Why Would I Write

  • Gig #124 (#123?) Dusting Off The Ol’ Guitar

    Gig #124 (#123?) Dusting Off The Ol’ Guitar

    It’s been over three years since my last official live performance. The weirdest part is, it didn’t even feel that long ago. I still remember it pretty clearly. It rained heavily. I played Sunflower. Van backed me up with a cajón. We explored a couple of art galleries waiting for our turn.

    Nobody knew the world was going to change in a matter of months.

    Fast forward to May 2023. Earlier this week, I visited Open Mic Malaysia’s debut at twenty/eight @telawi. Some performers pulled out last minute and I was asked to fill an empty slot. I had no practice, had to borrow someone else’s guitar (which was tuned to standard), and had a few drinks in me – a recipe for disaster. How could I say no?

    Fifteen minutes later, I was on the stage, fumbling with my first song (not too different from my regular performances). After that, I got into the groove of things and successfully completed my set. It wasn’t an outstanding performance by any means but it felt good to shake off years of rust.

    Three years is a long time. A lot can happen in a thousand days. Shit, a lot could happen in a month. Just like how I suddenly got transferred to a different department at work after a month of barely getting comfortable in my previous role. But that’s a story for another day.

    Either way, the ad hoc performance was a pleasant way to ease myself into the music scene again. It was about time it happened anyway. We’re already five months into 2023 and I’m nowhere near the goal of twelve shows this year.

    I’m happy to announce that my performance wasn’t bad enough to get me banned from the bar, so I’ll be returning to twenty/eight@telawi this upcoming Monday, 8th May, to play my second show of 2023. The gig starts at 8 pm. Google Maps.

    If you have the time, drop by for some beers and chill tunes. If not, I’ll catch you at the next one.

  • Less Calls, Replacements

    How many times can I write about having terrible memory? I can’t remember and I’m not bothered to check. Is old age a valid excuse for not being as sharp as I once was? Maybe. Or have I been filling my head with important information that pushed out all my trivial thoughts? Unlikely.

    I can still recite most of the lyrics to Stan or The Way I Am even though I haven’t purposely listened to the songs in ages. Those words remain etched in my brain. Why is it harder to remember the lyrics to songs I listen to now? Probably because I put in much less effort.

    There are only so many things I want to spend brain power on these days and memorizing lyrics is not one of them. Also, it’s not a very useful skill – unless you perform covers for a living. The only time I find it useful these days is when I’m driving. I get to keep my eyes on the road.

    I think memorizing lyrics was a product of the time – back then we didn’t have powerful computers in our pockets. We had to rely on magazine cutouts, album booklets, or transcribing songs on our own. Before I had a CD player or access to MP3s, I would patiently wait for a song to come on the radio so I could record it on a blank cassette.

    Then I would play, rewind, and repeat the recording to my heart’s content. It allowed me to listen to songs until I could write down all the words. I have no idea when lyric websites started popping up, but that’s what I did back then. Shit was wild.

    These days we just pull up Musixmatch/Genius on our phones. Are we too reliant on technology? Or just making the most of what’s available? I mean, what’s the point of people spending their lives researching and advancing technology if nobody fully utilizes it?

    Imagine you work your whole life on something important and life-changing, but people decide not to use it because it makes them ‘lazy’. What would life be like without remote controls or escalators? Maybe we’d be really jacked as a society. Who am I kidding, we’d still find ways to be lazy.

    Like the other day, before I left home, I put my wallet in another pocket of my pants instead of its usual spot. As I was walking out of my condominium, I felt different. I put my hand in my usual wallet pocket and noticed the wallet wasn’t there – it was sitting safely in my other pocket.

    I was convinced that my wallet wasn’t with me. So I turned around, retraced my steps, went home, and searched for my wallet in my room. It wasn’t there. I started to panic. I looked in my bag, it wasn’t there. Maybe it was in my car, I thought. So I went back down to the car park.

    Checked my car, and nope, it wasn’t there. Where could it be? I thought to myself. So I started patting my other pockets. Lo and behold, the wallet was sitting right where I had placed it earlier.

    If I had examined all my pockets in the first place, I could have avoided the whole incident. There was no need to retrace my steps, search my room, and make myself panic. Was I so lazy that I couldn’t frisk my own pants before doing all those things? Also, why couldn’t I just recall where I had put the wallet? It was barely 10 minutes ago!

    How many times can I write about having terrible memory? There’s a good reason calendar and reminder apps exist.

  • Re-check, Change

    Re-check, Change

    After counting calories for a couple of months and not making any progress in reducing the fats around my belly, I figured it was time I kicked my ass into gear.

    People do anything if they’re desperate enough. I’m at the point where my metabolism isn’t what it used to be and simply counting calories wasn’t enough. I had to do something drastic that wasn’t getting hooked on meth, so I did the next best thing.

    I signed up for the gym, and as of now, I’ve been going to the gym regularly for a month. I know it’s not much, but it’s better than nothing. I’m officially on the path to becoming swole. Not really, but also really.

    A trip down memory lane you didn’t need

    You see, for most of my life, I had been able to get away with not being fat. Sure, I wasn’t as skinny as I was during my college days, but I was never at the point where I could be made fun of either. I was middling. Neither here nor there. But I was also putting on the grams over the years.

    It took me 37 years but I’m now an Anytime Fitness member. A club I never thought I’d ever be part of in. Just like clubbing, and smoking, if you told me many years ago that I’d be a gym bro, I’d laugh in your face. Life is unpredictable sometimes. No, all the time. You never know what comes next.

    Also, my company’s fitness benefits helped push me to take the first step. What excuse did I have to not make use of work’s perks? That’s right. If you’re looking for a career in an awesome company, we’re hiring (this is not a sponsored post).

    On a side note, why do people talk about their full age range, as if they had a choice of what they could do from age 1-18? It’s hyperbolic to say I took 37 years to sign up for the gym when really, it would be at most 19 years. No regular 18-year-old kid would have been able to join a fitness center.

    They wouldn’t have the money or the intention to. At that age, being active and playing team sports would have been enough. They wouldn’t have been able to afford a membership since they wouldn’t be working, and if they were working they wouldn’t spend that meager salary to work out either.

    I feel like gymming is an older person thing. When you don’t have all the time in the world and can only commit an hour a day to getting in shape, that’s when you need it.

    And it’s been 19 years since I turned 18, holy shit.

    Maintaining a workout routine has been surprisingly easy. I thought I would struggle with but I guess I want to get in shape more than I want to buy new pants. Even though it’s probably cheaper to get new pants than to maintain a gym membership.

    While I’m sure it’s beneficial to my health, it’d be hypocritical of me to speak on that topic considering how I partake in unhealthy activities. Let’s just say they cancel each other out and I’m gymming out of vanity.

    Speaking of smoking, I have reduced the number of cigarettes I consume a day since it affects my stamina and endurance. I don’t smoke before a gym session, so I’ve been able to make a pack last four days instead of three.

    I doubt I’ll quit smoking – I still find it enjoyable. It’s also great for socializing with people I wouldn’t have normally spoken to. So many friendships have been born over cigarettes.

    A month in and I’m still weaksauce. I still have a lot of catching up to do. Just like how we don’t get fat overnight, the same can be said for the opposite. No idea if I’ll continue blogging about my fitness journey, but this marks my first official fitness-related post.

    Something-something accountability by putting yourself out there. Listen to the new Hot Mulligan track if you haven’t already. It’s a banger.