so here I am, posting in the middle of the night. I've been busy. Went overseas and returned. Strings events. Lots to talk about. And tons of convos in between to fill up whatever space I have left.


Start from the top. I broke my bow today over-tightening it. But that doesn't matter as I'll be getting a new one within the next 2 days. Along with a new bridge and new strings.


Oh yeah. Merry Christmas everyone. Today Evelyn had this Christmas lunch gathering and invited a ton of ppl. They chatted, ate and watched movies. I chatted and ate, but as for the movie bit I was dragged off to play cello accompaniment to Emily. Total mess as usual. I snuck back into the movie room when nobody was looking. After that I went out to Orchard Rd to........accompany Albert to buy SOCKS? Total waste of time. And he arrived home late.


Thanks Evelyn and Albert for the present.(now when I drop the alias, everyone starts calling me Tortoise. Strange isn't it?)


Then the 24th. Family gathering, nothing much, just dinner and cards and listening to crazy ppl running around the ulu neighbourhood at midnight singing Christmas carols.Strings is getting to be synonymous with cards.


The trip to Malaysia. 2 days in Genting, then the 3rd day went to Cameron Highlands and remained there till the 5th day when we went back home. Had this really weird dream on the first night. Absolutely no clue what it meant, so I'll repeat it here.


The dream centered around a mark. A vertical rod, with a serpent criss-crossing over it like in a refrigerator cooling coil. Sort of like the rod of Asclepius, only wider. And along with the mark came a terrible curse...which for some reason I can't remember. The mark, and the curse, could only be gotten rid of by a near-death experience or something similar. I somehow knew, in the dream, Alan (Choo) had bore the mark before, but emerged visibly unscathed in the present. Then I was marked, and it was late at night. I jumped off the edge of a building towards a swimming pool. I landed half in and half out, my upper half landing in the water. Then the next thing I knew I was in hospital, and HCISO was all around me. I just knew it was them-although the only face I remember clearly was Fungi's. Then a disconnected scene: Alan glanced at me, then turned his head and walked away. Anyway the doctor said my legs were permanently paralysed, but my fingers were fine. For some reason I was overjoyed to hear it(retrospectively, I suppose it's due to my attachment to music.) The strange thing is, I regained the use of my legs not long after...


And that's it. I can't make head or tail of it...


Fog was totally horrible at Genting. Visibility was like 10m so we didn't get to go to the outdoor theme park due to bad weather. Wonder how my dad drove up and down the hill in that. We did spend time visiting all the other nearby towns and villages so our trip wasn't totally a waste of time.


Did I mention we brought a portable DVD player? My mum bought a pirated Hongkong drama serial on the first day and finished the entire thing during the trip. Talk about technology abuse.


Cameron. Strawberries, steamboat, tea and honey. That's about it. We ate steamboat, brought home some strawberry jam, acquired a jar of honey, and practically crammed the car boot with tea. A lot of haggling was involved. My mum can bargain the shell off a tortoise. Took a trip up to the tea plantation. Got inspiration and wrote a complete(but short) poem on the spot. Don't have my script with me now so I can't quote it, but I'll post it one of these days.


Strings outing on the 18th. Icebreakers. Zzzz. Backstabbed Lenard with a water bomb. *evil grin* Amazing Race. Yuck! Rained throughout the entire thing and the design was SOOO. erm. HCISO committee 2005? Arcaded a bit and we all made fools of ourselves on the DDR machine till it was time for dinner.


eternally condemned


a falling star through the night, a doomed angel in darkness, whose only purpose is to illuminate-
for the rest of its ephemeral lifespan.


Oh, and I've become Sarah's Shifu. The violist from SNSO. Hey, I'm not qualified and I did NOT ask for it.


Christmas came and went. Not too many presents but this year, I don't need them. All I wanted, was to soak up the Christmas atmosphere and enjoy it-knowing the Christmas spirit is still alive.


Now mugging:
-Etude No. 5 from "Prepatory to the High School of Cello Playing", David Popper(chromatic octaves x_x)
-Cello Sonata No.5, Ludwig van Beethoven (Still can lar. Should be finishing the 1st mvt soon)
-Serenade for Strings, Pjotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Mugged rather long but have to keep working for concert next year.)
-Cello Concerto No.1, Joseph Haydn (Now on 3rd movement and managed JUST TO GET FLUENT NOTES for about half the piece. And I think the other half is harder. Suicidal? =S Dennis says I should go learn Elgar. Methinks I prefer Saint-Saens but after Haydn I'll stay off concertoes for a while. Save maybe Vivaldi Double. Methinks I'll ask Mr Chan for something romantic period. Or maybe modern. I wanna learn Shostakovich Cello Sonata but my musical and technical development takes priority over interest. I can play Baroque but I'm a bit lacking in the vibrato department. Have to fix that too.)(wow that was a big bracket)


Really late now. Tired but I had to find some time to blog everything.


Oh, and I think I will go public with this blog. Better knowing that everyone knows about it than being unsure and having people reading stuff I don't want them to see. Although that sort of information is in short supply nowadays.