of kings and concerts November 21, 2009

it’s been an interesting month..  last month, i went to cambodia as part of a team of musicians playing for King Sihanouk’s birthday celebration.  tomorrow i will be emceeing for the school’s annual concert and our Yang Dipertuan Agong will be present.  the interesting thing is that this a fulfilment of prophecy given some months back that i would be ‘playing before kings and queens’.  yeah, the queen will be there tomorrow too. God works in very interesting ways!  the reason they are attending our concert is because their 2 young children are students of the school and will be performing tomorrow.

it was the perfect opportunity get myself a baju kebaya!  i’ve always wanted one.  found a beautiful purple one at central market.  this is a picture of a beautiful kebaya i found:

the embroidery on mine isn’t as elaborate as this gorgeous one.  found a dark purple sarong to go with it.  will take some photos and post them up!

trying not to stress out about the emceeing tomorrow.  i’ll just have to speak really slowly and clearly.

i’m in a daze right now because yesterday i played in a concert and had to go teach this morning (as did a number of my colleagues!)  the concert was organised by the italian embassy and so we played all italian composers.  the giazotto adagio in gmin became giazolla.  haha.  robert the cellist changed it from a serious thing in 3/4 into a tango in 4/4.  well nobody threw any food at us or booed us off the stage so i guess it went down ok.

the hall reminded me of opera studio at the RNCM.  it was a nice setting and the acoustics were pretty good.  i started my scarlatti sonata and went completely blank after the first bar.  i don’t think that has ever happened to me before.  well, i restarted and it went ok although it could have been a lot better.  guess i shouldn’t learn a piece 3 weeks before the concert!  overall i was very happy with the duos i played with robert and antonella.  of course there had to be a good pianist in the audience.  this particular person started our conversation with “what happened to your scarlatti??”  which kind of burst my happy bubble.  i think i prefer ignorant audiences.    well well well.

i better go and do what i’m supposed to be doing.  type out my speech.  iron my clothes.

watch this space! 

oh dear. November 12, 2009

i have neglected this blog most shamefully.  tsk tsk.

my sister and I are apparently guilty of saying “Oh dear” way too much.  in fact our friends have separately teased us about it.  well, i think this terrible abandonment of a blog by yours truly warrants the use of this phrase.  OH DEAR.  (i do realise that i’m quickly losing even the brave few readers who are still checking this blog for signs of life)

on to cheerfuller topics.  I’m playing Giazotto’s Adagio in G (often attributed to Albinoni, but apparently the dude had nothing much to do with it, it was entirely Giazotto’s composition).  it’s really sad.  really beautiful.  apparently overused in movies for sad moments.  i hope i don’t play it too happily.

because i’m feeling very inexplicably happy! happy happy happy.

this week i got some pretty amazing news.  first off, my good friend turns out to be a super world class cellist.  he came in second in the rostropovich cello competition.  i was grinning from ear to ear when i found out.   it was surreal.  we used to share groceries and food with 2 other cellists. so he was our unofficial housemate even though he didn’t live in the same flat.  yes i was surrounded by cellists.  (how i survived i don’t know.  just kidding….  in case they’re reading this.  hahaha)

i’m supposed to be practising jazz right now.  it’s like an unattainable dream you know?  still it taunts me.  so close yet so far.  (it’s not close when i don’t practice, duh!)

back to my happy list.  i’m happy because i’m loved.  i’m learning to love myself more.  to be less critical of myself, to say occasionally “go, me!” (learnt that from my student), to encourage myself in the Lord.  because after all, Jesus, my absolute bestest friend loves me SO much!  i’ve decided not to waste melancholic emotions on beating myself up. To know who i really am, as God sees me, is an ongoing journey.

on this happy note, i shall say good night!

oh, and i’m going to NBT tomorrow to catch WVC trio in action.  it’s been some time.  and i managed to find people to go with me!  wheeee!

*bouncing off walls

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

of music, mice and men June 5, 2009

i knew letting my students learn ‘monsieur mouse’ on the piano and singing enthusiastically about the (french) mouse who liked to throw parties for all his friends was a bad idea.

i knew asking them to pretend a baby hamster was residing in the cupped shape of their hand on the piano would have its repercussions one day.

because last month a mouse (a rat rather!) decided to take up residence in my piano room.  i have to credit my little terror of a student (who is my most loud and hyper student) for discovering it.  as he flipped the piano lid down to close it after his lesson i saw a decidedly rodent-like face staring back at me from the piano.

i didn’t really have time to react but i did wonder if i really saw a rat looking back at me.  i had no idea how long it had been hiding there and all that time i was teaching a few feet away from it! *shudder

what would you do in such a situation?  well, the ever calm miss wong showed her student out the door. (strangely, he did not see it at all!)  after the student left i did what every self-respecting adult would do in such a situation.

“Mommmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

the only person in my family who would normally be ‘delegated’ such an unpleasant job as catching a rodent is my Dad, but he was visiting my grandparents on that day.

when my mum called him to ask his advice, he was more than smug that we were so helpless without him in the house.  hmmmmph!

after a short brainstorming session my mum and i decided to send in Plan B.

Enter:  Cory the Hero neighbour’s cat

cats are supposed to like catching mice, right?  after locating him asleep in the car park and bringing a sleepy cat into the house, we gingerly opened the door and flung him in the music room.  (Cory is often left outside his unit, so we didn’t really bother to ask my neighbour’s permission to use his cat as a rat killing machine)  Cory, being completely clueless began meowing plaintively to be let out.  Okay, we realised he didn’t know that there was a yummy afternoon snack on the piano.  so we decided to put him on the piano so that he would see it. he jumped off even before we managed to close the door.

“MEEOOOOOOOWWWWW”

(which translates:  get me out of here!  what the heck is going on!)

fine, we decided he needed more time.  after one hour of leaving the stupid blind cat in the room he still had not caught the rat.  we flung him back outside in disgust.  we needed Plan C:  buy a rat trap.

i’ve come to really like pasaraya taman tun since that day because they stock up on cage traps.  not the horribly messy ones in the tom and jerry cartoons that squashes the poor rat with sharp metal teeth you know.  (ok, fine i was thinking of the carpet more than the rat)

we baited it with some squid (mum claims it’s very effective) and left it in the room overnight.

it worked!

now what?  we still had the problem of getting rid of the rat.  if you don’t already know i’m absolutely useless at killing things (expect mosquitoes probably) and can’t bear to even hit a cockroach.  sigh.  so in the end my dad, who was by now elevated to hero status by the helpless females in the house, did the job.  he actually freed it (somewhere far away) seeing that it was still a juvenile.

this is where the third part of the title of this post comes in.  if i ever marry it will be to someone who can take care of icky pests (besides doing the dishes and his own ironing..  yes i insist on my idealised version of reality, haha)

my Dad had to have the last word.  he suggested marrying the Rentokil boss.  errrrmmmm.

i’m still here! June 4, 2009

i’ve been thinking of blogging for the last two months but never got around to it! oops. am having so much music to learn and practice right now..

i found the cutest most charming video ever on youtube. it’s a video of a quartet comprising yo yo ma, 2 honkers and a dinger on sesame street. you know the really old sesame street that you probably grew up watching (if you’re above 20 you will have watched the same ones i did!)

i just love yo yo ma’s personality.

check it out!

it was your birthday February 12, 2009

it really was! the eighth day of Chinese New Year (which began on 26th January this year) is known as ‘everybody’s birthday’.. i don’t know enough about Chinese tradition to tell you why. maybe it’s to console those people that didn’t record down birthdays like we do now.

“don’t know when you were born? don’t worry!”

or maybe the Chinese just like to have another reason to feast…

“hey, it’s my birthday! wait a minute, it’s yours too! this calls for a celebration!”

okay, enough corny jokes. i can tell you one other thing about the eighth day of new year. it’s when we always have porridge! (don’t ask me why either)

well, this year, porridge day happened to be on a sunday when i was in church til 7pm, so i wasn’t planning on cooking anything. my parents were away, so there wasn’t any homecooked food to expect. But my sister and cousin surprised me (in the middle of the sermon) with an sms that there was delicious porridge waiting for me at home.

it was GOOD… they used century egg and chicken. and in cantonese tradition, we had lettuce to go with it. in the greedy family tradition we also had prawn crackers to go with the porridge.

doesn't it look good?

and the chefs insisted that i give them credit.

we had satisfied smiles after that dinner.

now you know one more aspect of CNY (albeit with a lot of missing explanations)!

it’s 2009 January 1, 2009

and i can’t believe it! 2008 was a year of many changes – i moved cities, started career from scratch, battled a lot of lows, learnt to appreciate my parents more, had to deal with a lot of issues (not done yet!), experienced a lot of God’s divine networking magic, got planted in an amazing church which i love, made new friends, performed at places i never thought possible, took up jazz piano (it’s hard!)..

it was an eventful year. It surely was not a year i would have envisioned, or planned for myself, if we could choose or order the events of our year. and yet, there must be a reason for the learning, growing, stretching experiences that i went through.

last year, i looked forward to 2008 with a lot of enthusiasm and expectancy. this year, i’ve lost some enthusiasm, and i am afraid of making any resolutions because i don’t want to break them.

hmmmm, why is my new year post sounding rather pessimistic?

i shall not write more at the moment. i shall reflect and come back refreshed.

i need to remember that I am loved, get back to seeking God’s face and bask in His presence, make His Word real in my life again. i need to forget the past and see the new things that God is doing.  I will rejoice in the Lord my strength, my song, my all in all.

merry christmas! December 28, 2008

yes, i know it’s past Christmas..  my Christmas this year was a quiet affair, not that that’s a bad thing.  I was in Ipoh, my hometown.  Ipoh is known for its good food, fat crunchy taugeh, limestone hills..

For Christmas, we ate a simple meal at home of salt-roasted chicken and vegetables.  it was definitely much yummier than turkey..  in my opinion!

Anyway, i decided to bake before Christmas!  here’s a picture of little packages of fruit cake which i made for friends.  (thanks woo for baking this batch, wrapping and tying the ribbons on the cakes!)

have a good holiday people!

Dotty madness December 15, 2008

i’m bored!  bored of being cooped up at home because i’m a hazard to anyone who hasn’t had chicken pox.  boo.  so far i’ve resisted the urge to name each spot.  although there’s a big one on my forehead called John.  don’t ask me why.  it was a very random w.w.w.w. moment.   (i reaslise i may be losing my readers at this moment if i’m not careful…  Please read on!  i promise to be coherent!)

i shall be good.  i will practice tomorrow!  that’s a good way to utilise my time!  i’m learning Beethoven’s sonata in E major Op. 109.  it’s beautiful..  let’s hope it will sound that way when i can play it.

my ’solo piano life manager’ will be happy to read this.  she gave me a good talking-to about my practicing (of the lack of it).   i also have a ‘general life manager’ or otherwise known as my sister.  and yes, they were self-appointed. but you gotta love these people who care about your future.  (awww..)

i’m now at a critical stage.  one wrong move and i could be scarred for life…  i’ve already accidentally scratched a few of the pox!!  oh dear.  i was smugly explaining to my sis that i had mastered the art of scrathing ‘in between’ the pox…  but alas…  oh well, it’s ok.  scars give character.  right?  haha.

i guess i should stop talking before i become this pox-ridden-obsessive-introspective-blogger.  i will try and leave John out in my next post.

thank you my dear readers, for your patience.

don’t join the dots December 11, 2008

i’m sitting here at the computer…  being careful not to rest my left wrist on the keypad…  because there’s a tiny but nasty swell on it.  i have been diserang ayam to quote my old additional maths teacher.  attacked by the chicken.  not literally.. but i’m having chicken pox.  (you can laugh now you cruel beings)

how did i realise it?  the way millions of others self-diagnose:  google.  i watched with increasing horror as an image of a single bubble-like chicken pox that horrifically matched the few i was having on my body started loading on the computer screen.    the caption:  “a classic case of early chicken pox”.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!

was my initial reaction.  this can’t be hapening to me.  but it was and is…  thanks to modern medincine, i can probably be well in a week…  i don’t know…  my Christmas plans to go to Kuching to meet up with old friends and attend a wedding is hanging in the balance…  by a thread… by a pox….!  (sorry, it’s not even a joke i realise)

allow me to go back to my pity party..

You made me smile October 25, 2008

Had a long day at work..  felt kind of like a crappy teacher. didn’t start out that way.  I was reading “Teach with your strengths”, a book i recently picked up at the MPH warehouse sale and felt pretty good reading it.  I felt confident that i was in the ‘great teachers’ category. (haha..  so perasan!)

but of course something had to happen.  it wasn’t something really, but my frustration with my inability to really engage a particular student.  or two students, to be exact.  but anyway, that’s not the point.  i was just tired and feeling kind of deflated after the concert (post concert blues?  it’s a long story actually..)

And Then (a very necessary injunction in most Malaysian story telling)

when i reached home, i saw this huge bouquet of orchids!  AND a paper bag with a nice ribbon on it…  i perked up immediately..

they were both from my aunt – the paper bag contained had a really pretty beaded grey top!  the flowers were for my mum, but that didn’t matter – flowers never EVER fail to cheer me up.  and since my mum is away, they’re MINE!!!  somehow i also felt that it was a little secret surprise from God!  This isn’t the first time i’ve got flowers just when i needed it!  tell you about the other incident some other time.  =) my lovely aunt is such a gift-giver.. i’ve been getting gifts from her from the time i was a kid!

Aren’t they pretty?

i love orchids!

improvised a vase from this jar