My life: sleep, food, music, movies, friends, blogging and family.

Home after a fun-filled half-a-day and back to the blog.

Got up at close to 5pm, talked to Norm on Yahoo for a while, always a high point in my day, then dinner. Dinner at the caf was actually pretty yummy today, I thought, which is rare on a Saturday night, although they were being meatball Nazis today for some reason. Seriously, I know that you want to prevent food wasteage, so you allow us only one main dish at a time. That's fine, I didn't need 2 main dishes of sub-par cafeteria quasifood anyway. But was it necessary to actually count the number of meatballs you give us? Not kidding. They ladeled out exactly 5 tiny meatballs at a time, no more. The girl was trying to get away with giving me just 3 too! I felt gypped!

After dinner was the Men's and Women's choir concert. Oh, it was wonderful. I miss being in the choir so bad. I remember it being the highlight of my day. I made so many friends there and it was wonderful being able to sing with women from all over the world everyday. Sister Webb really reminded me what a special school I go to. I miss it, I miss it, I miss it. It's almost worth switching jobs for (they meet everyday at 12 when my I have to be at work), but I love my job. Aaargh!

I sat in that choir performance today feeling slightly left out because I remember being on the other side of things wearing the pretty blue puletasi. At the same time, I felt somewhat accomplished. This was something that I did with my college education. And now, I'm not completely left out on the music scene because I'm taking lots of music classes for my minor. I felt today a confirmation that I was doing the right thing. I think that's one of the smartest things that I have done so far, to continue my musical education. I nearly forgot how big a part of me that was. Psychology has a big part in me too, but music has deeper roots.

If all the angst of being home when I wanted to be in college with my friends didn't help me mature any, at least the opportunity to gain experience teaching piano gave me motivation and desire to continue improving myself musically. I know that wasn't it, but if it was the only thing I had to learn, it was worth it. I remember being so sick of piano and theory lessons that I decided that was NOT what I wanted to go into career wise. I still don't know if I want to use music for a career, but I know now that I want it to be a big part of my life. I am taking piano lessons and music theory classes now, for fun. And I actually enjoy them. It's wonderful re-discovering my musical talent. It's nice to feel good at something too.

Music education is changing me. I listened to the singing, which was good for a non-audition choir, and the words to the songs, many of which were uplifting (and yes, they did make me cry) but I was mostly paying attention to the conducting. I will be taking the advanced conducting class next semester and hopefully learn how to conduct an orchestral piece. There's so much to it. It's exciting.

I was also paying close attention to the percussionist when they accompanied the singing, and also the pianists. One of which was my piano teacher. I hope I'll get that good some day and never lose my desire to improve. When the concert choir (non-audition) sang, I could pick out voices. It was cool knowing the people who were singing and what they sounded like.

After the inspiring concert, there was a long period of socializing since everyone and their dog was there, and then we headed to the campus movie - Shrek 2. Oh my. That was nearly the most fun I had all week! Isn't it awesome when a movie has power to do that? Ingenious. I'd only seen it once before in the theatre so there were many things I had forgotten or had not noticed before. Yeah. It was COOL!

I know romance wasn't the focus of the movie, but there were parts in which I suddenly felt aware of how single I was. No boyfriend, no one to care about deeply in a romantic way, no love interests, no prospects, no one to cuddle up to in the movie. Well, I could have cuddled up to Judge, but he would've been weirded out.

Being single is actually very enjoyable to me right now. Life is good, I love my friends. I don't feel like I'm lacking too much socially. I love being able to look around (I will love it more when the new semester starts and the new shipment of guys comes in!) and go on dates with multiple people and make lots of guy friends. I still miss being in a relationship though. I'm rather proud of how I can be happy without one, and write posts that don't have to do with specific guys in my life, but I would always rather have someone to love and to love me back just as much. As I contemplated on how I felt during the movie, I looked around and realized that other people were probably feeling that way too. Everytime you feel lonely in a movie with romance, take a look around you. You'll realize that you're not the only one. This world is filled of people who are looking for something more, for someone to fill the void in their lives. Funny. All these lonely people in the world, you'd figure it'd be easy to do something about it.

Following the movie was more socializing, since everyone was there, minus their dogs, this time, and more pole dancing ensued. I remembered the video function on Su's camera - which is practically mine - and caught some of it on camera. When my battery didn't fail me, that is.


Su



Judge


I wonder what other people do in college?

As I was blogging this, my brother Han IMed me (without knowing that I was online) for help on blogger-hacking his comments so we started talking. Everyone was home. I'm so glad that I invested in a webcam for Mom to use at home to talk to Dad when he was in the US for those 3 months last year. I'm definitely reaping the benefits today.





They also have a mic (which isn't the one I bought for them since they can't find it, but that's fine) so they talked to me and I typed back. We also had family prayer, offered by Ernie, followed by 3 "All for one and one for all"s! Just like old times.

I miss my family.

I did however, manage to get pictures of them:



Kakak Tun, our domestic help who has been living with us for 7 years now. She's from Indonesia, and practically family.

Hey, if you lived in Malaysia, you could afford it too.





My ever youthful mother, who is my mentor, my inspiration, and best friend. Yep, this is the woman you talk about everytime you "your momma" me. She went back to school when I was 15 (deans list about every semester(?), this woman is crazy!) and is now an interior designer. I admire her in every way.
Isn't it obvious where I get my good looks from?





Dad - tech savvy and pretty darn cool. I get my love for computers and psychology from him. He's why we get our home videos on DVD and why we have webpages made for every ocassion. I hear he's still the same guy, still talking about some pop-psych book he read and using the family as guinea pigs.
Heheh. Sure, it's funny NOW.





Han (14). Fellow blogger, lover of Jazz and rock music. I love reading his blog. It reminds me of being home and keeps me updated on the fam, and it's written in true Chong style. Love it. Also budding comic strip artist.





Shuan (12) - monkey, I mean brother, #2. He took over the room that was Su's and mine. He's really good at gymnastics and also on the piano. I remember him being extremely generous growing up. He'd give away all his candy without leaving himself any. Going to be quite the looker and I will have to beat the women off with a stick.





Ernie (9)- the best birthday present I ever got, even though it was 2 days late. I got a bunny that year too, but I liked him better. The bunny died within a year. He lasted longer. Great at sports and has the determination to be good at anything. A sweetheart and gives the best hugs ever.






Ray (7 - he's growing up too fast!)




Ray's eyes and nose.


Littlest brother in the bunch. The reason why scientist believe we evolved from monkeys. Love him like my own son. Extremely intelligent, loves to read (he reads better than some kids here at college do), and just a bundle of fun. I have a feeling he and I will have a lot in common some day. I miss him the most when I'm homesick. Like now.



Miraculously, I managed to get a picture of the entire family:






*sigh* I have been blessed.