|| Fastest Fingers First ||

Monday, May 11, 2009

My post today will be mostly about a particular library book that i've read a few months back. I had noted down some important pointers and would love to share it in here.(: The book is called The Self Factor by author Duncan Coppock. One of the chapter in the book caught my attention when i first browsed through the content page. The topic of that chapter says "Staying OUT of your comfort zone".(:

Everyone has their own comfort zones. Be it good or bad, everybody will have to step out of the comfort zones one day. The reaction cycle which revolves unconsciously in your own comfort zones consists of three parts..Attitude, Expression and Experience.

Attitude: The beliefs, feelings and personal perceptions about certain things.
Expression: The actions and the way you react(hence cycle called 'reaction cycle') to the things.
Experience: The results of the first two parts; Attitude and Expression.

This unconscious cycle will keep on and on until you add in the aspects of consciousness to change it from a Reaction into a Creation cycle. It may seem easy just by moving the 'C' to the front of the other word, but you'll have to go through 4 thorough aspects of the conscious cycle..Self-acceptance, Awareness, Intention, Learning.

Self-acceptance is oftenly misunderstood as accepting yourself. But it is more of understanding yourself than just plainly accepting yourself because if you understand yourself well, you will have no problem accepting yourself.
In buddhism, there's a saying that right hand represents Awareness while left hand represents Compassion. Awareness is the acknowledging of your personal obstacles that will have to be overcomed when you transform the reaction cycle to a creation cycle. Hence, understanding yourself is the most important thing. However, understanding WITHOUT action..and..action WITHOUT acceptance are no-no in the creation cycle.
Next is the Intention is the formulating and energizing of personal choices. The most commonly used question "So, what is your intention?" which is linked to the last aspect.

The last aspect for the conscious cycle is Learning. Learning is the ability used to develop new skills. If you formulate and energize your choices well in the previous part, you will definitely have minimum problem in developing new skills because you will be soo determined and inspired to change away from the unconsicous reaction cycle by then.

Ever heard of the word 'Enpowerment'?..know its definitions? Most people treat the word 'Enpowerment' as a jargon, thus it's been de-valued. From the dictionary, the word 'Enpowerment' means..'to authorize/to enable'. But, it has more meanings behind. When you are stepping out of your comfort zones, you'll require enpowerment. It distinguishes between "being enpowered" and "what you choose to do"..or simply explained as.."what you WANT to do/how you WILL do it" and "what you CHOOSE to do". You may be wondering what's the difference between em. There's hell lots of difference between "what you want to do/how you will do it" and "what you choose to do". "what you want to do/how you will do it" will be questioned in this way "what and how will you do to step out of your comfort zones" but "what you choose to do" will be questioned in a complete different way.."what would i like to do next".

Enpowerment is made up of 3Rs; Resources, Responsibility and Respect.

Resources: The time, things and skills needed during the enpowering process.

Responsibility: The ownership and accountability of your own enpowering actions.

Respect: The right attitude and mentality required towards your enpowerment.

To summarise, in empowerment..the 'ought to' and 'should' must be changed to 'want to' and 'fulfils'. It must be 'i want to do it/it fulfils my dream' instead of 'i ought to do this/i should be doing this'.

Lastly, to successfully step out of your own comfort zones..you have to get the A.N.S.W.E.R.S.

Aim: Clarify the vision, whether it is possible or not.

Now: To acknowledge the current reality and your current position, so you will know where you are going to start from.

Stance: The continuous strengthening in the sense of knowing that the vision is possible. The need of reflections in the overall progress.

Wanting: Strengthening of your ultimate desire for your goal.

Energy: The required amount of energy needed to stay on and persevere.

Resources: Have the appropriate and sufficient resources such as the skills and time needed.

Strategy: Clarify the ways and methods of how you are going to do it. Also, have reassurance about whether the actions will be worthwhile for the available energy and resources.

Hmms..the next book i'll be posting about will be "Hard Optimism" by author Price Pritchett. The topic is on how to succeed in a world where positive wins.(:

In my previous post, i talked about the masterpiece Victory by Maksim. Here's the vid, not the original version though..the remix version. But, it's pretty cool and nice too.=D

Enjoy.(:

10:47 PM

Sunday, May 10, 2009

One month of my holidays will be up soon..my life had been literally hours of pianoings every day. My progress is going pretty fine but can be alot better. Mastered quite a few pieces for the past few weeks, for example the masterpiece Victory by Maksim.(:

Now, i'm in e progress of a duet between vocal singings and piano.((: I went to rp on friday and had alittle duet with xueting. Song of the day: "Because You Loved Me" by Celine Dion!!=D It was quite good for our first practice, super funny too.hahas.

Hmms..will be improvising and editting it soon.

Happy Mommy Day!!=)

12:31 AM

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Went for bible study with jermaine before ytd despite being unwell. i saw xuejun and seriously, i'm not surprised at all that she's high. well..sisters do share the same genes, right xueting?frrieedd riccee~haha.(:
Then, i went to visit my granny..saw my relatives watching the stars award ceremony. super-duper cool that my fav Maksim's pieces like Cubana and Revolutionary Etude in C Minor were used in it.

With the swine flu going on, it is obviously not the best timing to be down sick especially with flu and sore throat.tsk. However, i still persevere on with my pianoing and recorded 2 improvised piano pieces.

It originated as a j-pop song by Yuna Ito.

Then, it was changed to a chinese song called 想念你的歌.(:

It is composed by Yiruma.

Improvised with alittle tranpositions: A major to D major to C major.(:

I'm pleased that my piano vids inspired my friends like Stacie..here's two more vids for ya!!=D

I went back to Piano Ensemble today for some guidances about my compositions. I found out that only 8 people were enrolled into the course that i'm studying in Lasalle, super shocking..giving the number of talented musicians going for the audition.damn.o.o

9:30 PM

Sunday, April 26, 2009

For all those times you stood by me..

For all the truth that you made me see..

For all the joy you brought to my life..

For all the wrong that you made right..

For every dream you made come true..

For all the love i found in you..

I'll be forever thankful baby.

You're the one who held me up, never let me fall.

You're the one who saw me through through it all.

You were my strength when i was weak..

You were my voice when i couldn't speak..

You were my eyes when i couldn't see..

You saw the best there was in me.

Lifted me up when i couldn't reach..

You gave me faith because you believed.

I'm everything i am because you loved me.

You gave me wings and made me fly..

You touched my hand and i could touch the sky..

I lost my faith and you gave it back to me..

You said no star was out of reach..

You stood by me and i stood tall.

I had your love and i had it all.

I'm grateful for each day you gave me..

Maybe i don't know that much, but i know this much is true.

I was blessed because i was loved by you.

You were my strength when i was weak..
You were my voice when i couldn't speak..
You were my eyes when i couldn't see..
You saw the best there was in me.
Lifted me up when i couldn't reach..
You gave me faith because you believed.
I'm everything i am because you loved me.

You were always there for me..

The tender wind that carried me..

A light in the dark shining your love into my life..

You've been my inspiration, through the lies you were the truth..

My world is a better place because of you.

You were my strength when i was weak..
You were my voice when i couldn't speak..
You were my eyes when i couldn't see..
You saw the best there was in me.
Lifted me up when i couldn't reach..
You gave me faith because you believed.
I'm everything i am because you loved me.

7:32 PM

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Went to rp ytd, had bible study with jermaine..with jessie blogging her two sentences.haha. The bible study went pretty smooth, quite interesting. Initially planned to have music theory lessons arranged for em but they were tired after a long day of studying perhaps..so, i ended up performing random pieces at the lib for em..managed to compose a soothing piece on the spot.(:
Hmms..here's a recording of a masterpiece, the first ever Maksim piece i learnt.

Hahaas, i find that some people do literally jump up when frightened.=p

Jessie, i'll be considering posting my soothing composition here in my next post..dependent on my inspirations but most of e time will be soothing and slow pieces because that's my genre.=DD

11:34 PM

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Today started out pretty cool but weird as my poly friends were already in their respective classes..and i'm still in bed.
Haha, sounds cool ehh??..4 months of additional holidays.((: However, i'm not gonna slack much as i know that there are alot more rooms for improvements. My target: 8-9 hours of practice per day.=D My progress, today for the first day, was encouraging as i've spent 5 plus hours pianoing..10am+ to 3pm+.(: If not for my weary eyes, it could've been longer. Furthermore, I also have to read up more about music, for example..compositions etc.
After those long hours of practising, quite a few thoughts overwhelmed my mind.

Gonna work hard and strive to be the top student in my new college. Not to be one of the best but the best, there's no room for 2nd.(:
Thought of performing in primary and secondary schools, pursuing my 3 childhood dreams all at one go.hahs.
Thank God for blessing me with this talent ever since i'm in kindergarden..so, i may want to perform in those homes for the unfortunate, needy and elderly. God bless.(:

12:44 AM

Friday, April 17, 2009

Well..indeed, my 4am-muggings in the past did managed to get me through today's audition..but not after. Last night was by far my worse attempt for counting sheeps, i'm not sure if i did even sleep. So fatigued was i that i almost collapse and fell while closing a door.D: Thus, this will be a super short one with summarised details of my Nafa audition..ask me up for further details.

My muggings for the theory exam paper was worth it afterall..the paper was pretty easy and wasn't much of a problem for me.(:
Waited 1-2hrs plus for my audition performance and interview. My audition and interview was kinda short, most probably because Nafa is a school all about classicals and i performed contemporary pieces..still prefer the contemporary Lasalle.(:

9:33 PM