Thought I should write something about the fabulous evening of music in one of its simplest forms - unplugged. A skinny girl with just a guitar and her voice and nothing else (and there's the other very talented guitarist who accompanied her half way). One can sense that all she wanted to do is to sing, because she didn't talk much. Actually when she talked, it was more like ... an explanation. Not to entertain the audience, but just to introduce the song and sometimes to explain why/how it was written. It's also quite obvious that she's pretty happy with where she is now, i.e., her dream is her music. Now, how many people say that they're truly satisfied with what they're doing now, or they're doing something that they're passionate about?

It was a small auditorium, with a holding capacity of about 500, I heard. Full house. It's quite a known fact that those who follow her music are not a lot, but sizeable. Of course, those who'll pay to go to her performance generally tend to like her music quite a bit. I met a few of them last night. It was quite an interesting experience. It felt a little funny and awkward at times but once we started talking about her music, it was better.

Anyway, back to the performance. I've probably mentioned this a few times to friends around me, but there's just something about the child-like voice that touches the nerves of certain people. Granted music is a pretty subjective experience, different people would have different affinity towards different types of music. I wonder if all those who love Cheer's music have some similar traits.. I suppose it's also her passion and sincerity towards music that draws people.

Haven't been to such good live performance for a long time. Maybe I'm biased towards acoustic guitar. Oh well... Small auditorium has its benefits. You get a more upclose and personal experience. I must say though, the sound system was quite good. At least the sound man was doing his job. Very few glitches. Her voice quality is almost identical to that of CD. You know how some singers just can't sing live? She's NOT one of them. Must've trained herself pretty well with live singing all these years, travelling around with her guitar.

The next best thing to her voice was the arrangement of the music. Pretty refreshing to hear some songs in its "original" state, and to hear songs without the rest of the accompaniment. Quite difficult too, I guess, to make good arrangement with just 2 guitars, and to keep them interesting at the same time. I like. The audience were quite obedient, kept absolute quiet when she started singing for most of the part. Most seemed quite...intoxicated. Think everyone thought it was rather short, ending in less than 2 hours, just before 10p, but someone counted that she sang a total of 23 songs. Gee, that's quite a lot. I didn't realise it.

Oh, forgot to introduce her. She is Cheer Chen, 陳綺貞, a composer/musician/singer. It's a pity that she didn't sing my favourite song of the latest album. Don't know why but I just like the lyrics for some reason, and the arrangement.

華麗的冒險

長長的路的盡頭是一片滿是星星的夜空
這一躺華麗的冒險沒有真實的你陪我走
長長的時間的旅程充滿太多未知的誘惑
數不清對你承諾過的一切
還有多少沒有實現過

不願放開手
不願讓你走
瘋狂的夢沒有了你
還有什麼用

不願放開手
不願讓你走
不願眼睜睜的看你走出我的生活

I passed by this place everyday on the way to work site. I liked the clouds.



The mountains beside the work site. One of the them has a pretty interesting shape.



Interesting little shelter places beside the beach.



Generally it's pretty windy, especially at the beach. Really really windy.. And the funny looking rocks on the beach.... I wonder what kind of material are they.

This is kind of how i feel these days. A little too busy, a little too lost, a little too numb, a little too blind.

I think sometimes when you want something badly, you'll make things sound more than what it is. But I'm not sure where do I draw the line. Is it just my imagination/exaggeration, or are things really that bad?

The past few weeks have been almost unbearable, but also a time of joy and bonding with my family. I guess it's God's grace. He knew it would be hard time for me, so He gave me a week in between to relax.

I hate it when people thought I'm having a good time when I travel around for work. But I know I can't blame them, and then I'd feel the need to explain myself, that it really is no fun, and I hardly had time to do anything but work. "Yes, I went to Mauritius. No, I didn't go anywhere but three places; airport, hotel and site. No, I didn't buy anything. No, I didn't eat anything but hotel food, but I had bee hoon most of the time for lunch. Yes, there's bee hoon, cos there're chinese people around. Yes, I went to the beach, once at 6a.m. for 10 min, and another on the last day for another 10 min....."

I think I'll go crazy if any of my colleagues asked "so how was holiday in Mauritius?" Holiday?? Holiday?? Out of all people.....

Ok, so things were not all that bad. I did enjoy the ride from the hotel to site although it was long and windy and bumpy. Sometimes I could see a lot of stars at night along the way. Still, it felt like the longest 10 days of my life. I felt pretty useless and powerless, and the longer I work, the more I think I really know nothing at all. Does anyone know anything at all?? Where do I find solution?? How do I solve all these problems?? What if I damage the system because of my negligence? Have I checked everything?? This is a terrible design! Why did we design this and this? Why did we not think about all these before? Questions with no answers. At one point, I was ready to give up. On the way back to hotel that evening, I wanted to cry. Everywhere we turn, there's a problem lying silently for us to discover. In the midst of this, I started asking, where is God in all this? What does God expect me to do? And then I asked, "what am I doing here? What am I busy for? How did I get myself into this? What do I get by being so stressed? Where is the end? Where's my silver lining?" I couldn't see the light. I tried to remember.

"I lift up my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from? (thought that was quite fitting, we were surrounded by mountains). My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth." (Psalms 121:1-2)

I could only remember fractions of it. It was hard to focus. Things didn't get easier, and there were still many problems that made my head hurt, but amazingly, I came to the end. It was time to go back. I was so tired that I started to sleep on the cab on the way to the airport. It was such a long journey with twists and turns.. It's a gift too I guess. I slept through almost the entire 7 hr flight.

I guess I don't want to turn into a robot who just works without feelings and passion and becomes blind eventually. Blind towards people around me, their needs, their feelings, their world. Blind towards myself. Will the world eventually exclude me?