Choir Auditions

Quite a lot of people turned up for the choir auditions leh these 3 days ^^ There are about 55 on Monday, 48 on Tuesday, and nearly 60 on Wednesday(hehe, didn't keep count on Wednesday, too many people dy and very very confusing that day @@).

Heard there's gonna be a male alto joining us, so now Nick won't be the odd one out dy ^^ Got quite a lot of PRC who came for audition this year leh, and also a lot of Malaysian. From what I heard from Nat, every 2-3 people there'll be one Malaysian. Hmm... must be due to us brainwashing the juniors in msl during UFO2 XD

A lot of people turned up on Wednesday early, there was about 40++ people waiting for audition around 6.30... the few days before, the number only reached 40++ around 7.30(I know cuz I came that late :P) Anyway, was pretty confusing and very very busy last night @@ We had to change room from PR4 to studio 1 around 7.15... We had to move everything downstairs... Jun Yen came for the audition too... heard that he sang his song quite well, but screwed up when it's the scales... Well, can't blame him oso, as I too think I might not be able to sing the scales in that condition, with the trumpets and trombones blasting in the room next door @@. Well, i feel that it's not fair for those few who had their auditions in studio 2 lah, but heh, those who passed means that they have great potentials then :)

Waited for the results to come out last night, waited until 2.30 for the results to be posted up on the forum. Got about 10 passes for each sections, so in the end they got about 10 basses, so now Adyll dun have to go down to bass! Yay! :P Hmm... Wonders how the new tenors will be like? Likeable? Friendly? Snobbish(I hope not >.<)? Well anyway, I hope for the best!!!!

On a side note, the dim sum in Eusoff quite nice!!!! That day went after choir practice! The Milo Gargantuan oso damn unique, with ice cream and marshmallow! The con is the waiting time is too long >.< I like dim sum by the way, hehe, and haven't had any for a long time dy. Next time got back home must go eat again XD

Performance at parliament!

We had a performance in the Singapore parliament last Saturday, for the National Citizenship ceremony event. The security is quite tight there leh, they need to check our I/C(or FIN card for some of us international students :P) in the gate b4 letting us in. After the gate, there's some sort of checkpoint, like those in immigrations, where we have to put our bags and stuffs over to screen for potentially dangerous items @@. And we have to walk through a metal detector also, it gives me the impression that we're in the airport leh... Camera phones are not to be taken inside, so most of us have to hand over our phones to the guards, only to reclaim it when we are leaving. Oh ya, there's this antique chair that they display in the hallway, it was supposed to be the speaker's chair from long time ago. They don't use that sort of chair anymore IMO, and it does not look that comfortable, I'd prefer having a sofa chair rather than that one :P

Anyway, we went to conference room 1, with a big conference table, and started the 'meeting', with Kelvin sitting in the middles acting as the president of some company, addressing a few of us as if we're really in a company, asking for reports and stuff XD. Then Yuyan come up and said:"Let's discuss a topic today, about how to be gentlemen and let ladies sit." :P Then damn funny leh, all the guys straight away got up from the chair, with applause from the gals XD. Then it's time for practice and rehearsals. At first not very comfortable with the arrangement on stage, the lights were too bright! Shining directly into my eyes. Afterwards, our positions were changed, and so I dun feel the effects of the light anymore hehe, but pity was in the last row though :P

The organizers prepared some packet rice for us at around 4.30 so we will be able to last until the buffet starts, the rice is still quite ok IMO, but is nothing compared to the buffet dinner they had! There was this nyonya spicy fish with ladyfingers(I can't help thinking about Kai Lin when I saw the dish, I'm so nice right?XD), lamb racks, mushrooms wrapped with slices of beef, fish fillet with steamed egg whites, hainan chicken, seafood laksa, mushroom soup, ginseng chicken soup, lots of dim sum, a few choices of salad, some sushi(nvr tried any, dun like sushi anyway :P), a few types of desserts, and also some soft drinks! The food is so so delicious! I haven't had so many nice foods in one meal for about a few months dy, the last being during my bro's birthday during May where we went to Renaissance hotel for buffet dinner ^^ Oh ya, now only I know, Nat can't eat spicy stuff too XD I tried the fish and for me it tastes only a little bit spicy... but Nat says she can feel it burning down her throat all the way down @@

Anyway, after the dinner, we went to watch the fireworks, we watched from across the bridge from Fullerton hotel. The firework was damn damn nice! Especially the during the last parts, where they have this fireworks that explode into flower shapes! And what's more, each petal of the flower has different colours! Overall the whole show is very nice, but we just had to find a wrong spot to stand =.=' there was this tree that blocked our view of one part of the fireworks >.< By the way, the fireworks weren't the only thing sparkling that night. When I turn over to look behind me at the rows of flats, lots and lots of camera lights were flashing one after the other @@

Choir Competition

We had our 1st competition of the folklore category on the 2nd day in Pattaya, 13th of July. Did Yu Ye Hua and Luk Luk Lumbu. After coming down from stage, we heard some inside news that our choir was one of the few that the judges clapped after performing our pieces :)

2nd competition is for the open-mixed category, on the 14th. Ave Maris Stella was better than usual, but still, it's horrible, not due to our skill, but due to the song itself :P . Shima E, honestly, I dun think it was one of our greatest time performing, but it's still alright. Bal-Laygi, I honestly think that we did our best, and that one time was the best ever that we ever performed. The shouting part, I have never ever heard anything like that during practices. Everyone, including me, did the screaming part with full power, and standing in the 1st row, I got the full effect from everyone from behind blasting at me, it was such a great feeling. Adrenaline rushed and all. I saw Terrence's face looking a bit emotional, but didn't notice that he was already crying until the others said they saw it when we went down stage. Was really really happy with our performance.

On the side note, we all started to play bridge like crazy. Everynight in Pattaya, played at least until 1-2 o'clock, only then will we go to sleep(ok, at least not me, I slept early for the two days that has competition, but after competition, I stayed up til quite late to play oso.). One crazy thing, on thre day when we were coming back to Singapore on the plane. Kelvin and mark won a game with a bid of 7 no trumps. meaning that they can't even afford to lose one hand @@ Kelvin's hand is consisted of almost all the aces, kings, queens and jacks... Anyway, that day when we flew back, it was night time. So the lights are mostly turned off. The only three spotlights on were on NUS choir's 'gambling den' XD. You could easily recognise where the NUS choir people are just by searching where the light is on. The rest of the passengers are all asleep, but we had 3 sets of cards and we kept playing after lift off. Ok I slept a while, and Pei Suen has the picture to proof it :P. Anyways, I oso have one picture of our dear alicen sleeping with her mouth wide open on the bus to pattaya....

Food was ok during the whole stay there, but there really just wasn't any authentic thailand food served during our stay there. the buffet was mostly consists of bland food. Well, we can't complain about that, we need to keep our voices for the competition, so we can't have spicy food spoiling our throats then. had one spicy one after the competition and it burned my throat a little bit. The next morning, started to feel that a sore throat is coming on, but still, in the afternoon, we went to a restaurant and I ordered a fried rice. It was quite hot, but still it's enjoyable. I enjoyed myself imagining what Kai Lin's expression will be after he eat the fried rice XD

Honestly speaking, from the bottom of my heart, I have never ever regretted joining NUS choir! You people are great! I love every single one of you guys and gals, you all made me feel a sense of belonging, just like what Terrence had said about our bunch, we are special! :D Through this competition, we all bonded even more closely. Truly, I feel a sense of belonging with you guys. Will miss the choir practices for these few weeks though... Anyway, I hope a new bunch of choristers will join us soon, and help us liven up NUS choir even more! Met a few promising freshies yesterday, and I hope to see them during the audition :)


Results day: We got gold C for both categories that we participated in, 4th place for folklore category, and 6th place for open-mixed. I'm very very satisfied with the results really, considering about half of us are new to choir. Means we all have great potential! We'll definitely secure the 1st prize for the next competition we're going! Honestly speaking, i got dejected a bit when the results are just announced, cuz we didn't get 1st prize, but after a while, I felt very satisfied with our results, and what i came here for wasn't for the 1st prize, it was to show what we can do :D One of the judges from phillipines gave us very high marks, high enough for gold A, and I'm very very satisfied with that, considering that we don't have any connections with him, and he don't have any reasons to bias for us, and also that he is one of the strictest judges ever! Though why Singapore judges gave us low marks, I have no idea. IMO, as long as what we sang sounds nice and you enjoyed it, it doesn't matter too much if we go a little bit flat or sharp together, and it makes the chord. either the singapore judges are too technical( like what Mr. Gao Gao said about the reasons for our Bal-Laygi marks, hmph!), or they are biased against us T.T...

Terrence's speech also helps liven up the mood that day, and I agree whole-heartedly with what he had said. Although... Aaron could check how we felt 1st b4 telling Terrence that we're dejected. Anyway, what he did was good too! That's the sign of a good leader, keeping the members spirit in a good form! And terrence, we, as the choir, love you too! You're a great conductor!

Ok, enough ranting then. Now it's time to go to the business canteen to meet up with the freshies from msl and later bring them to a campus tour :)