March 16th to March 22nd.

~Netball: Netball practise was fun. We had to play two sorts of games, one was only 2/3 of the court and the other was a full game. I played wing defense and it was quite difficult because i had to work against two very tall and experienced netball players. I think one of my problems is that i focus too much on the ball- i noticed that the other players don't run around as much as I do. What i have to focus on instead is probably my position and what I have to do which is defended the circle area and also getting the rebound.
~Pessoc: practise this week was very interesting. Initially i was the only cellist because some people were on holiday, but later another lady came and rescued me. I again enjoyed myself and we didn't have full rehearsals through the pieces, but rather went through section by section, because a lot of the players were missing.
~Chamber: This week we had two performances. The first one on monday went pretty badly because the accoustics were bad and the hall was very big, so the sound got distorted. A lot of people got lost during the piece. The second performance on tuesday however went much smoother because we were in a smaller room. We also had a better rehearsal, and also did the recording. my solo part for the recording was quite bad because my bow didn't have enough rosin, but fortunately the actual performance sounded much better.
~Reading Buddies: We didn't have to go for reading buddies this week because the year 4s were on a fieldtrip.
~Hip Hop: Due to the senior recital, i wasn't able to attend again this week.
~UES: This week Suzie began the meeting by reading out an environmental issue from a newspaper that says global warming is getting worse. I guess the article really highlights how important it is preserve the environment before many precious things are lost eternally. Our chem teacher also showed us a video before though, that disputes whether global warming really exists- some say the global warming theory was concocted by politicians to gain favour of their 'Green Campaign', but scientific findings showed that as opposed to carbon dioxide causing global temperature to rise, it is instead increased solar activity that does this. We also still have yet to vote for our new president and vice-president.
~Theory: There was no theory, as it is areca term break.
~Solfege: Solfege this week was again two dictation pieces. I did reallwell because i got almost everything correct. hurrah! my improvement now is mainly to get my rests in the right place, because i tend to get it mixed up with note values. I also have to learn to write in more correct notation, rather than just writing it so its mathematically correct, but rather writing it so that it is musically correct and easier to read.
~Piano: There was no piano as my teacher is on holiday in japan.
~Math tutoring: Christine was unable to attend as she had to go for DT again. She DID pass me a past year paper that i will mark for her.
~Mentoring: This week Niki and I didn't arrange to meet up, but i texted her instead to ask her how she was doing.

March 9th to march 15th

~Netball: Netball this week was again playing netball games. We didn't try learn any particular skills, but rather just learnt through playing the games. Friday practices have been cancelled because Ms. Denny can no longer make it on Friday.

~Pessoc: Pessoc this week was pretty good. I played with the same guy, and the conductor said it was much better than before. There was also one new piece, called the hebrides, which I've played before in the Uplands chamber orchestra, and it this made it easier for me to play it in PESSOC. i was surprisingly able to lead the section when they got lost, because of my prior knowledge of the piece.

~Chamber: Chamber practise went as per normal. We will be performing next week. The recording we did this week wasn't that good, and i came in late for my second solo because i misinterpreted the conductor's hand movement.

~Hip Hop: i was unable to attend hip hop this week.

~Reading Buddies: There was no reading buddies this week, as the year 4s had other non-reading-related activities.

~UES: This week was spent alloting duties again. I've decided to go and update the upenso blog- www.upenso.blogspot.com. Suzie also told me that she was entering my name to be a potential president of UES, and in the event that i DO become president, i hope i will do a good job and bring the society to greater heights.

~mentoring: This time i forgot to show up for the mentor meeting because i had to attend a music rehearsal for a recording. i will apologise to my mentee and set up a new meeting.

~Math Tutoring: Christine couldn't make it for math as she had DT.

~Piano: Piano this week was the same. This time instead of the adagio, i played the first movement of the Beethoven Sonata. It was quite bad, because I haven't practised that section properly for a long time, but i really enjoy the chord progressions that beethoven uses.

~Solfege:Solfege this week was moved from sat. to tues because of relay for life, and it was quite difficult. We did two music dictation pieces, and the first was easy, but the second was really hard because there were so many notes. I missed about 5 out of the 16 bars, but i think i did relatively okay, because it WAS really hard.

~Theory: Theory this week was really interesting. We learnt about chord scales, which is essentially finding a scale that relates to a chord. For example, any minor chord has a a dorian scale that accompanies it. we also learnt about sharp 4ths/11ths, which lend a very jazzy sound to a chord by creating dissonance. Wilson also recapped on the minor, major, 7ths, diminished, flat 5 and dominant chords. I find that this is an improvement to having to write compositions, and it helps a lot in my understanding of modes and how all the concepts fit together.
~Relay for life: relay for life is a project that has spanned for the last nine weeks or so. first of all we had to plan which activities we would like to initiated in order to begin fundraising. Our group decided on mainly baking and also craft items. We also planned to cater for valentine items like roses and cupcakes and so we made order forms that students could fill up. We then printed the forms, cut them and distributed them to the secondary classes who were interested and we made announcements in tutor period. Following this, forms were collected at the end of the week, along with any money owed. i was in charge of ordering the roses, and we ordered 100 roses at the price of 2RM, with the intent of selling them at 3ringgit. We were able to sell all the roses. We also met after school to bake things like cupcakes, write the valentine notes, and make fudge. In total we were able to fundraise 689 RM, and although we were the best group, i still think we did pretty well.

The second part of relay for life was the actual relay part. This happened on the 14th to the 15th of March at the Youth Park. we gathered at the Uplands tent at 3.30pm and changed into the relay for life shirt. After that, we had to listen to speeches and follow the programme given to us by the organisers. We started walking at around 6 O Clock and walked for 2 consecutive hours. After that i ate a quick dinner, and then then went back to walking. I walked until about 6 in the morning before sleeping for one hour and walking again. The main reason why i was able to do this was because i was continually walking WITH someone and so the company kept me going as well as keeping me awake. i also participated in one of the races where a group of 5 had to run for 15 minutes and compete by accumulating the most number of steps taken using a pedometer. it was pretty fun, even though we didn't win, and only came 3rd. One thing that really struck me was that at around 5 O clock when i was gathered with some other walkers, we were talking about how painful our legs were and someone said, 'Maybe this is how cancer patients feel every day of their life.' This made me feel really glad that i joined relay for life. Cancer is something that people have to fight against, and has become more and more common in society that nearly every person knows of someone, or is, afflicted with cancer. I really approve of the fundraising we did because i think its very wasteful to let lives be lost because of the lack of financing. This should be the last reason for death- the physical fight against cancer is already enough of a drain, nevermind having to worry about how to pay for treatment and all that. I hope that the fundraising we did was able to make a significant difference in someone's life. This event has taught me how a community must be united, especially when trying to overcome or confront an issue as big as cancer. I intend to participate in relay for life again next year.

March 1st- March 8th

Badminton~ i wasn't able to attend badminton this week as I had a conflicting church activity.

Netball~ There was only one practise this week on monday, and we started with some drills of passing and also some chest passing. We had also to move before passing, either to the left or right. Later we played a game and i played two positions- Goal shooter and Wing Defence. As goal shooter, i was only allowed in the upper third of the field, and Valerie was marking me. I've never played this position before, and i think i played rather badly. For Wing Defence, i also didn't do very well, because Lidia was very difficult to mark, and i was outnumbered. I have to watch my football, and also remember to retain a 1m distance between the person i'm marking. I think my other issue is also running backwards, because i have a fear of hitting someone and this leads to me loosing the ball to the other team instead of obstructing it in time.

PESSOC~ This is a new activity I'm joining. Its the Penang state orchestra, and we meet on monday nights from 8-10. i play the cello and in our section that week, there were 5 people present. I found it rather difficult to play the scores but over i found the practise very enjoyable, because i like playing in an orchestra to feel the fullness and richness of sound. The pieces that we're working right now are very popular numbers and include pieces like Carmen and so on. The performance is in May, and there's one piece that begins with just the cello section, and I get to play the 5th solo, which is very nerve racking as all the cellists are better than me.

Hip hop~ The hip hop session wasn't as fun as last weeks. We began with warmups again, and Sean was leading us in simple hip hop steps rather similar to the ones we learnt last week. Then later another guy came to lead, and he did an 8 step choreagraphy. His style of dancing wasn't as carefree and easy, it was much more controlled. Personally, i prefer the first style. We spent half of the lesson learning his 8 step choreagraphy, and i think the steps were harder, and the moves were also faster, thats it they took much longer to learn. Overall, i still enjoyed hip hop!

Reading Buddies~ This week we went straight to the library for the session. I managed to read with three kids, and we have this new system whereby we fill in their booklets so as to reading their reading performance and also the number of books/pages that they're read. I find that reading to someone probably helps the children a lot and i want to be able to encourage them to read better. Most of them get more fluent and also improve their pronunciation by reading aloud, so i'm really glad to be able to help.

Math Tutoring~ There wasn't math tutoring this week as Christine was unable to make it.

Mentoring~ again we weren't able to meet up as Nikki did not show up.

Chamber~ We went through Kaiser Waltz and also When the Going gets tough. Playing in PESSOC gave me a better idea how to approach the solo part in the Kaiser Waltz, and we worked mainly on keeping the rhythm fast in true Viennien Style for the Waltz parts. Genevieve, our oboeist, is unable to play as she got braces, so ms. leong might have to rearrange the orchestral score to make up for her absence. i think she's not to blame though, and its just part of being in an orchestra that sometimes you loose important keys members, and just have to make the necessary adjustments.

Piano~ We had lesson this week, and Saori extended my lesson a bit. She said that my fingers have improved and that my tone has also improved as a result. Apparently my left hand is better than my right, and my third finger on my right hand is also very good. I'd probably attribute this to the Debussy piece and also the Czerny and Hanon practises. i've also found that my last two fingers have strengthened, as its much easier for me to play trills using these fingers than it was before.

Theory~ We'll be quitting theory class soon. I showed Wilson my fourth tone piece, but he said its not usable because its doesn't stick to a particular mode. i still don't quite understand the whole concept of modes and all that, but Wilson said its all a matter of practise.

Solfege~ Solfege this week was pretty good. I've improved a lot!! i only made one mistake for the second dictation, and three mistakes for the first dictation. The sight reading was also pretty easy.