Van-Anh's club

21 Jun 2007 Richard Baines' book launch Current mood: giggly Today was eventful. Did an accompaniment job in Waverley for a singing workshop with Nancy Telfer (Canadian Pedagogist) as guest speaker. THEN....I went to Richard Baines' book launch of Shards and Shavings. He was my Yr 8 & 9 English Teacher at Hills Grammar. Today, he launched the 3rd and 4th book of his short stories anthology collection. A lovely event back at Hills with very old teachers of mine to catch up with and also students from various year groups. Mr Baines was an awesome English teacher and I had fairly close affiliations with him back in Yr 8 when I helped him with the contents of one of his short stories which ended up being in his collection in the first book published in this Quartet Anthology. He made me a character in the story too, along with one of my friends, Sam Parsons. So that was exciting back then. Andrew Hansen, one of the Chaser guys from Chasers War on Everything did the opening speech (he was Captain of Hills Grammar, Class of '92 and student of Richard Baines) and was absolutely hilarious! :D didn't have any quarms taking the piss out of our school :D We had a lovely time chatting afterwards (the pic is of Bek Stanley, class of 03, Andrew and I (class of '04) ) and also Richard Baines, the author :-) ________________________________ 20 Jun 2007 holidays alas! Current mood: sniffling Good Moorrrrrrning Australia! I've been on break for 3 days now and feel so replenished already. Re-touching the ivories is a great sensation but learning that Bach Prelude & Fugue is harder than one thinks. If anyone's played it, F sharp minor, No. 14 Book II, I commend you on the fugue! It's friggin hard to keep all the subjects and counter-subjects and holding the right notes and i sound like a music nerd. I'm very proud to say I skipped the Tsubi sale but hey, there's the Camilla & Marc Sale next weekend  Verrrrrry tempting, yet I have 2 21sts (Nathan's and Leesh's) on the consecutive Friday and Saturday. The party season will officially commence with Nathan's! WOOOOTTTTT . . . meaning road-trip down to Hobbit Town (aka Jannali). lol. I'll be in Townsville from the 17th-23rd of July (booked my flights last night) so if anyone is around there during that time, be sure to catch up with me in the sunshine. The Gala Concert for the NQCC is on the evening of the 20th at the Townsville Civic Centre so keep your eyes peeled for more info once I get it. Well, that's all for now folks. Stay well and hope to be catching up with you guys very soon. I'm already catching up with my 2 primary schools, Class of 98 (eeeekkkk that is OLD!). Cheerio oreos, V __________________________ 17 Jun 2007 done and dusted! Current mood: relieved YAY! finally finished exams. That was an intense few weeks of study, final assessments and exams. Now, it's all over. YAY! Time for piano dedication. lol. and many a many 21sts!!!! Just a short one for now. Catch you all soon. Cheerio oreos V ____________________________ 09 Jun 2007 Lev Vlassenko & Birthdays! Current mood: busy In the midst of ploughing through the criminal take home exam, I had a spot of good news. I got into the Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition, which will be in QLD in August. *sigh of relief...* Don't know how it's going to work because Lev is in the middle of uni and then so is Southern Highlands comp! that's already 4 weeks out 13 weeks of uni 2nd semester. :S Crazzzyyyyyy!!!!!!! anyways, it'll be good to be in the sun for a while and escape the horrible winter blues attacking sydney! Happy birthday to Jit-Sh*t for today!!!!!! then to Hillary, & my god sis tomorrow whom I didn't mention yesterday and of course Aprille for tuesday! surrounded by birthdays!!! much love, V 9:04 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

es-tee-are-ee-double-es Current mood: stressed what does it spell? STRESS! There are certain advantages to a criminal law take home exam but gee it takes the sleep out of you! Tossing and turning, I can't believe it's happening to me!!!!! And then in 8 days, all my exams would have finished. WHAT THE?!?!?!?! nothing is making sense. lol. I've neglected blogging for a few days, instead, ploughing through the awesome wafer thin pages of the criminal text book! having said that, I better get back to the murder case. Happy 21st Birthday Elise!!!! (for today!) and for Matt, Happy 20th Birthday for Monday and Aprille, this coming Tuesday, Happy 20th Birthday. It's like birthday celebration GALORE yet surrounded by exams. No wonder every single saturday in july and august is a 21st birthday event! lol......can't wait you guys!

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02 Jun 2007

stepping over the line... Current mood: apologetic Gee, you just don't know when you've stepped over the line sometimes. Seriously, it's a bit alarming when a friend reacts in a way you would not have expected.  It sure sparked my brain and got it ticking! So, this blog is dedicated to apologise to my dearest friend. And, it's also to apologise to anyone I've stepped over the line with . . . . I have to say my mouth gets the better of me sometimes and the words come toppling out before the brain processes anything Apologies to all especially for the person I ticked off today. Much much love, V

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31 May 2007

EQ anyone? Current mood: happy! Time for a celebration I think. No more assessments! Yeeeee ha! Handed in my media essay and did my criminal law presentation on BWS (no, not beers, wines and spirits, the battered-woman syndrome!). Went well i think coz I could answer all the questions I stressed out so much for it though, but I guess that paid off. So, now it's preparations for exams which start in 8 days! *god, never ending story...that's the life of Van-Anh!* If any of you are in North Queensland from 17th-20th July, do join me. I'm in the North Queensland Concerto and Vocal Competition held from 15th-20th July in Townsville (the week straight after the Australian Chamber Music Festival). The Gala concert will be held at the Townsville Civic Centre. It's been quite some years since I've been back to Townsville, the last time was actually for the Australian Chamber Music Festival in 2003. My July break is already filling out like crazy! I think I have about 10 days free out of the month left...arghhh.... Anyways, stay well you guys! can't wait to catch up with people I haven't seen in a while, and all those 21sts! bring it on baby! Fun's my middle name :-) P.S. I'll be at EQ (Equilibrium) & Opera Bar this Saturday evening so if you're free, come and have a boogie . Adios, V

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25 May 2007

piano week over.... Current mood: high It's been an intense week of piano playing for me but all is well that ends well. Lev Vlassenko Auditions went for almost an hour which was super tiring because by the end of it, I stood up and my knees were shaking. I should have had a Mars Bar before it, or at least some starbursts or something for the sugar rush. Oh well.... Last night was the Rex Hobcroft Finals and that was really nerve racking. Apart from having to prepare 3 completely different pieces to the 5 for Lev, it was a freezing night and I was the only girl (felt very overpowered by the masculinity in the house). Having said that, I made the most of it and milked it for all it was worth, being the only girl - dressed myself up as 'little miss sunshine' - lol. (for those who can't visualise that, that meant Van-Anh was in a pastel yellow full length gown with massive bow at the front, stolen Viktor & Rolf design ). Apart from being the only girl, I was the only one playing 3 pieces (I guess that meant the pieces were all a bit shorter BUT it just meant my mind had to go through 3 different mindsets to get it right....). The night ended at 10:30pm with results: 1st - David Shi 2nd - Van-Anh Nguyen 3rd - Jonathan Ong 4th - Ben Chapman Congrats boys! The standard was super high I thought, with everyone playing really difficult pieces. You probably think Van-Anh is writing the censored PC (for those acronym illits - politically correct) version of her thought but no, this is what I really thought! Half way through my performance, my mind drifted to Pirates 3 and that sexy monkey. . . . lol. . .maybe that's why I couldn't start Beethoven 4th movement properly. . .hahaha. . sigh. Annyyywayyysss....now it's back to boring uni work. Anyone want to write my talkback radio media essay? lol. . . . catch ya later lovelies, V

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24th May 2007

1 down, 1 to go Current mood: happy What an intense day! Lev was on today and thanks to Dad, he drove me to UNSW or else I would have had to hop on a train then bus at some ungodly hour. So i got there in the comforts of a car and played around with his tomtom GPS. god that thing is awesome! There was a traffic jam and so we turned into some random street and the tomtom came to life! it was awesome. god, i am easily entertained. (it was early in the morning, leave me alone).. hehe Anyways, I played for almost an hour which was HECTIC! soooo tired by the end of it and I was almost sweating (and I don't sweat a lot...). It was such a relief and I was wobbly as I walked out. I really didn't expect them to hear so much seeing as though auditions usually only go for 40 minutes. Tomorrow night is the Finals of the Rex Hobcroft competition. And I'm playing 3 completely different pieces as opposed to the 5 pieces I did today. Uni work is so neglected this week...a.rghhhh.... Well, it's 9:24pm, and i haven't had dinner, so I think i can smell some Singapore noodles wafting this way Til next bloggie, Vanana-Banana signing out!

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19th May 2007

wish upon a star...

It seems like Sunday is the day for me to be blogging since the past and upcoming weeks only get busier and busier. Running my memories through the week, I have to say it's been piano based and uni based. I went to a 21st last night which was a nice break from things, but still the stress hovers above me like a black cloud.

I  just realised that sometimes, certain things you think are perfect just won't ever be. Some people just don't change but will they ever change? True, it is right for them to do what they have to do, but maybe only to an extent. To a certain point in their life where things have to take a turn for something else to be added.

It angers me, frustrates me, annoys me. Why are there such chauvinistic pigs in this world? and then why are there people who have no feelings? maybe no feelings is not the right word. It's more like disengage themselves from the rest. Surely, you do that to concentrate on yourself, but such extremities could lead to distanciug yourself from the rest of the world? Then what happens? You'll achieve but the closest people around you are forgotten.

There's certain things I want in life (for the future) and WISHED it would come true. just WISHED so much! But these things are affected by so many things, so many destructive things in its path. I have no idea what to think and it seems almost impossible that it could happen that it becomes upsetting. The years will go by, warping each of those dreams and wishes until it will dissapear, that's when it will be the most painful thing ever. BUT, if i perservere, and hang in there no matter what, will it come to me in the end? i really hope so.

Sorry if this sounds and makes NO sense. But some of you will know what I'm talking about.

stay well,
V

John Mayer - Dreaming With A Broken Heart

When you're dreaming with a broken heart
The waking up is the hardest part
You roll outta bed and down on your knees
And for the moment you can hardly breathe
Wondering was she really here?
Is she standing in my room?
No she's not, 'cause she's gone, gone, gone, gone, gone....

When you're dreaming with a broken heart
The giving up is the hardest part
She takes you in with your crying eyes
Then all at once you have to say goodbye
Wondering could you stay my love?
Will you wake up by my side?
No she can't, 'cause she's gone, gone, gone, gone, gone....

Oooooooooohhhhhhhhh

Now do i have to fall asleep with roses in my hand
Do i have to fall asleep with roses in my hand?
Do i have to fall asleep with roses in my hand?
Do i have to fall asleep with roses in my hand?
Baby won't you get them if i did?
No you won't, 'cause you're gone, gone, gone, gone, gone....

When you're dreaming with a broken heart
The waking up is the hardest part

28 Feb 2007

what's meant to be is meant to be... Current mood: sad What's meant to be is meant to be.... I really hope it's true..... do people come to a point in time where they are so sad that everything feels like it's not meant to be? do those sad things happen for a reason? do you bring those sad things into your life? are you the cause of it? god that's depressing..... if only the world was a beautiful place and perfect 24/7, 365 days (366 on leap years). That story Thuc Tu which Richard Baines wrote in 'Journey through Fantasy'...the girl with the sad eyes, watery and somewhat vulnerable to look at, it's all true.... I miss so many lovely feelings right now....it's quite sad. I miss hugs, I miss entertwining fingers, I miss silence....today will be a day I will never forget...truly touching day in so many ways....

25 Feb 2007

whirly weekend! Current mood: sleepy What a weekend! Starting off with the kayaking on Friday, did i blog about that??? i've forgotten already! We kayaked out to the Quarantine Station which is a fair way out of Manly Wharf. Hung out at the beach and kayaked back before it started raining. Anyways, Saturday. Engagement party in Pymble followed by a D&M session on a tea palour in Chats (i don't know how else to call it..).....haven't had a proper D&M for ages so this one was extra emotional *sigh* Anyways, AFTER that, i drove to Sam's in Castle Hill and got caught in that horrible storm. Epping Rd & Beecroft Rd, completely flooding, i was driving on the road with water fanning out on both sides, driving at about 40km/h. When i got to Sam's, it stopped! TYPICAL!  Sam's was heaps fun, and we all (namely the musos ie. stef, flute quartet and lanky) toasted to the music dept news! (i'm still overwhelmed to this day!). After that, it was a drive back into the city for Iain's 19th at Equilibrium. Happy belated Birthday Iain, you're finally 19! I got home and slumped into bed at an ungodly hour, yet to wake up realising that I was late to work for Sunday! Sped into work, taught, and to be honest, my mind was floating on a cloud...... Uni started today and let me say, I'm not too excited! It's a lot of effort along with piano this year, but we'll see how we go eh?! Toodles youngins' xx V-A

23 Feb 2007

Van-Anh kayaking???? you better believe it! Current mood: commencing to ache! Can you believe it? I kayaked today at Manly! Surprisingly enough, it was heaps of fun! I got dragged out because exercise was needed, but in the end, i loved it and want to go again! I bet ANY $MONEY$  tomorrow morning when I wake up, i'll have sore arms and sore thighs.... the weather was so perfect today and the water, sublime! Tomorrow is an early start for work, but i get most of the day off since i found a substitution! YAY! Then, I'll be going to my first engagement party! well, not my FIRST FIRST, but the first one of whom is MY FRIEND and not my mum's or dad's or random old person...lol. So, congratulations to Jen & Simon on your engagement!!! Sleep time coz my arms are aching from kayaking...AND piano prac!!! 32 days til YPA....ARGHHHH...kill me now! *splat* Toodles, love ya & leave ya, V-A xxx

21 Feb 2007

Queen Mary 2 & Queen Elizabeth 2 Current mood: floating on a cloud Queen Mary 2 That's right! i saw the Queen Mary 2 yesterday! That's a pic from my phone camera!!! sooooo pretty!!!! I guess it'd have to live up to it's standards, being the $1 billion cruise-liner or whatever they want to call it. Very glamorous I'll say! It was docked over in Woolloomooloo so I made my way out there, parked illegally because the traffic congestion was incredible and walked around. For the record, Harry's Pies had 2 queues going, each stretching about 50 metres. That's a whole lot of pies I'll say! Close up of Q.M.2 There were so many ppl walking about getting a glimpse of the boat. They said if you put the boat on its tip, and placed it straight up, it would be taller than Centrepoint Tower! hehe...that's pretty friggin huge! One more pic and I'll go to bed . This one, you can JUST see the Harbour Bridge behind the boat...very small and tiny, but it's there :-) Queen Mary with Harbour Bridge behind Nightie night lovelies, V-A xxx

18 Feb 2007

4000+ viewings Current mood: sweltering hot Hellooooo! Well, I logged onto my trusty myspace today and what do you know? I see 4009 viewings as of 5 minutes ago! Thanks for reading me up guys! I've totally enjoyed keeping contact with hills girls especially (we keep saying we catch up, and rant on and on and on and thanks to myspace, we kinda get out act together)  lol . . . i've had a few comments about the re-vamping of my page, so I presume it's a good thing. 1 more week until uni starts....nooooooo.....I practically went broke today after I bought my books an parking permit..... happily enough for me, the permit is purple this year and matches with my car seat covers! LOL!!! Oh tooo stylish! It's a pretty darn hot day today and silly me, I pulled on my skinny blacks this morning.... can't really take them off coz there's nothing else to wear....and I'm trying this new thing where even if it's hot like this and i've made a fashion faux pas for the day, I don't go out and buy something new to relieve me of the heat or whatever it may be (lol........a bad habit which I'm trying to get out off!). Well well, time to go and tinkle some ivories, or to say the least, teach it THEN tinkle. Hope those who went to Tropfest enjoyed it! Au revoir my lovelies, V-A x

home sweeeet home
Current mood: happy schnappy!

Man am I GLAD to be back! I was so happy to arrive at Kingsford Smith! And thanks to everyone who called and msg-ed me to welcome me home. Really appreciate it! Last night, i was so jetlagged...well during the day too, but last night, I slept right until 11am today!

For now, there's so much mail to get through, clean up the house coz i'm home alone and dad kindly left the fruit in the fruit bowl for the week no one was home as well as a fridge filled with food (which i must say IS NOT FOOD ANYMORE!)...urghhhh

The house is a bit of a mess coz no one cleaned up before they left....plus unpacking...oh d'oh!

Looking back on the last 3 weeks, it was a whirlwind and a half! God, so much happened. I had a pretty awesome time in Vietnam this time, lots of coverage, I have a lot of the articles back home so I'll show some of you sometime....quite the funny! And the DVDs and recordings...oh d'oh! The documentary which was aired on the Saturday about me was hilarious! With the filming, they did the interview first, then LIKE FRONTLINE, did the "noddies" after that! It was so funny, i couldn't stop laughing and thinking of Yr 12 HSC! (i swear that will haunt me for the rest of my life! LOL)

Anyways, more photos will be up :-) Catch up soon, you beautiful people!

much love,

V-A

Aloha aloha!

I can't believe I'm coming to the end of this trip! 3 weeks has definitely flown....but i find it's always like that. It's a slow start and once you get into it, it's ready to finish! *sigh* Oh, maybe except for Pan Pacific Camp 2005! That was a whirlwind of fun RIGHT FROM THE START (isn't that right now ann, max, jit-shit, wiggy, alex!!!!!miss fun times guys!!!)

Anyways, i picked up my photos! I'm pretty happy with them actually, more so than last time! Recording with mum today, I'm postponing my own recording til a little later in the year...i'm a little over the whole performing thing right now, not in the zone anymore....am I suffering home sickness? (questionable)....

Went to the Dam Sen Waterpark yesterday and it was absolute bliss! They have crazy waterslides and a massive wave pool which has live music going on stage like flamenco style! I thought I was in hawaii for a while...the weather was perfectly hot and I hadn't spent time in a pool for YONKS! Absolute bliss I tell you.

Today is last minute ties to bundle up. I'm meeting up with the conductor tonight for dinner, packing my bags......

Wednesday, i'll be coming home to an empty house! Got the house to myself since mum and Viet will still be here for another week and dad, for another 3 weeks! Sooooo guys, whatdoyouknow????

One more thing, Kenny, Dean, Nathan & Stef, you will be pleasantly surprised to find yourself in an article with myself! LOL.....somehow, the press here got hold of the morning-after photo of us with hangovers after my Asian New Year Party last year! and it's in their magazine! I will definitely show you guys when i get back! it was such a crackup!

Well, time to be off again so have a great time doing whatever you do best, which is probably procrastinating on myspace!

One more thing, Happy Birthday to all the people who have Birthdays in January! I keep getting myspace reminders and there's a whole heap of you guys. I celebrated 5 Birthdays yesterday within my family who all had birthdays in January! All you Saggitarians & Aquarians.....you're awesome

Au revoir bellas & bellos

V-A

Last night, I ended up dripping with blood from my nose. Out of no wear, i was sitting at dinner and it dripped onto my dress. I was like, WHAT THE HELL??? soaked up 2 whole sheets....all bad! Then, almost fainted. I think the heat and emotionally, I am tearing apart which led to all those things. So good for my concert outlook this friday (like just over 24 hours away....). Ah well, today, yet another rehearsal and a bit of retail therapy. Didn't really help my worries and pains.....Picking up mother and Viet tonight so that will be nice. That's all from me for now....stay well chickens. xxx V-A xxx

Jan 21st

God, i haven't been online for like a few days and i'm bombarded with all sorts of things! lovely messages, texts, abuse (lol......)... ah well...:

The concert went well, what with a full house. Up until when i walked onto stage, i still had no idea what was in stored for me, how many ppl where there, who they were, how many tickets were sold. I put on a brave face, walked out and was pleasantly surprised to see it packed in every corner, standing tickets as well and looking upstairs, i could see heaps and heaps of eyes staring down...... i was very content and happy. The response is amazing! They even have a friggin FAN CLUB for me! It's crazzzzzyyy! Some guys came up and said they wanted to send me a birthday card last year but didn't have my address....it gave me the jeepers...lol

Anyhoo, concert went amazingly well. My playing…yeah, fair. Could have been better but then again, everyone becomes to hard on themselves. I just wanted it to be better but the response from the audience made it much easier for me to accept the mistakes I had made. Concentration was VERY difficult…too much on my mind in regards to other issues, but I pulled through so that's what counts.

When I got back home to my uncle's place at 12:30am, I was greated with a shocking scene. The past couple of days, there has been a funeral at the house around the corner from my uncle's. If you haven't been to a funeral here, it's an experience which you will remember FOREVER. It's like a show, entertainment, food, music, the whole deal! And lasts for 3-5 days! Anyways, this funeral was a tad different, it had the whole deal BUT it was the funeral of a transexual's father! Arriving at home, I was greeted with a congregation of around 50 trans, singing, dancing, doing a show! OMG…it was shocking……  They were singing til 3am and stopped for 2 hours, then to bring the coffin out to the cemetery, 5am meant that the marching band came and blasted the neighbourhood with trumpets, drums, singing…..I had Channel V and Video Hits on full blast on TV in my room all night to try and cut it all out! So, an eventful LONG day!

It's been 2 days after the concert and I'm winding down with a very bad flu… my wisdom tooth is giving me a lot of pain, I;m getting temperatures and very tired! It was the attack of the mozzies yesterday coz we were at a resort-style place and it was all outdoors, so I was attacked. Friggin pin cushion. Oh well……..

This is the link from one of the online articles. I thought it was a very funny photo….from the press conference…so in the moment! For those who can read Vietnamese, read away. Those who can't, you can laugh at the photo J :

http://vnexpress.net/Vietnam/Van-hoa/Am-nhac/2007/01/3B9F2542/

Anyhoooo, that's all for now. Photo shoot tomorrow should be interesting…not sure what they want to do.

Au revoir my lovelies. Keep me updated on the happenings in ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Sydney and anything Australia related! There were quite a few australians in the crowd at my concert which was really lovely!

Okies, that's all for now.

Much love and grace ;-)

Van-Anh xxx

January 22nd

Hahaha....i don't know what possessed me to entitle this blog as such, but hey, if the shoe fits ;-)

Yesterday was what I would call lazing around.....I found myself sleeping a whole lot, taking the part of a house pet (i know, some of you are getting excited but calm down! lol)

I bought another 5 pairs of shoes....went kinda crazy....but heyyyy, once again, if the shoe fits

Was meant to get photos done yesterday but there was a power cut, so I'm falling behind schedule...it's happening today! should be interesting. None of the dresses scheduled for shoot has been seen before by anyone so it will be very fresh and the 'new' Van-Anh...hahaha...can't wait to see what they turn out like

Hope everything is happening smoothly in Sydney without me ;-) I miss Sydney a lot....though the weather here is not too shabby...i think i've gotten accustomed to the humidity...or i'm just in air-conditioned rooms all day so I wouldn't notice.

I'm still half way through my shopping...a couple more bags, shoes, dresses if i may and that will be all good. I did my CD shopping so I'll be coming back with heaps of stuff for ppl to burn (if you're into that sort of stuff! LOL).

time to zip.... xoxoxox

au revoir my lovelies,

V-A

January 24th

all photo-ed out!
Current mood: busy

oh my godness, I thought after the performance, that would be it but when they say 'it never rains, it pours'....god dang they're right! lol

Yesterday was the longest friggin photo shoot....it went on for almost 5 hours. Clothes changes after clothes changes, angles, arghhh......my natural shots were most comfortable. When they started moving me around, I was like 'GIVE ME MY SPACE!!!' (haha...my space...get it...lol...ok, don't know where the corny streak is coming from! LOL).

Anyhooo.....after that, I was sooooo drained, tired from the intense lighting and strenuous activities (which really only involved me moving about and sitting differently...god life is tough sometimes). My face felt very plastered, but no doubt it will turn out better than the last collection made here. Obviously, another different look, the new me (or the more mature Van-Anh??...*cough *cough * i hear)............

Today, I thought I'd get some peace and quiet. Had a manicure and hair appointment at Art Hair Vina Salon....got there at  9 am and they had already pulled up a 1 1/2 hour wait! WHAT THE?????? This is a 3 level hair salon, each level with about 20 hairdressers! WHAT IS HAPPENING TO SAIGON!?!??!! And talk about service, once you walk in, you're offered beverages and canapes for free of charge! I didn't have to wait at all (muahahaha...star service thank god) so that was quickly done. Had a quick phone interview whilst getting my hair done of which I had kindly forgotten about, then zipped home for a TV channel to shoot. They will be airing it this Saturday on HTV9 as part of the Australia Day celebrations. It was very hard because once again, everything was in Vietnamese. Mother kindly translated the questions into English then I thought about it for a while, did a few takes of my answer in Vietnamese and kept falling over my words and using one or 2 English supplements. It's all good, they will beep over it with vietnamese (LOL!) 

Going to pick up daddy in a minute. He's finally arriving which makes all of us except Thuy in Vietnam. When we come back, it will be in dribs and drabs once again....me first, then mother & Viet, then daddy, then Thuy. It won't be until the 4th of March that the whole Nguyen Family will be back in Australia!

Anyways, time to jet set. Some more press related stuff tomorrow then comes Australia Day at the Park Hyatt. I'm excited coz it is more of a cocktail function. YAY! Canapes :-)

Toodles (god i haven't used that word in ages!).

smell ya later sweeties,

xxx V-A xxx

January 25th

pre-oz-day!

Another longish day......yet to refresh for tomorrow which is definitely going to be wacked and choccas....

What happened today? The days are so long here I have to rack my brain over a few times before I come up with how the day started. Right, it started with piano practise! God it felt good to finally sit back on the piano (although the break was much needed and I felt very much freshened and somewhat motivated!). After a practice session, I had an interview (of which I was late to YET AGAIN!) followed by a quick lunch with the top 3 students of the Con & their teacher. This was followed by another interview + photos, moving onto a brief stop at Cho Ben Thanh for me to pick up a few items (ie. bags ).

Before I knew it, I was off to dinner....god i seriously have too much to eat around here....had dinner with the organiser of the concert and she gave me a CD recording of the concert (gasp) and a set of photos of the evening (of which i'm very happy with).

Tomorrow's schedule starts at 8am at Serenata.....hopefully I can wind down by the end of Australia Day at a jazz club. Only time will tell. It's sad that I won't spend Australia Day in Australia...I remember my attempt of having an Oz Day Party which then turned into an Asian New Year Party!

Have an awesome Australia Day my fellow Australians. I'm sure us Aussies here in Vietnam will party hard (Vietnamese style...lol). Drink lots for me and bring on the green & gold :-)

Much much love with a humid hug

V-A xxx

January 26th

Post-Australia Day!
Current mood: frantic

WOW! What an amazing night! This has got to be one of the most memorable Australia Days I will have (or have had...). The day started at 8am with an appointment at 8, then another one at 9, then moving onto the Hyatt for rehearsals at 10:30am. The Ballroom is amazingly beautiful with gorgeous chandeliers (FRIGGIN MASSIVE AND ABOUT 10 of them!), beautiful Vietnamese paintings and wall-hangers and just...just gorgeous. So glitz n glam ( i wish i had my 19th there! LOL). Had a brief meet up with a friend but it was only brief because I had to zip home, organise my clothes, then zip off to get hair done. Now, this was the fun part! Getting my hair done, this time, I knew exactly what i wanted and it had to have a huge white tiger lily in it (yes, indeed, Elise you will be proud of me, and so will Dave - for keeping it real). Anyhoooo, hair took an hour then zipped back home (which wasn't zipping because we had caught the avo traffic....urghhhh that's the WORSE in Vietnam...you just DONT BUDGE!). My POOR chaffeur.....he was out on the road the entire day and I felt so bad making him wait around....

Got home, quickly freshened up and put on my dress and hopped back onto the car .... got to Hyatt and played my stuff  It's such a lovely place to play, with a pretty nice Yamaha C5! I managed to whip up a great rendition of both the Vietnamese & Australian National Anthem. There were about 300 Australian related people there.

The Food was great too, I seem to have taken on the job of a waiter after my piano services...lol...got mum food, then got dad, then got the lady mum was talking to food...and more ppl and then finally myself! I think the guy carving the meat thought I was the biggest pig! Adam, you will laugh so hard at this: I was standing in the queue and chatting away to this guy and he goes "So do you live in California now?" i was like "huh? no. i was born and lived in Sydney my whole life" and he goes "Gosh, I would have placed all my bets on you being Californian born & bred!"....it must be me rolling my 'r's again...hahaha

The Australians working in Vietnam seem to love the life here. Why not though eh? It's a very ex-pat sort of lifestyle.....I'm sure I would live life to the max here as well.

Anyhoo, after the function concluded, I went out and really celebrated Australia Day at Sax n' Art (a jazz club..that's for you Stef and Dean and Nathan hehehe). It was very cool, however my friends and I were OVERLY dressed obviously...ahhh well, nothing wrong with soaking up a few more compliments here and there! haha..they tried to get me to play but after 3 white wines at the Hyatt with no breakfast or lunch during the day....I was beyond focussed.... focussed on something else some could say! lol

Twas a lovely memorable day. I really missed being in Australia Day for it, kept reminiscing about it all day and talking to Australians was really great because they felt the same thing too  I tried to remember all of my friends as you can see heaps of the things I did throughout the day made me think of certain people!

Well, that's all for now. Another jam packed Saturday today with even more appointments....it seems to only get busier and busier up til the day I leave.This morning, I had an interview at 9:30am, scheduled for then, but at 9am, I heard the door bell go off....OMG, she was early! I was still lying in bed in my pj's! uh oh...hahaha, I NEVER sleep in til 9am here, it's always 7:30am wake up coz its too hot. Anyways, quickly got freshened and ran down stairs.

Mum's calling to move onto my next appt. miss u all heaps! mwa mwa xxx

V-A