Cupcake Memories: Life in Sydney, Australia

The Hi-5 members will be at our local shopping village the day after tomorrow. It coincides with DD’s swimming lesson which is good. We’ll just hop over to the mall after she’s finished her lessons and playing in the pool.

Only problem is, the temp is supposed to be 34C, sunny on that day. Everyone will be fried! The event will be held from 1.30pm – 3pm. Hope we could get an opportunity for a photograph.

Today I suddenly remembered the song “He Opens a Window”, one of my favourite from the musical, Joseph the Dreamer, which I had the opportunity to perform together with a group of friends at church when I was barely 21 I believe.  Those were the fun days when we’d do several musicals ie The Witness, The Light and prolly more I can’t quite remember; on stage in front of a crowd.   I also did pantomime and a duet.

I remember getting butterflies in my stomach before each performance and I know I wasn’t the only one in the group to have felt so.  Ah, all those memories.  It is the times we all spent together during practice sessions and having supper afterwards that made it all the more memorable and fun.  There were little arguments here and there too when some members had a clash of ideas but I guess that’s normal. 

Today as I look back, I am so very glad to have got the chance to experience doing musicals and stage performances at church and most importantly the friendship bond that resulted from the get together and jamming, practice and eating sessions.

I really wish back in those days when I spent a lot of time listening to my walkman and being on the go, that such cool and chic MP3 players like this sweet pink coloured one was available. I know I would not hesitate to buy one. Well, I guess I may, when my kid grows up and my ears will not be confined to listening to what she’s up to. Imagine a granny carrying a pink MP3 player around … cool huh? But then again, technology would have evolved so much in the future, I wonder if such players will still exist.

It’s certainly been a really long time since I am able to listen to my music in peace. I’ve recently began to play some of my old albums again at night (with earphones) after Princess goes to bed. It brings back a lot of memories, the time before Princess was born two years ago. I’d play music so loud in the apartment without the need to wear earphones! Those were the days when I’d play Dido, Hoobastank, Maroon 5, Enrique Iglesias, etc over and over and catch them on Foxtel’s MTV.

I had almost forgotten about Jewel’s album, 0304. This is my favourite album of hers. I like most of the songs. Upbeat. I can’t play my music during day time because Princess would insist on playing her music, asking for “ABC”, “Dunty (Humpty Dumpty)”, “Inshi (Incy Wincy Spider)”, “Pail (Jack & Jill)” and many others. Even if I could play it, I can’t enjoy my music in peace and moreover, I don’t really like the idea of my girl being exposed to pop songs at this age where she mimicks every word she hears.

Credit: Image Copyright © amazon.com

My favourite Mandarin song of all time eventhough I don’t understand 98% of the words. I like its melody and I absolutely love Tracy Huang eventhough all her songs are cover versions. I was actually deciding whether to spend about AU$50 to buy two old Tracy Huang’s English LPs on eBay (I have a few of her English LPs which I brought back from KL during my last trip, for keepsake – my brother bought them when I was young). Tracy Huang’s vinyl LPs are about the only “antique” (sorry Tracy) things I collect. I do not have a turntable yet but it’s easily available and pretty cheap to buy one here, for eg, a brand new one (turntable/CD player/radio) costs only around AU$80 and above. I decided to wait a little longer before I expand my collection.

I don’t particularly like or rather, do not know how to appreciate Tracy Huang’s Mandarin songs.  It is not because I have no understanding of the language but because I don’t find the melodies really nice EXCEPT this one song …. (found it on youtube) …

I bought the Mandarin album which contained the song above, in cassette form (long time ago, I even discarded it already!) and I remember writing down all the Mandarin words in Bahasa so I could sing along to it, hehehe.  I really wish I know how to speak, read and write Mandarin.  Anyway, DH has no idea who Tracy Huang is.  I can’t wait to make him listen to all her songs on my LPs once I get the turntable, hahaha!! 

I really like Tracy’s very feminine and clear voice.  I admire her even more when I learned that she didn’t know how to speak English when she recorded her English LPs.  For someone who didn’t speak English, it must have been very difficult to practice such clear and precise pronunciation in her songs.   I only like her 70′s English LPs.  The songs on the newer albums weren’t to my liking.

I am sure many of you probably have never even heard of Tracy Huang *LOL* (maybe your parents would know). Well it shows my ripe old age. In conclusion, here is one of my fav golden English songs by Tracy Huang.