shades of grey.

just came back from teaching one of my guitar teacher's schools.. st anthony's canossian. had to teach cos my teacher was on reservist.

well it was just.. average. was quite tired before i went there already.. so i just made all my teaching very average with no extras or what occasional bits of nonsense i usually say during my classes in acs. also decided not to connect too much as.. after all i was just relieving for one session.

had quite a set format written out for me.. so the teaching part was quite ok i guess. quite similar to the sec 1 class at acs. did everything i was supposed to do in 2 1/2h instead of 3 so left slightly early haha.

well anyway, teaching is totally different from playing. sometimes makes me think about what my future holds. my mind is a blank now about what job options or study options there are for me after NS.. but my brain and fingers are clearly set on the upcoming exams.

yeap just some thoughts.

posted by guitar123 @ 5:37 PM 0 comments

the hols are finally here. still got to go back to sch (quite) a bit.. but its time to get away from it all. gdbye sch.

posted by guitar123 @ 7:30 AM 0 comments

i want my hols.

just 1 more day................................

posted by guitar123 @ 8:14 PM 0 comments

u noe what.

maths HL portfolio: Rotating Rectangles is going to go down in my record books as the Thing that Pissed Me Off the Most in 2006.

i dun get pissed off a lot.. but was really angry this afternoon. irritation kinda died off after i left the house for guitar class.

i better get good marks for this. i spent at least ten hours of my precious life trying to do it.

posted by guitar123 @ 10:24 PM 0 comments

so in the end i did go out with the lijiang people.

actually slept last night from 7 - 11. then woke up to do maths portfolio.. and i managed to get the gist of it last nite. slept again at 2 and so decided to go out.

haha welll the outing wasnt as exciting as we expected.. spent 2h waiting for the rest to come. first i met ryan at buona mrt, then seah at city hall. we went to macs and waited for 1 1/2h for brendan to come then we walked around and slacked and went to play pool, joined by david later on. chermaine, kunhan, mark came later on and we sat in some sushi outlet talking nonsense and of all things playing bridge.. like -.-

left around 445.. i decided to walk to esplanade to try frank brother's sole guitar. it costs 1.22k and well.. sounds and plays like a 1.22k guitar would. if onli they handled and kept it slightly better.. was quite badly scratched and had fingerprint marks spammed all over. they're ordering slightly more expensive ones.. hope they take better care of them.

reached home at 6 and... haha i wish i had stayed at home to do work.. maths portfolio.. chinese oral.. SWT.......

but then again.. ahh well.

posted by guitar123 @ 9:51 PM 0 comments

the planets by gustav holst.

now where did i hear Jupiter before.. sounds like sound movie soundtrack or i might have heard it from some band concert or somethingg.... lol some of this classical music.. its as if i've heard it b4 somewhere.. but just dont noe where.

posted by guitar123 @ 12:46 PM 0 comments

so yingda.. when are we celebrating haha.

mind u all.. i still got the pre-u scholarship. and thats still quite an achievement. Thank God.

just came back from vjc guitar concert.. mann vj pple scream a lot lol. anyways i think guitar concerts have that really nice quality of being light hearted if its put together well.. good time to bring a date lolol. onli problem with their concert was probably the mike system that totally distorted the sound of some guitars and a somewhat lack of musicality, even for the vivaldi concerto i feel. learnt quite a bit of new stuff.. and acsi guitar orchestra, we need to start thinking of some new antics. lolz.
the new student conductor of vjc guitar. hope he enjoys himself there.

posted by guitar123 @ 12:25 AM 0 comments

mini dilemma.

i've been offered the pre-u scholarship!! praise God. but problems.. u can be onli in receipt of 1 scholarship. and mep scholarship results are obviously not out yet. but mep scholarship is the one i want.. not becos it offers $250 more per annum.. but cos it supports what i want later in life. so if i rejected the pre-u and later not receive the mep scholarship....... besides the point that they give around 5 mes a year (lol zi qiang says he interprets that statement as 5 per jc). anyway its in the hands of ms chock now to check with the scholarship board.. i thank God that i was just walking about randomly after english test and i happened to see her at the foyer.

hmm but what really struck me with was the conversation i had with mr brian chirnside earlier on... that if i really had to take a chance and reject the pre-u scholarship even not knowing whether i wud get the mep scholarship later on i shud.. cos its really what i want and i showed my passion during the interview. and after all whats life without taking chances.. if not mr brain chirnside wud have been stuck at 'some school in new zealand and not doing what he truly enjoys here'.

but anyway moe cant do things like that to J1 students and torture them by making them take a chance with scholarships (and money). singapore's education system surely must have a certain direction. i hope the scholarship pple call miss chock back by today lol.

more music: Brandenburg 1, 2, 3, four seasons, some copland stuff, some bizet stuff, some gershwin stuff. mann i will nvr listen finish. let alone remember.

posted by guitar123 @ 5:24 PM 0 comments

life. i could write pages and pages of essays on it and it wudnt be complete.

anyways just came back from guitar lesson again. things are changing really fast. my music journey is turning around.

haha the lesson started quite funny.. told mr choo i dint really practice much this wk so he just showed me some finale-generated studies to tinker around with. he dint even need to put in the notes.. the software just generates stuff. lol new compositional techniques. then he said something about this book of studies i have.. that if i played until the end of the 6th book i wud be able to PASS my diploma. im just nearing the end of book 4.. and i've been spending ages on it. haha.

aft tt he let me try a bach prelude which is part of a bigger LRSM work, which is in ATCL syllabus. quite nice if played in a slightly romanticised fashion. played a part of another exam piece im working on for him. then it came. was asking, almost correcting him that i wanted to take my ATCL this year, and he said i shud be able to ( :) ). then he added that if it is possible next year i take LTCL in the middle of the year. well thats one crazy statement. his rationale is that i'm learning like never b4 already.. and he said what other time in your life would you reach such a high playing standard. i was really taken aback.. i thought that the way i played my exam piece still had a long way to go.. but its the peak already?

then he said that in army, when you dun practice for 3 months, just 3 months, ur skills are devastated already. and it takes a year to reach back to grade 8 after NS? hmm. but then thinking again.. even he doesnt have LTCL.. onli mr gaspar our conductor has it. and thats kinda a scary thought isnt it.. to attempt a qualification higher than that of your teacher. while your teacher is still teaching you. then he was also talking about how you get disillusioned about music, when u read newspapers of someone who has 6 diploma passes with distinction even b4 he or she hits 18? the journey as a musician is definitely not easy.. and tonight i think i felt it greatest from my guitar teacher. the reason why he doesnt have LTCL is probably cos of his lack of time to practice.. after all he is teaching and teaching and teaching.. sourcing and searching for resources and finding new ways to teach.

then enters in the thought of what the working world would be like in the future for me.. so uncertain now but i can see that it does sap away a lot of energy.. like what has been and what is happening to a lot of people. back to the subject of me taking LTCL in the middle of next year.. altho it sounds really crazy, i am seriously taking it into thought. the more i consider the rate im improving now.. it doesnt seem so far fetched already. and i think mr choo knows whats best for me.. im sure he does look at me and joshua my sec 3 fren and see how early we are blooming and wishes he had a better start or a better teacher or something that would have helped his life as a musician earlier in life. like the way i look at joshua and see how hes my standard when hes 2 years younger than me. and he probably experienced the devastation of NS and the disillusionment already and is warning me in advance. i am finally understanding true musicianship.. but at the same time for one to become an independent musician there must be a break away from the teacher.. and i think that would be a really sad one for me.. after all.. me and mr choo have become such good friends....

sometimes i think.. u want to pursue music to such a high level, u want to go overseas to study, yet you want to retain and keep old friendships strong, find the girl of your dreams and keep your relationship with God and the church strong. are u asking too much, chen yi? but whats wrong with big dreams. even if my dreams are not fulfilled, i feel whats most important is that God's purpose in life for me is fulfilled. it does not matter if i do not study music in university, do not take the LTCL exam, do not pursue a career in music, do not get married (!!!). but what really can i take into eternity with me? onli my character and my soul. music, how big a part of my life it is now, will fade away too. and also another thing that counts is my influence on others that may affect them for eternity too.

Matthew 6:33 says: "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.", and Romans 8:28: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

the bible is really an inspiration for me and directs me in the right direction. Praise God.

preparation for LTCL exam begins now.

besides the point, more cds: buttefly lovers' vln concerto and huang he pno concerto, a copland cd and a random bizet cd. lol. anyway, im a fan of the first two already. cya.

posted by guitar123 @ 10:06 PM 0 comments

what a day.

left sch slightly late for the moe building at buona.. saw a ghastly sight of a pool (or rather puddle lah) of blood from an accident that happened earlier on.. gross. met yingda at the foot of the building and went up together. interview, as usual didnt start on time.. started quite late.

well all i have to say is that the interview went pretty well. the interviewers were a group of really nice people.. being humanities pple and stuff. lol they kept laughing a lot. anyway im quite happy with the things i said during the interview too. i think they really saw my passion for guitar.. no faking needed. added in some joker comment too. lolol.

yeap anyways too much went on today for me to blog somemore.. a great day.

posted by guitar123 @ 6:16 PM 0 comments

OK FINE.

so. according to roger kamien.. the margrave actually loved music and asked bach to send him some original compositions. bach sent him the concertos hoping for money or favours in return, but we dont noe whether he got any or not. poor guy. so much of a friend the margrave was. lol im getting all my facts wrong. anyways, the harpsichord solo in the 5th concerto is really powerful. imagine if it were played on piano haha.

tml is mep scholarship interview and im missing chinese and english test for it. but more importantly, my interview is immediately after yingda's!!! lol how amazing. cant wait to see him.. miss talking to him a lot. im just going to go there one hour early and talk and talk. lolol. whether we get the scholarship is another matter.. it wud be great if we cud both get it tho, lol even considering the number of strong competitors out there. but it doesnt matter.. im looking forward to seeing yingda more than the interview actually. the power of great friendships.

going for a music scholarship interview together with one of ur strongest friends of 3 years is almost like the first step of a dream of a lifetime. cant really put my friendship with yingda into words. wish us luck. ame, huimin and chris cheong too.

posted by guitar123 @ 5:22 PM 0 comments

ok fine. so..

The six Brandenburg concertos (BWV 1046–1051) by Johann Sebastian Bach are a collection of instrumental works presented by Bach to the Margrave of Brandenburg (King Frederick William I of Prussia) in 1721, but probably composed earlier.

well must have been a gd fren right? then why wud u write music for somebody. quite a close guess by me? lolol.

posted by guitar123 @ 5:55 PM 0 comments

hello.

just got back from batam (not bintan oops) after 2 and a half days spent there. still feeling a bit groggy after waking up from a nap a while ago. still feel like im on the ferry haha. anyways, the time spent there was great fun.. played table tennis, taboo, went canoeing.. but most important of all my walk with God has been renewed through this experience. and i guess its just good that i can take a break away from the routines of sch no matter how absurd the timing may be (physics test this wk). gives life more meaning.

anyways, on to my next cd, brandenburg concertos 4, 5, 6. btw, after listening, beethoven's 5th symphony was really intriguing. must have been a breakthrough in his time.

i wonder why the brandenburg concertos were named brandenburg. lolol. maybe was bach's gd fren
Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 (BWV 1049) in G major
I. (Allegro)
II. Andante
III. Presto
Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 (BWV 1050) in D major
I. Allegro
II. Affetuoso
III. Allegro
Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 (BWV 1051) in B flat major
I. (Allegro)
II. Adagio ma non tanto
III. Allegro

posted by guitar123 @ 5:38 PM 0 comments

today was quite fun. =)

recorded my composition today!!! and it sounds quite ok too. except for some some almost impossible parts but i guess it was ok. thx zab, bryan and fattz.

also starting on a new direction in my music education today. borrowed 4 CLASSICAL cds.

first one i'm listening to is Beethoven's 5th and 6th 'Pastorale'. lol i shall blog down every cd i listen to so i noe wad i listened to already haha. i've wasted 4 (and a half) years. better to start now than never. lets see what 1 1/2 years makes.

posted by guitar123 @ 5:29 PM 0 comments

hello. today i'm going to do a 'blog about my day' post. lol.

today had maths test.. actually had 1h b4 that to study as well. quite ok i guess.. i think mr azmi prepared us ok for it.. just needed a heck lot of patience and stamina. thank goodness he dismissed us after the test for an early recess.

brain dead already, theres physics. but not b4 half the class (3 pple) leave for dental check up. i need to brush my teeth more. ok.

physics pracs must be the most retarded and spastic things around. so retarded and spastic its funny. today we used ball bearings rolling off a table and falling onto carbon paper to make marks on another piece of paper to calculate the velocities of who noes what. onli true geniuses can take physics HL. and do something as retard as this.

and chinese was slack.

in the past 4 years of my education, or come to think of it 7, there hasnt really been a day of school where there are onli 3 subject periods. but ib has created this. splendid.

yeap anyway came back and took a nap in the terrible heat and woke up sweating all over. yee. the heat is so terrible.

yeap i'm still recovering from the trauma of a maths test.. dunno why my whole exam mode was turned on just for it. lolol. unzombification.

tml is going to be more fun.. we're going to try to record my composition.. such an honour rite ^^

going to bintan (or batam?!) on friday morning to sunday with church friends. tts why im trying to clear as much work now as possible. yeapyeap. tts all for now cya i gtg for guit class.

posted by guitar123 @ 5:53 PM 0 comments

buargh!! i just cant bring myself to study. hai.

maybe its just me, or maybe its just me. but its been like that throughout.. as long as i can remember. i noe what i have to study.. but my brain just does not want to. i can do a million things that are educational to me as well.. practice guitar, listen to classical music (which i usually dont), read chim newspaper articles, research on mep syllabus for a levels.. everything BUT study econs and maths. like sigh. econs seems so long.. and maths seems like i cant revise finish.. but the tests are tml and wed.. so must try to pia as much as possible. i think econs shud be rather ok.. but maths has been hovering in the danger zone for this term. there are just so many holes to be filled up in my maths revision that i dun noe where to start. not to mention the countless other pieces of piling problems on my table.

well at least managed to get econs IA done ytd. hope its ok. reason im trying to rush as much stuff as possible is becos im going bintan with my church frens this friday - sunday so i wun be around (to study). yeap.

and i made a new step in my music education today!! i was at borders today and i told myself.. i must buy a guitar cd no matter what i can find.. and... I BOUGHT THE FIRST (real) GUITAR CD I NOW OWN IN MY LIFE!!! thats like such an achievement for me.. reason being a) i'm not the sort who listens to classical music b) it's time to begin life as a real musician (actually this step doesnt make it complete.. i need to go watch classical concerts -.-) c) i dun usually buy cds.

well i basically bought this cd from the utterly minute (compared to my guitar teacher's) collection of cds at borders.. cos it has 2 cds and seems to be the most value for money.. total of 2h+ of music. BUT there are some joker tracks where there is orchestral music with guitar when its supposed to be a SOLO. ahh well. its a start. a BIG start. shall treasure this cd greatly.. hopefully this is a starting point for a heck lot more to come.

posted by guitar123 @ 6:08 PM 0 comments

why cant life in singapore be less complicated. just a wk after coming back from lijiang i feel exhausted again.

one of the reflections that we made there was that their life is so slow paced and simple.. whereas we have pple politics and stuff. and ironically im thinking about that more than sch work.

all i have to say is that u have to watch ur words and actions realllll carefully even tho u think it might not have great effects cos one wrong move has devastating consequences. reminds me of the childrens' song 'oh be careful'.. the one abt hands legs and what you say.. for the father up above is looking down in love.

HAI.

posted by guitar123 @ 6:07 PM 0 comments

final group pic in the bunk and now the tiger leaping gorge.

never a river so peaceful..while raging out of control!!


haha u noe timmy looks a bit stone.
heres a failed panaroma shot i attempted. haha looks terribly weird with the mountain on the left, and river towards the right.

yup after that we went back to the hotel for a MUCH AWAITED rest. the relief is.. indescribable. when i got back i realised my face was really badly sunburnt and peeling so i used vaseline on my face.. like eww. and my nose is still red now larh!! lolol.

dinner was at some dunno where restaurant where they were selling paintings. our group decided to buy some for charity bazaar. yeap. then...

david's nose started bleeding. not the first time.. how about the 5th during the trip. lol. but this time it just didnt stop for like 10mins. but even in this type of situations david can still make it funny larh. like diao. i seriously cudnt stop laffing. and to make it worse.. we asked a waitress for an ice bag in our terrible chinese and check out what she gave us.

uber funny. upon reaching we had a debrief by the Spring of Love personnel where we discussed stuff we learnt and where most of my reflections came from. basically most of us agreed that they shud have given us more info on clothing and temperature, and perhaps more info about the kids. but life is so simple there that nothing is set in stone and all activities are very flexible. maybe thats why china eastern flights are always delayed. but thats beside the point lol. yeap we also found out that the kids cud onli understand like.. 30% of our chinese. lol but i think it was the same vice versa cos of their accent. but i think it was a good close to the cas.

Day 6 Thursday 27 april

this was the snow mountain day. once again, beautiful scenery, along with its set of jokes. we set off quite early in the morning (what am i saying.. we set of early every day) for Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. along the way we stop to pick up.. guess what.. oxygen flasks. u noe.. i think that its just purely psychological. how can someone sell u a free good for 30 yuan!?!? unrational behaviour. lol. but at the end of the mountain trip we were all getting high on it lah haha.

the queue to get up the mountain kinda took ages. we had to wait for a bus.. so we waited at the entrance to take some pics with the scenery. this one is one of our funnier pics. the guy on the right is me and the foot belongs to david. reminds me of those ancient chinese movies where they fight in the foreground with mountain scenery in the back. i need a dragon ball.

after taking a bus to the cable car station.. we had to wait.. again. but the cable car was worth the wait mann.

phew!! we're finally at the top. fortunately my shanghai gear was quite adequate and i felt quite ok and didnt die in the snow. and this was the first time i saw snow!!!! how cool. literally. too bad the snow there was kinda chunky and a bit hard. but there were clouds above us and it starting snowing a bit!!! how coooooll. more pics.

heres weihan's snowball. the purple thing is the cap of the oxygen canister
ahh yes thanks for the pic brendan. LOLOLOLOLOLL.
after our fun in the snow and hurling snowballs and ice blocks (!!!) at each other it was time to go down again. lol we tried to wave to other pple in the cable cars going up. we were as succesful as someone turning to look at us. hmph. dao kias.
phew. then it was off to lunch then we went to another part of the mountain where we could take chair lifts up. more pics.

at the top of the chairlift there was a little plateau where we cud rent traditional costumes for 5 yuan and take pics.. but of cos dowan lah. we go down nearby and stop to see yaks.

and its off to the airport. we said goodbye to our guide and then boarded the spectacular short flight to kunming. first observations of this plane is that its 2nd hand.. theres english, chinese, and some european language on the signs. lol. and i tip a seat over by accident and realise that all the seats can actually incline forward 10 degrees. gasp. as if the stuff in the seats were taken out.

the take off was just as spectacular. just a minute after take off we encountered turbulence larh. how cool. we ascended like a roller coaster for quite a while until a stable height. stayed at that height for like.. 10 mins and then started descending again. the turbulence was causing the plane to shake lah!! we landed like.. bang!! lol.

at the airport we saw the system flashing that we cud collect our luggage at belt 5. but slightly later on some guy announced that it was belt 3 instead -.- so organised hor. we got our stuff and found out the bus cudnt fit our luggage and set off for the hotel without it first. then at about 1030, the kunming pple arrived back from dinner and our luggage arrived too!! happy to see fattz, ame, justin they all. haha im sure their experience had been just as good as ours. justin bought a box of jay chou cds.. all 6 albums.. for wad.. 98 yuan?!? lolol. ownage. and its off to bed after some dilly dally.

Day 7 Friday 29 april

give us a break man. last day also want us to wake up early. anyways, woke up arnd 730, packed our stuff for the umpteenth time and hauled our heavy luggage down to the hotel lobby and set off for Dounan flower market. the flowers there are really beautiful, but the market was really cold haha. i bought 3 satchets of potpourri.. scented pouches. some bought flowers and kenneth khing bough qi li xiang seeds!! haha.

that afternoon was mass shopping.. first we had fast food lunch @ kfc. their stuff is ultra healthy lah. my chicken burger had veg infused in the patty and my fries had hardly any salt. lol. we then taxied to this place called shuang long bai huo. the stuff they sold there was kinda terrible so we dint buy anything.. but decided to walk outside to the stalls to see fake stuff. the shirt i remember best was one with 3 stripes at the shoulders and 'nike' written across the front. lolol. shud have bought one. anyway we decided that the place sucked and cabbed back to our initial point. i tell u.. the way the taxis there work.. HAIYOH. our 2nd cab driver even stopped the cab halfway and started reading his book while waiting for the light lah. and u have to run to a cab to get it. like -.-

after shopping it was off to western buffet. too bad i was exhausted.. if not i cud have eaten more haha. and then it was to airport for the final flight, all high from the chocolate, caffine (and nicotine (!!!)) from the buffet.

picture courtesy of brendan. took the final flight back to singapore and arrived arnd 230. but lol.. my parents werent there when i walked out!! waited a while and they arrived at 3+. went home and slept at 4.

PHEW. anyways, here are my final thoughts on the trip. i was quite looking forward to it cos of the pple going, as in half of last year's 4.15 noah, and it was worth it. grew a lot with the .15 guys and i must say, u all rock, with all the lame stuff and what not. but even so, i wud not deny that i actually wanted to go beijing. but my decision was right.. doesnt matter what place we go.. as long as u have good friends going with you thats all that matters.

one week with a group of pple wud really reveal how close the bonds of friendships are. i must say that some friendships were definitely put to the test, while others were strengthened. but at the end of all this, im really glad im back, cos i felt i was drifting away from God during this trip. i was really missing my churhc friends and im glad i cud spend some time with them over these 2 days. and the weather and exhaustion was killing me. haha when i came back, my appetite has increased like siao haha. and my nose is still red -.- thank God i didnt fall sick. yet. haha. yeap. and tts abt it i guess. leave u will the more important pictures. end of entry. :)

posted by guitar123 @ 8:02 PM 1 comments