London

We spent 2 days and 3 nights in London. We finally arrived after a long flight with a stopover in Bangkok too. The old man in front of my mum and I had extreme scalp conditions so when I went to retrieve my camera bag & back pack, it was CAKED in dandruff. It was super gross. I wanted to vomit. I thought the lady next to him was the culprit but I looked at his armchairs and the situation was the same - it was snowing. Anyway, after all the kerfuffle - we met Jana at Heathrow airport. She looked completely different from the last time I saw her 8 months ago. We found our way onto the Heathrow Express then caught a taxi from Paddington to our hotel. The taxi driver instantly hated us as soon as we went in. He was the biggest grump and was shooing us to get off before we had even paid, then after he drove off he spat out the window. I think he hated Asians haha. We soon realised that, a lot of people in London are just grumpy and rude. I'm sorry Londoners, but we only saw two people smile & laugh with us, and that was a French waiter and a retail assistant that was trying to hold our jokes in like she wasn't allowed to be laughing. We spent our time there seeing the tourist spots: Westminster Abbey, Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, Piccadilly Circus, Tower of London, Big Ben, St Paul's Cathedral, London Eye, Oxford & Bond Street and Buckingham Palace twice - second time to see the Changing of the Guards that happens every morning from May to July. London is expensive and their summer is pretty cold. We also saw the Spiderman Premiere being held at Leicester Square. We saw Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone as little figures from far away!! I also stopped this NORMAL LOOKING LADY mugging my sister. My sister said to me, "Someone's touching me a bit too much." So I turned around, turned Jana around and saw the lady's hand in my sister's bag. I just death stared her and she just death stared me back whilst trying to act like she wasn't doing anything. It was such a weird moment. She was convincing enough to make me think that maybe it was accidental but I told Jana to check her bags and sure enough, her travel journal was on the floor. That totally meant that she was rummaging through, pulled it out and realised it wasn't a wallet so dropped it and went for the kill again. I wish I yelled or something, but this isn't my town - I'm just a pawn on the chessboard. She was with a big man too. This lady was like my mum's age and both of them looked COMPLETELY normal and didn't act guilty at all, just got off the next station and moved on. So weird. So traumatised. So glad they failed. I like the city, I don't like the prices and people could do with a bit of happiness and attitude adjustments. SORRY THAT WAS SO RUDE OF ME TO SAY! I am now on the plane to Paris. Its a really cute commercial plane - probably the smallest plane I've ever been on!!

Neihu, Taipei

Well the flight was horrible. The plane is definitely designed for maximum numbers of Asian people. I barely had any wiggle room. And my poor poor legs always feel pain within the first ten minutes. My mum and I barely slept, we were going crazy. Yet we were so darn tired to even turn on the entertainment screen and zone out to a movie. So we just sat through and annoyed each other here and there haha. We finally made it, 5am Taipei time. Then it pretty much took another 3 hours from there to get our luggage, get a bus, meet our grandparents, catch the train and then go home. We straight away went to the markets after that and had lunch & then dinner. My second day was the same. I bought a dress. Lol trying things on in the streets.. Haggle skills I forget people stare at me here, especially in the suburbs. Some people point and scream, "FOREIGNER!! DO YOU THINK SHE SPEAKS CHINESE?!" Then they hassle mum about me sometimes. I need to bring a white person with me next time so I can blend away as an Asian. I also totally ruin mum's bargaining hand with my mixed face, because they instantly know we're foreigners haha so sometimes she makes me walk a bit further behind and catch up when they settle on a happy price. Typhoon has come through too, so lots of rain. Its summer here but the pollution has clogged the skies and just left behind heat and humidity. No sun in sight! It was good seeing my grandparents here, even if it was for a short time. I'm not excited for tomorrow. Its a whole day of stopovers and airplanes. Yipee!

Dislocation

I've just been dealing with terrible jet lag since I've been home. I sleep at 12am and wake up at 4am, sometimes if I'm lucky 5am. I've been running around like a headless chook trying to complete errands before I leave this Thursday. To where, you ask? I get to go to Europe! I'm taking my mum for 6 weeks and my sister is going for 9 days. I've planned every nook and cranny of the trip to try and ensure as best as possible that my mum can have the best time, and of course, me too! Our plan is to get to London (staying in Taipei for a few days first though) we meet my sister in London, then from there we train it to most places in Western & Central Europe. I'm sure I will try my best to blog everything! King's mum gave me a surprising welcome home party. I thought it was just meant to be my mum and I, plus her and maybe King's brother - but I walked in with a room full of banners screaming, "WELCOME HOME." So that was very nice of her. I'm slowly packing and seeing friends at food times of the day. I've also been folding a bunch of paper cranes, I don't know why. I bought a box of papers (for a rip off $5) and got an empty jar and have just been cramming it into there. It looks pretty but I probably have better things to do in my short time back home, but I'm enjoying it. I'm onto my 140th crane. There's 200 papers. How cute is Ethan with my CD? On another note, I've dislocated my shoulder. Mum is furious because I'm carrying the heavy backpack without wheels for Europe. I feel okay. I mean it really hurt and in that adrenaline rushed moment, I just grabbed my shoulder and just shoved it back in there. Then I cradled my arm and body on the floor, quietly whimpering and then slowly saying, "Mummmyyyyyy... Mummmmyyyyyyy!!!" I go to the physio today. I'm refusing to go to the hospital. We don't need to make a big deal out of it!! And I don't want them to re-dislocate and then relocate my shoulder. UGH!

Packing

Well, I've been packing. I hate packing. It is so super tiring. And I know I'm going to forget something. Always. Sandi & Gary are also in Paris so the dogs have been sleeping with me. They're so cute and needy when they're sleepy. Also very annoying in the mornings as you can see from the pictures. They fight for my attention until I shove one to my left and the other to my right side and then they settle. However, I have no wiggle room as its shorter than a single bed haha! I've just been hanging out with different friends. They all wanna hang ten on my last days so its been a little busy and very back to back. I've also been - like a dork - riding to the post office awkwardly to deliver parcels. Today was my last round and luckily Giana was so kind to take me without me even asking her. Otherwise, I would've had to do two rounds in one day because it didn't all fit in my bag. Unless I double bagged it and put one in the front but oh man I would: 1. look like a loser 2. handle myself like a loser as I'm not a pro cyclist 3. probably crash and destroy the merch So in my first beautiful month of pre-orders, I sold 130 physical copies. I'm pretty happy! It got released on iTunes & Amazon too.. so here's some links for it. To buy on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/lone-wolf/id530324627 To buy on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Lone-Wolf/dp/B0086HM62E To purchase a hard copy: http://www.deena.bigcartel.com I think I've finished packing now. I just have one hand carry I gotta deal with tomorrow after I've changed and finished using everything I need. I hate how no matter how organised you want to be, finishing packing ALWAYS has to be last minute unless you wanna just rough it with no change of clothes and self hygiene. HAHA! My tattoo artist is coming by tomorrow to buy a copy before I go. How cute and funny is that! I also gave two copies of my album to the postman and postlady that helped me out a lot. I mean they had to sort out like 100 parcels so I think they totally deserve it! I'm also having a shipping predicament that I have to deal with in these last few days. All my leftover unsold CD's, and a box of tablets & vitamins my mum had me buy are in boxes. Every option I look at costs me about $1000!! ITS RIDICULOUS! It's not even that much for $1000. I could buy a ticket home for way less than that, and I could pile him up in a seat next to me. Shipping is stupid. Well, my American journey has come to an end. And soon I visit a brand new continent too. I will tell you all soon. Yes yes, I never stop moving!

Release Party!

So last night was my intimate release party for my debut album. It was pretty scary but I ended up having a lot of fun. I was blessed to have the darling Yuki and her harmony/bells player, Lucy open for me! I really like Yuki's songs, there's something ethereal and eerie about her voice and songs. She gave me a free download link for my favourite song of hers!
When I got to the show to set up and sound check - I got the news that Ryan my guitarist was sick in hospital. At first I didn't freak out because my heart went out to him. It was so weird because we just saw him the day before for rehearsal. But yeah he was out cold and we didn't find out until 6pm so my set list was thrown overboard. We compromised, cut and changed stuff but the show must go on! Of course I was stressing like crazy and also sad that I couldn't do my favourite songs and some of them didn't get to have the extra oomph of a lead guitarist. Next time maybe!

Can (DJ Candy) provided music at the start, in between and at the end. I was so grateful to have my two special guests. But soon enough, it had to be me up there and I was super scared. Sometimes I would choke and at one point I was so close to screwing up but I trumped over it!

Yuki and Lucy

I probably rushed at the end of songs with my talking but I find that at the end of songs are so awkward... this meek silence where the audience dwells and you have to wait for the claps. It was about 20 people, and 15 albums got bought so I was pretty happy!


Some fans came from far far away - one lovely girl even brought me flowers. That was so sweet of her! I knew I recognised her and she told me that she first knew me from the Rock for Smiles concert. She also told me that I inspired her her to sing from hearing me at that concert. I was pretty touched.


Thank you to everyone who has supported me on this treacherous journey. I feel like all the effort, pain and money drain was worth it. My American experience is coming to an end in 4 days and its a bittersweet moment.

Errands

So my American journey is coming to an end...

All I've been doing is riding around on my bike making deliveries of my albums. To the people that live close by to me, I'd save a few dosh on postage by just riding there by myself and hand delivering it. Haha. The other day I took 30 parcels in a huge back pack to the post office. They were so kind and fast at it.

After that, I went to go get a little tattoo. It had been on my mind since October to get it, but of course you always have to dwell on it. I thought it would also be a good sum up of this spontaneous part of my life and the reason behind the push for it - losing King.

So I got a very simple outline of a crown.

The tattoo artist was super nice, his name is Phish. He reminded me of Ton from Auction Hunters - big dude with tattoos everywhere, even across on top of his eyebrows and cheeks but he was such a gentleman. He told me to swing by again so he can buy an album too haha!

I've just been signing... I can't believe I've sold 110 copies before it even coming out! To think that I could do this all by myself, without no big ass business company - well with the exception that I have Tony - I would have never imagined of achieving this.

Tonight is my release concert. No one knows me here as a fan or a friend so I'm not quite sure who is going to turn up. The few friends I do have are out of town so I'm bummed. We'll see..

Wish me luck.