snakeweed

Part 1
New Year Resolutions - since Hongrui did one I think I better do one too. Alright but I'll do really really short ones because I have no time to think of things to resolute this year.

Really Short New Year Resolutions:
1. Finish washing my clothings I wore today
2. Shower
3. Finish half of the pork floss cake for supper
4. Sleep before 2

Part 2
Studio recording at Snakeweed Studios. We didn't record my part today, its been pushed to being the first thing we're recording tomorrow afternoon. Listening to the chords and stuff now, thinking of what effects to stuff in. While waiting for our turns to record, we spammed my PSP and Daniel's laptop.

What boring things to blog about.

Eugene got me a Beatles card deck he bought from Liverpool for a New Year's present! I literally jumped up and down at the wooden stairs. Thanks, Eugene.

And I better start reading on Economics now.

sex education in RJC?

Oh so I did blog more in 2008 compared to 2007. 1st day of the 2009 was spent at Professor Tang's house.

We met Professor Tang during the China trip, and now he and my dad are great wine buddies. So they down two bottles of wine, and even my dad can't take a third, but Tang said he wasn't feeling a high yet. Congratulations, my dad has finally met his match.

You obviously knew my dad didn't go behind the wheels, because if he did I wouldn't dare to sit inside the car (not like he has ever done that before). Got back home, showered, slept. No, read Oryx and Crake before sleeping.

Can't imagine myself writing a book review about it. Actually I can, maybe it's the music playing in the background that just fuzzes my mind up.

Went to the Conservatory again, couldn't refrain from smiling like a mad man when I saw the 2-piano room from the bus I was in. Gosh, can't wait for it to start. I like challenges. Met Dr Hecht, and he passed me a 6-can Guiness pack.

Yeah, right, for me to finish.


She stands at a distance while I gingerly pour the pancake flour-water mixture into the frying pan. Soon it forms a neat circle, but I cross my fingers. My pancakes usually develop air holes at the surface. Hers, well there were air holes, but at most they could be counted with just one hand. Or maybe even none.

And then they start appearing, popping up at random. Cue dismal face.

"My dad says women can tahan great amounts of pain," I turned to her and said.

"Of course! Do you know how painful labour can be?"

Vigorous nodding of heads.

"Yeah I know, I know."

"How would you know?"

Laughter all around the cooking area. I flip the pancake round, the side up coloured golden, with an obvious black burn mark - just another screwed pancake to add to the list.

"This one's mine."


Sounds familiar? Yeah, it's a comprehension passage I dug out from the bowels of my fuzzy mind. What does this one refer to in Paragraph 7?


I heard from Paul that RJC is going to spam us with sex education lessons right from the beginning. We could do with chanting the we wouldn't have sex in the toilets mantra for an hour before class starts. Maybe installing black stickers in the toilets and claiming they are CCTV cameras might work.

Or install real ones and the security guards would be spotted drooling in front of rows of black-and-white flickering screens. Ee-yer.

Now...

It has come to pass that I am fated to spend the Countdown alone! What a terrifying thought. Yes Surya, as in, alone alone. My dad went to a countdown party at some Serangoon Club. I refused to add to the bill or take a taxi, so I'm at home vacuuming the floor and watching Discovery Channel.

Had a bowl of congee for dinner at Bukit Panjang, I think I looked a little sad.

It was great that we managed to cook some pancakes this morning, didn't know it could be that simple. Better go and get some of the ready-made flour myself. Maple syrup, peanut butter. Honey? Urgh. Finished the chords for ‘？’, look through photos I took in China.

I plan to sleep the coming New Year away by pulling out that sofa-bed in the living room and listening to the Carpenters. My FIFA 09 skills have also improved, which is a cause for some cheer. Last room to vacuum, and that would be the study room.

Maybe I'll do a short walk down memory lane.

Rewind back to a few hours before 2000, and everyone was being stupidly panic-ky about the Y2000 bug, which never happened in the end. I remembered we were at Westmall doing shopping at around 9 (which was unusual because I should be practising from 8-10), and we were outside the Popular store. And my mum threatened me (sort of) that everyone would die. Woohoo, I was freaked out.

I stayed up till 12am to watch the countdown, and for the first time thought I had never seen the sky so dark before. You know, it's interesting when you're a kid, and the first time you woke up at 7am and saw the colour of sky, you go all googoogahgah.

Wait till you've stayed up for 24 hours, and you might have gone googoogahzzz...

At least that's what happened to me, lah.

Have I ever mentioned that 2008 has been such a topsy-turvy year? If you asked me to describe this year, I wouldn't even know where to begin. Exactly 1 year at this time I was invited to a count-down party at Trevor Sze's house, along with John Yu and some other String Ensemble guys. Sipped just a bit of the alcohol, and I was close to shutting down, couldn't even locate Lavender MRT. Got back home at 11.45pm, just in time to watch the countdown.

Now...[refer back to first paragraph and keep reading]

Happy New Year 2009, in advance.

The Text that got..whatever.

It's as if you all know that I wouldn't continue blogging about China anymore, which you all are right about.

But no, I just want to give special mention to the food there - it's been months since I tasted such good rice. Just refreshing, warm rice from the rice bucket, continuously scooped up by me and dumped into my bowl to be consumed. Ah, the rice-y rice. Yum.

At one particular restaurant they served a wine which was 50% alcohol [wondered how many people have died in that restaurant already], and all my cousins except for me and one cute other cousin tasted it. Imagine the scrunched up faces.

Whatever. It's fantastic to be back in Singapore, feeling the humid air and the breeze that (does not always) blow across my sunny island. I didn't realize my fashion insulation until I stepped out of the aeroplane into the connecting bridge - I was still wearing 5 layers of clothing. Sweat like a mountain pig.

We managed to watch Bedtime Stories yesterday night, what a hilarious show. Much wordplay and great comic timing from Adam Sandler. Had chicken rice and ban-mian before that, popcorn during the movie, done. Off to start and finish Twinkle in a day!

The Text that got reprinted more times than Monkey King Part 1

Back from China, and feeling the heat already, literally. I'm still bler-bler about when school starts, but I reckon it's next Thursday, where we start our orientation and holding hands with girls :O I hate orientation camps where they make us hold hands with girls.


I'm still waiting to upgrade after managing to make hand contact with my cousin's dog Cookie.

Ok China trip has its ups and downs, like how I made semi-friends with a hyper-active guy whom I couldn't stand (which must be a big deal seems it looks as if I'm hyper-active enough). I dao-ed him for the rest of the trip, because if I made any attempt to answer any of his questions, it would make it look as if I were INTERESTED to continue the conversation, and that would be that.


I would be stuck talking to him forever and ever, amen. I wouldn't mind if "him" started with a capital letter, but unfortunately, it isn't.

You see, you wouldn't really want to talk to a person who interjects in every conversation about the same soccer game (the game in question would be Arsenal's draw with Aston Villa). We could be talking over dinner about politics, and then suddenly this hyper-active kaki of ours would refer back to this game which took place years ago, and how he wouldn't mind sacking William Gallas for hacking down a player if he were Arsene Wenger.

You could have told me how you would wish you were white if you were Obama, and I wouldn't care.

But anyway yes, all the cousins came to a consensus that his intellect was questionable, and we left it to that. At least I was tolerant and I didn't scream at him when he told me how Arsenal drew the game with Aston Villa (for the 4th time) while I was taking a pee. Never should have told him I was an Arsenal supporter. Never should have told any of you! Haha now I'll be teased till the end of my days.

Our Kunming tour guide was fantastic, she was really strict and firm about everything, but she was funny and sarcastic, so we all liked her. The local tour guide (that is, the Singaporean tour guide) was so passive all the while, and the only thing he did was to tell us to watch our step everytime we got off the bus.

Us kids started betting on what new vocabulary he would add into his arsenal of greetings. Paddy Power gave us the odds of 1 to 2 that he would greet us with Merry Christmas on 25th of December, so that wasn't much of a big deal. He...never had much character development, although he played an important part in this Chinese theatre later in the show.

After Kunming we went to Dali, and as I had previously mentioned, all the rural town areas were turning out like ghost towns, with only a few scooters or motorcycles around, and the not-so-frequent cars being covered with sand, concrete and dust. Jolly, it sure did look like a war-zone, except there weren't any corpses around.

But there were roadkill though, and more often than not the bus driver (who was widely hailed as one of the best in the world) had to dodge stray dogs and carcasses that lined the road. And yes, throughout the entire trip I only managed to see 3 cats, and I reeally had to do my best to spot them - one was on top of a random roof, another one was maneuvering its way by a river bank, and another one camoflauged on the floor of a village house, by a fireplace, right in front of my feet. It took me a while to see it. Gosh, cats are sneeeeky.

We went to a dinosaur park in Dali, took wonderful wonderful pictures which I would (not) upload shortly, though I have a whole of a mind to show it to people. We also came to a stone forest.

Picture a forest of trees, but replace all the trees with huge stones, and voila! Stone forest. Keh.

Anyway it was a majestic sight, with stones lining the horizon at every turn. We finally managed to reach a pagoda built to allow people like us to take in the sights, and the results? Absolutely stunning. Managed to capture sun rays that cut through the clouds, casting a faint glow upon the random ranks of rocks.

But there was another stone of a different kind, and the tour guide mentioned to us that if we were to avoid the toilets because of the smell, certainly kidney stones would start to develop. Yeah, she told us about one woman who decided not to open her dam gates, and when finally knew could not pay enough rent to hold it any longer, took an opening ceremony at the side of the road, shielded with an umbrella.

She took a biblical time of half-an-hour, and the police had to be called. What a bizzare situation, an umbrella propped up in front of her and police surrounding her. Drop the umbrella, madam!

Yes, the toilets are notoriously fragrant, with a wall of pungent smell constructed at least 4 metres from the entrance. Anyone who was smart enough to talk would talk in short bursts, followed by a rapid intake of caustic air, with constant curses.

There was no lack of bad English, an itinary which showed the dance programme in the afternoon featured a "sheep her ding song". "Sheep her dong song" might have sounded more musically correct, but ding song takes the cake.

Ding.

We arrived at Lijiang, and I swear, the waters were so clear. That was when I had my first contact with a computer, a living room computer provided in the bungalow that was situated in a villa. Erm, picture a villa with like, 40 bungalows in a huge compound, and each bungalow has 5 rooms, a huge living room, cooking area, dining area, and a computer with Internet and MSN. Aaaand, a matron who would cook for the entire family.

The wide-screen TV featured ESPN, HBO, CNA, and all the channels you could think of, what a joy. Of course, I had to make full use of the MSN service provided. Heh heh heh heh *cough* *hack*.

The waters were not polluted, as previously thought, and when you could see movement of all the fishes, with flashes of orange, white, black and gold, in the sparkling water, you think life couldn't get any better. I took leave of MSN and decided to take a step out into the cold winter night at 11.30pm, dressed in long johns, sandals, and a bath robe. The night sky was peppered with stars of various brightness, and the icy breeze brought the robe gently off the ground, rooted by my shivering stature.

I managed to take another look into the pond that was directly outside the bungalow, with a mini bridge that was placed purposeless-ly across it. Ice drifted at the surface, and it was the first of the many icy encounters I had in China.

The road that let directly to the front of my bungalow circled around the pond and led back to the main villa, and staying opposite us were my other cousins. As kids would do what kids do, we would run over and prop ourselves up in front of the TV with a can of Pringles. Yum. Not forgetting KFC, [I think I mentioned this in my last post] double yum!

After two nights at the villa, we got ready for the 5 hour trip to Shangrila, and the latest fashion fad - oxygen cans - were all over the town/bus. But no matter. I sat at the back of the bus from the very first day, mostly by the window, with my dear cousins. The ride provided the sight that impressed me most. There were so many colours in play. As the morning sun rised over Lijiang, I took notice of a stream that stretched for miles which ran beside the road, running downstream. Silver rocks punctuated the waters, with huge ones on the banks, and sometimes in the water itself.

The water was unquestionably clear, shadowed by grey trees stripped of their leaves in the wintry weather. The stream was placed right below the hundreds of small mountains that towered over us along the way. Shades of golden, orange, green, silver and grey bathed the area, creating a view of fantasy-like picturesqueness.

Heavenly, and my small red Canon would never do justice to the sight I saw, except for the previously mentioned sun-rays-cutting-through-clouds picture.

We were reaching altitudes of 3000m above sea level, and already one boy had been completely left out from the Shangrila part of the trip, because he was suffering from high fever. Sigh, as Nigel mentioned, come to China pua-beh (Hokkien for sick), waste his parents' money. With much coincedence, this boy is the younger brother of our hyper-active-hugely-daoed friend.

The aunties were suffering from headaches and medical oil was in huge demand. I already had my share of health shit-tiness - right from the moment I touched down to Kunming on the first day, I was leaking (from the nose) so badly that it felt like a hell-hole. My eyes were constantly watering, my nose was clogged with blood (from the dryness) and mucus, and it looked as if I were on a commission to shiver as much as possible in the space of a minute. I awoke the next day with renewed vigour, and never looked back since - I sneezed only twice for the rest of my days in China, and my eyes never teared.

Back to Shangrila, it really started to look like Tibet - the stretching fields covered with golden sand and sparse patches of grass - a huge difference from what we saw leaving Lijiang. The temperature hovered at around -3 to 9 degrees. To much laughter but purely for my own health-wealthiness I wore four to five layers of clothing everytime I went out, and yes, a reason why I was healthy throughout the trip. Extremely good advice from someone to bundle up and drink loads of hot tea.

I'm good. We caught the first sights of the beautiful mountain cow, with its huge horns and long fur, and the mountain pig, also covered with fur, but less pretty in the sense.

A Chinese Christmas

It is only apt that I get to blog after 4 days in China, and another 4 more days to go, so it's sort of a blogpost in the middle of a holiday.

It's a near-freezing 3 degrees here in Lijiang, and I've been waking up constantly at 6 every morning. I brought along my manuscript books, which means that I've worked on Sonatina as per usual, but China has definitely brought in some new inspiration into my puny head.

I'm currently staying in a VILLA, where we are being served by a butler (what's a female butler called?) Altogether there are three storeys and 5 rooms, the living room is probably as wide as mine, and the TV is huge. There's HBO and ESPN and all the cable stuff you can think off. Pringle containers beside me, KFC remnants.

The rest of China other than Lijiang (which we've arrived today) as been terribly depressing, with the rural town areas basically looking like war-zones. Dirt, dust, mud, bricks, and worn paintings line the road. Road-kill, lots of stray dogs, beggars. Guess what, we haven't seen a SINGLE cat, or stray cat, throughout our entire trip in China.

And if you were to ask me to play Griffes or Mozart now, I might finish it with but a few slips. The weather's so damn cold, my fingers are rigid. Anyone drinking coke is probably looking for a cold, slow journey to sugar damnation.

I need to practise piano, I just realised. Damn.

But of course! Merry Christmas to all of you here, and let's hope next year will be a better one (although it never usually is, but I might prove myself wrong coming back next year).

Merry Christmas to you.

blahblahholidays.

Tottenham Spurs versus Manchester United probably is one of the nicest football games I've watched in recent times. The willingness to fight, the rivalry, the chivalry, hand-shaking and hugs at the end, and of course, its own share of good football makes it so pleasant to watch, amidst the cold London weather. Although the game ended up with a 0-0 draw, it was still engaging right to the end.

I'm sad that Arsenal will never play like that :(. They just don't have the...tsk, the X factor. One-touch football and things like that, but you still have to win trophies. But whatever.

Yesterday we prepared the vegetable salad, which we brought over to Miss Tan's house. Then after the potluck dinner (which consisted of mushrooms, pasta, chicken wings, vegetable salad and fruit salad - yum!) we finally got around to performing 'Heidi'.

Miss Tan has two pets - Heidi (the dog) and Twinkle (the cat) - and our Christmas present was supposed to be a two-movement work for both their pets, but unfortunately we only got around to doing the first movement.

I just realised how different the composer(s)' intepretation can be compared to the soon-to-be performer. Most of what Miss Tan mentioned after we played the piece didn't seem coherent with what I wanted it to be - the manner the motives should be played. Nonetheless we finished the piece, and also performed an earlier Tango that I wrote. Eh...we were sight-reading my messy hand-writing.

My dad brought back with him from work 9 softback books of manuscript paper, which I plan to use really effectively. So I'm probably reserving 3 of these for journal writing and studying composition techniques, and the other from solo, 4-hand, and of course, my final goal, concerto writing.

Started on the solo one already of course, and I filled in 3 pages of my Sonatina...which sounds super convulated and complex.

Mm. The Nutcracker ballet tomorrow, and then I'm off to China on Sunday 6am. I'm not looking forward to it! Have to pack...

I have a sudden fear that I've forgotten how to blog. Again.

class gathering 2. another boring blogspot. I've forgotten how to blog already.

Yes! The last few days have been great as per usual. I've been sleeping alot, to recover all the hours I've lost since September (while doing BCM), which meant that afternoon nap was 4 hours while my normal sleep hours have increased to 11 hours. I'm sleeping close to 5/8 of the entire Earth rotation.

Ok a few days back we went for another major class outing, and I realised my badminton skills were still there, had a good partnership with Surya. And then there was Risk, where Andai and I team-ed to make some people from Australlia pissed. With luck and a little tenacity, we dominated the whole of America and part of Europe and South Africa, with Yun Ching and first-time player Clarence stuck in the centre (Asia and Europe) of the map.

We...formed an alliance with Hanjing, which meant that we gave her part of Africa. And Henry camped in Australlia. Should we have played the game any longer, I'm pretty sure we would have gone on to...yes. Dominate the world. With all the yes-es, I'm starting to think I'm sounding like Jian Yang.

All this was played at Bukit Timah Shopping Centre, at some cafe. The aunty allowed us to play there, thank you aunty.

Previously was pool, I scratched fewer this time, and beat Clarence for 2 rounds. Great. I've improved. It was a good day. Followed Han Jing and Yunching to West Mall, where I met up with Kaveena! Mygosh haven't seen her in donkey ages but four of us sat down and talked at Burger King.

YunChing in...Aboriginal clothing, erm the rest in normal. Two of the girls were constantly giggling at my front tooth, which...I can understand why, unfortunately. Andai joined in later again, and then I went off. The end.

Dishing up salad tomorrow for potluck, and I finished my second piece in this December holidays! Which we're going to perform tomorrow during dinner. Ah, heavenly homecooked food coming my way again. Yum!

blogged.

When even my 6-5 class blog is more updated than me, something seriously wrong must be happening. I just realised Facebook has a 'Notes' section, which I find pretty handy. Simply because I realise, just like a blog, you can put anything you want in there and all of your friends can see it.

Which is interesting - at least to me.

Since Nigel asked me to blog, I shall blog. Here, blogged.

Looking forward to tomorrow's outing with 6-5 once again, I can smell Risk and badminton in the air, and I'll be bringing my size 3 soccer ball to play soccer with the guys. I hope it works out. Can't wait to see Andai too, especially since we all haven't seen each other since Primary 6.

Ok anyway yes I managed to complete 'Heidi' today! Need to transcribe it then. Good job :) After this would be 'Twinkle'. Nice. Maybe it constitutes one Opus.

The letter 'P' hasn't been working quite well on my computer in recent times, maybe because someone taps extremely hard on the keyboard. Wonder who would be so stupid and evil as to do such a thing. Or maybe it's an in-born thing, you know, when you start training at the piano by TAPPING the keys. Yes, tapping.

I'm hungry. I should go eat now. But I don't feel like walking to BPP again. So sian. Maybe I shall have the cookies.

Buffet dinner on Monday! Yes. And of course, potluck on Wednesday yum.

Life = piano + cooking + pool (the one with the balls in it) + going out

A short return

Yes, I don't blog that often now because I'm more interested in life. Lol, what kind of excuse is that. Anyway yes things happened and moved this week, but I'm not possibly going to write them all down here.

Managed to meet Yun Ching again today and we all went to eat Dimsum after my dad convinced me that my cousins would be there (which means I can help to introduce my cousins to some girls hehheh). But they all weren't. Stupid.

So both of us went to Meridian to go play pool, where I got semi-owned. I've improved. Great, I have to be honest though, that I keep attaching pool to gangsters and ahbengs. Why not, you can't fault me. You have people from every corner shouting/muttering "f*** this f*** that", and smokers hanging around outside. Why would it be allowed only for people above 16? Well it's probably one of the sports which doesn't need much fitness, not like tennis or badminton.

Truly, pool is one of the unhealth-improvingiest game ever invented. Just stone around, calculate the ball angle and strike, then hit the ball. Think, think, strategize your game, trap your opponent into a Chinese snooker situation, whatever.

But hey, if you grow too fat, you can't lean over and hit the ball! :O i was wrong after all.

Went to her aunt's house, where we all watched Step Up 2 with her elder cousin, who was damn cool. Apparently we're all connected, you know. Yun Ching is Cute Cheeks' cousin. And Cute Cheeks is from RI. Yeah, you can see how complicated things are.

Greek myths and legends time.

Jonathan Shin's holi Day.

The following excerpt from Hongrui's blog tells you everything about what happened today, where we performed for RJC Graduation Nite.


"Today was a complete waste of time.

Worse than the days where I just stay at home and read books in the morning, practice cello in the afternoon and watch TV at night.

Woke up at 8.Dilly-dallied until 8.30.
Went out to eat breakfast, came back at 10.
Played cello till 10.30.
Packed up, had a quick bath, lunch, and left house at 11.40.
Reached Serene’s house at 12.50.
Rehearsal until 3.
Played Bridge,etc.. and indulged in random gossiping until 5.
Reached Swiss Hotel at 5.35
Started performance at 6
Ended performance at 7.10
Dilly-dallied around until like 7.40+
Went to eat dinner, finished at like 8.30
Played bridge until 9
Reached home at 9.50

Basically me, jon shin, ben wee and 5 other people formed an octet and performed as background music during the RJC grad nite reception today. Initially the promised us “GOOD FOOD”.

So we actually thought we could join in a bite with the rest of the J2s also.Then suddenly, the “good food” disappeared, and we were told to have dinner with a “$5” budget as the payment for the day.

Right…I still owe Jon Shin $2 from dinner.

Jon Shin owes Ben Wee $50 because he bet that the girls will change their mind when they reach “The Pizza Place” and decide to have dinner at “Burger King” instead and lost the bet.

“The Pizza Place” is da ultimate scam. Lol the personal pizza is really personal man.

And Margaret doesn’t know how to use a knife properly haha.And you can be amazed by how girls can spend hours of their time away just by gossiping.

And Jinghui the imba seems to have a new girlfriend, and that girl apparently has a photo of two of them together in an interesting pose with Jinghui's arm over her shoulder.

hmm..Yeah but still the day is a waste of time, and the performance was totally humiliating and a complete flop.."


Thank you Hongrui for basically summing up the crap we did today. You save my time from an already bad trip back home dragging my cello case with everyone staring at me. What, Mumbai II return of the terrorist? Go away.

And yes, there were lots of major gossiping and bitching this whole afternoon, and I was just sitting idle at a chair shaking my leg and listening, with blackcurrent juice. Comfortable and fantastic. Otherwise at times it felt like an evening soiree in Serene's bungalow, which was just three houses away from SM Goh Chok Tong's house. Yes, Namly Avenue.

I sight-readed Bach the moment I reached there, until Xueqian finally arrived. Yes, it was Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier from Book II. I did the C major prelude and probably the B minor fugue, although I remembered doing a fugue, but I can't remember the key.

Erm, a little bit of Czerny.

When Ben Wee arrived he got me to accompany him on Bruch's Violin Concerto, which I failed utterly because yes, guess what, I was sightrea- ok, whatever.

The performance in the evening was terrible. My mood was already dampened much when I heard about the missing 'good food'. I could have watched an absolutely stunning (special eyewitness's report) concert should I have learnt earlier that the stupid performance ended at seven.

Yesterday was great though.

Bad Hair Day 3

The political situation in Bangkok is hopelessly humorous yet obviously tethering on the point of civil strife. I'm afraid, but not so, because I'm tucked away in a cosy corner of Singapore. I probably wondered how we were able to avoid such a situation like this so far, and my answer to that would be Singapore's economical and population size.

We have things to do, essential tasks to go about completing. We are simply, fortunately, too busy to occupy an airport and set up a fortress.

I have to admit, it was one of my early childhood fantasies, of what would happen and how I should defend it should I one day have an airport under my possession. I would think about all the policemen and things like that, and how I would defend my fortress. :P

Ok, now I've totally seen what happens.

The last few days were spent in a daze, taking a trip to Johor to visit my grandma again, bringing my laptop with me. I managed to finish engraving my transcribed Tango into Sibelius, which is great. Got back home the next morning, and I managed to print it out.

Not much great news, except that Arsenal won 2 -1 against Chelsea, which I accurately predicted, down to the score. "Either Arsenal wins 2-1, or Chelsea beats Arsenal 3-0." And thankfully, they did the former. Arsenal makes my day. Soccer makes my day.

I can't stand my dad. Now he's bought a new washing machine and a TV. I don't understand why he wants to buy so many things, even when one can just get by with the simplest items. I'm sure I just need one bed, one piano, one table, and one shelf for my scores, a toilet with a shower, and I can survive.

And besides, I've changed the blog music, which has turned uninteresting.

Newsflash: I cut my hair finally. Erm, buzzcut.

A short post

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.

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.

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'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.

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.

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]

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.

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.