My friend said, my life sounds full. And full it is, and I'm loving it. In the first week of school, I already had about 3 gigs for Sir Real, which was good, and which means I get extra pocket money. Then again, I used it all up to buy a huge Gallien Kruger Goldline cabinet, 200W, 2X10" Goldline cones, driven by the 400W Acoustic Image head. Weight is 35kg. It is A MONSTER! But sounds oh so good. The bass finally comes out so clear, and because it has a natural bass boost to it, I even have to turn it down on the Acoustic Image head. All that for 140pounds. I reckon it was a good deal, but I also realise after buying that, that I still don't have an amp to carry around for gigs. I think I'll just wait and see what pops up. I'm eyeing either the Phil Jones Flight Case Combo, or the Mark Bass 2X10 traveller cab with the Acoustic Image head. I got no money though.

And then Debra and I ended our relationship, well quite a long while ago from this date. It was at least a month ago, the 2nd week of school actually. The problem now is that, although I'm over her and can think of her as the friend like before, but I somehow don't know what to say or talk when I see her. Granted I don't even see her often at all, because of my packed schedule, and I hardly even logon to MSN these days either. But I really don't know what to talk about. She says she wants me to be the friend before, to help her be the best that she can be, but I don't want to scold her or whatever. 

The previous weekend I went with All Souls Orchestra to Newcastle, or more precisely, The Sage, Gateshead, to play for Prom Praise Northeast. It was a great trip, met many new people and some jazzers even. 2 sold out shows, matinee and evening, and then played at the local churches on Sunday morning, had lunch with them and then caught the train back. Unfortunately, our scheduled train was cancelled so we had to squeeze on the previous one, which meant that our booked seats weren't really in use, so we had to stand for almost 4 hours. Then again, I got to talk to a couple of the musicians, especially a jazz singer who's studying classical singing in RAM. Cool stuff. Anyway, The Sage is a beautiful place. It had a full glass exterior, in the form of a wave, and it was close to the Gateshead Millennium bridge, which is a ingenious piece of construction. It needed to be the same clearance as the old bridge to allow ships to pass under, but the banks there were much lower. So they solved the problem by having a semi-circular bridge, with another semi-circular counter-weight at a 45degree angle. When ships need to pass under, the machinery rotates the bridge and it forms a big arch which has the same clearance height as the old bridge. Brilliant.

Apparently, Big Band doesn't want me to play for the competition anymore. I seriously think there is some racist issue going on man. Firstly, the conductor decides he doesn't want double bass to play for the 3 charts. Understandable for 2 of the charts, but still rather odd that someone would prefer bass guitar to upright for big band. Ok no problem, so chairperson assumed I can't play bass guitar, which is seriously a lame assumption. So I met him, told him I can play bass guitar as well, so I decided to do the easiest chart, so I don't have to work much. And then, when I follow the chart exactly, the section leader of rhythm says it sounds odd and thinks I'm playing wrongly. Mind you I played exactly as written. So in the end he kept looking at my score and realised that I was playing correctly. So even though he at first was a little hesitant to let me play a chart that I had never played before, he said ok in the end. And then now the conductor decides he outright doesn't want me to play. Seriously, what the heck?! The worse part; so he gets the new bassist to play all the charts. Sure he's a great bassist, but it's also his 1st or 2nd time playing all the charts, at most. So what's the matter? Chinese boy can't play bass?! Come to think of it, I am the only asian in the main big band. Maybe they have some subconscious thing that Chinese can't play jazz. So ok I get to slack, but WHAT A WASTE OF TIME! Just tell me in the start that you don't want me to play then. Somehow I'm coming not to like the Big Band people that much anymore. 

Meanwhile, Sir Real is making some good progress, and now we all really listen to each other, and it really brings the whole band to a new level when we respond to each other. Unfortunately, our pianist is leaving, deciding that he didn't want the commitment of a weekly practice and he had many clashes with the leader. Fair enough, but I'll really miss playing with him. He has such a good ear, and really responds and interacts with the band. And finding and working with a new pianist would mean we have to build up the dynamism again, unless of course any new pianists have the same perception of music, which is unlikely, especially in a science college. I do hope we find a good one, because if the band reverts to the state it was before, I am not going to be happy at all, and there won't be any kick in playing.

I tried my hand with this other pop band outside college. I wanted to just play and earn some more money, and the guy made it sound like he got plenty of gigs, which would mean good money. I didn't care about what genre I was playing. But, it turned out, their gigs are all unpaid, and they are trying to get signed with a record label, which meant that they were going around playing wherever they could. The worse part was that they didn't even have proper scores. I had to make out the chords and structures on the day of the gig. How annoying. Next time remind me to ask about the pay first. Usually the people whose gigs are unpaid are not good, so I shouldn't bother.

In school, we rushed through about 4-5 huge topics this term, all because we have a month of clinicals starting next week. While I look forward to the clinicals, the last month has been crazy! Too many lectures, too much information, too much time in school, too little time to actually absorb the information. So I resorted to really studying every moment I could. It worked, because I just about kept up with work. I summarised most of the information in my 1-page-wonders, so now all I have to do is study from them. Next week, I begin my firm at Northwick Park Hospital, doing GI surgery, and boy am I looking forward to it. Well not so much the getting screwed over by consultants, but the learning experience as a whole will be great I reckon. Moreover, there are quite a few CMF people in Northwick Park Hospital as well, so we can have mini gatherings there, and I heard the teaching there is good, probably because it's a little far out in zone 3 or 4 Northwest. So for the next month I have to travel there everyday. I should actually travel there one day beforehand, but I can't be bothered actually. I'll just leave really early on the first day.

Oh, and back in Singapore, my brother got his name on a paper that is about to be published, which is awesome for his CV! Mum has a new job, and I pray that she is doing well and that she'll continue to be a light there. Dad is still working his HiPoint project, which I reckon would be great, and I hope to help out some when I am back in summer or easter. And, I'm planning to get a 1/4 size double bass made for me, and chuck a Shadow pickup on it, then use it as my primary bass in Singapore. Or, I could also take it here to London, but that might be too much of a hassle. I'll consider though. But the Shadow pickup I tried on my friend's bass the other day was brilliant! It sounded so clean, so good, both on arco and pizz. I couldn't believe it. The tone is a little on the boomy side, but I never heard a double bass pickup sound so clean before. So I'm considering getting that for about 120pounds, and then with a 1/4size proper bass, I could invest in a good condenser microphone to add on at the side. Ooooo exciting!

Because of clinicals next week, we actually have a slack week this week, which feels great after the last month of slogging like a dog. At the same time I have to study and memorise all the stuff I learnt so far, for firms so that I know what I'm actually doing when I get there, and can really benefit from it.