토요일, 1월 10, 2004
[a/n: the editing takes place mainly because i, silly old me, clean forgot to add in the jibing title that kz and i had agreed on prior to the writing of the original blog post.]

well, today was an interesting day, to say the least. what happened in its entirety is that jt stayed over at my place the night before, and later in the afternoon i booked a spot at the ktv lounge near my place for a 5 hour singing session with kz, no less. anyway, the extensive hours of the karaoke session aside, we were halfway through singing our hearts out when one of the waiters actually came in, spoke to us in the semi-darkness and asked whether we would be interested in buying xxx's (name withheld to protect the incompetent) concert tickets?

well, neither of us are/were big fans of xxx's music, so we politely declined and got back to singing. who knows that maybe 2 hours later, another waiter (beng-ish and proud of it) comes around a-knocking and asks us whether we were interested in any of xxx's concert tickets? what was running through the locomotives of our minds were mainly the fact that "err... just now didn't you try to sell it to us?", you know, that sort of thing, bordering on irritability. i forget to add, the concert was tonight, or rather *looks at clock* yesterday night. it's currently 1 am sunday morn. if i recall correctly, we muttered something to the effect of 'no, no thanks...' to the guy, but turns out that he was actually there to offer the things to us, to the value of more than 100 sing dollars apiece (apiece, mind you), because the concert was due to start in less than an hour from the time we actually received the tickets. (i actually took snaps of the tickets for posterity, in case no one believed me.) amongst declarations of "i don't anyhow give tickets one, i choose customers because i know that you will come back (to patronize said establishment, supposedly) and hey -- haven't i seen you before?" total and utter mortification aside, i just smiled in a funny way and got back to the question at hand.

basically, we thought what the heck, we'll just take the tickets, after all, they were free... so, what happened was that at 7.30, we were out there trying to sell the tickets in a spurt of budding enterprise, seeing that we would rather sell the things than go for the concert itself, on the one hand that we just couldn't be arsed to get round to the indoor stadium (in far-out, not far-away kallang) and two, we thought it was a good way to make a quick buck (we now know that the lust for monetary gain has plagued too many a-citizen of this fair isle, and we were about to be sucked into the maelstrom of self-furtherment by unsavoury means) .too bad for us though, since everyone we knew who might want to go had already gotten their tickets (they were apparently ridiculously easy to get, no camping outside the sistic outlet kind of scenario), either that or they just weren't interested in going. so, that meant that we, the amateur touts (God forbid) were left high and dry. that meant we had to go for the concert.

we arrived at the venue in style (taxi), speaking of which, kz still owes me half of that fare (you know and i know). i couldn't say there were thronging masses and we had to fight our way through with our bags held over our heads so that its contents wouldn't get squashed by the harsh crush of human bodies stuck in there shoulder to shoulder, as was the case with certain other music artistes who were here in singapore, that would be lying. it was pleasantly placid, i would say, much like a movie, only that people are punctual for a movie. met kz's friend jesmond. he's a cool guy. but anyway, what really registered was the fact that we couldn't navigate a whole song of any of xxx's songs, and that means zero, zilch, zip, nothing whatsoever. despite the fact that we were absolutely lost, somehow we managed to blend into the crowd, some elements of which were threatening to make holes in the floor with their enthusiastic jumping, although the same could not be said for some older folks who were sitting in front of us.

one middle-aged lady looked positively scandalised with the use of stunning pyrotechnics during the show, and she and her husband were, not surprisingly, out of the indoor stadium within the first 10 minutes of the show. surprising, no? well, i suppose they had been expecting a yu qing stylee concert with much looking towards the sky for divine intervention. no such luck.

not to mention the auntie who was waving silver streamers in the vague direction of the artiste on stage in the genuine spirit of participation. even some ambassador from some place came down to show his appreciation for the musical merits of said artiste, which in my opinion, was a clear indication of xxx's popularity in certain realms (certainly not mine). amongst the furtive screams and cheers and declarations of undying love proclaimed by the less than 50 people entourage (the official fan club, no doubt), we spotted some who looked all ready to go cheer for the world cup, or, failing that, go fight a war, the greasepaint in neon colours was so glaring whenever one of them looked in our direction i had to rub my eyes. despite such articles of human embarrasment though, what was good was that they looked genuinely enthusiastic and passionate about being there, which may well have been a good, healthy thing to indulge in, as we all find out about some time or other in our lives.

not really appreciated were the rip-offs of certain popular songs by other famous artistes, only reworked by the star of the night. i suppose it's a tradition to sing songs of artistes the artistes themselves admire (idols of idols, sort of thing), but erm... sometimes things are better left to the experts, otherwise it just ends up sounding like a mediocre karaoke session, and trust me, we all know what that feels like.

what must be commended, though, was the sheer effort and hard work put into the dancing and costuming of the whole concert. one particular blue confection struck home, and another, flamenco-inspired dress was yet another stunner in the maybe seven-costume concert. i wouldn't praise the singing, particularly, but the packaging sure was impressive.

my past came back to haunt me in force though. somehow i managed to see various people from that stage of my life (say five years ago) whom i basically haven't seen in ages. some recognised me (somewhat) while others didn't at all. that's life, i suppose. all that i was afraid of was the awkwardness of it all, but that was (kinda) forgotten in the hype of the evening.

all in all, it wasn't something that i would have anticipated, mainly because one ktv session evolved into some huge thing -- without us even asking for it at all. that aside though, it was an evening well spent, despite the vague sense of being lost in the wilderness when we first entered the place, and the fact that people were casting us strange looks as we made our way down the stairs to the front row seats. (what, never seen anyone sit in the front few rows of seats before?) unnerving as it was, it was a unique experience, suffice to say, best experienced with good friends, i must say. *grin*

now, time to hit the hay. i am tired, with that song about hula hoops in my brain. argh, someone get it out, please.