Happy New Year everybody!

In January, school started. A brand new school, a whole new environment. First day of school was registration and I can still remember that we all had to queue up to have our pictures taken as we registered as students of VJC. Looking back at that, I can laugh at myself for being so afraid of the whole new place, sticking to my friends, especially Jun Long. Then, we got posted to our classes and all the "blahs" followed.

Feburary, all I can remember is that it is the second month of the year. Then came March and the joint admission exercise. I was real lucky and glad to be able to remain in VJC, a huge relief, especially after all that has happened during the provisional admission exercise. April came and SYF preparation started (or did it start long before that?) I was really glad for AHBand when they got a Gold with Honours award for their SYF. In fact, it was the first time I cried tears of joy. It's a real pity that I couldn't do the same for VJCSB's SYF on the fifth of may (05/05/05). It was a beautiful date, but the results weren't as beautiful. I'm really grateful for all my friends who were by my side to cheer me up after the results were announced. It really did help a lot. We had Majestia XX that was held in the school's performance theatre again. Our repertoire was quite filled with pieces that has been overplayed (The Phantom of The Opera, Pirates of the Caribbean). Okay, maybe I should have used written contained a few pieces instead of quite filled. It never occurred to me that it would be our last concert with lao shi though. He's quite a nice and friendly person. The only drawback was that he spoke in Chinese. I don't quite comprehend the language even though I am a Chinese. (Maybe I should include improving on my mother tongue in my new year resolutions)

The month long holiday came and went, with a few sleepless nights (it doesn't sound correct) and lots of last minute studying for the mid-year examinations. My birthday wasn't exactly a good day for me but I can't remember the bad things that happened on that day. (Well, this is a good thing - remember only the good things. This is not an adaptation from the class 90.5 FM advertisement.) Soon after that I was making my way to Brussels, stopping over for an hour at Bangkok and half a day at Helsinki. One of the best things over in Holland was the food served by the hotel (our hosts). The food they served on the first night was one of the best I have ever tasted. I want to go back there in 2009 and taste it again. I don't think I would mind if I have to eat that for all my 3 meals a day for the rest of my life. I just hope that I won't grow fat!

After the holiday in Holland, there was a lot of catching up to do but I was obviously still in the holiday mood. On national day I don't know what I was doing. Most probably I was out with my friends again and missed the live telecast of the national day parade. Maybe I caught the last part of it on television. The last time I watched the parade was when I was in either primary 5 or 6. September. I don't remember much of it. My holidays were spent in school as usual, I suppose. After that came somebody's birthday but I never got the chance to present the present to the person celebrating the birthday. Too close to promotional examinations, the reason was (lousy excuse).

We all thought that everything would be calm after the promotional examination but something came. Well, it did not exactly come, it was there all along but wasn't very significant until after the promos. Year 1s greatest nightmare... There you have it, Project Work. It was oral presentation that marked the end of it all - the end of the academic year. What a relief. From then on it was band, band , band and even more band. I liked it that way. How great it would be if I went to school only for band. Mr Leonard Tan became our resident conductor and I think it's a great change, not that lao shi wasn't good. I like the change because I can understand better (he speaks in English), and I find it very helpful because I can understand the music and feel it better. He never fails to impress us with quotes from whoever and whoever. Look, I cannot even remember their names and yet he can go "So and so once said that...", "did you know who said..." And on and on. That's quite enough of Mr Tan, but what else can I talk about if November's all about band and band?

December was the most fufilling month. I attended a camp and learnt a lot out of it. The best thing I learnt was how to appreciate my family. I know that it may sound crazy to some, but family really is very important. They are the ones who will be by our side no matter what happens and they are the ones who truly cares and loves us, not that friends don't. Anyway, it's only when you learn how to appreciate the small little things that everyone in the family does that you will understand how important they are and how selfish you have been and how much you have taken things for granted. Coming back to band, I had my first concert in Esplanade with Mus'Art Wind Orchestra. I must say it was a real honour to be able to perform in that concert hall. In the past, all I could dream of was to perform at the outdoor theatre at Esplanade. However, No-So-Silent-Night 2005 was the concert I enjoyed myself the most. I shan't further elaborate on it or this entry will never be posted this year, and I would have broken my promise about adding another entry before 2006 arrives. Band chalet was really enjoyable, though tiring. It was really great to be able to cycle throughout the night with all my friends and then watch the sun rise slowly, turning darkness into light with some strangers whom we do not know entertaining us with some "smell-ley" jokes. Christmas eve was unforgettable (for the time being) because of the snow-spraying frenzy at Orchard road. Boxing day, we started (yes, we finally started) doing our holiday homework and rushed to complete as much as we can over the past few days but we're never going to finish it.

New Year's eve has come and it's 18 minutes to the new year. One of the rare nights where my family is still awake at this hour. Anyway, we should be counting down to 2006! It'll be a great year!

Before I end, I want to apologise to Wei Xiang for not being able to go to his house for the countdown party because I went out with my family. I feel quite bad not going for it.

Enough for this entry. I have 15 minutes to come up with the next.

I finally brought my clarinet home. Feels as though I have not touched it for months even though it was merely 10 days not playing it. I think I sounded a bit weird when I played it just now. I just can't wait for school to start. Correction. I just can't wait for band practice to start. The last time I came into contact with an instrument was on Christmas eve where the Clarinet Choir performed at Esplanade library. I guess I really cannot survive without playing the clarinet. It really feels good to be able to blow through my clarinet again today.

A visit to KK hospital this morning (30 Dec) didn't end up changing my opinion of them. In fact, I now have a worse impression of the hospital. Can you imagine having an appointment that was postponed twice and when you finally get to consult the doctor, you arrive early, or maybe just on time, but have to wait till it's an hour past your appointment time before you approach the nurse and urge her to let the doctor see you first? I believe that the main reason this happens is that people are not punctual. This always happens at the clinic in KK hospital. The patient arrives late for his appointment, realise that his queue number has passed (the queue number is same as the appointment time), approach the nurse and then enter as the next patient. The worst thing about it is that it's not only one patient who does that occasionally, but more than half of the patients are doing this and this isn't at all fair to the people who arrived on time. The nurses who allow for this to happen are actually penalising the punctual and encouraging people to come late for appointments! This is unacceptable!

The Tanjong Katong Girls' school combined concert with the Nakamura Gakuen Girls' High school concert yesterday evening was undescribable. I really enjoyed myself and the music that was performed. The best part was that the Japanese musicians put their heart into their music making and it was great to listen to them (with both my eyes and ears) perform. The thing that really amazes me was that they managed to capture the style of every piece they played and they were able to fill the hall with so much music that it was more than what the hall could contain. I really loved the oboist's tone. I think it is one of the best tones I have ever heard, and the horns were equally great. In Singapore, that sort of tone can only be produced when a more professional band plays. Why can't our school bands sound as impressive as the Japanese? It would be so much more enjoyable playing in a band if you could make music and savour the beauty of the sound the band produce at the same time.

It's going to be 2006 in less than 22 hours from now. I want 2006 to be an even better year for me than 2005 was. I'm reminded of the Hawaii trip. It will be filled with so much fun and enjoyment! I just can't wait for that to come. Please let 2006 come, please let band to resume.

I slept right through till 4 pm on Christmas day and ended up washing my dad's car. Nothing much that day, but I had enough fun the night before to make up for all these stuff that may seem boring. I am so blessed that my life is filled with so much activities that I enjoy doing. How I wish that this holiday season can last longer. I still have so many things I want to do. If I didn't sleep, I might have the time to do all the things I wanted to and I would be able to go out with more people. I really feel bad not going to 2 of my friend's churches on Christmas day. I'm sorry.

I can't contiune writing about everything that has happened but I wish to go back to talk about NSSN. I think this year's NSSN was really great. It was the best concert I have ever played in. Everything was just so wonderful. The music was engaging, the response from the audience was great, the people were all so fun and most importantly, the clarinet section was huge! Finally there is a proper clarinet section and all the players can play well! I really hope that it can remain like this next year. Too bad Nicole can't stay on but hopefully she will return after the first 3 months. I wonder what NSSN will be like without all the sec 4s. I think they really helped us a lot, not to forget all the people who has put in a lot of hard work for the concert.

Before I forget, I must declare that Lauw Xiu Yu from the zoo has arrived on time for the first time this year. (This is according to what she said) Maybe it's good to make some new year resolution to be punctual.

On the third day of Christmas......

I went for a 5 day residential camp at the Copthorne Orchid Hotel and missed a whole week of band practices. I wanted to go for the camp but I wanted even more to go for band practice because the sec 4s were finally here. It was too late to withdraw from the camp and I had almost no choice but to attend it. I didn't regret attending it because I learnt a lot from the camp, and I realised for the first time that I could do so many things that I never thought I could do. That even comes down to having less than 5 hours of sleep a night with so many strenuous activties during the day and recovering from a flu in a day despite having only 4 hours of sleep. The best thing is that I feel more comfortable with my parents now.

After the camp, it was already NSSN week. We had a full dress rehearsal on my first day back at school. The skit item seemed very unprepared somehow, but VJCSB worked very hard together and made wonders on NSSN night. It was just so amazing, even magical. Although it might not have seemed a good performance when we were putting up the item on the day itself, just by listening to the recording of it, I could drift back and imagine myself right in the performance theatre playing. I want to thank everyone for making NSSN such a success.

I'll continue to update again. I have to go off now.