Art and Nature Journaling

I sketch for the pleasure of it, and it was quite interesting to read about art and nature journalling from this blog: A Circle of Quiet: Art and Nature Journaling

Oh yes, I agree with the author of this post:

Just give it a try. Drawing is a discipline, and if you want to learn to draw, you do have to draw (duh, right?) Practice, don't give up, and do a little each week. It can bring you some joy, and eventually it can be a volume filled with your own work. Priceless.

I do not do regular art journalling, but I do sketch from time to time. At this moment, I have at least three volumes of sketch books. It isn't so much the final product, it is the process of sketching. I find it brings me to better appreciate what I have had sketch. Furthermore, sketching urges me to focus and concentrate in its process, so it somehow frees my mind from the mundane concerns during the process. Perhaps this is what I call "the simple pleasures of sketching"?

Poor in Singapore

My friend, Jing, asked me this evening if I had read the Saturday Special Report found on The Straits Times on 29 Jan 2005. This was a series of articles related to the topic: Poor in Singapore

The Straits Times is one of the most widely-read local English newspaper in Singapore. However, because my family does not subscribe to it, I do not usually read it. Instead, I read the local Chinese newspaper. This is considered rather rare for people of my age. At least I know many of my peers do not read Chinese newspapers. Anyway, I happen to read that article that my friend had mentioned. This was possible because one of my colleagues regularly forward me digest versions of the Straits Times via email almost every work day.

Anyway, here's a link to the article: http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/sub/saturdayspr/0,5620,43026-1107035940,00.html?. I believe you would be requested to sign up and log in to Straits Times Interactive.

Perhaps you may have insights to share about how we can reach out to the poor and help them help themselves, so please feel free to leave your comments.

A more beautiful night

The night seems more beautiful when good music is being played.

I am listening to this CD which is titled: The Rubinstein Collection, Frédéric Chopin's 19 Nocturnes. I think Chopin's Nocturnes are very beautiful. I like their meditative character, and the seemingly gentle pace in them. Furthermore, Arthur Rubinstein is playing them, and I think he has played well.

Maybe my friend, Mystic, may like listening to Chopin's Nocturnes? Then again, she may claim that she has yet to develop the taste for such a genre of music, and may in the end be soothed to sleep by the apparent nocturnal feel of the music.

Anyway, I loaned this CD from the library. I think I have made quite a wise decision to get the premiere library membership. Though its collection is not the most comprehensive, at least now I could gain access to loan some good recordings.

Not a perfect day for photo-taking

This afternoon, I was at library@esplanade to return the two CDs that I had loaned out last week. Since I was there and that I will be going to Esplanade anyway this Friday, I decided to loan some other CDs. A pity that I did not manage to find any recordings of some of my favourite Dvorak's works. Anyway, I loaned CDs of recordings of works composed by Chopin, Rachmaninov, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky.

This afternoon was not a good day for photo-taking. The skies were rather cloudy and dull in colour. I walked from the library to the Esplanade Park. It was nice and comforting to see that someone had mended the broken glass of the spot-lights that were to shine on the Botero's sculptures exhibited at the Esplanade Park. With a sense of comfort, I continued my walk to the Merlion Park.

Next stop was the Empress Place Asian Civilisation Museum. However, I did not spend much time there.

I must have been quite in love with walking. After my short visit to the museum, I walked towards Funan Centre and then walked all the way to Orchard MRT station.

For those of you who have read my post last Sunday, below is a photo that I have taken on that day. I have posted a few more photos on my other blog. You may like to visit: http://oceanskies79places.blogspot.com/


A peaceful and bright Sunday along Marina Promenade. Taken on 23 Jan 2005. 

Tchaikovsky's Symphony No 5

It is early Sunday morning. I have taken breakfast, and am treating my ears to Tchaikovsky's Symphony No 5. Playing on my personal computer's CD player is the recording of the symphony, conducted by Valery Gergiev, played by the Wiener Philharmoniker (Vienna Philharmonic).

This recording is actually a live recording, and somehow there is this sense of "life" in it. The fun part about listening to music live is that somehow, live performances are unpredictable. Somehow, audience's responses during a live performance may also influence the way the musicians respond to the music. Furthermore, to play well during a live performance and to be totally involved in the music playing, players have to concentrate absolutely. I think the Vienna Philharmonic did very well for this recording.

There is a write-up of the Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64 found at: http://www.tchaikovsky.host.sk/work/sym5.htm (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Page)

I seem to keep hearing a series of conflicts occuring within the symphony itself. The tempo changes rather dramatically at various points of the symphony, and so does the mood. It was as if the symphony was a creative attempt to depict the emotional and psychological conflicts that the composer (or anyone person) could be facing at times of his life.

It will be nice if my orchestra could play the entire symphony. Somehow, it feels rather incomplete to just play one particular movement from a symphony. Anyway, I know for certain that for the performance on 9 Mar 2005, the orchestra will only be playing the first movement of this symphony. A pity.

Busy Chinatown

This afternoon, my colleague and myself were in office to organise a sharing session at our centre. The speaker shared about her experiences as a divorced single-parent and her learning points. I felt I have gained some insights from attending her sharing session.

Her sharing somehow projected a sense of hope that no matter how tough things may seem, if one works slowly yet steadily towards changes, one could still bring about improvements in one's life.

She highlighted how she felt it was useful for her to spend time to build rapport with her children, and how it was helpful not to speak any ill about the ex-spouse. Her sharing also reminded me of the value of self-care for single-parents. The responsibilities can be demanding at times, and it could be helpful to find time to relax and get a breather. Finding support seemed to be another theme that I recall hearing during the sharing.

It has been invaluable to attend the session. Thankful to the speaker for taking time out to share her experiences.

***

After the sharing session, my colleagues and myself made a trip to Chinatown. We had dinner at the Chinatown Complex. Afterwhich, we walked around various parts of Chinatown.

Lining along Pagoda Street, Temple Street and Smith Street were many stalls. There were stalls selling Chinese New Year festive goods, food and even decorative items. Chinatown was pretty crowded and busy with lots of people. It must be because Chinese New Year is approaching very soon. Somehow, people have associated Chinatown with the celebrating of the Chinese New Year.

Here's sharing a photo that I have taken at Chinatown today. Happy Chinese New Year!


Chinatown before the Chinese New Year. 

Nice refreshment during orchestra rehearsal's break

Once again, orchestra rehearsals have resumed after the Yellow River Cantata performance.

Rare it is that nice refreshments are served during the orchestra rehearsal's break. Anyway, there was a good spread of food and refreshment served tonight during the rehearsal break.

This evening, the orchestra had its Annual General Meeting. (In Singapore, where there's generally a rather fast pace of life, we would rather use acronyms for nouns which contain long strings of syllables. So most of us would use "AGM" to refer to "Annual General Meeting".) The main purpose of the AGM is not to report to the members what we have done for the past year. We won't be so interested in verbal report than to play music. Anyway, tonight's AGM was intended for the members to vote and elect the orchestra's team of executive committee members.

Being a university orchestra, it was expected that the key people in the executive committee should ideally be under-graduates of the university. Furthermore, the graduates and the guest members are likely to have more work commitments. As such, graudated-members like myself were spared from being elected as executive committee. Anyway, I have already contributed my services to orchestra during my undergraduate years.

It took about an hour and a half to listen to the speeches by all the nominated candidates and to vote. While the votes were counted, all the orchestra members were treated to a delightful spread of refreshment during the break. There were Korean-style kimchi (preserved vegetables), grilled chicken wings, fruits, bee-hoon, sushi rolls and sausages. There were also drinks to go along with the food, though I did not drink a single drop.

For a moment, I thought that it was a good idea to arrange for the refreshment. That would entice people to come for both the AGM and the rehearsal that followed thereafter.

After the break, we sight-read the first movement from the Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. There were a few passages that I felt I needed more practice. I asked my stand-partner for a few tips on how to play those passages better. I hope I could do the parts better the next rehearsal.

During our reading of the symphony, there were a few camera-men trying to film us in action. I wonder why they were here? Mystery for me for tonight.

Right now, I am just trying to force a closure to this post. It is already 12.25 a.m. past midnight. Good night.

Clinical Review

I wonder if it was a matter of "good luck"? Ever since the idea of conducting clinical review meetings was introduced last year, I always happen to be the first person to present for every year. I was the first to present last year, and I was still the first to present this year.

The clinical review meetings were meant for our department's professional staff (i.e. the counsellors and the social workers). Clinical review meetings are organised about once every four weeks. For each meeting, one professional staff will present a video recording of one of his/ her counselling or case work sessions to the rest of the professional team. We are rostered to be the presenter for each of the clinical review meetings.

In short, the purpose of these clinical review meetings is to improve our skills in our work with our clients. During these meetings, the rest of the team will give feedback to the presenter about what they observed about the presenter's use of interviewing or counselling skills, as presented in the recording. In turn, we hope such an exercise would help hone each of our skills and improve our practice, and in turn benefit our clients.

For your information, we do not do video recording of our client without their consent. In fact, we will get informed-consent from our clients after trying to explain to them the purpose and the nature of doing a video recording of the session. The video recordings are treated with great respect. We locked the tapes in secured lockers, and once we are done with the tape, we will erase the recordings. Furthermore, the members of the professional team who have watched the tape are required to abide by the professional code of ethics, part of which includes observing confidentiality. We have a lay-man term for that "What is shown and discussed in the room, stays within this room".

My colleagues offered some encouraging feedback on what I had done well for that session. At the same time, they also offered constructive feedback on ways I could have done differently for the sesion. There has been quite a lot of learning for me from today's clinical review session.

But by the end of the session, I felt totally drained from the discussion, the interaction, and the processing of all the information that was shared during the session. One thing for sure, my head started to ache, and I felt very mentally tired. Maybe my preference for introversion starts to show after I meet with a group of people?

Entertaining myself with Doll making

I was reading Waterfall's blog this evening, and chanced upon this fun idea of Doll making.

Apparently, there is this website where you could design and create you very own doll. Its sweet sounding name (eLouai's Candybar Doll Maker) did not appeal much to me, but the concept of designing one's doll did.

This is the doll that I came up with. It's quite close to how I would like to have myself portrayed if anyone decides to make a doll based on me.

(I would have preferred myself without the cap, but I couldn't find a suitable hairstyle that I like from the selection. Anyway, it seemed a good idea to wear a cap when the sun is shining so brightly.)

Short Post about Dvorak

Even though I am actually listening to Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 tonight, I shall write a post about Anton Dvorak.

Waterfall has wrote a comment on my previous blog to ask what would be "recommended listening" to get acquainted with Dvorak's music. This got me thinking. I must confess that I am not the expert where music is concerned. I have never been majored in music for one thing.

I could say that I have a personal liking for many of Dvorak's music. Many of his music somehow has this "down-to-earth" and "country-like scenic" feel which appeal very much to my ears.

Perhaps if you would like to find out a little more about Dvorak and his music, here is a site you could try checking out:
http://dvorak.musicabona.com/

Though I have yet to listen to all the works by Dvorak, I find the works to be mentioned below very nice ones among those that I have listened to.

• Romance in f minor for violin and orchestra, Opus: 11 (I especially like the recording that is played by Itzhak Perlman which I have heard over the classical radio station.)
• Violoncello Concerto No.2 in b minor, Opus: 104
• Violin Concerto in a minor, Opus: 53

In addition, I generally like the symphonies and string quartets written by Dvorak, at least those that I have had a chance to listen to. For now, I just hope that Waterfall would like listening to my "recommended listening" to some extent?

By the way, Waterfall is author of a thoughtful and well-written blog. You may wish to check out her blog: http://asortofnotebook.blogspot.com/ (I keep my fingers crossed that she won't mind me putting a link to her blog.)

Listening to Haydn

I am feeling rather tired from the day of work. I had been working since 8.45 a.m., and had only left my office at 9.30 p.m. because tonight I was on night duty. Of course, there were lunch break and short moments of break along the way.

I listened to the CD of some works by Haydn this morning. Specifically, I listened to the Cello Concerto 1. It sounded nice. Haydn's music gives me a different "feel" as compared to that of Mozart. I have yet to find the right words to describe. Both are nice in their own ways.

At the same time, it didn't seem to do much justice to nice music by listening to it when one is feeling tired. I felt I could not appreciate it at its full value.

Right now, I am listening to the Haydn's Cello Concerto No 2. I have just finished listening to the second movement. I guess I shall finish listening to the third (the last movement) of the concerto. That is a nice way to give proper closure to tonight's listening endeavours.

Last but not the least, I have Waterfall to thank for getting me interested in listening to Haydn. Her post titled For Haydn Seekers led me to an article which tempted me to listen to Haydn, for the sake of curiosity. But listening to Haydn's Cello Concerto, I actually still prefer Dvorak's. Yet, Haydn's has merits in its own ways.

Respect and appreciate works of art

Yesterday, I was at the Esplanade Park with my friend Mystic. Since the weather was good for taking photographs, I very gladly took several photographs of the sculptures by Botero that were there.

It has been a while since the sculptures were exhibited at the Esplanade Park. The Esplanade Park seemed to look more interesting and artistic with the presence of these sculptures. Quite a number of tourists also pass by the area to take a look at some of the monuments located nearby the park. Supposedly, there would be lots of people who could be blessed with the chance to view and appreciate these sculptures.

Nature can produce destructive forces but it did not seem to have spoiled any of these sculptures to much signifcance. So it was disappointing, that man-made forces have caused damages to several of the spot-lights that were meant to throw light at the sculptures when the day turns dark. I would cry if I were the artist.

If it helps, let this post be a gentle reminder for us all to give due respect and appreciate these works of art. They were meant to add some beauty to our lives. Surely keeping them the way that they were meant to be would be within our control?

Nice Weather on 23 Jan 2005

Empress Place, Old Parliament House and the clock tower of Victoria Concert Hall.

A day of walking - To chill out

Maybe the rest yesterday was meant to recharge me so that I could go for a whole day of walking today. So I guess it is a sign to show that it helps to try to put things into a perspective that serves one's well-being?

I would like to take this chance to thank mistipurple for the kind and helpful comments meant to help put things back to perspective. Thanks dear.

Back to the topic: This morning, I left home before 10 a.m. in the morning. I went to the Singapore Art Museum again. This time, I had wanted to view the exhibition titled Faith & Being. This is an exhibition showcasing the works of various Thai artists. I must admit that I have yet to have sufficient exposure of the works of these artists to be able to truly appreciate their art. Anyway, hopefully my humble attempt of viewing the exhibition will mark a small step forward in appreciating their art.

I went to view the exhibition featuring Botero's works again when I was at the art museum. The museum guide today was a nice middle-age gentleman, but I still miss the previous museum guide who guided me for the Botero's exhibition. The previous guide was able to be more detailed in his account of Botero's works probably because he only needs to guide the Botero's exhibition. My guide today has to give us a guide to the Faith & Being and the Botero's exhibitions.

After slightly more than an hour at the Singapore Art Museum, I walked to the Marina Food Loft to have lunch. I had the Indian curry for lunch, and it was pretty satisfying.

Next stop was the Esplanade - Theatres by the Bay. I walked down to the Marina Park, if that is what it is called. The sun today was pretty good for photography. You might have guessed that I took a few photographs along the way. I felt quite at peace and in the sync to walk along the park, just enjoying the moments. Maybe such a feeling is what my friend, mystic, terms as "timeless love"? I took yet another set of photographs of the Botero's sculptures which were displayed in the vicinity of the Esplanade - Theatres by the Bay. The photographs do look better under the nice sunny light.

Mystic was nice to be my company for the rest of the afternoon. She joined me at about 2 p.m. We had wanted to meet at the Esplanade - Theatres by the Bay's roof-top, but it was not opened to public for today. Anyway, this is not an excuse for us to have our moods dampened. I requested to go to the library@esplanade, and Mystic very graciously obliged. I checked out the audio-visual materials that the library has for loan, and I decided to upgrade my library membership to a Premiere membership. Such an upgrade will allow me to loan the audio-visual materials, and also more books. I am feeling quite pleased about having a Premiere membership. It felt like a worthwhile investment. The first two CDs that I loaned was a CD of Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, and another CD of music by Hadyn.

When I was feeling happy with the two CDs that I have loaned, Mystic and I left to walk around the Esplanade - Theatres by the Bay. Then the next stop that followed was the Esplanade Park. I asked my friend to go there because I would like to take the photographs of some of the Botero's sculptures that were exhibited there. At the Esplanade Park, I did one sketch too. It has been quite a while since I have a new entry in my sketchbook. Today's entry was reasonably up to expectations, I hope. After the sketch, we walked and before we realised, we were at Boat Quay.

As if half an afternoon of walking and sightseeing was not enough, I requested to walk up the Fort Canning Hill after getting a bottle of mineral water from Funan Centre. It felt delightful to be at the Raffles Terrace that was at the top of the Fort Canning Hill. I imagined how the island of Singapore used to look like from this part of the hill before there was any high-rise buildings, and it was rather fascinating. I quite enjoyed walking through the paths of the Fort Canning Park, and listening to the sounds of Nature that I encountered along the way. I wonder how Mystic was experiencing the walk through the park?

For me, the walk was like a way to chill out. I could walk the pace that I would like. I could see the sights that I like. Momentarily, I felt I owned every single moments of the walk that I had taken. Maybe slowing down would help one better appreciate the beauty in the walk?

Soon it was time for dinner, and the agreed-upon venue for dinner was the Le Meridien Hotel. I figured Mystic might have been quite tired from the walk by now. Admittedly, my feet were feeling weary from the day of walking. So we stopped for a short rest at the Istana Park before proceeding for dinner.

After dinner, we walked past the Istana Park and all the way to Raffles City. Hopefully, the evening skies could heal one's hurts and disappointments, and make one stronger? There were quite a lot of questions asked this evening, and maybe it takes much humility to say that we do not know the answers to many of the tests that Life has for us all?

The walk today proved to be a long one. Part of it allowed me to retreat to my internal world, which happens to be a preferred place to be. Anyway, I was a little caught by surprise to see my cheeks quite red by the end of the day. Hopefully, the sightings, sounds and the air from today's walk would help one feel some solitude and peace. Actually, I think it did for me.

Need to be revitalised

Maybe my mind and body are trying to recharge themselves. Today I spent much of the time at home, resting and taking naps. At the same time, I doubt if there was any help in this routine of resting. On one hand, I did need to catch up on my rest; on the other hand, such kind of rest did not seem to revitalise me much.

For now, I shall just enjoy the classical radio station. It just seems that my mind isn't in the mood to be quite productive the whole of today. It is in a passive stage, I would suppose?

Friday evening at Art Museum

Yesterday was Friday. For your information, there is free admission to the Singapore Art Museum on Fridays, from 6pm to 9 pm.

There is currently a few interesting exhibitions being showcased at the Singapore Art Museum. One is Botero in Singapore, the blockbuster exhibition of Fernando Botero's monumental sculptures and paintings. The other is the one titled Russel Wong: Photographs 1980 - 2005 which showcases celebrity photographer Russel Wong's signature pieces.

I was at the museum last evening with mystic. There was quite a lot of people at the museum last evening as compared to during the museum's regular opening hours. I missed having a museum guide, and the peace and quietness that the exhibition halls had during the regular opening hours. Then again, it was good for the art museum to be able to draw such a good crowd. That is an indication that people have a growing interest in appreciating the arts.

Mystic seemed to like the oil paintings of Botero.

Yours truly was pleased to have introduce a friend to visit the art museum. Good works of art are meant to be shared.

Yet again, I ain't sure if I had been a good company when my brain had difficulting thinking last evening.

Anyway, if you are residing in Singapore and you would like to but have yet to catch the exhibition featuring Botero's works, Friday evenings are good time to do so. If you like the works, I recommend that you come during the museum's regular opening hours and attend one of the guided tours. I find guided tours to be helpful in lending you insights on how to better appreciate the artist's works. The exhibition is till 27 Feb 2005.

Do I Have a Type A Personality?

You Have A Type A- Personality

A- You are one of the most balanced people around. Motivated and focused, you are good at getting what you want. You rule at success, but success doesn't rule you. When it's playtime, you really know how to kick back. Whether it's hanging out with friends or doing something you love! You live life to the fullest - encorporating the best of both worlds.

Do You Have a Type A Personality?

Quiet Time at the Library

Since it was rather unfruitful to continue shopping for clothes at Junction 8, I decided to travel back to my neighbourhood to have a hair-cut. Technically speaking, should I say that I had a "hair-trim" instead? If one is not observant, one may not notice that I have had a hair-cut. Afterall, I only had my hair cut by one inch throughout.

Anyway, after the hair-cut, I decided to go to the nearby library. I was trying to find some good reads to enrich my mind. I picked up one of the books and started reading it on a sofa.

I realised I had spent close to an hour reading chapters of the book. It was quite a peaceful experience to be at the library this afternoon. It felt like as if I was chilling out at the library. The library was relatively quiet, except for some occasional noises from a few teenagers many metres away. The sofa was comfortably cosy, and it faces a window with a pleasant view of a palm tree and the blue skies. A short afternoon rather well-spent at the library. Not only did I managed to enrich my mind, I also allowed myself to relax in a rather peaceful environment. I shall do it more often in the future.

Before I end this post, I shall give credits to the National Library Board, Singapore for its good work in developing a relevant and responsive library system, and managing the libraries so well.

Shopping for clothes is more a task than a pleasure

I claimed time-off this afternoon.

Trying to please my mother who has been urging me to buy pants and clothes for the Chinese New Year, I went to Junction 8 (a shopping complex). During the Chinese New Year, one is expected to wear new clothes.

I could appreciate this custom if I were living in the long past whereby many people would only buy new clothes once a year. Now, at this part of the world where we are living in, we could be quite affluent and it is quite common for many to buy new clothes every month.

Anyway, I made a point to glance into almost every shop in the shopping complex, and made the effort to go into almost every shop that sells pants and/ or clothes. A pity, nothing seems to have caught my fancy. So I ended up empty-handed, which I won't be surprised.

Where shopping is concerned, I won't mind shopping for books, stationery or gifts if there wasn't a crowd. However, I do find it not quite a pleasure to shop for clothes. For one thing, I do not like the crowd that often presents itself at most of the shops that sells clothes. I don't quite like the music of many of the stores. Some music can turn me off the moment that I step into the store. More importantly, if I had the time, I would rather spend my time doing other things rather than shopping for clothes. So in the end, the act of shopping for clothes has only functional purposes to serve than recreational purposes.

I just wonder why many people finds it a pleasure to shop for clothes. This is something I could not fully appreciate.

Well, I try to cope by imagining that I am in a museum viewing exhibits, and trying to appreciate the colours and texture of the clothes. That helps a bit.

Van Gogh cards

I got a delightful gift today from a colleague of mine today. It was a set of blank greeting cards with the prints of Van Gogh's paintings. She went to New Zealand for holidays and I suppose she has gotten the set of cards when she was there?

Probably it takes someone who likes the works of Vincent Van Gogh to appreciate these cards. Maybe this is why I see the the set of cards as a delightful gift.

My favourite from the set of cards is that with the print of the work: Cafe Terace on the Place du Forum, Arles, at Night (September 1888). Somehow I am attracted to the dark yet tranquil feel of the work.The stars look beautiful against the dark blue skies.

To this colleague of mine: Thanks for the gift.

Performed at the Esplanade Concert Hall at last

Morning, 16 Jan 2005: I reached the Teochew Building just before 11.30 a.m. to help move the instruments to Esplanade Concert Hall. There was about seven of us to help with the transportation of the instruments. Thankfully, Teochew Building has a cargo lift. I can't quite imagine moving instruments with a twisted ankle, using the stairs.

Sometime after noon: The lorries drove us to the Esplanade's loading and unloading bay. This is the first time that I have been to this part of the Esplanade.

1 p.m.: We were told that we could wait at the Artiste's Lounge until it is our turn for the rehearsals. It's quite a cosy looking place. Guess what? It has a personal computer with broad-band facilities. One of my section mates started surfing the internet the moment she sat at the computer area. There are even a vending machine, a television, and a phone in the lounge.

2.30 p.m.: This is the time that we were supposed to have our rehearsals, now at the Esplanade Concert Hall. It is quite an experience to play at the Esplanade Concert Hall, but I have no adjective to describe the experience at this moment. I played on my instrument during the rehearsals, and I have a sense that the acoustics of the Esplanade Concert Hall is better than that of the University Cultural Hall. The hall looks nice too.

We rehearsed the Yellow River Cantata with the rest of the choir. I think the conductor is testing how responsive and alert the orchestra is. I think he has changed the tempo for various parts of the repertoire. The soprano needs to sing a particular note more in tune. But maybe, it is just my ears?

Before 5 p.m.: Rehearsals ended. I wonder why we had to bring forward the rehearsal with the choir from 3 p.m to 2.30 p.m. Anyway, I was rather tired to bother.

Evening: Aside from having a chance to play in the Esplanade Concert Hall, I think the next best thing this concert has offered me is a nice dinner. Dinner tasted nice while hot, other than looking presentable. The dinner was served in packages that looked like those bento packages. It was better than the usual dinner packages that we had in some of the past concerts. If I remember correctly, we had lemon chicken, vegetables, and dofu with rice.

Waiting for our turn: Even though our item was after the interval, and that the performance was to start only at 7.30 p.m. We were asked to be at the backstage by 6.45 p.m. A little early, but then it gives me the excuse to take short naps at the backstage. I was actually feeling rather tired by 6 p.m. when I went out with a few of my section mates to an ice-cream restaurant to chill out. I did not even have the appetite to eat ice-cream. Anyway, I better not. Ice-cream is not an ideal choice before a performance for someone with a sensitive throat.

Backstage: Dinah, my stand partner, was very sweet to give each of us in the section a rose.

On the stage, after the interval: We were told to be seated on the stage at our respective places. The lights that threw on the stage was rather bright and warm, and as a result I felt the temperature of the air-con of the hall was a little too warm. I have this problem, when the hall is warm and the air-con is not cold enough, my sweaty-palms problem shows up. In fact, both my palms were sweating, and I had to make sure that the double bass bow would not slipped off my hand. (Maybe one day, someone could invent a fanning system to dry up the sweaty-palms from the hands of a musician?)

Anyway, I am pleased to say that I have finally performed on the stage of the Esplanade Concert Hall.

After the Schubert's piece, Mr Lim, our orchestra's very own conductor gave us a "thumbs-up" gesture. I wonder if he is trying to be encouraging to us? Anyway, I felt the double bass section sounded a little better for this piece during the concert as compared to during our previous rehearsals.

Yellow River Cantata: Quite a success, we should say. The Cantata was well-received by the audience. I find that we were playing at a slightly faster tempo than usual for several parts of the Cantata. Anyway, I think the choir and the orchestra members gave their best, and that was most important.

I used to like the second and sixth movement of the Cantata before we had rehearsed with the soloists. Then after rehearsing with the choir and soloists, I find that my preference has changed to like the third, fourth and seventh movement.

After concert: It was photo-taking time.

Packing up: To ensure that the double basses are safely loaded up the trucks, a few of the double bassists helped to carry and move the double basses. Our instruments may look large, but can be rather fragile, you see. And the subtitle for this section is a reminder that I shall sign off here.

The double bass section. 

The Stage

Stage set up for the Yellow River Cantata.

The hall that I played in last night

Esplanade Concert Hall. Experience its grandeur.

16 Jan - Performance Time

It is past midnight, on 16 Jan 2005. I got home about less than an hour ago from rehearsals. Yes, the rehearsals for the Yellow River Cantata performance.

Just about a few hours ago, the orchestra and the choir had a full run-through of the Yellow River Cantata. In about more fourteen hours later, we will have yet another rehearsal at the Esplanade Concert Hall. Then, about five to six hours thereafter, will be the time for the actual performance.

I shall not attempt to write too much for now. I shall catch up on my rest soon. Good night.

Past-Midnight Post

Yet another round of rehearsals this evening. I am quite tired to write much about it.

After the rehearsals, I went to have supper with a few of my orchestra mates along Orchard Road, at the Glutton Square. The fried kuay teow that I had gotten tasted nice, though was not a most healthy choice at that time of the night.

Right now, I am just contemplating the thought of trading in my current personal double bass for a easier to play and better sounding one. The double bass that I use in the orchestra makes playing scales more easier as compared to my very own personal double bass.

At the same time, very own personal double bass does has its merits. It has a nice deep resonating sound on its E string. Anyway, I have yet to come to the point of taking any action to trade my current personaly double bass. I am just thinking of the possibility of changing for another instrument.

At this hour of the night, I do not think I could be much fluent in my thoughts. So I shall just end it here.

First Rehearsal with the Choir

A short post for tonight.

This evening, the orchestra has its first rehearsal with the choir in preparation for the performance titled Yellow River Cantata. I checked up the SISTIC website just a moment ago, and found out that most of the tickets for this performance have been sold out, except for the $100 tickets. It's quite a well-received performance, I should say.

Trying to adjust to the choir, and I suppose this is mutual. It is quite a feat to only have three rehearsals together just before the actual performance, and the best strategy is to make the most out of what we have.

One of the choir members asked me how long the orchestra had practised for this item. I did not give her an answer. Afterall, it requires at least months and years of practising to build a foundation whereby we could play an instrument with reasonably ease. It will be rather misleading to just factor in the hours that we had spent solely on this item. We would have dismissed the months or years of foundation that has made playing our instrument possible.

I shall close here. I am feeling rather tired now to write any more.

A precious afternoon break

This afternoon, I took time-off from work. To ensure the professional staff do not get burned out, we are allowed to claim time-off for the extra hours we work after office hours for the office's regular night duties and for seeing our clients. At the same time, I would need to qualify to my readers that the people in my office will not be allowed to claim time-off for administrative duties like working on paper work. The time-off is strictly for seeing and attending to clients face-to-face, and for the night duties we each have to do once a fornight.

This afternoon's break is rather precious. It will be my only free afternoon away from work and rehearsals for the entire week. Ah! Precious time for myself!

Most weekday afternoons this week have been and will be spent at the workplace. Yes, except today's. Last night and the night before, I was working in the office. If you think I could claim time-off, I couldn't, because my clients who were supposed to turn up did not do so at the last minute. I ended up doing paper work the two evenings. Starting tomorrow, there will be rehearsals everyday until the Yellow River Cantata performance comes to a close. So I must say, even this evening is rather precious, that I could rest and relax at home. Phew.

This Saturday afternoon, my workplace will be holding a funfair cum family day, to help residents of the district get more acquainted with our services. All staff of the centre will have to be there. I am just glad that I need not have to be the in-charge for the game stalls nor the food stalls. My role for this coming Saturday is to take photographs. At least this is something I would not consider a chore. Now I just hope that I could rush to the rehearsal venue in time after the funfair. Yes, there is still rehearsal on Saturday evening.

Coming Sunday afternoon, I will be rehearsing at the Esplanade Concert Hall. I have yet to play there, so I am quite eager to find out how my playing would sound in that hall. I was forewarned that the hall is not a friendly hall to play in for the musicians. It is considered more audience friendly, for the audience gets a hear each and every sound that is produced on the stage rather clearly. Hopefully, the rehearsal in the hall would help us adjust to the acoustics of the hall and make the most out of it. Then on Sunday evening, I will play the Yellow River Cantata with the rest of my orchestra-mates, to accompany the choir. I quite look forward to it.

For now, I shall just enjoy my precious evening.

My client deserves a round of applause

I met one of my clients for a session this afternoon. For the purpose of confidentiality, I would not give any detail of her case. This post will be written based on my own experience of today's session.

I met her today to be updated about how things have been with herself and her family. She updated me, and we both noted many positive changes that has happened since the last half a year. I think she deserves a round of applause for all that determination and effort that she has put in to bring about positive changes.

Looking back, she has come very far to reach where she is now. I applaud for her and congratulate her for her efforts paid off.

I have learnt a lot from her. Despites the ups and downs life present, she did not give up hope. It is touching to hear her experiencing the positive changes, and these were possible because she has put in her heart and lots of effort to bring about these changes. Somehow, during the session, I felt quite moved to hear how she has brought about positive changes for herself and her family. May the spirit of strength and hope continue to be with her and her family as they face the many everyday challenges that life has to bring.

Post graduate study?

In my previous blog, I wrote about Cardiff University as a potential choice to consider. I must admit I have yet to do enough research on my side regarding the choices of overseas postgraduate programme available.

On the pragmatic side, it would probably help me be a more effective social worker if I were to sign up for a postgraduate programme in social work. Often I find myself not thinking broad and deep enough on certain social issues when I managed some of my cases, and I am hoping that a postgraduate programme could equip me with the necessary skills and knowledge to think more critically on such issues, so as to make more comprehensive assessments.

At the same time, I fear it would be difficult to keep myself sufficiently motivated throughout the entire course, for somehow, I still feel I am short of a sense of conviction and commitment that would be required to sustain me throughout an entire postgraduate programme in social work.

If I could rationalise my hesitancy, perhaps it was because of a not-so-positive experience working on thesis. I did not have a positive experience trying to work on my thesis when I was doing my Honours programme in social work. I felt I was not leaving up to my own standards doing the thesis, and yet I had no interest to do anything to do well in the thesis either, for half-way my momentum was lost. In the end, I felt unsatisfied with the experience of doing the thesis. It was not fulfilling for me to work on the thesis for the sake of getting it done and securing my honours degree, and not for the sake of the pure joy of learning.

I learnt that a suitable choice of a thesis topic might help, but I have no topic at this point that I would be interested to study in greater depth. Somehow, my perception is that while doing a thesis could be fulfilling, it is also demanding in that it requires good planning to design the study, collect the data, prepare the data for analysis, analyse the data and write the report. I think I still have more to work on to prepare myself to meet the demands of postgraduate study. A clear sense of direction and momentum for postgraduate study seems missing in me and I have been trying to develop it, though not to my satisfaction yet.

In some ways, I acknowledge I am trying hard to make sure history does not repeat itself. Pursuing further education can be fun, and I do wish I could doing whatever reflection and preparation that would be necessary to pave the way of an enjoyable and fulfilling learning experience at the post-graduate level.

Take it as sheer stubborness, I would like to study in Europe. It is my dream to experience the European culture, and if possible, to tour the various museums in Europe while I study in Europe.

To make sure I don't bore myself with too much courses in social work, and to allow me to develop greater depth of knowledge in my areas of interest, my ideal university would be one that allows me to take electives or courses in the area of fine art, ancient history, photography and music. Oh yes, it would be perfect if I could enrol myself in a university that has a symphony orchestra, and to be able to play in the orchestra. That way, I can make sure that my double bass playing does not get 'rusty' while I pursue further studies.

For now, while I have done some work to read up about Cardiff University, my approach to finding a suitable post-graduate programme remains very passive. Maybe I am just waiting for that sense of momentum and conviction to come. Of course, there is probably one school of thought that one should just take actions and not wait passively for things to happen.

Anyway, if you have suggestions of a suitable post-graduate programme that may suit me, you are welcome to drop your comments.

Last but not the least, I thank Lion for his concerns and the comments that he had posted on my previous post.

Cardiff University

This afternoon I was surfing the internet. I have been having thoughts of studying in Europe, but I have no idea what exactly to study.

I find it restrictive that learning in the university had to be often restricted to one discipline. Perhaps it could have made things seem more organised, but it won't quite fit someone like me who has interests to just learn a bit of those areas that I would like, and end up with a rather general degree. Anyway, forgive me if I have been rambling.

Cardiff University came into my mind. I heard about the university from someone. The postgraduate programme for Social Work sounds quite established. My only concern is that I wonder if it would be something I would like to study in such depth for a period of one to two years.

The university's school of music sounds quite appealing. I would love to play in the Cardiff University's orchestra if possible. I quite like many of the courses that the Cardiff Centre for Lifelong Learning has to offer, for example, courses in ancient history and archaeology, art history, architecture, history, music, photography and self-development. I think I am more attracted to the courses offered by the Cardiff Centre for Lifelong Learning than the post-graduate programme in Social Work.

My general impression is that Cardiff sounds like a pleasant place to study in.

Rather unfulfilling day

I have been trying to search for an answer, of a direction I could take for the year 2005. However, it has yet to come to me. At the same time, there is a general sense of tiredness to be overcomed.

The day has been rather unfulfilling. I felt out of sync with most things around me, for most part of the day. Such a feeling of being out of sync can be rather unbearable. In the meantime, I shall wonder how one could achieve that "in the flow" experience for most parts of the day?

The orchestra rehearsal in the evening helped to bring the day to a better closure. We were practising the Yellow River Cantata tonight, and it was quite interesting to playing the cantata under the baton of the conductor for this concert. There were quite a lot of changes in the dynamics and the tempo throughout the entire cantata, so one would need to be quite alert in responding to the changes.

But except for the rehearsal, it was quite a dismay that the rest of the day was rather unfulfilling. If the rest of my life were to be spent feeling so unfulfilled, I wonder if it would be worth living at all? Maybe the question for the night would be: How to make life a little more fulfilling and in the sync?

Effects of being tired

After the rehearsal last night, me and my section mates had a light supper at the Cheese Prata shop nearby the university campus. After that, did we left for home. When I got home, it was close to midnight. Having too much music as a stimulant to my brain, I figured it was not easy to fall asleep after having a hot shower. It was no surprise I had spent about half an hour trying to write a post on my blog. I think it was close to 1 a.m. when I actually turned in to bed.

Quite a lethargic day. Even when I woke up in the morning, there was still a sense of tiredness in the mind and body. I had wanted to go to the Singapore Art Museum in the late morning, but the plan was postponed because of this overall sense of tiredness.

In the early afternoon, I met up with one of my good friends. For the information of the regular readers of this blog, this friend is the co-contributor of my other blog "Places". She shall be referred to as "Mystic". Mystic had went to Melbourne around the Christmas season, so this was our first meeting after her trip. I was pleased to meet up with her. I supposed she was too, for she gave me a nice hug first thing when she saw me this afternoon. But blame it on my tiredness, I reciprocated her sincere expression of friendship with an indifferent sounding "ok", when she told me she was happy to see me. I wonder if Mystic had thought that she had a robotic person for a friend after hearing my response?

Even while we were travelling from places to places, my eyes were tearing at several occasions because I was rather tired. I think it did not help that it was raining outdoors, and I could not go outdoors with ease to take photographs of the scenery outdoors.

I am thankful that I could muster some attentiveness to lend my ears when Mystic updated me of how her life have been. I guess that was the least I could do for a friend when the shadow of tiredness is lurking in me?

After I parted with Mystic for the day, I went to catch a concert at the Esplanade Concert Hall. The Singapore Symphony Orchestra played Pachelbel's Canon in D before the start of the programme, and dedicated it to the victims of the recent tsunami and those who have lended their hands in the disaster. Maybe Mystic might like the Pachelbel's Canon in D. Anyway, it was quite a solemn beginning for the concert, considering that the orchestra was celebrating its 26th anniversary tonight.

It must have been the effects of being tired, I was in a half awake mode during certain passages of the first half of the concert. The violin soloist, I felt while commendable, did not had the quality of sound that I would have preferred when she played the Butterfly Lovers Concerto. Take it as a personal taste. I preferred her playing of Bizet-Sarasate's Carmen Fantasie. My tiredness got worse during the second half of the concert. I was practically just passively listening to the music in a half-asleep mode. Only towards the end of the concert, did the music managed to catch my attention to put me back to a more awakened mode.

The irony is that even when I am quite tired right now as I write this post (my eyes are tearing to indicate how tired I am), I was too tired to stop myself from writing this post. I was too tired to even bother to coax myself to bed. Maybe I shall take the hint now, and allow myself to go to have a good night rest. Good night.

Edit: By the way, it must be my ears. The orchestra did not play Pachelbel. It actually played J.S. Bach's Air on the G string. Maybe I had heard too much of Pachelbel's Canon in D when I was with Mystic, shopping for CDs containing this work? Anyway, it must be my tired ears.

Mobilisation Exercise

A few hours ago, a mobilisation exercise could have been said to have taken place.

The orchestra was supposed to have its rehearsal on 7 Jan 2005 in a building along the Bukit Timah Road at 6.30 p.m. on the same day. Before we could start the rehearsals, we were expected to transport the larger instruments from a temporary instrument store located within the compounds of the university to that building along Bukit Timah Road. Since I had a half-day off from work, I was there at the temporary instrument store to help move the instruments (e.g. the double basses).

At 4.30 p.m., the trucks arrived. However, it was too small to even fit all the six double basses that we needed for the rehearsal. Left alone to fit the remaining four timpani sets, harp and so forth. The supervisor of the transport company was kind enough to offer to send two more trucks down to help with the transporting of the instruments. So we waited patiently for two more trucks to arrive.

Guess what? At about 5.20 p.m., while waiting for the two trucks, the few of us who were at the temporary instrument store was notified that there was a last-minute change in the rehearsal venue. The originally proposed venue had not enough storage space, which means that the instruments could not be left there after rehearsal, and would have to be transported back. Furthermore, the original proposed venue was on the third floor and had no lift. This would be quite a challenge physically. Imagine carrying a harp in a flight case, four sets of timpani, six double basses and more instruments up three floors without a lift, and then back again after rehearsals.

So it was decided that the rehearsal shall be changed to one of the lecture theatres within the university's compunds. It so happens that the reproposed rehearsal venue was just nearby the temporary instrument store where the instruments are kept. (I secretly wonder why in the first place that lecture theatre was not offered to us as a venue for the rehearsal on 7 Jan. )

Well, a logistic challenge has been kind of resolved with the change of the venue. However, it feels quite uncertain if the next challenge could be resolved. How to inform all the orchestra members within a short time-span of about an hour about this change in venue, so that we could have enough members to even start the rehearsals?

The few of us at temporary instrument store were quite doubtful if this could be achieved. Anyway, we went ahead to contact our section mates and the key members of each section. I think it's quite a test of how good the orchestra's communication lines are.

Within such a short notice, it was quite amazing to find that about 70% of the members reached the reproposed rehearsal venue by about 6.45 p.m. It must have been the blessings of living in a technological age. Most members happened to have a mobile phone, so they managed to know about this very last minute change in time to rush to the new venue. Our orchestra conductor joked that we had a successful mobilisation exercise. Well, such an exercise would probably not have been possible if we were living about a decade ago, when less than half of the people had a mobile phone. Perhaps this is a good example of how technology could be a good servant.

Trying to beat the Fatigue

As the title of this post suggest, I have been struck by a sense of fatigue.

Last night, we had rehearsals at the Prince George's Park Function Room, which is many kilometres away from our regular rehearsal venue. Our regular rehearsal venue is now under renovation.

We were supposed to start at 7 p.m. But in the end, we had to practice the art of patient waiting. The lorry which was supposed to transport the larger instruments (e.g. the double basses) from the instrument store (which is also many kilometres away from last night's rehearsal venue) was late. Furthermore, it was too small to carry all the larger instruments in one single go, so three trips had to be made. To add to the woes, the function room had no chairs when the room was opened at about 7 p.m. Eventually, we could only start at about 8 pm, when all chairs and instruments were in place. This incident is quite a test of everyone's patience and cooperativeness. Good thing that we showed sufficient patience and cooperativeness, and was able to proceed with the rehearsals despite all these.

There was quite an amount of carrying of instruments last night for me and my colleagues in the orchestra when the instruments arrived. In addition to that, we had to transport the instruments back to the instrument store at the end of the rehearsals. You bet we had worked out quite a bit of our muscles last night by just carrying the instruments.

When I woke up this morning, I was feeling tired. I tried to urge myself to press on, and beat the fatigue. I shall have an earlier sleep tonight.

Slow down could I?

Today is a tiring day. I shall not attempt to write too much lately, because I will be having rehearsals on many of the nights of this two weeks. I am hoping to slow down. I wish I could take my own time to appreciate life, at the pace I would have preferred.

I wish I could take time to travel, learn about histories and cultures of different civilisation, learn about Nature itself. I wish I could take time to enjoy nice music and beautiful works of art.

There are roles and responsibilities to fulfil. However, I have only one of me to meet the expectations that I am supposed to fulfil. In the end, if I am locked in fulfiling what I am expected to, I would become more of a slave than myself. And yet, there is still some responsibility to bear in order to contribute to a more meaningful world. How could the balance be striked then?

For now, I wish to slow down. But I fear boredom, not meeting up expectatons, risking unfulfilment when I do. Dilemma, it is a thing that human beings create for themselves

Slow down, could I?

Repositioning oneself

More abstract form of thinking aloud tonight. Please bear with me if nothing seems to make sense.

Enough about being out of touch with the world. Many of the times, I find that I have to coax myself that this world perhaps was not quite meant for me. I cannot expect the world around me to fit me, just like it cannot expect me to fit it. We exist in mutual harmony when we find a balanced position to co-exist together. We love our sense of independence yet we thrive when we appreciate our interdependence on one another.

So if I feel out of touch with the world, perhaps it means that it is time to reposition myself. When the scales is shaky, it is hard to maintain steadiness and focus. Trying to find balance, and hope I will reach this state somehow.

Isolation

I am beginning to start appreciate that the living beings on Earth are actually interdependent of one another. But I have no wisdom to describe exactly how this is so.

Perhaps because in efforts to avoid subjecting oneself to the vulnerability of being interdependent with others, attempts to isolate was one avenue that was sought.

Maybe it is the blues of the day. I don't seem to feel connected with myself. I don't feel connected with anyone. While I seem to be communicating with others, I think there was a lack of connecting with others. I am physically near others, yet so far in our wave-lengths. Isolation sounds like the title of the song. Maybe that is the sign that when one overly pursues independence, one becomes misses the value of connectedness that comes with interdependence.

Just some ramblings of the day. Somehow, there are some thoughts and feelings that I could not exactly put down in words.

Brunch with Friends

I shall treasure whatever free time that I had for this weekend, for I expect that I would be busy with work and rehearsals for the next two weeks.

Orchestra rehearsals will resume coming Wednesday, and I was informed that there will be rehearsals on 7, 9, 13, 14 and 15 Jan. The Yellow River Cantata performance will be staged on the 16 Jan 05 at the Esplanade Concert Hall. Tickets for the performance seem to be running out fast. All the Category 4 to Category 8 tickets have been sold out. For the sake of the chance of playing the Cantata at the Esplanade Concert Hall, I shall bear with the seemingly hectic lifestyle that would come.

This morning, I had brunch with two of my good friends. It was to celebrate the birthday of one of them. We had brunch at Coffee Club. I quite like the sandwich that I had. The bread was nice, the cheese and cranberry sauce went well with it, and I like the taste of mustard with the lettuces. The only thing I would to be different was the layout of the chairs and tables. While the chairs were comfortable, I find that there was a lack of space between the chairs and tables.

Whatever it is, it is nice catching up with friends. I haven't seen one of them since August; and the other since September, though we often communicated via MSN.

There was a kind gentleman who offered to help us take a group photo before we left the restaurant. He was also a customer of the restaurant. It was very nice of him, and I appreciate his thoughtfulness.

A side thought though: I think I should learn my lesson, that in order to do people's kindness justice, in future I should just simply put my camera to "Auto" mode and not "Night-shot" mode if I were to ask others to take pictures for me. Sure, I may not get picture-perfect effects, but I won't risk having unfocused pictures either. The thing about taking pictures in the "Night-shot" mode is that one's hands needs to be real steady. So, I shall bear full responsibility of the consequence of having an unfocused picture.

Anyway, an unfocused picture won't dampen my moods for the day. At the most, I could take another picture with these two friends of mine again, the next time that we meet.

What's install in year 2005?

The weather continues to be wet for today. Overall, I just have a sense of being unfocused. There is no clarity of goals. I have yet any resolution that seem to worth pursuing for the rest of the year. I wish I have a clearer sense of the directions I could take for year 2005, but I have yet any.

When there is no clarity, no direction, I often have a feeling of having my energy scattered. There is possibly no way for me to reach the "in the flow" state of experience at this stage. I shall just be aware of this, and not resist this feeling of scatterness. Somehow, the more I resist this feeling, the more it would sustain. I shall just try to be more aware of all those tiny moments when I felt a slight clarity of direction, perhaps that would help me become clearer and clearer as time goes by.

Some of the things I would like to learn in days to come by would be as follow, but I won't dare say that these would be my resolutions for year 2005:

• Learn to be more kind on the feelings of others when I offer my objective criticisms, often too candid.
• Learn to drive and get a driving licence, so that I could chauffeur my instrument (the double bass) around should I need to bring it out of home.
• Learn to be more disciplined in working on my double bass techniques (including scales and arpeggios, bowing, vibrato)
• Learn to be more auditory aware, through ear-training.
• Learn to be more willing to be open about sharing my innermost feelings and thoughts to others when it is necessary.
• Learn to be more disciplined in exercising to keep myself fitter.
• Learn a European language (probably German or Italian).
• Learn something new, simply for the joy of learning.

Anyone care to share yours?

Rainy New Year's Day

It is New Year's Day, and I am surprised that I only got out of bed slightly after 8 a.m. in the morning. I usually wake up before 8 a.m. most mornings.

I had wanted to talk a silent walk, perhaps in a park, or along the Singapore River. Now it seems I have to shelf that plan of mine aside. It has been raining since I woke up this morning.

The day feels melancholic, and I feel rather lost of what to do for the day. Maybe I shall just listen to the sounds of the rain, and watch the clouds release their tears. The skies are gloomy. Maybe I shall just observe and think about how to take moving pictures of this rainy New Year's Day?

For now, I am just typing away to make records of this rainy New Year's Day, while listening to the classical radio station. I wonder what would be install for everyone in the year 2005. Whatever, may the year in 2005 bring you peace, fulfillment and contentment.