Exams stress

All my life, I have never worried about failing a paper. All my life, I never feared getting kicked out of school for failing. But this time, it's as real as it gets.

I'm never the type to share about my academics. I'm not the type that'll ask how high others's gpa scores are. I'm not a fan of discussing the questions and answer after an exam, in fact, I loathed it.

Ever since I started Uni, I see myself forcing myself to study, not to score distinction, but to pass. Dear lord, just let me pass. I'm not asking for anything more. I've really doing my very best, giving up time to practice yangqin, compromising time to hang out with friends.

I don't want to face another moment disappointing my parents. Most important of all, I don't want to leave Singapore like that. There's so many things I have grown dear to, so many people I have bonded with.

I won't go without a fight. But at the same time, the thought of failing frightens me so much. I'm losing my mind.

Grease, Bitch Slaps, Shine, Educate

So last Saturday (11th Oct 2014), my fingers were all greased up, my faced was slapped multiple times, and my middle finger was so sore I think it swollen just a little while I screamed "OUCH!!!". 

...The previous night...

"SCREW YOU I'VE HAD IT WITH YOU NOT COOPERATING! I SWEAR I'M GONNA REMOVE YOU WITH A NEW SET!"

Yeap! I had to do it. There's no other way. It's been too long, if I don't do it any sooner. If I don't remove it any sooner, it's gonna be bad for December. If I don't change it any sooner, it won't be able to stable down by December.

I'm talking about Yang Qin strings.

First, we gotta unwind the old strings

String-less yangqin. Bye old strings! (got bitch slapped a few times by these strings while removing them)

The OCD in me. Must make sure all the rollers go back to their rightful place when I mount the new strings in.

The disgusting part when it comes to changing new yq strings. THE GREASE!! Must have a tissue near me at all times for me to wipe them mofo grease. Why is there grease, you asked? To prevent the new strings from getting rusty. You see, the thing about YQ strings is, even though they rust, they're still quite durable for a long period of time. If it does not snap, you can basically keep tuning it. But here's where the problems begin. You can notice later in the pictures below, each note is basically made up of 2-5 strings, the higher the note, the more strings needed, and also the thinner the strings. High notes (or the most left bridge), the strings are steel strings, as compared to the middle notes to the low notes, where coiled strings are used (much like the ones in guitar, which compromises of both coiled strings for the bass strings, and steel strings for the other strings). 

The difficult part of tuning a yang qin is that we have to make sure that every single string is in the same and correct pitch, much like a piano. It's easier for the bass to middle notes, because we only have to tune one side, for there's only one side that produces the note. But moving towards the high notes is where it gets difficult, we have to tune both sides and make sure that every string in both side is in same pitch.

Let's make it easier for you to understand :)

Say, we take the 3rd fret at the high notes bridge. On the left side, is a C5, and sharing the same fret, on the right, it's an F4. The fret consist of 4 strings. We have to tune it so that every string hits the 442Hz frequency indicated on the tuner, with C5 on the left and F4 on the right, not being sharp or flat, and that's when the rollers come in. On both ends of the strings, they are mounted on rollers where we can fine tune it even further to hit the perfect pitch mark. 

In summary, we have to make sure all 4 strings are tuned so that both notes on both sides are not higher or lower in pitch than each other and they are in they're right pitch/notes. That's what YQ musicians have to look out for. 

There's an old joke saying that, harpists spend half their life tuning, and the other half playing out of tune.  That goes to yangqin musicians as well. But good and careful yangqin musicians will spend half of their life tuning, and half of their life playing in tune and let others be in awe by the wonderful tone and colour of the yangqin. ;)

Newly mounted strings. As you can see, the fret shares 4 strings, with both sides able to produce a note respectively, eg. C5 on the left, F4 on the right. 

The damage for this time round of strings changing. It was around SGD80 in total. Meh, it was worth it though.

Mandatory shot of the new shiny strings before they start to rust. 

Even though it was a long process (5 hours to be exact), even though it burnt up my revision for finals, it was still worth it! Till next time blog hoppers!

Update overdue!

*It was so long that I even forgot the exact date! HEHEHE! SORRY GUYS!*

Went out for dinner in Seoul Garden with my secondary school classmates. What makes this special? We're all from Malaysia, either studying or working in Singapore. It was really lovely to be able to catch up with them again. I admit, I haven't been the most active in catching up with them since we're all so busy with our daily lives. It funny, how we all say that Singapore is a small place, but it's always difficult to find time to meet up. Plus they've always been going out for dinner but I couldn't make it. So tonight, I'm gonna do it for everyone. I pushed aside my errands and went out.

Needless to say, it was worth it. Great to know that in this big city, being a foreign student, it's good to know that there are people from your hometown. Don't you start on me saying there are other Malaysian students studying abroad in Singapore too. They're totally different. Sabah is Sabah, ok? *proud Sabahan* 

Anyway, putting Nationalism *more like stateliesm(?)* aside, it was also a pleasant surprise to find out there are 15 others just from our secondary school batch alone that's residing in Singapore! 15!! 15!!!! Why haven't we thrown a party about it? Oh right... I barely knew them 😐

Then, I was told another classmate is heading over for a job in Singapore too! Mmmm this is gonna be fun, wonder how things will turn out for him. He found a place to stay in Somerset. 

SOMERSET SIOL! *cough he's rich cough*

Here's some pics from that night in Seoul.... GARDEN! HEHE!

Vinnki and Mei Tzan :)

and there's Justin and of course... Moi~ Le Diva~

OH I REMEMBER WHEN WAS THE OUTING! IT WAS DURING F1! :D *hint the lego reminded me*

Let Justin share the limelight for once ;)

It was a fun night :)

Mama carpenter

So I bought a drawer from ikea for my new room. It was so much fun to build! It's just like lego, for GROWN UPS! Who am I kidding, lego is for EVERYONE! ❤️❤️❤️❤️ *buy me lego!*

It's just gonna be a picture montage! Enjoy!

Even with instructions given,  I was so nervous that I'll start off the wrong piece and end up screwing up (no puns intended) the whole drawer! :(

Who knew hammering can be so much fun! It's just hammering the wooden pieces together joined by wooden pins between the pieces. No nails needed! But try hammering (still no pun) at around 11pm see how much fun AND attention you'll be getting.

(That's actually the back of the drawer, I didn't realise it that time)

SO! The drawer's starting to take shape. Everything was fairly easy till this point. Equipped with my previous mechanical engineering knowledge and a toolbox with proper tools that I did not ask permission from my house owner, I marched on, without realising something diabolical that's waiting for me ahead.

STOP! HAMMER TIME!

Yea, was so not ready to hammer nails. I dunno, had this fear that I might hammer my finger and it'll get swollen up like every episode in Tom and Jerry! 

Then the actual drawer itself! 

The finishing touch!

Now... the moment of truth!

IT WORKS PERFECTLY!!

And now it shall serve its purpose.

Such a beauty :)

It was really a lot of fun doing this! Might consider getting another low rising, longer counter table from Ikea just for my bags. But for now, my room feels even more homelier!

*oh and I also installed a new mirror in my room, GORGEOUS*