I watched “The Forbidden Kingdom” twice!
Watched it once with 2 guys and the other time just earlier today with my mum and sis. We sort of had a girly outing at 1 Utama after church today. Yes, shocking isn’t? I DO go to church FYI. Only when I’m back at home. Har har.
We had dinner at Italiannese, ordered Calamari Caesar Salad and Salmon Fettucine. Both were yummy yummy yummy. The taste of crunchy calamari blended very well with those leafy vegetables, and the pasta was just excellent. Not too creamy, not too dry, just nice. The bread’s good too! Like fresh from the oven, soft and tasty, dipped with extra virgin olive oil and vinegar. Simply delicious!
I don’t think I’ll make a very good food critic. Eh, food critic is also a nice profession to have right? Just imagine a conversation goes like this:
Stranger: So, what do you do?
Me: I’m a FOOD CRITIC.
Stranger: Wow.
Or:
Stranger: So, what do you do?
Me: I’m a VIOLIN MAKER.
Stranger: Wow.
Hmm, I still think Violin Maker is the coolest profession EVAR on planet earth. Why do I think so? Let me explain.
If you’ve been following my blog diligently, you know I am now attending violin classes. In the beginning, I decided that I will buy the cheapest violin to start off first, since I will be needing one for my lessons and also, I won’t know if I’m going to like playing the violin, so I didn’t want to invest so much. I took it to class and my teacher has been complaining about the bridge of my violin since day one, saying that it’s too high.
Because my bridge was too high compared to normal violins, my strings were placed higher from the finger board, which means, I needed to press harder on the strings when I bow, otherwise it will sound like a chicken shouting after its head has been cut off. Unlike guitars, you don’t need to press the violin strings too hard when you bow. To prove that what he said was correct, my teacher let me played his violin and truly, the strings were easier to press, it was not painful at all, and it sounded like heaven with just one bow, effortlessly.
“How much is your violin, teacher?”, I asked.
“Not very expensive, just about S$1,000 plus only,” he said.
Hah???? S$1,000 plus is not expensive????
“Yalar, I know some of my friends bought theirs for over S$3,000 leh, so S$1,000 is considered cheap for a good violin,” teacher said after seeing my jaw dropped.
Haih, I felt sooooo cheapo after he said that. Eh my violin cost me RM300 only. Must be like the cheapest of the cheapest. Eww.
Not wanting to lose face contented with my low class violin, I decided to have the bridge fixed. I took it to a violin shop at the Esplanade, called Frank Bros. This is where my fascination with the profession ‘Violin Maker’ comes in.
He, the Violin Maker, which I totally forgotten his real name *blushes*, took a look at my violin like a doctor analyzing his patient, like a programmer analyzing his codes, like a fisherman analyzing the sea, like a chess player analyzing his turn, like …. oh you get my point right? He studied it for a moment and said that the bridge definitely needs a change, the strings need a change, the tailpiece and the pegbox needs a lift too. And he didn’t like gave me all the sale-sy talk. He explained the reasons to me so passionately, like how he’s making love to the violin, if he could. No, really, seriously. I am all for people who talks to me so intimately about music, about instruments, about sounds. I go weak in the knees.
But aren’t violins all built the same? I asked.
Well, partly yes, he said. The shape and size of violins will somewhat be the same. Why are violins priced differently? Why are violins ranged between S$100 to S$7,000? It depends on what you need. Some violins are priced low because they are factory manufactured. Made in batches and with low quality strings and wood, which is why you can get it at that price. It is good for beginners like yourself. Of course you can still play the violin, that is no problem. But even an experienced violinist will not produce any good sound from this violin, so it is the violin’s problem, not yours. You can experience it yourself, if you play with a S$100 violin and with a S$7,000 one (which I did try at the shop!), the sound and experience is totally different. As the violin gets older, the wood continues to improve, and that makes a violin even more expensive and more sought-after. Violins make good investment. A violinist who plays at orchestras and at public performances will all own more than S$7000 type of violins. But mind you, that doesn’t mean that even if you purchase a S$5,000 violin for example, you don’t need to get it fixed. You still need to. As you progress in your playing, you will want to upgrade your violin with better strings or with better bows and better tailpiece, because you know it will be easier to produce a better sound. As for your bow, always remember to loosen the hair when you are not playing. If you remain it tightened, the bow will be straight, which is not good. It should curve, so it’s easier for you to play fast notes, without having to lift your bow too much.
See? I only asked a one liner question and that was the answer he gave to me.
So in the end, I was absolutely ready to fix my violin for S$140, which costs more than the price of my violin. Heh.
And that is why. The end.
Anyway, back to Italiannese. I knew about this restaurant when I was working in KL, we had a working lunch cum birthday celebration for one of our colleagues back then. Of course good quality tasting food comes with a high price. A very high price. My Seasons brand ice lemon tea costs RM6.80. RM6.80!!!! But refillable lah. I was so happy when the waiter refilled for me. I purposely dropped my jaw and acted like a sakai. And tried to drink 6 times to make for the RM6.80 because 1 can of Seasons brand ice lemon tea outside costs only RM1.00. But I failed.
As the saying goes, “Never drink many water, to fill greedy stomach.” Sorry, I was influenced by the movie to have these sorta ‘teaching and meaningful’ quotes. For a minute there, I wanted to be a Buddhist too!
My mum and sis enjoyed the movie very much and so did I, once again. It was nearly midnight, and the car park was empty except for 1 or 2 cars and some supermarket carts. My sis asked me to sit in one of those carts and being the adventurous one, I, of course couldn’t miss the opportunity, so I did, and she pushed me around the parking lot with me in it hahahaha!!
What fun! My mum was laughing hysterically.
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