Sunday, July 29, 2007
AURORA VII
AURORA VIIIThe days leading up to the concert was tiring, but in the end it was all worth it. =)
It was raining throughout, but im glad the spirits were not dampened. The start of the day was a massive blur, starting from pon-ing gp all the way to changing costume, tuning instru etc. Reached victoria concert hall. I never been there before, and probably never will again. It was a place which seemed so english, befitting of its name. Took plenty of pictures with my section, done a lot of stupid things I never done..but it was fun heh.
Finally the golden moment - 7.30pm. I still remembered we were trying to lighten each other's nervousness by saying lame things, taking even more pictures and spurring each other to give their best shot. Walking out to the stage with pride, and played with my best ability. The syf song is simply perfect - to me, it seems that months of hardwork have finally paid off, having be able to play the song in front of my friends and family. (thou im not the melody, of cuz).
I still remembered that time - my first co practice. I initially wanted to join erhu section (in see-ing its the only chinese instru I can think of). But there wasn't enough erhus, and ziwei led me to cellobass section. It was tough at first, with kaihui teaching me all the fingerings and stuff, to the first combined practice I had, which I do almost nothing, as I couldn't follow the orchestra at all. But in the end after tons of practice, Im glad I joined the chinese orchestra, for the nice people over there, friends made, and fun gotten. The performance kinda marks the last official practice, no more late nights, no more late night kap sessions. But memories and lessons learnt will always be there to remember.
Some pics:
Cellobass!
Not everyone is here, but its the most decent picture I think haha. The other poses were abit >.<" For more pics go to cellobass blog!
The Bassists!
This was taken just minutes before the concert I think...
Still got a lot of pics, but until I finally wanted to use photoshop to squeeze them altogther, its unlikely I will post them. sooooon bah.
Thanks liting and agnus so much for cheering! Thanks yuxin and angeline for coming also! Of cuz must also thank the cellobass seniors yi rong, and ye wee for their support and smses =).
I think its the last time I will ever play a double bass (hopefully not).
10:46 PM
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Haven't updated for quite some time le...mainly is because my time is totally taken up by co concert practices, which ends at 8pm everyday! No complains thou, as this will be the last week to really enjoy fully before the prelims.Another thing that preoccupies my mind is harry potter's last book! I must have broken my own record of fast reading..i think i took 8 hours to finish the 610 pages of deathly hallows, and at late night somemore! Haha no spoilers here,
Ha orientations games...kinda remind me how fun nj was during the first two weeks. Glad it was replayed during practices...
Went for band concert with andy also...quite good bah, but....I THINK CO CONCERT IS GONNA BE BETTER! Muahahahah! =PPP Anw co concert will be this FRIDAY, at VICTORIA CONCERT HALL, 7pm, tickets sold at only a mere Ten Dollars! Pls come!!! I still got tix.
11:25 PM
Thursday, July 12, 2007
First Day Of School.It cannot be an even more nicer day.
-Teachers kindly reminding us how close A levels are.
-Announcing of how many Unbelievable and Shit grades. Honestly I prefer the Shit grade.
-How many more extra lessons that we can all Benefit from.
Econs was horrible. Thats all I can say.
CO practice - I guess I overestimated myself, no point being jealous, instead should just be focus on my studies bah.
Lol. I must have looked very blur wearing contacts. Nearly all of the people I met asked why I didn't wear my specs, thinking I dropped it or something. The remaining were like - hmm i think you looked weird =s. Thanks people for your very encouraging comments.......no hard feelings thou.
The First Time I Tried to Put on the lens.
I thought my first experience was quite horrible. Took nearly half an hour to put the first contacts on my right eye, and another half for the other eye. It was rather hard to put it in as my eyes would keep blinking whenever the cold plastic thingy approaches. Having worn specs since pri 2, it is indeed a traumatic experience for any foreign material to enter my usually secured territory of the eyes, guarded by my specs. Taking out was equally horrible as the lens refuses to come out and my eyes can get red and painful very fast after half an hour of attempts. I can tell the woman who taught me was getting more and more exasperated even thou she was trying to be patient. The trick to putting on is really relaxing and looking into the mirror to focus on the reflection to prevent blinking.
Harry Potter Movie.
In one word:
Disappointing.
The saving grace is perhaps the inclusion of humour in the movie, as well as the award-winning performances of Luna lovegood and the Umbridge woman.
I also watched transformers with kester last week, thinking it was rather boring for non-stop and repetitive fighting scenes, but now that I think about it and compare, transformers was actually a decent movie afterall.
10:15 PM
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Enrichment week part 2
7th July 2007.Or call it 07/07/07.
Worth a date to remember huh..
Activity 4: Scuba Diving.
Well...not really scuba diving as in going to the ocean to see pretty fishes or coral reefs. But more of a introducton to the basics of scuba diving, such as usage of equipments, hand signals and of course the experience of being underwater. Anyway the whole thing started off pretty much a fiasco...I went to the atrium to meet at the stated time..waited and waited with the other peeps..all the way until like 40 mins before our dear teacher in charge told us to take the bus ourselves. Lala so reached mt faber safra, nice place, viewed an introduction video and finally entered the poool.
Alrighty the water was actually reasonably warm considering it was raining. Put on the foot fins or wadeva you called it and the oxygen thing. Anw the stupid thing was went I was trying to put on the mouth-piece (the thing that connects to oxygen tank) and try to bite and inhale underwater. Instantly my mouth was filled with water...den instructor tell me to bit the whole thing more tightly, so I practically tried to bite the WHOLE mouth piece, which is pretty big and made me choke several times. Its only after a few things den he corrected me and said its actually only the middle part that I have to bite =.=". Did several exercises, including the alternate air source, in which you practically shake your buddy to prompt him to share oxygen (when your own's oxygen run out), and the cut-throat hand signal, clearing mask, relieving pressure etc.
Experience underwater was quite okay la. Once im comfortable with the oxygen its actually quite enjoyable. Manuevering underwater wasn't that easy with the equipment thou, and sometimes the pain from the pressure can get uncomfortable, especially since the instructor never explictly taught us how to clear it. Overall I wun called it fun..but its an experience bah.
11:14 PM
Friday, July 06, 2007
Enrichment Week post 1
So far, enrichment week have been great!! My activities were definitely more fun den last year's, and its really something worth remembering.Wednesday:
Activity 1: Body Combat.
As promised, all the movements incorporate martial arts technique, so at the start the instructor taught us all the basic movements involving both 1)hands- like jab, cross, upper cut, and 2)legs - front kick, side kick, back kick, roundhouse kick. Den the inclusion of techno and really motivating music made punching and kicking easier, just follow the instructor who will shout out the next movement.
The fitness centre is probably the best gym I ever seen in singapore. The place is huge, and many new threadmills and nice looking machines were present. Pity didn't use the facilities due to lack of time. Oh and the shower facilities were even beter. All the neccessary equipments were there, including hair shampoo, conditioner and more! There's even a hair-blower dryer plus mirror corner! Cooooll. But I heard membership comes at a steep cost, probably amounting to thousands a year.
Went back to school with liting after for,
Activity 2: Bio Concentration Camp
Oh well it isn't exactly what you would called conducive studying. I fell asleep halfway doing the practice paper they gave, and as some workers are cleaning the sewage nearby, the foul smell of sewage penetrate the room and really provide the "ideal" atmosphere. Pizza was definitely great..wee. Den after that they went thru the paper...kinda like tutorial - not much help, as its just more questions with more stupid answers.
Thursday:
Poned school. =)
Friday:
Activity 3: Pulau Ubin Cycling Trip!
Hoho. It was duper fun. Luckily the starting tutorial on "how to ride a bicycle" they gave were short; they were quite boring, but truthfully, I must admit the advices the instructors gave were quite right. There were many slopes in ubin, thus knowing how to change gears is a must. After the boring introduction, we were divided into groups of 6 and set off freely for the amazing race! It was great riding out in the slopes, thou sometimes quite annoying if the forest road is bumpy and filled with rocks. I didn't contribute much to finding the checkpoints, as some of the peeps in my group already came to ubin many times and were familiar with all the beaches, huts, etc etc. So its just following the pack and enjoying the ride~. One particular checkpoint made us go to a place and find out what the uncle over there do for a living.
The answer: herb farmer. I ate some parts of a flower, while the rest ate the leaf. Admittedly it doesn't taste bad, but no second serving pls lol.
With the exception of a few minor setbacks, such as my biycle chain dropping out, it was really fun. The girls have got great endurance, and together, we managed to complete the race with the most points~.
And finally, introducing to you, Jack, the wild boar!
