In the backseat

23rd June 2008
Monday
Lost in the backseat of life.

For all the students out there, welcome back to school! Holidays always feel too short no matter how long they are. But then again, school term always drag on forever. So I guess that negates each other.

When holidays come, all the work is thrown into the backseat and forgotten. Until when the holidays are running short, then everyone starts scrambling to find those assignments that should have been completed ages ago. But then again, holidays is for relaxing and taking a break from all the stress in regular life. Wait a minute. Does that mean holidays are not part of regular life? Oh crap. What have I been doing for the past 2 months.

Time seems to pass so quickly when you are having fun. And usually when that happens, you forget about important matters. At least, that is the way for me. When time comes where you need the fruits of those important matters, you realise that you are pretty much screwed.

I don't deny that I am in that scenario. Especially with my addiction to manga and world of warcraft now. But things should start changing. And as a matter of fact, I'm ending my post right now and getting back down to work.

Of wine and meat

18th June 2008
Wednesday
Of wine and meat and the joys of life

All those that I can't enjoy right now. Simply because I have a freakin' cough. Well, if that ain't bad enough, throw in a bad cold which, thankfully, recovered a couple of days back.

Ngee Ann band camp was fun. Coupled with a party of fun loving people, we had a blast playing pranks and getting pranked. Lots of paint were involved, as we were rushing out the backdrop for the concert, which you can see here. Really pretty picture designed by Kenneth Koh's brother, and painted by us.

Games were a hell lot of fun. But it would have been better if the members were mixed up better. Station games were commendable. The station masters tried their best to keep spirits high, and well, they succeeded. Getting wet was the best part. And that gave me the cold which kept me at bay for a few days.

After games, I immediately came down with a fever, which left me half crippled while attempting to paint the backdrop in the second night. Halfway through the night, I gave up and squirmed my way onto the sofa, which already had a half dead Ruth sleeping in it. But when you are feeling sick and tired, you won't give two hoots about the amount of space you have to sleep. Grabbing a large plushy cushion as my pillow, I immediately fell asleep.

Nothing much to mention during the camp. It was awfully fun, and tiring. The day after the camp ended, I was summoned back to Ngee Ann for more logistics work. But then the summoning failed as I had not enough energy, and the fever was still running high. So, dear Joshua and his party had to struggle alone.

Friday was a disaster. The stuff was cut up all right. But the nightmare comes from hanging it all up. Especially with fishing lines all over the place and multiple reels tangled together. But by 5.30, we had everything up in the air. And the sense of achievement, is really indescribable.

Concert went quite smoothly. Not going to describe about the music part. Had a hell of a time camwhoring like a girl right before concert started and during the intermission.

I'm pretty bored right now and I can't be bothered to craft my post in my usual style. If I ever get the time to blog some substantial entries, and if my brain actually starts working again, I'll do a proper post. Promise.

Time forgotten

8th June 2008
Sunday
Lost skills

How long has it been since I last handled a deck, or performed magic? Slightly over 3 years I guess. It makes me sound old, but that is life. After 3 long years, I have totally forgotten all my sleights and flourishes. (Not that I have that much skill to be proud off.)

But after such a long time, I finally picked up the cards and did a simple Ambitious Card effect for a friend. My movements were mechanic, but thankfully, I pulled it through. No one seemed to notice anything, and as expected, they were amazed by the simple sleight that made it all possible.

One whole night without sleep, and playing with cards led me to the realisation that I have totally forgotten the revolution cut that I once tweaked to call my own deriviation. Upon viewing tutorials, I have gotten slightly better, but I still have not gotten the knack of it yet. And not only that, even my hot shot cut is gone along with the fans and shuffles.

I need more practice to at least remember how to handle cards properly.

Oh, and after a long week away from the trumpet, I finally got to rebuild my chops. As expected, the sound is weird and total control over it seems impossible. But this is only temporary. Hopefully, by the end of this week, I will be moving forward from my stagnated state.

As they say, practice makes perfect. So I'm off to practice my cuts and my trumpet.

"As a performer, you have to be prepared for anything, anytime."
-Han Yong

Issues - NS & Studies

5th June 2008
Thursday
Couch potato

I'm rapidly becoming a couch potato. Except that I'm losing weight instead of gaining weight. Tonsillitis sucks. It kills your appetite, makes you puke, and makes swallowing difficult. Put that, that and that together and you have a major headache on how, or what to eat.

For the past few days while I have been killing myself at home, I managed to get certain things sorted out. Well, not without lectures and naggings from certain people.

NS deferment. It is a pain in the ass. But at long last, I received my SingPass from the post, and in a series of clicks, all done! But waiting for SingPass takes a long time. One working day to process the application, and another four to mail it to your house.

Application for Diploma in Music (Teaching). I couldn't really make up my mind on this issue, but yesterday, almost everyone started calling me. Mr Adams called me and asked if the Ministry of Education (MOE) has contacted me. (I was supposed to contact them). Since I haven't done anything, then of course MOE have not contacted me. So I replied with a truthful no.

Right after that call, 28 minutes later, David Smith called me, asking me about the teaching course. It was a few minutes of discussion, which lead to no where and my throat was making it impossible for him to hear what I was saying. So he simply told me to think over it carefully and contact Adams for a discussion on the course.

About 2 hours later, Heidi, from Marketing & Admissions, called me to lecture me on why I did not call MOE. After the first 7 seconds, my mind switched to hibernate mode. So I have no idea what she went on and on about.

After that phonecall, I dialled MOE officer, Ms Annie Tan's, number, just to get referred back to the online registration. And I had to call back again, which I did right before I started this post.

All that for? A chance of getting into the teaching course. And my questions are not yet answered. Hmm. The efficiency of a so-called organised world.

I ought to get back to my trumpet after tomorrow. Tonsils are healing up pretty nicely now.

"When opportunities knock at the wrong time, do you take them, or turn them away?"
-Han Yong

Tonsillitis

31st May 2008
Saturday
A day with tonsillitis

I woke up at 5am to puke. And nothing came out. That's not surprising considering the fact that I had totally no appetite for the past few days. The total of what I had over the past 4 days is approximately equivalent to what I usually eat in a day. And so I puked. And there wasn't even digestive juices that came out. But that made everything feel better though.

And for the first time in a long while, I woke up at 8 am without any external help. My tonsils just felt horrible. Well, at least it got me up and about.

On Saturday mornings, what is the best thing you can do to kill time? Watching cartoons of course! And so, I spent my time trying to swallow a slice of bread while melting into the couch and staring at the television screen. Until P*w*r R*ng*rs came on and its ridiculously senseless plot, I finally picked up the remote control and switched off the set and came online.

This is pretty boring. Barely 10 people online at 10am.

Oh well, I'll slot my main post in later.

Degradation of society?

五月 二十一日 二零零八年
星期四
A day's work in a nutshell

I attempted to write this post in Chinese. But as you can see, it turned out to be a complete failure. Maybe except for the date, which I think I got it right. At least I hope I got it right.

Well, my PS went pretty badly. With only a couple more weeks before school officially starts for me. (Actually its about 6 or 7 weeks) Should I get a job? Or should I spend all my time on the trumpet. I am planning for my AOWs in mid June. But without a job, I can't get the money to go. But with a job, I don't have the time.

That aside, recently a rather interesting video has appeared in the many streaming sites around. I wonder if I'd get arrested for talking about it here. But the video is about the state of affairs here in Singapore and it pokes fun at the way the country is managed. Well, it does raise a certain level of political awareness among the citizens. Especially among the more rebellious group.

Speaking of which, I am utterly disgusted by the youths of our nation. (Specifically referring to those born in the 90's, about 92 onwards.) Their attitude and behaviour in public is simply atrocious. On several occasions, I had to scowl at their blasting music from their mobile phones and their uncouth language.

Just prior to this post, I had to put up with three Pei Hwa boys who were acting like hooligans and threatening to beat someone up over the phone. Vulgarities were flying all over the bus. Yes, it was a public bus. And that had no effect on them, evident from the loud music they were playing from their mobile phones.

Hello? Public transports are known as public transports because they are for the PUBLIC. And for your information, public refers to the general citizens of the nation. Although you, as citizens of this fine (ironic, but true) city, is part of the public, you have no right to disrupt their lives with loud, distasteful noise from your personal belongings. Ever heard of the term "Public Nuisance"? Yes, it refers to you.

It puzzles me when I see so many young people think that they look cool while blasting music, or shouting loudly in public. Maybe it is fun. But have they considered what others feel? Or is it evidence of the degradation of society?

Wandering.. Through wonderland?

18th May 2008
Sunday
Wandering thoughts

How long would you spend on someone who will not spend a single second on you? This thought came to me randomly. Like how things happen without warning at times. But still, it is a question I cannot answer.

It depends on the situation I guess. If the person is someone important, I guess I will wait for a while. But even so, if the important person feels that it is not worth spending time on you, then it would mean that he cannot be bothered with you. Then is he still important to you?

Nothing happened to me. I am perfectly sane and fine. Just that its ironic how some people will spend half their life doing something for someone who is just using them for a purpose. No examples here. But you can just look at big companies retrenching old workers just because their pay is getting too high.

I guess you can say that I have too much time on my hands. Well, truth be said, I do have that much time on my hands.

"There is always the risk of the breeze turning into a gale."
-Han Yong