Second entry of the day. Special day today? Nah, I just need to rant and rave or I might just lose my sanity.
I find that I'm really short-tempered nowadays. The tiniest thing can spark off my temper. Sorry to those whom I've yelled at. My apologies. Because I'm really really very fan nowadays. My violin teacher ask me to practise like 5 hours a day. My CO Conductor ask us to bring back our instruments and practise every single day for a couple of hours. My tuition teacher says I must practise my A and E math every single day as well. My dad comes back, sees my results again, and started ranting off about doing Ten-Year-Series and Math Assessment books. My mum won't stop nagging at me to finish my holiday assignments, which I am now struggling to complete. So far, I've finished the Biology Report, Biology worksheets and 20 English Reviews. Starting on my Chinese Newspaper Articles Reviews now.
I haven't had a single day of fun or enjoyment since the beginning of this stupid cursed holiday! I thought I was gonna go mad, forcing myself to stay home all day and do homework and practise violin. When I go out, it's either to go to the library, do homework, or it's music-related (exchange my violin bow, find scores and etc.) Music to me is my enjoyment. But all those activities I had planned to do during the holidays like ice-skating, watch movies, go Wild Wild Wet and so on, have gone down the drain.
Sometimes I just wanna get out of the house and walk around, 'shan shan xing', relax my mind and all. But I can't!!! My parents don't let me go out for no particular reason. And blah, I'm once again stuck at home. Crap.
My dad is back! Yeah! Finally, after two whole months of not seeing him. But he's gonna be home for only two days. He's flying off again on Sunday. I think he's gained weight. *laughs*
Last night I went over to Auntie Doris's house (my neighbour) to practise Gavotte in D Major for my violin concert. She's playing the piano accompaniment. At long last! We actually managed to run through the song without stopping! Yay! And my violin chords improved! Constant practice does indeed pay off. But I'm still worried about the concert next week. It's gonna be just myself and Auntie Doris on stage. THAT is freaky. I hope there aren't any microphones, or else, there it goes. All the awful squeaks that I haven't managed to totally avoid and all the funny extra noises when I cross-strings. Not to mention, I'm still rather unfamiliar with Watkin's Ale, another piece I'm performing, but with my sis. This calls for more practice.
Oh yeah baby! I found it! I found it! I did! I did! I did! *laughs hysterically* Oh my goodness, I must be reading too much parody. I'm losing my mind. If case you're wondering what I found, it's the Elvish phrase up there! I found it in a parody fanfic that had me laughing so hard I almost fell off my chair! It's a long story.
"If I don't crack up, I'm sure I'll..."
"Crack up!!!"
Voices in the head: Oh dear, she really has lost it... tsk tsk...
By the way, the 'crack up' thingy was taken from a book called "Eternal Love". What a day. I was supposed to go meet Susan for Bible Study when my stomach decided to battle against me. It hurt so much I thought I was never gonna crawl out of bed. And for some unfathomable reasons as well. Thank God, it's better now.
The English social class is such an interesting thing. I must have been reading too much historical romance. Let's see, in ascending order: Baron, Viscount, Earl, Marquis and Duke. Anyway, better concentrate on my English reviews. I shall end with a quote by Shakespeare, it's such a beautiful phrase.
Quote of the day: "The quality of mercy is not strain'd.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath.
It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes."
I've decided, that Montgomerys aren't that bad afterall, after realising that many of Jude Deveraux's books are based on 'Montgomerys'. Yesterday, I finished two of her books, and they were pretty good. I read "Eternity" first, then since I wasn't in the mood to do any homework, I grabbed another book off my bookshelf, "The Heiress". I refuse to sleep until I finish the book, which was 2.15am in the morning.
Today I read another book, "A Whisper of Roses". Another good book that held me stationary in my room for hours until my violin lesson. I was just thinking of "Eternity" and of 'Ring who was spouting poetry like water flowing in a river. Shakespeare poetry nonetheless. If only there were someone else I know who has passion for Old English, poetry and Shakespeake. I'm still trying to find the quote which Prince Edward said to Paige in the movie "The Prince and Me".
Geez, I'm supposed to be writing the review for my last two articles, but I simply have no mood to write anything. Forget it, I'm dead-tired and my brain is mal-functioning. Procrastinate, procrastinate, procrastinate...
Sorry for yesterday's entry. I'm not that barbaric actually.
After re-watching Lord of the Rings trilogy again, I'm once more swept away by it. I was reading this LoTR fanfic a few days ago. I finally decided to stop reading 'romance' for that day and I went to the 'humour' section instead, for a good laugh. And a good laugh did I get. My sis thought I had gone bonkers. But there was one particular fanfic that had me re-reading it over again.
It's about this normal girl, Elanor, from our world who got into a car accident and landed up in Middle-earth, Rivendell, to be exact. There she met the elves, namely: Elladan, Elrohir, Arwen, Lord Elrond, Glorfindel and Erestor. Then I think Galadriel found out that Elanor might not be able to return back to her world. So she was upset, almost tried to commit suicide, by not eating. But fortunately, the elves managed to get her to eat. So she slowly began to accept and settle into Rivendell.
The hilarious parts were when she tried to explain modern things to the elves like coke, pepsi, root beer, denim material, internet. Oh and I did mention that the twins, Elladan and Elrohir, thought that Elanor's cellphone was evil, so they shot it with arrows. Of course, Elanor got fuming mad. But this story is extremely heartwarming. Lord Elrond decided to adopt Elanor! That part was very touching and heartfelt. After reading this fanfic, I wish elves were real, and I wish I were living among them in Rivendell. This is the first ever fanfic that brought tears to my eyes.
Speaking of stories, Autumn of Faith is dying. Again, like how Undying Spirit had died. What an irony. *laughs* I was gonna write the next chapter of Autumn of Faith today, titled "A Knight in Shining Armour", but I had no mood to write. Okay, I know, you must be thinking that I'm an incurable romantic.
By the way, I discovered that people had been misprouncing my name. It's not pronounced as va-ler-ree, but the proper pronounciation is VAL-u-ree. And oh yeah, I found out my Elvish name. It's Earane Narmolanya. So cool. I think I wanna learn Quenya or Sindarin. I'm nuts. Haha.
Warning: I'm in an extremely aggravated mood today. Pardon the vulgarities that are about to appear.
What a friggin' day!!! First thing in the morning, after dropping my sis and I off at the bus interchange, my mum got into a car accident. It was a collision with another car. Luckily, no one was hurt, except that my mum banged her head, but it wasn't serious. But that f***ing asshole bastard driver was like shouting shouting. Shout what shout. My mum's car more damaged than his okay! So F**K off! But no, he don't want right? He wanna make police report. Then pretend to be lame and limp limp limp. Pretend that his car spoil, cannot start up. What a joke! Please take a look at your own car then take a look at my mum's car. For goodness' sake! I think he needs a new pair of glasses! Make me so mad can?! I wanna like drive a knife through him! Gouge out his eyeballs! Skin him alive! Castrate him! Tear off his limbs! Wu Ma Fen Si!!! Drain away his blood! Feed him to the lions! And the list never ends.
Okay, I ought to chill now. Then, I had CO practice. To my utmost horror, I realised that I had forgotten to bring the Chan Mali Chan score which he wanted since Wednesday. I was so scared he was gonna scold me, then I didn't have mood to play Chang Cheng. I almost wanted to cry halfway during practice. Like the aftermath of the accident and then the stupid scores. Plus my mum's ultra bad mood these few days. I was gonna break apart or something. But yeah, I'm still alive. Frickin' hell, I never want to go through this again.
I'm upset. I thought today's entry could be just be filled with rantings of how much exercise I actually did today. But no, someone had to spoil my day. Nevertheless, I shall first talk of the exercise I did this morning.
I dragged myself out of bed at 9am when the stupid alarm clock was so persistant in waking me up. Took a shower and changed into running attire. Well, not really running attire, but at least clothes fit for running. Then I left the house to go meet Adam, Karl and his brother, Kelvin to exercise.
It started with a warm-up jog. Well, according to them it was supposed to be a warm-up jog, but frankly, that pace was my normal jogging pace. Then it was usual warm-up and stretching. And then guess what? Pull-ups, push-ups, crunches and etc. I did about 37 push-ups (not the girl's kind okay), 50 crunches, jumped and touched a mark 30 times. No, I can't do pull-ups. Only halfway. Haha. Then jump over this funny thingy. Then it was the actual run. No, you heard me, it wasn't a jog, it's a run. And you know, Adam and Karl, one is from Track and Field, the other is from NCC. Me? Chinese Orchestra. Hah! So poor old me was lagging behind panting and looking like as if I was hyperventilating.
Then we went to Adam's house and everyone started playing Play Station. Dots. So I sat there and watch them play and beat the crap out of one another until I got so bored I was about to topple off the sofa fast asleep. So I asked Adam if he had any books. Well, of course he did. We went to his room and he pulled a book off the shelf. I took one look at the cover and gasped. It was "Ever After"!!! Oh my Goodness! I've been wanting to watch the movie since eons ago and he has the book! Eagerly, I took it and settled down in the chair to read. Then Adam went to switch on music before leaving the room to join Karl. That particular CD he played on the stereo, sooo happens to contain all my favourite love songs. I almost cried lor. Reading that love story I already very emotional liao, then go and play all my favourite love songs somemore.
When I got home, my arm and leg muscles felt half-dead. I'm so tired. I flopped onto the sofa and then my mum called. So I picked up the phone and there it goes. You know what? She said I wasted 18 days of my holiday doing nothing! Nothing? You call completing my biology bird report, my biology worksheet and 17 english reviews NOTHING?! Here comes the best part: She grounded me.
You know, I was just pondering about what my conductor said and how true it is. If you practise a song until 100%, when you go on stage, it will only be 50%. Why? Many factors, especially nervousness. We had the East Zone Chinese Orchestra Concert last Sunday. Despite it not being my first time performing in public, I still couldn't help being nervous. My seat was right at the edge of the stage, the first one beside the conductor. Frankly, I was scared to death. We only had one rehersal in Victoria Concert Hall (VCH) itself before the actual performance.
The rehersal was terrible. I couldn't hear Wenda (my junior beside me) at all. I could only hear myself and though I knew I wasn't playing very loudly, it sounded extremely loud to me. So loud that I thought the audience a few metres away could hear. Then our conductor said that we were too soft. So during the actual performance I played much louder. Of course, according to the dynamics as well.
Something funny happened before the concert. A whole bunch of us (erhu, gaohu, zhonghu, liu qin, di zi, ruan and etc) were practising at the grand grand staircase of VCH. Our CO and Pasir Ris Sec CO playing the same song, The Great Wall Capricco. So we were just playing Chang Cheng together there, scattered all over the staircase. Suddenly we heard a suona join in. It was this guy from Pasir Ris CO. He thought we are Pasir Ris Sec also, then he joined in and walked down the stairs to join us, when he suddenly realise that we are all Temasekians. He had a shock and run up the stairs again. Well, actually, no harm practising together. Even though we're from different schools.
On Sunday, I met Wei Jie, my pri 3 and 4 best friend, coz he wanted to sell me some donation tickets. Haven't seen him in ages, but he hasn't changed much though. Haha. He's one of the few guys my age that's around my height. Whoops, I'm so mean. Sorry. No pun intended.
Reality just struck me. The East Zone CO Concert is this sunday!!! I'm freaking out. I'm so sad about not being able to visit those entrepreneus at Tampines Mall this saturday and sunday. It's all because of the stupid concert. And guess what we're wearing? School uniform, tie and (I'm not joking) track shoes! Can you believe it? Wearing track shoes to perform at Victoria Concert Hall!!! I almost fainted when they announced that. So unglam can? Sigh, oh well, what to do...
I went to Suntec City with my grandpa, uncle, aunt, cousin, sisters and mum yesterday. After dinner, we went to carrefour and I bought two VCDs, The Horse Whisperer and Ghost. I've watched Ghost before, on channel 5. It was really nice and touching so I wanted the VCD. As for The Horse Whisperer, I have the book and I read it before. The book is by Nicholas Evans. For those who know me well, I'm a horse freak, how can I not buy that VCD? *laughs*
So I was watching Ghost this morning. It was so sad that I kept crying, until my vision blurred and I couldn't watch the show properly and had to grab a box of tissue. I also finished watching The Horse Whisperer today. The horses were lovely, and I missed riding.
Monday: I got my rented violin, because I could not share a violin with my sister for the concert. The rented violin is so beautiful! It's very light. The wood, colour and varnish is very good too! I love it! Oh dear, I'm in love with the violin. It's rented from AmberCraft, owned by my violin teacher's friend, Ming Xi. But alas! He gave me the wrong bow. *laughs* It's too short for a 3/4 violin, so yeap, I'm going to get it changed.
Tuesday: The day I went to get my violin bow changed. Ming Xi's place is at Killiney Road, so I had to alight at Somerset and walk some distance. I almost got lost. Haha. Something really embarrassing happened on the MRT. I was balancing my violin case (which is unable to stand on its own due to the rounded bottom) and reading a book while standing up. Then I lost my grip on the violin case and it fell down with a loud thud. Oh man, it was SO embarrassing I tell you. People were looking at me as I scrambled to pick up the violin case. Okay, enough about that. Anyway, managed to find my way there, lugging along my violin case. The place is in his house, a small room.
Upon entering that small, the first thing I saw was VIOLINS! I counted more than 15 violins there. And they're all very beautiful violins. Ming Xi repairs violins and he even made one violin! So cool! Then he showed me how to open up a violin, how to glue it back, what kind of glue etc. Then he handed me a few bows to try, and those bows are beautiful bows as well, expensive ones nonetheless. Then we talked for some time and he told me to check out HMV at The Heeron, 3rd level for classical and instrumental music.
So I did, lugging my violin case again, all the way to The Heeron, which is somewhere between Orchard and Somerset. It was immediate addiction. I stayed in that shop for an hour. It has the greatest collection of classical, instrumental, jazz, vocal, opera, whatever, music I've ever seen. You could also listen to music there. There're so many CDs there I couldn't decide what to buy. But I've got my mind set on one of Sir James Galway's CD and a violin CD (if I can ever decide which one). I'm definately gonna go there again and drag my mum along.
Oh yeah, I cooked dinner myself. I made soup from my own funky crazy wacky recipe. I poured in plain water into the pot, heat it up, then dumped in garlic, meatballs, fishballs, sausages, egg, salt, light soya sauce and pepper. Oh yeah, sugar too! That was additional, I had itchy hands you see. It tasted pretty good actually and no, I didn't get food poisoning.
Wednesday: That is, today. I had a nightmare. Talz, why do you always get such sweet dreams? I shall not talk of that nightmare. Then my dad called from France and that woke me up, at like 6.45am in the morning?!?! Okay, so then I couldn't sleep anymore, and after the usual routine (brush teeth and etc) I went jogging. No actually, running, and was made to take a short cut due to the presence of the rubbish collecting truck.
After cooling down I went to practise my violin for half an hour; chromatics, scales, arpeggios, Czardas (my exam piece) and Gavotte in D major. Then my arms very tired from holding up the violin, so I went to play the piano. Play play play... then sianx liao, so I went up to my room blasted Kenny G and started writing my English Review. Then... I went to practise my violin again, for another half an hour. Okay, I shall stop. I sound like I'm droning and regurgitating boring typical events of the day. Tonight got CO night practice. Lolx.
Something's wrong with me. My arms hurt. My stomach hurts. I've got an ulcer on my tongue. My head's killing me with a fantastic headache that sends my head throbbing painfully. I've lost my appetite for food which caused me to skip lunch and dinner today. I'm gonna die!!! Lolx, just kidding. But I still don't know what's wrong with me. Nevermind, hopefully I'll get better by tomorrow.
Oh yeah, I finish reading this fantastic book today! "The Ocean Between Us" by Susan Wiggs. It's a lovely book. About a Navy family and problems between the husband and wife and also problems concerning teenagers. Can get a little confusing, especially the order of events, but I managed to understand it anyway. Sad about Rivera, who died. Some parts are really sweet too, Steve and Grace, and also Josh and Lauren. I think I'm gonna get the book so I can read it over and over again. Call me crazy. *laughs*
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to e silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
- Ecclesiastes 3: 1 - 8
I was just reading this fanfic of "A Walk To Remember". It's titled "For Everthing There Is A Season: Part 1". It's a really lovely, heartfelt and touching story. It's so sad I thought my heart would break for the characters and I'll start sobbing or something. Certainly an excellent writer. Which also reminds me of Lurlene McDaniel's stories and this poem: How Do I Love Thee
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
It's a really lovely poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and Lurlene McDaniel used it to write a book. It's so sad. Oh man, I'm reading too much sad things nowadays...
I feel like a zombie. I had only 3 pathetic hours of sleep last night. Boy, am I suffering from insomnia again. And I had to wake up at 6.30am this morning to go to Singapore Poly for the workshop. That place is SOOO gigantic - wait, 'gigantic' doesn't do it justice. Anyway, it's just really really HUGE, has about 5 foodcourts, even cafeteria that resembles Starbucks, with plush sofas and air-conditioned, there's like even McDonalds', KFC and Pizza Hut. I got lost in there with Marliyana THREE times.
Biomedical Engineering is interesting. But suddenly, I developed an interest in genetic engineering. I don't know, I've lost my mind. Haha. Suddenly realized that DNA is very interesting. Then had the cultivating water bacteria course till about 3pm.
Then there's this huge thunderstorm that drenched Marl and I from head to toe, and we were turning into life-size popsicles in the MRT train. After 45 minutes of staying in the freezing cold MRT train, we alighted and Bedok and began to thaw off. But that only lasted a couple of minutes as we entered the library and began freezing all over again. I think I'm gonna fall sick. Ugh, I feel dead. And guess what...?! I have CO night practice and a meeting at 5pm. Met Shi Yun at the library, borrowed a book, gobbled down dinner and rushed off for the meeting in school.
Endured through CO practice till 9pm, then had debrief. Since it was a night practice, people were taking advantage of the dark to scare other people. Oh man... Wanting and Cheryl went to scare Wen Da, luckily Si Lei 'saved' me, or I think I might have screamed real loud. Again, I realise how DARK the school really is at night. It's freaky. You can't even see your fingers in front of you. Anyway, I better go now, watch The Fifth Element. Nice show. Watching it the second time.
Today's practical is the most infuriating and irritating practical I've ever done so far. Titration. Yes, titration! Neutralise an alkali with an acid. Put a few drops of screened methyl orange in the conical flask containing alkali and add in acid using the burette and swirl the conical flask to mix them. Stop when the indicator turns from green to grey. When it overshots, it becomes red.
First attempt: Overshot, turned red. (Grrr...)
Second attempt: Green... green... green... (open the burette tap, 2 more drops) POOF! turns red! (almost tore out hair in frustration)
Third attempt: Yay! At long last, got that grey colour!
Fourth attempt: I had to do another time coz the table said so, and luckily, it turned grey.
But, now my hand feels cramped from all that swirling. Oh, and I went jogging again today. In Pasir Ris Park this time. Jogged to the nearer end of the park, towards the direction of the playground. The sea was beautiful today. And I actually jogged to that end non-stop, till I took a short rest on waterbreak no. 13, then walked along the shore and watched the waves crash in. Then got back on track and resumed jogging. I actually jogged for about half an hour today. It's a miracle! Okay, now my whole body is aching. Ow...
Tomorrow I gotta wake up early... again. Because I'm attending this enrichment course at Singapore Polytechnic and that is sooooooooooooo far away. Oh, by the way, I finished playing the whole of Prelude No. 16 in D flat Major! I'm so happy!
Halloween's over. So sad. Why can't they have trick or treating in our area?
Anyway, for some unknown reasons, I couldn't concentrate on my homework in the library today. I don't know why. After writing a sentence of my review, I stopped, got up and went to look for books instead. Sigh, I just can't help it. No use being there when you're so unproductive anyway. So I packed up my stuff, went to borrow 3 books and left the library. I was supposed to meet Joanne, but she overslept. Lol. Can't blame her anyway, judging by her terrible sleeping pattern.
I've now already finished one of the books I've borrowed this afternoon. It's nice, and hilarious. I was laughing so hard I hit the antique chair. Don't ask me how I did that. It just happens. Afterall, it's nothing uncommon for an accident-prone person like me. Accidents do happen, especially when you're reading, and walking. Like that time in school. It was after assembly and we were all heading back to class. I was engrossed in this book and was weaving my way through the canteen benches and WHAM. I collided smack-bang into a canteen bench. That was, no doubt, embarrassing.
I feel so bad. I've been so unproductive today. I didn't even complete a single piece of homework today. Okay, I'm gonna finish up at least a review later. My sis is watching a show, and it's really distracting me. Oh geez. Oh man... I gotta go to school for this chemistry practical tomorrow morning. I'll have to wake up early again...
By the way, there isn't any violin lessons today, because my teacher sprained his ankle. I'm so sad. Hope he recovers soon. Prelude No. 16 in D flat Major is sooo nice!!! I love that song!
CREDITS TO
Original Base by Sharon
Design, Layout and Rearrangement by LeeDeeYa
Brushes Thanks To TS and The Fifth Muse
Also Thanks To Adobe Photoshop 7.0