Doth move

Acres

Visible horizon

Right where it starts it ends

Oh when did we start the end?

Acres

Visible illusion

Oh where it starts it ends

Love like a sunset

___________________________________

Currently in Redding, CA. Flew to SF two weeks ago, literally right after youth camp (a whole other story, not a less amazing one, too) and I'm now at BSW, listening to amazing messages and taking guitar classes and writing, attempting to write, new songs. It's incredible.

I'm so blessed to be here, I almost can't believe it. Sometimes we forget what a privilege it is to travel and experience fresh things, because traveling the world is no longer a luxury but a commodity to most. But it's important to realize the infinite moment we're living in and appreciate the joy of just being... Present. It would be such a shame to be anything less than that.


More soon, on USA.

Quotes from the Lesser-Known: Part 12

'You've been to so many places, due to the nature of your job and throughout your childhood. Is there any place in particular you'd like to live in, and why?' 

'Honestly, it's wherever I feel God wants me to be, wherever I have purpose, you know? (laughs) So it's not necessarily about wanting to live in a country like say, the States, so I can have a big house there, because these things don't really matter much to me. Honestly, I don't mind living in a box in some third-world country as long as I have purpose and I have an impact.'

Alarice T. 26

Singer-songwriter, recording artist

You can find out more about Alarice & her music here.

Quotes from the Lesser-Known: Part 11

'Let's start with a brief description of yourself.' 

'I'm Sam. I like to buy useless things. Writer, sort of. Film enthusiast & critic... okay that sounds ridiculously pompous. Scratch that. I like movies. Sometimes have trouble distinguishing real life from, say, television or novels.' 

'If you could live in any other era, what era would that be and why?' 

'Perhaps the '50s. I feel as if I could have been good friends with the average Jack Kerouac or Allen Ginsberg. Or maybe the '60s... Yeah, the '60s. I want to see Johnny Cash & The Beatles & The Sex Pistols. I want to go to Woodstock and, ah hem, accidentally get stoned because honest to goodness, I can't tell a bong from a pretty vase... (laughs). I think I would also find it hard to say no to cute hippies.' 

'(Laughs) So anyway, what do you think inspired you to start writing?' 

'I just couldn't help it.' 

'Explain.' 

'Well, first of all, I started doing it because apparently I was pretty good at it. Good grades in English compositions, prizes at writing competitions, all that jazz. But then I realised it just felt good... I could string words together and lay it out on a page and people would read it and feel... (long pause) changed. I find that the love of writing always stems from reading. Once you have that love for reading, words & poems & stories flow out of you uncontrollably, whether you want it to or not.'

Samantha T. 20

Communications major & fiction-writer

Quotes from the Lesser-Known: Part 10

'Why do you like to travel?' 

'I have always been fascinated by the size of the world, the diversity of human race, their cultures, the terrains they live in and many, many other things. I won't say it's important for everyone to see the world. Everyone has different interests, but new sights definitely give more perspective.  

'What was your favourite place in the world that you have been to?' 

'I don't really have a favourite place. Everyone is different & I like these differences. My favourite place will be the next one that I am going to.'

Swee Cheng, 35

Marine biologist, photographer, avid traveller. 

The above picture is taken by Swee Cheng himself during a recent trip to NYC. You can see more of his beautiful photographs of places across the globe here.

Woah, my love.

'I wanted to be one of those people who have streaks to maintain, who scorch the ground with their intensity. But for now, at least I knew such people, and they needed me, just like comets needed tails.'

Looking For Alaska

John Green

I visited an old friend today. This book by Mr. Green is special to me; every time I read it, new revelations surface. New words and phrases jump out. The pages are filled with masses of scribbles and marked margins and lines, which I believe, is exactly how the insides of a book should look like.

Where Light meets Dark

Come!

Let us leave this place,

This wretched place behind.

Somehow we will be enough for each other.

And we will teach each other to love

To love each other

We will learn

Yes

Somehow will be enough for each other

For what else is there but love?

I know nothing besides the fullness of it

If just sorrow lasts,

we will only melt into rain and become its cry

I believe that it is the dawn of love that keeps us alive

No?

Then what are you afraid of? 

What scares you to death & silence?

I only want oblivion

So come! 

Let us leave this wretched place behind!

Only do not ask me where,

for I do not know myself.

__________________________________________________

You say to me

The light in your eyes has gone out:

Once aflame,

now grown cold.

I do not deny

You make me weak in places 

that I had not previously known existed

And as we sat there, 

wrapped in sheets,

And as I breathed in the musk of your collarbones,

You painted me in fire,

Colours that speak of passion & boldness

You tell me of newer & better places

Places which I fear

And you said... 

Come.

But no!

I am so sorry

I am not one to go against the grain

I am not that man

Somehow this leaving, this departure

It sounded more elegant in my mind.

Quotes from the Lesser-Known: Part 9

'Hi Nick.' 

'Hi. (laughs)' 

'So... what's a place you would like to visit before you die and why?' 

'I want to visit... well I want to go to the Montreal Jazz Festival. It's the biggest jazz festival in the world. I went for the Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta recently and that was one of the best experiences I've ever had. It's just so inspirational... I want to know and see the music scene outside of Singapore.' 

'Do you have a particular role model or musical artist whose style you admire?' 

'Marcus Miller. Hands down.' 

'That was quick! (laughs)Why?' 

'(Laughs) Well, I only really started to admire this guy when I watched this video of him from his biography. Sometimes you think that these guys are made out of pure talent, that they come out into the scene and they can just play everything. But what I realized was that they actually put in a lot of effort into playing and practicing... not everything is given to you for free. You have to work for it, there's a certain amount of effort you have to put into the theory.' 

'Okay. So why bass? Out of all the instruments...' 

'The groove. For me, music is all about the groove. It's the groove that attracts me to it, it's the rhythm. When I first started playing music, I didn't like piano... I tried guitar for a while and it was fine, but the bass just really attracted me. It's just such a cool instrument! There's really nothing quite like it.' 

'Talk about what inspired you to learn music. Your first experience, or pivotal moment you remember. and said 'Oh my goodness, I must learn the bass!' 

'The video that changed my life was... (laughs) Level 42 playing Mr. Pink. That video of Mark King playing that song was just... I mean, that was the point where I decided I wanted to take bass more seriously. Bass and music. And after that I started exploring a bit more... When I went to Poly and got into jazz band, that was when I started to take it even more seriously because it was there that I got introduced to Jazz. Prior to that I was just playing for fun. I mean, I liked it and all, and I was trying to get better, but I didn't take it too seriously.' 

'Can you imagine the world without music.' 

'No. (laughs)' 

'Why?' 

'Music is just so integrated into everyone's lives. It's so much a part of one's existence. It's like taking music out of a movie. The movie would just die, I think.'

Nicholas Lee, 19.

Engineering student, tres charming, & hands down the best 19-year-old bassist I know 

A backseat kiss

A Summer Playlist

All of the noise, all of the heat.

Cold Shoulders - Gold Motel

Violet - Thao With The Get Down Stay Down

Let The Record Go - The Mynabirds

Movements - Rend Collective Experiment

She Moves In Her Own Way - The Kooks

Saw You First - Givers 

We Bought A Zoo - Jonsi

When I'm Sixty-Four - The Beatles

Cape Town - The Young Veins

Blow Away - A Fine Frenzy

In The Sun - She & Him

Wouldn't It Be Nice - The Beach Boys

Tongue Tied - Grouplove

MFEO Part 1: Made For Each Other - Jack's Mannequin

Daylight - Matt & Kim

We're On The Run - Gold Motel

Quotes from the Lesser-Known: Part 8

'What inspired you to pursue art?' 

'Things that inspired me or pushed me into pursuing art would have to be my passion for it, and shamelessly quoting here (and also defeating the purpose of this interview): 'Most of the time, I have all these thoughts bouncing around in my head... but with a brush in my hand, the world gets kinda quiet.' - Allie, The Notebook. Mainly, I think that if something makes me happy, I should just go ahead & do it. Nothing beats being happy.'

Megan T. 15

Art student

Fast & Free

Summer is here!

The days are longer and hotter, and the summer dresses and tank tops are back. I'm eating more ice-cream than ever and meeting friends for brunches and buying flowers for the Beatrix Potter vase, even thought they wilt every two days because of the heat. I listen to the Beach Boys & The Young Veins all day, because even music is seasonal. Wayne & Libby Huirau from Parachute band has come and gone, and it was a fabulous weekend of fun and learning and music, and appreciating our brief brush with fame (well, sort of).

I watched the season finale of Grey's Anatomy and felt a little bit sick inside. It came out last Friday and I was in the office, sobbing like a whale in the studio during lunch hour over Lexie Grey's VERY untimely death (and Mark crying and saying We're going to get married... we are meant to be. TOO MANY EMOTIONS). Shonda Rhimes has made me emotionally damaged for life. She seems to be very very fond of killing off my favourite TV surgeons and leaving the crazed fan base in agony with her cliffhanger season finales. Recall: Hospital shoot-outs, roving buses and people getting hit by them, cancerous melanomas, unexplained absences from multiple episodes etc etc. I know, I know, it's just TV! I tell that to myself every time I watch an episode, but it's not that easy, is it? 


Speaking of TV, Parks and Recreation renewed for season 5! Kristen Wiig has left SNL. Ted's wife still unknown (it better not be that asshat, Victoria). 

Work has been good so far. Tomorrow is Breakfast Birthday Party Day & that means waking up an hour earlier to make savoury pancakes for seven people. Last week, while cataloguing our music database, I stumbled upon a fabulous Christian Band, Rend Collective Experiment, a combination of Fleet Foxes and Mumford & Sons and Edward Sharpe. They are creative and inspiring, and best of all, they are in love with Jesus :)

And yes, USA for Bethel School of Worship! I cannot wait! Hello, California! I am blessed beyond words.

This post is a little self-indulgent... I won't do it again for a long time, I promise. It's been an interesting couple of weeks, and if I don't write it down, I forget!