December Rains

I have been soaking myself in December Rains since last night. No, I don't mean the rain literally, and December is still far away. I'm referring to the Mandarin musical 'December Rains' awesomely staged up by Toy Factory Productions, featuring the amazing Kit Chan, George Chan and Jeffrey Low.



《雨季》是本地经典的华语音乐剧，1996年首次登场，2010年再次呈献在观众面前。TOY 肥料厂以这部音乐剧庆祝成立二十周年，是献给所有支持TOY 肥料厂及本地创作的朋友们最恰当不过的礼物。

《雨季》的编剧是本地华语音乐流行歌曲教父梁文福，他除了动笔写出扣人心弦的歌词，也和创作歌手叶良俊一起创造《雨季》的幽美旋律。《雨季》的另一大卖点，就是把陈洁仪、田伟鸿和刘俊葳，连同梁文福的作品撮合在一起。



故事，简单地说，是个三角恋。这个爱情故事，充满着无穷的欢乐和持久的痛苦。设在五十至八十年代的故事，总离不开政治的变化，社会的动乱，年轻人的感情逃脱不了家人的干涉及反对。没什么特别，反正牵动人心的是剧里的歌曲。

我爱上了那首《请你告诉他》，歌词带出三角恋的凄美，主角对爱情的期盼与挣扎。果然是梁文福的创作。其实所有的歌词都很有意思，很佩服梁文福的创作天赋。当然也欣赏陈洁仪、田伟鸿和刘俊葳难以抗拒的歌声。

《雨季》从开场主角们对未来，理想和爱情抱着希望，到落幕感叹过去的幼稚，委屈和无奈，是不是在提醒我们，人都会犯错，都得牺牲，要学习走出那场雨季，才能看到雨后的彩虹。

欣赏一部好的作品，不只是体验它完美地呈现在观众面前，也应该了解制作背后的努力。







恭喜TOY 肥料厂及所有演员们《雨季》演出成功，就让我暂时沉浸在这场美丽的雨季里吧。:)

Song for Singapore

National Day is coming, once again the whole country will come together and feel the spirit of patriotism soar. I'm not 100% patriotic (you could tell from my declarations of love for the Philippines and the Filipinos), National Day is nothing but a holiday to stay home and rest, and watch the National Day Parade on TV.

The military parade, the aircraft flypast, the show segments, and of course, the fireworks, are a staple of the NDP. But the theme songs are the ones that connect the people to the parade, to the entire National Day celebration.

The theme songs started with the familiar tunes of "Count On Me Singapore", "Stand Up For Singapore", "One People, One Nation, One Singapore", and a few more. It was then in 1998 when a different theme song was composed for every NDP, featuring our very own talents. I find that most of the Chinese lyrics are much more meaningful, and some songs, forgettable. Ha. Of all the singers, Kit Chan is still the best. :)

Listing out the various theme songs here, and my favourites. If you want to feel patriotic, you can click on all the links. Haha.

1998: Home



家



1999: Together

心连心



2000: Shine On Me, 星月

2001: Where I Belong

属于



2002: We Will Get There

一起走到



2003: One United People, 全心全意

2004: Home



2005: Reach Out For the Skies, 勇敢向前飞

2006: My Island Home, 辛福的图形

2007: There's No Place I'd Rather Be, Will You



2008: Shine For Singapore, 晴空万里

2009: What Do You See, 就在这里

2010: Song For Singapore



Happy 45th birthday, Singapore!

Go go power rangers!

Does that rings a bell? :D

I'm sure children of our age (note that I used the word 'children', because we are still young!) would definitely know the show. It was the most popular and coolest kids' show on TV during our primary school days! Haha..

It was over our usual catch-up session and we were reminiscing our childhood days. Power Rangers came to our minds, and surprisingly, we could name out the colours and the names of the rangers! And their power morphers!

I would sit right in front of the TV every Saturday morning (it was on TV12 then), and watched the rangers fight against the evil witch Rita and the monsters. I can't remember for how many years I was glued to the show, but I could recall that from the inital 5 rangers (red, blue, yellow, black and pink), the green ranger joined the group, and who in turn became the white ranger. There were replacements to the initial cast as well, and then I had no idea what happened next.

Every kid would talk about Power Rangers. My class even had a 'Rangers group'. Ha. Yes, I was part of it. I shall not say which ranger I was.

I think there used to be some ranger toys around in the house, I supposed they were either being passed down to my younger cousins, or they are now somewhere in Bago City. Haha.

Children shows nowadays are overly matured, kids should have some fantasy and imagination! Despite how violent the show was, Power Rangers is still a classic. Just look at their animations! Haha! But hey, that was in the 90s!

Go go Power Rangers! It's morphin' time!

I built a camera

My blog has once again became a dead town. Haha. Was rather 'diasppointed' with what work has turned out to be, and not so inspired to write anything.

But thankfully, my Nikon baby has been resuscitated (expensive attempt, but still.. yeah!) and I'm back to photography. :) Has been taking photos on different occasions, e.g. weddings, performances, festivals. And I'm loving it. :)

And yesterday, I built my own 35mm reflex lens camera! Yeah! It took me almost 2 hours, trying to figure out the set-up manual which was in Japanese, and I almost freaked out when I thought I've stuck the mirror the wrong way.

I love the look of the camera, so old-school. Haha. Can't wait to play with it!

A very bad week.

I hate coming to work this entire week. And I think it would be the same for the coming weeks. Period.

Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now

Everytime when I hear this song, somehow it would make me happy. Very nostalgic. Haha. I hope it's not because I feel connected to it. It doesn't belong to my era, I was only a toddler when it became a hit. ;)



Then I chanced upon another rendition by one of my favourite Filipino acoustic bands (yes, I have mentioned it quite a number of times), which sounds nice too!



And we can build this dream together, standing strong forever, nothing's gonna stop us now~~

Stffy and Lionel's ROM

She was one of my confidantes during my high school days. Both of us were 'weird', we don't fit into the main clique. That's why we clicked. Haha.

It has been a good 11 years, for the both of us. :)

I'm happy for her, for finding her true love, and now beginning the next phase of their lives together as one.

Congratulations to Stffy and Lionel, Mr and Mrs Lim. :)



And thank you, I hope I've captured the beautiful moments of your special day. :)

Voyage de la Vie

Voyage de la Vie is a circus theatre production created in Singapore with an international cast. I was glad I was able to catch the show (thanks to the complimentary tickets) at the Resorts World Sentosa Festive Grand theatre, fulfilling one of my childhood dreams of watching a circus show.

Erm, I am not that old, by the way. Haha.



Sitting in the second row was a BIG plus, enhancing the thrills of watching the circus acts live. :)

Of all the acts, I enjoyed the contortions, the jugglings, the magic and the cloud swing acts the most.

I love the contortionist. He is a 16-year old Russian boy, but yet very charismatic. Haha. Love his hairstyle. I could be half as flexible as him, if I hadn't stop dancing 18 years ago, and still religiously do my Yoga. HAHA.

The juggler is just as amazing. Especially to a person with butter-fingers and no ball-sense. Like me.

The magicians fulfilled another of my childhood dreams to watch magic shows right before my eyes. I was, and still am, trying to figure out the magic tricks on stage. How did he cut his partner into half, and the partner could still play the piano with his legs on the other end of the stage??

Love how the white rabbit popped out of his magician hat. Classic.

The cloud swing act was exhilarating. She was like on a giant swing, reaching a full 180-degree swing up high near the stage lights. I dare to do the same thing, WITH the safety harness attached. :D

There was a moment when the arrow shooter swung his way into the audience, right in between my guests who were just a seat away from me. I think my jaws dropped at that instant. After the show, I asked my guests jokingly, if they had purchased insurance for their trip here to Singapore. Haha.

I had a good time watching the show, and I am glad my guests enjoyed it as well. Most importantly, I could cross out something off my list of childhood dreams. :D

Another one is leaving

One by one, people are leaving. For the greener pastures.

I wished that one day, I could be like Kuya Kim, and shout out, 'I love this job'.

Suddenly, I want to fly away again.

Dreaming of the TRY camp again

For the 4th time in a month, I dreamt of the TRY Summer Youth Camp.



I'm not sure if there's anything wrong with me, but I do feel a little distressed after every dream. I would be struggling, on one hand, trying to figure what was going on, and on the other, trying to fight the 'homesickness' that would strike as the day went by.

I find it unbelievable to have dreamt of the same event in such frequent manner. I told a friend about it, and she said, I should just find a job in the Philippines to ease the 'homesickness'. Then another friend said this (on a separate matter), 'This world is full of opportunities for the bravehearted'.

Perhaps I'm not brave enough to step out, just yet. Perhaps I'm just waiting for the right opportunity. Hmm.. right.

Terrible headache

It was one of the worst nights I ever had to go through. The headache last night was terrible. It happened so suddenly and it was so painful that I couldn't sleep. The throbbing pain was absurdly driving me crazy. I felt like I was going to die.

So coincidental that I had no painkillers in the house. Great.

I bore with the pain through the night, and went to the doctor in the morning. She couldn't give me an exact diagnosis, she said I could be stressed, or due to the caffaine intake, but I don't think that was convincing enough. I was given painkillers, and a day of MC. Sadly I had to get back to work in the afternoon, and the MC went half-wasted.

I'm still having mild headache now, even after taking my medication. I hope there's nothing wrong with me.

Back from hometown once again

10 days in the Philippines is definitely not enough.

And I realise, the more people I know, the less time I've got to spend with them.

The death of my camera no doubt dampened my mood, but perhaps I've learnt to step out of my small world through the hard way.

Manila was so-so, Subic was a disappointment. Bago City is always my safe haven.

A series of unfortunate events happened in Manila and Subic, and I sought solace in my hometown. I am thankful I had the company of my dearest friends during the TRY Summer Youth Camp. I did not speak about what happened, I don't like being asked as well. Seeing how everybody has been so accommodating, I really appreciate it a lot. I hope I've been of some help during the camp, I hope I've brought smiles and laughter to everyone.

The camp made me realise how much more I need to work on to become a better person. Sometimes I feel I don't deserve all the love and blessings. Sometimes I feel I'm better being by myself.

Maraming salamat sa iyong lahat. I'm missing you guys already. Very much.

10th time to the Philippines

My 10th time stepping onto the beautiful islands of the Philippines! :D

And my 9th time to my wonderful home of Bago City!! :D

I love the Philippines! Pinoy na Pinoy ako! Mabuhay!!

Philippines' Election Day

I'm a total Pinoy today. I can't believe I'm actually tuning in to the Filipino news channel the whole day. Coincidentally, I was wearing a tee imprinted with a map of the Philippines. I swear it was really a random pick from my wardrobe. :)

May 10 marks the day for the Philippines' presidential and local government elections, another milestone for the Philippines' political history. I am very curious what the results would turn out to be, but as at the time I'm typing this post (11pm), only 38% of the total votes are being tallied.

This is the first time the country is carrying out fully automated polls, but of course not without glitches. A week ago, vote count machines were reported to be configured incorrectly, and today, there were cases of machines breaking down, leading to speculations that the election could be manipulated.

Such a large country, with over 17,000 positions at stake, from president down to municipal council seats, I would say it is an eye-opener for a foreigner coming from a very protected and regulated government. Ha.

The campaigning has been very colourful, and I mean it literally. Different parties, presidential and vice-presidential bets adopt different colours to identify themselves, and the entire nation has been coloured by banners, ribbons and posters during the campaigning period.

But of course, their political scene comes with violence and yes, corruption. Gunshots, private armies, massacre, bribery, whatever. Despite how much the Filipinos are fighting for their so-called democracy, the fight would just be a dirty one.

It sets people thinking, how would the country develop amidst such challenges against corruption, and how capable the candidates would be. Are the citizens wise enough to choose the right person to lead the country and the local governments, or are they easily swayed by the publicity the candidates are pumping millions of dollars into. And with the endorsements from the celebrities, and celebrities themselves running for senate and local government positions, would it just make the entire election a child's play? Not to mention the buying of votes. How would the country fight for their democracy when their actions are the complete opposite?

I will be waiting to see which colour would be ruling the country for the next 6 years.

The Filipino rendition of 'Maria'

Are you familiar with the musical West Side Story?

I was caught by surprise when I heard the Filipino pop singers' rendition of the song 'Maria'. Sung by Gary Valenciano, Christian Bautisa, Erik Santos and Jed Madela, this doesn't sound Broadway at all! But I thought this was better. Haha.

De-sian sessions needed.

I'm experiencing mixed feelings of frustration, resentment and depression.

De-sian sessions needed.

Aiza Seguerra - Man In the Mirror

Sharing with you a video of one of my favourite Filipino singers, Aiza Seguerra.

This song is recorded in her latest CD released in August last year, Aiza Seguerra: Live, and it is my favourite from this CD.

Love her to the max. Haha.

My summer paradise - Bago City

Last part of my summer paradise - Bago City

Bago City has always been my safe haven. Everybody knows that. That's the place I know I can escape to, away from reality, but with a rather hefty price (expensive air tickets).

It was my first time spending the Holy Week in Bago City, and my shortest stay so far. 3 days is definitely not enough.



In this predominantly Roman Catholic country, Good Friday is commemorated in many communities with street processions.



In Bago City, people from all barangays gathered on the streets near the St. John the Baptist Church. The entire procession started in the evening, and took more than an hour (although I couldn't remember exactly how long it took), with the devotees and the carrozas parading from one station of the Cross to another.



There were actually two processions happening on that day. I was being told that there were just too many people joining in the processions, and the devotees were from two different churches in the city.



That was my first time experiencing the Good Friday procession in the Philippines. I wouldn't say it was exciting, it was supposed to be a solemn event anyway. But it did allow me to witness the colourful and ritualistic displays of faith of the Filipinos.



But I think the kids enjoyed it. Ha.



In some other part of the Philippines, Pampanga actually, there are devotees who self-flagellate, and some even have themselves nailed to crosses as expressions of penance or in fulfillment of a vow accomplished in thanksgiving or exchange for a granted request or prayer. If given a chance, I would like witness the crucifixions too, but I guess it would take me a bit more courage to do that.

Anyway.

The Philippines will be having their political elections this coming May, and of course, campaigns are going on everywhere in the country. Billboards, posters, TV commercials of politicians everywhere. It's a rather interesting sight actually. Haha.

Again, it was my first time witnessing the campaigning in Bago City, and some of the people were teasing me that I was running for a senate seat. HAHA. I'm never into politics.



Children were rather excited though, because they got to get stickers and flyers, and soon they started singing the jingles that went around the barangays.



It was tiring walking under the blazing sun,but that's all part of the campaign. But kids just love it. Haha.



The short stay in Bago City ended with a serious bout of diarrhoea and vomitting. That doesn't stop me from going back to my safe haven. I have yet to experience the other important fiestas in Bago City. I told myself I'll celebrate my 10th visit to Bago City with a blast. This was my 8th visit. Two more to go!! :D

Could it be within this year? :) I love Bago City!

My summer paradise - Coron

Part 2 of my summer paradise - Coron.



The Philippines is made up of 7107 islands, it would be a waste to keep going back to the same old places. This time round, I ventured out to Coron, a municipality in the island of Palawan.

3 full days were spent there, doing island-hopping, sailing on the traditional Filipino bangka.



Honestly, sailing on the bangka, looking out to the horizon, is simply therapeutic. My kind of peace. Haha. Except for the wave-splashing moments when navigating across the rough waters.



We had a group of very experienced boatmen and guides with us. Kudos to them. They know all the islands in and out, they prepared our delicious meals, they steered the bangka for hours straight, while most of us ended up dozing off along the journeys. One of the boatmen even got pricked by many sea urchins while trying to steer the bangka out from the shallow waters in dusk darkness. Salute to him.

The entire island-hopping experience was all about the white sand, blue sky and the blue sea. A true summer paradise. :)



We have been to so many islands, which most of the names I couldn't remember. Well, who cares, what's important is to enjoy ourselves in the beauty of Mother Nature, and to have FUN!



I totally love swimming in the open sea, with the life jacket on of course. Haha. The waters in Coron were so clear, making snorkelling a great pleasure. I could see the corals and fishes swimming in schools. Superb.



The sunken Japanese warships off the island are one of the main attractions of Coron. Snorkelling there was another awesome experience. Corals formed on the warships, fishes swimming in and out. Imagine Titanic, or Pirates of the Carribean. Haha. These sunken warships are listed in Forbes Traveler Magazine’s top 10 best scuba-diving sites in the world. What else can I say?

We also went to some of lakes and lagoons, claiming to be one of those with the cleanest waters in the world. Indeed, the Kayangan Lake was very serene, we just floated on the waters and drifted off to our paradise. Haha.



On our last day, we woke up at 3am and set sail to Calauit, 4-hour boat ride away from the Coron main island. Sadly I was disappointed with what I saw. The Calauit Zafari Zoo was supposed to be a sanctuary for Kenyan animals. Despite the large piece of land and resources, the number of species of animals on the island is within the count of my fingers.



Oh well, at least I had my fair share of taking photos of these free-roaming animals.



Up-close. :) I guess it's not quite possible to do that in the Singapore zoo.



And feeding the giraffes. :)



The entire trip was made a total enjoyment, because of the company, and the new-found friends. All of us had a hell lot of fun, and I have once again surprised people with my little command of Tagalog and my superb knowledge of the entertainment industry. Haha.



I miss seeing the beautiful view at dawn, from Mount Tapyas where we stayed.



I definitely miss watching the sunset, my favourite moment in a day.



I had a great time capturing the wonders.



And all beautiful things. :)



I left Coron with many scars on my legs (no thanks to the sharp teethy corals), but I left Coron with lots more splendid memories. :) I wanna explore other islands!



Next up (and a final one), my ultimate haven, Bago City!

My summer paradise - Manila

Part 1 of my summer paradise - Manila.



I love Manila. I love Manila for its vibrancy, shopping malls and entertainment industry. It's rather cosmopolitan, considering that the Filipino diaspora is huge and it brings back foreign cultures (and people).

This trip has given me the opportunity to come up-close with some of the Filipino artistes whom I like, all thanks to my friends. :) Watching a live Filipino concert was simply awesome, not to mention that I've got backstage access and also photos taken with the artistes! Woohoo~!



Juris, the girl with a very nice and sweet voice. Love her voice. If only she sang Love Moves In Mysterious Ways.



Nyoy, I could only remember one song of his, You're My You. But I was surprised that he's so good with his guitar, and he was so springy on his feet. Haha.



Sitti, the Bossa Nova Queen of the Philippines. Very soothing voice, although I'm not into Bossa Nova.



And of course, my favourite, Aiza. Watched her performance in Singapore last year, and her performances never fails to captivate me. You know that the audiences love her, when you hear a chorus from the audience seats singing her songs. Haha.



Everything was wonderful, except for the fact that the concert started almost 1 hour late, and ending at 12 midnight.

Besides watching the concert, I managed to catch a Filipino movie as well, Babe I Love You. Theme song sung by Papa Piolo! :D

Didn't spend a lot of time in Manila, so less shopping, less sight-seeing. But I still love Manila. Love my Manila friends too. Too much laughter from them. Haha.



Next up, adventure in Coron!