February “stuff”

Here’s the key things that happened for me in February 2021 (month of Lunar New Year)!

Visual Arts related Stuff

Following my “tradition” of changing the Chinese New Year decor in the house, I did a ox Chinese ink painting (modelled after one from NAFA exhibition that I went a few days earlier, see next para) and wrote some 对联 （pair of auspicious phrases) , produced one more seal with all three characters of my name (to add to the four from the seal engraving class at the end of January).

Also went to see an art exhibition at NAFA after learning about it from my seal engraving teacher and also SWL (President of NAFA since December 2020, who alerted me that 7 Feb was the last day)..and haha, she mentioned a friend who had been into various art forms (ink painting, calligraphy and seal engraving) since 2013, in her interview with Zao Bao: it happens to be me btw 🙂 !

JC Class related Stuff

I did some writing based on the words that a classmate B had shared in a video (on writing a letter to old classmates – full and short version, see above ) and also wrote 牛年平安 (Peace in the Year of the Ox) for my classmate YBS to put up in his home/office. There was also the great makan sessions at One Pot (28 Jan, near the Indoor Stadium, with ML, KP and their spouses LM, WB), in Toa Payoh (with G, SH) for Chef Kang’s prawn noodle, and wanton mee at Jackson Square, and just with YC at Golden Mile Tower for the most delicious fried rice and pork cutlet (King of Fried Rice, thanks to B for the recommendation!)

Of the 40 who were in the class, sadly, two have passed on 😦 and as of today, 17 ladies and 9 gents have been “found” (contactable), mostly in January (22), with only four more added in February (F, PH, HL, KW).

Learning/Doing New Things

• Baked ciabatta (thanks to YC for guidance and mixing ingredients, and AL for recipe),
• learning to play GO (after watching the documentary Alphago The Movie (where this AI programme takes on Lee Sedol, the greatest GO player of recent history, thanks to RK for sharing his review of it),
• learn that Golden Mile Tower Basement level has many shops selling collectibles (wonder if they also buy them from you?),
• learn about the 13th Amendment in the USA constitution after watching the documentary 13th (a Netflix show that is now freely available on Youtube) and the terrible state of how coloured people in the USA are still being “oppressed”; a shocking statistic was how 25% of the people in prisons in the world are in US prisons!! (when it has 5% of the world population)
• learn about the Chinese 60 year calendar naming system and understand how it is used in the dating of Chinese art like paintings or calligraphy pieces (thanks to SL)
• learn about the Covid vaccine (the types of vaccines ST 26 Feb) and how they work, and why the second dose of the vaccine may cause more severe side effects (“The second Covid-19 shot is a rude awakening for immune cells“, The Atlantic, 2 Feb 2021)

Music Related stuff

Attended this free short program at the Esplanade concourse (indoor), with Yvonne Tay on the guzheng, and outdoor theatre (small ensemble playing popular CNY tunes, unfortunately, seating was already filled to capacity when we went, so we sat down beside the theatre to listen, while taking in the beautiful Marina Bay CNY themed lightup). Coincidentally, both performances were related to NAFA (Yvonne was an alumnus, and the other was by students in the orchestra group). Also saw an amazing solo “pipa” performance on Youtube (shared by YBS) with the backing of a full orchestra for some CNY concert in China. In the photo above, you see part of my score for an evening where I went to Lower Pierce Reservoir (18 Feb) to play my dizi, for a change from doing it in the room :).

Physical Workouts

The plan to run 21km on the 21st of every month this year, and the training to do so by using the calendar dates seems to be working out very well so far (some dates, like 10 = run 10k, but when I am not up to it or feel like doing more, the calendar can still work (e.g. on 14 Feb, do 14 -2 = 12 km, or on 8 Feb, do 8×2 = 16 km). About 3 days in a week are already fixed in my calendar, while the rest of the “empty” days I adjust accordingly. And so, on 21 Feb, went for my second 21km of the year (with PK, M, JY) and did it in a rather “slow and easy” time of 2hr 33 min:

Lesson learn is to bring some bicycle lights if we are going to go into Upper Pierce before 6:30 am … it is rather dark inside as there is no road lighting, and the trees also block off the moon light!

The other run that deserves special mention was one where I did a 5k with Chien, at Labrador/Keppel by the Bay area on 3 Feb before the makan session with G and SH in Toa Payoh (see earlier). While short, the route was really scenic and totally enjoyable with the cool breeze and sea just beside us all the way during the run. And the reason we happened to be there in the first place was that I had bought a new pair of running shoes from a Carousell seller who lived in Telok Blangah, and had arranged to collect it from him that morning!

Besides the runs, have also been doing some longer (20k +) bike rides with Chien and combining it with some “makan” 😛 (e.g. going all the way to Golden Mile Tower, via Toa Payoh for the fried rice, or to the Lower Seletar reservoir, and then to Sembawang Road via the Springleaf park connector, Thong Soon Green area where Superman lives :), and Old Upper Thomson Road and Bishan Park I where the lotus pond is really pretty now) … see photos below:

Besides the above “play and learning work”, have been keeping up with the “paid work” part by giving tuition at the JC/IB levels and doing it at a comfortable amount (aiming for about 4 hours average a day, over 5 days a week, as suggested by some “mentors” 🙂 ). The weekly pickleball sessions have also been excellent for getting to know “new” people (thanks to D for introducing me to the group and the game in Nov2019). And randomly, tonight is the big TOTO draw!! Good luck to all (and dragons born in 11 month of lunar new year, see lottery note in image below)!

Let’s see how March 2021 will play out! Time passes by so fast that already two months of 2021 are over ….