Woo concert is over. It's great to be performing back at the Lee Foundation Theatre one more time. Well, school starts tomorrow with only a 5 minute audition to get through for the day. Other than that, I'll have to start intensive preparation for Italian Brass Week. It's 12 days to the start of my trip and I'm really looking forward to traveling to a destination so far from home without my parents (just 2 of my friends) and also spending one week learning from some of the greatest names in brass playing. I will do my best to keep this page as well as my facebook up to date while I'm there but it can be quite difficult as the hotel I'm staying in apparently doesn't have Internet. Fingers crossed about that. Alright, I shall finish up while I'm still on the bus so that I can go home and sleep quickly. Till next time, bye!

Well, school is about to start. It starts tomorrow but there isn't actually a lesson tomorrow. Just the orchestra/wind band placement audition for 5 minutes and that's it for the day. Nevertheless, my days are going to become much busier so I can foresee that this will be my last post for quite a while. Well I've a concert to play later so I guess that can help bring me back to shape. Speaking of which, I just realised over the past rehearsals how much motivation I've gained from playing in a group and preparing for a concert. Hearing so many capable musicians just motivates me to push myself. I almost overdid it a few hours ago with my practice and I realised it and wisely (hopefully) cut the practice short in consideration of the concert I'm about to play. The groups of musicians I play with, be it Slide That or the Nanyang Festival Winds, NAFA's ensembles, the Philharmonic (Youth) Winds, OMM etc., they all contain fantastic musicians and I really hope I can somehow live off the motivation I get from listening to these players and hopefully one day, all that motivation to surpass them pays off. It's that desire in me to want to do things well.

I just had a thought: I keep this handwritten journal where I write many things I rather keep secret for the purpose of me recalling them as I grow older. I just realised it's so foolish. The idea is foolish and the writing in it is foolish. As soon as I can, I'll remove the pages and it'll once again become an empty sketchbook. Right now with my present state of mind I just can't stand reading words I wrote years ago at a time when I was much more foolish than I am now, or so I think. I just don't see the point of me trying to recall them anymore. I've decided that all the worthy memories shall be kept either in my own memory or in pictures and videos. Perhaps some of those memories can be kept in this blog too!

Right now I'm much more up-to-date about the news because I use RSS feeds now. But just reading the news it's so much more negative than positive. Natural disasters, terrorist attacks, political issues are the main headlines I see. Hardly anything is actually showing something really good. I mean, I saw that SMRT is buying 13 more LRT cars and that's great! Other than that, Singapore's win over Malaysia in football, that's great too! But everything else just seems so negative. The world seems to be near or at the bottom end now. Yes there's no recession going on, or so I think, but there's war, massacres, natural disasters, general unhappiness in the population towards the government, the lot and there's only one thing to blame it on: people. The question is why? Is it because more people are better educated hence there are more idealistic people in the world expecting a much better life than what they're experiencing now? I admit, I am idealistic. I'm an optimist most of the time and as long as I believe something can be done, it can be done. But have I, and also many others, pushed our idealism too far? So far to the point that we have brought negativity upon our world? It's something to think about.

I think for now that's it. It's time to get some good rest before the show and also for the start of hopefully a good term at school. Hopefully I can still remain active here and keep this blog updated. Till then, bye!

Hi all, my first day with my new case went well! The only downside I've found so far is that I have to wipe off the dust and dirt from the leather after a bus ride and that's just annoying. Good thing I won't be taking it on buses everyday. But well, it fits the instrument well, there's plenty of space in the bell bag even with the bell with it so I can actually take my MacBook Air in it which is what I did today! No problems at all, I don't see how it can damage the horn because the folder fits just snuggly inside the bag.

Recently, lots of talk has been going around about decisions made by the government about public transport especially. That's a hot topic but I really hope more people can chime in on the education system here. I go back to Dunearn occasionally and I sometimes feel disappointed at the school. Teaching is a tough job, no denying that. But teachers need to know that when they sign for the job. Teachers deal with the future of the world and if they just treat it as a job without passion, it's just a pity for the students. I know there's lots of stress, demands and expectations in the job but aren't those what potential teachers are supposed to consider? Dunearn has some fabulous teachers and I've been taught by some of them. I just wished more of the big pool of teachers were like them. These teachers don't just impart knowledge into students. They change the student's character and that's the meaning I'm starting to embrace about the word "education". Good successful teachers are those who are really good at changing people for the better. In a recent letter by a 16 year-old girl from Nan Chiau High School, many of the loopholes in the system were pointed out by someone who is still in the system! Many of us find it easier to look at the primary/secondary education system once we're out of it but she's able to criticise it from within! That just shows how much she's able to think! I really will put my head to it when I can and really think hard about the system, the students, the teachers and what can be improved in a system that I believe did work in the past. But now is the present and changes have to be made.

I've updated some information about the concert on Sunday. Please do come and support the very first Singapore Saxophone Symposium. It has started a few hours ago and it culminates in a gala concert on Sunday, 8pm at NAFA's Lee Foundation Theatre. Tickets are $20 for the concert and I'll be performing with the Nanyang Festival Winds for that concert. Details on the left. Do check it out and I hope to see you there!

Woohoo! I got my new case! Here are some pictures:

It's a Glenn Cronkhite two-piece gig bag in dark brown and british tan leather. It's really sleek, I'm glad I chose these colours!

Here's some pictures of my new MacBook Air 13"

With the lid closed. (It's a hair thicker than my baton handle)

Here with the lid opened.

I'll say it again, I love this machine! Hasn't disappointed me so far except for one thing, it doesn't sync with my phone but that will probably be fixed in the near future. Not the absence of an optical drive (I remotely installed MS Office through my Acer without problem), not the small storage space (I am not near the limit yet), not the fact it has less software compatible with it (I don't use any of them). I looked at reviews of the Samsung Series 9 which is supposed to be the PC's answer to the MacBook Air and yes it's really cool. A hair thinner (1mm to be exact), a hair lighter, has an ethernet port, 128GB of SSD but it costs more than a 256GB MacBook Air!! I mean that just shows how more affordable the MacBook Air is now to those who want a capable mobile laptop. I don't think you can call this a netbook because it's more powerful than that. For the average user like me who really would like to carry a laptop with me almost everywhere I go, this laptop just fit the bill! I don't use any software that isn't supported on a Mac (except perhaps the Ovi Suite) and the Mac OS is so stable. If one app is having problems, it doesn't choke up the entire computer. I can leave it alone, do something else and get back to it when it has solved its problems. So really, I think this a laptop I will want to keep for many years.

I'll be getting my new case later. Really excited about it. Will post pictures when I get it. Other than that, gonna catch Harry Potter and then rehearsal for the sax symposium. Alright then, time to sleep. Bye!

My new MacBook Air is here! It actually arrived last Friday afternoon but I sort of forgot to post about it because I've been busy turning it into my machine. I really love this computer. So far it's everything I need; portability and having reasonable performance. But really, this MacBook Air just outperforms my Acer in every way with just $400 more in price. It's super thin, light (1.3kg. My Acer was 2.6kg), and it's a Mac! The hardware on paper in my opinion don't tell the whole story. Yes the hardware is lower in numbers than even the 13" Pro but having a Solid-State Drive for storage really makes this computer really fast for opening apps, waking from sleep, file transfers and in some ways, multitasking. Add in some really cool features like iOS style gestures and multitouch on the very large and smooth trackpad, backlit keyboard, long battery life etc. and this machine is really worth the money. If anyone wants to find out more about it from a users perspective, do contact me! I'll give you my findings from the perspective of a brand new Mac user who switched over from Windows..hehe. Oh well that's all for now, time to go practice. Bye!

Woohoo I'm a really lucky person this holiday! I'm getting a new case, a Cronkhite 2-piece in dark brown and british tan leather; a new MacBook Air 13" (the really new one with Lion)!! And I'm going to Italy in August! I really am a very lucky person. Gonna look forward to all these new stuff coming into my life. The Air arrives tomorrow! The case arrives before school starts and my Italy trip is in 3 weeks time. I shall start making full use of them and cherish the fact I am really lucky!

Insomnia is really bugging me again. Happens every holiday. I guess I just haven't been using a lot of my energy during the holidays and I suffer at night. Well I'll get some exercise later to get my muscles working and also to use off some energy so that I don't lay in bed and roll around for hours unable to sleep. 2 more weeks to the start of school so yeah, time to gear up for it!

Another post to keep this blog running. School is around the corner and I have already started lessons with Fredi. Not off to a great start for me. I haven't been practicing much and my playing has suffered. Time to start the hard work. Well at least in the coming week I'll start preparation for the Singapore Saxophone Symposium. I'm part of the wind band that'll be accompanying the professionals during the gala concert. Really should be fun. I recommend all to attend this symposium. Artists like Vince Gnojek, Claude Delangle, Shyen Lee and many others will be in town. More information here. Right now I'm really itching to get a MacBook Air 13 inch. On paper, it really looks like it can improve my computer experience. I can take it with me, it probably performs much better than my Acer and it's just so fun and cool to use. I really hope I can strike a deal with my parents. Hehe. Oh well, now time to get some rest and it'll be a day of practicing and getting my chops into shape tomorrow. Good night!