Anthea plays Malaguena

Yes, it’s Anthea—one of my favorite students (she played Happy Birthday for me here) and now she’s doing a piece called Malaguena. She found this piece a little challenging at first but she stuck to it and now she can play both hands quite well. I seized the opportunity to record her on my Canon PowerShot SX130 IS and here’s the result. After experiencing the HD quality on this camera I’m not going back to normal 640 resolution again (sorry Crystal, heh heh)

Well done, Anthea. I’m proud of you and would like to thank her mom Josephine for permission to publish the video here.

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The E & O Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony 2010

It’s that time of year again where all mayhem breaks loose in the foyer of the E & O Hotel. It was like a zoo and circus combined and I swear that good-natured crowd could have drowned out Led Zeppelin easily. Anyways yours truly was again at the keyboard, this time it was a Yamaha Piaggero NP-V80 and I’d like to thank Mrs. Fong (Yamaha school administrator) for graciously loaning it to me for the evening. It’s a really nice instrument with 76 keys, packed with good sounds, and only weighs 15 lbs.! All pictures were taken with my Canon PowerShot SX130 IS.

There was a whole new group of singers this year and they performed well; they sang their hearts out and the crowd appreciated it. Kudos, guys and girls!

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We had the usual countdown to the lighting of the Christmas Tree done by our outgoing general manager, Mr. Mike Saxon. I handheld this shot so there’s some slight blurring.

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Before that event took place, I sought some solace at the Bombay Shop near the foyer. It was all decked out with Christmas stuff. Here are two shots.

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This little girl was playing there and I couldn’t resist taking a shot. She’s actually Mike’s youngest daughter, Jessica. She’s cute, isn’t she?

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It was good fun, but I’m glad it’s over with because I’m tired. Till the next post, this is Philip, signing out.

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Canon PowerShot SX130 IS

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Editor’s Note June 12, 2011: I’ve added new pictures taken with the PowerShot SX130 IS in my photo blog. Do have a look.

I know, I know. I bought the Canon Powershot SX120 IS last September. A year has passed and Canon has come out with its successor, the Powershot SX130 IS. And by a pleasant stroke of luck, I bought this model for a steal; it’s surprisingly cheaper than the SX120 IS. So what did I do with my older camera? Let’s just say that it’s in very good hands.

Switching to the SX130 IS presented no problems for me, having handled the SX120 IS for the past year. This newer model gains the following plus points in my book:

  • 12.1 megapixels
  • HD movie recording 720p with stereo sound (bear in mind the maximum recording time is only 10 minutes)
  • Support for SDXC memory cards (capacities of 32GB and above)
  • A bright TFT 3-inch LCD screen
  • A 12x zoom range starting at 28mm (wide) to 336mm (telephoto)
  • Additional shooting scenes
  • And a whole host of features too long to mention here

I’m very pleased with the initial shots taken with the SX130 IS. Perhaps I’ll do a more in-depth review of this camera later when I’m not too lazy.

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A transition of sorts Part 2

I’m into my fourth week of happily settling down with Mom. Here are some pictures of my new music/computer room. All pictures were taken with my Canon PowerShot SX120 IS.

My music and computer room

CD cabinet on the left

The wooden paneling floor seems to have given my Yamaha Clavinova more bloom in its sound. My Creative 2:1 speakers also seem to sound better here. Perhaps it’s just me.

Here’s a picture of my humble bedroom. Not much, but I call it home!

I believe that everything happens for a reason. Moving here and bonding again with Mom has been wonderful…we each talk when we can and during lunch and dinner (pizza occasionally, yay!) and more often than not, we give each other space—Mom likes to be GTTT (you know what that means, Miss Miller) and I like to be glued to my tube too (aka the computer) I’m eating very much like a piglet here, and what with Mom being a fruit fanatic, it’s fruit all the way—apples, mangos, watermelon, bananas (that’s for you, Miss M) etc. And let’s not forget my yogurt and dark chocolate—yummy!

Till the next post, this is your friendly host, signing off…

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Harbinger

This is going to be an eccentric post, so please bear with me.

This year’s Chinese New Year falls on the same day as Valentine’s Day (February 14) Do I give a hoot about the former? No. The latter? Yes ;-) Anyways, I’ll be working the whole weekend…I prefer it that way. The only nice thing about Chinese New Year is that I get to take a break from my teaching, so that’s definitely a plus point (this is one of our major Malaysian holidays, Miss Miller, and yes I do work)

It was very nice of my music school administrator to give me this New Year hamper (or basket, for my American friends) There’s a variety of stuff inside, including edibles and dunno what else, LOL. And yes, I’ll open it later. The picture was taken as usual with my Canon PowerShot SX120 IS; I just love this camera, the colors are so vibrant.

Full of goodies

I’ve written two new posts for My Musical Life, my other blog. Please have a look.

I’ve watched Avatar twice…once by myself and once with my Mom. Since the tickets only cost $1.80 per adult, why not? I thought Mom would doze off halfway thru the movie but my word, she was glued to the screen! She said it was a good flick. Rumors are flying about the Internet that James Cameron will make a sequel. Of course I’m not going to hold my breath (it took him 7 years before Terminator 2 hit the screens)

Unlike all the other citizens here, I am not a fan of Chinese movies. In fact I absolutely despise them with a vengeance, especially the Cantonese soaps and serials—yuck! Give me NCIS, Fringe, CSI, Criminal Minds, and Bones any time—these are my favorite TV shows.

Music? My current fave is Katherine Jenkins, the Welsh singer. Beautiful voice, and her latest album Believe is pure magic. My favorite songs there are Bob Marley’s No Woman No Cry, Richard Marx’ Fear of Falling, and Queen’s Who wants to live forever. Buy this album, it’s superb.

Unfortunately I’ve had to cut down on my swimming—the doc said I was overdoing it, can you imagine that? So I now swim maybe about 3 or 4 times a week, 16 laps maximum. And I’m supposed to eat more protein, so all you chickens had better watch out. My glucose levels have actually decreased, which is good since my Mom’s diabetic. My cholesterol level has dropped from 5.8 (2 years ago) to 5.4 now. I’ll be guzzling the oatmeal for sometime yet!

I still give thanks to God for everything that I have, especially my health and my eyes—it’s been months since my cataract operation last year and I still can’t get over the fact that I wake up each morning and can see clearly when I open my eyes!

I’ve been having ham and cheese sandwiches for breakfast, besides oatmeal and peanut butter sandwiches. Bananas are my favorite fruit because they’re good for…oh well never mind (don’t blech, Miss M) And Tudor Gold dark chocolate is simply wonderful, full of antioxidants and it does elevate my happiness levels.

There are challenges coming up for me this year—I don’t like them, but I have to face them. Might as well get them over with.

Penang’s weather is awful at this time of the year. Hot, with very little rain, and pollutants make my nose itchy and sore—ugh!

For you lovebirds out there, yes Love does make the world go round. My favorite quote for now is this one: “You don’t love a woman because she is beautiful. She is beautiful because you love her.” Happy Valentine’s Day.

Told you this would be a quirky post.

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Coffee Bean for me!

In contrast to my blogging episode at Starbucks a few weeks ago (the latte was watered down, Internet connectivity was poor, and lots of children were running around) I decided tonight to cross over to the Coffee Bean for some web surfing away from home. And what a difference! I ordered a nice Ice Blended Hazelnut coffee with cream (very nice aroma and thick), I was alone in the air-conditioned section and the wireless connectivity’s excellent. And LOL, they’re already playing Christmas tunes in the background.

Speaking of Christmas, I can hardly believe that 2009 will be drawing to a close in a month or so. I’ll be accompanying the E & O Nightingales when they sing Christmas carols for the lighting of the Christmas Tree in the hotel lobby on December 1. This will be my 5th time doing it—I still get an adrenaline rush on the actual day…will post some pictures if I can remember.

Awww, Bing Crosby’s singing “White Christmas” as I’m typing this—that song always gets to me when I hear him sing it (yeah I’m such a softie) No more Christmas presents for me, since I’ve already acquired my Dell Studio 15 laptop and my Canon PowerShot SX120IS digital camera. And dang someone’s singing “The Christmas Song” over the speakers—I like these tunes when they’re done in a mellow style.

Right now a close friend of mine is celebrating her birthday, while another friend should be expecting her baby daughter anytime now (edit: she has given birth to a healthy baby girl). It’s so nice to have Windows Live Messenger to keep in touch with my close friends—I feel as if the miles don’t matter any more. I’m sitting back and chuckling at how difficult it was to keep in touch with my parents, for example, when I was studying in Arizona in the early ‘80’s. Snail mail (aka air mail) used to take roughly 10 days, and the only other forms of communication were the Western Union telegram and/or calling them on IDD. If only we had email and instant messaging then!

Okies, time to pack it up and head back home. And if you’re a Starbucks fan, I apologize…each to his/her own tastes, right?

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