Staying Productive

By: Wei Xiang (17) 3E1

Starting off, I would like to say that in my opinion, my culinary skills
are comparable to that of an average 7 year-old’s when I am not in
school.
So I wanted to start from the basics, what is the most accessible
ingredient I have that can go well on its own and as a nutritious food
snack at home? An egg! :D Yes, I spent 4 months trying to cook an
egg properly..

Starting off the first week, I tried cooking fried

eggs. First, I cooked one with water (I know now, that
it’s not right), it went horribly and had to spend time
cleaning up, learning from my mistakes, I then got
butter and cooked it once more, here is the result, and
I consider it successful! :D
On the second week, I started on soft-boiled eggs!!
I thought that boiled eggs were pretty hard to make (no idea
why, even up till now), but I actually got it on my first try!
Nothing much to say really, I just realised that soft-boiled
and hard-boiled eggs are achieved by leaving the egg in for
different amounts of timing, I actually did not think of them
as being the same, whilst not knowing why either.. 🤔

Here’s me opening the egg via method of rolling

On the third week, I decided to attempt my hand at
poached eggs.. Let’s say, it was hilariously bad :D

So, I got my saucepan (should’ve used a pot), filled it up

to ¾ of its capacity, and started making a whirlpool when
the water was boiling. I may have then put the egg in so
aggressively that most of the egg whites just separated
and coagulated at the bottom. Now, what I would have
most wanted was to have the egg whites surround the egg
yoke. I stopped soon after as I did not want to risk
myself some first-degree burns. The yoke was runny
though, and I actually liked it on its own, say what you
will, this was actually nice and overall, a fun experience!
 On the fourth week, whilst at night, I decided to cook myself some scrambled
eggs as a midnight snack! Let me explain what I did.

So I got my non-stick skillet and put 2 eggs together into a bowl. Next, I beat
the egg with my fork and got 2 tablespoons of butter ready. Turned on the
stove, and heated the butter until it gave that “fuzzy” sound. I then dropped
the eggs directly onto the pan. I thought there would be more to do but all I
did was to wait..

After what seemed to be endless waiting, I started moving the eggs to the
centre and in no time, I saw the scrambled eggs form, I let it cook for a few
minutes more so it would not be so runny, then I went straight into dining
in without even taking a picture… SMH (Shaking My Head).. All that
and I was on my last few eggs that I was allowed (which was half the 12-pack
eggs). So here’s a picture of some scrambled eggs that looked like the one I
did, just without the pepper.

Photo source: https://www.thespruceeats.com/scrambled-eggs-428352

 Performing Arts (My Forte!!)

On the topic of Performing Arts, there is a lot that I can

talk about, since this is my forte! :D
Starting off with a bang on the first week, I am in a virtual
online flexi-band, Gobble Gobble Concert Band (GGCB), this
was even before COVID-19 was widespread. The Lower Brass
section was tasked with a piece entitled, “A Song For Health”
and it was uploaded onto the official GGCB Instagram,
@ggcb.sg, this experience was certainly fun and we are
currently in the process of another piece which is extremely
difficult due to arpeggios. Which is okay for pianists, but it is
super challenging on tuba, especially as a student tubist.
(There are octave jumps that span across 2 different octaves!!!
That’s fun and challenging)
On the second week, I played some of
my primary school SYF pieces again,
but this time not on the trombone,
Video is in black and down here
but on the tuba. There is this one
slow, melody line that I find holds a
lot of meaning, so here’s a short
video of that. To me, it means a
sense of loss, endless questions, and
having to do what has to be done.
(After this part, in which I did not
record, is a section with swing which
celebrates the life, showing the
carefree state)
 On the third week, I played on my recorder! xD It is an
instrument commonly ridiculed for its simplicity and
seeming lack of dynamics, which I agree to, it is very hard
to control your volume as the head joint is essentially a
whistle. However, that does not stop artists from actually
pursuing a career in Recorder playing and there are also
professionals out there such as Lucie Horsch and Sarah
Jeffery.

In this practice video, I play a short part from the anime

ending of Aobuta. This piece is entitled, “Fukashigi No
Carte.”
On the final week, I ended it off with one of
my most favourite animations of all time,
“Hibike! Euphonium”, it is an anime based
around the band life and I feel that it
accurately depicts certain problems that
happen in real life! The characters really
represent our souls and I feel that way as I
also want to go hike up a hill and play my
instrument into the night. The serenity that
one could get is amazing in my opinion.
Anyway, back to the practice, so here is a
short part from one of their original
soundtracks, Crescent Moon Dance.
 HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Vogel Im Kafig on VP Virtual Piano (VP), where by you play the piano with your computer
keyboard, or if you have a MIDI keyboard. Here, I play the first ever
hard VP piece that I started on way back in 2017, entitled, “Vogel Im
Kafig”, from the Attack On Titan anime series. It is also notably the
second piece of music I had played up to then. I started in 2016 and
have been playing for 4 years now.

Landing at Larnaca RWY 06

Pilot Flight Training Simulator (PFTS) is a game on the website,
Roblox. I use my time to brush up on my aviation communication skills
here. The reason why I do not use the Virtual Air Traffic Simulation
(VATSIM) for that is due to the fact that it is very intense at times and
if I were to be brushing up, I’d rather do it in a more calm setting.
Right now, I feel that I am able to hop back onto the VATSIM network
to fly there as it is as realistic as real life (in terms of services, e.g. ATC,
AFIS etc.) whereas this game here is a more chill, simplified version.