Sunday, August 23rd 2009

Philippe Jaroussky will be touring Germany and London! I feel so envious, of Philippe himself and the people going to watch him in concert. I shall go to one of his concerts in the next few years, and if I'm lucky, I'll sing with him in this lifetime, unless one of us suddenly dies or something. What if I choke or suffocate while singing with him? That's even worse. Humiliation and death!

Yesterday was a pretty busy day. I had a voice lesson at 10.30 in the morning, so my entire morning was gone. It didn't go too badly, actually, except that my teacher sprung Vaccai's "Syncopation" on me and I had to sight-sing it on the spot, rhythm and all. Made a couple of mistakes, but after 1 or 2 tries, I got the hang of it.
Since it was my last lesson before she left, I was told to study the next 3 Vaccai lessons on my own. Am excited about doing the "runs and scale-passages" and all the different ornaments. Gotta find out how coloratura is sung.
We also went through "How Beautiful Are The Feet", it took me a while to get the hang of the rhythm, too. It was a constant swaying feel, so we did swinging to help me sing better. Strange how the body works, physically and psychologically. Anyway, that song got stuck in my head for the rest of the day.

Went to V's place to swim in the afternoon, so there was little time for lunch after my lesson. My sister told me last-minute that there was to be a farewell dinner for my voice teacher last night, so I made her a card while V studied Chemistry. I've been going swimming every week, but yesterday's workout wasn't satisfying, so it probably means that my stamina is increasing. It was also nice to go swimming since it was so hot and humid. Even global warming can't make this climate any worse.

Was told that the dinner was at "Prive Bakery Restaurant" at Vivocity, but when I got there, I asked the information counter people about it and they had no idea about it. I walked over to Harbourfront Centre and found the information counter there. Seated there was this bored-looking middle-aged woman, staring into space. I asked her about "Keppel Marina" (It came up on the Prive Restaurant website), and luckily, she knew where it is. She gave me vague directions since she'd never gone there herself, so I thanked her and started walking there. It was already evening, but still hot and humid, so I perspired. That, and the fact that I was late and panicking. I walked into the wrong place twice, and finally a security guard pointed me in the right direction, to a brightly-illuminated building in sight. So began the very long walk there, down a seemingly endless path and then across a long bridge. My knees were ground down at the joints and were hurting with ever stride. I was afraid my teacher was upset because I was an hour late, and I assumed so because she didn't pick up my call or reply to my sms when I was lost. Luckily, it wasn't at all like that and she called me over to the table when she saw me.
I expected a whole bunch of her students, you know, kids, but there were just a few adults. It wasn't as awkward as I thought, since they were quite social and included me in conversations. The waiter brought me a menu, and boy, was it pricey!!! Who would've thought a plate of pasta could cost $25?! I ordered a beef stew ($18!), which, unfortunately, had more beef tendons than meat, so I was a little grossed out. I've never liked tendons, so I left them and ate the meat, veg and mashed potato. I refused to order any drinks, so I had quite a few glasses of water. It was a very unsatisfying meal of minuscule proportions, totally not worth the money.
My sister was also late, but she managed to make it there in a shorter time than I did. At night, that place looks like Venice! The docks, the sloshing sound of waves, the lights from the houses that line the waterbanks. The only things missing are the beautiful architecture and nice climate.
Sigh.