Chingay in Neighbourhood 2008

Wow. I stood at the roadside with my Dad and Brother for about 30 to 45 minutes to wait for the chingay "cars" to appear. I thought that they would just run pass us quickly at first, because that was what happened in the past. However, it did not turn out as what I thought. It's really cool.

The event turned out like a mini chingay. Although there are no dances, the perfomers that perfomed at City Hall last week were here as well. Great job! Not just because that it's not a significant event that they do things in a sloppy manner. Their efforts put in to put up a show for us to enjoy can be obviously seen. There is also one extra "car", which is the hippo tour double-decker bus, which the Minister of Parliament and some other people were on board at the second level, waving to us.

Although the lion dance troupe on the "car" did not perform, they sat there and "make" their "lions" blink at us. Haha. isn't that cute? The starting of the mini chingay is by another lion dance troupe and dragon dance troupe. Some challenging action were done by the dragon dance troupe. Cool.

After the "cars" left, I found that the Malay Dikir Barat, Lion and Dragon Dance troupe, Journey to the West group and the Bangla group stayed at one block's void deck and continued to have fun with the residents. Cool huh? The Bangla group have a few kids leading the way, quite interesting.

I was rather high at first, waving at them. But halfway through, start to feel a little tired, so stopped waving even though the performers are waving at me. Had a rather long day though. Feel a little bad that I didn't wave back. There was one "car" where they are two girls who kept saying "byebye" to the people besides from just waving. The performers and residents are filled with enthusiasm and it's a rather fun event.

Youth Olympics 2010

Cheer for Singapore!

I am really glad that Singapore is selected as the host country for the upcoming youth olympics. Being a small country and does not have the chance to host the olympics, I believe that being the selected host for the youth olympics is a great honour to Singapore.

Being a selected host would also imply a good future in Singapore's development and economic growth. This is what most of the people are looking forward to.

Go, Singapore!

Egg Tarts

There are mainly two types of egg tarts -- layered crust and non-layered crust. The non-layered crust egg tarts can be commonly seen while the layered crusts are not that common though. I don't really like the non-layered crust egg tarts.

The Portugese egg tarts are rather different from the traditional chinese egg tarts although both crusts are layered. For me, I prefer the traditional chinese egg tarts as a rather smaller force is needed to bite as compared to eating the Portugese egg tarts. Furthermore, the egg of traditional egg tarts are more firm. The difference in the eggs of the egg tarts is that the Portugese one are of a relatively more "muddy" texture.

The Portugese egg tarts seems to more getting popular nowadays. It can be bought easily at petrol kiosk and some stalls in the shopping centres. As for the traditional chinese egg tarts, it is not that easy to be found. But I do know of one shop in Chinatown that sells these egg tarts. Besides from the egg tarts, they also do sell other pastries as well. The pastries do taste good.

Chingay 2008

The performance last night was as usual extravagant. However, what that bothers me as usual is the interruption of the broadcast of the performance by advertisements and some unnecessary talks by the emcees. Some explanation by the emcees are good that it helps the audience to better understand the meaning behind each item performed. But that doesn't mean that to show involvement and excitement about the performance, one has to scream into the microphone.

The last item is what I like most. To me, it is the most artistic item of the whole performance. This is especially with the presence of Singapore Chinese Orchestra! Haha. Though I don't really understand the poem recited and didn't get to see what is drawn by the Singapore well-known artist, the music of that item is really nice! What infuriated me is that the broadcast is cut off when the performance of the item is still going on and it's not even 9.30pm. The broadcast is cut off when they show the Singapore artist is drawing something for around 5 seconds. How to know what he is trying to draw when I am only given 5 seconds of broadcast? Furthermore, at that moment, he seems to be just started with his masterpiece, meaning that there the item is going to continue for a while more. Argh...

I wonder what's going on as the overall performance doesn't seems to be well-rehearsed. Some of the music is played at the wrong time and the camera doesn't seems to be focused on the right thing for each item sometimes. Odd. I did tried to watch it online, which is loaded so slow that I gave up. Anyway, I don't remember there are any interruptions when the national day parade is broadcasted though.

Overall, although I didn't have a satisfying view of the performance, the performance is really great and the efforts put in to organise this is commendable.

Mood

It is normal for a human to have different moods in different situations. There are two main types of factors that determine the person's mood -- internal and external factors.

Our brain is more complex that what we may think it is. Music does affect, or rather determines, our mood. Instead of 'listening' to the music, our brain receives the wavelength that is transmitted from the music that the ear is listening to. The brain can even receives wavelengths that are unable to be captured by the ear. It is the wavelength received by the brain that cause the change in mood.

Besides from music, the air of the surrounding is also a determining factor of a person's mood. Different composition of the air would triggers the brain differently. This is why different frangrance are used in aroma therapy.

What I mentioned above are two external mood determinants. The internal determinant would be usually be the type of food consumed. What I would like to focus here is tea. There are many different types of tea that provides us with different effects. I am not sure about others. As for me, Chinese tea would refresh my mind and to an extent have a calming effect. English red tea however, would aid me in digestion. There is one tea that I have yet to try -- chamomile tea -- for it is rather expensive for me. Many books on herbal healing has mentioned about the calming effects that it will provide, which is good for curing headaches and pre-menstrual mood swings. Maybe you can give it a try if you feel that you can afford for the tea.

Anyway, to maintain a good mood, you have to be your own therapist. Only you yourself know what is the remedy to provide you with a calm mind. As for those that totally have no idea of what to do, I would recommend a combination of classical music with a nice cup of light tea. As for the air, just fresh air will do. You can also try placing fresh flowers or apples at home. Personally, I don't think artificial frangrance will work as well as nature frangrance.

Wishing you good mood every second! =)

Durian Ice Kachang

As I had two dumplings for breakfast yesterday, I did not have any appetite for lunch when it is noon. So Dad brought me to Ang Mo Kio Hub's third floor for lunch in the late afternoon. He bought oyster sauce chicken noodles and durian ice kachang for me. What I want to say about the ice kachang is "o-yi-shi"!

What you see above is the picture I took. Look at the amount of durian paste. Oh man, I am drooling now. Haha. Anyway, what you can see from this side is the pink syrup. At the other side is the sea coconut syrup. Yum-yum. It is not in the picture because only until I ate it then I found out. XD

As the durian paste is poured on top rather than having the raw durian meat placed on top, the taste of the durian and the rest of the ingredients of the ice kachang are well-mixed. As for me, whether I may eat it again would depends. Being someone stingy, I would rather go for something cheaper -- this is sold at $2. Furthermore, the temperature there is rather cold, not really a good idea to eat something cold though.

Donuts

There is some form of donut fever going on at this moment. As many of you can see, there is a sudden emerge in the number of donut-selling shops. Furthermore, the donuts seems to have taken a new look - they are smaller and their designs are more sophisticated. Those 'traditional' donuts (a simple ring donut with sugar coating) seems to be shoved away from the bakeries shelves. Those that are usually sold at around 50cents each are now sold at nearly $2 each. Being someone with sweet tooth and rather crazy with the traditional donuts, this somehow has frustrated me when I wanted to buy that traditional donut.

Anyway, there is one particular shop that I love buying donuts from it although it is a little more expensive than the traditional donuts. It is 'pop doh' donut house located at Ngee Ann City's basement. The donuts did not rise in price when the donut fever starts. The price has somehow stayed the same. It is sold at around $1 plus each. What most important is the unique taste of the donuts. I think they use a different kind of flour to make the donuts because the texture of the donuts are very different from the other donuts that are found in other shops. The unique taste makes the price paid worth. Unlike the other donut shops, they just shrunk the donuts and appeal to customers through the different designs only.

Comparing the design of pop-doh's donuts and other donuts, the former one is in a way unique too. Some of their donuts seems to be plaited into a ring! In addition to that, the size of the donuts are around the same as the traditional donuts. What's further appealing is that the donuts will not harden even though it is kept overnight or refrigerated, unlike the other commonly seen donuts. It really does worth the price paid.

Of all the various donut shops that I know of, I prefer pop-doh's donuts. Maybe, you should give it a try. =)

Motivation

Hello my friends.

In life, there are the ups and downs. When we are feeling down, we really hope that there is someone by our side to boost our morale and make us feel better. This is a desirable situation which does not necessary occurs all the time when we are feeling down. It is true that external motivation can helps us gain back our confidence. However, the most important issue is internal motivation.

I have read a lot of articles online for motivation. There is a particular website that I would like to share with you.
http://www.lifescript.com/
This website contains not just healthy living tips for the body but also for the mind. What I would like to highlight here is Dr. John Sklare's column. His articles are rather unique and motivational. I believe that it is worth for you to take a look.

Happy Chinese New Year =)