Tonight was a fun night! I was invited to go to MONA's tonight for a karaoke gathering, and ended up to be a blast. Not saying that I wasn't intending to have a fun night, but it turned out better than what I was thinking. This is always a plus. Before I even went to MONA's I was starting to get a Headache, which was quickly remedied by Purple's Ibuprofens. Thanks Purple!!! I than proceeded over to MONA's and immediately ordered my default drinks. You know, the drinks that you order when you don't have anything else in mind or anything interesting you want to try. So I first order a Long Island, followed by two Amaretto Sours. Now if you have not had either, you should. They are great! Very sweet, and filled with alcohol. hahah, but no, I was not drunk. So I hang out with the crew and each person is signing up to sing. I was really debating what song I wanted to do. I immediately of selections from "Glee". Hahahah. When I asked the lady, she had said that she doesn't have any of the Glee covers, but plan to in the future. I didn't stop thinking there though, I thought of some originals that glee did do and was highly considering, "Take a Bow" by Rhianna. After much contemplation, I finally decided to do "Any Dream Will Do" from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream coat. I know right? I couldn't be any gayer(in it's literal form)! hahaha.
So when I went up to sing I was a little nervous, but I knew I got this song. My High School had performed it when I was a Senior and I was in it. So I knew the music well. As I was performing it, a lot of other people knew it to, so they joined along. This other Asian boy, also decided to join a long and we rocked the karaoke night with "Any Dream Will Do". We even harmonized, it was a great pick!
This also was the first time I have ever done anything like this. Meaning, went to a bar and did karaoke. I've been singing and living this long and have never done any karaoke at a bar. It might be because I really don't know a lot of main stream songs, so I don't have confidence to sing them. I also sometimes don't have the voice for them. I'm more of a "Church" "Hmong" or "Classical"(at times) singer. So singing pop-ish songs are not my forte, but I will certainly try to do best with each song.
So March 30th marks when my karaoke virginity at a bars was broken. hahaha. It was great!
This is a funny recording
As a side note, what would you think if I did a Video Blog post once in awhile? Give me your ideas, or thoughts on that?
Don't forget to check out my other blog posts. Click "The VaiKang Journal" at the top and scroll down to see previous post. If at the main page, just scroll down to the previous post.
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Thanks to those who have visited my blog and keep doing so! Thanks to those who have decided to follow!
First of all, I would like to share these wonderful video that were made to show gender equality for dancing! I think it's a great project that this person has started! Hope you enjoy it! hahah. I think it's pretty cool and it makes it's point very clearly.
This is the very first video he did, as a response to a video post he initially did.
This is the Second Video
Here is his third and this one could be a little disturbing. hahaha
This is his most recent, "Exercising for Gender Equality"
And on that note....
Today, I saw a very amazing performance by "The Peking Acrobats". You can Visit their website be going here! http://www.iaipresentations.com/pa.php This is a must see for anyone, and everyone! There are many thinsg you will should see in life, and this is one of them. "They defy gravity with amazing displays of contortion, flexibility, and control."-iaipresentations.com. They were flying and hanging in the air, bending backwards, jumping from poll to poll, and anything you can imagine. These people have skills and they have been training for many number of years to be able to do what they do. When I first stepped in to see the performance, I was blown away immediately with what they were doing. Balancing on plate, each other, chairs, on bicycles or spinning Chinese "yo-yo's", Chinese Pots, and many more. There is so much to describe and they offered such a variety of things. On top of their ability, the music that they selected were very well done also. They used a lot more traditional instruments, and played traditional Chinese melodies. My favorite scene of all, was when this man had to do first balance about 5-6 wooden chairs, on a four "wine" bottles, on a table. After doing so, he is really high up. Next he has have to do some hand stances on top of those chairs. He does this about two times and then tilts the top chair. He continues to do about another or two hand stances perfectly and finally progresses back down. Description of the performance, does not do justice to how intense and how it was on stage.
Here is a clip of out that scene looked like.
If you would like to see more clips like this, I would recommend Youtube-ing, "The Peking Acrobats".
If it ever comes by your city, I would highly recommend buying a ticket and seeing it. It is worth every cent of the ticket you purchase and you will certainly not be disappointed.
So that's the end of my spring break, along with hanging with Goldiglocks.
Back to school, exams, and rehearsals for our choral performances. Spring break was filled with helping my mom with a few things, resting when I can, and taking time for myself. haha It was long needed. I also got a chance to clean my room. (which is now messy again) Hope you all had a fantastic break, being in Florida, or cloistered in your own home. Good luck with the rest of the year. Goldiglocks has drawn my attention to that, we only have about two months for the rest of our semester. So good luck everyone! Succeed!!! Just tell people who block your from successes this semester, "GET OUT OF MY WAY". hahaah. ( I know that was such a bad lead into my final video clip)
Get out of my way by Kylie Minogue
Okay I lied, this is my final clip for this post. I also just found this one. It was pretty interesting and fun too.
Don't forget to check out my other blog posts. Click "The VaiKang Journal" at the top and scroll down to see previous post. If at the main page, just scroll down to the previous post.
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Thanks to those who have visited my blog and keep doing so! Thanks to those who have decided to follow!
Forensics, is the art of public Speaking. Students prepare pieces for categories with specific rules. There are two different types of competitions in Forensics. Tournaments are when students are in competition with another. Festivals are "against yourself". They will perform their pieces in front of judges, in hopes to better their speaking skills, and beat the other competitors.
I wake up before God does, on some Saturday mornings and get dressed. I typically wear a black dress pant, a button up dress shirt, a sweater to stay warm, put on a belt, dress shoes, and a tie on occasions. I'm half awake and half asleep, and probably still very tired from last night's party/fun. To the kitchen, when possible, I heat up a pot of warm water to make some tea, to start a warm day. As I continue to get ready, I look at my watch and notices that I'm running a little late, and needs to hurry up to be there on time. I grab my essentials: a Stop watch, Two pencils or pens, a book to read, my keys, my coat and a bottle of water. I make sure to use the bathroom before I leave, because it sometimes it is a long trip. Out the door, I go to my car and I realize, I'm missing my glasses. Back in the house, I'm running late, and I scurry to find my glasses. I finally find them and now I can go pick up my friend to go.
As I step outside in the early morning, I notice the fresh and cold air as it touches my skin. It makes me feel cold and is like a coffee wake up rush. I walk to my car, shivering a little here and there as my body attempts to warm up. I get in my car and starts it up. The key turns, and the car starts. Thank goodness my car is running today. I turn up the heat, and get my car to warm up as fast as it can. As I drive, my attention is focused to my next location, picking up my friend. It's like an auto pilot at times. As I'm driving, I set my GPS to my final location on where I'll be Judging.(I know I'm not suppose to operate it while driving) After I pick up my friend, we get on my way to my final destination for the meet. It varies from location to location each time I'm chosen to judge.
On the road, on the Highway, I go to judge these forensics meets. I catch up with my friend, about things in life. How is school going? How's the love life? Seen any old classmates? What ever topic that comes up. This helps me stay awake and focused to drive.
As we get to our location, we find parking. We get inside the school building and I usually compare their High School with my High School. Majority of the High Schools we judge at are huge public schools, so they tend to have a lot more "equipment" in their building.
I go to the judges lounge and see if my High School has arrived. If they have, we grab these manila folders from our head coach and see which categories we would like to judge today. Depending on which folder we pick, we are assigned a judge code. When we are ready, we receive the rounds and the codes of the students who are competing in our rounds. I also start to filling out the critique sheets. Of course, the portion that I fill out is my information such as, what my judge code is, school I am judging for, what round number, and my signature. There is a sheet for each student participating in our round. On these sheets of paper, we will write out things that are good and areas for improvement. We are also handed a map, with the outline of the school's rooms, to easily find our rooms. When I am ready and it is time, usually 9:00a.m., I head to my first round to judge. (As a side note, since we are not able to judge any students of our school code, we sometimes never judge a certain category. This depends on the number of entries into each category, from our school. This causes us to consistently be selected to judge certain categories such as, Solo serious, Demo, Extemp, Prose, 4 mins, and Duo interp. This is necessary not a bad thing) The first rounds usually are when the students are most nervous, and they are getting their first run of the piece for the day. The next round starts at 10:15a.m., and then usually 11:00a.m.
When judging, I can usually notice when a student is prepared, and when they are not. Things I look for first, are the performance techniques. How is the pacing? Enunciations? Hand Gestures? Facial expressions? Body Language? Vocal inflections or changes? Energy? interest and interpretation of piece? Eye contact? Distinction between characters? and many more. Of course it varies from category to category, on what is emphasized. If the performance is bad, it will usually distract me from getting to know the content of interpretation. If the performance of the piece is good, then the content is looked at next. It sometimes just comes down to if it is an interesting topic or not. At the end, I also look at the timing of the piece, and how close it is to the limit of the category.
There are three preliminary rounds for each tournament, except state. These rounds gives the student three tries to be the top in each round. If they have received a high enough rank in each round, they proceed onto the "Power" round. These rounds can be very intense. They usually contain the best of the best from that meet. I usually like to judge these if I have a "standby" in an earlier round. In these power rounds, they deliver their speech one more time for the day. This round is done once with three judges, and does not contain any feed back. Just a ranking of who each believe deserves first, second, third, and so on. If not selected to judge a power round, once all them are posted, we get to leave. And back to Milwaukee/Home I go.
The ride back is usually tiresome. A lot of energy is used up because of mental focus, but I drive safely back home to rest. At times, the ride back is tougher than the ride to. At the end of these trips, I'm just glad to be home, napping in bed till I have to wake up two hours later to head into work. Boy my Saturdays never quits. hahaha
Some people may ask:
Why is forensics so important to me?
It is important to me because it helps the development of life skills. In general, it's known as public speaking. In specific, public speaking deals with speaking skills, presentations, self-esteem, courage, speaking in front of a group, performance, and public display of self. These are all things of life that we have to get used to and develop, so we can get through life.
Forensics was the way I was able to develop my performance/people skills. It helped me break out of my shell, of how I used to be before High School. Many of you knew me then, and can probably testify to how different I am now. I did sing and perform a lot before, but it was a very sheltered me. I have opened up, and become more expressive. I have progressed to be where I am today because of my development and experience in forensics. Being in forensics for three years, really helped me understand things about life, and things that I will have never learned or experienced. So I give Forensics a HUGE HUGE thanks! Also a thanks to those who have helped me get this far. So to give back, I judge to help other students develop in their life skills.
VaiKang
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Let me know of things to improve on. Or topics you would like me to write about.
Oh Bro, you'll never figure it out.
Coming home late, yelling at the one who loves you most or not so.
Whistle? No, she ain't your dog. She's right there, just ask her. She won't bite.
Snap? OMG, you think she will work faster?
Dumb-ass her? or dumb-ass you? You are a donkey's ass, and shame on you
The screams, the moans, the outcomes from your wraths.
The slams, the sores, when will it ever be the last?
Your rage and pain, are making a dark, dark, dark, wretchedness.
You sit on your couch, and expect her to bow.
You laugh at the T.V., even the deaf can hear you now.
Back into your room, you ask "What are you good for?"
Sometimes you need to listen to your own heart.
Yay, you started to work, after 4-5 years of being a slum.
Don't rub in her face, what she has already done.
She is a person too, she does get tired.
She is not a prostitute or a maid you hired.
You say your child is sick, and we blame it on you.
For sure we do, because you are lazy and don't clean a dish or two.
Germs grow, as fast as your anger.
If you eat it, she'll get sick sooner or later.
Repeat, rewind, replay, everyday.
You'll never figure it out, Bro, you'll never figure it out.
You'll never change, you'll always be the same.
So get with the game, it's already the third quarter.
Shoot your gun, it'll only kill what is left.
but remember your actions have consequences, so own up to it.
VaiKang
I know I have no career in poetry writing, but I just thought i give it a try.
For those of you who are a member of a choir, here is a prayer that our conductor shared with us as we left to our spring break. It has some musical humor that not all of you who read this might get, but just think about it. hahaha
Prayer of Confession for Choir Members
"Almighty and most merciful Conductor,
We have erred and strayed from thy beat like lost sheep;
We have followed too much the intonations and tempi of our own hearts;
We have offended against thy dynamic marking;
We have left unsung those notes that we ought to have sung,
And we have sung those notes that we ought not to have sung.
And there is no support in us.
But thou, O Conductor, have mercy upon us, miserable singers.
Succor the chorally challenged;
Restore them that need sectionals;
Spare them that have no pencils;
Pardon our mistakes, and have faith that hereafter we will follow
Thy directions and sing together in perfect harmony.
Amen"
My choir adventures this semester has been an interesting one. To get to where I am today, I will start at the beginning. I have been singing in choirs my entire life, or let say ever since second grade. I started with a children's choir, where I started to find my love for music. I remember singing with this choir at the Domes, at a retirement condo, Sunday mass, the cousin's center, at our cathedral, and many more places. A few songs that I remember singing and loved, were: Hashivenu, Siyahamba, and Sing a new Church. As I grew older into my teen years, my voice had "drop". Many who know me, my voice is still in it's upper range, and has not really dropped to the bass. hahaha. This meant that my voice would no longer really fit the "children's choir". I was then introduced into another wonderful choir for youth and young adults. This choir was called the Central City Catholic Youth Choir. Through this choir, I adventured into the Gospel and African Spirituals, side of music. Singing music from the soul really shook my heart, and made me love music even more. There are many songs that I remember from this group. Some of my favorites were, Order my Steps, We fall down, He's Blessing me, For every Mountain, God is, Pass Me Not, Gospel Version of Awesome God, I love the Lord, Total praise, Come over here, We offer you praise, and many more. With the Central City Youth Choir, one of my fondest memories with them is traveling to Spain in 2003. What an experience and a privilege to share gospel music in another country. Right after the Spain trip, I had continued on in Highschool, at a boarding school. So I could not continue with the CCCYC. The choir unfortunately did not continue a few month after that trip. I continued in my High school choir, also being a cantor, and singing in the Wisconsin School Music Association (WSMA) competitions. My two most memorable performances in my high school career, is soloing "O Holy Night" at our Christmas concert, and the "Star Spangled Banner" at the Bradley Center, for our High school Basketball game there. It was immediately followed by watching the bucks games as a free perk. The entire High School days were an awesome time! I would love to be at those moments again. My junior year of High School was also the first time where I received my first class in Music theory. Of coarse through out all my years of singing, I learned little things here and there about music, but I did not know much going into college. I learned a lot by repetition and memorizing what I had to sing. When I came back to Milwaukee for College, I continued in the Adult choir at my church. Which is where I normally sing, besides at school.
Call To Action in 2009
For first year of college, I went to school for Psychology. After a year, I figured it out that it was not for me. So I transfered over to the music school and have enjoyed it ever since. As they say, I went from "Helping the psycho, to becoming a psycho". hahaha. Majoring in music was probably the best move for me. I was a little afraid of not getting into the program because I had no big music education, and I'm not classically trained. I do know that I am a hard worker, when I am. The next few years really showed that music was the right path for me. My grades really showed how much I enjoyed working with music. Of coarse my parent's were not to happy about it, but I had already transferred over before they even knew it. From there on, I joined the University choir. There, we sung more classically orientated music. Music that I was not really familiar with, but was certainly willing to try. I was in the choir for about two years, and now I'm in the Concert Chorale. This semester has been the most challenging yet for me, but it's for the better. We are doing all German pieces by, Bach, Mendelssohn, Brahms, and Herzogenberg. First of all, I have never sung German in my entire life! hahahaha. I certainly am learning the diction of the German language quick. Second of all, I have not performed pure Classical/Romantic choral pieces. They can be very demanding on our own independence, and usage of chromaticism. All of this is great and challenging, but I like it. It is certainly helping me grow as a singer and as a person. In the roughest times of life, it makes it much easier if you make it a growing experience. Some of you may say, well this is not hard at all. To me it was. With my background and struggles that were happening through my life, I'm so happy to be where I am today! I also could not do it with out the support of all my beloved friends. You know who you are!
Thanks!
VaiKang
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Okay, so I know that St. Patrick's day has passed, but I would like to just share this fun fact. I forget what year, but my church choir and I was asked to sing at a pre-irish fest event one summer. As we were performing, the Irish President had entered on the solo that I was singing. So I got to sing and meet the Irish president!
I am so happy about how much better the weather has been here. It has been warmer, the sun is out, and because of daylight savings time, I can actually leave class with light outside. I am justing and wishing that the weather get progressively better.
I finally got done with my classes before spring break, and it feels so good to have a week break from this semester. It's been a great semester so far, but I just need a break! Now, what to do on my break? What are you doing on your spring break? I hear that a lot of people are headed out to Florida. I will be staying in Milwaukee, cleaning up my room, car, and helping my mom with taking care of financial things. It is going to be a break of early spring cleaning, helping and composing. Anyone want to join me? haha. If you would like me to join in anything, just let me know. You who know me, knows my number. Be Safe
So I have been reviewing some tv shows, and here is another one for today. Kitchen Nightmare! I have always been fascinated with TV show. This TV show is about Chef Gordon Ramsey, who helps revive some restaurants in need of help. Chef Ramsey is a great person to host this show. He tells things how it is, and his reactions to some of these restaurants are so funny. He sometimes pukes and says that the food is pathetic, and goes through all the dishes and says the same thing to all of them. There was only one episode I remember, that Chef Ramsey actually like the dessert. Chef Ramsey's initial likings of things are rare, until he helps them correct their food issues. Watching this show has made me become more aware of how services and food quality at places are. I've become more analytical on how the servers serve you, and how the food looks and taste. There are certain restaurants that are very poor in quality and service, and some that are complete opposites. The poor ones, I have stopped going to, and the good ones are taking my bucks. Everything about a restaurant does really affect the way people perceive it. Watching Kitchen nightmare has helped me to know what to look for. It has also helped me gain knowledge of do's and don'ts of restaurant operations. So watch a few of these shows, go to a restaurant and analyze. You'll start to figure out what you like and don't like.
On the subjects of likes, what about that TV show GLEE? This week's episode has been Glee at it's best. With original songs, and recording from some top singers of the group, this episode was epic.
First Epic moment, Blaine(Darren Criss) and Kurt (Chris Colfer) finally kissed! I was mouth open, jaw drop and in shock that, that happened. Then they held hands and Kurt's dream comes true. But this is TV, and issues are sure to arise from this plot that has been seeded. What do you think will happen to them next? Just know how Kurt's role is in Glee, it might be a tough one where Glee starts to bring up a lot of Gay Teen issues. I think this is a great way to do it. With a hit TV show, and accepting Queerness as normal. This entire Glee series is all about the people who don't fit. The people who are the outsiders. This show has also shown that how "different" people may be, they can be strong and sing beautiful songs. hahaha, I meant, can be strong and be great and succesful.
Second Epic moment, is the usage of original songs. Such as "Hell to the NO" sung by Mercedes, "Trouty Mouth" by Santana, "Loser Like Me" by the Glee Cast. There is one more really good song, for point three later. I really liked "Loser Like Me" because it's the Glee cast's reaction to Sue Sylvester. Sue Sylvester the antagonist. The song is also a very topical fit song for the glee club themselves.
Third Epic/favorite moment is when Rachel Barry sings "Get it Right". I believe this song really hits a lot of points well. As Will Schuester says, write music from the heart. Music that is real. I think that this song captures it quite well. This song is by far my favorite original Glee song produced from them. I hope they have more.
(Mountain Flower this song is for you)
Fourth Epic moment: When the winners are announced at the end of the Regional competitions, Sue goes and punches the MC. First of all the MC is completely wasted, and says " My Husband has been verbally abusing me and I have been drinkin ever since noon". Wow, what an introduction. Now imagine someone saying that a tournament to a group of High school kids, now what would your teacher's think? hahaha
Only one bad comment that I have heard and do agree on, is that some of the new original songs sounds like a High School Musical song, but for Adults. This isn't always bad, but to each his own.
Continuing in this conversation on Performing Arts, I attended an awesome performance of Opera Scenes. My friend Goldiglocks was in one of the scenes and sounded beautiful. This performance was made up of a collection of scenes from Mozart's The Magic Flute, Bizet's Carmen, and many more. They had a great number of voices that were well combined and selected to sing together. Some of the stage directions were very interesting such as, "Working out" on stage and singing. Now that take a lot of Breath control and practice. Dancing and twirling the feet while being lifted up and singing is also an interested technique used. So Congrats to all my colleges and their performance. It was a fun filled night of great vocalist from our school.
Talking about great Vocalist, one of my adored and favorite vocal singer is Lea Salonga.
Here is a video that does a great interview of her,
She is a filipino lady who has a voice to die for. She also has great control of it too. Here is a link to very famous recording of her in Les Miserable, singing "On My Own". BTW Les Miserables is Coming to Milwaukee, WI, APRIL 19th-24th 2011. Performances are already sold out, but there are still more tickets available.
But what a lot of people don't know is that she is also the ORIGINAL singer of many Walt Disney songs. For example:
Mulan, Reflection
Aladdin, A Whole New World,
Pocahontas, Colors of the Wind, (Put this song along side with Avatar, and you have another theme song for it, hahaha)
Mulan 2, Lesson Number one, (you can fast forward to the song if you don't want to hear the begining)
There are probably a lot more that I at the moment do not know about, or have not remembered. It is just very interesting to me how well used her voice is used in Walt Disney songs, and we don't even know about it.
Now here is a very recent find of mine, that makes me even love her even more!
Lea Solanga sings Lady Gaga Poker face, without AUTOTUNE. hahaha
And there goes it for this Blog Post.
I hope you are enjoying these as much as I enjoy writing and sharing my thoughts.
Don't forget to put a quick vote on the side for my poll, and follow if you think I'm worth it.
Don't forget to check out my mother blog post if you have not done so. Click the VaiKang Journal at top and scroll down to previous blog post.
Please comment if you have any!! Thanks everyone for reading this so far!! Be safe for your Break, and Take Care!!!!!
Just letting you know that I am busy back to back with homework, and will start to repost again Friday afternoon!!! So if you in dire want of reading my blog, hahaha, you'll have to wait till friday! Otherwise, thanks for your patience and takecare!
So recently I have been watching a fun TV show called " Minute to Win it". Have you seen it? If not, this is a TV show I recommend. Minute to Win It, is a game show that uses house hold items and create quick competitive games with them. They use things like marbles, ping pongs, glass/plastic cups, a deck of cards, water, soda cans, and the list goes on. Of coarse, depending on what level the players are at, the intensity and difficulty of the games increase. In addition to the difficulty of the games, the players also have one minute to complete the game. It is fun to see what games are being played, and how well some of these games are accomplished. My favorite episode was when the Bishop Family competed in this challenge. These kids where good! I wish I had that skill. hahaha. One of the games I remember, is called "Junk in the Trunk". In this game, there are ping pongs balls inside a tissue box, tied to your waist. This box is on the back of your waist, resting right above your butt. The object of the game is to shake all the ping pong balls out of the tissue box with-in one minute. It is a fun one to watch and do. Here is a video clip of their Christmas version of this game. http://www.nbc.com/minute-to-win-it/video/jingle-in-the-trunk-in-action/1265396/ There are a lot more games, but I think it is best if you watch them yourself. Minute to Win it, is in their second season and I think this TV show is a great hit! If you would like to know more information about the show, and see some of these episodes and games visit. http://www.nbc.com/minute-to-win-it/ Again I'm not here to advertise for them, I just like to promote what I like to watch.
While watching this show, I got this great idea of doing some of these activities with the Youth Group at my church. Why not? right? haha, these games could be great fun ice breakers! I have talked to the Youth Director and she thinks it is a great idea too! I can not wait! To possibly start a competition, or use them at retreat as icebreakers.
Hope you guys are having a wonderful Monday! It's been a busy day! The day went quick. I forgot about a few assignments and it's midterm week, so I'm a busy bee. (not in the birds and bee's kind of way, hahaha) I've been playing catch up, and heading back to working out. Need to get ready for the summer! hahaha. I can not wait till our days will be like this again!
Taken on the beach of Muskegon, MI
Let the Sun Shine!!!
Take Care everyone!!!!
Please let me know you have any questions!!! Otherwise, go ahead and comment away!!!
VaiKang
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P.S.S. There are more Post on this blog. Click on "The Vaikang Journal" at the top of the page to read previous Post! Enjoy!
Before I start, just wanted to quote something funny.
Stylist: Hey Kai, you smell good, what is that cologne you are wearing?
Me: Hahahaha, do you really want to know what I'm wearing?
Stylist: yes, please tell me.
Me: Dove Bar Soap. hahahaha
My point, you don't need to have/buy expensive cologne to smell good. Dove bar soap confirms two things. That you took a shower and you will smell good! hahaha
Thanks for all of you who have read my blog so far. So it is sunday and I had a great day at work! Today, there was two performances of a AWESOME classical Chinese dance group name, "Shen Yun". I got a chance to watch their second performance of the day, and it was AMAZING!!!! The dance group was made up of guys and girls, from all over the world. I want to add that this is not an acrobatic group, though some of these people could do some, this is a Classical Chinese dance group. One thing that I especially loved about Shen Yun, is that they performed the many different styles of the Chinese regions. The amount of dances that had to be memorized and the precision of them, were well shown. Their dexterity on stage, and the ability to dance like that, was mesmerizing. I have trouble when dance groups are not in sync with each other, unless it adds to the piece or it was meant to be. This dance group knew each piece of music well. Down to each rhythm and beat. They were very in sync and danced as a single team. They moved together and were unified with in everyway. I give them a great applause and an AWESOME job overall! I would suggest that if you have not seen this group, it is a must. The ticket prices are pricey, but you get a lot for you money. They have a fun filled, culturally intriguing performance for you. You also get the benefit of knowing that you supported a great group! If you would like to know more about this beautiful production group, or want to know when and where they are performing next, go to http://www.shenyunperformingarts.org/. I am not being paid to advertise, I just like to promote things that I like and see.
I also want to show a few pictures of how Shen Yun made me feel.
Taken on the a Hwy to Sydney, Australia from Melbourne
Blue Mountains of Australlia
Taken in the front yard of my Aunt's house
And Japanese cherry blossoms, which I don't have a picture of.
Beauty at it's best!
So all in all, I had a fun and exciting week. With another week about to start. On top of what I already wrote about this week, some other great times I forgot to mention this past week, goes as follows: (in no certain order)
1. I had a great time on friday going out with my co-worker to go get a drink, relax and enjoy the night. When this kicked off, I knew this weekend was going to be a great one!!
2. After the friday night drink with my co-worker/friend, I went to a "Malibu March" party. We played circle of death with two deck of cards, and laughed with a bunch of great friends. I enjoyed the time so much!!! Can't want to do this again. hahaha
3. Going house hunting and spending time with my brother and Mother on saturday was also great! It really gave me a realization to the phrase, "You get what you pay for" hahah. The better the house, the more expensive.
4. Sung and assisted my Choral director, at a healing prayer service for the lives and families who have lost a member in this past year. When they called the names, it was at least twelve names. We will never know the day we live or the day we die. In Hmong, Peb tsis paub hnub muaj, hnub tuag. I miss you DAD!
5. I had a great composition lesson this week with my teacher!!! He really stirred my musical soul, and has inspired me to really start working again. haha
6. Kicked myself in the behind to learn the choir and piano pieces, for up coming midterms and performances.
7. Resting and staying home when I needed my rest, was well deserved. hahaha
8. Eating mexican food with Lavender after work.
9. Rebelled with Goldiglocks and skipped the first few minutes of class to go get her some boots. ;)
10. Having my first blog follower! Yay!!!
11. Meeting three more girl-friends at La Cage!!
This next week is mid-terms week, and I am so not ready for it. As with life, just keep going through it and do my best. I had a blast this past week! Let 's make it another one. ;)
I am open to any comments, or so, please feel free to post a reply or just a question of thought. (Warning: bad comments will be deleted, hahaha)
I know it's late, but I'm up and energized from a bad/ fabulous night!.
To start of the night, I attended my cousin Mountain Flower's early birthday party. Went to Hyde and it was great! For her birthday I bought her a Cherry Bomb with Dr.'s cherry snapps. I also bought her the famous Long Island. We were dancing here and there, until a fight broke out. All I saw was glass hitting the walls and floors. Then a fight broke out. I'm like seriously? a fight? WTF? Unfortunately, the group of girls I was hanging with, was right next to the action. But I grab and told all of the girls to go get safety. We ran to the bathrooms. On the other hand, luckily enough, Mountain Flower went with her "Partner In Crime" to the bathroom before this actually broke out. She was already in safety. The fight still continued after we ran to the bathroom. I was really scared because I have never had this happen. I also hear that this is a regular occurring thing that happens at this bar. Beer bottles were being thrown allover and all hell really broke loose. After about 10 minutes or so, we finally found everyone in our party, and we left immediately. The fight was still continuing in the back of the club, and so we were kind of safe to leave through the front. Luckily enough we were able to immediately contact Mountain Flower's boyfriend, Techboy, to come pick us up and take us to our next locations.
I had a great night celebrating Mountain Flower's party, but gosh why so much drama at the club. Jealousy, alcohol and anger does not work together. If you have issues do not take it out in public. Leave it at home. The innocent ones are just trying to have some fun. If you are so short tempered, you should not be at a club.
On the other hand, if you are short tempered, and you need to just relax and relieve some stress. Please do it in peace.
After we left the first club, Mountain Flower and the girls left to a wonderful pizza place called Pizza Shuttle. I soon later found out that they were not able to eat there because it was closed for the night. They then went to a Japanese place right across the street.
I had left to another club, known as La Cage in Milwaukee! If you have not gone there, Queer(in it's positive form) or straight, it is the place to go and dance the night away. It has been a while for me, and I wanted to make up the bad experience at Hyde, so I went to La Cage. I had a blast there. Great dancing music! Tons of HOT people, and decently-upper(only in my opinion) priced drinks. Met a few people who I recognized and said hi. I also saw that the bartender, that I knew, was there. He made me this wonder Dragon berry mix. I just wish I remembered what the name of the drink was. hahaha I danced with the rest of the night away. It was great!
I left and text-ed Mountain Flowers just to see if she was okay, and she was.
All in all, I had a fun day! But also a reality check, that things can happen at any time. So be careful! I'm glad that we were safe, and that I was there to help my cousins.
Any thought? comments? I'm open to your opinion, or if you were there, what was your experience?
So today marks the first post on this blog!! I do not have any real ideas on what to be posting about yet. I just decided to start one, in hope that someone may start to read it. hahaha. Maybe about daily life, things that I come across, me venting, favorite quote, poems, and songs. To be nice to my friends, people I interact with and whom I decide to write about, I'll be using nick names. haha
Before I continue on my post, maybe I should provide a little bio of me.
So i'm Asian (will disclose my specific background in a later post), 21 and will be turning 22 in april. 5feet 10in, haha I'm studying Music Composition and Technology. With my composition side of things, I hope to integrate my cultural background into the western side of the world. I love to sing in my native language. I also read, write and speak in that native language. (In a later post, i'll post one of those "All about me" questionnaires. They are usually on facebook.) I love to go and experience new things like restaurants, parks, events, conventions, just to see how they are.
For the first time in my entire life, I'm singing and performing some German classical art songs with my college choir. I have never sang in German, perform any actually Classical art choral pieces, and I'm not a classically trained singer. With all of this against me, i'm still rocking the semester away!!! hahaha
So to start off with names, my friend Smokahontas, has her 21st birthday at a casino. It's going to be interesting. I think it'll be a lot of fun, but very expensive. She says that this will be different than a lot of people who go out to bars for their 21st. I somewhat agree and somewhat don't. You're going to the casino to go the bar. It's just like going to another bar, but without all that smoking, money eating, bright lights, and psychologically tricky machines. But, you know what, she is a great person and she can spend it how ever way she feels happy. I will still enjoy time with her, and she'll always be a "bestie" of mine. Hahahah.
March is a month full of birthdays! March 1st is my bestie Smokahontas (she chose the name herself, hahaha), March 2nd is my bestie Goldiglocks (also chosen by herself), and March 17th is my bestie cousin Mountain Flower. I'm glad they are all having birthdays, and spending time with them will be great! But gosh we get older and older, and responsibilities become bigger and bigger, kids wants to be old, but they have no idea what the world is out there. On the other hand, kids sometimes grow up too fast. This makes them so much more knowledgable than they should. In addition, some kids grown up so fast, they never even had a "childhood." Some kids have not done what every kids should experience, makes mistakes and learn, or get away with things because they look innocent. Even getting away with everything they want. (I wish I had that) hahaha
In the end, such is life, and we are what we are, because of it.
Thanks to my roomie/bestie Lavender, for help in this first post.
Hope you all have a wonderful day! I'll post when possible. :)
