The Best of Chinese Melodies

Two working days that were full of fire.

Took bus 57 to work after having dinner at the temporary Albert Complex food centre. A short bus ride that took me around thirty minutes to reach due to traffic congestion caused by road closure for this year's Formula One Grand Prix. Guess I would only take around five to ten minutes if there isn't a congestion. the bus driver was very nice, helped to clear my doubt whether the bus is able to reach where I want to go. Was a little worried initially due to the road closure.

I reached there one hour before the reporting time. BT was already there. Shocked. Slacked a little before going out to fetch YT. My legs were so sore after working for one whole day. I was told that my jobscope for the two days was being the flowergirl. I accepted it as I can rest a little at the backstage for this jobscope.

Brought YT around and taught him the stuffs that he needs to know. Bickered a little with BT as usual. Since he called me names, I called him "Mr Bean". I can't thought of any names though. Ah Bee told me that he looked like "Mr Bean". So here's how it goes.

The event generally went on smoothly. Not much of problems. Helped with crowd clearing when doors opened. The sudden surge of a big group of elderly made the situation a little chaotic. Glad that I managed to solve it in time. I wonder what organisation they were from. All of them wore a red ribbon on their shirt.

Event started and I had to proceed to my position at the top of the house. Don't really like going up as my ankle still hurts. I prefer standing on flat ground. Stood at door four to watch the performance during my break from going on stage. Sitting at backstage was boring. No one talked to me. While waiting for their pieces, the musicians were chatting loudly at backstage, something that was never allowed by my conductor. Shocked. I saw my conductor. He didn't talk to me though he saw me. I knew he saw me. I didn't greet him though. One erhu player sat beside and played his erhu. His bow was moving about infront of me. Suddenly, I miss playing erhu. Felt my eyes a little wet; will my dream ever come true?

I find the eighth piece, "xia bei zhu qu". Nice. The encore piece was not bad too. Time for clearance after the performance ended. The debrief was the sifting out of problems. Some small arguments. It was because of this that I was able to claim for taxi fare. Weixuan attempted to help me take the autographs but she went out too late, the musicians had left. Thanks for her effort anyway.

Took cab with YT. Chatted on the trip home. Let him alighted at a bus stop near my house while I continued my trip home. Wanted to pay in NETS but the service wasn't available. Called Mum to bring some cash down.

Second day of the event, I reported around thirty minutes earlier. Left my student ez-link in my locker. I decided to save some money by walking to the MRT station, thus leaving house early. It was not a good idea to take bus too as it may cause me to be late; I had to report early for an extra event.

Relaxing pre-concert event. There wasn't much people that turned up. Guess it was due to the traffic congestion caused by the road closure? I am not sure though. Chatted a little with Anna. Watched the choirs that were performing too. Funny teachers I would say.

Had a five minutes rest before starting a second round of work. More fire this time round; a continual of the previous night's arguments. My jobscope was changed as a colleague volunteered to be the flowergirl. I was put alone at one side of the house. The rest was put to help the colleague in argument.

While putting on my walkie talkie, my right ear was blasted as BT switched my walkie talkie to maximum volume while attempted to off it. Pain. Used my left ear throughout the night. Can't hear instructions clearly though. I forgot to went out and prepare the reception. Lucky BT called me and just told me not to forget in future. I was so afraid that I would be scolded as he was rather furious due to another colleague. Thanks Anna for telling me too as I wasn't able to hear what BT said.

Drank some milo while making the drinks. Scalded my tongue a little as I wanted to finish it fast. Went back in to continue enjoying the erhu solo piece. Got to catch the fast paced part. Nice.

During intermission, I stayed at Door 4 instead of going out as there wasn't anyone helping me to guard the door. Not enough people working that day. Think some patrons laughed at me as I was ticked off by the director. My instructions was that those in the VIP row were allowed to exit from my door. This "director" wasn't from there. Stupid him. My eyes were a little wet again. But I controlled. I did not do anything wrong anyway. Told BT about this and he told me that it was alright. If there is going to be a complain, he will settle it.

I realised something about the musicians; their shoes are really shiny. Saw one part where the erhu players have to play lots of notes at high speed. Cool. Coordination of both hands are really important.

End of event, I brought an elderly down using the VIP lift. His son told him that this is the VIP lift. It's the father's fortune that he and his mother get to take this lift. Hearing that, I just smiled. That elderly was smiling quite happily.

Returning back to the house, the crowd was already cleared. I kept the stoppers and locked the doors. I pondered for some time and finally took out the courage to ask BT whether I can get the autographs. After helping me ask Shurong, I was allowed to do so. I quickly grabbed a house programme and ran out. The conductor and the zhuihu player were about to leave when I reached there. Thanks the conductor for realising that I was there and he informed the zhuihu player. He told the zhuihu player that I was their "送花使者", the messenger that delivers their flowers. Funny. I was surprised that he still remembered me. He attempted to shake hands with me on the previous night before receiving his flowers but only managed to do so as I had already stretched out my hands to give him the flowers. A little awkward I would say. But it was somehow covered. It was really lucky for me to get their signatures as I was the last one. I was afraid to ask Shurong as I am not sure what type of person she is; will she scold me?

It was a long conflict during the debrief. I was told off a little as I totally neglected the house while I brought the elderly to take the VIP lift. I didn't thought of that too as the instructions that I got was that I was to bring the elderly down after the event.

I wasn't able to claim my taxi fare as it was not late enough. It was however late for me. BT drove Anna and me home. Really thank him a lot as he had to go the other direction to send me home. I reached home relatively fast. Had a nice chat during the trip.

For both days, besides being tiring, I have also seen a lot as well. I was able to hear the Formula One cars zooming away while I was at the loading bay. Guess this is the nearest that I got to "interact" with this year's grand prix.

The Ancient Glory

Patrons were well-behaved for both days. Not much of running around to stop people from breaking the house rules.

First time seeing a GuQin being played live. Got to have a closer look on the second day due to change in deployment. Frankly saying, I felt something weird about the deployment for both days. It seems to be a little different as usual. Anyway, thanks Weixuan for helping me to take the autographs.

I was the flowergirl for the first day. Saw the GuQin soloist. Wanted to take picture with him initially but changed my mind. I liked the new things that were added backstage; water point and rubbish bin. Working long hours in the air-conditioned area really make my lips dry.

Second day, Jiewei and I were involved in the pre-concert talk. Quite relaxing. Had the chance to have some fun. Saw Brother's dizi instructor and said 'hi' through Uncle Jimmy walkie-talkie. No wonder I thought I saw him on stage on the previous night. Ah Bee "special appearance" made me laugh till I squat on the floor.

First time that I was placed at the reception. Got to drink some milo. Thanks to Jiewei and Ah Bee for helping me to prepare the stuffs.

Clearance time, there was one weird patron who tried to force his way through the door I am in charged of. Lucky he did not succeed. Thanks Jiewei for standing beside me for support.

I like the first music more than the rest. I do not really understand the rest though. GuQin is a nice instrument. The music played was nice, just that I do not understand. The first song was a little boring in the beginning. The middle part was the nicest. The song was about my favourite flower, plum blossom. Nice. It was my first time seeing the PianZhong being played live too. Cool.

The piece with a recital had a mystery for me to solve. One percussionist used a bow to produce some eerie sounds. I wonder how he did that though. Instruments may look simple in their appearance. They can however produce great pieces of music that provide different fantasies to the soul and mind. The art of mastering the instruments and using them to create great pieces of music is just simply wonderful.

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Popiah

I enjoy eating popiah as the combination of the fillings and the 'skin' creates a great taste. Fillings includes sliced turnip, bean sprouts, eggs, peanuts and sweet sauce. It tastes good with or without sambal chilli. Personally, I like it without any chilli.

The skin chosen to wrap up the fillings is very fine; it can gets torn easily. It is not an easy job to wrap a nice popiah. To know whether the popiah bought is fresh or not, observe the skin. If it's harden, it means that it's not that fresh anymore. Furthermore, it is recommended to consume it right after it was being bought to enjoy the best taste of the popiah!

The crispy sliced turnip with lots of bean sprouts and eggs wrapped up is my favourite. Yummy!