I decided not to do the Mandarin number. It would not be appropriate. Instead I chose an English number – one I truely liked and found easy to sing.

Being in the blue sector which means I’ll only get to perform after the red sector finishes. Greens and yellows went last night. Last night, I had a great time being an audience. Tonight, I would have to allow others to critique me.

At dinner earlier, I was still deliberating what to do. I had two possible performances – one main and one backup.

After dinner, as I entered the hall, I decided to just let my hair down. And what I saw – the prettiest sight in store for me (see pic) was the motivating factor.

My motivating factor – the cabaret ‘girl’ with big boobs

8pm. We were despatched to our respective performance venues (not unlike getais).

10.10pm. It was still not my turn yet. The waiting almost killed me.

I couldn’t wait to get it over and done with. Over and over in my mind I replayed what I was supposed to do later on the stage.

10.23pm. The MC told me to get ready as I was up next.

10.25pm. The MC announced my name and up the steps of the stage I walked.

I did something outrageous for my course performance today. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined myself doing it.

It’s not the most polished performance that wins. It’s the performance that comes from your heart that will be successful. In fact, all my pre-performance hype-me-up mind exercises amounted to nothing. On the stage, everything changes. I am now in a new context and only I have the power to rock it.

When I heard the audience cheering after my intro, I just went full out and played to the house. There was no holding back now. My energy had rocked them and now they were transferring their energies to me too!

I will never forget tonight.

Tonight was the night when I rocked the stage and received a standing ovation doing something which is so not me. In fact, when I got off the stage, a few of them asked me if I was a pro. Well, truth is, I looked like a pro but I’m in fact a first-timer.

Tonight, I learnt to cast my pride away and release my inhibitions. I can now cancel one item off my bucket list. I had to search deep within me to come up with the act. Easy it certainly was not but fulfilling it definitely was.

Tonight, I seized the opportunity and grew as a person. I redefined my own concept of the word ‘outrageous’. From the number of hi-fives and well-dones when I got off the stage, I knew it was a 1.5minute of my lifetime when I lived it to the fullest.

Tonight, I experienced the same sense of freedom and release I felt in Nepal.

Thank you :)

On the Outrageous Night stage after all the performances were over

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It’s past 2am in the morning and I’m still not in bed when I’m supposed to. From the looks of it, I’ll have less than 4 hours of sleep. Panda eyes am I going to have tomorrow.

I think I’ll not do the Chinese number tomorrow. It’s too safe. When something is too safe, there’s no challenge. When something is too safe, it’s boring. Certainly not for someone who wants to leave behind a legacy.

It’s not so much who you are but who you want to become. What’s the point of doing something which I’m already comfortable with? It would be meaningless and worse, self-deceiving.

The last 1.5 hours were spent rehearsing for the 1.5 minute performance. I think I’m ready. Now to choose the clothes to suit the performance before I hit the sack.

I’m tired. But wish me luck.

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I’m on a 5 day course. And boy was I in a huge surprise. We had to perform.

Being scheduled to perform on the second night (ie. tomorrow night), I had an opportunity to see what others would be doing on the first night. Titled “Outrageous Night”, each participant would be required to perform an act while singing a song on stage. More importantly, each participant had to move out of his comfort zone and do something really outrageous.

My initial thoughts were to play it safe by just singing a song. After all, song singing is easy for me. So I decided to sing a Mandarin number which I always do at KTV. Should I get stage fright and forget my lyrics, the ang moh trainer wouldn’t be able to sense it as I could easily pull the wool over his non-Chinese eyes.

The performance had to last for 1.5 minutes. It’s a short time for a pro but that’s a long time for a non-seasoned performer like me. After all, I’m not so highly sought after seven month getai singer.

You may detract and say I’ve had my claim to fame in some pageants and competitions but I won’t agree. I didn’t own the stage in those competitions. Other co-owners included the fellow competitors. But in this case, the stage was my own arena. It was my own personal space.

The ride home now is an exceptionally quiet one for me. I’m still thinking. Yes, I have seen what the others have done. Do I have any ideas myself? Yes, I do.

I went camera happy on Outrageous Night when all the participants gathered in the main hall. Of all the costumes that the participants wore, these 2 were my favourite. That’s why I also took pictures with them…hehe

With Egyptian pharaoh

With walking Christmas tree

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今天在我家附近的咖啡店吃晚餐时，无意中看到了一个贴在角落头的九行字。觉得很有意义，就把它抄了下来。现在和大家分享！

说了又不听
听了又不懂
不懂又不问
不问又不做
做了又做错
错了又不认
认了又不改
改了又不服
不服又不说

很多人就是这样 – 死爱面子。

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I made a trip down to the lawyer’s this morning to hand over the keys. The keys to the old house.

One adjective summarises my inner most feelings. Poignant.

The house holds too many memories for me. My life memories in fact.

Aunt H texted me at night to ask if I was going to write a poem.

I said I would.

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Evaluation starts the moment you wake up.

When you get out of bed, your family evaluates you. Bad hair day? Wrong colour combination? Didn’t brush your teeth?

When you get out of the house, your neighbours evaluate you. Same outfit again…no money to buy new clothes? Or wait is that a new LV bag?

When you board the MRT or bus, strangers evaluate you. Why is this woman doing her makeup in front of everyone? Why is there hair sticking out of that man’s nostrils? Is that a fake “I’m not a plastic bag” carrier?

When you finally get to the office, your colleagues evaluate you. Late again?

On your first date, the prospective boy or girl evaluates you. Can I see myself going out with him/her again? Will he make me pay for the meal?

In an increasingly complex world, knowing how to portray ourselves in the eyes of others is an important skill to acquire. As the saying goes, ‘first impression counts’.

A first impression lasts long even after the first encounter. Research studies have shown that it takes only about 10 to 30 seconds to create a first impression.

According to Dr Albert Mehrabian, a noted psychologist from the University of California Los Angeles, image is expressed through your confidence visually, vocally and verbally. The visual element itself takes up 55% of the total image score. Bet you didn’t know this…

Even if we cannot remember his or her name, we can still recall an image in our mind. In my honours class, who could forget the Queen of the Desert? Or the long haired slut? Or the singing sausage? Or the cooking sausage? Or the praying sausage?

Images are powerful as they help us connect with the unconscious deep. A good, long lasting impression usually stems from a positive review of that person. When we achieve this, half the battle is won. We are our own walking advertisement showcasing our own brand.

Do you look like a frumpy old lady who looks like she belongs to the market place? This incidentally was the image my friend got when he saw the Korean table tennis player play Li Jiawei. “She looks like she belongs to the market place.” I could not help but chuckle away. That Korean obasan, is incidentally, the table tennis singles bronze medallist in the Athens 2004 Olympics Games.

Or are you the lao ah pek who eats with his leg rested up on the chair like a rickshaw puller?

You may laugh coz it’s funny. But it ain’t funny if you are the target of the laughs…

So what’s your brand?

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50? That’s half a perfect score. 50? That’s a blue coloured Singapore dollar bill. 50? That’s half a century to some. 50? That’s just another number to others.

The queen of pop, Madonna recently celebrated her 50th birthday in a bash organised by her hubby at trendy club Volstead in London’s West End.

Madonna showed the world what being 50 meant. She hit the dance floor and partied hard till 3am once the DJ played her greatest hits.

And the next morning, she was up and about, going for her normal gym routine. Wow!

If that’s what being 50 means, I certainly am looking forward to it. My partner can similarly organise a half a century bash for me then

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Not everyone can be a Michael Phelps and win 8 gold medals in 1 single Olympics. Others, like Singapore, took 48 long years just to make it to the podium again after Tan Howe Liang’s historic silver medal placing for weightlifting in 1960. But, hey, a silver medal in the women’s team table tennis is like gold to all of us.

Watching some of the live coverage of the games on TV, I have come to realise something. The very fact that each and every athlete is out there is already testimony that he/she is the very best.

Yet the world is a cruel one - we have to make distinctions. There has to be a winner always. There cannot be enough golds to be shared among all. Someone has to be the victor and the others the vanquished.

So what if you fail to strike gold this round? So what if you lose your title as the world’s fastest man? So what if you like Liu Xiang, China’s iconic sports superstar, limped out even before the first round of the 110-meter hurdles race next Monday, costing him a chance to defend his gold medal?

Life goes on.

I can relate to the sweat, effort, pain and sacrifice behind each athlete. It is no mean feat to try to out-swim, out-run, out-lift, out-jump, out-shoot, out-row, out-play or out-whatever another person. It takes full preparedness, sheer determination, strong mental resilience and of course, a stroke of Lady Luck.

Theodore Roosevelt sums it up only too well.

“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcomings, who knows the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at his best knows in the end the high achievement of triumph and who at worst, if he fails while daring greatly, knows his place shall never be with those timid and cold souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

I salute all the athletes. All of you are already Olympic winners! Chase your dreams…you will make it one day!

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I was in the suburbs today when I came across a newly opened toy shop. Curiosity got the better of me and I walked in. Being an avid toy collector, I knew prior to stepping in that I would probably find some treasures.

True enough. When I left the shop, I also walked away with 12 toys. I guessed I must have spent at least an hour in the shop. But I must admit I drove a hard bargain. The trick is not to get the toy shop owner to quote piece by piece. Rather, I asked him to give me a final sum. And then from there, I negotiated for a lower final price.

Here comes some of the latest additions to the toy museum which I have shot lovingly. Fresh from the oven…enjoy

Padme Amidala in her regal finest costume. Amidala appears in Episode 1 of Star Wars

Darth Maul, evil apprentice, was sent by the Emperor to hunt down Padme

Another variation of Darth Vader

Special edition of Darth Vader in mint condition

My idol – The Incredible Hulk 

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The history of the momo bears can be traced back to 1997 (though some say they were created a year earlier) when Sony created a line of virtual pets, otherwise known as postpets.

The idea of the postpets is to allow both the sender to choose a postpet of his favourite to send the mail. Once the receipient receives the mail, he/she will see the postpet sent to deliver the mail. Depending on your mood, you choose the postpet that best suits your character. And when the receipient replies, your postpet will perform certain actions like dancing, clapping, singing etc.

‘Momo’ stands for peach in Japanese. Thus, some have also labelled them as peach bears. The outlook of a momo bear resembles that of a cool bear. With this exterior, each momo is decorated with a clothing of his own, a pair of round eyes, expressive eyebrows and a sunny smile.

Looking at each momo bear is a happy thing to do as there are no two similar momo bears. Each is unique in his own way.

 
Momo bears – superheroes series

Momo bears – sexy babes series

Momo bears – space series

Momo bears – country series

Momo bears – soccer series

Momo bears – art series

Momo bears – bad boy series

Momo bears – Chinese characters series

Momo bears – animal series (top) & cartoon series (bottom)

Momo bears – Beijing Olympics series

Momo bears – stitches series

Momo bears – fright series

Momo bears – 133 of them and counting

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