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Chinese New Year's eve turn out to be quite a *rewarding* night after all. 3 hours of great music presented by the Berklee 60th Anniversary concert, what else can you possibly ask for? Especially when Herbie Hancock, Michel Camilo,*great pianist*, Bill Cosby,*entertainer*, Paul Simon,*singer songwriter*, Gloria Estefan,*singer*, Gary Burton, Esperanze Spalding,*berklee grad, awesome base player, i mean, acoustic*, and many more great musicians were performing, including some Berklee students, faculty and alumni!! 2 HOURS of waiting in line just to buy the tickets served it's purpose well. We got the 2nd role from the stage!!! However, I kinda wish we were seated further away, maybe 5th role? Lolz...

Looking at all these musicians performing on stage, my heart was so filled with jealousy, just for a while. I want to be performing too! However, I still need loads of practice before I can be on stage. The second thought that pops into my mind was that, I want to change my principal instrument from keyboard to voice. Look at the number of background singers and the number of pianist that could be on stage. Obviously, if I were a singer, the chances of me being on stage would definitely be higher than being a pianist. Oh well, just a thought. Piano and music therapy is still my passion. The crowd maybe different, but the effect will still be the same. Both are touched by the music.

As for Chinese New Year dinner, we had a shabu-shabu a.k.a steamboat, luk luk at Chinatown, on the first day of CNY. My second shabu-shabu since I arrived at Boston. We had the reunion dinner on the Thursday before Chinese new year, which was, no doubt, yummy. Eating in the company of good friends, with laughter filling the air…once again, brought me back home.

Instructions had begun for 2 weeks now. I can’t believe it’s been 3 weeks since I left home. So far, I’m satisfied with all my classes except for my arranging class, which last for 2 hours, well, thank god, it is only once a week! I wouldn’t really blame the teacher, she’s all nice and helpful, and the amount of work she gave seems reasonable, it’s just the class. I’ve come to a conclusion that I will not be an arranger after attending 2 classes. Moving on from boring class. So far, the most interesting class would be my introduction to international music therapy class. It seems tough, but the teacher is really encouraging, and helpful, music therapy mar…lOlz..She made us sing our name during our first class, so that we will remember each other’s name. Well, this certainly works, for now, I know everyone in my class. A rather challenging class because it requires interaction between people, and of course creativity. In order to be a good therapist, you have to be able to play at least 4 instruments, including piano, guitar, percussion and voice. The passion for music is a must, but the passion to help is also important. After attending the first class, I doubt my ability. However, the second class changed my mind after watching a video concerning music therapy. I was deeply moved. I’m determine to get into the course and graduate within 2 and a half years!

Grace’s latest goals:
1. Get a 90 in the class.
2. Maintain a GPA of at least 3.5 and above, in order to get into and stay in music therapy.
3. Get into music therapy by fall semester.
4. Graduate at summer 2008, preferably spring. We’ll see how it goes.
5. Before achieving the above, practice hard. Learn more leaks, and work harder on voicings and improvisation. At the same time, build my repertoire, and expand my itunes collection.

The following are academically irrelevant, but still goals.

1. Cook as often as possible. Try out more new dish. So far, dishes that I had successfully cook are, spaghetti, and chicken curry!
2. Learn how to bake without magic mix, but hopefully, I’ll get one from London in march!
3. Laundry, laundry, and laundry.
4. Stop watching TV and stop shopping!
5. Churching and serving.

Last but not least, keeping in touch with friends. I’m sorry if I haven’t been a good friend to some of you, but sometimes, I just don’t have the time to. Without internet excess from home, it really sucks. Most of all, blame it all unto me, me, being bound by my laziness!

By the way, I’ll be home slightly later this year, probably around mid august. Well, it is part of my plan to achieve my goals, a.k.a, doing summer course! Yes, after thinking and calculating for almost a week, I’ve decided to make this one little sacrifice for my future career!! After all, I’ll still have about a month break before fall semester! Therefore, I’ll still be home.

I guess I’ve fully recovered from blogaconstipation. Sorry for coming up with such a long-winded post. I just can’t stop my mind and fingers from working…chill out.