[pinned] Facts about myself. (27/01/2013)

Here are some things about me that you may or may not know about.

1. I don't like animals.

I may think that a puppy is adorable, but I'd still keep a distance from it and not want to touch it. I used to say that it's because I think animals are dirty, but then again, it's not really the reason. I guess I'm rather fearful of them?

2. I hate cigarettes.

I hate, loathe cigarettes with a passion. I think smoking is the most selfish addiction ever because in the process of killing themselves slowly, smokers are also killing other people with their second-hand smoke that is more harmful that first-hand one. I get pissed off whenever I smell cigarette smoke, and usually I make my disdain pretty obvious, on purpose. I have nothing against the smokers themselves, as long as they don't smoke within like 10 meter radius of me. I told my dad that I'd stop calling him Dad if he starts smoking, and I was not kidding.

3. I have a very bad memory.

I can't remember things well, so don't be surprised if, say, I say that I can't remember what I had for lunch the day before. (Now that I think about it, I really can't remember what I had o_o.)

4. I love fruits.

I don't think there's any fruit that I dislike. I love fruits!

5. I don't have just one favourite.

I like things, I dislike things. But I don't have favourites. Ask me what my favourite song is and I would never be able to give you an answer, even after you narrow it down to one particular artist. What's wrong with just having a top 3/5/10 for everything?

6. I really don't like to be sick.

When I was young, I really wanted to be a doctor. It wasn't really because of any noble reason like I want to help people, but simply because I dislike being sick. Usually I pride myself on being strong, but when I'm sick, I tend to whine a whole lot.

7. I love music.

I think listening to music is a big part of my daily life. I love music. You can always find the perfect music to go with any weather, mood, and what have you. You can like a song without liking or knowing the language it's sung in, or even its genre. It's rather amazing that I can remember so many songs' lyrics, given my terrible memory.

8. I don't regret.

I tend to do things that I want to, regardless of what others think. Conversely, I don't do things that others may expect me to, if I don't want to do them. Since my actions are a result of my personality and the situation, even if I were to be given a chance to do it over, given the same circumstances, I'd have done the same thing I did at any particular time. Therefore, there's no reason to regret. From time to time I may groan at some stupid thing that I did in the past, but I don't regret that I did it. I take a mental note of my mistakes and tell myself to not do the same things in the future, and that's it.

9. I love singing.
I may not sing well, I don't have a nice or unique voice and I am half tone deaf (because I can't match notes to their names, like A/B/C/etc), but I really like singing. I can sing for hours straight and still feel like singing afterwards. I usually can't stand awkward situations, but in a karaoke place, as long as everyone likes singing (important caveat here), it should never be awkward!

10. I am a direction idiot.
I can never remember directions to places and I have trouble reading the map. I need a GPS installed in my brain. Like, seriously.

11. I love looking at stars.
Stars are always there at night, but most of the time we can't see them, either because of the lights or fog. That's why I feel lucky when I look up and happen to see a starry night, not the mention the fact that it's just really pretty :).

12. I love Jay Chou.
I love Jay Chou....'s music (laugh). I still remember how years ago when my brother borrowed his 七里香 album from a friend I took one look at the cover and wondered out loud how such an ugly person could become so famous, but then he started playing the album and I was totally blown away. I love his music, whether it's the 中国风, the ballads, the rock/rap songs, the happy-go-lucky pop songs or the quirky I-don't-even-know-what-they-are songs. A lot people say that he never changes, and that his songs sound the same, but I beg to differ. Yes, his music has a certain "Jay" feeling to it, like even before you know it's his song you'd get an inkling that it was, but there isn't one single thing that defines Jay's music, for it's really quite diverse. Uhm, okay, I didn't mean to rant. But anyway, yeah, I love Jay Chou's music, and so, I love him. He can do whatever he wants, as long as he keeps making good music. I can go on and on, but yeah, the bottom line is, I love Jay :).

13. I really don't like the cold wind blowing at night.
It always makes me go all emo.

14. I hardly ever remember my dreams.
Moments before being fully awake I may think, "I had a good/bad dream," but minutes after I'd completely forget what the dream was about. Wonder if that's a good or a bad thing.

15. I like drinking.
THERE, I said it.

Finding that comfortable range.

I went singing alone today :D. Planned to sing for 3 hours only, but it ended so soon that I sang for another 3. Guess time flies when you're having fun!

Ever since I first went to Kbox back in Secondary School, I've been going to karaoke pretty often. But I've never thought that I can sing well. As much I like singing, it is really difficult, for when I sing guys' songs I can't reach the low notes and for girls, the high notes. My vocal range is on the low side and it's really limited. My breath can't last long, and my voice is nothing special either. When I sing certain songs I'd feel really frustrated because I'd be ruining the awesome songs, and even though I know what note I'm supposed to hit, often I can't. And I don't know how to improve other than to keep singing, so I still sing, even though my own singing hurts my ears and my frustration sometimes saps me of any enjoyment that I usually feel when singing.

Today, I did one thing differently. Instead of struggling to fit into the artists' range, I raised/lowered the pitch of the song by a few keys to suit my own range. It's really funny, now that I think about it, how I never even thought of doing this before in my many years of singing. I think I was too proud, finding it embarrassing to not be able to sing the songs in their original pitch. So I steered away from the songs that are obviously out of my range, and sang other songs in their original pitch even if they might be slightly uncomfortably low/high. But why should I not change the pitch, really? It's so much more comfortable to sing within my own range, and I sound better less horrible too. So I was really happy today, because I found my own range :). And I was rather surprised that I was able to catch the key after a few beats, when I lowered/raised the pitch. Guess I'm not tone deaf after all ^^.

It's still hard, though, because a lot of singers have very a wide vocal range, which means that the beginning is usually low but the ending is really high. So after a few tries singing girls' songs, I gave up and stuck to guys' songs (raised a few keys). It's not much of an achievement, I admit, to keep singing easy songs, but I'm gonna take it one step at a time. Now that I have found my range, I can work towards expanding it!

Today's song of the day is 羅志祥's 怕安靜. Sang it a few times, because it's a nice song and it's easy to sing XD.

I love singing :).