Fulfilling Monday

Today has been one fulfilling day as I managed to do successful interviews with complete strangers about the you-cannot-smoke-within-5-metres ruling. The interviewees were surprisingly open to speak about the inconvenience and how they are smoking more / less because of this ruling. I collected a couple of funny stories (e.g. how they end up chain smoking to justify the distance travelled to the smoking point).

I'm currently doing a summary of my interviewees' replies before I figure out what to include in my 300-word article. But first, more about what happened after class.

My classmates and I visited Shaw Towers after class for lunch and also to check out the music store situated at Level 2. I think I've mentioned this store in my blog a long time ago. They sell imported stuff and also local stuff and it has been quite some time since I went back there. What you can't find at local music stores, you can try your luck at this store. If they don't have the cd / dvd / book you requested, they will bring it in for you upon request.

Anyway, I was just there to browse around what they have in stock and Nuanyi specifically went there to buy the latest Cheer Chen cd. The store carry several versions of the cd. There's the Singaporean version (CD only), the Taiwan version that comes with CD and postcards, and an autographed Taiwan version with postcards. Obviously the prices vary but not by much. The owner of the store happened to be in the store so the 3 of us ended up talking about the cds he bring in, and some other cds he feels are worth listening.

Then we went into the history of a music label that once had Yang Nai Wen, Cheer Chen, Chen Shan Ni and someone else. Conflict arose between the artistes and the company, and then Rock Records came into the picture... blah blah blah. The long story resulted in Cheer Chen's eventual decision to record her own songs. We also learnt about some inside gossips about certain artistes!! SO JUICY!!!! We also got news on possible concerts in Singapore.... hmmm...

I don't know why the boss shared with us so much information about the industry but it was really good to hear from someone who's in the industry for a decade plus. He told us how bad the industry is and how it is now regarded as a "sunset" industry. A little bit disheartening to hear this, especially when you make a living from selling CDs. But amidst all this ups-and-down, he said he's still around because there are people supporting him behind. Not literally behind him, but possible monetary support? He also disclosed his jie fu is some big shot in SMU!

All these just ascertain the fact that he has enough money to live his passion. How lucky right.

I think we spent about 2hrs in the music store before we said our goodbyes. Hmmm. Might be getting a concert DVD from him later this week too. I feel so compelled to buy original cds now! But only if the songs are nice of course. SUPPORT GOOD MUSIC!