Journal of James's Journey with Jesus

Stuff I've Been Caught Up With

1. OOOM at SAM (29 Aug 09)

To explain the abbreviations and acronyms, OOOM stands for Originals Only Open Mike and SAM stands for the Singapore Art Museum. Basically, it's a monthly event organised by the Singapore Art Cafe that gives songwriters a platform to showcase their songs.

Registration is pretty hassle-free and the organisers have a very welcoming spirit. You can sign up on the spot and play a maximum of two of your composed songs. A Power 98 DJ will also pick promising talents from there to perform on air during the Acoustic Lounge slot.

Well, I went there with Veggie Boy and Xin Yong to take a look. Well, I also wanted to perform in front of people more often to nurture my confidence on stage. It was a really good platform for singer-songwriters to hone their stage presence and get feedback about their material. The audience was very friendly and encouraging too.

There was an overwhelming number of talented composers on that day. They sounded original and professional. I actually heard a guy sing about American politics with a voice that is a mix of Jason Mraz and Damien Rice. I'm not even exaggerating; he is that good.

After it ended, we had to take pictures at SAM. I happen to have a friend with hyperactive fingers and an eye for seeing the beautiful in the most under ordinary things. Not mentioning names, he's a guy who would capture the whole world in snapshots if he could.

The Rocker Violinist

The Restaurant Necessity

The Musketeer

The Typical Singaporean Ah Beng

2. We Got Married

My sister introduced me to a Korean reality show on Youtube. It's called 'We Got Married' and featured several Korean celebrities getting paired and 'married'. Basically, they had to live together on Tuesdays and do lovey dovey couple activities together.

What I liked about it was the fact that it was unscripted and real. You can note their awkwardness at the beginning and see how they gradually fall in love with each other. It's interesting because they are guarded and yet hopeful about a love that will end one day.

My favourite couple was Hwang Bo and Hyun Joong. Hyun Joong is the leader of boyband SS501 while Hwang Bo is a solo artist who used to be the leader of the female group Chakra. What's really interesting is that Hwang Bo is 29 while Hyun Joong is 23.

With an age difference of 6 years, they took quite a lot of time to get used to treating each other as equals. Hwang Bo is a loud and cheerful character while Hyun Joong is the quiet and cute guy who always manages to conjure laughter with his out-of-the-blue quirky one-liners.

Their relationship lasted a total of 9 months, filming 29 episodes. After that, Hyun Joong couldn't take part because he was busy filming Hana Yori Dango. And they didn't get attached in the end. But while it lasted, it was sweet bliss. I actually felt so heartbroken when they parted ways as if I was the one involved. I desperately hoped that they would end up together.

They did silly things like wearing couple T-shirts, writing love contracts and just talking about sweet nothings to mush each other up. They played at theme parks, beaches and ice skating rinks. They honestly had a lot of fun.

They went fishing on yachts and even took wedding photos together . He even did a sweet cover of Falling Slowly from the movie Once. They loved to compete in random competitions that came to their minds at the moment.

It was such a romantic journey, even for the viewers. I guess having a huge budget and well-planned itinerary brings even the hopeless romantic into the mood for love. This show profoundly attracted me to Korea and its people.

Who knows? I might just go there one day to visit. To start you guys right, here's the link to the first episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxTFI9ptDr4. Just don't blame me if you guys lose your social life after you click on the link above.

Falling Slowly by Hyun Joong

3. Prawning With Batch 14 on 4th Oct

The 6 faithful members of Batch 14 Platoon 2 Mates

From left: Yong Ren, Kang Sheng, Clement, Kah Kiat and me. Xin Yong's the photographer.



Avid photog XYZ. That's his industry nickname.

Weight-gainer boy Yong Ren took the initiative to plan a prawning(if there's such a word) trip for Batch 14. It has been more than 3 months since we ORDed so it was good catching up with some familiar faces.

From left: Kah Kiat, me, Yong Bong

But I seriously hate prawning. We fished/prawned with 3 rods for 3 hours and all we got was 12 prawns. And it cost an exorbitant $90 altogether. Or maybe it's just this particular prawning place at Bishan.

I am a person who cannot keep still very well. I had to sit or stand absolutely still and tug at the rod if I felt a nibble. I felt so many bites but had nothing to show for it. And the worst part is I will never know if my eyes were playing tricks on me or there really were a bunch of no-good scavenging prawns in the murky waters.

Actually, I really wonder if the prawn pond owners had secretly placed layers upon layers of prawn feed on the bottom of the pond. It would certainly explain why the prawns seemed so elusive.

The climax of the evening: when I caught my first and last prawn.

When I caught my first prawn, I was practically yelling my head off in excitement. And I did not care if everyone was looking at me. Thoughts in my head included, "Prawns do exist in this world.", "Who's the sucker now?" and "I'm gonna get your whole family."

I was lucky to have my Batch 14 mates there. I could have never touched or skewered the live prawns myself. The monster prawns actually had pincers and would probably have evolved into lobsters in 2 months or so.

4. 6JAM Gathering on 5th Oct

I was so glad to see some of my primary school mates at a BBQ organised by Natasha and Say Lin. I haven't seen or talked to most of them in 10 years. Although there were only 8 of us, it was great to find out how well they have been doing in life.

From left: Say Lin, Yeoh Yong, Haikal, Natasha, Taufiq, Mrs Chiang, Jeevan, Abu and me

We just spent a glorious 4.5 hours reminiscing about the old days with our form teacher Mrs Chiang. Carefree days of playing dodgeball, soccer or at playgrounds after school. Talking about where we sat in class and who were next to us.

It felt really good sharing gossip and current information about classmates who did not attend the BBQ. There was no awkwardness or emotional distance between us, though we have been walking apart on different paths for 10 years. None of us put up airs or acted like we are somebody great.

After the BBQ, all 8 of us went to the tower at Mandai Dam/Reservoir to chill out. We just sat down on the floor under the spotlight of the moon and talked about our own experiences with ghosts. You would not believe some of these stories that brought a chill to my bones.

One worked at a place with animals for a year. Lots of spooky things happened there. Visitors actually wrote letters to tell staff to stop asking their men to sit on trees as a joke. Some visitors actually saw a real pontianak during Halloween when they decorated the place with some ghoulish additions.

Also, poltergeists or familiar spirits disguised themselves as employees who did not come to work that day. When the staff realised that, they called the person and asked him/her what he/she was wearing. It was exactly the same clothes.

Lights and stage sets switched on by themselves. Once, a stage producer saw a woman standing up during an animal show and told the ushers to tell her to take a seat. There was no woman.

Another friend of mine had worked at a certain place with CCTV installed. His friends saw footage of someone dressed in white clothes standing in front of him for 30 minutes. He was alone. Also, a certain office in his workplace was known to be haunted.

The telephone would ring whenever someone entered the room. If you picked it up, there would be no one on the line. But the best part is that the telephone was unplugged. And he was telling us how he heard the quacking sounds of a duck when he was alone at home.

It is commonly rumoured to be a type of spirit. Anyway, the funny thing was that we all started hearing regular croaking of "Quack, quack, quack" almost immediately after the story. It was a frog. That was most certainly the climax of the night.

One friend told us about a certain shopping centre in town that is rumoured to close early because all hell breaks loose at night. It was built on a cemetery and the architects actually built external structures that resembled a Chinese tombstone to appease the spirits.

Saving the best for the last, my last friend had amazing stories. She worked in the F&B industry and said that they are very 'dirty' as well. A small boy spirit would call staff by their nicknames whenever they passed an empty function room in the restaurant.

He would also throw a pebble at her whenever she was sweeping after closing hours. The pebble would travel very fast and come to an abrupt stop just in front of her.

Her mom once parked at the multi-storey carpark near their home but could not find a way out despite walking round and round. She had parked her car there countless times. Her mom was 5 month pregnant and went to Malaysia for a holiday.

When she came back, she started bleeding profusely. The gynaecologist was so shocked when he could not find the baby or its remains inside the womb. It was the first time he witnessed the demonic act of a baby snatcher.

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed myself just sitting down and chatting. I have actually never done this before. Chinese people never seem to like to just sit down anywhere and talk. There always has to be a restaurant or coffee place involved.