One week of lectures have passed...almost without impact...seemingly signifying the calm b4 the storm... Think it's time to settle down to start studying again for I'm sure JC workload is many times that of sec sch. The lectures went by almost routinely, me jotting down notes now and then while stoning for the rest of the time. 2 weeks ago, I was wishing that there was no orientation, ironically, now, I'm missing orientation when lessons start...
Tuesday was Zongjin's birthday. Went out after sch with him, xl, deng and zj's two other female friends. lol, wondered if he noticed that it was very bright...After lunch at S11, we went Swensens for ice-cream...After that, we went Popular as zj had to get some stuff. Saw a table lamp and the grp of us, excluding zj and the girls, was sort of drawing an analogy btw the lamp and our role in the outing...Sorry zongjin, if u ever blame us for ruining ur birthday. And just a reminder to zj and vin, we seem to owe someone in America a long overdue Christmas and birthday and if we drag longer, CNY present...
Wednesday, went for CO practice. I like the room, it has nice acoustics and the ppl there are all quite zai. The leadership hoo-ha thingy seems almost non-existent, think i can put my mind at ease about joining CO. The quality of music we produced on the first day of prac was pro, think can beat RICO already...So RICO, must work harder for SWF. From wat I've been hearing, RICO doesn't seem to be making progress towards the SWF gold...so ppl, pls buck up...i believe zj has already spoken to u all on this issue...
Friday was OG outing and it's covered in the Zev'feior blog, so go read there. Been blog-hopping just now and will share a few thoughts here. It is amazing to be able to see many perspectives of life through blog-hopping. How a person, whether familiar or strange, is doing and his thoughts and reflection...It is even more wonderful when reading blogs tugs at ur heartstrings, making u share the joy and the pain with the writer itself. I dun knoe about myself, whether this blog is adding to the diversity of perspectives out there, or just a stiff stereotypical journal page that is superficial. Yes, i admit that my innermost thoughts are not out here in the open, I drown them out with words, humour, sacarsm and analogys...But who doesn't treasure privacy? There will always be this fear that if u bare ur thoughts, they will be used against u in reality. And cases of such had happened b4, though not to me, but enough as a deterrent. Words are a double-edged knife, if u are not careful, u might cut urself unintentionally, but....the innocent and carefree side of me that is locked up still believes in sharing thoughts....and so, my innermost thoughts are in this blog, hidden between the lines...
"When words could do no more good, silence is the best"
Sunday, January 16, 2005
Sunday, January 09, 2005
lalala, I'm back after 5 days of absence....this time to bring you an amazing episode of my life, RJC orientation. Well...lets start from RJC moving ceremony, since I left it out the last time.
Prologue: RJC Moving Ceremony
Under the encouragement and appeals from Headmaster and Mrs Koh, I went down on 29 dec to witness the historical moment when RJC combines with RI to become one. lol, for an event of such magnitude, the school obviously had to make it a grand affair, so the students and staff of RJC set off early in the morning with their school colours from Mt Sinai, taking a non-stop train ride to Bishan, courtesy of SMRT. For the RI side, we formed a welcoming pathway all the way from the MRT station to the main entrance of the school. Well...the rest were rather boring, we went to the parade square of RJC where we were treated like second-class citizens, occupying the lower levels of the parade square. The band then played a re-arrangement of the school song which I think was arranged by Mr Oura. Well.... my impression was that it sounded rather violent then grand. Whatever, so after the whole ceremony, went back to RI to sit in RICO comm meeting. The efficiency of the comm seems to have dropped....rather worrying but nothing we can do. After lunch, played badminton with xq, ben ang, zj, marcus, jj, kb. Recalled Xunqi asking a question like why do songs like to have a climax, for pop songs, a chorus. Well...the only answer I can give is that to provoke a feeling, the music itself must be intense, just like in real life itself, only when we experience something intense, then will we be able to feel our emotions welling up. If u think about it, our emotions and feelings are nothing more than electrical signals no difference from those coming from ur electrical appliances, then why do humans put so much meaning into these electrical signals? I dunno, yet I dun wish to find out....
Orientation Day 1
Yay, I'm back to cover the first day again, now that I'm in a clearer state of mind after a 10 hrs sleep last night. The morning started off with my trying another route to school, taking bus 39 and changing to MRT at Khatib, with beloved Cedrick going to AJ. lolz, the traveling time was somewhat the same, yet it took an extra 45 cents out of my ez-link card, therefore decided against the route and stuck to the normal MRT route for the next 4 days. Reached school at around 7.10a.m. Went to the triangular hall and found my OGL, Wenxian. Checked my subject combi, no surprises there, got my first choice, pcme. Soon after, met the other OGL, shireen and the rest of the OG. Only knew Kiat Weng out of the 21 of them. Obviously being the all-so conservative ppl we all are, the Great Divide was knowingly formed. As reported by Mr. Hodge, 90% of the RJ J1 cohort came from single-sex school. Thus, the OGLs had the insurmountable task of bridging the Great Divide. Their futile but valiant attempts were to be applauded, yet most of them were rendered ineffective. The first day went by quickly enough with ice-breakers and some games, was rather tired upon reaching home so slept quite early....
Day 2
Day 2 was almost similar to Day 1, with us playing Cluedo in the morning. The highlight of the day was Silent Movie, a forfeit we had to do to get an extra clue. So we had Gautam and Orlanda as the leads of this movie whereby the male lead runs towards the female lead and proposes to her, after which the female lead would reject him. The catch was that the OG had to shout out the lines of both the leads so that everyone else could hear. It was a humorous sight, a definite classic memory. During lunchtime, the OG through RI to get to the music labs exit to go to S11. Walking down the driveway to RI and walking through the corridors was a nostalgic experience for me. The Junior block where I spent my lower sec years, the atrium where I've performed countless times with the orchestra, and the corridors which I've walked through many times before not knowing that 1 day I'll be walking through them not as an RI student. ...
The rest of the day was spent practicing dance, singing songs and cheering. The dance moves were quite cool, especially when executed together in a group. Unfortunately, as I do not have an flair for dancing, I ended up doing clumsy, awkward movements to fit in the beat of the music. But oh well...everything's worth a try, at least I've tried. The batch song was fantastic and well-composed. Lovely catchy tune with meaningful lyrics. Great Job! At night, went for OG dinner at Pastamania, was a quiet affair till, Wenxian and Shireen came and we went to macs to play lame games. And yes, we spent at least an entire hour playing lame games. Ended with most of us getting a brainmesh and start to limp around...
Day 3
Day 3 was amazing race, which supposed to be the the most exciting part of the whole orientation, yet it was rather disappointing due to some logistics problems. First, we went to the Singapore Expo and yes, on the train we started playing lame games again. It seems that our OG could never get enough of lame games. lol. at Expo, Wenxian "suddenly" went missing and we were supposed to look for him. After a few straightforward clues, we found him in hiding with a coffee cup containing "foam" as he calls it. The next stop was at Suntec City, where we were supposed to find the "empyrean meadows". Turn out to be the Sky Garden. So we went up there to have lunch. Ended up playing "Truth or Dare" with Huiling naming Gautam as the most attractive male of the OG, Mark shouting “I love you” from the top of the building and Shireen spending 15mins to decide on either truth or dare. She chose Truth initially but avoided questions like “Who’s the hottest guy in RJ?” with an unconvincing excuse that she never had a crush on anyone b4-.- lol, in the end did a dare, played “Honey, if u love me, pls do smile” with Hazwan. Another classic scene tht will remain in my memory for some time. After the hasty lunch, We rushed off to East Coast Park, which is the final stop of the race. However, when we reached there, we had to wait for quite some time before we could play the station due to some logistics problem. That delayed our return journey to RI and we ended up reaching school at 5pm when we were scheduled to come in at 4pm. Went out for dinner at S11 with zj, bjourn, deng and xl. Talked about quite a lot, the old days at RI and our experience thus far in RJ. The fact that we were no longer in RI finally sunk in…
Day 4
Early in the morning of Day 4, when I was still in half-asleep mode, I had a agreement with Shireen that if Alves won to make things a tie, she would have to treat me to ice-cream. When the story-line slowly revealed and war became a “all or nothing” situation, I changed my stance to a draw. My suspicions that the story-line was rigged caused both the OGLs to have undue worries. For that, I have to apologize, but to make clear on 1 fact, I was always very clear on my stance on orientation, I would fight for a lost cause just to gain the experience, just tot that u ppl should have more faith ….. War games were rather interesting, and some of them violent, like the territorial beacons. Got scratched by girls on the other k’vae… bleah… War ended and guess wat, I think I lost the bet and owe Shireen an ice-cream. Lolz, though it ended in a draw, I guess I missed out on the subtler message that the whole war was trying to bring across. Unity in diversity. In our differences, we can always find similarities, if we try hard enough. Draw strength from the past, look for hope in the future, but most importantly, treasure the present. K’predorus- the dimension of present, suspended elusively between the past and the future, is waiting for us… Carpe Diem. Seize the Day.
Day 5
Day 5 started off with faculty initiation, meaning that we were separated into our classes and we played station games again. Well…after spending 4 days with the OG, was thrown into a totally unfamiliar environment again. The whole thing passed quickly enough and we rejoined our OG for the fund-raising activity. My OG went down to Raffles Place to conduct the fund-raising and I was drafted into a pair with Junbo, turned out that it was his first time doing flag day. Hmm…we did a rather good job I must say though there were definite ups and downs. The low side of the whole event came early, while we were 15mins into the activity. A middle-aged man who wore blue shirt and black pants walked past us. Junbo courageously stopped him in his tracks, despite his attempts to side-step us. When we explained our mission and cause, he burst into unexpected fury.
“Where are u all from?”
“RJC”
“Now tell me, do u know the difference between a tidal wave and a tsunami?”
*Junbo tries to explain that there was no difference but was stopped by me.
“Sir, we do not know…”(Me trying to be diplomatic)
“I’m sick of u a*****es coming here claiming to be fund-raising for a disaster yet not knowing wat happened. You are from RJC, yet u know not the diff between between a tidal wave and a tsunami. A tidal wave is caused by tides as the name suggests, whereas a tsunami is caused by earthquakes, basically seismic movements. Blah…blah…blah…”
*note that he practically shouted this whole part in the middle of Raffles City.
“We’ll go back and read up on it Sir”
The above convo is purely my own recount of the event…..
Well…being a responsible person, I went home and read up on Tsunamis and tidal waves. From search results from google and yahoo, 9 in 10 respectable websites state that tidal waves basically had nothing to do with tides and that tsunami is the scientific name for it. Only 1 website chooses to differ. Well…the man might be rite after all…
After fund-raising was basically o night. Again I’m thrown into nostalgia whilst in the midst of merry making, especially when the k’zars sang the k’zar song, a silent tear welled up. Unknowingly, I have formed a bond with Zev’ Feior in 5 days and I think I’ll miss orientation. Just like in the thank you card or get well card for Wenxian,
5 days ago, we were like a pile of ashes, gathered from different parts of sg. Yet, through the unforgettable experience of orientation, Zev’ Feior is reborn, just like a phoenix, engulfed in flames. A magnificent phoenix that rose out of ashes, that weathered all trials and tribulations and is forever united. Though the Great Divide still stands today, it is only a physical barrier, no more a mental barrier, for we have bonded to become one. Zev’ Feior will continue to burn, till the very end of time…..
After o night, we had a final moment together at the k’cove where goodbye seems to be the hardest word to say. And yes, thank you Wenxian and Shireen, for making orientation successful and thank you, Zev’ Feior, for everything in the last 5 days.
Epilogue
Prologue: RJC Moving Ceremony
Under the encouragement and appeals from Headmaster and Mrs Koh, I went down on 29 dec to witness the historical moment when RJC combines with RI to become one. lol, for an event of such magnitude, the school obviously had to make it a grand affair, so the students and staff of RJC set off early in the morning with their school colours from Mt Sinai, taking a non-stop train ride to Bishan, courtesy of SMRT. For the RI side, we formed a welcoming pathway all the way from the MRT station to the main entrance of the school. Well...the rest were rather boring, we went to the parade square of RJC where we were treated like second-class citizens, occupying the lower levels of the parade square. The band then played a re-arrangement of the school song which I think was arranged by Mr Oura. Well.... my impression was that it sounded rather violent then grand. Whatever, so after the whole ceremony, went back to RI to sit in RICO comm meeting. The efficiency of the comm seems to have dropped....rather worrying but nothing we can do. After lunch, played badminton with xq, ben ang, zj, marcus, jj, kb. Recalled Xunqi asking a question like why do songs like to have a climax, for pop songs, a chorus. Well...the only answer I can give is that to provoke a feeling, the music itself must be intense, just like in real life itself, only when we experience something intense, then will we be able to feel our emotions welling up. If u think about it, our emotions and feelings are nothing more than electrical signals no difference from those coming from ur electrical appliances, then why do humans put so much meaning into these electrical signals? I dunno, yet I dun wish to find out....
Orientation Day 1
Yay, I'm back to cover the first day again, now that I'm in a clearer state of mind after a 10 hrs sleep last night. The morning started off with my trying another route to school, taking bus 39 and changing to MRT at Khatib, with beloved Cedrick going to AJ. lolz, the traveling time was somewhat the same, yet it took an extra 45 cents out of my ez-link card, therefore decided against the route and stuck to the normal MRT route for the next 4 days. Reached school at around 7.10a.m. Went to the triangular hall and found my OGL, Wenxian. Checked my subject combi, no surprises there, got my first choice, pcme. Soon after, met the other OGL, shireen and the rest of the OG. Only knew Kiat Weng out of the 21 of them. Obviously being the all-so conservative ppl we all are, the Great Divide was knowingly formed. As reported by Mr. Hodge, 90% of the RJ J1 cohort came from single-sex school. Thus, the OGLs had the insurmountable task of bridging the Great Divide. Their futile but valiant attempts were to be applauded, yet most of them were rendered ineffective. The first day went by quickly enough with ice-breakers and some games, was rather tired upon reaching home so slept quite early....
Day 2
Day 2 was almost similar to Day 1, with us playing Cluedo in the morning. The highlight of the day was Silent Movie, a forfeit we had to do to get an extra clue. So we had Gautam and Orlanda as the leads of this movie whereby the male lead runs towards the female lead and proposes to her, after which the female lead would reject him. The catch was that the OG had to shout out the lines of both the leads so that everyone else could hear. It was a humorous sight, a definite classic memory. During lunchtime, the OG through RI to get to the music labs exit to go to S11. Walking down the driveway to RI and walking through the corridors was a nostalgic experience for me. The Junior block where I spent my lower sec years, the atrium where I've performed countless times with the orchestra, and the corridors which I've walked through many times before not knowing that 1 day I'll be walking through them not as an RI student. ...
The rest of the day was spent practicing dance, singing songs and cheering. The dance moves were quite cool, especially when executed together in a group. Unfortunately, as I do not have an flair for dancing, I ended up doing clumsy, awkward movements to fit in the beat of the music. But oh well...everything's worth a try, at least I've tried. The batch song was fantastic and well-composed. Lovely catchy tune with meaningful lyrics. Great Job! At night, went for OG dinner at Pastamania, was a quiet affair till, Wenxian and Shireen came and we went to macs to play lame games. And yes, we spent at least an entire hour playing lame games. Ended with most of us getting a brainmesh and start to limp around...
Day 3
Day 3 was amazing race, which supposed to be the the most exciting part of the whole orientation, yet it was rather disappointing due to some logistics problems. First, we went to the Singapore Expo and yes, on the train we started playing lame games again. It seems that our OG could never get enough of lame games. lol. at Expo, Wenxian "suddenly" went missing and we were supposed to look for him. After a few straightforward clues, we found him in hiding with a coffee cup containing "foam" as he calls it. The next stop was at Suntec City, where we were supposed to find the "empyrean meadows". Turn out to be the Sky Garden. So we went up there to have lunch. Ended up playing "Truth or Dare" with Huiling naming Gautam as the most attractive male of the OG, Mark shouting “I love you” from the top of the building and Shireen spending 15mins to decide on either truth or dare. She chose Truth initially but avoided questions like “Who’s the hottest guy in RJ?” with an unconvincing excuse that she never had a crush on anyone b4-.- lol, in the end did a dare, played “Honey, if u love me, pls do smile” with Hazwan. Another classic scene tht will remain in my memory for some time. After the hasty lunch, We rushed off to East Coast Park, which is the final stop of the race. However, when we reached there, we had to wait for quite some time before we could play the station due to some logistics problem. That delayed our return journey to RI and we ended up reaching school at 5pm when we were scheduled to come in at 4pm. Went out for dinner at S11 with zj, bjourn, deng and xl. Talked about quite a lot, the old days at RI and our experience thus far in RJ. The fact that we were no longer in RI finally sunk in…
Day 4
Early in the morning of Day 4, when I was still in half-asleep mode, I had a agreement with Shireen that if Alves won to make things a tie, she would have to treat me to ice-cream. When the story-line slowly revealed and war became a “all or nothing” situation, I changed my stance to a draw. My suspicions that the story-line was rigged caused both the OGLs to have undue worries. For that, I have to apologize, but to make clear on 1 fact, I was always very clear on my stance on orientation, I would fight for a lost cause just to gain the experience, just tot that u ppl should have more faith ….. War games were rather interesting, and some of them violent, like the territorial beacons. Got scratched by girls on the other k’vae… bleah… War ended and guess wat, I think I lost the bet and owe Shireen an ice-cream. Lolz, though it ended in a draw, I guess I missed out on the subtler message that the whole war was trying to bring across. Unity in diversity. In our differences, we can always find similarities, if we try hard enough. Draw strength from the past, look for hope in the future, but most importantly, treasure the present. K’predorus- the dimension of present, suspended elusively between the past and the future, is waiting for us… Carpe Diem. Seize the Day.
Day 5
Day 5 started off with faculty initiation, meaning that we were separated into our classes and we played station games again. Well…after spending 4 days with the OG, was thrown into a totally unfamiliar environment again. The whole thing passed quickly enough and we rejoined our OG for the fund-raising activity. My OG went down to Raffles Place to conduct the fund-raising and I was drafted into a pair with Junbo, turned out that it was his first time doing flag day. Hmm…we did a rather good job I must say though there were definite ups and downs. The low side of the whole event came early, while we were 15mins into the activity. A middle-aged man who wore blue shirt and black pants walked past us. Junbo courageously stopped him in his tracks, despite his attempts to side-step us. When we explained our mission and cause, he burst into unexpected fury.
“Where are u all from?”
“RJC”
“Now tell me, do u know the difference between a tidal wave and a tsunami?”
*Junbo tries to explain that there was no difference but was stopped by me.
“Sir, we do not know…”(Me trying to be diplomatic)
“I’m sick of u a*****es coming here claiming to be fund-raising for a disaster yet not knowing wat happened. You are from RJC, yet u know not the diff between between a tidal wave and a tsunami. A tidal wave is caused by tides as the name suggests, whereas a tsunami is caused by earthquakes, basically seismic movements. Blah…blah…blah…”
*note that he practically shouted this whole part in the middle of Raffles City.
“We’ll go back and read up on it Sir”
The above convo is purely my own recount of the event…..
Well…being a responsible person, I went home and read up on Tsunamis and tidal waves. From search results from google and yahoo, 9 in 10 respectable websites state that tidal waves basically had nothing to do with tides and that tsunami is the scientific name for it. Only 1 website chooses to differ. Well…the man might be rite after all…
After fund-raising was basically o night. Again I’m thrown into nostalgia whilst in the midst of merry making, especially when the k’zars sang the k’zar song, a silent tear welled up. Unknowingly, I have formed a bond with Zev’ Feior in 5 days and I think I’ll miss orientation. Just like in the thank you card or get well card for Wenxian,
5 days ago, we were like a pile of ashes, gathered from different parts of sg. Yet, through the unforgettable experience of orientation, Zev’ Feior is reborn, just like a phoenix, engulfed in flames. A magnificent phoenix that rose out of ashes, that weathered all trials and tribulations and is forever united. Though the Great Divide still stands today, it is only a physical barrier, no more a mental barrier, for we have bonded to become one. Zev’ Feior will continue to burn, till the very end of time…..
After o night, we had a final moment together at the k’cove where goodbye seems to be the hardest word to say. And yes, thank you Wenxian and Shireen, for making orientation successful and thank you, Zev’ Feior, for everything in the last 5 days.
Epilogue
“Don’t u think stars are beautiful? On a clear night even when the whole world seems to be ignoring u, they twinkle and blink at u innocently without fail.”
I wish upon a star tonite…. U ppl out there, take 5 secs out and look out into the night sky. Choose a star and wish upon it. With luck, we might wish upon the same star. Even if we dun, at least we saw the same moon…
Monday, January 03, 2005
RJC Orientation Day 1
juz realised tht i've missed out on RJC moving ceremony in my previous entry and my thousand apologies to jon jon for missing u out in the 2B list. lol, todae was the first day of JC for most 16 yr-olds. Fortunately and unfortunately, I happen to be in an elitist JC, where orientation is still carried out but it lacked something......
From the 1st minute the Great Divide was formed, it was never meant to be reconciled...despite valiant attempts by our K'zars to "bridge the gap". Perhaps we have survived in an elitist environment for too long, that we become too rationale. lol, is tht such thing? well, yes is the answer from me. We care too much, think too much, yet do too little. And yes, I'm guilty of every single charge above. ha, well...still have to give it up to the JC2s, who took great pains to plan this orientation, though perhaps they should fine-tune their logistics a little. Looking forward to 4 more days of orientation....Just realised that my entry might not be making sense, well...who cares...i've only had 3 hrs of sleep last night.....
juz realised tht i've missed out on RJC moving ceremony in my previous entry and my thousand apologies to jon jon for missing u out in the 2B list. lol, todae was the first day of JC for most 16 yr-olds. Fortunately and unfortunately, I happen to be in an elitist JC, where orientation is still carried out but it lacked something......
From the 1st minute the Great Divide was formed, it was never meant to be reconciled...despite valiant attempts by our K'zars to "bridge the gap". Perhaps we have survived in an elitist environment for too long, that we become too rationale. lol, is tht such thing? well, yes is the answer from me. We care too much, think too much, yet do too little. And yes, I'm guilty of every single charge above. ha, well...still have to give it up to the JC2s, who took great pains to plan this orientation, though perhaps they should fine-tune their logistics a little. Looking forward to 4 more days of orientation....Just realised that my entry might not be making sense, well...who cares...i've only had 3 hrs of sleep last night.....
Friday, December 31, 2004
lolz, jus realised that I've not blogged a lot about the holidays and am certainly not doing justice to the events that took place. The last I blogged was on my birthdae chalet which was 1 month ago, so here goes dec....
In the midst of the holidays, I started watching the replay of MVP valentine on Channel U every morning at 11am. Little did I know that it was a additive depressant.....the more u watch, the more depressed u get. lol, but i finally broke out of that, would cover it later. Would now share the little reflections I had while watching the show. Here goes.......
在球场，rejection 是被盖火锅，是一个球员的成功，另一个球员的失败。
在情场，rejection 是无限的打击，是一个人的狠心，另一个人的痛心。
但就如强强所说，“打球本来就是一件很快乐的事“，爱情也一样。
既使知道上篮会被盖，会成为失败者，但为了上篮那一刻自由飞翔的感觉，不顾一切，相信只要不断的尝试，就会有成功的那一天。爱情也如此。情场如球场，都是我们寻找幸福快乐的地方。。。
2B chalet
hmm........I guess thts all for the reflection part...moving on we have the "2B class chalet", termed as such as most ppl who went were from 2B. was it 12 or 13 ppl went, i'll try to list here. Richard, yy, xl, snl, vin, deng,zj, jx, lu, don, daniel, di hong, guang how. I guess thts about it, well...forgive me if i left ur name out.....hmm....lets start from 1 day b4, went with vin to snl's house to "plan" for chalet......shan and vin jus returned from their pri sch chalets respectively....seemingly coming back worse than when they first went....lolz...we did do some planning but most of the time we just heard snl ranting off about the opposite sex's insignificance(This is a very formal way of putting it:)) Well....the next day was the chalet itself, would not go into details, jus bringing some highlights....
In the chalet room, at 8 or 9 in the night, shan, me and 2 others playing mahjong, with shan closest to the door.
*knock knock
shan runs to open the door
Outside were 2 girls who apparently got the wrong room.
*giggles
door slammed shut
"F**k off"
the giggling stopped
2 am I believe in the morning....nothing to play, when we decided on Truth or Dare, Shan insisted that we play till he gets a dare. When he finally did, he set the dare for himself. The next moment, he opens the door and shouts, "RGS ****" (censored due to senstivity reasons) (if anione from RG passes by, dun ask me why he did that, even me and vin, his friends dun knoe the reason for such a extreme prejudice) Well......lolz, thts all I can say
Other moments worth remembering include shan's great attempt at 13 yao1 and succeeding in it. If we were playing money, we would be bankrupt by now....On the last nite, we went down to the breakwaters at 10pm and sat there for an hour i believe. lolz, might not be much to others, but I've always had a special relationship with nature, totally immersed within the serenity and gentleness. Though not much was said on the breakwaters, we were jus staring out into open sea in the pitch darkness, it meant a lot to me, seemingly to confirm our bonds with each other b4 we separate to different JCs in jan. Daniel also came on the last nite, and we chatted all the way into the morning.....Somehow, in a funny way, I knoe that I'll miss 2B in the years to come ahead....
Well thts all on 2B chalet......
Next on would be Christmas....lets start on the eve...(pls note the the first half of this Christmas entry is still basically ranting, so if u do not wish to hear, join in with the spirit of Christmas in the 2nd half)
Elitism becomes a crime on Christmas eve. B4 this, Christmas was jus any other public holiday lined on the calendar with not much significance, but perhaps after this christmas, I've understood Christmas....No, it doesn't mean I converted, rather I understand why this festival is so special. Anw, back to the main point, elitism becomes the criminal of the season as I went out with cedrick, zhiyong, hengyi to city harvest church Christmas Spectaculars at the Indoor Stadium. lol, as hengyi's church friends are mostly my age, meaning jus taken O levels and jus had PAE posting. lol, so the opening line for the day was "which jc u going"....as such i shall list some of the conversations here.
Conversation 1
"which Jc u going?"
"RJ"
*astonished, mouth gaping, shocked, awed, etc. (obviously this is exaggerated)
"not my fault rite" me trying to ease the tension and laugh it off.....
"Yeah, not your fault that u are so brillant"
Ouch!
Conversation 2
Same opening as b4
"6 points?"
*nods head cautiously
"aw, then O level no need to improve already lor"
Ouch!
Lol, perhaps its my over sensitivity to words and the elitist environment I’m used to, I have a tendency to pick up on other ppl’s words, another way of putting it is putting words into ppl’s mouth in the sense that I pick up meanings of words that they did not intend. Well… that’s me… and I am not really angry at the ppl who said the above, but well… just to make a point. 6-pointers are human on earth too, elites are humans on earth too, we are not some alien geeks living on planet Z spending their whole lives immersed in knowledge and wisdom. We are not superman nor made of steel, we just need to be treated like a fellow human…lol, speaking of such, I need to apologize to ppl around me, for my words are often laced with hidden malice and sarcasm, a by-product of 4 years of elitist education… Well…enough about words, lets move on to Christmas.
So, the group of us went to Indoor Stadium at 4pm, when the event starts at 7pm, thus stoning around becomes the norm…we even had a game of Chinese chess, a pastime that was long lost after sec 2 for me. After that, we went into the stadium. The event was rather spectacular, considering the church size, a few ten thousands I think. After the event, we went down to Orchard to join in the countdown. The whole Orchard was packed to the its fullest and most of the time we spent there were spent jostling in the crowd. Though entertainment wise there wasn’t much, but well I went there for the festive spirit and that was obviously in the air. Ppl were spraying foam and partying, a joyous atmosphere was present throughout my stay. Though after the countdown, there was a squeeze for the MRT station as only 1 entrance is open, which Cedrick commented that would make headlines the next day as “Singaporeans turn ugly at the stroke of Christmas”, the whole joyous atmosphere could not be drowned down. A spectacular sight awaited us on the steps of the MRT station as we had to walk on a platform made from spray cans to get to the MRT station. Christmas started on a high note for me. Oh, this is long overdue, but still Merry Christmas everyone.
Christmas day itself was spent indoors with my relatives coming over to visit. The dinner we had was sumptuous, sushi, turkey, ribs, ham, bacon and bee hoon and fried rice. Whole day was spent on eating and more eating Was a happy person throughout Christmas this year and for some reason, Christmas seems more special this year…
BBQ again
On boxing day, day after Christmas, or day to commemorate Boxer from Animal Farm(just jk), another bbq was in line at shawn’s house. I woke up in the morning with fever and sore throat. If not for an earlier event, I believe I’d given this bbq a miss. Well…I’m glad I didn’t miss it. We went to Richard house to gather our resources first but instead of going straight to Shawn’s house, we ended up in Giant to buy sausages and marshmallows. When we finally got to shawn’s house, we were like 1.5h late. Well… the bbq affairs were rather standard, for any place with Shannon around would be havoc… haha, just jk, lol, but to speak the truth, there was a lingering nostalgia in the air, most probably due to the fact that sch was restarting soon and we would soon be separated…L
4D chalet
I dun really knoe wat to say of this coz I was there for a total of less than 5 hours. The rest of the time was spent at richard’s house and TM. After helping them check in on the first day. I went back home and intended to return at night. After much discussion, Kevin came from richard’s house and went back 5h later. Bleah… but I’ll say that Richard’s house was much better than 4D chalet. We went at 1am to a coffee shop to eat char kway tiao. Lol, may not mean much, but its all bout creating memories, and I’ll for sure remember all my friends aka the “gay gang”. The next day, we slept till afternoon, woke up for lunch and proceeded to TM to watch Kung Fu Hustle. Really cute show…I’ll say and maybe I’m biased coz of the excessive use of dong1 hai2 yu2 ge1 in the movie. Lol, I guess it looked more like a musical than a movie but it’s really cute, a must watch, if to be rated by me. There were touching scenes too, the analogous portrayal of a painful childhood love memory must be all too familiar to some ppl. Well…I’ll say that the movie is well-balanced on the whole, not too heavy nor too light for taste of all ppl. After the movie, went back for 4D bbq. Wat more could I say, my mind is a blank…then I went home… lol, 4 D chalet successfully ranks 1st on my most unenjoyable chalet…
The tsunami strikes
On boxing day morning, an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the ritcher scale hit Indonesia, causing a first wave of extensive damage. When the world thought the worst was over, the tsunami waves struck, and they hit hard and mercilessly. 2 hours after the initial earthquake, the shores closest to the epicenter experienced something strange. Water started to recede at a quick speed and the waves seem to break at the horizon. When the people realized what was happening, it was all too late. Tsunami waves going up to 3 storeys high whacked straight into the coast repeatedly…
At the end of 2004, in the last 30 mins, I bring your attention to the breaking news for while we look ahead into the new year, we must not forget those who did not make it. The tsunami came at such at time, seemingly to remind us of Mother Nature’s unpredictable wrath, for 2004 seems to a rather smooth-sailing year and the difficulties were overcame. Yet, god had to remind us that complacency was a definite no-no. Yes, the tsunami hit us where it hurt most… It was a painful reminder that even when we control our own fates, we cannot control Mother Nature… To the ppl who had died in this unfortunate event, we owe you a lifetime of debt. You had to be that painful sacrifice to remind us…
New Year’s Eve
hehe, today went to shan’s house in the morning to watch MVP qing ren finale. Hmm… why do love dramas always end happily whereas real life love dramas often see more tragedies than miracles. Is it because humans are more selfish in real life, or is it that the love portrayed in love dramas unrealistic… If it is the latter, then u can say that I’m stupid, coz I’m do not believe so.ah…well…its new year’s eve, shall not dwell on such unhappy topics. Lol, today, zj treated us to Swensons, okae- half-treated, we paid half, he paid half. Then we went deng’s house to play mahjong. Then went home to have dinner and ta-da, I’m here now. Ppl, as we wave away 2004, let us not forget what a year it was… My friends, family, RI, I salute you for making my year a meaningful one. While I look forward to the new year, I would never forget this year. Hope that you ppl out there feels the same as well…..
In the midst of the holidays, I started watching the replay of MVP valentine on Channel U every morning at 11am. Little did I know that it was a additive depressant.....the more u watch, the more depressed u get. lol, but i finally broke out of that, would cover it later. Would now share the little reflections I had while watching the show. Here goes.......
在球场，rejection 是被盖火锅，是一个球员的成功，另一个球员的失败。
在情场，rejection 是无限的打击，是一个人的狠心，另一个人的痛心。
但就如强强所说，“打球本来就是一件很快乐的事“，爱情也一样。
既使知道上篮会被盖，会成为失败者，但为了上篮那一刻自由飞翔的感觉，不顾一切，相信只要不断的尝试，就会有成功的那一天。爱情也如此。情场如球场，都是我们寻找幸福快乐的地方。。。
2B chalet
hmm........I guess thts all for the reflection part...moving on we have the "2B class chalet", termed as such as most ppl who went were from 2B. was it 12 or 13 ppl went, i'll try to list here. Richard, yy, xl, snl, vin, deng,zj, jx, lu, don, daniel, di hong, guang how. I guess thts about it, well...forgive me if i left ur name out.....hmm....lets start from 1 day b4, went with vin to snl's house to "plan" for chalet......shan and vin jus returned from their pri sch chalets respectively....seemingly coming back worse than when they first went....lolz...we did do some planning but most of the time we just heard snl ranting off about the opposite sex's insignificance(This is a very formal way of putting it:)) Well....the next day was the chalet itself, would not go into details, jus bringing some highlights....
In the chalet room, at 8 or 9 in the night, shan, me and 2 others playing mahjong, with shan closest to the door.
*knock knock
shan runs to open the door
Outside were 2 girls who apparently got the wrong room.
*giggles
door slammed shut
"F**k off"
the giggling stopped
2 am I believe in the morning....nothing to play, when we decided on Truth or Dare, Shan insisted that we play till he gets a dare. When he finally did, he set the dare for himself. The next moment, he opens the door and shouts, "RGS ****" (censored due to senstivity reasons) (if anione from RG passes by, dun ask me why he did that, even me and vin, his friends dun knoe the reason for such a extreme prejudice) Well......lolz, thts all I can say
Other moments worth remembering include shan's great attempt at 13 yao1 and succeeding in it. If we were playing money, we would be bankrupt by now....On the last nite, we went down to the breakwaters at 10pm and sat there for an hour i believe. lolz, might not be much to others, but I've always had a special relationship with nature, totally immersed within the serenity and gentleness. Though not much was said on the breakwaters, we were jus staring out into open sea in the pitch darkness, it meant a lot to me, seemingly to confirm our bonds with each other b4 we separate to different JCs in jan. Daniel also came on the last nite, and we chatted all the way into the morning.....Somehow, in a funny way, I knoe that I'll miss 2B in the years to come ahead....
Well thts all on 2B chalet......
Next on would be Christmas....lets start on the eve...(pls note the the first half of this Christmas entry is still basically ranting, so if u do not wish to hear, join in with the spirit of Christmas in the 2nd half)
Elitism becomes a crime on Christmas eve. B4 this, Christmas was jus any other public holiday lined on the calendar with not much significance, but perhaps after this christmas, I've understood Christmas....No, it doesn't mean I converted, rather I understand why this festival is so special. Anw, back to the main point, elitism becomes the criminal of the season as I went out with cedrick, zhiyong, hengyi to city harvest church Christmas Spectaculars at the Indoor Stadium. lol, as hengyi's church friends are mostly my age, meaning jus taken O levels and jus had PAE posting. lol, so the opening line for the day was "which jc u going"....as such i shall list some of the conversations here.
Conversation 1
"which Jc u going?"
"RJ"
*astonished, mouth gaping, shocked, awed, etc. (obviously this is exaggerated)
"not my fault rite" me trying to ease the tension and laugh it off.....
"Yeah, not your fault that u are so brillant"
Ouch!
Conversation 2
Same opening as b4
"6 points?"
*nods head cautiously
"aw, then O level no need to improve already lor"
Ouch!
Lol, perhaps its my over sensitivity to words and the elitist environment I’m used to, I have a tendency to pick up on other ppl’s words, another way of putting it is putting words into ppl’s mouth in the sense that I pick up meanings of words that they did not intend. Well… that’s me… and I am not really angry at the ppl who said the above, but well… just to make a point. 6-pointers are human on earth too, elites are humans on earth too, we are not some alien geeks living on planet Z spending their whole lives immersed in knowledge and wisdom. We are not superman nor made of steel, we just need to be treated like a fellow human…lol, speaking of such, I need to apologize to ppl around me, for my words are often laced with hidden malice and sarcasm, a by-product of 4 years of elitist education… Well…enough about words, lets move on to Christmas.
So, the group of us went to Indoor Stadium at 4pm, when the event starts at 7pm, thus stoning around becomes the norm…we even had a game of Chinese chess, a pastime that was long lost after sec 2 for me. After that, we went into the stadium. The event was rather spectacular, considering the church size, a few ten thousands I think. After the event, we went down to Orchard to join in the countdown. The whole Orchard was packed to the its fullest and most of the time we spent there were spent jostling in the crowd. Though entertainment wise there wasn’t much, but well I went there for the festive spirit and that was obviously in the air. Ppl were spraying foam and partying, a joyous atmosphere was present throughout my stay. Though after the countdown, there was a squeeze for the MRT station as only 1 entrance is open, which Cedrick commented that would make headlines the next day as “Singaporeans turn ugly at the stroke of Christmas”, the whole joyous atmosphere could not be drowned down. A spectacular sight awaited us on the steps of the MRT station as we had to walk on a platform made from spray cans to get to the MRT station. Christmas started on a high note for me. Oh, this is long overdue, but still Merry Christmas everyone.
Christmas day itself was spent indoors with my relatives coming over to visit. The dinner we had was sumptuous, sushi, turkey, ribs, ham, bacon and bee hoon and fried rice. Whole day was spent on eating and more eating Was a happy person throughout Christmas this year and for some reason, Christmas seems more special this year…
BBQ again
On boxing day, day after Christmas, or day to commemorate Boxer from Animal Farm(just jk), another bbq was in line at shawn’s house. I woke up in the morning with fever and sore throat. If not for an earlier event, I believe I’d given this bbq a miss. Well…I’m glad I didn’t miss it. We went to Richard house to gather our resources first but instead of going straight to Shawn’s house, we ended up in Giant to buy sausages and marshmallows. When we finally got to shawn’s house, we were like 1.5h late. Well… the bbq affairs were rather standard, for any place with Shannon around would be havoc… haha, just jk, lol, but to speak the truth, there was a lingering nostalgia in the air, most probably due to the fact that sch was restarting soon and we would soon be separated…L
4D chalet
I dun really knoe wat to say of this coz I was there for a total of less than 5 hours. The rest of the time was spent at richard’s house and TM. After helping them check in on the first day. I went back home and intended to return at night. After much discussion, Kevin came from richard’s house and went back 5h later. Bleah… but I’ll say that Richard’s house was much better than 4D chalet. We went at 1am to a coffee shop to eat char kway tiao. Lol, may not mean much, but its all bout creating memories, and I’ll for sure remember all my friends aka the “gay gang”. The next day, we slept till afternoon, woke up for lunch and proceeded to TM to watch Kung Fu Hustle. Really cute show…I’ll say and maybe I’m biased coz of the excessive use of dong1 hai2 yu2 ge1 in the movie. Lol, I guess it looked more like a musical than a movie but it’s really cute, a must watch, if to be rated by me. There were touching scenes too, the analogous portrayal of a painful childhood love memory must be all too familiar to some ppl. Well…I’ll say that the movie is well-balanced on the whole, not too heavy nor too light for taste of all ppl. After the movie, went back for 4D bbq. Wat more could I say, my mind is a blank…then I went home… lol, 4 D chalet successfully ranks 1st on my most unenjoyable chalet…
The tsunami strikes
On boxing day morning, an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the ritcher scale hit Indonesia, causing a first wave of extensive damage. When the world thought the worst was over, the tsunami waves struck, and they hit hard and mercilessly. 2 hours after the initial earthquake, the shores closest to the epicenter experienced something strange. Water started to recede at a quick speed and the waves seem to break at the horizon. When the people realized what was happening, it was all too late. Tsunami waves going up to 3 storeys high whacked straight into the coast repeatedly…
At the end of 2004, in the last 30 mins, I bring your attention to the breaking news for while we look ahead into the new year, we must not forget those who did not make it. The tsunami came at such at time, seemingly to remind us of Mother Nature’s unpredictable wrath, for 2004 seems to a rather smooth-sailing year and the difficulties were overcame. Yet, god had to remind us that complacency was a definite no-no. Yes, the tsunami hit us where it hurt most… It was a painful reminder that even when we control our own fates, we cannot control Mother Nature… To the ppl who had died in this unfortunate event, we owe you a lifetime of debt. You had to be that painful sacrifice to remind us…
New Year’s Eve
hehe, today went to shan’s house in the morning to watch MVP qing ren finale. Hmm… why do love dramas always end happily whereas real life love dramas often see more tragedies than miracles. Is it because humans are more selfish in real life, or is it that the love portrayed in love dramas unrealistic… If it is the latter, then u can say that I’m stupid, coz I’m do not believe so.ah…well…its new year’s eve, shall not dwell on such unhappy topics. Lol, today, zj treated us to Swensons, okae- half-treated, we paid half, he paid half. Then we went deng’s house to play mahjong. Then went home to have dinner and ta-da, I’m here now. Ppl, as we wave away 2004, let us not forget what a year it was… My friends, family, RI, I salute you for making my year a meaningful one. While I look forward to the new year, I would never forget this year. Hope that you ppl out there feels the same as well…..
Thursday, December 23, 2004
I guess most of u should know the ending of RICO farm(aka Animale Farm 2), if u guess handover, u're rite. If u remember handover, then u should remember the incoherent 2000 word essay I penned with many grammatical errors. Well....after reading it again, i think i wrote enough to do justice to the flurry of emotions then...So, here goes....
Letting go.....seems easier said than done....and the truth is......who can let go?.......
23072004
What a day...an ordinary day....a day just like others....yet it hold so much significance to me. I cannot deny that this day was far more meaningful than any other I had in RI, I cannot deceive myself to think that I do not care, I do not love.....This day is handover, where sec 4s officially "retire" from the orchestra, where the new tide washes us thru. It marks the end of our journey, a beginning for the next generation...... I cannot give back what RICO has given me in the past 3 years, it is too much to be returned.
Though my path in the orchestra wasn't really smooth-sailing, it was a learning process, and I was given an experience I would never forget eternally.... Yes, today the amazing journey i took would be revealed and secrets shall be told and truth shall be known Year 2001, sep-nov, i joined RICO as a sec 1 switching from Judo to Chinese Orchestra. I was in Judo for the first 3 months, quiting somewhere in April orMay. The reason which I quit was that I could not comprehend and accept gamesmanship. I felt that there was more to life than that. A casual comment from my mum was enough for me to set my mind on quiting. After quiting, I was a "
floating body" for 6 months. In this 6 months, I've tried applying for another sports CCA, basketball, which I tot I could understand and excel. The TIC(teacher-in-charge) had promised to let me try for the team. However, coincidentally or whatever, he did not get back to me. By sep-nov, I finally realised that I couldn't go on like this. Thus, in a new environment with new friends for 9 months, I took the largest gamble- as my best friend- kevin was in CO, my brother was in band, I went to apply for CO. I have no musical background and screwed music lessons in pri sch. What I did was apparent sucide, but looking at todae, it has not turned out so.......
When I stepped into RICO, I felt remotely out of place. I had no understanding of music theory, was unable to differentiate one instrument from the other and knew very few ppl. I was allocated into erhu with Kai Hong who joined at the same time as me. Kai Hong had an advantage as he had a grade 4 or 6 piano cert. (I forgot) Soon, we went for lessons under Mr Mike Chiang, basically an extremely nice guy who oozes charm and is extremely funny. Kai Hong was learning at a faster rate and I had difficulty catching up. Not long after, we were also required to "observe" orchestral practice. It is during one of these practice that Mr Goh Yew Guan, RICO's conductor at that time, picked us up and set us to play percussion, me a triangle and kai hong wooden blocks. Yes, with my music theory at that time, u could imagine what happen. I couldn't even play the first beat of every bar(thts wat the score requires of me) at tht time. Btw, the song was Long, our 2003 SWF piece. After numerous practice and guidance from both Julian and Mr Goh, i begin to get the hang of it. RICO was in a precarious situation at tht time. We got a bronze, a big drop from gold, in 2001. There were rumours of disbanding, morale was at a all time low. I couldn't choose a worse time to join.
In sec 2, the situation continued and there was this "draggy" feeling thru out CO. Percussion had no sectionals and we(Me, Julian, Kai Hong) literally had to sight-read every practice and obviously, we would get screwed this way. Near the end of the year, there was shocking news..... Mr Goh had decided to quit. He has been with the CO since RICO was started and the reasons forhis leaving are too sensitive to quote up here, but I'll just say that it's got something to do with a disreptancy in viewpoint of him and the sch's management. A new conductor, Mr Yeo Puay Hian, took over, a fatherly figure that is kind and well-respected. Things have just started to change.....
To descibe the turning point of the orchestra, I could not leave out one very important person, our ex-TIC, Mr Lee. He contributed tremendously to turning RICO out of its decline and to what it is today. Sec 3 was an eventful year, which I would call the start of the revival miracle. SYF was on that year and our standards seemed to be indicate another disappointment in store. At the start of Sec 3, we had our late concert which ws supposed to be held in the dec the previous year. I was playing both erhu and percussion for that concert and I must admit that looking back, i was in no condition nor skill to be up on stage. I was playing crap, i think...After the concert, we had our SYF. It drew close to the march hols, we were preparing and suddenly, SARS hit Singapore. We had an extra 2 weeks hols and SYF was postpone for 3 months. 3 months, miracle happened. Mr Lee went to extremes to hire the services of Shen Guo Qing lao shi, who was given 3 months to perform a miracle on us. Miracles did happen and we worked our way to a silver award. Throughout this built-up, Mr Lee fought for us for many things, including using the hall as a practice area, employing up to 7 teachers and bonding the orchestra in a way that was never like before. I salute him and he deserves the greatest honour of making my time in CO a meaningful one.
In the final year, a hectic year, I was drafted into commitee as a Librarian, though I must say I was more interested in the organising and running of the orchestra than printing scores, thus I left most of the work to Bing Liang who screws everything. Can't blame him though, the scores and the library are seriously messy and "untouchables". Adding to that, these 2 yrs, sec3 and 4, we had 5 concerts, 4 major ones, Jit-Sin+RI in Sg, in Penang, RI+SN atVCH2003, RI+RJ+RG at SCH2004, the fifth minor one was a combined Raffles schools concert in the Botanical Gardens. Such a schedule was pure sucide if we had expected it, ironically. The cute thing was that it was after we had been thru everything that we realised that everything was so much. Dec 2003, we were thinking of songs to play for this yr's April concert, come up with Fei Tian, Long Teng, Jun Ma....these 3 were sucidal enough considering our standards. opps....correction...i think we started Fei Tian in Dec and for Long Teng, we started 2 weeks b4 CNY, plaaning to play it for CNY. obviously tht didn't work out and Shen Lao Shi was tasked with a 3 month miracle again, this time for concert.
During march hols, went to Penang for 1 wk, must say that it was the most fufilling trip as there was this spirit of togetherness that is so unique to RICO. It was the most unforgettable part of my memories of RICO. Yes, again Shen Lao Shi has this unique ability to make 3 month miracles happen. This time, the job was much harder as we were training for a full-fledge percussion based song that none of us has touched in our days in RICO. Yet, he made it happen. Yes, he might have said stuff that are not very nice, scolding us....but tht jus shows that he cares and he wants us to excel. By concert day, a decent Long Teng was ready, combining with RG perc, it made the whole thing sound more impressive.And yes, Jun Ma was finally out(as in scores) 1 month b4 the concert and we started panicking for JOTO 3 wks b4. Still, everything worked out rather good considering the amount of time we had. finally concert....I was soloist yet when I asked myself if I was playing for anyone in the audience, I realised that my answer was a no. I have always believed that music is selfish or personal if u dun like my phrasing, a musician can only meant the music for 1 person in the audience, not anymore. My parents couldn't make it and a few friends bought "Phantom tickets"(Buying and not turning up) to make up my ticket sales. I was rather troubled by the thought till I finally realised b4 going on stage that it does not matter if the person I was playing for was in the audience seats, what matter most is that I knoe that me myslef is playing for tht person. Its like loving someone and letting him or her go becoz u knoe tht he/she would be happier. When my solo finished, the applause was confirmation that i did not care for, though having the Shen Lao Shi shouting good in chinese was definitely encouraging, what i care for is that I am able to tell myself that i went up and played the best for tht one person..... And so i realised that the confirmation that we so blindly go for everytime was illusive, was so fragile and superficial.....
RICO case closed with a bit of tears, laughter and obviously memories.
p.s. I believe in everlasting memories, feelings. 20 yrs down the road, check me, I'll stil remember 23072004 and the miracles...
Signing off(This is the longest entry so far)
I esp like the last paragraph, thus block quoting it....yes ppl, enjoy....reflect and relive the memories. Presenting to you RICO farm......and the legend shall continue..........
Letting go.....seems easier said than done....and the truth is......who can let go?.......
23072004
What a day...an ordinary day....a day just like others....yet it hold so much significance to me. I cannot deny that this day was far more meaningful than any other I had in RI, I cannot deceive myself to think that I do not care, I do not love.....This day is handover, where sec 4s officially "retire" from the orchestra, where the new tide washes us thru. It marks the end of our journey, a beginning for the next generation...... I cannot give back what RICO has given me in the past 3 years, it is too much to be returned.
Though my path in the orchestra wasn't really smooth-sailing, it was a learning process, and I was given an experience I would never forget eternally.... Yes, today the amazing journey i took would be revealed and secrets shall be told and truth shall be known Year 2001, sep-nov, i joined RICO as a sec 1 switching from Judo to Chinese Orchestra. I was in Judo for the first 3 months, quiting somewhere in April orMay. The reason which I quit was that I could not comprehend and accept gamesmanship. I felt that there was more to life than that. A casual comment from my mum was enough for me to set my mind on quiting. After quiting, I was a "
floating body" for 6 months. In this 6 months, I've tried applying for another sports CCA, basketball, which I tot I could understand and excel. The TIC(teacher-in-charge) had promised to let me try for the team. However, coincidentally or whatever, he did not get back to me. By sep-nov, I finally realised that I couldn't go on like this. Thus, in a new environment with new friends for 9 months, I took the largest gamble- as my best friend- kevin was in CO, my brother was in band, I went to apply for CO. I have no musical background and screwed music lessons in pri sch. What I did was apparent sucide, but looking at todae, it has not turned out so.......
When I stepped into RICO, I felt remotely out of place. I had no understanding of music theory, was unable to differentiate one instrument from the other and knew very few ppl. I was allocated into erhu with Kai Hong who joined at the same time as me. Kai Hong had an advantage as he had a grade 4 or 6 piano cert. (I forgot) Soon, we went for lessons under Mr Mike Chiang, basically an extremely nice guy who oozes charm and is extremely funny. Kai Hong was learning at a faster rate and I had difficulty catching up. Not long after, we were also required to "observe" orchestral practice. It is during one of these practice that Mr Goh Yew Guan, RICO's conductor at that time, picked us up and set us to play percussion, me a triangle and kai hong wooden blocks. Yes, with my music theory at that time, u could imagine what happen. I couldn't even play the first beat of every bar(thts wat the score requires of me) at tht time. Btw, the song was Long, our 2003 SWF piece. After numerous practice and guidance from both Julian and Mr Goh, i begin to get the hang of it. RICO was in a precarious situation at tht time. We got a bronze, a big drop from gold, in 2001. There were rumours of disbanding, morale was at a all time low. I couldn't choose a worse time to join.
In sec 2, the situation continued and there was this "draggy" feeling thru out CO. Percussion had no sectionals and we(Me, Julian, Kai Hong) literally had to sight-read every practice and obviously, we would get screwed this way. Near the end of the year, there was shocking news..... Mr Goh had decided to quit. He has been with the CO since RICO was started and the reasons forhis leaving are too sensitive to quote up here, but I'll just say that it's got something to do with a disreptancy in viewpoint of him and the sch's management. A new conductor, Mr Yeo Puay Hian, took over, a fatherly figure that is kind and well-respected. Things have just started to change.....
To descibe the turning point of the orchestra, I could not leave out one very important person, our ex-TIC, Mr Lee. He contributed tremendously to turning RICO out of its decline and to what it is today. Sec 3 was an eventful year, which I would call the start of the revival miracle. SYF was on that year and our standards seemed to be indicate another disappointment in store. At the start of Sec 3, we had our late concert which ws supposed to be held in the dec the previous year. I was playing both erhu and percussion for that concert and I must admit that looking back, i was in no condition nor skill to be up on stage. I was playing crap, i think...After the concert, we had our SYF. It drew close to the march hols, we were preparing and suddenly, SARS hit Singapore. We had an extra 2 weeks hols and SYF was postpone for 3 months. 3 months, miracle happened. Mr Lee went to extremes to hire the services of Shen Guo Qing lao shi, who was given 3 months to perform a miracle on us. Miracles did happen and we worked our way to a silver award. Throughout this built-up, Mr Lee fought for us for many things, including using the hall as a practice area, employing up to 7 teachers and bonding the orchestra in a way that was never like before. I salute him and he deserves the greatest honour of making my time in CO a meaningful one.
In the final year, a hectic year, I was drafted into commitee as a Librarian, though I must say I was more interested in the organising and running of the orchestra than printing scores, thus I left most of the work to Bing Liang who screws everything. Can't blame him though, the scores and the library are seriously messy and "untouchables". Adding to that, these 2 yrs, sec3 and 4, we had 5 concerts, 4 major ones, Jit-Sin+RI in Sg, in Penang, RI+SN atVCH2003, RI+RJ+RG at SCH2004, the fifth minor one was a combined Raffles schools concert in the Botanical Gardens. Such a schedule was pure sucide if we had expected it, ironically. The cute thing was that it was after we had been thru everything that we realised that everything was so much. Dec 2003, we were thinking of songs to play for this yr's April concert, come up with Fei Tian, Long Teng, Jun Ma....these 3 were sucidal enough considering our standards. opps....correction...i think we started Fei Tian in Dec and for Long Teng, we started 2 weeks b4 CNY, plaaning to play it for CNY. obviously tht didn't work out and Shen Lao Shi was tasked with a 3 month miracle again, this time for concert.
During march hols, went to Penang for 1 wk, must say that it was the most fufilling trip as there was this spirit of togetherness that is so unique to RICO. It was the most unforgettable part of my memories of RICO. Yes, again Shen Lao Shi has this unique ability to make 3 month miracles happen. This time, the job was much harder as we were training for a full-fledge percussion based song that none of us has touched in our days in RICO. Yet, he made it happen. Yes, he might have said stuff that are not very nice, scolding us....but tht jus shows that he cares and he wants us to excel. By concert day, a decent Long Teng was ready, combining with RG perc, it made the whole thing sound more impressive.And yes, Jun Ma was finally out(as in scores) 1 month b4 the concert and we started panicking for JOTO 3 wks b4. Still, everything worked out rather good considering the amount of time we had. finally concert....I was soloist yet when I asked myself if I was playing for anyone in the audience, I realised that my answer was a no. I have always believed that music is selfish or personal if u dun like my phrasing, a musician can only meant the music for 1 person in the audience, not anymore. My parents couldn't make it and a few friends bought "Phantom tickets"(Buying and not turning up) to make up my ticket sales. I was rather troubled by the thought till I finally realised b4 going on stage that it does not matter if the person I was playing for was in the audience seats, what matter most is that I knoe that me myslef is playing for tht person. Its like loving someone and letting him or her go becoz u knoe tht he/she would be happier. When my solo finished, the applause was confirmation that i did not care for, though having the Shen Lao Shi shouting good in chinese was definitely encouraging, what i care for is that I am able to tell myself that i went up and played the best for tht one person..... And so i realised that the confirmation that we so blindly go for everytime was illusive, was so fragile and superficial.....
The end of the april concert signals the "coolin down" peroid for the sec 4s as we engage in our studies for the common test. Soon, the last concert went and the miracle of 2003-2004 commitee was done and the legacy of batch 2004 was passed down on the fateful day of 23072004. Goodbye seems the hardest thing to say, it seems as we both reluctantly and excitedly handed the baton of leadership to the Sec 3s. The road has been paved, the miracles have been done. Rescuing RICO from the worse was over and the path is lighted ahead. The legacy must continue.....The miracles must be made.....To all my juniors, all I have to say is that we've come so far from our lowest point, it is time to build a tradition. RICO is a relatively young orchestra, formed only in 1980something I forgot. I heard that it was formed and disbanded thrice, as such we did not have the history and tradition many school had, + the fact that our sch had 50 over CCAs meant that budget was low, membership was low. Yes, we might never be like CHS, DHS or even RGS, NY and so on but RICO still remains a unique orchestra. We might not measure up in technique or skills to them but is that what u want in ur life? Yes, RICO seems to be heading downhill again with membership with the sec ones next yr barely over 50, but the most important thing i feel is that the 50 of u all next yr would create a miracle of ur own jus like the batch of 2004 has done. Miracles are elusive by nature, the more unlikely, the more likely, how ironic. The miracle need not be SYF gold or something, it can be something seemingly trivial, but it would be etched into the memories of 50 of u all for the rest of ur life. The most valuable present RICO gave me was the eternal gift of memories. When a miracle happens in ur life, u wouldn't forget it no matter what happens. So ppl, stop comparing and start living. There are memories out there for u to create.
RICO case closed with a bit of tears, laughter and obviously memories.
p.s. I believe in everlasting memories, feelings. 20 yrs down the road, check me, I'll stil remember 23072004 and the miracles...
Signing off(This is the longest entry so far)
I esp like the last paragraph, thus block quoting it....yes ppl, enjoy....reflect and relive the memories. Presenting to you RICO farm......and the legend shall continue..........
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