Merry Christmas!

Christmas Day! The day whereby Jesus Christ was born!

Ever since I became a Christian, I never fail to enjoy Christmas Celebration in church. This year is no excepti0n. I absolutely enjoyed serving the Lord in choir for Sunday and Monday.

The choir opened the service with a special item "Deck the Halls" in parts, aka SATB (Sops, Alto, Tenor and Bass parts) with yours truly singing the Soprano part, which is the melody. It sounded great with parts and all. Then praise and worship began using carols.

Then came the best part - the drama. This year's production is a bit different. Other than the usual bilingual lines that the actors and actresses had to memorise, three of them had to speak in Cantonese, Japanese and Tamil! This was the first time that the drama includes these languages. The entire drama was funny, interesting, touching and simply too awesome for words. This year, the drama even involves the congregation, that everyone lights up the candles, signifying that Christ is the Light of the world. After that was the sermon and altar call.

After service, wennt for lunch with cell group members at Macau Express. Then, it was funtime at the Family Carnival at Hall 6.

Your Truly in my bumper car...

From Left: Yunfeng, Gisele, Penny and me!

Rae and Me!

Above pics thanks to Rae!

Death Note the Movie

Recently Kurakat, Carcar and yours truly went to the new GV @ Vivo City to watch Death Note Movie. I must say, this is one of the best movies I've ever watched this year (Partly because I didn't watch too many movies this year... Hahaha...) Anyway, I am looking forward to Part 2 of this movie and had pre-arranged with the rest to go and watch once its out. Below are the pics..

Me and Carcar enjoying our "Starbucks" coffee...

Hmmm... Sedup! Heeheehee...

Our Cute Kurakat...

Nice....

Thanks to Carcar for all the pics above! :)

Death Note Part 1 Wallpaper

Death Note Part 2 Wallpaper

Death Note Wallpapers taken from Death Note Official Website

Thanks to Carcar and Kurakat for a wonderful time that day!!!

Best taxi ride ever!!!

Why do I say that I have the best taxi ride ever? Ever sat in a 7-seater cab, with a quiet engine, with funny cartoon DVDs and a price so low that you will smile from ear to ear? I had such an experience on Sunday. Here's what happened....

As you know, I have MTT on Sundays. Normally, after MTT, I'll stay for dinner with my Strikeforce members and fellowship with them. After that we would go our separate ways. After our usual dinner fellowship at Parkway Parade last week, westeners, specifically me, Luke, Karen, Sara, Alan and Bryan, shared a comfortable 7-seater to Jurong East with the price of $3.85 per person. As I am not a car person, more info about the cab can be read in t-e-i's Blog . This is the most interesting ride ever, with the five of us (except Luke as he was sitting in the front seat) laughing our heads off while watching the Tom & Jerry DVD from the beginning of the ride all the way to our destination.

This is the best, most fun fellowship I ever had with my Strikeforce members. Luke Rox!!!

Long time no blog...

Blogging, blogging, blogging... Missed blogging for a long time....

Recently I was busy with lots of stuff: work, CG, choirs, etc. Here are some of the stuff I was busy with:

Fahrenheit aka 飛輪海



Seen this scene before? Yes, they are Fahrenheit aka 飛輪海. This new boyband consists of 4 guys, namely Aaron Yan, Calvin Chen, Jiro Wang and Wu Chun. Their debut album, their self titled album, is out in the stores now. Have heard it and like some of the songs like I Have My Young, Summer Snow and Only Have Feelings For You (featuring Hebe from S.H.E). Fans of 飛輪海 Fans can check out this group: http://groups.msn.com/FirstClassFahrenheit .

Cell Group Guitarist

Recently, there was a calling for me to use my talent given by God to serve Him in CG, as a guitarist. This is one of the rare times whereby a sister gets to be the guitarist for CG. God has blessed me with this opportunity to serve Him other than in Choir and Strikeforce. This is really the favour of God that I have the opportunity to serve Him in this area. Thank You Jesus!

Aury VI and MPC Concert

MPYC had our annual Aury VI concert on 9th Sept 2006. It was a successful concert despite the fact that some of us (including our beloved conductor, Eng Kee) were not feeling well, I felt that we did well and received positive responses from the audience. Next up is the MPC Concert, which will be held on 26 Nov 2006 at Victoria Concert Hall. MPYC will be singing three songs from our Aury VI concert and will colaborate with MPC for another three songs. Do contact me for details...

That's all folks!

Aurythmics VI & Project Superstar

Getting nearer and nearer to MPYC's annual concert, Aurythmics VI... 9th Sept 2006... Can't wait for it... So excited as this concert will be a concert to be remembered for a long, long time. This will be the first time in history that Eng Kee will be showcasing his voice for the first time in a MPYC concert. It's going to be a great concert, with special guest choir, Metro Philharmonic Chorus (MPC). Just imagine, two Gold Award choirs performing on the same stage! Its a concert not to be missed!!!

Another thing which happens on the same day as Aury VI: Project Superstar audition: Female Category. I've registered online and printed out the Registration Form and the Confirmation Letter that comes along with it. I'll be going down quite early in the morning to queue. Wonder how long it will take...

I heard that we'll have to prepare two songs, sing only the chorus part. The focus will be on vocals. Thank God! If that's the case I think I have no problem already as I "You Train guo de"... Heeheehee...

I just realised that a few of my friends are going for the audition too! All the best to myself, Huiling and Jieying!

Its going to be a busy Saturday for me, rushing here and there.. God, give me the strength to go thru this!!!

Singapore International Chinese Choral Festival

19th Aug 2006. It has to be a day that I will never, ever forget. Because this is the day whereby MPYC joined a choral competition as a group (other than the Sing Singapore competition in 2002 as "Dvox" and getting 1st runner-up in the Groups Category). This event was participated by choirs from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan and China. It was separated into to segments: Performance and Competition. 20 choirs from the above mentioned regions joined the Competition, which was held on 18th and 19th Aug 2006. MPYC's timeslot is on 19th Aug, 3pm. We are the fourth group to compete.

In preparation for this debut competition, we put in all our effort into this, going for extra practices, doing our homework and really, really memorising the competition pieces, fine-tuning them, while also preparing for our annual concert, Aurythmics VI, to be held on 9th Sept at The Arts House.

The big day came. We met up at 11.30am at Ocean Butterflies Music School (Shize's workplace) and got into Dance Studio B to rehearse, make up, prepare our hearts, mind and body for the competition. We did some physical exercises, warm-ups and started practising and further fine-tuning the songs as much as possible. After that we went for lunch and proceeded to change and prepare for our big show.

At 3pm, we proceeded to Singapore Conference Hall (SCH), where the event is being held. We went into a waiting room where we saw lots of other choirs waiting for their turn. As this might make us nervous, we decided to go out for some fresh air and to calm our emotions down.

Soon, it was our turn. We were much more relaxed by then and proceeded to backstage to prepare to go in and perform our best. Before that, we had our traditional pre-performance encourgement of putting our hands together and going "MPYC, Jia you! Woosh!". We went in and sang our competition pieces and went out feeling happy that we'll done our best. then we had again our traditional post-performance encouragement of putting our hands together and going "We did it! Great job MPYC! Woosh!" This indeed has made us more confident about ourselves and our singing. After that we went to watch other choirs before us perform and went for dinner at a Korean restaurant. There, we decided to got back to SCH to watch and await the results after the meal.

We went back and watched the final round of competition before the finals. The results came at about 10.45pm. I am very proud to say that MPYC got our very first GOLD MEDAL! MPC (Metro Philharmonic Chrous) also got Gold Medal! The difference was that we did not get into the finals but they got in. We encouraged them and cheered them on for the finals on 20th Aug.

As the award presentation is on 20th Aug, Shuhui, our Chairwoman, will be there to accept the medal on our behalf. Congrats to MPYC and MPC!!! 2 award-winning choirs under the same umbrella! Jia You!

Aurythmics VI and MPYC Recruitment Drive!

The time has finally come for MPYC's Annual Concert! As the poster has indicated, its about Love, Marriage and Lost Love. For the first half of the concert, our powerful Conductor-cum-Tenor, Eng Kee, will be singing a solo piece with piano accompaniment. As for the second half, we'll be singing songs of various languages, (including English and Chinese ones of course!)

Venue will be at The Arts House, Chamber (just behind the Victoria Concert Hall [VCH]). Tickets are selling at $20 (subject to a $1 ticket charge)

Tickets available at: The Arts House Box office, 1 Old Parliament Lane Singapore 179429. The Arts House Ticket Hotline: (+65) 6332 6919. The Arts House Ticketing Website: http://theartshouse.com.sg/tickets.html . Interested parties pls call the number or can contact me at 92377939 or via email at mpychoir@yahoo.com . Hope to see music lovers and lovebirds there at the concert!

In addition, MPYC is currently recruiting choral singers, preferably tenors and bases with choir singing experience, between the age of 16 and 35, to join us in 2006 Singapore International Chinese Choral Festival in August 2006 and our annual concert, Aurythmics VI .

Our practice is held on every Saturday, 3pm till 6pm. Venue is at 9C Sam Leong Mansion, Sam Leong Road.

Interested parties are welcomed to contact our conductor, Mr Ng Eng Kee, at 9650-1578(HP) or email to mpychoir@yahoo.com to arrange for an audition. Hope to see more people joining this happy family with a love for choral singing! To explore more about us, click on to http://mpychoir.musicsg.com .

Superband events and Grand Finals

Time sure flies.... Its Superband Finals at the Max Pavillion next Saturday! Great bands like my fav band, Lucify (above), Soul, J3 and Mi Lu Bing will be competing for the Superband title. I hope Lucify will win!

This is the procedure: all four bands will perform 2 songs. Then two bands will eliminated, the remaining two bands will perform another 2 songs and that will determine the winner. Its 100% voting by audience so I must vote for Lucify for them to win!!!





The four final bands will be at IMM this coming Sat for a meet-and-greet session with the fans. After that will be the recording for Superband Preview II at Mediacorp. Its a reunion with the top 14 bands, so I'll get to see bands like Jade, Juz-B, Qi:noBi and Jing Bao Yue Tuan again! Can't wait!!!

My Makeover Pic & Chen Yi

This is one of my makeover pics taken about 3 months ago. This is my utmost fav one cause I really like the background, my smile and the pic as a whole... Its one of my best makeover pics ever taken... I really wanna thank the make up artist cum hair stylist for doing this for me. Oh, and the interesting photographer who took the pics for me and Yunling. This is the first time I feel i look really good.

This is the heartwarming pic of the new singer Chen Yi and his mother. He comes from a single-parent family and his relationship with his mum has always been great (As told by him.) Recently he came to Singapore to promote his debut album Jing Ling. My fav song in the album is An Lian Wo (Falling secretly in love with me). It is a fast and catchy song with very interesting lyrics. Highly recommended (by me!) to support his album with his band, Jing Ling Yue Tuan. Its worth the money you spend, trust me!

This is Jing Ling Yue Tuan. Cute right??

Monday Blues

This is really Monday Blues for me.

When I woke up in the morning, my backache comes back. I was literally walking like an ah mah, slowly, slightly bend and rushing for time as I was almost late for work.

In the office, I wasn't spared of the work of carrying heavy and bulky stuff. This had resulted in the backache coming back after letting me off for a few months. Till now, I still feel the pain when I bend down.

Another thing is my family. My brother, to be specific. He came in to talk to me today, which is very rare, he will only talk to me when he need something form me. Just as I had expected, he wanted financial help but i can't as I am having financial difficulty myself as my salary is still not into my account. Then he asked me abt my salary and my monthly expenditure and was shocked at that way I spend for last month. There and then, he used strong words that hurt my heart and almost made me want to leave this house for good. Practically ALL the words he said had no good things about me, only super bad things, and things that really broke my heart when it comes directly out of his mouth. His words really crushed my world now. That's the reason why the Bible said that the tongue is the most powerful tool a man can have. It will either bring you up to heaven or tear you down right into hell. His words really makes me wanna shut myself up to everything in this world, especially to him. I realised that since my secondary school days, his words to me are nothing good and everything bad. Seems like in his eyes, I am the bad sister, unteachable, anything and everything negative that you can think of. This is enough for just one day to make me so down.

I pray, pray, pray........ Prayer, pray, pray...

Strikeforce, Trip to Taiwan and Superband

Hmmm.... Why so many stuff? Cuz I am currently in two ministries - Choir and Strikeforce.

Strikeforce is actually a drums ministry that specialise in playing drums and percussion instruments. This links to my upcoming trip to Taiwan with Strikeforce. This was how the story goes...

One fine day, while I was working, I received an SMS from Sister Jennifer (my Strikeforce head), saying, "Hi! Are you interested to go Taiwan for Emerge Conference?". I immediately replied, "Yes!". Then she replied, saying, "ok, will update you again".

Boy, was I excited! Then after MTT just now, Bro Boon asked the team to gather and gave a briefing about the Taiwan trip. It was then I realised that I had to learn other drum sequences other than the one I am currently learning now (Its called The Alpha Sequence, consists of interesting drumming like Space Jam, Q&A 1 & 2, Taiwan Storm, Wawanko and Half-Time Funky, just to name a few that I've learnt). Now I an looking for members who wrote scores based on what they have heard and practice so that I can practice on my own on my free time.... Time is running out for me.... Its confirmed, we are having gigs and performances in Taiwan.

Next, Superband. I realised that I was being captured again on TV. Even my Strikeforce friends knew! I was like, going, " -,- "... This is not good for my "reputation"... Haiz...

Anyway, I enjoyed Lucify's and Soul's performances. They are good! On quarterfinals 9 Lucify got the highest marks - 38 points! A straight 9.5 points from each of the judges! I was so happy that they did so well. Here are the pics I took with them...
Phoebe, Misaki and Me (very blur)

Me with Kuek, but very dark...

Me and the super cool Misaki

Me and the act-cool Vics

This is a nice pic... All smiling....

Remember him? He is Xiaolong from Jade.

Me and Samuel Lau from QinoBi

Seeing myself on TV...

(Misaki Pic taken from Lucify YG FC , The rest Thanks to Phoebe!)

Urgh!!! Recently I was told by some of my Cell Group members that they saw me on TV, chanting, "Lucify, Lucify, Lucify"... I was like, "Huh? I was on TV???" I was not able to watch on Monday due to my final orchestral-choir practice that day till 9plus at RJC... It was when I watched the repeat telecast on Saturday then I realised that I was being shot! And its like it was so up close... I didn't even notice that day!

On Sat, When I got to Singapore Expo for choir practice, at least 10 of them told me that they saw me on TV! I was like, "Ahhh!!! My 'reputation' is sweeping the floor liao!!!"

Today, more people from choir who helped out for my team told me that I was spotted on TV... I thought to myself, "Since when I am so famous among my friends?" But felt nothing much about it. I really hope it'll stop when I get back to work on Monday... If not I'll get my Monday Blues...

Superband Revival Round

Jade. My fav is Bryan, the keyboardist (Extreme right)












This is guitarist Kelvin from Lucify

This is my fav member of Lucify, Drummer, Vics

This is the ever cool Lead Singer of Lucify, Shinya

This is the cute guitarist from Lucify, Misaki

This is my another fav guy in Lucify, Bassist, Kuek

That's right, I was at the Revival Round recording last night. And I finally got to take photos with each individual member of Lucify and Bryan from Jade! Actually I took photos with them the week before but the pics are in Phoebe's camera and she haven't emailed them to me yet (My HP dieded on me that day.)

The Revival Round was the episode that I was looking for, especially when my 2nd and 3rd fav bands, Lucify and Jade respectively, were eliminated the previous week and some weeks ago.

The whole place was so high that during the last performance, which was Lucify, practically all the fans of various superbands jumped and sang to the music, which was an Energy song. I almost lost my voice that night but thank God it came back this morning so that I was able to sing in my church service @ 9am.

As my drumsticks are so bad that the tips have became sharp, I asked Vics for suggestions for a pair of good drumsticks. I showed him my super badly damaged drumsticks and he went, "Wah... It can't be used already, it'll tear the skin." When I told him that I was asked to hit on the road, he said that it was the very wrong way to drum. But no choice, I was asked to hit on the ground by my trainer... But for performances I'll use my good drumsticks, which definitely looks a lot better...

** All pics courtesy of Superband and FanG. Thank you!!! **

Fahrenheit and Tank

I did mentioned that I want to comment on Fahrenheit's singing rite?

I've heard the soundtrack already, in which they sang 3 songs. Nice voices but still lots and lots of room for inprovement. There was a VCD which came with the CD. I watched it and they can be so crappy at times.... So like unfamous people like us...

There's another newbie who contributes 2 nice songs to the soundtrack, he is non other than Tank. He is a talented guy with a very smooth voice. Those two songs are also recorded in his debut album...

Superband, Easter Celebrations & Friendster

Hmmm, lots of things happened these few days... First, I was being called up to help out in Easter Drama in April. I was to act as part of the crowd, to cry for Jesus. As I wasn't properly attired (the shoes I mean, I was wearing super shiny slippers instead of the normal sandals), I volunteered to help out for the two services on Sunday.

On Sunday morning, me and three other choir members took a cab down to Singapore Expo as we needed to report at 6am. When we reached there, we were asked to wait if there were extra or enough costumes to go around as there would be people not going to help out on that day due to their reasons. Thank God we had enough costumes to go round or else it would be a wasted trip for some of us (the help-outs are all choir members and some were not on duty nor attending services that day). We changed into our costumes and went for our final rehearsal before the first service began. At about 9am, some of the choir members, including myself, ran up to the choir platform for soundcheck in our drama costumes. The soundcheck took us about 35mins and we had to rush down to change our clothes before gathering at the space near Children's Church Room (You don't expect us to sing in our costumes, do you?).

The first service started at 10am. After Praise and Worship (P&W), we rushed into our locker to change into our costumes and ran to wait for our turn to act. Because of drama, I wasn't able to attend service. It was a good one nevertheless. Interested parties can go to http://www.chc.org.sg , click on "Video Sermons", then click on the various loadings beside "Why Didn't Jesus Save Himself?". You'll be able to watch the entire service. (I am one of the most prominent one; you'll be able to see me on stage for choir).

After the second service which started at 12.30pm, after returning my costume, I rushed to meet my members for a super late lunch, had fun catching up with them and went to People's Association (PA) for MTT, which started at 6pm to 8pm. As usual, BP sent me home (Thanks so much BP!!!)







The second thing that happened was last Sat. That was my first time going for the recording for Superband quarter finals. I saw my fave groups, Soul, Qi:NoBe and Lucify performing Energy's Come On, Six Plus's Part Time Study, Part Time Work and F.I.R's Ci Niao respectively. Their performances blew me and my friends away. I was standing at the front stage and I feelso "shiok". But when I watched the results show last night, I was shocked and sad that Lucify was out instead of Summer Breeze, who got the upmost lowest marks so far (19 out of 40 points). The whole audience was so astonished at such low marks given to them. Good thing the following week is the Fan Shen Sai (an episode for some of the bands who were disqualified before to regain their status in the competition.) Only one band will be chosen to regain their position in the main competition. I really hope Lucify will get in!!!

Recently, After I got my PC and internet access, I've been online a lot lately and had been logging on to my Friendster account, I've added all the members of Lucify (Vic, you have not added me in yet!!!), Jade and all five members of Soul (Thanks!!!). Oh, and not forgetting our Singapore Liu De Hua ( Samuel Lau from Qi:NoBe, the leader and only Chinese in the group.) There, I added lots of friends in as well, like Suqi (who helped us queue that day, arigato!!!) and her friend. I realised taht I have a lot of friends in my Friendster account... And that's a good thing...

Team B Outing

Finally! My big day, or rather, our big day has come! 1st May 2006, Labour Day aka May Day. This was the day of my church choir Team B outing at Symphony Heights. Its also the day that the finals of the Showtime Talentime was to be held. Total there were 3 Soloists and 3 Groups. Soloists: Emily, Sofyan and Weiye. Groups: Dvox, which mean "The Voice" in Latin (Sorry Jieying (MPYC) that I "stole" the name! ;p heeheehee), JEW and LKJ

I am part of Dvox, an a cappella group that uses voices to showcase music. This pic was taken during the audition some weeks back. Dvox consists of (from left) Terence, Sofyan (he looks so much like Will Pan! But he is from Indonesia), Rouxin and me (there was another guy, Seng Chong, who wasn't able to attend the audition that day).That day I sang the soprano part as I had quite a serious sore throat. But on the actual day, I was the main lead.

On the finals, we were the first group to perform. The song we sang was Turn The Beat Around by Gloria Estefan. It was a very good song to showcase our vocals to the audience, we had parts (Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass parts, aka SATB) and beat-boxing with a soloist that made the whole song sound superb. Rehearsal was a good one, but on the actual performance itself, our performance was not that fantastic as the tempo was so fast that I was rapping instead of singing. I was very surprised that we were given standing appraisal. The comments by the judges were very good and we were relieved that our own performance is over.

The best part is, when the judges were making a decision in the other room, we were jamming in the room we were in. I played the accoustic guitar, Kelvin played the electric guitar and Joekim played the drums. We played and sang "Now That You're Near", just like what we normally do during church service. It was a very fun time jamming with people I've never jam with before (Normally I'll play the keyboard or sing).

Minutes later, the results were out. Winner for Solo Category, Sofyan! He deserved it was he has a fantastic voice and he didn't use a mike that day! For Groups Category, its Kelvin's group (LKJ). I wasn't surprised as I think they did well and deserved to win. After that, we had our finale item, a song called That's What Friend Are For. It was a very meaningful song about friendships.

After the whole thing, me, Weiye, Barnet, Suann, Ying Ying and Isaac went to West Mall Mac for dinner and fellowship. We had lots of fun chatting and our laughter filled the 2nd floor of the restaurant. At about 9plus, we separated and went our ways back home.

It was a day of fun, singing, laughter and jamming. These are fantastic memories and that's precisely why I penned it down and share with my friends...

New boyband/ Team B Showtime

This is a brand new boyband from Taiwan. The name is called "Fahrenheit". in Mandarin its called "Fei Lun Hai". Fahrenheit consist of 4 super charming boys namely Yan Ya Lun Aaron, Wang Dong Cheng Jiro, Wu Zun and Cheng Yi Ru Calvin. They are currently acting in the brand new idol series called KO One (Zong Ji Yi Ban). So far I have not deard the soundtrack, which they sang some of the songs, but will buy the soundtrack and comment on their singing...

The above pic is taken with the class in the show. you might see familiar faces (if you are into Taiwan shows, varieties, etc.). The storyline is quite interesting and it reflects on various behaviours in schools in Taiwan. I am looking forward to the release of the VCD...

Anyway... 1st May... Labour Day.... Also my choir team's outing... Oh yah, the talentime competition. I am in the Group Category in the competition. (Originally also in the Solo Category, but ahd to withdraw due to my cough... Sorry Bro Bryan!) My group will be singing Turn the Beat Around by Gloria Estafen, a cappella style and I am the lead singer. I am still preparing for it and I almost memorised all the lyrics except for the 2nd verse (so much longer than the 1st verse!), but still can cope. There will be a last practice on Sunday, the day before our big day... Really hope that nothing will go wrong that day!!

Speaking of performances, my outside choir, MPYC, is collaborating with International Festival Chorus (IFC), City Choir and Raffles JC Chinese Orchestra for a concert on the 25th May (Thursday), 8pm at Victoria Concert Hall (VCH) Tickets are selling at $12, $15 and $20. Interested parties can call me at 92377939. I only have $12 tickets on hand right now, fyi. Do give your support, especially if you like classical/choral/orchestral music.