My Pond :)

tone tone tone!!!

2009-01-23T16:33:00.000-08:00

ever since i've been back at rochester, the weather has been like this. -13degrees but "feels like" (as facebook calls it) -23degrees.....today there's a "heat wave" and the temperature's about -3/-4 degrees? It gets ridiculous because I start to sweat when it's -3degrees. I dont even have to zip my coat nor wear gloves nor my scarf!

ok so heres a few pics that i took to remember this rochester weather.

frozen hair on the way to school. ok this is NO KIDDING. 5seconds out of the dorms door and my hair feels like i put solid gel on it.

snow snow snow! so much snow!smini snow mountain at the carpark! :)

ok so everyone is big about tone here. tone tone tone. today i read a piano technique book and it says all technique exists to produce the different kinds of tone we want. thats pretty intersting isnt it?

sometimes i seriously wonder why ppl try so hard abt this tone business. its not like non-classical musicians can tell. rarrhhh OKAY but my ears tell me how awful i can sound. and every single action of mine, which muscles i use, how i use them affects my sound. wonderful huh? piano technique book of the day says "one has to gain absolute control over every single muscle that one would use while playing the piano so as to achieve supreme technique"

wow

discipline!!

2009-01-19T06:00:00.000-08:00

have been having quite a few things on my mind lately.

some were miraculously addressed in church last sunday..such that i really felt that God is watching over me.

for those who have always tolerated and have been patient with my weaknesses, who have showered me with love, care and concern...thank you :)

i'm becoming ridiculously vague. man!

malisa, be strong be strong!

haha i really need to find back my discipline.

roar.

2008-10-19T21:36:00.001-07:00

i feel good and relieved :)

haha ok more updates soon!

2008-09-04T18:18:00.001-07:00

A Swedish Proverb...

2008-08-10T20:01:00.000-07:00

Love me when I least deserve it, cos thats when I really need it.

2008-06-07T07:07:00.000-07:00

awww A32! where we gathered every morning! wendy must have been late again. :P

why was i wearing a tie?

it's going to rain...

2008-06-04T21:48:00.000-07:00

sometimes i feel rather confident of myself.
other times my whole world just collapses and i enter a place filled with doubts, questioning my self worth.

how long more must i go through all these?
why do i stay at home all day?

i miss my mummy. mummy quick come back home!

as i try to bring smiles and happiness to others, who will bring them to me?

rainbow?

ROAR AWW!

2008-05-28T06:42:00.000-07:00

I love Singapore!~

I was fully prepared to embrace the warm air when I stepped out of Changi airport wearing my yellow tank top. haha I was actually perspiring on my last flight back from japan to singapore! I remember being so jumpy during the last 45 mins before we landed, peeping out of the dark window trying to see some "land". ah! when we finally landed i was SO SO SO SO excited! I wonder if I will be so excited to come back home after each break. I hope so! :) The flight back home this time was...an experience I guess. After having to answer nature's REALLY urgent call and then having to run from one terminal to the other cos our domestic flight was delayed, I accidentally left my boarding passes and baggage tag in the washroom. Thank God soooo much I had an extra printed copy of my boarding pass. This trip was a run-runn-runnn-runnnn-for your plane trip!! After landing at narita airport after the excruciating 13 hours of playing sudoku and reading memoirs of a geisha and feeling rather nauseus becos of neverending turbulence, we had to run runn runnn for our next plane again...we landed when it was already the boarding time! haha it was quite cool cos i heard the "ushers" at the airport shouting "singapore..here! singapore..here!" and we had special clearance where we didnt have to queue!! :) Wendy and I then went to the mochi store and grabbed five boxes of mochi. The cashier was soooo slow counting the money and stuff and wendy and i kept glaring at her trying to hint to her to hurry up. I need to learn what hurry up is in japanese!! Anws, after we paid the three of us ran for our lives..i mean, plane. Three mad dogs in narita airport. gosh. i dont think i ran that fast for 2.4km. HAHA AH! so back to Changi Airport. I was praying from my Detroit plane to Narita plane that my baggage won't go missing since I lost my baggage tag. Thank God! I SAW MY LUGGAGE AT THE BELT. haha :) happy happy! the three happy girls then went out of the glass doors! WHEE! :) I got a bag of candy floss from wendy's mum (thank you aunty!) and the best surprise was probably seeing my grandma there to welcome me back home! AWWWW It was already 230am and she normally sleeps at 11pm. I was so touched! :) She was really really happy to see me back! I love you grandma! As usual, I couldn't sleep so I had a midnight chit chat session and finally slept at 6am. hahaha my jet lag is cured now! :) So ever since I'm back I've been to a two day church conference, a trip back to SNGS, morning intense catechism classes, supper at macs, cooked, visit to grandma's place, dinner at roydon's place, shopping, eating xo fish chunk beehoon (yes its a chunk of fish) and erm tiny lil bit of practising. heh heh heh. life as a musician sucks. i've to practise even during my holidays. ROAR :( alright here are some pictures I took! :)

At Nana's house for lunch! CHOMP CHOMP! it was really goood :)

The four of us in Singapore!!!

At the bus stop outside nana's house! haha the two giants :)

Home!

Ms Quck, Ms Oh, Mui and me :)

Mui and me at the jie3 mei4 tong2 xin1 qiao2. It was the first time i actually walked on it! I never dared to do it when I was a SNG girl. haha

At food republic in Vivo City!

A ROARRRRR! haha dont you think the first sound it will make is a ROAR?

Cute grandma taking a nap! :)

A shot of Changi Airport when we landed taken by my very lousy phone camera.

MOre pictures will be on facebook! :)

2008-05-22T02:24:00.001-07:00

"beige is a good colour!"

~wendy, at toa payoh mrt station

2008-05-14T17:11:00.000-07:00

"SINGAPORE! I'm back! Did you miss me?"

~malisa, when she looked out at the trees on the expressway in that car whilst heading back home

2008-04-16T17:49:00.001-07:00

Malisa is feeling stressed. :(

My fingers don't feel good on the keys :(

Grieg vln sonata brings back many nice memories of practices, going for TKM's class HAHA and successfully hitching a ride to i-forgot-where

maybe i'll learn this vln piece next semester.

my tempo sucks :(

the metronome needs to be my best friend...like immediately.

:(

Footprints

2008-04-11T15:43:00.000-07:00

One night I dreamed a dream.
I was walking along the beach with my Lord.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
one belonging to me
and one to my Lord.
When the last scene of my life shot before me
I looked back at the footprints in the sand
and to my surprise
I noticed that many times along the path of my life
There was only one set of footprints.
I realized that this was at the lowest
and saddest times of my life.
This always bothered me
and I questioned the Lord
about my dilemma.
"Lord, you told me when I decided to follow You
You would walk and talk with me all the way.
But I'm aware that during the most troublesome
times of my life there is only one set of footprints.
I just don't understand why, when I needed You
most, You leave me."
He whispered, "My precious child,
I love you and will never leave you
never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you say only one set of footprints
it was then that I carried you."

-Margaret Fishback Powers

awww

Malisa is very happy today! :)

Quotes from Hwang Jin Yi haha

2008-04-02T16:35:00.000-07:00

"Art is like a cruel tree that feeds on the sorrows of an artist"

"Even if your heart is shattered into a million pieces, it still can give love"

"A broken heart needs love to mend"

"Competition and hauteur can be both medicine or poison to an artist"

before i forget...

2008-03-23T15:41:00.001-07:00

some random thoughts while practising today...

how do we strike a balance between giving ppl a listening ear and wanting ppl to hear what we have to say?

to what extent should i play "freely" in a performance?

how hard should i try to fellowship with the college fellowship grp here? to be "included"? its not very nice when joelle and i try to eat on the same table and then realise that we both are really quiet and would rather eat on another table ourselves and then get called by another saying "isolating yourselves again?" hey come on! we're trying arent we!

update!

2008-03-21T10:48:00.000-07:00

I WANNA GO HOME! ROARRRRRRRRRR

My jury schedules are out. Piano juries' on May 6, supposedly at Kilbourne hall, according to my korean friend, ji young. hmm I had a make-up lesson with prof snyder today and totally just hun4 guo4 qu4 for that half hour or more...I think he gave me an OT. i'm gonna be dead on monday for my lesson. heh i'm supposed to bring in a new piece! AHHH!
on another note, I'm going to cleveland, ohio this saturday (tmr!) WHEEE! for only TEN BUCKS! eastman student association subsidies rocks my socks. hahaha i'm gonna watch midori perform tchai's vln concerto! and my all time favourite mussorgsky's pictures at an exhibition! I shall play the piano version someday together with that bach/busoni chaconne. HEH malisa work hard!
i havent written much about what i did over spring break. yes, though i was stuck in rochester for that whole week, it wasnt that bad. we had stuff to do that made us happy. cooked twice...first was doing jiao zi (for the first time in my life!!) that was postponed becos we were too busy during the real CNY and second was chicken rice cum guo tie! delicious! and watched late night movies with joelle whilst munching on microwave pop corn and wondering why the butter tasted so bland. oh and we had this dress-up-be-a-bimbo night organised by the bimbo queen christina. HAHA it was more fun than i expected it to be. hahahaha i cant believe i actually transported my clothes down two floors blatantly like that. and i got influenced to watch bimbo shows on youtube like nu ren wo zui da and kang xi lai le and yu le bai fen bai. we had time to go shopping at market place mall too for a whole day (we practised in the morning before we went haha) walked down to the area of clarion riverside hotel to take bus 24 (24 goes to marine parade!!!ah! one of the buses i took so often in singapore!) to marketplace mall becos the greenline bus from UOR was stupidly shut down for the break. so we bimboed ard in marketplace mall, walking to a particular shop that sold beautiful gowns (one day when malisa wins a concerto competition -nervous laughter- she'll go down to that shop to buy a gown) and trying on gowns, getting higher and higher after each one. it was very satisfying not having to keep track of time like "UOR bus coming in XXmins hurry hurry!" we went to weggmans after that to shop for the ingredients of chicken rice and dumpling making. took a cab back afterwards. rather interesting cabbing experience cos firstly visibility was so bad (there were sleets/hard ice falling) and there were only 3 cabs available. and the taxi company actually car pooled such that after picking us up went to another weggmans branch to pick up two others who were heading to eastman dorms. happen that we actually knew these two other ppl. hahaha

i havent tried uploading photos on my blog before. haha well heres the picture of one of the gowns i tried (my hair's off) and one of the pictures taken during the bimbo dress up party!

haha i'm destroying my geeky image.

on a more serious note, some reflections i gathered

1. we should always try to find joy in what we do!

i hated washing toilets so for a period of time i just got stuck at this "i hate washing toilets...get this done over as fast as i can" so the results were the toilets were washed clumsily. but when i started to convince myself that this will not do..i tried to find joy in it! like think of how the ppl using it would be happy since the toilets were washed sparkling clean and it made washing them more worthwhile! alright i know this is a stupid analogy.

i've been practising more this semester...locking up myself for three hours in that small little room in the mornings, practising vln in the afternoon and then piano at night for another two hours. its depressing sometimes and it gets lonely! but i take comfort that at least i'm playing music which is incredibly therapeutic. sometimes when i'm all angsty and emo, a good piano prac makes me well! well bringing mr duckduck and seeing it sit on the music stand watching me makes me happy too :)

oh well. i think i'm talking bird already.

2. we should accept our failures graciously! yes it sets us back but i think i learnt most through failures and it keeps my ego in check. hahaha

oh well. more another time i guess.

meanwhile i'm counting down!! 6 more weeks! WOOTS!

9 more weeks to home Home HOME!!

2008-03-03T10:21:00.000-08:00

Half a semester is almost over! YAY! After Spring break, April will come then TADA! May will come then TADA! HOME! :):):):) and then TADA! June will come too! :):):):):)

Ah but first, I have to finish my mid terms, which are next week but I havent got down to perfecting what I'm going to be tested for and I have to do my math homework. bleahhhh tired! Spring break is probably there for all of us to practise so I'll probably lock myself in the basement for hours and hours then JURIES. ROAR. I dont like the sound of juries cos I dont know what to expect. oh and indeed there is this scale test that I have no idea when or where or how is it going to be given.

oh la i think this time when i touch down in singapore i'll be feeling quite proud of myself having finished a year of uni studies! (provided my juries go well ahem) oh la oh la! nana and me have been counting down to ourselves the number of weeks! wheeeee! It's funny how I feel that time is passing by quicker this semester. which is good isnt it? then june will come come come! :D ah! so much to look forward to.

i watched southpark yesterday night with cheryl. it was funny how we both laughed at first and then after abt 40mins I peeped at cheryl and saw her eyes starting to close too. Indeed I can finally see the floor in my room but suddenly my room feels a bit too quiet. Hope dear peppy has a safe flight back! and lets hope i'll see you next semester here! YAY :)

Reflections while practising piano!

2008-02-03T15:09:00.000-08:00

I suddenly remembered that when I was much younger, I used to talk to my hands in my brain. Each hand had a unique personality of its own. My right hand was the smart, swift, agile, adaptable, but unstable kind (that is if i correct a technique on the day itself it would work but the next day when i return back its back to square one). My left hand was the slow, steady, slightly retarded, strong one.

I've always believed that the music one plays out reflects what kind of personality we are. otherwise why would everyone have a different style? so i guess as a musician its even more difficult to hide what we really are in a sense? maybe, maybe. haha a genuine performance from deep inside is always the best.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

:)

one year!

2008-02-01T20:12:00.000-08:00

2 Feb 07

It's the first audition day today at Eastman! Looking at the buzzling sight of the Eastman main hall, nervous faces of applicants trying to find a practice room/get the location of interviews right....just brings an understanding smile to my face. So fast! One year has passed! This feeling is perhaps the same as what Wendy and I felt when we saw the J1s entering RJ as we peered down at ourselves wearing the RJ uniform, feeling "filled-with-power-and-authority" haha. no no we're not power-hungry. Just a moment ago, we were like them, wearing our shabby secondary school uniforms and looking at our seniors with the "correct" uniform...guaranteed that they will be staying at RJ even after march. I remember feeling so so so excited as I pinned up the RJ batch on my blue convent pinafore..it's as if my four-year-old uniform just got value-added! haha even when visiting SNG within the first three mths, legally not wearing my name tag, i felt powerful! oops no i'm not power hungry! just felt older, more mature. ahem guess i've always looked up to the seniors that graduated and came back in their sch uniforms with new sch badges. heh

indeed. so i practised very guiltily today. i thought of how i was once one of those applicants frantically finding a practice room thinking "just give me ten minutes to warm up my fingers!" the more i thought the more i felt that if i hogged my practice room any longer i'm ruining the future of applicant X. (self drama indeed...) and of course i couldnt take it and i hurriedly went through my concerto once and left. guess the applicants really need that room more than me! so i'll just play my little part.

i remember first stepping onto rochester soil in the last week of feb in 2006. cold cold cold! wendy and i were sorta stranded at the airport cos somebody who was supposed to meet us at the airport didnt turn up and we didnt know where the hotel shuttle phone was and where the shuttle busstop was! before this we were actually delayed in detriot airport where i remembered making a call to somebody i havent talked to for so long, who was supposed to call me one day, and whose voice was too familiar for me to take it. i just broke down at the airport. i told him our plane was delayed but he didnt say that he wouldnt come to the airport. oh well! when you still had that impression that the person isnt that bad he fails you again..its disppointing! indeed auditions were an emotional roller coaster for wendy and i...we both had stuff to face up to. ahem. ah but nope i didnt have to face up to mine. i just repeatedly had ecentric mood swings. wohoho. i really tried very hard to put the past behind me so it resulted in bursts of angelic smiles followed by a really black face oh wellwell and the TENSION when i saw him with her. i rmb my mum constantly worrying for me bcos she knew who i'd be meeting there and her reminding me countless times that "be nice! or you'll be reflecting badly on yourself!" thankfully, there was edward meowmeow there to show us ard and talk to us...he appeared more willing anw. heh oh well i will not use this post to rattle on about the past. afterall, "what matters most is the present!"

i remembered being very stressed abt my A level results too during audition. my audition day was A level results day! man! and my dear mum conveniently forgot to tell me that my brother was too busy to collect my results for me. ahem and i scared myself nuts that i failed my chemistry.
i also remembered going back to clarion hotel remembering myself typing emails to a new found friend: one pin! hahah wendy and i would be drafting emails. haha

thinking back...ah! lots of stuff have happened. perhaps the thought that hit me most today was "hey..i'm really studying here at eastman". it sounds really warped since i know i've gone through a semester alr. i did my uni applications, got through the prescreening in eastman, went for live audition at eastman, did my scholarship applications, got the teaching scholarship and SHHK bursary, managed to move in smoothly, make friends and VOILA! i'm where i am today, at least for academics. i'm actually doing my uni studies! i dont think i ever imagined myself here when i was in pri sch/sec sch. heh

oh la? then of course there was this MOE thingy where i made many new friends...and i'm glad that though i'm stranded in cold rochester, the sun shone brightly and i wasnt left alone there with nobody knowing what happened to that violin girl.

and of course! i'm really glad theres strange singaporean girls: wendy, nana and joelle here to talk, play, emo, go crazy with, creating our rochester dictionary! oh yes not forgetting john, steph, ricardo that has made adjusting life to rochester much easier! :)

back to rochester...soon

2008-02-01T20:11:00.002-08:00

7 Jan 08

malisa had a really wonderful time in singapore!
hmm i should recap what i did.
After sleeping for only three hours, i got up and got ready to fly back home. it was stressful and i was constantly worrying about flight delays cos i had three connecting flights with not more than an hour in between each flight. but thank God! the weather was miraculously good (there was a snow storm just the day before) and I flew back in one piece. managed to pack what i wanted back home...the huge amounts of food and using steph's weighing scale to weigh my luggage and repacking and repacking...managed to buy what i wanted to buy for my uncle and grandma in the narita airport...managed to buy beer for my dad...managed to collect my luggage and kick it outside that glass panel (though looking a bit unglam) cos there were no more trolleys...got a surprise when i saw yibin and my two lovely students at the airport to receive me! i was dreadfully hot hot hot cos i wore like two layers of pants and i was carrying my winter coat, vln and many other stuff... (right i just remembered that i havent practised violin at all during this break =S) ooh then i headed down for supper! ate a nice mee sua soup! chompchomp! =)
i dont think i'll forget how happy i was seeing changi airport from inside the plane. wanted to share the excitement with this canadian lady sitting beside me well, our enthusiasm were clearly of a different level. and of course, when i turned on my phone i saw a very sincere phone-sent message! aww =)
right so when i reached home i started giving out presents i bought to my parents and brother. they were happy. and then i got bombed. i was really quite shocked and i did tear quite a bit but after a few days and seeing her in person i started to accept it. do what you can when the person is around! no point wasting precious time away feeling sad or what not. mm! so i'm making full use of this holiday here to do what i can so that i wont regret it. i've told her to wait wait wait for me to get back in may and we'll go eat KFC together. told her to count down to when i'm reaching back in singapore. i'll pray and i'll continue to hope.
she loves eating macs! aww she's so so so cute. her appetite has not been very good and i was surprised that she could eat so much when i cooked chicken rice for her and when she ate in macs yesterday. haha so i concluded with my mum and aunty that she's spoilt and that she's picky. hahahaha but i really think she's enjoying life...very ho mia...like when we were eating macs she said she wanted french fries. hahaha in the end she got to eat half a fillet-o-fish (I ate the other half), eat the red bean pie and da bao an apple pie, drink coffee (but refused to drink it later cos it's too bitter-so she claims), drink coke (and complain it's too cold), eat my very nice french fries dipped in ice cream (and she was smiling while eating that! awwww so cute!) indeed she's weh weh weh americanised! hahahaha i can bring her to US le. :)
and then as usual we went to walk walk at Giant where i was holding her and she started to nag at me again. Study hard! Dont get distracted by other things! (ahem ahem)Get good grades! Come back and earn alot of money! haha she's really funny. she asks me weird questions but then tells me not to get distracted. aww =)
wellwell i had many family gatherings too where i was showered with lots and lots of sincerity and i felt really loved! i feel that i'm very pampered by my parents, brother, uncles and aunties! tee hee hee =) my mum brought me shopping for clothes, talking to me and many other stuff, my dad drove me to buy clothes, buy nice food for me like tampines nasi lemak and chilli crab, my brother kept wanting to treat me good food every other day (aww!), roydon's dad cooked my favourite chilli chicken, black pepper crab, steam fish, roydon's mum sewing for me my choir dress, allowing me to steal that really cute purple penguin lover of mine, my jiujiu buying otah for me and that colourful steam cake, nonya kuehs like the rainbow kueh and oneh oneh! awwww malisa is truly touched! and of course there were lots lots more that they did which i will remember and bring with me to rochester! =))
family gatherings aside! i've met up with some SNG friends, got a very nice set of expensive bath necessities which i will figure out how to use, a really small class gathering and mep outing and BS lunch at RJ where i coloured and bought the RJ polo tee with wendy!
oh and yes i had other wonderful outings too. like watching swan lake (where i was disppointed! no live orchestra! we'll watch one another day ok?), eating macs, receiving weh sincere happiness presents, nice christmas service that was weh entertaining and warm, dessert and gaping at ppl's 3D-ness, nice breakfast at RJ, trekking at bukit timah hill, chatting late at night and of course! sushi (in january =P) hahaha followed by a very nice walk!
all these memories i will bring with me to rochester and i think they will be able to last me through the next semester so i wont miss things too much here! =)

hmm...

2008-02-01T20:11:00.001-08:00

28 Dec 07

tired! just finished cooking and my left hand is burning. it has been ages since i last cut chilli padi and made my hand burning hot. hmm though uncomfortable, i seriously dont mind. i love being home!
rather eventful day i guess. went out with sng cy+bf, ys, yq and mui and we went to pepper lunch! hmm before we proceeded to macs to do further catching up. its funny how cy said "see you in 5 mths time" i felt so AWW. =(
so life has probably been the same for my dear friends and i told them many stories from states. hmm i've got a feeling i talked too much and said too much strangely i felt good doing that. at least they do know what has been happening in my life, that i'm not keeping anything from them. there are some friends that i've chosen to close my doors on but there are some that i truly want to continue being friends with so i guess sharing insights of my life to them and allowing them to be updated and welcoming them in is my way of showing them that i truly treasure the friendship we have! =)
i really do hope we will continue to meet up during my holidays and stuff esp when ys and yq are going off to aussie soon! hmm.
then met wendy at orchard and we walked to orchard point. rather far but it was good to walk with her under the sun all the way there! i scared a person by talking to loud (oops) and he ran away. aww. am i that scary?
so wendy and i were angels today who delievered nice presents to neil's special someone. i felt genuinely happy for the both of them. i think the two are very compatible! and they gave out the same aura! then wendy and i sat outside orchard point and talked abit, took pictures and tried to guess which country a grp of blondes were from. it was nice.
then socks finally came and we were off for some dessert! wendy was amazed at his 3D-ness haha =)
after that i went back home to cook for the next 1.5hrs. rush like mad but hopefully the food is good. heh lots of effort and love was put into it! AWWW =)

Home Home Home!

2008-02-01T20:10:00.003-08:00

25 Dec 07

right now for a more detailed update!
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
I'm really enjoying myself back in Singapore! =)
So far, I've went to a ballet, been involved in christmas service, eating (local food and haha MACS =P), sleeping and constantly worrying that i've no clothes to wear. hahaha yes, i brought too little clothes back cos i bought too much food. oops. =)
it's nice to be back at home, pampered and protected! and it's nice to be back here to be able to meet ppl face to face! mm! I was even feeling so excited taking the MRT...!
alright...i feel like sleeping again! aww though i slp at earthly and healthy timings i still get tired at weird hours!
Singapore! HOME! love it! ^_^

2008-02-01T20:10:00.001-08:00

24 Dec 07

haha MALISA IS BACK HOME! yay =)

STRESSED!

2008-02-01T20:09:00.003-08:00

12 Dec 07

malisa is stressed. she has alot alot alot of work to do...she cant slp though she's tired (hence that stupid double eyelid refuses to go away), she wants to prac piano but has no time,she sincerely hopes that she wont be drived nuts in these few days and that everything will be peaceful and normal.
malisa needs a break.
she misses singapore....

2008-02-01T20:09:00.001-08:00

1 Dec 07

MALISA IS HAPPY LIKE BIRD!!!

Trouble is here.

2008-02-01T20:08:00.004-08:00

30 Nov 07

tonight is The Thing. Yours truly will survive this period. I hope.
ROOOOAAAARRRRRR

2008-02-01T20:08:00.003-08:00

27 Nov 07

right. listening to music helps motivate me to blog. i will try my best to keep this blog alive as long as possible!
I found another funny fact about studying in America:
If you forget to bring your worksheets, just ask for a new one. No punishment, no reprimanding, no questions asked, no warnings not to do it again. wow.
I went to watch the nutcracker ballet yesterday. it was really beautiful and pretty with all the costumes and props and sets and of course lovely music. RPO (rochester philharmonic orchestra) is really good. i have never heard tchaikovsky's nutcracker suite as a whole until yesterday. i finally know how the music fits into the ballet, I played the piano transcriptions before and what i imagined to be was not like that at all. hmm. oh well!
Anw, back to what i was supposed to blog about yesterday. hmm several reflections about being a performance major.
I still cant accept the fact that ppl expect all performance majors to do spontaneous performances anywhere, anytime. maybe i'm just not good enough, not steady enough to react and adapt quickly to demands. maybe it's becos i want every performance i do to be perfect. well, maybe not so extreme, but at least to a certain standard.
My ideal performance is not a performance where i play everything perfect but rather it is where i feel perfect. It is when my audience is totally absorbed into what I play and where I get a sudden satisfaction that I still have no idea how to describe. This satisfied feeling is an addictive one and this is also the very feeling that motivates me to do performance after performance.
I get goosebumps everytime I hear music that really moves me. just imagine giving yourself goosebumps by what you play. I have had several experiences of this but it doesnt come very often. hmm

2008-02-01T20:08:00.001-08:00

26 Nov 2007

great. diaryland ate up my post. grrrrr now i've no more mood to type. grumble grumble grumble grumble.
i'll do it another day. yep when the sun doesnt rise...

Water FLOWS!

2008-02-01T20:07:00.001-08:00

24 Nov 07

Ahh! update update! =)
I guess pretty much has been happening, too much that I've been kept really busy.
It's thanksgiving break here! Started from tues at 1130am and it'll end on sun.sad. I dont even get a full weeks' break unlike SOMEBODY. BLEAH. The dorms are back to as quiet as before the Americans moved in. On my floor theres only wendy, me and one more shanghai girl. Really nice to have the washroom to ourselves haha! BUT this morning, we saw a GUY without a SHIRT using OUR BATHROOM. Shirtless wasnt the point, using OUR BATHROOM was the point. tsk. oh well guess we cant do anything if ppl choose to ignore the "ladies" sign.
MOVING ON! wahaha on tues I went to the chinese grocery and weggmans to buy groceries to cook on sat at uncle johnny's place. The chinese grocery was like a typical chinese wet market, wet and a bit smelly and eeky (this is perhaps the first eeky place i've seen here) but nevertheless the things they sold there were very familiar. felt quite at home looking at peanut candies, TURTLES (reminds me of turtle soup), whole fishes in those white styrofoam cartons. And guess what I found! FROZEN MICROWAVEABLE CHICKEN RICE! oh yummy yummy chomp chomp. I made some ppl DROOL wahahaha =P
oh well weggmans was just but another cold storage like mega mart. hmm i cant wait to get home.
on WED! hmm what did I do? oh yea! marketplace mall where we shopped till we really dropped. bought quite a few presents for ppl and of course for myself too. haha indeed, malisa is not becoming a bimbo.
on thurs! HIGHLIGHT of the week. hahah! We went to the american side niagara falls. It was really exciting and fun but it was awfully cold. Like what mr chenjie said "you all will become frozen fats". We couldnt pronounce stuff like "big bird" cos our cheeks were frozen and numb. wendy looked like an eskimo. she stole gloves and a jacket from me. lucky i was kiasu enough to bring extra. heh. the falls were amazing even if we watched it from the american side (ppl say the canadian side is much better). I took about over two hundred photos and many videos. shall upload it soon. we had other exciting and unpleasant moments as well. yep. very very tiring especially when i was kind of like in charge of everything. well well so maybe i couldnt enjoy the trip fully.
ITS BLACK FRIDAY TODAY! hoho wendy joelle and I are going to have a spontaneous trip to marketplace mall again. yep update update! =)

1 funny thing and 1 not funny thing

2008-02-01T20:06:00.000-08:00

14 Nov 2007

This morning I was on my way to sch waiting at the traffic light. A girl said "wassup?" to this guy beside her and the guy replied "alright". Indeed, way off the point. So the girl went "hey, i asked you wassup and you said alright?" the guy shrugged.
I thought this never happens to americans but apparently not. I think I say so many "good" in a day that suddenly maybe good is a suitable word to reply to daily questions.
How was your day?Good.How are you?Good. How was your lesson?Good.
and well, the list goes on. So theres also varying responses from a single word good. You can give a good. Good. or Good!
When i first came here I really bothered to reply truthfully. heh but now, i'm perhaps just more selective. cos well sometimes you dont get the chance to reply truthfully too. the person who asked you would have walked off.
I've also learnt that politics can kill. Seriously

2008-02-01T20:05:00.000-08:00

1 Nov 2007

Several reasons why studying in America is fun:

1)Your teacher comes into class in a Hawaiian suit on Halloween. Bright orange shirt with a funny cheena putple hat and a fake garland of roses around his neck.

2)Your teacher gives out sweets to you on Halloween and takes one to eat himself while lecturing.

3)Your teacher encourages you to eat those sweets in class. "Eugene! you need to eat those chocolates. You need that sugar rush and caffeine!" Eugene looks up in a dazed cannot be bothered look.

4)You are 20 minutes late for class but your teacher still smiles at you and offers you his sweets and still grins though you are standing in the middle of the class, taking 5 minutes to choose your sweet.

5)Your teacher brings the worksheets to you. You just have to sit on your chair.

6)Your teacher walks up to you to collect your homework and provides a gigantic stapler and staples your homework for you.

7)You can go to the toilet whenever you like. No permission is needed.

8)You can legally pon your classes for a certain number of times.

9)Wearing scary halloween costumes are allowed.

10)You get scared randomly, innocently by a stranger (who is so huge in size, wearing a hideous mask with big chains ard his neck and scary claws) who sneaks up behind you and waits patiently for you to turn your head.

11)Old NDP songs that make you emo gets called "cheesy hippies 1980s music" by your American/Canadian friend.

12)Having nothing to do on some nights and later oversleeping the next day becos the previous night, your roommate and you were fighting who writes what. Malisa: "I WRITE TSAO I WRITE TSAO!" Wendy: "FINE!"

13)The typhoon made friends witrh another typhoon, while describing different piles of mess on your table (It's wendy's table. not mine).
-to be continued when I can think of somemore-

A really tiny bible study that I did

2008-02-01T20:04:00.000-08:00

28 Oct 2007

Luke 6:37-42
Judging Others 37"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
39He also told them this parable: "Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.
41"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 42How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
Where do we draw the line between judging and making a stand? How do you take a stand but not judge? Does tolerance come into the picture as well? How about correcting or giving advice to ppl ard us? Are we allowed to comment?
So on the other hand, God can judge since He is the greatest, most powerful, most knowledgeable and well He is our creator. So since he said that homosexuality cannot be tolerated, are we then allowed to judge that their behavior is intolerable?
For me, I try my best not be too quick to get angry/condemn a person for doing things or choosing to do things in a way that i dont approve. cos there must be a reason that led to the person to do things the way the person did.
sometimes i forget and i start to complain. like today.a person suddenly stormed off during brunch due to something very very small(i feel). but i later found out that somebody else said something not very nice to that person before i was talking to that person. so i guess, any little thing that I did that the person didnt like would ignite That Fire and hence the person stomred off bcos of a really small thing.
see, we never know what the big picture is so dont come up with comclusions so fast! hence, in a way, dont judge. Dont judge others by what you see and what you hear cos there are so many things that you will not see nor hear. I suppose, in a way, give others a chance to live. What we do may not always be the right way. And if ppl do things differently from us, they may not be wrong.
I'm always very hesitant to put such things down in my blog cos no.1, I'm really not gd at this religion thing. Theres still so much about christianity that i dont quite understand. No.2 philo is a huge headache to me. no.3 sometimes my ideas are totally rubbish and off the point.
but well, this is a start i guess...
I'm quite foncused by what I'm writing but WELL. time to go to bed. haha

2008-02-01T20:01:00.000-08:00

21 Oct 2007

In this rare ocasion that I can relate to lyrics of a chinese pop song, I decided to post it up here. For the first time, wendy could discuss it with me. It is also a rare ocasion in recent years that I can memorise chinese lyrics. hahaha oh well, heres the song:
怎么去拥有一道彩虹
怎么去拥抱一夏天的风
天上的星星笑地上的人
总是不能懂不能觉得足够

如果我爱上你的笑容要怎么收藏要怎么拥有
如果你快乐不是为我会不会放手其实才是拥有

当一阵风吹来风筝飞上天空
为了你而祈祷而祝福而感动
终于你身影消失在人海尽头才发现笑着哭最痛

那天你和我那个山丘那样的唱着那一年的歌
那样的回忆那么足够足够我天天都品尝着寂寞

当一阵风吹来风筝飞上天空
为了你而祈祷而祝福而感动
终于你身影消失在人海尽头才发现笑着哭最痛

如果我爱上你的笑容要怎么收藏要怎么拥有
如果你快乐不是为我会不会放手其实才是拥有

知足的快乐叫我忍受心痛
知足的快乐叫我忍受心痛

Several things happened!
Indeed, firstly about Jeremy Tan. haha wendy and I screamed out loud in the toilet. I think the way we think is getting more and more similar. haha thats not gd! it means i'm degrading! hahahaha
Had rep singers concert. oh well!
I've wanted to blog about certain topics for a very long time, but have never gotten down to it, and dont think i will tonight/morning.

contrary to what many ppl think, I think.....alright. nvm

19th BIRTHDAY!

2008-02-01T19:59:00.000-08:00

19 Oct 2007

right. my diary is in a hideous template. see chenjie, I cant even handle my own blog template how to help you??
ANWS. too much has happen. My nails are still growing terribly fast and wellwell, malisa just got older.
two surprises and some cards received, NOPE socks. yours isnt here yet (actually, I havent checked today...maybe it did!)together with some presents!
malisa feels loved and popular in her entire 36 hour long birthday, including being on facebook too. hahahhaha
So, I clearly rmb how my birthday was last year. It was study break and we didnt have to go to sch but somehow, that day, I still had to go back in the morning, some make up lecture. Received many presents from classmates, many smses and someone even travelled all the way to my house to pass me a very nicely prepared gift which later served great use. I was touched! by everyone of course. hahah
This is my first birthday spent outside singapore, away from my family. Its just different isnt it? Haha for the next three years (at least) I'll be doing just that, spending birthdays away from home, missing out chinese new year too (ok, random). I'm very touched by all who have made an effort to do something for me today, whether to send me cards (after I subtley hinted my address in US), to give me simple but very sweet presents (Lina and Joelle!), very nice velvety card (chloe!), surprise #1 (wendy, christina and ricardo) and surprise #2 (daddy, mummy and pinky), continue contributing to my chicken poxified door (zhao wei!), those who sent me ecards! (cy, wyf, the officer (ahem), sent me an email (wanyiyiyi, liheng!) and those who wished me on facebook! oh and those who wished me when passing by me!
right, i thank all these ppl but now like they read my blog. hahaha
today is a happy day. bcos besides receiving so much, i went shopping too after such a long while. I didnt buy much. It was more of the feeling of freedom and breaking away from normality that was so refreshing.
I really want to go to the beach!!!
I really want to cook some homecook food. I must go down to weggmans. i must. MUST. =))

2007-10-16T09:32:00.002-07:00

15 Oct 07

I Wish I was in Carrickfergus
Where the castle looks out to sea
I would swim over the deepest ocean
For my love to be with me
But the sea is wide and I cannot swim over
Nor have I the wings to fly
I wish I had a handsome boatman
To ferry me over, my love and I
I wish I was in the land of Eire
Where the mountains reach the sea
Where flowers blossom as I do remember
Where my true love came to me
But the sea is wide, and I cannot swim over
Nor have I the wings to fly Ah, to be back now in Carrickfergus
To be together, my love and I
To be together, my love and I
I wish I was in Carrickfergus
To be together, my love and I

There are more and more emo trees around now. Think think! red trees, trees with green and yellow leaves, trees with green and red leaves, dark red leaves surrounding. You're on a boat rowing in a really peaceful lake. the air is cold. leaves rustling, falling.
man. I can just go on and on dreaming about this scenario.

i miss the beach. miss the wind blowing into my face, miss squinting at the vast ocean cos its so blue, so big, so bright. I miss the sound of waves. ahhhh!
malisa continues to dream.

right. she is currently stuck in her gloomy room doing her essays.
I think my imagination keeps me sane

Malisa is stressed! She didnt practise much piano and she has piano lesson tmr. =S I had my last lesson on friday, its a make up lesson from fall break. hai! and i have to go for lesson on monday again. ahhhhhhhhhhhh

2007-10-16T09:32:00.001-07:00

15 Oct 07

my nails are long again. see. i told all of you. my nails grow at an incredible speed. maybe can go into guiness book of record le.
malisa was a good girl today. she went for sunday sch. hah!
anw i finished my colloguium essay! hurray!
I used rochester language in my essay hahah.

2007-10-16T09:31:00.001-07:00

9 Oct 07

my nails have grown long AGAIN. I have to cut it like once every two to three days.
so many things have happened! time seems to travel faster now..with homework, friends, practising and everything.
fall break is here! but its too short. way too short! i want a longer holiday! now i cant wait for thanksgiving.
anw i wanted to blog about many things. i have really bad memory. each time i think of something i want to blog, by the time i blog, i'd have forgotten. hahha
funny things first. i was at the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra opening night. It was a glam day with red carpet lined outside the doors of Eastman Theatre. It really felt like hollywood since eastman had those lights shining as well. Joelle and I decided five minutes before the concert that we would go so we had no time to change. We were the most underdressed ppl. unglamness. We tried really hard to walk with pride, dignity adn confidence. ha-ha. Joelle comforted me by saying "its ok la, you are wearing a skirt". I was like "but jean skirt....?" everyone was in makeup and glam gowns. haha to think in singapore, SSO opening nights are just another flip-flops-acceptable kinda event. haha anw, a kind lady at the door gave us complimentary tickets since she had extra.
As i was watching the concert i thought of alot of things. hmm. firstly i thought abt how wendy mentioned that one of the freshman percussionist...when he plays the timpani, he blinks everytime. hahahahha this is funny. i would have thought that percussionist would be immune to such things.
I also realised that the louder the music is played, to the extent that it engulfs you, my eyelids will be as if i am hypnotised....it will droop and i will uncontrollably start closing my eyes. this is so weird! normally ppl dont slp at loud parts.... =S
after the concert, they had a reception. it was so cool, with high class desserts and ballroom dancing. being so underdressed i was feeling even more awkward. ahem. i saw an elderly couple dancing together. i think that was really sweet. hmm.
after that we had dim sum with ricardo, lina, steph, emma and nat!
so on sunday! lina and ricardo went with us to church! i'm glad they came...and then we went to lina's house to celebrate ricardo's birthday. it was really fun...from hiking (which reminded me so so so much of OBS) to going to the beach to eating and the peniacle ( whatever the spelling) and and campfire and the emo-ing in the voice mimking green forest, my home way too cool.
hmm i enjoyed the beach alot. i wasnt feeling particularly the best. I broke a promise to God. I dont think anyone would feel too pleased with themselves. but anw, i saw the beach, the massive ocean in front of me, the sound of the waves. I was standing on top of a rock. Wind was blowing, my hair was flying. I felt. Wow, this is God's work. It gave me an incredible feeling. I was listening particularly attentively to the sound of waves. I tried comparing it to music. is it comparable? The sound of nature. ah...indescribable.dunno. i felt peaceful. i was walking along the beach. i thought of a chinese pop song. then decided that no. the sound of waves is the most suitable for this walk. haha in a distance, i saw john walking with his music gadget, listening to his songs inside. haha dunno.
i just feel that my delayed reactions are getting more and more delayed. I wasnt happy. Havent been happy except when I start talking crap. Sometimes I really wonder if I do or dont think at all. We were at 14th floor one night looking down at the scenery, the surroundings. It was truly a great time to emo. But nothing came. nothing. I only felt it from before I went to church. Thats a good delay of half a day. wow! i'm amazed.
haha i think i'm weird, getting weirder by the day. gosh.
and i really think i'm getting better at ignoring things, numbing them, convincing myself to let it go. haha well well, i've been practising this letting go thing for say almost 2 years? so applying it to other things shouldnt be a problem. haha
this is indeed a serious post. playing jian dan the ge while typing this is not helping.hmm
i think i need to stop typing haha. it gets qutie bad. i'm not laughing yet i haha things. the result is that when i really want to portray that i'm laughing, i go HAHAHAHHAHAHHAHA. wo.
Here I am, Oh God
I bring this sacrifice--my open heart.
I offer up my life.
I look to You, Lord
Your love that never ends
Restores me again
So I lift my eyes to you, Lord
In Your strength will I break through, Lord
Touch me now, let your love fall down on me
And I will be complete in You.
Here I am, Oh God
I bring this sacrifice--my open heart.
I offer up my life.
I look to You, Lord.
Your love that never ends
Restores me again
So I lift my eyes to you Lord
And by faith, I will walk on, Lord
Then I'll see beyond my calvary one day,
And I will be complete in..
I look to You, Lord
Your love that never ends
Restores me again
So I lift my eyes to you Lord
In your strength will I break through Lord
Touch me now, let your love fall down on me
I know your love dispels all my fears.
Through the storm I will hold on Lord
And I pray I will hold on, Lord
Then I'll see beyond my calvary one day
And I will be complete in
I will be complete in
I will be complete in You
i havent heard this song since 2 years ago...cos i didnt dare to.

2007-10-16T09:30:00.002-07:00

3 Oct 07

to add on to more funny things.
wendy went down to the piano practise room one day to prac and she heard a pianist playing "appassionata" and she thought it was the Mozart concerto i learnt. but anw, i played appassionata before too. so since the concerto compeitiion was already over, Wendy immediately thought "THIS" must be the competition winnder cos who else wll continue to prac this song after the compeititon? so she decided to evesdrop. After listening to it for a while, she commented to herself "no wonder Malisa's teacher says she shouldnt compete. Malisa..like that...play so differently...you know...of course cannot win! This pianist play until so filled with direction and energy but malisa plays only musically and sweetly of courses sure lose.....eh but then this doesnt sound lke the first movt of the concerto. OH! must be the second mvt!" -_-
sometimes i really wonder why wendy is in eastman. HAHA Beethoven APPASSIONATA and Mozart CONCERTO also can mix up. right. wendy will always get classical music wrong but her chinese pop identification power is BOM-PIPI hahah. right i really need to get my essay done. ARGHHHHHHHhh
my nails have been growing super fast. i think the more i prac the more it grows. i think practising stimulates nail growth. and it gets really irritating sometimes to keep cutting nails that i jsut start biting them off. yes its gross i know. right. essay essayessayessayessayessay
several funny things happened these few days...
A few days ago durin gsight reading class, we were learning to familiarise ourselves with the tenor clef. My classmate went like "A-A-B-C-blahblahblah-J-J-J-oops G"
J. HAHAHAHHAAH i cant believe such joeks exist in eastman. haha music majors! =D
btw,in music theres only c-d-e-f-g-a-b
then today, a group of vocal majors started to sing happy birthday to somebody. it was SO COOL, with vibrato, harmonisation and so on. they sang till the last second note and on the last note they coughed and turned away. hahaha
third thing. it was a random thing over dinner. lina and wendy decided that in order for ricardo to pass to get to his seat he had to say this "password". he didnt know what it was (cheese) so we were helping him. so
we: MOOOOOOOO!ricardo: cow?I: what comes out of cows?ricardo: cows? (!!)I: what comes our of cows besides urine and cows?ricardo: smart cows? (!!?)we: laugh like madricardo: oh MILK!
and blahblah until he said the word cheese.
i need to get down to write my essay on beethoven's eroica. argh!

2007-10-16T09:30:00.001-07:00

30 Sept 07

malisa updates!
its cold here today..it was raining the past few days. once it rains it becomes cold. trees are turning yellow. yesterday there was a very pretty scenary. the trees were greenish yellow, and the sky was blue..it wasnt a typical blue. it was a really nice blue. i was sad that my camera wasnt with me!
I think i'm starting to miss singapore.
i just finished changing my bedsheet. i sweeped the room too. wendy should be grateful. HER side was dirty. she's a smelly pig. so fast! a month here already. fall break is coming. yay.
malisa has loads of homework. she finished a 5 page essay the other day. malisa is pleased!
I've been goin gto alot of concerts this weekend. went for three! I think Eastman is cool. i get to go to concerts for free. concerts here are awesome. went for the canadian brass. the speed with which the brass players tongue and stuff are incredible. PLUS the THEATRE is just SO SO SO amazing. its so grand, so huge, so old, so ancient, so magnificent, so breathtaking! esplanade? haha. erps.
this morning's concert was fantastic. prof lynn blakeslee is cool. i heard she had a back surgery and in the middle of the concert her cound open and there was blood stains on her shirt. gosh. and she still played so beautifully. going for my teacher's concert at 8 tonight. dunno what they are playing but i bet it will be a good concert too!
ah! music. i rarely proclaim at how much i love music. i could say its my life, its a soul. but well,it sounds so cheesy. I used to be on of those only-classical-music-is-music fellas and frown at those who are obsessed with pop music. I used to think how can those pop music be comparable to classical music? but well, after being in MEP, after having friends who listens only to pop, after starting to listen to pop, after seeing other classical music lovers listen to pop...well well. i shall say all kinds of genres of music are still music. they reach to different kinds of audience and have different effects.
anw, that was just a random thought. i'm quite amazed at how open i am towards different kinds of music nowadays.
ANW, sorry for being so disorganised in my thoughts but haha back to blakeslee's concert. She played Brahms' Sonata in G. it's nicknamed "rain" and she was telling the audience to "hear the rain and see the rainbow that comes later". How wordless music can express such imagery is so intriguing. I saw the rainbow! I really did. and it felt so much like a rainbow.
anw..i think i'm becoming too much of a geek. she played beethoven's last violin sonata and I was analysing the piece whilst she played it...say, motivic development, structure, third relation keys. gosh. I wonder if music will ever be the same if I continue doing such analysis on the spot. it somehow "splits" the music up huh. haha ok i'm going off to eat dinner!

2007-10-16T09:29:00.002-07:00

17 Sept 07

have you ever wondered how it feels like to fill your water bottle up in the water cooler and yet, the bottle remains dry? i.e. no condensation takes place. ha-ha one of the privelleges of living in a cold country.
temp now is abt 16degree celsius. this is not included like strong winds and stuff. my my a cold rochester ishere..
hmm. other interesting points to note include seeing ROSES, pink ones just growing out from the soil like some random grass. wendy and i were like OOOOHHHHH haha tropical inhabitants indeed. .
so..some reflections as a music performance major at Eastman! meal conversation topics are mostly about THEORY homework (haha) and basically music stuff..topics that when brought up in singapore, you'll get shot in the head for being an elitist. heh heh and well everywhere you can hear ppl singing, be it vocal majors trying to exhibit their awesome array of techniques or more "low-class" non singers trying to describe some music piece (christina: 5-5-5-5-5-AHEM-5-5-5 or her infamous sung version of mendelssohn's violin concerto). In theory honors class, ppl shout out like bombastic harmonic stuff haha (i try very hard to shout some things to..like act enthu hohoho) perhaps the thing that needs to get used to is the fact that homework is no longer about pen and paper. haha you need to piano (for theory homework and sightreading..we are currently playing alto and bass clef together) you need CDs you need manuscript papers. Many times while trying to do my theory homework in my dorms the room is so quiet that I feel like playing background music to make my brain relax a little but heh. I open Windows media player and then realise that I no longer have the privellege to do so since I'm doing my harmonic homework and the music will confuse me. Sadistic rhythm excerises are worse. I have to practise abt 4 lines worth of rhythm. Each line has 3 staves. ok so i sing "ta-ta-ta" on the top stave, middle stave..right hand and bottom stave left hand. These are SO SO SO psychomotor that soon you realise that you cant clap both hands together no matter how hard you tell them to. Before each time of going -through you tell yourself that HEY i must SING this here and tap this there but nope at the fifth time you still CANT do it. hahhaa so well the trick is..try again tmr. hahahhaa.
alright.i have to go off to write beethoven symphony synopsis. hahha SYNOPSIS for symphonies...I only heard of synopsis for drama serials. oops =X .
wendy has inspired me to write more abt sadistic rhythm exercises. so basically we tap really soft on our thighs first...then it gets increasingly louder and then we go like pIAK PIAK PIAK PIAK smacking ourselves into minced meat cos we cant do it. musicians are quick=tempered, determined and perfectionistic. hahahahaWHOEVER said those psychomotor tests involving both hands like one hand thumping on your thigh and the other hand sliding across your thigh is difficult. ha-ha-ha ..

2007-10-16T09:29:00.001-07:00

11 Sept 07

right. i wanted to update my blog then realised that i went to the blogger homepage instead. heh.
had a super duper duper busy day. malisa is tired. YAWN. Went for vocal ensemble and was learning how to pronounce german. heh. interesting but well it was a bit too fast eh? like the conductor says the german once and we are expected to sing in german the second time. erps. ERPS.
weather is getting colder again. think this fluctuations in weather are indeed due to ppl using too much aircon in singapore. hahahha global warming! hahaha LI HENG (not like he knows my blog) you were correct! turining on aircon everynight is bad for the Earth. hahahahhaa =)
Joelle asked me a couple of times if I miss singapore. I said not yet. I'm thinking, maybe cos I'm so preoccupied here with lessons and everything hence I havent got down to think abt it. I think I will try to keep it like that. Hopefully dec comes fast!

2007-10-16T09:28:00.000-07:00

10 Sept 07

aye. just gave up doing my readings. argh they suck. malisa here has english composition class tmr called freshman writing seminar =( abt abolitionist icons. siann
yesterday I went to watch a really really interesting concert. something that I would never have seen in singapore. It was an all blacks concert, featuring Mozart Piano COncerto no.8 in Eflat, a piece by somebody i cant rmb, and Haydn's Farewell symphony. The solo pianist featured was Paul Badura-Skoda. THink i've seen him somewhere before but I cant rmb. The running notes were a bit tripped but it didnt affect the overall effect. He looked awkward at doing certain turns with his wrist/arms but it is fascinating to see that those awkward movements didnt affect the sound produced and the musicality shown. I think it is really confusing to conduct and play piano at the same time when performing. heh peifu!
The Orchestra played well, filled with spirit and robust energy. The "farewell" symphony was the most memorable. So, basically Haydn composed this on a certain summer when Prince Esterhazy (his employer) was away on holiday and he stayed a little too long. The court orchestra was getting displeased becos they were away from their families so Haydn composed this such that the last movement features the performers getting off stage one by one, in hope that this will send a message across to the prince that hey! we should go home. heh he succeeded! and poof! they went back the next day. so well, this scene was reenacted by the orchestra. so haha it was pretty cool.
(nick, dun steal my high class musical descriptions =P)
oh! and i practised for FOUR hours before the concert. so so so tired.
After c oncert, came back to dorms to watch movie at neil's room. heh it was so gory but funny. hahaha i was screaming everywhere. argh! i forgot the title of the film.
Today! had church in the morning then ate a bit in church (chinese food!) then came back to dorms to eat more. hahahapigging day! ah! meals on weekends are so nice. the hashbrowns are just awesome! =))

2007-10-16T09:27:00.004-07:00

6 Sept 07

to add on to this morning's entry. Indeed today is an exciting day. we Had a FIRE DRILL. I TELL YOU. indeed culture "shock" hahahahaha no la more like hilarious.
In Singapore schools fire drills are so called "warned" haha so NOT exciting at all. hmm so I was eating in cafe cadenza. heh then the fire alarm went offf "eeeyoooreee eeeeyoooore" ok wadeva. (eeyore!) then ppl just stood up to walk out from the fire exit. some took their trays of food out to eat while the fire drill was being conducted. indeed ice cream while fire drilling is quite thrilling. hahahaa SO normally everyone is supposed to "rush down" in like ten minutes? twenty minutes? here, ppl stroll, no rushing but eh? everyone is still there in ten minutes. there was this guy who came down in a towel wrapped on his waist. hahaha bathing halfway indeed. OH the singaporeans were exclaiming at how "no attendance is taken" America! I love you. hahahahaha its just so free and self motivated here. hmm In Singapore if there was a fire drill, if the principal/teachers didnt stress the importance or like rush ppl down I think the student will just heck and do their work. but well ppl here take it quite seriously.
SO. I'm supposed to the tag thing heh.
answer the following questions.
1. the person who tagged you is?tiffany
2. your relationship with her is?piano teacher
3. your 5 impressions of her1. funny2. sleepy3. owes me a farewell present!4. whiny5. cute
the most memorable thing she has done for you?errrrr getting a better grade for practical? =)
5. the most memorable words she has said to you?Here goes the sms: "Eh. You very un-teacher leh..Just like my oboe teacher. But I like =P"
6. if she becomes your lover, you will?start eating plastic containers.
7. if she becomes your lover, things she has to improve on will be?playing the piano. HAAHAH
8. if she becomes your enemy, you will?still love her =)
9. if she becomes your enemy, the reason will be?I cannot stand eating plastics anymore
10. the most desired thing you want to do for her now is?make her practise scales since I have been practising octaves, thirds, sixths and tenths everyday
11. your overall impression of her is?laughs alot =)
12. how do you think people around you will feel about you?funny and stupid
13. the character you love of yourself is?indeed, tiffany gave a hundred mark anser. those that are godly
14. on the contrary, the character you hate of yourself is?those that are ungodly?
15. the most ideal person you want to be is.Jesus :D (haha another hundred mark answer from tiffany)
16. for people that care and like you, say something to them.Thank you! I know I'm popular. hahahahaa more popular than wendy the toad! =P
17. pass this quiz to 10 persons that you wish to know how they feel about you:1. wendy toh2. muikee3. tiffany4. cheryl (small)5. cheryl (big)6. chenjie7. christina8. joelle9. nick10. shan
crap. too little ppl reads my blog! haha i shall have to send my blog to tina and joelle. ahahha
who is no.6 having relationship with? (cj) HAHAHA OOOH WELLL
no.9 a male or female? (nick)ERPS. male?
if no.7 and 10 are together, will it be a good thing? (christina and shan)ha-ha they dont even know each other and they are both taken. hahaha
how about no.8 and 5? (cheryl BIG and joelle)again. this was set up by some GAY is it? its all les paring up.
what is no.2 studying about? (muikee)chemistry
when was the last time you had a chat with no.3? (tiffany)a few days ago on msn
what kind of music band does no.8 like? (joelle)hmm i think she like classical voice or english pop. and of course! classical music! =D
does no.1 have any siblings ? (wendy toh)yea. an older sis
will you woo no.3? (tiffany)HAHA. more like she woo me
how about no.7? (christina)haha she's taken. =P
what’s the surname of no.5? (Cheryl Big)Lim
what’s the name of no.10? (Shan)Yan Shan
what’s the hobby of no.4? (cheryl small)Practising piano! (right....)
do no.5 and 9 get along well? (Cheryl Big, Nick)dont know? maybe?
where is no.2 studying at? (muikee)NUS
talk something casually about no.1? (wendy toh)stupid and ugly
Do have you tried developing feelings for no.8? (joelle)Hahahaha I think her parents will kill me if I did.
where does no.9 live at? (nick)erm where Love Conceirge was shot. hahahaa is it serangoons? i think it is.
are no.5 and 1 best friends? (wendy toh and Cheryl Big)hahahaha They are both my best friends. HAHHAA
does no.7 like no.2? (christina, muikee)haha like as a friend? should be. they both laugh alot and in the same funny manner perhaps mui is more extreme =P
how do you get to know no.2? (muikee)sat beside her for sec 1 term 1. girl who got eighty plus for maths test while i got like what?!?!
does no.1 have any pets? (wendy toh)pimples? they like her alot. hahaha -hides- dont kill me!
no.7 the sexiest person in the world? (christina)haha dunno? Mr J would know.
Wah this is so laychey la! tiffany thank me for doing this. I think its cos I'm too free or something. hrmp

2007-10-16T09:27:00.003-07:00

5 Sept 07

What does it feel like to sweat? I feel like I have forgotten....I am starting to wonder if my sweat glands are working. I went to like beach and stuff but I didnt sweat! jeeeez. Indeed I'm starting to miss sweating. SIGH. But no, that doesnt mean I'll go do something stupid like "jog" ard the sch twennnnny rounds or apply for YMCA membership.
Malisa just got cheated by sixty USD. She was walking into the bookstore, contemplating whether or not to buy the "used" rhythm textbook cos she vaguely remembered seeing an advertisement in the living centre selling that book at a cheaper price. SO, anw, here comes her singaporean friend who is helping her get an email from the registrar (cos she lost the email and refuses to ask again cos the registrar woman is so fierce) so she puts the book back thinking...i'll come back next time. then as she walks out two other theory honours ppl walks in. oh HO. malisa is optimistic. "they wont take my book!" so she walks out happily out of the bookstore. waiting outside of the registrar, she begins to fret. "OH NO. what if they DID buy the books, ok must go chop and buy first" Malisa walks back in and the books are GONE. SOB and she has to pay like US$62++ for this pathetically SMALL and SOFT COVERED and THIN book.
I looked at the rhythm book. HOHOHOHO. its SO SO SO SO psychomoto. I am SO GOING TO KEEP IT. haha! It'd be quite fun to use when I start teaching in schools huh? HAHAHAHA SIGHTSEEING PLACEMENT TESTS FOR THEM TOOOOOO. =P
So far I have had two singing tests. One for theory and the other for vocal ensemble. Hhahaa malisa is going to be an opera star! hahaha the person in charge for vocal ens said I have a good voice loh! =PPPP but well, I dunno if it is true since ppl here praise ppl like for every other thing.
TOday's my busiest day! supposed to have theory in the morning but well, the prof's flight got cancelled then class is cancelled. hahahahaha so i'm off to freshman writing class soon then a break until three plus then choir then sight reading (ARGH! sight reading tests in alto and tenor clefs anyone?!?!? PLUS transposition. i want to CRY) then studio class until 8pm. woooho. but well! theres always thurs to look forward to. heeeee only ONE classs. but that ONE class is at 835. =( so early!

2007-10-16T09:27:00.001-07:00

4 Sept 07

hearing charlotte church's enchantment cd again.
The Water is Wide:
The water is wide I can not get o'erAnd neither have I wings to flyGive me a boat that will carry twoAnd both shall row my love and I
Where love is planted O there its growsIt grows and blossoms like a roseIt has a sweet and pleasant smellNo flower on Earth can it excel
A ship there is and she sails the seaShe's loaded deep as deep can beBut not so deep as the love I'm inI know not if I sink or swim
O love is handsome and love is fineAnd love's a jewel while it is newBut when it is old it grows so coldAnd fades away like morning dew
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Hypnodan!

2007-10-16T09:26:00.003-07:00

1 Sept 07

today was way too cool. i witnessed hypnosis. oh my gosh. i still cant believe what i saw. heh it was SO SO SO SO SO cool.
after hypnodan, went over to neil's room to watch movies. haha a rather big group sitting in all sorts of positions. watched Pan's labyrinth. heh it is SO violent. but well nevertheless, still a good film. my very first spanish film! =) EASTMAN'S COOL. HEH

2007-10-16T09:26:00.001-07:00

1 Sept 07

haha i would very much love to post the numerous pictures i've taken but well apparently you need GOLD membership before you can do that. sigh. i think i'll post it on facebook. hahaha! =)

DORMS!

2007-10-16T09:25:00.003-07:00

28 Aug 07

hmm. now! i'm in the dorms. heh managed to set up my internet, buy lamp pack dorm woohoo! dorm feels more like home now. hmm its not too bad. much nicer than OBS dorms. HAHA =P air is cool and dry, nice and non sweaty. HAH!
orientation is boring. cant seem to talk to the ang mohs. so the asians talk to asians. haha more like koreans and singaporeans talking. haha
had big sib dinner. my big sib errrrrr looks interesting. AHEM. -zips mouth- robert macdonald seems nice. heh heh just cant talk cos when i talk ppl dont understand wad i'm talking and i have to repeat twice and they cant understand my jokes either. fine. so i'm being described as a "very quiet girl". hmm. i dont think friends back in singapore will agree to that. heh

Counting Down!

2007-10-16T09:25:00.001-07:00

14 Aug 07

LESS THAN A WEEK LEFT.
AHEM. Alright thank God, I got my US VISA. Went back to RJ yesterday. Ate lunch with Mrs yeo, met mr gooi (who is now a happy father of a cute baby boy who took MATERNITY LEAVE -_-) mrs chee (males a mental note that I need to go check up lessons for their next year's exchange program) , mr yeo yam khoon (who took 5 minutes to try and remember and decipher who i was), mr chan ter yue (who talked to kang hao instead), kanghao (who talked to mr chan), mr ngan (who did not recognise me at all and thought i was a lunaticwaving at him. he still did not know i was the one waving at him).
met and talked a little while to my darling juniors like ruolin, ngon lung, rayner, shaggy, su hui, ivan's cookies, nicolson (who says i'm a mu lao hu -_- when i swear i never scolded him before) and sue! quite fun drinking my soya bean BIG once again...though i think it was alittle sweet. reminds me of the days after PE on monday when wendy and sometimes huimin and I would eat together. then change together in the music room. ah!
so. i took a cab to US embassy from RJ cos i didnt want to be late. and i got harassed by the taxi driver. yes wendy toh. an UNCLE again. he shall be added to my list of funny uncles. he was exclaiming at my flawless beauty (AHEM i cant help it =P) and then started looking at my hands tryin gto psychoanalyse my character. all this while he was very insistent on how he is not a lao ti ko. well well. the cab driver is sixty plus years old fyi. when somebody sent me this really funny message i was smiling then he said "girl ah why you smile until so sweet..your boyfriend?" i said NO. and he went "sigh, uncle knows he has no chance also" -_- wonderful!
ah.....!
ok i have to go back to SNG one of these days....to collect my gift! =Pp
i'm so totally booked this week. arranged a meet up with fang lao shi over the phone and she exclaimed how ironic it was that I'm the one who's so busy now. it used to be her saying stuff like "monday cannot have lesson, tuesday also cannot....blahblahblah"
anyways. i';m meeting her on thurs 12pm. good luck to me. though she doesnt scold me anymore i'm still extremely freaked out by her. hahaha
and....a few more days back met up with miss pepper, my two terrorists saddam and osama and osama's friend michelle and osama's oboe teacher the pin. wahaha it was fun! and i tell yOU RUSH HOUR 3 is damn funny! =D ate pepper lunch again! i think i'm getting hooked.
AHEM EVERYONE! MALISA WENT LANNING. (playing audition =X) AH! but nonetheless I actually went LANNING. oh my oh my. haha but it was quite fun =))
off to practise my piano again! tada~
PS. my roommate replied me! i think she likes me. phew? =)

Happy National Day!

2007-10-16T09:23:00.004-07:00

10 Aug 07

HAPPY NATIONAL DAY eveybody!
NDP this year is nice and hip and happenign and so modern! =D
I LOVE SINGAPORE! I love the old singapore songs...like count on me singapore/stand up for singapore/one people one nation
its always so so so so cool when all the singaporeans sing together in harmony. its this warm fuzzy feeling that is enough to make me tear.
i wonder how much i', going to miss singapore. what aspect of singapore will i miss. i suppose, all.
i will not think so much. i will just go one step at a time. =)

2007-10-16T09:23:00.003-07:00

9 Aug 07

its national day. my time flies.
I WILL NOT BE EMO.
I thank God for bringing me this far. The pain i've been through is much less already. =) Malisa is happy and can look at national day as national day now.

2007-10-16T09:23:00.001-07:00

31 jul 07

update update!
ok, i always update when I cant really rmb things already. tsk.
so...i've been meeting up with loads of ppl. sigh 20aug is really coming soon. its the last day of july now! gosh.
pepper lunch is nice! yay. i think i'll stick to beef pepper rice. HA-HA just like how i'll always go to suntec fountain terrace to eat the same kimchi noodles. wahaha right wendy?? yay!
went for the musical "love above all" on sun night. man it was good and touching. could see the hard work and effort put in...imagine! during our church's christman musical we practised like for 1month or so...and theirs 6 months! man. and the logistics for the musical is like 0_0. must learn! wahaha =))
I suppose the thing that spoke to me most was when the pastor said this (wtte) 'man awaits himself to be filled with love. he is empty whereas God's love is full. HE fills us up with love' yay! =))
ah! cant wait to go to eastman to watch concerts!

OBS!

2007-10-16T09:22:00.000-07:00

13 jul 07

Ok,so i realised that we the future teachers of tmr are not the only ones being forced to go to OBS...saw NJ ppl there too. Was really hoping to see Pepps there but NOPE sheesh this is one of the frst times I wish Pepp was YOUNGER so that she can be in the camp with them. hrmph.
Writing about OBS is definitely something we...the Marshall watch are used to already.They gave us journals to write down our thoughts for the day. Which was, though troublesome at first, became a lovey session of reflection for everyone.
Lets start from day ZERO...Went shopping for my bag and luggage at Mustafa. Haha, totally unrelated to OBS. Started packing at 1130pm guess everyone can guess as much that I was trying my best to delude myself that I will NOT be going to the wilderness for FOUR DAYS. (Actually, my brother was the one who packed my bag for me.)
Fine, so I woke up at 645 the next day, with my dad fetching me to punggol jetty. it was RAINING. wow, ominous sign. Didnt know they were giving out free ponchos at the busstop hence stupidly took my dad's humongous-ah-ma-like unbrella. Was standing at the mouth of the jetty like an idiot, cos I didnt see anyone I know. tried calling junli but nope, no one answered. haha luckily, chin keat and group walked towards where I was and told me about the ponchos. so...fast forward! went to the OBS camp and we were all waiting in the hall. right. all the local scholars (tsl) were freaking ENTHU. oh my oh my. the the overseas scholars (tso) were sitting around in groups, stoning. the tsl scholars were all in one big group playing hand games that we girls normally play in pri sch. mind you, these games were initiated by guys. haha soon, everyone joined in...quite fun cos i didnt know guys can be so good at psychomoto hand actions. (I was terribly lousy)
first activity of the day -after we checked into our FIVE-STAR hotel at ubin that was infested with lizards and after ice breakers- climbing up this obstacle course thing. I dont know what its called but whatever the name, I was freaked out. cos I have height phobia, or in other words, according to ms WENDY TOAD the new top lister in science, AEROPHOBIA. My heart was pounding and my hands were sweaty. sheesh. finally my turn came. went up a long dangly rope and logs with a guy called johnny. haha he is SO nice and sweet, trying to make me NOT think abt the height by chit chattin with me up there. and I made his pants all dirty -paiseh- cos I was standing on his legs to push myself up the logs that were placed so far apart that I think they are trying to ostracize short ppl. haha one thing funny abt this entire activity was the harness we had to wear. A harness is some waist cum leg strap thing. THe girls were initially saying how unflattering we look in front of the guys cos can see our waist and thigh size but THEN the guys were even more MALU. hahahaha! they were SUPER obscene. I shall not comment here. -guffaws-
hmm then we had the johari window session after bathing and eating dinner. quite cool =) its really interesting compared to all the cliche ice breakers/CME-getting-to-know-abt-yourself sessions in school. haha hmm...second day and third day! land and sea expedition simultaneously. We camped overnight at a sea side. it was really a good location, though i dont think I appreciated it to the fullest. If only it was air-conditioned....righttt land expedition...trekking around pulau ubin. hmm no snakes, wild boars, tigers, monkeys, lions, eagles and what not. the path was relatively decent (if you put mosquito repellent it should be fine). mosquitos were rampant. like in CLUMPS, but oh well, ubin is dengue-free. cos of heavy rain and lightning, we had to cut short our trekking and we just set off for our campsite when the rain stopped. hmm i learnt how to set up a tent and cook using solid fuel! outdoor camping food was good! heated curry chickem with mushroom-raisin-rice. yum chomp! at night, haresh started telling us morbid stories.abt seagull sandwiches. tsktsk and our tent FLOODED at night. how nice. like a bath tub...at the right time too! when we all hadnt bathe for one day. next day was a straight 5hour kayaking session. hoho! damn fun, just that our boat kept shifiting to the left. think our left hands are weak. =) last day! climbed some obstacle thingie again. haresh saved my life! hahahaha thats abt it I guess =)

2007-10-16T09:20:00.000-07:00

12 jul 07

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO tired. haha OBS was tiring but fun, probably is the funnest camp I've ever attended and probably the coolest group I've ever been in.
I think teaching is really my calling. This is the first time I see so many motherly ppl around and they really feel for teaching like I do. haha
more updates soon. (my eyes cant open anymore)

Pinky Sporties

2007-10-15T22:27:00.001-07:00

29 Jun 07

I HATE MY SPORTIES

I LOVE MY PINKIES

ok. i'm mad.

busyyyyyyyyyy

2007-10-15T22:26:00.000-07:00

19 Jun 07

I'm SO PISSED

2007-10-15T22:25:00.001-07:00

19 Jun 07

this yellow page makes me hesistant to post something emo here. heh

i'm feeling particularly emo now after seeing a photo that cannot be enlarged by chance.

EPHESIANS!

ephe ephe ephe ephe ephe
meowmeowmeowmeowmeow

2007-10-15T22:23:00.000-07:00

18 Jun 07

UPDATE! haha

ok. FINALLY, both the concerts are done. heh Was more satisfied with the second but the dear violinist feels otherwise.

I know I played better in the second ooncert hmm. i dunno.

I love the chapel-like env at the Arts Museum auditorium. heh and the small venue reminded me of Earls' Court in London....when my brother and his fellow exchange program ppl played there 10 odd years ago.

HMM i finally met muikee! =)) still like what she has always been, shouting at ppl and exclaiming at things loudly irregardless the venue (hello. its a concert -_-) reminded me of our sec one going-to-concert-together days.

anw after the second concert we met up with mr meowmeow (meowmeow's #1 fan) hahha it was so fun and funny. We went to the same place that we went to after the first concert. heh This time, being smarter, we left the kopitiam earlier. Taking the last train back home is certainly exciting...with all the station announcements that go "no more trains to jurong east/boon lay" and "This station will now be closed since there are no more train services" erm but well once is enough.

ALSO, this time mr meowmeow walked with us to the station =P arhhhhh@ and mr meowmeow tried stalking us....WAH so honoured. such a big shot stalking us and walking us around. HAHAHAHA =D -grins-

LASTLY. MOE has allowed me to go to EASTMAN! yayyyyyyyy =))))) yep thats in the states =)

tada~

I LOVE MY NEW BOUQUET ;)

2007-10-15T22:20:00.000-07:00

13 Jun 07

If you're an axon, I'll be your Schwann cell.
If you're a glomerular capillary, I'll be your podocyte.
If you're a glomerulus, I'll be your Bowman's capsule,
and together, we'll be a renal corpuscle.
If you're guanine, I'll be your cytosine.
If you're adenosine, I'll be your thymine.
We'll embrace each other like two strands of a double helix.
You understand me like a ribosome understand mRNA.

I'll be your alpha-helix, if you'll be my beta-pleated sheet.
Others have their hydrogen bonds; we have our disulphide linkages.
Our love runs straight and true like a cellulose chain,
no alpha-amylase can break us apart.

You raise me up like water in a xylem vessel.
I'll be your cuticle, to protect you from rain or shine.
I wish I could be a chloroplast, to capture the light in your eyes.
I reach out to you like a plant growing towards sunlight. I
f you're an enzyme, I'll be your optimum conditions.
You're the only substrate for my active site.
My love for you keeps increasing like positive feedback,
no external factor can terminate my love for you.

I koped this from siumin's blog. hahaha oh my oh my. the future bio teacher should have this on her blog eh?

heh but really, its interesting eh? =))

Badminton with a swollen right side =)

2007-10-15T22:18:00.000-07:00

9 jun 07

HA! ok update update!

Had TWO consecutive days of badminton hence my right side is totally aching AND bulging. haix. thanks to not exercising since I graduated from RJ. haha i'm so unhealthy! (and proud of it.)

First day of badminton was played at NUS with my bro and tse lert and her nurse friends. haha tired but more importantly FUN and felt so shiok after that. hehe managed to learn how to serve (surf) the shuttlecock in time not to lose face the next day. In the end my newly made nurse friend and I decided that we should change our "goal" in the game. We aim to shoot the shuttlecock AHAP (as high as possible) =P cos both of us cant seem to whack downwards. After a two hour game, we went to eat at the "Great Wall BIG Restaurant" where I ate Wendy and I's favourite FOOD! ZHAJIANG MIAN! It was SUPER BIG and OILY. heh and the chopsticks were fat. really fat. I had no strength left in my arms and I probably looked like a parkinson patient with those shivering fingers/hand.

Second day of badminton was at clementi sports hall. haha saw ppl playing big tabletennis (of which the self proclaimed table-tennis-is-his-specialty didnt know about also). Everything was magnified. the table became the floor, the net became the badminton kinda net and the racket was twice the size of a fan (those that comes free in those motor shows)

sooo.....we played doubles! anybody who played with me, regardless was in Hwa Chong rec bad club/training for competition/played many years ago lost. haha i'm so jinxy =P but well! i didnt feel as tired as i did the day before. but i had no strength left. i couldnt even hear the "wind" wwhen i tried whacking my racket in the air. my muscle's so screwed.

stupid pin tried scaring me with xiao qiang but nong4 qiao2 fan3 zhuo2! the cockroach started crawling on his hands and he freaked himself out. HA-HA try harder next time =P

then we went for lunch! then i had to rush down to clark quay for cj's vln lesson. ah! his teacher is really nice to accompanists! Normally cj will be so exasperated trying to tell me to follow him. but during his lesson the teacher went "CJ! COUNT! Follow her! dont make her life so difficult" =PPPPPPP na nanny poo poo =P ok. i dont care if he is just trying to be nice hahahaha

todAY! went to vivo with my mum and brother! =)) it was fun!

yay!!

2007-10-15T22:17:00.000-07:00

5 jun 07

HA-HA miss tiffy gave me a retarded quiz to do that was so tiffy, namely cos it makes not sense.

tiffy says she farted alot cos of an overdose of glucose. HAHA

mr cheer indeed

haha ok i dont feel like updating today. tata!

Pirates!

2007-10-15T22:14:00.000-07:00

29 May 07

ahem! going for the MOE med checkup today. hahah i havent been to one full body checkup before. =S what if i get diagnosed with some disease/illness i dont even know i have?? plus i have to get more immunization jabs. =(((

immunization reminds me on the stupid biotech option in bio. HHAHAH VACCINES. SHAN! tell me the defn of a vaccine! =p ok ok i will not tease you =))

(wendy toady. you can always try giving a defn HAHAHAHAH =P)

played for TJ strings concert. heh for the first tim i came out almost empty handed/not sweating/no feelings of nostalgia. I guess i have never played in a strings concert not with myself not in the organising committee. For the first time, i could eat y dinner so early and in peace, no worries about chairs, no last min hp calls, no screaming at ppl....and the list goes on. it certainly is an interesting experience. heh i just dont feel like i've played for a concert after the concert. haha oh well, perhaps what the toad says is true. maybe cos i've been to too few rehearsals. heh

oh ya. i'm supposed to blog abt the pirates outing. haha FOR THE FIRST TIME, I've caught a movie FASTER THAN ANYONE HUH. I watched it the FIRST day it got screened. oh my. malisa's turning hip! wahaha

ok the "this is singapore" thingie was HA-HA not funny. but well, you can just tell that the Americans are so -_-

tiffany started watching with really good posture to squirming then curling into a funny tiffany-ball. The pin looked like he was smoking cos of his straw that is supposed to help train some lip/mouth muscle ( i wonder if smokers are fantastic oboist then) oh well, rachel walker is! =D maybe they thought cigarettes looked like straws and suddenly the cigarettes got lit up and hence started smoking. HAHA OK i'm joking.

tiffany made both of us watch pirates though both of us have not watched the previous two shows. so she had to tell us abt everything we didnt understand. haha eh, pirates had many unexpected turns of which CAN make it difficult to catch at certain points of time. but well, it is TOO FUNNY to start picking on the plot. jack sparrow so so so funny. enjoyed laughing and it has been a long time since i laughed so hard (even Mr bean's holiday was not as funny).

congrats to myself! I didnt jump in my seat/pinch ppl beside me/scream this time. ok i found out that corssing my legs and hands prevents me from doing so. so next time, if anyone watches a mopvie with me its not that i;m trying to look stern hhaa i'm preventing jumping onto you during the course of the movie. hee =)

then was DINNER at ajisen. it seems like pin's fav dinner spot. haha tried the volcano ramen with much apprehension but well turned out that it was not so spicy afterall. =P i didnt get diarrhoea! hahahahah in my impression, i dont remember talking alot (eh relative to how much i talk when i go out with toady/ys/yq/cy ) but well miss tiffany says i did. HAHA ok. so maybe i did.=P i cant rmb.

quote of the day: tiff's mouth is wide open

=D

To all aspiring ballet pianists...

2007-10-15T22:13:00.000-07:00

22 May 07

well well. just after taggin shan's blog I suddenly have an urge to blog about my work.

hmm after say close to 6months as ballet pianist i am so SO SO bored. yea same pieces over and over again. haiiii and I cant improvise for nuts. hence i always feel so paiseh when the ballet teacher asks me to improvise if i can.

I peifu the ballet teacher ok. Apparently ballet graded exams or the intermediate foundation/itermediate/adv found do not change syllabuses/dance moves at all. Neither do they change music. She has taught ballet for the 12 year running! If i were in her shoes I would have died of boredom already. hahahaha

Being a ballet pianist somehow degrades you to a "CD player" status. haha ok, usually I dont go groaning/whining to ppl that I feel like a professional automatic CD player. See, the thing is, if I cant make it for class, the teacher simply plays the CD instead. -_- aye but it's good in another way meaning I can go on urgent leaves/unlimited amts of leaves so long as i feel like it. Think this freedom is priceless. I remembered the days in RJ library. I practically felt like crying every morning before work and trying to think of all means/ways to call in sick. HAHA 9-5pm jobs that are so routined/disciplined/strict/staring at comp/no human contact is just-not-me. I cannot tahan it.

Also, the fact that the ballet teacher knows nothing abt piano playing at all gives me quite a headache at times. and it can get painful/tiring. Sometimes she wants you to play in a certain way and she says it using very weird english like "playing slower" is said by her as "steady Malisa!" haha the first few times I kept thinking I was rushing hence the need to be steady. Haha playing loud equates to "be dynamic" though i always thought dynamic as both loud and soft. ok ok. i just simply wasnt used to the language she used. sometimes a nice peaceful 3/4 time waltz if required, i would have to play SUPER fast. and i really mean the SUPER as in high-speed speeding. sometimes there are repeated octave chords in the right hand and jumping octaves in the left. and hello...i'm sight reading. so the thing is. the dancers can make mistakes and re-start. aha i simply have to rubbish my way through. bleah. for quite a few times i restarted and ahem. embarassing.hahaha! but the teacher is nice la=) she encourages me alot! hmm i mentioned abv that it gets tiring/painful right! haha I hate the "full contretemps"/"....an avant en tournant" pieces. CAN DIE. the dances jumps around in batches. I continuously play non-stop big fat FF OCTAVES for at least 15minutes.

lastly. being a ballet pianist has made my gastric worsen even more. I eat dinner at 10-1030 on ballet days.

haha but being a ballet pianist has its fair share of benefits i must admit. apart from the unlimited freedom, i get to see free lessons and know so so so much more about ballet. and REcently! i got to try going en pointe! hahahaha thats the standing-on-the-toe-shoes =D thats like a fream come true! I WANT SATIN POINTE SHOES!!!! =)

oh well. enough ranting. hahahaha

fundRISE

2007-10-15T22:11:00.000-07:00

22 May 07

Currently still waiting for appeal results from MOE. Hmm.Mentioned to them that I got the 10,000 USD scholarship from Eastman and the MOE scholar helpline office personnel told me "that will help put your case across in a better light". heh. evil me didnt tell them I got an RCM scholarship as well. =X which is valued more than the Eastman one cos of exchange rates. hahaha aye in fact, the percentage of the scholarship i got from RCm compared to the full tuition fees is more than the Eastman scholarship.

He also told me to find out if Eastman had any problems with double scholarships. hahahahaha AD's reply was like "no no! not at all. you can find all means / how many scholarships you want to get to the full value of the entire cost of studying there" aye AD's such a nice man! hahaha and he remembered me from my singapore auditions! =P

Went for RISE concert last night and met june!!! hahaha=) I will not comment lest ppl say I am too critical. aye. suddenly i miss going to SSO concerts. haha

pas de deux!

2007-10-15T22:10:00.000-07:00

18 May 07

ALRIGHT. i've officially shited to Yew Tee. heh I love the new house! I love the scenary outside my house. THe best thing is it's so so so so near the station. HAHAHA it takes 2 mins to get there. BING! and you're there already. then theres NTUC, 7-11, dental service, bank, shops all there. =)

The deadline for my MOE scholarship is extended. heh now I've to quickly churn out an argumentative/persuasive essay to convince them to send me to Eastman. sheesh. how am i supposed to do that?

Ah! cant go for this sun's NJ piano ensemble concert anymore. SOBS. aye. sorry pepps. have to attend a parents' day dinner held by my church. my grandma is going! so exciting. I really have to pray that all goes fine.

Yesterday, went for TJ chamber's rehearsal. HAHA it was so fun and ms ku was as usual, HILARIOUS. Spent most reh time playing the piano rather than the violin though. heh. I still cant get over the fact that so many ppl think i'm a violinist. -_-

I WANT LA MER! =P

Animal Story!

2007-10-15T22:08:00.000-07:00

11 May 07

ah! updating here.

listening to tchai's first piano concerto. heh previous few night was listening to his violin concerto. my goodness i'm gonna become a fanatic of tchai! aye. i'm listeining to cheesy stuff.

OH MY GOD. i'm going to fall in love with brahms soon. tried shirong's pieces today. HHAH the brahms; trio is SO NICE. just like the one played at AMIGOS.

i saw this SUPER FAIR guy/girl in the train on my way to cheryl's house today. he/she had his eyes outlined with black eyeliner. and his hair was in three shades. black near the roots, orange-brown in the middle and blonde-white at the tip. gosh it looks like a lion's mane. and he/she had two lip-rings on his/her lips. the fella really looked so freaky. i was trying so hard to see if that fella is a girl or guy. i still cant come out with a conclusion. shall not mention what i used as a basis for judging the person's gender. i'm going to get like loads of rolled eyes and stuff.

haha anw...thank God! I got the MOE teaching scholarship to study in RCM. I'm so happy. At least i know i can do music! =D aye. but it would be perfect if i caould go to Eastman to study!!
God Provides! Amen!

on another note. i love taking buses. the scenary is beautiful. i'm starting to appreciate it more and more esp when i know i'll be going overseas soon. heh.

whilst i enjoy the lovely scenary, it gives me time to think about things. and yes, though you have stopped bugging me. aye. you are constantly on my thoughts. but somehow my thoughts are just fantasies that doesnt really exist in reality. cos i know you arent like that. aye. my fool's paradise again.

alright. thats all for now i guess. =)

2007-10-15T22:05:00.000-07:00

23 Apr 07

i shall try to type in proper english. ahem. afterall, i have to start preparing myself for all the interviews and stuffs that are coming up in this super busy and stressful week.

Just read a few blogs. I'm kinda sad to see that I'm really stressing ppl out? Anw, I'm not really concerned about maintaining my "reputation", was just trying to find another excuse for you to practise. Afterall, I really want you to do well! I have been saying the same ol' things for the past weeks and really, the only thing is for you to practise and practise. I really hope you understand. haha=)Fun aside, I have to deliver what my job requires of me and it distresses me to see that after one whole week it all comes back to the same thing again. But hey, I can see an improvement! =)

The Arts education in Singapore is an extremely demoralising education system. They love little young kids and they are filled with politics and "connections". Who judges purely on your ability? What happens to Singaporeans who have grown "old"? Those who were once one of the "prodigies"? Another Mozart? To die off hungry and mass burried in some unknown "vagrant" cemetry? What about those that have simply no "connections". I mean, there is a reason why out of my entire batch there is only me still struggling so hard to pursue a tertiary music education.

Yes, I do know that life as a musician is going to be tough. But surely, not this "cornered"? It really feels like Singapore hasnt got a space for us to be in, to expand and to soar. As quoting, "what will happen to those who graduate from YST? Where will they get their job?"

What I do know is that, if I really want to be a performer, Singapore is out of the question.

In such a situation, it is always good if I can really truly believe and have faith that the Lord will provide!

Psalm 23:
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You annoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Dear Lord,
I pray that you'll give me the strength and faith to know that you will always be with me.
Amen.
I read another person's blog. He says, the bible contradicts and is "not foolproof".
hmm
God is omniscience and hence He knows things we know not. We are just imperfect "depraved" humans. We shouldnt give such comments and comclusions so quickly right?
It's just so expected.

2007-10-15T22:04:00.000-07:00

18 Apr 07

Galatians 5:22-26B

But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control, against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their sinful nature together with its passions and desires. SInce we live by the spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

This is a lesson we all must learn I guess be it we are galatians or not.

indeed, we are a new creation once we choose to believe in Christ and acknowledge that he is our savior and lord! (2Cor 5:17)

finger lickin good!

2007-10-15T22:02:00.002-07:00

17 Apr 07

ahem. MS BAY is back here. yes fine. seems like everybody loves making fun of me being called ms bay. hahahah right? lee lao shi????

had a really great time on mon with ys, yq and cy. hahaha I got a girlfriend! my beloved yq (who had a fling with cy) of which i had a fling with ys too. HAHAHA SHAN OWES ME MY PURPLISH SHOWER GEL. =D

hmm going to work soon. heh uncle gooigooi suddenly sent me an sms asking if i wanted to go to kenneth hamilton's concert. i told him i cant cos i would still be working at that time then he said why i so busy. then i told him it is not that i'm busy but rather it is bcos i have iregular working hours. HAHA he was like what is your job? i told hmm. oooooH something exciting! HAHAHAHA and he said i was SCANDALOUS?!

last night i was talking to ed! HAHHA meowmeow's secret admirer. ahhhh! so funny.

anws, quite disappointed i cant organize noteworthy 2007. hmms oh wells

pineapple tarts day!

2007-10-15T22:02:00.001-07:00

11 feb 07

heh. currently listening to charlotte church! ahhhh her voice is damn cool!

heh baked pineapple tarts today! they're so DELICIOUS! lala they simply melt in your mouth...hehe

i think toady and you should shake hands on being scheming. oops =X

2007-10-15T22:01:00.000-07:00

10 Feb 07

I am so embarrassed and happy today. heh

Memories that drop from the sky

2007-10-15T21:57:00.002-07:00

7 Feb 2007

I realised that not that i dont like to blog but that whenever a thought strikes me worth blogging, I'm not in front of the comp. so, yesterday, I forced myself to remember what i wanted to blog about. hahaha but it seems pretty ridiculous to say it now.

anw, i suppose all fellow females have experienced what it feels like to wear a skirt that KEEPS running higher and higher as we walk? HAHA i never really paid much attention to this embarassing situation until it caught me rather unprepared yesterday. heh guesss i was pretty unglam (ok enough of bimbo talk)

hmm, regarding this skirt incident...hahaha a few years back somebody kena-ed it too. shant name who but apparently it got so bad that this guy could see that the skirt was running (ok this time not running higher but running sideways)that he told the girl. ahem. I remember feeling pretty self-conscious as well.

frankly, i think it would be best NOT to let the girl know. it's pretty embarassing. haha fortunately, if i didnt remember wrongly, the skirt had no pattern at "the front" of the skirt or something. haha maybe next time when we all buy skirts we should buy PLAIN skirts (and if possible), no visible hemlines. HAHA

such memories will just appear somewhere unexpectedly when the situation calls for it. haha these bits and pieces...i thought i've forgotten! hmm perhaps not huh.

oh well, afterall there are 3 years worth of memories.

heh i seem to recall more of these memories with this person than the other.

weird

Empty Pond

2007-10-15T21:57:00.001-07:00

6 Feb 07

ahem! the pond waits to be filled. heh
SITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION. hahaha =)