Life is an odd thing...

Quincy Jones

2010-12-09T20:48:00.000-08:00

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Quincy Jones

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog</a>

March to Keep Fear Alive

That's the guy! That's the music godfather!

Manamana!

2010-11-02T09:54:00.001-07:00

I'm sick of Ievan Polkka now, but it's getting somewhere in-between 'I
never knew that was in the song!' and 'stop playing in my head,
dammit!!'

Old DMAT-days MBP croaked. I learned now how to crack it open (while
tipsy), get the HDD out and into a hastily-ordered dock and
carbon-copied it. Put it back in and passed it to Apple. Wonder if
I'll get a new motherboard and get 4 more years out of it, LOL!

And I kinda got Bad Romance sounds on my synth, but I've no idea how
I'm going to switch sounds and play along yet :S

Do doo do dodo!

o.O

2010-10-22T12:13:00.001-07:00

Who the hell still reads this thing!?

Back in Singapore

2010-05-11T16:31:00.001-07:00

For 3 months. I don't know if I'm going to do any work while I'm here. But I know I'm going to eat myself silly!

But, a list is still necessary. I always am making lists.

- BZPower: Get ECC thing done and moved out of the way. I shall take it upon myself to do the messy cleanup!

- Food: Learn how to cook more dishes at home! Like how to make nice brothy soup! Buy some REAL dark soya sauce.

- Music: Just keep practising piano lor. Maybe dabble in songwriting? (For money's sake.)

- Outings: New malls, new resort, anywhere and everywhere here? And most likely with Kevin 99% of the time. ^_^

- Berklee: Get new passport settled, and also a new visa if the new passport ditches the old one. :(

- Presents: Present-buying time for friends in Berklee! :D

Invasion of Musical Robots

2010-02-18T06:59:00.001-08:00

Take that, SP Engineering.

New semester, ladida

2010-01-20T11:20:00.000-08:00

I love the independency, I'm getting used to cooking for myself (It's fun!), and I realize I can get away with not making my bed (sometimes) and leaving dishes in the dishwasher overnight (to fill it up the next day and run it).

Then there's the loneliness, and I'm getting over that with WoW, going to go for more walks outside (in the cold!), and be a good student and do homework and studies. And visit friends! And maybe eat out once in a while.

Hmm... that begs the question. Should I have a nice, big early dinner today of ramen? Or still stick to my idea of homemade sukiyaki...

Lalalala....

To the person in question:

2010-01-09T16:19:00.001-08:00

You know who you are.

Right, where did you offend me?

A couple of times. Correction, many MANY times.

Where do I begin?

Most recently, I let you do your work on mine because PCs don't have iMovie, and I was installing WoW. I told you not to close the lid to my laptop. You CLOSED the lid, and now I'm stuck at home watching it install.

I let you hold my iPod Touch (Christmas Present) to play with it. You DROPPED it.

I let you play with my DS. You DROPPED that too.

You hate Macs and are a PC evangelist. Bad enough to me.

You CONDEMN me whenever I do something wrong in your eyes, but do I condemn you whenever you do something wrong? No.

Why? Because you find a way to put the blame on excuses, and I'm tired of your excuses.

You WHINE and WHINE to me about every little moment of waiting for someone, things not going your way. I shut up, you don't.

Oh yes, you call me, 'RUDE' and condemn me when I say 'Shut up'. I heard you say that word last night. I should've condemned you for being a hypocrite, right?

And you're so 'mememememe!!' When I fussed to the parent that her last-minute planning drove me insane, all you could say is, 'Ey, you're not the only one. I also cancel plan because of this.' Do I care? Does that help? NO.

So, to you, you know who you are, google this term and have a happy day while I leave you alone with the family: _|_

I feel better now.

Plane Note

2009-12-22T17:39:00.001-08:00

It's currently (Singapore time) 3:35am.... or something like that. I'm still in the air, no Internet so this is all in Ommwriter at the moment. 5 more hours of flight to go, and I can't sleep!

At least, maybe, thinking of what has transpired so far on my journey home would help me sleep. And be thankful that I'm even on this plane.

The very first hiccup was the weather. I checked my flight status repeatedly, and it said 'no delay'. But the weather brought on the first delay. My booked transport, via rideflyreservation.com, bailed out on me at the last minute. I waited for them to come, gave them a ring 5 minutes after the expected time. They told me that the transport would not arrive on time, because of the roads and the snow plows still working at clearing them. They advised me to get a cab. $18 down the drain. I was super-lucky, though. Nearby was a BU student who just flagged down a cab and offered to split the bill if I ride with her. I took the chance and got to the airport with minutes to spare for catching some relief and food.

Then the flight in Boston left late. There was already a hiccup where a Virgin Atlantic trainee gave me the incorrect pass and I had to run back to the desk and run back to the security checkpoint. And I sat next to an Indian fellow - no he didn't smell. He placed his elbows on the elbow rests and I kept jabbing myself into it throughout the flight. I slept well on that flight, though.

Upon reaching Heathrow, I had only 50 minutes to catch some breakfast and make my way to the Singapore Airlines gate. So I ran through the airport, fair enough to say. But, thank goodness, I got there in time, and everything went smoothly since.

I guess, in the future, I need to watch for longer transit times, more reliable transport services in snowy weather, window seats all the way (so I get a corner to myself), and probably go for Premium Economy on Virgin Atlantic. And bring my ethernet cable for the A380 leg so I can go online!

OK. Now, sleeptime. Or at least I'll try. Can't wait to be home to eat all the good food, play with Lucky and Kittychan, enjoy the warmth and cheaper clothes and things like that. XD

Thanksgiving Holiday

2009-11-26T11:47:00.000-08:00

Peace.

So, what am I to do?

It's Thanksgiving! And I'm over at the Manley's in New York, just resting after finishing most of the second Harmony assignment. Ought to work on Arranging soon. I just realized - with my teacher's help - that my C- on my test was ALL careless mistakes. I guess I was at fault for not writing quick enough to give the paper a proper check after I was done. I was rushing the paper out on the test date. *sigh*

Ommwriter is so pretty... You must try it for writing blog entries! :D http://www.ommwriter.com

Can't find the kitty in this house. There is one. Razzledazzle must be hunting for mice again. Bearskins looks dejected - no one gave her attention or fed her scraps from the kitchen. Can't be helped - the adults were busy cooking and preparing.

And the garden in this house is so big and pretty! I'll definitely be taking pictures.

Meow.

From Midterm Hell to Normal Life

2009-11-02T20:48:00.000-08:00

I should stop complaining. I looked down at my posts and it is a long line of ravings. I'm worrying too much, or do I really have reason to worry?

My midterms... went all right, I suppose. I found it stressful. I can't believe there are people around me who say 'Oh, it wasn't bad. I didn't find it stressful.' I'm stabbing myself - and whoever the person at that time is - with musical-note-knives.

And I blew the stress away on a great shopping trip with Nat, Kat, and Nat's BF, Gage. Ran around Framingham, getting more creature comforts, especially clothes, for wear. It's gradually getting colder. It's weird to hear people say that 10 degrees (C) is STILL warm! I got used to that for a bit, until it got warm again, and got cold again. Brr-grr. But I can live! Now with more long-sleeves, thermal long-sleeves (from Gap!), layering shirts, and more stuff. And I got some presents! Presents always good!

Hmm... and food-wise. I'm eating lots of pasta. The cafeteria has lousy tomato sauce, but it has nice pesto! So right now it's pesto with garlic, mushrooms and whatever meat choice there is, but it's yum compared to the icky burgers, sandwiches and weird 'Mexican' food. And after the shopping spree, it's time to give my wallet a break.

My crazy piano teacher was at it again. I summed it up on FB to someone else.

The piano teaching rooms have this custom of knocking on the door at your lesson time, or else you won't get in.

So I knocked on the dot.

Waited 5 minutes.

No reply. Knock knock.

No reply again. 10 minutes now.

Contemplating of going home to practice instead of wasting time.

Knockknocknocknocknock!

Teacher pops his head out and says, 'Sorry, got caught up with something! Wait just one minute!'

And 10 minutes of a half hour lesson gone. XD

That's not all.

12:06amMabel

This teacher of mine has the habit of walking around the room ,checking his emails, fiddling with stuff while I played.

So he told me that day to play my final prepared piece

So I played. Then he got up and started going about his business.

I couldn't see where he went, I just kept playing.

When I was done, I turned to him - he was at the window, scratching his underwear.

Ewww.

12:08amMabel

Just the hem of it at the top of his jeans, but I still saw it!

He turned to me, blank face.

'What do you think?'

I took that as 'You really messed that one up.'

'I....... need to work on it, sir?'

'That was BRILLIANT!'

And I got the shock of my life. XD

12:10amMabel

He started ranting and ranting, 'That's really good! You surpassed my expectations of you! Yeah, it needs a little work, but you're already there!'

'Can I getcha mum's and dad's email? I gotta tell them how impressed I am of ya!'

And I'm o.o

12:11amMabel

Weird, weird teacher.

So many moods and reactions in one class

Now he's toned down to being bored or being slightly pissed because I'm not improving on my hardhard homework. XD

And that piece of homework is !@%^& hard! Swear-worthy! Because this is even work that the other teachers don't DARE to do! How weird is that!

It's 'Giant Steps' by Coltrane. Arguably one of the ugliest, weirdest, and most technically challenging piece in jazz, it is now transcribed - chords only, not melody - in all 12 major keys and I'm whacked with the task of playing different chord types to all the keys. Not easy at all. It's a lot more brainwork than just playing 4 notes on the left hand and one easy note on the right. I'm dyiiing...

So that'll be another episode of me stabbing the weird teacher in the back with said musical-note-knives, and slicing my hands off with said knives and swearing off the piano. But, that's only in the mind theatre. No slicing of hands for me. Ever.

Andandand... andandand... I didn't celebrate any Halloween-ish stuff! Yay!

And I miss seafood. And sushi. And sashimi. And Crystal Jade. And Soup Restaurant. And Soup Spoon. And having favourite meals spread out before me. I shall pig out when I come back! >:D And drag Kevin along! :D

And I finally got rid of the problem of our dorm room smelling like food. Kat and I had been on an instant-ramen and cup-ramen phase, and our room kept smelling of food. Prior to that, we still ate stuff in the room and our third roommate, now moved out, remarked that our room smelt of food - many kinds of food at once. I looked for some odor-removal agent, and found a cheap kind that's like Hippo, but for odors. Seems to be working fine, even if it's a bit slow in taking effect.

OK, now I need to find time to move into the apartment for a weekend to try it out, get Internet to the apartment before that, and decide if I want to live there, or live in the dorms, or live like Jimmy. XD

2009-10-13T08:12:00.000-07:00

Surely Berklee must be right in accepting me, right?

Because things are so overwhelming, so many classes I'm struggling in. Natalie echoed the same sentiments as I do now: things here are INTENSE. And we're not joking at all.

I wonder if SP was partly to blame. Compared to Berklee, it's a walk in the park. The classes were no doubt longer, but the pace easier and the work and leniency simpler. And people graduate from there and go to work?! Without feeling the stress that I feel now as a Berklee student?! And I thought DMAT wouldn't degrade their work or course just to make the students pass. Now I think they did.

And I know, challenges are there to put us to the test and see if we make it, or we don't. I'm feeling like I'm losing my grip here. I'm the worst in Comping, even if it's at Level 2. With everyone spear-heading forward and me struggling to get everything into memory or paper, it's hard. And Ear Training 4 is just painful. It's fun, until the difficulty sets in. And the practice hours, I feel I'm not doing enough.

And the midterms are the week after next.

I'm trying my best not to cower and hide, but it hurts. I feel stressed - not by the workload, but by my falling grades, or average grades (It's Bs at the moment. I'm already scared.), and, worst of all, if my future here would be of worse things to come and I just collapse and die from the sheer difficulty of things.

I need a moment of peace. Thank goodness there are no classes till 4:30, and that's Jeff Covell. I don't want to think about it.

God, give me the strength to tide through this, to pick up and stop falling behind. Please.

One Word

2009-09-28T21:31:00.000-07:00

GRAAAAAHHHH!!!!

This Jeff Covell is making my life a living hell!!!!!

Berklee is getting stressful. As Jo put it: Why do I have to take Gen Eds/Cores? Why so many of them? Can't I just take the stuff that applies to my major!?

Piano. It's a love-hate relationship. I'm content playing songs that I like on the piano, but forcing things down is hard, especially hard if the stress is placed on you with things like money and grades hanging on the line. I'm not exactly happy about it, but I can only buck up and do something about it.

I practised last night. It was fruitful.

I wanted to practise today, and clear forgot. >.< This is not a good start. Arguing that it was to do an assignment post may be a worthy argument, but I'd be going soft on myself. I can't afford that.

Harmony and Arranging are fine so far. Ear Training is hard! I'm minor-deaf. The lecturer says too that it's against us, that we only had 3 lessons to sit into it, then head straight to the deep-end about it. Some others can do it (Kath is very good at it), but some others (me) can't. Yet.

Stress. Stress. Stress.

Time Management Needed

2009-09-17T07:39:00.000-07:00

Classes so far are fine, with wonderful lecturers and some nice classmates whom I talk to. I still don't know about 95% of my classmates, but it's only the second week of classes.

I already have a big to-do list, and I feel bad for focusing too much on the theoretical stuff and not enough on the practical stuff. I've been on top of my theory work, but I've only spent an hour this week in the piano room, not enough for practising everything else that needs attention - I need to pick up my jazz books and try a few tunes in them. The instructor has already told me what I needed to do - root chords and melody, easy as that. And with my own really thick real book, I have more than enough pieces to try.

And I haven't talked about sight-reading yet. In my defense, I've printed out two FF scores (very easy, though) and sight-read those. I failed miserably at the funny chords Suteki Da Ne had. Haven't analyzed it properly, me thinks.

The rest of my time was devoted to Harmony, Arranging and Ear Training. Maybe it's because I know that there are books to be filled for those, actual paperwork that had to be done that I attacked it first.

Guess I need to find a balance between the two. Music has to work both theoretically and practically, after all. And to think that I hated music theory about 4 to 5 years back. XD

Now I'm really, really glad that I have kept my Tuesday free. An opportunity to do work, and there's no excuse for not being able to practise on a totally free day.

And now I need to kickstart my GTD system somehow. A sync-able one between my leisure laptop and my work laptop.

That's my to-do list for the week, and the week ahead. Time for me to scoot!

Big Mama and Dance? Oooh.

2009-09-14T08:58:00.001-07:00

Heaven - Big Mama ft. MC Mong

Berklee Life

2009-09-10T06:07:00.001-07:00

Berklee so far has been really interesting.

The first day of classes was a whirl of both familiarity and things new to me.

For instance...
- I never thought I'd be able to find the classes within the church nearby. Yes, some classrooms are in the church! Saint Cecilia is the namesake of the church, and she is the Saint of Music. :D

- Had japanese curry rice for lunch, and I emptied out what was left of last week's pocket money for it. It was cheap, actually. I just forgot to take stock of the pocket money for the week. XD Curry rice so good!

- I was still torn between using my Berklee planner and my current moleskine, until yesterday. I'll use the moleskine till it runs out of dates, then use the planner as it stretches all the way till summer.

- Harmony 3 was a shock. The professor revealed that we had a tight schedule of lessons to keep to, and flew right through the first half of Harmony 1. I was taking notes even though it was familiar territory. But he talks REALLY FAST!

- Ear Training was fun. With more people in class, you can hide and not worry if you're a few cents off. And I realize that I'm a 'Fixed-do' person, meaning that I can't resolve back to C if I'm in A major. I have to say A. So since the first homework of the day was to sing in 'Movable-do', I'm in serious trouble.

- Interactive music is SO FUN! A class where you can talk about GTA 4, LOZ, L4D, Diablo, WoW, and awesome games and not get into trouble. And game nights for assignments? YAY!

- I wonder if joining the BIRN was a good idea. I was interested in radio work, but now that I have the chance to do it and feel up to the task, I'm suddenly concerned about the time it will consume. Thinking about it.

And today, it's Arranging. And I need to go to the bookstore and get books. And also see if my BoA card gets in. And see if there is a package for me at the Mailroom. And do my homework.

School has started again!

Get a Student Advantage Card, and save on your day-to-day needs. :D

(I just want the $10 for each person who applies. Kekeke.)

Americaland and Berklee

2009-09-06T19:01:00.000-07:00

Wah.

Berklee is so maddening. It's a wonderful place, yes, but I feel like I'm a normal person in a sea of oddities who are talented.

Will I fit in?

Leaving/Left on a Jet PLane

2009-08-24T02:25:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday. 23rd August. And I've waited a very long time for this day - yet, I wish the time was longer than it was. I'm going to miss so much of Singapore - the FOOD, the people I know and love/like (covering the whole lot of people), the environment, the safety (I heard so many warnings of staying away from bars and drinks, stay in at night and always walk in a group...) and, at some points in time, the heat. :P

Thanks to everyone for making the last days in Singapore fun and memorable. :) Like introducing some DMATers to the wonders of Soup Spoon (hehe), flying kites, going to all 3 zoo-parks and watching UP! with Kevin (^_^ love you dear!), and hanging out with more friends, both old and new.

I'll be updating as dutifully as I can. I'm sure there's lot to see and explore in Boston - and I'd love to show it to you too.

All right. Bon voyage. And let's see what Berklee-land really is like.

(Posted late. I'm already at Heathrow Airport, with hours to kill to the next flight and turned into a zombie. Zzzz... So stressed at home that I forgot to get/do stuff, like bringing Kevin's present to the airport with me, and wearing a belt for my jeans, AND blogging this post. Pics will come soon enough.)

Packing. Packing.

2009-08-10T01:51:00.000-07:00

Packing.

Lots of junk.

No, that's not in the suitcase.

Yet.

Didn't realize I hoarded so much junk.

But most of them were Mum's letters anyway.

Still, it's junk.

I have emptied out my table.

Somewhat.

There's lots of weird things on my table.

Ginger tablets.

An unused hard disk. (That'll come in handy.)

An Anna Sui purse (Christmas present.)

Lots and lots of half-used tissue packets.

Leona Lewis and Anastacia. And a number of Cubase promo CDs.

My Dale ears.

Lots of hair strands. Of differing lengths.

My old MIDI assignments' CDs and papers.

An MP3 player I never touched.

Lots more papers, plastic bags...

And I haven't checked under the table yet. >.<

Remix Remix

2009-08-02T07:24:00.000-07:00

This was done in 2008. Good to see that they got the original singers back into the game, but this sounds more hip hop now than the fun disco remix it was back then.

And, for the old record's sake:

Too cute

2009-07-29T10:40:00.001-07:00

I'm sorry, I'm having this thing about kittens and foals at the moment.

I'm passing through a 'cute' phase. XD

Cat Care for the Week, Less than a month.

2009-07-26T00:12:00.000-07:00

Kittychan came over for the week again, with Miyano and my uncle going over to shop for Jap figurines in Tokyo for their business.

And Kittychan remembers our room well.

She went towards her favourite hideout - ML's closet - and started meowing for entry.

She loved that spot when she first found it - and I can understand why. A dark corner to hide in and sleep in sounds like what a cat would want.

The only problem was that Kittychan is a long-haired cat, and her hair sheds all over the place, clumping on cloth - clothes. ML's closet has all her clothes in it.

So, ML always said no. And this week was no exception.

So, Kittychan threw a tantrum. It involved the litterbox.

Now ML opens it for her, and so do I.

Just now, she tried to get in again, but I didn't open the closet wide enough for her to crawl in. She desperately tried to force it open. Desperately. And that's going far for the princess cat she is.

She clawed at the door, clawed to the point that she was moving but the door wasn't. She tilted her head and started to squeeze. When each effort failed, she'd get up and walk off a couple of steps, then walk right back to the gap and try again.

On the last try, she squeezed, and the gap widened. Happy Kittychan squeezed her way in, and is now sleeping there.

Less than a month from now, I'll be leaving. It's almost regretful that the time has passed by so fast, and some things that I wanted to do may never come to fruition. But I'm getting some others done at the same time.

I'm contemplating a farewell party. But, it's hard to plan, with time and the difficulty of reaching people as my greatest enemies. I guess dinners and meeting-ups will have to do.

For the interested, my last day in Singapore is 23rd August. 11:30 is my flight-time.

And I haven't packed.

Ack!

Lala.

2009-07-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

Ouran luv.

Pans magic

2009-07-07T23:11:00.000-07:00

I remember Imogen Heap playing with one of these. Lemme find it...

Beautiful

Here's me hoping I can get it in a recording one day, in a worldy instrumental.

Waste of time

2009-07-06T20:57:00.001-07:00

Is it really?

I've been feeling like trash recently, because of my inability to prioritize my time and organize things out. Now I'm dealing with the consequences of it.

I think I'll take a bath later then, and try to sort my head out.

2009-06-24T20:26:00.000-07:00

On Short+Sweet technical crew as sound engineer for the first two weeks of the play. Fun, but tiring. At least LaSalle is close to many good eateries and I run around a fair bit, so I think I'll live.

And going back to the school I shouted at so many times to follow my instructions, I don't even want to think of the many ways I can lose my voice. I hate that school. But, it's all to cover the cab fares I've been paying in this while. I've been lazy recently and opt for taxis more so than buses or MRT, mostly because taxis are faster and more comfortable. XD I'll be taking buses more often now, I hope.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to keep track of a to-do list before I leave. And I haven't been following it dilligently, which I should be, and it's barely 2 months to my flight! Ack! ACK!

20th Birthday

2009-06-15T06:41:00.000-07:00

Much, much better than last year's. And good thing it was, for this is my last birthday here before I fly off.

Morning was spent at Botanics - Pretty place, but the sun came down quite quickly, and I perspired quite quickly. ML, Shelby and I went to run around in the National Orchids Garden while the others decided to laze by the picnic spot. We in the Orchid Gardens went to the CoolHouse, a glass-house with aircon. Good thing we got there very quickly - heavy rain beared down on us really quickly. We had a little cabin fever and took a lot of pictures and videos in the mist. The tourists around us must've thought we were either cute, or really stupid.

Ran back home, and Kevin was there! With flowers! And a pretty card! :D So pretty!

Lunch was at Ichiban Boshi at Novena Square. XJ joined us, as well as Daddy, and later Eli. My goodness, the union of different friends was something I was worried about. But thank goodness for Daddy - he pulled a number of jokes to get everyone giggling.

Then we all relaxed at home until dinner time at Cathay! The dinner was good - but there were so many seafood dishes - with yummy good food....... I had 3 pieces of foie gras and I feel plumper already. -_-''

CAKE! Two cakes! Yummy yummy cakes! One for me, one for ML... no, actually one was for the restaurant but singing in the restaurant does not equate to fun. So we had two cakes at home!

Hmm... tomorrow, airport for ML, and I wanna go to the Da Vinci showcase! But I should be preparing for the US Embassy interview on wednesday too, hmm?

DMAT the 2nd, Graduation 2009

2009-06-07T09:53:00.000-07:00

Video made by me. Video taken by SP. Pictures grabbed from all over FaceBook.

4 hours, many Premiere Pro crashes and much clicking.

Don't ask for the source file. I deleted it - took up too much space, and I like it the way it is. I just kept the video.

Of course, copyright of 'Graduation' by Melanie C.

Graduation

2009-05-31T09:42:00.000-07:00

Bragging rights ensue, right?

No, that wouldn't be right. It would be the time one steps up to a podium and says his or her thanks, like at the Oscars and the Grammys.

But, I've said my thanks to the people who have helped me, and returned the congratulations to the friends who have graduated with me. And for those I couldn't catch after graduation, Congratulations to you! We all made it!

It was a bit of a pity that not the whole DMAT congregation could make it. It would've been awesome if we all did a jumping shot together, as a whole group of us! But for those who made it, it was great to see you all there.

So, what's next for us lot? I know there's NS, university and college, but I do hope that we crazy DMAT-ers can meet up one last time before those who are going overseas leave.

If I may be the wide-smiling idiot, I'll quote a familiar prose below and may those who recognize it laugh their arses off.

'As we go on,
we'll remember all the times we had together,
And as our lives change,
come whatever,
we will still be friends forever.'

Last Day

2009-05-28T16:58:00.001-07:00

My goodness, just an hour ago, I was still in la-la-land and fast asleep.

Now I'm handling a class of ~~hooligans~~ students in a secondary school, who promise to be a little harder and tougher to handle.

The kids are blasting the works of a female rendition of 'Apologize' to heavy metal, to All American Rejects rock and pop favourites a girl had placed on her blog.

My head hurts.

Ah well, at least these kids are managing themselves all right. Under the existing teacher's instruction, they could do as they wish, with only two golden rules - low volume and no visiting banned sites - so they're doing all right with YouTube.

I would be posting about graduation, but I'm using the school iMac for now. There's no wireless connection here, and I can't access my pictures on FaceBook (a banned site here).

For their last day here in school, they would definitely be a bit loose. That's why I'm worried about the next class to come - a Normal Technical class who are the real hooligans. I've been told that they needed a firm hand to bring them down, or else the saying 'If you can't beat them, join them' would apply.

This, and one more class at a primary school, marks the end of a 3-month stint with elchemi.

It's been a fun run, though with some sour moments, but it's all part of the job. There were good kids, there were bad kids, there were good teachers and there were those with PMS every day.

The job's pay may not have been the best, but catching up with old friends, re-visiting past schools I visited and learning some pretty useful skills along the way (instilling discipline being, by far, the best lesson amongst the rest) made it worth more than the paycheck.

And now they want me to go back to the office after the primary school. I have a feeling that my day would have quite a funny ending... or a good ending if they treat me to dinner! :D

After this, it's two months to Berklee. I have lots on my agenda to clear, lots of things I want to see and do before I go, and a few more things that I need to do before I go.

My flight's been confirmed, 23 August, 11:30pm at Terminal 3. Airbus, yay!!

I see a kid with his legs on a chair. Hmm... should I get him to put his legs down? Maybe. Or maybe not, I feel lazy.

Tired...

2009-05-22T20:35:00.000-07:00

A number of things have been happening of late. It still feels like I'm schooling, waking up at early hours and sleeping at really late hours. Still feeling rather sleepy at this hour in the morning at home. Tempted to miss the mixing workshop entirely.

Graduation Speech Training: Good news and bad news. Bad news first, I didn't make it. I won't lie and say that I don't feel anything about this. I am disappointed - had expected myself to be good enough to get it. I tried my best. I just didn't expect a series of unfortunate events (starting from my sisters playing the guitars at 2am in the morning and driving me to sleep in my father's bed, waking up at 5:55am to dad's alarm, looking ashen-pale at the breakfast table, getting a large load of work pushed at me at work, felt really sick when I got to the SPCC, went to the toilet and vomited bile, and to have my nose bleed right after that) to totally sway my confidence, and strength, that day.

The good news is, a number of major changes have been made to the script, the biggest news is that one of the important guests we have to greet by name wasn't coming on the day, and someone else is. And we don't have that person's title or rank. And, the lecturers are now throttling the guy who's the Main speaker with all the stressful stuff. As for me, I get to sit back, watch and take mental notes without too much fuss. XD And, as course medalist, I just need to walk on stage and be pretty, without having to memorize words. I still have my victory on Graduation day.

And I made a number of good acquaintances too. Will be checking the online webcast whenever I can, and rooting the speakers on!

Star Trek: Now I know what funny hand signal I have been doing in school is: The Vulcan greeting! XD It's funny to do that now and see people doing it back - and seeing those who can't do it try really hard.

Work: Two girls called me 'pregnant'. There was a boy who insulted my ass (quite literally what he said) in front of his class. Heard another boy in the same school talk about 'sucking balls' and saying the 'F' word in class. Dealt with kids with attitude problems. Did I mention about the fight I had to break up, and the numerous arguments between kids that I had to settle?

I'll be a really bad mum at the end of all this. XD Or a good mum, in the aspect of discipline.

On the other hand, work in the office is fine - The only present challenge is to absorb different commands and requests from more than one person, and finishing them as fast (and well) as I can. I realize now that I'm a terrible writer, trying to write my own testimonial and failing very well to do so. XD Ah well, it's room for me to improve.

Fanfiction: I realize that I haven't written anything solid for a very long time. I tried my hand at it recently, but I failed again. XD I need to exercise my brain a bit more, somehow.

Friends: Met up with Cici, Reb and YW for dinner at Waraku, on the same day of graduation speech training. The good food and company helped cheer things up, and all the catching up too.

Further Studies: A lot of things are still left untouched, and I have to sort them out. Thank goodness I'm ending work next Friday, so I can go wrap up all the tedious stuff I have to do. There's an interview at the U.S. embassy, immunizations that I have to get (jabs! >.<), and Keele to call to see if I can extend my scholarship.

So I can't be like my lazy sister who sleeps till noon everyday and goes to sleep at 3am - until I'm 20. I didn't realize the birthday's coming at all, but it's still quite early. I don't feel like doing anything. I don't feel excited about hitting the big 2-0. If anything, I'd only want to be better, fitter, healthier, and be much wiser and brighter.

Ah well, I'm ranting again. Now I need to get lunch. Hmm.

Star Trek?

2009-05-17T01:07:00.001-07:00

Whee!

Watch while I go trekking!

TagCrowd

2009-05-01T20:06:00.001-07:00

created at TagCrowd.com

Blanco on a painting

2009-04-25T07:01:00.000-07:00

A number of things came and passed, but nothing really eventful.

But I would be lying if I said that.

Anywho!

Imogen Heap Remix: I managed to finish it in time! So, Imogen Heap had released the vocals of a song that never was (and that is the title of the song, The Song That Never Was), and offered it to the evil public to remix. I did my own cover. It's not very impressive - think multiple layers of different rhythms going together was my weakness - but it's still something I'm happy of.

The Song That Never Was (Imogen Heap Remix) by poh3

Soundcloud - awesome music host.

Work: I had Primary 5 kids throwing chairs at each other at the start of the class, and a very unruly class afterwards. I wish I could kill those kids - seriously. A week later and much intervention by the school, the kids turned out right as rain - save for a few hiccups of the old problems. Ah well. Kids will be kids.

I went to the zoo too, twice! It was a happy-happy-joy-joy moment for me, as I played traffic warden and babysitter to rather well-behaved P1 kids. Oh the cute! And oh the envy as tourists remarked all the iPod Touches hanging from the kids' necks.

But I have to take a trouble school (A horror of an SAP school too!) for a week! A week! Good lord, the horror!

Graduation: Speech. I have memorized my script, big yay. Even better is that I was not supposed to read it all from heart. A lecturer mentioned that I was solid as a rock throughout the trial run, and supposed that flipping the script could change that - until I intercepted with 'I thought we weren't allowed to bring scripts!'
Cue much vivid discussions among the lecturers and the horror among the other graduation speakers.
At the end of the day, it was agreed that scripts were allowed.

DMAT Chalet and BBQ: I'm so glad that it's over. No more horrors of class rep duties, and contacting everyone ad nauseum. But at the end of the day, we managed to get a good fire going twice, had perfect marshmallows with yummy lamb, satay and stingray, and good company and catching-up. I hope everyone who went there had a good time. I know I did.

Bragging Rights: 5 awards. Wow. I wished I added those into my MDA scholarship application. Hmm... I wonder if I can add those in somehow.

Future To-Dos: Work ends at the end of May. And I really want to do some things before I fly to Berklee. Then again, I do have a to-do list of tasks for Berklee itself. It's so troublesome, but what can one do?

And immunisations. Injections. Oh the horror! D:

Berklee, Cont'd

2009-04-09T07:28:00.000-07:00

So all the hype and hoobla of me going to Berklee is dying down. Good - I haven't been giving that much thought, anyway, because I've been running from school to school, placating kids and admonishing kids.

But last night brought the whole incident back into thought.

I had a really bad dream about Berklee.

I was already in Berklee. In fact, I was in a classroom in Berklee, doing a proficiency test or interview - it was not very clear. What I did know was that a really rotund Caucasian teacher was standing in front of me, while I was writing on some paper.

I looked up at him. I asked him, "Why am I here?"

He looked at me quizically.

I continued, "I mean, do I really deserve this? Did I really get in by my musical ability and not because my parents had a big pocket?"

He replied, "The Admissions and audition managed to get you in here. There's nothing to worry about."

I started crying. I really started crying, in front of the lecturer. "Why? I still don't know! It doesn't feel right!"

Cue a sudden transition, and I was walking out of the classroom or audition room, and there was a table near the entrance. It was giving out a book, an 'Insider's Guide to Berklee' kind of book or something, with blanks to fill at the first page. I found many books filled, flipping through them all. The lady manning the counter looked at me and said, "I'm sorry, but we don't have any more copies."

I managed to dig through the stacks and found one untouched book (with its pages printed on recycled paper, meaning the other side had Chinese characters printed behind it) in the stack. I took it with me and walked off.

Cue another sudden transition. I sat down somewhere, and began to read that book. I started filling in the answers to those blanks, and my head began to swim.

Cue waking up because the alarm went off.

I don't know what triggered the dream. Really. And I don't know about interpretation. Maybe I'll have an online look at it, but I still won't trust it. The dream feels weird to me. It feels like a premonition to something to come.

Anywho, Berklee thinks that the newest class is so competitive that they won't be giving out scholarships to me anytime soon. Ah well.

MDA Scholarship, here I come!

BERKLEE!

2009-03-31T02:13:00.000-07:00

... I'm accepted into Berklee?

YAY!!! :D

Just to kill time

2009-03-29T09:08:00.000-07:00

12 Pipe Dream 2
Uploaded by Scorpiotistic

So...

I'm working now.

Work's been fun - and mind-bending too so I'm not rotting.

Graduation Speech: Barely memorized. I'm dead-meat for the next meeting.

Jimmy's DMAT dinner was awesome-fun! I'll post up pictures at FaceBook, and maybe some here in the future.

Right now, I ought to get back to all those tasks I've yet to do. Hmm.

...bloo...bloo...

2009-03-13T07:25:00.000-07:00

(I'm whining. This is not permanent. Sooner or later, I'll be fine. But I need to get this off my chest and I don't want to yell into anyone's ear and make him or her suffer. So anyone who chooses to read this suffers by choice. Nyeh. Eat your heart in and out.)

...bloddy hell, I HATE scriptwriting now.

Ah well, I'm being too proud again. It's on the 6th draft now, and it's after the 1st overhaul because the director didn't like it. Now I send in the new one, and the lecturer in charge of me tells me that she liked the very first one better and wanted the same 'tightness' and 'simple' element to continue - but that was rejected by the director because she didn't like it and said it was to close to the previous year's script AND the years before THAT script.

AARgh! If a good idea is repeated over and over again, I'd be riding on a good horse. But to re-write, re-type, re-word and re-do, it's like flogging a dead horse.

Now I'm going to send in that 12-week summer school programme Berklee has and hope I can use it as an escape route! I don't care about the walking-on-stage-to-receive-diploma thing! I can let my mum do that, or my sisters.

I don't feel like delivering a speech that isn't mine anymore.

*sulk in a corner*

Aaaaaahhhhhhh...

2009-03-12T06:36:00.000-07:00

I am NOT wearing high-heels again! - or maybe for the next month.

I thought I had mastered it. The heels came from my secondary school prom night and I remember not getting any painful legs - until I last wore it last evening.

Anywho, the Berklee audition: BAD. The Berklee interview: better, but not so great if you're typing everything that the applicant says before moving onto the next question.

Audition wasn't so good, because the room was friggin cold. The 'judges' seemed to notice and one of them asked me if I was all right. Me shivered and said, 'Too cold!'

Next problem was that they had a Yamaha Grand in the studio. Opened up and all that. I know that we also have a Yamaha Grand in the studios, and that sounded better than what I had there. Even when I pressed the keys lightly, the Yamaha Grand was going 'TONK TONK TONK', and I was depressed throughout my playing, worrying away at 'Why is it sounding SO BAD?!'

That threw me off the next few tests. :S I couldn't play confidently, almost shot the ear-training part to pieces, sight-reading was a torture (as always). But I got the easy R&B vamp and improv-ved okay to it, and rhythm wasn't too much of a problem.

The interview was so much better! The assignments WORKED! :D The interview guy was really happy to see that I had proof that I've done some audio work in music and video. He asked for my myspace page, and I'm suddenly happy that I've done that for POD. The interview guy makes everyone sound like he or she is going to be loved at Berklee at the end of the day, though.

Hope I get into Berklee. Then again, if I don't, I go off to Keele.

After an attempted brainwashing by ICOM's staff, we rushed to the airport, flew back to Singapore, and went to get my Model Student Award stuffus at school. Hurhur, I was tired but I survived the rush.

Finally, an award of my own that is sitting pretty in the glass shelf. And the other awards (from MT and ML) are strangely nowhere to be seen. They ought to be put in here. Maybe we should go trophy-hunting around the house to find them and put them in here too.

And there are pictures from Dad's phone apparently, and the photographer who has weird unnatural posing tendencies. Hmm, will check for those.

Anywho, work starts on Monday. Tomorrow, going to school to hunt for people, get some money, and relax for a while more.

Wednesday - Results! Aaaah!! *nervous-nervous*

The Scots and the Celts

2009-03-07T19:01:00.000-08:00

The Scottish man who wrote this song was so sentimental about home. But, the Scots are like that anyway.

Celtic Woman has lovely music! Some people and (disgusting) YouTube commentators have said that the music is utter rubbish because it's not Celtic most of the time, but I beg to disagree.

Just putting up some of my favourites here for viewing, and so that I don't have to hop around YouTube all the time. Hehe.

(This is one of my favourites.)

The violinist of the group looks the most lively, especially with her running around and energetic playing.

So, lalalala... Berklee audition on Wednesday, EEEEEEKKK!

Kitty on Loop

2009-02-18T05:40:00.000-08:00

Erica said something about this before: your music library is your best friend.

Ignoring the cute kitty on the turntable, you're listening to loops, Garageband Loops, in their power. Except the lead line. That one isn't a stock loop.

If we had more Fruity Loops and some awesome real-time scratching, the other cat in the video won't be going 'WTF?'

Now: SO CUTE!!! :D

And I can't even cue right. >.<

Freedom!

2009-02-18T00:41:00.000-08:00

Freedom! POD's over! The assignments are over!

But we still need to go back to school tomorrow to see our grades and hold secret meetings. Oooh, how fun!

Everyone is still a bit dazed, but they still have the clarity of mind to assign all planning of the final class chalet with me. How fun. At least I've been given human targets to help organize it all. How ironic that school has ended, but I still have class rep duties. Ech.

The goodbye notes are still in writing. I know I gave out some, and the feedback has been sweet. I had the tradition of these notes in Secondary 4 and did it for my closest friends. But this time I want to give a note to everyone. I want to remember the final year, and the batch of people I tagged along with for 3 years. These notes help me reinforce the memory of them, but also lets them know how I thought of them, if I haven't told them.

I'm feeling sleepy now. Today's warm weather is good napping weather.

POD is over!

2009-02-11T16:49:00.000-08:00

The final year assignment is over. I handed in on time, but there were others who weren't as lucky.

Anywho, the work still isn't over yet. It's really exasperating - by right, the FINAL assignment should've been the FYP. It should've been.

But it isn't.

GRAH!

MUMI3: Somewhere done. Today, I'm going to see who will come to school to pass me things. I also have to update the master file with the final works, export, and finish the report. The only thing is no one has shown his/her face yet.

REMT3: Tomorrow's the studio time and we must die-die get things done by then or else we'd be in a seriously bad situation. I'm doing up the REMT report now.

Berklee Audition Piece: This is my current dilemma now. I don't know what to play for the audition in Berklee. I know that I have to play the piano, but the piece to show my musicianship has been giving me a headache.

The Berklee site says that it wants a piece that best shows my abilities, not what we think we want them to hear. But I also worry that a piece too simple would not show as much capability as the next musician before or after me, so it's worrying. I'm taking on a piece that is quite hard, comparing to the initial idea of a piece that I know and expanding it with improvisation.

It's a matter of taking my way out, or the impressive grade exam way out.

And it's vexing.

I wonder if I can play both - an excerpt from each. The audition only requires one piece, but in my case that piece is either too simple or too hard.

The pain, the pain... I think I better email the Berklee students that Mum knows. >.<

Lucky Star Video

2009-01-29T06:42:00.000-08:00

LOL!!!

This particular scene is so sweet and touching. X3

Okie, back to work.

Chris Brown and... Elmo?!

2009-01-17T22:28:00.000-08:00

Sesame Street, you are so smart. I wouldn't mind watching this even though I'm too old for this.

Lemme see...

POD: I missed the studio booking. So I need someone to help me sneak in to re-master my POD song. Who's from 56?

Thank you Kevin for helping out with my website. :) Think I'm almost ready to finish it. With imeem as my music host, I'll embed a music playlist onto the website; do some linking with other things, stuffing in content, and I'm good to go! :D (The only question is how diligent would I be about this.)

I'm thinking of doing something about the videos about Elchemi. I hope I still have the movie files and can make them all into one short clip, of maybe 3 minutes or less. Hmm. Plans, plans...

REMT3: Nothing happened. At least Geoff seems to have okay-ed Erica's suggestion of the MUMI group selecting one person's project, and mixing it in 5.1.

MUMI3: Bad. Very bad. At least on Tuesday, we can see the big picture and plan how on earth we're going to get things done. And we still haven't got the definite and final movie for the soundtrack and that's really bothering the group. I can't chart the logsheet, and that's a big requirement of the assignment. Hmm!

ARR4: This one seems to be doing better. I got the composition almost done - just have to add in attacks - then I'm ready to score. And this being due in two weeks time, I have to hurry.

Norah Jones didn't listen to Elmo!

Vocal Impression

2009-01-17T07:14:00.000-08:00

Vocalizing both Arnold Schwarznegger(sp?) and Don LaFontaine: Awesome.

Gender Guess

2009-01-13T06:50:00.000-08:00

Gender Analyzer is a website that acts as a gender-reader, by evaluating the way people write. They say men and women have different writing styles.

I don't truly believe that, but I gave it a shot anyway.

They identified MT, ML, and me correctly.

Until I found this...

Bwahahaha!

Soon, more casualties turned up, and I began to suspect that this was not very true. However, one guy (SB!) got it right by a good 75%.

Heeheehee, fun! Especially when Finale decided to corrupt my POD score. Thank goodness I had a backup.

Dazed

2009-01-07T05:13:00.000-08:00

I feel dazed.

Really.

But I don't know why!

Maybe because today's been a bad day. I hope it is a better one tomorrow.

MUMI3 - No one has the heart to do it - me included. But I know I must look at it and work on it.

ARR4 - Erica composed a pop-ish melody, I think. I was thinking either Latin (but I hate the piano comping), or bossa nova. R&B doesn't do it. And I also wonder about Funk, but no thanks to a stupid and meaningless 'rehearsal' for Open House, I missed the lesson. GRR!

MUMI4 - Just a browse and check through the documents and the movie, and I'm done!

POD - This one is BAD. I have only touched it just once since the holidays. I realized that the unmixed mix (if that's the right term) sounds much better than the mixed mix. What did I do wrong?!

The website has a third design now, but I am doubting its effectiveness. Some Stumbling got me browsing through some rather nice portfolios. It's worth some thought.

SONG 4 - A new assignment. Good grief, NO! But - at least we've little to no boundaries. I feel like writing something Nightwish-y, but the demo... will need studio time. Hmm.
If the song has to be something about 'The End', it has to be EMO!

The good news above all is that some assignments have been handed in. The workload is lighter, but still heavy. But lighter.

Time to get to work. Jiayou, everyone! Work hard!

Apocalypse of Fingers...

2009-01-01T17:12:00.001-08:00

Watch. You may never ever see this happening again. Shredding on cellos... that puts us all to shame.

Their fingers are magic. (And for those not in the know, the piece is 'In The Hall Of The Mountain King'.)

School Begins

2008-12-27T06:04:00.000-08:00

Christmas is over. The New Year is coming.

But 2009 looks to be a tough beginning, especially as it runs straight through the week school starts.

SP, you should've given us one more week. We DMATers are DYING!!!

Anime?

2008-12-23T17:20:00.000-08:00

This is just one of the many techno remixes of anime anthems. This one just happens to be the most danc-iest, given that the anime characters are dancing too. I don't think anyone has done this for the Lucky-Star anime yet, right?

OMG. (The music! The video!! The horror!!!)

(The curious mind may wander to a higher quality and much better version here)

And an old favourite. I think I can still remember the lyrics - I remember singing it to myself whenever I walked home from the bus stop when I was Primary 6... o.O

The brain has... hass....

2008-12-21T18:08:00.001-08:00

Melted.....

And melted...

I'm starting to feel dumb.... dUH....

WishList

2008-12-20T06:36:00.000-08:00

Having difficulty getting me a gift this Christmas?

1)

2) Something cute and functional from Action City (And I don't know why the actual website has little to no content, while the FaceBook page has everything!) I personally love the cute plush toys there, or the USB-related gadgets.

3) A new macbook? Macbook Pro? A Mac Pro? Were those too much to ask for?

4) Err... I guess I don't mind music CDs.

5) Best Christmas Gift to ask for now: EXTENDED ASSIGNMENT DEADLINES PLZ!!!thx

6) Design my portfolio website for me plz? :3

7) Anything to do with horses (but I already have a horse calendar of 2009, courtesy of Kevin. ^^)

8) Stickers? The pretty Japanese kind found in Kinokuniya? Or nice pretty stationery so I can write back to Singapore when I'm overseas?

9) A digital camera?

10) Just think of something! I'm in a 'anything and whatever' mood this Christmas. The only things I immediately want or need are possibly the horse calendar and money (but I'll get a job when school's done, I guess). So, yeah.

Sorry Nat. :P

Light-headed School Days

2008-12-17T07:13:00.000-08:00

You know it's a bad thing when you feel...

*And only because you're in a bad mood. I'm no feeling the first or second mood, just the third.*

Lots and lots to do for schoolwork. It's the second week of the holidays, and there's only the truncated last week left to do work! And my MacBook hasn't returned. I've since fired a complaint letter to Sapura to see what they have to say about it. I didn't know Sapura was global, and had headquarters in The Mines Resort in Malaysia.

- Time to get MUMI 4 done in draft and left aside for more urgent things.
- Time to start scoring down Arranging in Finale 2006d - or in Finale 2008 once I figure out how to install it on Windows. Aargh.
- Time to postpone my studio booking and puke out lyrics for Songwriting.
- Time to figure out how I'm going to get all my documents for Berklee Admissions in and accounted for ASAP.

*poof*

The Weekend's Over

2008-12-07T06:15:00.000-08:00

Now what?

Monday - Watching Quantum of Solace with Kevin. It's entertainment and assignment work. It's clever of Geoffrey to employ edutainment.
I also expect my DDM teammates to send in their movie by Monday. If not, we're all going to die!

Tuesday - Graduate Speaker Training. The first session of a few, it seems, and I wonder what I'm in store for. I know I'm writing a script, and now am let into the info that the graduation's in May 2009. I hope I can invite many loved ones to come see (if I get chosen as speaker!)

Wednesday - MUMI meeting. It can go two ways: With film, or without. Either way, we have to work on it. We must delegate work, then see who can do what, and figure out what to do. MRRX Sound Production has to start moving.

Thursday - I have no idea. Just doing work, I guess. At school. My MacBook should be in repairs. Arranging, maybe.

Friday - Same thing as Thursday. MUMI, maybe.

Week 1 - planned.

Currently, I'm rocking to Nightwish. Anyone found this song yet? Really... catchy.

Just a few notes

2008-11-25T04:28:00.000-08:00

I'm using my blog as a notepad again. Hehe.

Arranging Assignment 3: It's going somewhere. I'm now moving onto the chord work of the s4 ong, though I doubt swing needs a lot of chords. Maybe triads, or unison. I listened to Count Basie, Benny Goodman and Swing Girls a bit on YouTube, so I have a rough idea of how to swing.

MUMI Assignment 4: Not as good. I haven't made my mind on which animation to work on, though I lean towards the emo-story one. Maybe starting on the logsheet would help, but what next? I'm dry of ideas, other than the emo-piano-music-is-going-there. Hmm...

Arranging Assignment 4: Not touched yet. I wonder if I should kill myself and try.

MUMI Assignment 3: We'll see what happens tomorrow. I know I need to get everyone to work well together - but that's quite accomplished with our DMAT group mates and the DDM group mates knowing each other well - but the only slow-down here is the DDM group slacking! I feel like being a heckler and chasing them even harder than their lecturer is, but I don't think if it'll be any good.

POD: I'm not touching it. I don't dare touch it. At the most, on Wednesday and Thursday, I'll rehearse my presentation and look through my points again. I'm prepared to be slaughtered, just like the rest of us were.

Songwriting Assignment 3: It's out! And it looks like the lightest assignment of the lot. I tried doing some of it today, but I ran dry. So I revised some of the techniques. Will have to finish it quick!

Soon-to-come: REMT assignment 4. Surround sound.

What a motley bunch of assignments. Now that I can see everything like a forest instead of singular trees, I deduce that I need to do some serious GTD and multi-tasking... strategic multi-tasking, not the mad-hatter style that would kill me.

Everyone's panicking. Time to keep on my toes and see where things will lead me, one tippy-toe at a time.

A Leap into University

2008-11-21T05:51:00.000-08:00

Just a note in:

I got a scholarship to Keele University! And a place too! Whoopee!

You expected more?

These people give ME a bad name.

Help me - I need human search engines!

2008-11-19T17:05:00.000-08:00

I have a very, very bad problem on my hands.

See, there's this music camp that the school is raving about. And it's all because it's a huge marketing ploy of the Music and Audio Tech Diploma that they don't have to run because there are students running it for them (We're being taken advantage of, but they're not admitting it), and they decided to market it out to anyone. Anyone.

Even those who don't know how to play a single instrument.

This totally runs away from the goal of the students who planned this. This is their final year project, and they needed musical campers to get into bands and learn about performance.

So everything threatens to fall apart. Really. In 5 days, we need to create 5 bands that are stage-ready for one song. That used to be tough, but now it's beyond-tough. We have non-musicians!

As Programme Head, I'm thinking of implementing a 'Learn Music in One Hour' programme just to make sure everyone's able to play a note, but I'm digressing.

I need to find as many popular or classic songs that are band-friendly and have only 3 or 4 chords to play at the most. (That means X, Y, and Z and possibly an A somewhere, but nothing more than that.)

I need help. I'm not updated or knowledgeable in this area of music - I only found 1 each from Maroon 5, Snow Patrol and One Republic. I don't know where to find Chinese Pop chord charts and lyrics, and we need to find some girl-rock or pop songs instead of all-guy ones.

So, anyone able to help me? I really need the assistance, or I'll be failing my classmates and that would be very regretful.

Spam my tagboard if you want, if you would like to help. I'll find a way to pay you back, somehow!

Puppies!

2008-11-16T17:04:00.000-08:00

YouTube videos are so easy to post.

Wii Music!

2008-11-16T05:57:00.001-08:00

Mr Rodrigues, you try too hard. Hahaha.

Comedian

2008-11-05T17:43:00.000-08:00

Colbert goodness - in never-seen before footage! *dancedance*

Sharing Time

2008-10-24T06:43:00.000-07:00

This absolutely rocked my world... 5 years back.

My fandom in Bionicle started when I noticed my brother buying LEGO toys. And he was playing an online game that looked interesting. Not beating him for once, I took note of the URL and gave it a go.

LEGO's Bionicle team absorbed their story into a fun, online Flash game that was easy to play, but not dumb nor boring. I do miss it, but I heard that a fan collected the Flash stuff and has now made an archive, downloadable somewhere.

When I finished the game, I played it again, just for fun. But I was really absorbed into the story, the characters (I was really attracted by the fact that this was a 5-1 story: 5 heroes, 1 heroine. And she was awesome.) and the unique idea of nature's powers casted in mechanical beings. It's almost strange, but wonderfully so.

Then I found its largest fan-base on a forum, BZPower. I've been logging in every night ever since. It's not a bad addiction - it got me into storywriting, though that's now on hold. It fuelled my interest in English and writing compositions, so English during secondary school was fun for me.

(I'm still a little irritated, though amused, that I'm the only Singaporean girl member there. I've been trying to find another member like me, but I couldn't. Only found a handful of Singapore guys there. Queer.)

The storyline went on even further, and the online game now became online episodes! Whee! The episodes ran from 2002 to 2003.

I was jumping up and down when I saw this video. Srsly. I thought I could never find it. Forgive the quality.

The fanatism continued. When they released a PC game, I got my hands on it - and got stuck at one level and couldn't proceed afterwards.

Shortest soundtrack ever for a teaser, but still epic and energetic. Now I've another composition wish.

The only girl hero I was talking about. Water-ninja girl! Cool!

And when Bionicle announced 3 movies, I was all happy and giggling. The first movie bowled me over.

The second one... less so.

The third one... was meh.

Every year, the scenes changed. Most of the characters changed. The methods of fighting and war changed. The story got complicated. The evil guys became... vile-r. When it got to squid blasters, I flipped.

And as of last year, I completely stopped following the new stuff.

As for online goodies - they've a different website for it. The minigames are harder. No more online adventure game. No more wonderful Flash episodes to watch. And the characters aren't so nice anymore.

And hence I swung to Transformers.

I still love the old stuff, though. It never gets old - to me, at least.

There, ranting done. Now my mind's clear and I can go figure out why my POD song still sounds so bad.

To-do: Work at ludicrous speed

2008-10-22T01:27:00.000-07:00

I'm stressed.

I know, I know that. My lecturers, Tim and Geoff, advised that I give up on work today and relax.

They said those words a bit too late. I did a bit of damage before they said it - to myself and innocent bystanders - but I managed to get myself away when I realized I was zoning out too much for my own good.

I couldn't find any cookies, though, so I made do with a hotdog.

Now I'm pumping songs out of the SPVC speakers, songs that are not related to my works in any way. I still feel a pounding headache, and I hope it goes away in time.

And I left my jacket behind in T2026. At least it's locked up, and the last class in there was ours.

*sigh* Today's been a bad day. Ah well. To be honest, I'm not fully aware of everything that's going on around me, because I've been in a daze. I do try to wake up, to focus, but ever since I started mixing up the sound in my work, my brain went haywire and left me more or less dizzy.

The lecturers had a good laugh. They said that things like this do happen, even to them now. Just that if one gets it, it's obvious that somebody's working too hard.

Am I?

Progress!

2008-10-18T19:51:00.000-07:00

Yes! There's progress!

The techno song is complete! And I'm happy with it! Now I'm thinking about the mastering bit. Hmm.

With that spurt of inspiration, I wonder if I can do a techno song for POD. Arranging comes into question, then. If I replace it with Composition, I don't know how helpful that would be. But I still have to do a score anyway. The first ever techno song with a score... how odd.

And I wonder if I can do a techno remix of an existing song.

There's the Arranging test. Coming next week.

There's the MUMI assignment, which officially starts next Wednesday.

School is starting to feel like school again.

The Final Year works. So I'm working/breaking

2008-10-14T08:55:00.000-07:00

What Your Taste in Music Says About You

Your musical tastes are upbeat and conventional.

You are an easy going, optimistic person.

Family and friends are very important to you.

You enjoy caring for and helping other people.

You thrive in a tranquil environment, and you do your best to keep things peaceful.

You enjoy your life. You have your priorities straight.

What Does Your Taste in Music Say About You?

Your Attention Span is Medium

Your attention span is just about average.

You may think that you have a short attention span...

But being distracted is something most people struggle with.

The most important thing is that you're aware that your mind wanders.

If you find yourself daydreaming, you can usually snap out of it.

It may be tough to concentrate at times, but you can do it... if you want to!

How's Your Attention Span?

What Your Taste in Chocolate Says About You

You are sophisticated, modern, and high class.

Your taste is refined, but you are not picky.

You are often the first to try something new.

You are full of life and vigor.

You have an amazing amount energy, and you keep very active.

Some people feel like you can't focus on them. You do tend to be restless

You love being around people. Friendships are important to you.

You feel lost when you're by yourself... so you tend to avoid being alone.

The Chocolate Oracle

What I'd really love to do now is to play the piano, composing freely, with a notepad and pencil nearby, and being alone in the house while doing so (but Lucky can sleep by my feet if he wants to). No distractions, no people coming and going, no one criticizing, no one jumping in with their own instrument, no TV, no notebook/computer/laptop nearby... and chocolate by the trayload or green tea in a teapot, at the top of the piano for me.

Bliss.

But that'll never come true. Not in my home.

POD's been too tough for everyone. I'm in between a rock and a hard place, but I think I'll sit on the rock.

I'm going to change my POD work - and everyone had better remind me that I am, otherwise I'll suffer second-thoughts. Bleh, but I'm debating on a few new ideas:

Pop song, as before, but not country - Rock influence, or the power pop song? I remember in Songwriting that we did the phrase 'The Power and the Glory', and my group did something really groovy. Literally groovy, because of Mandric. I wonder if I can steal that idea.
Or something Anastacia? Avril Lavigne? A woman-hood song that talks about us girls rocking out in life... figuratively.
A token for someone else - I did my first assignment-song for Natra, why not for someone else? Kevin, maybe? (Love song... oh the agony) Or Mum? I tried composing for Popo, but no go. Maybe another time.
Instrumental: I need not have a voice. I can do something that deals with a nice lead instrument. Like, what Yann Tiersen does, or Taro Hakase?
Instrumental II: Something ecletic. Like, Cirque Du Soleil? It can be anything with that idea. A sad, sad instrumental of someone on a see-saw, or a tribute to a technological lifestyle...
Instrumental III: Final Fantasy. Not a battle-theme like what Fang did. A theme-like one. (If I was in Final Fantasy... ooh, the devious thoughts of me being the most emo girl with BIG guns and whacking the lights out of Sephiroth... and have no love interest! YEAH!)
A techno song. I'm serious. I can write anything deliciously happy. I'm not sure how I'll apply Arranging to this, though. Form is easy to do. I can try to add strings or electric guitar, at the most. Or a piano intro... ooh all the ideas...

WHY DIDN'T THEY SHOW UP DURING THE HOLS?! *hmmph!*

REMT is moving, BTW. Am I the only one doing 'The DJ'?

Back to School... oh no

2008-10-11T01:04:00.000-07:00

Not good not good.

I did enjoy the holidays, actually. I had some fun, and squeezed in effort on work - but, ah well, not much was accomplished for the assignments.

POD - Bleh. Lyrics are down the drain. The song's a song - country-pop, but nothing so great yet. I've yet to master Carrie Underwood, but I'll be listening and re-writing, AND working on the instrumentation, yadda yadda. Time to GTD!

REMT3 - Nothing much there. I just made a blurb, but I can't get the kick drum going. And I was thinking of doing it the ah beng techno way, for 'The DJ'. I only hope my team-mate is on the same brain wave as I am.

School - I'm somewhat looking forward to it. The new module, 'Communication Skills', looks to be promising. I don't like the looks of the lecturer, but I hope he's enthusiastic. Presentation skills would be a great plus to have - I still don't present well - and job skills would come in handy. I hope those skills aren't outdated.

There was PolyForum, which was better than I expected. To think that there may be another performance, at the Esplanade Outdoor Stage! Our work's no longer just for show at the closing ceremony, but now as real items on a public stage. I hope Ms Annie does clean up the act for the dancers and singers, though.

I still remember my parts - somewhat.

Even better, now I found a game to distract me! XD
Diablo II is such a good stress relief - it always is when you can BURN STUFF! More like poke stuff, but still just as entertaining. The storyline's good, so good, wish I could write something like that. How about that, me as a game writer AND making the music for it... I'm dreaming, am I not?
With Kevin as a druid and I as an Amazon (if you don't know about the Amazons, google.) and a white wolfie (Chu! ^.^) or a bear-bear, we create carnage and laugh, though I do get klutzy and ask stupid questions (Where are you?! Where's the door?) and weirder exclamations (Ewwww! Diediedie! Whee, save the people! ....), it's just funny.

I don't feel like going back to school, honestly, but I want to get through my time and credits, and do it well of course. I know I'm lucky for the score I have. I really hope I don't do anything to sabotage myself. I'll try.

Now's the time to rush for bookings and stuff. Ah dear, I'll start looking for talent very soon.

Back from the Ded

2008-09-21T06:44:00.000-07:00

I'm back from the dead.

And the past two weeks have been madness. After the trip to Genting, it was the Polytechnic Forum, and that was the timespan given to learn two pieces and get it on stage. What's more, there was no piano. No keyboard. No saxophone, no bass and no guitar either.

It was all trashcans and water cans. And trash can lids. And drum sticks too.

However, on show night, we pulled off a really good show. Our instructor, Dennis, came out screaming and cheering. We ourselves were screaming and cheering, even though we saw sticks flying. The dance party that followed was awesome, but I don't remember who's lovely idea it was to have supper at McDonalds at 12:30am.

I got the flu from one of the dancers, and the class BBQ is tomorrow.

Bleh.

The scores I got were all right for Dip Plus, but stellar for DMAT. At least Dip Plus is over, but DMAT is far from over.

There's POD to think about, and it's going to be so hard. Given that we've only got 6 weeks to come up with something good, and now there're only 3 weeks left, we're as good as hanging ourselves unless we do something quick.

I'm thinking something Cirque Du Soleil-like, an instrumental. All digital, in Logic Pro, and original.

Then again, the idea of a song still entices me. At least the notation won't be so troublesome unlike the former, which will have quite a lot of notation to do.

And how am I going to put REMT in as a skillset?

So, the video above is to amuse me while I try to recuperate and get back in working form. Eck.

Holiday? YAY!

2008-09-01T17:26:00.000-07:00

I didn't expect a trip to come, but XJ extended the invitation, and so did his mum and dad too.

Kevin, XJ, and I are running away to Genting from Wednesday to Sat, and I'm so hyped! Partly because, ever since the US trip, I thought I would never travel until the polytechnic releases me from its student body.

So, I'll be taking a break. But I expect things to return to its haywire ways once we return. I know the PolyForum is coming up, as well as POD and REMT to do. (Jiayou, Evan, for your piano exam!)

So this break will be a nice time to rest my mind and, maybe, do some light thinking about things away from home.

Till Sunday, kthxbai

2008-08-26T20:40:00.000-07:00

Some dreams live on in time forever
Those dreams, you want with all your heart
And I'll do whatever it takes
Follow through with the promise I made
Put it all on the line
What I hoped for at last would be mine

If I could reach, higher
Just for one moment touch the sky
From that one moment in my life
I'm gonna be stronger
Know that I've tried my very best
I'd put my spirit to the test
If I could reach

Some days are meant to be remembered
Those days we rise above the stars
So I'll go the distance this time
Seeing more the higher I climb
That the more I believe
All the more that this dream will be mine

If I could reach, higher
Just for one moment touch the sky
From that one moment in my life
I'm gonna be stronger
Know that I've tried my very best
I'd put my spirit to the test
If I could reach

If I could reach, higher
Just for one moment touch the sky
I'm goona be stronger
From that one moment in my life
I'm gonna be so much stronger yes I am
Know that I've tried my very best
I'd put my spirit to the test

If I could reach higher
If I could, If I could
If I could reach
Reach, I'd reach, I'd reach
I'd reach' I'd reach so much higher
Be stronger

I've done a bit of analysis through songs, but this one really struck me. Even if these lyrics are individual-ed (I, I, I...), they are about the savouring of an achievement, and how one wishes to be there in that moment. While I think it's a bit too wishy (If I could, If I could) and the point of 'I'm going to do it' isn't so strong, but it's still a really nice motivational song, no?

And, what's more, it has a dance remix too!

Hee...

Songwriting is a disaster.

Things at this point

2008-08-23T02:34:00.000-07:00

I can finally take a break from going to school every day. Even when I didn't intend to go to school on Friday, I did in the end.

Right now, songwriting is on my mind. I've been thinking of strategies at the moment. Tonight, I'll start doodling on the A3 sheets. Will have to get more sheets in due course, because the brainstorming will be intense. I just have to flesh them out.

There's REMT. I'm in co-op with Evan, yesh! Now I have to think of how we're going to get the song part done. It'll have to be done during the holidays.

There's POD. I'm not going to let what my classmates went through happen to me. I'm working solo on... something. An instrumental arrangement? A soundtrack-ish piece? All I know is that I need a purpose for that work. I need to find the right excuse.

I found Crystal, the plugin that I loved in Cubase 3 back in Year 1. When the school upgraded to Cubase 4, Crystal was removed. I've found it - and it's free! But it overloaded the CPU and I got blasted in the ears with a big attack of noise - twice. I think I need to rest them for a while. (Ow...)

Your result for The Perception Personality Image Test...

HBPS - The Optimist

Humanity, Background, Big Picture, and Shape

You perceive the world with particular attention to humanity. You focus on the hidden treasures of life (the background) and how that fits into the larger picture. You are also particularly drawn towards the shapes around you. Because of the value you place on humanity, you tend to seek out other people and get energized by being around others. You like to ponder ideas and imagine the many possibilities of your life without worrying about the details or specifics. You are in tune with all that is around you and understand your life as part of a larger whole. You prefer a structured environment within which to live and you like things to be predictable.

The Perception Personality Types:

Take The Perception Personality Image Test at HelloQuizzy

This was done just now. But I don't feel very optimistic.

Your result for Zombie, Zombie Food, or Zombie Survivor Test...

The Survivor

You are a warrior, a survivor.

You are well prepared and knowledgable and will no doubt live a long and happy zombie-free life. You might want to think about setting up a zombie survival group in your area, an anti-undead militia. But please, for everyone's sake keep it low-key. We don't want the government to think we are on to their scheme so take your band and keep moving.

Take Zombie, Zombie Food, or Zombie Survivor Test at HelloQuizzy

So I get to wield the weapons and hack zombies to death? But I have a high chance to be zombie-food too.

Your result for The Supervillain Archetype Test...

The Professional

Cool, Levelheaded, Lethal

The Professional is the most dangerous of all villains. You do what you do better than anyone, because, as a Professional, you have standards.

The Professional is like the Crook in that they both desire money. But the Professional wants more than that. The Professional wants job satisfaction. It isn't sadism really, he just wants to be sure that the job is done, and done well. No hard feelings, it's just business. Professionals prefer to work alone, but will work in groups if given incentive.

The greatest weakness of a Professional is risk. A Professional is business-like, but can't resist a challenge. They often use the word "worthy opponent". People like that are easily baited. And if a Professional is eventually cornered (not easy to do), they might lose it.

Sample Professionals: Deathstroke, Bullseye, Revanche

Take The Supervillain Archetype Test at HelloQuizzy

I don't know any of the 3. But, hmm... I did have supervillian daydreams once. :D

Your result for The Personality Defect Test...

Bitch-Slap

You are 29% Rational, 43% Extroverted, 71% Brutal, and 43% Arrogant.

You are the Bitch-Slap, the hallmark response of any abusive husband! You are more intuitive than others, focusing more on feelings than rational explanations, and you are also probably very brutual because you care more about yourself than the well-being of others. As all nagging wives know, brutality combined with emotion often leads to BITCH-SLAPPING, which is why you are called "The Bitch Slap". (That and because I find it amusing to accuse people of pummeling female dogs.) Your humility probably stems from insecurity, if anything, because people fond of slapping the shit out of someone in place of rational discussion are usually not humble in the way Jesus was humble. Possible sources of insecurity? A small penis, a small bank account, a small intelligence...gee, when you say "small" a lot, it stops sounding like a real word! Not only that, but you are also rather introverted, and any tendencies towards brutality you possess may also result from the fact that you bottle up your emotions and don't show them to others until you explode in rage like some sort of shaken soda can. Take it from me, it is much more rewarding to bottle beer over emotions. You can't get wasted on emotions. Aside from all my talk (and it's a lot of talk) you are probably not a VIOLENT person, just someone who is rather selfish and who makes decisions based upon emotional motives. At any rate, being a bitch-slap does not necessarily mean you will abuse your spouse (your body odor is no doubt abuse enough); it only means you are rather intuitive, uncaring toward others, brutal, introverted, and possibly insecure.

And sorry about that body odor remark if you really are insecure. I promise that you smell like roses. Being fertilized by cow shit.

To put it less negatively:

1. You are more INTUITIVE than rational.

2. You are more INTROVERTED than extroverted.

3. You are more BRUTAL than gentle.

4. You are more HUMBLE than arrogant.

Compatibility:

Your exact opposite is the Braggart.

Other personalities you would probably get along with are the Schoolyard Bully, the Class Clown, and the Brute.

If you scored near fifty percent for a certain trait (42%-58%), you could very well go either way. For example, someone with 42% Extroversion is slightly leaning towards being an introvert, but is close enough to being an extrovert to be classified that way as well. Below is a list of the other personality types so that you can determine which other possible categories you may fill if you scored near fifty percent for certain traits.

The other personality types:

The Emo Kid: Intuitive, Introverted, Gentle, Humble.

The Starving Artist: Intuitive, Introverted, Gentle, Arrogant.

The Bitch-Slap: Intuitive, Introverted, Brutal, Humble.

The Brute: Intuitive, Introverted, Brutal, Arrogant.

The Hippie: Intuitive, Extroverted, Gentle, Humble.

The Televangelist: Intuitive, Extroverted, Gentle, Arrogant.

The Schoolyard Bully: Intuitive, Extroverted, Brutal, Humble.

The Class Clown: Intuitive, Extroverted, Brutal, Arrogant.

The Robot: Rational, Introverted, Gentle, Humble.

The Haughty Intellectual: Rational, Introverted, Gentle, Arrogant.

The Spiteful Loner: Rational, Introverted, Brutal, Humble.

The Sociopath: Rational, Introverted, Brutal, Arrogant.

The Hand-Raiser: Rational, Extroverted, Gentle, Humble.

The Braggart: Rational, Extroverted, Gentle, Arrogant.

The Capitalist Pig: Rational, Extroverted, Brutal, Humble.

The Smartass: Rational, Extroverted, Brutal, Arrogant.

Be sure to take my Sublime Philosophical Crap Test if you are interested in taking a slightly more intellectual test that has just as many insane ramblings as this one does!

About Saint_Gasoline

I am a self-proclaimed pseudo-intellectual who loves dashes. I enjoy science, philosophy, and fart jokes and water balloons, not necessarily in that order. I spend 95% of my time online, and the other 5% of my time in the bathroom, longing to get back on the computer. If, God forbid, you somehow find me amusing instead of crass and annoying, be sure to check out my blog and my webcomic at SaintGasoline.com.

Take The Personality Defect Test at HelloQuizzy

Hahaha! No, the only person who I think of slapping now is my brother - he may need a few to wake up from his lazy responseless ways. Of course I took all of this with nice large grains of salt - but, hah, it's funny still. I couldn't ignore the quiz author's comments in between questions. XD

(The pic looks very wrong, actually. Read the woman's face.)

Your result for The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test...

Tri-Lamb Material

78 % Nerd, 26% Geek, 52% Dork

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.

A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.

A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.

You scored better than half in Nerd and Dork, earning you the coveted title of: Tri-Lamb Material.

The classic, "80's" nerd, you are what most people think of when they think "nerd," largely due to 80's movies like Revenge of the Nerds and TV shows like Head of the Class. You're exceptionally bright and smart, and partly because of that have never quite fit in with your peers or social groups. Perhaps you've realized, or will someday, that it is possible to retain all of the things that you like about being brilliant and still make peace with the social cliques around you. Or maybe you won't--it's really not necessary. As the brothers of Lambda Lambda Lambda discovered, you're fine just the way you are and can take pride in that. I mean, who wants to be like Ogre, right!?

Congratulations!

Thanks Again! -- THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

Take The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test at HelloQuizzy

I'm going LOLOLOL at this one. So I'm a little of all three and somewhere between a Dork and a Nerd. *shrugs* Thought I was a geek. Ah well! :P

Your result for The Lover Style Profile Test...

The Classic Lover

50% partner focus, 33% aggressiveness, 45% adventurousness

Based on the results of this test, it is highly likely that:

You prefer your romance and love to be traditional rather than daring or out-of-the-ordinary, you would rather be pursued than do the pursuing and, when it comes to physical love, you concentrate more on enjoying the experience rather than worrying about your performance.

This places you in the Lover Style of: The Classic Lover.

The Classic Lover is a wonderful Lover Style, and is the closest it comes to the classic images of the princess in the tower, or the romantic and chivalrous knight, or the hero/heroine from a Disney film. The Classic Lover is a treasure to find, though it can be difficult to do so because they sometimes tend to be shy and/or difficult to successfully court.

In terms of physical love, the Classic Lover again can be shy, and often needs more in terms of emotional security to feel comfortable than some of the other Types. Given the right setting, and the right lover, the Classic Lover can be a delight in bed.

Best Compatibility can probably be found with: The Romantic Lover (most of all) or the Devoted Lover, or the Liberated Lover.

Thanks Again! -- THE LOVER STYLE PROFILE TEST

Take The Lover Style Profile Test at HelloQuizzy

Meh? I'd hate to be compared to Snow White. Or the Disney princesses who didn't do anything much except be beautiful and undergo a calamity.

Holidays?

2008-08-15T18:27:00.000-07:00

As of today, the 'holidays' have begun.

But, they're not really holidays, are they?

There are still 4 more assignments - correction, 3 assignments and one big assignment to do.

And I couldn't start on them until now, almost 1. I just came back from a trip out to pass the last few files of work to elchemi, and making a harrowing errand for ML. She owes me something, because I went on the rudest lift ride to get to the orthodontist's and it left me with a really bad headache, further worsened by the afternoon sun. To make myself more of a martyr, I'm swaying in my seat.

So, now, it's Arranging time. No thanks to an inkjet that won't jet ink, I'm rushing notation so I can get it printed on Monday, collected on Tuesday, and handed up on Wednesday, with a day's buffer (a.k.a. Collect and hand up on Wednesday). MUMI's about the same too.

After that, it's song-writing. My goodness, I already have the plans in my head. I jotted some parts in my Moleskine, but that's about it for now. REMT3, I'm ganging up with Evan. Anyone else want to join up?

And, POD. POD.

I don't want to talk about it.

And I'm getting fat.

Recently...

2008-08-01T09:16:00.000-07:00

I was the target of a bot, or a pervert. I'm not sure - it can be either or.

And how? I dunno. I found an invitation request while on MSN, from someone called 'Rena'.
I suspected it could be one of the juniors under the POD project, so I decided to check it out.

It took about a minute for 'Rena' to initiate a conversation.

It/He went 'Hi'.

I went 'Hi' back.

Then 'Rena' replied, ':) Hi! A/S/L?'

I immediately deleted and blocked it/him.

Urgh.

Anywho, assignments are starting to fold in - POD is an ongoing one, which is due really really soon! Arranging, MUMI, DA&C are still there, as well as MORG. There's the WebP test to study for. PAM needs a good check and I've to start annihilating words. There's the PAM test after that.

After that, it'll be the holidays, and I'll start work on my own song.

Oh yes, REMT! I'm so hyped to do a remix of 'The DJ'! It's one of my favourite The Usual Suspects songs, and I'm sure Geoff knows too - I did share with him when I was back in Year 1 that I became a techno yuppie in my secondary school days - the same time The Usual Suspects went big. I really want to do this as a group effort, to spread out the workload, but no one seems keen. Either that, or no one wants to take me in. I guess it's the latter. Ah well.

WebP...

2008-07-19T20:20:00.000-07:00

WebP kept me up to 3am last night, but I wasn't concerned about the time too much.

The assignment is progressing, and I'm about to put in the forms and think of how on earth I'm going to put in 'value-added' content. My website looks pretty plain. The only special thing I added was a link to the SCO. I wanted to have a page where the readers can watch linked YouTube videos, but I thought that was a bit too much. I may have to do it, though. This website is boring.

When is the MORG group kicking into action? People are asking me, but, I'm not the leader! Am I? I wonder why this assignment couldn't be individual work again. I understand that the lecturer hoped for all of us to chip in to a large scene, but I really don't like having to co-ordinate everything! When I tried that, it made a mess of BuMs. I don't think this assignment will be any different.

-F U -

At least there are assignments to keep me busy. That, and Cicilia coming to Singapore! YAY!

Today went...

2008-07-12T06:01:00.000-07:00

Not very well. OK, somewhat well, but I want to be a bit of a pessimist.

Today, I slept in late to make up for the 3am, and woke at 10am. I realized, there and then on my bed, that I was expected to visit a school carnival where my mum and ML were helping out at. Mum had conveniently bought a lot of the carnival coupons and distributed some among us, so I had some to get rid of.

My mind, however, was on the work I had to do. I still had WebP, MORG, PAM, POD, and the new Arranging and MUMI assignments to consider. I don't want to foul them up like the way I did to my REMT assignment.

My grandma didn't cook any lunch and told me to go get lunch at the carnival. So I went.

The carnival turned out to be some kind of family-friend reunion for my family who was there - there was this uncle and that uncle, this aunt, mum's friends - with me taking my little cousin for a ride on the Viking (where a little boy leered at me and said, 'Stay away....... I'm going to sit next to you.' It was '-_-''' inducing) and hanging around my aunt's ornamental fish-catching stall for the majority of the day. It was a bit fun, but I got bored very quickly.

When I came back, I had to attend to all the fish I caught and received from my aunt. Some of the fishes chose to be suicidal and jumped out of the lily pots, each taking a turn. Some fell into the drain, and there was nothing to do about that. I was tempted to leave some on the floor to meet their end, but I popped them back in different pots. After bending up and down to retrieve kamikaze fishes, I decided that enough was enough and went to deal with the other fishes.

When I came back up to my room, I was about to settle down after my bath when MT made an urgent call for more money and shorts - she was going out shopping. I grabbed her stuff, forgot to take my handphone (that malfunctions quite a bit, so it didn't matter) and let Lucky drag me out for an impromptu walk.

The wait took a long time - nearly half an hour, I dare say - before she took her stuff, handed other stuff to me, and I walked home, feeling spent and hungry.

And now I'm doing my work. Finally. After nearly 5 hours away from home and work. At the back of my head, all day, was my WebP assignment, with the occasional thought of how the PAM presentation would be like, and remembering that I hadn't looked at the Arranging assignment yet.

The WebP assignment is coming along fine, I guess. An idea of the website's index page is finalized, though it looks hardly anything impressive for now. Will have to work on it tomorrow - I'm too tired as it is.

At Home Again

2008-07-05T17:52:00.000-07:00

I'm so glad to say that I'm finally in my new home. And I'm here way earlier than the rest, even if that meant staying overnight in the house, which was really fun (No, srsly! It's not every day that you realize that you have to sleep with no blanket, no bed, and living on the Internet because you ordered your breakfast online AND you have no idea how to work the induction stove).

The house is nice - I still spot a few defects, but we've been delayed for too long. Those can be fixed real quick anyway. At the moment, the house looks fine. Everything's fine, the morning's lovely and I'm hungry and waiting for McDonalds.

BTW, this was me 3 days ago, when I realized Mum took something really really important out of the Lentor house:

Extremely Tired

2008-06-27T05:35:00.000-07:00

The assignment load hasn't lifted much.

REMT: Thank goodness for the two week extension. I just the vocals all recorded, but in need of autotuning. I've no idea how I'm going to cram the tuning, putting everything together, and THEN I can mix properly. Ooh, and the HD 215 is helping lots. There's a lot more treble in this that got cut off in the old pair.

Arranging: All done - almost. Just got some checking, and writing that report. At least for this one, I feel better about it. Due next Friday.

PAM: Almost ready to submit. Have to print.

WebP:... I still haven't started on it.

SONG: I'm going to die. I should call it quits and just use the draft I have, or I can be gungho and make another draft. I don't intend to put lyrics - at the most, cheesy lyrics - but I'm wondering how I'm going to get that into Finale afterwards. Only 3 days to work on this. No, 2 days.

POD: I just got the firewire cable, that should work with my home camera. Let's see how things go.

DA&C: The report. The report! And another report!

I need to get moving. Literally. I'm moving back next week. Now that is the biggest problem - how on earth am I going to cram these assignments (save those due that week too) and pack up my things?

The Happy Birthdays

2008-06-13T20:13:00.000-07:00

As the clock strikes twelve

2008-06-12T07:03:00.000-07:00

Nice song.

Pretty girl who sings nicely.

But what's up with all the kissing scenes?

I don't want to emanate the lyrics of this song word for word, but...

I don't think I'll have a happy birthday this year. I like the greetings and all the messages you all can send, but this year, I find myself at a low point.

I know some of you have looked out for me, and noticed that I've turned dull, and it's a contrast from my usual chirpy-and-happy self.

Don't worry about me. I'm just bummed out - and so are all, if not most, of the Year 3 DMAT students. I have a lot of things on my mind too, mostly of my work. Then some of my loved ones. Then some of my own doubts (Will I really get all this work done by the end of the holidays? Will I do well for them? Will my grades drop? Will everything that could go wrong, go wrong?)

And sometimes, I think too much on these negative thoughts.

This birthday just happened to sit in such a time where my thoughts are anything but cheery. I'm functional - I'm doing my assignments! - but, just not happy.

But I'll be fine. I hope so, at least. I've already started listening to sad Chinese pop songs of breakups, failed loves and all that sad sad stuff. Good grief, I'm already changing for the worse. Even Summer Sunshine (my REMT assignment) is a sad song, lyrics-wise!

I wonder if I had done much good, or bad, during the last year? It doesn't feel anything much remarkable had happened, except memorable changes, like my decision to accept a boyfriend, and relationships in essence, into my life. My GPA drop was another one - I still think I did badly, and that I could've done better. No regrets though - it's an incentive to work hard on my assignments this year. I finally stepped foot on American soil. I'm on better terms with my peers. I joined the Videography Club and made more friends, real friends than the peers at my previous club (which I've quit. Good riddance.)

I want this year to be as fruitful, and maybe more fun than the previous? The chances of the latter happening are so much lower now, given the fact that I'm in my final year. The assignments are killing us all as it is! Given that we're still in Semester 1, and we have a 2nd semester to endure... I don't want to think of it.

So, this birthday, I'll be going back to school to handle the assignments, attend the PAM revision session, work some more in school, then attend the family birthday dinner at Serangoon Gardens.

Ah well.

Happy Birthday. To me.

Tally So Far

2008-06-11T08:02:00.001-07:00

POD - doing. Primary school up next, where I need to teach them how to read notes AND GarageBand. Should I add Magic GarageBand?
PAM - Doing. Started a small bit of the report.
ARR - started. All the guitars are missing. I hope Erica likes slash notation.
REMT - Started. Still doing. Don't know how I'll finish it. Still.
MORG - All three models near completion - and one of them's in trouble!
WebP - not started. Not planning to touch it much during these hols.
REMT E-Learning - not started. STILL thinking about it.
DA&C (GEMs) - Not touched since start of hols. Should start worrying about it soon.
SPVC SLA (doing music) - Cancelled because SLA didn't get back to us in time, and no way can any of us produce rushed work of poor poor quality.

So far...
Some work is done.

Not a lot of it is done - even though progress has been made.

Hmm.

This is not good.

I don't feel happy of late. and I can't drink. Baileys ice cream K.O.ed me.

Birthday Wish List

2008-06-06T21:24:00.000-07:00

By request of Natra, I'm putting up a tiny wishlist. In no order of preference,

1) Bandung cupcakes, with choco chips? :D
2) Sennheiser HD 215 headphones... really. My own headphones are more inferior than I thought.
3) A book about... a horsey story? Or, a doggie tale? Or about music?
4) Something ornamental to decorate my future work desk. Say, a paperweight? Pencil-holder?
5) A quirky desktop item from Ikea.
6) A meeting with friends after my makeup lesson in school? We seriously need to get together for some hi-tea and chat.
7) Someone start an SL business with me!
8) A music CD, of your favourite artist. As long the music's not too vulgar in language, I'm fine with it. I need to broaden my music horizon.
9) A birthday card's nice too.

That's all I can think of for now. Back to my assignment, and adding in drums!

1st 2 Days

2008-06-03T00:12:00.000-07:00

POD: The first camp is done. I'm thankful for the rather 'angelic' batch of students I taught - they were easy to manage. They really do look like DMAT students in uniform, except that only one or two of them had prior music knowledge. This is where we have to thank Apple for loops!

I feel that I could've done more, and better, for this camp. A lot of the time was slated for the students to work on their projects, but it seems to be too much time for them. They learned quickly, and moved quickly too.

On my part, I did say what I wanted to say, but I wished my presentation was better. My supervisor said I did my part, and that it was 'not bad'. That's not anything to be happy about.

PAM: Work's being done! I went to the ACM after my first camp day (after having lunch in town and buying a mouse and batteries) to get the things I need. If any of you DMATers haven't gone yet, gogogo! There's a lot to see for that special write-up!

ARR: I printed out my digital bass line's score and am entering them into Finale. Painfully. I'm clicking, more or less, unless I attach my keyboard.

DMAT: I realized that I'm still in the Open House event. That means that on Wednesday and Thursday, I'll still be coming down to school. All the better, I guess. I have found it difficult to focus at home.

I'm tired, but I feel stressed and bothered. Time to finish up ARR and start on MORG before I deviate!

The Holidays Begin

2008-05-30T06:09:00.000-07:00

I'm not looking forward to it.

I dislike assignments. Really. The only assignments I had fun with were the 1st-year assignments. The first few times in the studio were too interesting, coupled with learning really neat software

(I still have a penchant to sit in the studio, just that I haven't sat behind the baby grand piano for a long time. My piano skills pale in comparison to theirs, so I normally try to play on my lonesome. That was still fun. Haven't done that for a while.)

During these holidays, there will be no shortage of assignments. 9 assignments. If you'd like to add my duties in, I'd have 10 assignments. Add in an upcoming church practice, and you'd get 11. Add in even more events that I've been told to join and have to commit to and you'd get 12.

I'm falling sick again. That terrible cough has returned - the painful one that threatens your lunch to leave your body upwards.

But, assignments are assignments. They must be solved and completed. There is no excuse for leaving any one of them undone.

I'm tempted to dive into every single one of them tonight, giving them each a jump-start and keeping tabs with what I have to do.
From there, I'd gun to complete two every week. Even on the week of my birthday - I won't be taking my birthday as an excuse. (I'm a year older! I can decide what I want to do! And I want to finish assignments!)

I think I'll never get any rest, not a single bit, until I don the graduation gown and take a scroll-box from some-really-important-person.

So, for my birthday, mail me stimulants, chocolate, tea, or an assignment of mine that you've taken the liberty to complete for me. Yeah, I'd love the last one.

Or pop in a message on MSN to keep me going on with my work.

Now, to Logic! I've a camp to prepare for!

9 assignments

2008-05-29T06:34:00.000-07:00

POD - doing
PAM - not started. Going to visit ACM.
ARR - started... somewhat.
REMT - Started. Still doing. Don't know how I'll finish it.
MORG - not started.
WebP - not started.
REMT E-Learning - not started. Just thinking of it.
DA&C (GEMs) - in the works
SPVC SLA (doing music) - haven't video-ed. Planning to make cheesy rah-rah music, and some rock. Yeah, rock.

That's 9, isn't it?

...

*writes her will*

2008-05-23T11:12:00.000-07:00

Fuck it.

I screwed up my family life.

Does anyone want a sister? Or a stay-home tuition teacher?

Tally

2008-05-23T06:44:00.000-07:00

Eh.Ma.Gawh. So cute!! (And what hollow flooring that house has.)

Lucky loved to do this when he was a puppy. He didn't chase mops, but the gardening hose. He ran up and down the length, trailing it with his jaw and clawing at it whenever it'd 'slither' to the side.

I'm taking a breather from MUMI. And replying to my Mum's message in FaceBook. Yes, my mum's on FaceBook. With her kaki of 30-odd friends (10 at the moment, but I'm sure there's going to be more) She asked me if she's getting 'IN' - 'IN' being 'in the trendy crowd of netizens'.

I'm not sure, Mum. Add more applications and we'll see.

Meanwhile, school hasn't let up a single bit. Trust them to load on more assignments before the holidays start. The holidays are a week away, yet the assignments are just coming in.

Am I stressed? Maybe.

Too many things are moving at the same time. Literally. The date of the move has gyrated back from 'We're-moving-next-month' to being moved back... 2 weeks from now!

FRAG!!

That sits very nicely on the day I'm heading off to a BBQ. It also sits nicely in a very stressful period of time where I'm using the holidays to save my REMT assignment from sure doom. I know I should've moved on it earlier, but when you pull in external talent that are as busy as you are, things get really... tricky.

MUMI is now the next assignment on the chopping board. I'm running through it tonight, and am finishing it tonight. Given that Saturday's POD meeting was cancelled, I now have the time to sleep late and wake late. I'm definitely taking up the extra time, for the sake of future assignments.

No, they're not 'future' assignments. They're already here.

DamMIT. (So THIS is why the school changed its name, eh? :P )

WebP: Assignment 2 sounds like a crackup job of making free website designs for the lecturer's friends. She double-confirmed this by telling us that the brief was based on real people. And one of them already had a website that she herself created for him.

MORG: Thank goodness for the extension! Now I need to work out how I'm going to work on it.

Arranging: Part 2's out. Oh nonononono.

REMT3: As above, I'm still trying to grasp whatever time possible. Another 'thank goodness' is needed here: I only need drums, vocals, and LOTS of guitar. Andre and I will be slaving away in the studios during the holidays.

POD: Last and not least, and my biggest worry. If the confirmations had come in earlier, the headstart would've given me more time to make some more fancy demos and actually think out how I'm getting this whole affair filmed and edited. Now I'm working through a note draft, and... the camp's on 2nd June.

But is that a manageable load?

With the rush from home to pack up and leave, the last thing I want is to see my work packed in a box and lost for all three weeks. It has happened - that was how I went on staying here in YCK with only 3 pairs of shoes - 1 pair of sandals and 2 pairs of sport shoes.

Now what have I to look forward to?

Mum's authoritative hand descends from where Heaven ought to be and declares that I gun for Berklee, and nowhere else.

DamMIT.

Old Man Old ***

2008-05-22T09:04:00.000-07:00

An incident occured during the night's diploma plus session today. And it still is a bit sour, because I'm not the only one who doesn't feel angered about it.

During the class, a voice spoke up from behind - and the voice sounded very irritated. The comment itself was enough of a hint.

"I didn't get what you said."

Faizal was ready to tackle that - he does teach on a rather fast pace, and was ready to slow down if need be.

The following comment was the one that caught us all.

"The class was too noisy."

The commentator was a man that was in his 50s, it seemed. His face was new - I haven't seen him before -, simple and his eyes were small, and the only thing I noted was the silver and white hairs that made the majority of his head. He sat right at the back of the class, arms folded and a knee propped against the edge of the table. A business case was next to his knee.

The whole class fell silent. Given the comment, this reaction should've appeased him.

But it didn't.

"There's a student talking in that class, and I find it very annoying."

The aforementioned student shall not be named, out of respect and goodwill. He's a friend with Tourette's, and his ticks were definitely something that affected him, but he did try his best to tone them down and stop them before they went on too far.

Faizal explained.

"I don't believe it."

"Well, sir, it is - "

"This class is useless. He's talking in class. If he's so smart, he should be standing up there and teaching instead of you."

"It's his disability. He wasn't talking."

"I can't accept it."

He finished by crossing his arms that he was gesturing, and looked between the student and Faizal.

I was outraged. The whole class was silent, but I think more than one person would've had the same reaction as me.

If he accuses that the student was disrupting the class, that old fogey is doing a better job at disrupting the class. We all were uneasily silent, aforementioned student included, for the next 5 minutes.

Faizal thought for a bit, then replied that if he thought the class was interrupted and he didn't learn anything, he could arrange a meeting to cover the lesson and queries he had.

The man had none of it, but didn't give a reply. Faizal picked things up and continued on with the class.

I couldn't help but watch the insensitive man's reactions. He sat there, stone-faced and stubborn, for the next 5 minutes. He didn't follow the lesson. He just sat there.

Later, while we were trying out the practical, Faizal stood next to the man and talked to him. Faizal smiled and took things in his stride, but the man still looked cold and didn't relent. But, at least, he kept his voice between the two of them.

I was as good as ready to get up from my chair and tell him off. Sure, his vocal ticks may have been irritating, but what was more irritating was stopping the class for a good 5 minutes with his insensitivity. He was an insensitive arsehole, not giving leeway because of a disability that couldn't be helped, AND, irony of irony, going against his own word.

I'm not happy that I kept silent, but I thought it was for the best. I didn't want to stoop down to that man's level. It would've nulled the 'fight' I'd have picked with him.

But, I didn't keep my peace entirely. When Faizal said that he was getting back to the lesson, the class adjusted itself back into learning mode.

I sneaked in an 'arsehole', clear enough for that man to hear, I bet.

That made me feel a little better.

Boiling Point

2008-05-15T08:04:00.000-07:00

The assignment crash is coming - and it's not just the trio of assignments that I have to hand up by the end of next week.

The first thing that really messed up was POD. Horror of horrors, they told me that the chances of the music camp in June was high, and there. I told the lecturers the same - die-die, there'd be a music camp.

I was just told that the answer had changed - now there's a high chance that the camp won't happen.

Now I don't think I'll be able to stomach the lambasting and shelling the lecturers will give me. I'm going to have to provide that solution soon - either to continue and try alternate parties with the company, or work on my second idea first. It's going to set me back quite a bit, and that means that I must get started now. I hope the meeting this weekend will prove useful, or else I'm in for a lot of trouble.

Then there are the assignments, and I never knew that MORG would be such an intensive assignment! I thought it was just 3 real-world objects, but I didn't expect one to really provide the proof that you had the real-world items, get the lecturer to approve, and then set it in. Honestly, we haven't gone that far yet - hence we have one more onsite lesson - but still... it's going to be an awful lot to do.

Then there are the other assignments. Next week, WebP (which is done) would be due, along with MUMI. But I also want to complete Arranging too so I can concentrate on MORG after that...

I really need to organize my time! Thank goodness for the long weekend - it's time to catch up, and make tracks.

An unheard voice

2008-05-10T05:47:00.000-07:00

Isn't this healing music? I mean just the Titanic overture at the first bit of the video, not the Norwegian song at the second half (you can fast-forward that bit) and you'll find that the last part of this video finishes Sissel's contribution to the Titanic soundtrack.

Sick

2008-05-05T06:13:00.000-07:00

I knew stress could make one prone to illness.

I never knew I'd be one of the unlucky ones to catch the flu too.

When the stuffy nose caught up and the sore throat became worse, I decided to visit the doctor after class. Kevin was sweet, and decided to accompany me.

Good thing he did too - the doctor had, during the check-up, patted my thigh and held my hand, just as Kevin slipped out of the consultation room to take a call.

(Mum knew who the doctor was, so things are OK. Thankfully. Or else I'd order a headhunt against him.)

And when I got home, I was almost ready to charge back into work when Kevin reminded me my own words before I left the hospital - that I would rest when I get home.

Blargh, and I wanted to get some work done. But, I did agree that getting well quickly should be the priority, and then I'd be in good shape to get back to work.

I took my honey and medicine, and the stuffy nose no longer feels so stuffy. Hopefully, I can get better by tomorrow! (I hope.)

A shout of hurrah!

2008-05-04T17:11:00.000-07:00

*takes in a deep breath*

I'mdonewithWebP!I'mdonewithWebP!I'mdonewithWebP!I'mdonewithWebP!I'mdonewithWebP!YAY!!!11onez

That leaves me with...

GEMs
MUMI
3D Modelling
Arranging
REMT

And POD through all of those too.

...

AAH!!

Stress Level

2008-05-04T02:28:00.000-07:00

The calender reads that, this Friday, it's POD presentation.

The next Friday, the GEMs assignment is due. The group hasn't started yet.

The week after that, on Tuesday, Web Publishing is due on its onsite. Thursday is the 3D Modelling onsite. Friday, Arranging AND Music for Moving Images are due.

The week after that, 3D Modelling assignment's due. I don't have 3dsmax yet. Still. My supposed source, Andre, is neck-high in worry as he still hasn't got Dreamweaver for his Web Publishing assignment.

Those who worry for their studies are stressed. Everyone's asking me, 'Which assignments have you finished?'

None.

I used to say, 'Oh, this one and that one,' and enjoy seeing their frightened faces.

Now I'm wearing the frightened face when Mum asks by the glance, 'Have you finished your homework yet?'

I'm stressed. Time is not on my side - I know I'm starting to have regrets on not starting earlier for some. Thank God REMT is only due next month, but the other assignments are due this month. POD will launch itself the minute the presentation's done. I'm concerned now that I won't be able to juggle all these at the same time.

I'm stressed - and I guess I'm mostly to blame for this. Procrastination is one thing. Having little time to do 7 assignments at one go is another. Weeks fly by too quickly.

I guess this was where Edwin was right - the DMAT curriculum is messed up. The GEM girls that invited me to sit with them when I was alone pitied me, and they sympathized - they're Design students, fully familiar with sleepless nights and harrowing deadlines like mine.

A final stroke of the troubling situation is that, with all this stress, I'm starting to go haywire with the assignments. I'm jumping between REMT transcribing, WebP, Arranging... I really don't feel like I'm moving anywhere fast by this method. But I worry that if I focus on one alone at a time, the others would lag behind without progress I could've made while working on that sole assignment.

I think my marks are going to suffer this semester. That'll suck.

All right, back to Web P. I think I can finish it by tonight. YAY!

*$&%

2008-05-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

I shouldn't have gone home today.

I hate them now. They all are PMS-y, and so am I now. Forgive my immaturity, but these are the times I wish I was an only child and they never existed. Ever.

Where's Mum where I need her? Why do I have to put up with these whiners? They really want to glue their eyes on me and watch my every move, to see where I go and what I do. What do they think I'm doing? Taking drugs behind their backs?

Honestly, I want to be independent. As soon as I can. I really, really, really, really want to get away from them and live life with my own family. They may laugh, but I feel that they're better off laughing together than laughing with me. I don't connect well with them - once they nag, at least.

Maybe because I'm under high stress. Mum's still in hospital, and we've still no idea why she passed out on the wheel. One wants to take over as Almighty Authority. The other... can't stand bad vibes. I don't blame her - I don't like them either. Especially when Almighty Authority is giving them off by her incessant nagging. I have my assignments. I did them in the day - yes, they don't believe me. They'll never trust me, I guess. And I want to relax. I want to rest.

They won't let me.

So now I'm in no mood to sleep. He told me earlier that I was about 3/4 asleep. Now I'm nearly dropping dead, but no way am I sleeping with them tonight.

Time to call in my doggie bolster and sleep downstairs.

And cool down.

Caramelldansen

2008-04-29T18:14:00.000-07:00

This is another crazy Internet fad, populating in Youtube mostly and crazily liked by otakus.

But this had to be the cutest rendition of the Popotan 'Caramelldansen' dance. This one is only followed shortly by this one, but I don't like the fact that they looped it and cut off the extremely cute ending. I found one live one featuring Nekozawa from Ouran High School, Naruto, and Captain Jack Sparrow. I almost consider an SPVC / SPJCC spoof about this.

Assignments-wise, things are moving along - slowly.

I don't like things moving along slowly.

Time to speedy-up progress! *pops on headphones and opens Logic Pro & Finale*

Assignment Tally...

2008-04-23T17:42:00.000-07:00

- POD: Done at the moment. I have a bad feeling about my Gantt Charts.

- REMT: It's hard to choose 3 songs! I'm doing this right now, since I KOed after I finished POD.

- WEBP: I have the brief. The textbook's at home. There's an assignment. I haven't touched it yet.

- ARR: Planning to tie up this one with REMT and transcribe the song of choice. The only problem is I'm trying to find a song simple enough to imitate.

- DA&C: Haven't thought much of it. What events would be going on at a time like this?

- MUMI:... Is there an assignment for this one yet?

- PAM: I have little clue what's going on in the lessons, but I know that the assignment has yet to come.

Just making notes here, because I haven't updated Evernote for a while.

I know...

2008-04-20T08:57:00.000-07:00

I don't know what I want to do for POD.

I also know what I don't want to do for POD.

POD is headache-inducing.

I'm going to bed.

*sulkypuss*

Cat!

2008-04-16T18:27:00.001-07:00

... and it's still on my lap.

Just that it's not my boyfriend's lap. It's mine - I'm just going along with what my shirt says. And wide jeans.

GatewayCat is still sleeping on my lap. Very, very cute. I hope I can shake it off in time for class in half an hour. But, it looks so so so sweet!

But it clawed me a little while trying different sleeping positions. Now it's curled up. Aww...

I'm still thinking about POD and what to do about it. If anything, I've found the assignment brief and what I've to do is now clearer to me. It's just getting the ideas down on paper that will be hard - and purchasing a good file to last me through this module.

I'm distracted by this kitty on my lap. I got it onto icanhascheezburger, so I can't wait to see what other wacky comments people can make up. If anyone puts a girl intonation on it, I'll be impressed.

The end of the END!

2008-04-13T17:52:00.000-07:00

And the beginning of a new beginning.

Soppy phrases that exaggerate the real turn of events.

Honestly, ITP was a great streak for me, and I'm a lucky one where the creativity juices don't have to be utilized extensively. Then again, there were those who were extremely fortunate to get ITP positions I'd reallyreally love to get - recording in a music studio, working with post-production and that sort.

No wonder the school had placed ITP before our final year.

Our portfolios would be influenced by what experience we got - or of what experiences we hear from one another.

Then, given what we had thought of the working world, couple it with our own strengths, wishes and 'dreams', we make our decisions on what we want to do.

Today, I sat down with the brief and gave things a think-through.

There is one big problem with having nearly all-As on your track record.

You can't tell what you're REALLY good at.

So, I'm nearly clueless as to what I can do for my portfolio. My generalization of 'keeping my doors open' is certainly working against me right now. I know that my ideal wish is to be a music producer (and that wish is shared with the entire class or cohort of DMAT, most likely), but I'm willing to take my lecturer's suggestion of a music educator. Other than that, I am undecided.

It's partly vexing to hear that others have their idea almost set in stone, or the have devoted themselves to other ideas already. I feel the urge to pull out my competitive side to this task and cough out a really detailed and wonderful proposal of any 4 ideas in a matter of 2 weeks - and kill myself in the process.

Hmm... where is an advisor when you need one?

2 days left...

2008-04-09T17:51:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be pulling OT all the way till the end of this internship - and even that hangs in the balance!

No, I didn't do anything wrong. It wasn't that I was not efficient either. My supervisors were happy with the work I gave them.

Too happy, though.

They now (jokingly) threaten to fail my grades and force the school admin to put another ITP session for me in their company, to 'work for all the meals they feed me'.

I knew all those treats I got had a double-edge. Except that once where the treating party forgot I was at the restaurant and left me there with an unpaid bill.

The competition that I helped my company drive is ending today, and I expect the whole influx of entries and registration kits to come flooding in my direction. Hence, the expected OT.

At least I have a weekend to calm down and organize myself before school starts on Monday. I do miss school - and I hope to pull out the best I can for this year. It promises to be hard, and I don't need a repeat of BuMs to come back.

At least my company has provided an option to use a project of theirs to tie in with my POD work, just like Edwin's MIT internship. Hmm... should I look at music education or not?

Remember your Personality results?

2008-04-08T00:21:00.000-07:00

I refer to the fellow DMATers of my generation.

Remember that last year, instead of a terrible, tedious e-learning assignment, James and Ms Tan got us to do 2 sets of personality tests to see who had what personality and quality?

Today, I dug up that thread from the grave and gave them a read. They were awesome, I tell you, and still are.

Here are some little facts I can dig up from there:

- The two most popular kinds of people we have in our group are idealists and masterminds. (Beware, we're going to be grilled into futuristic ideals of music, instilled into our conscience by masterminds!)

- The two least popular kinds of people we have in our group are big thinkers and realists. (There are only 2 or 3 big thinkers, and one realist. Me.)

- We do have a number of counsellors in our midst, so we'll have emotional support if POD lets us down.

- There are more introverts than extroverts in our cohort.

- I believe that the INTJs are the most popular introverts, and ESTJs the most popular extroverts. I'll have to count again.

- And I believe that we didn't get to see the class report that Ms Tan said she'd show us. I'd really like to see how our personality scores compare against personality scores of American classes, or just to see if our whole cohort can survive together!

One more week to go for ITP, and there's little left to do except to wait for competition entries, or waiting for the phone to be free.

Bad Day

2008-04-03T18:02:00.000-07:00

To be frank, running down to a school on an emergency call is fine by me. Teaching to a class of students without any fore-notice is fine too - as long as the students knew what to do.

But combining these two unlucky occasions, add in an outrageous cab fare in an equally outrageous cab, and things would not be fine by me.

The superbug caught my 2nd supervisor, and she was croaking. 3rd supervisor got the emergency call - she needed someone over at a girl school as soon as possible. She had a class starting in half an hour, and she was in no state to conduct it.

We were on the way to lunch at Bugis Junction when it happened. I was looking forward to that lunch, but work came first. She automatically nominated me to make the trip and lesson, anyway.

I found a cab and rode it down to the school - which was jam-packed with little girls (and not-so-little girls) leaving for home. I headed to the foyer - also crowded with girls - and waited for my supervisor.

She looked worse than she sounded, I confirmed, when she arrived. She was later given 2 days MC, but she was keen to return to work as soon as she could.

After a small and quick lunch, I was told where the lab was, and headed there.

The girls were better behaved than some of the other schools I taught, but they were hyper! It got worse when I realized that most of the girls didn't know how to navigate through a Mac system. But, at the end of the day, they played their fair share and left - leaving behind a mess of chairs and headphones strewn through the lab. The teacher briefed me on how to lock up the room and ran off to her next class.

When I stepped out of the school premises, the rain descended like bawling cats and dogs.

I had to call a cab, and I found myself in a Maxi-Cab. The sole passenger in a maxi-cab.

The combined cab fare that I pulled out of my wallet was more than $20. I already sent in my claims, but the accountant has gone on course.

And now I'm dealing with the backlog of work that was made because of this impromptu happening.

GRR!

Somewhere in the coffeeshop

2008-03-30T23:40:00.000-07:00

An old man in front of me turns back and glares occasionally in my direction. He raises his hand sometimes, muttering a few (curse) words. In cycles, he would get up and walk around, still muttering, and he'd turn at me and swear again. He'd return to his table and kopi, and repeat this a few more times.

And I'm trying my best to ignore him and complete a lesson plan I had to finish by today - on my MacBook Pro, in an open-air hawker centre. I arrived too early at work again, so I decided to make good use of my time.

Just that the uncle in front of me is a big distraction.

As he spits on the floor and rubs it in with his slipper (eww), I can't help and think about what the government had in mind for us all.

We're already in an era where technology is being embraced. We speak of wireless all around, and of mobile systems on the go.

I guess this is only where the working population is concerned - that is, the modern working population. The rest of the population, the elderly mostly, don't know of this technology. This was something new to them, and something they didn't trust.

Maybe the old man in front of me has a dislike or discontent with the new technology, something that he can't embrace or accept.

And I can see other eyes staring at me. Some are in wonder, some are in discontent.

I have a deadline to meet, and I know it is no crime to try and meet it.

But it seems like a crime to bring a laptop anywhere else than McDonalds, the shopping malls, the offices and home. There is a McDonalds nearby, but I'm not keen on a heavy breakfast this morning. I'm locked out of my office too.

The uncle has finished his kopi and walked off, delivering one more swear.

But I'm not so concerned. I'll just make a mental note not to pull off a stunt like this again here. And find a way to hack myself into the office.

Meanwhile, it seems like there's a lot of food around here, but the only one recommended was a really far distance down the street. It's worth the walk, but not so good when you're with a large group of people who don't like walking. This particular foodcourt I'm in has turtle soup and black chicken soup in excess, with only one wanton mee stall here while Kok Kee Wanton Mee is at that foodcourt at the other end of the street.

There're only 2 weeks left. One week left, if you don't count this week. Time to print some images, and figure out whether buying a card is worth it.