Rabbit rabbit

Grass, Rabbit, Bushes 2, originally uploaded by Tomi Tapio.

Don't forget to say "rabbit rabbit" tomorrow morning....FIRST thing:)

Air on G string (Bach)

D & G strings, originally uploaded by Aigred.

My attempt to like this song is futile. The character of the piece is slow and parkinson-like. But here's an interesting fact: If you transpose ( don't ask me how) down an octave you can play the ENTIRE song on the G string. And that's how it got its name:)

The local mamak

A nice end to a working day; late tea at the mamak. We sat outside to avoid the cigarette smoke. Menu: rice, telur BISTIK, sup campur, ayam goreng kunyit. YUM!

I want I want I want

Current obsession is a super-light violin case. Rational, as the ole bones get more brittle one deserves to carry less weight about. Think of osteoarthritis of the knees. So really, it's not because it looks super cool and hip, but because it will prevent my poor knees from carrying additional weight that I NEED this case. It is also important that its shaped like-so otherwise the airlines ( not that I fly on a weekly basis ) will make you send it in cargo. Done that once before...and the violin arrived ( despite the fragile handle with care sticker) with the bridge collapsed and the casing with many new scratches.

I do not Math, therefore I Art.

I do not Math, therefore I Art., originally uploaded by Scottoons.

I did a lot of math today. Still added wrongly. The numbers don't add up to the amount I want it too. I HATE math! It has drained me out. Can't do anything else this evening...

Wake me later

Wake me later, originally uploaded by dmmaus.

I said I was going to sleep by 10pm this evening. Well that worked well. Time for bed. It's pass midnight. I'm going to have a jolly time trying to get up tomorrow morning. Sleep deprived and it's only mon/tues:)

Sensible message

Sometimes we need to be reminded not to HOG big tables 

 I spent many hours in the car on Sunday. Left the house at half seven in the morning for the 8am mass at St John's Cathedral Bukit Nanas. About 500 m before joining Jalan Kuching, I met the jam courtesy of the KL marathon which meant the main roads around the city centre were off limits right up until 2pm. I joined the many other unhappy folks who were caught out. The sun was out and I got (literally) cooked in the car into a delicious shade of brown. I attempted to head to Sentul for the 9am mass. Again, the jam had spread to areas pretty close to sentul which meant I missed not only the 8am mass at Sj Johns but the 9am mass at the church in Sentul ( I forget the name)...so I ( still being baked slowly but surely in the car and the Sunday morning sunshine) returned to the path to St Johns for the 10:30am mass. Did an ( grrr) illegal turn and knocked a cone down. The policeman was mad. I think the hot sun made him cranky. So I made it to the 10:30am mass. ( And as in my resolution from last year and the year before and the year before...I promised myself I would remember this date sso as not to be caught out AGAIN in 2012)

Taken with the G10 not G12 ( We will return here for a wedding mass on the 16th of July

The afternoon saw me ( and the parents ) in the car ( AGAIN) this time travelling in a different direction ie Puchong as a trial run for an up-coming wedding mass. We got lost. My inner GPS failed and the atmosphere in the car was one of muted silence as the driver slowly dragged herself out of the nasty mood she was in. We found the place and managed to retrace out steps back. And as a reward dad bought me the new G12. ( I'm sure he felt responsible for making us miss many turns...as he SHOULD. As a navigator he was not useful at all)

G12 ( in the shop....)

I almost forgot to explain the first picture above. The sign was at the table in this restaurant. We had a lovely dinner. I was famished. Nothing like getting royally lost to work an appetite up.

Bonding session with the new (ahem) G10

A couple of angry (lookin) birds

White gold and some gorgeous diamonds arranged in a very nice way

Righ I got a new camera this evening and this are the first few pics from it. Lovely lovely lovely lovely. And I 'm going to enjoy taking pictures once again. Happy Monday ( dam it's after midnight already)

I did some typing today

Dumped Type Writer, originally uploaded by postiii.

I now realise why secretaries have nice stuff on their desk....because if you're forced to sit at the desk for a good chunk of the working day, you would want to be surrounded by delightful cheerful objects.

New book ..for this week!

Found this book on Saturday. The first 2.3 pages were interesting. I hope I enjoy this. Must confess I've never read Jane Fallon's books before. Just completed Lisa Jewel's "after the party".Here's my mini review:

Jem and Ralph 's lives are played out but in different stages. Starts with the present and then there's a shift to the past and so forth. It moves with ease between the different time zones and as you read you feel your sympathy being shifted gradually from one partner to the other. Of course as in real-life relationships there isn't one person to blame and the gradual way the couple come to this realisation is done very nicely. So I'm going to give it a 7.9/10. Marked docked for the occasional irritating way Ralp behaves which irked me at times. And that third party Joel bit plus Jem having a one night stand with Joel's son was a little too creepy for me.Still, enjoyable but beware you must be in a fairly chirpy mood to be able to sustain self through. If you're feeling at all down best to leave this book for a while and return only when mood has lifted. Otherwise you may find yourself being dragged into Jem and Ralph's depressive state. Not a walk in the park.

Father's Day!

Rather than ONE big ole boring cake, we opted for a variety of goodies, lemme see chocolate eclairs, cream eclairs, death by chocolate, peach something something...tiramisu...Black forest gateaux and cream puffs. And so here it is pictured above. Happy Father's Day Daddy and God Bless! And in keeping with tradition, the gift was something I could share:)

Soto for tea

I think I like this Soto very much. It was accompanied with a dollop of grinded chilli padi (double yum) and the soup tasted like it was made from boiling some bones for hours. Yup! I had a good tea. If you look again, you may realise I took about 45% of the soto before I remembered to take a shot. Dinner at 7pm and I hope I get hungry by then. ( also did my nails...but I still can't decide whether I like this week's pattern...separate post later today don't worry) Also bought a book ( another post ).

DONE!

Signs just to be sure you KNOW where you're going

The violin sits on the ottoman in between spurts of practising..

I've finished my exam. (shudder) And now some return to normal life..ie work and laundry. ( Tomorrow would be the first and only working day of the week for me wooHOO)

This is me

Taken from....here

Stress is not what happens to us but how we respond to things. And response is something we can choose. Maureen Killoran ( LOVE this saying found it a minute ago)

I WANT!!!

BagsandBuds Hair Clip, originally uploaded by bagsandbuds.

New Blog Buttons ...please admire

a new make-your-own kit in the making, originally uploaded by paper-and-string-on-flickr.

Of course I'm really meant to be hard to work practising the violin for the exam tomorrow. Still one needs to rest in between to avoid straining the muscles. ( V important that) And so I've gone a little button crazy....enjoy

Breaktime...is grocery shopping

grocery bags at shop!, originally uploaded by la vida compartida... {RosaMaría}.

Taking a break ....!

Smurf village update

Smurf inflation, originally uploaded by soopahgrover.

I've reached level 28 (yay) and the smurf village as an update too. Unfortunately you need THIRTY smurfberries to get the new item...tailor=smurf house. GAH

Falling down

I Fall Down Stairs. A Lot. 109/365, originally uploaded by Kungfukitten.

I've decided to blog about it anyway even though its terrifically embarrassing. En route back home from violin class yesterday I twisted my left ankle on an uneven ground and fell pretty much like the lady in the picture. Landed partly on the violin case ( a sturdy thing which broke the impact) and as luck would have it...my left hand came in contact with the darn road. Nothing damaged except my ego. ( time was 11:30pm) It was weird falling down and not being able to do anything about it. The last fall was into a drain walking from room to ward to see a patient.( don't walk with your eyes shut)

practise makes perfect ( I should bloody hope so)

Its terribly warm. Wish I had this fan blowing right at my face now. ( with bedak sejuk on my face)

Still tweaking templates....

Baroque composers:

Handel

Bach

Couperin

Scarlatti

Here they are, the composers in the Baroque era.( Quite ugly but they composed beautifully)
Some characteristics of this period; contrasting dynamics, polyphonic, binary. Do not worry I have not suddenly develop a fixation for old men with long hair. This is for the aural bit of the music exam. Just thought I'ld write a post. ( not much of a post rather some pictures....curious about their hair do back in the dark ages)

I've messed my blog template up royally:(

Taken from frisky

break time

The hands hurt more so the left index finger which means I have been overzealously practising and it is time to take a break. Things to do.
1. Get better at sight reading by this afternoon
2. Master those nasty arpeggios
3. Play the songs without any slips ( if possible.) And if there are slips to play on regardless.
4. Don't panic!!!!

HAHAH very cute sign.

Doing some sigh-reading practices now. ( triple arrgh) It must surely burn some calories cos I'm famished now

Away from work for a few days

Picture taken a few years ago..when I had LONG hair...and was obsessed with vivaldi .

Am away from work for 4 days. Not for recreational purposes but to do some last minute ( and much needed) violin practice before the exam this Thursday ( swoon). Pieces are much more stable. ( fewer slips...but trying to memorise the notes ) The scales are still a problem. Haven't gotten to the stage of smoothness and as for the bloody (aargh) arpeggios the shifting positions work only half the time. Found this brilliant PDF file on sigh-singing for FREE. and it's been helpful because it starts easy and gradually becomes more difficult.And its about the time of the year when I ask myself " WHY do I put myself through this stress???" Stress-free from Thursday evening onwards. The exam is at Prince Hotel this year. Hopefully no jam...and no icy cold air-con to stiffen the fingers up.

A silly crane caused this

If you're about 5 car lengths long please do not imagine for even a second that you would succeed in making a U-turn which most normal cars with a poor turning radius have to reverse a few times to make it . One silly man and his crane caused this back log of traffic. He succeeded  in occluding the way out of three condominiums and countless cars making a U-turn on what was supposed to be a traffic-less Saturday evening.
*By the time I got to the u-turn the crane had mysteriously been removed. Picture of of the traffic BEHIND me. A sea of unhappy people I'm sure

Interesting but THREE inches too short

Just B

You're meant to wear it with leggings. Such a shame. I love the color and have no intention of putting on a pair of leggings so didn't buy this. Note the cute little pockets at the side. Which was the attraction for me. Enough to put the car keys...in one pocket and the handphone in the other.

Review of Taiwanese food( dinner yesterday)

Where we sat

 I've never been to Taiwan but I suspect the ambience in this restaurant must be some attempt to mimic the real thing. We got a good seating. And the girl who served us spoke flawless English. Which made a difference. The menu had nice pictures ( again very important) and the process of ordering was painless. Service was quick we couldn't even do more than two scrabble moves before our food arrived.

Fried rice taiwanese style

10/10 for the fried rice. I would return for this pretty soon. Price wise acceptable.

Dried mustard and pork noodles.

 It looked bland but the subtle taste was ten thumbs up. I want to have this today for dinner AGAIN.

The famous dumplings with soup in it

 Having learnt from a friend how best to have this without the soup content spilling and squirting dangerously out onto your attire....this was a hit with the parents. Best eaten when hot. Upon cooling the consistency becomes a tad hard and the filling gives an oily after taste.

Showing the kiasu-ness of dad who pick one of these lovelies up ASAP

This isn't Taiwanese. ( Moo cow !!!)

Truth or myth; Taiwanese food are doctored with some dodgy preservatives making them dangerous to eat. Regardless we found ourselves seated at this bustling place right at the bottom of The Gardens reading the menu. 5 minutes into the menu-reading the Taiwanese flavour dawns like a slow dull and persistent ache. The person who seated us was so lovely and polite we didnt dare offend by standing up and leaving. So this is the story of out Taiwanese meal. 8/10 Total meal for RM 61 with free-fill of water and chinese tea. We will be returning definitely!

zonked OUT

zonked OUT, originally uploaded by memoija.

This was what I looked like ( well almost obviously not a picture of me but the position was basically the same)....on Saturday!!! The flu got the better of me.

A little bit of music theory ...

Lost between primary school and lower secondary school, ALL music theory knowledge garnered. No reward is offered cos it is lost forever. The obvious choice left is to sit down and relearn some theory. Double bleah! Back from violin class with a resolution to practice them scales and sight singing diligently until the finger drops off( kidding). One week to THE day. So some last minute practice ( which will be painful) will surely help the progress. Let's just have the breakdown of stuff for the music exam
1. Scales ( bleah) with slur ( puke puke) + arpeggios, double stop, dominant seventh, diminished seventh and chromatic scales.
2. Sigh-reading ( grimace)
3. Sigh-singing( fingers crossed for a song in the major key...C major please and err can we keep it at less than 5 bars please)
5. Some other bits of the aural like tap tap, sing sing, period, composer, articulation, style....
6. Pieces X3
The end

Never let a little bit of work get in the way of a good coffee break...

Never let a little bit of work get in the way of a good coffee break..., originally uploaded by Vimrod1.

Time for some coffee. It's ten past eight and I'm nodding off already. A sure sign of old age:) Today has been tiring but I can't really pin point the one thing which sapped the energy. ( But if I have to confess...I would say the thought of my violin class in an hour is causing a little unrest )Directly after dinner I have been absolutely useless. Have a good evening.

You can never have too many bags *ahem*

Non-fake longchamps the white being the most recent buy. Two outings for it so far because I'm worried it would stain. Which is silly really because its meant to be used and used. The kaya green bag is now studded with black smudges, some dark brown ( worry worry what was the source) and the edges are slightly frayed giving it a retro( I wish) look. All bags are made in ( swoon) China except the white which has the tag " Made in France".

NOoooooooo!!!!

Found in the local flea market. 

The macaroons ....(AGAIN)

Comments welcome!!!!!!

A funny sight at the bazaar

The tall and lean....beside the local fatty;)