If u are convinced by the two videos by X japan and want more, here's the song that u should listen to. Now it seems as though i'm ks-ing jloh's post. lol... Pre-condition: Patience to wait for it to load and 1/2 hr just listening to it. A word of caution again, it's hard to digest on the first listening, esp the piano part, but yoshiki really redefined wat is meant by "playing with the piano" Toshi (lead singer) once commented that he has to be in a painful mood to sing X japan songs, but it is better to feel pain in reality than to live happily in delusion. Or is it?

[Art of life- X-japan]

Desert Rose
Why do you live alone
If you are sad
I'll make you leave this life
Are you white, blue or bloody red
All I can see is drowning in cold grey sand

The winds of time
You knock me to the ground
I'm dying of thirst
I wanna run away
I don't know how to set me free to live
My mind cries out feeling pain

I've been roaming to find myself
How long have I been feeling endless hurt
Falling down, rain flows into my heart
In the pain I'm waiting for you
Can't go back
No place to go back to
Life is lost, Flowers fall
If it's all dreams
Now wake me up
If it's all real
Just kill me

I'm making the wall inside my heart
I don't wanna let my emotions get out
It scares me to look at the world
Don't want to find myself lost in your eyes
I tried to drown my past in grey
I never wanna feel more pain
Ran away from you without saying any words
What I don't wanna lose is love

Through my eyes
Time goes by like tears
My emotion's losing the color of life
Kill my heart
Release all my pain
I'm shouting out loud
Insanity takes hold over me

Turning away from the wall
Nothing I can see
The scream deep inside
reflecting another person in my heart
He calls me from within
"All existence you see before you
must be wiped out :
Dream, Reality, Memories,
and Yourself"

I begin to lose control of myself
My lust is so blind, destroys my mind
Nobody can stop my turning to madness
No matter how you try to hold me in your heart
Why do you wanna raise these walls
I don't know the meaning of hatred
My brain gets blown away hearing words of lies
I only want to hold your love

Stab the dolls filled with hate
Wash yourself with their blood
Drive into the raging current of time
Swing your murderous weapon into the belly
"the earth"
Shout and start creating confusion
Shed your blood for pleasure
And what? For love?
What am I supposed to do?

I believe in the madness called "Now"
Past and future prison my heart
Time is blind
But I wanna trace my love
on the wall of time, over pain in my heart
Art of life
Insane blade stabbing dreams
Try to break all truth now
But I can't heal this broken heart in pain
Cannot start to live, Cannot end my life
Keep on crying

Close my eyes
Time breathes I can hear
All love and sadness
melt in my heart


Dry my tears
Wipe my bloody face
I wanna feel me living my life
outside my walls

You can't draw a picture of yesterday, so
You're painting your heart with your blood
You can't say "No"
Only turning the wheel of time
with a rope around your neck
You build a wall of morality and take a breath
from between the bricks
You make up imaginary enemies and are chased by them
You're trying to commit suicide
You're satisfied with your prologue
Now you're painting your first chapter black
You are putting the scraps of life together
and trying to make an asylum for yourself
You're hitting a bell at the edge of the stage
and
You are trying to kill me

I believe in the madness called "Now"
Time goes flowing, breaking my heart
Wanna live
Can't let my heart kill myself
Still I haven't found what I'm looking for
Art of life
I try to stop myself
But my heart goes to destroy the truth
Tell me why
I want the meaning of my life
Do I try to live, Do I try to love
in my dream

I'm breaking the wall inside my heart
I just wanna let my emotions get out
Nobody can stop
I'm running to freedom
No matter how you try to hold me in your world
Like a doll carried by the flow of time
I sacrificed the present moment for the future
I was in chains of memory half-blinded
Losing my heart, walking in the sea of dreams

Close my eyes
Rose breathes I can hear
All love and sadness melt in my heart
Dry my tears
Wipe my bloody face
I wanna feel me living my life
outside my mind

Dreams can make me mad
I can't leave my dream
I can't stop myself
Don't know what I am
What lies are truth?
What truths are lies?

I believe in the madness called "Now"
Time goes flowing, breaking my heart
Wanna live
Can't let my heart kill myself
Still I haven't found what I'm looking for
Art of life
I try to stop myself
But my heart goes to destroy the truth
Tell me why
I want the meaning of my life
Do I try to live? Do I try to love?

Art of life
An Eternal Bleeding heart
You never wanna breathe your last
Wanna live
Can't let my heart kill myself
Still I'm feeling for
A Rose is breathing love
in my life

We won. The first and last championship title. 5 rounds of Swiss on sat and we qualified for the semis ranked 3rd. Come sunday, we whacked VJ 25-0 and HCI 24-6 to clinch top spot. Thanks to zhu and hammy for the luck. Really needed it to make the beautiful 18 pt 3NT.

But somehow it didn't feel like winning. I guess it's a matter of perspective.... You win some, you lose some. I'm beginning to make some sense out of this cryptic line..

2 vidoes by X-Japan. 1st one is Tears, 2nd one is Endless Rain. B4 going on, just a warning that the videos might be visually disturbing to some. To give u an idea... X-japan is a all-guy band, but some would say that Yoshiki (the pianist/drummer) is quite chio.lol. Tears was the first X-Japan song i've heard and for those who find it familiar, u might have heard it in the movie Windstruck. The video on endless rain was taken during their final concert b4 disbanding. The reason X-japn is a legend is very simple: they had the best of everything. Unique and powerful voice, crazy drumming and piano, the best guitars i've seen and most importantly, their music reaches out to u even though it was composed more than 10 years ago. Simply awesome....

ps. stop the bg music by pressing the stop button...lol

身为一道彩虹
雨过了就该闪亮整片天空
让我深爱的你感到光荣

身为一道彩虹
尽全力也要还你一段笑容
够了我爱你不必人懂
不必人懂 (只要你懂)

只要不醒过来
这就不是梦
请拥抱我
请看着我
体温别流走

好多话想说
好多事要做
请天空给我
请时间给我
再多一点停留

亲爱的你我有感动
请牢记在心中
下一次下雨
你能看见的
那道彩虹
不再可能是我

[动力火车- 彩虹]

On a Power Station fever currently, might post more of their songs in the future. I was wondering if i should just convert this into a music blog, coz recently i feel, as mrs v puts it, intellectually flaccid.

Random points

From POTC: Many ppl can tell u what they want, but few can tell u what they want most.

From CT results: The grades are screaming, "Start mugging!"

From RGCO concert: Some ppl need to be taught how to behave like audiences.
On a separate note, realised that i have never been to any RICO concerts since leaving 2 yrs ago.

NUSS is this sat. Last chance to win. Time to mug bridge, studies can wait for a week i guess...

Tsunami again... This world is screwed up...

If you haven’t changed your mind
Soba ni ite hoshii yo Tonight

Tsuyogaru koto ni tsukareta no
Osana sugita no Everytime I think about you baby
Ima nara ieru I miss you
It’s so hard to say I’m sorry

Tatoeba dare ka no tame ja naku anata no tame ni
Utaitai kono uta wo
Owara nai story tsuduku kono kagayaki ni
Always tsutaetai zutto eien ni

Memories of our time together
Kesa nai de kono mama don’t go away

Atatakaku toke dashite tashikameru no
Yasashisa no shizuku kono mune ni hirogatteku
Setsu nai hodo ni I’m missing you
Kasaneta te hanasa naide

Tatoeba kanau nara mou ichido anata no tame ni
Utai tai kono uta wo
Owara nai story taemanai itoshisa de
tell me why oshiete yo zutto eien ni

Tatoeba dare ka no tame ja naku anata no tame ni
Utaitai kono uta wo
Owara nai story tsuduku kono kagayaki ni
Always tsutaetai zutto eien ni

Tatoeba kanau nara mou ichido anata no tame ni
Utai tai kono uta wo
Owara nai story taemanai itoshisa de
tell me why oshiete yo zutto eien ni

>English Translation<

If you haven’t changed your mind
Then I want you by my side Tonight

I’m so tired of always having to bluff
Everytime I think about you baby, I feel so young
If I could just tell you I miss you
It’s so hard to say I’m sorry

You see, I want to sing this song, not for just anyone
but just for you
An ENDLESS STORY that keeps on shining
Always, I wanna show you, forever and ever

Memories of our time together
this way, they don’t go away

Once I knew that the warmth between us had disappeared,
gentle tears started to spread over my chest
This is not where it ends, I’m missing you
please don’t let go of my hand

You see, I wish I could sing this song, just for you
just one more time
An ENDLESS STORY of undying love
tell me why, please tell me, forever and ever

You see, I want to sing this song, not for just anyone
but just for you
An ENDLESS STORY that keeps on shining
Always, I wanna show you, forever and ever

You see, I wish I could sing this song, just for you
just one more time
An ENDLESS STORY of undying love
tell me why, please tell me, forever and ever

[Yuna Ito - Endless Story]

Just can't get enough of the song.... Original Jap Version of 张惠春's 想念你的歌 which teresa sang in campus superstar finals.

World Cup's over. Italy won but zidane stole the limelight by using his head. lol.. and did the italians play for the penalties just to show that they can "break the curse" and win via penalties? Nonetheless, it was a job well done and they never conceded a goal to the opponents from open play throughout the entire tournament- tht's truly amazing.... kudos to zidane for his cheeky penalty, he must be crazy to try such a thing against buffon in the world cup finals- perhaps tht got to his head and got him sent off.. In any case, he will still be remembered as a great soccer legend with a pivotal head that scored twice in 98 against brazil to lead France to the cup and of course, in the opposite sense, we all know what happened this morning....

Starting on perhaps the last term of proper school, there's this "jadedness" among the J2s now, a kind of "sian diao" feeling... It's kind of like knowing the end is near but you can't do anything to prevent it, so one chooses not to care coz it is too late for the "should-haves and the could-haves"... Or is it?....

World cup update. Italy mustered a win over overly favoured hosts Germany by smashing in 2 superb goals at the last one and a half min of extra time. The french triumped against Portugal's "operation ugly football" which had claimed 3 victims (Mexico, Holland and England). Henry's "dive" (in inverted brackets coz there was indeed a foul and Henry chose to fall instead of shrugging off the tackle) won France the penalty that Zidane converted into the solitary goal that was the difference between the two sides. Poetic justice. Cruel irony for Portugal- Ronaldo played pretty well and was probably the brightest spark in the whole Portugal team. Italy-France final would be tight as both teams are famed for their strong defense. lol, rooting for Italy, their added edge in defense and finishing should see them defeating France, I hope....

动力火车's "当" playing in the background. For those of you sharp enough, u'd have realise that it is the theme song of 《还珠格格》which showed on channel 8 like 6-7 years ago when i was still in pri sch. The talk of the town at that time would be on whether ziwei (played by 林心如) is chio. lol, memories of the times then seem bittersweet when viewed now from the present through the window of the past. This same bittersweetness was somehow subtly felt at yesterday's farewell.

RJCO farewell
Did everything end there, or is it just a hiatus? Are we closing the chapter with a big bang (锦上添花) or are we writing a redundant epilogue for a story that should have ended long ago (画蛇添足)? We seem to want to define the beginning and end of everything and so the question goes, after farewell, are we suppose to go *click, that's all for CO? hmm... could that then explain the exceptional turnout for farewell?- that they were scared that to do so would cut all their ties with CO. Oh, how the idealistic mind can so plainly deny reality! I would wish that it is true but unfortunately, looking at it realistically, we know that it is not. It is more likely that under the influence of the complex world, some of us define the beginning and end more clearly than others and hence move on faster than others. So, farewell to them would be a redundant epilogue. That said, we are yet not in a position to pass judgement on them cos to do so would require us to pass judgement on the whole world. Perhaps farewells becoming more and more of a redundant epilogue as we grow older is no coincidence- it is a result of more ppl defining the beginning and the end more clearly. This is where the bittersweetness comes in, sweet because of the wonderful times b4, bitter because it would never be again, cos ppl move on at different pace and in different directions. Maturity is perhaps made up accumulation of this bittersweetness and the increasing ability to define the beginning and the end.

Looking the paragraph i wrote above, perhaps kwan is rite, i tire my brains by thinking too much. Adopting a simpler thought process, everyone had so much fun yesterday and that is all that matters. The J1s did a great job organising the whole thing, though i must complain that my piggy bank has a piece of cardboard stuck on it. haha, it looks quite artistic also lar so i shall not be extra.... Okay, next i need to thank everyone in CO for the memories, esp to comm and my section. Then, thank you to all the ppl who bothered making cards and gifts for me, really appreciate them. And finally, the farewell video says to look back with a smile.. I'll try... 让我们红尘作伴，活得潇潇洒洒。策马奔腾，共享人世繁华。对酒当歌，唱出心中喜悦。轰轰烈烈，把握青春年华。... only 策马奔腾 abit hard, the rest are all possible and the last line just brings out the meaning of the whole song...

啊....啊....啊....

当山峰没有棱角的时候，当河水不再流。
当时间停住，日夜不分。
当天地万物 化为虚有。
我还是不能和你分手，不能和你分手。
你的温柔，是我今生最大的守候。

当太阳不再上升的时候，当地球不再转动。
当春夏秋冬 不再变化。
当花草树木 全都凋残。
我还是不能和你分散，不能和你分散。
你的笑容，是我今生最大的眷恋。

让我们红尘作伴，活得潇潇洒洒。
策马奔腾，共享人世繁华。
对酒当歌，唱出心中喜悦。
轰轰烈烈，把握青春年华。

[动力火车-当]