<3 my desktop

I love my desktop pic... thanks matt.

soon.

i will blog. trust me. let me get settled down first... then tasmania blogging.. and back to spore blogging. soon soon. :)

for now....

CONGRATS TO EUNICE AND DOM!! HAPPY MARRIAGE!! haha that's so weird to say. :)

Bye Melb, Hello Spore

Leaving tml for my flight to Spore... i'll be back to melb on the 25th of Feb. :)

yay... finally get to eat spore food... and i SO need to catch up on the lives of the shalom youth... it's been too long. weird... it's only been 5 months since? :)

Tasmania Trip Day 1 cont.

So yep, after collecting our car from the airport, we drove to Port Arthur where we got to take a short cruise ride around Port Arthur's Historic site. After that, we walked around the ruins and took loads of pictures with the penitentiary and other areas of Port Arthur.. It was pretty neat seeing all of the cells and where the convicts stayed in...

Once done, we headed towards Hobart to check into our Motel. It was cool coz the motel reminded me alot of 'My name is Earl'... The standard american motel.. Apparently it even had a trampoline... But we didn't manage to remember that fact when we came back at night to use it. Haha. :)

We headed to Franklin Wharf for dinner and instead of eating at Flippers which my mum suggested... We went to this place jus near it which the brochure called 'Arguablly the Best fish n chips in Hobart'... It's a restaurant called Fish Frenzy...
*hannah thinks it was so-so only*
anyway... Back to blogging... I had the Mixed Fish which was 3 pieces of fish with chips... Can't remember what the 3 fish were but 1 was the soft kind (which i like) and 2 which are the tough kind...

But overall, i liked it and was very glad that we had fish n chips... U know how i love it. Haha. :) yep then we headed back to crash coz it was a pretty tiring day...

And that concludes Day 1 of our tassie trip... Keep tuned in for day 2.
*hannah says keep watching this space*

To be... Yeh, continued... U got it.

Tasmania Trip Day 1

So i know it's gonna be a pain to blog bout the tassie trip so i'm gonna blog as i'm road tripping around. Haven't had much time to jus relax and thus i've already gone thru 2 days without blogging... So here goes. :)

Woke up on the 1st of Dec at 5am.. Had to give Hannah, Phyllis and Lois wake up calls at 5.30, 5.45 and 6am respectively... Since everything was already packed, i jus made myself a cup of milo and got ready to leave... Ren Haw (OCF friend) came by College Square to pick me up and when i was running out to his car from my lobby, my baggage bag strap snapped and the plastic broke... I was like... WHAT THE SHEEEET... Haiz. Haha but never mind, still can be carries by the handles... So we drove to pick Lois and Hannah and Phyllis up before we rendezvous-ed with the other car (driven by Charles) and headed to the airport.

Once we got there and thanked the OCFers fervently, we headed to load our luggages onto the plane. And then that's when Hannah told me she was car sick from the ride and needed to puke... NOT sumthing u wanna hear jus before a road trip... :s she says it's coz of the medicine she ate... Anyways, she puked and since then, hasn't gotten car sick since. Yay. Thank God.

Anyway, we got bumped to the front of the aircraft due to our large numbers and apparently the weight distribution needed us to be in front... So we got on and lifted off for Hobart international airport.

Once we reached Hobart, we got off the plane and literally walked down steps to the tarmac floor. First time i've done that... Get off the airplane and directly be on tarmac... Like air force one where they have a ladder from the airplane door to the floor.

Yep then we check out of the airport, get our rented cars and find out instead of a Rav 4, we are given a Nissan X-Trail. Davin and I are both quite disappointed coz we were looking forward to driving a Rav4. Anyways, we find our car in the lot and after initial inspection, we realize the car we got is DAMN cool. It's got a big boot space, it's white, powerful and commanding. But the best feature of it all is that it has a SUN ROOF! Awesome rite? We can either push the sunroof cover back or switch on the button and the sunroof retracts back letting u stand out of the roof. It was SO awesome, we were going crazy when we found out... All dancing in the car and all. Haha matt and kenrick's car was a pretty sad comparison to ours... Theirs was jus a normal sedan. :s

To be continued....

tramming

stupid aussie kids suddenly got on the tram and noise level jus sky rocketted.

Gahhhh

whether the weather will wither away

went to yarra valley yesterday with dad mum and aunties and got to drive a bit. Glad coz i need to get the feel of the wheel back in me again before tasmania otherwise i'd be driving with very little confidence...

but when dad was driving there was this sudden freak sandstorm that jus blew into the valley and out. It was amazingly cool and awfully scary... We were sitting there in the car jus picking up speed from a short stop and then suddenly (i mean really suddenly) the sand a bit far off started swirling and lifting off the ground. It started getting more and more and the swirl became bigger and wider and suddenly there was sand swirling everywhere and engulfing everything. It was so cool. the wind was blowing everything up (except trees, cows and our car) but it was sending twigs and leaves and sand all up in the air like some tornado. The cool thing was that u could see the swirl getting bigger and nearer till it enveloped the car and it literally went blank... All u saw outside the window was sand. Couldn't see past 5 metres of the car and u were like in the eye of the tornado... Awesome. So it blew that way for a good 5 mins or so and cars started pulling to the side of the road...

Then jus as quickly as it came, it left... The wind swept the sand past the road and it jus travelled away like a gloom of iminent doom. It reminded me of the Angel of the Lord passing over the houses of the egyptians and israelites... Then it was gone...

So cool. I've got a video of it. I'll post it up soon. :)

Cool experience and thank God no one got hurt.

Whee

EXAMS ARE DONE.... finally. now it's time to heck school till march and enjoy myself... next up.. Tasmania trip... BOOYAH!

Last Paper

Wow...here i sit... 10 minutes before i leave home for my last exam paper as a year 2...

and i feel so unprepared... haha maybe it's the generalization of this subject... or maybe it's the fact that this subject isn't a memorize information kind of subject... or maybe it's coz it's the last paper..

but i know i'm looking forward to getting it done and settled asap. :) then i'm free to not think about school till march 2010... :)

Aye, God, I'm so in need of You today. hahaha yeh... that was me last nite... pleading... lolz...

Ciaoz people!

Studying in Law Library

This is Uni Life... This is what happens when students camp themselves in the Law Library and study for a paper due tml... 

And this is what happens when u have an essay due tomolo. :) lolz.

Love is like playing the piano

Taken from here

Thanks Joash. i think it's really true.

Hawt....

taken from here

the heat here is bugging me... and everyone else..

GUHHHHHH i want to wear jumpers again and worry about whether i would have enuf layers... and wear my winter coat and feel like my eyebrows are singeing off when Crown Casino's fireshow goes up in the air.

heat, heat, go away, come again another day [when i'm not in melb].... :)

blah. one exam down. 2 to go.

mummy's here

yay... So mum messaged to say she's touched down safely in melb... So i take my essay and walk off to sch... Oh gosh it's a hot day...

Never mind that, i submit my essay and decide instead of tramming down to meet my mum at lygon-victoria, i'll take a nice slow stroll....

So i reach lygon-victoria and i call her and oh my gosh, she's STILL clearing customs... That means it's prob another 45 mins till she's here at least... Gahhh. So i asked her to ring me when she gets on the starbus and then i'll know it'll take roughly half an hour to come to the city... Sigh. The long long wait. And then we'll walk up lygon in this heat. thankfully everything, almost everything, is sheltered. :)

But thank and praise God that she arrived safely. Yay. Now jus to get her here and back home and then i'll have mummy with me for a week before she goes to tassie. :)

Yay. Hehe

~ Joel Tan ~
--- Sent from my E63 ---

HAWT WEATHER!

hahah funny how i blogged about it being chilly and now here i am, bloggin how hot it is...

that's melbourne for you. :)

today was SO hot... was going to die... hannah's place was a fiery furnace la. was so worried my place would be as hot. but thankfully it's not. :) Auntie rina and mama came today so we were running around settling some stuff like handphone plan and all. :) but wahhhh so hot can.

mummy's coming tomolo! yay! hahhaa... i guess i'm just glad that she'll be able to come up and see for herself what my melbourne life is. :) awesome.

Chilly

Need I say more? Consider this... it was DOUBLE the temperature yesterday at this time of the day... then last nite it dropped to 13... and now at 10am, it's 15.... 

Don't you just love melbourne weather? It's like the PMS of all countries...

So yeh, pack wisely [however u can] for here if u're coming.

Dripping

Oh My Goodness... dripping perspiration can!
It's so hot i kept falling asleep in the tram back just now. :S gosh. haha

Bad time to come mudder, bad time.

greetings

So I come up to Phyllis on a Sat morning market trip and since it's her birthday yesterday, i extend my arms out in an embrace and say HAPPY BIRTHDAY...

AND SHE SAYS HAPPY BIRTHDAY back to me!!! Like what the heck... Talk bout not paying attention! Haha but she realized what she did instantly and we laughed about it... It's like she's wishing me 9months in advance.. Haha

I've got such retarded friends. :)

~ Joel Tan ~
--- Sent from my E63 ---

So You Think You Can Dance 09 Auditions

So last night, Hannah's 2 friends [Rachel and Tim Walsh] went to audition for So you think u can dance. It's a really cool show [biggest and most popular dance competition show in aussie] that we were all hooked on when it was airing. This is Season 3 and we're looking forward to it coming to the tele soon...

So yeh, we managed to get into the auditions and it was very free and easy. very open concept and we just felt like we were treated to a really lucky experience... it was cool coz the dance floor was just this big flooring and there were cameras and lights everywhere.. but yet it was so simple.. no big setup or anything... jus the three judges [TV STARS!!!] behind a desk and dancers on the floor one by one... :) it was so awesome coz we were so close to the front... like there were prob a max of 40 people in that area and we were just sitting so close to the judges and all... During the break, i was sitting there facebooking with my phone and one of the judges [jason] just came up to the seat in front of me and was like talking over me to this other girl who was sitting 2 rows behind me and asked her to inform this other lady to be at the studio at this date and time... felt so... like i was part of the crew and all... being so close to people we see on tv.

i know i know, dun idolize them... i'm not..it's jus like.. wow... i'm so into the set piece and the whole audition experience that it's like i'm not watching the filming of a show, it's like i'm IN the show itself... well i was coz the camera does pan the audience quite a bit. haha and it zooms in on expressions we have and stuff. :) so it was pretty weird too... to think u were being watched... there's this camera they have on a long beam that sweeps the audience, flies in where the dancer is dancing and dances with them by twirling around them and all [it's REALLY flexible and versatile... the camera on the beam] and sumtimes it'll come to the audience and jus film us. and it's weird coz it's like the camera is literally in your face [or half an arm's length] in front of your face and what u gotta do is ignore it and jus try to watch the performance without looking into the camera... haha.. weird and nerve wrecking too.

but yeh, it was neat... watching some of the dancers.. some were really good and some of them were so-so... we went thru 20 dancers that night i think.. went on from 8.40 to 2.30am... hahaha but it was WELL worth the whole 4 hours... and tim and rachel were the last 2 dancers... tim danced lyrical and GOSH it was SO blardy good... ;) he did 3 pouriettes and it went straight into an arabesque... and it was epic awesome... so good. technique and all... he was given some advice from the judges and then matt lee [one of the judges] asked him how much he wanted the ticket to top 100 [the best kind of ticket they gave out] and he told him he wants it so much.. and that he'll work so hard coz he's already spent a whole year training and working on some stuff he was advised to change last year... and he was really cute about it all... and matt lee pulled out the top 100 ticket and we just ROARED in applause... we were SO happy for him. ahhaha... then rachel came out and danced. the judges were torn.. but it came down to sending her thru choreo first.. but that was still friggin awesome. :) so cool to actually know them and they know me... and to see them dance... so well.... :) awesome experience.

there are 3 kinds of responses... 1. Go away, u're too lousy for this 2. Go through choreo where there's no limit as to how many people get sent to choreo. they'll learn a short choreo piece and get judged again. 3. Top 100. So u advance straight to Top 100 in Australia and dance for your life to get to become Australia's next So you think you can dance winner. :)

I'm SO watching it when it comes out. i can't wait. here are some of the photos. enjoy!

The Maelstrom has passed

So, it's finally over... After months and months of rehearsals, the production is over... Bittersweet feelings of relief and loss sweep through the dressing room once the first curtain is raised... It's weird coz everyone knows it's the end and with that in mind, have vowed to dance their hardest.

Seems like the audience knew it too and roared into life the moment the announcements were made. They kept the mood alive and the noise to a maximum with all the 'GO YUSUF's and 'GO BRONWYN!'s. The dancers danced hard and gave it all they got... Including Lois, Hannah and myself. When i went out for my hiphop piece, i was shocked to hear the crowd WOOO in unison when my spotlight came on. It took me by surprise but only served to motivate and push me to dance full out without holding anything back...

The ballet contem piece with hannah and lois was great too. The steps jus came thru muscle memory and the lifts were mostly great. The last night was the most awesome one. I caught hannah with confidence and turned her with ease. The fish dive was executed really well too and a small mistake was hidden by a cover up that blended seamlessly into the next step.

Finally, our windmill lift and carry lift after that was one of the best we've done and i must say adrenalin really kicked in and i lifted hannah up so high my arms were in full extension. She had such a long air time i was quite stunned when i put her down. :) seriously, it was such a great piece and i'm glad that it's all over.

Now that flare's over, i'm glad to have the time back to finish off the last week of semester, write my 3k word essay and prepare for exams in 2 weeks time. :) thank you to all who came and supported us and bought tickets and all. :) really appreciate it... So here's to (Davin, Phyllis, Kenrick, Vanessa, Michelle, Much and Robbie) for coming to specifically watch us and thanks to others who blessed us with 'good luck's and 'all the best's :) it rocks to have friends so caring and thotful. :)

Pics are in facebook but i'll choose some and post them here soon. Watch this space. :)

~ Joel Tan ~
--- Sent from my E63 ---

Maelstrom: Flare Production 2009

It's finally here. We sit on the night before the production. The precipice of the performance... It's great that we're finally here, not great that some pieces aren't perfect yet including mine... but it's just going to happen and we are going to make it work. :)

It's taken up so much time AND energy [yes loads of that] to rehearse over and over again for these 3 nights where we dance our butts off... Although it feels like another rehearsal, when the crowds come in, the adrenaline would be PUMPED up! we've sold out for Fri and Saturday and Thurs is selling fast.. thank God we managed to sell the tickets coz ticket sales were really bad this year.... till now. :)

Looking forward to getting it done with and performing. This is my FIRST production and that's kinda why it has a special place in my heart... it's quite an experience to finally be doing sumthing i never thot i would... i only took up dance like at the 2nd half of my army life so that's about 1 and a half to 2 years ago... and here i am FINALLY putting up a production. :) i guess u can say it's the culmination of months and months of anticipation. :) never thot i'd ever dance on stage... let alone 2 dances of different genres :)

I'm just glad to be able to share this moment... or moments [coz it's 3 nights] with friends... close friends who man the Lighting [matt's doing an AWESOME job] to sound techs [minglei's manning sound] to dancers [Lois and Hannah and many more i've met thru rehearsing] and audience members [Phyllis, Davin, Michelle, Vanessa, Kenrick and many more]....

Just that this production has taken so much from me... time and energy as i mentioned earlier. every night after rehearsal i come back so tired. no more strength left to shower and do work. and school work has been suffering in a way... and it doesn't help that these weeks before project submissions so everyone's working their butts off and i'm having to excuse myself for flare rehearsals... and time and energy taken away from the gf too... i feel so empty these days... it's like yeh we're on stage together and all but i dunno... like just missing sumthing.... sigh. never mind. it's only a few more days till flare's over... then we'll choing projects [although they should be done by this sunday] and spend time with the gf too... 

ok so here's where i must mandatorially pick up the mood and end on a good note... so...

yay!!! Flare Production!!! Maelstrom 2009. 22nd - 24th Oct 2009, 7.30pm, Union House Theatre. Be there!