The Blue Bird of Happiness

Alamby (one of my new friends) shared with me this conversation she had with Lily (another friend). Apparently, Lily told her that she was very happy, and of course, Alamby was inclined to enquire the reason behind this state of happiness (curiosity is human nature, after all!). Lily gave her this answer:

"Because I can play the piano everyday. That's why I am very happy."

And I thought, Wow.

She simply felt happy to have the chance to be studying at the Uni. of Melbourne, to be able to play the piano everyday, and just to enjoy Music, in all its essence. That was contentment enough for her.

Alamby felt the same as I did; we were simply struck speechless by the simplicity of her statement. I mean, I wouldn't know how to give a reply to such a statement. Here we are, all of us Music students, yet each of us share different ideals and thoughts about being able to play an instrument or sing, or the fact that we have this opportunity to experience it everyday.

I still can't (or maybe I dare not) completely fathom Lily's statement. It's so simple, yet powerful. Maybe sometimes we just search too hard in life for the things which would keep us 'happy' and 'satisfied'... yet what we yearn for may just have been right in front of our eyes all along.

And maybe then we'll be able to finally be content with ourselves (and our lives) for once; and simply enjoy and cherish what we already have.


~~~
The title of the post actually refers to a French play by Maurice Maeterlinck, L'Oiseau Bleu (The Blue Bird). The play, in short, is about two children who embark on a journey to search for The Blue Bird of Happiness, only to return home to discover that the Blue Bird has been in their bird cage all along.

This blog is...

... dead.

For one thing, I have absolutely nothing interesting to post about, unless you want to listen to boring details about my course and assignments, and the fact that semester exams are coming up in June - and the fact that I have only one paper to sit for (Music Techniques 1-1), a Listening Test, and a practical exam - is just not right, when everyone else is suffering through 4-5 papers. (Not that I'm complaining.)

Melbourne may be a city, and there ARE many happening things around, but the most I've been to are music concerts (classical ones, for that matter), which I HAVE to go as a requirement of one of my units (which dictate that I MUST attend 5 concerts per semester, otherwise I fail the course =/ ). That's not to say that going to those concerts are a drag - I enjoy classical music, and I enjoy the concerts. (That does NOT make me a boring person - I just happen to be a person whose interests lie in Literature and Arts =D). I have to fill in Concert Report forms (basically I have to write a review on each of these concerts), and the "purpose" of forcing, oops, I mean, making us attend concerts around Melbourne is basically:

"To broaden the perspective of students by stimulating their learning experience and faculties of reflection and criticism in a variety of musical contexts of international standard."

That's quoted from the coursebook.


And I told myself not to do this, but anyway - (for the lack of better 'blog'-worthy material to post about) - JERRY, where's your updates??

Movies

"Remember, remember, the fifth of November,
gunpowder, treason and plot,
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot."

I went to watch 'V for Vendetta' with my CG on Thursday night, and ... it was the first time I stepped into a cinema ever since I came to Melbourne. I know that my life here isn't terribly exciting, but still, to have gone without cinema trips for two months is just bad (for a cinema lover like me). I realized how much I enjoy the cinema experience then, and just the comfort of sitting in front of a huge screen, the surround sound system...

I digress.

Anyway, for all its political content, the movie was surprisingly enjoyable and captivating for someone like me who walked into it without any high expectations... Is it shown in Brunei at all? Somehow I doubt it, since all I hear from there is 'Ice Age 2', etc.! Lol. I mean, V for Vendetta is a movie with strong political themes (to quote: "People should not be afraid of their goverments; goverments should be afraid of their people"), themes bordering on homosexuality, Islam and paedophilia, including modern-day references like terrorism, war, epidemics, biological weapons (lots of post 9/11 themes, in all) - so I don't think the Brunei cinemas would show it. The story is set in a dystopian future, depicting the regime of a totalitarian state.

I won't go into details, but a few remarkable scenes include Natalie Portman's character, Evey, having her head all shaved (and what's amazing is that Natalie Portman really had her head shaved bald completely); never seeing Hugo Weaving's face (who is hidden behind the Guy Fawkes' mask the entire time); and my favourite scenes included the fireworks (never mind the fact that the fireworks and explosions were during the destruction of government buildings), and the most amazing one: the domino scene, where Hugo Weaving's character, V, tips over red and black dominoes to form the letter 'V'. There's something about watching the domino effect which I enjoy immensely - it's just fascinating. Apparently, 22, 000 dominoes were procured, assembled by 4 professional domino assemblers, and took 200 hours to set up... and it was all over in less than 3 minutes.

The Wachowski brothers (directors of 'Matrix') wrote the script, and there were some 'Matrix' moments in the final scenes of the movie - and throughout the movie, there were a couple of times where I kept thinking, "Agent Smith" whenever V appears (even though we never see Hugo Weaving's face). I think it's the costume. It's almost the same as in 'Lord of the Rings', when you just can't stop associating Hugo Weaving's elf character, Elrond, with his Matrix character, Agent Smith. Haha.

Story-wise, I found it highly enjoyable, and the dialogue, though very philosophical at times, does get you thinking and it's more easily understood than the Matrix trilogy, where certain themes simply flew over my head, and which I'm still trying to understand the ending! But an appreciation of a film is never completed without mention of the score - the music is by Dario Marianelli, who has entered the list of my favourite film composers. He did the music for Pride and Prejudice (the 2005 film version) as well. Themes from Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture and Beethoven's 5th Symphony were included extensively in the film's score - more pluses. =D Again, I found myself being distracted by the background music at times during the film, and the dialogue became the background instead. I had to force myself to focus on the film and not get carried away by the music. Lol.

Okay, this might be turning boring for you guys who probably have no idea what I'm rambling on about.


Semester exams are in June, and I've already received my practical exam details... it's not something I'm looking forward to, especially not when my examiner happens to be the Head of Keyboard, and when your piano teacher goes, "Ooooh", it simply confirms your worst fears. It's not that the Head of Keyboard is an evil man - he also happens to be the chairman of the AMEB (Australian Music Examination Board - the Australian equivalent of the ABRSM), and it's just - "pressure, pressure, pressure"... I'll probably faint from the stress on 8th of June even before I step into the room!

Temperatures have been ranging from the low '-teens' to high '-teens', but it feels like it's perpetually in the low '-teens'. Come winter, it will be single-digit temperatures.

I don't want to be paler... I'm serious! I can't get darker (been there, done that, failed miserably); so at the very least, don't let me become some weird translucent being..

Workload is getting heavier lately, as the end of the semeste draws near... I have to juggle my time now, and really learn to stop procrastinating. The proverb 'once bitten, twice shy' certainly doesn't apply to us procrastinators - I never learn from past experiences, and I think I'm setting myself up for another familiar roller-coaster ride of last-minute fiascos. Ahh!

Btw, Jerry's last post was, a-hem, interesting... Haha. It's always interesting to hear from a guy's point of view for us girls, don't you think? But sometimes, we tend to get distracted by the fairy-tale romances we read about in books and see in movies, and forget that reality is always a different story. "And they lived happily ever after" endings just don't happen in real life (except maybe a small percentage out there). And because of that little voice which says, "Just maybe, you never know!", I guess that's why we hope to be "different" and continue dreaming about being swept off our feet, and enjoy a happily-ever-after bliss ending. And that's why, even though I know that those kind of movies are 'unreal', I still enjoy the happy endings. At least someone gets a happy ending (fictional or not). =P

Okay, I have to get back to doing my weekly music assignment now... And then I have a 25% essay to finish up (dued on Thursday), another music assignement dued at the end of May (30%) AND a research essay (50%) dued in June (and I have to start my research now, or I'll never get it finished on time).

On top of that, I have yet to attend 5 concerts, which is a compulsory requirement for me to pass my Ensemble subject.

All that by June!

*faints*