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.