"Vacation" (in inverted commas)

"Woah... your course so lucky ah, no exams, some more got SIX-week vacation!"

No exams but a six-week vacation means almost nothing - except for those in class who are planning to slack through this period. Having no exams does not grant our course any less stress than other courses - it's just that we are in a system of Continual Assessment (CA), that's all. Which means we're never freed from the never-ending assignments that we have in store for us. Moreover, in my opinion, a six-week vacation would be foolishly spent at screens (be in computer or TV) or in a relevant SLACK mode.

Seems like I'm just over-working myself. I think not - what with the numerous activities that I've organised for the course to - in a way - "de-stress". There's anything from Heritage Day (a visit to the Asian Civilisations Museum) to Sports Days (badminton/basketball/cycling at Pulau Ubin/ice-skating) to Games Day (board games/cards) to... the list goes on. There is also a variety of concerts and masterclasses to choose from (I'm attending at least 5) to broaden our musical experiences. All this, along with the rehearsals I have scheduled for next March's DMAT concert. I am concurrently brushing up on my music theory (plan to take the ABRSM Grade 5 Theory Exam next March with a few others in class) and my sight-reading for electone organ (beginning again with the basic grades). For those of you who don't know, I stopped learning music since Primary Six and have yet to continue lessons. That's why I'm desperately trying to brush my skills up now. I just don't want to waste this vacation (from mid-September to end-October) away - it's too precious especially since I have so many tasks on my personal agenda.

I guess I'm only free enough to update my blog once or twice every month, especially since I have to blog on my Performance Journal (graded) about once a week. Read up more on the latest happenings of me over there.

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*Updated on 26 September*

I was making a search on "SP DMAT" using Blog Search and chanced upon these comments from an SP student (childish-me.blogspot.com), some of which I find make sense:

"Though music is my interest and I hope to pursue it, but IF (though there is no IF) I ended up in DMAT, Singapore has such limited resources. Her music industry is so small. I have to go overseas to gain experience. And you know. Working in music industries is taking a big risk. You may be famous for now but not forever. Yes or no? Or worst still, not famous for the rest of your life. Just living like some poor old musician creating music that no one appreciates. That is the worst scenerio for a musician. This applies to artists too. It's the same. Therefore, I can conclude that DMDT will still be my first choice. Sigh. HAHAHA. But. BUT. I really do hope to study in DMAT. HAHA. Ironical. HAHA. =x But I want money too! HAHAHA. Lame ah. HAHA."

Singapore's music industry being small is true only to a certain extent. I mean - the industry might be small now - but who knows - in ten years' time or so it might have ballooned into a large industry. Fame is not the main desire of everyone who entered DMAT anyway. And working only in CERTAIN music careers pose a big risk. You can jolly well be a music teacher in the local schools or a private music teacher and enjoy a generally smooth career (what with civil servant benefits and FAT PAY from the government's bulging pockets for the school music teachers).

As for me, I have hardly any idea of what I'm heading for after my three years in polytechnic. Yeah - 2 years of National Service, and I'm probably going to go for a degree... but in what? I have yet to decide, but I'm looking through the possible choices I have.