Alabaster

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

National Day Parade!~

I find myself trembling as I begin to type this entry, both in excitement and in suppressed laughter.

Yes! It's Singapore's 40th birthday. Happy Birthday Singapore!

The parade was very well-done, but I would have never had made it past the first hour had it not been for one isolated, sadly isolated incident.

The Prime Minister had just arrived at the Padang stadium, and was in the midst of sitting down when I caught it.

The fleeting image, the succulent sandal, the minister behind the Prime minister picking his nose.

Classic.

The image will be imprinted in my mind, and probably on film too.

The one scene I can relate to, regarding this incident, was in Harry Potter, when they went to catch the Quidditch World Cup,

and Ron said,

"Hey look, I can make that old bloke pick his nose again."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Costumes

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back in 2003 when I performed in the NDP, I had thought that my costume was the limit, with sequins prodding uncomfortably into my flesh as I danced the routine.

But it appears this year's batch would have more to complain about.

Firstly, let's recap on the first act: Choa Chu Kang Secondary and CJC

Trees,

treants,

monkeys,

deers,

mountain goats( what were mountain goats doing in Singapore?),

Tigers(The poor dudes must have been boiling in those suits.)

The trees and treants, were just plain sad. I mean, what could be worse than playing a tree? A rock?

The monkeys looked, erm, sick. The suits were just bad. I wonder how much they paid the students to don them. If they wore the outfits out on the street, odds were that they would land a bruise or a black eye.

Deers, a little better than the monkeys, considering they didn't have those disgusting tails.

Mountain goats and tigers, nothing much to be said, except that they reminded me of OWENS house mascot.

Act 2: People's Association

1 Word: Nachos

For those who have seen the performance, I think you'll agree with me that the costumes looked incredibly like nachos, chili, barbeque, original. You name it, they wore it.

Act 3: Songka Association(Note: This is not the real name, I forgot the real name.)

The performers were draped in glittery outfits that had several layers underneath. The myriad of colours helped achieve the overall 'feel' of the performance, making it very noteworthy, especially as to how they were gonna wash it.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now after these 3 acts I was positively surging with patriotism, that was until

"Hey look, I can make that old bloke pick his nose again." came to mind, which more or less deflated my invigoration.

Then I remembered the troop parade.

The two soldiers leading the president as he inspected the Red Berets seemed as though they were having cramps; tilting ur feet 45 degrees to the ground can lead to acute cramps.

I observed as one of them started poking his head out at an odd angle as he marched, as though in pain.

The things men do for a few medals...

Let's reach out for the skies!~

Happy Birthday Singapore!

S.t. turned into a dumpling and typed this at 9:08 PM