Waiting in the Academic Gown

It was a clear, incredibly sunny HOT afternoon. We retreated to the shade where I quickly put on my academic gown. So many stares and bemused expressions. It was embarrassing at first until I decided that I might as well ham it up, especially when waiting for my brother to get his camera settings right, and when your parents are fussing over your appearance... "shift your fringe," "pull up your collar," "adjust your hood", "straighten the crease in your gown,", "find a boyfriend and hurry up get married!" Okay, I added in the last one but that thought is probably at the back of my parents' minds whenever they see me lazing around the house.

By the end of the day, 5 people congratulated me (all western foreigners except for this cute Japanese businessman. Singaporeans and Asian tourists just stare. ^_^;) and I was asked by a lovely (German?) lady to take a picture of me with her Iphone. Unfortunately, the sun was too bright behind me, so I turned out dark in her camera.

I wonder what my reaction would have been if I saw someone taking academic photos or wedding photos at the Skypark? Would I have stared? Politely ignore? Or offer my congratulations? After this experience, I think offering congrats is just friendlier.

Is this SG?

"Is this Singapore?" wondered my mother.

Angels in the Sky

Family outing to Marina Bay Sands Skypark, where my brother took some pictures of me in my academic gown with his nifty DSLR. While he's busy editing the gazillion of shots, I shall show some nice pics by my Canon S90.

Bachelor

I really do not realise how much I tower over most people until I see pictures of myself with others.

A wild goose chase

A wild goose chase around Singapore, including a live band performances by 40DOF youths and the last video instalment of the "You Can" series - "You Can Dream".

Date: 10 Sep 2010

Venue: Start point at Bukit Merah Central

Time: 12pm

Ages: Teenagers

Registration fee: $8 (A T-shirt will be given to each participants)

Register by contacting me.

Potluck Dinner

Riot after the potluck dinner. Shanghai will be FUN. Photo credits to Chris via Facebook.

Post Fundraising Sunday

Big success at the fund raiser. Our net profit was about 6 times our cost. And we sold off more than 90% of all items!
(Photo Credits to M_ via Facebook)

Fundraising

I've met M_ everyday for 6 days straight... preparing for our fundraising on Sunday.

Here are some sneak peaks of what we will be using to raise funds.


The card design is done by M_ a graphic designer. ^^


Perk up someone's day with a rose!


These cookies are really good! Crunchy edges and soft insides.

There're more stuff like handmade jewelery kindly donated by SH,
Pouches, t-shirts, more baked goodies and balloon sculptures. Tired, but excited. ^^

TPO: The Soldier's Tale

The Philharmonic Orchestra (Singapore) is performing Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale. Check it out here.

My Birthday cake

Excuse the mis-spelling... But the picture of the cherry blossom tree is the main highlight! ^_^
Thanks to my church mate and her mom for baking the cake for me.

Count Down 09

G__ pointing to my loser-ish socks.

Evidence that I've not been in a uniform for many years... don't know the street culture for uniforms.

All About Mom

Anita Renfroe's The Mom Song (William Tell Overture)

Here's the Lyrics:

Get up now Get up now Get up out of bed Wash your face Brush your teeth Comb your sleepy head Here's your clothes And your shoes Hear the words I said Get up now Get up and make your bed
Are you hot? Are you cold? Are you wearing that? Where's your books and your lunch and your homework at? Grab your coat and your gloves and your scarf and hat Don't forget you got to feed the cat
Eat your breakfast The experts tell us it's the most important meal of all Take your vitamins so you will grow up one day to be big and tall Please remember the orthodontist will be seeing you at three today? Don't forget your piano lesson is this afternoon So you must play
Don't shovel Chew slowly But hurry The bus is here Be careful Come back here Did you wash behind your ears?
Play outside Don't play rough Would you just play fair? Be polite Make a friend Don't forget to share Work it out Wait your turn Never take a dare Get along Don't make me come down there
Clean your room Fold your clothes Put your stuff away Make your bed Do it now Do we have all day? Were you born in a barn? Would you like some hay Can you even hear a word I say?
Answer the phone Get Off the phone Don't sit so close Turn it down No texting at the table No more computer time tonight Your iPod's my iPod if you don't listen up
Where you going and with whom and what time do you think you're coming home? Saying thank you, please, excuse me Makes you welcome everywhere you roam You'll appreciate my wisdom Someday when you're older and you're grown Can't wait 'til you have a couple little children of your own
You'll thank me for the counsel I gave you so willingly But right now I thank you NOT to roll your eyes at me
Close your mouth when you chew Would appreciate Take a bite Maybe two Of the stuff you hate Use your fork Do not you burp Or I'll set you straight Eat the food I put upon your plate
Get an A, Get the door Don't get smart with me Get a Grip Get in here I'll count to 3 Get a job Get a life Get a PhD Get a dose of...
I don't care who started it You're grounded until you're 36 Get your story straight And tell the truth for once for heaven's sake And if all your friends jumped off a cliff Would you jump too? If I've said it once, I've said at least a thousand times before that
You're too old to act this way It must be your father's DNA Look at me when I am talking Stand up straight when you walk
A place for everything And everything must be in place Stop crying or I'll give you something real to cry about Oh!
Brush your teeth Wash your face Get your PJs on Get in bed Get a hug Say a prayer with Mom Don't forget I love you
**KISS**
And tomorrow we will do this all again because a mom's work never ends
You don't need the reason why
Because
Because
Because
Because
I said so
I said so
I said so
I said so
I'm the Mom
The mom
The mom
The mom
The mom
Ta-da

Words by Anita Renfroe Copyright 2007 Bluebonnet Hills Music/BMI

Meanwhile, S_nie and I each bought this cake for our moms. ^________^ I highly recommend this! One of the best cakes I've eaten. ^_^ Bought from Swissbake, Marine Parade.

The bottom layer was crunchy inbetween layers of sponge cake and creamy chocolate+coffee mousse. Yum! My mum even took a pic of herself and the cake! haha! Sorry, not posting it up on the Net.

Belated Birthday Celebrations 2008

After a night of tossing and turning, waking intermittently, I woke up to the sound of my phone buzzing. [I don't really know why I can't sleep well now that exams are over...anyway, back to the main story] Glancing at my clock... which showed 12.20pm, I answered Em's call.



Oh... gotta wake up. We are having lunch. And we are suppose to meet at 1pm. Darn.

So predictably, I was late.



But Anyway...

Lunch at Kuishinbo was pretty good. We ate till we were too full... and then we ate somemore. Size and appetite are inversely proportionate. Really. Em ate the most, followed by QL (who wins over me by the fact that she sat down to lunch half an hour before I did) and finally pathetic me. WHY? You'd think with my size I should have ate the most. Maybe I do? More bigger-than-bite-sized meals spread across the day? Anyway, this was my belated birthday treat from the girls. Yay! Free food! Why not rejoice?

The chocolate cream puffs at the bottom right hand corner were my favorite. We were pretty stuffed after these desserts. -_-"

19 of May was... interesting...

19th of May was VERY.... interesting...

My morning began innocently enough, spent some time with the Lord, then excitedly prepared to meet my friends for Phantom of the Opera.
Decided that there was time to curl my hair, so I did. Messily.
Decided that there was time to reply some emails, so I did.
Then decided that there was time to get a cab and make it down in time.
Then realised that I was going to be late, and so smsed my friend.
And again, and again.

By the time I reached Esplanade, i only had time for a sandwich which my friend bought for me. And I had smses demanding chocolate at the pit. Some friends among the musicians for phantom were wondering if I would deliver up on my promise to drop polar cakes into the pit for them. Needless to say, I chickened out. The guards at the Esplanade door were intimidating! I bought them Mrs. Fields brownies instead and delivered them to the stage door. =p

Phantom of the Opera was enjoyable! Apart from some rough patches in the music, I thought the Phantom was the most spectacular and wonderful character! So much angst, so much emotions and so tortured! "Christine~~~ Christine~~~" sigh... in one stroke he turned from tortured madman to tortured lover. I couldn't stop gushing much to the digust of my two friends.

But I must say for certain that my friends had an enjoyable time with me. So as to brag, bwahaha... if you have the chance to attend a concert or musical with me, do so. I have many comments to share with you. hahaha... I dragged my friends up and down the threatre to check out the view, dragged them to the pit to say hi to my friends, who all disappeared except for good pal kath. -_- I guess when they realised polar cakes were not falling from heaven, they made for a getaway.

After that we made our way to the Esplanade library where a friend of my friend was performing. Singing and playing the guitar and harmonica! So talented! I didn't stay to listen all the way, cos I had to go answer demands for chocolates and went off to the stage door with Mrs. Fields in my hand.

Then my female friend and I went shopping while my male friend cried mercy and went home for dinner. hahaha....

Orchard was fun. The measly amount of cash pooled provided dinner for both of us at Wisma - a plate of beef kuey tiao, a bowl of beef noodle soup, a large plate of rojak and two cans of drink! We were both delirious with joy. We still had 20 cents left over!

Then we decided to go shopping, got card mah. We had a grand plan to start from far east and go down all the way past taka, to john little and centrepoint. But we got waylaid at Wisma instead. We got distracted by the sale sign at Topshop. Then while on our way to the ladies, our eyes spied the sale sign at Isetan.

At the end of Isetan, my friend recieved a call and later asked me, 'want to go watch soccer?'

Huh? Soccer? Isn't that for guys? So I hmmm... and hammm... and finally decided to go. The problem was I didn't realise it was a BIG event. Man U against Chelsea. Woah~~

So after walking down to Far East to pick up a reserved item, my friend's ex-uni friends picked us up to Chijmes - which was PACKED. After walking around, and making phone calls, we finally walked back to the very first pub which offered us space.

And when I walked in, I was greeted by... my uni lecturer and his wife. -_-; I guess he was spending some quality time with the Mrs. before he went off to Vietnam (yeah, now you all know who liao.) He looked amused to see me at the pub, for a soccer match and asked if I had placed bets. I didn't even know it was Man U against Chelsea! The last time I actively watched soccer volunteerily was Man U against Liverpool in 2001.

But what a match! I was glued to the screen. 90 mins gone and still nil-nil. Extra time, nothing... 2nd set of extra time~ and Chelsea scored! I'm missing out a lot of in between joking about who my friend and I were supporting (since my friend supported liverpool and I no one, we decided to support the underdogs who ironically won), and our desperate need to sit after all that shopping. We ended sitting on a huge amplifier on the stage. And me being really thirsty, drank away at least 30 bucks. -_-; But I did learn a new drink which I really enjoyed - Midori Melon, it's really sweet, and easier to drink than lycee martini which my friend ordered for me. The lady at the bar was very nice. ^_^ I just asked her to recommand, and said simply, I'm thirsty. and she got me this great drink. Shows that she knows her stuff. haha or I'm just ignorant.

By the time the match ended, my professor and the wife were gone, and we had to dial a cab home. Waiting for the cab was exciting, cos we had to fend off happy hoppers who would take over the cab that we called for, and watch out for the cab licence plate. I was really tired at this point, but grateful to my friend who watched out for me.

So in conclusion, 19 of May burnt a large hole in my pocket, but was simply unforgettable.

In Stasis

I've been sick needless to say. Rather overwhelmed.

Title of the post is In Stasis - more apt for this blog. Apt for myself too. Being busy doesn't mean you've accomplished anything.

My bro came back for a couple of weeks. He chosed the wrong weeks to come home though. two weeks b4 term break is usually busiest. Couple that with preparations for upcoming concert... sigh...

I'm having a slight headache now actually.

Aiyah, my brother's homecoming wasn't as fruitful as I would have liked it to be. Mainly cos I've been busy myself, and trying to make time to spend with him is hard cos he's got his own friends to go out with.

Plus now got girlfriend, which I'm quite happy about actually. But he goes out a lot with her. Bleah. I think next time I'll date his girlfriend out myself and see how he likes it. -_- bwahahaha...

On the plus side, his coming home heralded the 1st 4 seasons of 'Allo! Allo!' - my all time favourite Brit comedy. Plus, Spongebob Squarepants season 2! Woohoo...

This CNY season's been mahjong peppered. I'm getting better at it I must say. Bwahaha... can anticipate people's cards liao - to a relative measure. Can't believe L_' unbelievable record during E_'s birthday though. You see these people in orchestra rehearsals, and you never know how irritating they can get (esp. when the game is on their side and they're not afraid to show their glee). I'm glad I went for the Bdae party. I was actually thinking of pleading tiredness and go home and sleep. But couldn't escape cos another one of my friends made me go with her.

That day I went to the new YST building for the first time. Reminded me of one of the European art galleries. My friend's office was beautiful manz. Before that I went to another friend's office in SMU. All these new buildings are really nice. But my fav is still the YST one.

Just attended 'Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land'. Stan Lai is a genius. If I wasn't having this headache I would say more about it. haha... ok okay~ The play was poignant and at the same time side-breakingly funny. My favourite actors were the guys from Ming Hua Yuan - a Taiwanese opera troupe. Though I depended a lot on the subtitles to find out what they were spouting in Minnan (a variation of Hokkien), still didn't detrack me from their performance. At first I was clueless about the political aspects, cos not really in tune with the China - Taiwan history. After that I realised that the play was talking about dreams, ideals and reality.

One play talked about lovers who dreamed of living their lives together, but torned apart in reality. Getting married, setting up families... but no matter how reality unfolded, they still held on to their dreams of finding their first love. The other play talked about a fisherman escaping the cruelties of reality in utopia 'Peach Blossom Land', but unable to forget the past, leaves utopia for reality. When he realises how good utopia was, he is anguished when he finds out that he can never return there again, since he chosed to return to reality. In his anguish, he ponders if utopia was a dream or reality.

I thought about how the clash of political ideals between the Communist party and Kuomintang. How each group had a ideal of how 'utopia' or an ideal nation should be run. Everyone in that play was searching for an ideal, the unnamed woman searching for her ideal lover, the fisherman searching for his ideal harmonious reality, the lovers searching for each other and their lost dreams of living life together. In the end, people bid farewell to lost dreams, left wondering what had gone wrong. Two theatre groups were booked mistakenly on the same day, whose fault was it? Even if the fault was established, we still need to live with it, make changes, compromise and continue with life. Was the fisherman wrong to leave utopia despite warnings that he would never come back? But he chosed to do so for the sake of his loved ones. Who is to say that his intentions were flawed? Whose fault was it that the lovers ended up separated for decades?

At the beginning of the play, the girl advised her lover who lived through the war, to forget and to continue living. He replied that some things cannot be forgotten. Some things must be remembered. That's probably the main running theme. Can China and Taiwan ever reach that compromise? When ideals do not materialise in reality, can you ever relinquish your lost dreams and live on? But I think Stan Lai brought about that possibility, that dreams can be lost, and that you can continue with your lives, but at a great price. The fisherman continued rowing in the vast oceans, racked with his failure to bring his loved ones to utopia and knowing that he himself can never find utopia again. The lovers parted knowing that they each have to continue their own lives with the families they had set up apart from one another. The unnamed woman bid farewell to her ideal lover at the cost of her own sanity.

The play ended so solemnly that the audience couldn't bring themselves to clap. Otherwise cheers would have rang out from the durian. That I think spoke more of the performers' ability to affect our emotions. If we had cheered enthusiastically at the beginning, it would have been superficial. The fact that hours after the play ended, we were still pondering about it, savouring the sweet, the sad and the comedic moments of the play, speaks more. So once again...

STAN LAI IS A GENIUS!

Okay, I'm now really having a bad headache. Am now going to switch off and go to sleep. I'm sorry Q_ for missing your mahjong party. The last couple of weeks of running around has finally taken it's toll on me. I'll see you all soon.

Tis the season to be... Ach Tchoo!

I love Cold weathers. Cos my makeup doesn't melt as fast, and I can bundle up as much as I want without breaking into a sweat, and sleeping is just oh-so-comfortable!

The downside is the sneezing, and blocked nose, and the occasional scratchy throat.

Last night's party was fun! I learnt one thing about myself - I need to practise Taboo a lot more to compete with my s_. It was like the pro-league Taboo last night!

I'm bringing my Uno pack to all our gatherings, it's time for pro-league Uno! Plus Intercept.

I love my book! Thanks J_ for giving me what I wanted! (Though one part of my brain is laughing cos I may have inadvertedly manipulated you... Ahahaha....)

Thanks T_ and S_ too for the BodyShop gift! Though I won't use it much, cos my mum provides all the cleanser, moisturiser, perfume and cosmetics to my heart's content, it is still a very nice gift!

And thanks for the Good food, good wine and other drinks, and definitely the Good Company!

Merry Christmas everyone!

From Linz to Leningrad

We are performing! Check out the mini write up I co-wrote with K_ and some of the other committee. Love the quote by Victor Hugo... Cos I was the one who found it! Bwahahaha!!!

Check this out. From Linz to Leningrad

“Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.”
- Victor Hugo

On 29 October 2006, The Philharmonic
Orchestra, under the direction of Maestro Lim Yau, sheds its former name (the Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra) to begin a new chapter, exploring Mozart’s Symphony No. 36 (“Linz”) and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 (“Leningrad”).

Nicknamed after the cities they were composed in and yet written in vastly contrasting circumstances. While traveling through the city of Linz, Mozart composed “Linz” within a short span of four to five days in 1783. Two centuries later, the beleaguered Shostakovich wrote “Leningrad” during the 900-day siege of Leningrad in 1941.

Was Mozart conveying his thoughts towards the city of Linz or just fulfilling an aristocratic fan’s desires? Did Shostakovich express his emotions at the raging war or perhaps, his emotions toward Stalin?

We may never know their intentions, but in our examination of their symphonies, we ask: to what end can music accomplish in today’s world? Can music truly be the common language of different people or is it simply a reflection of time?

Updates

Yups! It's coming! I've been rather busy with this these couple of weeks! Tomorrow night will be the orchestra's rehearsal with the singers. I'm quite excited to hear everything come together. Playing the orchestral parts while quite interesting, is rather lonely trying to imagine the voices singing.

In the mean time, anyone keen on Cabaret??

Being a poor student, I of course will opt for the cheapest. 29 July, 3pm anybody? Let me know b4 15 July, cos then got early bird discount! hehehe...

Yeah I know! 29 July is the TCS Walkathon. I signed up with 7 other friends liao... People are opting for the shorter route.

We are all going to meet at 6.30am at Cityhall MRT. 6.30AM!!!! That's like... INCREDIBLY EARLY for me. Lord, please wake me up in time!

So my plans are: Go walkathon in the morning, then go for Cabaret in the afternoon. Anyway, walkathon's going to end by 11am. So btw 11am and 3pm, should be enough time for me to freshen up. That's the plan, that is.

OKies, I should go take a shower. Tomorrow's another long day... :p