sprays of mist

worlds apart

h2osprey — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:22:34 +0000

Remind me again – how did I ever agree to pay for concerts held by a certain premier local orchestra? And (much less ridicuolously) how did I willingly part with 80+ bucks for just about any foreign orchestra that set foot on the little miserably music-deprived island?

My yardstick for a city’s greatness is now as such – if it doesn’t have a good orchestra, it isn’t one (note: not an if and only if statement).

winds

h2osprey — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 05:38:33 +0000

It’s been very long, but has it been too long? I looked back at this, the blog (feels strange to call it that now) I’ve dutifully neglected for months as there was really nothing more to say. There’s probably no one reading this regularly now, anyway.

I should sleep soon. A 9am class (which automatically means the 8 hours of sleep are now a mathematical impossibility), and a dreaded mid-term on Friday. Why do I dread these things anyway? I always do, and I almost always fret excessively. I always tell myself that, and yet I block out all such thoughts immediately for obvious reasons.

Have I changed? So comprehensively.

But the past is long gone, isn’t it? Not even this virtual space can bring back those memories – allusions are one thing, but the affect they once produced is now long gone. I don’t feel much in this room. I’m too caught up in everything here, my life here, to be drawn back into the reality that once was. Or perhaps I don’t really want to try or even bother.

I’ve experienced a whole new world.

amalgam

h2osprey — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 19:53:34 +0000

you’d like to think it’s the coffee; it isn’t. not the extreme jitteriness and extra-conciousness, at least.

you’d like to smile like you mean it; you don’t.

5am? that’s a new

high.

occupancy

h2osprey — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 11:02:59 +0000

as the days count down

suddenly everything that you’ve planned to do has either been cancelled/postponed/neglected

and hence aside from the (wonderful) olympics

you need to find something else to do

but thankfully

there’s the (wonderful) olympics

(did I mention nastia liukin?)

the foreign mother tongue

h2osprey — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:57:07 +0000

I played tennis with jensen today – and it turned out to be an utter farce. it’s experiences like this which make you seriously concerned about global warming. and this, too, at 150 million kilometres away from the sun. can’t wait for the day we manage to colonize and inhabit mercury.

anyway during the torturous ordeal I (to my detriment) realized my inability to write 残废. uneasiness ensued and hence when I reached home I began to prepare for the chinese placement test (funny how in america they screen foreign admissions so stringently, selecting the best of the very best, only to assume that everyone’s first (and only!) language is somehow english – and hence everything else satisfies the foreign language criteria). again, not a very satisfactory experience as I discovered what 5 years of inactivity can do to your mastery of language. these are (some) of the products of that session:

invasion of the scrawlies

I’m probably overreacting and overpreparing, but heck. I’m balancing it out by reading the great gatsby anyway.

the washout

h2osprey — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 08:37:05 +0000

just as you thought it couldn’t – and wouldn’t – get worse, it does.

well I wasn’t present, and the venue was certainly different – but how big a difference can it make? this is absolutely inexplicable (unless you believe that money makes the world go round). and some random deluded soul says something along the lines of “told you the earlier one held a while ago had rubbish results. this one’s so much more accurate and I was proven correct. this has more people from various places and hence it’s more fair.”

firstly – fuck you. so the previous one disagreed with your opinion and the current one doesn’t, and hence that completely justifies the first one being wrong and it’s vindication for you immediately.

and secondly – go take a proper course in statistics.

oh how the mighty have fallen.

Protected: Seriously Incapacited Beyond all Function ’08

h2osprey — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 14:00:23 +0000

This post is password protected. You must visit the website and enter the password to continue reading.

speechless

h2osprey — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 12:17:32 +0000

the most emotive kind of music is one without words. somehow if syllables are added to a tune it loses its magic completely; it seems that the words serve a purpose, that is, to accentuate (or perhaps even conjure) a message for the notes to carry.

and therefore a song without words (“song” is inaccurate, but I had to make the mendelssohn reference) extols the most.

phase (penultimate + 1)

h2osprey — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:58:05 +0000

and this phase comprises mulling over my life, amid frantic preparations for life overseas (and I know I’ll regret things I’m not doing now soon enough in the future, despite the apparent foresight I possess now that allows me to predict such an occurrence in the first place). these include:

preparing for placement tests, only to realize repeatedly that the things I’m doing are unnecessary/wrong/misguided/pointless/time-wasting
practising audition pieces for University Symphony Orch (hopefully)/ University Wind Orch (most likely, unfortunately)
choosing pieces for #2
preparing for a vocal recital (and this word is actually inaccurate; you’d know, if you bothered to go) -
- without actually singing
thinking what I need to purchase before the great singapore sale ends
thinking about #6 without actually taking any proper action
reading Of Mice and Men (don’t ask why, it’s a long story).

and this might seem superficial and out of place, but I have never so ardently looked forward to the release of a piece of trashy product for the sole purpose of endless hours of addictive entertainment, so here goes:

Awesomeness (Part I)

Awesomeness (Part II)

and yes, that is none other than d3.

may week

h2osprey — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:38:25 +0000

it isn’t in may, but it sure is a whole lot of fun. as she said I probably experienced all the fun there is to have in one year at cambridge in the short span of a week. certainly paints a depressing picture, but I’m sure it can’t be all that bad. it really, really is a wonderful place and it was just one of the best

(I shall rant here – whenever this phrase appears I believe the author is just succumbing to escapism. if you have to rank something, well then, rank it, and if it’s so good/so bad just state it. THE BEST and THE WORST come a lot closer to describing anything at all than ONE OF THE BEST and ONE OF THE WORST. but yes I know it’s tempting at times to live like you don’t really recall details of your past and hence claim inability to compare events across your life)

the best experience (probably) of my life as yet. simply astounding.

I realize it’s a mere 2 months plus before I begin life as a student once again. officially, that is - already I’m scrambling to recall all the numbers/facts/figures/laws/rules/formulae required to actually pass the placement/accreditation tests which greet me on the SECOND day of orientation. but technically speaking these are the same tests that give you a quarter of the required credits for graduation before you even begin your lessons so who’s to complain?

(sometime ago I think I crossed this line and its ramifications should be interesting. this absolute certainty, this unwavering determination – no, not just determination, it’s like I don’t even have to try - that that’s how it’ll be 1, 3, 5, 10 years from now. together and living out our intricately-designed and orchestrated lives, lives that were planned from the mere age of 17 going on 18. because any other outcome would just be unimaginable. catastrophic – and definitely not possible. but life has its laws and ways of surprising you, so just in case you’ve always got to be on your guard.

just in case.)

we’re past the point of no return.