Everybody falls sometimes
Gotta find the strength to rise
From the ashes
And make a new beginning

Anyone can feel the ache
You think it's more than you can take
But you're stronger
Stronger than you know

Don't you give up now
The sun will soon be shining
You gotta face the clouds
To find the silver lining

I've seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn't ever end
Even when the sky is falling
I've seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That's what faith can do

It doesn't matter what you've heard
Impossible is not a word
It's just a reason
For someone not to try

Everybody's scared to death
When they decide to take that step
Out on the water It'll be alright

Life is so much more 
Than what your eyes are seeing
You will find your way
If you keep believing

I've seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn't ever end
Even when the sky is falling
I've seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That's what faith can do

Overcome the odds
You don't have a chance
(That's what faith can do)
When the world says you can't
It'll tell you that you can

I've seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn't ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I've seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That's what faith can do
That's what faith can do

Even if you fall sometimes
You will have the strength to rise

just 10 out of the 1000000000000000000000 things i've written in my sermon notebook

1. don't live based on your emotions. learn to live beyond your feelings and let pre-made decisions dictate where you're going in life. decide what it is you want to do and do it. this way, there will be no room for indecision. don't say "I don't feel like doing this today" and forget what you have planned the day before. manage your emotions and don't let it manage you. don't live by feelings, live by commitment.
8. happiness is not found in what you do but who you are. if happiness is based on what you do, then your happiness is dependent on external situations.

9. if you take care of your character, your reputation will take care of itself.

10. learn to value the present. we are so busy trying to achieve what we don't have that we forget what we already have. many people base their lives on the unknown instead of what they already know. don't live with constant uncertainty. do not fear, you are of more value than what you think. :)


"thank you for believing in me, even when I didn't believe in myself."

SYF journey was truly an amazing one. through this whole experience I've found this family

#v2cool4u



I can't believe SYF just ended. we've come so far as individuals, as a whole ensemble. It's true that I've felt like giving up along the way, when I felt like I was not good enough and never would be. but these are the people who gave me a purpose in staying strong, because i know i wasn't doing it for myself, i was doing it for my section. these are the people who believed in me when i was too weak to believe in myself. these are the people who reassured me and repeated those words of affirmation that do not mean anything in inspiration books or films, but mean a whole lot when they say it out of pure genuineness. we've improved so much as a section, and although things didn't look that good initially, we managed to piece everything together so beautifully. i love our group hugs, our group chats, our group photos and camwhore moments, our group sectionals, our group zi-high moments and i definitely loved our syf moment.

of course, this syf moment isn't just about v2s. it's about NYSE, the seniors, mr sze and our teachers and the nyse legacy. we're not just a standard ensemble. we're not there to show off what we can do. we're there because we have something to share. we've come so far, we've worked so hard and now, we want to share what we've put together with you and allow you to be part of OUR syf experience. so glad that the seniors said that we're of distinction material! plus sze actually feels proud of us. :') with that, nothing else really matters anymore. :')

It's amazing being in an ensemble. Hearing the recording, and knowing that YOU WERE PART OF IT. -Christel

The first round of SYF for strings is over, and apart from being very proud of my kids, the overall standard has gone up yet again and I think there is much to commend for ALL the orchestras that participated. -Mr Sze

I can still remember the first violin lesson shiyao, clarie and I had. we were so excited to learn a new instrument. the hunger to learn pushed us further. we didn't know how to hold the bow, we didn't know the notes, we didn't know what a pizz was, we didn't know about bow pressure, the difference in length of bow, tuning, etc. we've grown so much. and thank god we ended up in the same section, together with Vivian and Shermaine. this first and last strings syf meant so much to me.... now that it's all over, i feel so... empty.

and thank God NYSE has sze as our conductor. what would we be without someone like him? He was the one who gave us the confidence, the motivation and the inspiration. what's music playing without actually feeling the music?

thank you for sharing this with us

Why We Teach Music 
Music is a science. It is exact, specific; and it demands exact acoustics. A conductor's full score is a chart, a graph which indicates frequencies, intensities, volume changes, melody and harmony all at once and with the most exact control of time. Music is mathematical. It is rhythmically based on the subdivisions of time into fractions which must be done instantaneously, not worked out on paper. Music is a foreign language. Most of the terms are in Italian, German or French; and the notation is certainly not English but a highly developed kind of shorthand that uses symbols to represent ideas. The semantics of music is the most complete and universal language. Music is history. Music usually reflects the environment and times of its creation, often even the country and/ or racial feeling. Music is physical education. It requires fantastic coordination of fingers, hands, arms, lip, cheek and facial muscles, in addition to extraordinary control of diaphragmatic, back, stomach, and chest muscles, which respond instantly to the sound the ear hears and the mind interprets. Music is all these things, but most of all, music is art. It allows a human being to take all of these dry, technically boring (but difficult) techniques and use them to create emotion. That is one thing science cannot duplicate; humanism, feeling, emotion, call it what you will. That is why we teach music.

Not because we expect our students to major in music
Not because we expect them to play or sing all their life
Not so they can relax
Not so they can have fun
But so they will be human
So they will recognize beauty
So they will be sensitive
So they will be closer to an infinite beyond this world
So they will have something to cling to
So they will have more love, more compassion, more gentleness, more good - - in short, more life. Of what value will it be to make a prosperous living unless you know how to live? That is why we teach music.


i've never felt more proud of NYSE.

proud to be tangled in strings
"3, 2, 1 SZEEEEEEEEE" - NYSE
"let us focus on the 95% today" - sze
"turn your disadvantages to advantages" -sze

can't stop listening to the recordings :') we did it. :')

"thank you for appreciating me :)"
"you deserve to be appreciated :)"

i love it when someone puts in effort to put him/herself in your shoes to understand how you feel. :') i love it when someone can see your emotions from your face without you telling them. :') i love it when someone sends a long personal message to you instead of just tweeting something less than 140 characters to cheer you up :') i love all my friends :*) v2s jiayou~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


1. talk to a friend (or friends)



"God can still bring us grief and affliction whenever it contributes in some way to our redemption or spiritual growth. It's due to our fallen state that this is even necessary. We simply don't pay much attention to God when things are sailing along nicely and we're healthy and prosperous. Sometimes God needs to give us a jolt to keep us from falling asleep at the wheel and going off the road. Sometimes he uses the bad times so we can be a witness to others, and sometimes in this life we just don't know all the reasons. But what we can be sure of is that it's never his first desire to bring us affliction or distress, but he's more than willing to do so if it leads to our maturity or salvation. And that's the only reason it comes our way. Even if it comes as a form of judgement, it's still there with a motive of redemption. And there's the good news. We can remain positive and joyful even in the midst of affliction and suffering, whatever forms they take, because our welfare is behind them."
-John I. Synder

Pastor How always emphasizes that maturity comes with the acceptance of responsibility. it's true.

:')


today was a depressing day. but yet again it's just one of those days when i feel like i'm not good enough and i never will be. what's 'good enough', really? have been crying too much lately. freaking sucks cause my eyes are puffy and i feel so tired. started crying uncontrollably on the bus back home today and the guy beside me passed me a packet of tissues. he told me to take care. i like him. he's so genuine... and let me tell you it's damn freaking hard to find 100% genuine people nowadays. everyone seems to be doing certain things to earn something for themselves. be it fame, popularity, a favour. anyway thinking about him makes me happy :') i want to be like him too!

and i love my friends who know i'm weak. those that know that i am a sensitive crybaby but will still be there every single time i cry. i've been trying to cover that up a lot (cause in the past few years i wanted to LEARN TO BE STRONG but gosh i really suck at that) but can't believe you guys are still here. yeah especially angeline and sabby.

plus you. thank you for all your efforts in trying to cheer me up. it's a hard thing to do, i know, but thank God you're still here.

i hope tomorrow will be better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

something that a PSL senior shared with me yesterday night. was having dinner @ burger shack w cherie and we sat down beside these 2 J2 seniors. had a really interesting convo w them and it felt good meeting an old friend. :') "consider what a long way you've come today". all the sacrifices you've made along the way, the difficult times which have already passed, the difficult people you've met and learnt to deal with and love, the different life events you've been through. no regrets. no regrets. everything will be okay, you've got to trust in that.





« Older posts