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Tuesday, January 22, 2008

-- Opened --

#-Flung athwart its pages betrayed the rhythm and music

There was a good point made in Sunday's sermon. A very simple point, but worth taking note of, and that way: everyone is given 24 hours a day, no more, no less, and we have to use it all up every single day, so each of us spends it differently. And if you think about it, it is quite a lot of time, and we can either use it to serve God by say, developing skills and talents or helping others, or we could use it for our own enjoyment and pleasure but not serving God.

And so when we look at other people we admire and think to ourselves, "why are they so good at what they do?" we have to look back first and see what we've done with that same time given to us each day. Did we spend it in sin, blatantly disregarding what God calls us to do? Or did we use to become more and more like Christ?

In this season for me where I'm susceptible to loneliness, Joyce sent me an article about using the period of singleness God has given each of us to heed God's call and prepare ourselves to be presented as pure, glorious beings for our future spouses, and ultimately, to our creator.

I am also reminded of a beautiful passage from Anne of Avonlea:
Perhaps, after all, romance did not come into one's life with pomp and blare, like a gay knight riding down. Perhaps it crept to one's side like an old friend through quiet ways. Perhaps it revealed itself in seeming prose, until some sudden shaft of illumination flung athwart its pages betrayed the rhythm and the music. Perhaps...perhaps...love unfolded naturally out of a beautiful friendship, as a golden-hearted rose slipping from its green sheath.

Ah but yet not to fall into the trap of romanticism at the same time. A truly narrow path we tread.

On to other happenings...

I joined the All Souls bands and orchestra, and just played for an evening service yesterday. Apparently, I was scheduled for both Double Bass and Electric Bass, which meant I had to switch places quite often, and it wasn't a very pleasant sight. With the orchestra, I'll also get to play 2 concerts in March and April called Prom Praise, and these are held at Royal Albert Hall. Not only is this one of the most prestigious concert venues in London if not the world, apparently, they hold many other concerts in famous venues all over UK, and I am invited to join them, but I might have to check my schedule if it actually permits such frequent overseas trips.

Also, the combo jazz band that was supposed to get started last term finally got started, and I pulled Debra to sing for us, not only coz she's better than the existing Imperial Big Band singers but also to help her with opportunities to perform, which I know she enjoys. The other 3 guys are all music students at RCM, and although they are technically good, 2 of them don't seem all that serious on it, which means stuff like startings and endings were not figured out. But I hope it gets better.

Imperial Big Band will be travelling to Bristol over the weekend to play a gig and I will be going for them, and depending on how I find the trip, I might or might not want to follow them for any other gigs outside London, considering the transportation and logistics involved. In fact, All Souls orchestra will also be travelling on some weekends, but I haven't decided if I should follow them.

I have to perform with the LSE swing dance society for at least 3 performances in the next month or 2, which means more rehearsals and none of the follows are any good... There was an aerial class on Saturday and my whole body still aches.

It looks like my inital thoughts on how difficult it is to get opportunities to perform were unfounded and I seem to be proven wrong, considering how many gigs I seem to be getting myself into in the next few months alone.

Wanted to join Imperial Ballroom dance for ChaCha, but Swing performance class is also on Tuesdays, so that was out...but I might still want to do it after my performances are over, I still find ChaCha one of the nicest latin dances, and at least it is more rhythmically more flexible than Salsa and more accessible than Samba or Rhumba, so it definitely appeals to me.

Most people in my group in school still think I'm super hardworking and smart, which I'm clearly not, and will be proven when my grades for the exams come out on Wednesday. Well I am hardworking but definitely not as smart as some of them...I just hope and pray I become a good doctor. I don't have to know everything, but I just want to be a good doctor, and ultimately do God's work.

My Warr guitar is also improving. I recorded myself and posted it on my Facebook profile. It doesn't sound half bad, except my singing of course, but I had noone else around when I recorded. I really like the richness of the tone the Pod XT Live provides on the guitar side, and I love the simpleness of how one hand plays just bass and the other plays solo, and no chords in between to distract the listener from the solo. Which also means I have to improve my solos to a much higher standard. At the same time, I'm learning the Jimmy Bruno method, so I find that my lines are also starting to become cleaner somewhat, although still a long way to go.

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