Just want to say a farewell to Melbourne, where I called home for the past 5 months. Will be in Singapore in 24 h time. It's kinda mix feelings for me to go back Singapore... :S
I will temporary abandon this blog till I am back in Melbourne.
Miss me till March! :D
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Saturday, December 6, 2008
With this...
With St Francis Choir Bass Section. There are only 5 of us usually. Really fun people to be with. Going to miss them for the next 3 months.
Another quickshot. Taken from my N95 8GB phone. Sorry for the hand there. Shane has a funny expression. Yes, I am the youngest in the bass section and in the choir.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
.... marks the end of the official full week in Melbourne for the year 2008. Although I have only been here for 5 months, it has been an enriching experience for me. For those who are thinking of overseas studies, I would suggest that you go for it as you can get to see a different aspect of life, a different side other than those rigidity of Singapore.
What I will miss in melbourne during the summer holidays (not in order of importance):
1) My friends in my music course and of course those in COSDU.
2) The weekly (almost) Saturday morning jog at Princes Park with Philip and the rest (though they didnt join us faithfully in every week.)
3) St Francis Choir and the Choristers. Without them, I wont be able to fully understand the Aussie Culture here. Anyway, I miss singing the mass with them, we don't get to hear chorale mass anywhere in Singapore, do we?
4) My mobile phone internet which allows me to go to facebook at anytime, anywhere.
The above are the events that really settles and sumarise my time here in Melbourne for the first semester. I didnt really get to go travelling about that much due to financial constrains, but nevertheless, have been to Geelong, Williamstown, Albert Park and Royal Botanical Gardens.
Living away from home can be a good thing and bad thing. You learn to manage your budget, learn to do things independently, learn to take care of yourself and more about yourself.
Of course, there are some moments during my stay here which I find it rather intimidating. What if I sleep in my room here and never wake up again? Will anyone know? =)
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The remaining three days here in Melbourne will just be purely dedicated to shopping, practising, cleaning and packing.
I would expect a busy summer holidays with all the catching ups with friends, meeting people, concerts and others.
Anyway, for those who is interested to welcome me back home to Singapore, you can let me know asap via msn or facebook. I will let you know the details. (Not as if anyone will bother or care? )
To all my friends in Singapore, see ya! =)
Saturday, November 29, 2008
First Semester Reflection
And so, finally 1 semester of school has just officially ended on Friday. Got a real taste of university life in 1 semester.
Exams had been manageable for me, though I realised that if you keep yourself up with the pace of the lectures, prepare for lectures and tutorials, it will definitely help in your revision. It's always good to start revising early. I thought I started the semester well, with regular revision and read up on lectures, but somehow loses steam towards the end of the semester, when the assignments come in. Fortunately for me, I had one week break between the 2 'big' papers (and therefore able to catch up on the 2nd 'big' paper- psychology.
Practical exam went well I guess. I was quite happy with the technical exam although made some slips, but i think it doesnt affect the entire performance. This exam, I would say is one of my best performance after many years under exam situation. For the first time, I could play a piece labelled "Presto" in an etude continuously without breaking down and major slips. Caroline gives good advice indeed.
There are some important lessons learnt while preparing for this technical exams (prior to the exam itself):
1) if you have wobbly fingers (during the warm up before exam), dont panic. Do a slow practice, accenting each notes accurately. Warm up isnt the time to get panicky. For fast repertoire, do ultra slow practice. I would like to highlight the word 'ultra', as our heartbeats will beat faster during exams. Psychologically, we might think we are playing at the normal speed we usually practice during exams, but in fact, we usually speed up. Hence, the necessity to practice slowly before the exams.
2) Exam warm ups should be meant to get your heart beats in place, keep calm, curb any wobbly fingers caused by nervousness (not due to technical problems).
3) Doing it with accents is good because, it helps to regain the strength needed to play the actual exam piano (some piano keys are harder than the one you do warm up on) and so by accenting on the warm up piano, we will ensure that our fingers are also accustomed to the exam piano (if the exam piano is a hard one)
Celebrate the end of exams with an emotional farewell dinner for Siew Li and Miranda with the rest of my BMus course mates. Although I just got to know them for half a year, but I guess, friendships will always stay, especially in university. THe more you need to treasure the people around you. Both of them are discontinuing their course next year.
And of course, celebrated the end of Semester with COSDU's graduation mass, celebrated by Fr Robin and went to a pub for dinner. It's sad that many people are graduating and many ppl are flying back to their respective home country so soon, compared to mine. :(
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So what are my plans this week:
Main thing to do: Clean up my apartment and do some packing, and daily practising of piano, will aim to complete learning the notes of 3rd movement of Mozart's Sonata in A minor and shaping up of Ginastera 1st Dance from Danzas Argentinas.
Monday: Lunch with Richard Liman
Exams had been manageable for me, though I realised that if you keep yourself up with the pace of the lectures, prepare for lectures and tutorials, it will definitely help in your revision. It's always good to start revising early. I thought I started the semester well, with regular revision and read up on lectures, but somehow loses steam towards the end of the semester, when the assignments come in. Fortunately for me, I had one week break between the 2 'big' papers (and therefore able to catch up on the 2nd 'big' paper- psychology.
Practical exam went well I guess. I was quite happy with the technical exam although made some slips, but i think it doesnt affect the entire performance. This exam, I would say is one of my best performance after many years under exam situation. For the first time, I could play a piece labelled "Presto" in an etude continuously without breaking down and major slips. Caroline gives good advice indeed.
There are some important lessons learnt while preparing for this technical exams (prior to the exam itself):
1) if you have wobbly fingers (during the warm up before exam), dont panic. Do a slow practice, accenting each notes accurately. Warm up isnt the time to get panicky. For fast repertoire, do ultra slow practice. I would like to highlight the word 'ultra', as our heartbeats will beat faster during exams. Psychologically, we might think we are playing at the normal speed we usually practice during exams, but in fact, we usually speed up. Hence, the necessity to practice slowly before the exams.
2) Exam warm ups should be meant to get your heart beats in place, keep calm, curb any wobbly fingers caused by nervousness (not due to technical problems).
3) Doing it with accents is good because, it helps to regain the strength needed to play the actual exam piano (some piano keys are harder than the one you do warm up on) and so by accenting on the warm up piano, we will ensure that our fingers are also accustomed to the exam piano (if the exam piano is a hard one)
Celebrate the end of exams with an emotional farewell dinner for Siew Li and Miranda with the rest of my BMus course mates. Although I just got to know them for half a year, but I guess, friendships will always stay, especially in university. THe more you need to treasure the people around you. Both of them are discontinuing their course next year.
And of course, celebrated the end of Semester with COSDU's graduation mass, celebrated by Fr Robin and went to a pub for dinner. It's sad that many people are graduating and many ppl are flying back to their respective home country so soon, compared to mine. :(
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So what are my plans this week:
Main thing to do: Clean up my apartment and do some packing, and daily practising of piano, will aim to complete learning the notes of 3rd movement of Mozart's Sonata in A minor and shaping up of Ginastera 1st Dance from Danzas Argentinas.
Monday: Lunch with Richard Liman
Tues: Watch the year 4 recitals. I think it's a good way to kill time.
Wed: Nothing planned at the moment
Thurs: Mass in School, choir practice
Friday: Nothing planned at the moment, May go for St Francis for novena and mass and do some shopping at Vic market.
Sat: Nothing planned.
Sunday: Mass at St Francis.
Help! I am so bored!
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Anyway, the Holy Trinity Children's Choir have been invited to sing with the Seraphim Choir on 13 and 14 December. Tickets are sold at $2, and all proceeds will be used to raise funds for Church of Divine Mercy.
I am asked to conduct the children's choir for this concert for their 2 individual items as Denise will be away, so in a way, it will be my first agenda when I arrived in Singapore.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
The complexity of Human Mind...
I am just revealing the facebook message that is going on between a friend's friend (who added me on facebook) and myself. My friend will be represented as M (a girl) and her friend will be represented as JS (a guy) here.
Me: Hello, do I know you?
JS: Nope, but does it matter?I just want to be friend with you.
(Me looks at JS profile and mutual friends list and accepted his request)
Me: ok.. i see, u are a friend of M too... so what's up?
JS: Ah, U realize that. I'm interested to know this guy who always reply [to M's] shout-out on her wall.. :)U like her, don't u? hehe
Me: no, sorry, i always comment on friend's status including hers. Why are you so interested? You like her, arent you? I somehow knew that you add me because of her. If you do, you can go for her. I have better taste. :)
Me: (after a while) is there anything else you want to know? :)
JS: O.o Of coz I care for her! She is like my best friend forever.. lolBut the phase "I have better taste" sounds pretty bad.Oh well, that is what u feel, I have nothing much to say. See you, buddy.
Me: just to add that i dislike people who add me just to find out something with a hidden agenda. I know you liked her before. Yeah, as you can see, i am neither a nice nor friendly guy. So if i say i like her, what will you do? Advise her to stay away from me? Gossip about me? She is just an ordinary girl_friend. Thanks.
JS: @@ Ok..
(Me deletes him off facebook)
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I know I must have sound very hostile and nasty to this guy, JS. My thoughts on this person is already imprinted on my last message to him and why I am so upset with him.
Maybe it will be better if the conversation started like this:
Me: Hello, do I know you?
JS: No, but I am a friend of M. I find your comments on her wall and status interesting. You have a nice and handsome looking profile pic there. You look like a Mr. Nice guy and a professional musician-in-a-making.
My name is JS. How about you, Alphonsus? Nice and unique name! Also studying in Melbourne Uni? What course? Hope to be friends with you. :)
Does the edited script of mine sound better and much more sincere than "No, but does it matter? I just want to be friends with you."?
Firstly, I would say, IT DOES MATTER if you are a guy, because the last thing you want to have is a gay who is interested in you.
Secondly, "I just want to be friends with you". Sounds a bit forceful there. Friendship takes time to develop and need both parties to click. If one is skeptical, one is forceful, it will never work. It will make friendships so fake and unsincere and I dislike people like this.
Nothing disrespectful to M. M is a nice girl, but she is not my type of girl that I would go for. She is informed of this incident. :)
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Going back to books. Having gastric problems again. Sigh.
Me: Hello, do I know you?
JS: Nope, but does it matter?I just want to be friend with you.
(Me looks at JS profile and mutual friends list and accepted his request)
Me: ok.. i see, u are a friend of M too... so what's up?
JS: Ah, U realize that. I'm interested to know this guy who always reply [to M's] shout-out on her wall.. :)U like her, don't u? hehe
Me: no, sorry, i always comment on friend's status including hers. Why are you so interested? You like her, arent you? I somehow knew that you add me because of her. If you do, you can go for her. I have better taste. :)
Me: (after a while) is there anything else you want to know? :)
JS: O.o Of coz I care for her! She is like my best friend forever.. lolBut the phase "I have better taste" sounds pretty bad.Oh well, that is what u feel, I have nothing much to say. See you, buddy.
Me: just to add that i dislike people who add me just to find out something with a hidden agenda. I know you liked her before. Yeah, as you can see, i am neither a nice nor friendly guy. So if i say i like her, what will you do? Advise her to stay away from me? Gossip about me? She is just an ordinary girl_friend. Thanks.
JS: @@ Ok..
(Me deletes him off facebook)
---------------------------------------------------------------
I know I must have sound very hostile and nasty to this guy, JS. My thoughts on this person is already imprinted on my last message to him and why I am so upset with him.
Maybe it will be better if the conversation started like this:
Me: Hello, do I know you?
JS: No, but I am a friend of M. I find your comments on her wall and status interesting. You have a nice and handsome looking profile pic there. You look like a Mr. Nice guy and a professional musician-in-a-making.
My name is JS. How about you, Alphonsus? Nice and unique name! Also studying in Melbourne Uni? What course? Hope to be friends with you. :)
Does the edited script of mine sound better and much more sincere than "No, but does it matter? I just want to be friends with you."?
Firstly, I would say, IT DOES MATTER if you are a guy, because the last thing you want to have is a gay who is interested in you.
Secondly, "I just want to be friends with you". Sounds a bit forceful there. Friendship takes time to develop and need both parties to click. If one is skeptical, one is forceful, it will never work. It will make friendships so fake and unsincere and I dislike people like this.
Nothing disrespectful to M. M is a nice girl, but she is not my type of girl that I would go for. She is informed of this incident. :)
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Going back to books. Having gastric problems again. Sigh.
Friday, November 21, 2008
A Cold and Wet Saturday
Woke up with the skies pouring heavily for the first time in my time here in Melbourne. Guess it's an epitome of how I am feeling now.
Many of my school mates are flying back to their respective home country, while I still have 3 more papers to go, I guess by the end of next weekend, it will be lots worse as it marks the end of the exam period and I have to stay till 10 December.
On a brighter side, there is a chance for me to get a glimpse of Melbourne's Christmas decorations if there is any.
Well, I believe there will be rainbow after the rain. =D
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Philip intelligently cancelled the morning run today, yesterday, predicting that it will be a heavy downpour with the help of weather forecast.
Guess I staying home all day today as the weather is cold (about 9 degrees C) and it's wet, but may try to get some practising done for my practical exam on Monday. I also do need motivation to start studying for my music technology paper on Monday. But I am looking forward to the practical exam than the music technology paper.
On a second note, looking forward to singing for mass tomorrow as it will be the last 'big' performance for the year 2008 with the St Francis Choir. We will be singing Haydn's St Tereise (sorry for the spelling error) Mass, though I still prefer Haydn's Creation mass sung during the feast of St Francis of Assisi. The remaining two masses with St Francis (30 Nov, and 7 Dec) wont be as high profile as this.
(Thinking of Christmas now).
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Performed 3 times yesterday for 4 people yesterday. I guess there is a difference if you want to perform for others and you are asked to perform with the former having more confidence than the latter.
I think it's all psychological. So next time if I am asked to perform a concert, I will have to convince my mind that I want to perform for others. =D
Many of my school mates are flying back to their respective home country, while I still have 3 more papers to go, I guess by the end of next weekend, it will be lots worse as it marks the end of the exam period and I have to stay till 10 December.
On a brighter side, there is a chance for me to get a glimpse of Melbourne's Christmas decorations if there is any.
Well, I believe there will be rainbow after the rain. =D
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Philip intelligently cancelled the morning run today, yesterday, predicting that it will be a heavy downpour with the help of weather forecast.
Guess I staying home all day today as the weather is cold (about 9 degrees C) and it's wet, but may try to get some practising done for my practical exam on Monday. I also do need motivation to start studying for my music technology paper on Monday. But I am looking forward to the practical exam than the music technology paper.
On a second note, looking forward to singing for mass tomorrow as it will be the last 'big' performance for the year 2008 with the St Francis Choir. We will be singing Haydn's St Tereise (sorry for the spelling error) Mass, though I still prefer Haydn's Creation mass sung during the feast of St Francis of Assisi. The remaining two masses with St Francis (30 Nov, and 7 Dec) wont be as high profile as this.
(Thinking of Christmas now).
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Performed 3 times yesterday for 4 people yesterday. I guess there is a difference if you want to perform for others and you are asked to perform with the former having more confidence than the latter.
I think it's all psychological. So next time if I am asked to perform a concert, I will have to convince my mind that I want to perform for others. =D
Thursday, November 20, 2008
M18 Blog- Things you need to know about F.
Warning: Contains Vulgar language.
Just need to get this off my mind.
I wonder why people loves to use the F word so loosely. It's worse if you use the F word on the facebook status. Of course, you can put anything you want in your facebook status, but by using the F word:
1) You are degrading yourself, especially worse if you are a girl.
2) It doesnt look good on your friends facebook page, especially if someone else sees that you have a friend who is so vulgar, one will start questioning on your social network.
One such good example is this:
"Evelyn Siyun Tan
fucking hates herself. Fuck, fuck fuck FUCK." (Name is not censored).
P.S: I am not censoring the person's name as she has deleted me off her facebook.
"Jolin... is ..sigh. fuck the exams. off to bed." (Name here is censored).
I can better express it in the above 2 examples without using the F word but showing the same intensity and emotions above.:
"Evelyn Siyun Tan hates herself VERY MUCH. RAWR!!!" --> Short and sweet, and people will start showing concern instead of asking you to stop using the F word.
"Jolin... is .. GIVING UP on the exams. Sigh. Off to bed."
There are so many ways to express your frustrations and anger better without making you look bad. I guess these girls have limited vocabulary that they can only think of the F word whenever they are very angry.
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I have the perception that using the F word is a guy thing, but after these two examples, I realised that it is also a girl's thing too. Maybe the girls that I used to know are more cultured and refined and they would show their utter disgust whenever someone uses the F word.
I admit that I am no angel too, having using the F word frequently in my NS days. But I always ensured that the F word is being kept confined to the camp purpose and within my platoon mates.
"Alphonsus is EXTREMELY pissed with how childish some people can be. STUPID, CHILDISH people." (replace the words in caps with the F word and it will sound lots worst and unrefined).
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What if I start using F word and vulgarities throughout my entire blog? What will you think of me as a person? Will I look cool? Will I gain more friends? Will I be popular?
I think using the F word is like smoking a cigarette, once you start using, you will get addicted to it. :)
Of course, in the end, you can type anything you want in your blog or facebook.
Just need to get this off my mind.
I wonder why people loves to use the F word so loosely. It's worse if you use the F word on the facebook status. Of course, you can put anything you want in your facebook status, but by using the F word:
1) You are degrading yourself, especially worse if you are a girl.
2) It doesnt look good on your friends facebook page, especially if someone else sees that you have a friend who is so vulgar, one will start questioning on your social network.
One such good example is this:
"Evelyn Siyun Tan
fucking hates herself. Fuck, fuck fuck FUCK." (Name is not censored).
P.S: I am not censoring the person's name as she has deleted me off her facebook.
"Jolin... is ..sigh. fuck the exams. off to bed." (Name here is censored).
I can better express it in the above 2 examples without using the F word but showing the same intensity and emotions above.:
"Evelyn Siyun Tan hates herself VERY MUCH. RAWR!!!" --> Short and sweet, and people will start showing concern instead of asking you to stop using the F word.
"Jolin... is .. GIVING UP on the exams. Sigh. Off to bed."
There are so many ways to express your frustrations and anger better without making you look bad. I guess these girls have limited vocabulary that they can only think of the F word whenever they are very angry.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have the perception that using the F word is a guy thing, but after these two examples, I realised that it is also a girl's thing too. Maybe the girls that I used to know are more cultured and refined and they would show their utter disgust whenever someone uses the F word.
I admit that I am no angel too, having using the F word frequently in my NS days. But I always ensured that the F word is being kept confined to the camp purpose and within my platoon mates.
"Alphonsus is EXTREMELY pissed with how childish some people can be. STUPID, CHILDISH people." (replace the words in caps with the F word and it will sound lots worst and unrefined).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What if I start using F word and vulgarities throughout my entire blog? What will you think of me as a person? Will I look cool? Will I gain more friends? Will I be popular?
I think using the F word is like smoking a cigarette, once you start using, you will get addicted to it. :)
Of course, in the end, you can type anything you want in your blog or facebook.
Performed for 2 different ppl today.
I think the good thing about performing in front of others regularly is that it builds your confidence each time you perform.
Had my last lesson with Caroline today, a short 15 minute mock technical exam. She suggests that I have to perform in front of others more often. Yeah. I guess...
I think the good thing about performing in front of others regularly is that it builds your confidence each time you perform.
Had my last lesson with Caroline today, a short 15 minute mock technical exam. She suggests that I have to perform in front of others more often. Yeah. I guess...
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