A simple gift to all my friends and loved ones. A little pitchy here and there... but enjoy it nevertheless yeah? Merry Christmas!

When I'm 64 by the Beatles from the movie Yellow Submarine

When I get older, losing my hair
Many years from now
Will you still be sending me a Valentine
Birthday greetings, bottle of wine?

If I'd been out till quarter to three
Would you lock the door?
Will you still need me,
will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty-four?

oo oo oo oo oo oo oo oooo
You'll be older too, (ah ah ah ah ah)
And if you say the word,
I could stay with you.

I could be handy, mending a fuse
When your lights have gone
You can knit a sweater by the fireside
Sunday mornings, go for a ride.

Doing the garden, digging the weeds
Who could ask for more?
Will you still need me,
will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty-four?

Every summer we can rent a cottage
In the Isle of Wight, if it's not too dear
We shall scrimp and save
Grandchildren on your knee:
Vera, Chuck, and Dave

Send me a postcard, drop me a line
Stating point of view
Indicate precisely what you mean to say
Yours sincerely, Wasting Away.

Give me your answer, fill in a form
Mine for evermore
Will you still need me,
will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty-four?

Xiaogou, u can send your mass sms on Mambo for tomorrow, tonight.

Lawrence laughs heartily on the way home.

Satisfied.

In 花樣年華, there’s a scene where So Lai Chen makes a remark about her boss’s tie. The implication of the story behind the tie actually parallels the secret affair So Lai Chen’s husband is carrying on behind her back. Her boss appeared surprised when So Lai Chen made the remark. She replied, “細心是可以感覺到的。”

Since falling in love with the movie, I’ve learnt to open my eyes to see the smaller things. And I’ve realised that some of the most life affirming experiences are the small things. Not flash in the pan fireworks. In Up, Russell the eager beaver wilderness explorer said something to the same effect too. Though it may seem ridiculous that all he could remember was the mundane stuff. Yet, the small things touch the heart at its core.

The small things are like dots. When you connect the dots, you see the big picture. And suddenly, everything seems to make sense. I can't wait for the long weekend to begin. Here's early holiday wishes for all who still read my livejournal.

Hmm...... today is the last working day reporting to my current boss. He will be on leave till the new year where i will be reporting to a new boss.

Current boss is getting a promotion of sorts. He will be heading a newly merged division with a headcount 3 times more than this current division.

Kinda sad cos i have already settled into a comfortable working relationship with him already. I know when he will say yes, and when he will say no. I know how to pre-empt his decisions and pass down instructions in his absence. He is a bit of a slave-driver but then again, i think that has gotten him to where he is today.

That day went Mustafa change money...... they only got THB500 notes >.< makes me feel like a Thai Ah Long

"My heart is bleeding profusely when i made the purchase". Indeed I wonder, whose bleed more. It was like Merchant of Venice enacted before me - I feel like Shylock asking for someone's pound of flesh. Poor me.

It is wonderful. Gosh.

It will be insightful if we watch "A Christmas Carol". I can't help thinking how delightful it will be to watch Ebenezer Scrooge. Alas we have to watch "Princess and the Frog", and be reminded that even frogs are romantic enough to place symbollic items in cute walnut shells.

Oh oh oh.

I'm not going to spoil it all by saying something stupid like "I love you."

People who get drunk... gosh... scary lah.

The waiting hall was filled with an assortment of people. The dot matrix board flashed 7786. I was surprised the Immigration Office could be so packed on a weekday afternoon. How come these people did not have to be at work? The chairs were completely filled. I found an empty corner and burrowed inside with a book.

The air of the waiting hall was saturated with dull chattering. Conversations of various people blended together like non descript elevator music. For once, I didn't feel agitated by the crowd. Instead, I had assimilated myself into the crowd as just another number without a face. I saw a woman so fat her joints were barely visible. Old ladies clung to their maids like weeds on walls. The numbers on the board crawled slowly. I got hungry and decided there was probably enough time to catch lunch. There were 200 queue numbers ahead of me so I guessed a short absence would make no difference.

I chewed my broccoli from a salad box on a park bench behind the Immigration Office. It was a cool and overcast afternoon and my lunch was enjoyable. The chicken tasted juicer and better than usual. My mother must have seasoned it with garlic this time which added an unusual tang to the the flavour. I made a mental note to compliment my mother after I got home. That way, I could enjoy chicken like this more often. I sat and ate facing a shallow canal. Fortunately, there was no stink. The light emerald of the undisturbed surface of the water calmed me somewhat. I've always been drawn to large bodies of water. And people born under water signs have always drawn me to them.

Water nurtures Earth.
Earth gives life.
Life is sustained by water.

After lunch I returned to the waiting hall. Contrary to wishful thinking, the numbers progressed much slower than I had expected. Suddenly, I felt frustration welling up inside me. I hated the feeling of waiting. Yet, I could not wander off in fear of losing my queue number. I found another less noisy corner and planted myself onto the carpeted ground. Three toddlers were playing near me. They belonged to different families but were able to play individually alongside one another harmoniously. Because they didn't know how to talk, their tiny eyes appeared far more expressive. One of the toddlers, a boy had adorable eyes shaped like almonds. He was the cutest looking and I noticed some adults were observing the small boy fondly.

The dot matrix board continued to emit digital ticking noises. I wasn't sure if it was because my perception of time had been distorted by waiting over 90 minutes or because I no longer cared how long the queue was taking, but I looked up after a long while to find that the numbers on the board had raced forward significantly. Just 50 more queue numbers to my turn. The size of anticipation grew in my chest. So I walked off some of this tension around the room. I overlooked the queue tickets of others which dangled over their folded palms like a kid sticking his tongue out in defeat. Their numbers were far behind mine. This realisation brought me some relief. Like after all, my waiting is paying off and will come to fruition in about fifteen minutes. The flow was gaining speed. Things looked hopeful again. The queue would be over in a while if I just hung in there.

As time ticked closer towards the closing hour, people grew increasingly anxious and paced impatiently around me. But they didn't bother me. My mind faithfully replayed these words from the Murakami novel I had just completed while waiting for my turn,"The point is, not to resist the flow. Where there's no flow, stay still. If you resist the flow, everything dries up. If everything dries up, the world is darkness."

Irritated, got to visit two different supermarkets to buy plastic cutlery. One of them run out of plastic forks!!

I've designed an ultra minimalistic calendar for 2010. It's called The Numerical Calendar!

Features:
• no words, pure numerals
• weekends are annotated
• check boxes to tick off
• streamlined and organised

I really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really like this. =]

What do you do with a bunch of dry ice?

Oh...... is the answer not obvious? You transform your room into a heavenly paradise.......

( Pictures Here...... )

Yeah, nowadays I just don't feel the urge to update my journal anymore, but tonight's an exception though.

The past few months have been busy but good, fair share of performances and teaching (especially this month of December where I get to see my students both in the morning and afternoon) and that short getaway back to the wonderful city of Tokyo a few weeks back. I suppose there won't be any more photos in here unless I'm dying for them to be put in here, otherwise I'll make it simple and just paste it in Facebook. If you're reading this and am not on Facebook and want to keep yourself updated on my usual nonsense, you know where to find me.

And I can't be bothered about the new changes to Facebook privacy settings really, much of the information about myself that I put online is intended for public consumption, so I'll leave it as such. Of course there is stuff in my life in which I would want to keep private, but I know better than to put them online in the first place (like duhhh...*slap forehead*)

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Hmmm so two weekends ago I finished the Standard Chartered Marathon in 4hrs and 50mins. Finally after being through four previous marathons, I can actually WALK properly after the whole thing. I remember that first one in 2006 - it was okay at first but the next two or three days were excruciating...I could barely even get up to go to the toilet... and then there was that stupid oversized pair of Adidas shoes I bought from KL that was comfortable to wear... but gave me really bad calf cramps two years in a row halfway through the marathon. But I must say some strength training for the legs will also help - I don't have a regular regime for that but for me it's just a combination of some Bodypump and overdose of Step and dance classes I guess. Oh of course you've got to run regularly... I'm quite happy to have developed enough strength in my legs such that they're not even sore after the usual 10km run....

Yeah I must say it's quite a torture that so many of us put ourselves through, but for those who do, all that 42.195km is just worth it. Especially really enduring that last 10km for me...all the way to the finish line, the part where every step we take seems to get slower and slower but the mind in particular is the one that tells us to keep going. Oh I had additional help of course, from the trusty Creative Zen, most probably I finished the marathon two weeks back while Dana Wilson's "Piece of Mind" for Wind Ensemble was blasting in my ears.

If I have a goal, it's to beat that freak timing of 4hrs 20mins I did for that first marathon in 2006, which I still have no idea how I managed to achieve... but nowadays I'd just be happy to complete the marathon and live to tell the tale. Here's to more marathons...

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With the freelance work that I do now, it leaves me with quite a bit of time to pursue what has become a hobby of sorts, an art, a practice, whatever you wish to see it as - arranging music for the symphonic band. I have been doing it for as long as I have been involved in bands - perhaps my first band arrangement that actually got performed in public was the Selamat Hari Raya song, something I did for NJC band way back in 1993 - for... morning assembly! I don't think the scores to that arrangement are around anymore... it was all painstakingly hand-written...

..but computer software changed all that. Yes I know it's a computer making the music... but that's where the study of orchestration helps - you need to know how each instrument is like.. its strengths...weaknesses... instrument range... playability... am still always learning new things everytime I'm in a new project. Best thing about computer software is... it gives me instant feedback... I would know if I had entered a wrong note or two just by clicking on the playback button. These past few years I've been churning out arrangements and arrangements and it doesn't look as if this factory is gonna stop production anytime soon.

Subject? Nowadays it does tend to depend on the possibility of the arrangement being performed - I just have had too many which are left sitting in the library cupboards because... some people don't like... or conductor don't like... or this..or that... or cannot program in concert cos not suitable...

sigh.

But I'm kinda in a different position now, so I'm a bit more happy about that. The symphonic band's versatility in presenting music is really under-rated, no thanks to the elitist and exclusivist tendencies of the orchestra (of which I am still a part of... dot dot dot)... quite easy to see that the orchestras in SG (even the professional ones) are not interested to venture into anything away than classical music (unless forced to lah... like... Play! A Video Game Symphony). At least symphonic bands have a wider variety of repertoire to tap from.

And that's where I come in.
Obviously I would arrange something which I doubt already exists in a band version...unless I wanna do a different version of a song / piece...yah..have some instances. It is like making your own cover, but you have to do more than just deal with a voice and a guitar, and make sure that all 20 to 30 different parts of a symphonic band is covered.

There are different ideas on what a good arrangement is, but if I'm at the helm conducting it, my job is to produce the best possible performance of that arrangement (either mine or others actually). I know quite a bit of stuff I've done over the years could be improved further just by redoing it again... that is... if I'm not that lazy ;p But like I said... I'll rather move on to a new arrangement than rework something that might not even get performed in future. In arrangement also I kinda try to stick to my erm purist tendencies... preserving tempos (especially of pop songs!), voicing, but sometimes add in a bit of my own touches if I feel like it.

With this recent encounter with music from anime (and I don't mean those of Jo Hisaishi....) I am inspired and have quite a number of ideas! Of course, it all depends on whether I can get it performed in future.

Here comes the big but though. I realise that sometimes I just want things to go certain ways, and I do have my reasons - just as much as we would like to complain that certain composers make their music a bit unfriendly for the player, we should still try our best to fulfil the composer's intentions. So imagine what I would have felt if someone had asked me to modify one of my arrangements because he/she thought that part wasn't good enough or something. Like I said... I do have my reasons.

And then there's control. Or the lack of it. With the culture of borrowing scores all around bands in Singapore (heck...not only SG but everywhere else), and that evil machine we so adore...the photocopier, it is quite easy to lose track of where my work (although not for sale/commercial release) lands up in. I do feel a bit unsettled if I find out that my work has been performed somewhere else, without my prior permission. Of course I haven't gone into copyright issues yet...

So I guess it means that whatever I'll churn out in future will be for my own use only, be it as a conductor or a player. Funny how much I would like to play my own arrangements but end up conducting them instead. Maybe one of these days I'll take out the clarinet score to Final Fantasy Xtravaganza and practice it and see if I can actually play that thing properly...

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Hmmm... the wonders of anonymity. I have already have had my fair share from comments on my Youtube pages... so this latest one was some kind of erm... "direct attack" on a recent performance I participated in. As far as criticism is concerned, even the Straits Times correspondents do put their real names in print (well they have to cos it's their job), but whatever we got from this nobody (pun intended?) was really bordered on hate.

My thoughts?
In general, such people provoke you because they want and will expect a certain response from you (which is to retaliate). Sure...I'll go ahead and give them a response... a NO response. (See my hand? Talk to it instead.) I think I have other more important things to worry about.

More thoughts?
I don't see any music industry professionals (and I mean those established ones) going around commenting on their peers' performance. I'm sure Galway has stuff to say about Rampal's flute playing and vice versa but at least they don't make an issue about it to the public. One thing I notice about the kind of comments I get from my Youtube videos is that they do tend to be one-sided i.e. stuff that most probably their teachers tell them...i.e. don't do this..don't do that... you're doing this wrong... bla bla. Good teachers do not blind their students, but open their eyes and ears to the real world, and I'm glad to have had good teachers for the most part of my life.

I've been told by Kai Yi that only two people currently in SG have obtained the LRSM in flute performance (okay not counting those who studied flute performance overseas), one being Cheryl and the other is me. So if you wanna make comments on my lousy flute playing... go pass your LRSM first can? LTCL not counted... I heard that's easier.

:)