Month: October 2009

Of Weddings, School and Wii

Last Friday, I went for my cousin’s wedding at Swissotel Stamford Ballroom. Before the day, I was considering whether to wear a tie or something different. I was suddenly inspired to buy a scarf. I went to look for one at Bugis Village but found none. Over at Bugis Junction, most of the shops don’t sell, and of those which did, there were limited selection. As I was about to leave, I stumbled upon a pushcart which sells all kinds of scarves. I asked the saleslady for recommendations for scarves for men and I bought 2 for $20. On that day itself, I contemplated for very long whether to wear one or not before deciding to do so. I went Youtube (yes…don’t laugh) to find out what are the different ways to tie a scarf. It would be quite unusual, very experimental, and slightly out-of-this world of me to wear the scarf which I bought. I was afraid that people will think weirdly. On hindsight, as I was trying it out, it looked like tablecloth with checked black and white.

(During the event, some people said the scarf looked not too bad, and I need to have the self-confidence to bring it on. My cousin said I looked like Rain? I guess I need to be less self-conscious and more Jesus-conscious! As You are , so are we!)

The place looked very familiar, then I realised that I went there before 5 years ago for VJC’s 20th Anniversary Gala Dinner. Ah…we had a cocktail reception before proceding in for the dinner. First time there was the ROM solemnization ceremony incorporated before the dinner. Quite interesting. The food was good, my favourite was the cold dish and the dessert was not bad.  Coincidentally, I met yongxue there. Somehow, he knew my cousin through his workplace. What a small world after all…

My cousin hired a pretty impressive video team, which did a short-film-quality MTV-like same-day highlights video, which showed what happened during the tea ceremonies in the morning. It was very cool, the colours were graded very well and the film-like HD quality was quite good. Some samples of similar videos can be found here.

Going to a wedding also makes one think about what would yours be like in future. But I guess it is too early for me to think about that now!

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School has been good so far. God is good, I have been praying for abundant time and God is certainly faithful in many occasions to multiply my time. On one occasion, I actually reached school half hour earlier. I also managed to finish my CS3240 report in 7 hours on the deadline itself, and the other projects are going on schedule. CS3249 has been the most interesting. Although the project – designing a Wii game – has little to do with the module name, Elements of User Interface Design, it is one of the most fulfilling projects so far.  I did not want to the usual design role, and hence I took up the courage to do the programming role for this project. I had to figure out ActionScript, which was my first time, as well as using the WiiFlash API to program the Bartender game (which another group designed). I had to find out with my teammates how to ‘pour’, ‘shake’ and map the cursor based on the infrared sensor. We managed to create a prototype last Monday, and it was fun and amazing to see the game work. Everyone’s been cooperative and the other groups were quite impressive too. NM3215 Advertising Strategies is going to be stressful as our report about Kia Motors is due next Friday and presentation after that. As for Maths, it is a struggle as always to learn and keep up, but by His grace, I will. NM2101 has been interesting but I hope it is not too difficult to score. Somehow, my essay-writing skills are going raw.

Last Monday, I attended the Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum with MM Lee as Guest-of-Honour. It was an interesting but short event as it was my first time in such an event hearing MM Lee speak life. Quite insightful and it is obvious that many people are still interested in politics and Government, just that most of our generation tends to be more nonchalant. MM Lee said that in order for our generation to survive the next 50 years, we need the ruggedness, roburst attitude, will make it, do -or-die attitude like our grandparents/forefathers and understand what it means to be poor. Our forefathers fight against all odds (just like how now Foreign Talent fight with us), and built the Singapore as it is today. I think our generation still has some way to go to learn that, living in so much comfort.

It’s week 10, and 4 more weeks to go. Not long later, after exams, and I will be flying off! For my SEP! To the land of freedom and liberty…in a flight that will cost as much as a computer. haha. I am looking for flights now, it is hard to find a cheap one. Trying to arrange to meet Josh P. there for Christmas too.

A New Revelation of Me and Jesus

Me and Jesus, it’s not someone else, it’s not a third party, it’s not the person singing the song, it’s not your spouse, but it’s you, yourself, alone, but not lonely, because you are with Jesus. When you know that you are His beloved, you are the one whom Jesus loves, you are whole, not half empty, not half full, but a complete, satisfied being.

When there’s nowhere else to turn
All your bridges have been burned
Feels like you’ve hit rock bottom
Don’t give up it’s not the end
Open up your heart again
When you feel like no one
Understands where you are

[chorus]
Someone loves you even when you don’t think so
Don’t you know you got Me and Jesus
By your side through the fight
You will never be alone
On your own you got me and Jesus

After all that we’ve been through
Be now you know I’ve doubted too
But everytime my head was in my
Hands you said to me
Hold on to what we got
This is worth any cost so
Make the most of life
That’s borrowed
Love like there’s no tomorrow

[chorus]

Anecdotes from Jack Neo

Jack Neo came for a talk in NUS for Dr. Brown’s Digital Media Production module, and here are some quotes:

  • Write about what happened to your own life – Script is king
  • Film industry is about cheating/convincing people, you can make 4 policemen look like 100 policemen
  • Money No Enough had a lot of background noise from the old 35mm camera. And there was also a lot of noise from nearby construction sites when filming. However, a film critic from the West said the film’s sound is an authentic showcase of Singapore’s state of development with all the construction noise (unintentionally) placed in the background
  • MDA should have a computer graphics (CG) fund to fund productions to make more use of CG so that our industry can grow to a newer level. Because many directors do not have the capaibility to try and experiment, and hence we will never get to grow in that area.
  • Drama training is important for scriptwriters and directors to know how actors act and portray themselves

I asked a question on how local audience don’t like Singapore films…how do you reconcile the fact that you are producing for an audience who don’t watch their own films? He replied that it is hard to please everybody. But don’t give up, if you have a good script, there will definitely be an audience who watch your film(s). Jack Neo has proved that with his films’ box office takings despite the many critics around.

A Time To Shine

Last Saturday, I went to the New Creation Church Youth outreach event A Time To Shine. We brought primary 1 kids from New Town Primary School to Sentosa. Each volunteer is attached one-to-one with a kid. My kid’s name was Shafiq and he was best friends with Mh’s kid, Danial. After bringing them to the toilet and back, we realised that they are actually quite ‘violent’ as they will keep fighting with each other!

On the bus we let them sit together for a while, but Coach asked us to sit them separately. A teacher had to come and scold Danial. At the underwater world, it was quite fun to bring them around and have fun with them and intrigue their curiosity. Even though my kid went to the place before, I think he still enjoyed it. Actually they are very smart and inquisitive, and they are fascinated easily by sharks and what not. However, they run around a lot, especially Danial, and poor mh had to chase him around.

After that we went to sit the beach tram to beach station, where we had some games at a nearby grass patch. It was musical chairs in a mass version using hoola hoops and ‘sharks’ running around to catch those outside the hoops. It’s very cute to see all the kids running around. Danial was very smart actually, cos he stood outside the hoop whenever nobody was looking. And then when a shark was nearby, he will immediately step back. He lasted quite long in the game haha. The second game was a telematch of sorts and we had to play with our kid, tie our legs together and walk from end to another.

After that we went for lunch. We had a toilet break at the beach station and I brought Danial and Shafiq to the male toilet. I assumed they went into the same cubicle and I went to wash my hands. However, when Shafiq came out from the cubicle, Danial wasn’t with him! I went out and told mh and she was stunned. I also did not know what to do and helped to look for him. Phew, by the grace of God he was with Selene and the Coaches. I am very sorry for my negligence!

We had a McChicken and apple pie for lunch. Somehow kids don’t really like apple pies. Think most people prefer fries. When mh went to the toilet, a drama began. They started fighting and snatching one another’s bag! I had to hold Danial’s hand tightly to prevent him from pinching Shafiq. It was quite bad and attracted the attention of another volunteer. He tried to talk to Danial but he purposely looked in another direction. After the volunteer left, they both started to smile at each other. Lol. They were playing afool all along! Mh came back and I told her she missed the drama haha.

After that, we took a tram to the dolphin lagoon. It became very hot as the sun shone even tho we were sitting in the shade. The kids started to play with sand while we sat in a distance. Then we wrote our affirmation cards on the fish-shaped cardboards and gave it to them. They didn’t really seem appreciative of it though. The weather made us all very thirsty and sweaty. Mh managed to entertain Danial later by asking him to continue drawing. It seems that he is actually quite smart in drawing and can draw shapes like starfish pretty well. The other worse thing was that the dolphin show had some problems and hence it was shortened and not very entertaining.

Finally it was time to leave and board the bus back to school. On the way back, Danial said he wanted to sit with me instead of Mh! Lol. Mh entertained them with some coin hiding game while I was stoning. Haha it was quite a peaceful journey back.

Back in the school hall, they started running around again. And this time, after being comfortable with me, they started “molesting” me! Lol it was really funny. Finally it was time to bring them out to the gate and send them home. Interestingly, my kid had no parent to pick him up. Apparently perhaps he has 8 sisters and thus they are too busy.

On the whole, it was quite interesting experience. I think that I feel blessed having learnt how to deal with kids even though they can be “tramatising” at time. I also learnt that I have limited strength and ability to deal with kids and I have much more to lean. They are quite an interesting bunch and their innocence can be trained in order for their hearts to be pure. We pray that we had imparted good and lasting impressions in their lives through a one-day experience.