Sunday, July 29, 2007.5:32 PM

Concert Review: Hey Figaro!

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Upcoming Concerts

Thank God I've still got student concession...anyone feeling poor?

Not very impressed by Nina Kotova when she played with SSO...hmz.

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra
15 Sep 2007 Sat, 7:30PM

Music Director: Wang Ya Hui
Violin: Zuo Jun
Viola: Zhang Manchin

Strauss - Emperor Waltz, Op. 437
Mozart - Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat major for Violin & Viola, K. 364
Stravinsky - Firebird Suite (1919)


Vienna State Opera
26 Sep, Wed 7.30pm
Le Nozze di Figaro

synopsis
An Opera Buffa (Comic Opera) in four acts, with text by Lorenzo da Ponte and music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Le Nozze di Figaro is a "sequel" to The Barber of Seville. It recounts a crazy day in the palace of the Count Almaviva with risque, sparkling humour. From a maelstrom of love, infidelity, courtship, intrigue, gallantry and fickle fancies, arises a comic series of mistaken identities which are resolved with forgiveness and reconciliation.

Seiji Ozawa, holder of several honorary doctorates and international awards, and who has worked with the world's most famous orchestras leads The Vienna State Opera, widely considered as one of the most important opera companies in the world. The orchestra of the Vienna State Opera has seen a long line of famous conductors through its history, including Gustav Mahler, Hans Richter, Richard Strauss and Lorin Maazel, and comprises members from Austria's renowned Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

*I can get the $180 tickets at $90!!!* Muahahahaha!!!


SINGAPORE SUN FESTIVAL OPENING CONCERT & OPERA GALA

A full-scale orchestral concert featuring the Russian National Orchestra with eminent conductor Alexander Vedernikov (Music Director & Chief Conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre), celebrated baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky; and exquisite mezzo-soprano Ruxandra Donose performing a selection of beloved arias and music by some of the most renowned composers of opera.

Saturday , 20 OctoberTime : 7.30 p.m.
Russian National Orchestra
Alexander Vedernikov, conductor
Dmitri Hvorostovsky, baritone
Ruxandra Donosè, mezzo-soprano

Programme:
ROSSINI : Overture to Guglielmo Tell
GLUCK : ‘Che farò senza Euridice’ from Orfeo ed Euridice
RACHMANINOV : Cavatina from Aleko
MUSSORGSKY : Prelude to Khovanschina
BORODIN : Prince Igor’s Aria from Prince Igor
SAINT-SAENS : ‘Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix’ from Samson et Dalila
SAINT-SAENS : Bacchanale from Samson et Dalila
VERDI : Overture to I Vespri Siciliani
ROSSINI : ‘Largo al factotum’ from Il Barbiere di Siviglia
ROSSINI : ‘Una voce poco fa’ from Il Barbiere di Siviglia
ROSSINI : Duet ‘Dunque io son’ from Il Barbiere de Siviglia
VERDI : Prelude to Act I of La Traviata
VERDI : Iago’s Creed : ‘Vanne, la tua meta gia vedo’ from Otello
BIZET : ‘Habañera’ from Carmen
DONIZETTI : Duet ‘Al alto ardor’ from La Favorita

Venue:
Esplanade Concert Hall 1 Esplanade Drive, Singapore

Ticket prices:
$ 258 / 208 / 158 / 108 / 58

Booking website
http://www.sistic.com.sg/

THE RUSSIAN NATIONAL ORCHESTRA @ THE ESPLANADE CONCERT HALL

Founded by the renowned pianist, conductor and composer, Mikhail Pletnev, the Russian National Orchestra now makes its début in the inaugural Singapore Sun Festival, performing with Grammy-Award winning violinist Pinchas Zukerman; the “passionate and inspiring” Russian cellist Nina Kotova; the Juno-Award winning cellist Amanda Forsyth; and one of the most exciting pianists of his generation, Piotr Anderszewski.

Tuesday, 23 October Time : 7.30 p.m.
Russian National Orchestra
Mikhail Pletnev, conductor
Nina Kotova, cello


Programme:
TCHAIKOVSKY : Francesca da Rimini, Op 32
TCHAIKOVSKY : Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op 33
TCHAIKOVSKY : Symphony No 6 in B minor, Op 74 (Pathétique)



Thursday, 25 October Time : 7.30 p.m.
Russian National Chamber Orchestra
Pinchas Zukerman, director / violin
Amanda Forsyth, cello

Programme
VIVALDI : “Autumn” from the Four Seasons, RV 293
VIVALDI : Concerto for Violin and Cello in B flat, RV 547
BACH : Violin Concerto in E, BWV 1042
MOZART : Symphony No 36 in C, K425 (Linz)



Saturday, 27 October Time : 7.30 p.m.
Russian National Orchestra
Mikhail Pletnev, conductor
Pinchas Zukerman, violin
Amanda Forsyth, cello

Programme
BEETHOVEN : Coriolan Overture, Op 62
BRAHMS : Concerto for Violin & Cello in A minor, Op 102
BEETHOVEN : Symphony No 7 in A, Op 92



Sunday, 28 October Time : 7.30 p.m.
Russian National Orchestra
Mikhail Pletnev, conductor
Piotr Anderszewski, piano

Programme
MENDELSSOHN : Overture to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, Op 21
SCHUMANN : Piano Concerto in A minor, Op 54
RACHMANINOV : Symphony No 2 in E minor, Op 27

Venue:
Esplanade Concert Hall 1 Esplanade Drive, Singapore

Ticket prices:
$ 188 / 158 / 128 / 88 / 58

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Saturday, July 28, 2007.2:13 AM

:(

I'm sad.

The sadder thing is when you suddenly realise you've been living in self-deception all these while.

Coz I told myself that I'm fine.

But now I know I'm not.

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Thursday, July 26, 2007.9:04 PM

Events day

Tired.

It's like...all the blood left my brain making my head so l.i.g.h.t. I couldn't walk straight.

Doing events are tiring...even when you're not the one delivering the presentation. Haha...



Tomorrow still continuing that event...then watch Barber of Seville at night. (Hopefully Rossini's stretti will wake me up lei...)


Gonna go ...............

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Tuesday, July 24, 2007.11:04 PM

The Historian

"My dear and unfortunate successor..."

Am currently on the 261st page of this book and it's been the cause of my many late nights. Shan't attempt to write a review on it since the story is just unravelling...and I'm not even halfway through yet! Anyone who likes history, Europe and thrillers might want to read this. It's basically a novel based on some historical facts, one historical character - Vlad Tepes III aka Dracula - and the rest are just fiction. It's simply amazing how many years the author spent on her research just to write this book. 10 years!!! She was curious about Bram Stoker's reasons for writing a novel based on the name of this historical character...most people probably still do think that Dracula is merely a fictional character. No. He was a Prince from Wallachia (now part of Romania) in the 15th century...

Actually, some people compare this book to Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code...well, I can see the similarities - some historical facts interwoven with fiction and is based in Europe and America too. There's word that there're already talks on making this into a movie__too. Translations of this book currently stands at 35 languages...a mighty number for a fresh writer.

Anyway, reading about Byzantine, the Ottoman Empire, Vlad Tepes III, Romania made me do some googling and see what I found out about Vlad Tepes III - Dracula...

"Vlad's father was under considerable political pressure from the Ottoman sultan. Threatened with invasion, he gave a promise to be the vassal of the Sultan and gave up his two younger sons as hostages so that he would keep his promise...

Vlad suffered much at the hands of the Ottoman, and was locked up in an underground dungeon; however, his younger brother, Radu, caught the eye of the sultan's son (Homosexuality in that time already!). Radu was released and converted to Islam, before being allowed into the Ottoman royal court...

These years were influential in shaping Vlad's character; he was often whipped by his Ottoman captors for being stubborn and rude. He developed a well-known hatred for Radu and for Mehmed, who would later become the sultan. According to McNally and Florescu, he also distrusted his own father for trading him to the Turks and betraying the Order of the Dragon oath to fight them...

There are several variants of Vlad III the Impaler's death. Some sources say he was killed in battle against the Ottoman near Bucharest in December of 1476. Others say he was assassinated by disloyal Wallachian boyars just as he was about to sweep the Turks from the field or during a hunt. Other accounts have Vlad falling in defeat, surrounded by the bodies of his loyal Moldavian bodyguards (the troops loaned by Prince Stephen remained with Vlad after Stephen Báthory returned to his country). Still other reports claim that Vlad, at the moment of victory, was accidentally struck down by one of his own men. Vlad's body was decapitated by the Turks and his head was sent to Istanbul and preserved in honey, where the sultan had it displayed on a stake as proof that Kazıklı Bey was dead. He was reportedly buried at a monastery located near Bucharest, yet the exact place of his burial remains unknown, as excavations at Snagov monastery, usually mentioned as his final resting place, have found no human remains...

Outside of Romanian folklore the reputation of Vlad Ţepeş is considerably darker. Vlad III Ţepeş has been characterized by some as exceedingly cruel. Impalement was Ţepeş's preferred method of torture and execution. His method of torture was a horse attached to each of the victim's legs as a sharpened stake was gradually forced into the body. The end of the stake was usually oiled, and care was taken that the stake not be too sharp; else the victim might die too rapidly from shock. Normally the stake was inserted into the body through the anus and was often forced through the body until it emerged from the mouth. However, there were many instances where victims were impaled through other bodily orifices or through the abdomen or chest. Infants were sometimes impaled on the stake forced through their mother's chests. The records indicate that victims were sometimes impaled so that they hung upside down on the stake.[5]

As expected, death by impalement was slow and painful. Victims sometimes endured for hours or days. Vlad often had the stakes arranged in various geometric patterns. The most common pattern was a ring of concentric circles in the outskirts of a city that constituted his target. The height of the spear indicated the rank of the victim. The corpses were often left decaying for months..." taken from Wikipedia.

for more info on Vlad III/Dracula, go to here...

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The Brazilian cheese bun: Fail!

I'm eating that late in office at 7plus in the evening with my music turned on loudly as I'm waiting to print out event handouts cos some people just can't be bothered..."I can't guarantee...handouts will be out in time...most likely u'll have to use the existing ones" - which the trainer finds unacceptable?! Thanks...very helpful.)

Offices are always scary places to be in at night...especially when you're alone.

Sesame cream cheese bun: Slightly sweet...passable.

Cheese bun with blueberry filling: Nice!! (cheese and blueberry, one of my faves!)

Have finished up 3 buns...left 2 more types to go.
Both are er...cheese stuff.
.
.
.
.
.
It's now 8.45pm...and I'm still waiting for the handouts to be printed...
.
.
Left office at 9pm.

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Work

I feel that work that has to be passed through my boss to the bigger boss should be handled in a better way...cos the way bosses work duplicates the efforts and waste A - L - O - T of time...

And the bigger boss gives instructions to my boss, who in turns relays them to me...then I'll get the work done and pass it back to my boss who'll submit it to the bigger boss. 8 cycles of that just today!!! You could try to imagine how frustrated I was, but where bureaucracy's involved, that's how they work. Anyway, it's just so ironic...the ideas the unit perpetrates and how it actually works are not even near.

So if you ask me how working life is like so far, I'll tell you...:
1. not actually having time to msn your frens
2. always prone to irritation
3. looking forward to lunch - the best thing of the work day other than knocking off time!
4. doing double/triple/.../quintuple work when it could have been more efficient
5. learning to control your temper/mood 忍者术！！！ haha...
...and the list goes on...

I'm glad they've already found someone to come in next wk...Looking forward to having a week of hols to myself before I start my final year. But will definitely miss my colleagues when I leave...

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Monday, July 23, 2007.11:13 PM

Rehearsal...

For a long time, the rehearsals I've attended have been quite inefficient...resulting in them being less-than-enjoyable, often making me feel I'd make good my 3 hours elsewhere. Things were being repeated over and over again plus conductor sometimes making rehearsals worse by being ignorant of their compromised rehearsal methods/conducting, which were perhaps due to an unprepared ensemble...?

Whatever it is, I don't think I've ever felt this good about a rehearsal with the band since WMC 05. L. knows what he's doing. Given good planning, time management and a good sense of what makes the ensemble tick, I'm sure the process leading up to the concert will be an enjoyable one. And a great concert with B.B., let's hope! Salvation is here! Yay!!!

Argh...but I gotta do so much about my section. She really needs alot of help since she's stopped bassooning for quite a long time. Oh well, I do need to practice too! Toccata and Fugue can compare to my etudes liao...or even surpass them. *Sob & Faint*

I need to make better reeds...mine are currently too 'student-ish'...

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Saturday, July 21, 2007.1:21 PM

An Equal Opportunity?

Was browsing through a certain website...

"Tutti BassoonAudition:
....position is open to Australian citizens and permanent residents and New Zealand citizens only....OA is an Equal Opportunity Employer."

There's no such thing as an EQUAL opportunity employer. Just how contradictory does that sound when you advertise the position as something that's ONLY for people of certain nationalities...?

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Friday, July 20, 2007.3:09 PM

Something to a[muse] U...

And I'm doing all these in.......of...fice... *bleh*

*Comics taken from www.phdcomics.com.

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007.11:00 PM

MPO concert on 14th Jul 07 in KL

The coach ride to KL was boring...so we played UNO! Well...just a simple game of UNO is no fun right? The loser was called an A**hole and made to stuff as many 小馒头 into her mouth. Watch the video to see who's the unfortunate soul... :p





See the queue to get Joshua Bell's autograph and photos! Machiam popstar...! Classical Popstar hehe...
This photo was snapped after they thought I managed to shoot them. But no...my ancient digicam just hanged and refused to budge lor. After a few seconds of frantically trying to press the button, I caught HIS surprised look with the camera flash. Heh...cute pic! **this is a sign that it's time to retire this old camera**

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Saturday, July 14, 2007.3:20 AM

Career Plans?

Are life plans really necessary...? Do YOU know what you want? Many of my frens have graduated. In fact....most. Some are going for further studies, others are job-hunting and a few have no clue at all. I'm going to face the same problem next year and am I really going to start working like I've told everyone? Maybe my dad will get a windfall by striking TOTO first prize and pay off all my debts...even send me overseas. Nice...

If I'm job hunting next year, would it be for money or self-fulfillment first? More money = higher opportunity costs incurred = lesser time to spend on playing music = lesser time to hang out with friends = :(

(Search for) Self-fulfillment = waste more time looking for job = get nagged = get pissed off = anyhow find a job = lousy paycheck & sucky job = even more pissed off = :(((

Conclusion? look for a rich husband. wahaha...my senior's got a rich hubby and she's so well-off now that she hires a yoga coach to go to her house and give her lessons. The other days she goes shopping, have high-tea and do other tai-tai things. How relaxing and ... brainless. Can't imagine engaging in brainless activities 365days a year, 24/7.

Anyway, interesting blog post here about Why Career Planning is Time Wasted...

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What kind of a blogger am I?

You are a David Weinberger.

You are smart, savvy, interested in why people do what they do,
enjoy questioning yourself and are not balding.
Take the What Blogging Archetype Are You test at GAZM.org

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Tuesday, July 10, 2007.11:20 PM

Which Bleach character are you?

You scored as Rukia, You are Rukia. You're bossy, blunt, stubborn and quite strong for a girl- mentally and physically. Even though you're a bit guyish at times, there is still a really girly side to you-and when guys come into soul society just to rescue you, you act hard and stuff but you're really quite touched! Rukia 70% Kon 65% Inoue 50% Chad 45% Ichigo 45% Ishida 40% Tatsuki 40% Which Bleach Character Are YOU?! created with QuizFarm.com

I bossy? No leh...my frens can attest to that heh...*my band juniors not counted*

Blunt...yeah. :P

Stubborn I guess.

Strong physically and mentally, no-no...that doesn't mean I need to see the Psychiatrist k!

Guyish? No lah...think I'm quite girly now. Can't stand myself sometimes. Ha!

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Darn. I'm a trombonist by nature.

You scored as trombone, Trombone. This just means you dont fit anywhere else. trombone 83% French Horn 75% Viola 75% Cello 67% Clarinet 58% Oboe 42% Tuba 33% Trumpet 33% Percussion 25% Bassoon 25% Violin 25% Flute 8% String Bass 0% If you were in an orchestra, what instrument would match your personality? created with QuizFarm.com

(O.o)" Bassoon and trombone quite similar lah. One's a tenor voice in the woodwind family and the other in the brass family. So...I'm still a bassoon lar. Heh.

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Living Room with.....Daniel Goon

Changed my blogskin A...G...A...I..N!!! Hah! Actually encountered some problems with the archive linking so gotta change loh...

Digressed.


Just came back from a casual jazz piano recital by Daniel Goon at The Arts House...nice venue! Very cosy...but daniel kept saying the atmosphere's very tense. It might have been more reserved than tense lah. At least some of us tried snapping our fingers along with 'Stand by me'. Futile attempts by the staff there to get us participating though. So, in the end this guy, Darius, who'll actually be featured in Aug's Living Room, was kena sabo-ed by The Arts House staff to sing 'Have I told you lately', accompanied by Daniel. When Darius couldn't remember the lyrics, he resorted to repetition and inventing his own. Heh...better than Emil Chow (Zhou Hua Jian), who's infamous for forgetting his lyrics and having to lalala it! :D



Are TJ and D___n together?! Odd combi... That reminds me of something that happened long ago. D___n actually tried to get a third party to give me his namecard in the name of getting to know me. Which freaked me out haha...And my response that time was "I'd rather be a nun ar!".

Weird things happen.

Just last Saturday, an Ang Moh in his twenties tried to use stupid pick-up lines on me and my sis. Of course he didn't succeed. Don't fall off your chairs yet...

He called us SUPER CUTE.

Man...is he blind or what? We're EXTREMELY CUTE lar. Hee...!!!

Anyway, I saw his hands trembling lor. Try harder next time, boy. Jie Jie's too old...cannot take it lar. Will have heart attack one. Or probably die of laughter first.

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Friday, July 6, 2007.3:34 AM

Smurfs - Baby Smurf Is Missing

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Andy's Smurf Outfit

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30 minutes of 80's cartoon Openings

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Last weekend...

This 1st match by the ex-international singapore & malaysia teams was unbearable man. Painfully slow. Ah peks doing everything slow mo *&#)$&*@$%!@*!(^.... It was scorching hot on top of that! No. 5 Malaysia team uncle who has the BIG pot belly had to use 30secs just to kick the football lah. Poor vision?

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My blog is comment-enabled liao!

Continue to Tag! & Comment!

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A great website for your photo albums!

I must be mad to still be online and blogging at this hour when I SHOULD be sleeping. But am too excited about this online photo album website. MUST recommend to ALL of you! Since Yahoo photos' shutting down, http://www.myphotoalbum.com/ will be a great place to host your photos at.

Uploading is a breeze. There is a java upload tool that lets you access 'My Computer, My Documents' folders on the website itself, select thumbnails of photos you wish to upload and click 'upload'. Voila! Your photos are uploaded into an album. Oh, did I mention that you can rotate your photos by clicking on them (while selecting which to upload) and choosing the 'rotate clockwise' or 'rotate anti-clockwise' arrows? It's SO easy.

Next, they lead you to a page where you edit the title of the album, captions and personalize your photoalbum looks. (Mine's black background with flowers on the top banner :))

That's not all. You need to rearrange your photos? Just click the tab 'Rearrange album' and you can use the drag and drop function to begin arranging them. This drag and drop function of arranging photos is not limited to clicking on that tab. The thumbnail page also has 'options' under each photo and you can do whatever you need THERE.

This website also allows you to upload videos...as do some other photo hosting sites.

No. of stars: *****

Not convinced? View the screenshots here.

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Tuesday, July 3, 2007.2:27 AM

Campus superstar 2 QF1a-Shawn

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From a forwarded email.


A boy was born to a couple after eleven years of
marriage. They were a loving couple and the boy
was the gem of their eyes. When the boy was
around two years old, one morning the husband
saw a medicine bottle open. He was late for office
so he asked his wife to cap the bottle and keep it
in the cupboard. His wife, preoccupied in the
kitchen totally forgot the matter.

The boy saw the bottle and playfully went to the
bottle fascinated by its color and drank it all. It
happened to be a poisonous medicine meant for
adults in small dosages. When the child collapsed,
the mother hurried him to the hospital. He died.

The mother was stunned. She was terrified how
she was going to face her husband. When the
distraught father came to the hospital and saw the
dead child, he looked at his wife and uttered just
five words.


QUESTIONS :

1. What were the five words?
2. What is the implication of this story?

Scroll down to read....









ANSWER:

The husband just said "I am with you Darling".


The husband's totally unexpected reaction is a
proactive behavior. The child is dead. He can never
be brought back to life. There is no point in finding
fault with the mother. Besides, if only he had taken
time to keep the bottle away, this would not have
happened. No one is to be blamed. She had also
lost her only child. What she needed at that
moment was consolation and sympathy from the
husband. That is what he gave her.

If everyone can look at life with this kind of
perspective, there would be much fewer problems
in the world.

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single
step."

Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness,
selfishness, and fears. And you will find things are
actually not as difficult as you think.


- - - - - -
MORAL OF THE STORY
This story is really worth reading. Sometimes we
spend time in asking who is responsible or whom
to blame, whether in a relationship, in a job or with
the people we know. By this way we miss out
some warmth in human relationship.
Blaming games are seriously energy zapping...you know you should be more understanding, not be absorbed in your emotions and most of the time, by the time you realise, you've already committed all these crimes. Oh, was watching Animal Planet and saw this program about bad-tempered animals. Shrew* is No.7! Shrew's this mouse-like creature that is literally fast and furious and their lifespans are short - they barely live beyond their 1 yr old birthday. Research reveals that getting angry makes you more susceptible to heart attacks and a shorter lifespan. So...better control your temper and you might want to sign up for a Yoga or Zen class! Heh. I choose Pilates - have been wanting to do that for eons... (not that Pilates does anything to curb one's temper)

*shrew (noun)
1. a scolding nagging bad-tempered woman (This definition was used since the 14th Century. Why Why??? MEN can be scolding, nagging and bad-tempered too. There's one inside my house.)
2. small mouselike mammal with a long snout; related to moles
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University

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Sunday, July 1, 2007.12:23 PM

歌曲:同类 歌手:孙燕姿

雨后的城市　寂寞又狼狈
路边的座位　它空着在等谁
我拉住时间　它却不理会
有没有别人　跟我一样很想被安慰

风　停了又吹　我忽然想起谁
天　亮了又黑　我(又)过了好几岁
心　暖了又灰 世界　有时候孤单的很　
需要另一个同类

爱　收了又给　我们都不太完美
梦　作了又碎　我们有几次机会　
去追 不晓得为甚么爱　
又稀少又昂贵

云在半空中　被微风剪碎
回忆也许美　可是正在飞走对不对

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