It's Sunday

It is Sunday. The tinge of sadness that I felt seemed to continue to lurk within me, although its degree is less intense as compared to yesterday.

So I spent a part of the morning listening to Chinese pop music that sounded melancholic. I have a liking for melancholic tunes, it seems.

Disciplined, I must have been. I took time to practise on my dear instrument, the double bass in the morning. Practised A major scales and arpeggios, and this took about 20 minutes. I shall take comfort that I have managed to find a friend in the double bass, he brings some comfort to ease that tinge of sadness in me.

At noon, I met one of my good friends, E. for lunch. The lunch was meant to celebrate her birthday in advance. It has been quite a while since I last met her.

It was rather unexpected that E. had prepared a gift for me, though I think she shouldn't have. It looked nice, and I appreciated the warm thoughts behind. Now I have to figure when I could wear it. Thanks for the gift, E.

We had lunch at one of the restaurants at Holland Village. Holland Village is supposedly extremely popular with both locals and expatriates. It offers one a good selection of shopping and dining.

Lunch was nice especially when there was company from a good friend. The food was satisfactory. We spent time catching up over lunch. Also presented my birthday gift to my friend. I hope she would like it and find it useful. Lunch was nice despite that it could not be too long. I had to attend orchestra rehearsals after lunch. Nevertheless, despite being short, it has been a heart-warming meet-up this afternoon.

My friend was kind and thoughtful, and offered to drive me to the isolated rehearsal venue. I'm thankful for the ride, at least I could have a little bit more time to spend with my friend. Wishing her good health, speedy recovery, a Happy Birthday and dreams to come true.

So after I parted with E., I went for orchestra rehearsal. We started with the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto composed by Chen Gang and He Zhan-hao. It sounded better. I felt a little challenged by some of the passages that contain less common rhythms. Yours truly is not as strong in rhythms, and I have to work more on it.

After the short break, we played the fourth movement from Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. You might have guessed it that I like playing that symphony. Somehow, it reminded me that life can have its tragedies, and yet there will be moments of triumphs.

We played Mendelssohn's Fingals Cave thereafter. I shall still continue to work on it at a slower tempo when I practise this individually. It is a difficult piece to play given its much faster original tempo. I could only have faith that practice would make perfect. Also, I should learn not to scare myself. It may be difficult to play, but it can be achievable with practice.

After rehearsals, I travelled home via bus. Prior to getting a public bus home, one of the orchestra mates and his mother have been nice to offer a few of us a ride to the bus interchange. I was quite tired such that I was sleeping during the bus journey home.

Just a moment ago, I was trying to select the concerts that I would like to subscribe to for the concerts performed by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

In the evening, I was just trying my best to rest and relax. The week ahead sounds like one with loads of responsibilities and things-to-do. I shall try to hang on.