Keeping the dream alive
My dear baby kai kai is 5 months old today!
It really does seem like yesterday that ping and I were planning on how we would set up a room for our baby, what name we should give him, how are we going to tackle the day-to-day affairs after his "arrival" (even seemingly mundane stuff like getting to work in the morning, coming back home after work, going out in the weekends,etc. seemed to require so much planning ahead!).
Now, in the flash of an eye (it seems like that to me, at least), he's been with us for 5 months. Somehow (and I have always told people around me this) TIME seem to fly by at an accelerating pace as we age.
My theory is the human brain undergoes some form of biological deterioration as we get older, such that less and less details are being stored and remembered. For instance, when we were in Primary school, we seemed to be able to remember so many small and insignificant details (including our friends' phone numbers!! oh my god..) and somehow the passage of time is extremely slow and easy.
Presently, I cant even remember what I did 2 days ago! Geezzz
Anyway, I am glad to say that some things don't ever change, even as time seemingly erode certain memories.
I recall my first encounter with the classical guitar when I was in Secondary 1, joining the RI guitar club and performing Besame Mucho on stage (I was playing guitar 1! heehe..) I also remembered begging my parents to buy me a guitar, which they kindly agreed to. It was a Yamaha 110, which cost about $150 then - by no means a small sum 20 years ago. Of course they were a little disappointed that I "ditched" the piano- which my mum loves - for the guitar, but they were generally supportive. (Thanks load, mum & dad!)
Since then, it was a love affair that carried on till this day. (yes, I kind of got distracted and neglected my guitar during those army days... was busy reading comics and sleeping during my off days) Much of my passion for guitar stemmed from my years in NUS, where I happened to join the varsity guitar club - GENUS. There, I found like-minded people who were destined to become my buddies in music-making in the years that followed. Also, I'd never forget the first time I had to play a Bach Concerto (it was on the Niibori Bass guitar) in the ensemble. The 5-sharps score nearly freaked me out...
I also vividly remember how our conductor and mentor, Mr Alex Abisheganaden, educated us on the history of the classical guitar and its ups-and-downs. How he literally skipped and danced on the stage (back then, we performed in the Victoria Concert Hall) when we reached the finale/encore piece in our annual concerts.
He was the heartbeat of GENUS back then, and (sad to say) I doubt there will ever be someone in Singapore, who's as committed and passionate about GENUS (and classical guitar) as he was.
Of course, years have passed since Mr Alex led Genus to the performance stage at VCH/UCC. Batches (or even a generation!) of NUS undergraduates passed through the doors of GENUS. Many guitar players came into the club and left after they graduated - leaving nothing more than a name or photograph in the printed concert programme booklets to record their passage.
But there were also some who managed to find that extra spark which either kept their interest in guitar alive, or re-kindled their hopes and dreams of performing on a grand concert stage with a bunch of their fellow music buddies.
I hope that dream continues - currently in the form of
Expose in GENUS; and Guitaresque for me and a couple others - for a long time to come.
Who knows, in years to come, Kai Kai may fall in love with the guitar as his daddy once did, and carry on the dream to the next generation.
It really does seem like yesterday that ping and I were planning on how we would set up a room for our baby, what name we should give him, how are we going to tackle the day-to-day affairs after his "arrival" (even seemingly mundane stuff like getting to work in the morning, coming back home after work, going out in the weekends,etc. seemed to require so much planning ahead!).
Now, in the flash of an eye (it seems like that to me, at least), he's been with us for 5 months. Somehow (and I have always told people around me this) TIME seem to fly by at an accelerating pace as we age.
My theory is the human brain undergoes some form of biological deterioration as we get older, such that less and less details are being stored and remembered. For instance, when we were in Primary school, we seemed to be able to remember so many small and insignificant details (including our friends' phone numbers!! oh my god..) and somehow the passage of time is extremely slow and easy.
Presently, I cant even remember what I did 2 days ago! Geezzz
Anyway, I am glad to say that some things don't ever change, even as time seemingly erode certain memories.
I recall my first encounter with the classical guitar when I was in Secondary 1, joining the RI guitar club and performing Besame Mucho on stage (I was playing guitar 1! heehe..) I also remembered begging my parents to buy me a guitar, which they kindly agreed to. It was a Yamaha 110, which cost about $150 then - by no means a small sum 20 years ago. Of course they were a little disappointed that I "ditched" the piano- which my mum loves - for the guitar, but they were generally supportive. (Thanks load, mum & dad!)
Since then, it was a love affair that carried on till this day. (yes, I kind of got distracted and neglected my guitar during those army days... was busy reading comics and sleeping during my off days) Much of my passion for guitar stemmed from my years in NUS, where I happened to join the varsity guitar club - GENUS. There, I found like-minded people who were destined to become my buddies in music-making in the years that followed. Also, I'd never forget the first time I had to play a Bach Concerto (it was on the Niibori Bass guitar) in the ensemble. The 5-sharps score nearly freaked me out...
I also vividly remember how our conductor and mentor, Mr Alex Abisheganaden, educated us on the history of the classical guitar and its ups-and-downs. How he literally skipped and danced on the stage (back then, we performed in the Victoria Concert Hall) when we reached the finale/encore piece in our annual concerts.
He was the heartbeat of GENUS back then, and (sad to say) I doubt there will ever be someone in Singapore, who's as committed and passionate about GENUS (and classical guitar) as he was.
Of course, years have passed since Mr Alex led Genus to the performance stage at VCH/UCC. Batches (or even a generation!) of NUS undergraduates passed through the doors of GENUS. Many guitar players came into the club and left after they graduated - leaving nothing more than a name or photograph in the printed concert programme booklets to record their passage.
But there were also some who managed to find that extra spark which either kept their interest in guitar alive, or re-kindled their hopes and dreams of performing on a grand concert stage with a bunch of their fellow music buddies.
I hope that dream continues - currently in the form of
Expose in GENUS; and Guitaresque for me and a couple others - for a long time to come.
Who knows, in years to come, Kai Kai may fall in love with the guitar as his daddy once did, and carry on the dream to the next generation.
posted by 北海道的大黑熊 at 3:22 PM
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