en_mei

en_mei @ 2009-04-22T09:12:00

2009-04-22T01:29:23Z

OKAY OKAY i GIVE UP. I'm updating already. Haha. I don't have much to write since I've emailed mostly all of you already though. I like to cook my own meals, but since i don't have proper facilities till the end of May, I'm not cooking much. More like my cousin Penny is stuffing me with food. It's really good! Chicken pie, portabello mushrooms with melted cheese and date loaf. But she's making me eat veg too. Ugh. Haha. She's a good cousin. Ok. well, i've got to go for now. write more another time.

The Land Down Under

2009-04-03T08:54:49Z

In Australia now. I'm half tempted to come back with an Aussie accent - half perfected it already I think - just to horrify Estelle. Winter here is still really hot. And I really miss all my friends back in Singapore. I'm not as alone here as I thought though, there are 2 ACS Barker boys and an SCGS girl I got introduced to who are studying foundation year with me. We're pretty good friends, despite the fact that I'm like 2 years older than them. EH WHOEVER SEES THIS POST FIRST, TELL THE REST OF THE SPECTRA PEOPLE THAT WE ARE SO HAVING A SUSHI BUFFET WHEN I GET BACK OK??? XD Food here is really expensive. Even in the hawker centers and student cafeterias, food costs about 8 bucks a dish. The good thing is that I've started to learn how to cook proper dishes because of it, and I think they taste pretty good.

My timetable looks kinda screwed up, but I guess it's still alright. The SCGS girl is in the same course as me, life science, while one AC guy is in commerce, and the other in physical science. There are so many China nationals here that I'm worried. I heard that they work really hard. I guess I'll just have to work harder. I'm not about to be out competed especially after I had to leave my friends and family behind when I actually made it to a decent uni course without this. No freakin' way. Lessons start in earnest on Monday, and orientation here is basically just that. Orientation. We get to know the school and the systems but there's no fun and games.

Just a few shoutouts:

Everyone: My flight has been confirmed. I will be coming abck to Singapore early June for a week. About 6th of June I think.

Thank you to everyone who saw me off at the airport, even though it was so late. I really hope we get to talk a lot more often. I MISS YOU GUYS SO MUCH.

Feimao!! We need to talk! I think I'm getting emo again O_O (Someone help me tell her, I don't think she checks this journal)

Dawn!! The cat file you got for me is breaking coz I'm using it so much ): but I'm trying to glue it back together. Hope you get into the course you want. If not, come to Sydney! Not Melbourne! I can share apartment with you! XD

Estelle!! I can never tell if you're online or not! Haha. Thanks for seeing me off even though you had your ballet exam the next day!

Silk!! I'm not such a cooking n00b anymore! Haha.

Fern Hill's Shadow

2009-02-10T04:37:54Z

I just HAD to go and look at facebook after a hiatus of about a year. And what do I find? Photos. Tons of them. But just one album which Esther posted about the good ol' days at MG made my heart ache. I almost forgot how much I loved it there. And I couoldn't help but cry a little when I saw the class photos, the fun, the closeness, and yet remembered how far apart we are now. And the heartache continues, for weakened friendships. For lost times. For memories so nearly lost as well. For days we can never return to. Protection. Love. Fun. Innocence. Carefreeness. But Time refused to wait. And we can only sigh and shake our heads, saying "I wish I was back there". Cliche, but no passerby could ever fully comprehend how much we mean what we said.

The memories linger on like glass shards
Painful, yet beautiful
A reminder that we can never laugh like this again
And yet an indescribably beautiful reminder of innocence
Of trust, of little gestures that make friendships meaningful
So I'll pull out those shards slowly, one by one
Even though it may hurt at first
And piece it together to form a mosaic of that blue sky
Not as good as the real thing
But as each passing day's light shines through
It will foreer be captured there, unchanging
Just like how we want to remember those childhood days.
--an excerpt from Those Childhood Days, written in JC Two, 2008

ACJC Choir Europe Choral Tour 2008 reflections

2008-06-14T14:38:25Z

It's been ages since I've updated, I know.

The tour to Vienna, Bratislava and Salzburg was amazing! The scenery was gorgeous and all the buildings and their architecture were so grand. It's really too much for me to summarize but I shall make a brave attempt.

We arrived there, worn out with some of the guys singing random stuff on and off the plane. Tetris soon became a favourite as the flights were really long. When we finally reached Vienna's airport after a transit in Dubai, we boarded a coach and set out for some sightseeing. We had just one day in Vienna before we boarded the bus again, setting out for Bratislava this time, the location where the competition would be held. Before we arrived, we had a choral exchange with one of the university choirs. They were very friendly and, from them, we learnt the importance of enjoying ourselves while making the music as it make such a huge difference to the atmosphere and sound. After that, we had our competition on the fifth day.

We, together with the alumni, participated in 3 catagories. Namely, the youth, mixed adult and folk catagories. With the grace of God, the blood, sweat and tears of the teachers, the guidance, patience and love from the alumni and the friendships of the whole choir, past and present, we clinched gold medals in all 3 catagories, emerging as the top choir in every catagory we competed in. In the folk songs catagory, we attained a rare perfect score.

It was a long, trying and tiring journey, musically. We were asked to grow faster than we had before. As JC2s, we were to lead the JC1s. At times it was, admittedly, demoralising as we watched the JC1s struggle as we had just one year ago. However, that memory of us pushing ourselves and feeling what they had spurred us on to give our juniors our support, just as our seniors had so readily and so freely given to us. Then the encouragement began to come. It was heartening to watch our juniors grow so fast, and try so hard. They pushed themselves, and they grew, resulting in a much better sound during the tour and competition. Then, a few days before the competition, two alumni who had not learnt the music and thus could not sing with us during the competition, flew in from overseas, just to be with the ~~CCA~~ family that they loved. To top it off, on the day of the competition, alumni from Singapore and elsewhere "spammed" the teachers with messages of encouragement and good wishes. Surrounded by God, family and friends joined by the love of music and musicmaking, we began to find joy in the performance and not in accolades. This joy is ultimately what I took away with me from this trip. I saw it transform each piece. Each song that had been drilled and practiced now began to become ours, and we finally knew what the real meaning of what Mrs. Wilson meant when she said to bless others with the music and sing with joy and give of ourselves.

After that, we went sightseeing again, going on both a Mozart and Sound of Music tour. The gardens we gorgeous, like nothing I've ever seen. And every bus trip that we took together was filled with music.

Of course, it came to an end all too soon. The teachers and our parents congratulated us, and the teachers challenged us to look ahead. The JC2s were invited to tour with the alumni the following year; an honour indeed.

But what hit me was the congratulations that we received from our seniors, the JC3s. One of them who was unable to come on tour congratulated me in church the first Sunday that I was in Singapore after the tour. But it is our seniors are teh ones who taught us how to love the choir, and how to give and the meaning of giving. You all stayed back with us on some days just to teach us how to support our singing and to encourage us. And for that, we thank you.

So here concludes my reflections on the tour, hopefully the first of many for me. I can't believe how much people care and how many people care for this choir. I've learnt so much and received so much. God's hand was evident in the many unplanned chances that we had to sing in various locations and seeing each other everyday; it really felt like family. We've grown closer as a choir and forged new friendships. We just have to make them last.

PoT Outing

2008-03-31T09:46:19Z

Well, some of the PoT cosplay members went out yesterday. It was really nice meeting you all! Haha. I hope I (and the rest of the Seigaku team) didn't freak anyone out too badly. Kindly preserve your sanity till after EOY 2009. Haha.

We went to the Esplanade, but met up in the building instead of on the rooftop as originally planned because it was raining. Then after talking and fangirling for a bit, we ate at Uma Uma Men. Sushi Buffet. Honestly, to my mystification, I found that Silk was right. If I eat slowly, I can eat almost twice as much O_O". I think Silk and I horrified the rest of the team a little when we decided to try wasabi sushi.

Wasabi is sweet, believe it or not.

I found that if you don't inhale the vapour, it's actually very tolerable. Providing that you definitely don't inhale the vapour. Lol. Of course, Silk and I were trying it for the first time, so we inhaled the vapour accidentally and started coughing. I recovered slightly faster and though it was an interesting experience, I won't try it again till I am absolutely certain that I can NOT INHALE THE VAPOUR. Haha.

It was madness yesterday. We were talking about burying Jirou in a time-capsule (sorry Jirou) and singing tanimyu songs and all. And I think we traumatised the staff in Uma Uma Men, (Spectra has gone there too many times), Times Bookstore, and Daiso. Honestly. Because if I were them and I saw a bunch of people walking around and laughing hysterically every 5 minutes or so, I'd back away slowly and call IMH XD

Hope we can go for another outing like that again. It was really nice to meet all of you!

en_mei @ 2008-03-28T00:47:00

2008-03-27T16:53:54Z

OMG I CAN'T WAIT FOR TOMORROW (TECHNICALLY TODAY) AND THE DAY AFTER ( FUN-O-RAMA) AND THE DAY AFTER THAT (OUTING) BUT I'VE GOT TO HELP MY MOM PAINT TWO BANNERS BY THE END OF TOMORROW AND I'VE ONLY SKETCHED ONE SO FAR OMGOMGOMG I'M GOING TO DIE...

=inhaaaaallleee= =exhale=

Sorry. Just needed to rant for some reason. No, I did not take sugar or caffine or PoT or crack(Spectra) today. I'm just hyper right now. My foot is shaking and I can't stop it. Gah. Whyohwhy do I get this strange sense of anticipation and apprehension when I think of tomorrow? At least my class stalls should be fairly easy to man. But I've got two bloody shifts! And the games people only have one! Gah. And in terms of preparatory work I've done more. (Had to prepare one gigantic pot of popiah filling).

I'm BORED and there's nothing to do online right now because Peish and Silk have gone to sleep.

My Tezuka-kun's online but I don't have the courage to speak to him, online or in person.

en_mei @ 2008-03-25T21:36:00

2008-03-25T13:42:49Z

OMG ARGH. Peishan you will NOT blog about fanservice. OMG. NOOOO...

I bet you I'll be more mentally-scarred than you will.

Anyhow, we've joined a damn huge Prince of Tennis cosplaying team for EOY! YAY! Haha. This is going to be a blast! If all goes well, we'll meet some of them during Fun-O-Rama and all the current PoT cosplaying members on Sunday. We've finally found people as crack as we are!

Whee~~~*

2008-03-15T15:45:26Z

What I should be doing right now:
-sleeping
-studying
-worrying about the exams

What I am doing right now:
-obviously not sleeping
-blogging
-worrying slightly over my exams
-going "YAY" because I'm meeting Eiji (Silk) and Tezuka(Peish) tomorrow for NUS open house and then for lunch

See? I really am trying to be a good girl. XD It's a Sunday tomorrow anyways. That's my do-whatever-the-heck-I-want day. We're going to eat a sushi buffet! Haha. It's like the regulars are going to Kawamura's. But I can't scare Silk with wasabi. Only peish. Ah well, that'll have to do.

On a side note, I've just watered my cactus today. I'm a bit worried that it's not getting enough. On the other hand, I dont want to overwater it. I've only given it a bottlecapful of water. The problem is that I can't tell if its extremely healthy or extremely unhealthy because it's colour right now is either dark green or green-brown. Which one, I can't tell. But I poked it and its firm so it should be healthy I guess.

Of racquets and bishonens XD

2008-03-11T04:49:17Z

I'm going to play badminton with some of the choir people tomorrow!!! YAY! Haha. I wish sports was a proper subject at school. It would be so much more fun. On the other hand...

Though Prince of Tennis is officially over, I still can't get it out of my head. Gah. Every time I pass by the tennis courts on the way to choir or I see a cactus or I pass by someone who happens to sigh really loudly "pshhhh". Or every time I hear the DL songs, PoT pops back into my brain. Then I think "why the hell am I not in any sports CCAs?" At the start of JC1 I wanted to join the choir and recreational squash. But instead I ended up in 3 non-sports CCAs. Gah. Oh well. It's really fun now. I don't regret it. I just wish there were more than 7 days a week so that I could join more stuff. X)

I want to learn tennis nownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownow! GAH. =inhales= (Silk, ignore the next paragraph.)

IwanttolearntennisandeverythingsowecantrythePoTmovesoutandSilkhastoteachmetheKiradancebutImeedtostudywhichisn'tworkingbecauseIneedtostudyandbalancestudieswithmychoirbutican'tconcentrateonstudiesanywayssowhat'sthepointbutIneedtotryanywaysandARGHHHH

=exhaaaaale= there. That's better. XD

en_mei @ 2008-03-09T20:34:00

2008-03-09T12:53:11Z

Down with pharyngitis AGAIN. Honestly, its getting a little annoying. I'm falling sick so often. I failed my chinese As. Though I'm not shocked, I must say I'm disappointed. My chinese has always been bad, but from the start of 2007 I've been studying hard for chinese. I've gone through the textbook and clarified whatever I didn't understand. I asked my teachers for advice on what type of essay I ought to write and where I could improve, yet all this has amounted to nothing. It feels as if all that effort was poured down the drain. And to top it off, my parents don't believe me that I studied chinese. They're livid.

On the bright side, it would appear that after a 3 year break from squash, my ball sense hasn't gone yet.

Went with Estelle, Silk and Peishan and Estelle's family to *attempt* to learn how to play tennis yesterday. Everytime I remember my attempts during P.E., I think ouch. Seriously, squash and tennis do not mix. You end up thinking there's a wall to hit to and the ball flies towards the opponent's face, out of court. BUT I am relieved to say that I think I've gotten the hang of the basic serve at least. And I've more or less learnt how to swing forehand by watching and imitating. I really want to learn tennis next year. That's the only racquet game I haven't learnt as far as I know.

Anyhow, I'd better get my act together. A levels are coming and apparently the results weren't too hot this year. I think my dad's right. I really should put in some effort before it's too late. I guess to me it just seems so pointless. Forever chasing a goal that lies just out of your reach. Work unending. The only rest you'd really get without worry of having to return to work or be troubled again is when you finally lay down and die. I'm not being emo, I'm just being rational. But then again, the fun lies in the chase huh? If there's no goal, life becomes rather meaningless. If the goal was accomplished and no new goal was set, we'd all be bored senseless.

So here I go. It's time to try to start getting motivated to study. The race begins now.
Ganbatte minna san,
Yudan sezu ni ikkou.

First post

2008-03-05T14:40:08Z

Well, I've finally got my LJ up and running (meaning I'm actually posting something). I'm a bit of a technoidiot so knowing that it will take me awhile, I'll leave the background plain for now. I'll sort it out after the term exams. Or when any kind spectra person decides to save me X)

On a side note, there's this muse in my head and its not really aMUS(E)ing when he decides to force me to write poems and prose right in the middle of my term exams. Because obviously, I can't concentrate. To top it all off, one seems to be dedicated to Saeki if I'm roleplaying Fuji in school (poor Tezuka keeps fallong prey to our antics), and the other to Tezuka after he injures his arm and has to fly off to Germany. Strange really. Of course, the majority of the stuff is not PoT based. But it really is amusing to see how you just have to go "Oiishiiii~" in school or "Shirota~<3" and then watch Silk(Eiji) blush and laugh or Peish(Tezuka) twitch incessantly. Honestly, I think we're going to actually become the characters if we aren't careful.

It doesn't help that I DO have a younger brother, he's one year younger, he's in the same school as me right now, he's left handed and I scare him either because if you think about it, that scarily fits Yuuta's profile...Saa...and my birthday's in February. ^_^

Haha. Oh well. I've wasted enough time today when I have a biology exam to take tomorrow. Coupled with the fact that I didn't sleep the whole of last night because I was up watching PoT anime till 5a.m. and then had a chemistry exam that morning... yeah I think I'd better go salvage what I can.

P.S.: Saa... Eiji, I'm going to get you for quoting me ne? =smiles=