A tag

I was tagged by my friend, JY. Here's my attempt to answer the questions.

1. 2007年最难忘的事是什么?

There is quite a number of unforgettable incidents, and a couple of them are related to playing the double bass. For examples: the d'Bassists concert at Esplanade Concourse and its preparations; and the preparations for the DipABRSM exams particularly with my dear piano accompanist, J.

2. 2008年的愿望是什么？

More avenues and chances to express and contribute my unique life force. (see quote by Martha Graham)

3. 你会为朋友赴汤蹈火吗？

Yes, if it is within my means and does not hurt anyone.

4. 你向往的国家？

Scotland is lovely. Singapore can be a lovely place too if I can live at my own pace.

5.你最快乐的时光

When I am feeling in-sync.

**
No one will be tagged for this, unless anyone decides to pick the tag on his/her own.

Ten things that happened to me

I was tagged by Two Crazy Dogs of Life with the Two Crazy Dogs.

In no particular order:

1. I started playing the double bass when I was 13 years old.
When I was 13 years old, I did not expect myself to be playing the instrument 15 years later. Whatever it is, I am glad I am still playing.

2. A scar on the left eye-brow.
I was probably 8 or 9 years old. While at home, I had an accident when I was running about, and I hit the left of my upper face against one of the furniture. Next thing was that there was blood. I was taken to see a doctor and she stitched the wounds. Now the scar remains.

3. I wore braces.
My teeth, especially the ones on the upper front row were misaligned. As such, just before I took my Primary School Leaving Examinations at age 12, I started wearing braces for about four years.

4. About one year of being selectively mute when I was in kindergarten level one.
Possibly I did not feel prepared to attend kindergarten classes. When it was my first day attending the kindergarten classes, I cried to ask to be out of the class. Probably I could not know how to adjust, for about one year, I was basically not talking to anyone during the kindergarten class. If I wish to communicate, the other party would have to read my lips to figure out what I wish to say. That was the case too when I had to sit for oral tests.

5. First time travelling overseas.
I was 13 years old then. I travelled to Australia, Brisbane, with other participants of the school's cultural exchange programme.

6. I visited Aberdeen, Scotland.
In the year 2005, I visited Aberdeen to participate in the Aberdeen International Youth Festival. Aberdeen is a lovely place, so is Scotland. I wish I could visit it again. My related posts on Aberdeen can be found here.

7. I became interested in visiting the museums.
I generally have quite good experience in visiting museums. Thankfully, my father had been generous when I requested to visit various museums and places-of-interest when I was young. Probably my interest for museums started then. It was quite fun reading tour guides and tour brochures which my mother brought home (She works in a hotel). I suppose the interest has developed further, and now I am a Friend of Yesterday.sg.

8. I joined the University's Symphony Orchestra.
University's life has its ups and downs. Reflecting, some of my better times in the university was spent playing the double bass as a member of the university's orchestra. I still enjoy the time when I would use the music studios at least twice or thrice a week just to practise on the double bass.

9. A double bass as a 21st birthday gift.
I have my mother to thank for one of the most invaluable gifts that I have received.

10. I became interested in touring Singapore.
After my final year examinations from the university, I set aside time visiting various museums in Singapore. In addition, I picked up tour brochures and began visiting various parts of Singapore (e.g Chinatown, Little India) on foot on my own. At times I would bring out my sketch book to sketch. I still travel about various parts of Singapore nowadays when time permits, and I can say that it is fun to learn about this country that I live and grow up in.



Life is not just about the ten things above, but I suppose these are things that I am comfortable to share.

Food Tag

I have been tagged by Simple America's food tag.

**Start Copy**

Proposition: What is your favorite food in your state or country?

Requirements: Find some info about the food and show delicious pictures of it?

Thunder Tea Rice

There are so many good food around in Singapore, I find it pretty hard to narrow down my options to one favourite food. In the end, I settled for the Thunder Tea Rice. Firstly, I like the brown-rice version of it that is sold at a stall at China Square. Brown-rice is yummy when nicely cooked. Secondly, I think it is a healthy and simple dish. I yearn for a healthier and simpler life. Thirdly, I like the nice fragrance and taste of the basil and mint that are added to the Thunder Tea. Fourth reason being that it is relatively an affordable dish. It's a value-for-money food for those who wants to practise wise money management and wants a healthier diet.

I have written a post on it previously, so please refer to Eating Well: Thunder Tea Rice if you would like more information about this food.

I don't wish to tag anyone. For anyone of you who are interested in more good food, here are a list of people who have written about some delicious food that they like:

Simple America loves cheese enchiladas
Mybabybay loves Asam Laksa from Penang, Malaysia
JustMyThoughts loves Penang Char Koay Teow
My Lil Venture loves Laksa Sarawak
Monterssorimum loves Teluk Intan Chee Cheong Fun
Chinnee loves Melaka Wan Tan Mee
Peimun
Leah loves Hakka Lei Cha
Jonamum
Karen loves Pan Mee.
Something about Lai loves Crispy duck skin from China

One-word-answer meme

I was tagged by Emily, so I did it last night and shall post it tonight.

Here it is:
You.Can.Only.Type.ONE.Word.

1. Where is your cell phone?
Desk

2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife?
Nil

3. Your hair?
Black

4. Your mother?
Home

5. Your father?
Home

6. Your favorite thing?
Space

7. Your dream last night?
Forgotten

8. Your favorite drink?
Water

9. Your dream car?
Caravan

10. The room you are in?
Living-room

11. Your ex?
Nil

12. Your fear?
Paralysis

13. What do you want to be in 10 years?
Best-of-myself

14. Who did you hang out with last night?
Mother

15. What you're not?
Infallible

16. Muffins?
Nice

17. One of your wish list items?
Contrabasso

19. The last thing you did?
Reading

20. What are you wearing?
Clothes

21. Your tv?
None

22. Your pet?
Instrument?

23. Your computer?
PC

24. Your life?
Exploring

25. Your mood?
Searching

27. What are you thinking about right now?
Writing

28. Your car?
Nil

29. Your work?
Serves

30. Summer?
Brightness

31. Your relationship status?
Single

32. Your favorite color?
Blue

33. When is the last time you laughed?
Today

34. Last time you cried?
Recent

35. School?
History

The Birthday Wants and Don't-Wants meme

Even though I usually don't follow-up with a meme even when tagged, I shall oblige so as to give lots of face to Mistipurple, who happens to be one of the first few readers to read my blog on a regular basis. She tagged me recently.

10 Birthday Wants:
1. I want good health.
2. I want to enjoy a delicious sumptuous spread of breakfast.
3. I want to be in the peaceful and good company of my friends or family members.
4. I want birthday cards specially selected and written for me.
5. I want a relaxed day which I can sit down and watch the world go by.
6. I want to enjoy some good sceneries and a good walk.
7. I want a peaceful and carefree day.
8. I want to be commissioned to tour and write about various places in Singapore, and the rest of the world!
9. I want to be offered a mentor to guide me to face the challenges that life may present to me.
10. I want to be awarded a sponsorship to own my dream Italian-crafted double bass!

10 Birthday Don’t Wants:
1. I don't want noise, please.
2. I don't want to be stuck in an awful crowd.
3. I don't want soft toy as present. I may like looking at some very excellent soft toys, but my nose is generally sensitive to put anything soft toy in my bedroom.
4. I don't want milk or white chocolates. I prefer dark chocolates unless the milk or white chocolate is superbly excellent.
5. I don't want to be sabotaged.
6. I don't want to be made a fool of myself.
7. I don't want to be forced to drink. I refrain from drinking alcohol in most situations.
8. I don't want an invitation to watch movie on my birthday. I generally prefer to attend concerts, musicals, visual art exhibitions or visit museums.
9. I don't want a tiring day on my birthday.
10. I don't want nagging from my parents and anyone else, not on my birthday.

The deserted island meme

I was tagged by Eastcoastlife to do the meme below:

If you had to live on a deserted island for a year, which 5 bloggers would you bring with you and why?

Actually, I won't have subjected myself to live on a deserted island in the first place, unless there is food cooked for me and all chores done by themselves. The deserted island should also have beautiful sceneries and a nice shelter to live in. Oh, can I bring my double bass and lots of sketchbooks to sketch?

If I won't live on a deserted island in the first place, could I be spared from answering the meme?

Even if I were to bring a few bloggers with me, I won't have chosen five in the first place. I might be overwhelmed by having to interact with too many people! Furthermore, how I can ever bring them with me without their permission?

**

But well, if I am forced to live there, here a some bloggers that I won't mind bringing with me:

Emily
She plays the double bass and she composes music. She also plays the piano. Maybe I could tempt her to play double bass duet with me, or even accompany me on the double bass.

I think she might enjoy a respite from the rest of the world, but well, I think a year seems too long for both of us.

Ah, I can even ask her to give me an induction to Dao de Jing by Laozi. I was impressed how she recited the first few phases of it a few weeks ago when we attended a concert performing Vladimir Martynov's SINGAPORE. A Geopolitical Utopia.

Jason Heath
He's a double bassist too. With him around, I can ask him to give me double bass lessons so that I won't have to miss too much on my double bass lessons while I am on the island. Who knows, after a year, my playing would have improved by leaps and bounds?

JY
She cooks pretty well, and she makes nice pseudo-tiramisu. So if I would need help with the cooking, she is one dependable person to fall back on. I think she would offer a nice quiet company, and that is probably what I would need most of the time.

Eastcoastlife
Since she tagged me with this meme, I figured that she may be willing to join me if I were to be in a deserted island for a year!

I have asked that she shares some pointers with me, so if I were on a deserted island with her for a year, I figure that I may become wiser after learning from Eastcoastlife.

Cool Insider
This gentleman has a lot of good wisdom and knowledge on marketing and corporate communication, I hope to learn some of these from him so as to apply some of those wisdom to help attract more people to appreciate and support classical music.

My question is: can he also choose to bring his wife and child along to the deserted island so as to enjoy the simplicity of life there?

**

For your information, I am assuming that there is something special about this deserted island: Although it is deserted, some marvellous inventor has left behind machines and gadgets that help to cook food and run all the errands for all the guests on the island. There are also comfortable terrace houses on the island for its guests to rest on. It would be good if there was broadband connections there too.

**
I am not going to tag anyone, but if you like to attempt this meme, you may do so.

What To Do When Bored

Admittedly, I am getting a little bored, and for that reason, I picked up Simple American's What to do bored tag.

Usually, I would ask to have more time, because there is so many things I would like to do that would need me to invest time in. It is quite hard to be bored when there are so many things I would want to do. I suppose the only time when you can see me feeling bored is as follow:

1) I am feeling ill and I don't feel like going out of my home.
2) For some reasons, most likely because the weather is not good or I am feeling unwell, I am stuck at home.
3) It is late at night, but I don't feel like sleeping.
4) I am out of home, waiting for someone or an event, and need to while time away. (though I qualify that I usually don't feel bored when I am out of home)

Otherwise, I suppose it is unlikely to find me feeling bored.

But my friends, I am feeling bored right now.

Here are some of the things that I would do when I feel bored:

1) Read
2) Practise on the double bass
3) If I am at home or have access to internet facilities, Blog!
4) Read blogs and keep checking my favourite blogs more than five times per day. Surf the internet too.
5) Study music theory, or do some music theory related assignments.
6) Go into a pensive mode, and start thinking about anything that comes to my mind.
7) Sketch (but I realised I haven't been doing so of late.)
8) Log on to MSN, and see if I can find anyone to chat with.
9) Listen to music that I like.
10) Take a nap, and take steps to make sure that I don't get an overdose of sleep. Setting the alarm clock can be helpful. If I don't like to use the alarm clock, I shall make sure I don't draw the curtains when I take a nap. Then light can shine in and wake me up some hours later.
11) Watch TV, and that would be the rare occasion when I actually sit down to watch TV.
12) Start humming, any tune that comes to my mind.

What would you do if you feel bored?

Life's simple pleasures

Jane tagged me.

Name 10 of life's simple pleasures that you like the most.

1. Walking with a friend who is kind to offer quiet company.
2. Enjoying beautiful sights of landscapes.
3. Listening to the music that I enjoy.
4. Quiet moments. (but non-frightening ones)
5. Reading a good book.
6. Being in the flow when I sketch.
7. Enjoying the playing of the double bass (especially that of playing in the orchestra).
8. Enjoying a delicious breakfast.
9. Listening to pleasant sounds from Nature.
10. Bringing a smile on a friend's face.

No one will get tagged by me though.

Thoughts On Death

Meme from Simple American.

You suffer a tragic accident. You have one minute before you will die? Mentally you are lucid and composed. You have your cell (mobile) phone convenient despite the accident. Who do you call?

I will call my maternal grandmother. She was the one who took care of me and my siblings when we were children and when our parents were out for work. I hope calling her will help her make some sense to my death, and bring her at least some closure and comfort for my unexpected death.


You are in a plane. The pilot informs you that the plane’s engines have failed and it will crash shortly. The plane is email capable and you have time enough to send five short emails. This is not your pc so your email address book is not available. The pc also only allows one email addy per email sent and you have no cut and paste feature available. Who do you write?

I will write to my younger brother since I know his email address by heart (and my parents don't have email address) and ask him to inform the immediate family members of the plane crashing soon, and to thank them for bearing with me these years.

I will write to Mystic to thank her for her friendship.

I will also write to J., to thank her for being there for lending me the company and much treasured friendship during those times I was down.

I think I will just stop at three, there are still many people to write to, but I think I would have difficulties mustering enough strength to go beyond three in that kind of situation.


You go to a regular check up and the doctor determines you have exactly 365 days to live. Fortunately, you have a disease that will not infirm you until the last few days of your life. Nothing in science will curtail this illness. Luckily, you purchased a great insurance policy for one million and it will payout once a doctor confirms your status. Bonus is this money cannot be taxed so you get the entire amount. What do you do for the last year of your life?

I'll put aside $400 000 to set up a trust fund to fund my parents' and maternal grandparents living expenses after my death. That could also be used to fund my brothers' education if they choose to go for higher education.

Another $400 000 goes to another trust fund to use for charitable causes. I shall get my two brothers to manage this trust fund, I am sure that they will manage it wisely.

The remaining shall go to fund me to travel about the world, alone. I think I would be feeling so confused about the news of an impending death that I would not make a good travel companion. Anyway, travelling alone often urges me to stay independent. Being alone can lend me the space that I might need to face the impending death, though I might feel lonely to be all alone facing it by myself. But I think I would not like showing that most vulnerable side of myself in front of another human being. If companionship is needed, I would consider sponsoring a friend or two to join me at certain points of my journey.

I hope to travel on foot about the Europe continent. But of course, I shall buy a two-way plane ticket to get me to a starting point somewhere in Europe first. I can't imagine myself walking all the way to Europe from Singapore.

Along the way, I could try to find double bass masters to give me a number of double bass classes. Then I could try to immerse in the culture. I wish to take some nice photos to share, and hopefully take short photography courses and other courses-of-interest while I am on the journey. If possible, I hope to visit China too and travel about on foot, just in hope to learn more about my own culture and heritage. Then before I pass away, I shall return to Singapore, and travel about Singapore on foot.


You can only say two things of importance to your children before you die. What do you say?

I don't have any children, and I don't think I would like to answer this. I think I am still too unwise to share wise lessons to the next generation.