William Chong

It’s a celebration of someone’s life.  Yet tragically two lives were very short-lived.  Sometimes words don’t really do justice to the hurt and sorrow of losing a loved one.  Cliches and pick-me-up phrases aside, some moments:

• Bubbles floating in the wind, dancing around the lowered casket covered with bangles and flowers and tears
•  Three men and a lady staring at international arrivals onscreen, eye contact with the grieving father an uneasy burden
• facebook moods shifting with the days
• drifting into thought as two men argue inconsequentially between the terms “stillbirth” and “miscarriage”.
• The male protagonist sets the mood as she sleeps; from the musical “Miss Saigon”.
• Tony Laf also sings it well.

As for learning about a breakup, it’s better to have loved.  A line of lyric says simply, “cos we’re moving on.” – an answer to the question, “it will be alright because?”.  But all rhetoric aside, she is sad.

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What all this does mean though, is that I’m fairly behind in my uni work – 3 assignments that need to be started on, none of them really fleshed out yet.  Other chores during the holidays too, like servicing the car, WOF, paying bills (my dad’s bill money ran out – uni poverty here we come), and it’s still touch-and-go for many other things and other people.

Take care everyone.

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I know that right now, most of you are on holiday.  I’m annoyed at that, but I’ll take comfort in the fact that I’m fairly confident I’ve reached my target grades in both 301 and 303, the two important core papers I’ve been taking this semester.  Tomorrow’s exam is a sociology Singspiel that is worth just 30% of my final grade, whereas Monday’s Chinese110 final exam is within the A+ range if I’m up for it!

In between that I’ve got a busy Saturday – informal class concerts (with reports attached), Academy open rehearsal, and work as well means I’ll have to practise my vocab and essay-writing amongst all that.

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I think I need another pad to to-do note paper things.  My iCal is fantastic but I couldn’t possibly carry my Mac to do groceries… or to buy clothes, pay bills, etc etc.  Here’s a couple of things I’m looking forward to working on during the break:

• more songs – writing and recording existing ones.  Keep checking!
• shopping for clothes, especially winter ones for Kim.  Got a couple of gift vouchers to help with that.
• sorting out presents for RB, Nathan, Brendan
• Yea, gotta flex some Sibelius muscles from time to time
• really hard work on my ATCL pieces for violin.
• dine and review a couple of other restaurants, maybe concerts
• keep working on Chinese!

I’d say taking 110 has been a really crucial paper in that learning Chinese was something I’ve always put off until it was too late.  I’m happy to say that I can start writing letters to my mum again, if not just to feel more at ease but also to express how much life has changed over the past year or two.

The saddest memories regarding my mum passing away – they’re vivid for months, but then somehow, it’s like snow that slowly melts when spring is here at last.  You won’t forget, since there are tell-tale signs that something immense happened in your life: empty fields where the snow used to lie.  Though I must say that sometimes you have pictures of really specific things – like the first look on your brother’s face, or the sound of the rain fording across the mortuary rooftop, or a floral guard of honour for such an immense service to your family.

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Other recipients of my vastly improved Mandarin (albeit half-Simplified) literacy include: my dad, Linda and her family, my godgrandmother, and essentially half my bloodline living in Taipei City!  You have to realise that this post is in part a procrastinatory attempt, since who wants to study sociology?  So when I -

??!

Today, aside from preparing for my exercise physiology exam,

As some of you may know, I like to think of myself as a struggler in terms of finance.  I enjoy living on the subsistence offered by my doctor-investor father (he’s recently been awarded a Malaysian National Honour, much like the New Zealand Order of Merit, or the British Knighthood System).  However, I also enjoy making my own ends meet (especially with violin lessons, petrol, food costs and amenities), so I recently tried my hand in the share-market too.  Wise investments are hard to call unless you can see the future – but my dad’s recommendation of Auckland International Airport shares are pretty good so far.

So yeah, I’m happy about how God planned it out, serving up a big market increase to offset my previous faux pas share-trading story.  Basically in that instance I invested in a company on the down, and I pulled out to cut my losses (hence the loss of value), but then took a risk in re-buying at a lower Auckland International price at the time.

Bla bla long story short I made my money back (brokerage taken into account).  Plus $14.12!  Yay that’s like, what most part-timers earn in an hour!

Anyways, hope all your studies are going well.  I know some of you are on holiday, you guys suck.

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