Encounter of a Kind

I was getting ready to leave the house. With everything in hand, and before I opened the door, I paused for a few seconds, as I always do, to make sure that I had my essentials: purse, key, phone. Okay, set, ready... open door.

I opened the door and was greeted by the sight of an Asian girl waiting in front of my unit.

We stared at each other for what seemed like an extremely long second.


As it turns out, she's a neighbour, one door away, at the other end of the hall. She heard me practicing on the piano, and actually came out and sat in the hallway to listen.

She sat in the hallway! To listen to me?!

I was rather flabbergasted. I didn't quite know how to respond.

Her name is Junna and she's from Japan. Junna arrived in Melbourne last April and is here until the end of July only, for the purpose of studying English these few months.

And if my neighbours from all the way down the hall can hear the piano, does that mean the entire floor can hear me banging away at the piano?? I have not received any complaints from anyone, so I suppose that's a good thing!

But ohmygoodness. Feeling quite embarrassed and still feeling a little flustered, I told Junna that she can just knock on the door next time and come in and listen to me if she wanted. (Having an audience might be good practice for me too!)

It is really quite a bizarre thing that happened. What's more, there was at least a full ten minutes where I stopped playing to get all my things ready to leave the house. She could not have possibly waited for me!!

I might see more of her. In any case, it's always great to meet someone staying on the same floor. I hardly know my neighbours, so even if she's a temporary resident, it's nice to know that my piano-playing can connect me with strangers. Haha.

Musicals, operas, concerts!

Listening to the Phantom of the Opera original London cast recording never fails to move me. I am brought back to the theatre once again; the feeling of sitting there at Princess Theatre and watching the story unfold before my eyes, and the beautiful, soaring music soar through the air - it's magical. If there's a next time, I'd definitely go again.

I bought the poster last year when we went to watch. Beside it (in the picture) is the Josh Groban poster I bought when I went for his concert last October - which was really good, too! At the end of it, I managed to find the back door and got his autograph!! (Along with other fans who managed to find the stage door as well Haha.) A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, probably. Anyway it was so cool to have been this close to him.

Wicked is opening at Regent Theatre in Melbourne this year, and there's no way I'm missing that! Guys and Dolls is going to open soon at Princess Theatre as well, but I've yet to decide if I want to go for it, too. Both are critically acclaimed and award-winning musicals. There's too many things happening! A few notable operas are being performed by Opera Australia this year as well - Bizet's Carmen, and Puccini's Madama Butterfly. I want to go for everything! I need MONEY.

Whyyyy do I love the theatre and arts?? And why are all my hobbies and interests such high-maintenance ones anyway! Books and CDs, rather than clothes and accessories, suck my bank account dry instead. I need to ... control. But these things aren't there forever. You'd never know when you get another chance to watch that particular musical in the theatre or the opera being staged, or that particular artist hold a concert.

Sighhh...!

Hmm.

I was organizing my music on iTunes (all part of the process of settling into my Mac), and was doing Queen songs, when I realized that all the Queen songs that I had happened to be composed solely by Freddie Mercury himself.

O_O

I wouldn't call myself a Freddie Mercury fan, although I do greatly admire his talent. But anyway, it felt slightly jarring that I happen to like Mercury-composed Queen songs.

Updates and reflections

Jon/Kok (whatever moniker you're going by now =P), and also to whoever's left in Brunei, whoever's still reading this blog: I'll be back 19th November. Okay, technically, 21st November, since I'll be in S'pore for a few days. I'll be meeting my mom and aunt there... not to meet me, but for their personal agenda (read: shopping). Of course, I will not hesitate to take advantage of their agendas for being in S'pore. (Hehehe.)

Oh yes, before I forget: Bev, happy 20th birthday!! Hope you're doing well wherever you are, and continue to grow in God's love, remembering that His grace is sufficient for all our needs =)



Having second thoughts about going back so early now... the theme for OCF Convention in December is "Awake", with the theme verse from Roman 13:11, and it's a really good one, now that I really think about it, and quite timely as well. Complacency is a real issue that most Christians are in right now, and we don't talk or think about the end times enough, simply because the urgency doesn't seem to manifest itself. In addition, we covered that particular segment in the book of Romans recently in BSF (Bible Study Fellowship), so it's gotten me thinking about it as well. But I've already changed my flight dates TWICE, and I don't want to go back to the SIA office AGAIN. Ahh. On the other hand, I'm returning to Melbourne in early January for summer course, and the only reason why I'm coming back early to Brunei is to prolong my holiday back home.

Anyway.

Talking about urgency... it's about time I get a sense of urgency about the impending exams which are coming upon me... I have yet to get started on my 50% essay, I have to start studying for Music Techniques, as well as aural practices (damn those seventh chords - it's okay, you don't have to know what they are, just that they all seem to sound the same to me, much to my frustration); plus, squeezing in as much practice time as I can for my practical exam. I'm hoping to memorize my pieces this time round, even if it's not compulsory. Recital exams are open, so I can invite friends. I've got Holtham as my examiner (!!!) but Professor McGee is the other examiner, hopefully I'll feel less nervous since he seems pretty nice (as opposed to - okay, I shall not complain. Ahem.)

I seem to be ranting quite a fair bit. You guys probably didn't understand any of that; it's okay. Lol.


I've mentioned it before, but practical exams will always, to me, hold more stress than written papers do. With written papers, you can prepare and know your stuff, if you've studied hard enough, but you can never prepare for a practical exam last minute. It's just not possible. And it's a once-through event. The piece is played; bang - that's it. No turning back. No second chances. Every mistake is noted by the examiners, and that's it. It's a merciless project. From the moment I place my fingers on the keys, there cannot be any false starts. It begins now and if I screw it, I can't show it, I have to keep pressing on and play through. I can't show my despair and disappointment, I have to play it through to the end. And at the end, if I feel crap and if I feel that it was a terrible performance, the tears and disappointment will come, and worse, nothing can change it.

That was what happened with my Grade 6 exam. I was in Form 1 then, and I was going through the difficult phase where I hated the piano and wanted to give it up. My mom, of course, refused to let me. (And of course, "mothers really know best" when you look back on such events - I'm grateful now that she didn't let me quit.) Maybe it was just that I had grown tired of it - playing since I was 5, and taking practical exams almost every year. My life always seemed to have been revolving around music ever since I could remember.

But anyway, coming back to that particular time... to cut the story short, I was going through the 'I-hate-piano' phase, and didn't practice as much as I should have. The day of the exam came. I didn't prepare well; I probably wasn't prepared at all. I came out of the exam room in tears. Neither my mom nor my teacher uttered the dreaded "I told you so". I think the ordeal itself was punishment enough. In the end, I just passed by a small margin. It was a huge shock.

My passion since then didn't quite fully recover... I used to practice everyday, and loved and enjoyed it. But I guess some part of me has grown jaded with the years, and it's sad when I think about it. But some passion must have remained for me to still go down this path. And I'm trying my best to cling onto that.

I'm still rediscovering that joy and passion, and I like to believe that it is coming back. When I think about this path I've chosen now, I refuse to allow any regrets to consume me anymore. There's nothing else that I would have done. Music is it. And I will stick with it.


It's been quite awhile since I wrote such a long post... Gosh. Maybe I just needed to pour out some stuff... thanks for reading if you took the time...

Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2

I love this rendition of Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2! Victor Borge, the pianist, was known for his humorous performances, where classical concerts meet entertainment. This is extremely amusing to watch.

The good old songs in years gone past...

Certain songs really have a calming effect on you when you just feel tired, frustrated or simply need something to perk you up.

Gary Barlow's voice settles over me like a warm blanket on a cold day.

Random update

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival '07, held last April.
A projection of the logo on the concrete ground outside Melbourne Town Hall,
taken after watching Jason Byrne's stand-up act with friends.

I just recently finished watching this Taiwanese serial drama my sister 'ordered' me to watch when I was home back in January. It's called "Green Forest, My Home", and consists of 15 episodes.

Okay, I didn't exactly watch the entire thing - for some reason, the episode 13 which I downloaded have on my hard drive couldn't play, so that was one episode of long-windedness, convoluted plot gone. I barely missed much (since the 'next episode preview' always spoil the events for you already). Halfway through episode 14, I couldn't take it anymore and skipped through it. I skimmed through episode 15 as well, going straight to the final 10 minutes of the show.

Which was really too bad, because the show started off quite interesting (for me), but by episode 10, I was starting to lose interest and my impatience to see the hero and heroine get together was still far from resolved. Add in the 'must-have-plot-twist' of someone about to die from some disease towards the end of the show, and the story dragged on even more.

I think that sums up the show.


The weekend is here! And next week is the final week of the semester before Swot Vac starts (a one-week study break. I have yet to learn why it's called swot vac. Is it derived from some Aussie or American slang?) Exams begin 4th June, and after looking at my exam timetables, I found out that I end extremely early this time - I'll be a free rabbit after 3 p.m. on 6th June. But that also means that all my exams are compacted into that 3-day period. And yes, contrary to popular belief, Music students do have exams, as do Art.


On a totally unrelated matter, Beethoven's Third Symphony, 'Eroica', is still an astounding and majestic composition, even after a hundred listens to it. I implore you guys to have a listen, especially the first movement!