Anniversaries always skip my mind! On 23rd I completed six years in my choir. Well, it sure has been a long long time.

I never ever expected me to ever end up singing. But, it has been an enjoyable journey, which I plan on continuing as long as I can!

The Nokia 6230 has an inbuilt music player for MP3 and AAC files.

The player by default recognizes music in the Music Files folder of your phone, however if you store your music in a folder of your MMC card, you will need to create a playlist in order to play your music. Below is a step-by-step guide on how to create and use your playlist.

1. Firstly, check the firmware of your cellphone. You can do so by entering *#0000#. If you are using the original v3.15 of the firmware you will need to use the Nokia PC Suite 6.2 and below versions. My recommendation is to use the PC Suite that came on the CD with the cellphone. I have Nokia PC Suite v5.8
2. Start up Nokia Audio Manager (NAM). I am assuming your cellphone is connected via your datacable / bluetooth and has been detected by Nokia Connection Manager.
3. In the upper pane of NAM, click Add and add all the songs you want to play on your phone
4. Skip this step if you already have a folder in your MMC Card. In the bottom left pane, right click on your MMC and create a new folder. Let us call it CD1. Select this folder.
5. In the top pane, select all the files. You can do so by clicking on one and then pressing CTRL+A. Click on Transfer Selected to transfer the files to CD1.
6. Once, all the files are done transfering, you will see them in the CD1 folder in the bottom pane. In the top pane delete all the files.
7. From the menu select Edit -> Create new playlist. Give it some name. Let’s call it PL1.
8. Now transfer this blank playlist to your phone, by clicking on Transfer Selected.
9. In the bottom left pane, goto the Playlist folder. You will see PL1.m3u listed in the bottom right pane.
10. Right-click on it and select Add. You will get a new window listing all the music files. Select the files you need to add to your playlist.
11. Disconnect your cable and on your phone goto the Music Player. You can open the tracklist Menu -> Media -> Music player -> Options -> Track list -> Options -> Change track list. Select PL1.m3u and you are ready to listen to your music

Note that you can also transfer files to the MMC using a MMC reader, so you don’t need to use NAM for this.

There are also reports that the phone has a problem listing more than 200 files in a folder or playlist.
Solution: Spread your files in different folders so that you have less than 200 files per folder.

If you get the Invalid track list error, make sure you are using the original software which came with your cell. I experienced the same problem when using Nokia PC Suite 6.41, but it worked with v5.8.
Alternatively, you will need to upgrade the firmware.

Finally, it’s Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Been waiting anxiously for Christmas. Two reasons, one was because of the mass and party and two was to show off my sexy new jacket which Melody gifted me! Picked up two black ties from Big Bazaar, on my way home from work. Didn’t end up buying my black pant, so just used the one I have.

On the downside, I had a feeling my voice was going. It has been slowly deteriorating over the past few days, and last night was the end. Today my voice is hoarse. I can’t talk too much. Much relief to my family

The Mass

Mass was fantastic. U. Conrad was very well complimented for the efforts he took. We began mass with O Holy Night. Carrying laterns in our hands, we walked out singing, with the priests in a procession to take our places. Since, the lights were off, it indeed was a beautiful sight.

Just before the Gloria, we heard the sound of trumpets, and out from the church came our priest with a group of angels (well not real ones, but little children dressed up as them). We followed this with Angels we have heard on High.

For the Psalm, we sang More than a Child. I really love this carol. Have even loaded it on my cell as a ringtone. Makes me sit and close my eyes and pray.

Now for the Homily, which was given by Fr. Felix D’Souza. I had written a while back about a church program conducted by him, which was excellent. Not surprising, the Homily was excellent.

He spoke of a book Who Moved my Cheese by Dr. Spencer Johnson, which talks about change and how to deal with it. It tells the story of four characters in search of cheese. As they get there, someone moves the cheese. Two of them complain and grumble about this, while the remaing two continue on their journey, in process encountering many troubles and overcoming them.
The point Fr. had to make was that with the coming of our Saviour, a lot in our life will have to change. Give up our lifestyle and accept His. Are we willing to do that?

For Offertory, U. Conrad got a young boy to sing a beautiful hymn titled What can I give Him?. Really cute!

Next on our list was Holy (Presence). This is one of the new ones we have learnt this Christmas and has been appreciated by many.

For Proclamation, Chrisanne started off with Emmanuel and we repeated it.

For Peace, we sang Gift of Gift of Peace. This was also new, and we had a horrible time hitting the starting note. Thankfully, we were able to do so correctly. Of course, I did have to do octave switching, so that I didn’t sound false.

For Communion we took Silent Night (in Konkani), Cradle Song, Hark a Herald and Oh Little Town of Bethlehem.

Recessional was Joy to the World, with a difference. Not in the carol, but in our change of appearance, when we put on Santa caps. I have forgotten to mention, that we had on golden stoles, which looked very smart on our suits. Hopefully, I can lay my hands on some pics (though I doubt).

Wished everyone after mass, made a quick stopover at home to drop off the candle A. Anita gave us, followed by a longer stopover at Rhea‘s place, so she could change, before going for for the party at U. Conrad’s place.