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| ok heres my list of things i want to accomplish in 2010:
1) practice more get better:
i shall put in more practice time and become a better player, mainly in my rhythm playing for jazz and pick it up again since i seem to have lost all momentum for learning it. i have to really work on my classical pieces as well so that at least i can play a few songs without scores just to perform with people. i also want to start learning some electric guitar instrumentals thats gonig to be something heh.
2) exercise more
that includes running and maybe aiming for a marathon (half?) and just generally having a healthy good looking physique. oh yes and to prevent inevitable onset of diabetes and sail through reservist.
3) sleep more less internet
the cause of my laziness and lack of time for anything i can just spend hours on the com and not do anything productive so i hope that i start my whole wake up at 730am routine again....
4) save more
quite an obvious one but more so since i hope to either get my own place/shop space/car?
5) learn thai
bought a phrasebook but thinking of also signing up for lessons just so that i can go back to chiangmai...oh man i miss that place so much.
6) learn sign language
something i have been wanting to learn for a while hopefully i have the time now...
7) do 2 weddings a month
yeah i must try to limit myself to 2 weddings unless the subsequent ones have songlists i already know or else a bit taxing on me.
8) perform more
something that has been picking up with the wedding gigs but more pub gigs i hope.
9) write originals
something happened i seem to be wanting to write more songs although i have not started proper on it..just bits of lyrics here and there but recently the idea of performing originals seems to be the most obvious thing to do to find some fulfilment...
10) more time for myself
i think the past two years have been good in realising what a fantastic job i have teaching guitar but somehow i seem to have lost sight of everything else..my whole is pretty much guitar guitar so i think i want to do other things alongside my passion and i guess at the same time more time would mean more personal practice time anyway
ok thats it theres more i think but this shall be it for now....
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| 2009 was a... weird unique year for me. i think i came into 2009 with a very jaded kind of outlook. i had spent christmas and new years 2008 alone, meaning just go home and sleep early and i told myself that i wouldnt do that for 2009. in fact i actually for the first time made some resolutions that were practical for me to try and follow.
one was about discipline which i am very embarassed to say is something i have not been sticking to very much for the most of this year. i still slept late and didnt exercise much. practice time was really minimal and it has been bothering me especially when i head down to my classical guittar classes.
job wise, it was good... i finally quit LE classique and switched over to Elite which gave me the biggest income jump so far in the past 2 years that i have done this teaching stint full time. would you believe that the previous school has yet to pay me for two classes? theres definitely going to be hell to pay once i decide when i will head down to the school to demand my money. of course and to steal more students in the process. i'm quite happy with the new school other than the fact that they are quite pushy with trying to give me more students but hey i shoulndt be complaining right?
seeing how i can push the fees up i decided to increase my private students fees as well.. some was another 20 some was 10 depending on how much i think the parent would handle with the increase. a bit unfair i know but i wasnt and still am not prepared to have anyone just stop yet. coupled with me getting my diploma i am really in a good position to charge a good rate. it also means i get to be selective over who i want to teach now because of the lack of slots left so well things are definitely looking better.
i was just doing a bit of math and i really really spent a lot this year on guitars, a laptop, books, gadgets. maybe close to $4000? which is a lot if you know how much i only spent like maybe 3 years ago? things is while i have been on a shopping spree throughout the year i've made sure i kept up with my insurance policies and just storing the extra cash. i even set up a new account to just keep money in till i decide in maybe the next 5 years to just spend it on maybe shop space or even a car perhaps. i should be trying to save more... but urm tough lah haha.
the end of 2008 was also a year where i was fairly disappointed with my records in performing. i think i might have done like nothing you know. even up till the first half of 2009 save for one or two weddings here and there. then suddenly from oct i started doing weddings like nobody's business... then slowly it led to the new years eve gig at oosh. which to me when i think back is funny how only towards the last three months did things pick up.
bands wise... a lot of things didnt work out at all. like trying to form a pop band with ajie, brandon and xue yi... no doubt we are going to try again after this week but i wonder how we can pick up from where we left.
as with jason..its been like one bassist after the other ending with adrian whom i very much wanted to tell off but i just didnt when he called me like much later. at least we started going to the open mics at jazz@southbridge. but my lack of practice has been stagnating my playing very much.
i met a lot of people that i feel are very important contacts. firstly theres the people at A little Dream whom i think are really cool. they are really friendly and while i might really identify with the chinese side of things i do hope to get to know the management better. funny story: i started teaching at kew crescent and the mother said her neighbour is going to call me to teach his son. imagine my surprise when i found out that it was Regi. the same guy who taught me jazz guitar for a while back in NUS. its quite funny also cos i keep bumping into him and now i actualyl am going to his house to teach his son. weird huh? last week i bumped into daniel chai another top sessionist and it was just a random bump somemore. ok this time he didnt really remember my name but you know maybe things might just happen anyway.
relationship wise, i think its pretty much the same. kept more close friends, and i somehow decided that i shall just not bother with organising anything cos i always end up cancelling the meetup anyway and i dont want to be the one always inititaing anyway, if friends really do matter i think they will call and yeah its been quite telling who are really the ones i should hang around with more often.
i wish i had the time to see if having a relationship is possible too. ok thats a bad excuse but i cant say i havent tried though. and i think i overdid it for one or two of them to the point where maybe they feel its weird to want to even have a conversation with me anymore. this saddens me because i do enjoy their company but i think i let my infatuations get the better of me sometimes and while i am still attracted i hope maybe in time it wouldnt be so awkward anymore.
ah well theres lots i want to say, its been an... eventful year. i shall update more
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| taking this holiday was a good thing for me. the really funny thing was how just before i met my cousin i was dreading it all of a sudden. the realisation that i would be spending ten plus days away from home was a bit overwhelming since i have not travelled in a while.
i'm really thankful to my cousin though despite some issues i had, she met her students and i think despite some communication lag there i had a good time hanging out with them. thai people are really gracious and sometimes theres a lot that we all can learn from them. people arent rude, they dont push to get their way in a crowded place and they're approachable, if you know the language. many times when we got lost our thai companions could easily ask anyone on the street for directions and there were no hesitations or frowns.
my cousin was right about me fitting in too, she reckons that i'm gentle like the thais and it was quite flattering to be mistaken for a thai let me tell you that!
and the food.. oh man the food... lets not talk about bangkok food cos that is already spoilt by the tourism industry but if you have a chance to visit the more local areas you must try the food. its so damn good. like having your cravings met even though you dont know what you are in for. perhaps the only time i didnt like it was when i tried the street food in bangkok but you know like i said...spoilt already.
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| as the title says i'm currently in chiangmai,
spent about half of the first day in bangkok, took a river taxi which was interesting, took the sky train, seriously thai girls are so pretty especially the more err"pure" ones?
realised that although i did say i wouldnt be spending on shopping, i seem to be in a frenzy to just spend on t shirts, in fact ok jumping ahead i bought like 6 shirts at this huge hypermart called Big C, but didnt feel the pinch since each shirt is about 4 dollars ha. now i know why people like to shop at these countries.
its been good so far, i like the culture the weather. somehow i'm not interested in the temples but i am quite interested in the touristy stuff like the long treks and the white water rafting etc however sharon doesnt want to go so it seems not that fun to do it by myself so maybe the next time when i bring my group of friends down i can try it i hope. seems quite silly to do it alone.
i took an overnight train to chiangmai. 11 hours can you believe it? the jerking train movements did affect my sleep however i kept drifting in and out of sleep. funny story the first time i woke up i thought that die lah not enough sleep but imagine my surprise when i checked the clock and i realised that i had only slept for one hour! heh that was funny cos it really seemed like i had slept like forever or rather attempted to...
anyway will update more but i just had to get this off my chest: i really dont like it when people talk down to me espeically more now since i am already 26 years old, an adult. and i really dont like to be treated as if i was still a kid. unfortunately my family has a huge problem of doing that, as if having to deal with that from my own parents isnt enough. also to my family "you want" isnt an asking question anymore its actually "take it" or "do what i say because i already made up my mind that you should do it".
i learnt quite a bit from this trip so far, good lessons on how to get around, save money where to stay in thailand but i could sure use a lot less of mother hen like actions as if i didnt go army before or hadnt sat on a plane. imagine telling me to how to pop my ears in the plane....
one bad thing i learnt and i use bad for lack of a better term now is that i should always travel with people i'm comfortable with. ok i'm being mean here lah but you know i think it would be a lot more fun to travel with someone who treats you like an equal sometimes. and someone i can talk more to and get to know better and not have on the surface conversations with. i try to you know, but its tough really...
heh so bad right, something tells me that i might even edit this out but well i had to write it it was like bothering me the whole time, not that i'm hating the company or anything but it would have been a lot more fun and meaningful lah lets put it that way.
well its just the second day anymore lets see if anything comes up...
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| ok, so here i am at the budget terminal, i must say that its a weird experience i felt to swakoo dont even know how to put and can the passport to enter the gate ah well... anyway i guess i will be writing down my next 10 days hopefully its good, something tells me that it might be a bit long but ok see how lah. its a bit of 'hang' time for me again everything is just going to happen when i get back, christmas mass, gig at new years..YES possibly a gig at oosh on new years eve wow... this happened when the owner saw me amd jonathon at andre'w wedding performing. but so short time to practice ah well i think its a good thing to lump everything together anyway... hope this trip is a rejuvenating one... though a lot of my resolutions i set out for this year are being met, i feel very...tired and discontented... been feeling a bit down and lonely lately.. lets hope this works | | |
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