I Like a lot of Stuff... ~ They Aren't Clipped...

UPDATE: Some font error made my post look "big" OMG NOOOO #Ilikethemsmall ! But oh well. I tried everything and couldn't get the size back to normal. Bear with it, 'cuz I'll have to !

Yes, I do like a lot of stuff....TOO BAD I hate even more stuff than the ones that I like. Now if you pay close attention, you'll find a sidebar on the right side of this post. YES, this blog has MORE to offer other than my daily ranting. You can find lotsa stuff on the sidebar, it's like REVOLUTIONARY ! I mean. A blog....that has MORE than blogposts !? OMGWTFBBQ *fascinates about how modern this world is*

Getting to the point. If you pay REAL close attention at the sidebar, you'll find a little box called "Stuff I Like" and believe me. It's where I put the stuff I like. And that means Nuffnang ! No, I'm not trying to ask you guys to click it just for the sake of giving me a little income... But DO CLICK IT if you can, to give me a little pocket money =3 I've currently earned RM4.77... Another RM45 until I can make a withdrawal =P Well. UNDER the anooying Nuffnang ads you'll find a picture of PERSONA 4 ! Yes, naturally, that means I LIKE Persona ! But is that ALL I like ? The answer is simple. NO. I have lotsa other stuff that I like.....A LOT....but the problem is I'm not really free enough now to update that part of the blog. So yeah, it's kinda dead right now. But not for LONG ;-)

My now-dead side bar =\

Back to the topic ! Saturday didn't turn out so well. We didn't manage to win. and this year's festival wasn't as "merry" (?) as last year's. I don't know why, I just don't have the feeling. Even my competition was in the smallest ballroom (among 10 rooms) and EVERYONE was crowding in the whole room. I had to stand at the back before my competition started. To make things worse, you put the duet segments in the smallest room in the hotel. GREEAT ! double the anticipated parents and kids.... But I manage to keep my cool to whole time =D Even though I was standing at the back of the room RIGHT under one of those wall lamps radiating extreme heat directly at me )=

The judge for my duet contest was a fine lady called Oh Yann Shie ( i think). Here's an article about her by The Star. And something weird about her is that she didn't give any commentary to the winning pianists. Usually the judges would be like "And for the prize winner. We have bla bla bla. Very well played, I really enjoyed your bla bla bla" You can kinda get cracks and pieces of clues on what that judge is listening to but not her. She even cancelled out the runner up prize for the Elementary Ensemble (the duet contest before mine) and my Ensemble Junior category. I don't know what's going on inside that woman's head. Why no 2nd prize ? The only possible explanation is that she set a fixed mark ranged for every prize like 90-100 gets first prize and i guess no one fell under the 2nd prize range and the 3rd place winners couldn't get moved up to 2nd place. I know I suck at explaining.... =\

You would've guessed it by now, so yeah, we didn't win anything. We both made some mistakes along the way and ultimately, we screwed up. Being on stage this time was more nervous and scary than last year. Maybe it's cuz the room was so small that the crowd and the judge table felt nearer to us (which it really was). For me, it makes me less nervous when there's a partner playing next to me. It helps relieve the tension and puts you more at peace since someone is there doing the exact same thing is you. Relying on each other to play better. Of course, when the music suddenly stops, all the worries of the world suddenly comes back and my heart starts beating faster and faster. I guess I understand now. It's the music that soothes my soul =D When one of us stops playing, then it feels like you're playing a solo again. You feel that you're alone on stage again with no one else. And that's scary =P Music is a manifestation, not just a sound. Oh how much I love music =D

Our score sheet, duet piece and Certificate of Appreciation ! JUST APPRECIATION....

Here's a closer look at our score sheet.

Had to go for last-minute driving practice on Sunday because my JPJ (REAL) driving test was on the FRIGGIN' NEXT DAY ! My tutor called me on Friday and it really shocked me. The timing was so sudden but it was also good too I guess since it's school holiday season now. I wouldn't wanna skip 1 day of school to get my driver's license. Both are equally important =P But then I wouldn't wanna face LLL's wrath ! I got familiar with the obstacle course again as well as the routes (A and B) . So I had to do the Mendaki Bukit test followed by Parallel Parking then 3 Penjuru. I guess I could do the Naik Bukit fairly well, my wheel always end up inside the yellow line. But when I come down, all chaos rains upon me. It's just so hard, keeping the accelerator pushed, slowly releasing the clutch and letting go of the handbrakes ! The brakes always end up staying on a little too long than it should and the car wheels always end up producing the friction noise since the accelerator is making the car move but the brakes are preventing the car from moving forward. The sound is sooo annoying and it keeps reminding me of my continuous failure and of course, when there's a sharp screeching, it's bound to capture some bystanders' attention. And i hate that =\ Next is the "easiest" obstacle to finish. PARALLEL PARKING =D NOT TO ME.....The formula for aceing this was simple. Too bad I still screwed up sometimes even by following said formula so I was also doing not-so-well on this part. Especially sometimes, my side mirror crossed the line and it still counted as fail. And lastly, 3 Penjuru, the ultimate test. I honestly have 0% confidence in this one since my tutor was HOLDING my steering when we did this. I never really got to try out the one all on my own and when I did. Something bad would always happen. And it'd never turn out as nice as it was when my tutor was with me. So overall, I had 0% confidence with the test =(

Thank goodness, my tutor brought me for final practice on Sunday and told me to wake up VERY early on Monday as he would pick me up at 6.30AM and bring me to the exam venue so that I can practice a little more before the real test started. Oh ya, I almost forgot to mention ! Kent was taking the test with me even though he started later than me. And he's an AWESUM driver. He did everything perfectly. So he got to start the practice first and then it was my bloody turn. AND I SCREWED EVERYTHING UP T.T My tyre friction was soooo rough that you can smell the melted rubber from the driver's seat. D= And then I got into the parking space in a crooked position and lastly my 3 penjuru WAS A MESS...I almost hit the sides X( I'm dead. I was so damn nervous that I was REALLY shivering (with additional teeth grinding) on the way to ADC. Maybe the max-powered AirCon contributed =P Shivered as I waited for my turn. I was number 27 and Kent was 28. OH WHY DO I HAVE TO GO FIRST T.T I also saw Benjamin who was number 15 and Vivian who's in the 2nd session. I'm surprised quite a number of them before me didn't show up. That only made me more nervous cuz IT'S GONNA BE MY TURN EVEN FASTERR !!!! I was really a clueless puppy when they called my name. I don't even know what to do. I was even afraid of turning on the engine XD Thankfully, the car that I used was pretty good. The steering was looser than my tutor's and there wasn't some weird thing blocking the clutch ! I was still nervous about going down hill cuz of the frictional sound I always make and the candidates waiting did NOT respond well to the sound when someone before me made it D= But thankfully. SOMEHOW I didn't make it =D Maybe I suddenly got better, OR THAT CAR IS AWESOME ! Then I drove to the parallel parking spot and waited for my turn. I nervously started the test and it turned out pretty well ^.^ Nothing bad happened and my car was parked PRETTY WELl !! Better than I expected. Then, move on to 3 Penjuru. Oh yeah, before I forget. Ben passed by me while I was waiting for my P.Parking test and he told me he failed his 3 Penjuru. Yeaaaa not the best thing to say to me before going for my next test. Obviously, this was going to be VERY challenging ! But somehow I managed to pull it off. WOHOOO of course, that's what I thought and NOT what the examiners sitting on the tall observation tower thought. So I nervously (and by nervously, I mean CRAZY HIGH SPEED) drove back to the waiting point and got off the car. OMG I almost forgot to off the engine XD Not because I thought I did really well but because the stress and tension was finally gone ! Even if I fail, I wouldn't be able to do anything more at that point except accept the harsh reality !

Kent during practice. Oh so my confidence ! The guy in stripes outside is my tutor ! Btw, pay close attention to the steering. It's SPIKED and it's killing my hands when I drive his car XD

I walked to the observation tower and collected my results. I was kinda afraid of reading it, but I read it eventually. After I got DOWN from the tower. Was too afraid of freaking out in front of the examiners... To my utmost surprise, I passed =D All of them ! WOHOOO now I had to go wait for my "practical" driving test where I have to drive on a REAL road right outside ADC. Both routes end with a roundabout where we have to make a U-turn and come back to the exact same spot. I hate B route 'cuz halfway is still under construction and if a jam occurs there a.k.a I have to stop my car. I'll be too nervous to try to make it move again (takut mati enjin =\ ). Thank God the examiner was mean but he gave me Route A which was VERY much easier. Route A focus on Turns while Route B focus on going uphill and downhill. I turned smoothly....LIKE A BOSS. But I was afraid of crossing the lane line but I couldn't help myself and the examiner was freaking sms-ing during the drive so I thought he wouldn't be so strict about it. I knew I could ace this. I got 17/20 on my QTI trials (passing mark is 16). Then when I got to the roundabout I was about to go make the turn since it was empty but then a car suddenly came from the left side. I thought I had to give priority to it so I quickly stopped my vehicle but my very silent examiner started yelling (in BM of course)" WTH are you doing oh. Stop for what ? GO LAH !" I almost got a heart attack of my life + the fact that I was in 2nd gear and my car is almost at a complete stop. I was sooo afraid of my engine dying but I just stepped anyways. Thank God it was still good. But then my next challengeS appeared. JAM WTF that never happened to me on that road before so I was pretty shocked. But it wasn't anything major so I just shifted down to 2nd gear and took it easy. I was too afraid of going to 3rd gear but I didn't know what to do cuz the car was giving off some really weird sound. I dunno whether it was the engine reaching max output or not but I just kept on driving SLOWLY. I was praying so hard that it wouldn't come to a stop or else I would've had to go back to first gear and risk my engine dying AGAIN. Eventually I made it back. The general route is that you have to take the car 1 round around the obstacle course (JUST AROUND, you don't have to do them ANYMORE) then drive to either Route A or B then come back, do ANOTHER round then park your car back to it's original parking space. I was gonna do another round once I came back from Route A. I even had my signal up already my then suddenly the examiner told me to just go back there. I was like SOOOO confused about what he said. Then I rushed to turn the steering around like a madman and it was in front of all the waiting candidates....Yerrr I hope them didn't see anything weird. My signal was on right but then my car turn left =.= Then after we settled down, he gave me my grading. I got 16/20. It was like borderline pass. I was like WTF ! Oh well, I guess it's already pretty good since some people did fail today.

Oh yeah. I also saw a guy in my class taking the exam too. Liew Yun Kin ! But I didn't know how to "approach" him so I just pretended I didn't see him (pretending to not know him is just plain rude =P) He was number 33 so he could see my do my epic fail test. When I was waiting for my practical driving test punya car to arrive, I was waiting on the kaki lima when he came over. He just finished his test and came back here to wait. He was walking next to me when he suddenly stopped. I looked up to stare at him and he looked like he was going to sit down, y'know like next to me and stuff (well, I'm not perasan bahh it really looked like it). Then I quickly pointed towards the counter. I didn't open my mouth =\ But I'm sure he got my message. He said "Give the borang there ?" and then I just nodded. Then he left and my car got here. Finished my test, waited for Kent to finish his test so I went to talk to Ben in the kantin. So yeah, never once did I open my mouth at him. I suck at making new friends.... Kill me D=

Ohohoho after that I went to mom's office to print some documents my PA teacher told me to find online. Either I was daydreaming during her lectures or she was very unspecific with the topic which made me unsure of what I was supposed to look for in the first place. So I just took a BUNCH of documents and printed them. I mean it's free anyways XD Although it made me like I'm hen hao yi shi in front of the other office staff.... But I was using used paper lah. those like conteng or print 1 side then don't want already ones. So I'm also doing as much as I can to save the environment aren't I ? Because one side was already filled with garbage, I had to do trial and error on the paper position, which side put face up which put face down. Not to mention, somehow my mom's printer is set to print double sided so I had to fine the correct printing option and turn it off. Wasted a lot of paper with the trial and error part, and wasted EVEN MORE paper for the actual printing...

The amount of paper I wasted solely on printing my PA documents and music sheets.

Some weird tea mug thing I found in mom's office. As you can see from the holes, it's made specially for brewing tea (although it's kinda low quality =\). I can't believe she didn't share this with me, she knows how much I love tea D=

Fast forward to Tuesday, nothing much happened. Only piano practice in the afternoon. As a matter of fact, I was really pumped up and motivated by the performances I saw at Music Fes so I went home and I found some sheets that I really LIKE and wanna learn ! This time I promised myself, I'd learn them according to the sheets itself, and not start playing chords again. That's the bad thing about me, if I find that the sheets are too hard. I wouldn't even bother learning it, I'd just analyze the sheet and take out the chords and play a more simple tune just for the sake of hearing it and not harnessing the true beauty of the "complete" piece. The sheets are full of chords but they're improvised really well and it makes it harder too so all I did was "simplify" the chords so that I'd have no trouble playing it. That was the easy way out in my case. But it's bad for me, doing this is almost no challenge for me. I could render that Grade 4 song into a Grade 2 one. By playing using chords for so long, I think I might've lost my skill (?) to play harder songs. Since all I do is bombard myself with those simple songs. But no MORE of that, I'm determined to play the following pieces FOLLOWING it's music sheet 100% (maybe some changes to the tempo =P). The sheets I got were (also in order of which I'm going to learn first) :

Lightning's Theme - Unguarded Future (Final Fantasy XIII-2 OST)
Noel's Theme - Last Journey (Final Fantasy XIII-2 OST)
Serah's Theme - Memory (Final Fantasy XIII-2 OST)
Memories of School (Persona 3 OST)
Zero (Bump of Chicken)
Corner of Memories (Persona 4 OST)
Listen to the Stereo (Going Underground)

*Maybe I'll learn Vanilla Twilight - Owl City too !

Sadly, nothing has been able to motivate me about doing my Theory.....

You might be unfamiliar with the songs. Well most of the are slow songs and they sound really nice. The difficulties are also moderate. The first 3 should be around Grade 2 - 3. The next 3 should be around Grade 3 -4. And I have yet to gaze at the last one because it's TEN pages long. Yeah, I guess I should've looked at the number of pages closely before printing it =\ Oh well, I'll still have to learn all these the CORRECT WAY. One more thing to add to my list of goals =D Today is Wednesday, AND I HAVEN'T STARTED MY PENGAJIAN AM HOMEWORK YETTTTTTT !!!!! OMG 14 keratan akhbars are like impossible for me T.T Looks like I'm going to have to get busy ! Seeya next time !