To cut or not to cut, that is the question

I'm referring to my hair. It's getting a bit long, with the fringe already up to the tip of my nose. Not that I don't like that, but well, I'm just wishing that my locks would be better. Guess I'll have to discuss with my stylist. Anyone has any suggestions, do let me know. Want something fresh, but not radical.

Music rehearsal with Ben and Liyen, his worship leader and Chinglu went ok. Managed to work some things out, though the technical setup for the wedding is still an issue for now. And Liyen knew about the surprise song that Ben was thinking of singing to her during the wedding, no fun. Certainly not easy, Steven Curtis Chapman's I Will Be Here. It's a really romantic song, and really meant to be sung during weddings. Guess I will be soloing the song, which I pray I can deliver without any hiccups on the day itself. More or less I've gotten 95% of the song down in memory, with just the ending to work out for now. And also finetune the timing and plucking. I'm muting a lot of notes by accident as I have to use barre chords and I practically have to change chords almost every half bar or so. Thanks to Ben (Tay) for helping me out during the initial learning phase.

John Goldie's concert wasn't that bad, especially the with erhu playing. Kinda surprising, what an erhu can do. Jack and Rai are good, as usual. Can't wait for their album to be finally released. Love the songs on it. And speaking of songs, I really feel like sitting down to write lyrics again. Do have some ideas that I scribbled down in my notebook from months back. Especially with the concert coming, might be a good platform to launch an original or two. Of cos, I need help with the music writing. Hmm... Maybe I should go rent Music and Lyrics for some inspiration. Ah well. 4 days of weekend to do what I have to do. If the weather holds (which isn't at the moment), I might go hike again. Mandai's awaiting. A story in song holding on wings. Stress, my project reports. And wedding music to fuss.

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and he rewards those who earnestly seek him." Hebrews 11:6

Saga's End

Finally managed to seek a resolution for the saga I've been experiencing recently. Talked to Sylvia, the programme manager for SIM's full time UOL programmes and she's been helpful in arranging for things to happen. Well, I won't be getting the full 30 hours of back-tuition, but according to her, a few sessions until the lecturer deems satisfied I can grasp the fundamentals and catch up with the rest of the cohort in the subject. Not too bad an offer. Just got the notes and study guide as well as the examiner's report for last year, the latter being totally unexpected. Guess they are trying to be helpful in making sure I can catch up, which is good.

Now I just hope I can catch up with everything else, especially my projects and get ready for a test the following monday. Taking a sabbatical from club matters for the rest of the year, except for concert planning issues. Already coming to december and the concert is planned tentatively for late january. Just hope we can do something good this time around and not screw things up.

On a side note, I'm getting frustrated with Norton Antivirus 2007. It keeps giving me errors that the auto-protect function cannot be turned on. And when I resolved it, it just keeps coming back, like now.. Grrr.. Anyone has any antivirus product to recommend? Anyone tried Kaspersky? Saw the review on CNET, though the user opinions kinda suck.. Ah well. . John Goldie gig tonight with Ben, music rehearsal for Ben and Liyen's wedding tomorrow morning at 9am, then soundlight duties for the rest of the weekend. Ouch. Need time to settle my project documents, especially software engineering. Already delayed for too long. Ah well. Signing off now. Bye.


"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ." Ephesians 1:3

Befuddled

Sigh. Just when I thought I had a good start to the week, another bombshell just dropped into my lap. Apparently, I did not meet the pre-requisites for one of the subjects I'm currently taking at the moment. So now I'm stuck.. This subject, Corporate Finance, needed economics and maths. And I only took economics (was given a choice between maths/stats and econs) during my first year. Which made me puzzled back in September when I was registering my units for the academic year, that CF appeared in the list of choices in the system for my electives. Calling my course coordinator, she mentioned the requirements expanded to include principles of sociology and economics. So I registered for it, as out of the four options I had for my last elective (HRM, LBO, CF and ESAP), it's the only one that's quantitative in nature. It's only when I registered with London and received my package containing my study guides that I noticed that the guide for CF wasn't in it. Emailing London, I received a reply that the requirements for the subject DIDN'T change at all, that it requires economics and maths, and nothing else... Sigh.. I really have not idea what to do now. My classification for honours is already on the edge due to one condoned unit in the form of my management unit, that I will be classified based on 11 units. Now it looks like I may just be classified based on 10, the bare minimum. Not a very pleasant scenario I want to be in..

I'm beginning to really dislike the school's administration. My course coordinator is really really hard to get hold of on the phone, and there's still no reply to the email I sent on monday regarding this issue. Just sent another one, so I hope there'll be a reply soon. Else I may just be forced to take drastic measures, including legal advice. I don't think it's fair to me in this case, since it's not my fault. May have to change to another subject, or postpone (again!) my graduation by another year, both of which I'm not keen on, as it's already 2 months into the semester and I'll have to rush a lot to catch up if I were to change to another subject. Keep me in prayer, my dear reader. Will need a lot of it at the moment as I resolve this issue. Looks like the only bright sparks for the rest of the year for me will be playing guitar for Ben's and Liyen's wedding, and possibly speedlight camp. Other than these 2, well, don't think there will be much to cheer about, unless something really surprises me. Only the quiet joy of the Lord sustains me, and that may just be enough.

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging." Psalm 46:1-3

Need inspiration to write again

It's been a long and tough period in life. Things still are not getting better much, and am still down somewhat. I guess this is the result of trying too hard to do too many things and being let down when things don't go my way or according to plan. It's a sucky feeling, to say the least. With my being bitter at some people and semi-depressed and nary a cheer in life at the moment. God's love is still there, and for that I am grateful that I'm still able to hold on to Him and not go completely downhill. Mind and emotions are somewhat fragile at the moment, which is to be expected, I guess. I really need to learn how to relax and let go of things. I know, it's not the first time I'm saying this to myself. But my honest feeling is that if things continue the way they are or, God forbid, worsen, I will not be able to take it and this will be the end of my normal self as you, my dear reader, would know it. I certainly don't wish for this to happen, but some things are just beyond my control. Like stress, which I'm notoriously bad at handling. I really hate people hounding me, for one thing, which some people close to me seem to be very fond of doing to me of late. I really hate people making me angry on monday mornings, cos I'll feel that way for the rest of the week and I won't be able to do any work, which ultimately makes me more stressed cos I won't be in the mood to do my projects or study and my milestones will pile up... And things will just snowball, which have been going on for the last month. Which explains the state of mind and emotion some of you may have noticed of late. Have already become irrational in some of my thinking...

I really don't know how to solve this. Except pray that things will get better and that a certain person will not spoil my mood at the beginning of the week. My mondays so far this semester has been sucky, to say the least. I'm really beginning to hate mondays cos of the way it starts.. Simply put, I get gastrics on mondays cos I'm simply too busy to eat (and especially if I wake up late), I'm developing insomnia cos I'm too stressed to sleep early at night and consequently I'm late for lectures, I'm developing aches over the heart area due to what I suspect to be too much stress, and I can't do my projects and revision as I'm so stressed and angry that I can't think straight and if this continues I may be forced to quit school. And there are still club issues to think and worry about. Not to mention my gout to think about as well. Sigh.. I need a miracle in my life right now. Not to mention inspiration to write again.. Realised I have not been doing much, if any, writing at all for the last few months. Only ideas which I totally forget about after a while. Need to kickstart my creative thinking and writing again before it gets too rusty.

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27