Farewell

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*&^

=(

=/

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

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!!!

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............

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

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

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

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

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#$@!$

Nightmare..

ok..

so i finally post... uh, nothing much happened actually... come to think of it, actually yes, but shall just tell you the main stuffs...

the day before yesterday, which is on a thursday night, we had snyo rehearsal at vch and was waiting for a cab with adriel.. we waited for about 45 mins before one finally decided to stop.. before that, we were waiting with our cellos at the roadside.. then one car stopped in front of us and asked if any of us had a quartet.. adriel doesnt, so i told them i had one.. they asked me if was able to play for their function somewhere near the end of december.. they look like those southern indians, or maybe northern.. whichever has the fairer looking people.. and they look with a foreign accent.. well, there was this girl behind in their car, and she was a little... freaky... they asked for my name and hp number so that they can contact me.. so i told them my name was joshua, which is what i tell people who arent chinese... so the girl who was behind the car was starring at me the whole time and kept saying my name... isnt that like freaky?? anyway, thinking of the incident, it actually sounded like musical prostitution... me and adriel, standing at the road, and a car comes by and asks for our service... lol

anyway, the snyo concert was yesterday, and something happened which will probably scar me for the rest of my life.. it was time to play ibert's flute concerto and people who were not playing for this piece were leaving the stage.. so i flipped our scores to the concerto, and to our unpleasant surprise, the first page wasnt there.. so i thought it might be jumbled up somewhere behind.. i searched.. NOTHING.. omg.. i turned to adriel "crap.. we dont have the first page.." we starred at each other for what seemed like eons.. then our genius sl thought of something "can you go backstage and get it?" so i went.. i ran.. i looked, i got the spare first page and ran up on stage again.. luckily there were still people setting up.. and i put the page on our stand.. so finally, i calmed down a little bit.. so we started.. 1st page was ok, 2nd page was ok, then when we turn to look at the 3rd page, it wasnt there!!! OMG! but luckily we were able to memorise the first few bars of it.. and i was in a state of shock... after what seemed like ages, we approached a few bars of rest and i quickly flipped to the 3rd page.. and guess what.. our original 1st page was on our stand, it was just flipped to the 2nd page!! omg... it was such a stupid mistake!! ngahh!!!!!!! this is one of those typical musician's nightmare come true, apart from forgetting to bring your instrument before a concert, forgot to bring your scores, late or totally forgetting to perform for your concert, or for string players, forgetting to bring your bow...

i feel stupid...

anyway, i bought a couple of mr bean animated shows just now.. they are so crappy and funny.. should watch it when you can.. and if you didnt notice, his feet and legs arent connected to each other..

enjoy#$!&%#

Indecision.........................

ngahhh..........

here i am blogging again... well, nothing much to blog about except that the nafa went to desaru 2 weeks ago and we came back, giving a concert last wednesday.. yes yes.. its like super old news now... anyway, i still miss desaru.. had lots of fun there... and the concert last week was fantastic! the strings have improved dramatically.. not sure about the winds though.. some said its about the same, or rather a little improvement... well, volker is good... =)

anyway, i have finally officially started on saint-saen cello concerto.. hopefully it will be better than haydn.. so far i am very pleased with the improvements i have made so far.. people said my sound is much broader and projected.. i think now i have to focus on a lot of intonation and bowing techniques.. it wasnt as simple as i thought..

=)

anyway, some of you have been wondering whats up with my msn nick a couple of days ago.. nothing much really.. the fact is being a christian is just never easy at all.. wanting to change for God is probably the most difficult thing to do in your entire life.. which is why nobody can ever do this without the help of God.. and its probably the biggest miracle you can ever witness yourself, greater than the splitting of the red sea... my nick more less consists of this issue.. the other part is something i would like to keep to myself and a few other people..

snyo camp.. to attend or not to attend.. that is the question..
sight-reading beethoven 7th...

enjoy&^$^%#

RESULTS

hmmm....

many of you have been bugging me to put the results up, so here it is... before i do so, let me review the questions and answers.. =)

1) c

hmm... this is probably the easiest question ever.. the way she played was unique and no other masters ever played like her, her musicality and character is just amazing.. woe to those who got this wrong!!

2) b

his works are rather easy to understand, and the tune being very catchy.. i like the way he composed his music, and of course it was his bohemian style which stood out the most, which made the music he wrote so lyrical at times..

3) c

ooo.. i think none of you guys got this question correct.. dvorak might be my favourite composer, but this symphony is my favourite, due to its thick texture and lyrical passages.. it beats dvorak any time.. =p

4) d

=D

5) b

ok, so people not from nafa would not know this question.. haha..

6) d

no comments.. haha

7) a

haydn in d is definitely out.. after i learnt the concerto in c, i never had the interest to play another classical concerto again.. dvorak is a little too mad for me right now, and i dont plan to play elgar anytime soon, if not at all.. i mean after how du pre played it, whats the point when someone already reached the highest possible standard for this piece?

8) a

i signed up for the mechatronics course in temasek poly before deciding in nafa.. i was thinking that mechatronics might lead me into aeronautical engineering, then to pilot training so on and so forth, but i had second thoughts about it after my dad talked to me.. the rest were just for fun..

9) d

yes i might be a star wars fan, but i do not have the first episode.. haha...

10) d

ok.. probably the 2nd most wrong answers belong here... i think the only person who got it right was my sis, because the person who calls me sai-han (say sai1-han1 in an ang moh accent) is my bro-in-law.. han-han is my bro's nickname used by my parents.. haha..

sooo, if you're keen to find out what you've got, its here:

jwen: 2/10
the chang: 1/10
project alamak supervisor: 8/10 (wwoooooooo)
yau: 5/10
my dear sister: 3/10 =(
the slut: 4/10
audrey: 4/10
andris: 4/10
leslie: 1/10
kai: 3/10
ch: 5/10
lyr: 6/10
en xin: 3/10
wan qiu: 4/10

so i guess the winner is project alamak supervisor.. haha.. hmm.. interesting..

ok... so thats it..

enjoy$#!@%$

Life.......

*sigh*

life is short and precious... created and taken by God, cursed yet blessed in some ways.. it is sometimes taken at times least expected, but most of the time, blessed even though un-noticed... it was the way he played, his music, and to others who were closer to him, his life.. i might not have known him personally, but it was the way he played, how hard he tried that touched me the most.. although there is nothing much i can say to his family to console them, i pray that God will help them through this moment of their lives...

In Memory
Of
Danil Shagimadanov
(1990-2006)
SNYO Flute Principal

NEW

hmmm....

i'm a changed man... at least for now... why? it is slightly due to something, which only my most trusted sister and a couple of you know about it.. but a whole big deal was because of God, and because of dan wrote in his blog.. its something i cant elaborate right now... =D

ok.. its quiz time, for those of you who have anticipated this moment... state your answers in my tagboard with identifiable(?) names, and i shall declare the winner probably a week from now.. no.. wait.. i'll be in hk.. ok.. by the coming thursday... the winner will probably win a prize from hong kong..

here goes............

1) who is my favourite cellist?
a. rostropovich
b. yo-yo ma
c. jacqueline du pre
d. pablo casals

2) who is my favourite composer?
a. Brahms
b. Dvorak
c. Stravinsky
d. Gabriel Faure

3) which is my favourite symphony?
a. Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique
b. Dvorak's New World Symphony
c. Brahm's Symphony No. 2
d. Dvorak's Symphony No. 8

ok... this is getting too easy... here are the difficult questions...

4) what is the brand of the watch i am wearing?
a. swatch
b. omega
c. hugen
d. fortis

5) in this semester, i did a history presentation on a certain piece of music. what was it?
a. smetana's ma vlast
b. mussorgsky's night on bald mountain
c. ibert's flute concerto
d. dvorak's cello concerto

6) how many keychains do i have on my bag?
a. 0
b. 1
c. 2
d. 3

7) which of these cello concertos do i hope to learn next?
a. Saint-saen's cello concerto in A minor
b. Haydn's cello concerto in D
c. Dvorak's cello concerto in B minor
d. Elgar's cello concerto

8) what did i really want to be before i became a musician?
a. pilot
b. bio-chemist
c. aeronautical engineer
d. navy officer

9) which of these movies do i NOT have in my collection?
a. jarhead
b. fun with dick and jane
c. the incredibles
d. star wars episode 1 "the phantom menace"

and last of all....

10) which of these nicknames were never used on me? (pronounciations shown)
a. sea-hum
b. see-han
c. sai-han
d. han-han

ok... thats it.. sibmit your answers before the coming thursday and the winner gets a prize from me from hk... haha.. all the best..

enjoy$%^@#%@

... !!!

yes...

exams are over... well, the practical was ok... made some stupid mistakes in my studies, but i know i practiced hard for it, so i dont really care what the results will be... it seems now i have the habit to practice at night, specifically at 11pm to about 2am.. 2 weeks ago, i couldnt sleep, so i practiced from 4am to 7am.. crazy? maybe...

anyway, it seems that theres a problem surrounding me right now.. not, it does not really involve me, but it is an issue that all of us know definitely.. homosexuality... before i start anything, let me get this straight, i do not hate gays (or lesbians for any of this matter). i just totally disagree with the world's thinking and most people too.. now, the world is already starting to accept homosexuality bit by bit, and soon, there will be no moral limits as to whether same gender marriages or sexual acts can go to... God did not create man and woman to allow man and man or woman and woman to sleep together.. man and woman is what a relationship should be.. now, i'm not saying i hate these people or asking you to do so.. in fact, i do know a few of them, and i treat them as normal human beings, just as we should to others, and if any of you who do otherwise should be ashamed of yourselves.. but let me get this clear.. loving them as friends should NOT include encouraging their ideas or actions of homosexuality.. it is morally wrong and of course, who would encourage another to do what is wrong? but what if you think its ok? what differentiates(?) between morally right or wrong? well, all i can say is that you can find them all in the bible.. and why the bible? to understand what is morally right, there has to be a standard set in this world, a standard where nobody can oppose or question, or else, who sets the rules? and God is the one who created us right? who else is better to set the rules and standards than our creator Himself? He is God afterall, and who knows better? but what if you dont believe in God? then tell me, how do you set your moral standards? how do you tell whether premarital sex is wrong or right? how do you view homosexuality? on what basis do you put your morals on?

well, yes.. thats probably my most straightforward entry so far... just had to tell you guys where i stand for those of you involved..

on lighter notes, MY SIS GAVE BIRTH!!! WHOOOOOO!!!! you can see pics of the baby here ---> www.xanga.com/gelok

i think she blocked me, maybe not.. well, i'm trying hard not to think about it.. thats why relationships can ruin a person..

anyway, i'll probably post a pop quiz for some of you reading sometime tomorrow or something(although i doubt there are more than 5)..

enjoy$#!@%$#@

DEAD

I'M STILL AWAKE!!!

studying for history exam.. what else... zzzzzz
am so dead.... help...

Aimless Post....

ooooooooooooooooook.....

here i am to blog again... didnt have the motivation to... anyway, nafa had our gala concert on tuesday, with the choir and vocal soloists nancy yuen, lim shieh yi(?), william-something and student zhou qian (not to be confused with yong siew toh's violin lecturer)...

just came back from eating durian...

anyway, in my personal opinion, i thought this was one of our best concerts yet... i think.. cant wait for the video to be released.. i thought the cellos did pretty well, except for a few blunders here and there, but they were insignificant... at least from what i thought...

i had a rather disturbing dream last night... me, my bro and father was in america to visit my sis for a month.. since she moved to texas, we were driving on the highway which was in the tornado alley.. well, no, no tornadoes appeared.. but, we crashed into the corner of a tunnel.. uh, i didnt see us crash, but as we approached the wall, i woke up... oh well...

i'm like doing orchestration (which is already 2 days overdue) and blogging at the same time lah.. but come to think of it, i'm beginning to enjoy orchestrating... seem to get used to it now.. kinda fun actually, but not when you have to rush for a dateline(deadline?)...

oh yes, adriel's weber's solo is improving... another 3 months to concert, and at this rate, he should be playing like a pro by then.. and ibert(say ee-bear) flute concerto's 3rd movement is madness... but we got used to it in 20 mins.. not bad eh? =p
if kevin the flautist in nafa wins the upcoming concerto competition, thats what we're gonna play, and if we actually do, well, all i can say is good luck to the orchestra...

and i must say that many people have been reading my blog all along and i was rather oblivious to it.. nobody told me? lol... lucky i didnt gossip about you-know-who doing you-know-what at you-know-where with you-think-i-think-you-know-who... go figure... haha...

ok, nothing else much to say.. oh yes! i saw a copy of singapore's encyclopedia on my dining table a few days back, and it was opened to the letter 'C', and immediately, i saw my brother's name with a description.. it goes like this:

Chan Yoong Han (1974- ) Musician.
Chan Yoong Han studied in Australia and the United States. He has performed in music festivals worldwide, and as a solo violinist in concertos with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. A distinguished member of the orchestra's first violin section, he is also one of Singapore's most active practitioners os chamber music. In 1998-99, he curated, organized and performed a series of eight solo chamber recitals entitled Motifs and Murals. Chan also won the Young Artist Award (Music) in 1994. <----- its supposed to be 2004!!!

well, thats not the first time they misinformed the public about him.. the worst case was when he appeared in the newspaper a few years back, i think when he gave the very first performance in the esplanade to the public when it first opened... they spelled his name wrong 3 times.. no, the mistakes were all inconsistent.. first it was chan yong han, then chan yoon han, and then chan yew han or something like that... haiyo.. newspaper editors nowadays...

so i was flipping through the encyclopedia for people that i might know, and of course one of them who came into mind was our beloved lecturer...

Goh, Zechariah (1970- ) Composer. <--- cool!
Zechariah Goh Toh Chai studied piano performance and composition at the Univertiy of Kansas, where he was awarded the Anthony B. Cius Music Composition Award in 2000 and 2001. His works, which include choral, chamber and orchestral pieces, have been performed in Singapore, Korea, the United States, Australia, Europe and Brazil. He teaches at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. In 2003, he was given the Young Artist Award by the National Arts Council.

many people like lim yau are inside too... interesting... ok.. enough of typing.. got work to do..

enjoy$#!#@!

WHAT

wooooooooooooooooooo....

am in my school's com lab now... joyce just brought in nafa's recording of our concert with peter esswood, the one with fingal's cave and smetana's moldau... you know what?? we actually SOUND GOOD!! amazing....... maybe its just the recording that covered up our mistakes... wow... its really good... just cant believe it...

for those people who knew, i was really pissed on monday.. no, i'm not pissed with mr hartung.. he's a very good conductor.. the reason i was angry was because, for some reason, the cello section was rushing in the vivaldi and bach concerto.. hartung was literally screaming at us, and he almost wanted to give up on us.. no, not on the strings, on the cellos, in front of an audience... i cant believe it.. i cant believe that i couldnt hear that we were rushing.. i was following the soloists as close as i could.. did i really rush? was it just the tendency to rush that he was pissed with? i dunno... the utter humiliation we faced.. i should be able to tell when we were rushing...

the next day, i was feeling better... until string's class.. when dr goh came in and talked to us about the rehearsal on monday.. he said he was impressed with the progession the strings have made, specifically the violins and violas, which he says is probably the best section now.. he didnt mention the cellos and bass.. what could i say? the cellos and bass are left behind the violins and violas.. we didnt improve since hartung came? this shouldnt be the case.. so i'm really dissappointed..

another thing i was shocked about was when clarence performed for string class.. after his played, hartung asked ma sai about his playing.. for those not in nafa, ma sai is a very virtuosic double bass player.. best in nafa in terms of technicality.. i wasnt happy with the fact that mr hartung was actually comparing ma sai and clarence's playing.. come on.. it is very discouraging for the player leh... so in the end, clarence didnt get any constructive comments about his playing.. i cant believe it..

string ensemble concert at vch on thursday and nafa orchestra/chorus concert next tuesday... i'd better play well or else i'm screwed.. stupid vivaldi cello solos...

on lighter notes, remember i said i was dreaming about lim yau and soon lee? well, the day after i dreamt of lim yau, i dreamt of him again.. this is sick, then the day after that i dreamt of lim soon lee again!! omg... i think i'm super stress now... i dreamt of someone last night also.. its really weird la.. shall not disclose names for now or people will think too much... haha

well, my church's anniversary celebration is coming soon... am i excited about it? somewhat yes, but i'm still not over the fact that i cant play for it..

celebrated my brother's birthday yesterday.. i bought him a dc comics artwork book.. it looks good.. i had a hard time deciding on what to buy him, so i bought that.. probably the worst present ever got for anybody.. i will make it up on christmas... anyway, we went to eat at a brazilian restaurant near the queen astrid park area.. i tell you, the queen astrid park is filled with filthily rich people with bungalows that look like fortress with high concrete walls.. its ridiculously huge for singapore... for those who have been to my house, their houses are like as long as my house's building, which contains about 10 families!! go see it for yourself... anyway, side-tracking... so we ate at this brazilian buffet.. it isnt one of those where you walk around and get your food.. the food come to you.. there are waiter's carrying skewers of meat around.. they have medium-rare beef, chicken liver, honey-backed ham, lamb, beef ribs, pork, fish, grilled pineapple blah blah blah... and we had wine too.. it was the most i've drank so far.. 2 glasses.. and i finally knew the right way of drinking wine.. ask me for those who want to know.. haha...

well, i've talked to my sis about certain stuffs about someone.. conclusion? i shall wait.. be patient.. get to know the character, make sure that its really what i want, ask God and see what happens... fine... i shall wait.. no hurry.. push it and your life is destroyed.. at least for awhile.. i dont want anything to go wrong.. i hope... who am i talking about? for me to know, for you to find out.. haha...

enjoy)(*&)(*$)*&%

Look And Listen!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

come on guys... you should know this by now.. look at the conductor and listen to the music... stop rushing.. if you cant look at the conductor, then look at me, although i do make mistakes sometimes, but follow my lead.. come on.. its basic orchestra practice.. you should know it by now.. stop making people scream at you and getting pissed over this kind of stupid mistakes..

haiz.. anyway, i have a few things to talk about.. first of all, about ns.. i just dont understand why guys are trying to wimp out of ns.. come on.. its the time when we start learning discipline and learning how to rough it out.. are you guys men or whimps? ns is something all guys should go through.. its not as if they are sending you to death camps or making you a soldier for life.. so just get in there and learn to be a man lah..

and another thing.. when i was coming home just now, a whole group of super irritating, loud, talkative, trying-to-be-cool-and-think-they-are-so-cool malay and indian teens came up the bus.. i cant stand them.. they are thtop of my racist list.. why are they like that? they talked as if they owned the entire bus, and think they are cool and funny... whatever... they are the most corrupt and have the most disgusting attitudes of all people.. i'm not generalising here.. not all malay teens are bad, like my classmates, but those out there, wearing chains and caps, with ties hanging loose on their necks... who do they think they are exactly? so you think i'm just racist against them? wait til you hear about their own people being racist against them.. i have both indian and malay friends who cant stand those teenies i was mentioning.. now, am i the only one now? can you imagine your own race being racist against your race? that is how stupid and insulting those teenies can get...

anyway, on lighter notes, i dreamt of lim yau last night.. for some reason... lol.. he was in my kitchen conducting cello sectionals! like what the.............. i dunno.. the night before last night, i dreamt of lim soon lee also... so whats next? casteels? zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

i played to strings performance class on tuesday, played faure's elegie... well, i knew the piece quite well.. the only problem is playing it well.. i wouldnt say i did a good job, and i wouldnt say it was bad either.. it was....... ooook... main problem of intonation and vibrato... they said my sound projection improved.. well, that isnt exactly my priority right now, but fine.. christo said he liked the ending.. there was a silent resonence(?) after i played the last long soft note... well, the piece itself is emotional, so its quite difficult to portray it well.. as for the fast passage, i thought my andrenaline whould help me through it.. the fact was it helped too much.. my fingers were going faster than my mind could think, so i rushed a little and of course played some wrong notes, but at least i didnt break down.. more luck next time i guess...

so thats it.. my whiney post filled with complaints and comments... happy reading..

enjoy#$@#$

Turning Point....

yesssssssssssssssss.....

it is official... i wont be principal cellist in syo... well, no, i'm not sad.. disappointed maybe... i dunno... i only played the solo once, and that was it... well, i'm not going to be pissed, sad, angry, etc.. about it.. i have decided.. i'm not going to play music for the sake of being better than others.. i'm going to play music because i want to and i love to... it is my life now.. i guess this is the time when i have to rely on God and his strength, that i may not be put down by others anymore.. in any case, thanks for some of you guys' support... you know who you are.. ^^

anyway, i have a whole pint of ben & jerry's ice cream (brownie fudge chunk) waiting for me in the freezer.. cant wait.. but first, i have to switch on my vcd player and put in my lord of the rings: two towers movie, sit back on my comfy bed and dig in to my ice-cream... mmmmmmmmmmmm....

OH.. talking about lord of the rings, guess what.. syo is actually playing a piece from lord of the ring... lol.. its basically a medly of most of the themes found in the fellowship of the ring movie.. and we are playing it with some malaysian youth orchestra i think.. lol... oh, and mr lim's baton is slightly crooked.. if you actually look carefully, the end of his baton is slanted...

ok... for those of you who knows me well enough, i'm a weird dreamer.. i can dream of anything, anyone, anywhere, anything... so guess what i dreamt last night... hahaa... i dreamt of someone, who actually went shopping for his/her brother's birthday... so when i woke up, i smsed him/her whether he/she has any siblings who had an upcoming birthday... of course the answer was no... yes.. i'm weird.. dont ask me why.. thats just the way i am...

ok.. thats it.. at least this post is like 4982% betetr than the previous one...

oh.. and i havent shaved for 2 weeks... whoooo

enjoy#$!%$