Closure

I remember but one month ago when my younger sister said to me, "Kor! Don't start blogging. Its very addictive". Haha. If only I had listened then, I wouldn't have turned into the blog troll I am now.

As the day draws nearer, I've finally begun the process of spring-cleaning my room. Its a very...cathartic process somehow; rooting through old photos, old scores, old primary school notebooks, old aborted diary attempts, old birthday cards, the guitar I never got down to learning, the sax I never got down to practicing, and old books I want to read just one more time. Marking things for disposal, for giving away, for stashing.

My room in the aftermath of spring cleaning, in what I hope is the halfway done state. The sheer amount of accumulated dust has sent me to the showers thrice today, and yet I continue to itch. Sigh. This mayhem was caused in but 2 hours of solid hacking away, resulting in 2 bags of trash already. Still have the bookshelves to work on. Would have gone straight through, except that I chose to accompany my mum out to shop for electrical/kitchen appliances for bringing over.

I had no idea there was this new budget electrical store at Harbourfront called 'BIG'. It's pretty funky really...it feels really LC as it is, but prices are really cutthroat cheap. Its also worth noting that most of the brands they tout are actually local (ie. Powerpac, Goldenfuji etc). Technology from Japan, made in China, but local brand. What can I say? Globalisation rocks indeed.

So the spoils of today are a slow cooker, a rice cooker, an airpot (those hot-water dispensers) and a spanking new steam iron. Together with a few bric-a-brac like torchlights and novelty mugs, the total bill came up to...less than $100. Pretty nifty huh? I only hope they all don't conk out after the 1st month of use. I also got a new 2GB SD card to feed my digital camera at only $59. The day I view my world thru only the lens (or rather LCD screen) of my little camera draws ever nearer. I only hope the change will be painless.

Through various subtle comments by various subtle people, I have gleaned that my blog has received far more attention than I had previously surmised. Sigh. Anyhow to continue in this fashion where I broadcast my entire day to the general (albeit discerning) public, this spate of photos was taken during dinner at Chongqing Hotpot in Tanglin Shopping Centre. The occasion was a sort of quasi send-off to Leeyang who is returning to the United Kingdom this Saturday afternoon, after a short hiatus in Singapore and Japan.

The food, although slightly on the pricey side, was really really good, especially considering it was an ala carte buffet. Consuming a grand total of 12 plates of sliced beef, the only other food we ate in such quantities were golden mushrooms aka 'jingu' (10 plates) and cockles (6 plates). My personal favourite though, which no one else seemed to share, was the ox-tongue. Mmm. Continuing my tea education, everyone at the table also had a serving of 'ba bao' (or eight treasures) tea. Can't say I cared much for it, but it was an experience nevertheless.

It was great to really properly see Leeyang as opposed to the rushed meetings we've had so far. Since I'll be joining him shortly in a month or so though, can't say that it was a very sad parting of any sort.

So once again, having only escaped debt this morning, I return once again to the red. Sigh.

37 days left!

I realise that a side effect on incipient departure is that I have taken to carrying everywhere with me, in addition to my valuables, my little digital camera. As David puts it, "photo-whoring" has become my hobby of late. As I go through these few days, I realise this pictorial trail helps me find insight and some contentment as I close this chapter in my life, and will hopefully give me comfort as I trudge through the next more or less on my own.

Thus revealing the great mystery of why the alumni are so close. Thats because we hang out together so much! I do admit that as much as I look forward to practice every week, I also look forward to just enjoying their company over a simple (albeit occasionally pricey!) meal. So today, in order to avoid the lure of Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao, we avoided Holland Village altogether and made a beeline for town, eventually landing in California Pizza Kitchen in Forum (Toys 'R Us!).

Now due to the relatively low budgets of all the FIFTEEN (read 15!) of us who went for lunch together, we ending up splitting 8 pizza's among all of us. Now at $20 a pizza, it netted us 3 slices of pizza each for $12. Wowch. Lucky McDonald's was next door. Double Cheeseburger to the rescue!

After wandering aimlessly along Orchard Road for awhile working off the pizza, we gradually dwindled and dwindled till we just...dissipated. Acknowledged problems with big groups. But oh well, it was a really great time: talking, laughing, and teasing. Things I know I will miss muchly. Oh yeah...also found out Leb's leaving in a week or so. Bugger. Time really passes very fast.

Was fortunate to be able to join a buncha people to celebrate Wendy's belated birthday! A woman's age is her secret, so I won't be telling! =) But dinner was another great affair. Although pizza again, it was just as fabulous, and I ate so much more for just $15! The dinner was at spizza's in Club Street, and the really strange thing is that all the Pizza's were given female Italian names for every letter of the alphabet.

Hence, in the pictures above are a Large Helena, a large Quinta, and a large Juliana (or something like that =P). The cake is Wendy's birthday cake, and it is called the 'Maharajah'. Heh.

Now the crowning glory of the evening: we retired to the Tea Chapter for drinks! As I remarked to my sis, it's more my style. If I'd gone out with people my age, we'd be at least imbibing alcohol instead of gourmet Chinese Tea. It was a really eye-opening experience, and one I'd readily go for again really.

We had three teas; a white tea (white peony), a green tea (longjing) and a black tea (pu-er) to 'cleanse our palate'. Haha. Don't know if it did that, but it sure did contribute to raised heart rates as we rushed to finished brewing and serving the tea before closing time. As Victor put it, 'competitive tea drinking'. Brilliant =)

37 more days till I turn a new page. Ambivalence.

Choir

As befits my current standing (unemployed and too much free time), I will now proceed to give yet another long and rambling insight into the nostalgia that has assaulted me whilst in the process of cleaning out my old computer.

So what words can do justice to an experience as great as this? To wear the ol' cream blazer, tuck in the damn pleated shirt into...uhh...the pants, tie that stupid bowtie, and mangle my disobedient hair into some semblance of neatness. I wouldn't exchange that for nuthin...except maybe going overseas to study, but thats another story, aye? =P

The above collage is a collection of pictures taken by Mr Mark Ng on the day of SYF'03 Preliminaries. It seems almost a lifetime ago, these events. Jitters, jitters, check hair ok, more jitters. Then walking onto that stage in VCH...sigh. Bizarre that after all these years, looking at these pictures I can still recognise people from the back.

More courtesy of Mr Mark Ng. This was after our prelims. I still remember how we all had to go back after phototaking because they only allowed a few people to stay back to hear the results. We got bused back to school for 'lessons', where I ponned class for the first time ever. Jitters. Bunch of us sat in the void deck and reminsced, prayed, held hands, talked about the performance endlessly...just waiting for news.

And then it came. Through to the finals. Ahh...


Of course my poor ole batch after having the economic downturn ruin many of our carolling engagements, we had SARs ruin our plans of touring Czech. Which made it my 6th consecutive school year without a school tour of any sort. Bummer.

So the compensation plan! 4 days 3 nights in Beaufort (now the Sentosa Resort). I must admit I was pretty blessed to get dream roomies (much like this year) in the form Quentin (my buddy!) and Peter, two people I not only got along with, but also enjoyed the company of. Then of course my extended group of Chloe, Eleena and Yishan. I won't pretend I remember the name of our group anymore, but I do remember suggesting that we should be called something nifty like the 'ninja durians'. Shot down in planning, of course. Sigh. Good times.

Its interesting to note that if you look at the bass picture, you can see Mrs Tay with a young Elizabeth. She's walking now (Elizabeth...duh). Yeesh =P And if you wondered why we're so suaku about the Esplanade and the Fullerton, you must realise that they were just newly opened in 2003. Sigh...so old.

My dear batch! As you can see, the last batch (along with our seniors of course) of Choir people to sing in VCH. Not that singing in the Esplanade wasn't stunning...just a bit scary after VCH =P You can't really ever find words to describe your own batch. The good and the bad, the ugly and the beautiful, all amalgate into this nice warm bubble of sentiment over time. Well, it did for me anyhow.

One thing though...I remember on our first rehearsal in the somewhat austere surroundings of the HR. Ms Gracia said to my batch, "Look around. The people seated around will be your best friends. And not just for JC, but for life." And hey, it's true (except for a few exceptions, of course =P).


Photo trail must of course lead on to my juniors. Can't quite find a adjective for them. Darling? mmm...Endearing? We'll just stick with...tall. My tall juniors (except for Joanna!). A great many people I was close to in this batch...Quentin, Jaehyeon, Fi, Yingying and Grace. And of course, my Yuanyuan =). Despite whatever I might have said or thought of my juniors at that time, I really am proud of the way they turned out. Not that I had anything to do with it, but I'm privileged to be somewhat connected to them in some obscure form.


Last bout of photo's here! Choir moments I can't quite place in the timeline, but nevertheless oh-so-precious. In the middle is our morning ensemble, backstage before our last ever performance on Honour's Night. To the many faces (and hairdo's!) who made my Choir, and therefore JC experience unforgettable.

39 days left!

Just did a wee bit more cleaning up on my computer, and I came across something I want to share. This photo here is dedicated to my dear friend David Charles.

In good health, bud.