Bleak days ahead in my dept (2)

I was contemplating what replies I would give if my head asks me about my opinion/thoughts/feelings about this. Many thoughts ran through my head and so here's a list of possible responses:

1) Can't wait to transfer out as soon as I can (unfortunately, I'm bonded for 3 years at my current job posting starting 1 Feb)
2) I nearly cried/I held back tears when it was announced (it's true)
3) Black days ahead/end of days
4) She has big shoes to fill
5) Is it temporary?
6) The dept she left must be very happy (sorry, this is a bit mean)
7) Worst news in a decade
8) I'm having nightmares about it (it's true too)
9) Depressing
10) Speechless/shocked
11) We're letting the nation down (ok, a bit exaggerating)
12) It's equivalent to having no replacement

I know, some of these sound mean, but I can't help feeling depressed over it. Maybe I'll add some more along the way, but that's all for now.
The only good thing is that maybe I'll have a song coming.

Bleak days ahead in my dept

I nearly cried when our head announced who's going to take over my boss's position to oversee our unit when she retires end March...enuf said...

Logo for Songcraft (2)

Did more try-outs for the design. (Do I not have other things to do?...ok, once I start, it's hard to stop, and wanted to do something productive & fun after work, at home)

By way of putting simplicity into the design and explore the guitar tabs concept, here are 2 logos that I found alright.

For the 2nd design, I kinda like it. It was a different attempt with a guitar tab from the 1st one coz I tried different fonts for the word "Songcraft". Rather than use the treble clef for "S", I used another musical symbol, the Segno. Also used a semibreve for the "o" and the forte for the "f". I initially intended a harp-like design for the words "Songwriting Circle", but as I worked on them, I decided that they are like headphones and sort of create the suggestion of a circle.

Logo for Songcraft

Our chairman was calling for a logo for our little group, so I thought why not try something? So here's what I got.

Well, it's a bit too colourful & big for a logo, and it totally doesn't look "simple" which he wanted, but it's a nice try-out just for fun...an excuse to do something. So what's the concept behind this and how was it done?

Actually the backdrop was from 1 of my photos of a sunflower and I inverted the colours. Looks nice right? The idea was also because we're a "Circle". The centre part looked like a circle and I liked the surrounding blue (petals) coz u see different shades and a nice glowing effect. There's also some contemporary, yet mysterious but also vibrant feel to it. I also liked that stray petal that is slightly in the circle. It makes the image seem less dull and adds some quality to it which I can't describe. Hmm...come to think of it, maybe it can mean we're open and inclusive.

As for the design proper, well, I chose to do a (music) staff/stave-like circle to indicate we are a music group and doesn't it also reflect composition since we use the staff/stave to write our music? Also, it being in a circular form signifies continuity (that's what this Circle should have).

Next, I tried to fit the words "Songcaft Songwriting Circle" into the staff. The mirror image of the words was purely accidental coz I over-pulled the words while trying to make it into a curved form and it suited the purpose coz I needed to put the words at the top & bottom and having it twice seemed... So the mirror image made it all the more interesting and looked logical...hmm...it might give some other meaning too like being reflective, or the sharing atmosphere as peers, as we face our own group of audience...well, the explanation is rather abstract but think you can imagine what I mean.

As for the centrepiece "Songcraft", it was really trial & error. See the guitar tabs? Well, it was also another "accidental" attempt. I was scrolling through the various fonts for a nice one for the word "songcraft" and I chanced upon this font (Seville). It depicted the word as guitar tabs which was pretty cool & relevant. So I used it and put the word "Songcraft" in English over it instead.

Yup, it sure was fun trying out for this. I tend to follow themes so given a theme here ("create a logo") gave me an excuse/opportunity to find some inspiration to do something artsy. :) Some of the ideas seem a bit abstract and requires some thinking, but I like to do stuff like that...gives the piece of work a deeper meaning.

2008 resolutions

It's a new year now and as I ponder over what's going to be in store for me, it's tough not to remember the really eventful 2007.

2007 was pumped with "adrenaline" with all the new explorations that led to "new eyes" and a new mind to the little snippets of my life. Swooning with all these as I move into 2008, the year is looking like a blank paper, waiting to be written on...what can I put in this year to make it a special year with more new things or inspiration? With this, I'm prompted to "hold in my reins" and take some time to settle down and slowly consider the aspects of my life to work on. With Beatles playing in the background I pen thee...

For my spiritual life, even as I'm typing this post, I just realised how things work out with GOD's plan. This year has been dedicated as the Year of Sabbath (for my church) and I realised that this really applies to me. Even beginning this post with "holding in the reins" is in line with the theme of the year. And I also realised that my decision to set aside at least half a day each month since June for a personal Sabbath now seem to have been preparing me for this year ahead (although I've not been carrying it out much). So what's the sabbath? It's not just about resting (too much resting can make you lethargic), but it is also taking a step back to reflect, remember, restore & rebuild too. So yes, I must fully carry out my half-day thingy. Another would be to be more disciplined in my devotional time (ok, I make this resolution every year, but somehow...*sheepishly guilty*). Maybe more things will be revealed to me as yet in this area.

Music-wise, having passed through the exploratory, trial & error stage (not that I would stop this), it's time to "consolidate" and think of what the exposure will bring. I hope this year will bring more inspiration to my heart. Would love to write more worship songs, especially at least 1 Chinese song. I realised my worship songs seem to have a recurring theme, so maybe I'll work along those lines. Of course, also to finish up my other "half-songs", though I do find that the tunes don't sound so satisfactory. Maybe should start them anew. With my new Mac, should try out making new stuff too.

Well, career-wise, it's really not determined by me. I did choose this path, but in terms of progression, no matter how one strives in a certain direction, it still boils down to who your boss is. But I do hope that with me being on the professional development programme will help me in some way progress in the subject area I've chosen (ok, this is not exactly a resolution...just hope)

For sports, I do want to train up on one thing for my fencing - accuracy. Think I've got the footwork almost there, but I always miss the target & lose a point coz my accuracy's not there.

As it is, being human is to err but there's no excuse to improving one's character. Unfortunately, I sometimes find myself a little critical & mean. I think I became so after I started work. No more the "innocent" outlook to life and have forgotten my philosophy/belief that there must be at least 1 good point in each one of us for ain't we GOD's creation? So my philosophy was to focus on the good point(s) of the person and one would be less critical & biased towards the person...should be less judging of anyone especially if it's someone you've not interacted with and there's only been hearsay.

Something that I must complete this year is my Dream Book. It is actually a blank notebook that my pastor gave last year to jot down our dreams (although now I've been informed she's going to give us one notebook each year...will use the rest for other things). Anyway, this will be a book that will document my dreams of what I hope to achieve in my life, which includes music, ministry, etc. Right now, I've only written the (inspirational) foreword...after 1 year?! Yup, so I've got to get down to writing down my dreams...though I need to get some inspiration for some insightful write-up. It's not just about listing the dreams (which one can do anytime & I've already done so), but it will give the rationale, background, updates, etc. so that when I go back to it in future, there is some relational/reflective perspective to it.

Well, that's all for now...think that's a lot already?

To round off the year 2007...

It's that time of the year when we do our reflections of what had happened in the year and what one has achieved or failed to do...you know, those new year resolutions and dreams/wishes. Thus, it has come to me to consolidate & summarise about what significant things this year had brought forth (this might seem like a re-cap of my blog posts though).

As a start, what prompted me to pen this year-end post now was when I attended the last church service for the year (yesterday)...well, I would have did a year 2007 roundup post anyway, but it might have been belated or not structured as so. Coming back to the service...2007 was dedicated as the Year of Victory for our church and we were prompted to recount the victories that GOD has brought us through. (next year is the Year of Sabbath) So you'll probably guess how I'm structuring my post now.

Year of Victory

The most significant & important victory this year for me was my baptism. I waited very long for this day and taking the step of faith was really a step of faith as I've dragged it on for too long. I finally made my stand to my parents and it was really a breakthrough when they did not put up too much of a "struggle"...this includes physically attending service more regularly (feel so paiseh admitting this - however, I did listen to the sermons online). So yeah! Victory!

Career-wise, I'm not sure if this is a victory yet, but I was given the chance to be on a professional development programme. My specialisation would be in the area of music :) (yeah!) Well, I've always wanted to develop professionally although I had a few other contemplations over the year.

Year of Exploration

This year, I decided to try new things, to break out a bit, and make my life more exciting. Did blog about this earlier though.

1) Visual Arts - I never thought myself as someone who would dabble in visual arts as I really can't draw. But in any case, I tried out the Bear Fruit art installation project and amazingly, I won (victory again!)! I guess I am more a "builder" (craft) so my piece wasn't much a drawing thing. And I became more aware that I am a conceptual person and once I get an idea, I usually progress accordingly on that track. Am also a more abstract person (as seen in my digital art attempts).

2) Music - ok, 2 main things. Firstly, I decided to explore new music; listen to other genres besides oldies & classical. I discovered electronica (although I don't necessarily like all types), indie/alternative and country/folk. Previously, I would probably not have paid attention to them or even knew what genre they were, although I discovered that some songs I liked from before were in 1 of these genres. It opened up a whole new world of music to me...some were while scouring through friends' fave artists and songs (thanks to FaceBook) and also http://www.emusic.com/. Really interesting.
Secondly, to do something about my music skills. Well, this ain't really a new exploration, but I somehow became more active in music-making, all thanks to Songcraft. It's really different when you have a support group compared to just yourself...the inspiration and motivation.

3) Fencing - Had given up sports long ago, but this year, I decided to take up fencing as a regular sport and it's a sport that's not so "mainstream". One might think it's a romantic notion but actually, I think it was more inspired by Sherlock Holmes (am a big fan of old-fashioned whodunit mysteries, and definitely not a fan of romance novels). It was more of a gentleman's sport in the old days. It's been fun, though I'm doing it more for leisure and am still a novice at it.

Year of Revelation

1) Sabbath - I was prompted to set aside a day each month from June onwards. It was more like take half-day off per month to just do some reflections and also some personal time. Well, I can't say I've really carried it out coz the past few months have been really hectic, but in the new year, this resolve will continue...after all, it's the Year of Sabbath.

2) The Word - It was an amazing time of reading the Bible this year. One couldn't help but be amazed at the richness of the Bible and the revelations it has...it's positively dripping with wisdom. It's been a while since there's been so much revelation...in the past it was only an occasional "Oh!" but this year seemed "action-packed". Think this was partly due to my 40-day fast exercise. All I can say that it was heavy reading for me this year...I haven't yet been able to complete my 1 Corinthians 13! Each chapter I read was so deep that I needed to rest...which I have been for too long :P Think this chapter will spill over to next year.

~~~
What other things?

I've learnt to appreciate my supervisor. Although I've heard "horror stories" (ok, that's an exaggeration), but I think she's not too bad except for the physical presence part (she's sort of like not around a lot). She's at least able to and will fight for staff. Also, she has that "helicopter thinking" where you know her perspective of things is really on a mgt/higher level. On a personal level, she's quite supportive of me and my development (ok, there might be some bias here on my part as a result). Never thought I'd say this, but I would miss her when she retires March next year. Hope the rumours of a certain person who might be coming to take over is not true coz that person is totally not on par in her way of thinking with my supervisor.

Of course, what's reflections of this year without checking out last year's? I think I've done some of the things and my thoughts on certain matters have in a sense "matured". Well, there's just too many things to say but since I've already done the reflections on different matters in earlier entries, I'll just leave things here. Here's to the new year & new plans!

The music artists I like

I was just reflecting last night that bands/groups/duos are the ones that usually don't last...even if they are a hit. Somehow, 1 day, they get disbanded, whether due to circumstances, they lead their own lives, someone dies, etc.

So, what does this have to do with the music artists I like? Sad to say, besides those solo artists, I somehow seem to like those bands/groups/duo that seem rather shortlived or have split or are not in existence anymore. One of the genres I like is the oldies, so as expected, some are no longer around. Like The Beatles and The Carpenters. I recently discovered The International Submarine Band (country/folk) but they were disbanded even before their 1st album together were released...so they only had 1 album Safe At Home :(

Some other more recent ones are Mono (remember the movie Great Expectations with Ethan Hawke & Gywneth Paltrow?), Plus One and Savage Garden. Fortunately, there are still some that I like that are still around. Recently discovered this new band Fauxliage...not sure about this though coz their recently released 1st album has Leigh Nash as the lead and I'm not sure if this would just be an 1-time collaboration...I like the way she brings out the songs.

A cover of my song All I Want is to Live For You

My friend did a cover of a song that I wrote some time again, which I presented at a recent Songcraft session. It's a Christian song. I had composed it using the guitar (just chords) but he has done it with melody on the PC I think (electric organ/piano?). You can listen to it here.
http://jerronlee.wordpress.com/2007/12/27/all-i-want-is-to-live-for-you/

About the song:
I wrote it back in 2002. I had learnt a few more chords by then (initially I only knew "C" "D" & "G" which I used for my other song Dear Child) and one day, this phrase "all I want is to live for you" came into my mind as I felt convicted to really do this for GOD. So the song came. It must have been GOD-given for how would I have written a song simply based on a phrase? I was also inspired by the song Lover of my Heart, a worship song which starts with the lyrics "All I want, is to see your face..."

I do hope I'll be able to write more worship songs...especially a Chinese one at least.

Anyway, have finally completed my song Loner in a Crowd after a lapse of 2 years. Had done the verses some time in Nov'05 and only recently managed to get a chorus. However, as expected, it might a bit mis-matched coz I can't loop the tune of the chorus back to the verses! So yah, after the chorus, can't repeat the verses, only the chorus.

Splurge?

Was at Isetan today, tasked to shop for a birthday present for my nephew (cousin's son) who was born on Christmas day. It happened that there was an Agnès b. sale on, up to 80% off! Thought I'd just take a look. There wasn't anything much, but I still ended up buying something!

Ok, I was looking for a nice cardholder (My wallet can't seem to close properly with all those discount cards I have) and this was the only piece left of this design. It was selling at a discount of 60% which came to about $50. I'm usually not an impulse buyer but this was leather, and a nice pinkish orange colour, not to mention I liked the brand (hee...was influenced by a friend while in Japan this year). Now feeling like it's kind of a little splurge, but they do have simple clean-cut designs which I like.

Anyway, this plus the gift for my nephew came to about $100, which let me redeemed a $10 Isetan voucher, which wasn't too bad.

Consider it a present for myself...ok, now to focus on getting that MacBook which I've been planning to get for ever so long...

Christmas baking 2007

Did some Christmas baking which I planned to give to friends, like I did 2 years ago (I made fruit cake then, which wasn't too bad). However, it didn't turn out too nice...looked nice, but didn't taste nice.

They were supposed to be some variant of snickerdoodles, but think my experimentation didn't turn out too well.

Think I should stick to more conventional stuff and casseroles.