Wide Awake @ 3AM

Geez! It seems that the only time I blog is when I can't sleep! And yes, I can't sleep!

It's Christmas Eve, and I'm still waiting to get excited. Perhaps I've been over my excitement threshold; certainly, the past few days, and indeed, the past few hours had been exciting ones :)

Let's start with today: I was to have a meeting with a potential sponsor for my upcoming musical "Believe" (who is now in fact a sponsor!) at 2PM.

I was on the bus when I received a call to say that the meeting would be at 4PM... great! That meant I had time to go grab my guitar strings at Peninsula Plaza! So that's where I went.

After I bought my strings, I received a text from my music director, Simon, asking me to join him at a rehearsal for my concert. I was originally not supposed to attend as they needed to get everything together before the nosey-parker artiste jumps in!

Of course I said "Sure!" and scuttled down to the studio at Chinatown :)

I must say, the guys were TERRIFIC! Whoa! I mean, I knew they were pros and all... but I guess it's that feeling when you hear it for yourself!

Anyhow, I spent a pleasant hour there tweaking the songs and having a blast :) The guys were real nice people; couldn't have asked for nicer bandmates!

Sponsor meeting came and went; got the sponsor! Our very first! I'll dedicate a full entry on "Believe" when I'm next unable to sleep (which is never, I hope!)

Tuition was the last stop of the day :) Taught my secondary two Geography class; fun guys they are! Hope the class will increase in size a little; nothing like a few more heads to make things even more fun! Haha!

Then it's home for dinner! Whew... what a day! I'm not sure if this accounts for my inability to sleep... perhaps it is that, and the fact that my next meeting is 7 hours away! Geez!

Oh well, all in all, I must say things went rather well :) I'm smiling to myself... now if only I can fall asleep...

aw

Burnt Out

Hi... it's been quite a while since my last post. Apologies; I've been incredibly busy lately with the preparations for my concert as well as my musical next July.

Insidiously, I've let physical and mental fatigue overtake me. I became overly preoccupied with all the things I needed (or thought I needed) to complete, and lost my bearings. Consequently, I rather badly burnt out...

Didn't really think anything was wrong earlier on. I was still able to keep up with my schedule and tasks, but upon return from my KL trip, I found that I was perpetually tired, barely able to finish off the day's work, much less come up with any creative products.

Things came to a head when I started having palpitations almost nightly. At first, I dismissed it as too much coffee, although I was never immoderate. When it persisted, I bacame a little more concerned.

I wanted to see a doctor about it, but the queue at the polyclinic was fantastically long. My parents think it is due to my over-exerting myself that led to these health complications, and strongly suggested that I rest.

Seeing how much a visit to a specialist will cost me, I took their advice...

To my surprise, they were right :) I went home that day, and took a nap. It was long and deep, and when I awoke, I felt very much better :) I was certainly still fatigued, but my heart seemed to have stilled some :)

So here I am, burnt out, and trying very hard to rest up :) It's very much harder than you'd imagine, what with my concert, musical auditions, novel, soundtrack... ok ok! I'd better stop before I whip myself into a frenzy again!

Do remember me in your prayers, and excuse me if I'm not answering calls/sms/emails as promptly as you're used to :)

With that, I'm off to bed! Nitez!

aw

A little sad and blue...

It is truly written that "All good things must come to an end", and it is with that quote buzzing in the subliminal consciousness of my mind, I close yet another chapter of my life.

Perhaps there is something in saying goodbye. The word itself has become practically meaningless. We say it glibly, to every passing person, without realising the immense gravity of the word. Surely, we do not mean "goodbye" when we say it to our friends, for we are to meet them again in a few short hours or days... would it not be more correct to say "see you later"?

However, when I stood in front of my class today, saying that very word, I found that it held great meaning indeed. It is in fact an end to what has been a wonderful year long journey.

It is a goodbye to early morning coffee and conversation in the warmth of my homeroom, with cackling laughter to start off the day. It is a goodbye to my meticulously checking my kids for their barely legal sock length and Thai-dancer-like fingernails. It is a goodbye to being able to say something useful and practical into their lives.

It is a goodbye to family.

Whilst wallowing in my sentimental reverie, I become acutely aware of the privilege I have had the honour of having. I've been the "custodian" over 40 brilliant kids, whose potential far surpasses mine, and whose future each brim with great and wonderful things :) Add to that another 40 on their threshold of adulthood, each beginning to realise the expanse of their potential.

I am blessed by all of them, and I can only hope that I, in turn, have blessed them :)

Surely... I will miss you all.

aw

Sleepy, But Sleepless...

It's one of those nights where I'm feeling tired, but sleep escapes me :( May have something to do with the fact that I took a rather long nap this afternoon (more evidence of my being tired!), and then again, maybe not...

Thing is... I've got a lot on my mind. Right. I can just hear my friends laughing at my monumental statement of the obvious :) They'll say I've always have a lot on my mind, and they'll be correct :) Guess this is just another ordinary "can't sleep due to mental congestion" nights...

I've arrived at yet another crossroads. I read somewhere that life is a series of crossroads, where each fork takes you on an adventure, unique and wonderful on its own. While I have no problem believing that life is a series of crossroads, I'm not so sure about each fork being wonderful.

Sure, I exaggerate. The options I'm presented with are not bad ones; far from it. It is however a matter of a personal challenge, of stepping outside of my comfort zone, and ultimately, the exercise in a staunch and confident believe in oneself.

In short: do I have what it takes to get me where I want to go?

Please excuse the ambiguity... I apologise that I am unable to divulge more details simply because this is so very public a forum :) Kindly indulge the ramblings of my exhausted mind; it seems that my fingers are moving with greater rapidity than the faculties of my mind :)

Still, the situation remains...

The beauty of the matter is that I don't really need to make a choice, at least not in the here and now. In a way, the choice may decide itself. It's just this nagging feeling of doubt that I need assuaging.

Whatever happens, I will simply remember that God is in control :) Greatest comfort ever :)

Goodnight! (I hope!)

aw

Cloudy... in 3D =]

Hi there!

Caught "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs" in 3D today with my students Gerwin, Soon Chuan and Xiang Xiang :) They took their last paper today, so I guess everyone was in a celebratory mood :) I was a little winded (from all the marking, collating, etc), but was still pleasantly entertained :)

What appealed to me most about the story (and this could be a show-spoiler! those wanting to watch it, stop reading now!) was the presence of an emotionally-constipated father, who was unable to articulate his feelings to his son :)

It resonates with me, this whole episode of a son wanting to hear his father (or parents) tell him that he (they) loves him, and all the words of affirmation that would make everything ok :) While it does sound very Disney-saccharine sweet, it underlies the need all children have in wanting to hear their parents say "I love you" :)

If "'Sorry' seems to be the hardest word" (according to Elton John), the "I love you" should correspondingly be the most powerful :)

Apart from that, the show is also good clean fun :) I give it 4 stars out of 5 ;)

aw

Weekend At Last! :)

Thank God It's Friday! Whew! What a week! It's certainly one of the most tiring week this year, what with all the commotion about the CD release, and of course it's exam time, and with that comes all the extra preparation and marking, and blah blah blah...

Now at least I can get some air in my lungs and sit down to type :)

This weekend looks set to be nothing but marking and marking :) I'm down with 3 classes of comprehension and 2 classes of compositions/ reports :) Hopefully, with a fair wind on my back, I should be able to finish them all over the weekend :)

I'm also in the process of tying up the loose ends for my concert :) Now that's really something I'm looking forward to... and not without some trepidation! It has been 3-plus years since my last solo concert, and while I've been involved in other productions ("Believe - the musical" and "Butterfly Dreams"), staging my own show is a rather different thing :)

It's been a while since I've performed on my own, and honestly, I do miss the crowd interaction :) I love the dynamics of a live performance, and am working hard to put together a great show :) For more info on the concert, do visit my web http://www.alex-wang.com :)

Oh, something quite wonderful happened to me... :)

I gave my dad a copy of my new CD, and after a listen, he told me that it's better than my previous releases :)

Now that may not sound like much to you, but for me, coming from my dad, is like getting a Grammy or topping the music charts! I'm just glad he thinks well of this album, and that makes me very happy indeed :)

Well, my marking beckons... or shall I watch telly? Hmmm.... ;) Tell you tomorrow :)

Blessed weekend all!

aw

First thoughts :)

Hi hi! And yes, so I've joined the world of blogs :) In the words of the Borgs in Star Trek... "Resistance is futile!" Haha!

Well, I guess this is yet another way for me to communicate, and also share some thoughts :) So far, I've been using my music and website (www.alex-wang.com), but perhaps this is a better (newer? fresher? more interesting?) way to do it :)

So first up (and I'm shamelessly doing this!)... my new album "No Explanation" will hit the stores in Singapore tomorrow, 1st Oct!!!

I so excited about the album because it took 4 years to produce :) Not the process, but rather, over the last 4 years, I kept getting sidetracked by other projects (mainly, my musical "Believe", which I will mention again in a future post!) and the usual vagaries of life :)

"No Explanation" is really a labour of love, and I'm again so privileged to be able to share it with you all :)

More to roll out soon! Keep reading!

Lots of Love,

aw