Auditions At Mediacorp

A while ago, I saw an ad on the TV asking for potential contestants for a local gameshow. Seeing that I had never really been on TV before, much less a gameshow, and that years before, my sis had appeared on a couple of episodes of the Pyramid Game, I thought, "What the heck, might as well try something before I get old." And so I signed up.

My first trip down to Caldecott Hill was for a 20-question written test. Questions ranged from "What was the -..." Hey wait. Let me read the Terms and Conditions of the Application Form first....

Ok, I'm back. There is a clause saying I should not give information about the programme. Is an audition part of a programme? Hmmm.... Vague. But to be on the safe side, I will not give any further information which would conclusively identify the show for which I auditioned.

A week later, I was informed that I had made it through to the 2nd Round. This consisted of a SUPER LONG questionnaire, a two minute introduction of myself in front of a video camera, and a face-to-face interview. It was all very interesting. I'd love to tell you all some of the questions and the answers I gave but...Not yet, not until I'm unequivocally told that I can...

So, let's content ourselves with a view of the lobby of Mediacorp, looking out from the inside...



A side, waiting reception which greets visitors the minute they enter past the electronic gantry. I guess its for people to tend to any last minute clearance or admin work.



And presenting.... Contestant No. 1103!....

UNSUBDUED

I have hoped, I have planned, I have striven,
To the will I have added the deed;
The best that was in me I've given,
I have prayed, but the gods would not heed.

I have dared and reached only disaster,
I have battled and broken my lance;
I am bruised by a pitiless master
That the weak and the timid call Chance.

I am old, I am bent, I am cheated
Of all that Youth urged me to win;
But name me not with the defeated,
To-morrow again, I begin.

Samuel Kiser

Say, Lo Hei! What's Going On?

It's been a week since Chinese New Year's been over but reminders of its passing still abound. For one thing, the goodies still have pride of place over the dining room table.

What has ceased however, are the Lo Hei lunches and dinners. Over the past two weeks, I had a total of 7 Lo Hei lunches and dinners, varying in quality and exquisiteness. That is, after all, to be expected. For all meals and venues are different.

What is also vastly different, however, is the atmosphere - ranging from quiet, formal and polite to rowdy and raucous. And I realize that there is a quite direct correlation between the atmosphere and the quality of the Lo Hei and the meal in general.

At one end you have the lunches with my company's panel of lawyers. These are usually held in a very upmarket Chinese restuarant, with waitresses (some, I must say, in very comely Cheongsams) fussing over our every need. There, the Lo Hei Yu Sheng of course, is of the highest quality, the fish top grade and sometimes unique. The tossing is done with special long chopsticks and after the toss, which is high and enthusiastic enough to give everybody 'face' but not too high to look overboard, a waitress will come to clean any morsels which had spilled off the table.

At the other end is the Lo Hei I had with my family. We bought a Lo Hei set from NTUC costing $20-$40 dollars, some frozen salmon and Lo Hei-ed away with our own short chopsticks. We were very careful not to toss too high for any spillage or overflow would have to be cleaned by ourselves.

In between is my company and/or department Lo Hei's. This year, our company had a Chinese New Year dinner. This is the loudest and noisiest and the tossing, done amongst people who know each other well, the most energetic and forceful. Our table had enough spilled Lo Hei from the huge basin-like bowl to fill two plates. Later in the night, shouts of Yam Seng resonated around the hall and our Vice CEO stood on a chair and toasted all his colleagues.

In summary, I think the two key considerations are - familiarity and comfort levels. But there are other factors like personality of the hosts. For even among the formal lawyer-lunches, the vibrancy and range of conversation varied.

For example, some hosting lawyers just seemed to like to talk-shop - the cases they had with us, the cases they were presently fighting, industry trends, that kind of stuff. Fortunately, it is mostly the more senior partners who talk about those topics. I am usually seated amongst the associates and junior partners and I try to talk about more...well, different stuff... like the latest movies, my blog... or how funny it is that our bosses always talk shop. I remember last year, I was having a very animated conversation with a lawyer about how, when she was in hostel, she always could not study because her neighbour used to scream so loudly when making out with the boyfriend. All of a sudden, the lawyer stopped herself in mid-sentence when she realized that the whole table had gone silent and was looking at both of us. "What?" I said to everybody. Very much the same thing happened at another lunch when a male lawyer and I started giggling about the merits of meeting clients at Hooters.

Then there are the 'formal-formal' lunches - those that my boss's boss, a Brit, attends. There, even carefree I turn down my exuberance in favour of a more subdued disposition. During such lunches, the jokes comprise the more understated and subtle British humour rather than the more slapstick Chinese version.

All in all, I really enjoy the variety of social circumstances and look forward with gusto to next year's revelry....

Trial! (And Error?)

For the first time, in three years, I am preparing for a trial! Well, sort of. There is a Ministry of Manpower hearing concerning a Work Injury Compensation Act dispute arising out of an industrial incident.

Since the claimant is represented by a lawyer, the Commissioner suggested, after finding out I was legally trained, that the hearing be conducted according to the rules of regular civil procedure.

Nostalgic, but challenging nonetheless. For I never liked trials and advocacy. And it has been so long.

Anyhow, all this meant that around a week ago, we had to go to a construction site to interview some of our witnesses. It was quite an experience, safety helmets and all...




Back to trial. You can tell from the pictures that my co-counsel looks far more confident than me. He probably doesn't know that with my record in trials, I probably need a safety helmet for the hearing itself.

Wish me luck.

Winter Escapade - Macau

Some short info on my Mum. Till her 50s, she was a miserable and lonely housewife, then one day, hit by a wave of inspiration, she left for Vietnam on wing and a prayer to open an private English school.

It was the first of its kind and a huge success. Soon, there were two schools and then three. And then people grew wise and the market started flooding with competitors and she was back to one school.

In between, however, she amassed and managed to save quite a lot of money. In doing so, she also took up a very expensive hobby - jackpot machines.

It was with that background in mind that I explain to you that once my Mum found out that we were headed for Macau for our plane back, she had been persuading, then cajoling and then bullying me (in that order) into making a trip into the former Portuguese enclave early so that she had enough time to pit herself against the might of the Venetien empire.

And so it was that we ended up at The Venetian, in the middle of the Cotai Strip. Nice place too, and I would have taken more pictures had I not been seething from the spat I had with my Mum.




I never like to 'invest' on holiday trips unless I am there specifically for that purpose and so jumped into a cab at the first opportunity for a trip into the city. With the high population density, old buildings and right-side drive, the place felt more like Hong Kong's city centre.




But the old town centre was truly beautiful, what with the place all done up in anticipation of Chinese New Year.






And the ruins of St Paul's church in the evening light was magical...




All too soon, it was time to return to The Venetian to collect my Mum on the way to the airport. Not before a slight hiccup though. My Dad wanted to lead but ventured the wrong way such that we were hopelessly lost. And there were no cabs to be found. So we took a minibus to somewhere near The Venetian. That was an experience I didn't plan for.

Ok, just say it. I is FAT.



And that was the Winter Escapade. Hmmph!

Winter Escapade - Transit To Macau

On the way back from Jin Tai Temple, we passed through the town centre of Dou Men, a bustling but non-touristy area of Zhuhai. I for one always like passing through such places as it gives more insight as to how the more working class of the working class (no typo there) live and work.

The salt-of-the-earth quality is more visible here and I liked that, for it told me that I was in a place that not many tourists would get to see.







The return trip seemed shorter however, and all too soon, we were in another taxi headed for the Macau border. We were told however, that traffic was choc-a-bloc over there and that we would spend most of our time queuing. The faster, but longer way, we were told, would be to travel via Hengqin Island. And that is what we did.

Hengqin is actually an island connected to Zhuhai and Macau by bridge. Signs said that it is being slated to be developed into some kind of new economic zone but from what I saw, the place looked rather deserted. At least the roads were empty, which meant that we were speeding towards the checkpoint.





And there it was...



Once we had cleared the Macau customs, we boarded a van which ran a detail to and from the airport, deposited our bags and then boarded one of the many free shuttle buses bringing people to the various casinos in Macau... We picked the one to The Venetian....

Winter Escapade - Jin Tai Temple

After we shuffled out of New Yuan Ming Palace, we boarded a taxi and I asked the driver if Jin Tai Temple, one of the attractions in Zhuhai, was far away. He replied that it was neither near or far so I asked him to go there.

It was more than a 100km away. I had the sense to ask if it would be easy getting a taxi back to the hotel. The taxi laughed and wished us luck. I then ask if he would wait for us. "Sure," he said. "But I will reset the meter and keep it be running..."

Having said that, the temple and its surrounding scenery, when we finally did arrive, was breathtaking.

Before we reached however, we turned into a small road which was flanked on either side by strawberry farms...




And this was the entrance to the temple.

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This, the pagoda standing watch over the car park...



And this, the walkway leading in.



This is the first building we saw. I don't know what it housed exactly but one of its most visited facilities was a toilet so...



While inside the toilet, I heard some rasping noises and so treaded carefully towards them. I realised they were actually bleatings and emanated from outside the window...



But then we saw where the main section of the temple was situated and collectively said, "Wah!"

But we had come so far and the meter was running so we hurried on.



Soon, my Mum was knackered climbing the steep steps. But my Dad, old warrior that he is, seemed to take the steps with ease. See the pagoda in the background? That's how far we climbed. And there was more to come!



But we made it to the top in the end, whereupon my Mum, quite a devout Buddhist, stumbled into the temple, collapsed onto the kneeling mat in front of the altar and started praying. She was later to reveal her thoughts:"Keep my family safe and healthy and happy. And by the way, we'll be going to Macau later and I'll be going to a casino so please give me luck as well"



There was yet another flight of steps to the main section of the temple, but my Mum, ever the 'frugalist' and mindful of the running meter in the taxi, felt we had seen enough. Besides, she had already climbed an equivalent of 8 storeys to pray before the Buddha statue at the lower level of the temple. Even if there was a larger statue up in the main section, there should have been a broadband connection conveying her prayers up there, so....

But I did manage to run up to take a few shots of the facade though...




And this was the view looking out from there...



And these were some of the scenery shots I got while we walked back to the cab...






When we got back to the car, we found that the meter had jumped only 11 Yuan, around 2 Singapore dollars. Darn...

Anyhow, that gave us more time to get back to the hotel, where our luggage was, which was a good thing... Cos my Mum, having given prayers, now had Macau firmly in her sights...

Winter Escapade - New Yuan Ming Palace

After a fairly comfortable night's sleep and a hearty, cheap breakfast at the hotel, we headed for New Yuan Ming Palace.

The original palace in Beijing, I was later told, was burned down by the foreign powers and is now not accessible to the public. This 'replica' was built some time in the 1990s, if I remember correctly.



And well-built it was. Apart from the obvious trappings of modernity, the palace was recreated in parts to painstaking detail over a sprawling expanse of land. This was what we saw upon entering the premises.





These were the military uniforms worn by Qing Dynasty officers. Life-sized figurines...



As was the case with this re-creation of a scene with officials reporting to the emperor...




The princes studying...



The emperor's study...




His diet...



And his throne!



My parents together in a picture!



While we're on that part of the palace, notice the building - a shrine - in the background? It's actually on a stand-alone island in the middle of the lake accessible only by boat, which we didn't take.



It was at that point of time when we were informed that we were in for a treat. The 'Emperor' was coming! We, the 'citizens' had the good fortune of partaking of some festivities to celebrate his arrival.

As we walked to the gallery, I got a shot of an 'imperial guard' getting ready. For some reason, he didn't seem to share our sense of anticipation. Maybe he's seen the emperor before...



Anyhow, we took our places and waited... Whereupon an eunuch appeared to announce His Majesty's arrival...




He's arrived!








Here's a lion dance to welcome him...



And some pretty lasses...



These acrobats were awesome. It was 15 degrees max out there!






Next, the eunuch told the emperor, were some princesses who had gone to France and learned the Cancan... Hmmm.. Can! Can!




A couple of young lads had also returned from Shaolin....







All too soon though, it was time to bid the emperor and his entourage farewell and explore the other parts of the palace.

This I think were decorations carved out of a tree trunk.



This, a fort within the palace walls....



This lake was where they re-enact naval battles at night, hence the cannons.




They even had a cable car service within the premises...



Not much at the summit however....



So the real treat is the view one gets while riding in the narrow, two-person cabins...






Indeed, there was just so much to see that we just couldn't take it all in...

From the flower-shrub-lined promenades...




To the bonsai section...



To the zig-zagged traditional bridges over the lake...




Which was full of voracious carp...




To all the other interesting sites which I did not adequately describe...







Yuan Ming Palace was a place which thrilled my parents, who would have been quite happy to spend the whole day there. But we did not, for I whisked them off somewhere else...