Book Review (2)

Book Review (2): The magic strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom

The magic strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom

Aish it's been almost a year and a half when I last read a Mitch Albom book. And im here with another book review!! This book was published about 1 year ago and I remember thinking to myself then, "I cant wait to read this book." and I was so so glad that I was able to get my hands on this book. Before I start the book review, I just want to share my experience with music. I have always been very intrigued by music. I always thought it was pretty cool how people invented instruments and created music with them. When I was in Sec 1, my music test was to play Ode to Joy on the piano. I didnt have any music background and I knew nothing about reading notes or playing keys but I practiced diligently every day, tapping my fingers on the edge of the table as if they were piano keys. And I did a pretty decent job, playing the piano piece on the test day itself. My mentor (aka my friend who learns piano outside of school) was very impressed. And so were my parents. All the hype they made make me feel that maybe I could be talented in the music field. But now I think not. Im just normal, I guess, I could learn how to play the piano if I practiced consistently. So this last year, I sort of self taught myself how to play "Auld Lang Syne" and "Way back into love". But it wasnt even the whole song, it's just the intro and only with the right hand. But I really enjoyed the sessions I spent learning. I had this music book where I wrote notes and I spend my history lessons (I dropped history) (aka free periods) with the piano, practicing alone. Im always in awe whenever I hear someone playing an instrument and I would daydream how cool would I be if I could play an instrument. That sort of fueled my learning. But anyway, this book is extra amazing because it brings back the memories of me being in awe of people who can play an instrument and reminds me of how magical music can be.

1) The introduction was interesting, as we find out that the narrator is not exactly human but Music. Impactful Quote: "All humans are musical." which shows us how music is a culture. He also introduces an interesting thought: "Before newborns open their eyes, we (talents) circle them, appearing as brilliant colours, and when they clench their tiny hands for the first time, they are actually grabbing the colours they find most appealing. Those talents are with them for life." I guess it shows us that each of us have a talent of our own, it is just a matter of whether we have discovered them or not. Well, I havent discovered mine... He also had another interesting idea, where we borrow our talents and return them upon death. Another impactful quote: "Why else would the Lord give you a beating heart?" He asks this question to prove that "All humans are musical."

2) There is also this recurring sentence, "Everyone joins a band in this life." which appears now and then and seem to be one of the themes of the story. However, one thing I found interesting was the different contexts it was used under.
"Everyone joins a band in this life. Sometimes, they are the wrong ones."
"Everyone joins a band in this life, Sometimes they reunite."
"Everyone joins a band in this life. Some of them break your heart."
"Everyone joins a band in this life. And what you play always affects someone."

3) Another quotable quote: "You cannot write if you do not read. You cannot eat if you do not chew. And you cannot play if you do not listen." I guess to achieve something, we must always have some sort of effort put in in order to succeed.

4) "But just because something is silent doesnt mean you arent hearing it." This was something I learned from my music teacher on our last music lesson together. She started sharing with us how music could be applicable in a lot of areas of our lives. She showed us the use of music in movies and I have began to take note of soundtracks whenever I watched a movie. I watched Nerve in September this year and the soundtrack was awesome. She also told us all to keep quiet and listen and made us realised that even silence has a sound.

5) "But being silent is not forgetting." I think that most of the time, when we stop talking about our wounds, it doesnt mean that we have forgotten about them or that we are not suffering. It is just somewhere in our hearts that we would rather not bring up. But I guess bottling up stuff isnt too good as well so we should talk about them if necessary.

6) "The song gave him comfort. That is often why you come to music, isnt it? To feel that you are not alone?" I think something very interesting is that there are always these little opinion by the narrator to remind us that he isnt a person but rather Music.

7) "When you listen, you learn. In music and in life." I really really like this quote.

8) When I first read about the story of Francisco and his father (El Maestro) I really felt very urghh. Words cannot describe it. It is like the story "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry. But it was a bit better towards the end because Josefa told Francisco the truth and I was so glad to know that he knew the truth. He had to. On the other hand, I feel like Alberto is very very cruel. He took advantage of El Maestro's weakness (being blind) and pushed him into the water to his death just so he could steal the money.

9) "This is life. Things get taken away. You will learn to start over many times- or you will be useless." This is so true. There are bound to be setbacks and if we dont learn to start over or stand back up, we would be crushed forever. All it takes is a little bit of resilience.

10) The book also uses quite a bit of spanish and I started learning spanish late last year so I was quite excited when I could understand some of the spanish language written in the book.

11) While reading, I also made a list of the people whose life he has changed for better or for worse. And 6 strings for these 6 people: Django, Hampton, Aurora York, Ellis, Alberto, Josefa. I guess this shows us that we, no matter how insignificant we think we are, actually still play an important role in life and have the ability to change other people's lives.

12) "You cannot ask things to do what they are not meant to do. Eventually, they will break." Yay another quotable quote.

13) In the book, there are many "interviews" with the various music stars who have interacted with Frankie and they provided their thoughts and shared with us the experiences they had with him. That really helped me to understand more about the character and it was a pretty interesting way to do so. Towards the end of the book, I saw a "interview" with Ingrid Michaelson and I was a little bit shocked. Were the music stars that I read about all real music stars? Haha most of the "interviews" are real music stars which kind of make it more relatable.

This is the end of the book review and this is a very amazing piece  of work (as usual) and I really hope you guys can read it. There are also really a lot of quotable quotes which are really inspiring. The ones that are listed are just a few of the many. And everything in quotation marks are quotes from the book. I do not own any content. This is also a really thick book, which could take a while to finish but it will be worth it in the end!

Blog Post #24

Blog Post #24

In the month of October, I volunteered at National Library Board (NLB) during the weekends to help out at their Book Bugs Redemption Booth. And the Book Bugs is a program launched by  NLB to promote reading among children. You can find out more here. Here are some of my thoughts.

1) I feel that this is a really good program which really encourages kids to read more. I have heard feedback from parents who shared that their children used to borrow 8 books and they even have to renew the books so that they can finish them on time yet now, they can finish 8 books in a week! When I promote the program to the parents or simply just helping out at the booth, it makes me very happy to know that I have helped the children cultivate this good habit of reading.

2) Throughout my volunteering stint, there are a couple of children (they seemed quite young maybe in preschool or lower primary) who came to the booth a couple of times to redeem the cards. And it is impossible for them to read 8 books that quickly (regardless of how thin they are) so we know that they are just borrowing the books only for the receipt (not for reading). It is quite easy to cheat the system but for a kid who is that young, i dont think they are capable of such ideas to cheat the system. Which leads me to think that maybe their parents were the ones who taught them. Which brings about the question of values.

3) While volunteering, I realised that the library is a service industry which means that one has to be very customer oriented. Patrons can really complain about the most nonsensical things which leads me to reflect on myself as a customer. On my second week there, I was most fortunate to meet one such patron. He came all the way from the other side of Singapore to the library I was at to collect a shiny card (which was unfortunately out of stock but it was the norm as it was the last week) so he made a big fuss and shouted at us. And I was pretty upset over how someone can get so worked up over "just a card" (just quoting what he said). In the service industry, the customer is always right so we cant even be rude to him.

4) Before volunteering, I didnt really like kids. I thought they were rude, noisy and annoying. But after volunteering, I have made friends with some of the kids there and they are pretty cute. On my first day, there was this girl who said she comes every week and true enough, she came the next day. But subsequently, I didnt see her anymore. She spends her time in the library and I saw her walking around with nothing to do so i made her sit down and write poems (the activity for October which gets you a shiny card). There was also this other girl whom I met around the same time. She spends long hours in the library while waiting for her mother (who is working). And her cheeks are really chubby. When I go for my dinner, I will bring her along too (she doesnt eat lunch). There is also this boy with specs (he is a bit short but he is actually P5) who comes with his mother. They are both very avid card collectors and they spend half of their weekends in the library, reading and attending programmes. There's also this boy who recently just started collecting these cards (he's a bit older than the average age but still in primary school) he usually comes with his aunt and he is very excited about those cards. He likes to talk to me about the cards. About which cards he wish to have. We even trade cards. There was also this girl who came a couple of times but I remember one night where the booth was not very crowded, she came to redeem the cards and she was upset over having the same cards she just give the card to me. So i offered to trade but she said she got all the cards i have alr (that was how late I was) Then she asked me if I want a sweet and i said no. Later on she came again with a receipt and she hoped to get Sandee (a bug) and she really got it to the amazement of both of us. She was so happy she gave me the sweet and ran off. They are all very fun children and I dont really have such a bad impression of them anymore. There were even 2 boys who smiled at me whenever they pass by the booth, showing how they remembered me and it was nice.

5) There are also a couple of funny incidents. There was a girl crying and she went to the customer service counter and told the staff there that her "mummy was lost". And there was also this really cute boy and his equally cute younger sister. They came to the booth and they were new to the program. But the boy decided that he wanted to read all the bug names. It was so funny. Then later on they came out with a game to look for the bugs so I made them find the bugs. The boy was so earnest in looking for the bug and when he found it, his sister peered at his list to see where it is and exclaim (a little too happily) "hehe copy kor kor" Then halfway through, their mother took them away to look for their father and this all happen while they are in the midst of looking for a bug. So the boy said, "Mummy will find Daddy, and I will find (bug name)." and while walking away, he suddenly exclaim, "Found it!" turning back to grin at us. We had such a good laugh! The next morning, they came again to borrow books and the sister came to redeem two packs of cards. She was so upset that she got the exact same combination of cards that she walk around, whining (rather loudly), "It's the same cards! I got the same cards." So i decided to trade with her. (haha yes i collect them too)

If you are interested, you can sign up to volunteer here. You have to register for an account after which they will give you a password which you can use to login and sign up. This program is until the end of the year so there is still time to volunteer!

I only started collecting these cards in October so I have missed the June, July, August, September Shiny cards 😞 I have also missed Hollowing due to a very busy weekend. Aish. But for basic cards, I am only missing 19 😀.

Good luck to those collecting these cards and I hope that more of you can come and collect these cards as well. They are so cute!! That's all the experience I had volunteering in October at NLB.

Blog Post #23

Blog Post #23

It's June Holidays now but im still very busy what with all the projects, homework and revision. Aish. My results were not as fantastic as I expected and hoped i would get but I still managed to get a GPA of 3.9 which I felt was not a very accurate depiction of how well you are doing in school. I suddenly get a sense of how hard english would be in jc and my principal even mentioned, during the analysis of our results, that there is quite a large group of J1s which had to stay back and repeat the year again. To be honest, I am quite worried about my future and it is starting to look a lot less bright. We had a career exhibition and talks in school but I havent really thought about what I want to be next time or what my strengths are and which courses i should take. And it's been changing quite a lot. For some time, I wanted to be a dentist, then an engineer or even a professor teaching undergraduates on medical science. But deep down, all I want to do was to open a shop where I sell cute DIY stuff I made and I could even hold workshops for kids and adults! But the idea seems quite far-fetched and impractical. I guess i should just concentrate on my studies for now.

Now that we have step down from cca, I find school kind of boring. At least last time, there was cca to look forward to. And honestly I think i cant stress this enough but it's really about the people you interact with and not so much of the things we do. We could be doing crap work like washing the toilet and it would still be fun. I guess it beats having your passion but dealing with shitty people all day. And i miss all my juniors especially my sec 3s. They were all super funny with all their stories and jokes. And i miss having meetings with my president and my cca teacher. Gosh what a bundle of fun they are! I guess this one year of leadership has changed me a bit. Now I find myself more appreciative of the effort of initiatives organised by the school since I am now part of the behind the scenes and have put in a lot of effort. I still remember the CCA day where all the sec ones get to experience the different kinds of cca. We conducted a workshop teaching them how to make milk carton boxes and plastic flowers and we had to repeat the session again and again at least 8 times and it was quite tiring but it was cool because when i was a sec 1, we had this kind of thing except we only got to try 2 ccas and imagine what our seniors went through. T.T And as the vice-prez, I feel that I am responsible for the welfare of the club and that I suddenly care a lot more about the members in my club. I mean back then, I did care for my juniors and seniors but now I actually care about things like giving them a platform to lead and giving them a platform to share their ideas. I felt that I did not contribute as much as I wanted to my club but okay it was still quite a lot of things i did.

Recently, I decided to refurbish my old phone casing. It was just a simple light blue phone casing which is old and the paint has kinda peeled of and it looks old. So i decided to make it new again! I was originally planning to make a lollipop phone design like the one in Sea Lemon's video: https://youtu.be/ec14jKPrmjM but then i got a better idea and decided to do one of my elephant paintings as the design of my phone case instead. The picture is below.

Elephant

Yea but when i attempted to paint it, I got the whole shape messed up and the elephant butt looked lopsided and compressed so I tried to improve it. But when I know it cant be salvaged, i give up and just let the paint brush guide me. And somehow the shape reminded me of a crocodile so then I started to paint it in that direction. But after a while, I started to think if there are any crocodile characters and I couldnt think of any. So I went down for a walk and I suddenly realised that there is that crocodile from Peter Pan who ate this clock and so it tick tocks in his tummy. Extremely satisfied with this idea, I painted the crocodile with a slightly confused look and one eyebrow raised as the words beside him: tick tock complement him. Here's a picture of it:

Crocodile

I know it may not seem very clear here but I did do my very best to take a photo. So after a few days of leaving it alone on my desk, I realised that some parts got dirty very quickly and I had to repaint them again. Which unfortunately I couldnt make the exact same colour of the paint so the background colour doesnt look uniform like there's slime from the wall which made me a little upset at first. You cant see it from the picture but then i thought of the game Where's my Water? which has a crocodile character in it and the game is situated in the sewer which often has slime on the wall so I guess it works too.

Then, I realised that since the phone casing could get dirty just by sitting on my desk, it would  definitely get very dirty if I actually use it so I decided that I need a protection cover. At first, my target was those thin plastic folders. 

Plastic folders

But then I couldnt find any around in the house and it would be quite a waste to destroy one folder just for the phone casing. Eventually I found some clear plastic and decide to use it instead and oh my it was such a difficult task to get this right. First I did a general template which looked something like this.

Draft 1

Draft 2 looked something like this:

Draft 2

For Draft 2, I cut out all the holes necessary but not in very accurate precision and while I folded it around the phone casing, I realised that at the corners, there are always this unwanted extra portion of the paper so i improvised a third draft.

Draft 3

This is Draft 3 above and it actually looks quite decent so I was pleased and decided to trace it out on the clear plastic using purple highlighter. I cut out the template but not the little holes and parts since I wanted to make sure that the position and shape as accurate as possible. So I just position it around the phone and tape it down to the inside of the phone casing where the unglam cant be seen. When I was satisfied, it actually looked good on my first try. I thought I was going to need to try again, I even calculated how many of such template I could draw on the clear plastic and it was only 3 so I was extra careful not to waste it. So yay! Afterwards, I cut out the holes which wasnt very perfect since I was limited by the phone casing but everything was still pretty okay. It doesnt look very pretty and the cuts werent very clean but at least i could take a picture or charge my phone just the same as before. One other thing i realised was that this clear plastic tears very easily and as long as you cut a little extra and accidentally pull on it, it would result in a tear which then you would have to tape it. And it also has this crinkly plastic sound when I use my phone which I'm still not very used to. So yup that was my experience redesigning a phone cover and i would say it's fun. Dont throw your old phone covers away, you can always revamp them by painting over.

That's all for now. I will be writing more this holiday I guess so till then! Thanks for reading.

Blog Post #22

Blog Post #22

These days, I have been quite busy with work. Sec 4 life is very hectic! Even though I have dropped History, I still find everything piling up and threatening to crush me. Chemistry is a big big problem. I guess after last year's results, I'm quite demotivated and determined that I'm not ever going to excel in chemistry. Aish. And Geography's gonna be a big problem too since its going to be my only humanities, I have to do extra well so that my GPA would be good. Don't even get me started on English; I mean okay I get my english teacher's intentions but everything is too new for us and we are not used to stuff like that so I'm trying to adapt but the critical response test last week was done really really badly because I think my points aren't even relevant. The only good thing was that it only weigh 1.26%. But I heard today that we are gonna have a compre test at the end of the term. It's not even March and I'm already feeling the burden of homework and schoolwork.

I'm still not having much luck with friends. And I still prefer spending time alone. But actually that depends on who it is.

Lol I found this unfinished blog from like forever ago and decide to post it anyway but I will be updating with another new blog post soon.

Till then!