Phantom of the Opera 2!!

I got a pleasant surprise from my friend today.. a one yr belated birthday present! Touched..

haha.. I’m not one with many words of gratitude, wont go crazy saying how happy i am but i think this present’s really good.

Phantom of the Opera 2!! Heard it just came out in UK, and my friend got it for me!!! Cant wait to hear the fabulous singing and read the story (it’s a play so there’s a script that comes with the CDs), but really have to wait, cuz this few days still very very busy..

I have a connection with “Phantom of the Opera”. Maybe that’s why I feel quite so strongly about it..

Anyways, thks X 1000 for the gift!

A strange sms conversation..

below is a sms conversation. those words in brackets was my thoughts and actions, not part of the sms..

============================================================================

Unknown: want join us for dinner?

Me: (haiz another number that i dun know who e caller is, nokia sucks man.. )yo, sorry, my nokia phone hv certain numbers that cannot show e caller, may i know who this is? Ps. I didn’t delete your number seriously haha

Unknown: I’m your god

Me: (hmm.. interesting, there’s a god named bs, and another god (for only a day on the train, guess haha), dun tell me my “I GOD” came alive?!) My god? Can’t be haha.. 2 persons fit that description, and I checked both numbers, you’re not them 🙂

Unknown: I wonder who are those two

Me: haha.. where are u? Who else at e dinner? (sianz.. are we gonna do this all day?)

Unknown: huh what talking you? I’m damn handsome one

Me: Damn so u’re a guy? Haha.. (think he got wrong number liao, but not sure yet..)

Unknown: Lol 12 o clock soon careful your newly facial-ed face

Me:(okay, confirm wrong person.. and does he think i’m a girl?) Hmm, why is it that I get this feeling u’ve got e wrong guy, as in a wrong number? My name’s chong leong btw..

Unknown: Lol OMG wrong person sorry

Me: Haha.. I knew it.. actually I think this is e third time u got my number wrong liao haha, so we’re not exactly total strangers, good to know you fren, gd day!

Unknown: Lol! cause my friend’s number is 38 whereas yours is 83 sorry uh

===================================================================

I dunno why pple keep texting me, esp. it’s e wrong number.. this was still ok, at least it’s friendly.. last time i got a person who thought i was her boy friend, so when i ask her who she was, vulgarities just came over, and she say I’m gonna get it from her (I’m expressing what she said mildly liao haha). Apologies to that poor guy, where ever you are, i was the misunderstanding b/w you two 😛

page 46

从小学以来，一直都有stage fright（参看page 24），但虽然出丑，最终却也没有搞砸什么事。中二时候，真是差那么一点点就搞砸了，使我自那时起，stage fright阴影更深。

话说农历新年将近，又该是华乐团和其它音乐团体上台演出的时候了。我还记得，我们演出的曲目是一首《恭喜恭喜》，就是那首“冬天已到尽头，真是好的消息……”，还有一首《迎春花》。虽然我把这事复述给了不同的朋友过，但现在想想，我想那时出丑时只是彩排，不是演出。尽管如此，这也可列入噩梦级的一天了。

当时的演奏彩排，是由一个个团体轮流上台演出的，而演出时处理声效的人会作调整，模拟当天的准备。我有一些在口琴团的朋友，也有一些在六弦琴社团的朋友，所以心情很紧张，一直祈祷不要出错。到我们演出时，大家开始弹奏了。我当时是整场演出唯一的一把扬琴（9级师姐没来，她好像直接出席现场演出），而开始时也都弹得不错，但到了中间一段时，整首新年歌转到了由我一人独奏的部分，我就开始受不了压力了。轮音轮不上，节拍乱掉，音节明显弹错，最后我脑袋一片空白，停了下来。那时候真的是，真的是，不知道怎么形容。好在当时的华乐主席也在场，来个巾帼英雄勇救文弱书生！她太帅了！当时她不是演出的一分子，而是在台下做管理方面的工作，但她见我崩溃后（对，就是这个形容法。我那时像弱智一样，两眼呆滞，就只差没流口水了），不疾不徐地拿了一把琵琶，缓缓走到台中央，坐在一个位子上，抓住大家的注意力后，就开始接着我的独奏弹下去……世界又开始转动，齿轮恢复转动，时间重新流动，我非常感动，而且松了一口气，大伙也在独奏结束时默契地又开始了大合奏……

我那天紧张、害怕、不知所措、最后发愤图强，新年时才好运气没出状况。那时的主席后来到了新加坡华乐团了，我去过她的个人华乐独奏音乐会，看她谈古筝的气势，太酷了。

page 45

中一中二的班同学真的有许多奇人异士。名号方面有两组人算得上出名，一个是“七姐妹”，一个是“五大天王”。为什么我说班里奇人多呢？除了以前介绍的美术高手J和S，还有音乐天分极高的同学（五大天王的一王）外，还有一个“采花贼”……

此贼亦是天王之一，名副其实地爱“采花”。当时我们问他在干嘛，为什么午休不去食堂吃，他竟然跟我们说他吃花蜜就行了。哇噻，酱夸张，吃花蜜？我倒无所谓，一盘鸡饭肚子也就差不多了，可就苦了学校里的花了，究竟要摧残多少花才吃得饱啊？更不得了的是，此天王的采花癖好，大为其他天王赞赏，而他们竟也纷纷仿效！真令人怀念啊，虽然这种奇人的怪异行径仅持续几天，但那几天里却有许多班里的人从班里的不同角落慕名而来，一睹菜花异象，看五大天王如何选花，如何将犹如玉液琼浆的花蜜“挤出”，还大大地赞叹他们以此为生的，不食人间烟火，不去食堂吃饭的大毅力！令人意想不到的是，此人现在已经是个模特儿，就不知，以前的采花真花作假，如今是否有达到返璞归真的境界？

五大天王中是天不怕地不怕的。当年拍candid shot照片时，竟然心血来潮出了个“挖鼻孔”搞怪动作，学校以破坏校风为由并没把照片洗给我们……唉，太强了。

还有一阵子，他们研究出来一个新玩意儿，吹泡泡！吹泡泡，多么好看又好玩的活动。一颗颗泡泡吹出来，在阳光的照耀下都有彩虹在泡泡面上流动，晶莹剔透，随风飘飞，好不浪漫。但人家是谁啊，是天王！他们玩的吹泡泡，堪称天王恐怖级别的，竟是以口水吹出泡泡，再加上多一点口水使泡泡凝而不破 ，往楼下吐去！唉，五大天王就在那里看谁能凝出更大更多的泡泡……连我都受了些影响，尝试了一下下，但失败了。天王级的玩意儿不容易学啊……

more on ‘r’ and 2 things about ‘l’

The letter r is not sounded in the following cases:

1. when it appears last before a pause. eg. car /kɑ:/, door, floor, fear, fair

2.before a consonant. eg. card /kɑ:d/, park, heart, form, party, forty

3. the final ‘re’. eg. care /kɛə/, rare, dare

clear L: used before a vowel or semi-vowel

eg. light /lait/, lute /lju:t/

dark L: used before a consonant or at the end before a pause.

eg. milk /milk/ (say /mil/ first, then add a ‘k’, /milk/), all /ɔ:l/, table, people, pupil

Linking of consonants: /m/ and /n/

okay, i like this one as much as i like schwa.. let’s go straight to examples..

/m/:

some of it—> ‘sʌməvit (sum-merv-vit) (take note all the ‘i’ is not ‘i:’)

let him in—> ‘leti:m’ in (let-tim-min)

what time is it—> wɔ’ taimizit (wot-time-mi-zit)

ask kim again—>’ɑ:ski:mə’gen

/n/:

in a minute—> inə’minit

which tin is it—>witʃ ‘tinizit

in and out—>’inən’ ɑut

轻声！schwa! The unstressed /ə/

many of us really dont care about the stressing in english, just like we dont when we speak chinese.

schwa, or/ə/, is pronounced like/ə:/, but shorter, lighter, and it only appears in a unstressed position.

/ə/:

a’gain (the syllable before ‘ is the unstressed syllable, the syllable after ‘ is the stressed one.)

a’bove (ə-bove)

for’get (fər-get)

ca’thedral (cə-thedral)

one 0’clock (one-nə-clock. you bring the “n” to join with the schwa to get “nə”)

half an ‘hour (half-fən hour)

boys and ‘girls (boys-sən girls)

cut a ‘cake (cut-tə-cake)

unlike the chinese 轻声, the english schwa appears everywhere haha.. it makes speaking so much smoother, fluent

a rest before my next favourite: /ə:/

/ə:/ (read as the “a” in “about”) is easy, you hear it all the time, it’s the unstressed “schwa” (/ə/) we dont often notice, but that’s the next lesson..

raise the centre of your tongue, spread your lips, you get /ə:/.

examples: her, stir, year, skirt, hurt…you get the idea.

I’m skipping the boring ones, on to /u/ and /u:/!

Oh my favourite.. singaporeans have alot of variations for the “u” sound. do you say “during” as in

1)”diu+ring”, or 2) “du+ring”, 3) “ʤu+ring” (or “dju+ring”)

so we hear diurians/djurians(durians), opport-chu-nity/opport-tu-nity and en-di-ure/ en-djure (endure)..

such a mess!

first we clarify all the /u/ and /u:/sounds, I’ll get to the ʤ sound next time.

it’s actually the same as /i/-/i:/.

1) /u:/ is longer, /u/ is short

2)say “pool” (/u:/)and open your mouth wider, let down the tongue a little and relax a bit and you’ll have /u/.

/u:/                /u/

luke                look

food                foot

fool                 full

pool                pull

new                   –

tune                  –

–                      book

“new” and “tune” is read as /nju:/ and /tju:n/..

The hard one: /e/ and /æ/

say “pen” or /e/ like the last post, then lower your jaw a little and you have “pan” or /æ/.

1./æ/ is longer then /e/.

2./æ/ is tense and /e/ is lax.

3. different lip shapes as mentioned above. compare below:

/e/                    /æ/

pen                   pan

men                 man

lend                 land

set                    sand

bed                  bad

dead                dad

said                  sad

peddle            paddle

“my dad said he’s sad because the pig is dead.”

cannot accept “bed” “head” “leg” “egg”‘s correct pronunciation

it’s all about /e/.

/e/ is the sound in the “A” in “ABC”.

so we have:

bet;   get;   let;

bed;   head; Ted;

beg;   egg;   leg;

pen;   ten;   men;

many;   twenty; ready (“r+air+dy”; not prnounced “ray+dy”)

So from above it’s quite clear how we should pronounce bed, head (listen to the tv shows!), and egg, leg, but from what happened to Ris Low when she said “red” (r+air+d, anyway it’s r-A(as in ABC that A)-d), i think i better go the singy way.

difference between /i:/ and /i/

I’m in love with phonetics and pronunciations, and would always babble away if my friends ever give me the slightest chance of bringing up the topic. It’s not that I like “correct pronunciations”, because there’re none, it’s that I find it incredibly interesting that there are so many different various sounds out there, just waiting for you to notice them, which we usually don’t. let’s start with the difference between /i:/ and /i/, which most Singaporeans ignore.

/i:/ is the same “i” in hanyu pinyin “ji”, “qi”, “xi”. “:” means the timing is longer.

/i/ is the same “i” in hanyu pinyin “zhi”, “chi”, “shi”. Open your mouth a little wider, hold your tongue loosely, say it in a short and lax manner.

/i:/               /i/

Seat            sit

Sheep        ship

Eat              it

Feat            fit

Read           rid

Deed           did

Green         grin

Heel            hill

Feel             fill

Peace           piss

I Believe You (Low Kay Hwa)

//
//

“My name is Joanna Fung. I am seventeen this year, studies at a top junior college, have good results and is at the best of health.

But when I am twelve years old, I killed my parents.

That is when I realize that the past is not just history: They are reflected images of the future.”

CL: a simple yet very touching singapore story.. never had a movie or book caused me to shed a tear but well chapter 18 did.. (I wanted to post the story on my blog but couldn’t find a download for the piano accompaniment “You are here” (composed by the author), so please read the story from the links I’ve listed)

ONLY THE ENGLISH COULD HAVE INVENTED THIS LANGUAGE

We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,
Then shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!

Let’s face it – English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;
neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren’t invented in England ..
We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes,
we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square,
and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing,
grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham?
Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend.
If you have a bunch of odds and ends
and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking English
should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.

In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
We ship by truck but send cargo by ship.
We have noses that run and feet that smell.
We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.
And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language
in which your house can burn up as it burns
down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out,
and in which an alarm goes off by going on.

And, in closing, if Father is Pop,  how come Mother’s not Mop?

I WOULD LIKE TO ADD THAT IF PEOPLE FROM POLAND ARE CALLED POLES THEN

PEOPLE FROM HOLLAND SHOULD BE HOLES AND THE GERMANS GERMS!!!

……….9……….

Hmm.. I think that i’m not as IT savvy as i thought I was.

Well, the test came when i needed to burn a dvd of “Secret Love in Peach Blossom Island”, and thus the journey, or the battle, began..

first i thought: hmm, i cant burn it the usual way right? cuz it needs to be playable on dvd players too.. so after researching on dvd data files, dvd videos.. i downloaded a cheetah burning software and put in my first blank dvd+r in, and it died on me.. that was causalty NO. 1.

I found that i failed because the file was too big, 6GB plus, couldn’t fit into my 4.7GB disk.. so i downloaded “dvd shrink” to compress the files.. and put in a blank dvd-R in.. and it sacrificed itself heroically, that was casualty NO. 2.

I first suspected there was something wrong with the disk, so i put in another dvd-r, and that was casualty NO. 3.

Now i dun believe in consecutive coincidences, so i suspected it must that the read/write speed wasnt compatible, the max on the blank disk being 16x, and my burning software being 24x, so i adjusted and put in casualty NO. 4.

Then i suspected it was because of my dvd writer not being compatible with dvd-r disks, so i went to popular and did an exchange of the bundle of disks i bought the previous day, into dvd+r disks. When i came home, i witnessed the birth of casualty NO. 5.

Casualty NO. 6 came into being when i suspected it MUST be the problem of the software, thus downloading another one: 1 click dvd copy pro.. As dvds had 2 recording systems, PAL and NTSC, i thought i missed that and went to see the original, it was the latter.

Again i inserted a blank disk and this time i was told that the files were encrypted. Silly old me, that was casualty NO. 7!

So i downloaded a dvd decrypter, decrypted the files and put in a fresh blank disk.. and it died.. That was NO. 8..

I ran out of ideas on what could have gone wrong.. so i tried using a dvd+rw, so that even if it fail, it will survive.. but it worked! hooray! but i tested it and realised i forgot to include the subtitles, though the menu and extras are there haha

So i thought i got everything right now and put in a blank dvd+r to repeat the process, with the subs, and thus NO. 9 was born..

devastated, i just do it with my dvd+rw and it worked hoho, with everything done correctly.. but my skills are not there yet as i think it’s definitely possible to do this on a dvd+r or dvd-r wan…

nevertheless, i learnt quite a lot, from diff forms of burning, movie, video,data files etc, to compression, decryption, recording systems, writing speed compatibility, difference between +r and -r disks.. that was quite a challenge, and i overcame it.. yay..

公公婆婆、外公外婆、爷爷奶奶、what’s the diff?

最近在一个朋友的公公的丧事上，再次发现许多人若不是不清楚公公婆婆、爷爷奶奶怎么用，就是以为自己很了解怎么用，所以就开始去纠正他人了。

一般人的理解/误解：

公公–〉妈妈的父亲？若是用作爸爸的父亲就是用错？

爷爷–〉爸爸的父亲？

还是现在就一次过搞清楚吧！

 

公公/婆婆：

1）你的丈夫的父亲/母亲叫公公/婆婆，这就是所谓的婆媳关系。

2）公公婆婆指祖父祖父，也就是爸爸的爸爸和妈妈。（用在男方一边是因为方言的关系，后来就沿用了下来）

3）公公婆婆也指外祖父外祖母，也就是妈妈的爸爸和妈妈。（方言关系）

 

爷爷/奶奶：

1）指祖父祖母

2）爷爷也可以指父亲–〉爷娘（多在中国用）

 

外公/外婆：仅指外祖父/外祖母。

 

所以如果要称呼可以叫：

爸爸的爸爸/妈妈     ：     妈妈的爸爸妈妈

公公婆婆                    ：     外公外婆 （这个组合是我惯用的）

爷爷奶奶                    ：     外公外婆

爷爷奶奶                    ：     公公婆婆 （这个组合是我觉得新加坡人惯用的）

最后再说点“爷”这字。有一次在翻译课上，听老师用“老爷/姥爷”、“姥姥”，指自己的外祖父/外祖母，谁知道有些学生却嗤之以鼻笑了几声，显然是不以为然。唉，真觉得本地学生少见多怪，还偏偏幼稚地表现出自己的无知。

姥爷/姥姥和外公外婆一样，都指外祖父外祖母，只不过多用于中国罢了！

Language: pronounciation + strained relationship

Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off

Things have come to a pretty pass
Our romance is growing flat,
For you like this and the other
While I go for this and that,

Goodness knows what the end will be
Oh I don’t know where I’m at
It looks as if we two will never be one
Something must be done:

You say either and I say either,
You say neither and I say neither
Either, either neither, neither
Let’s call the whole thing off.

You like potato and I like potahto
You like tomato and I like tomahto
Potato, potahto, tomato, tomahto.
Let’s call the whole thing off

But oh, if we call the whole thing off
Then we must part
And oh, if we ever part, then that might break my heart

So if you like pyjamas and I like pyjahmas,
I’ll wear pyjamas and give up pyajahmas
For we know we need each other so we
Better call the whole thing off
Let’s call the whole thing off.

You say laughter and I say larfter
You say after and I say arfter
Laughter, larfter after arfter
Let’s call the whole thing off,

You like vanilla and I like vanella
You saspiralla, and I saspirella
Vanilla vanella chocolate strawberry
Let’s call the whole thing off

But oh if we call the whole thing of then we must part
And oh, if we ever part, then that might break my heart

So if you go for oysters and I go for ersters
I’ll order oysters and cancel the ersters
For we know we need each other so we
Better call the calling off off,
Let’s call the whole thing off.

I say father, and you say pater,
I saw mother and you say mater
Pater, mater uncle, auntie let’s call the whole thing off.

I like bananas and you like banahnahs
I say havana and I get havahnah
Bananas, banahnahs havana, havahnah
Go your way, I’ll go mine

So if I go for scallops and you go for lobsters,
So all right no contest we’ll order lobseter
For we know we need each other so we
Better call the calling off off,
Let’s call the whole thing off.

Other non-album lyrics by ELLA FITZGERALD

ps: the video below is not by the original singer but it sings the full version, which includes verse 3. but then, he cant really pronounce the two versions, like for eg., for per-jam-mus VS per-jah mus, he pronounced them as per-jah mus VS per-jar-mus. same thing for the promounciation of the female singer.

Mafia War

hoho.. just started playing mafia war, and thanks to my friend who introduced me to this game, i’m doing all i can to increase my level.. quite surprised to see some of the people in my mafia have such high levels thou, 200 plus, even 300plus, nearing 400, cant believe how much time they would have to put in everyday, or how long have they been playing this game..

but never mind..

to war! my brothers!

Love of Chinese and english but more of which?

Since the moment I gave up being a teacher, I’ve lost what I had held on to for years. From as long as i can remember, I had always wanted to become a teacher, but now, frankly speaking, i’m quite lost.

It’s true that i like what i studied, and i do have some sort of passion for chinese. I’ve tried my hand in chinese orchestra, at chinese chess (xiang qi), go (weiqi), lion dancing, wushu, and calligraphy. I once devoted quite some time to reading up about chinese myths, feng shui, chinese ancient professions, chinese 五行、八卦、数术etc. I read classical chinese texts such as论语、孟子、荀子、庄子、老子、周易、左传and studied about chinese philosophy.

I particularly like chinese 武侠小说, and completed all of jin yong’s works, collecting them as i go. My major in university is chinese, specialising more on linguistic and philosophy, thou i honestly feel i dont excel in them. I’ve tried producing some pieces of creative writing but none had been particularly satisfactory. All in all, you can say that chinese has been with me all this time, or that i’ve been spending way too much time on it.

Yet despite being this intimate with chinese, i come to realise i dont practise what i learn or preach, i cannot seem to appreciate things too artistic, i prefer to be shallow. If i’m to just work outside now, a stranger probably would think my chinese inadequate to handle anything with people from china, though i do believe i’m a shade better than the average joe in regards to chinese. For someone immensed in chinese culture for so many years, I’m not honest, nor dilligent, nor do i possess any qualities that the typical good man would have in a traditional chinese novel. I’ve been tested not just once but many times in my life, and i’ve failed these tests, which came in various forms, or at least i didnt deem myself passing them with flying colours.

Sometimes I even wonder if I would be a different person if I had grew up in a different environment. Today and for most days too i wonder if i had wasted my education, that i’ve let a lot of people down, people whom had thought i would do my share to save the dying chinese community. I dont know. I prefer english novels, movies, tv shows, textbooks, music, language, culture…to chinese, and the list goes on. But i’m still a chinese at the end of the day. I cant change anything, and forcing a change will never get me anywhere close to a happy ending, so i guess, let’s just be a chinese la. haha..

天才的定义(2)

可这还算不上是“真正的天才”。上述的普通天才，少一分努力或悟力都不能解开难题，在披荆斩棘，克服困难的道路上是不可以停歇的，也是痛苦、困难的。不过，对真正的天才而言，天分和努力的比例恐怕是7、8分对2、3分了，甚至更为悬殊。

这些人，只要面世，就一定站在各自领域的最高峰，但这并不是说现在站在最高峰的所谓“权威”就一定是真正的天才，要知道真正的天才不是常有的。他们的出现，通常意味着时代的改变，或各领风骚，带领时代快速前进，或因为超时代的智慧酿成自己甚至时代的悲剧。普通天才面对难题尚且需要经过许多努力探索正确答案，真正的天才却是不会如此的，要他们付出努力的，只会是在他们层级的更高深问题的思考与理解。他们触类旁通，他们眼光独到，且具开辟性。

至于普通知识嘛，他们不需要努力，学相对论或许就像是小学生学一加一那么简单。当然，他们门还没面世的时候，所谓的普通天才看起来就是天才了，所以连带让人以为勤能补拙。其实这句话不过是鼓励人们不要绝望，让人们以为命运真能掌握在自己手里，鼓励他们力争上游。

不过，相信不少人不知不觉中就已经意识到自己的极限在哪里了吧，多努力少努力也不会改变什么了。

这些结论是有些极端了，可如果把问题再缩小几百倍来看，其实就不难理解为什么有些学生学习能力不如其他了。有些人说老师不会教，方法老旧，一成不变，有些人说学生不努力，不专心，不聪明，我说全都有。老师方法不对效率就不高，学生没有付出，老师再好也没用，所谓师傅引进们，修行靠个人嘛，学生也可能还没开发出他真正的潜力，小时候还看不出，所谓大器晚成。但无论如何，即使没有天分——而有时意识到什么东西重要，什么读书吸收方法效率高，也是心智天分中的一部分——那我送你一句话，去做我所说的“努力型天才”吧，或最少去做人工造就的伪天才吧，如果没天分又无自知之明，那别要求那么高，普普通通就好，普普通通就好，毕竟那个天才指的不是你。