Hawaii

It was great.

There was a series of performances from bands, choirs, and orchestras from all over the Pacific Basin, which involved Japan, Singapore, USA Mainland, Hawaii, Australia, and Tonga. There was a formal dinner and a great dancing session. There were visits to the Pearl Harbour and factory outlets where prices are real low. For instance, Converse shoes cost USD$20, Levi jeans cost USD$25, Godiva Chocolate cost as low as USD$4 per pack.

There were USA friends from an exchange we had there and a workshop. And there was the free time, in which we spent our time doing shopping, sleeping, going to Hawaiian Beaches, and eating out with band mates. And there was the gold award after all these fun.

The weather was very cooling, but not dry, and when it rained the raindrops were so fine that you couldn't feel a thing. You had to see the raindrops to know that it rained. The hotel was very comfortable, and our daily breakfast buffets at Perry Smorgy's Restaurant was rewarding. The main thing to all this fun is that we had to be together - times spent alone are...lonely. When someone wanted to go to the beach, friends accompanied. When we shopped, ate, played - it was all done together.

The 4 flights I had:

- Singapore to Narita

- Narita to Honolulu

- Honolulu to Narita

- Narita back to Singapore

These 4 flights were all United Airlines flights. Their service was professional, friendly and remarkable.

Put aside the jet lag, and put aside the instant noodles some of us had to declare at the Honolulu airport: the 25th Pacific Basin Music Festival, together with the raw cost of S$3740, was worth every cent. Mahalo (Thank you) Hawaii! For the great travel experience I got.

"Best Picture Award"Competition: HCI AEP Winning Entry

Cornerstone!

Cornerstone Community Church. That's a great place.

An acquaintance of mine, Celine, invited me to this church for a service called 'Love is'.

The congregation is about 600 people high, with humorous talks by pastors and engaging performances, as well as free candy floss and popcorn. The pastor emphasised that if you say 'Yes' to God, if you allow God into your life, you will be set free from your sins. You will lead a free and fruitful life, fearless and safe. It is the trust in the spirit of the Lord that we get rid of our phobias.

I'm certain that you, right now, as a reader, has some fear in your life. You could have fear of failure, fear of acads, fear of stress, fear of a broken family - everyone has fear. I'm also certain that everyone has sinned before. Why is it so that biblical quotes are so commonly used?

The bible is the best piece of literature anyone could ever get.

And so I attended the full service, mainly consisting of youths. The large screen projected a 3-minutes countdown to worship. The worship team came out, and I really had a great time. There were church members acting out what 'love' is. It was really humorous.

A pastor then came out and spoke to the congregation on what love is. Things like, two powerful words to sustain a marriage: "Yes, dear". There are over 1000 types of phobias people have. Just Google these few and see how out-of-the-planet they are, that our society is so messed up:

- Levophobia

- Namatophobia

- Arachibutyrophobia (really ridiculous)

- Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (most ridiculous type of phobia mentioned by him, so long that I can't even type it out)

The pastor then called those people who want to accept God into their lives to come down to the front of the stage. Although I'm already a Christian, I know that I don't have a church, so I just went.

In the end, after a few prayers, for most people who went up to the front of the stage were non-believers, I left the area and noticed that along the way, there were a few people crying. They cried after the prayer.

Much Anticipated Turbulence

I've no idea why my posts now are more-or-less band-related. I'm guessing it's because Hawaii's getting nearer. Hawaii - this musical festival brings along so much excitement, yet so much more stress.

Now, I'm not going to complain like what I used to.
I'll have to admit that the band majors have no choice but to increase practices to Saturdays as well; that was done quite long ago. To add on, I have AEP lessons on Tuesdays, whilst Mr Chong gets back to school every Tuesday, so I'll be missing his tutoring.

Speaking of my section tutor, I really hope he has calmed down.
I know that some day I'm still going to have to meet him again, so there's no way in my hating him forever. And note that I don't call him 'Adrian Chong' now, I'm trying 'Mr Chong'. I'm doing all these so as to make up for the trouble and loss I've caused in Sec1.

I hope that by the time the Sec1s this year get their instruments, somehow, someday, when someone thinks just like how I did in Sec1, I would be there to help, just like how the band majors and section leader did to me.

Anyways, Hawaii.
I'll be away for 4 lessons + 1 founders' day. This means a lot of catching up. This is why I'll be doing the catching up now. I want HCIBand to be proud of the achievement we'll be getting in Hawaii.

To Hawaii.
And to the band.

Yihan