I'm back! Yay! Perth was really fun... amazing... an eye-opener... a learning experience... a rocky roller coaster ride...
what more to say when everyone (SAJC band ppl) have been blogging about the things they've done in Perth... now to tell you the depth of the trip
[F] irst [D] ay ------
Band competition... three bands with contrasting performances... no more to be said: okay band, better band, best band... at that very moment when the results were announced, I realised something very grave, the dire state that we were in... Why hadn't we had more practices, and why didn't I do more to help the music...
[S] econd [D] ay ------
It was a total failure... Everyone was not looking at the conductor... especially me... the first few instances, my eyes were on the conductor, but until we reached pieces that I had never practiced, my eyes were glued to my score, never once looking at the conductor... I felt so useless after the whole ordeal, that I tried so hard to hide my emotions...
In fact the whole day was quite bad... we missed our lunch because the Chinese restaurant had given up our places 'cos we were late... The few of us at the back of the bus were totally disgusted... A 5 hour flight to Perth just to eat Chinese food, something you can find in abundance in our lovely Singapore? What a bad idea!
Trashing out session at the hotel after dinner... I had to apologise to the Band... the majority of the blame lay on me… I didn't do my part… I didn't know what to do… blame my ex-band background, but it still shows the lack on my part to find out more about what I needed to do…
[T] hird [D] ay ------
It was the first time today that I actually felt our Band play up to it's standard... Yet it dawned on me that whatever Peter Moore said during our Master Class had already been mentioned by Mr Glosz at every practice that he took...
Really ashamed that I didn't practice my music... Fantasy Variations is an enjoyable piece... never got down to practice it... what a shame...
Played Pool in the night... was aghast! Some ppl are so ungrateful... I pay for the pool table and a Horn player hurls insults at me because I don't play very well... I've forgiven that person, but I'm still appalled... sometimes I look at myself and hey... why am I so ungrateful to my parents sometimes...
[F] ourth [D] ay ------
I survived the conducting, until the last part of Highlights from Shrek 2... boy... I lost myself at the last few bars and overlooked half-time... otherwise... things were great... "may I have your autograph please?"... !??!? what? The first time I actually get someone coming up to me to ask me for it... haha... I was beaming with pride and totally forgot the big mistakes I made while playing... turned out that Ben, my buddy, and I were two ppl tt the cool drummer asked to sign...
[F] ith [D] ay ------
It was freezing by the time we reached Karma Chalets but the moment you step into the Chalet, your Heart just melts... literally... a fireplace lit and glowing... nice cosy place... wow! Brilliant... Totally... Mr Glosz prepared a BBQ for us and man... I tell you Mr Glosz is the greatest cook in the whole world... call me a mountain tortoise... but I think he beats all the cooks in Singapore... Best in Singapore and JB some say Batam...
But sadly... ppl are soooooo ungrateful... Although I stayed and was useful cleaning up the place, it never crossed my mind that we as leaders should clear up... even if it means sleeping one or two hours less, socialising with our clique less...
[S] ixth [D] ay ------
magical..... spectacular afternoon at the John Clarke bandstand in Denmark (Albany)...
the scenery... a river flowing by, audience on one bank and the band on the other, albatross gliding through the air, ducks wadling around enjoying the music... it was exhilarating...
Valley of the Giants 
There I stood, 40 meters above the ground... I marvelled at creation around me... If my GOD did this to trees... how much more has he done for me a human being... HIS beloved because Jesus Died for me...
Yet, I saw two sides of creation... man and GOD... the steel bridge and the forest around me.
the last two days did not really make me ponder much... but the incident at Harbour town reall did make me wonder how we did so well in Denmark... if ensembles cannot play well, then how can the band play well since the band is made up of ensembles put together... I shall listen to more ensemble music and try to help the band along...
Finally... Deborah's friggin' good at soccer... don't know if she's better or Rynette... well... guess I'll stick to the latter (Haven't seen Rynette play though, but heard that she's good)
I BHB
scandalous eh... guess who... nope not me
