29 January 2007
Turns - a move where you use torsion from your criss-crossed legs to spin your body.
Pirouettes - Turns. On one leg.
I went for my first street jazz lesson today. It was horrible. The stretching was unbelievable (Carol's a ballerina), we actually have to do pirouettes for warm ups, and for some reason the crunches sets are more killer than Daniel's. Pirouettes pirouettes pirouettes. Such a big component of street jazz, and such a hard one too. If there weren't pirouettes my life will be so much easier, and I will love street jazz more than hip hop. They're annoyingly HARD.
The rest of the choreography is nice though. So don't worry. I shall persevere and continue learning street jazz, you know why? You know why? YOU KNOW WHY?
Because JJ is fighting for the peo-PLE!!!
11:16 pm
23 January 2007
-Filler post-
2:24 am
21 January 2007
1.
Looks like there are a bunch of people who've made last minute changes to their schools/courses of choice lately. Just like me, I'm getting swayed to just apply for TP's ADM course, and forget about NP and mass communications. It's much nearer, cheaper to get to, and seems more acutely suited to me. Oh, don't forget, there will be fewer ya-ya papayas with messed up and completely unfounded and immature theological and philosophical ideas there.
2.
Yeah. Must be some kind of angst problem, or trying to be different for no reason. Heck, why does the youth endorse stuff with extremely-rightist-and-nearly-anarchic political connotations nowadays (particularly rock music afficionados... some of them anyway)? 8 out of 10 don't even live under an oppressive government. Many of them are even - gasp! - living comfortable lives! And mind you, their families aren't completely destroyed or anything.
Quit acting like the world is so tough on you. And, my goodness, please please please don't blame it (if 'it' has any basis at all) on anyone other than yourself, because you were the one who failed to see who wronged you and who didn't. You gave me so many lame excuses and in the end, you just tried to cover up, with all your vulgarities, that you're simply throwing a pity party. Maybe your head has swelled from people telling you how "deep" your commentaries are, that you think you OUGHT to be so stubborn against acting on the truth.
1a.
Back to TP and ADM. Yes, I can't wait to start school again. It isn't really hard to guess why...... .... ... Ok, that's all I have to say about school. My hair is annoying, I just had it trimmed on Tuesday and now it's grown back to about the same as before. And I'm annoyed by the fact I sweat so easily and all the wax comes off my hair and makes it look like crap by the time I reach the MRT station after walking from my house.
3.
I watched Blood Diamond today. It's a really good movie with a clear moral and political message behind it... although I can't help but be distracted by the really really really funny English spoken throughout the movie.
9:25 pm
20 January 2007
GOD! I NEED A MIRACLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEE!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
11:16 pm
17 January 2007
Sometimes, I feel like I'm doing everything wrong. I would feel like I'm getting nowhere, destined to be just another person resigned to an average fate. Then, someone will come along and reveal inadvertently that I'm doing everything right.
Other times, I let others' impressions of myself get the better of me. When I just started dancing (seems like every post has something about dance), people laughed at me. Then I realised that these people only know others by flesh. Today in FT2, it was taught that that is not the way we should acknowledge others. If my passion was for dance, it would only be a matter of time before I rose up and proved them wrong. I don't know if I'm at that level yet, but I'm sure I've improved by leaps and bounds.
Daniel has this to say, "Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are not great just because of their technique, they are great because of their passion." I think it can apply to every area of life, not just dance. Nowadays, people - even youngsters like you and I - no longer look at passion. They only want immediate results. Of course, these people are just compromisers and won't understand how others rise to the top.
Do you really want it? If you do, don't let anything short of God stop you from getting it.
10:06 pm
OH MY GOSH!!! I finally found that song I've been looking for. It's by Se7en, coincidentally, titled "Passion". Go listen to it; no points for guessing where I heard it. But it's so sad that Se7en had to go and waste his talent on Goong S. Hurhur... sorry, I just really don't dig the whole guys-in-extravagant-clothes-in-an-alternate-universe thing. No offense huh, Princess Hours fans.
Sigh. (Ask me why I'm sighing!)
Now Playing: Se7en - Passion
1:30 am
15 January 2007
It's so much easier to dance when you're not running a high fever. There was a portion of nostalgia served up today too; Daniel was teaching popping, specifically boogaloo. Somehow I associate boogaloo with Jenette (my first instructor from DCS). I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Haha. But today was more flowing, which is easier to get into time with.
Oh yeah, I met Anastacia (sic) and Emily from POS at O School. Cool huh, I finally have some company over there. It's funny how they seemed like the most unfriendly people at practice, but after I kept running into them here and there, they opened up. It was a pleasant surprise to hear Emily shout, "JJ?!" when I stepped into the room. Ana is a talented dancer... and such a tall cager. Haha...
Which reminds me of what seems like so long ago (about 10 months actually). I never thought that I'd pick up dancing until Emerge. Even then, I never found it particularly enjoyable. I was in stunts after all. However, as I got more and more exposure, it became like a drug of sorts. I sought it out through Sze Sian, who introduced me into her intermediate/advanced class when I had next to no experience at all. Needless to say, Jenette slaughtered me. Evidence? Before joining DCS, I couldn't come close to touching the floor with my fingertips while bending forward. But Jenette gave me the boot camp treatment during stretching and soon I was putting my palm on the floor.
Eventually, I ended up learning at O School. Nearer to home and cheaper and not nearly as intimidating. I feel excited and kind of anxious before every session, but I always loosen up when we get moving. Maybe that's the returns I get from the sacrifice. Many times I starve to dance. But it's better to be doing something you enjoy than to be getting fat for nothing.
By the way, Singapore just beat Laos at the National Stadium... 11-0. Nor Alom Shah (did I spell that right?) had 7 goals. Maybe World Cup 2010 isn't so impossible after all.
Now Playing: m-flo loves Crystal Kay - Do U Like It?
10:27 pm
14 January 2007
I know what you’re trying to do,
Wanna make me just like you,
No love - just playing around,
You wanna see me living my life like you...
"You gotta stop believing in this love thing, you know, it's gonna hurt you, you know what I'm saying?"
I still believe in true love.
12:17 am
11 January 2007
My words are taken lightly.
12:36 am
09 January 2007
Fully recovered! I guess I just had to eat a little bread and get some sleep. Come to think of it, I hadn't eaten anything since lunch. No wonder my stomach felt so violent. I don't know if I actually slept though. It was more like, closing my eyes and turning my brain off. I woke up feeling a little disappointed due to the cloudy sky, which is kind of ugly. I'm so happy that my birthday is during the dry and bright and clear season.
Well, the ordeal is over. Fortunate for me, I still have to go to Clarke Quay for discipleship outing later. So funny, discipleship outing.
* * *
I feel like playing basketball. Correction, I feel like playing basketball in my new school. But then I also want to dance on stage. Maybe I should join both. Will I die of exhaustion?
[Two deleted paragraphs satirizing local athletes and their sometimes masochistic mindsets]
2:19 pm
08 January 2007
Dance fever today! Literally... I woke up feeling funny - cold, mostly. No appetite, aching muscles. After sleeping after lunch, I took a very hot bath and took my temperature; 38.3 degrees Celsius.
Dang, and I was supposed to go to O School to dance. I took a couple of Panadols but I still felt woozy. A different kind of woozy though. Maybe the pills were making me drowsy, or the fever hadn't subsided yet. All I know is, I felt like dying during the class. Or I felt dead already. But then, it was also GREAT - it's like my sickness goes away when I'm in motion. It was ecstatic. Though the nauseous feeling comes back when I stand still...
Anyway, my feat isn't that applaudable. Gene Kelly danced with a 39.3 degrees Celsius fever, in the rain nonetheless (although it was fake rain). I still feel screwed up from not having dinner, but at least my temperature is down.
UPDATE:
What the heck?? Misfortune is really giving me a hard time in the past 24 hours. After my fever subsided I'm hit by a wave of nausea of a scale unseen since... never mind, I've never been this nauseous before. Must be that cup of stupid "expire in January 2008" milo I made to down my Panadol pills. How ironic.
I'm up at 4AM typing this because I can't fall asleep. I can't fall asleep because I feel like puking every 10 seconds. Po chai pills only help for a short while. But then praise and worship is quite soothing.
Sooongs that bring your hope, sooongs that bring your joy...
10:00 pm
I am a fallen person. There are things I am ashamed of. Sometimes I feel like puking at all that crap. And yet all of it is supposed to be so insignificant compared to the blood of Christ. And even then, we must truly repent or it'll be like bathing without using soap. Every day, we have to take a bath...
But I shall take you away from that subject now. The realisation that I'm leaving my secondary school days behind has hit me like a speeding train. You know how you sometimes end up with a dull, comforting ache after participating in a sports event? Yeah, the feeling's like that, settling so suddenly on my heart. So suddenly, everything fades away...
Now Playing: Galla - Kimi Ga Iru
12:41 am
05 January 2007
What is the question?
To Lasalle or not to Lasalle? That is the question.
Excerpt from Applications section E, Audition guidelines: You must attend a Modern Dance class and a Ballet class where your potential and natural ability will be assessed.
SIAO AHH
11:31 pm
04 January 2007
Ok, here's the scoop. I just posted a really lame wannabe post about hip hop and now, 15 minutes later, I'm typing something more personal. Oh yeah, in case you didn't catch the last post (you probably didn't), I slapped my tagboard in the face. Or I cleaned it up. Yeah...
The first book of Corinthians is like the rich white and milk chocolate in the candy shop of the New Testament, because a lot of it's about LURVE. Now we all know that love cannot prevent us from dying in the physical sense because obviously our bodies need these things called carbohydrates for basic functioning, and neither can love sustain our spirits (I don't mean alcohol) and souls. Why? Well, because we live in a world full of haters. Come on now, don't deny it. If you're an Indian in Singapore, you've probably been insulted one way or another.
As a Chinese in Singapore who doesn't subscribe to standard MTV white-Brit culture with all the "eloquent" speech and phrase and all that hoozamachapikachu, yeah, I don't expect much love from my peers on the sartorial or aesthetic level either. That said, I'm not a wannabe rapper/underground-hiphop-person. Never will be. And that's not a subtle jab at Yuxiang either, he's legit.
Ok, back to the hate. So we can't live on love alone, not on this planet anyway, but what we can do is put it together with faith and hope. And you get the classic FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE. No kidding, it's important. If you don't have even one of those three, you're probably closer to plant than mammal. That's the truth.
So where can you get FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE? Easy - you can go down to the nearest NTUC Fairprice and... just playing. Just decide to have them and you have them. Might come a little harder for some people. Batteries not included.
8:58 pm
Can you smell it? It's fresh and hot. It's a clean tagboard. Oh yeah.
I feel a bit sian. There is a culture that is built upon self-expression, and the newest generation of those born into that culture are so engrossed with its history and structure that they forget the very meaning of it existence, that is - self expression. Maybe my philosophy regarding this is too generic, but I really don't think the world I've stepped into is that rigid and unrelenting.
Ok, that previous paragraph was a little cryptic. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it because it probably doesn't apply to you. Well, maybe it applies to Yuxiang (that's a clue right there).
Alright, this entry is going in circles. A more cohesive one is coming soon.
Now Playing: m-flo loves Crystal Kay - Do You Like It?
8:37 pm
03 January 2007
I feel like going to the steps of Marina Square facing the Esplanade and dancing there right now.
11:04 pm
Man, everyone's at the junior colleges for orientation. There's only eight people online on my messenger list. BORED AH. Ok, I shall try to drag Yew Fong and/or Sam out to do something. Or I'll just go out and do one thousand crunches or something.
Oh yeah, after a 2 week hiatus, it's back to school - O School! I think I shall postpone my plans for street jazz first and concentrate on hip hop. You know, the thing about dance is, it may actually seem like the shallowest of all the aesthetics. Compared to singing and guitars and all that jazz, dance is like some hedonistic black sheep hobby. But really, the depth of dance is in the feelings communicated by movement to the music. Maybe people are so used to hearing with their ears that they can't hear and see at the same time. Maybe that's why dance is so fascinating - it's different.
11:51 am
01 January 2007
Rain has this very nice song called Pantech. Unfortunately, it's also a Mandarin (he's not really good with the pronunciation) and the name refers to the cellphone brand he's endorsing. Yeah. So commercialised right. But it's really catchy. I shall sing it, except I will replace "Pantech" with "Samsung", since my phone is a Samsung model. HAHAHA!!!
Yeah. What a tiring 24 hours. The great NYE trek through City Hall area, then the picture taking spree, then the massive rush home, then the 6 hours of soccer. But it was worth it all. Beautiful fireworks last night, and my first 4-goals-in-1-day experience.
Happy new year!
Now Playing: Rain - Pantech
5:22 pm