Farewell, till we meet again!

It actually is my last band practice today, for the year I mean, as a sec 4. I'm really sad though that all this good things must come to an end after 4 meaningful and fruitful years. I'll always remember those good old days! Cheers to the whole band and especially to those who have helped me, the alumni consisting of Reuben, Eve, Fong Yee, Yong Qi and Hua Yi, my good friends mainly Ben, Sharmin, Ridzwan and Perseus. Thanks so much for this years experience! Anyway, today we were supposed to video tape the drills, but the weather turned against us and it rained. So tough luck there! We went through the Nineties, a song that they were going to play for sec 1 orientation next year, Thursday 6 Jan 2005. The recruits even came today, a bad arrangement as the band were supposed to be having drills but they weren't informed. Samuel would be transferring to Euphonium soon, so good luck to him. Perseus told me about last night's Mr Nizam concert. Should have gone, heard that it was fantastic.

Till we meet again!

Well, well, went to the airport very early this morning, caught the very last bus, number 27. Benjamin and Ridzwan came along with me and we happen to meet Chris, Aaron and Nicholas on the bus as well. Arrived there at about 1:30am. We went to the viewing gallery to take a rest and to view planes taking off and landing. Then at about 2:30am, along came Reuben. he met us at the viewing gallery and we all went down to the departure area where we met the rest. Before that, we met Ade, Daryl, Ken and Yan Ling up at the viewing gallery as well. The alumni were there as well, Fong Yee and Eve, and not forgetting, myself. We even met An Chun, Jeremy, Daniel, Joel, Rinto and Jerry along with some of the flute section girls like Glenda. Well, one funny thing happened when we were up at the viewing gallery. A Eurasian man scoulded us the "F" word because we were making too much noise. But was that true? I don't think so, although courtesy says we should not disturb them, but never mind. The couple got up and moved somewhere else. All of us went to eat at Burger King before taking a few photos with Reuben. Reuben's mum was kind enough to offer us food but I politely refused. At 5:15am, we bit him farewell just outside the transit area. Some could not hold back their tears. Had breakfast at Burger King again before heading home. Ridzwan and Ben went to school for band though. Surprisingly, quite a lot of people didn't turn up for band that morning. Jia Hong and Jonnathan (Reuben's cousin also a Tuba player) were missing in action, MIA.

Bon Voyage

It's the last band practice for Reuben, our band major, before he leaves for Canada early tomorrow morning. So as a mark of respect, the band presented the plague and a gift to show our appreciation for his efforts and contributions to the band.

Earlier, I took my section throught the S'pore Rhapsody but this time, I conducted them. The way we played FOTG at the combined practice was terrible today. A lot of mistakes, dreadful. Never mind though, the band still has 4 months to work on it.

Sunday Party

The Life group boxing day party was quite fun yesterday. Played soccer and other lame games but on the whole it was good. First time my cousin's family joined my life group, they need not much of introduction as some people already know them.

Daniel, Ivan, Darren and Luke went to play the computer in Daniel's parents room. Later when Auntie Angeline found out about it, she was unhappy and blamed Uncle Eric for this. Haha.

We even viewed the digital pictures taken during our Kuantan Mission Trip. They were burnt onto a CD and we viewed it via TV.

Anyway, here's who was present at this festive occassion:

John Tang's family- Uncle John, Auntie Catty, Luke and Estee

Ben Tham's family- Uncle Ben, Auntie Rebecca, Lynn, Vanessa and Elisha

Henry's Yeo family- Uncle Henry, Auntie Michelle, Dawn, Ivan and Docus

Eric Leong's family (host)- Uncle Eric, Auntie Angeline, Jeremy, Michelle and Daniel

Tan kim San's family (cos pastor)- Uncle Kim San and Auntie Boey

William Ang's family (cos pastor)- Uncle William and Auntie Janet

Simon Fung's family (cousin's family)- Uncle Simon, Auntie Linda, Darren and Denise

I'm back

The trip to Chiangmai was terrible I must say. Came back with a headache that was excruitiating. In the end, the weather must have been the root cause of my sickness. Crap holiday this one! I don't wish to say more here.

Band performance

Well, what a performance by the Philharmonic band today at Raffles City. Must say it was a good performance! Met up with Sharmin and Ridzwan before making my way there. They played popular hits like Frosty the Snowman, jingle bells etc. Anyway, the band is a small band with only about 30 odd members I guess. What surprised me was the fact that there were four tuba players, quite odd for a band. Usually, there would only be about 3 tuba players at most.

It's already Friday

What a day today! First went for recruit practice today and had to put up with Samuel's incessant chatter. He likes to talk back and debate not only with me, but with the teachers as well. That's no good. At least I taught him something today. Anyway, I'll forgive him because he's still young.

Got posted to NY JC, my first choice. Wonderful!

Slow and steady wins the race

Our band's finally improving in drills. That's a good sign as seen from today's drills. The band played 76 Trombones and marched at the same time. Surprising that the marching was very straight.

Went to mast music with Mr Lee, Sharmin, An Chun, Daniel and a few others to purchase some CDs.

Mission Trip to Kuantan

Day 1

Set off early at 8:00am for COS where we had a short prayer session. Pastor Kim San was there to pray for us before our convoy of 3 cars and a van set off for Kuantan. Being the expert, Uncle John Tang led the way and he brought us to a coffee shop in JB where we had a good local breakfast.

From there, we drove all the way to Kuantan and only stopped at a small local restaurant in Romping, a small town, for lunch. After which, it was a long 2 and a half hours drive to Kuantan where we checked into intercontinental hotel, a 3.5 star hotel.

After a hearty dinner, we drove to the local church for the Friday devotion. Uncle Eric was the speaker this time, he spoke on the introduction to the Masterlife series. The local church to my surprise were only starting this series next year, and we were supposed to help them kick start this programme. That was our quite eventful first day.


Day 2

Day two was especially chilly because of the strong rains that pelted the entire town. The church van picked us up at about 8:30am and we proceeded to the church straight away. Started off with a Saturday devotion service where my dad was the speaker. He made masterlife sound so easy which was good for the local people.

The afternoon was mainly for the children. There was this children's service where we started off with 4 songs before my team of people performed a short 10 minute skit for the children. Some of them I observed did not really understand the skit as the majority were chinese speaking and the fact that the skit was done in English. After which, it was activity time for the children. Simple colouring and pasting activities were lined up for them. Then it was time to go home, by then it was almost dinner time.

We had a good meal at another local restaurant before returning home where we watched the football match between Everton and Liverpool. That was our 2nd day of our mission trip.

Boring day

Now I'm getting the Con La Musica Syndrome. Haha... It's already 2 days after our concert and it's unbelievable how time passes so quickly.

Badminton was fun today, at least managed to improve a little. Tomorrow will be an even bigger day as it will be the first day of the mission trip. Have to first report early to church for a prayer session before driving to Kuantan.

I'll be back on the 15th of December. So adios!

Concert

Well, well, well, it's all finally come to an end after weeks of hard work. Finally, we've tasted the fruits of our labour. It just tastes so sweet isn't it? Anyway, the concert overall was brilliant. Our school started off fine with African Symphony followed by FOTG which was very well done I must say. The trumpet solo and oboe solo was good. At least the dynamics and expression were there. I could even feel the song as I was playing it. Simply wonderful! Tchaikovsky was especially special since it was our band major who took the baton. He was full of confidence and had lots of expression when he conducted. Good for him. The best part of the concert was the Combined band segment though. We started off well with Huntingdon celebration followed by Pirates of the Caribbean. Many trombone players were blasting throughout this song and it nearly spoilt the music. That's aside from the point though. Lord of the Dance was excellent and the comment from the audience was that they loved the song especially the trumpet solos. Many liked the nineties, our final song supposedly because of the gimmicks. It sure brought the crowd to live and brighten their day. This song included Titanic, You'll be in my heart, circle of life and many more. The light stick part was especially interesting since we had to play in the dark. This portion of the concert was definitely the most memorable part of the night. Our two encore pieces were fine. We even had a 'light stick war' with the audience at the end of the concert, haha that was nice. Overall the concert was a success. Cheers!

Oh no, concert tomorrow!

Haha, my band's combined concert is just tomorrow and I can feel pre-concert jitters. It's scary to think about it but better not think too much about it, if not........

Practise was fruitful today at least. Everything went on smoothly except that we should not have wasted time practising the noving in and out. Anyway, the stage at VCH is unlike our school hall so it's difficult to simulate actual conditions. We shall see tomorrow.

May the force be with the band tomorrow!

Upcoming Kuantan Mission Trip

Well, this upcoming trip would be tough since it's the first time I'll be ministering to other people. We'll be going to a local church in Kuantan and will be leading the main service, children's sunday school and youth service.

A lot of procedures have yet to be finalised but what's challenging would be what lies ahead. Problem is you don't know what to expect and don't know how the local church would react. So fingers crossed and God bless our mission trip.

What a day!

Finally my own personal forum is up and so is the cell group's forum. Hopefully people would post. At least then the forums would not go to waste.

Supposed to go to JC band concert today, but it was cancelled in the end as the person with the tickets could not make it.

HS Prom nite

It was an unforgettable prom nite although I thought it could have been better. Lame lucky draw. I really wonder where the organising committee got those prizes from. MP3 player as a lucky draw prize? That's way too generous.

Band rehersal at VCH

The rehersal did not go on as smoothly as it should have. Many issues still have not yet been finalised despite rehersing at least 3 times today. It could have been better organised had the conductor been more decisive.

Our band still is not up to the standard yet. This we must work on our own.