1. SUPERBAND EP HAS BEEN RELEASED IN SINGAPORE ALSDHKFKHSDLHDSLFHSDKLFHALHSDSAAS. I wasn't expecting this - they talked it up for a late August release in their concert, and then the release date kept getting pushed back, until it was 7 September and I checked a Chinese forum and it apparently still was nowhere to be found, even in Taiwan stores. So I wasn't holding out much hope when I went to Vivocity for a movie today... I even briefly contemplated NOT walking over to the CD store (which are SO HARD TO FIND in Singapore these days, so many of them have shut down!) and just grabbing dinner before my movie instead. I'M SO FUCKING GLAD I DECIDED TO CHECK ANYWAY. Because, OMG SHINY AND NEW:


OBSESSED.

( so much flail and pics under the cut it's obscene, omg )

2. I SHOULD really talk about the important message movie I watched - The Cove - which was really good, although not quite as heart-stoppingly tense as the reviews would have it. I must admit that I came awfully close to wanting to disavow eating sashimi after watching it, because omg those dolphins, wtf. Those final blood-soaked scenes were BRUTAL. But I'm weak and selfish, with no self-control, and I need my regular doses of mercury poisoning, so.

3. Couldn't bring myself to work ALL of yesterday and after spam post, I attended a two-hour meeting (a lot of it completely pointless), which means I am SO EFFED next week... but argh, I am TAKING my weekend off, I don't bloody care. Especially since my boss informed me that I would have to keep working until I drop dead. I think this was said at least PARTLY in jest... one would hope, anyway :P I was going to go to the doctor tomorrow morning and get my ear cleaned out for good, but... I can't TELL if I'm just used to the tinnitus now and don't notice it anymore, or if the problem's cleared itself up. ARGH. I think it's kinda still there, but not as bad as it was earlier in the week? IDK. I'll probably go to the doctor anyway. IF I CAN HAUL MY ASS OUT OF BED.

4. OMG why am I so hungry now even though I had a Carl's Jr burger and fries for dinner. I guess it IS seven hours later. Maybe THAT'S why... OKAY, BEDTIME.

Oh god. I should really really be asleep NOW, because it's 2.30am, I haven't done a lick of productive work in, like, a week, and I need to be at work and focus tomorrow (I always say this), BUT I'M NOT SLEEPY AT ALL. This only means I'm going to be catnapping at my desk again, simply because being awake during the day is just so naturally inimical to my system. Argh, stupid. I have so much WORK to do, and so many other things I have to see - movies, theatre, etc - in the next week and a half that I'm kind of breathless at the thought of it. And yet here I am, predictably trapped in an epic fangirl loop of flail. Very predictable indeed.

I really like it when fandom collisions happen though. There are Disney fans on my flist, surely? ( Oh look, Emil Chau meets Disney! )

That kind of got away from me there. Better go to bed now. At some point: really, Emil Chau (kind of) meets Broadway.

I am six years behind on comments. I WILL REPLY TO THEM. I PROMISE. Maybe. *weeps*

1. URM. FOUR DAYS. Just four days more, guys - this time, in four days, I will literally be boarding the plane for Qatar New York. OMG. I can't... even BEGIN to process this, it doesn't feel real at ALL. I mean, I have tickets for most of my first week of shows, and at least half of the second week, and I've been planning this for a while. STILL. NOT GOING TO BELIEVE IT, as usual, until I'm actually THERE.

2. In other news, longest, laziest weekend I've had in AGES. We had a full three days off thanks to Labour Day (May 1) falling on a Friday. I had SOME grand plans of catching up on tv (god knows my flist is going to explode when the next House episode airs, and I am FIVE MONTHS BEHIND), or do something a little more productive... and yet, I spent most of it asleep and being lazy. Truth be told, I actually kind of like the sound of that. XD

3. Friday was family day - lunch out for my brother's birthday, at a fancy Chinese restaurant where basically we proved that, genetically, we all have a song playing in our heads at any given moment. Seriously we all just kept... humming out loud during the meal, while scoffing down epic amounts of beef and cod and god knows what else. I came home and napped after that, as I had gone to bed at some ridiculous hour of the morning, and then out for dinner to my aunt's place again. She's doing better after her second round of chemo, not having quite as bad a reaction to it as the first round, so ♥. Then I came home and... spent the entire night flailing at weazel_luv over Wonderettes. GOD KNOWS WHY. (I AM SEEING IT WITHIN THE WEEK, GUYS. ASFHALFHLSDHFLSDHFLSD.)

4. Saturday: I had plans to go for yoga, which were completely thwarted when I got up at 3.30pm (sigh). Instead, I watched X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which I actually REALLY liked. I know it's been critically savaged, for the most part, but I loooved it. Turns out I'm just a huge X-Men/Marvel fandork, I guess, because I just... had the best time settling back into that universe, watching all the characters I love pop up in flesh, blood and celluloid, and... it was just FUN. (I also loved X3: The Last Stand, so yeah, I really am just a huge nerd with really poor taste in movies. I'm not apologising though, these movies make me happy!) I am a sucker, apparently, even for not-entirely-well-wrought romance, and bought into the Silver Fox thing by the end. URGH, ME. No spoilers, however. Let us, for a minute, discuss the masculine pulchritude on display in that movie. ZOMG HUGH. JACKMAN. When I saw the trailer, I KNEW the movie could have been an absolutely god-awful pile of steaming manure and I'd have loved it anyway just because Hugh gets to run all over the screen being sexy and hot and growly omg omg. And that he did, in epic amounts. What surprised me is that I also found Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool ridiculously sexy. SHUT UP. In his six minutes of screen-time, he didn't even bare these, but I was still done. OMG HOTNESS. Now I have to go watch Definitely, Maybe again. I did NOT, however, like whoever played Gambit. Taylor whatever or somesuch? Urgh. Not that Gambit's one of my favourite characters, but... it just didn't work for me. He wasn't anywhere near charismatic enough.

5. During the movie, I had the insanely pressing URGE to delve back into the comics again - now, try to believe me when I say that I really AM far from being the biggest comics dork around. ( I don't think anyone really believes me, do they? )

6. AFTER the movie, to get back to my weekend - I went to a colleague's house for an awesome potluck dinner. ♥ He made chili and corn on the cob, other people brought corn muffins, mashed potatoes, ice cream (I contributed some not-so-great salad that wasn't popular anyway with all the OTHER things on the table), and it was just fun to sit around chatting about... movies, work, anything, everything. Honestly the people I work with are about the only reason I haven't lost my fragile grip on sanity in the past six and a half years I've been at this job. And it's been FAR too long since we had one of these chat sessions, so that was good!

7. Then, on Sunday, I managed to get up in time for my 2pm yoga class: which, although it was the easiest of the easy classes, I almost died in. GOD. I have not been back in weeks, because I've been lazy and the thought of inflicting pain on my really just completely inflexible body didn't appeal. So, being out of practice, that - predictably - became a self-fulfilling prophecy. A+, me. I'm already sore, and am going to hurt like the DICKENS tomorrow. In fact, I was apparently so tired I went for lunch, came home, and SLEPT FOR FOUR HOURS. Straight through dinner on a worknight. EPIC FAIL. That now means, of course, that it's 2.46am and I am WIDE AWAKE. AUUUGGGH.

8. ALSO, YOUTUBE LOOP. AIEEEEEE. Chiefly, there was Alice and Emily belting their faces off in I Will Never Leave You, one of the few times I've SEEN them sing that song unattached at the hip. YOU HAVE TO WATCH IT, GUYS: can we say omigod sexy SASSY belting times a million. 2:31 is legit an ORGASMIC EXPERIENCE, when they belt in opposite directions but sound PERFECTLY in sync, omigod. (ETA: OMG, 0:55!!! How. Cute?!) Then I found Bebe videos, and although she really doesn't have the best voice on her, god I LOVE her sass. She's SUCH a killer Velma, and probably the only person I'd want to see in the role over Julia (that's right, REPLACE IN CHICAGO, JULIA, PLZ). And yay, Bebe singing from Cabaret! I LOVE her line readings more than anything else. Mmmm, dripping with sarcasm and sass. I heart you, Lilith Bebe. ;)

9. And, because apparently this isn't already epic long enough, I figured I should get started on my alphabet meme, or I won't be done by the time I hit NY. To wit, here's the first five letters of the alphabet, accompanied by a lot of flail and a handy Twitter-ready summary for each. ( That would be A-E, in case you didn't know )

10. OMIGOD THAT TOOK FOREVER. Wow, I am going to have to seriously cut down on the time I spend on the next 21 letters or I am going to die. D: I shall now attempt to go to bed at 3.47am even though I'm WIDE AWAKE (damn the nap) and hungry (no dinner). Blaaarrrgh.

1. Why so spammy, me? I apologise for posting so often in the past day or so. Blame it on my fandoms constantly providing me with awesome over which I feel I MUST flail. Surely you guys don't blame me for it? ;)

2. To wit: ( here's some awesome )

3. God, I hadn't realised HOW tired I was after work today. I was supposed to dash out for a facial before meeting noldoparma after her dinner, but that didn't work out and I was spurned by my facial-doing person. (What is the proper noun to describe the occupation of giving facials anyway? Facialist? because that sounds WEIRD.) I went home and briefly contemplated going for a short jog in between, but instead... fell dead asleep for a much-needed nap.

4. Dinner after at House, one of our favourite haunts. Since J had eaten already, she left me to demolish most of our late dinner - a metre-long chicken sausage (no lie, it really turned out to be that long!) on a bed of rocket leaves; TRUFFLE FRIES (this is something of a tradition for us, apparently), and eggplant salad. Lemon tart to finish, OM NOM NOM.

5. And now I must sleep. Busy day tomorrow - Watchmen, tea with K, N's birthday bash at night... I WANT to do yoga or some such exercisey thing at some point, but have no idea at what point that will/can happen.

6. HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND, EVERYBODY. I'm going to enjoy mine... until I have to go back to work on Sunday. D:

1. I am EPIC late for work - as in, I'm supposed to BE in the office by now - but since I spent a while lounging around in bed and am already late... whatever. ;) I fell dead asleep yesterday early this morning before posting... this, I realise, is the upshot of having a laptop which can be used in a semi-horizontal position, rather than my usual desktop computer which keeps me upright... for better or worse.

2. Anyways. A couple of quick things. I was tagged by irnbruise and alex_kingston for a handwriting meme:

a. Write your LJ username
b. Write your two favorite bands/groups at the moment (not overall, just currently)
c. Write either I ♥ k-pop ; I ♥ j-pop ; I ♥ c-pop (this isn't really for anything, just to see how you draw hearts xD)
d. Write the name of your favorite person of all time (e.g. Yamada Ryosuke)
e. Write down your recently favored person (e.g. G-Dragon)
f. Tag 5 people to do this meme

( pardon the illegibility )

3. Quick fly-by flail: I'm done tracking my audio of the awesome Superband concert. ♥ SO MUCH LOVE. Can't get over its amazing. ( audio and some pro-shot video! )

4. ALSO, JULIA @ BROADWAY JUKEBOX. OMIGOD YOU GUYS. She sang soooo many things, like Unusual Way and LOSING MY MIND (THE LOW NOTES IN THIS ARE SEX, YOU HEAR ME? SEX!!!) but but BUT my favourite? The fact that we finally have a FULL VERSION of her singing I Dreamed A Dream from Les Miz. AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Guys, do you know how obsessed I - and a legion of fangirls, thanks to Mr Rudetsky - am with having her sing that? THIS OBSESSED <-- literally I had spliced together two fifteen-second clips of her singing different parts of the song during interviews so I could pretend to myself I had a full version. AHAHAHAHA NOW I DO. And it is unbelievable. She acts the craaaap out of this. I want to flail more and will probably do so in comments but now I must run. Although I have to add: Julia is doing a show on May 18! XD Possibly not a solo performance, but whatever: this more than ever confirms to me that I need to be back in NY in May, y/y?! OMG. Why is everything falling into place for crazy epic amounts of flail AGAIN?

5. And now I am INSANELY late for work and really REALLY need to get going, ackity ack. OFF I GO.

[ETA: Posting this old entry from a teahouse in Xi Men Ding, after a huge plate of beef fried rice which only confirmed to me that Singapore - with its fanatical health tendencies - has bred the ability to eat copious amounts of MSG out of me. Dude, I CANNOT eat MSG-laden food anymore. Sad. Due to head to the airport in a little under an hour...]

1. It's 2.40am on Sunday morning in Taiwan. This post - clearly - is going to appear somewhat later than that because I am made of so much epic fail that I tried to buy myself wireless internet, SUCCEEDED... and then proceeded to forget to take down the password and info I needed to LOG IN. Of course, this info was pointlessly forwarded to my email account, which I can't access because I'M NOT ONLINE, AM I. Honestly I could easily buy myself another day's worth of internet - it's not expensive at $4 a pop - but I'M PUNISHING MYSELF FOR BEING STUPID. No internet for you, IDIOT.

2. Doesn't mean I can't write an epic long, FLAILY entry to be posted when I finally get back online, though. HAI, CONCERT OF ENORMOUS AMOUNTS OF EPIC AWESOME, OMIGOD. LIKE, I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT I GOT TO SEE THIS LIVE. But we did it. We were TWO ROWS from the front, and honestly so close to the stage that the performers were real-people-sized. We were SO CLOSE we couldn't even see the huge television screens that the REST of the stadium were watching. ( To remind myself on Monday that life IS worth living... ) One thing I MUST say is that I am super super excited to be seeing them when they eventually make a tour stop in Singapore as well. Because hopefully by then, they'd have figured more things out, written more songs just for Superband, and gelled better as a band. Because that would basically rule my life/universe/everything.

3. WOW GUYS I'VE BEEN TYPING THAT RECAP FOR OVER AN HOUR, WTF. I really should sleep.

4. It's kind of sad that this was our last day in Taiwan though. I have to cop to being super pathetic this trip in the sense that I didn't... go OUT and see more of Taiwan as I should have? Really I dawdled in bed, stayed within a certain small geographic zone and just ate a lot. I've seen a LOT of Taiwan in the culinary sense, and I loved what I saw, but I was a really bad tourist. But... I'm kind of okay with that. What I needed out of this trip, other than Emil!flail, was a BREAK, and I got just that. I got to sleep in and just REST, and... get my brain right again, you know? And be reminded why there really is a lot in this world to love. Besides, this only means I need to come BACK to Taiwan. Next time Emil holds a concert here, maybe... ;)

5. Okay okay. About the rest of the day: the food finally caught up to me and J. *weeps* My stomach protested MIGHTILY once I woke up, and I had to be really careful the rest of the day because I didn't want to spend most of the concert in the bathroom. So... I think I ate... not very much, compared to the day before anyway. A rice roll for breakfast, some sesame mua chee (SESAME, guys, SESAME), and I shared J's lunch of deep-fried pork steak and sesame-boiled chicken (SO heaty). I had a green tea latte at Starbucks while we stoned at the stadium, since I was freaked out that we might get lost and we wound up spending... way too much time there waiting rather than out shopping. And after that we went back to Shilin and ate teppanyaki as the healthiest option we could find, because even J couldn't bear the thought of oily pork anymore. Buttered/salted/MSG-ed cod, buttered mushrooms and beansprouts... everything with butter, and yet probably healthier than pretty much anything else we'd eaten to date. At least it was fish and vegetables, right? Though... what does that say about us (and Taiwan) that we considered this healthy?

6. Of course, this entry is now hopelessly out-of-date. BUT IT WASN'T WHEN I TYPED IT.

7. Right. It's 4am. No more flailing. Bedtime. Guys... I kind of really DO NOT WANT to go back to Singapore/work. :(

1. What a surprisingly productive day!

2. I managed to get up before 2pm - 'TIS A FEAT - as I had bought myself a ticket to see Valkyrie at 2.50pm and really did not want to sleep through ANOTHER movie and waste another 11 bucks. Unfortunately, any attempt to have a normal lunch was THWARTED by the epic huge rainstorm that blew up RIGHT over town when I was walking to the cinema (having parked somewhere further off in a failed attempt to incur less parking charges). Seriously, I would have really wanted an ark right about then, though not so much the pairs of animals that would've come with. :P I had to buy an umbrella on the way just to make it to the cinema vaguely on time, and as luck would have it, the WORST of the storm would ease RIGHT after I opened the umbrella and started outdoors. Story of my life.

3. Valkyrie was... disappointingly HOLLYWOOD, given its very weighty, very worthy subject matter. I mean, I should have seen this coming a mile away and expected it: WHO casts Tom Cruise in a movie about the last, most successful (not to say it SUCCEEDED) attempt to unseat Hitler and change the course of world history? So yes, it was Hollywoodised, Tom was not awful but didn't really seem able to make me want to care about the character... and Eddie Izzard was unrecognisable in the film. I liked Bill Nighy and Tom Wilkinson though. Again, REALLY solid supporting cast. That being said, I STILL CRIED AT THE END. EVEN THOUGH I KNEW THE OUTCOME AND THE MOVIE WASN'T THAT GREAT. My tear ducts, how much more faily could you be?

4. BTW, as a sequel to yesterday's cookie-eating debacle, I am currently trying to eat a chocolate bar that suffered a similar fate. Cleanliness and maturity are kind of not happening right now.

5. Yoga after that, for the first time in almost seven weeks. Aside from being off in NYC and being felled by illness/work, I've tried a couple of times in the past week to go back... but keep getting to town too late for class. GRRR. Clearly it was not the best idea to go with a class taught by one of the most strangely sadistic instructors on offer. I've had trouble in this guy's class before, when I was already fairly run-in and could handle classes without COMPLETELY unravelling in them. Today, his favourite REST POSITION was the plank i.e., full-on push-up. SIGH. I'm already starting to ache, a little bit, and will no doubt regret this when I wake up on the morrow later today.

6. Subsequently provided an alibi of sorts for noldoparma to hightail it out of her high-school reunion, and we met for Japanese at Vivocity. GOD. I've been stalking a particular restaurant there ever since I came back from NYC, but for some reason have never been able to get there in time to eat before/after whatever movie I'd be seeing. FINALLY got to have my hotate kakiage don - which is basically tempura (lightly battered) scallops and vegetables over rice. OM NOM NOM NOM. V HAPPY. I think I might be addicted to that particular dish. Then, predictably, black sesame ice cream before...

7. Heading back to mine to try our hand at Rock Band and Sing Star. *weeps* What a rockin' way to spend a Saturday night, huh? WE ARE SUCH DORKS. I held the guitar the wrong way around, and J got blisters from the drums ALREADY. But I think we might be a little bit hooked. AUGH NO.

8. Finally, I came home to Youtube, and I don't generally REALLY look at the recommendations on the front page, but I did today and they kind of amused me a lot: ( What Youtube thinks I should be watching )

9. How is it that I always manage to write SO MUCH about a day that really was, basically, VERY BORING to anyone who is not me?! Do not understand.

10. ETA: Meryl pic-spam - because everyone needs a dose of class (and PRETTY) in their day, y/y?!

1. 3.47am for the epic lose. Omigod. I need need NEED to stop watching Emil Chau videos. NEED TO STOP. Except cannot, because aieee, so obsessed. *weeps*

2. Guys, I TOTES OVERSLEPT FOR WORK YESTERDAY. It was awful. I don't know why I didn't hear my phone alarm, or why I turned it off even if I did, but I only got up at 11am and only because my sister did. *cries* NOT. GOOD. I took the half-day off, and since I did, I went to see the doctor as well for a routine thing. So it wasn't completely wasted. BUT STILL. WHY SO FAILY AS AN ADULT, ME?! Okay, I KNOW I was tired from the last three days of paper-writing, but come on. COME ON.

3. That being said, I didn't feel too guilty or like I should work. :P I ended up leaving the office at just past six as I wanted to go for a slow, easy yoga class. Unfortunately, traffic conspired against me and I got there too late (my yoga studio is frickin' annoyingly anal about punctuality), so instead of going for a tougher class, I went to see a movie.

4. Slumdog Millionaire - which I REALLY liked, but found to be just... too soppy in the end? Even for me? This seems to be something of a trend for me and Danny Boyle movies - like Sunshine, I really enjoyed the first two-thirds of the film, and then the last third went weird. Less so in Slumdog, since it more closely gels together as a movie and Boyle's intent was always clear to make it about... fate or something like that :P, but I also LOVED Sunshine more than I do Slumdog. Which makes Sunshine's eventual wackiness more unforgiveable. Urm. Anyway. I also saw a trailer for Push, and am HYPER EXCITED FOR IT. New superhero movie ftw! (Yes, I DO like Chris Evans a lot more than I should prpbably admit to.) So many films to catch up on this weekend. Benjamin Button, The Wrestler, Defiance. Man. I think I have to work too, which makes me sad. :(

5. And I'm never going to stop listening to Emil. Crappity, guys, I found video of him singing Your Song. I have an unhealthy adoration of that song, ever since Moulin Rouge!... WHO ELSE LOVES THIS MOVIE - and I know not you, irnbruise, I apologise in advance! ;) Ewan = ♥ I just about had my brain explode on me when Emil sang Your Song at his concert here in 2006. Back when I was faily, stupid and did not have a recorder, fuckity. So this video will have to do. OMG HE'S SINGING/BELTING AWESOME. And he was legit sick that day too, apparently. Man.


I also enjoy the faily attempt at English subtitles.

6. I like how I'm worried about not being able to get up for work later today, and yet I'm still here. AT 4.02AM. WTH IS WRONG WITH ME. Also, gmail is being faily and cutting in and out for me intermittently. Do not like, bah.

1. I wasn't going to post today but ah, whatever. You can't keep me away for long. Again, I am mildly horrified at my retarded ability to just... bounce back from soul-crushing amounts of work. Honestly I was just about snapped in two yesterday; rewriting an entire draft because, IDK, my subordinates just weren't THINKING hard enough or something, and my brain wasn't working even though I tried to focus and ARGH. I left work at 2230H and met noldoparma for a bitch-session/supper, and went STRAIGHT HOME TO BED. I couldn't even flist or anything I was so tired. Then today I got up early and WORKED and turned in my five-page draft at about noon - up to that point, I was wrapped in about twenty thunderclouds worth of unhappy and grumpy. But once I got it out (and my boss hardly had to work on it beyond a few amended lines here and there), my mood steadily improved.

2. Then I snuck out early - by which I mean, sadly, at 7.45pm - and went book-shopping, which made me a LOT happier. Not that I bought books, since I'm not allowed unless there's a sale. But J and I DID go for epic epic Japanese dinner. Omigod, they're having some kind of special Hokkaido promotion in Sushi Tei, so crabs and scallops are on their promotional menu. We both had deep-fried salmon skin and seared scallops with mushrooms to start, and then each had a bowl of Japanese rice (dusted with sesame seeds) layered over with salmon sashimi, scallops, and snow crabs. ♥ With black sesame ice cream to finish! God. One of the best meals I've had in EVER.

3. OH. We also went to HMV, because clearly paying for a trip to Taiwan - which I've neglected to do but will get around to doing tomorrow, J - isn't enough retail therapy for me. I picked up the Boss' new album, because hai I love Bruce. I'm pretty sure I will not be listening to anyone but Emil for a few days yet, but after that, jukebox_grad, I'm switching to Bruce, I promise. In the meantime, I also bought an old Emil album I seem to have lost and then... came home and made a mix CD of EPIC AWESOME containing my favourites of the songs HE wrote, and not the ones written by other people which became massive hits for him. ♥

4. FINALLY: OMIGOD VIDEO. I love how no one even bothers to stop people from filming in concerts in Singapore. No point in doing so, after a while, since every idiot has their camera out all the time anyway. Thank goodness for that, because video has turned up of Emil's closing song at our concert on Saturday - as I flailed here, he sang Radiant (璀璨), an utterly beautiful, heartbreaking ballad he wrote maybe 16 years ago now, about the sadness and loneliness and desolation that comes over him when the curtain falls and he leaves the stage. And he PROMISED not to cry, but when he segues into You All (你們) at 2:08? God almighty, he starts crying, and can't sing, and then everyone sings FOR HIM and he chokes up even more. Yeah, I was crying too. Fucking EPIC this was. EPIC.



5. I have a zit on my cheek. A BIG ONE. I disapprove. :( I get one every six months or so, something like that, and it's ANNOYING, urgh. I guess I should be glad they don't pop up more often. Still, I'd rather they didn't pop up at all. :P

6. OKAY DONE BEING FRIVOLOUS. Bed so I can work tomorrow. Yuck.

1. HERE'S A NEWS FLASH: MY JOB = FULL OF SUCK. Well, okay, that's not a news flash, it's a friggin' sad fact of my life. But I'm pretty certain I'm never going to get to go home at a normal time again - not for the next week... make that month (year? decade?), anyway. I am very much not looking forward to having even less of a life than I already do. And yet that is what shall happen. Fuckity. I whipped out a four-page paper in a few hours (again earning my stupid boss' five-figure salary for her) and went home at 11.30pm and STILL I'm not done with the work I have to do.

2. Is it any wonder that I actually looked up my vacation quota for the rest of the year? *weeps* Turns out I have 30 days, if I use my FULL quota, accumulated over years of service. How tempted am I to go back to NYC, like, yesterday? Also, I am having a minor Twitter war with curtains and llyfrgell right now, and I want a New York bagel with cream cheese and irnbruise has offered to buy me one if I go back! SURELY THE BEST REASON TO GO BACK TO NEW YORK EVER, Y/Y?!

3. Also, I super hardcore want to go back because llyfrgell watched The Marvellous Wonderettes on Sunday and I flailed about it with her and am now missing the show MORE THAN EVER. I want to see it again SO badly, especially with the original cast, and I'm bummed that Farah is leaving in early March. SAD. :( BTW, new icon inspired by Meredith and meepette - wtf, guys, I really did NOT make the pink & green connection until you pointed it out to me! How perfect is that, though. XD

4. I guess the one good thing about being made almost entirely of flail is that, no matter how depressing my work life can get (and trust me, it's heading in that direction as of today), my fandoms can and always WILL sustain me. SO MUCH AWESOME TODAY.

5. Julia's new hairstyle - or lack thereof - is worrying to me. She needs a hairbrush. Hair aside, however, she looks great in this interview for her Oklahoma production of Tommy. She talks about having been on SATC! XD And then she sings a bit from Tommy here. Again, I feel the need to reintroduce her to the concept of a hairbrush. But I think she is going to be FIERCE as Mrs Walker, who's with me?

6. Here is Reason #5,385 why Meryl Streep is better than you. You know, aside from the 15 Oscar nominations, her sass and her general awesome? She recently said in an interview that she needs to start recycling the expensive dresses she only wears to award shows - and she's gone and done just that: recycling a dress at the BAFTAs yesterday that she first wore thirty years ago, in 1979. WTH, SERIOUSLY. Way to make the rest of us feel like slovenly failures at life, Meryl. Unlike you, I'm going to look like this in thirty years, I know it.

7. The FLAILIEST thing I discovered today, however?? It's Emil-related, of course! I don't think it's FAIR, but his kids have inherited his musical ability - certainly his daughter Anya has a gorgeous voice (and is also gorgeous, which is good for her since, you know, her dad, bless his heart, really isn't). So I happened upon her Youtube channel, and she uploads videos of her singing duets with her dad while he plays the guitar. CUE MY BRAIN EXPLODING. Oh my god, seriously - they harmonise like crazy, and it's KICKASS, and they sound amazing AMAZING together. OMG OMG OMG OBSESSED. Plus they cover awesome English songs, like Two Of Us by the Beatles, and my personal favourite:

Falling Slowly - from Once the movie

SO. DAMN. BEAUTIFUL. ♥ ♥ ♥

8. Right, it's 3.45am. And it's not like I won't have a shit-ton of work to do tomorrow. I'm an idiot. Bedtime.

♥. BEST. FUCKING. CONCERT. IN THE UNIVERSE. Yesterday night (I haven't slept yet and it's 6.12 in the morning), my love, my heart, my MAN - EMIL CHAU - came to town as part of his world tour. I have stalked worshipped this guy and his voice for FIFTEEN YEARS, guys. FIFTEEN YEARS OF FANDOM AND FLAIL. I've seen him probably about ten times live, if not more, and HE KILLS ME EVERY TIME. But today, today: he got onstage, and barely got off for FOUR GLORIOUS HOURS. Literally it was him, singing, bantering, rocking OUT and being generally AMAZING for a full three hours and fifty-five minutes. CAN WE SAY STAMINA? ASLDHKASLDHALSHDASDLASDA.


♥ ♥ ♥
( SO MUCH FLAIL OMG OMG OMG!!! )

2. Oh god. I'm SO GLAD J and I get to see him again in exactly just under a month, in Taiwan this time, playing alongside a bunch of other incredibly talented people. I'm not sure anything could top this experience for sheer vocal awesomeness and amazing. But YAY for seeing him live again. How could I NOT see him every chance I can get? And how did I survive without seeing him live for the three years I was in university? WHO NEEDS A COLLEGE DEGREE ANYWAY. (Oh wait, I do...)

3. Man I am WIPED. Such an emotional day - other than Concert Of Epic Win, I also watched The Reader. Which I KNOW wasn't really much as a film: the script wasn't brilliant, the directing not especially outstanding... but I was pretty shattered by it nonetheless. I was weeping big-time at the end (why am I such a wimp?) - I think because Kate Winslet freakin' ROCKED her role and I just identify with people who like reading. Or something. *cries* I have learnt two things from this movie though: Kate = AWESOME; and there is NO UNIVERSE in which her role is a supporting one.

4. FOOD. Met SC and J for a quick dinner before concert, which was rushed through because literally we hit every traffic light on the way over. I had... a yummy French onion soup laden down with bread and cheese, and a vegetable casserole (I really DON'T like baked beans, fyi). Oh, and then because concert drained us and we were hungry and thirsty, J and I stopped for Taiwanese porridge on the way home. ♥

5. Oh goodness I just turned around and looked out and the SUN IS UP. It's 8.07am. I've been typing and tracking for very close to four hours now. *weeps* I'm going to finish up and set the 24,563MB audio to upload while I sleep.

6. BEST. CONCERT. EVER. JUST HAD TO SAY THAT AGAIN. ASDKLHALHDLAHDLASHDLHLFHLASDHLASDAS.

1. WOW. I EPIC HATE SENDSPACE. Stupid piece of junk site. I was uploading my tracked-and-ready Chicago boot when it DIED HALFWAY and now it refuses to even load at all. Bah humbug. I'll just have to share the madness with y'all tomorrow, I guess.

2. In other news, I am SICK. WTF WTF WTF. I spent all day apparently trying my very hardest to cough my lungs out through my eyes, which is only slightly less painful than it sounds. And then I started getting snuffly AGAIN. I disapprove of this in every way. How is it FAIR that I am sick AGAIN. I have spent, like, six of the last eight weeks incapacitated by illness of some sort - the two clear weeks being when I was in NYC. Evidently this is a sign that I should just move there now, since I MUST be allergic to Singapore/work/all of the above. Who's with me on this?! Sigh.

3. (That being said, I admit that I am actually more upset that I might ruin my audio on Saturday of VERY VERY TRES IMPORTANT CONCERT than I am at being ill again. I ADMIT THIS.)

4. Going phone-shopping after work did not put me in a much better mood. I must have hit at least ten mini-shops and asked after the kind of phone I need and just came away empty-handed each time. (Either that or I was quoted a price that I'd rather stab myself in the eye with a barbeque fork than pay.) Should I just give in and use a Nokia although I kind of pride myself on never having used one? Bah humbug redux.

5. Is it a secret that I love people who sing/belt awesome? BECAUSE ZOMG WHY SO SO SO AWESOME, GUYS. ( video flail )

6. I hate sendspace, my cough and work. However, I love my fandoms. Also, I adore Julia belting. Just, you know, fyi. Because she sounds like a DREAM. (p.s., I think I need to learn MORE about Farah Alvin. Who wants to educate me?!)

1. Oh goodness, I'm sleepy. I was sleepy at 10pm, wtf. It's my version of jetlag, I guess - though not quite. If I had had adequate amounts of sleep over the last couple of nights after getting home, I'd be fine. But I keep... lingering online, predictably, which means I've spent the last two days functioning on four and seven hours of sleep respectively. Fail. I'm gonna crash after this (for serious), since it's back to work in a matter of hours. BLERGH DO NOT WANT.

2. And that's CNY over for another year - well, the festivities go on for a couple of weeks yet, but the main part of it, with the food and money and visiting relatives, is over now. There was a massive party at my house tonight, and I spent most of it bonding with my computer. Honestly? People annoy me so much sometimes. Also, my brother took back the laptop he 'gave' me as his new one is, for some reason, worse than this one. Urgh. I was looking forward to multi-tasking by using it while watching TV. I GUESS NOT, NOW. Sigh.

3. Since on occasion most of the time I'd much rather spend time flailing than with people, I plunged straight back into icon-making (visual representations of my fandoms ftw!), and that's what I've been doing all afternoon. Made a ton of Meryl ones, catching up on the stuff I missed while on vacation. I decided to post all my Falling In Love icons because I don't think anicons are gonna happen as I originally intended. I'm too lazy. (Aren't Meryl and Robert De Niro ridiculously hot together though?) I'm also saving up icons for a bigger Broadway batch - I've quite a few (slashy) Wonderettes icons, and I made ten Gypsy icons because hai, photo diary of closing night! Awesome. Also, it makes me a tiny bit less terrified of Patti to see her just waking up, or to see her sprawled on her dressing room floor (presumably stretching, though for a moment I thought she had fainted and was horrified that the photographer was busy taking pictures instead of HELPING her).

4. BTW, this POSSIBLE guest star for 30 Rock? FUCKING ROCKS MY UNIVERSE. YES PLZ. If this happens, I think my brain might very possibly break into a million teeny tiny pieces, and each piece would melt from the awesome. I'M PRETTY SURE I'M NOT EXAGGERATING THERE.

5. If any of you guys happen to be bored, I've some music to flail over. ( videos under the cut )

6. OMIGOD I NEED TO WATCH A MOVIE, GUYS. I haven't watched one in two weeks, I think. Can we say withdrawal?! I didn't watch anything on the flight(s) back since I was addicted to Tetris (yes, I fail hardcore). But! There'll be Doubt this weekend (CAN WE SAY MEGA ULTRA EXCITED?!), and a bunch of other Oscar movies to catch up on. I have a feeling I'll be watching three shows a day on the weekend. Oddly enough, I'm totally fine with that. :D

7. Is Photobucket being a mega-bitch for anyone else? I managed to upload my Meryl icons before the site stopped functioning normally, but man, is it ever being a pain right now. Grrr.

8. The prospect of being at work in seven hours or so makes my heart very very sad indeed. :(

1. It kind of sucks MAJORLY that I am actually sicker today than I was yesterday. I know I was JUST starting on the illness on Monday, but I was hoping that the meds would be able to help somewhat in preventing everything from going completely wrong. Well... no. Very much no. This is the most tenacious bug in the history of the universe - I pop the antiobiotics (theoretically for 12-hour stretches since I have to take one twice a day) and barely 4-5 hours later, the green gunk is BACK. I'm SO stuffed-up, although the cough isn't too bad, and I have illness aches. Like, my back, and my head at times, and blargh. I was NOWHERE near this ill in December. I guess this is my body's way of going: I warned you in December, didn't I? I CAME BACK ONCE. Well you didn't fix me then. TIME TO DIE.

2. To that end, I spent almost the whole day asleep. Got up at almost noon for lunch and meds, spent an hour trying to figure out a stupid Taiwanese website to buy tickets, watched one episode of Desperate Housewives (WHY IS IT KICKING SO MUCH ASS THIS SEASON??), and fell dead asleep again. Then I got up to go get a new ATM card (the kind that will allow me to draw money overseas, essential for upcoming NYC trip), and came home and fell asleep AGAIN. Proof that I'm really sick? I just got my hands on my brother's old laptop, which means I'm finally typing in the comfort of my bed - and I'm going to finish this post and just go to sleep, because, urgh. Sick.

3. Bright spot of the day: noldoparma and I have Superband tickets! For 7 March 09. TAIWAN HERE WE COME. XD Omigod. Second-row seats in the centre block, though not dead centre as, by the time I figured out the website and its archaic log-in requirements, my ORIGINAL, very awesome seats had been snapped up by someone else. Bah. Regardless! This is going to be the year of flail...

4. I really REALLY don't want to go to work tomorrow. But I fear I must as I'm slated for a whole set of interviews in the afternoon which I THOUGHT I could make it for, but I can't imagine trying to stay upright during the entire ordeal and trying to remain civil throughout. I'll see how I feel when I get up at 7+ in the morning, I guess. Bah humbug.

5. Finally - noldoparma mocked me for taking ages to write a post, as I had said I would post and then go to bed. She's right. The reason it took me so long this time, however, was because I decided to snag an icon meme from fiddlings. I'm pretty sure I've done this in some form or other before, but this one has a handy icon table and is FUN. ( musings on my icons )

6. ARGH, WHY SO SICK. Going to collapse into bed now, sigh.

1. I think this pretty much says it all, guys:



♥ Whatever (or even whether!) you celebrate, have a WONDERFUL holiday season! ♥

2. And I DID promise music, didn't I? So here's some Christmas cheer for everybody - some of my favourite songs for the season:

a. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - The Carpenters
b. I Wonder As I Wander - Julie Andrews
c. O Holy Night - Julia Murney & Max von Essen
d. 平安夜 (Christmas Eve) - Emil Chau

( a little song-related flail )

3. In other news: I... totes overslept for work. And missed most to all of the Christmas Eve party. F A I L. I like how I don't oversleep, however much I abuse my body and have strange sleeping patterns, on a normal work day. On a day when NO ONE WORKS, however, I just... can't seem to get up. I even slept before 2.30, wtf. Sigh.

4. I drove down anyway, for the last part of the party, and picked my cousin up for dessert and to watch Bedtime Stories. Which is... SUCH a random movie. Funny, sure, and fun to watch. But raaandoom.

5. And then I came home, stuffed myself to the gills with leftover ham (soaked in brandy and raisin sauce) and pasta from the Christmas party, while watching 7-8 episodes of 30 Rock. OMG OMG. So obsessed with this show. I actually liked Alec Baldwin BEFORE I saw him play all of Tracy's relatives in a mock therapy session. AFTER THAT I WAS DONE. OMIGOD EPIC. EP. IC. *cries* I did take a break to watch a shit-ton of Emil interviews (I don't think I'll ever be done, he's been on the entertainment circuit for 22 years!) and fetch my aunt and uncle from the airport. But, back to 30 Rock tomorrow, YEEEES.

6. Also! Meryl gave a rather legendary press conference for Doubt which was translated into a million articles and soundbites across the web. Finally, some bright spark found a full audio of this interview, together with transcript. WAHEY. Because there's nothing I like more than listening to Meryl speak, unfiltered and just... unguarded. Laughing and being snarky and awesome. Also, it gives MUCH needed context to her apparent good cheer vis-a-vis a purported Mamma Mia sequel, thank god.

7. Now I'm off to bed. Have a lovely lovely day, everybody. Much turkey and presents and good wishes to y'all. :)

1. OMIGOD. As noldoparma and I were discussing, we are returning to our Chinese pop roots and fandom at EXACTLY the right time. EXACTLY. Emil Chau. EMIL CHAU. ♥ Has a couple of new singles, both kind of out TODAY, and they made my brain explode. There's this gorgeous, wu xia-tinged new song, 大城之光 Da Cheng Zhi Guang, and it makes me RIDICULOUSLY HAPPY. Then also, his new band, the one he formed with three other INCREDIBLY talented singer-songwriters, released their first trippy single today. EMIL RAPS. Like, RAPS. *weeps* And he wrote the harmonisation for the entire song and I'm IN LOVE WITH IT. Also, Superband might be staging a concert in Taiwan in March. YEAH, GUESS I'M GOING TO TAIWAN IN MARCH.

2. I guess I'm never quitting my job of fail. Not at the rate my fandoms are forcing me to rack up miles on, like, a million different airlines. :P (Don't even remind me of the possibly insane plan to return to NYC, AGAIN, in May so I can see all the new shows if Broadway hasn't imploded into itself by then.)

3. Fuck I should sleep.

4. One last thing - girlie_girl_23 was incredibly amazing, and gave me access to some Mamma Mia CRACK that isn't on the DVD. (FAIL, DVD.) At least, not on the non-Walmart version of the DVD. I haven't watched/downloaded everything, but AIEEEE. Dailies footage of Meryl singing Mamma Mia!! Her HAIR. DIFFERENT. (It's not tucked more securely behind her ear. And yes... I KNOW it's sad that I know that.) ANYWAY. PRETTY. ♥


( more under the cut )

5. Bedtime for real. I had the equivalent of six hours of useless meetings at work today. I don't ever want to go back, not that I'm doing real work anymore these days. But I have to. Bah.

6. OH. One last thing: thank you for the card, tamoshan! XD

1. GUYS. IT'S, LIKE, SO CLOSE TO CHRISTMAS. And it hasn't really FELT Christmassy for me yet, this year... not so far, anyway. Not that I'm religious or really participate in gift-buying and card-giving or anything of that sort (I am SUCH a Scrooge), but well. The most I've done is put Santa hats on icons, and that's about it. BUT GUESS WHAT, IT'S OFFICIALLY CHRISTMAS-TIME IN MY BRAIN. YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY? BECAUSE, ZOMG, IT'S JULIA FRICKIN' MURNEY SINGING MY FAVOURITE CHRISTMAS SONG, LIKE, EVER. And singing it mightily AWESOMELY, I might add.

2. I was planning to upload a Christmas mix of, you know, amazing, like with Frankie and Bing and Karen (Carpenter) and Cheno, but well. All I have do now is direct you over here, where the awesome pdt_bear has uploaded some frakkin' awesome CRACK, so you can keep up with the flail that will ensue... ( COME JOIN ME IN MY FLAIL )

3. Also. Let's talk about a completely random fandom collision. (Ahahaha, random fandom! Mommy, I made a rhyme!) I was watching this Emil interview when he was hilariously describing what he got up to when he was done working on his album and could just tool around at home. So what he basically does is make a nuisance of himself, because his face was all swollen up from when he tried to dust something, and then he cut himself when doing the dishes. There was this ADORABLE moment of when he held up his hand as he recounted the story, of how he went crying to his wife over his fail. And it SO reminded me of, well, a very similar Julia moment. To wit:


AHAHAHA. I have waaaaay too much free time on my hands.

4. And then. You know what's adorable? You know what's adorable at the age of 59? With a horrible cold and cough and plans to return home to quietly die once she's done with the interview? Meryl on Letterman, that's who. ( I wish I could go home, but I caaaaaaaaaaan't!! )

5. Okay, I'm actually going to go to bed now, because it's back to work tomorrow. I hate my illness, btw. It's SO ANNOYING. I feel terrible at times - usually when I wake up - but better than okay at others, but I'm still stuffed-up, and my cough gets pretty bad. Sometimes. Like when I was flailing over Meryl. I think it was a sympathy cough, but man. Not fun, and kind of painful. Isn't it stupid to give me cough meds to keep the symptoms away for the day - except that they cause drowsiness? As if I don't have enough problems staying awake at work as is. Boo.

6. ETA: O_O WTF. All the lights just... went out. I think the electricity just blew. I like how my computer seems to be running on a different electrical system than my lights and air-conditioning though, mwahahaha. I don't think anyone else in the house is going to notice, since they're asleep and I'm... not. Faily house of fail. Our front gate is still broken, so I had to climb into the house yesterday. Would have had to do it today too, except I got my grandma to manually unlock the gate and leave it for me. Bah.

1. Wow, I totes said I was going to bed an hour ago. And then... I just didn't? *weeps* FAIL FAIL FAIL. I'm going now though. I MUST.

2. I watched Twilight yesterday. Urm. URM. I haven't read the books - though I've seen some of the fan outrage/vitriol/flail etc spill over onto my flist from time to time. So I have no investment in that part of it. But the movie was... just not good? I don't think anyone can deny that: dude, the makeup was terrible, it looked like a Z-grade movie at parts, the director's camera seemed to be on a rollercoaster ride of its own and there was very little actual acting going on from pretty much anyone involved in the proceedings. That being said, it was SO cheesy that it was kind of fun to watch. And the movie got better as it progressed - the dance studio scene was pretty good. I can see why it would be a tweenager's wet dream though: I'd probably be all keysmashy and flaily over ZOMGROBERT!!!!! if I were, IDK, fourteen and lobotomised.

3. And now that I've offended all the Twilight fans on my flist - let it be freely admitted that I also have questionable taste in movies. I do. I tweaked the review of Mamma Mia I wrote way back in September and finally posted it. It's perhaps sad that reading it over made me want to watch the movie again. Which I can do now, because guess who has the DVD?! XD I'm still waiting on a full video of Meryl's appearance on Letterman from Friday, but this clip is pretty funny. She's SO sick. And still has time to crack a political joke ('I didn't dare cancel') and terrify Dave with her germs. Heh. I love this woman.

4. So far this weekend I've also spent ten hours, all told, downloading massive massive amounts of Emil Chau crack. God. I think my brain exploded from the awesome - I have live performances of epic EPIC songs, loads of singles and duets I've never downloaded (because they're scattered across other people's albums or in compilations that I didn't fork out money for)... and just incredible amounts of happy. I had to share:


HOW. CUTE. IS. THIS. Emil and his baby boy Andrew, from about 15 years ago. ;)


Emil singing Your Song - so the diction isn't perfect. But when he belts high and slides over a string of notes at about 1:57? And his last belty note at the end? Yeah, I KIND OF DIED. I remember watching him sing this live in 2006 and actually almost crying from the awesome. I'm so used to Broadway voices these days that I've grown judgey of teenybopper pop stars and their inability to hold notes. Oh Emil, how have I forgotten your ability to belt for ten seconds, EASY? ILU. ♥ And I'm so so SO glad I have an audio of this now. SO GLAD. *weeps*

1. So I wasn't going to post today as I've flailed QUITE enough over the last week. But WHO AM I KIDDING. SERIOUSLY. Just WHO do you think you're kidding, self?

2. Let me say it now: I LOVE THE CHINESE. 我愛中國人啊!!! Aside from the cracktasticness that is tudou.com, noldoparma and I - both of whom are now hopelessly hooked again on old-school Chinese pop - were directed towards some insane Emil fan's ENTIRE ONLINE ARCHIVE of bootlegs and audios. OMIGOD YES PLZ. YES PLZ TIMES ONE MILLION BILLION AMOUNTS OF AWESOME. I've spent the better part of the last five hours testing the limits of my computer by downloading songs, listening to them and obsessively renaming etc for my archive. I am a happy, HAPPY camper. Because I now have, like, over 100 new Emil live performances, with him belting the crap out of Your Song in particular, which was... like, a religious experience. ♥ ♥ ♥

3. All this, of course, AFTER an epic dinner out with noldoparma, when we spent the entire time recounting... erm, videos we had both watched (which is kind of sad, no??), and just flailing over how epic and GENIUS Emil and Jonathan Lee and ALL the old-school Chinese pop singers are. My god. All that flailing over a HUGE pile of truffle fries (so gorgeous-tasting, why would anyone want normal fries ever?), scallops... and I had this mushroom ragout thing that was okay, and J had duck. THEN we went for dessert and shared a lemon tart. Because we're not at all like pigs that way. *weeps*

4. It's also been an EPIC MERYL DAY. :D I bought the Mamma Mia DVD at Borders today, so that can go in a matched set with my special edition of the CD and I'll NOT watch the movie for the billionth time this weekend. (Yeah, right.) Then I get home, and discover that my Amazon order has arrived, with a clutch of rare(r) Meryl movies, all ready for me to watch/discover/savour. YAY. AND THEN. ( Why I really want to grow up to be Meryl Streep )

5. And as if THAT wasn't enough, we have the MOST adorable Julia interview in ages. She would be SUCH a fierce Mrs Walker, OMG. I've never wanted to visit Oklahoma more than I do now. :P Also, too many too many things of awesome happening in March. *weeps* Fly to NYC for Julia concert and 9 to 5, and then to Taiwan for Emil concert? WHERE WILL ALL THE MONEY TO FEED MY INSANITY COME FROM? I also feel the need now to hunt down that random Muppets Christmas album Julia mentions. I wonder if she'll sing anything from that in Toronto?! :P

6. Illness had abated, kind of, during the day - I guess the magic antibiotics helped a bit, though I was not too happy that I couldn't take my cough meds as they would make me drowsy... and I certainly didn't need any help with that. Well, cough is resurfacing again, right now, as it tends to do at night, boo. Do not want. So I'm going to... stop downloading EPIC MUSIC CRACK and go sleep it off. At 6am in the morning. GO ME. :P

( I JUST POSTED BUT EMIL SINGING 至少還有你 FUCK FUCK FUCK )

noldoparma, I don't think my heart can take this much awesome. *cries*

Everyone else should... feel free to ignore me while I try to scrape my brain and heart back into place.