I had attended a rather interesting session yesterday in cosdu. Interesting- because of the speaker, Fr Robbins with his cute gestures (but his tone of speech can put people off sometimes, as he can end up mumbling to himself), the topic and the questions we asked. Nevertheless, his session is informative and enriching.
The session is about the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Why do we need to go for confession? Why must we confess to a priest and not confess directly to God?
I remembered his first response to the question on why do we need to go to a priest for confession is why do we need to go to church to be baptised if we can actually 'join the church' just by saying to God 'I want to join the faith'. He quoted the scripture John 20 where Jesus told his disciples 'if you forgive people sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven'. So Jesus has given the power to his apostles to forgive sins, and since the priest are the 'descendants' of the apostle, we should confess our sins to the priest.
Someone asked the defination of 'grave sin'. Well, for a sin to be considered grave, it must be a grave sin (duh), there must be self consent and knowledge (that the sin is wrong). Some questions asked 'Are priests allowed to disclose other people's sin under ALL circumstances?' Someone actually gave an example of what if someone confesses that he killed the priest's mother... *shocked*...
After the session, we went for our dinner as usual and went to a pub for drinks. I ordered a non alcoholic drink as usual and actually learned to play pool. Well, dinner session and the drinking session is indeed an eye opener as I start to learn some secrets, e.g. the couples in cosdu etc.
Oh well, going to get back to my essay question.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Another ramblings...
about life. Haha. Many things have happened in the past few days. Ok, I shall rephrase it, many unimportant things have happened emotionally. Alphonsus is just one guy who likes to think and reflect alot about life issues. In reality, Alphonsus got to cope with 3 essays that is due in 3 weeks time. 2 2000-word essay and 1 750-word essay.
I really miss those days in JC when we are being spoon feed like babies, with notes for essays. I am doing a essay question on Haydn's development of the symphony. Really reminds me of the Haydn's development of String Quartet that we did, and our MEP teachers will provide us with the notes. Now, no more spoonfeeding, got to thrive on our own. And it's really competitive here, the books in the school library has limited books and there are about 108 students doing the same question, (though I don't think all will do the question on Haydn Symphonies). Fortunately, I borrowed the book early for my essay.
The COSDU band has decided to have a jammin session yesterday for the first time at Amanda's place. It's rather funny, because it's kind of last minute decision. We didnt prepare any songs, just randomly pick up 'old' P n W songs and later, Amanda and Bernice printed some songs from the internet. We decided to have this warm up song, which we have selected 'One Way' by HillSongs in the COSDU style. Of course, the girls had chosen some oldies or contemporary music, one of which I kept playing on the keyboard, 'That Thing you do', and JAnan was like wondering why I love that song. Haha.
After jamm'in, we went to search for food. Apparently, most people had not had their dinner and were famished by 11pm. Thankfully, we found a Kebab stall at Lygon/ Queensbury Street, and another bonus is that it's 24 hour stall. I must say it's very rare to find a stall that is 24 hour in a westernised country. After dinner, we stayed to chat about random things, from water bottles, to movies, to church stuffs. One of which I find it an eye opener is the grey area of the church practices, attitudes to homosexuals, divorce, abortion etc. I guess we might have been to absorbed in chatting that we overlooked the time till someone said it's 10 minutes to 2 AM. I was really thinking it's only 1am at most. How time flies.
Have you ever feel that your life lacks something although you know you are not in need of anything? I leave you with this...
I really miss those days in JC when we are being spoon feed like babies, with notes for essays. I am doing a essay question on Haydn's development of the symphony. Really reminds me of the Haydn's development of String Quartet that we did, and our MEP teachers will provide us with the notes. Now, no more spoonfeeding, got to thrive on our own. And it's really competitive here, the books in the school library has limited books and there are about 108 students doing the same question, (though I don't think all will do the question on Haydn Symphonies). Fortunately, I borrowed the book early for my essay.
The COSDU band has decided to have a jammin session yesterday for the first time at Amanda's place. It's rather funny, because it's kind of last minute decision. We didnt prepare any songs, just randomly pick up 'old' P n W songs and later, Amanda and Bernice printed some songs from the internet. We decided to have this warm up song, which we have selected 'One Way' by HillSongs in the COSDU style. Of course, the girls had chosen some oldies or contemporary music, one of which I kept playing on the keyboard, 'That Thing you do', and JAnan was like wondering why I love that song. Haha.
After jamm'in, we went to search for food. Apparently, most people had not had their dinner and were famished by 11pm. Thankfully, we found a Kebab stall at Lygon/ Queensbury Street, and another bonus is that it's 24 hour stall. I must say it's very rare to find a stall that is 24 hour in a westernised country. After dinner, we stayed to chat about random things, from water bottles, to movies, to church stuffs. One of which I find it an eye opener is the grey area of the church practices, attitudes to homosexuals, divorce, abortion etc. I guess we might have been to absorbed in chatting that we overlooked the time till someone said it's 10 minutes to 2 AM. I was really thinking it's only 1am at most. How time flies.
Have you ever feel that your life lacks something although you know you are not in need of anything? I leave you with this...
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Facebook Photo Tag Saga
Just need to put my comments down on the facebook group photo saga that is happening now. It's hilarious and interesting.
Well, I believe it all started when someone nice who tried tagging everyone he/ she see in the photo. Very unfortunately, facebook only allow us to tag 30 ppl maximum at once, so some people are inevitably left out. Then someone made a casual comment that he/ she is left out and the person who tagged 30 people is rather apologetic about it and nice people started trying to tag everything they see in the picture but in vain.
The saga is started by nice people who is trying to fit everyone in the group, trying to help. Some people looked rather serious about being tagged or not, and some just argued in the name of fun. So simple social theory tells you that if there 3 conflicting types of people in a group, there will be bound to be an argument.
It's hard to be nice these days... ;)
Well, I believe it all started when someone nice who tried tagging everyone he/ she see in the photo. Very unfortunately, facebook only allow us to tag 30 ppl maximum at once, so some people are inevitably left out. Then someone made a casual comment that he/ she is left out and the person who tagged 30 people is rather apologetic about it and nice people started trying to tag everything they see in the picture but in vain.
The saga is started by nice people who is trying to fit everyone in the group, trying to help. Some people looked rather serious about being tagged or not, and some just argued in the name of fun. So simple social theory tells you that if there 3 conflicting types of people in a group, there will be bound to be an argument.
It's hard to be nice these days... ;)
Sunday, August 24, 2008
I wonder why I have been thinking a lot and getting too emotional these few days. Maybe it's due to insufficient, late night sleep but reasonable wake up time. Some are really depressing. So the morale of the story is, dont sleep late too often, it will set your mind thinking and make myself whiney.
Woke up early for choir this morning. Sang the mass by Palestrina. Just in case you dont know who is Palestrina, he is a composer in the 16th century. So of course, a capella is quite common in those time. Singing a capella is always a challenge, but the choir is relatively strong. (Duh, one of the requirements to join the choir is the ability to sight sing). Not that I am good in sight sing, but I can do basic intervals. Having a musical background is certainly an advantage in singing in this strong choir.
I just had a little conversation with my piano student on Yahoo Messenger, the girl who got a distinction for her grade 1 exam. She is really intelligent for a 11 year old. I guess because she reads alot and yesterday she gave me some riddles for me to guess. Here are some examples:
What grows down when it grows up?
A goose (why? Cause according to what she read, down is something which keeps the goose warm or something like that?) I was like... wah, so impressed...
And of course some not so informative ones like:
What does a yellow umbrella become when it is put into a red sea?
It becomes wet.
Oh well, she is chosen for the school concert this November, due to her distinction score of 133. But unfortunately, I will only be back on December.
For myself, I will not be having piano lesson tomorrow as my piano teacher is sick. Musically, I guess I have improved this week. Manage to play Moszkowski etude once through at a relatively fast speed, though I think not up to standard yet. I guess her insistence of having curved fingers works. My ambitious self tells me that I should start doing another etude, anyway, got the kick of playing fast notes, really, something which I have not successfully done as my piano teacher says that I couldnt play fast with my old technique.
Oh yes, I got a free 1kg of rice today. (eh, though it's only 1 kg, it means a lot, u know, no worries for a week?) How does the story go? It all happened when I went to Cole's supermarket to get rice for my daily use. Strangely though, I will usually buy the packet of 2Kg rice, but today, I decided to get the 1 Kg which cost $2.09 as stated. I didnt want to get the 4 kg of rice (which cost $4.09) because I do not have much petty cash with me ( left with 4 bucks and I refuse to draw money and cant pay by EFTPOS as it's less than 10 bucks). What happened was when I went to pay for my packet of rice, the counter stated $2.49. I was shocked and initially thought I had seen wrongly, but the cashier read my body languauge and asked 'Do you want me to check the price out?' She went and found out that it's an error on their part. She told me that it's indeed a mistake and I can have the 1kg of rice for free. Well, come to think of it, how strange sometimes things can turn out. :D
Arsenal lost! :(
Woke up early for choir this morning. Sang the mass by Palestrina. Just in case you dont know who is Palestrina, he is a composer in the 16th century. So of course, a capella is quite common in those time. Singing a capella is always a challenge, but the choir is relatively strong. (Duh, one of the requirements to join the choir is the ability to sight sing). Not that I am good in sight sing, but I can do basic intervals. Having a musical background is certainly an advantage in singing in this strong choir.
I just had a little conversation with my piano student on Yahoo Messenger, the girl who got a distinction for her grade 1 exam. She is really intelligent for a 11 year old. I guess because she reads alot and yesterday she gave me some riddles for me to guess. Here are some examples:
What grows down when it grows up?
A goose (why? Cause according to what she read, down is something which keeps the goose warm or something like that?) I was like... wah, so impressed...
And of course some not so informative ones like:
What does a yellow umbrella become when it is put into a red sea?
It becomes wet.
Oh well, she is chosen for the school concert this November, due to her distinction score of 133. But unfortunately, I will only be back on December.
For myself, I will not be having piano lesson tomorrow as my piano teacher is sick. Musically, I guess I have improved this week. Manage to play Moszkowski etude once through at a relatively fast speed, though I think not up to standard yet. I guess her insistence of having curved fingers works. My ambitious self tells me that I should start doing another etude, anyway, got the kick of playing fast notes, really, something which I have not successfully done as my piano teacher says that I couldnt play fast with my old technique.
Oh yes, I got a free 1kg of rice today. (eh, though it's only 1 kg, it means a lot, u know, no worries for a week?) How does the story go? It all happened when I went to Cole's supermarket to get rice for my daily use. Strangely though, I will usually buy the packet of 2Kg rice, but today, I decided to get the 1 Kg which cost $2.09 as stated. I didnt want to get the 4 kg of rice (which cost $4.09) because I do not have much petty cash with me ( left with 4 bucks and I refuse to draw money and cant pay by EFTPOS as it's less than 10 bucks). What happened was when I went to pay for my packet of rice, the counter stated $2.49. I was shocked and initially thought I had seen wrongly, but the cashier read my body languauge and asked 'Do you want me to check the price out?' She went and found out that it's an error on their part. She told me that it's indeed a mistake and I can have the 1kg of rice for free. Well, come to think of it, how strange sometimes things can turn out. :D
Arsenal lost! :(
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Random
Just to add on to the previous post...
One of my piano student from Singapore had emailed me on Wednesday to inform me that she scored a distinction ( 133/ 150) for her grade 1 piano exam. She is one of my very first student, my first student of my teaching career. Of course, I am proud of her and felt a sense of acheivement in teaching piano. Hopefully, she will continue to progress under the guidance of another teacher.
I miss my piano students. :(
Ok, going to cook...
One of my piano student from Singapore had emailed me on Wednesday to inform me that she scored a distinction ( 133/ 150) for her grade 1 piano exam. She is one of my very first student, my first student of my teaching career. Of course, I am proud of her and felt a sense of acheivement in teaching piano. Hopefully, she will continue to progress under the guidance of another teacher.
I miss my piano students. :(
Ok, going to cook...
Friday, August 22, 2008
Long day
Just came back home at slightly past midnight. Thankfully, the trams here operates till 1am on Fridays.
Oh gosh, I had an experience of just walking aimlessly before a session with COSDU. I had actually walked down Swanston Street, without realising I missed the crucial turn to the chaplaincy. It's like a nightmare I used to have in the past, walking down a street, where everything building changes so fast although you have just travelled there 1 week ago and now you could not recognise your way. BUt nevertheless, I manage to wake up and find my way there.
I had a enriching session with COSDU just now. Angela introduced us to i-bible. If you do not know what i-bible is, it's just reading scriptures on the internet. It's good to know that technology is so advanced now that we can even download the scripture to our MP3 player, or probably I am just a noob in technology who dont know such things exist.
After being introduced to i-bible, we had our own mini- bible sharing and of course being introduced to keeping a prayer journal.
Personally, I had unsuccessfully kept a prayer journal for a few days (during my NS days in camp), where I just write out my thoughts and prayer to God. Most of my prayers are actually my 'cries' to God, talking about the pain of being rejected, problems in camp etc. Well, eventually I didnt faithfully continue this practice because I will get more depressed, I will overthink and over worry, think too much when writing about it. The problem with me is that I read things too much and over analyse certain issues in life in the PAST. Though I am putting all these behind me, sometimes I do get to the habit of over-thinking. But nevertheless, it's a controlled now. If any people want to know what's the secret, it's just putting your 'perception of big things' into small things and let things go. As what Frankie has always advised me, life is not about holding on, and there are many better things in life waiting for us to experience. Well, this advice has helped me alot.
After the session, we had dinner at Shanghai Dumpling Restaurant in Chinatown. Boy, it's packed but thankfully, Hilary has booked the seats for us. After which, we went to a bar to have a few cup of drinks, (Nah, didnt take any alcohol today). The highlight of this drinking session of course is that, someone in our group found a unopened packet of condom on the floor. I will stop here for now before my blog is being censored for adult content! Oh, please dont read too much into this! Nothing is lost, just had fun! :P
Generally, I had a spiritually-fulfilling day today, attended mass at St Francis, followed by Novena at 12.30pm and made my first confession in Australia.
Till next time...
P/S JAnan: apologies for spelling your name wrongly in my earlier post! :P
Oh gosh, I had an experience of just walking aimlessly before a session with COSDU. I had actually walked down Swanston Street, without realising I missed the crucial turn to the chaplaincy. It's like a nightmare I used to have in the past, walking down a street, where everything building changes so fast although you have just travelled there 1 week ago and now you could not recognise your way. BUt nevertheless, I manage to wake up and find my way there.
I had a enriching session with COSDU just now. Angela introduced us to i-bible. If you do not know what i-bible is, it's just reading scriptures on the internet. It's good to know that technology is so advanced now that we can even download the scripture to our MP3 player, or probably I am just a noob in technology who dont know such things exist.
After being introduced to i-bible, we had our own mini- bible sharing and of course being introduced to keeping a prayer journal.
Personally, I had unsuccessfully kept a prayer journal for a few days (during my NS days in camp), where I just write out my thoughts and prayer to God. Most of my prayers are actually my 'cries' to God, talking about the pain of being rejected, problems in camp etc. Well, eventually I didnt faithfully continue this practice because I will get more depressed, I will overthink and over worry, think too much when writing about it. The problem with me is that I read things too much and over analyse certain issues in life in the PAST. Though I am putting all these behind me, sometimes I do get to the habit of over-thinking. But nevertheless, it's a controlled now. If any people want to know what's the secret, it's just putting your 'perception of big things' into small things and let things go. As what Frankie has always advised me, life is not about holding on, and there are many better things in life waiting for us to experience. Well, this advice has helped me alot.
After the session, we had dinner at Shanghai Dumpling Restaurant in Chinatown. Boy, it's packed but thankfully, Hilary has booked the seats for us. After which, we went to a bar to have a few cup of drinks, (Nah, didnt take any alcohol today). The highlight of this drinking session of course is that, someone in our group found a unopened packet of condom on the floor. I will stop here for now before my blog is being censored for adult content! Oh, please dont read too much into this! Nothing is lost, just had fun! :P
Generally, I had a spiritually-fulfilling day today, attended mass at St Francis, followed by Novena at 12.30pm and made my first confession in Australia.
Till next time...
P/S JAnan: apologies for spelling your name wrongly in my earlier post! :P
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
1st blog with pictures
It has been the 4th week of semester, which means I am in Australia for 1 month already, away from my parents for 2 weeks. Many people have asked me if I missed Singapore during my time here. Well, I would say not really (sorry to disappoint you guys). But please don't take me for some heartless creature on earth who don't have feelings for my fatherland. I do miss you guys back in Singapore, I miss the children's choir which I have raised for the past 6 months, am glad to know that the choir sang well even when I am not around and of course, and also thanks to Denise who ensure the choir kept their standards of singing.
Staying away from parents and ALONE in a foreign country helps me to learn new things. I pretty treasure my new freedom/ independence/ life very much. No worries, I won't go wild or become unrecognisable when I return to Singapore. It's a chance for me to discover the real 'me' and having and developing my own self identity. So in another words, you can put it that instead of missing home each day, I will make full use of my time here in Australia to gain new insights and perspective of life. It's also a matter of the chinese saying 'Chuan2 dao4 qiao1 tou2 zi4 ran2 zhi3' (the numbers represent the strength of the accent). In another words, the path will eventually be straight as the boat approaches the bank.
Some lifeskills I have learnt:
1) To Cook small dishes for myself. I am very fortunate to have a mum who can cook very well and here are the recipes which I have learnt from her. (Here are some pictures of the food which I have personally made for myself)
Homemade Wanton
Wanton Mee
Blackpepper pork
Hungry now? Lol! I can cook better than I thought I could. ;)
Academic wise, I am enjoying what I am doing now. MUSIC. How has music been? Well, just lots of self practising on the piano, at least 2 hours each day. Music lectures has been pretty interesting. Aural lectures and tutorials are about clapping and singing. Medieval and Early modern music--> same old boring stuffs but still interesting to know. Music technology, learning how to use logic express to create music. Cool! And of course, not forgetting my breadth subject- PSYCHOLOGY: interesting to know some studies done and what has been infered. Learnt how human mind develops and also the developmental process of a child. Good application for my children's choir back home. Below are some pictures taken during orientation week. It shows you how small an intake for faculty of music in July. Note: There are more 1st year students who entered in February this year.
Angela, Me, Lucy and Julie
P/s: Angela was my secondary school junior back in Dunman High School. See how NS slows boys education by 2 years. ;)
Of course, not forgetting my dear friends from COSDU. They are friends which I can say I have made during the 4 weeks here besides the small intake of friends from music faculty. Will post pictures with some people of COSDU if I have the pictures! As some people who had entered University will say, you wont make much friends just by attending lectures and tutorials. This is true, because people you see in tutorials usually come and go, and you only get to see them like merely 1 hour each week, and people attending lectures are just there for lectures.
OK. THat's about it. Will try to post more pictures soon, but it will take ages to upload pictures here! :P
Staying away from parents and ALONE in a foreign country helps me to learn new things. I pretty treasure my new freedom/ independence/ life very much. No worries, I won't go wild or become unrecognisable when I return to Singapore. It's a chance for me to discover the real 'me' and having and developing my own self identity. So in another words, you can put it that instead of missing home each day, I will make full use of my time here in Australia to gain new insights and perspective of life. It's also a matter of the chinese saying 'Chuan2 dao4 qiao1 tou2 zi4 ran2 zhi3' (the numbers represent the strength of the accent). In another words, the path will eventually be straight as the boat approaches the bank.
Some lifeskills I have learnt:
1) To Cook small dishes for myself. I am very fortunate to have a mum who can cook very well and here are the recipes which I have learnt from her. (Here are some pictures of the food which I have personally made for myself)
Homemade Wanton
Wanton Mee
Blackpepper pork
Hungry now? Lol! I can cook better than I thought I could. ;)
Academic wise, I am enjoying what I am doing now. MUSIC. How has music been? Well, just lots of self practising on the piano, at least 2 hours each day. Music lectures has been pretty interesting. Aural lectures and tutorials are about clapping and singing. Medieval and Early modern music--> same old boring stuffs but still interesting to know. Music technology, learning how to use logic express to create music. Cool! And of course, not forgetting my breadth subject- PSYCHOLOGY: interesting to know some studies done and what has been infered. Learnt how human mind develops and also the developmental process of a child. Good application for my children's choir back home. Below are some pictures taken during orientation week. It shows you how small an intake for faculty of music in July. Note: There are more 1st year students who entered in February this year.
Julie, Ngon Lung (Angela), Me and our student host, Lucy
Angela, Me, Lucy and Julie
P/s: Angela was my secondary school junior back in Dunman High School. See how NS slows boys education by 2 years. ;)
Of course, not forgetting my dear friends from COSDU. They are friends which I can say I have made during the 4 weeks here besides the small intake of friends from music faculty. Will post pictures with some people of COSDU if I have the pictures! As some people who had entered University will say, you wont make much friends just by attending lectures and tutorials. This is true, because people you see in tutorials usually come and go, and you only get to see them like merely 1 hour each week, and people attending lectures are just there for lectures.
OK. THat's about it. Will try to post more pictures soon, but it will take ages to upload pictures here! :P
Saturday, August 16, 2008
A busy but meaningful day
Yup, finally the day is here.
I woke up at 8am to prepare myself for this long day ahead of me. I was like dragging my feet out initially at first, because of how tired I was since Friday night, not because of the reluctancy to go but because of the tiredness. Reached the Sacred Heart church at 9.30am by foot, about 20 min walk from my apartment. Just in case, Sacred Heart Church is abandoned in a way as there is no regular masses being celebrated there but it's often used for special events like weddings etc.
I helped out in polishing the brass candle stands in church in preparation for the mass. After that, we had our music practise for mass till 2pm. By then, I was famished. Went back home to cook instant noodles as I am too tired and hungry to cook a proper meal. After lunch, went to Berkerly Street to practise my piano repertoire and went back to church of Sacred Heart for the mass.
The turn out for today's event was pretty good, about estimated 150 ppl. There are also many new 'first timers'. Amanda played the drum for mass for the first time, and she plays very well today. Angela cantors the responsorial psalm for the first time too, and she did well for the first time too. :D Of course, I got to meet 2 new 'old experienced' birds, Jean is good at leading praise and worship and of course, Nelson, the regular keyboardist before me plays really well in the praise and worship song. In general, music today is good. There is a girl, apparently also doing music (piano) as well in my school, came up to me excitedly and asked me if I am from Melbourne University as well doing music. She is rather surprised as she had not seen me around in piano class. Neither have I met her, but oh well, got to know another person. ;)
Before the mass, there are 2 students who gave a testimony on the event. There is one who shared about how God planned his trip to Sydney and truly, our God is marvellous. After mass, we went to Fr Michael's Mckenna's place for a pizza party. Wines and pizza and a group of wonderful friends, had a good time there after which Janan would give me a ride back home.
Sigh, time passes really fast. Now got to get back to work, and the start of week 4 of semester, oh yes, I will be singing with St Francis Choir for 11am mass tomorrow, pretty looking forward to it as well! :D Loving it!
I woke up at 8am to prepare myself for this long day ahead of me. I was like dragging my feet out initially at first, because of how tired I was since Friday night, not because of the reluctancy to go but because of the tiredness. Reached the Sacred Heart church at 9.30am by foot, about 20 min walk from my apartment. Just in case, Sacred Heart Church is abandoned in a way as there is no regular masses being celebrated there but it's often used for special events like weddings etc.
I helped out in polishing the brass candle stands in church in preparation for the mass. After that, we had our music practise for mass till 2pm. By then, I was famished. Went back home to cook instant noodles as I am too tired and hungry to cook a proper meal. After lunch, went to Berkerly Street to practise my piano repertoire and went back to church of Sacred Heart for the mass.
The turn out for today's event was pretty good, about estimated 150 ppl. There are also many new 'first timers'. Amanda played the drum for mass for the first time, and she plays very well today. Angela cantors the responsorial psalm for the first time too, and she did well for the first time too. :D Of course, I got to meet 2 new 'old experienced' birds, Jean is good at leading praise and worship and of course, Nelson, the regular keyboardist before me plays really well in the praise and worship song. In general, music today is good. There is a girl, apparently also doing music (piano) as well in my school, came up to me excitedly and asked me if I am from Melbourne University as well doing music. She is rather surprised as she had not seen me around in piano class. Neither have I met her, but oh well, got to know another person. ;)
Before the mass, there are 2 students who gave a testimony on the event. There is one who shared about how God planned his trip to Sydney and truly, our God is marvellous. After mass, we went to Fr Michael's Mckenna's place for a pizza party. Wines and pizza and a group of wonderful friends, had a good time there after which Janan would give me a ride back home.
Sigh, time passes really fast. Now got to get back to work, and the start of week 4 of semester, oh yes, I will be singing with St Francis Choir for 11am mass tomorrow, pretty looking forward to it as well! :D Loving it!
Friday, August 15, 2008
Week 3
I have been rather busy and excited about things happening. It's just when things start going.
1 main event this week:
1) University Students Post WYD Reunion Mass
Although I didnt attend WYD, I am pretty looking forward to it. :D
1 main event this week:
1) University Students Post WYD Reunion Mass
Although I didnt attend WYD, I am pretty looking forward to it. :D
Friday, August 8, 2008
Week 2 End
So, the end of week 2 of 1st semester has come to an end. I have more or less settled down, although my parents are not in Australia with me anymore.
School has been pretty fine for me. Had my first tutorials and lectures. Not much complains so far, probably because I am studying what I love. Made many new friends from COSDU (Catholic Overseas Student Down Under). I guess I made a right choice in joining cosdu. It's always good to make friends of the same religion, same faith. We had a mass today, which I played the keyboard in. Mass went very smoothly, received many good compliments about the music. Jenan (the guitarist) was telling me how happy he was today because the music in general went very well. Yay! After mass, we went to korean/ japanese restaurant in the corner of La Trobe St. and Elizabeth St. for dinner. There is a large population of Malaysians and Singaporeans in Cosdu, strangely most of us are Asians, except for 1 or 2 from France. I am very excited about the events coming up next organised by COSDU, for e.g. a Postlude to WYD mass which cosdu is in charge of music and liturgy. I always missed playing for mass.
Yesterday, attended an audition for St Francis Choir. I did sucessfully got in, joining the Bass section. The choir is really good. It's a challenge for me to sing in latin, especially in the diction of latin words. I love the Rachmaninov's Ave Maria, it's splendid. For now, I wont be joining them on Sunday till when the music director says I am ready.
I manage to successfully cook meals for myself, from potato rice, wanton mee etc. Yay! I guess it's good to stay alone sometimes. You get to learn to be independent!
Oh yes, I was assigned to a piano teacher, Ms Caroline Almonte. She is a renown Australian pianist who has done many recordings for ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company).
Ok. Got to get back to work! Loving it! :D
School has been pretty fine for me. Had my first tutorials and lectures. Not much complains so far, probably because I am studying what I love. Made many new friends from COSDU (Catholic Overseas Student Down Under). I guess I made a right choice in joining cosdu. It's always good to make friends of the same religion, same faith. We had a mass today, which I played the keyboard in. Mass went very smoothly, received many good compliments about the music. Jenan (the guitarist) was telling me how happy he was today because the music in general went very well. Yay! After mass, we went to korean/ japanese restaurant in the corner of La Trobe St. and Elizabeth St. for dinner. There is a large population of Malaysians and Singaporeans in Cosdu, strangely most of us are Asians, except for 1 or 2 from France. I am very excited about the events coming up next organised by COSDU, for e.g. a Postlude to WYD mass which cosdu is in charge of music and liturgy. I always missed playing for mass.
Yesterday, attended an audition for St Francis Choir. I did sucessfully got in, joining the Bass section. The choir is really good. It's a challenge for me to sing in latin, especially in the diction of latin words. I love the Rachmaninov's Ave Maria, it's splendid. For now, I wont be joining them on Sunday till when the music director says I am ready.
I manage to successfully cook meals for myself, from potato rice, wanton mee etc. Yay! I guess it's good to stay alone sometimes. You get to learn to be independent!
Oh yes, I was assigned to a piano teacher, Ms Caroline Almonte. She is a renown Australian pianist who has done many recordings for ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company).
Ok. Got to get back to work! Loving it! :D
Monday, August 4, 2008
THIS CALLS FOR CELEBRATION!!!
Oh gosh, I couldnt believe it, I am dreaming. Dreaming by the email I received from the school in my school portal account:
Dear Student,Congratulations! You have been awarded a $5000 New Generation InternationalUndergraduate Scholarship. Please see your attached offer pack for further details. Kind regardsLucinda
Though the amount doesnt cover the entire school fees, but it is a form of allowance for me, and it can offload my dad's expense a little. But I never expected I would be the recipient of this small bursary.
That means... got to work hard and pass all my exams! Will blog about my first week in school when I have the time. But, I just need to get this off my mind! :D
Dear Student,Congratulations! You have been awarded a $5000 New Generation InternationalUndergraduate Scholarship. Please see your attached offer pack for further details. Kind regardsLucinda
Though the amount doesnt cover the entire school fees, but it is a form of allowance for me, and it can offload my dad's expense a little. But I never expected I would be the recipient of this small bursary.
That means... got to work hard and pass all my exams! Will blog about my first week in school when I have the time. But, I just need to get this off my mind! :D
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