The earthquake and tsunami that recently occured around Asia is really depressing. The number of casualties is staggering. It was a total catastrophe. Many people are homeless now. My aunt's in some sort of organization and they said they needed blankets and clothes. I dug through my wardrobe just now and gave away 11 blankets and an entire box of clothes. It seems that many disasters are occuring now. What with 911, SARS, the Nicoll Highway collasp and now this earthquake and tsunami. It's depressing. Really.
I just came back from Loyang Point. I went there to photocopy some scores for CO practice tomorrow. Upon reaching, I realised that I had forgotten to bring my wallet along, so I called up my mother, who's at a clinic coz my sister had a severe stomachache. After that she came over to pass me money and told me to meet her at the supermarket. Turns out that she wanted to buy milk powder and milk bottles for those starving babies over at Indonesia. So yeap, I lugged home EIGHT cans of Dummex milkpowder and 28 milk bottles.
Something's wrong with my foot. I think I injured it somehow. It hurts like mad when I walk. So I was limping all the way to Loyang Point. Ouch.
Today is a day of mixed emotions. The day started off pretty well, except that I woke up really late, coz I'm just sooo tired. I mean I've been sleeping past 1am every single day for the past few weeks. Who wouldn't be tired? Opps, I'm digressing. Anyway, I met my section at Pasir Ris MRT station and we went White Sands; them to have lunch, me to do some last minute Christmas shopping. Then I met Aiysha, did the introductions and all and the both of us parted with my section to go NTUC Fairprice.
Yeah, we had to get cream to spread on the swiss roll to make a log cake. Unfortunately, the chocolate cream was sold out, so we bought the vanilla one. Then we left for my house to go set up the BBQ and all. I had to go fetch the guys, Cheryl, Shu Qi and Marl from the MRT station and I was gonna pass Dan his Christmas present before that. And then... something really terrible happened that made me wanna cry. Of course I can't, not in front of my juniors. It totally ruined my mood for the upcoming BBQ. But I tried not to think about it, and more or less got my mood back. Yeap, of course, with both my best friends, Aiysha and Ahmad there. I was really happy.
The BBQ was pretty fine, really. Except that I barely ate any food. A quarter plate of bee hoon, a nugget and an escargot (however you spell it). I was too busy getting everything organised and going. Frankly, guava cordial and Sprite ice actually tasted good! Exotic man! Anyway, we all played some games. Aiysha played her clarinet, I played my violin and the gaohu, so did Wenda and Xin Yi, on the erhu of course. We also played Telephone Lines and laughed madly as the message turned out really warped and all.
Hey, it's a pity no one noticed the mistletoe... or we have had a bit of fun... Haha! Just kidding. Anyway, some of my section mates are sleeping over. Which probably meant that we're gonna sleep in the wee hours of the morning. And ugh, tuition tomorrow morning. *groans*
Jingle bells... Jingle bells... Jingle all the way...
Christmas is definately my favourite holiday! It isn't just about all the presents, but Christmas gives me a really warm and joyful feeling inside me. I worked myself into a frenzy these few days shopping for presents, wrapping presents, making presents, writing Christmas cards, decorating the Christmas tree at home and the house, especially the porch and at the same time, juggling CO practices, my holiday assignments, my tuition homework and violin practices. I don't know how I survived all those, but here I am, well and alive.
Today I went out with Talz and her friend, Melody, from Taiwan, who's here for a holiday and to visit Talz. We walked around City Link, spent most of our time in MPH and HMV, then we dropped by Esplanade. Fun day, but I was so tired.
You know, Russell Watson has a very fantastic, powerful, deep, and rich voice. I was listening to his CD today, as well as Josh Groban and this lovely CD, "Eternity" which I wanted to buy, but my mum complains that I've been spending too much money this holiday. Well, it's not like I can't live without the CD. Sarah Brightman rocks too! Lovely voice.
I just read "Anna and the Duke"! Oh, it's such a lovely book! One hilarious part was when Ewan got mad because Marion doubted his rank so he calmly said "And incidentally, I'm not a 'mister'. Even without my father's title, I'm the Earl of (something which I can't remember). You may address me by either title. I also have lesser ones as well, Viscount (something which I can't remember again) and Baron (again, I forgot). You may take your pick."
The sequel, "Emily and the Scot" is really good too! An Avon True Romance books are really nice. Did I mention that "Nicola and the Viscount" has possibly the most perfect ending which I've ever read? It's the friggin' good! At MPH today, Talz saw this book titled "101 Things To Do Before You Die". We almost died laughing reading it. Gee, here I go again, rambling on and on about books. Sorry, I just can't help it. *smiles sheepishly*
1234, 1234, 1234... Follow the pulse... Don't rush... Crescendo... Decrescendo...
This entire week has been filled with intensive CO practices. 8.30am - 5.30pm from Tuesday till today. I feel an inch from death. Tuesday was a day camp. Wednesday to Thursday, we stayed overnight in the school.
I had to conduct all self-practices and I had to shout all the time to make myself be heard above all the noise. That resulted in my voice becoming hoarse and I sound like a frog today. Well, maybe not that bad, but you get the idea.
The camp was tiring. Really tiring. But Confidence Walk and Water Bomb was fun. I had to scare people for Confidence Walk and my greatest assest is my waist-long hair, which I swept in front to cover my face. June and I went to scare people together. We successfully scared more than 7 people.
I felt so sick last night that I slapped an ice pack onto my pillow and slept on it. I had this killer headache, a croaky voice, aching limbs and I was feeling warm and cold at the same time. Thank God I felt better today.
There's gonna be a section bonding session at my house next week. Yup, a Christmas Barbecue and my section is coming over. Looking forward to it. I'm so disappointed about the new Christmas Tree my dad bought. It does not in any way resemble a Christmas Tree! It's just this junk of triangle shaped metal. I'm so upset. I was so excited about it. And they threw away the old tree coz it's spoilt. Hmph...
Tick tock tick tock tick tock... For the entire week, I've been sleeping at about 2 or 3 am in the morning. Ask me what's insomnia? I'll tell you all about it. Now I feel like a dead man. Correction: Dead woman. I was swaying like a rag doll in a blizzard on the bus coz I was on the verge of falling asleep. Almost hit my head on the pole, but that might have been a good thing coz there's no doubt that it would definately wake me up and I get to see stars! Riiight...
Anyway, we had CO practice in the hall today and Chang Cheng Sui Xiang suddenly sounded so yucky. Everyone sounded so soft, I could barely hear. Conductor kept urging us to play louder and louder. I complied. The results? Yeah, Chang Cheng sounded better, but my right arm almost dropped off. All those tremolos and usage of full bows...
Then we played Di Tanjong Katong. The gaohu solo, sadly, does not sound very nice, moving and emotional. Gotta work on that. After lunch break, we played Jing Chu Xiong Feng. Yeah, one of my favourite pieces. Then we had to split for self-sectionals, conducted by Xin Yi and me.
We had to practise our ensemble piece, Chang Shan Ge. This piece has so many slides that I thought the friction produced between my finger and the string was gonna burn off the skin on my index finger. Ouch. Since whenever Xin Yi and I conduct together, we get no chance to practise with our section, so we decided to both sit in front with our instruments and take turns conducting. Two heads, are afterall, better than one.
My dad decided to convert those two tanks at home to marine tanks. I just spent a good deal of my dinner time watching the starfish crawl up the tank wall. The fish tank had transformed from a barren dull tank to this... this vibrant, colourful marine tank with corals, clown fish, shrimps, a sea snake, starfish, brightly coloured fishes and ugh, a sea cucumber and many more creatures and fishes, of which I have yet to identify.
I've got tuition tomorrow, what a bummer. CO Camp is next week, I can't wait for the Confidence Walk. Alright, I'm feeling really really lethargic and woozy...
Yesterday was no doubt one of the greatest, most fun and laughter filled days of my life. But the morning was ironically depressing as I had to part with my darling violin which I have spent a wonderful month with.
Anyway, I went to the Band concert, Offstage, with Ahmad, Adam and my sis, Isabell. On the way there, many rather embarrassing events took place, of which many are in conversation. But there were two most mortifying events that lead me to inflict a bit of bodily harm.
One was when Ahmad wanted to call after Nelson and Xingwen, who were running out with their instruments, presumely to find someone. He almost did, until I smacked his shoulder. Then he gasped and went "You smacked me for the first time! And you're my best friend! I'm so hurt..." Uhhh...
Then I met Shu Qi, Li Zhen, Mabel and Hui Wen at the bridge between Fullerton Hotel and Victoria Concert Hall. So I was gonna introduce Ahmad to them and vice versa, and I started saying "Hey guys, this is-" I got cut off by Ahmad who burst out "I'm Valerie's new boyfriend!" The four girls immediately burst out in hysterical laughter. I almost died, sputtered a loud "no!" and again, deliverd him a hard smack. On the shoulder. Or was it the back?
Now, why am I surprised that I actually survived the day without getting a cardiac arrest? On the way back, a certain event on the MRT was uhh... how do I say? Nevermind, I shall skip that. Anyway, Ahmad was poking fun at me again, but Adam joined in this time. Oh, the horror...
All in all, I had a really great day. Even though I got teased and poke fun at and tried to give them my best 'you are so dead' look, I was laughing silently inside. And the concert was great. Really. Ross Roy was especially great. After attending this concert, it sparked off my passion again for CO. I can't wait for Musical Epoch to arrive! And I so love Chang Cheng Sui Xiang (The Great Wall Capricco) and Jing Chu Xiong Feng!
Today is a day of a few firsts. It's my first time to the movies in SIX MONTHS, which is the equivalent of half a year. I was supposed to meet Aiysha and Ahmad at 9am, but me, being typical me, woke up late and ended up being late. What made it worse was that the bus was friggin' late too! I reached there at 9.30am, ran to the MRT station, saw the both of them there and almost got my neck wringed by Aiysha, becoz she had to endure almost half an hour of irritation by a certain someone. (chuckles)
We made our way to the cinema and all the while, Ahmad kept poking fun at Aiysha, and she'll fume up and I'll just start laughing and all. We've decided to watch Shark Tale. Aiysha wanted to watch Shutter, but majority wins, as both Ahmad and I wanted Shark Tale. There was still some time left so we went for breakfast at Mac, Aiysha insisted that she didn't wanna eat, but we forced her to anyway. Never skip breakfast (though I'm sometimes guilty of that as well). It's also the first time I've eaten hotcakes in like... years... Gee, when was the last time I ate hotcakes? I can't remember. Anyway, after breakfast, we went back up, he treated us vanilla coke and we went into the cinema.
Shark Tale is friggin' funny! I was laughing like mad with Aiysha and I could hear Ahmad laughing as well. Aiysha and I once guffawed so hard that we banged our heads together. Ouch. It was a good movie. Enjoyed myself a lot today, laughed a lot too. Sorry about laughing at Aiysha's expense, but her reactions were hilarious.
Then we walked around Tampines Mall, Century Square and finally went to White Sands. After a while, Ahmad had to leave for a job interview, so Aiysha and I went up to the foodcourt to eat Ice Kachang. We shared it coz it was gigantic and were fighting for the 'atap chee'. Haha.
I'm so sad. I gotta return my darling violin tomorrow morning. I'm so sad!!! Ahhh!!! I'm gonna miss it a lot. Tomorrow's Offstage, all the best to all Band members!
Ahhh! I just found out that Ramin Karimloo, previously acting as Viscount Raoul de Chagny in "The Phantom of the Opera" has swapped with Oliver Thornton, previously acting as Enjolras in "Les Miserables". Anyway, I can't wait for "The Phantom of the Opera" movie to be out!!! But Raoul looked even weirder in there. Sigh, what happened to the cute Raoul I saw in London?
The concert was... well, I don't know... It was more of a recital actually, I found out upon reaching the auditorium. Many kids performing song from Suzuki book 1 - 2. The quartet was good, comprising of adults of course. The encore piece is frigging nice! I had to perform right after the interval.
It was quite a mess actually. We didn't stand as mother had instructed and it ended up looking funny due to our height difference. Nevertheless, I had to give the command to start the first piece: Allegro. My little sis messed up a bit, but my 2nd sis and I covered for her. After Allegro, my little sis exited the stage. Then my 2nd sis and I played Watkin's Ale, and this time, my 2nd sis conked up a bit, and I covered for her. After Watkin's Ale, she exited the stage, and I was left with the pianist, Aunt Doris. Then I played Gavotte in D Major. I was actually trembling and I didn't really dare look at the audience, whom were so close I can practically see their pimples (if they had any). Really, they were THAT close. The piece ended fine, I didn't repeat and did a retard at the end of the second page to end the song properly.
And guess what?! Ahmad came to the concert!!! I felt euphoric man. And Ahmad? You flatter me too much, I'm not that great. Haha... But thanks anyway for coming over! =)
Ah, yes, I'm back. The past few days, or perhaps week has been rather eventful, particularly the interesting lunch I had with Aiysha and Ahmad, well, now known as The Thing (credits to Aiysha). What with all the rice, cucumber and sotong chopping!
Anyway, tomorrow is my violin concert. My very first. Performing solo for one song. Weirdly, I'm not feeling nervous, but I think I will tomorrow, right before I step onto the stage. After not blogging for so many days, I have oddly little things to say. It must be my little sis banging around on the piano that's disrupting all my train of thoughts. Oh, somebody, save me the horror...
Oh yeah! One terrific book to recommand: Johnny Angel by Danielle Steel. Anyone who hasn't read it, try it. It made me cry buckets of tears. That's one book I didn't regret buying.
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