japanese lessons

For those who don't know, I've started taking Japanese lessons and I've learnt quite a bit. Well, not competent enough to write something in Japanese just as yet, but was quite surprised when Takeyama-sensei said that my Japanese pronunciation was good. :) Hope to learn more in the coming weeks and there's gg to be a written and oral test at the end of it! Dunno whether I will even have time to study for that.

Yesterday, I thought I could happily go off early to the FASS 80th anniversary dinner, but well work always falls from the sky, and I will definitely be going back tmr to finish it. Haix. Met somebody at the dinner who said he will be tendering his resignation next week, because well he didn't like doing the job. For a moment, I was thinking about my own future. But, a little part of me is afraid of it. That I might never find something that I will want to do and be happy doing. Me ranting about the sad realities of life again. I will just end this post with a nice new anime song.

pmb presentation

Presented my honours thesis at the National Library on Thursday. It was nice to be able to leave the office so early and see so many familiar people at the event. The only thing was that I had to rush all the way from Buona Vista to Bugis during rush hour traffic, whilst eating fries and nuggets in an attempt to have some food in my stomach. It didn't help that I had an early lunch because of the inter division Scrabble competition which I was asked to participate. I didn't win a single game lor! Too rusty and I didn't memorise weird 2 letter words unlike the other contestants. But really the other contestants were super qiang. Anyway, the PMB presentation went pretty smoothly. I was pushed to become the 2nd presenter when the person who was supposed to present was late. I wrote this whole ton of notes and in the end I didn't read from them. So that little practice before the presentation did help. It was nice meeting with old friends, interviewees, professors. Had a little supper with the current hons ppl who came. Just like to extend my thanks again to all who came down to attend the forum, despite your busy schedules. I hope you had fun and well when I have photos, I will post them here. :)

some piano pieces

To prevent my blog from stagnating any further, decided to post these few videos of some piano pieces that I've come to like. Just so happened that I went back to NUS to listen to my first piano recital and well, these were some of the pieces in Nodame that really wowed me. So enjoy!


Stravinsky's Petrouchka


Chopin's Etude Op. 10 No.4

小人物的心声

This meaning of this song became so much clearer when I started working. Working made me realise how much I didn't want to be in a position of great power. With great power comes great responsibility. The now famous movie line from Spiderman. It's not that I want to shirk from any responsibility whatsoever. Little kids always say that they want to be the prime minister or the president when they grow up, but I think it really takes that special person to lead and truly believe that he or she is doing this for the people. So what if you get a powerful position, earn lots of money, but yet have to slog everyday and find little time for yourself. Unless a person likes to do this sort of thing, I wouldn't call that a life. So the song encapsulates how I feel. I never felt the need to be somebody powerful or famous, as the line says "因为平凡也是一种幸福". Being ordinary is also a blessing. A blessing that allows you to have time for yourself and to those you love. A blessing that allows you to do what you like doing.

my 911

This song kept ringing in my ear when the work week ended yesterday. Even though it's close to pay day, yesterday was perhaps one of those days I wished I hadn't needed to go through. And it was so ironic that it was Sept 11 too. It's days like days that make me doubt my own ability. That all these years of studying and supposedly doing well in school had amounted to naught. That I can never attain what other people can do in a matter of minutes, when I could only do a certain thing in hours. When you wished that maybe life could be much simpler. But life isn't simple. Life is meant to be hard. I was quite depressed yesterday and the only good thing that happened was the dinner with friends after that. And perhaps the earliest I've left the office, for fear of what more inadequacies I might discover of myself. But strangely, Daniel Powter's song isn't that depressing. And I suppose this had to happen sooner or later. It's just a matter whether I can pull through this and do better next time.

back to the simpler times

I always look forward to seeing all my old friends from the NUS days. It allows me (albeit momentarily) to immerse myself back to the good old times, when life was much simpler, and days were much freer. It has already been 2 years since the last D&D. I vaguely remembering saying the last time that the next time D&D is to be held, we would have graduated already. And so, we have arrived at this point. Two happy years have flown by. We have all moved on towards a new stage in our lives. I think as more D&Ds come and go, there will be less people I would recognise. You see all the freshmen, all brown-eyed and bushy tailed. How I wish I could return back to that time again.

It was great that 12 of the us from the Honours class managed to turn up, eat a little atas French food and meet each other up again. But, with time, topics diverge. Some will talk about their work, others will talk about the fun they're having at NIE, yet more talk about the modules they are doing. But for those few hours, I'm back to my comfort zone, where I need not worry about deadlines and bureaucracy. I recently heard on a radio show about discovering one's passion, about the presenter being lost for 15 years before discovering what he actually wanted. He said he was made to pursue the aspirations of others and that made him miserable. I guess I sort of understand what he said. But people might believe that the word 'passion' is just a convenient excuse for saying that you don't like what you are doing right now. In our ever practical society, more often than not we sacrifice passion for what is tangible. The material stuff. Sumiko Tan stated that she would never want to leave Singapore in today's papers, despite the hierarchical structure of the working environment, the materialism of Singaporeans and the endless pursuit of grades. I wonder how true is that.

Till I write again and perhaps when I really find my true passion will I be happy.