Forbes have 1.
Heck almost all big time magazines have 1. And this year's Times most influential person award goes to Putin, the Russia Prime Minister (or is it President, don't know).
But well, Takahina's 2007, no doubt a very NSed filled year... is quite rather a year for Takahina. Cause it symbolises the growing up of Takahina. Without further ado... I'll start with the 5th...
Not a person, but more of like, the whole band.
The number 5th "persons" to make an influence on Takahina's life this year will be EvE, my current ongoing band.
See i even have a contract ongoing with them...
How they influenced me this year is obvious... ever since the defunct Le Foret, 3 Jiao Mao, The Unknown, EvE is the next major band Takahina goes for, and it seems this band is here to stay. Always with the new added member, Benjamin Seet Chong En in, it seems this band will only grow stronger.
Takahina jammed with this jam for around 6 month now I guess, with a few of the months Takahina gone in Australia for the NS trip. Throughout this half a year, the regular jamming every saturday or friday night proves to be one of the activity Takahina looks forward to every weekend out from camp. Frankly if there isn't any EvE, Takahina will feel.. empty on weekends.
In the past there is still Jimmy and Music Clef to make me busy on Saturdays, now there is EvE. And indeed, I do feel my drumming techniques getting better, and my knowledge of timing, strokes, drum instruments and the band's chemistry undoubtedly improves with each jamming. If I were to resume my lesson and Jimmy wants me to play something, I guess he'll be surprised that my drum techniques improved instead of failing. The only falter I'll have will most likely be my timing, which I'm trying very hard to improve on. I'm just lacking a complete drumset before I'll term myself an actual drummer.
Frankie's the wacky "wawawawawawa" person who never fails to make people laugh. And he is the booker. He books the studios.
Marco's the silent killer who is normally quiet and cheerful, but can shoot people with an instant overkill, Yi Zhen Jian Xue (1 needle see blood) :p Oh... do you know he raps as well as do all those guai guai vocals u can here in any songs.
Rhea's the cute cute jie jie who provides the feminine touch to the band, if not it'll be overrun. Also the next possible person in the group who could come up with a whole original. Takahina knows nothing bout chords and notes and stuff... so don't think he'll be able to do so.
Ivor's the supposedly leader who craps around with every meeting and jamming. We normally will wait like 5 10 mins waiting for him to prepare his stuff + waiting for him to choose a song to jam. His pedals collection somewhat scares me.
And Benjamin is my old friend whom I've jammed alot of times with. We braved through The Unknown Era, and now he has joined me in the EvE era. His diligence with the guitar is encouraging ^^
And not forgetting Lily, Ivor's Gf and the band's manager. She handles the finance and records the song and goes for every jamming. I'm seriously impressed ^^
And Lastly Takahina.
That is EvE for you. There are number 5 in the countdown, cause if without them, Takahina will feel so empty in life.
Now, number 4.
My Grandpa.
He passed away while I'm in Taiwan undergoing my NS training. When I almost finished my training, I was then informed on his status and rushed back to Singapore, missing my R & R in Taiwan.
He lived a lavish life in the past from my Father's account, rich and a little influential due to his father's wealth of a rubber plantation. But grandpa seemed to have squandered majority of the money away. For the last few years of his life, my grandpa entered hospital in and out for various problems like falling down, his iliing leg, his diabetes, heart problems etc etc. But at those times, at least he still went back to his Paya Lebar home which is now gone due to construction of the Circle Line. Soon after, a fall made him somewhat stuck to his chair and bed and he was officially hospitalised and sent to a nursing home. We changed nursing home several times for him, due to fees and location. Similarily, my grandma changed several homes. Firstly to Bedok which was subsidised by the Singapore government, this was due to the eviction of the house in Paya Lebar demanded by LTA. After that, they changed to the current house in Eunos and settled in.
Grandpa on the other hand, never entered any of his 2 new homes.
After years of struggling, he finally fell to old age. At least it was a peaceful one.
As i mentioned before once in this blog, he once said that...
"You're my beloved grandson..."
That was during one of the earlier years when he just got hospitalised. His other grandsons, never really visited him from what I noticed, and I can't blame them. You enter the nursing home, all of the surrounding is old people, (some having slight mental problems) and Yeye (how i affectionately call him) will always be sitting in his Chai Chee Educare Nursing home, looking into nothingness. You ask him questions, he will not be able to speak properly. It's like his brain has degraded to the stages of an infant.
I heard he held on while I was rushing back to Singapore, his pulse and breath rate still remain as an alive person, until when I rushed back to Singapore on the way to the hospital, my mother called to tell me of some bad news. In the end, I almost made it... but I didn't. That strive of minutes loss resulted in one of my most helpless regrets in life. I could still see his face and feel his warmth when I reached, but that was a forced breathing imposed by the machines.
I still remembered I was cleaning weapon and the next day is a topo exercise. When the news of his near death came, I burst into tears while trying to tell my instructors of the news and my wish to be back in SG.
It's not that I wasn't mentally prepared, I somehow had this premonition of him not being able to survive while I'm in Taiwan, and one of my greatest worries while I was in Taiwan was him. You could hear me calling home constantly, trying to see if there was any problems at home, particularly him. And Takahina is right.
His funeral is one of the biggest funeral I've seen. It last for 5 days and has many types of rituals which I hadn't seen before. It also has models of dragons and many others. It was almost like a show of my grandpa's trip into the netherlands and how the priest and us pray for him and plead for his safety through the lands and be safely reincarnated. One most significant was this sand model of a twin serpent made out, and some stuns being done out like igniting fire and mini explosions. We even ran with the priest and jumped over the dragons as part of the ritual. It was quite interesting actually.
The mood wasn't too tense or sad in the funeral, it was more of like a learning session for me. Many thanks to Jun Rong, Priscilla and Tian Wei for coming over to pay their condolescents. Takahina also saw quite a few actor and actress such as Tay Ping Hui, Joanne Peh and Felicia Chin thanks to my director uncle. I even bought kopi kao for Tay Ping Hui and Snake Grass Water for Joanne Peh. They were quite sweet really. Takahina was too shy to look at them straight in the eye though, but I can tell Joanne Peh is really beautiful. :p
The crementorium session is a very quiet one. Not much people came. The main family, my family and 2 of my uncles, some relatives and friends. The "sending" moment was a solemn one. Few of us cried, the guys remained tough while some of the girls shed tears. It wasn't the usual crying and breaking down scene you see at most funerals. My grandpa wasn't too popular with us for somewhat obvious reasons.
My grandpa's is number 4 in the countdown, cause his death made an impact in Takahina's outlook on life and death. It made an everlasting impression on family ties, my grandpa is not good in this genre and has made many mistakes as a father. Takahina doesn't want to follow in his footsteps. Takahina has believed in that the number of people who shed tears for you in a funeral shows of your acheivement and result slip of your life. In my opinion, my grandpa failed it, even though I loved him. I will not fail the life's test, never.
Also, his last few years and the many days I see him in hospital and nursing homes, it made me see the fragile strings which connect family ties in the current world. It gave me the many ideas in Euthanisia. Do I support it now? Takahina has always supported euthanisia, and now Yeye's death further solidifies it.
.........................................................................
The top 3, will be in, by next post. Otanoshimi ^^
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