Happy National Day!

Was at Istana for the National Day Observance Ceremony (a civil service thing) on Tues. My second trip there, first was during May Day open house last year. The staff was giving the performing kids a tour of the Istana, to places normally closed even during open house, so LY, TO and I grabbed the chance to look around! :p Unfortunately the chandeliers were too bright and the photos didn't turn out very well..

During the Anthem, realised that the big shots standing in front were all quite tall, with SM seeing the top of everyone's head, followed by a close tie between PM and my (big) boss..

Also realised that I forgot some of the lyrics :p

Then it was National Day, which was a very happy one cos I was lucky enough to get tickets to NDP!! This was the last NDP to be held at the National Stadium; it's going to be torn down to make way for new one:

http://www.ssc.gov.sg/SportsWeb/sw_mc_details.jsp?artid=5118&catname=Features

Tickets said "to be seated by 4.45pm" but since it was showing on TV from 6pm, we met at Kallang MRT at 430pm to walk to the stadium. And of course some of us were late (including me and it was all Sito's fault for wanting a sit-down snack after dance!) and we were all strolling leisurely. Even when we reached the stadium, we were lingering outside, drinking free milk, taking photos, going to the bathroom etc. So we ended up sitting at the top.. My second time at NDP, my second time at the top!

First time in 2001:


Second time, behind us were umbrellas to shelter us from the ashes and ambers from the fireworks later:


...

Well, if Hup is my male twin (Episode 19 of link), then Kel must be my evil twin! This shot was like my Bugs Bunny days.. He kept attacking me with the air clubs or clappers; mf was badly abused =(

Introducing the rest of the party..

We have the milkmen Tok, JD, Kel and YX..


Kel, again cos he looks like our flag here..


Sito the clown..


Hup and CW (Kel is the ghost of the photo)


Ok, enough of the men! Now we have Na and mf!


(Na would rather not be exposed to the WWW)

And you notice we're all wearing red except Hup! (Sito barely passed with a bit of red print on his shirt..) My sms to them read:

"Wear red! Underwear also can, but you must show us all!"

And so he did!


So did Na who painted her nails red too!


My goodie bag is still sitting on the sofa, untouched since Wed. It was so heavy but lucky for mf and Na, YX and Kel were doing the carrying - thank you! :)

The bag contained tattoo stickers which we used. I had a flag on my arm but that didn't stick too well - the most temporary tattoo I ever had, as Hup said - so Hup helped put the global city logo on instead and another flag on my cheek. I took off the flag that night but saved the arm one to show off in office yesterday :p



Now some shots of the NDP itself etc..

The parade awaiting inspection:


Speaking of men in uniform, we bumped into Moh on the way into the stadium; he was on duty..

It was beautiful when the sun was setting; this photo didn't do it justice..


We could only hear the cannon thing from far far away but I zoomed all the way to the big screen for this:


Finally the fireworks!!


That was so pretty right? But the smell, yucks.. And some ambers fell gently from the skies, slipped in between umbrellas and landed just next to my exposed feet. Kel had a wondrous idea to touch the ambers and OUCH! *.*

We sang the Anthem (and I forgot some lyrics again!) before the NDP ended with a medley of national songs. You know, I like watching NDP at the stadium instead of on TV cos of the atmosphere, the Kallang wave, and the chance to sing these songs. I mean, how odd is it to sing them at KTV?! :p

If you read comments, you would have seen one by Lim Su Chong, who wrote Five Stars Arising. He asked why I liked that song. I paste my reply here:

"It's subtle and yet invokes a sense of pride - it doesn't say 'Singapore' out right but any good Singaporean would know that it IS describing this country and what the flag stands for. It speaks fondly of a new nation - we were so young in 1969 (the year the song was written)! It helps that the tune is sticky; a colleague started humming it when I did :p"

There's always something in national songs, be it the lyrics or the tune or both, which never fails to stir up thiis emotion in me. Patriotism? Or perhaps I am too imaginative sometimes? *shrug*

Think sometimes we just get so cynical about things or life just piles so much on us that we fail to appreciate the better or more significant stuff. I mean, price hikes should not affect my affection for the place I grew up in, right? Just like I may not care much for my immediate family but I love my Grams.. Ahhh, I'm glad to be born here! :)