Well, there are a few things that happened since I last blogged. This is a general post because I don’t really have the time to blog one by one these days.
Eff Wai Pee (FYP)
Well, I gave my Final Year Project this name because I’m really afraid to see these three letters “FYP” these days. There wasn’t much progress in terms of work done. However, I finallyfound an objective to work towards, all thanks to WW (another eff wai pee student doing similar project). Right now, I have the next 3 days to work hard to show some results. at least something decent so that I can write a 50 pages report with it.
To make things worst, I have a CA on Thursday, the same day as I need to meet up with Dr Gan. Oh God, please grant me the strength and the wisdom to survive my last semester.
First Day as a Piping Instructor
I’m finally promoted to a piping instructor. Nobody promoted me actually, but I’m finally doing this as a part time job. It’s a very big step for me in my “piping career” because I have always treated it as a hobby and don’t intend to earn much money with it. It’s certainly not the first time I have instructed, but it’s the first band that I have instructed outside 12BR Pipe Band.
It was my first lesson yesterday, 7 Feb 09, Saturday. The feeling of teaching a group of strangers feels really different. I guess it’s also the high expectation of myself that causes it, as it was the first time I’m getting allowance teaching piping after 12 years since the day I started learning, although it was half voluntary. The pipers there were quite okay, the seniors are really respectful and a few of the sec 1s promising.
The original lesson plan was to watch the SFU legacy, powerpoint presentation of BB Pipe Bands, then some blowing technique for seniors & learning of scale for sec 1s. Of course like all things in life, they won’t happen as planned.
- Halfway through out the video, I feel that they are kind of bored, therefore I stopped after 15-20 mins. I suppose they don’t appreciate as much as I do because they are still too new to it. Probably I will let them watch a small video performance next time.
- The powerpoint presentation was around 10 mins. I certainly have a good time presenting because I was sharing with them some nice pictures of 12BR Pipe Band and indirectly my experiences in band. There were laughters as times which was an indicator to me that it’s an interesting presentation.
- I was abit lost trying to manage both Sec 1s & Seniors. Gone are the days when I have lots of manpower in 12BR to teach. Wanting to keep them all entertained seems impossible. Eventually, I spent more time teaching Sec 1s how to hold a chanter. On a side note, I guess I have to buy a few extra cheap practice chanters with me for the Boys to tryout next time, because somebody dropped “my most expensive chanter”.
- In the mean time, I have asked the seniors to play on their pipes to improve their blowing technique. There were only 2 of them around and sad to say, I don’t really have much time to impart my skills to them. However, it was comforting to know that one of the seniors is actually able to play on the pipes for at least half a tune. If I’m able to spend more time with them, I think I will be able to get them to perform by Apr. Let’s hope everything goes well.
Meeting with CJ & MC
Haven’t seen CJ for sometime. He’s one of my old schoolmates. Quite a good friend of mine whom I get to know during my days as a BB Boys. Managed to get him and MC out to hang out. He hasn’t changed much, other than more outspoken and cynical. Talked about a lot of stuff, but mainly about his life and experiences.
That’s all for this post. Hope the next 3 days go by slowly, or hope I can do things extra fast and waste min. time. One of the worst seasons is here!! V-day!! Have to plan for present and where to go… lol…
