Sixth sense – sense for boring concerts

Believe me I have a sixth sense. It might even be the tenth sense. The sixth and seventh and eighth and ninth sense are the senses for sales, discounts, super duper expensive but pretty jewelries, and… never mind.

Hokay. So there’s this choir concert. Kammerchor Stuttgart from Germany. It was compulsory to attend this concert by the command of the choir.

Since the first time I heard about it, I somehow felt unmotivated to go. In case you don’t know, I’m a sucker for concerts (especially in Esplanade Concert Hall WTF!!) and any performances in general. Perhaps because I was quite angry too, since I was inviting the whole choir to watch my sister’s choir’s concert some weeks back and nobody ever replied, and suddenly they’re asking us to involuntarily watch this choir from Germany. They say it’s to widen our perspective of choir music. Hell I know my sister’s choir is not that “prestigious” like this choir from Germany (which is said to be one of the best choirs in the world) but wouldn’t it widen some experience and perspective too?

Anyway my sister’s choir was not that fantastic either. But that’s not the focus.

And so yeah, I was not interested to go. I reluctantly paid $21. And I was this close to not going. The story is.. Ahem.
So I checked gothere.sg about directions to go from China Square (that’s where I work if you’re wondering) to Esplanade. Type, type, type, click and it returned the result : take 961 from Apollo Centre at Eu Tong Sen street. It’ll stop directly in front of the Esplanade. Joyfully I went walking. It’s just a few more meters from my usual bus stop at People’s Park Centre. Arrived at the bus stop and double-checked the bus directions. And… What the heck. There’s no Esplanade there. Checked the index by road name. Raffles Avenue is there, but on 961#. Take not of the #. Apparently there’s another service 961# that’s only running on Sundays.

DAMMIT.

So anyway. There’s no other bus that’s going near Esplanade. So I decided to walk even further. Eu Tong Sen street will take me to Clarke Quay station. So I arrived at the bus stop just outside Central Mall and… No buses going to Esplanade there. BIG SIGH. I was so close to going home instead since there were like 2 or 3 buses that can go directly to home. But I remember my $21. And Esplanade Concert Hall! Even if the concert is boring I could just look up and admire the whole concert hall, I thought. Anyway I was hungry and I just ate in Central. There was still ample time to go. And after eating I decided I’ll just take the MRT anyway since I’m already above the CQ station. So there I went. Took train to Dhoby Ghaut station (dammit should have just taken the train from Chinatown. What’s the use of walking so far), changed to the red line and arrived at City Hall Station. Drew some money from ATM and walked to Esplanade. Met my ex internship administrator along the way.

Even my story to go to Esplanade is more interesting.

So yeah. Waited for other members of choir to come. As usual they were late. Sigh. Typical. Entered the room. Sat. Aircon was a tad cold. Read the program book. 10 songs.. Hmm..

Lights dimmed. Somebody explaining that there’s a change in the program. They’ll be singing Lux Aeterna by Gyorgy Ligeti as the opening. Sounds contemporary, I thought. That would be fine, I guessed. And so the choir is out. Since it’s a chamber choir, it’s not a very big-sized choir with almost hundreds of people. The size is just nice to make a nice curve over the Esplanade Concert Hall’s stage. So they began. And boy didn’t that change my perspective of choir music.

I didn’t know choir music can leave me (almost) yawning. As a musician (and a choir singer at that) myself, I’m usually fascinated by choir music coz I would have fun trying to guess which sings what and hearing different voices juxtaposed at the same time to create “wrinkles in the air” -this is from my conductor

Of course they sing well. Really well in fact. Super good breathing (don’t ask me for my inherently short breath), nice hold of high notes, impeccable ability to reach high notes.

But the concert – their singing- lacks something. It’s just like you’re eating some food and you think it’s nice but there’s just sooooooomething missing that makes it not deserving your greatest praise. That’s what happened. As I already said, they are real good in singing but maybe… just maybe.. they’re not good at making music for other people.

Making music for other people, I believe, takes more than technique. “Ordinary” people (people who are not trained in music) likes interaction. So when you’re making music just for yourself, that just doesn’t cut it with them. Share your love for music with other people. Music was not there to stay. Music is out there to be shared.

Or maybe they’re just too good already so they don’t really care about trying so hard to sing. And since they’re like one of the best chamber choirs in the world, it’s so easy for them to go places to sing. I remember the story my conductor told the choir about the Filipino choir. They had to practice in small rooms with unsurprisingly bad echoes, had to hold several fund raising concerts, literally had to work their asses off just to join an international choir festival. And when they sing, they give the best that they can. When they sing, you can cry. Now THAT’s music for everyone. This sounds as a silly measure to me or to you, but when a musician can make me cry, can move my emotions, means he/she/they can share their music very well.

Or probably it’s just the matter of the song choice. Remember I told you that they decided to sing Lux Aeterna as the opening? Turned out the piece was so contemporary it’s on the edge of weirdness.All I could hear was just ooh and aah with different notes, ringing together. Interesting, of course, but it just didn’t cut it. Of course I marveled on how they managed to hold their notes for so long without lingering or going flat/sharp (if you don’t understand, never mind. it’s technical stuff). Anyway. They had some other baroque songs (which are very neatly arranged, just their style). Maybe they should have just sung those ones first. To give the audience the reassurance, that, oh, choir sounds very nice! Then maybe after that move on to the contemporary songs such as Lux Aeterna that can make the audience think, oh, choir can sound like this too! Interesting! Something like that.

When you make me sleepy your concert is doomed to be labelled a boring concert.

Apparently I wasn’t the one who thought so! One of my friends slept and snored. My goodness. I thought I just heard some part of the song, since it’s a contemporary piece anyway. I looked to my right and there he was, sleeping and snoring happily. Goodness. My friend woke him up and he smiled sheepishly. Later at intermission he said “I should congratulate the conductor ‘Well done!’ you know!”. Well done for making him sleep, he meant.

So anyway. Won’t bore you with the story about how bored I was.

After the concert went to have some supper at Makansutra. Food sucks ass. No direct bus from Esplanade to home, so hopped on 111, changed bus at YMCA. Almost forgot to alight since I was busy sms-ing. Sigh.

Okay this has come to an abrupt end.

Short update… July 29th 2008

I really wish I could write just like I did. I want it to be interesting, deep, detailed, and what-nots.
Believe me I do wish.
However reality hurts. All I can talk post my hiatus was only about my photoshopped picture and my playlist.
Maybe I should finish my Europe trip posts… Although feeling a bit lazy since I’ve put the whole lot of pictures online on Facebook and just like the old saying goes, pictures tell a thousand words.
I shall stop here. Coz I’m at work and what the hell am I supposed to talk about work? Maybe life in Singapore is just boring.
So yeah. Hopefully I can post something when I reach home today. Maybe about my recording session with the choir yesterday. Maybe about the concert I’m gonna watch tonight. Shoot I forgot to bring my camera.

Awsumz PlayL33stz

Please don’t ask why I keep using the lolcat/geek language. I dunno man.

Just because I <3 <3 <3 you guys, and because I was in the top position in ping.sg yesterday (just because of my awsum photoshop skillz which is not that awsummm anyway!)...

….. here is my painstakingly arranged playlist!

The playlist features singers (mostly female) with the dreamy, throaty voice. The “in” voice now!
Yes darL33ngZ, I have l33t music tastezzz okayzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
Including : Regina Spektor, Kate Nash, Adele, Imogen Heap, etc.
Do listen to Imogen Heap’s “Let Go (Solo Piano)”. It’s awsuuuuuuuum.

Have fun slacking in work! Chu <3

My photoshop skillZ is teh awsum.

At least I thought so!

For a n00b like me this is quite good okay!

The before…

The after!

Chio (pretty)?

Click on images to enlarge.

Was too lazy to put it side by side. Hahaha XD

Update : I found out how to do image on hover!

The Ho-hum Dark Knight

Note : I don’t think this can be classified as a proper review.

So okay, what the hell is dark knight in the first place?

I only know about Batman. And the only thing I know about Batman is his black cape and that he has a companion (that sounds wrong) named Robin. That’s all. I know I’m not knowledgeable. I’m a girl, ok! Ask me about Sailor Moon or Wedding Peach. (Come to think of it, I don’t really remember anymore. Blah.)

Anyway.

So I caught The Dark Knight last night. It was a 9.55 PM show, since my friends had to do some performance practice. So okay we went to the Cathay to see it and.. There was a delay.

I’m still thinking whether I should blame the delay.

Anyway, I almost slept in the last 30 minutes of the film or so. It was an agonizing wait, especially when your bladder is full but you’re stuck in the middle of the row AND the film is not finished yet.

You know when you watch DVD you can press a button to show you how much time is remaining? I had the urge to do that, except that this “DVD” was projected in a huge ass screen and I was sitting in puffy yet uncomfortable “sofa” instead of my home’s sofa.

I didn’t know Batman is a super rich guy. Damn you trust fund babies. A lot of money in hand and still dreaming of saving the world. How heroic. Oh wait. Batman IS heroic. Anyway.

The scenes with the sick Joker (btw, two thumbs up and two toes up for Heath Ledger (RIP)’s acting!) was terribly horrifying. The make up of the half-burnt guy is crazily impressive. Ok insert positive review here. You should have read many positive reviews and I’m too lazy to type more. Maybe I should just plagiarize just like Dawn Yang did.

[subtle spoiler alert]

Neewayz. Up to this second I’m still trying to figure out some weird things I encounter. That joker. How did he manage to plant (and maybe design) bombs and everything? How did he manage to place those bombs at that hospital? Where did his money come from? Thought he burned it. Or is he some other trust fund baby?

And I think the weirdest ever is the last scenes. Gordon’s family? His son was held at gunpoint and threatened that he will die. Of course he didn’t die. Duh. The film won’t be fun, unless that the dying son scene is at the first scenes. That would be a nice opening for a psycho movie. Anyway. Gordon’s son. So he was held at gunpoint. He was so scared, shivering and crying. It just lacks of peeing in the pants. Argh I keep digressing. Anyway. He was held at gunpoint goddammit! Yet after Batman flew (or rather ran) away, he came to his father asking “cheerfully” : “Is he okay, Dad?”. Little brother, you were held at gunpoint! You were gonna die! Your mother and sister were crying coz they were very scared of your well being! You were crying too! And you came to your dad with clean face asking about Batman. Gosh. You’re gonna have a good (internal) conflict management skill, bro.

And this review has come to an abrupt end.

Coz I’m working now dammit!

PS I went back at 1 AM. Dang.

And until we meet again..

Until we meet again.. May God hold you in the palms of his hand…
~An Irish Blessing

Hi

I’ve turned sour nowadays. People online told me that I sound burned out and I should take a break. And so I am.

I’m gonna take a break from this hellish online world. At least this blog. I’m just too sour to update, too tired to continue.

I’m sorry if I disappoint you for not completing my Europe trip posts. Believe me, I really want to. I even have drafts. I have photos ready. It’s just that.. I don’t know.

I believe I should not force myself and yield ugly results.

I shall leave you with a video of a song I love dearly. It was a song I sang in Poland, as a goodbye song…
this video is not of my choir, but it’s the same arrangement (that song has a lot of different arrangements)

And I’ll handtype the lyrics since I like it a lot…

May the road rise to meet you,
may the wind be always at your back..
May the sunshine warm upon your face,
the rain falls soft upon your fields..

And until we meet again,
until we meet again…
May God hold you in the palms of his hand..

It’s amazing how this song with just that bit of lsimple yrics is as lovely as a long song with intricate lyrics.

So..
Until we meet again, dear readers, please keep yourself sane and happy.

Rest in Peace, Levin

Earlier this morning I posted a post asking for my readers to pray for the safe return of Levin Angsana, an SMU year 1 student who accidentally fell to the sea in a sailing practice.

As I said before in my post, I don’t know Levin at all, but he’s in my little so-called “circle”. He’s an SIS student and he’s Indonesian, 2 factors where we are in common.

Although I don’t know him at all, I know a lot of people that do know him and love him.

Levin has returned. He’s been found. He might not be alive anymore, but he returned.
Maybe he knows that we want him to return…

I extend my sincere condolences to Levin’s family and friends. I pray that you guys will be given the strength to go through this hard period.

Rest in peace, Levin. You will be missed by everyone who knows you.
Here’s a rose for you…

Photo from Vubui on Flickr.

Please comment and help – when somebody you love is cheating?

Important note : PROCEED WITH CAUTION. This important note is serious. This entry will talk about one’s mother. If you are the kind of person who really loves your own mother (I know many of you do), you might get offended or insulted or the likes. I would not accept any comments about being ungrateful child or the likes. Comments in the same line with that will be immediately deleted.

Less important note : this entry is long.

Okay, so, I’m really concerned about my friend now.

She’s been very depressed by this issue. She used to be very “bright” and chatty and she did well in school, but now she’s always gloomy, like there’s this black aura around her, and her grades declined sharply. She has told me all the details of the stories and, as much as I am concerned, sadly, I can’t help. So I decided to do this rather cowardly move (she doesn’t read my blog) to ask you, my readers, for your helping comments. Come on, I have like 100++ reads for my pings in ping.sg. There are many of you, right? If you’ve been lurking lately, please emerge and comment.

So let’s begin.

As I have said, it’s about my friend’s mother. Let’s just call her Sia, because it’s short and I like the singer Sia. Sia had never been in good terms with her mother, which is another way to say that Sia hates her mother. She never elaborated why, but I drew conclusion that basically her mother never really cares about how she feels and emotionally abused her continuously. Sia said she didn’t feel comfortable at home at all, so now she’s living in an apartment with housemates away from her mother.

While away from her mother, she kept touch with her sisters (she has two) and her cousin who is very close to her nuclear family. One day she came back to home and catch up even more with her sisters and cousin and was told a horrifying fact : her mom is having an affair.

They (the sisters and cousin) said it started when Sia’s grandpa had to be hospitalized coz of some health problem (she never gave details). Sia’s mother had to stay in hospital to take care of the grandpa and this lad was there to take care of some other person (Sia didn’t know and I guess she doesn’t bother to know). And so they met. And so they talked to each other. And so they exchanged phone numbers. And so they started to sms each other.

I also don’t know what charm does that lad have (Sia heard that the lad just graduated from uni and presumably about 23/24-ish) but he charmed Sia’s mother. Sia’s mother became so smitten with him. SMSes never stopped. When Sia’s father is not around the mother will call that lad, giggly and all that. The mother became very defensive and always tried to hide her handphone. Nobody was allowed to touch her handphone. Her handphone was always on her side.

Sia thought it was nothing. Sia had always known that her parents’ relationships had been strained for a long time, as long as she can remember. She said she even laughed at it. But she wished her mother would stop. At least just cheesy lovey-dovey SMSes and calls and that’s it. Sia said she herself saw the smses. She said they were so cheesy. (Sia has a boyfriend, so she should know, I guess) Sia stole a peek to the highly guarded handphone while it was being charged in her mom’s room (she was back to her home that day) and her mom was taking a bath. Sia said her mom disguised the name of that lad with the name of her mom’s best friend (female of course). They were smsing all the time, basically. Sia also spotted that at some point of time the lad basically wanted to break up (if they ever really had a relationship) but her mother insisted because “Nobody else would want me since I’m old, ugly, and married”. Sia said she was a bit relieved since this means that the lad actually didn’t want to get serious with her mom. (sidenote : I mean, erm, like seriously?) She left her home again and hoped that it would stop in time.

It did not. Unfortunately.

Sia just went back home to visit her sisters and other family members to catch up. She is now back in her apartment again. And then she told me the terrifying fact : the affair still goes on. And it’s even worse now. Money is now involved. Sia’s mother transferred money to that lad, which from now on will be called asshole coz obviously he was taking advantage of Sia’s mother. Sia said that her sister claimed that (I know this is a complicated referral) that asshole now has a car (WTF!!!!!!!) and a phone and who knows many others. And I know Sia has been living on limited allowance that only allows her to pay rent+utilities. transport, and eat/drink cheaply without a room to have some “luxury”. I know coz I lent her money sometimes when she’s really broke, as in really broke until she doesn’t have even a single cent to buy a proper food or drink. Yes, that miserable. And if you look at her stuff and where she lives (her apartment and her real home), you will know that actually she didn’t come from a poor family. Her parents are quite well off enough to provide her. (The “stuff” is her laptop, hp, etc….) And now she has to live like a poor peasant. I can see she’s quite desperate of this. Probably not because she used to live with enough/more than enough money, but because she doesn’t like to lend money from someone else. Sia doesn’t like to bother people around her with her problems and I know it. So you see, when she talked about this problem to me, I knew how serious it was.

Sia also said that her mom now dared to go to the town where the asshole is living. (Yes, apparently the asshole doesn’t live in the same town!) The mom used “work” as an excuse. But of course, -this is the best part- everyone knows she didn’t go there for work.

Apparently, everyone knows. Her sister knows (obviously), her cousin knows, her father knows (gasp!), her grandparents also knows. Sia also said that her father DID call the asshole but then the asshole reported it to Sia’s mother and the father got scolded instead. I don’t know why it became like that either. Some strange situation..

Okay, so. Sia said that her main concern is NOT her mother or the asshole. Yes the statement kinda surprised me too. It’s her sisters that concerned her. Sia loves her sisters so much and very very protective of them. She’s the first child, you see. It’s a natural thing I guess (I’m a first child too). Sia, who is not living in her home anymore, is obviously stressed and frustrated by the fact that her mom is having a scandalous and expensive affair. Can you imagine what’s happening to the sisters? It’s very bad. The middle sister is depressed and confided in Sia (as she told me) that she sometimes suddenly cried out of nowhere because of this. The youngest sister, the closest to the mom, knows about the affair and the mom knows that she knows. Complicated right? And that youngest sister (who is merely 13 years old -!!!!!!) once scolded the mom also. The result? Pretty bad. She got yelled and the next days everything she did became wrong and she even got physically abused. Punishing your child with physical punishment might sound a bit sensible when the child is younger (i can’t justify this though… please don’t attack this sentence), but a 13-year-old still being abused physically? I personally think something. is. severely. wrong. Sia said that she heard that her sister (that youngest one) also said (not angrily) to her mother about “What do you see in him? he’s young and money-less. What do you expect of him?”. The mother answered “Well, what to do, I’m in love….”

!!!!!!
Seriously. (I said this to Sia too)
Okay so the main problem which I need you to help is how to make the mom stop? Not for the sake of herself (Sia said she doesn’t care about that old hag – true words she used), but to her sisters. As I said the father didn’t sit around and do nothing. He did call the asshole. Yet the affair still continues. The sister scolded the mom. No use. Sia said maybe scolding is not a right idea since a mom is like a teenage on puppy love. When you tell them not to, they will act even worse. Like, of course you know that the guy your daughter is dating is no good at all coz when you’re older you can “see”. But of course the daughter won’t listen to you. Something like that.

Sia said that she thinks the problem doesn’t lie with the asshole. It’s with her mom. She said in surprisingly cool way that her mom just wants that attention and really desperate for attention. Sia said she acts like a brainless teenage with, unfortunately, bigger possessions. What are the most expensive things can teenagers give to his/her puppy love? Some flower bouquets? Some dinner in lux restaurants? (Except you’re a teenager from Gossip Girl…..)

I have said all possible options I can think of to Sia. I can’t think of many. I juz could think about her scolding the mom (Sia is obviously very matured, maybe more mature than the mom), ask the father to react even more (Sia said her father is very quiet and naturally doesn’t want troubles – i don’t understand either), or even report to the police (Sia said no evidence and what case would it be?) Sia said she had thought about possible ways. Sia had the asshole’s phone number – copied from her mom’s handphone she peeked earlier-, but calling or smsing him abusively won’t help since the asshole will surely report to the mom. And who knows if her already low allowance will get cut and all worse things than that. She even thought about retrieving the asshole’s address (she said her sister can do it for her), and just go there in one weekend to directly walk in to meet the asshole and punch him in the face or scold him or something like that. I said it would be expensive and she agreed.

And so.. We don’t know anymore.

Please comment about what you think. Even some comfort notes for Sia coz I believe she needs them. I will forward it to her after I feel I’m ready to tell her that I wrote this in my blog. Please tell me/Sia what you think is the better idea to make her mom stop and save her sisters (who are 13 and 15) from depression/trauma that can affect their well being. Your contribution will be anonymous but feel good that you might be helping someone, even a family.

Please help. Please.

Regarding the title..
I personally think Sia mainly feels depressed/frustrated because she feels neglected in some way. Sia still loves her mother. And she can’t afford the fact that her mother loves somebody more than she loves her family. Actually she said something regarding this (If I remember correctly). She said “No matter how much I hate her, she’s my mother and that’s a fact I can’t change. When something really can’t change, I guess it’s best that we adapt. So I chose to love her, and I really still do, deep down in my heart. There’s a bonding that can’t be broken somehow. Even if I wish it was. I wish it was, you know? I wish it was. But it’s not. I can’t change that. So I guess I won’t fight. It’ll still that way. It’s easier.” (this is paraphrased from what I can remember of what she said. I remember coz I was quite amazed. come on. aren’t you?)

Please help me to help Sia. You know you want to. Please.