Another "everything" post.

=/

Why is it that when I finally sit down in front of my laptop, my fingers on the keyboard, with all the good intentions of blogging, that my mind becomes an instant blank the moment I see the empty space in front of me?

Something interesting did happen over the weekend - haha, but that's for another time. Maybe if you remember and ask me about it, I'll tell you about it. Lol.

Coming to yet another end of a week - I now officially have one class on Friday (which was initially free, sigh), after I changed my Ensemble class. The good thing is that I won't have to reach home at 7 pm after class on Wednesday now.

Thinking about whether I should do the LRSM..

Piano duets this semester - exciting! Finally met up with the girl I'm partnering with; we'll be playing Mozart's Symphony No. 40 for 4 hands. We'll be trying it together on Tuesday morning. (It'll probably sound hilariously bad.)

I need to start doing my readings, make notes, and begin on serious preparation for my 50% politics essay. (I know, it's only week 2, but I have absolutely no intentions of leaving everything to the end of the semester and swot vac, which is our one-week study break, to cram everything and, well, everything. Frankly, that would just be too much for even an old-time procrastinator like me.)

It's my sister's birthday today - happy 17th! (Doesn't 17 seem ages ago for the rest of us reading this?) Can you believe I wrote the birthday card about a week ago, and it's just been lying there waiting for me to mail it? (Sorry, Karen, I will post it tomorrow. Haha. And you never told me that the cat was pregnant?! And now she's given birth on your birthday?! Doesn't that mean she was already pregnant when I left Brunei?! And isn't she still a kitten?!!)

I had the oddest dream last night - weirdly enough, there were meat pies in my dream. I was very hesitant about eating them - an after-effect of watching Sweeney Todd, probably; for some reason in my dream, I really thought that it was human meat, and refused to eat the pies. *Shudders* And I dreamt I had a really awesome pet dog, and my old cat, Chilli, turned up in the dream, too. They didn't get along. (Which is quite odd in retrospect, because the cats and dogs back home usually get along really well.)

Yes, I get bizarre dreams often.

And for a post which started out with me having blogger's block, it seems like I have a whole load of material suddenly.

X_X

Everything between then and now.

The new semester of another new school year has begun; third day, and it's already a whirlwind of classes, lectures, and activities.

Third year, and I feel "old". To think that I was one of these first-years a couple of years ago.


Hillary won in Ohio and Texas (!) - amazing victory, especially after her dissenters were already writing her off after a string of defeats over the past week. But despite her victories, she still has a tough journey ahead of her. Obama is still leading in delegates, and the Democrats are still nowhere near to actually having a clear nominee. On the other hand, the Republicans have chosen, and Huckabee has bowed out of the race and given McCain his endorsement after yesterday's Super Tuesday II.

And yes, I've actually been following the US elections since late last year - it's actually quite interesting, but at the same time, confusing. The US political system is crazily complicated.

I've decided to take up a second major after re-evaluating my degree - have got just enough points left for that second major. Have no idea how it'll turn out, but I'd probably still focus more on my intended major anyway.

Politics is completely new waters for me. I've tested the waters, and it's exciting and daunting, to actually learn something "new", and that feeling of eagerness is something which I haven't felt in a while now. Wading into it, and trying not to feel overwhelmed by the currents. I chose American Politics and Society for this semester, and especially with the current events, I figured that this subject would make for a very interesting study.

The extremely thick coursepack with a gazillion articles and readings, which is
insanely expensive for a bunch of papers thrown together and merely binded.
Oh, the trees.

I've decided to go for the Guys and Dolls musical after all, after managing to sweep up several people along with my expensive taste in arts and entertainment =P.

I finally got around to watching Sweeney Todd on Tuesday night with Caleb (half-priced Tuesday tickets!) and OHMYGOSH. At the end of it, I just sat in my seat, blown away and still lost in that world which Tim Burton has re-created and adapted from the musical. He's an amazing director. Now if I can have the opportunity to watch the musical itself, which is apparently much darker and much more mind-blowing. (I would so love to get a Sweeney Todd poster.)

The throat-slitting montage of customer after customer was a bit on the gruesome side for me - I was covering my face for those scenes; I can't really stomach these kind of scenes. Lol! But wow - Stephen Sondheim's music is incredible. (Incidentally, he also wrote the lyrics for West Side Story the musical.) I need to get my hands on the soundtrack! I especially loved the song between Mrs. Lovett and Mr. T about the different types of pies they can make. Morbid, but wow! Haha. My other favourite song is the one about pretty women between Todd and Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman, who surprised me with his singing; in case you didn't know, he plays the role of Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films).


The trailers shown before the film began featured Vantage Point - Lydia told me that it's a really good movie, and we'll probably go watch it next week once it comes out. But the trailer that REALLY took me by surprise was - "SHUTTER". Yes, the American version. Hahaha. So weird! It's like - "spirit photography, it's real, yadayada". I wonder how successful this remake will be. Asian horror movies normally incorporate a lot of cultural references, and most of those will probably be lost in translation in the remake. I remember watching the original Thai version in the cinema. Yes, with my hands covering my eyes half the time. =P The ending completely creeped me out, with that twist, and it took me about a week to recover. I enjoy horror movies, and the thrill and chills that it gives, but it's the aftermath which I dread. Horror movies aren't too healthy spiritually too. Lol.

This post is all over the place. I'm quite excited for this semester actually. I'm determined to make the most out of this year, especially after a horrible second year.

Till the next post; adieu!

Gaah.

I am feeling super sien-ed. So not in the mood to study. Sigh. Even looking at that piece of paper with the funny lines and squiggly things on it makes me want to groan and just climb into bed and bury myself under the covers.

School starts on Monday. My exam's on Monday.

Summer flew. Literally. Today is the coldest day yet since I came back - Autumn's certainly not delaying her arrival.

The Degraves household is complete again! Lydia came back yesterday, and the four of us, together with Dawn, went for the final night market of the summer at Victoria Market. Today we re-arranged the living room, to give it a different sort of feel, after a year of the same layout. I'd like to rearrange my bedroom as well, but I can't see how.

I realize I've never posted up pictures of the apartment nor my bedroom. An idea for a future post, I suppose, especially if I don't know what to blog about. (Another realization: I'm still very much wary about blogging personal things, hence I try to keep most of my posts general and non-specific.)

Hmm.

This blog needs something newwww. Does ANYONE want to co-blog with me? SERIOUSLY.

Of everything and everything

You can't miss that which you never had or experienced. But you can yearn for it.


When rules are made to broken. We were studying the structure of fugues in class today, and I have an excellent lecturer who does such a good job of explaining, that what may appear difficult will made you go, "Ohhhh" with understanding in an instant. And once we got pass the general overview of fugues, he went on to mention all these "exceptions" where the rules of fugue writing may not necessarily apply. And that got me thinking. Aesthetics may take a precedence over strict counterpoint writing sometimes; it's up to you to discern whether it should be this or that way. But that line, that boundary laid down by those rules... sometimes, breaking the rule does not have to sound as bad. What if it's necessary.


It's funny how a single piece of information can instantly change your mood in less than a second. To be feeling contented and at peace one second, and the next you are upset and irrationally angry.


Hopes and dreams which can daunt you or urge you ahead. What may seem impossible does not have to be impossible.


If I had a penny for every regret professed on this earth, I'd probably be a millionaire many times over.


The desire to be heard and to simply speak out, but pride and dignity gets in the way and you remain in the silence of your world.


Faces on the street you pass. Sometimes I wonder about the person behind you, who is talking on your cell; you, who looks so tired; you, busy and caught up in your own world. We're all passing faces in a sea of egocentric individuals.


When you get past a certain point, and you look back and am amazed at how far you have come. Not in terms of achievement, but in the person. The "me" now and then, two vastly different people, characters which may be hard to reconcile.






And of course I know what day it is today. Happy Valentine's Day to all out there! It just feels like any other day to me; apart from the occasional adverts and red decorations on businesses cashing in on one of the most lucrative days of the year. Call me blur (okay, fine, I am blur), but the realization that almost all the coursemates I hang out with are attached, was one which dawned upon me and a fellow unattached friend a few weeks back. (And she pointed it out first, btw. I'm not desperate or searching at all, thank you very much. Lol.)

After class today, Alamby gave out beautifully wrapped small packages of chocolate to everyone. That was really sweet of her; she said that her mom helped her the night before. Lol. She had a bagful of chocolates with her.

There you go, my only valentine ;p (she's in the 'attached' crowd, fyi).


Anyway a few friends have planned (yet another) game night tonight - the so-called "Lonely Hearts" Club. Hahaha. I've been introduced to all these new games in the past year or so, and they're all awesome, award-winning games. Try out Super Munchkin if you can get your hands on the game - a wicked, scheming game which encourages cheating, hehe. Extremely fun.

Articulate, Taboo, Pictionary - classic games, still fun, but can feel quite old after awhile. Bang! is a fun diversion should one feel the need to rest the intellect. For serious scheming, Citadels will not disappoint. Settlers is another one I tried out last year, requires a lot of thinking as well, but haven't played it enough to get a real feel of it. Another game along the lines of Citadels and Settlers (city-building and stuff) is the cute Carcassone, which is very fun as well. I hope we get to try out Ticket to Ride later on - another interesting game which we haven't tried out yet, but has been lying around.


(Well, this is a change - I think I had a post where I was raving about RPG games about two years back. Now I'm this seemingly geeky persona who enjoys "intellectual" games. =P)

One more to go!

My hands are emanating various scents of men's colognes. I think I fail at the art of spraying cologne onto the paper strips. Either I spray it too close to the strip that it backfires on my hands, or somehow the bottle refuses to spray properly so that it drips.

Or maybe it's just me.




Yes, my paper is over and done with! My Music Techniques paper went better than expected - my lecturer did mention that the MCQ section would be deliberately difficult, but I think he might have been trying to scare us into studying harder. (I have to confess that I didn't prepare much for my paper... shame on me.) I was able to finish the questions with ample time to check through for parallels or consecutives and other voice-leading errors. (It's okay, you don't have to understand that.) Now let's just hope that I passed. Sigh.

I shall be practicing intensively until next Thursday for my practical exam. I'm already feeling the nerves just thinking about it. (Another sigh.) I want to walk out the room not feeling crappy about my recital.

12 days until S'pore! I need to get my eyes checked and get my lenses or specs replaced. I fear that my astigmatism might have gone up again. I dread hearing the words, "Your astig is very high!" from the optometrist. I get it every time.

The past few days have been insane. I'm still getting over that whirlwind. I'll probably need a day to recuperate.

Gaaarhhh

So like... Jerry, you're back in Brunei!! Update, update, update!! (Honestly!!)


I love Shakespeare and all, but trying to finish up my 50% essay is killing me. No, it's the referencing and footnotings which are killing me. I hateeee footnoting and having to reference everything. Why can't we just write essays as we did back in high school? I know, I know, plagiarism and all that stuff, but for once, I'm really tempted to just say, who careeeess!!

My exam timetable isn't as bad as compared to my other friends', since I'll be done with everything by Wednesday afternoon - but this one time, I actually wish my practical exam was later. With sciences and stuff like that, you can cram, but you absolutely cannot cram practicing and learning the notes for your practical exam. (Please, God, just let me pass!)

I really ought to be finishing my essay, but I'm ranting to Ern online and creating this alternate universe where... Okay, I should stop before I start ranting here as well. Gah.

I'm totally looking forward to de-stressing after exams. But only if the idea of facing my results will disappear from my consciousness first. If anything kills the joy of holidays, it's that.

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!