Sometimes you can't make it on your own
Trust me, i'd like to blog about something happy. I could, too, because interspersed amongst my woes are happy memories with friends and family (thanks for the emails and SMSes Ma and Dad). But I dunno, even if I want to talk about bunnies and flowers and chocolate cream puffs, I'm sorry, I'm just, on the whole, a sad person right now.
It's mostly academics, really. I basically screwed up the killer midterm tests I had to sit for the past week. By "screwed up" I mean, messed up in a MAJOR way. I'm disgusted with myself really, and something has to be done regarding my study habits. Seriously, we can never ever mug hard enough. I know I haven't been studying as intensively as I would like, although from the stress level visibls to others, people think I'm doing a pretty good job mugging. Oh nothing could be further from the truth.
The essay for my film and cultural texts module also didn't go so well, and that was a blow to the ego, because if I do bad in my other modules like Statistics, I can say it was never in my list of fortes anyway, and it's really an insane body of knowledge too, so that's that. But for English, no sir, I take things very seriously. And maybe also it's the fact that my hardcore Stats and Maths modules are rather in the danger zone right now, and this film module was one of the few bright lights left, so I'm working my ass off to make sure it doesn't get put out.
Hmm.. what else. Maybe I just should trust God more. I haven't been exactly prayerful and faithful lately, and I think in these very dark days, I should learn to make my way back.
* * *
OK, time to take a break from the depressing stuff a bit. Thanks to Hayati, Aaron, Adyll, and Iris and Joanne for being my constant mugging-mate for the past weeks. Those afternoons and late-nights at the Central Forum, at CFA and YIH one time, at KR, at Bizad faculty both inside and outside Hon Sui Sen Library, yep those were fun. I dunno if we should change strategy now that I didn't really quite do well in my tests, but thanks for the company and keeping me sane.
Ferron, Arthur, Ivy come let's do our all-nighters again like last sem! Haha I think it's high time to get mugging for the exams! Taking six modules a semester is really a pain, I fully realize now.
* * *
I went with some of the NUS Choir folks to watch the Vocal Consort's concert at the Victoria Concert Hall on March 17th. NUS Choir is connected to the Vocal Consort since we have the same conductor, Nelson Kwei, and our key singers Student Conductor Weiwei, incoming Asst. Student Conductor Adyll, outgoing Secretary Hui Yin, and incoming Alto SL Winnie are Consort singers too.
It was enjoyable, being an audience in a choir concert, so I could better understand how people feel when they go for NUS Choir concerts and performances. I liked the Consort's Latin motets, this song the Seekers, and some of their folklore tunes. The Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) Choir was their guest choir, and I was impressed about their performance of "Magtanim Ay Di Biro", a Filipino folk song about rice-planting, and it being no joke. The diction was surprisingly very good, and my Laotian friend Vi even commented that the other Thai song they did was also spot-on with the pronunciation (Laotian language is close to Thai).
We crashed the Consort's post-concert snacks afterwards, and then went for a stroll by the Esplanade and Merlion, before heading for a posh coffee shop for some chitchat. This was just the night after, too, btw, of the Jason Mraz concert at the Esplanade that I couldn't go for initially because of no companion, and later, even if I was willing to go alone or even sponsor a buddy, I couldn't go because the show was sold-out! Anyway, my Ridge Big Boss Nurul got the most expensive tickets and was blown away by the performance. Haha I'm gonna get you Mr. A-Z sometime. I do need some cheering up.
Anyway anyway, I took a lot of photos before we took the night rider bus to Clementi, and a cab back to NUS.
* * *
The NUS Choir also performed for the Hatters' charity gala dinner at the Kent Ridge Guild House the night before (yes this is the Friday night of both the Jason Mraz concert at the Esplanade and the Rivermaya free show outside). It was fun. Free buffet food and great company! It was nice to get together with the choir folks before we all become muggerfied in preparation for the exams. The prawn with chilli was to die for, because it tasted like it was barbecued or something.. awesome. The fish fillet too.. heaven! It was tender and had this yummy sauce that seemed a combination of butter with a hint of cheese. Woohoo.. Yummy and expensive charity dinner! Funny thing was, four of the 10 or so tables were reserved for the performers! And guess what, the choir occupied three! Haha. I didn't mind giving a small "token of appreciation" because that was a sumptuous meal anyway! Yum yum.
Afterwards, a few of us crashed this cool and happening super senior Huai Zhi's room at Eusoff hall. Joanne, Aaron, Xuefang and I played this PC game Dynasty Warriors in his room, but as it turned out, we all sucked except for HZ and Aaron. Hehe. I just read the X-men comics instead. We hit Fong Seng for supper afterwards, before heading for KR to hang out in Christina's room where some of the KR A cappella folks hung out. We had some chitchat before turning in for the night finally at around 4AM.
* * *
And oh yeah, the past two days were random days. Haha. I felt so bad after learning of my screwed-up effed-up Actuarial Stats test, that I decided to indulge myself. It was the Ridge Writer's Night on Friday, and it was fun! Had a good chitchat with fellow writers, and they're such fun people to talk to! I'm gonna miss Nurul and Kok Weng and immediate boss Asraf! And I should've talked to Selene and Alice more! Too bad they're graduating this sem!
Afterwards, I went with new Lifestyle Editor Yvonne to the Stardust Finals. KR rocks la! Out of 6 vying for top honors in the Group category, 3 of them were from KR A cappella! Two of them made it to the top 3. The runaway soloist winner was Surath from KR too! Cool cool.
Karen SMSed later to invite me to Blooie's, this sort of pub near PGP, to have a drink with some of the Pinoys. Why not? Yep yep treated myself to a BIG glass of Hoegaarden and was a bit tipsy afterwards. Good stuff though. Although a sip doesn't have much of a kick like Tiger, the quantity (500 mL in that glass) was enough to compensate. Oh and I learned something new too that night.
Yesterday, Saturday was another random day. Haha. I was out at Clementi to settle my ATM and debit cards, and then was suddenly off to Orchard looking around for shirts and bags and stuff (but bought nothing), and then decided to have a haircut, and later was off to faraway East Coast Park to go rollerblading. Haha didn't plan it at all. Was back at NUS in time for dinner. I needed the break too, so yep that was okay.
* * *
Hmm.. what else to say ah? Haha nothing much, I guess. My mind's a blur. Yeah, I should think of happy memories when life gives me sucky experiences.
EDIT@28/3/06, 4:03AM:
Apparently the record-lows I recently hit aren't rock-bottom enough. My lousy results and the truckload of proejcts to do are threatening to break my spirit, but nope, I shall grit my teeth and hang on until this is all over and I can go home and rest.
Thank you to all those who comprise my life-support system. I hope you know who you are. Hehe.
P.S.
Ahh I love long blog entries. Yes I've said it before, but I must say it again! They drive the indifferent blog lurker away, and leave only those genuinely concerned and interested to finish reading (because really, going through it all is a chore). If nobody bothers to read, then all the personal this blog gets. Brilliant, these long blog entries.
All in a day's work
All in a day's work
Woohoo. This has got to be the worst day of my life. And yes sir, I know full well that the last thing I should do is blog, but nah, I give myself permission to write this short short post.
Welcome to the pits, I tell myself. And seriously, it's true! I realized that it's been about one and a half months now that I've been constantly caught in high-pressure situations. And nope, the stress level hasn't peaked yet. Haha if March had one extra day secretly tucked in there somewhere that wouldn't count at all among the 31 days, I'd absolutely sleep. all. day. Or someone please invent some magic pill that will instantly feed my longing for a good 8 hours of glorious sleep.
Anyway, tomorrow's the deadline of the Operations Management term paper I've been typing and researching for for the longest time, and on Thursday is the killer Actuarial test. Oh, if it matters, I think I may have just lost some valuables yet again (which I just learned are hopefully found again haha), and I failed my Regression Analysis test! Sigh. What's wrong with you Joseph?
I want my "me" time too. And apparently that's harder to accomplish than it sounds.
But hey I'm giddy and hyper right now, and that's supposed to be a good thing, considering I've just had the worst day of my life. Nah, I'll spare you the details (partly because the specifics aren't too exciting anyway) but yep yep, I'm all pumped up right now to finish this term paper and get mugging for the Actuarial Stats test.
Oooh take me away people. Take me somewhere nice and warm and give me a great big hug.
Woohoo. This has got to be the worst day of my life. And yes sir, I know full well that the last thing I should do is blog, but nah, I give myself permission to write this short short post.
Welcome to the pits, I tell myself. And seriously, it's true! I realized that it's been about one and a half months now that I've been constantly caught in high-pressure situations. And nope, the stress level hasn't peaked yet. Haha if March had one extra day secretly tucked in there somewhere that wouldn't count at all among the 31 days, I'd absolutely sleep. all. day. Or someone please invent some magic pill that will instantly feed my longing for a good 8 hours of glorious sleep.
Anyway, tomorrow's the deadline of the Operations Management term paper I've been typing and researching for for the longest time, and on Thursday is the killer Actuarial test. Oh, if it matters, I think I may have just lost some valuables yet again (which I just learned are hopefully found again haha), and I failed my Regression Analysis test! Sigh. What's wrong with you Joseph?
I want my "me" time too. And apparently that's harder to accomplish than it sounds.
But hey I'm giddy and hyper right now, and that's supposed to be a good thing, considering I've just had the worst day of my life. Nah, I'll spare you the details (partly because the specifics aren't too exciting anyway) but yep yep, I'm all pumped up right now to finish this term paper and get mugging for the Actuarial Stats test.
Oooh take me away people. Take me somewhere nice and warm and give me a great big hug.
Busy Busy
Busy Busy
Yeah, can't you tell? If the absence of a blog entry here means something, it's that.
After the choir concert last Saturday, I've been taking the plunge into the deep dark world of academics, of deadlines and essays and midterm tests.
There was a Hall Bulletin Board article I rushed because I was gonna be too busy this week. Turned out, well, early, so no problem with that. Essay One for my EN2113 Reading Film and Cultural Texts module due on Tuesday. One week earlier I had written a draft that was checked by my choirmate and class seatmate Irene, but lo and behold it needed major reconstruction and fixing. I did an analysis on this stunning Honda Civic ad, whose strategy was to humanized the car by mimicking the sounds of the car's adventures by means of a 60-member choir. Superb ad I must say. Anyway, my brain was able to churn out four pages of ideas, so that should be okay. Although on Monday night as I was doing the paper I was a bit distracted by the (almost) final meet-up of the NUS Choir/post-VV party/election of new comm. But nah, it's all good, and I still love NUS Choir baby.
Thankfully my editor Asraf granted my request for an extension of the deadline for my article for the April issue of the Ridge. I would've gone berserk if I had to do it this week too.
And then It's been mad after that. Three midterm tests in four days. One on Multivariable Calculus on Friday, one on Financial Accounting today, and another one on Regression Analysis on Monday. So yep, I've been mugging like crazy the past few days at the Central Forum, at PGP, at HSS Library basement, till late night even, hoping to score well in these killer tests. Calculus was relatively okay since it was open-book and I flagged my notes and book well. The just-finished Accounting test was, I dunno. I just wanted it over with because what I'm really freaked out about is the Regression test on Monday. Although from my post-midterm discussion with Arthur on a few questions about the accounting test, I think I didn't do quite as well as I had hoped.
But no, we mustn't get disheartened Jose! We just have to hang on a little bit longer, and ace this coming regression test. Yeah yeah I've already mentioned how my sanity's now questionable and my sleeping pattern has gone haywire, so I won't say them anymore. Although yeah... let's just say after Monday's test and my submission of the Ridge article, I'm gonna get myself a good night's rest.
I'm not as gloomy as you think, though. It just comes out that way. Sigh. You're gonna do well Joseph, don't worry.
Yeah, can't you tell? If the absence of a blog entry here means something, it's that.
After the choir concert last Saturday, I've been taking the plunge into the deep dark world of academics, of deadlines and essays and midterm tests.
There was a Hall Bulletin Board article I rushed because I was gonna be too busy this week. Turned out, well, early, so no problem with that. Essay One for my EN2113 Reading Film and Cultural Texts module due on Tuesday. One week earlier I had written a draft that was checked by my choirmate and class seatmate Irene, but lo and behold it needed major reconstruction and fixing. I did an analysis on this stunning Honda Civic ad, whose strategy was to humanized the car by mimicking the sounds of the car's adventures by means of a 60-member choir. Superb ad I must say. Anyway, my brain was able to churn out four pages of ideas, so that should be okay. Although on Monday night as I was doing the paper I was a bit distracted by the (almost) final meet-up of the NUS Choir/post-VV party/election of new comm. But nah, it's all good, and I still love NUS Choir baby.
Thankfully my editor Asraf granted my request for an extension of the deadline for my article for the April issue of the Ridge. I would've gone berserk if I had to do it this week too.
And then It's been mad after that. Three midterm tests in four days. One on Multivariable Calculus on Friday, one on Financial Accounting today, and another one on Regression Analysis on Monday. So yep, I've been mugging like crazy the past few days at the Central Forum, at PGP, at HSS Library basement, till late night even, hoping to score well in these killer tests. Calculus was relatively okay since it was open-book and I flagged my notes and book well. The just-finished Accounting test was, I dunno. I just wanted it over with because what I'm really freaked out about is the Regression test on Monday. Although from my post-midterm discussion with Arthur on a few questions about the accounting test, I think I didn't do quite as well as I had hoped.
But no, we mustn't get disheartened Jose! We just have to hang on a little bit longer, and ace this coming regression test. Yeah yeah I've already mentioned how my sanity's now questionable and my sleeping pattern has gone haywire, so I won't say them anymore. Although yeah... let's just say after Monday's test and my submission of the Ridge article, I'm gonna get myself a good night's rest.
I'm not as gloomy as you think, though. It just comes out that way. Sigh. You're gonna do well Joseph, don't worry.
Varsity Voices 2006
Varsity Voices 2006
The NUS Choir concert deserves more than this brief post I'm gonna publish, but let it suffice to say that the concert was a personal whirlwind of emotions for me personally. I must say the choir in general thoroughly enjoyed ourselves singing for the crowd, and from the response of the audience to the Beatles medley and the shouts for an encore, I daresay the audience enjoyed the show too.
And so I must say for the nth time, I love NUS Choir. We rock.
Here is a recording of a song we performed. It's this lovely song called Roads. Right click here and save it to your computer to listen to it.
* * *
I am incredibly touched too by the presence of the Filipino community in the concert. Thank you for coming; it meant a lot to me. And of course to Regina's friend who went with her, haha whatever his nationality is haha, and to Minli a.k.a. Tatatee. I'm sorry I didn't catch you there, but I hope you got your tickets at the front-of-house and enjoyed the show with your friends or family! :)
I hope you all were by no means forced to come, because I tried to make sure that only those who are interested would come. No nagging or anything from me, because I would hate for someone to be not enjoying the show because attending it was against his will. Besides, choral music is something you like or you don't sometimes as a simple matter of preference, so if you strayed to the free Hip Hop Nite show at the UCC Courtyard right outside the Hall, I wouldn't blame you hehe.
After the choir concert, I helped my fellow comm member Kurien backstage to clear up the rooms and lock them, so basically I had to wait for most everyone to pack their bags and leave before I could go. There was some complications with the security, so that delayed me further. Bottom line: thanks to the Pinoys again for waiting for me. Haha I hope it wasn't mean of me to not go leave with you after the waiting. Haha work stuff again for choir, what can I say. I'm stepping down as Records Secretary soon anyway, so hopefully I'd be less busy.
* * *
When I was about to go back to KR by my lonesome because everyone else left already, and upon calling Karen, the Pinoys were headed home too anyway, I caught fellow bass Aaron at the bus, and told me he'd be dropping by KR too to meet his friend Christina, who I also know from KR Choir. After dropping my stuff in my room, I decided to say hi to Christina too, and when we got there, her room had James and Lishi and Sunny too, with Grace fixing up her stuff in a nearby room. Anyway, in the end, I ended up playing around with them, watching Christina's collection of videos from Amplitude, the hall choirs' concert, and engaging in chitchat. Later, after James and Grace went home to their real cribs in Singapore, we went for supper at Fong Seng, this time with this interesting exchange student Austin and a surprisingly Singaporean Justin (he doesn't look nor speak the part). We went back almost 1AM, chatted and then played this cool version of Tai Ti called, Asshole Tai Ti. Haha fun fun. My point in all this rambling? I may have to reconsider my plan of moving out of KR to Tower Block next semester. Haha James of my block and my KR Choir boss was telling me to stay, and Christina was urging me to do the same. And I dunno, when you have a good time with friends (actually, this was the first time I got to really just play play with Lishi and Christina and Navin, and I only just met Justin and Austin that night), it's a bit funny to think of leaving this kind of company.
OK. Killer week begins today. Three essays/articles to submit, one of which comprises 15% of the grade. Three midterms at the end of the week, and I am confident in none of them. My energy resources are at their lowest levels, my room's still a mess, and I haven't gotten a good night's sleep in God-knows-when.
Maybe I should pray more eh?
The NUS Choir concert deserves more than this brief post I'm gonna publish, but let it suffice to say that the concert was a personal whirlwind of emotions for me personally. I must say the choir in general thoroughly enjoyed ourselves singing for the crowd, and from the response of the audience to the Beatles medley and the shouts for an encore, I daresay the audience enjoyed the show too.
And so I must say for the nth time, I love NUS Choir. We rock.
Here is a recording of a song we performed. It's this lovely song called Roads. Right click here and save it to your computer to listen to it.
* * *
I am incredibly touched too by the presence of the Filipino community in the concert. Thank you for coming; it meant a lot to me. And of course to Regina's friend who went with her, haha whatever his nationality is haha, and to Minli a.k.a. Tatatee. I'm sorry I didn't catch you there, but I hope you got your tickets at the front-of-house and enjoyed the show with your friends or family! :)
I hope you all were by no means forced to come, because I tried to make sure that only those who are interested would come. No nagging or anything from me, because I would hate for someone to be not enjoying the show because attending it was against his will. Besides, choral music is something you like or you don't sometimes as a simple matter of preference, so if you strayed to the free Hip Hop Nite show at the UCC Courtyard right outside the Hall, I wouldn't blame you hehe.
After the choir concert, I helped my fellow comm member Kurien backstage to clear up the rooms and lock them, so basically I had to wait for most everyone to pack their bags and leave before I could go. There was some complications with the security, so that delayed me further. Bottom line: thanks to the Pinoys again for waiting for me. Haha I hope it wasn't mean of me to not go leave with you after the waiting. Haha work stuff again for choir, what can I say. I'm stepping down as Records Secretary soon anyway, so hopefully I'd be less busy.
* * *
When I was about to go back to KR by my lonesome because everyone else left already, and upon calling Karen, the Pinoys were headed home too anyway, I caught fellow bass Aaron at the bus, and told me he'd be dropping by KR too to meet his friend Christina, who I also know from KR Choir. After dropping my stuff in my room, I decided to say hi to Christina too, and when we got there, her room had James and Lishi and Sunny too, with Grace fixing up her stuff in a nearby room. Anyway, in the end, I ended up playing around with them, watching Christina's collection of videos from Amplitude, the hall choirs' concert, and engaging in chitchat. Later, after James and Grace went home to their real cribs in Singapore, we went for supper at Fong Seng, this time with this interesting exchange student Austin and a surprisingly Singaporean Justin (he doesn't look nor speak the part). We went back almost 1AM, chatted and then played this cool version of Tai Ti called, Asshole Tai Ti. Haha fun fun. My point in all this rambling? I may have to reconsider my plan of moving out of KR to Tower Block next semester. Haha James of my block and my KR Choir boss was telling me to stay, and Christina was urging me to do the same. And I dunno, when you have a good time with friends (actually, this was the first time I got to really just play play with Lishi and Christina and Navin, and I only just met Justin and Austin that night), it's a bit funny to think of leaving this kind of company.
OK. Killer week begins today. Three essays/articles to submit, one of which comprises 15% of the grade. Three midterms at the end of the week, and I am confident in none of them. My energy resources are at their lowest levels, my room's still a mess, and I haven't gotten a good night's sleep in God-knows-when.
Maybe I should pray more eh?
'Outspokened'
'Outspokened'
Okay, so lately there haven't been happy things going on and I seem to ramble on and on about how sucky life is. Not really lah, but yeah, I think I've been putting on my sad/stressed/sky-is-falling face for way too long (I'm not removing it completely anytime soon.. wait till killer week comes next week), and it's about time I cheer up, at least for a while.
And there is good reason to. Because, well, say hello to the new Outspoken Desk Editor of The Ridge!
Hehe. I'm so thankful and pleased and happy and did I say thankful yet? Hehe. The elections were tonight at 6PM, and so I skipped a few hours of choir sound check/tech run for concert tomorrow to pop by LT15 for the elections, and I sure am glad I did.
The election of the editorial team was a bit of a tense affair, and for a while I was just sitting there waiting for the higher-ups' slots to be filled (or not filled.. interesting case for this one particular position), and then it was time for the desk editors, and I began to feel a bit fidgety. The temperature in the LT was frrrrrrreezing cold too, so I didn't know if I was just nervous or what. Anyway, no soul (at least from those in the Ridge) had learned I was remotely thinking of running for desk editor up until then, so I was just keeping it to myself. The other positions before the Outspoken Editor had only one nominee each, so basically it was a for/against vote, and it was usually for votes anyway, unless one had a complicated case.
So Chief Ed Nurul announced that the Outspoken desk editor position was up for grabs, and I looked around and hesitated. To my left, a sincere-looking pretty girl from the existing Outspoken desk stepped up (or down to the front area), and to my right, a Indian-looking Singaporean girl moved forward as well. They had reached the front seats where the nominees were supposed to sit, and, mustering enough courage and murmuring "what the heck" to myself, I stood up and made my way down too.
I didn't look behind me, but I could tell that my editor Asraf was surprised I presented myself as a nominee at all. Haha. I received what I thought was some peculiar applause marked by surprise and incredulity perhaps? Haha.. or maybe it was just because the just-elected editors were mostly girls? Dunno le. Haha, I didn't dare look back and read their faces.
I've been silent about this thing, and although Nurul invited members who were interested to run for some position to join the outgoing editorial team's meetings for some exposure, I didn't have the balls to volunteer myself. Frankly, I wasn't confident my writing was good enough for them because I've been published only once this year so far, but then I took comfort in that many others, including my fellow nominees, also had one article published too. Haha. And I've been in the Outspoken desk for two years anyway, so that should give me a slight edge.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, after a round of self-intro and some grilling, votes were cast through slips of paper. After a few moments was a shocker: there was a tie between me and the Indian-looking girl Kamala. Gasp. Haha a tie seemed unlikely in a crowd of 30-40 people, so I was caught off-guard. We needed 60% of total votes cast, too, to be elected.
A more intensive grilling ensued, and lookee the girl beside me turned out to be a Year 3 Sociology major.. Oooh and you know Soci majors, they're sharp and witty and essay-loving and always have some smart critique or insight about society or what. Haha stereotypes again, my favorite topic. Hehe, so yeah I was a bit intimidated and I would not have been surprised if I didn't get elected, and knew she would be a good editor anyway. Final vote came and I breathed a sigh of relief when it was my name that was called.
I was so thankful to those who voted, although I didn't want to seem as if I was desperate for the job. Haha. So yep, all my good vibes to all of you, I really really appreciate it. And to Nurul, too, for calling me up after the choir rehearsal to say that she was very happy for me, THANKS LOADS. I've secretly admired Nurul for the longest time 'cos she's cool and funky and witty and writes kick-ass well and perennially cheerful and artsy/poetic/bimbotic but still professional and smart and respectable. Means a lot. I was worried the editors thought I pulled a fast one on them by giving them a shocker on election night, but yep thanks a lot for believing in me.
The Outspoken Desk is one of the more popular among the desks, if not the most popular, based on the manpower of the desk and the number of applicants it receives. Haha the lure of it perhaps is that writers have the freedom to write and rant and rave about most anything, but of course standards are kept so the pieces are controversial and substantial and argumentative and of course sensible. Asraf did a mighty good job with Outspoken this year, in terms of article quality and deadlines, and filling in his shoes will be no small feat. (Haha FEAT and SHOES.. haha get it? Get it?! Haha cheap thrill sorry)
Anyway, NUS Choir's Varsity Voices is tomorrow (or later) already! Haha I'm not absolutely ready just yet, but it's gonna be great! I'm a bit sad there wouldn't be choir sessions soon after tomorrow except for the election and maybe some choir outing, but yeah, it's time to get mugging for the exams! I have a good feeling about tomorrow's Varsity Voices concert, let's just see what happens. Good night! :)
Okay, so lately there haven't been happy things going on and I seem to ramble on and on about how sucky life is. Not really lah, but yeah, I think I've been putting on my sad/stressed/sky-is-falling face for way too long (I'm not removing it completely anytime soon.. wait till killer week comes next week), and it's about time I cheer up, at least for a while.
And there is good reason to. Because, well, say hello to the new Outspoken Desk Editor of The Ridge!
Hehe. I'm so thankful and pleased and happy and did I say thankful yet? Hehe. The elections were tonight at 6PM, and so I skipped a few hours of choir sound check/tech run for concert tomorrow to pop by LT15 for the elections, and I sure am glad I did.
The election of the editorial team was a bit of a tense affair, and for a while I was just sitting there waiting for the higher-ups' slots to be filled (or not filled.. interesting case for this one particular position), and then it was time for the desk editors, and I began to feel a bit fidgety. The temperature in the LT was frrrrrrreezing cold too, so I didn't know if I was just nervous or what. Anyway, no soul (at least from those in the Ridge) had learned I was remotely thinking of running for desk editor up until then, so I was just keeping it to myself. The other positions before the Outspoken Editor had only one nominee each, so basically it was a for/against vote, and it was usually for votes anyway, unless one had a complicated case.
So Chief Ed Nurul announced that the Outspoken desk editor position was up for grabs, and I looked around and hesitated. To my left, a sincere-looking pretty girl from the existing Outspoken desk stepped up (or down to the front area), and to my right, a Indian-looking Singaporean girl moved forward as well. They had reached the front seats where the nominees were supposed to sit, and, mustering enough courage and murmuring "what the heck" to myself, I stood up and made my way down too.
I didn't look behind me, but I could tell that my editor Asraf was surprised I presented myself as a nominee at all. Haha. I received what I thought was some peculiar applause marked by surprise and incredulity perhaps? Haha.. or maybe it was just because the just-elected editors were mostly girls? Dunno le. Haha, I didn't dare look back and read their faces.
I've been silent about this thing, and although Nurul invited members who were interested to run for some position to join the outgoing editorial team's meetings for some exposure, I didn't have the balls to volunteer myself. Frankly, I wasn't confident my writing was good enough for them because I've been published only once this year so far, but then I took comfort in that many others, including my fellow nominees, also had one article published too. Haha. And I've been in the Outspoken desk for two years anyway, so that should give me a slight edge.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, after a round of self-intro and some grilling, votes were cast through slips of paper. After a few moments was a shocker: there was a tie between me and the Indian-looking girl Kamala. Gasp. Haha a tie seemed unlikely in a crowd of 30-40 people, so I was caught off-guard. We needed 60% of total votes cast, too, to be elected.
A more intensive grilling ensued, and lookee the girl beside me turned out to be a Year 3 Sociology major.. Oooh and you know Soci majors, they're sharp and witty and essay-loving and always have some smart critique or insight about society or what. Haha stereotypes again, my favorite topic. Hehe, so yeah I was a bit intimidated and I would not have been surprised if I didn't get elected, and knew she would be a good editor anyway. Final vote came and I breathed a sigh of relief when it was my name that was called.
I was so thankful to those who voted, although I didn't want to seem as if I was desperate for the job. Haha. So yep, all my good vibes to all of you, I really really appreciate it. And to Nurul, too, for calling me up after the choir rehearsal to say that she was very happy for me, THANKS LOADS. I've secretly admired Nurul for the longest time 'cos she's cool and funky and witty and writes kick-ass well and perennially cheerful and artsy/poetic/bimbotic but still professional and smart and respectable. Means a lot. I was worried the editors thought I pulled a fast one on them by giving them a shocker on election night, but yep thanks a lot for believing in me.
The Outspoken Desk is one of the more popular among the desks, if not the most popular, based on the manpower of the desk and the number of applicants it receives. Haha the lure of it perhaps is that writers have the freedom to write and rant and rave about most anything, but of course standards are kept so the pieces are controversial and substantial and argumentative and of course sensible. Asraf did a mighty good job with Outspoken this year, in terms of article quality and deadlines, and filling in his shoes will be no small feat. (Haha FEAT and SHOES.. haha get it? Get it?! Haha cheap thrill sorry)
Anyway, NUS Choir's Varsity Voices is tomorrow (or later) already! Haha I'm not absolutely ready just yet, but it's gonna be great! I'm a bit sad there wouldn't be choir sessions soon after tomorrow except for the election and maybe some choir outing, but yeah, it's time to get mugging for the exams! I have a good feeling about tomorrow's Varsity Voices concert, let's just see what happens. Good night! :)
Plug
Plug
Been emailing some of my yahoogroups the message below regarding the NUS Choir Concert on Saturday. I haven't memorized the songs yet! Talk about stress man! But then, haha what's new? Anyway, I'm plugging the concert here on my blog as well, as hmm.. maybe Katlyn might chance upon my blog soon and be interested? And I dunno who else might come, really.. but hooray Tatatee a.k.a. Minli is gonna come with 4 other friends.. Haha I'm finally gonna meet you! :)
Ash Wednesday tomorrow (later).. I hope that Lent will make me more prayerful and more in touch with my spirit. And nope, I'm not gonna breakdown anytime soon. Jesus help me please.
And oh yeah I love NUS Choir. Good night!
_____
Hey hello there everyone,
Sorry I have to plug this.. but it's gonna be fun!
* * * * * *
Varsity Voices 2006: An Evening of Flower Songs
by the NUS Choir
The choir will showcase flower songs from the Renaissance to the contemporary period in their repertoire, including award-winning pieces performed at the second Voyage of Songs International Choral Competition in December 2005.
Saturday, 4th March 2006, 7:30 PM
University Cultural Centre Hall, NUS
Tickets at $12
For ticket enquiries, please contact
Li Yi (91121256)
Iris (98355665)
http://www.nuschoir.org
* * * * * *
And the repertoire isn't exactly flower flower songs as one would tend to imagine. We'll have some Baroque pieces, Missa Brevis, award-winning pieces in Advanced Open Mixed and Folklore categories from our competition in Malaysia in December 2005, Japanese songs, and some contemporary English tunes including Stevie Wonder and Billy Joel songs and a Beatles medley.
Sounds good right? Haha, you can contact me at 90745231 or at joseph@nus.edu.sg for tickets. Get them early so I can chope whatever good seats left.
Thanks!
Warm regards
Joseph
P.S. Here's the repertoire:
Baroque Pieces
Been emailing some of my yahoogroups the message below regarding the NUS Choir Concert on Saturday. I haven't memorized the songs yet! Talk about stress man! But then, haha what's new? Anyway, I'm plugging the concert here on my blog as well, as hmm.. maybe Katlyn might chance upon my blog soon and be interested? And I dunno who else might come, really.. but hooray Tatatee a.k.a. Minli is gonna come with 4 other friends.. Haha I'm finally gonna meet you! :)
Ash Wednesday tomorrow (later).. I hope that Lent will make me more prayerful and more in touch with my spirit. And nope, I'm not gonna breakdown anytime soon. Jesus help me please.
And oh yeah I love NUS Choir. Good night!
_____
Hey hello there everyone,
Sorry I have to plug this.. but it's gonna be fun!
* * * * * *
Varsity Voices 2006: An Evening of Flower Songs
by the NUS Choir
The choir will showcase flower songs from the Renaissance to the contemporary period in their repertoire, including award-winning pieces performed at the second Voyage of Songs International Choral Competition in December 2005.
Saturday, 4th March 2006, 7:30 PM
University Cultural Centre Hall, NUS
Tickets at $12
For ticket enquiries, please contact
Li Yi (91121256)
Iris (98355665)
http://www.nuschoir.org
* * * * * *
And the repertoire isn't exactly flower flower songs as one would tend to imagine. We'll have some Baroque pieces, Missa Brevis, award-winning pieces in Advanced Open Mixed and Folklore categories from our competition in Malaysia in December 2005, Japanese songs, and some contemporary English tunes including Stevie Wonder and Billy Joel songs and a Beatles medley.
Sounds good right? Haha, you can contact me at 90745231 or at joseph@nus.edu.sg for tickets. Get them early so I can chope whatever good seats left.
Thanks!
Warm regards
Joseph
P.S. Here's the repertoire:
Baroque Pieces
- Blessing, Glory and Wisdom (JS Bach)
Salve Regina (Antonio Lotti)
Ascendo ad Patrem meum (Jacob Handl)
- Kyrie
Gloria
Sanctus
Agnus Dei
- Sweet Honey-Sucking Bees (John Wilbye)
With a Lily in Your Hand (Eric Whitacre)
Do-kin-do-kin (Akira Miyoshi)
- Wayang Kulit Medley (Traditional)
Dong Dong Kui (Traditional)
- Sakura (Traditional, arr Toshinato Sato)
Tinsagu No Hana (Traditional, arr Jin Okamoto)
Funauta (Hideki Chihara)
- Love's in Need of Love Today (Stevie Wonder)
Lullabye (Billy Joel)
Roads (Steve Dobrogosz)
Beatles Medley (arr Ed Lojeski)
Heaven help us all
Heaven help us all
The title's this inspirational gospel tune I got from study buddy Aaron. Basically it's an upbeat song by Ray Charles and Gladys Knight about, well, heaven helping everybody, from the boy who never had a home and the girl who walks the street alone, to the boy who won't reach twenty-one and the people with their backs against the wall.
God I am absolutely overwhelmed with things to do. And it's miserable, really. Lemme see, so I have to do a script cum cue sheet for the Varsity Voices Concert, memorize all the songs for the same, write a draft of my essay for my film module by Tuesday, study for three midterm tests soon after VV06: financial accounting, calculus, and regression analysis (must study harder especially since I got lousy results for my first few tests), write an article for the Ridge since April's the last issue, and yeah, I don't even want to think about what else.
I've been mugging intensively the past days, and althought it seems I've been exerting quite a lot of effort, the truth is I'm not covering enough ground. I've only studied for two of my six modules, although from the look in my face and the tiredness in my eyes I should've covered all six.
Pressure from Choir is pumped up now as well, especially with the concert just a week away. I feel particularly sucky today because some of us basses weren't quite able to live up to our student conductor Weiwei's expectations especially on the Shah Alam song Dokin-dokin. It sucks too, personally, that I am not able to memorize the songs yet. Especially the other Japanese songs where I am admittedly quite blur. And oh yeah, the Missa Brevis too.
Today after a long day at Siglap South CC for our third to the last practice for VV06, I went to NTU with Kirsten, Cassy and Mike for the Filipino party that was for the first time held at NTU, as it is traditionally held at NUS. I shall not go on and turn didactic now and attempt to describe how people should behave in parties, but let me just say that I think that the organizers and those in the larger clique could have made exerted a little more effort to be more inclusive. It was fun as the night progressed, nonetheless, and the food was good. Special mention goes to the yummy chicken adobo that is Ferron's pride, and the beef steak prepared by the guys from SMU. People were complimenting my shirt too, that Ferron and Karen got for me from Indonesia. Hehe it's a nice shirt and I like it, really -- I guess I must apologize to Ferron a bit for always mentioning that the shirt is too small for me (it is quite small actually), but instead appreciate the shirt more perhaps. :)
Anyway, my current depressant now, the latest in a series of unfortunate events, is the fact that I lost my wallet. I only noticed when during the group photo-taking after the dinner at NTU. It sucks, really, and I'm positively feeling miserable right about now. To the good soul who chanced upon it, please please return it. The $20 or 30 bucks I have there is not much anyway, but I'm just stressed about my matriculation card, EZ link card, cashcard, atm and debit and credit cards. Please don't use my debit and credit cards too, because that would sink me to lower depths.
Hmm.. sometimes I think I take things too seriously, and would sometimes wish I had a more cheerful approach to all these things. I'd like to think I was once a cheerful person, and many times I still am (or so I think), but I dunno, I guess I've become hardened and cynical.
A few more special mentions. To Karen, hey I miss you already let's hang out sometime and drown ourselves in each other's woes. Jasper, where on earth have you gone.. I haven't heard from you in the longest time and I miss you too you bastard. Jacques, hey cheer up okay and study well so you could get the SG scholarship! It's gonna be fun to have you around. To Kai, hey hey I heard about your swimming thing and I'm so happy for you. God bless you in your exams and don't worry too much about next sem k? I'll call you sometime. :)
I've been thinking too about giving up some of my activities next semester because I'm pretty sure 7 modules will drive me insane. I haven't decided what I'm going to drop, but I've come to conclude that it most likely won't be NUS Choir. :)
OK, it's a new day now, must finish the cue sheet and get myself some sleep.
The title's this inspirational gospel tune I got from study buddy Aaron. Basically it's an upbeat song by Ray Charles and Gladys Knight about, well, heaven helping everybody, from the boy who never had a home and the girl who walks the street alone, to the boy who won't reach twenty-one and the people with their backs against the wall.
God I am absolutely overwhelmed with things to do. And it's miserable, really. Lemme see, so I have to do a script cum cue sheet for the Varsity Voices Concert, memorize all the songs for the same, write a draft of my essay for my film module by Tuesday, study for three midterm tests soon after VV06: financial accounting, calculus, and regression analysis (must study harder especially since I got lousy results for my first few tests), write an article for the Ridge since April's the last issue, and yeah, I don't even want to think about what else.
I've been mugging intensively the past days, and althought it seems I've been exerting quite a lot of effort, the truth is I'm not covering enough ground. I've only studied for two of my six modules, although from the look in my face and the tiredness in my eyes I should've covered all six.
Pressure from Choir is pumped up now as well, especially with the concert just a week away. I feel particularly sucky today because some of us basses weren't quite able to live up to our student conductor Weiwei's expectations especially on the Shah Alam song Dokin-dokin. It sucks too, personally, that I am not able to memorize the songs yet. Especially the other Japanese songs where I am admittedly quite blur. And oh yeah, the Missa Brevis too.
Today after a long day at Siglap South CC for our third to the last practice for VV06, I went to NTU with Kirsten, Cassy and Mike for the Filipino party that was for the first time held at NTU, as it is traditionally held at NUS. I shall not go on and turn didactic now and attempt to describe how people should behave in parties, but let me just say that I think that the organizers and those in the larger clique could have made exerted a little more effort to be more inclusive. It was fun as the night progressed, nonetheless, and the food was good. Special mention goes to the yummy chicken adobo that is Ferron's pride, and the beef steak prepared by the guys from SMU. People were complimenting my shirt too, that Ferron and Karen got for me from Indonesia. Hehe it's a nice shirt and I like it, really -- I guess I must apologize to Ferron a bit for always mentioning that the shirt is too small for me (it is quite small actually), but instead appreciate the shirt more perhaps. :)
Anyway, my current depressant now, the latest in a series of unfortunate events, is the fact that I lost my wallet. I only noticed when during the group photo-taking after the dinner at NTU. It sucks, really, and I'm positively feeling miserable right about now. To the good soul who chanced upon it, please please return it. The $20 or 30 bucks I have there is not much anyway, but I'm just stressed about my matriculation card, EZ link card, cashcard, atm and debit and credit cards. Please don't use my debit and credit cards too, because that would sink me to lower depths.
Hmm.. sometimes I think I take things too seriously, and would sometimes wish I had a more cheerful approach to all these things. I'd like to think I was once a cheerful person, and many times I still am (or so I think), but I dunno, I guess I've become hardened and cynical.
A few more special mentions. To Karen, hey I miss you already let's hang out sometime and drown ourselves in each other's woes. Jasper, where on earth have you gone.. I haven't heard from you in the longest time and I miss you too you bastard. Jacques, hey cheer up okay and study well so you could get the SG scholarship! It's gonna be fun to have you around. To Kai, hey hey I heard about your swimming thing and I'm so happy for you. God bless you in your exams and don't worry too much about next sem k? I'll call you sometime. :)
I've been thinking too about giving up some of my activities next semester because I'm pretty sure 7 modules will drive me insane. I haven't decided what I'm going to drop, but I've come to conclude that it most likely won't be NUS Choir. :)
OK, it's a new day now, must finish the cue sheet and get myself some sleep.
Snap
Snap
I've always known that, with the miscellaneous activities I've immersed myself in, sooner or later, I'll snap. Apparently, without realizing it, I may already have. Or, perhaps more accurately, maybe this snapping process isn't as instantaneous after all, and I've been continually "snapping" in slow-mo for a long time now.
Don't get me wrong, I'm loving what I'm doing. I'm mighty proud of KR Choir and NUS Choir, which I am both happy to be part of. It's my decision to take 6 modules this semester, and that ambitious double-minor (in Business and English Studies) masterplan was of course my own doing. I guess I have nobody else to blame for not keeping up with my lectures and tutorials, and I am fully accountable for picking up what I missed this midterm break. And of course, there are the little "messes" here and there, starting off with the current state of my room, which I suspect is beginning to affect me subconsciously, or at least, maybe hindering me from whatever relaxation I'm supposed to achieve (frankly I've forgotten how it is to relax.. makes me wanna go home and sleep all day). And I dunno, I think the monsters in my head just won't hush themselves up, and so it's been a pain trying to bear with them.
* * *
It was Amplitude last night, by the way. It's this showcase of hall choirs and a cappella groups in NUS. I performed with Kent Ridge Choir, and later, with NUS Choir (although technically Amplitude was for halls of residences, it's been some tradition to let NUS Choir sing as well). I thought we did fairly well, and I'd like to think I enjoyed myself. What I did enjoy too, is the company. I've always been vocal how I love the NUS Choir folks, but yep, same goes with the KR choirmates. I tend to be closer to NUS Choir, I guess, but maybe only because I spend more hours there (>6 hours a week) and we've had a number of scarier trials on a larger scale we've had to face together. But I love my KR choir too of course.
Much as I want to comment about how we sang in both choirs, I guess I'd just keep it to myself as I don't really know how we sounded. The UCC Theatre environment sucked the sound from us as we were singing (btw, we couldn't see the audience too), so I don't really know. Bottom line is I enjoyed myself with both choirs, and I am tremendously pleased and thankful to those who came down to support me (OK, even if you didn't really come to support me, thanks for coming down to watch. Special thanks to the Pinoy community of course.
I saw my old friend Zhou Yang after the show too, and yep, I'm reminded of all the many old friends I've always appreciated, even if it sucks that we don't get to have much contact of late. I treasure my friends, even if it doesn't show sometimes.
After the show, the KR Choir and Aca groups sang our KR Goodnight song loudly in the lobby. That was some 40 people crowding the UCC lobby man. Sometimes I'm mighty proud to be in KR, and I'm gonna miss it when I eventually leave.
I went off with the NUS Choir bunch for supper, and since Fong Seng was presumably full, and when we dropped by this pub called Blooie's there wasn't any more food but only drinks, we decided to go to Holland Village. It was me, Iris, Huai Zhi, Kurien, Aaron, Visayon, Hui Yin, Adyll, this new girl Mianzi. KK and Michelle went back to Raffles and Winnie went off for home earlier, as well as ex-NUS Choir basso Weizheng. I'm beginning to appreciate suppers more now actually, and the food at the Holland V hawker center is yummy yummy, I like. The company was even better. Arrived back at KR around 2:30AM and I just sank into the bed.
* * *
Monday, 20th February was an interesting day. "Interesting" is by far the safest smart word I know ("nice" and "good" are safe words too, but putting them in your English essay won't do you any good).
Mugged at the Central Forum from late morning till afternoon with so little progress it's virtually negligible (cause for self-annoyance and mild self-bashing), adn went for voice class and later choir practice. Choir practice was heavy today, as we were split into 3 small choirs and the section leaders or SLs and the student conductors gave their critique. Interesting, I must say. Nelson also came down and we fixed Missa Brevis, and sang through the Beatles medley (I love it.. feel-good).
In any case, I dunno what got into me later on and I was feeling tired and stressed and semi-pissed for whatever reason (partly due to those people who did not turn up last week and thus did not get their Beatles scores, and were now pouncing on me asking for their copies, when in fact I had told them to SMS me or gimme a private message me on the choir forum or email me if they lack any score, because it's crazy to bring all the scores around all the time).
* * *
So when, during announcement time and big boss KK was done with a good chunk of announcements and I raised my hand to speak, and speak I did, I guess I suddenly snapped. The stimulus was something that even Kirsten and the other Filipino exchange girls last sem told me. People always laugh when I begin to talk. There's this running joke about me and how my r's are defined and sounded, as when I spoke to the choir during the first few rehearsals about "four scores". See in Singapore, they don't pronounce the r's much, so a car is /kah/ and scores is /skos/ and seniors is /seenyas/, something like that. The four-scores thingy has been going around tickling everyone for quite some time, coupled with the fact that I speak at lightning speed. Treasurer Li Yi jokingly mentioned sometime in front of the choir that I should speak more slowly because only 70% of what I say can be understood (or was it 70% cannot be understood?), and at that time even I found it amusing and funny.
But today, what with the stress and all, I absolutely nothing funny at my mere mention of "Can I say something?" While I would usually smile or put a dumb look and just let it pass, today I just held silent till they wiped off those smirks. Respect, people, respect. It just hit me that they've alwasy been laughing at me, and for some reason, they don't take me seriously. Now this is not gonna be a weepy second to the last paragraph, but I love these guys so much and I take extra effort to fix up their scores well and make sure they're nicely stapled and that everyone gets good copies, and this is how I'm treated. I was walking with Huai Zhi on the way back to hall, and he said it's okay, it's quite cute actually, and they didn't mean to laugh laugh at me. KK also told me through SMS that in his opinion, it may not be a matter of respect, but it's just some quirk I have that makes me funny and endearing I guess. I dunno, I'm just tired of being constantly associated with an unintentional joke.
But I'm okay now, as predicted (then again, "okay" is another very safe word so yeah..). There are still many things troubling my heart (ooh that sounded so drippingly sappy), but I guess I'll just wake up later on and hope I can well, just focus and accomplish the more important things to do, like study Calculus and Actuarial Stats and Accounting and Regression Analysis. Sometimes I think a personality change is in order, but nah, that would just flush away my real personality I guess. (OK, the preceding sentence seems a bit random but what the heck)
My life's a mess, but like everyone else, I keep on moving on anyway.
And oh yeah, I miss home, and everything and everyone associated with it.
I've always known that, with the miscellaneous activities I've immersed myself in, sooner or later, I'll snap. Apparently, without realizing it, I may already have. Or, perhaps more accurately, maybe this snapping process isn't as instantaneous after all, and I've been continually "snapping" in slow-mo for a long time now.
Don't get me wrong, I'm loving what I'm doing. I'm mighty proud of KR Choir and NUS Choir, which I am both happy to be part of. It's my decision to take 6 modules this semester, and that ambitious double-minor (in Business and English Studies) masterplan was of course my own doing. I guess I have nobody else to blame for not keeping up with my lectures and tutorials, and I am fully accountable for picking up what I missed this midterm break. And of course, there are the little "messes" here and there, starting off with the current state of my room, which I suspect is beginning to affect me subconsciously, or at least, maybe hindering me from whatever relaxation I'm supposed to achieve (frankly I've forgotten how it is to relax.. makes me wanna go home and sleep all day). And I dunno, I think the monsters in my head just won't hush themselves up, and so it's been a pain trying to bear with them.
* * *
It was Amplitude last night, by the way. It's this showcase of hall choirs and a cappella groups in NUS. I performed with Kent Ridge Choir, and later, with NUS Choir (although technically Amplitude was for halls of residences, it's been some tradition to let NUS Choir sing as well). I thought we did fairly well, and I'd like to think I enjoyed myself. What I did enjoy too, is the company. I've always been vocal how I love the NUS Choir folks, but yep, same goes with the KR choirmates. I tend to be closer to NUS Choir, I guess, but maybe only because I spend more hours there (>6 hours a week) and we've had a number of scarier trials on a larger scale we've had to face together. But I love my KR choir too of course.
Much as I want to comment about how we sang in both choirs, I guess I'd just keep it to myself as I don't really know how we sounded. The UCC Theatre environment sucked the sound from us as we were singing (btw, we couldn't see the audience too), so I don't really know. Bottom line is I enjoyed myself with both choirs, and I am tremendously pleased and thankful to those who came down to support me (OK, even if you didn't really come to support me, thanks for coming down to watch. Special thanks to the Pinoy community of course.
I saw my old friend Zhou Yang after the show too, and yep, I'm reminded of all the many old friends I've always appreciated, even if it sucks that we don't get to have much contact of late. I treasure my friends, even if it doesn't show sometimes.
After the show, the KR Choir and Aca groups sang our KR Goodnight song loudly in the lobby. That was some 40 people crowding the UCC lobby man. Sometimes I'm mighty proud to be in KR, and I'm gonna miss it when I eventually leave.
I went off with the NUS Choir bunch for supper, and since Fong Seng was presumably full, and when we dropped by this pub called Blooie's there wasn't any more food but only drinks, we decided to go to Holland Village. It was me, Iris, Huai Zhi, Kurien, Aaron, Visayon, Hui Yin, Adyll, this new girl Mianzi. KK and Michelle went back to Raffles and Winnie went off for home earlier, as well as ex-NUS Choir basso Weizheng. I'm beginning to appreciate suppers more now actually, and the food at the Holland V hawker center is yummy yummy, I like. The company was even better. Arrived back at KR around 2:30AM and I just sank into the bed.
* * *
Monday, 20th February was an interesting day. "Interesting" is by far the safest smart word I know ("nice" and "good" are safe words too, but putting them in your English essay won't do you any good).
Mugged at the Central Forum from late morning till afternoon with so little progress it's virtually negligible (cause for self-annoyance and mild self-bashing), adn went for voice class and later choir practice. Choir practice was heavy today, as we were split into 3 small choirs and the section leaders or SLs and the student conductors gave their critique. Interesting, I must say. Nelson also came down and we fixed Missa Brevis, and sang through the Beatles medley (I love it.. feel-good).
In any case, I dunno what got into me later on and I was feeling tired and stressed and semi-pissed for whatever reason (partly due to those people who did not turn up last week and thus did not get their Beatles scores, and were now pouncing on me asking for their copies, when in fact I had told them to SMS me or gimme a private message me on the choir forum or email me if they lack any score, because it's crazy to bring all the scores around all the time).
* * *
So when, during announcement time and big boss KK was done with a good chunk of announcements and I raised my hand to speak, and speak I did, I guess I suddenly snapped. The stimulus was something that even Kirsten and the other Filipino exchange girls last sem told me. People always laugh when I begin to talk. There's this running joke about me and how my r's are defined and sounded, as when I spoke to the choir during the first few rehearsals about "four scores". See in Singapore, they don't pronounce the r's much, so a car is /kah/ and scores is /skos/ and seniors is /seenyas/, something like that. The four-scores thingy has been going around tickling everyone for quite some time, coupled with the fact that I speak at lightning speed. Treasurer Li Yi jokingly mentioned sometime in front of the choir that I should speak more slowly because only 70% of what I say can be understood (or was it 70% cannot be understood?), and at that time even I found it amusing and funny.
But today, what with the stress and all, I absolutely nothing funny at my mere mention of "Can I say something?" While I would usually smile or put a dumb look and just let it pass, today I just held silent till they wiped off those smirks. Respect, people, respect. It just hit me that they've alwasy been laughing at me, and for some reason, they don't take me seriously. Now this is not gonna be a weepy second to the last paragraph, but I love these guys so much and I take extra effort to fix up their scores well and make sure they're nicely stapled and that everyone gets good copies, and this is how I'm treated. I was walking with Huai Zhi on the way back to hall, and he said it's okay, it's quite cute actually, and they didn't mean to laugh laugh at me. KK also told me through SMS that in his opinion, it may not be a matter of respect, but it's just some quirk I have that makes me funny and endearing I guess. I dunno, I'm just tired of being constantly associated with an unintentional joke.
But I'm okay now, as predicted (then again, "okay" is another very safe word so yeah..). There are still many things troubling my heart (ooh that sounded so drippingly sappy), but I guess I'll just wake up later on and hope I can well, just focus and accomplish the more important things to do, like study Calculus and Actuarial Stats and Accounting and Regression Analysis. Sometimes I think a personality change is in order, but nah, that would just flush away my real personality I guess. (OK, the preceding sentence seems a bit random but what the heck)
My life's a mess, but like everyone else, I keep on moving on anyway.
And oh yeah, I miss home, and everything and everyone associated with it.
Whew
Whew
Now I can breathe again. Thank God for giving me the transcription job, but I'm feeling a wee bit more thankful now that it's over.
Basically, the job entailed I listen to hours and hours of speeches in two workshops by the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), one on access to justice, and another on environment and sustainable development. My initial reaction was that the job was peanuts. Come on, I'm the one who watches 40-minute TV shows on my PC like Desperate Housewives and The OC for sometimes as long as an hour and a half, because of my habit of rewinding and rewinding the file until I get the FULL dialogue. I derive a good deal of satisfaction out of it for some reason, but the downside is that it eats up a big chunk of time. Anyway, for someone who pays meticuloius attention to words being said in an event (it takes forever for me to watch a movie on DVD or VCD), this transcription job was easy money baby.
As it turned out, the transcription job ate into my mugging time, my free time, ate through my weekend, and crept into the wee hours of the morning. The speakers were from Asia and Europe, see, and it was good enough if they had prepared speeches, but by golly, when they went to the microphone to have a thorough discussion of the topics presented, I thought I could very well have been in the Tower of Babel. Accents from German, Cambodian, Chinese, Italian, American, and even Filipino greeted me as my fingers scrambled to catch up. Many times I had to play "sounds-like" to decipher what was said exactly, sometimes I had to Google to make sense of acronyms, and also when this bigshot UN guy Toepfer mentioned Nobel Peace Prize Laureate "Wangari Maathai", who introduced the Japanese concept of "mottainai" in her environmental projects.. seriously, it's not just listening to ordinary words man. It's the kind of intellectual lingo that involves research! Needless to say, the job drained the life out of me, and I had to ask for an extension too. (Thank God Ira of ASEF agreed :P )
Anyway, so what have I been missing? Haha, blogging I guess. Blogging about V-day, if that counts. Blogging about my birthday! Haha yes yes it's impossible for me to not blog it, so you can just TELL I was really busy. Busiest days of my life, seriously. I couldn't even rest a while to relax myself.
But of course the Version 2_0 post will come up soon. That's me finally venturing into the twentysomething world (technically it's still twenty-nothing but what the heck).
And oh yeah, because of my transcription job I had to give up writing an article for the March issue of the Ridge. I wanted to write, seriously, because it's already difficult enough to get published, what more in the final issue of the year, in April, where all the Outspoken desk writers will presumably turn in something (that's according to my desk editor Asraf).
Hmm.. but in other writing news, I went for this Straits Times focus group discussion at UCC. It was cool man, learned a lot from the VP of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), and got a lot of premium Dome goodies like muffins and tarts and good coffee (cheapskate) and a goodie bag which includes a cool Straits Times metal water bottle with a nice rubbery whatchamacallit case, and a commemorative coffee table book, 160 years of Straits Times, which is loaded with all these historical and cool pictures, yep among others.
And, still on writing news, my article for KR Hall Bulletin Board is up! It's the Anti-Valentine's Day issue, and mine's on page 7, I think. Haha. Check it out here. The Ridge is a different story of course, because for one, the editors are selective, and I found it pretty neat that they chose my article for the January issue after well, a long wait. Haha. There's no online version methinks, but maybe I'll post my article up here sometime.
And in music news, NUS Choir is singing a Beatles medley! Haha was I overjoyed when I learned we'll be singing the Beatles! Haha, never mind if we had too many songs already, I think this was needed to bring in more oomph to the repertoire. So yep yep, come come to Varsity Voices 2006, An Evening of Flower Songs, by the NUS Choir. It's on the 4th of March, 7:30 PM at the University Cultural Centre Hall.
Haha, can't you just tell I'm bursting with a lot of things to say? Haha. I'm beat, but that can't stop me from spurting away gibberish man. I'm just thinking of the $400 slave labour payment that will soon make its way to my bank account. Haha, finally a birthday gift to self. Ciao! Must get muggin'!
Now I can breathe again. Thank God for giving me the transcription job, but I'm feeling a wee bit more thankful now that it's over.
Basically, the job entailed I listen to hours and hours of speeches in two workshops by the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), one on access to justice, and another on environment and sustainable development. My initial reaction was that the job was peanuts. Come on, I'm the one who watches 40-minute TV shows on my PC like Desperate Housewives and The OC for sometimes as long as an hour and a half, because of my habit of rewinding and rewinding the file until I get the FULL dialogue. I derive a good deal of satisfaction out of it for some reason, but the downside is that it eats up a big chunk of time. Anyway, for someone who pays meticuloius attention to words being said in an event (it takes forever for me to watch a movie on DVD or VCD), this transcription job was easy money baby.
As it turned out, the transcription job ate into my mugging time, my free time, ate through my weekend, and crept into the wee hours of the morning. The speakers were from Asia and Europe, see, and it was good enough if they had prepared speeches, but by golly, when they went to the microphone to have a thorough discussion of the topics presented, I thought I could very well have been in the Tower of Babel. Accents from German, Cambodian, Chinese, Italian, American, and even Filipino greeted me as my fingers scrambled to catch up. Many times I had to play "sounds-like" to decipher what was said exactly, sometimes I had to Google to make sense of acronyms, and also when this bigshot UN guy Toepfer mentioned Nobel Peace Prize Laureate "Wangari Maathai", who introduced the Japanese concept of "mottainai" in her environmental projects.. seriously, it's not just listening to ordinary words man. It's the kind of intellectual lingo that involves research! Needless to say, the job drained the life out of me, and I had to ask for an extension too. (Thank God Ira of ASEF agreed :P )
Anyway, so what have I been missing? Haha, blogging I guess. Blogging about V-day, if that counts. Blogging about my birthday! Haha yes yes it's impossible for me to not blog it, so you can just TELL I was really busy. Busiest days of my life, seriously. I couldn't even rest a while to relax myself.
But of course the Version 2_0 post will come up soon. That's me finally venturing into the twentysomething world (technically it's still twenty-nothing but what the heck).
And oh yeah, because of my transcription job I had to give up writing an article for the March issue of the Ridge. I wanted to write, seriously, because it's already difficult enough to get published, what more in the final issue of the year, in April, where all the Outspoken desk writers will presumably turn in something (that's according to my desk editor Asraf).
Hmm.. but in other writing news, I went for this Straits Times focus group discussion at UCC. It was cool man, learned a lot from the VP of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), and got a lot of premium Dome goodies like muffins and tarts and good coffee (cheapskate) and a goodie bag which includes a cool Straits Times metal water bottle with a nice rubbery whatchamacallit case, and a commemorative coffee table book, 160 years of Straits Times, which is loaded with all these historical and cool pictures, yep among others.
And, still on writing news, my article for KR Hall Bulletin Board is up! It's the Anti-Valentine's Day issue, and mine's on page 7, I think. Haha. Check it out here. The Ridge is a different story of course, because for one, the editors are selective, and I found it pretty neat that they chose my article for the January issue after well, a long wait. Haha. There's no online version methinks, but maybe I'll post my article up here sometime.
And in music news, NUS Choir is singing a Beatles medley! Haha was I overjoyed when I learned we'll be singing the Beatles! Haha, never mind if we had too many songs already, I think this was needed to bring in more oomph to the repertoire. So yep yep, come come to Varsity Voices 2006, An Evening of Flower Songs, by the NUS Choir. It's on the 4th of March, 7:30 PM at the University Cultural Centre Hall.
Haha, can't you just tell I'm bursting with a lot of things to say? Haha. I'm beat, but that can't stop me from spurting away gibberish man. I'm just thinking of the $400 slave labour payment that will soon make its way to my bank account. Haha, finally a birthday gift to self. Ciao! Must get muggin'!
Version 1_9
Version 1_9
Haha. Here I am, wondering how on earth the past few days turned out to be the way they were. I certainly hadn't planned any of this, that's for sure. I did not plan the eyebags and the accompanying fatigue, I did not plan the sudden caffeine rush to wake myself during long and winding lectures, I did not plan on eating whatever strange thing it was that almost made me puke today.
I had good plans leading to this day, that I'm sure of. I wanted to do this and that, secret masterplans that will just have to be chucked away for the meantime.
I was looking at the mirror yesterday morning, in preparation for my 8AM Regression Analysis test, when I was suddenly reminded of what my high school friend Erine told me one day a few years back.
"You look awful, Joseph," she said one afternoon. Vain little Joseph was taken aback. This was high school, so you can imagine how it must've felt. "Really?" I said, still couldn't quite believe that she had the audacity so say something that blunt to my face. "Yeah."
I looked at her intently and saw that she had a look of sincere and utmost concern. That was the time of countless lab reports, articles to submit, lectures to catch up on, and quizzes and tests to endure. Maybe she was right.
I look at myself in the mirror now and well, with the tremendous amount of work I've set upon myself, how can I not look awful? But nah, I just shrug it off.
I'm still not regretting any of my decisions of late. I'm finally earning my first pay of sorts, for doing this transcription job that I'm mighty proud. I'm feeling good about myself, really. I feel surrounded by love of friends and family. Never mind the occasional bumps; it takes precious little to make me happy anyway, awful-looking or not.
Version 2_0 is coming up very soon. Bring it on, baby.
Haha. Here I am, wondering how on earth the past few days turned out to be the way they were. I certainly hadn't planned any of this, that's for sure. I did not plan the eyebags and the accompanying fatigue, I did not plan the sudden caffeine rush to wake myself during long and winding lectures, I did not plan on eating whatever strange thing it was that almost made me puke today.
I had good plans leading to this day, that I'm sure of. I wanted to do this and that, secret masterplans that will just have to be chucked away for the meantime.
I was looking at the mirror yesterday morning, in preparation for my 8AM Regression Analysis test, when I was suddenly reminded of what my high school friend Erine told me one day a few years back.
"You look awful, Joseph," she said one afternoon. Vain little Joseph was taken aback. This was high school, so you can imagine how it must've felt. "Really?" I said, still couldn't quite believe that she had the audacity so say something that blunt to my face. "Yeah."
I looked at her intently and saw that she had a look of sincere and utmost concern. That was the time of countless lab reports, articles to submit, lectures to catch up on, and quizzes and tests to endure. Maybe she was right.
I look at myself in the mirror now and well, with the tremendous amount of work I've set upon myself, how can I not look awful? But nah, I just shrug it off.
I'm still not regretting any of my decisions of late. I'm finally earning my first pay of sorts, for doing this transcription job that I'm mighty proud. I'm feeling good about myself, really. I feel surrounded by love of friends and family. Never mind the occasional bumps; it takes precious little to make me happy anyway, awful-looking or not.
Version 2_0 is coming up very soon. Bring it on, baby.
Heavy days
Heavy days
Haha the title just popped off my head and just realized, haha I hope nobody relates it with that euphemism used in commercials about, um, monthly feminine care. Hehe.
Anyway, I am officially seriously exhausted. If I were a bank account, the balance is running way too low, and soon, if I don't get reloaded anytime soon, I might be closed and discarded.
I did not want to spend the past and next few days this way initially, but then the opportunity presented itself and, jobless-since-birth Joseph was blinded by the moolah, and tada, here he is, doing semi-slave labor. But the pay is good Jose, and that could be a terrific birthday gift to self on 8th March. *mischievous laughter*
Haha, I have to do *mischievous laughter* one more time just because. =P
Anyway, I suspect I have loosened some screws in the head, but that's all right, because I perfectly know why I'm acting strange. Partly due to the long hours I worked and will work staring at the PC, pushing different buttons, and typing like mad, partly due to the two articles I have to submit to my different editors, partly due to the essay I've long been cooking up in my head for secret purposes, partly due to missed dinner and virtually nobody's in hall while I'm working my ass off, partly due to fatigue carried on from last week, partly due to tense and/or intensive conversations with people through different media, and in large part due to the Regression Analysis killer quiz on Monday morning.
Haha I just hope I even wake up in time on Monday.
I'll live. Jesus give me strength. And thanks to my uppers, you know who or what you are. Haha whatever that meant.
4:15 and it's time to sleep! And oh yeah, happy birthday to my favorite roomie-who-never-was, Pacey! He's gone for this year-long overseas program in Bio Valley in Philadelphia, but he's spending today in New York! Haha take care you!
Haha the title just popped off my head and just realized, haha I hope nobody relates it with that euphemism used in commercials about, um, monthly feminine care. Hehe.
Anyway, I am officially seriously exhausted. If I were a bank account, the balance is running way too low, and soon, if I don't get reloaded anytime soon, I might be closed and discarded.
I did not want to spend the past and next few days this way initially, but then the opportunity presented itself and, jobless-since-birth Joseph was blinded by the moolah, and tada, here he is, doing semi-slave labor. But the pay is good Jose, and that could be a terrific birthday gift to self on 8th March. *mischievous laughter*
Haha, I have to do *mischievous laughter* one more time just because. =P
Anyway, I suspect I have loosened some screws in the head, but that's all right, because I perfectly know why I'm acting strange. Partly due to the long hours I worked and will work staring at the PC, pushing different buttons, and typing like mad, partly due to the two articles I have to submit to my different editors, partly due to the essay I've long been cooking up in my head for secret purposes, partly due to missed dinner and virtually nobody's in hall while I'm working my ass off, partly due to fatigue carried on from last week, partly due to tense and/or intensive conversations with people through different media, and in large part due to the Regression Analysis killer quiz on Monday morning.
Haha I just hope I even wake up in time on Monday.
I'll live. Jesus give me strength. And thanks to my uppers, you know who or what you are. Haha whatever that meant.
4:15 and it's time to sleep! And oh yeah, happy birthday to my favorite roomie-who-never-was, Pacey! He's gone for this year-long overseas program in Bio Valley in Philadelphia, but he's spending today in New York! Haha take care you!
Time's a-wasting
Time's a-wasting
clock's a-ticking
work's a-piling (up)
head's a-spinning
Joseph's a-(sports)writing,
a-triple-article-writing,
a-tutorial-doing,
a-singing
a-reading
a-brainstorming
and still,
a-blogging.
Who would've thought the Road to Twenty would be as bumpy as this?
But nope, Joseph's not a-complaining one bit.
clock's a-ticking
work's a-piling (up)
head's a-spinning
Joseph's a-(sports)writing,
a-triple-article-writing,
a-tutorial-doing,
a-singing
a-reading
a-brainstorming
and still,
a-blogging.
Who would've thought the Road to Twenty would be as bumpy as this?
But nope, Joseph's not a-complaining one bit.
