viernes, marzo 31, 2006
[ 1131. Yesterday ]
With some time to spare and lots of thoughts going through my mind as it has been for the past week, let me verbalise my thoughts regarding some matters yesterday. Yesterday's choir practice, to be precise.
Mr Cao Ding, the guest conductor for the SCO concert that is going to happen next week, will be conducting the orchestra and the combined 50-strong chorus made up by consort and mjchoir. Yesterday was the first rehearsal that we had with Mr Cao, and prior to that, we had two practices on our own. Yesterday's practice was bad by any decent choir's standard. During the practice, there was a constant need for Mr Cao to remind us to look at him, and to be very precise in our entries, pitching and exits. Those who saw the score cannot deny that it's an easy piece, yet much time had to be spent repeating similar segments, because of issues such as pitching, pauses, and wrong entries. It certainly didn't look good and feel good at yesterday's practice, when an external conductor had to mention things that outlines the fundamentals of music. At one point in time, consort prez had to come up and 'reprimand' the choir for the lack of professionalism in the practice thus far. With the lack of basic correct attitudes of a choristor, we ought to be ashmed of ourselves.
I personally committed a couple of mistakes here and there. I fully accept the blame as part of an 'unruly' choir yesterday. Yes, much has to be improved as individual muscians, and more personal responsibility & professionalism has to be taken up by each and every one of us, myself included. Yet, i felt that some lessons could be derived from yesterday's turn of events. I myself have a couple of questions. Was there a need to reprimand the choir in front of an external guest? I remembered asking someone, would it be more beneficial for the choir if mr kwei had reprimanded the choir instead of the prez doing that dirty work? Or should the prez always play the role of a mother hen and protect the choir from the wrath of the conductor by meting out a verbal lashing first?
Even right up to the supper after the practice at glutton's bay, i saw many with downcast face. Probably not only from the practice, but a result of the accumulation of stress from many other areas. The NUS people are going crazy over assignments, projects, and deadlines. Working adults had their worries in their workplaces as well. And there's the nagging demands of consort, especially now that olomouc is drawing near and we didn't exactly peak during our concert as well. (The recordings proved it.) On the other extreme, as some may have put it, it was downright horrible (though i didn't think so. maybe it's because i haven't been singing for some time). Nonetheless, i think even if we haven't peaked during the concert, i certainly hoped we have reach the pits yesterday. That everything will go uphill again. The morale, the chemistry, the sound, the blend, everything. Look beyond olomouc, there's also this issue if there's a future for consort beyond the next calendar year. It's all too... hazy.
Don't take it as it's all gloom and doom. I believe there's still many little great strokes around, just that probably we're encountering some ugly sights here and there. I won't even call this a rough phase. Hehs.
So well... always look on the brrriiggghhht side of life... da da... da da da da da da....
Good night, good night. |
Shannon left at 11:59 p. m..
[ 1130. Photoshopped ]
Finally got my rusty hands on some photoshopping.
zofia, zofia, zofia. What i say, i deliver. =) enjoy.
they were giving out free sunflowers at city hall mrt! How could i give that i miss??
more tp photos... haha... |
Shannon left at 4:51 p. m..
[ 1129. Reliving School Days ]
First and foremost,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUSTIN!!!
Ah, that's my cheapo way of a birthday gift. Haha. =p And thanks for lending me your reds card to cut hair. =x
Ok, first things first. I woke up at 9am today, so that i could go and CRASH TPJC today. Yes, cordially invited by justin ong, i walked through the exit gate of the school, into the foyer, met justin (along with the principal, vice principal and god-knows-who), changed into justin's extra uniform, and happily blended so well into the school population. None of justin's friends actually believed i was 21. Lolx. And even the econs teacher whose lecture i crashed was taken in. Hahaha. She thought i was just another student from the college. Gee. Never knew such teachers still exist. Living in the world of their own.
After all their lessons, we went century square for lunch. And that also means the start of all our photo sessions. Haha.
before leaving school
even the school gate seems so... photogenic
lunch!!!!!!!!
more brokeback photos...
Met weiwei and shannon in uniform. Haha. they were amused. Lolx. But of course i changed out of it before going for choir la... haha.... And choir's another matter. Today's practice wasn't exactly one of the best. Haha. But well, i think i'm beginning to get used to it.
ORD in... 9 days? decisions, decisions. Where should i head? |
Shannon left at 12:21 a. m..
miércoles, marzo 29, 2006
[ 1128. 0125H ]
Act blur live longer. This statement makes sense.
I need to be less harsh on myself. I need to be more secure in myself, more accepting of my own flaws, abilities and potential. I need to be less critical of people. I need to learn to love life, and smell the roses of life.
Xuan, wake up. |
Shannon left at 1:26 a. m..
martes, marzo 28, 2006
[ 1127. Thoughts, Thoughts ]
Boredom can really drive you crazy. And boredom doesn't occur when you are idle and not having anything to do, but it's more of a state where you don't know where are you heading towards at this point in time.
I wonder why, but actually i was pondering upon last week's prayer meet. Actually, i kind of dreaded going down last friday. But i know i had to go. And indeed, it felt good after the prayer meet, as it has been the case for any previous meets. Today i wondered about certain feelings that i felt during the meet. About this sense of guilt, this sense of contriteness that i never fail to feel during a time of prayer and worship to God. I looked around during worship, i wondered, does everyone here actually goes through the same emotion cycle as i do? Is this thing that we call joy in the Lord, something that has been made morbid by us, that we have to go all broken before God before we can feel this thing called 'joy'? What is joy? Does joy comes from the satisfaction that we have obeyed the Lord, though it may means going through hard times? Through experiencing contradictory emotions that we experience when we try to differentiate between absolute truth and relative truth? Or is joy derived from happiness, like many secular scrolls teach us so?
In short, is this thing we call the christian walk, a voluntary emotional roller coaster we subject ourselves to? Chris answered that through these experiences, we know the absolute truth and change for the better. But does the world actually need a better person? What is a better person?
I haven't been attending church due to consort commitments for the past couple of weeks. And yes, there's this emptiness in me, but ironically on the other hand i feel fulfilled. Probably it's the novelty of doing something different, and this is very likely to be temporal. And it will only be a matter of time before i go crawling back to church and try to fit in, as what i've been doing for the past 2 years. Today as i met the guys up for supper after their movie, i realized how much i missed them. As a group. And i also realized that we have always been meeting God as a group, but how many of us actually met God as individuals?
I believe i've reached a stage where i need some concrete answers, more than just feelings, testimonies and emotional outbursts. I'm not leaving church definitely, but i think i want to have a reason to renew this fire in me. Like many professed christians out there, i believe that God is my Saviour.
But is he my Lord as well...? |
Shannon left at 11:38 p. m..
lunes, marzo 27, 2006
[ 1126. Quiz ]
Stupid quizzes.
You Are 70% Boyish and 30% Girlish | You are pretty evenly split down the middle - a total eunuch. Okay, kidding about the eunuch part. But you do get along with both sexes. You reject traditional gender roles. However, you don't actively fight them. You're just you. You don't try to be what people expect you to be. |
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Shannon left at 10:41 p. m..
[ 1125. Sectionals ]
my beloved tenors. Lemme introduce them one by one.
Right at the top right hand corner is weiwei the (great) section leader, a.k.a daddy. Being the only one that can be heard when warm ups go up to a high A, he has won himself the respect of his three daughters, namely mandy, shannie and waynnie. Very funny guy to hang out with, he's always doing funny things unlike the other SLs, like eating curry puffs during practices, and he's always saying, "I can't sing and play piano at the same time, so can you all sing while i play??" And then hor, we still won't sing anyway. And then after that get screwed during combine. Ooops. But somehow miraculously we always smoke our way through at the end of the day. And we have just successfully embarrassed him by giving him a PINK cushion, completely with a pink badge the week after concert, since he whined that no tenors thanked him. lolx.
From the right side is mandric a.k.a mandy. Right beside is is shannie, his twin sister. The two brothers sisters in crime are the biggest and most ardent fan of weiwei. Haha. Love them so much. Both were from commonwealth. Apparently got headhunted into consort. Mandric's has got a very nice tenor voice, and i think he sings damn well la. Apart from committing some faux pas at time with shannon, i think they are the riot of the section. =/ Shannon's the other half of this pair of commonwealth 'twins'. Though he always claim he can't sing well, i think otherwise. Haha. Think he's got a pretty nice voice too, though i have to agree it's neither choral nor 'pop-ish' la. aiyah. Haha. My favourite singing buddy since we both feel so insecure abt our singing. lolx.
The youngest of the three daddy's girls is the one from the left, wayne a.k.a waynnie. The former SC of tkss choir, he's fierce la!! You should have seen his face turn black once during one of the sectionals a couple of month ago when shan & man were happily joking away. Lolx. But he has lightened up after more interactions la. Pretty easy to hit it off with him. Just tickle him and offer him some sweets, like what u'd do to kids. ooops. =p Not to mention about the part where he sings damn well and damn loud... he's another hot favourite for me to stand beside especially in songs that i'm not too sure. haha.
On the top left hand corner is adyll, daddy's 'auntie'. So motherly figure. =x Accompanied me to buy shoes on the day of concert when i forgot to bring mine. Haha. So sweet of him.
Andy's beside wayne, being the previous prez of consort, i figured he does has his strengths that i dun really know about. Shannon says he sings very well though, coupled with a very wide range. I haven't heard it for myself though. Haha. I dunno him very well actually.
There are two new additions to the section, kenny from tpjc and leon from vs. I dunno abt kenny, but leon seems like a very good singer though i only heard him sing once. And according to nels0n, he's got potential to be better than wayne. Hmm. Good to have another powerhouse around... Muahaha...
And now you know... with so many powerful singers around in my section, how come i feel so insecure. Hehehe... After all, they all have been singing since secondary school days. Unlike me. Haha. I don't even regard sr days as part of my experience. Lolx.
And now of course i can't leave the rest of the choir out...
the basses
guess which are the sops, and which are the altos? =p |
Shannon left at 4:20 p. m..
[ 1124. The Fight ]
What ensued when justin sat on me when i was lying on the floor. Haha. =p
And no, we weren't fighting. =) |
Shannon left at 12:42 a. m..
domingo, marzo 26, 2006
[ 1123. Pokpok Alimpako ]
Pokpok alimpako pok! Pound your hands;
Limpakopiko malalago isi daling dali will run.
daon si Boroboro Boro-boro is not around.
bukas kasa-isa Open that hand under the other
Pokpok alimpako! Pound your hands!
Yesterday, today, choir practices. Yesterday, today, eat eat eat. Yesterday, today, 5 rounds of mahjong. Yesterday, today, 4 hours of sleep.
Whee. I'm dead tired. But i'm still here to blog. Hahah. Aiyah, just wanna pen down a couple of thoughts. Did some really no-brainer things at consort just now. Like sparring with justin on the floor. Like not paying attention to ave maria during sectionals and thereafter died during combine. Like disturbing zofia once again. Haha. I feel pretty bad abt zofia actually. I think we teased her too much the previous day when all of us were at nelson's place for the post-concert celebration dinner. Think we went pretty overboard. I know zofia won't read this but sorry k zofia?
And about this using of nels0n's place for mj every weekend. weiwei and i agreed that it has become overly frequent. And with all the meals that he has been buying us each time we go over to his place, i'm just afraid that some of us may just take it for granted in the long run. And it's like making use of his place as a weekend chalet each week, where the guys just hang out, play mahjong, eat drink and be merry. Somehow sometimes i feel a bit bad that nels0n's gotta play such a nice host la to us kids. =p
Ok, nuff said. We'll have less of mahjong in the weeks to come. Especially for those kids who's exams are coming up. You know who you are. ;) |
Shannon left at 10:26 p. m..
viernes, marzo 24, 2006
[ 1122. Prayer Meet ]
Prayer meeting in half an hour's time. and i'm still here. whee. what life. |
Shannon left at 7:08 p. m..
miércoles, marzo 22, 2006
[ 1121. M18 ]
My house is rated M18. Because every now and then, you'll see some violence. And it's even more disgusting when it's the younger ones that wants to hit mom.
Dammit. Screw it. Arrrgggh.
Now i know why i resent staying at home in the house.
I don't think i have a home to start with. |
Shannon left at 7:46 p. m..
martes, marzo 21, 2006
[ 1120. Bored ]
Yes, i'm officially bored. Yet again.
Lemme summarise what i've been doing for the past couple of days.
Drank with lingfang weiwei taijim & company on saturday after concert. Mahjong with ks kelvin & justin on sunday. Kudos to nelson for the wonderful lunch & dinner yet again. Rot at home yesterday. Went to play pool with lionel, and had dinner. Felt pretty fluish at night. Urgh. Going to ntu later on today for cg.
And there about sums it all up....
(And gee, i'm waiting for more mahjong. ooops.) |
Shannon left at 12:37 p. m..
lunes, marzo 20, 2006
[ 1119. Visual Memories: Trois Chansons ]
Photos, photos galore!! let the photos tell the story. =)
adyll & lingfang @ lunch at soup spoon; waiting for warm ups
justin acting crazy
myself & weiwei; muihia & myself
myself & kelvin; myself & taijim
adyll & myself; the three weiwei fans: shannon, myself & mandric
wayne, myself & yihern (the great); the emcees & myself: muihia & nelson
debbie & myself; muihia & myself (again)
huiyin & myself, finally singing together again; kc & merv came to watch the concert
myself & keesiang the usher; myself & justin, the cover boy for consort
brokeback mountain, part 1; yingcong & myself
brokeback mountain part 2; and you can see, justin is capable of being brokeback himself; debbie being narcissistic
myself & da jie lingfang; me & justin (once again)
nelson & me; myself & taijim & minetto at raffles city
zofia the soundblaster & me; me & dajie again
my sl looking so... sl; lingfang & me
me & yihern; weiwei & lingfang
In retrospect, it was really an awesome feeling, having not sung on stage for three years. Never did i imagine one day i'll be standing on stage, singing in one of nelson's choir. There's a tinge of regret for 'running' away from choir in vs days, but well, everyone has regrets and there's nothing anyone can do about it. But nonetheless, the feeling was awesome, and i'm indeed looking forward to many more things that consort can do together as one voice.
Nelson chua's leaving, and though i haven't knew him for long, i could see his dedication to tvc and his basses thru the practices. His dedication, no one can deny. His professionalism is also something that people talk about. And i think he sings damn well. He's really a friendly person as well, still remembered the first couple of times where he spoke to me though i was pretty much a stranger to consort. I guess i'll miss him. Bye nelson! remember to visit us more often k? =)
And with that... that's the end... what a wonderful night! ;) |
Shannon left at 12:11 a. m..