Thursday, March 4th 2010

LOVE this episode of "Tom and Jerry".
It brings back so many lovely memories.

Spent yesterday with Kat, went to Spotlight, Esplanade library, Max Brenner's and Bugis Street. She had to buy some ribbon and lace for her new top, and I ended up buying 2m of white ribbon for my dress, too. Spent about 3-4 hours at Esplanade library where we studied for our respective exams, and left for Max Brenner's after I borrowed a Merula CD and the DVD of the opera "Il Barbiere di Siviglia", with Hermann Prey as Figaro.

Max Brenner's hot chocolates almost killed us. I ordered the "Italian thick hot chocolate (dark)" and Kat ordered "hot milk chocolate with melting marshmallows". Mine was called "thick" for a reason. I felt like I was literally drinking melted chocolate! I felt like I was in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".

We went to Bugis St so I could buy another dress. I suddenly have this urge to wear them, ever since I bought a couple several days ago and discovered that I actually look good in them. Sorry, sounding egoistic isn't my intention. It's just that I never really wore dresses and it took me more than 18 years to discover them. I love the casual-looking ones now, bought a star-printed one yesterday for $10. It looks great with the white ribbon I bought, so I'll probably wear them together, on the first day of school.

Watched "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" last night and sat, in a state of enchantment, in front of the television for more than 2 hours. It was just so fascinating listening to beautiful compositions and watch them being sung and played in a pseudo-town environment. Rossini really knew how to compose an opera. His melodies are beautiful, but only one or two are memorable, namely "Largo al Factotum". That's also the song in the video above.
My favourite part starts when Jerry licks the lemon, but in the opera, it's the really fast part nearing the end. How does one even manage that, with diction so clear and notes so accurate, not to mention the amount of stamina needed?

On an unrelated topic, I like Chinese as a language. It's a very beautiful, delicate language, and it's lovely to hear Chinese people speak. When I say Chinese, I mean people from mainland China with a thick accent. They have a lot of "round" words. It's like music to listen to. The written language is also beautiful, with its strong but fragile strokes. I was just never good at the language, but I love it. The Chinese have a lovely culture, simple but beautiful architecture (think Lijiang) and good food. It's very close to my heart.

Dad is ill again, only it's kind of scary because he's been coughing badly for a week now. It started with a bad sore throat and eventually developed into a bad cough. I think it's putting a lot of pressure on his blood vessels, because his eyeballs were bleeding a little at lunch-time. He's also been sleeping a lot after taking medicine which, by the way, were not prescribed to him. He's far too cheapskate to want to see the doctor, so he just gets some recent left-over medicine from the cupboard, prescribed to whoever last fell ill with the same sickness, and takes it.
I guess I'm a little worried, but he is pretty old. He's turning 64 this year, and with old age also comes sickness, for most people. Also, like I always say, if it's time to die, it's time to die. As much as I love Dad and all that, I'd be willing to let him go if he has to.