One More Night

I'm going to miss playing already...

I met Andrew, he's one of the cast! haha, both he and I were shocked to see each other holding an Esplanade pass for the same production. Except that I'm in the pit, he's on stage. I wear black and light makeup, he wears a dull assortment of colours and thick makeup.

Bwahahahahaha....

Hmm... but I'll be glad when everything is over. Just tiring... travelling EVERYDAY to the same place, and playing the same music over and over again. Thank goodness, mistakes are rarely the same. hahahaha...

Tonight the stage production were over enthusiastic with the smoke machine. They made so much smoke/mist, that it spilled over the stage into the pit! hahaha... Similarly, the falling fake flakes made of paper, were flying into the pit. Guess they know that with one night more to go, it's time to use up most of the stuff? hahaha...

I realised that my bass section tend to be the most enthusiastic lot to get onto the pit. Much to my embarressment... okay okay, I know there's nothing to be embarressed about, but honestly it's really awkward to sit facing a lot of empty seats, and the audience staring down at you, wondering where is the rest of the orchestra.

My conductor likes to do funny things with the gong that starts the Chinese dance. Not content with a mere gesture for a soft gong, he later requested for a loud bang on the gong. Unfortunately, we were using the smaller one that resulted more in a CLANG~! rather than CHIANG~! Later on the percussionists brought the bigger gong, which made a more impressive and deeper CHIANG~. The funny part was seeing the conductor's range of gestures, from the finger pointing, the mere dipping of the tip of his baton, the sweeping arm, the swinging fisted punch and finally... everyone's favourite, the exaggerated dramatic nod of the head... though that did cause a split second of confusion for the percussionist.

I got my first Christmas present! A little teddy bear which I demanded from Y. the 1st trumpeter. Cos last night he gave one to K. and I was so fascinated with the soft fur I tried to kidnap it. So to keep me from stealing K's, Y said he'd get me one. hahaha Yay! The little teddy sat on our stand the ENTIRE ballet. So adorable!

I'm getting better at getting my way, I realised. bwaahahahhahaa...

I was still coughing, but it's healing already. At least now my coughs are once a while and not a series.

I think it came with the realisation that I need to STOP talking. So for the past few days, before my performance I've been diligently cooping myself at home and just watching tv. You don't need to talk to watch TV. But my parents esp. dad found me strangely unwilling to talk. Daddy even tried to irritate me by watching me surf the internet. *please, I'm old enough to vote and can therefore govern myself. But then again, they can always blame it on my PMS. hahahaha....

Tomorrow's going to be a long day, got a training session on the bass guitar in the afternoon, the performance at night and finally the cast party. I hope I get a ride home. I think I'll do something nice for E. hahahaha...

NutCracking officially

Tonight was the 2nd night of performance. My cough is still there, but at least it's much better tonight. Sigh... suddenly feeling a bit depressed. I guess cos night after night of rehearsals and performances I realise that come next week, it'll be all over. Hmmm... it's just probably the busy feeling?

I know I'll be relieved and happy when it's all over, but at the same time I'll miss all the excitement and just making merry music with friends. Ahh well... anyway

Yesterday was the opening night. I coughed terribly during the performance. Thankfully only the people near me heard me. It was funny cos in the middle of the performance, I'd nearly choked and SH (my principal bassist) was so concerned that we both missed the first beat of the sugar plum fairy's dance. :p

Last night was quite exciting. We took several of the dances at a MUCH faster speed. gosh... I wonder if we were too fast for the spinning dancers?

Later after the performance, I went with SH up to our conductor's room and the SDT's GM's room to give them flowers. Apparently it's a PCO tradition, giving the conductor and the GM flowers on the first night. Funnily enough, though it was not the first time but our conductor was touched when we handed the bouquet over to him. Perhaps previously the bouquets were left in the room, so he didn't notice? SH and I felt that in the future we should give the bouquets personally; it's just such a delight to see him smile like that. Aww...

The SDT GM was also pretty pleased to have recieved our bouquet. But then again she was emotional that the opening performance got off and run successfully and smoothly. The GM is really sweet. I still remember when she treated me to tea with SH and the conductor at this posh cafe in Esplanade last year. We were all tickled by the way the waiter gave us our serviettes. He did it in a really delicate manner, using a little pincer to place the serviette next to us on the table. Apparently it is so that the customers won't get serviettes that have been touched by his fingers!! Gosh...

Tonight my brother's friends from the Sydney OCF came down for the performance. It is so good to see them again after about half a year. Though most of them had to go back home after the performance I still got to have supper with Shiimei, James and Bryan. Turns out Bryan's brother is also performing! He's a cellist. hahaha they don't look alike. So I didn't make the connection till Bryan mentioned his brother.

My bro and I don't look alike also. hahaha except that for us, most people would mistake us as a couple when they see us together. I wonder why? I mean I look so much classier than him! Who'd expect my taste to be like that?? Bwahahahahaha...

So anyway...it was such a good time catching up with them. We decided to go the Lau Par Sat and show James some city sights of Singapore. hahaha... we stopped by the Fullerton hotel where we admired the Christmas decoration, and I got to use my favourite public toilet in SG. hahaha...

Later we walked down the Singapore River along our way to Lau Par Sat.

I don't have any photos to put up... :p but we did take a couple of photos in front of Fullerton using Bryan and Shiimei's cameras. Maybe I'll get them and post them. hee

Tomorrow's a matinee performance. So for once... I'll get to sleep earlier hahaha... nah, I'm posting this late cos I can't sleep. My cough keeps me awake. Sigh...

I've seen the doctor twice but I'm still coughing and though my voice is getting better, it still sounds hoarse. Yeah, I just have a sexier voice now. hahaha...

Darn... why does MSN keep kicking me out?? Oh vell... I'm watching a touching chinese movie about a mother's love, except that this movie's got cheesy computer effects which are suppose to be dream like...

Woke up mummy and she's gotta get up at 4am to be ready for work. Sigh... feel so guilty. I'm already so old and yet still cause so much trouble and worry for my mummy. Gotta find some way to be even more independent. :p anyone wants me to give tuition or music lessons? hahaha... but then again, my schedule is so screwed up, I don't know if I can fork out the time to do part time work for a long period. Sigh... but I really feel bad that mummy is working so hard for my sake.

I guess also cos I've worked before, so I love that feeling of being financially independent. Plus mummy gets to keep more of her earnings for those mini treats like short holidays to Batam.

I'm still learning to stand on my two feet. Well to give my parents credit, they did teach me to be independent since young, so basically I'm used to making my own decisions and taking responsibility for my own actions. Just feeling a bit inept for not being more capable or more street smart.

hahaha...

haaaiii...

yar, incredible huh? JT this down? Looking down on herself? Afterall I'm famously self-confident. but then again, not really. I'm just confident that God would take care of me. I just want to be more useful, more of a credit to my parents, to Him.

hehehe, it's late, so probably that's why I'm talking a bit more emotionally. Or maybe it's the steroids I'm taking for medication. Playing tricks with my hormones. hahaha...

okay okay, I'll end off here. Sorry about the LONG posting. heeheehee...

Nutcrackers

I've been coughing crazily, voice is back but still hoarse. I told the doctor today, cough is bad, but got meetings and am performing at night, can give me non drowsy medication? Thank goodness it's a relief doctor, and not the usual one... otherwise I'd get a scolding... i.e. "You should be resting your vocals! Didn't you tell me your camp has ended? Are you not on holiday?" So the relief doctor just said, "okay." Bwahahahahaha...

Nice to have young doctors around once awhile, from the old cranky ones. hahaha

Pit rehearsals for the ballet has started. I like where I'm sitting. Can see some of the action. haha.. we had fun at one point in the ballet, where they popped the streamers into the pit! It's was pretty! But a bit chaotic cos we weren't prepared and the streamers fell on our heads, our instruments on our scores... etc...

But brilliant to see the dancers move with the music. Every nuance and jump in time with the music. You can even hear them land heavily when the music ends with a pomp. hahahaha...

I was super conscious everytime I coughed. Just reverberates across the theatre I think. So i tried to cough in time with the music. I'd try to keep a look out for the brass section's parts and the cymbals crashing. then cough* cough* cough* ahahhaa... But nature is not so structured, sometimes painfully unstructured.

I'm pretty satisfied with the food I catered with Polar Cafe. Actually their service was good. If you ever visit Suntec's Polar Cafe, take note of Lena. She's got really good service attitude. haha yar must promote what I feel is deserving of promoting mar....

Maybe I'll be kind and bring Ribena for Ir_. He's been bugging for Ribena even before we hit the pit. But then again, he's been mean. I shall be mean too. Bugger. Evertime tease me... Bugger.

Oh but someone brought chocolates! Cool... except that I can't eat choco cos of my throat. sigh...

Maybe I'll take some pictures with my trusty phone and post them up tonight. ^_^

Supper after rehearsal

I always like suppers after the rehearsal. Cos that's when I get to know the humans behind the instrumentalists. haha... But of course the most common topic over supper table is music related.


here's k_ trying to see how fast my phone camera is at catching.

C_'s listening intently (or perhaps trying to ignore me, but I doubt that) to the table conversation

R_'s playing around with another person's phone so I play around with my phone.

We had another trying rehearsal... nerves are up now that we are coming close to the pit rehearsals. Plus I think the committee members were disappointed with the poor showing at Monday's AGM.

Que sara sara~ we will just have to gambatei~ neh?

I sound like an old crank car

It's official. I've lost my voice. It's gone. AWOL. MIA. Zich. Nana. etc etc

The best part was that I didn't lose my voice cos I shouted. Debs did most of the shouting. I'm just amazed HER voice is still there and chirpy. Urghed... Sure the Girls' Bridgade Asian Games probably was the venue where my voice official decided to take a leave of absence, but I'm still wondering what happened? Did I offend my voice? hahaha

Nah, the lozenges plus the nin jiom peipa koa, plus panadol might be causing me to lose a bit of sanity... that's all

Everytime I cough, it sounds like an old spoilt cranked up car wheezing. It goes, "krhk krhk krhhhhhh....."

I'm so glad I didn't take up the canvasing job my hall committee were asking me to, I won't be much of a help.

Asian Games was fun, the best part of course was spending time with my post sec mentees. I'm just very proud and amazed at them. They (or rather I) kept them busy, offering their services to the other helpers' stations after our own was done. I'm pretty sure they had fun too, with the flour and jibes at my age. *sigh...

The kids were great fun. To be able to play with abandon without care nor concern about cleanliness or personal safety (which got us all very concerned)... ahhh... to be young again...

It's so sad to think that in about 10 years time, they will change and start asking things like,
"Huh? We have to sleep in a tent in the open? No air con??"
"Yeeew... only one toilet?? Then how we bathe??"
"Huh.... how come the food so oily?!"
"We have to sleep in sleeping bags?? Where are the beds??"
"How come only kaya bread and milo for breakfast??"

Ah... the days of being young and adaptable to change (uncomplaining, lesser sarcasm, less poisonous bitching), keen to have fun and make friends (not moping around, being sulky)

Yes, anyway. The exams are OVER! Yay!!! It's now time to crack some serious nuts.