Yesterday I made a fateful decision. I've decided not to take part in Singapore Idol. [insert canned laughter here]

But seriously folks....

It wasn't a "chickening out". I am not disillusioned with judges, quality of potential fellow contestants, or an inability to deal with my ugly mug on prime time TV. It was a decision born out of a simple decision that my wife has made that will impact greatly on my future, but especially my immediate future.

I am, of course, a little disappointed and probably a bit regretful. I had after all gone through many many adventures to get my application form together. I had sung my heart out in the privacy of my car on my evening commute home. I had experimented with various songs, arrangements and pitching. I was even starting to sound halfway decent. That is assuming that you consider going off-key 1 time out of 10 "decent". I could even make a career out of people paying me not to sing.

There is that part of me that also wonders what happened to my formerly strong tenor voice. I've tried it out. It sounds a little better than a croak, and it gets rough and unstable at pitches that I used to have no problems tackling. My guess is about 2 years of caffeine and calorie abuse. It is about time I slowed down.

I consider this all for the best. The joke value of having a slightly pudgy, almost-30 chinese male shaking his stuff on stage isn't quite worth the commitment in resources for Singapore Idol. In addition, I am greatly excited at the prospect of what is going to happen over the next few months. God bless me, this may be the biggest project I've undertaken in my life. I pray that it will work out.

Oh well. I've always preferred respect to fame anyways.