Yet Another Road Trip, Yet Another Small Step Towards Our Goal

By the time you read this, Cynthia and I may have reached PJ Malaysia to meet up with Wieke for a band practice.  Nothing is going to slow us down for our November performance at the Heeren, Singapore.  Not even the temporary relocation of Wieke.

I have a theory I concocted decades ago and it has been recently supported by a research publication (look out for my upcoming book review).  It is not a complicated theory really.  More like an observation; a theory that I keep on verifying all these years.  In general, we need 12 years to master a skill by practicing it regularly and be good at it.  Depending on whether you are the half-filled or half-empty type of person, you either envy that someone who is what he or she is today and you are not.  Or if you pick up that skill today, at this very moment, 12 years later, you will get to somewhere you want to be now.  Because 12 years is usually what it takes from novice to adept.  And if you have the talent, the right guidance, and the right opportunity, you may become the innovator, define your own genre or domain of knowledge, and inspire the next generation leaving a legacy behind.

Why 12 years (the research result suggests a 10 years duration instead, which is close enough)?  I love to play music since young.  Having to put aside my (self-taught) passion with the piano due to my moving to UK for study, I picked up the guitar as my new hobby.  One day in UK, my good Malay friend played the lead guitar solo of “Sweet Child ‘O Mine” from beginning to end.  I was thoroughly impressed.  I asked how long he has been playing the electric guitar and he said 12 years.  At that very moment, I knew that if I was to start back then, I would be some sort of guitar hero 12 years later.  OK, I did try but didn’t quite get there.  I discovered my passion as a songwriter composing music via my guitar instead with close to 160 songs written today.  Since that day of “Sweet Child ‘O Mine”, 12 years of acquiring, refining, and mastering any given skillset sticks in my mind.

Some say life is a journey, not a destination.  But then, to me, there is not much of a journey other than aimless wandering if we don’t have a destination in some forms and shapes, is there?  I wish to continuously share the music that I create, music that I create with others.  That is my end game.  And this journey has its ups and its downs.  Perhaps all of us in the band are consultants by day, we have tons of healthy debates, high level brainstorming and visioning, and our never ending gap analysis.  No, we can’t do that.  That is beyond us.  Yes, we can try that next time.  That will sound good.  And in the mist of all these progress tracking, ad-hoc practicing, we go around doing our own things, busy with our other hobbies and commitments.  At times I would ask myself: Where are we heading?

I think the answer oscillates from online broadcast to live performance to just having a good time.  And for now, we have lined up three practice sessions for a weekend visit to Malaysia.  It should be fun.  As a bonus, I am meeting one of my long lost best friends whom I met in UK.  Gosh, he and I have been through so much.  He was there when my heart was shattered into million of pieces time after time.  I was there tried taking care of him whenever I can, even if I have to experience my first time being inside an ambulance on siren.  Thank you Facebook.

Unlike many things in life, you always have 24 hours in a day.  And baring any unforeseeable divine intervention, 12 years will lapse and one day you will look back and say: Had I started 12 years ago …