#YearOfCosmere

Not too long ago, I discovered booktubers. Now, by the power of the intrawebs, I'm considering to participate in the #yearofcosmere event after being informed of it by one. Essentially, it is a read-a-long of Brandon Sanderson's books. At the end, because many of his books are related, there will be a live discussion on the Goodreads #yearofcosmere group page(which if you are an avid reader is a godsend). Honestly, I don't usually reread books or join book clubs in their activities. But it's Brandon Sanderson, and it's fun once in a while to feel like you're a part of the reading community.

As an aside, if you haven't read him, now's the perfect time!

Grand Rounds

My reads of 2014 have mostly been fiction.To add more non-fiction reads to my bookshelf, I have taken to following friends and people I think have similar tastes to mine on Goodreads. It has turned up fiction gems like "The Martian" which I enjoyed (The protag's conversations with NASA are always fun to read) and then there's Grand Rounds.

Grand Rounds at it's core, is a series of 24 medical case studies which take you through how doctors diagnose and treat medical patients. Much like "House", each case study has a patient and you'll play detective as Dr. Benaroch doles out the clues. He will explain what normally is involved in the review -History of Present Illness (HPI), the basic physical checks - Head, Eyes, Ears, Nose and Throat (HEENT) and other very interesting nuggets of information like how a doctor progresses from student to M.D.

In a  first, I bought this as an audiobook on Audible.com.I had wanted to get this as a ebook on Kindle but it seems to be only available as an audio recording and so today I went running to the lectures. As an aside, I am generally not big on audiobooks but these recordings were the perfect medium for these lectures to be delivered.The case studies today were on cancer and heart attack. Both of them have afflicted my friends and loved ones and as such, the case studies hit closer to home. I, in turn, am emotionally affected by them. 

Emotions aside, lectures 6 and 7 have very informative. I did not know that checking for air passage has been obsoleted in favour of chest compressions in the common CPR. It's also not just a course of diagnosis after diagnosis. For example for the lecture on heart attack, the professor suggests treatments and steps we can take to prevent it. In the same lecture, he also gives a short instruction on how to react to a possible heart attack and with it, an updated CPR lesson. Lecture 8 awaits.

Reading week

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.

Norwegian wood

I love the library.

Today I finished Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood which I thought was a perfect saturday afternoon read . It made me really want to listen to The Beatles though.Me being me went off to find some other books to read. I chanced upon The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald which I thought will be a amazing read . In the DVD section I saw some really amazing titles that I had not seen before. I borrowed Singapore Gaga by Singaporean Tan Pin Pin. I saw but didn't borrow Royston Tan's work because I had that in my collection already but still I was quite amazed to find such rare gems. I also saw City Sharks which is showing in Sinema at the moment.

Since I exceeded my loan quota I placed The Great Gatsby at the section where you put your browsed books and covered it with another book. I returned one of the books I borrowed and hurried back to find my book already taken away! =(

Premium membership rocks!

248. To the Virgins, to make much of Time

Gather ye Rosebuds While ye May

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old time is still a-flying,
And this same flower that smiles today,
To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he's to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse and worst
Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,
and while ye may, go marry;
For having lost just once your prime,
You may for ever tarry.

Robert Herrick

Insomniac

I think a lot of people don't know about this but during the time I was preparing for the concert with NUSWS for our 40th anniversary, my friend approached me to help her write an article for Insomniac, a student magazine from the faculty of arts and social sciences.

So the first question I asked was why me?Apparently that issue was featuring the arts scene in NUS and if my memory served me well enough she asked me to review the different performance locations in NUS. Part of me felt rather flattered by the fact she approached me in the first place but then another part told me that there was someone more able to do the job. I felt more inclined to believe the latter and so I declined her offer.

I did, however, agree to an interview. That interview was published in April and I haven't read it till now. The amazing thing is that it is almost reproduced in its entirety.

I do realise that I sound rather incoherent. I loved the part about Besana though. =)

1. Some basic questions about yourself:

I joined the group back when I was in year 1. Basically I got pulled in by a friend of mine and I thought "why not?". The experience in band since then has been nothing short of fantastic. Just last year I got to travel with them to Besana, Italy. It was wonderful experience I would give anything to experience all over again.

My journey in music started way back in secondary school when I first stepped into the band in secondary 1. At that time, I wanted to play the drumset(who didn't?) and upon finding out about the practice days, promptly put my name down. Unfortunately though, the position was already taken and during the auditions, the guy beside me , who in future became my best friend, was selected for the trombone. I got the tuba. Apparently his arms were longer than mine. The rest, they say, is history.

2. Life as a NUS student artiste

Personally,the less time one has to study the more one tends to make his studying time more efficient. So let's say if tonight I have rehearsal, I will make sure the night before I would have finished what I would wanted to complete today. In a way, it makes you a more disciplined individual. Of course good time management figures heavily in the equation too.

We normally practice 2 times a week but nearer the concert, our practices tend to be increased to 3 times a week. We have 2 concerts per academic year, one per semester. Da capo features our freshmen while our other concert, Intempo tend to be heavier in terms of repertoire and normally showcases a solo performance.

Besides NUS music festival and performances, we also play for dignities visiting NUS. I remember there was a performance for a VIP from a country and we were to play outside University Cultural Centre in a white tent. That was one of the first times I saw our President up so close !

One of the most memorable performance was the concert we had in Besana , Italy. We were taking part in a band festival and were the only Asian band there. We came on stage right after a band before us. One of the interesting things about Italian people is that their Emcees have a great many things to say! After a long prose of Italian, we were introduced as La(the) Noose(NUS) Wind Symphony and we started the ball rolling with "76 trombones", standard repertoire material in Singapore. We then tried to bring in our local favour with a distinctive "Postcards from Singapore" by Phillip Spark.

Pretty soon the audience warmed up to us and by the time we finished "The Merry Widow", they were up on their feet to give us a loud and raucous standing ovation. Many of my friends and I probably experienced our first standing ovation in Italy. This is almost unheard of in Singapore. The thing that came to mind was "What a marvelous response! ". What made it even more real for us was the fact that many of our hosts for our home-stay there came out in full force to support us.

On a whole , the arts scene is NUS is among the most vibrant I have seen. From (free) lunch time recitals in Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, to band performances in the forum what more could students ask for? The annual NUS Arts Festival, happening now is also a great affair that features all of the arts groups in NUS.

I definitely believe in more cross-group interaction. Take for example our coming concert, we will have electronic surround sound speakers and an entire cello section, instrumentation that is not typical of a Wind Symphony. However, due to our close concert days in the NUS Arts Festival(NAF) we were unable to get much help from other Centre for the Arts groups.

We therefore turned to the orchestra in ACS(I) for our Cello section.

One of the great things about being in a NUS arts group is that it increases your appreciation of the arts. Apart from studying 8 hours everyday ,it feels great to know that at the end of the day, there is a group waiting for you to make music with, to play with and most of all, make great friends with.

3. Ending thoughts

In a nutshell, I see myself joining an outside band after I graduate but whether or they wish to take me is another matter altogether! Haha.

Since by the time this goes to print, it will too late to attend our 40th anniversary concert on 15th March, please do look out for our freshmen concert next semester in Da Capo 2008!

Close yourself in

Close yourself in,
let no one through.
Once started, it's easy,
oh believe me, it's true!

Cut those messages,
save those calls,
see what you have left,
is there anything at all?

So will you find the courage,
to sever the line;
to give in to the darkness,
to make yourself blind?

Blind to anger,
impervious to hate;
can you stop the bleeding,
before it's too late?

Close yourself in,
let no one through,
and then be the one,
who starts it all anew.

Feeling good

A dream...
a time,
a place,
a missed train,
a concrete maze,

the place, the place, the place!
where is the place?

how do we meet with no time and no place?

Summer '08

Poema Besana

Poems are the in thing these days it seems.

Erina has one entitled While in Italy. Huishan just did one up in response to Erina's poem called Another poem.-_-

Both can be found here.

Not one to be outdone, I've composed a poem regarding an incident in Italy that is very close to my heart.

Bird men AKA Niao Ren AKA Jiao Lang

Birds in the square,
Oh! how rare, how rare
the few of us with nary a care
Took off to see the pigeons,
So plump and fair.
Little did we know
We had walked into the bird men's lair
They were coming,
you think I want meh?

The Bird men came
In retrospect
It actually was quite lame
To see us happily taking the corn
To play into their game.

The birds came,in their beaks a song
along with a group of Bird men
-One big throng!
They said " twenty Euros, you owe!"
while we looked at each other
I told you so!

Summer '07