Happy Fankskiffing

KJ's Cover Tunes Double Bonus Thanksgiving Super Special Back to Back Two for the price of One Offer One Time Only Ultimate Crazy Frenzy Extra Deal!

Woah, that didn't even make sense.

Anyway.. double edition of KJ's Cover Tunes. Twas a long weekend, and I decided to have some fun. Enjoy the crappy sound.

If you're reading this, you're homework assignment is to get iTunes, and subscribe to the Passion Messages Podcast. Don't miss out. Please. I beg you.

Cheers.

*Edit*

Watch carefully into the first Chorus of 'Bring it all together'. The drumstick flip in my left hand blew myself away when I saw it. It's AWESOME. How the heck did I do that....

Chapter Ganksthiving

Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is a quintessentially American Holiday. It's celebrated nowhere else around the world. Very typically American that is. Much like Baseball and Basketball and American Football... only in America.

I use it as an excuse to eat. And as Malaysians I guess we're pretty familiar with that territory aren't we? Using any occasion as an opportunity to devour delicious cuisine.

But it's a beautiful thing really. It's a day to be thankful. You don't get a more amazing purpose for a holiday than that. I mean, Christmas has become more about getting presents, New Years never really meant anything to anyone (another excuse to eat Malaysians? *ahem*) and so on. But a day to give thanks, that's actually beautiful.

And there are so many things we can be thankful for.

Me?

I'm thankful for

- Being here doing what I love. Being safe in Hollywood thus far. Surviving without any problems.

- Not falling seriously ill so far.

- Not running out of money.

- Settling into a great Church.

- VBS going on back home right now. For such an awesome team of people dedicated to serve a bunch of underaged hooligans.

- Great friendships. New ones. Old ones. Friendships that transcend the barriers of time.

- An awesome Thanksgiving dinner amidst a week of my no gas week (number 2 now) and all sandwiches.

Above all, I thank God for being God. For being in charge, because I certainly shouldn't be. He has a plan that will NEVER go off track. God's plan never ever gets derailed and though mine certainly do, His never. And I'm thankful for that.

Because in that unchangeable plan of God, He also included the death of Jesus on the cross for my sin. If it were up to me, I would never have dreamed of that kind of a plan, but He, in His divine love, decided to do that for me and I am eternally grateful.

So.. though we may not celebrate it anywhere else, Happy Thanksgiving.

Give thanks to the Lord, Our God and King

His love endures FOREVER!

Chapter pvu3h4r

pvu3h4r is what you get when I close my eyes and randomly press my keyboard. This post is a flurry of random updates so it's fitting.

Some people have asked if I'm going to keep up this whole 'chapter' business. Well I will.. until I run out of ideas. And since I'm such a creative guy *cough* I think it might go on for quite a while.

It's close to thanksgiving - a holiday celebrated exclusively by Americans. A huge deal here. And they're forcing me to take a long weekend off. I don't want a long weekend off. I want my friday class. I have alot of cool stuff going on Friday. GIVE IT BACK! I DON'T WANT FRIDAY OFF!!

Seriously.. I have my jazz LPW, my jazz class, and my private lesson (mostly jazz) on Fridays. IT'S AN AWESOME DAY and they're forcing me to go on break? UNFAIR! INJUSTICE! I DEMAND A... a... a.. refund. I want my friday back dammit.

Ok, since I have alot of stuff to write about, I'm going to number them.

Number ONE - My Night With Steve Gadd

Some of you guys might remember my first visit to the Catalina Jazz club to see Dave Weckl. Well this time around Steve Gadd was performing there. And I HAD to see this.

He was blazing awesome. Heck the whole band was blazing awesome. If I had the money, I would've gone to see him the next night. It was that fantastic. Some pics from the show - we had a shitty table and my camera doesn't do night shots that well - well, night shot mode is better, but it has a higher chance of being fuzzy, but normal mode isn't bright enough. So I compromise. Better than nothing I suppose.

At the end of the night, I was itching so badly to take a picture with Mr. Gadd, but unlike the night Weckl performed, he didn't hang around to chat. He went straight into the green room and stayed there. So I didn't get my picture. Apparently he did come out on the last night of the gig. And a friend of mine got his sticks signed. And I just erupted with jealousy. Curses.

I promise you Gadd, I will meet you again in the future. I PROMISE YOU!

Number TWO - My New Earphones

TADAA!

Number Three - Goin' Home!

How fitting that the LPW just before the Thanksgiving break would be entitled 'Goin' Home'. Alot of people will be 'going home' so to speak over the long weekend. Sadly I won't be. This does not, however, make me feel homesick. Yet.

It was actually a stellar performance by all the musicians. Me included (shameless boasting). I know the sound may suggest otherwise, but trust me - this was one of those magical times where everyone knew exactly what they were doing and magical music was produced. I don't know how many of you know what that's like especially when you're playing with people you don't normally play with. Most of the time someone somewhere hasn't got it together or just doesn't gel with someone else in the band. Sometimes that person is me (shameless self depreciation - it balances out the boasting). But this performance was that one time where everything worked together close to perfect and it made great music. Not just a great cover, but music in it's own right. It was enjoyable.

Number FOUR - Things to Come

Alot of stuff is going to happen over the next two months.

- Christmas is coming. Christmas in Hollywood. I hope it's a slightly more refreshing experience versus Halloween in Hollywood

- Might be going to the mountains with some friends to get some PROPER WINTER.

- Watching Mike Stern and Dave Weckl(again!) perform at the Catalina.

- Watching Victor Wooten (@theotherKJ - nyek nyek nyek I get to see him LIVE) and band

- New Years in Hollywood?

It's look to be a fun end to a year.

Number FIVE - Nurse?

Welcome to American College. Where teacher wins sports bet.

Number SIX - Nothing

No really. Nothing. I've run out of things to say. I have a hunch I have more that I forgot, but hey I can always post again. Yay for me.

Bye.

Chapter TS?08?

Second edition of KJ's Cover Tunes.

Dedicated to all my TeenStreet08 buddies.

Enjoy!

Details on the youtube info section.

Chapter alt+f4

Got out food from fridge to cook.

Turned on stove.

No gas.

Night, couldn't call anyone.

Had sandwiches for dinner.

Called office next morning.

Gas company shut off our gas due to miscommunication.

Made new account.

Waited.

Still no gas.

Gas company said to wait 1 week.

1 WEEK?

1 whole week with no gas.

Bought sandwich food for a week.

Looks like same meals for a whole week.

Tuna, ham, etc...

Still lots of food in freezer to cook.

So tempting.

Stupid gas.

Earphones broke.

Only pair.

Need for ear protection in labs.

Comfy.

Useful.

Broken.

Attempted repair.

Opened it myself.

Checked wires.

Didn't work.

Couldn't practice as much all night.

Sound in one ear only is weird.

Sent to shop.

Cost 5 bucks.

Soldered back the wires.

Didn't work.

Bought super glue to fix myself.

Spent 2 dollars.

Got glue on my hands.

Didn't work.

Scrapped plan.

Remembered backup ones from home.

Worked, but no ear protection.

Relatively useless in practice.

Scrapped those.

Went to music store.

Looked at new ones.

50-100 Dollars.

Nearly fainted.

Scrapped plan.

Went to electronics store.

Saw sale.

Rejoiced.

Brought old pair to compare.

Found similar model.

Hoped they worked. Much like hoping to win lottery.

Paid 20 bucks.

Prayed and hoped.

Went home.

Opened package.

Tested.

Worked.

Rejoiced.

Had sandwich.

Now waiting patiently for the week to pass.

GAS!

THANKSGIVING!

CHRISTMAS DECOR IS UP!

TINSELTOWN IS GETTING SOME TINSEL!

Crappy week now.

Better one coming.

Chapter Yellow

BOOMTOWN!

Coming up next - my night with Gadd. Stay tuned.

Chapter HNO3 - The Halloween Adventure Pt 3 (Final)

Ok. Here's just some random photos I took.

Bear in mind a couple of things

- It was crowded as hell

- It was dark

- People were walking in every direction and didn't stand still

- My camera ran out of batteries like 20 minutes into the night

With that in mind, I got very few photos, some of them were blur, some of them didn't even have anything in them and it was just a bunch of random photos. But I think it gives you a better idea of what it was like that night. So here they are anyway.

__________________

On a totally unrelated note, I don't usually post food up here anymore, but I was so proud of this one I simply had to. This is one of those 'I dunno what I'm doing I just hope it tastes nice' moments where I just wanted to make something but had no clue how to do it.

Presenting, KJ's delicious onion soup.

Recipes upon request.

Chapter D: :D :P PX

Here's compensation for the lack of updates. I have been busy lately.

Welcome to the first edition of KJ's Cover Tunes.

Recorded with my laptop, so audio quality is utter rubbish. Stop complaining.

More to come.

For now, Enjoy!

Bonus material - KJ's Groove

Chapter H20 - The Halloween Adventure Pt 2

So, now that you've caught a glimpse of what Halloween was like, it's time to get on with the experience.

It was a long walk - about 2 miles to where the huge gathering was. And by the time I got there, I was already tired. The nearer I got, the more dress-uppers I saw. And this was around 9pm, and most of them were already drunk, screaming their heads off.

The moment I hit the street where the whole thing started, everything changed. It wasn't just littered with people here and there. This was like one solid mass of human meat. Wedged together as tightly as can be. And it was a daunting task to move around in this place. And an even bigger task to snap photographs. It was close to impossible to take a picture of costume people without blinding someone with my flash. I tried. And I failed. And also, stupidly enough, my camera ran out of batteries. I would've taken like a million pictures if it wasn't for the fact that my camera battery decided to die after the 20th shot or so. I regret not charging it up fully before leaving, but then again most of the pictures I would've taken would be difficult to see anyway. Night shots don't quite work when you're trying to photograph a sea of people.

So what was the experience like?

Unique.

That's the most polite word I can think of. It wasn't my idea of a more 'traditional' Halloween. Mainly because this is Hollywood and everyone just wants to party. I guess Halloween in Hollywood really is more of an excuse for the city to go mad right up to the highest degree. It's quite mad as it is already on normal days, but I guess when it comes to the 31st of October, these people forget all sense of holding back and really just go mental. It's like one huge party. Think 'college dorm party like in the movies' kind of party. There's just people all over the place dancing, drinking, eating, etc... but just in weird costumes.

Speaking of costumes, I did mention the whole cast and crew in the previous post, but there's something I forgot to mention. With such a vast majority dressing up, I guess some people just go the extra mile to look extra special. The 'twitter' costume was pretty funny. They basically had a styrofoam block around their face with the 'Twitter' design and they had the Bird Logos on sticks which they carried. Then of course there were some really cool robot costumes with blinking light eyes. There were also group costumes - there was one group of elderly folks who dressed up as angry villagers with torches, protesting against 'monsters'. Kinda cool. Then there were just some people who went crazy and made like these really elaborate costumes.

And for the night, they became celebrities. People were taking pictures with them. They were basically standing around with their costumes, flaunting their style while waiting for people to come up to them and take a photo. They became the Hollywood regulars - the ones dressed as all the famous movie characters in front of the Kodak, each and every day. For one night, everyone adopted that occupation.

It's an experience I enjoyed, but only once. I'f I'm here for the next one, I'm not going there again.

I did catch some really nice music though. I remember mentioning this 'gospel'-ish style group? They sang alot of really 'black-church-gospel' type songs. With all the crazy tambourines and clapping and happy jig dancing. It was fascinating to see that happening alongside techno DJ's not 20 metres away.

The highlight of the night - and I really enjoyed this one - was a group of dancers performing Thriller in the middle of the street. They had a portable boom box with the music and they had a cast of zombie/ghost dressups doing thriller. That was actually pretty darn sweet. Now I wish I had learnt the moves and joined them. That would've been so much fun. It's still a stupid dance in my opinion, but when you have 20 people doing it, it suddenly becomes so darn cool.

To wrap up? It's not what I imagined Halloween to be. And technically, it's not what Halloween is like anywhere else. It's Hollywood, what do you expect?

I'd like to experience Halloween elsewhere - with kids running around trick-or-treating and homes decorated to look like spooky houses. It's all apartments in Hollywood - nothing to decorate.

End of Part 2.

*******

Part 3 - PICTURES (not alot of them)

Stay tuned.

Chapter H - The Halloween Adventure Pt 1

Where to begin...

Where to begin indeed. With so much madness going on, I don't even know where to start.

Observations first.

So it's Halloween. What happens on Halloween in Hollywood? Well.. everyone dresses up and goes on a 'parade' on Santa Monica Blvd. Approximately 1/2 a million people show up for this event, all dressed up.

And when I say all, I mean literally all. The whole cast was there.

*Deep breath*

There were werewolves, vampires, zombies, policemen, doctors, surgeons, fairies, dragons, elves, dwarfs, knights, pixies, kings, queens, priests, pirates, nurses, barbarians, trojans, ents, devils, angels, fruits, ghosts, skeletons, cavemen, firemen, clowns, jesters, prisoners, wardens, astronauts, geishas, bikers, mermaids, peacocks, wizards, witches, trekkies, stormtroopers, wookiees, chickens, insects, robots, lions, tigers, aliens, trolls, maids, schoolgirls, ballerinas, mobsters, villagers, ogres, jedi, ninjas, samurais, cheerleaders, sailors, archers, gladiators, cupids, cowboys, indians, nuns, mummies, damsels, princes, princesses, Amazons, goths, mimes, soldiers, horses, pharaohs, muppets, wrestlers, sumo wrestlers, corpses, sportsmen, ghostbusters, punks, pumpkins, teddy bears;

Then there were famous characters and people. There was Superman, Batman, The Flash, Joker, Spiderman, Dracula, Wolverine, Robocop, Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Jack Skellington, Abe Lincoln, Queen Elizabeth, Captain Planet, Captain America, Catwoman, Supergirl, Superman half changed with his tie and glasses still on, Optimus Prime, Iron Man, Homer Simpson, Marge Simpson, Quagmire, Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson, Freddie Kruger, Edward Scissorhand, Medusa, Link, Naruto, Rorschach, The Silver Surfer, Ben Grimm, Wonder Woman, Snake Eyes, Bill Clinton, Mickey Mouse, Shrek, Darth Vader, Harry Potter, Frankenstein, Jabba the Hutt, Princess Leia, Power Rangers, Waldo, Tin Tin, Bruce Lee, KISS, Dorothy, the Tin Man, Hellboy, Nobita, Inspector Gadget, The Cat in the Hat, Willy Wonka, Winnie the Pooh, the Gingerbread man, Jack Sparrow, The Incredibles, Broom Hilda, Luke Skywalker, Colonel Sanders, Scarecrow, Mickey Mouse the Apprentice;

Then there were the inanimate objects. There were Showers, Twitter boxes, rubik's cubes, candy bars, ice creams, the house from Up, burgers, cars, planes, stacks of money, beer pong tables, hot dogs, dog poo, UFOs, pizza slices, sign posts, ships, Empire State buildings, bowling pins, window frames, beer bottles;

Then there were the people who just mixed whatever they wanted from the list with whatever else. Like the zombie clowns, and the fairy demons, and the undead surgeons, and the clown police, and Shot in the Head Abe Lincoln....

There were rows and rows of portable toilets, rows and rows of food stalls, DJ's every couple of feet, loud booming music, crazy dancing people, cigarettes, cigars, booze.

There was a unique clash of culture right there. On one end you'd have crazy DJ rave music and right at the other end there was this concert being held by this 'gospel'-ish group.

And there was the immorality of Hollywood on display. The gays, lesbians, drunkards, crackheads, potheads, smokers, pill poppers, transvestites, cross dressers...

It was a great clash of cultures, ideas, beliefs, and people. It was insane.

End of part 1.

****

Part 2 - the experience. Stay tuned.