Wednesday, December 31, 2008
It's that time of the year, the end, actually. At this point I guess people normally review how the year has been, things you're happy about, things you regret, things you know you don't want to forget, etc. Labels: acapella, choir, church, dbsg, family, friends, korea, olympics, school, suju
This was definitely an interesting year for me at least. Regarding school, I had the most major and important set of exams of my life, though that's obvious, since I don't imagine anyone would continue their education and blog at the end of the year that their exam wasn't the most major one yet.
The period of studying for A Levels was the most intense I've ever had before. Granted, the only O Level paper I took was for Higher Chinese, so I haven't had much experience in this all-out mugging mode. It was terrible and fulfilling at the same time, to see the culmination of the past two years of learning in NJC.
Regarding choir, we went to Italy this year, and it was the last lap of being in the NJChoir after three and a half years. Going to Italy was undoubtedly enjoyable and meaningful, a lot of unexpected things happened, we faced disappointments, but at least we grew up there.
It was also my first time caroling with the Alumni choir. It's a different type of experience, though I won't say now whether it's for the better or worse. Oh yeah, I took part in Talentime for the first time this year as well. Acapella was fun, tiring, disappointing results, but a worthy experience nonetheless.
In this year, I finally officially graduated from NJC. Despite all the typical complaints by NJCians about the school, whether about rules, money (or lack thereof), staff or syllabus, I do like my school. I like the people I've met there, I like most of the teachers I've had, I like the CCA I joined, and after a while, even the uniform isn't so bad.
As for the Prom at the end of the year, it did not meet my expectations (through no fault of the organisers), but it still was interesting. It reminded me how troublesome shopping is, why I dislike dresses, how I'll probably never see some of the people again, and that makeup is an unnecessary device invented to stimulate the economy. And to always charge your camera just in case.
The Olympic Games deserves a mention, since it was the first time I ever watched it and the events before, and I guess since Singapore actually won a medal!
This year I began following DBSK and Super Junior, and all those Korean pop culture things, inclusive of watching many shows, dramas, comedies, also from Japan and Taiwan.
As for family, my sister and brother-in-law left for another country this year, which is something I'm absolutely not happy about, but am powerless to affect. At least I'm sure they're having a good time there. Also, though it's not particularly important, we got our family pictures done. These pictures mark the passage of time for our family.
As for schoolmates, as I've already said, I appreciate them extremely, and they've made school a much more enjoyable place to be in. If I were to go back to when I was in Sec 2, to choose freely for myself whether to come to NJC IP, I still would. Mostly for the friends there.
For church, I stepped down as chairperson of Juniors early in the year, so my responsibilities immediately decreased. I like being a group leader, though my group is rather quiet, so they ought to speak up more! I spent this year's retreat as an adult, in the sense that there was no youth session for the first time. I played more board games than bridge there too!
I'm very thankful for my Sunday School teachers, who have been very conscientious teachers who never fail to engage the interest of the students with thought-provoking questions. I have been blessed by them.
Thank you God for this year, and may there be many more like it in the future, even as we welcome 2009 tomorrow.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Yay, today is my sister's birthday! As well as our Chinese New Year celebrations of course.Nothing really very interesting has happened lately.
For Talentime, TNT+dianfeng came in 2nd place. Quite disappointing, but I suppose we had fun preparing and actually performing? Anyway, I'm buying the vcd, so we can listen to our performance lah. Thanks to all the choir / school people who came and cheered for us, especially our seniors who reassured us that the performance was ok, can hear everybody, etc. CK mentioned something about how they've extended the boundaries of what it means to be a "vocal group". The winning group had 3 people with 2 guitar players and one main singer. Hmm.Ms Lim scolded the choir quite badly on Tuesday. Sops not good for Hainan, Basses cmi for the last page oh-oh-oh part, brainless awful-sounding rendition of the basque lullaby, etc. Then LC gave his pep talk, and then SLs gave our pep talks.One nice thing about that prac was that Ms Lim says that Altos were ok, and that we're fighters. Woohoo. But I'm always very scared every time she says we're good. Despite warnings against complacency, it just sets us into the idea that we'll never be bad, or at least, we'll never be worse than the Sops. Then when we are bad, and get told so, it's like a bigger punch.Today after the CNY celebration, Ann, YJ, Sheena, Boss, JA, LC, Eug, XM and me went to town, but Ann and YJ dropped off at Far East to deliver mochi, and Sheena afterward to go shopping with her mum.The six of us ate at Cafe Cartel @ Plaza Singapura. I must say, it was really a lunch filled with a lot of hilarity. This includes XM naming the bread as muh-zhoir or something, the founding of LC the BreadMan, the fellow with the funny hair, laughing at the people laughing at the next table, mixing of milk+olive oil+water, milk+butter, milk+lemon, olive oil+butter+peachtea+pepsi...Then after Boss and JA went to deliver mochi, the four of us went back to the shops to get ideas for our choir hoodie-to-be. I hope our design will come out ok.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
TNT had our first ever performance yesterday 18th January at Soundtracked @ LT5.
We actually had choir first, then we had to rush down for the soundcheck at about 6.20, then we came back up, and Ms Lim let us off early so that those who wanted to watch Soundtracked could go.
Well, from the feedback from people who listened, we were okay, but I think they could only hear the solos, because the solo mike was a lot louder than everyone else.
Nobody's Home was quite passable, but somewhere in the middle of Cry it sounded strange.
I think in all the preparation, we were quite comfortable with the songs and stuff, just that we needed to learn to sing together and feel it more. And also of course, it's better without mikes.
We went for dinner at KAP again. I'm getting a little sick of that place. Xiang, Eugenia, Sheena and I were in Chye Keong's car, CJ went on Hua Cheng's bike, and some others went in Prashanth's car. Then Conan, YongJ, Xuemin, Amanda, Jaymie, Xiao Yun, Pei Cheng etc came by bus.
Dinner was very funny, because I was sitting across Prashanth, who was telling us about all the funny people he meets in the army who are Pes E. Anxiety disorder, sleeping disorder etc.
I think these few days of having dinner with choir and practicing acapella makes me re-realise how much I love the choir people.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
So, TNT is busy practicing for the Soundtracked Concert for charity that we're performing in. Labels: acapella
We keep going sharp, and different people go sharp at varying degrees and times. Except Conan, who has managed to be the flattest.
After the soundcheck today, which wasn't much better, because we can't really hear each other, we went down to the piano to sing some more!
At one point, we practiced Cry, going so fast that Lingchung reminded us it's an emo song! Then we spiralled off into this crazy high rendition complete with clapping and crowd cheering. And then Xuemin and Eugenia were laughing like mad.
Heh. Later, we were walking from the canteen to the carpark, and Sheena was calling her mum to fetch us. Her mum said something about how heavily it was raining.
Sheena: Huh? Raining? It's not raining...
Half the other people: It's raining!
Yes. It started raining. Then began this mad rush for umbrellas.
CJ, Sixuan, LC, Eug: I got umbrella! *looking for umbrella* Who needs umbrella?
LC: Eh, I can't find my umbrella!
Sixuan: I don't want to share with Conan! He's too tall! *shares with Sheena*
Conan: Yeah, tall people share! *shares with CJ*
*LC gives up and shares with XM*
*Eugenia chiongs to her mum's car*
Silly XM and LC didn't get into Eugenia's car. Haiz. So XM called her dad to come fetch them, and Sheena's mum fetched me home.
Monday, January 7, 2008
I think I'm finally getting the hang of school. Labels: acapella, dbsg, school
Of course, there's only been some 4 schooling days, but it already feels like forever.
What's happening:
Biology - DNA Cloning. Plasmids with sticky ends! Ligase = Glue!
Chemistry - Ionic Equilibrium II + Arenes. Precipitate = PPT = Powerpoint
Mathematics - I HATE VECTORS. H3 lessons are also starting to sound scary.
Literature - I can't buy Heart of Darkness. Photocopy Aunty won't photocopy my Duchess of Malfi.
And, coincidentally, He Jun is taking NTU Numbers and Matrices as well! How surprising. I suppose all the NJC, HCI, RJC and ACJC students are coming to my school for that course. Considering how the other centre is halfway across the island at TJC, it's to be expected.
Failed acapella practice today. Stupid Conana went home today! And then Xuemin only got released at about 4, and I had to leave at 4.30, so that was a flop. Totally out of tune. What are we going to do about Talentime?? Lingchung says he'll probably join the guys, which includes Conana and YongJ. Die already.
In a totally unrelated way, I'm still obsessed with DBSK. I need more of their music. Fortunately, kind Rongrong says she might burn a cd of her DBSK songs for me! JOY!
The Xuan
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
And we're back in school! Labels: acapella, choir, school
It was awesome to be able to see all my friends again after such a long break, I almost forgot what they look like. :P
We received our new timetables, and I'm in a new GP class, along with Kai Xin, Rachel, Xin Yuan, Wan Ting, Sarah and Terence, taught by Ms Willa Chen.
Our H1 Lit class with Mr Whitby now has 2 mainstream students and Joanna and Maricelle have shifted to another class. =(
Bio class seems to have swopped one third of the people on each side. In fact, when I saw the other class having lessons before ours, I thought I was already late for it.
Math is roughly the same class, and we still have Mr Lum (yay), but I'm quite confused as to the shift between the other classes. For example, Kai Xin, Rachel, Sheryl and Wan Ting are in the same class. Which doesn't really make much sense to me.
Then for CAAL, after Mrs Tan talked about CIP and Mr Neo on the KM profiling system, Mr Teck (?) came on to speak about SPA and H3 matters. Apparently we still got about 3 more spa sessions for each science.
And my first H3 introductory lesson thingy is next Monday. My lessons, fortunately, are on Mondays and Thursdays, which means they won't clash with choir practice, unless we have whatever extra practices.
Speaking of choir, we had a comm meeting to discuss Jap Games actions, then acapella practice. Cry went better than I expected, but Way Back Into Love was disastrous. Hmph.
All the teachers either mentioned A Levels or "the rest of the year" or "graduating batch". This served to remind me that, simply speaking, it's never going to get easier.
Think about it. After Pri School, then Sec School is worse, then JC is even worse, Uni is going to be much tougher, and then holding on to a job and performing well is going to be excruciatingly hard.
Whatever small respite you may have, after a major exam or something, doesn't mean it'll stay this nice forever. It's going to be worse. And I have to be prepared for it.
The Xuan
Thanks to all the blogs i referred to (countless) for html code help :) (esp. cyn' and sixseven)
Adobe Photoshop Elements for supernatural abilities
