If last prac was bad, lets get ready for worse times ahead for us...if we cant play just bcuz a few sec3s are absent, then nxt week will be even worse as only 7 sec3s will be left in s'pore...i am not going to blame anyone here as if anyone deserves to be blamed, it shld be my batch and not any of the juniors...perhaps it is our fault that we didnt teach the sec1s and sec2s well...we probably did such a pathetic job that two of our juniors, or even more, are unable to play offbeats properly...we as the top batch in this band shld probably be taking all responsibilty for the inability of our juniors...but perhaps there are somethings that are not really within our control...are we to blame for the lack of ppl??sure, some ppl are just too stupid and lazy to get their bodies, be it a six-pacs perfect one or a fat one, up to walk to the nearest train station and catch the train to bishan...who do they think they are???Mozart or Chopin???they may have great potential for all i care, they can be the nxt mozart if they want to, but if you do not practise, you will never be able to fulfill your potential...sure, you may be able to tongue semiquavers at 160 using single tongue and can have the most beautiful tone that all the girls like, but if you dun even bother to practise, then i will say tt you may be better than those who prac, but you do not earn my respect...its alright if you suck at something, but its even worse if you suck at it and still dunt practise...the worse case is tt you are good at it, but you dunt practise to make sure tt you can have a career out of it...you may wanna be a doctor or maybe a minister, but wouldnt it be better if you have two career choices rather than just one??...secondly, are we really prevent parents from taking their children overseas??till now, i still dunt see alot of parents taking CCA seriously...perhaps they think that CCAs are just a time for their darlings to socialize and make more friends??or CCAs are just the key to getting a good uni course???they are wrong...if CCAs are tt useless, then why is the SNYO set up??yes, it is set up for musicians with potential, but if CCAs are absent, do you think tt the potential can be tapped on??the same goes for sporting groups as well...lets say we have this guy who has the potential to be the next Harbana...but if the rugby CCA is absent, will he be discovered???adults will always brag about their kids being in the singapore sports youth team but when the kids have practices on certain days, they MOAN...isnt it unfair to the kids??they dunt get the credits, the parents get it...and yet when they have practices on days that contradict their other committments, you get frustrated...we are not saying that you cannot take your kids out for a vacation to somewhere like say St Petersburg to see the great city that Peter the Great built so that he can avoid Moscow...vacations are good for the family spirit but lets spare a thought for the CCA...if he misses the practices, the coaches will think tt everyone is not committed to the cause and thus, he will lose interest...so while your kids are in Russia freezing, some kids are here practising very very hard, just to make up for the few who are not here....If your kids have practices like say on every monday wednesday and friday, it is alright to skip a few as it really cant be avoided...i mean, you cant have a 2 day vacation right...but when the CCA teachers are kind enuff to give you a break of 3 weeks and its informed WAY BEFORE HAND, perhaps you can use the 3 weeks for a vacation???or even the last week as there is only like say one prac to get ready for the new school year...if you go then, the air fare prices wunt be as exorbitant as it is earlier in the holidays and your kids can use this chance when they are just fresh out of school and still in the schooling spirit to do their holiday hwk!!!imagine a poor guy sitting infront of the computer 10 hrs before start of school and trying to copy book reports from various sources just to get the work done...and just for parents who think tt being in a musical grp is gay or perhaps worse off than being in a sports grp, allow me to remind all that the government didnt spent a few 100 million bucks of money just to build a grand theatre...they use it to promote the arts, in which music is one of them, so as to make singapore an arts hub, in addition to an education and financial hub...lastly, perhaps we shld be getting more ppl in our CCA?i mean, a 60-odd ensemble is nothing to be proud of...in fact, if we compare our numbers to the numbers of other schools, e.g. ACSI(who can even afford to have a wind symphony), we are really outnumbered...with 60 odd ppl, minus off some scholars, minus off some guys who have gone for vacation, and some sec3s who have leadership camps, you are left with 20 sth ppl...how do you prac with 20 sth ppl???!!!...k...i have enuff of this ranting...i just hope that this situation wunt happen again...ever...

David said 9:54 PM<3

Maybe if i had been serious in my dreams to get in SNYO earlier in the year, perhaps i will be the one celebrating with Austin today that we had gotten into SNYO...perhaps then i will not be regretting the fact that Jamie will have a good advantage over me in the playing of our instruments...perhaps in the future, RIMB can truly be better than RGSSB...all perhaps and maybes, but still, the fact remains that we will never ever be better than our sister band when our batch is taking control of RIMB...rewind into last year's NBC...RGSSB defeated us by a pretty narrow margin of 3.0+ percentage points, but also by a wide margin of 4 rankings...rewind into the SYF of this year...both of us achieved the Gold Award, but perhaps we are the happier ones with the Gold, not RGS...their piece was probably the hardest among all of the bands and they have played it well, really well...yet, they share the same award as us...have we improved?certainly not in quality as we changed piece after piece, going down the difficulty ladder, but certainly in luck...Looking at today, as Kenneth and I were discussing about the standards of RGSSB, i suddenly came to realize that with the prize accuqistion of the SNYO spots by two RGSSB players, perhaps the dreaded truth has come...our batch will never be better than them. In terms of numbers, we can say that we are just a drop in the ocean compared to them being a river...in terms of committment, we can say that it will only take us to practise our instruments for one whole month, without stopping, to be close to what they have done so far...and now, with the bar rising higher still, our standards are slowly but surely getting out of reach from them...Jerald may say that competition is definitely not in his mind when he faces RGSSB, but will he say that if we fail at NBC nxt year?To be the best, which is what RIMB has been striving to be for the past 50 odd years, surely we must defeat our closest rivals, both spiritually and mentally, before we can ascend to the top?While i may not make such a big difference if i join the SNYO, a difference is always a difference...perhaps then the RIMB tbonez can truly claim to be better than our counterparts from RGS??If one section manages to do it, then the pressure can be off the other sections...and then, we can at least be on the same standards as RGS...will this be my misdoing in failing to lead my band to the fore?Next year is NBC and prometheum year, as well as the school's 185th anniversary...we see our pictures on the RI wall of fame(or sth like that lah)...will it still be there the year after the next?will we walk away from NBC with our heads held high, or will we only be cheering for RGS, and not ourselves?who will be listening to during the presentation ceremony of NBC?hopely, all the raffles bands will be there...if not, wonder how it will feel like if RJC and RGS is there, but RIMB, the band proclaimed to be the best in Singapore is missing...As for prometheum, its held on a Thursday...this will be our last dress rehearsal for NBC...on that night in Victoria Concert Hall, will the audience be shouting encore! because of our great performance?or will it be simply because there are friends performing?What songs would we play?would it be the beautiful harmonies and charming music of great songs that will continue to enhance the reputation of RIMB?or will we simply be playing old songs over and over again??if the latters happen, then perhaps we shld add a new phrase behind the old saying that procrastination is a thief of time...it shld be procrastination is a thief of time and glory...i may not be receiving the best teachings that i can get anytime soon, but be assured, i will do my utmost best to turn the tables arnd and turn it to our advantage...we are the best, and it is time that we show it...

David said 9:50 PM<3