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.