March 2008 update

Well, my previous post was lengthy because February was such a busy month! March - was not so.

Mar 1. Went for a play, "Walking Into Doors", performed by the NUS (National University of Singapore) Theatre Studies Society at OldSchool, Mount Sophia. The small space of the room the play was held in gave an intimate feel, which allowed the actors/actresses to relate to the audience with incredible talent and expression.

Mar 2. Visited Popular Bookshop's sale at Singapore Expo Hall 6B. Got quite a few bargains.

Mar 7. Watched Jay Chou's movie, "Secret". The music touched me more than the storyline did. It probably goes the same for another musician - we don't just see movies the way people usually do; we listen to them too.

Mar 8. Went for School of Music + the Arts (SoMA) Open House 2008. I was intentionally there to catch their Career Talk, which featured Babes Conde, the internationally-renowned vocal coach and singer/songwriter/composer/pianist. Having worked with her in a past musical as part of an incidental music band, I was enlightened by her stories and advice that she gave to everyone: to go all out for music, always trying again despite failure. Words of wisdom from a seasoned professional.

Mar 13. I had signed up for Ossia Music School's "Jazz Meets Classical" free talk, in the hope of learning something new - it was some time since I went for any formal music talk. So there I was that morning at the Woodlands Civic Centre, slightly late. The moment I opened the door to the room the talk was held in, my jaw nearly dropped when I saw the instructor speaking to mostly parents with their kids. Was I kidding myself - what kid had I to bring in? And I thought the talk had been for professionals, or at least, young adults. Embarassment aside, the talk was rather delightful, emphasizing the need for an "internal body sense" of rhythm that should be inculcated from a young age (I had been to Yamaha Music School when I was young). The instructor also demonstrated how closely related classical and jazz music were, with live examples on the piano. He even invited a few kids up to the piano to try to improvise in a "call and response" fashion; he would play a simple musical motif, and the child would attempt to "answer" back with another. I fondly recall doing this often when I was young(er) - I'm still young okay! :P

Mar 14-22. I fell SICK. Mild cold I think - I didn't see a doctor - just self-medicated myself and drank lots of water. Things got worse when my computer went down (fell sick too I guess) on March 17, though it was gradually repaired and restored to full health over the next week or so.

Mar 24. Met Tze Lip, my fellow buddy from our school's first musical (Superstar: The Pop Musical - see one of my previous posts) for dinner at Pizza Hut in Tampines Mall. I hadn't met him for quite some time since he shifted to his new place at Tampines East (I'm at Tampines West). Later, he came over to my place and had an enjoyable time singing as I accompanied him on the keyboard.

Mar 28. Went for another open house. This time it was that of the new GAMBIT Singapore Lab at The Adelphi. I had been involved in a summer internship program (Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, USA, in the summer of 2007 (again, see one of my previous posts for more detail), and now they had established a Singapore branch of the program. I met new and familiar faces, and we had a dinner of pizza and snacks over conversations of our current projects and future intentions. It was good to see them after so long.

Mar 29. Earth Hour from 8-9pm! People around the world were encouraged to switch off their lights for an hour to help save the Earth! Song Hua and I had dinner at Olio (Suntec City), expecting the lights to go off around that time. Apparently, only some lights at the taller office buildings were switched off. Well, dinner that night was awesome! Here's what we had:

Olio Teriyaki Tofu Burger $11.90

Mixed Sausage Combo $13.90

Devil's Chocolate Cake $5.50

Olio Style Brownie $7.50

OMG a brownie served on a hot plate! How cool is that - hot on the outside and cool on the inside (there's ice-cream to go!) Check out the bubbling brownie in the video below:

Well, it was a great way to end off the night with such lovely dessert. Rating: 2 smiles!! =P

By the way, if you were wondering how I can be so anal (read "precise") in my dates for my previous post and this, it's because I keep track of every event in my organizer (can't imagine my life without it - it's like my brain, sorting out every nuance of information that flickers through my mind). Till next time!