with every step we take

If you gave me a chance I would take it,
It's a shot in the dark but I'll make it.
Know with all of your heart, you can't shame me.  

 Well, that's 2019 done and we're about to go into a new decade, wow. Bring on 2020!
But before that, a wrapup of the decade.

I am proud. I've grown as a person. It's a cliché thing to say, but it's true. I decided to make music my career after writing my high school graduation theme song that became a hit with my cohort. I've made some friends, I've lost some too. I found my way around a city that doesn't speak my language and whose language I don't speak. I've found reasons to live and have learnt to find joy in spending time alone - eating out, watching movies at the cinema, going to F1 and concerts. I've written songs and performed them, I found catharsis through my art. I've scored a short film and produced a theme song for a podcast. I've performed at concert halls and on international TV.

2020 is going to be busy. In January alone, we're having LASALLE's first-ever composer showcase, and later in the month, I'll be taking part in an orchestration workshop hosted by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Tim Davies (whose name I flipped out over after seeing in the credits for Frozen 2 at the cinema with my dad). I'm gonna start working on another short film. I'm looking to do more travelling this year. Hopefully, I graduate from college.

Sometimes I realise that some things also don't change, that as much as I try to be better, at my core, I still hold on to too many things. But I guess the important thing is that I'm actively trying.
All I can do is ... try.

Highlights of the year:

☆ Performing at the grand finals of Asia's Got Talent (in front of David Foster!!), which was filmed at the Marina Bay Sands Grand Theatre. (that's me at the beginning)


 

☆ Writing and conducting my recital, Degas Tableaux, find the full playlist here, and the programme here.



☆ Dru Chen remixing my original song - "Past Conversations".

☆ F1 (again) and seeing Ocon (again), but also getting to watch Hans Zimmer live and being right in front of the stage!!

☆ Oh, and one last thing. This technically has nothing to do with me but is too cute not to share.
My baby cousin was born in September.

Whatever, life

"When you're ten, they call you a prodigy. When you're fifteen, they call you a genius. Once you hit twenty, you're just an ordinary person. About three years until I'm ordinary." ~ Nanase Haruka, Free!
I can't believe I'm quoting a gay swimming anime. This is what my life has come to.

So... I've decided to do the one thing I swore never to do... pursue music as a future career path. =_="
Yup. I don't know if I'm being smart or stupid, oh well, I guess I'll find out 10 years down the road.
And yeah, if you follow that quote, by then I'll be really ordinary.
To be honest, the reason why I decided to choose music is partly because I want to live in Singapore.

I've been posting a lot on YouTube and SoundCloud lately, and I'm loving the response that I'm getting. Of course, this blog has been doing pretty well in getting views as well.

The audition for the college I want to get into is in February, the intake will only be in August.
So in between I have a LOT of free time, except for March-May, I have to attend National Service. XP

In the meantime, I have a few musical projects that I will definitely try to complete before March.
And I might offer myself up as musician / arranger / teacher for hire during the month of January till February.

I'll update this post when I'm feeling more inspired to wax lyrical.
It's late.

Scribble Something

{6th August 2014}
I haven't been writing much lately. I don't think it was writer's block, I think it was just me being too lazy to think about something to write. I doubt that I will ever write a book, I just don't have the discipline, a collection of poems maybe. After at least a year of no new material, I finally wrote a poem. Like most of my poems, it comes off as more of a song, which like most of my poems, it is. I used to compile all my writing (especially my poems) in this notebook.

Poetic Musings, by Rachel Wong Yen Yi.

But at one point I was writing a lot, almost two poems everyday, so I couldn't be bothered to update it, so now I just type them out and save them online. Which is easier, and dare I say it, better.

The writing utensil

{This is my script for my English oral assignment, which is a show-and-tell. I was supposed to present it on Tuesday but our teacher forgot about it so I'll only be presenting it next Tuesday. I wrote it on Monday. I didn't want to show anything fancy, because we are not allowed to bring certain things like mobile phones to school. I wanted something simple, so I chose my pen and decided to talk about how important my pen is to me.}

Good morning, etc.

This is a pen. I used it to write, obviously. It's nothing special, it's not magic or anything. And as you can see, it's running out of ink. I use it to do my homework: writing down equations, scribbling out essays, doodling.

But I also use it for so much more.

Bonne année

Christmas and New Year rolled into one.
My Christmas wasn't a very merry one. New Year will most likely be the same.
I've had a bit of thought about what I want to do after next year.
It drives me crazy getting old.

This dream isn't feeling sweet, we're reeling through the midnight streets.
And I've never felt more alone, it feels so scary getting old.

I'll be spending even less time here. I don't feel bad about that at all. This should be the way.
I have quite a few resolutions, which I have written in my diary but will not be sharing here.
I don't know if I have the diligence, dedication and determination to fulfill them, however.
But I've run out of time, I have no choice but to turn over a new leaf.

Looking back on this year, I don't think I've learnt much from school. But I've learnt quite a bit outside, elsewhere. The world is not in our books, it's out there.

This year, there are a lot of things I want and have to do. No more wasting time, this is my last chance.

School starts day after tomorrow.

I can only hope that I will take myself seriously this year.

Good luck, Rachel Océane Wong Yen Yi.

Happy New Year.

Dreamsand Miracles, a letter to Dreamworks Animation

{14th January 2013}
A fan letter for Rise of the Guardians.

To the lovely person who took the time to read this letter,

Hello. My name is Rachel, I am 15 years old and I come from Malaysia. In case you don't know where that is, it is a country in South East Asia. I am writing regarding the beautiful animated film that is Rise Of The Guardians.

     Maybe none of you will read this, but I just want everyone involved in the production of this film to know how much I appreciate the love and effort that they put into this film. I may just be one person, but I am pretty sure that I am not alone in thinking this.

     This is the first time I cried while watching a movie. And what is truly amazing is that I wasn't crying because I was sad, I was crying because I was so happy. Yes, this film made me shed tears of pure joy. This was the part where Jamie started believing in Jack Frost. Maybe it was partly due to Alexandre Desplat's score, which was beautiful in every way imaginable, but all I know was that Jack Frost's moment of recognition touched me in so many ways. All his life, nobody knew he existed, nobody cared about him, and the only thing he wanted so badly was to be believed in. Somehow, I can relate to that. Feeling alone in this world, and never receiving any attention or any form of recognition from anyone. And when Jack Frost and Jamie faced each other and looked at each other, I don't know why but it was just so moving I teared up and cried right there in the theatre, which I have never done. I was just so happy for Jack, he waited for so long to receive even just a tiny shred of recognition, and he finally received it. It was pure cinematic magic.

     Seriously, I have no idea what the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is doing, excluding Rise Of The Guardians from the nominations for Best Animated Feature. In my most humble opinion, this film is an epic classic that deserves that Oscar (as well as any other awards) way more than all the other movies combined.

     So once again, thank you, thank you, and thank you for making the most beautiful film I have ever seen, animated or live-action. It has made me once again believe in magic, hope, wonder and fun, things I have forgotten and stopped believing in as I grew up. It has made me believe that one day, we will all get our happy ending, one way or another. No other film has made me feel as much as I did as the Rise Of The Guardians. Somehow, I have a feeling that DreamWorks has found the magic that several other animation studios have lost. I sincerely hope that there will be a sequel for this movie, because I am really looking forward to seeing Jamie, Jack, Tooth, Bunny, Sandy, North, and maybe even Pitch on the big screen again. And once more, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

{P.S. 19th & 23rd July 2013}

     In March, I received the Guardians of Childhood books as a birthday present. (To be honest, I requested for it specifically.) At first I was a bit hesitant. A 16 year old reading a children's book isn't really considered "cool". But I thought, whatever. I wanted to read it, so I did.

     And I loved it. (The series is now among my favourite books of all time.)

     When I first wrote this letter, it was to thank the filmmakers who made the film. I never thought of thanking the creator of the world. Now, I can't believe I never thought about it until now.

Thank you Mr Joyce,

     Thanks to you, I know I'm no longer alone at night. Thanks to you, I will always see the world with my eyes open in wonder, and let my mind wander and imagine. Thanks to you, I will never give up, I will keep on hoping, I will keep on believing that tomorrow will be a better day. Thank you.

     Thinking about Mary Katherine and Jackson, I think they're very lucky to have a dad who loves them so much. And I'd like to think that wherever she is, MK would be proud of the things her dad's given the rest of us. Hope, belief and wonder.

Thank you all.

When I write a letter thanking someone for something they have done, it's because that something brought me out from a deep dark hole and shined a bright light into the vast emptiness of my life, that something cheered me up, brought me happiness, inspired me and became a part of my dream.

Regarding Something Completely Unrelated To Halloween

Today, I was supposed to participate in a public speaking competition, but in the end, I didn't. Read on. I'm somewhat disappointed that I did not get a chance to speak because I think I wrote a pretty good speech. Here it is:

Good morning honourable judges, teachers and all my fellow friends. The title of my speech is "the importance of being prepared". I am afraid that I have been pulled unwillingly to join this competition. Being the incredibly blur person that I am, I had no idea that the public speaking competition was today and so, I only prepared this speech 5 minutes ago. If I was more prepared by finding out beforehand when this competition was going to be held, I would not be in this awkward situation. Thus, I shall take this as a lesson so that next time, I will not be unprepared. Thank you.

Hmm, simple, short, sweet, and a bit tongue-in-the-cheek. I might have won.

Or not. On second thought, maybe it was a blessing in disguise that I didn't have to present it.

In other news, HAPPY HALLOWEEN.

First post!

My first ever proper blog. I actually already had a proper blog, rachelsaysdefygravity.tumblr.com. But somehow it doesn't seem to satisfy all my blogging needs...

Don't get me wrong, Tumblr was, is and always will be awesome. But I guess I'll be using Twitter as a micro-blog/status update tool. And Tumblr as a way of noting down stuff that I'll commit to an actual blog post later.

As you can see from my first url (wonderstruckdefyinggravity), I love Taylor Swift. I am a Potterhead. My favorite actresses are Emma Watson, Dakota Fanning and Chloë Grace Moretz. Previous celebrities whom I had crushes on over the years include Daniel Radcliffe, Taylor Lautner, Booboo Stewart, Orlando Bloom, and Josh Hutcherson.

I love: waterbending, daydreaming, good TV shows, fantasy films based on best-selling books, music that radiate awesomeness, writing random poems that nobody else is intellectually or creatively capable of writing, watching films (preferably animation) with scenes that give me goosebumps, reading all manner of literature (preferably fantasy) that does NOT fall under the romance/horror genre, animals (preferably mammals), random singing/dancing, making zines, etc.

I loathe: my enemies, extreme copycats, people who abandon/overlook me, traitors, backstabbers, people who enjoy showing off their nonexistent talent, people who abuse animals, people who misunderstand me for no reason, control freaks, dictators, etc.

NOTE: The above “etc.” means “End of Thinking Capacity”, not “etcetera”.

UNawesome things about me: I tend to be mean, cynical, sarcastic, negative and pessmistic. I'm not afraid to be mean to people I despise or say what I really think about people. Honesty rules. FEAR ME.

Actresses: Natalie Dormer, Helen Mirren, Jennifer Lawrence, Dakota and Elle Fanning, Chloë Grace Moretz, Hailee Steinfeld, Liv Tyler.

Actors: Tom Hiddleston, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, Josh Hutcherson, Will Poulter, Chris Pine, Tom Holland, Alan Rickman, Orlando Bloom.

I am a writer, musician, actor (i.e. professional liar), avid reader, bathroom singer, daily shuffler and random obsessor. In short, a complete freak. Oh, and I swim and play tennis too.

If you asked me to pick a movie to watch, I'd choose the action/fantasy movie over the comedy over the romance.
HOWEVER, cartoons like the ones from Studio Ghibli, Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks, are given the highest priority on my list.

I like purple. Obviously, seeing as this blog's first URL is 4 different shades of purple. (indigovioletlilaclavender)

I like collecting rocks and I believe the world would never survive without MUSICALS.

I have many interests. (Music, acting, dancing, performing arts, writing, reading, collecting rocks, etc.)

I am currently dabbling a bit in photography and am saving up to buy a Canon EOS 1100D.

WARNING: I rant a lot. And I have a cynical, sarcastic, pessimistic (but not masochistic), negative way of thinking. However, I AM open to positive thinking.
Just don't over do it.