daronloo

I've played the piano for many weddings.  I play for at least one wedding a year.  This year, I was scheduled to play for two weddings. Last Sunday's wedding was the second wedding for the year.  I was flanked by two violinists, and we made fabulous wedding accompaniment for the now, husband and wife. Weddings are never perfect, at rehearsals and at the actual event.  There are always glitches, or last minute changes.  There are always people who come late.  Sometimes something explodes and catches fire (seriously this happened once). But I will not talk about non-music related incidents.  Since I think I'm a resident pianist, I will share interesting innuendos about wedding music. #1 - It's always the pianist's fault This happened at one of the weddings I played for in my earlier years in Thailand.  There was this lady, a fellow Sabahan, or Sabahanian, whatever you like to call us, who was assigned to sing a special number for the recept...

I've had some pretty intense situations happen to be repeatedly, like 'falling' at different occasions . Since those falls, I have been quite careful with how I walk, and, I am proud to say that to date, I haven't had any embarrassing falls.  Instead, I have been privileged with other types 'intense situations' - malfunctioning zippers. Zipper Malfunction #1 I was returning to Thailand after visiting my brother in California back in 2010.  On the flight back to Bangkok, from Taipei, my zipper literally popped.  I was wearing short shorts, a grey shirt, a cardigan, and boat shoes.  I was going for the chillaxed, I-travel-a-lot kinda look.  The flight was uneventful, until I tugged on my zipper to check if my fly was secured.  You know how sometimes the tape (the two parts that become connected when the zipper is pulled up) remains connected, even after the zipper is pulled off (maybe because it broke or maybe because there are no top stops) - well t...

Here are some cool/stupid/funny t-shirts you can find in Bangkok.  These photos were taken at Terminal 21, Asoke.

Last Friday I paid a visit to the Malaysian and Australian Embassies in Bangkok.  Getting there from the Lumphini MRT was quite a walk, but thankfully both of them were right next to each other. Australian Embassy People were attended to in an orderly fashion: we had to get queue numbers.  Once at the counter, the officer was very accommodating, but curt.  They certified my Australian documentation in less than 10 minutes.  There is not much I can say about the embassy because the service was so efficient, and fast. Malaysian Embassy I got there quarter to two, and they were still having lunch.  Apparently lunch breaks at the Malaysian embassy in Bangkok are two hours long.  I met the liaison officer at one of the schools where I work part-time.  She has been waiting since noon.  When the doors finally opened, there were no security checks, everyone wandered in and formed a line, with the first person being separated by the rest by a red-lin...