it’s been a while since i updated, and many many things have happened since then. shocks, smiles, sadness, success, sensitive stuff (just trying to look for words starting with letter ’s’). haha. but seriously, these few weeks have been a real killer. and it’s only the beginning of it all.
my 26th birthday was one full of surprises! and my friends and students really really made growing old much easier to bear with. haha. before the day itself, i already had wishes from my nan chiau students; they were almost wishing me every single practice. haha.
NUSWS clarinets surprised me first with a heaty cake and a trumpet soft case, which i’m happily using already. then desmond and dear tried to surprise me with a cake; unfortunately, they were busted by yours truly, who happened to pop by that coffee shop to have dinner, without realising they were one table away with a huge cake on the table. oops, sorry, didn’t mean to bust my own surprise! hahaha… then my beatty sec 4s wished me through sms. many many of my friends too! and many whom i haven’t heard from in a million years. my lovely nan chiau trombone section gave me a mug with my name on it, and happily put it in a paper bag full of notes and clefs facing the wrong way. so cute! my beatty students threw a mini party for the january babies, and also for my teacher-in-charge, whose birthday is on 1st of february. and they gave me a handmade card and deodorant. haha. nice!
and of course, my birthday itself, celebrating with dear at many places!
she had these slips of paper for me to ‘choose’ where i would like to go for dinner; 3 slips for 3 locations. so she asked me to pick one, and i happily tried to pluck 2 out of her hand and she panicked! apparently, she was so creative, she gave me a ‘choice’, but they were all the same place. haha. so eventually, all the choices pointed towards Dian Xiao Er at T3, Changi Airport.
so we were there and we were happily eating the really really nice set dinner, consisting of herbal duck, mongolian pepper ribs, vegetables in really fantastic sauce, my favourite lotus root soup, and rice! really very nice! but not cheap lah, not a very expensive place to go, but not cheap. after that we walked around the new terminal, before heading to tampines to shop. on the bus to tampines, i opened my present; a very nice shirt from Zara! and with it a very nice personalised Smirk card, with our photo in it! apparently, dear’s skills have improved, she got me to pick my own present without me realising the trick! haha. we had haagen das ice cream at tampines before concluding the evening with a nice little bus ride home 
so my 26th birthday was full of smiles
had a concert with Mus’Art, and this time i ‘guest-played’ for percussion again. with a superb Black Swamp tambourine, i was all set to play the part for Riverdance! concert was ok, dear and i got mobbed by the beatty students. haha. somehow i felt like i haven’t performed for a long while, even though it’s only been 1 1/2 months! i don’t really know why.
been through some really tough times lately; i’ve been working very hard off the job so that i can be more efficient on the job. planning for concert, rewriting of scores, rearranging the entire choice piece, putting in little fingerings for the kiddos, planning for performances, writing divisi parts out so that the kids can see better, doing rhythmic studies worksheets for the kids (dear helped me out with this!) and so on. it’s been really really tiring. and for a while i really thought of giving up. it was really a horror trying to work with the constraints i have, and i feel the pressure building up, but i kept going. till my body couldn’t take it anymore and i fell quite sick a few days ago.
on the day i fell really sick, i decided to go see a doctor and get medication. and while at it, i received an sms from an old friend, and it wasn’t good news. i was really stupefied. my primary school classmate had passed away. those who know me well know i’m terrible at funerals; i can’t handle them, especially if i know the deceased personally and he/she was a close friend. i wasn’t particularly close to this classmate of mine, but nevertheless we’ve shared some friendship together and i decided i must go. and yup, i still can’t handle funerals.
such a young guy. it is truly unfortunate. apparently, he had an epilepsy relapse and he fell off his bed into an awkward position and couldn’t breathe. couldn’t be revived when they found him in the morning.
well my friend, i’ve missed out on a huge part of your life, i don’t know if you remember me, but wherever you may be now, i hope you are now in peace.
life is fragile; treasure it!
