To the crazy ones

The IT office of Berklee very recently moved to the new premises. Finally the entire, well almost, IT related departments are located in the same building. They are definitely expanding, as there are still many empty cubes - which coincidently reminds me of Digicom, my old workplace.

Anyway, someone delivered a poster to the office and it was striking. It was a poem entitled "To the Crazy Ones". But of course, it's a poster by Apple - cos the whole Berklee uses Macintosh. Few days ago, I saw a series of amazing posters of striking personalities - again, part of the "Think Different" ad campaign by Apple sometime ago. My favourites are Gandhi, John Lennon and the most distinct poster of Jane Goodall, whom I took a few hours to identify on the internet.

I hope you'll be inspired by the poem as much as I was, and still am... let's all be Crazy...






It's Grace's 21st birthday today. We spent the midnight at the Belanie's to give her a surprise cake...

Back to my harpist roots

It's the first time I attended a harp recital in Boston - nope, I think in my life. And I'm honored and privileged to be in the same room as 3 top harpists in their own rights, right here in Boston's very own New England Conservatory (NEC).

I was at Ina Zdorovetchi's recital. She is a student of Ann Hobson Pilot, who is the harp faculty at Boston University and NEC. Not forgetting my teacher, Felice Pomeranz, who the harp faculty of Berklee College of Music who attended Ina's recital too. Ina is the 1st runner-up of the Cité des Arts de Paris International Harp Competition 2005, the most coveted prize in the world of Harp. She currently plays with most of the orchestras here in Boston, including BSO, Boston Pops, Boston Ballet. My teacher graduated from NEC 25 years ago, under the tutelage of Ann Hobson Pilot too. She recently just released a Intorduction to Jazz Harp instruction DVD. Ann Hobson Pilot is the Principal harpist of the BSO.

All I can say is - Wow...


From L-R: Felice Pomeranz, Ann Hobson Pilot, Ina Zdorovetchi and I

Watch TV programs online!

Great news! No need to have TV or cable subscription anymore! Not like I ever own a tv in Boston anyway...

Anyway, I can watch the controversial Survivor: Cook Islands online now. I can also watch Lost, CSI and The Amazing Race... haha.... no wonder the number of people using P2P softwares are dropping, even in the Windows environment.

The TV networks finally understood the main cause of 'illegal' file-sharing. They got it right this time. People from all over the world just wanna have easier access to tv shows, other than through local broadcasts - where they have to wait for local companies to broadcast certain shows at certain time. By then, many of the online forums were already discussing about outcome of the episode, while on the other side of the world, people are still dying to watch the episode.

Synchronize, synchronize, synchronize... welcome to the 21st century - where internet rulez... yeah!

Here comes Fall 2006 - a 10-year tribute to TIGS's chinese of 1996

Yesterday marked the official beginning of Fall 2006. It also meant that I've been here for 1 year 2 weeks.

Many things have changed and many things remained the same over this past year, I don't even know where to begin.

I am in fact pretty excited now, at this very moment, cos I just caught up with a childhood friend - whom I've not spoken to in 2 years?? or more? - over the phone. She just had her Chinese Wedding ceremony back in my hometown, Batu Pahat. There was so much to say, so much time too, but not enough money... hahaha... but it was very good conversation...

It's good to learn the updates of my childhood classmates through this friend, Ee Yi. In fact, I should backtrack a little bit to thank Su Peng, my FIRST childhood friend from school, for updating me about Ee Yi.

Moving on, I was told more friends are getting married in the near future (yup, it's that time in our lives...) and of one who'll be moving back to setup a pharmacy in my hometown. Ee Yi and her husband will begin their lives together in Shanghai next month...

Who would know the group of us - wacky chinese of TIGS, Temenggong Ibrahim Girls' School - would be where we are today? This feeling is overwhelming... I'm still savouring this emotion.

We have come a long way, my friends. Hopefully we'll have that opportunity to meet up as a group again very soon.

By the way, I strongly believe that I'm the only wacky one left. Don't believe me? Check out my latest photo below... Please also be reminded that I'm 27!!




This is the class photo taken 10 years ago - a few days before our secondary school public exam. Ee Yi is our brightest student in the school. However, in the photo, you can only see her eyes - right behind.

Last attempt of hummingbirds photo taking in Houston

On the day I leave Houston, I took a final attempt to photograph the hummingbirds. Prior to that, I waited for 2 hours - sitting in the backyard, waiting patiently for the hummingbirds to feed at Jill's hummingbird feeder. When the opportunity finally came, my camera died on me. Unlucky for me, it was also the same time I realized I lost my battery charger.

So in the next few days, I just see these hummingbirds flying everywhere. Anyway, here are the shots that I managed to take with Jill's camera... the best shots were in the last 2 slides, where there were 3 birds fighting over the feeders. Can you spot them? I bet you will, since my camera skills are so 'great'...



These are some of the photos I took at the beach in Galveston. Look at the lifeguards - they make me drown instantly...



These are some artsy-fartsy photos on the colors of Galveston:

The past one month...

It has almost been a month since I last pen down my thoughts on my blog. Living at my friend's home in a gated community outside the city of Houston for almost a month - with a Labrador and 3 cats - a beautiful view of the lake and a national park; just sitting out at the backyard - a recent addition to the beautiful view; the hummingbird migration season - has definitely distracted my mind from my usual routine of surfing the internet, practice my piano/harp, doing homework, drinking, meeting up with friends.

In the midst of my 'solitory confinement', I found time and interest in reading Confucius's Analects and Lao Tzu's Dao De Jing, thanks to Jill's resourceful library of philosophical books. For the first time in my life, I realized how my personal life has been influenced by these 2 great Chinese philosophers even without my notice. Despite growing up in a Christian environment since birth, Confuciunism and Daoism has definitely been part of my life, now that I've read a little about their philosophy.

Back to music, I did learn how to use Logic Express, Kontakt, Peak, Battery and Finale. On top of that, I've also gathered quite a number of sound samples, thanks to my purchase of the M-Audio Microtrack - it's quality is simply amazing. I also traded music with Jill, who deepened my knowledge in Rock and Country music a little more. Oh yes, I also took time to listen to Richard Devine's music collection.

There, this is what I've been doing the past month. I've a better idea of myself, my music, my technology. This should lead me to a better understanding of what I want to do with my life - eventually.

Oh yeah, before I forget, I finally found a solution to Jerry's food intake problem. He's Jill's 15 year-old cat. He has been vomitting his cat food almost immediately after eating it everytime. Just now, I saw him vomitting nothing, just stomach juice. We tried feeding him with fish and whipped cream, but he didn't like it. Today I fed him with my lactose free milk - whalla, he licked the plate dry. I'll continue to monitor if he still likes it in the next meal...

Getting ready to start school again... Can someone remind me the available tensions of all the major and minor chords???

Oh by the way, Happy belated National day to you Malaysians out there.

Quote of the day

Life is a constant struggle - he who knows how to smile struggles less

Harpo Marx - the harp genius

Introducing my hero... I've heard so much about him these years. Thanks to YouTube, I finally get to watch him! if only all harpists in the world behave as honest as him....
i love him, i love him, i love him!!

He's playing - with and on - a Lyon & Healy's Style 23 Gold - price: $50K now. Ok, I lied, it costs ONLY $45K (w/o shipping). =P


AMAZING harp playing


want to to know where the piano originated from? - of course this is exaggeration. and it's not THE real harp. but you sorta get the picture...

What is Enlightenment? (an excerpt from Immanuel Kant, 1724-1804)

Enlightenment is man's release from his self-incurred tutelage. Tutelage s man's inability to make use of his understanding without direction from another. Self-incurred is this tutelage when its cause lies not in lack of reason but in lack of resolution and courage to use it without direction from another. Sapere aude! "Have courage to use your own reason!"- that is the motto of enlightenment.

Laziness and cowardice are the reasons why so great a portion of mankind, after nature has long since discharged them from external direction (naturaliter maiorennes), nevertheless remains under lifelong tutelage, and why it is so easy for others to set themselves up as their guardians. It is so easy not to be of age. If I have a book which understands for me, a pastor who has a conscience for me, a physician who decides my diet, and so forth, I need not trouble myself. I need not think, if I can only pay - others will easily undertake the irksome work for me.

**Thanks, Dr. Kiros**

Sepet: A Malaysian movie

'Sepet' is a Malay word usually used to refer the shape of Chinese boys' eyes. Flat, small...

This is a Malaysian production; written, directed and produced by Yasmin Ahmad - a well known female Malay movie director who uses the media to promote moderate Muslim behaviors and cultural understanding.

This movie is another great attempt to fuse the two major races in Malaysia - Malay and Chinese.

Some Malay vocabulary for you:
Kapsul Tongkat Ali - local traditional herbal capsule = viagra (hehe...)
Orked - The name of the female lead, also refers to the flower "Orchid"
Sayang - sweetheart

(1) Scene 1 - the parents of the Malay girl dancing to a classic Thai pop tune, until their housekeeper surprised them:


(2) Scene 2 - the couple's date with a classic Cantonese pop tune playing in the background (with a glimpse of a typical chinese family scene):


Obviously after watching these clips, you should see that Malaysia isn't really that conservative or strict.

Mamak: A Malaysian Culture

did you guys know about the existence of this video?!?! I miss hOME!!!

I PASSED my freakin' World History 1 !!

Phew!! what a month. If you followed my blog recently, I was rambling about the tough History teacher I got in Summer 1. I was keeping my fingers crossed the whohle weekend. By this morning, I was ready to fork out another $411 and another month to retake the paper.

6:30am - Alarm clock rang
6:35am - Flip and turn
6:40am - Still flipping and turning... heheh
6:45am - Shower
7:00am - worry, while playing Sudoku
7:15am - breakfast
7:45am - Waiting for clock's minute hand to touch '00'
8:00am - Walk to Mass Ave T stop
8:15am - Got into the World History II class
8:40am - Class dimissed cos there were only 4 of us
8:45am - Registrar - Q-ing to get result
8:47am - My turn
8:48am - Printer printing my result
8:49am - Receive my result slip...
8:49:35am - Holding the result slip - almost trembling


8:50am - Jump with joy!

I got a 'C+'. The worst grade in my entire schooling history. But it's also one of the happiest moment in my entire schooling history.

As I mentioned in my previous post, 1/2 of the students dropped out the class after the 2nd week. There were 3 tests altogether. 3 long essay questions in each test. In the first test, 3/4 of the class got a 'D'. I got a 'C-', not good enough to be transfered into Berklee.

All I can say is - I miraculously survived the ordeal. What a nightmare - in Roxbury.

Now I can relax, enjoy the sun, and World History 2.

Windy's soundalike session in Studio E

It was fun. One of the best sessions I've played for. Well organized, prompt, good players...

Glad to see a couple of familiar faces that I worked with before too - Ulf, Chris Vuk, Willy... Oh, we were playing Frank Sinatra's 'In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning'. As usual, I've requested for a copy of the final mix. Hopefully I'll be able to get it this time, then I can upload it here.

live room

Windy telling us what to do from the control room

Ulf conducting


rehearsing

a job well done!

World History Pt 1 finally done... but...

Phew... *stretching arms, neck, back and legs* From the hominids to the discovery of the Americas - in 3 weeks... A-M-A-Z-I-N-G....

I'm impressed with my accomplishment - if I pass this course. Squeezing 15 topics into 3 weeks and writing essays for these topics is really almost an impossible task, unless one had had some background with it, and has a good understanding of English. I had to refer to the dictionary for some terms used, and sometimes have to even repeat a paragraph a couple of times just to understand a point.

I don't deny one really must have the willpower and determination to just complete Acevedo's class - not pass, complete. Within 2 weeks, half of the class dropped out. By the end of the last paper, i think only a third of the class is left - those who doesn't give up easily without fighting back.

I just hope those of us to persevered will pass the paper so as not to waste the $400+ we paid for.

Results only will be out next week. *fingers crossed*

ps: note to Berklee students: if you are taking World History in Roxbury, avoid "Acevedo" at all cost, unless you really want to learn history

Look what I found on this week's dig...

We were discussing about the Middle Ages in our World History class this week, and one of the highlights was of course the crusades.

That was yesterday's lesson.

Today, our teacher brought in a weekly local entertainment paper...



Guess what the guy in the armor say not very long ago...

Psychology class in Roxbury

Another interesting and memorable experience with the Gen. Psychology class in Roxbury Community College, here in Boston.
Most of the students were adults and married, we had so much discussion about all kinds of topics.

Though it's just a month long, I've gained much from these group of amazing people...

and of course, thank you, Dr. Farideh for making this class so lively and interesting.



I wish you all the best in everything that you so desire to do...

ps: oh and yes, i bought a new camera... to continue documenting my life processes. as the saying goes, a picture speaks a thousand words.

Today's mood forecast...

sunny...

There's a time for everything...

It has been sometime since I touched the bible. almost a year ago.

my favorite books in the bible are proverbs, ecclesiastes and song of songs. There has been continuous dispute on whether did Solomon actually write these books. To me, it doesn't matter - these are good books to me, regardless of who wrote them. In fact, one doesn't need to be christian to read these books.

Reading the book of Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs after a period of 'rest' and reading them from an open mind was refreshing indeed. No pressure, no obligation, no fear, no shame.

Be happy when you have happiness, embrace sadness when you are down, enjoy the anger when you are angry - enjoy whatever moment you are in, for there's a time for everything.

Do not arouse love until it so desires - again, there'a a time for everything.

Like a stalk of wheat in the field - if one pulls it out of the soil a little to make it appear taller, the plant will die. If one leaves it on its own and doesn't take care of it, it too, will die.

Therefore, while indulging in whatever mood or situation you are in, be cautious. Be aware of time, for there'll be times when opportunities just slips through your fingers.

As controversial as it may sound, I think life itself is hard to fathom.

****ok, procrastinating time is over, back to my books. 4 assignments and 2 tests this coming week!****

lost some personal documents...

managed to find time checking what documents i've lost, that i had only in my dell laptop.

a load of music, a load of photos, a load of old compositions, a load of personal documents and poems.

maybe it's time to bid farewell to my precious moments which i took for granted all these years. these information had served me well over the years, made me the person i am today.

it's time to let go.

but u'll always stay in my memories.

Visiting Burma (Myanmar)

Burma is known for it's tempting, beautiful, untouched virgin landscape - exotic, many people would call it. However, the cries of the Burmese are getting stronger and louder. They are finding means and ways to get their voice heard. Many real life encounters were unfolded, told by the very people who escaped from the clutches of the junta.

Despite working in a foreign country, Burmese are required to pay 10% of their salary to the government every month, if they want to retain their citizenship.

These are the lucky ones, who have a choice.

They are many others who are still stuck in the country, waiting for their 'fate'.

So if you are thinking of visit Burma, have plans to, are planning, whatever - please don't.

“Burma will be here for many years, so tell your friends to visit us later. Visiting now is tantamount to condoning the regime.”
-Aung San Suu Kyi