Did you see?

Did you realise that I am feeling not myself today?
The spirits so down it was hard to pick oneself up?
If I do float, it is because the waters are kind to me.

Did you notice that distance between me and the rest of the world?
We may seem close but we are very far.

Did you sense that night is drawing near?
Light will soon come only from artifical sources.

Did you know I am trying to find delights in the beauty of the shores?
Yet uncertain if these were meant for me.

Did you recognise that I am trying to keep myself afloat?
Even though there seems no path to lead to the vast oceans that I long for.
Only wishing that if I look faithfully enough, I shall see, a path.

The love for Dark Chocolates

Belgian dark chocolate. 

Yesterday, I received a bar of dark chocolates from L. She's one of my colleagues from another department and she attended the 24 Feb 06 concert that I had performed in. It was so sweet of her to get me dark chocolates and a stalk of flowers to congratulate me and the orchestra for its performance put up.

Today, I received another bar of dark chocolate from HH and SN. They came by my office this evening. A pity that I didn't have much time to catch up with them.

Thanks for the dark chocolate folks. While I do not have the habit of munching snacks, I do like dark chocolates. Maybe I have grown to like the bittersweet taste of dark chocolates. Isn't life itself bittersweet at times? Though it does not imply that I presently like life itself as much as I like dark chocolates.

Fresh air, a luxury

It was suffocating to wake up this morning to find the air rather smoky. That was simply not the best way to start a day. Not for yours truly who does not like smoky air.

On the way to work this morning, I could easily noticed that the air indeed looked smoky. I wonder what has happened to the air?

**
A sense of frustration seems to linger in the air, but I could not exactly tell why. It just happened. Maybe the poor air conditions are making me feel stifled?

I could only try to visualise living in a world of fresh air. When I was in Aberdeen, Scotland, in August last year, the air was pleasantly fresh.

I hate to jump to conclusions: Am I just at the wrong place, at the wrong time? How do I set things right? Maybe I should be offered fresh air, which is for now, a luxury? I only ask to breathe, deeply and naturally.

The story of the lost mute

I had lost one of my double bass mutes while I was in Aberdeen last year. It took me a few weeks after I was back from the Aberdeen trip to realise that I had left the mute on one of the double basses that we had rented in Aberdeen.

I shall be more careful next time.

The Tourte mute (for the double bass) can rest safely and securely above the tailpiece of the double bass when not in use. This is one great feature to have, especially when the mute is placed on one's personal double bass. Yet, it also means that a double bassist should be very mindful when he/she is using his/her Tourte mute on a rented double bass. In my case, I had forgotten to take the mute off before I returned the rented double bass.

Today, I got myself a Tourte mute from Frank Brothers to replace the mute that I have lost in Aberdeen. I had wanted to get one last year, but did not manage to find a Tourte double bass mute until today. A rare find, it must have been? That is why I decided to get the mute today even though I already have one Tourte mute on the double bass at my home. Double bass Tourte mutes just seem not easy to find, it won't hurt to get a spare one, right?

The rocky moods

Rocky moods. I was trying to just work on the music theory assignments and I simply could not have the mood to work on it. Concentration level was minimal. Thank goodness that I have completed two of the questions earlier on Tuesday while I was backstage waiting for rehearsals to start. At least, part of my assignments has been done.

I am feeling a little sense of loss after the concert. There seem to be less things to look forward to. Maybe I have not found a way to find enough delight from the world around me? Or is it that fatigue has made my moods swing down?

Hopefully such moods are not meant to last forever. I just hope to be recharged.

Lunch and birthday celebration

This afternoon, I have the pleasure to meet up with J and T for lunch. It was T's birthday tomorrow, and the lunch was meant to be a get-together-cum-birthday-celebration. We were supposed to meet last month to celebrate J's birthday but it was postponed.

To T: Happy Birthday.

Registered for ABRSM Grade 8

After much thoughts, I have registered myself for the ABRSM Grade 8 Double Bass Practical Exams.

I keep my fingers crossed that everything would turn out well.

After the concert

I woke up later than usual today. My mind is feeling rather heavy now, and I wonder if this could be due to the long hours of rehearsing and playing music the previous nights.

***

Thank you for your warm support. The concert last night went fine. There were a few glitches, but overall, I enjoyed playing in the concert last night.

Instead of concluding the concert with an encore, our dear conductor concluded the concert with a very touching speech. I am sorry that I am not an auditory person to remember the words he has said, but his words have been recorded down. Hopefully someone who was present at last night's concert could blog about our conductor's speech, then you might get a gist of the contents of his speech.

After the concert, my section-mates, Emily and XM, were very helpful to help with the transport of the double basses back to the place where we usually have rehearsals.

For now, I just want time to rest.

Yesterday.sg

Yours truly have put up my very first post on Yesterday.sg earlier today. In short, Yesterday.sg is a blog about heritage and museums in Singapore. If you would like, you could even join in to write about the subject matter.

If you would like to support my very first post on that blog, please visit: http://yesterday.sg/detail/a_singapore_river_tour/

You may also wish to read related posts that I have written some time ago:
- An enriching tour
- A Singapore River Walk

Feedback and comments on how I could make these posts more interesting are welcomed.

It's 24 Feb 06

It is 24 Feb 06.

Today happens to be the birthday of one of our fellow bloggers. I shall not mention her name since she does not like too much attention. Happy Birthday.

**
And in about 19 hours later, it will be time for the concert. I am hoping for the miracle that the turn-out would be good.

How could I tell myself that all that matters is that I enjoy playing the music? I do. The only regret might be that few people might be there to share the music with us.

I am not feeling hopeful, as many people in Singapore tend to buy tickets at least a few days in advance before the concert. I could only hope that I was wrong.



The pianist, Maestro Konstantin Scherbakov, who will be playing the Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 is a fine musician worthy of respect. I think he has the qualities of an exemplary professional musician. He has a homepage of his own: http://www.scherbakov.ch/

If you would like to hear him play, do support our concert. Here are the details:


A Night of Enchantment
by NUS Symphony Orchestra (NUSSO) with Konstantin Scherbakov
National University of Singapore, University Cultural Centre, Hall, Friday, 24 February 2006, 7.30 p.m.

Tickets at $13 each (includes SISTIC fees).

The programme:
Mozart - Magic Flute
Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 17
Brahms - Symphony No. 2

The Submarine

Like a submarine
Sinking deeper into the oceans
Like a submarine without radars
Lost in the depths of the ocean

Should have asked for help
Yet have lost the motivations
The oceans' shadows have dampened
The submarine's calls

Separated from the rest of the world
Maybe the oceans
Though cold
Could lend more space for growth?

Keeping fingers crossed

Did you know that when the sign language (Signing in Exact English) for the word "hope" is obtained when the palms face each other at head level, with the left hand in front of the right, and the index and the third fingers of each hand crossed?

I am hoping that I could still remain sane by the end of the week. This week looks like a rather hectic week, and my health isn't that good of late. I just hope the headache, the various pains would soon go away.

Tickets sales for the concert on 24 Feb 06 have been slow, it seems. Yours truly would be playing, but I guess I am no big star. My mother won't even be attending it. Anyway, I shall learn to be contented with I have and not brood over what I don't. At least my father will be attending. Hopefully, we, the folks in the orchestra would get to share our music with more people. Music is a powerful medium for souls to connect with one another, won't you think so?

Time to party

Clarke Quay, taken from Riverside Point

I have often not like parties because I find them draining for myself. I don't enjoy the small talks. I don't enjoy the noise. Many parties often play music that do not bring comfort to my ears.

My idea of a good party would be something that interests the mind. A nice scene like the one above. A scene with many interesting things to see. A scene whereby one could see different subject matter when one looks from various perspectives. This moment, I could see Ju Ming's sculptures. Another moment, I could put my attention on the Fort Canning Hill. Yet another, I could be fascinated with the shophouses that are painted in bright colours. That is good party to me. A party that happens in my mind. The world out there is quiet and still, but one is actively interested in an enriching mix of inner experiences, internally.

Anyway, this post shall announce that it is time to party in my own way. Three members of my family are celebrating their birthday in the month of February. Misti's birthday is also around the corner. Here's also to wish SG a 'Happy Birthday'. Her birthday had passed a week ago. Happy Birthday and many happy returns, folks.

Playing all nights

A Night of Enchantment
by NUS Symphony Orchestra (NUSSO) with Konstantin Scherbakov
National University of Singapore, University Cultural Centre, Hall, Friday, 24 February 2006, 7.30 p.m.

Tickets at $13 each (includes SISTIC fees).

4 more days to concert. There will be rehearsals every night for the next few nights. Concert will be on this Friday. I am looking forward to play with the piano soloist.

A word of thanks to my father for taking leave to catch the concert.

Colours to brighten

Taken at Clarke Quay area, Singapore.


When the moods seem dull and down, I ask that I allow the colours to brighten.

Headaches and coughs again

The headaches strike again. Combing the hair (and the scalp) has actually helped to relieve some of the discomfort. I am supposed to be taking the muscle-relaxant for the hip-pain, so I had to refrain from taking Panadol and similar medication.

Lately, I have been coughing. The cough can get irritating when it strikes at about the same time as the headaches.

If I don't find it hard to sleep early, I might do so.

***
All the lifts of the building that I live in broke down this evening. The repairman took close to half-an-hour to repair the fault of one of the two lifts. I should be thankful that I have enough patience to wait for the repair to be done. It came easy when one has no wish to climb up more than twenty-storeys of staircases. I wasn't feeling well to want to travel up either.

I keep my fingers crossed that the lifts would not break down together again.

Dinner together

Today's dinner with my family members was held at the restaurant under the Tung Lok Group. The restaurant's name is Noble House and it is located at UIC Building.

I enjoyed the dinner. We had the ala-carte buffet dinner. The food was nice. The company was fine. It is not quite frequent that everyone in my family dines together. The last one that I remember we had was on this Chinese New Year eve.

A link for people preferring introversion

My MBTI profile says that I have a preference for Introversion, iNtuition, Feeling and Judgement (INFJ).

For the folks out there who have a preference for Introversion, this site offers some interesting tips for dealing with the external world: http://www.theintrovertzcoach.com/

Just a while ago, I was reading an article titled Friendship for INFJ. That struck on me that while I can be generally friendly with people, establishing friendship can be such a challenge for me.

Bravo

Mozart is a genius where it comes to composition.

**

I attended the Singapore Symphony Orchestra's Mozart's 250th birthday: Jupiter Symphony concert this evening. It was an all-Mozart programme.

I like the orchestra's rendition of the Clarinet Concerto in A major and the Symphony No. 41 in C major. The soloist for the clarinet concerto did a pretty good job, and overall, the musicians were pretty sensitive in their playing and the orchestra sounded together. I enjoyed the concert overall. Nice sound, and a good ensemble.

**

Had the pleasure to have a friend, J, to accompany me to catch the concert together. Met her and her boyfriend, D for a dinner before the concert as well. I realised my forte is not in making small talks, so I did not speak a lot during the dinner.

**

Back to the concert, I am not sure if I had been paying too much attention to the music during the concert, I felt my mind was rather heavy after leaving the concert hall. But I did not mind it. This was one concert where I had paid attention and did not feel sleepy during the concert.

The pain in the hip area came back again for a brief moment when I was walking to the nearby MRT station. I know, I have not been compliant with the medication. The doctor told me that the pain is likely due to a strain of the muscles at the hip area, and would take quite some time to go away. I was given muscle relaxant that comes with pain-killing effect. Anyway, the medication did say "take when necessary, after food". I decided not to take the medication today.

Tomorrow will be Sunday. My family will be having dinner together in one restaurant tomorrow. This is to celebrate the birthday of my parents and my youngest brother. All the three of them are born in the month of February.

The wonders of practising

My Husband, the double bass

Practising on the double bass seems to improve blood circulation of the fingers, arms and head. I had just spent about close to 1 hour 20 minutes practising. I was practising orchestral pieces. That helped to push the blues away.

The secret is that I prefer to play excerpts from orchestral pieces than scales. However, I was told by my dear double bass tutor that in order to be ready for ABRSM Grade 8 exams, I need to start with practising scales. If I can be good at playing scales, playing the rest of the examination peices would become comparatively easier. Now, I wonder if I would be ready to register for Grade 8 exams.

The last time that I had registered for it about two years ago, I ended up having to pay extra money just to downgrade to Grade 7 exams. It might be a good choice on hindsight. But I suppose downgrading won't be the choice to take this year. Should one go forward, or simply give oneself more time?

INFJ Characteristics

If you find this post difficult to understand, please take it that it was meant to be deciphered.

http://www.infj.org/archive/infjcharacter.html

Murky skies

I've put this photo up on one of the posts of my other blog.

The photo has a touch of melancholy. What bring some brightness to the image are those painted low-rise buildings in the distance. The whole world may seem dark on the overall, but the little things count.

A place to visit

Memories at Old Ford Factory will be opened to the public on 20 Feb 2006.

Check out the following URLs to find out more:
- http://yesterday.sg/detail/memories_at_old_ford_factory/

- http://yesterday.sg/gallery/category/C39/ (Photos)

- http://www.s1942.org.sg/bukit_chandu/FordFactory.htm

What's on the news?

In Singapore, the annual Government Budget is prepared on a financial year (FY) basis. The FY for the Government runs from 1 April of one year to 31 March of the following year.

Today, Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lee Hsien Loong announced the Singapore Budget Statement for Financial Year 2006.

Maybe because of my work and the fact that I work with many low-income families, I am interested in this particular segment: Helping Low-Wage Worker. For now, I shall wait for the details to be released.

Rivertales

Along the Singapore River

A piece of news:

The Rivertales exhibition will end on 5 March 2006. Rivertales explores the history of Singapore through developments and tales revolving around the Singapore River.

Related post: More than history.

The neglected music?

Yesterday, I had double bass lesson with the tutor. He showed me how I could actually manage a seemingly difficult passage in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21. The right-hand technique counts.

After the double bass lesson, it was orchestra rehearsal. The orchestra played the entire Brahms' Second Symphony from the first movement to the last. This time, we sounded better than the previous. I am looking forward to share the music in about 8 days time.

Yet, I wonder if the music that we would be sharing has been much neglected and overlooked? Brahms' symphonies are nice to hear and the Mozart's piano concerto will be something to look forward to. However, ticket sales have been slower than expected. Would the miracle happen? I keep my fingers crossed.


A Night of Enchantment
by NUS Symphony Orchestra (NUSSO) with Konstantin Scherbakov
National University of Singapore, University Cultural Centre, Hall, Friday, 24 February 2006, 7.30 p.m.

Tickets at $13 each (includes SISTIC fees).

Japanese food at Toa Payoh Central's Koufu

Today is Thursday, and now I call Thursday evenings "my music theory evenings". Maybe there have been some slight improvements in how I do my harmony homework. I still continue to make mistakes such as poor melody line and a few other mistakes, but there were less mistakes than last session.

***
Before the music class, I decided to treat myself to the Japanese food from the Japanese stall at the Koufu food mall at Toa Payoh Central. The food mall is relatively near where my music theory lessons are held. The food tasted good for its price. I had a set of Tori Katsu Don (Japanese fried chicken with rice?) that came with a bowl of salad, a bowl of miso soup and a small dish of soft-shell crab. I like the soft-shell crab. It tasted nice. In addition, the set came with a cup of warm green tea. The entire set came up to a total of S$8.80 which I consider fairly reasonable.

Last week, I tried the sashimi set from the same stall, and it tasted nice. I like sashimi.

Life is getting rather tiring. I guess I needed to boost my spirits up a little with treats like this.

I am feeling tired

I woke up today feeling tired.
Eating breakfast did not helped me feel refreshed.
The mind felt as if it was slower than the norm.
The body felt as if it was feeble.

Somehow, I have been feeling tired for most of today.
Anyway, at least I have gotten several things done.

A quote to read

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature.... Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

-Helen Keller (1880 - 1968)

Source: http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Helen_Keller

Pass It On

A piece of information that you may not know about:

The one stop donation site that allows you (those residing in Singapore) to pass on your unwanted items to people who need them: http://www.passiton.org.sg. Just click on "Donate".

In an affluent society, would it be possible that something that one does not want may be very precious to someone else who needs the item?

Music theory didn't excite me lately

During the last music theory lesson, I was assigned three questions for my homework. I now have one more question out of three questions to complete. I had intended to attempt that last question for this set of homework tonight, but I don't have a mood to do so yet.

I had spent more than half an hour on one of the two questions that I had completed. Maybe my energy level hasn't been at its optimal of late, I almost felt like not doing my homework. Some homework are simply very demanding of the mind. Thank goodness I was only given three questions. I had asked if I should be doing more. Now, as I looked back, I am glad that my music theory tutor said three was enough.

I wonder how learning about harmony could help me appreciate playing music better? I still have yet to learn to see the link. I am just believing that it would help.

This topic on harmony seems like a great challenge. I hope I would master the basics one day.

The skies may be beautiful

I remember that a few weeks ago, I was on my way to the orchestra rehearsals from my workplace. Somehow, the skies looked beautiful that day.

It was a rather busy day at work. If I have a preference, I like to have enough time to reflect and ponder. I like to have enough time to attend to the people I am working with. Actually, I would like to just be out there to see the world around me, and capture the sights.

What had made the skies beautiful were the clouds, and the azure colour of the skies. I wondered: the skies may be beautiful but one would need time to slow down to appreciate its beauty. One may noticed its beauty but may not be able to appreciate the full value of it. Maybe, beauty has to be seen with the heart, not the eye?

The skies was much more beautiful than the one that you see on the above photo. This photo was taken just outside the building where I now attend orchestra rehearsals.

**

In 10 days time, it will be the concert-day. I figured we might be running short of supporters.

In 11 days time

In my last post, I was writing about dark skies and my walks at night. For this post, I shall write about A Night of Enchantment.

I have given up on the idea of telling people how interesting a concert by a symphony orchestra would be. A thousand words would still not be able to match an experience of one such concert. So I shall attempt not. Please read only if you are able to bear with my writing.

A Night of Enchantment
by NUS Symphony Orchestra (NUSSO) with Konstantin Scherbakov
National University of Singapore, University Cultural Centre, Hall, Friday, 24 February 2006, 7.30 p.m.

This is a concert whereby yours truly will be playing in. For the tickets, check out this site or let me know for I have tickets at discounted rates on hand.

The first question on my mind: How do symphony orchestras around the world encourage an appreciation of the music that they play?

Related post:
-Time draws near.

Walking under the stars

Singapore River Hongbao

Under the dark skies
Under the stars
One walks
In search of what may bring light
To the dark nights

****

On Friday (10 Feb 2006), one of the places that I had visited was the site of the Singapore River Hongbao. Somehow, with the contrast between the dark skies and the bright colourful lights from the various displays, that site radiated a greater festive mood at night than in the daytime.





Dark skies. They serve a particular function, that is, to bring out the colours of the night.

The Magic of Dark Skies

Last evening, I decided to go for an evening walk. The walk started out with looking for a place to have dinner. I had a craving for sashimi last evening but the queue for most of the more reasonably-priced Japanese restaurants were long. As such, I gave up on the idea of having sashimi for last evening's dinner. Instead I had Japanese udon at one of the foodcourts.

To keep the story short, I shall not bore readers with some parts of the walk. At about 9.15 p.m., I stopped by near the Outdoor Theatre of the Esplanade - Theatres by the Bay. I waited. I knew that at 9.30 p.m., there would be a fireworks display. The display was part of the Singapore River Hongbao event.

Catch a glimpse of the fireworks. It was brief but beautiful.

An interesting online dictionary

I read about this link from the newspapers. This link is an online dictionary of Singlish and Singapore English:


http://www.singlishdictionary.com

So when you can't understand any Singlish, you may wish to check this online dictionary out.

More mistakes

Mistakes need not be costly.

A fornight ago, my music theory teacher gave me an assignment consisting of three questions. The task is to add the soprano, alto and tenor parts to the given bass parts.

That assignment had taken me a while to complete. I took more than one an a half hour for these three questions.

Today came the time when the assignment was reviewed. Mistakes and more mistakes. I made at least one mistake for every question. But I should be seeing things on the brighter side. At least I have managed to get most of the cadences correct, and I did manage to get some parts correct.

So my entire 45 minutes music theory lesson this evening was spent trying to correct the mistakes and to enhance my understanding of how to approach harmony-related questions.

I only managed to correct two questions. Anyway, it was good to be given sufficient time to correct the mistakes and to understand how one could do better the next time.

Today, I was given another three questions under the same topic of first inversions of triads. Another round of mind-bogging things to do. Yet, I am not complaining, the amount of work given by the music-theory-teacher has been realistic.

The Pareto Principle

I am feeling tired. Doing too much things just may not necessary bring a lot of results. Yet there seems so much to do at work that one may be tricked into spending more time. I am feeling that I will be reaching the tipping point soon.

As such, I shall attempt to reorganise my approaches.

The Pareto Principle (80-20 Rule) states that for many phenomena 80% of consequences stem from 20% of the causes.

If I could be enlightened, what are the vital 20% that I should be focusing on?

I thought I have been trying to achieve those. Maybe something is getting out of hand?

What's New in Singapore?

Maybe this post should be titled: "What is old in Singapore?".

Yesterday, I have read on the newspapers that the former Ford Motor Factory will be opened to the public from 20 Feb 2006. There will be a World War II Exhibition Gallery on the Japanese Occupation of Singapore (1942-1945).

The former Ford Motor Factory was the historic site where the British surrendered to the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. It was built in 1941. As such, won't it be deemed as an old site?

Its exact location is: 351 Upper Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 588192.

**
For more about the preservation of this historic site, check out the following press release:

National Heritage Board Receives $200,000 to Preserve Historic Site where Singapore was Surrendered to the Japanese during World War II

**
For those of you who are not interested in history but are keen on things unexplainable, check this URL: Staking Out Vengeful Ghosts at Ford Factory

It is probably ideal reading for the adventure-seeking readers?

Unknown Pain

Unknown source of pain
Bugging since two weeks ago
Not sure why
Feeling resistant to see a doctor

I don't want to care
Why should one be?
Life's so short
What is the difference?

Let colours fill the darkness of the night

Chingay @ Ang Mo Kio. One of the floats. 


May the colourful floats bring some colours to the dark nights. For the write-up, please check my other blog and read the post titled Chingay and floats

Walking alone

Maybe I have been on the auto-pilot walking mode of late? How do people cope when there seems nothing to look forward to?

***
Anyway, I did quite some walking this weekend. Last evening, I walked alone from Ang Mo Kio Central to Bishan MRT station. Pardon me, I did not bring a measuring tape with me. As such, I could not tell exactly how much distance had been covered yesterday. I could only say that it was easier to walk that particular stretch of pathways under the cool evening skies than under the hot scorching sun. The walk last evening took about half-an-hour.

***
Today, after the orchestra rehearsals, I took a bus to the bus-stop just in front of Orchard Emerald. Then I walked to the nearby Le Meridien Hotel Food Mall for dinner.

The urge was to walk.

After dinner, I headed for Plaza Singapura (a shopping mall) on foot. I stopped by a music shop to browse for music-books. However, there was nothing that caught my fancy this evening. I walked about the shopping mall and had a slice of chocolate chip walnut cake from Secrets Recipe. It tasted quite nice. If you have guessed it right, I was trying hard to make myself delight in the little things in life. It helped a bit, but was short-lived. I was not supposed to drink cold drinks, but I ended choosing watermelon drink that had ice in it. Now, I am coughing. I wonder if it was due to the many cold drinks that I have taken lately?

Still, the feet weren't tired. I walked on. The evening skies looked nicely blue today even though it was close to 7 p.m. On my mind, I had wanted to capture a photograph of this nice evening skies. However, in the end, I did not. I decided that some things are better left admired and not captured in film.

After Plaza Singapora, the walking trail this evening went like this:
- Cathay Building - Prinsep Street - Selegie Road - a stretch of Bt Timah Road - the site of the previous Kandang Kerbau Hospital (this was where I was born) - the KK Women's and Children's Hospital
- Kampong Java Rd - a stretch of Thomson Road - passed by United Square - then ended my walk at Novena MRT station.

Actually, my feet weren't tired as yet by the time I reached Novena MRT station. I had even considered the option of walking back home from Novena MRT station. But I decided to spare my feet. I took a MRT train back home.

I am thankful that Singapore is relatively safe for me to walk alone in relatively isolated places under the evening skies.

Maybe if I am brave enough, I shall consider walking alone from Singapore to the tip of Europe?

A balanced composition

Building along Stamford Road

Confused
Perspectives are upset
World seems spinning
Simply searching for balance

Friday night out

Yesterday was Friday. I decided I needed to be out for a walk. It did not start out too well though. I was having some kind of discomfort in my tummy intermittently. The kind of feeling made me visit the ladies more frequently than one would normally do within that given span of time.

Mortality. It is something that I am realising at this age of mine, and even earlier.

Friday seems to be a crowded day. I was at Esplanade - Theatres by the Bay. Yesterday was the opening day of Huayi - Chinese Festival of Arts. Somehow, Esplanade was pretty crowded with people last night. To a point, it became unbearable, I left. Anyway, I felt I did not fit anywhere.

Later, I wanted to find a cafe to sit down, and to have a drink of something chocolate-containing. The search took about than an hour, and lots of walking about. I must have been fussy. I wanted a place which is relatively not too crowded with people. I walked from Esplanade - Theatres by the Bay, checking out the cafes that I know. I walked, and most of the cafes were crowded, even though it was beyond 9 p.m. by then. It was Friday, perhaps?

After much walking, I reached Plaza by the Park (which was located somewhere nearby the Singapore Art Museum). There's a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf outlet there. This cafe was comparatively much more quieter, and had less crowd. That seemed an ideal place for me to get a drink. I got myself an ice-blended drink, which was a risk, for I tend to cough after drinking cold drinks. Anyway, the place proved to be quiet enough.

I drank and experienced the world passing by. The discomfort stayed.

No access

When I tried to view this blog this morning, the message reads:

403 Forbidden.
You don't have permission to access / on this server.

I wonder what is going on. Is this a sign that I should vanish from this space? This world perhaps?

The Music of the Night

Lots of thoughts, yet no moods to write.

Music therapy? I am now listening to this album titled The Phantom of the Opera.

I realised I quite like the way Prima Donna sounds.

All I ask of you sounds soothing compared to the dissonant tunes from many of the other numbers.

The Music of the Night sounds nicely dark.

...
Open up your mind,
let your fantasies unwind,
in this darkness which
you know you cannot fight -
the darkness of
the music of the night...

Let your mind
start a journey through a strange, new world!
Leave all thoughts of the world
you knew before!
...

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics by Charles Hart
Additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe