It’s been 10 years since I first watched this Cecilia Bartoli concert on TV. Particularly impressed by her rendition of “Agitata da due venti”, I went immediately to HMV the next day in search of any CD which may contain this piece. To my delight, I found the exact recording of this concert. It cost about 36 dollars, more than I could afford for a CD then, but I still bought it. Over the years, I listened to this CD umpteen times. Even if I skipped the other titles, I always played this at least 2 times. With the advent of youtube in recent years, I am pleased to view the video again and re-live the initial fascination I felt when I first watched this. Till date, Cecilia Bartoli remains my favorite mezzo-soprano.

Strange title? Watch this.

I laughed even though I have nothing against New Zealand. That was where they made LOTR and that’s where the number of cows are reputed to be as much as the population of Singapore. (I never forgot how insulting that milk commercial sounded)

And talking about invasion of Japan, I really just mean Tokyo.

Despite having lived in Japan, I never really knew Tokyo. Tokyolites were just too urban, too cold, too complicated and too advanced for me. I still prefer the suburbs of Sendai. BUT! My birthday program for this year was suddenly set today. Ah…the beauty of impulse.

I am going to be at Ghibli Museum on my birthday morning!

Maybe you don’t realise how happy that makes me. Well, not as crazily happy as I would be if you told me I am gonna spend my birthday at the pyramids but still! Ghibli Museum is gonna be one of my dreams come true. Imagine giant Totoro waiting for you at the entrance and being able to take a picture with the robot from “Laputa”. How many times have I seen images of the museum and fantasised about myself being there and marvelling at all of Miyazaki’s characters? I can’t believe this is going to materialise in 2 month’s time.

Very happy indeed.