Gravity

Sara Bareilles is my new chanteuse-love! I was introduced to her by Andie and Dawnie....and now her songs are constant rotation in my iTunes. :) She's an American singer-songwriter with a folksy-acoustic vibe (think vox + keys) that really appeals to me. Her sound is like a cross between Jonatha Brooke, Natalie Merchant and Sarah McLachlan...all of whom I love!

Check out her live, acoustic video of "Gravity"....my fav song by her thus far. Beautiful, poignant ballad this one...it's taken from her latest album, "Little Voice."

Gravity
============
Something always brings me back to you.
It never takes too long.
No matter what I say or do, I still feel you here 'till the moment I'm gone.

You hold me without touch.
You keep me without chains.
I never wanted anything so much than to drown in your love and not feel your rain.

CHORUS
Set me free, leave me be. I don't want to fall another moment into your gravity.
Here I am and I stand so tall, just the way I'm supposed to be.
But you're on to me and all over me.

You loved me 'cause I'm fragile.
When I thought that I was strong.
But you touch me for a little while and all my fragile strength is gone.

I live here on my knees as I
Try to make you see that you're
Everything I think I need here on the ground.
But you're neither friend nor foe though I
Can't seem to let you go.
The one thing that I still know is that you're keeping me down
You're keeping me down, yeah, yeah, yeah
You're onto me, onto me and all over

Something always brings me back to you
It never takes too long

Coming Up To Breathe...

It's been a difficult week...I haven't found the time to rest and blog until now. Some of you know that my paternal grandfather was hospitalised on Weds due to low haemoglobbin levels. The docs have done a series of tests and a scope on him but they haven't found out the cause yet. They wanted to do a colonoscopy on him on Fri....but couldn't do it. So they discharged him on Sat, and have scheduled him for an X-ray 2 weeks from now. To make it more difficult, my grandma got a fever/flu cos she was so tired from all ths hospital stuff. She's ok now....doc says she just needs to get some rest.

Thanks for all who prayed along with me, and showed your concern. I'm very grateful. (At this point, I'm really appreciative of the community at RiverLife...pple who journey and pray with you despite walking through trying situations themselves.) I think it was also quite divine that I reached the hospital earlier than expected on Thur....before my aunt and parents arrived. It gave me an opportunity to pray for my grandfather. He was quite taken back that I asked to pray for him, but he allowed me to in the end...which I think is quite a big deal. Please keep praying for him frens.

On a lighter note.....I've shifted workstations at BMI, and am now sitting next to Abi. haha!
The crazy gal sent me an msn msg that said "I can't believe you're sitting next to me!!", while I was sitting next to her! Of course that led to an uproar of laughter...and those random outbursts continue daily, as predicted by the boss. haha! God help us to remain productive with this new arrangement.

I've also gotten a copy of Chris Tomlin's new album, "Hello Love". Yes, it's out in stores now. GO OUT AND GET A COPY! :)

Alright, that's all for tonight. I need to crash.
Another crazy week begins again....

Scofield is back!!!

Season 4 of Prison Break is airing now!!! Finally, it's been waaaayyy too long a wait.
I just finished watching Ep 1 and 2....and am absolutely dying to watch Ep 3 and 4 now.
(Abiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!! Hurry up and download and then pass to me before I die!)

Episodes 1 & 2 were just fantastic....I thought Season 3 was a bit lack-lustre with its lack of tight pacing, but Season 4 shows great potential with its "hit-the-ground-running-story telling,"
and the return of Dr Sara Tancredi, who's really the heart of the show! C'mon, Scofield is just lost without her!!

Very clever thematic reference to Homer's Odyssey too in this season. *impressed* PB fans....this line's gonna haunt you throughout Season 4, "all that avails is flight." Quite poignant when you think about all that Scofield has been through. *meltz* Ok, I better stop here, before I give away any spoilers in my excitement. hee!

Check out what Abi wrote in her blog about our lives as "drama queens". haha! If you recognise all the names...then you're our good fwen! And yes, I really can't wait for Heroes 3 and House 4.

"mich and i are soon going to be “getting our lives back” cos its september and all the series are coming back. hahah i know we are such drama queens. scofield, peter, booth, house, morgan, spencer, justin, kevin, pete, sawyer, jack so on so forth. hahhas. can’t wait, i can’t wait."

Sentimental Freak

"I'm just a sentimental freak
Standing at the crossroad of hello and goodbye..."- LawnLines

Those lines of Dawn's song, "I belong," became very real to me today as it was Berno's last day of work at BMI. We've been colleagues, and really really close frens for 5 years now. I'm happy for her that she's moving on, and enjoying her new job. Yet, we both feel a little sad cos it means we won't get to see each other regularly. As it is, seeing her only once a week has been really rough. Sigh. This is a girl who has been taking care of my heart for years..she means a lot to me lah.

Today, I thought it wld be nice to get her a bouquet of sunflowers for her last week...so I got all the gals to share in the cost. The funny thing was, about an hour later...Berno walked up with a single rose stalk for me, bought from the same florist downstairs. haha! We so think alike lah. So sweet lah that girl!

I'M GONNA MISS HER!!!!! Oh man...feeling a bit weepy now.
Abi says she doesn't do hugs and flowers,
Steph (Abi's sis) doesn't do conflict,
And I don't do farewells. Not very well at least.
Yes, I'm just a sentimental freak.

I Couldn't Help Myself....

Chris Tomlin & band with Mickey and Minnie Mouse!! As Chris wrote in his blog, "Need I say more?" haha! Isn't this photo precious? *meltz*

Billy

If you know me well enough...you should know that I have a not-so-secret love affair with bookshelves. When I shifted into my new Sengkang flat, I spent days just staring adoringly at my brand new Billy/Benno bookcase combination from Ikea, which allowed me to organise my books and cds alphabetically, and according to genre. haha! I was in geek heaven.

Imagine my excitement when this conversation unfolded with Glenn:
===============================================================

Glenn: Sorry...I'm clearing my room to make way for Billy. He's coming tmrw.
Mich: Who's Billy??
Glenn: Billy=bookcase from Ikea.
Mich: OOH!! I love Billy!
Glenn: Yeah, he's quite a looker. And he's pretty useful to have around the house.
Mich: He comes in diff shades too. Awesome fella!
Glenn: Yeah yeah...sometimes with those nice glass doors which protect the deep riches within him!
Mich: Huh? You got the doors? Sucker lah u!
Glenn: They're also windows to the depths of his soul. I really liked them glass doors.
Mich: Dude, you're talking about a bookshelf like he's your fren! [pause] I totally heart you now!
Glenn: haha! Who knew I had it in me right?

"And it's a bittersweet symphony..."

"Is life a confusion of choices, or a story of grace?"
[Taken from the Hillsong Conference 2007 Opening]

Desert Song

Last night I fell into one of my emo spells.....think it was partly due to me feeling tired and spent from an immensely heavy work week. Its Friday (technically my off day) but I'm still working away on a pile of undone reports and grading. When I'm unproductive, I feel lousy about myself; when I can't spend enough time with close frens and family, I feel rather guilty; and when I'm unable to carve out time to create music, or work on my writing, I can get quite depressed. I'm not being indulgent or egoistic....it's just an innate need, a neccessary release. I think some of you fellow musos/artists will get what I mean.

I like how Brooke Fraser describes it.
"I write songs because I love to, but I mainly write songs because I can’t not. There is a fire in my belly and a word in my mouth that I didn’t put there, therefore I can’t take it away, no matter how much it hurts sometimes. God’s Word says that His gifts and call are irrevocable."

As I walk through this 'desert place'...I'm constantly looking towards God to renew my strength and hope in Him. This song by Brooke Fraser really expresses my heart's cry in this season.

Desert Song (by Brooke Fraser)

This is my prayer in the desert
When all that's within me feels dry
This is my prayer in my hunger and need
My God is the God who provides

This is my prayer in the fire
In weakness or trial or pain
There is a faith proved of more worth than gold
So refine me Lord through the flame

Chorus:
I will bring praise, I will bring praise
No weapon formed against me shall remain
I will rejoice, I will declare
God is my victory and He is here

Bridge:
All of my life in every season
You are still God
I have a reason to sing
I have a reason to worship

HELLO LOVE!!!

I love Chris Tomlin. :) Oh...look at him in that pic, so cute so happy!! haha! Anyway, Abi and I pre-ordered his new album, "Hello Love," from Trumpetpraise cos you get it at a discounted price. Now we're just waiting for the cds to arrive!!! It's already out in the U.S and sounds like its doing really well (he's so happy about it btw! I know cos I read his blog. haha!) Apparently he's going on tour with Israel and New Breed in the U.S soon! Arghhhh!!! I wish I could go! It's gonna be phenomenal.

I can't believe Abi was gushing about Chris and shamelessly plugging his album in my vocal class lor (yeah, she's my WD2 student). I remember looking at her in shock when she said "It's THE cd to get!" OMG rite? In class leh. haha!

Chris with Louie Giglio and some other pple I dunno. I can't wait to sing his new song, "Jesus Messiah," in church!!! Ok...I shall stop gushing now. Cos Dawnie says I'm 1) very high (esp at 1am) and 2) very cheong hay (but Eric Ng is way more cheong hay than me).

I Heart Dawn!!!

The super cool, silhouettey "publicity shot".

Last Sat...Muffin & I braved the storm and waded through mud to support the RiverLife songwriters at "The Genesis Project", a Christian songwriting festival at Paya Lebar Methodist Church. (i dunno why it always rains when we go groupie acts) Yes, all for you Dawnie! See how much we heart you! Anyway, it was a worthwhile trip. :) Felt really really proud of the RiverLife team. They did such an awesome job...thought they really raised the bar when they took the stage to perform the 3 original songs by Dawn, Eliz and Ernie. And it wasn't just a performance thingy...they really worshipped God up there. :) I love you guys lah! :)

And we had a whole entourage too....a team of vocalists, accompanied by a full band, a video guy, AND of cos.....not forgetting us groupies. haha! Steady lah! Here are some pics of that day...grabbed from Dawnie n Andrea's cameras. :) Its funny how the camaraderie of The Genesis Project has spawned this whole I Heart Revolution. haha! Everyone is riding the wave and going "I heart (insert name)", and thumping their chest. Yes yes, Dawn I know you started it...you will get all the credit. hee!

You can watch a video of Dawn's song, "I Belong" below. It's a beautiful number...which has been stuck in my head for days. :)

The last I heard....they were considering "Nigel, where are you?" as their band name. haha! Cos Nigel the guitarist, slept through his alarm and missed the soundcheck.

The rhythm section. Jem on drums, Reg on bass. Fierce ah this shot!

Happy faces!

The guys: L-R: Nigel, Samuel, Josh, Reg

The pretty gals- L-R: Andrea, Dawnie, Eliz

Reg's psycho facebook profile pic

Taking the stage!!

Dawnie and her stand...which blocked our view of her! haha!

The vocalists

A video recording of Dawn's song, "I Belong."