The best musical I've seen

Following my last post on the Phantom of the Opera I started thinking of another musical I watched a number of years ago...

Les Misérables

It was the first real live stage musical I had ever watched. So probably much of the grandeur and significance of Les Misérables was due to the novelty of the whole experience in general.

But thinking back, I think I still say that Les Misérables still remains my favourite musical. Phantom was no doubt more impressive in its special effects, costumes and theatrics of it all. But I think Les Misérables conveys by far a deeper, more meaningful and moving story.

The story is rich with multiple layers of themes...

...self discovery and internal conflict of right and wrong
...sacrificial love
...the central lovers
...unrequited love
...patriotism and war
...love of a father for his son
...the fight for freedom and idealism of a better world

These I believe are just some of the themes that I stand out for me. I'm certain there are more as we peel back the layers further.

The colours and theatrics are more down to earth in this show. But the depth emotion shown in the music, the lyrics and the story itself is the thing that really grips you.

My favourite character is Eponine, a very strong and tough gal, unfortunately the guy she loves is in love with someone else... but in spite of that, she helps hook him up with the other girl, while she herself looks on from the outside. I know, I know, very typical cliché love triangle. But I'm just so moved by her character, especially in this song where she sings about how she loves him but must go on pretending...

On My Own - Eponine (Lea Salonga)

I think I cried as I listened to this piece for the first time...

I love him...
But every day I'm learning
All my life I've only been pretending
Without me his world will go on turning
A world that's full of happiness
That I have never known!

This next one is my dad's favourite song from the musical... it's sung in the scene after a battle where Jean Valjean prays fervently for Marius's (his daughter's fiancee) life.

Bring him home - Jean Valjean (Colm Wilkinson)

Bring him peace, bring him joy
He is young, he is only a boy
You can take, you can give
Let him be, let him live
If I die, let me die
Let him live...

You listen and tell me how can you not be moved!

Music of the Night

This week, hubby took me out to enjoy the 'music of the night' at Phantom of the Opera musical.

Despite the tiredness from the long week, it was uplifting to sit back and soak in the powerful music, moving arias, and the fantastical costumes and set designs.

If you think this sort of thing isn't your cup of tea, I'd recommend that you think twice, because even if the music might seemed too 'chim' for your taste, I'd say just the costumes, lighting and stage effects alone are enough to captivate you throughout the performance (as it did for hubby).

Program booklet

Waiting for the show to start

My favourite piece from the performance is Raoul's and Christine's rooftop scene where they sang 'All I ask of you'

From the Phantom of the Opera movie

I rather liked Raoul's character (the guy singing 'All I Ask of You' with Christine in the clip above), he seemed to be quite a practical and positive guy... especially when contrasted to the main Phantom character. Phantom is quite overly melodramatic with all his mysterious 'listen to the music of the night', organ playing, victim syndrome and screaming about. It's no wonder Christine ended up being the nervous wreck she was. Good thing she had sensible Raoul to counter her paranoia by insisting that there be 'no more talk of darkness...'

Brunch date

One of my top favourite simple pleasures in life is having a long leisurely Saturday morning brunch. This is usually prepared in a leisurely fashion in my own kitchen by me for hubby and I.

But just this last Saturday, I was able to indulge in this favourite pleasure without lifting a finger... except to lift my own fork to my mouth.

Here's my lovely date for Saturday morning brunch at the Millpoint Cafe in South Perth.


She had poached eggs on toast with smoked salmon, while I had eggs benedict (poached eggs with hollandaise sauce and ham) on turkish bread.


Nothing like a good dose of girlie time to shake off the stress of a long week!

A speck of dust

On Sunday we watched Louis Giglio's Indescribable

Indescribable - Louis Giglio


It was totally mind blowing and impressed upon me more deeply on the grandeur and majesty of our world and our God.

When I look up at the heavens to the stars... or when I look down at the palm of my hand... my naked eye alone cannot imagine the scale and the detail that exists beyond. With the most powerful telescope stretching to the farthest of the universe, all we see is only the tip of the iceberg. And with the most detailed microscope, we do not yet even know how smaller things go beyond electrons and the DNA.

It baffles my mind.

Yet in the eyes of the modern scientific, philosophical and psychological world... it all means nothing.

I recently read a book that detailed the intricacies of music and how our bodies and ears have been designed to process and appreciate this organised sound known as music. It was a great book. But disappointing to read the conclusion that reduced our appreciation of music as a mere instinctive biological reaction developed through the evolutionionary process.

I admit I don't have all the knowledge and expertise to analyse how everything in our world fits together... be it through some sort of evolutionary process or through involving some creative force.

What about the myriad of impulses in my mind and body displaying themselves as emotions... surely must mean something deeper... the depth of grief I feel, the immense joy of shared laughter with loved ones, the powerful love between a mother and child...

The fact that I can even wonder and ponder about it all... doesn't that say something?

But isn't it amazing? We are just a speck of dust in this big universe. Our whole world might fit on a flower just like in Horton's world.

You can also read about the personalised indescribable experience I put together as a surprise present for my hubby’s birthday here.

I know this guy!

In need of some solid good music?

Here's a little sampler for you. Check out No. 12 Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. It blew my mind away! (You might need to use the DOWN and UP arrow on your keyboard to scroll)




That's Roger Wang, folks.

He's originally from my hometown back in KK. His work is just starting to become well known in the international arena... so look out for him.

Always something new to discover

Recently discovered interesting things about my hubby:

#1. We were watching slumdog millionaire the other day, and during the scene where the game show host was asking Jamal the final question:

"In Alexander Dumas' book, 'The Three Musketeers', two of the musketeers are called Athos and Porthos. What was the name of the third Musketeer?"

I had no idea. Perhaps you do. But I was totally surprised when hubby nonchalantly answered: A - Aramis.

"Jamal you have just won yourself 20 million rupees!!!", said the game show host.

I whipped my head around to face hubby and exclaimed, "how did you know that???"

"Oh, didn't you know that the Three Musketeers was one of my favourite story books when I was a kid?"



#2. On Sunday during offering, the worship team was playing this familiar tune (in rock style)



Later I turned to hubby and casually asked him whether he heard that song before.

"Yeah, Canon in D. It's one of my favourite songs, I used to put it on repeat mode on my MP3 player on my computer all the time"


Always something new to discover.

Another one of my favourite things: Strawberries and Cream

Strawberries and Cream!!!

Sounds so cliche right? But this is absolutely one of my favourite (and easy to make) desserts. I sometimes hesitate sharing a grand secret like this wondering if it will take away some of the magic. But since good things must be shared, here goes...

It's terribly simple to prepare.

Let's start with the strawberries... chop up about half a punnet of strawberries (remove the leaves of course), sprinkle with some balsamic vinegar or lemon juice and sugar, then set aside.

I then whip up about half a cup of cream (or you can use the instant canned whipped cream). Fold the strawberries into the cream, then dollop into little teacups/bowls to serve.

To add a touch of class (and extra sinfulness) I sometimes fold in some broken up pieces of meringue in as well. I also like to sprinkle some chopped nuts on top.


Absolutely divine. I'm gonna make another batch for dessert tonight!

25 random things about me

After a couple of tags, I decided to plunge into this (probably because I'm procrastinating from starting work)

1. I was born in the year of the Monkey.
2. I dont like drinking milk. Always have since I was a kid. I just don't find the taste appealing. The only way I can down it is with cereal and even with that it HAS to be cold skim milk and nothing else.
3. My current favourite cereal is Cheerios.
4. My current favourite drink is tomato juice.
5. I had my first car accident two days after I got my driver's license.
6. I got my first mobile phone when I was in second year of university.
7. I recently started baking my own bread.
8. I prefer summer over winter and heat over cold
9. I prefer tea to coffee and wine to beer.
10. I have to pause now to hang up the laundry.
11. My two favourite male actors are Johnny Depp and Christian Bale.
12. My longest phone record is 9 hours straight on the phone.
13. I chipped my front tooth falling down a flight of stairs while rushing to catch a taxi to the airport for a business trip to HK (my colleague had to postpone my appointments telling them all why... I had to deal with curious questions and looks during all the following week's meetings in HK).
14. I made spaghetti carbonara for dinner last night.
15. I used to help my hubby run a board games cafe in Singapore.
16. I've never had chicken pox. I got vaccinated just before I went to uni and need to check every now and again that my vaccination levels are sufficient. Now there's no turning back as it would be too inconvenient to have it.
17. My wedding ceremony and two wedding banquets were held in three different cities in the span of four days.
18 I had a brief encounter with someone I met on the internet when I was 17 (we went out twice before I stopped answering his calls).
19. I picked up sign language from my hearing impaired housemate while I was at university.
20. The one type of food I cannot stomach is internal organs... kidney and liver - yucks!
21. I used to be in my church tambourine dance group.
22. I sometimes wonder how I would survive never being able to sleep in on Saturdays again after we have kids.
23. My top love language is 'Quality Time', followed by 'Words of Affirmation'
24. I am a 'banana' (Chinese who cannot speak Chinese)
25. My top five simple pleasures in life are: having a nice leisurely pancake and/or eggs breakfast on Saturday mornings; curling up in bed with a good book; a really really good laugh - until my tummy hurts and start crying; coming home to any place I call home; waking up in the dark and checking my clock to find that I still have 2 hours of sleep left before it's time to get up.

Books I've read... and books to read

BBC believes the majority of people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.

Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an 'X' after those you have read.
2) Tally your total at the bottom.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (X)
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien (X)
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (X)
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling (X)
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (X)
6 The Bible (X)
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte (X)
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell ( )
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman ( )
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dicken ( )
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott (X)
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy ( )
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller ( )
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare ( )
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier ( )
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (X)
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks ( )
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger ( )
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger ( )
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot ( )
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell (X)
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald ( )
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens ( )
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy ( )
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams (X)
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh ( )
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky ( )
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck ( )
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll (X)
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame (X)
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy ( )
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens (X)
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis (X)
34 Emma - Jane Austen (X)
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen ( )
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (X)
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini ( )
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres ( )
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden (X)
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne ( )
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell (X)
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown (X)
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez ( )
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving ( )
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins ( )
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery (X)
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy ( )
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood ( )
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding ( )
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan ( )
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel ( )
52 Dune - Frank Herbert (X)
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons ( )
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen (X)
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth ( )
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon ( )
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens ( )
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley ( )
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon (X)
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez ( )
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck ( )
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov ( )
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt ( )
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold ( )
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas ( )
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac ( )
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy ( )
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding ( )
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie ( )
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville ( )
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens (X)
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker ( )
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett (X)
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson ( )
75 Ulysses - James Joyce ( )
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath ( )
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome ( )
78 Germinal - Emile Zola ( )
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray ( )
80 Possession - AS Byatt ( )
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (X)
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchel ( )
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker ( )
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro ( )
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert ( )
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry ( )
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White (X)
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom ( )
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (X)
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton (X)
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad ( )
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery (X)
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks ( )
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams ( )
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole ( )
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute ( )
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas ( )
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare ( )
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl (X)
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo (X)


Total: 33 (7th March 2009)

Source: BBC's Big Read


As I look back, there are some books which I had read because they were said to be 'Great Books' but may not have necessarily ended up liking - e.g. John Steinbeck. I recall my mum handing me a copy of Steinbeck's 'The Pearl' when I was in secondary school. Apparently there were a lot of elements of literature in it. I read it cover to cover. I understood all the moral lessons of poverty, greed, desire for wealth etc. But somehow I just didn't seem to 'get it'. Perhaps I found the story rather dark and sad at that time. Maybe if I read again now I might feel differently. Also, I think the book did not have much humour in it. I don't mind dark, twisted tales if the writer lets the reader smile in amusement every once in a while.

One book I surprised myself for liking is Frank Herbert's 'Dune'. Extreme sci fi man... I never considered any book from the sci fi genre to be in my list of favourites. I can't even remember how I came by to reading it. I liked it so much I went on to finishing the entire series from the prequels to the sequels (sci fi writers seem to like to start in the middle before writing the sequels and prequels).

P.S.#1 One book which I think should be in the list is 'The Joy Luck Club' by Amy Tan.

P.S.#2 Mum, how many did you get? I'm sure you can beat my score.

P.S.#3 If anyone else decides to pick this meme up, let me know k? I'd be interested to see what sort of books you like to read.

Misadventure at work

This morning while I was very focused on the computer screen, hard at work on the report due end of this week, there was suddenly a loud *BANG* and (horror of horrors) the computer screen went black.

The first thing that flashed in my mind was, "Alamak! When was the last time I saved my work???"

At the same moment, the whole office power had gone out and the phones were dead.

What was happening??? What should we do???

Sad to say, none of us knew how to react at first. Not a very good sign if this situation had been a dangerous emergency... and we were not sure yet whether this situation was supposed to be considered a dangerous one or not.

We finally gathered our wits and sent out one of us to venture outside to find out what the problem was.

Apparently an electrician had been trying to fix some broken lights and must have tripped or fused a wire, resulting in a power outage not only in our office but the entire building.

No computer. No internet. Can't even access the server to copy our work to laptops.

After hanging around for a while we had to resign to the indefinite timeframe of when this would be resolved. I went out for a walk and lunch and returned an hour later but the power was still out.

Finally after about three hours from the time of the outage, when we were at the brink of throwing in the towel and going home.... *kazaaam*... power was back.

It still took another hour or so to sort out the server.

Half a day gone.

Report deadline still there.

My job is tough

I supposedly enjoy what I do... but right now I'm back in the vicious cycle of the low point of the year. I always try to cheer myself up with reminders that there is light at the end of the tunnel. But somehow every year, there will always be that one (or two) project(s) where the tunnel seems veeeeery looooong.

I wish this was all over.

...

I said to hubby today, "Can we switch jobs for the rest of the week?"

He said "No way!"

And I asked, "Why, leh?"

His response, "Because your job is tougher"

...

Can you believe it? My job is tougher than an engineer's!

Just to add to the pity party, my throat is starting to feel scratchy... feeling horrible.