A new post for another month. Life's been like clock-work the past few weeks. School was like before, just more classes and assignments. Of course like most of my classmates, assignments are not the easiest things for me to catch up on. I don't know but I feel that my playing has taken a slide in recent times. Either that or I simply didn't know the standard in the first half of the year. It just feels demoralising sometimes but I'll pull through and work hard. Had a fun time yesterday with my parents playing pool. It felt like years ago since we last played together. Speaking of playing pool, that's what I did when Michael came back to Singapore! What a fun time we had together. It's a pity he only stayed for a week or so during school time but nonetheless, we had great fun and catching up together. Performances are on the way so I'd better go practice. My upcoming concert is with the NAFA Orchestra on 31 August 2010, Lee Foundation Theatre is the venue, 8pm is the time. Repertoire is as follows:

-Overture to the Barber of Seville (Rossini)

-Rhapsody in Blue (Gershwin)

-Gold and Silver Waltzes (Lehar)

-Vocalise (Rachmaninov)

-Four movements from Modern Times (Chaplin)

It'll be a fun-filled concert provided everyone practices and makes it one! Hope to see you there!

I have a very strong feeling, as I write this post, that just about nobody will read it. Blogs simply have lost their place in society. But still it is a place for me to type things in so that I can hopefully remember what has happened. Holidays are nearing an end and I'm happy about it. It'll be great to go back to school, meet new musicians and old friends, play in band and orchestra, play solos and chamber music and basically mould myself into a musical artist. Music is the one thing in life that I have the deepest sense of purpose for and I really enjoy making it. Although I'm not a very good musician yet, there's time for me to become one!

So music aside, congratulations to the Spanish football team for becoming World Champions! They really played a good game against the Dutch who simply couldn't dictate the game very well. They lost control of the game and eventually themselves so kudos to the Spaniards! Also, congratulations to Mark Webber for winning the British Grand Prix. It'll probably be the last F1 race I'll watch as I'll be having a very busy weekend when the German Grand Prix is going on. After the German Grand Prix, ESPN and Star Sports will move to a new home: Mio TV. Damn I wish they didn't make the change. Oh well, money, money money. So that's all for now. Bye!

Not updated for more than a month...well it's a good time to update. Yesterday had a fantastic dinner treat by Mdm Leow at the Carousel restaurant at Royal Park on Scotts. It's a buffet dinner and man oh man there was KING CRAB!! Such a rare thing to be able to eat King Crab's sweet and tasty meat. Also had sashimi and mussels for starters. Moved on to appetizer of bread then main course of meat (chicken, fish, venison and duck) and some rice. Dessert time! Marshmallows with chocolate fondue and also some biscuits to go along. I also had cakes and some Crème brûlée. Add some coffee and that completes the wonderful dinner with wonderful friends and teachers. Many thanks to Mdm Leow for the treat! Hopefully we'll have another one soon. I just came back from the 1st day of Brass Explosion and it was a great fun-filled day. Totally enjoyed today. Full details about it are on my Livejournal. Well till next time, goodbye readers!

Went back to Dunearn this morning for Speech Day! So great to see people I'll rarely get to see in the future. Received my certificate and a nice plaque from Mdm. Leow! Many thanks to her. After that, sat in with the band in the music room for the release of posts. I guess the right people have gotten the right posts. All that's left now for them is to work very hard for the upcoming competitions.

I've come to realise blogging has lost its status as the trendy thing to do. As you can see I've removed inactive blogs from the links on the left. I guess the trend now is Facebook as a lot of people spend time there.

Anyway, my part-time course is about to finish and I'll be looking for a tutoring job to fill the time from May till mid-July. Oh well, that's all I've to say so till next time, goodbye.

Inactive for almost a month. Oh well, I've been busy for the past few weeks especially with preparations for yesterday's concert. Even though I wasn't playing trombone for the concert but singing, I enjoyed it so much. The music was so expressive and soulful and in my opinion, the choir did very well and of course the orchestra and the soloists. It was a great concert! Now my Wednesdays and Mondays are sort of freed up. All that's left is the final theory/history exam and access course is over! Gonna be going down to Dunearn tomorrow to collect my SGC. Philwinds concert on Saturday, get your tickets if you haven't people!

Oh yeah..Scuderia Ferrari is back!! A 1-2 finish at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Although it was a bit lucky because Vettel's exhaust was damaged causing him to lose power towards the end of the race. Nevertheless, Ferrari showed their true prowess and came out tops. Hopefully it will be a good season ahead for them. A lot has passed by since I last posted; most notably, I performed for my first concert with the NAFA Symphonic Wind Ensemble on 9 March. A great concert from my side of the concert hall, the stage. The music went well except for one major lapse that had the whole last row laughing. Oh well, feedback from the audience was positive nonetheless and the next NAFA concert I'll be performing in is the combined Orchestra with Choir concert on 6 April. The combined forces will perform Gabriel Faure's Requiem. Till then, enjoy your holidays everyone!

I've just spent about 50% of the last 4 days sleeping...damn it feels so bad to be sick..especially from food poisoning..especially because I've to miss school..to not be able to pick up the trombone and play and practice. Well I'm almost back to my normal health but still feeling very gassy in my stomach; makes it hard to breathe sometimes..especially after eating. The ironic thing is that next week there's no school!!! Argh!! That's totally uncool. Oh well, life's like that. We can't change what's been done but we can mould our future from where we are right now. This brings up something in my mind; I've seen, I've heard and I've been told that many of my juniors in Dunearn, not just band ones but the student population in general, seriously hates school these days. You see in their blogs, you see on MSN and you hear them talking as if Dunearn is no longer an institute for education. They make it sound more like the Japanese Occupation is happening again. Well yes, of course I for one find it hard to praise the new principal there, but that's it. What else is causing all this unhappiness? Surely the problem is not only the principal...what else? But, wait there, before we look for problems elsewhere, have we looked at problems within ourselves? We often overlook ourselves and find problems elsewhere instead, something I'm guilty of too. But, if we can just take that rare moment or two, like right now, and really think what is causing us to think like this, situations can improve! Improvement is not always in big steps; improvement is usually in small steps. If we can find that every step to improve our lives and really persevere, our lives will be so much more enriching and fulfilling. I kinda think most people, especially young people, nowadays think on a rather short-term basis. A good example: You can take a seat in a classroom in Dunearn and you can hear "Fuck *this*!", "Stupid sia!" and so on so forth. The thing is, does it make it better? Oh yeah sure some people use these words as anti-depressants but they can only last that long. Just like smoking and drugs, you'll always want to do it again and again and again. But in the end, nothing improves! Come on people! We just need to spend some time on thought. Really think deep down what do you want in your life. You want school to be enjoyable? Do something! Make a big change if you need to. But always remember, don't give up once you started it because that's what you thought for. Once you start down that road, work hard and I mean really hard. It takes a lot of effort, it may not be comfortable and enjoyable at first but I assure you, you'll get what you want in the end if you thought well. May you all succeed in your current and future endeavours!

Yesterday was a fun-filled day for me; pool in the afternoon, steamboat at night and movie after that. I've finally gotten back to playing pool after months of not playing. Really had fun with my friends who were there. After that we went to Zhen Zhang's house for steamboat. There were many more people there than previous gatherings. So good to see my classmates again. We played games as well and it was really fun! Haha :D After that we went to Lot 1 to watch Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. It's a very nice movie and well at least I was awake throughout the movie. Oh well, back to school tomorrow. Have a great week ahead!

Thank you for always putting a smile on my face and making me feel buoyant and happy. We've been through a lot together and I hope you'll succeed in your future. I'll miss you.

First few days of Chinese New Year has just passed by. My family doesn't do much during Chinese New Year. We don't have visitors, we only visit three houses yearly so ya, for us the festive mood goes away pretty fast. But this year, Abel warmly invited us to have steamboat at his house so a very big thank you to him and his family for the hospitality once again. Going to have one more steamboat this Saturday hosted by Zhen Zhang. So in a way, this year's Lunar New Year is different from past years. I didn't manage to find time to go back to Dunearn last Friday before the New Year; missed a chance to talk to my teachers but oh well, I'm going back tomorrow. I always have a strong connection between DMB and myself, no matter how sometimes I've been frustrated now and then by the members. It was where my musical journey blossomed, where I made some of my closest friends and where I learnt great things too. I really hope they can get back on their feet and play some good music this year. Meanwhile I'm still enjoying myself in NAFA. Although I really hoped to be in orchestra for the upcoming concert, I wasn't selected but it's alright, I'll still be a part of it; singing the Requiem by Gabriel Faure. Theory tests coming up though! Have to study! Have a great weekend ahead! :)

Long long time since the last post. Much has past, making music in NAFA, more music making in NAFA, concerts and masterclass. I'm really enjoying this life. Listening to school mates practicing, immersing myself in scores, technique and lots of theory. So many things in school to keep me interested. I think what will make me better is to start teaching as well. I really think I did not employ the right attitude and techniques during my previous stints at teaching. I really want to revamp my teaching side and become a better teacher. Lots of thinking and trial and error as well. Oh well, need to start building up experience; shall look for a place to start. Till then, a Happy Lunar New Year everyone! Gong Xi Fa Cai! :)