invisible.notes

Apropos resolutions

2011-12-29T23:31:00.000+08:00

Here it is, on record : my resolutions for 2012. I'm going to go really modest this time so chances are, more likely than not, I'll keep them. In no particularly order except the order in which they pop in my mind:

1. Run a 10 km in under an hour
2. Pass my Grade 6
3. Teach my violin student to read notes
4. Laugh at myself more
5. Exercise more
6. Watch what I eat
7. See the dentist regularly
8. Practice my violin more
9. Spend more time reading
10. Spend more time with family

The Visit

2011-10-23T00:51:00.002+08:00

In what must be my first dentist visit in - let's see - in a really long time, Friday saw me lying on the dentist chair. The company sponsored one visit per year so I thought I might as well take it.

The Caucasian lady who attended to me looked nice enough. Cleaning only? Yes, please. Maybe a routine checkup as well? OK. It all seemed quite innocent. It even started very mildly, some blowing of air, looks like everything's OK. And then she found my wisdom tooth and things pretty much went down hill from there.2 X-rays were taken and after some explanation from her, found them to not adversely affecting the other teeth. I imaginarily heaved a sigh of relieve.

Then came the cleaning/ scaling. The whole exercise reminded me mildly of my mum scrubbing at a very stubborn stain on a shoe except that this time, it involved some rather scary looking industrial impediments. Inwardly I was quite thankful for the sunglass she gave me because the looks I gave her from this point on were of pure pain. To think when she gave me the sunglasses she said she wouldn't even know if I went to sleep. If only I could!

I think she might have sensed I was in some pain and kept telling me what a good job I was doing and that what she was doing was "very good" for me. I was actually quite embarrassed after the whole thing ended. It was as if I was in primary school again. But then again, the sessions weren't this bad then - were they? To make matters worse, she tried to talk to me during some points in the entire episode and all I could say was "Arhh" and "Gnaarh". It certainly wasn't my finest hour.

To be sure though, I stood up from the dentist's chair a little more well informed than before. I now pay a little more attention to my dental health. I (try to) floss everyday. After all, if even I don't bother about them, them who will, with any luck accompany me for the next 60-70 years, who will?

HK 2011

2011-09-10T23:31:00.010+08:00

This was a trip that was pretty much planned and led by my friend who had already been there several times before. That basically meant that he knew what to see, eat and do there pretty well. With that in mind, we touched down one sunny morning at about 5am, waited for the MTR to commence service, left our luggage at our hotel (we could only check in at 2pm) near olympic station, ate our breakfast and traipsed to see the Great Buddha on a hill.

All this and the sun was barely even up. In our next 4 days, our days would start from 8am in the morning and we would only return to our hotel everyday after 12am. It was tiring, exhilarating and I loved every second of it.

Another thing I noticed during my short visit was that Hong Kong Cha Can Tings (Tea restaurants) serve up a really sumptuous breakfast. They were so hearty my friend and I just had two meals everyday. Breakfast and then Dinner. The very first breakfast I had was from a shop named The Australian Milk Company. The set I ordered consisted of 2 pieces of toast- very well buttered, a big bowl of macaroni, scrambled eggs which were among the best I've tasted and milk tea. My friend ordered the same. If there is anything I miss about Hong Kong, it would be their breakfasts.

More on the breakfasts later. For now, back to the sightseeing.

Ah yes, the Great Buddha on a hill. To get there, we took the MTR to Tsung Chung station and sat a cable car to Ngong Ping. Mist engulfed the cabin as the elderly couple we shared the cabin engaged in small talk with us in the approximately half an hour cable car ride. We bade them goodbye at the top and made our way up the many flights of stairs.

There really wasn't much to see or do at the top but we milled around admiring the Buddhist wares and climbed back down. Not 400m from this tourist attraction a path beckoned us. It was the path to see the one thing we didn't get to see much of the coming next days - mother nature.

After walking about for sometime, we then took a bus to a fishing village nearby.

As you might imagine, seafood was the order of the day but having had a filling breakfast, we decided to just skip lunch altogether.

Feeling hot and thirsty, we then decided to call it quits and returned to Tung Chung. In this case, the journey back to our starting point consisted of an hour of steep hills. We felt like we were taking the elevators up and down a 40 storey building a couple of hundred times.

Once back, we took a break at one of the factory shopping malls near the station. This apparently was the largest factory shopping mall in HongKong. It was huge and my friend and I wandered about aimlessly for an hour or so.

Disneyland was next on our list. I basically just pulled my friend along to take a look at the special MTRs designed for the theme park.

If I had a must-do list,this would be on it, right along side having Dim Sim at the 1 Michelin star restaurant.

Strings Anew

2011-05-18T22:29:00.005+08:00

I've waited some time for this.

Introducing my new Andreas Eastman violin . It was a close fight between the 205 and the award winning 305 but in the end, I trusted my ears more than some glossy reviews and plowed all the cash the government gave me and then some into it. I've gone to try some violins from elsewhere but the violins in Music Essentials are still the best bang for buck.

Grande valse brillante

2011-04-17T00:26:00.006+08:00

The violin exam came and went and before I knew it, the preliminary results were in, the SMS came in from my teacher telling me about it and just today, some 2 weeks from my exam, the report card came in.

Mostly, I was just thankful I passed. Out of the three set pieces I really enjoyed playing the Chopin the most. Scales and arpeggios were more or less stable. The sight-reading was done faster than I was accustomed to and mainly I just put on a brave face and ploughed through the music.For Aural I wasn't really very confident in one part and asked the examiner to repeat the phrase again to which she helpfully give me only the opening note and,believe it or not ,I just ad-lib from there. True story.

Everything considered, it was quite tough to start practice at the end of a long day, but once I started ,the time would just fly by and it would be 10pm.It helped that I had a blast with my violin teacher in the process and with the coming one not looking to be a walk in the park either, I guess it down to more wonderful times with the violin.

Lord Cutt's March - Anon.
Tempo was very well chosen and playing was colourful and neat. The music was well known and there were just small slips in bow control.

Grande valse brillante, Op.18 - Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin
A stylish opening with a very well contrasted middle section. Playing was colourful and mostly very neat.

Old Joe Clark - Anon.
A lovely pace was set and varied colour and articulation characterised the theme and variations. A very good performance with just a slip in control at the end.

Scales and Arpeggios
Pace was appropriate and scales were steadily played. Intonation was secure and there were just small slips in bow control. Arpeggios secure and mostly neat.

Sight-reading
Key was recognised and pulse was mostly steady. A musical approach - some rhythmic errors.

Aural tests
Good responses- small error in b)

Additional comments
Congratulations! An excellent result. It is encouraging to hear vibrato at this early grade.

Feedback

2011-04-03T01:01:00.005+08:00

Dear Sir/Mdm,

I wish to provide feedback on the level of service I received with regards to the box office staff at Marina Bay Sands Theatre.

On the evening of 02 April 2011, I went to watch a performance of THE LION KING musical at 8pm performed in Marina Bay Sands(MBS) Theatre. Since my cell phone battery died on me, I had no means of contacting my friends who were holding on to the tickets. Faced with such a situation and with only minutes to spare, I turned to what looked like the most senior(in authority) person on hand at the box office. I was explaining my situation to her in the hopes that she might approve me using the phones installed at the box office. Alas, this was not to be. In the midst of my explanation, another customer came with a query and she, whether intentionally or not, deemed his query to be more important than mine and turned away from me.

At this point of time I was incredibly frustrated by the lack of help rendered. The show was about to commence and not only did she not give me a reply, she didn't ask her assistants(most of whom were milling about)to help out and perhaps most disappointing of all, decided that assistance in my matter was of lower priority compared to another member of the paying audience.

I wish to know what the policy of MBS is with regards to assisting audience members. Is their jobscope limited to only selling tickets? Furthermore, if a more authoritative figure were to exhibit such behavior , what more the people under her? I believe it is imperative that such unhelpful service be weeded out and stemmed at the source in order to uphold what I perceive to be a mostly high standard of service from MBS staff.

However, despite her behavior, another staff decided to ,of her own initiative lend her own cell phone for me to use. She helpfully suggested that I could check with the front of house if my tickets were left there by my friends. Due to her responsiveness in lending her cell phone I was able to contact my friends in short order and to watch the performance in time.

It was a simple act but one that enabled me to leave the theater a satisfied audience. It was also one that the more senior person chose not to see.

In my humble opinion, of the various times I've come to watch performances at Sands Theatre, they've been mostly smooth sailing and service standards are tip top. Let not a few tarnish the image of the entire institution.

Best regards,
Daniel

Running updates

2011-03-27T22:14:00.007+08:00

Here you'll find entries made after various runs for the month of March.It is strangely interesting to read through them.It's as if you can relive each run - even if it is just a sentence or two.

How did it go? (4 Mar)

Great! Was running to Pixar's Up soundtrack and I could totally picture the movie while running. Slopes encountered were not that bad.

How did it go? (12 Mar)

Note to self: waking up at 5am on a Saturday beats being baked by the 10am sun any day. Nothing short of torture near the end.

How did it go? (18 Mar)

When my friend suggested we go for a short run, I didn't really think too much of it.Little did I know that the "short" meant that we were going in on it hard and fast. I think my heart cannot take too many of this type of runs.

How did it go? (20 Mar)

This was a tough one. My earphones decided to die on me. At first it was skipping songs randomly and I was playing the guess-the-song game with it. This carried on up to the point it decided enough was enough and changed the game calling one of my friends instead - at 8am, on a Sunday morning no less. I unplugged it and carried on, all 15km of it, songless. It was quite demoralising.

How did it go? (27 Mar)

What really took the cake was the song choice at the last leg of the run. It was Planet Earth and it was quite something to listen to the first movement(Lonely Planet) when it was still dark, transit into the second(Planet Earth) and conclude with Mother Earth , the last movement of the piece when the sky brightened up. I got the "feeling" at the beginning of the last movement when the twinkling started and that feeling stayed till the final C chord and applause.Clearly destined to be a song for hour 5-6 of the marathon.

Overheard

2011-03-27T02:13:00.007+08:00

With the violin exam fast approaching, the violin sensei today decided to do the exam pieces instead. For the past few weeks, we would work on the exam pieces on Monday, and on Saturday concentrate on the grade 4 pieces. Apparently she thinks I'll be ready for grade 5 come the end of the year and therefore the double pronged approach. I am not so certain.

Last week when we did the grade 4 pieces on Saturday , I was rather under practiced and when the receptionist saw me she commented about how bad it sounded. I think she thought those were my exam pieces but I just told her I didn't practice that much. So today when I cane out of the room, I was quite relieved to see her nod of approval.

I just hope she didn't hear me sing.

The Ultimate Bass Adagio redux

2011-03-22T20:30:00.005+08:00

Years ago, when I was still in year 2 in university, the bass section in NUSWS decided to commit to a rather bold endeavour - to take part in an ensemble competition - all 7 (I think, or was it 8?) tubas. It was an awesome undertaking and sometimes,I think that may have been one of our finest moments. That and probably hitting the pedal C in the opening of Planet Earth. In any case, if you are ready, be prepared for some really low sounds, sit back, relax and turn up the bass.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Ultimate Bass Adagio, once more.

The Ultimate Bass Adagio by dankang

After the quake

2011-03-20T00:37:00.004+08:00

At first I thought it was an absurdly long post from one of my friends on the newsfeed of Facebook. But later in the day when I had more time coming home from violin lessons on the bus, I read the thing in it's entirety. They were twitter messages sent by survivors of the quake and some of the stories really tugged at my heart strings.

Our hearts are with you, Japan.

On Running

2011-02-27T13:40:00.009+08:00

Against my better judgment, I signed up for the sundown marathon this year.

One of the problems was the actual training itself. I could never get myself to do it. And secondly, when you got down to doing it, you never really know if you had actually covered enough distance or not. If you wanted to keep precise track of your distance , you could run in a track, which quite frankly isn't ideal for long runs - imagine looking at the same stuff for over 40 rounds or so. And that's not even half a marathon.

To conquer problem #1, I decided to train with my friends. It has been only 2-3 weeks but it has been supremely helpful. Most times, the most difficult step to take is the first one out of the house. In fact, I'll go as far as saying stepping out is half the battle won.

Interestingly, the solution to Problem #2 came in the solution of problem #1. During one of the training runs, my friends were recommending a running app on the iPhone called Runkeeper. In a nutshell, it uses the iPhone's GPS to calculate the distance you ran. Not only that, it crunches the numbers so that you know your total time taken, your time taken per kilometer, your average pace and at the end, a map showing the route you ran, with each kilometer clearly marked. At the bottom of that map it charts out your pace against total time and the elevation changes throughout the run.

All that from a free iPhone application. To say I was blown away is an understatement.

But there's more. One of the neat things you can do on it's website is to plot your next run and it instantly calculates the distance and elevation changes for that route. And like facebook, you can see the activities of your friends on Runkeeper. I'm quite addicted to poring over the maps of the routes my friend and I have taken.

You know there is a downside to having the phone do so much at once. Because it uses GPS to track your progress, the battery lasts for only about 2 and half hours - good for clocking half marathon distances but further than that you're on your own. Unless of course if you have an additional portable battery charger.

Here, there be dragons

2011-02-08T22:03:00.005+08:00

Just when I've become comfortable with what I've been doing, some six months into my job, it appears there is going to be a shuffle in manpower and in little more than 2 weeks time, I'll be doing something quite different.

The move is purely out of practicality due to a number of colleagues leaving and evidently there is going to be a lot to learn in a very short span of time. It's rather nerve racking and exciting at the same time.

Forward, to uncharted ground and just maybe, the discovery of the something new.

Letter writ

2010-12-15T22:33:00.004+08:00

There is something intrinsically wonderful about receiving a hand written card. Speaking of which, I will have to start making some for the holiday season. Ideas, please come aplenty this weekend. Thank you.

Simple times

2010-12-04T23:52:00.008+08:00

The past few weeks just flew me by because there literally is a ton to do at work. It's a great thing because every day I learn something new. From organising projects, to people relations, to engineering know-how, I think it's an excellent first job experience. But sometimes you need to take a breather and all it takes is just good company and a good old (Har Chong Kai) burger from EwF.

Pegi Pengerang

2010-11-05T10:51:00.008+08:00

Got a chance to go over to Malaysia with my friends over one of the weekends. Unlike what most people do to get to Malaysia, we took an hour long bumboat from Changi Ferry Terminal to Pengerang with our bicycles and cycled some 20km to a smallish town centre for seafood. Setting off at 9am from Singapore, we made good time and ate our seafood lunch at noon. Throughout the trip there and back, we took in the sights and sounds of the rather quiet expressway along with the seemingly endless rows of rubber trees lining it. Saw some cows along the way as well. The last stop of the day was an ostrich farm where we had a chance to feed them while the owners tried to market their produce.

In sum, it was a great feeling to get out in the sun to break a sweat once in a while. This is especially so after a dreary week in the office. That said, I positively looked like a lobster on the Monday after the trip. Note to self, wearing a watch while getting baked do not a pretty picture make.

Also had a chance to watch MOZart at the SCH. They are a polish string quartet of sorts. Of sorts because they play classical music but jazz it with modern elements to make it funny. In one set, they attached little red lights on their bowing hand and switched off the lights. After which, they played variations of twinkle twinkle little star as the audience watched the little red lights doing wild acrobatics on stage. It was all very tastefully done.

You can really see they are having fun doing the performance and one thing's for sure. I haven't laughed so hard in a classical concert.

The Effort is the Prize

2010-09-12T23:09:00.008+08:00

A week or so ago at work, I asked my friend when he ran. He replied simply. 3 times a week with his friends at 8pm. Astonished I said:" But that's after work! I always feel so drained." He again dished out his wisdom matter-of- factly: "But that's all an excuse."

Seneca, a Greek philosopher once said," what you change inwardly can change outer reality." The conversation I had with my friend is just one instance in which it is proven true a thousand times each day.

It all sounds rather weird but I actually feel more alive after the runs I do these days after work. And the fact is, it takes more effort to take the very first step out the door than to complete a run. So where do I intend to go with this? Apart from passing my IPPT? Not much else really. But reality is often not so simple. To get better at something, apart from just going through the motions, this article suggest that one has to really love the process.

In the end, it's a bit like what my previous conductor in Hai Sing or really any conductor has to say about the SYF. It's more about the process than anything else.

“In the end, the great truth will have been learned, that the quest is greater than that which is sought, the effort finer than the prize, or rather, that the effort is the prize . . . ”
-Benjamin Cardozo

But will it make you happy?

2010-09-01T22:29:00.007+08:00

Thanks to this article, I am now of the opinion that we do not need more stuff.

In fact, everytime I consider a purchase these days, I find myself questioning if I could do without it instead and be perfectly happy. And the answer most times is yes. However, some things do not go. These include books, performances now and then, violin classes and gatherings with friends and family, even to treat them. An experience, the article posits, produces longer-lasting satisfaction than plain old material purchases.

One reason, I think is that these experiences don't come easily. They have to be worked at, thought through even planned. For example, it takes collective effort for a group to make time for each other to come together for a meal perhaps for a treat. Compare this if you were to spend the money instead on a shiny new digital camera. Experience requires work and that makes them all the more satisfying. And if these experiences don't come often, we are able to appreciate them all the more.

This realization only got me thinking about what I aspired to have before. A big fancy car is definitely out of the picture as is a couple of other things. What is I want now are more experiences rather than just stuff.

I want more and you should too.

Etude love

2010-08-22T19:42:00.005+08:00

I am just going to come right out and say it - I love playing my Kayser violin etudes. They are at most times short melodious pieces meant to train a specific technique (or two). Sure, some of them may not be the most melodious of pieces but even when playing through them, I find myself lost in their intricate structures. So lost in fact, that in the midst of playing one, I won't notice anyone entering the room. This of course makes for quite a shock when you find your sister in your room the entire time.

In any case, this led me to search for what other people had to say about the book. This is what one of them offered:

These studies establish a solid Germanic style. Most Études concentrate on détaché, Legato and overall a reliable right hand technique that compliments the French School. This style could be considered an elementary or initial preparation for Solo Bach.

I think that last line just about firmed up my determination to play through the entire thing. Not that I mind it at all.

Looking forward

2010-08-02T21:34:00.006+08:00

What is a more perfect way to end a day than an hour of etudes and Disney classics and then a cup of milk and Oreos accompanied by a good book. Bliss - for me at least; Don't know about the neighbours. I'ld like to think they would enjoy some excerpts from Part of your world and I can't wait to be king from time to time especially when played along with the orchestral accompaniment CD.

If only the book had A whole new world and Something there as well, then my favourite Disney tunes collection would be complete.

Some expectations

2010-07-30T21:58:00.005+08:00

As I think about the month that has passed me by in what can only be described as a flurry of activities, I realised something. Goodness, I am really quite fortunate. Traveling to work is essentially one 20 minute bus ride, the colleagues are nice , the job isn't desk bound and above all , I have time enough to be divvied amongst family, friends, violin and the occasional book. For now, I can actually see myself here for some time to come. For now.

Funnily enough

2010-07-18T00:42:00.006+08:00

Sometimes getting back home, I will be greeted by neighbour's daughter who, like my cousin and apparently other small kids, have a penchant for my iPhone. Most like my "fish" game and Sneezies and one or two like my ice cream game. My cousin likes Hangman but since he barely knows how to spell, I end out playing most of the time and he waits for the "yay!" to emit from my iPhone's puny speakers, which more often than not, makes him giggle and he then proceeds to ask me to solve the next dozen puzzles - which I do, most of them unsuccessfully.

The thing about all of them is, they all clearly know the line - how to ask nicely for it, how to behave with it and most importantly, when to stop and hand back the phone - which is more than can be said of some of the people we meet in our lives. You would think a couple of years of experience would count for something. Apparently not. It really is quite strange.

AI

2010-06-18T14:29:00.004+08:00

Thanks to a blog recommendation, I tried out Amazon's Mechanical Turk to pass some time. How it works is this: You do some mundane tasks online and Amazon rewards you for it. For example I was supposed to examine some photographs for blemishes, graininess or blurness. You take a simple qualification test and you are well on your way to earning money in your amazon account.

I wonder how many tasks I would have to do to earn enough for a Kindle. A lot would be my guess.

Have a heart

2010-06-17T16:20:00.006+08:00

I finally sent the dreaded SMS to my Violin sensei telling her that I couldn't continue violin lessons with her. For all the awkwardness in constructing the message, I think waiting for her reply was even more unsettling. But for all the reasons stated in the SMS - mostly locational inconvenience - there is a part of me that knows that it was not the main reason. Somehow during the 2 years of lessons, her coming to my place became more of a side-quest than anything else - not important but what-the-heck let's just do it anyway to gain extra points. And it shows. Somewhere along the way, she simply lost heart and I find it difficult to progress. But that said, I guess that's what happens when your full-time job takes a toll on you. Really, who could blame her?

To be sure, I still love the violin and really appreciate her for introducing me to the beautiful instrument but some things had to end. Let's now hope she doesn't know about my blog. Looking forward, I should be taking lessons near my place. We'll see how that works out.

Yokoso! Japan

2010-05-15T14:57:00.006+08:00

Tomorrow at this time I will be in Japan getting my fill of Char Siew Ramen, Tonkatsu and at some point of time, the Tokyo Philharmonic. From what I gather from weather reports, the temperature there vary from a low of about 18 degrees to a high of 24 degrees during the day - perfect weather to go around. It may be only one week but in the midst of great friends, I think quality supersedes quantity anyday.

See you Singapore in a week's time!

The long line

2010-05-14T00:50:00.006+08:00

Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic once talked musical phrasing and in it, he talked about the long line - about how for him to get from one note to another, he had to stop thinking every single note along the way but to think about the long, long line from B to E.

That for me , just about summed up the life I had in NUS. I remember starting school in the first semester and from there on ,it was just one activity after another - an internship here, a project there - finally reaching the end of the phrase a few weeks ago. 4 years is really quite a long time for the long line.

But it wasn't that all the parts in the middle weren't necessary. They were. In truth, all the experiences in those 4 years shaped who I am today . It's the running notes, arpeggios and minors the music goes through coming to the finale.

For me, this is just an end to just one phrase. Another is beginning and when that ends, I want to be able to turn off the ignition and say "Ahh, I'm finally home".

Time regained

2010-04-25T16:27:00.005+08:00

FYP is (finally) over and what officially ended it for me was not a presentation but an amiable e-mail from my supervisor wishing us the best in our final examinations and to bid us to come find him when we somehow find our way back to NUS when we were working. It was a long shot but it was thoughtful of him nonetheless.

In retrospect, having finished the project, it wasn't as bad as I made it sound. In fact, in some really warped sense, it was actually rather enjoyable. There were just so many times you get to spend the night in the lab eating chicken naan while running simulations and playing Mahler's fifth. It was quite the combination.

Fried rice paradise

2010-04-22T21:06:00.006+08:00

The Nasi Goreng with the silvers of bacon and slices of white sausages was really very nice. As was the Curry Chicken with little gravy but bombastic taste and fried Fish Fingers, served on an oily napkin. In fact, I dare say this was my best meal in NUS ever. There truly is nothing better than home-cooked food. Thanks you guys, Jie Ying and Kai ling! Greatly appreciate your waking up early to cook and lug the food from one end of Singapore to the other.

10:10

2010-04-01T10:00:00.007+08:00

This is just one of those interesting nuggets of information.

If you do a random goggle search for watch advertisements, you will realise that most, if not all of them are set to a certain time. That magic time is 10:10.

Why, you ask? I googled and found two probable reasons. One of the reasons is that most times the brand's logo is at the centre of the watch face and setting it to that time will enable the logo to be prominently displayed. Another reason is that setting it at 10:10, the arrangement is not only symmetrical and thus easy on the eyes, it also resembles a smile. Imagine if you set it at 4:40. Or if it is a digital watch then this norm no longer applies - well,duh.

Chance

2010-03-23T20:10:00.012+08:00

A random conversation I overheard after I boarded the NUS shuttle bus at Engineering block.

Boy: Does this bus go to Business?
Uncle: No. You have to take Bus B.
Boy: Oh ok. Thank you.
*Boy proceeds to disembark*
Uncle: Wait wait wait!!!
Boy: ???
Uncle: Did you lose a wallet earlier in the day?
Boy: Yeah I did.
*Uncle hands over wallet to stunned boy*
Uncle: I saw the photo look like you.
Boy: It's mine. I have been looking for it! Thank you uncle!
Uncle: Have a nice day!
Boy: Thank you very much!

And for the rest of the journey, the bus uncle kept wishing people who dismebarked "a nice day" ahead. Somehow, it felt more appropriate when he wished the guy who found his wallet back.

It's not that often something like that happens you know. I mean what are the chances you get onto a bus with the same uncle on it and it's not the bus you want to take somemore? I have been taking them buses for 4 years and I cannot even recognise one of the drivers if I were to see them outside.

Starry starry night

2010-03-07T09:29:00.005+08:00

Guy travels to Mauna Kea, home to the Keck observatory and the Very Large Telescope(VLT), takes some photos and makes this amazing video.

The White Mountain from charles on Vimeo.

If I fell

2010-03-07T02:18:00.005+08:00

Not that it's anything particularly significant but I think I fell in love with this song. I also like Something, Ticket to ride and Norwegian wood.

To boldly go

2010-03-02T21:56:00.006+08:00

So the graduation trip to Japan is set. Tickets have already been booked, accommodation settled and what's left is basically to plan where we will actually be going. Safe to say one of the places we'll be going will be the Ghibli Museum and part taking of a healthy amount of Char Siew Ramen.

Besides this, there is the rather pressing concern of finding a job. For all the wonderful news about the economy picking up, things seem rather quiet on that front save for a couple of callbacks- thank goodness for that. With any luck, I will have secured a job before I fly for Japan.

So to all job seekers, all the very best!

Over tea

2010-02-17T00:28:00.006+08:00

Met up with the TPJC gang for our "reunion dinner" of sorts at Jia Hui's place. Quite decidedly ate the best fermented beancurd chicken wings ever although I realise that as I am typing it out, it does not sound particularly enticing .Those at those at the table seem to agree with us polishing off an entire plate and don't even let me get started on the gravy. The company was great and as we played Cluedo over our cups of tea while getting distracted by the 9pm serial finale episode, it struck me that most of the people in our group will be moving on to the next stage of our lives.

And come next Chinese New Year, we will most probably doing be the same thing all over again but this time as working adults - a small semblance of order in our chaotic working lives. Somehow, I found that thought particularly comforting.

Fair game

2010-02-04T21:59:00.007+08:00

So today I went to the NUS Career Fair and who should I see but one of my supervisors during my internships. I asked him if he was still at the same place and we then proceeded to discuss other things - like prospects in his company. It was one of the more relaxed recuiter-recruitee talks I had and I even had a chance to drop off my resume there too.

The morale of this story is be nice during your internship because it's a small world after all.

My little cousin

2010-01-30T23:17:00.006+08:00

These few days I have been busy helping my uncle move house. Part of my help entails me looking after his son so that he doesn't get in the way in the midst of all the unpacking after the big move( which was no small feat for one day of work, both the move and the babysitting).

Today the four year old came and woke up me bright early in the morning. The little guy wasted no time and asked me to load the "Ben Ten online game, the one that can transform to humongousaur one" on my computer. I thought I might catch a wink or two more after loading it but no, he kept glancing back to make sure I was watching. After it was "Batman , Gotham city rescue". I taught him that batman's wings were really sharp and could hurt more bad guys at one go.

After grandma made him have lunch, he insisted I bath him and after he extracted a promise from me to go down later, he went downstairs with grandma. If you are reading this, I'm sorry I had to break the promise. After some time they came back up ( grandma told he had fun with paper boats and chasing little birds) and we had a guitar sing-a-long session. He made me sing a song about playing games with him strumming which went something along the lines of "playing games with Deaglan is fun, fun, fun!". Later on he surprised me by really sitting down and letting me go through the activity book which consisted of activities like spot the difference(he totally loved that one) and identifying and coloring in objects that start with the "b" sound. He asked me how I could colour so nicely(I told him I practiced a lot) and if I could help him ask grandma to see if he could take the book home.

Somehow, I managed to make him angry and "unfriend" me again today but after a minute of two of tap-tap revenge playing on my own, the temptation proved too great and we went back to being great friends, playing the two player version. Thereafter his dad called up to say he was coming and we went down to wait for him and have a game or two of catching and hide-n-seek.

It may not sound like much, but man was it tiring. OK. Boring update over.

Tomorrow he comes again.

Poem

2010-01-10T01:11:00.004+08:00

Sat, 09 Jan 10, 7.30pm
Esplanade Concert Hall

Lan Shui conductor
Gil Shaham violin

STRAVINSKY - Le chant du rossignol ‘Song of the Nightingale'
PROKOFIEV - Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 63
RACHMANINOV - The Isle of the Dead, Op. 29
SCRIABIN - Symphony No. 4, Op. 54 ‘The Poem of Ecstasy'

In this all-Russian programme, Gil Shaham returns in a performance of Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2 - one of the finest written in the 20th century; its expressive second movement is one of the composer's most inspired creations. With The Poem of Ecstasy, Scriabin created a masterpiece of orchestration and shifting sound colours that reflect his intense interest in Debussy's music.

I have to say this was one of the more goose bump inducing concerts I have been to. The solo violin work by Prokofiev was extremely well done with both the ensemble and violinist, Gil Shaham blending flawlessly. What sweeten the night even further was when Gil Shaham decided to play as encore, J.S Bach's Parita no. 3 movement 1. Listening to this live was like a dream come true!

The second half started with a sombre mood with Rachmaninov's The Isle of the Dead, Op. 2. Concluding the night was The Poem of Ecstasy by Scriabin. This is another work that has to be experienced live. SSO's superb brass section brought out the triumphant calls beautifully and tension builds up until finally the ending C major chord almost unexpectedly brings the music to a climatic close.

Hello 2010

2010-01-03T23:20:00.004+08:00

I really meant to write something to sum up the entire 09 but then I thought it would be me looking up older posts in this blog anyway, so for the more curious, may I direct to the archives section just below the clock. I haven't clicked that drop-down menu in a long time.

Instead I will update you guys on the second batch of brownies my mum and I baked. On the advice of a friend, I added one more egg and didn't chop up the pecans so finely this time round. It turned out more moist ( the last batch was a little flaky) and had more bite. These I shared with the TPJC guys during the Christmas celebration at my place and man were they good smothered in vanilla ice cream.

The only problem was that we had chocolate left over. And so - in the spirit of all things chocolate - our next project would be chocolate fondant. I can almost feel the chocolate oozing out of this one.

Here's to a great 2010.

Take 5

2009-12-15T22:22:00.006+08:00

So I took a break from FYP to make some baked goods with my mum. Somehow I find myself gravitating to baking stuff rather than cooking stuff. Maybe it is the way baking tends to draw you in with its delicious aroma all the way at the very end. This time with the brownies, the wafting of the aroma of the soon-to-be-finished brownies from the kitchen to my room caused me to walk back and forth multiple times checking to see if it done . With each check - no joy, the top is not cracked yet. Eventually the inevitable crack comes and after it has cooled, gone under the knife and wrapped in aluminum foil, the various ingredients at the start begins its new life as a single entity - a bunch of brownies with a hearty chocolaty taste - ready to be divvied out.

Zerowaste

2009-11-23T21:54:00.005+08:00

It's after the exams (hypothetically speaking, cause I haven't started yet) and you feel an intense urge to burn your notes. Before you start your mini bon fire, NUS office of estate and development and environmental sustainability provides you with a green alternative - recycle your notes. And if you happen to take an exam just outside the grounds, you can dump them in after your paper. You feel good about being finished with the module and save the environment at the same time. What not to like? The bins will be filled I tell you - to the brim.

Shameless

2009-11-13T11:07:00.003+08:00

There are some people who really test the limits of my patience. One of them are people who do not do anything in project groups. And when you ask them to do something the answer will invariably be "no problem" or in this case "np". When they miss a meeting they will blame it on the e-mail server which of course doubles up conveniently as a excuse when sending files over as well. If you didn't send me the file just tell me. Don't ask me if I received it and then act perplexed because if anything else, honesty will improve my opinion of you just that little bit.

And that's one of the things, my friends, that you shouldn't do in year 4. Because it's just not cool.

Little note

2009-10-29T21:43:00.006+08:00

Dear Kongkong,

how have you been the past year? Well, I hope!

Remember the LCD flatscreen TV you wanted to share with grandma when the new house comes? Consider it done. The old TV broke down and we bought a new LCD TV to replace it. That's about all that's changed around the house though. Everything looks just about the same. Even the blood pressure monitor you were using. Grandma's using that now.

Grandma has been well. The newly bought TV serves her well in watching the Korean drama at 7pm every Monday to Friday. She had a heart surgery not too long ago and doesn't pant as much when walking now so that's good. She's also going to the market more frequently now. She talks about you sometimes but mostly it is about happy stuff - like the way the blood pressure monitor churns up erroneous results and you would hit it a little or how you would play with your new grandson when he comes around.

Oh...by the way he is a big boy now. Doesn't throw things as much but when he comes around to our place, you can see how much mama loves his company. He is scared of her though. I think it's because mama always tells him not to run around with an angry look on her face. He likes me though because mainly I give - and this is absoutely true - the best make-believe F1 car simulation on my lap ever. Well that, and I sometimes goof around with him. His play is good but his studies...well...his Chinese could do better as mine could.

My sister is in her second year in NUS and ...erm... is doing OK at school - I think. In other news, Mum just got transferred to an Nautica outlet in Marina Bay!That's so close to the esplanade. I'll bet you would love to be go there to take a look see. And Dad just came back from America! I, on the other hand, will be going to Japan for my graduation trip. Oh yes...I'll be graduating next year! About time I say. That's one event I think you would like to be part of too.

Your other grandson is in Japan with his family and your granddaughter is studying in the U.S. I am not sure which university but I am sure it's one of the better ones around. They came back for a while during the June-July period.

Well, that's about it from me. Take care now. =)

Yours truly,
Daniel

Einstein's universe

2009-09-18T00:44:00.006+08:00

In demonstrating a point about quantum theory, our lecture gave the whole lecture theater diffraction gratings. Yes. For us to take home. A diffraction grating separates light into different wavelengths . My friends may not be overly impressed but I was in possession of an experiment waiting to happen.

Basically I had to take the picture at night as I wanted a point light source without it being too diffuse .The light source in question was actually a night light. In this case, white light is separated into its component colours. Sweet.

Curry noodles

2009-09-13T12:56:00.007+08:00

This was inspired from one of the food programmes we watched during the week.

Take one pot of grandma's fabulous curry.

And a bowl of noodles.

Mix the two together and you get something quite close to culinary perfection.

Mmmmmmmmm.

I think grandma should really think about opening a hawker store.

Briefly forgotten

2009-09-12T13:42:00.005+08:00

Some of us attended SSO's Spirit of America concert last night. I would have forgotten all about it if not for the organiser reminding me.

YEHUDI WYNER - Epilogue
GERSHWIN - Piano Concerto in F major
-interval-
BARBER - Adagio for Strings
BERNSTEIN - West Side Story: Symphonic Dances

In a nutshell, I thought the second half contrasted very well with the more sombre first half especially for Berstein's West Side Story. Flourishes of brass and running violins all made for pretty interesting visuals. The different dance styles also had my feet tapping to the rhythm. Ending off with an encore of Overture to Candide rounded up the evening nicely!

Does God exist?

2009-09-06T19:48:00.002+08:00

Seen on facebook. Really good.

In Search of Lost Time

2009-09-05T22:59:00.002+08:00

It is all I can do to juggle between school and work these days.

Perhaps it's the little things that add up, the little promises that somehow accumulate like dust on the windowsill. Or perhaps, it's the obligations,those devilish little things.

Sometimes, I find it hard to breathe. Just sometimes.

Stargazing

2009-08-28T22:26:00.006+08:00

Personally, I think there is more to university life than getting good grades and scoring well. That's part of the reason why I took Einstein's universe and quantum weirdness. On one hand I have been interested in relativity and on the other I want be able to take away from the module something about life itself, something akin to child-like wonder.

Enter into the equation if you will, a lecturer that almost bursts with passion about physics incorporating fragments of Einstein's life stories and that of his contemporaries into his lectures and you have the recipe for igniting a life-long love and respect for physics.

Part of this love dissipated when my shoes sank into the muddy field for one of the two stargazing sessions required for this module but what I saw more than made up for it. That tiny speck in the sky is Jupiter and its cloud bands. And the moon never looked closer, or more marked with craters.

It is these times I feel that the learning really starts.

taken from the eyepiece of the telescope

Touched

2009-08-13T18:56:00.001+08:00

I was at the computer lab in Engine today printing my notes.The wait was excruciating because some people decided to send their 200+ mb file for printing. Not one student but two. So I was standing there waiting for my print job to be done when someone I assumed to be freshie asked me how to print the notes.

He had logged using his user id, his cash card was in place - so far so good.

But he was jabbing at the screen with his fingers.

Me: You have to use the mouse.
Freshie: Oh.

And that was that.

What can you see?

2009-08-09T00:46:00.003+08:00

home is where the heart is

Happy National Day One and all!

Threadless

2009-08-04T23:25:00.010+08:00

I bought a few shirts with friend when they were having their sale a few months ago. The shirts were going for 5 USD. After taking into account postage costs and splitting them with my friend, each shirt came to be around 8 SGD - still incredibly affordable!

from wikipedia:

Threadless is a community-centered online apparel store run by skinnyCorp of Chicago, Illinois, since 2000. Co-founders Jake Nickell and Jacob DeHart started the company with $1,000 in seed money after entering an Internet t-shirt design contest.^[1]^[2]
Members of the Threadless community submit t-shirt designs online; the designs are then put to a public vote. A small percentage of submitted designs are selected for printing and sold through an online store. Creators of the winning designs receive a prize of cash and store credit.

It is a special thing to know that you are wearing someone else's artwork and by buying the shirt you are actually keeping this avenue for designers alive. More often than not, the designs range from quirky to just plain fun.

Ordering them online was a piece of cake. When I got the shirts 3 weeks later however, I realised that I bought them too small and after another 5 to 6 weeks of waiting time for the exchange, I am proud to say that I am officially the owner of 3 threadless T-shirts. Made of 100% cotton and oh-so-thin, it is perfect for Singapore's hot climate!

The nice thing about having your design printed is that at the back of the shirt they actually print your design and name.

So now you know, I'm a medium. =)

Offshoots

2009-07-26T22:46:00.005+08:00

Just came back from Offshoots, by re:mix orchestra held in the Esplanade Recital Studio. They played Giuseppe Tartini's Devil's Trill Sonata , Shaker Loops by John Adams and a newly commissioned work by Dr. Kelly Tang for Re:mix orchestra, Contrasts for Solo violin and String Orchestra.

The background behind the Devil's Trill Sonata is particularly fascinating in itself. Apparently, Tartini dreamt the Devil appeared to him and wanted to be his apprentice. At the end of the lesson, Tartini handed the violin to the Devil to test his skill. The Devil, not surprisingly, played with such virtuosity , his breath was taken away. Upon awakening, he started to jot down the notes, but as so often happens with dreams , he forgot most of it and lamented, when the work was completed ,that it was far inferior to what he had heard.

Playing the part of soloist for Devil's Trill Sonata is re:mix orchestra's director,Mr. Foo Say Ming.Believed to be one of the hardest pieces ever written for the violin, Foo handled the piece deftly and the orchestra responded in kind. The highlight of the piece appears nearing the end with the soloist in the limelight for a full 3 minutes or so. Combining techniques such as double stops and trills, one is led believe that more than one person is performing.

Shaker loops was the orchestra's dabble into minimalism for the night. Despite it's repetitive rhythm it was kept fresh and interesting by the orchestra's impressive dynamics.It resembled at some parts a railway train- chugging, hooting and all.

Rounding things off for the evening was Dr. Kelly Tang's Contrasts. Regrettably it was rather forgettable. However, this is probably due to me not recognizing the various homages paid to the violin concertos by Brahms amongst others.I caught the Tchaikovsky one though! The encore ended things with a happy note - Lenggang Kangkong in pizzicato with flourishes of Gu Zheng-like tremolos done on the violins and a super mario theme feel.

时光机

2009-07-17T11:39:00.003+08:00

I was listening to my itunes DJ when I chanced upon this song by 五月天. I like the arrangement! Maybe it is the strings. =p

Noodle House Ken

2009-07-13T21:09:00.012+08:00

If there is something I've been yearning for the past few weeks, it's Ramen. To take advantage of my knocking off from work earlier today, I decided to give the Ramen shop near my workplace a try.

Noodle House Ken(NHK) is situated at a rather quiet stretch of orchard Road in Orchard Plaza. Flanked by Tailors and camera shops this would be the last place you would expect to find a Ramen House but my goodness, they make a mean bowl of Ramen.

I had Char Siew Ramen and added a Tamago. The broth is double boiled and it is really good. The next thing I saw were the Char Siew Slices - I think I had a total of 4. For a moment I thought I was in Char Siew Nirvana. Even when I finished my noodles, I had left over Char Siew and I wasn't even trying to save them for last. To top everything off, I think this is the first time I actually liked having the Bamboo shoots. They were nicely done.

What was a letdown was the egg though. The favours didn't penetrate through the egg giving the characteristic oomph to the Ramen but I might have caught them on an off day.

In conclusion, if you are looking for an authentic Ramen experience, look no further than Noodle House Ken. The number of Japanese customers I dined with can't be wrong!

Noodle House Ken

150 Orchard Road

#01-17/18 Orchard Plaza

Tel: 6235 5540

Operating Hours:
Mon-Sat: 12noon - 2pm, 6pm - 2am
(Closed on Sundays)

How to get there

Drop at Somerset MRT, cross the road to OG and walk in the direction of the traffic until you see Orchard Plaza. When you see the camera shop in the corner, turn left and walk to somewhere in the middle of the building. You will find an Indian cookhouse. Noodle House Ken is beside it.

Hot wheels

2009-07-01T20:26:00.003+08:00

Overheard conversation while I was selling Puma shoes this afternoon that brightened my entire day.

Dad: Son you see, a Ferrari shoe.
Son: Where!? Where?
Dad: There you see the Ferrari Logo there.
Son: oh ya...

Son: Got wheels anot?

Connoisseur

2009-06-20T23:44:00.008+08:00

I think TCC makes one of the best Aglio Olios I've ever tasted. Ok, maybe "best" isn't such a good description. More like dream-about-it-delicious with it's al dente sppagetti, freshly pan-fried scallops and now, superb value for money .

It's time, I fear, for Aglio Olio lovers to unite.

Shorts and Blankets

2009-06-16T22:54:00.005+08:00

Finished watching Pixar's shorts a few days back - you know, the quirky snippets of animation just before the main show starts - and I thought each and every one of them is very well thought out. I particularly liked one man band , lifted and for the birds . If you have time, or need a laugh or two you can give them a view.

Around the same time , I also finished reading Blankets, a comic by Craig Thompson. I think the term "comic book" doesn't do the fabulous piece of artwork justice. Coming in at about 600 pages the semi autobiographical novel deals with themes like friendship, separation and religion, in particular Christianity involving the protagonist, the author himself. An altogether beautifully drawn and amazing read.

A quote that I liked from Blankets.

How satisfying it is to leave a mark on a blank surface. To make a map of my movement - no matter how temporary.

Like writing I was here on a wall to give a semblance of significance in our being there.

Next time around

2009-06-11T00:48:00.005+08:00

ELECTRICO We Satellites(Warner Music)

I first heard Electrico at a race event. They were playing songs from their very first album So Much More Inside and they were fantastic. I think ever since then I was silently hoping for them to do well.

Much has changed in the four years since their first album was launched. We satellites, Electrico's third album to date, sees the band experimenting with more heavily synthesized and layered sounds, similar to Hip City. With the band also losing lead guitarist Daniel Sassoon in early 2008, progression is to be expected.

Three songs stood out for me, Save our souls, Faces and Aura.

In particular, I thought Aura was a very interesting way to round off the album etereally with electric influences on orchestral strings.

In short, lesser bands might call it quits but Electrico soldiers on producing an album that marks the band coming of age.

Check out the band’s Myspace page.

Dear prudence

2009-06-08T23:36:00.005+08:00

Accompanied grandma to the hospital today for the night's stay in preparation for tomorrow's heart surgery. She didn't really have to go through with it but in her own words, this operation would grant her peace of mind, significantly lowering the chances of heart failure.

The doctor told her it would be a really simple procedure - 45 mins to an hour tops but the anxiety is still there.

Dear God, please keep her safe.

update: The operation was postponed yesterday but was completed successfully this morning! =)

Reading week

2009-05-18T00:14:00.003+08:00

It was a journey that began with Hyperion by Dan Simmons.The amazing tales of the seven pilgrims will forever leave it's footprint in my mind. That said,you do not need to read Hyperion to appreciate the fascinating world Simmons created with Endymion. It does however give insight on why things are the way they are in Endymion.

Endymion is, on its own,a thoroughly exciting read - I almost did not want the tale to end.Thank goodness there is still Rise of Endymion. If I was not a fan of sci-fi before, I am now.

Attacca

2009-05-13T10:09:00.003+08:00

The plan was originally to work as soon as the exams are over , but it like looks this won't be happening very soon. Therefore, in a bid to make full use of my time, I have taken to practicing the violin more often (I hope the neighbours won't mind- the double stops are really quite something to hear) and borrowing stuff from the library. Amongst the items hauled back are Murakami books and a DVD teaching me MS Excel. Pivot tables and vlookup functions are bound to come in useful one day right?

Hairclip

2009-04-21T20:59:00.004+08:00

It was a blisteringly hot day on Sunday so I decided to switch on two fans in my room during the violin lesson. My violin book ended up not being able to stay on one page.

Violin sensei: I was about to ask you if you have hair clip a not.
Me: -_-
Violin sensei: Haha.OK never mind. Get me some clothes pegs.

Luckily she's not sick this lesson. Last lesson when she was down with flu, she was a little scary.

You are not alone

2009-04-14T21:18:00.004+08:00

Behold the e-mail that came today.
The effort is there.

Cheer

2009-04-09T00:12:00.005+08:00

The highlight of last weekend was going to Cheer Chen's concert at the Indoor Stadium. Great music for a great evening- who could ask for more? To make it even better, our seats were upgraded from Balcony to Terrace! Since HS and I were there rather early, we got seats right smack in the middle of the stadium. To top it all off, the Indoor Stadium's so much better in terms of seating arrangement - it didn't matter the front rows stood up or not - you still were able to watch the concert. That's quite a far cry from Singapore Expo. Being vertically challenged meant that once, in a concert held at Expo, I had to stand on chairs.

The one bad thing about it being held at the Indoor Stadium, however, is that it can be one kind of difficult to find your way home after that. Saturday was a testament to that.

The next day, I attended yet another concert, this time to support my friends in Mus'art Wind Orchestra. The first half was conducted by Mrs. Chua while the second half was taken by a music student having his exam. I think the gem of the entire concert was The Butterfly Lover's concerto, a new work by Dr. Hardy Mertens. The song is based on the Chinese story but in reverse chronological order featuring the Er hu. I nearly teared at one part from the heart wrenching Er Hu vibratos.

It is quite safe to say that I will never look at the humble Er hu the same again.

5cm per second

2009-04-04T18:05:00.005+08:00

is a piece of beautifully rendered animation the title of which references the speed at which cherry blossoms falls. Metaphorically, the cherry blossoms represents humans, often starting together but inevitably pursuing our separate ways. The story is told in three acts, Cherry blossom, Cosmonaut and lastly , 5 centimeters per second. The total runtime is about an hour.

Lost generation

2009-03-26T22:59:00.002+08:00

This short (under two minutes) presentation uses only narration and text to make its point but it sure made an impression on me. Really ingenious!

After apple-picking

2009-03-24T20:21:00.001+08:00

My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still,
And there's a barrel that I didn't fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn't pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.
I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight
I got from looking through a pane of glass
I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough
And held against the world of hoary grass.
It melted, and I let it fall and break.
But I was well
Upon my way to sleep before it fell,
And I could tell
What form my dreaming was about to take.
Magnified apples appear and disappear,
Stem end and blossom end,
And every fleck of russet showing clear.
My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.
And I keep hearing from the cellar bin
The rumbling sound
Of load on load of apples coming in.
For I have had too much
Of apple-picking: I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.
There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.
For all
That struck the earth,
No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,
Went surely to the cider-apple heap
As of no worth.
One can see what will trouble
This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.
Were he not gone,
The woodchuck could say whether it's like his
Long sleep, as I describe its coming on,
Or just some human sleep.

Robert Frost (1914)

Handy

2009-03-19T10:47:00.004+08:00

When I was small, my grandfather was quite the handy man around the house. He would teach me how to use tools like Allan keys, the hand powered drill (that I absolutely loved to play with at that time) , even let me change the drill bit on the electric drill. When he passed away last year, his collection of tools stayed behind, hiding under my bed.

So when my design project needed Allan keys to complete the job, I knew where to find them. The funny thing is, I hardly touched them before.

Creama Catalana

2009-03-15T23:17:00.004+08:00

The first time I had Creama Catalana was when I staying in Italy with my host family. They brought us out to eat at a nearby restaurant. The presentation of it was really quite interesting. Just before they served the custard-like dessert, they caramalise sugar sprinkled on top using a mini blow torch. The taste was what took the cake. It was fabulous.

"Delicioso", one of the few italian words I learnt in my short stay was articulated to my hosts and on our last day of stay there, they even prepared it specially for us.

That was more than one year ago. The memory of the smooth heavenly custard stayed with me till Friday and I decided enough is enough and got down to making it.

I learnt from Chef Jean Pierre via youtube. I must say, it is quite amusing to watch it now. In any case, I followed his recipe(more or less) , had a bit of help from my sister and mum and popped the batch in the oven.

The waiting time was far longer than the time it required for preparation. In the 45 minutes it was in the bain-marie , the Creama Catalana rose quite a bit and the smell was rather drool-inducing.

The final taste test ? Well... ... I guess it wasn't too bad. It was nothing like what I had in Italy though. Something tells me it's the cinnamon powder.

Curry Katsu

2009-03-13T00:35:00.005+08:00

It's not that often friends invite you over to their place for dinner. That's why when Pan invited the few of us over to his place for Curry Katsu, I immediately agreed.

It was a simple affair with chicken cutlet bought from the Shilin taiwanese store, Curry, broccoli and scrambled eggs but it definitely hit the spot. So much so we had to cook another pot of rice.(It was a small pot,really)

As the cook himself recounted how peeling and cutting the onions made him tear, I realised bliss can be as simple as this.

So thank you Chef Pan and Sous Chef Mashimaro!

D.C

2009-03-08T21:42:00.006+08:00

My friend and I were observing a group of students at Macdonald's. They were huddled in a group the entire time we were there, all staring intently at their PSPs. The great irony: For a generation so connected to the internet, so "in-touch" with the world, they were, for that period of time, so disconnected from each other.

Something struck up in me then and I resolved not to get a PSP. Afterall, I already have a PS2 that is collecting dust somewhere in the house. I wonder if it still works.

Lesson

2009-03-07T01:05:00.005+08:00

#1

be a recluse.

Bamboo

2009-02-27T00:47:00.005+08:00

Bamboo poles
falling,
I take no
notice;
maybe
the wind.
checked
her room,
just
in case -
no one.
kitchen-ward flew,
a figure
on the ground.
Grandma.

She has been falling down frequently of late. This is her fourth time, even with a walking aid. Thank god she has only suffered superficial injuries. What is worrying is if she falls outside (which has happened before too) .

Bits and pieces

2009-02-25T01:28:00.004+08:00

I love it when you meet with a friend and then they fill you in on some part of their life you have missed out completely like the missing part of the puzzle you were trying to find. And when you find it, it fits like a glove, it's edges flush with it's surrounding. You file away the information, knowing that you have one less piece to know.

Transformers

2009-02-15T14:06:00.003+08:00

The show, Life transformers, that is.

I was watching it with my grandma and this week they were helping a family with one daughter. The mother is unable to walk and the father has difficulty walking due to an amputated leg. The daughter does the housework, cooks for the family, helps her father out at his newspaper stall and over and above all this, does well in her primary school.

When interviewed she is so sensible, I am humbled and quietly moved.

Eastern Park Connector Network

2009-02-15T09:59:00.004+08:00

It was really quite something cycling the Eastern Park Connector Network.

My favourite part of cycling the Park Connector Network(PCN) must be the entire stretch along Changi Airport's Runway. There, you can see airplanes take off and land a few hundred metres from you. You almost feel like you were cycling on the runway with the straight roads of that stretch.

Contrary to my earlier post, we cycled only part of the PCN . To be exact , we tackled only 28 km of it, although it felt a lot less. The more draining parts of the cycling must go to the Pasir Ris area. The uphills were absolute killers. After that it was mainly downslopes and flat ground all the way to East Coast Park.

This event was organised by a group of FYP students from Mass Media in NTU and I think, without a shadow of a doubt, it must be interesting to have a cool FYP project as this. I thought the event was well -organised and for the price we were paying, well worth it.

2E1

2009-02-04T02:05:00.005+08:00

reunion during our sec 3 days found floating in facebook. Amazing!

InTempo 2009

2009-02-04T00:14:00.002+08:00

Date: 21 March 2009 (Saturday)
Time: 1930 HRS
Venue: University Cultural Centre Hall, National University of Singapore
Ticket: $12 (Free Seating)

Music Direction & Resident Conductor: Assoc. Prof. Ho Hwee Long

Programme:

Chorale and Shaker Dance - John P. Zdechilik
Puszta - Jan Van der Roost
Variations on a Korean Folk Song - John Barnes Chance
Hymn to the Infinite Sky - Satoshi Yagisawa
Vesuvius - Frank Ticheli

-Intermission-

Amazonia - Jan Van der Roost
Pinocchio - Alex Poelman
Fantasy Variations - James Barnes
Light Cavalry Overture - Franz von Suppé

Do come! =) Interested parties can contact me.

未来不是梦

2009-02-03T22:28:00.002+08:00

From my NUS mailbox

Dear Colleagues and Students,

EDB recently commissioned Mediacorp to produce a Chinese drama serial to promote Engineering as a career. Our Faculty's External Relations Office has been interacting with Mediacorp with regard to having scenes filmed at our Faculty premises, and for some of our projects to be featured, together with a number of our students appearing in the background. This 20-episode drama serial, "The Dream Catchers" or "未来不是梦", debuts this Wednesday, 4 Feb, on Channel 8, from 9-10pm. Episodes 3 and 4, which will be telecast on Fri 6 Feb and Mon 9 Feb respectively, will include scenes showing our students, facilities and projects.

I would like to thank the students and labs that contributed to the filming of scenes at our Faculty late last year. We trust that this will generate some positive publicity and greater awareness of Engineering at NUS.

Sincerely,

Why I never see Rui En they all!

Chingay

2009-02-01T23:04:00.005+08:00

I caught this year's Chingay parade with my grandma and within minutes I was kind of put off by the jester who was trying too hard to please. I 'll give him A for his effort though.He finished the show with a sore throat. The show on the whole was alright but my grandma remarked that the the afternoon broadcast of China's Spring Festival was better. I feel inclined to agree.

Cheer again

2009-01-29T20:45:00.003+08:00

So I finally got down to getting her latest album and it is very good! Can't wait for her concert this coming April. Fish is one of the songs which gets you the first time you listen to it.

我坐在椅子上看日出复活

我坐在夕阳里看城市的衰弱

我摘下一片叶子让它代替我

观察离开后的变化

曾经狂奔舞蹈贪婪的说话

随着冷淡试戴浮华

带不走的丢不掉的让大雨侵蚀吧

让他推向我在边界奋不顾身挣扎

如果有一个怀抱勇敢不计代价

别让我飞将我温柔环绕

我坐在椅子上看日出复活

我坐在夕阳里看城市的衰弱

我摘下一片叶子让它代替我

观察离开后的变化

曾经狂奔舞蹈贪婪的说话

随着冷淡试戴浮华

带不走的留不下的我全都交付他

让他捧着我在手掌自由自在挥洒

如果有一个世界浑浊的不像话

原谅我飞曾经眷恋太阳

带不走的丢不掉的让大雨侵蚀吧

让它推向我在边界奋不顾身挣扎

如果有一个世界浑浊的不像话

我会疯狂的爱上

带不走的留不下的我全都交付他

让他捧着我在手掌自由自在挥洒

如果有一个怀抱勇敢不计代价

别让我飞将我环绕

原谅我飞曾经眷恋太阳

原谅我飞曾经眷恋太阳 (本文来源：网易娱乐 )

Paradise lost

2009-01-24T22:50:00.005+08:00

I totally heart the second song. It sounds so pure and simple. Like days long passed.

Rondo of the House of Sunflowers

If I could walk once again
I'll do laundry and I'll cook
And I'll go for walk
How bright it is, when the sky clears up
The sun is laughing
I like rainy days too
I'll walk in the rain with nice umbrella and raincoat
As angels haven't come to pick me up yet
Let me walk for a while till then
I want to dance once again like a breeze

Turn and turn, with hand in hand
straighten my back
straighten my knee
raise my foot
My skirt are ballooned with air
Everyone is laughing
As angels haven't come to pick me up yet
I'll wipe the glasses of the window
I want to dance once again like a breeze

This just in

2009-01-24T02:13:00.007+08:00

from Mr. Brown.

The scenic Eastern Coastal Park Connector Network which spans a total of 42 km starts at Sun Plaza Park , passes through Bedok Reservoir Park , East Coast Park and Changi Beach Beach Park. Besides the fact you can tell your friends that you completed a marathon ( on a bike) , a little of the great outdoors can't hurt yeah? I know I need the sunshine. =)

EVENT DETAILS

Start point : Sun Plaza Park
End point/picnic ground : East Coast Park area c4
Date/day : 14 feb 09/saturday
Reporting time : 0645hours
Flag-off : 0800 hours
Registration fee : $15 (inclusive of bike and helmet rental fee and attractive goodie bag)

Progress

2009-01-18T22:12:00.002+08:00

Being under violin sensei for about a year, there was a point of time when I thought I wasn't improving at all. I was just going through book after book. Just as things came to a standstill , virbrato was taught and today, I did my very first (intended) double stop. To cap it all off, I should be taking my violin exams next year.

Just typing all this out makes me smile. Onward!

Burn - E

2009-01-14T18:15:00.001+08:00

Burn-E:

BURN-E is a short film by Pixar Animation Studios based on the movie WALL-E that is attached to the movie’s DVD and Blu-ray release on November 18, 2008.

The short film, directed by WALL-E lead animator Angus MacLane, was produced at the same time as WALL-E, and is included as bonus material to the DVD and Blu-ray release. BURN-E features music composed and conducted by J.A.C. Redford, who was also orchestrator on the film WALL-E.

The short film is based on a character who was briefly seen when WALL-E and EVE fly around the Axiom starliner, and enter through a door, locking a welder robot outside of the ship. This character is a robot named BURN-E (Basic Utility Repair Nano Engineer), who is seen banging his fists against the door, and ultimately realizing that he has been locked out.

Very nice!

Happy New Year!!!

2009-01-12T20:42:00.005+08:00

This came in my E-mail yesterday.

The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves.
LIVE while you are still alive!

And that just about made my entire day. =)

Internship

2009-01-11T19:39:00.004+08:00

was a really good learning experience this time round. The one month duration is also just about right. Best of all, I loved every second of it.

Twilight

2009-01-06T21:48:00.005+08:00

I don't know about you but with the twilight craze happening around me, I can't help but want to read the series. Along comes Faiez who uploads the entire series on his blog.

The Twilight series tell the story of a teenage girl who finds her life turned upside-down when she falls in love with a vampire. Girls worldwide are crazy over these novels, especially the Edward Cullen vampire character.

Personally, I just want to read it before watching the movie. Or maybe not.

Next up

2008-12-30T22:08:00.003+08:00

is 2009 but first a review of 2008.

February saw me starting Violin lessons with Violin Sensei and it has been an amazing one year although it certainly feels like it has at least been two. It remains one of the things that I do not regret doing.

Happy are the hours I spend on the violin though I think it is one of the most misunderstood instruments. Sounding nice is never easy but with the violin, I think it just takes the phrase to a whole new level.

Just a month later, NUSWS celebrated it's 40th anniversary with a 50 min symphony , Planet Earth. Words like awesome and fantastic just do not do justice to the entire experience.

I fear future concert experience will be tainted/enhanced by the lens of this one.

My very first experience as a member of the audience of the SYF Display Band Competition was at the National Stadium which they are forever saying they are planning to demolish. I wonder till this day if the tubas are able to hear themselves.

In the very same month, I found NUS's best kept secret , Naxos music library, available free to all undergraduates.

Before the exams started I attended the Lord of the Rings symphony which more than blew me away.My committee and I then planned NUSW's Dinner and Dance '08 straight after the exams. Suffice to say, I had a lot of fun with the event(20 lucky draw prizes!) and in tight succession I was whisked for a 3 month internship at Singapore Technologies where I slowly blinked out of existence.

In June I found Marutama Ramen with my friends. Enough said.

Walked the Southern Ridges with SgWalkers in August! It must be the singular most healthy thing I did this year which was not only free but also loads of fun. Also discovered that I loved free things. =)

A stroke of good luck found me in September with a free concert conducted Mr. Leonard Tan.

My grandpa went home to the lord in October. Not a day passes that I do not think of him. I hope you are well where you are , kongkong.

As a finishing touch, I ran my first Marathon with a good buddy of mine.

All in all, I've had an immensely eventful year. I have learnt alot and studies is definitely not one of them. As I look back upon the year, I see that I did try my best to do the things that I ought to do but it is the things that are left undone that most often leave the greatest impression.

This year has seen many changes and many of them, for better or for worse are permanent. Nothing anyone can do or say or think will change anything because often times, the imperative lies with me.

Hello 2009.

Stand guard

2008-12-18T22:57:00.003+08:00

I was booking in with my laptop the morning when the guard called me over. I lifted my eyes and saw a painfully familiar face, one that at that very moment I couldn't place. I made small talk, still trying to place him, walked over to my office, sat at my desk and realised that he was my one of my tutee's brothers.

What are the chances of that?

The long road

2008-12-10T19:51:00.003+08:00

And so the marathon came and went.

As much as I would like to brag about how well I did, the truth is , I know I didn't do well at all. But it doesn't really matter does it? The race will be but a memory years down the road, the pain forgotten, safely tucked in the deep recesses of my mind.

No. They are not important. Years down the road I would remember instead , of having ran with an outstanding friend -one who ran 30km of the way with me, only for me to tell him to go on,reassuring him that even if I crawled I would cross the finishing line.

The last 12 km , I felt less pressurized, free even.

Because sometimes, you got to run your own race.

Disposable

2008-12-06T00:15:00.005+08:00

Use and throw away.

How convenient.

Youtube symphony orchestra

2008-12-04T22:40:00.003+08:00

This is very interesting.

from youtube.com/symphony

We invite musicians from around the world to audition for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. Your video entries will be combined into the first ever collaborative virtual performance, and the world will select the best of you to perform at New York City's Carnegie Hall in April 2009.

So how does the audition go?

There is of course the music itself which is a specially commissioned work. I downloaded the tuba part just for fun.

And then there's a youtube video of the composer himself, Tan Dun, conducting the piece.

I was following the tuba score and I thought my gosh, this could actually work. I remember a advertisement showing a video of a conductor on a laptop conducting an orchestra and this could be just it!

Imagine the possibilities!

Not Original

2008-12-01T20:57:00.004+08:00

Violin sensei: This song is in a ABAB style ok?
Me: Ok.
Violin sensei: Yup. This part is where you change key ... it's not the original theme.
Me: Hmz...
Violin sensei: Ya. Not original. Crispy.
Me: -_-
Violin sensei: Haha. Geddit geddit? Crispy!
Me: -_-'''

Cheer

2008-12-01T20:44:00.008+08:00

The perfect way to end the day.

This is Cheer Chen's new single which was out, maybe 5 months ago? Shucks. I am very out of touch! Am going to hit the stores soon, I think.

Edit: Apparently stores in Singapore don't sell her singles. why!? =(

Songs without words

2008-11-30T09:59:00.010+08:00

One of the things I absolutely must do while studying is listen to music. I don't know why but this habit only kicked in when I was in Year 1. Before that I simply could not stand sound of any sort while studying. Something hints me to the more protracted studying hours and I don't disagree.That said, one of my favourite things to listen to are recordings of NUSWS's previous concerts and none more so than Da capo '07.

The thing about listening to concerts is that more often than not, at the end of it, you are about 2 hrs into your study and you don't even realise it. Also I suspect this might be my favourite because of "Clementi Brass" of which I was a part of. It never fails to make me smile the ~~bars~~ bar where I mis-pitched a third from the original note and it actually sounded ok!

I'd admit, a lot of other glitches make me smile too and it's not in disdain. It's that recordings sound so different from the concert you experienced on stage, it's like listening to your own recorded voice.

ah. Here comes Star wars. Yay!

short note: I remember my mum asking after the concert if my conductor was christian. There was Great is thy faithfulness in No shadow of turning and Amazing grace. I told her it was just coincidence but is he? hmz...

Intern

2008-11-28T00:44:00.004+08:00

It looks like I will have something to do during the December holidays after all.

The thing about applying for a holiday internship is that you have to do it in the midst of your exams.It's in the midst of exams too that you feel an urge to start reading a book, practice your music, make a video. It's no wonder a friend told me I appear particularly remiss in my scholarly pursuits during exams.

That can't be good.

Cinemix

2008-11-26T08:31:00.003+08:00

These few days I've been studying to movie soundtracks courtesy of iTunes. Songs I've heard include soundtracks from LOTR , Forrest Gump , Lost, Battlestar Galactica and even Band Of Brothers. They also have a webpage where you can request for songs by search!

So if you have iTunes please go try it out.

Radio > Classical > Cinemix.

Blown away

2008-11-23T10:15:00.003+08:00

I am not really a fan of Celine Dion but this is really good. As in really.

Marina Bay and South Beach

2008-11-20T20:17:00.002+08:00

By the time we were nearly finished with City Hall it was already 3 hours later and still didn't cover all the exhibits.

We then made our way to the Central Promontory Site which really was the Marina bay area. The thing I especially like about the Singapore Biennale this time round is that they provided a free audio guide and it really makes it easier to digest all the artsy stuff. Because there are just so many explanations you can read before your eyes get really tired.

And this is important because I really wouldn't know what to make out of an entire field of slippers on bamboo poles if not for the guide. Flight by Alfredo Juan and Gaudinez-Aquilian, Maria Isabel signifies community reintegration, compassion and collective goals. The collection of slippers was contributed by Yellow Ribbon Project, an organization in Singapore that seeks to engage the community in giving ex-offenders a second chance at life.

The Central Promontory Site is open to the public and incredibly, the entire space housing the various exhibit is an exhibit in itself. Made of numerous large containers which looked like they came from PSA, the audio-guide quips that the structure allows for air ventilation and eliminated the need for an air-con.

I thought the contrary. There was one exhibit that made us all feel rather cool though. It was an exhibit called location (6). Nothing like an infinite snow-scape to cool us down.

The setup was such that you entered through a long tunnel and you wound up at a viewing gallery-like circular enclosure, complete with bean bags. The effect was breathtaking.

Finishing up at Central Promontory Site, we followed the directions of a kindly old man and found ourselves at South Beach Development, an army camp in the old days.

This was the place where the Biennale started- with an elderly gentleman taking a bath in a field of soap. It was in the news. By the time we got there, the soap had already disintegrated but the smell was unmistakable. As a matter of fact, it reminded me a little of my father.

Set in three buildings, the South Beach Development's roots as an army camp was unmistakable.

Like at this painting at the Drill Hall by Felice Varini. Because the work appears different at different parts of the hall ,it sets to explore the wonder of making and seeing the many viewpoints all of which the artists asserts are correct.

After walking the whole day however, we were of the view (unanimous) that we needed a break and dragged our feet to the nearby Macdonals for a Mega-mcsipcy(or two).

Bliss.

Wonder

2008-11-17T20:08:00.008+08:00

As a sort of breather just before the mugging started, my friends and I caught the Inaugural Singapore Biennale on it's very last day and I'm very glad we did. We started off the tour at 11am upon the steps of city hall, our first destination ,consuming the free andersen's ice cream they gave us and ended up under the Esplandae bridge at 7pm, three very tired but satisfied individuals. For a 5 dollar ticket, they certainly made sure it was worth your while.

This year's Biennale is staged at three main venues, the Marina Bay area , the South Beach development and City Hall. These were three very different venues and making our way from one place to another felt like we were transiting between the different themes.

The grand City Hall started off our first leg of the journey.

As I browsed the different installations, Rachel Goh's, Who is this Family got me smiling .

The family of the artist re-enacts the poses and demeanor of a photograph taken 12 years ago. They swapped position and poses in a clockwise manner and five new family portraits were taken. Goh commissioned the same photographer who took the original photograph to shoot the new portraits. The effect is playful and the video at the end ,which shows the process of the shoot ,drew me in as a bemused observer.

A piece that I found quietly moving was Charly Nijensohn's, the wreck of men.

Just this singular image cannot do the work justice as the three channel video installation which lasts around 10 mins had my friends and I sitting in the pitch black room, silently watching the video.

But what took the cake for the most unnerving installation was I wonder why? by Prasad, Srinivasa. With projections of fire as a back drop is an entire room of charcoal made objects. Charcoal men chasing charcoal bikes beside charcoal stalls. Accomapanying all of this is the sound of wood burning- a final touch to what I infer to be the transitory nature of all things on earth.

So who wants to go to the Biennale in two years time? =)