Yes, I know it's old news that I have PSP Lite currently in my possession. Which I'm NOT going to sell! But any of you who wants to play it can just give me a call. There's only one game inside and that's FIFA 09. Yes, I got it as a Christmas present from my dad. Thanks, dad, you rock!
I wake up to shocking and frightening news - the Mumbai attacks in erm, Mumbai. Yes, I'm afraid that this world has gone absolutely bananas, after looking at the Bangkok protests, and now the terrorist attacks in Mumbai that are seemingly parallel to the 911 attacks in America.
No, this time I'm not coming up with any conspiracy theories, it was and will be a terrorist attack forever imprinted in the history of India. I believe though, that the government's atittude towards these fanatics will change after this.
I absolutely do not have the slightest idea of what the hell the Bangkok citizens are thinking - but it's clear that all of the protesters are paid to do what they are supposed to do. And they have all the time in the world to do so - the economy is poor, and the Democratic Party is flushed with cash enough to give them out to these protesters. But sadly they don't see the bigger picture, and I'm wondering what would happen if Somchai gives up the seat to the Democratic Party. What would happen then?
As my dad says, it's simply a game of political musical chairs. I hope this would stop soon enough.
Going for LANing later with the men at RISE of the Anoneabiablah (obvious I can't spell), and then going for my second ever YO concert, featuring violist Jonathan Koh.
Here's wishing Fiona Lam a happy birthday from her zsqy friend AKA a piece of shit! (gasp) but it's alright.
And yes, I'll change the blog music.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Electronic Music - of helicopters, a little bit of love, and...library
I'm reporting back again from the Conservatory, Music Technology Lab.
Ok the thing is we're (Akkra and I) currently listening to different contemporary pieces like Stockhausen's Helicopter String Quartet and Erwin Schulhoff's erm Sonata Erotica.
It's an actual piece, which I wouldn't want to play here. Although you can find the link...here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E0H4cscGgw
As its name suggests, things get really obvious what it is about.
Anyway the Helicopter String Quartet requires 4 quartet musicians to be placed in 4 different helicopters, and the entire thing is recorded with the helicopter motor being recorded along with the sound of the instruments.
While you're reading this, I'm very sure you're hearing one of the most famous electronic music ever composed by Stockhausen, which in English would be called 'Song of the Youth'. In German, Gesang der Jungling. Some of you would definitely be uncomfortable with it, so I suggest you shut your volume, or pause the thing, or just listen to the whole thing because I find the whole piece really cool and fun.
Apparently I'm supposed to jam some electronic music with Dr Gooi and Thomas Ang the week, which is something I'll go check out.
If you're asking me on how this piece was composed, a boy's voice is recorded and then subsequently cut, pasted, reversed throughout the entire piece. Stockhausen uses the sine wave in his creation of the sounds you hear in this piece. The boy's text was taken from the Book of Daniel from the Bible, when the three Christians are pushed into the furnace created by the King Nebennazzar (if I remember correctly), although they didn't burn inside because they were protected by God.
Absolutely cool piece. There isn't any feeling of dissonance inside, just cool sounds playing everywhere, so it doesn't make me feel at all uncomfortable. And I just realised I've started developing a low tolerance towards dissonance, which makes me feel like puking everytime I hear a really disgusting dissonance.
Cool huh? :)
Not.
Anyway earlier this morning I finally managed to collect my NUS card, and I get to discard (pun intended) my old temporary card that I've been using. And I can also finally use the library after a long break since September. So I spammed and borrow 6 fourhand books to sight-read and play.
I feel super tempted to play Sonata Erotica on this blog, but it would be rather distasteful...it's entirely in German (which means I understood every single word which was 'sung' by the female soprano.) There's like "bitte" and "schnell". :X
I'm going to play this electronic piece only for a while, otherwise I'll be starving your ears for some harmony. Yum.
Ok the thing is we're (Akkra and I) currently listening to different contemporary pieces like Stockhausen's Helicopter String Quartet and Erwin Schulhoff's erm Sonata Erotica.
It's an actual piece, which I wouldn't want to play here. Although you can find the link...here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E0H4cscGgw
As its name suggests, things get really obvious what it is about.
Anyway the Helicopter String Quartet requires 4 quartet musicians to be placed in 4 different helicopters, and the entire thing is recorded with the helicopter motor being recorded along with the sound of the instruments.
While you're reading this, I'm very sure you're hearing one of the most famous electronic music ever composed by Stockhausen, which in English would be called 'Song of the Youth'. In German, Gesang der Jungling. Some of you would definitely be uncomfortable with it, so I suggest you shut your volume, or pause the thing, or just listen to the whole thing because I find the whole piece really cool and fun.
Apparently I'm supposed to jam some electronic music with Dr Gooi and Thomas Ang the week, which is something I'll go check out.
If you're asking me on how this piece was composed, a boy's voice is recorded and then subsequently cut, pasted, reversed throughout the entire piece. Stockhausen uses the sine wave in his creation of the sounds you hear in this piece. The boy's text was taken from the Book of Daniel from the Bible, when the three Christians are pushed into the furnace created by the King Nebennazzar (if I remember correctly), although they didn't burn inside because they were protected by God.
Absolutely cool piece. There isn't any feeling of dissonance inside, just cool sounds playing everywhere, so it doesn't make me feel at all uncomfortable. And I just realised I've started developing a low tolerance towards dissonance, which makes me feel like puking everytime I hear a really disgusting dissonance.
Cool huh? :)
Not.
Anyway earlier this morning I finally managed to collect my NUS card, and I get to discard (pun intended) my old temporary card that I've been using. And I can also finally use the library after a long break since September. So I spammed and borrow 6 fourhand books to sight-read and play.
I feel super tempted to play Sonata Erotica on this blog, but it would be rather distasteful...it's entirely in German (which means I understood every single word which was 'sung' by the female soprano.) There's like "bitte" and "schnell". :X
I'm going to play this electronic piece only for a while, otherwise I'll be starving your ears for some harmony. Yum.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Tweaking the rules, the quiz.
Let's tweak the rules a bit alright?
I've been tagged by Hongrui to do a damned quiz. Here are the rules that have been going around. I know you'll have seen it and everything, but I'll go with the flow, for now.
Leave a comment here and I'll..
1. Tell you why I befriended you.
2. Associate you with a song / movie.
3.Tell a random fact about you.
4. Tell a first memory about you.
5. Associate you with an animal / fruit.
6. Ask something I've always wanted to know about you.
7. In return, you must post this in your own blog. Not some erm, LJ blog. Isn't really nice to insult blogs ain't it? :)
Everything is the same, except I'm not going to tell you who YOU is. I'm going to leave it as anonymous, and I'm not going to say any names. If you think it's you I'm talking about, then do this quiz on your blog stating that you got it from me. I'm going to do as many of these as I can...
1. Because you're my relative.
2. My Way by Frank Sinatra
3. You've been taking care of me for a long time
4. I was at the back of a jeep and you were driving, and I was looking upwards. I hadn't learnt to walk yet.
5. A snake. The year of your birth. A very guailan and dominant and crazy snake.
6. Why do you like swearing and cursing when I watch a soccer match with you?
1. Cos you're good friend, and your finishing is improving faster than me
2. Haydn Cello Concerto in C major, 1st movement
3. You're taller than me
4. While outside the Varese Room. You didn't look pissed with me! Damn, RI guys are good at hiding emotions. Knew you were a nice guy when I first saw you.
5. A stick ins...don't know. What insect? What fruit? Gosh who thinks of that.
6. Have I grown taller?
1. Because I have to, or else I'm the stupidest guy in the whole world, which you once called me. Luckily I did, though we're more than that now
2. Send in the Clowns, and of course, a couple of others. Around 3?
3. Your organiser is cute
4. 3rd floor, asked you to help me jaga my bag for a while, which you did. And then you expressed surprise on how I managed to return from the toilet so fast.
5. Incomparable zomg
6. You've got A, Bb, have you tried G?
1. Because you're a good junior
2. Where the Sparrows Go
3. You're good at counselling huh
4. a good violinist at RISE rehearsal, the second prefect in RISE
5. a duck. queck.
6. Why are you like me when I was in sec 2?
1. Because we have lots of things to talk about
2. Raindrops keep falling on my head
3. I pissed you off lots of times
4. In an MSN convo, where I called you a ninny. the very first convo
5. Chilli. a) your dog's name b) some people like you and some people don't
6. You-how?
1. Because you sit beside me in class
2. The birds and the bees, are flying in the trees...
3. You smell like flower, like what everyone says
4. Sec 3, duh
5. A flower. Easy.
6. Are you taller than me? No. Oops.
1. Because we no longer talk
2. Boieldieu Concerto in C
3. You're going overseas
4. Last year NPVC 2007, sat beside you at some finals
5. Butterflies
6. Are you still afraid of them? And what did I do.
1. Because we are classmates
2. any improvised song :)
3. You're working
4. Sec 3 RI
5. Dog. Cos of one of your accessories! Was it orange in colour. Can't remember. Recently appeared on your DP
6. Why are you so insistent on some things? It's good and bad, sometimes. But nvm, stay that way.
1. Because you're my colleague and you is a caring gor-gor
2. Stand By Me. Heck you hum it almost everytime
3. You love liszt
4. At NPVC 2005, where we both competed in the same category. I didn't like you at first...:)
5. Snorlax, put in a cool hairdo and a nice personality, and a thousand-watt smile
6. Why are you so good with girls?
1. Because you're my colleague and you help whenever I ask!
2. Beethoven Piano Concerto
3. You're a cool senior man
4. At orientation, when we formed circle and I think you were standing beside me. Anyway we were good friends quickly
5. A huge caring dog with a long hair. but you cut it already
6. When do you want to jam again?
Here's 10 for all of you. Some of you obviously wouldn't read this, but it's for you!
Good night everyone. I hope none of the above has let you take offense.
I've been tagged by Hongrui to do a damned quiz. Here are the rules that have been going around. I know you'll have seen it and everything, but I'll go with the flow, for now.
Leave a comment here and I'll..
1. Tell you why I befriended you.
2. Associate you with a song / movie.
3.Tell a random fact about you.
4. Tell a first memory about you.
5. Associate you with an animal / fruit.
6. Ask something I've always wanted to know about you.
7. In return, you must post this in your own blog. Not some erm, LJ blog. Isn't really nice to insult blogs ain't it? :)
Everything is the same, except I'm not going to tell you who YOU is. I'm going to leave it as anonymous, and I'm not going to say any names. If you think it's you I'm talking about, then do this quiz on your blog stating that you got it from me. I'm going to do as many of these as I can...
1. Because you're my relative.
2. My Way by Frank Sinatra
3. You've been taking care of me for a long time
4. I was at the back of a jeep and you were driving, and I was looking upwards. I hadn't learnt to walk yet.
5. A snake. The year of your birth. A very guailan and dominant and crazy snake.
6. Why do you like swearing and cursing when I watch a soccer match with you?
1. Cos you're good friend, and your finishing is improving faster than me
2. Haydn Cello Concerto in C major, 1st movement
3. You're taller than me
4. While outside the Varese Room. You didn't look pissed with me! Damn, RI guys are good at hiding emotions. Knew you were a nice guy when I first saw you.
5. A stick ins...don't know. What insect? What fruit? Gosh who thinks of that.
6. Have I grown taller?
1. Because I have to, or else I'm the stupidest guy in the whole world, which you once called me. Luckily I did, though we're more than that now
2. Send in the Clowns, and of course, a couple of others. Around 3?
3. Your organiser is cute
4. 3rd floor, asked you to help me jaga my bag for a while, which you did. And then you expressed surprise on how I managed to return from the toilet so fast.
5. Incomparable zomg
6. You've got A, Bb, have you tried G?
1. Because you're a good junior
2. Where the Sparrows Go
3. You're good at counselling huh
4. a good violinist at RISE rehearsal, the second prefect in RISE
5. a duck. queck.
6. Why are you like me when I was in sec 2?
1. Because we have lots of things to talk about
2. Raindrops keep falling on my head
3. I pissed you off lots of times
4. In an MSN convo, where I called you a ninny. the very first convo
5. Chilli. a) your dog's name b) some people like you and some people don't
6. You-how?
1. Because you sit beside me in class
2. The birds and the bees, are flying in the trees...
3. You smell like flower, like what everyone says
4. Sec 3, duh
5. A flower. Easy.
6. Are you taller than me? No. Oops.
1. Because we no longer talk
2. Boieldieu Concerto in C
3. You're going overseas
4. Last year NPVC 2007, sat beside you at some finals
5. Butterflies
6. Are you still afraid of them? And what did I do.
1. Because we are classmates
2. any improvised song :)
3. You're working
4. Sec 3 RI
5. Dog. Cos of one of your accessories! Was it orange in colour. Can't remember. Recently appeared on your DP
6. Why are you so insistent on some things? It's good and bad, sometimes. But nvm, stay that way.
1. Because you're my colleague and you is a caring gor-gor
2. Stand By Me. Heck you hum it almost everytime
3. You love liszt
4. At NPVC 2005, where we both competed in the same category. I didn't like you at first...:)
5. Snorlax, put in a cool hairdo and a nice personality, and a thousand-watt smile
6. Why are you so good with girls?
1. Because you're my colleague and you help whenever I ask!
2. Beethoven Piano Concerto
3. You're a cool senior man
4. At orientation, when we formed circle and I think you were standing beside me. Anyway we were good friends quickly
5. A huge caring dog with a long hair. but you cut it already
6. When do you want to jam again?
Here's 10 for all of you. Some of you obviously wouldn't read this, but it's for you!
Good night everyone. I hope none of the above has let you take offense.
Friday, November 21, 2008
I'm looking towards NS omg.
So much for typing the post when I didn't check everything properly and surely first. My apologies.
It's the second day of my two-day-one-night stay at my cousin's house, and it's going to draw to an end, in around half an hour, when my dad picks me up. We didn't do a hell lot this morning, although we spammed on CounterStrike and swimming in the afternoon and subsequently the evening.
My nose was completely irritable and itchy this morning, which meant that most of the time I was running a leaky tap and eyes that were equally as irritating. Oh, did I mention I played soccer at CCAB yesterday?
At least this time it was more fun, because I finally got to play against Adriel, Daniel and Jinghui, who were all in one team. It was a good match, and [i think] the score was equally tied at the end of the match, which means that I have improved.
No, seriously, when you're playing with people like Adriel Daniel and Jinghui scoring a goal is not a laughing matter already. Hur.
Then again there's free food to look forward to - I'm performing at the RJC Grad Nite on December the 3rd, picking up the cello once again after so many months of inactivity. I'll be playing in a string quartet, but I'm very sure this time I'll be more rehearsed and things like this. Don't want to be caught unaware again.
There isn't much to blog about, except that yesterday I had a good cup of teh tarik with the YO guys (layered with a couple of ice blocks). Absolutely heavenly, if you didn't forget the football we played earlier on.
Went back to Serangoon with Rafael on the bus. We talked about NS, and different kinds of PES levels. I'm hoping I can get into PESC2, which means flat-feet people and things like that. Apparently it's slack, and I asked Rafael whether it was possible that I bring manuscript paper along to fill up the rest of my days there.
His answer was an absolutely yes, and that there was plenty of time for that. Apparently, after the BMT, they send you back to your room, and then after that you get the rest of the day to yourself. Of course, he talked about many other detailed things about BMT training (and that it was REALLY basic. like, shoot, clear your gun, throw your grenade)
And how they get convicts, or people who are in detention barracks, to place C4s beside grenades that do not explode - aka blinds, aka duds. So that means they place the C4 beside the grenade, and you can feel the whole ground shake in a 200metres radius.
I'm absolutely looking forward to army now.
It's the second day of my two-day-one-night stay at my cousin's house, and it's going to draw to an end, in around half an hour, when my dad picks me up. We didn't do a hell lot this morning, although we spammed on CounterStrike and swimming in the afternoon and subsequently the evening.
My nose was completely irritable and itchy this morning, which meant that most of the time I was running a leaky tap and eyes that were equally as irritating. Oh, did I mention I played soccer at CCAB yesterday?
At least this time it was more fun, because I finally got to play against Adriel, Daniel and Jinghui, who were all in one team. It was a good match, and [i think] the score was equally tied at the end of the match, which means that I have improved.
No, seriously, when you're playing with people like Adriel Daniel and Jinghui scoring a goal is not a laughing matter already. Hur.
Then again there's free food to look forward to - I'm performing at the RJC Grad Nite on December the 3rd, picking up the cello once again after so many months of inactivity. I'll be playing in a string quartet, but I'm very sure this time I'll be more rehearsed and things like this. Don't want to be caught unaware again.
There isn't much to blog about, except that yesterday I had a good cup of teh tarik with the YO guys (layered with a couple of ice blocks). Absolutely heavenly, if you didn't forget the football we played earlier on.
Went back to Serangoon with Rafael on the bus. We talked about NS, and different kinds of PES levels. I'm hoping I can get into PESC2, which means flat-feet people and things like that. Apparently it's slack, and I asked Rafael whether it was possible that I bring manuscript paper along to fill up the rest of my days there.
His answer was an absolutely yes, and that there was plenty of time for that. Apparently, after the BMT, they send you back to your room, and then after that you get the rest of the day to yourself. Of course, he talked about many other detailed things about BMT training (and that it was REALLY basic. like, shoot, clear your gun, throw your grenade)
And how they get convicts, or people who are in detention barracks, to place C4s beside grenades that do not explode - aka blinds, aka duds. So that means they place the C4 beside the grenade, and you can feel the whole ground shake in a 200metres radius.
I'm absolutely looking forward to army now.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Change of Direction
It's settled, I'm joining jazz for sure.
Yesterday's rehearsal was the most boringest rehearsal I've ever been in my entire life. And I got to see with my own eyes what direct-girl-confrontation means. It's a reeeaally uncomfortable situation to be in, seriously.
Thing is this, we all sit in one circle to play the game called Werewolf (which I wouldn't bother to explain here because it would take a couple of days). So one of the girls accuses the other of being a werewolf - yes, it's part of the game - and the other denies and starts giving the most bitchy face I've ever seen in my life. :O
Especially when she starts muttering words like 'stupid'..'what's your problem', you know something's going to happen.
Anyway they didn't get into a catfight.
Soccer after that was non-existent, ever realising no one else other than me hongrui daniel and adriel could play. I did manage to prove a point or two when we played Captain's Ball though. Otherwise, rehearsal was boring. Partly because I didn't go there with an open mind, and things like that. Heck, not impressive.
It's now waiting-time for December to arrive though. Going to be a long 10 days waiting. An extremely boring blogpost, but worth it.
Yesterday's rehearsal was the most boringest rehearsal I've ever been in my entire life. And I got to see with my own eyes what direct-girl-confrontation means. It's a reeeaally uncomfortable situation to be in, seriously.
Thing is this, we all sit in one circle to play the game called Werewolf (which I wouldn't bother to explain here because it would take a couple of days). So one of the girls accuses the other of being a werewolf - yes, it's part of the game - and the other denies and starts giving the most bitchy face I've ever seen in my life. :O
Especially when she starts muttering words like 'stupid'..'what's your problem', you know something's going to happen.
Anyway they didn't get into a catfight.
Soccer after that was non-existent, ever realising no one else other than me hongrui daniel and adriel could play. I did manage to prove a point or two when we played Captain's Ball though. Otherwise, rehearsal was boring. Partly because I didn't go there with an open mind, and things like that. Heck, not impressive.
It's now waiting-time for December to arrive though. Going to be a long 10 days waiting. An extremely boring blogpost, but worth it.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Facebook-crazy
It's really easy to spot which people have gone Facebook-crazy.
For example, people like Nicholas Syn! Thank you very much for recommending me to add the whole world (5 people, I'm exaggerating a lot) on a daily basis! And thanks for bugging me continuously to sit beside you during Varied Tellings when I'm super comfortable at my seat.
I've been chiding him for a super long time, but Secondary 1s will be Secondary 1s when they're still in Secondary 1, so he deserves his time. By the time he reaches Sec 4 he'll be chiding other people already.
The rehearsal today will apparently be games for an hour from 1.30-2.30, then after that the actual rehearsal, which will include sight-reading other things, and then after that a 2-hour guys game of soccer. Cross my fingers and hope it doesn't rain at all.
I'm looking to a 2-days stay at my cousin's house on Thursday and Friday.
Yesterday...where should I start.
I'll do a Nicoll Highway here.
Currently the really hip things to go to on the Internet are Facebook, Blogger, Youtube. Photobucket? Yeap. It's easy to see why - they're all about communication, communication and communication. And of course, other things but the rest are LESS IMPORTANT.
But you know, they severely lack the human touch, which just makes the whole thing look utterly deflated.
I watched the whole of Bruce Almighty on Youtube and the Simpsons on some random Chinese website called tudou. My dad's reaction rocked totally. Look ma, no hands! Just type in some website and watch any movie you want.
No stealing! I'm legally right!
I love talking nonsense to you guys.
[evil laughter as I press 'Publish Post' and re-watch the Simpsons movie]
For example, people like Nicholas Syn! Thank you very much for recommending me to add the whole world (5 people, I'm exaggerating a lot) on a daily basis! And thanks for bugging me continuously to sit beside you during Varied Tellings when I'm super comfortable at my seat.
I've been chiding him for a super long time, but Secondary 1s will be Secondary 1s when they're still in Secondary 1, so he deserves his time. By the time he reaches Sec 4 he'll be chiding other people already.
The rehearsal today will apparently be games for an hour from 1.30-2.30, then after that the actual rehearsal, which will include sight-reading other things, and then after that a 2-hour guys game of soccer. Cross my fingers and hope it doesn't rain at all.
I'm looking to a 2-days stay at my cousin's house on Thursday and Friday.
Yesterday...where should I start.
I'll do a Nicoll Highway here.
Currently the really hip things to go to on the Internet are Facebook, Blogger, Youtube. Photobucket? Yeap. It's easy to see why - they're all about communication, communication and communication. And of course, other things but the rest are LESS IMPORTANT.
But you know, they severely lack the human touch, which just makes the whole thing look utterly deflated.
I watched the whole of Bruce Almighty on Youtube and the Simpsons on some random Chinese website called tudou. My dad's reaction rocked totally. Look ma, no hands! Just type in some website and watch any movie you want.
No stealing! I'm legally right!
I love talking nonsense to you guys.
[evil laughter as I press 'Publish Post' and re-watch the Simpsons movie]
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Firsts
So I turned delusional again today. Arsenal lost 2-0 to Aston Villa, and I was hoping THIS ENTIRE MORNING that we won 3-2, 4-2, or AT LEAST 5-2 in around...
10 minutes?
I stopped watching at the 80th minute, because I knew somehow we were going to catch up. I knew it. KNEW it. Somehow we lost 2-0, which is depressing.
On another hand, I felt really disappointed with myself in Church today though, because my mind just wasn't there.
I want to fill myself up with things to do this entire holiday, like, just get my schedule running like it did during the EOYs and the days after that. I would probably also get an organiser which I will not use. Hm.
Joke of the day had me sitting in the Altis and telling my dad my combination was H2KI, H2 History...
"Wait wait, so is KI2 higher or lower?"
"huh?"
"No I mean, is KI1 or KI3 higher or lower?"
I knew I had to get a rope from the DIY store to restrain myself from laughing and/or headbutting my dad.
Anyway, I'm officially free. Officially, free from anymore assignments from RI. I've finished my last one a few minutes ago, my testimonial. It looks good, though I've heard that the teachers will make it divine, so I submitted 2 pages worth of crap to them.
I feel good, feel like I can do anything now. I don't have to practise the piano as much, but realistically speaking I know the start of the next semester is closer than I imagine. But I want to spend my next few weeks of my life not doing ONLY music. I'm sure I would still be composing, but practising...
Not that much, for now.
I honestly honestly felt terrible when Daniel and Yisin told me that most of the people in the Arts/Humanities classes would be girls. Many reasons why, but females can sometimes be the most difficult people to comprehend. Then again we've fallen short of a nuclear war between males and females, so I don't see why we cannot get along.
But...but then again...ah, forget it. Dwelling on such things in blogposts can be dangerous.
It's been in a long year. I feel a little weary, sometimes a surge of emotion here and there, most of the time calmness, close to being non-chalant, sometimes just plain lazy. Competitions, concerts, I can't believe I did this all in one year. And then 3 people I know died this year, 1 classmate figuratively died. What can I say?
Fortunately I've blessed with an inner strength due to circumstances in my life.
There were many firsts this year-
1) I renewed my faith in God.
2) I won my first international piano prize.
3) I performed in a band that had people crowd-surfing and jumping.
4) I received an award from the school.
5) Someone close I know died.
6) And of course, some other firsts but don't want to put here, lah.
I also succumbed to the evils and goodness and goods of Facebook.
The weather today is really great, just the smell of rain and the evening sun shining through the windows. There are times when you feel super, and now is one such moment. Another moment was 2 days ago, when I changed my alarm tone to the Beatles's "Here Comes The Sun"
You would never imagine the joy! When the alarm started playing there was sun in my eyes...gosh such moments are unforgettable. I'm still chuckling...
A reminder to Kwek here though, in case you're reading, I love hounding you for your lyrics.
10 minutes?
I stopped watching at the 80th minute, because I knew somehow we were going to catch up. I knew it. KNEW it. Somehow we lost 2-0, which is depressing.
On another hand, I felt really disappointed with myself in Church today though, because my mind just wasn't there.
I want to fill myself up with things to do this entire holiday, like, just get my schedule running like it did during the EOYs and the days after that. I would probably also get an organiser which I will not use. Hm.
Joke of the day had me sitting in the Altis and telling my dad my combination was H2KI, H2 History...
"Wait wait, so is KI2 higher or lower?"
"huh?"
"No I mean, is KI1 or KI3 higher or lower?"
I knew I had to get a rope from the DIY store to restrain myself from laughing and/or headbutting my dad.
Anyway, I'm officially free. Officially, free from anymore assignments from RI. I've finished my last one a few minutes ago, my testimonial. It looks good, though I've heard that the teachers will make it divine, so I submitted 2 pages worth of crap to them.
I feel good, feel like I can do anything now. I don't have to practise the piano as much, but realistically speaking I know the start of the next semester is closer than I imagine. But I want to spend my next few weeks of my life not doing ONLY music. I'm sure I would still be composing, but practising...
Not that much, for now.
I honestly honestly felt terrible when Daniel and Yisin told me that most of the people in the Arts/Humanities classes would be girls. Many reasons why, but females can sometimes be the most difficult people to comprehend. Then again we've fallen short of a nuclear war between males and females, so I don't see why we cannot get along.
But...but then again...ah, forget it. Dwelling on such things in blogposts can be dangerous.
It's been in a long year. I feel a little weary, sometimes a surge of emotion here and there, most of the time calmness, close to being non-chalant, sometimes just plain lazy. Competitions, concerts, I can't believe I did this all in one year. And then 3 people I know died this year, 1 classmate figuratively died. What can I say?
Fortunately I've blessed with an inner strength due to circumstances in my life.
There were many firsts this year-
1) I renewed my faith in God.
2) I won my first international piano prize.
3) I performed in a band that had people crowd-surfing and jumping.
4) I received an award from the school.
5) Someone close I know died.
6) And of course, some other firsts but don't want to put here, lah.
I also succumbed to the evils and goodness and goods of Facebook.
The weather today is really great, just the smell of rain and the evening sun shining through the windows. There are times when you feel super, and now is one such moment. Another moment was 2 days ago, when I changed my alarm tone to the Beatles's "Here Comes The Sun"
You would never imagine the joy! When the alarm started playing there was sun in my eyes...gosh such moments are unforgettable. I'm still chuckling...
A reminder to Kwek here though, in case you're reading, I love hounding you for your lyrics.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Varied Tellings
Ok I've been invited to go and watch RJCE rehearse on Wednesday. Something to fill up my schedule, which is good.
I willed myself in front of the piano to come up with something good, and I realised I played so many things on the piano, but they all didn't seem worthy enough to be placed on paper, worthy enough to be presented.
It always feels like this. It always feels like, oh, this isn't good enough, if he/she is going to hear it, he/she wouldn't like it. But I'm very sure its otherwise, and it's only the composer who thinks like this.
I never wrote anything down though, which was terrible and disappointing. But that doesn't give me the right to go around finding high venues to set up picnics and jump down from, leaving all the food behind. That's bad!
After Theory lesson today I spammed photocopying a secret manual on IMPROVISATION by my great great great great grandmaster, Carl Czerny. Erm, those doubtful, let's track it here:
Ludwig V. Beethoven
Carl Czerny
Franz Liszt
Theodor Leschetizky
Arthur Schnabel
Leon Fleisher
Thomas Hecht
Jonathan Shin
Ok, there. So yeah, great great great great grandmaster.
Cough ok THE MAIN POINT is....
I GOT HOLD OF HIS MANUAL!!! Yes yes yes I proceeded to spam photocopy all 129 pages of it, and I'm so going to mug them. When I get to RJC next year I should be able to improvise any classical chord progression you give me, and should I reach a part where a cadenza is needed, I should be able to improvise straight on my own.
[register your shock from the musical-grandmasters tree first before reading on]
(asshole.)
After that I moved around all over YST, finding for studios, which I did. And sat inside them not doing anything. Including trying to think up of good melodies and things like that. You know, it isn't good to disappoint lah, right?
You get what I mean.
The Sonatina/Sonata I've written has reached its recapitulation, although I find some of them still messy, and some themes entirely redundant. If redundant, put it inside, we'll use them later.
Went to eat at McDonald's with Irene, Nattapol and Wasin. Once again, with Wasin inside, the atmosphere never fails to bleed with humor and sarcasm, wit and bluntness, all-in-one. And then it was time for Mr Tiu's Varied Tellings.
The first half was fantastic - Rossini brought back waves of memories on the days we spent working on the overture back in RISE. The particular nature of the Concert Hall allowed for the sound too be bright, but not too bright because of all the people in it. As in, we sort of 'absorb' the sound.
The last part of the overture was a myriad of vibrations flung-ed in every direction possible, all the brass and woodwinds providing the unique colours that would make this piece ever so famous, up till today. Once again, another scintillating performance in another day.
Next up was Mr Tiu's Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.
It is in fact, a set of Variations based on the Theme itself, the wonderful theme that has been continuously worked on by Brahms, Schumann. But Rachmaninov probably did it the best - his last work for Piano and Orchestra was clearly one of the most outstanding of his wide composition repertoire.
The famous 18th Variation has the word Rachmaninov splashed all over it, the trademark RachmaniRussian sound. It's really important to study the voice, as what Rachey had done himself, look at the wonderous melodies he has written that has constantly stunned the world and left us all teary-eyed.
Not forgetting the famous Vocalise, of course.
Mr Tiu paid close attention to all the different colours that were available for show in this piece, with the Conservatory Orchestra complimenting his every bow and stroke. The precision of the strings and the brass-woodwind chorus was bordering unbelievable, with the genius of Rachmaninov making them work devilishly hard (true to Paganini's name) to coordinate with the pianist himself.
I got hold of the score on Thursday, when Chi Ling and I were just watching Mr Tiu run through the entire piece with the Orchestra. I have to admit, on that day the orchestra wasn't really at its best condition, and there were still under-rehearsed moments that popped up sporadically.
But what a change!
The first half was stunning. I was unfortunately right that the encore piece would be the 18th Variation, so Hui Ling kinda owes me 4 bucks now. I would like to point out that the sheer genius of Rachmaninov is pleasantly evident, with the shadowing of the brass under the strings melody making for a special timbre.
Other composers would have done it differently, yet Rachmaninov's was markedly different. It's unfair how genius is not part of the communist agenda in Creationism.
The second half was fantastic, with me sitting in ZAD's dad's car, making my way back home. Honestly, I would not have bothered to catch a Schubert Symphony. Long-winded, modulationfilled, and in Akkra's own words, "Boring." Hell, I would hate my own compositions to be branded as that. That would really suck.
Meanwhile, with the number of people joining us to skip the second half, I'm very sure that Schubert would have now generated enough space in his burial ground after all the turning and shifting. What would he think of people criticising his music.
Although I love his idea of Schubertiads though, although we have what we call, evening gigs nowadays. But wouldn't it be nice if we have that in today's age? I should find people who can improvise in RJC, and then invite them to my house to have a mini-concert. Of course, we'll have to get people, so yeah, check it out. It shows how bored I can be.
But hey! Imagine Singapore's teenage brand of poets, artists, musicians coming together. Mygosh. Wouldn't that be cool.
I willed myself in front of the piano to come up with something good, and I realised I played so many things on the piano, but they all didn't seem worthy enough to be placed on paper, worthy enough to be presented.
It always feels like this. It always feels like, oh, this isn't good enough, if he/she is going to hear it, he/she wouldn't like it. But I'm very sure its otherwise, and it's only the composer who thinks like this.
I never wrote anything down though, which was terrible and disappointing. But that doesn't give me the right to go around finding high venues to set up picnics and jump down from, leaving all the food behind. That's bad!
After Theory lesson today I spammed photocopying a secret manual on IMPROVISATION by my great great great great grandmaster, Carl Czerny. Erm, those doubtful, let's track it here:
Ludwig V. Beethoven
Carl Czerny
Franz Liszt
Theodor Leschetizky
Arthur Schnabel
Leon Fleisher
Thomas Hecht
Jonathan Shin
Ok, there. So yeah, great great great great grandmaster.
Cough ok THE MAIN POINT is....
I GOT HOLD OF HIS MANUAL!!! Yes yes yes I proceeded to spam photocopy all 129 pages of it, and I'm so going to mug them. When I get to RJC next year I should be able to improvise any classical chord progression you give me, and should I reach a part where a cadenza is needed, I should be able to improvise straight on my own.
[register your shock from the musical-grandmasters tree first before reading on]
(asshole.)
After that I moved around all over YST, finding for studios, which I did. And sat inside them not doing anything. Including trying to think up of good melodies and things like that. You know, it isn't good to disappoint lah, right?
You get what I mean.
The Sonatina/Sonata I've written has reached its recapitulation, although I find some of them still messy, and some themes entirely redundant. If redundant, put it inside, we'll use them later.
Went to eat at McDonald's with Irene, Nattapol and Wasin. Once again, with Wasin inside, the atmosphere never fails to bleed with humor and sarcasm, wit and bluntness, all-in-one. And then it was time for Mr Tiu's Varied Tellings.
The first half was fantastic - Rossini brought back waves of memories on the days we spent working on the overture back in RISE. The particular nature of the Concert Hall allowed for the sound too be bright, but not too bright because of all the people in it. As in, we sort of 'absorb' the sound.
The last part of the overture was a myriad of vibrations flung-ed in every direction possible, all the brass and woodwinds providing the unique colours that would make this piece ever so famous, up till today. Once again, another scintillating performance in another day.
Next up was Mr Tiu's Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.
It is in fact, a set of Variations based on the Theme itself, the wonderful theme that has been continuously worked on by Brahms, Schumann. But Rachmaninov probably did it the best - his last work for Piano and Orchestra was clearly one of the most outstanding of his wide composition repertoire.
The famous 18th Variation has the word Rachmaninov splashed all over it, the trademark RachmaniRussian sound. It's really important to study the voice, as what Rachey had done himself, look at the wonderous melodies he has written that has constantly stunned the world and left us all teary-eyed.
Not forgetting the famous Vocalise, of course.
Mr Tiu paid close attention to all the different colours that were available for show in this piece, with the Conservatory Orchestra complimenting his every bow and stroke. The precision of the strings and the brass-woodwind chorus was bordering unbelievable, with the genius of Rachmaninov making them work devilishly hard (true to Paganini's name) to coordinate with the pianist himself.
I got hold of the score on Thursday, when Chi Ling and I were just watching Mr Tiu run through the entire piece with the Orchestra. I have to admit, on that day the orchestra wasn't really at its best condition, and there were still under-rehearsed moments that popped up sporadically.
But what a change!
The first half was stunning. I was unfortunately right that the encore piece would be the 18th Variation, so Hui Ling kinda owes me 4 bucks now. I would like to point out that the sheer genius of Rachmaninov is pleasantly evident, with the shadowing of the brass under the strings melody making for a special timbre.
Other composers would have done it differently, yet Rachmaninov's was markedly different. It's unfair how genius is not part of the communist agenda in Creationism.
The second half was fantastic, with me sitting in ZAD's dad's car, making my way back home. Honestly, I would not have bothered to catch a Schubert Symphony. Long-winded, modulationfilled, and in Akkra's own words, "Boring." Hell, I would hate my own compositions to be branded as that. That would really suck.
Meanwhile, with the number of people joining us to skip the second half, I'm very sure that Schubert would have now generated enough space in his burial ground after all the turning and shifting. What would he think of people criticising his music.
Although I love his idea of Schubertiads though, although we have what we call, evening gigs nowadays. But wouldn't it be nice if we have that in today's age? I should find people who can improvise in RJC, and then invite them to my house to have a mini-concert. Of course, we'll have to get people, so yeah, check it out. It shows how bored I can be.
But hey! Imagine Singapore's teenage brand of poets, artists, musicians coming together. Mygosh. Wouldn't that be cool.
These days 2
I'm cooped up in the study room once again, with no windows opened because every weekend, I wake up with a blocked nose and a sinus to cope with.
And the weather is bloody cold. I sometimes like to imagine there's an ocean right at my doorstep, and that the sounds of birds I hear would be that of seagulls.
Unfortunately there would be lots and really lots of 'boats' around, which just spoils everything thank you very much.
We've finished recording at Snakeweed Studios, marching up the wooden creaky stairs at around 1pm everyday from Monday to Thursday, getting inside. But of course, nothing's really complete without any pictures, so here they are.
The whole band except Marcus
D
aniel - Drummer [F*** you]
sin - Guitarist [Bottomless Pit]
ennie - Guitarist [Ischrael]
ugene - Bassist [Collision System]
. [Perfect Pitch]Marcus wearing Martin's hat [Noisy]
Post more pictures next time. Anyway we managed to record three songs in the end, one less of the targetted four songs. Never did we knew that recording could be so tough, because we were recording one layer by one layer, which facilitates mixing.
As you can see, we all unfortunately have nicknames. Yisin's called Bottomless Pit, because EVERY instrument (except the drums) that is owned by the band is owned by him. Son of CapitalMall CEO, tsk.
Daniel's called **** you, I really don't know why.
I'm Perfect Pitch, that's self-explanatory.
Marcus is Noisy, which is also self-explanatory.
Lennie is Ischrael, because of the way he pronounced Israel.
And Eugene is Collision System, I just named him that way because we talked about it once. Or maybe he doesn't have one, and I gave him one because I liked consistency. Whatever.
I would like to sincerely thank Martin from Caracal, who was our producer from Day 1 to Day 4, and he's really hilarious. I got owned by him a couple of times though, to the band's amusement. Thanks Mart.
After Thursday's session I went to the Conservatory to catch a piano recital with a girl (yeah, the girl whose results are super super super super super super super super high one). Haha, who else? We went to have dinner at Munchie Monkeys and I absent-mindedly ordered 2 plates of spaghetti and one masala. Gosh, no wonder I couldn't pay -.- In the end we got the refund. Yes.
I know I'm being kinda evil here, but were they being a little sarcastic when they wrote that the performer played with "astonishing precision"? But it was a bit loud anyway, because of the nature of the orchestral hall. It was a good concert in either case, although I hoped for more accuracy.
Friday was another busy day. I woke up to find myself rushing to Paragon to accompany BenLow for his Trinity voice exam, spammed practised Debussy Etude, and took a cab to watch Yellow River played by its ORIGINAL COMPOSER with.....guess who?
Ok this game is failing because of its predictability already sorry...
BenLow's examination was a little mussed up because of my page-turning, which meant that some of the supporting harmonies went missing, otherwise it was fine.
Surprisingly my lesson went well. I thought I would die for lesson. I practised right before the lesson mygosh, and just thought of whatever things I could to put inside and organised. It turned out well. A sure-win method, that's why it's used.
The taxi driver that got me to Esplanade was agonizingly slow, but I got there in time. Thanks Chi Ling for packing Subway! Or else I would have listened to Yellow River with an empty stomach. Yellow River Piano Concerto was absolutely fantastic, it just got me thinking back to my old NAFA days, and anyway it was the final piece I played before I left NAFA, so they were good memories.
Wish I could take a photo of everyone listening to the third movement though, tears in their eyes. And the Fourth Movement was a blast, that was the plateau of sheer pleasure and nationalistic joy when the whole orchestra played the final theme, which is also the part where they turn around to salute Chairman Mao (I'm serious).
And I can't believe I dared to ask the question at the end at Boon Lay MRT station.
Thanks :)
[collapses into a hole of embarassment]
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
What happened since Saturday?
I'll bring you back to Saturday, in another one of my usual blogposts that talks about all things that has passed almost everytime I blog.
It's as if, my life were a novel, you know.
After 2 hours straight of Music Technology class, where we learnt how to splice and cut and paste sections of music together. Progress was kinda slow, but it was alright, just listen to instructions can liao.
I played for Akkra my 1/4 completed composition following the class, and YES! He gave a thumbs-up for the front part but gave me really good suggestions on some things that were, too sudden or too loud.
Took a quick bus to Music Essentials to meet Chi Ling, and we finished the cake that Dr. Hecht kindly brought for the yester-evening seafood 'soiree' that was mentioned in my previous post. [Just a few minutes ago I finished the last piece, and it was still as chocolate-y. ]
We 'window-shopped' for clothes at Centrepoint, met Clarence's dad :O What a small world.
Played piano together for hours, and then off to catch the latest James Bond flick, which had a super-thin plot. Only thing worth remembering was, yes, when the French guy attacked Bond with an axe. Ooh, hear le homme scream!
Walked to Rochor Rd Beancurd, had supper there, talked lots of great stuff, then back to Boon Lay, and then I went home.
12.30am, but enjoyable, though I'm leaving out a couple of details here and there.
The next morning was going to Church. As per normal, visited my mum at columbarium, what can I say. The entire experience was in all sense, holy. As in, including Church.
Boys' Town was next, because apparently my dad wanted to go there and look at their open house and see what he could help with. Yeah, right, he finished quite a lot of food!
But the destination to the car park itself was fun. At every corner there was always a guy with long hair and putting one leg on his chair, lifting up his arm non-chalantly to show us the direction. My dad's exclamation, "I love these guys man, this is the attitude!"
Absolutely.
I was sitting glumly throughout the long-winded trip to the heart of the Town, and when we finally got out there was loud music playing in the hall. The food wasn't really bad, but I remembered the muahchee tasted bad. It was cold, and practically, erm, tasteless. Right, I forced myself to eat something that cost $1. What a thrifty bastard.
Not so though, I'll spend when there's good food :} And erm, when I owe library fines and dinner costs.
When we were done we headed back home for a change, before going for Avenue Q. The songs were fun enough, but I entirely loved the part when Trekkie Monster said, "In volatile markets, porn is stable income!" And then he donated ALL HIS MONEY to the Monstersorri School (hahaha)!
Walked to Grad Ceremony, got a change of clothes from my dad, had an ok dinner.
Performance with XD was almost entirely impromptu, because I skipped the soundcheck, and learnt some chords on the spot on stage. Kids, what's the word of the month?
IMPROMPTU!
But it was raucous enough to get everyone at a high, and I could see two people crowd-surfing. (wth, first time ever in my life have I performed for a crowd-surfing audience, thank you very much, I would love to see Ryan Kwan crowd-surfing when I play a piano solo on stage someday)
The front of the stage was practically a mosh pit, and everyone was jumping up and down to the beat, with the audience response, "EH-OH-EH-OH" so loud.
Entirely crazy, although I didn't shed a tear. I must really hate RI or something like that.
Got home thankfully in one piece, and this gig was absolutely fun!
I will tell you guys about my escapades with XD at an Outram Park recording studio (70 bucks an hour) in a separate blogpost. Dimlit, smoke-filled, sleazy, shady. Recording different layers, and of course, the haunted room above that houses the drumsets and the mikes.
According to the Ten Rules of Martin's studio, it consists of 1) Don't litter the studio floor, 2) Do not wear shoes in, 3) Do not smoke inside the studio, 4) Be nice to the ghost upstairs, she's quite friendly...
No kidding. Tell you guys more in a few days time. As of now, I'm looking forward to Thursday and Friday.
It's as if, my life were a novel, you know.
After 2 hours straight of Music Technology class, where we learnt how to splice and cut and paste sections of music together. Progress was kinda slow, but it was alright, just listen to instructions can liao.
I played for Akkra my 1/4 completed composition following the class, and YES! He gave a thumbs-up for the front part but gave me really good suggestions on some things that were, too sudden or too loud.
Took a quick bus to Music Essentials to meet Chi Ling, and we finished the cake that Dr. Hecht kindly brought for the yester-evening seafood 'soiree' that was mentioned in my previous post. [Just a few minutes ago I finished the last piece, and it was still as chocolate-y. ]
We 'window-shopped' for clothes at Centrepoint, met Clarence's dad :O What a small world.
Played piano together for hours, and then off to catch the latest James Bond flick, which had a super-thin plot. Only thing worth remembering was, yes, when the French guy attacked Bond with an axe. Ooh, hear le homme scream!
Walked to Rochor Rd Beancurd, had supper there, talked lots of great stuff, then back to Boon Lay, and then I went home.
12.30am, but enjoyable, though I'm leaving out a couple of details here and there.
The next morning was going to Church. As per normal, visited my mum at columbarium, what can I say. The entire experience was in all sense, holy. As in, including Church.
Boys' Town was next, because apparently my dad wanted to go there and look at their open house and see what he could help with. Yeah, right, he finished quite a lot of food!
But the destination to the car park itself was fun. At every corner there was always a guy with long hair and putting one leg on his chair, lifting up his arm non-chalantly to show us the direction. My dad's exclamation, "I love these guys man, this is the attitude!"
Absolutely.
I was sitting glumly throughout the long-winded trip to the heart of the Town, and when we finally got out there was loud music playing in the hall. The food wasn't really bad, but I remembered the muahchee tasted bad. It was cold, and practically, erm, tasteless. Right, I forced myself to eat something that cost $1. What a thrifty bastard.
Not so though, I'll spend when there's good food :} And erm, when I owe library fines and dinner costs.
When we were done we headed back home for a change, before going for Avenue Q. The songs were fun enough, but I entirely loved the part when Trekkie Monster said, "In volatile markets, porn is stable income!" And then he donated ALL HIS MONEY to the Monstersorri School (hahaha)!
Walked to Grad Ceremony, got a change of clothes from my dad, had an ok dinner.
Performance with XD was almost entirely impromptu, because I skipped the soundcheck, and learnt some chords on the spot on stage. Kids, what's the word of the month?
IMPROMPTU!
But it was raucous enough to get everyone at a high, and I could see two people crowd-surfing. (wth, first time ever in my life have I performed for a crowd-surfing audience, thank you very much, I would love to see Ryan Kwan crowd-surfing when I play a piano solo on stage someday)
The front of the stage was practically a mosh pit, and everyone was jumping up and down to the beat, with the audience response, "EH-OH-EH-OH" so loud.
Entirely crazy, although I didn't shed a tear. I must really hate RI or something like that.
Got home thankfully in one piece, and this gig was absolutely fun!
I will tell you guys about my escapades with XD at an Outram Park recording studio (70 bucks an hour) in a separate blogpost. Dimlit, smoke-filled, sleazy, shady. Recording different layers, and of course, the haunted room above that houses the drumsets and the mikes.
According to the Ten Rules of Martin's studio, it consists of 1) Don't litter the studio floor, 2) Do not wear shoes in, 3) Do not smoke inside the studio, 4) Be nice to the ghost upstairs, she's quite friendly...
No kidding. Tell you guys more in a few days time. As of now, I'm looking forward to Thursday and Friday.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
two of the longest days ever
Isn't morning the best time to do a blogpost, except now I'm here in the Conservatory Computer Technology Lab again, done with my breakfast.
I had a super long day yesterday, after waking up at 7.30 and lazing around for 1 hour, before deciding that it was the best time I leave for school and go for GRADUATION CEREMONY, the most important day of my life in Raffles Institution.
It's been in a long/short 4 years (depending on how you really see it), but it's been great and a whole lot of åwesome fun.
Let's start from Thursday, where I shall attempt to my summarise my journey around Singapore for 2 days in half an hour.
Firstly after stoning here for 1 minute I still cannot remember what happened on Thursday, but I know that I performed in 2 concerts.
Oh wait, I remember it now! I was accompanying Benjamin Low for his Trinity exam, and we went to Mr Toh's house to let him listen to B-low sing while I accompanied him. The last song wasn't that good, (Gorge Ghershwin) so Mr Toh was like, uh ok goodbye cya. What do you think, we went off after that.
After several bus confusions and things like that, I finally got to Yong Siew Toh at around 3. Rehearsed, played piano games, played the game Who-Can-Hit-Your-Buddy-First-With-A-Table-Tennis-Ball-Using-Paddles. We broke the ball in the end. Sorry Kawai.
The first concert included a six-hand piece I played with Dr Hecht and ZAD, and the second concert of the evening was a performance at YMS, where I finished the night off with Griffes's Scherzo.
The six-hand Romance was pretty alright, although I didn't stay to listen to what Dr Hecht had to say about our Polka too (both by Rachmaninov), because I had to take a taxi straight to the YMS.
I did a heck of lots of things in YST, like before performing on stage itself, I had to go backstage and print out lyrics for Hey Jude so that we could perform it later in the evening as a bye-bye song for Miss Goh, who had been in MEP for years.
Also, being the cohort's sabotaged guy/'mascot'/shortie/imba I had to give a impromptu speech that talked about our 4 years in RI and our briefy it was.
Whatever. It was a long night, and when I was finally done with everything, I settled down with the pear my dad stuffed into the bag, which was what was going to become my one and only dinner.
Obviously I slept later than usual.
The next morning, I woke up all dreary and leaky, thanks to a Benjamin Low cold from the day before. Yeap, I waited for an hour, lazing around, before finally leaving for my Graduation Ceremony, without waiting for my dad to wake up.
Anyway he came along later in the car, because he said he didn't want to miss me graduating (thanks pop). Sat around and behaved like good students in the world's most boring speeches, including an advertisement to join the Boon Lay Youth Club from the female Guest-of-Honour, exchanged punches with Lay Shide himself, got hit a couple of times, survived.
What followed next was a really stretching time, because I went for XD practice at the jamming studio.
Well, you can really feel it's different, because most people who go there don't really do anything except to laze around and fool with the drums and everything, but we were really practising for Graduation Night itself on a sunday AFTEROON. (is it?) or maybe it's evening.
Yeah, we went through repertoire, and discussed about the segues, on how to shift between songs, different riffs that we could try out, modulations and everything like that. Throughout the whole thing we were attempting to fix the amplifiers, so we got all the tools we can from the Arts Studio and start digging into the input hole, so we could get some things out. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done, and there was not really much we could do about it.
We left it to that.
Practised for 2 more hours, from 1 to 3, and then 3.40, and we were off to Yisin's house across the road. Here's the stretchy part - they decided to bring me along to play soccer at the CCAB at Dunearn Road/Evans Road, and I changed into some really lanky England shirt and a pants that would only befit a freaking kangeroo.
Cabbed to CCAB, met a J2 girl there from HCJC, and we started to play 2v2 soccer. I wasn't that rusty yet, but I have always doubted my own abilities. Heck, we actually played well yesterday.
For one, when we actually played a match against SJI people, we had only 4 people while the SJI guys had around 5.
We pawned them 6-0 in the end, (Gabriel enters the room and says that I am an egoitic bastard, and then asks me what's my typing speed, which I answer 115 a minute, and he says, "Kanninehbeh".) No really, we pwned them 6-0, maybe because they were lousy, but they had good team chemistry, and people like me who,
1) stand directly in front of the goal and not score
2) stand directly in front of the goal without a keeper who has been beaten and not be able to stop the ball and score
I later redeemed myself by tapping in a goal, and providing an assist to Daniel, who did a freaking back flick to beat those guys.
Yisin said we should let them score (like genuinely) cos they were Sec 2-3s, and if we kept scoring then it wouldn't be any kick.
Erm, after that I scored one, so that makes the score practically 6-0.
Daniel did 4.
Yeah whatever. The game ended, and we made our way to Daniel's house, thanks to a lift from the girl's mum. Showered, played FIFA there, had dinner with those guys at Burger King, and then we went back to Yisin's house at Bishan, where my dad picked me at 9.45
Not to forget we listened to Anberlin.
To think I could go home and relax, but no, we went to Miss Tan's house after that to have extra dinner with Miss Tan, ST, and Dr Hecht. Talked lots of music crap such as the key of the Nokia ringtone, which I concluded to be a huge perfect cadence that was filled with suspension. Lots of lobsters and huge prawns on the menu, but we finished them all.
We got home at 1.
I made it past the 2 days. And no, I didn't worship on Friday, it was fun, but well, tiring.
Guten Tag!
I had a super long day yesterday, after waking up at 7.30 and lazing around for 1 hour, before deciding that it was the best time I leave for school and go for GRADUATION CEREMONY, the most important day of my life in Raffles Institution.
It's been in a long/short 4 years (depending on how you really see it), but it's been great and a whole lot of åwesome fun.
Let's start from Thursday, where I shall attempt to my summarise my journey around Singapore for 2 days in half an hour.
Firstly after stoning here for 1 minute I still cannot remember what happened on Thursday, but I know that I performed in 2 concerts.
Oh wait, I remember it now! I was accompanying Benjamin Low for his Trinity exam, and we went to Mr Toh's house to let him listen to B-low sing while I accompanied him. The last song wasn't that good, (Gorge Ghershwin) so Mr Toh was like, uh ok goodbye cya. What do you think, we went off after that.
After several bus confusions and things like that, I finally got to Yong Siew Toh at around 3. Rehearsed, played piano games, played the game Who-Can-Hit-Your-Buddy-First-With-A-Table-Tennis-Ball-Using-Paddles. We broke the ball in the end. Sorry Kawai.
The first concert included a six-hand piece I played with Dr Hecht and ZAD, and the second concert of the evening was a performance at YMS, where I finished the night off with Griffes's Scherzo.
The six-hand Romance was pretty alright, although I didn't stay to listen to what Dr Hecht had to say about our Polka too (both by Rachmaninov), because I had to take a taxi straight to the YMS.
I did a heck of lots of things in YST, like before performing on stage itself, I had to go backstage and print out lyrics for Hey Jude so that we could perform it later in the evening as a bye-bye song for Miss Goh, who had been in MEP for years.
Also, being the cohort's sabotaged guy/'mascot'/shortie/imba I had to give a impromptu speech that talked about our 4 years in RI and our briefy it was.
Whatever. It was a long night, and when I was finally done with everything, I settled down with the pear my dad stuffed into the bag, which was what was going to become my one and only dinner.
Obviously I slept later than usual.
The next morning, I woke up all dreary and leaky, thanks to a Benjamin Low cold from the day before. Yeap, I waited for an hour, lazing around, before finally leaving for my Graduation Ceremony, without waiting for my dad to wake up.
Anyway he came along later in the car, because he said he didn't want to miss me graduating (thanks pop). Sat around and behaved like good students in the world's most boring speeches, including an advertisement to join the Boon Lay Youth Club from the female Guest-of-Honour, exchanged punches with Lay Shide himself, got hit a couple of times, survived.
What followed next was a really stretching time, because I went for XD practice at the jamming studio.
Well, you can really feel it's different, because most people who go there don't really do anything except to laze around and fool with the drums and everything, but we were really practising for Graduation Night itself on a sunday AFTEROON. (is it?) or maybe it's evening.
Yeah, we went through repertoire, and discussed about the segues, on how to shift between songs, different riffs that we could try out, modulations and everything like that. Throughout the whole thing we were attempting to fix the amplifiers, so we got all the tools we can from the Arts Studio and start digging into the input hole, so we could get some things out. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done, and there was not really much we could do about it.
We left it to that.
Practised for 2 more hours, from 1 to 3, and then 3.40, and we were off to Yisin's house across the road. Here's the stretchy part - they decided to bring me along to play soccer at the CCAB at Dunearn Road/Evans Road, and I changed into some really lanky England shirt and a pants that would only befit a freaking kangeroo.
Cabbed to CCAB, met a J2 girl there from HCJC, and we started to play 2v2 soccer. I wasn't that rusty yet, but I have always doubted my own abilities. Heck, we actually played well yesterday.
For one, when we actually played a match against SJI people, we had only 4 people while the SJI guys had around 5.
We pawned them 6-0 in the end, (Gabriel enters the room and says that I am an egoitic bastard, and then asks me what's my typing speed, which I answer 115 a minute, and he says, "Kanninehbeh".) No really, we pwned them 6-0, maybe because they were lousy, but they had good team chemistry, and people like me who,
1) stand directly in front of the goal and not score
2) stand directly in front of the goal without a keeper who has been beaten and not be able to stop the ball and score
I later redeemed myself by tapping in a goal, and providing an assist to Daniel, who did a freaking back flick to beat those guys.
Yisin said we should let them score (like genuinely) cos they were Sec 2-3s, and if we kept scoring then it wouldn't be any kick.
Erm, after that I scored one, so that makes the score practically 6-0.
Daniel did 4.
Yeah whatever. The game ended, and we made our way to Daniel's house, thanks to a lift from the girl's mum. Showered, played FIFA there, had dinner with those guys at Burger King, and then we went back to Yisin's house at Bishan, where my dad picked me at 9.45
Not to forget we listened to Anberlin.
To think I could go home and relax, but no, we went to Miss Tan's house after that to have extra dinner with Miss Tan, ST, and Dr Hecht. Talked lots of music crap such as the key of the Nokia ringtone, which I concluded to be a huge perfect cadence that was filled with suspension. Lots of lobsters and huge prawns on the menu, but we finished them all.
We got home at 1.
I made it past the 2 days. And no, I didn't worship on Friday, it was fun, but well, tiring.
Guten Tag!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Half Hair Day
Half-productive day, that is.
I added four bars to my composition, but I feel real damn glad because at least I have the main structure in my head already and all its themes, and I'm closing following Prokofiev's sonatas. I have also been practising Ravel, although I seriously have no clue on what to practise other than just seperate hands and then combine them together again.
Sounds pathetic right? Well, it really is pathetic.
I decided to skip the last day of school, because I will be meeting them tomorrow and on Sunday anyway. So, not much of a last day of school!
Thinking about why all the boys and girls in the world are intrigued about my hair, I think I found the answer. Well, maybe not, but interesting things have happened to my hair before.
Interesting, but super-stupid, and embarassing.
Ok this happened at my cousin's house when I was around 13 (when my hair started to go mutant on me). After a tiring swim and a heck of splashing and waterpolo, I decided enough was enough, and I went up for a shower. So as per usual, I showered, and guess what I saw on the metal shelf! A twenty-one dollar hair shampoo!
Looked freaking expensive to me, and it should to you, anyway.
The liquid inside it was beautifully brown and golden, honeyed-coloured and perfectly the softest liquid I've probably ever felt. And it was encased in this heavy, semi-glass bottle that looked like it contained a thousand Calvin Kleins, Dolce Gabbanas, Guccis, Lagerfields, Hiltons that could just make you smell like heaven.
So twenty-one dollars went in my hand, and I started massaging my hair in twenty-one dollars of glory, honey and caramel.
Never realised what it was, until later.
Unless my scalp was counted as a pubic region, I wouldn't think of sueing the Body Shop for causing me to scratch my head for the next few hours like I'm a rabies-infected dog.
I never found out until 2 rounds of rinsing, because, hell, it smelled so good and it felt so gentle. I'm serious! But anyway I felt really good after that until it started itching like a dozen crap. I asked my aunt what kind of shampoo would cost so expensive, and she shouted, "Which shampoo did you use!?!"
Gulp.
Erm, the $3 dollar one. The one outside white colour with the lion face smiling on it right? The cute cute one right? Yeah, err, that one, that one!
"Better be."
So much for a white lie. Otherwise I think I would be left with no hair at all already.
[Erm, the $21 dollar one. The one...
"NNBCB! *#@$*&@*!"]
Morale of the story? Don't shower at a house that is inhibited by women. Most preferably, use the public bath, where everyone uses the same shampoo and lotion. Yeah, the one outside white colour with the lion face smiling on it...
For those of you who don't know why my hair is powderful, I don't have an answer also. All I know is that it is so malleable and strong, that when I keep it long and manufacture a unicorn's horn, it's possible for me to knock down a correction tape on a table.
I try that personally, although my classmates have managed to see me of characters like a two-pronged err, demon. Or worst, Medusa herself. At best, the character from Dragon Ball-Z called Vegeta.
Then again a few say I look like a punk rock musician when I comb my hair to the left towards my eyebrow [like the one you see in my blog photo and occasionally my MSN DP], and I've heard cries of 'gay!' or as Wasin politely placed it, 'like a guy who goes out with older women'.
I aptly pointed to him the 'one way to heaven' sign.
But we both smiled, so it isn't really that a problem actually.
Ever since my hair gone mutant on me, life has been different. Well, you can touch my hair all you want, I wouldn't go Muslim on all of you and tell you to meet me after school so we can duke it out.
(Apparently, some guy actually touched this Muslim guy's hair and the latter arranged a fight after school. )
But you have to know that you're touching special quality hair.
You know, the twenty-three dollar one, that kind. Ah, that kind. :)
P.S Apparently a COUPLE OF PEOPLE already tried to highlight the empty space at my previous post at the end of it -.- Even I did myself hahaha. Kinda gets you thinking, wth would Jonathan Shin put there?
P.S.S Then again I would be to lazy to find the colour of my blogskin. Don't bother. Ain't it irresistable?
I added four bars to my composition, but I feel real damn glad because at least I have the main structure in my head already and all its themes, and I'm closing following Prokofiev's sonatas. I have also been practising Ravel, although I seriously have no clue on what to practise other than just seperate hands and then combine them together again.
Sounds pathetic right? Well, it really is pathetic.
I decided to skip the last day of school, because I will be meeting them tomorrow and on Sunday anyway. So, not much of a last day of school!
Thinking about why all the boys and girls in the world are intrigued about my hair, I think I found the answer. Well, maybe not, but interesting things have happened to my hair before.
Interesting, but super-stupid, and embarassing.
Ok this happened at my cousin's house when I was around 13 (when my hair started to go mutant on me). After a tiring swim and a heck of splashing and waterpolo, I decided enough was enough, and I went up for a shower. So as per usual, I showered, and guess what I saw on the metal shelf! A twenty-one dollar hair shampoo!
Looked freaking expensive to me, and it should to you, anyway.
The liquid inside it was beautifully brown and golden, honeyed-coloured and perfectly the softest liquid I've probably ever felt. And it was encased in this heavy, semi-glass bottle that looked like it contained a thousand Calvin Kleins, Dolce Gabbanas, Guccis, Lagerfields, Hiltons that could just make you smell like heaven.
So twenty-one dollars went in my hand, and I started massaging my hair in twenty-one dollars of glory, honey and caramel.
Never realised what it was, until later.
Unless my scalp was counted as a pubic region, I wouldn't think of sueing the Body Shop for causing me to scratch my head for the next few hours like I'm a rabies-infected dog.
I never found out until 2 rounds of rinsing, because, hell, it smelled so good and it felt so gentle. I'm serious! But anyway I felt really good after that until it started itching like a dozen crap. I asked my aunt what kind of shampoo would cost so expensive, and she shouted, "Which shampoo did you use!?!"
Gulp.
Erm, the $3 dollar one. The one outside white colour with the lion face smiling on it right? The cute cute one right? Yeah, err, that one, that one!
"Better be."
So much for a white lie. Otherwise I think I would be left with no hair at all already.
[Erm, the $21 dollar one. The one...
"NNBCB! *#@$*&@*!"]
Morale of the story? Don't shower at a house that is inhibited by women. Most preferably, use the public bath, where everyone uses the same shampoo and lotion. Yeah, the one outside white colour with the lion face smiling on it...
For those of you who don't know why my hair is powderful, I don't have an answer also. All I know is that it is so malleable and strong, that when I keep it long and manufacture a unicorn's horn, it's possible for me to knock down a correction tape on a table.
I try that personally, although my classmates have managed to see me of characters like a two-pronged err, demon. Or worst, Medusa herself. At best, the character from Dragon Ball-Z called Vegeta.
Then again a few say I look like a punk rock musician when I comb my hair to the left towards my eyebrow [like the one you see in my blog photo and occasionally my MSN DP], and I've heard cries of 'gay!' or as Wasin politely placed it, 'like a guy who goes out with older women'.
I aptly pointed to him the 'one way to heaven' sign.
But we both smiled, so it isn't really that a problem actually.
Ever since my hair gone mutant on me, life has been different. Well, you can touch my hair all you want, I wouldn't go Muslim on all of you and tell you to meet me after school so we can duke it out.
(Apparently, some guy actually touched this Muslim guy's hair and the latter arranged a fight after school. )
But you have to know that you're touching special quality hair.
You know, the twenty-three dollar one, that kind. Ah, that kind. :)
P.S Apparently a COUPLE OF PEOPLE already tried to highlight the empty space at my previous post at the end of it -.- Even I did myself hahaha. Kinda gets you thinking, wth would Jonathan Shin put there?
P.S.S Then again I would be to lazy to find the colour of my blogskin. Don't bother. Ain't it irresistable?
Monday, November 3, 2008
childhood scares
Where shall I start. It is the second last day of school, and I hardly feel any sorrow or despair.
Because 4L seems to be able to last forever, anywhere, anytime. Maybe it's because I've faced a couple of losses in my life, and all I think about everyday is today, and then tomorrow. Hardly think about the past.
Like, what I ate for dinner yesterday, or further back, what utensils I used for dinner.
Was it the SIA one, or was it the SilkAir one?
Just realised my parents used to take utensils from every airline they went on.
Today I'm going to talk about my childhood scares.
Erm...my earliest one was when I was just 5, and barely starting to read. My first few books were like, The Three Little Pigs, Red Riding Hood, The Three Billy Goats, yeah those.
I entirely remember the Three Little Pigs coverpage of the Ladybird book, because it was so damned scary ok. Like, really scary, it showed a profile picture of a freaking wolf, all dark and furry.
What, some criminal mug shot to scare kids? Go screw yourself Ladybird.
Anyway these books were always kept in the storeroom, so it was dark and scary, and everytime I wanted my dad or my mum to read the books, I would like, run in and take the books out, because the distance was especially huge.
I think I could cross the entire room today in probably 3 steps. Then, it felt like some dastard farmer grew couple of weeds in the room for me just to get the books.
Anyway I could never reach the lights, and often I just ran in and then out of the room just to get those books. Argh! If only there were Internet. I could just google and then read it.
My second biggest scare (6 years old) was a newspaper article I read about a game of tug-of-war which ended in a 'broken arm'. Those two words absolutely freaked me out, because I've never seen or heard any kind of mutilation before until that fateful night. I couldn't contrive how it could be possible that an arm could be 'broken', and I remembered myself sitting there in the living room with my mum, with just one light on and the TV dimly tuned to Channel 8.
I kept asking whether the whole arm came off, and whether IT COULD COME AND FIND ITS WAY TO MY BEDROOM.
I never managed to comprehend that it was just the bone instead that was broken, and I was constantly hearing from my mum never to play tug-of-war or tie the rope around the arm in order to gain more leverage.
Now I'm thinking, which human being will tie a rope end around his arm just to get leverage? Well, many. But hell, the other team was stronger, and the sudden force just made his whole arm pop.
I didn't sleep for most of the night, kept freaking staring at the doorway for that arm.
It never came.
And now, for the top of the list, my scariest childhood moment ever.
Watching Michael Jackson's album, Thriller.
Erm, you know the part where Jackson finishes the song, and then turns his head around to show those yellow wolf-eyes of his? Go find yourself a sink and drown in it, Jackson. You entirely killed my childhood sunshine the moment I saw those.
For goodness sake, what else could I have been expecting? I thought he was just going to smile at the camera, hell, he came up with some stupid wolf-eye that made me crap in my pants. I think I didn't sleep for days after that, it was all just memorising the multiplication time table and mumbling off till I actually fell alsleep.
Then again it probably felt like hours when I was young, but nowadays, keh, put it to minutes.
I have loads more actually, like how I ran around a table when my mum tried to cane me, and kept running and running around the table, until she sort of realised that the cane was long enough to whack me from that distance. How stupid could I be.
I remembered I always kept worrying about something under my bed, and I always forced myself to sleep UNDER THE BED just for a little while to confirm there wasn't anything there.
The journey to sleep on the bed to under was long and torturous, but through willpower, I managed something that I would find utterly stupid today.
Should I attempt to sleep under my bed, I would pray so hard that I don't get any bad dreams, or that I don't feel like taking a piss in the middle of the night.
Otherwise...
I'll be pissing blood from my head.
Today's Rachmaninov rehearsal was good enough, managed to memorise everything without screwing up anything. I'll also be preparing for Ravel on Wednesday. And Griffes on Thursday.
Oh shit (sugar!) oh shit. There's still Griffes. It's a fun piece to play, but that means I have to get ready three different pieces for this week. After Thursday, I'm free!
And free never fails to mean fun.
Fun and free is good.
Fun and free is the church.
I'll go worship on Friday.
Because 4L seems to be able to last forever, anywhere, anytime. Maybe it's because I've faced a couple of losses in my life, and all I think about everyday is today, and then tomorrow. Hardly think about the past.
Like, what I ate for dinner yesterday, or further back, what utensils I used for dinner.
Was it the SIA one, or was it the SilkAir one?
Just realised my parents used to take utensils from every airline they went on.
Today I'm going to talk about my childhood scares.
Erm...my earliest one was when I was just 5, and barely starting to read. My first few books were like, The Three Little Pigs, Red Riding Hood, The Three Billy Goats, yeah those.
I entirely remember the Three Little Pigs coverpage of the Ladybird book, because it was so damned scary ok. Like, really scary, it showed a profile picture of a freaking wolf, all dark and furry.
What, some criminal mug shot to scare kids? Go screw yourself Ladybird.
Anyway these books were always kept in the storeroom, so it was dark and scary, and everytime I wanted my dad or my mum to read the books, I would like, run in and take the books out, because the distance was especially huge.
I think I could cross the entire room today in probably 3 steps. Then, it felt like some dastard farmer grew couple of weeds in the room for me just to get the books.
Anyway I could never reach the lights, and often I just ran in and then out of the room just to get those books. Argh! If only there were Internet. I could just google and then read it.
My second biggest scare (6 years old) was a newspaper article I read about a game of tug-of-war which ended in a 'broken arm'. Those two words absolutely freaked me out, because I've never seen or heard any kind of mutilation before until that fateful night. I couldn't contrive how it could be possible that an arm could be 'broken', and I remembered myself sitting there in the living room with my mum, with just one light on and the TV dimly tuned to Channel 8.
I kept asking whether the whole arm came off, and whether IT COULD COME AND FIND ITS WAY TO MY BEDROOM.
I never managed to comprehend that it was just the bone instead that was broken, and I was constantly hearing from my mum never to play tug-of-war or tie the rope around the arm in order to gain more leverage.
Now I'm thinking, which human being will tie a rope end around his arm just to get leverage? Well, many. But hell, the other team was stronger, and the sudden force just made his whole arm pop.
I didn't sleep for most of the night, kept freaking staring at the doorway for that arm.
It never came.
And now, for the top of the list, my scariest childhood moment ever.
Watching Michael Jackson's album, Thriller.
Erm, you know the part where Jackson finishes the song, and then turns his head around to show those yellow wolf-eyes of his? Go find yourself a sink and drown in it, Jackson. You entirely killed my childhood sunshine the moment I saw those.
For goodness sake, what else could I have been expecting? I thought he was just going to smile at the camera, hell, he came up with some stupid wolf-eye that made me crap in my pants. I think I didn't sleep for days after that, it was all just memorising the multiplication time table and mumbling off till I actually fell alsleep.
Then again it probably felt like hours when I was young, but nowadays, keh, put it to minutes.
I have loads more actually, like how I ran around a table when my mum tried to cane me, and kept running and running around the table, until she sort of realised that the cane was long enough to whack me from that distance. How stupid could I be.
I remembered I always kept worrying about something under my bed, and I always forced myself to sleep UNDER THE BED just for a little while to confirm there wasn't anything there.
The journey to sleep on the bed to under was long and torturous, but through willpower, I managed something that I would find utterly stupid today.
Should I attempt to sleep under my bed, I would pray so hard that I don't get any bad dreams, or that I don't feel like taking a piss in the middle of the night.
Otherwise...
I'll be pissing blood from my head.
Today's Rachmaninov rehearsal was good enough, managed to memorise everything without screwing up anything. I'll also be preparing for Ravel on Wednesday. And Griffes on Thursday.
Oh shit (sugar!) oh shit. There's still Griffes. It's a fun piece to play, but that means I have to get ready three different pieces for this week. After Thursday, I'm free!
And free never fails to mean fun.
Fun and free is good.
Fun and free is the church.
I'll go worship on Friday.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
If.
Another long day from Jonathan Shin.
This morning started with church ...-.- ok just after I started typing this my dad goes,
"I'm going to sleep now!" (9.43pm)"Huh so early?"
"That's why I have no pimples! Muahahaha"
You suck, dad :)
Ok ahem this morning started with church, and I was standing up the entire session with my dad because we came late and didn't manage to find any seats, so we stood at the back for the whole time. I was thinking about how Andrew said my church was so cool, along with the cross at the top of the building that could be seen on Google Earth.
Today was All Souls' Day, where they commemorate all the departed brothers and sisters just like my mum.
Originally upon entering the collumbarium I thought it was All-Chinese-People-Stand-In-Front-Of-The-Collabarium-To-Pay-Respects-In-Chinese-Language Day, but it was not to be, for my discovery that it was All Souls' Day would come later.
Yeah. After church I went back home just to relax and nap and watch Arsenal score one goal in the recorded match yesterday. Yesterday I totally went delusional, because when Arsenal was 2-0 down against Stoke, I switched off the TV.
This morning I was so praying to myself that Arsenal came back 3-2 against Stoke for the whole of this morning without looking at the papers. Lol. Of course we lost.
Two of us piled into the car before driving down Bukit Timah lane towards Henderson Road to get me contact lenses. In the end when we came out we didn't get anything, partly because contact lenses cost so freaking expensive.
We then went to Ikea just to eat, and we wanted to get light bulbs plus a floor mat, but in the end we didn't. Just ate and ate and ate.
Got to Serangoon, lost 3-1 to Nigel (my cousin) in water rugby/soccer/waterpolo, had dinner (THAT'S THE MAIN POINT, not the game), and then back home. National Treasure, then back here.
I've been trying to imitate Neil Humphrey's writing style for a super long time, except that I keep failing because in the first place the context is different. He writes on specific articles, while I write on days of my life. I'm better than me.
Well, we can start by writing on a certain topic. What topic shall we choose today? On why we borrow books from the library and don't read them? That's only for me.
What has caught my eye recently?
Y...
Seriously seriously seriously. Oh yes, on how messy my study room is.
It certainly has become much cleaner over the recent times, because everything is now placed in drawers and shelves and everything. But my end-of-years are still hanging around, red ink over green papers, blue ink over white papers with tons of lines on it. And then there's the usual manuscript paper filled with tons of scribbles and black dots everywhere, some of my sketches.
I hardly find the need to organize everything. If I can find it, then it's organized. If I can see it, then it's organized. But then again there's a limit to what my brain can do.
Then we're back to the need to organize.
Jump topic. To the process of composition:
I first start out when I'm in the shower. It's good time to sing melodies that sound worthy. Usually there are in Db, Ab, or A major, or Gb major.
After that when my hair is still wet and not dried, I rush over to any paper I can find and then write it down.
I have learnt my lesson, this time, I write the exact harmony along with the melody, and the rhythms. When I was younger, I couldn't be bothered, and thus probably half my output disappeared.
I think it's a gift, because I don't really need a keyboard to write basic ideas, so I can figure out harmonies and melodies with a kinda ease. But when things get complicated and sometimes you need a spark of inspiration, the keyboard comes to play.
Mostly, I find the keyboard as a tool of editing, because I write all my rough sketches through mind, when I shut out my ears and open up my mind and process the entire harmony and melody.
It takes up probably 2 gigabytes just to do this, and I only can do it when I use my hands to cover my ears, look like I'm praying really hard that the ground will open up and eat me, and then use my right hand to quickly write down whatever I just thought of.
After doing this, I'll probably at most come up with one page of music that sounds ok enough but definitely definitely not performable. That's when I bring out the keyboard, and do all the minor editings and the instances of magick.
Slowly but surely, each page is carved out, but the going really gets tough, because I struggle to make connections between themes. It really takes a smartass to do that. I'm not a smartass yet.
BCM took approximately 6-8 hours to complete, most of them done at night, under the cover of the study light in my room, with my dad sleeping. I was caught sleeping out with BCM still in my hand, TV still on, and dad back from work.
Never a good situation to be in, but the BCM never got a touch of drool, which is great.
I remember two months ago being a super crazy month, because I was like spamming cup noodles and practising piano (I don't know for what, maybe cos of Ibiza and Germany), composing stuff, and doing nothing else.
No wait, composing UNDER THE TABLE! oh yes. Bryan and Ian would certainly remember that.
I'm planning to submit my composition to ABRSM. Apparently there's a composition competition going on, and the top prizewinner gets 1000 pounds. No high hopes, everyone probably has their composition teacher, and I'm doing empirical methods still. I'll probably be laughing my ass off if I get anything.
If.
This morning started with church ...-.- ok just after I started typing this my dad goes,
"I'm going to sleep now!" (9.43pm)"Huh so early?"
"That's why I have no pimples! Muahahaha"
You suck, dad :)
Ok ahem this morning started with church, and I was standing up the entire session with my dad because we came late and didn't manage to find any seats, so we stood at the back for the whole time. I was thinking about how Andrew said my church was so cool, along with the cross at the top of the building that could be seen on Google Earth.
Today was All Souls' Day, where they commemorate all the departed brothers and sisters just like my mum.
Originally upon entering the collumbarium I thought it was All-Chinese-People-Stand-In-Front-Of-The-Collabarium-To-Pay-Respects-In-Chinese-Language Day, but it was not to be, for my discovery that it was All Souls' Day would come later.
Yeah. After church I went back home just to relax and nap and watch Arsenal score one goal in the recorded match yesterday. Yesterday I totally went delusional, because when Arsenal was 2-0 down against Stoke, I switched off the TV.
This morning I was so praying to myself that Arsenal came back 3-2 against Stoke for the whole of this morning without looking at the papers. Lol. Of course we lost.
Two of us piled into the car before driving down Bukit Timah lane towards Henderson Road to get me contact lenses. In the end when we came out we didn't get anything, partly because contact lenses cost so freaking expensive.
We then went to Ikea just to eat, and we wanted to get light bulbs plus a floor mat, but in the end we didn't. Just ate and ate and ate.
Got to Serangoon, lost 3-1 to Nigel (my cousin) in water rugby/soccer/waterpolo, had dinner (THAT'S THE MAIN POINT, not the game), and then back home. National Treasure, then back here.
I've been trying to imitate Neil Humphrey's writing style for a super long time, except that I keep failing because in the first place the context is different. He writes on specific articles, while I write on days of my life. I'm better than me.
Well, we can start by writing on a certain topic. What topic shall we choose today? On why we borrow books from the library and don't read them? That's only for me.
What has caught my eye recently?
Y...
Seriously seriously seriously. Oh yes, on how messy my study room is.
It certainly has become much cleaner over the recent times, because everything is now placed in drawers and shelves and everything. But my end-of-years are still hanging around, red ink over green papers, blue ink over white papers with tons of lines on it. And then there's the usual manuscript paper filled with tons of scribbles and black dots everywhere, some of my sketches.
I hardly find the need to organize everything. If I can find it, then it's organized. If I can see it, then it's organized. But then again there's a limit to what my brain can do.
Then we're back to the need to organize.
Jump topic. To the process of composition:
I first start out when I'm in the shower. It's good time to sing melodies that sound worthy. Usually there are in Db, Ab, or A major, or Gb major.
After that when my hair is still wet and not dried, I rush over to any paper I can find and then write it down.
I have learnt my lesson, this time, I write the exact harmony along with the melody, and the rhythms. When I was younger, I couldn't be bothered, and thus probably half my output disappeared.
I think it's a gift, because I don't really need a keyboard to write basic ideas, so I can figure out harmonies and melodies with a kinda ease. But when things get complicated and sometimes you need a spark of inspiration, the keyboard comes to play.
Mostly, I find the keyboard as a tool of editing, because I write all my rough sketches through mind, when I shut out my ears and open up my mind and process the entire harmony and melody.
It takes up probably 2 gigabytes just to do this, and I only can do it when I use my hands to cover my ears, look like I'm praying really hard that the ground will open up and eat me, and then use my right hand to quickly write down whatever I just thought of.
After doing this, I'll probably at most come up with one page of music that sounds ok enough but definitely definitely not performable. That's when I bring out the keyboard, and do all the minor editings and the instances of magick.
Slowly but surely, each page is carved out, but the going really gets tough, because I struggle to make connections between themes. It really takes a smartass to do that. I'm not a smartass yet.
BCM took approximately 6-8 hours to complete, most of them done at night, under the cover of the study light in my room, with my dad sleeping. I was caught sleeping out with BCM still in my hand, TV still on, and dad back from work.
Never a good situation to be in, but the BCM never got a touch of drool, which is great.
I remember two months ago being a super crazy month, because I was like spamming cup noodles and practising piano (I don't know for what, maybe cos of Ibiza and Germany), composing stuff, and doing nothing else.
No wait, composing UNDER THE TABLE! oh yes. Bryan and Ian would certainly remember that.
I'm planning to submit my composition to ABRSM. Apparently there's a composition competition going on, and the top prizewinner gets 1000 pounds. No high hopes, everyone probably has their composition teacher, and I'm doing empirical methods still. I'll probably be laughing my ass off if I get anything.
If.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
last minute crap
It's bad. Really bad. It's not good.
One shouldn't be doing this. Shouldn't be doing everything last minute, before-hand without preparation, and attempting to smoke the way through. Here are the last minute things I have done in very recent times -
Ironically, Rafflesian Spotlight is counted as one last minute thing, because we did it impromptu.
PM Lee was one red-hot last minute item, because we dragged along Nigel 3 hours before, and gave Joseph the lyrics the very morning. And called him to take the shirt and pants that midnight.
My exam studying were all last-minute, all the day before. Entirely not ideal.
I know I've done so many last minute things, even down to everyday life. Not preparing what to bring before going outdoors, just changing and packing down to the very last second.
I don't do that for music. I prepare everything quite beforehand. But apparently it's starting to affect the way I do music too.
We memorised Rachmaninov last minute. Like, one hour before lesson, we just forced ourselves to memorise the entire thing. This shouldn't be the case! I should have memorised it long ago.
This really isn't a post for you guys to read, just a contemplative post from me. About how impromptu some things can be in my life.
Then again, John Yu asked me a few moments ago about my favourite Beatles songs.
Contemplative: Here Comes The Sun
Moody: Let It Be
Funeral: In My Life
Love: Here There Everywhere
Happy: Drive My Car
Revolutionary: Revolution
Hyper: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Jealous: Jealous Guy
Crazy: Get Back
"So, what, are you going to sign up for your options in RJC 10 minutes before?"
what a thoughtful line.
I must change myself.
How? How? Let's start with the testimonial.
One shouldn't be doing this. Shouldn't be doing everything last minute, before-hand without preparation, and attempting to smoke the way through. Here are the last minute things I have done in very recent times -
Ironically, Rafflesian Spotlight is counted as one last minute thing, because we did it impromptu.
PM Lee was one red-hot last minute item, because we dragged along Nigel 3 hours before, and gave Joseph the lyrics the very morning. And called him to take the shirt and pants that midnight.
My exam studying were all last-minute, all the day before. Entirely not ideal.
I know I've done so many last minute things, even down to everyday life. Not preparing what to bring before going outdoors, just changing and packing down to the very last second.
I don't do that for music. I prepare everything quite beforehand. But apparently it's starting to affect the way I do music too.
We memorised Rachmaninov last minute. Like, one hour before lesson, we just forced ourselves to memorise the entire thing. This shouldn't be the case! I should have memorised it long ago.
This really isn't a post for you guys to read, just a contemplative post from me. About how impromptu some things can be in my life.
Then again, John Yu asked me a few moments ago about my favourite Beatles songs.
Contemplative: Here Comes The Sun
Moody: Let It Be
Funeral: In My Life
Love: Here There Everywhere
Happy: Drive My Car
Revolutionary: Revolution
Hyper: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Jealous: Jealous Guy
Crazy: Get Back
"So, what, are you going to sign up for your options in RJC 10 minutes before?"
what a thoughtful line.
I must change myself.
How? How? Let's start with the testimonial.
The journey ends without the slightest regret!
And so ends our journey in Rafflesian Spotlight, and participating in the Marina Barrage thing to sing for Prime Minister Lee. I was singing for nearly half the day, and by the end I think my lungs just gave out. But there was enough time for me to still go eat supper with Fiona at McDonalds.
We then took the MRT back home, but by the time we reached Kranji, the MRT station shut down.
What's the past tense of shut down? Shat down? Heck.
Anyway so we took a taxi back but my dad had to pay for us -.- super embarassing sial. Emergency funds not in my wallet. Crap!!
Ok that's not the main point. The main point is that we didn't even get any of the top prizes in Rafflesian Spotlight! That's such a sad thing but I'm not feeling too bitter or anything. Before that we got to perform for PM Lee though, so it kinda nullified the feeling in the end.
Again the PM Lee thing was impromptu, because we didn't practise until yesterday morning! And we roped Nigel in, to harmonise with him at the very last minute, right before we took the car trip to the event at the Marina Barrage.
How amazing can RI guys get.
Adrian Pang: Let me confirm, you guys are from RI?
Me: Yeah
AP: What are your names? :)
Me: Jonathan, Joseph and Nigel
AP: Ok thanks!
Me: And what's yours?
AP: Adrian.
Nigel: Hehehe....sneaky huh? Jonshin sneaky...
Yeah but we put up a good show.
We then rushed back to RI to perform the final show of the night, and that was the Musical Comedy Impromptu thingy that probably everyone here knows. If you don't know what we're doing still? We sing anything text you give us, including melodies, harmonies, and pure entertainment.
But the other groups deserve it lah, just that apparently one of the organisers told me that the judges were the one who decided, because we tied for 2nd place in terms of votes.
I don't understand why they did that, but I know I will someday. Probably cos "you guys were geniuses", and we got penalized for that.
Yawn.
I'm super tired really. All my muscles and bones are aching, and I'm not in the best of mood currently (as in not pissed), just not upbeat and smiling. TIRED. really tired...
Although I'm sure i don't feel an inch of regret, cos we did our best, and I'm damn sure there wasn't anything we could improve on. But I'm planning in JC we could add drums and lead guitar and bass, and then it would sound awesome.
You would need 5 people with telepathy already. That would seriously be fun!
We then took the MRT back home, but by the time we reached Kranji, the MRT station shut down.
What's the past tense of shut down? Shat down? Heck.
Anyway so we took a taxi back but my dad had to pay for us -.- super embarassing sial. Emergency funds not in my wallet. Crap!!
Ok that's not the main point. The main point is that we didn't even get any of the top prizes in Rafflesian Spotlight! That's such a sad thing but I'm not feeling too bitter or anything. Before that we got to perform for PM Lee though, so it kinda nullified the feeling in the end.
Again the PM Lee thing was impromptu, because we didn't practise until yesterday morning! And we roped Nigel in, to harmonise with him at the very last minute, right before we took the car trip to the event at the Marina Barrage.
How amazing can RI guys get.
Adrian Pang: Let me confirm, you guys are from RI?
Me: Yeah
AP: What are your names? :)
Me: Jonathan, Joseph and Nigel
AP: Ok thanks!
Me: And what's yours?
AP: Adrian.
Nigel: Hehehe....sneaky huh? Jonshin sneaky...
Yeah but we put up a good show.
We then rushed back to RI to perform the final show of the night, and that was the Musical Comedy Impromptu thingy that probably everyone here knows. If you don't know what we're doing still? We sing anything text you give us, including melodies, harmonies, and pure entertainment.
But the other groups deserve it lah, just that apparently one of the organisers told me that the judges were the one who decided, because we tied for 2nd place in terms of votes.
I don't understand why they did that, but I know I will someday. Probably cos "you guys were geniuses", and we got penalized for that.
Yawn.
I'm super tired really. All my muscles and bones are aching, and I'm not in the best of mood currently (as in not pissed), just not upbeat and smiling. TIRED. really tired...
Although I'm sure i don't feel an inch of regret, cos we did our best, and I'm damn sure there wasn't anything we could improve on. But I'm planning in JC we could add drums and lead guitar and bass, and then it would sound awesome.
You would need 5 people with telepathy already. That would seriously be fun!
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