Switchfoot

That's the name of the concert that Switchfoot and Relient K played in at the Bren Events Center at UCI. Now I can say that I've been to the OC and to Irvine! Hahaha. It's really quiet in Irvine, serene, peaceful. Its a good place to stay, although I imagine it can get a little dull at times. Still, if you have a car, it gets you everywhere in the OC.

But that's not the purpose of the post. Its to say how much I loved the concert that was put up. Soooo much fun!!!!! Can't believe I finally got to hear Switchfoot live after so long, and they were amazing. Soooo amazing. They were tight, they were energetic, the music was good, they had good interaction with the crowd. Jon Foreman ran into the crowd and I couldn't believe I was so close hahaha. Star Struck! From the awesome soliloquy before singing "Meant to Live", to screaming in the guitar during "This is Your Life", it was one hell of a rock show. The only thing was they didn't play "Dare you to Move", ahhh! COME TO SINGAPORE YOU GUYS.

Relient K was quite good too, but punk rock never really is my thing. Still they got grooving real good, and there was even a foam shower when they were doing their christmas tunes.
Noticed that lotsa parents accompanied their kids to the concert. I wonder how that feels for the kids. I guess its interesting that parents here want to indulge their kids, or should I say, be around their kids for stuff like concerts. Somehow, I appreciate the little freedom I get in choosing concerts that I want to go to I guess hahaha.

I lucked out because I only got tickets for the seats but not the floor where ppl were standing. However, someone sitting just above me managed to get a whole bunch of wristbands and she very kindly gave me one for me to run down to the floor, into the mosh pit for Switchfoot!! WOOOO!

Ppl were wearing Tee shirts that said "I love hardcore christian girls" ahhahahaha. Thought that was amazingly funny. There was even talk that Kutless was performing on Sunday, and ticket stubs for this concert could get you Kutless at 10 bucks!

Seriously, I don't know what it is about christian bands that appeal to me, but its good music so I shan't complain. Wei Lin would have absolutly loveeddddd being here for this concert, especially when the encore was the cello guitar duet, Only Hope, from the movie, a Walk to Remember.











I never fail to be amazed at how much fun concerts can be, and letting loose and jumping in the crowd just brings you to a high. No need for drugs, no need for alcohol, just friends having fun together.

Thanks to Karen for putting me up for the night!

Las Vegas - The Sin City

Vegas is interesting. Its interesting because it is the city of vice, and in truth, a place where I could have gone really wild. But I didn't.

Somehow the city seems empty to me. Amidst all the bright lights, the partying, the gambling and women, there's something about the city that actually made me feel pretty uneasy. I wonder if its because the glam factor just puts me off? I may never know, but I must admit to have been pretty impressed with the first impression of Vegas definitely.

This is not to say I didn't enjoy Las Vegas. I did. It was definitely an eye-opening experience to be walking down the streets of Vegas, watching the monstrous Bellagio musical fountain, watching people fixated at the slot machines etc etc etc. Maybe its because I didn't go clubbing, or watched any shows, which might have clouded the experience abit, but no matter, I don't think I missed out on all that much. And there's always next time, with other ppl :P

But, I really enjoyed the drive to the Grand Canyon. A road trip with friends is definitely something that I will not forget, even though it was only a day trip. And the sights that greeted us, Lake Mead, Hoover Dam, the vast expanse of the desert, tumbleweeds, and the awesome majesty of the Grand Canyon definitely made this trip worthwhile.











And now. For Switchfoot.

Singaporean Weekend.

Justin and Ru De drove down from Santa Barbara for the weekend to visit Los Angeles. It was a good way to spend the weekend with SG ppl all over again. As much as this is a cultural exchange and immersion here in the States, and I've been blessed by meeting so many great people here, but it's great to see good friends after a few months!

We went to Downtown LA the first day they were here. Walked Chinatown and to Little Tokyo. It was alright. Downtown LA just isn't the best place to be I guess, but the company made it worthwhile, and the food that we got at Chinatown was good. I guess its just natural that we made a beeline for chinese food since we were all together. Hahaha.

At night, we went to a club to check out the scene. I reserve comments on the clubbing scene in LA, since we went to a club that admitted 18 yr olds, cos Fel's suitemates brought us there.

The next day, we dropped Ru De off at Universal Studios, and we headed off to Hollywood to check out Hollywood Boulevard and the Walk of Fame. Justin and Fel headed off to mass while I came back to the house to catch a nap. Lunch was another chinese affair, beef noodles, fishball noodles, curry and rice. Hahaha. Then we headed out to Universal City Walk at night.











It was a great weekend. A short study week because of Thanksgiving, and I'm off to Las Vegas!

Yamaha Xeno YSL-882GO

For those interested. Better pics to follow.

I Left My Heart in San Francisco

Amidst the strains of the jazz tune, " I left my heart in San Francisco", I was walking along in Union Square, sipping tea, and marvelling at the charm of the city.

It wasn't such a pleasant greeting though. When I arrived it was raining, a slight drizzle, to a full fledged downpour once we reached the hostel. Talk about a bummer. One thing though, amazingly, in my time in San Francisco, I've had the best Thai food I've had in my life! Now I know Thai Expres suxXor.

We braved the rain and headed out to the city center to check out the City Hall. I guess there was something quite interesting braving the rain and wind and cold and walking out to the city center to check out the sights at night! What greated us were some stunning sights, and not so stunning hordes of the homeless trying to get shelther under whatever they could.

It was a much better Sunday to go out sightseeing. I walked around Union Square Downtown San Fran, and saw it go from quiet to hugely bustling in just under an hour. No doubt cheered up by the sun after the dampening downpour the day before, crowds started to throng the streets in full force!! There was so many shops and malls, and we managed to catch them pruning a huge Xmas tree in Union Square.

Took the Cable Car aka, San Francisco Municipial Railway to Fisherman's Wharf. That was an interesting experience. We lucked out by getting this power driver who was darn entertaining. He was boisterous and energetic, and even let a passenger try to operate the car itself! When we took the night car back, the other driver went backwards down the slope even! Its amazing how these cable cars are the kings of the road in San Francisco!!!

Took a bus to the Golden Gate Bridge, but stopped at IHOP (Intl House of Pancakes) for brunch. Hahaha. The Bridge was stupendous. Awesome, is all I can say. Hahaha. The sights, the Bay Area, marvelling at the engineering feet that makes up the Golden Gate, it truly is a sight to behold.

Made our way back to Fisherman's Wharf. Had clam chowder in a breadbowl. Walked around souvenier shopping and taking a closer look at the bay. Wanted to take a cruise to Alcatraz but it was terribly pricey. So that was a tad disappointing. But it was quite a fulfilling trip already!

I guess I'm not doing the city much justice because I was only there for 1 and a half days, but I'd definitely go back there if I have the chance. There is a charm in the city that speaks to me, and I'm sure it does to everyone who goes there as well.




San Francisco City Hall



Cable Car



View from Lombard Street



Golden Gate Bridge



Fisherman's Wharf

On my Way to San Francisco

Woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep. Waiting to catch a flight to San Francisco for the weekend. I think its going to be a wonderful city from what I've heard, and I'm really looking forward to this trip to unwind, take in the sights and sounds and have a great time. Would be also interesting to see the oil leak that just happened a few days ago. 220,000 litres of oil was spilt by a tanker in the Bay Area. Hopefully, it doesn't spoil the sights and coastline too much. It's quite a disaster actually.

Went to a UCLA Basketball game yesterday. Happening. Tickets were sold out, and we got some tix from "ahem" sources. LOL. Great game, great atmosphere. Been to most of the UCLA sports now, and I haven't watched a single losing game! My friend was saying how being a UCLA fan is akin to being a Man U fan, you hardly see a losing game, and its much more fun. HAHHAHAH.

Will upload the pictures from the Basketball game and San Francisco once I'm back. Its Veteran's Day, public holiday on Monday and that's when I'll be back!

Back to start the 7th Week of School.

EAP Reciprocity

It was quite an interesting day today. Man Utd handed a whooping to Dynamo Kiev, 4-0 was the score.

What was better was that I went to a preorientation briefing for UCLA students that were going to Singapore next semester. I was quite surprised to know that there were individual booklets for each country that UC students are assigned to, plus another general guide. They also arranged for past students who were on exchange in the same country to come down to share with the newbies information that would have been extremely valuable for their exchange.

Got to meet several new people who were going to come down next semester, and also a guy that was in NUS the past semester. I guess what really struck me was that, this guy went around most of South East Asia in his time in Singapore. He was flying every weekend to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and also to Taiwan and Australia. I mean discounting the powerful US currency at that time, travelling all these countries must have been quite an eyeopener. Guess I kind of feel abit weird that I haven't been to most of the SEA countries before. hmm...I guess I really should. And I will!

The sharing session went good, although I was quite surprised that there might be a lack of on-campus housing for the UC students. Surprised they want to do internships in Singapore, surprised that some of them know about JJ Lin. (WAT !?) I told them to just spend time travelling, and figuring out CORS. Also, I guess this question never really struck me, but, are there cheap apartments near school available for rent? I've been staying at home for so long, but now I'm wondering, how much does it cost to stay away from home exactly...What would that experience be like? (Don't tell me like army. Definitely not. Hahaha.) Still, I guess nothing beats home. Hahaha. Its at times like these I'm really thankful that Singapore is such a small place that home and school is merely an hour away. Now, I really should ask them, why did they choose Singapore to go for exchange in the first place? Hahaha.

Gone Till November

Just finished watching the match between Liverpool and Besiktas. 8-0. Goodness. I'm so glad I'm able to watch soccer down here in the States, couldn't imagine going without watching ManUtd for like 4 mths!

Finally the plethora of midterms and papers are over. Been doing pretty good I guess, quite happy, but also in a way knowing that these results don't really mean anything just makes things abit empty.

Yes its November, and the sun isn't out, and I'm feeling a little dreary. I can't believe that 2 months has passed since I first stepped foot into America. These 2 months have been sooo good. And I've learnt and experienced so much. I've really lucked out in getting great roommates and housemates, and that everything in LA has been quite smooth-sailing so far. Its been fun travelling the States as well with Fel and Justin, and I'm glad we did this trip together hahaha.

I don't know why I'm sounding so poignant, but I guess it has to do with the fact that I realise that I only have 4/5 weeks before schoool ends. And then its time to go home. My roommates and housemates have been telling me that its a pity I'm here only for such a short time, and in a way I guess I agree. Oh well.

Cheers. Haha.