All in one

All right, some of you might be wondering what have I been doing because I haven't been updating my blog for quite a few days already. Well, actually I was busy studying and revising for my trial exams, therefore I've cut off some of my time for homework and revision. I'm quite determined to do better for the trial exams. But let's cut to the chase.

On the 21st of August 2005 (Sunday), I attended the school play "Mulan", directed by Ms. Corrinne Mah. I drove there at around 7.00 p.m., thinking that I should be able to get a good car park near the basketball court. However, when I arrived, to my horror, there weren't anymore! So I had to move on to the teachers' car park and parked my car there; no one bothered, and the traffic marshals directed me there. Upon my arrival at the door of the hall, I produced my ticket and was taken to the VIP seat (blue cushion chairs with arm-rests). There I was joined by Victor Ho's parents. As it was still early, I'd decided to see how the musicians were doing (at the same time comforting Victor and Aaron Oo so that they wouldn't be too nervous; it was their first time in the drama). This year, the orchestral group was by far the biggest ever, with more than 20 musicians.

After a while, Aaron Oo pointed to me Chan Ka Yinn, a musician friend of mine whom I've not met for a year and a half (he transferred from SMI to Sam Tet). Ka Yinn told me that he was going for the Sunday performance as well. Gosh! He's changed so much that I could hardly recognise him. Neither could he recognise me until Aaron pointed us out. The first act of the drama was mediocre, but I admired the dances. The dialogues were nonetheless satisfactory but the singing parts were easily drowned by the musicians. Nevertheless, overall it was a memorable performance.

After the interval between the first and second act, suddenly, in the dark, a man stood up from the front row (seats with red cushion arm-chairs) came to me and offered to exchange seats with me. I looked to the front and found that it was Ka Yinn who motioned me to come in front. So it was his father who made the offer. In the dark I couldn't see him properly, but I thanked him very much (obviously the father wanted me to sit next to Ka Yinn and talk to him. Either that or he also wanted to speak to the Ho's). In the middle of Act 2, an embarassing scene occured (I was actually unaware of it as I was looking at the left side of the stage). During a dance, I was watching Gary (playing the character Captain Shang) singing until Ka Yinn suddenly nudged me and asked me to look at the left of the stage. What I saw made me dropped my jaw, and intense laughter started to rupture. I covered my mouth to keep my laughter soft. Guess what happened?

One of the actor's, playing the character of the Guard, pants were torn in the middle! Oh my God! I was very, very thankful that he wore his underwear (which clearly shown). Poor boy! His face became so red with embarassment. When he went back-stage after the dance, he immediately changed into another pair of pants. How he tore that pants I couldn't understand. The pants he wore was made to stretch and not to tear so easily; you know, the type of pants made for those learning martial arts. I wonder how that hole appeared. It's only fortunate that those sitting behind at the hall couldn't see, and those sitting in front are mostly adults and well-behaved Michaelians. I actually felt sorry for that boy. Overall, it was an effort worth putting in. I enjoyed Navin very much. He played the role of Mushu the dragon. He looked cute with his dragon costume.

On Tuesday, 22nd of August, I went for my group study with Jared Ee, Moganasivan and Puventhiran. As usual, I drove there after dropping my mother at the hawker centre. We revised Biology and Physics. After the revision, I asked Jared to give me the soft copy of Russell Peters' comedy show into my flash disk. I came home and watched it. Imagine how much I laughed at his jokes, some which are dirty jokes. Oh, what a show! it lasted for 45 minutes!

Today, Wednesday the 23rd, I went for my group study again, but at 9.45 a.m. I had to leave because I had made an appointment with Ka Yinn to meet him at his house. He wanted me to show him some of my musical repertoires and he'd like to share his with mine. I gladly obliged and arrived at his house at 10.00 a.m. His mother welcomed me into the house and Ka Yinn brought me to his piano room. I noticed that he uses a Kreutzer piano, which I'm quite unfamiliar (I'm more familiar with Kawai, Yamaha, Petrof, Wagner, Steinway & Sons, etc.). He expressed his love towards Mozart pieces and I showed him my collection of Mozart. I then showed him Debussy and Beethoven. Although he is knowledgeable in piano, he admitted that he was ignorant about music by Beethoven (he was first impressed and got interested into playing the piano after listening to one of his friends playing Mozart). I first played for him Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, and then I introduced Debussy, which he found uninteresting, commenting that Debussy's music is too difficult and very atonal. I played Beethoven's music and he was immensely surprised by the way Beethoven composed his pieces. It was as if he suddenly got impressed by the style of Beethoven's composition and also by the way I played his pieces (some of my friends don't call me "Beethoven" for nothing, seriously!). I performed the Pathetique Sonata and a Sonata in C-minor. He took my book and continued to flip the pages, saying that it's very amiss of him to be so ignorant towards Beethoven.

I stayed there until it was 5 minutes to 1.00 p.m. I was preparing to leave when Mrs. Chan, Ka Yinn's mother, invited me to stay on for lunch. I was taken by surprise as this was something very unanticipated. Politely, I obliged and came out. There I saw a man who advanced to me with a smile. Gosh, could this be true? I actually met Mr. Chan Kok Keong, a lawyer by profession, one of SMI's luminaries (for those who has the school magazine, just refer to the SMI Luminaries section). I told him that we've met before in the drama and he said that he knew. He gave me a hearty hand-shake and ushered me to the table. There, I had my lunch and we all had a nice talk about various issues. Mr. Chan was certainly very friendly and we had a talk for about 20 to 25 minutes. He'd come back from work for lunch together with the family. "How nice," I thought.

After lunch, I courteously excused myself to rejoin with Ka Yinn. There, I made my final arrangements to leave. I was already overstaying for 30 minutes (I told my mother that I'd be back by then). Before I left, I thanked Ka Yinn and his father was their kind hospitality. Mrs. Chan was occupied with something else so I asked Mr. Chan to send my regards and thanks to her. He even asked me to come over more often next time (he had a word with me privately about something else, which explains why he would like me to visit more often. Nevertheless, I replied that I could come more frequently after my exams. He understood my situation well as his son is also going to sit for a public examination). There, I left.

Oh, what a day! I'm now having my one-week holidays but I have to make full use of them for my academic pleasures. I still have my Addtional Mathematics assignment to finish! Until then, au revoir!