Sometimes... Good Things Should Come To An End

It's rare to hear something profound coming out from me wifey. So if something of that nature is posted on she blog, then it must be quite serious.

You know what they (the wise people) say that you always fail to treasure something until it's gone. I've been struggling with myself on fulfilling my personal goals and meeting my family duties.

I realise that some of my personal goals do not quite complement with my family duties. I tried to find a balance and understanding over the past months, but it looks like it's not developing positively.

At the same time, family time is increasing since Mayenne. Last Wednesday I attended the Shichida Parent Course. The director, Jocelyn Khoo, gave a long and inspiring speech about how the importance of bonding between parent and child will determine the success of the programme for the child. The Shichida Method is not a course only for children, but also a learning journey for the parent. It is a family life-changing commitment, starting from the fundamental emotional attitude towards the child, to finding the right materials to enrich the child's mind.

I appreciate me wifey's understanding over the past 20 months, from the time she got pregnant till this moment when Mayenne is reaching one year old. I thank her for letting me explore and develop my personal goals.

One of my affiliates doing wedding videography recently ended his business to concentrate on his career and family. I too am looking at following his footsteps.

For the regular blog readers, some who are my past clients, a few probably are my current clients who have booked me, would be sad or even worried that I won't be able to fulfill their assignments. For those that I committed, I will definitely do. As for the rest, I might still take on assignments selectively. Definitely will not stop doing assignments altogether, unless I lose the use of my hands.

Well, that's my current plan for now. You never know what will happen in the next 8 months, but at least I know where I am heading - an end.

Piano Spa 4 - TV Commercial

Finally managed to record the TV Commercial of my latest Piano Spa album. The background music they used for the commercial is in CD1 track 2, "Colours".

One More Reason Why I Dumped Friendster

With so much competition on the network community portal, it's no wonder the once-popular Friendster is trying so hard to keep up by introducing new features. But unfortunately, some of the features are flawed and will cost them dearly.

There was one feature called 'Fan Profile'. On one look, I thought it will tag your current Friendster account with this new feature. So I went to add it to my current account.

Ever since I added that, I realised that I am no longer able to view the profiles of my friends whom I've added. They became 'restricted profile'.

So I emailed to Friendster support and this is what they replied.

Please note, if your profile is converted to a Fan Profile we will not be able to switch it back to a regular profile. Fan Profiles are for entities looking to promote themselves to millions of friendster members. Regular profiles are for people that want to keep a network of friends. Please take this into account before submitting this form.

OK so I screwed up. On one action, I have converted my friends to become 'fans' and now I can no longer access to their private information.

Help me here, but I think Facebook has such a feature allowing you to create 'pages' that works just like this 'fan' thingie, except that Facebook lets you create a separate fan profile and not affect your personal profile. I dare not try in Facebook, lest I get the same irreversible result.

So what are my recourse? I could a) Create another Friendster account and add all my friends and photos and profile details all over again; or b) Delete my account; or c) Leave the profile alone and totally give up on Friendster.

I choose c).

So, so long, Friendster. You no longer serve any purpose since I cannot view my dear friends' restricted information.

Social Networking Portals Are Also Doing Networking

It's amazing how social networking portals communicate to one another seamlessly.

Yesterday, I wrote the Madeleine's Photo Story article from my Flickr account, which seamlessly posted to this Blogger site. Within minutes, the same article was imported into Facebook as a Note, and as well as my Multiply site as a blog article.

One action, 3 instances.

Talk about social networking portals doing the networking themselves. Bravo.

Photo Story: Madeleine - Sun Day

Madeleine - Bikini-000 cover w
Originally uploaded by photodiary

After 670 photos and 100 shortlists, I've completed the photo story for Madeleine.

It took me a while to get this photo book layout done because of some other ongoing assignments. But I'm glad I finished it so that I can move on to other assignments.

This is my first photo story that is done with just one outfit. Fortunately, it's not quite a bore because Madeleine is a stunner.

I've always wanted to use the title 'Sun Day' to refer to a day of great sun and a day of relax (as opposed to the calendar Sunday).

Madeleine is quite a personality herself, with a small following of fans. I suggested that she should sell photo books for some income but she said she wants to wait till she's more popular.

Would you buy this photobook if it is on sale?

Red Nano for the Red Dot

Today, the Straits Times (and probably many other national newspapers) features large prominent adverts on Red Nano, the new search engine created by SPH (Singapore Press Holdings) solely on the Singapore market. It makes sure that all the search results are localised to Singapore context. One of the methods is to pick up keywords unique to Singapore, for instance, street names, food terms, even Singlish.

So this morning I tested it out, using keywords like "Chester Tan", "Piano Spa", "Dance Photographer", "Ballet Accompanist", "Piano Composer", "Photo Story", "Rock On Piano". Happy to say, my site came up as the top of the search list, while some other keywords like "Wedding Photographer", "Portrait Photographer" came up within the first page.

What really surprises me is that when I search using the keyword "Timeless", my first CD album also came up tops on the search engine! Seriously, I have no idea how it got there.

Haha this is so exciting! Feels like as if this search engine is created for me!

Red Nano is really great, not just because of the above. Now, using Red Nano, I can search for sites that is truly from within Singapore. No longer do I need to dig through pages of Google to find relevant local sites.

You See, You'll See

Just want to share this music video of a song I love many years ago. It was written by Madonna and my favourite music producer, David Foster.

I don't listen to it anymore because the song is rather depressing and it doesn't relate to my current emotion. But it did during my teens.

I always pay attention to the melody and the music arrangements of songs more than the lyrics. So I love to get hold of CD singles with extended versions (NOT club remixes) or minus-one instrumentals. This song has it, and so is another of my favourite Madonna song, "This Used To Be My Playground".

I am a selective music listener. I listen what I like, and I don't bombard myself with hundreds of songs just to expand my music knowledge. I really should, but I can't. With my listening behaviour, I cannot do that. What's my listening behaviour? I pay attention to music. Music cannot be just a background noise. Everywhere I go, when I hear something that I like, I'll pay attention to it and forget everything else.

So imagine if I'm plugged in to the radio or MP3 playlist all the time, I will not be able to do any work. Nothing. So even at home when I am doing photography editing, I do it without any music playing on the background.

It's so ironic that a musician like me is unable to listen to music at all times.

Piano Spa 4: It Is Out There

Piano Spa 4 is out for quite a while, but I could only confirm today when I bought a copy at the CD shop.

This time round, Piano Spa 4 is truly a 'Various Artists' album, because Fred Lin also contributed half of the album.

Fred Lin is a friend who is now based in Shanghai developing his music career by working in a large record company.

Thanks to him, PS4 is a reality, because I wasn't able to produce 30 tracks to meet Warner Music's deadline.

When I get the chance, I'll get him to autograph CD2 and CD3, and I autograph CD1 and CD2. Then we will both autograph on the cover sleeves. Haha.

He did a nice job blending with the "Piano Spa" style. But he also presents his own style in this collection.

Does that also mean that I will not write any more "Piano Spa" albums?

I won't say anything for sure.

When I finished Piano Spa 3, I was told that it shall be the final collection. But here you have it, the fourth album.

But as I looked back and listened to my compositions, from PS1 to PS4, I find great change to my style.

If you dig up some archives I wrote about Piano Spa, PS1 is a collection of "nice-feeling" spa music, not much melodic form, true to the new age style.

Then PS2 comes, collecting some of my favourite compositions. PS2 contains all the tracks previously released in 'Timeless'. It is a more emotionally-charged collection meant as a solo-album, so there are more depth in the melodic structure.

PS3 further develops the song structure, with increased number of solo piano compositions. It presents feelings of hope and desire.

For PS4, I composed the first 16 tracks. Originally meant for a solo-album project, it was held for over a year before we decided to release it as a collection. Except for 'Colours' (CD1 track 2), all the 15 tracks are solo-piano. 'Chimes' is my shortest track ever released by me - only 1 min 30 seconds. I didn't extend it because it conveys what I had to convey in that 90 seconds.

Some tracks in PS4 have stories behind their existence. 'Colours' was originally composed with lyrics for a short film project but the film producers decided not to use the song. 'After the Waves' was inspired by the aftermath of the Indian Ocean Tsunami disaster on 26 Dec 2004 (now you will listen this track in a different light).

Today I was having lunch at a restaurant and I heard them playing this album over the sound system. I was surprised that they got hold of this latest album in such recency.

Like I always say, get one before it's out of print, then you will never be able to get it. Ever. Don't believe me? Try looking for PS1 or PS2 in music stores. I know many piano lovers out there puts Piano Spa as a 'wishlist', 'to-buy' item, notably students who have no earning power. I do hope it's still available when they do decide to get it.

The Piano Spa series is not another new age atmospheric music that blends with the background. In fact, after experiencing spa treatment for the first time in Bangkok, I am embarrassed at how Piano Spa is not 'spa-ish'. In perspective, Piano Spa is a series that showcases Chester Tan's signature piano styles.

Another Bangkok Vacation Blog On The Internet

Bangkok is a place that most shopaholics wouldn't miss. And if you do a search on Singapore bloggers, you'll probably find hundreds of blog articles on this shopping haven.

But this blog is special for me, because this is the first vacation post since I started blogging in Nov 2006. In other words, I have not left Singapore since then.

On 6 April morning, my parents fetched us to the airport (T1) with Mayenne on tow. After a fast check-in, we walked around the airport and visited the new Terminal 3. It was huge and spacious.






After some photo-taking, we went into Immigration. We were surprised that we can now process the immigration via an automated station. First, we scan our passport, then we scan our thumbprint. Cool.

We also realised that we can visit T3 while inside the duty-free zone, so we took the Skytrain and did some shopping there.



The flight to Bangkok was 2 hours. At the airport, we met our tour representative and found that instead of Baiyoke Sky Hotel, we were booked at Grand Diamond Suites Hotel, which was our first choice when we booked the tour package but was informed later that they only managed to get Baiyoke Sky. After some research, we were quite excited to stay at Baiyoke Sky because it was the tallest hotel in Bangkok and the hotel starts from 18th floor all the way to 88th floor. The advantage of Grand Diamond however, was its close proximity to the shopping areas that we wanted to go.

After some nerve-wrecking journey where the driver snaked through the tightest alley and the most-crowded streets, we arrived at the hotel and found ourselves in a suite room with living area, kitchen, dining table, plus a huge toilet with shower area on one side and a bathtub on the other. When looking at the floor plan, I realised that our room is the smallest in the hotel.





Without delay, we started our shopping at 4pm (Bangkok time). It was such a coincidence that we met a uni mate who worked there.

We headed to MBK and spent 5 hours there till the shops are closed. Then we took a cab back to hotel and ended our Day 1.

Above: all-ladies string trio in mini skirts never fails to attract attention.
Below: anyone fancy watching paint artists in action?

On Day 2, we shopped at Pratunam in the morning and Central World in the afternoon. Central World was so huge that we barely covered half of the mall. In fact, we completely missed the entire Zen department store. Found some great photography books at Asia Books worth 2000 baht.

Above: They are selling mannequins.

Below: the pedestrian walkway in front of Central World is even wider than the traffic road next to it!

Inside Central World: it's so huge that people looked like ants!

We had to rush back to hotel at 7pm to drop our shopping bags and headed down to Divana Spa. This is my very first time experiencing spa treatment. The 150-min "Spa Exotique" treatment consists of Body Brush, Carnation Oil Cover, Herbal Steam, Body Scrub, Body Mud, and finally Body Massage. I enjoyed it well, but I'm not really a spa-goer, so guess I won't try again unless coerced.

Above: welcome drink at the reception.
Below: photos of the treatment room. Photos doesn't look as soothing or relaxing because I shot using Fuji F31 with flash. The ambience was definitely better and dimmer.

Day 3 is our final day, so we shopped at the malls next to our hotel, the Platinum Mall (wholesale mall) and Panthip Plaza (IT mall). Actually, I was only given 1 hour to shop at Panthip, because my wife kept hanging at Platinum till 3pm. And within that hour, I spent over 3000 baht. Talk about speed shopping.

Above: SHOES!!!
Below: food court similar to Singapore. They have Chinese, Japanese, Western, and of course Thai food.

Our tour driver came to pick us up at 4.30pm and we zoomed to the airport. We wanted to claim the 7% VAT, but due to some mis-information, we didn't realise that we needed to get Customs to verify the goods at the Immigration area before we can get the claim inside the duty-free zone. We thought that the verification is inside the duty-free zone as well. Anyway, there goes 400 baht.


Our flight was 7.20pm. We reached Singapore at about 11.30pm (Singapore time) and reached home around midnight.

3 days 2 nights is definitely not enough for a lady, but it's pretty sufficient for me. We missed out on seeking dining hotspots because we have to eat around the shopping area. Besides, we aren't particular on food.

For those who doesn't mind staying in budget hotels, there are packages like 5D4N at $298. But if you wanna pamper yourself staying at posh hotels, then be prepared to pay a lot more, which I feel is really not worth it, considering you spend less than a third of your time there.


All photos shot using Fuji Finepix F31fd. All images as is from camera, no image adjustment done.

Ballet Pianist, Anyone - Again?

In Jan 2007, I wrote a post looking for ballet pianist.

One year on, the situation remains the same.

There are some positive responses since that post. I have had one pianist who had taken up and played for a few classes, before she decided to return to Hong Kong for good to pursue further studies. There are several enquiries, one of which came to the ballet classes to watch how the sessions are conducted.

No matter how hard I convince them that they will be given ample time to practice the pieces, the response has been, in one word, bad.

Doesn't anyone play piano in Singapore? Or should I rephrase: won't anyone who takes piano lessons willing to play scores other than the exam syllabus?

Not to brag, but it took me about 30 cumulative hours to practice the new RAD music syllabus and play decently for class and for exams. That's about 120 individual pieces, short (16 bars) and long (64 bars). My sight-reading is not good at all, and I cannot play a song without playing it through at least twice. I bluff in sight-reading, and in music accompaniment, bluffing is better than not playing in time or worse, not at all.

Imagine if you are a sight-reading talent, you would have no problems learning the scores and earn some cash.

Even if you are not, you will be given ample time to learn the scores. If you need one year to learn, fine. See you in 2009. At least I know you can start in 2009. If the person who responded in 2007 had started practicing then, he/she could have started playing for classes NOW.

Am I looking at the wrong places? I'm sure there is some local community or forums full of pianists desperately looking for pianist jobs, and they would be lamenting why it's so hard to find pianists job in Singapore. Haha.

Please, just refer this post to anyone you know who plays the piano. Perhaps it will lead to somewhere.

By the way, it's a skill and experience that can take you a long way. I know, because I have played for 14 years.

A Road Pile Up

This evening after work, I drove home via CTE as usual. Then I saw the traffic billboard warning on a road accident causing jam from Moulmein. After driving a distance, the second billboard shows that it happened at Lane 1 (the fastest lane) near Braddell exit, and I happened to be at Lane 1. Instead of cutting out to Lane 2, I keep to my lane and drove slowly all the way till I reached the accident area. And what I saw gave me the chills.

It was a 10-car pile-up. All cars, mostly sedan, a few MPVs. One of the MPVs was on top of another car that rammed it so hard that it slid under the MPV, lifting the rear wheel up at a 45-degree. The rest of the vehicles looks ok, most probably just a bump or a dent.

It was a heart-wrenching sight, firstly to see vehicles being ruined, secondly I can't imagine how the drivers or passengers would have felt in the cars, especially the uplifted MPV.

Although it appears to be no bloodshed, it was heart-wrenching because most of the drivers are probably victims. It makes me think twice about keeping too close a distance from the front vehicle, because you never know when there is an emergency stop, and you never know whether the car behind you can stop in time, even though you drove safely. Sometimes, in a smooth-driving condition, you may take for granted and follow the car in front at a close distance, perhaps a 2-car distance. But that is still not sufficient in an emergency stop situation.

But man will never learn until it happens to himself.