On Loop

It's almost 2am. I've been listening to a live recording of Isaac Stern's playing of a Mozart violin concerto on loop for the past hour, silently celebrating the life he had and remembering back to the day he passed away nearly a decade and a half ago. At around 4 minutes, a distinctive sneeze is heard. Twice. A further third sneeze half a minute later. A fourth one at 5 minutes. And another one after that during the theme reprise.

Someone, please hand that lady a tissue.

Usually, this would annoy me and I'll change the track or listen to another version. While it is most definitely a pity that it is forever recorded into an otherwise stunning performance by a great master, the wonder of Isaac Stern's playing is that no matter what distractions there are, it doesn't ruin it, nor does it take anything away from the quality in which he plays. I'm not a big fan of Mozart either- my previous violin teacher knew that and never had me play any of his pieces. I wasn't given a choice and my current teacher's first suggestion was a Mozart violin concerto. Oh well, one can only learn and not complain- here's my chance to figure out why I cannot play a classical piece in all its simplicity. Minimal glissando, minimal flare, play the notes on the page, take note of the timing. Isaac Stern as a reference...

Repeat.

From fooood

Shoes

... the soles of your shoes are all worn down

The time for sleep is now

It's nothing to cry about...

It's no secret that I'm more keen on buying shoes than any other items. Clothes- I recycle through about 3 shirts, 2 jeans, 3 jackets, 1 scarf. Bags- I try not to even bring them around anymore, but I've been carrying only one brown backpack for the past month or so. Shoes? I'm not even going to bother counting. There are different shoes for different occasions. Badminton, running, walking, casual walking, different lengths of boots (thigh high, mid length, ankle), work shoes, comfortable work shoes, formal events, hiking, rainy season, summer season, beach, washing car (that's really just slippers)... you name the occasion, there's probably a pair of shoes especially for it.

From fooood

Choice of Communication; NZ3 FIN

Music or language? 

Or, more specifically, given the choice of knowing how to play every single musical instrument out there, or being fluent in all languages, which will you choose? For me, there's never a doubt in my mind- language. If I were to have any sort of magic, any sort of "superhero" power, it would be to master every single language and dialect out there in the world. A close second will be teleportation, but rather than being able to teleport, wouldn't time warp make much more sense? Then you can freeze time, go to another location, unfreeze time- that's the same effect as teleportation really. 

I digress. Back to languages... One of the components of my job is to aid communication through music, for those who do not or cannot speak or use words. To be able to play every single musical instrument out there and make them sing is a fantastic skill to have- one that I would love to possess, but for someone who can speak, being able to communicate fluently with anyone in the world must be one of the handiest skill to have. What can one do in a place that is completely foreign with no common language at all? I hardly think playing a piece of music on the violin will be able to communicate the question of "where is the closest restroom" to another person... To me, stepping out of my comfort zone is to go to a place where the language is foreign. That's something to do in the future...

From NZ 2014

The Cost of One & NZ2

So recently my dad told me to get life insurance.

Coincidentally, my brother was talking about how he was getting life insurance a couple of days prior to that too. Then there was the news about the MH17 passenger airlines getting shot down, with a devastating death toll of 298. And not forgetting MH370, the missing flight carrying 239 lives that simply vanished. On a smaller and more personal scale, I'm a self-confessed road rager (in my yearbook at the end of my high school, I was given the title "worst driver" of my year, though in my defense, the one and only accident I was involved in was not actually my fault); my field of work is not exactly the safest (being attacked by clients is definitely not unheard of); and I'm a bit too lazy to care very much when it comes to general self-care. Oh?Muscle strain? Stop playing badminton for a week? Yeaaaa maybe.... nah.

Make that very lazy. And head strong. You there, stop nodding please.

On a side note, it will be interesting to find out how much this life is worth to the insurance companies. I was always reminded that I'm an investment which my parents make on a daily basis, and I don't doubt that. In fact, I will never be completely aware of exactly how much investment my parents put into me. Looking at it retrospectively- there's the big stuff, like how they paid for my music tuition fees for years, some of my uni fees, but also the small- every square of toilet paper, every gigabyte of internet, every drop of water etc. Not just money, but time, love and effort... this defiant, stubborn child was never an easy one to take care of. While life insurance (money) can bring little, if any at all, comfort to bereaved ones, it can be considered a responsibility to get it. At this stage for me, it's also a note of thanks for investing in me. In the future, that will change when I have others depending on me, but for now....

New Zealand 2!

From NZ 2014

Shuffling and NZ1

Everyday is like a jigsaw puzzle. With 24 hours, it's a matter of shuffling activities into those 24 hours. I've never really had a problem with time management. Ha. Let's face it- I have massive time management issues, but being someone who works much more efficiently under pressure, ie time or the lack thereof, I always manage to fit what needs to be done into whatever little time I have.

Till today.

I literally couldn't think of any way I could fit everything I want done into 24 hours. What I'm trying to get at here is that perhaps what we all need is a central focus point. Brings back the point of priorities really. What is important? What do I want to be good at? Often, those with savant minds are very focused on being good at one thing. Perhaps it's having an amazing memory, or the talent of drawing, or music, athletic abilities... it is right to challenge ourselves to different things, perhaps even get quite good at them, but we all have one thing that we enjoy or excel in above all other fields.

Someone once told me that when he goes for a passion, he puts 100% investment in it. Time, money, talent, effort, everything. He was lying of course, because it doesn't work practically. Money is essentially what runs our ambitions. If I want to focus on music, I will need the finance to do so, and the only way is by having a job. That takes away time and effort. It's a conundrum that cannot ever be solved satisfactorily.

Unless you are filthy rich. In which case, go live your perfect life and be really good at that one passion. Hopefully it's something that the world needs.

From NZ 2014

That's the end of my rant. Getting back on track, this is New Zealand post number one!

Sentimental Post

So this entry is going to be a quick one. Supposed to be packing for a trip to the snows! Skipped badminton for various reasons...

Random story time:

Yesterday, my dad was handing me a teacup and I saw a drop of red on it. Thinking it's just dirty, I jokingly passed it back to my dad and said, "Look, there's blood on it."

Dad looked surprised and said, "Where did it come from??" while gazing at his hands.

Turns out he had a small cut somewhere. When he told me it was his blood, I exclaimed, "Ew dad, I almost touched it! That's disgusting!"

He gave me the look and said "what do you mean 'disgusting'?? The blood running in your veins is mine too you know."

=__=

Two entries ago, I wrote that I find it hard to find the motivation to exercise after work. Not today. I was actually thinking: I won't be exercising very much for the next week or so, I'll be skipping Sunday and Tuesday's badminton... I really need to go tonight, however... 

Today is also my dad's birthday. We always prioritize things in life. For some, status and career comes first, for others, friends, partners, social life, religion... at my current stage in life, family is definitely in the top 3. There are times when I get exasperated at him simply because I was tired, and I know I shouldn't. When he finds little reasons to pick a fight with me, I know it's because he's finding any reason to interact with me. I'm not home a lot of the time, so he finds every excuse to see me, like insisting on driving me to work sometimes, even if it's an hour's drive away, and letting me sleep in the car for that whole hour anyway.

So today, when I came back home, dad said he left a bag of groceries on the bus today. It was a bag of sweet potatoes and he was lamenting about how he had to pick and choose especially nice ones. Even if it was about $3, he was quite upset about it. I drove to Pishon at Eastwood after work to pick up... a sweet potato cake for him. For this, I skipped badminton.

Thank you dad, and happy 64th! Thanks for bringing me up to be who I am now... hopefully I'm making you proud. 

SNAFU

We learn from mistakes. If we don't ever make them, we won't learn or grow, or become better. The greatest danger is to stay dormant, to stunt our own growth, to lead a terribly uneventful life that does absolutely nothing for yourself and anyone. We are always told to be satisfied, to be content, to treasure what we have and to accept that we cannot have everything. That is wise, especially when it comes to materialistic wants, but it does not apply for everything. I, for one, am not satisfied with my music (therapy) skills and aim to improve. I'm not content with the knowledge that I already have in regards to the world, news, politics, history. I want to know more about cooking and the chemistry behind foods.

Someone once told me that parroting is stupid. By parroting, he meant listening to someone else's opinions or "facts" and "truths", and taking it in as your own. We all need to hunt for the truth ourselves, and develop our own way of thinking. Do as much research on everyone else's differing opinions before forming our own beliefs and truths. 

From cookkk

Why am I talking about mistakes? Because of this. This is a recipe I will use again. Even though I succeeded in making it today, I also failed. Will I make the same mistakes again? You bet I won't, because I'm writing it down here, laying out my mistakes and ironing it for next time.

Venticinque: The joy of Achieving

What makes happiness? We are constantly trying to find that elusive multi-dimensional entity. Back when I was at uni, I took up a philosophy unit on Happiness. First lecture in and the lecturer was already disclaiming that we're not going to be any happier doing this course, nor will it bring us any closer to finding it. Needless to say, I stopped attending lectures but still managed to do rather well.

For me, one of the answers is to work hard towards something and to finally achieve... that sense of accomplishment and gratefulness combined is happiness. Self-entitlement is therefore the antagonistic interference of that kind of happiness. Normalcy, at times, can be happiness too, in which case unexpected events can cause major upsets. There's plenty more, but  nothing beats...

Climbing into bed at the end of a tiring day and burying my entire face into my pillows, indescribable.

From fooood

Back to Saturday after our run.