Woo! I passed the audition at NAFA! Was quite an experience; played my 2 pieces, some aural tests and an interview. I must say I failed at the aural test, especially the one involving singing the base note of the chord. Well but anyways, they say I'm teachable so I'll start next week! NAFA here I come!

It's 2010! Happy New Year everybody! This year sounds like an exciting one with a prospect of going to Thailand with philyouth for competition. We'll be playing at YOG and SIBF as well, hopefully all goes well. My NAFA Access Course audition is in 4 days time! I just hope all my preparations leading to this will not go to waste and that I'll be admitted into the course. Well, I'll know in 4 days time! Class chalet next week as well, should be lotsa fun and also pretty much 4 Opal's last time together (besides the 'O' Level result release). I wish all my friends and family and everybody out there a prosperous 2010! :)

Woo I've finished my 3 weeks or so stint of working (teaching primary school bands). Received my pay on Wednesday and I've spent half of it on a mouthpiece. It's a Yamaha 59-GP. 24K Gold-plated on the rim, inner cup and inner shank. Now that I'm no longer working, I can spend more time at home practicing on my trombone. My audition is on 5th January in the morning so that's 11 days away. Hopefully all goes well for that.

Had a sumptuous Christmas dinner at Abel's house yesterday. There was turkey, ham, macaroni and sausages. Ate, played a bit of basketball in the dark and home after that. Many thanks to Abel for the hospitality and the food! I guess life will be more relaxing these few days and in weeks to come, studies will come first again. Well, a Happy Boxing Day and be safe everybody! :)

Another week gone. It seemed to run like clockwork everyday. Go to Compassvale, teach for 8 hours with little significant progress and head home tired. To be honest, 8 hours of band practice for 5 days straight is unhealthy both for the musicians as well as the teachers. But, I've no control over such things so what can I do? This coming week will be my last week at work and after that it's all focus on my trombone playing. I just had a day out with my buddies, Michael and Daryl. Probably the last time I'll see Michael this year, I hope he'll have a good time in the USA and maybe one day if I have the $$$ I shall fly over and visit him. Abel organised a farewell party for Michael yesterday but only the guys came. Played basketball for a few hours and after that it was dinner time! KFC and pizza. After that we presented him some presents and went home. I hope next week will be less clockwork-like for me. Having a variety of schools to work with is better, to me at least. Well, Merry Christmas everybody! Enjoy whats left of your holidays! :)

Back from band camp! I went there on wednesday with absolutely no intention to stay overnight. But...Mr Yeo wanted the band to watch a video. He uses a Macbook so there's no VGA port on his laptop, then, Ms Claudia Tan got somebody to bring her laptop to school. Ok, done setting up then..her laptop cannot play the audio part of the video. So..I went home, it was about 8:30pm by the way, so I decided I won't waste trips to and fro just to take my laptop so I brought my stuff and stayed overnight. Overall the camp was alright but to be honest it lacked a variety of activities. It's basically music practice nearly the whole day and about 2 hours of games on the 2nd day. I'm not saying it's not good, in fact I think it's good because it allows the members especially the younger ones to experience band camp since my batch didn't organise one due to the HK trip. I do hope the band will be successful in its forays into NBC and/or SIBF next year. But whatever it is, I hope they will continue to work hard despite the disappointment (to me at least) of not being able to participate in next year's outdoor SYF. From the camp I can see the the members are showing improvement musically and I'm pretty sure they'll sound well in time to come. Well, they have 2 good weeks of rest and hope they'll continue to make improvements. In fact I'm also having a good rest this weekend because Yuhua cancelled their practice! Was supposed to go there tomorrow morning but they cancelled the practice instead. Kai Yuan told me that Compassvale is having practice everyday next week and I'm very worried because I don't wish to get posted there the whole week. Well, I shall know in time to come. Tired...sleepy...goodbye people.

True to my word..I had been busy for the past few days. Finally received my loan instrument, a Yamaha YBL-421. It's silver-plated and it's in pristine condition. Had fun practising with it so far. Bought a 2nd hand Protec case, although a tad bulky it is protective and because it's 2nd hand, it's affordable! Prom nite on Monday at the Concorde Hotel. It was a nice hotel to hold the prom nite. It was quite like the hotel for prom nite last year, the Grand Copthorne Waterfront. Sumptuous dinner and some nice games hosted by the SLs. I would like to have the photos taken with me that night people! (Especially those with no Facebook accounts). Went back to Dunearn for the past 2 days and I must say, the band is putting in effort to prep for SYF next year. Today, was a very long day. Traveled all the way to the east to attend a band exchange at Temasek Primary, then to the Northeast to Compassvale Primary School. Had been teaching from 9 to 5. That's like 8 hours of teaching! Really taking it's toll on me, I'm very tired. Going back to Dunearn tomorrow and maybe back to Compassvale if I have the energy..another long day. Good thing Friday is a public holiday..which reminds me to wish all Muslims Selamat Hari Raya Haji! I should start getting some exercise like jogging coz I really lack physical training these days. Time to knock off, goodbye!

Woo! Kudos to West Winds! Great concert! Haha..Ponyo for encore. Coming week will be Dunearnite rehearsals and Dunearnite itself..so ya..I'll be keeping myself busy..till next time, cya =)

Oh yeah..it's OVER! Bravissimo! Went back for band last friday straight after Chemistry Paper 1. So happy to see them again :D The pieces they're playing for Dunearnite are very cool! Mamma Mia!, That Thing You Do and Tequila (with gimmicks)! So Fun! I might join them for Dunearnite on thursday. I also took a look at some of the formations Mr Yeo came up with, and, they look really complex, hopefully the band will do well for SYF next year. Long rehearsals next week...haiz. Oh and a concert tomorrow! West Winds..yeah..Beautiful Sunday indeed! =)

Woo..just MCQ left! After that, it's OVER!!! Once again for those interested, I still have my pure chemistry, pure biology and elective geography textbook to give away. Priority for those going to take these subjects next year, only if nobody take then I'll give those who want it as a 2nd textbook. Oh ya, anyone who is interested to attend the SSO concert on 1st December, Pastoral Pleasures: featuring Beethoven's 6th Symphony; Brett Dean's Pastoral Symphony and Nielsen's Flute concerto, please inform me before this Sunday and I can help buy tickets for you. All the best for the remaining papers everyone!

Hey peepos! Updating in the middle of 'O' Level exams :X 'O' Levels have been alright so far..no outrageously difficult papers nor super easy papers. As of now, left with elective geog, physics, biology and chemistry (paper 1 only). After that..hoho..time to make some MUSIC!! Just to let everyone know..I'm clearing my bookshelf of textbooks. I took triple pure science, A maths and elective geog..and of course the compulsory subjects. Do let me know if you wanna get complimentary textbooks...hopefully they don't get outdated..hehe