couldn't sleep. so here i am, blogging about italy trip haha. got pretty much to say but lets see what my brain can still recall....

i think many of us NJ choristers grew up from this experience. J2s, J1s, IPs...this italy trip was probably this year's highlight and all the memories back from 5+ months ago when we started learning the songs till now, it's been a long, tough journey for everyone.

This batch of choristers has been so much different from the last batch. I could still remember when i joined choir back in IP2, things were never this tough. We were a large choir, we were good, the gold with honours was achieved by our seniors, not us. I could still recall how disappointed ms lim got when the J2 batch left. everything fell apart because we shrunk, and we were just not good musically, compared to the J2s. Every practice felt so long and tiring and demoralising and many felt like quitting and running away from things, and i was one of them. I'm really thankful ppl like eugene and yongjian talked to me and got me holding on, because its then i started seeing much more things in this choir.

Winning isn't the most important thing, really, after this whole competition thing. Look at how we've fought so hard from what we used to be, a flop everywhere, till the day the judges announced we achieved our gold. Which is why i told eugene its not that all disappointing after all. I think i almost cried when i heard the recording. We had never, for any practice, sang all 4 songs straight without forgetting details of the song. Perhaps its just because i'm not very musical in terms of choral background, but the only thing i heard from the recording was how much effort everyone has put in to put up a good show during that few minutes we sang on that stage. Memories that dated back to last november when we first picked up the songs and got a good scolding for ms lim every single time. O Magnum, for example, was the worst song for the tenors and i could clearly remember how hard the 4 of us, eugene jing an me and dianfeng tried to push ourselves until what we achieved that day on the italian stage. haha i could recall the times when ms lim just shouted across the AVA, "louder! louder!" and we pushed so hard that we got so tired after that hahaha. and we were ordered not to get sick so even if we were, we had to sing hahaha. When the J1s came thing turned slightly better because we had larger numbers and some pretty good choristers. However, we still didn't reach the standards and time was running short so everything was just...tough. Enough said about the choir part, there was still the carolling, the chocolate sales, the mochi sales and all that. The fact that our number was small allowed every single one to push to their hardest to help make this trip possible, musically, physically, financially (haha) and emotionally. All in all, it's the effort everyone has put in for NJCHOIR to reach the italian stage to win a gold that's most important to everyone, and there's is so much "thank you" to all the people who've made this dream possible. Though we didn't fulfill the dream to its maximum, the fact that we dared to dream, and fought hard towards this dream, its really touching. AJC winning the grand trophy raised alot of commotion but well i think that its just the different taste of different people. Art is subjective, as Ms Lim says. So whatever we've sang, as long as we feel good about it, it's good already. Since the syf batch, njchoir met up with nothing but various setbacks, but i'm sure everyone will keep fighting on to prove that we're worthy to fight for the gold with honours next syf. haha go everyone!

NJCHOIR = family(:


on a lighter note, I STILL CAN'T SLEEP! hahahaha i really hate jet lag.
anyway i miss italy haha. not really so much about the shopping and all. just the moments spent with the choir people. hahaha i remember last time even after the seniors graduate, i also don't even know many seniors! HAHA its like...too many le heh. so small numbers are quite fine hahaha. but anyway yep i think this batch is pretty much more bonded after this italy trip. GO FRUIT BASKET! HAHAHAHA. shucks i miss staying up at night to gossip. hear gossips i mean heh, i dont gossip de wor :P leave the gossips to ultimate pokpokkeh hahaha.


alright i think i've said enough for tonight!
goodnight.
love njchoir! (: