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Location: Los Angeles, California, United States

I write songs, I sing them... I play the piano and a little bit of the guitar.. I've released 5 albums of music, I love the scent of freshly fallen rain and the scent of lavender on bedsheets. I would drink tea all day long if the caffeine didn't keep me up at night. I hate driving in L.A traffic. I would love to one day catch the squirrel that steals the plums from my tree and make him a pet. I don't watch TV anymore. My 3 year old daughter is more entertaining than any TV show could ever be :)

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Friday, August 10, 2007

My first 'Live' National Day Parade in Singapore

It was fascinating to watch my first 'live' National Day Parade
in Singapore, to see first hand, what I'd previously only watched on TV.

Since we were encouraged in dress in red and white,
I borrowed a red kebaya top from my mum and Kavin
fished out the red t-shirt he had in his suitcase.

On my way to NDP 07


Kavin and I, clutching our tickets, glistening from the
afternoon heat and humidity, walked with the throng of people
from Raffles City through the security checkpoints
and metal detectors and finally reached what has been touted
as the world's largest floating stage.

We were given goodie bags before entering the seating gallery.
Kavin got an orange bag and I got a red one and somewhere behind us,
a lady officer of the army was yelling at
people not to be picky about which colour of bag they received.
(besides red and orange, the bags also came in green, purple and yellow.)

We got seated in the yellow zone, and started examining our goodie bags.
Flashing star-shaped light, corn snacks flavoured in sour cream,
mini battery operated fan, cd of national day songs....

Singapore skyline on a humid afternoon


Having fun with the items in our goodie bag


The crowd cheerer chicken


The pre-show started soon after we got seated and familiar songs
began playing from the sound system, accompanied by various singers
and dancers jiving along.

'Chan Mali Chan', 'Five Stars Arising'...a whole medley
of old Singapore community songs that I last sang in Primary school.
It was a nice nostalgic moment.

Red lions parachuting from the sky


The parade portion was nice and it was stirring to see
the marching contingents, and to watch the parade commander
shouting commands to the contingents. And as he shouted the commands,
I couldn't help chiming along to the familiar commands
learnt from my NCC days "Dari Kiri Cepat Jalan!"

It was thrilling to see the Red Lions parachuting from the sky
and the 5 point plane formation and the various military aircraft
that flew pass. Kavin was pretty thrilled to see the military display
and started rattling off their names "That's an Apache!".


Plane formation in the skies

As the Singapore flag was flown past, hoisted by a couple of helicopters,
everyone started singing the 'Majullah Singapura' and it was nice to
be able to sing along. It reminded me of all those school day mornings,
with fellow students gathered on the parade ground of the school, singing
the national anthem and reciting the pledge.

Even Kavin, who's Malaysian, got into the swing of things
and enjoyed his first parade experience in Singapore.



Kavin and the flag


Showing off my mum's red kebaya


'Jellyfish' in the harbour


The final parade formation


Beautiful skyline at night.


Everyone stands at attention for the pledge


End of parade. See ya!


After the parade, we walked towards Raffles Plaza,
and we got caught in a huge 'people jam' at the citylink underpass.
There was just no getting through, and at one point in time,
everyone was absolutely squashed like sardines and no one moved an inch.

So we decided to exit the crowd by stopping at a Japanese restaurant
nearby. Famished, we tucked into dinner. yum.

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3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow, you looked pretty in the kebaya Corrinne! Kavin looked cute as always! Great pics too! No blurry shots at all... Glad to know that you've enjoyed your first NDP experience!

Monday, August 27, 2007 2:30:00 AM  
Blogger Cove Red said...

Hi Corrinne, SO great to be able to see the pics and read about the NDP through your eyes finally. As a typical postmodern 23 year old Singaporean who didn't give a hoot about NDP and "ChanMalichan?" (Hey hey!), I now see it in a different light knowing that it means so much to someone as young as you! =D haha...Thanks for enabling me to appreciate these little things that make us so uniquely Singaporean. =)

One thing, why is it that you're forever writing about eating supper with Kavin? =D Hehe...DO you have any workout regime or somethING? Oh...and it blows my mind to know you were once in NCC..Unbelievable...

Monday, August 27, 2007 5:56:00 AM  
Blogger ADORRAble*((: said...

corrinne! hello! :) you looked really beautiful in that red kebaya and I never saw anybody wore a kebaya to NDP before ever! hehehe!

LOVES!

Monday, August 27, 2007 6:51:00 AM  

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