bramble branches for my bangs

butterfly portraits

lifebulb

I want!

To good friends, great food and love all year round …
Happy New Year’s everyone!

These have all come and gone, which really leaves me all the time in the world to ruminate over the smaller concerns in life …

… like how to be a phone virtuoso!!

You see, as I was walking home yesterday night, I remembered how my girlfriends and I used to play “Mary had a little lamb” and try our utmost to compose various other tunes whilst we were on the telephone, no doubt chatting through the night.

So in remembrance of things past, knock yourselves out with these my friends!

The numbers indicate which buttons to press. Quarter notes have no marks surrounding them; eighth notes are surrounded by bars (|), half notes have a dash (-) following them, and dotted quarter notes have a plus (+) following them. (P) is pause. Sixteenth notes have two bars (||) surrounding them.

Christmas Tunes

Deck The Halls
9+ |6| 3 2 1 2 3 1
|2 3 6 2| 3+ |2| 2 1 2- 9+ |6| 3 2
1 2 3 1 |2 3 6 2| 3+ |2| 2 1 2-
2+ |3| 6 2 3+ |6| 9 2
|1 2 6 9| #+ 9 6 3- 3+ |2| 2 1
1 2 3 1 |# # # #| 9- |6| 3 2 1-

We Wish You A Merry Christmas
1 3 |3 6 3 2| 1 1 1 4 |4 6 4 3| 2 1 1 9 |9 # 9 6|
3 1 |1 1| 1 6 2 3-
1 3 3 3 2- 2 3 2 1 1- 6 9 |6 6 3 3| #
1 |1 1| 1 6 1 2-

The Little Drummer Boy
1- 1 2- 2 2 |3 2| 3 2- 2-
1 1 2 3 3 3 3 |6 3| 6 2- 2-
2 3 6 9 9 9 # |9 6| 3 2- 2-
1 2 3 6 6 6 9 |# 9| 6 3-
|9 6| 3 2- |6 3| 2 1- 1-
1- 1 2 2 2 2 |3 2| 3 2- 2-
|2 1| 2 1- 1-

Here Comes Santa Claus
1 6 |3 3| 2 1 6 |3 3| 2
1 9 |9 9| 6 9- 1 |9 9| 6 |3 3|
1 9 6 |3 3| 1 # # 9 #-
6 # 9 6 3 9 6 3
2 2 6 3 2 1- 6 # |9 9| 6
6 # 9 3 |9 9| 6 3 2 1-

Jingle Bells
|1 9 6 3| 1 ||1 1|| |1 9 6 3|
2 |2 9 6 3| 2 (P) |# # 9 6| 9 (P)
|1 9 6 3| 1 (P) |1 9 6 3| 2 (P) |1|
|1 6 3 2 9 9 9 9 # 9 6 3| 2
|6 6| 6 |6 6| 6 |6 9 2 3| 6 (P)
|9 9 9 9 9 6 6 6 6 6 3 3 6| 3 9
|6 6| 6 |6 6| 6 |6 9 2 3| 6
|9 9 9 9 9 6 6 6 6 # # 9 3| 1

O Christmas Tree
1 |3| ||3|| 3 6 |9| ||9|| 9+ |9 6 9| # 2
6 3 1 |2| ||2|| 2 3 |6| ||6|| 6+ |6|
|3 6| 9 2 6 3 (P) |9 9 6| #+ |9|
|9 6| 6+ |6 6 3| #+ |9 9 6| 6 1
|2| ||2|| 2 3 |6| ||6|| 6+ |6 3 6| 9 2 6 3

Joy To The World
# |9| ||6|| 3+ |2| 2 1 1 |3| 6+ |6|
9+ |9| #- |# # 9 6 3 3| ||2|| |1 #|
|# 9 6 3 3| ||2|| |1 1 1 1 1| ||1 2||
9# ||6 3|| |2 2 2| ||2 3|| 6+ ||3 2||
|1| # |9 6| ||3|| |2 3| 3 2 1-

We Three Kings
9 |6| 3 |1 2 3 2| 1 (P) 9 |6|
3 |1 2 3 2| 1 (P) 3 |3| 6 |6|
9 |9 # 9 9 6 9 6| 3 |2| 1+
3 |9| 6 |6| 6 |1| 6 |2| 6 (P) 6 |6|
6 |1| 6 |2| 6 (P) 3 |3| 6 |9|
# |9| 6 |9| 3 |3| 3 |1| 3 |2| 3+

O Come All Ye Faithful
6 6- 1 3 6- 1- 9 6 9 # 9- 6 6
6- 3 2 3 6 9 # 3- 2+ |1| 1-
#- 6 3 9- 6- 3 6 2 6 3+ |2| 1 6
6 3 6 9 6- 1 9 9 6 9 # 9- 6 9
# 9 6 3 2- 3 # 9- 6+ |3| 3-

Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
|3 2 3 9 3 #| 6 |2 9| 3 |3| 9 6 |3| 9 |3 #| 6 |2|
|9| 3 |3| 9 6 3- 2- 2- 1- 2- 6 # #- 9- |3 6| 3 1 #
6 3- |3 6 3 6| 3 # 9- |2 3| 2 1 9 6 3-
|3 6 3 6| 3 6 1- |3 6| 3 1 # 6 3-
|3 6 3 6| 3 6 3- |2 3| 2 1 9 6 3-
|3 6 3 6| 3 9 3- 9- #- #- # 9
6- 9- 3- 1 2 3 6 #- #- 6 6 9 #
9 6 9- |3 6| 3 1 # 6 3- |3 6 3 6| 3 6 3-
6- 9 6 # 9- |3 6 3 6| 3 9 3-

Other Festival Songs

Auld Lang Syne
7- 8 4 4 4 6 8 4 8 9 1 4 3 9 #

Happy Birthday To You
1 1 2 1 6 3- 1 1 2 1 9 6-
1 1 # 9 6 3 2- # # 9 6 9 6

Nursery Rhymes

Pop Goes The Weasel
2 |2| 3 |3 6 # 6| 2 |1|
2 |2| 3 |3| 6+ 2 |1|
2 |2| 3 |3 6 # 6| 2+
|#| (P) (P) 3 |9| 6+ 2+

Bingo
|1 6 6 1 1 2 2 1 1|
|3 3 6 6| 9 3 9 9 |# # #|
6 6 |9 9| 9 3 3 |6 6 6 3|
|3 1 2 3| 6 |6|

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
1 1 9 9 # # 9- 6 6 3 3 2 2 1-
9 9 6 6 3 3 2- 9 9 6 6 3 3 2-
1 1 9 9 # # 9- 6 6 3 3 2 2 1-

Mary Had A Little Lamb
3 |2 1 2 3 3| 3
|2 2| 2 |3 9| 9 3 |2 1 2|
|3 3 3 3 2 2 3 2| 1

She’ll Be Coming Around The Mountain
2 3 6 6 6 6 3 2 1 2
3- 3 6 9 9 9 9 # 9 6 3
6- # 9 6 6 6 6 3 2 2 2
1 1 1 1 9 6 3 2 1 1 1 1
6 3 1 2 3-

Old MacDonald Had A Farm
|3 3 3 1 2 2 1 9 9 6 6|
3+ |1 3 3 3 1 2 2| 1
|9 9 6 6| 3+ ||1 1|| |3 3 3| ||1 1||
|3 3| 3 ||3 3|| |3| ||3 3|| |3| ||3 3 3 3|| |3 3|
|3 3 3 1 2 2 1 9 9 6 6| 3-

Ring Around The Rosy
|3 3 2 6| 3 2 |3 3 2 6|
3 2 3 2 3 |2 2| 3 3 1-

When The Saints Go Marching In
1 3 6 9- 1 3 6 9-
1 3 6 9- 3- 1- 3- 2-
3 3 2 1- 1 2- 9 9 9 6-
3 6 9- 3- 2- 2- 1-

Ten Little Indians
3 |3 3| 3 |3 3| 9 |# #| 9 3
6 |6 6| 6 |6 6| 2 |6 6| 2 1
|3 3 3 3| 3 |3 3| 9 |# #| 9 3
# |# #| 2 2 3-

The Farmer in the Dell
|1| 2 |2| 2 |2| 2+ (P)
|2| 6 |6| 6 |6| 6+ (P)
9+ 9 |#| 9 |6| 2 |3| 6 |6| 3 |3| 2+

Baa, Baa, Black Sheep
1 1 9 9 |# # # #| 9-
6 6 3 3 2 2 1-
1 |1 1| 9 9 # |# #| 9 9
6 |6 6 3 3 3 3| 2 |2 2| 1-

If You’re Happy
|1 1 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 3| 6 (clap)
|1 1 6 6 6 6 6 6 3 6| 9 (clap)
|9 9 # # # # 1 1 # #|
|6 6 6 3 2 2 6 6 3 3 3 3 2 2 1 3| 2 (clap) (clap)

Humpty Dumpty
1 |1| 3 |3 2 3 2| 1 (P)
3 |3| 9 |9 6 9 6| 3 (P)
|# # # 9 9 9 6 6 6| 3 (P)
|6 6 6 3 3 3 2 3 2| 1

London Bridge
9+ |#| 9 6 3 6 9- 2 3 6-
3 6 9- 9+ |#| 9 6 3 6 9-
2- 9- 3 1-

Sakura, Sakura
6- 6- 6- 6- 6- 9- 6- 3- 6- 9- 6- 6-
6- 3- 6- 3 6 9- 3- 6- 3- 6- 6- 6- 3-
(P) (P) # # # 9- 9- (P) # # # 9- 9- 6- 6-
9- 6- 2- 3- (P) (P) 2 2 3- 2 2 3-
2 3 6 3 2 |3 2| 1 9 6 9 # 9 |9 6| 3 2 3- 9 6
6- 2- 3 6 9 6 3- 9- # 9 9 6 3 3 2 2
1 1 2 2 (P) (P) # # 9- 6 3 2 3 6 1 2 2
6- 6- 6- 3- 6 6 9- 6 6 9- 6 3 2 3
6 |3 6| 2 2 (P) (P) 6- 2- 6 6 3 3 1 1 2 2
(P) (P) 6 6 9 (P) 6 6 3 (P) 6 (P) 6 (P) 6

Generic Arabian tune
1- 4 5 3 5 4
4 5 6 9 5 6 4 4 5 9
9 # 9 5 4 5 8
8 9 8 7 4 5 3 5 4

Funkytown
5 5 7 5 4
4 5 0 8 5

Do you see that kitten chasing so prettily her own tail?
If you could look with her eyes, you might see her surrounded with hundreds of figures performing complex dramas, with tragic and comic issues, long conversations, many characters, many ups and downs of fate.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson

To err is human, to purr feline.

On a completely different note, here‘s a festive toy to play with.
After all, boys and girls never grow up, its only their toys that do.

Easter has come and gone.

And all i have to show for it are the chocolate bunnies and kinder eggs that I’ve yet to gobble down. Ask me about easter and the only image that springs to mind is that of a little girl neatly wrapping up the brightly colored tin/aluminium foils which previously accompanied her chocolate pieces.

Easter has always been a day of mixed feelings for me. Joy for the resurrection and sorrow for the pain that was lashed out the previous Friday. Eating easter eggs really reinforces that. As a child, I hung out with my cousins a lot because they stayed with me. Being an only child, they naturally became my constant companions. Like all children, we fought and argued, sometimes even biting each other. But again, like all children, we hugged, stood up for each other against the adults, and explored the wide wide world together.

Every easter, my uncle’s relatives would send huge (or I might have been smaller at that time so everything looked gig-normous) easter rabbits and eggs all the way from New Zealand. These chocolate bunnies were hollow on the inside, and there were loads of goodies to be found when we broke them apart. I remember breaking off smaller nibbles from the huge chunks, and in my memory, those creamy pieces will always taste better than Godiva’s.

So the years passed one after another, and each year, we would gobble down our huge communal rabbit, and then try to unwrap the foils of our individual eggs/bunnies as gingerly as possible. It was an old game, but we wanted to trick each other into thinking that our individual stashes weren’t eaten yet, and the glutton would steal and then open the wrapper eagerly, only to find a wad of molded tissue paper, sometimes with the words “gotcha”.

The year I turned ten, my uncle was set to return to New Zealand, and my cousins were going to leave Singapore for good. I didn’t really understand the gravity of the situation at that time, but everything soon became painfully clear the next Easter. Whilst I still received the random chocolate egg, there was always an empty space where the huge bunny stood. Still, I would diligently open each tin foil with as much precision as possible, fold it into half, and leave it in a book. I thought that this would give me a bigger stash to trick them with the following year.

I told myself the same thing every year, and spent each Easter unfoiling and folding each wrapper as nicely as I could. I remember feeling slightly lonely, but I would sink my teeth into the chocolate and enjoy the happy flavors swirling about my mouth. But after that, all I had to show for it were those wrappers, bright and colorful, but now devoid of the happy brown insides.

So in many ways, Easter was always a happy time for me. But it also taught me to be thankful of what I had previously enjoyed, taken for granted, and missed only when it ceased to be.

All in all, I now know that it isn’t the yummy chocolate, nor the brightly colored foil, that makes Easter worth celebrating.

And just when you thought something naughty was to “come”, these doodle dandies give their artistic endeavors a twist in the right direction.

The Right Brain vs Left Brain Test

… do you see the dancer turning clockwise or anti-clockwise?

If clockwise, then you use more of the right side of the brain and vice versa.
Most of us would see the dancer turning anti-clockwise though you can try to focus and change the direction; see if you can do it.

LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONS

uses logic
detail oriented
facts rule
words and language
present and past
math and science
can comprehend
knowing
acknowledges
order/pattern perception
knows object name
reality based
forms strategies
practical
safe

RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses feeling
“big picture” oriented
imagination rules
symbols and images
present and future
philosophy & religion
can “get it” (i.e. meaning)
believes
appreciates
spatial perception
knows object function
fantasy based
presents possibilities
impetuous
risk taking

Taken from here.