[fuelling more election speculation]
while most of singapore celebrated the lunar new year at home, our prime minister was visiting workers at psa... and he hinted on somethin we already know about the impending general elections...

well, someone could have asked him if it would be held before the apec summit in may... that may paint a clearer picture of the election date....

anyway, here's an exerpt of channel news asia's report:

Prime Minister Lee met some 300 PSA staff working on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

This is the first time the Prime Minister is visiting PSA during the festive period.

That came under scrutiny as reporters wondered if the visit was indicative of elections being called soon.

When probed further, Prime Minister Lee merely said, “We're going to have the budget on February 17 and then the budget debate so the chances of elections being called before the budget are not that great, well obviously it has to be after the budget."

Mr Lee remained tight-lipped about when the likely month for elections would be, but confirmed the PAP's ready to introduce its new candidates.

and according to close sources and our local newspapers, elections are normally held after the budgeet debate which can take up to three weeks... but the thing to look out for is the electorial boundary report which is usually released when elections are near...

in fact, the channel 8 reporter even specifically asked if he could take leave to go overseas in march...

that was answered with a smile from the prime minister....

my guess is as good as yours...

[going to istana]
repeat after me: ephraim is going to istana...

but pity, my camera is down, so there may not be photos for my blog...



now, i think the party's gonna be pretty cool...

[weblog of a geisha]
for the first time, i am sitting at my desk with my apple i book and blogging... well normally, i would be lying on my bed to blog...

went to catch memoirs of a geisha yesterday.... and it was pretty interesting to know what goes behind the scenes of a life of a geisha... just like a geisha's blog...

to quote the show, a geisha simply means an artist who performs at functions... but beyond the mask, there lies several black areas.... and it is a bitchy industry, with back-stabbing, subdued love, under the table dealings...

it tells the personal story of a girl, who is sold to become a geisha... and is set in pre-world war two japan... the movie is a chronological lookback into her past... her adventures and mis-adventures... and how an ordinary fishmonger's blue-eyed daughter is trained to be a top notch and most-wanted geisha in the city...

it is hilarious... when you see the little girls running aroung, creating a ruckus when they learn the art of performing...

it is evil... when you see the henious geisha that tortures her geisha 'sister' and later burns down the okiya...

it is heart-warming... the romance blossoming between chiyo and the chairman...

it is dark... the under the table tactics and the 'rape' scenes...

it is breathtaking... the scenes of olden japan, the streets and shophouses that are in the movie...

in the movie, also take note of the three asian beauties, gong li, michelle yeoh and zhang ziyi... and listen to the accentuated english that our dear zhang speaks... well, it is comparable to michelle chong's fake japanese accent when the latter interviewed zhang for our local googlebox...

so much for comparison.... and the catfights....

to that i say, may the best man win (ok that was not a phrase from my forum letter to today, kidding)....

[week long holiday]
it's great to take a break just before the lunar new year... and because during the last month, i have been working a lot, i get to clear my off...

i have been learning diving lately.. and this morning was my second lesson... gonna go for my third one and book my test day come friday...

this week, has been pretty great cause payment for my works have been coming in... and that means more to spend for the new year...

but come next week, it's back to my hectic work schedule... i have three lunar new year dinners in a row to attend... and that includes one at the istana... well, more on that in another post... and that excludes visitation during the new year...

also, i'll be looking forward to tomorrow as the hougang newsletter would be out.... it was cool being involved in the design and the content... and now i sort of have the feel of how it feels to be an editor... hopefully, it will be another feather added to my cap... the most happening thing about the newsletter is the cover... it has a super subtle portrayal of the upcoming elections...

but lest the workers' party people are reading this, i'd better not say too much....

so much to look forward too... so little time...

[occ and the staff retreat]
i was not in the office for the last three days... two days were spent at orchid country club attending the aljunied grc retreat... the third was spent touring the scdf heritage centre and the police heritage centre...



and so, the company booked for everyone a luxurious room at the club... but i didn't get to stay overnight as i had to settle some newsletter stuff with my colleague... and by the time we wrapped up, it was like 11pm!! so i decided not to rush back and wake my roommate up...

imagine 20 people tip-toed on a canvas sheet at the outskirts of a golf course... imagine that most are half your age.. then imagine that they are running and jumping and holding hands just like little kids... trying to piece together a jigsaw puzzle or puzzles...



but that is what we did!!

and we had role-plays, team-building activities, real-life scenarios, wacky games...

most of all, it was free...

what is most important is that everyone enjoyed it...



put a smile on your face, it makes the world a better place..

[evil twin]
i have found my evil twin... muahahaha...

only that he is much much younger than i am...

[what a load]
when i signed up to be the emcee for kembangan-punggol's edusave scholarship and merit bursary, i did not expect to be reading out 800 names!! well, i eventually found out and nearly freaked out this morning...

a good thing is that, i had a co-host to share the burden...

i digress...

it is always good to have a co-host... one of the reasons is because you can have chemistry to make the event more spontaneous and the audiences can hear a variety of voices...

so the whole day was spent rehearsing, editing scripts and ironing out minor details on our already prepared script... so the co-host and i was backstage most of the time doing the groundwork for the ceremonies.... we even had our lunch there...

the first one that was held in the morning was pretty long... a total of 400 students gathered at damai secondary school for the awards ceremony... and towards the end, my legs were already close to giving way... the last i remember standing for so long was during my ns days...

during showtime, the emcees stood on stage under glaring spotlights (now we know how celebrities feel on stage with all the lights), trying to pronounce funny, long and wierd names (there was a guy called dick but he didn't turn up) and paying attention to the ongoing slew of activities unfolding before us... and always trying to be on the ball lest we make mistakes...

after the first ceremony, our eyes were almost blinded by the stong lights afte the one and a half hour ceremony... then during the second session, a few parents even took photos of us using flash... it was a first for me... although during the ioc, hoardes of press people used flash for their photos in front of me in the press briefing room, this experience was totally blinding... so i had to close my eyes for a split second and then continue reading out the names...

the second one was with north east cdc's mayor zainul abidin rasheed as the guest of honour... though the recipients were considerably lesser, the stress factor was up as the guest is a very important person (mayor okay... cannot make mistakes)... however, due to extreme stress, i paused halfway when reading out his name for the second time... but it was not too obvious i guess.... when i apologised to him for that error during the post-reception ceremony, he brushed it off lightly and smiled...

one thing i noticed was that the mayor actually congratulated each recepient personally on stage... i mean, as a mayor, he does not have to do that but he actually did that... it shows how such a gesture will make an impact on the student to spur the child on to succeed... i'm sure one would feel proud to receive an award from the mayor...

so back to the ceremony,... the second one was pretty fast and orderly... the parents were well behaved, students listened to instuctions and executed them on cue and i think it was because the committee listened to feedback from the first session... with several like minded people who work together to put things right, small details were looked at and ironed out which made the event successful...

the end result? a pat on the back for a job well done by the mayor himself...

and yes, i took photos but it's for private collection... i would not want to see those photos distributed everywhere you know....

[further signs]
MEDIA NOTIFICATION

REVISION OF THE REGISTERS OF ELECTORS


A notification is being published in the Government Gazette today
which states that the Prime Minister, in exercising the powers conferred by
section 14(1)1 of the Parliamentary Elections Act (Chapter 218), has
directed the Registration Officer to revise the registers of electors and
complete the revision on or before 28 February 2006. The revised registers
will contain the names of all Singapore citizens who are qualified to be
electors as of 1 January 2006.

2 More details pertaining to the revision will be released in due course.



Elections Department
3 January 2006


1
Section 14(1) of the Parliamentary Elections Act states that: “the Minister may from time to time, but in
any case not later than three years after the last general election, require the Registration Officer to revise
the registers of electors and complete the revision before such date as the Minister may, by notification in
the Gazette, appoint.”

[crunch time]
for the next few days, i have to drink plenty of water to keep my voice crystal clear... i have been sick for the past few days.. down with flu and sore throat...

and it has been raining non-stop... how to recover like that?

anyway, i'll most probably be doing another round of hosting duties... and this time it will be out of my constituency... better still, because the mayor (but of course minister is better lah but he's not free) is the guest-of-honour.... nothing beats doing duties out of your constituency... not that i didn't like doing it at mine... but it's a refreshing change...

next month will be pretty busy....

i'll be helping out for chingay (national event leh).... as well as a series of lunar new year gatherings to attend... and also helping out at meet-the-people sessions... it's just part and parcel of being a grassroots leader...

[mos finale]
the last in the series of my ministry of sound posts...

what's a club without a dance floor? this one has two to be exact... well, at least i saw two...

there were not many people when this photo was taken and it was still quite bright... so you are able to see the sprawling dance floor...

i think it can fit close to 400 people... and maybe even more...



so the whole afternoon, staff spent time rehearsing and made sure everything was in the proper position slowly piecing the picture together for the big night and to welcom pm lee...



and there you have it, exclusive photos of the hippest club in singapore, ministry of sound...



the party was a break from work and a good opportunity to meet athletes and friends of the ssc... all in all, i must say that the ministry of sound lives up to it's name... simply put, the sound system there rocks... if you notice, there are several wierd speakers hanging from the ceiling...

now who needs huge speakers when you have these at ministry of sound?

[preparing for pm]
what does it take when the prime minister is invited for a team singapore event at ministry of sound?

plenty...

since 3 in the afternoon, security checkpoints are set up...



then a bevy of police officers and auxiliary police stroll in...



they check every area for suspicious objects and guard every turn and corner in the building...

then at 7, the prime minister arrives in his white mercedes... he has the whole road to himself (police officers block the whole road) and he arrives with guards round his car... in the entourage, there is a car in front and one behind...

in a split second, the pm gets out of the car, waves, and heads into the ministry of sound... smiling...

he is then ushered into the venue while i follow behind...

by the time i finish my duties and get in, the prime minister is in a sea of blue, smiling, laughing and giving his comments with his wife by his side....

finally after the opening speeches by minister teo chee hean and dr vivian balakrishnan, it is time for the pm to go on stage to hand out the money for the team singapore athletes....



straightafter, pm heads to the vip lounge for reception...

he then makes another appearance by going round the club, smiling, chatting, posing for photos and even toasting with athletes...



and after that is done, he gets ambushed by the media with the questions... he answers them and then heads to the exit where the three cars are neatly parked...



and he and his wife ho ching are sent off by chairman, ceo and top staff from ssc and minister vivian...

straight after that, dr vivian leaves the venue with his wife...

[what's your flavour]
was at ministry of sound just now... in fact, i was there since 4 this afternoon...

and it is huge!!!

they have many many rooms to suit your needs and every experience is a new experience... and so, since i had time, i went to every room to explore... i think there are close to 10 rooms....

most rooms have cool furniture like these hanging chairs...



and red themes...



a room furnished with white furniture...



cosy room number 54... this one has several types of chairs... and various designs on the walls...



and one of the grandest rooms... looks like a dining hall fit for a king...



there are many other nooks that i have yet to explore... but i don't think i'll be heading down soon as the queues can kill...

and not only that, the cigarette smoke kills too...

[freebies and queues]
if you wondered that only aunties love to queue for freebies, then you are wrong...

even old people turn up even before opening hours to queue to see the doctor...

and once, when i was giving out free umbrellas, i got a mad rush..

initially, it was pretty orderly, then when only one box was left, the queue suddenly disappeared.... from one snaking line, it became a whole crowd of people... people started coming forward.... many hands with redemption coupons were shoved in your face and everyone was trying to get your attention just so you would give them the freebies...

then suddenly, you have no room to move as everyone is half an arm's length away from you... and the noise just gets louder and louder...

so you reassure then and tell them there is enough for everyone, but no one moves... so you try to do the exchange faster by speeding up... as the speed goes up, people get their umbrellas faster and the queue clears faster....

eventually the queue clears... and you are left exhausted... but it's funny to know what some people would do to get a free umbrella....

[to love and be loved]
was just chatting on msn about love and how great the feeling is...

about break-ups and sadness... and failed relationships...

and really, being in love and sustaining the relationship is tough... i guess why past relationships fail is because we did not understand each other enough... perhaps, we rush too fast into a relationship and suddenly we become so lovey-dovey such that one day, when it ends abruptly, we don't even know what went wrong...

perhaps, it becomes too superficial to say "i love you" without meaning it... it becomes too routine... and slowly, the true meaning is lost - actions speak louder than words...

i think, i would never believe in love at first sight.... or perhaps, when i love at first sight, the relationship ends fast.. simple fact that maybe you have to really know the person first and find out the person's character before you can even start loving...

and one thing that i've learnt: a break-up is very difficult and agonising...

but what is most important, as what dr love says, is how you stand up tall and walk away from the past and move into the present... there's lots to look forward to... lots of opportunities and challenges... and lots more to discover like you've never done before...

so yes, it won't affect my mood.. but once in a while thoughts run wild and you think of those beautiful memories.. you'd wish it would be all the same again, but unless the other party is ready to accept you again...

maybe i'll have to go back to the zoo to find my baby monkey... but that's another story...

[prepardness]
so they say the best way to face reality is to be well prepared... and because my buddy and i are in-charge of the edusave merit bursary and scholarship presentation ceremony which will be held next week, the last few weeks of last year were spent preparing for the big day...

the presentation ceremony for teck ghee, which is pm lee's ward, was held earlier this week... well, pm mah....

so it was the accepting of applications... vetting through to see who met and did not meet the criteria...

then we spent a few days submitting the applications to the ministry of education... and just last week, the acceptance letters were printed out... and that is not all, it still has to be signed....

i've learnt one thing doing this: singaporeans love to compare... who is bigger, who is better, who is faster...

reason being? just read on...

when residents in other constituencies receive their letters, our residents call up the co to ask for their's...

resident: "hi. i am calling regarding my daughter's bursary... you know? b-u-r-s-a-r-y?"

me: "oh yes... what's it regarding?"

resident: "my daughter's friend ah kow living in longkang hor, got her letter already leh..."

resident (sounding puzzled): "why we haven't get yet?"

me: "maybe the post travels faster in water... she lives in longkang mah.. you know, longkang got a lot of water..."

"also, longkang nearer than hou-gan... you know "hou" means what? means behind leh.... so naturally slower lor..."

duh... the above was intended to illustrate the point how residents in singapore like to compare... it is not meant to be taken out of context...

the next step after the acceptance letters are sent out, it is the appeal period for late submissions...

and the story repeats itself...

resident: "hi. i am calling regarding my son's bursary.. you know? b-u-r-s-a-r-y?"

me: "oh yes... what's it regarding?"

resident: "my next door neighbour ah beng got the letter already leh... he got bursary leh... i also submit same time why never get huh?"

me: "you see... most probably you didn't meet the criteria but you still submitted... i know singapore has the kiasu syndrome..."

resident: "so how?"

me: "well you just have to wait for the rejection letters..."

and after that, it is time for them to appeal and ask why they were not successful.... and the whole cycle repeats itself...

don't be mistaken... i am super proud to be singaporean... i just feel embarrassed when i get into a situation like this... we are world class, we have top facilities and schools, we have a good transport, port, airline, service... but just a few super bad egg citizens tarnish the image of singaporeans...

and when it is time to queue to get free gifts, you know surely how it the story will end... but well, that is another story...

[starting a new chapter of my life]
it is 1.30am and i am chatting with my buddy who is somewhere in utah...

the day was pretty much spent in holland village today... lunch was at essential brew... and drinks at nydc...

then i went to watch narnia at suntec with tiger... the thing about cathay cineplexes... you won't feel that comfy because the cinema is not fully carpeted like in golden village...

i digress...

the story is many times better than king kong... watching king kong is like watching jurassic park!! they got dinosaurs you know? though thrilling, it cannot be compared to nania...

imagine you walk into a wardrobe in your house one day and you find that you can venture deeper and deeper and finally end up in another world altogether... with snow and wierd creatures... and an evil queen... and then you and your siblings are tasked to rescue the creatures from the rule of the evil queen...

what an adventure...

but no adventure is complete with the twists - a betrayal, a death and a resurrection...

straightforward plot, sibling rivalry with some heart-warming family relation lessons to learn and slightly funny...

at the end of the day, evil is wiped out and heroes emerge... then while everything is going smoothly for a few 'years', the foursome find themselves back in the wardrobe again...

so apart from the not so cosy cinema, the movie was pretty good...

bring on narnia 2 anytime...