Friday, December 22, 2006

O Come O Come Emmanuel.

it's 4 days to christmas.

that means it's 6 days to seattle.

i'm in the what-have-i-gotten-myself-into phase. and the super-excited-but-so-upset-about-leaving-home phase.

***

so with reference to the article below, wee shu min has gotten herself not only famous within the blogosphere, but even the wire agencies are writing about her. along with a not-so-desirable report. but i think it's time we focused on our society. long have we channeled much resources to our economic development, defense, life sciences, aviation, tourism, PR and alllll that. not that they are bad, but maybe we gotten start turning our heads onto our own people.

like japan, which has an excellent welfare system in place and great domestic development, ever since their defense was taken away from them since WWII.

reading lonely planet is getting me quite excited as i pour over the maps and get myself oriented even before i get there. which is good, 'cos then i can get my bearings right early. anyway i think my sense of direction is quite good. good genes, since my dad, sis all have good direction sense too. so the university resides just on the banks of lake union facing the south, which is where a beautiful stretch of volcanoes are located. i just realised mt. st helens is near there too. i've always thought it was in california state, but guess for 21 years i was wrong.

i'm going to miss bethany so much. dinner with teacher aileen, louisa and mel at manhattan fish market (it was good! better than f*sh&c*). i'm so looking forward to bringing ian to christmas concert, and seeing everyone for the last time during christmas lunch.

spending money preparing for the trip. a new camera. webcam. new ext hard drive. still contemplating on extra RAM for my dearest ibook. another coat from mango but with vouchers. i'm so thankful MOE is so kind to top up my allowance and sponsor all kinds of admin fees. at least my parents won't have to fork out so much money.

ok i'm just rambling random stuff that pops into my head. planning the traveling plans in US is baadddd because there's so many places to go. even within washington state there's SO many things to see and do.

this is bad.

arrgghhh why isn't sam back??!!?? =(

i wonder if i'd freeze to death if i went alaska. i wonder if anyone would wanna go with me.

***

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice, rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, O come, Thou Lord of Might,
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height,
In ancient times didst give the law,
In cloud, and majesty, and awe.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save
And give them victory o'er the grave.

O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death's dark shadows put to flight.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
And order all things, far and nigh;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And cause us in her ways to go.

O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of peace.

i love this carol so much. i love corrinne may's arrangement a LOT. she's just so amazingly gifted with music. but more than that it was a carol that spoke of the coming of Jesus. prophets have long spoke about it. the angels rejoiced. the wise men came from lands far away, looking toward the shining star. gifts were presented. it was something to be glad about. to shout for joy. this baby is the Son of God. =)

speaking of corrinne may her concert at esplanade was gooooddd! i would have preferred a more intimate setting like damien rice's concert. the lights could have been MUCH better (sorry i'm just really critical about lights and it was not very nice for the lights to be shining into your audience's eyes). she played all the tracks from her latest album, all the beautiful christmas carols. she sang several new songs not on any of her albums. quite a few actually. and they were, like all of her songs, beautifully arranged and delivered with her strong, round, yet poignant vocals. in between songs she told stories from her memories of christmas, in singapore and the states. her vocal range is quite wide, although the quality goes down when she climbs to higher notes. her lower register is strong, full and very clear. i really admire people who can play the piano and sing at the same time, 'cos i can't do that unless i know the score really really well.

anyway i really enjoyed the concert, because she also did remind us of the christmas story. telling of how the wise men saw the bright star shining in the east, how gifts were presented, how baby Jesus laid on the hay in the manger, how people sang of His coming. she reminded me of that special night which we all celebrate now, 2006 years later. and that was really special. =)

***

ok i promise i will post tokyo pictures before i leave. really. for now, good night.

Labels: christmas, corrinne may, random, seattle

This girl posted at 1:01 AM