tulips

Chopin 200

2010 is Fryderyk Chopin’s 200th birth year. In line with his bicentennial birthday, which has just passed on the 1st of March, there are numerous festivals, piano recitals and dedication concerts worldwide in commemoration of arguably, the world’s most played composer (if there’s such a title to be given). BBC Radio 3 has some live performance broadcasts that are worth a listen.

Feed yourself with a calendar of events and interesting reads over at Chopin Year Celebrations. If you stay in Europe, there’s probably not enough time to visit/watch them all.

Back here, I will celebrate it by challenging myself to his Ballades (which I have never attempted before). These days, you could drop by IMSLP for scores.

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Gotta use this space

Hello, World!

Here am I again. People say Facebook killed the blog. Some say it’s the iPhone. And to the webbies, Twitter has had the last laugh. I wouldn’t say I succumbed to any of the above, except maybe I somewhat cannot resist checking my farm to harvest my lemon trees and plant grapes. I never got started with the other two anyway.

I believe too much tech is bad for health (literally and indirectly), just like how eating too much carrots is.

So here am I again. Maybe blogs just got rarer and more retro these days, and you know I got a penchant for those stuff. Gotta use this space!

On a (very important) side note, happy anniversary, my dear!

By the way, I’m going back to Verdana.

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I'm alive but busy

Hey peeps, I’m alive! Haha.

Bukan malas mau tulis blog but have been busy with work, new house stuff and wedding preparations. So, if you have stopped being a reader of my blog, that’s totally fine, because you won’t have anything to read anyway. :)

This is a little late, but most of you would have seen our wedding site at http://www.johnsee.net/wedding. Please bear with the pink.

A sudden thought. As much as I hate being tagged unnecessarily on Facebook, I probably don’t have a choice when you guys come with your mighty lenses during my wedding. Be kind! Hehe. :)

Meanwhile, please drop by our wedding site.

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Early wedding announcement

Here’s an early public announcement, Mei Sin and I will be getting married on March 8, 2009.

Yes, it’s gonna be on the mother of all dates, as far as recent Malaysian history is concerned. I’m sure there will be plenty of celebrations for the 1st anniversary of the tsunami, but please don’t abandon us. :-) Anyway, there will surely be lots of jokes going around on that day, you bet! It’s on a Sunday, but the next day’s a public holiday, which makes it convenient for those of you traveling from outstation. Mark your calendars ahead, will ya? Hopefully, the Titanic has sunk by then, and all Malaysia will be looking forward to a much more important date than 8th of March. Just leave the date for us.

Before any of you (married ones) start your cringing nag on how torrid and stressful the preparation process is, how couples eventually cannot wait for it (the planning) to be over, and how much it has eaten into your savings, and la-di-da, please stop. Hrrmph, seems quite normal to hear all this, isn’t it? :-)

Rest assure that my meticulous self has given too much a lot of thought into all aspects of our plan, and everything’s going on well so far, on schedule.

Wedding site coming up soon over here. More details to be blogged later…

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Budgets are just budgets

Let’s see, where are we now?... Anwar makes his comeback, Malaysia Today gets blocked, more possible corruption involving cars, lorries, highways and the immigration department. What’s next? 2008 is indeed colorful. It has all the characteristics of a well-thought storyline befitting of any Hollywood blockbuster (It wouldn’t surprised me if it rakes up more than Dark Knight).

Budget 2009 rolls out this afternoon, and I’m sure there will be goodies aplenty, especially for a very over-crowded civil service. I predict there will be more subsidies (yet again) for food and essentials without much long-term plan (show me 10 years or more-lah, not 1 year) to contain the escalating global food problem. Similarly, there will be some huge load of money allocated to the improvement of public transportation after receiving all that banter from disabled groups and a “disappointed” Mr PM taking his first train ride in years. If you recall 2006 and what Mr DPM said, you’ll know for sure that nothing gets done as usual.

With Anwar breathing down their necks, expect more money for Sabah and Sarawak to quell worries of ship-jumping (or house-moving).

So, I’m not going to believe in numbers anymore (not that I don’t believe that 1+1=2). Or monetary promises. Or impressive billions taken at face value. These days, you have to get things done, the right way.

On a totally unrelated thought, the one thing that most impressed me in 2008 is how the cyberspace has brought new levels of accountability between the government and rakyat, new ways of reliably cross-checking sources of information (you know this if you often jump from blog to blog) and an almost potent tool for disseminating news and information (just ask BN, ouch).

And these days, everyone knows how much a Proton Perdana gearbox costs.

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