walking in the rain
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
sometimes
Sometimes it feels as if I care more about the people around me rather than myself.
I’m always asking everyone to take good care, have ample sleep, eat well and what not, so they won’t fall sick. Well, in this case, I’ve fallen ill myself, which doesn’t happen very often, really.
It started off with the usual mild flu on Sunday, but before I knew it, I ended up with more than I could ask for, with cough, sore throat and fever, which, I have to say, is something I completely detest. Nothing beats shivering and feeling cold on a warm day, popping a Panadol pill or two, hiding under the covers on your bed, and waking up completely sweating like a dog an hour or two later.
The worst part? The cycle repeats itself.
For the past 2 days or so I haven’t had much energy to do anything, except maybe upload some long-awaited photos on Facebook (at certain points of the day when I’m feeling better, haha). On most occasions I don’t even have the energy to look at the computer screen for a few minutes. Those of you who have been waiting for me to upload the photos for the longest time must be relieved to know that I have done so. Haha. There are over a hundred new photos over several events, and I’ve also tagged the relevant people. :)
Anyway, after much procrastination (and of course, the unwillingness to spend my hard-earned moolah), I finally dragged my ass to see the doctor this morning. I couldn’t be bothered to queue at the polyclinic, and I figured they would probably give me a whole bunch of crap medicine anyway, so I went to the clinic at Raffles Medical.
I was only 15 minutes past the opening time, but there were already 10 people in the queue before me, and I waited close to an hour before my turn arrived. There was a new female doctor in the house, by the way. She’s damn cute la, cos we talked about everything else and not my condition, and it kinda reached a stage where I had to gently remind her “oh by the way there’s a long queue outside”, which she went “oh really? I didn’t know that”, and happily continued her conversation with me. It was rather ironic because when I asked if she was new, she told me she was hired by the clinic due to the high volume of traffic in the mornings.
Interestingly enough, she ended our chat by saying “all the best to you in life…you’re a really likable person”. I didn’t know what to say, really. Indeed, I haven’t seen such an interesting doctor in a while.
The trip to the doctor was worth it though. The medicine provided more than just simple relief, and I felt so much better in the afternoon that I was off to do the things I’d been wanting to do over the past few days but had no chance to do so.
It was also the gala premiere of Iron Man at Shaw Lido tonight, something which I’ve been looking forward to since last week. I was glad I won a couple of pairs of tickets so I headed down with my friends to catch it at Shaw Lido at 9pm this evening. It was one of the hugest gala premieres ever, with all halls of Shaw Lido screening Iron Man.
Red Bull and Nivea were sponsors to the pre-show event, and there were DJs from Power 98FM, The NEW 91.3, and of course sponsor faces like Nat Ho (how can they not invite him when his highly-photoshopped face is plastered on the huge Nivea advertisements all over Shaw Lido?). I saw him entering the same hall as mine when I went out to pass my friend his movie cards, and I’m not sure if he remembers me or anything since we were from the same company together but when I looked at him and gave the slight “oh hey it’s Nat Ho” look (not that I’m a big fan of him or anything), he actually acknowledged by nodding his head slightly and gave me a sweet smile - the kind of boyish smile he’s capable of (which never fail to melt the hearts of girls, or even, uh, gays). What a humble guy anyway. :)
Speaking of which, I will always respect artistes who are humble, especially those who are my friends, such as Taufik and Jerry from SGI 1, and Andie from Star Search. I was just texting Andie the other day asking him how he’s coping in his newly-found job at MediaCorp TV, and he was pretty excited to reveal to me that he would be in an upcoming comedy serial later this year. Haha. How fun.
Anyway, Iron Man’s a pretty awesome show, and the animation’s simply brilliant, so go catch it when it opens tomorrow. :)
We headed to River Valley for supper past midnight, and believe it or not, I had mee goring, something which I was supposed to refrain from, especially when the doctor told me to “eat porridge or rice only, and no coffee or tea”. But I was feeling so much better then so what the heck la. To think I was feeling so sick this morning that I could only have porridge for breakfast and lunch earlier today.
It’s times like these when you learn to appreciate your health more. The phrase “no health, no wealth” is so true, but like most people, I guess it doesn’t really bother us until something like this happens.
We have no control over these things, so it’s always best to appreciate the people around us while we still can. :)
I’m always asking everyone to take good care, have ample sleep, eat well and what not, so they won’t fall sick. Well, in this case, I’ve fallen ill myself, which doesn’t happen very often, really.
It started off with the usual mild flu on Sunday, but before I knew it, I ended up with more than I could ask for, with cough, sore throat and fever, which, I have to say, is something I completely detest. Nothing beats shivering and feeling cold on a warm day, popping a Panadol pill or two, hiding under the covers on your bed, and waking up completely sweating like a dog an hour or two later.
The worst part? The cycle repeats itself.
For the past 2 days or so I haven’t had much energy to do anything, except maybe upload some long-awaited photos on Facebook (at certain points of the day when I’m feeling better, haha). On most occasions I don’t even have the energy to look at the computer screen for a few minutes. Those of you who have been waiting for me to upload the photos for the longest time must be relieved to know that I have done so. Haha. There are over a hundred new photos over several events, and I’ve also tagged the relevant people. :)
Anyway, after much procrastination (and of course, the unwillingness to spend my hard-earned moolah), I finally dragged my ass to see the doctor this morning. I couldn’t be bothered to queue at the polyclinic, and I figured they would probably give me a whole bunch of crap medicine anyway, so I went to the clinic at Raffles Medical.
I was only 15 minutes past the opening time, but there were already 10 people in the queue before me, and I waited close to an hour before my turn arrived. There was a new female doctor in the house, by the way. She’s damn cute la, cos we talked about everything else and not my condition, and it kinda reached a stage where I had to gently remind her “oh by the way there’s a long queue outside”, which she went “oh really? I didn’t know that”, and happily continued her conversation with me. It was rather ironic because when I asked if she was new, she told me she was hired by the clinic due to the high volume of traffic in the mornings.
Interestingly enough, she ended our chat by saying “all the best to you in life…you’re a really likable person”. I didn’t know what to say, really. Indeed, I haven’t seen such an interesting doctor in a while.
The trip to the doctor was worth it though. The medicine provided more than just simple relief, and I felt so much better in the afternoon that I was off to do the things I’d been wanting to do over the past few days but had no chance to do so.
It was also the gala premiere of Iron Man at Shaw Lido tonight, something which I’ve been looking forward to since last week. I was glad I won a couple of pairs of tickets so I headed down with my friends to catch it at Shaw Lido at 9pm this evening. It was one of the hugest gala premieres ever, with all halls of Shaw Lido screening Iron Man.
Red Bull and Nivea were sponsors to the pre-show event, and there were DJs from Power 98FM, The NEW 91.3, and of course sponsor faces like Nat Ho (how can they not invite him when his highly-photoshopped face is plastered on the huge Nivea advertisements all over Shaw Lido?). I saw him entering the same hall as mine when I went out to pass my friend his movie cards, and I’m not sure if he remembers me or anything since we were from the same company together but when I looked at him and gave the slight “oh hey it’s Nat Ho” look (not that I’m a big fan of him or anything), he actually acknowledged by nodding his head slightly and gave me a sweet smile - the kind of boyish smile he’s capable of (which never fail to melt the hearts of girls, or even, uh, gays). What a humble guy anyway. :)
Speaking of which, I will always respect artistes who are humble, especially those who are my friends, such as Taufik and Jerry from SGI 1, and Andie from Star Search. I was just texting Andie the other day asking him how he’s coping in his newly-found job at MediaCorp TV, and he was pretty excited to reveal to me that he would be in an upcoming comedy serial later this year. Haha. How fun.
Anyway, Iron Man’s a pretty awesome show, and the animation’s simply brilliant, so go catch it when it opens tomorrow. :)
We headed to River Valley for supper past midnight, and believe it or not, I had mee goring, something which I was supposed to refrain from, especially when the doctor told me to “eat porridge or rice only, and no coffee or tea”. But I was feeling so much better then so what the heck la. To think I was feeling so sick this morning that I could only have porridge for breakfast and lunch earlier today.
It’s times like these when you learn to appreciate your health more. The phrase “no health, no wealth” is so true, but like most people, I guess it doesn’t really bother us until something like this happens.
We have no control over these things, so it’s always best to appreciate the people around us while we still can. :)
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
you are the one who make moments last forever
9th April has always been a date very close to my heart.
It’s always been a very special day for me each year, and I’ve probably blogged about this before, but I’m going to do it again.
Well, on this very day 11 years ago (gosh, it’s been that long), I performed for the late President Ong Teng Cheong at the President’s Charity Concert at Victoria Concert Hall. I mean, I put up shows and performances all the time, but I guess this was one of those which really meant a lot to me. I was in Primary 6 then, and although it’s been 11 years, it felt like yesterday when I stood on stage to perform for the president of Singapore.
11 years down the road, President Ong and his wife have both passed away. The photo I took with them still remains with me, though, and it’s hung on the wall next to the music room in my house.
9th April 1997 was a Wednesday, and this year, 9th April is a Wednesday too. I’m glad to say that this year, 9th April has been equally special and memorable. Spending time with J has been something I’ve been looking forward to, actually, and spending half the day with her was more than anything I could have asked for. We met in town for lunch before spending the rest of the afternoon together. Thank you, J, for asking me out and I know you had a great time as much as I did.
I have many other things to write about but I have decided to dedicate this entry to you so I will stop here for now. :)
It’s always been a very special day for me each year, and I’ve probably blogged about this before, but I’m going to do it again.
Well, on this very day 11 years ago (gosh, it’s been that long), I performed for the late President Ong Teng Cheong at the President’s Charity Concert at Victoria Concert Hall. I mean, I put up shows and performances all the time, but I guess this was one of those which really meant a lot to me. I was in Primary 6 then, and although it’s been 11 years, it felt like yesterday when I stood on stage to perform for the president of Singapore.
11 years down the road, President Ong and his wife have both passed away. The photo I took with them still remains with me, though, and it’s hung on the wall next to the music room in my house.
9th April 1997 was a Wednesday, and this year, 9th April is a Wednesday too. I’m glad to say that this year, 9th April has been equally special and memorable. Spending time with J has been something I’ve been looking forward to, actually, and spending half the day with her was more than anything I could have asked for. We met in town for lunch before spending the rest of the afternoon together. Thank you, J, for asking me out and I know you had a great time as much as I did.
I have many other things to write about but I have decided to dedicate this entry to you so I will stop here for now. :)
Friday, April 04, 2008
shizzle my nizzle
If there’s one thing I’ve learnt over the past few weeks, it is that I must always be careful not to be too quick to judge.
I don’t know what examples I should give but what I do know is that there have been recent cases where I have misjudged certain things, such as situations, as well as people. It’s normal I guess, but you never know how things sometime turn around in a way you never expect it to and you end up realizing that it wasn’t really a fair judgement of the person/situation in the first place.
By the way, before I continue, I just want to say that Hong Kong was a blast. It was yet another one of those “I think I deserve a short break because I’ve been working way too hard and earning too much money so I’m going to put everything aside and just go for it” kind of trip. Haha. Believe it or not, I haven’t actually been to Hong Kong, so you could say that this was my virgin trip.
I spent a total of $800 in 5 days, inclusive of air fare. I resided at my friend’s place when I was there so I did save quite a bit on lodging. Disneyland was the best thing I had ever seen; it completely rocked my world when I was there and it did feel very magical indeed, which was what they promised when I took the Mickey Mouse train. It was an amazing experience.
On certain days we had to get up at 6 in the morning and we had activities until 1am the next day. I would very much like to say I then lost a lot of weight from all that walking but half the time we stopped to stuff our face with food so I’m pretty sure that didn’t happen.
I took over 400 photos during this trip and because the trip was so packed with activities, there wasn’t even time to burn the photos. I’m waiting for more than half my photos to arrive via airmail, so once I get hold of them (hopefully this week), I’ll put them up on Facebook.
By the way, it’s been pretty long since I last blogged about anything, so I’ve decided to write a longer entry today, for those of you who still take time to drop by.
The evening before I left for Hong Kong, I had to do 2 shows back-to-back, one of which was a string trio for my church friend’s friends, who celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary at Regent Hotel. I then rushed down to attend X’s wedding dinner at Tanjong Katong Complex, which we performed for the 2nd march-in.
It wasn’t much of a big deal. I just found it awkward because we (the SQ members) were put with X’s university mates, which I thought was a weird combination. I was rather tired by the time the dinner commenced so I was quiet almost throughout. I had no idea who the guy next to me was; neither did I bother finding out since he didn’t open his mouth as well. I spent half the time messenging Hui, cursing and swearing in my heart at why she didn’t reserve a seat for me next to her. Haha. We both ended up giggling at our seats opposite each other, which turned out to be damn funny.
Anyway, moving along. Easter this year was great. I was intrigued by City Harvest Church’s drama trailer, iMing, so I dragged both my mum and brother down to Expo to watch the play, which I found it to be brilliant.
Apart from enjoying and understanding the message of the play, I actually did look out for the elements as to how the drama was done (it’s something I never fail to do), from scripting to lighting to the selection of camera angles by the TV crew. Yes, the entire drama was filmed (probably for people who were viewing the service online for whatever reason), and I have to admit I was completely impressed with the way the filming was done. Maybe I’m very easily impressed, but I thought they did a great job, especially when the cast did their lines and stunts on the audience platform. The VL lights were very carefully selected to create shadows and a frontal camera which moved along together with the crew during the scene where Jesus was put to death on the cross was completely stunning and absolutely touching.
I was way too engrossed to even whip out my camera and take some photos, so unfortunately I don’t have any evidence of what I just described. I must say, though, it’s one of the most heart-warming dramas I’ve ever seen.
I spent the rest of the Easter Sunday afternoon with my mum, believe it or not, at the travel fair at Suntec City. After spending hours of walking around and doing our research on all the package deals offered by all the travel agencies, we finally settled on one we thought was the best deal – a holiday to Gold Coast, Australia. I don’t wish to mention which agency we signed up with though. And yup, I know, it sounds ridiculous since I’m just back from my Hong Kong trip but hey, no harm right? It’s not that expensive anyway. :)
We were entertained the entire evening because there were just so many freebies that came together with the signing of a package deal and my mum actually swept up a whole bunch of pretty cool stuff from the red carpet draw, which we would have missed if not for my observance.
Anyway, on to other news. I know this is sad news for my mutton buddy, but I have decided to leave the FE. It wasn’t a tough decision to make, but it was indeed a challenge trying to get my way out (I didn’t exactly agree to the partnership by signing any contract or anything so I managed to cover my ass pretty well). I know Z isn’t happy, but I have my reasons, and they’re valid. With my new revamped weekend schedule starting April, I know I won’t have time for rehearsals. They’re too early and the venue’s way too far for me anyway. After all, I’ve learnt that in life, you can’t really please everyone. In any case, it’s 2 weeks to the concert, and once it’s over, I will bid farewell to the group. Can’t wait.
Speaking of farewell, I bidded farewell to Y today. She has been with me for exactly a month and she leaves for Japan for further studies on Saturday. It’s been pretty fun getting to know one another, and just earlier today, after looking at a photo in her room, I found out that she was in the same class as someone I used to know before. It’s a small world indeed. I met her at the bus stop earlier this afternoon and we got ourselves almost completely drenched as we shared an umbrella while walking to her place in the monster rain. It was fun.
By the way, if you’ve got the time, there’re a couple of pretty good movies out there: The Spiderwick Chronicles, Cassandra’s Dream, Rogue Crocodile and Vantage Point. Shutter and Semi-Pro aren’t really worth watching, and the upcoming movie Definitely, Maybe is something you’d definitely want to miss. I was so looking forward to it (since it was done by the same people who did Love Actually), and I had extremely high expectations, but sadly, it turned out to be a real flop. I had even invited my elder sister and her fiancée to this media preview, and they were rather disappointed.
And if you’ve got the guts and balls to watch a sadistic, monstrous movie that comes with a completely devilish soundtrack, go catch the movie Funny Games, when it opens in theatres. I managed to catch the preview yesterday, and personally, I like the storyline (I actually enjoy the fact that there are people in this world who have a warped sense of thinking), but I think the anti-Christian message together with the devil’s soundtrack (literally) is way too disturbing.
Anyway, before I go, Superscenic is out in stores! I know I’m 3 months late, but better late than never right? I will be promoting it on Facebook soon, so do look out for my message. It’s $25 for the artbook together with the soundtrack, and although I did not write the music, most of the tracks were played by yours truly. I spent quite a lot of time and effort on the soundtrack, so please support if you can.
Here’s where you can lay your hands on Superscenic:
V21 Resources Pte Ltd
Anime House
#01-50
Sunshine Plaza
Thank you for your support.
By the way, in case you haven’t heard, streetdirectory.com has been sued and the site has been closed. It’s hard to believe that it’s no longer around as I just used it a couple of days ago, but seriously, it’s gone for good.
I have lots of other things to write about, but if I continue, the entry will be longer than twice of this. Guess I’ll leave it to my next entry. :)
I don’t know what examples I should give but what I do know is that there have been recent cases where I have misjudged certain things, such as situations, as well as people. It’s normal I guess, but you never know how things sometime turn around in a way you never expect it to and you end up realizing that it wasn’t really a fair judgement of the person/situation in the first place.
By the way, before I continue, I just want to say that Hong Kong was a blast. It was yet another one of those “I think I deserve a short break because I’ve been working way too hard and earning too much money so I’m going to put everything aside and just go for it” kind of trip. Haha. Believe it or not, I haven’t actually been to Hong Kong, so you could say that this was my virgin trip.
I spent a total of $800 in 5 days, inclusive of air fare. I resided at my friend’s place when I was there so I did save quite a bit on lodging. Disneyland was the best thing I had ever seen; it completely rocked my world when I was there and it did feel very magical indeed, which was what they promised when I took the Mickey Mouse train. It was an amazing experience.
On certain days we had to get up at 6 in the morning and we had activities until 1am the next day. I would very much like to say I then lost a lot of weight from all that walking but half the time we stopped to stuff our face with food so I’m pretty sure that didn’t happen.
I took over 400 photos during this trip and because the trip was so packed with activities, there wasn’t even time to burn the photos. I’m waiting for more than half my photos to arrive via airmail, so once I get hold of them (hopefully this week), I’ll put them up on Facebook.
By the way, it’s been pretty long since I last blogged about anything, so I’ve decided to write a longer entry today, for those of you who still take time to drop by.
The evening before I left for Hong Kong, I had to do 2 shows back-to-back, one of which was a string trio for my church friend’s friends, who celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary at Regent Hotel. I then rushed down to attend X’s wedding dinner at Tanjong Katong Complex, which we performed for the 2nd march-in.
It wasn’t much of a big deal. I just found it awkward because we (the SQ members) were put with X’s university mates, which I thought was a weird combination. I was rather tired by the time the dinner commenced so I was quiet almost throughout. I had no idea who the guy next to me was; neither did I bother finding out since he didn’t open his mouth as well. I spent half the time messenging Hui, cursing and swearing in my heart at why she didn’t reserve a seat for me next to her. Haha. We both ended up giggling at our seats opposite each other, which turned out to be damn funny.
Anyway, moving along. Easter this year was great. I was intrigued by City Harvest Church’s drama trailer, iMing, so I dragged both my mum and brother down to Expo to watch the play, which I found it to be brilliant.
Apart from enjoying and understanding the message of the play, I actually did look out for the elements as to how the drama was done (it’s something I never fail to do), from scripting to lighting to the selection of camera angles by the TV crew. Yes, the entire drama was filmed (probably for people who were viewing the service online for whatever reason), and I have to admit I was completely impressed with the way the filming was done. Maybe I’m very easily impressed, but I thought they did a great job, especially when the cast did their lines and stunts on the audience platform. The VL lights were very carefully selected to create shadows and a frontal camera which moved along together with the crew during the scene where Jesus was put to death on the cross was completely stunning and absolutely touching.
I was way too engrossed to even whip out my camera and take some photos, so unfortunately I don’t have any evidence of what I just described. I must say, though, it’s one of the most heart-warming dramas I’ve ever seen.
I spent the rest of the Easter Sunday afternoon with my mum, believe it or not, at the travel fair at Suntec City. After spending hours of walking around and doing our research on all the package deals offered by all the travel agencies, we finally settled on one we thought was the best deal – a holiday to Gold Coast, Australia. I don’t wish to mention which agency we signed up with though. And yup, I know, it sounds ridiculous since I’m just back from my Hong Kong trip but hey, no harm right? It’s not that expensive anyway. :)
We were entertained the entire evening because there were just so many freebies that came together with the signing of a package deal and my mum actually swept up a whole bunch of pretty cool stuff from the red carpet draw, which we would have missed if not for my observance.
Anyway, on to other news. I know this is sad news for my mutton buddy, but I have decided to leave the FE. It wasn’t a tough decision to make, but it was indeed a challenge trying to get my way out (I didn’t exactly agree to the partnership by signing any contract or anything so I managed to cover my ass pretty well). I know Z isn’t happy, but I have my reasons, and they’re valid. With my new revamped weekend schedule starting April, I know I won’t have time for rehearsals. They’re too early and the venue’s way too far for me anyway. After all, I’ve learnt that in life, you can’t really please everyone. In any case, it’s 2 weeks to the concert, and once it’s over, I will bid farewell to the group. Can’t wait.
Speaking of farewell, I bidded farewell to Y today. She has been with me for exactly a month and she leaves for Japan for further studies on Saturday. It’s been pretty fun getting to know one another, and just earlier today, after looking at a photo in her room, I found out that she was in the same class as someone I used to know before. It’s a small world indeed. I met her at the bus stop earlier this afternoon and we got ourselves almost completely drenched as we shared an umbrella while walking to her place in the monster rain. It was fun.
By the way, if you’ve got the time, there’re a couple of pretty good movies out there: The Spiderwick Chronicles, Cassandra’s Dream, Rogue Crocodile and Vantage Point. Shutter and Semi-Pro aren’t really worth watching, and the upcoming movie Definitely, Maybe is something you’d definitely want to miss. I was so looking forward to it (since it was done by the same people who did Love Actually), and I had extremely high expectations, but sadly, it turned out to be a real flop. I had even invited my elder sister and her fiancée to this media preview, and they were rather disappointed.
And if you’ve got the guts and balls to watch a sadistic, monstrous movie that comes with a completely devilish soundtrack, go catch the movie Funny Games, when it opens in theatres. I managed to catch the preview yesterday, and personally, I like the storyline (I actually enjoy the fact that there are people in this world who have a warped sense of thinking), but I think the anti-Christian message together with the devil’s soundtrack (literally) is way too disturbing.
Anyway, before I go, Superscenic is out in stores! I know I’m 3 months late, but better late than never right? I will be promoting it on Facebook soon, so do look out for my message. It’s $25 for the artbook together with the soundtrack, and although I did not write the music, most of the tracks were played by yours truly. I spent quite a lot of time and effort on the soundtrack, so please support if you can.
Here’s where you can lay your hands on Superscenic:
V21 Resources Pte Ltd
Anime House
#01-50
Sunshine Plaza
Thank you for your support.
By the way, in case you haven’t heard, streetdirectory.com has been sued and the site has been closed. It’s hard to believe that it’s no longer around as I just used it a couple of days ago, but seriously, it’s gone for good.
I have lots of other things to write about, but if I continue, the entry will be longer than twice of this. Guess I’ll leave it to my next entry. :)
