shades of grey.

u noe, i think singaporeans really shud be happier. is life in singapore that dismal.

i have enough with 'school sucks' and 'why am i in ib', or 'so-and-so teacher is lousy, lesson so boring' etc etc. u noe what it doesnt really matter if a teacher cant teach or what. as long as he can hold your attention for the lesson time thats all im looking for. and so what if u have a lot of homework.. i also have what. life is very fair one. and just now my maid was uttering this complaint under her breath about how i make tea to drink at night. urh.. its this sleepy tea from lijiang i bought. whats wrong with making tea at night? not like my tea is going to kill u or what. and my sis is forever throwing tantrums around the house. sigh.

see lah now im complaining too. lol.

went for a seminar on scholarships on saturday afternoon and this guy was talking about how singapore ranked 131 in a survey of happiness and no. 1 being people who live on this island called Vanuatu. hahaha. maybe we shud just sell all our stuff in singapore and go live on some deserted island. maybe then we'd be happy.

haha this is ultra funny, got this off a website declaring nigerians as the happiest people in the world:
PATH TO HAPPINESS
Genetic propensity to happiness
Marriage
Make friends and value them
Desire less
Do someone a good turn
Have faith (religious or not)
Stop comparing your looks with others
Earn more money
Grow old gracefully
Don't worry if you're not a genius

the onli point i disagree with is Earn more money. lolol.

posted by guitar123 @ 7:19 PM 0 comments

well what can i say. i think chamber did a great job last night with their concert, even tho the audi was a bit too big for good projection, and who cares if u all made mistakes. as long as u connected with the audience its great. and the amount of effort put in too.

just makes me long for a guitar concert... too bad there doesnt look like theres one this year. the closest u will get is a free public performance at far east plaza on 8 sept or a 5 - 6 minute performance of me during year 5 concert ;) but when the time comes, we're gonna bring the house down. just u all wait lol. i think by next year our repertoire shud be so wide that we wud be able to put up a full fledged concert. maybe when inspiration strikes me i shall go spam some notes on sibelius.

and the guitar orch is gonna get to play the sch anthem soon. i just cant think of an appropriate electric guitar and electric bass solo for the intro and coda, so i guess i will leave that open to the soloists themselves to improvise ;)

and we'll see if guitar orchestra is remembered to be acknowledged. hmph.

go ian! start adding guitar parts to more of the haven pieces. haha.

posted by guitar123 @ 9:23 PM 0 comments

The timeline of the ACS Guitar Orchestra

Chamber did something like this for their concert programme.. and i think i shall start doing one for guitar, as far as my mind can remember (and i'll try to make it as formal and accurate as possible, but should the element of humour enter, dun be surprised, cos the nature of guitar is liddat). Anyone who wants to add anything feel free to tag. lol.

2002 - ACS(I) Guitar Ensemble is formed by Ms Ng Shau Ching, with a group of 27 'enthusiastic boys from Secondary One to Three' (school magazine 2002) under the instruction of Mr Thomas Liauw, 'organiser of the annual Guitar Festival in Singapore'. The ACS Guitar Ensemble made its debut without a conductor during a teacher's day performance with a performance of the piece Amazing Grace. The president of guitar at this time was Brandon Lye, the first ever MEP student to offer guitar as first instrument at the GCE O level examination.

2003 - The ACS(I) Guitar Ensemble was taken over by Mr Terence Choo in November 2002, and formal structures such as establishment of a committee. The ensemble made its first appearance at the Singapore Youth Festival (SYF) in July (due to SARS back then) and obtained a Gold with its performance of a Gavotte by Bach and Tango by Albeniz, both arranged for 3-part guitar ensemble. The ensemble performed on the school's new guitars from Spain. Before the SYF, the ensemble also held its debut concert on 12 July. A small group of students passed the Trinity College First Recital Ensemble examination with distinction.

2004 - Two new coaches join the ACS(I) Guitar Ensemble, Mr Michael Gaspar and Mr Balraj Gopal. With the outstanding performance in the Trinity College First Recital Ensemble examination, the small group has been asked to perform at the High Scorer's Concert. That year's concert, Kaleidoscope, was a collaborative effort with the ACS(I) Chamber Orchestra and Choir. The president for the year is Benjamin Wong, vice president 1 Abiel Pascual.

2005 - The ensemble now obtains Niibori instruments, Alto guitars, Bass guitars and a new Contrabass, and is renamed ACS(I) Guitar Orchestra. At the SYF competition the orchestra was awarded a Gold award, with the performance of pieces Sevilla by Albeniz and Spain by Chick Corea. The Festival of Arts concert that year was 'Guitarra Serenata', alongside other performances such as the ABS Annual General Meeting dinner and Methodist Teachers' Get Together. The president for the year is Lim Jun Jie, vice president 2 Chen Yi, student conductor Ang Dun Hao.

and the future of this timeline.. is in the future of the orchestra to write. k anyone from guitar or anywhere who wants to copy and paste this stuff anywhere, feel free to do so, its not under copyright or what. its pretty reliable, i've looked through the past 4 years of school mags.

BUT,

i cant help it, i want to do something i'd call a NORMATIVE timeline, one with my own opinions. lol.

2002 - ACS(I) Guitar Ensemble is formed by Ms Ng Shau Ching, with a group of 27 'enthusiastic boys from Secondary One to Three' (school magazine 2002) under the instruction of Mr Thomas Liauw, 'organiser of the annual Guitar Festival in Singapore'. The ACS Guitar Ensemble made its debut without a conductor during a teacher's day performance with a performance of the piece Amazing Grace. I WONDER WHY. do u noe how we started the piece.. The president of guitar at this time was Brandon Lye, the first ever MEP student to offer guitar as first instrument at the GCE O level examination, sitting on the extreme right nodded his head in an exaggerated manner just to get us to start together.

2003 - The ACS(I) Guitar Ensemble was GLADLY taken over by Mr Terence Choo in November 2002, and formal structures such as establishment of a committee. The ensemble made its first appearance at the Singapore Youth Festival (SYF) in July (due to SARS back then) and obtained a Gold with its performance of a Gavotte by Bach and Tango by Albeniz, both arranged for 3-part guitar ensemble. (YAY!!) The ensemble performed on the school's new guitars from Spain, which are now in dismal condition in my opinion. Before the SYF, the ensemble also held its debut concert on 12 July. A small group of students passed the Trinity College First Recital Ensemble examination with distinction.

2004 - Two new coaches join the ACS(I) Guitar Ensemble, Mr Michael Gaspar and Mr Balraj Gopal. With the outstanding performance in the Trinity College First Recital Ensemble examination, the small group has been asked to perform at the High Scorer's Concert, but ironically half the group has left the school by the time the concert comes, so a new group is asked to play, the same few spastic pieces we played for the concert. like diao lah. That year's concert (rather unsuccessful in my opinion), Kaleidoscope, was a collaborative effort with the ACS(I) Chamber Orchestra and Choir. we made the mistake of playing really 'classical' stuff like canon in D and Air on (from) G string.. plus chamber items, plus choir = quite boring. my father was falling asleep. The president for the year is Benjamin Wong, vice president 1 Abiel Pascual.

2005 - The ensemble now obtains Niibori instruments, Alto guitars, Bass guitars and a new Contrabass, and is renamed ACS(I) Guitar Orchestra. At the SYF competition the orchestra was awarded a Gold award, with the performance of pieces Sevilla by Albeniz and Spain by Chick Corea. you see, even with the implementation of a new 'gold with honours' standard, they DIDNT GIVE OUT ANY for the secondary schools division. hence we effectively concluded that even with our rather spectacular performance and not receiving it, the judging panel was rather biased. lol. the onli sch which got GWH was temasek jc, ironically conducted by none other than thomas liauw. The Festival of Arts concert that year was 'Guitarra Serenata', which featured the first ever guitar concerto played with guitar orchestra accompaniment, the 2nd movement of concerto de aranjuez, performed by none other than yours truly. ok so it wasnt the whole thing, i still cant play some sections of the piece, but it was quite cool, with that special stick-on mike and setting of the dark cpa that contributed to a really nice performance atmosphere. its a night i wun ever forget in a long time. alongside other performances such as the ABS Annual General Meeting dinner and Methodist Teachers' Get Together. The president for the year is Lim Jun Jie, now an acjc student council member, vice president 2 Chen Yi, now who holds no post and is attempting his ATCL at the end of the year, and student conductor Ang Dun Hao, who is now SC of VJ guitar. all the best haha.

posted by guitar123 @ 5:03 PM 0 comments

oh no my blog is collecting cobwebs already.

u noe sometimes its just so hard when the day is really sooooo mundane that u have nothing to blog about.

sch today was terribly slack, i went to sch for australian maths competition, charity cafe, pe, and to hear 2 mock iops. and guitar of course. haven is taking people away from classes and the teachers cant really do much. ah well.

and theres not going to be much real music lessons during the next wk leading up to haven. :( no matter how out of point or tiring music lessons can get at times, its the subject that sometimes really keeps me alive in sch.

today guitar was really comical. my guitar teacher who was teaching the sec 1s was like high or something and joking around like siao. and the best thing.. he taught them how to sing 'the more we get together' while strumming an E chord and B7 chord on the guitar. absolutely hilarious.

sometimes its just the small things.

posted by guitar123 @ 9:19 PM 0 comments

my mum just came back from US.. missed her a lot.

altho she's not normally a veri funny person, the present she bought for me amuses me a lot. its nail file (you know those gigantic weird shaped ones women use) with the statue of liberty on one side and NEW YORK on the other. haha the last time she went... i had one with stars and stripes with Washington D.C. on the back. lolol.

posted by guitar123 @ 6:41 PM 0 comments

sometimes it isnt how many mistakes u made during the performance

or how many u dint make

at the end of the day its whether u connected to the audience or not.

after tonight's performance, everything was worth it. :)

posted by guitar123 @ 11:22 PM 0 comments

saturday

hmm after my 3rd or 4th piano class with my new teacher, i feel kinda disappointed that i 1) dun have the time to practice piano 2) keep fingernails so i cant play piano properly 3) dun have a proper acoustic piano to practice properly.

but guitar is my 'first love' and i'm dedicating more time to it.. so piano would have to go with about an hour of practice a wk until maybe after or during army when my fingernails are gone.

leaving the house at 12:40 later for vch, where i will spend the rest of my saturday, waiting and talking nonsense with my guitar trio members for like 8 hours, and spend about 5 minutes actually performing. well reality is like that, but i'm cherishing this opportunity to play during mep concert, cos it doesnt come often and we're representing not only acsi but also acs guitar. so i WILL NOT LET TECHNICAL PROBLEMS like mikes ruin an otherwise ok performance. haha. we tried yesterday with mikes and we dint point them at the correct places and the sound was terrible. really hope to get a chance to test the mikes again later b4 the performance.

k then tts all for now. cya.

posted by guitar123 @ 12:00 PM 0 comments

I'M SO TIRED I'M SO GLAD I DONT HAVE TO GO TO SCH OR WAKE UP EARLY TML.

guitar prac is ok. i'm so glad the seniors as in the sec 4s are indeed making an effort to get the orchestra together, but at the same time the rest of the orchestra is still as it was. i guess it will take some time.

prelude in g minor is ok.. just that the entire bass section aside from me shane and tim is missing cos of battle of the bands.. so they havent even seen the score yet. i guess its slowly picking up.. but the juniors from the orchestra 2 are picking up really slow and some just dun even bother. hai.

in terms of solo prac, i've kinda hit a dead end in my practice. after sunday's perf, which i did practice and psych myself so hard for.. kinda failed, i was super demoralised, still am. at times like this i feel like i need a revolution. the last time i felt like this was during the grade 6 - grade 7 days, when sch work was just taking up so much time. but later i found how powerful playing for passion was and this year practice has really been picking up. but after sunday, i dunno...

i'm just gonna rest with my free time for a while. sch is just so absolutely exhausting. i dunno about u all.. but i find paying attention quite draining in class, and talking to friends (those not so close to u) almost as exhausting, altho it isnt stressful. i think its just becos of my personality, that i find it really draining and that it takes quite a bit of courage to socialise. but 2 Cor. 12:9, God's power is made perfect in my weakness, and its times when i speak up despite my introvertedness that is most powerful.

but on an average day, sometimes i'd just rather be alone. with God and with my music.

posted by guitar123 @ 6:50 PM 0 comments

left sch early for mep concert rehearsal at vch.. too bad they werent really doing anything for the first hour.. i shudnt miss so much sch anymore haha.

we havent practiced our guitar trio piece for really long.. lucky it sounded okay today. i like vch for its acoustics, tho we guitars are usually a bit soft. but i think with miking on the actual day, it shud sound good.

the whole thing ended quite late.. cos we had to stay back for a debrief.. but it was worth it cos we heard the mep orch play the huang he piano concerto.. like totally wow lah. the soloists are really amazing.. and the string section is quite good too. if only the woodwinds and brasses were as powerful.. haha no offence ying da. haha got to see him today too.

well today during chapel i cudnt help but notice that guitar was not acknowledged during the announcement of ccas involved in haven. sure we're only sending 4 guitarists, but a word of acknowledgement along with the rest of the ccas wud be nice. i cudnt help but feel a bit down for the guitar group as a whole.. i'm sure others from the guitar did too. but ah well. one day i'll arrange the sch anthem in guitar orch configuration.. perhaps with an electric guitar solo part to make it a mini concerto. heh. maybe then people will really remember guitar as one of the main music ccas. like it isnt already.

tml the guit orch will get 2 new pieces, that i think will really test the orch both technically and in terms of group coordination too. hope they like it haha.

and it turns out that Deluge, who is representing acsi at battle of the bands finals, comprises of several members of the guitar orch. congrats to them, all the best.

posted by guitar123 @ 8:44 PM 0 comments

COP

today's competition.. or rather 'competition' was.. well rather disappointing.

the whole set up was well.. not the best of performance settings. cold, no warm up.. enough to get u nervous and shaking. plus the hall we were playing in the acoustics werent made for guitar playing, and they dint give us mike, so i think we couldnt be heard effectively beyond the first row.

well typical average performance i guess. haha mr choo says we shud take less time to tune. and joshua lim super champion.. turn up for competition in his signature black shirt, berms and sandals. like LOL lah. but i think his tango en skai was quite ok. but like wise the projection factor just spoils it all.

there was one other 'competitor' in our segment, a violinist who looked as if she had already completed her ATCL or something. she was awarded a bronze, while me and joshua were awarded certificates of participation.

so..
1) dun take so long to tune
2) dun use strings that u've nvr used b4 for a competition
3) the audience makes quite a big difference to a performance.. this audience was small, and a bit cold.. nvr clap after the first piece, only clap at the end of the perf. and performing to music HL class, and complete strangers is totally different.
4) if possible, DO try to warm up b4 a performance
5) for guitars get a mike if the place is too big and u cant project
6) they need to invent on the spot hand warming devices
7) i want a new guitar lol.

ah well. the bus ride back was more draining than the competition itself. enough said then. i'm going to go console myself by playing guitar again later. haha.

posted by guitar123 @ 7:49 PM 0 comments

James 3:3 - 12
"When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.

The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water."



'Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man.' - Eccl. 12:13

~

oh no mr choo cant find the english suite orignal score.. haha. but HOPEFULLY the trinity music centre people wont be too strict and like disqualify me or what cos it wud be real sad that they are so inflexible.

acsgo will have not one, but hopefully 2 new pieces to play when i get back to sch. i've finished printing rachmaninoff's prelude in g minor transcription (which took me at least 10h in total to do). in my opinion, its challenging enough to be an syf piece haha. the other is a compo made up of purely natural harmonics. simple, but writing it down is a chore. haha the notes are done but the fingerings are only half done.

365th post today!! haha

posted by guitar123 @ 10:44 PM 0 comments

went back to sch today for music exam. decided to treat it more as a fun thing rather than an exam.. that way can take it with less stress haha.

indeed it is weird to go back to sch after 7 days of resting. its nice to be able to wake up every morning over the past few days and experience the morning and reflecting instead of worrying what periods there are on that day and sitting couped up in class where u feel only the aircon and see only the whiteboard and worksheets.

music exam was okay.. but was really pooped after the paper.. cos i havent pushed myself to think so hard in a wk haha. was rushing the bartok qn at the end. and this time i made sure i didnt listen to the extracts overand over and over again until i went nuts. haha. 'Unsquare dance' was so funny lah. with its 2+2+3/8 meter. and corny lyrics.. 'asymmetrically swing your partner around' and 'too bad if you fall on the floor'.. haha of cos u will fall if u danced to that weird meter. hahahah.

my shingles are STILL not completely gone.. so i came back to sleep haha. gonna spend the rest of the wkend resting. yeap tts all for now. cya.

posted by guitar123 @ 3:48 PM 0 comments

mc day 7

well my mini holiday is coming to an end.. but the shingles arent gone yet. looks like it will be taking a while more to disappear completely.

today my guit teacher kindly came to my house again cos i cant really go out. i'm playing for a non-competitive competition in the advanced string category this sunday organised by trinity college links in singapore i think. it used to be competitive but they didnt have enough competitors for it to be competitive. so they made it non-competitive which means you just compete but theres no prize money. for fun. participants will still be awarded either a gold, silver, bronze or COP. gold and silver recepients to perform during finals on 29 july. haha.

i'll be playing English Suite mvt I and La Catedral mvts I and II. almost wanted to play the siao fast 3rd mvt but after some persuasion that the 1st and 2nd had more 'music', i stuck to my initial option. and today my guitar teacher said that i have a chance to pass the diploma exam. lol! pass rate is smth like 20% for these type of dips. lol. he said in the past passing mark used to be 70 and his score was 74. now pass mark is 50 and dist is 75. hahaha. so now he wud be one mark short of a dist. lol.

ok then. shall be resting all the way into the weekend and maybe do a bit of iop or smth. but must not plan too much hahaha. even tho i think i will feel weird when i go back to sch.. well i guess life wud just continue as per normal. whatever normal is. haha.

posted by guitar123 @ 7:25 PM 0 comments

AHHH YES!! I'VE GIVEN MY BLOG POSTS A TITLE!! ~2nd and one day'th anniversary of blog

RAWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! yesterday was my blog' birthday and i forgot!! HAPPY (belated) 2ND BIRTHDAY, BLOG!!!! lol.

so, on the 2nd and one day'th anniversary of my blog, i shall post some totally random stuff. today i will be blogging about.. infatuation!! lolol.

what is infatuation? often described as 'liking' somebody, 'an object of extravagant short-lived passion' (dictionary.com) or a 'crush', the teenage years is where it happens the most i guess, now no one can admit to not having experienced it b4, when you're just learning how to interact with the opposite gender after primary sch. and being in an all boys/girls sch for 4 years doesnt help much lol.

well heres my theory of why people get infatuated, and why it doesnt work out most of the time. (lol i cant believe i'm blogging this type of stuff.. well we need to do something new everyday right? haha)

theory 1: because of another person's looks or appearance only, which i think is real shallow. theory 2: because you have an admiration for someone else's qualities, or maybe really look up to a person.

ok why infatuation doesnt work out. based on theory 1, if you get infatuated with someone purely because they look good only, thats real shallow. haha. theory 2, well for you to look up to or have an admiration for somebody, that person has to be somewhat 'better' than you. unfortunately, that better person may not think very highly of you.

anyway, infatuation is just a fleeting emotion.. which we shouldn't let get in the way of true friendships. and, dun trust everything i say, cos love and relationships is not something that can be put into formulas and equations.

yeap in conclusion, this is a verse i think of when i feel really confused about these matters: Romans 8: 5 - 6: "Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;"

ok then. tts all for the 2nd and one day'th anniversary of my blog. cya!!

posted by guitar123 @ 12:21 PM 0 comments

Taiwan singer with same name

"if you always do what you always did,
you will always get what you always got." - Howard Hoffman

it's always good to do something new everyday, i think i will be striving for that haha.

today in the newspapers reported in life section page 7 about this taiwanese singer with the same PIN YIN name as me.. thankfully not exact same chinese characters. haha was really funny when a church friend pointed it out to me this morning. the whole article is so corny lah. and his album cover looks absolutely disgusting, its titled elf.

yucks!!! makes my skin go funny, like it wasnt funny enough already. lol

posted by guitar123 @ 4:35 PM 0 comments

well.

today i was absolutely pooped lah. woke up at 7, took medicine dropped back to bed. woke up at 9:50, ate, read papers, drop back to bed. 2:40 wake up, eat, take medicine, drop back to bed. siaoness man. i had morning hair at like 5pm lah lolol. but told myself that i shud go to church anyway. after a bath of cos.

came back at 8pm and i was pooped again. lol. one of the internet websites says 'It is usually a very painful rash, and typically people can't bear clothes touching the affected area.' and im starting to agree.. sometimes i just roll about in bed to find a nonexistent most comfortable position. which maybe is the reason why im so pooped. but nvm. just tahan.

kk tts all for now. cya.

posted by guitar123 @ 10:30 PM 0 comments

today was a great day.

woke up at 7am, took my medicine and dropped back on the bed to sleep again.

10am was my first piano lesson with my new piano teacher, mr yip. hes quite a talented guy, heard he went to the US to study music. i've yet to ask him more about it. haha imagine your average chinese looking guy in his late 20s.. suddenly start humming slightly overexpressively the tune of chopin's nocturne opus 9.. LOL. haha but he's good.

then yingda and mx came over at 12:30 for lunch.. ming xuan had to leave early for piano class.. and HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEE MING XUAN one day in advance!! ahhh soo sorry.. we've forgotten about ur birthday in the midst of common tests. we'll get u some reall good present.. just really belated. haha.

i feel today was the day where i truly managed to exhaust all i wanted to talk about to yingda.. everything that was truly important. haha he played for me schumann's intermezzo!!! memorised too, if only he were playing on a grand piano or something rather than my digital piano.. ahh its such a cool piece. six flats. haha i'm missing the last page.

ya noe sometimes how expressively u play for someone depends on how well u noe the person.. and woah i poured out my heart and soul on the guitar today. to be playing as you would for yourself for somebody and not be shaking and in a cold sweat after that.. hmm. i really hope my music inspires people. thx yingda and mx for the gifts from sydney too.. haha its reall nice.

as for my future, i shall leave it in God's hands.

Phillipians 4:8 -
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

posted by guitar123 @ 9:50 PM 0 comments

well. now that i have all the time in the world.

firstly, i've researched a bit about shingles.. well whats important is that its not contagious, as in u cant catch it from somebody else, and hits you when ur immune system is down, which was probably the case for me. the rash is on my back and chest, and onli infects one side of ur body, so thats why i looked normal in sch. other than that, its supposed to be really bad; the rest of the symptoms u can go read up yourself :P

the pain is starting to set in now.. for the past few days it felt like backache or smth.. and i just suspected it cud be heat rash or something.

well anyway, called the sch front office this morning, and they didnt have mr bill chia's hp no. so i dunno how the message got across. around 9am mdm gina ong called me, found out i had a 7 day mc and was going to miss the rest of the papers, and seemed rather like.. dun care haha. the conversation ended with.. rest well, bye. no news about how im going to make up or what. well liddat, its better for me not to know.. so i have less stress. lol.

anyway, i can really see the hand of God working here.. i'm someone who likes to plan and plan and plan. i've had a plan to finish studying on time, with everyday's percentages of subject material finished studying recorded in my diary. last night, i planned to completely finish revising maths, by going through my entire maths file of notes and practising one last question for every topic. i planned that i would sleep at around 11pm, and wake up with sub-standard sleep but still have enough energy to do 2 papers.

but yesterday at the doctor's clinic, i was kind of in disbelief when he told me i'm not allowed to even study. the whole table of planned values for the following week shattered. well hence Isaiah 55:8. anyway its what anyone would want right? even the doctor tells you not to study, when that remark made by ur friends is just a joke.

my mind is now free again. Matthew 11:28, one of my favourite verses says: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.' well i feel that i've indeed received rest now, rest for my mind even though my body is battered. and also 2 Cor. 12:9, "But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." sometimes we just need to be slapped really hard so that we will realise something. i'm glad i'm so sick now.. cos that means i have more time to rest, a reason to change, and also more time for God.

James tells us in his book chapter 1:2, to 'Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,' well i guess this is one of the trials that has brought me joy.

all of you still having common tests, dun give up. remember these verses and i hope you all will stay strong!!

and im glad that the animosity is slowly getting better.

posted by guitar123 @ 10:04 AM 0 comments

well so we have a change in plans.

just saw the doctor just now and i've been told i've contracted shingles. along with it comes a 7 day mc and medicine i have to take 5 times a day.

so.

its mixed feelings honestly. its what anyone would want right? remission in the midst of exams. but my fate would be decided later.. when i call the sch tml morning.

but for now.. i'm NOT SUPPOSED TO WORRY ABOUT ANYTHING. super cool lah.

anyways, i will have to make up for these common tests in some way, and at least i did english :P

u noe i really do feel like i have energy to go through this exams, but now im told im not even allowed to study. mixed feelings. well now i do have all the time in the world for a week.

anyway, i shall post a verse here.. which i havent done in really long. i guess this is the perfect time to revive the original purpose of my blog. which is really titled "Daily devotion book/diary of a Singaporean teen" when it was started 1 year and 360 days ago.

Isaiah 55:8
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.

ya noe i've been really reflecting.. do u all as my friends really see Christ' light through me.. is my language and actions exemplary enough? that day someone was asking me about my religion and thought that was a free thinker. when i heard that i was rather disappointed. perhaps im not doing enough. i've also shunned away from seriously and frankly talking about my faith in sch after sec 1. well anyway 1 wk is enough for that to change. i guess u will be seeing more of my spiritual thoughts here later on.

wah the medicine is kicking in.. im getting reallll drowsy already. better go sleep. update more some other time.

posted by guitar123 @ 7:59 PM 0 comments

just got an update.. that monday has been declared a HOLIDAY?!? in lieu of world cup finals... which i noe nuts about and dun care about anyway. which means 1 more day to study econs physics and music. but also means DELAYED FREEDOM, like our freedom wasnt delayed enough ALREADY. music on saturday? u gotta be kidding. lol.

today's english was ok i guess.. but i only had like half a phrase talking about african slaves in my commentary while other pple's commentaries named it like the subject matter or something. okay i will probably suffer in the area of interpretation but i dun think my analysis was that bad.. lowest i will get would be 16/25 i guess.. with a bit of luck higher. anyway my feelings to todays paper are: its over, so its over.

tml is chinese and maths, and my head is going to explode (as usual). nothing more to say.

lately there has been some hoo hah over dunno wad guitar vs chamber.. well my take on this is that it has to stop.. for the sake of music. in the first place, how can guitar even be compared to chamber? comparing a guitar to a violin, a viola or a cello (or even a piano) is like comparing your ankle sock to his cap, with disasterous results. suzuki method says musicians should cooperate.. and i agree.. even tho a bit of friendly competition is okay, but not too much.

since my closest band friends have left for acjc, and fellow true guitar player left for vj, in mep class i mostly spend time with friends from chamber, and i think they're great pple. one of the aims of my compositions is to unite players, first compo for flute, violin, guitar cello and second a guitar concerto with string ensemble accompaniment (3rd for electric guitar and trumpet? :P). yes we all well know the state of the mep department now, but ahh wells.. music education is more than that.

yeap so in all, friendship and the spirit of musicianship is more important than just mere systems and shortcomings.

with the promising comeback of spirit in the guitar orchestra, in the midst of the exams o.O im composing a new piece for them, (and its quite promising too :P), a random composition made up purely of natural harmonics. i want it to be a short one, and just have the audience go 'what was that?' at the end of its performance. but this is really quite experimental and requires quite a high level of skill in terms of coordination (and also in being able to play fourth fret harmonics :P) yeah so i hope that they will like my compo.

for now.. i think i shall stone a while first before commencing maths.. lolz.

oh oh!! and next tuesday will be the 2nd anniversary of my blog!! cool.

posted by guitar123 @ 3:44 PM 0 comments

wah buay tahan. its 9+ but it feels like 1am in the morning.

sleeping less than 6h at night is no joke. DONT. but thats whats gonna happen on thursday night. i really wonder if i shud carry on with the weird sleeping pattern regime.. maybe shudnt. we'll see. but for now.. i cant do ANY work, and i just want to sleep. waiting for my chinese tea to cool so i can drink it and sleep. tonight sure sleep until super 'song'.

was thinking about the 20 pple who inspired me most in my life.. and i found i cudnt count off 20 people who truly inspired me. so sad haha. but they're mostly my older church friends who i admire, my parents, true close sch frens, not forgetting my guitar teacher, and some others. shall not post it :P

ok then.. its off to bed now i guess. cya.

posted by guitar123 @ 9:23 PM 0 comments

i want to do nothing.

i cant even play guitar. everytime i play a few notes i start coughing like siao. :(

posted by guitar123 @ 9:08 PM 0 comments

updates.

my sleep patterns are adjusting dangerously to the exam period and i think it will kind of become like last year.. wake up at 6:20am every morning, sit for the papers, come back at arnd 12 or 1 and nap for like 2h. study study, at night cannot sleep until 12+ and repeat cycle.

but this year theres a problem. my sleep patterns are already like that even before the exam has started.. theres still tuesday and wednesday to conquer with my 6h-at-night sleep patterns. oh dear haha.

the feeling during exam period is really really one of a kind. even tho i onli study for about 1 - 2h a day (which is a lot to me lol) my brain feels exhausted, i almost dun even feel like playing guitar (but once u start u cant stop, for at least an hour). my brain is so cramp full that thoughts are sweeping everywhere.. and its really terrible cos my brain is so clogged i cant control what i think.. which is bad cos i think a lot.. and i think u see where this is going.

my brain is just going round and round in circles.

filling it with more stuff sometimes isnt a better option.

its good to take a walk sometimes. just to try to clear it a bit. if onli it wasnt so humid outside. lol.

and my sis blasts her music downstairs like 24-7. silence at home is truly heavenly, which is almost like never. i dun mind music, but overhearing music sometimes becomes noise. and it doesnt help that my sis listens to the same song 6.0 x 10^23 times a day.

oh and u noe i was thinking, maybe the reason why my brain cant study more than 3h a day when im at home is prob cos theres like, increasing opportunity cost with more i study.. the more extra stuff i want to cramp in, something else like health or sanity is gonna be compromised. maybe the latter currently is now. lol.

ok enuf. i want to go OUTTTT!! lol. cya.

posted by guitar123 @ 10:40 PM 0 comments

thoughts outpoured again.

yesterday it kinda hit me. hard.

if more than 1, more than 2 people try to disuade you from a career in music, and in Christ as well...

i guess its time to face up to the reality. i need to look at my other options. NUS doesnt offer music minor by the way.

anyways, whats the objective of life. isnt it not to be used for God's purpose? it doesnt really matter if i teach music or teach some weird stream of mechanical engineering.. perform on stage or perform experiments.. as long as i have fulfilled my purpose in life, thats the important thing.

but music will always be a big part of my life. thats for sure.

well i'm a new musician now. more passionate and fiery than ever.

time to mug.

posted by guitar123 @ 9:57 PM 0 comments