school & band

Back to my mundane school life. Have somewhat grasped the fact that school has resumed and I think I'm more focused. Don't want to repeat last semester's vomit-inducing results.

Anyway, I'm in a bit of a situation. Not only me, but for the the twins as well. SWO will be having a concert on the 21st of July, which is a Saturday. SSW will be playing 1 song (Aroldo) on that day. The situation is that MSSMB has practices on Saturdays now. I told Ms Ong about the concert day already BUT I do not know if she will approve of us going for practices.

It's a 3-practice commitment that I have to make. I don't want to hear "Which one more important : Montfort or SSW?". It's like also saying "Which one more important : Mother in hospital or Band?". I will commit to SSW for this 3 weeks only SINCE concert is very very near, then I will focus my time on Montfort band. It's not like the band will dissolve if the 3 of us are gone for 3 practices. If this matter is to be negotiated, the least I could go for is : go for Montfort on the 21st for awhile, then go to Sembawang DEPENDING on what time Mr Ng wants us report at. Or maybe go for the 14th of July MSSMB practice.

This is just a minor issue, but I if it gets out of hand (e.g. posts being involved) then I dunno what to do. The 7th July practice will lack alot of seniors due to Youth Rally. It's also an important day, since I need to bring in the new members and get them acquainted with the places and help them get there. If not, I'm just being an ass by saying "Go yourself". I have my rebuttals in mind. The fact that it's only : 3 practices and not 3 whole weeks, I would do the same if Montfort has a concert and I would undoubtedly go for MSSMB's concert IF it had the same concert day as SSW. The fact that the concert is nearing (3 weeks) and Montfort's performances is practically a month away. I would only be missing 1/3 of the practices.

Mindless ramblings.

"I'm a bad-ass hunky dude"

today, hmmm, heh .. kinda okay I guess. Ah what the heck, terrific la.

woke up normally, with the thought of school in my mind. was raining so didn't expect a talk from the giant boss. Malay class, got back my test even though I knew I passed. And got homework bleah.

geog .. didn't know why our group didn't have to present our project on coniferous forests. and I didn't know why the groups had to present anyway. imagine 4 people up there, 1 read the whole damn text without even knowing what the hell he's reading. test our oral (G-rated expression please) .. some mad skillz? then got homework also, forgot what it is though. think ex 3.1 or somethin'.

e math .. hmm, not much I can recall from this period. I think I just really slacked. to think about it, everyone didn't have a mood.

recess, had alot on my mind. boring old recess.

physics was damn zzzz. Turning effects of forces I think. The usual "Force = perpendicular distance" or something. Ke Ping really had a field day dozing off in physics. I also dozed off for a few mins.

let's skip english and move on to pure hist. Pure hist was interesting cause now focusing more on Singapore rather than Vietnam. The Rendel constitution, the riots by the communists (or as Mr Yeo refers to as leftists) and such.

no bio today so off to band and trying out the new YBS-62E. It's good. Low notes are damn easy and there's Low A/High F# keys. Now the whole sax section has same models YA/T/BS-62s. All same colour. New horns also. 3 Hanstone horns. Hanstone.. unheard of. New buffet oboe, new Conn bass trombone & I think new Yamaha flute(s). Then after band went home and went to HG Mall to fix my broken glasses and get a spair one. Went to the one next to the dentist, and just got the frame replaced and the spair leave it for another day. Saw Ms. Tan (geo) there also with a male acquaintance haha.

ok soo, tomorrow no p. history and another free period heh.

school is fun (i cant complain much :p)

numbers make you cry

Number 1, AMath sure fail though I know it was easy. I don't mind failing tests (though I'm not gonna take it up as hobby) but I don't like failing tests that people thought that was super easy. Like today's A Math test (and my chem).

Friday, 2 tests. Not so worried about E Math as opposed to Physics which I heard very negative comments about the test. SBQ for physics? 3 mark MCQ .. need to work my butt off to pass this test.

Few more days 'til the end of term 1. Seriously, the days pass by too fast. So, Friday camp till Saturday night. Saturday rest until Monday morning for E Math class (which after that, helping juniors during day camp no.2) Then leaving for KL on the 13th. Then come back from trip, few more days left to study/lepak (slack around) then it's term 2, a warning that SYF/OM Competition/MYE's are coming.

cool huh?

#157 - revival?

anyway, just completed my chem. The work was unusually erm ... easy?
Dunno why we were given 2 weeks to do what can be completed in half an hour.

today's sectionals was okay. Could bond more with Darren. Taught him how to express a little bit on Sunrise and articulation on FOTF. And found out he was SL in MSPS band, and nearly band leader but he quite at the start of P6. Good juniors aside, that JK a little bit troublesome. I kept asking him if he was willing to learn. continuous string of 'yes's trailed my questions so I'll teach. then, the rest of the time I tried to teach JK, slack, talk to the hornists & discuss outing (which was eventually cancelled)

When I came down, heard our colossal leader said something. Dunno if I should reveal it, spoils the intensity of this whole topic (okay, no intensity) but just a hint : pack less heh.

still gonna bring all if it isn't really true.

Apothegm for the day - I need sleep.

2nd day of school, still surviving .. barely. my eyelids were starting to get heavy during physics and bio maybe because it was boring or maybe because of my serious lack of sleep (had only 2-3 hours of sleep yesterday night) dunno if I'm gonna survive this academic year.

so far, my sitting partners are okay. only one is beyond my control (meaning, I didn't choose to sit with him) but he's okay. his name is russell (how many 's's or 'r's, I do not know). so sitting with him for assembly and english (since both periods are with mrs. lee) chem and ss with poh shen, physics with gary and bio with melvin. so far so good I guess.

anyway, on to my favorite topic but it harbors bad news. 1.) heard we're gonna have practices on saturday and scrap off wednesday and friday's practices. meaning, I have to quit SSW; 2.) ms ong wants us to quit SSW, as said by aaron. may not be true, but if we must focus on SYF, I don't mind asking for a leave until SYF is over.

now it seems the politics at mssmb has gotten bad.

it is the day of today, the day of saturday, hey!

from the title of this random post, you would probably figure out I'm
1. lame
2. lame
3. bored
4. lame

from those answers, you would also figure out that it really enhances points 1, 2 & 4.
okay okay.

can't get La Passio de Crist out from my head. dunno why, it just stays there. anytime of the day, random parts of the symphony just suddenly starts playing in my head. but hey, it is a nice song. dunno if I'm ever gonna play it with another band again, probably not I guess.

wondering if I should watch Old School on Ch5, channel surf on cable or just hog the com (irritating my bro from it).

ALSO wondering how to get SNL or comedy central with my tv reception. I know its PPV but can starhub cabletv subscribers get to subscribe to SNL or comedy central or whateverthehell?
w00t, get back to me on this.

ahh, school starts on wednesday. band starts on wednesday.
I AM NOT PREPARED FOR THIS SUDDEN BAND PRACTICE. can we have like, on friday? wednesday is a bad bad day for band practice to start. I (or whoever is on this motion) need to rest/recuperate/resuscitate/relax/rewind/re(something else) after a possibly tough first day of sec 3. but of course, SYF is a few months away and we're not even good.

wait, we're not even OKAY.

SSW on saturday the 6th. first week of 2007 will be such a nice one.
I SERIOUSLY HOPE THE YANAGISAWA ARRIVES NEXT WEEK, IF NOT I'M PISSED MAN.

your new friendly, ass-kicking superhero .. PISSED MAN.

once again, proves points 1, 2 and 4 (refer to the the top)

Keep the fat lip, it matches your big mouth - Jughead

I'm quoting comic book characters.
Oh my.

TODAY, I came like 20 minutes early and when it was time to play .. I LOST MY REED.
AHHH BAD LUCK SIA. So had to use a Tenor Sax reed. Hard to reach those low notes and the high notes are out of tune. Like very out of tune.

So other than that ... concert day is like 27 more hours. My matinee concert songs are good, but my La Passio de Crist/Passion of Christ is okay, can still work on the intonation. So 27 + hours more, work hard Alif.

okay, I'm tired. But I wanna try out Carnival of Venice Variation IV. Yes, on Baritone Sax.

Stare fear in the eye, until he cries and runs away screaming.

AHHH, so many roadblocks in life. Man, I was contented with life ever since I got an instrument to perform on and obviously, after finding my lost booklet.

Now, I have a transportation problem and money problem. For the money bit, I have to pay Melvin and Ken Ang's ticket tomorrow! ARGH, that's $24. I have like $26 with me. Transportation, trying to figure the perfect to bring it to SCC and back. I don't think I want to take 74 from Montfort, rather from Hougang Interchange. So must leave at around 10mins earlier. Then, take 169 when I reach AMK. It's around 45mins from AMK to Yishun on 169. So 25 minutes from Hougang Interchange to AMK, and 45 minutes .. add some waiting time blablabla takes around 1 and a half hour. Usually it takes less than an hour to reach SCC (sometimes not because of waiting for 169 at Yishun) .. so have to leave the household 30 minutes earlier, around 7.30am? I NEED SLEEP, PEOPLE.

okay, gonna watch Yuan Ze University Symphonic Band play Fantasy for Euphonium by Philip Sparke and Clarinet Concerto also by Philip Sparke. Heard the first part of Mvmt 1. Giocoso, the clarinetist is good. Also heard that the euphonium soloist isn't good. Heh, okay off from the computer after the vids, and let my bro have a whack at the computer.

Read this

(erm, the title is a link to an archive. Click it)

Back from Republic Polytechnic. Man, I was in the right direction, towards RP, but I confused myself. By the way, RP is HUGE.

1 block of RP is like 1 MSS. But can't compare a polytechnic with a neighbourhood school, right?
Anyway, my phone died along the way, so took a long time to find the 'band room' of RPWS. I think have rehearsals at a vacant spot. And it's freaking cold. So yeah, collected the Yamaha YBS-32, I think it's a custom made saxophone, from Aizat and went home. Took a cab because it's very heavy. A $11.20 charge, thought it would be like $20+. Saw Hougang Avenue 9 only like after 10 minutes. Thanks uncle of the green cab, if you are ever reading this.

Anyway, my Windows XP is now Windows Vista! Not the OS lar of course, just the look. But Glass2K kinda irritating, it just makes you able to see through some windows. 'Transparent' (not really a correct term though), but Internet browsers aren't 'transparent', so far Windows Live Messenger is 'see-through-a-ble'. Like glass (hence Glass2K) Anyone want the client to install this theme just ask me online.

Okay, sleep.

To no avail

Last published : 3rd December

So, it has been approximately 3 days since I last wrote an entry.
Because, nothing much has happened.

It will be a miracle if the Yanagisawa B.Sax arrives this Friday.
Which of course, is impossible. That is why I am hoping for a miracle.

Today I will hunt for my booklet.

There's a 2 day gap before I ever touch my instrument and thank god for that.
AND I'm still figuring out how to carry a 15kg coffin-like box from Hougang to Sembawang myself, with mode of transport being the public bus. Only way I know is by taxi which is pricey.

And even if successfully found a solution for my transportation problem, how the hell am I gonna play when the sax is not working. With a range of Middle G to High G, what's the point. Low notes are are practically impossible, so what's the use if most of the songs have low notes? It is officially condemned by the way.

I don't think I should post Band Camp Day 2 post, I have no mood + no time (except today and tomorrow, reason being not having the cheery and 'yay it's the holidays!' mood). Those who really want me to post it, tag at the board or just tell me. Yes, I hope it will be comical, maybe like the 5,13 inches thingy, heh.

decisions decisions.

Band Camp : Day 1

Yes, the long awaited first instalment of the 3.

Band Camp started on the 23rd of November and lasted till the 25th, by the way.

It was quite a fruitful first day. I learnt that :
- My group sucks at folding up the tents
- My group is lazy
- You can't take photos inside NTUC

Yes yes.

Left the household at 6.30am for school. I wasn't late, so dumped my stuff inside the band room. I was lugging an alto sax case on my back, a sling bag (for leisure outings), carrier bag for my clothes and my sleeping bag. Imagine how I looked like because I don't have a picture of how I looked like. Too embarassing.

Fall in, yadda yadda yadda. Fell out, headed to the field to set up tents.
My group was unlucky to get one which rods weren't in the best shape.
So had to get another one, wasting like 20 minutes.

Before you close this window because of the overload of words, here's pictures from the tent-pitching period.

You Xian, my SL.

Excos pitching their special tent. Tent courtesy of Dickson.

Mrs. Vivian Tan always notices when someone is taking a picture of her.

Gary with the dumb blonde look.

Melvin with the go-suck-yourself look.

Max, my group leader.

Group 4 (L-R) : Gideon, Mrs. C. Tan, Mrs. V. Tan, Rainald (back), Gary, Joshua & Gerald

Not 1337 enough, Edward.

7.1 does pwn my 5.0

My group. Shot sucks because Edward took it and I rofled.

Can't hide from me bitch.

SEE SEE!! I TOLDJA, can't hide. You just can't hide.

Gee. Gerald sure looks like one fuzzy chimpanzee.

GARY ACT CUTE HAHAHAHAHAHA your fringe is gay, boy.

Even if you zip your tent up, I will still get you. You'll see how.

Farhan and You Xian trying to keep the useless tent back.

Yes, Group 4 zipped their tent. But my thirst for irritating them still hasn't resided. But, I realized there was this space that could expose them. 2 shots heh.

Gideon still can look at the camera. It's these type of people that get villages burnt down. Never warn his Village People (okay coincidental that those 2 words were used)

Heh, another one.

Okay back to more pictures.

Ken Phooi

The store room filled with the condemned tubas and the score cabinets. Mind you that the score cabinets are only filled with half of the scores we have.

The NEWTON room.

Silhouette

Beaver Ho

The best seats in the house. Baritone Saxophone and Bass Clarinet.

The old JK alto sax, formerly Ivan's, which I borrowed.

"Hey, porn."

Smiling faces at the start of camp.

Dickson the flautist.

He broke the mace.

They have a secret to share.

Shaun the extra.

Why the hell is Shaun positioned like that behind Kamal.
And Kamal looks innocent right?!

A very tired Aaron.

A vengeful hand tries to destroy the scouts' structure but fails to do so.

slack slack slack slack

You Xian was happy.

Edward trying to take a picture with Aaron but wait! Aaron looks at my camera!

Max with his best friend.

OOOKAAY!! Lemme tell you a story. 3 guys, namely Rainald, Gerald and Gideon was sitting peacefully.
But Gideon rises up and confesses something.

Gideon - "HEY GUYS! Mine's an inch!"

Rainald - "So what? Mine's 5 inches lor"
Gerald - "Ya lor, mine also."
Gideon - "Okay lar, maybe mine's 4 inches."

They rush off to find Gary, to break the exciting news.

Rainald - "MINE'S 5 INCHES!"
Gary - "So what? Mine's 13 inches."

That is why 13 is Gary's favourite number. And I'm not talking about their physical height.

SOOOOO yea, after pitching tents we slacked at the gallery until we had to gather so yep, cooking competition. My group brainstormed, but sadly not even precepitation was present.
Our group just settled on : MEAT, VEGETABLE & SAUCE.

"WOAH HOHO"

TICs

MAX TOOK THIS OKAY!

Joseph very depressed. A Goth, A non-conformist.
..
HAHAHAHHA.

Mummy, a beaver looked at me.

Yay I caught Edward yawning, Joseph still depressed.

We walked to NTUC at Hougang Mall, one picture.

Yes, when we reached there our group split, like uber yay. Then I snapped a picture :

Then I walked off, then this lady (who works there) said :
"Boy! DO YOU KNOW IT'S ILLEGAL TO TAKE PICTURES IN THE SUPERMARKET?".

In all my anger I said :
"Oh. Okay."

My mother told me that littering and stealing is against the law but never in my life did my mum say, "Alif! Did you know that taking digital pictures in NTUC supermarkets is illegal! Never do it!"

And never did I said "Yes mum." to that.

Ya okay whatever.
Anyway, my group bought 3 packets of boneless chicken boobsbreasts, 1 packet that contains alot of packets of mash potato mix, 1 packet of butterhead lettuce and a bottle of black pepper sauce. Instructed not to go over $15, ours was $14.95, let's drink to that.

So we nestled outside the D&T room, and cooked our lunch. Here's the pictures :

We didn't have a gas stove.

Lean meat and mash potatoes.

Max trying to light something up.

Yong Tau Foo didn't make it, ExCos.

Hanwen, oboist, ex-DDM

Our black pepper chicken! Not properly displayed though.

of course, some artistic shots.
Look how the spicy, yet tentalizing sauce blankets the bare chicken meat, which was cooked to perfection on a hot pan. Notice how each chicken meat cushions each other perfectly. Each bite will be like biting a piece of heaven. The meat is soft and which contributes to the overall perfection of this dish. And notice how still I have not regained my sanity.

Max frying eggs. Well, about to.

Not properly displayed yet, missing the egg. Not my hand mind you.

Max fried the egg.

Melvin stirring the mash potato mix.

THE FINAL PRODUCT
THE WINNING DISH OF THE COOKING COMPETITION

Artsy shot, and no more nonsensical explanations.

OUR 2nd DISH, Mash Potatoes.
With black pepper gravy. Just a show-offy dish.

Our lunch.

Max wanted to pose with our dish.
Notice Farhan's sign of approval.

So after lunch, it was a rush to clean everything and set up instruments for AMK-Whitley exchange. I rush like what the hell. Ms Ong not happy with the job I did with the pan, not clean enough. Bleah. So had to scrape those harden chips. Rush to AMK. Had to bring 1 alto sax and 1 baritone sax. Heavy shit. In the bus I played 'Hallelujah' HAHAHA

For Eb instruments just G~ F#~ E~~~ D~~
Understand ska tabs reading before reading this.

So yep, exchange. Whitley and AMK were good. Montfort? Nothing much to say.
Whitley played Loch Lomond by Frank Ticheli and The 7th Night of July by Itaru Sakai (I think)
AMK played alot of songs. I forgot alot.
One was Der Vogelhandler Selections by Carl Zeller? Die Lustige Witwe/The Merry Widow by Franz Lehar .. erm err .. some trombone soli/duet .. some spanish march by the sec 1s and 2s .. err too many songs, mind can't comprehend :)

Icebreaker with the saxophone section. I remembered a few names, never got that much contacts. Only 1? HAHAHAHA

Gave them the gifts, Ferrero Rocher that costs $5.50 a box. Yea, burnt one big hole in my wallet. I got a blue bookmark from the Whitley saxophone section. Nice gift, yep they spent the time, we spent the money. So theirs was more meaningful obviously.

Dammit I hate Selmer USA Saxophones, period.

The bus driver uncle apparently can't find AMKSS.
Pictures from after the exchange because erm, didn't have the time to take pictures during exchange.

Trombone Section '05-'06
'06-'07, minus that extra guy in black.

Joshua with my bookmark, trying to take a picture, no doubt.

Kill, kill, kill

Joshua likes cauliflower.

HOkaay, reached school then bathed and off to dinner. Ate dinner with Farhan and Melvin at the nearby hawker centre. Of course the best chicken rice EVER, was ordered. Ms Ong came around and gave us $4 for our dinner. Yay, free dinner. So after eating, caught up with YX and Max after they roamed the Hougang Neighbourhood for an icebox. Went back and I was sleepy already. But dammit, had nightwalk challenge.

A pictures I took after dinner :

Everyone wants a piece of Wee Ong.
EEE.

Briefing for nightwalk sucks man. I was asleep while listening to Variazioni in Blue on my iPod. So task was to take pictures of : a red moving car, a cat, a public phone, Sengkang MRT sign and Bus 161.

So just to give you guys a low down : my group walked from Montfort Sec to Punggol CC to Buangkok MRT station to Compasspoint. Freaking tiring sia. We weren't supposed to walk back. But we didn't walk back HAHAHAHA. Who cares, most of them didn't walk back. Yep, we took pics of all of them.

the red moving car.

Bus 161

Melvin and a public phone.

Cat

And the bloody sign.

Several other pictures :

Max, Ray, Andrew and Hilmi.

Nice picture, if I do say so myself.

Took MRT back :DDD HAHAHA

Some other pictures ..

Farhan misses the drumset after the bid from the clarinet section was approved by the percussion section board of directors. 10 pounds, sad.

Professor of Music and Horn performance, Melvin, ponders at a piece of music given to him by accomplice, Gideon Low.

Traded their flutes for mallets.

Dirty feet.

AND FOR THE LAST PICTURE ...

Gavilan, clarinetist turned flautist.

Okay, I FINALLY FINISHED THIS POST.
Stay awake for the 2nd and 3rd instalment.

Bye :)