Thursday, December 30, 2004
After a hard day's work of caroling, we revert to our normal selves
Sunday, December 26, 2004
Christmas 2004: Pageant & Midnight Mass at Holy Family
4 months of preparation and hard work culminated in a beautiful and wonderfully performed Christmas musical: The Encounter, at Holy Family on Christmas eve 24 Dec (Fri). As the cast and choral gathered in church at 1030pm, we felt an air of anticipation in the church hall. The church as fast filling (even at 1030pm, way before the pageant and mass! - but this is the holy fam norm anywayz) The choral, were also known as the Angels, and we took our places on the 2nd level, with a breathtaking full view of the church filling up.
There were a host of familiar faces all over... Marc E, Eulindra and the Es; Ada, Aaron, Allyson, the Dings, the Theseiras; Melina, Christina & Fab, and their parents; Melvin's parents - the old g2 guard; and the youth councillors were taking position in the centre mezzanine... Glenn, Shaun, Jazryl and the whole Sim clan; Jeremy & Jared and their parents, and J Oh's girlfren - they were on the same side as us - right mezzanine. downstairs, the combined choir was fast filling with the rest of g2 and St David's, Joy, Jane and the Lims were in the centre aisle right in front! And with the turn of the head, another smile, wave and familiar face appeared... seemingly showering us with endless support and encouragement.
By the time the pageant began at 1125pm, Holy Family was filled to seating capacity and there were already pple taking up balcony stands. When Anthony and Elizabeth began their 1st act of the 1st scene, an audience of 2400 sushed up and returned silence to the altar. The fighting scenes ended with June's heartfelt solo. And then it was the choral's turn... Here Am I went by so fast it was almost like a dream..... Elizabeth's earnest prayer and sharing prepared us for To the Poor a Lasting Treasure.... which was a songfest in itself =) The choral, situated just next to the holy fam's beautiful 16-panel stained glass, was in full view of virtually everyone.... and for this song especially since it was our turn to shine.... and shine we did (I hope!) - the girls sung perfectly in tone and in unity, the guys didnt break their voices heh! and we let technique and breathing take over where fatigue and sore throats waged war... we smiled, we enjoyed the song, we made it our own, and we kept them entranced LOL..... Dominic ended with his solo which must have melted many many hearts - The Encounter! .... but the highlight... the pinnacle of the musical must have been at the very end.... after all the singing, after all the acting... after all the 4 months.... "I want to go to mass with you".... father and mother hugging and giving the sound system major feedback.... well the congregation of 3000 gave a resounding positive feedback by laughing along and applauding spontaneously.... (haha... it was really one of those feel good family moments)
Ooops - who could forget The Saxophonist! Zachary!!!! Zach the Sax.... you're the man... the accompaniment was beautiful! and it certainly raised a few eyebrows (in a good way)
Well, yours truly had to rush down immediately as yours truly had to animate for Midnight mass... the snowball effect continued, bouyed by the impact the musical had made... I'm sure it must have been a grand experience for the younger ones.... being conducted by super energetic and psycho conductors.... the grand gathering hymn of O Come All Ye Faithful... Do you hear what I hear, the First Noel (Canon in D as always!), Joy to the World/Hallelujah!!!! Marissa, Andrew, Rosie and Daniel making magic with the the instruments
Being animator also brought a mixed experience for myself too heh.... more than 3000 pple depending on me for the correct hymn to sing LOL.... checking myself if I was sounding too boring/dry/disinterested...
Well, they say a picture paints a thousand words.... so we had to take a big GII pic in front of the altar... there must have been 10 over cameras... and each one was snapped at least twice!!! haha.. well we had a very efficient paparazzi circus taking photos for us.
(Click for larger pic!) - Courtesy of Sue Ann
GII: Post pageant and Midnight mass at Holy Family
4 months of preparation and hard work culminated in a beautiful and wonderfully performed Christmas musical: The Encounter, at Holy Family on Christmas eve 24 Dec (Fri). As the cast and choral gathered in church at 1030pm, we felt an air of anticipation in the church hall. The church as fast filling (even at 1030pm, way before the pageant and mass! - but this is the holy fam norm anywayz) The choral, were also known as the Angels, and we took our places on the 2nd level, with a breathtaking full view of the church filling up.
There were a host of familiar faces all over... Marc E, Eulindra and the Es; Ada, Aaron, Allyson, the Dings, the Theseiras; Melina, Christina & Fab, and their parents; Melvin's parents - the old g2 guard; and the youth councillors were taking position in the centre mezzanine... Glenn, Shaun, Jazryl and the whole Sim clan; Jeremy & Jared and their parents, and J Oh's girlfren - they were on the same side as us - right mezzanine. downstairs, the combined choir was fast filling with the rest of g2 and St David's, Joy, Jane and the Lims were in the centre aisle right in front! And with the turn of the head, another smile, wave and familiar face appeared... seemingly showering us with endless support and encouragement.
By the time the pageant began at 1125pm, Holy Family was filled to seating capacity and there were already pple taking up balcony stands. When Anthony and Elizabeth began their 1st act of the 1st scene, an audience of 2400 sushed up and returned silence to the altar. The fighting scenes ended with June's heartfelt solo. And then it was the choral's turn... Here Am I went by so fast it was almost like a dream..... Elizabeth's earnest prayer and sharing prepared us for To the Poor a Lasting Treasure.... which was a songfest in itself =) The choral, situated just next to the holy fam's beautiful 16-panel stained glass, was in full view of virtually everyone.... and for this song especially since it was our turn to shine.... and shine we did (I hope!) - the girls sung perfectly in tone and in unity, the guys didnt break their voices heh! and we let technique and breathing take over where fatigue and sore throats waged war... we smiled, we enjoyed the song, we made it our own, and we kept them entranced LOL..... Dominic ended with his solo which must have melted many many hearts - The Encounter! .... but the highlight... the pinnacle of the musical must have been at the very end.... after all the singing, after all the acting... after all the 4 months.... "I want to go to mass with you".... father and mother hugging and giving the sound system major feedback.... well the congregation of 3000 gave a resounding positive feedback by laughing along and applauding spontaneously.... (haha... it was really one of those feel good family moments)
Ooops - who could forget The Saxophonist! Zachary!!!! Zach the Sax.... you're the man... the accompaniment was beautiful! and it certainly raised a few eyebrows (in a good way)
Well, yours truly had to rush down immediately as yours truly had to animate for Midnight mass... the snowball effect continued, bouyed by the impact the musical had made... I'm sure it must have been a grand experience for the younger ones.... being conducted by super energetic and psycho conductors.... the grand gathering hymn of O Come All Ye Faithful... Do you hear what I hear, the First Noel (Canon in D as always!), Joy to the World/Hallelujah!!!! Marissa, Andrew, Rosie and Daniel making magic with the the instruments
Being animator also brought a mixed experience for myself too heh.... more than 3000 pple depending on me for the correct hymn to sing LOL.... checking myself if I was sounding too boring/dry/disinterested...
Well, they say a picture paints a thousand words.... so we had to take a big GII pic in front of the altar... there must have been 10 over cameras... and each one was snapped at least twice!!! haha.. well we had a very efficient paparazzi circus taking photos for us.
(Click for larger pic!) - Courtesy of Sue Ann
GII: Post pageant and Midnight mass at Holy Family
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Christmas with the Leongs 2003
GII Basses Rawk!
Camp Banyan 2004: 30 Nov - 3 Dec
Holy Family youth become One Body!
I had the privilege, joy, honour, blessing and grace of God to be present at one of the best camps I've ever attended.... Maybe thats cuz I was one of the organisers haha... but really... it was the initial rough journey and culmination in camp that made this a truly amazing life event!
Ironically, for me and GII it began with no one coming forth to help plan the annual GII retreat (one which would always evoke beautiful memories and bond us closer) - and an invitation by Colin to do a combined camp (the last one was in '99 - NCS, YC, GII & friends)
With an initial small crew of different reps from the youth grps, our first few meetings in June were literally drawing board-anything-goes-brainstorming-conceptualising meetings... Dawn, Alex, Andrew (camp head!), Gordina, Michael, Andrea, Adrian, Grace and myself - I think it was one late night that we dreamt up the One Body Many Parts theme and the story of the Banyan Tree was first supplied by Dawn
We had meetings weekly (!!!) in church, in town (Centrepoint Macs!), at the camp site, at Hougang Mall (Macs!) - and our motely bunch grew and subcomms were formed, and these in turn recruited more willing hands.... as secretary my job was simple... take minutes, arrange meetings, call people... but even that proved difficult and i had the help of trusty Michael to cover for me... The different comms were led by amazing and competent individuals and we launched a massive campaign in september to increase awareness abt the camp and abt the youth scene...
Pamphlets
Brownie baking and selling
Photo-taking of hundreds of youth
Youth@HolyFamily Exhibition
2nd Brownie baking and selling (++ other stuff)
Registration weekends
Outdoor Dry Run
Day of Recollection for the 30 or so organisers (a great one day of recollection that brought us together to prepare for the camp)
Camp Briefing Day
Day 1 (Outdoor Race!) of camp finally arrive and we the Leongs arrived late!!! It was heartening to see so so many participants; and esp impressed with g2 peeps taking the role of grp leaders for 6 of the 10 groups. I stayed on at Church for awhile before heading down to AH for my Orthopaedics posting.... I rushed home at abt 3pm and brought my barang barang to the camp site at Lorong Lowkoon. The journey there was wrought with anticipation and some urgency too, cuz I was late for the cleaning crew's duty! - Exactly how many people? would they be responsive? would the g2 pple survive? hoped some of the older g2 could come down and visit... so many thoughts, worries, and hopes... would darryl be ok? would there be any medical emergencies?
to be continued....
Holy Family youth become One Body!
I had the privilege, joy, honour, blessing and grace of God to be present at one of the best camps I've ever attended.... Maybe thats cuz I was one of the organisers haha... but really... it was the initial rough journey and culmination in camp that made this a truly amazing life event!
Ironically, for me and GII it began with no one coming forth to help plan the annual GII retreat (one which would always evoke beautiful memories and bond us closer) - and an invitation by Colin to do a combined camp (the last one was in '99 - NCS, YC, GII & friends)
With an initial small crew of different reps from the youth grps, our first few meetings in June were literally drawing board-anything-goes-brainstorming-conceptualising meetings... Dawn, Alex, Andrew (camp head!), Gordina, Michael, Andrea, Adrian, Grace and myself - I think it was one late night that we dreamt up the One Body Many Parts theme and the story of the Banyan Tree was first supplied by Dawn
We had meetings weekly (!!!) in church, in town (Centrepoint Macs!), at the camp site, at Hougang Mall (Macs!) - and our motely bunch grew and subcomms were formed, and these in turn recruited more willing hands.... as secretary my job was simple... take minutes, arrange meetings, call people... but even that proved difficult and i had the help of trusty Michael to cover for me... The different comms were led by amazing and competent individuals and we launched a massive campaign in september to increase awareness abt the camp and abt the youth scene...
Pamphlets
Brownie baking and selling
Photo-taking of hundreds of youth
Youth@HolyFamily Exhibition
2nd Brownie baking and selling (++ other stuff)
Registration weekends
Outdoor Dry Run
Day of Recollection for the 30 or so organisers (a great one day of recollection that brought us together to prepare for the camp)
Camp Briefing Day
Day 1 (Outdoor Race!) of camp finally arrive and we the Leongs arrived late!!! It was heartening to see so so many participants; and esp impressed with g2 peeps taking the role of grp leaders for 6 of the 10 groups. I stayed on at Church for awhile before heading down to AH for my Orthopaedics posting.... I rushed home at abt 3pm and brought my barang barang to the camp site at Lorong Lowkoon. The journey there was wrought with anticipation and some urgency too, cuz I was late for the cleaning crew's duty! - Exactly how many people? would they be responsive? would the g2 pple survive? hoped some of the older g2 could come down and visit... so many thoughts, worries, and hopes... would darryl be ok? would there be any medical emergencies?
to be continued....
