Vickiepedia

Hahaha, G String. G String. Get it? Lowest string on the violin? The only string shown on the layout? But yes, new layout indeed.

This layout is kinda strange and 2005. It also absolutely breaks on IE6. I can probably recode the CSS but those users can also fuck off and die should seriously reconsider their browser choice. Certain unknown funky things may happen on IE7 as well; they may or may not be fixed.

And yes, that’s my electric violin in the header image. I picked up that cheap violin here in Australia. It’s quite decent after I replaced the strings that came with it with a nice, new set.

Here’s a picture of said violin half in action:

Gah! Mum! If I knew you’re taking a picture, I’d have sat up straight, hidden the Michelin, stopped pouting and maybe, you know, held a bow and done some proper fingering. Candids ftl.

Before you try to play the music in the background image on your instrument of choice and go all, “What the fireball was Mozart thinking?”, note that the piece is in A major, first line = B♭ clarinet (I think — I don’t know much about wind instruments), second and third = violins, fourth = viola, and the barely visible fifth = cello. Learn your clefs.

And now Vickiepedia sinks back into the dust.

It’s a crazy, strange and small world indeed.

Who knew when I left the UK forever 4 years ago, failed to write emails to keep in contact and subsequently lost all contact details, I’d still hear about somebody, sort of? Who knew when I joined comment exchange sites, I’d be assigned to comment on the blog of the daughter of my ex-violin teacher, who was really awesome? Who knew when I don’t even know the daughter personally and she’s grown so much over the years, I still recognised her right away, somehow?

Of course, of all my ex-violin teacher’s students, I wouldn’t expect her to remember me. Hmm, I wonder how I’d describe myself. The Chinese girl who refused to put her long dark hair behind her ears (still don’t), who wore too much eyeliner (still do), had massive hips and thighs (still do), never practised the violin (still don’t), used to be obsessed with dieting and exercises (wish I still do)… Maybe I should dig up her email and write something, hopefully not in a you may not remember me but I stalked your daughter kind of way.

And then all the embarrassing memories of my teenage years come rushing back. All the rampaging hormones, teenage emo drama, egocentric attention-seeking behaviour, making a big deal out of nothing, sitting there waiting for essays to write themselves…

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE ESSAYS AREN’T JUST A THING OF THE PAST CAPSLOCK?!

So yesterday, I had my second violin lesson with Mr. Chung.

Ding dong

“Hi, Mr. Chung. Sorry I’m a bit late.” Me.

“It’s okay.” Chung said, then pointed at a woman sat using the computer. “She’s my sister.”

“Hello!” Me.

The woman looked at me for one second, then turned back to the computer screen.

“Some people.” I said under my breath.

“What?” Chung.

“Oh nothing. Just saying it’s boiling hot today.”

Then we started the lesson. No wait, before we started the lesson, Chung showed me an old violin.

“Have you ever seen violins like this one?” Chung.

“Not really, no.” Me.

“They’re ancient. More than 100 years old. My friend just brought this over from [some place].” Chung passed me the violin.

“It’s very light.” Me.

“Do the violin teachers in England use this sort of violins too?” Chung.

“I’m not sure. I didn’t notice.” Me.

“It’s about 100 to 150 years old. It’s very expensive. Old violins like this one can cost up to $100,000 (Hong Kong Dollars). Some even $200,000.”

“Wow.” (Note: a full-stop, not exclamation mark).

“Are ancient violins common in the UK?” Chung.

“I don’t know. I’ve only had one violin teacher there.” Me.

“They’re really expensive, but you could tell why it is that way. They’re just different. They have been passed on from ages ago, and on, and on…”

(Sidetrack:)
Have you totally lost the point of the story? Do you still remember why I was at Chung’s place?

(Back to the story:)
“So how’s the practice going? Could you play them?” Chung.

“It was okay.” Me, plucking the perfectly tuned violin.

“Let me tune it.” Chung.

Surprisingly after all that, Chung gave me a full one-hour lesson (and an extra few minutes?). He’s no doubt a decent violinist, but I wouldn’t comment on his ability to teach…

After the lesson on my way back home, a guy stopped me on the street.

“Hi, miss. Would you like to register for a free line?”

“Erm, no thanks.” About to walk away.

“Please, miss. Pleeeeaaase!”

“Sorry, but I don’t need one.” About to walk away again.

“Oh please! It’s free, and it’s this and that and that.” He begged me, waving the promotion leaflet in my face.

After asking him a thousand times if it was indeed free and no hidden cost or anything, I agreed to sign and register.

I wrote my name in English.

“You just came back from a foreign country, didn’t you?” Him.

“Yes.”

“Are you going back after the summer then?” Him.

“Depends if any universities want me here. If not, possibly.” Me.

“Wow, university.”

I smiled and nodded, then wrote my date of birth.

“You’re so young! You’re 5 years younger than me!!” He exclaimed.

I faked a smile and filled in my home address.

“Oh, so that’s where you live!”

I felt rather uneasy and wrote faster.

“Do you use the Internet?” He asked.

“…” I stopped writing and looked up. What’s using the Internet to do with a phone line register? “Yes…?”

“What sites do you go onto? What chatroom do you use?”

“Sorry, I don’t go online often, and I don’t chat.” A lie.

“Oh…” He sounded disappointed.

I completed the form, and asked him yet again if it was absolutely free, and what I could do if I receive a bill.

“Don’t worry, call me if you have problems.” He said.

I watched as he scribbled a few phone numbers. 9XXXXXXX.

“It’s a mobile number.” I pointed out.

“Yes,” he said as he peeled the carbon copy off and handed it to me. “Call me if you have any doubt. It’s my number.”

…

No comment.

HOT! Hong Kong is HOTTTT! Not a single piece of cloud on the sky but the merciless sun…

I went for my first violin lesson with this new male teacher today. Two – only two people out of the thousands of people I saw wore masks on the street. If I didn’t see the “hygiene units” installed in the malls, I really wouldn’t believe Hong Kong was the “SARS place” just a few months ago. No wonder so many people contracted the disease; Hong Kong is just too overpopulated…

As I was saying, I went for my first violin lesson with the new male teacher.

Sweating and panting, my mother and I walked into the place – a small, old housing estate that stank of old stuff (people, clothes, books… stuff). I was there for my violin lesson, so naturally my ears were ultra sensitive… but I wasn’t sure. Was it me or could I really hear old people singing their creepy little tunes? Hmm… not impressed. If the teacher was good enough, he sure could afford something better. Uh-oh, first impression: 1/5 (like how reviewers would grade diaries).

Luckily enough, the air-conditioner was switched on earlier. I cooled down a little in the tiny room and he introduced himself as “Mr. Chung”. How are you, nice to meet you, blah blah blah, he tuned my slightly out of tune violin, he tuned his totally out of tune violin. Wait, shouldn’t he already have tuned it before the lesson? Uh-oh, nasty cheating person like all the others.

After a long period of half show-off/half tuning, he asked me to play something so he could analyse me. Like I said back in June, I’m not a performer so I couldn’t really play anything solo. I didn’t shake, but he stopped me after two lines. Need I say more?

Despite the bad first impressions we had of each other, we got down to serious business. We played some duets which, surprisingly, wasn’t as bad as I thought. He’s very different from me, though. He used all the Chinese musical terminologies, while me the English terms; so basically the lesson was a cheep-cheep-quack-quack (miscommunication, like a chicken talking to a duck – a Chinese saying, haha).

Nevertheless, the violin lesson was great fun. I’ve played the piano up to Grade 7 but it’s just not my type of thing. The violin is! So watch out for Vickie… hmm, Vickie that’s it. You know what I look like, right? Watch out for Vickie the future world-famous violinist!

But before anything else, let’s just hope I’ll get used to Mr. Chung…

Felt a little giddy today, probably because I’ve been sleeping most of the day (didn’t sleep until 7 a.m. this morning!) and didn’t eat much. My violin teacher called me twice today. Oh well, let’s talk about her then.

My violin teacher is Sally. She’s a wonderful violinist as well as an incredible teacher. Perhaps I’m comparatively older to the other junior students (I started quite late, you see), we’re more like friends than teacher-student. How? She calls herself ‘Sally’ than ‘Mrs’ Something, she says the words ‘damn’, ‘sucks’, etc. to me (not directed at me). Bet she doesn’t say that to the juniors.

I’m very shy and am always uncomfortable ‘performing’, whether it’s playing an instrument, singing, or drawing/writing/typing while somebody’s watching. That happened when I played the piano. I was going to do my ABRSM Grade 8 exam a year and a half ago, so I had to play the super-long pieces while my piano teacher listened. She didn’t do anything else, just sat there, watched and listened. She never realised that gave me SO much pressure. A year later, she moved to another place to work so I stopped playing the piano altogether. Just couldn’t bear the thought of somebody listening to me like that. (Imagine me in the exam with the examiner, where I played three pieces and scales, sight-read a short piece, and sang in the Aural section!)

However, with Sally, things are different. She plays along with me when I play. Even if she doesn’t, it still feels okay. The funny thing is that we both struggle sometimes. Me struggling with my violin part, and she struggling with the piano accompaniment. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a good musician; the piano is just not her strongest suit (I’m better at it than her, I think ). I improved like hell under her teaching: in less than one year I jumped from nothing to Grade 4. Okay, that’s not exactly impressive, but don’t forget I hardly ever practised and was always busy with my A-level subjects. It takes a very good teacher to guide me.

Yep, so tomorrow I’ll be having 2 violin lessons with her. And I can rant about everything to her. Even about school staff, because she’s not directly connected to them (hopefully!).

Received this through my email and quite liked it.

This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done, and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody couldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

Oh, finger-nail update. My new finger-nail is growing fine, and the older one is feeling a bit loose now. Don’t know when it will come off. Right now the new nail (as seen under the old one) is 3 mm long, and I’m no longer wearing any dressing/plaster! The bloodstain is gone because I peeled the skin off. I’m totally cool now and am doing everything with both hands; although I still type and wash my hair without the finger.

At this rate I’ll fail all my upcoming exams.