Monday, March 31, 2008

CMV??

I was happily doing my work...when I heard the boss, Abi n Berno utter the following behind me. They were working on some new course manual I think.

"In the beginning, was the key, and the key was with the scale. The scale became chords, and dwelt among us."

Omg, then I burst out in laughter. What a twist on John 1:1. So we joked that it came from the Contemporary Music Version (CMV). Can you imagine if we actually said that in class?? Students would think we came from some weird cult. haha! But anyway....in good natured fun, we came up with even more...see if you can recognise which bible verse its based on. haha!

"Take up your score, and follow the music" (CMV)

"for whosoever believes in the music, shall not perish, but have everlasting song." (CMV)


"Man shall not play by chords alone, but with every note in the scale." (CMV)


I shared all this with Glenn...and he said "erm....You musos are so strange." OK....we're music geeks, I get it. :p

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Simplify

I love music. I love singing and playing keys. And I LOVE Brooke Fraser....er, cos she does both so fantabulously. :) Ooh, I love twinkle lights too.

I was strolling around Compasspoint....when the music called to me (Sembawang Music lah). I walked in with the sincere intention of just browsing....but I spotted the Dave Matthews Band: Live at Piedmont Park DVD...and I knew I was doomed. And yes, I bought it....it's out of this world I tell you! They're so tight!!

So there I was...feeling all conflicted about my new purchase, cos I've been meaning to spend less of late. BUT, the spark of genius came....and now I've got a new plan. You ready? It's brilliant.

Eat Less. Buy more music and gear.

Gives new meaning to starving artist. haha!

Grace Notes:
=============
Thank You God....
- for the precious fellowship in cell grp. Really sets my heart right with God once again....and I'm blessed by how every individual brings something different to the body of Christ. :)

- for the blessing of being able to pray over and speak into the lives of my students individually in the final week of term. Seeing their faces light up never ceases to bring me deep joy.

- for my favourite maj7 chord...and my new fwen the maj9 chord. :)

- for crazy partners in crime like Abi, who is apparently a "bad influence" on me (so says the Man). hahaha!

- for Chris Botti who's coming to town again...(I hope i can go!)

- for the term break ahead which allows me to meet up with fwens on weekday nights for a change!

- for renewed personal vision. It's really quite simple, once we choose to walk by faith. :) Michelle is stepping out....

Friday, March 28, 2008

Reflection

"It is quite true what Philosophy says: that Life must be understood backwards. But that makes one forget the other saying: that it must be lived-forwards. The more one ponders this, the more it comes to mean that life in the temporal existence never becomes quite intelligible, precisely because at no moment can I find complete quiet to take the backward- looking position." -Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) (Journal entry, 1843)

"There will be those unintelligible moments in life when we are overwhelmed
by closed doors and other disappointments. There will be times
when,
not only are we faced with major set backs, we have no clue as to why

we have been allowed to go through the wringer. We are called to
proceed
in faith till such time when the meaning of our pain will be made
clear.
Often, that moment of clarity may come only after we leave this

"temporal existence" but sometimes God allows us a glimpse of meaning

this side of heaven."- Soo Inn Tan

Let.It.Go

It's one of those days when everything seems to go wrong...people just piss you off. I don't mean BIG things..but all the little things just add up, and before you know it you just feel incredibly frustrated and angry. I feel like my head is going to explode now. Arghhh....I don't want to self-combust!

O God, teach me to praise You when things don't go my way....to keep my cool, and to remember that life isn't a story about me, but it's really all about YOU unfolding Your plans.

"With Me" (by Ginny Owens)
===========================
Life is a strange thing.
Sometimes it’s thrilling
And sometimes it gets me down.
Some days my world seems
So all consuming
I’m afraid I’m gonna drown.
But there’s one thing I know for sure

CHORUS:
That good days come
The dark days call
but every day You’re with me, with me through it all.
And I will embrace what every moment brings
cause You are with me.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Wonderful Wonder


"In the hands of each person God places a gift- the means by which He makes Himself manifest to the world and helps humanity"- 'Brida' by Paulo Coelho

"Know that no day is the same as another,
and that each morning
contains its own particular miracle,
its magic moment,
when old universes are destroyed
and new stars created."
- 'By the River Piedra I sat down and wept' by Paulo Coelho


Oh Father, open my eyes to Your beauty and glory in all the earth. May I never lose the wonder. Keep my heart amazed and grateful O Lord.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Musicitis

I think it's a disease....this uncontrollable urge to spread the "joy" (ie. the music). So I keep uploading new music on to my multiply site, or the office song database or burning them cds, and shoving them into the hands of overwhelmed frens who can't keep up with the pace in which I zip through the music. I'm sick....very sick.

Proof of musicitis:
=================
Jet: Do you have the mp3 for "Mighty to save" by Hillsong?
Mich: Of cos I do! Sending it over right now. I even have the live version that's so new the cd isn't even available in Spore yet!
Jet: I'm eternally grateful.
Mich: I'm more than happy to service your musical needs. In fact, thank YOU. Cos actually, you asking for mp3s makes ME feel fulfilled...so u cld be doing me a favour instead? hmm..strange how the world works.
Jet: Hmm...well, if you insist. :) So give me a hit then! Burn me a kick-ass cd.
Mich: One heady cocktail of music on a personalised data cd coming up! :) Any requests?
Jet: hmmm...Lifehouse?
Mich: I burnt you most of Lifehouse albums the last time.
Jet: Oops....I didn't even know. *dang* I just discovered them recently.
Mich: Oh my....you...you, "ORPHANED" my music.
Jet: Yes, I might have.
Mich: Oh...my heart. *tries to breathe*

Friday, March 21, 2008

Pandamonium begins now!

I couldn't help myself...I just had to take a photo of Abi next to Jack Black's Kungfu Panda ("Pandamonium" begins in June. haha! I love that line from the movie). The lighting made Abi's face look so blur though...not my fault lah! I wanna watch the movie when it comes out...the trailer is just pure silly! :)

Anyways....Abi and I went to Cathay to watch The Spiderwick Chronicles. We were blown away by Freddie Highmore (the August Rush kid) all over again...that kid has the most precious expression on his face, and he's just a genius for his age. We stuffed ourselves silly with overpriced popcorn and had fun gasping, screaming and laughing in the cinema. Then after the movie...Abi went to Gramaphone to buy Bones Season 2, and we went to traumatise the staff at Yamaha by deliberately playing R&B/gospel/funk on their $14 000 piano (with matt keys!! that was weird) although the sign on the piano said "NO PRACTISING". haha! What's that they say about rules? :p

Dinner was with the grandparents....nothing beats my grandma's home cooked food. :) It was a good, simple day....time spent with people who really matter. In the quiet moments spent walking home, I looked up at the beautiful night sky and thanked God for the bright full moon, the music He's put in our hearts (Berno, Abi and I actually wrote a song yesterday in one hour! We even infused gospel grooves into it!)....and for His love for me that's stronger & deeper than I could ever imagine or comprehend.

I hope you had a good, good Friday too. :)

"The greatest love that anyone could ever know
That overcame the cross and grave to find my soul
And till I see You face to face
and grace amazing takes me home,
I'll trust in You..."- 'Til I see You' by Joel Houston and JD Gillies


Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Fellow Traveller

OMG....we're even wearing the same shoes, just in diff colours! And actually, I DO have those ballet flats in black....just that I chose to wear the pink ones today. In case you haven't figured it out by now, Abi's the one wearing the black ballet flats.

And FYI...we were both wearing jeans, and some long, folksy top today as well. We did not plan it. Fweaks.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Sing over me...

Song of the stars. :)

"Yahweh your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.” - Zeph 3:17

A song that expresses all that I've been feeling of late. :) *sways along happily to a 6/8 rhythm* :)

"Only Hope" (by Jonathan Foreman)
=================================
There's a song that's inside of my soul
It's the one that I've tried to write over and over again
I'm awake in the infinite cold
But You sing to me over and over again

Chorus:
So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands
and pray to be only Yours
I pray to be only Yours
I know You're my only hope

Sing to me the song of the stars
Of Your galaxy dancing and laughing
and laughing again
When it feels like my dreams are so far
Sing to me of the plans that You have for me over again

Bridge:
I give You my apathy
I'm giving You all of me
I want Your symphony
Singing in all that I am
At the top of my lungs I'm giving it back

Unbelievable

One of my good frens from sec sch is currently living in Beijing cos of her husband's job posting. We've been trying to keep in touch via msn and all...and today I gave her the link to my blog so that she could be updated.

To our shock, horror and disgust....she found that she couldn't access my blog, cos well....blogger is banned in China, along with youtube and a host of other sites. Can you believe that??? Self expression is banned!! Unbelievable.

Facebook is still permissible though....strange. Maybe the Chinese gahmen hasn't stumbled upon it yet.

Post August Rush Fever

We're STILL high on August Rush....I can't believe it myself. Look at what we did to poor Berno's table. This was actually inspired from a scene in the movie where August Rush learns music theory (in 5 mins!!) from this little black girl, who sings in a gospel choir. After teaching him how to read the notes, she leaves him in her music room to go to school. While she's gone, he goes nuts with his new discovery, and plasters her entire music room with his scribblings of music notes. When she returns, she drops her jaw and then....screams (haha!) and runs off to find her pastor.

So we plastered Berno's cubicle with music notes, chord names, time signatures and other lines from the movie, like "Are you LISTENING???", and "Do you BELIEVE???" haha!

I'm afraid the phone camera couldn't really capture what we wrote clearly...

Berno playing "air keyboard" while posing in front of the movie slogan: "The music is everywhere, all you have to do is listen."

Btw, I've posted some tracks from the August Rush soundtrack on my multiply website. Enjoy!:
http://jazzymoo.multiply.com/music


Another freaky incident that happened after lunch with Abi....
Abi: *sings* "What kind of world do you want? Think anything"
Me: *continues singing the next line happily* "Let's start at the start, build a masterpiece!"
[it's Five for Fighting's 'World']
Both of us simultaneously in the same tone, without any planning: I LIKE THIS SONG!! :) ........
*gasps and looks of horror*

Ee-yurrrrr!! So freakyyyy. Yes, Abi, we really need to break up this time! hahaha! We've been spending too much time together liao.

Monday, March 17, 2008

What Chord Are You??

After watching August Rush....Berno and I started to discuss this rather interesting question:
"if you were a chord, what chord would you be??" (cos every chord evokes a different emotion) Yes, very music geek I know. Our way of personality profiling. Hehe! These are the answers that I've gathered so far.

Mich: Cmaj7- it's a very Corrinne May chord which I use very frequently myself. It's a little reflective, a little jazzy, a little whimsical. :)

Berno: Cmaj9- it's similar to my Cmaj7 chord, but it sounds slightly fuller. Makes sense, cos we're such gd fwens...and well, she makes me...better! :)

Abi: Bbdim- cos its very emo (the dim chords are the most emo i assure u), and very random! haha!

Jason: The IIm chord in the Dorian scale (the boy is super cheem lah!). So if we were in the key of G, he'd be the Am chord. And listen to his reason why- cos its the chord that most wants to "return home." Awwww! It was either that or some other funky chord in another cheem Thelonious scale.

Glenn: C#m7...why? cos Glenn says "I just am." (....) Oh...and also cos you can't E without him.

So, what chord are you?? :)

Sunday, March 16, 2008

"All you have to do is listen..."

I had the most amazing weekend!! *huge smile on face* On Fri, Berno, Abi and her sis Steph and I had a fantastic lunch at Cedele, Wheelock Place. (remember I couldn't eat much for a week cos of stomach flu). Oh man the blueberry pancakes!!!! *heaven* Then after lunch, we headed to Lido to catch August Rush! [Yes, Abi beat me to blog abt it]

It's prob the best movie that I've watched since LOTR.....it really moved and impacted me so deeply. *sigh* In fact, we all loved it so much, that when the movie ended, all of us simultaneously cried out "I WANNA WATCH IT AGAIN!" haha! And I really did watch it again...on Sat, with Jason, who really really loved it too. :) Even on the second viewing, I thoroughly enjoyed the film and just soaked it all in. I'm so buying the DVD when it comes out!

You can watch the trailer here: http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/augustrush/trailer1/
The plot is loosely based on Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist- it's about a young boy who grows up in a Boys' Home, and he goes on this arduous search for his parents (mum's a Cellist, dad's the lead singer/guitarist in a rock band). In his journey, he disovers his own musical giftings too....and it turns out that he's really a child prodigy! Along the way, he also inspires and touches various characters with his pure heart and sensitive soul.

August Rush....as played by the talented Freddie Highmore.

Gosh, I love this movie so much....I know it has its cheesy moments/lines, but I'm gonna write a list of reasons why I love it anyway. haha! Trust me, its easier for you to read this in point form anyway.

1) It's a movie about musicians, and how music is that universal, harmonic connection between us all.
- the critics dissed this movie I know, but musos will totally GET IT! :) After watching this movie, you start to remember why you love music and play it in the first place.
- Curiously, after the film....Abi, Berno and I found ourselves swaying in unison to a 6/8 tune in our heads as we had snacks at Macs. But it wasn't planned or anything, and nobody was singing out loud...and goodness knows how we managed to hear the music in each other's heads. There wasn't even a 6/8 song in the movie score. haha! Thank God for fwens like dat! Amazing eh?

2) It accurately captures every musicians dream! haha! To fall in love with and marry a fellow muso, and to hit musical cum genetic jackpot when your kid turns out to be a freaking musical child prodigy!

The loaded scene where August Rush encounters his Dad in a park, but they don't know they're related yet! Father and son start jamming together on their guitars....it's so sweet and surreal. After that, Dad leaves his son with a piece of advice....
"Never give up on your music. It's that one place where you can escape to...and just release. I had to learn that the hard way."

*sigh* Do I have to say more???

3) The movie stars the beautiful Keri Russell!! Remember Felicity from our JC days? I grew up with her on TV!! I love her! And she plays the cello, which I've always wanted to play.

4) The music in the film is absolutely awesome! The way they seamlessly interweaved both rock and classical elements into the score was just excellent! The guitar playing is just jaw dropping too. OH! And there is gospel music as well...which I am currently exploring. :) I felt quite moved when that scene came up in the film....felt like it was God's little surprise gift for me. Much needed too after a very down week.

5) August Rush's character gets to attend Julliard.....I sure wish I was talented enough to attd Julliard. AHHHH!!! I miss studying more music. The stimulation! The moments of inspiration!

6) Thematically....this movie really did it in for me. :) It's all about love and hope....never giving up on the dreams that God has placed in your heart. It might take time to come to pass....but God will see us through. And right now, I'm putting my hope in Him for I know that He's still writing the story of my life. :)

It's about restoring that sense of magic and wonder in daily life. As the movie's slogan goes....

"The music is everywhere....all you have to do is listen."


After the movie...Abi and I even bought the soundtracks!! She and her sister, Steph started screaming excitedly at Mustafa when I called her to say I found the soundtrack! *mad* And its on repeat mode now. haha! We got quite high that night....and here's a sneak at our insane msn conversation:

Mich: Abiiii!! Do you get it?? It's a musicians' dream come true!!
Abi: Yes, yes I GET IT!!
Mich: Are you listeninggggg Abi???
Abi: Yes I am, I can hear it!! [the music]
Mich: Are you listeningggg??
Abi: YES YES!!

7) On a final note, the film really pointed me back to God again. :) I'm falling in love all over again with the giver and creator of music Himself.....I've been walking around with a smile on my face these days because I'm reminded that my God sings over me, and He's the one who put that song in my heart. Thank you so much God! For this beautiful gift that connects us to each other and to You, above all.

Do catch this precious gem of a movie before it ends its run in a few days. :) Goodnight folks...and "harmonic dreams"! :)

[Oh...I caught the "Greek Masterpieces from the Lourve" exhibit at the Singapore History Museum today too! But I will blog on it another time. So all in all, it's been a wonderful weekend filled with the beautiful company of dear fwens, and fuelled with moments of artistic inspiration. Michelle is very happy and contented. :)]

Thursday, March 13, 2008

"I'm coming Your way"

My fwen Glenn sang Jared Anderson's "I'm coming Your way" in class today for his presentation. And the lyrics of the song, coupled with his personal sharing really moved me. I'm just gonna shamelessly post what Glenn shared in class (and yes, he gave me permission) cos it just made so much sense. :)

"Worship isn't static...it's about a journey towards God. It's a whole life of moving towards God...it's a process." [And the truth behind these lyrics really hit home for me.....]
"If all we have is love, then all I have is You.
If life is what we choose, my choice is You."
"Rather than just love, I choose LOVE Himself. I choose the giver of life, rather than life itself."- Glenn.

Now is that cool or what? :) You can listen to the song at the hyperlink below, and check out other songs on Jared Anderson's album. I really dig the track "Every Time"!! It's just so amazingly, infectiously happy! It's got the same vibe as "That Thing you do". :)

"I'm Coming Your Way" (by Jared Anderson)
====================================
If all we have is love, then all I have is You.
If life is what we choose, my choice is You.

Chorus:
I'm coming Your way
I'm coming Your way
I'm coming Your way

If all we do is try, I'm giving You all mine
If faith helps us to decide I have decided

With all of my breath, with this heart in my chest
Every look in my eye, You'll know why

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Listen and learn

I've been watching Lost 3 of late as you know...and there's this hilarious episode where Sawyer teaches Jin (the married Korean dude) how to speak English. These are 3 phrases that Sawyer thought was absolutely VITAL for Jin to know. It totally cracked Abi and I up! Listen and learn! haha!

Sawyer: I'm sorry.
Jin: *repeats in halting English* I'm sorry.
Sawyer: I think you are right.
Jin: I think...you are right.
Sawyer: Those pants don't make you look fat!
Jin: *triumphantly* Those pants don't make you look fat!
Sawyer: *smug smile* And those are the 3 phrases you'll ever need to know!

Empty

I'm tired and spent from a day of teaching.
And just feeling utterly miserable.
The stupid virus is NOT helping.
I'm losing track of all the things I need to be on top of...
So i'm sorry if I forgot to reply your smses/msg.

I don't like grumbling...but this is just how I'm honestly feeling now.

One thing though...thank God for my Yellow Fwen.
She is good for my soul.

Monday, March 10, 2008

The Purge

Yes, pun intended cos I'm down with the fabulous stomach flu (and I've never had it before).
It's been a weird weekend....I thought I was going to die a miserable death as my body shut down slowly.
It started with mild gastric...which led to a horrible bout of nausea and faintness. So I dismissed it as fatigue, cos I've puked out of exhaustion before. But it got worse and worse....I had no appetite whatsoever, and yet it turned into diarrhoea, and yes, eventually the puking came at 6.30am this morning. (Curiously, for my fellow tv series buffs, I could still entertain the thought of watching Lost 3 after crying and puking my guts out at 6.30am, since I was quite awake by then already)

I'm kinda relieved that the Doc confirmed it as stomach flu this afternoon...at least this awful mess has got a proper scientific name to it, and I'm not losing my mind. And after she described the normal progression of symptoms for stomach flu, I sighed in relief. (it sounded rational, like something the doctors on House would say...so I figured it must be right. HA!)

Anyway, I would appreciate prayer...cos I really hv no business falling sick during Presentation week/grading week/staff evaluation week/settle new syllabus in time for new term week etc.

Right now, the sick one is off to watch Lost 3....cos it seems like she has a legitimate reason to bum ard in bed instead of doing proper work.