Hmmmmmm.........

So Close

2009-02-17T06:11:00.000-08:00

So Close by Jon McLaughlin

You’re in my arms
And all the world is calm
The music playing on for only two
So close together
And when I’m with you
So close to feeling alive

A life goes by
Romantic dreams will stop
So I bid mine goodbye and never knew
So close was waiting, waiting here with you
And now forever I know
All that I wanted to hold you
So close

So close to reaching that famous happy end
Almost believing this was not pretend
And now you’re beside me and look how far we’ve come
So far we are so close

How could I face the faceless days
If I should lose you now?
We’re so close
To reaching that famous happy end
And almost believing this was not pretend
Let’s go on dreaming for we know we are
So close
So close
And still so far

I've fallen in love with this song. It's from the movie Enchanted, and I tell you, I love the music in there. And I liked the movie too. It just brings back childhood memories, to the days when I used to watch Snow White almost everyday. XD

Don't we humans wish that life was like a fairytale? Where life and love will ultimately end happily ever after? That we will find our true love somehow one way or another? Eternal bliss I tell you...

Anyway.. Back to cruel reality. I saw a boy knocked down by a car today from my bus. It was just a bump, but he fell anyway. As a *ahem* responsible and alert Civil Defence Rescuer, I was about to rush out of the bus to aid that boy. But he just got up and continued running. Sheesh. The driver wasn't so happy though. He asked the boy to come back and gave him a piece of his mind. the boy just kept apologising and continued running after the bus, which was the one I was in.

My left wrist is hurting from too much Popper etudes. Maybe I should retire to Germany now.

o.o

2009-02-03T04:01:00.000-08:00

Today wasn't the best day I've had in my workplace. I got my senior scolded by my officer because of some small trivial procedure which I overlooked. She knew that it wasn't his fault, but he took the scolding. I've a feeling I'm on her blacklist now. Well, what can I say? Every job and task given to me, I've performed it to the best of my knowledge, so I'm not going to hide or anything. I still feel bad that my senior took the scolding.

Preparations are being made for a small performance, hopefully to be held in June if everything goes well. It has been quite some time since I played chamber music. I must say it brings back the familiar feelings I had in my fingers. It just feels refreshing.

Ok. Enough with the Mentos.

It is a short post today because for some reason, nothing is coming into my mind right now, and I can't practice because my father has friends over for dinner. I guess it's movie time...

=l

2009-01-27T09:06:00.000-08:00

It's one of those days again...

Chinese New Year was ok. I didn't do much visitation. In fact, the only place I went to was my grandmother's place for lunch. We met everybody else there, so it was done in just one place. Not much ang bao received, but the density of the money was high.

There are just too many things on my mind right now. So to make things a little lighter, I will just blog about the kinds of people there were in my platoon during my basic training.

The Black One - Basically the only Indian in our platoon. Cheery guy who couldn't stop smiling or laughing even when the corporals were scolding him. The subject of racist jokes, but nothing personal. We like him.

The Chubby & Cute One - Probably the fattest and heaviest of the entire regiment. Cute as a teddy bear. Makes everybody laugh, even the hardiest of corporals. Good instrument for corporals to make people laugh, therefore inflicting punishment. Good fun.

The Cheerful One - Can't stop laughing. Probably the first guy I know to have signed extra guard duty due to being irritatingly giggly. Nice guy.

The Mini One - The shortest, but also the fittest. The only guy to have passed IPPT, because he's the only guy who can pass his pull-ups. Aimed to be a Physical Training Instructor, but ended up being a clerk due to his weight. Buffed up as a bull, short as a gnome.

The Greedy One - The one who eats the most. The guy who lost 2kg in 13 weeks while others lost more than 10. Also a trouble-maker and joker. More towards the irritating side. The Ultimate Saboteur.

The Hated One - Only liked by a handful of his own kind. Generally the most inconsiderate and racist guy I've met. Stupid enough to get caught smoking in the toilet, along with a handful of his own kind. The very first guy whose face I would very much love to punch. Mysteriously disappears during bunk cleaning and other dirty works. Much better now though. Also an Ultimate Saboteur.

The Family Guy - The 21 year old who already has 2 kids. Has a criminal record. Irritating and sometimes racist. A saboteur.

The Cut-Queue Squad - A squad of people who cuts the queue during our meals. Namely made up of The Greedy One, The Hated One, The Family Guy, and others I can't really remember. Normally made up of 4-5 people. Tactics include faking to play catch and trying to joke around with the people in front. Doesn't go straight to the front because they know the first few have to serve the rest. Gladly volunteers their friends to serve the line while they enjoy the food.

The Psycho One - Socially handicapped. Likes to be alone. Can't remember names even after being in camp for 9 weeks. Speaks with a strange accent, probably Englishy-Americanish- Singlish. Contains rage til the last moment and blows up by screaming 'F***' in the bunk. Quite sadistic when it comes to using power tools and thinking of ways to torture the corporals before killing them. Mumbles to himself after every sentence. Much improvements now.

The OC's Pet - The one with good skills in digital design and creativity. Always asked to do posters and lesson plans for the OC or anything for that matter. Eventually evolved the idea of slacking in the office while the platoon does PT. Also the guys with the high-tech lap-top. Ended up slacking with him for the last 3 weeks in BRT. He managed to lose weight even without doing PT for a month or so. Job now? Administrator in the instructors' office. And he's loving every moment of it. Also a great mind for jokes.

The Light-Duty One - Wore his uniform only once, in the 13th week on the day of our passing out. Never wore his uniform before that due to lower limb injury. Never done PT. Have the shiniest and newest boots in the entire platoon. Nice guy. Platoon's photographer.

The AWOLer - AWOL aka Away WithOut Leave. Disappeared after 4 or 5 weeks. Probably arrested with a police case and put in Detention Barracks by now.

The Italian - An acting graduate from Laselle. The favourite among everybody in camp due to his roots. The only white in the whole regiment. A great joker. Totally motivated to make a difference. Mr. Perfect. The only recruit in our platoon to get into the Emergency Response Specialist.

The American-Born Chinese Singaporean - Always seen with The Italian. Has American accent. Probably the youngest in platoon. Sometimes insensitive. Otherwise ok to get along with.

The Acting-Instructor - Longs to be an instructor. Irritating at times. Likes to act-smart.

The Kengster - Keng aka acting sick. Champion in hand-clapping (a light form of exercise for people who are sick). Claims to have health problems without certification.

The Best Buddy - The buddy who AWOLs after 5 weeks or less. Got his girlfriend pregnant. Borrowed $30 from his buddy and disappeared. Never came back to camp. Who's his buddy? Me.

Believe it or not, there are actually more to this list. This is just a glimpse of what holds in that traumatizing camp.

Until then.

You

2009-01-07T03:19:00.000-08:00

You.

The blessings you have received. The things you have gone through. Could you have done it alone? Look back to your past and count your blessings. Were they possible without God?

You know the truth. You know the facts. You've read the word. Are they not enough? Must you go back to your old ways? How long will it take before you change for real? How many times have you looked up and ask for strength, when you yourself are not putting in the effort? Nobody said it was easy. It is your choice. Your life. You take charge.

Are you going to regret after everything has passed? How will you account to God for all those you have done? Why are you so stubborn? It is time to wake up! There is no time for regrets. Stop your old ways and turn around! Stop procrastinating and start now. Who knows what the future holds? Tomorrow might be too late. Do you want to wait and see? What if it was your last day? Are you sure you are safe? Think again. You might not be.

It is time to start anew. The time is now.

Consider it.

To Be Continued...

2009-01-06T07:09:00.000-08:00

I was about to blog. But Jaryl and Jeremy asked me out for a drink...

The Endless White Canvas

2009-01-03T12:40:00.000-08:00

Just when we thought there were enough going on around in the family, something else happens. My paternal grandfather passed away yesterday. I'm not really close to him, but he has always been a part of our family. He had been senile for many years, and most of the time, he couldn't recognize me, though sometimes he could recognize other people. Now that he's gone, family gatherings at my grandmother's place will never be the same again. Apparently, either he stopped breathing or his heart stopped yesterday, and they sent him to the hospital. They fought to bring him back and sustain him, but I guess it was his time. Sometimes I guess this is for the best too. He can't survive on his own, and his stroke had paralyzed him for years now. Perhaps the greatest relief is that he is a believer, and that we might meet him up there soon.

Death has always haunted me. I can never imagine what it will be like. Can you? Just imagine. Your physical life as you know it will be gone for all eternity. Eternity is a really really long time. Our lives, if placed on the timeline of eternity, is just like a small pencil dot on an endless white piece of canvas. The canvas never ends, no matter how long you draw the line, or how many pencils you use. That is just the beginning of a never ending time. It is really up to you to decide what happens after you've placed the first dot on that canvas. It is up to you to decide what happens to your soul after your life on this earth ends. Choose wisely, because I repeat again, eternity is a really really long time. Would you rather risk eternity for just a few measly years of your life?

Well, on a slightly lighter note, I'm getting my Civil Defence vocation tomorrow. The best possible scenario is me getting in into the Music and Drama Company in SAF, which is close to impossible. So, the next best thing is me getting a clerical position in the CDHQ, thus allowing me to play in the combo band, which is essentially a rock band. At least I will have more time to practice.

Until next time...

Revival

2009-01-02T01:01:00.000-08:00

It has been exactly 1 year and 3 months since I last blogged, and I can truly say there are just too many things that have happened so far.

I just passed out from the basic rescue training programme of the Singapore Civil Defence Force. I wouldn't say it was a total waste of time serving that time, although I would have wished I didn't have to. You really meet all kinds of people in camp. There are some who are quite nice to get along with, while you would just like to punch the others in their faces. Seriously, I just don't understand how people can actually learn to live with the character they have. I will explain more in my next post.

I lost a total of, officially on paper, 13kg. But I believe its only about 11kg because they used different weighing scales for our medical review. It took me 13 weeks to lose that much, and probably 2 weeks to gain it all back. I can already feel my tunny growing back to its eloped fleshy sloppy shape again.

My stomach is not feeling too well at the moment. I think I ate too much jalapeno peppers at Carl's Jr.(Yeah.. Healthy food for the healthy-minded) Went out with Christoven, Wei Kang and Audrey this evening. Wk and Chris convinced me to buy a black sweater jacket which cost me $60. Its my first 'jacket' if you even call it one. I think I'm already starting to like it.

Crap. Tummyache again. Brb.

Back. It's amazing what you can learn from the book Uncle John's Unstoppable Bathroom Reader 16th Edition. Like it actually takes 0.2 secs for the International Space Station to travel 1 mile. 3 secs for 475 lawsuits to be filed around the world. And so on and so forth.

Many things have happened in my life, whether it involves my spiritual life or the people around me. It is a new year now, and many people probably have their own resolutions to go through with. There are new things for me to worry at this point, and all I can say is that whatever happens, God is the one who wills it. Whatever He puts in your path, it cannot destroy you. You just have to look closer and think about what is best to be done.

Til the next post...

Broken Promises

2007-10-02T23:41:00.000-07:00

ok..

so i've finally blogged.. yea. guess i broke my promise about blogging over the weekend.. in any case, i'm leaving for thailand in 8 hours time.. will be going over for the south-east asian youth orchestra..

to be honest, i just dont understand how i got in, since i seriously screwed up the audition.. and i seriously forgot to thank God throughout this entire event.. i guess He is the only reason how i managed to get in.. i hope good things are in store for me there, or after i get back..

and, today is a special occassion.. it is

MICAH'S BIRTHDAY!!!

here are the pics of my little ol' nephew in June when i was there:

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there.... i MIGHT post more pictures in the future.. but dont keep your hopes too high up..

Hoho

2007-08-02T00:40:00.000-07:00

Quote of Da Day:

"Gentlemen, be democrats in life but aristocrats in art."

-Conductor Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957)

ok.. school has started.. its super stressful for me on tuesdays and thursdays, but super slacked on mondays, wednesdays and fridays.. i would say i'm fortunate enough to quit snyo at this time because thursdays are hell for me, and i heard the pieces they are preparing are very difficult.. i will be glad to sit this one out..

nothing much have been happening around lately, except for the fact that my mum came to visit singapore for a couple of weeks and she got me a new bam high-tech cello case.. woohoo.. i'm such a fortunate boy/guy/man/spoilt brat... it cost her $1480 but she hardly paid any attention about the money.. it was just because i needed and wanted it.. sometimes i feel like i do not deserve a mother like that..

the original cost of the case is $1920, but my bro, having the fact that he is in sso, got a 25% discount from the store.. hoho..

ok.. so it seems that every semester of my school term, theres always somebody who would tick me off one way or the other.. the world just doesnt seem to run out of these kind of people.. i wont say who it is, but really, that person seriously need some humility of some sort.. i wont continue about this.. bleh

on the lighter side of the new school term, nafa has a new intake of violin students, and extremely fortunate enough, they are of some certain standard.. at least they can play, and i would say a couple of them are really good.. looking forward to our orchestra and strings improvement..

i finally got hold of the pics of my dual-continental trip, so i will posting them up real soon sometime within this week..

i have to wake up at 7.45 later, so i shall stop here..

enjoy*&^)

Farewell.........

2007-07-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

*sigh*

so i am officially out of snyo now.. yesterday's performance was great.. i think we did reasonably well.. i will post pics up as soon as i get them..

i think the highlight of the day was melissa's birthday prank which we did on her.. basically, the plan was to make her think her cello was in her case, and adriel will be looking for her while holding her case.. then i will come running and crash into him.. well.. just watch the video...

ahaa.. and even mrs wong fell for it.. also, if you notice, theres another person filming on stage on the conductor's stand, and her video's quality is much better than this.. i will post it when i get it.. its really fun, but i injured my leg during the fall.. hahaa.. oh wells...

enjoy)*(&

Proposal

2007-07-18T01:32:00.000-07:00

Quote of da day:

"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings."

-Optimus Prime
(Transformers)

ooook... nothing to blog about except..

about 4 days ago, wei kang, christoven, mark and i went to hard rock cafe for some dinner.. if you'ven been there before, its like rock music all the way with people chatting about.. its quite a noisy place.. so wei kang was reading a book about body language, which was actually very cool.. he taught us a lot of things which help us read another person.. =D beware!

anyway, after quite some time, there was a sudden silence in our surrounding.. the music stopped.. and suddenly, a guy was walking out on stage, holding a microphone and singing, with a bouquet of flowers and a teddy bear in the other hand.. he sang a love song which i dunno the title of.. and everybody knew what was coming next.. he kneeled down in front of his girlfriend and proposed! woohoooo! the entire restaurant was screaming and cheering and taking pictures.. of course, i was one of them..

and also, SNYO concert this thursday 7.30pm at VCH, tickets at $5.. it will be my last concert with them cause i'm quitting.. wanna focus more on my final year in nafa.. so do come...

enjoy&%$

Ta-da

2007-07-15T22:20:00.000-07:00

Quote of da day:

"To high treason. That's what these men were committing when they signed the Declaration. Had we lost the war, they would have been hanged, beheaded, drawn and quartered, and-Oh! Oh, my personal favorite-and had their entrails cut out and burned! So... Here's to the men who did what was considered wrong, in order to do what they knew was right... what they knew was right."

-Benjamin Franklin Gates
(National Treasure)

i think i will start posting quotes everyday if i remember..

enjoy^%$(

Short

2007-07-14T01:57:00.000-07:00

hoho

Quote of da month:

"Me? I'm dishonest. And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly stupid."

— Captain Jack Sparrow

considering that i almost broke myself down earlier this week, i'm doing rather well for these couple of days.. mentally that is.. i have nothing to blog about.. so have fun for the time being..

enjoy%$#*$

Muse Knights of Cydonia

2007-07-06T20:04:00.000-07:00

ok... after being influenced by my sister in america, i discovered some amazing rock music by the band muse.. its not a new band, but i like their music especially those in the album absolution.. this video is the mtv of one of their songs in the lastest album black holes and revelations.. this one is different from absolution in terms of style, so i didnt really like it that much.. but i like this song.. the mtv is hilarious

enjoy^#@^%

2007-07-06T17:23:00.000-07:00

greetings

i figured i wont be getting those photos that soon.. so i'll just rant about and keep this page a little busy..

i'll be auditioning for sayowe (south-east asian youth orchestra/wind ensemble) this coming sunday.. the funny thing is i dont exactly feel all that excited about it.. i dunno why.. it just seems different from that time when i auditioned for ayo.. we were all panicky about ayo, about the orchestra excerpts and stuffs, but for sayowe, i'm prolly thinking that its nothing much.. HOWEVER, if i fail to get in, it tells alot about my playing then.. therefore, i can say its quite scary to a certain extent..

some of you know that i got myself a nintendo ds lite.. its pretty fun and definitely much more interactive than psp, cause has a touch screen where you can do many things with the stylus.. i have a game called nintendogs, where you own a dog and teach it some commands, like standing up, rolling etc.. the one characteristics of the game which really wowed me was that there is a toy called the bubble blower which you can play with your dog.. you know those things which you blow and bubbles come flying out? yea, in this game, you literally have to blow into the screen! its just so darn cool! but honestly, its more of a girl's game but who cares.. haha.. i got myself a siberian husky btw...

oh and i have to say transformers RULES!!! omg.. its the best action movie i've ever seen in my life! michael bay is improving every day.. he was also the one who did armaggedon(?).. the visual effects are like WOW.. there was BOOM and BANG and WHOOOSH and KA-BOOM and BOOM and BOOM and somemore BOOM!!! notice i only said it was a great action movie.. for those out there looking for a good story, you might want to skip it, BUT DONT!! its the best action movie ever!! its definitely worth watching it 5 times.. i've watched it twice already.. planning to watch it the third time.. hoho. besides, the team was given the greenlight to make two more sequels.. but judging from how the story ended, i dont see how theres gonna be a way to continue it.. the movie is also one huge sell-out.. if you noticed, they were like advertising for so many companies.. the panasonic 1gb memory card, the wide range of gmc trucks, the also-wide range of chevrolet(?) cars, the porsche and something about sony which i cant remember... its still an OMG-OMG-OMG-OMG movie.. 9.5/10, with the 0.5 deduction for stupid plot.. its so stupid that it should be 5/10, but the action was that good.. =D

anyway, enough crapping around.. i have blogger's block (it rhymes!)... til the photos are with me, i dunno if i'll blog unless i have really something interesting to blog about...

enjoy#$@&^*

BIRTHDAY BOY

2007-06-13T01:11:00.000-07:00

wooooot

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEE,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME.....

hoho... i'm 20 now.. just a year away from R21 movies.. but so far nothing good in those ratings?

i will post my dual-continental trip for 2 weeks as soon as i get hold of the pics from my bro's cam.. til then, i'll leave this space a little empty..

enjoy(*&%)

Farewell

2007-05-25T05:42:00.000-07:00

so long, farewell......

i'm leaving for the states in about 4 hours... i cant sleep because my stomach is kinda upset.. i dunno why.. i might blog again when i'm in the airport's free internet zone.. haha.. its gonna be dejavu.. did that the last time i went to the states 1 and a half years ago.. but i'll be going alone this time.. kinda worried about how the flight transfer might work.. hopefully the us immigration wont do anything stupid.. i heard they confiscated my mother's chilli when she went there.. =/

i'll be gone til the 3rd of june, and then leaving for australia on the 4th.. busy man eh.. what to do.. hahaa

on random notes:

Which classical composer are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

Tchaikovsky

80%

Brahms

75%

Schubert

65%

Chopin

65%

Wagner

60%

Mozart

60%

Haydn

60%

Beethoven

55%

J.S. Bach

45%

Handel

45%

Hector Berlioz

40%

Liszt

35%

Schumann

20%

Which classical composer are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Tchaikovsky,You have delicate nerves, which you occasionally damage by working too hard. You cling to your ways and are fanatically patriotic.

Which classical composer are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

i'm actually tchaikovsky... =.= probably because people think i'm gay.. omg! how can they even think that?? right.. no comments.. and i'm not that patriotic.. bascially, the results are wrong!! so wrong.. bleah

ok.. actually i have nothing to blog at the moment, except that i went to watch pirates 3 yesterday afternoon.. it was great.. but i was kinda confused at the beginning because i cant really remember what last happened in the 2nd installment.. the movie is almost 3 hours long, so be prepared if you intend to watch it..

alrighty then.. i'll leave you guys in peace.. await my return!

enjoy*&^

=(

2007-05-21T01:49:00.000-07:00

=/

oook.. i blogged.. yes.. go celebrate and throw a party or something.. be sure to invite me though..

ok.. i have a few things to blog about.. in any case, i shall just start randomly on one..

went on a movie spree one day last week with wei kang.. ok, not really a crazy movie spree, but we did watch 2 movies in one go.. we first watched bridge to terebithia, which is actually a little disappointing, but i didnt regret watching it.. i almost cried watching it.. ok.. you might think this is like some narnia flick where 2 kids enter a world of magic and stuff. actually no.. its just a story of these 2 kids who got to know each other and became very close friends by living life together.. they bonded their relationship by creating an imaginative world of their own in a forest which can only be accessed by swinging across a small creek with an old rope.. well, i shall leave the details out, but i can tell you the magical sequence of the film is ultimate cheeziness... its actually kinda dumb and you actually get goosebumps by even being inside the cinema watching that.. but after a while, you cant help but think about the kids' innocence and creativity.. they are kids after all, so who cares? i will leave the ending out.. but if you have to find out, a big clue is that it almost made me cry...

while about 1/4 of people were sniffing towards the end of the movie, stupid wei kang was like 'OMG! that is the worst film ever! i feel so ashamed by even being seen watching this!' slap you arh.. wah lau.. stupid wei kang.. for some guy who actually cries watching 'cinderella story' and 'nanny mcphee', you are one weird guy.. hahaa.. wah lau.. those shows are like '........' la.. who would cry in those movies man.. grow up, and start crying in shows worth crying for.. =D

ok.. whatever.. only a few shows made me sad.. some of them includes armageddon, lord of the rings: fellowship of the ring and spider-man 3.. but bridge to terebithia had the worst effect on me.. in fact, i'm still heart-wrenched over the story.. but its just a movie man.. =.= its time i get out of it soon..

anyway, we watched 28 weeks later after that.. its better than i expected.. and the ending is like 'ooookkkkk'... its one of the better zombie flicks i've seen..

on stupider notes, my luck was on the ultimate low yesterday.. it just couldnt really get any worse... it all started with me playing with the saf band.. first of all, i was told saf's rehearsal was at 9am at nee soon camp.. this was before i was told that syo had a recording session at 9am too.. but i told mrs wong that i couldnt make it cause i only have 2 rehearsals with saf and the concert is on sunday, which was just now, and i'm the only cello, so that makes me solo, which means i cant afford to miss any rehearsals.. she was trying to persuade me lorh.. its sooooo funny... she was like 'tsk, come for the recording laaaa.. recording lehhhh.. its recording you knowwwwwww, that one rehearsal only, come for the recordingggggg' ahahahahhahaaa
anyway, i told her i really cant make it.. so she said ok.. =/ so, the next day, i reached nee soon camp which is very far from my place.. and it cost me $10.20 of cab fare to get there.. after i got there, i wasnt allowed to take the cab in to the saf band house.. i tell you, the singapore government deserves to be purged for this.. you know why? you know how big the camp is? its HUGE!!! and the venue of the rehearsal is located all the way at the other side of the camp.. they said i had to walk!! OMG!!! IDIOTS!!!!!! STUPID GOVERNMENT AND SOLDIERS CANT USE THEIR BRAINS!! i'm a freakin civilian.. you guys should be serving me or something.. not pay extra gst and taxes when you cant even provide simple solutions to problems which arent even supposed to be there in the first place.. ok.. whatever.. so i walked, but luckily, a friend happened to drive by and he's a tuba player playing inside saf too.. so he gave me a lift.. thats probably the only lucky thing which ever happened that day.. when i reached there at 8.45am, the composer/conductor walked over to me and said that i was a little too early.. they are only going to rehearse my piece at 11... OMG!!!! omgomgomg... i was sooooooooooooooooooo 'wth!'..... i should have gone for the syo recording... but nvm.. i didnt really mind.. you know me.. so my friend got me a room to practice in.. i practiced/slacked for 2.5 hours and went back.. i waited.. they didnt start on my piece til 11.15am.. ok.. and guess what.. they stopped rehearsal at 11.30... ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! dfkgjbhdviudysgviuaer
i should have really gone for syo recording...fine.. after the rehearsal, i was tuning my cello cause that place is very damp.. then guess what.. my A string broke.. =.=
right..........................
so i reached home and called synwin if they had the A i was looking for.. no stock.. grammercy? no stock.. frank brothers? no stock... its a major crisis for cellists in singapore.. i even asked my teacher and uncle and some friends if they had.. all dont have.. and my teacher was also aware of this strings crisis in singapore.. cause she needs it too.. =/
right.. so i had to use a super lousy A string for the performance this evening.. it was super metallic and i hated it.. but no choice.. the performance was weird because i was the only cello there in the entire wind band.. so weird and the worst thing is, the sitting position for the cello section in wind band is different from that of the orchestra.. they are to sit beside the conductor, or sometimes in front.. as for my case, i'm solo cello, so i was basically sitting beside the conductor on his right facing the audience.. its like playing a concerto la... i had quite a number of solo parts, but lets not talk about them...

ok.. there goes my lengthy childish post with lots of ............... and !!!!!!!!!!! and OMG and etc....

enjoy@#!^*

Fubar

2007-04-23T00:40:00.000-07:00

fubar...

i hate my life.. i'm probably considered the black sheep of my family, something which i thought i could live with until recently, i heard something from someone.. the ultimate disappointment..

whatever..

if anybody is interested in watching phantom of the opera, please ask me along.. honestly, i've never really knew the actual story.. considering that i have 3 months holiday, and apart from the trip i'm looking forward to overseas, this is the most boring holidays i've ever had.. yes. i'm a loser..

i shall not continue to bore you with my complaints

CONCERT!!!

2007-03-29T01:08:00.000-07:00

SINGAPORE NATIONAL YOUTH ORCHESTRA CONCERT!!

DATE: 29TH MARCH
VENUE: VICTORIA CONCERT HALL
TIME: 7.30PM
TICKETS: $7

PROGRAMME:
SAINT-SAENS SAMSON AND DELILAH
RAVEL TZIGANE FEATURING ALAN CHOO AS SOLOIST
BEETHOVEN SYMPHONY NO. 7

SINGAPORE NATIONAL YOUTH ORCHESTRA CONCERT NO.2!!!

DATE: 30TH MARCH
VENUE: VICTORIA CONCERT HALL
TIME: 7.30PM
TICKETS: $30

PROGRAMME:
FEATURING LI CHUANYUN AS SOLOIST
VARIOUS PIECES FOR SOLO VIOLIN AND PIANO
BRUCH SCOTTISH FANTASY
SARASATE GYPSY AIRS

COME SUPPORT!!!

Uhhh............

2007-03-26T08:49:00.000-07:00

ooooooooooooooooookkkkkkkkkkkkkkk....

tomorrow's my last exam and i'm here blogging..

ok.. actually the only reason why i'm blogging is because i need to post some very beautiful photos of my beautiful face... =D

ok.. try not to puke...

thats me giving a masterclass with muhe.. (me being the left of course)

and thats us playing vivaldi's double cello concerto... actually, no.. we're just poking fun at qin li-wei, aka yong siew toh's conservatory cello professor who always seem to have a zai-zai pose in all pictures containing him..

us again.. i think muhe is scared of me.. he's always leaning to the right side...

AND DA PIC OF DA DAY:

check out da pro pianist at da background....

enjoy#$@&*

Earghhhhh

2007-02-20T04:40:00.000-08:00

right...

so its in the middle of chinese new year... havent done much actually.. have been happily collecting red packets here and there.. but it doesnt add up much though... i've been eating too much of those peanut cookies thingy.. you know those round ones that are quite powdery? my grandma's are the best!

nothing much have been going on.. so i'll just post a video of a monster...

have you ever wondered what lurks in the darkness of the orchestra pit when no one's watching?

P.S: yea.. i didnt shave if thats what you're asking..

enjoy$#@!

14

2007-02-05T01:11:00.000-08:00

fourteen, 14, shi(2) si(4), 100+40-20-25+2-8-50+2-1+3-4-25=14

seriously, since the last post til now, if it wasnt for the auditions today, i would have felt much better...

let me tell you what happened during my ayo audition.. before my turn, there was a girl, jolyn, who was playing the exact same concerto which i was going to play.. when i knew that, i knew i was so screwed already... so it was my turn.. i went in, and the conductor told me to play the d major and minor scale.. but when it came to the minor scale, he asked me to slur 3 notes to a bow and staccato the 4th note.. i did.. it was ok when it was ascending, but i practically screwed up the descending scale.. fine.. next was the concerto.. i played, first page relatively ok.. 2nd page my finger slipped, but i managed to catch it back.. i was already playing the harmonics when he asked me to stop.. and guess what he said next...

Him: have you heard the girl before you play?
Me: no
Him: you knw she played the same piece as you right?
Me: yea
Him: she's only 14...... (stares at me)
Me: (smiles at him and shrugged)

i cant believe this happened.. fine.. so i played the next piece.. faure's elegie.. he didnt say anything for that.. he walked to me and placed the orchestra parts on my stand.. he asked me to sight-read scherherazade.. the theme was ok, the cross strings section was screwed up.. it was squeaky and all..

Him: hmm.. i don't really like the sound of your cello.. do you like it?
Me: uhh, well, ok...
Him: its not a very good cello eh? its so difficult to find a good instruments nowadays..
Me: (smiles)

fine.. now he's talking about my cello.. we went on to the 4th movement, which was mad.. he asked me to play at a super fast speed with a super difficult bowing at the tip of the bow... i couldnt play it.. then he took the scores and went back to the table..

Him: hmm.. ok.. thanks very much.. its always good to have challenges

yea.. fine.. i know i suck.. but you dont have to shoot me like that.. andris and yong rui were after me.. in all, only 4 cellos auditioned.. andris, me, jolyn and tang jia, who is from yong siew toh... i think out of this 4, everybody but me will get in.. seriously.. people thought that at least i made it into the sight-reading phase.. well, to tell you the truth, the only reason i can think of that made him do that was the fact that i put the amount of orchestra experience i had in the registration form.. if i didnt put what i put, i would have been out of the room in 2 minutes... i heard that jolyn might be too young to play, and she doesnt have enough orchestra experience, fine then, so that means i'm the only 1 out of 3 who wont get in..

all 3 of nafa's violas auditioned too.. he didnt say much for 3 of them, and only christoven got into the sight-reading phase... i'm not jumping to any conclusions here, but judging from what i know, one of them should be able to get in..

i dont exactly know what i'm feeling now.. discouraged, put down, pissed, disappointed, blah blah blah... the reason i joined the audition was so that i will play well in it, and not to get in.. well, i can say i didnt play well at all.. especially the sight-reading part.. i did what i could, and apparently it wasnt enough for the concerto..

i know i tried my best, but apparently the world doesnt care whether you tried your best or not.. what matters is whether you are good at the end of the day... hard work with no results = no work done thus no use... well, that applies to musicians the most.. and that is one of the many reasons why musicians cant mix well with non-musicians.. face it.. i even have this problem in church.. we always aim for perfection and settle for nothing less than that.. people say just do your best.. i agree, but doing your best alone isnt enough at all in music.. if people think musicians are fortunate people or live a relaxed lifestyle, think again.. we put ourselves into emotional, mental and sometimes physical torture to produce the results we want, and when we dont get it at the time we want it, we go mad, seriously, mentally mad and crazy.. we are not as free as you think.. everytime you spend your hours watching movie, having fun outside with your friends, theres a good chance we're aving orchestra rehearsal or practicing.. so dont come telling or asking us why arent we turning up for this and turning up for that, why we dont have a social circle outside the music world.. birds of a feather flock together.. get this in your head.. there is just no way musicians can relate with non-musicians properly.. when we tell them about dvorak and bach, they tell us about jay chou (not aiming anybody) and how good his singing is.. really, his singing isnt really singing at all.. his songs might be nice to listen, but i wont call it music, art, or good singing, or even singing for that matter... thats just an example.. yes, we musicians have no life but practice and practice and practice... we spend our entire mortal life learning non-stop.. so please understand this fact before jumping to any conclusions of any matters about our lives..

i have so many things to do and so many things to think about that i feel i might explode any moment into madness.. seriously.. the amount of school work i have to handle soon, the amount of pieces i have to practice in such a short period of time.. i seriously dunno whats in store for me next.. i'll probably be just another failed musician.. no matter how hard i try, it seems the circumstances just wont allow me to succeed in any way...

i was pretty ok after the audition.. i'll probably be ok again.. i just need a few hours to calm myself down and get on with my life.. afterall, its just an audition..

enjoy%$#@

STUPID

2007-01-11T22:18:00.000-08:00

zzzzz

no words can describe how i'm feeling now.. i'm tired, depressed, sad, pissed, and feeling inferior... as always...

i didnt sleep last night cause i was rushing for history presentation.. we did ok, but we have to start from scratch again because our rendition of the question wasnt what dr kan wanted.. fine.. doesnt matter..

went for snyo rehearsal.. i was so pissed after we ran through beethoven 7th.. i could hardly play a note and everybody else was playing as though they practiced for weeks before.. i feel pathetic.. yes, they played it before, but its pathetic when your first desk and everybody is able to play but you.. it sucks to the core.. i hate it when these kinds of things happen..

andris got offered a place in the royal college of music for piano.. she didnt get it for cello.. we were surprised.. if she didnt get it for cello, then the rest of us can forget it..

i'm starting to doubt everything i thought i felt.. maybe its because i'm super tired now.. i hate it when this happens.. when you dunno what you're really thinking and feeling.. its so damn deceiving and you just dunno what to do next..

something stupid happened.. its so stupid.. but its just a misunderstanding.. and probably one which will never be resolved.. no its not serious.. its sad that it happened.. at least to me.. oh well.. if it happens, it happens.. if it doesn't, it doesn't.. simple, yet difficult to accept.. yea.. some of you might know what i'm talking about..

if i dont reveal certain things to you, its not that i dont treat you as a friend or consider you a helping hand.. its just that sometimes, or most of the time, i cant let you know.. and sometimes the reasons are obvious.. now its not.. if you are reading this, i hope you'll understand..

Mooombai

2006-12-13T01:23:00.000-08:00

wheeeeeeee....

leaving for india in about 20 hours time... playing for a super rich family's wedding.. they are paying for all the accomodation and airfares, including travel insurance, and they are paying us $700.. cool? ohhh yes!

anyway, have a hectic week after i come back.. too many things to do.. history homework and not forgetting dr goh's concert on the 21st.. he keeps telling me to make sure that i come back from the trip, or his piano trio is down the pits.. well, he can always ask my uncle..

dunno what to expect there.. hope the things will be cheap and decent.. anybody considering to buy slaves? white slaves: S$750, chinese slaves: S$700 brown slaves: S$200, black slaves: free (get 3 and get free deodorant)

ok.. i'm going crazy.. see you guys next monday..

enjoy#$@!$