打 Capo, 你 Bass 了吗?

The concert day (27 Oct) started with me meeting Chris and DanK at Holland V NTUC to buy the Sandwich party ingredients. I was.. ahem... late. cos I tot we're meeting 9am at Buona Vista MRT and then I told DanK i'll go directly to the NTUC to meet them, so I thought I could reach at 9.15am -_- haha. but they met at 8.50am without letting me know, so i was late. ok la my fault haha :P

Sandwich making at danK's grandma's house was quite fun. 3 of us declared that we're not those who cook frequently. haha. but at least we noe what the colour of the eggs and tuna should look like. So roughly figured out how much of mayonnaise to add. HAHA... and.. the amount of mayonnaise we added is really... ahem... quite alot. HAHA. and as we were adding the mayo, we kept chanting "肥死你" haha oops we're evil. but really i think we added like.... 5 big scoops of mayo into each batch of eggs/tuna. I think the ham sandwiches were the healthiest one, cos dunnit to add mayo. HAHA.

after a quick lunch at Ghim Moh Market, we cabbed down to UCC with the sandwiches!

============================

I think the concert was not bad. but it wasn't as emotional and high as last time leh. i dunno why. mayb the songs not so high. "never climb mountain this time" haha.

tempo was much faster than rehearsed. the concert was supposed to feature Star Wars trilogy but in my opinion, i thought that star wars was quite messy. and then the encore piece was really like another Besana episode when we juz whacked Do Re Mi... it was soooo fast!

anyway, there were still some nice parts like Elisabeth. I think some of the audience can just melt at the "Boat in the Night" movt. "No Shadow of Turning was not bad la, i think. haha. The rest, i think was quite alright. haha..

i think.... my 2nd suite the short solo at the back is quite... ahem NICE! haha! okay la, it's not bad. :) yay

after we shifted back the instruments to CFA, BASS went to eat at Crystal Jade at Holland V. I ordered 红油牛肉面 (sth lidat, not v sure) haha. DanK treated us to 小笼包, and me + danK treated them to some red bean paste pancakes. haha.

generally, Da Capo was a success! great job everybody!

and of course, BASS is zai! 你 BASS 了吗? hehe

Recordings:
Nitro
No Shadow of Turning
Elisabeth
Marche Slave
Classical Suite (Brass Quintet)
Amazing Grace (Brass Quintet)
Second Suite in F
In a Persian Market
Star Wars Trilogy
Do Re Mi

Photos:
BubbleShare: Share photos - Here comes Halloween!

This weekend

Attended Yihui's party on Saturday. Went there with Kenny because I only knew that he's invited too. haha.. the food is GREAT, i like!!! haha. he catered from Kriston.

Bought him a wallet and a card haha. the wallet is very CHIO~ but before we left, we saw another wallet which he received as a present too haha.

i think if not for this party, our clique (i dunno how we form. haha! shd be a combi or the Go-Home clique and the angel/mortal thingy) would have just drifted even more.

oh and i realised yihui's sister was the ASM (assistant stage manager) of 黄城夜韵. no wonder she looks so familiar haha.

==============================

after the party, went to band prac. had a photo taking session.

do u noe what we're doing? HAHA

(BASS)

i dunno what's Cedric doing at the back
i think DanK is quite amusing doing the "S" haha!

i've been told that i look like i'm trying to 点 Erina's 穴道 haha!

band prac dun have Star Wars!!! due to a lack of time..

it'll be a great concert :)

=========================================

Woke up at 5am to prepare for the run. I've been advised by some "more experienced" runners to wake up early to eat breakfast. haha i'm 乖.

anw it's my first marathon. forget abt those cross country during sec sch and JC :P haha. i think i've been training quite well for it. and i've completed the run!! haha non-stop running for about 1 hour. Although the timer showed 1h 13min, we din start on time. in fact, we're about 10min late.

at many points especially near the end, felt like stopping to walk. but dun wan to 对不起自己 so in the end, i ran for the whole event. the run started with me sj xh and xh's sis (wt ran with her fren cos we couldn't find her at the starting point). then slowly, our pace differed and i ended up running alone. i think from now on, i'll run with music. it's easier to run this way because i wun keep looking at the time.

borrowed huazhen's zen for the run cos it's smaller and more portable. and the earphones which i received from my NUSWS mates rock cos it din fall out at all during the run. and so i'm able to blast music through the run.

the signage "cheated" us for quite a few times. especially the "50m" when there's still 2km to cover. but i guess it's all these signages that kept us running. at least for me, the 9.5km at the last part of the run made me dispose the thought of walking. i like the last few metres where there were ppl waiting for their frenz and the finishing line looking very attractive. it was where i picked up speed instead of thinking of whether to walk anot. haha

then, we decided to look for wt who had actually reached home -_- haha. cos she stays very near and finished the run before us.

us after the race with the "champion medal"

all of us (including xh's sister at right)

me and sj looking shagged and 黏!!!

this is the route map
i tink it's quite a scenic route.

Now I've more reasons to tell patients to exercise at least 3 times a week (though MOH guideline is 5 times a week which I personally feel that it's impossible)

But, Impossible is Nothing. (haha i like the adidas slogan!!!)

i dunno why cloud sms-ed me during my sleep asking me about how's the run. haha i think he must have thought that i would have died during the run. HAHA. LC sms-ed me too, but i thought that hers was more of asking me whether I've completed the run. But cloud's one is more of checking whether i'm dead and whether he has lost a fren. HAHA

Rank Bib Name Nationality Gun Time Chip Time

1499 5290 Singapore 01:13:16.16 01:10:30.30


woohoo i'm 1 behind the 1500th person!! haha. quite a nice number :P

Genome-Wide Association Study on Atopy and Allergic Diseases in S'porean Chinese

I participated in this study. basically I've to fill in a form regarding allergies, pricked a few times on the arm (some ppl will feel quite itchy since they're exposing ur skin to allergens) and then gargle saline solution to get my DNA out (from cheek cells).

So 6 spots they pricked me at (on my arm). and only the positive control (histamine) made that spot on my arm wheal out like a mosquito bite. i'm quite glad i wasn't allergic to any of the allergens they exposed me to. haha

and this is the reason why Pharmacy students flood the lab at S3 (Level 2 outside LT20) after our lesson today:

$10 Co-Op voucher!!!

Pharmers are not only muggers. We're cheapos hehe! yay SNACKS!!

============================

oh i luv what Leonard Tan says. haha...

"find your centre... play music from this centre..." and then sth about playing truly from ur heart and touching ur audience...

i was telling Erina just now. I'm super envious of Leonard Tan. He's doing what he loves and he's doing very well... how many of us can actually be like that? and then have a nice family somemore haha. (but we all know he must have worked super hard. and.. he's super talented)

I'm ENVIOUS...

I had just...

arranged for my LASIK appointment! haha

it'll be at NUH with an NUS student rate.

Pre-LASIK assessment on 10 Dec ($99.95)
LASIK tentatively on 18 Dec ($2350)
3 post-op follow-ups FREE, 4th one at $61.10

Chose a senior consultant cos the package is regardless of the doctor except the 4th follow-up visit.

hehe.

lelong who wants 700 and 800 contact lenses? and who wants my 750 and 850 spectacles? HAHA

=========================================

cant exactly say I'm up or down these few days. but got some definitely up and down things going around.. like:

Down:
my cello tcher is going to leave me for good and for real this time. going to have a farewell dinner with her 1 week before she leave. need to source for another teacher.

Up:
FYP --> the correct clone is identified. i can finally move on the the next step. basically my whole project has 4 BIG steps. this means that i'm ending my 1st step and starting on my 2nd step soon. the clone identification has taken me quite a few hundreds of brain cells. and suddenly today i found a way which i should be doing, a faster and more accurate way which I dunno why nobody told me about it. haha..

Oh and Tuba section is going to have a section tee soon! I've submitted my design :P haha.

and i've run 60% of my 10km run. haha. no "komodo dragons" today :P

Band life

A random post about band and some of the instruments I play.

===================================

Learning tuba started in sec1. I didn't turn up for the 1st band prac of RV for sec1. so I was only asked to try the lower brasses because there were still not enuf players for lower brasses that time. Dunno y, but it seems that I was able to play quite a loud "sound" when I tried the tuba. and.. ms chan said "eh you play tuba!" haha. nobody dares to defy her orders :P

so I was in the tuba section. my SL at that time was a 神 and was able to sightread almost EVEYTHING because he had piano diploma and his musical skills were zai. he was even asked to teach the recruits music theory. quite a good 启蒙老师 for me. but the problem with my section that time was they always pontan band prac. so I was quite pathetic. haha sec1 and always left on my own. I remembered I even had to sightread El Camino Real myself in sec1. but of course, i can only play the straightforward rhythms that time. but maybe that had grilled me to become better at sightreading haha :P

the next SL kept pontanning band so i was made the SL in sec3. I think it was a more cheerful section then as there were more sec1s and they were always self-entertaining and thus, entertaining for me too. haha. I left the band with a nice united Tuba section.

=============================

In JC, I initially thought of switching to Eupho. but like in every band, tubists are rare and tubists are sort of "the more the merrier". So... I was back in Tuba section. 4 tubists. quite a luxury for a JC band. It was during my JC days when I would stay back almost everyday to self-prac and just jam with other ppl with the CD player. When SYF is approaching, we saw the need to upgrade our skills. So usually before or after band pracs, me weiping and kenny would ARBAN together or play every 13 scales long notes. Those were the times when we thought that band was everything in our lives. at least as long as we go for lects, we could juz play music for the rest of the time.

Student conductor role was tough. i started with the intention of learning how to conduct. even audition was just a try-try thing. i really dunno how i managed to "convince" ppl to vote for me. but ya, i've to do my role since i got the post. I remembered working out practice schedules for the band just as wat Mr Leonard Tan is doing with NUSWS now. but, our plans didn't always work. haha...

SYF during the SARS period plus a tough concert repertoire. sneaking into band rooms on Vesak day during the SARS period and getting caught by the seurity guard. climbing gates when they were closed. working out chords for Gloriosa during lessons. and then, it was my first time crying so terribly in public when we realised when did not get into Top 5 as expected.

it was in HCJC band when we formed Jiemeiz. a group of dedicated players and fun people :)

=====================================

again, when i joined NUSWS, i wanted to see whether I can switch to Euphos. But it seems that eupho section din have enuf instruments. and so, I'm back to tuba. But tubas also not enuf instruments. So Maria had to leave the band to let me return after my India trip so that I can play for InTempo 05. so i was back to the Tuba section again.

Librarian post with SL of lower brasses. but i was glad i was closer to the tbones section (cos eupho and the rest of the tubist were MIA) haha. at least some ppl outside my cosy RV gang. yupz, opening up. going for more gatherings and knowing more people. It was fun and hard work for Genesis and InTempo 05. Repertoire was very much our own decision because the conductor Dr Mak at time wasn't a symphonic person. InTempo was a challenging concert. but I felt that we needed more directions other than just playing difficult pieces.

Dr Mak announced his leave and the band was looking for new conductors. Was asked by Cloud to contact Mr Leonard Tan who was my sec sch and NUSWS tuba tutor. and ta da, he was selected to be NUSWS new conductor :)

Music under Mr Tan was very fresh (from the oven!) and he has a high expectation for us. Learnt alot of things under him too! Concerts rock :P haha...

Mugging group was formed. Dinpering and mugging together with bandits was fun. because sometimes, when i mug with non-pharmacy ppl, i dun feel so "pharmacy" haha! it was less stressful and more fun.

MHM was formed like... a few days before InTempo 07 to prepare the Marshmallow Honey Stars which we made for the whole band. They are Cloud, Nick and Yokes.

More outings. More new frenz. I'm glad my tuba section is now a healthy (would be healthier if Derek stop smoking) cheerful section which never fails to celebrate birthdays for each other. I think, we're the first section to have an individual tuner :)

===================================

Da Capo 07 would probably be the last concert I would be playing the tuba. Actually wanted to stop playing after this sem because I've heard rumours saying that Pharmacy last sem would be damn shiong, with at least 1 test each week, and of course, I've my FYP thingy to complete.

But Symphony No. 3 is such a temptation. The band needs 6 cellists. I would probably play the cello since I guess I dun have to turn up for all the band pracs. probably no sects oso :P

if after my graduation and my occupation is too hectic, I may just disappear from the band scene. of course, i wouldn't want that to happen. But i guess life is just too unpredictable.

I better make sure I treasure this Da Capo concert experience, as much as I wouldn't be able to play tuba anymore.

sounds so sad :(

i think if i weren't so academically inclined, I may just go into the band scene or music scene. but again, probably i cant do that with a tuba which is logistically challenging. i sometimes wish that i play the eupho or the tbone. actually think that tbone is very cool and somemore, i've been told that i got the tbone face :P

then again, Pharmacy is too tough a course for me to give up, having come so far.

let me make use of this blog entry to thank all bandits who make me luv band life so much :)

ABRSM Grade 5

a very rushed post b4 gg to class from lab.

cello sch called. alright passed with Merit.

hah quite expected. i haven been very diligent with practice that time and with all the change in teachers and sch issues.

quite ok la :P

special thanks to my pianist PK who sacrificed her time to practise with me, and to go down to the exam with me. hehe. and also giving me some advices :)

My 89 year old grandma has a handphone!

It's not that she's hip or wat. but due to some silly issues in my family.

my sis and she cant get along with each other from a very long time ago. and i heard her complaining to my dad that my sis doesn't hand over her the house phone when her fren called her, when my maid is not ard. bcos if my maid is ard, my sis will pass the maid the phone to pass my grandma. ya.. quite -_-" so she complained and i sort of make out that her fren suggested her to get a handphone.

my dad alw dotes on my grandma. so...... he got her a SIM card and let her use his old phone (while he upgrades to Nokia 6288)

his rationale is that he dun wan such issues to affect anything else. so he let the $14/mth corporate plan solve the problem.

To me, my grandma doesn't have alot of phonecalls. and being illiterate, she cant use the phone for SMS at all. so the $14 is only a sum of money spent on like.... ONE phone call per mth.. cos u noe, old ppl dun call their frenz that often one...

not that i'm trying to deprive my grandma of a handphone. BUT, this is quite a foolish way of solving the problem... cannot tell my sis to juz hand the phone over to her?

ah. not my dad's fault. he's juz sandwiched between his mum and his daughter.

probably not my grandma's fault oso. but i dun get y she wants to mention this whole thing and let my dad be sandwiched and duno y she even mention abt her fren's suggestion abt getting a handphone. (ya some of my better frenz will noe that sometimes, i dun really agree with my grandma's actions/thinking)

argh. my mum was saying "rich oso dunnit to waste money lidat ma". ya true, $14 doesn't seem like a large amt of money to him. but.. can buy 1 more fish for dinner leh....

i duno how liaoz. mayb it's juz an impulsive decision....

=================================

abt FYP. i really hate to bring my worries back home. and then sleep with it. and then wake up next day thinking of it again...

pls cheer me up when u see i 脸黑黑... i've been sighing alot recently.

总觉得一切都不顺利，只能走一步看一步。这种生活要到几时？

Some pharmer news updates

Senior Michelle Tan's letter on ST online forum

There's more to a pharmacist's job than just dispensing medicines

AS A fresh graduate from the NUS pharmacy cohort 2007, I followed with great interest the recent exchanges in The Straits Times regarding the public's opinion about pharmacists and their roles as played out in hospitals and community pharmacies.

What struck me was that the role of pharmacists is neither well defined nor understood by most.

Unlike other professionals in the health-care field who play more visible roles in our society, such as dentists, nurses and doctors, pharmacists are not seen as playing an evident part in the health-care scene. We are somehow in the picture, but no one's quite sure about what we really do.

Typically the pharmacist's main point of contact with the public is in the course of supplying medicines to them. Little else is known about what goes on behind the counters, from the reception of the prescription to the end point when the patients receive their medication.

As mentioned in the letter, 'Educated public best check on prescriptions' (ST, Oct 1) - 'I doubt if any pharmacists would or should challenge a doctor's prescription' - the common misconception is that pharmacists simply supply medications as directed by the doctors. End of story.

However, in the outpatient pharmacy in hospitals, there is a systematic process which involves pharmacists using their professional judgment, and contacting the doctors about changing a dose or adjusting a treatment to ensure that the public gets the most efficient and cost-effective drugs. Other clinical roles of pharmacists include medication monitoring, patient education, improving patient medication compliance and side-effect profiling. Pharmacists also play active roles in answering doctors prescription queries, and regularly publish updates to keep fellow health-care professionals updated on recent drug developments.

I believe that we, as a profession, have the knowledge and training to make informed decisions about prescribed medications, and it is our responsibility as part of the health-care team to ensure a patient's best interests are always met.

Michelle Tan Wan Lin (Miss)

===============================================

And some from PSS websites:

PSS Vice-President's reply "Pharmacists help to ensure safe and right use of drugs" to Edgar Koh's Tough Pill to Swallow

Cheryl's birthday!

Celebrated Cheryl's birthday with some pharmers + yimin. pictures to be uploaded when i got the pics haha

there was supposed to be a surprise... but liwei 破坏, din noe that what i was trying to say under my breath is not supposed to be heard by cheryl. haha, and so, cheryl said that she guessed who was the surprise already when liwei asked me so loudly "y got 7?".. -_- haha... nvm... still quite a surprise hor :P hahaah

dinner was at some ramen restaurant at Central Mall. supposed to be those traditional Japanese type of ramen. heh. the ramen was not bad. but i think it's rather ex. esp the side dish. like 1piece of char siu cost $1... hahah.... but got real Japanese patronise. shd be authentic ba? haha



then we ate the cake which we bought at Swissbake. presents were Royal Sporting House voucher + 37degrees pencil case. swee..

so after the traditional ramen, we went for another dose of "Japanese"-ness. haha HOKKAIDO ICE CREAM!!! haha liwei said it was like the pre-grad trip to Japan. ahhh.. i wish lo... hope to go somewhere like Japan, Australia or other nice nice place for grad trip.

oh i really like the HOKKAIDO ICE CREAM. had green tea again. but kop rum and raisin and durian. tried durian before, and first time trying rum and raisin from there. i must say that the ice cream flavours are really ichiban + oishi! haha.. cos the flavours the moment u eat, u dunnit to guess one, sure noe the flavour. that's how good they are.

then walked around clarke quay. i'm sua ku and it's the first time i see the pub called CLINIC. i wan to go there! haha. the sofa is in the form of hospital beds and chairs in the form of wheelchairs. there are operating theatre lights around and the bartenders dressed like OT docs haha.... and the bar there is called "dispensary" hehe. heard from cheryl last time they got an IV drip or syringe thingy to pour out the drinks. ahaha. wahh so cool hor.

anw, heard about Elgar's revolution about him trying to psycho ppl not to sign up for pre-reg so that MOH will wake up their idea and start to realise our importance. i tink it may work, if enuf ppl dun sign up for pre-reg. but who wants to take the risk? i felt that maybe i'm not so noble. i dun really wan to be a whip master or a passport chopper like him. haha... perhaps i just dun like to take risk, dun like to waste my education and want to practise what i've been taught... haiz. 我没有勇气.

Elgar's grad trip to North Korea seems... haha... like a funny idea. but i wun support him HAHA... North Korea leh...



ermz nothing much abt the hat, just that me and cheryl decided to wear it together that day :P

========================================

anw i've been quite cynical about life nowadays, and i've also been having stockmarket-like mood changes, partly cos of FYP. and cynical cos of the things i've experienced and seen and heard so far... cynical about ppl? or perhaps just life... wah. i dun wan to grow up to experience more of it.

part of the talk about pharmacist low pay is not only about us not being paid accordingly to the HUGE amount of work we do. but slowly realising that, after working, the money we earn have to contribute towards the family and supporting parents etc. will that be enuf? suddenly so many things to think about...

and ya, i really feel like going for enhancement surgery... *sniggers* haha! LASIK la!

Cheer Chen's Concert

Found videos with clear and close-up quality (good enuf for such clips) on youtube for A Piece of Summer ~ Singapore!!

Reptily Run

I was jogging along the canal beside Jurong East Swimming Complex, when I saw a KOMODO DRAGON beside the canal on the grass...

eeeks! (haha the picture is not from me, just pasted a photo from the web here)

the one I saw had a sharper mouth and not so fat. haha. but still, fat. was around 1.5m. When I saw it, my first instinct was to turn back and run away, but being rational, I think I hadn't read on any poisons or human-eating komodo dragons before, so I decided to head back and continue my run. haha. My route was to reverse at the ending point of one side of the canal, so when I returned, it wasn't there anymore. Maybe it's swimming happily in the canal now... I think it was preying on a ka leng (a type of bird my mum calls this in cantonese, the black bird with yellow beak..) when I saw it haha...

and i'm not dreaming ok!!! it was moving and i'm quite sure it wasn't a tree branch...

i hate reptiles, especially those big house lizards who just appear from nowhere and then scoot around the ceiling/wall/floor. but sighting KOMODO DRAGONS is quite cool hahaha...

the last time when I saw a komodo dragon was my Pri 1 zoo excursion. I was already on the bus, ready to leave, and when I turned back, the huge lizard was crossing the road... -_-

Read up more on Komodo Dragon from Wikipedia

Shopping! + Books

last day of mid sem break should end with a happy day (since i hadn't been very happy, stuck in the lab for the past 1 week)

SHOPPING with cheryl and lee cheng!!! haha to use up y 20% birthday discount from Esprit.

my 收获:

all of us bought stuff!! haha exactly 2 items each for ourselves. haha!

====================================

4 cello books with my $100 deposit, paid $4.60 extra cos the books were a total of $104.60.
wrapped the Drug Information Handbook today!!