Just had my first annual checkup and everything is normal. It's such an irony, I have always wanted to be special, to be unique. But for these tests, I only want to be normal.
With all the love and concern cast over me, i am normal.
Thank you my dearest............ you people are the shining stars in my life.
i cannot shake off the melody of this beautifully arranged and written song from Royston Tan's latest movie 881.
881 is Royston's effort in capturing the life of getai (歌台) singers, and getai being a very Singapore thing, i therefore expected a very Singapore film.
and i was not disappointed.
it is a very Singapore film and i love his cinematic eye for local movies. Unlike another local movie maker 梁志强 whose local flavour is very much restricted to a very tv style. In Royston movie, u don't hv a feeeling u are watching a telemovie. It is not easy bcos he started with short films and some people juz get stucked doing short films and cant move on.
but having said all these, i am disappointed with the weak story line. It could hv been a very moving story. Imagine how colourful the lives of these people can be. But the characters in the movie are not fully flesh out and i suspect it's the director's fault - since he also wrote the story.
there is not enough said abt their inner emotions, why they love the geitai so much and most redundant of all is the mute character and his bird. Really, except for the silly jokes made abt him & his 'bird', i cant see why the guy kept his pet. It didnt help when the actor playing the mute guy looked and acted, well, dumb. Hey u think it's easy playing non speaking roles? Tony Leong Chiu Wai was made to play a mute in Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao Hsien's City of Sadness bcos his mandarin was so bad, the director couldnt take it! But Tony Leong, oh how should someone describe those soulful eyes, speaking to the audience in words and volume much better than spoken lines! (no, i am not comparing him to Tony, it will be very unfair to him. they are not in the same league.)
and the magic realism part didnt work either, too thin a spread, it's a very weak attempt.
but i really love the sound track, it is the best sound track from a local movie. Really wish i could get my hands on the CD if there is any.
and the costumes! my oh my they are so wonderfully loud and riotously imaginative i want to be wearing them too!!! Wondered whether they were all newly designed or modified from existing ones owned by the real singers. Anyways, kudos to the costume designer.
another heartwarming story of giving up a high paying job to pursue a dream.
my friend Moses used to be a highflyer principal but gave up the job to open a shop at Toa Payoh. his shop is very fun and the concept is very similar to Settlers - a place where u can play board games with friends at an hourly paid rate.
at Pauseability (nice name), instead of playing games, u get to laze around or make art & craft using materials provided in the shop. i did my first canvas painting !
Moses is very creative, u can see from the slide show some of the things made by him. pls visit his webside www.pauseability.com.sg for more info and http://www.flickr.com/photos/7299994@N04/ for more photos of the shop.
it's an ideal place for friends to meet and create very special gifts or like sin yue, buy a handmade ear ring for my birthday!
pls hah, these grainy grainy photos not taken by me hor nor my powershot Canon. but they look fine at flickr.com - don't believe go & see for yourself lah
In the morning, I attended the talk organized by Creative-O on environmental issues. And I learnt abt a NGO called Roots & Shoots (www.rootsandshoots.org) which invests its time & resources in educating the young abt caring for the environment. I was very moved by the short interview introducing the founder of the group – Jane Goodall, someone who has devoted much of her life to researching & caring for chimpanzees.
i am so inspired by her, i have this urge to get autobiograpghy on her and find out more.
The good news is one of the amazing beng sisters, beng chiak, is going to start the local branch of Roots & Shoots.
In the evening I went for the xin yao sing along at National Stadium! It was my last time singing there since the old dame will be demolished soon. It brought back memories of singing there during the Youth Festivals.
As always, there was a lone butterfly spotted. It meant something for some of us.
Spy was jealous bcos he couldn’t be there. So to compensate, we had our own sing along in the kitchen the next morning. While I was brushing my teeth.
these are the names of the 2 Malaysian police dogs that helped sniffed out the huge qty of pirated dvds in JB's Holiday Plaza.
guess what? the pirates now want these dogs assassinated, they actually put a price on the dogs' heads! the police, to protect the dogs, have transfered them to a safe secret place.
haahaahaa, this is really short film material - sure win award one. spy said got potential to b Infernal Affair part 4 - wah Oscar material somemore!!!!
wa haha, spy & i actually went for Renee Flemming's opera recital at Victoria Concert Hall last sat.
only because we got compli tickets. so we thought, just give it a try la.
and for the first time in my life, i heard the soprano version of Over the Rainbow & Summertime.
never knew the rainbow song could be this moving.
Ms Fleming sang both as encore & she brought the house down.
i didnt expect to enjoy myself this much, may be also bcos of the low expectation.
i like her not becos she has such powerful lungs (she impressed us w/o using microphone) but the fact that she sang in character. She was very expressive, using her body language.
i like her also bcos she tried to connect with the audience throughout her singing. for me that's very important, something comes alive between the performer and the audience. that's why we go for live performance right?
so even though i could not understand a word except for the 2 english songs, the emotions came through for me.
never heard of Ms Fleming before sat night. but i think she is a true diva, in the positive sense of the word.
finally, the stern father figure sinseh gave me a smile.
the reason for such a big hooha that it warrant writing in the blog was i kanna scolding from him during my previous visit.
well, i didnt appear before his royal highness bcos it was chinese new year and then spy's father came visiting and diagnosed with shingles the next day and the virus went to his eyes and we had to rush him to the eye specialist and so i had a very drama week.
after everything settled, it was 3 weeks later.
the sinseh looked me in the eyes and said in a i-am-not-joking-with-u tone: "i asked u to come everyweek and take medicine 6 times a week. u come once a month. do u know your tumour was not small and it may recur?"
for a moment i thought "even my late father would not have been so harsh with me!"
luckily, i have become quite thick skin & even smiled at him.
and i heard my friends agreeing that i deserve a little scolding.
my friends have been asking me "no need to work not bored meh?"
actually i am really enjoying myself.
in the morning i will do my taiji exercise then go for breakfast. and by the time i get home & read a bit of newspaper, hey, it's time for lunch. then rest a bit after lunch, go online, do my cross stitch or more reading, hmm, dinner time!
of course cannot day in day out repeat the same rountine lah. i started my volunteer work at Red Cross on friday. then i need to visit the chinese doc once a week, meet friends for dinner/lunch/breakfast, watch performances/movies (film fest is round the corner!), visit my nephew, go to the countryside (we have u know)........ so many things to do how to be bored?!
and i have been away from work for more than 6 months already.
wah today i very proud of myself b'cos i am technically moronic but the fact that i actually set up this blog myself and now managed to change the look and add pic.....
heehee, actually very simple, clickingn does the trick.
and thanks to ngiap heng who took those beautiful photos.
Pure laziness plus the fact that I dun hv anything interesting to write about. Too much naval gazing has made yixiunai a boring person.
Then I realized my friends, esp those overseas, have been very worried – “oh dear, kahwei must be too weak to write.” Plus the fact that I missed a surprise birthday party simply b’cos I didn’t update my blog!
So my dear friends, I am feelin better now – can talk on the phone and I have returned to my routine walks plus taiqi at the botanic garden. I have so far gone for a theatre production and a movie, gone shoppin at Vivo City, had meals with friends…….
Still have to deal with the excessive gas in the stomach – I went to see a specialist and the scope showed that the opening to the stomach is not closing properly which explains the excessive & violent burping. But now the condition has improved and I am eating better. And no more sleeping pills for me hurray! And my hair is growing……
So dun worry about me. I wil see another Chinese physician to improve my health. And for the next 5 years, I wil hv to take hormone control pill.
I won’t go back to work till another 6 months. So my friends in s’pore – u can call me or visit me now! I am good enough to play mahjong too!!! and dun forget to invite me to your next surprise party heehee.
guess I won’t be updating this blog so often now that I have the energy to talk. But I wil check my email more frequently so my overseas friends, pls email me.
The fact that I am scolding spy more these days shows that I am really recovering…….