What my friend Sandy says is true: university has a way of making you hate the subjects you like.

I love lectures (especially when the lecturers are interesting, too bad if they're boring because I can always skip them) and discussion groups.

I hate projects, term papers, tests and exams. The teachers could just kill your passion.

This is the song that I am currently swooning over. Appropriately it's titled Falling in Love, from the musical Forbidden City. Particularly striking is the chord progression from a chord I to the third inversion of a chord II7, as exemplified by measures 1 and 3: C --> D/C. It's one of my favourite chord progressions. Other pieces of music that use this include Theme from Earth Day, Elton John's The One, the Cats Overture and the Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1, just to name a few.

*This score was notated through listening the recording.

Glad that the people for Dwayne's Christmas musical like the minus ones, will continue to provide high-quality music.

The show will be on December 20, 21 and 22, most probably on a makeshift open stage along Orchard Road opposite Ngee Ann City (i.e. the front of the building between Lucky Plaza and Paragon). More details when I get them.

Buddhist Fellowship Gala Dinner on December 14. The Soracco CD is set to be released on that day too. Premiering new songs again. Hope I can get the 88-keys keyboard to play with again.

Eu Jin wants me to arrange Christmas carols for his choir. Yay! Even a better reason to quit school!

Mike says the Milly and Molly episodes are coming in, got to work hard on those when they come.

I regret taking on the task of typing the second string quartet... me and my big mouth "oh the score quite short (compared to the daunting first quartet which I typed too) and quite simple". Now I have less time for 'more important stuff'. Bloody asshole you Aug, stupid, never use your brain again!

I’m sorry, but Musical Slam is such a bore. They should just rename it Lyric Slam.

I enjoy the singing competition as well as the improvisation by Richard Lord and company. Kudos to Alvin who sang If I Loved You with so much confidence and emotion, accompanied by Grace on the keyboard!

Kudos to Robert Yeo for singing the Cole Porter (sorry I can’t remember the title) unaccompanied. From the bottom of my heart I admire that performance deeply, because Mr Yeo is not exactly a singer and he has the guts to do it with satisfying results.

Respect for the LaSalle students – they have clear and pristine harmonies, and a swankiness in the delivery of their song. However I wish they will sing songs of a higher register, they will sound much more brilliant!

Yew Moon, what the hell were you doing? You gave them ONE OF THE LOWEST MARKS EVER! WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM! We should get you drunk the next time!

The worst is the reading of songs. My gosh, people go on stage to read such well-known works such as Imagine (that was BAD), Blowin’ in the Wind, Susanne, You’re the Top (that was the WORST). The delivery was emotionless, dry, and failed to move. Sorry I don’t feel motivated to join your peace process for a better world.

When someone went up to read, I just died there.

When one gets bored...

Ken, Darius (the pianist), Shahdon, Yazid, Proko and I are all watching Forbidden City. 'Cept we're all scattered around the theatre...

Before the show...

Now you see... (that's Darius, by the way, he borrowed my phone to play. And it rhymes, yay!)

...and now you don't...


After we took this photo, the Esplanade staff came after us. They must have thought we are plotting to blow up the place. What they don't realise is that we are in fact thinking of renting the place. Well, we're artists! :P

Dies Irae to sleeping and slacking.

Wilkommen, bevenue (did I spell it correctly? Correct me if I'm incorrect) stoning and scoring.

I'm scoring my new composition today. The deadline is 30 November. GOAL!!!

It's strange.

I think I arrange other's music better than I do my own. There's something about their music that inspires me to arrange with results of certain satisfaction.

My music fails to inspire myself.

***

I also envy people who can write simple yet effective and uncliched and memorable tunes

"Why do you have to go and make things so complicated?" --- angry composer to himself. (Avril Lavigne and I have the same initials: AL. Wah I'm a classical-musical-theatre-and-a-bit-of-jazz-rocker!)

Malcolm's band performing at Crossroads. L-R: Malcolm on bass, Mark on drums (hidden behind Shane, shame...) and Shane on guitar, as well as being the lead singer. The stuff they did were quite familiar to me, because they played it during BF jamming sessions.

Hi my name is August. I am a full-time musician and a part-time student at NUS.

I just want to quit school so that I can become a full-full-time musician.

I just want to throw away that goddamned handphone of mine

1. The 3250's software screws up... it takes ages and more to send a message, and it takes ages again for it to return to the beginning display (something like the desktop on the computer). Dwayne and Yu Shan have experienced the same problems. Yu Shan's phone takes about 3 minutes to send a message. What's more Dwayne sent it for repair and the damn thing has refused to turn over a new leaf.

I realise I hardly make use of the other functions in the phone, merely using it to send/receive calls/messages. Occasionally I use the camera. I still don't know how to use the mp3 function, neither do I have an inkling where the calculator function it and THIS GODDAMNED THING HAS NO STOPWATCH!!!

What a stupid investment.

2. I feel very pressurised when someone calls me or messages me. Messaging is worse because I have to reply something, and more often than not I do not message while I'm busy doing something, worse comes to worse I forget to reply thereafter.

Sorry, poor phone etiquette, but aren't such things a chore at times?