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I’ve been sleeping since 530pm. I didn’t eat lunch and dinner today.. oh man. Now its like 0030.. I think I shall sleep some more.

Yes, I know i’ve said I packed my room alot of times, but its kinda like in stages. I take an area I haven’t cleaned/cleared/sorted and dump it all over the floor. I throw away as much as I can, arrange everything nice, then put it all back. I cleared in this order

1. My table, most important so I can do work and create an action area (original idea here)
2. My various peripherals like the saffire LE, phone, letter trays
3. My Drawers (which have filled up from other packing)
4. My under the table, so my legs can go somewhere
5. My computer cables and screens and wires and clutter
6. My on top of the two clothes cuboards.

All the while NEVER touching and messing up the previous cleaned areas even to put stuff temporarily!. So t can be that the whole floor looks like a warzone and the table is like.. spotless and empty. And by warzone I mean its so bad that you cannot put a foot down without shifting something each time. I didn’t even sleep in my room last night cos it was just too messy.. headed to my sister’s room.

Anyway, I’m quite proud of myself. Now I only have the big grey cupboard on my right, the drawers (again cos i keep packing stuff into them thinking I need them) and the cupboards of hanging clothes.

The big key here is simplification. Throw and throw and throw away all the stuff thats not just unuseable (eg. expired sweets from 1916..) but stuff that I’ll not use or need in future. I’m aiming to give away most of my clothes and maybe leave myself with 30-40 pieces of clothing. Yes.. (minus underwear.. like.. how can you have enough underwear. Thats unsanitary!) which is kinda alot already.

So. Why give away all these clothes? Mostly, I can’t fit. I don’t wear them and I think if you give away stuff to charity, you better give something nice and wearable. Not the junk you really don’t want. Like how much does it actually take to give away junk? Not much really..

SO there. I’m so happy my stuff is packed. Clean room clean mind. haha.. I’m going to shower. Its terribly dirty work! Maybe after cantata I’ll pack up more stuff in preparation for next year’s studies.

While listening to today’s FBI lesson, he touched on a verse which I never saw in this light before!

“…Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

Nehemiah 8:10

Obviously (or maybe not so obviously) I’m not trying to antagonize anyone. Being depressed and moody is a state we all fall into. Falling into it is human, living there is wrong. When was the last time you saw a moody, depressed christian ministering to people? Who wants to be a christian when every living specimen around seems to have had the life sucked out of them? So.. not to be a critic only, how do we have the Joy of the LORD? I honestly have no answers off the top of my head.

10 minutes!

This post is so titled because after supper with yx and her two friends, I started talking about her friend’s boyfriend and how they are. It struct me that alot of the “common” problems are really.. common! haha.. Like lack of communication -”He’s supposed to know!!” among other things.

Long story short, I kinda talked really fast in that short trip from changi v to home about how to have an ideal relationship with her boyfriend. How do I know whats ideal? Lets just say if I don’t know what ideal is in my mind, how do I even work towards it? So.. I do have an ideal based on God’s standard, translated into everyday action by my little mind.

So.. As I was showering, I kinda realised that alot of these so called ideal behaviours and communication skills and non-quarrelsome relationships really start way in advance of the actual relationship. Even before you meet the girl (or guy). It starts at home with family, it starts in school with friends and it doesn’t finish anytime after you get together. The way you are brought up to see yourself is in my opinion, the very most important. If you fail to recognize the fact that you are not perfect and always right, you’ll always have problems. Self pride is also a killer in a sense that it prevents you from letting go of small offenses that really don’t matter and turns them into relationship destroying reasons. “I’m getting a divorce! my husband refuses to squeeze the toothpaste from the middle!” Well, its not so ridiculous in real life.. but maybe.. breaking up because your boyfriend doesn’t “check in” even though he has a legitimate reason, getting all angry cos he didn’t pick up within 3 rings of his phone… yeah, things like that.

People should never say the words NEVER and ALWAYS and I TOLD YOU SO. Or anything to that effect. Its a killer.

1. “He NEVER picks up my calls!!”
2. “He ALWAYS lidat one!!”
3. “SEEEEEEEEEEE! Moron la you!! I told you SOOOOOOOO.”

Honestly, nobody likes to admit they are wrong. The longer you don’t admit it, the harder it gets to admit it. Especially after you’ve already finished with the silent treatment, pouting face, argument and the works. After that, apologising is like totally impossible and the issue is left to fester somewhere under the bed or in the closet.

Lastly, emotions are great, and so are expectations. Managing them is crazy. I think one has to ask “Is this emotion/expectation/behaviour productive, does it enhance this relationship or does it add value to the other party and not just me?’ Chances are that if the answer is no, you had better change that emotion/expectation/behaviour right away before it becomes like what I meantioned in the paragraph above.

Well, I find it weird that I can talk so much. Do I really know so much? I really think so leh. Not as in.. I know alot cos I’m smart but I’ve been brought up and taught so well that all these common mistakes are so clear when they appear on my part and solving them is second nature. I hope this was helpful to you.

Done in ten minutes! Incredible. *pats my own back*

My goodness, the Boston Brass guys were so good! They are all incredibly charismatic. Their playing is like nothing I’ve heard before! Usually those Maynard Ferguson recordings have crazy trumpet solos are so impressive already, imagine hearing it live, then imagine it x5. Oh man.. Their volume level was also crazy, I’ve never heard any human play so loud before! My ears were literally ringing after their final piece! And for quite a while after the performance it felt like somebody was stuffing their fingers into my ears. That was just sitting in on one song only loh. Other than that the students at the conservatory were only so so.. I dunno, I kinda expected more from people who play and study music everyday? Here’s some pictures of william, 2 of the brass players, some random students, and a pretty girl not so pretty girl.

If you din read the caption.. I said, “William gets some pointers” wahhaa.. so pun-ny right? Anyway, the guy we talked to could reach phenomenally high notes and still play normally after that. Fantastic Jazz player.

I shall upload the boston brass master class recording.. there were some really good tips but mostly about being entertainers and about showmanship.

 

 Boston Brass Masterclass [38:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (18)

 

 Caravan - Boston Brass at NUS [6:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (20)

Went to look at my old post detailing some of the stuff I committed to.

• Buck’s Site (6hr)
• Patrick’s Site (3hr)
• Cantata Site (12hr)
• 3 more songs to process (2hr)
• Cantata Songs recording (108794738299437829628719hr) (okay okay.. 20hrs)
• Background music recording (3hr)
• Pastor’s Msg on Cantata CD — I’m definitely doing this (4hrs)
• Fix children’s ministry projector (1hr)

Yep.. think the stuff left are not so many already. Shall process cantata songs maybe tomorrow or some other day.

I’m done with 2 big commitments! haha.. Its so nice to get things done.

• Flier is done and sent for printing!
•  Website is done and running! Just waiting for some write-ups and the trailer.

Heh. In a spurt of productivity (well, sort of..), last night I went mad and couldn’t stop working on the website. Thank God I found really great scripts which the author like.. released 1 day ago!! Essentially, the entire page runs on it la.. its a really nifty piece of code that allow for the sliding and popups for video and links. It even links external sites in an iframe! Okay, I shall not bore any more. Below is the flier..

Now I’m off to do some  online assignments. SQL here I come!!

I picked up the music conservatory newsletter (as I always do) and flipped through to see how my friends were doing. The girls in my year have already graduated. One of them is in new york, studying for a phd in music composition after getting a first class honors for her degree. This same person was at auditions and tests for MEP at A levels together with me.

I don’t feel regret for choosing what I do now. I still can’t help feeling sad however, not knowing what it would have been like to pursue that path. Its like, I was never honest with myself and in touch with myself enough to know what I would like to do even. I know everything is part of a grand plan in my life if I only submit myself to it.

Oh well.. back to reality.. back to the beaten path.. back to EE2010 tutorial.

Pastor beat me at squash. I was pwning him until 4-0. THEN.. he pounded his way to 5-9 and won. wah lau..

Cantata Flier is 50% done!