Colin Says...

New York

2011-12-15T17:51:00.000-08:00

Wednesday

Arrived with Mum, Dad and Deb at Changi Airport at around 9 50. Was pretty excited as this was the first time I was going to travel with only Deebs. Usually it was always with Mum and Dad or with a school. This was really cool. We made a couple of last minute purchases, bid farewell to Mum & Dad (who we were going to see in about 1 and a half weeks since they were to meet us in San Antonio) and entered the Departure Hall at around 10 30.

We made our way through Terminal 3 to get to the holding room. I have always loved Terminal 3. It is so huge and makes the airport looks so modern and grand. Beautiful carpeting, skytrains to get between departure gates, etc. I made some calls using the FREE phone (which has become like tradition for me). Hehe. The dude I always call first is Stefanus. It has got to do with some Cheapo routine that we used to play in secondary school that still has not died down. Too bad the guy was watching a movie and could not answer the FREE call.

The flight left at around 12am. I slept quite a lot of the 14 hours from Singapore to Frankfurt. I was just so tired! I did manage to watch quite a lot of movies like Cowboys and Aliens and Captain America which are both pretty lame if you ask me.
We arrived at Frankfurt at around 1 30 Singapore time and waited for around 2 hours. Deebs and I took some lame photos using my Webcam (as we did not have a Camera) and posted them up on Facebook to let Mum know that we were fine. We left Frankfurt at round 7 50am local time. The Sun was out and we had a really good look at the German city from the plane. Window seats are just awesome!

I was awake most of the time on the 9 hour ride from Frankfurt to New York. The food was great. I kinda like SIA’s inflight meals. It’s always so GOOD! Haha. I watched a couple of nicer movies and shows such as The Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Big Bang Theory, Criminal Minds, Family guy, etc. We reached New York at around 12 pm local time and cleared customs really quickly, in like about 10 mins. However, we had to wait for Shankie for a really long time mainly because when he arrived on Qatar, he took like 2 hours to clear customs! OUCH! I have a really bad opinion of JFK International Airport now. The place is so small and the arrival boards are so poorly updated. The list of shortcomings just goes on.

Anyway, Deebs and I had some iced-coffee and a Chocolate Muffin. That kept us happy. When Shankie finally came out at around 4 30 pm, we got on our way. The sun was already setting and it was completely gone by around 5pm. We took a Taxi to our Hotel, The Morningside Inn on Manhattan Island. Very nice place with nice people.

We went to the supermarket just around the corner to pick up some groceries and headed back. We all slept pretty early that night as we were all just so tired!

Friday

Woke up refreshed and ready to go. We decided to get the New York Pass for US$155. I’d recommend the pass to anyone heading there. It’s really worth it. We went to Times Square, took a couple of photos and collected the passes from the NBC studio. Our first stop was the “Top of the Rock”, on top of the Rockafella Centre. The view was amazing. We took a lot of photos (one of which is currently my facebook profile picture). It’s not as high up as the Empire State, but you can still have a really good view of the New York Skyline.

On the way out, we had a look at the Traditional Rockafella Christmas tree (which has a very interesting history). Apparently the Tree is taken from different parts of the country every year. The practice has been around since the 1930s. For those interested, go ask Dr Google. Hehe.

I had a hot-dog or chilli dog from one of the vendors on the street while Shankie and Deebs went to get something from Macs. After we were done with lunch, we went to pick up some shoes for Deebs as she was finding it hard to walk with heels. I, COLIN PEERIS picked Deebs shoes! I make such a good fashion consultant. Oh yeah! But the main reason why I was desperate to get them was because I just wanted to get out of there! Shoe shopping is really a pain! Goodness! Haha.

We walked to the waterfront and took the water taxi (again for free because of the NY pass) to South Ferry. We intended to take the Ferry from South Ferry to the Statue of Liberty but we had already missed the last ferry so we had to come back the next day. We bought tickets for the Ferry to liberty island and went for a walk around the area.

The park near the dock had squirrels, which could get pretty close to you without running away. Squirrels remind me of KE Hall. There are quite a few squirrels there. We walked around, picked up gloves for me (I had lost one of the gloves Aunty Linda had given me), and had a look at the Building replacing the World Trade Centre. It is still under construction but it seems really nice and really tall. We went to look for Wall Street. Had a little problem finding it but eventually did. Got a photo of the Bull. By the time we were done with that, the Sun was already down. We went souvenir shopping and then headed back to the South Ferry Terminal. We got there at around 6 30pm but had to take the Subway back as we had missed the last ferry.

We had a nice long train ride and got off at Columbia University. We bought 3 Kebebs for $4 each and walked back to the hotel. We had the Kebab in the Hotel. They were… HOT! Deebs and shankie were struggling and I was like crying by the time I was done. But it was SO GOOD! I would recommend the Kebabs to anyone any day, but please ask for LESS HOT SAUCE. That stuff is hotter that Indian stuff!

We went to bed pretty early, again, really tired.

Saturday

Woke up after another LONG sleep. We had to rush over for the NBC studio tour at around 9 15. Although we got there at 9 15am, the show had already started. So we missed the first part of the tour, but didn’t really miss much. We joined the group and went all around NBC studio. Pretty fascinating. We saw the studios of Dr Oz, Sat Night Live, the make-up people, etc. We had very interesting tour guides (Ranchit and Bradley).

Their 2 best jokes:
Ranchit: You’re not allowed to bring any weapons around. So anything the airport considers dangerous, we consider dangerous. So knives, guns, sharp stuff, Justin Beiber CDs, all… dangerous! Haha.
Bradley: The studios here are deceptively big. Many artists get deceived by it and bring all kinds of stuff for their performances. Kanye West was one of them. He brought 40 choir boys, a huge band, dancers, some other stuff, and his BIG EGO with him. HAHA. They still managed to fit that all in.

After the tour, we headed down to Mdm Tussades wax museum. Very interesting and cool! We saw all kinds of celebrities such as Justin Beiber, Morgan Freeman, The Rock, etc. I got fooled by some dude taking a photo of someone. I thought he was really someone taking a photo and waited for about half a minute before I realised that it was a wax figure. Haha.
We had Brunch at Subway… a really heavy one. I had a foot-long Chicken Bacon Ranch. SO AWESOME!

We headed to South Ferry to take the ferry to Liberty Island after brunch. The ride to liberty island was pretty cold and windy. Good thing I brought Uncle Victors jacket along. That one’s super power! IT got him through -15 degrees in Hokkaido! So we called the jacket “The Hokkaido”. The statue was cool. The island was better in my opinion. Haha. The view was really great!

We took the last ferry back to Manhattan Island. It stopped at Ellis island on the way so we took a couple of photos from the ferry.

We headed to Grand Central Station after Liberty Island. It was really big, but nothing that fantastic in my opinion. We took photos and headed to the Empire state Building, it was a 10 minute walk.

The weather was pretty cold so there were not many people there. Before heading to the Observatory on the 86th floor, we went for this NY skyride, virtual thingy. It’s worth $44 but we got it for free because of the NY pass. It was really rubbish! Deebs calls it “The Lamest Thing in the World”.

After that, we lined up to take the elevator to the top. There were not many people there so we cleared everything and were on the 86th floor in around 30 minutes. The view was breath-taking. Very cold, but nothing gets past Hokkaido! I took many photos from all angles before heading down. Empire State’s a pretty cool building.

We walked past Madison Square Garden on the way to the subway. We picked up a Burrito form Chipotle (Mexican Grill) near our hotel and headed back. The burrito was really good. Ate happily and went to bed early.

Sunday

Woke up early for Mass. I was pretty concerned that it would be hard to find a Catholic Church, so I went down and asked the receptionist. He pointed right over his shoulder and said, “Nearest Catholic Church? Right next door.” I was pretty surprised so I went to check it out. Sure enough, there is was!

Mass was pretty interesting. Not an empty parish… there were people. Not a lot, but it was nice to see some young people pretty active down there. The cantor was awesome and the music great. The priest was pretty old and tried to be as entertaining as possible. Deebs and I were picked to be gift bearers! YEAH!

We went to Times Square again. Had brunch at some Italian place. I had a chicken Stromboli. It’s really awesome! We wasted some time walking around. Checked out the Hershey’s shop at the Square and bought some chocolates at really good prices. They even let us sample so… It was HEAVEN!

I picked up some Levi Jeans for $34. It’s really cool and I’m so proud of them. Deebs said that we had a really, really good deal on them as they cost like $100 in Singapore. After wasting some time at Macs over a large cup of Hot Chocolate, we went on the Mob Tour at around 2pm.

The Mob Tour was really COOL! Again, like so many other things, free because of the NY Pass. The guide told us so many stories. Shankie still suspects that the guy has some tie-ins with the Mafia (and I wouldn’t be surprised).
Apparently, the Mafia is still very much alive. The Godfather is not a completely fabricated characted. It is based on true stories. He told us Mafia stories spanning the century, even recent ones. There have been people being jailed as recently as 2 years ago. He told us how Mafia bosses 95% of the time die on the street, or die in Jails.

He told us about Mobsters like Lucky Luciano and other notorious people. He told us about the many killings and how so many legitimate businesses even today are owned by the Mafia families. It is so sad to see how so many people died because of money and drugs that come with the Mafia organisation. Anyway, I’m definitely more interested in reading a little more about that.

We reached time square at around 5pm. It was already dark. Time square at night is really awesome! SO MANY LIGHTS! We headed back early again, picked up some Kebabs and some rice thingy and had dinner in our hotel. I just love Kebabs!

Monday

Woke up early to leave for Minneapolis. We headed down to Central Park (about a 5 minute walk away) before leaving the Hotel. It is a really nice place with lots of trees and… stuff. The Sun was out and there were people there walking. It wasn’t really crowded at all so we had a nice leisurely walk around. The air in Central Park just seems so fresh!

We had to rush back slightly to the hotel to catch the Taxi to the airport. We had already booked the Taxi for 8 30 am and he was on time. We went past the Manhattan Bridge and also the USTA Billy Jean King Stadium! SO COOL! The place where the Man, Roger Federer won 5 straight titles! Really awesome!

We got to the airport, cleared security (very tight) pretty quickly and were on our way to Minneapolis. The flight by Sun Country was fine. We arrived at Minneapolis at 1pm local time. It seemed to have snowed either in the morning or the previous day, as there was still snow on the ground. The weather was really awesome, the air fresh. Very small town kinda feel.

A shuttle service from the hotel took us to the Ramada Hotel. Really awesome hotel with wi-fi in every room. The rooms were awesome. I guess that is what you can expect from small town hotels. The Mall of America, a huge Mall, is like right next to the Hotel and there is an hourly shuttle service to the mall. We spent the first day just enjoying the hotel room and heading down for lunch at the Mall. Deebs and I had an awesome American Burger with Bacon and Beef inside. SO GOOD! We walked around, bought a game for Ben. The game shop people were really friendly. They played the Jungle speed game (the one Ben wanted), and also introduced us to new ones. The atmosphere in Minneapolis is really a lot more relaxed and enjoyable. We picked up the new games and walked around a little more.

There was an old people’s band performing at the concourse of the Mall. It is so nice to see Old People so active. I had some Ice Cream. It costs like $4 for 4 scoops! SO HUGE! And the ice-cream was delicious! SERIOUSLY!

We headed back at around 7pm, taking the shuttle service back to the Hotel.

Tuesday

We got up pretty early, as usual, to pack up and get ready to go. We were packed and ready to go by around 10 pm. We checked out and stored all the luggage with the Hotel receptionist. We took the shuttle down to the Mall again for brunch and a bit of shopping. I had a Pita for lunch and picked up a flees jacket for $8.

We left the Mall at around 3pm picked up all our stuff from the hotel, and took the 3 30pm shuttle to the airport to take the bus to Ames. The bus from the airport came at around 5pm and took us to Minneapolis City centre. The city was pretty busy with a couple of tall buildings and well… Big city stuff. Good thing we stayed way outside the city centre during our 2 days in Minneapolis. That was so relaxing.

The bus ride to Ames was long but a very pleasant one. The driver was nice and I slept most of the way. It was raining in Ames when we got there. Ben picked us up from the bus stop. His hair is SO LONG!

We walked to the Hostel, got settled down and went to hang out with some of his overseas exchange friends who are all pretty friendly.

Wednesday

I woke up pretty early to run with Ben. I thought he would be awake really early so I got up at around 8 am and got ready. When I headed over the Ben’s room, he was still asleep and ended up waking him up. Woops. Hehe.

We only ran at around 10 30am. We explored the university area and the park nearby. There were dears! So COOL! We saw them running away into the forest. Iowa State University is pretty cool. There’s even a Nuclear Engineering Lab! Haha.

We headed back to the hostel and got ready to go for brunch. We met Ben’s Finnish friend, Terro, and his Malaysian friend, Val at the Cafeteria. It was really big and there was SO MUCH FOOD! SERIOUSLY! I don’t think I had so much to eat in a really long time. There was all kinds of food there. I started with Italian food, went on to Greek and then had a chocolate cake, cookie and an ice cream. The chocolate milk was also really good. Iowa State University! Haha.

After lunch, Deebs, Shankie and I followed Terro to Walmart. We picked up Milk, something for Shena and a Spanish Translator which was pretty cool. We headed back to the hotel room and pretty much did nothing else.

Thursday

Ben had his last presentation. We woke up at different times and headed for lunch with Laurenn at around 1. Ben joined at around 2 after his presentation. After anther MASSIVE lunch, we explored the University grounds. We spent the afternoon walking around the area. It was pretty cold when the sun went down.

Friday

We rented a car! YEAH!

We had our normal MASSIVE lunch at the cafeteria. Shankie, Deebs and I went to Wal-mart after lunch. We spent the afternoon around the area.

We headed back to the Hostel at around 6 pm for a MASSIVE Dinner as Laurenn still had a lot of extra meals to clear. I could hardly eat!

We headed back to the Hostel after dinner. We played games at Terro’s room with the other exchange students. They were all having fun enjoying their last night together.

We went to bed pretty late.

Saturday

We woke up early to check out of Ben’s hostel. We cleaned up the area and packed up all our stuff. We left the Hostel area at around 11am and were on our way to Tanger Outlet (2 hours away)to do some shopping. We dropped Laurenn off at Des Moines airport (1 hour away) and then continued on to Tanger. We stopped by at Burger King for Lunch on the way.

Tanger Outlet was HUGE! There were like factory outlet shops surrounding a huge parking lot. Deebs went crazy. She picked up 2 Coach Bags, one for her and one for Auntina. I picked up a couple of books and a pair of shoes.

We had dinner at Arby’s. The weather was really cold!

We headed back to Ames at around 7pm after Dinner. We checked into a Motel, EconoLodge in Ames. Very nice place… and CHEAP! I watched some TV and went to bed pretty late.

Sunday

I woke up at around 10 am today. We had to really rush to get to 10 30 am Mass at the Church of St Thomas Aquinas. We arrived about 5 minutes late and sat at the balcony. From there, one can really see everything. The layout of the Church is pretty interesting. The Altar is like right in the middle of everything and the congregation, the priest, the choir surround it. Very unique and nice. There was an infant baptism, so the Mass went on a little over an hour.

After Mass, we headed down to pick up Shing from the University, and Shankie from the Motel. We walked from the Motel to a Mexican Restaurant nearby and had lunch there. The food was pretty good.

After lunch, we headed to Des Moines which is like an hour away from Ames. We dropped Shing off at a friend’s house. The neighbourhood in which she lived is really cool. The houses are big (not too large) and so peaceful. It really looked like one of those places in the suburbs you see in movies. How nice it’d be to live in one of those!

The original plan was to go skating, but we were too lazy. So we just decided to walk around. We headed to the Capital Building, which is so cool as it has a Golden Dome at the top. A rather pretty building. The park surrounding it was really pleasant.

We left Des Moines at around 4pm and headed back to Ames. The Sun was already setting when we approached Ames.

The Day after Night Cycling

2011-08-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

I must have slept from around 9am all the way to 2pm. Hmmm... only 5hours. Wow. Night cycling was REALLY tiring. I met up with Bosty, Hazel, You Ying and Kar Mun (aka Roomie) at East Coast park the previous night. We cycled all the way from East Coast, to Changi, to the Singapore Expo and back to East Coast. I think we started off at 9pm and ended at around 4 30am. CRAZY!

There were some pretty interesting things to see during the journey. One of the most interesting things we came across was at Changi Village. That was SO COOL! haha. Anyway, it was one cool night. So fun! I reached home at around 8 30 am, had a shower and went to sleep. Pretty much collapsed onto the bed.

Choir Practice went fine today without Kenny and Karen. Good thing Gareth and Shaun were there to help out. It's so hard drilling songs cos it gets very irritating and frustrating for the choir members. We really struggled with the verses for "Be not afraid". But we got through and the choir sounded good.

And... Marriage/Engage encounter strikes again! Yet another wedding couple decided to call it quits after the programme. Which means one less wedding to worry about. I really hope the couple get things worked out though. It must be so scary for couples to start thinking about Sacramental Marriage. The things to consider and the sacrifices that have to be made... Priesthood/Religious Orders sometimes seem like more friendly options.

Oh well...

LMC Meeting

2011-07-30T08:39:00.000-07:00

I woke up at 7 am today to head down to St. Teresa's Church to attend the Liturgical Music Committee (LMC) Meeting to address the changes in the Roman Missal. Karen and I reached there just in time thanks to great directions from Karen. WOW! She really does have a great sense of direction. Good Job Karen! hehe.

The briefing was pretty... Musical, and they were talking about re-introducing Chant back into the Liturgy. Tsk tsk. WHY?!! haha. Just kidding. Chant sounds nice but I guess it'll take some getting used to.

The workshop ended late, at around 1 and we headed down to Serangoon for Lunch. There, we met up with Hazel and had Broaster's Chicken at Nex. Pretty good stuff! We had ice-cream after that and then headed home.

I spent the rest of the late afternoon and evening reading and writing a post on "Morals and Conscience". What a day!

Think I'm gonna sleep early! SO TIRED! :)

Medical Check Up (Tuesday)

2011-07-26T10:22:00.000-07:00

I went for my NUS medical Check up today. I found out at the counter that I had to pay $30 for an X-ray. WOW! This must have been the first time I paid for a medical service in a long time. Sheesh! Before this, the SAF had been taking good care of me!

Anyway, my eyesight (with glasses on) is 6/6! Awesome rite?! Sadly, blood pressure reading is still slighly high. Good thing everything went smoothly without much delay.

I headed down for an Engineering Science Programme (ESP) talk after that. The programme Director (Prof CM Wang), a very nice guy, spoke to me outside the seminar room before the talk began. He asked me where I was from and about the origins of my Surname. haha. Why do people find that so interesting?

I met some of my course mates and made new friends. I think around 4 people asked me where I was from thinking I was a foreigner. Should have faked my Indian accent and thrown them all off! MUAHAHA!

The talk was really insightful and the programme sounds really interesting. I think this is the right course for me. And to think 2 years ago I had accepted the Industrial Systems Engineering with all the crazy Programming Modules. Thank goodness I had more time to discern which course to take.

Oh well... only time will tell for sure if this is REALLY the best programme for me. So as Rafa Nadal would say... "I'll just do my best and we'll see, no?"

Musical Issue

2011-07-17T09:13:00.000-07:00

Today I met up with Kenny at around 10 pm to discuss something to do with the choir. I'd been upset over a number of things involving the Music Ministry and Music in general. I guess I've just lost the drive to get better as a piano accompanist and have chosen to believe that the choir and myself cannot be pushed to greater heights. Lately, I've just totally lost interest in Music and find practising a mundane activity that I now do at the very last minute. (WOW! I've really lost sight of things. Man!)

Most of this stems from me personally. I refused to believe that I (as the accompanist) had so much influence on the sound of the choir. I'd just been content on doing my own thing and doing the bare minimum, not focusing on how the choir sounded. (Guess I just lost faith in them and myself). Today's discussion with Kenny was pretty intense. He pointed out many things that I lacked in my playing. I've never really been criticized so much when it comes to my playing in a long time so it hurt a little. I guess I got slightly defensive because the criticism came so quickly and so suddenly after much praise and affirmation from members of the congregation.

I think Kenny's points were very valid. I have picked up things really quickly over the past few months... Nothing to do with skill or talent, simply REALLY hard work. I think I really have to look for another level in my playing because it'll be foolish to stop now after I've come so far.

Thank you Kenny for the advice!

He challenged me to:

Get all my scales in order
Major (Done)
and Minor (not yet)

And get familiarised with the chordings for both the Major and Minor Scales.

So I've come up with a daily practice routine...

1) Major Scales
2) Learn up Minor Scales
3) Chordings
4) Sight Reading
5) Songs

I think the most important thing for me right now is to start experimenting with things and introducing new chords and patters. I've just got to get back that PASSION!

Oh well... We'll see no?

Soccer Weekend!

2011-07-10T07:49:00.000-07:00

What a weekend! Full of soccer and muscle aches! I normally don't play soccer so much but it's a fun way to keep in touch with my St Gabs Classmates who are like soccer enthusiasts.

I gave tuition to Joshua's sister, Bronte, on Saturday morning. She's a pretty bright girl actually who just needs a little pressure. I think as a tutor, I pressurize students quite a lot. Especially for Maths. I always rush them. Maybe because I'm impatient. But you know... whatever works. hehe.

After tuition, I went to sample the Best Thosai ever! It was REALLY good. I think it was at Shing Xiong at Serangoon North Ave 4. Good stuff. They should move over to Gardens! YEAH!

Went to play soccer at the Cage with secondary school classmates at around 6pm. It was Stef's way of celebrating his birthday. What a way to celebrate huh? Do the thing you love so much. haha. Cage soccer is insanely tiring. I guess it's because the ball can't go out of play and there are so few people playing at one time so you're constantly running around. I was like completely exhausted after those 2 hours. Really need to start running again!

After soccer and a bath, I went over to Ashley's place (which is like 1 min away). Decided to sleep over just for fun. Talked for a while and then went to bed at around 1.

Sunday...
Played for 11am Mass. Everything went great during Mass today. Had like 15 new sec 3s joining us. The 11am choir was stronger that it had ever been before. YEAH! I have a good feeling about this group. Just a little bit more musical direction and I think they'll become "self-aware". haha.

Played soccer AGAIN at around 5 30. Really got tired in a hurry. Rite now my muscles are really aching all over! OUCH OUCH!

Oh well... a real soccer-filled weekend! :)

So Much to READ!

2011-07-06T09:54:00.000-07:00

WOW!

Just when I thought I had enough to read, I open my email account and see my timetable emailed to me with suggested readings for the semester. Tsk tsk...

So far I've been reading quite a number of books on Theology, Catholicism, Vocational Discernment, Music etc. Today I finished reading the Lumen Gentium document by Pope Paul VI written in 1964.
That's one real interesting document that covers certain interesting topics that are very relevant to our world today, namely:

The mystery of the Church
The people of God
The Church is Hierarchial
The Laity
The Call to Holiness
Religious
The Pilgrim Church
Our Lady

The document covers many Catholic teachings and explains the various roles that the faithful are expected to fulfil in building up the Church on Earth. Perhaps I'll blog about it someday in my other blog http://colinpeeris.tumblr.com . YES! You heard right! I have 2 blogs. I'm so hard-working. Hehe.

I'm now reading a book on Moral Theology and I'm looking for a book on Sacred Music (any recommendations?). I've also really got to revise some of my old Junior College lecture notes, especially the Maths, Physics and Chemistry notes before the University term begins. NOOO!!!

There just seems to be so much to read and so little time!

Landmark Forum

2011-06-22T10:57:00.000-07:00

Interesting day...

I attended the Landmark forum introduction session today with Trevor. It was free but the forum itself cost $1070! The guy, Jeremy, told me everything about the forum and pointed out many interesting things about empowerment and detaching oneself from emotional baggage and insecurities. It also speaks a lot about living for others and finding joy in helping others. The main point about the forum is actually to learn things about yourself. Many people enter and learn new things about themselves, stuff that they didn't know they didn't know. It was a very interesting concept and sharing from Jeremy.

I shared with him a couple of points about the programme that I found very interesting. Firstly, there were so many elements that pointed towards it being an interesting philosophy. It has many parallels to Buddhism and even Christian Spirituality. I showed him many of the related issues and how the Forum was actually making use of spirituality without calling it "spirituality". In a way, the Forum is designed to integrate spirituality into one's secular life, which is brilliant! It spoke about "freedom" from different kinds of things which in a way related much to "detachment". It spoke about our desire for happiness which in a way spoke of instant gratification. The list just went on and after pointing all these out, I came to the conclusion that I could simply attend an Ignatian Spirituality Retreat which is like really cheap and save $1070. haha.

In my opinion, religious spirituality offers more insights to life than any such secular forum. I am not resisting the idea of the Landmark Forum. In fact, I would actually recommend it for people seeking a level of fulfillment and "spirituality" outside of religion. It just is not for me. :)

And finally...

2011-06-21T09:53:00.000-07:00

After more than a year of silence... Colin has returned to his blog! YEAH!

I spent a little time reading through some of the older posts. My goodness, I can't even remember writing many of them. It's like someone else took over the account and started blogging. So many pictures of me when i was 17 and 18. So many wonderful memories like the Italy trip, days in AJChoir, days in Junior College etc. captured in the "ancient" posts and photos in this blog.

So much has changed in the past 2 years! It's seriously incredible!

I'm certainly gonna TRY to keep this blog running as much as possible.

2010-06-01T03:44:00.000-07:00

I am going to start blogging again! SOOOON!

2009-03-15T21:20:00.000-07:00

Stay over at beach...

Things to bring:

Toothbrush
Change of Clothes
Attire for entering the sea and/or playing on beach
Bathing Stuff
eZ link card
$ for food and bike rental
small knapsack to carry all your stuff cos we're gonna be carrying it with us at all times

Programme:

meet at Bedok Station at 3 pm
4-5 roller blading
5-7 hang out at the beach and do WHATEVER
7-8 wash up and rent bikes
8-10 cycle in search of eating place and EAT
12-3 NIGHT cycling
3-8 ....IMPROVISE
8-whenever breakfast, return bikes and scram

For the rest of the time slots...I need ideas

or... we'll just improvise

pls sms if u're not going. thanks

2009-03-06T08:48:00.000-08:00

RESULTS ARE OUT!!! Here goes...

Colin's A level results...

Econs H2-A (SURPRISE SURPRISE! Haha)
Maths H2-A
Chem H2-A
Physics H2-A
General Paper-B
Project work-B

Thank you Jesus and mother Mary!
Petition REALLY is the BEST solution!

I'd like to thank my econs tutor Kenneth for helping me out so much for econs and enabling me to understand and acquire an appreciation for the subject. I REALLY owe you one dude!

To MUMMY for helping me with maths.

Ben & Teddy for helping me with physics especially when it came to concepts like gravitation, circular motion and FORCES!!!

To MR VINCENT GOH for helping me out with chem and seeing me like nearly every day before the A levels.

Mdm loh for marking my GP essays and AQs and giving me valuable advice.

My project work group members (Kang chong, Stef, Jolene, MOK).

And everyone I've ever bugged for help in school work. haha.

2009-03-05T06:33:00.000-08:00

Playing badminton is always so relaxing...mentally that is. It keeps me from thinking of the "A"level results release tomorrow.

I met up with Xavier (partner), and the cupcakes (Alexis and Aloysius) to play badminton at hougang sports hall at 8 am.

As expected...the cupcakes were LATE! But it was good to see them after like 3 yrs. Aloy's still FON (Full on nonsense) and he still hasn't lost his touch at spreading his rubbish. haha.

2009-03-04T08:09:00.000-08:00

Morning...
Ran in the hall doing badminton footwork. It's been so long since i did that and my footwork seems to be all over the place at the moment. I sld correct it FAST!

Afternoon...
Had a long nap after lunch.

Night...
Had dinner with Kane, Jacqueline, Marion and Katherine at a steamboat place down at aljunied.

Photos...

The FOOD!

KAT!

Jac...

marion

Colin

everyone but Jac...

marion getting creative

with everyone in it

Doesnt the guy behind Kane seem to be wearing the same shirt? haha

Ok. That's it.

HELLO!

2009-02-25T18:42:00.000-08:00

I've really got to start blogging again. It's been like what...3 months(blog about D&D).

Much has happened since then. I went overseas to New Zealand (south islands) in Jan, started giving tuition (which doesn't really count as work innit), started learning mandarin, set up a vocal group, etc.

So now it's lent! And one of the things I'll do perhaps is BLOG? It seems to be pretty hard to find time to do that so i think blogging makes a good Lenten commitment for the next 40 days or so. haha.

I also do hope that Dr Theodore (aka "teddy") blogs more cos his intellectual blog content is really enlightening. Yes.

Dinner And Dance

2008-12-03T20:05:00.000-08:00

Everyone looked so sharp, handsome and gorgeous. It was really nice to see so many people turn out.

Food was good and so were the games and activities organised by the organisers. So food job organising committee.

You ying won best dress!!!
I bet it's because she followed my advice and left the price tag on so that people will know how much she paid for it and value it more. haha! so you better be grateful YY

The photos...

Class photo

Guang Jun and Bosty

Colin and Guang Jun

with yu huai

with Kang Ting... made me feel so much taller

with lawson and yu huai

with bobby

business deal with wei xun

murphhy in the way

class guys (murphy, bobby, royston, joshua, mok and wei xun)

choir table (you ying, zongyi, hazel and jun yang)

Choir exco

Tenor SLs (Kenneth and I)

with Jeanette

weird photos with HAZEL

with Sam and Guang Jun

with Zongyi

with Joshua

with Patrick

with KANG CHONG

with Jacqueline

with Royston

with Kang Chong and Mok

with Wei Zhe

with Marion, jolene and jackie

with Marion

with Jolene

Marion, Jolene, Jackie and Patrick

with Wei Hao (pri 3 and 6 classmate)

at Clarke Quay after the D&D....

We left Clarke Quay at around 3 plus. Bobby followed me to my place since the hostel was closed and he wouldn't have been able to enter.

We had EARLY breakfeast (since it WAS around 4 am) at RK eating house (24 hour joint). We decided to try Pizza Prata which was REALLY REALLY good! I must really try that again.

After that, we walked to my house and watched some TV. I "GOT RID" (haha) of Bobby at around 5 30 am after i took him to the bus stop.

That was one LONG DAY!!!

Monday Choir Prac

2008-12-01T18:38:00.000-08:00

It's so good to finally be back. So many of us J2s come back cos we love hanging around to help and enjoy the music.

When i came in (LATE), everyone was sitting around in a circle and discussing various issues.

After that, we had combined sectionals with the basses.

Zhi An on the keyboard

David pretending to sing

Guang Jun Blasting Away

David, Tian Jun, Shaun and Yao Xin

Mr Perry Ang (Tenor SL)

Bosty having his ribs CRUSHED!!! MUAHAHAHA!

In the choir room...

2008-11-30T07:36:00.000-08:00

Today was a rather interesting day. After Mass in the morning, i rushed over to Christ the King to check out a session of RCIY. It was MAINLY to accompany Karen but i ended up being mistaken as a inquirer. I'm still wondering if i can remain an inquirer especially since i'm already baptized and confirmed.

In a way, RCIY may be helpful useful to a cradle Catholic such as myself as it sets certain things straight. So i guess i'll just continue attending RCIY classes and see how it all plays out. haha.

I played badminton in the afternoon again. Session was enjoyable... as usual.

At the airport to pick up carol...

2008-11-22T02:26:00.000-08:00

Chalet was awesome. Sadly, we nvr got to go night cycling which was a shame cos i was pretty interested in doing that.

But it was still enjoyable.

First day:

After choir and a REALLY LATE lunch, we met the others at White Sands in Pasir Ris. We took a shuttle bus to the chalet area and then played card games. Had dinner at around 9 pm in the Downtown East Area. I followed some of the guys to play pool and other games in the arcade. We were back in the chalet by 12 am. Most of us played cards while SOME of us decided to watch STAR WARS!! After a quick shower, we went to "bed" (on the FLOOR) at around 3 am.

Second Day:

I woke up thanks to Pat doing crazy stuff to wake EVERYONE up (ie switching on the TV and putting stuff on Bobby) at around 5 am. Had a LONG breakfast at MacDonald's at around 9am and then stuck around to chat for some time. We then went back to the Chalet. Some of us decided to go to the Wild Wild Wet theme park while the others (including me) decided to save money and play in the swimming pool in the resort.

We had late lunch at Burger King and then went back to the chalet to prepare for the barbecue. Barbecue was at around 7 pm and food was pretty nice thanks to the good Chefs and Cooks around. After the barbecue, those of us who were still awake decided to sit n chat. At around 3 am, we walked along the beach enjoying the PEACE AND TRANQUILITY of the coast.

We played in at a playgound near the beach. It's really pretty fun playing with stuff you never get to play with now such as the swing and other STUFF in there. After hanging around at the beach a little longer, we headed back to the resort. We returned at around 6 am and prepared to leave. Most of us left at around 7 am.

I reached home at around 10 am, had breakfast and then slept for the rest of the day.

It's ALL OVER

2008-11-12T20:26:00.000-08:00

THE As ARE OVER!!!

WHAT a long wait it's been.

It just seemed like yesterday when i was struggling to prepare for the As.

But those days are OVER!!! haha.

Well... now I'll just be playing hard and planning how to spend the hols.

Today, paper ended at 9 15. It went OK and was manageable.

We took a class photo on the school track cos my dear classmate wanted to take a photo of us in uniform for the VERY LAST TIME. (sounds pretty morbid eh?)

KC, Bobby and I then went to play soccer until ard 11 40. That was pretty fun. We the rushed down to Bishan Sports Hall to play badminton. So much running!!!

We then had lunch/dinner in Sakae Sushe (Jap place). Food was OK but i got REALLY full after some time.

The rest of my days will be filled with events like...

-class chalet
-choir practice for carolling
-trip to KL (19 to 22)
-Carolling and choir performance
-conversational Mandarin lessons
-helping out with St Gabs Badminton Team badminton training
-Latin
-Christmas parties
-Trip to New Zealand in Jan
-More Church stuff?

well... we'll see what else there is to do, no?

Farewell

2008-10-11T09:35:00.000-07:00

I'm an AJcian no more...

Feels really weird cos it seemed like just yesterday when i first set foot in the school filled with anticipation. Of course i never did like orientations cos i was always too lazy too play strange games and socialize. haha

But anyway... life in AJ was cool.

It was really a big change and step forward from life in St Gabs. AJ exposed me to new challenges and a TOTALLY new environment. I found life in AJ uncomfortable at first having had such a "sheltered" system in St Gabs for 10 yrs.

My 2 yrs in AJ is filled with cool experiences some pleasant and some bitter. I refer to bitter experiences as "cool" as i believe that we all have to experience some sort of failure or setback in order to take a step forward.

Anyway, my class (23/07) has really been awesome. A bunch of people who are really fun to be around and who help each other all the way. We really did have some fun class outings and experiences.

After the farewell assembly, we met up in LT4 as a choir to watch a presentation put together by the J1 choir members. It was really nice of them and i really did enjoy it. It brought back so many memories.

They even gave us a CD. And FINALLY, we have some concert photos!!!

Before our first song...

Idemdem...

Full house... Not an empty seat in sight.

Personally, i found "Some Enchanted Evening" the least stressful to perform. Very calming and enjoyable. UNLIKE OKLAHOMA!!!

However...

I think being the soloist for Oklahoma was one of the best things that happened to me in AJChoir and in AJC. It was REALLY fun preparing for it and clowning around during practices. I'm CURLY!!! woohoo!!!

Dancing with ...

Solo line and dance with Cindy...

The OKLAHOMA Triangle.

O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A

Group Photo after the concert.

Mr Toh trying to get away. Never seen him run tt fast!! haha

But... still not fast enough...

Mr Toh on the wrong end of a Ryan leg sweep.

Many large people climbing on him!!

Well...

That's about it.

2008-10-08T03:40:00.000-07:00

My brother really has to do more useful things with his time!

A few months ago, he set up a blog for 3 inanimate characters (ie. Teddy, Harry Pegasus and Elmo) at inanimatevoices.blogspot.com.

So although my name appears in the blog, i DID NOT post anything on it! so dont be mistaken!!! i have other things to do.

Not the Best of Days

2008-09-21T05:16:00.000-07:00

well...

the first INCIDENT was my econs tutor, Kenneth, not being able to make it for lesson cos he was down with some kinda flu. Tt wasn't so good cos econs isn't exactly my strongest subject and Colin REALLY needs as many sessions with his tutor as possible.

the next PROBLEM was that my brother came down with a similar kinda illness. Perhaps it's mononucleosis! Benjamin and Kenneth with MONONUCLEOSIS? hmmmm... interesting. The most interesting part about mononucleosis is the way it's spread. Go check it up! VERY interesting!

The "HIGHLIGHT" of the day was when i hurt myself playing badminton in the afternoon. Was in the middle of an amazingly enthralling match when i landed wrongly on my foot after attempting a MONSTER SMASH!!! My goodness did it hurt like CRAZY. Seriously!!!

I think it's probably a SPRAIN in the foot. How unfortunate cos i had the same injury in secondary 4 playing badminton. AGAIN the left foot. Don't think i'll be doing any physical activity for sometime.

anyway... Colin's miserable cos he cant play badminton for some time. Last time it was for a month. but this time...

We'll see no?

The Federer Express

2008-09-12T00:06:00.000-07:00

And the 2008 US Open Champion is...

Roger Federer!

An amazing display of class. Straight sets and a convincing score line of 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 another one-sided US open final. If only he'd taken this aggression into the grandslam final matches at Paris and Wimbledon against Nadal...

Well, perhaps this will be a sign of things to come... 4 straigt grand slam titles at Australia, Roland Garos, Wimbledon and US open next year taking his total tally to 17 and smashing Sampras record of 14 grandslams!!! as of now, the fed now holds 13 is on his own in the count just one behind Sampras and ahead of Tennis GREATS like Roy Emerson and Rod Laver

Well... only time will tell!!

We'll see no?

A Satisfying Saturday

2008-09-06T22:29:00.000-07:00

Today was a pretty nice day so i decided to blog abt it. Had to do some work in the morning cos we had to attend Uncle Edwin's 60th Birthday Party in the evening.

Mum drove Ben, Deb and I to Orchid County Club at around 6 pm cos the three of us were in charge of reception at the party. John and jackie told us what to do and we sat at the desk for the next 1 hour trying to be as friendly and entertaining as possible (which is a challenge!).

Just a little bit abt Uncle Edwin.

Edwin Peeris is my father's elder brother and third of the 5 kids grandma Peeris has. His wife's name is Christine and 3 children Jonathan, Jacqueline and Steven.

picture of them together...

The Party was scheduled to start at 6 30 but OBVIOUSLY, following Peeris Timing it was always going to start at 7 30. haha

anyway...

it was pretty nice with a nice buffet dinner and singing by the B'day boy and family all of whom are VERY talented musicians.

of course it goes without saying tt UNCLE EDWIN (one talented individual) had to perform songs using various instruments such as the guitar and the accordion. I must say they really sang well esp when the family performed together.

Uncle edwin on the guitar

on the accordion with wife christine

with son John

with sister Rita.

A lot of singing and singing along. My dad was actually asked to give a speech abt his brother cos they were always very close and did many things together when they were young. It's so WEIRD seeing your dad make a speech in public! but anyway... we'll done pops!

He was saying abt how U. Edwin never got angry (which is REALLY true cos i can NEVER remember him even raising his voice) and invented many things when he was young coming up with many weird car parts to improve it. But i guess tt's an INTERESTED enginner for you who loves his job. He also learned how to play all the different instruments on his own cos back then they had no such lessons.

some pictures from the party...

Deb, Steven and I

with cousins anthony and timothy

Benjamin

Cousin Cedric and daughter melissa

Mum and dad.

To make the day EVEN better....

Roger Federer turned on the heat to take out world no 3 Djokervic to make it to the finals of the US open. what an incredible win with some extraordinary shots from the Swiss Sorcerer.

AND...

Rafeal Nadal (the big butt-scratching Matador) seems to be on his way out after losing the first 2 sets to Andrew Murray before the rain came to cause play to be suspended. match will continue on Sunday afternoon. DONT MISS IT!!!

US OPEN

2008-09-02T01:57:00.000-07:00

The final GRAND SLAM of the season looks interesting enough. Impressive performances and COOL upsets. Major surprise so far...

World no one and top seed for the tournament is NOT Roger Federer (for the first time in like 4 yrs or something).

But i guess the Spanish Matador makes a suitable TEMPORARY world no 1. He's looking impressive issnt he! 1.85m tall and strong enough to take out a bull (with some armpit issues...) he's lookin good.

However, while the Matador has alr dropped a set in the tournament, the guy at the other end of the draw, Roger Federer, seems more impressive than ever by mopping the court with Radek Stepanek seemingly to prove a point to the tennis world that..-there are tennis players, good tennis players, REALLY good tennis players but only one Roger Federer. Impressive wins and brilliant shot making from the Swiss Sorcerer who is going to take his 5th consecutive US open title by mauling the Matador in the finals!

Sorry Rafa... Next tournament perhaps.

But... We'll see no?

50th wedding anniversary of Joseph and Beta Morais

2008-08-10T07:53:00.000-07:00

Wow! 50 years of marriage really is something. Well. Tt’s my aunt and uncle. 50 happy years together and still deeply in love. Haha.

First the mass, then a buffet dinner at the parish function hall at the St Vincent De Paul Church.

Of course the entire Peeris, Morais, D’cruz, Gomez, Fernandez, Lopez and Pereira clans were down for the occasion.

Food was good and so was the entertainment. Of course, we found our ways to keep ourselves entertained.

Took these photos…

Photo of my youngest cousins (Timothy Gerard and Anthony Jude aka…the Lopez brothers) together with my brother (Benjamin)….

Photo of Timothy and I….

Photo of them doing something funny…

Too bad I didn’t get any photos of the couple the night. But anyway…it was pretty enjoyable.

Another Original Lame Joke

2008-08-07T23:46:00.000-07:00

OKOK...

What do u call an expert fisherman?

Come on...

Think....

An expert fisherman is a...

Master-baiter!

HAHA!!

That was funny!!

Farewell Party and AJChoir Journey

2008-07-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

WOW! Yesterday’s farewell thingy was amazing. Really a great job by the J1s yesterday. Would like to thank all those involved in the planning of the event yesterday. We all REALLY did appreciated it.

Anyway… the part where we sat in a circle was really interesting. It really made me think of what EXACTLY was the MOST memorable thing that happened to me in AJChoir. Surprisingly, I really had problem thinking about what to say about that. In the end, I just couldn’t really say what I truly felt.

But that’s the BEUTY of a blog innit! You can always rite and say stuff without anyone interrupting you and, you can have all the time you have to think about what you want to say. SO… here is what I think of my journey with AJChoir.

Honestly speaking, the year 2007 was a very bad year for the choir. Hence, being a part of it last year was sometimes painful. The first setback was when we failed to capture Gold With Honours in the SYF. That was something that really upset many of the choir member ESPECIALLY the seniors and Mr Kwei.

Having No choral background, fitting into choir was much harder than I thought. Adapting to a CCA where people stood up for 2 or more hours was really hard especially when you come from a sport CCA like Badminton (which is the most fun game one can pick up!!) HAHA.

The concert was alright. Nothing went SERIOUSLY wrong…(forget about Vego!).

Personally, I never thought much of our achievement in Pattaya. Getting a Gold C when nearly everyone in the festival got one was pretty upsetting. I’m NOT saying we did badly in Pattaya…I just think that for ALL the time we spent practicing during the June Holidays, we deserved a little more than that. Preparing for Pattaya was really SICK. Back then, many of the practice sessions seemed unnecessary and singing the same songs OVER AND OVER again was REALLY frustrating and led to a very obvious loss of interest in ALL the songs. I think this can serve as a lesson… TOO MUCH practice is VERY VERY BAD! HAHA.

The opportunity cost (pardon my Econs terminology) of practicing for Pattaya EVERY single day of the June Hols was poor midyear grades.

There were a number of other setbacks that I encountered during my journey with the choir. I REALLY cannot remember how many times I wanted to quit choir. There were many days before SYF when I told Jon that I’d stop coming the next day. There were many more of those days before the Pattaya trip. Towards November, when Mr Lee offered to take me into the badminton squad, I really thought I’d quit.

The turning point for me was also in November after I became Tenor SL. That was pretty significant cos I really wanted a leadership position. It was pretty much easier from then on. Mario and I led the choir through caroling and that was pretty successful in my opinion.
Preparation for Riva Del Garda was very reasonable. I must say that Mr Kwei really was most instrumental in ensuring that practices were short and effective. His interpretations, vocal advice, conducting mastery and other CHOIR STUFF really made every practice effective.

When we finally won The RIVA competition, it was really incredible. It was the first I felt that the sacrifice all the choir members and music com members had made was finally justly rewarded.

There were MANY incredible memories from RIVA. Many new friends and other stuff…(which I mentioned in a previous post alr. So elaborating on all the memories from Italy will be redundant.)

Concert day was also Incredible. I was given a SOLO piece (being CURLY in Oklahoma) and that was truly and honour. There were no empty seats in the house and we really delivered an awesome performance which was DEFINITELY worth more than $16! HAHA.

Riva Del Garda and concert day 2008 were DEFINITELY the most memorable for me in AJChoir.

Making all these new friends in choir was also cool. My section is REALLY awesome and crazy…

Check out this gay photo of us….

Tenor Section comprises 14 crazy people... Colin, Kenneth, Jonathan, Guangjun, Yu huai, Jun Yang, Leon, Renzhi, David, Jia jun, Chin Hao, Perry, Zhian, Teng Hui. We really had some GREAT times together.

Women are ultimately their own enemy in their progress. How far is this true of women today?

2008-07-13T08:54:00.000-07:00

Over the years, the position of women in the hierarchy of power has changed drastically. From the very beginning of human existence where the sole role of women was to give birth and care for her young, to the modern day responsibilities that are now endowed upon new age women which are very similar to those of their male counterpart. However, the progress of women in society is often hindered by certain obstacles. Many a times, women themselves are to blame for their lack of progress in society.

Women today may lack the incentive to progress in society. Some may not find it necessary to climb further up the corporate ladder as many may be happy where they are. Today, women occupy many prestigious and highly ranking positions in companies such as executives and managers. An example of a woman who has climbed very high up the corporate ladder is Mrs Ho Ching who is the CEO of Temasek Holdings. Such women may have high incomes and comfortable lives. Thus, many of them can simply enjoy life and not fret about the progress for women. Hence women may not find it necessary to progress even further and become leaders of nations.

Some women may fear going against cultural norms. Some cultures and beliefs have been around for many centuries. Many women may still respect their cultures and therefore refuse to go against them. Going against a culture could bring shame to an individual as such an action may be frowned upon by some of their parents and elders. It is this passiveness that sometimes prevents women from aiming high and therefore, impedes their progress.

However, women are not always their own enemy in their progress. External factors such as religious and cultural beliefs can be blamed. Some religions may impede women’s progress in society. Many Westerners consider the idea of women wearing “tudungs” in the Islamic faith as a sign of oppression. Many therefore relate Islamic teachings with misogynistic ideas and philosophies. Christianity too has been subjected to such condemnation. The witch trials of medieval times where many innocent women were burnt at the stake after being accused of being “evil” is testimony of female oppression. Many even see the fact that many Christian groups do not allow female pastors and priests as a sign of prejudice in the religion. Hence, this is evidence that religions may impede the progress of women.

Cultural discrimination can also be seen in many cultures. In the Chinese culture, women are supposed to be at home and look after the family members. They are not advised to receive education. The traditional idea is that it is good for them to excel in the “women’s area of expertise” such as the arts, embroidery and other “feminine” activities. As such cultures may impose such ideas on women, they may end up obstructing the progress of women in society.

Stereotypes are still one of the main problems faced by women in today’s world. Women are thought not able to do many things that men can do. Not many people will associate women with professions such as professional wrestling, boxing and rugby. Many people also do not expect presidents and prime ministers to be women. Britain has only had one woman Prime Minister in history which was Margaret Thatcher.

Women today are emerging from the shadows of prejudice and other obstacles slowly but surely. Examples of women who are helping themselves to progress include Hillary Clinton who ran for presidency very recently and is still very involved in the political scene. Another example is Condoleezza Rice who is the United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor. Being such a powerful member of society serves as an inspiration to many women to demand complete gender equality and to progress further in society.

Gender equality is not a far-fetched idea. Women themselves have to push even harder and not hinder their own progress. They must push further and not be affected by other factors so that men and women can one day be seen as equals.

An Incredibly Lame Joke

2008-07-05T05:54:00.000-07:00

Came up with this incredibly lame one recently...

But you have to understand music theory to a certain degree to get this one...

okok...

here it is...

Question:

What is the most gay chord you can play on a piano...?

Ans:

The C-Chord.

Why...

The C-Chord is "So-Do-Mi" (Sodomy)!!!

HAHA!!GET IT!!

GP Outline

2008-07-04T07:15:00.000-07:00

3. Women are ultimately their own enemy in their progress. How far is this true of women today?

YES OWN ENEMY

Women today may lack the incentive to progress.

Not find it necessary to climb up the corporate ladder as many may be happy where they are.
Today women may occupy prestigious places in companies such as executives and managers. Ho Ching is the CEO of Temasek Holdings. This is an example of a women who holds a high ranked position in the corporate world.
They may also have high incomes and comfortable lives and able husbands thus they can enjoy life and not fret about progress for women.
Hence they may not find it necessary to progress further and become leaders of the nation.

Fear to Go against cultural norm

Some Cultures have been around for a long time. Many women may still respect their cultures and therefore refuse to go against them. It is this passiveness that prevents women from aiming high and thus, women cannot progress much.

EXTERNAL FACTORS

Religious…

Islam-Many Westerners find that the idea of women wearing “tudungs” is a sign of oppression. Many relate Islamic teachings with misogynistic ideas and philosophies.
Christianity-Witch Trials
-Women may not allowed to be pastors and priests.
Hence this is evidence that religions may impede woman’s progress.

Cultural
Discrimination

Women are supposed to be at home and look after the family members.
They are not advised to receive education. The traditional idea is that it’s good for them to excel in the “women’s area of expertise” such as the arts, embroidery, or they will mess up the order of society. That’s why they are not supposed to be smarter than men.

Stereotypes

Women are thought not able to do some things…
Pro Wrestling, boxing, rugby…
Many people do not expect presidents and prime ministers to be women. Britain has only had one Woman PM (Margaret Thatcher)

NO
Some women are helping themselves to progress.
Hillary Clinton and her presidency candidacy: Condoleezza Rice.

Studies are...

2008-06-18T04:24:00.000-07:00

Wow! June Holidays REALLY is all about "mugging" and WASTING time in front of books. I use the word "wasting" to suggest that i think studying is pointless. One famous quote that i love to REPEAT over and over again is "the more you study, the more you have to study" which is kinda true if u think abt it carefully innit!

To all my "mugger" friends out there, i've only got this to say...
"Sleep lost is lost forever, exams can always be repeated next year"

I think the idea of a study time table is just really crazy. I dont think anyone really follow their's. Personally, I just cant follow the darn thing. I've had to remove so many things from my timetable and add even more things just to make revision more effective. So in the end...I just decided to forget about the whole idea! Good luck to all you CRAZILY disciplined people!

I've been working my butt off trying to catch up with school work and I think i can now PROUDLY say that I've caught up with my H2 econs thanks to much help from my wonderful Econs Tutor Mr Kenneth Teo. He really is an inspiring teacher even though he's not REALLY a certified teacher and is only 21 yrs old. I think that really enables him to make lessons so much more interesting using all kinds of CRAZY means to explain concepts. Now I actually enjoy econs the most!!! (never thought i'd ever say that)

I've only recently REALLY started REALLY working on my Maths but progress seems to be great with Mum piling on the pressure. Should be finished with the TYS and REV questions for the pure Math pretty soon.

Physics seems to be going ok. Read through the lecture notes a couple of times, and practised some questions. So physics should be fine.

That just leaves my weakest subject... CHEMISTRY. Dunno why I HATE chem so much when i used to love it in secondary school. I've not done much practise for chem at all and i dont intend to do much more before the mid yrs. Have already read through the notes a couple of times so we'll just see how it goes this time...

But overall...revision's going ok!

Gosh... Blogging about your progress sure is a GREAT way to boost your confidence and see what you need to do!

Italy Adventure

2008-06-05T20:19:00.000-07:00

strong>Italian Adventure

Thursday(in Singapore)

Mum and Dad took me to the airport at around 9 30 pm. I went earlier to meet the amazing tenors early for supper and to explore terminal 3. However, (tenors being tenors) only 3 of them were there at around the time. So Lawson, Yu Huai and I walked around T3 looking for something interesting.

We checked in all the luggage at around 10 30 and cleared customs shortly after. After that, I had free time to spend with my fellow members of group 2. My fantastic group consisted Jonathan (aka no. 16), Jia Jun (aka Darth Revan), Leon (aka British India), Cindy (whose nick name we haven’t come up with) and Melissa (aka Korea if i’m not wrong).

Catholic High School Choir was also there and I had time to interact with some of the CRAZY people from there. We had supper at Burger King and had time to chat and watch aeroplanes taking off.

We met at the holding room at 12 30 am to board the plane. Colin being Colin just had to run around and take random photos of random people. (perhaps he tried a LITTLE too hard to become the next bosty). We boarded the plane at around 1 am.
Shortly after that, the plane took off and we were on our way.

The plane ride was pretty interesting for me as it was my first time taking Emirates. It was a four hour flight to Dubai. Can’t really remember exactly what interesting things happened on the flight there (such as the names of the unfortunate people that sat beside me throughout the ride).

We reached Dubai airport safely for a 3 hour transit. Really had nothing to do other than tune in to the local radio channels (which were pretty awesome). We flew off from Dubai after around 3 hours. On the trip there, members were practising some of the competition pieces on their own.

It was pretty nice to see members putting in effort to get their notes right and stuff.

Some of the passengers and flight attendants wanted us to sing a song which we eventually did. We sang NO IMPORTA LA DISTANCIA (surprise surprise!) our choir song.

We reached Mpenza airport at around 12pm (Friday in Italy). Got ourselves sorted out rather quickly and made our way to the buses. We reached the Ibis Hotel at around 1 pm. The weather there was GREAT (not too hot not too chilly). We had small group practice from 2 30 onwards.

My group was really good and there wasn’t much for me to do. Had some really great singers such as Cici, Cindy, Yu Huai, Darryl, Seniors and many more. (REALLY lucky to get that group) Mr Kwei liked our group quite a bit when he heard us but told us to work on some things. We stopped practice slightly before 6 pm to get ready for lunch.

We left the hotel at around 6 pm. It was around a 20 minute bus ride to the restaurant. The weather was pretty chilly at night. There we had a really great 3 course Italian dinner.

After dinner, we made our way back to the hotel.

16 and I finally had time to “inspect” our room. After a quick shower and conversation with my ALIEN roommate, I went to sleep.

Saturday(in Italy)

I woke up pretty early and MADE sure Johnny woke up shortly after since I just could not sit still (must have been the Prednisolone).

We went down for breakfast after Johnny was ready. The food down at the dining area was great. After breakfast, I met up with my group again to work on some things for a while.

Shortly after that, we had to leave for a rehearsal hall in another hotel. On the bus, I met up with Mario who seemed to have lost his voice and sounded like a bass. (How naughty of Mario to not take care of his voice!!!!)

After a short practice in the rehearsal room, we went for lunch. We wandered around the area around the hotel where we had rehearsal. The view was pretty good with a beautiful lake nearby.

We had lunch at some restaurant. (the people there didn’t speak English so we had much time to work on our sign language) I had lasagne.

After that, we walked around for some time before rushing back to the meeting point. Had time to pick up Gelato on the way there.

We left for the Duomo after that. The bus trip there was around half an hour long. We had time to walk around the area. Some choir members started walking in a direction so I and Jon decided to follow.

After some time, Jon and I met up with our group and we headed for a castle that looked pretty impressive. We got there and had time to take a couple of photos and explore the castle. We soon had to quickly head back to the meeting point.

We took the bus to another Italian restaurant for dinner. After that, we headed back to the hotel. I fell asleep pretty early.

Sunday

We woke up early for breakfast. We got packed really quickly and went down to meet the others. We then left on the 2 hour bus ride to Riva Del Garda (small town near Verona).

The bus journey there was great especially when we were approaching Riva. Many valleys, rivers and a real great view of Lake Garda from the mountains.

We stopped over at the Hotel to put our stuff down. It was really a GREAT hotel and by far the best European hotel i’ve been to. (SERIOUSLY!!). The view from outside of the mountains was really breathtaking.

After all that, we took the bus to an area near the lake. From there, my group walked around looking for a place for lunch. We walked by the lake and took some photos of the area.

It was pretty cold there since it WAS right next to a lake.

We quickly went back to the hotel and had practice for the competition and opening ceremony (which we were to perform in that night). Practice was small groups and we didn’t have much to work on again. So we stopped after some time.

Many of the guys were coming to our room to borrow the iron (which Hazel-the sop with the oversized cranium- had brought along) so there was a lot of ironing going on in our room.

We had dinner rather early in the hotel itself. Again it was 3 course Italian dinner.

At around 6 pm, we took a bus to the competition venue. The competition venue was a church. The hall was pretty large and grand. There we had some time to practice all the competition pieces as well as the pieces for the opening ceremony.

The session was not really up to Mr Kwei’s standards as he flared out and gave the entire choir a SERIOUS shelling. In my opinion, it was a good move as the choir sounded very much more impressive and stronger after they were given “incentive”.
We sat back down after the practice session and waited to perform for the opening ceremony.

Everyone was pretty disorientated so the choir for the first time in a long time became VERY quiet. We performed Idemdem(which wasn’t too bad) and Sigulempong(which wasn’t good at all).

After the ceremony, we made our way back to the hotel. Mr Kwei spoke to the choir in the rehearsal room for some time before releasing the choir. Everyone went back to their rooms early that night.

Jon went up first while I went up for an exco meeting in one of the rooms. The music co had a really long but weird meeting about members, our songs, future plans, problems in our sections and with the songs before calling it a night. I reached my room at around 11 pm. Jon was already half asleep so I had a quick shower and went to bed.

Monday (competition Day)

I woke up early again and had breakfast in the hotel dining area. The stuff was really good. The atmosphere was still rather quiet.

After breakfast, Tenors had quick sectionals followed by a quick “Tenor talk”.
After that, Jon and I rushed down to the room to get ready for competition.

After both of us were dressed, we went down for lunch in the dining area of the hotel. We had to finish lunch really quickly as we had to leave by 2 pm.

A bus took us there. We warmed up in a room behind the performing area then made our way to the back stage area to wait our turn. NJC was performing before us.

After NJ had made their way off stage, we took our positions on stage. The feeling was really great and I was really excited. We presented our 4 song: Cantate Domino, Owls, Kucinta and Kasar mie lagaji.

From where I was and from what I could hear from stage, we performed very well and seemed to peak at the right moment as it was one of our best performances (so right place right time!). I particularly enjoyed Cantate Domino (which was sung really well in my opinion) and Kasar (which had real emotion and power).

After our performance, we sat down and listened to other performances. Everyone was rather pleased with the performance. We made our way back to the hotel at around 6 pm.

On the bus, some of the tenors and I listened to the recording of Cantate Domino. It was pretty impressive and even Mr Kwei seemed to be happy with the performance.

Back at the Hotel, we had Italian dinner again. After that, we had a little party where we played some ice-breaking games. The party was stopped at around 10 pm and everyone went back to their rooms (or at least MOST of us did...)

I went to sleep after talking to Jon for some time. It was rather late when we went to bed as we were quite excited.

Tuesday

I woke up at around 8 am. Had breakfast followed by sectionals at around 9 30. Worked on Water Night interpretation and some of the other problems.

At around 11 30, we combined with the AMAZING ALTOS. Zongyi and Kenneth took the sectionals and worked on some problems.

After that, we were free to go out for lunch and explore Riva Del Garda on our own from around 12 pm to 5 pm. I met up with my group mates and walked from the hotel to the lake. We had lunch at a restaurant near the lake. The weather was colder (really was a loser move lending my jacket to Zheng Kai!)

We walked around the area near the lake and took some photos. Being the adventurous bunch that they were, my group decided to climb one of the mountains and explore a structure which we could see on the mountain.

We walked rather quickly taking photos on the way. Jia Jun had abandoned us (that loser!) so it was just Jon, Leon, Melissa, Cindy and I. The view from the top was awesome. There was even a picnic area on the way up. There wasn’t anyone around the area other than a few bikers and other people.

Italian Adventure

We took 30 minutes to reach the structure. I took some incredible photos from the top.

After playing around on the mountain for a while, we made our way down the mountain rather quickly. Had to reach the competition venue by 5 pm.

When we reached the town, we bumped into other choir members and the teachers. We all made our way to the church.

We listened to some really strong choirs perform. At around 6 pm, we walked back to the hotel as a choir. (was really glad to get my jacket back). The weather was rather chilly but the walk back was fun.

Dinner was at around 7 30pm. After dinner, Jon and I went back to the room and discussed stuff. We had some biscuits for supper and sat outside the room on the balcony looking out at the mountains. We had a nice chat before finally hitting the hay. It was really a great day!

Wednesday

I woke up at around 8 am. Had breakfast followed by sectionals with the basses for water night until around 11 am.

Combined was from 11 am to 11 30 am. Mr Toh announced (while trying REALLY hard to add in a little drama) that we had made it to the grand finals. It was a great feeling as it meant that we were Category Champions!

Mr Kwei addressed the choir and told us about his idea for Idemdem choreo. It was really cool but we had no time to practise it on stage. We were given the lunch break to think of 3 different posses (injured or crying).

We had a quick lunch at the same restaurant as the first day. I walked to the lake on my own to get a last look at the lake and to take some photos.

We reached the hotel at 1 30 pm and started practice with Mr Kwei. The choreo for Idemdem was really great.

After practice, Jon and I went back to the room and had a quick nap until around 5 pm. I felt really refreshed!

We got dressed quickly and made our way down for dinner by 6pm. We left for the competition venue at 7pm using a bus Cat High had rented. The guys left first (cos we were ready earlier).

As the church was locked when we arrived, we didn’t have time to practise our choreo for Idemdem. We only had around a minute to rush on stage and get our positioning set.

After that, we sat down and listened to the performances by the other category champions. We were the 6th choir to perform and we did a pretty good job. I particularly enjoyed Idemdem as the choreo just seemed to surprise and impress the audience. Performing Idemdem was really GREAT.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEAqhWuYwPQ (think we sounded pretty good!)

After our performance, we sat down and listened to the last choir from Norway.
After the performances and a meeting with the conductors, the organisers were finally ready to release the results. The MCs really made the entire thing dramatic trying to keep everyone in suspense.

RESULTS: AJChoir won the Category Championship (which was what we aimed for), the audience price (a bonus) and the OVERALL GRAND CHAMPIONSHIP! (which really was a surprise!)

The choir really celebrated. People were jumping on chairs and doing all sorts of stuff...

We went up to receive the Grand Prize. Stood in a circle and sang NO IMPORTA LA DISTANCIA. It was REALLY a great experience.

As we walked back to the hotel, everyone was still very happy and jumping around making noise. The walk back was really great as everyone felt good.

Personally, to have done this well in such a prestigious competition was truly a great experience for me. Doing MUCH better than we expected REALLY made all the sacrifice and effort worth it. It was REALLY a wonderful and magical night.
When we reached the hotel, I took a bath and met the rest of the choir in the rehearsal room at around 10 pm for PARTY!!

We ate, took photos, talked and played around until around 1 am. It was so cool. Everyone really had fun. Jon and I were one of the last to leave. I packed my bags quickly and went to bed.

Thursday

I woke up VERY early to watch the sunrise.

I had some pretty incredible shots of the sun appearing from behind the mountains from outside the hotel. It was pretty cold in the morning. Walked around the area taking photos of just about anything. (Mario was supposed to meet me there but clearly he had better things to do such as OVERSLEEP!)

Went down for breakfast at around 7 30am. Mr Kwei, Wan Zhun and Yi Zhen were the first 3 people down. I had a slow breakfast and talked to some of the people that came down.

When Jon finally came down and had his breakfast, we could go up and bring our bags down to the lobby.

We left the hotel at around 8 40 am and were on our way to Venice. The bus ride was incredible. Had really fantastic shots of Largo Del Garda. Learned how to use semi-falsetto from Mr Kwei. (which would have been PRETTY useful 24 hours earlier).

For the rest of the journey, I just hung out with my “Gorgeous Choir Gang” (as Zongyi calls it) members. Always is fun to hang out with the lot. Took some gay shots at the back of the bus such as one with Hazel’s hat on.

We had a short stop over...

then continued on the journey.

Reached Venice pretty quickly after travelling for less than 2 hours.

We took a ferry to Venice. The ferry ride was pretty incredible. I took photos of the water and the islands and of the buildings in the area.

It took us 20 mins to get to St Mark’s square. We were left to wander around the place, have lunch and then meet back at 2 pm.

I took many photos in St Mark’s square and the area around it together with the light house and Cathedral. We had some sort of sandwiches for lunch then continues walking around the place.

There were many gondolas over there and i took many photos of them. There was even one gondola driver that was singing while rowing his boat. (so cool)
The bridges, waterways and alleys were just amazing just like one of those movies based in Italy.

We met at St Mark’s square and proceeded on the guided tour. The tour guide explained the history of Venice (take note: it’s bad luck to stand between the 2 columns in St Mark’s square since people used to be executed there) the tour guide had to share that with us AFTER we had picked that place as a meeting point.
We walked through Venice.

I even got to see the place where they filmed a scene from Casino Royale.

We ended the tour with a glass blowing demonstration.

We had quite a lot of free time after the tour which I spent walking around taking random photos. I even picked up a cool clock and an embroidered cloth with a scene of Venice on it.

When we headed back to mainland Italy, the sun was setting. Managed to take some majestic shots of the sun setting over Venice.

We headed for a Chinese restaurant for dinner. Chinese food there is a lot different from the kind in Singapore.

After dinner, we went to the Vienna Hotel to spend the night. Many of the choir people were not really happy with the accommodation there and complained of smells and stuff.

That night, Jon and I fell asleep in Mario and Guang Jun’s room as their room was so big and we were just too tired to go back to our room.

Friday

We woke up a little late the next morning and went down with our stuff together with Guang Jun and Mario. We had very little time for breakfast so we ate very quickly.

After loading everything into the bus, we were on our way. The ride to Florence was around 4 hours long. I took many photos of the countryside, mountains, rivers and stuff.

Went to hang out with the gang at the back since Mario was boring.

The first thing we saw in Florence was the statue of David on the top of the hill. The statue was big.

I got many great shots of Florence from the top of the hill. The view was pretty good.

We took the bus down and stopped next to a river. I found the river pretty interesting and got a few shots of it.

We walked for around 15 mins through Florence.

We got to a square where we were released for free time and lunch. Took some shots of the cathedral overlooking the square.

We had something light to eat. I walked around looking at some of the shops in the area. Many of the shopkeepers were immigrants to Italy from countries such as the US and Iran.

We had a guided tour through Florence. We saw the tomb of Michael Angelo (which was in a cathedral) as well as many cool statues.

In the Duomo, Mr Kwei got the entire choir to sing Cantate Domino at the centre of the Cathedral. Many people stopped to watch and were pretty impressed.

However, we had to stop half way as one of the officials came over to tell us that they were having confession service-since it was around GOOD FRIDAY and EASTER PERIOD-and we could not sing.

Although we could not finish our song, the feeling of singing such a song in the middle of a cathedral where such songs used to be sung a long time ago was really a great experience.

It started to rain when we were released outside the Duomo for free time. We had quite a lot of free time to kill (4pm to 6pm).

Mario and I went to stalk Mr Kwei to see what he was up to. When he caught us tailing him, we decided to accompany him since all the other choir members were out of sight. He bought ice cream and we continued walking around the area. We went into leather shops, supermarkets and any place that seemed interesting. I managed to buy a nice shirt with the works of Michael Angelo on it.

As the rain got heavier, we decided to enter a fashion shop and take shelter. We sat down in a corner, bought drinks and just talked. We discussed choir issues and listened to some of Mr Kwei’s interesting choir stories.

After that, we made our way back to the Duomo and reached there at around 6 pm.

We had dinner at a Chinise restraint which was around the area. Food was OK and similar to the food in the other Chinese restaurant. The restaurant was nice and warm inside and a good place to rest.

After dinner, we walked back to the bus. It was raining heavily and this caused much confusion. Erin had sprained her ankle and she had to limp at the back of the group slowly while some teachers and friends helped her out. The entire group was separated and I happened to be in the group at the back so I spent some time figuring out how to get back.

I walked in front with Mr Kwei barking out some instructions to people in the group. Mr Toh and Chee Guan took turns carrying Erin while Samuel and Mario were at the back together with Mrs Yim. We spent around half an hour in the cold rain before we finally reached the bus.

(It was a really good thing that both teachers, Mr Kwei, Chee Guan and so many helpful choir members were there to help us out. Even Mr Leow Zhen Kai lent a helping hand to carry our injured friend AFTER Mr Toh had carried her up the slope and was 30 meters away from the bus! Mr Toh had some choice words for Mr Leow)

When we reached the hotel, Jonathan (Ang) and Shermaine had Asthma attacks and paramedics had to be called in. That made the day pretty much worse.

I spent the night watching TV and talking to Johnny. We went to sleep pretty early.

Saturday

We woke up at around 8 30 am and quickly went down with Mario and GJ. We were down at 9 15 and only had a few minutes to eat. After a quick breakfast, we rushed into the bus and were on our way.

The bus ride was 4 hours long again with one stopover. Again, it was as interesting as any bus ride as the other people on the bus were interesting. I just talked to some people on the bus.

Being AJchoir, some songs were sung on board the bus.

It started to rain on the way to ROME. We entered Rome at around 1 pm. It was a familiar sight and I recognised many of the landmarks (having been there a year ago) such as River Tiber, Castle Santangelo and St Peter’s Basilica.

We were dropped off outside Vatican city and given until 6pm to explore the area.

I followed my group into St Peter’s Basilica (the outside).

The square was REALLY big with 2 fountains and an Obelisk in the centre. I took some quick photos of the area. We decided to have lunch first at a nearby place. It was drizzling a little.

After lunch, we walked to the River Tiber. There I took some photos of the river and the Castle Santangelo. After some time, we walked back to the Basilica buying holy water bottles on the way to collect Holy water from the Basilica.

We intended to fill up the bottles with Holy Water (Water blessed by some Christian Pastors that still follow the practice) from the sacristie.

We met He Zongyi, Hazel and You ying on the way back. We all joined the long line that seemed to be the queue entering the Basilica. As the queue wasn’t getting any shorter, I ran to the front and found out from one of the padres over there that the Basilica would not be opened until Holy Saturday Mass which was at around 7 pm.
I ran back to the group and explained the sad news.

I decided that we should fill the bottles with water from the fountains instead. (Colin figured that since the Pope blessed the square during Mass, the water too should be blessed and therefore, it’s HOLY water innit!)

We decided to walk to the Sistine Chapel just to see the area. When we found out that the chapel was closed, we decided to go for ICE CREAM instead.

The group was separated. I followed the Gang.

It was around 5 30 pm so we decided to head back to the meeting place. We made a stopover at St Peter’s again since Zongyi needed to use the washroom REALLY badly!

I continued the walk back with the GANG and at some point decided to try something spastic and interlock arms and walk.

We all met up at around 6 pm and were ready to go for dinner. We had dinner at another Chinese restaurant.

After Dinner, we took the bus to our Hotel which was Hotel Iblis. One half of the choir was put in Iblis while the other half was in another Hotel.

The hotel was pretty nice just outside the city centre. The Hotel room was also cool.
As we had nothing to do, we met some of the choir members in the corridor and talked some rubbish.

(the most unpleasant thing that happened to me was when my nail broke off after one of my FRIENDS and Gang mates jumped on my foot with her BIG BOOTS while trying to stop a door from closing)

We went around “visiting” people in their rooms. At one point, Jon walked in on GJ in the toilet which made GJ want to kill both Jon and Mario.

I went over to hang out with the sops for a while in Karen and Thilaiga’s room. It was really a gossip session with some INTERESTING stories.

After that, Jon, Mario and I met up at around 10 pm to “visit” Mr Kwei. It was a more than interesting conversation with the “Lord of Gossip”! We hung out with him for some time before making our way back to our rooms.

We talked for a while then went to bed.

Sunday

We woke up early for the city tour. Breakfast in the hotel was GREAT with a lot of cool stuff.

We took a bus into Rome City centre and started off with the Colloseum. We walked around the area for a while, listened to the guide, took photos and then explored the area.

It started to rain rather heavily. I used my jacket hood to stay dry. Kenneth and I were the only 2 without umbrellas so we borrowed Mr Kwei’s extra umbrella and used it.

We passed by statues of Roman emperors and famous warriors. There was a series of maps showing the expansion of the Roman Empire over the centuries.

When the rain got really heavy, we took shelter in a museum.

We used the toilet there then continued walking to the Trevi fountain (didn’t take any photos as the rain was too heavy). We were allowed to wander off.

I had lunch in an Italian restaurant with Mario. After lunch, we walked to the Trevi fountain to take photos. The rain had stopped.

We met up at around 2 pm and continued the tour. We only got to the top of the Spanish steps when the teachers decided to cut short the trip and head back.

We walked to the bus. I took as many photos of the city as possible. We went back to the hotel and were back there by around 3 30 pm.

Had plenty of time to hang out with friends. I hung out in Karen and Thilaiga’s room with the gang to chat. We had some interesting topics to talk about. Thilaiga introduced us all to this neat prediction card game which seemed to be fairly accurate.

We had to meet up at around 6 pm to proceed for Dinner. We went to a fancy Italian restaurant and had a wonderful Italian dinner there (our last one).

After dinner, we went back to the bus and were on our way back when Cheryl realised that she had left her passport in the restaurant. Some people accompanied Mrs Yim and Cheryl back to the restaurant to look for the passport. After around half an hour, they returned empty handed. It was a very unfortunate incident. We made our way back to the hotel and had time to move around.

Jon, Mario and I went to hang out with Mr Kwei again. Again, gossip session was cool and “enlightening” we made our way back to our rooms at around 12 am and slept rather early.

Monday

We woke up early and had breakfast.

Jon and I went up to pack our bags and were ready to go. Had quite a lot of time before 12 pm so we could again chat.

Went to Karen and Thilaiga’s room again to meet the same group of people.

We left for the airport at around 12 15pm. Had lot of time to walk around the airport.

We had lunch on our own then made our way to the holding room (which was quite a distance away). The flight was delayed.

The flight to Dubai was interesting with the “Gang” and all having time to chat and discuss “stuff” as we were all sitting next to each other. The ride was pretty fun.
We arrived in Dubai airport at around 2 am dubai time and waited for around 2 hours for the flight back to Singapore. We had time to walk around the airport and do nothing.

We were on our way back at around 5 am after more delays. Everyone was rather tired so many of us just slept on the plane while others just watched in-flight movies.
We had a stopover in Colombo for around half an hour then continued our journey back.
We arrived at Singapore Changi Airport at around 5 30 pm. We cleared customs and I picked up some beer for Dad in the duty free shop.

Mum and Dad were waiting there and it was pretty great to see everyone there. After much hugging and crying, we sang No Importa and then took a group photo.

It was officially the end of a truly incredible adventure.

Some personal thoughts

I truly believe that this trip was full of everything. It was the first time being overseas in Europe with people outside the family. It was really the best 13 days of my life and I REALLY, REALLY learned to love the choir and its members. Winning the entire competition was really an unexpected thing but was a brilliant surprise and made the trip even more worth it.

I’m truly grateful for this opportunity and the heavy subsidies from the school. I will never forget this incredible adventure and the experience with AJChoir and all the friends I’ve made though her.

Pre Riva Del Garda Prep Talk.

2008-03-11T07:21:00.000-07:00

Hey tenors,

Please be at the airport by 10 30 pm on Thursday. Remember to bring your passports and your choir uniform, shoes, tie etc. Dont forget ANYTHING.

There will be no further practices so u guys can have a well deserved rest.

However, you may have realised tt choir prac on the 11th didnt go so well. Mr Kwei has described the song as a disaster waiting to happen. So i appeal to u to take some time (not too much) to go over the song. Remeber to learn up the dynamics for all the song esp this one where the dynamics is so very important.

Lastly, Mr Kwei so often stresses on the importance of focus when u sing. Just to give u an idea of how focused u have to be whenever u sing EACH song, this is a checklist of stuff u have to make sure u're doing when using EACH song...

1. Pitching. Pitch each note perfectly remembering all your notes. Dont go flat or sharp. Think about the note and think high and low where u need to. (esp for CANTATE and Owls)

2. Blending. Listen not only to the other Tenors but to all the other choir members. Follow the tones tt we have been going thru during pracs.

3. Emotions. Rember how u are to sing every system in each song. Use the trailer idea if u need to. u MUST make sure tt every note is crafted and tt emotions are conveyed with every phrase. TT sld be ideal.

4. Dynamics. Dynamics can be SUPER important for songs like Owls. Without dynamics, Owls wld just be another lame song.

5. Watch the conductor. Follow Mr Kwei's timing AND expressions.

6. Tone and sound projection. Remeber the operatic tone, the nasal tone and use it where nec. Remember to project your voice upwards AT ALL TIMES. Use your diaphragm and keep your tongue at the bottom of your mouth. Dont let it get in the way.

7. Support your sound at ALL TIMES. Your back muscles and stomach muscles must be tight.

Follow these 7 steps and u shld be safe and our chance of going far are pretty high.

If you have any coments to add, pls feel free to do so.
Also, Please leave a comment in the comment box so tt i'd know tt u visited this blog.

Thanks.

Kasar

2008-02-16T07:13:00.001-08:00

boomp3.com

"The mother of revolution and crime is poverty"(Aristotle)

2007-08-14T07:22:00.001-07:00

The phrase "money is the root of all evil" is all too commonly used today. This phrase supports the theory that all evil in the world stems from the greed of Man and the human desire for wealth and riches. The phrase implies that Man will go as far as to do evil things in order to gain this wealth and money.

History has shown how people have done extraordinarily evil things to achieve certain goals. Human greed is the fuel that drives people to do selfish and terrible things. For example, President Marcos of the Philippines amassed a personal fortune by plundering the Philippine treasury. As one gains money, it is only natural for him to desire more. This show the human lust for wealth that cannot be satisfied.

However, when do people commit crimes such as theft and robbery? The answer is pretty simple. A person will normally take up a life of crime out of desperation. The need to obtain money to pay for his basic necessities is enough to drive him to do virtually anything.

Examples of poverty causing revolution are easy to find. The Russian Revolution against Tsar Nicholas in the year 1905 is one such example. The peasant population of Russia were discontented with the Tsar because of the poverty that was plaguing the country. This poverty turned the people against their leader causing a revolution. Hence, poverty is the mother of revolution.

How often do you come across a millionaire stealing a pen or robbing a bank? As such an incident would be rather rare, one can say that the saying "money is the root of all evil" should be changed to "no money is the root of all evil" as it is the human will to live that drives people to do things that are considered evil in order to obtain what they need for survival. Poverty is a cause of money-related evils and hence, it is the mother of crime.

In the context of Singapore’s multi-racial society, where there is cultural and religious pluralism, which author’s view do you think should be adopte

2007-07-02T04:46:00.000-07:00

Both authors have their points. Both their ideas are valid and should be considered when setting limits or restrictions to press freedom.
Singer’s view of unlimited press freedom is logical and is probably the ideal stance in a democratic nation. Press freedom together with freedom of speech is a basic part of democracy. Singer gives an unbiased view that he as a Jew is against the imprisonment of a man who offends the Jewish people. While Singer opposes the view, he believes that Irving is entitled to his own views and that he should not be imprisoned. Singer also feels that the publishers of the offensive cartoons against Islam should not be stopped and that they have a right to publish whatever they want.
I feel that people are entitled to their own views and should be able to express their views no matter how offensive they are towards peoples of other races and religions. While people should not be too sensitive and take offence too easily by slight provocations by ignorant individuals who show little consideration for others, they should also not abuse this right. By allowing press freedom, people will have to be more mature about what they write in newspapers. They cannot simply write nonsensical articles such as ridiculous claims such as the denial of the holocaust or articles designed to stir up hatred and tension between peoples of different races and religions.
However, Szilagyi is also correct as the press should also be socially responsible. But can the press be socially responsible even without the influence of laws and restrictions to their rights? Well that pretty much depends on the level of maturity in a particular society. In some European countries, some people still show immature and foolish behaviour by provoking others with their absurd views and prejudices. However in America, the number of occurrences whereby offensive articles have been published is somewhat less. This is probably due to the level of maturity in society and the fact that the USA is a very cosmopolitan and that all the peoples of different races are relatively integrated.
Singapore however is a very small nation and any sort of offensive article could stir up a lot of problem. Given that Singapore has a high population density, social tension can spread very quickly. As such, in a small country such as Singapore where racial stability is fragile and that any sort of racial tension can have devastating effects, the press has to be given restrictions and limitations and made to be more socially responsible.