Eunos Appreciation Nite 2008

29 November 2008
Singapore Swimming Club

Eunos Grassroots Leaders, New Citizens and Residents attended the fun-filled Eunos Appreciation Nite. Everyone wore their formal wear.

YEC Ladies

After the arrival of Guest-of-Honour, Mayor Zainul Abidin Rasheed, buffet dinner commenced. The emcee then led a stage game, getting the audience to guess the movie title by listening to the soundtracks. I managed to win a prize out of it.

The acrobatic performance put up by the Safri Boys from Kenya was captivating and comical. They even enrolled 3 from the audience to join in one section of the performance.

The next performance was Thai Dance "Laigethong" put up by residents.

Next, the audience was treated to a hyped up Indian dance.

I guess the climax of the night was the Belly Dancing performed by Zone 2 RC. Cladding a hat which masked their identities, the audience were later led to guess who they were from their stomachs.

There was a Eunos trivia quiz on stage and everyone learnt something new about Eunos, including the fact that there is a car model Eunos.

Mayor Zainul then gave his speech thanking all GRLs for their commitment and their spouses for supporting them.

Happy for Rahayu who won the top prize for Lucky Draw. Brenda was also very lucky with both her parents winning prizes as well.

Prawning at Bishan Park

29 November 2008

Moments after midnight, we decided to go prawning at Bishan Park. According to Ming Choo's reliable source, Bishan Park makes a good site for prawning. I am clueless about it, having no experience in prawning at all. Thus, I just followed blindly with them.

4 of us rented 2 prawning rods for 3 hours at a rate of $20/hr. We collected the rods and baits (chicken hearts), then proceeded to an available space to start prawning.

The prawning rod was monopolised by Hock Rong and Chee Lee. Chee Lee was there for the first time as well and he had a great deal of beginner's luck.

I finally learnt the procedures of prawning. After hooking the bait (Hock Rong suggested exposing the hook so that the hook will enter the prawn's mouth when it bites the bait; while Ming Choo proposed otherwise so that the prawn will not be suspicious of the reflection from the hook), drop the bait into the water. There is a float to indicate whether there are prawns eating and the bait. The float sinks when they do.

When the float sinks, create a tension of the line between the float/bait and the rod, with the line perpendicular to the water's surface. Jerk it slightly upwards and pull in your reward.

Hold the prawn's head and remove its claws and then the hook. Drop the prawn into the cage (partially submerged in the pond) to ensure the freshness of prawns.

We (meaning Hock Rong and Chee Lee) managed to capture 7 prawns and barbequed them on the spot. I can't forget the eyes of the prawns staring straight at me while they pierce them with the satay sticks.

Later, I refused to eat any of the prawns. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable trip.

Sicko - The Disgusting side of American Healthcare System

The first few scenes covered American citizens who bought health insurance but were rejected for various reasons. Many others found themselves unable to be accepted by any insurance firms.

I was particularly disturbed by how insurance firm and hospitals view profits as a higher priority than human lives. A young girl had a high fever in the middle of a night. Her mother immediately sent her to the hospital where medical staff told the mother that the treatment was not covered under insurance. Finally, the girl was transported to a designated hospital and upon arrival, she died of cardiac arrest. And they are talking about Human Rights?

Even Guantanamo bay detainees are given better health care. The ratio of medical staff to detainees is 1:4 (high). Film director Michael Moore finally found free universal healthcare on American land. He brought 3 9/11 rescuers to Guantanamo bay asking for treatment but was not granted. Eventually they had free healthcare services provided by Cuban doctors.

On the other end, we have Britain and France which provide free healthcare services to their people. I am thankful that there are still socialism in Singapore to care for the people.

Capitalism doesn't necessary lead to better services. The greed that prevails in the U.S. is astonishing. In such a free country, even the most basic essentials are not being properly provided.

Image from http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/index.html

Toastmasters International District 80 Semi-Annual Convention Welcome Dinner

21 November 2008
YWCA Ballroom

At 10.30am, reached YWCA (for the first time in my life) for the District Exco Meeting. The meeting was only open to Presidents and Vice-Presidents (Education). The meeting was encouraging in that there is much progress in the various divisions of District 80.

We adjourned for lunch and I was glad to make new friends from Hong Kong as we lunched together in the round table. There was exchanges of questions on how we run our programmes as well as some understanding of local culture.

The Chinese humorous speech and evaluation contest were an eye-opener. It inspired me to look into how I could go around adding more humour into my speeches in the future. I particularly like these statements made by one of the contestant:

Who says the person above a white horse must be a prince? It could be Tang San Zang (The monk in Journey to the West). Who says someone with wings must be an angel? He could be a Bird Man (in Chinese, it's a derogratory term).

The highlight of the day (at least to me) was the Welcome Dinner. Mdm Sim was the organising chairperson and had roped in Adelene and myself to help out in ensuring the smooth flow of the programme. The theme for the night was .

At about 5pm, performers started to arrive to test the sound system as well as do some final rehearsals. The Thai delegates did their dance rehearsal in their formal wear and it looked interesting (read comical).

At 7.30pm, the young performers marched up on stage and waved to the guests to signify the start of the event. These young performers are very entertaining and very professional. All of them had plenty of titles clinched in various competitions - locally and globally.

Olivia Tan - Nothings Gonna Change my Love for You

Christina Yeo, Tissany Tan, Victoria Pang - When You're Gone (The Best version I've ever heard)

Tissany Tan, Olivia Tan, Victoria Pang - Laigethong (Thai melody with Chinese lyrics - Thai delegates thronged the Dance Floor)


Braddell Heights Mandarin Toastmasters - 站在高岗上


Tissany Tan, Victoria Pang, Shermine Tong - Di Tanjong Katong

DTM Aziz Mustajab hosted the games segment of the night. The first part was the guessing of retro song titles. The second was identifying old photographs. The games sent everyone into hysteria, dashing in hope to win the table prizes.

Hong Kong delegates - Cantonese Song


Liu Qiu Feng - 天路, 西班牙女郎 (Amazing!)


Debbie Tok & Daphne Tok - Colours of the Wind

It was fun being programme coordinators. Frederick kept dancing to songs and even danced with Adelene on numerous occasions at the dance floor. Of course, who could miss taking pictures with the cute performers?

Shermine Ang - Japanese Dolls


Shermine Tong - Speedy Gonzales (I can't seem to forget that song)


Shermine Tong, Adelene, Shermine Ang, Tissany Tan, Victoria Pang

The finale item was a multiracial song which saw Tissany changing into various ethnic costumes on stage, ending with the song "Let's Twist". Everyone thronged the dance floor and later the stage to just "twist"! There was an encore and the mood just gets higher. The emcee had a hard time ending the programme. Haha.

North East District Meeting 2008 - The NExt IN Thing!

15 November 2008
Paya Lebar Methodist Girl School (Secondary)
2pm

For the first time, the North East District Meeting 2008 was held in 3 different places, 2 of them virtually. The video recording of the event was streamed live to 2 Community Centres.

NExt IN thing - NE stands for North East. IN stands for Interactive new media and Neighbourliness. In the goodie bag were, among others, two gifts with significance. One was the door stopper to keep doors open to neighbours. The other was a 2GB thumbdrive to signal the importance of using the new media to reach out to residents.

After a short video on highlights of events for the past year, Jennifer and I went on stage with Mayor to share some of the activities we are carrying out in Eunos Constituency to promote neighbourliness. Eunos Zone '5' RC is piloting a project called 'Neighbours Connect!'

I was honoured to be representing in Eunos YEC to talk about how youth can contribute in terms of IT knowledge to better social bonding. Thanks to Hock Rong for capturing the video of the talk as well!

After our sharing, Mr George Yeo demonstrated how he communicates with his residents via FaceBook.

Following next was Q&A session. Most participants were concerned over economic matters.

Eunos CC YEC Year End Dinner & Launch of Website Preparation

Year End Dinner & Launch of Website
In Conjunction with the PAYM's 37th Anniversary

7 December 2008
7.30pm
http://www.eunosyec.org.sg

It is an indescribable feeling when the ideas that you mooted gets into fruition. That is how I felt when I saw the standing display boards being secured to the ground. During the first meeting, a random idea popped out of my mind and that is to place standing boards around Eunos for publicity. This would capture more attention rather than the usual banners and posters.

Nobody has done that for constituency activities in our region. It took great determination and imagination to accomplish this feat. Organising Chairman Hock Rong gave immense support for the idea. Ming Choo was able to cast her imagination to design the attractive display boards. ACM Edmund arranged meetings with various agencies to find out which of them owned which lands. I present you the standing display boards:

Ming Choo - the talented designer.

Hock Rong and I posing for the camera

We have been working on the website as well. Due to our work and study commitments, we can only utilise the night to do our volunteering work. Ming Choo spent her nights rushing out high-quality design themes for banners, posters, tickets and the standing display boards. At the same time, Hock Rong and I stayed through a few nights in MacDonalds planning and coming up with contents for the site. Although we spend more than 10 hours per night, we are still very much driven to deliver our very best for the event.

Year End Dinner & Launch of Website
In Conjunction with the PAYM's 37th Anniversary

7 December 2008
7.30pm
http://www.eunosyec.org.sg

Order your tickets with me (97545337) to avoid disappointment!

22nd Birthday

10 November 2008

As I was busy digging my heads flipping through the thousands of pages of books for my Chinese Politics essay due on my birthday, suddenly Lin Qiang dashed out from the bedroom and wished me.

Apparently distracted away from my essays, I started to reply to all the well wishes sent by friends in FaceBook. Now, I have a beautifully decorated FaceBook Wall.

I am proud to be born in November, the month of the Scorpio. In the previous Eunos CC YEC Meeting, Jialing and Rahayu gave the November babies a "surprise" birthday celebrations. It was amusing how Jialing contacted me asking for Treasurer's claim for the birthday cake and how she informed me one week in advance about the celebrations. Nevertheless, these 2 girls really are thoughtful!

It's quite rare to find someone sharing the same birthday with you. For me, I now know of 3 - Elin, Jasmine and my cousin.

After successfully completing and submiting my essay, I finally cleared my burden. Since I didn't receive any gifts this year, hopefully my lecturer can grant me an A. Instead of a much-desired nap, I decided to volunteer at the Meet-the-People Session (MPS). To my astonishment, I realised that Jasmine and I share the same birthday! Jasmine is a PCF Kindergarten teacher who had taught my brother, elder cousin and a friend.

Since the PCF teachers had bought a cake for Jasmine, it was my privilege to join in the celebrations. Mayor Zainul took a video of us as the song goes. Despite the fact that the time was way past midnight (the room's clock is still at 9 o'clock), it brightened up my otherwise dull day. Partying with the Party!

Everyone was in awe when they heard that Mayor Zainul is now in FaceBook. And that led to everyone adding one another in FaceBook.

After MPS, went to MacDonalds with Hock Rong again and returned home at 7am.

I would like to thank everyone for their well wishes, especially those who fought to be the first to send me and those who managed to be the last to send me. Any belated gifts would be appreciated :)

A Levels Examination Motivation

On the eve of the first A Levels Examination paper, I decided to put up some motivation posters around the house for Lin Qiang.

The first poster was pasted on the toilet's mirror.

Second one was posted on top of the shower spray.

The Net has unlimited inspirational and motivational quotes but very few suited for examination purposes.

The most un-glam poster must be this one, pasted right in front of the toilet bowl.

And to make an impactful finale, this was pasted near the door.

After the first paper, SRJC also gave Lin Qiang another boost when it issued out the latest yearbook for the students. He appeared in the cover page as well as a good coverage in the CCA page.