My Eyes!

Full day today, choral practice was awesome at night. Did the whole programme, and the practice tomorrow will be in the cathedral where we are performing.

Something is happening to my eyes. I'm getting really annoyed with it. I couldn't read music sheets everytime I want to practice the piano. I can only read/look at stuff close to me clearly in the morning or after midnight (morning too). I might get blind one day! Sigh.

Well, I did nothing mostly. My life is pretty eventless these days, but it's still awesome, nevertheless.

Anyway, svenska of the day.
Jag pratar svenska. Nej. Jag pratar inte svenska, för jag kommer från Indonesien. Jag misslyckas.

Cloudburst

The concert is coming up soon! I'm pretty pumped about it. I have to get Cloudburst memorised though, which is a bummer, it's a bit long. But I think it's quite manageable. I have to say, I have only just started, and I'm only on page 3 out of 12... lol Yes, I'm getting a bit desperate! But all ist gut.

Anyway, this is the text for the music.

Cloudburst
El cántaro roto

La lluvia...

Ojos de aqua de sombra,
ojos de agua de pozo,
ojos de aqua de sueńo.

Soles azules, verdes remolinos,
picos de luz que abren astros
como granadas.

Dime, tierra quemada, no hay aqua?
hay sólo sangre, sólo hay polvo,
sólo pisadas de pies desnudos sobre
la espina?

La lluvia despierta...

Hay que domir con los ojos abiertos,
hay que soñar con les manos,
soñemos sueños activos de río buscando
su cauce,
sueños de sol soñando sus mundos,
hay que soñar en voz alta,
hay que cantar hasta que el canto eche,
raíces, tronco ramas pájaros, astros,
hay que desenterrar la palabra perida,
recordar lo que dicen la sangre y la marea,
le tierra y el cuerpo,
volver al punto de partida...

Octavio Paz, adapted by Eric Whitacre


Cloudburst
The broken water‐jar

The rain...

Eyes of shadow‐water,
eyes of well water,
eyes of dream‐water.

Blue suns, green whirlwinds,
birdbeaks of light pecking open
pomegranate stars.

But tell me, burnt earth, is there no
water?
Only blood, only dust,
only naked footsteps on the thorns?

The rain awakens…

We must sleep with open eyes,
we must dream with our hands,
we must dream the dreams of a river
seeking its course,
of the sun dreaming its worlds,
we must dream aloud,
we must sing till the song puts forth roots,
trunk, branches birds, stars,
we must find the lost word,
and remember what the blood,
the tides, the earth, and the body say,
and return to the point of departure...

Translation by Lysander Kemp(From spanishpoems2.blogspot.com)

Quite an intriguing poem hey? I love it, especially when it's combined the music, it's really quite beautiful.

Anyway, learnt a bit of Svenska again. Jag försöker lära mig svenska. I feel like a 5 yo kid.

Man talar svenska i Sverige. Men, jag vill tala engelska i Sverige. För att jag pratar inte Svenska. Jag kan bara tala engelska och indonesiska. Så, var snäll och hjälp mig T_T

Mike Guglielmucci

One more thing I had to say was that at times, God does not only open a door. It may seem like one door has a great opportunity and in this case, CCM leading. But there are other doors opened for me too, and God is basically saying something like, "there Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, etc." He does have plans for me.

Anyway, I think I should also write about Mike Guglielmucci. God still is great, and no matter how greatly Mike had lied, God is still higher than any human's weaknesses. This serve as an example of how we should not and never idolise humans, in spite of any of their achievements; this is because we are all fallen out from God's glory and standards. The song he wrote will serve still as great reminder that we are all in need of God's love. Despite the fraud and all, I'm sure the song is still Godly. It doesn't matter what the writer intended that to be, it's up to the worshiper to worship God in their own ways. God's love shines through us weak people.

My prayers go to Mike and his families and the whole Kingdom of God.

Jubilate Agno

Choir on Wednesday had been awesome, haven't felt so good in doing what I want to do while at the same time, worshiping God, in ages. I had to sacrifice CCM, but I am positive that choir is where I am supposed to be at at the moment. A few days earlier, one of the elder had "challenged" me to give up choir and instead, "commit" myself more in the CCM because I am needed there to replace the keyboardist. Let's say I have decided otherwise. It's a long story, and deciding against CCM wasn't entirely easy either, but I have made my decision. I don't want to be tired and restricted.

One of the choir piece we are singing is called Rejoice in the Lamb. The main message of the piece is basically how everything in the earth, creatures and things, were made uniquely and worships God in each of their own unique ways.

There is a famous part about the poet's cat, Jeoffrey. Here goes:

For I will consider m Cat Jeoffry.
For he is the servant of the living God, duly and daily serving him.
For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way.
For this is done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness.
For he knows that God is his saviour.
For God has blessed him in the variety of his movements.
For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest.
For I am possessed of a cat, surpassing in beauty from whim I take occasion to bless Almighty God.

Well, the writer was in an asylum when he wrote this poem. But I think it's pretty apparent from the poem itself.

Anyway, as with Jeoffrey, I worship in my own unique way too. I do believe God and I understand myself and my feelings more than anybody else.

a friend like henry

Uni today was fun, music tech stuff. The midi sequencing thing is pretty fun IMO. Gotta do assignments earlier. I haven't done last week's.

I'm just finishing a book called "a friend like henry," a real-life story about a boy who was born autistic and how the parents raised him. It's an awesome and a heartwarming book. I love it, since I love all sort of books which can make me get teared up.

Anyway, heaps of stuff to think about.

Mix Doubles, and 63rd Birthday

Well, not a great day at all for mix doubles today. Both teams failed to win, so one team got silver and the other got nothing. Oh well, at least they have done their best. I'm still proud of Indonesia! :D

This makes Indonesia earns 1 Gold, 1 Silver and 3 Bronzes this year. 5 medals, not bad at all :D

Anyway, Indonesia's Independence Day today, Happy 63rd Birthday Indonesia!

Kido and Hendra

Yes

Yes! Indonesia got a Gold medal from Men's Double match in Badminton. They beat the Chinese double team in a three set game. The first set wasn't too good on Indonesia and I'm pretty sure whoever watched it must be pretty distressed as they lost 12-21. Situation was much better in the 2nd and 3rd game where they won 21-11 and 21-16, barely giving them a chance to even have any hope to get it close to a deuce or something.

Well, after winning, the two embraced, before the coach came and tackled them.


Err, this happened... Looked a bit wrong, but they are excused as they just gave Indonesia one of the best birthday present Indonesia can have (Indonesia's 63rd birthday today!)

Crazy Badminton Day

Maria vs. Lu Lan

In the female badminton, Maria Kristin Yulianti presented Indonesia with another bronze! She beat Lu Lan from China, the 3rd seeded player. This stopped China from dominating the whole female badminton medals; the other two are from China, Zhang Ning, who beat Maria in the semifinals retained her gold medal from the last Olympic, making her the oldest olympic gold medal holder this year (33yo).

Meanwhile, Nova/Liliyana is going to play in the finals against two Lee's from Korea. The two Lee's beat Marissa and Limpele :(

Kido and Hendra playing tonight!

Nova/Liliyana and Flandy/Vita

Both of these mix double pairs in Badminton played today and they won both! Nova and Liliyana seemed to have quite a safe match with 2-0 against Thailand while Flandy and Vita had to play three sets, in which they won the outer two (2-1 against Denmark).

It seems like Flandy/Vita played intensely in the third set, from 5:5, they proceed to lead until 15:5 before the opponent could gain another point. Good job on Denmark though, they held the Match point for quite a while, from 20-12 to 21-19, which was pretty scary. They almost deuced it.

Nova/Liliyana

Male Single
Meanwhile, Sony got pwned badly by Lee something something from Malaysia! I was sort of expecting it, although of course I had hoped for Sony's victory. Oh well, better luck next time, Sony!

Anyway, tomorrow will be exciting too, male double Kido and Hendra, and women single, Maria Kristin. Now, we mustn't doubt must we?

Maria Kristin

I think she deserve to be in the title of today's blog. She got to the semifinals! She's like the only female shuttler from Indonesia to get to the semifinals ever since Susi Susanti and Mia Audina in 1996. I'm rather excited for her, even though she is going to play against Zhang Ning, the 2004 Olympic Winner in Female singles in Badminton! Well, no matter how she does, I'm proud of her and Indonesia! =D

Meanwhile, Kido Markis and Hendra Setiawan are playing second set against Malaysian team now for Male double. Last time I checked was losing 14:16... I'm not going to check! T_T

Oh well... They also haven't been playing as well as they should, but I'm proud of being Indonesian! =D

Ok, just checked again, it's 17:17...

EDIT: After 2 minutes
Yay! They won... phew, it was close, 21-18 for the second set. I didn't want to keep my hearts beating like mad for another set if they lost the set! But yeah, that's quite a treat! :D

Indonesia's Badminton in Olympic 2008

As usual, some of the very few events Indonesia participated in are Badminton, Archery, Weightlifting and Sailing (I think I missed something). Indonesia sent around 21 people, most of which are competing in Badminton.

In the Men's Single we have Taufik Hidayt and Sony Dwi Kuncoro.

Taufik, just recovered from dengue fever got a really bad end in his Olympic career by being beaten by an older Malaysian Badminton player, Wong Chong Hann, in the first round. Apparently he's had been getting worse in his performances lately. It's rather sad, especially if you guys know how great he was at Badminton before.

Our last chance in getting the medal for Men's single lays in Sony's hands. Well, he's got to play with the second seeded Malaysian player, Lee Chong Wei next, so he's going to have to work hard for it. Even if he gets through, to the end, eh would have to face super Dan, which wouldn't be so good.

In women singles, we have the first first female shuttler that Indonesia has who got through to the quarterfinals ever since the legendary Susi Susanti (pic below). I'm quite proud of her, because she ranked the 21st, and she is unseeded.

In her first Olympic game, she beat Juliane Schenk (rank 12?) from Germany, Martinez Yoana from Spain, Tine Rasmussen (6th seeded) and she is off to play against India's Saina Nehwal (who beat the 3rd seeded Chen Wang from HK). All the best for her match today!

I miss Susi Susanti! Even though I didn't watch her, I was too young. But I watched her videos on YouTube. There are not many, and most are soundless, but it's awesome to see her play, especially with her leg split for saving shuttles from far away. Apparently she's quite a well known person from Indonesia, as she and her fiance, Alan Budikusuma, presented Indonesia with the very first Indonesian gold medal since 1952, in 1992, when the Badminton was introduced to the Olympic Games.

In our mixed doubles, we have Liliyana and Nova Widianto, first seeded. They got through quite a few challenges and are going to play against Thailand's duet tomorrow.
We also have Vita Marissa and Flandy Limpele, third seeded, playing Denmark tomorrow. These few days are just way too exciting.
In the Men Double, we have Markis Kido (Kidho?) and Hendra Setiawan who are also the first seeded. Let's hope they win! Playing against a Malaysian team today.

We also had a women's doubles, and they are the female members of our two mixed double pairs. They lost like in their first round I think.

Well, all the best to Indonesian athletes who are still playing/competing. Congrats to those who have won the two Bronze medals (weightlifting) and to those who have tried their best. Let's make Indonesia proud! I am proud of people like Susi Susanti or Taufik (minus his bad temper). Let's have more Indonesian! MOAR Indonesia plzkthxbai.

Anyway, next will be about the weightlifting and the rest of the events Indonesia participated in.