Music Blog

Hello people,

As you might know that I am a huge fan of music, I (of course) have tonnes to share! Since I think it'd be a little weird to do all that on this personal blog, I have started another blog completely devoted to writing about music!

www.cocolistens.blogspot.com

Please have a look if you have the time! Rock on!

:)

School-oo!

As you might have already noticed, it's now September. The month which I reckon all students dread. School, school, school. We're back to school. No fun.

I've been as Asian student till this very moment of my life and have been educated in Asia till now. I can tell you that it is extremely stressful to be a student in Asia. Especially when the thinking here is that : Good grades or die.

I am not trying to moan or something but I'd just like to tell you how different school is here than it is in the West. Firstly, we (Hong Kong students) have to wear school uniforms. Uniform is definitely not a new thing in the United Kingdom, but it is to a lot of other people in the rest of the world. School uniform isn't a problem on its own, but when schools take it too seriously, it is.

Here, at least in Hong Kong, most schools are very, extremely strict with how a student of their school should look like. Therefore, you might think we all look like robots. We all have our hair tied up, trimmed the same way ; we (almost all) wear glasses ; we wear dresses / skirts / trousers the same length... Yes. At school, there are teachers, inspectors and prefects to check if you're in the right format or not. If you don't obey long enough, you might even get suspended from school for a while!

That's it with uniforms, let's move on to schools and lessons. There are technically three types of schools here, catagorised by their languages as the medium of teaching : 1) English Secondary; 2) Chinese Secondary and 3) International School. It is quite clear that 1) uses English for all subjects except Chinese-related subjects and surprisingly, 2) is the total opposite. Lastly, 3) is usually for posh kids or students from overseas. They use solely English and usually have other languages for students to study.

As for lessons, a lot of traditional schools in Hong Kong require a lot of memorising. Memorising, I must agree, is compulsory when learning the basics of a certain subject. It is not so ideal though, when you're digging down a subject or reaching a higher level of understanding. Here is the case, in Hong Kong, no-one really cares if you understand or not, just as long as you memorise your notes well and get good grades.

This is what I do not like about education in Asia, because a lot of people think grades = your whole life. No-one cares about your interests, hobbies... All they care is : results. I think it is totally wrong and disgusting when people only focus on your results and judge you basing on your exam results. I totally disagree that a person is only made up of results. There are many more aspects of a person that makes one a person.

I think it is sickening to live in a society (or say, continent) which judges people solely basing on their results. Moaning over, time to get back to school and probably sob.

I wish you an enjoyable school year, even though it is not very much enjoyable for me!

Tenth of August

Lord, I wish you could stop the time - two days ago, I went to the best gig ever I've ever ever been to in my entire life. Yes, I daresay so.

The lovely Delphic and Two Door Cinema Club came to Hong Kong for their first show in this petite city. I've always been a huge fan of Delphic. On the concert day, I was too excited that I only had a meal and some sports drink before the show. I survived. Wow.

A local band PixelToy (or something) opened the show. Awful. Terribly awful. The vocalist screamed too much which I thought it was rather unnecessary. To me, I stood and put up with a bunch of cacophony for like 20 minutes or so... My ears started to ringing before the proper gig even started - so thanks for those cacophony.

Delphic was on first. To be fair, I was disappointed seeing them out first. I thought Two Door were supporting them , thus Delphic were going to play longer. It might be obvious that I went to the gig for Delphic, as I like them bit more. (I'm not saying that I don't like TDCC, I'm also a huge fan.)

Started off with Clarion Call, it was legitimately a clarion call to have your feet of the ground - dancing. I danced and tried to record the show at the same time. Failed. Anyway, when Doubt's intro was played, everyone gone wild. I don't know, but people around me seemed not to know the lyrics at all. In my area, I was the only one who was singing along (despite the fact that I sang the wrong verses...).

Back when the show even started, I heard Delphic rehearsing. It was Remain that I heard with my half-deaf ears. I almost cried when I heard them rehearsing that song. It's such a good song which fills my eyes with tears everytime. I don't even know the reason behind.

I was more than happy that they played Red Lights and Remain. The only rant was that Submission wasn't played. Also, they had a bit of technical difficulty halfway through the show... At that time though, Rick was showing off his piano skills. It made me quite ashamed since I seemed to have forgotten completely how one plays a piano.

Delphic's session ended with Acolyte. I enjoyed their session so freaking much. My friend who went with me said to me during Halcyon - "That's exactly what it's like in a disco!!!!!!!".

During the pause, when the gears were being changed and all that, me and my friend had a discussion... We started talking about the height of the band members... All of a sudden, I felt like an ant.

Not long since the pause, TDCC went on. The crowd went crazy. My favourite song by them, Eat That Up, It's Good For You, got played, so I was generally a happy person. They did the encore part, and it was totally amazing. The crowd seemed to have moved a bit more during the TDCC session, which I believe is that Delphic helped them to warm up a bit.

Throughout the show(s), my serious head-bangs caused the security guys to gave me weird looks.

I was so lucky to have met all the members from the two bands after the show. They were so friendly. I had some quick banters with most of the members, and realised how petite I really am. I thought I was talking to trees rather than human beings. Oh, height!

I managed to get my CDs signed by all members from two bands. Also, I managed to hug all of them! Fabulous. It was such a lunatic night - too much epic stuff mixed in a big salad bowl. I suffered from indigestion.

I now have a more urgent urge to move to the UK. I also took my guitar out again and tune it for the very first time in 3 months.

I'd do anything to see them again. Oh, and not to mention moving to the UK.

P.S. I can't upload pics of TDCC performing because I messed up my other memory card. Bother!

Books are fair

As you might know (or not), that there is a book fair which takes place in Hong Kong annually during late July. This year, I participated in the fair more than I had ever imagined I would.

My enthusiastic (nearly mad) participation was triggered by Tuesday's night news. I was drying my hair like usual and suddenly - WHAT? Stephen Fry in Hong Kong?! Well, I saw him tweeting about flying to Hong Kong, but I didn't know the reason behind.

I immediately rsvp'd to the event and got so excited for days. But first thing's first - god, I need a book by him to get it signed!

I got my books ready and read around a hundred pages before the event took place. I seriously have never ever read a book so hilarious yet so well-written. I giggled on the train, outside a restaurant, on a platform, on a bus... I simply ignored the weird looks of pedestrians thinking I just got out from the madhouse.

I left German early in order to get to the venue on time. I was blown away by the bloody long queue and sighed miserably. (How British?) I was so lucky to have got into the theatre which the talk was held. All the other two theatres which were used to broadcast the talk were packed. How enthusiastic we were?


The talk was brilliant and hilarious. I burst out laughing at both the authors' answers and the audience's questions. A particular question stained my mind : a guy wrote that question on the paper and had it passed on , he asked "Do you prefer non-friction or friction? That guy was humiliated, of course, and made the whole theatre filled with laughter (and probably tears).

I am so thankful that I got to know another amazing writer that night, Andrew Roberts. He was intelligent and also very witty. Glad to have known another fabulous writer.

After the 2-hour-talk, it was followed by an autograph session. Oh my oh! A very nice guy helped me to get Roberts' autograph because I couldn't manage to line up for both Fry and Roberts at the very same time.

Oh lord. Fry was so down-to-earth and also very tall. I did something really idiotic and which I consider pretty brave. I handed him a vinyl by my favourite band and asked him sincerely to give them a listen. He said he would and I was quite embarrassed by my act. Anyway, I did it.

I got two books signed and took a picture with him. Then , I spent the rest of my night following up my 'fangirl' work. I am still very happy that I've met a man which a lot of people considered 'God' on Youtube (at least?). The next day, I went and grabbed a few titles that were mentioned in the talk. Of course, the titles that were considered good.


Also because of the event, I got a special pass which allows me to go in and out of the Fair as much as I want to. I have been to the Fair again today, altogether four days in a roll.



Books I bought...

Scusi, I'm dreaming.

It's been a while again, I guess. The summer heat has been frying my skin and my soul, dehydrating me whenever I rehydrate. You can never go out without a pair of sunnies because the sunshine blinds you, as if a laser beam was shot directly to your eyes.

The summer heat makes people lazy, and thus, makes people feel sleepy. I slept, and dreamed.

I dreamed of my life...fastforwarded a few years later.

As you may know, I am a Europe lover. I've been saying that I'm going to live in Europe when I grow up. I was silly enough, to dream about my life there - hopefully should be something that occurs a few years later.

During my remaining teen years and early twenties, I shall be enjoying every bits of my life. I'll go clubbing, booze choking (if I could) and probably house trashing. I shall be in the middle of rushing my work before deadline and soon will earn my first degree. I can foresee that I'll still be a lazy git , a sleepyhead.

Soon after those clumsy and fun-filled years, I should be getting a proper job. Still, having a job doesn't mean that you can't go out and have fun. Oh Friday nights! I will hopefully get a house? With a garden perhaps?

In the garden, I'd get a Golden Retriever and a couple of ducks. I don't know if I could keep the dog alive for how long since I am an extremely lazy person, but I promise I'd try my best. I'd love to wake up to my ducks' quacks, watching their feathers turn from yellow to white.

In Europe, I reckon I'll have less pressure than I do now. It's just bizarre here, you can never imagine how people survive with such amount of pressure. I can never figure that out.

I really do hope that a few years later, I am doing what I've said here. Probably with loads of lingustics work to accompany me.

Firsts

Woah, I got a tooth decay. For the very first time. It hurts.

Basically I went to the dentist's yesterday, got it removed. Yes, removed. 'Cause I was so lucky, the tooth was a milk tooth! I got x-rayed for the very first time. I freaked out as usual, kept bombing my dentist with radiation-related questions.

It went fine but it hurts a tad while he was injecting some anesthetic to my jaw bone. Auch!

That's it. It was pretty much an experience. First time x-raying, first time having a tooth decay!

This year's final exams start on Friday, ends on the 22nd, you won't be seeing me much then!

Laters and good luck to me! x

Amazing Day

Today , has been too epic to conclude using words. Yes.

I've found a few really nice bands today, weird enough, all of them are from Manchester. That's nice, from my favourite country indeed.

Also, planning to see a gig! Oi! I hope I will have the money for tickets... Have been spending too much on magazines and releases.

Radio 1 today was fucking fucking epic. Tracksuits? I feel cheated. Great job, but I think song choice was a lil meh.

Oh yes, the single has finally arrived from Lancashire today. Royal Mail,is really slow slow slow. Still , well, it has arrived!

Everyone has been panicking about exams. Me? Procrastinating. Yea, exams, couldn't give a _ _ _ _ to be honest. I hope I won't mess it up tho.

That's for now, it's been such an amazing day.

:) x