THE ARTSY SABADO ESCAPADE

the company is having an event launch this may, and the boss wanted to look for a nice venue for it. previously, they did the launch at the art house on old parliament lane, but it wasn't as effective since the launch was done at a nook that was near a resto, ergo, not a lot of people gave it much notice since it was noisy at that part of the old parliament building.

the boss was still keen to do the event at the art house, after i persuaded her to do a bigger event to culminate the launch (which i felt was merited for a national writing competition). in past years, they merely gave out forms and made the media blitz only towards the shortlisting and finale. i felt that the awards had to gain consistency from launch to finale, so i told the boss a bigger launch might help catapult the event. she agreed, since i was going to the art house anyway. she said it would give me a feel of the place, if we decide to launch the writing awards there.

anywho, i got to the art house, after getting lost for a bit. i had a lent camera which i borrowed from friends, and i started the walk. i took the jaunt as a chance to get some pictures (i miss taking photo walks), and so i convinced myself i had to take a few shots.

along the way, i had a chance to see the old supreme court building and its massive columns, the new fortress-like house of parliament, and the singapore river. and then there was the st. andrew's cathedral. apprently, it is one of the oldest churches in singapore (although it didn't look as old as they said; the church was well-mantained). i went in and found myself walking towards the front of the structure, moving towards the altar. it was a quaint, chair-packed church. there were individual pads for kneeling, and the church was getting a facelift from the inside. but what struck me the most, though, was the giant brass eagle that stood in front of the altar. i didn't bother to ask what was it for, but it was kewl seeing a giant metallic eagle for the first time inside a catholic church.



THE ART HOUSE
when i got to the art house, i lingered for a moment, wondering why a bunch of people were painting the metal wall barrier of the adjunct construction for the victoria theatre which was in front of the art house. i started walking into the halls and found a tour group. i joined in, and listened to the guides.

apparently in the olden days, singapore was divided into zones. one side of the river was allotted for business, and the side where the house stood, was for government offices. the guy who bought the property, built a house instead (imagine having been surrounded by government offices). eventually though, the house became the first seat of parliament.

we (a couple of tourists- one teacher, a couple from a village south of manchester, and me) went around together with three freelance guides who had quirky stories and jokes. they showed us the souvenir shop which used to be a prison cell (its walls were made of bricks that were plastered using a mixture of cocnut water, egg whites and lime). the walls were so hard, they still can't drive nails through them (and the original prison bars were there as well).

they showed us a sculture from queen elizabeth (a gift to the singaporean people); pull-out exhibit drawers; and the brass elephant from the king of siam, which was flanked by two trees that were taken care of because they were personally planted by MM lee kuan yeu (the elephant faced the old supreme court building, placed atop a pedestal that had inscriptions in 4 languages - thai, malay, chinese and hindi).



upstairs, there was a caricature exhibit by an artist named heng kim song. one of the cartoon strips had cory aquino and Pnoy (one of the guides kept mentioning stuff she liked about the philippines; she also said the philippines was better off than indonesia, that she had a 30-year-old rattan sofa set, and that she loved pinakbet and crispy pata). the troupe was shown around the old parliament's court room, where the first singaporean house did their meetings. the tour guides were quick to mention that although there was clear separation of opposition and majority, singapore has had only one ruling party ever since. it was just recently that more constituents were represented, has it had opposition leaders - two of them (yup, two out of 120).

we got free button pins - i took HUNGRY, WACKY and SLEEPY - then went out for lunch, then went back to watch a film that featured Y Tu Mama Tambien star gael garcia bernal, as lead antagonist in BAD EDUCATION. the lady who was handing out the ticket at the queue looked at me and then asked, "are you above 21?" i said i was 32. she let me in.

the movie was about a guy (ignacio/juan played by bernal) who comes into the life of a film director/producer (enrique), having a script at hand and a pretentious story that he was the director's ex-boyfriend. the two men were both schooled in a local boy's school under priests. apparently, the head master/parish priest (padre manolo) had a crush on ignacio, and hated that he was having a relationship with someone else, ie enrique. padre manolo threatened ignacio that he would expel enrique, only to be saved by ignacio who sold himself to the priest so enrique could stay. but knowing antagonists in robes, he did not keep his promise and booted enrique out of school. ignacio left the seminary after high school and never came back.

fast track, so enrique finds ignacio (or the other way around), but then director guy decides to visit ignacio's mother, and finds out he had been dead for 3years, and juan (ignacio's younger brother, whom in a flaskback, became padre manolo's new love interest - having had left the church many years after, and started working for a publisher). enrique was infuriated, but continued to shoot the film. flashback shows that padre manolo and juan planned ignacio's death, giving him pure coccaine (since he was a drug addict). anywho, the film ended with enrique throwing out juan from the house (after he fcked him a couple of times previously during the film shoot), and in return, juan gave him the last letter ignacio wrote for him before he overdosed himself in coke, and fell dead on the typewriter he used to write his script, "la visita."

THE ASIAN CIVILISATION MUSEUM
on the way out of the art house, i heard drums and shouting and clapping and singing. lo and behold, the asian civilisation museum was having an open house of their exhibit of congo and central africa. free ice cream, free starbucks, free exhibit experience. i was more than elated (the museum entrance fee was usually S$11 on regular days; getting it for free was kewl).



taking the lift to the second floor, i was overwhelmed by all the exhibits. there were three big halls, and two small ones which had artifacts from most of the asian countries - golden manuscripts from burma, ancient garbs from china, wooden mastheads from malaysia, a gigantic footprint of buddha, a lot of gold jewelry from indonesia, and other stuff. these then led to the actually congo exhibit (which was appended by storytelling, art craft activities for children, and songs and dances at the museum grounds. a concessionnaire was also selling african food at the lobby, which was guarded by massive stone scupltures from the ming dynasty. yes, the ming dynasty).

the congo exhibit was dominated by the wooden/ivory-made heartshaped masks painted in a variety of ways, symbolizing tribes in congo, serving spiritual and ritualistic purposes.

what caught my attention though were two things that i saw for the first time: an interactive table, which lit up and gave trivia about the masks that were placed on them. the masks had an integrated circuit at the back, which prompted the table to flash the information about the mask; and an interactive wall that showed a scene from an african plain. whenever a person's shadow touched certain elements on the wall, they would move. i was amazed.

i took a couple of pictures, and juiced all the volts from the batteries i bought earlier in the day (a sacrifice i made, since buying batteries meant i wouldn't eat breakfast, but it was SO worth it). my camera shut down, and so i had no other reason to stay. but i did vow to come back the following day, with a fresh pair of batteries. i want to take more pictures. and show them to you.

still here. hey.

AN OPEN LETTER TO BAC4 ON THEIR GRADUATION

it has been a while since i last saw each of you. in fact it has been close to 5 months. how have you been? i assume that since you are graduating soon, you are extremely busy meeting deadlines, and submitting paperwork.

jayvee approached me weeks ago to write you guys a message for your graduation. i wanted to, in all honesty, but frankly i also hesitated.

alfter 5 months of not seeing you all, who knows what sort of things have gotten to you? an assortment, i would understand and reckon. but i guess i still have to say my piece, and tell you all how i feel, now that you are leaving the school's gates metaphorically (since i assume some of you might be hired by the school).

true, that i have built a bond with each of you. let me tell you these now objectively, after having spent 2.5years of my life with you, kids.

=amy, and her stubbornness, commands her to be treated equally.
=april is ever so watchful of her words.
=arvie (whom i thank for starring in FRANTIC, which has never come out) is unsure of a lot of things.
=aster is stronger than she thinks.
=ayrah needs to put her foot forward and should learn to start taking charge.
=brigitte doesn't need to re-assure herself that she is pretty, by taking a lot of pictures of yourself. you ARE beautiful, child.
=cabz needs to tell the world that he is a loving person in more ways and one. take it seriously, so the world will take you seriously.
=camille needs to realize that although she is more than a pretty face, she needs to stop doing orations when she talks to people. you are a sweet person. make people feel that you are.
=dang needs to look people in the eye when she smiles so everyone sees her face.
=enzo needs to get his act done. i know you can do better.
=jessica needs to bloom.
=lester needs to be more honest with himself.
=lorna needs to admit to herself that she is childish, but that she too can make tough decisions in life. and stop whining like a 5 year old.
=marla needs to eat more canned food. and sleep on a cot. and spend lesser on hair treatment. grow up, girl. you don't need to tell everyone that you are gorgeous. you already are.
=micah needs to be careful. you know what i mean, nak.
=pangga should put up a business.
=prikee needs to be more assertive. you also need a haircut.
=rachael needs to figure out the things she does best, and use that to her advantage.
=roselyn needs a diet. and be more aware that although she may feel tingly inside, love isn't always about "kilig."
=sabel needs to be more tactful, and less childish.
=searle needs to fall out of love. and learn to wait for it.
=vanessa needs to be patient. and stronger.

i admit, i felt bad when i found out what you did after i gave you the revisions for the theses you did - how you stormed to GMF and told her that you didn't want to do the revisions (i felt betrayed because i thought my comments mattered to you), but then again, i realized that you always had it your way, and that inasmuch as you would say i was a big part of your lives, sometimes you didn't make me feel like it, when you did stuff like that.

i would like to think though that i taught you a thing or two. that would be enough. remember that whatever awards you get during recognition day, chances are they will forever remain as they are - just awards. pieces of metal or sheets of paper. i hope after you throw those caps in the air, you realize that life is more than just a set of good grades. life is about a set of good traits.

and although i may not be the authority to tell you this now (after all the mud-slinging, particularly towards me by a lot of people), i still feel it is my obligation to tell you to never think that just because you have achieved something on paper, it means that it'll define who you are. people may tell you you are the best, or you have great potential. but schools do that to people nowadays - build the ego, without building the character. keep yourself on check. become your most dreaded critic. and don't let a title define who you are. you need to define the title.

i still feel sad at times that i wouldn't be reading off your names during graduation. but i guess we've all made our decisions, and made moves. because we all get tired, and sometimes are told by superiors to leave, as i did and was. but you also need to realize that life goes on -- with or without you or everything that you have done. people will forget (and believe me, they forget rather quickly these days). but we shouldn't fret. each day is a new opportunity to create new memories to be remembered.

never worry about tomorrow. each day has its own set of problems. let tomorrow worry about itself. it's a passage from the bible (i go to church more often now, akalain nyo).

be safe. be better than youself. take chances. laugh at mistakes. respect other people. love God. be bold enough to stand up. stand out. live large. play hard. pray harder.

happy graduation, kiddos.

FIVE DAYS AFTER: HOSTING, MCMUFFINS AND AN INSATIABLE FEAR OF FALLING FACE FLAT ON THE PAVEMENT

A sausage McMuffin with egg for breakfast. No coffee, no hashbrown. Just the burger.
S$3.90 = P132.60. Buhay-singapore. Nakanang. Kaya nako nagbibihon araw-araw LOL

***

It is my 33rd day in Singapore. And to appease myself, I started compiling all the blogs I wrote for the past month – from Day 1 to Day 26. And although some of the dates were missing, I really didn’t mind. A lot of things had happened in 33 days, and are still happening as I write this final piece to the chronological puzzle I am trying to piece together.

Today I went to Woodlands, at the Regional Library inside Causeway Mall (which apparently was just a 20-minute bus ride away from Malaysia), where I was to co-host an awards ceremony for young authors. I came in a bit late for the call time, since I underestimated the train ride – not realizing that the distances between, for example Bishan and Khatib, were not the same as that of Eunos and Aljunied (for cross-reference, please refer to the Singapore MRT system map). I was 15 minutes late, but was still earlier than the rest of the other people.

Fran, the production manager (a Canadian who was married to a Singaporean Chinese teacher, whose work for today brought her to Malaysia) was already there, arriving at around 7:30am (since he had to accompany his wife to the bus going to Malaysia; they left the house at around 4:30am); he was the earliest. Nanette (the other Filipino in the company) was also early, as was the boss, and Spark (the guy who designed the company’s website). Kendrick, a former awardee of the ceremonies a few years back (he was interviewed in Channel News Asia’s Primetime Morning when he was just 12 years old right after the first awards ceremonies in 2007) was also early, helping out Spark set-up the exhibit panels (he was the usher for the day).

The program started almost on-time. It was late by 5 minutes, since the special guest, the Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of Israel, got caught up in traffic (she was driving alone, in her own car, and was stuck because she “relied on GPS” to find her the shortest way to the venue).

The program ran for a few hours, with a 20-minute tea break at around 10am. They served (guess what) bee hoon, some small éclairs bars topped with strips of milk chocolate, meat balls and lumpiang shanghai. The other guests were the same people whom I was in a meeting with, after the ceremonies, a managing director of a music company that utilized a lot of apps in their musical productions, and two hotshots from a company that specialized in apps for iPhone4 and Androids (needless to say, my nose bled).

I went home after the meeting, taking the Circle Line. From Woodlands, I got off at Bishan, took the train to Dhoby Gaut but got off at Paya Lebar, then took the green line to Eunos. I bought some French baguette, and then made my way to the house, only to find out the HDB whose corridors and by-ways I used to pass through was already barricaded. So much for easy access. Now I have to go around the fences to get to Changi Road. Grr.

***FLASHBACK: TWO DAYS AGO
My boss, together with Nanette, Adieline (our illustrator who has a degree in fashion design from Australia, and whose uncle had a second stroke just this morning, after he was diagnosed with cancer a few months back) and I, had lunch at Aunt Mary’s, a quaint little cafeteria which served home-cooked meals. While Addie had a fill on the chicken, Nanette and I had some beef (which was cooked in a rich curry sauce). Our boss had chicken which was something similar to adobo.

She also bought us a platter of petite curry puffs and a serving of radish, chili and hard-boiled egg, stuffed in small, edible and crunchy cups (which tasted like Pinoy, the mamiso-pack chicheria).

Later that evening, the four of us – Fran, Adie, Charlene (a Mass Comm graduate who works for the company as editorial associate) and I – went to the launch of Media Fiesta 2011, a month-long celebration of varied media platforms, which had both free admission and paid admission events. The launch was held at the third floor of the SCAPE Mall at Somerset Rd. To tell the least, the launch was highly formal, since the event had the Minister of Information, Communication and the Arts as the special guest. But that wasn’t the nice part.

The nice part was the host of the launch. For one, he had a Duck Tails hairstyle. Second, he talked funny ‘cause he spoke in phrases. Third, he called the minister up the stage three times to do a couple of things – his keynote speech, the launch of the Media Fiesta (which he did by pressing his palm on a console set on-stage), and open a box that had the logo of TEMASEK (a MMPRG that featured the history of old Singapore, whose original name was Temasek) in it. THREE TIMES. Hello, high-ranking official!?

After the launch, we were led to the dining area at the second floor. They served tempura, tons of canton, coleslaw, fried chicken, burgers, and fish balls. And yes, I ate a heap of everything, except for the tempura, and gulped three glasses of pomelo juice. We wanted to mingle and exchange cards with everyone else, but the party felt like they just wanted to remain in their own cliques. So we left and went home.

***FLASHBACK: YESTERDAY
I met with a Filipino clinical psychologist who taught in the National Institute of Education. The boss wanted her to be part of the editorial board, so she sent me to talk to her. She was supposed to join the awards ceremony today but she backed out, last minute, last Friday.

Thirty-three days, and counting. I still have jitters for Monday though. Pray for me. I’ll let you know what happens.

Still here. Hey.

1 sausage mcmuffin with egg for breakfast. no coffee, no hashbrown. just the burger.
S$3.90 = P132.60. buhay singapore. nakanang.