b Saturday, July 21, 2007 a
Time completed: 1448
Generally slightly disappointed with the book...the flow was a bit eh in a few places and I got a bit confused more than once. Ending wasn't too bad though...but the last bit just before the last duel was confusing as hell! HOW?!?! *roars* Haha I'll reread later...Now I can go eat lunch....
~Guang Yi
Labels: Harry Potter
The angels whisper softly
2:53 PM
b a
Started reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at 0847 am. Before I hit the end I have the following suspicions:
1.) Voldy will die (duh)
2.) Harry and Snape will die
3.) Hermione OR Ron might die
4.) Hagrid might die
That is all. Do not disturb and DO NOT POST SPOILERS!
(spoilers will be available on request by tonight...just MSN me :D)
~Guang Yi
Labels: Harry Potter
The angels whisper softly
8:49 AM
b Monday, July 16, 2007 a
Pulled the wisdom tooth on Thursday, wasn't supposed to go back to work until this Thursday but because of someone at work, I have to go back on Wednesday. Funny thing is that this person's not even a doctor, so what do THEY know? Questioning a dentist...crazy person...actually wanted me to come back TODAY, but the person's logic? Since your immediate superior isn't in, it's not necessary for you to be here so come back Wednesday. Like that makes sense? My guys can handle the office just fine. Me and Ben trained them well. What is your problem? Do us all a favor and leave! Get a life, you hypocritical, mood-swinging! *roars*
Get me back to school.....NOW!!
Good news? 37 days left. Can't wait...
Will miss all my SG non-work related people though :(
~Guang Yi
Labels: Rant
The angels whisper softly
8:16 PM
b Sunday, July 08, 2007 a
Soooo I guess I'll start from Thursday afternoon. I started having a toothache out of nowhere so I went to the dentist. Dentist said I should pull them out NOW but I was like WAIT NO I HAVE A CONCERT ON SATURDAY! Soooo....he was gonna do it on Tuesday. However SOMEBODY in my workplace (no names of course) refused to let me do it Tuesday for some stupid reason so now I have to go on Thursday, and even though it's one week of MC, she wants me to GO BACK to camp on the following Monday to endorse it. Wtf? It's an SAF issued MC. You shouldn't have to endorse it because...I don't know. It's silly, but if she says to do it, I have to. Grrrr.
Friday I was on leave. In the morning, had to head down to Singapore Indoor Stadium (henceforth SIS) to help configure the seats. There's not a whole lot of space considering there's 80 of us to fit in plus stands plus instruments. 13 meters long, 8 meters deep if I recall. Somehow we managed. Went home and then had to go back two hours later for rehearsal. Let's just say it was not planned very well and lots of time was wasted. Didn't finish until around 2230 (we were supposed to finish at 2145). Went home only to have to...
Report back the following morning at 1000. Rehearsed (once again, badly planned) until 12, break until 1, rehearsed until 6, break until 7. Show started at 730 but there were a LOT of speeches and awards given out before it reached the concert section of the show.
The concert portion went quite well. The Golden Lions really outdid themselves, as did the brass band, kotekitai, dance group, and choir. SNCO did very well too! For those of you that didn't get the message, this message came down today from Samuel: "We'd like to thank all for the fantastic performance last night! A lot of our pioneers were moved to tears when we played the two gakkai pieces. That's what music is all about, to touch people's hearts. Thank you!"
The program was as such:
1.) March past with SNCO playing Hong Zi Ge and Guang Bu Zhi Ge (groups took so long to march past! Heard people cried when we played though)
2.) Golden Lions wushu+lion dance with Chinese music (loud!)
3.) Flower duet with Soka Choir and dance group (what's it called again???)
4.) Sound of Music with SNCO and Junior Choir (awww so cute!)
5.) Wang Fei Hong with RCO and Golden Lions (quite cool! Cymbal was late quite often...)
6.) Brass band and kotekitai playing a piece called 070707 (I think...very very good!)
7.) Nella Fantasia with SNCO and Soka choir (basically a reprise of what we did for the president)
8.) Kitaro's Matsuri with SNCO+RCO and Golden Lions (didn't watch the wushu...heard it was really good. Piece was a crowd pleaser as well hehehe)
9.) YWD mass movement (basically lots of YWD doing the same thing)
10.) YMD/Gym corps mass movement (Whirlpool! They ran in circles and did coordination stuff)
11.) Finale singing 2 of GD's original songs
Chaos ensued after the concert. Here're photos!
Dear SNCO members (that read this),
Last night was really a night to remember. Standing up there conducting the Gakkai songs with all my heart, I felt like I had actually managed to achieve something in the past 2 years I've been back in Singapore and contributing to SSA and kosenrufu. I really wish that I could stay on to watch SNCO grow, but a new mission/adventure calls to me back in New York. I will still come back at least once a year over the next few years, so hopefully you all will grow during those years.
I have to admit that standing in front of everyone and conducting isn't always the easiest thing in the world, but I can't imagine anyone else in the world giving me this kind of opportunity to let me make mistakes up on the podium and just laugh at/with me and just carry on the rehearsal as if nothing happened (events such as "what's a tuba" stick in my mind horribly).
I sincerely hope that I will be able to play/conduct with you all again as a full-time member in the future. I've learned so much from all of you and I can only offer my very best wishes to you, members of SNCO, and thank you for all the wonderful memories and experiences we've shared together.
Yours sincerely,
Guang Yi
Former assistant conductor and Music IC
Edit: Thanks a lot Fong Yee and Wei Li!
The angels whisper softly
11:50 PM
b Saturday, July 07, 2007 a
It's been a long day, so I'll keep it short. Will write more on Sunday or so. But I'd just like to say a few things:
1.) Today is 070707. My Chinese birthday!
2.) Big meeting/concert tomorrow for SSA
3.) The whole point of the Live Earth concert is to help save the Earth right? So why're you holding concerts? Concerts use huge amount of electricity and generate a lot of noise pollution and just consumes more of Earth's natural resources. So doesn't it defeat the purpose of having a "Save the Earth" campaign? (You're doing concerts for 24 hours nonetheless!)
Just my thoughts on number 3. Feel free to discuss/contradict me.
Good night everyone!
~Guang Yi
Labels: Random
The angels whisper softly
12:37 AM
b Tuesday, July 03, 2007 a
11 days until Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix!
18 days until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!
I swear I'm going to wake up at 7am that day just to go down to Tampines Mall to pick up my copy of HP: DH and lock myself in my home without my internet on or ANYTHING until I finish reading it. Why? Because of what happened back when Book 5 first came out.
I waited like a week to get the book because it was so hard to find it in the states...then I was randomly talking to my friends at school and somebody was like "OMG I can't believe ______ died!" (just in case those of you who haven't read OOtP don't know who snuffs it in book 5) and I was like "dammit now I know...what's the point of reading?" So basically as I flipped through that whole book, every page I turned was like "Where's he/she gonna die? Here? here?"
SOOOOOO...for book 6, I got it on the first day and stayed home reading until I finished it. THEN only did I go online to check my email, talk to people, etc etc. So the same shall go with book 7. Thank goodness it's a Saturday!
4 more days until SSA's 070707 40th Anniversary concert...it's my last concert with them as a full-time member...I'll have to pass on my role as Music IC and part-time conductor to someone else after this concert.
I don't really have any regrets about joining SNCO. Granted I still miss being in a real orchestra, but not many places in the world would give someone such as myself an opportunity to be in charge of planning music programs and CONDUCTING, even though I have so little experience in both. It's helped me grow as a person, possibly even more than NS has made me grow. Of course, it was very trying at times...with people consistently not behaving and not listening, and the upper management (I feel) needs to reorganize a bit, and people need to change their attitude towards coming to rehearsal on time or at all, but since it's such a young group (1 year old compared to all the other groups' 10-20 years), I have faith that it'll just get better as time goes on.
Moving back to the states, I'm sure this is one thing I'll definitely miss on Saturday nights. What am i going to do with all this free time? Hahaha...but seriously, thank you SNCO for everything you've taught and given me. Hopefully, one day, I will return to make music with all of you on a full-time basis once again.
I wish you all the best of luck and eternal growth and happiness.
~Guang Yi
Labels: Random
The angels whisper softly
11:00 PM