Stupid Assignment

Stupid Assignment

Memories of the early 2000s are coming back to haunt me cos it's 1+am and I'm still up trying to complete a 2000 word essay. The only consolation is that it's 2 days to the deadline and at least I've started. Haha.

This bloody 1 mth course has been a royal pain in the ass. We're into week 3 now so 2 more days of slow death and 1 more week of torture. Will blog more on my 'experiential learning' in Bintan after my assignment has been handed in. Extremely physically gruelling esp for the first few days... came back with tons of bruises, muscle aches and sun burn.

Can't wait for this weekend to arrive... then I can just rot at home. Can't believe I didn't make any plans for Sat night. Wld've been nice to catch a good movie (or go shopping just to integrate back into civilisation again) but deciding on what to watch and who to watch it with is proving to be too much of a hassle. Not to mention having to actually make the arrangements. Heh.

Alrighty, back to work.

Nodame Cantabile

Nodame Cantabile

I'm such a sucker for guys who are musically inclined. Regardless of whether they are musicians (altho I must say, even more so :p) or whether they're able to decently hold a tune. Of cos, bonus points for those who are able to do both la. Haha. Ok, I prob just spoke for about 85% of all women? Heh.

Anyway. Bought this Jap drama called Nodame Cantabile abt a mth ago, and finished it quite quickly. Think the first time I heard about this show was in the cinema.. they were showing the shots of Nodame Cantabile the movie! And because the entire show seemed to be abt (classical) music, I got quite interested. But I only managed to watch it a few mths later, when I was on the plane to U.S.. Loved it so much cos it was quirky, and about music la. So a few weeks ago I bought the drama version. Super love!!!

The male lead is like damn cool... super talented in the piano, violin, and most of all.. is able to conduct an orchestra! If I met a guy like that, I'd probably go as crazy as the female lead. :p Anyway, here are 2 vids from the show.. which are quite nice. The first, is the orchestra playing Gershwin's (I think) Rhapsody in Blue. Super cute la, cos it's part of a music festival..so they're dressed up in costumes and all. The beauty of the whole scene is how they really enjoy performing and playing together. There's sthg abt a combined choir/orchestra thing tt really draws me...having many layers of music combine into one beautiful harmony. Think it'd be really nice to be part of sthg like tt.



And the second vid... is the finale of the show. The male lead is conducting this orchestra for the last time. And they're playing Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 - the first piece he ever conducted. So it is quite emotional.. esp at the end. The acting is so amazing. I love how the director seems to have put a great amount of effort into making sure that the performances are 'authentic'. Like how it looks like they're really playing according to the music, or what you're hearing. It's almost believeable that the actors/actresses are all pro musicians. The clip is abit long, but the music is nice. Enjoy!!

We've only just begun & 我只在乎你

We've only just begun & 我只在乎你

Ok...as promised, the video of my perf at Pam's wedding! Thanks to Yihao for managing to save it... and to Steven for working so hard on it too!



Guess I've only just begun this singing thing... open-mics soon? Or maybe just more youtube uploads first. heh. Need to up the standard a lot more first tho.

Talking abt music.. my next post will be on the Jap drama tt I finished watching a few wks ago. Super love!!

A Night of New Experiences

A Night of New Experiences

A great night out with Marie...

1) First time trying the Turkish restaurant, Sofra at Beach Road Shaw building. Was not bad for Turkish food.. which I'm not a big fan of. Might actually be tempted to go back and try other stuff there!

2) Went to Bar Stories (again for the 3rd time in 3 wks. Hah!) But this time sat at the bar, made conversation with the bartender (unfortunately the cute one wasn't there today :S), who actually bothered to intro us to the 'regular customer', an Aussie fella who was sitting all alone at the bar. Just reminded me of how little I care for small talk, and how crap I am at it, even tho the guy was relatively decent looking :p And for the first time, was slightly disappointed with the cocktail I had cos it didn't have the usual exoticism which is so characteristic of their drinks. Blame it on the inability of the staff to understand what I wanted. But what to do, the usual guy wasn't ard!

3) First time watching a Hindi movie at Beach Road Shaw. Ok, first time watching a Hindi movie in a theatre! It was abt 2 and a half hrs long... and strangely, rather atypical for a bollywood film. Didn't have the usual dancing and prancing abt. Was abt as emo as a TVB drama tho. Must've been cos it was based on a true (and serious) story la.

4) Had supper at some prata plc near Sembawang shopping centre or sthg. And sent Marie back, for the 2nd time in my life. Not my fave area..haha.. but at least the company was gd :)

U guys muz be rather puzzled by the sudden increase in the no. of blogposts! Dunno how come I suddenly got so much inspiration also. Heh. Alrighty, off to bed!

Happy Lunch ^^v

Happy Lunch ^^v

Had a 'surprise' lunch at Cocotte yesterday. Surprise cos we cldn't decide where to go eat then one of my colleagues made the decision on a whim and said he wanted to give us a 'surprise'. Majorly majorly happy.. cos I'd been wanting to try it out since a few mths ago but never did. And the food was awesome! Ambience was great; eclectic decor, good service, desserts were to die for and the company was fantastic. An escape in the middle of the day to a really delightful place :) Oh, forgot to say, pricing was decent too (as in value-for-money). Shiiookkk.

Their set lunch included an appetiser, main, dessert and coffee/tea for $34. And they had a promo for wine by the glass for $10 nett so.. since the other 2 wanted to have.. I followed lor :p Had their pork rilettes, which was really quite a huge portion for an appetiser, served with bread. The 2nd round of bread was like freshly baked so it was damn goood. Then we all had the pan seared chicken with pine nuts..very very tasty. And then the desserts!! We each ordered a diff dessert so tt we cld try more stuff.. I wanted my citron tarte - haven't been able to find any gd ones here - it was super sour and super shiok! Didn't have any of the crap meringue tt so many restaurants love to use to 'cancel out' the sourness. We also had 2 scoops of sorbet - raspberry mulled wine and cherry brandy - which were very very good, and Chocolate mousse which was really smooth, and not too sweet altho cos we were so full we didn't finish it!

Didn't manage to take many pics cos we cldn't wait to dig in... so only have one of the desserts.



After the rather full lunch + wine I thought I'd end up sleeping the afternoon away. But somehow, maybe it was the endorphins or perhaps mix of wine + tea, I actually managed to stay awake! The happiness (and food) was also enough to tide me all the way till dinner too :p Not quite sure why I was so happy also leh. ES actually said, "Ur actually quite easily satisfied ah!". Hmm. Am I?? As long as there's good food and good company I suppose! :D