How SDU can help guys like me now

While waiting for work at UCC today, I was outside Engin’s LT 7a blogging (since my home wireless forbids me to publish anything on blogger somehow) when Andrew walked by. Not the CPE Andrew who went to Denmark too, but the other ME Andrew Toh. Amongst the other “how’s life?” and “got girlfriend already or not?” questions, he aroused the busybody in me, and I asked when his wedding will be.

I appreciate his frankness in his reply, saying the date for 9 September 2009 was already set, though the groom wasn’t.

*Rolls on floor laughing*

He’s right ya know, as he continues explaining that his girlfriend is bent on getting registered on that date, though anything could happen to the potential groom before that date effects. So, along those lines, he shared with me his SDU Theory, to which he claims is the most logical explanation as to why I stand a flawless chance of finding a wife there.

It wasn’t logical to me, but it was not something impossible to believe. A summary of what he proposed goes like this…

According to him, all girls would start to worry when their friends and colleagues start getting married and making babies before the age of 30. As a result, the average age of women who join the Social and Development Unit (SDU) in Singapore hover around 26-29 years old.

>For my foreign friends reading this, the SDU is like a dating agency that helps singles find their prospective husbands/wives through various social gatherings and activities. However, most of us think of people in there as Single Desperate, and Ugly.<

Men on the other hand, are too preoccupied with their career until past 30 to bother about marriage and all, and when they do start to worry, they join the SDU from the age of 35 onwards. Now, Andrew is convinced that if I willingly join the SDU after I graduate or before I reach the age of 30, I’ll be in the top 3 or 4% of eligible bachelors for the swarms of pre-30 year old ladies to pick as their boyfriend/fiancé/husband. In other words, I would have the easiest time selecting JUST ONE out of the pool of “cannot make it” ones as my girlfriend/fiancé/wife, since these ladies would rather choose someone similar in age than the 35 year-olds.

My reply to Andrew was “it’s not necessary that these ladies would choose me over the older guys right?” They could have more money, better looks, or plain charming, which I don’t think I possess. Andrew’s response was more practical now, saying I’d just need to choose “JUST ONE” and I can start making babies.

*covers ears*

What are your takes on that theory?

What does it mean to be Singaporean?

My good friend Nat sent me a link just recently, which I, along with many others I forwarded it to, found highly amusing. If you are stressed and need something local to laugh about, do click on this underlined link, and especially watch the first video by Ruby Pan, and the last video by Mr Brown and Mr Miyagi.

Singaporeans, Americans, British and Filipinnos, knock yourselves out.

The CNA Interview

Yes.

IF you think or thought you saw someone familiar in the news just now, you didn’t hallucinate. For the un-informed, I appeared on both the Channel 5 News and ChannelNewsasia in an interview for the first time! This being the 3rd and finale day of the S2006/IMF training, hundreds of students from the various universities and polytechnics were involved in an “Amazing Race”-styled Team Bonding cum Ground Orientation around the civic district, Kampong Glam, and Chinatown, after the briefing and flag-off from The Oriental Hotel in the Suntec Area.

My team finished the City trail in the morning before breaking for (a KFC-catered) lunch, after which we were brought by bus to Kampong Glam to carry on with our 2nd trail. It was there the media was present to film our activities, and conduct some interviews with us, the pre-selected, student volunteers from each of the tertiary institutions of higher learning, where in this case, only NUS, NTU and Singapore Poly (SP) were represented. Before the camera was turned on, I was asked (in my opinion) unimportant questions on the technicalities of the race and how points are awarded at each station. Once the one-on-one interviews started, ie, the camera started rolling, the ChannelNewsasia correspondent Mun Wai started asking me a whole different set of questions (which I should have pre-empted beforehand but didn’t bother with)!

I was caught rather off-guard when I responded to his 2 questions in circles, where I repeated my answer in different ways, on top of the fact I was fumbling with my words while maintaining eye-contact. Not to mention the fact the camera was shooting from half an arms length away and the reporter was holding the 2 mikes just centimeters from the source of my shaky voice. While I can’t remember the exact nature of the question, it went along the lines of “how do you think these games prepare you for your role as an information desk officer?”

Sounds simple enough, but believe me, my mind went blank! In any case, I expected that they cut down my 3-minute-long interview to 10 seconds, which is a good thing for me, since I didn’t want them to feature any more lackluster answers spilling out of my mouth. The other girl had a better and more positive response when it was her turn, perhaps stemming from the fact she is an NTU Media Studies final year student. She didn’t look like it on TV because they cut away much of the crux. There were another 2 students, one guy from NTU and another girl from SP, who did the Chinese interviews (Channel U and Channel 8) instead. I was asked if I could do the Chinese one too, but I refrained, citing good reasons I’d be suffering if I did.

Yeah I know…I should brush up my 2nd language…*sheepish grin*

We hung around Kampong Glam until the Minister of State for Finance and Transport Mrs Lim Hwee Hua arrived, where she witnessed our playing of games and later talked to some of us to find out how things were going. She also shared with the reporters some of the updates in the planning for S2006.

What you don’t know, however, is the fact that this was no random media interview which they picked people on the ground for. I was actually approached by someone from the Registrar’s Office in NUS more than a week ago, asking if I was okay to be one of the student representatives representing NUS in some media interview on the last day of the IMF training. Not missing this opportunity, I agreed, after which the MAS coordinator contacted me to remind me to turn up on Saturday, and also asked if I could do both English and Chinese interviews.

Needless to say, I told her I preferred to speak English, to which she seemed pretty pleased since the other NTU guy she called preferred to speak Chinese. MAS certainly planned everything down to detail, having seen the need to include the Malay girl Dayanan for the Malay press, Berita Harian too.

Okay, after talking so much, videos would probably paint the picture better. I’ve uploaded the Channel U clip where they featured the NTU guy and SP girl with some scenes of me in the background playing with the sepak takraw ball. The Channel 5 clip which was repeated on ChannelNewsasia featured me in a 10-second interview and again in the background playing and wayang-ing (colloquial for “acting”) with other team mates. There wasn't any hard copy ST print, but this online article on the CNA website should suffice.

In addition to print and TV, there was also this girl Jiamin from NewsRadio 93.8FM who also interviewed us. But I haven’t had the chance to hear myself on radio, nor have any clue when it will be aired. Hopefully I sound better and more knowledgeable in my response in voice than face.

So much for the interviews, and my long-winded entry again. But it’s not over, yet.

The final program for the day was the Ground Orientation and site recce of the hotel we Information Desk Officers (affectionately termed I-DOs) were assigned to. So you know, I’m posted to Four Seasons Hotel (behind Wheelock Place) during the period of S2006 and the IMF meetings to assist delegates and guests in any way they need, much like a service ambassador. The exact details like shift duty timings amongst my team mates are still being ironed out, but what blew me away was the “site tour”.

The hotel manager took us on a short tour around the hotel, showing us various facilities and amenities, including the basement working area for staff. I was a tad shy to take pictures (despite my camera being in my bag), thinking it wouldn’t be polite yet. But I certainly will the next time I find an opportunity to.

Because….
Because….

The hotel is incredible! Maybe it’s not as posh or spacious as other grander hotels around town, but the staff canteen/rest area was impressive! I even heard ours is the only one out of 44 hotels that provide us meals during our shift work there! There’s a florist in the basement providing any floral arrangements too! More incredibly, the exclusive gym features 10-inch flat screen monitors on their treadmills and bicycle trainers, and 2 swimming pools (one on the 3rd floor and another rooftop one on the 20th floor). As if my impression of the secluded and constrained hotel behind Wheelock Place wasn’t yet tweaked to perfection, the hotel manager showed us the ONLY two indoor tennis courts in Singapore!

*Squeals in delight even though I know I won’t get a chance to play*

THE ONLY TWO INDOOR TENNIS COURTS IN SINGAPORE! And two more outdoor tennis courts above them! Undoubtedly, that was the climax of the tour. Wow.

*Breathes*

Dateless on a Saturday night, I headed home after the 5pm dismissal to make sure I see myself on the news, and bury myself somewhere should I see myself fumble in front of half of Singaporean viewers. Thankfully they had cut out a large part of my interview so I actually appear quite calm.

Buttered

Buttered. And funked-off.

Well at least that's what I thought the organisers of Sports Bash 2006 had in mind when they held their bash at Butter Factory (near Gallery Hotel), affectionately themed "Funk Off". With Arts Bash at MOS and TH Bash at Gotham Penthouse last night, I didn't think there would have much of a crowd at the Sports Bash, but it seemed the quality of the crowd was nowhere near disappointing (since the claustrophobic confines of the venue helped impose a sense of a popular and crowded space).

Having arrived late, I missed the supposed segment of Lingerie and Boxers parade by the paegent contestants. But I did manage to witness the beatbox showcase by one talented indivudual, the same Charles I saw perform last saturday at the IMF training in NUS as part of the SAF's Music and Drama Company during the half-time break.

It was an alright bash in my opinion, with a more-than-alright crowd in attendance. Thanks to the closet chiong-ster who managed to turn up despite arriving near midnight, she kept our spirits high but dry. Why dry? Cos she doesn't seem to slow down with or without alcohol. The two B-52s I bought her didn't serve any effect. Nor did the beers she downed prior to that do the same.

But the best thumbs-up-hands-down should go to the Sports Camp peeps for getting involved and involving everyone. And to Ming for being a buddy (although I suspect he agreed to go because he knew a whole bunch of eusoffians going anyway).

That, was probably one of the last clubbing sessions I've going to have this semester. Cos I need to start planting myself back into "bookworm" mode. I've drifted far and wide enough in my 6 month-long "holiday" I'm finding it difficult to do just that.

I miss Denmark and all my friends. You can't do Octoberfest without me!!!

National Day Rally 2006

This is the 3rd year I'm following PM Lee in his annual NDR here in UCC.
'Twas my last too. I'm gonna miss UCC.

2nd Link-ed

And so it was my last duty at the Drama Centre where Wild Rice is staging their inaugural Singapore Theatre Festival '06. Thanks to Ellen and all, I managed to sit in for Salsa Salsa Salsa last evening, and 2nd Link tonight. That marked the end of my quest to watch all 6 of the plays staged by W!ld Rice at the National Library's Drama Centre. Now even though I hadn't been paid for rendering my Front-of-House services (as opposed to JY who worked her ass off 3 weeks as a Wadrobe Assistant and earned more than a thousand buckaroos), I definitely enjoyed myself meeting new people and watching shows for free! Other than one pretty and attractive, but highly "tao" (dialect for proud or haughty) girl I met, everyone else was cool. Not that she wasn't cool, she was just too stuck up for my liking, plain and simple.

Anyhow, before I go on to talk about the audience and patrons as they typically are, I'll briefly mention about 2nd Link, where I had the privilege of sitting in Circle 2 all by myself. How cool is that! About the play,

"2nd Link is a provocative, insightful and humorous performance celebrating the work of Singaporean and Malaysian writers, tackling topics as diverse as Raffles, Sang Kancil, censorship, Singlish, race, nationality, sexuality and chicken rice. Featuring a stunningly accomplished company of 10 actors from the 2 countries, 2nd Link will surprise, delight, and reveal the obsessions and concerns of the cities' denizens and artists...Expect laughter and fresh points of view as the Singaporeans and Malaysians perform each others' stories, icons and idiosyncracies, even as they playfully invite you to make up you own tale of two cities..."

In my opinion and no way spoiling any part of the show in case you intend to watch, I found 2nd Link to showcase the best of talents from the 2 countries, though I am biased and found our Singaporean cast of Lim Yu-Beng, Johnathan Lim, Neo Swee Lin, Karen Tan and Gani Abdul Karim highly amusing and nimble, and more entertaining that the other. Whilst I found the 1st half a tad boring, I did enjoy the scene where one actor undertook the role of teaching Singlish 101 to the audience. If I recall correctly, one of the lines went like,

"Singlish is just English, spoken with Chinese grammar and vocabulary."

And citing an example of how one needs to carefully drop the grammar at the right time and place in order to speak Singlish, a normal English sentence of,

"I am going to the XXX Restaurant to eat seafood"

transposed to Singlish would simply sound like

"I going to XXX Restaurant eat seafood."

Now doesn't that make Singlish lazy?

There's just 4 more shows over this coming weekend, of which Sat night's performance is sold out. I'm not even promoting Salsa Salsa Salsa since the Black Box's capacity of 120 people was max-ed out even before the play premiered on Wed, ie, all shows are sold out. If you've got time to spare, do take your date down to the Drama Centre, and enjoy 50 texts compressed in 2 hours by 10 actors. 2nd Link gets 2 thumbs up!

Bangkok: 29th July - 2nd August

Oh by the way, Keesiu did a fantastic job on the Bangkok post, go check it out! I'm really sorry I've been too busy to blog about my version on the trip...so do take time to admire her great work, especially uploading all those pics! To Keesiu, Chuhua, Sixian, Xinyi and Vincent (my BB), thanks for the great company and taking care of me the first 2 days when I was terribly ill.

I don't know if my cousin Valerie Shagday is reading this, but you and Tony ought to come back to Singapore soon, and together with MaryAnn we should all do Bangkok again! Aunt Irene, doesn't this entice you too? Heh.

JBJ-ed

Thanks to the kind people at W!ld Rice, I managed to get into the full house to stand at the rear of the theatre to watch Eleanor Wong's playright of The Campaign to confer the Public Service Star on JBJ.

Twice.

Forget Hong Xinyi's review in The Straits Times, one has to watch the play for himself to laugh his heart out. I can't wait for Pam Oei to act in Dim Sum Dollies again! Speaking of which, rumour has it the dollies are returning in November. Amongst some of the people I saw at the Drama Centre on Sunday were Shereene (who I bumped into by pure chance at the hotel I stayed in Bangkok earlier in August), Eunice Olsen, Emma Yong, Selena Tan, and my Soci tutor for Making Sense of Society 2 semesters ago. I forgot his name but he recognised my face, and it was real nice he came over with his wife to say "hi", and at the end of our short conversation, when it was time for him to enter the house, he asked what grade I got for that module, as well as what my name was.

I couldn't bear to ask him for his. *covers face*

You can't blame me, after all my major is not Sociology but Engineering.

4 plays down, 2 more to go in the last week of the Singapore Theatre Festival. I'm sure having fun watching free shows and meeting new people!

I Click-ed today, have you?

Was out at Starhub Centre bright and early this morning, reaching the office at 8am on a Saturday when the rest of the world was still sound asleep (including the bunneh who confessed she hit the snooze and went back to slumber). But I didn't know she and her "twin" MeMe were supposed to attend the Singapore 2006 (IMF) Service Training Program at IMBEC today, so it was a pleasant surprise when they commented that I seemed to have "lost weight".

*beams*

Okay. Fine. I've been gaining it all back since I got back from Denmark a month ago.

During the training, I met yet another guy named Abel (the third I've come across so far).

Damnit. My name isn't unique anymore.

And later after the role-playing scene, while waiting for the certificates to arrive, the trainer came over and commented that I was very "natural" in the scene, and asked if I had done or was doing "drama or theatre". Compared to the other participants, I think I stuttered less (if not none at all), and spoke in fluent English. And I think such comments are pleasant to hear, however you choose to believe.

Had dinner at Vila-ge later in the evening, and watched Click thereafter. And I must say, Kate Beckinsale is certainly compatible onscreen alongside Adam Sandler. I enjoyed the movie, not just for the usual Sandler Humour, but also for it's family values it tried to remind people of. And yeah, the dog in the movie, hats off to him for his obsessive compulsive behaviour. Heh.

Went over to Wisma's Indochine (outdoor) for a drink and fortunately, the live band and lead singer proved to be fantastic. Too bad he didn't sing "Better Days" by the Goo Goo Dolls which I requested and dedicated, but at least did "Iris" by the same artist. I'm hoping to go back sometime again.

W!ld Rice-d

Last night I was volunteering for W!ld Rice's theatre productions at the NLB as Front-of-House. Was sent upstairs to the Black Box where National Language Class / Utama: Every Name in History is I was being staged as JBJ at the Drama Centre was a full house and it wouldn't be easy for them to sneak me in. So I "sat" through 1 hours worth of malay-and-chinese-only dialouge, and another hour's worth of Ho Tzu Nyen's slideshow-cum-video presentation on our national history before Raffles's time.

I'll be volunteering for W!ld Rice again on Sunday so hopefully I'll get to watch JBJ. Check out the review by Hong Xinyi in Life! for yesterday and today's papers. And last night Ivan (Heng) was askin us what we thought of the article by Hong Xinyi. He's so funny when shooting back at that article, and I only vaguely remember him saying something that our local papers being calling themselves The States Times (as opposed toThe Straits Times). Wicked! I also met another of his staff, Stephanie, who is hilariously funny, saying how some PRCs have eyes so small you could blindfold them with dental floss.

*rolls on floor bursting out in laughter*

And then I met, as if the world wasn't small enough, this nice, pretty and amiable girl who just graduated from NUS, who turns out to be Chee Chuan's girlfriend! Just when we were talking about ushering and she lamenting about going for the UCC interviews together with him but wasted her time when she was told only year 1s and 2s will be considered. Least she understood the rationale why we restrict such applicants in this line, but she did feedback that we gotta inform applicants so they won't waste their time queuing up for nothing. Point noted.

Updates

After Bangkok from 29th Jul to 2nd Aug, I came back to work for Matric Fair 2006 on the 3rd to help promote and recruit new blood into UCC. Then I had one day to prepare for the Popiah and Sangria Party I organised as part of my birthday bash (which I didn't exactly tell people about).

Thanks to all you guys who made it, (in no order) -
the UCC peeps: Fengyi, Pearlyn (and bf), Karishma, Keesiu, Charissa, Galvin, Pris, Chuhua, Vincent, Xinyi, Kailin, Melisa, YC, LM
the Sports Camp peeps: Huiping, SueAnn, JinYing, Weitong
the PA Camp Comm peeps: Henry (and gf), Bangyao (and gf), Luyi, Josh, Yongqiang
the Engin ME peeps: JJ, JQ, Iris, Siyun, Ming
the Army peeps: Ranjan, Caleb
and anyone else I may have missed out in case I don't remember.

Pictures are up here since I can't seem to upload any into Blogger. Wierd.

http://ableabel.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album51

"Thanks" to those UCC peeps who down-ed me with at least 14 tequila shots I can't remember half of what happened thereafter. Scheisse.

UCC Chalet from today till Thursday, after that more W!ld Rice FOH Volunteer work before the IMF Training this Sat.