MeThinks

Something a little more Sensible...

2011-01-22T02:46:00.001-08:00

I figured that now would be a good time to think about updating my blog after the rather useless blathering I have been doing so far!

It's is one thing deciding to start typing out something worthwhile but it is quite another finding something to talk about; something even interesting. In fact, this is something I have been practising everyday for the past few months.

One of my study modules this year is a course in Creative Writing. It sounded pretty tame to me when I did the curse selection. Some of you may know that I have been reading law as part of my degree, which is in the simplest sense, absorbing and synthesising information which you will then apply to a set of facts; much as you would for any type of study. Creative writing, on the other hand, is just about the complete opposite! There is no information to put into your head; just techniques. And time. there is a huge amount of time needed to sit and think about how to approach a descriptive text, how to best bring a character to life. Suddenly, the innocent looking title "Creative Writing" is demanding a little more respect from me. It is not easy.

But then, that is art isn't it. Stephen Sondheim begins his own musical revue, Putting It Together by making sure his audience knows that "art isn't easy". Everything down to the tiniest little minor detail needs a major decision so that the art obtains a delicate balance.

So much for thinking it was easy to just...write. Oh look! I have.

Doodles

2010-12-11T23:58:00.000-08:00

As happens so often, I am once AGAIN spring cleaning my room; the designated junk-drawer has mysteriously grown, and so has the designated everyday-clothes-dump shelf. So now I am lifting things gingerly off the floor; mostly books, and threads of dust are slithering out of the corners of my room behind them. Yup, it has been a while. Now at least the floor is clear. I have just been procrastinating with the actual broom and dustpan.

This usually happens when I have been away for a few days. and I have been away for a week on the other side of town rehearsing for a musical which is showing next weekend. I would at this point, usually shamelessly post the web address to get tickets for the show, but I have done that enough on FaceBook and Twitter.

Instead of picking up a broom I am now listening to my newly acquired Doctor Who Series 5 OST. And I am thoroughly enjoying it! Anyone who knows me to a marginal extent will know that I blab to the point of boasting about how devoted I am to classical music and nothing else whatever. This musical I am preparing for and the official soundtrack in my ears are the exceptions for the time being.

Yeah, alright! I am going to get that wretched broom now!

Vibes

2010-12-04T08:06:00.000-08:00

If I believed in it, I would say there is something wrong the general vibes, around.
People around me are behaving strangely.
I feel strange.
I am not usually able to claim crankiness as part of my emotional arson; but today, urgh! The slightest thing makes me want to snap! Either in half or at someone.

Handel's Messiah KLPac 2009

2009-12-28T03:07:00.000-08:00

:This article was posted in yesterday's Star:

Sunday December 27, 2009
A mighty Messiah

A rare classical music gem was performed with great skill in KL last week.

HANDEL’S MESSIAH

Dec 17-20, Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre

YOU might not know it, but Handel is a lot like Vivaldi – you are more familiar with him than you think.

Take, for example, his “Hallelujah” chorus: it has featured in TV series and movies like Little Black Book, Someone like You, Runaway Bride, Only You, Dumb and Dumber, and Face/Off.

The German-English Baroque composer has also left his mark with other music, including Water Music, Music for the Royal Fireworks, Zadok the Priest, The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, the “Largo” from the opera Xerxes and “For unto us a child is born” (from Messiah), that resonate not only in concert halls but in so many other parts of our lives.

The “Hallelujah” chorus is from George Frideric Handel’s Messiah, probably the composer’s most enduring and beloved work and one of the mainstays of the Western choral repertoire.

(Completed in 1741 and with a libretto by Charles Jennens and entirely drawn from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, Messiah, simply put, is a contemplation of the birth and death of Jesus Christ.)

Melding beautifully: The KLPac Orchestra led by Paul Baker, the choir and (from left, standing) Rachel Jonas King, Cecilia Yap, Gabrielle Maes, Solomon Chong and Cha Seng Tiang. – KLPac

That said, performances of Messiah in Malaysia are rare things, which is why the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre’s staging of the oratorio (a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists) was so welcome, especially since it featured the entire oratorio instead of just selections.

The performance featured soprano Cecilia Yap, alto Gabrielle Maes, tenor Solomon Chong and baritone Cha Seng Tiang, the 35-piece KLPac Orchestra guest conducted by Paul Baker, and a 40-strong, specially-assembled chorus.

I really enjoy visiting KLPac; I like its laidback yet committed approach to the arts and greatly appreciate its magnificent surroundings. What I find disappointing, though, is how badly its visitors can behave. Last Sunday’s matinee saw members of the public entering the hall while the performance was ongoing, and the same thing happened again after the interval.

Some might think this is no big deal, but I do think that this is rude and disruptive to those who take the trouble to be on time.

Then there is the issue of mobile phones. I am always amazed at how people think it’s all right to use their mobiles during shows. The couple next to me not only kept up a steady stream of text exchanges during the performance, but also answered calls twice. Frankly, I feel that if you are too important to remain incommunicado for a few hours, you should really stay away from events like this.

All said and done, I have to praise the KLPac for putting together a fantastic event, with excellent voices and steady conducting.

Alto Gabrielle Maes has a finely-modulated and distinct voice and, throughout the concert, sang with unflagging control and emotion, outstandingly in the arias “O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion” and “He was despised and rejected of men”.

The baritone Cha Seng Tiang was just as commanding, singing with a heartfelt passion that reached its peak in “Thou has gone up on high” and “The trumpet shall sound,” although I thought he struggled to keep up with the almost furious tempo of “Why do the nations so furiously rage together?”

The tenor Solomon Chong was, I felt, the weakest of the four soloists. He has an undoubtedly fine voice but was let down by his enunciation – “rod of iron” came across as “a rod of ion,” while “O death, where is thy sting” sounded like “O death, where is my sting.

Cecilia Yap was a splendid soprano, who married talent and technique to great effect, hitting top notes with little effort and entrancing all with her impassioned singing, especially in her glorious version of “I know that my Redeemer liveth.”

Yap was also gracious enough to allow her understudy, Rachel Jonas-King, to demonstrate another fine voice in the making with an impressive “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace”.

The real star for me, however, was the chorus, which sent shivers down my spine from its very first contribution, “And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed”, and never once let its guard down to fluff a note.

All the four chorus voices – soprano, alto, bass and tenor – were in fine fettle, echoing and dovetailing with each other with consummate ease and elegance.

Working through all the voice was the KLPac Orchestra, which carried its burden of playing almost entirely throughout the two-and-a-half hour performance with indefatigable wit and grace.

Paul Baker, with 15 previous Messiah productions behind him and conducting for the first time in Malaysia, lead with a steady hand, charming both performers and the audience – exhorting the latter to stand and join in with the “Hallelujah” chorus.

It was, in all, an unforgettable show, where everything – even the lighting, used to great effect in the “Amen” finale when it highlighted each section of the chorus individually as it sang – went right and brilliantly so, fully deserving of the ultimate accolade, a standing ovation.

2009-06-10T20:13:00.000-07:00

i had a go at making it and it looked like this.

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extractC2
1 large coffee mug (MicroSafe)

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix
thoroughly.

Pour in the milk and oil and mix well..

Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.

The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!

Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
EAT ! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).

2009-06-08T02:54:00.000-07:00

my room is now fully furnished with all the stuff i could need...chair, desk, wee floor desk, rug, soft toys, windows, mosquito screens, and lots or junk strewn everywhere :-).
But I do love my balcony at the back of my room.I have potted plants and lots of very domesticated looking things around...and lots of junk everywhere...:-)

Upheaval

2009-02-17T00:04:00.000-08:00

the last month has seen me living as a refugee in my own home...sounds crazy, no?

my room has been totally revamped...or i should say, is still in the process...my wee balcony has been incorporated into my room so that it is longer...and now i have a wee walkway/balcony connecting to the balcony behind where our dog called The Brown One lives :-).

Now instead of a window looking out over the back-garden i have a full length sliding door...its fantastic!! especially when there is a bit of rain its so pleasant just to sit here looking out over the trees...trying of course to pretend the neighbour's house at the back doesn't exist...it works sometimes...

My floor is no longer covered with that velcro-type carpet, but now has been tiled with a rough-stone look...and yes...the idea for it came after returning from Egypt ;-). apart from that my room is relatively empty....only my new bed-frame is in...and my famed up papyrus sheet...bathroom only has a shower..nothing else ...therefore...still in the process of revamping :-)

....some nonsense....

2008-09-24T09:52:00.000-07:00

Everything is moving so fast...exams...dull and dreary though they are, we all have to experience them...although, come to think about it, the exams themselves are not the dreary bit but the time leading up to them... a stranger starts a coversation with you...you have just exchanged names when you suddenly find yourselves talking about studies and exams...not the subjects themselves but...the schedule...''how long have you been studying?''...''where?''...''what subjects?'' its always the same....I think i have spoken more about my exams to other people than anything else...

Does this mean that every student in the world has nothing better in common with other students than...exams?...

seems to fit...but oh, how dreary...

They say of the Acropolis where the Parthenon is...

2008-06-21T07:51:00.000-07:00

This is what you get if you stick 5 Brits in front of an audience with nothing to amuse themselves with than a few general knowledge questions :D

If It Doesn't Have a Tail It's Not a Monkey It's an Ape

2008-06-13T00:01:00.000-07:00

German Fillers

2008-06-09T21:56:00.000-07:00

I have a German spoken assignment due on wednesay...yep...THIS wednesday...
my assignment is to leave a message on a friends answering machine in German.

the worst part is i have to sound NATURAL

meaning using fillers like 'er' 'well...' or the German equivalents.

How do you deliberately put in fillers and make it sound natural???

i like to have my whole text planned out and in front of me before i say anything,....so you can imagine the dilema i'm encountering now!

do i write these fillers into my text??
the instructions say to simply use prompts and notes instead of writing every single thing down....yikes!

i would feel so unprepared if i did that...

....

Butterbeer!!! at long last...

2008-04-27T05:38:00.000-07:00

i have been waiting for this recipe to come out...like many Harry Potter fans, i have often wondered what that famous Three Broomsticks beverage from Hogsmead tasted like....well...there is this recipe on Muggle.net...have tried it a couple of times....it seems to replicate the effect that we imagine butterbeer to have...warms up the insides...not too strong...but strong enough to make a house-elf a wee bit tipsy:

Ingredients:

1 cup (8 oz) club soda or cream soda
½ cup (4 oz) butterscotch syrup (ice cream topping)
½ tablespoon butter

Directions:

Step 1: Measure butterscotch and butter into a 2 cup (16 oz) glass. Microwave on high for 1 to 1½ minutes, or until syrup is bubbly and butter is completely incorporated.

Step 2: Stir and cool for 30 seconds, then slowly mix in club soda. Mixture will fizz quite a bit.

Step 3: Serve in two coffee mugs or small glasses; a perfectly warm Hogwarts treat for two!

2008-04-18T21:30:00.000-07:00

it feels like the year has barely started...and without realising it...i'm stuck, three assessments- deep into my second legal accademic year...*phew...
My studies this year are PARTICULARLY dull...
i have 15 Units full of constitutional law topics....one unit takes about a week to finish....and thats a lot!!

since the beginning of this year several new things have happened....
I got an i-pod nano!! whaha!!!i can actually carry my tv around with me!! it' so COOL!!
i got a new phone!! it takes photos [and that's a first] !!! :-p now i can also carry my camera and photo album around me !! wahaha!!
i got new glasses...now i don't have to squint when i read:-D

apart from that life has basically been the same...
i still live to eat...and drink freshly dripped coffee with whipped cream and chocolate powder sprinkled on top, with a slice of cheese cake/tiramisu/pavlova on the side...[oh, forget the choice...give me all three:-D]

oh yeah!...has anyone got the new sarah brightman cd? symphony?
if you dunno who sarah brightman is or what kinda songs she sings then...you might enjoy this album....if you've followed sarah brightman since Cats, Phantom of the Opera and Time to Say Goodbye then...your in for a teensey weensey shock at the first song...i, for one, laughed when i first listened to the album!

signing off!!

:only John Cleese can get away with this sort of thing..:

2008-02-15T04:20:00.001-08:00

Recently got this in my e-mail...

A tad too long - but funny nevertheless :)

A Message from John Cleese

To the citizens of the United States of America:

In light of your failure to nominate competent candidates forPresident of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby givenotice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchicalduties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas, which she does not fancy).

Your new prime minister, Gordon Brown, will appoint a governor forAmerica without the need for further elections.

Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether anyof you noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the followingrules are introduced with immediate effect:
You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary.

1. Then look up aluminium, and check the pronunciation guide. You willbe amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.

2. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' withoutskipping half the letters, and the suffix -ize will be replaced by thesuffix -ise.Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptablelevels. (look up 'vocabulary').

3. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noisessuch as "like" and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient formof communication.There is no such thing as US English. We will let Microsoft know onyour behalf. The Microsoft spell- checker will be adjusted to takeaccount of the reinstated letter 'u' and the elimination of -ize. Youwill relearn your original national anthem, God Save The Queen.

4. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.

5. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns,lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers andtherapists shows that you're not adult enough to be independent.Guns should only be handled by adults. If you're not adult enough tosort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist thenyou're not grown up enough to handle a gun.

6. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anythingmore dangerous than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be required ifyou wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

7. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and this is foryour own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand whatwe mean.

8. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you willstart driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, youwill go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit ofconversion tables.Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the Britishsense of humour.

9. The Former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have beencalling gasoline)-roughly $6/US gallon. Get used to it.

10. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call Frenchfries are not real chips, and those things you insist on callingpotato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut,fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.

11. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is notactually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will bereferred to as beer, and European brews of known and acceptedprovenance will be referred to as Lager.South African beer is also acceptable as they are pound for pound thegreatest sporting Nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer.They are also part of British Commonwealth - see what it did for them.

12. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors asgood guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors toplay English characters.Watching Andie McDowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings anda Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with acheese grater.

13. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kindof proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enoughwill, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similaritiesto American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest everytwenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch ofnancies). Don't try Rugby - the South Africans and Kiwis will thrashyou, like they regularly thrash us.

14. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable tohost an event called the World Series for a game which is not playedoutside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware that there is aworld beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You willlearn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first totake the sting out of their deliveries.

15. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.

16. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty'sGovernment will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of allmonies due (backdated to 1776).

17. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 pm with proper cups, nevermugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; strawberries inseason.

God save the Queen.

Only He can.

John Cleese

Sonnet 116

2008-02-05T07:26:00.001-08:00

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

-William Shakespeare

I just love this sonnet, don't you??...apart from the first impression ickiness...it's really quite interesting...

Changes...

2008-02-04T19:45:00.000-08:00

i have recently realised that many things in my taste have changed...for clothes (duh!).
Those who have known me for some time know that i believe that the colour pink should be outlawed, and that i am strictly black and/or red-clad.
Recently during some mild shopping sprees and other observations, i have seen floral frocks [me??FROCKS??] and thought 'hey, that's nice'. You know those one piece, knee length, sash behind, light floral dresses? It would have been totally out of the question for me to look at such a thing a few years ago. Although pink is still vetoed in my wardrobe, it does look like i am becoming more versatile with my garb...

The Return

2008-02-03T05:18:00.000-08:00

Ever since i came back from the UK in October, I think i only touched my blog once. Well i have been itching to get back and customise it so, here i am!

I'm actually still figuring out what i'm gonna do.....so, in the meantime...updates!
After my exam i bought books...read them, got movies....watched em, went to Bangkok...[whats the past tense for sight-see? sight-saw?....hmmm]. Anyway, i went to bangkok. It was actually very nice there...apart from the heat. But then coming from this part of the world you learn ways to deal with that.

My course is into it's first week now. Once again its German and Law...but now its level 2.
How time has flown!

My next conquest outside the sphere of academics is getting the full piano and vocal score for 'Cosi Fan Tutte'. I can't wait! It's such a great opera, not to mention ridiculously, absurdly funny.

Of Madness and Silliness

2007-09-18T21:35:00.000-07:00

next week is my last sane week for the next two months...on the 27th of Sept i'm leaving to go to the UK to do my German and Law examinations...its gonna be mad!!!
I'll arrive at Heathrow, LOndon then zoom all the way up to Aberdeen Scotland...do my German exam ther. then zoom all the way back down again-but not as fast-for my Law exam on the 11th of Oct...I'll be stopping at friends' and family's places in a long zig zag from kirkhill, inverness to Bishopsgate London...then a couple of hours after my exam (puff* puff*) I'm flying back to KL then zooming up to Fraser's Hill for our Assembly's Bible Camp...there i can recuperate gradually....then....SHOPPING!!!!!.....for books...hehe...

~GEETHA!!! BUCK UP AND GET UR *HP7*!!!~

oh yeah...i saw something extremely silly on youtube...by john cleese (like...who else)

`aUsTrIa`

2007-09-06T21:15:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics of Vienna and Salzburg when i was there last year with me dad.

This is a cellar on the Bisamberg...a hill. This cellar a several centuries old...although i can't remember now how old exactly.

This is a Heuriger...originally only the most recent year's wine was served at such a place. There are several of these scattered across the country and they are only allowed to open for a certain number of weeks a year, cuz each one sells its own wine and they can't sell wine other than their own. They rotate to give other Heurigen business as well.

This was another climb...up the Rax. This is mountain and we didn't go all the way up...just halfway. and where better to stop to have a pig-out! (Those two sitting on the bench are long-time friends of me dad's)

This is in Salzburg. This is the view that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart would have had when he looked out the living room window of his Salzburg house.

In Salzburg...eating again

Walking up the hill to the Salzburg castle...there were several cathedrals that had the same copper dome in Salzburg so i don't really know which one this was.

This is on one of the verandas in the Salzburg castle. The view behind me is Salzburg. unfortunately the best shots from the front of the veranda were crowded with lemmings who's interest in Salzburg stretched no further than The Sound of Music.

OnTo a nEw nOvEl :-)

2007-09-05T07:29:00.000-07:00

I've started reading a new book...Eragon...yeah...it was made into a movie...but i haven't seen it.

The story is pretty impressive, with its own map, language and history obviously, it is largely inspired by the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

In fact the author has made this book into the first of his trilogy called Inheritance.

I also just recently found out that the author; Christopher Paolini was only 15 when he started writing the book.

He is now 24.

The book certainly isn't as vast and deep as the Lord of the Rings is but it does have a certain amount of charm.

When i was 15 i still had trouble writing short stories that were consistent within a few paragraphs, and that people could understand.

Anyway i'm almost half-way thru the book now.

I hope the plot doesn't let me down as the movie has done for those who apparently love this book.

Eat your Veggies people!!

2007-09-05T06:43:00.000-07:00

I can't stand people who pick the veggies out of their food!!