one of the dearest people that i’ve gotten to know through blogging is nadnut, a spunky and absolutely adorable girl and she’s been shortlisted amongst the top 7 in the unexpected australia adventure contest.
out of these 7 contestants, the top 3 winners will get to win a 9 days trip to whichever destinations that they’ve chosen and for nad, that’ll be sydney. these top 3 winners will be determined by an online voting poll from 3 - 10 march, which means that the results are determined by you! yes, stop looking around, you!
then, head to nad’s userpage here to click and vote for her!
need an extra push?
then listen to this: voters for this contest will also stand a chance to win a macbook air, a sony ericsson k8501, a nikon b60, a nintendo wii and 2 sandisk ducati thumbdrive (4gb)!
so, stop waiting and start clicking to send nad to ozzie!
p/s: nad, we’ll all expect presents if you win this! heh.
national day was 9 august, and i’m only writing about this on (let’s see)… 13 august!
oh well, better to be late than never, i guess.
***
going back into time by a couple of months, i first heard the ndp 2007 theme song on television. the song was sung by kit chan with lyrics written by jimmy ye. since both of them are very talented local artistes, i naturally had high expectations of the ndp 2007 theme song.
however, after listening to the song, i was pretty disappointed - both the music and lyrics didn’t speak to me, unlike the previous ndp song that kit sung - home. has our local artistes lost their touch, or had i grown too cynical to appreciate the song?
why? why didn’t the song touch me? do i not love singapore as much as i did in the past when i was much younger? what happened?
questions, questions.
in the days that followed, i’ve had the opportunity to listen the song a few more times and i realised that the song gradually began to speak to me.
the song was reflective of what singapore is going through as its citizens become more globalised and well-travelled. we’ve come a long way from what we used to be - a fishermen’s village. our people are now well-educated with broadened horizons. as the world becomes smaller, we’re now encouraged to look outwards.
and the song reflected all of that.
we might have been to major cosmopolitan cities such as london, paris and new york and experienced their cultures and ways of living. however, no matter how glitzy or seductive those cities were, the ultimate place that we miss…the country where we were born and raised.
the ndp 2007 theme song - there’s no place i’d rather be
it’s true. our family, our friends are all here. how far can the pod fall from its tree?
and yes, we lament about our lack of freedom here, about the high yet ever-increasing costs of living, about the stressful and overbearing hectic lifestyles…
but yet, we also enjoy the stability that this country offers us, the honest leadership, the meritocracy system that we’re not judged based on our colour or race.
for that, i still am thankful.
happy birthday, singapore. may we grow and mature together - blissfully, peacefully and happily.
we had a press conference today for the taiwan tourism board and in the way of work, i’ve had the opportunity to work with some taiwan celebrities such as jolin tsai and director wu nian zhen.
due to the superstar-status and nature of these celebrities cum spokespeople, this press conference proved to be more challenging than the usual ones.
i don’t know how much i can talk about it here…since the event has just happened.
but all i can say is, nothing beats the feeling of a job well done.
yay!
**although i’ve some pictures of the event, i’m not too sure if i’m allowed to post them up yet. we’ll see how it goes.
The scene was set in January when we decided that we will watch the Phantom of the Opera together in April.
I’ve always been mesmerised by the story of the Phantom of the Opera.
Dark, mysterious, painful and romantic, the storyline has captivated my heart long ago even before I’ve watched it in motion in any form, be it a movie or musical.
When the movie came to town in the past, I’ve watched it immediately. Despite being a commercial film, the show deeply moved me. It was not so much about the actors, the quality of the movie or even the singing, it was the storyline.
Watching the musical itself, with flesh and blood actors…just made it even more enthralling.
The Phantom - The dark mysterious character that had to live his whole life behind the shield of a mask.
Despite having endured torturing loneliness for most of his life and facing rejection from the world, he had the capacity to love Christina so deeply. That, in itself, is a remarkable trait. With his overpowering chrisma and charm, he tugged at my heart strings so. As I saw him battle the pain of rejection and a lost love, it was almost as if I could feel it myself - the wrenching pain in the heart that made it difficult to breathe, the suffocating sensation whereby life seemed to have collapsed upon you.
Don’t you remember the feeling?
Most will probably call me stupid. It’s just a musical afterall. A fragment of imagination of an artistic mind.
But I can’t help but to be deeply affected. It felt like reality and fantasy had fused into one…I was transported so far beyond into the story.
The grandeur, the pain, the passion and the love. I was simply swept away.
Words cannot describe how I felt…Even now as I think back, I could still feel the story so vividly that I can feel the tremours within me.
Only one word can describe the experience - magical.
And it wasn’t just the musical itself that made it so.
The whole night seemed like a fantasy… and it was one magical fantasy that I hope didn’t have to end.
But all good things come to an end and when you’re so high up, there’s no where to go but down.
another year has passed us by. no wonder we always lament that time flies.
just like christmas eve, i’ve spent my new year eve with friends amidst our usual watering hole. the only thing different was that it was much, much messier since there were foam and string sprays aplenty.
sometime during the night, stomach flu struck me out of the blue. initially, i had thought it was my old problem of gastrics coming back to haunt me but it turned out otherwise. i don’t know which is worse - really bad gastrics or stomach flu? what luck, for it to happen on new year eve.
with the start of the new year, i think it’s only appropriate that we reflect on what has happened in the past year and think of the dreams or goals that we hope to achieve in this brand new year.
so, excuse while i go do some self-reflection and conjure up my 2007 new year resolutions.
meanwhile, have a happy new year and enjoy what’s left of the holidays.
initially, i had dismissed the whole programme, thinking that it was channel u’s way of squeezing the superstar fad to its maximum so i didn’t bother to watch until i was forced to do it one day while i was at home and my aunt had to absolutely watch it or she will faint.
so i watched.
and watched i did!
im impressed by these kids. barely out of their teens, these kids can carry a tune that will put any adult to shame! omigosh.
i was particularly rooting for two of the contestants, adriano and cheeyang. yes, i do have a thing for supporting underdogs and they were underdogs at first!
plus they were cute. geeky, nerdy kind of cute. i like. hurhur.
if i’m not mistaken, both made it quite far, adriano was forth-last to be eliminated in the boys category and as far as i’m concerned, he lost out in the looks department compared to the other boys who were the classic cute type. the type that young girls swoon over. yucks.
not to be disappointed, cheeyang went on to clinch the champion title for campus superstar with his absolutely electrifying duet with xinhui (which electrocuted me as well, i was swooning) and ended off on a grand note with his soulful rendition of some very difficult song with high pitches (can’t remember the song title now).
hey, you record companies, hurry produce an album for him…..i’ll definitely buy a copy. that’s high praise from me, if you don’t know it yet. hurrrrryy!!
i shall tell the story here, once and for all, so that i don’t have to keep repeating what happened to me. here goes.
on tuesday, when i was about to rush out of office to go for a meeting, i think i missed the first step on the staircase on the third floor. as not many people know, my office is actually situated on the third floor in a shop-house setting and so, the staircase from my office will lead down all the way to the first floor.
since i missed the first step right on top, i tumbled all the way down, face forward.
actually, while i was tumbling, i could actually think about it in a detached manner! my thought then, was to protect my face. yes, i give a new meaning to vain.
after tumbling for about an eternity (okay, it was actually about 30 seconds in reality), i ended up in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. mayhap it was the shock or the impact of the fall, i blacked out for a few minutes. my colleagues, who were gathering all around me, did not dare to move me for fear of broken bones.
i came to quickly and moved slowly into an upright sitting position. when assured that all my bones were intact, my other injuries started to inflict pain on me. i knocked my calf bone against the steps, so there was a big swelling there. i scraped both my legs. i twisted one of my ankles slightly and my body and arms suffered numerous bruises.
i had been invited to the heineken green room party by one of my friends. it was held at the helipad at harbourfront and frankly, i thought it fell short of my expectations. the setup was not very impressive and the atmosphere was just not energizing enough. but that being that, the crowd was pretty good though.
i didn’t stay long as i had to join my friends at a club, so i didn’t get to hear gang starr spin….!!!
***
at the club
i hit the club at twelve plus and went for the bar straight. what was clubbing without alcohol? besides the group i was with, i met lps with her friends too.
both of us were getting drinks at bar when another familiar face appeared right behind us. guess who??
it was uncle wong! hahahaha.. he was here with his friends as well, which was a surprise as i thought he was going to be at zouk. with uncle wong around, it was booze and five-ten again… scary! *lol*
the whole night was spent going around to different groups of friends catching up and didn’t really dance alot..maybe just for an hour. but frankly speaking, i was so tired that dancing seemed to be abit of a chore!
