So it’s been really great to
#1: Help with Christmas dinner – yummiest salad ever with ingredients my sister thought up – orange slices, feta cheese, cashew nuts and cherry tomatoes, and of course the guacamole;
#2: Make gift boxes for my colleagues with whiteboard lids- I probably had the most fun choosing fabrics to personify each person;
#3: Cook seafood stew – which was delicious and easy to make.
I was looking for pictures for a project I was supposed to be working on, and found.. this! It was filmed all the way back in March. It tickled me so much I was compelled to put it up.
Just a few weeks ago Alaska asked me to go for the Open Water Diver certification with her. Going diving was something that has never crossed my mind, but because of the importance of trying new things I decided to go ahead with it.
“The more situations you expose yourself to, the higher the chance of finding what really sets you off on the inside. This is the same as the concept of heuristics – it refers to the process of continuously searching to find the optimal solution to a problem. In a matter of time, the process of trial and error will eventually lead you to your real purpose which clicks within you.” (via Celestine Chua)
Now I don’t regret. There’s something so very addictive about diving- it can be so tiring when you’re doing it but once it’s over you want to do it all over again. There’s just something about arriving on the jetty at 3 am and walking along in the darkness, seeing the shapes of the surrounding highlands loom above you, Something about sitting at the side of the boat dangling your legs over the water and watching the fish come up, and sitting atop the boat with good company watching the sunset.
Some things I gathered from the trip:
1) If you have the opportunity to learn something new, do it! You’ll always discover something new about yourself you didn’t know previously. I’m not the sporty type but I realized it’s something I really enjoy 
2) Being a good teacher. Being a teacher/coach in work/church to some degree, it makes me more sensitive to observing others when they are in the process of doing so. From Derrick, I observed the balance between making sure that what needs to be done gets done, while allowing the participants to enjoy the trip. How he also shared personal experiences so was very real to us. How he was really approachable and clicked with all sorts of participants, making anyone feel instantly comfortable with him. Regardless of whether they were mainly Mandarin/Hokkien-speaking Singaporeans or Australians or Russians. From Shao Mei, I learned two of the most important traits of a teacher is being approachable and patient. Thanks for keeping such a watchful eye on us all! You guys really have a gift for teaching/coaching and thank you for making our first diving experience so very awesome 
3) People people – I am grateful for the bunch of Singaporeans we met on the bus and eventually grouped up with for being so incredibly entertaining the whole time. I learned from my new friends about genuine friendliness and being inclusive to all, and trying one’s best to get to know someone even if you have nothing in common. It’s a very selfless thing to put aside your comfort zone and put yourself on the line to talk to someone you are different from- something I definitely have to learn to do more.
4) Enjoying the moment – I have a tendency to worry about random things and forget to enjoy what is going on presently. This was something I could have done more especially when these sorts of great experiences don’t come by that often.
5) Being grateful - no injuries on the trip, a time to see God’s wonders down under- if I feel grumpy about things, I will look back on this trip as one of the many things that reflect God’s goodness. <3
More photos under the cut!
Helene invited us to her place on Saturday for dinner. It was really hilarious because her elevator broke down and she stays on the 11th floor. So she thought she wouldn’t be able to go out to buy ingredients. And then she later realized that only one of the two lifts had broken. Anyway it was good fun going grocery shopping with her on the spur of the moment. I haven’t done anything cooking related since my birthday last year and I’ve forgotten how fun it is. Though this time I mainly watched while Helene cooked.
The lovely view from her apartment: we even saw the fireworks from the NDP rehearsal.
The industrious chef…
The salmon and spinach..
Homemade salmon and spinach quiche!
Wanzhi the budding pastry chef with her pannacotta/chocolate mousse pudding. Yum!
I love this pic- MJ racing in after setting the timer. And the look on Helene’s face!
A final shot of Helene at the Night Festival at SMU.
I traveled to Amsterdam back in 2008 and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I don’t know why I managed to miss these two places:
I first read about them on Keri Smith’s blog, about the adorable display for her books.
The tag line: “4 Floors of Ideas”. How could you not love that?
2) Proef is a restaurant set up by a graphic designer turned chef, Marije Vogelzang. She specializes in designing eating experiences. A studio that does eating design? That just blows my mind.
What I will be doing sometime soon..
My sister and I have been fans of Quest Crew ever since she sent me links to watch America’s Best Dance Crew. I have never been interested in dance all that much, but was won over by their ridiculously good coordination, gravity-defying stunts and an innate ability to charm the crowd. They were in town last Sunday to perform at The Big Groove 2010, a hip-hop dance festival organized by local dance school O School. (All photos credit to Ning and Jiamin)
I know nothing about event production and went in with no expectations. The event was produced by O School and I must say I was suitably impressed by the level of production and their subtle methods of hyping up the crowd. It was so darn tight. A camera on a crane sweeping around zooming in on the audiences, showing videos of the performers rehearsing, was a great way to get the audience psyched up.
I especially liked the method of transition between acts: Right after each act finished, a video of the following act which showed them waxing lyrical about their craft, being a champion, how they felt about performing at the Big Groove etc. was shown. It was a great way to allow the next act to get ready as well as get audiences who know nothing about dance in tune with what is it about dancing that makes them tick. It gave the event a very positive and enjoyable note regardless of whether you are into dance or not.
The countdown after the interval was a great and subtle way to get audiences to come back to their seats and to get them psyched up again.
And though I don’t have a photo, I liked the videos they played when they rolled the credits at the end of random members of the different crews thanking the audience and saying goodbye. It was very cute and the audience absolutely loved it.
The only gripe I had was that the crowd control for the exits could be better and merchandise table better managed/placed- because we actually did want to buy merchandise but didn’t in the end because it was much too chaotic!
Production values aside, I was impressed with all the crews’ performances – they were the top crews from around Asia from places like Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and Cambodia. I never realized how much talent there is in Asia, being too weaned on American television. I could sense that they really trained like crazy for this event and as an audience member, I felt respected for the effort they put in (I paid $38 for the ticket, which is a lot less than what I pay for solo international musical acts who may not try half as hard!)
Wrecking Crew Orchestra in the midst of their super long set
I also loved the randomness of the closing of the event. After the show was over the performers stayed on stage to take pictures with each other, take obligatory shot of back facing audience, and the audience basically meters away, waving and screaming, and the security between us. And then some performers (I blame Quest) gestured for the audience to come up and the stage got stormed. It was great squeezing around the stage trying to find a random Quest Crew member to take photos with. It’s been years since the *NSYNC days so being a fangirl was serious fun.
Hands up for all those who believe Quest won ABDC based entirely on their facial expressions
It was Hok’s birthday, and the audience sings for him
Us with Brian Hirano
Ning with Victor Kim, looking pleased as punch
Read more about Quest’s experiences in Singapore here and here.
Thank you O School <3
I will be going to Shantou, in the southern province of Guangzhou in China over the weekend. This is where my mum was born!
And my sister brought this very cool fact to my attention.
To the east of the main city area, along the coast, towards the Nan’ao islands, there is a place called…
Shuanghan! And in exactly the same characters as my own name (双涵)!
My parents did not know that such a place existed in my mum’s hometown- they came up with it entirely on their own (双 meaning pair for twin, 涵 for 内涵, 涵养 etc. for general meaning of good character). So exciting!
I’ve never been so pleased with my name. And yes, I am going to check out the place :b
Wordle is a cool app that turns any text you provide (this blog, in this case) into pretty word clouds. I would so love this as a t-shirt/notebook cover.
Jamie said he stopped singing this song at his concerts after he turned 30, when a fan cornered him and asked him why he stopped singing it. “But I’m 30-something now, and will sound like a right idiot singing this one,” he responds. “But I’m twenty-five!” She says. “So this one’s for all you twentysomethings who don’t have a clue what to do with their lives.” he says, before launching into this one.
After years of expensive education
A car full of books and anticipation
I’m an expert on Shakespeare and that’s a hell of a lot
But the world don’t need scholars as much as I thought
Maybe I’ll go traveling for a year
Finding myself, or start a career
I could work for the poor, though I’m hungry for fame
We all seem so different but we’re just the same
Maybe I’ll go to the gym, so I don’t get fat
Aren’t things more easy, with a tight six pack
Who knows the answers, who do you trust
I can’t even separate love from lust
Maybe I’ll move back home and pay off my loans
Working nine to five, answering phones
But don’t make me live for my Friday nights
Drinking eight pints and getting in fights
Don’t wanna get up, just have a lie in
Leave me alone, I’m a twentysomething
Maybe I’ll just fall in love
That could solve it all
Philosophers say that that’s enough
There surely must be more
Love ain’t the answer, nor is work
The truth eludes me so much it hurts
But I’m still having fun and I guess that’s the key
I’m a twentysomething and I’ll keep being me
Anyway it was such a kickass concert. He was mixing music on the stage impromptu, whacking random things on stage to mix into a beat, strumming the insides of the piano. Telling us to take as many photos and videos as we wanted. It helped that we are sitting in line of the exact spot where his piano was, in the third row. How he walked off the stage with no warning to perform the best version of Cry Me A River, which totally trumped Justin’s version by the way, and climbing on the seat barriers of the Esplanade. Totally irreverent and probably giving the Esplanade staff and security heart attacks. Then encouraging us all the come to the front of the stage, and getting the relatively old crowd on their feet and screaming and jumping. He played past the expected time, which I have never experienced in Western artistes, and still raised his finger for “One more?” when you expected him to go, and closed the show with my favourite “All At Sea”. You go, Jamie. You raised the bar; you gave it a 150%. Much love.
And that’s not all. He gave an autograph session after that, so although no photos, we got to meet him for a few seconds and thank him personally. Sweeet. Now that’s what I call exceeding expectations and totally delighting this customer. His lovely (and quite charming and well-dressed) band were quite the sports, gamely posing for photos because weren’t allowed to take them with Jamie.
Ning didn’t bring her camera and all I had was my terrible hp camera, so that’s the best representation I could give of the night.
So sorry, Jason Mraz, YOU LOSE. Jamie has my fanship now, in live performances at least. I paid about the same amount for the miserable performance you gave at Indoor Stadium last year, you know.
Anyway, a funny quote I should remember, cough cough.
A blog is a broadcast, not a publication. If it stops moving, it dies.
- Andrew Sullivan
