Hope's Birthday Bash

It's been awhile since my last stage performance, and how I missed it. So I was so happy with my decision to join Hope Church's 100 people choir... Tho if I'm not mistaken we're only close to 100, hehehe. No matter. The funny thing about the choir was just that the soprano and the bass were called "melody". And unlike the prestigious Altos and Tenors, some of us, the 'lucky' ones were placed on the very top/ the back of the group, since it's too many of us. And I would be one of those lucky girls, hehehe... But the good thing, I don't get to get nervous, since... hello, it's just too many people, I can sing or not sing if I want to, hehehe. But of course, I sang. Love to sing...

So after the supposed 12 weeks rehearsal, the show came down at the Singapore EXPO Hall 2 last Saturday. I must say that the only thing that made me grumble was just the 'pajama top' looking costume that I had to pay a fortune for. But nothing beat the quality times I had with my fellow singers. And with my trustee camera I managed to captures several wonderful moments. (Mostly something that I can laugh at, hehehe)

Anyway, if you would like to know the details for the what going ons... you can check out Junming's post. My memory and my fingers do not seem to want to work together...

Check out the TLC shown by this bro... Awwww...

The strapping tenors and baritones (a.k.a. melody) posed for with their brilliant smiles.

This is how manly man put on lipstick, or in this case lip gloss, hahahaha... Honestly guys, it's not that painful, hehehe

Our model of the day... Mr. Gabriel Ang :P

*Ahem*... Some beautiful people and our endorsement... Hey where're the paychecks? Hehehe...

Tiger in the Lionesses' den... ROWR! Hahaha...

I got assigned as one of the make up artistes of the day. But some of my clients seemed not to be impressed by my style :(, hehehe.. Oh well... it's ok. I got more time to do snapshots then. Oh by the way, the photo above was taken by none other than Mr. James Wong, copyrighted... hehehe...

OK will add more later... Maybe... Stay tuned... :P

yummi in my tummi

Last Wednesday was our last chance to entertain the Germans. Christian and Markus were leaving early on the next day. So Elaine invited some of us to dinner at Tiong Bahru. While Christian and Markus would be leaving, we got another German that will stay with us for at least 6 months. His name is Jurgen. But unlike the previous two, this one will go to Gabriel and Jun Ming's caregroup.

Most of us reached the meeting place (Tiong Bahru's McDonalds) on time. About 7.30 pm. And we hang out there waiting for some more to come and also Jurgen, the new kid on the block.

There's some funny little things that happen while waiting for Jurgen to come. Peishan supposedly come and joined us for dinner, but she would be late and so she called me asking for the exact meeting place for dinner. Now, since I thought Jun Ming would know the place (plus, Elaine was talking to Christian, hence can't be bothered), I told Peishan that I'll let Jun Ming talk to her. At the end of phone conversation, Jun Ming 'scolded' me saying that I told Peishan that his name is Jermaine. Beside feeling semi guilty and embarassed because of it, I thought the whole thing was funny. On my mind, a big black guy just gotten a bit miffed, hehehe. Sorry if my Chinese tonal pronounciation needs tuning, hahaha. But I seriously said Jun Ming, not Jermaine. Honest. :P After calling my joke to Christian lame, I got to laugh a bit at Jun Ming when he introduced himself to Jurgen as James. Perhaps it's better if he say it like this (another lame attempt to joke, hahaha), "Wong, James Wong." Hahaha. Oh and he also asked Dee whether Dee thinks Jurgen handsome. Such a random thought. Hahaha.

We reached the restaurant at about 10 minutes before 8pm. Elaine said that we're always late whenever we want to set a time to have a gathering. Hehehe... she hadn't got much dealing with Indonesians I suppose (I mean, I got friend who was once even 4 hours late, without a real tangible explanation. For some reason the Indonesian culture that I know kind of always like to be late and people would come later, because thinking that the others would be even later... It never ends). I thought we're quite on time, considering that we reached the rendesvouz place at 7.30pm. On the dot :P

The eating place was a small restaurant seemingly not too promising, since there was hardly many customers. We would pretty much made the most population in the place. Sitting arrangements started to be formed while waiting for the rest of us to come.

Later on, I have to admit that I made a premature judgment on the restaurant. The food was good. I like the steam fish and the tofu (that's a given) and the rest were qite nice too. It's awesome to see that Edmond be able to have fun and laugh with us again. And we also had fun joking around with the Germans...

(note: this post been stuck for quite sometimes from completion, so I might as well already blurred on the details, hehehe... today's date is 9/13/06 :P)

Oh well, just so I finnally done with this post, here are some of the pics of the night. I must say that it's a great time having them around!

On a Midnight Prowl

Last Saturday was Safari day. Yup, Safari in the middle of the rat race called Singapore. After an uneventful Friday, I was really anticipating the promise of seeing oversize kitties in their man-made habitat. And the Safari delivers! Well, minus the damage cost of entry of S$28 per person *ouch!*

Peishan asked us on Thursday night regarding the trip and plus entertaining our German guest, Markus to the sights and sounds of Singapore. Now, the thing was I don't really know where the Safari thingy is held; never been there before, so I was just readily agree with them to meet at the Esplanade for dinner. At the begining, the chosen dining place was somewhere in Ang Mo Kio.

Esplanade is still one of my favorite spots in Singapore. It's just nice and beautiful and of course, the performing arts center. In a way I thought "The Durian" building gives a competition to Sydney's Opera House. It's Singapore's Broadway. While waiting for Gene to come and meet us, Jon, Markus, Peishan and I were taking pictures on the surrounding of Esplanade.

For some reason, as Jon's tour-guiding Markus, they were talking about whether the Merlion is a male or female. I added that it should be a dude lion not a chick, since it got mass o'hair, unlike the female lion. And I felt more stupendous, when Peishan gave a more easier and direct answer... "It's called the Merlion and not a Lioness..." I guess it's interesting to see how people answer a question in different angle. I'm more biological, perhaps, hehehe.

The dude is spitting water :P

Once in awhile, in my amateurish gig as a photographer, I like to take random picture that would make me look 'deep', hehehe. And here's one result. What't the site for that photo contest again? Hahahahaha

My Winning Prize shot *Hmm... out of idea to write some funny caption for this candid. Anybody help?*

After the photo op, we went to the food stalls in search for a good but cheap dinner. We settled at the Esplanade's hawker center, which exotically called, "Makan Sutra" (if directly translated to Indonesian, it would mean: Eating Silk, hehehe. So I wonder what the Malay translation would be). Don't like the rest half of the name... "Gluttons Bay". Again Jon was ushering Markus to see what food they can get. Markus declined on the oyster scrambled egg, no matter how both Jon and I kinda hint that the menu is a good eat :). After following them a bit, I let Peishan took her tour of duty as the resident photojournalist and me keep guard with the bags.

The local exchanges

The food were quite fulfilling. And the view and the weather were just nice, as the sky starting to get darker. As soon as Gene joined us, the five of us got to enjoy the view serenaded by the band that played that night. The free concert band was playing that U2 song that has the opening line, "Uno... Dos... Tres... Catorce!" (One, two, three... Fourteen, hehehe. One SNL comedian commented on the band's inability to count, as 14 comes after 3). I think the title is "Vertigo". From Esplanade, the 5 of us fit into a taxi to the Night Safari. Gene was entertaining Markus, Peishan and I were talking about nice locations for weddings (eh, what made us talk about weddings, huh?) and Jon was entertaining the taxi driver, hahaha. He got quite some information about the taxi driver. The uncle driver was actually a millionaire! Who would've thunk!

We got there about 8.40pm. I thought the surroundings reminded me of Disneyland's Indiana Jones' ride. It's like we're really in a touring mode. We're on vacation. The ticket price was dousing the excitement a bit, but soon forgotten, and three cameras started to take turn in recording memories.

We got to see a lot of animals from the cute one to the scary cute kind. The tram ride were nice, minus the nasally overdramatic tour guides' voices. Yes yes, we know, we got to conserve and save the Elephants! The lion was the only one from the cats family that's not behind the fiberglass cage. The tourguide said that Lion is the friendliest or tamest cat compared to the other big cats. Anyway, the Lion that we saw was sleeping, didn't bother to wake although his groupies (a.k.a. us, the visiting humans) were calling for him.

Then there's the striped Hyenas and the spotted Hyenas. The spotted ones were the ones that's more popular with the shrilling laugh (for reference, watch "The Lion King", hehehe). The Jackals and the small Wolfs were always cute for me, very much reminding me of my fave dog, the Huskies. Oh and there's this Bearcat. And they're just the cutest oversize furball. The tail can help them dangle from tree branches. Oh and there's the Babirusa (Deer-pig) and Markus said, "Schweine!" Or Swine/ Pig in German. He taught me how to say it right, hehehe. Das Schweine. Some of the Leopards skin 'design' had the Chameleon-like tendencies, as some can just blend with the tree trunk motifs and we couldn't even see them clearly until we see something moving and it happen to be their tails dangled in front of our faces. Behind the fiberglass mirror of course. We also watched the animal show, and the Otters were adorable. Peishan said that the emcee was speaking too fast and the show was less than expected. And we got to see the Racoons... Ah missed my own Racoons in US, hahaha... Considering that the two Racoons that make an appearance on the show have cousins in my backyard :D

The most memorable reaction to an animal would be when we, especially the girls, went into the batcage. We're not really scared of the Flying Squirell, even Gene want them to start flying. As soon as we entered the Bat cage, the shrill from some birds that also sharing the living space with the Bats added to the suspense in the atmosphere. These bats were just dangled from any thin leaf branches and sometimes you couldn't tell the difference because of the lack of light on the area. The three girls kind of huddled together, moving very slowly, fearing the bats. We stood in a row and when Peishan saw one of the bats flapped open its wings, she started screaming, followed like domino effect by me then Gene. We didn't really move until Jon helped ushered us out. And both of the boys had their laugh at our expense. (Alvin then commented about girls' reaction toward Batman. Hehehe, the screaming may be at the same level but the connotation will be different).

After a long night of screaming and walking, we got a nice ride back on a tram. We didn't really have a close encounter with a Giraffe aside from their nice behind, but we did pass a wondering Tapir. Before we leave, some were having some sugar-tooth. We raided Ben & Jerry's before we call it a night.

Again the five of us fit into the taxi heading home. Oh and if you would like to see the animals, I hope this will do, hehehe... Since during our trip there's the "No Flash Photography" policy being enforced. Check out the "Shiba Inu" (the big white dog, I think that's the breed name) too, on this clip. At least the two types of animals that I really like are represented here :P Motto Kawaii!

Reflection... And Thursday Night

My mom believes that you can't be in a convivial mood, because it means that the next thing that will follow is a big drop of sorrow. I guess things work according to what your mind percept too. You know, like a 'self-fulfilled prophecy' state of mind. A term that I learned for my Psychology minor. As I mentioned in my last post, it's time for me to wrap things up. But it doesn't need to end in a sour note. Yes, life can't be a party all the time, then again it's how you want to perceive things whether as your life sucks or a version of a roller coaster of emotions (may it be in Disneyland or 6 Flags formations :P ) or everyday is a good day and some are awesome days. I'd rather choose the latter. As hard or bad of a day that ever happened to me, I survived them all... May it caused chip on my shoulder... Be resilient and I shall recover.

Yes, I must admit that I still need to get that breakthrough in my life. But in a sense that will keep me grounded and humble. I just pray that low self esteem won't be knocking at my door, because believe it or not, people with low esteem can be quite snobbish and self-righteous, because they want to protect themselves and don't want to be perceived as a loser. And please no false humility either. Hehehe... Psychoanalysis me talking.

And then there is this thing called love. People misused the term or have no understanding at all. Sometimes I would just get confused by people that say that they love you and yet don't show it. I'd rather just stay quiet until my heart prompted me to really say and do it. No false hope or fake expressions. With the words come actions and commitment. And there's no such thing as "I love you, but..." I'd rather not say it at all. Love is too sacred to just throw it around like a piece of advertisement leaflet. (Disclaimer: Err... this is not only applicable for BGR, K?) Or perhaps again we just speak a different language of love, just like that book by Gary Chapman. Does love come with an expectation of a reward? OK blah blah, don't mind me. I'm tired with the rules of how the world does things. The rules keep on changing now. There are too many grey areas. And we do speak different things. I feel like Disney's Mulan and sing the "Reflection" song all over again. Why can't you love me for who I am? Why do I have to fit into a certain character for you to be able to see me as worthy of your love? OK, before people start thinking where is this conversation is going, I shall end this topic here. I just feel like ranting for a while.

OK let's move on...

Thursday, August 31st
Yesterday, our CG was talking about "Trials and Temptation". Yes, I admit that right now I fell into the temptation of ranting, hehehe. I was supposedly joined Dee's group, but since Andrea's group was smaller, Chris plucked me from my comfort zone and be amongst, what he called, "Roses among the thorns". Well, yes we're facing trials everyday and hope to persevere, such in my case. What didn't kill you will just make you stronger, right? And then temptation. Before Andrea ended the Bible study that night, she gave a homework, about this person who still don't want to be a Christian just because his perception of God was one of the a tricky kind. He asked, "If God is good, why would He created the tree of knowledge of good and evil to tempt us? Knowingly that man would eventually fall into temptation." Well, I just got my version of an answer to that question. If God created us to be robots (how I wish, sometimes, that I am one, so I don't have to feel anything, hehehe) , then that darn tree wouldn't be there. Adam and Eve will never have the right to choose, and will not be fully human. God gave men free will to choose and to love Him. God was giving Adam and Eve a choice, to obey or not to obey. I think the first sin was not even the result of eating the 'apple'. But from the very beginning, men refuse to follow order and fall into temptation. That was my answer. So if any of you CG members read this, can copy this answer and turn it in, hehehe...

That Friday night we have a couple members of Hope Stuttgart joining us. And at the end of the night, as per my phototaking habit insisted on doing, we're posing for photoshoot. And for once, my dependable Casio Camera is running out of battery. AARRRGGHHH... What gives? Luckily Markus Moetz, one of the German guys visiting, brought his camera and saved the day. Or I'll be bawling, for missing such Kodak moments, hehehe... Yeah I'm addicted to pictures, sue me. Later on, I found out that my plugger was broken, hence I was charging my camera without electricity coming in. So I guess, I will have to wait until the pictures are uploaded and ready to be sent to us. *Sigh* I shall update this post when the pictures are here.

Beside the photograph mishap, the night went by quite nicely. We still have our big group, minus several people. Perhaps next time we should have attendance record and the one with perfect attendance will win prizes, hehehe. Like Chocolate. What are we? First graders? But heck, I'll take it, hehehe.

The sitting arrangements were kind of funny, though, as people were automatically divided themselves like Moses parted the Red Sea, one side ladies, one side gents. Then, our head honcho, Chris, who said didn't have any ice breaker game watsoever prepared (yeah right, hehehe), told us to took out a piece of paper, jot down own names and pass it around every 15 seconds. The idea is to say our encouragement du jour on the paper with the respective names. I thought that was quite nice. Chris then asked: who got a comment that surprise you as in, you never thought that you are that character? Hardly anybody, or nobody got that special out of character encouragement. Me on the other hand was having fun, trying to decipher hand writings. And kinda cheated by counting who's sitting where, hehehe. The most comment that I thought was a bit not me, came from someone, maybe Alvin (the note suppose to be anonymous and although I'm counting backwards, sometimes people didn't write in order, and I only recognize a few handwritings). He said that I'm a good communicator. Thank you so much for his faith, because I don't really feel that way, hehehe. But glad that someone think of me like that. Whether he just want to be nice, since he hardly knew me or really meant it, it works as an empowerment to me.

For some of us, we ended the night with supper. And the plan to go Night Safari on this coming Saturday. Chris, Junda, Christian, Grace, Jon, Markus, Peishan and I (once again, missing the photo op :( ). Jon made a phone call to Edmond, and connecting him to Markus. I hope Edmond would be happy to hear someone speaks German to him again. I managed to grasp a little bit here and there when I hear Markus talked to Edmond. Wunderbach! Hehehe... After that we said gutten nacht to each other and headed home.