Homebound
This morning NUS kickstarted (more like ushered in) the year-long Centennial celebrations with a bang. It was not a BANG (you know what I mean), but it was pleasant, nonetheless. The spanking new University building is the coolest thing, though. I wished they worked out the programme better, though. My fellas and I from the NUS Choir were there to sing, with the oldies' NUSS choir, the NUS Centennial song entitled NUS Forever.
Sigh. I could comment a whole lot on the thing, but let's just say that the oldies' were very late, and for a while, since there were only three NUSS folks around (others yet to arrive) when we left the holding room, we thought that only the NUS Choir would sing. The rest of the NUSSers finally arrived in the nick of time, but the conductor was yet to arrive. Wei wei, our student conductor, agreed to fill in, and all seemed okay. And then Ms Chan, the conductor surprised us all by popping out of nowhere while we were already onstage. Wei Wei had thought better than to pop onstage when we were already lined up. It made sense, for the choir as a whole, and it showed his gentlemanly self, but unfortunately for us, he wasn't able to sing.
Anyway, it was the most exciting performance ever. Let's leave it at that. NUS Choir will sing at the Freshman Inauguration Ceremony, and we'll do good. :D
The food was terrific. Ah, glorious even. I shook the hand of Dr William Tan, the paraplegic who ran amazing marathons in ten countries in seven continents or something. Haha, but he's a really nice guy, and he's on the Guinness Book of World Records. He signed my Centennial hardbound book freebie too. He recognized me from the choir maybe from my white shirt and black coat, and he smilingly said the singing was "tremendous!" I could tell he liked the performance by the sincerity of his greeting, but hmm.. I'm glad he did. I told the story to our funky tenor Huai Zhi, and he burst out laughing. He later pointed out that "tremendous" can mean, tremendously good or tremendously bad. Hah. And oh yeah, I was about to tell Dr Tan that he strongly reminded me of Christopher Reeve: wheelchair, specs, pleasant Clark Kent face and for a Guiness title holder marathon man, he ought to be made of Superman steel. I thought against it, as well, we know what happened to Christopher Reeve.
Anyway, long story now.
My point really, based on the title. I'll be home soon. Mama says I'll have to travel light, and you know I never ever did that. It takes me weeks to pack my stuff (overpack more like it), but I feel that travelling light will be an even bigger burden. Anyway, I'm off to the airport after dinner tonight, sleep over to catch the 7AM Tiger Airways flight to Clark, in Pampanga. Then I'll be off to Manila, then I'll take the bus to Los Banos, Laguna to check with my sister and bunk with Jay.
Haha I'm excited, but I'm feeling more of lethargy right now. I loathe packing. I'll see you again in a month's time, Singapore. Hello Philippines. Haha hello Garci too. Finally I'll figure out the presidential scandal. Ciao!
Still here
Still here
Just because I haven't updated for a long while (at least in my terms) doesn't mean that I've been incapacitated, fallen sick or dead, or forgotten this blog. Hehe, I'm perfectly okay.
I haven't been doing as much work as Mike who's an Econs research assistant working on a hardcore math-intensive proof that has caused him major headaches, or Arthur who does programming at I2R during the day and works on KE Orientation Publicity at night, or Ferron who's fully-booked with his work at a posh restaurant in Suntec, or Karen who's doing labwork on weekdays and Kingfisher (I think) on weekends on top of her tuition/camp guide rackets, or Nestor, the King of Rackets (hehe) who, aside from his duh, rackets, has just wrapped up work on the KE yearbook. Reginald is busy with some internship at some business firm in Tanjong Pagar, and Steph is working for a bank, but apparently she doesn't like it there anymore. Hehe.
And here I am, jobless little me, who just came from vacation in Czech, and now that the choir competition's done (Gold baby!), I'm left to well, be free!
Jobless people will always be broke (unless they had money to begin with), and I think broke-ness is my only enemy right now. Idleness? Nah, I'm not idle. I'm not bored yet, even. Ahh.. somehow I always find myself something to do. Something to read. Or watch. Or listen to. Or learn. Or surf about.
And we began practice for the Centennial song already (ugh long story.. bottom line: I can't quite say here in this blog lest the NUSS people read this haha), and I've wrapped up my Ridge article, and I've helped Arthur with his Photoshop work already.
I've done everything but update this blog substantially. Haha, the most logical and sensible thing to do I haven't even done yet.. and that is to post photos and describe the details of the Czech trip. And how I've been persuaded to like Korean movies (a lot), how Nestor and I enjoy Arthur's anime called Chobits, how I found the coolest funkiest book Design Basics Index, how I found Da Vinci Code to be indeed an entertaining work of fiction, yet one that boldly asks for trouble, that kind of stuff.
Ahh.. so little time, so much to do. And I'm supposed to be jobless! I'll be home very soon, and I'll be jobless once again. But I'll be home very soon!
How's that for gibberish at 5:48AM. Good morning!
Just because I haven't updated for a long while (at least in my terms) doesn't mean that I've been incapacitated, fallen sick or dead, or forgotten this blog. Hehe, I'm perfectly okay.
I haven't been doing as much work as Mike who's an Econs research assistant working on a hardcore math-intensive proof that has caused him major headaches, or Arthur who does programming at I2R during the day and works on KE Orientation Publicity at night, or Ferron who's fully-booked with his work at a posh restaurant in Suntec, or Karen who's doing labwork on weekdays and Kingfisher (I think) on weekends on top of her tuition/camp guide rackets, or Nestor, the King of Rackets (hehe) who, aside from his duh, rackets, has just wrapped up work on the KE yearbook. Reginald is busy with some internship at some business firm in Tanjong Pagar, and Steph is working for a bank, but apparently she doesn't like it there anymore. Hehe.
And here I am, jobless little me, who just came from vacation in Czech, and now that the choir competition's done (Gold baby!), I'm left to well, be free!
Jobless people will always be broke (unless they had money to begin with), and I think broke-ness is my only enemy right now. Idleness? Nah, I'm not idle. I'm not bored yet, even. Ahh.. somehow I always find myself something to do. Something to read. Or watch. Or listen to. Or learn. Or surf about.
And we began practice for the Centennial song already (ugh long story.. bottom line: I can't quite say here in this blog lest the NUSS people read this haha), and I've wrapped up my Ridge article, and I've helped Arthur with his Photoshop work already.
I've done everything but update this blog substantially. Haha, the most logical and sensible thing to do I haven't even done yet.. and that is to post photos and describe the details of the Czech trip. And how I've been persuaded to like Korean movies (a lot), how Nestor and I enjoy Arthur's anime called Chobits, how I found the coolest funkiest book Design Basics Index, how I found Da Vinci Code to be indeed an entertaining work of fiction, yet one that boldly asks for trouble, that kind of stuff.
Ahh.. so little time, so much to do. And I'm supposed to be jobless! I'll be home very soon, and I'll be jobless once again. But I'll be home very soon!
How's that for gibberish at 5:48AM. Good morning!
Back
Back
In Singapore, that is. I never figured out why my plane from Amsterdam landed Singapore 2:45PM, 4 hours ahead of my predicted arrival, but never mind. Ugh blame those time zones. :D
So here I am, bunking in Arthur's room at KE7, H204. God bless the good guy, really, for letting about 8 or so people store boxes and bags and suitcases in his single room, and now admitting a homeless kid i.e. me. And for free too! Hehe don't worry Arthur I'll help you *with what little I know* with your Photoshop work.
Ahh.. I'm still high over the entire Czech-Europe-Category Winner thing, but I'm glad to be back. The long flight back, and on my own too, gave me a good stiff neck and screwed up my sleeping pattern, and watching Million Dollar Baby on the plane made me suddenly intensely fearful of death, but being back in a place where most everything's familiar and where people speak English is always a good thing.
I could blabber on about the details of the trip, but that would be the longest blog entry in moonstruck86 history. So maybe I'll just post photos.. if lethargy doesn't get to me.
And then comes the perpetual question after something eventful occurs: Now what? Well, I've been thinking hard the past few days and I haven't sorted it out yet. I could go sing with the choir for the NUS Centennial celebrations on the 25th, go home to the Philippines the day after, and may just pop by Manila and Quezon City to visit friends, and check out UPLB in Laguna to visit little sister and Jasper. Then again, staying here for an extra week or so could cost quite a bit, excluding the expensive stay within Manila and Laguna, AND I don't think I'll make it for Mama's birthday on the 29th. Then again, my folks recommend I go visit my fresh-in-college sister also, and Mama says she doesn't mind if I don't make it in time for her birthday. Hmm. And my single-digit bank account balance doesn't help too. Yes, it's single digit now. Hehe. I still have some cash though, and there's always the VISA.
I'm jobless and free now, but not exactly. I've been thinking about my article for the Ridge's July issue, and I'd have to email Asraf the new editor very soon. Think Jose think!
And oh yeah, thanks again to those who congratulated us choristers. :D I told you I'm still high.
And on a final note, let me greet someone very special a happy happy birthday! He's the namesake of that little Peanuts kid who's on my "Fave Links" button. He's my big brother Schroeder, and he would've been 21 today if he hadn't gone on to the Great Beyond when he was three. :) Needless to say, I miss that old chap. Haha could've made my growing up years a wee bit simpler! See you sometime.
All right, off to shower! It's a hot day in Singapore (as usual), but for once, after a week of freezing cold in Czech, I actually like it!
Music of the Moment: Toploader's Dancing in the Moonlight
Currently feeling like working.
In Singapore, that is. I never figured out why my plane from Amsterdam landed Singapore 2:45PM, 4 hours ahead of my predicted arrival, but never mind. Ugh blame those time zones. :D
So here I am, bunking in Arthur's room at KE7, H204. God bless the good guy, really, for letting about 8 or so people store boxes and bags and suitcases in his single room, and now admitting a homeless kid i.e. me. And for free too! Hehe don't worry Arthur I'll help you *with what little I know* with your Photoshop work.
Ahh.. I'm still high over the entire Czech-Europe-Category Winner thing, but I'm glad to be back. The long flight back, and on my own too, gave me a good stiff neck and screwed up my sleeping pattern, and watching Million Dollar Baby on the plane made me suddenly intensely fearful of death, but being back in a place where most everything's familiar and where people speak English is always a good thing.
I could blabber on about the details of the trip, but that would be the longest blog entry in moonstruck86 history. So maybe I'll just post photos.. if lethargy doesn't get to me.
And then comes the perpetual question after something eventful occurs: Now what? Well, I've been thinking hard the past few days and I haven't sorted it out yet. I could go sing with the choir for the NUS Centennial celebrations on the 25th, go home to the Philippines the day after, and may just pop by Manila and Quezon City to visit friends, and check out UPLB in Laguna to visit little sister and Jasper. Then again, staying here for an extra week or so could cost quite a bit, excluding the expensive stay within Manila and Laguna, AND I don't think I'll make it for Mama's birthday on the 29th. Then again, my folks recommend I go visit my fresh-in-college sister also, and Mama says she doesn't mind if I don't make it in time for her birthday. Hmm. And my single-digit bank account balance doesn't help too. Yes, it's single digit now. Hehe. I still have some cash though, and there's always the VISA.
I'm jobless and free now, but not exactly. I've been thinking about my article for the Ridge's July issue, and I'd have to email Asraf the new editor very soon. Think Jose think!
And oh yeah, thanks again to those who congratulated us choristers. :D I told you I'm still high.
And on a final note, let me greet someone very special a happy happy birthday! He's the namesake of that little Peanuts kid who's on my "Fave Links" button. He's my big brother Schroeder, and he would've been 21 today if he hadn't gone on to the Great Beyond when he was three. :) Needless to say, I miss that old chap. Haha could've made my growing up years a wee bit simpler! See you sometime.
All right, off to shower! It's a hot day in Singapore (as usual), but for once, after a week of freezing cold in Czech, I actually like it!
Music of the Moment: Toploader's Dancing in the Moonlight
Currently feeling like working.
Gold
The unthinkable has happened.
99 points. Gold medal. Category winner. F Category, methinks.
It wasn´t our best performance, seriously. Credo was sharp, Ashita´s starting note B-flat was not in unison, and although Kucinta was very good according to Nelson, there was one off entry by one of my felloow basses in the first part that got me quite distracted a bit.
But apparently we wowed them enough to get 99 points and earn gold. Must be the ingenious peculiarity of Kucinta, the ´miao´ song.
Coolness. The other Singaporean choirs, Anderson Junior College änd Anglo-Chinese Junior College also scored gold medals, and were category winners as well. They competed in the Grand Finals tonight with 4 competitors from Europe. Haha we were wondering for a while why NUS Choir wasn´t in for the Final Finals since we were also category winner anyway, but apparently they only invited 6 choirs for the final show, and AJC and ACJC´s categories were the hotter categories.
We cheered for AJC anyway, since we had the same conductor, Nelson Kwei, and they were more friendly to us. Frankly, too, I thought AJC´s performance was more of a showy crowd-pleaser and ACJC lacked AJ´s vivid expression. Anyway, the similarly impressive less-than-a-year-old choir from Czech was crowned Absolute winner, with AJC the next closest competitor. Well, in fairness to ACJC, they scored full marks (100 points) in the category they competed with AJC, and top choir in the other category, so this shouln´t dent their spirits. But right now, NUS Choir is still for our fellow Nelson baby, AJC. Hehe.
I better wrap this up since I´m feeling a bit tipsy from the beer they served in the after-party. Haha 2 big glasses of Czexh beer and I´m already, well, groggy. Tipsy maybe, since I can still write a decent entry right?
God I am so thankful for the gold. It means an incredible lot to me, really. First year I joined choir, first time I get to travel to Europe, first time I get to compete in a choral contest. The risks were great, for the choir as a whole, which drained the choir fund, but now it´s all bloody worth it. Thank you Lord.
I love NUS Choir. Time to hit the bed before I pass out here.. Back to Prague tomorrow!
P.S. Thanks a lot to those who SMSed and wished us well! Yep I receive them messages all, but sorry no credits to reply. Thanks thanks!
99 points. Gold medal. Category winner. F Category, methinks.
It wasn´t our best performance, seriously. Credo was sharp, Ashita´s starting note B-flat was not in unison, and although Kucinta was very good according to Nelson, there was one off entry by one of my felloow basses in the first part that got me quite distracted a bit.
But apparently we wowed them enough to get 99 points and earn gold. Must be the ingenious peculiarity of Kucinta, the ´miao´ song.
Coolness. The other Singaporean choirs, Anderson Junior College änd Anglo-Chinese Junior College also scored gold medals, and were category winners as well. They competed in the Grand Finals tonight with 4 competitors from Europe. Haha we were wondering for a while why NUS Choir wasn´t in for the Final Finals since we were also category winner anyway, but apparently they only invited 6 choirs for the final show, and AJC and ACJC´s categories were the hotter categories.
We cheered for AJC anyway, since we had the same conductor, Nelson Kwei, and they were more friendly to us. Frankly, too, I thought AJC´s performance was more of a showy crowd-pleaser and ACJC lacked AJ´s vivid expression. Anyway, the similarly impressive less-than-a-year-old choir from Czech was crowned Absolute winner, with AJC the next closest competitor. Well, in fairness to ACJC, they scored full marks (100 points) in the category they competed with AJC, and top choir in the other category, so this shouln´t dent their spirits. But right now, NUS Choir is still for our fellow Nelson baby, AJC. Hehe.
I better wrap this up since I´m feeling a bit tipsy from the beer they served in the after-party. Haha 2 big glasses of Czexh beer and I´m already, well, groggy. Tipsy maybe, since I can still write a decent entry right?
God I am so thankful for the gold. It means an incredible lot to me, really. First year I joined choir, first time I get to travel to Europe, first time I get to compete in a choral contest. The risks were great, for the choir as a whole, which drained the choir fund, but now it´s all bloody worth it. Thank you Lord.
I love NUS Choir. Time to hit the bed before I pass out here.. Back to Prague tomorrow!
P.S. Thanks a lot to those who SMSed and wished us well! Yep I receive them messages all, but sorry no credits to reply. Thanks thanks!
Fascinating
Fascinating.
Seriously that´s all i can say about Europe. But of course that won´t stop me from making long blog entries right? Haha. Actuallz, mazbe this kezboard will. It´s got all these crazy characters, and for starters, the y button is the normal z button. strangeness. But in a verz good waz of course. Hehe.
I´m at Hotel Flora in Olomouc, Czech Republic right now. It´s 546am here, Weiwei my roommate and choir student conductor is still asleep, but I had to drag myself down to take a hot shower because it´s so frrrrriggin´ COLD! And it´s supposed to be late late apring/early summer here.. what more in winter?!
Czech Rep is 6 hours slower than both Singapore and Philippines, so I bet my friends and family are preparing for lunch there. Ma, Dad I´ll call.. after I figure out how to. But hereś the good news. BOTH my M1 and Globe handphones have international roaming! So any important message, please SMS me in either of those numbers. That´s a peso for globe, and hopefully a few cents for M1. :P
We left Changi at 2255pm Tuesday, and we arrived at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol past 5am. 7 hour difference, and ¨I´m too layz to do the math. But it was a long ride, trust me on that, but the food was goood.
Coolest thing was watching the sunrise on the plane! As we were above Vienna or Berlin the orange sun rose gradually on the horizon, and then, after a while, it seemed to have totallz set again! It rose again soon afterwards,¨and of course me at the window seat took the opportunity to take another round of photos!
And oh yeah, haha ignore that last post. A billion billion thanks to Rötana for lending me his camera last minute. And it was with no hesitation at all when he answered ´Sure!´ Thanks loads man.
But haha photo-loving me soon ran out of battery! We took too many photos at the plane and the airport! Amsterdam Airport was cool. They had a lovely mini-museum where I discovered that one of my recent favorite artists was Dutch! Piet Mondrian. I´ve been eyeing his work for a while, even using his work as MSN display pic, thinking of his cubism thing as the theme for my new blog template.. which never quite got around! Hehe.
We flew to Prague and arrived at the airport around noon. The coolness of the experience I felt when we stepped out of the airport into the sun, and I began to remove my jacket. Walau, the sun was up, yet the air was freezing! Fascinating.
We took a half-day tour of Prague and it was quaint and lovely and just breathtaking. Really. It´s terrific to find centuries of important cultural history preserved in the majestic St Vitus Cathedral, the Town Square, the Astronomical Clock, the Charles Bridge, the entire Prague Castle really. I was checking the Prague travel guide I bought from Borders, and whoa, the places came to life! I don´t think I can blog to every bit of detail since haha I don´t really know much of the Romanesque Gothic Baroque stuff the tour guide was saying to us, but Prague was just picturesque, to say the least. And artsy too. Seriously very artsy.
OK, I think the ladies at the counter are giving me strange glances now. Whoops must´ve used the PC too much. Past six now, maybe I´ll just rest in bed and wait for breakfast. Our concert marathon is this afternoon, and we´ĺl be rehearsing in the morning, before we go to an excursion at noon (I think it´s the brewery baby! Beer!), then finally we´ll be performing in the afternoon. Competition isn´t till the 11th though. Wish I could post pics.
Lovely. I didn´t realize Europe would be so refreshing. Hopefully it doesn´t freeze me to death though.
Happiness.
Seriously that´s all i can say about Europe. But of course that won´t stop me from making long blog entries right? Haha. Actuallz, mazbe this kezboard will. It´s got all these crazy characters, and for starters, the y button is the normal z button. strangeness. But in a verz good waz of course. Hehe.
I´m at Hotel Flora in Olomouc, Czech Republic right now. It´s 546am here, Weiwei my roommate and choir student conductor is still asleep, but I had to drag myself down to take a hot shower because it´s so frrrrriggin´ COLD! And it´s supposed to be late late apring/early summer here.. what more in winter?!
Czech Rep is 6 hours slower than both Singapore and Philippines, so I bet my friends and family are preparing for lunch there. Ma, Dad I´ll call.. after I figure out how to. But hereś the good news. BOTH my M1 and Globe handphones have international roaming! So any important message, please SMS me in either of those numbers. That´s a peso for globe, and hopefully a few cents for M1. :P
We left Changi at 2255pm Tuesday, and we arrived at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol past 5am. 7 hour difference, and ¨I´m too layz to do the math. But it was a long ride, trust me on that, but the food was goood.
Coolest thing was watching the sunrise on the plane! As we were above Vienna or Berlin the orange sun rose gradually on the horizon, and then, after a while, it seemed to have totallz set again! It rose again soon afterwards,¨and of course me at the window seat took the opportunity to take another round of photos!
And oh yeah, haha ignore that last post. A billion billion thanks to Rötana for lending me his camera last minute. And it was with no hesitation at all when he answered ´Sure!´ Thanks loads man.
But haha photo-loving me soon ran out of battery! We took too many photos at the plane and the airport! Amsterdam Airport was cool. They had a lovely mini-museum where I discovered that one of my recent favorite artists was Dutch! Piet Mondrian. I´ve been eyeing his work for a while, even using his work as MSN display pic, thinking of his cubism thing as the theme for my new blog template.. which never quite got around! Hehe.
We flew to Prague and arrived at the airport around noon. The coolness of the experience I felt when we stepped out of the airport into the sun, and I began to remove my jacket. Walau, the sun was up, yet the air was freezing! Fascinating.
We took a half-day tour of Prague and it was quaint and lovely and just breathtaking. Really. It´s terrific to find centuries of important cultural history preserved in the majestic St Vitus Cathedral, the Town Square, the Astronomical Clock, the Charles Bridge, the entire Prague Castle really. I was checking the Prague travel guide I bought from Borders, and whoa, the places came to life! I don´t think I can blog to every bit of detail since haha I don´t really know much of the Romanesque Gothic Baroque stuff the tour guide was saying to us, but Prague was just picturesque, to say the least. And artsy too. Seriously very artsy.
OK, I think the ladies at the counter are giving me strange glances now. Whoops must´ve used the PC too much. Past six now, maybe I´ll just rest in bed and wait for breakfast. Our concert marathon is this afternoon, and we´ĺl be rehearsing in the morning, before we go to an excursion at noon (I think it´s the brewery baby! Beer!), then finally we´ll be performing in the afternoon. Competition isn´t till the 11th though. Wish I could post pics.
Lovely. I didn´t realize Europe would be so refreshing. Hopefully it doesn´t freeze me to death though.
Happiness.
Crap
Crap
What a time for my camera to get all fffing spoilt.
Seems like my "series of unfortunate events" is still in progress after all. :'(
What a time for my camera to get all fffing spoilt.
Seems like my "series of unfortunate events" is still in progress after all. :'(
Here I come
Here I come
All right, after months of intensive preparation (the past few days especially draining the life out of me), the NUS Choir is finally taking off for the 33rd Festa Musicale in Olomouc, Czech Republic.
I'm exhausted beyond words right now, really, due to the crazy packing up and moving out. Yesterday we sang with our conductor Nelson Kwei's other choir that's off for the same competition but in a different category (or categories, since they're singing in two), Anderson Junior College. They were good I have to admit, and the strength of the competition bunch of their choir is almost twice ours. Well, Junior Colleges tend to be richer (I think, or at least they spend more for these cultural stuff), and they still have classes now, unlike in Uni where most everyone has gone home for the holidays. They were good really, and they gave very animated, fun-filled performances demonstrating their youth and vibrance (ours was a more serious and classy[?] performance). But most of all, I was (and still am) fascinated by our common conductor Nelson. His hand and arm gestures and facial expressions vividly contain exactly what he wants from the choir, and he gets it.
I'm packing the third and last chunk of my room into a box I'll give to Arthur for storage over the break (the previous two I gave to Karen and Ferron). Thanks to you all, really. :D
Hmm.. I'm not sure if I should post this, but I hope NUS Choir student conductor Weiwei, and who posted this in his Computing account, doesn't mind. (Hehe I seriously hope so, since I'm gonna share a double room with him in Hotel Flora in Olomouc. =P) OK, I'll risk it and post this up. Hopefully for my friends and family to know what exactly we're doing in the 10 minutes or so we're up on stage over there. Right-click and save these recordings of yesterday's practice:
Credo
Ashita wa Hare kana, Kumori kana
Kucinta
It was bad day for singing, really, yesterday, so our sound wasn't as perfect as we wanted it to be, nor as good as last week's practice. Or maybe because it was early morning. But it's quite good, honestly, and strangely it sounds better on record than when we were performing.
So there, the flight's at 10:55 tonight, and we have to be at the airport at 7:30pm.
To those who wish to contact me while I'm in Czech, you can SMS me at +6590745231. Hehe I can't reply though, since M1 says I can only accept and not receive messages. I don't know about my Globe SIM though, if I automatically get roaming, since I remember applying only for Singapore roaming when I applied. It's +639173341682 just the same. Email me for anything, since hopefully there'll be internet access there.
Please pray for the Choir! This is a very big investment, and we surely hope it wouldn't be a waste. Our competition is not until the 11th though.
Okay, time to go off now and pack up my remaining stuff, including this laptop. I'm actually gonna step on European soil soon! Grrreat. :D Ciao!
All right, after months of intensive preparation (the past few days especially draining the life out of me), the NUS Choir is finally taking off for the 33rd Festa Musicale in Olomouc, Czech Republic.
I'm exhausted beyond words right now, really, due to the crazy packing up and moving out. Yesterday we sang with our conductor Nelson Kwei's other choir that's off for the same competition but in a different category (or categories, since they're singing in two), Anderson Junior College. They were good I have to admit, and the strength of the competition bunch of their choir is almost twice ours. Well, Junior Colleges tend to be richer (I think, or at least they spend more for these cultural stuff), and they still have classes now, unlike in Uni where most everyone has gone home for the holidays. They were good really, and they gave very animated, fun-filled performances demonstrating their youth and vibrance (ours was a more serious and classy[?] performance). But most of all, I was (and still am) fascinated by our common conductor Nelson. His hand and arm gestures and facial expressions vividly contain exactly what he wants from the choir, and he gets it.
I'm packing the third and last chunk of my room into a box I'll give to Arthur for storage over the break (the previous two I gave to Karen and Ferron). Thanks to you all, really. :D
Hmm.. I'm not sure if I should post this, but I hope NUS Choir student conductor Weiwei, and who posted this in his Computing account, doesn't mind. (Hehe I seriously hope so, since I'm gonna share a double room with him in Hotel Flora in Olomouc. =P) OK, I'll risk it and post this up. Hopefully for my friends and family to know what exactly we're doing in the 10 minutes or so we're up on stage over there. Right-click and save these recordings of yesterday's practice:
Credo
Ashita wa Hare kana, Kumori kana
Kucinta
It was bad day for singing, really, yesterday, so our sound wasn't as perfect as we wanted it to be, nor as good as last week's practice. Or maybe because it was early morning. But it's quite good, honestly, and strangely it sounds better on record than when we were performing.
So there, the flight's at 10:55 tonight, and we have to be at the airport at 7:30pm.
To those who wish to contact me while I'm in Czech, you can SMS me at +6590745231. Hehe I can't reply though, since M1 says I can only accept and not receive messages. I don't know about my Globe SIM though, if I automatically get roaming, since I remember applying only for Singapore roaming when I applied. It's +639173341682 just the same. Email me for anything, since hopefully there'll be internet access there.
Please pray for the Choir! This is a very big investment, and we surely hope it wouldn't be a waste. Our competition is not until the 11th though.
Okay, time to go off now and pack up my remaining stuff, including this laptop. I'm actually gonna step on European soil soon! Grrreat. :D Ciao!
Blogworthy
Blogworthy
The concept of "blogworthy", however clear to me months back, is becoming increasingly strange to me now. I used to be a crazier blogger than I am now, and I almost always blog everything, vividly too, even the mundanest things nobody probably cares about. But I dunno, maybe I'm becoming a lazy blogger or I'm just so busy with other stuff, that even when there's something seriously blogworthy, nah, I take my time to blog it, if I even blog it at all.
The examination results came out the other day, and it was supposed to be a, well, momentous event for every single student of NUS. The examination results are the final grades for the modules we've taken for the entire b.l.o.o.d.y semester, and the announcement of which is met with bated breath, sleeplessness, and, for weirder ones like me, chest pains. As to why it took me two days before I blogged it, err.. I'm busy. Seriously, my flight's on Tuesday and I haven't packed yet. And mind you, this is super packing, since I not only have to pack for the trip, but also pack my entire room and distribute it, in the form of boxes and suitcase and hampers, to my kind Pinoy seniors. And of course there are the intensive choir practices, and my perennial problem of insufficient funds!
Anyway, back to grades. I was at the printing room near the Central Library right after lunch with Karen and sister Pau, and as much as I didn't want to check it with Karen around (I feared I would go hysterical as much as she did the previous day when she checked her grades with me), I did it anyway since I had an experiment to participate in at 1:30PM and prolonging the agony wouldn't do me any good.
Mustering enough courage to turn on the PC and log in the intranet, the grades finally flashed before me. I had a quick quick (two seconds tops) glimpse of the grades as I read them top to bottom, and was, for half a split second pleased with my grades. Quite happily pleased, really. AND THEN I came to the last figure (or alphabetical character) at the end of the short list.
WALAU. I closed the window, logged off and was off to flee the area as quick as possible. Karen had this "Well?" look as we made our way out of the printing room, and I could only tell her the grades were disastrous.
I'm not sure if I'm comfy posting my grades up here, because seriously, people have vastly different ideas of "disastrous" or in Tagalog, masagwa grades, and I'm not in the best of moods to indulge in another bout of inferiority complex. Sigh. I really have to step up the mugging next semester, so that B+ becomes less acceptable than I presently think, and I'll begin to think it's already masagwa. Let's go for A's baby!
But for now, I'll be content with what I have, since well, there isn't anything else much to do anyway.
Then again, on a cheerful note, my grades were quite okay. In my quick glimpse of my grades, I saw a grade I'd always wanted. Hehe, finally my first A! That much I can say, really. :D (Next aim: A+!) I thought I'd hit two of them actually, but the other was an A-, but come on, that's not bad at all! I was too freaked out by that one other grade that I didn't even see which module I got an A for. I just knew, though, that my A and A- came from my Arts modules, which I enjoyed. Which of my two Arts modules, the Intro to Literary Studies or the Evaluating Academic Arguments module got me which I didn't know for sure.
I was willing to bet my A came from the Arguments module, since I thought I did better there than my Literature module. Besides, sometimes in Lit, you either hit what the professors want or miss it, and with the unpredictability of it all, it's quite a matter of chance. Besides, even if I got an A for the second big essay, I only got a B for the first, so bagging an A was unlikely.
But lo and behold, my A actually came from the Literature module! Haha thank you thank you Dr Susan Ang and Dr Yeo Wei Wei! Although I was mildly surprised and disappointed I only got an A- for my Arguments module, this was eclipsed by the ridiculously good news. I mean, remember that time when I barely studied for my first Lit test (fell asleep studying halfway) and woke up late and had to literally run to the LT for the 8:40AM test, when I had to struggle with my very slow reading rate, when I had to switch from one essay question to the other, two days before essay submission and was still typing the essay an hour before the 5PM deadline. And I was in a class of Arts majors too! Happiness.
As for Calculus, not bad at all! It was highly decent in my standards, considering that Calculus and I aren't exactly the best of friends. But thankfully my intensive number scribbling preparations paid off. And cool, even my supposedly big mistake module, Molecular Genetics, turned out better than I expected. I thought I'd drown in the sea of labwork and readingwork amongst the battalion of Life Science majors, but I think I didn't quite stick out as the odd one in there. Thankfully I managed to score somehow. It's not stellar, but it's acceptable to me.
As for that last module, remember when I said failure was highly probable in a post sometime ago? Well, I didn't fail, but I feel as if I did just that. Again, proof that with exams making 50%-70% of the grade, when you know you just screwed them up, you might as well light a candle and make preparations for the mourning rites.
My CAP (Cumulative Average Point) dropped by 0.1, but sigh, just accept lah and must mug harder next sem! :D Cheer up Jose!
* * *
It took me awfully long to complete the experiment I took part in at the School of Computing. It was a project by a graduating/graduate student aimed at studying online searching (googling) behavior, and if what documents a search engine produces are actually understood by the user. 12 bucks earned per volunteer.
Sixty documents we had to read and evaluate, and halfway through, my eyes were already sore, and I was developing a headache. Haha I sometimes think I should have let go of this reading style I employ when I read literary texts, which is something like an excruciatingly slow and thorough close reading (no wonder I got an A for my Lit module! :P). There was a test afterwards, and I scored 80%, and that qualified me for the raffle!
I suddenly realized that I was the last to finish the experiment among the group of 20, and I was the reason a group of 4 or so Vietnamese (I could tell from their accent and language) guys were waiting. They were in for the raffle too, and we each picked a number from a bag, highest number wins. I couldn't figure out if the number I had was 18 or 81, depending on which way you look at it, but it didn't matter since the rest had single-digit numbers. And tada! Instant 50 bucks! Woohooo. $62 for an experiment.. not bad at all.
I'm still broke though, and as much as I need the cash from Dad's Visa, I couldn't quite get as much money as I need for the Czech trip since apparently I've used the card too much already. Whoops. But anyway, money is coming up end of June/early July, thanks to the kind folks at the SG Ministry of Foreign Affairs! But for now I'll have to think of creative ways to earn money since KLM Dutch Airlines require that I pay an additional $108 on top of the original $133 travel surcharge for my flight rebooking. Oh yeah, it's confirmed. I'll be coming back to Singapore on the 15th. I hope the trip turns out to be as fruitful as we all hope it to be.
Thank God for long blog entries.
Music of the Moment: Michelle Branch's Breathe
Currently feeling poor.
The concept of "blogworthy", however clear to me months back, is becoming increasingly strange to me now. I used to be a crazier blogger than I am now, and I almost always blog everything, vividly too, even the mundanest things nobody probably cares about. But I dunno, maybe I'm becoming a lazy blogger or I'm just so busy with other stuff, that even when there's something seriously blogworthy, nah, I take my time to blog it, if I even blog it at all.
The examination results came out the other day, and it was supposed to be a, well, momentous event for every single student of NUS. The examination results are the final grades for the modules we've taken for the entire b.l.o.o.d.y semester, and the announcement of which is met with bated breath, sleeplessness, and, for weirder ones like me, chest pains. As to why it took me two days before I blogged it, err.. I'm busy. Seriously, my flight's on Tuesday and I haven't packed yet. And mind you, this is super packing, since I not only have to pack for the trip, but also pack my entire room and distribute it, in the form of boxes and suitcase and hampers, to my kind Pinoy seniors. And of course there are the intensive choir practices, and my perennial problem of insufficient funds!
Anyway, back to grades. I was at the printing room near the Central Library right after lunch with Karen and sister Pau, and as much as I didn't want to check it with Karen around (I feared I would go hysterical as much as she did the previous day when she checked her grades with me), I did it anyway since I had an experiment to participate in at 1:30PM and prolonging the agony wouldn't do me any good.
Mustering enough courage to turn on the PC and log in the intranet, the grades finally flashed before me. I had a quick quick (two seconds tops) glimpse of the grades as I read them top to bottom, and was, for half a split second pleased with my grades. Quite happily pleased, really. AND THEN I came to the last figure (or alphabetical character) at the end of the short list.
WALAU. I closed the window, logged off and was off to flee the area as quick as possible. Karen had this "Well?" look as we made our way out of the printing room, and I could only tell her the grades were disastrous.
I'm not sure if I'm comfy posting my grades up here, because seriously, people have vastly different ideas of "disastrous" or in Tagalog, masagwa grades, and I'm not in the best of moods to indulge in another bout of inferiority complex. Sigh. I really have to step up the mugging next semester, so that B+ becomes less acceptable than I presently think, and I'll begin to think it's already masagwa. Let's go for A's baby!
But for now, I'll be content with what I have, since well, there isn't anything else much to do anyway.
Then again, on a cheerful note, my grades were quite okay. In my quick glimpse of my grades, I saw a grade I'd always wanted. Hehe, finally my first A! That much I can say, really. :D (Next aim: A+!) I thought I'd hit two of them actually, but the other was an A-, but come on, that's not bad at all! I was too freaked out by that one other grade that I didn't even see which module I got an A for. I just knew, though, that my A and A- came from my Arts modules, which I enjoyed. Which of my two Arts modules, the Intro to Literary Studies or the Evaluating Academic Arguments module got me which I didn't know for sure.
I was willing to bet my A came from the Arguments module, since I thought I did better there than my Literature module. Besides, sometimes in Lit, you either hit what the professors want or miss it, and with the unpredictability of it all, it's quite a matter of chance. Besides, even if I got an A for the second big essay, I only got a B for the first, so bagging an A was unlikely.
But lo and behold, my A actually came from the Literature module! Haha thank you thank you Dr Susan Ang and Dr Yeo Wei Wei! Although I was mildly surprised and disappointed I only got an A- for my Arguments module, this was eclipsed by the ridiculously good news. I mean, remember that time when I barely studied for my first Lit test (fell asleep studying halfway) and woke up late and had to literally run to the LT for the 8:40AM test, when I had to struggle with my very slow reading rate, when I had to switch from one essay question to the other, two days before essay submission and was still typing the essay an hour before the 5PM deadline. And I was in a class of Arts majors too! Happiness.
As for Calculus, not bad at all! It was highly decent in my standards, considering that Calculus and I aren't exactly the best of friends. But thankfully my intensive number scribbling preparations paid off. And cool, even my supposedly big mistake module, Molecular Genetics, turned out better than I expected. I thought I'd drown in the sea of labwork and readingwork amongst the battalion of Life Science majors, but I think I didn't quite stick out as the odd one in there. Thankfully I managed to score somehow. It's not stellar, but it's acceptable to me.
As for that last module, remember when I said failure was highly probable in a post sometime ago? Well, I didn't fail, but I feel as if I did just that. Again, proof that with exams making 50%-70% of the grade, when you know you just screwed them up, you might as well light a candle and make preparations for the mourning rites.
My CAP (Cumulative Average Point) dropped by 0.1, but sigh, just accept lah and must mug harder next sem! :D Cheer up Jose!
* * *
It took me awfully long to complete the experiment I took part in at the School of Computing. It was a project by a graduating/graduate student aimed at studying online searching (googling) behavior, and if what documents a search engine produces are actually understood by the user. 12 bucks earned per volunteer.
Sixty documents we had to read and evaluate, and halfway through, my eyes were already sore, and I was developing a headache. Haha I sometimes think I should have let go of this reading style I employ when I read literary texts, which is something like an excruciatingly slow and thorough close reading (no wonder I got an A for my Lit module! :P). There was a test afterwards, and I scored 80%, and that qualified me for the raffle!
I suddenly realized that I was the last to finish the experiment among the group of 20, and I was the reason a group of 4 or so Vietnamese (I could tell from their accent and language) guys were waiting. They were in for the raffle too, and we each picked a number from a bag, highest number wins. I couldn't figure out if the number I had was 18 or 81, depending on which way you look at it, but it didn't matter since the rest had single-digit numbers. And tada! Instant 50 bucks! Woohooo. $62 for an experiment.. not bad at all.
I'm still broke though, and as much as I need the cash from Dad's Visa, I couldn't quite get as much money as I need for the Czech trip since apparently I've used the card too much already. Whoops. But anyway, money is coming up end of June/early July, thanks to the kind folks at the SG Ministry of Foreign Affairs! But for now I'll have to think of creative ways to earn money since KLM Dutch Airlines require that I pay an additional $108 on top of the original $133 travel surcharge for my flight rebooking. Oh yeah, it's confirmed. I'll be coming back to Singapore on the 15th. I hope the trip turns out to be as fruitful as we all hope it to be.
Thank God for long blog entries.
Music of the Moment: Michelle Branch's Breathe
Currently feeling poor.
Better
Better
Sometimes I think I'm becoming predictable.. like this blog entry. OF COURSE after the last post you'd expect me to say I'm okay now and I accept things already and all. Bingo. Yeah I'm okay now. I think. Of course I'd be okay.
At least, that's what my conscious self tells me. Although for a few days after Friday, I was seriously anti-Italy and everything Italian. The choir had a recording of the NUS Centennial Song, NUS Forever (yes that's the title), last Friday, and after the 3-hour session, the composer Dr Ho treated us to, of all food, pizza! That would've been nice (terrific even) in other occasions, but as I was chewing on the pizza, it hit me. I'm boycotting Italian food (my favorite too) the very next day. During our voice class on Monday, our voice tutor Auntie Mary was discussing some music terms like rubato and passagio and falsetto.. and now that she mentioned it, yeah these words were Italian! Hmph. And as I was watching Miss Universe last night on TV mobile in the bus, when Miss Italy introduced herself, I was rolling my eyes, knowing that beyond her put-on smile she's a bitch deep inside like those embassy tramps, and was half-hoping she'd walk home empty-handed. And she did. Hehe. Haha sorry I'm just human. I can't help it!
But today's Wednesday already, almost a week after Friday, and I realize that getting bitter for too long is pointless. Thanks Ma for the encouraging emails too! Although well, sometimes I still space out in long bus rides and think of the gondolas and authentic Italian pizza and the Colosseum and the museums and the Tower of Pisa.. yeah you get the picture. But I can leaf through my rejected documents now without getting angry or depressed, and that's a start.
So Prague it is for me. I've talked to Choir VP Iris and she's currently discussing with the travel agent for me to stay in Prague for 3 days, until June 15th. I was checking out the brochures on Czech republic, and seriously, Prague is lovely. Choir President Keng Khoon and his GF Michelle, the soprano section leader, are Malaysians, and they can freely travel Europe if they wanted to without the need for a Visa, but they're sticking it with Prague until the 17th. I asked Michelle why, and she said that Prague is just beautiful and she wanted to explore it slowly, and not get into city-hopping rush. That's a good point, really, and I'm now taking a closer look at Prague and finding that the castles and chateaux and pilgrimage sites are just picturesque, to say the least. So it's gonna be a good holiday after all. Hopefully we do well in the competition in Olomouc so we'll be in better spirits to enjoy our respective extension trips.
Oh yeah, two of my Chinese fellow choristers' Visa applications were rejected as well. The other was held up for the same reason I was, because she was a minor and the Italian embassy demanded her folks go to a faraway city where a European embassy is located. Her boyfriend was denied the Visa too, but for a different reason. He's not a minor and there's an embassy in his home city Shanghai, but the problem was that he's a full-time student whose source of income is his parents, and for that he needs his folks' bank accounts. Sigh, I feel for them. I can't help but think that if given enough time, we could've settled everything and gotten our Visas. Now I'm still waiting for the confirmation of my rescheduled flight.. and the sky-high surcharges that may come with it.
But Hey Jude (the Beatles original and some a cappella and symphony orchestra versions) has been playing in my head and in my Windows Media Player lately, and it's making me feel better. Really, we just have to take a sad song and make it better. :)
Sometimes I think I'm becoming predictable.. like this blog entry. OF COURSE after the last post you'd expect me to say I'm okay now and I accept things already and all. Bingo. Yeah I'm okay now. I think. Of course I'd be okay.
At least, that's what my conscious self tells me. Although for a few days after Friday, I was seriously anti-Italy and everything Italian. The choir had a recording of the NUS Centennial Song, NUS Forever (yes that's the title), last Friday, and after the 3-hour session, the composer Dr Ho treated us to, of all food, pizza! That would've been nice (terrific even) in other occasions, but as I was chewing on the pizza, it hit me. I'm boycotting Italian food (my favorite too) the very next day. During our voice class on Monday, our voice tutor Auntie Mary was discussing some music terms like rubato and passagio and falsetto.. and now that she mentioned it, yeah these words were Italian! Hmph. And as I was watching Miss Universe last night on TV mobile in the bus, when Miss Italy introduced herself, I was rolling my eyes, knowing that beyond her put-on smile she's a bitch deep inside like those embassy tramps, and was half-hoping she'd walk home empty-handed. And she did. Hehe. Haha sorry I'm just human. I can't help it!
But today's Wednesday already, almost a week after Friday, and I realize that getting bitter for too long is pointless. Thanks Ma for the encouraging emails too! Although well, sometimes I still space out in long bus rides and think of the gondolas and authentic Italian pizza and the Colosseum and the museums and the Tower of Pisa.. yeah you get the picture. But I can leaf through my rejected documents now without getting angry or depressed, and that's a start.
So Prague it is for me. I've talked to Choir VP Iris and she's currently discussing with the travel agent for me to stay in Prague for 3 days, until June 15th. I was checking out the brochures on Czech republic, and seriously, Prague is lovely. Choir President Keng Khoon and his GF Michelle, the soprano section leader, are Malaysians, and they can freely travel Europe if they wanted to without the need for a Visa, but they're sticking it with Prague until the 17th. I asked Michelle why, and she said that Prague is just beautiful and she wanted to explore it slowly, and not get into city-hopping rush. That's a good point, really, and I'm now taking a closer look at Prague and finding that the castles and chateaux and pilgrimage sites are just picturesque, to say the least. So it's gonna be a good holiday after all. Hopefully we do well in the competition in Olomouc so we'll be in better spirits to enjoy our respective extension trips.
Oh yeah, two of my Chinese fellow choristers' Visa applications were rejected as well. The other was held up for the same reason I was, because she was a minor and the Italian embassy demanded her folks go to a faraway city where a European embassy is located. Her boyfriend was denied the Visa too, but for a different reason. He's not a minor and there's an embassy in his home city Shanghai, but the problem was that he's a full-time student whose source of income is his parents, and for that he needs his folks' bank accounts. Sigh, I feel for them. I can't help but think that if given enough time, we could've settled everything and gotten our Visas. Now I'm still waiting for the confirmation of my rescheduled flight.. and the sky-high surcharges that may come with it.
But Hey Jude (the Beatles original and some a cappella and symphony orchestra versions) has been playing in my head and in my Windows Media Player lately, and it's making me feel better. Really, we just have to take a sad song and make it better. :)
