How was my weekend?

Well, Saturday, I had an industrious fit come over me and I did my Narrative Structures essay. Yes, I know the deadline’s at the end of the month and I’ve still got a lot of time. Didn’t say my industrious fit was supposed to be relevant. :p Which means what I’m actually supposed to be doing – like my readings for next week – are still undone but I’ve got a large portion of the Narrative essay done. Probably it’s all rubbish. I’m dreading rereading and editing. Haha!

Went for Daryl’s choir concert Saturday night. “The Beat Goes On” – Cantemus by NTU CAC Choir. It was fun being on the other side of the stage for the first time in a long time at a choir concert. VCH was like full house. Well done to them for managing to sell so many tickets. They had the NTU Choir alumni singing as a guest choir too. NTU choir wasn’t all that bad. They were smaller than the NUS choir and they sang very very very softly. They got better nearer the intermission. Maybe they warmed up by then. To my unsensitive ears, they sounded quite alright, except for the volume. They’re very good at soft passages but the loud ones give them problems. Maybe their voices aren’t developed enough or something. Not much power. But I liked their song selection. They did Eric Whitacre too. Animal Crackers was interesting. Mr Yong took The Panther slower than we did. Never realised how short and abrupt those songs seem to be. I like their Seal Lullaby. It was sweet and, like I said, they’re good at the soft passages. It was this song that their loud passages started to come out a bit more and that was certainly nice. Pity intermission had to come and interrupt that development. The alumni choir sang pretty well, considering their numbers. They did Verano Porteno like we did last year. I like our version better. But I think they did well for Lux Aurumque. Whitacre’s songs are tough, even his easy ones. But I think they did really well (considering I don’t know how it’s supposed to sound like). Then intermission. After that the singing kind of went down the drain but it was highly entertaining. The whole second half was dancing galore. All the 60s Hairspray-esque music. They used prerecorded music which kind of drowned out their voices. I liked Defying Gravity. After all this time of avoiding that song (for some strange preference reason), I find that it’s really a nice song. Like it. Anyway, like I said, the dancing was uber entertaining. Choirs don’t do that usually. Nelson would probably kill himself than let us do it, especially at the expense of our singing. Pity. It would have been so fun! Their medley portion was cool. Daryl danced pretty well.

Overall, I think that the venue hurt the choir more than it helped. VCH has high ceilings and is big with a significant portion of the audience being covered by the second level seats. So the sound just sucked. I kind of thought that the choir would have sounded a lot better in a smaller hall. Cos they did sound good to me. Just that their sound got lost in the hall. Of course, sucky hall or not is not an excuse for a uni choir. Maybe next year, their current batch has been with them longer, their voices will change. I know NUS choir’s sound has definitely changed over the years. NTU choir is still young. There’s time.

Wanted to comment on the audience. Lots of secondary school kids in the audience. Hope I wasn’t like that when I was in secondary school. Freaking irritating and annoying bunch of kids acting like it’s their first time out in town. At least there wasn’t whispering or talking (that I could notice) during the performance. They’re all choristers anyway (most likely) so guess they know how to behave. But there were some people – looks like JC age – who were sashaying in all late! The concert started on time at 7.30pm. 8pm still got people walking in. One song before intermission still got people coming in!!!!!! What the fuck!!!! They’re that late, missed half the concert, why bother showing up in the first place?! I was really pissed by that. And, because they were late and it’s free seating, there was no seats for them except the very front few rows. So the entire hall could see them taking their own sweet time to come in whilst the choir is in the middle of a song. And, you’d expect them to be apologetic and maybe a bit embarrassed, quickly go to a seat and quit distracting everyone. NO!!!! They STAND there in the aisle and DISCUSSED which seat to take!! OhMyGod! I feel pissed off just thinking about it. Have some respect for the performers, if you don’t respect your fellow audience members.

Moving on. Sunday. Went around church trying to get people to do my questionnaire for 3211. It was freaking hard to get people to do it. Especially when we had to fulfil the quota for people above 60. No problem with the young ones. They were all curious and quite willing to help out by filling one out. Wish I could do more of the younger age group but I’m only allowed 2. :p

Oh yeah, used Clifford’s iPhone during choir sectionals cos he’s got this cool application that lets you use a digital keyboard on your phone. *dreams* Loved it! I want iPhone just for this app. But, getting the chance to ‘fiddle’ with the iphone, particularly the touchscreen, it seems to be alright. Quite sensitive (at times a little too sensitive) but not like the HTC that Wanni let me try. This one’s built to let people poke it with their fingers to do stuff. I’m really really really leaning towards an iPhone now.

Had dinner at SingPost. Went to a second hand book stall that was set up in the basement. Was actually thinking to buy LOTR paperback and I’ve noticed that secondhand books are usually cheaper and the quality isn’t all that bad. But this stall only had LOTR chopped up into the three books. Which I wasn’t too keen on getting. Pity. ROTK had Aragorn’s gorgeous face plastered over the front cover. Hee! But I DID get Interview with the Vampire! That was a really good find! Been trying to get that from the library for ages but it’s all out. And here I find it for just $5. Isn’t that great or what? The stallkeeper was saying that she has had customers like me lately. Another guy was trying to get Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code from the library but, like me, he found her stall and bought the book from her. I think it’s amazing how these popular books find their way to secondhand stores and people like me find them there. Cheap and available. Excited to read it. After I finish reading my other 2 Anne Rice books that I got from the library the other day (Blackwood Farm and Merrick). I know. Where do I find my time to read and all? I don’t know the answer to that either. Haha!

Finally managed to get the family to watch Touched by an Angel: I Will Walk With You. I’ve had that for ages and never managed to get them to watch it. TY recorded it for me years ago. The parents were initially all talking piracy with me but strangely enough, the minute I told them the title, they just shut up about it. Subjective are they? I would buy the DVDs and all, but I don’t want the entire series. I only wanted this particular episode. I liked it and I think they liked it too. It’s the finale episode. But I talked about it before – HERE and HERE- so I won’t go into it now. Good series. They don’t make shows like that anymore and lord knows, the world needs more shows like that these days. Themes of faith, hope, love, trust… they just aren’t shown on TV anymore. Maybe they don’t make the ratings as much as violence, betrayal, drama, comedy, sex… do. A show about angels who help people in the world to regain their faith, their hope, to remind them that they’re not alone and that god loves them… what place does it have in today’s society? It’s a pity and a shame that the series has ended and nothing seems to be able to adequately replace it.

Oh well. That was my weekend. I should get to sleep. It’s 12.30am. Not really sleepy at the moment though. That’s my problem. I think I’m becoming a little of an insomniac. My internal clock’s a little out of whack about shutting down time, though it doesn’t seem to have a problem with getting up time. I find myself waking up at the same time even when I don’t need to.

~ by mezzogal on March 9, 2009.