NDP 2011 Theme Song - In A Heartbeat

This is the theme song for this year's NDP. It was sang by Sylvia Ratonel and performed live by Sharon Au and another Mediacorp artiste on National Day Parade.

The performance was presented in the form of a musical. I like the song as it is not focusing on the singer as what it has usually been for the past few years. I have always believed that NDP theme songs should be songs that can be sung by all the people. That is what Singapore spirit is when we can sing the song in one voice.

Lyrics:

I have a dream of starting a life
I have a hope, a flame alight
This is the moment, freedom is calling
This is my start, a new beginning

I have a heart, it beats for you
A step at a time, our spirits renew
Living together under the sun
Our hearts will beat as one

CHORUS

In a heartbeat, I’ll be there for you
In a heartbeat, no one else will do
In a heartbeat, we will always be
Together, united; you and me

In a heartbeat, time has passed us by
In a heartbeat, we will reach the sky
In a heartbeat, this will always be
Our people, our country
This is our family.

We found a home on this land
This is the place where we can
We have a part, a role to play
It’s time for us to stay

In a heartbeat, time has passed us by
In a heartbeat, we will reach the sky
In a heartbeat, this will always be
Our people, our country
This is our family.

BRIDGE

Nothing will stand in our way
We can be strong today
The flame is alive
This is our life

CHORUS

In a heartbeat, I’ll be there for you
In a heartbeat, no one else will do
In a heartbeat, we will always be
Together, united; you and me

In a heartbeat, time has passed us by
In a heartbeat, we will reach the sky
In a heartbeat, this will always be
Our people, our country
This is our family.


Source of video: http://ndp.org.sg
Source of lyrics: http://singaporebaby.com/singapore-national-day-2011-song-lyrics/

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Time Rhapsody

This event was kind of exciting as the guest-of-honour was SM Goh Chok Tong. It's an event with much to learn. I prefer the security pattern used for this event than my previous event when PM Lee Hsien Loong was the guest-of-honour.

I was kind of disappointed that I did not get to be the VIP usher all because of some troublemaker. But I was kind of glad that I can be considered a VIP usher in the end as SM Goh exited from my door! Not bad.

I got to help with blocking of the middle pathway and guide the patrons while YuRi man the entrance. I was happy initially till a guy hit my butt. I clear the crowd efficiently when one of invited guest with a Dato status hit my butt with his hand. I was shocked. I do not know whether it was accidental or intentional. I did not scream or do anything. Deep in my mind, it was clearing the crowd and ensure that no one gets near SM Goh. Part-time security guard I guess.

My heart sanked but I continued to carry out my duty. I could not stop thinking about it. I was angry when he grabbed my arm after a while to ask me to do what I was doing then; not allowing the patrons to get near SM Goh. I felt like slapping him and give hime a piece of my mind but the crowd was overwhelming. What's done cannot be undone anyway. The thoughts were suppressed by my duty. I realised something about myself; I suppress a lot of things and I don't think I will make a noise even if I am molested. This is not supposed to be the way but I really do not know what to do. This wasn't the first time already. Going back to my position after the crowd was cleared, I was feeling really terrible. I can't really enjoy the beautiful pieces played by the orchestra, not even my favourite piece that was rarely played.

I thought I am not the old me anymore. Or rather, I am not the old me anymore, but why do I still can't do anything about this? I feel so useless.

Rhapsodies of Spring

It was the first SCO event of the year to celebrate Chinese New Year. I was predicting that the Prime Minister will turn up but I was wrong. I worked for both days and there was not any important guest of honour. A little disappointed.

It was a normal SCO event and the unpleasant sight of a guy that we all ushers dislike.

As it was too long since the event has taken place, if I am not wrong, I was not assigned to be the VIP usher. I think that there is something that is going on "underground" that I am not able to see. Hmm...

新印StatusPro杯大决赛

This event is just like watching a live performance of the TV programme on Channel 8, "黄金年华". Awesome costumes with some awful singing. Hmm.

The event dragged. I heard that there were extra charges for the organiser due to the extension and overheard the bargaining.

EY asked whether the organiser wanted landscape and the organiser said they had it. Well, guess what. It's just simply sticking balloons at some parts of the stage. EY was the one that highlighted that to me. Haha.

Ushering side was alright. Reverse engineering. I had a great time laughing at the awesome costumes some of them wore. It's really about courage though I still find some rather hilarious.

Many of the doors were newly painted and there were rather strong smell around the place. My hand was dirtied because the paint on door two was not completely dried up.

Some competitors were not understanding. Some tried to smuggle other people to the backstage. I really can't imagine what will happen if all the competitor smuggle one person in. Just one person each will cause the backstage to be in chaos.

The event ended so late that I board a taxi at 12am. My heart almost jumped out of my mouth. It was my first time reaching home after 12am due to working for an event. It was really a relieve when Dad didn't scream at me. I can feel that he is holding his frustrations...

The Purpose of Life

This was my first event of another ethnicity ever since I started working. It was a brand new experience for me.

It was a talk given by a respected elderly in their community. All the people were so interested that lots of papers with burning questions were passed onto the speaker's table. I do not really understand what the speaker was talking about even though it was delivered in English. Too "chim" for me.

Many that arrived had their prayers at the Zhong Foyer before entering the house. Females were asked to take the seats at the right side of the hall while the males took the left and the middle section. The females were allowed to take the middle section of the second half of the hall after the hirer was certain that there were no more male participants that would be entering. Hmm.

Not bad that there were ushers from the organiser that guided the people where to seat. But we only know of the seating arrangements after observing for a moment as we were not given any instructions with regards to that. Hmm.

The event ended with a stack of questions not yet answered. The emcee said that the answers will be posted on their website. That was a good way to have everybody's question answered and share what questions other people have.

2010 National Chinese Music Competition

I only worked for the 3rd and 4th day of the competition. It was a long day event just like how SYF is. Though it was tiring, I am happy with the pay that I got for the day.

Craps happen as usual. The hirer was alright thought sometimes we still find her a little demanding.

The slacker slacked again. She claimed to be sick when WX went to look for her due to her continual absence in the house. Liar. I caught her sleeping at Zhong Foyer by going to the fifth floor. Caught her hiding in the toilet the next time by purposely going to the toilet. She seemed shocked seeing me. I pretended that I was there to wash my hands. Jane made her trip to the toilet after a while. Jane said that she can smell her body odour and saw her peeping through the cubicle door. Mirror.

How ethical is that when there is already not enough manpower. It's just appearing for the sake of money while nothing was done.

I managed to watch some nice performance by those really skilful people. Love it.

The in-charge for these two days was not up to standard. I seriously think that unappropriate personal relationship shouldn't be expressed during work. I sense the presence of favourtism.

Tunes of the Butterfly Lovers

This is another two-day SCO event that I worked for. It was a guest conductor that conducted the whole show for the two nights. It was his birthday and it was really nice for the people to celebrate his birthday for him. I heard the peaches that presented to him made a count of nineteen. What is the meaning of nineteen remains unknown.

For the sake of the show, the presentation of peaches was done for the two nights. Jane was the one assigned to present the peaches. We were joking that the peaches were too heavy for her.

On the first night, there was a sight that made me rather jealous. The backstage people took a group photo with the conductor and the soloist, the conductor's daughter. How I wish I can take a picture with them too. Why is there a very big gap between the backstage crews and ushers though we are the people that play a part in making this event a success? It's as if ushering is a very lowly job. It's awesome customer service alrights.

There isn't anything special about this event. I am glad that I got to have their autographs. What I heard was that this daughter did not have the same surname as her father because of the one-child policy; she follow her mother's surname while her sister follows her father's. Interesting.

I prefer the way this soloist plays the Butterfly Lovers. There is more feelings and more flexibility as compared to the previous one. There were times when she open her mouth side when she played. According to YuYue, that is the sign that she is very into the music. Wow.

Besides from the Butterfly Lovers, the soloist played another song to showcase her talent in violin. It was a tango music from a movie. Nice.

This piece of music is still as nice as ever. Hope to hear it again. The positive side of not being a flower girl is that I can enjoy the music more.

First Inter-Hospital Concert

I saw the advertisement for this event while I was attached at National University Hospital. I thought it would be fun to see my supervisors singing so I signed up for this event with expectations of fun experience.

It was however turned out to be just the participation of the doctors. This event was organised by the Singing Doctors Society (SDS). The chairperson of this society is Dr Timothy Lee. Another doctor with the same "Tim Lee" name that I have heard of. What a small world.

A big photograph of MM Lee and his wife int he garden was put on auction to raise funds. It was framed with some golden words written on it. I did not get a chance to get a close look because it was placed outside door three, facing the other way. Initially I thought that it was just a board that describes the event of the day. But it became really weird when the number of people that came forward to take pictures of the "board". I only knew what it was when I took a glimpse of it when the patron was not that overwhelming. The auduence was then told that the picture was donated by Dr Lee Wei Ling.

No photography, no videography, no audiography. I hate catching the last one because patron still can hide. As much as I hate it, someone in front of me did it at door five. I asked BT for help. He came up, observed for a moment, and took his chance to inform the patron about the rule when she took out a pack of biscuits to eat. It was great that she cooperated.

The songs sang were still alright. There were groups that sang artistic songs and groups that tried to make a comedy. My guess that the artistic group will win their category was right! TTSH won the over championship because they earned the most number of trophies.

There were three main judges invited for the event. One of them is from the Dim Sum Dollies, the group of people that sang "train is coming, train is coming..." She is actually the wife of the emcee for the night.

Ending of the event, I was assigned to bring a wheelchair patron down via the VIP lift. Not knowing that she was already unhappy that she was asked to shift to the side because she sat in the middle of the way, I went up to her to inform her that I am the usher that will be bringing her down and I got scolded for "rushing" her. Her mother, I assume, was better. She nicely enquired whether the wheelchair patron can meet her sister and go down together. I replied that it was not able to be done as her sister was on the stage. Seeing that they are thinking about something, I waited. After a while, I saw them moving towards door three. I quickly catched up to tell her that the lift is at door four's direction. She glared at me and scolded me for "rushing" her. Continuing her way, she went to the stage front to talk to her sister who was on the stage. It was then I realise why she wanted to go to that direction. Is it that hard to say nicely?

After some talks, she then came to me so that I can bring her down. She nagged me from the third floor to the first floor. Bleeding ears. She even said that this venue has a "stupid rule" in her very educated tone. I really hope that the lift will move faster then. She even questioned whether my job is full-time or part-time. There is totally no link to the situation at all.

Knowing that she wanted to meet her sister, I let her cut through the VIP lounge to the concourse. I don't usually let patron to do that, letting them taking the exit beside the stairs. Not even a thank you from anyone.

It was going back for debrief that I knew that the patron was not happy that she was asked to take the space at the side instead of the middle because the emergenccy fire exit route was obstructed. Great understanding of her. Sometimes, I thought this kind of patron should be dealt by some lazy people.

My Barley Plant!

Thsi is my first blog entry for the year and I shall introduce to you my awesome barley plant!

After months of watering and cutting away the dried up parts of the plant, it finally grew the beautiful black pearls, the barley seeds!

I have harvested 19 seeds on my first time touching the plant. The feeling was awesome! It grew so tall that I had to go to the level above mine to pluck those that I can reach.

I immediately made a pair of earrings with two carefully selected seeds. The product was really cool!