yay! halfway through this crazy week. it's been great. :D
monday. the FIC. we had 2 slots to sing for, the morning and the afternoon session. we were sitting at the ucc lobby, the cafe wasn't open so we could sit at the tables without the annoying waiter making us buy food. there was this orientation group of freshmen, standing in a circle, doing goodness knows what tribal dance in a corner. lol. the security guard didn't let us into backstage cos we didn't have security passes because apparently they ran out of security passes. wtf! so, the guard had to call up his supervisor to check if it was ok for us to just go in based on the namelist. so, that was cleared. the choir dressing room was well, not enough for all of us. there were lots of lockers and all, but not enough space at the mirrors and dressing table to match the number of lockers. but, we made do lah.
the first performance was interesting. we got ready and followed the usher to the backstage holding area. then, we could hear the announcements, it's time for choir to go in and sing. BUT, we found out that we were at the wrong door. we were supposed to be one floor down. so, we all rushed down only to find...that the door was locked. the panicking usher was desperately calling anyone he thought would have the key, reporting that we're locked out of the venue. lol. the security guard had to come along and open the door. so we finally got out and sang. wasn't too good for me. i think my voice was still asleep.
between the performances, we were backstage learning how to sing "sound of silence". lucky i brought my pitchpipe along cos we had to do sectionals and had no way of finding out the note. the song is cool. but i disagree with how wikipedia described it. i mean, ok, there's no disagreeing with the composer, but i think the song doesn't really match the message. wikipedia tells me that the song was written to portray the emotions of the americans after the assassination of president kennedy. i see it as an ode against materialism and consumerism. the line: "and the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made." bro says that the song reminds him of the "sandman" comics we read a while back. i agree.
the second performance wasn't as interesting as the first. the interesting parts were what happened backstage. the guys were all getting hyper and bored. so they were all acting out backstage. kurien especially. which is not a surprise. there are people like him and yan ting that can just 'entertain' everyone by just existing. it's just them. anyway, he was hypering as usual and he suddenly made this really really really loud pop sound (think the donkey in shrek 2). it was so loud it reverberated all round backstage. and felicia asked him to do it again, which he very gladly obliged. then a couple of minutes later, he got bored and went out into the corridor and did it again, which was just as loud if not louder, since the corridor was nice and empty and echoey.
anyway, then, after the FIC, i rushed over to the geog department to check if we can use the earth lab. and you know what the fucker told me? she says, oh, the HOD says that ONLY geog students can book and use the lab. asked me which dept i belong to, i tell her EL. she says, why don't you go over and ask them for their facilities? *jaw drops* and then she suggests i go over to the dean's office and ask them for help. wah lau!! would it kill them to tell me 'no' straight out when i emailed them instead of making me believe that there was a chance to use the lab by saying they'll contact me? and why the hell did they put on their website that they have modified their lab so that seminars and classes can be held there, only to tell ppl who want to use the place that only their own students can use the lab??! i'm never gonna take geography modules in my nus life. pissed off sia!
and then, rushed over to the dean's office at AS7. it was 5.45pm. i rushed up there and the bloody idiot receptionist tells me that, oh, all facilities are fully booked at this time of year, you should have booked at least one month in advance, and even if there is a room, we do not release the rooms to students. so, i asked, can i book through cfa in that case? and she was like, no, cfa liases with us ONLY for rehersal room and LT13, other facilities, cfa has no say over. and besides, it's almost 6 already. fuck. you. angry sia.
so, that was monday.
tuesday. early morning went to the university hall to take part in flag raising ceremony. fun. haven't attended flag raising in 2 years. the nussu president led the pledge. seems weird to me. it was a 'repeat after me' exercise. but it was fun. then we joined in the reception. which wasn't too bad. and we get paid for less than 5 minutes of performance. cool!
after the flag raising, rushed back to cfa to prepare for the workshop. poor vi had to rush out all the photocopying of the programme booklets and fold and staple them all. it was like a factory conveyor belt system. me had to open the cabin and drag out the 2 keyboards and stand and stuff. thank god for jun. if i had to take the bus with those things...
anyway, got lost at the arts fac. discovered that the rehersal room is not what i expected. it wasn't the one near LT11. it was the little room at the corner, the one i almost was going to book, AS3-0101. oh. my. god. that room must have been unused in a century or something. the place was dusty, and stank. only one aircon was working. the other aircon made very scary funny sounds when we turned it on. so made do with one and cranked it down to the lowest temperature. then, when me and adyll tried to set up the keyboard at the corner, it didn't work. so adyll got paulus to help him drag the electric piano from one corner of the room to the other. and it didn't work either. that's when we realised that it was the power socket that wasn't working.
the workshop itself was interesting. actually, i didn't really like the sectionals much. alto sectionals, angila ONLY did 'sound of silence'. then started to play some kind of relay game, which i suppose is supposed to help, but didn't in that little space of time. i think the problem is that she's used to the primary school choir and treated the rest of us like primary school also. i heard that the sop sectional went ok except that apparently the teacher was a bit off in the timing. no feedback from the baritones so i think it went ok, except that they were forced to sing outside the LT. i am SO sorry about that.
the combined was ok. wei wei so cute, he couldn't see the pianist, and the pianist couldn't see him, and i think couldn't hear him either. so he kept, miss chua please play faster, and there wasn't exactly any change. she ended up doing a half squat while playing so that she could see over the choir's heads. 'ave verum' was fine. 'sound of silence'...well, let's say that i think even i could conduct it better.
the mini concert. concorde primary was so cute. *g* need i say more? compassvale...i like their first song. but i found that their singing was very singaporean. especially the guys. broadrick was nice. 'hakuna matata' was cute, especially the front segment doing the forest sounds. 'when you believe/ashira' was great too! first time hearing that arrangement in real life. church choir was ok i think. to me, it was soft. but other people said it's ok. the 2 lalas liked it, esp the sops. i think for our first time performance in such a setting, it went well.
busy after the workshop. a certain secondary school made a ginormous mess of the rehersal/holding room. and someone left a pair of shoes in the room also. lol. going to scold that weiwei on thursday. it's his choir. reversed the process of bringing all the moveable equipment back to cfa. again, huge thanks to jun.
then, rushed back to church for st ants. made it there at 8.15. daryl appeared seconds after i did. :D army let them out for national day. so it was ok. khoo was made a lame joke in homily that i still don't get what it has to do with the gospel other than the walking on water part. geez. he should listen to himself sometimes.
and today. Singapore's 41st National Day! yay! a holiday! lol. the last year it will be held at the national stadium before it gets torn down and rebuilt. watched the parade on tv. no. no.no. it was not all that great. why? because of little details that somehow people didn't realise were annoying. for instance, in the middle of one of the sing-alongs, the sound suddenly got cut. and didn't come back on for a while. the choir and the solo singers didn't blend, so songs like 'semoga bahagia' sounded so bad, when actually, the choir was singing the melody and the soloist was doing harmony. you could only hear the soloist. and, during the celebrations proper, there was darn annoying commentary in the background. it blocked out the actual sound of the performances. and you know what was the worse? the guy talking had the worse singaporean accent you could ever imagine. omg. please. i know you want to explain the significance of the formations and this and that, but PLEASE, can it and save it for another time. on the actual day and actual time, people like me may want to watch the performances, undistrupted by unnecessary commentary. other than that, it was great. :D
then, i watched singapore idol after that. for the first time, i watched it from beginning to the end. theme was, 'home, family, friends'. what kinda shitty theme is that? if i was a judge, here's my comments:
rahimah (confessions of a broken heart): are you a fan of avril lavigne? don't try and act like her cos at least, she acts angst well enough. you are just acting. badly. there was nothing in the performance that was good.
jasmine (don't forget to remember me): my first thought was, you better not screw this up. and you didn't. it wasn't bad. very nice that you went with the natural look. safe performance, but could do a lot more.
nurul (somewhere over the rainbow): very good, considering that the song is difficult and that it's been sung ad nauseum. nice clean performance.
joakim (i'll be there for you): are you high on something? you sing like karaoke king. you're having fun out there, BUT too much fun to the point that you aren't paying attention to the song anymore. and can you please stop acting like a hyperactive bunny?
mathilda (the living years): you remind me of kimberley locke. very good singing voice, but not the image. you'll be a great radio performer.
hady (you've got a friend): you remind me of a lounge singer. but good voice and stage presence.
jonathan (dance with my father): another karaoke king, but better than joakim.
paul (picture of you): what da hell are you singing?! you were sharp from the very first note!! and fluctuated between sharp and flat for the entire song, never hitting the right key except for one line. *jaw drops* worse in the competition.
at this point, i think that only hady has it to go far in the competition. who should be eliminated this time, well, it's a tie between paul and rahimah. and i think paul should go. he committed a big no-no in singing.
mood: happy/giggly
listening to: do you hear the people sing - les miserables
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