Received a call from Raymond in yesterday's afternoon. He was going to visit his friend's music shop and asked if I wanted to tag along. And of course I did! =)

After buying some stuff from Sim Lim, we walked to Peace Centre and entered a music shop there. I started trying out all the pianos in the shop. One by one. All the pianos in the shop are from Europe or America. Some sounded loud and clear like crystal, but some had a muffled sound. I commented on the sound quality to Raymond whom also thought the same way as I did. We were out of the shop when a Chinese guy (from China) approached me and asked me to pick a suitable and good piano for his daughter. =)

So we re-entered the shop and I tested out all the pianos again. Glad to be able to help others really =)

Raymond then led me to his friend's, Steven, shop in Parklane. Wooo.... Pretty nice shop and Steven was very nice and friendly and said that Raymond is his VIP. We ended up playing the piano in his showcase room. I played Long Long Ago to impress some 5 year old girls who looked in and smiled shyly. SO CUTE LOR =)

We went past Paradiz Centre on our way to PS and he pointed out the outdoor performance held at Paradiz Centre. It's also a Live band like Mu Chuan's. We didn't stop long and went ahead to PS. Carrefour has some Casio keyboards. But I think Yamaha Music shop is the best there. The range of keyboards and electronic piano are good but unfortunately, unaffordable =( Drats.

We went back to Paradiz Centre to catch the last half an hour of performance. Mu Chuan is definitely better =) But hey, the performers there at Paradiz Centre are like students like me, striving to excel in music too...

Wanting to fly soon.

Hoping that Ah Du will notice me. =P

posted by qiumqium | 9:36 AM | 0 comments

It has been 2 weeks since I last blogged. Just came back from China on the 19th of June and I must admit, it has been a very fruitful trip for me.

I learnt a lot of China's history, not that I can remember them, but they really are very impressive. The places I visited are breathtaking ( though they are almost the same =P ). Most of the places visited are huge gardens or memorial halls. Will try to post up some pics as soon as I find my USB wire. Darn.

Shanghai is very very developed, so much so that I see very few trees over the city and the air there is... erm... so bad that you can even differentiate the clouds from the smog. Nope, there isn't any sky there either. The whole city seemed to be covered in a layer of haze. We just took a group picture there and left for Suzhou. Zhi wei treated us to Shanghai Xiao Long Bao and Shui Jiao. The Xiao Long Bao is pretty good but average for the latter. =)

Got a shock when I arrived in Suzhou. I saw bicycles everywhere and there is actually 4 wide lanes on the road. 2 lanes for cars going in opposite directions and 2 lanes for 2 wheel vehicles. Almost everyone is on a bicycle or motorbike. There isn't much people seen crossing the roads at all. And what awed me is the fact that it seems like the most normal thing for the bicycles to ride side by side with the cars. Danger is probably the last thing on the people's minds.

I tried crossing the roads with my friends at night when we hit the streets to shop. Nearly died while crossing because the motorists don't really care whether they will hit you or not. They just come straight at you and it is your business to shoo away on time. Luckily my friends are around because I totally suck at crossing roads. Thank goodness i stay in Singapore.

The food in Suzhou is delicious! Especially the fish. Somehow the chefs there made very simple food to have a very rich taste. No MSG at all. =) Even simple dishes like dried tofu taste so wonderful. Think i ate half a potful =P

My friends impressed me with their shopping skills. Anything that they put on look nice and they buy them straight away. Guess I'm more calm when it comes to shopping as I only buy things that I really like. But then again my lack of impulsiveness in China left me with very few new possessions. hahahah... pathetic in fact when compared with my friends. Cheng yao, Bing Rong and Siping blowed me away when I saw how MUCH they bought. =P

Yangzhou. Yangzhou's fried rice lor!!! 90 points for the dish =P The chef used pearl rice while Singapore's uses the normal rice to fry.

Nanjing. Interacted with the student journalists over there and the youngest among the whole group is still in primary school. There were quite a few of them in fact. And their Chinese standard is really rather high =) I chatted with a secondary one girl called Oujia. Very sweet and cute girl. And I must say she can speak very fluent English. She told me that all the English teachers in her school are from England. No wonder. China's new generation of people are really going to be eye-openers.

Tried smelly tofu in Nanjing. Erm... they are really smelly. REALLY SMELLY esp. when you stand in front of a smelly tofu stall. I tried half and it tasted a bit sour. I think it's because they are fermented ba...

Overall the food there in China is pretty good =) though sometimes they can be really salty or sweet.

I started work again immediately on the monday.Nearly slept while working and my boss treated me a larger cup of coffee then the previous time... =P oops. She always treat me coffee when she realised that I'm about to doze off and of course I get the hint =P Sorry boss. Sorry.

I found that I love working in Tru Marine. The people there are really nice and even the security guard and his black dog are friendly. I see the work as a commitment and even don't mind the OTs.

But because of my work and piano commitments, I started neglecting my violin and the CCA. It's real hard to do a lot of things at the same time or is it just me?? I'm practising my piano as long as I have spare time as I really want to excel in pop playing. BUt darn.... I know my violin mates may probably not speak to me ever again as I miss the practices.

Guess I'm really a lousy person.

posted by qiumqium | 9:36 AM | 0 comments

Of music!

SO shoik after yesterday's playing =) Yingzheng and Raymond came to my house. We had an amplifier, 1 electric and 1 acoustic guitar, 1 keyboard and 1 piano =P We started playing the instruments and singing. It was terrifc fun as every song played by Raymond on the instruments was his own arrangements. I found him rather talented and rather passionate about playing pop music. He actually practises late into the night, whether it's keyboard or guitar. Till his fingers turn numb. Best man... really.

After Yingzheng left, Raymond and I went to get some food before we continue playing music. We had both attended Ah Du's trial keyboard lesson the day before and I realised that I seriously lack some common knowledge for pop music after donkey years of playing piano. Didn't even dare to admit I'm a classical pianist when Ah Du asked in class. So shameful.

Anyway, Raymond taught me all of what he learnt from the 2 months of internet checking and books on pop playing. Basic chords progression, fill- ins, starting, ending..... I really benefitted alot. Learnt a ton from him within 2 hours. =)

Going to teach him the technics ba... cos that's all stopping him from flying on the keyboard now =) perhaps WE CAN FLY together after 1 month of sweat =P

Jia you!!!

posted by qiumqium | 9:35 AM | 0 comments

1. the conversion from playing classical piano to pop piano =) I found the latter pretty challenging, perhaps it's due to the fact that it's not simple to play and sing at the same time? Makes me look at people who can do that at a whole new admiring point of view. Been practising daily ever since my Tuesday trip to Muchuan with Yingzheng and Raymond, 2 of my friends who took up keyboarding. Hee, trying hard not to lag behind them. =) But hey, it really feels great to have friends who share the same dream as you. Looking forward to the day when we can jam together!

2. the trip to China =) will be going with a few good friends! Lucky me =) and I just love travelling overseas. Wonder how we are going to spend the nights there.... KTV? Spa? =P

3. Zpop concert on the 23th July, Saturday at Suntec City. Yeah! I actually got a chance to help out at the event and hopefully, hopefully (crosses fingers and pray real hard) , I can get some pictures of the artistes performing for the annual event! Weeeeeeeeee!

4. the 2 camps going to be held in December. Was kind of made one of the in charges. Can feel the 2 huge rocks that dropped onto my shoulders yesterday when I was told. 1 of the camps will be for 400 people while the other involves student journalists from Malaysia. Must admit that I do worry and am worrying about the 2 camps. Will try to get as many capable and committed members for the committee ba.. woo, better start planning.

Went to Crystal's birthday party yesterday evening. Erm... a few of us managed to burn a hole into the portable folding table which belongs to Jianjun. Thank goodness he was pretty cool about the hole =) geez... after my mahjiong table and now this... Word of advise to friends who intend to hold BBQs, hold it in proper BBQ pits in the gardens.

It was quite fun last night =) manage to see Sean, Kim pern and Jianjun and Benny again. I even acknowledge 2 primary schoolmates from Crystal's Secondary school friends =) hahahha... it's a small world after all.

posted by qiumqium | 9:52 AM | 3 comments

sorry, I'm never good at giving titles to my blogs. =P

Hee, I'm blogging this from my office since my boss is not here yet... Shhhhhhh...

Anyway, I went to mu chuan with Yingzheng last night to listen to the Tuesday dang. Yingzheng likes the Tuesday dang while I prefer the Monday dang. So I went to check the Tues dang out to see what attracted that guy.

The dang has 3 females and 1 male. The guy looked a bit like Taufik and I found the keyboardist rather cute and sweet looking. Just hope my skills can at least reach her level.. I pitied the guy, because he sang rather few songs as compared to the others. But he's pretty funny! =)

The keyboardist, Yingying only sang 1 song. Rong ting can sing quite well, but I feel that she lack the "bao fa li" in her voice. Definitely something very hard to acquire for singers.

Happened to meet Cheng yao, Jia hao and Bing rong on the way home =)

They just had their lessons and i thought they went to the spa at the basement...

Darn.

posted by qiumqium | 7:37 AM | 0 comments