MOVING OUT AFTER FIVE YEARS!!!!!!
Okay, people. I've decided to switch over to Tumblr after five years of using Blogger. It's time for a change methinks! I will still be leaving this blog open for you to trawl through 378 posts of bravo sierra. It could've been 600+ if I hadn't deleted more than 200 posts during a 'purge' sometime in 2008.
I will still be updating my photography blog so be sure to visit. Okay, time to say bye for the last time! (Hope to see you in Tumblr!)
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got a tumblr, whatever that is!
Check it out: http://bravosierra09.tumblr.com/
Still finding my way through. It looks simple and sleek so I thought I'd give it a go. Who knows, I might even move there one day.
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it's that time of the year again!
Happy belated new year everybody! I was in China without an internet access over the New Year weekend so I couldn't post on time! A new year, a new start! 2011 is special to me because I can finally learn to drive! But first, I have to learn the highway code!
So for this year's first post I shall review last year's New Year resolutions and set this year's.
1) Compose a cello sonata (the first one I can think of)
1) Compose a cello sonata (the first one I can think of)
I must admit I've completely forgotten this one. But I composed a whole bunch of other songs! Like my Christmas Medley, Vocalise, wedding songs for string ensemble...
2) Finish Toccata
2) Finish Toccata
I've forgotten about this one too, but I think I can still play it.
3) Finish Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 3 Part 1
3) Finish Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 3 Part 1
I meant to type piano concerto, and I've not completed that yet.
4) Get at least 3.8 GPA for every semester (if I get into poly)
4) Get at least 3.8 GPA for every semester (if I get into poly)
I got 3.9 for my first semester! I got into poly!!
5) Get more pictures accepted to A.net!!
5) Get more pictures accepted to A.net!!
I got 14 pictures accepted last year!
6) Get into NP's String Orchestra!
6) Get into NP's String Orchestra!
I did!
7) Get along better with other people
7) Get along better with other people
I hope I did!
8) Improve my non-existent Russian!
8) Improve my non-existent Russian!
I'm ashamed to say that I've given up!
So, 3 out of 8. I could do better. Maybe I should've set more realistic targets. Haha. Anyway, on to this year's resolutions...
1) Maintain my GPA
2) Renew my scholarship
3) Get more photos accepted on A.net
4) Learn Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto Part 1
5) Take cello lessons more seriously
6) Pass driving test on the first try!!
7) Control my anger
Right, that's all I can think of. So long!
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merry christmas!!
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
From now on your troubles will be out of sight!
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the Yuletide gay
From now on your troubles will be miles away!
Here we are as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more!
Through the years we all will be together
If the fates allow
Hang a shining star upon the highest bough!
Have yourself a merry little Christmas now!!
Merry Christmas everyone!!
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can't wait for practice to resume!!
Heard from my senior that Mr Kong and Mr Ma would be coming back next year~!!! I've not had lessons for 2 solid months, so I was very glad at the news!! Now that my right hand has almost recovered, I can practice Butterfly Lovers again!!
I'm half dreading and half looking forward to tomorrow! Because I have to vacuum the house in the morning and do a lot of housework. But at night, I'm going to Orchard Road to photograph the Christmas lights! Finally!
On Christmas Day, we'll be having a family gathering at my house! I don't like hosting parties but my mum insisted... But there'll be lots of food so it's okay! Then next Wednesday we'll be leaving for China to spend the New Year there! Well, that's not the main purpose of the trip. I'm still excited anyway! Even though our plane leaves in the afternoon, I'll be going to the airport super early to photograph planes! I'm also going to bring my tripod because I heard that I can photograph lots of stars in China! My first time doing astrophotography!
Damn tired, going to bed now! Good night!
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got rejected, again!
Stayed up until 2am last night waiting for A.net to screen my photos. I had 2 photos in the queue and one got an instant rejection (haha...) while the other one passed the first screening. Now so far all my photos that passed first screening made it, so I thought this one would go through. So I waited for the confirmation email. At 2am, there still wasn't any email from A.net, so I went to bed feeling quite confident that my photo would be accepted. The next morning, I received... A rejection email!!! And you know what, it was sent at 2.16am, minutes after I went to sleep!!! :( If I had stayed up later, I would've seen it, and at least my time wouldn't have been wasted. Alamak, all my photos submitted to A.net so far have been rejected! Either their standards have gone up, or my editing skills have gone down! I'd like to think it's the former! But it's still bad for me!
Haha. I should go for plane photography trips more often!
On a random note, I really want to learn jazz! The past few days I've been listening to jazz all day. I love those jazz chord progressions. Watching people play jazz on Youtube makes me insanely jealous. They make it look so easy but in fact it's one of the hardest genres to play. I've been experimenting with my own jazz arrangements of popular songs but they're just pathetic attempts. I've found a music school that teaches jazz improvisation and just looking at their syllabus makes me drool. It's called Play By Ear and it teaches everything I want to know about jazz improvisation. I wanted to sign up for lessons right away the first time I visited their website, but then I realised that I would not have the time... So I can only learn after I graduate, which is... 2.5 years later!!!
You know, I might even want to do my 3rd year industrial attachment in Singapore just to learn jazz half a year earlier...
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the memory of...
The way your smile just beams
The way you sing off key
The way you haunt my dreams...
No they can't take that away from me :)
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looking forward to christmas, but not after that
My hand is healing! I'm so happy. Although it still hurts when playing with my pinky, at least I can bend it now! I can clench and unclench my fist, no problem! I can't wait to play Mendelssohn!!!
I love the holidays! I am enjoying my holidays more than when I was in secondary school. I'm really glad I discovered photography. It is a great way to pass time. On Friday and Saturday, I went to Marina Bay to photograph the area. My first attempts at panorama photography were successful! I shall not talk about photography too much because that belongs to my other blog!
Actually, my main purpose in going to MB on Friday wasn't for photography. I wanted to watch a live jazz performance by the Summertimes Big Band at the Esplanade Outdoor Theatre. As you know, I'm very interested in jazz. I'm currently self-learning jazz improvisation, but I plan to learn it at a music school after I graduate (which is... 3 years later). I attended all 3 sets of the performance. It was amazing! Some songs were unfamiliar to me, but I totally enjoyed the performance (because it's jazz). And of course, with Christmas around the corner, the band also played jazz arrangements of Christmas songs. Jazz arrangements of holiday classics are my favourite ever. What's more, they played my favourite Christmas song, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, four times! I was a very very happy kid at the end of the 3 sets.
Right Hand, hurry up and heal quickly! I'm dying to borrow all the jazz books from the Esplanade library...
I went back yesterday for more panorama photography, and to listen to another big band, the Tanglin Rose. Half of their members are from Summertimes, haha. I met my friend there, and we had fun taking pictures of the beautiful cityscape. He had just bought a Holga and was playing around with it.
I had wanted to go back this evening for the Summertimes Jazz Orchestra's performance. It would include strings players too, and I wanted to attend so badly. But I couldn't because I had my own performance. It was at my CCA instructor's music school's Christmas party, and we, as a quartet, would play some songs at a corner while everyone feasted on barbecued food. Now normally I would be glad to have a chance to play with my senior, but I would've passed up today's performance to attend the jazz orchestra's. But hey, some students even came back just to watch us play, and I'm grateful for that. However, I feel bad for not doing a good job. After all, one of them is a cellist, and he's much better than me...
Was pleased to have performed my Christmas medley! Although it sounded a bit weird, according to my senior... (I think it's alright though..!)
The feeling of not needing to do anything... Wait, I think I have at least 4 projects to do! Oh no! 2 of them are COMISS projects, and they're a BITCH!!! I hate formal presentations! DUDE!!! One major presentation is enough already, but one more 'small' project due on... the second week of January?? OH NO!!! D: Suddenly my holidays don't look so fun anymore.
Sigh. You know, I'm actually starting to accept the fact that I may not get my scholarship renewed next year. What a joke I will be. What a let-down to everyone who believed in me. And the 15-85 remains a distant dream...
You know, during times like this I like to play Bejeweled Blitz to try to block out the bad thoughts from my mind. But my mouse just died :( And being ashamedly addicted to Bejeweled Blitz is extremely unhealthy. But it's the best way for me to be momentarily cut off from reality. It's just like how some people drink to forget their problems. And even though we know it's bad, we still continue doing it. I've tried looking for other ways to destress, but haven't found one. Because nothing demands my total attention more than Bejeweled Blitz. And just like drinking, after the initial high is gone, I'll crash back into reality and discover that, on top of a splitting headache, my problems still have not been solved.
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sian
Got an email about my scholarship.
"We note that you have done relatively well for your previous semester but your academic results is not within the top 10% of your cohort."
"We note that you have done relatively well for your previous semester but your academic results is not within the top 10% of your cohort."
Not within top 10% = not on director's list = no scholarship renewal next year
D:
I don't yet know if my scholarship'll be terminated or not, but it's likely things will head that way. And that means, NO LENS!!!!!! If I hadn't got a lens at stake, I would say to hell with this director's list bullshit. But faced with a very real possibility of not getting my lens, I am fucking pissed. Damn you contrasting subject, you were my downfall in secondary school, now you're back to haunt me. Go away you bitch.
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terminal one's viewing mall is FINALLY OPEN!!!!!!!
Read on an aviation forum that Changi's T1 viewing mall has finally opened after months of renovation!!!!!! And from the picture someone posted, it looks really promising, because it doesn't have the double-glass design that killed the views in T2 and T3's viewing malls. BRILLIANT!!!!!! I don't know how big the place is but as long as there's an unobstructed view of the planes, I AM GOING THERE EVERY WEEK!!!
I already have my first trip planned. I can't go tomorrow because of my performance, so SUNDAY will be the day I'm checking the place out! I'm giggling like a schoolgirl as I type this. One whole year of not being able to photograph planes at the airport and now it's going to change. AWESOME!!!!!!
It's time to revive my dead A.net account. Waaaaaahhhhhh I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*Hangs camera around neck, puts on cap and sunglasses, checks equipment... IT'S GO TIME!!!!!!
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