Having a very bad writer's block! Basically I borrowed three books on Debussy, one of which I think is quite useless, and then another only has one short chapter relevant to my question. The last one has many examples of analyses illustrating the author's point but not enough elaboration about his points and description of the examples. Like how am I supposed to know what he's talking about when he doesn't reproduce the score in the book?! And I can't just blindly copy his examples word for word cos in the first place, I'd probably be seriously penalised if they spot it as plaigarism, and obviously cos just by reading it without any score I can't even tell whether it's relevant for my question. Bleah...

And the organisation is totally crappy cos basically I just borrowed ideas from the short chapter and wrote them in my own words, then now I'm trying to borrow ideas from this book. So the whole thing is jumping from one point to another without any structure at all. But hopefully this will be solved once I get all the points I can say about Debussy in first. Heh Ligeti, Messiaen, Boulez, Berio and Stockhausen can come later, since I think I won't be needing too many points from them. Hopefully that's what the question's asking... if they meant to ask for more points about the rest then I'm totally dead.

Sighz... shouldn't have put in so much effort to do the compositions la! Yesterday was crappy. Haha ok la, the shape and motifs stuff and styles were ok. But all three compositions didn't get played through (except at the piano) cos my classmates were just super put off by the rhythm. Anticipated that I'd probably get killed by the players when they try to sight-read the rhythm but I just didn't change it. I just wrote whatever it sounded like in my head and tried to squeeze them into some sort of meter la. So there were like thousands of ties and everything was offbeat. Stupid me, wasted my time and now I have to rush my essay. Only one other classmate had two completed compositions... the rest had like, maybe 10+ bars of each compo? Should have just scribbled something down and heck. But well, it's good in a way I guess, cos it means that after the essay submission on Monday I won't have to rush out all the compositions in time for compo lesson on Thursday. I can take my time and think about how to notate the rhythm so that they can play it!

Having an incredibly lazy Friday afternoon now... got loads of work to do but I got hit by that all-too-familiar sian feeling this morning and I've been procrastinating ever since! Hahaha decided to update, at least it's a little bit more productive than trying to read but moodily staring into space or out of the window right.

I actually planned to go to the city centre today... to go to the rag market, indoor market and outdoor market. Hahaha was going to look for cheap clothes and stuff in the rag market, wanted to buy nuts from the indoor market, and to get bargains for fruits and vegetables from the outdoor market when it's about to close! But then I woke up super late this morning (10 plus!), and anyway it started raining after I ate lunch. So I decided not to go. Heh it's really inconvenient to totter around with an umbrella and bags of things when you go shopping alone.

Basically my life here is boring and it pretty much feels the same as how it used to be in Singapore. Really! Except for some slight adjustments of course... like the weather. And walking to and from school (sometimes more than once) everyday, or walking to town and back, or lugging heavy groceries back from Tesco (heh but we've taken to sharing a cab back nowadays). It's really a lot of walking unless you're willing to pay £1.10 for a bus ride, or £0.90 for a train ride (when u still have to walk to campus cos that's where the train station is!). A cab ride back from Tesco usually costs £4, so shared between me and Shuying still reasonable la, cos you can take it from right outside Tesco and it brings you all the way home (haha don't need to climb the dratted slope like if you take the bus). Hmm sometimes when I'm really tired (like when I had to lug 16 CDs to central library to return), I take the bus to town for free using my ID card... actually we're supposed to pay once the bus goes out of the so-called campus (a few stops after where we get on) but then most of the time nobody notices. Of course in town then cannot do that, have to pay lor. Apparently if you get caught then have to pay fine but then so far nothing's happened yet. And I'm not going to do that all the time la, walking is healthy... starting to feel like I'm getting fatter cos the cold weather makes me hungry like 24/7, can't stop snacking on biscuits whenever I'm in my room! =P

Other adjustments I guess are just the chores lor, like washing up after meals (hehehehe like to cook and eat but hate washing up!), and laundry. So far I haven't used the laundrette yet, I've been washing the clothes in my toilet and then hanging them next to the heater to dry. But the sink's a bit small so I bought a pail from Tesco just this Wednesday. It's really ok cos I've been used to washing my shirts by hand in Singapore but then jeans are really problematic cos they take quite long to dry. There was once when I washed both pairs at the same time and ended up having to borrow a pair from Shuying to wear hahaha.

My timetable is very empty:
Monday 12-2pm Context 1a lecture, 7.30-9.30pm Chamber Choir rehearsal
Tuesday 9-10.30am Technical Music Perception lesson, 2-3.30pm Text 1a lesson, 7.30-9.30 University Choir rehearsal
Thursday 9-10am Introduction to Psychology lecture, 2-5pm Paper Composition

Shiok right. The timetable's really slack but the workload isn't! I mean, before I came I got people telling me that oh, arts very slack one la, the timetable's super empty. And it's really true, but then there is so much more to it than just the timetable. I just think the deadlines for the two essays are really scary! One's going to be due 31 October and the other one 21 November. And the books have been completely snapped up at the Barber Music Library, such that I had to go to the Central Library on Wednesday. Hahaha I sat at the reference section for hours typing the important chunks into my computer, and when the battery died I copied them onto foolscap. (The library didn't have sockets for me to plug my adapter.) What freaks me out is that I will usually do the weekly homework and stuff for the seminars (obviously cos it's due sooner), then it seems as though I haven't really started on my essays. TMP homework is like considered the easiest, just counterpoint and figured bass... then followed by Text, basically analysing Bach's Partita No. 4 now. The most taxing homework is Paper Composition, it's like even up till the day of the lesson I still won't feel satisfied with the compo, but too bad... just have bring it to class anyway.

Usually between the two lessons on Tuesday Pohning and I will practise in the practise block cos we're in the same TMP group, then my Text lesson is at the same time as her Studio Composition. We will book the two rooms, like she book a piano room followed by the harpsichord room and I book the harpsichord room followed by piano room. Then we'll just switch. Sometimes when my lessons are not in the morning I'll try to go practise in the morning, but sometimes it doesn't work cos I'll just oversleep la. On free days I'll practise in the mornings also, cos in the morning it's usually more empty and even if you don't book should be able to find a room. Especially Fridays! I just love Fridays... cos there will be Chamber Orchestra rehearsal at 10am so there is less people to fight with for rooms. And most of them like to go clubbing/pubbing after Symphony Orchestra rehearsals on Thursday nights so they won't get up so early on Fridays to practise. So far for the past few weeks it's just been me, a flautist and a trombonist practising in the morning. Sometimes there's a singer, but sometimes there isn't. Last Sunday I also tried practising before going for dinner at Ruth/Zhuomin/Junkai's place. Cos their flat is much nearer to campus so since I'd be going down for dinner might as well go practise first. Shall consider practising before the rehearsals on Mondays and Tuesdays maybe, like go home after lessons, pack dinner or have early dinner, then go practise before rehearsal. But seems a little impractical ley.

Haven't actually found a proper job yet, but I've been babysitting for this family. The mother (Selina, from Singapore) is Shuying's friend's sister, and she's been here for 15 years. She met her husband (Jack, from Hongkong) when she was in uni I think. They are super busy cos Jack runs a Chinese restaurant so he has to be there every evening/night to socialise with the customers. For Selina she has to be away about three evenings a week cos her company sent her on some computer course and she also started indoor golf. So whenever they need people to take care of their children they'll sms Shuying or me, depending on which days they need la, cos we have our own things on different days. It's quite a good job, it's £10 per night, plus dinner (hahaha it's the highlight of the visit for us, cos they are really good cooks!). Basically the kids will have things to do, like homework, reading, practise violin, and we just have to keep them on-task and make sure they finish everything they're supposed to do before they play or watch TV.

They are so adorable, and quite well-behaved also. Nicholas is 7 and Teri is 5/6? Teri always likes to play teacher and she loves colouring (hahaha the best activity to distract her and keep her occupied). She's also always asking us to plait her hair. Nicholas just loves to watch cartoons. Sometimes they'll argue and all that, but then they stop very fast, like once you stop them they'll listen. So far I haven't had to use any threats to tell their parents or whatever to keep them in control. The challenging thing is that cos they're so young, they just need attention and both will try to fight for your attention. Quite hard to keep a balance cos I can feel that Teri's more pampered, of course la, she's younger and she's a girl somemore. And yesterday Nicholas was just complaining to Jack that it's unfair that if Teri hits him and he complains, it's still his fault yet if he hits Teri, it's also his fault. Too bad that he's the elder son la. I try my best to be very fair but I guess Teri gets more attention cos since Nicholas is supposed to be independent and do his work by himself, it doesn't make sense for me to just sit beside him and look at him do his work right. Plus Teri doesn't really have any work to do usually, just reading sometimes. So have to keep her occupied with something cos I don't want the TV to be on while Nicholas is doing his work.

The good thing about the job is, when they go to sleep at about 9 or 9 plus, we can do anything we want. But then sometimes that's not always the case la, like when one night Teri suddenly woke up crying for Selina and refused to go back to sleep. Had to carry her downstairs to "wait for mommy to come home", and then she eventually fell asleep on her favourite sofa. Or when nowadays Nicholas keeps coughing in his sleep and then he'll wake up crying cos I think it's quite painful. And at bedtime they'll always ask me to sit in the corridor just outside their bedroom doors. But then most of the time I'll be tidying up downstairs (and I'll take as long as I can), then when I go back up to check on them they'll be asleep. So I can just do my homework downstairs. When the parents come home (usually Jack comes home first at about 11 plus), Jack drives us back.

Last night Jack was saying that maybe I can work at his restaurant on some evenings until he hires a permanent staff, cos someone from Malaysia working in his restaurant will be going back next week. Wish it wasn't temporary though, haha but I know the limitations of hiring me, cos I'm not free on Monday and Tuesday evenings, then when they need a babysitter on Thursday I won't be able to go to the restaurant also, cos Shuying's not free on Thursdays. Supposed to ask her if she wants to do the days I can't go... but Thursday's the real problem. Hope he doesn't change his mind, I need some income! Applied for a sales assistant job at Selfridges but haven't got a reply so far. I think another week or so, and I'll know they don't want to hire me if I still don't get a reply.

Okiez, going to start work already. Enough of slacking around today. Bleah.