Linkin Park ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week, I realised one of my life long wish-to attend one of THE greatest rock bands of my generation.



I started listening to Linkin Park in my late teens and Linkin Park's first album -Hybrid Theory was one of the albums which was played full blast throughout the whole summer when I first got my first car in KL after graduation! :p


Linkin Park's earlier albums-Hybrid Theory and Meteora had a lot of anger and frustration in its songs and lyrics which was many teenager's life anthem at the time. You can relate this to songs like Numb, Easier to Run, Crawling, Points of Authority...


The most recent album Minutes to Midnight is awesome! It is more mellow- a display of maturity from the band members but without compromising the great music they produce.
The songs which stand out for me are What I've Done, Bleed it out, In Between, the Little Things give you away. It is more politically conscious and it is refreshing to see bands who are globally aware in what is happening to our world today and reflect this in the music they play reaching a greater audience.



The O2 arena has been THE place in London to stage concerts and Linkin Park is no exception. We got the standing area and I was a bit apprehensive there would be a lot of teenagers bashing into each other which I experienced at the LostProphets concert which wasn't pleasant.
Luckily, the Linkin Park concert didn't have the crazy teenage bashing. Most people were there to enjoy the music and althought there was a lot of jumping and singing (myself included!) it was an enjoyable experience!



Chester and Mike belted out a mix of the new songs from the recent album with the old classic songs from their previous albums. I also got to see my old teenage crush Joe Hahn on stage DJ-ing his beats and sounds on stage-he's still looking and sounding good! :P
The stage also displayed the animation videos which the band are known for-it's a work of modern art :)



Towards the end , Linkin Park did two encore appearances....everyone took out the mobile videophones and cameras and sang along to One Step Closer and In the End in unison.



An amazing experience which I will never forget.....Below is a video clip-snippets of some of the great songs that were played that night. I apologize in advance for the blurriness of the video-I was jumping up and down with the crowd and the music.

Thoughts....

Ever since I was born, I have led what could be associated as a nomadic lifestyle following my dad around. Making new friends and travelling all around the world may seem exciting to some people but it isn’t as glamorous as it seems.

I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy the travelling and meeting new people but I found it difficult to discover who I was and what I stood for. Maybe everyone went through a similar thing. Some researchers have said that we only really discover and be comfortable who we are when we reach our 30s & 40s…hmmm that would mean I’m still learning and have a LONG way to go.

As a little girl growing up in a foreign country, living abroad and being different from everyone else was difficult. Throughout most of my childhood years abroad, I was the only Malaysian girl in my class. Trying to fit in with people similar to my age and maintaining my culture and values was difficult. It wasn’t easy combining Western culture and Eastern culture together. Some things I did better than others.

Moving from place to place made it harder for me to fully trust people other than my family. It was difficult getting close to people when I know that I might be moving to another school in another town or country.

Studying in London for university enabled me to develop more of my Malaysian identity by meeting friends who I know some of them will be friends for life. It was hard at first to fit in being the Malaysian who lived abroad-people sometimes can be judgmental and have a stigma of ‘budak melayu duduk overseas’.
But that’s when you discover who your real friends are and meet people who can just accept you for who you are.
I wasn’t perfect and probably will never be but I still try to do the best I can and try to keep to the values which I think are important.

Working in London has meant seeing people come and go… and it is still difficult for me to trust and get close to people because I know that by the time I get close it will be time for them to leave.

2008 may be the year where big decisions will be made and maybe I can finally feel settled, be happy and not have to move around anymore. Insya-allah….

When you fall, pick yourself up again....

A sweet colleague of mine recommended I watch this on youtube...and although I'm not a Rocky fan watching this clip gave me a boost up.....



So for those of you who need a bit of a push..watch the link below.

Road to nowhere?

Music is my escapism......

"No Roads Left"-Linkin Park

Standing alone with no direction
How did I fall so far behind?
Why Am I searching for perfection?
Knowing it's something I won't find

In my fear and flaws
I let myself down again
All because


I run
Till the silence splits me open
I run
Till it puts me underground
Till I have no breath
And no roads left but one

When did I lose my sense of purpose?
Can I regain what's lost inside?
Why do I feel like I deserve this?
Why does my pain look like my pride?

In my fear and flaws
I let myself down again
All because
I let myself down
In my fear and flaws

I run
Till the silence splits me open
I run
Till it puts me underground
Till I have no breath
And no roads left but one
No roads left but one

In my fear and flaws
I let myself down again
All because

I run
And the silence splits me open
I run
And it puts me underground
But there's no regret
And no roads left to run

Bring on 2008

I haven’t been updating this blog since I’ve been trying to sort out a few things in my life recently.

Have you ever had the feeling where you feel down but trying so hard to be positive in life and coming up with the next life time plan? I guess that’s when our faith is tested the most.

When I was younger I had a lifetime plan of where I would like to be but things do not often happen the way you want it to be so I have to constantly revise the plan. The One above may have another path set out for me….we can only plan what is best for us but it is He who decides….

During the New Year period, instead of looking forward to the partying like when I was younger I find myself in a more reflective mood these days. It may appear like I’m a right old grumpy woman! Aaaarghhhh...that’s not who I want to be…..

A holiday break is always a good time to relax the mind and take our minds off things ….

I went on my first hiking trip with London peeps…if I was to be honest I didn’t think I would reach the top with the rest of the group. But we all plodded on and it was an achievement in itself to reach the top. It was another thing going down the mountain which was the scariest part for me out of the whole trip….at one point I thought I was going to fall off the mountain. In the end, I was thankful to be able to walk on flat ground once more. I would say it was a character building trip where you find out more about people and things about yourself and surprise yourself at times in what you can achieve. An adventure trip which I may like to do again but I will need to prepare myself both mentally and physically for the next one if I ever go again.

After a day recovering (with still some aches and pains from the previous trip!) went for a chill out break to Belgium and Luxembourg for a few days. It was a more relaxing trip compared to the adventure trip a few days back…different but still as interesting.
My last trip to Belgium in ’99 with Suz and Giac was more about spending time with Umberto, his sis, Giac and his friends. This time, the trip was more about looking at the tourist sites I missed last time. Thanks to Chip’s GPS (my map reading skills isn’t exactly the best), I think we managed to cover pretty much most of the sites since the places weren’t that big.

We also visited Luxembourg which is one of the smallest countries in the world. I think the country is basically built up around a fort on a hill. A small country but has a certain “Je ne sais quoi” feeling about it. As we were walking near the casements area there was a mystical feel about the place as there weren’t many people around. It was like going back in time where I tried to imagine what people during those times would have had to live in that type of environment. Maybe my imagination was trying to get the better of me! :P

New Year’s Eve was low key this year watching the London Eye fireworks on Primrose Hill. So have I set myself any resolutions? Well, all I wish for everyone is to be happy with themselves and be grateful for what you have.

“A relaxed mind, a peaceful soul, a joyful spirit, a healthy body and heart full of love” –that’s all we can wish for everyone!

So here’s wishing you a Happy New Year for 2008!