Love Story meets Viva La Vida

Jon Schmidt (piano) and Steven Sharp Nelson (cello)


Yet another reason to love independent, unsigned, unattached-to-major-recording-labels artists. I mean, how often do you see mainstream artists arrange their works of art? Fine. They DO arrange the songs but mostly in a way that appeals to the mass audience around the globe and, of course, reaps in profit. Even if they give the 'this is our style, so accept it or leave it' crap.

"But you enjoy listening to the mainstream shit, you hypocrite" chimes the voice in my head.

Anyway, I stumbled upon this ingenious arrangement of Love Story (Taylor Swift), which then seeps into the song Viva La Vida (Coldplay), at a friend's blog. Indeed, it is by far the most beautiful arrangement of the said songs, if you count the latter, I've come across. Ooo...can't wait till the music score is released next month! If I can't download it for free, I'll buy it! Just like I did when I went crazy over the piece Through The Kaleidoscope. Screw the US dollars, it's worth the money. Teehee! My potential Jury piece =) All I need to do is tweak the cello part.

I wanna soak up the sun

Invitation to UCSI Music Students' 

Day Trip to Sunway Lagoon

Date: 22nd April 2009

Time: 11am - 6pm (or till the guards kick the hell lot of us out)

Activities: Go wild

The Partygoers:

Andrew Chew

David Chiok

Irene Hooi

Jia Wen

Johan

Ken Ny

Kevin Ong

Kun Ming

Rachel Ng

Stephen Tan

Wen Dee

Ying Hui

Imagine us skittering across the cement-floor bare-footed under the sweltering heat with no more protection against the UV rays than a thin layer of sunblock. Water rides quenched our thirst for exhilarating escapism but increased our thirst for the cool, drinkable water we brought that was confiscated mercilessly by the guards at the entrance. The suspiciously cloudy liquid from the water coolers looked safe enough...to wash the mud out of our feet. And when hunger overtook us, there were only cutthroat-priced food available. 

But let's view things on the bright side: Most of the amusement rides within the Dry Park area were shaded, or least the queue sections, and we felt less of the heat when soaked in water in the Wet Park. There was almost no queue for every single ride we went on, so again and again we sat without disruption from annoying squealing kids and the press of an impatient crowd-in-line. Of course, the cherry on top would be the success of the trip after a wait of 3 and a half months for our torturous Jury to pass! 

Anyway, I'll just do the narration as you scroll down the string of photos.

Arrived at Rachel's place at what, 7 in the morning? Thanks to my lack of transportation. But it was cool. I got to watch August Rush while Rachel Zzz-ed. The 2 guys arrived about 10am and we were the first to reach the entrance, even after we walked from one end to the other in search for a specific person-in-charge (identity and reason will not be disclosed).

My infamous pose

We didn't bother lining up for tickets. There was no need to. The place was practically deserted. 

Boo you, woman! But it was partially my fault as well. The camera was way too off to the left. You can only see 1/3 of Rachel.

Busted.

It was a wonder how I made it through without being caught. I didn't even bother hiding my water bottle at the bottom of the bag like Jia Wen. The fella' just lifted up the top few layers of clothes and asked whether I kept food or water bottle in it. And before I could answer, he gave the green lights to go. Perhaps he didn't find an extremely heavy and bulging towel weird. *Shrugs* 

Gulped. Gulped. Gulped.

Wheeeeeeeeee.....!

Spent the next 30 minutes donning on swimsuits, coating ourselves with sunblock (an essential ingredient to avoid over-roasting) and cam-whoring

Irene, Wen Dee and me

Johan and Stephen says Hi 

Irene, Jia Wen, Wen Dee and me

You can see how tall Ming is

One of his never-ending supposedly-hidden talents

Since there weren't any Mr. McDonald around, Mc Johan was good enough a replacement

It was way past noon when we began our shoe-less journey across the dry part of the theme park. The ground felt icy cold for a split second before a blistering heat licked the soles of my feet in turn. It was like walking on a hot plate. Thank God it hadn't got to the point where we could see mirages. 

I've labelled the rides in the Dry Park according to the sequence in which we took them

Uno: Apache Pots

This is one of my favourite first stops. A warm-up before the real syok begins. The other would be the Grand Canyon River Rapids.

Kevin, Stephen, Ken Ny

Ming, Johan, Andrew, me

Wen Dee, Jia Wen, Rachel, Irene

LoL. We couldn't walk straight for a while. Well, at least none of us puked.

Dos: Tomahawk

Jia Wen, Irene, Wen Dee and I excluded ourselves from this ride. They called it a waste. We called it a relief. 

Tres: Lost City of Gold, the mine train

Wen Dee and Johan didn't join us for the ride. What a shame.

We started screaming as the train climbed, paused (my breath was caught in my throat) as we plunged downwards, regained breath as it climbed again, shrieked soundlessly on its second plunge, repeated the sequence once more, then screeched triumphantly (as though we won some game) till the end of the ride. HAHA.

The guy at the controls asked whether we would like to take the ride again. Wow. Either we amused him or he must be really bored.

Cuatro: Grand Canyon River Rapids

This was the very first ride we sat twice. And it was also the very first time I didn't have to go through the torture of waiting in line for hours for my turn, thanks to its popularity. The simple sight of a queue-less 'path' was enough to make me high. 

Cinco: Butch Cassidy Trail

I had no idea what made us went for a second round but we did. 

And yes. We bombarded a boot each. 

The effect of the blistering heat?

Cam-whored a little while some of them figured out where to head to next.

Irene, Stephen and David

Join me!

And so they did

Seis: Colorado Splash

Those waiting at the bottom graded each pair of us according to the final position at which we shot to a halt 

Siete: Niagara Falls Flume Ride

Had a double dosage for this ride. Let me tell you, not looking at the slope ahead while the 'log' climbed really helped. A LOT. I only felt a sliver of fear for the second round. 

First round
Me, Ming and Ken Ny

Kevin, Rachel, Jia Wen, Stephen

Second round
David, Jia Wen, Wen Dee and me

A variety of expressions

Ocho: Pedestrian Suspension Bridge

Right. This wasn't really counted as a ride. But it was our last stop before leaving Dry Park for good and submerging ourselves in the Wet Park.

While they scorched their feet crossing the bridge...

...we cam-whored! 

Steam rose as our grilled feet met the cool water of the 'river'

We met the rest at the lockers area after using the longer route. 

Digging out a splinter planted into Jia Wen's toe

Wonder how the bags in there smelt like after 7 hours in that locker with the pile of sandals/slippers.

Warning: DISTURBING PHOTOS BELOW

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Ahem.

aHEm.

AHEM.

Then it was lunch time! Freaking personal pizza cost 12 bloody bucks.

Off to the water we went! We spent the first half of the time lining up for ride after ride, including racing 4 times for Congo Challenge (that carpet ride). The other half was jumping from pool to pool, just lazing around. The funniest part was when we sat in a shallow pool, simply waiting for the bucket (picture inserted below) to fill up. And when it looked like it was about to tip over, we stood and gathered in the area most likely to be splashed then sqeawked with delight as the water hit and sometimes knocked a couple of us down. 

I took this photo as we were leaving the place. There weren't any photos taken until the end when Wen Dee decided to haul out her handphone-camera. 

Solo shots 

Moi

Stephen as Superman in Water.

"Use Pantene, for silky smooth hair"

David

Irene

Jia Wen

Ken Ny

Ming

Johan

Gah. I didn't know the lower lip of my right eye was swollen 

Jia Wen and Wen Dee

Making pillows out of sand

AHAHA.

18 SG

Andrew and his triple cone-boobs (no idea why the third one was on his stomach)

=)

:D

Treble Clef

Bass Clef

Alto Clef

This is what you get when you travel alongside music students.
Last group pic

I finally got around to try this U-shape ride out. Loved it!

We dropped by Johan's place to bath and clean up. By that time, my pants were soaking wet from my not-so-dry-afterall swimsuit underneath.

We were practically zombie-like while we waited for everyone to shower. 

Headed over to Asia Cafe about 8.20pm for dinner. Ordered the same dish as the last time I was there after ice-skating. 

Energy level boosted halfway up. Guess where we went next to fill the other half? C.C.! To play L4D! But the lousy connection potong steam so in the end each of us played a different game. Parents picked me up around 11pm, straight from C.C. coz the rest of them were staying overnight at Wen Dee's and I had another appointment with my sexies the next day =)