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cny.celebrations

Friday, February 12, 2010

Today was the eve of the eve of the Chinese New Year. Early in the morning I journeyed to school, then after flag-raising we settled in Kah Kee Hall for a concert.

To be really frank and honest, I felt that the concert was an utter letdown. Even at the start it was evident that everyone was getting restless, and it was an amazing feat that Mrs Chan could actually get everybody to settle down and maintain a lowered volume until the start of the concert.

Right at the beginning, the teachers' walk-in was an epic fail. After a stray female teacher came chasing behind the main body of teachers, we were all still expecting many of our other teachers to come in, and we patiently clapped (synchronously) and stared, tip-toed and peeked, jumped and whooped, and what? Nothing. The teachers did not make it explicit enough that that was the end. No more. Nil. Nada. Nought. Zilch. Zero. Full stop. Period.

Then we had the Lion Dance which was not really that bad. Okay who am I kidding. The white lion on the extreme right was a total flop. Twice. I felt it was quite embarrassing. After that we had the Chinese Orchestra. Unfortunately the suona's sound was extremely sharp and piercing. It matches the resonant frequency of a certain ear bone called the anvil, and is very agonizing to listen to. I recall listening to a mistake or two in between but that was very minor. Thumbs up for CO.

We then had the "surprise" performance by the teachers. Their strange (grotesque) dolling up made things worse than they already were. It was also quite obvious that some of them were lip-syncing to the music... The performance by the Chinese Drama Club was indeed quite interesting and I found listening to Jing Yang's amusing responses quite unlike any of the performances before it. More plus points were the pretend fighting and the repeated theme of "disciple over teacher".

I found the remaining performances rather dry and boring. It was a horrible ordeal to bear the heat and noise of the KKH, and I was glad to be returned some freedom when we were released. After our early release, Yi Xuan, Eugene and Zhen Hui came to my house to take respite from the hot sun for a while before heading over to Henry Park. Ultimately we left home at 10.45 when the RI boys had already reached. A quick greeting of our former teachers was executed with much haste, and we set off for Jurong Point for a fun time of fellowship over lunch and a movie. We lingered around the area until about 4, then decided to crash Jian Hui's house as the arcade chased us out. We can't really blame them; we should have been more intelligent than to wear our school shorts in. To clarify matters I was NOT one of the people who attempted to enter.

Jian Hui's house was immensely huge with four levels and at least ten different rooms. After chasing each other around for a while, we settled down to a game of Risk and some refreshing iced water. When 5 o'clock came around it was time for us to part and head back to our respective homes. I was kinda sad to leave as we don't really see each other around much anymore. However, Jian Hui's new house's proximity to mine gives me good pranking ideas...

11:43 PM

hciso.hkmoy//4

The long awaited Hwa Chong Institution String Orchestra x Belilios Public School Full Orchestra x Beijing Military School Exchange Programme has finally ended. I know it's cliché but time really does fly when one is having fun.

Today we went for an Amazing Race around Orchard Road. At first the HKMOY people explicitly did not seem very interested. They were slouching and chatting all over the place when we were desperately trying to give instructions. It seemed as if we could go on all day and they would never listen!! Finally we were dispatched and headed off to our respective venues.

After playing for quite some time, the team and their buddy bonded together more closely, with everyone helping one another (except the buddy of course, who isn't supposed to do anything at all). :) Many a hilarious and awkward moment was expelled of its situation by the team working together. Even though many obstacles stood in the way (for example we had to wait half an hour at one station), we pulled through and emerged as one of the champions!!! YEAH!! xD

When all the adrenaline of the Amazing Race had simmered back into its usual amplitude, we quickly conferred and decided our destination for lunch. The HCISO people wanted to go to Food Republic at Wisma Atria, but then suddenly all of the HKMOY people decided to follow us!! To prevent the possibility of extreme overcrowding and rapid decrease in oxygen supply, we swiftly settled on going to ION Orchard for lunch. Upon reaching, some of us wanted to eat ramen, but the three of us poor folks went to Burger King for a meal that would not rip a gaping hole out of our pockets. And thus it was the end of an insanely busy day for me, and the end of my official engagement in the HCISO-HKMOY exchange programme. The memories still linger in my mind and they will be hard to forget. Ever.

11:03 PM

criticism

Thursday, February 11, 2010

There are two types of criticism: constructive and destructive.

Constructive criticism I don't mind. For example things like "Hold your viola more to the left." is constructive. These help me improve in doing certain things. Although some suggestions I may not take in, at the very least we can discuss the advantages and disadvantages of whatever we were trying to work on. Constructive criticism is the good kind of criticism.

Destructive criticism is completely the opposite. Instead of helping you to improve, it puts you down and lowers your self-esteem. This includes things like "You suck at playing the viola." Of course the speaker may be more subtle but the message is still transmitted. All hurt that has been done cannot be retracted even by countless apologies. What's worse is if the speaker is so arrogant and obstinate that he does not apologize. Even worse is if he publicly humiliates and embarrasses you. These prejudiced and subjective opinions should be kept to oneself. If you are this kind of person and are reading this, you should change. If you still obstinately wish to keep producing these negative vibes then be considerate and keep your thoughts to YOURSELF!!! Don't destroy the mood or decrease the inefficiency of a project. Perhaps it is because you have not been thrown upon this situation personally, so you do not know what it feels like. But right now I tell you, the feeling SUCKS!!!! Continued apathy may lead to catastrophe and unpopularity. Don't reach this stage.

11:00 PM

hciso.hkmoy//3

Monday, February 1, 2010

Today was CONCERT DAY!!!!!

We started practice early in the morning at 7.30 a.m. We came to school droopy-eyed but still ready for rehearsal. After briefly playing Summer with Mr Sze for a while, he released us to have a break. After that, the HKMOY players practiced their own pieces. This lasted until about 12, when everyone was glad to tuck into lunch. After about 45 minutes, we crammed back into Chengyi Auditorium to do a final round of practice. Mr Siu became extremely picky...also known as "吹毛求疵"!! But it was all for our own good: we had to show our best for the concert. With the concert starting at 7, we were released at 5.30 to change into concert attire and to have a quick bite of spaghetti. At around 6.30 we were gathered into the backstage to make final preparations. Honestly I was rather stunned to see the HKMOY players in their SCHOOL UNIFORM!?!??!?! Seriously, they could be more creative than that. Even ours is at least a black suit with a silver tie. The first piece, the one in which we could show our stellar performance, was epicly ruined, with the cellos and basses coming in two beats before the soloist, messing up the entire rhythm. After performing, we retreated into backstage for the BPS to perform their two pieces. Mr Sze hoarded us into a small room at the backstage and gave us a verbal licking. Our spirits were dampened by that but we still picked it up and got ready for the final piece of the night: the splendid Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5. This was really the main show of the night, and it went flawlessly. I mean, flawlessly apart from the fact that the audience misclapped a total of 6 times within half an hour... After the concert ended we were all given a good pat on the back by Mr Siu for our exemplary performance. Any unhappiness was eradicated with his praises. We had a fast supper, then loaded all the instruments back to the orchestra room. It was certainly a unique experience for me, someone who has never played in an orchestra before.

4:01 PM

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i'm alvin.
i come from hwa chong institution in singapore.
i'm in class 2i2. yes, i'm a sparkie.
i'm 14+ years old; celebrated my bdae on feb 12.
my hobbies r simple: reading, piano, com games.
i like animals, especially ~~cats~~ mudkipz.
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