Tuesday, July 20, 2004

Rest and Xvatalie!

Rest day
Ah! One off day to slack my head off at home!
 
Some friends who see me regularly on MSN always seem to think I'm a very slackish person. This is not really true. You see, in the Central Band, we work hard and rest hard. Sometimes I'm just fortunate not to be involved in some activities which make me look very "eng".
 
Take the previous weekend for example. Right after the In Harmony concert, we went back to camp to unload everything. After that, we went for supper at Chong Pang (nasi lemak!) only to return to camp at about 2am in the morning to sleep till morning. Why? We have a National Day full dress rehearsal the very next day that will last all day at the National Stadium as all NDP rehearsals goes.
 
That's not the end of the story. If Reader thinks that Sunday will be a rest day, den you are wrong! Sadly, there's a dining-in at the Istana in the evening. It's some reception for senior officers in the SAF. Well, I wasn't there. I was sick from fatigue and an upset stomach.
 
With more dining-ins on Tuesday and Thursday and eventually the NE show on Saturday, the band was in ceremonial uniform every other day.
 
Xvatalie
Ok, my Xvatalie got the thumb-up from my teacher! Heng ah! I was worried that she was not going to like it. For Reader's info, Xvatalie is the new of my new baby, my oboe. Why the name you wonder? I'll get to it later.
 
Xva is quite a heavy girl, much heavier than any other that I've come across so far. She has a very big, projective voice. The notes produced are all so stable and even, lovely! The sound might be a bit boring but I guess that can be changed. I'm going to try out silver staples soon! I guess the only thing I don't like is the case cover that came along with it. It's too tight! Maybe I will buy a Alteri case cover when I have the money.
 
As for the name Xvatalie (pronouned as VAA-TA-LIE, similarly to Natalie but change the syllabus NAT to VAT with a silent X), it came along with a conversation with Winnie. We have this little game in which we come out with a letter each. I started with an 'X', she gave a 'V' and so on. Initially we got to something like "Xvayai" but I thought it sounded quite Indian so we went back to Xva. Somehow it merges very well with Natalie and so we have Xvatalie!
 
As Winnie said, my name Fjozn sounds weird too. Weird spelling and pronunciation. Please pronoun my name as FEE-YONG-Z with a silent N! It's not English so please don't try to pronoun it in the English way. =)
 
By the way, I picked X as the first letter as I wanted something exotic and furthermore the model of Xva is XL. So what do you think of this name?
 
Some jokes from last night's talk-cock session at MacDonald's after the SP Band practice.
 
There was a hunter in the forest. At the same time, there were a bird flying and a gorilla minding its own business.
 
The hunter took aim and shot the bird. Dead on!
 
So why did the gorilla have a nosebleed? 
  

    
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
\/ 
 
Because, the gorilla was digging its nose!
 
Robin Hood then came riding along. He only happened to have 2 arrows on him at the same time. So he took aim again and fire off at the gorilla. The gorilla caught the arrow with its left hand. Robin Hood then took the other arrow and shoot at the gorilla again. This time it caught the arrow with its right hand. Somehow the gorilla also died. Why?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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The gorilla died from the nosebleed.
 
Alternate answer:
 
The gorilla started pounding its chest King Kong style, forgetting it has an arrow in each hand!
 
Later fellas!


fjozn at 10:50 AM