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-Is an English Language major undergraduate who likes to Take It Easy.

Words and languages, Jane Austen, period dramas/films, Vitagen, Korean dramas, good songs, better books, Green, wanderlusting, Culture, writing, Experimenting

Things I'd Like

- A Nitendo Wii gaming console
- My own set of rollerblades
- More nail polish (bought just one, neon pink in colour)
- Concert DVDs! (Back to Basics: Live & Down Under by Christina Aguilera, The Black Parade Is Dead by My Chemical Romance , Mika: Live In Cartoon Motion, Where The Light Is: John Mayer Live In Los Angeles )
- A cat

Old Stories

Yesterday we stumbled upon this Martial Arts cafe ...
This new addition to the house made me smile reall...
This sunday morning
When the semester is in full swing, some days I'll...
what and the fuck has 'singapore' got to do with a...
Priorities
the universe was so aligned in my favour on Mraz n...
I thought this chain game on facebook was fun, soo...
L.O.V.E
So…I’m officially on a passive aggressive attack o...

Older Stories

March 2007
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January 2008
February 2008
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Great Clicks

Twitter
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Mraz
Mayer
Xiaxue
Andrea
Retro Music
Music blog

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Designer: fedora_girl :)
Image: Pride & Prejudice (2005) screencaps
Brush, Pattern: The Magic Box
Edit: Adobe Photoshop

Yesterday, my once-lost-now-found cousin smsed me: "hey, do you know if the limited edition mraz album comes with a dvd and extra audio cd? and can it be bought locally?" And that led to a flurry of other smses among which were careful promises of keeping in touch.

Now I think it's time to complete the 2nd half of my story on the night of Mraz's concert.





This cousin of mine, we only re-established contact again after bumping into each other that night.

There I was, sitting on the floor with my banner construction things sprawled around me, when I saw my long-lost cousin and her mother (meaning my aunt) whom I have not seen or heard from in 7 years, casually just strolling in front of me. I was super shocked. Like, paralyzed. I mean, after all these years, they still looked the same. And they were oh so casually walking in front of my nose.

I turned to my companion Eray, who is a fan I met at Mraz's concert last year, and whispered, "Oh my gaaaawd. I very much think that's my aunt and cousin right there. What should I do??" Before I had time to consider my next move further, I felt that I should call out to them before they walked away or something. So I called my cousin's name.

And what resulted was a massive load of catching up. Honestly, I had long suspected my cousin to be a fan of Mraz too. I can't explain it, it was just a feeling. Mind you, this cousin was the closest one to my age in Singapore (and she is like, 12 years older than me, my other cousins being years older)and so I thought about her often. I always felt it was such a waste that I wasn't close to her, as I could and should have been by now. Family politics and shit always got in the way. (How bad was my relatives' relationships was that when I was on my way home later after the concert ended and related to my mum over the phone about my encounter with the relatives, she had yelled and screamed back every reply to me. And then the next night, my parents had a really long talk with my siblings and I as to what led to things being in this state with them having to cut off relations with our relatives, and it made me really really sad to think why the people who are supposed to be close to you can hurt you so viciously. And how they bear the strongest grudges that can carry on throughout the generations and leave scars which run deep, and which can very well change the course of a person's life. I bawled my eyes out that night, reflecting on the things people do to each other and whatnot)

So anyway, to cut a long story short, my cousin and aunt are both really into Mraz and have been to every concert he has had in Singapore. They were even at Singfest which I too had attended last year. And my cousin knows one of the concert promoter person, and they were preparing to go in to meet Mraz. She naturally asked if I wanted to join them because she was allowed to add in more people. I was like, "You have no friggin idea how much I have waited for this." And to have this moment hit you in the face like that, I was just so surrealized, and speechless. I was like, giddy breathless all the while waiting to go in to meet Mraz.

What I had got out that night was not finally meeting Mraz, but feeling so much a part of the wider community, of people who are brought together by music. Even when I made my way into the venue for the concert, I got a call from a fan whom I had been chatting with online for the longest time(and who incidentally, caught the polaroid of Mraz which he took at Singfest). I could feel her excitement for us as the concert timing drew near and she was telling me how she'll look out for me and also have a great time. And then I recognised other fans and some longtime friends everywhere I turned.

Just an example of the crazy connection of mraz+people, to my left, were my cousin and aunt, who, dig this: were in the same section and row as me. freaky or what? Also to my left, were this fan (who had wanted to be the opening band for Mraz but was denied by the promoters owing to the fact that his concert would last quite long) and her friend whom i sold tickets to at school and who was up and dancing crazily away the whole night. She didn't even care if she had to dance alone while her friend sat, she was in her own world, standing and bopping to the music with her grey fedora hat with her eyes closed several times. Even my concert companions that night were not my friends, but wonderful passionate fan friends whom I had bought tickets for. And throughout the concert, I kept looking around the venue, awed by all these Singaporeans who came for Mraz's music. The Singaporean crowd are so not reserved when it comes to Mraz. I had always always lamented that Mraz was way underappreciated in Singapore and that his songs don't get much airplay. Apparently, the situation has changed drastically, notwithstanding the fact that his concert tickets (for a whole stadium!) got sold out within 4 days. Indeed, it was a truly magical night. Where were you if not at that place? I was glad to be a part of it.

Now here's the recap of my encounter with Mraz which I must add, was pretty anticlimatic for me. But, whatever. He was probably really tired, low on drugs, or even tunnel- visioned (meaning, unable to multitask) as a friend suggested guys are prone to be, that night. I leave it to you to tell me what you make of it:

In the first place, I think there was no official meet and greet. No contest or anything. i managed to meet mraz because of my cousin. I was one of the first in the group to enter through the admin office, following the midas guy, and then when our group started lining up outside the room, my cousin and i unanimously agreed to be the last few. We had the choice being the first. haha. I was also trying to buy as much time as I could to collect my nerves. I saw a lot of young women in office clothes who were in my group. i think i was the only 'teenage-looking' one there, together with Eray.

when it came to my turn, my hands were full with valuables like my camera and handphone, and stack of albums and two markers. so the warner person told me i could put down my camera and handphone in a chair inside the room, near the door. and then she changed her mind and said i should put it outside the door. So while she was talking to me, my friend went in first (we were only allowed to go in 2 by 2).

I could hear then mraz discussing my friend's name, while i was setting down my handphone and camera outside. and then when i finished, i dashed into the room cuz i saw that my friend was done, and mraz was expectedly waiting for me, haha. i thought my friend had introduced himself so i walked up to mraz (half hoping-half dreading that he would remotely recognise me from anywhere), gave him a handshake and said, "hi, I'm Yuen Hee", and he shook my hand and didn't say anything. I think he was a bit blur and thought who i was, suddenly barging in like that. lol. Then my friend passed him his albums and i passed him my markers. While he was signing my friend's albums, i wanted to talk to mraz immediately and waste no time so i said, "I'm a huge fan of yours." And mraz continued signing and there was this awkward silence. And then when he was done signing my friend's stuff (3 in total), i passed him all my stuff (5 in total) to sign. He signed super fast la, like sign, switch to next album,sign, switch, sign.

And then when he was done, I took my stuff back without looking and asked if he had got some gifts from me which i had passed to toca earlier on outside. Mraz said, "yeah, i got them. the envelopes right?" and i just said yeah, because included in my gift were green packet-envelope things with a butterfly in front, so i laughed and said, "the butterfly packets". and then i think he looked down again to continue signing some stuff, so i asked him, "Do you like it?" and he said, "I actually haven't looked through them properly yet", so i said, "oh, i hope you like it". another awkward silence.

Then it was time for photo-taking, while getting ready to pose for the cameraman, i finally looked down at my albums to see how his autograph looks like and I showed him the latest album and said, "actually, i wanted you to draw a cat on it, since there's no cat inside". Another awkward silence. So I just said, "it's ok" and quickly turned to look at the camera. We got our pics taken and I asked him, "can i get a hug?" and he said enthusiastically (the only real reaction i got from him), "yeah, sure!" and opened his arms wide and came over to hug me, and then my friend. And I said, "yay. Thank you." and we left after that.

I honestly think the hug was the best thing that happened to me for the meet and greet, it probably made my year, haha. It helped that he was wearing a long-sleeve soft cotton shirt too. :D I'm still waiting for the pictures on Midas website, but honestly, I don't really care for it.

So anyway, when I went back out the room, this midas? guy giving out autographed concert brochures asked me how the experience was. I replied..."er...it was...(thinking of saying it was dull but think that i will sound ungrateful)awesome! And, frightening..." because my legs were literally shaking while meeting Mraz. And the man just stared at me like he hadn't heard me so I repeated "frightening". And got a blank stare again. So I just abruptly turned away from him and left soon after. I don't know what was wrong with the weird energy of that place. It just confirms my belief that Midas people are assholes la. Just out to make profits and denying it (i had a loaded email argument with them over the seats in the concert and midas had given some rude idiotic replies), and not caring about the fans at all. I tell you, if I had met the head of Midas that night, I would have confronted him in some way. I was asking my cousin to point out to me who was the head, but she didn't know.

Anyway, back to a positive note, the universe was mostly truly aligned with me that fateful night, and I really give thanks to the butterfly effects (pun not intended, ha) that resulted. And one of them hopefully will blossom more positively with time to come :) I can't wait for my next Mraz concert (and which I'm sure tickets will cost twice the amount next time, knowing Midas).