Sem 2: Batch #2 - Slowly Rock Amongst Oyster Plantations

I like this, this revisiting the past thing. It's fun. Makes me feel I didn't waste my semester.

This post will be about a music festival I attended a few days after I landed in Tainan. It's called 蚵寮漁村小搖滾 which roughly translates to Oyster Plantation's Fishing Village's Little Rock. Oh, I love roughly translating Chinese words.


Note: I posted two of my favourite acts of the day below. You should totally check them out. Mostly because this is going to be quite a long post. They're all playlists, one is a full album and the other is a bunch of their random songs. 

The poster for the event. I think it's rather fetching, as it's held at a fishing village in Kaohsiung.

Some of the seniors in GuitarClub asked our group if we wanted to go and of course I said yes. The setlist of the first day was more acoustic, it was more suitable for our club's style, but since I had no transport on the first day, I went on the second with a bunch of senpais and I'll get to how it sounded like in a bit.

We set off mid-morning and it was a gorgeous sunny day. It took about a 30 minute scooter ride to get there. I honestly don't really know the exact location of the place besides the fact that it's a harbor and it's located at Kaohsiung. The road there was long and straight.

We arrived early and since the first act didn't start and we didn't really want to see it anyway (謝銘祐與麵包車), we decided to explore around a bit.

I think this looks like some album cover art tbh

Ah yes, on the beach, they strung up a massive line of kites and they were so hard to photograph. I really wanted to show you guys how cool it was, but they don't translate in the photos.

The sand wasn't soft or pale, but it was basically quite clean. Some people even pitched tents there and set up a bonfire (presumably from last night, since this was a two day event). It was so chill.

I really like that photo above cos of that guy floating in the middle of the sea. He wasn't too far offshore, but he wasn't close to shore too. He made me feel so relaxed.

Oh and by the way, do anyone of you know what those triangular-male-genital-shaped things are called? I know what their purpose is, but I never really knew their names. *shrugs* Anyway, we ventured on to those things and BJ being the "hunter" that he claims he is, started scavenging for possible life forms. And we did find animals. Mostly carcasses though.

This is the photo I used for my cover of Riptide on Instagram

He's all: "Lookie! Look what I found!"

Yeah, we found a dead crab. Not dead exactly, more like it's shell? Do crabs grow out of their shells? Idk man. Anyway BJ decided that the crab would look really god as an accessory, as it came with natural pins (pincers) and then he proceeded to pin it on his jacket. Which lead to him absolutely destroying the pincers. As you can see in the two consecutive photos below.

I don't know if I should feel sorry for an empty shell or not.

He then continued to scavenge for stuff amongst the rocks and he found a... barnacle, I guess? He claims it's an abalone, I don't even know.

It was still alive. It's frills(???) were dancing.

Obligatory purple hair selfie. I honestly can't believe how purple my hair was. I honestly dyed it blue, but it turned purple in a few days.

Everyone questioned my choice of footwear. "Why'd you wear sneakers to the beach??" Well, first of all, everyone told me we were going to a harbor. "Harbor" means concrete. And secondly, my sparkly converses make me look damn kawaii okay. Plus it matched my hair. Shut up.

But of course, soon after that my sneakers were filled with sand.

We had nothing to do so we decided to watch the band we didn't wanna watch anyway. I honestly thing the stage is pretty cool. The decoration I mean. The six huge posters on either side of the stage are all hand-painted. It's neon, so during the evening they hit it with ultraviolet light so it just glows eerily. Super cool. I didn't take any photos during the evening cos I was lazy tired, plus my camera ran out of battery, so.

Main reason we didn't have the urge to watch this set was because we watched the exact same set during New Year's. Exact same set. So... Yeah. But they have a cute drummer tho. He plays the jazz drum and also the Djembe and I like his curls. He has a really cute smile and also a really good camera (he brings it onstage sometimes). The band members tease him a lot cos he's really young and he has lots of fans. But he just smiles shyly to the ground, melting more ladies' hearts.

Oh and towards the end of the set, the lead singer started throwing guitar picks to the audience. I was lucky enough to catch one. It's pretty cute, I suppose. What do people who don't play guitar do with their guitar picks?

Anyway it was scorching hot so we decided to do the smart thing and sit down under the sun. No really.

Xuncheng forced me to take another picture after the first one cos he didn't look good in the first one -____________-

Anyway, there was this mini market thing nearby where they sold official merchandise, food, some other albums, anti-political movements and some hipster stuff. It was refreshing, I suppose. You can learn so much. And the thing about food at music festivals are that they're so expensive? Just because we spent time to travel here doesn't mean we want pricey food, bruh. And sometimes we have absolutely no choice in this matter whatsoever because you may be isolated from civilization and the only choice is to buy food inside the festival (Mayjam). Meh.

 This aboriginal stall selling aboriginal barbecue and sausages. Quite nice lah, but expensive loh.

Body painting booth! I honestly thought this was one of the coolest booths in the whole festival. The owners were so hippie and the girl being drawn was one of the people we witnessed hitchhiking to this festival. I really like their style. They don't draw tiger faces or strawberries on your face, they draw third eyes, monsters and mythical creatures on every part of your body. I was tempted to get one until I asked the price. Why am I so penniless man.

Then we watched the performers. The crowd was surprisingly wild tbh, I never thought anyone could get wasted before 5pm. I was very wrong, of course. I guess it had something to do with the setlist. They were all punk rock bands with loud opinions. Extremely loud opinions (which includes lots and lots and lots of swearing). They swore so much my Taiwanese friends apologized on their behalf. And they kept crowdsurfing too. I don't have anything against that, but there was this one guy who surfed the crowd at least 50 times that day. Not joking.

And also they have this thing which is kinda like a mosh pit but not really (?) Usually is at the space closest to the stage and people form a conga line and run around in circles. Also they bump/bang/crash into each other as a form of self expression??? I don't know. I just stood at the side with LiangLiang and watched my seniors participate.

Windy phone picture

Instagram shot!

The band pictured above is 盪在空中 Hang In The Air, I posted their album below, I really like them and I think the bassist looks like a vampire.

This band above is called 充氣娃娃 Blowupdoll. And they only perform three times every six years. I know. The lead singer destroyed the microphone he was using and the mic stand. They're allowed to do that cos they are part of the PA people. It was a surreal and surprising experience.

Crowdsurfing time! Since there was no barricade between the stage and the audience, people were free to rush onstage and jump into the arms of the crowd. Crowdsurfing is pretty awkward, actually. Like, what if nobody wants to catch you? We don't have the obligation to. And where are we supposed to send you to? When are we supposed to drop you off? Do we dump you in the sea? I don't want to touch your butt.

That's the congo line thing. It was pretty wild. They kept spraying beer everywhere.

Oh that was the host of the day. She's BJ's crush. She's really passionate about her job and she's really local. She kept asking the starting bands to encore and as the day progressed the bands' encore started getting ridiculously long and you could see her face changing onstage. It was hilarious.

Another thing I kept doing was taking photos of people with nice hats. I really like seeing how people dress for music festivals. That place was chock full of hipsters with their colourful socks and hats. I approve.

It went on for quite a while. The bands I mean, I never heard any of them ever in my life so I was there to experience new things, but most of their style were the same so I got a little bored. Dinnertime came and we walked out of the harbor to a market nearby. I didn't take any photos of the food we ate cos we were losing light and I hate taking photos in low-light conditions.

Anyway, we had some sashimi and it was so fresh. And then we had some fried seafood and you could like, taste the seawater from them man. Also, I found out that Xuncheng has never seen fish being cut up before. Which is ridiculous. He claims it's because he's a city boy. I still think it's ridiculous. He just stood there and stared at the fishmonger slicing up fish.

Anyway the sun was setting and I wanted to take a photo but I was lazy to change lens and the photos turned out quite weird so BJ had a go at it and the photos were still weird.

My attempt

His attempt

His other attempt

We walked around the harbor, just chilling. We then sat at a corner of the harbor where we could hear the music coming from the stage, but there wasn't anybody around. We just sat there, stared at the water for a bit, stared at the moving stars for a bit, stared at the sneaky fishes for a bit, and we learned that Xuncheng couldn't swim (he says cos he doesn't have the need for it, he is so city). Is everyone from Taipei like this?

Then my camera ran out of battery and we decided to go back to the stage area.

And there was like a lot of other acts, but my favourite were two of the last performers. I forget the name of one of the bands, but it was composed of middle aged uncles and they played blues. And they were so so good. They all looked like someone's dad, and one of the guitarists actually brought his kids onstage. It was adorable. I don't think it was suitable for a child to be in such a scene but yeah, it was adorable.

The lead singer/guitarist needed a smoke break so he randomly chose a member of the audience, handed him his guitar and asked him to play. Naturally the guy was dumbfounded, but then he put on the guitar and started playing. And he wasn't too bad. The lead singer was squatting nearby him onstage, smoking and drinking beer passed onstage by the audience. When the dude finished playing a dozen bars and started taking off the guitar, the old guy was like: No no no, I'm not done, keep playing. And being the good boy he was, he kept playing. It was ridiculous.

Note to self: Start practicing scales so you'll be prepared when the lead singer randomly cues you onstage to play blues.

Anyway, we rode back to Tainan after that. It's pretty freaky riding in the dark. Especially cos there are no streetlamps further out in the countryside and the roads were really straight. The guys told me their balls were numb when we reached our uni. I am thankful I have no balls.

This band is called Hang In The Air and they sing in Taiwanese. I really like their super chill vibe. 

This one is called 88 Balaz, they were the final act and I honestly loved their energy. Taiwanese rock n' roll is awesome. Plus the lead singer poured beer all over the audience. 

I really like going to music festivals cos the indie bands in Taiwan are really out of control and I really like their style. Live music has it's magic and you really learn a lot from the performers.

I didn't expect this post to be this long but it turned out like this. Anyway, I'll work on the third one of this series straight after I post this. This is fun. I'll continue doing this.

(And I can almost taste Summer!!!!! Funny how my Summer officially starts smack on my birthday)

Thankful I Don't Have Balls Angel

Sem 2: Batch #1 - Spring and Singing Friends

This post will be a compilation of nice photos and some stories behind them that wasn't Instagram-worthy and I couldn't bother sharing them on Facebook. Mostly taken throughout this semester.

Okay, I lied. Going through my photos taken these semester, I found out that I took a lot  of photos. And I don't think it can fit into one post, cos I want to tell stories too and I want to post regularly (because Finals is stressing me out). So this will be the first of the series.

I don't have the energy and capable laptop to edit my photos, so these are all unedited. Unlike on Insta, where I always Vsco my photos, so feel free to  comment on my non-existent skills.

*Note: I'll include a song or an album below so you can scroll down and press play then scroll back up again to read, if you want. 

SPRING

I was honestly very excited for Spring. When I landed in Taipei, I was instantly greeted by cool weather. This must be what Spring feels like!  And sure enough, when I got back to campus, the trees outside my dorms were in full bloom and I felt that anything was possible. 

But of course, the funny thing about Spring in Tainan is that the temperature is not stable, some days I will need to wear layers to class and some days just shorts will do. I have to literally wake up and walk outside in my jammies to decide what to put on for class today. 

I really enjoyed photographing my surroundings during that period. Flowers everywhere made me so happy. 

So on some days I have lunch alone because I enjoy the solitude. I was cycling around campus looking for a secluded spot so as to not look like a complete loser and I decided on this little bench where it was shady and quiet. I sat down, took out my sandwich and started scrolling on my phone when I realized: I was not alone. I turned around and one of the squirrels was staring curiously at me. Obviously delighted, I smiled at it and gestured for it to come closer to me, feeling like a badass Snow White. But as it inched closer and closer to me, I started to realize that something was wrong. The squirrels in my university are never this friendly, they always scatter when humans approach them, never staying in one place for over a minute. So why was this particular one so bold? Narrowing my eyes, I looked into it's beady pupils, following it's line of sight. Damnit, it was staring at my sandwich!

Me being the kind and loving animal lover that I am, decided it was not okay to share food with a rodent. So I stood up suddenly and walked quickly away from the hungry animal, expecting the squirrel to freeze and escape, but what I did not expect was it took tentative steps towards me. I took one step backwards it took one step forward. I took another step backwards it took another forward. We were stuck in a never ending one-way cha-cha.

I didn't know what else I could do, besides letting out a war cry and shoving half of the sandwich into my mouth all in one go. And then with my mouth full, I taunted the squirrel: "See? All finished! Leave me alone!"

I realize I might have some issues. But wild animals are scary okay?

Then I proceeded to fetch my camera and you can see it is trying to figure out how to unlock my phone. Their tails are really bushy tho, I'm quite amazed. 

Back when the semester just started, I had the time to cycle around, photographing the beauty of my campus and Tainan (and take unselfie-like selfies).

I love how slow the afternoons are here in Tainan. You can see old people just chilling everywhere and it makes your day not as suffocating. Also the doggies. They roam free here, without leashes and they're so friendly. It makes me happy.

SINGING FRIENDS

Now the photos below are of my friends in GuitarClub. They're make me laugh and teach me guitar and in turn I take nice photos of them and say nice things about them online.

 That's Xuncheng, we tell each other our feelings. It sounds really gross but I guess that's what friends do.

 That's Jefferson, we teamed up during the start of the semester for a performance and he's really adorable! He is also vegetarian and we friendly-tease him about it all the time. I wouldn't mind teaming up with him again because he can fill in the empty holes where my guitar skills are.

And this is my favourite weirdo, Linus. She is so weird. But she is also one of my best friends. I even made an Instagram post about her. So that means our friendship is deep and meaningful. And I love her socks. She always has nice socks. 

So I took this photo while they were practicing for the Start-Of-Semester-Presentation. I really like it, although I think the proportion of the photo is slightly weird, her hand blocking half her face and too much emptiness behind. But I still like it. She doesn't really laugh like this, not because she has some traumatic childhood experience or anything, but because she has so many sides of her and this is one of my favourites.

There are more, I don't know when they'll be up, but I'm feeling like I should commit to my series (I even gave it a name that I could continue), cos it's fun.

And I am still unsure if I should post a link to my blog on Faebook. There are many weird people on Facebook. What if people laugh at my blog? Or laugh at my pictures? Or laugh at how they can't understand my blog?

Okay, that was an unnecessary burn.

I'll stop now before I insult any more people.

An earthy album that reminds me of nature

Batch #1 Angel

Summer

All my life, I've never experienced Summer.

I'm not talking about the heat, I was born smack in the middle of it. What I'm saying is the two classless, academic-free months in a student's school year, that  Summer.

And now that I'm studying in Unversity, in a country that has seasons, finally, FINALLY, I get to have Summer.

Two glorious, empty months, laying there for you to fill up with activities, adventures in the summer heat so you can say to your friends when school starts: 'Oh, I did *inserts awesome experience here* over the summer break! It was amazing.'

 I was so so so so so so so so excited. During winter break, I told my parents I didn't want to return to Malaysia for Summer. I know, to some, I sound like I hate home. Like I don't miss it at all. I sound so irresponsible, don't I miss my parents? Don't I miss my friends back home? How can I be so heartless? So cold? I know.

The thing is, I do, I do miss home. I miss my parents. I miss my friends. I want to spend time with you guys too.

BUT.

This is my first ever Summer.

And I have my plan.

1. I want to go up to the mountains in Taiwan and sing to mountain climbers. It's part of GuitarClub, and I had to audition for it, and I am lucky enough to have been accepted into this extra special group (all my expenses are paid for, all I have to give is my time and talent)
2. I want to work, get a job. 18 years of my life, I've never really had a job before. I feel so unprepared for the world. I want to throw myself out and learn. I want to teach English here, spread the love for Literature. I don't mind being a waitress too, there's so much I want to learn. 
3. Towards the end of Summer, I have a week plus of pre-orientation camp training. In this training, we group up and prepare skits, songs, dramas, games for the freshmen for my department. I still remember how I was blown away by my seniors' performances and I really want to continue this passion. I also feel quite distant from my classmates, due to the fact that I've been spending most of my free time with my guitarclub friends and I want to use this time to bond. 
4. And in between that, I also want to do gigs in restaurants or bars. I get to earn money and experience, so why not?
5. Finally, all throughout Summer, I want to retake my failed classes. I get to stay in Taiwan and do all that, whilst also saving my credits. I want to take a class with less people in it, so I can actually approach the professor and ask about what I don't understand (which is everything). I'm so tired of being labelled stupid. 

I want to do all this. Most of it sounds absolutely stupid. And childish. But this is my plan. And I want to stick to it. 

Last year, before I left Malaysia, my brother came back to Malaysia for Summer. And I was absolutely amazed by how empty his whole Summer was. Sure, he came back and spent time with us. But besides holing up at home or occasionally going out with friends, he didn't... Gain anything new? He didn't get a job, he didn't pickup a new instrument, he didn't go out and do new things. 

I don't want that. 

My first ever Summer, I don't want to spend it on nothing.

"You're not old enough to plan your own life. 

You're not grown enough. 

You still think like a child. 

Look at your results. They tell me enough. 

You haven't grown at all. 

Don't forget that you're still under my control."

I know planning my own Summer, staying in Taiwan throughout Summer is a big risk. There might be danger, I might make mistakes, like how I messed up my second semester. But if I don't make mistakes now, when am I going to learn? How else am I going to learn?

I always hear stories of my parents, how they left home to search for a better future at age 18, oh the adventures they had. The stumbles along the way.

I want to experience that too.

I want to stumble. I want to learn.

Recently, I realized that I am surrounded by the kindest, realest people. I'm certain this is God's work. Everytime I make a mistake, immediately people start bombarding me, slapping me awake with their words. And they don't bother to sweeten it up. They give it to me full on, and I'm glad. I'm glad that I have very wise parents, I'm glad that I have friends who are able to think for themselves and are kind enough to remind me when I mess up.

Armed with my passion to live and people who care about me, I am ready to face life head on, fearlessly.

I want my Summer back.

Give me a chance, please.