Wednesday, June 30, 2004

Discovery!

I've never ever felt so grateful for electricity! Long live electricity! Long live whoever invented or discovered the use of electricity, whoever you are (was)! Oh well, I was never good in physics anyway!

I discovered quite a number of new things today all thanks to the blackout.

I discovered to my amazement that climbing up 13 floors wasn't much of an effort for me. I'm in better shape that I thought!

I discovered that moonlight produced by a near full moon is actually quite bright!

I discovered that walking up 13 floors in total darkness can be quite creepy and eerie even though it's familiar surroundings.

I discovered that water coming out from a tap is not pressurized when there's no electricity. This also probably answers my question in poly when I questioned my lecturer on the need to pressurized water. Well, I didn't get a totally convincing answer back then.

I discovered... ok, enough of discovering, please go watch discovery channel if you need to find out any more interesting facts of life.
fjozn at 12:23 AM

Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Grenadilla vs Cocobolo

It looks like I will be getting a grenadilla XL after all. My teacher had a big objection to me buying a cocobolo oboe.

I tried to do some research on the choice of wood. It seems that generally, cocobolo is a bit softer than grenadilla. I guess the "blown-out" effect won't be set in so quickly on the grenadilla as the one I tried actually have a much higher level of resistance as compared to the cocobolo. So, as much as I like the cocobolo's feel and sound, I would have to settle with a grenadilla XL after all.

fjozn at 4:48 PM

Monday, June 28, 2004

My computer in A

Something interesting I've just noticed on my computer. My computer's fan is so loud that it produces an audible A. I somehow didn?t notice this before until just now when I was listening to Mahler 1 and 5. Coincidentally, both pieces have movements whereby the principal horn comes in with a long A. It was more obvious on the Hebert von Karajan and Berlin Philharmonic recording in which the orchestra was quite sharp (German orchestras are not tuned to A=442 unlike local bands and orchestras, in fact I heard somewhere that this German orchestra that tunes to A=447) and my fan was flat!

Speaking of sounds, every bang and creak you hear everyday has a pitch. I have this friend who for a period of time liked to tune every sound he heard (he has prefect pitch). Bang the door, G#. Tap a spoon onto a glass cup, B natural and so on. Even percussion instruments have pitch to them, like a bass drum pitched in G etc.

I?m simply just too bored. Hmmm, I shall explore my house for other sound emitting devices. Hehe!
fjozn at 7:17 PM

Boredom

It's been a most unproductive day so far. I've spent the whole day doing absolutely nothing but stoning at the computer and sleeping. I need a more fulfilling day!

Have anyone seen this advertisement on TV. You have this young man chewing away on a piece of bread while attempting to talk to a little girl. This indecipherable conversation carries on for a while and suddenly the Breadtalk logo appears on the screen. Understand? Break-Talk! It's quite lame anyway. My brother and I was like "Errrrrrrrrrrr?" after we both saw it on TV.

To make my point again: I'm bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored. Someone please entertain me!
fjozn at 5:52 PM

Yearning, NDP and XL

Quite bored now. There's someone I'm hoping to see online but she's not online. This girl seems so mysterious, so intriguing. It really makes me want to know her more. Hmmm, I shall wait a for bit more.

I had a long, long day today at the National Stadium. Now that the NDP rehearsals are going into actual timing, the entire Saturday/Sunday is burnt on NDP. It seems to me that the NDP is getting more and more boring by the year. Is it that I've seen too much of it? Is it that the endless stream of rehearsals totally destroyed my sense of patriotism on our nation's birthday? I remember that last year, I was in quite a dull mood on National Day. It didn't seem as exciting as previous years, in a way that I know exactly what's going to happen. However, I still think it's an honour to be able to perform for the nation regardless of boredom, which is going to happen for the next few years as long as I stay in the SAF.

I had more or less made up my mind to buy the Howarth Cocobolo XL. Is anyone gonna stop me with a good reason? Please do if you have one!
fjozn at 12:04 AM

Friday, June 25, 2004

Oboe for sale

I?m officially selling my oboe! Asking price = USD 2800. Anyone who is interested, please e-mail me at the above address!

For anyone who is interested:

My current oboe is a 4 years old Rigoutat Symphonie. It was hand-selected from the Rigoutat factory in France by Alix Pengili, former Principal Oboist of Singapore Symphony Orchestra. It was played professionally by him in the SSO before it was sold to me. It has a very free and gentle sound. The low notes are easy to produce which is consistent with the characteristics of a Symphonie. The instrument is well maintained without any known problem with the keys. It comes in a professional case. The bell ring is intact without any breakage. It is stored in a dehumidifier when it's not in use at humidity = approx. 50%.

I absolutely fell in love with Howarth XL today. Never in my life had I ever tried so many good oboes in a day. Marigaux 901, Howarth XL, S5 in granadilla, cocobolo. Shiok! Should I buy the XL? I really like it! How? How?
fjozn at 10:40 PM

Haha

I can't believe I did this, but here it is!


C major - the simplest key. You are content with
where you are now, you have what you need. Some
people are happy in C major, but it is up to
you to decide to push yourself further if you
want more from your life.


what key signature are you?
brought to you by Quizilla


fjozn at 10:16 PM

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

The day

I'm on the NDP website! Cool! Look at the second last row from the bottom, the rightmost photo here.

The last few days past with mixed feelings. There were happy and unhappy moments. I'm grateful that I have (a) good friend(s) that I can sit down and chat with. Thank you!

I don't have much time to tell my old grandfather story of my day. Next time perhaps and hopefully I would had cleared a disagreement with my friend by then. Till then, see you!
fjozn at 10:51 PM

Sunday, June 20, 2004

Practise

I need more time to practise man! People think that I as a fulltime musician plays all day long without doing anything else. This notion is wrong, wrong, wrong!

Before today, the last time I played my oboe was sometime the week before, about one entire week without playing. The good thing is, my reeds are finally in playable shape. I can't remember when was the last time I used my teacher's reed. It must had been sometimes last month. Any buyers interested in my reed for SGD 25 a piece? I use a mixture of Rigotti and Glotin canes on a brass staple.

The aroma of fried chicken my mum is cooking is really making me hungry after my practice session! I shall be back later!
fjozn at 5:58 PM

Friday, June 18, 2004

Tiring week

It's been a long tiring week so far.

Summary of my week so far:

Monday
I went to Tan Tock Seng Hospital for my specialist appointment. I finally got to see him after like 2 hours of waiting. I was really glad I had my game-phone with me. At least I was kept entertained by it.

I went to town upon completing my check-up. Somehow I managed to get off the wrong station at Newton instead of Orchard. Silly me. While at the station, Jiahui called me (I've been messaging her earlier on) and we decided to go watch a movie at West Mall. After much discussion with the other 3 friends we met, THEY decided to watch Harry Potter. I was like: Eh, second time you know?

Harry Potter actually seems nicer the second time for some strange reasons. Maybe it's because there were subtitles this time round and I could understand some of the conversation I couldn't catch the first time. It also leaded me to understand some of the strange on-goings I couldn't decipher in the first viewing.

I think I'm going to start buying the series of Harry Potter. Haha. Anyone knows where to buy all in hardcover? All the stores I've been to are all in soft cover except for the latest one, the something something phoenix.

Tuesday
I slept at 1 plus and woke up at 6. Euro fever. There was a Guard-of-Honour (GOH) at the Istana so we all fell in at 7. There was yet still another parade in the afternoon, a Change of Command (COC). Tiring!

For the benefit of Reader in the unknown:
GOH is essentially a small scale parade to receive foreign diplomats and military heads etc. There are mainly 2 types of GOH that can happen: Istana GOH and Mindef GOH. As the name suggest, the parade occur at the respective venues. Istana GOH are mainly to receive foreign diplomats like Prime Minister, President etc. Mindef GOH are to accept visiting military heads who are calling in on the Chief of Defense Forces or any Service Chief.

COC is as the name suggest, a changing of command parade. This only happens for high ranking officers who lead the entire formation or division. Eg. Chief Commando Officer, 3th Division Head.

Wednesday
I was on duty. While all the rest fall in at 11.45 for the parade. I was there in the office since 7.45. By the time I was back from the parade and finished locking up the place. It was 8. Another tiring day that?s gone by.

Thursday
I was quite tired by the lack of sleep over the last few nights already. I had to go down to SIB to take a statement. Some fellow misappropriated my $50 fine for my lost 11B (SAF identity card) last year and they need me to take a statement confirming that I paid the fine.

I initially wanted to sleep but I saw XP online and ended going out with her. I haven't seen her for such a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnng time! It's quite amazing, we've known each other for 5 years and this is like the 2econd or third time we are going out. I still want my KOPI hor, XP!

After we parted way, I went to a bookstore and bought a book (The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown) before meeting another friend for dinner. Not bad, meeting 2 good friends in a day. I was damn tired by the end of the whole day. My eyes were blood shot, and my head felt so heavy.

Friday
Here I am sitting infront of my computer finally being able to update my blog. There is this band from Thailand that's coming in August and they are playing Barnes' Third Symphony! Oh man! Die die must go!

Any taker???

fjozn at 10:24 AM

Thursday, June 17, 2004

Zzz..

I'm so TIRED.

It feels good to be home after 3 days outside.

I'm gonna take a nap now and be back to blog later!

*be right back after these messages*
fjozn at 11:26 AM

Sunday, June 13, 2004

NDP, Euro 2004 and my new phone!

I'm back here to blog again. I'm still feeling very tired, yesterday was quite a tiring day at the NDP rehearsal. It was a good thing that it ended early. I was expecting it to last to about 7 but after we finished 4-5 sequence runs, we were told we could go! Shiok!

Portugal lost 2-1 to Greece! I was like so shocked, especially when Greece scored the first goal. Oh man! If Reader had seen the newspaper recently, you probably would have seen this Tiger Beer contest where they ask you to predict the overall champion of the Euro Cap 2004. I predicted that Portugal would win, and now this? It would take quite a tremendous effort for them to win now!

I got the Nokia N-Gage QD! My friend selected 3 games for me. Sega Rally, ok, nice I like it. This skateboard thing, fine with me too. PGA golf, eh, what! PGA golf? Anyway, I like the phone, although it's a bit huge. I was quite confused with all the buttons initially. There were so many of them! I think this new generation of phones really need so getting-used to. It's no longer those old types of Nokia "idiot-proof" phones where anyone can use. Now, all I need to do is to buy a Bluetooth adaptor and MMC to make my phone complete.

The Bluetooth thing is quite fine. My friend was telling me yesterday to configure it into the Central Band clan. Next time, all of us N-Gage users can just play games together during performances! Haha!

fjozn at 2:31 PM

Late night

It's so late and I'm so tired.

Got a new phone.

Greece's leading Portugal 1-0.

I'm off to sleep. Will be back to blog tomorrow morning.
fjozn at 12:18 AM

Wednesday, June 09, 2004

7th Fleet Band and more

The rock band from the 7th Fleet, United States Navy visited the SAF Bands today. It was quite an interesting exchange. First the Central Band played a selection of our "standard" repertoire for them. For Reader's info, our "standard" repertoire includes pieces like Princess Mononoke, Imagine and others familiar classics for any last minute performance we have. These performances are most of the time dining-ins.

A dining-in is essentially a military dinner where all the officers of a unit or formation gather to dine together. This had been a tradition since ancient times. Traditionally a toast shared from a common jug will be toasted to the king (president in modern days). This sharing of wine signifies the trust between them because poison was a very way to kill someone in those days.

Anyway, enough of side-tracking. The band was quite entertaining. I spoke to the trombonist after the exchange during the reception. He actually has a Masters in Trombone and will be leaving the service to continue his Doctorate before returning to the Navy. They were actually part of the US Navy Band which consists of about 15 bands. Theirs is a 32 man small diversion which is posted to one of the 4 US navy fleets around the world. This works out to 8 man per fleet, which explains the small rock band we had today.

This band will be performing this Sunday evening at Orchard near Hereem at 8 pm. If anyone is interested, please do make an effort to go down and watch! Support my fellow military musicians!

I saw this small boy at a foodcourt after work when I went there for dinner. He must be around 5-6 of age and he was dressed ENTIRELY in pink. Every piece of garment on his body was pink. Pink jacket, pink t-shirt, pink/white shorts, socks with pink strips, shoes with pink pattern. You name it, he has it. I think his mother was the "culprit"; she had dressed herself and the boy's younger brother up in pink too. I have nothing against pink, it can be a nice colour, but pink from head to toes? No sir, you won't catch me dead in that. I actually saw in a man in pink pants and white shirt before.

Just wondering, would anyone of you here actually do that?

The Mazda RX-8 is so nice! I think I had fallen in love with the car. I just love the way it's designed to be a 4-seater when maintaining the 2-doors look. Ah, my precious! Go see it here!

I'm feeling talkative tonight, I don't know why. Sometimes I wonder, how many people actually do read my humble blog on a regular basis? Is it entertaining enough to keep you, my reader, coming back for more? Is there anything I can do to make this place more interesting for you?

I actually had someone e-mailing me to ask about my oboe from Hong Kong! Apparently she read my posting about wanting to sell my oboe sometime back in April and made enquiries about it to me. So, this lead me to think: how many people go around surfing total stranger?s blog. I'm not against anyone whom I don't know reading this particular posting right now. on the contrary, I welcome more readers! I'm just very curious to know who exactly reads my blog. That would be so interesting!

So, anyne who reads this and is interested to chat to me online, please do drop me an e-mail. It would be nice to meet others with similar interest from around the world!
fjozn at 9:34 PM

Tuesday, June 08, 2004

Phones and symphonies

My friend got the new N-Gage QD. It looks really good, I really quite like it. Maybe I should get it. See it here. Any comments on this phone? It's smaller that the first N-Gage.

I was just discussing James Barnes' Thirs Symphony with my friend. It really inspired me to listen to it again. If Reader doesn't know, the third movement of this piece is one my my favourite in the wind band selections. It's such a beautiful piece, imaginative and sad at the same time. Please go listen to it if you are interested!
fjozn at 9:24 PM

Monday, June 07, 2004

Names

From www.talkingcock.com:

Parents: thinking of what to call your baby, but sick of the usual Johnsons and Jaslyns? Want something more creative or current? You need to consult the TalkingCock Guide to Cutting Edge Ah Beng Names for Chewren:

NAME YOUR CHILD AFTER MOVIES
Note: Names of actual movie stars, e.g. "Brad" or "Jennifer", are out. Names of movie characters are in.:
SHREK, e.g. Shrek Chin Ah Chee
NEMO, e.g. Nemo Loh Han Hee
FRODO, e.g. Frodo Chin Kah Teck
LEGOLAS, e.g. Legolas Ng Tau Mor
ARWEN (recommended; already sounds like a local name), e.g. Arwen Tan Ah Wen )

NAME YOUR CHILD AFTER THE PLACE THEY WERE CONCEIVED
PHUKET, e.g. Phuket Kee Chiak Hong
CARPARK, e.g. Carpark Phang Koo Poon
BEDROOM, e.g. Bedroom Lai Kee Koon
GEYLANG, e.g. Geylang Loh Rong Wan

NAME YOUR CHILD AFTER YOUR FAVOURITE CONSUMER GOODS
ARMANI, e.g. Armani Chin Ah Kwee
ERICSSON, e.g. Ericsson Kah Thian Wei
SONY, e.g. Sony Boey Wei Gah
BEARDPAPA, e.g. Beardpapa Chia Kao Song
BUBBLE TEA, e.g. Bubble Lim Say Goh

NAME YOUR CHILD AFTER POPULAR BUSINESSES
BIOTECH, e.g. Biotech Liah Boh Kiew
ECOMMERCE, e.g. Ecommerce Goh Sim Lim
BREADTALK, e.g. Breadtalk Kong Loh Tee
MLM, e.g. Network Mah Ker Ting

NAME YOUR CHILD AFTER PLACES YOU WANT TO EMIGRATE TO
PERTH, e.g. Perth Khee Aw Chiu
CALIFORNIA, e.g. California Chee Jin Shan
CHINA, e.g. China Chin Chee Nah
BANGKOK, e.g. Bangkok Goh Beng Kok

NAME YOUR CHILDREN AFTER POPULAR PASTIMES
TOTO, e.g. Toto Teo Bay Pio
SHOPPING, e.g. Taka Goh Shor Peng
KARAOKE, e.g. Karaoke Goh Sing Song (Kara Oh Kay Eng also can)
SNOOKER, e.g. Snooker Phua Bee Liat
WATCHING TV, e.g. Teevie Quah Kow Hsien

I think that's quite a good laugh. I remember seeing one for names like Monica Chng (touch your buttocks), Nelson Tan (bird lay egg). I myself have a few friends who names were quite weird; they have meaning like dirty clothes, smelly mattress. In fact, I know one Nelson Tan!

To Reader: Sorry if your name coincide with any of the above mentioned names! No harm intended!
fjozn at 12:29 PM

Sunday, June 06, 2004

Comments!

Dear Reader,

My comment function is up and working!

Please don't let my efforts go to waste by putting it into good use! Make your presence in my blog known! Bitch all you want, just say something. Heehee!

Thank you!

*PS. Please leave general comments in my shoutbox in case you're not sure where to leave a comment.
fjozn at 11:44 PM

Changi

I've discovered that Changi Beach is quite a nice place to sit and relax. It's rather far though. I was at this stretch of beach just besides the SAF Ferry Terminal. It's right in the path of all approaching aircrafts, so I spent quite sometimes there looking up at all those aircrafts landing over our head, literally. It's quite a nice experience, definitely better being in the airport's viewing gallery looking at the small planes. You see them real size, real time, real sound. Talk about surround sound. Haha! If anyone is interested, you can take bus 19 from Tampines and get off about 2-3 stops after Changi Village.

After that, I went to the infamous carpark at Changi Village. Quite disappointing though, there was only one, erm, human there. Maybe someday I shall go there again to see the "babes".

There was this somehow different ambience at Changi Village when I went on Friday night. It seems so un-Singapore like. I felt like I was in a different era of Singapore.

I need a holiday!
fjozn at 2:02 PM

Friday, June 04, 2004

Of ducks and band

I took this from the Channel News Asia website:

Quack that again? British ducks have regional accents, researchers say

LONDON: To the untutored ear, it might just sound like a load of quacking, but British researchers have discovered that the country's ducks, much like its people, have distinct regional accents, a report said on Friday.

Ducks from London make a rougher sound which resembles shouting so that fellow birds can hear them above the hubbub of city life, whereas their country cousins make a softer sound, the study found.

The differences were uncovered after academics at London's Middlesex University recorded the calls of ducks at a city farm in the capital and at a tranquil location in Cornwall, southwest England, the Guardian newspaper said.

There was a clear difference in sound, English language lecturer Victoria de Rijke told the paper, with the London ducks "much louder and (more) vocally excitable".

"The Cornish ducks made longer and more relaxed sounds, much more chilled out. The cockney (London) quack is like a shout and a laugh, whereas the Cornish ducks sound more like they are giggling," she said.

"London ducks have the stress of city life and a lot of noise to compete with, like sirens, horns, planes and trains."

The result was that the ducks' "accents" mimicked those of the humans in their home region, de Rijke added, noting that the London accent tends to use short, more gutteral vowel sounds whereas those in Cornwall are open and drawn-out. ? AFP

What will they find out next? Cats, dogs with continental accents?

Anyway, I went down to SP Band?s practice last night. As usual, the bandroom was filled to the brim with all the freshies.

The band was so damn loud. I still have an earache/headache up to now.

They had this auditioning for the student conductor. As Leonard puts it, you can tell the calibre in 2 minutes. I think so, except I think you can tell the quality of a conductor the moment he/she steps onto the podium and within 16 bars into the piece. I think the voted one deserves the position. He obviously did his homewok, he knows what he wants and more importantly, I think he expresses himself quite clearly. Good job!
The 2 sight reading pieces were quite fun. As usual, music like Miss Saigon was not to my taste. I just don?t like playing pop/jazz pieces. Too bad for me. I guess. I still have this problem with tempo, needs a lot more of working on!

fjozn at 11:43 AM

Wednesday, June 02, 2004

Madness

There is this building that collapsed in Thailand.

The rescue workers must be crazy man, they were all working without helmets! I think it?s really quite crazy, the entire disregard for personal safety. And this disco the same building was in business as if nothing had happened at all.

Madness.

fjozn at 10:26 PM