let's go to the middle where time stands still

gone with the wind

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:59:05 GMT

if you know where to find me, you will.
but i'll still be back here sometimes. maybe i'll come back when it's over (hahahahah private joke)

... and we mused over the night to remember

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:26:44 GMT

♥♥♥
many times i ask myself why did i sign up for alumni....
tonight i think i found the answer.

i really miss spending time with my juniors in band. suddenly seeing them all grown up, passing the batons to the next batch of kids makes me realise how quickly time pass by in a blink of an eye.

it's a whole different feeling to play a concert as an alumni.

i think the whole ac band experience is one that is hard to replicate. Although indeed, there were really tough times that brought me to tears, but it was through these tough times I grew stronger as a person. As much as I enjoy band and love music, I think the band journey has ended for me, perhaps with exception of playing in alumni bands.

my pseudo euphonium section mates for alumni.
was a pleasure.. esp laughing at their manner of handling the euphonium (and dripping salivas) :P
as well as pressure - since they manage to get hold of the euphonium playing so quickly!

stupid jonwong who kept disturbing about my pimple.... grr

ryann chia who ALWAYS calls me that nickname (given by him) which i loathe -_-

alumni girls~

perhaps the last photo i'd take in VCH before its renovation.

... and i just realised i didnt take any photo with a EUPHONIUM instrument -_-

a quickie

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:53:45 GMT

Sleepover at Soomin's place:

too many other unglamourous shots.................. which are on facebook for the public's eye. fml.

i bought myself a nice black blazer today. for about $23 bucks. Usual price was 79.90. i love sales :) The non-crowded ones i mean. Sam and I came across the mango sales today (which we didnt know about), went in and felt irritated by the crowd so we left without seeing much.

i saw Okuribito's DVD today :( $22. i didnt buy but im so tempted to.......

About a week more to the much awaited payday x)

see see look look

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 15:55:41 GMT

oh i forgot to add -

1. i saw fann wong and christopher lee while working on tuesday

2. i saw zoe tay, zoe tay's husband, pan ling ling and huang shi nan and both couple's kids today during work

3. jazreel, i saw you perform at Lot One on thursday evening.... HAHA. but i didnt say hi cus i was passing by.

ok good nightttttttttt

BLAH!

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 18:26:18 GMT

i'm into my 20th hour of not sleeping and am high on caffine now (2 cups of coffee at night ftw) so please pardon any uncomprehensible blogging.

ok so here are the photos (finally)

cant believe ive known most of these people for more than 10 years already and we're still in close contact..

today i woke up at an unearthly hour of 6.30am (i havent gotten up so early for ages cus i havent been doing morning shift at work). went for alumni band practice.. reached at like 8.45am. The practice ended at 11.30am so I had a lot of time to spare before work. we ate at holland village and then went off separate ways. I travelled all the way from buona vista to the airport on the mrt...gee. Was very early for work. haha. I had two cups of coffee (one free from spinelli's one paid from coffeebean HAHA) in order to stay awake throughout my work.

and freak, today was quite a bad day for me. kind of sprained my neck during my shower in the morning. still hurts right now. a lot of other unfortunate events happened too.

so yeah yesterday i went for AC's band tune in. joined my section for their section lunch, got to know some of the euphonium sec4s that came. stayed till they ended band before i left home for dinner and crashed straight after (freaking tireddd)

The day before yesterday i went out to bugis with my pri sch friend, samantha (whom ive known for like, 11 years. thats really long). supposed to shop a little but i ended up buying food from Muji hahaha. we had some fascination over Muji's shoes which looked so good and were quite cheap but didnt come in our sizes (awww). bought stuff for people instead of myself hahaha gosh.

The next few days gonna be hell for me. non stop work for the next 4 days, making it a 5 day work in a row. For retail 5 days is seriously no joke.......... i almost died when i worked 3 consecutive days. I really salute my full-time colleagues. I hope i dont fall ill, lest it lowers my immunity system against the h1n1 (haha working in the airport makes me a bit worried about h1n1 now i guess? esp since i am in close contact with people both departures n arrivals).

After 5 days of non-stop working, it'll be stay over at soomin's house from thurs to fri, then ac band alumni prac on fri night, working on saturday morning, japanese class on sunday morning, working on sunday night.... which means my rest only comes on monday................ i hope i can survive.

wow this is probably one of the few rare wordy entries in such a long time.

it's 12.47pm & im stuck at home

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 04:58:03 GMT

my nose is an irritant and i almost lost my voice. now, on medication & sucking my lozenges, i will blog more on my europe trip.

Salzburg was my 2nd fave place in this entire trip. maybe 'cus i'm more suited for this kind of .. more city-ish life.
we went to swarovski crystal world & also went on a sound of music tour. i didn't really like the tour guide. in fact, throughout all our visits, i think i preferred the innsbruck guy the most.. the others are quite irritating.

when i saw this man in salzburg against this setting, i knew i had to take a photo of him.

i managed to shop at H&M at in salzburg, despite the only 1hr shopping time. yes our shopping time was consistently cut off.. oh well, it's a school tour afterall :/

i actually took a lot more other photos in salzburg but when i looked at them i find them too ugly to be posted.. shall keep them for my own eye :D there'll be more photos when i talk about vienna!

Day #4, 5, 6

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 14:15:10 GMT

2 random facts about Europe:
- most of their hotels do not have aircon. the 6 hotels i went to did not have.
- Their toilets are not automated but they are generally clean, even those random toilets on the streets. And i didnt see any cleaners. something Singaporeans should be really ashamed of.

------

10july:
No photos but basically we just practised for the competition. It was the first time i lost my handphone and i got really paranoid. But i found the phone the very next day :)

11july:
The very day the band got 93.5 points. Gold. Top Band.
& not forgetting, the day where the guys carried Dr Lee in the air after annoucement of the results. haha.

When we got back (around 1am), we surprised Dwayne with his spongebob soft toy we bought for his birthday.

12July: Vaduz & Innsbruck.

We left Swiss for Austria.

(Vaduz)

(a catholic church of innsbruck)

sorry for the lack of photos but i didnt think my other photos taken on those days are worthy of posting.
Stay tune for the Salzburg and Vienna photos! :)

Continuation of the europe journey

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 09:25:24 GMT

there's bound to be a lot to miss about Europe.

Be it laughing at the pornographic channels (HAHA the crossword puzzle lady) that appear after 12am, section eating/drinking coke in edwin&dwayne's room, the scenic buildings there, or even the shopping there (H&M!!!), arguing with jon wong on the bus, teasing/disturbing sw, recognising that 'damen' means female in german after going to the damen toilet for so many times... i guess all of these have become only a memory. A memory that is of worth to keep for many years to come. Despite some unhappiness in the midst of the trip, i enjoyed the tour but i wished there were more interaction between bus A and bus B people. I really missed my friends in bus A!! :(

& can you believe it, i wasn't homesick at all! maybe just miss my family & friends etc but i didnt miss Singapore!

9July - Lucerne & Interlaken, Switzerland:

- Beautiful sights
- Followed edwin from store to store for his swiss army knife -.-"
- delicious chocolates
- wished i knew there was a h&m there :( i didnt know till i left!
- Watched the Texas Band from USA in interlaken. They were pretty awesome.
- i love the Swiss Chocolate Chalet chocolate shop in interlaken!! their homemade chocolates are the best! i just ate one a moment ago. yummm :) the guy was so nice to entertain us even when he was about to close the shop. He let us try the hazelnut homemade chocolate and its really delicious... im almost finishing my box already (aww ;x)

our Top Model Stuart (who demanded a photo) with his replica Kenneth Neo.

One of my fave chocolate shops.. their bailey's and champagne choco damn nice!

see the mountains in the background

flutes

i really liked this. some random girl feeding the swan.

some lady feeding the duck

Ryann and Siwei on the famous bridge in lucerne

Ryann: dinner in interlaken

the clarinets and dr lee at our competition area.

more photos on facebook but they arent of the highest quality. if u want the photos u can contact me personally and i'll send them to u :)
Part I at : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=28448&l=c9352&id=766204982
Part II at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=28476&l=f871d&id=766204982

ACJC band Europe Trip 2008

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:45:42 GMT

ACJC Band 93.5%, Gold.
Top Band.

Before i began with details of the trip, let me pen down the experience of the competition day (day 5) before i forget all about them. It was absolutely an awesome experience on the day of the competition and certainly is something that would remain in my memories even in years from today.

Before the competition i felt the jitters. So did some others. The hall was awesome but the accoustic was not really great since it was meant for the theatre. I was quite afraid because in switzerland, we somehow required more stamina to sustain same notes as compared to Singapore. It was so easy to overblow or to mispitch due to the high altitude area. Also, my instrument valves were giving me the same usual problem again, as always on the crucial competition/concert days.

So straight after soundcheck, was the judging moment. We played Symphonic Metamorphosis. It felt okay to me from where i sat on stage, but after the piece Feroz turned to me and said, "Not bad eh?". It was till later when i hear Siwei's recording of our playing.. we really sounded awesome! Armenian dance was next. Then Charming Asia. Like a blur, everything was over. We had standing ovation from the spanish (i think?) band. Everyone was clapping furiously for us.

The results moment. Bronze was announced. It wasn't us. I was secretly glad because that means we achieved our goal already. Silver was announced. It was not us too. The anxiety in me rose. Gold was awarded to the german band (91%). And they were giving in accordance to the level of achievement. When they announced our band had 93% we all screamed. Really screamed. With tears of joy, and we hugged each other, loss for words. It was like a dream come true. A dream we didnt dare to reach for initially. A kind of hope that we dare not venture. We got more than what we wished for!

The results weren't the best. What's really awesome is the atmosphere of the prize giving ceremony. The other bands cheered even though they got silver or even bronze. Genuinely cheered. The other 3 bands even cheered for us when they announced for our results. They even congratulate us happily when we went to pack our stuff. The sportmanship there was simply so amazing. It's something we can't attain in Singapore... because in Singapore somehow if people get something better than the other, there's bound to be jealousy and envy. And this jealousy/envy was not at all evident in Swiss. They even lined themselves along the passage way for us to walk through and get congratulated. It was really a wonderful experience that Singapore competitions cannot render.

Photos from day 1:
Transiting to Istanbul:

at Zurich airport

at jungfrau

(look at how quiet the streets are at night... most shops close by 5-7pm!)

Day1 in summary:
- Long bus rides
- been to Jungfraujoch, the highest point of Europe
- seeing snow for the first time (yes snow in summer on the top of the mountains)
- train ridessss
- Hotel Elite the 4 star hotel.. wasn't really elite afterall. haha.

END OF DAY 1!