YAY! Maths and Higher Chinese down, lots more to go. Think I haven't updated in almost a week, well, that shows how busy I am :( Sometimes it's a bliss to have little things to do. Anyway, just took my HCL paper just now. I think, ok lah. Not bad, considering the only time I could start studying was...yesterday. Haha...no choice lah. Normally I study Chinese for quite a number of days, but I guess everything's been pretty overwhelming. Hope it turns out fine eventually. Actually, I knew about 11/15 of the tian2 xie3 han4 zi4, 15/15 of the tian2 xie3 ci2 yu3, 4/5 of the zao4 ju4, about 5/10 of the duan3 wen2 tian2 kong1, and practically nothing about the chang2 wen2 suo1 duan3...hahaha...I understood the passage, but the way I summarised it was simply terrible lah...so I shall just hope for the best. Oh ya...just got back my chem paper which I took...last Monday. Did quite okay lah :) Better than I expected... Quantum theory rocks! haha...

Okay, now to summarise what happened from thursday till now...

Thursday.
Whole dreary day of school...followed by choir (strenous practise)...then rushed to Raffle's Town Club before choir ended for rehearsal of the song item, Everything to me. Cheryl, Chermaine, Dorothea and June were already there...anyway, we practised a few times (that was the first time I played for the whole group (so you can imagine how unpolished my playing was :'( ) I tried. Eventually, we came to an agreement as to how the whole song should be played and sung exactly. We had a sound check on stage after Harry had set up everything. That night, the main person running the sound was Daniel, so he helped us adjust the volumes and all (By the way, I still don't know if I should just call them by name or must add 'uncle' in front. Aiyo!) And Teng Ngan ah, as usual, came around with his camera, and purposely aim at me as well. Natural reaction: take guitar and cover my face lor :) But he just had to add, "I'll see how you cover your face later during the real performance". Sigh....he'll never change. Looks like got to run away more. Anyhow, Harry let me help for PA that night too. Yay! I like the walkie-talkie...haha...but must do quite an amount of work too lah..I was hoping that the performance would be as late as possible, but in the end, the programme was pushed forward, so a relaxed me turned quite flustered..I ran down from the PA room upstairs, quickly put down everything on me and picked up my guitar. It was time. So drama...haha... The performance was pretty okay lah. Surprisingly, I didn't really have to think of the chords like previously, despite there being 5 key changes and dozens of chords. Maybe that's because I finally decided to let go and commit the performance to the Lord :) The whole even ended after 10, so was very tired. Had to sleep when I got home...

Friday.
School again...can't really remember any significant thing. After that was choir again. This time was even more xiong, because the next day was the workshop with the other choirs and then performance at night. Following a long practise, rushed back home to change (it was pouring in the west) and then took a bus 30 to church. Mistake. The bus took more than 1 and a half hours to get to the Kembangan station. By the time I reached there, I was already late and positively giddy. Then I half-ran, half walked to church for worship practice. Desmond was to lead, with Corrie at the piano, Paul with the bass, Chermaine with the drums and Nicky at the electric guitar. Anyway, Chermaine still had not arrived(she's in NJ and her lesson dragged on till 7, I think) and I found out that Paul wasn't coming. Oh well... practice ended at about 10...travelled back to the West, and yes, I was pretty zonked out again. I thought, "Oh no! Tomorrow cannot wake up for school". Guess what? I was really late (about 10 min) on saturday. Sigh...I hate being late...

Saturday.
I got out of bed feeling super sick and tired, literally, but yes, I had to go to the Hwa Chong Institution for choir workshop with HCJC, NJC, Anderson Sec, Ngee Ann, Sin Min, Fairfield, and of course, the special guests, the magnificent, wonderful, absolutely spectacular Hwa Chong Institution (High school section) choir themselves! haha...I heard they're supposed to hav about 23 members, but their commitment level isn't very good, so quite few turned up. Anyway, all the choirs had separate warm-ups, but like the previous workshop, it was hard because we couldn't go very far from the LT, so all the choirs had to "compete" to be able to concentrate as well as have themselves heard. Also, as nature goes, somehow guys seem to sound louder than girls, so being part of a girls' choir, it was quite hard lah, but no choice. Later, after about 15 minutes, we gathered back in the LT to perform for each other. Mind you, the accoustics there are, well, not fantastic. Any sound on stage that was not produced by shouting or isn't supported (sung with the diaphragm) couldn't be picked up from the audience, and so, by the end of the workshop, the conductors told us that all of the choirs hd only a silver sound. It wasn't good enough......we're not supposed to be conquered by the location, but instead, overcome the accoustics and sound good everywhere, so I guess, there's still a lot to learn as a chorustor. The workshop ended in the afternoon, so I went home, bathed, ate and did other stuff, before quickly setting off again, this time to Victoria Concert Hall (VCH) in preparation for the concert. We were guest performing for the NTU choir that night. And it might be the last time I'm performing there, especially in a choir. Kind of sad...... Anyway, we had quite a rough rehearsal...typical...haha. This not good, that not good enough, and there were supposed to VIPs from here and there. So ma fan... but never mind. Kind of used to it:) After rehearsal, we were all made to sleep in the concert hall for half an hour (preserve voice, conserve energy to smile a lot later when singing, the usual...). Then we woke up to have dinner (I couln't eat much...probably bloated by water) and so while everyone was eating, I went back up to the one and only changing room that all 70+ of us shared and changed before anyone else changed. Original plan was to have individual sections changing together. I'd rather eat less and change by myself...haha... Finally, after everyone had changed, we had to line up in our concert position beside the hall, and we stayed there for about 45 minutes. It so happened that the sole of my shoe came off, so I actually planned to glide onto stage instead of walking properly, but oh well, my friend got some duct tape from somewhere, so we stuck the shoe together in the end. Finally, it was time to go up to perform. We sang our SYF pieces for this year and for the first time, my section nailed all the "yoruwa okasan" for the jap song. Yay! If you think it's easy, it's not lah. Because the first note that we sing comes in many bars after the altoes and sop 2s come in, and all the their notes and ours are in different octaves. Very weird one...Our Como Tu or "Just like you", the 16 part spannish love song, wasn't too bad either :) Hopefully, we'll get gold. Wait. We're suppposed to...haha...otherwise we're in trouble. We've got gold 6 times (12 years) already. If we break this, we're dead lah. After the performance, I left earlier than the rest because I was pretty much completely exhausted from everything. I still had quite a lot of make-up on, so I just went home (by train and bus) in my gown and everything. It's quite funny when people give you weird looks, but I didn't bother to care anymore. Too tired. That night, after bathing, it was back to my bed :)

Sunday.
Church! Yay! We got there a little earlier this week, so no one had to cover for me for PA first. For people who don't know, I'm doing songbook for 2nd service this month (after training for one month to do the sound board. Anyway, I'm just taking over Emerald, cos she's got kids to take care of in KSS). Anyway, after 2nd service, went up for prayer meeting with the rest of worship committee, before going down to the chapel to set up stuff for Senior Sunday School (SSS). Worship was pretty good:) Beautiful feeling when everyone sings and worships...later, Jason (uncle?) told us the timings of the music training course. Oh ya...Joel and Andy, I will be furthering guitar studies (haha...sounds so chim, but I actually mean this course lah) Zai ci, wo xiang gan xie wo shi fen wei da de shi fu, lin yu wen joel, zai liang nian qian shi fen nai xin de jiao dao wo, bang wo xue hao tan ji ta and ji ben gong. Jie fu, yi liang andy xian sheng, ye jiao le wo xu duo. Xie xie ni men! Joel, don't need translation right? Anyway, I'll be starting training this sunday...After church, I went home, because Monday and today got Maths and HCl test respectively, and I couldn't study at all last week. I forgot what I did lah, but I had intensive study of maths from 9pm to 1.30am on monday, then I slept and woke up at 5am again to study. Haha...really lost a lot of energy...

Monday.
Maths test was last period, so I had to keep awake till then. I guess the day went past like a blur till the last period. Unfortunately, I couldn't do the paper...sigh....super difficult. I mean, that's expected of dear Mrs Chua, but I guess I really couldn't conquer the questions. Sigh...another paper I might fail. After school, I had a quick lunch then came back to the classroom to prepare for HCL. I had intensive studying till about 6.20 before I finally left school upon the command of Timothy Han. Sigh...the one who calls me a shrink, soft toy and kojipun. Monday night...I needed to relax a little, so I watched tv (chinese shows) and studied at the same time. After 10, back to studying. After I had finished preparing 80%, I guess I gave up and went to sleep...

Today.
Woke up at 6, got ready in <10min, and went back to studying...gee, so fun. Finally got to school 89% ready. Brushed up a little before school, then faced the paper almost as soon as school started. Sigh...we'll see how it goes. Right now, even though I'm still typing (I've been typing throughout the day) , I have lots of things to do...my SIAs are killing me. Never mind... ok have to go.

God bless and take care. SMS me if you want to disturb anyone. After all...I'm a soft toy.