Sunday, July 29, 2007

Where it all begun

3 years ago,
January 2005 to be exact,
One boy bang into Catholic High School's Music Room,
Mrs Chaillan was addressing a class of 20 in its first lesson of 2005.
Who are you? She asked the boy,
"Erm, I'm taking music"
Auditions were already over,
Students were already rejected,
the 20 students were already selected.
This one teacher never gave up on anyone,
"Come in a find a seat", she said.
This boy had only a grade 6 violin cert and grade 5 theory cert to show her.
But she still never gave up on anyone.
This boy didn't know who was Bach,
or that Chopin was "Showpan" not "Chop pin",
or what a concerto, symphony or sonata meant.
She still never gave up,
nevermind that her class had now an odd number of 21 students.
A1 for his O Level Music and top in the cohort for music in VJ now,
Not a bad price not pay for having faith in your students and not giving up on them isn't it?
See teachers, don't ever write off any of your students,
Give them the faith and confidence to show themselves, to prove themselves,

I THANK THE ONE WOMAN WHO HAS MADE ME WHAT I AM TODAY,
I THANK HER FOR THE FAITH AND CONFIDENCE SHE GAVE ME,
I THANK HER FOR NOT WRITING ME OFF AND CHASING ME OUT OF CLASS ON THAT FIRST DAY,
I THANK HER FOR ALL THE PRECIOUS KNOWLEDGE.
MRS CHAILLAN MUI TUAN, THIS ONE IS FOR YOU.


P.S. I never meant to show off my achievements

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Minister of Manpower Dr Ng said today that upon visiting the many different schools, he realised that each school had its own identity that was unique to it.
Comparing Cat High to VJ,
the speech Mrs Chaillan made during the CH Young Performers Show today, she said the school always believed in giving the boys a chance to showcase themselves, especially in the arts. Thats why Cat High has all these arts programmes, Band Concert, CO Concert and not forgetting the CH Young Performers Show and CHMA of course. VJ has these kind of concerts and programmes too but everything VJ does is so big and grand, guest of honour and stuff, none of the close and intimate concert.
In VJ, competition is so stiff that a lot of times only the very best get the chance. Of course, one might say that competition will make you work towards being better and improving ourselves but a lot of times its not that the weak don't try hard enough but the strong have a earlier head start etc. Cat High is also good in the sense that it puts appropriate emphasize on the arts, with the groups getting proper practise rooms or places to practise with decent instruments.
In VJ, although they do give money and small rooms to the arts, but it seems that nobody seems really enthusiastic about it. I feel like when people see you as belonging to some arts group, they kind of associate you with the weak or soft, unless you are from choir.When people watch the string ensemble play or the Chinese Orchestra percussion section play, or piano ensemble they laugh and talk. Sometimes I wonder whether the ticket is bought for the sake of supporting their friends or they are really interested in watching it.
It's in the mindset of the people, the culture of the people to turn to sport, to support sport, to think of the sports as something cool, something in. People oogle at the people wearing the Adidas sweaters and windbreaker. Who cares if you are carrying a cello case in your hand.
I feel the arts shouldn't be oppressed.
Viva la ARTS, VIVA LA MUSIC
Catholic High School, for all that it has given us, we must learn to love it, not criticise the management and flowers in the school.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Arrow through

Somebody told me this today

最远的距离是当她在你面前但却不知你爱她。。。

It hit me straight to the heart. The furthest distance is when she's in front of you but she doesn't know you love her...

Its still impossible

Saturday, July 21, 2007

English tutor, Englishmen and a game invented by the English

Some pictures from the last match at Kallang.


The cauldron lights up for the last time

Brotherhood of JJB

Team Australia

Malaysia vs Singapore

Part of the Brotherhood of JJB


Beautiful skies


Shouting and bickering and...betting? is part of the Beautiful Game

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Why wasn't the ad that an English tutor put up to attract students to join her class successful??


Because the ad was in English...


Hahaha... That joke was invented by myself. Funny rite.


Ok nvm..

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There was a letter that a Australian guy wrote in to the Straits Times today commenting how efficiently the services in Singapore were and how his son got immediate treatment when he fell and injured himself at the Singapore Science Centre. That got me thinking. Was the services all that good? Were the people really so polite and so quick to take action? Was it because of his ethnicity?
It just so happen that today is Racial Harmony Day but I can't help mentioning this topic. It is not the first time that I've seen bias treatments towards the Mat Salleh in Singapore. Its so very obvious when a Mat Salleh enters the shop and a local enters the same shop the difference in the level of politeness and patience that the shopkeeper offers. One obvious prove is from Auntie Cecilia, a Malaysian Chinese who married a Mat Salleh. She has told me countless stories of how hotels, shops, etc greeted her husband but somehow managed to not see her walking beside him. How people gave him first class service but third class for her. My parents always told me, especially Dad that the Mat Salleh are not all that good as they seem. Too many a times have I seen in Sim Lim Square of somewhere else a Mat Salleh strutting and fretting himself/herself in a shop. He dares to shout and threaten the shopkeepers. Mrs Soh also once say stop worshipping the Mat Salleh, they are not God. I guess when you have been in their country for sometime u will realise that they are not all that good. When I went to Cambodia and Nepal, it is so common to see street beggers hounding the Mat Sallehs begging them for money because they assume that they are richer and superior and would be more kind to give them some money. Seldom will they approach a Chinese in the presence of a Mat Salleh. But in the end who is the one that shrugs them off like pesty flies and who are the ones that will dig into their pocket for spare change? Over in SIA a few years ago on the flight to Canada, the bloody air stewardess was treating this Sikh people like s***. There they were showing their black faces, screaming at them, purposely waking up their kids, making them cry, making everybody frustrated, claiming some some safety procedure was breached. Things shouted included:"IF YOU DON'T GET YOUR BAG INTO THE OVERHEAD CABIN, THIS PLANE CANNOT TAKE OFF." When facing a family of the opposite skin colour, the mood changed immediately. The black cloud over the fake pretty face disappear, the voice decreased by a few decibels. What more can I say?
Back to the topic of Racial Harmony Day, I really did not see the point in VJ getting its students to come dress in ethnic costumes. Knowing the people in VJ, this became something more like a fashion parade, with everybody jostling for that few minutes of being able to wear something pretty to school and being cheered on by the whole school. Just what race did those two Ninja's represent? This is a day we celebrate the peace and bond shared between the different ethnic groups, not parade in our traditional costumes. How has that parade helped me apart from giving me a few laughs? The Pegasus guy pointed at the guy and said this is a Baju Kurung. I almost fainted. Come'on man, that is a Baju Melayu, worn by guys, not a Baju Kurung worn by girls. To thing that that costume was something from this race. Hey man, make sure you know your own culture first before trying to harmonize with other people. What did I learn? Nothing. Didn't make me a few more friends from the other culture or helped me learn something about the other ethnic groups that I don't already know. All I saw was people scrambling to toilets to get changed into their best to again strut and fret the hour upon stage as quoted from Shakespeare's Macbeth.

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How to get closer to you?
I don't know if I should.
Please respond.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Mockingbird

I imagine myself on stage
I imagine myself either sitting on the throne behind the drum set around me
I imagine myself holding a Gibson standing right behind the monitor speakers
I imagine beside me is my quiet bassist, smiling at me
I imagine my guitarist, wide smile and waving
I imagine my vocalist, holding the mic up high, eyes closed
I imagine looking down stage, thousands of fans screaming their lungs out, arms raised
I imagine looking at my own posters held up high my fans
I imagine the flashes clicking non-stop
I imagine the G chord being strummed and the sound booming out of the Marshall behind me and the gigantic concert speakers beside the stage.
When will this come true?
Where am I going to find that elusive bandmates?
When are the right people going to appear?
Please answer my call for help.

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I did a test that was supposed to be very accurate

Your view on yourself:

You are down-to-earth and people like you because you are so straightforward. You are an efficient problem solver because you will listen to both sides of an argument before making a decision that usually appeals to both parties.

quite true i think

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:

You like serious, smart and determined people. You don't judge a book by its cover, so good-looking people aren't necessarily your style. This makes you an attractive person in many people's eyes.

This is only half true. I do like serious, but not serious all the time, must be able to humour me. Yes, being smart is important, not just smart academically but in terms of common sense too. Don't like dumb blondes. Determined yes. I actually do kind mind the cover part, just that my sense of beauty is a bit different from many people.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:

You prefer to get to know a person very well before deciding whether you will commit to the relationship.

Not really. I normally rush head on.

The seriousness of your love:

You like to flirt and behave seductively. The opposite sex finds this very attractive, and that's why you'll always have admirers hanging off your arms. But how serious are you about choosing someone to be in a relationship with?

True

Your views on education

Education is less important than the real world out there, away from the classroom. Deep inside you want to start working, earning money and living on your own.

True

The right job for you:

You're a practical person and will choose a secure job with a steady income. Knowing what you like to do is important. Find a regular job doing just that and you'll be set for life.

Not true. I'm a risk taker.

How do you view success:

Success in your career is not the most important thing in life. You are content with what you have and think that being with someone you love is more than spending all of your precious time just working.

WRONG. Success is never near for me. I'm never satisfied.

What are you most afraid of:

You are concerned about your image and the way others see you. This means that you try very hard to be accepted by other people. It's time for you to believe in who you are, not what you wear.

True.

Who is your true self:

You are mature, reasonable, honest and give good advice. People ask for your comments on all sorts of different issues. Sometimes you might find yourself in a dilemma when trapped with a problem, which your heart rather than your head needs to solve.

True

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Scholarship under probation due to unfavourable results. I'm supposed to get average C but ended up with crappy C,D,E,E,S. which is like an average E. Sigh. It was a mistake coming to VJC I think. There is nothing except music that is inspiring me. The pressure is huge. The lectures are going so fast I don't even know whats going on. Its so competitive. Maybe I should have gone to SAJC. Jun Lam even got a C for GP. Its terrible la. Everybody is so smart and hardworking, everybody is so far ahead. And if I had gone to other JCs I wouldn't have met you. Causing me to go head over heels over nothingness. Pointless. Blankness. Emptiness...







MATHS SUCKS

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Die Hard Harry

You are back,
great to see you bright and healthy,
I've been thinking of u a lot during those days,
I wonder who was on your mind.

2 movies in 2 days. Die Hard 4.0 was superb. The hackers and stuff. Wow. John McClane the cop is sexy with his bald head and insane about his job too. Shoots himself to kill the terrorist hacker. The technology involved is astounding.

Harry Potter not very nice. The whole movie seemed like rushing from scene to scene, plot to plot. The newspaper comment about it better than the book is CRAP! Book is definitely better. At least we don't have to rush from scene to scene just to watch Harry spend 3,4 precious minutes kissing Cho, a plot which was non-existent in the book.

I haven't been posting frequently. So tired everyday. I've nothing much going on but I also dunno wat the hell I am doing. Maths lectures are a waste of time. I've no idea whats going on during Maths. SUCKS.. Dun have Mrs. Anna Tan to inspire me anymore. Exams results like crap. C,D,E,E,S. S for Chem, C for music.

I DUNNO WHAT'S GOING WRONG!!!!!!!!



I wonder how are you,
I wonder how did you do for your exams,
I wonder, I wonder,
Wished I had a bit more guts,
Wished there wasn't such a gulf..

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Post exams blues

Hi peeps,
Sorry I haven't been updating in a long time. Been pretty busy running around.
Exams results sucks. E,D,S so far. Hopefully, music will bring me some joy tomorrow. Sigh.
I'm playing Sonatina by Dvorak and Gavotte from Partita No.3 in E by Bach for concert.
Some amazing lyrics from Jay Chou's new song 不能说的秘密. I'm quite in love with it now. Never been in love with a Jay Chou song since a long time ago. I love the ostinato bass line that repeats itself throughout the entire piece. Simply beautiful

冷咖啡离开了杯垫
我忍住的情绪在很后面

拼命想挽回的从前
在我脸上依旧清晰可见

最美的不是下雨天
是曾与你躲过雨的屋檐 oh
回忆的画面
在荡着秋千梦开始不甜

你说把爱渐渐放下会走更远
或许命运的签只让我们遇见
只让我们相恋这一季的秋天
飘落后才发现这幸福的碎片
要我怎么捡

I'm going to start composing already. I jammed with lu dou bing the other day and they are amazing people with this amazing vocalist who has a Cao Ge voice. Amazing. Hopefully our gig at Orchard on the 22 of July will work out fine. My EoM is kinda sucky. Haix. Update soon. Its 1 am!!!

Monday, July 2, 2007

Celebrate our youths with football

Just the other day, one of my friends mentioned I don't understand at all how guys can get so excited watching 22 men kicking the ball around.
Well, there really is this undescrible feeling which, is undescribable. Its very different watching on TV and live really. I don't really watch lots of matches on TV anyway. Just those huge matches and I mainly watch for the goals. Anyway, watching live gives you the advantage of watching all the off the ball movements and the players make and you also get to see the sutle little movements that the players make that makes you go WOW which you normally miss on TV. Watching the final football match at Kallang Stadium adds to the emotion I guess.
I'm not a Singaporean nor did I grow up watching matches at the National Stadium but I could feel the emotions going through the crowd there. Despite many of them being only there to watch the football match and leaving soon after which is a sad scene. Even for me, I could feel the tingling and ripples on my skin as the video was played and historical moments were slowly read out. I think Singaporeans are really lucky to be able to enjoy all these facilities and monuments so close to home and all the special efforts and events organized to commerate historical monuments. I really wouldn't care less if the Muar Stadium was torn down. Actually, the faster they do that the better. I wouldn't care if Bukit Jalil was torn down anyway. There's zero emotion between me and that place. I have actually only seen it once. I must say I'm very grateful and proud and to be among the last people to see the stadium in its full grandour. I'll post pictures I took tomorrow. The scores for the matches were

Malaysia ex-internationals 1-1 Singapore ex-internationals
Singapore 0-3 Australia


Anyway, today the Brotherhood of Jar Jar Binks and Juniors gathered to celebrate our youths with a football match. At first, the sky turned dark and we were all praying that it won't rain. Then it didn't rain. Then to our horror, the field was taken up by many PERKS. But we managed to work out a compromise so the match finally start. I played as striker today and had one penalty saved my Ji Teng and one chance hit the post. I didn't make a single tackle today. Anyway, I realised that the one handed push whicle running technique that Gomez taught me is damn useful to help myself and my teammates from oncoming defenders. I am quite happy that I was calm everytime I got the ball today which is a big improvement from last time already. The only problem is I'm still not calm enough to make the correct moves and decisions. Haix... need to improve. I'm really glad that the gang met. It really is good fate that I've such great friends. In fact, they are so great that they totally set the benchmark for any other type of friends that I might have in school and nobody comes even close. So maybe that's why I always say I don't have friends in school.

Adios

Check back tomorrow for photos