Singout Outing

Revisiting Months Ago (Photos)

Singout 'Class' 1

It was just months ago, we were busy preparing for the finals. We were still singing and dancing like siao people in partyworld, and we were still playing arcade, bowling and dinning together...

Today, some are busy with their exams, some are back to school, some entered NS, and some back to work...Lives just go on...
our 1st singing session after competition
the happy photo
the newscasters and crew photo
the promoting photo

The Big Day of Janet & Ivan

Hair Construction AGAIN!

Bye Bye messy permed hair...

This time its the short neat look... :)



Big Day of Janet & Ivan
28th Sept 2008

Drove over to Janet's grandfather place in Hougang in the morning. I'm part of the Bride's team :p cos i know Janet longer than Ivan... haha... anyway, we prepared some door 'gifts' for the Ivan, which included Durian with Wasabi [Ivan hates durian!], D Super Mix [Sesame oil + Chilli oil + Beer + Egg + More], Brazilian Wax.... *Evil*

When the Groom team arrvived, Ivan had to provide Janet's IC number. He responded shiftly as though he had memorised it prior. Then he was treated with Brazilian wax on his hairy leg, haha the result was brillant! :p Later, he was served with Durian with Wasabi, he took it without fear, but the durian was at the edge of his mouth for quite some time before he took the courage to eat it. Next challenge was coming up with 10 cheng yu to describe love or a lady, which was tested the Groom Team. They took damn long to think and apparently Groom's mind went blanked! We gave them discount and leniency, eventually they passed. Last challenge was another mind cracker for them, that is to sing a love song loud enough for the opposite block neighbours to look out their windows. Aftter awhile of discussion, they decided on 'Ai Hen Jian Dan'... Before our Bride team open the gates for them, it was the most important segment - Ang Bao Extortion!

i must say that Ivan and his gang came without preparation of big bucks, but instead lots of foreign currencies. First Ang Bao they gave was only 88cents! Not sincere lah. Later, they gave a series of foreign currencies and it drag the own negotiation quite awhile. In the card, we managed to ask for a total of 8 Ang Haos...

our long negotiated prize

Ivan was later put to the last time, to sweet talk at the door to Janet. After 2 tries, the door opened... and finally the groom meets the bride and happy ever after................... haha it didn't just stop there... thereafter both teams drove over to Ivan's house for tea ceremony, and we drove back to Jane's place for tea ceremony too. After the long 'traditional' ceremony, the bride's team and bride & groom drove to Regent Hotel for wash up/refreshment and preparation.

The hotel gave the couple and complementary room, which they arranged it for us [brothers/sisters] to wash up. The room was great, very comfy and classy. The couple's wedding suite was not too bad either, spacious [1 bedroom, 1 living room]... Watched abit segment of Singtel F1 repeat telecast after washup, its quite shiok to see the background of the race are buildings you & I are familiar of.

5pm, a group of us gathered at the main lobby to meet the hotel's banquet team, and had a mini discussion and rehearsal. The ballroom was decorated with Roses and looks abit like 'Garden feel'.

That nite, I was in charge of the reception, the guest were hosted at the lobby's lounge area before the ballroom opened at 8pm. The couple hosted 35 tables, of the invited guest, most were very well-dressed... Everyone they know were there to give them their blessing... the feeling is special and nice.

Jasmine, Jocelyn & Me

During dinner, my table was a mix of different group of Janet's close friends. Other than the sisters in the bride's team, there were 2 new faces, Jovan & Joaquin. At first it was quite awkward, all of us didn't know what to say. Then I thought I should say something at least, otherwise the weird feeling will be haunting me. Got to know that Joaquin was Janet's ex-colleague and they got to know where I'm working and were consulting me about their investment with our competitor - which recently went into crisis. They looked worried, but i hope i've at least secured their confidence and will speak to their consultant soon. To me its definitely okay to speak general, after all its about consumer's confidence. I don't think there's any need to proach other's biz in crisis. Anyway, the table got more lively after we got to know each other better. And from quiet, we were rowdy~ :P

Very soon, the dinner ended with many thanks you and phototaking sessions... Couldn't believe a day just passed like this.

Marriage is a major milestone of a relationship. I was reflecting quite abit when the couple showed a montage of photos taken thru' out their relationship. I've seen this couple going thru' ups and downs and eventually settling together now.

Hmm... it feels good to be part of my good friends' life event... :) Best Wishes, Janet & Ivan!

Updates July - Aug 08

'Tiny Boxers' Trip to KL

It was the first time i met the other tiny boxers, meaning an overseas trip with strangers. We arranged to meet at People's Park at 6:15am in the early morning. It was kinda of awkward initially, but being the odd one, i thought i should take the initiative to introduce myself to them...they thought i'm 18! Oh my, i look 18? haha... the fact that we're all friendly people, the ice melted pretty soon till the bus arrived and we all sort of knocked out on bus journey to Tuas.

Long Queues were awaiting us at Tuas, and due to our senior citizen's inadequate understanding of the use of new scanning machines, it held us back for kept awhile. The manual custom queues were also long. After most of us went thru the custom, our dear Marcus had problems going thru the computerised berth with his passport and had to re-q again at the manual queue which was as long as before..... we were stuck at the customs for more than an hour... to ease the anxiety i was acting with marcus like the scenes in war-flim whereby families/loved one are separated... lol... drama~ didn't expect him to act along with me, cos we didn't really talk on the bus... but that definitely open up our conversation later the trip... :)

We headed towards KL in dreamlandsssss, all of us spent most of the journey sleeping~.... but along the way, after one of the rest point, we gathered at the 'ktv' cabin of the bus, wanted to sing ktv despite only having hokkien MVs, but we ended up chit chating and these seniors 'forced' me to sing.. paiseh to sing lah... weird weird de.... but the more i don't sing, the more the persist, to the extent that i felt the expectations were growing higher.... to avoid that, i sang abit lah... and ya, normal lah... kekez... told u guys liao~ After the getting abit boring, we moved back to our seats and continued our dreamlands, some watched the videos and some played the old-school games - those that i used to play e.g Tanker, popeye, kungfu fighter...haha missed those days, carefree~

After another hour of journey, we arrived at a petrol station outside KL and transfered by a mini van to Quality Hotel. At the hotel, we checked in to the 3 rooms [courtesy of Kenn :) ] The girls checked into their rooms first while we guys had to wait for our room to be cleaned. While the girls were bus discussing on how to sqeeze themselves on the beds or bed, we guys tried to get the first touch/rest on their beds~! :p Then somehow, Liting started her phototaking act again... snapped zillions of photos~ We guys went to our room not long after, but to our disgust, our room stinked, like some un-washed clothes, anyway its a foul-smell, we tried to get the room service to do something, and all they did was spraying some fragrance to the aircon. The girls came over and complained our the smell, they thought it was us with our stinko nan ren wei... dot dot dot... we blasted the aircon and it smelled better.

Our late lunch was at Sogo near our hotel. We found this restaurant call, 'Nando', selling grilled chicken - concept like kenny rogers. They have 3 different chilli sauce that meets different demands. The food was not bad there but it has its own style of taste and favours. After lunch we went buy a bouquet of roses for Desiree, and we made our way back to hotel, planning to leave for the mini concert earlier, hoping to do some shopping near the venue. After failing to flag down cabs, we decided to book a van from the hotel to the venue.

When we went there.... haha we couldn't believe what we see.... the place is so new..... and sooooo...... quiet! its not a shopping place like we thought, and it is not a shopping centre but a cluster of shops and shophouses. AND there were not many shops opened yet~.... reaching there early left with a bigger BOREDOM~. The girls attempted to keep their hopes high as there was a nail spa opened, but the manicurist were busy and they were closing soon. Hence, we only could chilled at the restaurants and cafes. Me and a few of them were at starbucks for a cup of my fave Green Tea Frappe, while the rest went out of sight and unknown.

After the long wait, the mini concert was going to start! It was the first time i see meet Desiree, haha i was introduced as the 'newest junior'... I've never heard her singing also, hence the guys were busy promoting her CD's songs to me just before the show started. I briefly listened, and the show started. Desiree's live performance, i must say its NICE! I like her singing and stage presence too. A band group 'Crossfire' was playing for her and Diya showed up as guest. Desiree performed quite a few songs in her album, and there were some interaction in between. I bought her CD there, I'm sure its worth the value. After the show, we were invited to join the qing gong yan. But there were some delays in between, at first was vehicle arrangement problem too many ppl too little cars, then it was Kenn's tyre punctured, Crossfire members helped to change the tyre.

We went over to a nearby music cafe for the event, over there Desiree helped us signed on our albums, sort of a mini autography session :) can see she was quite tired le, but was on all smiles while signing for us. The group of us also had a small chat with Kenn. It was then midnite liao, going back to hotel again raise the vehicle arrangement problem, furthermore, the cabs were reluntant to enter the zone as it was in the opposition parties' territory and there were some protest in the afternoon in the vicinity. The operator of the call centre tried to appeal for cabs but failed. We thought were all going to be stuck overnite. Then suddenly, some hero cabbies were brave enough to accept the call and we finally managed to go back to hotel. It was abt 2am liao. When we were back, after bathing, we swopped room with the girls as our room has 2 beds, after combining will be bigger than the queen size in their room. We had a small talk after the swop and off we go to dreamland.

In the morning, we checked-out and went over to Sogo's foodcourt for breakfast together, after that went for short walk, then went back to hotel ready for the van to pick us up. On our way back, it was pouring heavily. Saw a major accident involving at least 5 vehicles on the expressway. The rain was so heavy till the rain started to leak till the roof vents of the bus. Water was raining down on some of us. We tried to tie plasticbags below the vents to collect the water, preventing it to reach other. After a few attempts and modification, we managed to stop the leakage. And the way home was quite quiet and so soon, we arrived Singapore~ End of my naggy entry abt the trip. :)

Hair Stunt

I PERMED MY HAIR~! I LOOKED WEIRD CERTAIN ANGLE!

Haha but you won't see it in this photo~

Tinyboxer KTV

2 Weeks after the trip, some of us met up for a singing session~ I shan't talk much, the photos will tell the stories~ kekez i was the entertainer and Ms Liting aka Pineapple Stop snap snap snap zillions of photos again~ dot dot... i look ugly enough with my permed hair but she took all the wrong angle!

<-- all photos are mainly taken by this crazy snapper

One of the many random entries

1 Of The Many Random Entries

Its been a month of owning my first car. 'Mr Black' was match-made by my mum and uncle. I requested for them to help me source for a good 2nd hand car, as they had more free time and my uncle used to be a car mechanic... I went online frequently to search/hunt for good buys, but they all end up to be either bad in condition, or was previously met with accident. After a long long period, one fine day when i reached home... they behaved suspiciously... then suddenly "come down here..." wah so serious i thought what happened. then my uncle showed me a receipt... haha they placed deposit for me on a 1 and half yr old Black Vios... I was like... huh?? I haven see the car b4... sure good or not? More over I was stunned lah, can't accept the fact that i am owning a car liao... After 2 days, on 11/06 'Mr Black' and I met. He looked simple and the condition was perfectly fine. The moment i opened the door, i felt the car was as good as new.



Of cos, 'Mr Black' don't come free... I'm not a rich man's kid. I had to pool my resouces and settle the first payment, and some miscellaneous... Financially, for this month was super tight, i had to dig into my emergency resource. I've never seen a -$11 in any account before... negative sia~ but thats the so call ATM account, keke...of cos i've got my other sources...

The whole month of June, was pretty was different, I no longer had to be frustrated in the morning rushing hours... I feel more relaxed these days... no more squeezing MRT & Bus, no more long waiting phone booking + standing by the roadside for those over-charging cabbies (i heard they are asking for fuel surcharge, wah lau think they are aeroplane now...)...

Work
Its kinda of stressful this month... Sometimes its not that I'm not trying my best, but things just happen in a better way... Recruitment was really bad this quarter, most of the candidates were from referrals, only 1 was from me from the 'cold'. Interview rate dropped quite alot... I bearly meet 2 person a week...its that bad... The worse is to have to face indirect and direct pressure from superiors... I'm not the kind who will not work hard for the company, but its just not possible to be forever the best... Sometimes I really hate it when i see examples the raised which sounds and 'look' so much like they are referring to me...

Then current ppl that I've recruited, also problematic... I just don't understand how some people think... I feel irritated by their actions.. I was wondering if i had judgement problem nowadays... Some people just totally changed... not like the person i knew months ago... disappointed... not just disappoint by the person's working/learning attitude but also the person's values... When i don't like a person, I won't be able to make myself talk to the person, but as a HR person as a friend, I still care... but i just don't know how to show my concern more than my cold shoulders..

On the other hand, my sales was stable but still not ideal to my expectations...i'm not meeting enough people, knowing more people and not following up properly.. sometimes i must admit, the mood and time were affected by the poor recruitment result, and of cos last month's singout also took quite abit of my time away... But I'm glad to hear positive comments from some friends on me as their friend/consultant. At least, I'm not like those pushy type to them... but sometimes i get too over-excited and sounded like sales man...which i think its quite bad la... I'm not-a-salesman doing consultant-and-service-related sales... I'm a friend, a 3rd party who helps to look at a macro-view on clients' financial status...soemtimes we are just too focus on the micro and think that we don't need to think big, think long... so i'm here to help~

Singout related
DVD of 3 discs @ $20, available @ MusicStory

Just got the DVD, watched my performance and i think i looked weird lah... my mic control sucks big time~ my actions... wah lau eh... see liao i also paiseh... haha.. But still its a good momento...never got to keep my past performance videos, especially those acting ones i did in Millennia. Actually not only I was funny, my fellow contestants also had 1 or 2 funny moments... LOL... eh guys... go collect your DVDs! and by the way, when will we be singing again? And the getai that i mentioned the other time, need you guys to commit time for practice too. It shld be abt 3 week of August.


a short video of Wendy singout 'kan qing' at rehearsal

By the way, my partner Wendy has just recorded a singles CD for one of her competition in Malaysia. The CD includes her recording of 'Kan Qing' (by Qing Song Wan Yue Tuan) and a group song by the contestants. It is priced at appx S$9, and the sales will be computed for with her finals' result. She is really good! If you're interested, please let me know by this coming Tuesday.