Sadly Happy

Well, today was a rather eventful day!
The second out-of-school performance, TP Band played outside Katong Mall to a receptive crowd, that consisted of both the old and the young. You could say it was well-received. After all, we did play a wide range of pieces that tailors to the old and the young. (No, we didn't play Green Day or Crazy Frog or James Blunt)

It started quite alright, with good weather and a hearty. but my heart nearly stopped when I went band room to realise that my wallet didn't follow me along. It being a new wallet, and a well-thought gift from a friend, i kinda panicked. After some mental searching and some physical foraging in band room, I headed back to the coffeeshop that I had my breakfast at, and [phew!] It was there! Well, not at the same spot that I left it cause the cleaner found it and passed to the drink store owner. But. THANK GOD! If I lost it for good, I think my heart would break!

Hehe. To think of it, when I got my new laptop, I left it by accident in band room also. Seems like I'm not that good with new stuff. Wonder what'll happen when I get married? [winks]

So, after the wallet thing, we got down to business. I went to play my percussion. That's right. Percussion. See I'm a tubist, but there's no available tubas for me to play, so I ended up being a percussion rookie. Prior to this, I actually played the euphonium for an internal event. So, well, I've sampled tuba, eupho and percussion. And, I actually tried playing the timpani, and to an extent, it's easier, because it's bass cleft and the range of the notes is akin to that of the tuba, unlike the eupho, where notes are an octave higher, but then, after a day of enjoying myself, I'm told that the timpani won't be brought due to a lack of space. [Well, Singapore Is small] So I don't really have a choice but to play the smaller instruments like tambourine, and tambourine and well, the tambourine as a whole. And I'm like 'huh... how to play?' And 90% of the percussion section has the same response. 'Oh, just anyhow play/ad-lib can already. Very easy one.'
[To TP Band: Now you know why the percussion sounds so strange. Cause they don't follow the score!]
Now of course, some of my readers would be thinking, 'ad-lib, what's so hard about that?' Well, as far as I know, tubists don't really need to ad-lib ya know. So, it's a whole new experience. Totally new.
So, the journey there and back wasn't eventful, the usual choir wannabes and people trying to sleep.
Playing there was an interesting experience. Emceed by Lina Ng and another guy, [Lina Ng's that babe from the defunct-Cheng Ren Zha Zi, together with Sharon Au, Bryan Wong and one more babe, i forgot her name.] Didn't know Lina was from Cornerstone.
Oh, and I met Constance there. Spunky. Yea, that could be used to describe her. Spunky Babe. Took me awhile to extract her name from my memory bank though. Must be getting old or laggy. Helped her in accounts for a while. Back then with the butts and another babe. Whom we shall not mention. Lest the memories flood back.
So, on the whole, the performance wasn't that bad, though I worry about the conductor though. Old men tire easily. [No, I'm not talking about myself].
And the recent fireworks. Fireworks just for TP Band.
Which makes me miss my sec school band thrashing sessions. We could like just 'talk' it all out ya know. And resolve conflicts. Easily.
If only we could have one in TP Band, but then again, it may not produce the same results.


How nasty jealousy
Thy veins of immaturity
The bonds you break
The hurts you make
Incurable disease
How nasty jealousy

Fear or contempt
Deceit or dishonesty
Anger or rage
Authoritarian or Democratic
Leadership.

Mysteriouso

There he stood, with keen and a certain degree of sharpness in his eyes, his body hidden behind a pillar. His eyes glazed as he watched a pack approach. The pack was too engrossed with each other that they failed to realise they had neglected one of their own. Lagging behind, she was unaware that she had been marked out, strolling behind the pack. Then, in a split second, he charged, covering five feet with a step, and thrust a pamphlet under her nose! "For you, ma'am"

And our eyes met.

Leaning against the pillar, her fingers busy kneading her phone, she looked up and glanced around, and our eyes met. But for a split second, and in that split second, she told me everything about her.


Was exhausted from the concert, so I leaned against the pillar while waiting for my mum to be done with her autograph signing. While replying a message, I looked around, and for a split second, my eyes met the usher's and in that brief moment, i felt as if he understood me.


She told me the mixed feelings she had, feelings of pride because of her mother's accomplishments, and yet awkwardness because her mother was more of a status than a person, that is to say her mother didn't understand her well, and was too busy making her own career that she didn't have much time to understand her.


In that brief meeting of the pupils, he saw a glimpse of me, seeing who I truly was. While mentally scolding myself for being so defenseless before him, part of me argued back, questioning the length of time I had gone misunderstood, unknown and forgotten.


Her eyes, the window to her soul, gave me a glimpse into her helpless superficiality. To be proud, on the outside, of her mother and her accomplishments, yet, on the inside, a single molecule of pride she felt did not exist. She longed to be understood, and accepted, but her accomplishments always went unnoticed, unseen, unheard.

I wish I knew her.

Crap

Note: This is but a feeble attempt to pump back some blood into the frail heart of this dying blog. It may or or may not be the start of more posts. It may or may not lead to the slow merciless but not painful demise of this blog. Any relations, whatsoever, within this post to any persons is purely fictional and you cannot sue me.

So, it's the 13th of December, 2006. 12 more days to Christmas after which another 12 days of Christmas would be celebrated. But, by the Twelfth Day of the Second twelve Days of Christmas, which is actually the Twenty-Fourth Day from now, I would have handed in several assignments. Which of course gives juice to the notion that I wouldn't have a holiday. Well, not much of one actually. After all, which sane person in the whole wide world would give assignments during the holidays?!?! And. Christmas Season too.

Which, in my opinion is too Americanised. After all, what comes to mind when you think of Christmas? Santa coming down the Chimney? Snow? Sigh.

Worst thing about being a mass comm-er, is that after you learn every nitty gritty detail about mass comm, you lose all sense of appreciation and the beauty of the television and radio becomes harsh reality.

Thank God I don't learn much about the Internet and I.T. stuff.

Oh, and there was a Santa Claus at White Sands just now. A real skinny one. A real slim dude. Even slimmer than me, me thinks. Well, I know Santa Claus is more at home with the cold climate up at the North Pole, but surely, he couldn't have lost That much weight with our hot climate here right? And no, he wasn't publicity for a weight loss program. Though he would make a darn good one.

Did I mention I've been kinda busy too? Went to do filming for my PSA (Public Service Announcement) on Tuesday. Philip, Stella and Nisa are a fun bunch of people to work with. Going to Pizza hut for lunch and discussion, then going to East Coast Park to film, fighting against wind and weather, cyclists and skaters, and concluding with dessert bought through Mac's Drive-Thru.

I guess, being in Calculus does have its benefits - making more friends. I have almost different groups for each subject, which of course brings its horrors of time management and mental compartmentalisation into the picture, but hey, I get to meet lots of people! Lots of 'I-didn't-know-you-exist' low-profilers, to be exact. Which, I guess would be kinda cool. After all, I've met the high profilers, and the moderate crowd, so it's about time I met some low-profilers too. Which actually rocks, cause they can be very friendly and humorous and all. To tell you the truth, I kinda prefer the low profilers as compared to the high profilers. Pride? Perhaps, more of humility and receptivity I think. Nevertheless, I think I'll enjoy my group projects.

Change of environment brings about new challenges and surprises to behold.

Oh well, thats enough crappy rambling. Only time will tell if crap revives blogs. :)

PSA Proposal

I'm so relieved. I just handed in my PSA Proposal and it's like a huge weight just lifted off me! In fact, I'm so grateful to this huge release of relief, I'm going to dedicate a song to it! Well, to the PSA Proposal, that is. Now, in case, you're wondering what the #@%$#&%% is a PSA, it stands for Public Service Announcement, like your 'Be Vigilant, Be Resilient' or '1800-XDENGUE".

So, here it is, entitled PSA Rock, sung to the tune of Jingle Bell Rock. I know you probably forgot how it sounds like so I'm uploading it as my blog song. It should play automatically.

PSA Rock

PSA, PSA, PSA Rock
Don't forget your cover page!
Target Market and Content Page,
Let's not forget your storyboard!

PSA, PSA, PSA Rock
Half a minute to One
Production Schedule, Cast and Crew,
Proposal has just begun.

Size Twelve, One point five Spacing,
Remember to number each page.
File it, and Hand it,
Please remember to write your name!

PSA, PSA, PSA Rock
oh yes, there's your approach
Motivational, stylistic
Have a wonderful description.

PSA, PSA, PSA Rock
Do you know it's just begun
You're gonna film
And edit and cut
And that's your PSA,
That's your PSA,
That's your PSA Rock!

snoring!

You'll be amazed at what one can blog about with just four hours of work. Honestly, I'm beginning to love working at my workplace, not just because of its high wage, but also of the interesting events that happen. Let me relate.

I started work sleepily and slightly restless. Besides, ushering for the SSO performance isn't exactly very awakening.

So there I was, hoping to get a bit lucky with eye candies. I mean, hey, it's an orchestra performance, and artsy-fartsy people tend to have more pleasurable features.
Then the tourists came. Hong Kong Study group. Their first time in my work venue. Definitely.

How do I know? By the waa-ing and ooo-ing audible expressions and their numerous photo cameras and video cameras. Honestly, surely it is common sense that if the person seated at your right is told that photography is not allowed, the same rule would apply to you right!

My goodness! It was simply exciting, like a see-which-camera-can-evade-the-usher game. Telling one patron the no-photography rule resulted in two more cameras being whipped out! Not to mention their video-graphy too. Alamo's!

Then another group of patrons came in. A group of girls, in their early to middle teens. A music class, if my ears served me accurately. The most bizarre thing is, they look around to see if there are any ushers in the vicinity watching them, and because when they look around, their head moves, which grabs my attention, and so they exchange eye contact with me for a split second or two and they proceed to do whatever they wish to do, be it using their handphone or taking a photo!

Wah piang! Talk about folly of all follies!

Finally, the best for last, snoring during the performance! That's right. there's no typo error there. There was this male patron, middle aged, alone, who slept and snored during the second half of the performance. Hey, I know some musicians determine the receptiveness and enjoyment of their performance via the number of people dozing but snoring?!?!?! Furthermore, when I gently tapped him on the shoulder to rouse him awake, he stared at me!

As if I did something wrong, which perhaps i did, after all nobody wishes to be awakened during their sleep, and also perhaps he felt humiliated, but hey! his snore was low, audible and a crescendo! IMHO, it was disrupting the performance!

After the performance ended, he walked right up to me and stared me in the face! He then walked out to the door, turned and then stared at me again before proceeding off.

Well, that's all. Four hour performance. Eventful. Can't imagine what it would be like when I work tomorrow. Oh well, till then, take care ya beloved reader and God bless!

Band

You know what's most important in a band? it's not the size or how musically talented each musician. but the bond. and its effects.

The bond ensures that the band stays connected and united. It makes sure that the tuba's tempo is the same as the drumset's or the flutes' or the trumpets. It is the bond that I have with the bassoonist, that puts a smile on my face because when i play, i hear neither my sound nor my section's but that of the bassoon despite him sitting two rows in front of me and his instrument angled towards the front.

To me, this highlights one thing. We are bonded, not in its foundation stage but higher than that.

Insecurity happens to most people, especially musicians. We glance nervously at the conducter, our eyes roll from side to side, seeking security from those beside us.

But it should not. True, the conductor has his or her usefulness but I certainly don't think it's to be a metronome.

A band can thrive without a conductor or even without its members, as long as each section has one musician for each part. Why?

Because at the end of the day, it's not the size nor the commitment nor the strength but the bond itself that is important that cannot be judged in terms of monetary value or strength due to its lack of comparison that results from zilch classification values.

Which is why I love my TP Band. True, we may not be the best band in the nation, neither have we achieved any standards of excellence, but what we have is the bond. The knowledge that the bassline doesn't just play together, we breathe together, we feel the same pulse. The pulse that pulsates at the heart of each band. Whether it is to push the band forward, or to let it flow and provide foundational support, it moves together.

How do you measure a bond? In strength? If so, how do you measure strength? In numbers? What numbers? In length? Days or hours? Times laughed or length of interaction? How?

By love. By moving together as one without cue. By being in sync with a nod or the meet of the eyes. That cannot be trained. Not by words nor by nudges or pre-arranged signs and body languages.

Yet, the bond is as important as the unity within a section. For a section is no section if it is divided, just as how strong can a defence be if it is just made up of one brick? Rather, let it be joined together with other bricks and the defence would be superb.

So then, what makes a band strong? It is both the bond between musicians of all instruments and the bond within each section.

Is it hard to form and foundationalise this bond? Yes. But at the end of the day, the satisfaction that comes, and best of all, the marvelous tale told in music is the clincher for knowing you're not just a member but part of a team, a family.