Sunday, April 22, 2007
Resolutions, schmezzolutions
In January, I wrote a post on several resolutions I intended to keep for this year. Four months on, let's see how far along I've come in fulfilling them. Here's the list:
- Pick up music
- Run (and generally exercise) more
- Be a good ______
- Game less
- Continue or rewrite my NaNoWriMo project
- Do well in my papers
- Stick to all these resolutions
And now, time for a completely biased self-evaluation:
1. Pick up music
If only I had devised a way to fit this into my schedule and my parents' budgets. Because I haven't, this seems unlikely in the near future... Next semester, maybe?
2. Run (and generally exercise) more
I'm extremely disappointed at this one. I believe that for me to run, I need three things: shoes, an MP3 player, and earphones to go with it. When the year began, I was running in the shoes I wore to college in Singapore, a pair with extremely worn-out and holey soles. Then, my four-month old earphones broke (grrr), so I stopped for a while. Then I bought new earphones, and all was good for a month... Until my iPod broke last week. The most ironic thing is that my parents came back from their holiday in Hong Kong that very same week with a new pair of (guess what?) running shoes for me.
So, is anybody willing to lend me their spare MP3 players?
1. Pick up music
If only I had devised a way to fit this into my schedule and my parents' budgets. Because I haven't, this seems unlikely in the near future... Next semester, maybe?
2. Run (and generally exercise) more
I'm extremely disappointed at this one. I believe that for me to run, I need three things: shoes, an MP3 player, and earphones to go with it. When the year began, I was running in the shoes I wore to college in Singapore, a pair with extremely worn-out and holey soles. Then, my four-month old earphones broke (grrr), so I stopped for a while. Then I bought new earphones, and all was good for a month... Until my iPod broke last week. The most ironic thing is that my parents came back from their holiday in Hong Kong that very same week with a new pair of (guess what?) running shoes for me.
So, is anybody willing to lend me their spare MP3 players?
*Hint* *Hint*3. Be a good ______
Let's take a look at the commitments I have right now:
Let's take a look at the commitments I have right now:
- SJBAYS/TQ - Temple stuff. This year is the SJBA Youth Section 15th anniversary, so they're celebrating it with a bang; a one-night appreciation concert event in September. They drafted me into being a main programmer/producer/director and possibly the emcee, too. Fortunately, I'll only have to put more effort into this when the mid-year break comes along. Oh, and then there's a camp coming up, too, but that one's in November or December...
- YKLS - The choir (see below).
- MUSA Council - Student council work has picked up! Thankfully, I'm only a school representative... If I were in the executive committee I'll probably be squirming with work like a Ridsect-sprayed cockroach now. The monthly council meetings and the occasional last-minute compulsory activities are a constant source of frustration. Major events include the Monash Street Carnival in August, and the Monash Ball in September (can't wait for this one, heh heh...).
- MNSM - Malaysian Nature Society Monash; we successfully
draggedconconvinced quite a number of people into joining the society. Hopefully Darren and I (and the rest) will organise enough events to keep them active and interested... The society has seen a lot of member turnover in recent years. On another note, I've warmed up to this treasurer job, and now money doesn't scare me as much as it used to. - Family - Yup, I'm still the ever-filial son.
- MPAC - This here is a new addition; Monash Performing Arts Club. I got snagged in its line and now I'm the Assistant Head of Drama Division (colloquially known as the leher), but I'm not sure if I can keep this up, especially since they also want me to emcee a Talent Night show they plan to have in September. That, and also because I don't have any background in drama besides that which has been naturally ingrained in me.
Does all that sound crazy to you? Well, let's throw in another one. This is regarding point 2, the Young KL Singers (YKLS) choir. This year, our conductor/mamasan Susanna Saw decided to go on a recruitment spree and implemented quality controls which include compulsory sight-singing lessons for all of us, to ensure a spectacular performance in our 5th anniversary (another anniversary, whoopdeedoo...) concert in October.
Besides that, because I so dearly want to improve my singing, I tried out (and subsequently got in) for the YKLS Chamber Choir (a chamber choir has fewer members than the normal ones, typically 10 to 20 heads in size), performing/competing in an a capella festival in August.
So, in total, I now have choir practices three times a week (I guess this makes up for not fulfilling Resolution No.1: Pick up music).
Besides that, because I so dearly want to improve my singing, I tried out (and subsequently got in) for the YKLS Chamber Choir (a chamber choir has fewer members than the normal ones, typically 10 to 20 heads in size), performing/competing in an a capella festival in August.
So, in total, I now have choir practices three times a week (I guess this makes up for not fulfilling Resolution No.1: Pick up music).
The YKLS Chamber Choir.Additionally, about three-quarters of YKLS will be heading down to Jakarta in November to compete in the 1st Asian Choir Games! Whoohoo! How great is that?!
...not so much when you consider the fact that we need to spend about two and a half thousand ringgit per head to go down there just to bust our asses (and lungs) off. But hey, it'll probably be a good experience, plus I've never been to Indonesia before.
Alright, enough on my commitments, time to go on to...
4. Game less
Well, this wasn't too hard to keep, since there's always so much work to do during the school terms. I've not touched DotA for more than two months already (until just one game at a cybercafe yesterday). Unfortunately, I've picked up new (less time-consuming) addictions; Microsoft Games!
Bwahahahahahahahahahaha! Check out the scores!I'm still trying to beat them, though, heh heh.
Actually, only two games, Pinball and Solitaire even though Solitaire's the only game in town...
*Cough*
5. Continue or rewrite my NaNoWriMo project
*Cough* *Cough* *COUGH*
6. Do well in my papers
Well, they haven't come around yet, so I can't really update on this. On a related note, I received my first ever penalty for late assignment submission last Friday, and it wasn't even my own fault (at least, technically, it wasn't)! I (technically) blame faulty printers!
7. Stick to all these resolutions
Ah, my dear readers, this is where you come in, especially those that I meet quite often in real life; if you ever see me stepping out of line and away from keeping these resolutions, please hit me with a wake-up stick, and hit me really, really hard. Aite?
So, with all said, I end my entry for today/this week. Until next time, if you are a cockroach, may you not stray anywhere near a person with a can of Ridsect (or Raid or Mortein or Combat or...).
Pointless Fact of the Day:
Some of you might remember watching the 1970s British sitcom Mind Your Language when you were younger; it's the one where everybody remembers the Sikh man who gives you "A thousand apologies". Some of you might even remember your parents telling you that the Chinese character in the show, Su-Lee, was played by a native of Penang, Lim Pik-Sen.
What nobody remembers (and I discovered this myself, watching the shows on YouTube) is that she doesn't speak a word of Mandarin on the show, using the Hokkien dialect instead. What a cheat!
