Well.. it’s 11.40 pm now.. and I have only started writing 1 page of my FYP.. I am suppose to write around 50 pages.. but what the heck.. was so lazy the entire day… totally unproductive.. hate it..
Anyway.. I have realised that it has been quite awhile since I last put some pictures on top.. I shall put up 2 pictures of myself performing at the Highlanders’ 2nd anniversary. Found it off a website that Brandon sent me.
“This is when I am marching along the shops by the Clarke Quay”
“This is performing at the fountain in front of Highlanders”
After the performance, we are entited to freeflow of beer.. but I only got to drink 2 glasses of it. Also, by the time I went to the buffet table prepared in the pub, it was too late.. most of the food were all taken.
That’s all, I am going back to do my report.. let’s hope I can finish most of it by this weekend… Jia you!!
Well, out of the boredom and frustration, I wrote this poem to describe the feeling I have to eff wai pee…If there are any grammatical errors, please pardon me, my English is not fantastic…
In this quiet quiet night,
I’m struggling with a difficult difficult fight.
Many thoughts that came into my mind,
But can’t seems to keep it in line.
Back to the equations I see,
Frustration is what’s going to overcome me.
All I can do is to pray, Hopefully He can save me from this fray.
I hope I can get some progress on the project soon…and if any NTU student see this, just have a good laugh, don’t go and tell other students about it hor.. I don’t want to make it onto any publications…
It’s early hours in the morning and not asleep again. Actually, I’m feeling quite sleepy… but I have to wake up an hour later to go for the BB Officers Retreat… it’s quite sad.. want to sleep but cannot sleep…. by right, im suppose to be on Corrective Sleeping Programme… which is to sleep before 12am every night and wake up by 10am… but can’t get the discipline to do it still….
It’s another fruitless day on Friday.. sleeping late, waking up late.. and spend the entire day surfing internet and watching TV. But at least… I manage to complete 2 lectures of Thin Film.. which is SUPER DUPER boring and uneducational… maybe it’s because of the accent or my ignorant that doesn’t understand what he is saying..
Feeling ultra busy lately.. but haven’t seen much stuff done…. busy because of the many appointments and school work.. and because of my prcastination.. they are still there…
next week.. there is FYP meeting, prof comm oral presentation rehearsal + actual, Thin film quiz, BB Thanksgiving dinner, Dearie & gang birthday celebration dinner, kayaking on both days of the weekend.. busy hor.. that’s why dearie gets unhappy when my schedule looks like superman’s…
previously, I did a solo performance for some Johnny Walker or F1 (i still dunno wad function is that) dinner at the British Commissioner’s house.. this is this the picture that my friend found on his friends facebook album… Nice attire right? but i think i looked quite funny.. it was a simple but great performance.. I sounded good… too bad it was short.. played for the start and end of the dinner, leading guest to and out of the dinning hall.. in between.. there’s also a shorten haggis ceremony…. got a taste of Johnny Walker Blue Label i suppose.. very good liquour.. but have to down quite a huge glass within seconds.. some even spill out of my mouth..
i hope i can get my momentum of studying soon… and also my sleeping disorder corrected.. hope everything goes well soon…
Yay.. I will be performing again.. at Malay Heritage Centre on 19th July 08, Saturday, 11.30 am… This time round, it will be a combine band with 12I. Although never rehearse, I think we should be able to do well la.. need not worry.. come if you want to see some quality bagpipe performance…
2 days left for the Pipes & Drums Festival, and it is going to be an exciting one because the large number of participants. It’s a pity that some bands don’t take this competition because it’s probably the competition with the highest standards around the region. The event is organized annually by The Boys’ Brigade in Singapore to raise the standards of bagpipe in Singapore. I am not sure about others, but I am certain that it has raised my personal standards.
This year, I am not well prepared for both the band and solo competition, but I am still going there to give my best shot. For my solo MSR, I will be taking on the challenge of playing 16 parts (I hope I don’t chicken out last minute). Till this day, I have yet to memorise all the 16 parts and all I can hope for is God’s grace, strength and wisdom for me to pull through, impressing the pipe adjudicator. Today, my fingers seems to cramp up when I am practicing, probably due to the last minute revision since last Saturday. I hope the tension will go off soon and serve me well during the competition.
Alright, if anyone of you interested to come watch, you can visit the *scape Youth park (some skate park near Somerset MRT) and take a peek. The solo segment is in the morning and band segment is in the afternoon. Just in case you are not sure, it’s on 5th July 08.
Okay, need to recharge myself on the bed… Good night…
Ok, I’m suppose to talk more about Easter Sunday’s performance. As you know, the 5 of us performed @ Barker, to collect money for BB week. As a member of BB, all of us should be asking people for donation for this time of the year. I remembered that when I was in secondary level, BB week used to be 2 weeks. Right now, BB Week is 1 month, I guess they should start thinking about changing the name of this donation drive.
As I was saying, Bin Soon prepared a box with a A4 size sign that wrote, “BB WEEK, pls donate generously, thanks.. =)” or something like that… When it’s 10am, most of us was still saying should we do it?? I was quite reluctant because I am afraid that nobody will actually put money into the box, then it will be quite malu…
For the first 5 mins, there wasn’t any donation. As I was into my second tune, a small kid (probably got instructions from his parents) put a few bucks into the box.. I was so happy.. soon after, all the money start coming in for the next 10 mins. There was quite a number of spectators watching in the canteen. I certainly hope that they had enjoyed the performance.
15 mins later, there wasn’t any more donation coming in. By then we were also quite tired because we have been playing the full 15 mins with only few seconds of rest. At that point of time, those irritating BB boys start to stand in front of the box to count how much money was there. It was so irritating and certainly spoiling my business. If I find out that it was because of “you all” that affect my business, I will give you a “piece of my mind” man.
Nearing to 10.30am, people we know start to appear. And they did contribute some money to the box. I was glad that even after we stopped, Mr Loo asked for an encore.. haha.. never had this musician feeling before…
The 30 mins busking earned us a total of $144. Which is not really good for 5 of us, because each of us only get ard $30 worth of donation, but it was a great experience. I think we should be more well prepared next year and start going to all the churches to ask for BB week donation…
I have uploaded some tunes that we practiced the day before on youtube. They can be found in THEATER.
Annually, BRMC requires helpers to prepare the chairs for their sunrise service, and as usual, BB have the honour of taking up this important job. Therefore, in order for us to make our programme more fun for the Boys, we have organized the Easter Camp.
The camp started on Saturday morning, 8am. After putting the bags into the classrooms, we got onto chartered bus that head towards Katong…. for LAN Gaming.. When I told my non-BB friends about this, they asked, “What type of UYO are you in? Instead of doing campfire, you all are having LAN Gaming??” Come on.. kids are difficult to please these days… gone are the days when secondary school kids find doing good drill with a sense of pride… gone are the days when they find campfire fun… What they enjoy most is games games and more games… Also, we have to give them a taste of all the fun things you can do if you collect more with BB week.. First was laser tag, now is LAN gaming.. of course if we really meet the target, we can play the long forgotten “Paint BALL” aka “PAIN ball..”
Alrite, after reaching a LAN shop in Katong, we started our expedition – fighting in battlefield 2… it’s a fight mainly between the Officers & Primers vs. Boys.. It was quite exciting.. but I got bored of it after awhile.. So Raymond and I started playing Fifa 07…
After LAN gaming, it was wing lunch.. wing sergeants are suppose to bring their wings to some place nice to eat… hmm.. what can you eat in katong?? I am quite sure there are so many good food there.. but guess what, my wing decided to go to MACS!! Go to katong to eat MAC!! haiz.. so sad.. but still I have to follow them.. As they were at marine parade buying macs, Xavier went to get char kway tiao and suger cane for the officers & primers.. The char kway tiao was decent but the suger cane was horrible.. and even after Xavier went back to tell him something is wrong with his sugar cane, he still say it was ok.. if i wasn’t in that BB polo tee.. i will go and scold the uncle that sells it….
After that, we went back to barker.. I was so tired after that because I haven’t slept for the past 24 hrs.. bascially, I was behaving like a zombie after the LAN gaming… till night… the Boys was given their awards and Senior Proficiency Star… I must say that Othniel is really efficient, so soon most of the awards mess was settled… or I should say he is more hard hearted than me.. slave driver.. haha…
The Boys slept ard 11pm as they are suppose to wake up at 4am to move the chairs.. BUT.. the Officers started linking their laptops together to play Counter Strike.. (I was one of them =P).. As I am suppose to perform during the Sunrise Service tmr, I decided to catch some sleep… but those playing CS was so noisy.. shout here and there.. disturb my sleep…
I woke up ard 4am to change and tune my pipe. Soon after, the service start and we played Amazing Grace with harmony.. I think it was quite a good performance despite some cock up… there were full of praises from some of the pple I met later… one of the most unexpected person that I met later was Mrs. Ding (Euwen’s mum).. She was my boss for the part time work I did for her last time.. but not no more due to my busy schedule… I think she was very happy to see us playing pipes during the service that she decided to donate $100 for BB week..
Actually, we are suppose to perform from 8am – 8.30am and 10am – 10.30am.. but because all of us were feeling exhausted, we decided to skip the 8am performance. More details about the performance will be posted later, with the videos of our practices… =)
The camp was dismissed ard 12-1pm… was so tired that spent most of the time talking and sleeping in admin room. I think the most memorable about this camp other than the performance for me was SLEEP.. I hope I will do less of this in order to enjoy more of the camp next time…
FOR ALL THOSE THAT WANTS TO DONATE TO THE BB WEEK, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!
Hey all… a bagpipe quintet band will be performing in between the church services… The timings would likely be 8am-8.30am and 10am-10.30am… We will be performing a few short medleys settings arranged by ourselves….
It will be a busking style performance where we will be asking for pple that appreciate our performances to donate to The Boys’ Brigade, 12BR Singapore Company… All donations will go to the BB week collections.. Please give your fullest support…
Haven’t had a post with pictures for quite awhile… so this shall be it…
I went to join in the fun at Boat Quay for the St Patrick’s Day (irish) on the 16th Mar 08…. This is the second time I went, representing the St Andrew’s Society (scottish)… not that I am in St Andrew’s Society but because Merlion Pipes & Drums is quite affiliated to it..
Attendance: Dearie & I, Joshua Ang, Brandon Choo, Woo Kai Kein & pple from Merlion P&D… I think let’s take a sneak peek on what happened that day..
Here is another video that is posted on youtube by pple from SJI..
I think these pictures & video gave you an idea on what happened at the St Pat’s Day celebration in Singapore… I am going to elaborate on my experiences….
1st, there was a route march starting from where Raffles has landed… then, we walked all the way to DBS building (i think)… on the way, the pipe band played constantly.. as you can see how huge the band is.. there is kinda jam along the roads.. The music I must say was very loud.. but not say very good la.. normal standard you get when you do mass bands.. FYI, the combine band is formed by BB (18th & 60th coy), GB (RGS), Singapore Pipe Band and SJI pipe band..
2nd, performances at the DBS building… basically.. the only good performancs were by the mass bands… coz the sound systems suck…affect all the other performances.. music play half way can stop.. luckily, pipe band is loud enough to be heard…
3rd, went to Macs to eat.. nothing much…
4th, went to the pub near molly malones… I drank a beer and dearie drank a mocktail.. guess wad did Joshua, Brandon and Kai Kein drank?? PLAIN WATER.. and it cost ard $7 plus taxes… Oh man.. was really ripped off..
5th, met Gladys, my sch mate from MSE…. she is selling Guinness there.. saw her last year doing the same thing too.. had a chat with her and catch up on some IA stuff…
6th, performances by those irish kids on irish dance & a scottish highland dance – Alicia, accompanied by Yvonne & Henry.. (Merlion P&D).. the first dance was really… offensive i think.. she is showing her fist through out the entire dance.. we were quite shock.. dearie found out later that it’s a sailor dance.. (dunno if she bluff me).. the next dance was very highland.. i must comment on her vest.. makes her look world class!! and most certainly.. she danced very well..
after the entire St Pat’s wHoo hAaaa.. joshua, brandon & kai kein went home.. yvonne, simon, freddy, dearie & i went to Tiong Bahru Market to eat..
The performance went well on Wednesday night @ Clarke Quay. Although not listed in the top 10 performances that I have experienced, but still up to a certain standard I guess as there are a few of the audiences came up to Brandon, Joshua and me to tell us that they have watched the performance. I’m not sure if I can get some of the photos to post it for your viewing pleasure, but I will try.
Went back to barker soon after. We saw many police buses along Dunearn Road, after the cab driver made a U-turn near Swiss Cottage. 3 of us, plus the driver, were discussing on why so much drama along the road. My guess was it to be a bomb attack near the area but it doesn’t seems possible as none of the people in Caltax were evacuated. Eventually, we get to know the reason from Mr. Lai that some JI chief escaped from a detention barrack. No wonder so much drama… CLICK HERE FOR MORE UPDATES!!
Later, I was quite afraid that he really turn up at barker. What if he come and capture us, those who were staying over for Founder’s Day Parade, and hold us as hostage??? I stayed up till around 3.30am before I started to feel delirious, and fell asleep.
Thursday morning, I woke up at 5.50am to change and prepare myself for the parade. I was quite impressed with the turn out of the company. The band did a little practice and tuning in the early morning to prepare ourselves for the performance.
We saw Mr. Seow later with his camera and its “extended boom”. It seems that his boom is getting longer and bigger.
The parade started around 7plus am… it was a short parade, but efficient one… absolutely no chance for anyone to faint. I think that the band did quite well… the only upset was that Xavier’s drone came loose and the fragile omega drone reed fell onto the floor and broke. Haiz… need to waste time and money to send in for repair again. =(
“This is when I am marching along the shops by the Clarke Quay”
“This is performing at the fountain in front of Highlanders”
