a voice class incident

a little thing about voice class. i take the 5-6pm monday class with ruben. now, there's supposed to be another class directly before mine. today, me and the rest of the class showed up as usual, on time more or less. went to the room. and there was no one there. no class, no ruben, no keyboard. nothing. now we were all wondering, what da heck is going on? isn't there supposed to be class? or did someone cancel class and not tell us? so we were wandering around pgp trying to look for either wei wei or ruben. and none were to be found. then, thank heavens, we saw tiffany. she was supposed to be in the class before us. she said that she had the same problem. she was late for her class for some reason and found no one there. then she heard singing from the other room so she went there. it was the guys' class with aunty mary. so she joined them since ruben wasn't around apparently. and so my class went and joined aunty mary too. guess aunty mary must have been really happy since her class suddenly increased attendance by 200%. 3 people became 9. and she had been complaining to wei wei that her class attendance was horrible.

anyway, later we found out that ruben had come for class. but no body showed up for the 4pm class. so he just walked out and left. *gasp* i didn't realise it was that bad. last week, the 4pm class had only 1 person, but i thought that was because it was mid term break and people didn't realise that there was class. but now...irresponsible i tell you. those people sign up for class and not show up. then ruben walks out and leaves my very kuai class wondering what's happening. btw, by irresponsible i refer to the people who're supposed to attend the class. they don't stop to think of other people their actions are affecting.

and aunty mary isn't exactly what i expected of her. i expected her to be the jennifer tham type. but she's really quite aunty. like those aunties you see in church. but her voice...woah! totally amazing.

right. all for now. it's midnight. tired liao.

supposed to be doing my maths tutorial but i can't concentrate. so no point forcing myself to do it. gonna blog a while then, hopefully, work on some of my essays. sigh. feeling a little guilty about it.

school's started after the so-called break. so sad. can't wait for december to come round. choir's got a lot planned. planned lah, i don't know if confirmed or not. we going shah alam (that's confirmed. more on the competition later on), kk said that they're in negotiation with chijmes and mariott hotel for carolling in return for sponsorship for the competition. can't imagine what it'll be like carolling in chijmes. hope i get to do that. :D on the competition, we've finished learning the 5 songs. so fast! hui jun made us sing solo (sort of) during sectionals the other day. i malu-ed myself with my horrigible rendition of "lily". the high e lah. it's already hard enough to reach when i combine let alone solo. ya, anyway. the new chinese song replacing the "birdie monologue" (don't know the real title) is really weird. it's even weirder than the birdie song. but kwei said we can't use that song cos it's not a authentic folk piece. so this new song comes up. it's called "dong dong kuay". while it's really easy to learn, i caught myself singing that song repeatedly this morning, it's not very interesting with regards to rhythm and lyrics. boring song actually. my least favourite song among all of them. even the "lily" song, difficult as it is, is more fun. going to start learning for varsity voices (vv) soon. already got score for "missa brevis". can't wait. :D

going to be roommate with felicia in shah alam. kinda had a dilemna about that. there was 2 ppl i wanted to share with, and who wanted to share with me. but i had to choose only 1. felt kinda guilty, like i'm betraying my other friend or something. sigh. but she managed to get someone else in the end, so not too bad lah. hope shah alam will be fun like genting. i really miss the genting days. even sharing a room with toh ying was fun. remember how when everyone else was hanging out at the indoor theme park way past curfew hour, me and ty were watching cantonese dramas in the room. ok, ty was watching and translating for me. remember also the most memoriable, watching LOTR past curfew hour (me and my group were really kuai kias) sneaking back to the room cos we saw mr yong hanging around and didn't want him to catch us (not that he would tell on us lah), but the fun was in that. getting nostalgic again.

other stuff. dad's going cuckoo about feng shui. IMHO, feng shui is total crap. i don't care what other ppl say, to me, it's all in the mind. full stop. ya so, just now, he's been trying to convince me that feng shui is authentic and really works. even started quoting me the apostles' creed, "creator of all that's seen and UNSEEN", challenging me with the subject of acupuncture, ghosts and supernatural happenings. whatever. he's dabbled with feng shui in the house. eg, in me and andrew's room. he made us switch rooms last year, changing the positions of the furniture and stuff like that. and nothing miraculous has happened. well, i caught dengue fever and actually did worse in my exams than when i was in my original room. haha. another thing that makes me convinced that it's all in the mind. i have this dreamcatcher that i bought in england. i hung it in my room. i'm assuming we all know what dreamcatchers are supposed to do. now, i think, (can't confirm cos i don't remember) that it works cos i don't recall having (terrifying) nightmares since i hung it up. but i think that it's cos subconsiously, you think that the dreamcatcher is catching the nightmares, so you subconsiously not create nightmare situations in your brain. ppl have this need to feel that things are going the way they want, and that they can affect their environment, somehow tweak situations to their favour. think harry potter and the lucky potion. hmm...interesting. some shrink should do a thesis on this. anyway, bottom line, it's all in the mind. where feng shui's concerned, i'm a confirmed skeptic unless you can scientifically prove that it works. (lots more to say on this subject, but i won't bore you for now)

moving on. duan hui lost her hp again. and i really really REALLY must scold her this time. sorry i'm kinda telling this to the whole world. go ahead and whack me but i think ppl need to know and learn from it. anyway, here's the story: she fell asleep at a study table in sch. her hp was on her bag. when she woke up, it was gone. looked around for it, cannot find. frantically calling her number. finally someone answered. called himself 'michael', giving a contact number and telling her to meet him at clementi so he can return her the phone. apparently he found it on the floor. so the next day, i went with her to find the guy. he never showed up. or if he did, he didn't make himself known. the number he gave was out of service. me and her were going around clementi mrt asking every guy there if he's michael. know how surreal that is?? kafkaesque imo. later i found out that he didn't know duan hui's name, he didn't bother to tell her any way of identifying him, and claiming to find it on the floor is total crap. all evidence points to the fact that he stole the phone. even if he really found it on the floor (say, the real thief decided he didn't want the phone after all and chucked it), and if he didn't return it, it's same as stealing it. esp when he knows that someone is frantically looking for it. moral of the story: never EVER allow your personal stuff, esp high tech gadgets, to be out of your sight/person. school is not safe. no, no. no where is safe. and people are inherently evil.

happier stuff. almost finished the english project. only left a little bit more of the essay to complete. yay!! and i borrowed my first book from nus library. haha! after so long in school. ;D oh ya, and i malu-ed myself at the photocopying machine. i didn't know how to use the thing, so i asked a guy who looks after the place. and he looks at me like i'm a complete sotong before helping me. *rolls eyes* the look was like, "what planet did you come from?? uni student liao still don't know how to operate the photocopier?!" whatever lah. and i'm considering, maybe i won't take maths next sem. i'm not that keen on going through the same torture again. i know i'll miss it. but...see how lah.

oh ya, really want to mention this. i spotted a typho error on tv mobile!! you know the new students' showcase thing? i was watching the one about roy and the clone. and the trailer at the bottom introducing the work to you. well, "tv mobile" was spelt "tv molile". gosh! they should hire me as proofreader. haha!! and btw, i realised how good bo bice sounds. i downloaded "inside your heaven". love it. so nice to listen to. he sang it miles better than carrie. muahaha! last thing, mum thinks i'm perpetually playing the fool on my laptop just because i've got a picture of clay as my desktop wallpaper. what nonsense!

lots more to say. but i'll spare you for now. so nice of me. :D

the end is nigh.

term break is drawing to a close. so fast. sigh. what have i accomplished in this time? hmm....i've started the english project. the cultural studies project. actually did research for genetics essay in the library. (what an achievement) planned out my lit essay (but still far away from writing it). haven't touched maths yet. sigh. have to get to it soon.

where did all the time go?

alrighty...

FINALLY it's the mid term break. first thing to comment about. for a 100 year old uni, nus doesn't seem to have much training in logic. we are given 5 days break. starting on sunday. *rolls eyes* i must tell the whole world this. WHAT IS THE FREAKING USE OF GIVING US HOLIDAY ON SUNDAY????!!!!!

right. anyway, not that it's much of a break anyway. i still have to go down to school monday and thursday for choir. and wednesday we're meeting for cultural studies project discussion. (which i have to start thinking about asap) then there's the english project. and my maths to study (the midterm test is after the break, evil creatures) and maths tutorials and homework to do. and biotech to study (again the midterm test is after the break). and there's 2 essays i have to write. well 3 if you count the english project. sort of. i'm getting confused. never mind. it's been 2 days since i last went back to school and i haven't done a single thing except download and print my assignments. haha. well, i designated tuesday as a day to not do any school work. but on the day, i'm probably going to do work anyway.

went to cathedral for mass this morning. oh. my. god. the choir is wonderful. gosh. it's 60 strong and just sitting there, i felt like i was attending a concert. nuff said. they have robes and all. and the 4 musicians playing 4 keyboards simlutaneously. and one of them was situated at the back of the church playing that huge pipe organ. woah!!! at this point, i must comment that the guy playing the small pipe organ (black robed) is kinda cute. he's got a really boyish face.(oh no! i'm turning into a female version of humbert.) paedophilia aside...it was still darn impressive. the guy at the huge pipe organ played "suite gothique" by handel after mass. and when he finished, everyone applauded. it was the kind of service i could have expected at, say, york minster. those high class british twit type of church.

anyway, yup, all for now. don't feel like starting work yet leh. sigh. oh ya, i'm reading "jane eyre" that i bought the other day. the supposedly unabridged one. it's so romantic. sigh. *dreams*

oh yes! i forgot to mention. i finally got the "when you believe" with the ashira part. yay!! i got it from joseph. in case john felix is reading this, thanks for your tip about yahoo. but i still couldn't get it on yahoo. and i lost your email and am lazy to look for it. (really have to get my archives up) but never mind. just so you know. gosh! i absolutely love that song. the ashira is sung by kids and it's so sweet. i like it better than the mariah carey and whitney houston one. this version is ok. the volume is a little crazy and the last second or two is cut off but it's there!

and i saw this on someone's blog. your cyborg name. kinda fun. here's mine.

for a laugh (taken from the NUS choir forum)

A Guide to the SATB Choir

In any chorus, there are four voice parts: soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. Sometimes these are divided into first and second within each part, prompting endless jokes about first and second basses. There are also various other parts such as baritone, countertenor, contralto, mezzo soprano, etc., but these are mostly used by people who are either soloists, or belong to some excessively hotshot classical a cappella group (this applies especially to countertenors), or are trying to make excuses for not really fitting into any of the regular voice parts, so we will ignore them for now.

Each voice part sings in a different range, and each one has a very different personality. You may ask, "Why should singing different notes make people act differently?", and indeed this is a mysterious question and has not been adequately studied, especially since scientists who study musicians tend to be musicians themselves and have all the peculiar complexes that go with being tenors, french horn players, timpanists, or whatever. However, this is beside the point; the fact remains that the four voice parts can be easily distinguished, and I will now explain how.

THE SOPRANOS are the ones who sing the highest, and because of this they think they rule the world. They have longer hair, fancier jewelry, and swishier skirts than anyone else, and they consider themselves insulted if they are not allowed to go at least to a high F in every movement of any given piece. When they reach the high notes, they hold them for at least half again as long as the composer and/or conductor requires, and then complain that their throats are killing them and that the composer and conductor are sadists. Sopranos have varied attitudes toward the other sections of the chorus, though they consider all of them inferior. Altos are to sopranos rather like second violins to first violins - nice to harmonize with, but not really necessary. All sopranos have a secret feeling that the altos could drop out and the piece would sound essentially the same, and they don't understand why anybody would sing in that range in the first place - it's so boring. Tenors, on the other hand, can be very nice to have around; besides their flirtation possibilities (it is a well-known fact that sopranos never flirt with basses), sopranos like to sing duets with tenors because all the tenors are doing is working very hard to sing in a low-to-medium soprano range, while the sopranos are up there in the stratosphere showing off. To sopranos, basses are the scum of the earth - they sing too damn loud, are useless to tune to because they're down in that low, low range - and there has to be something wrong with anyone who sings in the F clef, anyway.
Top Ten reasons for being a Soprano
10. The rest of the choir exists just to make you look good.
9. You can entertain your friends by breaking their wine glasses.
8. Can you name an opera where an alto got the man?
7. When sopranos want to sing in the shower, they know the tune.
6. It's not like you're ever going to sing the alto part by accident.
5. Great costumes - like the hat with the horns on it.
4. How many world famous altos can you name?
3. When the fat lady sings, she's usually singing soprano.
2. When you get tired of singing the tune, you can sing the descant.
1. You can sing along with Michael Jackson.

THE ALTOS are the salt of the earth - in their opinion, at least. Altos are unassuming people, who would wear jeans to concerts if they were allowed to. Altos are in a unique position in the chorus in that they are unable to complain about having to sing either very high or very low, and they know that all the other sections think their parts are pitifully easy. But the altos know otherwise. They know that while the sopranos are screeching away on a high A, they are being forced to sing elaborate passages full of sharps and flats and tricks of rhythm, and nobody is noticing because the sopranos are singing too loud (and the basses usually are too). Altos get a deep, secret pleasure out of conspiring together to tune the sopranos flat. Altos have an innate distrust of tenors, because the tenors sing in almost the same range and think they sound better. They like the basses, and enjoy singing duets with them - the basses just sound like a rumble anyway, and it's the only time the altos can really be heard. Altos' other complaint is that there are always too many of them and so they never get to sing really loud.
Top Ten reasons for being an Alto
10. You get really good at singing an E flat.
9. You get to sing the same note for 12 consecutive bars.
8. You don't really need to warm up to sing 12 consecutive bars of E flat.
7. If the choir is rough, it's unlikely the altos will be blamed
6. You have lots of time to chat during soprano solos.
5. You get to pretend that you are better than the sopranos, because everybody knows that women only sing soprano so they don't have to learn to read music.
4. You can sometimes find part-time work singing tenor.
3. Altos get all the great intervals.
2. When the sopranos are holding some outrageously high note at the end of a piece, the altos always get the last words.
1. When the altos miss a note, nobody gets hurt.

THE TENORS are spoiled. That's all there is to it. For one thing, there are never enough of them, and choir directors would rather sell their souls than let a halfway decent tenor quit, while they're always ready to unload a few altos at half price. And then, for some reason, the few tenors there are are always really good - it's one of those annoying facts of life.. So it's no wonder that tenors always get swollen heads - after all, who else can make sopranos swoon? The one thing that can make tenors insecure is the accusation (usually by the basses) that anyone singing that high couldn't possibly be a real man.. In their usual perverse fashion, the tenors never acknowledge this, but just complain louder about the composer being a sadist and making them sing so damn high. Tenors have a love-hate relationship with the conductor, too, because the conductor is always telling them to sing louder because there are so few of them. No conductor in recorded history has ever asked for less tenor in a forte passage. Tenors feel threatened in some way by all the other sections - the sopranos because they can hit those incredibly high notes; the altos because they have no trouble singing the notes the tenors kill themselves for; and the basses because, although they can't sing anything above an E, they sing it loud enough to drown the tenors out. Of course, the tenors would rather die than admit any of this. It is a little-known fact that tenors move their eyebrows more than anyone else while singing.
Top Ten reasons for being a Tenor
10. Tenors get high without drugs.
9. Name a musical where the tenor got the girl.
8. You can show sopranos how it SHOULD be sung.
7. Did you ever hear of anyone paying $1000 a ticket to hear the Three Basses?
6. Who needs brains when you've got resonance?
5. Tenors never have to waste time looking through self-improvement books.
4. You can sing along with John Denver's 'High Calypso'.
3. When you get really good at falsetto you can make lots of money doing voice overs for cartoons.
2. Gregorian chant was practically invented for the tenor. Nobody invented a genre for basses.
1. You can entertain your friends doing impersonations.

THE BASSES sing the lowest of anybody. This basically explains everything. They are stolid, dependable people, and have more facial hair than anybody else. The basses feel perpetually unappreciated, but they have a deep conviction that they are actually the most important part (a view endorsed by musicologists, but certainly not by sopranos or tenors), despite the fact that they have the most boring part of anybody and often sing the same note (or in endless fifths) for an entire page. They compensate for this by singing as loudly as they can get away with - most basses are tuba players at heart. Basses are the only section that can regularly complain about how low their part is, and they make horrible faces when trying to hit very low notes. Basses are charitable people, but their charity does not extend so far as tenors, whom they consider effete poseurs. Basses hate tuning the tenors more than almost anything else. Basses like altos - except when they have duets and the altos get the good part. As for the sopranos, they are simply in an alternate universe which the basses don't understand at all. They can't imagine why anybody would ever want to sing that high and sound that bad when they make mistakes. When a bass makes a mistake, the other three parts will cover him, and he can continue on his merry way, knowing that sometime, somehow, he will end up at the root of the chord.
Top Ten reasons for being a Bass
10. You don't have to tighten your pants to reach your note.
9. You don't have to worry about a woman stealing your job.
8. Or a pre-adolescent boy.
7. Action heroes are always basses. That is if they ever sang they would be a bass.
6. You get great memorable lyrics like bop, bop, bop, bop.
5. If the singing job doesn't work out, there's always broadcasting.
4. You never have to learn to read the treble clef.
3. If you get a cold, so what.
2. For fun you can sing at the bottom of your range and fool people into thinking there's an earthquake.
1. If you belch while you're singing, the audience just thinks it's part of the score.

A Choir's Guide to (Annoying The) Conductors
The following rules are intended as a guide to the development of habits that will irritate the conductor. (Variations and additional methods depend upon the imagination and skill of the singer.)

1. Never be satisfied with the pitchpipe note. Fussing about the pitch takes attention away from the podium and puts it on you, where it belongs.
2. When raising the music stand, be sure the top comes off and spills the music on the floor.
3. Complain about the temperature of the rehearsal room, the lighting, crowded space, or a draft. It's best to do this when the conductor is under pressure.
4. Look the other way just before cues.
5. Ask for a re-audition or change of position. Ask often. Give the impression you're about to quit. Let the conductor know you're there as a personal favor.
6. Practice your notes as if you are checking at every opportunity, especially when the conductor is giving instructions. Bass players: keep making nasty comments at sops. Sops have a wide variety of irritating noises, but G# is unquestionably the best because they echo for several seconds.
7. Long after a passage has gone by, ask the conductor if your C# was in tune. This is especially effective if you had no C# or were not singing at the time. (If he catches you, pretend to be correcting a note in your part.)
8. At dramatic moments in the music (while the conductor is emoting) be busy marking your music so that the climaxes will sound empty and disappointing.
9. Wait until well into a rehearsal before letting the conductor know you don't have the music. 10. Look at your watch frequently. Shake it in disbelief occasionally.
11. Tell the conductor, "I can't find the beat." Conductors are always sensitive about their "stick technique", so challenge it frequently.
12. As the conductor if he has listened to the Bernstein recording of the piece. Imply that he could learn a thing or two from it. Also good: ask "Is this the first time you've conducted this piece?"
13. When rehearsing a difficult passage, screw up your face and shake your head indicating that you'll never be able to sing it. Don't say anything: make him wonder.
14. If your articulation differs from that of others singing the same phrase, stick to your guns. Do not ask the conductor which is correct until backstage just before the concert.
15. Find an excuse to leave rehearsal about 15 minutes early so that others will become restless and start to pack up and fidget.
16. During applause, smile weakly or show no expression at all. Better yet, shake your head vigorously in disappointment.Make the conductor feel he did a real shitty job.

first uni test

quick one. today was the first uni test of my life. the lit mid term test on Lolita and The Trial. it was total crap. i never crapped so much for any lit test ever. the qn on the Trial was mutating into a GP essay. and the Lolita was just smoking my way through.

think i'm going to fail. language mid term is on this friday and i still haven't started studying for it yet. sigh. at least i have the term break to study for the maths and genes mid term. and thank god that cultural studies has no formal mid term test.

haha! blogging again. so late now. almost midnight. that shuttle bus's fault again. ok lah, maybe partly my fault too, should have run for it. but lazy to lah. anyway, i realised why i'm always so depressed on sunday nights. nope, it's not just because tomorrow's monday, it's because of 2 simple words. "maths tutorial". yup. stupid thing really. i just can't get it. i mean, i understand him in lecture (up till now anyway) but i still can't apply the concepts properly. it doesn't help that most of the tutorial deals with proving and stuff like that. sigh. and just as i was getting the hang of the first topic (linear equations or something like that) he starts on another new topic (euclidian n-spaces). and poor me's lost again. next week's term break is going to be spent in catching up on my maths. that girl june is scaring me. just now, she was already asking me if i know if tutorial 5 is uploaded on ivle yet. and we've only just started tutorial 4 today. she's practically finished the next set of homework already. oh my god. people like that are freaky. same with that china girl in my tutorial class (i think her name's tang yang). she's already started the homework set. i know i should too but i can't cos there's some parts (most parts) that toh hasn't covered yet. and me can't handle it if the lecturer hasn't covered it. sigh. i feel stupid.

choir was fun. now got this weird chinese song, weirder than dokin. but it's so fun when it's combined. reminds me of those nonsense stuff that vj choir's so good at. can't believe that i'll actually be singing songs like that. we're also doing an eric whitacre song. i think he's the guy that composed for "waternight". cool! but so difficult to learn. the rhythm is just crazy. but it sounds good when we finally got it right. didn't get past the first few pages though. heehee! voice class wasn't too torturous either. much better than last week. hope mei si is better. she didn't come for choir again today. have to remember to msg and wen hou her. poor gal. she should go and see another doctor for her cough. the first doctor's obviously no use. anyway, the tailor came to take measurements for the choir gown. still don't know what it looks like though. but talk about making people feel fat. gosh. feels guilty.

moving on to the topic of fat and guilty. yup, i've been indulging so much lately. have to hold back now. like today, i ate 3 eggs in a day. can't eat eggs from now till friday. and then, i ate a packet of hello panda, a snickers bar and a peanut butter oreo. then when i came home, mother makes me eat supper. sigh. talk about fat. and i just remembered the chocolate brownie with ice cream i ate during duan hui's birthday thing at munchie monkey. pure sin. sigh. time to go dieting. or "lord, if you can't make me thin, then make my friends fat". i'm so evil.

anyway, got round to cleaning my room on saturday. it was partially successful. as in, now my schoolbooks are in a proper cabinet, and i got rid of the junkpile in another cabinet. and the lime magazines moved from my room to my house's front door. of course, i needed a lot of help from andrew cos of my paranoia that i may be throwing away something important. he had to pack the stuff into plastic bags for me, else i would have been worrying all the time about it. even know i still go a bit paranoid. what if i unknowingly threw something impt away??! anyway, while going through my junk, i found those brochures that the overseas colleges sent me. (one spanish college and colorado college) wonder what would have happened if i had accepted their offer. hmm...interesting turn of events in my life. and they were admitting me based on my sats. which means that if i accepted, i could just screw the a levels. muahahaha! but of course, i'm sill stuck in singapore. i refrained from going to the exchange programme fair thing cos it's so expensive. no money liao. the dengue fever thing sapped a LOT of money. and nus isn't exactly cheap. and i'm not indicating school fees either. it's the extras like books... sigh, "it's a rich man's world". next time, i should go marry a rich man or else strike a billion dollars in 4D or something.

ok, anything else interesting to note? let's see...oh ya. i found this song that clay aiken sang for disney. it's a song on the new "aladdin" dvd. it's called "proud of your boy", it's a song that didn't make it into the original film. the lyrics are so meaningful. the way clay sings it...i saw the dvd review, the producer was wiping tears away at the end of the song. it's about a kid and his mother. it talks about how the kid acknowledges that what he did in the past was bad, juvenile delinquent thing, making his mother ashamed of him("i've wasted time, i've wasted me...okay i agree that i've been one rotten kid. some son, some pride and some joy"). and the kid goes on to promise that he'll be better in future ("you'll see, ma, now comes the better part, someone's got to make good, cross his stupid heart. make good and finally make you proud of your boy"). and yet, as he's making this promise, he knows that it'll be difficult for his mother to accept that he can and will change ("but that couldn't be all that i am. water flow under the bridge, let it pass, let it go. there's no good reason that you should believe me not yet"). but he still perserveres on to try to change ("someday and soon, i'll make you proud of your boy. though i can't make myself taller or smarter or handsome or wise, i'll do my best, what else can i do? since i wasn't born perfect like Dad or you. mom, i will try to, try hard to make you proud of your boy") *g*

till next time folks!

i agree

i was reading jasmine's blog and i totally agree with her about this:

"Hands up, all those who blithely claimed a year ago that the A levels was going to be the toughest time in our lives, academically speaking, and that university life would be a breeze in comparison. Go choke yourselves with pears"

LIARS!! ALL OF YOU!!!!!!

*stressed out*

(Before I start proper, I'll like to say, this entry and pretty much most of the entries from now on will be prepared on MS word then posted onto blogger. So there may be discrepancies about the dates and maybe some symbols like the inverted comma. Apologies for that.)

Well, to all who're concerned, I'm ok now. Feel happier a bit. You know, I used to tease sumi about being quixotic, now I’m getting mood swings too. Haha! Goes to show, don't be so fast to tease someone. Not that I still remember the exact meaning of quixotic. But never mind. Who cares? I'm feeling hyper as I type this so er...ya. Read on mes amies.

Choir was fun on Monday. Mr kwei came. We combined for "sweet honey sucking bees" and "wayang kulit". The "wayang kulit" was so cool! Especially when it was combined. Sounds so Javanese. Wow. Reminds me of that "Janger" song. Wish I could hear the choir during the competition. Had the voice class too with Ruben lai. That was ok. Only me and Felicia were on time. So the class started with just the 2 of us with Ruben. Oh ya and wei wei decided to be extra and sit in. (this was supposed to be a girls' voice class btw) later on other people came in. but it was still scary. Ruben was making us do stuff with our voice that I haven't done for years. Ok lah, not years, but 1 year. I’ve never felt so insecure about my voice. Maybe it was a bit intimidating cos it was like having one on one attention with him. And then he made us sing solo and ask us how it felt. Gosh. I couldn't feel a thing. I’m not the type that feels anything. :p problem there. So just crap up some feeling thing. Anyway. He knows what he's doing definitely. But it's still weird. And after choir, when I went home, feel aching all over, like last time after a long day at JL. Literally physically tired. Whoa. Hope that means that I'm doing it correct.

Followed sumi to collect her fujitsu today. That was after I found out that there wasn't any biotech lecture. Darn. I should have found that out earlier and not like later after I checked the ivle. Lucky I checked the ivle else I'll be standing like an idiot outside LT 32 waiting for a lecture that doesn't take place. Anyway, the collection was quite fast. Lucky girl. She had absolutely no problems with her comp. remember mine had to be changed cos there was a scratch on the lid that shouldn't be there. Heard rumours of people who had to change their computers 5, 6 times cos there were always problems with it.

Last Sunday's gospel had this really interesting line. Matthew 18:17 "If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector." When I first heard this, I was kinda curious. Gentile and tax collector is like outcast. So why is Jesus asking the Jews to treat someone like that? Isn't it contradicting everything he's been teaching all along? Then I found out. How did Jesus treat Gentiles and tax collectors? He treated them better than he treated the Jews. He showed them more love and took better care that they hear the word of god. So in asking the Jews to treat the person as an outcast, he's asking them to show more love to him and hope that somehow, he realises and repents. Wow. It’s so amazing. Someone should start a course in bible literature.

oh ya, and my computer is ok now. I figured out the problem Nick. The problem was that I changed the computer language from English(US) to English(UK). So the moral of the story is: Never ever ever change your computer's language.

Hmm….what else? I think I’m going to fail biotech. I downloaded a sample exam paper the other day. And I couldn't even do the first question. It's so chim. Of course, I haven't exactly started studying for it. But still. Can't help wondering if I made the right choice in choosing this gem. But Duan Hui's offered to help me if I have problems. She should take this course. It'll be chicken for her. Apparently it's all a level bio anyway. Me, I don't understand much, especially the parts that are so chem. I only get the purely bio aspect. Which is a problem. Some day soon have to really sit down and go through the textbook, lecture notes and the cds. Mid term tests are coming soon. Sigh. Bo Yu was telling me about the s/u option we can take. I’m so tempted to declare unsatisfactory for biotech. But not sure what'll happen to my grade. I need the credit point lah. So maybe should just hang in there and pray I'll pass somehow.

Sent Theodora a copy of my phantom of the opera scores (the theme and "all I ask of you"). The thing took so long to transfer via msn. It took about an hour to transfer 2 files. Of course, the files were big, 3 and 4kb plus. She got so excited when she found out that the phantom of the opera theme that I sent her was, apparently, original score from the original lyricist. (Something like that). And there I was thinking, erm... downloaded this free from a music website. And you’re getting over excited that I sorta pirated it, therefore making it not the original and erm... i've forgotten. Whatever.

Heard something interesting on power 98 this morning. They were advertising for this new cd, "Shout". Guess what it is. It’s a compilation of Christian artistes eg. Hillsongs, Third Day, The After... Didn’t hear Avalon though. But still. They were playing clips from songs like "Shout to the Lord" on mainstream radio. :O So pleasantly surprised. Nice way to start my morning. These days, there’s not much nice on radio. I've been listening to Christian music. Discovered the joys of Avalon and Third Day. :D Got a suggestion if some Helter Skelter guys are reading. Can you try and do "God of Wonders" by Third Day & Caedmon's Call? Or "Magnificent Obsession" by Steven Curtis Chapman? Ok, maybe I’m asking a bit too much of you. If so, then never mind. It's ok.

My room is getting messier and messier for some inexplicable reason. It's like the great junk monster has taken control of my room. My table's such a dump. Gosh! Can't stand it. But I’m just lazy to clear it. And there's no where to put the stuff anyway. Have to do another spring cleaning pretty soon. It's getting not conducive to studying. (like it was before anyway.) Suddenly I seem to have tons and tons of stuff. I really should get rid of some stuff. Like my Lime magazines that I haven't read since the month I bought them. Any one wants btw? (hint hint ;D) They've got really nice picture and celeb gossip, even if it is a bit old gossip. And they're worth $3 each. They're just taking up space in my room. And there's still my junk collection in well...all my cabinets and drawers. Sometimes I just can't decide what to throw and what not to. Seriously. Every time I empty my room dustbin, I worry if I accidentally threw away something important. But sooner or later, it's got to be done.

The mosquitoes are coming back again. Sigh. Getting bitten again. There's this really awkward one on the side of my foot. So when I wear my shoes, it rubs against the side and it gets so itchy. Irritating. There were times when felt like going to the toilet and scratching. Anyway, hope no dengue mosquitoes again. Not that I can prevent it much if it decides to bite me. Sigh. This block is one of the dengue hot spots. I saw it in the newspaper the other day. Reminds me of a quote I saw "why is the mighty Bengal tiger becoming endangered while a puny mosquito flourishes?" Attack of the killer mosquitoes.

Speaking of quotes, I came across some interesting ones recently.
-"If you can’t convince them, confuse them." Haha! The secret to public speaking is out.
-"God looked out on the sixth day and saw the world lit up in all its splendour by a glorious sunset. And He saw that it was perfect… And then he gave it to man." What an anti-climax. What was god thinking??!
-"it's not the money. It's not the fame. It's the influence." Now we know what celebs think.

Next interesting thing.
PENGUINS ARE TAKING OVER THE WORLD!!!
Got your attention? Imagine my surprise when one day, when I was looking for a nice picture of the mafia penguins of Madagascar for my wallpaper, I came across this site called ThePenguinConspiracy.com which claimed that the evil penguins came from space and are involved in a plot to take over the world. Cue evil laugh: Muahahahahahahahaha!!! It's kinda like in the past; you're convinced that aliens are taking over, that your school teacher is an alien and all that. Now it's the penguins. I haven't had the time to explore the site properly but take a look. It's so interesting. "Smile and wave boys, smile and wave."

Last thing. Andrew wrote a story in imitation of Tan Ah Teck of "Under One Roof", while he was playing with my computer, and which I'm publishing here on my blog. Here goes:

Teck:
Long before your time, in the Southern Province of China, there lived a pig farmer called Ah Tong.

Ah Tong bred pigs. Of all shapes, sizes and colours. Red, blue, green, yellow, and even orange ones. They were so popular, that one day, the Emperor called him to Beijing to breed pigs. Ah Tong accepted this offer, and became the royal pig breeder within the Forbidden City.

But one day, during the Emperor's birthday, a firework flew out of control and landed on his pig house. All the pigs inside burned to death and Ah Tong was left homeless.

The Emperor offered to compensate Ah Tong, but he refused. He went back to his village, and became a vegetable farmer for the rest of his life.

Now, do you know the moral of the story?????

Ronnie: Don't work for the Emperor cos it has no job security?

Paul: Be a vegetarian.

Denise: Never play with fireworks near the pig pen?

Teck: NO!! The moral is, no matter what happens home is still the best place to be. So, come and help me in my mini mart instead of running all over Singapore.

Riiiiight.

so sad. so sad.

don't know why but i feel so down today. bad day i guess. it just got worse btw. let's go back to the last time i blogged.

last thursday's choir wasn't so bad. it ended on time at 9.30 but guess what. after running out to catch the shuttle bus, the bus uncle just drove off without us. sigh. he saw us coming but still zoomed off. sigh. i think i'm fated never to go home before 11pm on choir nights.

celebrated duan hui's birthday at the munchie monkey. we got her a pretty unusual present which i won't mention here in case she objects to it. i ate the chocolate brownie. god, it was so sweet, i had a headache after eating it. i think i'd prefer it if the brownie was cold.

anyway, saw zaidah yesterday at parkway. had a nice time chatting a while. miss her.

went to holy family for evening mass cos parents wanna attend fr christopher's mass. it was ok. considering he's still new to the priest hood. the homily was plain boring though. it was obviously prepared and read off a piece of paper. never mind, i won't criticise too much since i probably can't do any better.

ivle is so frustrating now. it's down for maintainence. and i haven't downloaded my maths tutorial yet. and the tutorial is tomorrow. sigh. my fault lah. i actually got it yesterday and i thought it was printed out properly so i deleted it. and then it turned out that instead of 2 pages, it was printed as a repeat of page 1. by the time i noticed, it was too late to turn on the comp and download again. sigh. hope the 2nd page doesn't have too much on it. lucky i got the english tutorial from jasmine. going to do it after this.

and my computers all got problems. first my house computer. sigh. i turned it on and tried to get it to work. but the net connection...sigh. i waited for 20 minutes and still nothing happened. the thing keeps telling me that something's wrong with the connection. but as far as i know, everything's ok. i think it's something about the panda internet security we installed. it's been giving so much problems. mummy should have gotten norton instead. it may be a bit more expensive but at least it's got name. this panda software never heard of before. anyway, now i'm using my laptop. and for some inexplicable reason, the signs for @ and " have switched. you know how for the first 'at' sign, you press shift and 2 right? now i have to press the button for the double inverted commas instead. don't tell me now my laptop's spoiling. sigh.

bought the sequel to 'eragon'. it's called 'eldest'. it's so cool. can't wait to read it. but i've got no time to read it lah. sigh. so near and yet so far.

kinda screwed up the psalm today too. they tell me it was way too soft. i figured something was wrong but i couldn't tell what. sigh. too tired to sing these days. singing needs happiness. and energy. which i have none at the moment. it get obvious when you solo cos you're so exposed to everything. sigh. got next week to 'redeem' myself.

and tomorrow there's the chance that hui jun's going to test us on dokin. which i'll prob screw up too. stupid song. i'm totally rhythm blind. tried listening to the nwc file that joanne posted but it's going so fast that i can't catch up most times. sigh. don't like still must do. it's part of life.

and there's school tomorrow. the mid term tests are coming up soon. i think i'll fail everything. don't feel confident about anything at all these days. like some guy in my maths class said "i feel so stupid". sigh.

chin lin is leaving the country in a few weeks time. sigh. i think i'll miss her. true, i haven't had a proper conversation with her for years but still. she's one of my longest friends, even longer than jac and zhengying. wish her all the best. also thinking about all the friends i've had and lost over the years. (i think one day, i'll write a post dedicated to all the friends that have come and gone)

anyway, to sum up, life sucks at the moment. sure, there's those little spots of sunshine here and there but mostly, it's dark. i miss jc times. whoever said that uni life was slacker than jc lied to me. i miss mj. miss the friends i had there, the happy times. sigh. (i think duan hui's depression has passed on to me) sometimes i wonder what would have happened if i decided to work instead of studying. would it have been better?

ok, let's try to end off with something happy. (depression is a state of mind. think happy thoughts) hey clay! you're hot and all, but lose the hat. it so doesn't go in my opinion. twisted lyric i seen "Not too crazy about celebrities,Never been into that kind of (shi...)stuff, no." haha! they were going to say shit. muahaha! long live the broads. they always make me smile.