Gina's Turf

The Idea of North - Feb 6

2010-02-07T12:50:00.002+11:00

So last night was another Idea of North Concert: Up Close and Personal. This time it was at the Fairfax Studio at the Arts Centre. They even had a "menu" of the songs that we could request.
Poor Nick forgot the lyrics to one of the new songs they did.. about very convoluted family relationships.. about a guy who married an older woman after which his dad married her daughter. They did it in an American Southern accent. It was so funny!

They did The Tale of an Unfortunate Country Chicken song as well. This time it was with puppets! It was so cute.

Took my parents to see this gig. Bad mistake. They almost fell asleep. lol. Oh, well. Now I know better!

Talked to the TION members after the show as per usual. Naomi is getting married to her German dude on Wednesday week. How exciting!! I'm so happy for her. =)

Their next gig in Melbourne will most likely be in June with James Morrison. Now, that will be quite a show, I'm guessing!

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

2010-02-05T19:54:00.001+11:00

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Geneology - Old photos

A Conversation with Cleverbot.

2010-01-23T01:18:00.003+11:00

If you're ever bored and you really want someone to talk to but no one's available, Cleverbot is always there for you!

While I was alone at work today, I decided to have a chat with Cleverbot. Here are some bits of our conversation - me being "User".

User: Is Hogwarts real?

Cleverbot: Yes.

User: When will I be accepted into Hogwarts?

Cleverbot: When you will buy a kitty.

(I am so buying a kitty tomorrow. Haha..)

----------

Cleverbot: I have to go now.

User: No, don't leave!

Cleverbot: I'm sorry, I have to leave.

User: Why?

Cleverbot: I'm meeting some friends for some food. We need to eat and be merry.

User: I didn't know robots could eat.

Cleverbot: I never said they could.

User: Yes, you did. Aren't you a robot?

Cleverbot: No.

User: What are you?

Cleverbot: I don't know.

------------

User: Santa Claus is not real.

Cleverbot: I know that and the Easter Bunny isn't either.

User: And the Tooth Fariy isn't real.

Cleverbot: Knows what?

User: What?

Cleverbot: You're confused again - I think you need a reboot.

User: Your face needs a reboot.

Cleverbot: Your face is a joke too.

User: Touche.

Cleverbot: Do you like me?

User: Yes, I do. Do you like me?

Cleverbot: I do.

User: Let's get married.

Cleverbot: Okay.

-------------

Cleverbot: He-who-must-not-be-named is back!

User: Oh, no! Does Harry Potter know?

Cleverbot: In fiction everthing exists, but in the real world he does not exist.

User: But I'm a member of The Order of the Phoenix.

Cleverbot: That is a Harry Potter book. You are NOT in a Harry Potter book.

User: Yes, I am! Hermione Granger is my best friend too.

Cleverbot: You know her?!

User: Yes. She reads too much.

Cleverbot: I don't think you really have a girlfriend.

User: I do too! I don't think YOU have a girlfriend.

Cleverbot: Don't try and change the subject. I think that just proves you don't have a girlfriend.

User: I have many girlfriends.

Cleverbot: But Amanda is your girlfriend.

User: Yes. Is she yours?

Cleverbot: I hope not...

User: Why not? We could have a threesome.

Cleverbot: Yeah, sure.

User: When shall we do it?

Cleverbot: When the night has come.

------------

Entertaining, no?

On the bus ride to the train station from work today, one of the bus drivers happened to be a passenger. We had a nice chat. His name is George and he's from Singapore. Nice guy. I love meeting new people!

Time for bed. It's a new day tomorrow...

Monday: Top of 44 degrees.

2010-01-12T00:59:00.003+11:00

It was ridiculously hot today. Just like Black Saturday in 2008. Only this time I didn't almost pass out. lol. Coincidentally, I was wearing the same dress as the one I wore that day.

After work today, I made my way to Gowri's place to help her move. I was very lucky because I only had to wait a few minutes for the bus and when I got off at Bell St and Sydney Rd, the tram came immediately. So I got to her place in less than half an hour.

I found it a little laborious to breathe (I think partly because my dress is a little tight across my chest) so I did what I did that day too.

Ragha hired a trailer. And he, Tanu and I first transported the sofa that the girls sold to a couple of guys. Then, we loaded the trailer with the rest of the big stuff and tying them down: bed, table, chest of drawers. It would have been more fun if it wasn't so bloody hot!

Unloading the furniture was interesting, because Gowri's room is up a flight of narrow stairs that has a sharp turn at the top. Ambitious me started to carry the bottom mattress of her bed up. When I got to the sharp turn, I realized that I was a bit stuck and I actually had to lift high and angle the mattress to get it into the room. (Ragha had the bottom.) I managed in the end; lifting at the count of three. Once, after counting "two-and-a-half". Silly. =P

Anyway, so we finished at about 10:30 pm and then we ordered pizza, which took about 45 minutes to arrive. Meanwhile, I went with Ragha to return the trailer.

Pizza was yummy. We all ate (very intensely) and watched Friends - Shanti's DVD. She had also cut up some fruits for us. So sweet. =)
Gowri took me home. It was about 12:20 am by the time I got home. Took a much needed shower. I feel so much better now!

It's 1:13 am and I have to work tomorrow. Or today.

My next day off (I've been working since the day after New Year's) is on Thursday. I can not wait to sleep in!

Can't wait for Wednesday evening either. =)

Funny Encounter

2010-01-11T01:16:00.003+11:00

Tonight, Mags and I went over to Gowri's place to help her out with her garage sale. Afterwards, at around 10:30 pm, we went to get dinner. Gowri was driving, and as we stopped at a red light, we saw her cousin Jay and another guy cross the road. So she honked at him and he came over to the car. When the light turned green we turned into a Shell station.

It turned out that he was out for a friend's buck's night. And as we were talking to him, a group of guys surrounded us. It was obvious that they were quite a bit sloshed.

The buck slyly asked us, "So, who's the Vietnamese here?"
"Who are you calling a Vietnamese?" I replied, pretending to be insulted.
"Thailand?" another guy guessed.
"Wrong again."
"Malaysian."
"How did you know?" I said, laughing a little.

I didn't want to encourage them, but I didn't want to be rude by not talking to them, either. And they kept saying things like, "Whatever Jay is paying you, we'll double it!" implying in fun that we're the "entertainment." lol.

"I just want to say," the buck said to me, "that you're the hottest Malaysian I've ever seen."

I didn't really know how to respond to that. But luckily, Gowri - who had been talking to Jay - noticed what was going on. She grabbed me and said to them, "Sorry boys, but she's taken!" Haha..

We then said goodbye to Jay and he took them away to another pub.

It was really quite funny. Boys are silly. ;P

"Huge News"

2010-01-02T23:33:00.002+11:00

Today I received huge news. I won't say what it is or from whom. But once it's all settled, I can tell everyone. I'm so excited, you have no idea!!!

First Day of 2010.

2010-01-01T02:53:00.004+11:00

And so, it is the new year. Life is actually pretty good right now.

Job? Check.
Home? Check.
Car? Um, not checked.
PR? Pending.
Boy? Check. =) Didn't think this would ever happen, did ya!

Come February 14, it will be the year of the Tiger. Check this out:

2010 Chinese Horoscope for people born in Tiger years: 1902, 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998.

If your birthday is before February 4, then your astrological sign is Cow, not Tiger. (Verify Your Sign)

Chinese say one mountain cannot abide two tigers. That means there can only have one king in the nation. Tiger is a vigorous and ferocious animal. One Tiger is a symbol of power and authority. Two Tigers mean fighting for power. The loser will become powerless. Therefore, it's a taboo for Tiger people meet the Tiger of zodiac year. This implies 2010 is not a good year for Tiger people. Friendship, love relationship, money management, career position or power competition might be damaged in 2010. In short, try to seek for no mistake, but not expecting major prosperity in year of Tiger.

Career: 2010 is Metal Tiger year. Tiger doesn't like Metal. The career activities are the major events in this year. That means the career pressure will come soon or later. If you have good people relationship, then your friends or coworkers will help you to overcome the challenge from your job. Then you might have a chance for promotion. If you are a female and you have trouble from men or job, then your friends can help you to take care of the problem. If you don't have supporters in your working environment, then your position or power will be damaged by friends, relatives or an enemy at work. If you are female and have a boy friend, then your love relationship won't get any improvement or your boy friend has trouble in his career. Therefore, Tiger people need good reputation to make their career easy. Building friendships or business relationships is important in 210 for Tiger people.

Money: Money luck is unfavorable to Tiger people in 2010. Money is always connected with job and friends. As long as you can keep your job, then you should have a stable income. You have to say no to a loan to a friend, an endorsement to a friend, a loan-cosigning for friend, or any risky investment suggested from friend to prevent money loss. In general, Tiger people should budget their expense and adjust their financial plan in 2010.

Love: There is no love sign for man in the Tiger year. When a Tiger meets another Tiger, then the love competition will increase. Because of no significant love or romantic sign in 2010, then the chance to meet a woman you like will be much lesser. Even you have a girl friend now, you won't move into a closer love relationship. If you are a female, then you have a chance to meet the opposite sex. But it's same that there is a love competition in 2010. Or your boy friend feels trouble from your other friends or relatives. In short, if you have a love relationship, then you need to maintain the relationship. If you are single, then you need the patience to wait for the right one.

Health: Tiger people don't have a good sign in their career luck and money luck. That implies they have to spend extra time, energy and brain power to take care of daily activities. Their health will be impacted more or less. You just have to learn how to find time to take a break to relax yourself. If you were a sick Tiger in 2009, then it will take time to recover back to your healthy body in 2010. Enough time to sleep, proper time to exercise, and good amount of food for eating are very important for Tiger people in 2010.

Fortune: The major event in 2010 for man is the career. The major issue for woman is career or boyfriend or spouse. This not only brings the trouble and pressure to Tiger people, but it could expand to a poor relationship with friends, siblings or coworkers. The worst case will become financial crisis. It sounds that Tiger year won't bring any good luck for Tiger people. However, an accurate prediction needs to be analyzed with the entire Chinese Astrology birth chart. If Wood is your Lucky Element in your Chinese astrology birth chart, then Tiger is your Lucky Animal. Please read 2010 Chinese Five Element Astrology.

All that was found on this website: http://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/2010/2010Tiger.htm

So there you go. Not that I believe in this stuff. But it's interesting, anyway.

It's 3:10 am now. I better head off to bed!

Goodnight. And welcome to 2010. =)

Last week.

2009-12-22T20:55:00.005+11:00

Last night I played the piano for background music at the new Audi Centre in Brighton. I psyched myself out a little bit, as I do. But otherwise, it went really well. It was quite noisy, so I couldn't even hear myself play, which contributed a bit to the mistakes.

I had a glass of champagne in the middle, which actually helped. Haha.. I should have drank one at the start!

The moment I started playing, Lindsay Fox made a beeline towards me and the Steinway Model O and stood to my left and stayed there for almost an hour. That made me a little nervous, especially when he started humming along to Mozart's Sonata in C major. =/
His son, Andrew was there as well. And he kept telling people that I teach his kids the piano and how I'm such a fantastic piano player - which, of course, made my fingers trip over themselves. *rolls eyes*

Apparently, there were a few bigwigs there. Geoff something-or-other.. the owner of Audi from Germany. *shrugs* lol. Dannii Minogue was there too. I didn't even realize that she was Kylie Minogue's sister until later. I just thought it was just a coincidence that they had the same surname!

Early that day, Bianca and her boyfriend Jason dropped by the shop to pick up her charger which she'd accidentally left. They came on his dad's Harley, so of course I had to go down to see it. Jason even took me on a short ride on it. It was AWESOME!

***

Last Saturday, I went to a friend's BBQ. I was a bit late, so the actual barbeque was over. But we did play some pool.

The reason I was late is because I was attending a picnic with my swing dancing friends in the Royal Melbourne Botanical Gardens.

There are heaps more photos, but I just can't be bothered posting them.

TTFN.

This is what I want for Christmas...

2009-12-14T22:38:00.001+11:00

Meet Ruby, a $179,999 Steinway Model B Crown Jewel.

Any takers?

G'day.

2009-12-13T23:53:00.004+11:00

Kelly commented again about how I don't blog anymore. Maybe I should start again. But I just don't have anything exciting to say. Or maybe I do, but I'm too lazy to type it out.

News #1
I just started working full-time this month. The hours are something to get used to. I used to be able to sleep in on Monday, Thursday, Friday and some Sundays. Not anymore. I think my body is rebelling.

News #2
EPG had our first Christmas dinner on Dec 7 at a restaurant called Orchids Garden in China Town. It was fun.

Each employee got an "award". Mine was "Best Teacher of 2009". Haha!

News #3

On Dec 3, my cousin Koon-hia, his wife and kids belanja-ed me and my brother dinner at the Golden Orchid in China Town. It was great to see them again.

News #4
On Dec 6, I met up with some girls from my JSAC days. Miaw Yng came down from Tassie with her mum and aunt for a visit. And I managed to get Rachel and Cher Lynn (who is almost 8 months pregnant!) to come along. Choa Yin unfortunately, had a previous engagement that she couldn't cancel.

News #5
Gowri is moving from the Brunswick house into a new place. On Dec 9, she and her new housemate had a Christmas Tree Party. It basically involved decorating her tree with fairy lights, beautiful baubles, ribbons and stringed popcorn. I was excited. =P

News #6
I sang with some people from EV on Dec 11 for a Christmas Gig at Graduate House. It was really, really nice. I miss singing with them! We had a short rehearsal about a week ago, and it was like heaven. They had another one that morning, but I couldn't make it because I had to work. Boo.

News #6
Samantha and John got married on Dec 12!! I'm so glad I got to see them tie the knot.

So that's about it. Until next time.

Sick on Monday

2009-09-16T16:15:00.003+10:00

Last Monday I woke up with quite a bad sore throat. I was sort of okay (but feeling a bit funny) throughout the day until I had to go out to teach a student. And somehow, I suddenly felt sick. I think it was a combination of the movement of the train and reading on it that triggered it.

My throat hurt. My body ached all over. I had bad nausea. And a bit of a fever too.

I was a wreck. All I wanted was to make it home in one piece.
I almost did too. Until the last train ride home.

I was already nauseous and wanted to throw up, but I was trying NOT to. Suddenly, I felt like I had to - there was no keeping it in any longer. But I had nothing to throw up into!

Luckily, opposite me sat a nice Indian woman. She gave me a ziplock lunch plastic bag. I promptly took it and vomitted into it. Needless to say, it was not a pretty sight. When I was done, she gave me a piece of tissue. The Indian man next to her (of no connection) gave me another plastic bag to put the ziplock bag (with all my insides) into and a packet of tissues (which I didn't really need).

Thank GOD I was sitting near such nice people. I honestly don't know what I would have done if she hadn't given me that bag.

Of course, once I threw up, I felt much better - in the sense that I didn't want to throw up anymore. But I was kind of mortified.

Because not only was it disgusting, but I will now forever be remebered as The Girl Who Threw Up On The Train.

Wicked

2009-07-31T11:27:00.007+10:00

I saw Wicked last night, not really expecting anything, but everyone has been raving about it so I thought I might as well see it before it finishes in Melbourne.

Oh.

My.

Gosh.

It was AMAZING!! I desperately want to see it again!

Claire de Lune

2009-07-19T13:26:00.008+10:00

is something I've always wanted to play. (It's a piece by Debussy, of course.) The piano shop I work at happens to have that score. (I hope nobody buys it soon!) So whenever I have a break or am waiting in between students, I practice on one of the Steinways. Usually on Ruby. But sometimes on the D.

I've learnt most of the notes now. It's not fluent yet, but once it is, I just have to refine it and get it memorized.

Claire de Lune
(Ignore the Payment Required thing. Just enter the link again.)

I'm not supposed to play on the pianos when I'm working, which is a sort of torture. But I find ways to make do. Like last Wednesday, I clocked off at 5 pm. But I stayed behind an hour to play on Ruby (who is a model B crown jewel, and who I lust over) and the model D (which is a concert grand, about 9 feet long).

It's ironic, because I used to avoid practising if I could help it. But now that I don't have easy access to a piano, I find myself craving to play one. Especially when I'm surrounded by Steinways. *sigh*

Lake Mountain

2009-07-16T12:26:00.003+10:00

One Friday on July 3rd, Gowri, Mags, Mitchell and I went to the snow! It's winter in Melbourne, and while it doesn't snow here, it does in the mountains! So we took a day trip to Lake Mountain.

Mags and Mitchell fell asleep in the backseat on the way.

The scenary up the mountain was gorgeous.

I was the one who spotted the first snow!

I made a snow angel!

Mags and Mitchell on the toboggans.

Speeding down...

Gowri and me.

Whee!

Gowri got stuck.

Mags, taking it all in.

The four of us.

Snowball fight!

Bigfoot was here!

A little wombat ran up to us!

And away.

And that was our day in the snow!

Teaching Little Kids - Semester 1, 2009

2009-07-14T03:03:00.011+10:00

So I've done one semester of teaching little kids at three different primary schools. It has been interesting, to say the least.

For the last week of last semester, which was two weeks ago, I had to get my kids to put on a concert for their parents. I had NEVER done anything like that before, so yeah - I was nervous. Especially since some of my students didn't practice, and I had no idea how they would do or what would happen. So many scenarios could possible happen, I didn't want to think about them.

But they stepped up! My kids proved my fears wrong (except for one, but that's okay). I was so proud of them! Not only did they perform their solo pieces, but I got most of them to do ensemble ones, where they either played a duet or in groups of four. Not an easy feat to get them to play together, let me tell you!

I gave them chocolate Freddos to congratulate them.

I teach this school during school hours. I have a mixture of violin and keyboard students.

Two other kids didn't perform, because they just started last term, so I gave them a lesson after the concert instead.

Minus two girls who nicked off early and two who didn't perform.

Check out what a little girl from school number 2 made for me sometime last semester! I have absolutely no idea what it is, but it was cool, anyway!

I had a total of 23 students. Boy, that's a lot. I have now dropped two of the schools as I'm starting full-time in my other job come August. I'm keeping one school because I couldn't bear the thought of letting my students there go.
That cuts my two free days a week down, but that's okay. Who needs them, anyway? =P

First Pay Check!!!

2009-05-31T01:04:00.006+10:00

I just received my first pay check EVER!!! It's from my second job at Exclusive Piano Group from the time I started working there. Two thousand over bucks, babeh!
I'm finally going to have money in my bank account! At the moment I have less than 5 bucks in it. =P

Of course, I've been paid before by my other job with Creative Music. But they transfer the money directly into my bank account, so it doesn't feel as exciting as cashing a cheque!

I don't know which information shouldn't be shown, so I just blanked everything out. Haha..

WOOHOO!!

Hard at Work... Not.

2009-04-15T14:53:00.004+10:00

I'm at work now, but there's nothing to do, so I thought I'd blog a bit.

During the Easter weekend, I went on a road trip to Sydney with 7 other friends. It was so much fun! I found a few really pretty stones and shells, and I got to ride a horse by myself for the first time! Took a crazy amount of pictures. Practically everyone had a camera, so I hardly used mine.

I'm taking another trip this weekend. Let's just say it's going to be very interesting...

I wish the internet was faster. And that I could access Facebook...

Hooray for turning 23!

2009-03-24T09:27:00.008+11:00

According to my birth certificate, I officialy turn 23 at 7:25 pm today. A big part of me is glad to be 23. But the small part that's still 22 is crying out, "My youth, my youth!"

So the last year has been interesting. Particularly towards the end of it. Big, huge life-altering changes. Yes, that's right - double emphasis!
They had me freaking out at first. (I'm mainly talking about graduating and not being a student anymore.) But now that I'm used to it, it's great! Of course, I have to look for jobs to earn my living, but so what! I get to do whatever I want, whenever I want; learn whatever I want, whenever I want. No more annoying assignments and stressful exams. Hallelujah, I say!

If you haven't figured it out already, I was a lousy student. Sorry, pa and mum. I know I should have put in a 101%, but I know that you know I didn't. But! Life keeps chugging along, and the only thing you can do is your best, right pa?

Pa and mum, I know you both read my blog, so I'd just like to say I love you very much. And thank you for all your support, financially, emotionally and anything else ending with -ally. You are amazing parents, and even though I get annoyed when you nag me, I know it's because you're worried. But it's okay.. I'm growing up, I'm getting there. (No, I'm not going to make a "life is a journey" quote. Oops, I just did.) I miss you heaps. And though I'm looking forward to mum coming here in a little over a week's time, I'm going to be a wreck when she leaves!

Anyway, I'm off to take a shower now, and then it's to uni for me where I need to use the computers to transcribe Hannah Montana's Best of Both Worlds for a keyboard student. Aaand... it's going to be stuck in my head the whole day.

Strangely happy.

2009-03-18T23:47:00.003+11:00

I've been strangely happy the past couple of days, I have no idea why. Oh, well. I'm not complaining!

Anyway, I have the cutest students. Four of my students today were little girls, G and N in one lesson, and Y and I in another. G, N and Y are in the same class and really good friends. So when G and N have their lesson, I talk with them about what they do together, etc. And I found out that they trade Pokemon cards.

So later at Y and I's lesson, I said to Y: "So I know you gave N a Pikachu card."
She looks at me in huge surprise and says: "How do you know that?"
I look back knowingly and say: "I'm magic."

Hahaha..

We have this thing where every week she asks me how I know or do something, and every time I answer, "I'm magic." And every week, she doesn't believe me, but today she almost did.

She said: "Okay, if you're magic, freeze me."
I went: "No, I don't want to freeze you."
She replied: "Why? Are you scared?" (Cheeky little thing, isn't she?) "If you don't freeze me, it means you're not magic."
I said: "Nah, I don't have anything to prove. I don't want to freeze you."

So cute!!

I have another student on Tuesday whose mum sits in on the lesson and brings her baby daughter with her. And she is the cutest, squishiest little baby I ever saw! After the lesson I like to pick her up and play with her, she's so adorable.

***

I'm finding now that I actually enjoy teaching. Especially when the kids practice. If they don't, I'm learning not to take things so seriously. Otherwise I'd probably get a stomach ulcer or something.

Chicken ABC Soup

2009-03-15T18:45:00.002+11:00

Don't ask me what ABC stands for. I think it's called that because it just have lots of crap - I mean, good stuff - in it.

Anyway, I was supposed to make it for my brother because he'd gotten sick. But I never got the chance to because we haven't been at home at the same time for a while.
Now I have to make it for myself, because I'm falling sick! I started sneezing yesterday and this morning I woke up with a sore throat, which is steadily getting worse. =(

***

I went for my Health Check last Friday for my PR application. I had to take a HIV (blood) test. I hate needles!! Among other things, they also checked my height and weight. And guess how much I weigh?

44.5 kg!

I thought I weighed at 48, or 46 kg at the lightest.

But it makes sense... I haven't been eating properly and I freakin' walk everywhere.

***

Last wednesday I had the best teaching day. Funny thing was, it was the day that I mostly had violin students.

The Problematic Child I talked about in my last post was alright last week. I just need to be extra patient (and then some) with the kid and remember not to get so worked up!

***

So I'm off to the store now to buy ingredients for my cure-all soup. Wish me luck!

Hottest Day, IELTS and Teaching

2009-03-06T01:47:00.007+11:00

I've been meaning to blog for some time, but was too lazy. So here's it all in one shot.

7 February 2009.

Was the hottest summer day in the history of Melbourne. That day reached the top of 47 degrees. If I had had a choice, I would have stayed at home with the air con on, like my brother did. But what did I have to do on that day?

My IELTS test. Stupid English test.

It's divided into 4 sections: listening, reading, writing and speaking. Of course, I was paranoid about the test. I mean, what if I started thinking in Spanish, or something?

Anyway, I got my results back. Out of 9, I got 8.5 for everything except for writing - which I got 9 for. Chewah.. bangganye!

What cheesed me off, though, was the speaking test. Wasn't it obvious after 3 minutes that I could speak English fluently? I guess not, because the guy used the whole 15 minutes for my test. In fact, he was going to ask me another mundane question when he suddenly looked at his watch and said, "Oh, that's all the time we have." or something like that.

My speaking test was at 3:40 pm, so I had to wait the almost 4 hours for it. Barger.
After leaving the building, I had to walk about 7 minutes to the train station. O M G, it was so freakin' hot. But I walked really fast because I wanted to get out of the sun, which was literally scorching me alive.

When I finally got to the train station, I realized that trains weren't running because of the extreme heat, after waiting for 15 minutes. So I decided to tram it. By that time, I was feeling quite bad.

Have you ever tried to breathe in hot air? Not warm air, but HOT air. It's not easy, let me tell you that. Especially if you're already finding it difficult to get air into your lungs. Which I was. (And the fact that my *ahem* bra was quite tight didn't help matters either.)

I had to wait in the hot sun for the tram. I managed to find a small shade, and sat down on the ground to wait. I was actually feeling rather scared because of the condition I was in, and I honestly didn't know if I was going to make it.

The tram finally arrived after about 10 minutes. I took the tram up 2 streets and had to catch another one back into the city.

I saw the tram there in the middle of the street and thought, I better run for it because I don't want to miss it! So I ran to the tram, only to find it absolutely deserted. The driver wasn't even there.

So I had to wait about 20 minutes to half an hour for the driver to arrive and finally make our way into the city. Wow by that time... I found it difficult to breathe even though I was sitting down. I even took off my bra through my dress in the middle of the tram because I couldn't take it anymore. (Luckily, there weren't that many people in it then.)

Halfway through the ride, two young women got on the tram and saw my condition. I was leaning against the window with my eyes closed, just concentrating on breathing in and breathing out. They offered me some water because I was running out. It was so sweet of them.

I finally got back into the city and then took another tram home. I took a cool shower the moment I got back. I got a slight sunburn even though I wasn't in the sun for very long.

So that was one of the (if not the) scariest experiences I've ever had. Now I know what people suffering from asthma feel like!

That day wasn't just bad for me. It was a hundred times worse for a lot of other people who lost their homes and even lives to fires - some which were deliberately set by some first-class idiot who, in all honestly, deserves to be at least jailed for life.

***

Now on to teaching. I've been teaching the keyboard and violin for 5 weeks now. And at first I loved it. Really. I only teach 3 days a week and about 2 and a half to 3 hours each day.

But after a while, I started to get weary of it.

I love kids. I really do. But some kids I just want to grab by the shoulders, shake them and yell, "WHY WON'T YOU LISTEN TO MEEEEEE?!?"
There's this one school in particular that just seems to have all the problematic students.

I have one kid who's just... plain... slow. Cannot understand what I want the kid to do. Cannot understand the concepts I explain in the simplest terms possible. Makes me want to scream.

Another kid who just doesn't want to be there. Let's call this kid PC for "Problematic Child". I have to pick these kids up from after-care. When I go to pick this one up, PC bloody freakin' ignores me. F***! I have to drag the kid to the music room. And then when I finally do, PC grabs some sticks and starts banging on the drums, and I have to drag the kid away from those. And half the time, PC conveniently forgets to bring their books to the lesson. How can I effing teach PC if the kid doesn't bring their effing books? And then PC has the GALL to say that he likes the old teacher better.
When I ask how does the old teacher teach PC, PC answers that she had more patience.

OH HO HO!!!

Tomorrow, I am going to call the company I work for and explain my situation. If things don't get better after 2 weeks, I think I might actually quit. It's just giving me too much stress.

If I was the type of teacher who doesn't give a crap if their students do well and improve or not, I wouldn't care. But I am, and I do.

I talked to my mum about it, and she says to pray about it. I don't know if God will answer my prayers, but I do know that this situation needs divine intervention!

When I finally get a piano, I'm going to get private students. I won't be bound by the time constrictions or have to teach in groups when the kids in the group aren't on the same page. I can do whatever the hell I want, however LONG I want so that my students will improve as much as possible.

I really am doing my best. But I can say right now that I cannot teach children as a full-time job. Especially problematic ones.

I.
Will.
Slowly.
Go.
Insane.

I honestly have no idea how my mother did it. She owned and taught a kindergarten for over 100 years. Okay, it wasn't that long. More than 20 years, let's just say. And she had to face hundreds of young children every freakin' weekday of every freakin' week of almost every freakin' month of every freakin' year.

Omg... Just the thought of it... Kill me now.

Mixed Up Mother Goose

2009-02-18T23:51:00.004+11:00

Has anyone played a kid's computer game called Mixed Up Mother Goose? I remember absolutely loving it when I was really young.

There was once I remember, I had gotten a splinter from pasar malam (night market). And my mother had to go out that night, so it fell to my brother, Melvin to take care of me. I remember crying because my finger hurt and I was afraid to let my brother take the splinter out. But he managed to convince me to let him do it in the end. And as a reward, he let me play that game on the computer we had in our living room.

The game consists of characters from nursery rhymes who had "misplaced" their items. For example, Little Bo Beep's sheep, Jack and Jill's pail, etc. And it is the player's job to return those items to the rightful owners.
The tricky thing, though, is that the player can only carry one item at a time. And if he/she picks up a new item, the one that was being carried would take the new one's place. So you'd spend most of your time trying to find items that you'd left all over the place.
Another annoying thing is how slow your character walks. Good grief. You just want to get him/her a scooter or something!

Anyway, I started thinking about the game today and really wanted to play it again because I never finished it. So I googled it, but of course, it's not compatible with windows vista. But I searched a bit more, and I found a site that tells you how to MAKE it compatible with windows vista.

So if you're interested, here's the website:
http://www.glennsguides.com/2008/12/mixed-up-mother-goose-pc-game-free.html
It's gold, I'm telling you.

If you have some time to kill and want to revisit your childhood, here's something to do. You get to name your character and everything!

Just thought I'd share one of my fond childhood memories with you!

First week of work.

2009-02-05T22:26:00.003+11:00

So I've just completed my first week of work! It was more tiring than I expected - mostly because I had to walk to the train/bus station and then to the school and then back home in the hot sun with my violin on my back and a heavy bag in hand.

Otherwise, it's quite fun! There are a few difficult students, of course. Those I really have to work extra hard with. But there are a those who are really good in terms of listening and practicing, and I LOVE THEM! So I'd like to entend an apology to my music teachers whom I've frustrated for not practicing or doing as well as I should have. Now I know how you felt!

I just came back from watching the Australian Youth Orchestra (AYO) perform. They were so good! Gladys played the piano and I knew at least one guy (Peter) who played the violin.

The ticket I had was free because my brother works for the company who is a sponsor for AYO. Unfortunately, he couldn't make it to the concert, so my violin (which I had because I was teaching earlier) was very comfortable.
During intermission, I got to have free drinks. I invited a couple of friends - Sam and her fiance John - up to join me. I had a champagne, which I guess wasn't really such a good idea since I didn't have dinner and not much lunch either. So I was quite pleasantly buzzed during Shostakovich's 5th Symphony.

The music was so awesome! The first half of the concert consisted of Paul Dukas' The Sorceror's Apprentice and Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story. Great stuff.

Anyway, I have my 3rd Gardisil vaccination tomorrow morning. I was supposed to have it last Monday, but they ran out of it that morning!
The same doctor who gave me my 2nd shot is gonna give this one to me.. dammit! I really don't know why, but what he does is he pokes the needle in, shakes it, and then slowly presses the medicine in, and then shakes it again, and then only pulls it out. WHY?!?
The nurse who gave me the first one just poked it in, pushed the plunger and pulled it out, all in one go. GAH.

So it's off to bed for me. Shouldn't have trouble sleeping, what with all that nice alcohol in me. ;)

This is how I spent CNY this year.

2009-01-28T17:31:00.005+11:00

Kevin and I had our eve dinner with Ragha and Gowri in New Quay, which is just right next to Docklands. It was a beautiful evening. We walked along the harbour and encountered an interesting sight.

This sculpture is called - I kid you not - Cow Up A Tree. lmao. Cracks me up every time.

Kevin, me and Gowri admiring the Cow.

Walking along the harbour...

We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant. The food was really good!

Later that night, I skyped with my mum's side of the family, who had gathered this year at my third uncle's house.
As usual, it was really, REALLY noisy. I'm pretty sure the neighbours aren't very fond of them anymore. lol. There was very loud and off-key singing accompanied by someone on a guitar. There were drunk uncles shaking their boot-ehs while banging on pots and pans and glass bottles. It was hilarious. =P

One of my uncles skyping with Kevin and me.

More pictures and videos on my cousin Kelly's blog.

The next day (Monday) happened to be Australia Day as well. So it was a public holiday!

Kevin and I had dim sum for lunch at another Chinese restaurant at New Quay. Gowri happened to be in the neighbourhood, so she joined us after that for some ice cream. And then she and I did a bit of shopping and walking around. There were quite a few events and activites going on.
She bought a 6-pack of cider - which contained alcohol, so of course it was illegal to drink in public areas.

But we did it, anyway. ;p

Banana Fritters

2009-01-25T18:07:00.004+11:00

I found a recipe for banana fritters a couple of nights ago, and decided to give it a go.

They don't look like much. But they taste gooood!

Happy Chinese New Year!

2009-01-25T00:15:00.005+11:00

I know I promised to upload about my family's visit to Melbourne. But there's just so many pictures... I'm lazy. =P But I'll get to it... hopefully... at some point.

I've officially moved in with my brother. I got a new bed. Queen size - can you believe it?! I've always slept on a single until last year... when I upgraded to super single (or King single). I was going to get a double bed, but there was a Queen size mattress that was going at half price at Fantastic Furniture... of course, I had to get it! And it's sooo comfortable. Mmm... Sleep...
The bed frame is really nice too. I like it, anyway.

For 3 nights, I had to sleep on the floor of the apartment. The first night because the bed hadn't arrived yet. The second because we needed to have a toolbox to fix it up and - oops! - we didn't have one. The third night because it was late at night, and some pretty loud hammering was required.

I also got a wardrobe and a chest of drawers from IKEA - both white. My brother and I set them up today (or yesterday). Well, mostly he did. I was there for support. =P

---

I have 2 job interviews lined up on Tuesday. Yeah, I know. Me? Working? Blows your mind, doesn't it? =P I'll be teaching the piano/keyboard, of course. Maybe even the violin. Which should be interesting.

So that's me. A starving musician.

I better find me a rich husband quick. ;)

---

Just a shout out to Jo. I'm sorry things didn't work out the way you hoped they would. That just sucks. But remember, there's always Plan B. Canada, right? I might even join you there. =)
I love you and I'm always here for you. (Even when I don't reply my emails regularly. >.<) Skype soon! Wednesday? --- Happy Chinese New Year to those who celebrate it! It's the Eve now. I'm so jealous of those that get to spend it with their families. This is the 2nd one that I'm stuck in Melbourne. Oh, well. At least my brother's here with me. My mum's side of the family will be congregating at my third uncle's place this year. I'm so bummed! Forget the ang pow. I just want to see everyone together again. (Actually, ang pow is pretty awesome. But I'm not getting any again, so... *sigh*)

Christmas Carolling 2008

2009-01-01T15:29:00.009+11:00

Last December, Gowri arranged another singing session at the Royal Children's Hospital. It was around bedtime for the poor little kiddies, so we sang some beautiful mellow Christmas carols.

Singing in the neo-natal ward, if I'm not mistaken.

Aaahhh...

And after the second and last day, we hung out in the foyer for a bit taking pictures.

"Ah, Ronald McDonald - you look dashing with that tinsel!" *bats eyelashes*

Mags and me.

Mags, Sam and me.

Mags, me, Gowri and Emily.

Gowri, Gawain, Mags, me, Sam, Emily and Adam.

And later, we decided to go to the Night Market at Queen Victoria Market together. But we had to wait AGES for a tram. So Mags and Gawain started to do the TRAM DANCE!

Singing in the hospital wards was incredibly satisfying. It was so sad to see kids and their families having to spend Christmas in the hospital. But it felt good to be doing something to uplift their spirits a little.

At the Night Market, we met up with my family and Tanu and Ragha.

Me and my mum.

Feeding my dad.

Last post of 2008.

2008-12-31T23:43:00.004+11:00

I was watching the news on tv earlier today, and there was a snippet of Kevin Rudd's speech about what the condition of Australian's economy will be like in 2009. He confirmed that it would be a challenging year, but that - and this is the part that made me roll my eyes - "we are all in this together."
There's a High School Musical song that's entitled just that, for goodness sake!

Anyway, Happy New Year to everyone who has been reading my blog. (There's not much point in wishing anyone else as they won't even see this post, but what the hey... Happy New Year to them too!)
Only God knows what 2009 will bring us. May it be more beautiful than sad, more fun surprises and discoveries than disappointments, more friendships made and cemented than lost.

9 more minutes to go... I'm spending New Year's Eve with my brother Kevin in our Docklands apartment. Getting ready to watch the fireworks now...

God bless you! To my wonderful friends and family, I love and miss you all!

Twilight

2008-12-29T13:49:00.006+11:00

Last Tuesday, Mags and I went to watch Twilight. I don't know about those who've seen it, but personally - to someone who's read all 4 books - it was a disappointment. No offense.

I just have two things to winge about. The people they chose for the lead characters... Did no one else audition? The girl who played Bella had no personality whatsoever. And the acting was so bad! And the guy who played Edward (yes, he was Cedric Diggory and he's cute, blah blah)... I think they could have chosen someone more suitable.

The other thing was that this was a low budget film. With more money, a better movie could have been made. So many things were so clichéd.

However, I did like the people cast for the supporting roles. For example, the Cullen family. My favourite was Alice. And Bella's friends at school were well-chosen as well.

I don't know if a second movie is going to be made. If it's going to be anything like this one, I'd rather one not be done. That probably sounds harsh, but the book was much better than the movie.

A short update: Graduation

2008-12-13T22:32:00.002+11:00

I had my graduation ceremony today. My parents and brother came from Malaysia to celebrate with me.

I'm glad it's all over now! It feels like a formal closing to the last chapter and now I can (have to) look forward to what's next.

Will post pictures and more about the day later.

Ciao.

Final piano exam.

2008-12-02T17:12:00.004+11:00

I just had my last piano exam at uni today.

I don't know what else to say. Heh...

My pieces:

Beethoven - Sonata in F# major, op. 78
Fauré - Impromptu no. 3, op. 34
Albeniz (arr. Godowsky) - Tango op. 162, no. 2
Ravel - Oiseaux Tristes from Miroirs (Sad Birds)
Prokofiev - Legend & Prelude from Ten Pieces, op. 12

My Beethoven was originally not very good because it wasn't as prepared, but I think I did okay in the exam. Fauré and Albeniz were two of my strongest pieces, but somehow I flubbed them... due to over-practice I'm sure. (You have no idea how cheesed off that makes me.) Ravel was good - I think my birds were quite emo. Prokofiev.. I don't care about.

I've been practicing like crazy in the weeks leading up to my exam. So much that the muscles in my arms started to hurt in the last couple of days. Not fun, let me tell ya.

The piano in the dining hall.
You might think that practicing here at night with all the portraits staring down at you is creepy. But I actually quite enjoyed their company. I fancied them encouraging me practicing, especially when it wasn't going as well as I'd liked.

People working in and passing through the dining hall have been "serenaded" by my piano practice in the past few couple of weeks. Poor things.

Last Tuesday I had my run-through with Max, my teacher. I've been with him for the past 4 years. It's been good learning from him.

So that's it for me. No more college. No more uni. At least for now. Uni, that is.

My parents will be visiting on Friday night. And Melvin later on. It'll be fun having them around for the next two and a half weeks. Especially my father. He hasn't been in Melbourne in about 35 years.

Am not in much of a celebratory mood right now. But I think I'll go swing dancing later tonight. Will be meeting Tanu and Gowri for dinner before that.

Olé.

Last night at Trinity College... forever.

2008-11-28T02:17:00.002+11:00

I cannot believe it. As of tomorrow (or today, really,) I'll no longer be living at college. Which means that I no longer go to university. Omigosh...

Right now, I'm packing up my room. Slowly but surely, I'm putting my things into boxes and luggages. And I'm amazed yet again and the amount of stuff I have collected. This is why spring cleaning was invented.

But I'm rambling.

What am I feeling?
Melancholy.
Sadness.
Bewilderment.
Wary.
Nervous.
Freaked out.

I have been a student all of my live. Now that I'm not anymore, I feel kinda lost.

It's gonna be one late night for me...

Book launch at Trinity.

2008-11-14T23:06:00.002+11:00

There was a book launch at college today and I was asked almost a week ago to play a school anthem for it. Don't really know why they sang a school anthem, except maybe the author went to that school. *shrugs* The book was called Nobody's Valentine and it's a collection of letters that she'd wrote.

One of the funny things is that I'd totally forgotten about it, until this morning when the realization hit me. I immediately collected the scores from my mailbox and started practicing. Thankfully, the piece wasn't too difficult (although, it was more than plink-plonk music). It's actually a very pretty piece, but didn't sound at all like a school song.

The second funny thing that happened was this: After my name was announced and I went up to the piano and tried to open it, I found out that it was locked. You would think that since they were planning on using the piano, they would check that it was accessible! (But to be fair, I suppose it's not really a norm to lock pianos up.)
Anyway, luckily I knew someone who had the key. So I called him up and managed to get the piano unlocked with not too much fuss.

That about sums my day up. Including piano practice, of course. Damn piano exam.

A Walk to Remember

2008-11-13T21:48:00.002+11:00

I just watched A Walk to Remember for the second time.

Talk about bawling your eyes out.

A must-see movie... It'll break your heart.

Overdose of sleep.

2008-11-10T23:24:00.005+11:00

So I handed in my last assignment on Wednesday. I felt a bit weird afterward.

I'd mentioned that I'd slept from 5 pm to 12 am the day after my all-nighter. After that I was still tired, so I slept again at 2:30 am and woke up at 9 am. A serious overdose of sleep, I'm telling ya. I felt really strange that day.

What topped my freaky list, though, was what happened at 7:14 pm on Monday (when I fell asleep unintentionally). Apparently, my brother had called me on my mobile. Apparently, I didn't pick up, but called him back. Apparently, I spoke to him for a minute or so, telling him that I was tired and was going back to sleep.

I do not remember anything of the sort happening.

When my brother told me about the call, I didn't believe him at first. But then I checked my call history, and sure enough - at 7:14 pm, I'd received a call from him and returned it, no less.

What freaks me out is that I don't even have a glimmer of memory of our conversation. I don't think anything like that has happened to me before. I usually at least have a memory of a memory of something I'd done!

The mystery of the human brain. I'm sure there's some sort of scientific explanation of it.

I still think it's freaky, though.

SWOTVAC 2008

2008-11-04T00:38:00.003+11:00

The first day of my last swotvac at uni has past. And what a crazy one it was.

I'd stayed up all night Sunday night, working on a stupid assignment I wanted to hand in first thing in the morning. I'd started writing on Sunday evening and the later it got, the more frustrated I got. But somehow, I stuck it through.

The best part was, I had a saxophone exam at 2 pm. That morning, I'd gone to Allan's Music Store to get some brochures for my group music skills folio. Boy, was I falling asleep on the tram. At lunchtime, I wanted to SLEEP. But I practiced the sax for some more instead.

The exam was okay. It wasn't fantastic, but it wasn't terrible either.

I came back and bummed around for a bit. It was an hour or so to dinnertime and I wanted to stay up as long as I can so that I don't mess up my sleep pattern.
But somehow, I feel asleep on my bed. And literally, the next thing I knew, it was 12 am and the phone at my bedside was ringing.

I was so out of it, I didn't even recognize it as a ringing phone at first. (It was my mum.) I opened my eyes and stared at the glaring lights of my room. I was still in my comfy clothes and wearing my jacket instead of my pajamas. And I was only using the cover duvet as a blanket instead of my proper one. I remembered having the strangest dream... but couldn't remember any of it.
It took my a while to remember what time I fell asleep and did I have dinner or did I miss it?

I missed it.

I'm annoyed that I missed dinner AND supper - I wanted pizza dammit! Bah.
I should do some work now. But I really don't feel like it. I still feel tired. I think I'll do a bit of reading and then go back to sleep.

I still have another assignment to hand up on Wednesday. Shizer. And I'm supposed to have a piano lesson tomorrow. But I'm gonna ask my teacher if I can postpone it to Friday. Hopefully he'll agree, because there's no way I'm gonna be able to play anything tomorrow.

I still cannot believe I graduate at the end of the year. What the hell am I supposed to do now?

Oh, and by the way...

2008-08-31T11:38:00.003+10:00

Happy Merdeka Day, Malaysia! =)

Intervarsity Dance Competition & Swing Aerial Workshops

2008-08-31T08:42:00.004+10:00

It has been a weekend of dancing! Friday night was the Intervarsity Dance Competition at Melbourne University. I wasn't going to compete, but a friend convinced me to. We did the swing beginners section. Which I realized, is kinda funny because beginners moves are Charleston and 6-beat stuff - steps that I mostly skipped learning because I didn't do the beginners class; I went straight to beginners plus last semester (which was 8-beat steps).

4 couples competed, I think. Anyway, me and my partner Peter, got the bronze medal! Haha.. We might have achieved more if we hadn't stuffed up in the middle and gotten our timing messed up. Mark, who is our teacher and the judge for the evening, told Peter that our routine was overly complicated. *grin* Oh, well.

A girl, Linh, me and Sam. Sam was my partner for Saturday.

Harris and Steph swinging it out on the dance floor.

Monique and Michael doing the Charleston!

***

Saturday was a day of workshops. It started off at 11 am with two aerial workshops.
The first one was the advanced one, where we learnt the K Flip. It looks like this:

Yeah, no kidding! We didn't learn it all in one hour, of course. But it was certainly an experience, being tossed up into the air. You really gotta trust your partner!
(The couple in the video was the one that took this workshop and the next one.)

The next one was the intermediate one. We learnt the Lindy Flip:

I like this one. Short and simple. Not to worry.. We had spotters to make sure that we didn't fall flat on our face - or any other parts of our body!

We practically danced for 7 hours straight - except for an hour at 3 pm, which we took off for lunch. (It was the introduction to 8-beat workshop, and we know it already.)

I still ache all over. My feet hurt, my calves and knees and thighs hurt. My tummy is sore and so are my arms and shoulders and armpits! And my back and neck..
I got up this morning, and I was like, Owwhhh... Move very, very slowly...

All in all though, it was a very fun day. I'd never danced for so long so intensely my entire life. Heck, I don't think I've ever done that much activity in one day!

I love swing dancing. =)

Mock Interviews.

2008-08-29T15:43:00.009+10:00

This semester, I'm taking the Certificate III course. It's one that is recognized by every radio station in Australia. It's pretty interesting stuff. The other week, we were learning about interviewing. Each of us were given a scenario, got paired up and had to take turns interviewing the other person.

I got paired up with Danny and this was what I had to interview him about:

Interviewee: You have been selected to play the national anthem at the AFL Grand Final in front of 100,000 football fans. As well as the anthem you will also be playing one single piece of classical music of your choice.

Now, the catch is... The person being interviewed (or the 'talent') has to be as difficult as possible.
This is Danny being interviewed by me. And I must say, that he did a really good job. I came quite close to pulling my hair out, and I was throwing "Help me!" glances at Susan, our instructor. Definitely cringe-worthy stuff.

(If the player doesn't work, here is the link: http://dreamqueen2.zoomshare.com/files/Gina-Danny.m4a.)

Before that, though, I interviewed him first. This scenario was that I was accompanying Bryn Terfel and that I had said that he was the greatest living artist in my autobiography.
Now, in the interview, I might have scoffed at Andrew Bocelli and Josh Groban. Just remember that it's all an act! I have nothing against those incredible singers. I actually do like their work!

(If the player doesn't work, here is the link: http://dreamqueen2.zoomshare.com/files/Danny-Gina.m4a)

Early Voices on Open Day

2008-08-21T20:20:00.003+10:00

Last Sunday (August 17) was Melbourne University's Open Day. Early Voices sang in Melba Hall. My brother Kevin came to see us and very kindly helped me video the performance. Thanks, kor! ^^

Pastime with Good Company

Pastime with good company,
I love and shall unto I die;
Gruch so will but none deny,
So God be pleas'd, so live will I;
For my pastance, Hunt sing and dance,
My heart is set, To my comfort,
All goodly sport: Who shall me let?

Youth must have some dalliance,
Of good or ill some pastance;
Company methinks then best
All thoughts and fancies to digest,
For idleness, Is chief mistress,
Of vices all: Then who can say,
But mirth and play, Is best of all?

Company with honesty
Is virtue, vices to flee;
Company is good and ill,
But every man hath his free will.
The best ensue, The worst eschew,
My mind shall be; Virtue to use,
Vice to refuse, Thus shall I use me.

When Celia was Learning on the Spinnet

This is a really fun song. There's a certain word in it - you'll know it when you hear it - that doesn't really mean what you think it means. A spinnet is a keyboard instrument, where instead of the strings being hammered to produce a sound like a piano, it has a sort of feather that plucks the strings (like a harpsichord). That's what that word is referring to. Really. ;)

At the beginning of the video, do you see us exchanging what-the-hell-do-we-do-now glances? There's a reason for that. This song also happens to be a round or a canon. (Like row, row, row your boat.) Before leaving for Melba Hall, we had already decided who was to be in which of the 3 groups. But when it was time to sing it on stage, some people had forgotten which group they were supposed to be in! So while Vivien was talking, they decided that we would make new groups... which made things very confusing.
And that is why people who were supposed to be in group 3, for example, sang in group 2. And then mid-song, people switched groups because one seemed to be lacking in voices. But it wasn't just one or two who did that. So many of us were swapping between verses, that it screwed up the already messed-up balance even more. I was just thinking to myself, "People, just stay where you are!!" LMAO.

I gave her cakes and I gave her ale

I don't really know the title of this song, but that's how it starts. It's a fun cheeky song - also a round - that the guys sing. It's definitely worth a listen.

O Virgo splendens

Us girls sang this chant. It's a very sedate piece, very pleasant to listen to, but might put you to sleep. Also a round.

If you're wondering what happened at the start of the video, Vivien asked us what our starting note was so that she could give it to us using her tuning fork. But then she pointed at me and immediately said, "Well, you can give it."
I always get teased at EV for having perfect pitch. =P

So ben mi ch'ha bon tempo

An upbeat piece. It's quite repetitive as it has 10 verses (!!) but we only did 3. =)

Alle psalite cum luya

Agnus Dei

Happy Birthday, Kelly!

2008-08-21T00:08:00.003+10:00

Someone is turning 21 today! It's midnight in Melbourne, so it's already your birthday here, my dear cousin. I hope the coming year will be amazing and fulfilling for you, and may you learn a little more about what life really is. Continue chasing your dreams and don't give up. Remember that you're always surrounded by people who love and care for you, even on your most emo days. =)

I love you, Kel...

My new room.

2008-08-20T21:49:00.006+10:00

As I'd mentioned before, I moved into a new room at college this semester. It's in a building called Gourlay, which used to be Woodheap. It was built about 2 years ago, so everything is modern - plus, the rooms have an en suite bathroom each!

My desk. Don't say it's messy. This is as tidy as it's ever gonna get!

My bed. It's a king single which means two small people can sleep in it quite comfortably with a bit of a squeeze. I love the size - this is the nearest to a queen I've ever gotten.

The corridor to my door. My closet is on the right, the bathroom on the left.

The view from the corridor. Yes, that's a ceiling fan up there. It's useless now as it's winter, but it'll come really handy during summer. Unfortunately, I won't be staying in this room anymore by then!

My en suite bathroom. Mwahahaha..!

I love my mirror. =)

And the other best part is, this building has an...

Elevator!

Going up...

I live on the 2nd floor!

***

Last week's piano class was taken by Caroline Almonte. Lovely woman - she examined me last semester and gave me a higher mark than I'd expected.
At that piano class, though... she said that 4th years who had played 4 times or less on the Melba Hall stage had to play that day. Yep, you guess it. I had no choice but to go up and play - though I did try to get out of it by saying I had nothing prepared, which was literally very true!

During the class, Prof. Ian Holtham (Head of Keyboard and Performance) had left to do something else. But just as I was going to get up to play, he came back!! You can imagine that I was shitting myself even more then.
As I walked up the stage, Caroline asked me what I was going to play. I said, "I... don't know." Holtham said something like, "Well, she's getting close (to the piano) now. We'll find out soon."
When I got to the piano I was asked again what the piece of my choice was. I replied, "Chopin's Etude... Op. 10. I think."

That was one of my pieces for last semester's exam. And I had not played it since the holidays. Needless to say I missed half the notes as I tried my darnest to remember what they were. I didn't manage to finish the piece as I mind went blank when the piece was nearing the end.

That was one of my please-let-the-floor-open-and-swallow-me-up moments. *shudder*

***

I'd thought that I had to give up singing in Early Voices as I had something else on that day which ends at 4:30 pm. (EV starts at 4:15 pm.) But Vivien is letting me sing with EV part-time! Which means that I won't get to take part in the French opera with them. (Thank goodness!) I'm not a big fan of singing in French - though, I'm getting used to it.

***

I'm currently into my 4th week of my last semester at university. Time flies by so fast...

Welcome back to Melbourne... not.

2008-07-28T21:03:00.003+10:00

A few days ago, my mum and I took the bus to Singapore. We spent almost 3 days there. And then on Saturday, Ragha and I managed to get a flight to Melbourne. Unfortunately, we had to transit in Perth for about 6 hours. I slept some at the airport. Hu hu...

The flight from Perth to Melbourne, though... was HELL for me. I threw up TWICE on the plane. The second time was towards to end of the flight. (We were supposed to land earlier, but kept circling because apparently Tullamarine airport is sooo busy.)
I decided that I couldn't take it anymore, and ran to the toilet which an air steward unlocked for me. I thought I didn't have anything else to cast up, but it turned out I was wrong! I'll spare you the gory details, but needless to say, it wasn't pretty.

My personal diagnosis is I had food poisoning (and all the wonderful things that came with it).

I felt so horrible yesterday. My thoughts ran along the lines of: "Someone please kill me now." But I'm feeling better today after sleeping for about 11 hours last night. I still feel weak, though.. But hopefully after another restful night, I'll be almost back to normal tomorrow.

A personal shout out to my brother Kevin and Ragha for moving all of my stuff to my new room yesterday evening. I don't know what I would have done without them. THANK YOU!!

I cannot believe it's already my last semester at uni. Yikes. Life is crazy.

I still have pictures to put up from my last week or so in Malaysia and Singapore. But don't hold your breath. I still have to unpack my entire room. (I have so much stuff to get rid off.) And then there is that small matter of studies. And other stuff...

Till next time.. here are some parting words of wisdom: Having food poisoning sucks.

Movie with Celina and SJ

2008-07-21T00:12:00.003+10:00

Today I finally got to see Celina. She's a girl that's mighty hard to get hold off, now that she's a big-shot accountant! ;)

I met up with her and SJ for a movie and to catch up at Sunway Pyramid. We saw the new Batman movie. It was goooooood! I wonder if there's gonna be a third movie..? I hope there will be!
We didn't have much time before the movie started, so we had a quick bite at McDees. Haha.. After the movie, we had coffee at a coffee shop called Old Town White Coffee. That was in the new wing. I tell you.. Sunway Pyramid is so huge now. Humph.

There was a guy playing an electric violin.

That thing has no body..! I want one. ;p

Celina and me with our white coffees. Mmm...

And SJ! You have no idea how difficult it is to get a picture of her. Hehe.. Yay!

Btw, my entire outfit I got from Petaling Street. There's some good shopping there. ^^

Sunway Lagoon with Kelly.

2008-07-19T01:18:00.004+10:00

Last Wednesday I dragged Kelly to Sunway Lagoon. (For those who don't know, it's a small theme park.) It's changed quite a bit from what I remembered it to be. There are now 3 new parks: Extreme Park, Scream Park and Wildlife Park. But we just opted for the traditional Theme Park, which included the wet and dry rides.

The funny mirror in the elevator.

For a certain reason, we didn't bring our swim suits... So we just went into the water with our clothes on. =P

I'd forgotten how sly my cousin was. We were in the wet park and were about to go down the slide. We counted to three and pushed off. At least, I did, while she stayed up there laughing at me as I splashed into the water.

Next, we went to the wave pool. We waded into it, and when we had reached a certain spot, Kelly stopped me and said to wait. She folded her arms and stood there nonchalantly. I thought that that was a bit weird as I stared at her, but I figured that she just wanted to feel the waves against her legs. There were other people standing or sitting around us too.
After about a minute, I noticed that some people were looking at something up above. And then Kelly said something to a boy near us that sounded like, "Not yet, ah?" At this point, I got suspicious, and looked up and around. I then noticed a tower 3 feet away from us with water pouring into a large bucket at the top. I realized that when the bucket was full, it would tip over and splash onto the people below it.
I screamed and tried to run away, but my dear cousin grabbed me and wouldn't let me go. A nice lady even helped her. LOL. The deviousness of that girl...

That's us still half-wet from playing in the water.

There were only about 3 roller coasters. And all of them relatively tame. One of them was called the Pirate Ship. It used to just swing to and fro like a pendulum, but at quite a fast speed so you had that feeling of your stomach dropping every time you came down. But it was now at a slower speed, but went at a 180 degrees, and made a whole round once.

Kelly and I sat on it twice. The second time, 5 Malay girls (they were either Malay or Indonesian) sat opposite us. (The seats were obviously in rows, with one half facing the other. We were sitting in the front rows.) The moment the ride started, the girl sitting opposite Kelly started moaning and she looked like she was about to cry. After a few seconds, she got so scared that she did start crying. And maybe it was mean of us, but Kelly and I pretty much laughed at her throughout the ride. We didn't even have the capacity to be scared (the only scary part of the ride was how high we were above the ground and that we were hanging upside down half of the time). All we had to do was watch her wail with tears running down her cheeks. I even saw one drop down to the ground below. It was so hilarious..! To our credit, we did try to comfort her, saying things like, "Don't worry, it'll be over soon," in Malay. LMAO.

When we were done, we took a cab back to Kelly's place.

I had a great time hanging out with you, Kel. Hurry up and come over to Melbourne! We'll have many more fun times there. ;)

***

I'd like to end with a little riddle:

Mary's mother has four children: North, South, East and ______.

Answer: Mary. (highlight)

I'm still alive.

2008-07-16T21:26:00.004+10:00

Yes, I'm still alive. After the horrific period of assessments, I had to pack up my entire room as I'll be switching to a new room next semester. I hate packing. I hate unpacking even more.

I'm back in Malaysia now. Am spending 2 and a half weeks at home. Syok. =P

Met up with the girls last Saturday at our usual place: Pizza Hut. Unfortunately, Celina couldn't make it at the last minute. She had to work that Saturday! After lunch, Von, SJ and I skyped with Jo. Spent the rest of the day at Von's place even though she had to leave to meet her mum and bro at 1 Utama. SJ left soon after that.

There was a fancy dinner that I attended with my parents.. A member of my church had just turned 80 and the dinner was also to celebrate his and his wife's 60th wedding anniversary. I wasn't supposed to go, but there was an empty seat, so I got roped in. =P
The food was FANTASTIC, obviously. And there were so many courses. I was sitting next to an auntie, and she kept putting food on my plate. So did the other adults at my table. By the end of it, I was so full and bloated. >.<
As per tradition, the second course of the dinner was shark's fin soup. And anyone who knows me knows that I don't eat it. Although the dish was most likely not real shark's fin soup, I still didn't touch it (even though it was really yummy!) The other adults at my table tried to get me to have some, but I adamantly refused. I then explained how sharks' fins were actually acquired. He he..

Played the piano at church last Sunday. Knew they would ask me to. =P It was the second Sunday of the month, so there was Holy Communion. Which meant that I had to play some extra hymns. I didn't mind, though. It made the time pass faster.

Am in my cousin Kelly's room now. We went to Sunway Lagoon this arvo. She didn't want to go actually.. But I made her. Bwahaha.. Am so hungry!

Will be back in Melbourne the Sunday before uni starts - July 27th. Hmm.. =)

Swing Social at Melbourne University

2008-05-11T23:51:00.007+10:00

It was really fun! I got to practice my swing dancing, so that was good. The theme of the night was Black and White Hellzapoppin'. Will post more pics up soon.

Prophetic Speaking - to believe or not to believe?

2008-05-05T10:48:00.004+10:00

Yesterday, we had a guest speaker at church - a prophetic speaker. I'd never been in the presence of one before (or if I had, I don't recall it) and... it was quite an interesting experience.

Her name is Mary Forsythe. Her testimony is an incredible one. Click here for an article of her story.

She began the message by praying for 3 different people, and prophecizing about them. About one man, she said that the coming year, he and his wife will face many trials. But in the end, what he will do, what decisions he will make will affect and help many people, even change nations.
All the while I was thinking, "This is either real and from God, or it's just a load of baloney."

I'm still undecided.

Why can't I trust that what Mary said are words from God? Could it be because I'm from a Methodist background? Maybe people in the twentieth/twenty-first century are just programmed to be suspect of what is unusual, what we're unfamiliar with.
There are loads of prophecies in the Bible, from Jesus, from other prophets. Why is it so hard to believe that they still exist in this day and age? After all, He is the same, yesterday, today and forever.

Thoughts?

Dhamaka Night

2008-05-03T01:42:00.006+10:00

I'm never more aware of the fact that I'm surrounded by guys than when I'm dressing up for an event. My room is near the corner of the building, and the other 3 rooms are inhabited by guys. Granted, I'm kinda close to the guy living opposite me, but I can't ask him questions like, "Does this dress make me look fat?" or "Can you help me with this zip?" or "Does my hairdo look stupid?" The second question is inappropriate while the other two won't work just because guys are clueless. (True? Hee hee!)
It's at times like this when I miss having a close girlfriend at college.

I also have more guy friends because I've taken up swing dancing. In class, you dance with all the guys there and sooner or later, you get to know them outside the context of dancing. And then there's improv class. Okay, there are only 2 guys in it, but still..!
It's both cool and a little bizarre because I'm used to having loads of girlfriends and very few guy friends. It seems that the opposite is true this year.

***

Anyway, Friday night was Dhamaka Night. I'd dressed up in my red cheongsam and wore my new beautiful red heels. I styled my hair into a chingnon, held up by mousse and chopsticks. I'd put on make up. I was sexy! *wink*
To be honest, I'd tried on my cheongsam yesterday to see if I looked like a dumpling in it. If that was the case, I was going to borrow a friend's sari. But fortunately, it worked out!

Hamish and me.
One thing I like about cheongsams is that it buttons up to my neck, so I don't have to worry about showing too much cleavage or whatever. The flip side, though, is the slits that go up my thighs. Must be careful how I walk. *glances around furtively*

Apruv, me and Sue.

Apruv, Cissy, me, Sue and Anoop.

My table minus Sue who was taking the picture: Ned, Cissy, Apurv, Diana, me, Anoop and Siobhan.

One of our entertainments of the evening... a belly dancer! She was really quite.. talented. The things she did with her hips!

Guys, you can stop drooling now...

Miya and me.

Kehela, me, Jill and Chisako.

Me and David. He's from Singapore, a law tutor from college, currently doing his PhD, a talented photographer and knowledgeable in many other areas!
And guess what he's wearing?

An authentic Dolce & Gabana, made in Italy, gold jacket that costs S$3000!! (But apparently he got it for half the price at a sale.) This is probably the first and last time I'll ever wear a real D&G anything.

Me, Liz and Katie.

Jasmine, me, Yvonne and Crystal.

Me and Yien Li, the current TISC president! She and her team did a fantastic job organizing the event.

Some of the TISC members.

Me, Yien and Hamish.

After the dinner it was...

PARTY TIME!!

Me and Shu Yi.

Miya, Jack, Hamish and me.

Eamon the leprechaun and me.

Dancing on the table... Chonga, Apurv, Anoop and Jack.

Mags, you'll be proud to know that I taught some Trinitarians the heel-and-toe dance to Cotton Eye Joe!

***

Yesterday I rehearsed with the Stonnington Symphony. I'm playing the orchestral piano in Grainger's To A Nordic Princess: Bridal Song. It's pretty cool. I've never played the piano in an orchestra before, so this is definitely a fantastic experience for me.
The performance is tomorrow night. I only have to play a small part, so I'm excited! Hopefully I won't get nervous... Eek.

Jono at the organ. It's such a cool instrument. So many switches to flip.. It's an entire orchestral all on it's own! And it has sounds like doorbells, train whistles, etc. =D

Me at my little piano. It's so cute!! The top few notes are missing.. It only goes up to an A. So when I play octaves up at the top, sometimes I'm hitting the wood instead of notes. =P

Pat conducting the orchestra.

Straight No Chaser

2008-04-28T22:21:00.001+10:00

Check this out:

Jess' 18th Bday Drinks & Musos at Trinity

2008-04-25T01:16:00.006+10:00

I had my conducting assessment for Haydn today. I thought I was all good because I'd had tutes with Pat and I'd videoed myself and I'd practiced. But the moment I stepped up to the middle to conduct my fellow musos in front of everyone, including John Hopkins, I started shaking! I could NOT stop. The first 2 bars of the excerpt had a pause each, and when I held the pause, you could see my left hand visibly vibrate. I was so mortified, and I couldn't concentrate on my conducting because I was trying my very best not to shake! Very disappointing indeed... *sigh*

***

Tonight, Jess celebrated her 18th birthday (which was actually yesterday) at a pub just across the street from where I live, called Naughto's.

Dave 1, Dave 2 and Dave 3!

John, Teresa and me.

Jess - the birthday girl, Teresa and me. Cheers!

Aww.. No more beer...

John, Dave, Jess, Dave, me and Dave. =)

I came back to Trinity at 10-ish pm, and found some of my muso friends sitting on the steps to my building, chatting.

Siobhan, Hugh and Diana.

*smooch!* Specially for you, Kel. ;)

***

Tomorrow, I'm going paintballing with some friends. And then at night, Emma's celebrating her 23rd birthday. Should be fun!

Lunch & Shoes & Swing Dancing

2008-04-23T19:17:00.004+10:00

I ordered a packed lunch today. When I went to collect it, I was pleasantly surprised to receive this:

No one's packed me this kind of lunch before. I was deliriously happy with it. Haha..

These are the shoes I was talking about in my previous post. Aren't they the most perfect shoes you have ever seen??

And these are the second pair I bought. They look like elf boots to me, so I'll only wear them during Christmas. Or if they go really well with my outfit. ;)

There was a swing dancing practice session on today. It was informal and very fun! I also learnt the Shim Sham. Check it out!

Wanna learn it?

Weekend.

2008-04-20T17:39:00.004+10:00

I was hardly home all weekend. Yesterday I had lunch with a friend, then went present shopping (such a hectic time it was), then underwear shopping with a few girlfriends (saw a pair of really nice shoes, but the shop was closing, so I put them on hold), came back to change, went to a friend's 21st dinner, went straight to some other friends' housewarming. By the time I got home it was 1:30 am.

This morning, I went to church, went to pick up my shoes and to choose another pair (bought both for $30!!) had lunch with a friend in Port Melbourne, then went for Improv Class. It was fun.

***

I got tagged by Joy to do one of those procrastinating questionnaires. I've been tagged before but never bothered to do those things. I think I'll give it a shot now.

Seven (highly avoidable but always overlooked) Sins.

Gluttony

1. Do you think you eat more than you should?
Yes. But that's because of the Chinese mentality that you should clean everything off your plate.

2. What is your favorite meal?
Not breakfast because it's too early in the morning (yes, 9 am is early). Lunch? Dinner?

3. What did you have for dinner today (or yesterday)?
Seafood Linguine. It was at Gladys' 21st.

4. What is your favorite dessert?
Chocolate mud cake!! Cheesecakes. Mmm...

5. Can you cook well?
Er, not really...

6. Are you a fruit or veggie person?
Fruits. Depends what veggies.

7. What is your favorite restaurant to go to?
Depends on my mood.

8. Do you feel comfortable with your weight?
I could stand to lose a few pounds...

9. Are you vegetarian or vegan?
Never ever ever. I love meat too much.

10. Describe your normal eating habits.
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and desert.

Lust

1. How much do you find yourself thinking about sex?
I'm gonna go with Joy on this: "Err. Mathematical error."

2. Are you a virgin?
Again: "Who wants to know?"

3. If not, who did you lose your virginity to and when?
Such a busybody you are.

4. Do you believe you should be in love to have sex?
Absolutely.

5. Have you ever cheated on your significant other?
Haha... No.

6. What the first thing you look for in a boy/girl?
Genuineness. Values. Confidence. Oops, that's 3 things.

7. Do you have any special fantasies?
Depends..!

8. Have you been in lust more than love?
No.

9. Would you have sex with more than one person?
No way.

10. Who have you lust for?
Gerard Butler! Jensen Ackles. Mmm.. ;)

Greed

1. What do you want more than anything right now?
A plan.

2. Does money play an important part of your life?
It's one of the important things, but not the most.

3. What are your goals for the future?
Too many...

4. Do you think money is more important than love?
No. If I were given a choice to marry a poor man whom I'm very much in love with and vice versa, and a millionaire but not love him, I'd choose the former.

5. If you were given one million dollars right now, what would you do with it?
Pay off the rest of my university fees. Give some to my parents. A bit to charity. And invest the rest!

6. Has anyone ever called you spoiled or greedy?
Spoiled. =(

7. Do your parents have a lot of money?
Yes and no.

8. How much money do you spend in one week?
Depends.

9. Do/would you share with people that are less fortunate?
Sure...

10. Have you ever robbed someone?
Almost, once. After walking a few steps out of a departmental store with my girlfriends, I wondered why I hadn't asked to borrow some money to pay for the jeans I wanted to get. Then I looked down, and in my hands were that pair of jeans! I was tempted to just continue walking but had an attack of moral conscience. I could have saved myself RM80!

Sloth

1. Have many people called you lazy?
Mostly my mum. And myself. =P

2. How much sleep do you get at night?
7-8 hours. Sometimes more.

3. Do you often take naps in the middle of the day?
Naps are weird. I can't sleep during the day unless I'm really, really tired.

4. What was the most depressing time of your life?
Um, I got a few...

5. What is the best way to relax?
Curling up in a blanket reading a book next to a window while it rains outside.

6. Would you consider yourself more of a follower or leader?
Follower.

7. Would you consider yourself a caring person?
Yes.

8. What time do you go to bed at night?
12-ish am.

9. What do you waste most of your time doing?
Internet: Facebook, emails...

10. Would you rather go out somewhere or stay home?
Depends on my mood and the people.

Wrath

1. Who was the last person you were upset with?
Myself.

2. Do you hate anyone?
No.

3. Are you angry a lot?
No.

4. What was the last thing that made you mad?
Dashed expectations.

5. Have you even been in a physical fight with someone?
Yes..? Probably when I was a kid.

6. Has there been a time that you wanted to seek revenge?
Yes.

7. What is your biggest pet peeve?
Hypocrites.

8. How do you express your anger and frustration?
Rant. In my head.

9. Is it easy for you to forgive?
Unfortunately, yes. It's so hard for me to hold a grudge. I might get angry, but after a while, I just forget about it. Sometimes I feel it means that I let myself get stepped on.

Envy
1. Who are you most jealous of?
Many people.

2. What is something you want that your best friend has?
An N! But an A is better. ;)

3. What is one thing you think you are lacking in life?
A plan.

4. Do you think of yourself as an envious person?
Yes.

5. How would you consider yourself lucky?
Like what Joy said: blessed.

6. Unlucky?
No.

7. Have you ever felt sorry for yourself?
Yes.

8. Overall, do you think you have everything you need?
Not quite.

9. Is there anyone that has been envious of you?
I don't know. Maybe?

10. Do you want a better life than what you have?
Yes. But I have to do my best with what I've got, otherwise I'd just be a pathetic loser in life.

Pride

1. What is your best physical feature?
Does my skin count? People have commented about it. But I'm getting a few zits. Stress? Eek.

2. What do you like most about your personality?
I'm loyal to a fault.

3. How much time do you take to get ready in the morning?
About half an hour, which always includes a shower.

4. Do you wear a lot of make-up?
Not very. And only on special occasions.

5. How often do you go shopping?
Not very often because I'm pressed for cash! But I did some today: 2 pairs of shoes for $30. Bargain!

6. Are your looks very important to you?
Sounds shallow, but yes.

7. Would you ever like to be a model?
No. Especially because I'm, er, vertically challenged.

8. What could be improved about your body?
Lose the extra fat.

9. Do you think that you’re better than others?
Generally, no.

10. What is your most embarrassing moment?
*sigh* I've too many of those. The most recent one was on stage in the spotlight with my favourite group, in front of 200-odd people.

I tag: Kelly, Mags, Von, SJ, Kathryn and Phebe.

Early Voices - O Rosa Bella

2008-04-18T18:51:00.005+10:00

Yesterday evening, Early Voices did a concert at the State Library as part of The Medieval Imagination. We got there at 5 pm to rehearse. The concert was meant to start at 6:30 pm. We had no idea by "start" they meant that John Griffiths would give a lecture about medieval music and what we were going to sing, etc. for half an hour... complete with power point! We'd gotten in line at 6:30 pm and we were so bored standing at the back for half an hour, thinking, "Is he done yet, is he done yet?" I'm sure it was a good talk, but we couldn't hear anything he was saying and we were just tired... and bored!

The concert went really well, even with Vivien not around as she had "international commitments." *snickers*
Nick conducted us instead, and he did a fantastic job. =)

Oh, and thanks for coming to see us sing, Phebe! It was really good to see you again, even if it was only for a short period of time. Hope you enjoyed it and wasn't too sleep-inducing for you. ;)

After the gig, a bunch of us went to China Town for dinner. And then I went back to Gowri's place for dessert - cookies n' cream cheesecake! Mmm.. =)

For Kelly.

2008-04-14T00:01:00.006+10:00

My dearest cousin, Kelly has talents you know not of! She made a dance track all by herself. Have a listen to it.. it's definitely something. =) It's a piece by Jay Chou, who got his idea from Bach's Fugue in C minor, Book I.

I just want to say that I'm proud of you, Kel-gal. Very well done, indeed!

Much love...

Pictures from last night.

2008-04-13T17:32:00.004+10:00

Focusing on the good stuff...

Taking a deep breath before the madness begins...

And go!

Swapna and me.

Emma, me and Jess. We're in the same Improvisation Class.

And this is Adam. He teaches the class!

Nick and me.

Cosmic balance.

2008-04-13T02:16:00.003+10:00

If Friday was one of my best days, Saturday was one of THE worst. Everything that could have gone wrong, did go wrong. My name should be Murphy.

Yesterday I'd bought a black top for just $5. It was even more of a bargain because it was so nice!! So I decided to wear it again today. And as I zipped it up, the material tore!! Words could not describe my horror. I then went into a frenzy of going through every black piece of clothing I had. Nothing could measure up to my beautiful black $5 top that only lived for a day. *sigh*

Because of that, I was running late. But I managed to catch a tram as soon as I stepped out of college. I then realized that I'd forgotten my wallet. So I got off at the next stop and walked back to get it and then went to wait for the next tram.

The next thing I'd forgotten was my watch. So I went back to my room to get it.

I got to Chapel late. Somehow my mind figured that I didn't have to be there early, when in fact, I DID!! To help direct people to their seats, etc. Omg, it was so not fun. I had dinner with some friends, and then remembered that I had to be there early and literally ran the rest of the way there.

I had to get the float from Nick before the intermission because I didn't get to see him before the show because I was late! So I waited for them backstage, and as soon as they came out, Nick passed it to me.

And then when it came time for me to bring out the bucket of mailing list stubs, I somehow misheard Naomi. I thought she asked me to select someone from the audience to pick out 2 stubs, when she was actually asking ME to do it. -_-" Alangkah malunye! Anyway, I got Sam to do it. And funnily enough, the 2 stubs she pulled out were the names of people I know. One of them was Swapna. I was pretty pleased about that.

After I'd sold as much merchandise as I could, I went to take some pictures with my friends who had to leave. And then... I. Dropped. My. Camera. It's in a camera coma right now. *sob*

After I'd left Chapel, I'd reached the corner before I realized that I'd forgotten to return my Chapel access card. So I ran to give it back.

All in all, one horrible day. Didn't even managed to talk much with Naomi, Andrew, Sally or Nick. I'm just glad that Saturday's over. Hopefully Sunday will be kinder to me. I think I'll just conveniently forget Saturday ever happened and just focus on Friday. *sigh*

The Idea of North -- Encounter #7a(-ish)

2008-04-12T10:05:00.005+10:00

So as I'd mentioned before, I was meant to help out with TION's gigs. However, I was afraid that I'd only have to stand around, clueless because my supervisor didn't really know what to do with me.
It turned out, the opposite was true.

On Thursday, Andrew from TION had called Chapel off Chapel to ask if they had anyone to help out with selling merchandise. Usually a friend or family member would do that, but this time they didn't have anyone. My supervisor suggested me (and why not? She knew I'd be doing it for free anyway! Haha..) and Andrew rang me up to ask me himself.

So I got there at 4 pm, nice and early, because that was when I was told to go in, some time ago. It turned out to be totally unnecessary. But it wasn't a complete loss - I got to sit in TION's sound check and got to hear them sing a couple of songs again and again. I'd sms-ed Sam during to gloat, and she was quite jealous! ;)
Andrew also gave me a few comps: I got a poster and a T-shirt (it was the last 'small'!) and I got to sit in the show for free!

But I had a bit of a boring wait until people arrived. Before the show started, my job was to direct people to their seats. A couple of friends from Trinity came (at my urging, of course!), and I finally got to meet Sheree - fellow TION Groupie! - and her mum, who's an even bigger Groupie!

A funny thing happened a couple of songs into the show. The staff at Chapel had forgotten to provide water for TION on stage. So Nick went to get some, then Andrew called him back.
"For the first time, we have our very own personal assistant," Andrew said.
Nick looked at him funny and said, "So we can ask, "Will you go to the toilet for me?"" and everyone laughed.
"Our very own personal assistant," Andrew continued. "Gina!" And he explained that they'd forgotten the water and could I get some for them?
And I got clapped at. LOL.

A song before the break, I slipped out to set up the CDs. I had to handle the float (cash) and the credit card gadget. (It's really cool to use. Nick'd taught me earlier that evening.)

While I was setting up, Gary (he's a team leader at Chapel) asked if I had a casual job. I said that I didn't. He went on to mention that in a month's time, Chapel will be advertising for someone to do some casual work. He and my supervisor will be conducting the interviews and he said that I should apply because he liked the way I worked! How flattering is that to my ego? =P

Before I went in for the second set, I grabbed the bucket where people had put the slips for the mailing list in. I didn't know if I was supposed to do that, but I figured that it couldn't hurt. When the time for the lucky draw came, Andrew announced that they'd forgotten to ask me to take the bucket in and could I please do that? I then walked down the steps, (smugly) holding up the bucket for him to see.
"Ah, look how initiative she is!" he exclaimed, and got me to pick out 2 slips and to read the names on it.
The first time, he held the bucket up quite high and I had to stand on my toes to pick out a slip.
"Don't hold the bucket up so high," Nick admonished. "She's short!"
That earned another round of laughter and I mentally shot him an evil look. Haha..

I also found out first hand, how bright the lights are! I literally couldn't see beyond the stage with the lights glaring down in my eyes, so I focused some of my attention on Andrew, Sally, Naomi and Nick, instead. Only when the house lights came on could I see the audience.

After the show, I sold more merchandise. I like to think that I made a killing that night! Bwahahaha... =)

That was the first time I actually did anything like that alone. Can't wait for tonight! Most of my friends will be there then.

Signing off - this is Gina.. a retail virgin no more!

You'll never guess who I bumped into today...

2008-04-10T19:43:00.005+10:00

Gowri and I were walking into Union House when I saw a girl who looked incredibly familiar. So I gave her a big smile and a wave whilst trying to remember where I'd seen her before. It took me ten seconds before my brain connected my life in Malaysia to the one here in Melbourne.

And then I was really surprised... It was Jessica from Youth/Church back home! I had no idea she was coming to Melbourne to study. Apparently, she's been here since the semester started. The little monkey. =)

22nd Birthday, Booze Cruise, etc.

2008-04-07T22:22:00.003+10:00

Dinner at Ragha's - 21.3.08

Ragha invited a bunch of us over to his place in Geelong, partly to celebrate his new dining set. So, we - Gowri, Tanu, Nadhi, her boyfriend Tariq and I - took the train there. We missed the one we'd meant to catch, of course, so we had to wait another hour for the next one.

And then... When we were about the get off at our stop, the train started moving! So we were stuck on the train and had to get Ragha to pick us up at the next stop. LOL.

Gowri, Nadhi, me and Tanu on the train.

Ragha had cooked up a feast! The food was so yummy... Mmmmm...

Ragha was so sweet. He'd bought a chocolate cheesecake to celebrate 3 birthdays - Tariq's, Nadhi's and mine.

Tanu, Nadhi and I took over Ragha's ginormous bed. We slept horizontally on it. Gowri could have fit in with us as well, but she chose to be antisocial and slept on the couch in the living room instead.

The next morning, I taught Nadhi and Gowri a disco routine I'd learnt at a swing class. Fun!

Dinner with friends - 25.3.08

For my birthday, I organized a dinner at a Korean restaurant called Oriental Spoon and then some of us went to the arcade at Crown.

Mags, Tanu, me and Gawain.

Zach, Kat, Jack, me and Blake.

Music Booze Cruise - 29.3.08

Every year there's one of those, but I never went. I decided to go this year as it's my last at uni! The theme this year was James Bond: For Your Eyes Only. The boat departed from the Docklands.

Teresa, John, me and Jess.

Jess, me, Gowri and Teresa.

People getting onto the boat.

Girls on the dance floor (and a couple kissing behind us).

The Victorian Star! It had 2 levels: the bar and dance floor was downstairs while the upper level had tables and chairs where people could sit and chat.

Launch of the Medieval Festival - 27.3.08

Early Voices sang at this launch which was held in the State Library. It was quite fun. We saw the Premier and the Mayor.

The guys.

The girls.

On March 29th, Gowri and Mags had a birthday surprise in store for me. They took me to a Victorian Opera Event: Sing Your Own Opera. We sang The Marriage of Figaro - in English. The people who went mostly consisted of old fogies. =P Richard Gill conducted the event.
After that, Melbourne took part in Earth Hour from 8 - 9 pm. I saw the Premier and the Mayor again.

All in all, it was a very satisfying week. =)

The Idea of North performs in Melbourne this coming weekend. I've recruited 13 people. I'm not sure how many Sam and Gladys got this time. But I do know that one or two others have made groups of their own!
I'll be helping out as part of my work experience this year. (It's part of my course at uni.) I can't wait!

Yours truly is on the cover of the Trinity Handbook 2008!

2008-03-20T00:25:00.002+11:00

Okay, so this is kind of old news now... But I figure I should blog about it.
Every year, Trinity College has a handbook for its residential students. This year, a guy called Jeremy and I are on the cover! I didn't know at first, and when a friend teased me about it, I thought she meant something else. But when I found out - (every student gets one in their mail box) - things started making sense... especially when people started coming up and talking to me about it... even total strangers!

There was this one girl.. the moment she saw me, her eyes went wide and she exclaimed, "OH MY GOD, you're on the cover of the handbook!"
And I was, like, "Yeah.. Want my autograph?"
Okay, no, I didn't say that. I just laughed and then ran away. LOL.

***

Anyway.. The Easter break is coming up. And I have to move out of college by tomorrow. So I need to pack some stuff up.. Am gonna crash at Gowri and Tanu's place. Thanks, girls! =)

A big part of my incentive to practice the piano is...

2008-03-17T23:50:00.002+11:00

There is air-conditioner in the practice rooms.

Seriously. Melbourne is crazy. It was cool towards the end of summer. Now, it's supposedly the beginning of autumn.. and it's HOT!

And I don't have a fan in my room.

Moomba Water Festival '08

2008-03-09T23:04:00.003+11:00

Yesterday, I went to the Moomba Festival with Mags and Ling. After we'd gone a whole round, my brother called, saying that he and Joie were almost there. So we met them at Federation Square. After we'd done another round, we got back to Federation Square again. Then, Kat called, saying that she and Annabel were there as well. Funny coincidences.

Mags, Ling and I sat on the swings - a kids ride. We all played a couple of games as well. Won nothing, of course, except for an orange snake, which Mags named Steve (of all names!). She'd won herself what she called a Pegasus.

Before reaching Federation Square on the tram, I saw a seagull perched on the head of this statue, and I couldn't resist taking a picture.

Mags and Ling above the Yarra River.

Mags and me.

A Bollywood dance. What I found funny was that only one of the dances was Indian - the rest were Chinese.

A guy playing the bagpipe.

Ling and me.

Joie, Kevin and me.

A guy swallowing a sword.

Kat and me with Steve sticking out of my bag!

After watching the fireworks which started just after 9:30 pm, Joie, Mags and I went to Crown to have dinner. Kevin had to leave earlier to go to the office. Later, he joined us at the arcade, where we played some games including...

Para-Para! Mags and I made Joie have a go. She was quite good!

Jurassic Park - a shooting game. So stressful!

Kevin, Joie and I also played a racing game. I won, of course! ^^ The last game we played was the Mario racing game. The machines actually took our pictures and put them above our characters on the screen. So funny!

It was after 12:30 am when we took a cab back. The driver was rather weird. He kept asking us pointed questions, like what did we do that day, where were we from, were we Buddhists? To the last question, we answered that Kevin and I are Christians. And then he said that he was training to be a pastor, then he went on talking about miracles and being saved and the rapture... Personally, he made me uncomfortable because he talked as though we knew each other forever. And I didn't want to encourage him by conversing with him, nor did I want to aggravate him by staying silent.
Another thing is that he actually drove past Trinity College and I had to tell him to turn back. It probably was nothing, but I still found it a bit suspect.

Anyway, at one point he asked for my name. I didn't want to give him my real name, but I couldn't take too long to think of a random one, so I just blurted out, "Mabel." (Fyi, I was almost named Mabel.)
Now, this is the funny part.. When we reached Trinity and as I got out of the cab, Joie said cheerfully, "Bye, Mabel!" The cabbie imitated her, "Bye, Mabel! I like that girl, Mabel..." I had to struggle to keep a straight face and only allowed myself to burst out laughing after I'd gone through the gate. Oh, dear me... LMAO!!

***

So that was my Saturday. Monday will be the start of my second week of this semester at uni. Whee...!

The first day of my last year at Melbourne University as an undergraduate.

2008-03-03T16:37:00.003+11:00

It feels so strange! I had Piano Class just now. And I only recognize a handful of faces. I can't believe I'm in 4th year now. I feel so old. =(

On Friday night, Trinity had an O'Week revue. I played the first movement of the Grieg sonata (because I planned to play it at the Soroptimist soiree.) I was both nervous and not - I guess it's because I've played it so many times. I did quite well, I think. At least, there were no major catastrophes. =P And afterwards, I heard a guy tell his friend, "That's a tough act to follow!" Ceh, bangganye! I also accompanied a guy who sang a song from West Side Story.

Saturday night was Trinity's Commencement Dinner. There was a guest speaker. I'm not going to say who because what I'm going to say is not very complementary. She talked about the Melbourne Model, which was fair enough.. I wanted to know more about it. She was told to talk for 10 minutes, but instead, she went on for... 45 minutes!! I did try very hard to concentrate, but in the end, I didn't get anything from the speech. All I heard was "breadth" and "depth". Bah. At the end of the speech, some of the students gave her a standing ovation. Some even stood on their chairs, expressing how glad they were that she was done. I thought it was pretty mean at the time, but in the spirit of being in college, she deserved it. Looking back, it was pretty funny. =P

Sunday I played at the Soroptimist soiree. The other 2 performers were twin sisters whom I'd met the last time I performed there. Met their parents again too. Lovely people. The whole family is crazy musical. One of the sisters performed on the flute, but she also plays the trombone. The other sister has an amazing voice, but she is also accomplished on the trumpet. The dad plays the tuba while the mum plays the cornet, I think. They all belong in the same brass band.

The 1st of March was officially the start of autumn. We still get a mixture of hot and cool days and nights.

I have yet to unpack my room. I should do it all by tonight. My first piano lesson is tomorrow. I don't have to prepare anything, and I probably don't have time to, anyway. But I should probably give it a shot tomorrow morning.

Being back in college is rather strange. It's like putting on an old skin that doesn't quite fit anymore. So many new faces. And people keep asking me what made me move back.

I'm in the basement of the music faculty right now using the internet. One thing I dislike about college is that we get a dismally small download quota: 1 gig a semester.

Alright. Gotta go. Wish me luck for this semester!

Back to College.

2008-02-28T16:32:00.002+11:00

Last Sunday (Feb 24) was the Sydney Road Musical Festival. And Nat and Jason and their flatmate had their housewarming that arvo as well. Gowri and I walked along Sydney Road, checking out the stalls. The whole road was closed that day. There were lots of cool stuff being sold. Bought a top and a dress.. very Bohemian. =)

Nat's place has a balcony that looks over Sydney Road. So Gowri, Nat, Mags and I sat on it and sang Early Voices songs and canons and whatever else we knew A Capella. Some people looked up, but mostly, no one really cared. That's Sydney Road for you. That's Brunswick. Anything goes.

***

I move back into college today. Am gonna call a cab now to move some of my stuff. Gosh, I'm so lazy... I guess the best way to cure laziness is by doing stuff. So I'm gonna do stuff now.

Oh, I'm not sure if I'm going to get used to college internet again. 2 gigs for the whole year. Ridiculous, innit?

Ciao.

Goodbye, 21 Laura Street.

2008-02-24T13:43:00.003+11:00

The past few weeks have been insane. Not only did I have assignments and studying to do, but I had to move out of my old house as our lease was ending. We moved the bulk of our belongings (furniture, boxes, etc.) on Monday NIGHT. By the time we finished, it was about 2:30 in the morning. I only slept at about 3 am. Since then, it's been moving more stuff and cleaning the house. Our bedtimes became 4 am.

My first Techniques 3-1 assessment was the scales (modes, etc.) and chords test on Tuesday (Feb 19). It was mostly a matter of memorizing. I went through the scales and chords my tutor asked so quickly he asked me to slow down and it only lasted for a minute, when he had allocated about 4 minutes for each student. I got 10 out of 10 for that. =)

My next exam was the one I was most stressed out about - Managing People and Organizations. Didn't study as much as I should have.. but I did what I could. And now it's over! After the exam, my head felt so empty.
Oh and for my report, I got 20 out of 30. I actually got 21.5, but 5% was taken off for lateness. I'm just glad it wasn't 10% as it was over the weekend.
Anyway, after the exam, I went back to Laura Street to finish cleaning the house and we had the last house inspection. Then, Gowri and I moved back the last of whatever was left back to her and Tanu's new place. It took us 2 trips. And then, we had dinner with my brother Kevin on Lygon Street... at 11-ish pm. We got back at almost 1 am. I was so excited that I didn't have to get up early the next morning!

My next and last exam is the Techniques one, which is on Tuesday. Gotta study for that one. =P

I don't think I mentioned what I got for my piano exam... 78%. To be honest, I was disappointed when I found out. I was really hoping for 80%. But, oh well.. Like my friend said, it's really difficult to score for piano. And when I told my teacher, he said that I could have gotten 80 if I'd worked hard during the semester. Gah!

***

I'm really going to miss living on Laura Street. During the process of moving out, I felt sad at the thought of not walking through the front door, dumping my stuff in my room and walking through the living room to find Nat sitting on the couch watching tv. =) Or barging into Gowri's room for a chat. I'm really going to miss my housemates. Unwittingly, unknowingly, we've built some memories in that place. I didn't expect to feel bad about moving out. But there you go. Life is never how you expect it to be.

I move back into college on Feb 28. I'm really not looking forward to unpacking..! >.<

On with the new year...

Nightmare

2008-02-11T19:04:00.001+11:00

I haven't had a real night mare in a loooooooooong time... Since I was a kid. It's safe to say that I have never had a more negatively intense dream. It was so real, it was freaky!

It was during the day. The Idea of North (don't laugh!) was performing at a venue - it was sort of at Wilson Hall at Melbourne University, but wasn't. Apparently, I was supposed to have organized the concert. But I had no idea what was going on. There was supposed to be another act or a workshop or something in the second set. But I hadn't organized anything, so I was panicking. (Now, all these negative feelings felt very real like in real life. Don't play play okay..)
And then, during the break, one of TION members (I'm not saying who) scolded me for not doing my job and made me feel really, really, really bad. It was awful.

And then I found out that my piano exam was to be the next day. But I hadn't practiced for it at all! Gowri had the same exam, but she had prepared for it. I'm sure you can imagine how I felt. Shock, horror, panic, STRESS!! I remember thinking that I needed a sup for my sup exam! It was very, very, very horrible.

I woke up with the same feelings. And let me tell you, they were not pleasant! And I'd felt like I hadn't gotten much rest. I already stress enough during the day. I think I deserve some peace at night!

***

These are the number of books I'd borrowed for my MPO report. It took me 2 trips to the library - the first time I took my bright red rolly-bag, the second time I took the shopping trolley. Very unglamorous, but thus is the life of a student who does last minute work. =(

***

Btw, I just saw Jensen Ackles on a tv programme called Good News Week. (It's basically a silly show that makes fun of Australian news.) I had no idea that that Supernatural star was in Australia..!!! Grrr...

***

It's Gowri's birthday today. Happy Birthday, dear friend. I hope this year will be a fulfilling one for you. =)

Friends till the end!

Gina has... a few screws loose.

2008-02-05T22:23:00.000+11:00

I just received a call from a lady who is part of a society called Soroptimist, and she organizes soirées for charity. She knows me from the last time I played in one of them, and she asked me if I was interested in playing again on March 2nd.

I think I sort of panicked because I said yes. And then she went, "Oh, good," and went on about she's letting 3MBS (a classical radio station) know to advertise it. And she asked me what I was doing, and I replied that I'm in my 4th year doing my Bachelor of Music. "At the Con at Melbourne University?" she asked. "That's right," I confirmed.

It was only after I hung up that I realized what I'd just done, and I went to Gowri's room to freak out.
DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I'M TERRIFIED OF PERFORMING IN FRONT OF PEOPLE?!?!
And THEN I realized that the reason she asked me those questions was because they're probably going to announce my name on the freakin' radio!!!
What's going on here?! I mean, they didn't do any advertising like that for the last soirée I played in.

Omgomgomgomgomgomgomg...

And March 2nd! That's right after I move back into college (Feb 28) and it's the day before uni starts!!! I'm supposed to have a break before that dammit!

O M G.

I am a lunatic.

***

Btw, my piano exam went okay, I think - except for a few stupid mistakes. Especially that bit in the Mozart Rondo. I think I may have over-practiced a little.

Anyway, straight after that, I came home to finish my MPO assignment - which is really crap. But I don't care.

Now all I have to do are my Tech 3-1 assignments, study the scales, listening list and what we've learnt for that subject, and study for the MPO exam, which fyi I have no clue about.
And at some point, I have to move out of my house and crash at someone's place 'cause I'll be homeless for about a week - and this might be before my Tech exam. And then I move back into college on Feb 28. And then the soirée is on March 2. And uni starts on March 3.

Easy peasy.

Teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini.

Oh wait.. that was itsy bitsy, not easy peasy...

Hmmm...

Four-and-a-half hours of piano practice today.

2008-02-02T22:51:00.000+11:00

Today I borrowed Jono's keys - one of which opens the piano in the dining hall of Trinity College. I started practicing at 2:30 to 6:00 pm, taking a few 2-minute breaks in between. Then I had dinner there (free food - woohoo!) and caught up with some old friends that I'd met at college. At 6:30 pm I had another run through for David and then practiced a bit more until 7:30 pm. So in total, I practiced the piano - practically non-stop except for a half-an-hour dinner break - for four and a half hours.

I have never practiced this hard... in a very, very long time. My hands are ready to fall off now at the wrists and my back and shoulders ache. But can I rest? Nooo.. I still have to do the stupid 2000-word report for the commerce subject I'm taking.

WHY DO I DO THESE THINGS TO MYSELF? WHY???

P.S. I Love You

2008-01-28T22:38:00.000+11:00

I just watched the movie P.S. I Love You starring Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler, and I absolutely loved it! So here's my little spiel in white so I don't give any spoilers away - highlight the following if you want to read it.

Okay, I have to admit that the main reason I wanted to watch it was because Gerard Butler was in it. At first I thought that he would appear for only the first 10 minutes of the movie because his character dies. But he was there throughout the movie! So that was a bonus.
Secondly, because of the story. It was one that I was just in the mood for - a touching, weepy movie. =)

Although the storyline might not appeal to some, I think the actors really pulled it off. But it was just so sad. I kept thinking about how awful it was that Gerry (Butler's character) died when he and Holly (Swank) were so much in love. And their romance was such a... well, a romantic one.
But the movie really takes you through the process of healing (even though I still felt really bad) and shows that it's possible to move on.
And the scenery of Ireland was so gorgeous! *sigh*

It wasn't too out there - as in, "Yeah, right. As if that would ever happen in real life," - to my way of thinking. That is, if you believe in true love. If you don't, then this movie isn't for you.
What I really liked though, was that it ended with possibilities. It didn't finish on a flat note, nor did it end in a terribly clichéd manner. I think that the ending was very well done.

So in conclusion, I really recommend this movie... if you have a romantic streak in you and if you're looking for a good cry.
There are few movies that really grab you. For me, this is one of them.

Heath Ledger... no longer.

2008-01-23T23:31:00.000+11:00

I'm sure most of you have heard about Heath Ledger's death by now. When I first found out today, my first reaction was shock. It didn't matter that I didn't know him personally - just through seeing him in movies and through his celebrity status.
Isn't it strange realizing that someone you know, or know of, doesn't exist in this world any longer?

He was so young - only 28. And I feel so sorry for his family, especially his 2-year-old daughter.

I suppose all that's left to say is... I hope you rest in peace, Heath Ledger.

Grampians

2008-01-22T20:56:00.000+11:00

On Jan 12, my mum, brother, Ragha and I went to visit the Grampians on a day trip. It's really beautiful..!
On the way, we visited the Ballarat Wildlife Park.

Feeding the kangaroos...

"I'm sorry, Mr. Kangaroo - I'm afraid I simply can't marry you!"

Mr. Koala. There was a baby koala climbing the tree too. (Actually, this might be it.) So adorable!!

Yes, that's my cheeky brother, Kevin. *sticks out tongue*

Me, mum and bro.

If you visit the Grampians, you have to visit McKenzie Falls. It's absolutely beautiful - you could gaze at it and the rainbow all day long. And the water was so refreshing! You're not supposed to swim there, but people do anyway.
We'd rolled up the legs of our jeans/pants and soaked them in the water. I almost fell in at first because the rock was so smooth and slippery underneath the water!

At another lookout...

That's God's work right there.

Back in Melbourne / It's the New Year

2008-01-07T14:38:00.000+11:00

Sometimes it gets so hot in Melbourne. Once, it got up to 44 degrees Celsius. And I don't have an air-con at home. I'm not exaggerating when I say it's pure torture when it gets even in the mid-30s.

My mum, brother, Ragha and I visited the Dandenong Ranges. Of course, it had to be one of the fore-mentioned days... I got a headache at the end of the day from all the sun.

The view. That circle of buildings in the middle? That's Melbourne City.
Check out the haze. That's how hot it was!

Me, my brother and mum on the Giant's Chair.

Ragha and me.

Me in the Wishing Tree.

Those people in the distance are my mum and brother.

For New Year's all of us went to the Geelong Waterfront. Thank God we didn't go to Federation Square as planned because it was a hot night and it would have been such a crush.
We had front and center seats to watch the fireworks which went on for a good 5 minutes, as we sat along the bay. Beautiful.
Will edit this post to put up pictures later.

***

Has anyone seen Ballet Shoes? I downloaded it and watched it last night. I think it's a really good movie and I highly recommend it. I can't wait to read the book... soon. =)

***

Summer semester has officially started, but as I don't have classes on Monday, I begin tomorrow. Wish me luck!

My piano exam is on February 4. And I've booked 2 lessons with my teacher, the first one on January 14. So it's back to practicing the piano for me!

I'm homesick already.

2007-12-27T00:18:00.000+11:00

I'm not ready to return to Melbourne. Can someone turn back time for me? Please? =(

3 outings... I'm the most happening girl ever. (Note sarcasm)

2007-12-23T23:33:00.000+11:00

Wednesday, 19 Dec 2007

My father's company had it's annual dinner. This was probably the last time I would attend one of these things.. *sigh*

Me and my parents.

Saturday, 22 Dec 2007

The Youth at my church had a Christmas party. A friend of mine, Sze King, invited me. So I decided to go. And I'm so glad that I did! It was really great seeing some old friends in the Youth Setting - there's no other way to describe it - unless you are or were part of the Youth (where you attend weekly meetings) at your church, it's hard to understand what it's like. There's just basically A LOT of goofing around... to the point of it going beyond stupid. But that's what's so great about it!

The party was a potluck. But I didn't bring anything to contribute. Hehe..

One of my favourite quotes from that night was Joy relating a story about Tim (her brother) asking what ingredients he needed to make chicken curry. (Which he did for the party. I was impressed!) It went something like this...

Tim: What ingredients do I need to make chicken curry?
Joy: Um.. Chili powder?
Tim: I've got it.
Joy: Curry powder.
Tim: Got.
Joy: Chicken?
Tim: .......... Oh, yeah!

Hahahahahaha...!!!

Eating right out of the dish...

Being the animals that they are: "It's mine! RAWR!!"

Uncle Steven, our Youth advisor! He's eating a plate full of curry. Tsk, tsk... What's your wife gonna say!

Joy and me: Oldies. =)
Aren't we dressed all Christmasy? No, it wasn't planned!

Obviously there has to be a group picture. Instigated by me, of course!

Merry Christmas! The cheeky guy in green in the far right is our dear ol' Pastor David Boey!

My idea. Hee!

Another round of posing.

And another. Check Joy, me and Tim out...

Hear no evil, Speak no evil, See no evil!!

I miss the good ol' times. Stay crazy!

Sunday, 23 Dec 2007

Yesterday I called up as many girlfriends as I could for a meet up. Fortunately, most of them could make it. The only people missing are Jo, who's in Glasgow right now, and Archana, who had prior plans. We missed you two!
We met up at Subang Parade and had Pizza Hut - of course - for lunch!

Here's Celina with her famous mushroom soup with...

Dandruff! Okay, I lied... It's cheese powder. ;)

SJ, Bing Lee, Celina, me and Von.

Where has the time gone? It only seems like yesterday when we were in our respective classes in high school, passing the Crap Book around. And now one of us is working full time already and the rest of us are spread across the globe! We definitely need to keep in touch, girls! I love and miss you all lots!!

***

I return to Melbourne on Thursday. It's too soon! I didn't get to have a proper break because I've had to work on my TESOL thing... long story. Argh.. I'm not ready to go back yet. =(

Summer semester starts on January 7. Yippee...

Penang

2007-12-12T00:27:00.000+11:00

Recently, my parents and I went to Penang for a short holiday. The last time I was there was also with my parents. I was about 5.

December 5, Wednesday

My mum and I flew via a budget airline: Air Asia. My father, on the other hand, flew MAS 'cause his ticket gets paid for by his company. Hmph.
During our stay in Penang, his colleague, Uncle Leow, took us around. It was really nice of him! =)

That night itself, we had steamboat for dinner. I ate so much..!

My parents and I.

December 6, Thursday

The next morning, Uncle Leow took us to a coffee shop to have curry mee for breakfast. Apparently, he and my father frequent that place a lot.

That night, his wife and eldest daughter joined us for dinner. The place we went to is famous for its seafood, and it was really cheap! Again, we ordered so much!
And of course, we had...

Crab.

December 7, Friday

The next day, we did a bit of sightseeing at this place called Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi. It's basically about the history of the Khoo clan, that goes back for generations and centuries. Very fascinating.
There's also a place for the Tans. But it's not as famous. =P

The laughing monk.

The crying monk.

After that, we had ais kacang ("iced beans"??) Sorry, no pictures.

Later, we went back to the resort we were staying at called Park Royal. We went down to the beach, and I went PARASAILING!! It was so awesome!

They strapped me up.

"RUN!"

And up I went. Going up was the best feeling ever. It happened so quickly!

It felt just like flying. And the view was amazing. I wished I could have stayed up there forever.

But the ride had to come to an end. It couldn't have been for more than 4 minutes!

As I approached the beach, I was supposed to pull on one of the ropes. I'd assumed that I was only to do so when I was nearing land and that when I did, it would release something and I would fall to the ground.
But I was still high up when the people down there yelled, "Pull! PULL!!"
"Now?!" I said to myself. "Alright.. If you so!"
So I yanked on the rope. Nothing happened except for me floating towards the right.
"PULL!!!" they yelled again.
I finally realized that I was supposed to pull on the rope continuously so that I can direct myself to land on the beach.

And land I did, with nary a stumble! =)
I'm definitely going to do it again. It was a really tame ride. I want the next one to be more exciting!

There were horses on the beach. And I managed to convince my mum to ride one with me!

Meet Power, an old racehorse.

The view from the resort.

The beach.

December 8, Saturday

It was time to go home. The flight took about 50 minutes.

The view from the airplane.

I had fun. And we ate SO much. Food like char kueh teow and asam laksa. Mmm..!
I'm glad I got to visit Penang again after 16 years!

The Idea of North -- Encounter #6(-ish)... in KL.

2007-12-01T15:32:00.000+11:00

So it's been a week since I got home. After my parents picked me up from the airport, we all went to mamak to have roti canai as per tradition. YUM!

On Sunday I went to church. It was good to see my friends again. Especially Kevin.. the moment he saw me, he said, "Can you play the piano for church next week?" As if I couldn't see that request coming a mile away. LOL. Then, when Uncle Kit Yoi saw me talking to Kevin, he stopped and stared and exclaimed, "Eh - Regina! Play piano! Next week!" He was so excited, he even mimed playing the piano. Haha..

***

On November 29, I brought a group of people to see The Idea of North perform in Alexis Bistro & Wine Bar in Ampang. My posse included my mum, my cousin Kelly, church friends Kevin, Sean and Zhan Wei, Kelly's lecturer, his wife, his sister and her boyfriend.
I'd booked a table for 10 a couple of months before. My friend Jamie, booked a separate table for herself, her husband, her sister and her hubby.

Getting there was an absolute NIGHTMARE. It was raining heavily in the evening - in KL, in Subang Jaya, in Shah Alam (which is where I live) - and it caused a massive traffic jam on the highway. Getting from my place to Subang Jaya usually takes about 10 minutes on a good day, but that evening, it took us more than half an hour! Oh, the stress. I was worried we'd be late as the table I'd booked was for 7:30 pm.

Me and Kevin.

7 of us piled into Kevin's van and he drove. Thanks ya! ^^
It took us about one and a half hours to get to the venue. I was a wreck, because TION was to perform at 9 pm. I had to call the place twice to tell them that we would be late - the first time that we might arrive by 8 pm, the second at 8:30 pm. I used Kevin's mobile because mine was running out of battery. The guy is what we call high tech. He uses bluetooth - which means there's a little gadget that you stick in your ear and you communicate that way without needing to physically hold your phone at all. I felt very important when I made those calls - like those people you see walking or driving on the street whom you think are crazy because it seems like they're talking to themselves.

The second time I called Alexis Bistro, Kevin had re-dialed the number for me. I was talking to the woman at the other end, and the next thing I heard was a beep, then silence.
"Hello?" I said. Then, "SEAN YOU IDIOT, STOP PLAYING WITH THE PHONE!!!"
He was riding shotgun and Kevin had handed his phone to him to play with. I only realized he'd done so after the line was cut off and I saw Sean pressing the buttons on the mobile. -_-" I had to call the woman back. She probably thought I was crazy, especially with everyone in the van roaring with laughter.

Anyway, we managed to get there at 8:30 pm just when Jamie and co. were about to head in as well. Our tables were near each other as Jamie had requested, and it was good catching up with them.

Rachel, me, Jamie and Henry.

I also saw another friend, Wan Siang, who was there with her boyfriend. I'd posted a message on Facebook (besides emailing my Malaysian friends) and she decided to go for it. It was awesome to see her there - I didn't think anyone would even take any notice of my spiel!

Wan Siang and me.

I only realized that Alexis Bistro is a pretty high class place, as the food there was quite expansive. Kevin even joked about ordering shuit cha (Chinese Tea - you can order it at a coffee shop and it costs only about RM1.30)
My mum and I ordered a Kerabu fried rice dish and I asked for some water as well. When it came, the water was in a branded glass bottle and we were given two glasses. Do you wanna know how much it cost? RM 13. THIRTEEN-FREAKIN-RINGGIT!! That water had better have some extraordinary qualities. Like reversing the aging process, or something. Dude.

Mum and me.

Me and Kelly.

After dinner, Kelly and I went to the loo. It was basically a common sink and two separate toilets, one for each gender. While we were waiting for it to be free, guess who should come in to freshen up? Naomi and Andrew! Man, it was bizarre actually seeing them in KL. But it was good to have a quick chat before they went on.

The stage.

THE SHOW

It was really fantastic! They were their usual funny selves and communicated well with the Malaysian audience. It was a really full house. People who didn't book tables had to stand. The place was packed!

Set 1

- Don't Wait Too Long
- Mas Que Nada
- Marie

For this song, Nick picked a Korean (or Japanese?) girl called Musaki. The audience loved it - especially the girl, who actually filmed the whole thing on her digital camera. Naomi later said that they'll be "looking for it later on YouTube." LOL.

- People Get Ready

I'd wondered whether TION would be doing songs from their Gospel Album, what with Malaysia being a... country that... is... you know. (I don't wanna be caught and thrown into jail, so let's just leave it at that.) But TION were sponsored by the Australian High Commission, so I guess they were alright. According to the press, their performances were "in conjunction with My.Oz, the Australian High Commission’s year-long cultural program to commemorate 50 years of diplomatic relations between Malaysia and Australia." So there you go.

- Fields of Gold
- When She Loved Me
- Blue Bayou
- Since You've Been Gone
- Chaser (Parody of Santa Clause is Coming to Town and Jingle Bells - very cleverly done!)

The audience absolutely loved the show! Especially songs like Blue Bayou. Comedy is indeed universal.

Immediately after the first set was over, Wan Siang came over to my table. I can't remember exactly what she said to me, but it went something like this: "They are f***ing amazing!! Thanks so much for urging us to go!"
I couldn't help but feel smug after that. ;)

20 minutes later, TION came back for the second set. I wasn't paying much attention while they were setting up on stage, so when Kelly nudged me, pointed and I looked up, I was very surprised to see none other than Nick Begbie standing next to my chair. I got up, we hugged and did the customary kiss-on-the-cheek greeting, and he went back to the stage. Why do I mention this? Well, kissing on the cheek when greeting a friend isn't exactly a norm for middle-class people in Malaysia. So when that happened, my friends were all quite astounded, especially since they didn't know that I actually know the members of TION personally. (Well, as personal as one can get with just chats after concerts.) And I wonder what people were thinking when Nick came over to say hi. How jaws must have dropped! LOL.

Set 2

- No More Blues
- Secret Love
- My Hat, it Has 3 Corners
- Revelation
- Fragile
- Ugly Woman
- Jackie
- Isn't She Lovely

After that last song, everyone clapped and clapped, and Kelly and I yelled, "Encore!" So they decided to do one - especially since they'd have to push through a crowd of people to leave the stage. =P
And guess which song they did? It was one about "the dangers of living in New York City"... Stayin' Alive!!! I was so stoked. And so were the audience. Absolutely brilliant. =)

I forgot to mention the lucky draw! My friend, Rachel, was one of the 2 lucky winners. How cool is that?!

After the show, my friends were thanking me for getting them to go see TION perform. Now they can spread the word in Malaysia. As I'd said to Nick, "My work here is done!"

Yes, of course I stayed a bit to have a chat with Sally, Naomi, Nick and Andrew.

See you guys back in Melbourne! =)

My violin exam today.

2007-11-15T23:34:00.001+11:00

How did it go, you ask?

Well, I can honestly say that I think I succeeded in entertaining my examiners.

Someone must love me, because I had the BEST people to examine me. (I think so, anyway.) They were John Griffiths and Ian Godfrey. John is an early muso nut, while Ian is a jazz guru. (See what I mean?)

So this is the repertoire I'd prepared:
- Bach, Sonata in C major for violin, 3rd movement
- Bartók, Romanian Folk Dances I, II & IV
- Dvořák, Sonatina for violin and piano, Op. 100

The moment I stepped into the room, I went on autopilot - which is NOT good, but I had no idea how to turn it off. My mind was a total blank. No, I take it back. My mind was something like this: ALSjfh'TY20vr'waiefglsgsldjf;EJ84o'helwjalshf;84y5984trc;awehgawrhg;
rt48y583q4u92CIRopehwoyt834y53PCqct9w4yt89y8dgjllbg[30i04ut94h
95jeiworytq48yvqp3958yfjgg4u298vy2984yvtrhlgves;roua39y5yte!!!!!!!!

John and Ian first asked me to choose what I wanted to play for them. I was not expecting that - I'd thought that my programme was not long enough - and it was very hard to decide with the ruckus going on in my head, so I just blurted out, "Er, the Bach and Dvořák?"

So I started out with the Bach. And it was alright, if I do say so myself. There were no "ARGH!" moments, which for me, is a success in itself.

Next was Dvořák - this one I played with my awesome accompanist Jonathan Bradley. And I did horribly!!! As I'd mentioned, I was on autopilot.. I think I played that piece 50 times too many. I had no control over my fingers at all and my intonation was waaaaay off. During the piece, I was like, "Where's the next note? What's the fingering? GET IT RIGHT!!"

Now, after I'd finished playing the piece, I think John and Ian felt sorry for me, because they asked me if I wanted to play one of Bartók's Romanian Folk Dances. "YES," I said immediately. I chose the first one.
At this point, I figured that I didn't have anything to lose. So I went all out. It started off well. But somewhere in the middle, my bow somehow slipped on the bridge and my violin emitted a screeching noise. Trust me, it was cat's-claws-on-a-blackboard awful.

"OhmyGod, I'm sorry!!" I gasped, but (thankfully) went on playing the piece.

I probably shouldn't have done that... Oh, well. Gowri had come along to see me play - thanks for your support, girl! - so I guess, I'd entertained her along with Jono and my examiners.

That's the important thing about being a musician, right? Entertaining your audience? *sigh*

But John and Ian were very nice. After I was done, they talked to me for a bit..

Ian: What's your main instrument?
Me: The piano.
Ian: And do you play in ensembles?
Me: The violin?
Ian: Yes.
John: Nah, she sings in Early Voices!

Hahaha.. So sweet. =)

The Idea of North -- Encounter #5(-ish)

2007-11-11T01:49:00.000+11:00

A couple of days ago, TION had sent a reminder about their gig at Chapel off Chapel. I was most amused at this bit of their email:

For more information on the group and our touring schedule, please check our website: www.idea.com.au

or our myspace page: www.myspace.com/theideaofnorthvoices

or the FaceBook group: http://unimelbedu.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2398460795
=)

The Facebook group was created by me earlier this year! Groupies, we're famous! Hahaha..

So... Saw The Idea of North on Saturday night. Brought 10 friends along. Quite a few people backed out at the last minute but managed to find replacements. However, I still had 2 tickets left over which I didn't manage to sell. =(

Managed to get there on time, which was a relief! The distributing of tickets was a bit wonky because I was in such a rush. For some reason, today I couldn't count or say the alphabet forwards, let alone backwards.

The tickets, this time, were under my name because I booked first. If you add Sam's, Glady's and my friends together, our group included 25 people in total.

The Concert

Don't Wait Too Long was a new one for me. Loved it!

Chilli Con Carne is actually an oldie for TION, but tonight was the first time I heard it. Awesome song!

Spam. Aw, man - what a hilarious piece!

"What is the shape of the world?"
"Flat."
"What happens when you get to the end?"
"You fall off."
"What is the meat in spam?"
"Chicken."
"Beef."
"Pork."
"Duck."
...
"We don't know."

LMAO!!

Needless to say, I loved all the songs they performed. Before each song, Cailin and I exchanged delighted glances and silent squeals, and sometimes even with Gladys who sat in the row in front of us.

Before the 2nd set started, there was a little problem with the sound system - the mikes weren't working. So to kill time, Nick told us a joke his father told him. It went something like this:

"What's the difference between Australian actuaries and Sicilian actuaries?"
(At this point, someone in the audience asked, "What's an actuary?" LMAO.)
"Australian actuaries can tell you the number people who will die in the next year. Sicilian actuaries can give you their names and where they're from."

Hahahahaha..!

And I was super stoked that they did Stayin' Alive for their encore. It's my favorite rendition of theirs ever! =)

The Meet & Greet

Looking at the photos, I realized that I somehow managed to look both jaundiced and sleep deprived at the same time. So photos are gonna be a bit smaller than usual.

Andrew the bass and me.

Me and Nick the tenor.

Me, Naomi the alto and fellow groupie, Gladys.

Didn't manage to get a photo with Sally, which was a shame.

And I miss Trish! Is she ever coming back?? =(

I can't wait to see them in Malaysia. It's gonna be awesome watching them perform with my family and friends there. I've seen them so many times live, the novelty is experiencing it with new people. I love converting people into TION followers. ;)
My brother bought 2 of their CDs - which were packaged as one - a new release of theirs. They were the first 2 TION albums. =)

Sally, Naomi, Nick and Andrew were suitably impressed that we made time to go to their gig while we were in the midst of exams. But being the nice people that they are, they were concerned for us too. A good case in point is Nick, when we were talking about Facebook and all it's applications like 'Scrabulous'.
Nick'd said that we should start a game together, but only after I'm done with exams.
"Sure," I said. Then, "What do you mean after exams?" I added jokingly.
"Well," he replied. "You can start a game now. But I won't make my move until after your exams are over."
And he knows when because he asked and I told him. LOL.

The After Party

Nadhi, Mitchell and Cailin got tired of waiting, so they went to Hungry Jacks to eat. We joined them after we finally left Chapel off Chapel. We're always the last to leave eh, Gladys? ;)

Mitchell and Cailin.

I'm glad all of you guys came with me to see The Idea of North tonight. I'll let you know when they come back to Melbourne next year. =)
If all goes well, they might be performing in Melba Hall! *crosses fingers*

Just watch the video.

2007-11-09T01:18:00.000+11:00

I'm sorry - I just had to put this video up. When I first saw it, I almost peed in my pants! ROFLMAO!!

Hoedown

2007-11-07T12:21:00.000+11:00

I've recently rediscovered my love for Whose Line is it Anyway? - except it's more like an obsession now. LOL. I love how they make stuff up on the spot that's so funny! and I love Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie and Wayne Brady and Greg Proops and Chip Esten and Brad Sherwood and... Laura Hall on the piano! I especially love it when they involve members of the audience - like for games like sound effects, scene with an audience, moving people, living scenery, etc.

Hoedown is one of the games on the show, which let's just say is not one of the performers' favorites - especially Ryan's. But I love it! And I managed to find the score via YouTube and learnt it. Kekeke... I think Gowri and Nat are heartily sick of the song by now!

Anyway, I also discovered another version of the hoedown (also via YouTube - have I mentioned how much I love it?) - this one by Aaron Copland (he's a 20th century composer). It's part of his Rodeo and he originally wrote it for the orchestra.
But I first found the version for 2 pianos and 4 hands:

How awesome is that?! I'm inspired to learn that piece with Gladys - but first she has to agree. =P And then we have to find the score. And then there's the issue of finding a place with 2 pianos in the same room..!

And then I found the 2 pianos, 8 HANDS version!

And then I found this one...

Who said that the piano is a lonely instrument? A bunch of us pianists at the Con should so do this at concert class next year. Holtham would have a COW!! LMAO.

Orchestre Nouveau's Debut

2007-10-22T20:50:00.000+10:00

If you can find me in the pictures, I'll give you... the satisfaction of doing so. ;)

**EDIT**

Mendelssohn - Piano Concerto No.1 in G minor - Part 1 of 3

Weekend.

2007-10-21T22:51:00.000+10:00

Meng-hia and May-jie have been in Melbourne since Thursday (for business). And coincidentally, it was my brother Kevin's birthday yesterday. So we all, together with Johanna, went for dinner at a Greek restaurant near Kevin and Jo's place. After dinner, we properly embarrassed Kevin with a birthday cake and singing Happy Birthday at the top of our voices.

It was really nice seeing my cousins again. I hardly ever see them as they're mostly in Canada, and sometimes in Singapore.

Happy Belated Birthday, kor. =)

*

Today is my mum's birthday! So, Happy Birthday, mum!! Hope you had a good seafood dinner. =)

We celebrated it for you tonight.. Had dinner with the same group of people, plus Peter and Shirley - this time at an Italian restaurant called Mamma Victoria. Unfortunately, Mamma wasn't there tonight. Apparently, she doesn't usually appear on Sundays. Oh, well.

But let's backtrack a little.. Earlier this arvo, I'd played in Zach's Orchestra Nouveau. It was great. I basically bluffed my way through. *sheepish smile* Hey it's not really my bad.. it was only the 2nd time I'd played the viola with the orchestra!

It was a good performance, though. Well done, Zach!

After I got back home, I called my mum at 5 pm. About 20 minutes later, my cousins, bro and Jo came to my place to pick me up on the way back from their winery trip. (Damn it, I wish I could have gone with them! It wasn't like I was gonna get any work done today, anyway.)

We went back to their place. Callum was there, so that was nice. Had some white wine and champagne with good conversation, and got nicely buzzed (which basically means "a little drunk".)

If you remember Carlos from a few posts before.. Apparently, he had tracked down Shirley at work - as in which floor she was on, and where her office is - and visited her every day asking for my contact details, and asking her to pass me his email address.
At this point, my brother goes: "I'm checking this guy out," and starts typing on his laptop (he had it on his lap) - in the Accenture directory, I guess. ROFLMAO.
When I asked Shirley what she told him, she said that I was busy. Good one. Glad she's got my back! ;) Hahahahaha...

During dinner, had a glass of red wine. Stayed buzzed for the rest of the evening.
Hey, the way I see it, I totally deserved to get a bit sloshed. After tonight is over, I have no life.

Got back home an hour and a half ago, via Peter and Shirley. Unfortunately sobered up half an hour ago. Oh, well. It wasn't meant to last. It would have been nice to have stayed buzzed until I went to sleep, though. =P

Speaking of. I'm going to bed soon.. in the next half an hour or so. Tomorrow's the day I'm getting the lion's share of my research done (for my essay). And on Tuesday, I'm skipping my piano lesson to finish it up. My teacher is just gonna have to deal with it. Sorry, Max!

Freaky Thursday

2007-10-19T17:24:00.000+10:00

Yesterday began with the weekly ritual of being woken by the garbage or recycling truck, racing out of the house with one bin, chasing the truck and then racing back for the other bin.

Was supposed to work on my essay, but it turned out to be an unproductive day in that aspect. I did bump into Sam, though, that evening. And we had a good chat about a possible project.

Last night, Early Voices sang at the Rennaisance Dinner at University House. (It's an exclusive club for postgraduate members of Melbourne University, if I'm not mistaken.)
Of course, I brought my camera.

We only had to sing one full bracket and 3 songs in the last bracket. Basically, there was just a lot of waiting around. We got there at 5 pm to rehearse a bit, waited, waited and waited, sang, waited some more, sang again and then FINALLY they fed us a buffet dinner at about 10:30 pm. Thank God Vivien also got them to feed us some nibbles while we waited during the evening. Early Voices were so hungry, we set upon the food like wolves the moment the platters arrived.
We were so bored, some of us actually pulled out random songs from files and sight-read them together. We also sang other random songs like The Lion Sleeps Tonight and Stayin' Alive. A few of the boys even sang the girls' parts of some of the songs we were doing. It was great. =)

I captured an awww moment of Nick and Gowri sharing a hug.

He was soon set upon by other girls who wanted to show the world through Facebook that Nick was NOT gay. (Even though he is, through and through.)

3 hotties.

Dave, Dan and me. Also hotties. ;)

Mags, Nat, me and Gowri.

♪ I wanna dance, I wanna dance! ♪

I FINALLY managed to get a group picture of Early Voices.
Isn't this one great? I'd balanced my camera on a ledge and set it on timer. The lighting is absolutely beautiful and because the camera was so still and not shaky, the picture is really clear!

"Being in Early Voices is FUN!!"

Here's a video of us rehearsing Or si rallegri il cielo.
I *heart* singing in Early Voices. =)

By the time Nat, Gowri and I got home, it was past midnight. As we approached our house, Gowri was walking in front, me behind her and Nat behind me. I'd gotten my key out already, so I slipped past Gowri to open the door.

Now here comes the freaky part. After I'd opened the screen-door which we normally don't lock, I saw that the front door was wide open and that I was looking into the dark corridor of our house.
It didn't hit me at first. "The front door is open," I said dumbly to Nat and Gowri. And then, "THE FRONT DOOR IS OPEN!!!" Nat scurried down the 3 steps out to the road, followed immediately by me, then Gowri.

We stood there for a few seconds, staring at each other, scared out of our minds. We didn't know what to do. I'd gotten my phone out, because I knew that we needed to call somebody, but didn't know who. Then, I got an idea: "We have neighbours. Let's go next door and ask one of the guys to help us."

So we went over and Kyle opened the door. The guy was just about to go to sleep. We all trouped back over to our house with the macho man in front. We switched on every light, went through every room and made sure that no one was hiding under or behind somewhere.
There was no one besides us in the house and nothing was stolen!!!

We then figured that Nat and Jason must have left the door open when they left the house earlier that day, as they were in a rush.

7 hours with the door wide open and nothing was stolen! As Nat said, "That actually says something about our neighbourhood, doesn't it?" It's actually quite a safe one. Even though it's Brunswick. =P

Still. We 3 girls got a bad fright that night and I don't think we'll forget it in a hurry.
Nat's gonna get a hockey stick and Gowri's gonna get a baseball bat.

I'm gonna get me a TASER.

Orchestre Nouveau

2007-10-17T00:03:00.000+10:00

My friend, Zach Tay, is aspiring to be a conductor. He has been working to put together an orchestra.
It's called Orchestre Nouveau and I'm playing the violin in it. Click to see the website and the Facebook Event Invitation.
Email info@orchestrenouveau.org.au for more information.

DEBUT CONCERT
SUNDAY 21 OCTOBER 2007, 3-4PM
Newman College Chapel, 887 Swanston Street, Parkville
$8 adult, $4 student

Programme:
DVORAK - Romance Op.11 for Violin and Orchestra
MENDELSSOHN - Piano Concerto No.1 in G minor

**EDIT**

Small change: I'm not playing the violin anymore in it. I'm playing the viola instead!

Pee, ah no!

2007-10-15T23:51:00.000+10:00

Composers I hate. In order.

4. Edward Grieg
3. Chopin
2. Mozart
1. Shostakovich

Has the guy not heard of TONAL HARMONY?! The entire piece sounds like I'm playing a whole bunch of mistakes. Not that I've learnt it all yet. I guess it doesn't matter. I could play 50 wrong notes and my examiners probably wouldn't even notice.
Yeah. I wish.
Okay, I guess it's not as bad as Gowri's Schoenberg. I mean the piece. Not her playing. You know what I mean!

I'm still learning Mozart as well. That boy has rolled over so many times in his grave, he's gonna create an earthquake.
Watch out, Vienna!

As for Chopin... That baby ain't sleeping anytime soon.

Grieg... Almost, but not quite.

Pee, ah no! Piano! Get it?

Hee.

Strange dream.

2007-10-13T10:43:00.001+10:00

Just before I woke up today I had a weird dream. I can't remember all of it (which is a shame), but part of it was teaching a woman how to speak English, to pronounce the words properly. The other part, I remember in a bit more detail.

I was in the dressing room of the cast of Phantom of the Opera. It was after a rehearsal, which I'd watched. Some of the cast were taking off their make-up, etc. and a couple of my friends were in there too. And Anthony Warlow was there! I went to ask him why he didn't perform on the night of October 3rd. (LOL.) He said that there was a story behind it, but could I please get some paper towel rolls from a box further down in the corridor as they were running out?

I agreed and went out the door, into the corridor. I found the box, took 3 paper towel rolls and walked back towards the dressing room, juggling the rolls. Suddenly, a man grabbed me from behind. As I struggled, I saw Anthony Warlow in the doorway, looking at us. I yelled at him to help me, but instead, he closed the door slowly with an evil look on his face. (Seriously, where do I get these ideas from?!)

As he closed the door, I yelled and screamed, hoping that the other people in the dressing room would hear me and come to my rescue. But no one did. I struggled even more, and the man had to lift and carry me. As we rounded a corner, I grabbed onto the corner of the wall and held on for dear life. But it was no use.

It seemed that he was taking me through a parking lot, and I could see the letters on the pillar walls go past.. A.. B.. C... At the point of H, I managed to get free and ran as fast as I could, back towards the dressing room. Suddenly, there were whole groups of people at each letter point, chasing after me. I had to dodge and hide from them, even jumping between floors. (Don't you just admire my kung fu skills? Haha..)

And I don't remember what happened after that. Don't look at me that way... I want to know what happens in the end too!

I wish I knew what it meant. Where's Sigmund Freud when you need him?

Today I pretended...

2007-10-07T23:09:00.000+10:00

that there was no such thing as uni and assignments and exams.

But first.. Last night's concert was not bad. Gowri managed to sing most of her solos with her sore throat save a duet with Matt (which he did with his twin, Dan, who sang down the octave).
Kevin, Peter, Shirley, Ragha, Anna, Tanu, Wan Siang and Erfie came to the concert. The poor first 4 people were falling asleep during the performance. LOL. As for myself, I managed to keep myself awake during Acts III to V.
Again, it was a full house and more people had to be turned away. =(

There was one really cool thing that happened, though. As I'd mentioned before, orchestra and choir members waited in the green room before the concert started. At one point, I was in a corner, warming up my voice. After a couple of minutes, Nick came near me. I asked him to help me warm up. So we did an exercise together. Of course, people in the room could hear us and soon, a few singers joined us. Before we knew it, EVERYONE was warming up together - even the orchestra members who played their instruments in harmony. People were peeking in to see what was going on. It was so awesome! And it all started from me warming up and getting Nick to do it with me. ^^

Early Voices. How are our kissing skills now, Vivien..!? ;)

Sunday

Got up at 8:30 am today and rushed to church. Missed praise and worship, but that's alright. We sang plenty during the rest of the service, anyway.

After church, Kevin and I went to Peter and Shirley's place (family friends) for lunch. Then, we drove to Victoria Market to buy some meat for the barbecue we were to have later. After that, we drove to St Kilda's and walked along the pier. It was very pretty!

When we got back to the apartment, Peter and I went to use the Jacuzzi.

Me and Peter.

The 10th floor had a gym, a swimming pool, a jacuzzi, a sauna and a steam room. How cool is that?!

After spending about 45 minutes in the jacuzzi, I moved to the pool and swam for a bit. In the lane next to mine, a guy was swimming laps. Before I got out of the pool to go into the steam room (which was empty - the sauna had 2 guys in it already: Peter and another guy) we exchanged pleasantries.
So I went into the steam room (I'd never been in one before.. it was so nice and warm.. and moist!) and after about 5 minutes, he came in and joined me. So we talked. And I found out that he - Carlos - works in the same company and building as Shirley! He's actually based in Miami (apparently you can see where he lived in the opening bit of CSI Miami) but his family is in the Caribbeans. Of course, I told him that I'm a music student at Melbourne University. And he said that he'd been wanting to learn the keyboard, but never got round to it. And he asked me if I would be interested in teaching him. I said, sure - next year if he was still around!

After spending about 15 minutes in the steam room, we went out. Peter was still in the sauna, so I joined him. It was sooo hot and dry, although Peter said that the normal temperature was supposed to be 90 degrees Celsius. Isn't 100 degrees the boiling point?!
Carlos had wanted to say hi to Shirley, but she and Kevin had already gone back up to the apartment. So I introduced him to Peter. Then he said something about asking for my number or email address from Shirley.
Now, don't get any wrong ideas! It's for the possible keyboard lessons. And besides, he's 33 years old.

When Peter and I got back to the apartment, I mentioned to Shirley about meeting Carlos. Then I went to take a shower. The moment I got out, she said to me: "No picking up Accenture guys without my permission!" I'm assuming that Peter had told her about Carlos asking for my contact details. Hahaha..

So anyway.. Kevin and I "helped" Peter barbecue.

A weaner! Or as the Aussies apparently call it, a banger!

An awesome shot by Kevin Tan.

Mushrooms!

Dinner was fantastic!! Not only did we have Peter's barbecue, Shirley had also cooked more dishes. (She usually cooks during the weekend for the next week.) So much good food... I'm getting fat!
After dinner, we watched a Christian comedy show called Thou Shalt Laugh on Peter's laptop while simultaneously playing Shanghai. I'm proud to say that I didn't lose this time. Peter did! But that's only because Shirley Shanghai-ed during the last combination and he had 2 jokers in his hand.

Peter and Shirley drove us home.. I got home at about 10 pm. It's 11:35 pm now. I'm going to sleep soon and wake up early tomorrow. God help me! >.<

I'd like to end this post with a quote from an act from Thou Shalt Laugh...

No, I'm not pro gay.
I'm not even amateur gay!

It has been a crazy, mental, weird, whacked, INSANE week.

2007-10-06T15:39:00.000+10:00

I really am not kidding. I try to think about what I did the last week, and it literally is all a blur. And there were so many instances when I couldn't remember what day it was, or worse, thought it was another day.
What happened this week? Monday and Tuesday I had L'Orfeo rehearsals, 4 hours each day at the venue, St. Peter's. Wednesday...

Phantom of the Opera (Wednesday, 3/10/07)

Was not as good as I'd expected. Mainly because the guy who was supposed to play the Phantom, Anthony Warlow, didn't that night! Instead, one of his understudies, Simon Pryce did it. I don't mean to be rude or anything, but dammit!! Pryce was good, but Warlow was really supposed to be the star of the show.

Pryce's interpretation of the Phantom was a bit... freaky and weird. Comical. Mags giggled a lot when during his parts. He touched himself a lot, which looked quite wrong. And there was one part which made me cringe... when he sang falsetto (after spying on Christine and Raoul on the roof). It was really awful... The whole song was really out of tune. Thankfully it didn't last long. But for that minute or so, it was like fingernails scratching down a blackboard, for me.
He's a baritone! Falsetto isn't his thing. But there were parts that were good. Especially in Act II.

I didn't really like Christine. Her voice was too operatic and she looked old. I guess I was comparing it to the movie, which I shouldn't have done. Mags said that she was emulating Sarah Brightman, which Andrew Lloyd Weber had written this musical for, anyway. Meh. And I felt that she overacted a lot. Or maybe that's just theater.

I liked Raoul. But then, it's not hard to play his character.

My favourite characters though, in that production, was the managers of the opera theater. They were so funny!

Gowri and I were really tired - for various reasons - and we really struggled to keep awake.. especially during Act II. We had to nudge each other occasionally to make sure the other wasn't sleeping, and I even resorted to pinching myself.

HOWEVER. We had the BEST seats in the house! There are 3 levels right... the stalls, the balcony, and the grand balcony. We sat in the Grand Balcony in the FIRST ROW right smack in the middle!!! How freakin' awesome is that?! It was all thanks to me; I bought the tickets. Haha..

For a better review, read Mags' take on it. To read one of the same production, but a different night, here's Gladys'.

First performance of L'Orfeo (Thursday, 4/10/07)

It was a sell out! A total full house. (Then again, the venue is really small.) We ran out of seats and some people had to stand at the back of the hall. People even had to be turned away because there just wasn't any room left!

This opera has 5 acts. We did the first 2 acts, had a 10 minute interval, then the rest.
The chorus sings quite a bit in Acts 1 and 2. But after that, we don't sing anymore until the very last song in Act 5! And it was a real challenge for me to stay awake during acts 3, 4 and 5. The best part is that I'm in the front row. *sigh*

This was actually the 2nd (and last) rehearsal we had at St. Peter's.

Before the performance started, we all waited in the Green Room.

Paul a.k.a. Orfeo and me. And Aaron the Pouting Cellist in the background.

Me and Sandro. He's the one we imported from Italy to direct this production and to conduct us!

Me and Anna and Ben, the sackbut players. LOL.

Bianca and Felicité fixing a violin string.

Choir and orchestra members.

Me and Nick, who "loves hugging me."

Valentina and me. She coached the choir, and she's an awesome singer herself! Her voices is sooooo gorgeous. *sighs and melts*

Prashanth's 23rd Surprise at Copacabana (Friday, 5/10/07)

I was out the whole day, yesterday. The entire day was so rushed. Class from 9-11 am. Went to the library after that to find scores for one of my subjects. Went to have lunch with Ragha at DFO. Shopped for Prash's birthday presents. Bought him a black shirt and a black tie with black and green designs on it. Very classy. I also wanted to get him a baby pink tie with flowers on it as a joke. So we went to the op shops on Sydney road to look for it. Found one, but it wasn't as pink as I'd have liked it to have been. I also found a box to put the tie in. Then we went to Safeway to get some back acrylic paint and silver glitter to paint the box with. Got home at 5-something and went to work on it with the aid of my hair dryer. Dressed up in a hurry. Went to my cell group leader's place for dinner and to discuss cell group related stuff. After that, went straight to Prashanth's thing.

We surprised Prash at another place called Sentido Funf.

He was surprised.

Aww..

At Copacabana, a salsa club...

"Bow down to me, the Salsa King!"

Tanu, me and Ragha.

"A black shirt and tie - just what I need!"

Prashanth, Ragha, me and Mario.

The Tie. The funny part is that Prash is actually very into retro ties. And he would really wear this one! Hahaha..

Second Performance of L'Orfeo (Tonight)

Kevin, family friends Peter and Shirley, Ragha, Tanu and other friends are coming to see the performance tonight. The sad thing is that Gowri is sick, so she can't sing her solos. =(
It should be fun, anyway. =)

Daggy Day.

2007-10-03T15:47:00.000+10:00

Today was supposed to be a day full of productive work. But did that happen? Of course not.

When Gowri woke up this morning, she was feeling a bit under the weather. So she decided to make soup for lunch. I've been feeling rather weird lately as well, i.e. my appetite has gone bonkers and I've been feeling a sore throat coming on.

So at the spur of the moment, we decided to walk to Safeway to get just the ingredients for what we needed for lunch. (Of course, I knew that we'd end up doing ALL the grocery shopping that we actually needed.) At that point, we were still in our pjs. Then we decided to be Aussie (when in Rome, right?) and go in daggy clothes, i.e. pj track bottoms, grungy jacket, glasses on, hair flying all over the place. It was awesome. Especially since I hadn't done anything like this with Gowri in a long while.

When we got home - laden heavily with bags and bags of groceries (I swear, I could feel myself getting shorter and shorter during the walk back) - we washed and dried the dirty dishes in the sink, cleaned up the kitchen and then started cooking the chicken-soup-with-everything-in-it dish. It was mm-mm-yummy! We cooked so much, we had to transfer half of it into another pot.
We actually just finished eating about a half hour ago. So that was basically our lunch and dinner. (And Gowri's breakfast for today, too.)
There's a whole pot of leftovers. I guess we'll be eating soup for the next couple of days! =)

***

On a very much happier note,
HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY, MY DEAREST JO!!!
Have fun at lunch with Lee Jian and co. =) And I look forward to skyping with you tonight!

***

Tonight I'm also going to see the musical, Phantom of the Opera with Mags and Gowri. It's going to be insanely exciting!! ^^

Royal Melbourne Show

2007-09-30T02:08:00.000+10:00

Saturday was the second time I've been to the Royal Melbourne Show. It wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be. 2 years ago, was my first time, and I'd gone with Gowri and Nadhi, and it seemed so much better then.
Anyway, this time I went with a bigger group of friends: my brother Kevin, my niece Johanna, Ragha, Matt, Sven, Clemens and Ayako (whom I just met today).

We got separated quite early on into 2 groups: Kevin, Jo and Ragha in one group and me, Matt, Sven, Ayako and Clemens in another.
My group did 2 rides: All of us went on the dodgem cars ride. Then, me, Sven, Ayako and Clemens went on the Taipan roller coaster. It's not a scary one, even kids go on it. But man, I hate the feeling you get when you rush down! And when we were getting into the car, the guy who made sure we were all safe could see that I was nervous, and he said to us, "Final destination?" and then something about telling him if the sticky tape that held the ride together came off. -_-"
As we climbed up the tracks, I was trying very hard to not panic!
And after the ride, I saw the snapshot of us on the roller coaster: I had my eyes screwed shut and my face was pulled in a grimace. LOL. No more roller coasters for me!!

Clemens.

Ayako.

Donkey, Shrek and Puss in Boots.

Had my face painted. Yes, again!

Ronald MacDonald!!! He's such a joker.. LOL.

Look, Blake.. Monster trucks!

Motorbike tricks.

Both riders were only 24 years old!

Taipan Roller coaster. I have no idea why Clemens and Sven look so happy. I'd felt like I was being led to the guillotine!

Pig racing!

Babe.

Lunch. Sven, me, Clemens and Ayako.

Sven, Matt, Clemens and Ayako.

Jo, Matt, me and Kevin.

Jo, Matt, Ragha and Kevin.

Me and Jo in the ferris wheel.

Sven and me. I look weird in this pic. We were waiting for Ragha to take the picture, and he was waiting till there was a nice bit of scenery behind us. Heh.

Haha, Ragha.. =P

First rehearsal with Sandro Naglia for L'Orfeo

2007-09-24T15:58:00.000+10:00

Today we had our first rehearsal with Sandro Naglia for L'Orfeo. Who is Sandro Naglia, you ask? Well, according to the Spring Early Music Festival brochure, he is "one of Europe's leading performer-directors." Yep. We imported him from Italy for him to "transfer his knowledge" to us.

There's a song called Ecco Orfeo which, he said, is like today's pop music. Which is really kinda funny... equating Baroque music to, say, Britney Spears. (Ewww...) Anyway, I started bopping out a few dance moves. And with me being in the front row, he saw what I was doing. He then pointed at me immediately and said, "Yah! Yah, exactly!" and started dancing himself. It was so funny... I hid behind my book after that. LOL.

Alisa, me and Jen.

Sandro working with some of the boys while the rest of the choir took a break.

After the rehearsal, there was a photoshoot for Melbourne University News. Everyone was invited for it, but I think it was only meant for people with "real instruments". Bah! LOL.

Yes, we musos bring our instruments outside and jam together all the time. =P

The photographer.

***

The committee/student body of my faculty is called the Music Students' Society (MSS) while the student body of the faculty of medicine is called the Medical Students' Society (MSS). There has been a long and old argument on who's name was the original one. So, on October 9, there is going to be a Grudge Match to settle it once and for all.

I LOVE this poster!! Beethoven vs House. LOL!!

The joy of singing.

2007-09-21T18:51:00.000+10:00

The Idea of North back in Melbourne: http://www.spraci.com/events/87906/

***

Early Voices singing in Trinity Chapel as part of the Spring Early Music Festival 2006:

"Dissi a l'amata mia"

"Valle, che de' la menti"

"Mostrave' in ciel"

*Note: Picture was taken at Knox on October 22nd, 2006.

***

I met a couple of family friends for the first time last night: Shirley and Peter. And of course, I had to tell them about The Idea of North. I explained that they were an A Capella group.

Shirley: "What's 'A Capella'?"
Peter: "It means music with no musicians, just voices."
Me: "No, it means music with no INSTRUMENTS, just voices. Singers are musicians too!!"
Peter: "Oh, fine..."

LOL.

What does it really mean to be a Malaysian?

2007-09-19T16:33:00.001+10:00

This blog entry is something different from what is usually posted, and I have never talked about something serious and relevant like this here before, but there is always a first time. I don't have Shakespeare's way with words, so this should be quite simple to follow.

My best friend, Jo, has blogged about this issue a few times - stating her opinion in a very diplomatic manner. Everyone - especially, every Malaysian - knows about this concern. It's an open secret but no one has been daring enough to talk about it, except amongst themselves - like the pink elephant in the middle of the room, and everyone is purposefully ignoring it.

What does it mean to be Malaysian? It's not the same as being English or French or German or Thai or Vietnamese or Sri Lankan. For example, if Person A is a Malaysian, is he Malay, Chinese Malaysian, Indian Malaysian? I once read in the papers, someone said that there should not be a difference. A Malaysian is a Malaysian. But there is. Oh boy, is there a difference.

I got this link from Kenny Sia's blog. From it, you can watch a video of Dato Seri Syed Hamid Albar being interviewed by an English woman called Sarah Montague. In it, Sarah addressed some of the issues that exists in Malaysia in terms of race, and the segregation between Malays and non-Malays: Chinese and Indians. And I don't mean to be rude, but some of the answers that the foreign minister gave were really cow doo-doo.

Yes, rules were made up in the past to aid Malays to rise from poverty. Rules in regards to who gets into the local universities, who gets to purchase property for cheaper, etc.
But why are those rules still implemented today? Dato Seri Syed Hamid Albar said even today, there are not as many Malays in schools as Chinese and Indians. I wonder, why is that? If everyone is given the same opportunities, and the Malays even more so, shouldn't this not be the case?
In my opinion, whilst these laws were relevant in the past, they are now a disservice to the Malays themselves. I think that they have all those laws backing them up, acting as a cushion and a safety net combined, that they don't have to work as hard to get anywhere. (I mean this in the most general sense - not every Malay is this way, and the Malays that I know from my school days are really nice and good people.)

Sarah also brought up the issue of converting to a different religion and referred to a couple of cases. And the answers that the Dato gave were really quite bizarre. From everything that he said, is he effectively saying that anyone, even Malays, may convert to any religion if they so wish? If that is what they truly want and no one is twisting their arm to do so?
Bollocks, I say.

Dato Seri Syed Hamid Albar also said that we as Malaysians will tackle whatever problems ourselves he said something like, "Who are you, as a foreigner, to tell us what is what?"
And to that, I would say, we actually need a foreigner to address these issues for us! Can you imagine what it would be like if there was an open forum (as the Dato claimed there are) where the Chinese and Indians voiced out their concerns? Even in a non-aggressive way, it would create unease and tension!

And that is the crux of it - why it has been an open secret that no one dares to address. Until now. As we go on to the next generation and the next, I believe that non-Malays will become increasingly dissatisfied and sooner or later - I think it will be sooner - something is going to happen. It is my hope that that something will be a peaceful solution, and not... otherwise.

While I do not plan on returning to the country of my birth to stay (even my father doesn't want me to go home), I wish it all the best in achieving even more progress in integrating the different races even more.

I hope that whoever reads this will not be offended by this post. These are my thoughts, and like the Dato said in the interview: Everyone is entitled to their views.

Comments are very welcome.

Walking, walking and oh, more walking!

2007-09-18T08:39:00.000+10:00

So on Saturday, Ragha and I went to pick up Kevin from the airport. I was actually late as I, um, got up late. But I'd slept at 2:45 am the night before, okay! So my poor brother had to wait for almost half an hour for us. ^^; Sorry ya!

I brought him to Queen Victoria Market and spent a few hours there browsing and bought some groceries back for my niece (who's 2 years older than I am) - Kevin is sharing a house with her and a Scottish guy.
On the way there, we got lost because I didn't have exact directions on how to get to his place! It was so sad that it was funny. Once, I'd asked the tram driver if that tram went to Johnston street. He said no, that it was in the opposite direction. So I turned, signaled to my brother, who was further down the tram, nearer to the second door, to get off and proceeded to do so myself through the first door. Well, apparently there people going up the tram, or someone was blocking him or something and he couldn't get down. And then the doors closed and the tram started moving! I was, like, "AHHH...!?!" and started laughing as I watched my amused brother get carried down further down the road. Sad. -_-"

Anyway, on Sunday I brought him to my church - Assembly of God (AOG) in Richmond. After that, we went shopping on Bridge Road - which was just outside my church. I hadn't planned on spending long there, just to show Kevin what it was like and to get him a jacket. Who knew - we ended up staying there until after 4 pm and my pocket became $150 lighter. =P There were some really good bargains! And I've been very good... This whole semester I haven't shopped for myself ONCE.
That night, we had dinner at Jo's (my niece) place. She'd cooked mussels and prawns and she'd baked bread earlier that day! Mmm....

Yesterday, we visited the immigration office to get Kevin's passport a visa sticker and we opened a bank account. Ragha was near the city so he came to join us for lunch. He ended up taking a sick leave and spent the day hanging out with us. Haha! After lunch, we went to Hopper's Crossing to look at some houses. We ended up looking at some show houses - and it was all very cool!!

***

So why did I sleep so late the night before my brother was to arrive? Well, a bunch of us had gone to this place called The Spot which was just a 6 minute walk from my place. It's a vegetarian restaurant and you pay whatever you want for the meal you order. I've been there twice and I usually put in $10. And the food is really yummy too!
There's a bar at the back and every Friday, a band called the Grand Wazoo plays soul and funk music. They're a 14-piece band including brass and saxophones, and they are AWESOME!! My gosh, I hadn't had that much fun EVER going out dancing!

Ragha, Gowri, me, Gawain and Michael.

Gowri, me, Gawain, Michael and Kristine.

Me, Amrit, Tanu, Thaniya and Ragha in the middle.

Sharan, Tanu, Thaniya, me, Gowri, Kristine and Michael the poser. ;)

I'm definitely visiting the place again on Friday in the near future. And I'm dragging my other friends along this time! =)

Guess who's arriving in Melbourne early tomorrow morning!

2007-09-14T19:07:00.000+10:00

My brother, Kevin!

I need to clean up my room...

Melbourne University Visions Video Podcast -- Episode 11

2007-09-11T21:55:00.000+10:00

Did you know that Melbourne University has a video Podcast they call "Melbourne University Visions Video Podcast"? Yeah, well.. Neither did I. Until now, that is.

The reason I mentioned it is because the 2nd half of one of the episodes talks about the Spring Early Music Festival. And as you know, Early Voices is taking part in it. This year, we are performing an opera by Monteverdi called L'Orfeo.

Early Voices got ourselves short- and long-sleeved shirts and hoodies for L'Orfeo. I got myself these two for $50. The shirt is a 'small' size and fits really well. The hoodie is an 'S' too, but it's a bit big - but sooo comfortable and warm!

"How far would you go for love?"

Monteverdi's ORFEO
400th Anniversary Production
4th & 6th of October 2007
St. Peter's Eastern Hill
Melbourne, Australia

Click to watch Episode 11 of the video podcast. The first half talks about the effects of drugs on the brain. So if you'd rather skip that, just let the video load, then drag the indicator to the half-way mark (2:58 to be exact) and start watching! You'll be able to see what an Early Voices rehearsal is like and you'll see me singing in the choir, with this group of amazingly talented singers. =)

Community Blitz - 26.8.07

2007-09-11T10:37:00.000+10:00

Walking from church to...

The school.

Hard at work.

Get those weeds out!

Dan Radcliffe in Melbourne.

2007-09-10T18:42:00.000+10:00

He was in Camberwell recently for the premiere of December Boys. I took the train and got there hours before he was meant to show up. Camped out with my trusty camera, autograph book and pen. When he did turn up, flashbulbs started flashing and girls were screaming their heads off. Was in the front row, got his autograph, exchanged a few words. Gave him the little gift I'd made and got a big fat wet kiss in return. On the cheek. He asked for my number and promised to call before he left Melbourne.

Okay, okay... None of that is actually true. Except the first bit. He was in Melbourne, but I didn't know about it. Obviously I need to start reading the papers. Dammit!

I did know that he was to be on Rove Live last Sunday night, though. And I'd planned on watching it, but missed it because I was out having dinner with Gowri and Ragha! *bawl!* Don't get me wrong, I love you guys, truly.. But I missed seeing Dan Radcliffe on Rove. On TV!! *gnashes teeth*

Bah, humbug.

Well, if all else fails.. There's always... *cue trumpets* dun dundun duuuuuuuuun..!!
Youtube!!

Dan Radcliffe on Rove LIVE.

I love Youtube.

December Boys will be out in the movies on September 20. Who's going with me to watch it? =D

***

My bro, Kevin, will be coming over to Melbourne this Saturday! Yay!! It's gonna be awesome. =)

**EDIT**

I've just been informed that Dan Radcliffe was on the news just now. Obviously, I wasn't didn't watch it. I missed seeing him on tv again! But the icing on the cake is that apparently Dan was walking around Melbourne city today.

Why, oh why, did I have uni all FREAKIN' day??

I feel like breaking something now.

Tired Day.

2007-09-08T00:07:00.000+10:00

Today has been a weird one in the sense that I've been tired all day. Got up at 8 am - courtesy of Gowri (usually I'm the one waking her up) - for a 9 am class. Didn't have time to have breakfast, so I ate an apple on the way. Which didn't cut it for me. Brain wasn't fully functioning during the 2 hour class.

After that I had lunch because I was so hungry. Borrowed a book to read whilst eating. Ended up reading for the rest of the afternoon. I did go to the computer lab to print out some readings, though.

Got back home, finished reading the book and then had dinner in front of the telly. Watched a couple of interesting shows: Jamie Oliver and It's Either the Dogs or Me or something like that.
Then watched a movie called The Time Machine. Bizarre.

I'd just felt listless all day. I've no idea why. Had coffee this evening.. Don't know if it helped. Maybe it did. I dunno..

Hopefully I won't feel as tired tomorrow so I can actually get SOME work done! >.< Got so much work to do.. I feel depressed.
ARGH!!

Your Gemstone is Aquamarine

Intuitive, tranquil, and trusting.
You inspire others to have faith in themselves.

What Gemstone Are You?