Yvonne Foong -

Written by Kiwik

Years ago a young man traveled across a large continent and a large ocean to an island that his parents had once called home. There he was introduced to a new culture and a new language. This journey inspired him to delve deeper into his roots, to learn the language of that small island nation, and to make an impact on their culture. This young man was Alexander Wang or better known to his ardent fans and veterans of the Asian music industry as Wang Lee Hom.

Since bursting onto the Taiwanese music industry in 1995 with his debut album Love Rival Beethoven Wang Lee Hom has released a total of ten albums. Just last year, Lee Hom started his crusade in Japan with his first Japanese album Hear My Voice. Now after just coming back from Yun-Nan, where he immersed himself in the art of traditional Chinese music, Wang Lee Hom has returned bring with him a new album Shangri-La.

Alexander Wang’s path to becoming Wang Lee Hom was a long one. Born in Rochester, New York, in 1976 to immigrant parents, Alexander Wang was the normal kid on the block. His family was well off; his father a doctor and his mother a librarian. Since he was young Alex had shown a great love for music. At the age of 6 he started to learn how to play the violin. Though most Asian children are usually pushed by their parents to take up this past time, Alex’s case was different, he chose to pick up the violin through his own will, which helped to foster his love of music rather than suffocate it. In school, Alex was part of the choir, while at home he diligently continued to play the piano and the violin. At the age of 17, Alex had a startling encounter with the Asian world of music and he was not impressed. The album was Forgettable Waters by Andy Lau Lee Hom later told the press, when asked about the incident in 2000 by the Strait Times, “That was years ago, well, I didn't mean to say that everything he did was boring. It just sounded like all the ke-lian (pitiful) ballads! It's nothing personal.” While this incident seemed rather remote, it sparked an interest in Lee Hom. He wanted to revolutionize the Chinese music industry. A rather ambiguous goal for a 17 year old; however, a year later Alex composed a 570 paged Broadway play.

At this time Lee Hom had already given up on the violin. Later he said of his quitting, “I realized that even if I spent a lifetime practicing, I would not be better than the best violinists of this century. And when I see the 14-year-olds playing the violin so well, I questioned the contribution I would make as a violinist. I asked my violin teacher if I had the quality to be a good violinist. He said that if I asked that question, it meant that I was just not good enough.” Though he ceased going to violin lessons, Alex continued to learn other instruments, teaching himself to play the guitar an act that many Asian Americans would condemn as a waste of time and Alexander’s parents were no exception. “My heart was in music then, but whenever I brought up this topic my family would object, thus I felt sad without any goals. Therefore since my brother chose medicine, so should I, hence I followed my parents' wishes”, Lee Hom later would explain to “Characters” magazine in 1998. When the time came Alexander went to college, just like any other kid. At William’s College Lee Hom majored in medicine and minored in Asian Studies. However, despite his parents’ discouragement, Lee Hom’s passion for music continued to grow and flourish. He befriended music lovers like him and recorded demos.

Eventually one of his tapes ended up in the hands of a prestigious producer and at his uncles urging, Alexander recorded his first album Love Rival Beethoven. It was a critically acclaimed debut in Taiwan and Wang Lee Hom had finally arrived. With the success of his first album, Lee Hom was able to persuade his mother to allow him to switch his major in his second year of college. Lee Hom graduated college with honors while juggling a career in Taiwan. “I promised myself that whatever my outcome in the entertainment scene was, I must finish my studies. That is the reason why when my first album sold well, I continued to record a few more but only did promotions during my summer holidays, and hence people were still unfamiliar to me”, he said later of his slow rise to popularity. For his graduating thesis, Lee Hom wrote the musical 'The Bite that Burns', further establishing his command on music.

1999 saw Lee Hom pursuing his studies in music at Berklee College in Boston as a graduate student. Oversees, Lee Hom was enjoying more success as well. Since transferring over to Sony Music in 1998, Lee Hom released his album 6th album Impossible Missing You. Later in 1999, he release Revolution for which he won two Golden Melody Awards for Best Male Performer and Best Producer. Lee Hom was just 23 years old and became the youngest recipitant of the award.

When asked about his music style Lee Hom replied, “My training in jazz and classical music has probably influenced my style of music. But I’m not a Westerner coming in with my own brand of music and just singing it in Chinese. Chinese music has a style that needs to be learned.”

Lee Hom’s respect for this style and his pursuit in learning it this style has contributed greatly to his growing success. The reason Lee Hom has pursued this goal for much of his career is to give the Chinese music industry a sense of self identity. As he says to his fans in his new album Xin Zhong De Ri Yue or Shangri-La as it is pronounced in a dialect of Southern China. “Chinese pop music does not have a strong enough sonic identity. Instead of being purely karaoke driven, instead of covering or imitating other countries' popular songs, we can focus on developing our own sound, drawing from the rich resources that abound in Chinese culture.” Words that many Chinese, even Asian, music fans would heartily agree with, as the number of America influenced songs rises steadily drowning out the unique voice of Asia. The need for identity and a distinct sound is a problem in Asian music and has yet to be found. Lee Hom’s Shangri-La is the beginning of this evolution. Still carrying an R&B tone, the changes are evident in the usage of tradition tribal singing and traditional instruments taking center stage in most songs. It is more of an experimental album if anything, as Lee Hom slowly develops a sound for Chinese pop music.

Now many may wonder why this development has taken so long and has only gone so far. China has an extensive history, spanning several thousands of years; however, its history as a modernized region only covers some decades. In the rush to modernize, China simply copied the West, leaving behind most of its culture. And it song has suffered. Instead of modernizing its song, China left it behind in the dustbin, leaving it for the “older” generations. But imitation often leaves the imitator empty and Chinese pop music is just simply a shell with no culture or meaning behind it, which some musicians are now trying to fill.

Wang Lee Hom is one who has been pursuing this for years; however Chinese pop can not depend on him alone. There must be others for the foundation of Chinese pop to be firmly rooted. The reason why there are so few others is that there are so few singers that study music theory, let alone the music theory of both the East and the West. Even lee Hom had not completely mastered the usage of Eastern theory until Shangri-La; most of his songs prior to this album had a distinct Western flavor. Eastern music does in fact have to be re-learned by those that have already studied Western theory. It is played on a completely different scale, the pentatonic scale, which only contains five octaves. Western music has eight octaves in contrast. To make these two music types match and blend together to create a completely different genre is a daunting task, a revolution. Chinese pop has undergone several revolutions in the past few decades, the most prominent being led by, Jay Chou, another Sony Music creation, who retook the airwaves for Chinese singers. Four years later, Lee Hom wants another revolution, a much needed revolution. It will come slowly, taking years and maybe even decades to reach, but one day the East will rediscover the lost paradise in itself, Shangri-La.

Back in school, everyone I knew have their very own dream wedding- even guys. They would tell me details right down from the enviromental setting to type of glassware they'd use. I was involved in such dillusive thoughts myself. It was like eating snacks during breaktime- it won't make you full but enough to feel happy.

But now, I hardly hear those stories again. The pro of it is,people probably came to realise that practicality comes first. But on the other side of the coin, they're most likely too busy to even dream about it.

How many women have I heard saying that they regret marrying, simply because being single is carefree? In this case, these women knows better than I do. They must be old and tired, you think? Well, part of them but some are just at the beginning. My mom used to tell me that men would do anything to win you over but once he has put that ring onto your finger, you'll become an item in the display shelf. I'd reply her that such women have just found the wrong men! LOL!

There goes a saying, Marriage to a women is the end of all worries but it's just the beginning for men. How wrong is that! I've known far too many women who have assisted their husband during the down times only to be treated unkindly when the fruits of their labour appear. Or worse still if it is the other way round.

I've been telling many people, love is more than just meet the eye, and heart. Loving someone is one and sharing your life with him is another. Many men thinks that being a housewife is the best job ever but little do they know that its a multi-task under the roof. And so many women are suffering from stress from such a situation and things get worse when their husbands does not see the problem to it and ridicule their wives.

So if you are thinking of committing further, think again...and again....and AGAIN! Is this the man who would share his everything with you in any possible situation? Is he worthy enough to stand the test of time? Is he stingy? Is he selfish? Is he considerate? Is he responsible? But often, you might be too blinded by love and infatuation to admit his flaws so ask a close friend who knows him well enough., but not any better than you ofcourse.

I've got a new email address YVONNEFOONG@LEEHOM.NET. I'd most likely use it for formal matters such as medical and educational purposes. But will they pass me as a crazy Lee Hom fan?

It's overwhelming to rekindle friendship with an old friend. Well, the friendship was always there but we often get too carried away by mundane responsibilities to gather enough time to indulge into something more vital, communication. Especially this particular friend who was brought to this world as an ambitious and bullish LEO. It would do him injustice if I demand more. After all, he has set his priorities straight and friends are probably last in his list.

I do miss school for one reason. Friendships were probably more valuable and there was always enough time to sit around and gain some calories. I can understand the position that my friend is in because I have been in his shoes. He probably wakes up at 7am, gets ready to work and only returns at dawn of the moon for the final meal of the day. By time he adjusts himself to home-sweet-home mode, it's already time to call it a day and recuperate for tomorrow. Practically, the life of a working person is in the office.

I've seen this friend of mine transform from a nerdy and crappy teenage book-eater to whatever he is now. He's still in the midst of transformation so before final, I won't know who he really is. Maybe I will never know since we are under constant temperament until we exhale our last breath.

" Those who looks simple are more complicated than those who looks so "-Alicia Leong

As a friend, I would attest to those who compliment her as being philosophical because those weren't her original words. But nevertheless, she was right. My buddy sets a good example to Alicia's claim.

My friend looks as plain as the skies above and as rooted as the Petronas Twin Towers, so much that those who knows little about him would pass him as someone in random. Little do they know that behind this plain facade lies a big blue print of the pyramids of Egypt that stores countless mysteries and well.. mummies.

Pardon me, I don't mean that he is to be avoided but he's not so simple either. Maybe.. just maybe, his extraordinary innerself was what intrigues me to remain a loyal friend all these while.

Yesterday, Elena and I went on an escapade to KLCC. She intended to scout for UV lightings but lady luck wasn't with her. As for me, I successfully made my purchase at the filthy-rich-of-books Kinokuniya bookstore. I made two humble purchases which are...

1. Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder
2. Philosophy; The Basics by Nigel Warburton

There are a few other books which I have set my eyes on but I figure it isn't wise to buy too many introductory books because their contents are almost similiar. To pass the first year of BA Philosophy, one has to sit for four units..

One being Introduction to Philosophy

And three further units from either Logic, Epistermology, Ethics, Modern Philosophy; "Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, and Hume"

There is also one book that caught my interest, it's entitled THINK by Simon Blackburn. A very fascinating book with an excellent style of composition. But at this stage, I am too dense to absorb everything in there and keep it for more than a slight moment once I put it aside. Hence, I decided that it'll be a future purchase when my intelligence heights. Here goes a rough excerpt from THINK's introduction.

It is embarrasing when philosophers and philosophy students alike are asked what we do for a living.

Ofcourse, being a philosopher is overwhelming and there is certain irony in his words. Actually, 21st Century philosophers no longer assume the pose of a 'thinker' the whole day. In fact, philosophy graduates are in great demand to manage corporate companies because of their critical thinking ability. LONG LIVE PHILOSOPHY~~!

Lucky me! TMnet changed my speed to 1mbps without the need to be knocked on the head. I wonder what woke them up from their slumber.

You won't believe me but I had one hell of a time trying to change a simple configuration on my modem. I've a KASDA KE318D router modem. To use this modem with a wireless router, I first have to configure it to ROUTE. It's default configuration is routing and bridging but that option is good for its name only.

Lucky me to find a complete guide in an online forum with many people who successfully applied the steps in that guide into their configuration. But unfortunately, it didn't work well for me. It'd automatically connect to the net, and after one task, it'll disconnect and will not reconnect unless I reboot the modem. Since I lost my Artnet drivers to my last formatting, I can't alternatively connect with my 56kbps modem. Hence, I booted and rebooted, configured and reconfigured many times until the modem cheated on me. The DSL won't come on and it won't make contact with the PC.

Thankfully TMnet was kind enough to get it replaed this morning but only after I personally proved to them its the modem problem and not their port setting problem. *sigh* I made it a point to stress that it didn't work after I re-configured the MODEM. The staffs even insisted its my PC configuration problem. I think schools should teach better communication so they can analyse data better. And phone operators always make me repeat things.

So now, back to my modem. I'm just too scared to do it again for fear that sky will fall. What should I do!?!?!

Take the SPEED TEST to see what s your DSL connection. Seems like Telekom have an error in my subscription. I ordered for 1mbps and I'm only at 512kbps and even that, is not up to speed. I shall go to Kedai Telekom tomorrow and knock their heads. If this happened 2 weeks ago, I could have called up their helpline. I hope they only charge me RM66 this month. Otherwise, it's very unfair for poor ol' me.

I finally got the router right. It was plug and playing all the while. I just failed to realise that only the default browser(Mozilla Firefox) can be used to access its DHCP server. The manual did say that Internet Explorer is tested to work with the router. Well.. this very well shows that I am not thoughtful enough. Most of the time, I am so obsessed with the details that I fail to see the big picture.

Another shortcoming of mine is that I cannot stop doing things and always end up juggling a few work at a time. I have yet to finish the support group website, still in the midst of slotting info into the codes. Luckily, kind ol' David is willing to offer me some webspace so we don't have to rely on some commercial providers on the net. And before I get this settled, I'm trying to improvise the logo that Wei Jie made into a small badge so people can link us from their website.

I kinda got fed up with blogger and movabletype killed some of my braincells so I went hunting for another blogging tool and found serendipity. I downloaded it, decompressed it and then uploaded it onto the server after a very very long time. Gosh... the directory is humongous! But installation got me stuck cause of some mySql database settings. Should get that straight soon but otherwise, Serendipity is more user-friendly than movabletype.

Well, that's all this time. Will update again soon consideering that I am at home most of the time nowadays.

Didn't know I could be this busy even when I can't hear. Firstly, I am struggling hard to configure my wireless router. I've to go get some receivers later on. I might have gotten a good deal at RM130 per receiver. Then there is the sign language I am trying to master. I've memorized the 26 alphabets and some simple signs. FYI, it's American Sign Language. I've to remember to make copy for Elena and maybe Alicia. (but I don't see her often so maybe she might choose not to learn but hey she's doing Law maybe she might become a court interpreter. ok that's irrelevant but...) The NFFM WEBSITE had gone idle for one whole year and it is now time to revive things but quite differently this time. I decided that legal registration is too much of a responsibility at this stage so we'll just start an unofficial support group. Now, time to gather the men! CL Khoo had just recommended me some great introductory books on Philosophy which I promised to read up. Man, when will this pursuit begin? Should I really take up the study? As you know from my previous post, that I have safeguarded my PC. Now I've gotta find time to install Win XP Pro's Service Pack 2 which I had successfully downloaded it over the internet. But, do I really need it anymore?

Oh and before I forget, yesterday was Valentines so Happy Belated Valentines, people!

Doctor in US said the CT Scan isn't clear enough so we'll have to wait until March 2nd for the MRI appointment. He also said March is a good time so looks like it isn't acute. I'm going to dissapoint the audiologist at the ENT clinic because she prepared a hearing aid for me but at this stage, hearing aids aren't sufficient anymore.

Since now I can't hear, I can only do things alone. With the advice of Ed, I safeguarded my PC with AVG anti-virus, Ad-Aware, Zone Alarm, Spybot S&D, CWShredder and Registry Supreme Pro. Now I sound paranoid. My database is almost empty cuz my PC is only for internet use but that is dangerous enough.

AVG is a FREE anti-virus software that comes with FREE daily definition updates. It scans for viruses everyday at the specified time. It also scans any incoming and outgoing emails including pop3 emails. It's also very small in size and doesn't slow your PC down.

Ad-Aware is designed to provide advanced protection from known Data-mining, aggressive advertising, Parasites, Scumware, selected traditional Trojans, Dialers, Malware, Browser hijackers, and tracking components. With the release of Ad-Aware SE Personal edition, Lavasoft takes the fight against Spyware to the next level and it's FREE too.

Spybot S&D searches the computer for spywares and destroys them for FREE. Is Microsoft Anti-Spyware good? It stops spywares even before they can install themselves.

CWShredder is a FREE program that searches your PC for hidden bots that corrupts your internet browser and change your homepage to malicious websites such as coolWWWsearch and YouFindAll.

Registry Supreme Pro is a registry cleaner that doesn't come for free. It scurs your PC for useless registries and deletes them so your PC runs faster.

Sygate Personal Firewall is a good and FREE personal firewall that protects against trojans, spywares, worms and other known and unknown threats. It's easy to use and not as bulky as ZoneAlarm.

And lastly is the Disk Defragmeter that comes with Windows since Win98. It puts everything back into place to increase PC performance.

Now these should be enough. How surprised I am, after installing all these, to know that I am actually attacked by spywares, viruses and possibly trojans EVERYDAY!

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR! But I don't feel a pinch of joy at all. When I woke up on Monday morning, I noticed my hearing worsened but I still went to work as usual because I could still hear. I was even speaking to Keisha on the phone that faithful night. I went to have an audiogram done at the UMMC and I could still talk to the otologist tho' he had to literally yell and repeat many times. I also spoke to the A&E dcotor at GH but it was already very difficult. I was admitted that night and from Wednesday onwards, I cannot recognise spoken words without cues.

This is way beyond our expectations. The doctors think I can still hear until later in age but looks like lady luck ain't on my side. The otologist says my tumor is haemorraging while the doctor on call in GH is clueless. The surgeons and all are on a 5-days holiday since Wednesday until Monday for CHINESE NEW YEAR when they are NON-CHINESE. And I've to wait till they get back before I can set an appointment NEXT WEEK to see my surgeon and find out what is happening. This is totally ridiculous. This is supposed to be a benign tumor but I lost my hearing in the matter of HOURS. The CT scan I had on Tuesday shouldn't be reliable anymore. What if the otologist is right?

Luckily I still have Dr. Friedman to count on. I had just emailed him the scans. He does, after all, knows best than anyone in this country.

I finally got my 1mbps broadband inteernet running. I feel like riding a bullet train but my pc only has 256mb RAM. I wonder if it will get better if I increase the ram.. but nay I should be thrifty. There's some error in the router. The DSL doesn't go through when I hook it to the modem. I got this 10/100 Prolink wireless router for RM240. I think it's about time I get a new chair.

While I slept last night, my hearing worsened immensely. I am going to get an audiometry done tomorrow at UH and I hope they will release the result to me on the spot.

That's all for now... toodles.