It's almost 11PM and my family's all asleep!
Haha, that's rare....

Today was a tiring day mentally and physically.
Went to the TTSH in the morning with Chris...
Xiang's mom went for her operations to remove her kidney stones today.
She was already in when I reached,
Accompany Xiang outside the op theater.
Though I was telling him that everything's gonna be fine,
I was also cold and clammy myself inside with my mind running wild,
Cos Xiang's mom's body immunity was weaker than other people's...

Waited a few hours before she came out,
Thank goodness she's alright....
Left at about 3PM when Xiang's finally asleep...
Haohao stayed to look over them,
Chris drove me to NYP for alumni prac.

Reached school at 3.50PM.
Omg, late again...
Arrgh.

So many people today!!!
Happy lo,
Like, whoa, finally people coming down....

So many euphists!
Meiting,
Esther,
Hong Sheng(!),
Peiyi(!),
ME.
Hahaha.

Was surprised and happy(!) to see Peiyi there...
So cute!!
Hehehe.

Played Harvest Waves,
7th Night of July,
Ponyoponyo! xD

Sightreading pretty okay,
Except that I can't really see the towgays for some of the pieces cos I was sharing with Esther and Meiting...
Ponyoponyo and half of 7th Night,
I think.
Hehe.

Went out for dinner @ AMK's Sumo House with Jing Si,
Trisa,
Jerold,
Esther,
Allan and Meiting just now after Alumni prac.

Finally...
Haven't gone out on Saturdays for a long time,
And with the NYP people also!
Woot.
(Today's special cos there's no KS prac...
Thought I'd give myself a break for a bit...)

Allan's scary but funny,
Haven't lightened up like today for ages.
Didn't want to be home so early,
But they're tired,
And I don't want to wander alone in AMK.
Went home lo.

On the bus,
I realized how fast time has been going,
It's already 2009....
Like Boon told me during practice,
I'm going to graduate in about 8 weeks.
(That is, if I pass everything.)

Had a strange feeling of mixed emotions....

I felt happy,
Like it's finally over.

I felt sad,
Everything's going to change,
And I'm gonna miss the band people.

I felt scared,
If I'm going to pull through this terribly packed and crazy semester,
What will happen in the future after I graduate,
Especially so if I failed the interview.


Then I started to reflect on 2008's events.
Then I realized, "What a year it has been."


_____________________________________


In 2008,

I've lost yet another good friend.
I really dunno what's wrong...
Why can't people live healthy happily till they're old?
Cancer at the age of 20...
WTF is wrong with the cycle?

I've met Mr. Tan.
Though it's been only for one year,
I'm still glad that I was under him...
Learnt many things from him,
Musical and personal aspects.
He's one of the people that I truely respect.

I've been in and out of a terribly painful relationship.
1 month bliss,
2+ months of endurance....
Don't wanna talk about it anymore,
It's over anyway....
Really thankful for Haohao, Chris and Hong for being beside and supporting me thoughout all that time.
It was really difficult to re-accept a person after that incident,
Yet things turned out this way....
Hit me real hard....
Don't think I want to get invloved in relationships for now and the near future....
Haha.

=

I've gone to Vienna & Salzburg.
Finally to Europe...
Loved it like woo!

The preparations for the event.....
I felt that we've worked hard,
But somehow,
Something's telling me that the band could have worked even harder,
It wasn't 100%....
Hai.
Nvm.

Met new friends from the Australia band,
Like Greg,
Little Thomas,
Brittany,
Sarah,
Prue,
Mark and others.

They were with us at the SCL symphonic band competition in Vienna,
Got to actually talk to them during the photoshoot for all participants when they were sitting beside NYP band.
I was sitting next to Brittany, Prue and Sarah,
Started to talk to them while waiting for everyone to get ready.
They introduced me to some of their band mates,
I introed Fahmi to them as he was sitting near me and they were clarinetists.
Yakked non-stop over at the stage.
The NYPSO people were curious and kept looking over at us.
LOL.
We saw them quite a number of times after that,
During the tour in Vienna,
During the final performance at the Winner's Gala,
At the town hall,
And the last time in Salzburg!
=D

Met new people from choir too. (Different countries)
Ned, Thomas, Cheng, Adam, whatshisnameagain?
Two from America,
One from France (I can NEVER pronounce his name correctly!),
The other from Britian.
The way I got to know them was pretty funny!
It was a free day at the hostel we stayed in Vienna.
I was having a late breakfast alone (I woke up late).
Thomas approached me and asked if I mind eating with him as he doesn't like eating alone.
I didn't mind,
So he sat down with me and we talked.
Soon after that,
His room mate,
Cheng came down.
Thomas just got him to join us for breakfast.
Thomas then brought me up to his room and introed me to Adam from Britian and whatshisname from France a few rooms away from his,
Who were there also for the choir festival.
We went out for a whole day and chatted in each others' rooms at night till NYPSO went to Salzburg. =(

=

Also in 2008,

I survived through 10th Nov.

For the first time in my life,
I felt TOTALLY helpless and desperate at times,
Yet no one could help me.

I've gone through attachment,
Met alot of new people,
Had alot of experience and fun at the same time.

I've realized how useless I can be.
Seeing people excel when I'm doing my best and yet still struggling below.

I've pulled through projects and tests and exams.
Till now,
I still have fear of exams.
And I really dread doing projects.

I've seen how ugly humans can be.
How they can step on you for the benefit of themselves,
How they can disappear last minute and leave you to bleed and die yourself.
How they can poke fun at you for their entertainment.
How they can be so good in front of you,
And stab you in the back.

I learnt how the 'something eating your heart' feeling felt like,
And experienced it many times.

I've realized that sometimes,
You lose out when you do something that is right.
I've seen people using methods that are so unethical,
Yet get praised for it.
But still,
I'm gonna stick in what I believe is RIGHT.

I've realized how much my parents are to me,
Though they might not seem to care in appearance.

At near end,
I've realized how blissful I am while packing my room,
With gifts and tokens given to me by other people.
Speaking of which,
I was quite surprised at the number of things that I own which were given to my by other people ,
(Other than the stuff given by my mom and dad,
Who have painstakingly provided me with everything that I need.
It really hit me on their love thoughtfullness to me through packing my room.)
There're presents from my aunts and uncles,
Presents from my friends: Mingzhu, Lawrence/Amy, XiuMei, Aunt Ivy, Dave&Pete, YiPing, Eve, Jocelyn & Cheryl, Esther & Jerold, Liling.......

Thank you all for your gifts.
I'll treasure them always! =)

_______________________________________

Yup.
2008...
It's over so fast.

2009....
I hope that everything will go smoothly and peacefully for everyone,
Even for people I don't like (YES, Even them.)

Made some resolutions for the year...

01) Do my best in the interview for 6th Jan!
02) Do my really best and endure all projects/tests/exams for this final semester
03) Make time and take driving tests more seriously!
04) Continue to improve sight-reading and eupho playing
05) Get back eupho tone
--- the one that laoshi trained me up to... It disappeared somehow.
06) Make time out for myself and friends
--- like reading books (haven't done that for ages!), going out
07) Try not to be too hard on myself (by Haohao)
08) Be more independent
09) Be more confident of myself (eeks.)
10) Meet and get to know more people!
11) Know existing friends better, spend time with them
12) Be at home more
13) Spend lesser money
14) Start saving money
15) Attend more family gatherings (by mom)