C2age 2014

C2age happened two weeks ago.

I was there sessioning on the keyboard for Myclamyra Project's performance.

OOTD!

As usual, I go all black haha.

Ear hooks from taobao, skull shirt mom got from I don't know where, pleather skirt from taobao, leggings from Daiso, and black chunky boots from taobao as well.

So much love for taobao wwww. Oh, bag from taobao as well xD

On that day, I became a driver for Kyee and her friends as well.

Fetched them to c2age as well.

When I got there, I met up with Gem and Kamal, and after we stored our stuffs, we went our ways. I hang around with Acap, and soon the time to meet up again came.

Unfortunately, Susan was still stuck in the traffic haha. The other band members were starting to panic. About 10 minutes before performance, she finally arrived.

I remember I ran down to find her, and unluckily my phone died on me, so it made everything harder.
After a while, I found her though. Brought her to the main stage, where the others are almost done setting up. Luckily, they've took my keyboard and kind of setup for me as well.

Nose ish itchy

After the performance, we took a few group photos, but with the drummer M.I.A

From left: Dustin, Kamal, Acap (our helper for the day haha), Gem, Susan, and me.

Random selfie

After that we went to a nearby mamak restaurant for lunch, except Dustin that left, and the drummer which are still M.I.A

It was fun to talk about audio and music with these people hehe.

We hang around more, until about 3pm Acap and Kamal left to go to Bently's Music for a Battle of the Band. Gem, Susan and I continued hanging around since it was raining, and Eugene (another member of Myclamyra Project that didn't perform this time) join us as well.

Around 4pm, Susan leave. I hung around with Gem and Eugene for a while, then I met Leena!

She gave me a Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, and guess what, I got a booger flavored bean fml.

It tasted horrible, yuck yuck yuck. Uggghhh.

Anyway, after chatting with her for a while, I met Captain Allen, and Nekochi!

Selfie together wwww

Another with just the Captain hehe

After meeting them, can't remember what I did.

Lolololol. Guess I just roamed around, until Kyee finish her mini shoot and we went home.

:3

That was Day 1. For Day 2, initially I did not plan to go at all. Then I talked to Minori, and in the end I went to support her performance.

Got there sort of early, then I bumped into Calvin!

We went to Old Town, he have his lunch and I was just drinking hehe.

We chat, then after he's done, I went to find Minori.

On the way there, I passed by Feito, and he yelled my name lolol.

I was sorta rushing, and I didn't her him go "Joe joe joe joe joe joe joe" but then I heard a sudden "JOE!!!!!!" lol. 

                                

Poor Feito, having to try so hard to catch my attention hahaha

After that selfie, I rushed into the stage area since Minori's performance was supposedly starting.

But as usual, there's delays lol. Wasted my energy rushing -_-

Her OOTD! hehe

Some shots of her on stage. I kind of end up being like the stage photographer today LOLOL.

Just took photos of all those performers :3

A performer, I have no idea who he is even though we said hi :x

I forgot his name :x

But he sang awesomely though! 

Despite some problems he had to deal with, cause of the freaking sound engineer.

The freaking sound engineer....Damn, where should I start?

Let's start by..He moved the speakers to the front of the stage, which is bad because the performers can't hear themselves, being behind the speakers. And because there is no monitor speakers wtf.

Why would he move the speakers towards the front?

Well because...The vendors opposite the stage were complaining that it was too loud.

Okay, I get it, it's loud. But what I don't get is, WHY DAFUQ IS HE MOVING THE SPEAKERS TOWARDS THE FRONT WHICH IS CLOSER TO THE VENDORS.

Ehhhh hello?!?!? It's common sense that the nearer it is, the louder it'll get. What da bloody fuck.

I can't brain, and I don't even-

*Sarcastic tone*

Another thing is, if people is complaining that it is too loud, (and it really was LOUD), you should lower the volume damn it.

And even though it was loud, he keep increasing the gain when people are performing wtf. 

As a result the sound is crackly, and feedback occurs. -_-

And ohhhhhh, he had the nerve to say "I am sorry, but I can't guarantee that you'll be able to hear anything at all up there."

Wadafak. He told that to Kaoru before her duet with Minori.

..........................

What's wrong with him? zzzzzzzz

Anyway, in the end they managed to get him to move the speakers back, which kinda made things a little bit better. 

(but because of the venue and the way the audio engineer keep tampering with the gain, everything was still bad)

Minori and Kaoru dueting

And oh, there was a ramen eating competition as well haha. Can't remember whether it happened after or before the duet though.

Among all these people, there's only a girl. And she won!! Hahahah xD

Awesome wwwwww

Harmonia ACG performed as well, and here's a few shots;

Sophia helped out during a song as well :3

They did a good job, I like their harmonies haha.

A photo of the crowd for I don't know which performance lol

I guess that's all?

The on the way back, I stop in front HELP Uni since Kyee's friend left her stuff there.

And bumped into Yun hehe. Selfied with her, with me inside the car hahahaha xD

Ok, got to go now, ciao!

More updates will come soon hehe.

View of KL International Jazz & Arts Festival as a stage crew

KL International Jazz & Arts Festival, UM, on 17th May 2014.
It was a 2 day event, 17th and 18th May, but I only attended the first day, 17th May.

Upon arriving, I was given my volunteer tag and their T-shirt, which said KL International Jazz & Arts Festival 2013 :S

In UM's toilet LOL

Anyway, Emad and I were assigned to Experimental Theater.

When we got there, it was around 1pm. 

They were still setting up, even though they were supposed to do that in the morning :o

The sound guys told us that they've been trouble shooting problems since the morning.

While they are still setting up, I checked out how they mike up the drums, piano, amplifier etc.

The piano there was C.Steinbert, and holy shit the moment I pressed the first note, I was drawn. Completely drawn. As if something was sucking me to it.

I've never felt such an awesome piano before. The clarity of it, the touch, the feel.

Sigh. One day, I'll get a piano like this!

And oh, when the sound guy asked who can play the piano, without thinking I just raised my hand up and shouted ME!!!!!!! 

Then I played on the piano a while for them while they check the signals and everything.

Sigh, it was so beautiful. BEAUTIFUL. 

After that, I just hang around until the first band that were supposed to soundcheck arrived.

The stage manager brought Emad and I to the main stage to check out others performer soundchecking. At that time, I was lucky to have heard Keiko Matsui's soundcheck.

I was completely blown by how she performed, even though it was only a soundcheck. She was playing "Dream Seeker" at the time. After a while though I have to go back to Experimental Theater cause the soundcheck there was about to start.

Lisa Young Quartet was the first band, followed by Niccolo Faraci, and then it will be performance time.

During the soundcheck, there was quite a lot of problems :S

The sound guys were rushing about, panicking while Emad and I just looked at them and kind of..Facepalm. They have no clue what they're doing, I won't go into details about what is happening since I didn't really communicate with them, but I remember one of them finding out that a cable is actually not plugged in, after HOURS of troubleshooting what went wrong.

.....And another case is, Lisa requested more higher mids for her mic channel, the sound guy was like "The highs?" Lisa kind of looked confused for a moment, then she said "No, the higher mids." 

Then the sound guy just increased the volume. ....................Yeah, I'm kinda speechless.

Anyway screw their problems, it is not my problem lol.

I was kinda like an extra since I'm volunteering under SAE. There is nothing much for me to do except see to what the artists wants. One of them even asked me to go get his jacket lol, but seriously other than that I was just standing backstage enjoying the performances.

Most of the time I roam around the place, checking stuff out.

This is the soundroom

View from the room

Niccolo Faraci Trio

Lisa Young Quartet

And erm...no idea who's this.

After the event finish in Experimental Theater, Emad and I roamed around more, checking out other stages. 

Later in the evening, we just sat and chill with our seniors at the CD booth.

Until I heard Keiko Matsui playing in the other hall.

We went in to watch her performance which was MIND BLOWING. The atmosphere was awesome, and her band sounds so well balanced. It did not focus entirely just on her, other instruments got some awesome parts too.

After her performance, she headed out to the CD area where we were chilling for her autograph session. And the whole time, I was standing behind her, photo bombing everyone that is taking a picture with her x'D

And I'm not sorry :p

Keiko-san selfie-ing with a random dude haha

We waited for about an hour of so (?) before there is no more crowd left, then I asked for her signature and a picture with her. She's very friendly and nice! She even thanked me for volunteering when she signed on my "volunteer" tag. :')

And oh, when Emad told her he would like to play alongside her one day, she looked at him, and genuinely asked what instrument he played! :O 

We did not expect that at all. 

Hahahaha I selfie with her www

Emad taking a proper picture lol

Sigh. I would love to attend her live again someday, and hopefully worked along side her as well.

Meeting Keiko Matsui and playing the Steinberg piano is the only experience that I really enjoyed. Other than that, it wasn't that fun :/

One of the performer (quite famous pianist) was arrogant, and pffffffttttt his music wasn't even that great. I expected his music to be good since he was quite arrogant, but when he performed, all I can do is try not to laugh. I don't find emotion in his music, and his band wasn't balanced, I felt like the members were trying to outshine each other.

Funny thing was, he's so arrogant backstage, but on stage he pull on a "Oh I'm a great guy, look how funny am I" type of attitude. It just kind of disgust me :/

It's like there is no sincerity?

Oh well.

Keiko Matsui is still the best :D

Humble and nice person, and her music truly inspired me.

To the point I get kind of emo, cause thoughts like "Why didn't I continue with a music course?" "Why did I choose to go backstage instead of onstage?" starts to bother me.

But oh well, I'm not really regretting, knowing all these audio stuff is great too. I did not regret picking up audio engineering. And it will never be too late to take up music as well :3

Well, I guess that's all.

Hope to meet more awesome musician in the future!

Everything changes. And life just happens.

I never know what I what.
Not then, not now.
I was always confused, my desires keep changing and I can't really picture my future.
Whenever people ask me how do I see myself like let's say 20 years down the road, I'll probably shrug and say I don't know.
If they demand an answer, I can only tell them I want it to be near the ocean, related to music, arts, and I want freedom.

I wonder, how do I piece those things together?
I have no idea how, but I guess it'll just come to me when the time is right.

That's what happened to me so far. Stuff just came, out of the blue.

For example, The Crestfall. 

Carlson just messaged me out of the blue one day asking me whether I want to join a band or not. I had no idea what I was agreeing to face when I said yes. I was only 16, and the reason I joined is because I love music and want to play it together with people that share the same interest.
I only want to have some fun.

I did not realize the stress, time, money that would come with it.

Stress, because we went through members changed so frequently and we need to deal with last minute jamming.
Time, because there will be jamming sessions, home practice, and events to attend.
Money, because we need to book the studio outside and pay ourselves.

Nor did I realize that by agreeing to join The Crestfall, I would take up an interest in audio engineering.
And that lead me to take the course I'm taking now.

Thinking back, it was kind of funny though. When I first join the band, I don't even know what the fuck is a bass guitar.
I didn't know that usually there will be a lead guitar and a rhythm guitar.
I don't even know how to play the keyboard properly, I'm only basing everything on my Grade 5 piano knowledge.
Without realizing I've pick up more knowledge and skills.
Previously I can't detect the bass line.
Previously I can't sing back up vocals.
Now I can. There is so much more other things I learnt.

Anyway, being in this band also introduced me to friends.
There's members from other bands, event committee members, and just plain music lovers.

It's so weird how one thing lead to another.
Stuff just happened, and I never seem to realize it until time passed. Only then did I realize how much something small could be big.
And how something big could become small again.

The Crestfall seem dead now.
Or maybe it's just me. Am I losing interest?
I am a sessionist for Myclamyra Project for the upcoming c2age event, and also to help them out with the video audition for Jrock no Tamashii.
Jamming with a band feels so different from how it use to feel. There is no more hype for me.
I even told them I don't want to join Jrock no Tamashii.
I used to want to join it so much.
But now, I have no more interest in it.

Minori applied for Crestfall to perform in c2age as well, but I said no to it.
I don't know why I did that.
I was the one that said I missed the band, that I want to have jamming session and performance.
But I guess I can't be bothered anymore.

Despite all these, when I saw those band's audition video for Jrock no Tamashii, I felt a sharp pang on my chest. It was quite depressing.
It's like, how can I love and hate something at the same time?
And all the while I thought that it doesn't matter to me anymore.

What the fuck do I actually want?
You probably can tell I'm fucking confused lol.
Somehow this post turns out completely different from what I want to talk about.
Again, I guess it's because stuff just happens.

Meh.

Why I didn't update much (or bullshit)

Haven't been updating for quite a while, and I'm too lazy to do one of my 'updates' post lol.

I guess the reason why is because I've been quite busy lately, or at least I think I am?

And I guess it's just that I don't know if I care that much about stuff anymore.

I used to keep updating because I used to love reading my blog again, it refresh my memories, and I use my blog to keep track of what happened in my life.

Now...I don't know.

I don't see the point of it much.

Maybe it hurts to read back sometimes. 

Or maybe I was convincing myself that I have a 'happening' life.

Lol. Bullshit to all of those, whatever it was.

For the past days/week (whatever, can't really remember when) I think I feel a lot better about myself than I've ever felt. I think it's finally safe to say that I finally don't care anymore, don't give a damn.

I'm me, and I'm awesome. Hahahahhaa.

Anyway, this blog won't die though.

I enjoy writing, and I only write here mostly.

I will still use this blog to keep track of my life, even though I said it was bullshit.

I guess the reason behind me wanting to keep track of my life is different now. :)

Nowadays I've fallen in love with photography.

I'm starting to view things differently, every small little thing will mean something to me, and I see beauty in different things I used to see.

I'm starting to feel serenity, and solitude is no longer a thing I'm afraid of.

Photography somehow creates serenity and solitude for me, they mask the noisy bustling real world I'm in.

I guess you could say I'm being delusional, but it works to keep me calm and happy.

Lol what am I writing anyway.

I'll come back again with more updates when I have more free time. 

Meanwhile, I'll deal with my band performance as a sessionist, assignments, finals, and random errands that have to be done.