I didn't quite expect my maiden overnight cycling would be with 30 total strangers, except for anergy's Sharon, who brought me in. Afterall, it is really just not me to feel at ease with a whole big group of people whom I do not know. Furthermore, it is an Interest group..
Perhaps I really suck at turning down invitations. Perhaps I really so want to try out overnight cycling. Perhaps I know I would have nothing better to do. Perhaps I want to know more people.
Much to my relief, things did turn out nice. The people were warm and inclusive, and in no point did I feel left out. Yes, even slow-warmers like me warmed up, thanks to one of them who insisted I have a 歌星脸.
I shan't elaborate more on the route we took/ the landmarks we saw/ the food we ate/ the time we ended/ etc. I guess these are kinda typical for night cyclings. One thing not-so-typical, was the playing of games at certain landmarks, which increased the entertainment level, and enabled a chance to rest.
Everything ended nice and well, and while waiting for it to be late enough to take the bus home, there were random lame chats. It's really kinda admirable to see how enthusiastic this group of people were, with a wide age group among them. I certainly enjoyed the experience, and a little to my relief, there wasn't any hard-selling of anything.
人生是黑白的.
11:55 PM <3
>>>
---------------------------------
"SPOP Gala will climax with a big show this Sunday at the Indoor Stadium. Before the big bang, let me share with you some strange things that happened during these few days leading to this Gala…
It was a pity an initially very enthusiastic big time singer (I grew up with those songs during college days) couldn’t accept the invitation to perform on Sunday. Perhaps sharing the same stage with the one this singer so deeply loved once but now separated may be too much to bear…"
[My guess: 林忆莲 is the big time singer. 李宗盛, who is attending the gala, was her husband]
***************************************
"Up till today, we are not sure if another singer scheduled to appear is going to sing or not. This once-and-I-think-still-is-very-well-loved singer is such a perfectionist she couldn’t be sure if she would be in top form after a long break (actually retired) from singing for almost half a year liao…"
[My guess: 陈洁仪 is scheduled to appear. She has retired from singing and is now in the corporate world for about half a year.]
***************************************
"I once suggested inviting this self-financed singer who claimed to have written more than a thousand songs (strangely, he counted those unpublished songs as well). Well, you see…he has one single song which was picked and sung to fame by a heavenly queen 吗... Nobody in the production committee was interested at all. Guess spending so many hundreds of thousands to plaster his face all over town just failed to warrant much attention as compared to some newbie’s brilliant manager who spent nothing at all…"
[My guess: 陈孟奇. He self-financed his album, claimed to have written 1000 songs, wrote 马德里不思议 for Jolin. His album ads were seen around town and on buses]
***************************************
"This one-song-wonder-sweetie-pie has a really good PR manager. With just one single relatively average song, she found her way onto the stage this Sunday and yes…singing that ‘so-sweet-it-causes-tooth-decay-song’. Checked: good PR skills need not be expensive."
[My guess: 美心. She released a single, 瞬间, which was really too much of a sweetener. She's performing this sunday]
***************************************
"It is really very hard for Singaporeans to go wild over any singer from the Mainland. Despite several hit duets with this ‘heavenly-brother-who-writes-and-sing’ and a current hit duet up high on the charts, she is still not widely accepted here. The local media labeled her as ‘世界女’ but in reality, she is one ‘dumb dumb whose actions are often misunderstood lah’ (according to her manager)…"
[My guess: 金莎. Kinda obvious the heavenly bro is 林俊杰, and the current hit duet on charts is 期待爱.]
***************************************
"There’s also another singer with a very ‘kan-cheong’ family member. This member of hers scrutinized all news related to this singer and reacted ‘fast and furious’ if the singer’s name was missing in any good reports…I have to be extra ‘kan-cheong’ when it comes to publicizing the singer just in case this family member of hers is ‘up and jumping’ again…"
[My guess: 蔡健雅. The 'kan-cheng' family member, who is also her manager, is her mum.]
***************************************
"I just don’t understand what is happening with some stars’ managers. There’s this manager of an upcoming new singer who ‘played really tough’ when ‘negotiating’ the star’s schedule. In the end, she was dropped even though she may be sitting around doing nothing during this period when she would have gained so much more publicity doing this Sunday’s SPOP Gala at Indoor Stadium. "
[My guess: ??? I concede defeat at this upcoming new singer]
人生是黑白的.
5:51 PM <3
>>>
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Shall update on 2 one-month-late February birthday celebrations. Was waiting for photos, but none came though.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Star: Yehlin
Location: Peilin's.
Sounds kinda weird why one's birthday was held at another's house. But that's because the main agenda was actually squad reunion dinner, which is usually held at peilin's, and his big day fell exactly on the day.
We've been imposing on her family for years. A couple of CNY reunions there, and some New Year (1st Jans) gatherings. I wouldn't have imagined how can close to 20 friends cram into my house.. There'll be limited standing space~
Anyway yehlin is one lucky squadmate who's likely to be the only one with so many squadmates sharing a birthday gift. It's super not easy to organise squad meet-ups now, considering how different everyone's schedules are, and it doesnt help that some are overseas.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Star: Liujun
Location: Her place.
It's worth mentioning that all of us OCIP people who turned up at her place at Jurong, live in the East. Ok, but it's kinda cool to have 2 side-by-side HDB units available to have her party. Food was nice.
And as usual, we formed our little poker-cards cornerss.
On the long MRT ride back, the whole lot of us actually started playing 'Musical chairs' in the train. We started off by sitting on the 2 opposite rows of seats, and when the doors open, we'll STAND, WALK over to the opposite row and SIT. Of course, at the same time, not to let other passengers get the seats too--or you'll not have one till your destination.
It was really hilarious. All had hard teary laughs for a few stations.
人生是黑白的.
11:21 PM <3
>>>
Selected Photos from GaiaMania 2008.
Date: 14 March 2008, Friday.
Location: NTUC Auditorium.
Audience coming in...
Inside the Auditorium before the opening..
Anglican High School Guitar Ensemble practising backstage.. 'The Green Field Of Summer' and 'A Walk in the Woods'.
The SMU student emcees...
Ngee Ann Secondary School Symphonic Band with 'Heal the World' and 'Incredibles'
Raffles Girls' School Angklung Group with 'Getaran Jiwa' and 'Jamu and Ginseng'.
Presbyterian High School's NEA skit performance.
Environment Pledge Taking by Organising Committee and representatives from performing schools.
Nan Hua Secondary School Harp Ensemble with "Canon in 'D'" and 'Sakura'.
Singapore Chinese Girls' School String Ensemble with 'In Old Vienna' and 'Gypsy Serenade a Hungarian Dance'.
Methodist Girls' School Handbell Ensemble with 'Under the Sea' and 'Aladdin Medley'.
Dunman Secondary School Choir with 'Can you feel the love tonight' and 'Kasar Mie La Gaji'.
人生是黑白的.
3:15 PM <3
>>>
Press Release
For immediate release
Singapore- 18th March 08
Champion the Youth Cause – “The Globe is all in Our Hands”
It was a grand and solemn moment as 500 youths took the pledge led by a group of youth leaders from Tanjong Pagar CC Youth Executive Committee (YEC) and Singapore Management University (SMU) at the green concert GaiaMania 2008 on Friday, 14th March. Not the conventional pledge that you expect, but a pledge that commits to the environmental cause to take active ownership of our environment. As encapsulated in the slogan ‘The Globe is all in Our Hands’, these youths strongly believe that they have the power to make a difference by coming together to rally for the environmental cause.
GaiaMania 2008 is an event that aims to raise environmental awareness among youths through the effective medium of the Arts and Music. The concert is entirely initiated by youths, led by youths and put up by youths. It showcases the Singapore Youth Festival (SYF) performances of secondary schools that vary widely such as concert band, guitar ensemble, string ensemble, choir, handbell, angklung, harp ensemble and more.
The pledge card consists of simple everyday reminders to reduce, reuse and recycle at home, at work or out shopping. Its significance is to encourage the youths to engage in environmental conservation in every aspect of their lifestyle. The aim of the organizing committee is to ideally reach out to the masses by first “converting” the youths across Singapore to commit to the environmental cause as part of a holistic effort. These youths can contact the organizing committee or the organizations involved (NEA, SEC etc) to sign up as volunteers for future activities or to donate to their ongoing campaigns.
GaiaMania 2008 has also invited the youths from lower-income families to attend this concert. The organizing committee hopes to drive across the message that environmental conservation is everybody’s responsibility, regardless of age, background and status.
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Press Release
For immediate release
Singapore- 18th March 08
青年：“地球就在我手心”
近500个青年一同见证了一场既盛大又庄严的宣誓仪式。这群青年是由一组来自丹戎巴葛青年执行委员会（Tanjong Pagar CC Youth Executive Committee） 和新加坡管理大学（Singapore Management University） 的青年领袖带领许下这别具意义的‘信约’。这‘信约’并非国家信约，而是这组青年为了环保起义而发起的环保信约。这个活动是环保音乐会GaiaMania 2008的一部分，已于3月14日在职总大礼堂（NTUC Auditorium）举行。就如总结于音乐会的标语‘地球就在我手心’一样，这群青年深信，他们能通过团结的力量来为环保作出强而有力的贡献。
GaiaMania 2008是个通过艺术和音乐媒介来提高青少年环境意识的音乐会。 这项音乐会是完全由青年发起，策划并执行的。组织委员会希望，他们能以身作则，以实际行动带领其他青少年为环保尽一份绵力。音乐会集合了在新加坡青年节（Singapore Youth Festival）获奖的音乐团体参与演出，其中包括了9所学府的铜乐队、舞蹈、话剧、吉他合奏团、安格隆（Angklung）、合唱团、弦乐队、竖琴合奏团和手摇铃等。
在音乐会上，观众也踊跃地参与填写承诺卡。承诺卡上注明了一些非常简易的环保行为，让青少年了解，不论在家中、学校或外出时，都能与环保扯上关系。因此组委会不但希望环保能成为青年们日常生活的一部分，还能通过青年们的影响力，将环保意识传达给更多人。
GaiaMania 2008组织委员会也邀请来自低收入家庭的青少年出席这个音乐会。 组委会希望能借此传达 ‘环境保护是大家的责任，我们应该同心协力，不分年龄、背景、阶级，去维护和保存环境’的信息。
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P.S. I'm just pasting this here, in case it doesn't come out in any papers. Actually an email interview was done with a journalist and we're not sure which paper it might appear in.. And the journalist who came on the event itself, represented 'IN' paper, which only circulates in schools..
So, at least, there might be 2 appearances after all.
人生是黑白的.
1:11 AM <3
>>>
Finally the event had ended.
Yes, it was all our first time organising a concert of such scale. There were 300 performers! And yes, that's why there were problems. But I guess we didn't do too bad, given no prior experience, and that we had tried really hard.
Yes, the stage wasn't huge. The backstage was way too tiny, and the backstage exit was far too narrow. But I felt the auditorium was rather classy, and the Marina Bay nightview formed a mesmerizing backdrop behind.
The backstage was a great challenge. The movement of instruments posed great difficulties. It was really a stressful environment backstage. I'm sure everyone would have panicked and crossed fingers at some point in time. All for the sake of running a good show in front. The emcees were really good.
And one crucial moment was when the journalist came! She didn't want to interview the committee. Instead, she asked to get 2-3 representatives from each of the 10 schools, and interviewed them directly! And the thing is, she left just 1/2 hour into the concert, missing out on the main pledge-taking highlight, which would be quite news-worthy, in my opinion.
-------------------------
Anyway, it seems surreal that 5 months of preparation ended just like that. I'm sure everyone would have learnt a great deal, like how important it is to start publicity earlier. Personally I've come to realise how much thought and work is required, for just a short 2.5 hours concert.
It wasn't perfect. It might have been far from perfect. But I'm sure the entire committee had contributed much, and it was pleasant working with them. Personally, I might have regretted being in this at some point, but now that it's over, I'm glad I saw this event to its very last. The SMU students were really nice to work with, and it's a little sad that we'd all be parting ways soon.
------------------------
Anyway, event photos will be up soon.
人生是黑白的.
5:19 PM <3
>>>
Shall update on 2 one-month-late February birthday celebrations. Was waiting for photos, but none came though.
