My Favourite Music Video

I love watching music videos, and this one below is one of my most favourite. Why is it so? Check out the contents!

Qing Ming Festival

It is the Qing Ming festival now, and it is a Chinese custom for every household to sweep their ancestors’ graves and pay their respects. Yesterday, I applied leave to go tomb sweeping with my parents. I never like tomb sweeping, because the cemetery is especially hot and humid. Nevertheless, I had to go, because my parents won’t be able to sweep the tombs just by themselves.

We arranged to leave at 9.30 in the morning. It was considered a bit too late, because by the time we reach the cemetery, the sun will be scorching hot. But we have no other choice. Either you go an hour earlier and have to pay for the ERP, or go later in the day and get jammed with other tomb sweepers. I remembered once when I was a child that we left home when the moon is still hanging high up the sky like a gigantic duck egg yolk. The weather was cooling, but it wasn’t hard to travel around because there weren’t many streetlights in the cemetery.

Back to yesterday’s tomb sweeping, we arrived at the cemetery at around 10am. We had got 5 tombs to sweep: both my maternal grandparents’, both my paternal grandparents’, and my paternal great-grandmother’s tombs. Actually, I find that the term “tomb sweeping” is a bit inaccurate, because we don’t actually sweep them nowadays since we can pay for the tomb caretakers to maintain the tombs for us. What we really did were to light up joss sticks, lay out food offerings, stick coloured incense paper with joss sticks all over the mount of the tomb and finally burn the gold and silver incense paper, together with paper clothing and other daily necessities meant for the dead. Anyway speaking of tomb caretakers, I must take my hat off these people. Even though each tomb caretaker is only in charge of a sector or two of the entire graveyard, they must have very sharp eyesight to spot people who had arrived to do tomb sweeping and go up to them to collect payment. Especially so when an average human looked so minute in a sea of tombs!

As per previous years, my mum mumbled that if weren’t for us, there would not be anyone to visit their tombs. Of all the tombs that we went, we realised that the tombs were clean of any offerings, a clear indication that no one has visited them yet. It was so ironic, that when my grandparents were alive, their children and grandchildren were so “filial” to them. So it goes to show that filial piety of your children can only be really determined after your death!

One interesting thing I’ve observed about the tombs is that, like our living quarters for the alive, the tombs for the dead are getting smaller and smaller as time goes by. My great-grandmother, who died in 1975, had a big tomb, which was about 1 1/2 times my grandparents’. I’ve been to another older cemetery at Mount Peasant, and the tombs there were grander than my great-grandmother’s! However, unlike our HDB flats which are becoming more and more unique in style over the years, tombs these days all looked the same. Tombs before the 1980s came in different shapes and sizes, some were long like an angled horseshoe and some were tall like a stele. My father said the difference in the style of architecture was because of the different dialect groups these deceased belonged to. Too bad I did not bring my digital camera, or else I’d snap some pictures of these graves. They’re interesting to look and study at!

We finished sweeping all 5 tombs by 12 noon, half an hour ahead of schedule. However, my mother had already started complaining about how much black spots she’s going to have after this tomb sweeping trip. Well she should be glad that this is only an annual event and not something she had to do every month!

End of Performance Season 1 For 2006

It is the end of the first performance season for our troupe of this year. This season is a relatively short one, as we only have 4 performances so far, 2 during the first weekends of this month, and another two for yesterday and tonight (The one in Klang on 1st January is not counted as it was considered a brought over of last year's performance).

Tonight, we performed "Bloodshed in the Imperial Palace" at Tampines East Community Club, and I think this show made our performance season end with a crash. This show was very messy, as there are many costume changes for the ensemble roles, and the time allocated for it was simply not enough. I was one of the minor roles in the show, and I forgot to recite a dialogue of mine offstage as I was busy changing my costumes.

Other than being an actor, I was also tasked to be the scenographer for this show. I had actually designed and made quite a few hanging props, but due to time and handling constraints, the changing of props could not be rehearsed before the show, and it was halfway through the performance that I realised that I do not have enough manpower to help me raise the props in the final scene of the show. I had to quickly delegate it out to someone else while I go and get ready to go up the stage. In the end , that prop could not be raised on time, and it was simply unsightly.

I was very moody after the show, as I think that in personal terms, I have failed terribly in this show. I hope I won't have to act this show again, so as to spare me for the agony!

Something Kinda Stupid

Jokes about blonds should not be something unfamiliar to most people. They're always been stereotyped as brainless or plain stupid. Lately I began to see some truth in it.

Weeks ago, we order some spare parts from US and they arrived at my office today. The spare parts was packed in a small plastic packaging which was about the size of my palm, but they were shipped in a box which is about 24 times bigger than the plastic packaging! My colleague who had received the package was amused by this whole thing. This is not the first time they had done this, and I don't believe that they do not have a box that's smaller than that!

I wonder what are the crew in US thinking when they send out a package like this, even after we had complaint to them about this problem before. At the end of the day we have to pay for the extra freight and they don't get to earn from that as well. So why are they repeating this again? God knows!

Note: I have nothing against blonds or Americans in general.

Incident At Long John Silver's

For those who had dined in Long John Silver's before will be very familiar with the "good service bell" next to their exit. Diners are often encouraged to sound it when they feel that they have been offered good service. However, I think that they should install a "bad service drum" or something in equivalent for dissatisfied customers as well

Last Friday, I was having my lunch in one of their outlets when all of a sudden, one of their service crew came up to me quietly and tap afew times on the table. I didn't know what he wanted, but my instincts told me that he wanted to collect back the tray, and hence I lifted up my elbows from the tray. I was right; he took the tray and left quietly. Moments later, I saw this man repeating the same actions to teenager who was sitting a few tables away. That teenager's mind did not react as fast, and he was staring blanking at that man. I couldn't tell if that man had spoken a single word at all or not, but I saw him pointing at the tray. The teenager finally understood his intention and gave up his tray, apparently feeling bewildered by this whole incident

I really wonder what kind of service attitude is this, especially in a popular fast food restaurant like this. Even those elderly cleaners at foodcourts would ask for permission politely before clearning my trays! I was a bit unhappy with this incident, but I wasn't about to go make a fuss out of it just because of one rude service crew as I feel that the overall service of the restaurant is still quite good. I just hope that I will not bump into service personnel with such poor working attitude in future!

Sorrows Of A Cyclist

This morning I cycle to work as usual. As I was approaching the end of the kerb, I decided to switch over to the main road. Before I move out, I looked back to check for on-coming vehicles, and the road was clear then. However, the moment I inched out onto the main road, a car zoomed past me so fast and close that I could almost feel the sides of his car brushing against my legs. I can swear that if I had moved out for another 5cm, I won't be here blogging already!

Being a cyclist in Singapore is a pathetic thing, as they are not welcomed anywhere. If they cycle on the pavement, the pedestrians will curse them, and they cycle on the road, many vehicles (especially big ones like buses and lorries) choose to not see them and push them to the edge of the road. I am not exaggerating, but speaking from my own experiences.

There was once I was cycling on the pavement back home. In front of me were 3 women walking with their back facing me. The pavement was already quite narrow and yet they were still walking abreast! I rang my bell from afar so that they would have ample time to react. However, they did not hear it. I kept ringing and ringing, till I was just inches behind them, but they were still walking in a single row and chatting away. I decided to cycle off the pavement and onto the grass patch. The sound of my bicycle wheel somehow caught their attention, and one of the ladies exclaimed "Xia Si Ren!" ("You frightened me!"). I was very pissed off, as it's their fault to treat the pavement as their "Grandfather's Road" instead of looking out for other road users! However, I couldn't be bothered with them, because I know inconsiderate and selfish people are the worst people to reason with.

On another occasion, I was cycling along Victoria Street, trying to keep as close to the kerb as possible. I, being a driver too, knew how frustrating it is if a cyclist in front of me keeps zig-zaging into my vehicle's path. However, though I was considerate to other road commuters, other road commuters were hostile to me. Buses just overtook me and pulled into the bus stop just inches ahead of me, lorries making left turns at traffic junctions although I was already starting to cross the road, cars trying to squeeze me into the side drains of the road. There are just too many horrible experiences to say!

Singapore is really a very unsafe place for cyclist and there are always reports of cyclists losing their lives on local roads. I myself am worried of my own safety too, but there's nothing much I can do. I don't expect the government to build cycling paths all over Singapore, but I do hope that the relevant authorities will do something to bring awareness about the situation of us cyclists to the public. If everyone can spare a little more thought for others, wouldn't the world be a nicer place to be in?

I Had A Dream - Weird Dream!

Last night I dreamt of myself riding on my bicycle but both my brakes could not be depressed. It is not a nightmare, but more of a weird dream. In fact I always have weird dreams that simply make no sense. Like there was once I dreamt of myself inside my previous naval vessel gliding through the sky above Bukit Batok. I did not know why I can dream of that, especially so when I lived far away from there! There was another one which is even more ridiculous. I dreamt of myself sharing a table with a stranger in a restaurant, and when our drinks came to the table, the stranger took my drink and drank it. I was very angry, and splashed him with his drink. He did not respond to my action, and hence I splashed him away, with another cup which came out of nowhere. This action went on and on, from cup to mug and then a pail (all appearing from nowhere as well!). Suddenly the ceiling gave in and water started pouring in and forcing everyone out of the restaurant (like a scene in Titanic) and then everyone started singing “Where I Belong”. I’ve told this dream to a few people and they simply laughed at it. They attribute it to being too stressed out at work, but I thought stress only induce nightmares and not dreams like these? But anyway I don’t usually think too much about my dreams. It’s not a sign or omen anyway!

Zhangzhou City Xiang Opera Troupe: An Epilogue

Zhangzhou City Xiang Opera Troupe had ended their series of performances successfully on 11th February and had taken the morning flight today back home.

It was a pity I could not make it for their final show as I had a Chinese New Year function to attend to, but I heard the response from the audience was very good. In fact their last few shows were almost full-house, even though these shows were re-runs. Generally, I’m very satisfied with their performances. Amai had even suggested them to aim for the April-May slots in future if they were to come again, as it coincides with the birthday celebration of the Temple God. If Zhangzhou City Xiang Opera Troupe can get to act during this period, it would mean 20 over days of performances for them.

Actually, performing for 17 days in a stretch this time round is already a challenge for the troupe, as they don’t even perform more than 10 days consecutively in the same venue. Many actors were actually very panicking during their performances because they do not have sufficient time to rehearse and memorise their dialogues and songs. Some even had to rehearse last minute by the side of the stage just before going out. Imagine if they were to act for another 10 days! That’d mean more stress for the crew, and the faster they run out of shows to put in future. In fact, it was said that Xiamen Municipality Opera Troupe is supposed to come, but they couldn’t as they’ve ran out of shows to stage here (They have been here in 1999, 2001 and 2004).

This April-May, Taiwan’s Ming Hua Yuan Opera Company was rumoured to be the invited troupe to perform for the Temple God’s birthday celebration. It’s not hard to see how rich and influential the temple is to be able to engage foreign troupes to perform for so many days. In fact, many Hokkien opera troupes, local and abroad, are eyeing on this temple, because rarely can you find such a grand Hokkien opera gala. For local troupes, some would rather cut down costs from their performances elsewhere to replenish their costumes and props just for their show in this temple in order to boost their popularity.

Back to Zhangzhou opera troupe, I have very good impression of the troupe, as everyone is very friendly and does not put on any airs. However, what will become of them in time to come is a question. I’ve seen actors from some other troupes who had become arrogant over the years and it really put me off. Some of them are not even great stage actors in the first place! Some become arrogant partly because of the strong fan base they have in Singapore. Singaporean audiences in general can be very fanatic and some would offer gifts and money to their favourite actors. Some are even willing to take them as god-sons and god-daughters! It is little wonder that they become more and more proud, because they have been pampered too much and thus turning them into materialistic people. Hopefully the actors of this troupe do not become like that, or else I’ll be greatly disappointed!

Meeting Up With Zhangzhou City Xiang Opera Troupe (part 2)

There was no work today, but was told to go back to the office at 11 o'clock for an "opening ceremony" (a ceremony to just report to office at a auspicious timing and do a little bit of work before calling it a day). Since I had quite a bit of time before that, I thought I might as well head for the photo shop first to develop the photos I've taken over the past few days watching Zhangzhou City Xiang Opera Troupe's performance

I returned to the photo shop at 3pm to collect my photographs, and my heart sank when I saw my works. Many of the shots looked grainy, and some were so bad that I decided to take them off. I really hate my camera, as it is uncapable to taking pictures under low light conditions like a theatre performance. Either it gives you grainy pictures, or a blurred image

Putting my disappointment aside, I went next to the temple at Arumugam Road to look for the crew of Zhangzhou City Xiang Opera Troupe. One of their actors, Haibin, had actually asked me to go earlier so that he could teach me how to secure a "shuai fa" (long bunch of hair hanging from the scalp for male roles). However, when I reached the venue, it was all quiet. I found out from one of their admin crew that it was their rest time. I decided not to disturb his rest, and I sat at a corner and wait. Soon, some of the actors started streaming into the dressing room to prepare for their "ban xian" show which was scheduled at 5pm. As usual, Yuxiang was the among the first to start her makeup. Director Wu came in shortly after and I let him have a look at my photographs. Soon, everyone was flipping my photo album. They liked the photographs I had taken, and it somehow made me feel better. Xiaoyi, who had a mp3 player, even deleted some of the songs in it so that she could store the digital pictures I had taken of her

I went to look for Chen Bin in his room but he wasn't there. Instead I saw Ng Lim, an ex-actor with our troupe, as well as Weixiong, the scenographer. Weixiong was labelled as "first grade scenographer" by Amai and Mulan, as he single-handedly take charged of all the props and scenography works in the troupe. He told me it is a very tiring job, and if he has the chance to take a breathe, he's rather catch some sleep as well. And he doesn't just take charge of the scenography. He had to act minor roles on stage as well, and also to double-up as photographer at times. He had to do promotional and archival works too. He admitted it was tough, but he had to press on for the sake of his family and infant child.

As the time slowly approached 5pm, I decided to head for the stage to take pictures for their "ban xian" show (ceremonial show whereby the actors dressed up as various deities to give blessings). However, the show did not start until 5.30pm, as some of the crew thought it was to be held at 5.30pm. The ceremony ended at around 6pm and everyone proceed to the dining hall for their dinner. I did not want to dine with them, but the crew insisted that I eat with them and hence I obliged. I saw Haibin still working on something at the dressing table and hence I went over to take a look. He was mixing his makeup base. I was suprised by what he was doing, and asked him why couldn't he just buy a ready-made base instead. To which he replied that those ready-made ones do not have shades that matches his skin tone, and hence he prefers to do it himself. "Soemtimes for the passion of the arts, one really have to forgo his meals!", he said. Xiaoyun, who was just standing nearby, quipped that Haibin could just have the makeup base for dinner instead

At the dining hall, I saw Yaling with her makeup totally removed. I was suprised as she was supposed to be the lead for the night's show. I asked her about her makeup, and she replied that all the perspiration will ruin her makeup, and hence she'd rather remove them for now and then draw again after dinner. I'm impressed by that, as there's no way we amateurs can do that for time reasons. Throughout the dinner, everyone on my table (Xiuzhen, Yaling, Jianghai, Xiaoyun, Xiaoyi and Yiling) were speaking in Zhangzhou dialect, and I couldn't really understand fully due to their strong accent. Somehow I heard something like placing bets on 4D numbers. I didn't know they like to play such games too! Xiaoyun, who wasn't outstanding on stage, is a bubbly girl offstage. During the meal, she kept exclaiming that Singaporeans must be deities and consuming exlirs for food as Singaporeans don't seem to age easily and that they have such small appetite (refering to me, Amai and Mulan

After the meal, I went back to the dressing room to wait for Haibi, but he was nowhere to be seen. Hence I just sat aside observing how the actors dress up for their show. The dans were rather neat, as compared to those in Xiamen troupe. Although the wigs they used were of inferior quality, they looked alright on stage as they know how to comb and style them. Xiamen troupe's dans looked more messy as many of their actors simply mixed their real hair with clip-on ponytails and ready-made buns, and sometimes it can be real ugly. Some actors do not even use add-on ponytails even though they do not have long hair

I waiting for a long time before I saw Haibin strolling in. Obviously he had forgotten the agreement he made yesterday, but as it was close to the start of the show, I decided to come back another day to look for him. So today was sort of a wasted day as I did not achieve what I wanted to do, but at least I've managed to understand the people there more!

Zhangzhou City Xiang Opera Troupe - Snapshots of their performance (part 2)

Snapshots from "Romance of the Mandarin Duck Pendant"

Zhangzhou City Xiang Opera Troupe - Snapshots of their performance (part 1)

I've watched 3 out of 4 shows of the Zhangzhou City Xiang Opera Troupe so far, and I had actually planned to blog now my thoughts after each show. However, I have yet done anything till now as I'm still busy sorting out the photographs I've taken. I've actually snapped over 200 photographs so far! (Of course only a handful are nice) Hence for now, I shall not do any review, but post some of my snapshots for you guys to take a look!

Snapshots from "Love and Hatred Over Three Generations"

Meeting Up With Zhangzhou City Xiang Opera Troupe

Yesterday night, I went to the temple at Arumugam Road to buy tickets for Zhangzhou City Xiang Opera Troupe's performance which was scheduled to start today. I was about to leave the temple when I heard people talking and laughing loudly from a corner of the temple. The sound came from the dining hall, the place where the invited opera troupes would normally gather to eat as well as do their makeup for their performances. I had long wanted to meet Mr. Yang and director Wu before their performance starts, as I believe I would not have time to see them again (our troupe leader had ordered us to not go look for them after 5pm so that they can concentrate on their preparation for the show).

As I approached the door, I could see Mr. Yang happily eating steamboat. I was standing directly in front of him, but he couldn't see me! It took him quite a while before he noticed my presence. I just wanted to say "hi" to him, but he pulled me into the kitchen, and took me to see director Wu and Mr. Chen Bin, who were sitting at another table. Surprisingly, Mr. Chen Bin could still remember me (but he could only remember a character of my name), although we only met once in 2000, and we rarely talked back then. Mr. Yang then dragged me to his table to join him in his dinner, although I told him I had already taken my dinner before I went over. That's how hospitable he is! When I went to his house a few years back without any notice, he wasn't at all unhappy, and even arranged an accomodation for me that night.

Back to the present, I was sitting at this table with another lady, whom I could not confirm if she was Lin Xiuzhen, a huadan actress in the troupe. I asked Mr. Yang, and he confirmed my query. Lin Xiuzhen was very suprised that I actually knew her by name. She was quite friendly, and even toasted me to a small amount of beer. I had seen some other actresses from other troupes who just love putting on airs, as if they're some hot superstars.

That night, I also saw Ziken, an ex-musician from our troupe. He was there to visit director Wu, Mr. Chen Bin and Mr. Yang. He had also volunteered to bring them to Chinatown for a tour. Seeing that they were about to leave soon, I quickly excused myself from the table (from the food and beer as well!) and bided farewell to my teachers.

The troupe will be starting their performance season tomorrow. I hope they will be able to wow local audiences just like how they did 18 years ago. All the best to Zhangzhou City Xiang Opera Troupe!

Antique Technology

I was asked to help collect an item from my company's customer this afternoon. I have never visited this person before, and my colleague had told me to "page" for him once I reached there. Originally I thought he had mistakenly asked me to "page" instead of "call", but I realised that this customer's number was actually a pager number! It has been a decade, or almost three-quarter to it, since I last dialled a pager number, and I have to try recall how to page. After some thoughts, I finally remembered the procedures and managed to get in contact with the customer.

With the handphone technology now in it's third generation already, I had never expected that there are still pagers out there in the market. I've not even seen any shops catering pagers these days! (Or maybe there is, just that I've overlooked them) I still remember a decade back, where mobile phones are still bulky and expensive, pagers were the "in" thing and every other teenager had got one. They were very small, about half the size of a regular mobile phone, and can be stowed away in the pockets comfortably. Comparing with a (modern) mobile phone, all that a pager can do was to display the number of the other party for you to call back. Nevertheless it was still fun, especially when it comes to trying to form words with numbers, like typing "01134" to represent "hEllo" (if you read it upside-down, that is). The newer models could display short text messages too, but one has to do it through voice via a telephone-operator, which meant no privacy at all. (Not that mobile phone SMSes are very private, just that we don't get to see whoever that's "spying" us!) And there were also cases whereby the telephone-operators misinterpreting the callers' words and hence causing confusions and frustrations

Looking back, it seemed amazing how technology had changed the way of life for us. If I were to go back in time, I don't know how am I going to survive without a handphone! The only thing "good" about pagers is that you can choose to not call back the other party on grounds that you couldn't get a public phone to call, thus being able to reject annoying calls without people accusing you of trying to avoid them!

Friendly TV Actor

This afternoon, I had my lunch in MacDonalds at Jurong Point. It was a normal quiet afternoon until suddenly I saw a familiar figure coming into the restaurant. Though clad in only t-shirt, jeans and baseball cap, I immediately recognised him as Darren Lim, a Mediacorp actor. His appearance created some commotion behind the service counter, as the auntie waitress serving him almost gone crazy (she kept claiming that he's her idol). Soon, almost half of the MacDonalds crew were crowding around trying to catch a glimpse of him.

I was seated just next to the service counter, and hence the commotion had interrupted my lunch directly. I wasn't really interested in Darren Lim, as all I want was to finish my lunch quick and leave. However, what made me took notice of him was his character. He was very humble and polite, and I could hear him say "Thank you" repeatedly to his fans. What's more, he even opened up his wallet and showed the picture of his wife and son to them. I don't think many TV personalities would do that

He may not be very popular like many other actors of his calibre, but in a way he's considered quite well-liked, especially among the middle-aged folks. However, even with that, he was not arrogant at all. Unlike some "He X X" who thought that she is some superstar just because she had appeared in front of national TV! For those who have no idea who I'm referring to, "He X X" is an ex-TCS actress who came from Shanghai, and was previously a Yue-opera actress. I bumped into her when her former troupe came to Singapore to performed. I was about to walk down the stage after a photo-taking session with the actors, and she was about to walk up. Out of politeness, I smiled at her, but she just put on a face so cold that everyone within the radius of 5m from her would turn into ice. Who did she think she is? She's just an unsuccessful Yue-opera actress (her singing was horrible!) who could not make it big on local TV, so what's there to be arrogant about!

Anyway back to Darren Lim, he left as quietly as he came, after buying what he wanted. The aunties behind the service counter are still excited about his appearance and the atmosphere returned to normal only after 5 minutes. For a TV personality with such good character, I hope he'd be able to make it big in time to come...

Paying Respects To My Grandmother

It has been ages since I last pay respects to my late grandmother who passed away 11 years ago on this day. I was supposed to go for Chinese opera rehearsal in the morning, but I decided to skip that, as I don't want my mother to be upset for not going to the temple with her, since it happens to be a public holiday today. Anyway, my mother kept mumbling yesterday that my grandmother was very fortunate because I, being her most favourite grandson among all, is finally able to visit her on her death anniversary

Actually to say that my grandmother is fortunate, it isn't entirely true. I'd say she's the fortunate among the unfortunate. Why would I say that? Because out of her three sons, none of them pay their respects to her on this day. My eldest uncle had passed away years back, and his children, whom he lost contact with after he and his wife were divorced, only regard my grandmother as a distant relative. Or so I believed. My second uncle only visited her grave during the Qing Ming festival, and my third uncle, also a divorcee and currently uemployed, can't even save himself now, let alone remembering his mother's anniversary. He has got 2 children, but they were Christians who refused to even step into any temple. On the contrary, only my mother, her daughter, made efforts to remember all these, and hence has got people to visit her

We went to this small quiet temple in Geylang where my grandparents' tablets were placed at around 11am. The sky looked gloomy, and I was worried that it would rain, as like yesterday and the day before. Immediately after we reached the temple, my mum starts to unpack all the offerings on the altar. It was quite a spread: curry chicken, roasted duck, fried fish and tau kwa, chestnut soup with pork ribs and a packet of wa goh kueh (a kind cake-like pastry). My parents had started preparing them very early this morning, and although we could jolly well buy them from outside, my mum insisted we cook it ourselves, even if at the end of the day the amount of food is too much for us to consume in a day

After offering our incense, my mother asked me to throw the wooden blocks to see if my grandmother has already "arrived" to have her food. The wooden blocks gave a affirmative answer, and my mother was happy. She said that in previous years she had to repeat the action a few times before a "yes" answer was given. She concluded that my grandmother was happy to "see" me

We stayed around the temple for quite a while, as the incense paper has to be burnt first, and for us to do that, the joss sticks must be at least half-way burnt. When the time was almost up, my mother threw the woodlen blocks to seek "permission" for us to go burn the incense paper, and the reply my grandmother "gave" was negative. My mother then got me to ask instead, and this time, the reply was a "yes"! My mother then said happily that my grandmother really doted me and hence agreed to all my requests. I'm not a taoist, and do not really believe in that logic, but somehow I still hope what my mother said is true. I still quite miss my grandmother

At this time, the rain started to fall again. What bad luck! The incense burning chamber was at the courtyard of the temple and in unsheltered. My father and I had to rush to the chamber and do our job fast. After the incense paper burning were done with, my mother had finished packing up the offerings. We stow the offerings basket into the car and headed back home

Now I am satisfied, because I've sort of "compensated" for not being to stay at home often enough. I can see that my mother is pleased too, though she's still unhappy that I'd have to go for Chinese opera rehearsals again in the afternoon. Earlier on I've prayed for my parents being more understanding of my tight rehearsal schedules, and hopefully, my grandmother will be able to "persuade" my mother in her dreams!

Klang Performance After-thoughts

My opera troupe had just travelled up to Klang for a performance on the 31st of December and returned on Monday night. I went along too, and this is my first time performing out of Singapore (previous cameo appearance not counted.

Prior to our journey, we were warned that overseas performances are not meant to be relaxing and skiving, and that it would be very demanding and tiring. Indeed, we had to compromise with quite a number of things in order to cut cost for the organising organisation, Klang Hokkien Assiciation. We did not have the luxury of having a big truck to carry all our luggages over the customs, and hence we had to tug our stuffs by ourselves. This is no easy feat! For me, I have to pack my costumes (troupe property, of course), opera shoes, stage props and makeup kit into my own luggage, and it was already rather bulky. The dan actresses were more of a disadvantage as they have more things to bring along, including their wigs and hair accessories.

Another tiring thing was the departure time from Singapore. Previously during the Christmas long-weekend, it was reported in the news that the customs were so heavily jammed that it required 1 to 2 hours just to get through it. Hence, we had to bring forward our departure time from 8.30am to 6.30am, meaning we had to get there by 5.45am latest if we choose not to stay overnight at the Kong Huay. Fortunately, everyone arrived on time and hence we need not have to waste time waiting for one another. On the bad side, though, was that we arrived at the customs too early, only to realise that there was no crowd at the customs, and we had to wait for about an hour for our Malaysian bus to pick us up.

We arrived at our hotel after 6 hours of bus ride. It was past our usual lunch hour, and hence we quickly had our luggage stowed away at a corner of the reception and head for the restaurant. The chairman of the association was already there waiting for us. It was very kind of him to welcome us personally, even though we may not be any very distinguished VIPs.

After our lunch, we checked into our respective rooms, took a short break before heading to the association, which was just next to the hotel, to dress up the performing venue. On the first night, our troupe was supposed to stage a short opera alongside some nan-yin singing and cultural dance segments. A bit of hiccups took place, as we were told that there would not be any wireless clip-on microphones available, hence we had to change our performing venue from the main hall to the conference room. Quite a bit of time was lost during this period, and the actors who were supposed to perform that night had no chance to have a final rehearsal with the musicians. The musicians, though, were lucky that a fellow member Teck Seng helped them by singing all the songs and speaking all the dialogues of the opera with the script in hand while they played along. Fortunately it wasn't a full-length opera, or else I wonder how Teck Seng is going to survive through!

The turn-out of the show that night was disappointing. This was supposed to be a cultural interaction event, and I had expected the media and representatives from various cultural groups to turn up. However, only some members of the association and the Traditional Nan-yin Society came. We were told later that this event wasn't highly publicised and hence not many people were aware of it. But we were heard that those who turned up were impressed with our performance that they decided to come for our actual performance the following day, as well as getting more people to watch too.

That night after the performance, the association's cultural education director fetched us for supper at a seafood restaurant. It was inside this restaurant where I celebrated my first new year countdown in a foreign land and with a huge group of people. It was really fun and rowdy, as the restaurant had light up firecrackers outside their compound at the strike of midnight. The festive mood was strong, and our troupe leader also made an exemption to allow us drink a bit of alcohol. Previously, we had been banned from drinking before we complete our performance duties, even if you were just a stage helper.

On the following morning, our breakfast was arranged at a bah kut teh stall located just behind the association. This stall, from what I heard, is the most famous bah kut teh stall, and once you tasted their soup, you won't want to drink Singapore's one ever. Sounds exaggerating, but they actually have a website of their own, and even had 3 branches in Hongkong. It is actually not easy to set up outlets in Hongkong if your food is not up to standard, as there's too much good local food over there. Anyway, the soup was really very nice, and the yew char kueh that they served, although after being soaked in the soup, was still chewy and tasty too. If they had preserved peanuts and pig small intestines, that would be even perfect!

After our breakfast, we were invited by the association to watch a mass wedding ceremony being held at the association's main hall. The ceremony was a long one, and we did not stayed throughout as we need to have an early lunch so as to have more time to prepare for the big show. We had actually scheduled our rehearsal to commence after lunch, but we could not proceed as the hall had to be cleaned up first. We had yet dressed up the venue yet too, and hence our rehearsal timing was futher pushed back, until we only had barely half an hour to rehearse just one small segment of the show.

After the rehearsal, we retreated to our own rooms to prepare for the big show. There was 3 hours to go still, and I had no intention to start making up so early. Hence I took a nap first. When my other troupe members came knocking on my door at around 6pm to deliver dinner, they were shocked to see that I had not even started my makeup! It is a common sight for our troupe members to make up 3 to 4 hours before the actual show or full-dress rehearsal, but that is simply not my style. Not that I'm an expert in "express makeup", but I don't see how much better I will look if I do my make up earlier, or if I spend more time doing my make-up. Anyway, The hotel room's lighting was really terrible, as it was simply too dim to see. I think the toilet looked much brighter!

Halfway through my makeup, I heard thunder rolls outside the window. It was raining heavily outside and I was very concerned how the turn-out would be. This is our first major performance in Malaysia, and it would not look nice on us nor the association if the turn-out were to be very poor.

Fortunately, the rain stopped before the show started, and people started streaming in. I think the hall was almost 3/4 filled by 9pm, and I could hear thunderous applause from the audience after each segment. The audience was obviously enjoying our show very much, and as I performed on stage, I could see some people referring to the subtitles being flashed on the side of the stage and nodding their head to the advancement of the plot. This is the first time I've ever seen people so engrossed in our show! Our performance ended smoothly, and we were greeted with warm applause. During the interaction with some members of the audience, we realised that many of them had not watched Hokkien opera for a long period of time. Some were even touched to tears by our show. I never expected our show could have such a positive response, especially in a relatively foreign place.

That night after the show, we had a celebration supper at a coffee shop together with the various organising committee personnel. They were happy with our show, and there is high chance that they'll invite us again at the end of the year, or even tour around Malaysia.

On our last day of stay at Klang, we were very relaxed, after having a tight and hectic schedule for the past 2 days. We checked out of our hotel at 8am, went for dim sum breakfast, followed by a short shopping spree at a local shopping centre. AFter which we headed off to the same seafood restaurant we had countdown in for a video-watching session cum farewell-lunch. I could not eat well for lunch as my breakfast was still undigested in my stomach, and I was also too tired to eat. We left Klang at around 2.30pm, feeling a bit sad. Alas all good things must come to an end!

We reached Kong Huay at around 9pm. That was considered rather early, as we had anticipated a massive jam at the causeway. All of us helped bring everything back to our office, unpacked everything and stow them away accordingly before heading back home. What a tiring trip this is! But it is nevertheless very fulfilling as this is our second chance to step onto the international stage, and hopefully we will have more of such opprtunities to come.

Charming Quanzhou Marionettes (Part 2)

This is my third day watching Quanzhou Marionette Troupe’s performance. Today, they presented a show entitled “The Royal Inspectorate”, adapted from a Russian stage play. I’ve heard that this show had won awards before, and hence was really excited about watching it.

The performance started with a small play titled “Joyous Yuan Xiao Festival”. Amai, Miko and I have watched this small play on Friday night already, but for today, the puppeteers will be performing directly on stage and not behind the screen. The audience was watching with their eyes wide opened as it is an eye-opener seeing how the puppeteers manipulate their marionettes.

“Joyous Yuan Xiao Festival” is adapted from traditional marionette small play “Entering the City”. “Entering the City” tells about the tale of how some Liangshan heroes tried to sneak into the city while disguising themselves as street artisans. They tried to pass off as “Paixiong” dancers, “Lian Hua Luo” singers, acrobatic performers, street musicians and lion dance performers, and the guardian official of the city could not see through their disguise. For “Joyous Yuan Xiao Festival”, the main contents were more or less the same, except for the inclusion of a dance segment by 4 old ladies. This dance segment is a very unique act, as the marionettes used are actually two-in-one; at one point of the dance segment, these “old ladies” fell flat on the ground and within split seconds they transformed into beautiful maidens! When I first watched it on Friday night, I thought the puppeteers used 2 different marionettes for this trick, but today I realized that they were actually the same puppet, but one hidden inside the skirt of another.

The actual show started immediately after this segment. As compared to “Thrice Hitting the White Bone Demoness”, I like this show more. Although this is not a fighting show, there’s lots of humour and wit in this show, and the marionettes sprang into life under the manipulation of these skillful puppeteers. On the bad side, however, is that the show is entirely in Mandarin (Mandarin with a strong hint of Hokkien accent, that is!), and the music was all pre-recorded.

It’s my habit to not stay rooted in my seat, but go to the backstage to see the happenings behind the scene (not applicable for indoor performances) from time to time. And with my interest in photography, I grabbed the camera and made a few trips to the backstage. This place is equally interesting! The puppeteers were all standing on a high platform of about 2 metres manipulating the marionettes. I wonder how they managed to do that at such a great height, remembering which string is connected to which part of the marionette, and having to sing or talk at the same time. Also, the puppeteers had to co-ordinate well with his partner (usually you need two persons to manipulate one puppet for complex movements) for optimal stage effect.

Tomorrow shall be the last day of their performance, and I think it should be at least half a year more before I can get to see them in action again. Hopefully my Chinese opera performances will not clash with my puppet-watching routine then!

Singapore's Chinese Newspaper

Recently I have been collecting newspaper cuttings related to my Chinese opera troupe and typing them out to be published onto the troupe's website.

However, the more I type, the more frustrated I become. Not because the typing job is tedious, but the amount of grammatical and naming errors I've found in these reports are really making me go crazy. I am no Chinese expert, and if I can spot such mistakes, then there must be something very wrong with them already! Being a leader in the news and media field in Singapore, how can such errors happen? And it is not just one or two, but almost every alternate newspaper cutting that I read, be it something published just recently or dated as far back as 1990. I thought they should at least be more professional and check through their reports thoroughly before they even send for print

Frankly speaking, I'm totally disappointed with the local Chinese newspaper that I just can't be bothered to read. Especially so when they're more like gossiping tabloids than a mainstream news provider! Now that I've seen these "silly mistakes", it makes me even more determined to stay clear from them. Hopefully I can finish all my current collection of newspaper cuttings fast and get them out of my sight!

Charming Quanzhou Marionettes

It was over a decade since Quanzhou Marionette Troupe came to Singapore. Yesterday night I had the chance to watch them perform live again at a temple in Defu Lane

Quanzhou marionette is one of the most popular form of puppetery in China, on par with Zhangzhou glove puppetery and Sichuan rod puppetery. In my opinion, marionettes are the hardest to control because you have to control the puppets' movements by their attached strings, and these strings are not short! The puppeteers do not just stand behind the backdrop and manipulate the puppets; they climb up a platform of 2 meters and control from the top

Yesterday's show was entitled "Thrice Hitting The White Bone Demoness". The story tells about Tripikata and his 3 disciples coming face to face with a demoness while on their journey to the West to retrieve holy scriptures. The White Bone Demoness transformed herself thrice into human form; a young lady, a middle-aged woman and an old man, trying to lure the monk out of the safety circle Sun Wukong has drawn on the ground to protect him. Sun Wukong could tell that these are transformations of the demoness and tried to kill them. Tripikata insisted that they were indeed human beings and that Wukong had commited a great sin. He decided to disown Wukong and send him back to his cave. However, Tripikata finally realised his mistake when he was later captured by the White Bone Demoness at a "temple" -- a trap set up by the White Bone Demoness. The White Bone Demoness sent her men to invite her mother, the Cicada Demoness, over for a feast on Tripikata flesh. Sun Wukong waylaid the gang, had them killed and impersonated the Demoness instead. He managed to get into the cave undetected, and soon after he saw his master, he revealed his true identity. After freeing Pigsy and Sandy, the trio fought together aganist the White Bone Demoness and her gang. The White Bone Demoness was no match against them and finally perished under Wukong's Palm of Fire.

Overall, I think the show was a success. The troupe managed to keep the audience captivated throughout their 2 1/2 hour performance with their entertaining storyline and puppetery acts. I think for puppet shows, it is important that the scripts are well chosen, as puppets are afterall lifeless pieces of wood and it'll bore the audience if they do not see anything entertaining happening on stage. I've seen another rod marionette troupe's performance earlier this year, and although the puppeteers has had the required skills to manipulate the marionettes, they chose the wrong show and hence lost their audience. What they showcased was their puppets trying to imitate Chinese opera stunts like horse whipping, beard swaying and hair swinging. For those who has had no Chinese opera knowlege, all these acts simply made no sense, especially when without a plot or any dialogues!

Another thing I like about them is they have a subtitle machine by the side of the stage. Although they were speaking and singing in Quanzhou accent, understanding of the show was made easy with their Chinese subtitles. However, there was something which I wasn't too happy with, and that was the skills of the puppeteers. I believe some of the puppeteers were still relatively young, hence their skills weren't as polished as those who came to Singapore previously. There were instances whereby the wrong string was pulled (leg string instead of the arm string). It wasn't exactly very obvious, but it simply doesn't look good either.

In short, this is a very entertaining show which I have long looked forward to. I hope I can still have the chance to catch them perform again real soon!

There were plans by the Hokkien Huay Kuan to invite the troupe over again next year during the Hokkien Festival to perform. However, details of this festival is still unknown as of now.

My Other Blog

It's been up for quite some time already, but I just realised that I haven't really announce the official launch of my other blog here! Either I was too busy or I simply forgot. Why another blog, you may ask. My other blog is dedicated solely on my main passion, Chinese opera. In it, I'll be writing reviews on Chinese opera shows which I've watched, be it DVD, VCD, VHS or live performance. I might also post up some latest happenings in the Chinese opera scene, but for such information, I might be slightly out-of-date as compared to some of my other friends like Amai.

Hence you see, this other blog of mine serves only a niche crowd, hence I have no intention of cramming everything into one blog, so as not to bore visitors who are not interested in Chinese opera at all! My new blog is titled "House of the Flying Watersleeves". Please note that it is not a spoof of "House of the Flying Daggers", nor does it have any connections/ associations with that movie! It's just a tongue-in-cheek name which I came up on the spot during registration for the blog. It sounds cheesy, but I like it! The URL to it is: http://watersleeves.blogspot.com.