So close...

So I didn't end up doing my recital - had a bit of an anxiety attack and it is now postponed to a later date. I'm still practicing like anything and trying to get university over and done with so I can move on with life. So even though there's only 6 more days of October, I don't think I can fulfil my Blogtoberfest obligations... I could have if I were more organised since the very beginning, but things happen for a reason. Life happens for a reason. And I should stop dwelling on what could have been and focus on now and what could be.

I am one essay, one report and one recital away from finishing university. Yet I don't feel like doing it. I feel like whatever I write or whatever I play will not be good enough, and that I won't pass, even though my lecturers have said they'll help me pass and that's what they're there for. Maybe I'm afraid of moving on? Or maybe I just think it's too hard and feel it's easier to give up. I should stop with that attitude because it's gotten me no where me thinks.

I found out I'm good with making plans, but I'm not necessarily good at executing them unless I'm really really into them. I have this huge plan ready for my birthday in February next year. Turning 25, I'm hoping to make a huge huge birthday bash as I didn't have a huge one when I was 21. It'll hopefully celebrate not only my birthday but the fact that I've finally finished uni (after all those years of part time study and failing) and a new chapter in my life. These grand plans will come into play once my recital is done, and my NIDA interview is over.

But for now I have to focus on the task at hand - today I'm going to finish that damn 2500 word essay, and do that 750 word report, and practice my heart out until next week so that I can put a "Bachelor of Music" next to my Diploma of Associate Music in Piano Performance and my Diploma of Entertainment Business and Management. It's so close, yet so far.

Missed another 2 days of Blogtoberfest...

I shouldn't have signed up really... :P

My recital is this Thursday, 22nd of October at Sir John Clancy Auditorium UNSW, 6.30pm. If you would like to come see me make a fool out of myself spewing piano notes everywhere you're welcome to. It's free, and you don't need to book. The Auditorium is pretty big and I highly doubt I can fill it up with people, but I'm obliged to publicise nevertheless. All I want to do is pass, really.



Oscar is being adorable, until he does naughty things like poo somewhere other than the litter tray. He was behaving so well until then. I think I need to change the litter box a little more often.

After this week is over, I will be excited to a) go back to my knitting, and b) finish uni. I would only have a couple of more papers to hand in and hopefully that would only take me a weekend and a couple of days, and then I can be stress free for about a week until I go for my application for NIDA... Sigh. Things never stop!

Back and unprepared

Back home from my travels. I fail at blogtoberfest, as I definitely haven't been blogging every single day. Even though it's great to be home, I'm now back to reality and the responsibilities that face me for the next couple of weeks at least.

I has a new foster cat. I've named him Oscar, and he's really chatty. And currently really smelly because he just recently gotten desexed, and his body is still trying to get used to the whole "no more testerone" thing. But he's adorable... :D



And in other news my recital is this Thursday. Totally and thoroughly unprepared. Am trying to practice heaps, but yah, the motivation is no longer there. I have 5 more days of heaps of practice and hopefully I'll get there. Apparently I can. I just need to work really hard. Sigh. And then my degree will be OVER!

I Heart America

And after New York and San Fran, I'm thinking I'm happy to move here for a while. I dunno whether I would bring up a family here, because I'd like my kids to be near my parents (or at least in the same country), but for my career I really need to be in the States.

San Francisco has a couple of friends living here, and they all seem so happy. Or at least successful... One friend is working at Ernst and Young, and another at Apple, and they seem so happy! San Fran is a pretty city despite the hills (and the weather - slept in this morning because it was raining and we couldn't do anything in the rain), and the houses are pretty. However New York has this exciting buzz to it that I just really really loved.

I'm scared of facing all the work I need to do once I get back to Sydney... Sigh. It'll all be done in a week I'm sure, but still scared!

I'm already planning my next trip - I'm hoping to go to Londontown. And possibly a couple of other places in Europe. Hope to save up enough money to get some specials or early bird tickets sometime next year... And maybe a detour back to New York if I have the time and monies!!! Sigh... Just have to keep on fantasising, it keeps me sane. :D

San Francisco...

A very different vibe. It's definitely awesome, with the insane amount of restaurants and arty stores, and the pace - very very relaxed. Definitely opposite to New York. And oh my, the amount of hills! You wouldn't have to get a gym membership if you had to walk everywhere here. Just walk a couple of hills a day and I think you'll lose weight almost instantly.

We went on a City Tour today, seeing as we only have 2 days here, and it's pretty awesome that you can go a couple of blocks and it changes continents - from Chinatown to Little Italy to something South American.

It's a pity that it's a bit overcast, and apparently it's going to be raining tonight and windy tomorrow... Hopefully that won't get in the way of things!

Starting to stress about uni work, and the amount of stuff I have to do when I get there... Sigh. But I've planned it all out and made notes about it all. :D Hopefully I'll be organised and stick to it!

Waiting... Foolishly...

I did the ultimate stupid thing this morning.

A couple of days ago I thought I'd be organised and book in a shuttle bus to the airport. I asked for 7.35am because I read my flight as 10.35am. And how I was wrong.

My flight was actually at 7.25am, and 10.35 was the time on my old itinerary where I would've ARRIVED at San Fran.

On my new itinerary we would've arrived there at 11am, so we would've had had half a day to go around sight seeing and stuff, but alas we've spent this opportunity to miss a flight due to my stupidity and spend possibly 12 hours waiting around for a free seat on the flight. We've been waiting around since 8.30am waiting for flights every 2-3 hours, being on the stand-by list and just hoping we'll be on the next flight. I really hope we're on the next flight at 5.30, but obviously people aren't as stupid as me.

I guess the reason why I made this mistake is because this is the first time that I'm pretty responsible for the whole trip. I don't have my parents nagging at me, and they're usually very particular about things, and I'm not part of any tour where other people would also check things and we'd keep eachother in line. I have my little brother, and even though he's 14 he's still fairly dependent, and I didn't expect him to go ahead and double check papers for me or anything.

So here I am, in JFK Airport NY, waiting for a flight to San Fran. At least it's not a flight home, just kicking myself because I've now lost a full day of travelling and sight seeing. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise - it's allowing us to do nothing and have a rest. Would just prefer to do it without the added stress about whether we're going to be on the next flight or whether we have to figure out a place to go to tonight if we don't get in. Apparently, and fingers crossed, we'll be leaving at 7.30pm the latest.

Oh and to add to the time wastage, all my knitting is in my suitcase which are now checked-in, also waiting in stand-by I guess. Just scared about the whole knitting confiscation that I thought I'd play it safe and leave it in my checked-in luggage. Sigh.

I hate being stranded.

I'm a consumer whore! And how??!!

So I've bought a whole heap of stuffs...

(Yes, that was totally posed.)

So I bought so far:

• Sheet music to musicals and films: In the Heights, Cabaret, Drowsy Chaperone, The Little Mermaid (Broadway), Enchanted, Twilight (for my students, I swear)
• Yarn: Some more Alpaca Tweed, including the Donegal Tweed and the Merino I bought yesterday
• Some square needles - they were awesome to try out! (Wordout to Southport yarns - they were so awesome and hospitible)
• New Jared Flood booklet and Debbie Bliss magazine
• 2 hangings - one of Broadway/Time Square, and one vintage looking Hershey's Ad
• Mr Potato Head parts and an Eva and Wall-E plush
• m&m earrings
• New pair of headphones that are BRIGHT RED by Panasonic
• Converse sneakers
• I Love NY T-shirt and Hoodie
• 5 shows I've seen so far: Shrek, Hair, In the Heights, Next to Normal and A Steady Rain

And tonight I saw Shrek the Musical, mainly because Sutton Foster was in it. The staging was spectacular, with lots of awesome mechanics and moving sets, and puppetry. And Sutton Foster tap dancing!!! :D I went to Stage Door and waited to grab her autograph, and then got Tony to take a photo of me with her, which was awesome! :D Even the little Fionas came out to sign the programs, they were so cute!



Tony, my little brother, is getting tired of all the theatre, which I kinda feel sorry for him. BUUUUUT then again, I did tell him that if he was going to come along, that most of the time I'll just be seeing theatre shows and going to yarn stores. But we did go to J&Rs, which is a huge electronics store, and we got some headphones that he wanted. They're actually really really good, and the ones I got are just aesthetically awesome, dunno whether the sound quality is actually that good, but they suffice for me.

I'm tempted to get more Converse sneakers - $40 over here! And maybe more yarn and maybe some perfume... So much stuff!

Until next time, Hello from NEW YORK!!! :D Miss you Sydney, even though I heard the weather has been a bit bipolar.

I Heart Theatre...

Saw two shows today - A Steady Rain, with Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig, and Hair.

My little brother slept through A Steady Rain... He found it boring. It was also his first ever experience watching a "play" as opposed to a musical. I realised that all the shows he's seen with either me or my family have all been musicals, so in a sense he was spoilt that his first ever straight play was with two top actors, and he found it boring.

Hair, on the other hand, was AMAZING!!! It was very interactive, with the ensemble going out to the audience dancing and protesting and what not. And the best thing in the end was that they invited the audience to come up and DANCE!!! So basically I could officially say I danced and sang on Broadway!!!

Another awesome aspect about Hair was that the band was onstage, and the MD was awesome - she dressed up all hippy like and everything, and even participated in one of the songs, and at the end when I was on stage I asked for a photo. Alas, the quality wasn't great, because as soon as someone took the photo, the lights went down - but it has a trippy effect to it!


She was just as a performer as the cast on stage, and I was reminiscing of the times when I was in City of Angels and I realised that everyone could see me, so I had to "perform" my conducting as well! :D

Unfortunately (and kinda fortunately) I've decided not to go to WEBS... Mainly because after my little brother sleeping through A Steady Rain, he felt a bit grumpy because we've been doing a lot of things that I wanted to do. So instead we have tickets to see Shrek (which is more up his alley) and tomorrow we're spending the day at Centennial Park and Ground Zero and seeing the Statue of Liberty.

HOWEVER - I did go to School Products... And omg the yarngasm... So much cashmere I couldn't comprehend it all! I touched a $55 ball of cashmere bulky yarn, and almost cried. And the colours!!!! It was only merino, but the colours were AMAZING...


I bought some Donegal Tweed which I think is also Cashmere, because it was marked down from $50 to $20 per skein, and bought 8 balls of the aurora 8 Karabella Yarn, which is 100% merino. In the picture above, it's the third from the bottom right. Going to try and catch some more yarn stores on Friday and Saturday, but I'm spending WAYYYYY too much money already.

Oh and I also visited the Disney Store, and Tony and I had too much fun. There was a place where you can bring home your own Mr Potato Head in a box, and fit as many parts as you can for $19.95. Tony did Buzz Lightyear and the Incredibles, and I did Little Mermaid and the Mad Hatter...

We did so much today, I could go on forever... But I can say that I need more than just 6 days in New York... It's too crazy here and so much to dooooooo!!!!

The Land of Excess

New York is a city of billboards, and the city of almost everything. Nevertheless, I love it here, and seeing theatre makes me want to stay in New York forever and ever.

Tonight I saw "Next to Normal", another Tony award winning musical. Got Partial View tickets for $36.50, which I thought were still fairly cheap. I missed out on the general rush tickets, as I should've stood in line at 10am to get some. Tomorrow I'm going to wait in line at 9.30am for student rush tickets to see "A Steady Rain", which has Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman in it. Both Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman in the same theatre and live??? How can I miss such an opportunity!

Thursday Ysolda Teague will be at WEBS, which apparently is only a couple of hours away on the train from New York. I dunno whether I wanna do the trek out in the evening to catch her or not, and it also means I sacrifice another evening of theatre. She'll be at WEBS from 6pm I think and only for an hour and a half, so I'm torn whether I should go see a musical that night, or make the journey out to a huge huge huge yarn store. Sigh... The choices!

Tomorrow we were hoping to go to Central Park, but it started raining. I was hoping to hire a couple of bikes and bike ride around, but maybe I should wait until Thursday seeing as that's a better day to go bike riding.

Sigh - I would move to New York in a heart beat, really.

In the heights...

So today we visted a couple of places, and I shall post up photos later when I'm less tired... It's currently 4.30am and I've stayed up to finish a paper that was due last Friday... 5 days late equals to 10% off, but hey, it's finished, right?

In summary Tony and I went to:

• M&Ms store - lots and lots of M&Ms in different colours!
• NBC Studios, home to Saturday Night Live
• Magnolia Bakery, and
• Watched In the Heights - an awesome musical.

The musical inspired me to finish my damn assignment and not be burdened with guilt. The show gave me the fuzzies in which awesome musical theatre always give me, and how I want to be part of it one day by being a director. That made me go "Damn, I want to fucking pass this Bachelor of Music and move onto my next chapter of my so-called career".

But I shall leave you with this video of a busker playing the most awesome instrument in the world - the keytar!

A-me-e-ri-i-caaaaaa!!!!

I couldn't help but sing the opening song from "Team America" when I landed in Los Angeles for transit.

18 hours of plane and 4-5 hours of waiting in between and I'm finally in New York... With swollen feet and tired pants from my little brother.


And the first thing we did? We wanted food, so we ordered from a Deli around the corner that did delivery, and ordered some curly fries.



So tomorrow we will start our musings - New York, here we come!

So I massively fail...

At Blogtoberfest.

Although it's been a busy 2 days... Friday was spent running around chasing up things whilst trying to finish an assessment which wasn't successful.

Then Dad found out about my credit card debt and took my credit card away from me. :(

There's a saying in Vietnamese... "Cha may" (spelling a bit iffy) which literally translates to "Your Dad". Thing is, Dad said it. To me. When he was looking over my last credit card bill statement. I found it hilarious. Those who have hung around me a bit know that sometimes I like to use the catch phrase "Your Mum"... "Cha may" has a bit of a different ring to it, and also a different purpose, but it's kinda similar to "your mum"... kinda.

So I leave on a plane at 1450. To New York. Then San Fran. Yay! Although a bit stressed about the work that lies ahead when I get back, but I'm going to try and forget about it and not worry about a thing.

Here's to the US of A.

Blogtoberfest - Can I do it?

I was reading a fellow blogger Bells' recent post which mentioned "Blogtoberfest". I'm a sucker for punishment, seeing as I have all these things to do (including a 3000 word paper due tomorrow) and yet I decide to procrastinate and write for my blog instead.

For those who are up for it, it's not too late to sign up. Tinnie, a crafter that I only heard of since today, is organising one on her blog and you can sign up and grab a gadget for your Blogger from here. I guess today is the last day to sign up seeing as part of the condition is to blog e.v.e.r.y s.i.n.g.l.e d.a.y... This will also be interesting as I will be away for a week and a half in New York and San Francisco... I shall be bringing my laptop with me and visiting net cafes just so I can do this! Oh and iPhone will be great too. :D

So I do hope this is considered a blog-worthy entry. Procrastinating again from a 3000 word paper due tomorrow and piano practice. Only THREE more sleeps before I leave for New York, and one night to write up 3000 words. If I don't finish it, I shall do it on the plane trip to New York where there is no internet distraction and I have all my material with me to complete everything.

I also hope I get my knitting mojo back. All this hectic-ness has made me not knitting as much as I would like. I'm going to try so hard to finish this paper so that hopefully I can knit on the plane.

ALRIGHT!!!! Off to work/practice... Sigh.