« Sunday, April 30, 2006 »
of course i was being sarcastic. "just found time" actually means "just decided to slack". i am halfway through my geography essay which has become so irritating because i'm supposed to include PPECS and sheesh i can't find a cultural point for either agree or disagree. so right now it's stagnating and in a last-ditch attempt for ideas, i'm turning away from it and starting to blog (oh it's still in front of me but whatever!)
come to think of it, is there any reason why there are bad things in life? the things that you just hate so much, yet have (or may have) to face day after day? looking on the bright side of life...
if not for terrorists, we wouldn't have known peace.
if not for hate, we wouldn't have known love.
if not for evil, we wouldn't have known good.
if not for the ugly things in life, we wouldn't have known beauty.
if not for arrogance, we wouldn't have known humility.
if not for disability, we wouldn't have known our abilities.
if not for our weaknesses, we wouldn't have known our strengths.
so maybe i hate some things. some people. some places. some attitudes. but maybe they were there in my life for some reason or another. some reason i still don't know.
maybe.
okay enough of the reflecting, the reminiscing, or in more appropriate terms, the useless thoughts. back to the present! yay. choir concert is in exactly 11 days.
YES. EXACTLY 11 DAYS.
and on a totally irrelevant note, my birthday is in 17 days.
YES. EXACTLY 17 DAYS.
if you're feeling nice and if you think i've been a nice and good friend then please get me presents! i know it's rude to ask but you know, one just can't help! of course, if you're appalled by this behaviour, you can always choose not to give a present!
oh yes and if anyone is feeling particularly generous, i don't mind if you get me a quiksilver / ripcurl pencil case. to complement my billabong bag and roxy wallet! (oh i sound materialistic. well maybe i am materialistic)
back to choir concert! we spent most of yesterday doing choreo and i tell you, the starting and opening numbers are totally fantabulous! ms lim is a superb choreographer and even though the actions may not make sense at first, they're really cool and funky okay! (well what do you expect from modern dance? pointe and pirouettes?)
and naughty yinleng. how dare you watch us practise. if you watch the surpise won't be there when you come for bel canto! oops maybe i should thank you and jane for coming to support shzehui and i first. anyway i shall consider that as part of my birthday present! (bel canto is YES 6 DAYS BEFORE MY BIRTHDAY). and with that i will have to thank weiqing, jiayi, vanessa and shona for coming down too!
i'm totally high today. for no reason. NO NOT MOOD SWINGS.
mep exam on tuesday. i'll most likely play the 2nd movement of the yellow river concerto.
OH MAN I JUST LOVE THAT SONG>
composed; 10:42 PM :D
« Tuesday, April 18, 2006 »
that's all i'm going to say today! (:
composed; 6:36 PM :D
« Sunday, April 16, 2006 »
"take my hand and hold it tight...
ahh whatever that phrase just popped into my brain. :) the naughty me is currently multi-tasking, doing geography homework and writing out a blog post. wait who writes out a blog post?! never mind. and no i'm not wasting paper this paper has been written on before okay! random science notes taken during pre-psle lessons with my then-glorified now-ugly writing. -shudders. i find this better! :) heh. today was a super long day...woke up at 7:45 +/- 15 minutes because of math olympiad training. and after waiting in school for half an hour, the teacher called the G.O. and said that there wasn't a lesson this week. -groans/moans. so came home early, which allowed me to complete most of geography! XD have been slacking for the past 2 days, the devilish procrastinator i am. i'm currently slacking (again!), duh. -goes back to geography homework- argh can't sustain motivation. XD in the afternoon went for harmony and viva voce...and deanna, you rock in your barcarolle presentation okay! so sad you're leaving mid-august. -cries. here comes the fun part. after viva, tiffany and i rushed down to recital hall to practise huanghe :) haha. i LOVE HUANGHE HUANGHE TOTALLY ROCKS MY LIFE NOW OKAY! AND THE PEOPLE PLAYING IT ALL ROCK OKAY! (other than me, i'm the odd-one-out!) yup. it's all the super smart people who can play the piano like i-don't-know-what. urgh they are all like 16+, but never mind all very nice people. okay i'm forgetting lynette and deanna but yeah you get the point. :) hey i don't care if my movement is the easiest because it's very nice okay! 1st and 4th nicer but they're loads harder and only really good people can play them successfully okay! and i'm not fully qualified XD. oh gosh i wrote so much about huanghe! haha i will throw in random dates and places! :) 25 june, lee foundation theatre, 7:30 pm. try making sense of that! -grins.
haha i've just completed my imitation of a person who blogs about unmeaningful stuff. :) i mean, who cares about your day?
(insert ugly signature here)"
and come to think of it i'm insulting loads of people by saying that their days are unmeaningful. okay clarification. only my days are unmeaningful. happy?
oh please i'll die if i had to blog about my boring days. so dee stop complaining about my blog posts being theoretical (which they aren't) and boring because well, talking about my day is going to bore you even more.
still. I LOVE THE YELLOW RIVER CONCERTO! <3
composed; 12:43 PM :D
« Saturday, April 15, 2006 »
credits to natalie!
class photo taking during last day of orientation! with all the darling psls and (ahem) the bags. i shall be mental and try listing out the people! (: but everyone's basically in a mess so the list ain't really going to be helpful. still...
1st row kezia, kimberley (spsl), zeslene, roxanne, jessica, stacey, jingyi (when she was still with us), weiqi, samantha, natalie (psl)
2nd row deng qing, trina, shzehui, vanessa, catharine, ME! XP, jane, shermaine, chenrui, felicia (psl)
3rd row shona, jiayi, sophia, weiqing, (some unidentifiable person), dora, charmaine, stephanie, swetha, rachel, yinleng, mengshi, denise (psl), zhiying (sec4 prefect), sheila (PIT)
weirdly, some people don't seem to be in the picture. but never mind, our very first class photo (with some people missing)!
one eleven orientation i/cs! (from left) zeslene, natalie, denise, felicia, sheila, zhiying and kimberley! argh. I MISS PSL SESSIONS!
umm i know the pictures are really small but i'm restricted to putting the pictures in such a small space! if you want the originals go see natalie's blog!
and now for the wordy bit! who says i can't post a picture of words? haha. basically that's today's blog post with my super ugly signature there (i don't know what happened to it but it just looks disgusting). i know the picture is grossly pixellated but try making out what i wrote (:
and i'm super neat okay!
composed; 11:14 PM :D
« Thursday, April 13, 2006 »
HURRY AND GET YOUR TICKETS FOR BEL CANTO THE RGS CHOIR CONCERT! ONLY 163 TICKETS LEFT! 11TH MAY AT THE ANGLO-CHINESE SCHOOL (BARKER) ARTS CENTRE! ONLY 15 AND 18 DOLLARS TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE!
oh dear that constitutes shouting but still shouting is not as rude as cursing, is it?
ahh. that whole pile of homework. i don't know why, but i just don't feel like touching it at all. i took 1 whole hour just to finish my chinese worksheet because half the time my mind was wandering off. this is so irritating...i'm just not in the mood to finish homework and it's kind of stressful knowing that you have this whole stack of stuff to be finished and yet you are still slacking. contradictory?
maybe i spend too much time thinking about what i'm going to do during sec3. but it's just all so nice to plan for the future where everything is still so indefinite and flexible, where everything is up to you to change and twist and turn. currently after a few hours (gosh!) of thinking (talk about inefficiency), i still can't think of a proper subject combination. mep people are like compelled to take mep all the way until sec4 (don't think of me taking music for a levels) so that means i can only choose 4 subjects (maximum 5 but since mep takes up 1 out of 5 i can only choose 4 right?). so right now i'm torn between doing triple science and a single humanities subject or double-double (that's what i call it). it's like everyone's doing triple science and they always say that people doing triple science are the smartest people.
but has anyone thought about the double-double subject combination? in fact, i think the people who take double-double are those that are actually really smart (no offence to those who take triple science, but this is my opinion), because they can balance science and arts subjects well. they do well in both areas! and anyway i never exactly enjoyed physics so i was thinking of doing chemistry, biology, geography, history and mep (and math and philosophy and all those compulsory subjects). okay fine. either history or literature. but geography is a must unless i come to dislike it in the second part of sec1 or in sec2. literature is fun but i don't like the idea of tearing a story into pieces for analysis. i
then i look at the thick fat physics books i have and the dollars that my dad has spent on them and i go, oh no i can't just throw all the money in the drain! so then maybe i should drop mep and take triple science and double humanities! (okay i must be a maniac.) but it's like mep is (sometimes super) easy to score!
and then bring 3rd language into the picture. brilliant. if i take mep and do double-double or triple-single (i don't care that's what i'm goign to call it) then i won't exactly have time to do japanese, because mep is on wednesdays from 2:30 to 5:30 and choir is 3 days so i only have 1 day for japanese when the lessons are on 2 days! okay i can study online but still it's not as good as having a live teacher teach you. fine then i'll drop mep and take triple-double, but who knows if the exact same scenario repeats itself?
someone tell me what to do!
right now, i'll just stop fussing over. there's still 1 3/4 more years to go. and by the end of sec2 my preferences might have changed. and who knows, i might do so badly in all my sciences that i decide to take triple humanities instead. hopefully that day doesn't come because i so badly want to be a doctor/biostatistician or something like that.
i bet that in sec3 when i come back and read this post i will fall off my chair in spasmodic fits of laughter over my nonsensical thoughts.
composed; 10:51 PM :D
« Saturday, April 08, 2006 »
okay that was really extra. and i can't believe it. i actually made a list of what to blog about. must be all that music at full blast. and talking about music, i must mention bel canto! yup there it is right at the top of the list! (okay forgive my extra-ness, if there is such a word)
what. bel canto! otherwise known as the 2006 rgs choir concert.
who. quite obviously, the rgs choir.
where. the acs(barker) auditorium. don't ask me for the exact name.
when. 11th May 2006.
why. because we like to sing? well mainly just sharing our passion for singing with others!
yay! everyone should really come for bel canto because it's going to be a very nice concert and the programme's really brilliant! i'm in the mood of creating lists so here's a list of reasons why you should come for bel canto!
one. the concert programme is really entertaining. there are acutally four parts to the choral programme. let's make a sublist! (oh dear i sound really stupid...)
a. combined songs. if i'm not wrong we should be singing six, and among these six you'll hear
two chinese songs, one norwegian (if i'm not wrong) song and a really minimalist song that is actually very nice! and again among these six you'll hear three pieces sung acapella! and i must mention there is a killer piece that really strains the vocals (particularly the sopranos). but anyway the collection is absolutely beautiful and if you think the remaining portions of the concert are just not your cup of tea then trust me the combined songs will be good enough for you!
b.sectionals. in this part of the concert, the entire choir splits into two halves, the ones and the twos (quite unimaginative but still that's the best way). each half will present a couple of songs, combined with dance and soloists. the choreography is quite funny (spoiler!) and the soloists are too good to be true.
c. busking groups. basically the choir divided into even smaller groups, generally by levels. sec4s have a busking group called incognito (i sincerely apologise for mistakes, if any), and simply put, only the sec1s don't have a busking group (hello we're newcomers!). and the busking groups can really sing very well and they're super committed. i mean there's no teacher behind them asking them to do this and that. they just come together and sing.
d. medley. this is the fun part of the concert! it's actually a drama with songs interwoven into it. so there's people acting, singing and (yes you guessed it!) dancing. for choreography they got in this really brilliant choreographer and the actions that she choreographed for us are really stunning so you really have to catch it! (actually the choreography sessions are kind of tiring but for the concert we will all go on!)
two. bel canto is on the day before vesak day, meaning there's no school on the next day. why not chill out on the night before a holiday? and what can be better than listening to some really melodious singing? (haha egotistical me.)
three. this actually applies to only mep people. for mep you have to complete concert reports on at least 2 concerts, so come for bel canto and you can count one of these two concert reports gone! and choral concerts are easy to comment on because you can simply state under "what i don't like about the concert" voices going off-pitch. although sadly you won't hear much of this in bel canto XD.
four. i'm being exclusive again! sec3s and 4s have to go for at least 1 performing arts concert and bel canto is a performing arts concert! (talk about lame) it's also a support school activity!
five. if you just enjoy music and singing then this concert is for you! you'll hear loads of singing because (duh) this is a choir concert. and among the combined pieces you'll hear an arrangement of a well-known orchestral piece so that's for the music bit. and of course if you enjoy dance and drama you should also come for bel canto because there's loads of dance and a whole segment of drama. finally if you love music, singing, dance and drama, then you must come for bel canto because it's the four rolled up into one!
six. on the very same day sec1s have 2.4km run, so if you need to destress, do come for bel canto!
oh well i can't think of anymore reasons! blame it on my malfunctioning brain. anyway, please please please support shzehui and me (or at the very least, support shzehui) and buy tickets for bel canto! please?
and finally, don't think you can get away with insulting me.
composed; 10:39 PM :D
« Sunday, April 02, 2006 »
so. i went to get the festival results today. and i was like thinking, oh dear, i must have destroyed my chopin piece that day so i definitely won't get anything satisfactory. anyway i was just pretty confident with my ginastera piece because that's like my favourite piece or close to it. when i saw my name on the list we had to sign it said gold, so i was like, what! i did so badly! fine. at that time i thought it went like highly commended, commended, platinum, gold, silver, bronze (because the smta website said there were only going to rank in terms of highly commended, commended and participation) but come to think of it it doesn't exactly make sense now. but when i saw the list of ranks i was kind of relieved because gold is second best (after platinum, duh). but i am never contented with being second best. oh well maybe i am.
then i looked at the scores and i went, what on earth went wrong! because the order was totally inverted. albert tiu gave me full marks for my chopin and took four marks off my ginastera. i was really shocked because since when has anyone found my chopin nice? i'm like always the always-bang-on-the-piano-and-spoil-the-piano-type and sadly (for the piano) i enjoy loud and noisty pieces. so when has sensitivity suited me (so the comments say...)? well obviously albert tiu found my ginastera a bit too gentle. wow, gentle. so throughout the ride back home i was laughing and laughing because i just cannot believe it.
and in case you think i'm writing this to show off, you're very wrong. this is merely for me to remember and for you to forget. so if you're reading this thank you for reading and sharing this moment with me but now i appeal to you to forget whatever you've just read.
argh. i need an ego deflator for my birthday. get me one if you can find it. please.
composed; 6:17 PM :D
« Saturday, April 01, 2006 »
masterclass. i was praying real hard that fang laoshi would start with all the two piano pieces first, because knowing myself best, i will spoil any single solo piece that comes into my hands when i play in front of much pro-er (oh dear i'm using singlish but if i write it in proper english that feeling won't be there) seniors who can probably play consecutive and repeated octaves without wincing. and then i had to be so unlucky because fang laoshi decided to start with solos first. so i really destroyed the piece i was playing. fine the piece isn't exactly what you can say nice, but still i destroyed it and now i feel so guilty.
masterclass part2. okay there wasn't really a part2 to it but i prefer to think the two pianos bit and the solo bit as two separate parts because the solo bit is just too painful to remember (okay i admit it i run away from problems!). thankfully this bit was good. okay by my standards which are really low. but anyway fang laoshi said it was okay so that's final. at least those hours of practice has not gone to waste. thank you tiffany! i shan't talk about the other portions of the (yes you guessed it) yello river concerto because my favourite fourth movement wasn't played and my second favourite first movement was nice but it wasn't exactly synchronised. now what am i to say they were not synchronised? well just ignore that comment. generally it was fun (yes it was) and i look forward to the next masterclass (wow i've never done that). whatever. there's always a first time.
before masterclass. was spent practicing at the recital hall. and we were really surprised by the fact that no one was fighting with us for the room. nothing much to say except a super irritating parent was like pushing her kid and her partner to practise their duet while we were throwing away our drinks and stuff. it was really irritating because they weren't even playing for the masterclass. plus it was pretty obvious our scores were there and we needed to practise too. so please ask before you rush to the piano, thank you.
house practice. i'm skipping inessential bits. anyway today is the last house practice. so sad i will miss the waddle house exco! other than the fact that we had the black-shirt black-pants lady who speaks with a really weird american/british accent to brush up on our mass dance (and finally she said "well done waddle"!) and a
and that's basically my day. now i shall go further back in time because there are more important things there than they are now.
one. oneELEVEN now has loads of class spirit. even the teachers agree because they say we're really funky and cool. or in formal terms, energetic and enthusiastic. wait that's beside the point of class spirit. but anyway, when we got back our chinese formative, we were cheering both for the people who did really well and for the people who didn't do that well. okay as a form of encouragement for the latter but i thought that was really really cool. thanks weiqing for initiating all this! and back to house practice today, we were cheering all the waddle cheers we could think of and it seems that everyone think oneELEVEN is good now (sorry ego boost). putting that aside, i'm really really really proud to be in this class! now i have loads more reasons to add to my list.
-because we're enthusiastic yet sane.
-because we currently have the most house spirit among the three waddle classes.
-because they're loads of funky and cool people in oneELEVEN (do i count as one?)
-because everyone is nice and caring and loving (in the platonic sense, thank you)
-because we have the most people in the math olympiad training programme which equates to our class having quite a number of mathematical smarty-pants! (okay this sounds really arrogant)
-because we're really close together and bonded
-because we're hardworking with a dash (maybe four of five dashes) of fun and humour.
and i want to add more but i can't think of any as of now so forget it.
now i need to address something that's been irking me for a long time. people copying my work. it's like someone borrows my stuff for a while and the next thing i know it, their worksheets contain the exact same answers as mine. word for word. absolutely no change. and when the teachers read these worksheets they will be wondering whether i copied. even though i'm totally innocent. okay really, what's so great about my answers? now i give you some great reasons as to why you shouldn't copy my answers.
one. please bear in mind that i'm not the answer key and i do not always produce the best answers. most of the time my answers are not to the point so if you copy my answers you're just putting the wrong concepts into your brain. i'm not like the barenreiter urtext or henle-urtext editions which you can totally trust when you come to piano pieces. i'm not a genius because as far as i'm concerned i am unable to match up to einstein's feats. so my answers are not 100% accurate, and even then if you find a genius like einstein, his or her answer may not be 100% accurate either. so don't bother copying from me at all because you're just going to get inaccurate stuff and basically you won't get whatever you're writing too.
two. like i just said, you might not get whatever you're writing. blindly copying without understanding is total study suicide and even if you understand what you're copying when you come back and revise you won't exactly get it because it's not in your own words. so by copying you aren't learning so too bad if you don't do well in your exams. that's your problem -- who asked you to copy?
three. come on. even though my answers are not brilliant answers, do still respect my intellectual property. it's not very nice to take other people's stuff and claim it as your own. even if you really need to (like in group work) please paraphrase or put it in your own words. or at least tell me so i can try and explain to you instead of you just copying whatever i write.
four. you're killing off brain cells by not using your brain. you can surely do better than that.
five. if you still treat me as a friend please do not subject me to the possible questioning that may arise from a teacher when she sees two exactly identical scripts. i have been nice enough not to expose you so please stop. i don't want to be suspected of copying and neither would you. please just be honest to yourself, and if you don't know, just ask.
oh dear i feel so proud and boastful because i sound as if everyone wants to copy my answers and it's as if my answers are so brilliant. but they're not and still some people want to copy them.
i shall end off (sadly, in a less than cheerful way) with this.
i detest copycats.
composed; 10:25 PM :D