Chingay 2010 Preview

After all the trainings and meetings, it was finally the parade day. I reached the reporting venue a little late due to mis-calculation of time.

A very tiring day for me as I have to take two groups at the start. Thought I have to do this alone, I am rather happy that I can do this all on my own.

I find it weird that the water that were given were all restricted and will only be given out during dinner. Most of us came hands-free and the whole day without water is rather torturing. The restriction of water had made my job a little harder to get the cooperation from my volunteers.

As I have to work alone, I have to multi-task; getting attendance and giving out the passes at the same time. After the attendance were submitted to the admin team, all leaders were called to a side. I was expecting a briefing but to my surprise, it was an advertisement time! Two ladies from the RedBull team distributed flyers and explained to us the values of a can of RedBull. We were then given a can each to drink. I took a can indicated with the word "sugar-free". As we were rushed to finish the drink before going back to our groups, I had a moment of hard time forcing the drink down my stomach. I am not really used to drinking RedBull and am still a little doubtful with regards to the content. Sweet and concentrated though it was indicated to be sugar-free. Well, at least it quenched my thirst and is going to last me for three hours as mentioned by the lady.

Deployment to place the items on the chairs was the thing that happened next. As there were not enough water, I was asked to bring five guys from my group to collect the water from garage 45. Wow, I was so glad that I performed in NDP09, which provided me with the knowledge of where the garage is and how it is numbered. Aaron led the rest of my group to place the items. Due to some miscommunications, the five guys and I wasted time waiting. We got nothing and went back to help out with the placing of stuffs with the rest of the groups. It was nice having a short and meaningful conversation with them.

Reaching the yellow sector, I led the five people to cross the road at the designated crossing points though crossing through the middle was possible. I just do not want to bring upon any unnecessary troubles.

Helping out with the placing of pompoms, the job was quickly done. I then rushed them back for dinner. People just walked very slow. We were only given a box of water before the start of work. Just 24 bottles of water was simply not enough for such a big group of mine.

Reaching back the tentage, there was no space for my group. Seeing that there was an empty space ebhind the tentage, I asked the group to proceed there. I wondered who was that big group of volunteers that took away our space. It was tough as people were crowding around the RedBull station for the drinks. It took me a hard time to move them to the space to get their orders. I even had to go to the extent of shouting fiercely. As people were still not listening, I got to block the people from giving out RedBull to my group. I really do not wish to do that too. I really don't want to be fierce. After moving them to the side and took their orders, AAOIC helped me got a space inside the tentage. Shifting again.

I really thank the guys that helped me to get the food and water. Really. Due to my back, I was not able to carry heavy stuffs then. Thanks for being tolerance too while being told off by someone unreasonably. Due to time constraint and returning late to the tentage, I only got limited time to eat. The other two leaders turned up when the dinner was started being distributed. I only managed to take a few bites as the food was rather dry. I was thinking how nice it would be if there was some gravy. Well, I wasted most of my food. Sad.

Setting off to the yellow sector for deployment, I was introduced to the PA in-charge. It was quite nice working with him. After getting the necessary information and waiting for the gates to be opened, I did pairing and deployment with another leader. It was an easy job as I am used to doing this.

After resting a while after getting the deployment done and the people into position, it was time for the spectators to enter. The rehearsal was still going on while the spectators were on their way in. Weird.

As there was no empty positions for me to fill, I was so glad that I got to walk around instead of staying still at a position. After a while of walking, I felt tired and bored. I kept my spirits high as I was expecting some friends to turn up. The other leader was telling me that there was nothing to do. I agreed and said that we are walking around and waiting for something to happen. Guess what? Right after I said that, a big problem appeared for me to handle. I immediately proceeded to solve the issue when a volunteer told me about it. I have something to do finally.

It was indeed a big issue. Due to some miscommunications and confusion, three guys from a tour group took the seats of a family of three. It took me around ten to fifthteen minutes to settle the issue. This duration is way too long to solve a problem. The family of three has been standing at the side till the parent was getting irritated as the three guys was rather reluctant to shift. They have been very tolerance enough. It was rather shocking initially when the three of them can't tell me who was their leader that was holding on to the tickets and after the leader came to me, she was not able to confirm with me whether she has the tickets or not. Wow.

Due to the long duration used to solve the issue, I was tempted to call for help but did not. I was glad that I finally got it solved. After solving the issue, I continued walking around. I was so happy to see my wushu friends as I was not sure where they would be sitting initially. It was a pity that no photos were taken with them.

After a while, someone talked to me as I was taking a peep at the pre-parade. He was from SRJC and a friend of my senior, Lydia. It took me a while to recognise him. Had a short chat before I went off. Guess he is interested in joining Chingay too. Haha.

The pre-parade started shortly and it was followed by the parade. I was so glad that I finally can have a seat as my injured ankle was working up. Had some fun with some volunteers. It wasn't really fun to watch the parade alone. I was so glad that there were people I could have fun with. It was really fun waving the pompoms and scream. I enjoyed waving to the performers, and taking pictures and videos of their performances. The show was really nice. I really like all the wushu segments.

The start of the parade made me feel very happy as the music from Chingay Wonderland was played. I really like that piece a lot.

I missed the last part of the parade as it was time to get ready for deployment. My eyes totally lit up when I saw KungFu Panda and fireworks! I feel so high-spirited! It was a pity that I could not take a picture of KungFu Panda as I was back on duty. I was too busy to get to watch the show too.

My group was asked to return back to the tentage first as the rest of the people are enough to be part of the "byebye-party". After the rest of the volunteers were back at the tentage, they were released after the admin procedures were cleared. It was then time for feedback for the leaders.

After the feedback, I quickly ran off as it was really late. I really do not wish to miss the last train. I took a train home together with HongQuan though I was allowed to claim my taxi fare as I promised him first. Really thank him for waiting for me though he could have went home first.

I was so glad that there were seats for the both of us. I really want to rest my tired legs. Guess I really need to use my ankle guard for the next day.

I reached home at around 12.40am. Really late. Was lucky that I managed to board my bus as I thought the last bus was at 12.20am. Phew. I quickly went to sleep after taking a bath, going to get myself ready for the next long day.

River HongBao 2010

This was my first time attending this event. Before going down to the Marina Promenade, I was expecting lots of beautiful displays, nice foods and a big crowd of people.

As I reached there at around 9.30pm, there were not that much people there. Joycelyn, HongQuan and I stayed till the venue was closed at 11.30pm. Because of the minimal number of people, we managed to take quite a lot of nice pictures. As I forgot to bring my camera along, I have to use my camera phone to shoot pictures. Many turned out to be blurred.

Items on displays did not turned out to be as much as I thought it would be. I especially like the pandas and the dragon made of molten sugar. As I went there late with a hungry stomach, I really felt like biting the dragon! It just looks so yummy. Some people were selling some masterpieces beside this sugar dragon. They use the molten sugar to draw out different types of animals. They are really cool! A beautifully drawn animal was done within seconds.

I took most of the pictures with the pandas. They are just unresistably cute. The one set of display dedicated to pandas is quite nice. There are pandas that are fishing, riding, and even taking pictures!

We went to the food section, hoping to try some nice foods. We ended up eating nothing as the price was way too high for the small amount of food. The food however smells nice though. Some of the food seemed common, for example, pancakes. I would rather buy the durian pancake from AMK Hub then from there as it was really very small. Furthermore, what was spread in the pancake was just simply strawberry jam.

There were some other stalls besides from those selling foods. But there were not relly very much interesting things there.

The three of us took lots of fun pictures at the entrace before heading home as the decorations of the entrance seemed nice.

It was a rather tiring day as it was rather rush. I can only visit the place on Thursday as it only last till the last day of Chingay. It would be nice if the duration could be extended so that I can take my time to visit after Chingay.

Youth Olympics Games 2010 Mascots

I like this picture of the first Youth Olympics Games' mascots. I didn't really like the design of the mascots a lot but this picture nice. The cute side of the mascots I guess?

On the second day of this Lunar New Year, at 12am midnight, I accepted the post offered to me after a lot of thoughts. There were basically three opportunities for me to sign up for; dewu wushu to perform for the opening ceremony, YOG official site, and Heartware Network as ushers for opening and closing ceremonies.

I am offered a post to be an Event Service Marshal. It's something like usher but not really alike. I wonder how is it going to turn out to be. I am really looking forward to be part of the first Youth Olympics Games.

source of image: http://www.singapore2010.sg/public/sg2010/en.html

Grading for Green Belt

I have endured and finished the three routines that were tested. It is really a good thing that I bit my lips and finish this journey. I had given my best and I will not regret it.

Thanks to Dad for driving me from Grandma house all the way to Kampong Ubi CC. Reaching there early, I started to warm-up and did some revisions. Nervous? Of course! Well, at least I got my emotions under control.

Some time after sending the white-belts up, it was time for us the green-whites to report. I got number seventy-four. What a great number. I was the first person from my batch to grade. I was paired up with Liyan for "lian bu quan" and "shaolin dan dao". As for the last routine, "shi mian ba fang gun", all of us did it one-by-one. Thanks Ruiqi for helping to pin up the number on my back.

I wonder if it was some improvement in my steminar, I do not feel so breathless. Or was it that I did only one routine at a time? Anyway, I felt a little stomache. Most probably nervousness.

Starting the "lian bu quan" after a second or two to stabilise myself, I became worried again after "eating" into Liyan's "territory". I was so scared to collide into her! I got the right side again. It was not as unlucky as I thought.

After finishing the first routine, "lian bu quan", I almost cried after leaving the exam area. I was stucked at that same old place again! For the rest of the moves at the back, I was not really stable as I felt like punching myself.

I did not forgot the routine this time round. What I forgot was, whether I did the "jing ji du li". After a moment of recalling, I went on with the "pizza move". Maybe it was the anxiety that cause what I did previously not properly encoded into my brain. At least I remembered what I did in that exam area. I totally can't remember what happened on the exam area for my first grading, I was just going auto-pilot. I was not as nervous as the first grading I must say.

Liyan told me that we stucked at the same place. She concluded that it may be dued to some "aura blockage" at that moment. No wonder I find it weird that she ended at the same time as me. Liping told us that Guangyao and Shifu was laughing.

I can feel some pain in my right ankle. I forced myself to press on, attempted to lie to my brain that it was nothing.

"Jian yi dan dao" was alright. Just that my feet seemed to be twisted at some point of time. The rough floor seemed to restrict some of my movements. It restricted my "gong jia" too. Hmm. Managed to make some sound but it was not desired enough. Choon Hong asked me to stand more to the right after my entrance. Guess I have scared some people there while I "ate into" Liyan's "territory" for the previous routine. He wanted to put me together with another boy who was also doing the broadsword. He changed his mind after I gave him the "O_O" face. Haha.

While doing the "ci bu", I remembered what Shifu said; no skipping. I did this routine with auto-pilot not because of anxiety. I just do not want to think too much, putting focus on my stability and confidence to finish the routine.

More pain on my right ankle after finishing the broadsword routine. Endure, endure! Felt some spasms while waiting for my turn to do the last routine.

While waiting for my turn, Jingting came to tell me that I slouched for my broadsword. At that time, the boy beside me accidently hit me with his sword. Demoralisation.

Thanks Choon Hong for guiding me to the specific place to start my "gun". Was worrying a little about where to stand before entering. I was really scared that my large usage of space may cause me to hit the main judges' table. I don't wish to shift my space halfway through the routine as it would be nicer if I can finish in one go. And yes, I did it in the end.

My "pi gun", I find it quite good as there was only one single sound. "Piak!" My "pao gun", I was a little worried, but I caught it! Yes! After "jing li", I went out of the exam area, putting a full-stop to this grading. As I was walking out, my face started to change. Yes, I have been controlling my facial emotion while I was doing my "pao gun" and "jing li". The reason was that I hit my left second metacarpo-phalangeal joint and it is now swollen. Tears were almost flowing out of my eyes. Pain. Very very pain.

After the whole thing concluded, Yeetian told me that my "pao gun" was very good. Happy! =D

I could not move my index finger till after some time. Maybe it was due to the excitement while I saw the exhibits near Eunos MRT station. Pictures taking time! Had lots of fun taking pictures with the zodiac animals and we met a "guai shushu". He wanted to take a picture of us after we asked someone to take a picture of us using my 8.1 megapixels handphone camera. The five of us (Liping, Serene, Yeetian, Liyan and me) had lots of question marks on our head. Haha. After he took a picture of us, he gave me his website to retrieve the photo. Heard from some aunties beside us that he is the photographer that follows Dr Ong, one of the Minister of Parliament.

I did not feel as nervous as my first grading. Guess it was me slowly getting used to the stress through the performances that I have participated. Maybe it was because there were a few more familiar faces than before as well? Well, since it was not the first time going for grading, I had kind of expected some of the things.

There were not as many people as expected that turned up for grading. Short queue. Relieved us headed home after having some fun at the Eunos MRT station open space. I wanted to stay on but my ankle needs lots of rest. I reached home at around 10pm. It was a fun experience. =)