It was a full day of activity as usual...

The morning began at Stereo Image Productions where the cast of the musical "Yum Sing!" got together to record the soundtrack for its film version...

Peter Stead was there to guide us, and he must be the most patient man around, given all the difficulties and frustrations that could occur during long recording sessions...

It didn't help that one of the singers, Siying, lost her voice due to overwork and undersleep, poor gal...

Good thing the studio was near Chinatown. I brought Ken over to a Chinese medical hall next to Kreta Ayer Market (the same block that Ah Law lives), and bought a bottle of herbal brew concocted for loss of voice and lack of sleep, and a bottle of Nin Jiom Pi Pa Gao syrup...

The herbal brew had proved miraculous and effective on me several times before, when I lost my voice during musical productions. Ekachai, the director of "Chang & Eng - The Musical", recommended this medical hall to me and other singers with the same predicament, and after braving the bitter-as-vomit taste of the brew, we could sing and perform almost at once!

Well anyway, the abovementioned recording went pretty well, and I quite enjoyed myself. Ok, that's an understatement. I really enjoy singing and recording songs in a studio...

One day I will have my own recording album full of songs with inspirational messages, even if I have to pay for it myself!

After the recording, I popped over to Raffles City's Burger King restaurant to meet Daven and his friend, whose name I dunno how to spell, to discuss yet another short film that I'll be involved in...

Incidently, this was the very same place where I met the producer and director of "The Postal Rule", my very first short film project aeons ago...

After the discussion, which was pretty straightforward and easy-peasy, since I was the only actor who turned up, I went home to change...

And get ready for a night out at Club Momo, where there was a drag show to the tunes of "Weather Girls's new revival album (after 21 years?!) followed by the host Leroy teasing five hunky male members of the audience...

The main event was a fashion show by NewUrbanMale.com for its men's wear and products...

I got the invite from the folks of BRAVE Talent Management, and at the club were their models as well as those from another talent agency, Catworkz International...

After the show, I left with some friends who were involved in the above agencies to Happy, where I danced like there's no tomorrow and ended up drowned in alcohol yet again...

I think my theme for next week should be "Sober"...

2 angel(s) visited

After a week of non-stop activity, it's nice to do nothing at home for the entire day...

But truthfully, I wasn't exactly doing "nothing" lah...

I have been watching TV, reading magazines, surfing the internet, going downstairs for meals... basically doing at home everything except housework...

I am sooooo lazy, I wanna slap myself... 

Sighz... 

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It's past midnight... Couldn't sleep... Suddenly thought of a movie DVD that I bought sometime back but didn't get around to watch...

I'm glad I did, for "Lost In Translation" definitely expressed exactly what I have been feeling for goodness knows when...

Like the main characters, two Americans culturally stuck in Japan, I would often find myself all alone, out of sync with everything, lingering around here and there, yet neither here nor there...

Like wandering lost souls... like in a trance... like hungry ghosts...

Now that my parents are gone, and my siblings moved out, I do feel sudden indescribable pangs of loneliness everytime I stayed at home...

But somehow, even after 30 years of staying in this flat, I have never felt further from what I would call "home"...

It's getting pathetic, time to move on indeed... 

2 angel(s) visited

Last time I checked the calendar (this morning), it's not the Lunar 7th Month yet. But something not quite right has been happening today...

(Long story coming up, but read only if you can keep an open mind...) 

But let's start a couple of days back... when I noticed that both my electric toothbrush and my electric shaver were not working, even with new batteries. So I placed them on my kitchen sink counter with their used batteries, saving the fresh batteries for other purposes...

Perhaps it's time for new appliances? No big deal here...

Then this morning I got woken up by dunno-what at a very early hour, even though I finished watching last night's DVD close to 3am and slept around 3.30am. Couldn't get back to sleep, I surfed the net and fed my adorable babies (hamsters) till about 11am...

The sky was a dismal and utterly sombre shade of grey, with giant nimbostratus clouds and strongs winds pushing against my frail old windows. There was even a clap or two of thunder...

Here are some shots of the sky from my window, taken just before my digital camera battery went flat on me too (yet another electrical item to do that!)... 

(View of storm clouds over Mount Faber) 

(View of storm clouds over my neighbouring block of flats) 

However, by noon, about time to meet Bryan for lunch, I walked out amazed to find the weather sunny and clear as ever! It didn't even rain a single drop...

Anyway, Bryan and I met up at Cineleisure and ended up watching a Japanese horror movie, "Red Candy", which fed us with plenty of freaky images. Like this one...

Just before entering the cinema though, we walked past K-Box KTV and they were playing David Tao's "鬼" (or "Ghost" MTV...

The images in this MTV were even more chilling to me, for I have actually seen real stuff that looked EXACTLY like that with my own eyes during my school days... 

Anyway after the show, which we found rather thrilling and frightening despite it's rather iffy plot, Bryan wanted to visit an old temple near Raffles Place but I wasn't in the mood for it, so we went our own ways...

I shopped a bit at Borders before walking back to Takashimaya to buy a new electric toothbrush and shaver. Couldn't afford a new digital camera or I'd have gotten one too...

Then I got home. But not before I got my face entangled in a large spider web, which I couldn't see, right outside my front door...

When I opened the door and entered, I heard a loud droning noise from the kitchen. I remembered shutting all windows earlier, so I thought my old fridge is acting up again (not another electrical item?!)...

Guess what? It was my old electric toothbrush that I had left on the sink counter! The one with flat batteries and that couldn't work no matter how many times I tried with the button!

It was spinning on its own, and must have done so for the past five hours since I last touched it!! 

I felt a panic wave but steeled myself to grab the toothbrush and switched it off. Then I tried turning it on again but like before, it didn't work anymore. And the batteries inside were definitely the old used ones... 

I have no idea what else is there to do but say some words of prayer and hope for the best...

Then Bryan called and I told him about what happened. Halfway through our conversation, we got cut off. His handphone batteries had gone flat all of a sudden! He had to call me back using another phone... 

Last time I checked the calendar, it's not the Lunar 7th Month yet. That's when we "celebrate" the annual Hungry Ghosts Festival...

It starts this coming Friday...

1 angel(s) visited

Today had been a very special day...

Shawn had arranged for me to meet a fortune-teller at Beauty World Shopping Centre this afternoon, so I met him and his new girlfriend Peipei there for lunch beforehand...

At the fortune-teller's shop, which also specialises in jade, crystals and beaddress (according to the business card), I noticed that she shared the same Chinese name, and also her first name, as my Mother!

That's a good sign indeed that I'm on the right track, but there's more...

I started first, and I found out several interesting things about myself from the fortune-teller, Irene, and it's all based on the "8 Characters" (八字) of my birthdate, as well as the lines on my palms...

According to her, I...

• have all the necessary Five Elements: Water, Fire, Wood, Earth and Metal, which means I'm pretty much well-balanced...

• would do well in careers in teaching (drama classes?), media (acting? modelling?) and/or food businesses (cafe? coffee shop?), and could consider dabbling in properties (selling my flat?)...

• had experienced my worst luck when I was turning 30 (that's when I quit my job to try acting fulltime and also broke up a long term relationship)...
  

• will be experiencing my best financial luck from right about NOW onwards, especially in 2006, and become more and more successful as I grow older...

• should avoid any jobs that are illegal, eg. Bookie. Ha!...
  

• am not destined to stay in Singapore, and should consider living or working overseas, and Irene suggested, of all places, Australia, especially Southern Australia (Melbourne?)!...

• will do well to move house, ideally next year. Good to start planning now... 

• should move to a unit that is located in the South, with the main door opening out to the South too, as that is my lucky direction...
  

• should chose a unit on higher floors, preferably on the 9th or 18th level, which are "Fire" floors...

• should, after getting the above unit, buy 4D with this new apartment's unit numbers, or phone numbers, which will bring me financial luck...
  

• was born on the "Emperor's Shoulder", indicating I would often be the one taking on family burdens...

• was supposed to settle down with my soulmate, who was the last person I had a steady relationship with, but if I didn't, I might never marry. (I broke up with my last ex but we're still very close, still soulmates!) Instead...
  

• will have plenty of "Peach Blossom Luck", meaning many romantic encounters in my lifetime...

• need to beware of health problems relating to the urinary areas and kidneys (as in I should use the bathroom when I need to)...
  

• should wear more Yellow, Black, Blue or Brown coloured clothes for luck, but overall colour for 2005 is Green, and for 2006 it's Red or Pink...

• have the ability to predict or dream of events before they occur, and have psychic sensibilities...

• am meant to suffer a major surgery when I was born. Indeed I was born with a part of my intestines entangled and a scar still remains from the surgery...
  

• am born protected by Guanyin, Goddess of Mercy, and should often pay respects to her...

• need to do more prayers and donation offerings to temples, as I owed these in my past life...

• need to assist my late parents' souls to pass on smoothly to the next life by paying for these prayers under my own name...

• have brought home a female spirit, during my younger days, which is still residing in my current house! Could she be the one playing with my electric toothbrush? It would be wise to invite a monk or priest to pray over this spirit so she could move on to her next life. For now, I'll just let it be...
  

• should consider changing my current Chinese name by consulting another master (she recommended one at Clarke Quay area)...
  

That's about it, which turned out to be quite a lot of information with just my birthdate and my palms. And almost everything turned out pretty accurate as had happened or as I had planned... 

For my life purposes and destiny, Irene consulted a beautiful traditionally illustrated "Book of Three Lifetimes" (三世书) that contained plenty of complicated words and text that served as an almanac of sorts...

And it didn't cost me an arm or leg, for all that took me just S$40, which was $20 for the "8 Characters" reading, and $20 for the Palmistry...

Peipei had her reading right after me, and much of it appeared to be accurate too, and matched those of Shawn's. They're meant to be together, at least for now! LOL

For those who might wish to pay a visit to this motherly yet candid and chirpy fortune-teller, here are her contacts:

Irene Chong

S & A Shop 缘晶轩

144 Upper Bukit Timah Road

#01-K6 Beauty World Centre

Tel: 64691187 (Appointments) 

Daily 12.30pm to 8pm, Close on Sundays

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After yesterday's visit to the fortune-teller, I made my very first visit to our new National Library, which opened a couple of weeks ago (I am a slow coach, can?)...

But before I entered the space-age like building, a strange Chinese elderly man approached me, handed me a coin-sized slip of paper and asked me if the words on both sides of the paper were the same, but I wasn't to say the words out loud...

Very weird, I felt, as if I were in some Twilight Zone episode...

Anyway, one side of the paper wrote "Agenda", and the other had the words "Satu Agenda" ball-penned on...

I told the man what he wanted to know and also that I didn't understand that at all. But he just smiled, nodded, took back his paper, and walked off, leaving me scratching my head... 

Okay anyway, back to the new library... 

It's way too spacious, which made the book collections seem little, but that also could mean room for more new stuff to be added. Otherwise it was more of an architectural experience for me... 

Here are some of the photos I took with my trusty digital camera...

  (I couldn't get the entire building in one photo, so gotta crop it...)

(View of the library's voluminous courtyard, just before the main entrance...)

(View of the futuristic and assymetrical ceilings above the courtyard...) 

(The all new Drama Centre, to be opened sometime in September, I think...) 

(L-R: Details of escalator, Fireman Access Panel and Han's Restaurant's menu respectively) 

As an avid bookworm, it'll definitely take me a while to warm to and get used to the spaces upon spaces within this new library, but I managed to find and borrow four books during this trip, so I am quite satisfied...

Before I left, I took a quick tour around the various floors of the building, explored the exhibitions which included an interesting one about Genealogy and family trees (particularly of the Shepherdson family), and I even signed up for a DNA tracing experiment to connect myself to the world's massive family tree...

Who knows, we might have the same ancestors!  

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It's been a autumny day of laundry, internet, hamsters feeding, idling, reading, TV, and basically nothing substantial again...

Decided to meet up with Nic, and we had a nice time chatting about this and that under the sun (or rain, as per the weather). He's a nice chap, and we ended up getting more food and shots of coffee in us, before his friend Dex joined us...

Was about to get ready for a voiceover recording for Jeremy's short film "The New Cleaner" when Edwin called and told me to rush over and view a nicely available unit at Tiong Bahru area, which I might consider buying...

The place is pretty old-school and narrow, but has a certain charm about it. Edwin bought the unit just below this one, so if I do get this, we'll be neighbours!

Now my options are:

1) Sell my current 3-room flat and get a smaller (and cheaper) 2-room flat. Save and invest part of the profit and split the rest with my siblings. This option doesn't allow me a regular income through tenant's rent, but I get cash on hand...

2) Sell my current 3-room flat and get this four-room private HDB-owned unit, use my CPF to top-up the difference, rent out two rooms and use the earnings to pay up the remaining amount. This option gives me a regular income from tenants' rent, but I'll have to share the flat with other folks, and in the long run, I'll gain more in property values...

Aarrgghhh....

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

I can already see my enthusiasm taking a retreat back to my bedroom...

Anyway, I made my way over to Objectifs to view Jeremy's latest edit for "The New Cleaner", in which I played TWO different roles, and met Yuni from "The Slipper Frame", in which I played THREE different roles...

On the counter at the film-making and photography school were about 50 over digital video tapes - entries by budding film-makers for the Panasonic Digital Video Film Competition. And two of them, starring me and Gillian, must be from Marcus!

Well, Jeremy has evidently been putting in so much effort and I am happy to see the three different short films he did concurrently were fleshed out and close to completion. And they're pretty well done too, IMHO...

Do give yourself a pat on the back, Jeremy, if you're reading this! LOL 

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The theme for this week's Photo Friday Weekly Challenge is:

Complexity

"Complexity" ~ Edric Hsu

Picture size: 400 x 300 pixels

Digital Camera: Fujifilm Finepix F-460

The above photo (entry #53) was captured on 30th July 2004 during a trip to Switzerland's Jungfrau Mountains in Lauterbrunnen. There happened to be a traditional Swiss festival going on at our campsite, and various locals demonstrated their crafts such as lace-making and crotchetry above...

Here are a couple more shots of the ladies and their complex but beautiful and intricate handicrafts...

Footnote:

If you feel my entry for last week's theme, "Somber", is good enough for Photo Friday's Weekly Challenge, do vote for me here: cast noteworthy vote...

4 angel(s) visited

I lost my old passport last year, soon after I arrived back in Singapore after my Europe tour, and my Fuzhou trip thereafter was made using a temporary passport, which caused no end of delays at the Chinese city's airport... 

Anyway, I had to take a new passport photo, which I quite like due to the fact that it was not expensive ($5.25 for 4 photos), and they actually took pains to digitally retouch the image before printing!

I took pics of both my old and new passport photos using my digital camera, which seems pretty long way to display a portrait. But here they are...

  ===|>  

I think I look pretty mature in the newer pic on the right, but both will make quite good photos for my *future* obituary don't you think? Hahaha, kidding only lah! *touches wood*  

Anyway, I had to borrow the above tie from the photo booth (they actually provided different ties, spectacles and grooming tools so you can look good for your mug shots!), and also my white shirt here was on loan from Jeremy since his short film's shoot...

So after getting the passport done (paid $100 and have to wait till next Thursday to collect), I decided to shop around and get my own tie AND my own plain white shirt...

Managed to get both a white and a black wrinkle-proof shirt at G2000, 3 silk ties, a tie-pin, as well as a reversible Goldlion belt at Robinson's... 

This has been major retail therapy, but even before I could worry about spending all that money on formal attire which I had tried so hard previously to avoid wearing, I received a call from my agent to attend an upcoming casting call for another TVC in full suit, shirt and tie!

Am I psychic or what? LOL Anyway, it's perfect timing!

Speaking of TV commercials and perfect timing, I saw my "Courts Ready Finance Month" ad today on TV!!! 

It's finally here!!!

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It's here...

The 7th Lunar Month of the year, where in Singapore we celebrate the Hungry Ghosts Festival...

That's when the supposed Gates of Hell would open for an entire month, and allow spirits a chance to return and spook visit the human realm... 

Well, I don't believe there is a 18-storeyed Hell or that a person's spirit gets sentenced upstairs or downstairs after passing on...

What I personally believe is that everything is based on energy. Everything from our body to our thoughts consist of energy...

When a person dies, the energy matter (spirit) leaves the physical realm (body) and enters another dimension (different level of consciousness)...

Whether it is a higher consciousness or lower consciousness depends on the density or lightness of the energy matter...

And no matter if the energy is of a higher or lower consciousness, it all forms part of a Oneness (God/Nature/Universe), where everything is connected by energy... 

Sometimes the energy patterns remain and leave their signature imprints on the physical realm, and the more sensitive of us will then interpret these as "ghosts" or "spirits"...

So I don't really buy the idea that energy patterns will choose only one certain month out of the whole year to visit us. They are here all along...

Or that we have to burn offerings or make sacrifices to connect to them. We are already and will always be connected...

But then again, to devote a special month of rituals and remembrance for our dearly departed loved ones serve to give us sometime to look forward to, and a chance to pay our respects, express our longings and love towards them...

Of course, all this is just my own theory, derived from observations and books, and some of it just came to my mind as I type along, but it all make sense to me...

Does it make sense to you?

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I am very, very sad now...

My poor little mini dwarf hamster, Mini, had just passed on...

Last night as I was changing her's and Eeni's cage, I thought Mini was already struggling around and couldn't climb as she used to, and that her fur was thinning out. Her eyes were squinted into slits too...

I found her this morning lying in her food tray about 10.30am but she was already cold and not moving... 

I have wrapped her in tissue paper and placed her in an empty Brand's Chicken Essence box...

Will bury her tomorrow morning somewhere at Mount Faber or downstairs...

May my baby Mini rest in peace... 

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After discovering the tragic loss of one of my babies, Mini, yesterday morning, I have been unable to get the cute little dwarf hamster out of my head, even when I was out meeting new and old friends...

Its companion (sister?) Eeni has her own cage, but Mini's cage is now so obviously EMPTY that I feel like making an illustration of it and posting it on Illustration Friday for this week's theme...

Athough I didn't plan to get drunk this weekend, I still downed enough variations of red wine and vodka-something last night, and woke up very early this morning feeling like I am floating on air and as if my head was in a distant part of the country...

Around noon, I made my way over to the foot-hills of Mount Faber just opposite where I live, together with Mini's body that's been kept in a box...

When I had found an appropriate site, I dug a hole in the ground and buried Mini...

I said a prayer for Mini's little soul to return to the Oneness or True Source, followed by "Om Mani Padme Hum" to ease the passage. Then I covered the grave, planted a wooden tomb marker, and burnt three joss-sticks as a form of remembrance and gesture of farewell...

There's still the healthier and more active Eeni to take care of, so I will have to move on quickly from Mini's passing...

The day that followed this mini pet funeral was a blur, consisting of a casting call in full formal attire as well as boxer shorts, a photo session in police uniforms, and lending a hand to an inexperienced teacher in the West...

And I fed myself to the brim with a full KFC meal and sharks-fin (as if!) soup from a "Pasar Malaam" stall...

3 angel(s) visited

Despite getting little rest over the weekend and a little sleep here and there, I managed to wake up at 5am this morning thanks to Janet's morning call, and my alarm clock...  

Janet, Elnie and I had to perform in possibly our last "15 Minutes of Fame" school assembly show at a primary school at 8.30am. Our other co-actor Fared couldn't make it today, so Janet and I had to learn and cover his parts, which we did pretty well given that we had no rehearsals. We get to split his pay too, so we were quite happy to do this...

After the show, I went back home to nap for some hours, then Gab drove over (after losing his way for close to an hour!) and we had a nice relaxing soak at his condo pool...

Then he drove me back to town to meet Jason and his friends for dinner at Cineleisure, followed by a drink at Spinelli's..

Kinokuniya Bookstore is having a sale of 20% discount on all books etc storewide from today to 10th Aug 2005...

Found that out when I brought Jason and his friends to the store to help Tony select a deck of Tarot cards. He chose The Gilded Tarot after some deliberation...

There was a lady there scratching her head over which deck to purchase, and so I tried to give her my two cents and recommended Mark Elroy's Bright Idea Deck, which is IMHO still the easiest for beginners to master and has to capacity to lead to deeper levels too... 

Anyway, I hurried off to get home so I could watch tonight's episode of "Incredible Tales", and found Paul and Jacklyn starring as a couple with marital and financial problems leading to suicide and the eventual horror elements...

Together with a toddler boy in tow, this story seemed a tad similar to "Strings (Hong Xian)"  but without the (red) strings attached (haha pun intended!)...

But then again, both these stories were based on true incidents, yet history just keeps repeating itself:

Distraught wife jumps to her death taking a child along, after finding out her lousy husband owes huge financial debts and has other women on the side...

When will people ever learn... 

But what I can't wait to watch is "America's Next Top Model" in which a pretty contestant suddenly blacked out during the judging segment... interesting!!!

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To fellow Singaporeans,

Happy 40th National Day!

~ The Future is OURS to Make! ~

Forty years is not a short time, but neither is it really significant in the history of civilisation. For our small island country to survive well above local and global adversities, and thrive in all aspects, is certainly not an easy task...

Despite many things that can still be improved upon, and the fact that I am looking forward to a life of retirement in another country, I am still proud to be a Singaporean... 

I can still remember all those years when I performed with the People's Association in their mass displays and formations at the National Stadium to thousands of spectators. That was really exhilarating and something to be proud of...

Now?

I am just happy to rest at home, and watch the parade and fireworks on TV...

Sign of the times, or just a sign of my aging... hahaha! LOL 

Oh well, I would like to wish Singapore many many years of blessings and to achieve the proverbial Happiness, Prosperity and Progress for our nation!!!  

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With enough rest from the entire of yesterday spent at home, I was all eager to get out of the house...

I received a last minute casting call from BRAVE which brought me to the casting agency Phenomenon in the early afternoon. The audition went pretty well and was over in a sec...

I'd also arranged to meet Jo, make-up artist extraordinaire and now trainer in London back for a visit, at Chinatown Point...

Just before that however, I bumped into Barnabas, who told me he'd just met Bryan, whom I'm meeting later. Such a small world this is...

Anyway, Barnabas saw my Herkimer Diamond Quartz pendant and touched it, asking what it was. I told him, and after he went off, I held my pendant in my palm, only to find the crystal detaching itself from the pendant's metal casing!!!

!*#IU$%(@=+ that itchy-handed Barnabas, he of all people should know that one should not anyhow touch other people's crystals!!! 

Well, Barn left and in came Jo, we had coffee and a chat about old times when we worked in the same theatre productions, then went over to Toy Factory to find Boon Teck as well as to collect my script for "Ten Bros"...

I then rushed off to meet  Bryan and we headed to Cineleisure for lunch, but found we couldn't get tickets to "The Maid" after all. Neither could Aaron and his girlfriend Sharon whom we met at the box office...

Oh well, we spent time at Kinokuniya, hoping to get some books while the 20% sale is still on, but Bryan was the one with the purchases...  

Bryan didn't want to watch movies anymore, so after he went off, I returned to Cineleisure and bought a ticket to whatever's available, and that turned out to be the artsy Taiwanese film by Tsai Ming Liang, "Wayward Cloud" (《天邊一朵雲》...

(Wadayaknow! A singing Merman in the show! LOL)

(Watermelons as the next big water replacement deal...)

(Plenty of fantasy song & dance extravaganzas...)

  (Plenty of porn too...)

 (There is NOTHING like a dancing P3N15... LOL)

Well, this film kind of reminded me of the play I did earlier this year, "Pulau", in that both main characters, a guy and a girl, hang around each other searching for something, be it on the outside or within, and also, there's a mysterious suitcase with significant issues attached...

Both shows contain sexual tensions and physical intimacy, but naturally the local one wasn't explicit in any way, save for the verbal vulgarities...

I wouldn't recommend "Wayward Cloud" to anyone who couldn't keep an open mind, or any critic wannabe who disses any artsy films per se, but I certainly couldn't say this is my favourite film of the year either...

Just let the powerful visual imagery and juxtapositions of fantasy musical numbers fill your senses, and enjoy lah...  

Anyway, on the bus home, I bumped into RJ, who looked almost unrecognisable in his cap, glasses and abundance of facial hair. Speaking of small worlds...  

3 angel(s) visited

As of 9pm tonight, 11th August 2005, I'm embarking on my first journey out of town this year, and this time I'm headed to a beautiful island resort at Pulau Lang Tengah, Terengganu, Malaysia...

I'll be going with Daniel, Timothy and their friend Jason, and will split into two chalets in the Square Point Lang Tengah Resort, off Redang Island...

It seems a really idyllic holiday, ideal for idle folks like me! Muahahaha! LOL

Anyway, I probably won't get internet access there (or mobilephone connection!), so I be blogging the old fashioned way (on paper) for the next couple of days, and update my adventures on Monday 15th August 2005 when I return to Singapore!

Meanwhile, I've got to collect my passport today, as well as change currencies, and pack my haversack, and also bring Bryan to the fortune-teller I've been raving about...

Till Monday, adios amigos!  

Footnote:

From this entry onwards, my Tabulas blog entries will be cross-posted to my Livejournal account too, so feel free to read on either site...

But Tabulas will still remain as my main journal, so do post your comments here...  

7 angel(s) visited

Hey hey folks, it's been a cool and relaxing few days of vacation to Pulau Lang Tengah. And now I'm back home after hours and hours of journey by coach all the way from Kuala Terengganu!

The sleep-deprived journey almost destroyed all the recently-relaxed cells in me, but hey, I'm pretty resilient, even with a swollen left eyelid due to an inflammation. I have yet to sleep since arriving back home at 7am this morning!

I've just spent most of the day transferring all the photos I took during the trip onto my PC, and edit them for future posting... 

This evening, I had to skip ASA's committee meeting as well as a rehearsal for "Yum Sing!", to attend the first script reading session of Toy Factory's upcoming Mandarin production, "Ten Brothers". Why must everything important be scheduled at the same time??

Anyway, at Toy Factory was the veteran scriptwriter Xu Sheng Liang, director Loretta Tan, production manager Kimberly Kwa, and fight choreographer Gordon Choy..

The other actors include:

Benjamin Ng (Father),

Koh Chieng Mun (Mother),

Amy Cheng (Banana Tree Spirit),

Peter Sau (Playwright/Village Head/Demon) - absent today, 

Caroline Cheong (Hawkeye One), 

Desmond Chen (Decibel Two) - absent today,

Brendan Fernandez (Might Three) - absent and unconfirmed,

Liu Liang (Elastik Four) - absent today,

Jacqueline Chow (Wingfoot Five),

Edric Hsu (I-ronn Six) - that's me lah,

Eugene Ho (Tower Seven),

Larry Liu (Drillfast Eight),

Dwayne Lau (Motor-Mouth Nine), and

Teo Wei Bin (Weeper Ten) - absent today...

This is one big family indeed!

From today's first tentative reading, it's pretty obvious this ain't gonna be the traditional straight-forward kind of drama production. Even though there is going to be a lot of work with the Mandarin text, there'll be plenty of fun and hilarity to be expected when we perform this November at Jubilee Hall... 

I'm finally feeling all my energy sapping out while typing this, so it's about time to call it a night...

I'll be posting selected photos and highlights of my trip tomorrow, and will back-date them accordingly, so do stay tuned for these entries...

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Finally, after almost ten hours (which seemed an eternity) on the Malaysian coastal roads, Tim, Dan, Jason and I arrived at the little town of Kuala Terengganu...

And spent the next hour or so waiting for sunrise and the appointed mini-bus from our resort to fetch us to the jetty...

At the jetty, it was another few hours of waiting for the ferry to take us to the low-profile island called Pulau Lang Tengah, situated in between two relatively more popular islands, Redang and Perhentian... 

(More Photos Here...) Stay tuned for Day 2 adventures...

(These images and more can be viewed at my Photobucket.com album)... 

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The theme for this week's Photo Friday Weekly Challenge is:

Violet

"Violet" ~ Edric Hsu

Picture size: 480 x 640 pixels

Digital Camera: Fujifilm Finepix F-460

This photo of Morning Glory vines and flowers were taken on 13th August 2005, just outside Square Point Resort at Pulau Lang Tengah...

Timothy, one of my travel companions and avid photographer himself,  suggested I take a shot of this patch of beautiful violet and green colour, and now it really seemed appropriate for this week's photo challenge (entry #459)!

If you think it fits the theme, do cast me a vote HERE... thanks!  

3 angel(s) visited

It was excellent weather on the second day at the resort island, and the four of us got up later than we expected. Fortunately, there was just enough breakfast left for us...

After the simple but filling meal, we walked along the beach again to work off the calories, and I was having fun with my camera again...

(More Adventures Here...)

Coming up soon is the third and final day of adventures at Lang Tengah... 

(These images and more can be viewed at my Photobucket.com album)...

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Had an early lunch today with Cousin Meiling at the coffee shop downstairs and after that I bought $15 worth of tidbits, snacks and drinks to indulge in for the next few days...

After that, I met Bryan for a late lunch at Plaza Singapura, and enjoyed some shopping and cafe times... 

On the way back to Orchard, there was Kenny literally popping out of nowhere. He had called me most of yesterday about his relationship woes, and turned out that he'd visited the fortune-teller for advice...

What a strange coincidence indeed that we should meet on the streets just like that...

Anyway, we all went separate ways soon after and I found myself shopping at Centrepoint I passed by the Courts store there and it turned out that they have been playing my TV ad on repeat mode. No wonder I got so many curious stares from the people walking in and out of the shop! LOL

I had already arranged to meet Katrina this evening at Tiong Bahru Plaza, to watch the new movie "Bewitched", starring Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell...

Nicole Kidman truly bears an uncanny resemblance to the original star of the old TV series, Elizabeth Montgomery!

  vs  

And Shirley Maclaine was pretty spot on as the mother witch "Endora" too... 

Anyway, both Kat and I were fans of the old series, and found ourselves amused at the magical antics of the naive witch in the movie, not to mention all the flash-backs to the funny old scenes that we grew up watching... 

Not so sure about Will Ferrell as the bumbling and ego-headed lead, but I guess he was funny enough in his own way...

Oh well, Bryan should have watched it with us, I'm sure he'll love it. This is such a light-hearted romantic comedy that I really wonder what goes on in the hearts and minds of those who gave this movie such low ratings...

Now if only I could master some self-cleaning spells for the house, but I just couldn't find my broom...

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And by itching, I literally do mean the whole irritating, skin-scratching shebang...

As Timothy accurately predicted, those blasted sand fly bites I unwillingly acquired during the island resort trip has been given new life, so to speak...

According to Tim, who also suffers the same above-mentioned fate, mosquito-like sand flies sting the flesh of mammals and at the same time inject their eggs into the skin...

These terrible beach pests are so silent and elusive, most people like me wouldn't even know what bit them...

In a few days' time, which is right about yesterday night, the body temperature of the reluctant host will allow the eggs to hatch and turn into parasitic larvae. That's when the red dots on the skin turn into the horrible itchy welts...

The process is damn f--king itchy and frustrating, I can tell you...

So now I have become a freaking parasite host for a whole cluster of insect larvae, like in those "Alien" movies...

Gross thoughts: Now what happens to the larvae?? Will they just pop out of my skin?? *shudders*

It will take a while before the ugly red spots all over my body begin to disappear, and a whole lot of temper- and self-control to keep my itchy hands from causing more damage to my itchy body...

And what a total waste of my almost-there tan, which was how I got bitten in the first place, when I won't be able to bare my skin for fear of people thinking I'm disease-ridden or something...

I'll have to try and concoct some homemade remedies using some of the my Omhealth essential oils and see if they can alleviate the suffering. Lavender or Tea-Tree Oil might work, as they're renowned for relieving insect bites...

If not, at least I'll smell nice...

Sigh, let's get this quickly over and done with, shall we? =

Footnote:

After a rehearsal today for the new musical film, "Yum Sing!", the choreographer, Gani, told me he is currently having skin rashes due to allergies, especially after Wednesday night's alcohol session at a bar...

That reminded me that all the red spots started swelling and feeling irritable ONLY after I had all that mixed alcoholic drinks that same night!

Major detox to be done now!!! 

2 angel(s) visited

It's our final day at Lang Tengah, and I have barely just begun to enjoy myself or find time to relax...

I was possibly the last of our group to sleep last night, but I was the earliest to wake when the breakfast bells started ringing. Nothing beats food when it comes to jolting my senses alive...

By the time the rest awoke and got ready to join me, I had already finished eating. So while they dug into their food, I went for another of my photo-opportunity walks along the coastline...

(More Photos Here...)

(All above images were hosted by Photobucket.com, where more photos of my trip may be found)...

2 angel(s) visited

This week's PhotoFriday.com theme is:

One

"One" ~ Edric Hsu

Picture size: 480 x 640 pixels

Digital Camera: Fujifilm Finepix F-460

This photo was taken on 29th September, 2004 at Gushan Mountain, Fuzhou, China. "Gushan" (鼓山) literally means "Drum Mountain" and named for its drum-like peak which created drum-like echos during a rainfall, is a scenic attraction around 900m above sea level...

It was a rather steep climb up these particular steps, and I was naturally intrigued and amazed at the strength and determination of this man with only one leg, making his way downhill one tedious step at a time...

I originally took this shot in full colour, but the hue of the man's shirt didn't seem to go well with the scenery and stone. So I decided to convert this into a black-and-white photo instead, to focus the attention on his interesting figure...

Hope you like this entry (#284)...  

Footnote:

If you liked my previous entry: "Violet", do cast me a vote HERE!  

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I spent last night, and most of today, on the dance choreography for "Yum Sing!", and Gani gave me plenty of challenging moves indeed!

In this film adaptation of the local musical of the same name, I play "Zak", a middleman attempting to settle disputes between two families. This central character was supposedly a sort of "omnipresence", narrating and overseeing the situations and trying to sort things out...

Think Antonio Banderas' "Che" in the movie version of "Evita"... pretty cool, right?

The dance styles that Gani created emcompassed several varying styles and elements: Chinese Wayang (street opera), Bollywood, Tango, Waltz, and some intentionally ultra-campy...

It was very fun and highly energetic, but as I have not done any choreographed dancing since last year's "The Magic Paintbrush" and "24 Pieties", it was definitely challenging!

So I can guess how the other cast members who are new to choreography must have felt during these dance rehearsals... 

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To celebrate Katrina's birthday, which was on 14th August, was as good a reason as any to feast on the popular Japanese buffet lunch at Miramar Hotel's Ikoi Japanese Restaurant...

 

So it was arranged for Siangyun and I to give Kat a treat there...

(From L-R: Me, Katrina & Siangyun) 

And we have plenty of yummy items to choose from, just take a look at the menu below! 

And so, the three of us ordered to our hearts' content:

It was a pretty satisfying meal, well worth the S$30+++ price tag. And although Siangyun felt a couple of the items could have been better, the restaurant itself was pretty authentic. Looking at the pics below, you could easily imagine yourself transported into a corner of Japan...

(Disclaimer: I wasn't paid to write and promote this restaurant, but I would certainly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good Jap meal...) 

Right after this meal, all three of us took our swollen tummies onto a cab, and while Siangyun left for Bugis, Kat and I went on to Suntec City to collect promotional brochures from several travel agencies... 

We wanted to research for our second Australia trip together for this coming December, as well as plan a trip to Japan next February... 

After sifting through the various crowded travel fairs here and there, we were both tired out, and ended up watching "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" at GV Marina...

I love this movie! If the original movie, starring Gene Wilder, was good, this was even better! Every single detail has been well designed and presented to transport the viewer into the fantasy world as could have been imagined by the author, Roald Dahl, himself...

There is no point I rave on and on about this film, as I love everything about it. You just have to watch it for yourself and enjoy the fun ride...

BTW, if Kelvin F. is reading this... yes, you DO look very much like "Mike Teavee" (far right on above pic)!! Muahahahaha! LOL

2 angel(s) visited

Something wasn't quite right today. In fact, I am having some difficulties typing this, and you'll see why soon enough...

After running some errands, I was in a hurry to find a cab that will take me to Kranji Primary School for a school performance. Seeing some empty taxis approaching from a distance, I rushed out from the market to the roadside...

In my haste, I accidentally stepped onto a curb that had some burnt offerings, candles and joss sticks. At the roadside, those cabs came by, but totally ignored me, even though I was frantically waving my arm to flag them...

Almost immediately, I felt a sharp pain in my right foot, as if a giant red ant had crawled into my shoe and bit me...

So I swatted at the pain with my right hand, and was surprised to find instead of an ant or bug, a small white moth flying out from my shoe!!!

Then a empty taxi pulled over and I got on. Halfway through the journey, I picked up a magazine to read, and discovered to my horror that the tip of the middle finger on my right hand was bent!!!

I was stunned, mostly because I didn't feel anything wrong with the finger at all. There wasn't any pain or crick in the bone structure or anything. I have a suspicion it might be a problem with the nerves...

I later realised that this finger was getting a bit weak, as if paralysis was setting in, and by now I need to exert some effort to make it effective like the other fingers...

What is going on???

The school show went pretty well despite my panic. It was pretty fun and having Izzat taking over Fared's role, we had some truly wacky moments on stage... 

Janet had to rush off, but Izzat, Elnie and I kept each other company on the MRT...

I reached Bryan's place at about 3pm and his mum had boiled some delicious herbal drink. Bryan and I soon got to work on the Omhealth products...

I had some time to play with his two adorable and well-fed Guinea Pigs, Chi Chi and No No...

Then Bryan's parents started asking me about my finger, and kind of "agreed" that it was probably due to my stepping on unlucky stuff this morning. His mum made me drink some blessed water which had received some prayers on their family's Guanyin altar, which I did...

When we've got all the aromatherapy stuff cleared, Bryan and I made our way to Suntec City's Eng Wah Cinema and watched the local horror movie, "The Maid"... 

We both felt the show had some truly scary moments, and I found the story pretty local and touching, well acted, and quite worth watching...

On the other hand, I found many striking similarities between "The Maid" and "Strings (Hong Xian)"...

Both had similar elements like the tragic figure in a red cheongsam dress, a girl peeking where she shouldn't be, a son in each story who was "barely there", a woman killed by a speeding car, a father resorting to violence, etc etc...

Even the Chinese fonts on both posters have that similar handwritten feel...

Speaking of similarities, "The Maid" also have something in common with my very first short film called "The Postal Rule", in which I played a postman who, like Mohd Haizad in the movie, delivered mail on a bicycle (is this still in practice??), and was interested to find out why a certain domestic maid has been crying outside her employers' house... hmm...

Oh well, I do love a good horror film, and both these home-grown movies did pretty well in my books...

Anyway, "The Maid" pointed out that there are several things we ought NOT to do during the Lunar 7th Month, which is our traditional Hungry Ghost Festival, such as kicking or sweeping the ashes of burnt offerings and other offensive actions to the spirits...

Is this yet another confirmation that what I had gotten (my bent finger, remember?) had been a punishment from some disturbed spirits due to my carelessness?

That's not all for today, for this evening's episode of "Incredible Tales 2" showed a pregnant woman who had her baby's soul snatched out of her womb because she disturbed a spirit by sitting and spitting on it's old tomb...

I have restrained myself from burning any paper offerings this year, which was customary in my family. But I guess I shall have to make peace with the spirits by doing so tomorrow...

Better to be safe than suffer a bent finger...

2 angel(s) visited

It's been pretty crazy these last few days, mostly due to lack of sleep and long working hours...

But of course, everyone knows I get by with little rest. I am such a reluctant workaholic... 

And of course, by work I meant helping Bryan with his Omhealth stall at AMRO Bank's Health Bazaar on Tuesday and Wednesday, 9am to 3pm, as well as rehearsals for "Yum Sing!" musical film from 7.30pm to 10.30pm...

The Health Bazaar was pretty dismal on Tuesday, as I suspect the publicity wasn't well done and most of the staff didn't know about the stalls on display...

Besides our aromatherapy and crystal products, the other stall vendors sold a wide variety of health products like pan salt, nuts and dried fruits, herbal teas, Noni juice, as well as gym balls, heart rate monitor watches and devices, and even fitness gym memberships from Planet Fitness and California Fitness gyms...

There were also two girls going around distributing complimentary Red Bull energy drinks, which was pretty cool as the drinks helped me keep awake...

Most of the time was spent chatting with the other vendors, like Elena who was selling salt, Jerry who was promoting the heart rate monitors, and the others whose names I couldn't recall now...

Most of us were pretty disappointed with the low sales generated from the scattered crowd, so it was a pleasant surprise to find on the second day of the fair, a contrasting full house...

Bryan and I took turns to talk to anyone interested in our Omhealth range of essential oils or crystal pendants and bracelets, explaining as much as we could the truly wonderful therapeutic properties of these items and how we could benefit from their healing energies...

Check out our range of products available during this fair...

Many of the people who came by the bazaar on Tuesday, returned on Wednesday to make their purchases. Sales was pretty brisk, but most of all, we were able to reach out to more people and generate more interest and awareness for our products...

I also learned from the Cali gym personal trainers, Matthew, Solihin and Jaan, that the new branch at Bugis had already opened for three weeks (I'm so behind the times!), but I might have to pay a premium to enter, due to its exclusive status as a "Jackie Chan club"...

But I doubt I'll agree to pay extra for this branch. It's not as if Jackie Chan himself is going to personally train individual members there...

Instead, I'm rather looking forward to the opening of two more regular Cali gyms in the next couple of years, as Matthew revealed... 

After we left the bazaar, Bryan and I gave thanks for the better sales by visiting the old temple nearby, which he had prayed to earlier this morning. Then we had our late lunch together before he left for his gym workout at Planet Fitness and I had a nice cheap new haircut at the nearest EC House outlet...

More about "Yum Sing!" rehearsals later, I'm ready to catch up on some rest before another long day tomorrow...

zzz.ZZZ.zzz... 

Footnote:

Or rather, Fingernote...

My crooked middle finger has yet to straighten. Sean just suggested I visit his dad, who's a specialist, and get an opinion on my condition. Hopefully it's a short term musculature thinggy and nothing permanent or debilitating...

Rather worried... 

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This week's PhotoFriday.com theme is:

Chaos

"Chaos" ~ Edric Hsu

Picture size: 640 x 480 pixels

Digital Camera: Fujifilm Finepix F-460

This birds-eye view of London City was taken on board a plane on the 13th July 2004, just before landing at Heathrow Airport... 

As it was my first ever trip to London and Europe, the thoughts and excitement running through my mind were as chaotic as the criss-crossing of the streets I would be exploring in the next couple of hours...

This entry is currently number #51... 

Footnote:

If you liked my previous entry, "One", do cast me a vote by Clicking Here...

5 angel(s) visited

The past few days during the weekend have been occupied by shooting for "Yum Sing!", and it has been CCCRRRAAAZZZYYY...

At almost every location and scene, we were interrupted by people and noises of all sorts. Grass-cutters by the half dozen, road sweeper, vending machine's er...  vendor replacing drinks and snacks, students walking in and out, you name it! The worst interruption came by mid-day, which you'll soon see...

Here are some of the photos that I've taken during the production...

  (From L-R: Meixi, Siying and Jeremy)

  (From L-R: Jeremy, Siying & Bianca)

  (Me playing "Zak", observing the Lovebirds...)

  ("Zak" sliding down the steps at Liat Towers...)

I was applauded by some tourists for this shot and repeating this feat several times, but little do they know I was breaking out in cold sweat. Try sliding down this steep staircase wall and see if you don't! Phew!

  ("Zak" watching over "Wong" & "Chan" arguing...)

And here's where the excitement starts... 

Midway through our shoot on that hot Saturday afternoon on Orchard Road outside Liat Towers, when I had finished with my scene and was helping with the crowd control, a fucking bitch woman was walking briskly towards us and engrossed in texting something on her handphone...

Immediately I opened up my arms to block her from barging into our camera frame and told her to "excuse me, we are doing a film shoot, please go by the other way"...  

But she didn't respond at all, and instead, just walked into me. And then I can't believe what she did next...

She shouted, "DON'T TOUCH ME!" in big capital letters, and I said sorry again and that I was just trying to block her from entering our film shoot and tried to lead her to another route...

Then she shouted again, "YOU ARE SO RUDE!" and later when I explained again to her that we're filming something, she shouted (that's all she does, shout and rant and create a scene bigger than ours), "SO WHAT IF YOU'RE FILMING? THIS IS A PUBLIC WALKWAY AND YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BLOCK MY WAY, AND HOW DARE YOU TOUCH ME!!"

So I tried to reason with her, but in vain of course. It is obvious that she's a fucking bitch psychopath having some serious mental issues... 

By then, everyone was looking in our direction with curious and incredulous stares, and it was obvious that we couldn't carry on filming with this crazy bitch unreasonable woman making her own scene right in our location...

Then she said something which made my dormant Scorpio blood boil...

"YOU SINGAPOREANS ARE SO TYPICAL, THANK GOODNESS I AM NOT A SINGPAPOREAN!!!"

To which I retorted, "Thank goodness you are not a Singaporean indeed!" and almost added, "Why don't you go back where you're from, and STAY THERE?!" but she didn't give me the chance...

She screamed again, "DON'T TRY TO BITCH AT ME! THAT IS SUCH A SINGAPOREAN THING TO DO!!" to which I replied just as swiftly, "Then what are you doing here?! And let's not talk about bitching! Just don't affect our filming!!"...

She went, "I DON'T CARE WHAT FILMING, THIS IS A PUBLIC AREA AND I WILL CALL THE COPS TO COMPLAIN ABOUT YOU!!"...

I told her to do exactly that, which she did! She's got some nerve indeed! And while she made the phone call, I remembered I had my digital camera in my pocket and that my batteries had gone flat (but not before I had taken a shot of this bitch woman standing in the middle of our film shoot, see below...) 

With my digital camera, I went right up to her face and clicked a couple of shots, indicating that I'd taken her photos which I would use as evidence against her should she dare to make any claims on us. She had no idea my batteries had gone flat...

So she flipped!!! Later she'd complain about that to the police who turned up an hour or so later, but by then I'd already moved on to another location...

Anyway, since she had barged into our film on her own accord and refused to budge, thus wasting one and a half hour of our precious time and made me lose my temper in public, you might just be able to catch a glimpse of this ridiculous incredible person when the film comes out!

Later, one of our crew told us he'd encountered this same bitch person sometime ago but across the road, when she made the same big fuss at the scene of another production! And we learned that she had been staying at Marriot Hotel and was heading to her friend's booksigning event...

Okay okay, enough about this unreasonable mad woman, I just wanted to highlight this incident to everyone so that they won't fall into her trap like we did...

Back to photos of our production, which was shifted to another location soon after the above incident... 

(From L-R: Desmond Moey as "Mr Chan", Jeremy Sing as "Mick Chan", Me as "Zak" the Middleman, Sheng as "Mrs Wong", Sim Siying as "Fern Wong", and Wong KP as "Mr Wong" 

  The final pose of the day (and our film's finale too)!

More production pics from the next day's shoot...

(The lovebirds out on a fishing date...)

  (while "Zak" jogs by...)

  (I persuaded Siying to pose this shot for me at Little Guilin...)

  ("The Wongs" and "Mr Chan" arguing over a bungalow...)

  ("Zak", as always, mediates...)

  (Sheng strikes an elegant pose as the troubled "Mrs Wong"

  ("Mrs Wong" and "Zak" singing about "Bad News"

  (A mother & daughter moment...)

  ("Mr Wong" in financial deep water...)

  (Wesley, our Director of Photography, in full impressive solid camera gear)

  ("Zak" the Middleman...)

And that was how I spent my weekend...

Look out for more, come next Sunday. Meanwhile, I really hope the production team as well as cast of this film will go pray for a smooth-sailing film shoot, especially during this time of the year!...  

8 angel(s) visited

That whole fiasco outside Liat Towers last Saturday is now giving us a real headache...

Turned out that irritating woman (see previous post) is captured in every shot and we now have to reshoot that entire scene again this weekend!

If I see her again next time, I will... (let me think about how to settle with her first...)

Anyway, filming for "Yum Sing!" was only part of the fun the last weekend. I also attended Marcus's first screening of "Screen" and "Sunrise To Sunset", both short films that I acted in recently, and met some new folks like Daniel, Rannie, and familiar faces like Gillian (it's "Gillian Trilogy Nite"!! =P), Grace, Eric and Shou Chen etc...

After the screening and plenty of good food, courtesy of Marcus, and lots of Sangria and Asahi beer later, I hitched a ride with Shou Chen and ended up at Mox and then Why Not. I didn't expect to drink so much again, but... oh well, I did...

On Sunday, I also met up with Jenice to visit Uncle Sam at his spanking new condo apartment. Samuel was so kind to make me some instant noodles since I was starving after the film shoot earlier...

Too bad Ah Law was busy filming or too tired and didn't join us...

The three of us had a nice chat about his celeb neighbours who couldn't believe he could afford condo-living (yes, there are still such bitches small-minded people around), about actor's salaries, and other interesting stuff...

We also watched the above-mentioned short films as I had the DVD with me. They commented that my acting had improved and I looked better on screen nowadays, probably due to my putting on some weight and gaining more life experience...

After that, I whipped out my camera again to take photos of us  posing in the well-decorated apartment. But I won't display them here as Uncle Sam prefered to keep a low profile...

Feeling hungry, we made our way to Thomson area for Dim Sum supper...

Hope to have another get together with the Happy Ghost folks again soon...  

2 angel(s) visited

It's been a good day today...

Did a quick recording gig at Pavane Music Productions Studio for "Magic Of Love", a musical incorporating magic and illusion, as well as song and dance, which has been travelling to several countries...

Together with Lihuan (whom I've worked with on quite a few projects earlier in my singing career and haven't met for ages) and Celine (whom I haven't seen since my last drama classes at Beatty Secondary School and am surprised to find out she has a lovely soprano voice), we recorded backing vocals to Iskandar's grand musical orchestrations...

I really enjoy recording work, which pays well for something I enjoy the most: Singing!

Here are some of the photos taken during this session...

(From L-R: Quek Lihuan, Iskandar Ismail, Celine Rosa Tan and yours truly) 

Iskandar presenting Gao Yang who's making us sound good... 

Me with Gao Yang... 

That's us having some photo memories in Pavane's well equiped studio... 

After singing and photo-taking, we left and Celine and I decided to stop by downstairs at Holland V's popular Katong Laksa stall for some "lemak" Laksa... Sinful but yummy!!

The next good news was that I have been cast by the Powers-That-Be in another TV commercial, and I'll be having a fitting session this Friday! The shoot will be two weekends later, and I just can't wait already!!!

After that, I rushed over to Orchard to pass some Omhealth products to Bryan's mum, and then had a quick shower at Cali gym before meeting Bryan for dinner at Raffles City...

Saw something freaky walking towards me, which made me jumped...  LOL

After dinner, I took out my camera and persuaded Bryan to take some photos...

Bryan usually avoids me whenever I whip out my digital camera, but surprisingly agreed to me taking his photos today...

The tides have changed!  

As Bryan got on his bus home, I noticed a visually-handicapped man alighting at the bus stop, and was asking a short-haired woman for directions and to assist him across the road...

This middle-aged woman turned out to be yet another bitch and exclaimed loudly as she rushed off in a hurry: "YOU'RE JUST PRETENDING, YOU'RE NOT REALLY BLIND!!!"...

What has the female species evolved into these days!?!... 

The blind man was left to walk along the curb of the bus stop, feeling about with his walking stick, and about to cross the road...

Seeing the oncoming traffic, I couldn't take it anymore, so I approached the man and told him I'll help him cross safely to the other side...

He told me he's heading towards Capitol Building's Gramophone CD shop, and asked if I could bring him there...

Since I've already started, I agreed and brought him slowly towards his destination, while he grabbed my arm with one hand and swung his walking stick with the other... 

Throughout the short journey, he started conversing about Kelvin Tan Wei Lian, the visually-handicapped busker turned Project Superstar's male champion, and that he liked the song he sang during a stage of the competition, "童话". He then proceeded to belt it out loudly...

I tried not to cringe as the passersby and people queuing at the taxi-stand gawked at us, but I did make us walk faster... 

He wasn't anywhere near Wei Lian's standard, but he was really totally blind...

Anyway, I bet he encounters terrible bitches people like that woman everyday...

4 angel(s) visited