perilous proclamations

contemplations.

2009-07-14T17:24:00.003+08:00

No rowdy comebacks no hoopla.
The cold silent square of my room the last solace I defend as I fight for the right to think in solitude.
The pressures of the outside knock constantly.
My abilities fall short of the solutions time and again.
I do not control how life unfolds.
I do not control how the lives of others play themselves out,
nor the resulting needs of their hearts.
What can I give?
How may I split myself up further to satisfy all of you?

Where then do I find answers when I can strive no further?
There is no comfort.
There is only temporal rest.

Lying here I ask myself...
am I really as strong as all of you think?

making history.

2008-11-06T12:12:00.004+08:00

So I know it's been awhile.
And I know probably more than half my entries begin with that statement.
But what a semester this has been so far!
In case any of you were living under a rock some place and did not know,
the United States of America now has a new President.
Yesterday was the official voting day and all the polls were collated
and around 11pm last night it was clear that the Blue Party had won.
Yes Barack Obama is in the White House.
The first African-American president of USA will be sworn into office on Jan 20th.
Despite the fact that I'm not American,
it's pretty amazing to be part of this historical event right in the heart of New York City.
The people were cheering and screaming (with joy) on the streets till 4 in the morning
last night, and though it prevented me a good night's rest it made me feel like something
important had just happened, and more great and world-changing things are about to
happen, not just in America but all around the world.

In any case, forgive me political pseudo-American musings...
I know I haven't updated at all in the past 6 months or so but it's kind of pointless
trying to report on everything I've done since I've last posted anyway.
I'd get bored and so would you.
My summer was great. Fantastic. Had a great time.
My semester so far has been pretty hectic but filled with great new repertoire
and lots of exciting new things.
I'll fill in more on those things later.

But for now as usual I have some nice photos to share.
Jonathan, Bert, Leta and I recently went out for dinner to this restaurant in the heart
of Harlem for some good Ol' Southern cuisine.
Loads of fried chicken and ribs and potatoes in every form... with a little coldslaw on the side.
You can already guess it was Albert's idea.
Always ready for a little Soul Food.
Here's a snap of us.

And here's another one with Jon and Bert.

Get a load of Bert's emerged cheekbones.
They always deserve special mention.

Anyway I've just finished Mid-terms and I'm gearing up for some recitals and
concerts coming up soon at the end of the year but I'm looking forward to
that Thanksgiving break coming up end of the month.
If any of you guys are coming to New York give me a shout.
I'll leave you with a picture of 2 dogs I met on the way walking back home along Broadway
from a lesson with my coach.
They were the cutest puppies I've seen in awhile mostly because they reminded me
of my baby Shiro back home.
I miss my animals.

Aren't they something?
Too cute.

I'll check back again soon.
Promise!!!

il recital.

2008-04-21T12:01:00.004+08:00

To kick off the mad 5 week rush to the end of the semester was
last week's Manhattan School of Music Freshman Voice Spring Recital.
It was an exciting night to say the least, there was an unspoken anticipation
to see how much everyone had grown vocally and musically over the last
semester since the last recital.
You can imagine the pressure on all the performers that night.
The full house consisted of not only family and friends, but also voice
students from other years and other schools, voice teachers and various other
coaches and musicians. Basically, unlike in the recitals I used to do in Singapore,
if you messed up your piece, everyone would know.
Well almost everyone anyway.
(Here's a shot of some of us preparing back-stage before going on to sing.)

But what a night it was!
From Handel to Strauss, Purcell to Mozart, Schubert to Verdi, the music took
over and the energy buzzing throughout the concert was infectious and engaging.
Little foul-ups were quickly forgiven and the applause was ever-encouraging.
One after another the Freshman came forth to put their best foot forward,
accompanied splendidly by two brilliant pianists who each shared half of the
repertoire of the 40 singers that night, all under the watchful eye of
Maitland Peters, Chairman and solid rock of the MSM Voice faculty.

I sang Io Conosco Un Giardino from the opera Maristella by Giuseppe Pietri.

I was rather happy with the performance.
Of course on hindsight there are always things to improve on in any performance
but this has been another stepping stone for me and I thank God for it.
I did a little cheeky introduction at the beginning to break the ice with the audience,
but really more to calm myself from all the nervous waiting and excitement.
I believe there is a recording and video of the performance floating around
somewhere, but just as long as it does not appear on Youtube I'm fine.
When all was said and sang we all came back on stage to give a final bow to
thunderous applause and a standing ovation.
Gotta love those parents that initiated that.

A natural progression from here would be to start talking about the
after-party which involved great food and somebody's birthday but
I'll save that for another post and instead upload more pictures from
right after the concert when you know, people feel the need to take many
pictures of each other in pairs and in big groups for sentimental reasons.
Here goes.

You can tell who the singers in this photograph are.
It was supposed to be a shot of me with Nakyung, the soprano next to me
but more Koreans swarmed in and this hybrid half-hearted group shot was the result.
Organization people please!

Here's a shot with one of my best friends at MSM, Yeonji, also a Korean soprano.
Here's a random shout-out to all those Facebook stalking bros out there...
You know this is your moment right now coming alive on my blog.
Yes Enoch you.

Here are more Asian singers.
Nothing much to say here...
The Soprano on in the red Chinese thing is from Hong Kong
and she actually sang a Chinese folk song at the recital.
Wow... doubt I'd ever want to do that though.
Here's my favourite picture from the night.

We look like a bunch of Koreans, only I'm not Korean at all...
although I can speak a little bit of Korean now... maybe after 4 years here
I'll be fluent in Korean without taking any classes.
Seems to be more effective than the Italian class I'm taking now anyhow.
Alright I'm off to class!
I shall update more soon.
Ciao guys.

home love.

2008-04-11T09:31:00.004+08:00

It has been an interesting few weeks.
As much as I would like to sit around and pretend that I am in fact living
an immeasurably perfect life here in New York, I haven't... (well not completely)
and on top of that I have been experiencing what some might think of as
somewhat of a slump in my first year here.

I couldn't really put a finger on what has caused this but there's no mistaking that
I have been feeling tired and unmotivated about school and almost everything
in general and besides the music I do with my teacher and the singing.
Now if you consider that due to Spring Break and scheduling
and the fact that my teacher was moving to New York from Santa Fe and couldn't
teach me for awhile, you start to get the picture of how bored and lost I was.
Practicing was frustrating because I had no lessons to make sure I was on
the right track with certain vocal and musical issues, and I found myself depressed
with my "progress" after some practices. Going to school and going to the gym
to work out my frustrations seemed monotonous and almost robotic.
I finally had a lesson last week which uplifted my spirits considerably but alas
I fell sick last weekend and lost my voice.
Monday was my Italian Diction final project presentation and I had to sing my aria.
I freaked out.
I basically spent Sunday in bed or in my room inhaling water and peeing
so I could at least get some voice back by the next day.
It was like BMT in the army all over again.
Clear piss yes gentlemen? Remember those days?
Yes gross I know.

Okay before you freak out and think I'm dropping out of school I still did well for almost
all of my mid-term examinations, so here comes the back-breaker.
I got my Italian language Mid-term paper back and my score had worsened
considerably compared to last semester.
To add salt to the wound my professor asked me if I was alright and told me
that I was not doing so well for Italian this semester. That woke me up.
I will confess Italian is my least favorite subject and that I remember being too
unmotivated to study for it with the usual Asian vigor this time around.
I have thus shook off the layer of dust that had settled on my resolve
and am once again going to give this all I've got.

So then I realized that I might be slightly home-sick.
Not in the oh-I-miss-my-dog/cat/friends/mum/dad/food kind of way (even though I do)
but in the sense that I have been away from my familiar "home" for 7 months trying
to do my best in a place where there seems to be a hidden demand for you to
prove yourself in all that you do, and basically my tires were flat.
Coming to the realization of what was happening to me helped me take steps to
jump start my engine again.
It helps that the voice is back again. Thank God.
My freshman voice recital for this semester is next Tuesday and I wanna sing
well for that one for sure.

Something nice just came in the mail.
My parents occasionally send me little boxes of amazing goodies from home
in a very sweet effort to appease their imagination that I miss snacks from Singapore.
Haha... ok maybe I do a little but some of the things they send me I don't even
eat because I don't want to endanger my throat. Things like dried cuttlefish etc.
(Ok I still eat them but not that much! I share a lot with others who don't need their voice.)
BUT there is something which I love and I can't thank them enough for sending
these to me. In the box, together with early birthday cards, chocolates, more cuttlefish,
potpourri (Mum wth?), there came gorgeous and delightful Kuay Lapis!

Look at that beauty!
And I got 2 blocks of these.
This is the one with prunes in it and I think the other is Vanilla or something.
I can't wait!
Of course I won't swallow both all by myself and put on 200 pounds but I will
relish every single bite with much zeal.
So after all that venting just want to say that I think I will be fine as long as I
focus on what I need to do here and enjoy all my work (including Italian),
and not think so much about going home or about being tired.

So with renewed strength and constant prayer I say "bring it on!"
God is good eh?
Kuay Lapis also not bad lah.
(Had to end this entry in Singlish for dramatic effect.)

Drop a tag if you visit!

queen of soul.

2008-04-06T10:53:00.013+08:00

It was a night of soul if ever there was one here in New York City...

soul with an abundance of glitter and black chiffon no less.

Yes when Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul enters the stage,

she does so with aplomb and a grace fitting of her royal title.

Radio City Music Hall in itself was a sight to behold.

I was shocked and delighted at the immensity of the place...

take a look for yourself. The theatre sits approximately 6000 people.

It was so large I could not capture it in it's entirety with my little camera.

Compared to the Metropolitan Opera which sits about 3,800 and

Singapore's puny Esplanade at 1600, I'd say Radio City Music Hall is pretty

much one of the biggest and most exciting show venues in the world!

(One day... one day...)

Anyway here's a shot of me sitting at our front row seats on the balcony.

It was a night of exhilarating music meant to be enjoyed by Berty and me

but poor Bert forgot and ran off to Maine to have lobsters with his other buds!

Therefore poor unfortunate me had to find a pretty girl to accompany me

to the concert. Look what you did Bert. Shame on you.

Anyway, Aretha sang her hits like "Respect" and "Don't Play That Song For Me"

which I really liked, and of course all 6000 people were up on their feet dancing.

We could literally feel the entire balcony shaking under the weight of everyone

getting their groove on. Needless to say we were almost the only Asians there but we got

up on our feet anyway. I also liked her jazz performances of "My Funny Valentine"

by Rodgers and Hart and "Moody's Mood For Love". Precious.

Ali-Ollie Woodson, the former lead singer of The Temptations was her guest

star and he came and sang a few gospel tunes with her.

Cissy Houston, Whitney Housten's mother was singing backing vocals

for her and so was the man who sang backing vocals with Luther Vandross

(bless his soul) back when he was still around to bless us with his voice.

Other stand-outs she sang were "Chain of Fools" obviously, and "Ain't No Way".

I particularly liked it when Aretha actually got down at the piano and played

while singing for us. She is one talented mama I must say.

She did that for the encore too, singing "Easter Parade" by Irving Berlin,

a serene and resolute end to an amazing evening of voice and song.

Here she is ladies and gentlemen, Aretha Franklin.

And here's a close-up just for you Berty because you weren't there.

Can you say: "Ooooooohh Yeeeeaaaahhh!!!!"

You know what I'm talking about!

Hahaha.

Some final Radio City photos to round of this bit of the post about the concert.

You know, this is what living in New York City is all about...

getting to watch these living legends perform and soak it all in.

I recently also watched this very famous conductor come do a conducting

master-class at my school. His name is Kurt Mazur and he was the

director of the New York Philharmonic orchestra from 1991 to 2002 and he's

still going strong at 80+ years old. Imagine a 60 year career as a professional

conductor. His experience and musicality is so profound and exquisite.

The conductors taking the master-class conducted the pieces performed

in the concert and were pretty good, all being already professional in their

own right. But when Maestro Mazur took the stage to conduct, the MSM orchestra

was just transformed as if by magic. He conducted the Hungarian Dance No.1

by Brahms and by special encore, the 3rd movement of Dvorak's Symphony no. 8

and totally brought the piece to another level. It was pretty well conducted before

by the other young conductor but this was something else.

If I were to ever live 80 years, I pray that perhaps one day I shall have a taste of

making music at such a level as this.

In any case, I know I said I'd post about Japanese desserts but I decided not to.

I had breakfast recently at this 70s-80s inspired restaurant called Vinyl and the food

was taking a little too long to arrive for my liking....

As you can probably tell... I do not like waiting too long to be served.

Everyone knows how grumpy I get when starved for too long...

I start eating everything in sight! Cups, tables, waitresses, children,

you name it I would probably eat it.

Alright I confess that entire last rubbish paragraph was made up simply

so I had a reasonable build-up towards posting this stupid photograph

which I spent too much time on (15 minutes) to not post on here.

6 weeks to my return to Singapore.

I can't say I'm not at least a little excited to see everyone again.

Can't wait to jump in on the AEWF music and of course the Winterreise

which I'm performing in June. Make sure you all come watch that recital!

Meanwhile my first exam is next week and the following week will be my

recital, and the stress only grows even more from there as more and

more important things arrive and rear their ugly heads.

I will return with more updates and perhaps some random musings.

Thanks for reading if you did and tag to say hi ok?

Arrivederci!

asian dreams (food).

2008-03-20T02:29:00.003+08:00

So this post is dedicated to food.
Not just food. Asian food.
Yes, one of the perks of living in New York City is that there isn't that great
a lack of good Asian food around. I absolutely love Korean food, Japanese food,
and of course the food of my people... good ol' Chinese food.
The trick is knowing where to find them.
Most of the "Chinese" places in New York are greasy, salty, weirdly named and
totally not Chinese in any way, anywhere besides in America.
But if you find those good places in Chinatown or take a trip to Flushing in Queens
like I did recently during my Spring Break, there is a ton of treasures to be
uncovered by your ravenous mouth.
There are places in Chinatown Manhattan that have amazing dim sum!
And also really really good Xiao Long Bao and other Hong Kong/Taiwan dishes.
Korean BBQ and all the other delights are, needless to say some of my favourites.
Japanese food, done well, is no stranger to any of us, and there are loads of really
good Japanese restaurants here. Japanese desserts are to die for!
Maybe next time I will upload pictures of these Japanese gems.

Now for the main event!
One of the highlights of Spring Break was eating in Flushing Queens where there
is another Chinatown, possibly even more authentic than the one in Manhattan.
I had this amazing Pork Cutlet rice in this Taiwanese style restaurant.
The rice was covered in sweet minced pork dark sauce with an herbal egg,
cabbages and some garnishings (like pork fat) and the amazing pork cutlet.

Doesn't it look just wonderful?
My lunching partner had really really good Beef Noodles which were
honestly better than those I use to have at Crystal Jade in Singapore.
Here's a look.

Needless to say I had some.
She was very obliging!
For additional pleasure and due to extreme hunger we also ordered
two more side dishes.
Taiwanese sticky rice, which I highly recommend:

And (wait for this) Pig Ears!
I loved these in Singapore and I was ecstatic to find them here in New York.

See? Live proof that you can be extremely Asian/Teochew and still
survive happily in New York by treating yourself once in awhile to these
amazing delicacies. And you know, the food wasn't very expensive either.
Trust the Chinese people to know how to pack a restaurant and make
loads of money without charging exorbitant amounts for their food.
Yes and here's a picture of me pigging out.

Yes drool people drool!
(Not at me... at the food please.)

On another note, school has started and I'm back to cafeteria food,
which I might add is not one of the highlights of studying in a prestigious
American conservatory. Nevertheless, I'm getting back into the swing of
things and I am pretty satisfied so far with my mid-term results.
Lots of exciting things coming up!
(Not counting more mid-terms next week...)
My final freshman recital is in about a month on the 15th of April, still
deciding what to sing but will do so in the coming week or two.
3 weeks after that is my Freshman Voice Jury which is the most important
exam I have to take every year.
Right after that are the final year examinations for the academic courses,
and then I go home.
Sounds really fast to me at this point.
I'm psyched up and ready to go!
Please keep me in prayer, especially for my health as the weather is crazy
in New York, even more so as Spring comes around the corner.
Ciao people! Leave tags and keep in touch!

flashback.

2008-03-17T02:30:00.007+08:00

Since my last blog entry before the renovation was so long ago there's just
so much to update on that I don't even know where or when to begin.
I'm not even sure you guys want to know everything that has happened either.
Probably not.
But I will do my best to glance through a few notable events that happend
since I last checked in.

After May a few important things happened in Singapore before I flew off.
The An Evening With Friends concert with the ACJC Choir, the Dichterliebe concert in June,
my last recital in Ms Jeong's studio before leaving to study and of course the St Gabriels'
Choir concert at VCH all went pretty well and left me with pleasant memories to leave with.
After all the goodbyes and very precious farewell gifts it was time to leave for New York.
My parents came to see the school and the city and I tried my best to show them
around from what I could remember of the place.
The Manhattan School of Music is such an amazing place for musicians!
Almost everyone is really good at what they're doing and the teachers are needless to say
all world-class professionals. What an eye-opener.
The student community here is mostly really friendly and diverse.
I mean it's New York City! You can't walk around this place without seeing 5 different
people from different ethnic backgrounds here. It's great!
MSM is 40% International and I have friends from all over the world as well as the US.
I have of course a lot of Korean friends (which those of you who stalk my facebook
would have realised by now), but I also have friends from Taiwan, Japan, France, Greece,
Poland, Turkey, and many more. There are some Singaporeans around too.
How refreshing it is (sometimes) to relate to others with such different cultures and
thinking than your own.

Other than eating lots of great food around the city
and shopping rather excessively/needlessly, I've also watched about 8 different operas
at the Met including La Traviata, Otello (with Renee Fleming),
Lucia di Lammermoor (with Natalie Dessay), Macbeth, Aida,
Die Zauberflote (with Diana Damrau), and Romeo et Juliette (with Anna Netrebko)
among others. I loved every moment of it!
You can count on it that I'm going to watch a lot more! There were some that I missed.
I also caught a few musicals but not many. I saw Avenue Q which was funny and
watched Chicago with Albert starring Brian McKnight who was amazing at singing
but kind of didn't act the role well at all.
I also saw a concert by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and a few pop concerts,
including Jon Bon Jovi live in New Jersey's Prudential Center! Jonathan kind of died
in Singapore when he heard I was going to see the band and he couldn't.
Don't worry Jon I was singing along for you every step of the way.

What else can I say? Jonathan came over to New York over my Winter Break to
join me here and also go over with Albert and I to Vancouver to ski and holiday with
Enoch and his brother. That was a real party trip which I really enjoyed. A good break!
All the photographs from my Winter Break with Jon are on Facebook, which is sadly one
of the excuses I gave myself for not blogging because all the photographs were uploaded
on the net already! I'm just lazy I realise but at least I'm back now.

I did really well last semester in my academic courses which I can honestly only
thank God for his blessings and providence for me here.
My voice teacher Neil Rosenshein is such a great tenor and it's only by God's
grace that I am now his student. He has taught me so much here and my voice
has grown much over the last few months. I can only wait in excitement to see
what the following years training under and learning from him will bring!

I think that's already more than most of you want to read in one blog entry so I will
bring this post to a close. I just finished two weeks of Spring Break so it's back to
school tomorrow. I made my second trip to Boston during the break
but otherwise I more or less stayed in the City... Really enjoyed going to the
New England Aquarium to see the beautiful sea life and also met up with Lim Hui!
Cheers Lim Hui! Thanks for meeting up with us.
9 more weeks before I return to Singapore on the 20th of May to see
everyone again! New York and MSM are great and all but I really miss home too.
Here's a picture that I took just two days ago in a Japanese restaurant in
downtown Manhattan called Yokocho which is actually right opposite Albert's residence hall.
Yes it's rather 'emo'...

Alright thanks for reading the hasty update! I'll check in again soon.
(By the way some of the previous blog posts have white-coloured text and are not
visible against the new white background. I don't intend to go back to them and blacken
them all so I guess if you want to view them you should just select the text with your
mouse which should make them visible. Thanks.)
Ciao!

New York New York!

2008-03-14T15:52:00.003+08:00

Yes it's true! I'm back!
After all my procrastination and Geoffrey's failed attempts to bring this blog back,
I have taken some extra time I have due to Spring break to finally resuscitate this site.
First of all how does everyone like my shameless new blog design?
Hahaha... it's fantastic!

I have two weeks of holiday for Spring Break because last week was Audition Week
here at the Manhattan School of Music, and the teachers have their break only this week.
They get one, we get two. Life is fair.
It was interesting looking at all the nervous strangers roaming around the school,
most looked prepared but jittery, some looked like they had no idea what they were doing,
and then there were those who clinged close to their parents who looked even more anxious
than the students themselves...
Then I took a moment to thank God that I am indeed here in New York,
at the Manhattan School of Music, studying with one of the greatest tenors to grace the stage.
Yes, Mr Neil Rosenshein is quite the tenor I must say and I still kick myself knowing how
lucky I am to be in his studio studying with him.
I promise to talk more about my experiences with Neil in posts to come.

I'm sitting in my room and it's 4am, struggling to think of what to type about.
I realise it's been almost a year since my last blog entry on my birthday last year.
This year the 6th of May will not only be my birthday but will also be the day of my
Voice Jury. That's the examination where I sing for the panel of teachers from the
Voice Faculty here at MSM. It is where if you fail you get to boot and if you do well
you become eligible for scholarship. I am obviously aiming and training for the latter.
Please pray for me as I strive for this. I need all the prayers I can get.
There are so many exciting things happening soon and I haven't even gotten to
all the exciting things that have already past!
Looks like I have my work cut out for me.

Half the battle is over because I renovated the blog and started posting again.
I will be updated more tomorrow when I can think of a more coherent way to
express my thoughts and recount the things I've done in the city.
The photographs will soon follow after that.
Those of you who have me on Facebook most of my new photographs are there!

Alright guys and girls I'm going to bed but I will be back real soon.
I promise!

the most emo post ever.

2007-05-06T15:14:00.002+08:00

February song

Where has that old friend gone
Lost in a February song
Tell him it won't be long
Till he opens his eyes
Opens his eyes

Where is that simple day
Before colours broke into shades
And how did I ever fade into this life
Into this life

And I never want to let you down
Forgive me if I slip away
And all that I've got is lost and found
I promise you, I
I'll come back to you one day

Morning is waking up
And sometimes it's more than just enough
And all that you need to love
Is in front of your eyes
It's in front of your eyes

And I never want to let you down
Forgive me if I slip away
Sometimes it's hard to find my ground
'Cause I keep on falling
As I try to get away from this crazy world

And I never want to let you down
Forgive me if I slip away
And all that I've got is lost and found
I promise you, I
I'll come back to you one day

Where has that old friend gone
Lost in a February song
Tell him it won't be long
Till he opens his eyes
Opens his eyes

Haha and yes that was my most emo post ever made.

Anyway Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me!
Happy Birthday to me! (and my bro) Happy Birthday to me!
Are you ready to eat your face off? I know I am.
Eat now, gym later, peace out.

Here's something to make this post oh so much worse and that much
more emo and distasteful in every way.

hello in there.

2007-04-26T20:19:00.000+08:00

Hello hello friends, avid readers and secretive little voyeurs.
Once again I must apologize for my long absence from Blogspot but it warms
my cold little heart to know that I've been missed at least by some if the
tagboard is of any indication. Haha okay rubbish aside I guess I should get
on to telling you guys what I've been up to and then shed some light on some
upcoming events that might prove to be exciting to some.

The recent event that has made me very very proud and extremely thankful to God
for is St. Gabriels' Vocal Ensemble's golden victory at this year's SYF central judging.
The blood shed for this gold was plentiful but I'm glad for it. This just goes to show how
amazing God is to have blessed us all so much. Having worked with the choir for just
over a year now it's heartening to see how much they've all grown now into the team
that walked on stage on Wednesday.
I won't bore you with horror stories about this
long and ardous journey but I will say that I think they are now able to believe in more
than they used to think they can achieve, and have finally experienced the magic that
is music-making and the beauty of sharing that music.
Of all these I am grateful again to God for giving me this opportunity to share a bit of
what He has given me through ACJC choir and in all my experiences thus far.
I would post a picture of the choir here but I don't have one. Hopefully I'll get my
hands on one some day. Haha.

Another great piece of news is that I have been offered places in
Manhattan School of Music and Oberlin Conservatory to study vocal performance
as a tenor at undergraduate level.
This year is truly a year of victory as God has promised and I'm excited to see what
more He has planned for me to do as He reveals His purposes for me day by day.
Although Oberlin offered to give me some scholarship money I have decided
to go to Manhattan School of Music for a multitude of reasons that I won't discuss
here due to the dubious pool of readers I know I have. Haha.
But alas know that I will disappear from the surface of this country
come mid/end August. I will update on the actual date when my flights and plans
have been finalized. But there's still lots to do before I go so
I'd like to make a few announcements here.

My next project coming up is An Evening With Friends, the annual concert by the ACJC
choir family at the Esplanade Concert Hall on the 28th of May at 7.30pm
Tickets are going at $17, $21, $27 and are selling fast so honestly order tickets from
me or any ACJC choir member or alumni member as soon as you can. We can only
place orders with cash on hand so unless you approach a
terribly rich member (ie. Karno Widjaja),
you should prepare the require amount before hand.

After that I'm involved in two concerts in June. One on the 9th which is a presentation of
Schumann's Dichterliebe and another later in the month featuring students of my
teacher Jeong Ae Ree in a casual recital with lots of food along with the performances.
I'll let you guys knows more about all these nearing the date.
St. Gabriels' Vocal Ensemble will also be performing in August
in a concert together with the school's band, also gold award winning
so there's lots to look out for.

I guess I've run out of things to say. I've also finished a long drawn out process of
arranging and rehearsing the vocals for the SAF Music & Drama Company's
next quarter's repertoire which meant long hours of rehearsals amidst
preparing the 3 choirs I'm involved in for this year's SYF.
Yes there are 3, even though St. Gabs was my main one that I spent the
most time with, I was helping some friends with their choirs on the side.
Just recently I actually went down to MDC to record the backing vocals for
some of the tracks of their new show and ended up just recording
all the harmony parts myself, screaming like a mad person the entire way of course.
What to do? The job needs to get done right?

Another slightly noteworthy mention is that Geoffrey and Jo came back from the UK
for their Easter holiday and so it was fun hanging out with them again
doing all sorts of slightly exciting things a few times a week
when I could find the time. Haha.
I do have a picture with Geoffrey on his last Alumni dinner with us before returning
to UK though and here it is.

So I congratulate you if you made it this far reading this entry.
You want an update here it is.

P.S. I can't wait for Enoch and Albert to come back from US/Canada! See you guys soon!

The greatest event in history.

2007-03-12T17:06:00.000+08:00

Ladies and gentlemen I present the most epic event in recorded
history, a milestone production for davidcharlestay.blogspot.com:
"The Greatest Springbreak Adventure in the Whole World!"
Sounds like a dream? Think again.

(Emo shot yes I realise.)
This once-in-a-lifetime event captures the essence of what fun is all about.
It is a tale of adventure, of friendship, of struggle, of journeys and above all
of freaking awesome laughs and lots of food.
Starring Albert Gerard Chua...

...as a retired Chanel model who's too hot to handle anymore.
Hips don't lie and neither do cheeks, whichever kind you have more of.
Also starring David Charles Tay...

...obviously since it's his blog and he sure as hell wouldn't miss this for
the world. (He is also too emo to care in that photo so don't bother.)
And last but not least the surprise guest star and GAP supermodel,
Enoch Lin.

Oh my goodness now you know it's gonna be fun!

The first thing we did after meeting in Niagara (and going into shock due
to how much weight Enoch has lost) and checking into the hotel,
was to stuff our faces with Krispy Kremes. All 24 of them. Yup you heard me.
Then of course we headed to the shopping malls where we spent inordinate
amounts of unnecessary money. See? Told you it was going to be an adventure.
*Now for an event special*
As referenced in Enoch's famous blog there is a special dedication at this point
to a lost friend who could not be with us on this epic adventure.
Mr Geof Ho.

Boohoo too bad. We thought to somehow allow you to be a part of this,
and also we thought this photo opportunity was too damn funny to miss out.

And so the three hopelessly dashing tenors stormed Niagara Falls, invading
all stores good and bad, until the sun set and there was a demand for them
to be fed absolutely delicious food at the Hard Rock Cafe.
Who were they to resist? It was all part of this amazing adventure.

The marched through thick slushy super fun snow in order to reach their
destination and their yummy rewards. How very resilient don't you think?
After all that food there was nothing better than a good stroll down to
take in the breath-taking vision that is Niagara Falls at night.
It was freezing so they resorted to throwing snowballs at each other to
keep warm and active.
Haha actually only I did oops sorry guys.

I was just amazed by God's creation and how beautiful it was, more
beautiful than I had ever imagined before going there.
I then saw a parallel of that in my life. What I thought was going to be a rather
serious trip to the US to do my auditions quite accidentally became the best
holiday I've ever had. Not a bad creation don't you think?

After the walk it was time for the tons of trash talk and other important matters
that really needed to be discussed. Where else was appropriate other than
the famous Seneca Niagara casino? Well of course we didn't go play in the
boring as hell Casino, we went straight to the bar and got ourselves wine and
champagne and other standard things to drink when you're thirsty and you need
to talk a lot. Needless to say we had a great time.

We went a little crazy at the end of it I'd admit.

If I thought Niagara Falls was pretty at night, I was not prepared for how
glorious it looked in the day. But before we continued on our adventure to the
Falls we had to fill our stomachs that following morning.
We pigged our faces out on pancakes and eggs and goodness knows what else.
I have a tribute picture to share in memory of that pig out at branch.

I usually never do this on my blog but
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
You gotta love that picture. Gotta love it.
The experience at Niagara Falls, chatting, singing, taking loads of photographs
and posing for extremely disgustingly emo shots is basically rather indescribable
so I'll let the photographs do more work.

Yes we know Kung Fu and we fought our way across the bridge to the sacred
island just like the good East Asians we are supposed to be! Fresh off the boat!
Haiyaaaah! Don't mess with me! Be a man! Do the right thing!
(Omg somebody save me from myself.)

Great times that I will remember honestly for as long as I live.

I guess to add more of my coy nonsense here would ruin it.
I'd just like to very sincerely say how blessed I feel to have found such friends
who are like brothers to me. Thanks guys for a freaking awesome time we had,
and we shall meet again soon definitely.
There's so much to say yet words probably won't do it much justice.
As for the rest of you reading this hope you enjoyed the pictures
(except for Geoffrey boohoo.) and I'll be back
soon with more exciting updates on my trip which I haven't added on yet.
This entry is just specially dedicated to this amazing experience at Niagara Falls.
You definitely should visit again soon to watch for more updates and also visit
Enoch's blog *here* and Bert's blog *here* for more pictures from the trip
and also this super funny video we did in the snowy landscape.
It's a must watch trust me. Go to Bert's blog.

P.S. Oh yes and I'll be back in Singapore on Wednesday so I'll see the rest of you real soon.

nyc2.

2007-02-28T05:14:00.000+08:00

Hey I'm back with more pictures!
It's my 4th day in New York City and much has happened.
I've pretty much crawled all over the downtown Manhattan area with
Albert in the last few days. I've gone to Macy's, Bloomingdales,
Central Park, 5th Avenue and so on. I did a hell lot of shopping, maybe
a little more than I should have... all in the span of the two days I was with
Albert. Now I've moved to further upstate to stay with my friend Salman at
Columbia University. The campus grounds are beautiful but I don't really have
photos of it yet. I don't really wanna walk around the college taking photos of it,
a little too embarrassing in an Asian Tourist kind of way you know?
There are so many Asians here by the way. Tons of them. Every corner.

Anyway so let's start with the photos and
The Adventures in New York City!

That's a photograph I took from Central Park.
It's beautiful don't you think? Maybe I should take up photography.
Haha who am I kidding? There are too many of you out there claiming to
be photographers already, you don't need the competition.

That's Berty and I on a bridge in Central Park.
Yes I look happier now and I'm a lot more used to the cold.
Thanks for all the prayers for my health and keep praying please!
I really do need all the prayer I can get I always say that.
Here are more of the photos I took at Central Park next to the half frozen
lake with all the ducks and swans on it. Very pretty sight too.

Very pretty isn't it?
It snowed the night before so everything was still semi-nice in the Park.
The rest of New York otherwise was just gross. Please for those of you who
think snow is gorgeous it's not. It's freaking gross here in New York.
The snow turns black and grey from dirt. It's gross.
It get's all slushy and wet. It's gross.

Haha. Here's a photo I took along one of the streets in New York.
I think it's a very beautiful picture that kind of reminded me of God's
blessing in my life and also on the people of America even.

Next is a picture I took in front of Radio City Music Hall!
The famous Radio City Music Hall man. Along with Madison Square Garden
one of the most famous places that hold concerts and events of the largest
scale. There were also many super long stretch limosines in New York
and Albert and I got such a kick out of shouting "Diddy!" at all the passing
limos. Hahaha. Like Diddy would wind down the window and
go "yo bro what's hanging" or something. Haha.

Yes I know the photo very feeling emo.
What can I say guys? What can I say?

We also visited this huge Disney store. It was 3 stories high stocked full
of all things Disney. All I can say about it is that Geoffrey would have
freaking loved it more than Bert and I combined. Man he would have been
this drooling annoying baby in a candy store. We didn't buy anything but
we did take some touristy pictures. Here's one.

Miss Cruella Deville. Evil villain from 101 Dalmatians.
I thought I'd take a photo with the crazy thing since we were in matching
clothes. Oh well got to pay respects to the pioneers of villainy no?
Here's a picture I think would interest my Star-Wars-Crazy brother.
Here's Jedi Mickey Jon, I wanted to buy it for ya but it was US$150.
Not a pretty sum. So no I didn't but you can keep the photograph.

Jedi Mickey. What will they think of next?

Now here's Albert looking all macho and heroic posing with Atlas,
the man who held the world on his back. Yes we all have great ambitions.

Albert's is probably to get pass the next two weeks alive before he gets
a well deserved Spring Break.
My short term goal is pretty much the same. My audition on the 4th
of March is pretty much also right before Spring Break starts.
Before I sign off because I think I've already posted too many photographs
I would like to leave you with a piece of New York art.
Maybe you can tell me what it is.

No idea? I thought so.
I can't figure this one out either.

Alright I'm sorry if the amount of photographs crashed your internet.
It's not my fault your computer sucks okay?
For the rest of you I do miss you guys at home and take care of yourselves.
You are all in my thoughts and prayers too even as I prepare myself
for this important thing I gotta do over here in NYC.
I'll update soon with more pictures.
See you all and God bless.

New York!

2007-02-24T21:34:00.000+08:00

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen I come to you live and real

from New York City atop Albert's bed at 8.40am blogging for

you after a long flight across oceans to be here.

Last night was a blast. Albert picked me up from Newark airport

at around 5+pm (I'm talking New York time now 13 hours behind Singapore)

and we went back to his place before he brought me around town.

We went to this all American burger place and I ate this huge burger with

fries which was just heaven coupled with hot black coffee. I was happy.

It's so damn cold for me here. Apparently around -3 degrees celcius.

It's not that bad normally but when the wind blows my face just freezes

to death and I go blind for awhile. Albert is used to it so it doesn't really

affect him very much.

After that we took the subway to Times Square and walked around and talked

about all sorts of trash mostly and just had fun seeing the lights and sounds

of the rather busy place. But honestly there wasn't much to do or buy there.

I walked pass all the theatres, walked down the stretch of street in front of

MTV's TRL which I see so many times in the gym while watching MTV...

we saw lots of limosines stretching around town too.

Here are some photographs we took over in Times Square.

I stupidly didn't bring out my camera because I was a little disorientated

so all the photographs on this post were from my phone alright?

Well that over there is Times Square. Just a moment in history where

I know I went there on my first night here. I'll take better pictures next

time because I'm pretty certain we'll head back there some time.

This is the huge MandMs store we went to in Times Square. Everything

was M and Ms. Tons of chocolate and merchandise and t-shirts... everything.

Here's a ton of M and Ms in all different colours. This is just one panel of it

there were at least 4 or 5 in total and you could just fill up some containers

to buy these wonderful little chocolates. They come in colours I have never

seen them in before. Cool stuff. Of course because I'm here for my audition

I didn't even eat a single M and M. After the 4th I shall be free!

That's a damn unglam picture of us. I was very cold I couldn't even smile

properly... sigh. Please excuse this picture! Haha. Just thought I'd post it

to let you guys know I've found Albert and that I'm safe and sound.

Alright I'm going to run off to shower and go for breakfast and then it's

shopping for me I think. Gonna look for some cool stuff you can't find in

Singapore. Yes it's true Albert's room mate snores like a dinosaur.

Thankfully the training I got from sharing my room with my twin brother

for the first 16 years of my life proved useful because Jon snores like a

volcano as well. Haha. What can I say? Poor Albert.

Alright guys I'll blog again soon with more updates and stuff.

My audition is at 4.30pm on the 4th of March so that'd be about 5.30am

on Monday morning for you guys there in Singapore. No matter please do

keep me in prayer because I really need that covering from the Lord.

I hope to hear from you guys soon on MSN or whatever.

We've got some cool stuff planned so check back here to see what we'll be up to

here in New York City. Take care!

january awakes.

2007-01-29T20:26:00.001+08:00

And so it has begun.
January has come and gone like the wind and yes I know I haven't
been blogging and keeping you guys updated on what's going on over here,
but as promised I have returned to update on a few of the more important
events that has happened this month.
Before I start the photo-diarrhoea I want to share some great news.
I have been invited to audition at the Manhattan School of Music,
and I'll be leaving on the 24th of Febuary to New York to stay with friends.
My audition is on the 4th of March so please pray that everything goes
well and I do my very best and that my body and voice will be in good
condition so I won't be bothered by any such problems.
I'll be back around the 14th of March and of course I'll tell you all about the
trip and the audition and all the other exciting things I'll be doing which
I have already begun planning. Haha!

The first thing I'll spew pictures on is the recent gathering of a special group
of people for a barbecue in tribute to Jarrod Hong who will be leaving to
Australia to study next month. C*** 2007 man.

Yes that's the lot of us.
Please ignore Sheryl's wannabe-preets expression. Haha.
Enoch we missed you that night but we'll be having another big lamb party
this Saturday at my place so try to make it this time ya?

The chef at the pit that evening was alas my twin who being truly quite
insane that night. Yes perhaps insanity runs in the family.
Maybe he's just unfortunately a little crazy.
Either way we didn't stop laughing that night especially when Mimi pulled
up in an Ikea truck. Hahaha.
(Alright all these are private jokes and inuendos that none of you save those
in C*** will know so don't bother trying to understand. Skip skip.)

Yes this is Sheryl.
Sheryl thinks she's very preets
and therefore deserves special mention and a big picture in this entry
just like in the other entry last year when we struck a similar pose.

(Won't you look at that!)

That's pretty much it, so Enoch please remember to try to take time off
your busy Canadian schedule to make it down to my place next week
for some lamb and wine okay?

Another somewhat fun thing was the ACJC CCA Exhibition which really
happened a long time ago but I didn't post about it and I don't want the
nice photos to go to waste.
The special thing about this year's exhibition was that I managed to
get the J2 choir guys to learn and sing Insomniac by Straight No Chaser
which I spent many a sleepless nights transcribing.
I think they did a great job of it for the 3 days of work we had.
Anyway here's a picture I like a lot that I'm sure lots of you will find interesting.

What a blast from the past.
I honestly never thought I'd ever wear my uniform again but alas who could
resist such a photo opportunity. The uniform belonged to Ernest's thinner
self I believe. My old self gave his uniform to Star Cruises so they could
patch their sails.

Here's a collection of very special pictures mostly from the CCA Exhibition
and the last one at the bottom is of course the Alumni barbecue at Geof's
place where the whole lot of us involved in the carolling season last year
came together to celebrate the year together.

Before I end of I have a few photos I'd like to dedicate to Karno Widjaja
who so loves to post unflattering photographs of me on his blog.

That's Karno on the right looking all sure of himself and right on the money.

And here's Karno now caught in one of Bong's questionable items of fashion.
Oh my goodness Karno what were you thinking?

I am really looking forward to what this year has to bring.
A year of victories and of possibilities I'm sure it will be.
I'll update more soon I promise and keep in touch.
See you all around soon in one way or another.

back to the future.

2007-01-01T17:20:00.000+08:00

As promised Enoch here's a post about the batch gathering
that happened last Thursday. As usual, fun and laughter.
I know I don't sound that excited but oh well I'm not about to try
hard enough just so you can feel the enthusiasm in my words.
Haha.
Anyway I'll post pictures from the super fun alumni barbecue in the
next post once I get my hands on some photographs.
Before all that I would like to say HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
I believe this year will be a victorious year for all of us so let's press
on and see what God has planned.

Okay photographs time.
Lots of you who visit my blog may not recognize these poeple so I'll
take some time to introduce them to you.
Last Thursday my batch of ACJC choristers met for dinner at Grace's place
and also celebrated her 21st birthday with her there.

From left: Geoffrey: Bass1 (but we already knew that), Chalat: Bass2 and
Choir President 2003, Peiru: Sop2, Sheryl Han: Sop1 (But now sings alto
in alumni due to psychological barriers haha), Me: Tenor1, Grace Yan: Sop1
(and birthday girl), Anne: Sop2, Eleena: Sop2 and Vice-Pres, Wilfred: Tenor2
and TSL 2003 (my TSL!), Jarrod: Tenor1, Huiling: Sop1.
That's the lot of us.
Oh yeah and Happy Birthday Grace.

Now for some random pictures we took that night to remember that 3 years down
the road from graduation you can still meet up and have loads of fun.
And we didn't even have to sing a note. Beat that.

That most important photo first, the Tenors!
This is 3/5 of us, we're missing Joel and of course the ever missed and ever
illustrious Enoch Lin. Sigh.

Another random shot. I don't have much to say about this one except
that Geoffrey's eyes are closed again but you already expected that.

Me with two gorgeous babes. Haha.
Seriously I throw those words around too lightly. So easy nowadays.
Anyway I was glad to see them all again.

Huiling, Queen of ____ ____ so we only take photos of her upper-half.
Haha. That's for those who understand only. Anyway it's always fun to
have Huiling around to laugh at and with on any occasion. She studies
in Australia now I believe so I guess it was great for her to meet us again.
Next batch gathering should be at her house with the pool once everything
is renovated. Sounds hopeful but oh well one can always hope.

Here's Geof and I messing around with Anne and Wilfred who have been
dating since 2003 in JC. Who would have thought it'd go on forever?
Hahaha. Alright now, this is another successful choir couple story but don't
get your heads all in the clouds those of you still in school... concentrate on
your studies and your music! Yes I'm talking to you.

Spur of the moment photograph that resulted from Geoffrey's nostalgic
tendencies. He insisted on taking photos with everyone that night so I
smiled for camera. What can you do right?

The guys (or should I say "choir men") as we were forced to call ourselves
then in an effort to erase any pubescent inclinations left in us.
The guy in the brown t-shirt is my TSL Wilfred as I mentioned before and I
believe he said he's coming back to sing with us next year so do make
him feel welcomed. Cool another tenor brother joins the team.

That's all I have for you for now. I never managed to get the carolling photos
and it's too much of old news now to post about it so I'll just let it remain in my
computer once I get hold of them to remind me of great times when I go overseas
to study. I will try to post on the Alumni Barbecue and other subsequent events.
Christmas and New Year has come and gone and I've eaten so so so much.
I hope you all have as well because really there isn't any point starving when everyone
else is having so much fun haha.
Back to school back to work! See you all soon.

P.S. I took off the music so I won't ruin what you're listening to on your own computers.
I'll put something back on when the muse takes me. Happy Kokphai?

backward glances.

2006-12-26T23:54:00.000+08:00

A very merry blessed Christmas everyone.
But it is with a slightly heavy heart that I type this entry.
Christmas has come and gone and this marks my very last carolling
with the ACJC Choir because I leave to study next year and I must
say this realization doesn't come without a fair amount of heartache.
However I guess sorrow isn't really the order of the day considering
what the choir has done in my life over these many years and
even as I sang with new and old faces alike for the last time this year
I silently thanked God for His providence and His love.
So Choir Of My Heart, as I continue with you in your journey for as long
God allows me to it is my prayer you will continue to be blessed and to
bless others with your music and your passion and your integrity for many years
to come, long after people like myself have come and gone.

On a lighter note I'll just post some fun photographs I took at the recent
barbecues I had in the past month. Let me say that all this Christmas eating
isn't great for health but really why pass up a good meal when tis the season
to be jolly no? I'll update very soon again with pictures from the ACJC carolling
stretch once I get my hands on some pictures but for now these will just have to do.

This is taken from the chalet barbecue my church friends and I had.
Lots of kids around so I just took charge of the cooking in case they ruined
my raw food that I prepared and brought haha. Yes control freak.
I ended up cooking from 6pm to 11pm. My right hand was half-cooked.

Here's some of my cell group with my leader Melvin on the right.
A bit unglam but that's not my fault. It was a chalet right?

Here's the rest of it. Very random photographs.

The next group of photos is from the party we had at my voice teacher's place.
We have this party every end of year anyway so this year was not exception.
Lots of laughter, lots of food and lots and lots of alcohol.
Yes we were happy that night.

That's the whole lot of us who showed up that night. I'm quite sure some may
even have left by the time this picture was taken and there were tons of her
students that couldn't come that day... well I didn't know she had that many
students either. But honestly I say sometimes having too many people in
a small area kills the fun. Maybe I'm just anti-social? Hahaha.

The night progressively got more party-like.

There's Shridar having his nth glass of wine, and me looking terribly innocent.

This was how things pretty muched looked by the end of the night.
Well good fun good fun.

Well if you couldn't tell by now I'm just being trigger happy with the photographs
and I don't really have much to say.
The main crux of what's on my mind now was in the first paragraph, the rest
of this post other than the beautiful photos is pretty much just fluff.

Well for most of us it's back to work soon and I wanna wish you guys all
the best and I look forward to working with lots of you next year as I hopefully
countdown the days to my departure. But before then, I believe that's still lots
to be done and I can't wait.
There's news of a concert we're staging possibly in Febuary
performing Robert Schumann's Dichterliebe and the Bastien
Und Bastienne opera will probably be produced in May next year.
Check back for more updates okay?
Next post I'll go dig for some carolling photographs.
Send them to me if you have them!
See you soon and Merry Christmas!

homely homecoming.

2006-12-15T22:56:00.000+08:00

Yes as most of you would know Geoffrey Ho is back.
"Big deal." some of you might say and I might be inclined to disagree
but nevertheless nothing beats the welcoming back of a familiar face no?
The boy is so glad to be back and I bet he was snivelling inside today
while watching us carol at Ocean Towers.
Ah but his homecoming has not been in vain and in fact has been quite the
event. Last night we trooped down to Newton Circus almost immediately after
Geoffrey returned to Singapore to gorge on local fair.
Here's some of us.

There's Jon Tang, Yihui, Minglong, Geof and I.
Also in the party were Ben and Suzanna who aren't in the picture.
Poor Suz was sick but alas her big sister duties as sole remaining family
member in Singapore and hesitant chauffeur called on her to be there.
Well at least the food was good eh Suz?

We proceeded on to Citylink Mall and Marina Square after dinner where
Mark met up with us and so on and so forth but before I continue
I wish to share with you a rather funny picture.

Hey at least Jon Tang looks normal in that picture.
I know your eyes are popping now Enoch and Bert. Come back soon and
we'll go stuff ourselves with that food too. The crabs beckon.

Now that I mentioned crabs I must be sure to go have some soon.
I found this really cheap but delicious place in Macpherson I thought to bring
Geof to try out with other alumni. Sounds good?

Anyway carolling season has begun full swing and I'm excited to see what this
year will bring. Christmas truly is the best time of the year where you can
appreciate cheesy music, eat constantly, receive presents and relish in all
the Christmas sales around town.
See you guys at the performances!

pre-christmas cheer!

2006-12-11T23:08:00.000+08:00

This is a special message for all those who are away from home,
the new song on the blog is specially for you.
Christmas season has arrived and you better hurry home before
it flies by without you on board!
Yes Geoffrey I guess that means this is specially for you too.

Despite having quite a tough time dealing with losing my voice during
the week of my recital and choral workshop I thank God for the great
(or relatively good) performances and the immeasurably precious memories.
It's always a pleasure to sing and carol with ACJC and part of my heart
dies when I remember that this will be my last performance
at KKMC and also my last carolling season.
Nevertheless as how Ms Gracia puts it, treasure these experiences for they
never come by you again. Well said indeed, how often we let precious
things like these pass us by without even realising their significance.
Here's a picture of Ms Gracia imparting some wisdom to the choir after
the second service at Kampong Kapor Methodist Church.

The last few days were special and looking back now I understand that God
had planned it perfectly, even my illness was essential to His plan.
I remember moaning about how everything seemed to be going wrong this
week, which it really almost did. Yet during the moments that mattered God
was there. He was there when my Dad fell into a deep drain last weekend
and hurt himself, preventing any major injuries to his bones or organs.
God was there as well during my recital where half my voice returned so I
was able to pull through the performance with my dignity intact.
God was definitely there with the choir as well as we sang and made music
in KKMC early that morning and even more so in the second service.
Lord I thank you for your love and providence for us all and I'm sorry that I'm
such a noisy, ever-complaining servant.
We all learn some day and hopefully so will I.

Here are more pictures to mark the occasion.

That's us listening very intently to Ms Gracia's words, which although were
wise in their depth, did not lack sincerity and warmth. It's always such a blessing
to be able to meet and listen to her.
I wish she would come back to work with the choir more often!

There that's the last picture.
I look forward to the carolling season up ahead which will be extremely
intensive schedule wise. I've already begun my three week work plan for
the rest of this month to save myself the agony of organisational disaster
later in the year. Alright that's all for now, ACJC alumni please check the
yahoo groups for updates on our performances and rehearsals.
Take care and see you soon at the performances.

P.S. Don't you love my Christmas-themed blog skin? Gotta love it.

rescue relief!

2006-12-03T22:29:00.000+08:00

Boy am I glad to be back!
My return to my blog signals that the worst is officially over in terms of
the business I recently had to worry about. This is not to say there's not more
to come but it does fortunately mean that a very hectic period is over and
I'm taking a short and well deserved breath of fresh air for a few days.
First things first, you are ALL invited to the upcoming concert I'm singing in.
It's the annual concert of the students of my voice teacher Jeong Ae Ree.
It's on this coming Friday the 8th of December 2006 at
YMS Auditorium
54 Waterloo Street
7.00pm
S$15 Free Seating (so come a bit earlier to get seats)
Please let me know ASAP if you would like to attend.
I'll be singing two art songs and I promise at least one will be in English.

To elaborate further about my recent projects that have clogged up
most of my days, I am relieved to announce that I have finished most
if not all of my university applications unless I decide to apply to more
colleges this month. Also my SATs are over and I would really like to thank
Benjamin, Minglong and Ernest who helped me revise for my math component.
Thanks you guys really saved my life. I actually think I did pretty well for the math.
Now on to more important events!

The event of the season was of course the wedding of Joseph and Rachel!
I am still sour about not being able to attend their wedding ceremony on
Saturday morning but the wedding dinner that night was magical.
Obviously the alumni turned up in full force and some of us even sang a
surprise song for Rachel, with Jospeh singing the solo of course.
He was pretty much singing the entire night actually. Every time he got his hands
on a microphone he was singing a love song to Rachel. It was like they were really
in another world all by themselves and we were just spectators. Haha.
Here's the beautiful couple at the dinner...

And here are other photographs we took that night.

Here's Mr Sum and Suzanna (who had a rather special night as well),
looking gorgeous in that dress.
What a rare sight indeed.

Gina Pearl who was still doing her project work at the dinner.
What can I say? University life isn't all it's cut out to be?

More alumni. All looking great I must say.
Now a picture I took with fellow (older) tenor Kokheng.

Here's picture I took with some of the people I respect the most in my life.

Mrs Wilson, Ms Gracia, Mrs Tay and Lao Shi all came to celebrate the union
of the lovely couple. Ms Gracia even went on stage to say a few words,
words that I'm sure Joseph and Rachel will probably never forget.
Geof you are such a sucker for such things you would have wanted to be there.

That's about it for the wedding photos.
Qinghao would have heaps more, perhaps one day we can all look at the photo
album when it's out. I would like to catch a glimpse of the morning photos myself.
Another recent event worth mentioning would be the choir concert St. Gabriels'
had with Presbyterian High and Holy Innocents High School.
The overall concert was quite satisfying. Of course there were the usual mistakes
here and there and more growth is definitely in store but I'm happy that they
have finally risen up to the challenge. I gave them 7.5/10 based on current potential.
Chloe Mercy came to watch the concert, probably on a whim but
thanks for coming anyway Chloe! Haha.

The other guys is Joel who played piano for a lot of the songs sung that night
by the choirs. Nice chap.

That's all I have to say for now. Please let me know if you're coming to the concert.
You can pass the the $15 on the night itself.
If not I'll catch you all at the Three Choirs Concert on Monday night and at the
ACJC Choral workshop this Thursday through Sunday.
ACJC will be the Choir-in-attendance at KKMC this Sunday I believe so come
worship with us if you can.
See you guys around
and keep those tags coming if you visit!

marital blessing.

2006-11-20T00:24:00.000+08:00

Alright I'll admit that my previous post was uncalled for so this time
I do have a legitimate blog-worthy event to blog about.
I am of course referring to the wedding of Shaun and Leanne,
a very simple and beautiful ceremony at the Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church.
There was just this serenity and warmth about the entire service,
the weather was a blessing, God made sure rays of golden sunshine beamed
through the windows without a hint of gloom or rain to ruin anything.
They asked the Alumni to sing as the bride entered with her father and we
obviously very happily obliged.
Here's us getting ready.

They chose the song God Be In My Head, probably inspired by this year's
performance at An Evening With Friends and it turned out to be just the perfect
song for that moment. I'm very glad to have been able to share their joy as
Shaun and Leanne now begin their new life together.
It was a special moment and I'm so glad everything went well.
I'm sure they are too haha.
Alright more pictures of us singing at the wedding...

Yup. God be in my head.
Looking at these pictures I am reminded of how upset I am about not being
able to sing at Joseph and Rachel's wedding. Aaaargh. Frustration.

Anyway I've kind of run out of things to say really other than things are rather
busy as usual and I'm still trying to finish up my applications so please pray
for me if you can. I also have a concert coming up on the 8th of December
at YMS Auditorium again and lots of ACJC carolling in December.
Do get tickets for that and come hear the choir too, I'll reveal more information
on the dates for those performances soon enough.
Also the Bastien Und Bastienne opera is on again as we've now got funding
from the Lee Foundation or something so watch out for that coming up in January.
The St. Gabriel's choir is doing a concert with Holy Innocents' and Presbyterian High
at the Singapore Conference Hall on the 30th of November which is what I'm also
busy preparing them for so let me know if you're interested in that concert I
can get anyone tickets for that as well.
I guess that's it.

Take care everyone, especially those overseas!
And for those who are finished or have already finished their A levels, please for
goodness sakes do something useful with your time... like coming to help me
with my SAT revision! I await your call. See you all.

asian food.

2006-11-16T22:35:00.000+08:00

Just thought I'd creep in to pay tribute to how great Asian food is.

and how much better it is with great company around you.

and that's just half of us.
These photographs were taken on the night some of the alumni went to
rehearse for Shaun and Leean's wedding which is this Saturday.
We'll sing God Be In My Head which really is such a nice song.
I am truly happy for the couple, and it's been so long since I thought this would
happen, now it finally is.

But really this entry is just to remind Geof and Enoch and Bert how great
chicken rice is. I mean especially with the vegetables and the dumpling soup
and the glassy chicken feet and guess what it's all for under $8,
and yes I mean everything on that table plus drinks was less than that.
Do not question my intentions.

Other than that life has been hectic.
I just finished my last day at the primary school today and the feeling is
bittersweet to say the least.
I'm tired so I'm signing off, I'll try to come back with something
less meaningless to blog about the next time.
See ya.

random moment.

2006-11-12T02:13:00.000+08:00

Yes this is just a random moment at home when I just felt
like posting up some pictures because I'm a little bored and I don't
feel like doing anything productive.
Guys you know what I mean.

That's a picture of some friends who went to watch the German opera I sang
in last month called Bastein Und Bastienne. Photo courtesy of Jay of course.

But really the next few pictures are dedicated to a bunch of pals I miss
quite a bit. I was just chatting with Geoffrey online which doesn't happen
often enough because he's always busy with work (yeah right), and he was
just telling me how much he misses home.
Don't worry man we'll plan many crazy pig-out sessions and who knows
maybe I'll bring you partying if I'm in that kind of mood haha.

Here's my best buddies on tour in the UK, Geof and Enoch.
Man sometimes going for rehearsals now feels like I'm flying solo.
Choir isn't the same without you guys there and sometimes I do feel a bit
alone and removed you know? I guess it comes with growing old lah haha.

Ah and now the gang is a little more complete by making room for big Bert,
another buddy who has spread his wings and fluttered off.

Alright that's all I wanted to do.
I'm going to look for something else more meaningless to engage in now.
Ciao.

baritone song.

2006-11-08T23:03:00.000+08:00

Alas the update I promised.
I do realise it has been ages since I've updated and I want to send
my sincere apologies to Geoffrey, Enoch and Albert and my other
displaced friends who may not have the inside scoop on my otherwise
assumed to be extremely exciting life.
I do have some miniature things I guess I could talk about now but don't
get your hopes up too high ok?
Firstly there is a picture from some of the alumni I specially took just
to say a big hello to Geoffrey who's rotting over in the UK,
in the hopes of bringing some slight joy into his supposedly dreadful and

terrifying life of medical books and corpses.

There's Karno, Yvonne, Sufen and Mr Sum all saying hello.
See how sacrificial I am Geoffrey? I posted this picture up even though
I think I look damn bad in this photo. You better bring back some souvenirs.

If you must know I've still been teaching every morning at the Primary
School I mentioned and also St. Gabriel's and MDC.
Nothing much new there other than I had to see one of my classes through
their final year examinations and now I'm preparing St Gab's for their
concert at the end of the month and also their KL exchange trip they are
embarking on some time next month.
Jarrod managed to get some days of relief teaching at the same school
with me so it was nice to have a familiar friend around to hang out
and talk rubbish with during free periods.
I've also agreed to do a short A Cappella workshop with Kokheng's choir
in Northland Secondary which I believe will prove to be rather challenging
for me and for the kids there. Oh well what to do?
For details on that you'll have to ask me personally online.
I have another concert I'm singing for next month and I'll keep you
updated on that. No news about the re-run of the opera as of yet so I'm
going to presume it's called off or postponed indefinitely.
Either way please come to next month's concert if you are available.

Mostly and above all else I'm still stressed and bogged down by application
stuff which is just hanging in the air now while I wait for testimonials and
begin writing my personal statements and essays etc.
One thing I dread the most is the SAT which is easy enough but yet such a
long and tedious thing. Too make things worse I'll have to miss singing
at Joseph and Rachel's wedding because the test falls on the same day.
Can you say "that sucks"? Man it's such a pain in the backside.

A nice highlight which happened last Sunday was the Bryn Terfel concert
I went to. For those of you who don't know who that is, Bryn Terfel is a
Welsh Baritone who's famous the world over and has won countless awards
including a Grammy Award I believe and even has his own festival in Wales.
Can you say "wow!" or what? For the AC Choir folk he was the amazing baritone
who sang at the opening ceremony of the Llangollen International
Musical Eisteddfod this year when we went there to compete.
He sang in Italian, English, German, French and even did a Welsh folk song.
His diction was impeccable and he really does have a very beautiful voice.
His acting was hilarious too when he meant it to be and you could see why
he's so successful in Opera even though it was a recital with piano that night.
The pianist himself was also exquisite and kind of stole the show for me at
certain points because of the sheer sensitivity of his playing and his masterful
use of the pedal so effectively to create the perfect sound which was crisp,
solid and yet thoroughly malleable and detailed.
Yes I had a good time that night.
This is how Bryn Terfel looked like when he was perhaps a bit younger.

Alright and also maybe a little air-brushed but who doesn't do it come on.
He is after all Wale's favourite son, and that's saying something considering
the great tradition of male singing they have there in Wales.

That's all I have for you so far.
I'll really try to update more often now that I have fixed my internet by investing
in a new router and adapter. Fingers crossed I'm hoping it works out and I will
finally have a stable connection to the essential thing called the internet.
Take care all of you and see you around.

smile-worthy moments.

2006-10-17T23:14:00.000+08:00

The first thing I want to say is Happy Birthday Mum!
She turned "30" on the 12th of October and we celebrated with
quite honestly more food that any of us could bear.
I can't remember the name of the restaurant but it had very good food.

Kartini's birthday was just 2 days before and she came along anyway.
My mother and my matching tops were completely unplanned.
Anyway I love you Mum and God bless you always.

I don't know about you but I find the tone of the post rather ditzy
and I'm now desperately trying to pull this entry away from that direction.
To do this I'll keep the entry short.
I'm extremely tired because I destroyed the photo collage you will see later
twice while making it, thus depleting almost all my energy in outbursts
of frustration.

Anyway the next note-worthy event that happened recently was the gathering
of the infamous you-know-what at Villa Bali again on Friday.

Enoch you're eating your heart out I know.
It's alright you've lost weight you can afford to eat more.
This didn't stop us from having fun that night which we usually do anyway,
talking about almost anything and everything we think of.
Because information shared or shed at such meetings are almost
always strictly confidential I shall refrain from discussing this event too much
in detail but I will say that I am now officially the most boring topic of
discussion there as of Friday. I will try to be more interesting if fate allows it.
I'm not sure if all can catch my drift but I think you guys from you-know-what do.
For lack of anything else better to say I'll let these photos do the talking.

Top left: My favourite photo from the night
which Ben sacrificially helped to take. Poor Mimi.
Middle right: The 3 best looking single people at the table that night.
Although for most, probably not single for too long more.
Bottom left: Group shot with Sherly's expensive car which is hidden by
backsides of varying size.
Crazy/blooper shots on bottom right.

I'm too tired to upload more photos.
Please pray for me my audition for 4 US music colleges is on this coming Friday.
I'm also starting to go full swing with University application processes.
Might even re-take my SATs just in case I need it.
Which is scary to me because I have willed myself into not being able to count
other than in music. I haven't had an examination in Mathematics since 2001.
What a perilous proclamation right there. Confessions are cruel.
Anyway you get the picture, as usual I need God more than ever.
See you around soon.
Oh yeah and good job at Open House juniors.

bastien und bastienne.

2006-10-09T21:21:00.000+08:00

I want to sincerely thank all of you who came down to watch
the chamber opera and I trust that and am glad that you all had a good time
on Sunday. It was an important learning experience for me as are all of such
performances. The great thing about this production was that all those involved
were such nice people. I'm not just saying that, because sometimes when you're
in certain music circles in Singapore it gets very bitchy and pretentious which
I absolutely find so tiring to have to deal with and block out in order to focus on
the music and not the egos and opinions of those around you.
On that note, I really thank God for Ms Jeong and all her students as well as
Thomas and all his students as well. I'm really happy with how it turned out.
For those of you who missed it, here's a short narcissistic glance at the opera
on Sunday. Thanks Qinghao for the amazing photographs of the performance.
I know it's like a collection of pictures of me but really these are all I have.
If you have photographs of the other parts of the performance please
e-mail them to me. Thanks! Haha.

That's my teacher in the top left photo. Isn't she gorgeous?

The Singapore Arts Museum auditorium is beautiful,
high decorated ceiling, miniature sculptures on the walls and
my favourite part of the space, the huge stained-glass window.
For those of you who didn't watch the opera, we portrayed the story of the
two lovers, Bastien and Bastienne by using different singers to represent
each facet of the characters. All of us painted our faces white so we looked
like we were all wearing the same mask, effectively becoming the same
person in the story. The girls sat to the left of the piano and the men on
the right of it. A story-teller dressed like a gypsy tells the story while we took
turns singing the different arias that make up the opera.
Short, sweet and effective. I can't wait to do it again in November actually,
although I think it'd be different the next time because I will have to sing in
English and not German and it'd be with an orchestra.
It was easier to fall into character and sing with
less inhibitions while having your face painted. Perhaps next time I should
always paint my face white for performances. Heh. Maybe it'd be a trademark?
The singing Korean ghost maybe.

One of the best parts of this whole Opera experience was getting to work with
my brother in it which is always fun. Especially when we silently told jokes during
rehearsals randomly and burst into inappropriate laughter.

Poor Jon was sick that day but he still sang well as usual.
Let me just say if you think it took effort to get us to look like that, it's one
hell of a ride trying to get that make-up off your face, from your eye-lids
and out of the cracks of your lips/face. When it gets into your hair,
I don't even want to talk about the paint in the hair man.

Another person I'm deeply grateful for is my voice teacher Ms Jeong Ae Ree.
I know she doesn't read my blog at all but I must say she has been such a
patient teacher and I thank God she is teaching me and not someone else.
Plus she is fun and has such a beautiful voice and great technique.
What more can you ask for right?
Of course I also loved that my parents were there to watch us.
Here's a photo we took after the concert.

Reason why we don't smile when we're in this make-up?
We look damn scary when we do. Gums that once appeared pink
now look ghastly and red. Teeth also become quite yellow... not very nice
to show you exactly how yellow they look compared to the white of the face.

Well next up for me is really preparing for auditions.
Please pray for me I have auditions next Friday for some US universities
which are coming to Singapore to listen to us budding asian musicians.
Other than that take care of yourselves and I'll see around.
Congrats on surviving your exams for those of you who did.

silent moments.

2006-10-08T11:21:00.000+08:00

The other day I was going home from town and my eyes
chanced upon uncommon beauty in the usually bland bowels
of City Hall Interchange. She was at least half a head taller than
I, without heels, and was clad in garments that seemed to have
been peeled right off a Guess Jeans poster enlarged and hung
from the 3rd story of Takashimaya. Her friend was about as tall
as me or a little less and was just as beautifully dressed but really
only served to accentuate the inhuman elf-like presence of her companion.
This rare occurence was such a towering presence it made almost
all the other females in sight struggle with insecurity in their shifty eyes.
Perhaps it was the skin-tight designer jeans she had on which
brought attention to her tiny waist and carressed her very surprisingly
present behind. You know how skinny usually equals to having to sit
on your hips without natural cushioning? This was not the case.
However, the architect of the pair of jeans did not take into account
the chance that some legs go on forever, which resulted in an abrupt
end to the denim somewhere between her ankles and her knee.
She glided gracefully into the train like the wind but her eyes never left
her friend while they conversed in some European sounding language.
All eyes turned to stare at the dangling gold fountains on her ears
and the sheer bronze top that hugged her torso.
I tried to not stare incessantly stupidly but my eyes seemed to not
leave the back of her neck, which was at my eye level anyway.
Hardly my fault.
When she left the train at Kallang there was a sigh of relief from the female
audience in the train and quick glances from the males to capture whatever
they could of the supermodel-esque visage before she disappeared.
As I returned to being the tallest living being in the carriage I pondered
on what all this meant... and I realised
it was utterly meaningless just like this entry.

The opera is almost sold out.
I think there are a few tickets still selling at the door.
Please come earlier to buy them if you are doing so.
Thanks for your support always guys. It really does mean a lot to me.
See you there.

opera alert!

2006-10-02T23:33:00.000+08:00

Alright people important announcement!
One of the reasons why I've been really busy lately is because
I'm involved in this opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart called
Bastien und Bastienne.

To celebrate the 250th anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
in Singapore, the vocal students of soprano Jeong Ae Ree
and countertenor Thomas Manhart are presenting Mozart's first opera,
Bastien und Bastienne,
written in 1768 when he was only 12 years old. Pretty cool stuff.
Well the opera is about a young couple, Bastien (the guy) and Bastienne(the chick)
who struggle with jealousy and pride in their somewhat rocky relationship,
but all is solved by the magician Colas who helps bring the two lovers back
into a harmonious relationship and eventually marriage.
It's been really fun doing it since there are 12 singers involved in this production
where each of us represent different facets of the characters.
Of course only one of us plays the magician Colas.

Another thing is that we'll all be in this costume which helps to create the
illusion that we're all the same character among the guys and girls because
we all wear white robes and have our faces painted all white.
It's an interesting concept but I think I really look like some ghost from some
freaky Korean or Japanese horror movie. If anything that might be fun to watch.
My brother is involved too so you all can come see us in our Ju-On moment.
So once more it's on this Sunday, 8 October at 4.59pm.
It's held at The Auditorium @ Singapore Art Museum.
71, Bras Basah Road. Singapore 189555.
There's parking space available at SMU Business School if you drive.
Admission is $15 and you can buy your tickets on Gatecrash,
any SingPost Post office counter or SAM Kiosk island-wide.
For credit card phone bookings you can also call 6222 5595
for the Gatecrash Ticketing Hotline.
Let me go if you're going!

Besides that, the past 3 weeks have been crazy for me.
I work every morning now in Hougang Primary School this entire term
as a relief teacher. This means 5am alarms every morning. Woe.
Well I guess there are pros and cons to dealing with young children
but so far there have been rewarding moments.
I survived my first Childrens' Day as a teacher in a school.
Bought them candy and the like... and also managed to get myself into this
teachers skit where I was this wedding singer and naturally had to sing
for the children. I sang this song which seems to be the latest craze
among the kids nowadays, it's called Breaking Free and it's from the
High School Musical movie from Disney. Man these kids are crazy about
it they knew all the words and they were singing along like it was their
theme song. On top of all that I still teach at MDC and St. Gabriels
so that's kinda tough but I'm trying to take care of my voice and health
by not straining it too much.

Choir rehearsal on Saturday was weird without Geoffrey and Jo there.
Finally the last two planned for departure this year have left and of course
many of us turned up in full force to say our goodbyes and see-ya-laters.

The tenor juniors did a pretty good job learning Irish Blessing on the spot
to sing for Geof and Jo at the airport. We actually met earlier to write cards
and rehearse and the like.
There's the bunch of guys from the 2006 batch and of course the friends
from the 2003 batch also came to send their best wishes.

There's Jo, looking dazzling despite the high levels of emotions in the air.
All the best girl I'm sure you'll do great over there.
By the way am I the only person who finds that female head floating behind
me in the photo damn freaky and scary?
Hahaha.

And yes, take care man.
Till next time fat whale... be nice to the dead english bodies in the fridge.

That's it. I'll blog some more next time.
Remember to get tickets to the Opera and MSN or SMS me to tell me.
See ya around.

a tenebrous tale.

2006-09-20T21:49:00.000+08:00

"Once upon a time there was a group of friends who met on
most Saturdays of the year to sing glorious music together.
After some time, a few of these friends had to leave the land they
resided in to pursue their futures elsewhere.
On such occasions, usually a party is thrown in celebration of the
friendships they shared with the leaving friend, and they sing all night
long while accompanied by lots of food and laughter.

In the not too distant past, on the 3rd Saturday of the month,
such a celebration was held in honour of Joanne Chong, one of the altos
of the group, who planned to leave by the end of the month.
After meeting to sing Palestrina's Kyrie in the morning, they took
Karno's Rose Mobile to the designated party location.
It was a squeezy ride at the back but they managed to enjoy themselves
as usual, by listening to music and taking senseless photographs.

'Twas was a sunny day that day.
Karno on the other hand was perhaps a little less comfortable with the
many people in the car and the amount of hurry they all were in.
But then again it is hard to understand these Indonesian basses who speak
in Cantonese anyway. None among them could make such a claim.

Oooh... have a look at that anxiety there.
Nevertheless, a smile returned to his face once they all reached
the place safely and started eating. A fellow bass Geoffrey
could hardly get food out of his hands. In fact he probably didn't.

There was a lot of activity going on in the house,
including playing with the ears of other-wordly species.

Some of the more memorable moments of the night were of course
the singing of carols together and also the songs sang at Joanne's
not very well upkept piano. They sang songs from Les Miserables
and even all sorts of cheesy pop tunes from the collection of scores
in the house. Most definitely the time spent together was more
treasured than any of the tunes sang that night.

Slowly the night came to an end with well-wishes and promises of
more meetings and the like.
And so the group of friends dispersed to go their own separate ways
for the night until they meet again for more song and laughs.

Next up, the farewell of Geoffrey Ho."

Okay that wasn't as tenebrous as it was supposed to be but I was
rather bored anyway.
For those of you who are invited to the Friday Farewell Lamb Party
for Geoffrey see you there. For those of you who are not or are
not sure if you are give Geoffrey a call. Haha.
I want to have nothing to do with that.
Anyway just remember, more people less food.
By the way, cover-charge: S$15.
Pay at door.
See you there.
I'll update more on my life next time,
which will explain why I have no time to blog or be online that much.

life limp.

2006-09-08T23:18:00.000+08:00

I just returned from a concert by the SSO at Victoria Concert Hall
which featured the Soprano Nancy Argenta. She's quite famous for
her works in Early Music and Mozart, which she sang today.
She has a good voice but I did feel she held back a bit.
And I didn't like the pacing and mood of certain movements and
pieces because I felt it didn't quite express the text that well
but that's just my own preference I guess.
This week has been rather rough.
I had quite a miserably day on Tuesday which included
a back-breaking incident at the gym and a night which ended badly.
Oh well but I guess life is such that you take it as you go along.

As I was lying in bed quite handicapped, just getting up to teach
throughout the day on Wednesday and subsequently on Thursday
and today, I was thinking about life's journey.
Man sometimes life really crawls. In general anyway.
When you're a musician and you're learning to develop your
instrument and your musicality it sometimes is such a slow process.
You can't rehearse yourself to technical perfection no matter how
hard or long you sing, and neither can you grasp the essence of a
piece of music in a single week. You discover new things every day.
I guess it's the same with life.
You can't be the perfect Christian, or son, or student, or teacher.
No matter how much time you spend brooding over your problems
or trying to think as hard as you can for solutions to your life,
maturity and wisdom only comes from slowly seeking the right
things and choosing to focus on the correct priorities.
Basically what I think is that if God is the master of my life,
and my pride is no longer important, then whatever I do should stem
from serving Him. So it becomes what I can do to train myself to be
a better tool to serve God, and what I must do now to serve
those around me that He has entrusted into my life.
Then I try to fuddle my way through from there.

It is very frustrating.
While watching Nancy Argenta today I was pondering about how much
it took for her to reach this point in her life.
Is she happy?
Is she jaded?
How long will it take for me to trust myself to sing with an orchestra
in a concert like that?
Going through life is like how I was limping around my way because
of my hurting back and legs from Tuesday's gym...
wanting to move faster but not being able to. Just taking small steps
at a time because pushing harder just means more pain, or worse,
a fall. But yet, if I stayed at home and lied down I wouldn't have
achieved anything at all. In fact I probably wouldn't be feeling
better now. Only by pushing myself to get up and move and exercise
did my muscles stop aching as badly.

Anyway, I promised to post some pictures from Enoch's farewell
at the airport so I will. Just a few, I don't feel like over-posting again.

I've added his blog's link on my blog so you can check out how he's doing over
in Canada from there. I tell you it's hilarious!

Alright I'll update soon on further developments.
I'm going to be relief teaching in Hougang Primary School
starting next week. My mother's the Vice-principal there.
I think I'm going to be so annoyed by all the kids that I'll probably
kick the bucket. Pray for me, and yeah pray for the kids too.
I'll see you all around,
and I'll catch the rest of you at rehearsals.
Have a good weekend.

P.S. Don't you love the new blog song and photo? Heh.

farewell bro.

2006-08-31T22:33:00.000+08:00

Enoch turned the page to the next chapter of his life this morning.
It was surreal watching him walk through the departure gate.
It was unreal that I had to print photos from our years of friendship to
make a collage this morning with the rest of the guys as a farewell gift.
I feel like I'm still going to go out for dinner and drinks with Enoch and
the gang next week. It was like he went into an MRT station and I went
off to grab a taxi home. But he's on the way to Canada now. Wow.
Heh, another one bites the dust eh. More friends are leaving.
I guess my point is, safe journeys Enoch!
I pray that God will be with you and that He will bless you where you are.
May His protection always be upon you and your family.
Don't get into too much mischief and know that we are praying for you
and for the purposes that God has planned for you there.

Today was a rather gloomy stretch of time.
It rained incessantly and although I wasn't exactly sleepy, a deep
weariness weighed down on me. I felt like I was stretched out too thin.
Probably had something to do with staying up late to print photographs
for Enoch and rushing to the airport by 6.40am to do the collage,
resulting in only slightly more than 2 hours of sleep.
I'm not complaining though. Such things are worth it once in awhile.
A few things did affect me today and got me thinking.
I'm amazed at the effect a simple man like Enoch has on people.
This is not to say he is shallow in any way but you know, he's not one to
complicate life unnecessarily and what you see is usually what you get.
No trying to appear too smart or too hip or too likeable,
or even too rebellious or mysterious.
And the love and friendship that attracts is just amazing.
Sure shows a thing or two to others who just try too hard. Too hard.
Just look at the eyes of the girlfriend.
The past few days they have been reflecting an array of emotions
and today, brimmed with tears there was despair mixed with
shimmers of hope. Hope of his return and the love that might still bring.
Tragic is the girl who loves the man who needs to leave,
and lachrymose is the life of the man waiting to leave.
It is rather pitiful really.

Sorry I write like that when it's cold and rainy.

It's hard being bubbly and optimistic when the weather is this way.
But then again when am I actually bubbly? Who am I kidding?
That would be too grotesque to behold haha.
The future is so uncertain and sometimes I feel distant from everything.
University seems like such a daunting task.
The auditions and all that money that will need to go into my education
scare me every day. All this for a life in music that will only promise
to be difficult and lonely. It is a lonely thing to be totally immersed in
your music, to soak yourself in it and to try to find your voice amidst
all the noise... blocking out all else.
But yet it is too beautiful to let go of.
Every day as I continue with my work and projects and as I continue
to train and prepare for my audition to the US music colleges,
these things never leave my mind.
What if I don't improve enough to go where I want to go?
What if after all this I find classical voice is just too difficult for me?
Is this really where God wants me to go?
Then the human part of me surfaces and again loneliness sets in.
When the music stops playing and I've run out of songs to sing,
when I stop being David Charles Tay and it's just David sitting there
at the piano, then I start making empty wishes to myself again.
I guess it's normal to want what you don't have.
Maybe I'm too concerned with doing everything right.
At least I have God and I have my music.
And of course some friends I guess.

I hate it when I write like that.
It's alright if none of this makes sense to you. I just needed to
ramble today because of the weather and the song on the radio when
I was on the way home today stuck in the jam along the expressway.
It was funny hearing the heart-breaking voice of Luther Vandross
on the radio and staring out at the hundreds of cars with their lights
flickering into the endless distance and yet hearing the taxi driver
cursing at the reckless drivers on the road making the jam worse
than it already was. Brilliantly funny.
"Must be Zhabo! Sai chia jin za ban."
I actually laughed out loud which must have been puzzling to the guy.
Anyway before I go off let me share some photographs first.
This was taken the night before Enoch left for Canada.
Shows you how much effort it takes just to get one of those pictures
you see on this blog ever so often. It's tough being a photo-whore.

We just couldn't do it. Haha.
And finally the end product.

This is the best we managed. Geoffrey's eyes are closed as usual.
I'm still waiting for Enoch and Sheryl to send me the photographs from this
morning at the airport. I'll wait for all of them to send me everything before
I post anything up. Maybe I'll do a silent entry with photos only.
I've over-blogged today.
Thanks for reading if you did and tag if you visit.

See you all around.
God bless you Enoch. Take care bro.

conviviality.

2006-08-29T00:14:00.000+08:00

I had a good weekend surrounded by friends.

Although I must admit I wasn't in a very good mood the last

few days due to some physical discomfort and this air of

lethargy that lingered in my body, gnawing at my mind constantly

and giving me an annoying headache.

I had about five glasses of white wine after the NDP Appreciation Dinner

show on Friday which gave me a headache come Saturday morning.

Yes I realise it's my fault. Thankfully the friends around lessened

the irritation and actually helped make some of my weekend

more or less enjoyable.

I have quite some photographs to share and I'll just go with what

springs to mind for today's entry content. Not feeling too deep today.

Choir rehearsal was a challenge on Saturday because of the headache

but it was nevertheless rather fruitful. It was also Enoch's last rehearsal

as he's leaving for Canada on Thursday. That's damn sad man.

A group of the alumni went for lunch at this new take on Marche at Heeren.

It's called VilaGe, which we all thought was pronounced as Village but

apparently it's some pretentious french-ish name said like "Villa Jay".

I say whatever man.

A noteworthy event was riding in Karno's red Beetle convertible.

I call it the Rose mobile because it has this rose next to the steering wheel.

It's not his of course. Karno would never put a rose at his wheel.

But it was good fun anyway riding with the top down with the wind

in our faces and the sunlight gleaming off our cheeks.

Karno is kinda blocked out and Jamie is behind my huge head.

Sorry guys! Haha... and I'll try to get a photo of the car itself next time.

Here's lunch at Vilage with the people at my table.

We went to watch The Devil Wears Prada after that

which I very much enjoyed.

It did make me think about certain things like what happens when

you start working and you get caught up in the engine of whichever

industry you plunge into, and how easy it is to lose yourself and perhaps

even your morals and beliefs without even knowing it.

But until I experience that or meet people like that I won't bore you or

myself with such a discussion at this point.

After dinner we went to celebrate a very belated Gina's birthday

at Jack's Place. Happy Birthday Gina!

I probably wasn't the best company that night but it was nice to be

spending time with friends. Thanks for the very fulfilling dinner Gina.

Later that night I went to meet Enoch, Jarrod, Sheryl, Maurice and Ben

for drinks at this place Sheryl suggested. Villa Bali.

It did turn out to be quite a nice place though it was a little out of the way.

Thank God there were two cars.

As usual I had a great time which I always do whenever I meet this group.

I will so miss Enoch when he goes to Canada man. Haha.

Here we are. The originals.

Imagine how crazy that would be if we met again like this 10 years

from now. Six of us with Indi-on too maybe. That would be nuts.

Here's the man of the night who we will sorely miss come Thursday.

Enoch is the kind of guy you can rely on to never judge presumptously

and to be the damn solid friend you don't have to rescue ever so often

and who you can count on to be there for his friends.

Thanks for being a great tenor brother the last five years and an even

greater friend for the past Nine years. For that I am grateful.

God bless you bro.

Since Sheryl was missed out on all the pictures in the last entry

about the dinner at Enoch's house, here's a photograph dedicated to her.

This is Sheryl being random and taking pictures with everyone in the

car on the way home. Haha happy Sheryl? This is your claim to fame.

Here's a glimpse of the night at the Villa Bali.

Alright I'm out of photos.

I also went for the SYC Ensemble Singers concert with Ms Jeong

and Janani last night and met some old friends there too.

I'll update more on my upcoming projects soon.

Remember a group of singers including myself and Jon and Janani

are putting up an Opera in October on the 8th I think.

We'll probably re-run it in the Mozart festival in November too.

More details soon hopefully.

I'll see you guys around.

Tag if you visit :)

long ago...

2006-08-22T01:30:00.000+08:00

I recently re-read my old blog entries as a form of
self-reflection on my own life and growth as a person.
Man. What a ride the last year has been.
Some entries may not have been easily understood by most of
you but they brought back memories and lessons surely.
Once conclusion I can honestly draw from all of that is that
God really has been very good to me.
The trials, the falls and the lessons He has brought me through
are just glimpses of the future He is preparing me for I'm sure.

Before I get lost in more of that rambling I do want to blog about
something nice that happened over the weekend.
A specific group of us had one of our occasional/regular gatherings at
Enoch's place, also to spend some time together before Enoch
flies away to study in Canada.
We had lots of fun and laughs as usual though not in a repetitive
boring way of course. Sometimes we get kicks out of the most ridiculous
and vile things we come up with. Haha.
Steamboat was good! Thanks Enoch and Chloe.
The whole gang plus their respective other-halfs were there.
Of course Enochloe was there, Sheryl was there with her beau Xun Ming
who was such a shock to meet again since I haven't seen him since Sec 2,
Jarrod and his girl Jean were there and of course there were the rest of
us single-ish guys (some more single than others) there, Maurice, Ben,
my bro and myself. Here's a picture.

Okay Sheryl and Xun Ming left early so they're not in the photograph
but there's a space we left there that they were supposed to be in.
Please don't take me seriously.

Later that night Jarrod and Jean left too but we kept taking photographs.

This is the ACS(Independent) Choir boys shot haha. We're missing
Jarrod though which is a shame. There's so many things I feel like
I need to or can say about knowing these guys since 1998 and still being
able to call them friends in 2006, but I can't find the right words.
Bottom line: I do thank God for all of you.
Yes and you too Sheryl haha... kena left out after make noise.

Here's another photo.

Ah the ACJC Choir alumni photo, sadly missing out Sheryl and Jarrod
who both left with their respective partners earlier.
I have two observations. Firstly, my damn smile is always the same it looks
like I'm wearing an overly zealous mask and secondly, any kaypoh out there
searching for "ACJC Choir" in any Google or search engine will surely just find
all these posts on my blog which really doesn't say much about the choir itself.
It's 2am and I really don't even know why I bothered typing that into this entry.

Anyway, next is just another random photo of the guys from ACJC.

Once again missing Jarrod of course, and I guess Sheryl too who was
in ACJC as well.

Laughing and talking about Secondary school and Junior College brought
back all those waves of memories again, and some of
the feelings that accompany those memories so insistently.
For those of you who have been with me since those dark days of my
life (haha) would realise how painful it is sometimes to remember
the way things were then. I guess I was about as messed up as the next
teenager at that age and we all express our rebellion and stupidity
in different ways. I just happen to really hate what I used to be that's all.
I don't like to talk like this because it's been many years and many lessons
since that time but it has taken a long time to shake off repercussions
of my old ways. Not just how because of how others remember you but
also because it is that difficult to change how you think.
In fact when stuck in our rut sometimes we don't think we can change.
Most (useless) people just excuse it as being "how they are."
"I'm just like that."
To that I say: Then you are as meaningless as you think you are.
Alright I don't wish to dwell on it anymore.
I'm just glad I'm in a much better place now.
In fact, the ACJC choir (there we go another mention) really did save my
life and taught me such important things that saw me through my time
in the Army, MDC and even in my life now.
Things like integrity and hard work are so vital for survival in this world.
Maybe when I'm more coherent I'll talk more about this.

Anyway, I've been pretty busy preparing to go on show with MDC
this Friday for the nth National Day Parade Appreciation Dinner.
Why there are so many appreciation dinners I will never know.
I don't even remember who we're thanking this Friday.
Next time just send out thank you cards please.
I'll see you around.
*Yawn*

pimples and haircuts.

2006-08-19T23:17:00.000+08:00

Yes time passes rather quickly and I'm back here again,

a week after I last blogged.

The most significant change I think would be that I finally cut

my hair, although Jo says it looks the same,

and also my face has decided to give birth to half a dozen

new pimples to plague my existence.

To be fair I think I know why this evil manifestation is occurring.

I have recently been just guzzling enormous amounts of chocolate.

Everything from Lindt to Hershey's, Milka to Good Ol' Cadbury.

I love it.

And I am so messed up I know.

Well other than that completely useless piece of information,

Happy Birthday Jo!

We celebrated her birthday for her this week at Fish & Co.

Look at all the empty plates, pans and huge mug of drink...

We left satisfied that day.

Next up, Happy Birthday Gina I suppose... one after another like I said.

Oh and happy birthday Wilfred too.

And happy birthday Wendy!

See what I mean?

Today was the first 'official' alumni practice in weeks since tour.

I was genuinely happy to see so many alumni return to sing.

Who can resist a little Christmas cheer anyway?

I can't believe we're rehearsing the carols already... has it been that long?

I was especially happy to see Hui En and Charissa back,

and of course the rest of you too.

We went and enjoyed a lunch at California Pizza Kitchen after that.

I liked the Milan or Milano or whatever you call that scrumptous one.

All these photos are from Caleb's camera,

which is why you don't see him here. Geoffrey was all trigger-happy

with his camera as well. All these people who are going away to study

soon are experiencing heavy bouts of sentimentality and nostalgically

inclined behavior. Can you blame them really?

Oh check out the Cheeseburger in Geoffrey's hand. That's even

after we had our pizza man. What can I say?

(I couldn't resist that sorry Geof... I mean the burger is right there! Look!)

Also guilty of this over-eating: Karno and Ernest.

Here's a photograph Caleb took at the lunch table and I decided to play

with it a bit with this photo-printing software.

Doesn't it give that sweet nostalgic memories crap that I was talking

about? The drained colour... the friendly faces...

To tell the truth I was just bored out of my mind okay?

Here's another picture Caleb took.

That's us at Borders and yes that's Toshi not in a dress.

We managed to spend so much time in Borders for no reason

whatsoever besides waiting for Joanne Chong to buy a book or something.

I think we still managed to have a bit of fun here and there.

The last few days have been a time of some reflection for me.

I usually don't like to keep thinking about the past because most of it

I've already moved on from and I believe in always going about my

days with my eyes firmly focussed on the future,

sometimes drawing on past experiences for reference.

But somehow turning 21 and having friends leaving the country to study

and now being on my own working and preparing to leave as well

next year has got me looking back at my time in Singapore once again.

And "I wanna tell you baby... the changes I've been going through..."

(That was for you Bert haha.)

Yes I think so much has changed,

as can be seen in Geoffrey's photo collages on his blog.

Not just physical change... those of you who knew me in the past would

know how different I look now, but also in the way I think now,

my priorities and thus my behavior has changed.

I have a purpose now, not an exactly specific goal but I know where

I'm headed towards and that's comforting.

I thank God for always providing the path even though I keep stumbling

and falling away from it time and again.

Perhaps a few years ago I had no idea what I was going to do with my life.

At least now I think I've already got started.

I'm excited.

A little worried because a huge part of me is still irresponsible and tardy.

But excited just the same.

Thanks for reading if you did.

Tag away people... don't be shy.

I do enjoy communicating with all you sometimes.

See you around.

nostalgia.

2006-08-13T01:06:00.000+08:00

Tonight I went to Zhiliang's 21st birthday party
and although it was just the usual bunch of friends like
Hui En, Charis, Peter and Geoffrey it was really heart-warming
and preciously unpretentious. In a time when many friends leave
to carry on with their own life journeys, these moments are what I
truly treasure. I had a great time tonight.
Happy birthday Zhiliang!

Well yes I'm getting nostalgic.
I still remember the nights spent at Charissa's condominium when
she used to live in Bedok. Being with these same people again
tonight brought back that same comfortable warmth.
Before I get too carried away rambling on at 1 in the morning let me
get all the photographs out first.

That's us having dinner together, hanging out in Zhiliang's Condominium
exercise ground area and toasting to Zhiliang's health etc. Haha.
Yes I'm getting too lazy to type.
Now a picture with the Birthday Boy.

The photograph's a little too close-up for my liking but whatever.
And yes just like any 21st birthday party in a condominium, where
you invite your army/church/school friends, Zhiliang was thrown into
the swimming pool. These people just don't understand that if the guy
lives at the condominium, being thrown into water isn't that big a deal.
Clean dry clothes are just moments away.
Anyway, his extremely sane and non-violent choir friends did not
take any part in his swimming pool experience, but took lots
of photos instead.

Just on a random note, another slightly note-worthy event that night
was Geoffrey's attempt to certify his masculinity by doing a pull-up.
We were hanging out in the exercise-zone anyway so what the hell right?
Here's the evidence. Congratulations.
Wait is that Peter holding on to your legs?

Okay he did get up there by himself I'll give him that.
Once again censored for your viewing pleasure.
It is at this point that I want to make myself very clear that any
photographs I post on my blog are strictly for viewing on my
blog and in the states they are posted in.
Do not do things like download and zoom and use them to make
fun of any of my friends (ie. Geof who gets the brunt of most of it)
anymore please... or we will need to have a little talk.

Here's a photograph the guys took before we left.

We should meet up again soon.
I'm really happy that some of them might be coming back to sing
with the Alumni Choir too. That'd be great.

You know I was just reflecting on certain things just now and I realise
that despite all the drama around sometimes, God has blessed me with
some good friends that I know I can count on.
When I say count on I don't mean for advice or for borrowing cash or
anything like that. I'm talking about people who do not judge you according
to their presumptions, people who are pure in their intentions and are
not governed by what they want people to think of them.
Maybe not all of my friends can claim to be all of the above but
hey, spending time with them balances out any negativity in my life...
meeting all sorts of difficult people, situations, tolerating mountains of
stupidity and delusion...
not to mention the inordinate amount of bitching and bitches
native to the entertainment circuit that I work in and with.
When all the pretentious fluff gets tiring,
at least I know I have some nice friends.

Okay some of that was the wine talking and some of that sprung out of my
sleepiness. Note the dark eye rings in the photos man.
My sleeping pattern is messed up again.
But yet some of that rambling was sincere so do your own filtering okay?
I appreciate it.
I'm going to bed. Tag when you drop by?
Goodnight.

laughter and boredom.

2006-08-11T23:24:00.000+08:00

I tell you the days have been excruciatingly slow moving.
The most exciting things that have happened was the
Planetshakers Ultraviolet Concert Party I just came back from
and of course the National Day Parade where I was backstage at
the National Stadium with the rest of MDC.
You know sometimes funny things happen and you wanna share
the moment with your friends on your blog?
This is one of those moments.

But first I would like to say
Blessed 41st Birthday Singapore.
I'm quite sure she's quite sick of hearing that already.

That's my view of the spectacular fireworks,
which was pretty much the only thing worth seeing at the NDP.
It was truly breath-taking and when the National Anthem trumpeted through
the National Stadium with every Singaporean singing along,
I must admit I felt patriotic nationalism coursing through my veins.
A moment of weakness on my part I know...
but honestly, I do feel quite proud of Singapore and what she has achieved.
I guess I won't have any problems fulfilling my war-time vocation
either since I'll be entertaining the troops with MDC. Heh.
Of course no war is preferable.

If only Singapore's music scene and industry were as developed
and discerning as some other countries.
I mean look at Singapore Idol!
Perhaps then I would never want to leave. What a pity.
I will always be Singaporean though... no doubting that.
In case any of you were scoffing about MDC being real easy and all,
here's a big bright example of the kind of mutilation we undergo for our
nation, at no cost to myself of course. It is my blog after all.
Presenting to you the present MDC Vocal Ensemble,
in all their resplendent multi-racial glory.

Oh yes. This year's NDP theme was Global City
and guess who had to pay the price for it? Poor guys.
For those of you who just can't get enough of Toshi in an ethnic dress,
why stop here?

Haha. That's my brother Jon with Toshi backstage before going on.
Seriously sometimes you wonder where they get these costumes
and who in this world made them.
Toshi's dress was probably from the blazing 80s or something. My goodness.
By the way it was too humiliating so Toshi took this off in exchange for
a Japanese robe of his own that he brought.
Killjoy. But at least he was candid enough to pose for photos in this.

Well that's about all the excitement I had this week.
When you don't have lots of things that need your immediate attention
sometimes your mind really wanders and you spend your days in this
stupor where you start thinking too much about stupid things.
I don't like it at all.
Anyobdy wanna do a movie marathon next week?

Also I would like to say that there has been just too many birthdays
this month. There is Maurice, Charissa, Angus, Salman, Lianglin, Toshi
Zhiliang, Ben Eio, Claudine, and just heaps more. Jo and Gina too?
This means December is a popular month.
Oops.
Sorry no presents! Go away!
Haha.

Alright bye.

ricco oso.

2006-08-07T21:15:00.000+08:00

Salman's birthday dinner was needless to say, rather opulent,
just like the man himself.
Always more over-the-top than averagely necessary
but that's what makes him Salman I guess.
I've been wanting to blog about the dinner since Saturday
night when it happened but alas my internet has failed me time
and time again. At least I'm here now so let's get started.

The affair was held at Sal's favourite Italian restaurant called
Ristorante Oso I believe. I've never been there before that night.
It's a pretty perculiar name considering 'Oso' in Italian means 'I Dare'
which is strange for a restaurant name no?
Maybe it serves brave and bold cuisine.
Anyhow we were all seated along these luxuriously decorated tables
and had place cards on our plates to tell us where to sit. Drama.
The food was delicious as expected.
Here's a photograph of the people "placed" at my table.

Sheila, Melissa, Dharnia and Joseph.
Nothing better than a few glasses of wine to get you nice and chatty.
I was seated with mostly ACJC drama folk, juniors from the Drama Club.
Now for a picture with the all important birthday boy himself of course.
Salman Somjee.
Yes he is very tall.

Those of you who feel vertically-challenged next to me will inevitably
feel really quite small next to Salman, but usually that's the point.
Next is another dear friend of mine I always enjoy talking to when
we get to meet up. Matthew John.
I still remember the time we met outside our camp,
(We worked in the same camp in NS) and he stopped by to chat with me
for awhile. The two of us were ranting on and on and all my army
colleagues from MDC were appalled at how fast and alike we both spoke.
What to do? Anglo-Chinese blood.

I think I almost slapped myself in that moment of school-spiritness.
Anyway I also met quite a lot of old friends I haven't seen in awhile.
Some since my time in Junior College I believe.
Here's a photo of Lennard and Calvin who were in ACS(i) with me
and ended up being in the same police unit as Salman during NS.

It's starting to get boring no? Haha.
Don't mind me. Sometimes I blog just for my own memory.
I also spent some time chatting with good Ol' Nicol Zhou.
With his big malcontent exterior and impatience for pretention it's no
wonder we get along pretty well. That Nicol has a heart of gold is
what I always say... even when he really doesn't like it. Haha.
Thanks for dropping me off in a more sane area to catch a cab Nicol.

I met a whole lot of other friends there but I really don't think I need
to give a commentary about every one of them so here's a cluster
of pictures I took that night just for the sake of nostalgia.

Yeah it was nice to see all of them again. Well most of them.
Haha.

It did really hit home that just tons of my friends are going away to
study, not just those in choir but really from everywhere.
Kind of makes me feel alone.
It's somehow nice to know that your friends are around someplace
even if you don't really meet up that much.
Oh well. I'll survive.

Oh I'm going to attend the National Day Parade with the Artistes
from MDC I think. They're doing the post-parade show so I guess
I'll be backstage with them, although there's hardly a backstage
at the National Stadium. I'm sure it'd be a blast...
Not the parade really but just having a party with all my friends there.
I'll check back again soon.
Keep those tags coming.
God bless.

Beach Bums.

2006-08-05T03:20:00.000+08:00

**Warning M18 Entry**
**Do not proceed if faint of heart**
...davidcharlestay.blogspot.com presents...

On the (rather) secluded beach of Tanjong in Sentosa,
3 guys and a girl ventured forth in search of adventure, relaxation,
exfoliation, idleness and a decent tan...
and boy did they also have lots of fun along the way.
The Beach Bum Adventures!
Starring David Charles Tay and..

Geoffrey Ho. Who doesn't appear in photographs with his eyes open
unless half his face is cut off from the photograph. A rare talent indeed.
Also starring super-hero Enoch Lin a.k.a. Mr Incredible!

Not included in picture is super-hero Enoch's super-girlfriend
Chloe Mercy who only takes photographs with trees
and flying towels which cannot be posted here because this is
only an M18 announcement and not R21.
I repeat this is not R21.

We can't afford the license.
Here's a general overview of the BBA (Beach Bum Adventures).

Please refrain from staring at any of the above photographs too closely.
In fact maintain a respectable distance away from your monitors.
This has been a special report brought to you at 3.45am in the morning
while suffering from sleep-deprivation and painful sun-burnt skin.
Forgive forgive ok?

Thanks Geoffrey, Enoch and Chloe for a fantastic day at the beach!
Hahahahahaha...

a flip of the page.

2006-07-29T17:06:00.000+08:00

I've now blogged over 50 times with this entry.
Do I get a special silver award from Blogger for this resilient achievement?
I've been blogging quite frequently recently to my surprise.

The events from last night leading up to this morning have been
thought-provoking and rather emotional.
I'm really beginning to feel how the pages of my life are flipping
towards a new chapter, a chapter different from the previous one
and perhaps eventually a chapter that I might have to go through alone.
Anyhow, last night was one of the most glorious (food-wise) Alumni
Barbecue I've ever attended or helped organize.
But the best thing about last night was the amount of people who came
and all the faces of old and new alumni of the choir who came back to
fellowship with each other. I saw so many people that I didn't realise
I missed and whom I was more than glad to be able to meet again.
Just on a side note, here's a photograph of me cooking with Chloe,
my evidence that I can cook and help out with these manual tasks!

I did help to make Satay, Sambal Stingray, Prawns and Beef slices,
all bought, marinated and prepared by hand!
Of course my wonderful maid helped me out haha.

One person I haven't spent time with in such a long time was Eleena.
She was the vice-president of the Choir in my year.
It was nice catching up and just being there with each other amongst
all the familiar faces.
Here's a picture of us and also a photo of us back in the day at the
Beaufort Hotel choir retreat in 2003.
Heh. Memories... from the corners of my mind.

Yes I was a heavier then. Laugh laugh.
Now here's a photo of some of the alumni guys posing for the camera
while trying to cook for the rest of the choir.

There's Enoch, Chin Yuan, myself and Chalat!
Chalat was the President of the ACJC Choir in my year
and it has been ages since he's been able to come join us for a choir
event. I hope he'll come back to sing with us soon.
It was also heart-warming to see him and talk to him again.
Here's a photo we took together where he insisted I sat down so he
wouldn't look short. Heh... you know how tall these Thai guys get.
Exactly, not very tall.

I think one of the best part of the night was affirming each other of the good
work the alumni has been doing in the ACJC Choir and to also focus
ahead and already prepare for all the music waiting for us in the future.
Rehearsals start again soon. I can't wait.
Here's my favourite picture from the night, a gathering of the ACJC Choir's
Batch of 2003!

Enoch, Geoffrey, Eleena, myself and Chalat.

After the barbecue I spent the night with Geoffrey and Albert.
We pretty much drifted from Geoffrey's house where the barbecue was
held anyway, to Albert's place to wait for him to pack
and gather his luggage, then we headed to my place for some sleep
before going to the airport at 7am.
Albert left for Manila at about 9.30am and will eventually go to New York
to study. How we will all miss him so much!
Here's a photo of some of us who sent him off at the airport today.

Now there's a photograph with people I can honestly say I love and cherish.
Alright... some more than others but I try right?
The last few days have taught me to cherish the friends around me.
Slowly some of my best friends are going to leave me to start the next
chapter of their lives overseas studying, and I will also leave in time.
Maybe a part of me always believes I am a solitary rock, not as needy of
friends or relationships to function.
Have I been lying to myself I wonder?

It's scary to think of myself alone in another country without the usual
crowd around me. I must spend the next year preparing for this.
You see loneliness is such a sad affair. (That's for you Bert haha.)
Even in the area of relationships and girls it's like staring at a very
small and barren wasteland.
Not that the girls around me are that horrid (haha) but like what my
good friends Enoch and Geof told me, I need someone I can really
and truly respect, and who will respect me and relate to me on
the same level. Somehow I have not met anyone like that.
Does this person exist? Maybe I'm just ever so unlucky in love haha.
Or maybe I've never been in love to start with.

Alright, I've rambled on too far now and I'm fast approaching
more treacherous territory with regards to the topic in question.
I guess I just wanna say
"I miss you Bert! Take care and God bless"
and see you in New York City.
I've updated my links and I would like to draw all your attention to
Geoffrey's new blog. Here's his little piece of advertisement.
Also included is Albert's blog.
For those of my friends who have blogs which I have not linked up yet
please message me your URLs on MSN alright?
I'm going for Maurice's birthday dinner tonight.
More photographic opportunities? Oh man...
The next blog entry looms too dangerously close for my liking.
Am I turning into a blog-maniac or is my life just too exciting?

little miracles.

2006-07-27T23:51:00.000+08:00

Had a long day today. A long but otherwise rather fulfilling day.
I went back to teach at the Music & Drama Company this morning
after awhile of not having sessions with them.
Will be busy preparing the vocals for their National Day repertoire.
This year's NDP theme song is a predictable tuneful little piece with
extremely juvenile lyrics. Yes it's about how we love our little island home
and I'm sure we certainly do but it's expressed in such a primary-school-ish
haiku way that I somehow fail to appreciate the meaning of the song.

Anyway my afternoon and evening was spent with
my choir at Victoria Concert Hall. Today was the St. Gabriels' Secondary
School Vocal Ensemble's concert with the band.
It's funny going back there so soon since I just had to be there last week for
the SYF Combined Schools Choir rehearsals and concert.
I think they did reasonably well today. Better in the evening concert than the
matinee show though. More importantly where do we go from here?
I'm excited to see how far the instructor team can bring these rather colourful
bunch of guys in their music-making. They do have a lot of potential.

I had a great time last night having dinner and drinks with a few of my closest
friends from ACJC Choir alumni.
The main purpose of the dinner was to give our dearest Albert a nice
Chilli Crab send off as he's leaving us for quite a long time this Saturday
when he flies off to eventually study in New York.
I guess I'll see him there when I go over myself.
Always good to eat and talk and laugh with great friends anyway no?

Here's a rather blur photograph of the dinner gang.
There's me with Jamie, Albert, Geof, Enoch and Chloe.
I guess a lesson to learn from this is that too much seafood probably
gives you shaky hands? Seafood restaurant waitresses don't take good photos.
And here's a picture of the guys taking a stroll along the beach that night.
The girls were on the other side of the camera.

Can you believe after such a great meal I will also have a feast
tomorrow evening at the ACJC Choir alumni barbecue followed by
not one but three birthday celebrations happening this weekend.
I will probably have to choose two to go for as there are some clashes on Sunday.
Wow more food.
Oh yes and I guess if you would like to know I now wear contact lenses
on some days of my life.
See you guys at the various face-stuffing feasts.

rest & recompense.

2006-07-26T00:58:00.000+08:00

What a week it has been since I returned home.
I guess after such an enriching choral tour and one (I must say)
extremely relaxing and fulfilling vacation after that,
a full swing back to work is definitely in order.
But then again the nature of my work often makes it less unsatisfiying.
I was going to type up this long post about the tour and also list every
detail of my glorious holiday in London but alas
that would just take too much effort.

I will just mention some highlights for the sake of memory.

My days in London were either spent experiencing London and it's various
sights and sounds on my own or with Yvonne, who very graciously
brought me around pretty much everywhere... to places I wouldn't have
known to visit on my own. Thanks Yvonne!
A major highlight of my vacation was going to watch my first "real" Opera
at the Royal Opera House.
Puccini's Turandot was every bit as dramatic and opulent as I had imagined.
This amazing opportunity was only made possible by Mr Stuart Wood,
a friend of the ACJC Choir from London and also Mrs Wilson, who helped
me get a ticket to go with them to the Opera. Thank you both so much.
That's them in the photo and also there's a shot of the lobby area of the
Royal Opera House. Beautiful isn't it?
I also managed to catch two musicals on other nights, The Producers
and The Phantom Of The Opera, which brought back waves of old
feelings and memories from as far back as Primary School. Heh.

Of course this entire vacation wouldn't even have happened if not for
my great Godsister Stacey who let me crash in at her beautiful apartment.
Here's a photo of her with me in her garden where we sat to sat to chat
one sunny afternoon while eating cherries and drinking apple juice.
She's pretty isn't she?

And lastly I have to mention that I managed to, out of sheer luck,
meet up with a good friend of mine from back in my days in ACJC College Choir!
I was just checking my e-mail in my Godsister's place and Indi-on messaged
me on MSN. It went something like "Oh my god David are you in London!?"
So we managed to meet for drinks completely unplanned.
That was really such a blast. We met to gallivant around town and also just
walked around Trafalgar Square talking all night.
Did I mention she has this hilarious Thai-Singaporean-English hybrid accent now?

So there you go.
Some highlights from my vacation.
I must have sounded like a crazed teenager in the last few paragraphs
didn't I? Haha... Perhaps I have grown up too fast.

Just a little update now I guess.
The St. Gabriel's Secondary School Vocal Ensemble's concert is
this Thursday at Victoria Concert Hall.
There's a Matinee show and an evening concert I believe.
Just letting you know don't worry I'm not selling tickets.
Lots of things I'm looking forward to like the alumni choir barbecue on Friday
and also dinner tonight with some of the other alumni.
I'll update more soon I promise.
See you guys.

P.S. Did you check out all that action on my tag-board? Oh my word!

an enraptured heart.

2006-07-18T23:09:00.000+08:00

I let the photos speak for themselves for now.
Thanks for the beautiful music and memories.

Ade!

2006-07-01T02:13:00.000+08:00

Alright I'm off to the UK to join the ACJC choir on tour.
Thank you to all those who came for the performance of Die Schone Mullerin tonight.
The music tonight was so beautiful and it was quite a challenging night for me
because I'm still sick and I've lost my voice.
Still I managed to pull through it.
Much thanks to my teacher Ms Jeong, the great pianist Lim Yan and
of course all the singers, Joseph, Shridar and my brother.

So in a few hours I'll be off to London.
Following that will be the competition in Wales and then we'll
be off to Manchester to do a program with the BBC Radio I think.
I'll be staying on in London after that for a bit of a break, be chilling with
my godsis and some other friends.
Be back on the 17th of July. See you then.
Ade!

Miller Girls.

2006-06-25T23:13:00.000+08:00

Presenting to you the 3 Indian Princes.

Haha... that's me with Geoffrey and Enoch in our Ethnic Costume.
Don't we look like Bollywood stars? Hrithik Roshan eat your heart out.
Alright I only posted this here because Geoffrey is obsessed with his
costume and demanded I post it here.
Well there you go, told you I'm all about charity to the less fortunate.

Alright most importantly,
I would like to invite all my friends and all who visit this blog to a concert
next Friday the 30th of June at YMS Arts Centre.
I know I've already advertised for this in my previous entry but so far
I haven't had time to really invite people personally yet.
So there you go. Please come.
We will be sharing with you Franz Schubert's Die Schone Mullerin.
Although the songs are in german, the music is truly beautiful so
I really hope more of you try to make it so it doesn't go to waste.
It's a collection of 20 lieder (songs) which tell the story of a boy
who wanders through the countryside and finds work at a mill where
he falls in love with the miller's daughter. He tries to impress her but she's
tentative, and ultimately her affections go towards a hunter who hunts
near the place they live.
In his anguish he experiences an obsession with the color green,
then an extravagant death fantasy in which flowers sprout from his grave
to express his undying love.
In the end, the young man despairs and drowns himself in the brook.
The last number is a lullaby sung by the brook.

Yup so everyone... MDC, ACJC Choir, students from St. Gabriels'
and also any Choral Excellence choristers who read my blog...
contact me here if you want tickets to the concert okay?
I'm sure we'll be selling tickets at the door too.
Once again it's this coming Friday at YMS @ 7.30pm.
Tickets are selling at $15 only.

I finally lost my voice this last week. Fell sick.
I'm slowly recovering and hopefully I'll be back in form by Friday.
I also have all that geraman to memorize.
I hope I don't mess up my lyrics. Haha. Ms Jeong will have my neck.
Things have been fast-paced but really great still.
Though tiring my days are filled with music.
Can I ask for more?
Here's a picture of me helping my conductor Mrs Wilson rehearse
one of the combined schools SYF Choral Excellence choirs.

Hope to hear from you soon.

somnolent summer.

2006-06-17T01:44:00.001+08:00

What a month this has been so far and the plot keeps thickening.
Not as sleepy as I thought it'd be... thus the complicated title.
I've just been managing my time in order to do certain pressing chores
as well as make it for all the rehearsals and classes I have to teach.
Next week will see the accumulated force of all my commitments at once
and I pray that God will sustain me through it.
Well more on upcoming projects later.
Here are some photos from last Sunday's ACJC Alumni Choir barbecue.
It's these nice moments with friends that sustains you.

The flames got a little out of hand but a big thank you to all those
slaving away at the fire. You know I wasn't at the pit. Haha.

This was what the delicious Kebabs looked like before they were cooked.
Doesn't it just make you want more now? All that blood and mush... yum.

The infamous Ms Mindy Tan...
In a most innocent picture of course.

My favourite picture!
Albert and I are apparently having an intense discussion about the
inner makings of good cheese. I'm not sure if Kraft Singles is what we
should have been looking for. Stay away from the lactose Albert...

And alas... Karno, in a photo where he finally claims my face does not look as flat
as it usually does in photographs. Whatever man, I will never understand this guy.
Great fun.

On top of gearing up for the ACJC tour and my 30th June Concert
I still have to teach at MDC and St. Gabriels' Choir is having many rehearsals
and a camp as well. I need to sleep early every night next week to preserve
my voice and health so please chase me to sleep if I'm still drifting on MSN ok?
That reminds me. Tickets for the 30th June Concert of Franz Schubert's
Die Schone Mullerin are ready so please contact me for tickets.
The concert is held at the YMS Arts Centre at 54 Waterloo Street.
Tickets are going at $15 and it's free seating.
Let me know if you're going alright?
ACJC friends please come if you're not on tour okay?
I'll update more soon enough.

P.S. Please tag if you visit.
I wanna know which friends read my blog.

an evening with friends.

2006-05-30T17:05:00.000+08:00

An evening with friends it truly was.
Sounds a little cliche? Probably is as the result of a well thought-up name.
Every year performing with the ACJC choir is a special experience
and a learning journey in itself.

This year is my 5th "An Evening With Friends" performance and I'm fast
approaching my last one next year before I plan to leave to study.
That also means that this year is the last year I will be singing with close
friends like Enoch and Geoffrey and others who will leave to study this year.
Procrastination and different priorities have gotten me busy with
things other than University applications this year.
I guess this means next year's concert will be quite a different experience again,
without some of the usual lot of friends around. I'm excited to see
what my last ACJC concert will bring.

After last night's concert I was meditating on certain things in the shower,
which is in my opinion one of the best places to think about things seriously.
(No distractions, comfortable, privacy etc etc...)
Other than all the special moments of music-making that sprung into
mind, there were of course the mistakes that came ringing back into memory.
However that served to re-assure the fact that excellence is not perfection,
and that perfection is just the goal.
It is the spirit of the learning and the soul in the performing that determines
the existence of excellence.
Then of course there is what you deem is the perfection that you strive for.
In my experiences in many different musical groups over the years
there have been many levels of ideal 'good work' within these groups.
My conclusion so far is that most of the time people want to be the best
that they can be and achieve higher standards,
they just do not have in mind clearly what they want to achieve
and more importantly exactly what it takes to achieve it.
Of course those who suffer from distractions, upside-down priorities and
insecurities will never touch the true meaning of making music
and blessing others with the gift of music.

The ACJC Choir has shown me that music goes beyond just notes
and precision, but it is with God's blessings, the desire to share and give to
others the joy of music that sets us apart.
But this does not come to those who just want to embrace this ideal.
Only when you have given your sweat and blood and energy into every note
and every bar and every detail during the process of learning
and rehearsals does it pay off during performance.
Hard work goes hand in hand with the intention of sharing.
That's the true beauty of it no? How can you think of giving something you make
to others that you have not worked on much and that's still in a terrible state?
That is why I think every AEWF is special and cannot be compared to each other.
If you were listening with the right ears, comparing the years of AEWF or even
comparing us with other choirs wouldn't spring to mind.
If you were listening with the right ears you would hear the result of young
lives learning to trust and to give and to make music...
of young lives learning to become more than they have ever expected to be.

This year my schedule surrounding the ACJC concert is even more
hectic than last year. In April I was busy preparing for the 7th May concert
and then in May I had to prepare for both the 27th May concert and the ACJC
concert on the 29th. Now I have to ready myself for another concert and recording
this weekend and ultimately the tour to UK with ACJC in July as well as another
concert on the 30th of June and also prepare the St. Gabriels' choir for their
performances in July. Endless rehearsals.
If my workload increases next year I might have to mime haha. Alright joking.
But you know, despite the stress last night's concert served as a reminder of
why I am doing all this. God has given me the gift of opportunity to bless
others in music. Not only audiences but also the people I sing with every week.
That is something that transcends all tiredness and pain.
The look on the face of my conductor last night during Kojo no Tsuki,
how I saw her touched by the music we were making together
that represented how we have learnt to give of ourselves in our music,
showed me why this little body of music that God has created in the ACJC
choir is so important as a tool to bless young lives.
When Mrs Wilson felt that we were weaving and turning the music together,
I believe she felt the great satisfaction of a mother seeing her children
walk, or of a father secretly tearing at his daughter's graduation ceremony.
What a joy to be in a choir whose history is marked by the blessings of
our Heavenly Father, and whose future is also safely in His hands.

Sigh... this entry turned out to be a lot longer than I expected.
There's probably a lot more in my head that I forgot to blog here.
Maybe I'll remember more of it when next I shower haha.
Thank you God for the gift of music.
Thank you friends for sharing it with me.

a house is not a home.

2006-05-26T22:39:00.000+08:00

I uploaded some photographs from my mum's digital camera recently
and I found pictures of us having dinner together.
We were celebrating Mothers' Day at Pete's Place in the Grand Hyatt,
lots of meat, bread and wine, and of course presents and lots of laughter.
What these photos got me thinking about was how fortunate I am
to be in the family I am in.

When I was younger, being the typical malcontent teenager,
I often wished certain things about my family were different etc.
but on hindsight I can't imagine what it would have been like if things
were different. This house we live in would hardly be called a home.
Thinking about the struggles I went through in school, I now
understand why God put me in this family.
My twin bro too... heh he has made me so angry at times, and yet so
tickled and so proud at other times. I guess that's why we're twins.
Forever alike yet forever at odds.
But that's probably because after 21 years we just know each other
so well, each of our annoying quirks and habits.
Here's a laugh we shared at the dinner.

Haha... I know he'll probably not be very happy about me putting this photo here
but I like it because I think it's quite candid and part of that moment.
I was also trying to decide whether Jon or I look more like our Dad.
Maybe you can tell me. Here's a picture of us with our Dad.

Alright I'm not going to muse about my family anymore.
I really do thank God for them and how they have shaped my life.
Maybe they haven't had a hand in everything I've done so far,
especially now that I'm no longer in school and I am rather busy
outside most of the time... yet the examples they have set
and the life lessons they have taught are invaluable and I wouldn't trade
it for the world. Here's a picture of us together at the dinner.

Tomorrow's the concert Janani@Esplanade.
I know a few of you are going... Mindy, Lianglin and my family I think.
Thanks for showing the support even though I'm just singing 3 duets at
the end. It's a pretty big deal for me because even though I've sung
in the Esplanade Concert Hall many times with the ACJC choir I've never
done so as a solo voice before so I'm feeling the pressure baby.
I'll catch all of you after the ACJC Concert on Monday and hopefully
some of you guys will be there too.
I'll update again then.

inordinately industrious.

2006-05-23T22:24:00.000+08:00

As promised I'm back to update on my life for those of you
who care enough and don't meet me that often to know.
As the title of this entry suggests, yes I believe I have finally signed
myself up for more than I can handle.
Since the 7th May Birthday Charity Concert, (of which I am once again extremely proud of)
I have been occupied with the Anglo-Chinese Junior College Choir concert called
"An Evening With Friends" which happens on the 29th of May 2006.

Here's a picture of the Alumni Choir I'm in.
Of course this isn't a shameless advertisement because tickets
are already sold out completely.
For those of you who managed to get your tickets and are coming
I'm excited to see what that night of music-making will bring.

On top of learning, memorizing and internalizing every detail of
music for the ACJC Concert, I am also tied up with a concert on the
27th of May with my friend Janani Sridhar.
She was the winner at the 58th Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod
in Wales in 2004 when she was 14.
HSBC presents Janani @ Esplanade
is what it's called and all proceeds of the concert will be donated to
Children's charities under the Community Chest
in support of President's Challenge 2006.
Here's a little promotional picture.

Please ignore the over enthusiastic smiling on the right.
For those of you interested to attend it's once again on the
27th of May, 7.30pm at the Esplanade Concert Hall.
I will only be singing 2-3 duets with her but I believe it'd be a great
line-up of music including a featured flautist, harpist, an amazing
pianist, my friend Lim Yan, and also the Singapore Youth Choir.
It's for a good cause so hope to see you there.

I guess it has been pretty tough trying to handle all the music from
these concerts and continue teaching at the Music & Drama Company,
and at St. Gabriels'... their rehearsals start this week.
What more just yesterday I also promised to help out at the SYF combined-
schools choir for their concert in July.
I am more than happy to help Mrs Wilson whenever I can,
(my conductor in ACJC) but I'm afraid of what all this stress on my voice
might lead to... don't want to over-stretch myself and end up performing
not up to my optimum potential due to being vocally tired.
Nevertheless the process was rewarding. It really is a blessing to be
able to help young people make music and discover more about what
they can achieve, maybe more than what they thought was possible.

So friends please pray for me and my tired neck okay?
After the ACJC Choir concert there is still another performance
with the ACJC choir on the 3rd and 4th of June,
premiering Robert Casteels' new symphony, and ultimately the
ACJC Choral Tour in July where we will be going to London and Wales
to compete and perform and also meet great musicians/conductors.
I am excited for that definitely but that also means many rehearsals
in June on top of rehearsals and a vocal camp for St. Gabriels'.
Right before I leave for London I will also be doing another concert
on the 30th of June with 3 other tenors, performing Schubert's
Die Schone Mullerin in YMS. So yet more music to squeeze into my
tiny little brain. My bro will also be singing in that concert so we'll really
need your support for that one okay?

Sigh... I think after typing all that I finally realise what great peril
I am now in. I pray God will give me strength and energy to last
through these months, and hopefully touch some lives along the way no?
I'll see you guys around again. Take care.

21.

2006-05-17T04:20:00.000+08:00

Yes, I'm back to blog.
Sorry I've honestly been very busy recently.
This entry is dedicated of course to the 7th of May Concert,
where my twin bro Jon and I celebrated our 21st birthdays in a way I had never
imagined would happen. In fact I still can't believe we actually did it.
It is a blessing to be able to say that, out of this concert,
$3,921 will go to our chosen charity,
TOUCH Youth Services, a service group of TOUCH Community Services.

Here's a word of caution. There are a ton of photos I'm going to upload.
I hope your internet can take it. I'll keep the words minimal.
These balloons were donated by a cousin who was too sick to come but sent
her love in the form of $300 worth of balloons.
We went to her house to sing for her recently to thank her.

Beautiful reception no? Thanks for all the great messages.

And a shot of all of you guys who came down to celebrate with us.
I appreciate all you have done for me from the bottom of my heart. Thank you.

The opening number, Jesu, Joy of Men's Desiring.
Our tribute to our heavenly Father in thanks for His blessings in our lives.

Special thanks to a great friend Selwyn Koh who played violin and keyboards
for us that night and made it even more amazing with his God-given talent.

I had to put in a photo of this cool white suit we tailored and borrowed from Moe.
Thanks for the cool suit man!

Ladies, hold on to your horses...
Presenting to you the man who rocked the house down that night,
my brother Jonathan. Livin' On A Prayer!

More pictures of when we sang together a song from our childhood,
Out of the Blue by Michael Learns To Rock, for all our relatives and
Primary School friends and teachers to thank them for guiding us in our
early years as tiny little brats.

The family.

The set I sang that night was meaningful to me and I thank you for allowing
me the opportunity to share my heart with all of you that night.

Perhaps the most powerful part of the night was our tribute to our parents,
without whom none of who we are today and what we have done
would ever have happened or meant anything.
As we poured our hearts out there weren't many dry eyes in the theatre.

Love them.

It was truly a blessing to have the support and love of our church and
our pastors that night. What better way to close the evening than with a prayer...

...and some cake.

All these great people you see here we would love to thanks so so much.
However due to space constraints your nameless faces will just have to do.
Hehe. Thanks for helping/performing guys!

I can't even say how much I appreciate and have grown to love this band.
Thank you for making this happen, we did it!
Thank you (from left) Selwyn, Darnie, Angus, Edward, Ben...
(not in picture) Christopher and Rachel.
We need to do this again! Just not so soon... I need a break. Heh.

Alas, we have done it brother.
Happy 21st Birthday.
May the Lord lead us to fulfil greater things for His glory.

P.S. I'll update again soon to share more about what I've been up to
after the birthday concert was over okay? See you guys around.

Alright.

2006-04-10T21:23:00.000+08:00

Yes I know it's been a month since I've updated.
I'm really sorry about that and I hope my friends do come back to
read my blog now that I'm back.
I have some exciting news to share!
Yes my brother Jonathan and I are doing a concert on the
7th of May 2006
to celebrate our 21st birthday and to thank God for 21 great years
as twins under His blessings and also to do something meaninful for the
community instead of the usual 21st birthday dinner parties.
The event will be held at Touch Community Theatre in Bukit Merah Central
and will start at 7.30pm with refreshments at the end.
Very importantly even though entry is free by invitation,
we will be collecting a donation at the end of our concert in aid of
TOUCH Community Services and we hope those who can will give generously
so that we can bless those whose needs are greater than ours.

So if any of you want to go please do SMS or call me for further details okay?
Basically if you read this blog and are someone I know then chances are
you are invited so just contact me ya?
Just some quick updates for those of you who are interested in my life...
I recently grew tired of my narcissistic blogging ways but I'm back
and I promise to try to be more regular.
By the way guys,
ORD LOH!
I'm officially a free man as of today, 10th April 2006.
I've already been working as of late, teaching at the St. Gabriel's Vocal Ensemble
as well as working as an external vocal coach now in MDC.
I'll tell you all more soon I promise together with more latest photos.
Don't forget to tell me if you can make it for 7th May.
Cheers.

Asia Bagus.

2006-03-04T01:56:00.000+08:00

Last Tuesday was the Music & Drama Company's Annual Dinner & Dance

and I haven't got a chance to blog about it yet.

We had a company telematch and games in the morning which was festive,

but the night was when the real stuff began.

It was needless to say an absolutely crazy affair.

I mean what do you expect when you put a whole big bunch of

dancers, singers, actors and musicians together

with lots of loud booming music and booze right?

Complete mayhem.

And you can see exactly how crazy in these photos.

Well, yes we were all rather high that night.

The theme for the night was Asia Bagus and almost everyone that mattered

came in their various colourful costumes... Asian themed of course.

There was an opening dance which I was unceremoniously involved partly in,

and even some games and the like.

I also walked away that night with an Award:

The Special Recognition Award (Vocal Ensemble)

That I guess means "thanks for letting us exploit you in every way conceivable".

Alright alright, I shall not be ungrateful about it.

I am thankful that in these little gestures the management does show some

gratitude for all the things I do for them.

Above all else though I think my time in MDC has allowed me to learn and

experience more things as a singer and a performer than ever before.

That I will never be able to be thankful enough for.

Well I just completed one of my last shows at the Inter-Continental Hotel

at Bugis, and the weekend will be spent at Suntec City

where the MDC Vocal Ensemble will be doing 3 shows a day at the

Army Career Exhibition.

So catch us there I guess if you're free.

So far I've heard show times for our segment are at

11.30am, 1.30pm and 5.30pm.

I will also have to Emcee and host the event there for most of the day

which means I can't go to ACJC for alumni rehearsals.

Sad but I promise to learn the music and keep up.

Alright here's to my next 6 shows... and hopefully the last.

See you guys around.

birthdays and parties.

2006-02-27T23:52:00.000+08:00

I hate starting entries like this but yes, I haven't blogged in awhile and I apologize.

I hope this means I will not lose my avid readers who frequent this blog.

Haha.

Anyway I've got great pictures to share so I hope that makes up for it.

I don't really know where to begin so I shall just

start from the weekend that just passed.

On Friday night, Peter, Charissa, Joel and I brought Geoffrey

to his first clubbing experience at the Annual Hip Hop party @ Zouk.

Not a bad place to start honestly.

There's a photo of Joel and I at Zouk.

Of course I would like to make it very clear that I am in no way

trying to portray a hedonistic lifestyle nor am I advocating clubbing

as an ideal lifestyle alright?

With that said here's a photo of Geoffrey and I on Friday night.

Nevertheless it was rather fun once the silly local performances

and various 'event' activities were over.

We soon left for Prata because it just go too crowded anyway.

Charissa got a little carried away and drank a little too much but

of course her trusty boyfriend Peter was there to make sure she was fine.

Peter somehow managed to avoid my camera that night so he isn't

in any of the my photographs from that night but here's

a picture of Geoffrey dancing on a real dance floor.

That's not something you see everyday.

That's pretty much all from Friday night.

I had a decent day at ACJC choir rehearsals where I had to attempt to help

the college choir pronounce Estonian.

Hope that proves to be more a help than a hindrance.

Saturday night was great fun though.

A bunch of us celebrated Jarrod's birthday.

Enoch, Sheryl, Maurice and I went to Jack's Place with Jarrod for dinner,

then we all headed down to Harry's at the Esplanade where

more people joined in.

My brother was there, some of our seniors, Jarrod's classmates and army friends.

I even met up with some old friends from ACS(I) there.

Happy 21st birthday Jarrod my Ol' Tenor buddy.

May God bless you as you venture forth into the world of adulthood and bloodshed.

Just for laughs Sheryl and I were trying to take an "act tao" picture.

For the uninitiated this is where we try to look as arrogant and

condescending as humanly possible.

We failed many times... mostly it was Sheryl's fault,

but here's what I salvaged from the wreck.

Towards the end of the night the guys managed to get my brother to

go up on the Harry's stage to dedicate a song to Jarrod.

Was not a bad rendition considering he was singing from lyrics out

of his handphone.

There were so many ACS(I) Choir guys there from the 2001 batch

that I haven't chatted with in a long time.

Man it was like some reunion there at the party.

Yeah so we took a picture to remember that reuniting moment.

However I honestly do not wish to relive an other moment of my

ACS(i) Choir days.

I shudder at that thought.

That's almost all the photos I have for now.

I'll just quickly share what's in store for me soon.

I've finished my last 'official' day at work in MDC,

which means I don't have to report in the morning everyday and

wear a uniform and finish work at 1730hrs after roll-call.

However I will still need to be there almost every day this week for some

reason or another... They're not really allowing me much space and time to

enjoy my leaves and off days.

Anyway, it is confirmed that I will start training the MDC Artiste vocals

in March. I will be paid this time.

Also I start training the choir at St. Gabriel's Secondary this Friday

so please pray that they will like me there and keep me on

so I can help the choir there and also earn $$.

I can almost smell the ORD air.

Tomorrow will be my company's Dinner & Dance,

and we all have to show up in some Asian costume.

I'm just gonna go in Josiah's ethnic gear.

I hope it'd be fun and I'll take some pictures and upload them here soon.

Also this weekend I will be performing (hopefully the last few times)

with the A Cappella Vocal Ensemble in Suntec City.

This will probably be the last public performance I do with them

so come on down to support and take a listen if you want to.

We will be performing at 11.30am, 1.30pm and 5.30pm I think...

at the Army Career Exhibition.

That's Ginger modelling for Guess Premium Jeans. Cool eh?

Alright that's all.

A pretty long entry... I hope this makes up for the weeks of absence.

See you all again soon.

The Roof.

2006-02-05T19:47:00.000+08:00

Now usually I wouldn't post unsightly pictures of myself in my uniform

but I'm making a little exception this time.

Presenting a moment in the lives of MDC slaves

at one of our planning meetings.

Alright enough nonsense and comic relief.

I'm sorry I haven't been able to update recently.

I actually planned an update on my Chinese New Year endeavours but

I had to reformat the memory card in my phone

and all my photographs got deleted.

There were some nice pictures of my family and my godparents

and my gorgeous godsister who is now working in London.

Well I guess those memories are for me to keep then.

It's been full swing back to work and I haven't even had much

time for myself up till the weekend.

I've been preparing the Vocal Ensemble to exist without me in MDC

as I am going to ORD soon.

I'm training Toshi to be the new Emcee... which wasn't the easiest thing

because he kept getting freaked out but he recently

pulled off a successful attempt without me having to help him

during a recent school show so I'm confident he'll just get better from now.

Also my work with the Artiste vocals and the Music Theory classes

have not subsided. In addition...

the music I have to learn for ACJC aren't exactly the easiest tasks either.

But nevertheless I still feel blessed by the Lord for allowing me

work that I love and for always preserving and empowering me.

Yesterday was fun though.

After some intense rehearsals with the ACJC Choir

we decided a night out in town was a good idea.

Actually the real reason was that Geoffrey was up for some drinks

and the idea of getting him drunk/high was too good to pass up.

We went to this rooftop bar called Loof...

I made a little picture collage so you know how it kinda looks like.

Quite a nice place although drinks are a little pricey... but just a little.

Kok Phai, Geoffrey, Peter, Charissa and myself drove down to Odeon Tower

and met (who else?) Shumin there at the bar.

So the 5 of us set out to make sure Geoff got his fair share of alcohol.

Here's a picture of us at Loof.

And a picture of Shumin and me.

It's funny that the whole bunch of us were all from the choir, and from different

batches as well... I never thought I would be out so late like that with them.

And despite bumping into Shumin some multiple times at Zouk etc I've never

been clubbing/drinking with her either even though she is a club regular heh.

The best part of the night was really when we eventually settled down in

this air-conditioned Kopitiam somewhere near Raffles City to eat

and chat... it allowed Geoffrey to recover from his otherwise withered state.

Geof was literally unable to stand upright without holding on to something

and he couldn't walk in a straight line.

Later when the redness in his eyes cleared up he started singing and

imitating Hui En's voice, it was highly entertaining.

Well here's a picture of him after 3 shooters and somewhere

around 3 drinks I think. We were all passing our glasses around.

Poor Geoffrey never saw it coming.

Anyway yup that was a fun night.

I've got some good news too.

Nothing has been set in stone as of yet but I'm already in talks

to find myself some lucrative employment after I am released

from National Slavery.

I might be training a Secondary School choir weekly

at $50 an hour... I won't reveal anything else as of yet.

I'm trying to finalize certain things and stuff.

Also MDC plans to employ me after my ORD to continue working

with the Artiste vocals. That will be something like one whole extra grand

in six sessions or something like that. Exciting ain't it?

Of course I will also devote time to ACJC for free and try to find more

avenues of $$ making as well.

I truly thank God for his blessings and for showing me paths

in the darkness and streams of water in the desert.

See you guys around. Tag!

It's just a...

2006-01-26T22:28:00.000+08:00

...sweet sweet fantasy.

It fills our minds daily and almost always controls and influences all of our decisions.

Yes it is the human addiction... fantasy.

Fantasy is birthed from desire and imagination.

They represent the impossible or the unattainable... but the oh so sweet.

Just like the lady above, whom I wanted to marry when I was about 10 years old.

Talk about unattainable.

Why then do we chase these fantasies?

A fool mistakes a fantasy for his purpose and reward.

Dreams and ambitions set without a basis of achievement are empty.

Worst are those fantasies based purely on temporary pleasure.

Most importantly our dreams need to be the Lord's purposes for us

and not figments of our wild imagination.

Isn't it sad that many of us today live in a secret fantasy?

That girl or boy you wished was "yours"...

The millions of dollars in your bank account labelled "please spend"...

and all the mad little things we silently crave.

Then we start behaving weirdly in contradiction to the knowledge that some

things just do not belong to us...

and quite simply some of these fantasies just do not exist on Earth

or anywhere else for that matter.

Why listen to our insecurities that induce these exaggerated versions

of what we think we need to make ourselves content?

In that case perhaps we need to review where our security lies.

What exactly do we think we really need.

I want my fantasy to be a gift from God's vision and purpose for me.

At least then my dreams might actually come true.

Dream big. Dream real.

Stop fantasizing.

I need to remember this.

P.S. Anyway I've just embarked on a long break from work.

I'm only going back to work next Wednesday after the Chinese New Year holidays.

I've gotten ready my mandarin oranges... plus extra-resilient ear plugs.

I'm all ready for relative visiting and hongbao collecting.

Hope you guys enjoy your holidays too.

Happy (Chinese) New Year!

Purity.

2006-01-22T21:13:00.000+08:00

I have just returned from what may have been one of the most

important turning points in my life.

After many years of "not having time" to go for the Encounter Weekend

by my church's Youth Ministry, I finally went to my first one to meet God face to face.

It was an entire weekend of life changing lessons and dealing with many facets

of my life, even healing old wounds from the past I thought long buried.

I am renewed and refreshed.

Praise God.

Going for the Encounter meant I had to miss out on some things that

I had originally planned for like ACJC rehearsal, a friend's birthday

bash on Saturday night,

and also going for service on Sunday afternoon.

But I'm happy Fraser went to service today to help out with the sound engineering.

We met up with him recently and had quite a lot of fun trooping around town,

having dinner and supper and just hanging out.

We took some cool photos as well.

This is the roof of the entrace of Wheelock Place where we had dinner.

Just wanted to share this photo because I thought it was quite beautiful.

And now a picture of me and mah ol' buddy Fraser Fraz-Z Deon Teo.

What a great friend. Hope to see him around more often in service.

I've got lots more pictures to share since I haven't updated in quite a long while.

Here are some funny pictures I took in camp during the crazy week I had

this past week.

We did 4 shows in a week, had a Supervisory Board Vetting and a training

session with Babes Conde.

I find it hilarious that Mediacorp is giving away lessons with Babes as a prize

for some competition. What a way to roll in the cash.

I'll remember to tease her about it next week.

Anyway, here's a picture of the Grade 5 Music Theory class I teach in MDC.

The were getting sleepy while listening to me ramble on about the Tenor Clef...

Toshi, Windson and Yutaki.

Better do well for your next test!

More importantly I want to blog about my new friends I met in the Encounter Weekend.

I spent the last three days with a great group of guys mostly from China.

Now you know how bad my mandarin is...

so it was a really big challenge for me at first understanding the prayers etc.

We slept in sleeping bags on the floor of the seminar room but the lessons we

learned and the fellowship we shared was priceless.

Here's (from left to right) Gary, Jason and James.

Those are of course their Christian names. They're my new friends from China,

now putting our local undergrads to shame in NUS.

Okay just joking don't come for my neck.

Gary and Jason are finishing up their Bachelors I believe and James

is doing his Masters. I must really thank James who was my guide during

this camp for his blessings and guidance.

The other Singaporean in my group is Shengwen, here he is.

And now a picture of me with James our guide below...

Who would have thought 3 days could make such a great impact on me?

Going there after such a long week of work seemed surreal to me.

(Plus I didn't pack my shaver or hair-dryer etc... haha I'm kidding.)

I will not be blogging about the details of my encounter because they are private

and between God and me but I will say that I strongly encourage

all of you guys to go for it if you have not.

This weekend I've released to God layers of hurt and sin and curses,

and allowed Him to renew my spirit and to remember once more

my heavenly Father's love and purposes for me.

Here's a picture of my entire group at the end of the Encounter camp.

So I thank God for a fruitful week and I can't wait to start next week.

I hope to meet up with my new friends again too.

Soon dudes let's go for supper or something.

See the rest of you at work/rehearsal!

;)

rain or shine baby.

2006-01-10T23:29:00.000+08:00

Today was quite the blast.

Enoch, Geoffrey, Joel, Huien, Zhiliang, Charissa, Peter and I

decided to go kayaking today.

But as you know the weather has been bleak recently

and today was really not any different.

So we eventually landed ourselves at the beach but the monsoon

came rushing in mercilessly.

We were not however going to allow a little thunderstorm deter

us from having our fun so we all trooped down to Charissa's condo

and jumped into the pool.

Yes it was fun.

After that we were all driven down to Orchard for lunch in Enoch's vehicle.

Here are some pictures we took in the car on the way to town.

Myself, Zhiliang and Hui En.

Joel struggling in the boot with The Most Touchy Couple of the year Peter and Charissa.

And that was that.

Let's see what alumni barbeque on Friday will bring.

After meeting the guys for swimming today I met

Justin and Randy (from MDC) to hang out etc.

We took some funny photographs as well.

Justin's idea of a great pose. Brilliant ain't it?

Randy & I.

Can't really believe I'm finally going back to work tomorrow man.

I hope to start it well and finish up my responsibilities and skoot off.

I'm finishing up a new arrangement for MDC called "Isn't She Lovely".

It's that Stevie Wonder song that you can hear on my blog sung by The Idea Of North.

I'm trying to convert that version into one for Men's Chorus for my group

to sing. Hopefully it turns out well.

After that I'm going to try arranging something for the ACJC Alumni Choir.

It's a stressful undertaking to just think about.

Right now the song in mind is "In The Still Of The Night" composed by Cole Porter.

Let's see how that turns out.

So this is it I guess. My final lap of army and my time in MDC.

It's been too long baby.

My greatest wish would be to see the group continue on sounding great

and also for them to grow musically and vocally as much as possible.

Oh and I ordered another bunch of score books online for a cool US$100.

I can hardly contain my excitement.

New J1s for ACJC Choir, university applications, and more...

seems like 2006 is already proving to be quite a year to top 2005.

See you guys around and please tag!

;)

Celebrate 2006.

2006-01-05T23:09:00.000+08:00

So now you know.

I open the year declaring my undying love for my cat Ginger.

I'm so proud of how he's survived his kidney and liver failure in 2004

and look at him now, adorably alive in 2006.

The huge amounts of time and money I spent trying to save him,

the sleepless nights caring for him by his side

have all been worth it to see him well now.

A bonus for me is that Ginger's a lot more affectionate and trusting

towards me now.

He reminds me that some things are still worth fighting for.

So now it's down to the crunch.

Every year is new so what makes 2006 different from the rest?

The cycle continues as I watch students go to new schools,

meet new teachers and friends.

What is in store for me in 2006?

I spent the transition into the new year praising God in church.

I did vocals for some old friends who were leading worship

and met some other old friends at the service.

The church calls us to celebrate 2006. To continue to build into the

kingdom of God and to fulfil His purposes in our lives.

2005 has been a year of blessings for me in many ways.

I've learned many things through my tour with the ACJC Choir in Prague,

my time in church and with my cell group, even teaching and performing in MDC.

I think 2006 will be a time for me to strive for the best,

to learn what I missed in 2005 due to stubbornness or stupidity (same thing really)

and to bring glory and celebration to God.

2006 shall be a time where I prepare myself to go into the world

as a Christian, a musician, a friend and a servant of God.

That's me with my old pal Fraser "Fray-Z" Deon Teo.

Sorry about the really bad pic bro. Heh.

I've been on leave and off for the past few weeks since Christmas

which has given me ample time to party/rest. More rest really.

I'm looking forward immensively to making music again next Wednesday

when I get back to work and also with the ACJC Choir.

New J1s coming in. How exciting.

Hopefully our prayers are answered and the new batch will be a great blessing.

It is true when they say it is the students that give back to the teachers

that keep the music and the learning alive.

Alright I better stop soon before this becomes one of those blog

entries that are far too long to read.

Chloe Mercy should take her cue from me haha.

Just a few days more to party a little more. Choir batch party 7 Jan.

Alumni Party 13 Jan. What other dates? Sentosa anyone? MOS anyone?

See ya.

P.S. New links I think.

A Soprano's Soiree.

2005-12-31T03:42:00.000+08:00

On Thursday the 29th Korean Soprano Jeong Ae Ree threw a little dinner party

in her garden. Invite only please.

Being one of her students I was glad to attend.

The food and wine was excellent.

A fraction of her students who could make it showed up and we laughed and

talked about everything under the sun.

Apparently singers make terrible husbands, according to the wisdom of

a few more experienced Sopranos and Mezzos.

Especially the Tenors, oh so flirtatious and loud,

but beware the Baritones for they are silent but dangerous.

Well woe to whoever marries them then. Haha.

It was nice to hear about life in Opera school and in music colleges from

Ms Jeong, her husband who's a cellist and also some of her students who are

studying voice overseas now.

Hilarious stereotypes and interesting insights got us occupied

till the early hours of the morning.

That's my teacher Ms Jeong in the picture above.

Isn't she lovely?

I think she usually charges for photographs so this one is our little secret okay?

Oh and I just blooged 3 days ago so you might want to scroll down to read

if you haven't read the previous entry.

It is rare that I update so often.

Cherish it and tag.

Oh and please leave your blog addresses on my tag board

if you want me to add you to my links.

I know some of you have blogs I haven't added but I can't keep track

so help me out will ya?

Thank you very much.

x-mas mojo.

2005-12-28T22:35:00.001+08:00

The view of our City from the 56th floor of the Swisshotel Singapore.

This holiday season has been an amazing time for me, well for the most part.

I have just begun my 2 weeks of break from work on Monday and I guess I'll take this

time to recharge myself as well as perhaps get some things done.

Things worth mentioning about this half of December would obviously

be the glorious amounts of carolling with the ACJC Choir,

the Kris Kringle revelation party with MDC, working with the Babes Conde,

and of course the inordinate amounts of shopping I promised myself.

I am thankful for the blessings God has given me this year.

Looking back I believe he has truly been good to me.

I guess I tried to bless others too this Christmas by spending some extra money

on presents and stuff for family and some friends.

The greatest blessing this Christmas would probably be my taking time

to go carolling with the ACJC Choir.

This is my 4th year carolling with them since I started in JC1 and I must say

it gets more rewarding each time.

It really heartens me to see the college singers come into their own,

and on Christmas Eve it was even more special when a group of

us alumni from different batches came together

to carol on behalf of the college choir.

It was tiring and ardous and it honestly felt like it would never end,

but each time we sang we made music together, and

that is something that I wouldn't trade for anything else.

Well that aside, what is Christmas without a little craziness and alcohol right?

I didn't quite do that on Christmas day (I went to church)

but managed to do some of that at my manager Claudine's annual Christmas party.

So the bunch of us from MDC partied and laughed on the 56th floor of Swisshotel,

hoping not to fall of the balcony where we were mostly congregated.

Quite fun quite fun.

Muahaha.

Here are some photos from the party.

Here's me with Rayve on the balcony hanging over the ledge.

Shiwei, one of the lucky few whose smile is more fake than mine.

Bryan and Fariz, fabulous dancers but a little too fabulous... if you get what I mean.

Mariam the African warrior princess, complete with incriminating evidence of booze.

And finally the Queen of the Night, Claudine.

So that's all I've got to update on so far. I've got a new phone with a great camera

so I'll try to take more pictures to throw them on this blog.

I'm pretty free nowadays so drop me a message if you wanna include me in something.

Oh and if you're interested in going to a New Year celebration on the 1st

let me know too.

See you all and

Merry Christmas!

Visions of M.

2005-12-18T01:23:00.000+08:00

Alright I'm back.

I know that once again it's been a long time since I've blogged,

but at least I'm back now right?

Too many things have happend for me to highlight them all

but then again I doubt you want to know every single detail anyway.

Most importantly I got myself a Creative Zen Vision: M!

My original intention was the Ipod Video of course but this is so much better.

Okay before some people jump on my case

I will say that the Ipod Video is a lot more beautiful but really,

the Zen has so much more to offer.

Alright I shall stop here less I sound like the nerdy techies I so passionately tease.

And so Christmas is finally around the corner and the shows are piling up.

MDC has gotten me scrambling to put 4 shows up in 2 weeks

and also trying to get the group into some shape.

Babes Conde and Aiming has/will be popping in to help me out finally

but there's still lots to be done.

Funny thing is I might be gone from MDC before I finally reap any fruits of my labour.

Thankfully with Christmas also comes inordinate amounts of shopping.

I personally can't believe how much I've spent but

I just tell myself this is the time to do it anyway.

It's the end of the year, let me give myself a little break.

Let the spending continue!

I just hope to remember to make a list of people I want to buy presents for.

So the parents are on their nth honeymoon in Turkey

but I haven't really been going all wild yet.

Maybe when I get in the mood for it.

Hope to see you all at carolling or at work.

P.S. Sorry no pictures but you can check Desiree's older entry for a picture.

I'll see if I can get some pictures up here soon.

fly away.

2005-12-04T15:19:00.000+08:00

When you love someone so deeply

They become your life

It's easy to succumb to overwhelming fears inside

Blindly, I imagined I could

Keep you under glass

Now I understand, to hold you must open up my hands

And watch you rise

I have learned that beauty

Has to flourish in the light

Wild horses run unbridled

Or their spirit dies

You've given me the courage

To be all that I can

And I truly feel your heart will

Lead you back to me

When you're ready to land

I can't pretend these tears

Aren't over flowing steadily

I can't prevent this hurt from

Almost overtaking me

But I will stand and say goodbye

For you'll never be mine

Until you know the way it feels to fly

Spread your wings and prepare to fly

For you have become a butterfly

Fly abandonedly into the sun

If you should return to me

We truly were meant to be

So spread your wings and fly

Butterfly

Emmanuel Come.

2005-11-27T14:44:00.000+08:00

Yes it's been a long time Sheryl I apologize. I've been quite busy,

but in a rather mundane way so there hasn't been much to say.

However I've just had an amazingly enriching weekend with the ACJC Choir.

I sang with them at the Marina Mandarin 2005 Christmas light-up on Thursday,

and attended the Choral workshop from Friday, ending with singing at KKMC

as the choir-in-attendence for this Sunday.

You know being in the presence of the other alumnus and the teachers

just reminds me once again about why I love music-making so much,

and about what it means to be humble and gracious.

Musicianship is so precious and is something I find to be akin to Christianity

in some ways. It gives me hope to brave the world outside and grace to overcome

even things I find not worth my time or effort.

Truly it is in giving that we receive and to have such great musicians and teachers

give so sacrificially to the growth and education of these students over almost 20 years

is extraordinary. Meeting Ms Gracia Ng and Mrs Chew again today at the service

sealed all the 4 years of memories I have had with the AC Choir.

How lucky we are!

Now being exposed to the cheapness and delusion that plagues the music

industry in Singapore I appreciate being part of this great plan and system that God

has blessed the college with. I say that from the bottom of my heart.

It is so vital for me to hold on to these teachings,

to make music with understanding and integrity. To bring music to the masses.

In the end all this is for God and the furtherance of His kingdom.

Since He chose me first, how can I claim to not have His purposes in my life?

I hope someday to learn to give as much as true music calls for.

To bear my spirit and soul to whoever is listening.

To sing or play with understanding and purpose.

To touch that place in the hearts of audiences that builds a

bridge between my heart and theirs.

Perhaps then I will fully understand what it is to be a musician.

How else will I use what God has given me to reach out and touch the

lives of those around me?

Perhaps then I will understand what it is to be a servant and a friend of God.

So many and so important are the lessons to be learnt.

I'm just glad I'm making some progress,

and what more at the same time surrounded by so many like-minded friends.

Slap me the next time I attempt feeling depressed alright?

I'm looking forward to December.

Hopefully with God's strength, blessings and a little good planning,

I'll be able to do well with the MDC ensemble and also carol with

the ACJC Choir.

What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of life to lay aside his crown for my soul.

Sognai.

2005-11-14T22:21:00.000+08:00

First and foremost of course I would like to thank all my friends who came down

to YMS on Friday to watch my performance.

Thank you Desiree, Qinghao, Geoffrey, Yihui, Limhui and Ben.

Special thanks go to Jonathan and Mark from MDC who helped man the ticket booth

for the entire night! Wow guys... you sure had fun eh.

I'm glad the concert went well somewhat.

My Italian solo Aria went alright considering I had problems

manipulating the 10th leaps

and the relatively annoying semi-quaver runs.

The finale duet with Janani was cute.

We had problems giving out the flowers to the other performers

during the song because the orchirds they gave us got stuck to each other.

I had to literally rip them apart to give them out amidst smiling and singing.

You know despite having performed countless times with MDC I still do get some

butterflies in my stomach with these performances.

Maybe because it's harder to perform in front of friends?

Let me know what you think about that yeah?

Harder to perform to complete strangers or friends?

Anyway, now for some publicity for the person who made this all happen.

All the performers on Friday are students of my teacher

Korean Soprano Jeong Ae Ree.

She will be performing this December in a recital with Baritone William Lim and

Shane Thio on the piano.

The trio will perform works by Debussy, Vaughan-Williams and de Falla.

Here's a picture.

The concert is on the 9th of December 2005 in the Esplanade Recital Studio.

It's brought to you by the Young Musicians' Society and is part of the AfterEight series.

Tickets go at $16 I believe.

It's back to work for me. I do need some vocal rest I feel.

Maybe I should take a day off speaking and singing soon.

I'll update soon so check back alright?

happy hallo-hari-raya-ween.

2005-11-04T00:53:00.000+08:00

The title is strange I know.

I forgot to update after Halloween so this is my effort at combining everything.

Happy Halloween and Selamat Hari Raya everybody.

And Deepavali too of course.

The Artiste department in MDC took the entire week off so I managed to get lots of sleep.

Still trying to recover and fight off my cough and flu.

I'm trying to pull through without a doctor and medication.

I'm feeling better now.

The Lamb Party on Sunday was a success.

Had lots of fun guys thanks for coming over.

Halloween was interesting.

We went to the Halloween party at Zouk.

I was dressed as one of the 3 vampires.

Among our gang was a Mummy/The Invisible man, zombies,

strange androgynous looking samurai fairies etc.

Okay I won't elaborate on that part.

Anyway, there were enough people lining up to get in to fill 3 Zouks.

We left for Indochine eventually.

That's a photo of us at Indochine.

Three vampires, a zombie, a Mummy and a pseudo-chick

who just happened to be a friend of one of the guys.

The party there wasn't exactly bleak but it wasn't that great fun either.

I think we had more fun scaring people in the streets.

Alright, I've started planning the schedule for the Vocal Ensemble

for the next few months. It's packed.

I'm a little worried at the slowness and lethargy that is in the group.

Time to crack that whip and if the 2 newer members don't live up to expectations...

some measures will probably have to be taken.

Alright, on a lighter note Selamat Hari Raya once again to all my Islamic friends.

The food at Shida's and Salman's place was good as usual.

I'm singing in a concert next week featuring my voice teacher's students.

It's on the 11th and tickets are priced at $15.

It starts at 7:00pm @ the YMS Auditorium.

54 Waterloo Street.

Tag or SMS me if you want tickets to come watch.

I'm singing one Italian solo and a duet with Jaanani, one of the students.

She was the girl Soprano who won the 'Music Olympics' last year in Wales for her category.

Hope to see you guys there.