Ernst and Young Seminar

Faith and I were the only people who reached on time. As I am not sure what event it was and how many colleagues were going to turn up, I prepared some of the stuffs that were needed, adding on as they slowly arrive.

As the rest of the colleagues were late and patrons were about to go out of control, we did not do any routine checks. Patrons gushed in once the doors were opened. There was a jam as patrons were taking their time to choose their seats. This is a problem of free seating. I tried to ask them to move infront as there were many empty seats. Instead of listening to me, many just merely laughed at me mockingly and continue their queue to the "fengshui" seat on the slope. It looked as if I did not do as I was told by the in-charge.

Frankly saying, I am in a dilemna. I cannot shout and neither can I restrict them; it's a concert hall.

Lots of food and drinks were brought into the house. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I have "scanned" them while they were entering; I went to help out with one new colleague.

It was a boring talk to me as I do not understand a thing. What I know was that the talk concern about the practices of a company for auditing. Some of the patrons were really interested and paid lots of attention to the speaker. They were busy taking down notes and followed closely with the slides printed for them. However, there were patrons who went there to slack. It was till the second part of the seminar that I understood why; attendance was taken. Guess they were forced to attend the talk by their respective company.

I believe those patrons were from the business sector. They looked rather professional from what they wore. However, many of them had actions were so different from their looks. Many totally doesn't respect my colleagues and I. There were not considerate enough not to block people's way by taking their time to choose their seats, crowding around one attendance sheet from different directions though there was a distinct queue, and queueing and crowding near the door just to get their hands on the attendance sheet despite I told them nicely to make way for other patrons.

The end of the seminar was another "crowding session" near the door. The hirer finally decided to give out papers for people to write down their company's name, tabulating the attendance on their own.

It was a relief when the event finally ended. As there were food left over from the intermission, I took six packets of food back home. Five packets of Old Chang Kee curry puffs and a packet of ISS's curry puffs and samosas. Food are just so unresistable.

NAFA Convocation 2009

It was supposed to be a one shift work. I only got to know that it was a two shift work till I reported for work. Got to change my plan of having lunch at Grandma's house and meeting up with Jiewei. Good part was than I was able to have lunch with my colleagues at Amoy Street, a place that I have never been to before. New knowledge and some bonding session.

It was a tiring day. Many patrons were uncooperative. Catching people taking photographs more than consumption of food and drinks. In fact, I did not catch people consuming though I saw some.

Wearing my court shoes and stood the whole day really strained my legs. I was hoping that the event will end soon. So many graduates. The lecturers were really cute. They wore their "hats" too. Some is the square-shaped one and some, the painters' type. Cool. Though it's painters' type, there is something dangling at the side just like the squared ones. Cute!

I like the pieces played by the brass ensemble. It's so nice! All the pieces before the graduates' procession, the graduates' procession, and the march in and out of the grand procession. Cool. I like the music for the march in of the grand procession the best. All the musicians were guys. I wonder where are the girls. Two graduates, one receiving his degree and one receving his diploma, were actually involved in the ensemble. What a different graduation experience for them!

The lecturer for the course in theatre did something very cute. Before presenting her students receiving their honours degree to the president of NAFA, she some sort of did some chantings to bless her students. Cool. The fun of arts in theatre studies.

Seeing the happy faces of people receiving, some thoughts came to me. This is especially the case when I see people receiving their honours degree in music. Envy.

There were a lot more graduates in the second shift than the first shift. The management seems to be a little chaotic when they realised there weren't enough seats. But it was good that they managed to get it solved fast. The procession were way smoother in the first shift. Patrons were more enthusiastic in the first shift than the second, clapping their hands along with the rhythms of the music played. Fun.

Instructions given were not very clear though. Heard that Mrs Goh was there too but there doesn't seems to be a fanfare. There was a confusion initially regarding the entrance of the guest of honour, minister for education Dr Ng Eng Heng.

Before the speeches of the president of NAFA and Dr Ng Eng Heng, the national anthem was played by the brass ensemble. There were not much people singing. The bright side of the situation was that all stood in attention. From my observation, there were a lot of Indonesians.

The best graduate that gave the valediction for the first session speaks a fluent English. His speech was funny but I didn't catch it. I was too tired to listen. He was presented with a highly regarded gift from the Embassy of Peru. It's made of solid silver. Cool. According to description, that item siginify good luck in Peru. This is really cool.

As for the best graduate that delivers the valediction speech for the second session, she was awarded with the NAFA President award. It was $3000 from the NAFA president's pocket. Nice. Quite a pity that she injured her right knee and has to limp throughout the ceremony.

It was a relief when the event finally ended. I finally get to rest my tired legs.

NDP 2009 TV Broadcast

Watched the repeat TV broadcast on Channel 5 and Channel 8. I can feel some differences though. But in any case, there is a big room for improvement.

The angles of the cameras doesn't seems to have much variations. Though there may be some nice shots, there are still a lot of nice ones neglected. I find the focus on the six musicians at one point was a little too long, taking away my chance to see the other performers dancing.

The feel of watching the parade is really different from being at the Marina Promenade itself. The atmosphere is so different. Furthermore, I can see what I want to see instead of what is chosen or decided by the cameraman.

National Day Parade 2009

Stayed overnight at Grandma's house so that I can make my hair in the morning. Grandma's skills are way better than mine. It was the final show and I want to look great. Wanted to bun up with chopsticks but failed. Asked Grandma to plait my hair with red ribbons! It was National Day and I chose red because it's national colour.

Dad used Auntie Mui's car to drive me straight to Pek Kio CC. Reached there early. Good that there were others who were earlier than me. The rest starts strolling in later on. Finishing the last few postcards that I have prepared before the rest arrived, I started giving out when most of the people have reached. Half-way through the distributing of cards, I realised that I forgot to write the date. Oops.

We boarded the bus shortly after Anthony took our attendance and distributed the vouchers to us. As my gang of people boarded a little late, we have to stand. Some funny stuffs started here. Jiangda boarded the bus and asked me whether I wrote a postcard for him. He haven't got his as I was distributing half-way when we were told to board the bus. Felt like saying "no" but I didn't. I took the last seat left and searched for his card. Seeing what I wrote to him, he was complaining that it was very short! He said that I wrote a longer one for Chiawei and I even had one finger spacing in his postcard. Haha. Chiawei said asked me not to write in Chinese for him. I was blurred for a moment as I don't remember writing in Chinese. He then pointed to my name after I asked where is it. Dots.

Alighted at a point a little further than the usual alighting point. Didn't had the chance to take picture of the road sign. Oh well. We proceeded for the security checks. Intended to collect my milo before the check but was not able to due to the change in alighting point. Hmm. Shuting was stucked at the check for a moment due to a nail clipper. I don't see any harm in that small clipper.

We then proceeded to our area. I was so happy that there were goodie bags for us this time! There were a bag on each of the chairs. Items included honey stars, detergents, salon pas, prawn crackers and sweets. Like the honey stars and the salon pas. Putting down my bag and stuffs, I went to take Mr Bean soya milk. Yum yum. I then went to collect the cudgels with Ruiqi and Shuting. The new cudgel is nice.

Those whose costumes have problems went to queue up as usual. Nothing to do, my touring starts here. Went to collect Old Chang Kee and milo. Long queue. Glad that I managed to get what I want. Made a second trip too. Took ice cream and more Old Chang Kee. I am so happy that I got the fried prawns stick as that was what I aimed for one of the previous show and did not managed to get. Right out from the oven. Hot and nice. Going back, it was time to collect our helmets. I was so glad that we got to have new helmets! Not blurry and no weird smell. Good!

Roamed around the flyer and the Old Chang Kee and Milo area later on. I was so glad that I got to drink my fill when the second batch of milo arrived. No more long queues. I tried to study but can't managed to get anything into my brain. Exciteness and the hope to enjoy the last day of the show. Hoped to camwhore with Yaxin but we were out of ideas of what kind of pictures to take. Thank you Wenhui for helping me to keep two packets of Halls breezers for me. Cool creamy strawberry and tropical chill. Nice present.

Slacking at the flyer, we realised that there may be the uncapping ceremony. Cool! We went back for our dinner and came back after that. I ate two cups of mashed potatoes and did not touch the chickens. Hope to maintain being a vegetarian for the day. It was "Guanyin Dan". Kept the chickens for supper. So glad that it was drumstick and a part near the butt. Nice. Thanks Weiren for the second cup of mashed potatoes.

After eating, Yaxin, Xinfeng and I went to slack at flyer, waiting for the uncapping ceremony to commence. I thought that there was not going to have the ceremony there as there was the 3.2km city march past. I thought that it would take place at Suntec City and they would do the city march past to reach Marina Promenade. We had a bird's eye view of the ceremony. We went to view it from the second floor. Cool. Thanks Yaoteck for the help to call us when it was time to get changed. It feels so different to watch the ceremony from the top. Nice. I wonder how long had they been training to make the ceremony so smooth and nice. It's not easy to march so neatly. We quickly made our way back to change after receiving Yaoteck's call.

Had a quick change and went to look for Wushan for the extra tatoo that she had. Had already placed one on my right hand. It was a NDP09 merlion that Shuyan gave me while we were queueing up for security checks. Wushan helped me to put it on my left hand. Nice! I was really inexperienced in putting tatoos as it was my first time! Thank you Shuyan and Wushan! Though the tatoos were a little distorted, I was very happy!

Waiting a while at the small area outside our assembling area, we proceeded on to wait on the F1 track, the same portion as preview. Took videoes of the F-16 flypast again. Nice! It's quite relaxing to see the planes. We then proceeded on to the floating platform. Thanks to Yaxin for helping me to carry my helmet so that I can snap pictures throughout the walk.

Tried to snap some pictures but many turned out blurred. I wonder what happened to my phone. We waited at the green sector concourse before setting out for the backstage. Singing the songs as usual. Saw Gurmit Singh walking to the backstage with us. Too bad that I do not have the chance to take a picture with him. Anyway, we went a little early to the backstage. Saw Koh Cheng Mun and Kelvin Tan. Cosmetics put on by Koh cheng Mun sure was very thick. Shiny gown.

Walking towards the tent, I was so lucky to get to see a short moment of fireworks for the ending of chapter four. Nice. It was really a close "interaction" with the fireworks. Took a photo with some backstage people as requested by them before we proceeded to the stairs that leads to the backstage. Total exciteness at the backstage. Many were snapping pictures and shaking hands to wish each other good luck. And yes, we rocked on to Chapter five's music too. Did my last checks for the lights. We ran out once the door were opened. I did not run as my ankle was swollen. Walked briskly; or rather, small run.

Happy. Excited. It was national day. It was, the last show for NDP09. It was, the big day.

Though my ankle was in pain, I managed to finish all the moves. Forced myself to. My cudgel unbelievably broke into two after the "dian gun". Shocked. Tried to do the moves and fix it back at the same time. For a moment I lose my confidence and did one of the moves wrongly. A mistake that I have never made before. The cudgel wasn't able to be tighten no matter how I tried. Oh well. Not too bad that it was near the end of the routine alraedy. I was a little scared that my partner would hit my head if the cudgel gave way again.

The flag routine was alright. Used a little more force than usual. I have done my best to keep the spin with the beats. It annoyed me when my flag was collided with others' flags. It was not once, but a few times. I kept my hand raised for the last pose though I felt scared. The sparks were really near. Glad that the sparks went off before hitting me. Phew.

I quickly picked up the helmet and cudgel behind me. Tried to ran to take my helmet and cudgel. A boy came along and took it. Oh well. Tried to ran out of the platform but wasn't able to so I did a brisk walk. There was a sudden steeping of the slope that I have to do a heavier "landing". Pain. After leaving the platform, I was relieved and limped my way back to the small corridor under the blue sector.

We waited a while before proceeding to gate 6. I could feel everybody's enthusiasm. Took a cup of water from the water point. Drank a little before walking to gate 6. Took pictures of the small planes that were part of the decorations on the ceiling. Some ushers disturbed me. What I heard was a girl saying in a squeezy voice "you very bad leh". Turning around I saw a group of ushers walking beside me and laughed. That guy in blue shirt must have done something. Well, it was not a big issue as I managed to get the picture I wanted since Preview. That girl then proceeded to ask me what I worked as. Weird question. Finding her question weird and she somehow looked familiar, I asked whether she was an usher last year. Yes, she was. She found me familiar too. Mystery solved.

Waited at gate 6 for a moment before we made our exit. Did not manage to spot my primary school classmate. Oh well. We collected some part poppers while we were waiting. Took seven in total. After making sure that all of us had the poppers, Guangyao coach showed us how many he took; it was a pocketful! Haha.

Upon getting the cue, we made our exit. Singing the theme song as usual. Highed. Did not manage to get my favourite MA16 spot, I was glad that I at least got the front row. Easier for my auntie to look for me. I was blurred with what the person in-charge of our finale moves was doing. His tempo and rythms sure was weird. Took a peep at the fireworks at times from the side of my eyes. Promised William that I will be "good" as it's not nice to turn my head to see the fireworks.

I took the pledge with pride. I sang the national anthem with pride. I am simply proud to be a Singaporean. Finishing of the fireworks, I pulled two poppers. Pulled three more after the declaration of the party time! Pulled the sixth popper for the Martial House people after shouting "Martial House rocks!". Tried to pull the last one for the audience but the string broke without the stuffs popping out. Oh well.

Shaked along to the music. Had some fun while I was waiting for Auntie Mui to leave the gallery. Many were running around in a "too-too train". Martial House had our own "train" soon. It was an express train! So fast! We were like running than small jog. There was then the running in between the giant puppets. A post-NDP physical training? We stopped after one round. Wanted to stop even if the others doesn't too as my leg was really painful. Continued rocking to the music. Saw Wenhui alone so I grabbed her to take a picture with a giant puppet together. Asked a guy nearby to help. His skills were so great that I took the lower half body of the giant puppet. I wanted the head. Oh well. Thanked him anyway. Having a picture is better than none.

It was time for the montage specially made for us. Sat down and watched. Nice music and it was really a good job done. It would be nicer if more pictures of Martial House were put up. Some Dikir Barat people took our cudgels and kept knocking on the floor along with the music. Noisy. Oh well. Ignored them. I was really annoyed me when one of the cudgel flew and hit me. Why me?

I went off to call Auntie Mui after the montage was shown. The audience was almost cleared and there wasn't any phone calls from her. Called for some time and she did not pick up her phone. Called home to check with Auntie Peng. When Auntie Mui finally picked up her phone, I was totally disappointed when she told me that she left the promenade already. Glad that Nicholas called me a while later, cheering me up a little. He was along the Singapore River and hoped for a free ride. Haha!

The committe celebrated with champagne and cake. Performers were guided to leave group by group after the birthday song and the speech. Limped my way back to the F1 pit. Many performers left at the same time and there were times that I felt that I had lost the other Chapter 6 people.

Reaching the pit, I quickly changed out and get ready to follow the group back to Pek Kio CC. I stuffed everything into the plastic bag given instead of placing it nicely in the costume bag. Asked Guangyao whether I can bring back the helmet for souvenir. Took back after he said "okay". Quite a pity that it was not the helmet that I used. Well, it's alright as it's just a helmet.

Shuting took the bus back to Pek Kio CC too. I stared out of the window the way back to Pek Kio CC. The bus driver took a different route to avoid the traffic jam as instructed by Guangyao. Thanks Shuting for helping me to check the last row of seats.

Walked to my bus-stop together with Shuting, parting at the overhead bridge as usual. Managed to walk a little properly but it still hurts. Glad that my bus came once I reached there. It was so packed that I have to stand near the door. It was a little dramatic that I have to put the helmet and my bag of costume on the floor beside the bus driver to dig out my ez-link. Quite nice of the bus-driver to trust me, kept the bus moving and did not stare at me to dig out my card. It was so dramatic till I finally got myself a seat. I used so much strength to keep myself balanced when the bus made a long sharp turn at one point.

It was a relief after reaching home and unpacked my bag. NDP 2009 is over. No more hectic trainings. No more frustrations with the helmets. I want to thank everyone who have made this journey a memorable one for me.

NDP09 rocks!

NDP 2009 Preview

Dad ended work early so he decided to drive me to Pek Kio CC directly. So sweet. I can save some walking distance and bus fare. I don't have to squeeze in the squeezy train too! Happy!

Upon reaching the seats at the basketball court, "suanning" session by Haojun commences. Got on the bus a moment after Shuting and Kenny arrived. Took a picture in the moving bus again.

Seeing the milo van when the bus reached the pit area made me feel elated. There wasn't much people queuing though. There were a lot of security check stations. I regretted not taking a cup of milo first before going for the security checks. Long queue and going in and out of the pit area was made troublesome by the checks.

The smell of the hairspray made me felt uncomfortable again. Accompanied Yaxin to queue up for her costume to be mend. Slow. Finally I couldn't wait anymore, I went out for a walk first. Took a stick of fried fishball from Old Chang Kee. Wanted the stick of fried 'balls" with carrots, corns and peas inside. didn't manage to get it again. My luck. A group of people from the hand signers cut my queue a while after I joined the long queue. Yes, a group, not one or two. Can't believe it. They kept looking at me and communicate in hand-signs, what can I deduce from that? They just got their food and came right in front of me again. How nice. It really irks me that they kept gossiping about others, totally feeling alright for cutting my queue. They at times communicates verbally too.

I asked for one more stick to take back from the Old Chang Kee uncle but he say people are complaining about them in the internet so he can't. Oh well. Went to collect the milo later on. Long queue again. When I finally got my milo, I was very glad. It was finishing. I have to go from my queue line to the other queue. Lucky me managed to get two cups. It was like a drama. I bit my fishball stick in my mouth and held the two cups with both hands. It was really dramatic when I went for the security checks. Though I had finished my cup of milo and only left one cup, I still felt dramatic. Yaxin was really happy that I got one cup of milo for her.

Spent time fixing the helmets after Yaxin got her costume fixed. All the helmets were spoilt and I have no choice but to take it and fix it on my own. Fixed the helmets till dinner time. How 'great'. After all my hard work, I finally got that pile of things that does not look like a helmet into a helmet. Since all the helmets were spoilt, why can't the idea of having it be removed? I am really sick and tired of that helmet. Those protruding metal pieces will cut our beautiful faces. Those loose wirings may cause us to experience electric shock at any time. Furthermore, we could not see properly and even breathe freely.

Guangyao totally gave me a fright when he came over and asked Yaxin and me to collect out dinners before it was taken away with the loud hailer. I almost jumped while sitting down. I was still fixing my helmet when my dinner was sitting right in front of me. Glad that I had enough time to eat in the end. It was my first time using the silicon glue to fix stuffs. Almost burnt my hand but lucky did not happen in the end.

I quickly grabbed my white t-shirt and shorts. Went to the carpark near flyer to consume my dinner with Yaxin. No exhausted gas and it was windy. What a nice environment. Went to change after eating. Realised that there seemed to be the uncapping ceremony. Slacked around the flyer, waiting to see if there was the ceremony. Walked around the area to see what are the shops there. There is a very cute shop! Teddy bears! Saw the flight simulator too. Cool. I really hope I can try it somehow. Had a close look at the fishes that eats the dead skin of the feet. They are so tiny! Cool.

Wanted to watch the ceremony at second floor, taking pictures and videoes from a different view. Went down to watch as time seemed to be getting near the moment for us to get ready. Ran back to change into the costume after taking videoes of the main part of the ceremony. I stood really near this time to watch the ceremony. Cool. From where I stood, I was able to see the routine for the 3 main flags. Wow! Not blocked by any other marching contigents. A guy was really bad. He purposely keep walking to and fro right infront of me while I took the video. A lady who wanted to cross walked behind me after realising that I was videoing. Exploitation of power? Wearing a NDP pass doesn't mean much. And yes, he wasn't walking around to do his job, he was merely watching.

I was doing a final check for the lights of my costume and the helmet. My lights did not light up! It did light up but it didn't hold. Went to the tailor for help but the queue was rather long. Pondering here and there, I somehow found out where the problem lies. To test my hypothesis, I asked for a small length of black tape from the tailor. I wrapped the circuit connection tightly. Testing my lights again. Yes, they lit up! I was over the moon.

We set out relatively early this time. Didn't assemble at the road as the barriers for the F1 race was set up. Waited at the other stretch of the road. Cool! The reason was that, I got to have a clearer view of the F-16s flypast! Woohoo! There were lots of police officers assembling there waiting for instructions too. There was a very weird truck. Guess it was the office for the officers. We continued out march to the floating platform after the fly-past. I was so happy that I kept laughing.

I brought a bottle of water along. The walk sure makes us all thirsty. I believe that the water point will be removed by the time we reach there. Shared among a few people. I wonder why can't the water point be there for performers so that we can keep ourselves in the best condition for the performance. Those police cars along the road that we took to reach the floating platform were releasing so many exhausted gas that I almost suffocated walking pass there. Sensitive nose.

We reached the floating platform earlier than usual. Waited a little longer than usual. Looked around to find my primary school classmate but didn't managed to.

Off we set off for the backstage after the wait. Shiny audience. Quiet audience. Singing along with the music as usual. Was swaying and 'shaking' my body with the music for Chapter 5. Sent a message to Nicholas that my item was next.

Putting on my helmet, we ran out once the gate was opened. Not a very clear vision. Blurry. Three person in front of me almost got their alignment wrong. Was a little shocked initially as I thought I was wrong. Lucky all was solved in time. Heard someone from the audience screamed when we were about to start our routine.

Finishing the routine, I face the falling sparks bravely. It still feels scary. Running out, I ran to take my cudgel and helmet after taking Shuyan's as no one helped to take mine. Weird. Using my finger to held on to the helmets and cudgels, I felt fingers were almost breaking. Can't hold the cudgel properly and almost hit the other people walking to exit through F1. Lucky Shuyan helped me to take one helmet in time.

We waited at the corridor for a moment before proceeding to Gate 6. Took a cup of water from the water point and strolled my way to Gate 6. It was the search for the rubbish bin later on. Saw one army guy that looked like my primary school classmate but not sure whether it's him or not. Made our exit for the finale after we got the cue. Nice fireworks.

Waited for the crowd to clear after the show. Nicholas took some time to find me due to the large flow of crowd. Can't believed that he thought I was a general initially. Squeezing through the crowds back to the stage area near green sector, he finally found me.

Funny things happened when we wanted to take a picture. His camera doesn't seemed to work. But when Nicholas tried to take a picture for me, his camera worked perfectly alright miraculously. My conclusion here, his camera doesn't like him. Haha.

We chatted quite a while till almost all the people has left the promenade. Complained a lot about that helmet. I was so happy that he gave me his funpack even though it was not the colour that I was aiming for.

Sat at the steps to wait for our turn to leave the promenade after Nicholas left. Exploring what I have got sure entertained me for a moment. We finally got the cue for us to leave and head back to the pit area.

upon reaching the pit area, we were told to queue up to receive out funpacks. Happy! I quickly put my stuffs aside and joined in the queue. Wanted to get the light blue bag but it was not available. There were only four colours for us to choose; dark green, yellow, pink and dark blue. As four of these colours were what I hope to get too, it took me a moment to settle on a dark blue bag. Went to change out after grabbing my stuffs.

Changing halfway, I hear Guangyao shouting that those who were taking bus back to Pek Kio have to leave. Shocked! I quickly stuffed my belongings into my bag and ran. I managed to catch up with the people. The bus were already waiting while we reached. Great, no more long waiting time.

It was a little dramatic for me to carry two funpacks, my costume and my heavy bag. Borading my bus home, I took two seats. I wasn't able to sit comfortably with all that stuffs that I had.

It was a relief when I finally reached home. My shoulders were aching due to the heavy stuffs.