Overwhelming December of 2009!

I don't even know where do i start .... it's been such an adventurous crazy month of December and to end the year with a such a bang .. is just amazing! Only God can do that for me! I learnt a lot during this 4 weeks and short period of time... not just spiritually, but also emotionally, intellectually, musically and also whatever-ly la. Hahhaha ..... God has been so great , His grace is just too great that i feel i do not deserve all that i've been treated to throughout this past month. That's what grace is about , God giving you without you deserving it. And He gives it freely.



Let's see .... It all started from the process of receiving my WVU acceptance letter on the 27th November. Although the letter was dated Nov 2nd ,but due to the postal mail ... it only arrive much later when i've already decided to resign from Yamaha. I had to make a crucial decision whether to leave the country or not regardless of the scholarship that i've applied for together with my application. God was clearly taking His own sweet time .. hahaha ... while i being the impatient one , knew there was no time left because i needed to resign in a 1 month notice. So just as i've received my acceptance letter , i took that as firm confirmation that i'll be going and therefore took chances to resign immediately.



Surprisingly out of my expectation, talking to my boss and settling my Yamaha music teaching stuffs seem pretty smooth. God i think is just great , He soften the heart of my boss and others around me. And provided me with a great replacement teacher ... someone whom i'd not expect i'd need her help probably 1 and half year ago. Ruth ... She's lovely... Had some time trying to persuade her , finally things were settled after some commotion between her music school and Yamaha music. We couldn't wait , so we settled things ourselves and before knowing it ... She accepted the offer of taking over all my classes from Wangsa Walk to Ampanag Point . (Not all but majority of them) While i transfered 2 classes to Shiyan and Joanne each. They've been great as well ... i do cherish having such colleagues.... always there to help each other , we're like a close family in Ampang. Thanks so much especially to Joanne ... she's been there from day 1 to watch me , advice me , look after me in LS whenever i needed guidance in teaching. Thanks! ANd oh , i'll be using your gift a lot , thanks!



Then there's the commotion of getting the visa to leave the country ... at first i received the letter happily , then when Cher called me to check i told him there was everything in the envelope except the I-20 form ! He taught me what to do to check it out , so within a week i managed to contact the uni and get things straightened... didn't have enough funding to proof my ability to study there. WHAM !!! A big blow came piercing down to my heart ... tears started flowing out softly .... and suddenly i thought things wouldn't work out at all now. BUT , but God again has shown His timing is perfect. On the same night i made the phone call to WVU to get their response, the same night i told them to check my scholarship status and finally somewhere midnight i received an email from the scholarship committee prof telling me i have been offered a little lum sum of scholarship money. GREAT NEWS ! But to know i didn't get a full scholarship is disappointing .... On the other hand i kept comforting myself by thinking the school has been kind to still offer me scholarship without seeing my face, watching me play , but only listening to my audition CD and academic documents. What else do i want ?!



Then there's the worry of getting the funding to show proof to study and apply for my visa, so just when i prayed and prayed about this on the same night .... i forced myself to bed and the next morning my mom being the super worried one went and call my sister and aunty and all ... (this is when the adults wanna interfere because it involves MONEY) .... and when i woke up my mom told me to call my eldest sis ... which to me didn't sound like a great idea , because i hate to speak to her regarding finance... i thought she was going to ask me to change my mind of leaving ... but to my surprise after the call , we talked and worked out about the funding and God answered my prayers ! We took the next few days going to the bank and working things out and while also being very worried myself , i still went for class with Cher on the same day and talked it out with him .



That visit to his house was purely just chatting and so we didn't do any playing .... because i had to go off early as well to avoid the traffic ... that was when i really heard all his life experiences in WVU in those days and it sort of gave me assurance of what to expect when i'm there. Got some good advice and somehow i still sticked with my plan. GO BY FAITH .



By then i knew i had to focus only on one person who is God and God alone. I prayed and made sure i stick to His words everynight before i sleep ... reading the bible ,worship Him .. and really making sure i do not make a wrong choice of my own ... without having to miss His plans for me. That was tough , it was hard to still try and keep your faith while also trying to NOT lose your sanity thinking if this was all just my own desire or God's approved plan for me. I had to just be still , patient and wait upon the Lord. Everyday ....

Then there came the confirmation when i sent whatever necessary document to the uni and when WVU got back to me that they'll be sending my I-20 form by courier , i began to feel relieved. My concern was now applying for visa because it was drawing near to Christmas and embassy would close. BUT GOD IS IN CONTROL , and He has His timing .. and thank God for Ps leslie's sermons which were so assuring most of the time. Thanks ! By the time i got my form, i was already doing the necessary to get my visa application done ,everything was really too much for me that week that i had to sit down and write a list of to do things and cancel them out one by one the next day. In a day i completed like 15 things to do !

So the rest that happens after that was pretty smooth ... the visa application interview happened really smoothly, and i don't know what to say ... but the officer that interviewed me is probably also a jazz fan . He seemed to be more interested in the music i play and the gigs that i do rather than my trip to USA. The best part of the interview is when he handed me the card and said "You may collect your visa tomorrow" That;s just great to hear.

After that i just did all the necessary for packing and preparing for a student life overseas. It is just crazy ... travelling alone not knowing anyone there ,starting somewhere and some place new.. i hope i'll enjoy myself there but i guess with God all things are secure. Then besides all these there was also the other part of my adventurous of the month. I started getting calls and invitations to play for gigs , weddings, and even in participate in the inaugural MPO jazz camp! Which of course adds to one of my great experience in my jazz music journey thus far.

Each call was exciting for me , but throughout these experiences of working with unknown musicians and singers has helped me take small little steps to grow and get a glimpse of what's it like being a musician out there. Obviously i enjoyed the weddings , but having to play in Bangkok Jazz i had to be extra cautious due to the late nights and location. Not to mention having to be daring and humble and really face some 'losing face' moments on stage or off stage. It's just part of growing up i guess.

Then there's also the time that i couldn't really take the stress i had to reject some gigs that came after those.... i received more calls for 24, 25 and 26 to play but i couldn't cope because i chose to give priority to the camp and still squeeze time out to do the necessary for preparation. But Thank God that when i wanted to look for a replacement pianist on the 31 , i couldn't and kept praying asking God to help me out with this ... and the next day i received news that the show was cancelled. Who says my God is not real!?

Above all those obviously i had a great christmas .... enjoyed a terribly luxurious lucrative meal in my sister's house on christmas eve night. We had fun , had the church youth to come carolling and played some crazy games with the nieces... and then there was the early morning service in church on christmas day , then enjoying some great time with Eng Hui and Shiyan before i leave..then also spending quality time with my girls , Mun Wei and Khye ... Then 26th was off to camp! Everyday we meet at 10am and finish by 4pm in MPO and we had the access to several backstage rooms of the DFP and it was just crazily amazing .. even to confirm my attendance for the camp and really waking up for it on the first day was pretty scary . hahahaha

When the guys were there , i recognized them because i've seen them play outside in alexis and all ..but obviously they don't know me but it was fine .. i just had to learn how to make friends and slowly open up myself to knowing and learning from each other. Another scary part ? I am the only female. Hahaha.... But it's alright with me , nothing big deal. In fact because of this , coincidently when our group is playing Sophisticated Lady i was taught on how to adopt this style of playing , and suddenly i wa given the nickname of being the Sophisticated Lady from the guys! But please ... i'm not even sophisticated enough for the tune.

Each day we learn new stuffs , our schedule is something like having a 2 hours of solid combo session where the New Yorkers take turns to coach us and that was just great . Learnt a great deal ... then we stop for a group lecture session... where we were given lectures on couple of topics everyday.... i enjoyed the one we learnt from Gab ... about time and Harmonic language of jazz . Then we break for an hour of lunch , and come back for a 2 hours masterclass from several great musicians. Greg Lyons , David Gomes , and Lewis Pragasam. It was great to hear pep talks from them =) At least it made some of us go home and practice. ahahhaha

By the end of the camp there's a showcase on each band put together for a performance in the DFP (Dewan Filharmonik Petronas) and it was such an overwhelming experience that i never thought i'd live to this day to perform on that stage! Although it was unexpected , but it just came too fast that i never had the time to sink into the emotions of waiting upon this moment. But really , it was an awesome experience ... despite the fact that i didn't play perfectly nice or showed superbly great talent or awesome nice lines during my solos , but i guess the chills and freezing feeling of performing on that stage is crazy enough! What else could i ask for more as a young musician?! GOD IS DEFINITELY GOOD !!!

And then i travelled up to PD with adelene and Mun Wei for our church watchnight service and it was also a great time spent there with my church members for the very first time and last time before i leave. The next couple of days till now are spent attending farewells with different groups of people and also packing and finalizing stuffs. I really don't have time to pack up my room nicely before i leave , so i'll have to let mom do that .. While i guess i should just embrace and slowly start to let the feelings come in little by little .. i'm excited but i don't know what it is there like relaly ... having to face winter once i reach and probably able to see snow for the first time! But also having to work in restaurants , doing own laundry , learning how to cook, doing house chores... those are just things i have to learn man... not mentioning having to find ways to earn my living expenses there .. and also do well in uni ...

And so ... tomorrow is my last day in KL ... till i leave , and this time it's for real . Talking about living my draems , and ever since i decided to major in music after SPM .. God has never failed me in living my dreams. He is ever so Faithful. There are many i have to thank before i go , but i'm sorry if i missed you out by not meeting up with you or contacting you earlier please forgive me as i was time constrained due to only 1 month preparation. But you have my heartiest thoughts and thank you all for being part of my wonderful life in KL , i hope to see you all again in the future and God bless you guys.

Thank you :
1) Jesus for your faithfulness
2) Mun Wei for your ever faithful support and friendship
3) Khye Lin for your ever faithful support and friendship
4) Cher for all you've done , too much to write here !
5) parents for the financial support and little things you do which i might not seem appreciative at times but please forgive me
6) sisters for little or big ways you've contributed!
7) relatives who contributed in whatever ways
8) church members (thanks for all the prayers and support and encouragements!)
9) teachers of now and then (you all know who you are !)
10) people from Yamaha (this has been a very interesting part of my life and thanks)
11) other friends whom i did not include but doesn't mean you're unimportant!

So that's it... this is probably a temporary halt to one chapter of my life in KL. Let's move on from here , but God is everlasting and He is always with me. I can feel His presence. Amen!

Here i come ,MORGANTOWN!!!