Originally I was going to spend New Year's Eve at Judith's New Year's Eve Party, but Kegan informed me about the Exco New Year's Eve outing a few days ago, and I couldn't miss it. We had originally planned to meet in Seoul Garden @ Marina Square for dinner at 8.30pm. Unfortunately, as a home dweller, I was lost trying to look for the place in Marina Square. I eventually found it after being lost for about 30 minutes. In attendance: Kegan, Shao Ming, Wei Loong, Jane, Edwin and Wee Cheng. Bernice came a few minutes after I did. What happened was that the bill actually turned out much more expensive than we expected, so after some deliberation, we decided to leave the place to find somewhere else to eat.

After picking Xin Jie up from the Barbie sale at the quadrangle, we went around the mall looking for a place that did not have a queue outside. We eventually found Waraku Restaurant, a Japanese restaurant on the ground floor. Since we came in a big group, we were immediately allocated a room which looked like a meeting room (how appropriate for the Student Council Exco). I ordered an Oyako Don, while quite a number of them ordered Curry Udon. The food was rather nice, and the service was exceptionally good. Very typical of a Japanese restaurant which I've seen on Japan Hour.

We left the restaurant a few minutes past 10. After we took two group photos, we said goodbye to Edwin (who had church duty on New Year's Day) and headed to the Esplanade Bayfront to play with sparklers and watch the fireworks. The place was simply crowded with every sort of person in Singapore. We found a spot about 80 metres behind the concert area and started playing with the sparklers. After we were done with the sparklers, Wei Loong and Jane made their way home while the remaining 6 of us walked further away from the concert. We eventually found our fireworks watching spot, in front of a ship-like sculpture.

While waiting for midnight to come, we chatted and took a few photos here and there. When the prologue began (play of lights on the other side of the river), everybody directed their attention to the lights and some began to cheer wildly. Since we were far from the concert area, we couldn't hear the countdown. So when the fireworks began, it just began. What followed was 5 or 10 minutes of fireworks of all sorts. This was the closest I've ever been to the fireworks while watching it, so it was an entirely new experience for me. I just couldn't help screaming when sparks exploded into a myriad of colours and sparkling lights.

When the fireworks were finally over, we started to make our way back home. Shao Ming waited at the bus stop for the bus. The rest of us walked through the huge human jams towards the MRT station. Halfway through, Wee Cheng cut across the road to one of the entrances into Citylink Mall. So the four of us continued towards the Raffles City Shopping Centre entrance. On Bernice's suggestion that there may be no more trains leaving Jurong East at this time, Bernice, Xin Jie and I took the train heading towards Woodlands, while Kegan was the only one who took the train heading towards Boon Lay. Xin Jie was the first to get off at Dhoby Ghaut. After what felt like an hour's ride, Bernice alighted at Chua Chu Kang, while I got off at Bukit Batok, after which I walked home.

This was my last day of 2005, and it went down in my life story as the best New Year's Eve I've had so far.

Went back to school once again to help Lindis out in clearing up the Cage stuff. When I walked into the Cage today, I was slightly surprised to see the neat shelves that have been installed. There's a lot more space on the floor. Lindis and I worked from 11am till 7pm, having lunch at 1pm. Kass and Jayne came later to help. At the end of the day, most of the stuff from the Art Gallery side of the Cage have been pretty much cleared up, but there's still quite a lot of stuff from the canteen side of the Cage. Again, we'll be meeting on Monday, this time with the full Committee, to clear things up before school reopens.

Went back to school today for a rehearsal for the Orientation Campfire dance performance by Drama. We will be doing the finale dance from "A Christmas Carol", "It's A Miracle". Today's session was basically a recap rehearsal, since Raj wasn't around. We meet again next Monday.

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
May your hearts be light
From now on our troubles will be out of sight

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the Yuletide gay
From now on our troubles will be miles away

Here we are as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more

Through the years we all will be together
If the fates allow
Hang a shining star upon the highest bough

And have yourself a merry little Christmas now...

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

I went to Suntec City today with Jackson to watch The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. My father had gotten the free movie tickets from the Singapore Police Co-operative Society, but since he doesn't really watch movies, he gave them to me.

I shan't spoil the movie for those who have not watched it, but I was enthralled by the movie as a whole. One word of caution though: don't rush to leave the cinema immediately after the credits start rolling. That's how movie-goers miss certain ending (punchline) scenes (like the Lockhart scene at the end of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets).

After the movie we went back to Westmall to meet Zhi Yuan who was buying gifts for a (female) friend of his before Jackson and him went back to his apartment while I headed home. Later, while I was surfing the net, I discovered that the gal who played Susan in "TLTWATW" had the exact same birthday as me: December 16, 1988! (I thought she was quite beautiful too. Sigh...why aren't I as handsome...)

The Other Wise Man - A Musical

It's two days to Christmas. Mrs Lim (the NHHS Student Council teacher-in-charge if you don't know or don't remember) had once again invited a few of us to her church to watch a Christmas musical. Kegan, Bernice, Xin Jie and I had accepted her invitation.

The musical is titled The Other Wise Man - A Musical. It is a fictional story about a Magi named Artaban who had hoped to meet the Messiah and present him with three gifts when he saw the sign in the heavens. However, for 33 years, his journey led him to use his gifts to help the people in dire need. He finally met the new King after helping a lady with his last gift and dying in an earthquake.

My humble review:
The first scene, where the Narrator (played by Paul Seow) started his story about Artaban (played by Jameson Soh), was a great introduction to a great musical that was to culminate in a powerful conclusion. Scene changes were done tastefully with the help of (what I believe to be) overhead projectors projecting images behind a white screen. The main credit for the singing went to Artaban and the people whom he helped in his journey. The most touching and powerful scene came in the scene A Pearl of Great Price, where Eunice Wong sang to the Gods to help the dying Artaban, and Artaban himself opened his eyes to meet the King. That moment, I truly felt touched.

The music was great too. Though the 60-strong choir's voices didn't carry much 'oomph', it was the lyrics and the songs that were truly amazing. The only few letdowns I felt was the over-elaborate costumes in The Hall of Dreams (which took quite a bit of attention away from the text) and the (apologies for using the term) mediocre movement pieces. Sorry, but they don't even qualify to be called dances. Only one dancer impressed me with her professionalism; at the end of the second dance (by a couple of ragged women), she was the only dancer who walked off stage in her ragged character, while the other dancers in front casually walked out.

All in all, the show is excellently executed. I give it four out of five stars. :) For more details, please click on the following link: THE OTHER WISE MAN - A MUSICAL

Advertisement: ACJC Fun-O-Rama XVIII

I suddenly remembered about the 20 Fun-O-Rama coupons still sitting on my desk since August 2005. It's time to bring out the advertisement again!

Anglo-Chinese Junior College presents
FUN-O-RAMA XVIII

Date: Saturday, 18th February 2006
Time: 9.30am to 6.00pm
Place: ACJC, 25 Dover Close East, Singapore 139745

The Fun-O-Rama, ACJC's funfair, is held once every two years. This year's funfair promises to be another day of non-stop activity! Expect lots of food, lots of games, lots of music and lots of walking ALL DAY! You won't regret coming to the funfair. Gather all your friends and come to Fun-O-Rama!

Get your Fun-O-Rama coupons now! Coupons are sold at $10 each, and every coupon bought comes with Long John Silver's coupons! Write in my Tag Board if you would like to buy coupons. You mustn't miss this great event! See you there!

Gwen's parents had booked a Karaoke Lounge at Keppel Club (near HarbourFront) and Gwen had asked the Dance and Drama people to come and have fun. After a seemingly long walk from the bus stop at the main road, I finally arrived at the Keppel Club. Gwen led me up to the Karaoke Lounge, where the only people around were Gwen's father, Gwen's younger brother (er...?) and Abiel, a Dance guy. They were playing pool when I came, and nobody was singing the karaoke. Soon after I arrived, Yu Wei and Judith came.

I was the first to actually sing on the karaoke with Yu Wei. We were trying in vain to hit the high notes in Jay Chou's songs when more people started to arrive. The real singing began when the bulk of the drama people came. (Actually, looking back, there was an equal proportion of drama and dance people. :)) Viknesh, Ethel and later Yi Jun were the best singers that night, with Gwen coming in a close second. Drama president Suraj also jumped in on the Michael Jackson songs; beatboxing wonders came in the form of Deo and Yi Jun mainly. The people on the karaoke were even kind enough to slip in a Chinese song (The Girl Next Door Looking Over Here), but then again, that's because they wanted me to sing as well.

Once again the same dilemma I've had at the "A Christmas Carol" PPP surfaced again here. I was having so much fun and I didn't really want to leave, but then I had to catch a bus home, and Mum doesn't exactly fancy me going to karaoke lounges (she's convinced by drama serial portrayals of karaoke lounges). The bulk of us eventually left at about 11.40pm. Yu Wei (who recently moved house) and I initially planned to take 963 home, but after waiting till 12.10am, we figured the last bus had probably gone, so we took 61 instead, with Yu Wei taking a taxi at Bukit Batok Interchange back home.

Note: When I later checked the bus guide online, it said that the last bus for 963 leaves from HarbourFront Bus Terminal at 11.30pm. So, yea, we did miss the last bus.

Morning at Memory's Border

The two-show run of our mini production "Morning at Memory's Border" ended tonight. This week has felt very long, what with the rehearsals at school on Monday and Tuesday and the rest of our rehearsals at The Substation, where our performance was held.

Monday and Tuesday
Rehearsals in school. Jared still wasn't around on Monday, and Audrey Low could only come after her work, which is after 7pm. Still, we made do with whatever we had.

Wednesday
Today was our Tech cum Dress Rehearsal day. I came to school at 12.30pm to help in the packing and moving of things from the school to The Substation: frames, platforms, clamps, costumes, first aid kit and lots of dance tape. Once we arrived at The Substation (which was slightly before 2pm), we had to wait outside the back gate since it was still locked. When it finally opened, we moved the stuff into the Guinness Theatre.

This was my first time at The Substation's Guinness Theatre. The theatre is an intimate space, where performers are in close proximity to the audience. The lighting was simple, so rigging didn't take too long. The floor was a horror, 'cause the gaps in the parquet flooring was slightly dangerous for our bare feet. So, as a safety precaution, we all had to put dance tape onto our feet.

I was slightly surprised by the backstage area. There was only one entrance point onto the stage from backstage (back of the stage, on the left), and the dressing rooms were below the stage. The dressing rooms and "living room" area reminded me a lot of my grandfather's zinc-roofed kampong house in Malacca. Then again, The Substation was housed in an old shophouse.

We did two full dress runs, ending slightly past 9pm.

Thursday
Our first show was tonight. According to Mrs Creffield, it was a full house (surprisingly, since initially we thought it was going to be at most three-quarters filled; the theatre seats 108), with both young people and adults in the audience.

Friday
Even before I went to bed at 1am, I had already received a few SMSes wishing me a happy birthday. A few more came in after I woke up this morning. The audience was also supposedly full house tonight. After we had all changed out of our costumes, dismantled the set and gathered in the theatre space, Suraj brought in a birthday cake and all of them sang the birthday song to me (twice, for whatever reason I do not know). The committee lovingly bought two teddy bears for me (it's actually one whole toy, with the big bear hugging the smaller one). After the cake was finished, we moved the stuff out of The Substation and into the waiting lorry at the front of the place. Then, all of us boarded the open-air lorry back to school to unload. I headed home after the work was completed. This was the earliest time ever that I had gone home after unloading.

So anyway, thanks to everyone who sent me birthday greetings, I appreciate them. :) Here's to another great year!

ACSian Theatre presents:

EDIT: I've made a correction to the information for The Merchant of Venice. There're three shows instead of just two.

Aaron Maniam's Morning at Memory's Border

This is a dance cum poetry recital performance, an extension to a short performance we did for Mr. Aaron Maniam at the launch of his book of poems "Morning at Memory's Border". I'll be dancing in this one-hour long show.

Dates: 15 Dec 2005 (Thursday), 16 Dec 2005 (Friday)
Time: 8pm
Venue: Guinness Theatre @ The Substation
Tickets: $15 (Free Seating)

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The Merchant Of Venice

Relive the classic Shakespeare story with style. Live rock music and goth-themed costumes accompany the telling of the story. If you love jamming and/or Shakespeare, you must not miss this mainly alumni production (supported by a few J2s-to-be).

Dates: 4 Jan 2006 (Wednesday), 5 Jan 2006 (Thursday), 6 Jan 2006 (Friday)
Time: 8pm
Venue: Guinness Theatre @ The Substation
Tickets: $15 (Free Seating)

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Do come and support ACSian Theatre productions. Please let me know if you would like to purchase tickets. Looking forward to your attendance!

Sorry, but this quiz is quite fun; I'll pick another selection of 20 people (same thing as just now; 10 1SA1, 10 4o1):

1. Iris
2. Shu Hao
3. Xue Yi
4. Arvin
5. Brian
6. Ho Yuen
7. Joon Kiat
8. Andy
9. Dhriti
10. Wern Jian
11. Yu Tian
12. Aileen
13. Peiyu
14. Ming Hwee
15. Kuan Yee
16. James
17. Veronica
18. Chii Yeh
19. Amanda
20. Wee Cheng

- How did you meet 13?: Peiyu - First met when we were Councillors in Sec 2.
- What would you do if you never met 5?: Brian - I wouldn't know what it means to be cool in his own right.
- What do you honestly think of 10?: Wern Jian - One of the freaky "gamer" - Rubik's Cube, chess and all those stuff.
- Have you ever liked no.3?: Xue Yi - As a friend. That's all.
- If 1 died tomorrow, what is one thing that you would like to do?: Iris - Offer my congratulations/condolenscences to Shu Hao.
- Would 2 and 11 make a good couple?: Shu Hao & Yu Tian - Nope, sorry, both guys.
- Do you think 12 is hot?: Aileen - Er, no.
- Would 1 and 17 make a lovely couple?: Iris & Veronica - Nope, sorry, both gals.
- Do you know any of 3's family members?: Xue Yi - Never met his family.
- On a scale of 1-10 how cute is 14?: Ming Hwee - Another cute guy? 7 lah, same as Fang You. :P
- What would you do if 4 just professed their undying love for you: Arvin - He will mean it as a joke.
- What language does 19 speak?: Amanda - English, Chinese, some dialect.
- Who is 8 going out with?: Andy - Yen Nee.
- Would 18 and 5 make a good couple?: Chii Yeh & Brian - Seriously, what's this thing about homosexuality? Nope, both guys.
- When was the last time you talked to 6?: Ho Yuen - Also at the Project Work Oral Presentation examination.
- What is 18's favorite band?: Chii Yeh - I don't even know if he listens to music.
- Does 4 have any siblings?: Arvin - I think he doesn't.
- Would you ever date 1?: Iris - If I don't end up like Shu Hao.
- Would you ever date 7?: Joon Kiat - Sorry, I'll pass on that. He's a guy.
- Is 15 single?: Kuan Yee - Not married, not sure if she's going steady.
- What is 19's last name?: Amanda - Choa.
- What is 3's middle name?: Xue Yi - Chinese people don't have middle names.
- What is 10's fantasy?: Wern Jian - Break the world record for solving a Rubik's Cube? Hehe.
- Would 14 and 19 make a good couple?: Ming Hwee & Amanda - Don't think so. Sorry.
- What school does 16 go to?: James - Now in Hwa Chong Institution.
- What school does 1 go to?: Iris - ACJC and occasionally Raffles JC.
- Where does 9 live?: Dhriti - Oldham Hall.
- Would you make out with 13?: Peiyu - NO.
- Are 5 and 6 best friends? : Brian & Ho Yuen - No. 4 & 5 are (Arvin and Brian).
- Is 20 older than you?: Wee Cheng - Most people are older than me. So is he.
- Is 4 the sexiest bitch alive?: Arvin - Sorry, nope.
- Is 17 your ex?: Veronica - I've never had girlfriends.
- Do you ever see yourself with 12 and 18?: Aileen & Chii Yeh - Nope.
- How is 2?: Shu Hao - Ask Iris.

A little quiz I took off someone's blog:

List down 20 names that come to your mind. (Names mentioned are not in order.)
1. June Teng
2. Jesslyn
3. Jeffrey
4. Jun Yi
5. Jiun Siang
6. Joel Ye
7. Yan Bo
8. Barry
9. Robyn
10. Eliza-barney
11. Xianglong
12. Kegan
13. Michelle
14. Fang You
15. Yvonne
16. Yen Nee
17. Tania
18. Quan Ming
19. Phangzy
20. Delia

(Hehe, first 10 are my current classmates in 1SA1...next 10 were my classmates from NHSS 4o1. And I deliberately placed all the Js together. :])

- How did you meet 13?: Michelle - We were classmates from Sec 1.
- What would you do if you never met 5?: Jiun Siang - I would have thought I was the lamest person on the planet.
- What do you honestly think of 10?: Eliza-barney - She's a great gal, though she gave me the creeps when I first met her.
- Have you ever liked no.3?: Jeffrey - In an alternate universe, but not in the real world.
- If 1 died tomorrow, what is one thing that you would like to do?: June Teng - Pray that she finds peace with God in Heaven. :)
- Would 2 and 11 make a good couple?: Jesslyn & Xianglong - I doubt they know each other. But, yeah, if they knew each other, they would make a good couple.
- Do you think 12 is hot?: Kegan - Shao Ming does.
- Would 1 and 17 make a lovely couple?: June Teng & Tania - Nope, sorry, both gals.
- Do you know any of 3's family members?: Jeffrey - Never met his family before.
- On a scale of 1-10 how cute is 14?: Fang You - Cute guy? Er...7?
- What would you do if 4 just professed their undying love for you: Jun Yi - I would politely decline, and recommend Yan Bo to him.
- What language does 19 speak?: Phangzy - English, Chinese and some dialect (I'm not sure which one though.)
- Who is 8 going out with?: Barry - Don't know. Probably some gal in Indonesia?
- Would 18 and 5 make a good couple?: Quan Ming & Jiun Siang - Nope, sorry, both guys.
- When was the last time you talked to 6?: Joel Ye - During the Project Work Oral Presentation examination.
- What is 18's favorite band?: Quan Ming - Er... May Day? I'll need to read his blog again. :)
- Does 4 have any siblings?: Jun Yi - In my memory, yes (I mean, he didn't really say he's an only child).
- Would you ever date 1?: June Teng - If I am not too boring for her.
- Would you ever date 7?: Yan Bo - He wants to date me.
- Is 15 single?: Yvonne - Not married, but not sure if she's going steady with anybody.
- What is 19's last name?: Phangzy - Phang.
- What is 3's middle name?: Jeffrey - Chinese people don't have middle names.
- What is 10's fantasy?: Eliza-barney - Er...?
- Would 14 and 19 make a good couple?: Fang You & Phangzy - Nope, sorry, both guys.
- What school does 16 go to?: Yen Nee - Currently in ACJC with me.
- What school does 1 go to?: June Teng - Also ACJC.
- Where does 9 live?: Robyn - Somewhere in Bishan or Ang Mo Kio.
- Would you make out with 13?: Michelle - Psst...I would love to. *:o*
- Are 5 and 6 best friends? : Jiun Siang & Joel - Friends yes, but not really the best of friends.
- Is 20 older than you?: Delia - Same year, but yea, she's older.
- Is 4 the sexiest bitch alive?: Jun Yi - Sexy yes, but not a bitch.
- Is 17 your ex?: Tania - I've never had girlfriends.
- Do you ever see yourself with 12 and 18?: Kegan & Quan Ming - Nope, sorry, we're guys.
- How is 2?: Jesslyn - Doing fine I guess.