hmmm...been looking at the goals that i set myself at the start of the semester...welll..lets look at my report card...i think i failed my goals academically...didnt get 4.0 for all sciences+maths and definitely didnt do well for all of my tests...but at least i didnt get a single 3.2..though that aint really something to shout about...

cca-wise hmmm...didnt get gold for presentation for SIBF but i really do think that we made mr oura happy or proud of us by really playing to our standards...granted, we only got a silver and 82%, but it could have been much worse given our standards when we started playing the pieces...investiture-wise, im still kicking myself for missing that high b flat...really should have nailed it...

musically-wise...i think my high register dropped abit...couldnt really hit super F that easily now...but having said that, i think my mid and lower register have strengthened alot...thanks to me getting a teacher!!yayy..i think my tone kinda improved and i have just concluded my study on double-tonguing...though its a really short and fundamental one...i didnt have time to finish hanon though..but well, i got into SNYS and for me, that was the real highlight of this semester...shall elaborate more about SNYS and the audition on a later date...

personally i do think i have managed to reach the standards i have set for myself..i didnt really lose my temper that much and i am really friendly to everyone now!!just ask valerie who sat beside me today in YS prac...at least im not so dao lah...but maybe just cuz shes a girl and having been through one prac and all the songs, perhaps i felt responsible in helping her along today...hmmmm...lol...

okay, i will give myself a 70/100 for my work this semester...really hoping to do better next semester...especially academically...

David said 9:42 PM<3

well...to be honest, since young, i was pretty much radical in my ideas...not that much about bombing people in the US but more about my ideas on punishing criminals...i once had this idea that it will be really great if we can just stop the production of tobacco and thus, prevent the circulation of cigarettes...another one would be to introduce the death penalty to smokers who smoke in public places...serious...i had this when i was like 6 years old etc...i really wonder if im fit to be a politician next time, given my radical stand towards alot of things...especially vices...

David said 2:27 PM<3

lol..jerald just called me crazy for saying that obama and mccain cant save the US economy..ok, maybe i was wrong to say that only a war would save the economy...but the fact remains that even if either candidate wants to rebuild the entire economy, it will take a long time given the many problems that are still hidden within the US economy, which will affect the world economy, as shown by the great depression and the recent crisis...the only problems that came out now from the US economy is that of the large mortgage debt that it has incurred from the borrowers of banks with low interest rates and less stringent checking than normal, given the good economy outlook in the past few years...this has led to many bad debts incurred by the banks and these debts are unrecoverable even with the mortgage of properties, given the low(?) house prices now...so, this has led to the collapse of fannie and freddie initially...then, we have big corporations like AIG, the lehmann brothers and merill lynch collapsing right after the collapse of these mortgage banks...you may ask, wad do these companies have to do with the falling property prices???well, they invest in property with the money that is given to them by the investors of bonds that were bought and when the property prices well, so do these organizations too...well, the rest is pretty much recent history, with the 700 billion bailout etc...wad i do firmly believe in is that this subprime mortgage crisis is just the tip of the iceberg, with the rest of the problems being exposed as we dig deeper and deeper...however, the main problem now is the entire structure of the global financial systems throughout the world...this is something that MUST be solved and is something that im afraid will take a long time to solve...the problem now is, are countries prepared to wait for such a long time to solve this problem? ok, you may ask why this solution takes a long time to implement...firstly, a whole new framework and structure must be conceived, and that could take quite a while...we must make sure that this framework is stable, can be regulated but yet, not nationalized...second, the implementation...the fun part of economics is that nothing can be confirmed in theory, as practical usually works differently from theory...so how do we make sure that this implementation will be smooth and be successful?we are starting from square ONE again, with no prior knowledge or experience on this new system...third part will be getting everyone to implement this system...no matter wad happens, the world must still have a global finanical framework and structure to work with...so it is crucial that everyone follows the new framework...yet, wad works for one country may not work for the other and some countries may just not adopt it altogether...so how do we change this framework? through war...its a last option no doubt, but it must be done if countries are unwilling to comply through diplomacy...only then can we start anew...this mortgage crisis is not the end of all problems, but simply the start of all problems...its unprudent to assume that all problems will be gone once and for all...maybe this crisis will be over in a few years with no bloodshed but the existing problems are still not solved yet, and this problems will resurface again to haunt us...you can argue that only the US needs to change its financial system, rebuild its economy and everything will be fine again...but wad this crisis has shown us is that once again, our global financial system is still too reliant on one superpower, such that when this fails, none of us are able to help it up again...yes, we have survived many crisises in the past, but there are no guarantees that the solutions to this crisises actually do solve the underlying problems in our economy...there are no guarantees that this crisises are the same as the one that we are facing right now...maintaining an economy is easy, but rebuilding one isnt...and right now, the whole world's economy has to be rebuilt, not just the US's...yes, if all goes smoothly, we dunt have to go to war, but, how do we assume that all will go smoothly?..and even if this crisis manages to be resolved, it will most likely be due to market forces, more than that of the policies of the president of the UNITED STATES...cuz this crisis has turned into a global one...and has affected many countries internally...even if the US manages to recover,other countries might not...

David said 1:59 PM<3

Its really heartening to see and hear that in this era where people prefer to listen to things that are too loud for them rather to hear nice music that there still exists such nice music...this kid is really really great...especially since his friends would rather blast their eardrums with out-of-tune rock and punk and yet, hes playing such a nice piece...ok, it may not be classic, but at least its not that loud and stupid...this kid's got a great future...remember the name, peter moore...and its not just cuz hes a trombonist that i recommend him...

David said 11:34 AM<3

ok...lets clear up some stuff here...i never ever said that HSM 3 sux...wad i did was just to say that HSM 3 is really good..but if you say that is an asskicker, then you are really deprived...okay, maybe if HSM3 isnt graduation, then nobody will say that, but HEY, you dunt base your rating of the movie based on its title and u dunt base it on wads great in the movie and forget wads not so great in the movie...HSM3 is good, but it aint great...and no, i wunt remember it like the way i remember casion royale or the simpsons...you may say that im insane and unappreciative of good stuff..but wats the point of us discussing this if you are going to base it on your terms and im going to base it on mine? a movie, no matter wad it is, a musical, action, dancing movie shouldnt be predictable...and sadly, HSM3 is too predictable...

David said 11:29 AM<3