15/6/08

This weekend was totally nuts for me. Feel like I didn't manage to get enough rest and it's soon gonna be another week in camp. Anyway, it was a great weekend nonetheless. Rushed to town on friday evening to get Mil's line settled. Wanted to practice for Saturday but it was really late when I got back so I left it till Sat itself. Saturday morning woke up and knew I had to practice the song for the concert because I wasn't really familiar with it. So I changed the pitch of the song from E to D which was gonna be played in for the concert and listened to it through my headphones while playing the violin, so I was kinda like jamming with the original artist :) Went to church at noon for practice and prayer meeting for the concert. Asked Fuyong to come really really last minute at noon and was glad he was able to make it. EIC was quite a blast, with many people who don't usually perform music in church stepping up to take the stage to make EIC possible. Thank God for everyone who came and how smoothly the whole event went.

Brian somehow became the deliveryman for the furniture that was used for EIC and sending the furniture back today was quite an adventure. I guess that lorrys have a speed reminder that beeps incessantly when the speed goes over 70km/h for a reason but when it comes to Brian, even normal roads become highways. Later we went over to Cathay to park. There was a 1.9m limit bar at the entrance but again for Brian, limits are only there to be breached and he went right in, hitting the bar a little. Going into the carpark was a whole different experience and it almost seemed like he was gonna scrape many things that were hanging on the ceiling like pipes and signs but somehow the lorry was just barely able to clear the ceiling. Lorrys probably aren't too welcome there. After lunch at Paradiz hopped over to Cathay for... *mouth starts to water again* BEN AND JERRY'S ICE CREAM. Xin Ning tried to annihilate my ear lobe there by yanking so hard at my stud whilst trying to remove the backing that I had to bite my lip and keep my tears in. Naw kidding :P The self claimed professional was really not bad. Didn't really feel anything unlike when I try to take it out myself which usually takes ~15 mins and alot of tissue damage.

Since I stopped taking formal lessons in violin last year around April, I haven't really practiced the violin anymore. I put in an hour's practice everyday in secondary 4 but now I think I haven't even played for an hour this whole year. I guess I lost the drive because playing the violin is something that is actually mechanical for me. I am unable to feel music like how many musicians are able to and hence I just play notes, instead of make music. My teachers have remarked that of me, saying that although there is nothing inherently wrong with my violin playing, there's just a lack of any emotion. Perhaps it's because I keep concentrating getting the notes correct instead of taking a step back and looking at the music as a whole. To do the latter, a certain level of technical mastery is involved, which presently, and probably at any point in the past, I lack. For now, my resolution is to take up the violin again and find a few pieces to master properly instead of just flirting with a whole assortment of pieces because I guess it isn't taking me anywhere as a violinist, as a musician.