My first original song for 2010 is now online!
Click on the picture above to listen or check it out at Jango.com.
New song is done!
From time to time, I get asked where I get my muse from. Creative types usually lament on how elusive it is to get one’s muse and that artists, though talented to no end, also fall into the dreaded “writer’s block” from time to time. During my time as a Music Director in a major post-production studio in KL, I learned that tight deadlines for projects in a world where time is money leaves no room for the likes of me to even have “writer’s block” or be at a creative cul-de-sac. I just started every project right away and it’s always worked out great. In fact, some of my best work came from deadlines tighter than a botoxed face.
As a songwriter, my muse comes from everywhere…….I write songs that are closely related to life experiences be it my own or those of my friends. It doesn’t really matter where the inspiration comes from, as long as as it comes.
When I was a freshman in college, my philosophy professor, a burly yet happy-go-lucky Alabama man, came up with this gem regarding inspiration how it develops into something meaningful to whoever it inspires:
The mild-mannered oyster can teach us a lot about making something beautiful out of nothing. Well it isn’t really nothing. An insignificant grain of sand or even a small piece of floating food somehow slips through the opening of the shell and its protective layer and gets deposited right inside the oyster. In order to protect itself from further irritation, the oyster starts coating the intruder with layers and layers of mineral until a beautiful pearl is formed.
The same thing rings true for all of us. Usually something in life intrigues, challenges, or even frustrates us, causing sadness, exhilaration, despair, anger…the list goes on. In our effort to make sense of all that bless or plague us in life, sometimes, we come up with “pearls” of wisdom.
In my case, I find songwriting to be one of the most therapeutic things to do, because it helps me make sense of the many aspects of life that surround me, good and bad, happy or sad. My new pearl is almost complete, and I can’t wait for you to hear it.
For many, the New Year is a time when everyone revels at the possibilities and good fortunes that the year will bring. While I have subscribed to this view time and time again in New Years past, this New Year brings up some very different feelings in me.
I had always come up with New Year’s resolutions in the past, only to watch them wither away amidst all the supposed regimented chaos of my daily grind. Dreams yet again pushed to the side to make way for “more important and practical” matters like deadlines at work, meetings, power lunches, more meetings, you get the picture. Sure, the monetary rewards are there, and to a certain extent, there should be some job satisfaction stuck in there somewhere too. However, I realize that all these aspects of my ordinary life are just that……ordinary. When I’m lying on my deathbed (hopefully many, many New Years from now) I want to be able to say, “It was a great ride, and I’m glad I did what I did when I did it!” I want my last breath to be a sigh of satisfaction, not a sigh of regret.
While boating with some friends at the beautiful Darling Harbor in Sydney, I heard a quote that really hit me:
A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams
Yes I know, you’ve probably heard and rolled your eyes to the old, “Never let go of yours dreams” or “Always reach for the stars” cliches time and time again. I think in the sheer simplicity of these sayings and the countless times they are repeated in movies or celebrity interviews, the essence of its meaning is disregarded only too easily.
A boating trip that turned out to be a trip of revelations
I have also realized that life is immeasurably precious and that foolish is the person who thinks that life can be lived without passion. While I have always believed this to be true, I have been guilty of not always practicing what I preached, due to the everyday practical responsibilities that have gotten me caught up. My right brain, left brain and most importantly, my heart have finally agreed that these will no longer be hindrances to my ultimate passions, and 2010 will be my canvas to paint all my passions on, with no regrets.
The fireworks above the Sydney skyline heralded a new beginning
This new year for me is not one that was filled with celebratory stupor. This time it really meant something. It was a time of reflection on many levels. I spent my New Year with my family and the feelings of togetherness, unity and love are things that I will forever cherish. Nothing beats the warmth of a group hug with your family. There is something powerful in that. It gives me a strength to be more than I am. It gives me the strength to replace regrets with hopes and dreams. It also gives me the strength to go for what I want like I never have before. And I wouldn’t trade that for anything in the world.
In essence, I have realized that one shouldn’t hope and dream of what this New Year, or any New Year should bring. While the idea of the New Year quite rightly gives us all a much needed feeling of rejuvenation and new opportunities of righting wrongs in the world, the New Year doesn’t actually bring anything. It is just another clear canvas for us to create something memorable and special. Everything lies within us. Everything comes from our hearts and souls. True happiness stems from our ability to make life extraordinary, in every aspect. So what are you waiting for? 2010, the empty canvas of possibilities awaits..
Well I never thought I’d see the day when my little humble corner of the web universe would get hacked into by some brilliant but deviant-minded hacker. However, on Christmas Eve 2009, it happened….visitors to J I N X C H I N . C O M saw a white screen with tiny letters saying:
Your site has been hacked by )#)*(_
Contact: )#)*(_@somethingorother.com
Database: Don’t worry your database is safe
Message: Praise *)&)(*)
NOTE: The names have been altered to protect the not-so-innocent
Thankfully, there is a brilliant team of web gurus that I could turn to in my hour of need. They fixed it up in no time. I guess I should be flattered that someone out there thought that my site was significant enough to hack into.
That’s my mini cyberspace adventure for the year! Here’s to a hack-free 2010!
Happy Holidays to all! And that goes out to )#)*(_ too!
I was feeling a little warm and fuzzy one evening. As I always say, it is always good to share the warmth and fuzziness!
I’m glad to report that my newest song is done! It is called, “Misfit” and features one of Malaysia’s most prominent radio personalities, RED FM’s Dilly from The RED Breakfast Show! I’d like to thank her for breathing life into this song which is about an unlikely high-school love affair. I asked Dilly to sound like a 16 year old cheerleader and boy, did she deliver!
Ready for the vocal recording session with Dilly
This song took a pretty short time to write — just about three hours. Hmm, must have been my inner sixteen-sixteen-year-old girl trying to get out!
Dedicated to everyone who has ever been in love amidst the trials and tribulations of relationships. Okay whatever…..I was a little tipsy that evening!
Welcome to the new J I N X C H I N . C O M ! Well, kinda. While my new main site is being developed, I thought I’d set this one up first. When the new main site is finally done, this site will serve as my blogsite.
I am in the process of adding new content to this site. I’m really excited at the idea of putting myself out there on the world’s stage. For the longest time, I wrote music for other people, corporations, commercials, for TV, radio and cinema and while writing music for all these things are fun, I left many songs that I had written before just fall by the wayside. I think that the time has come for me to bring all these songs back to life again and share them to those who would listen. They are inpired by life experiences and those of people that I have had the pleasure of meeting over the years.
So please have a look around to find out a little more about me and please leave a message here so that I can learn a little more about you.
Perhaps one day, I will write a song based on your experiences too!
Peace out,
J I N X
I always relish any opportunity I get to visit other places in the world because it is almost like visiting an alternate reality, or an alternate universe. Now before you go around branding me an existential esoteric numbskull, let me explain….while we are all living this life together as it were, where we actually reside in the world forms our reality. For example, a person who lives in the Artic Circle at this very moment is probably fishing at a fishing hole surrounded by a world of ice and igloos, while a person living in Hollywood at this very moment, may be enjoying his or her non-fat latte at an overpriced gourmet coffee joint. Thus, I always enjoy getting the chance to experience someone else’s reality by being in their surroundings, as it were. OK…you still think I’m nuts…but onward we go!
My trip to Sydney Australia proved to be a great opportunity to soak up its cosmopolitan yet, laid-back atmosphere. Sydney seems to have this wonderful combination of being a big city but without the city attitude. And that’s alright by me.
This is what it looked like from where I was seated.
I had the pleasure of interviewing with some pretty popular radio personalities in SBS TV and Radio to promote one of my new songs called, “Get To You”. It simply amazes me that a national radio and TV network would show so much support to independent artists and bands. It simply was a trip to promote myself and my songs over the radio and to get positive feedback from listeners. It kind of makes everything worthwhile.
Promoting “Get To You” and “Finally Gone” at SBS Radio
So after a week of interviewing with several radio stations in Sydney, my little trip to the Sydney alternate reality had to come to an end, but not before making an indelible impression on me. Something tells me I’ll be back.
Just like their first love, everyone remembers their first car. And why shouldn’t we? Just like our first love, our first car signifies our coming of age and the start of a new an uncharted phase of adulthood. To some, their first love WAS their first car. Still, whatever the case may be, they are memories that reside in the pantheon of our bittersweet subconscious.
Well, I thought it would be fun to show you the special cars that were a part of my college daze, and I guess a part of me.
DATSUN 200SX
The year was 1993, and I was in college and I just had to have a car. No, it wasn’t because I needed a ride to get chicks. I was getting tired of hitching a ride with friends to get groceries and things like that. As a strapping young lad I needed my wheels; nothing ostentatious, just something to get me to where I was going. Then I met, “Suzy”, the lady that would be a part of my mobile life for the next 3 years. For about US$900, which I STILL think was too much; I bought her off a friend of mine who had given her that name. She was a 1982 Datsun 200 SX (It was already old even then!) I guess she was made during the time when science fiction shows were all the rage because she really looked futuristic in a kitchy sort of way. From the front it kinda looked like the Delorean time machine from Back to the Future. It had power windows that still worked despite much evidence to the contrary. Plus, instead of the normal beeps that you hear when you get into a car, you get a digitized semi-sexy female voice that tells you to, “please fasten your seat belt.” It also had the most alarming engine sound of any car I had ever driven. It sounded like an extremely damaged diesel engine panting and heaving its last gasp of air. Even so, Suzy was my trusted transportation companion for a couple of years, with hardly a complaint from her. For that I am grateful.
LINCOLN TOWN CAR
DODGE OMNI
When I decided to go back to get my Masters, I decided to immerse myself in the student lifestyle again just so that I could somewhat relive some glory days, as it were. What a great opportunity it was; to be a student again with the sophistication of an experienced corporate type. In my quest for total student life authenticity, I bought myself a US$600 Dodge Omni. Telling you that it had rust damage didn’t do it justice. If you moved the floor mat to the side on the passenger side, you could see the moving road below you through a myriad of holes in the floor. Let’s just say, it wasn’t the quintessential jock car. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed riding around my mild-mannered Omni with a bevy of hot chicks to go against the generally accepted rule that you have to have a nice car to get nice chicks.
Although all my old rides were far from perfect…………they kind of taught me an important lesson in life and that is; you don’t have to be perfect to get things done and done well in the world. All you need is a little “drive”. 