fun albeit the crazy long practices (including one 4 hours straight); experiencing the y.i.h. open plaza with strait groove and the other performers was an evening well-spent.

and then xqrj was an eye opener, going to u.c.c. hall and experiencing the entire backstage thing; it was performing in front of a live audience and judges at a regional chinese songwriting competition after all.

zhenlin coming out champion really just topped everything off and made all the practices ultimately worthwhile.
really happy to be part of it all and i am thankful for the experience!
humbly speaking, i am grateful he chose me to be the on-stage guitarist for the finals when there are so many other better guitarists available.

i'd like to congratulate him here yet again!
although i've practiced the song thousands of times until i'm very sick of it already, i'm pretty sure the crowd and judges loved it... that's why it came out tops (:

14th XQRJ Grand Finals: 叶绿素

make it happen

let things be, or make it happen?

ah... make it happen.

this is a motto i will not forget.

walking along the high-tide line
watching the pacific from the sideline
wonder what it means to live together?
looking for more than just guidelines
looking for signs in the night sky

bigger than my body

this is a call to the colourblind

this is an i.o.u.

i'm stranded behind the horizon line

tied up in something true

yes i'm grounded, got my wings clipped

i'm surrounded by all this pavement

guess i'll circle, while i'm waiting

for my fuse to dry

someday i'll fly

someday i'll soar

someday i'll be so damn much more

'cause i'm bigger than my body gives me credit for 

maybe i'll tangle in the power lines

and it might be over in a second's time

but i'll gladly go down in a flame

if a flame's what it takes to remember my name

to remember my name, yeah

rooftops and invitations

"it is the mind which creates the world about us, and even though we stand side by side in the same meadow, my eyes will never see what is beheld by yours."

  - george gissing, the private papers of henry ryecroft, 1903


and she just might get you lost
she just might leave you torn
but she just might save your soul
if she gets you when she
gets you any closer
can you believe your eyes?

fear of the unknown

why do people always want to know things?

they can't stand not knowing.

if the military plans to transport a highly explosive warhead through a village, should they tell the people?
if a friend asks to borrow your car with the intention of using it for illegal drug trafficking across the causeway, would you rather he tell you or keep it from you?
or a simpler day-to-day example: if your arachnophobic friend happens to have one small spider crawling up her bag, would you point it out to her?

note that in all these three situations, not knowing isn't going to pose any sort of credible harm to the parties involved. but put yourself in their shoes and then decide whether you would want to know or not.

what is your answer?



this doubt is screaming in my face
in this familiar place
sheltered and concealed
and if this night won't let me rest
don't let me second guess
what i know to be real

put away all i know for tonight
and maybe i just might
learn to let it go
take my security from me
and maybe finally
i won't have to know everything

and i am falling into grace
to the unknown to where you are
and faith makes everybody scared
it's the unknown, the don't-know
that keeps me hanging on and on and on to you

classic!

hahaha be careful whenever you are trying to manipulate someone...
he or she may just be manipulating you right back.

just like how i was talking to the psych freshies denise linying and qianyun (+ hanzong hueiling and wenbin) the other day at lunch, if i were ever to become a professor at a university, the first module i'd like to offer would be titled manipulative psychology.

after all, we are always conditioning and manipulating people all the time.
even giving the slightest frown when your friend burps loudly, that is subtle conditioning... and your friend will eventually learn not to burp out loud anymore.

your actions may be conscious and intended, or totally subconscious.
either way, trust me when i say that you are conditioning other people all the time, whether you know it or not.

once you are able to master the art of getting people to do what you want them to, whether via use of conditioning or just plain playing on their hungers/weaknesses (without them knowing of course), then i'd say you have reached the next level - manipulating.

but of course, be wary...
the true master is the one who reverse-manipulates you by allowing you to believe that you are controlling them.