Monthly Archives: April 2010

All I need is one little corner

Posted on by
3

Ever since Dia, Nessa & I stayed at that gorgeous B&B during our trip to Amsterdam, I have developed a newfound love for conservatories. Largely uncommon in Singapore, I’ve only ever seen them in magazines and on the Cluedo board.  Little did I know how much tranquility a small space like that could offer. Sitting in that sweet little nook truly made breakfast (yes, our breakfast was served there every day!) all the more pleasurable, with the radiant sun peeking through the windows, and the lush greenery illuminating the serenity of the moment. I can attest to the fact that it was something we looked forward to each morning we were there. Of course, I admit that half the fun was attributed to the sheer novelty of it all, but I honestly believe that if I had a conservatory of my own, it’d easily be one of my favourite spots in the house. I’ll be able to enjoy the comfort of staying indoors yet still be surrounded by nature at the same time. It’s a perfect mesh! :)

I’m inspired by these pictures that I found on House to Home and Ideal Home. With conservatories like these, I’m gonna find it extremely difficult to tear myself away from my home.

We all know it’s more fun this way

Posted on by
Reply

Whenever the girls and I do some karaoke, we’d make it a point to select a long list of songs from 90s boybands, throw in a number of rock ballads, probably a current hit or two, and some other tunes for us to wail along to. Then, we’d do our best impersonations, complete with over-the-top dance/rock star moves, and completely take the mickey out of each of them. Is any serious singing done? Probably just for five songs. And well, I guess we always put in a lot of effort to get Bohemian Rhapsody and Don’t Speak right. So I guess we can count them in our “repertoire”?

I know of some people who take karaoke soooo seriously that they’d probably walk out of the room as soon as I sing that first line of Wannabe. I don’t know man. Isn’t karaoke supposed to be fun? I mean, the whole setup of a karaoke outlet – from it’s private rooms, to the completely irrelevant accompanying video, down to the poor lighting – is designed in such a way that it allows us to unleash our inner cheesy pop stars, right? No? It’s just me?

Well, in any case, if you’re anything like me and my girls who enjoy nothing more than to mimic the boybands of yore, allow me to suggest some of our favourites, so you won’t have to waste too much time scrolling through the pages of songs, next time you hit the karaoke spots.

1. Dancing Queen – Abba (great starter piece; loosens you up rightaway)
2. Same Old Brand New You – A1 (catchy tune, and the choreography is really easy to pick up!)
3. Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) – Backstreet Boys (the chorus is always a crowd pleaser)
4. Flying Without Wings – Westlife (minimal choreography but totally fun to make fun of!)
5. Bye Bye Bye – NSync (gets a tad repetitive after awhile though)
6. I’ll Never Break Your Heart – Backstreet Boys (great pop ballad to get all dramatic on)
7. Barbie Girl – Aqua (needs no explanation, I’m sure?)
8. Boom Boom Boom – Vengaboys (feel free to jump to this one)
9. Spice Up Your Life – Spice Girls (you’ve gotta do this with at least 2 others)
10. Sweet Child Of Mine – Guns N Roses (a must if you enjoy wailing)

The one where the family has a common musical goal

Posted on by
4

It was supposed to be a Good Friday filled with back-to-back episodes of Glee and celebrating a birthday. Yet, the innate musicality that runs in my family caused us to abandon our original party plans all because we unanimously agreed to learn the Glee version of a Bill Withers’ classic after some gentle prodding from one of the cousins. Brennan was convinced that we would one day perform either for a family gathering, or for a church function. And seeing as we’re a family with absolutely no qualms about singing in public, we immediately gathered in my room and embarked on Project: Lean On Me.

We (or, rather, Brayton) tried to figure out the harmonies first based on a preview page of the sample sheet music we got off the Internet, but after seeing how devoted we were to getting our melodies perfect, we promptly purchased/downloaded the rest of the sheet music, and gleefully – ha! see what I did there? – got down to learning our parts. It was an extremely serious session, with all of us displaying plenty of dedication as we eagerly took instructions from our 17-year-old conductor extraordinaire. Unfortunately, the song was a LOT more difficult than we thought, so we only managed to learn up until the end of the first chorus. All within 3 hours. LOL. You see, only 2 of the cousins can sight read. So um, yeah. :p

What I loved most about the whole experience was the exciting revelation that God may have a bigger purpose for us to fulfill. Not only has He blessed us in such a way that He has given us similar gifts, He’s even gone so far as to give each of us different vocal ranges so we could perfectly fill up the various SATB roles (Soprano: Rachel, Alto: Me, Tenor: Brennan, Bass: Bjorn & Ian, Soloist 1: Beth, Soloist 2 & Conductor: Brayton). Naturally, His blessings brought about indescribable feelings of pure bliss as we sang together as a family.

The 7 of us don’t get to come together very often, so I’m not sure when exactly we’ll finish learning the song. But I’m confident that the end product will be pretty decent, and dare I say, good, even. But yes, we’ll try to do a recording so you can judge. ;) For now, I’m just deeply thankful that we all have this amazing connection with each other, that can simply be attributed to our love for God and music. :)