Fruit of Labour

Hello! It's been quite some time, yeah? Got some time to go online, so let's work on this blog.

Last Sunday was my big day. It was my first function performance day! Me and my music teacher Mr. Chan, Chun Yeen and Ray Aun were hired to perform as a cello quartet at a wedding dinner. It was a really busy day for me. I had orchestra rehearsal from 2pm-5pm that day, playing double bass for junior section and cello for senior section. Then after that, me and Chun Yeen followed Mr. Chan's ride back to his house. I bathed, put on my performance outfit, managed to watch a part of a documentary about the Hogzilla (a garbage demolisher), and when Ray Aun came the 4 of us took off to Noble Banquet, a prestigious restaurant in Bukit Bintang, which is also our performance venue.

We arrived at 6.30pm and quickly set up our instruments, music stands and mic. We just practised a little, and we laid down our cellos to wait until it was time we perform. During the wait we had free Sprites, but after finishing that we managed to hook in another glass of free Carlsberg each. We chatted a little and took a photo, which Mr. Chan uploaded to Facebook on the spot.


The Mighty Four! From the left : Mr. Chan, Ray Aun, Salty and Chun Yeen. Ray Aun looks abit homosexual but never mind.

We took our places on the stage by 8pm, but the real performanced started at 8.30pm. The bride and the groom stepped into the hall, and we started our main piece : the Kanon in D. We played the music while the 2 of them walked right up to their table and took their seats, that's when our music faded away, with perfect synchronization between the 4 of us. Then there was a presentation of the 1st dish, and then we started playing all the pieces Mr. Chan personally arranged that lasted almost an hour. We played pretty well with very minimal errors, although one of my strings suddenly snapped and went out of tune in the middle of a piece. But I covered it fine enough.

We finished our part at 9.30pm, where we began to pack up and they began to play Jazz music from their music player. We were all exhausted and very hungry. We were paid RM 1000 on the spot, and in cash. We brought our cellos back to Mr. Chan's car, sat in and started dividing the money. 4 of us got RM 200 each, and the remainder RM 200 was used to cover the transportation fee and to buy us an awesome dinner that night.

Maybe some of you already had working experience and had already earned quite an amount of salary, but for me this is my very first time I've really worked and put in effort to earn money. To all the audience maybe it was just a simple 1-hour performance, a show of music, a flow of melody. But they did not know how much time and effort we spent just to prepare for this performance. Hours and hours of practise, countless amount of effort to make sure our melody can get synchronized between 4 different cellos, and 4 even more different players. The money I received from this performance is of higher value than any other, because it is obtained through effort and hard work. It is the fruit of my own labour.

Just a simple advice, money is not easily earned at all. So treasure all that cash you have in your wallet now. =) And I heard from Mr. Chan, our audience thought our performance was actually a CD recording. I take that as a compliment.

Okay that's it for the update. Got another performance at 6th of February, wish me luck! xD


Salty

Ultraman |_

Ultraman Fail.

FML.

not me. NOT ME.

Don't Judge A Book By It's Cover

Today, Wei Wen, ChengZhi, Ho Li and Chee Khin came to my house after their Harmonica and Guitar Club orientation at school. ChengZhi's mum fetched all of them directly from school to my house.

There's actually nothing much at first. Wei Wen and ChengZhi bathed, fooled around a little with my cello and their guitar, then went upstairs to my karaoke room to sing. There were 4 mics there, just enough for the four of them. I wasn't really interested and just went back to my computer room to play Maple and surf Facebook. There was once when ChengZhi was gonna sing the song Onion (洋葱) and SMSed me to go upstairs. At first I thought they broke a mic or something, but when I went up and found out all he wanted was for me to listen, I just went back down. Hehe.

At around 5pm my mum fetched us to The Mines for dinner. We chose a Ramen store to dine in. It was just a normal meal, with average food and quite above average prices. After the meal Ho Li and Chee Khin went home themselves. Wei Wen and ChengZhi went to grab some doughnuts from Big Apple, while I went to KFC to buy dinner for my brother. I also bought an extra Toasted Twister for my mum. Am I a lovable boy? <3

When we got back to my house, the 3 of us went up to the karaoke room. We finished up the doughtnuts first, then the two of them began to sing. This is the key moment of the day. I had the urge of going down to my room and practise my cello, but once they started singing, I just can't leave the room. Their duet singing was so mesmerizing and soothing to my ears.

They sang a lot of songs, the best ones being Secret Guest (神秘嘉宾), Tornado (龙卷风) and 3 a.m. (凌晨三点钟). Wei Wen also sang his signature Dad, I'm Back (爸，我回来了), showing his excellent Chinese rapping skills. ChengZhi doesn't have any signature song of his own, but he sang really good too and I especially admire his fake voice skills in HuoYuanJia (霍元甲). ChengZhi has a better voice than Wei Wen, but Wei Wen has more superior singing skills and more accurate tones.

They managed to hold me in the karaoke room from 6pm-10pm. Amazing! So you see, never judge a book by its cover. No matter how a person behaves, how a person does things and how a person looks like, he/she always has his/her very own talent. Wei Wen and ChengZhi are the best examples.

Do you have your own talents too? Sure you do. Remember, don't judge a book by its cover, especially Wei Wen and ChengZhi! (they are books with really bad covers, hehe)


Salty

Clearing the Clouds

Just one simple update to tell everyone who cares. ChengZhi was a little emo when he posted the update below due to some seating issues and one seriously selfish female dog.

He was emo, he was down, he was unapproachable.

But now he's cured, thanks to all of the S3X gang members' efforts. He's now back to the happy, singing and noob flucting ChengZhi again.

If you ever see ChengZhi posting any emo updates again, don't worry. We'll cheer him back up in less than 48 hours. He's very easy to manipulate. <3

Okay thanks to all your concerns, especially Ms. Koh, our everlasting teacher and friend.


Salty

Please don't say this update emo

Well, since school started last week. Never had one day I can actually open up my heart to study and chill with my gang mates. Well, Im absolutely surprised about how many selfish peoples in my class. Or should I use a better word, self-centered? Im actually favored my class last year but as time goes, mask unfolds, true personality unveiled. Peoples are selfish. All they did is think about themselves, never really cared for others.

And the thing I most stunned, is that I don't even consider using the words gang mates anymore. There are no gang mates, no true friends in my life. I thought gang mates should be understanding each other, however, Im wrong, wrong in a deep shape. They are just the same kind, the same thing. We still can be friends, but true friends? Maybe, but near impossible. Conclusion is made, friends are made to be used. I cant really describe how stupid I am. Begging and asking permission for everyone and every plan that I can thought of. All I get is shits. No one even considered about my feelings. They got their own stuffs, they happy, they ditch, and they leave all the shit to the rest. If Im not considerate enough, I can just proceed it by force or violence, why shouldn't I?

Someone asked me, where is the ChengZhi I used to know, singing and staying happy all the time? Well, maybe the answer is dead, or maybe somewhere laid dormant. Im quite stunned when I heard this question. It perfectly reflects how Im doing all these times. Too many burden and too many things to shoulder alone. I need someone to help me, someone that can revive the old me. I changed and I don't want to explain much, that's it. It's not like I didn't put effort on my emotions. I did try. I made a promise, that I will stay happy throughout today but I failed, defeated by my own feelings, miserably.

By the way, some song to share with you all

Changing Days

1 week of school has passed! Surprisingly, although this is the year we face SPM, we still laugh our day out at school every single day.

So, this is the final year of secondary school. I'm starting to change my ways, trying to make more use of the time I have. Let's compare the activities I do after school at home at 2009 and 2010.

School Days Timetable 2009
2:30pm - Reach home. Lunch and bath.

3:00pm - Waste time.

7:00pm - Dinner and watch TV.

8:00pm - Waste time.

12:00am - Sleep.

School Days Timetable 2010
2:45pm - Reach home. Lunch and bath.

3:30pm - Free time. Maybe take a nap, read some books or do part of my homework.

6:00pm - Go jogging. Sometimes with Wei Jian, my new neighbour, but he jogs better than me. qT_Tp

7:00pm - Dinner and watch TV. Normally watch those "auntie shows" from Hong Kong.

8:00pm - Practise cello. Sometimes SMS others to joke.

9:00pm - Finish remaining school homework and do some theory. Then maybe read Captain Underpants or Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

11:30pm - Sleep.


See? A much more disciplined Salty in year 2010! =)
Others are changing too. Daena has started doing his homework. He finishes all his Maths homework and completes all his notes, especially Sivic (teacher problem?). if you know Daena well, you will consider his change of attitude a miracle. And a small note, Daena suffered a terrible toothache recently, and that's why there's a very informative post below by him.

ChengZhi is starting to concentrate on lessons too. And Ching Yeap doesn't sleep that often in class anymore.

And Wei Wen. He doesn't really need to change, his results are good enough. All he need to change is maybe his face (hmm?) but too bad that's impossible for now.

Are you working hard for this final year too? If you aren't, you should really start considering putting in more effort.

OMSG SALTY IS SUCH A CARING FRIEND!

Consider this an update.


Salty

TOOTHACHE

THE PAIN
THE AGONY

CURSE YOU TOOTH FAIRY

First Day Of School

Hello people! It's 4th of January, which means, SCHOOL DAYS ARE BACK! And of course, the S3X gang is now 5S3! And today, everyone was present, back in uniform, no more short pants or shirts with name tags on it (you know who you are, heeheehee).

We had a bad start today, forced to cramp in the hall with 2000 other students just for one stupid assembly. Then we went back to class, but sadly we failed to take seats as we had arranged earlier. Girls went back to class earlier and screwed up our plan. =(

After settling down, we enjoyed the pleasure of knowing Mr. Wong KK remains as our Physics teacher and form teacher. And as usual, he still talks a lot of cowdung. Most of our other teachers remained too, except for Moral, Sejarah, Sivic and Chinese. Our former Chinese teacher moved to another state, and sent us a heart-touching e-mail as a parting gift. We will somehow miss Pn.Yeoh!

Now, do you think that the S3X gang has weakened after a 2-month holiday? You are damn wrong. Today Wei Wen showed me his "xD" face which has the power to give you insomnia for a few days.

Also today, our new Sivic teacher came in. Her name is Pn. Gowri or something, and she's quite a young and pretty Indian teacher. And once she started talking some leisure stuff, our Daenavan can't take his eyes off her! It's the first time I saw Daena so ABSORBED in the lesson. He even called me to keep quiet when I tried to joke. And then I asked him either this teacher or Xue Ying is prettier, he said THE TEACHER. But of course that's not the truth, but we can see Daena had a crush on first sight. But not even 10 minutes after the teacher started talking to us, she announced that she was married last month. Poor Daena! His heart was broken, and his love crushed not even 10 minutes after meeting her. But I guess it's fine, Fareen's still there for you, Daena. <3

And the most imbalanced thing today, or perhaps since the most imbalanced thing since we met, happened after Pn. Gowri went out and Pn. Teh the discipline teacher came in. I told Ching Yeap and Wei Wen about how loose Daena's pants is, and how he needed Yi Xian's help to pull his pants up when he was carrying books. Then Wei Wen decided to give it a try. He went behind Daena, and with his swift hands (which he used to unbutton Sivanesh before) he pulled Daena's pants down. Actually he only intended to pull Daena's pants below butt level, but Daena's pants was so loose IT FELL ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE FLOOR. And sadly, me, Wei Wen, Ching Yeap and a few other guys saw the scene. We saw 2 black pillars decorated with hair, with their peaks covered by a white shirt. We instantly bursted into laughter, and Daena quickly pulled up his pants, right before Pn. Teh looked at him. Sadly, no girls had the chance to witness the scene, or Daena's popularity will gain a huge increase. Not in a good way though.

And about ChengZhi? Damn, he's emo today. After school back at home I asked him why, and now I know the reason, a reason not really good to be posted here. But ChengZhi, emo-ing doesn't solve the problem! Get over it, man.

Today was my first time taking bus home too. I took it with Wei Jian, my new neighbour. The skinny Tio Wei Jian, not the chubby Tan Wei Jian. Nothing much to talk about, only that it's the same bus with Sze Mun and Shih Min.

Sadly, I'll have a very hard time to get to sleep tonight, because of what I saw today at school. The 2 black pillars and the xD face. Maybe I'll end up having insomnia like Adam Young, the singer of Owl City.

Take me above your light
Carry me through the night
Hold me secure in flight
Sing me asleep tonight
Hello Seattle - Owl City

Okay okay that's it for the first day.


Salty

1 . January . 2010

Yeah, so its 2010 now. Time flies.
For the first 10 hours of my 2010, Daena, Ching Yeap and Me spent the whole time gaming at my house.

It is quite an experience, spending the times playing L4D and DotA inside a dark room with bone-chilling aircon turned on. But Daena went to bed at 6am in the morning cause he beh tahan the sleepiness, such noob.

Then, its left me and Cy watching "Secret" by Jay Chou. I owned the original film, so we watched it on my pc. This is my 2nd or 3rd time watching this movie, still, I have the same impact on my feelings when the 1st time I watched it. My emotions were troubled and I sobbed after the movie, its too touching, I cannot hold back my tears.

Its going to be 10am by the time I finish updating this blog, considering the facts that I haven slept for the whole night, I sacrificed alot for the sake of this blog. Even Cy slept during the movie.

Lastly, wish all the people

Happy New Year!!


Blessed & Prosperous.