Tribute to Chen Jinlang

Even as I write this post, I have this strange feeling inside me. I'm not a fan of Chen Jinlang, but why am I writing a tribute to him?

For those who do not know him, Chen Jinlang, 45, was a famous Hokkien Getai singer in Singapore. He had started singing at a young age, and till now, had a large fanbase, consisting mainly of middle-aged aunties. In recent years, however, his lives were full of up-and-downs as he became bankrupt, and was sentenced to jail once for leaving Singapore without permission on numerous occasions. Last year, he was diagnosed with colon cancer, and lost his battle on 25th July 2006, which co-incidentally happened to be the 1st day of the 7th lunar month.

His funeral function happened to be just the the void deck of my flats, and for the past few days, the function was packed with many people, among them were loyal fans and people in the entertainment line. My parents did went to take a look at the function, and even bought his concert VCD, which was recorded a few years ago and currently on sale at the funeral function. I find it rather eerie, that he was already lying in his coffin downstairs, and outside in the living room, his singing was still lingering in the air!

Before his death, I don't really like Chen Jinlang. Not that I dislike him, but I personally do not like Getai form of entertainment. However, after listening to his songs for quite a while (my Mum has been playing his songs at home days before his death, after rumours were spreading that he might had passed away already), I found that his voice isn't really that bad. At least he sounded more soothing than the flamboyant Lin Li, who looked more like a desperate clown than a professional singer. Anyway, not only did Chen Jinlang able to sing pop songs well, he sounded equally good when he sings Hokkien opera. I happened to hear the part in his concert whereby he sang Hokkien opera, and it sounded just like what a Hokkien opera singer should sing like.

It was such an irony that I only managed to realise his potential after his death, but I am glad that at least I get to find out! Goodbye Chen Jinlang, may the Buddha's sutras lead you on to your next life...

Hectic Weekend

Last weekend was a hectic one, and I haven't really gotten over it. Hence, to be real honest, I'm actually not in the mood to blog anything now. However, since some people want to read more about our performance last Saturday, I've decided to write a little...

Last Saturday we performed "Bloodshed In The Imperial Palace" at Chong Pang Community Club. We had actually planned to stage this show in March, but due to some unforeseen circumstances, this performance had been postponed and delayed numerous times. This is the first show (but second run) in which I was totally in charged of designing the stage set, as well as making the required stage scenes. However, due to my other troupe commitments, I had no time to help move props into the performance venue, and nothing was setup on stage, even until Friday night, the eve of the performance. My troupe leader was angry with me for not informing anyone about my stage set designs and ideas, but the fact is nobody bother to ask me what I need for the stage, when it was already officially known that I'm in charged of designing the stage. I did not want to argue, so I suggest to go to the community club earlier so that I could do last minute rigging. Luckily some other members helped me with some of the bulky props, or else I could never finish setting up the stage, let only finish my makeup!

The show was quite a success, I would say, although I was not too happy with my performance. I had a bad headache due to the tight "water sash" which I had secured around my head. Well, I believe you have to pay a price if you want to look good on stage, and I thought that was one of my best stage portrayal so far. Too bad I did not have time to take any photograph of me in makeup and costume then!

Our show ended at around 11pm, and we were ordered to go back to Konghuay to help unpack our stuffs. On the bus, everyone was back to their nonsense again, as you can see below:

Juan forcing Art to put on a "dan" wig; Art said that she'd never do that even for $2000!

Amai doing a chocolate commercial

If you think that's all for the weekend, you're wrong! For some of us, we had to reach Konghuay by 11am the following day to rehearse for our Heritage Board performance this coming Sunday. The rehearsal was supposed to be from 11am to 1pm, but it was one of the most unsuccessful rehearsals I've ever attended, as we were interrupted multiple times because of nitty gritty things. I was very fed-up, as it was a completely waste of time. I am in charged of making the MIDI sing-along demo for this show, and it was still far from being complete. Yet, some people jsut don't seemed a bit bothered at not being able to syncronise their actions to my music.


"Mai" In Blue

My controversial portrayal in "Coutesan Yu Tang Chun"

Rehearsal for Heritage Board's programme was just one of the activities in the Konghuay for yesterday. In the afternoon, we were scheduled to have a photoshoot for our latest show "Courtesan Yu Tang Chun". This show has been revamped from the traditional Hokkien opera of the same title, and we'll be bringing this show to Taiwan to perform, our second trip since 1990. I personally do not like photoshoots because they can be very tiring, especially if taken in a big group. Sometimes, making up alone can drain me of all energy already! But then again, we try to lighten our spirits by having a little fun among ourselves.

The photoshoot took too much time, and it ate into our rehearsal time, which was supposed to start at 7.30pm. Yesterday night, we were originally scheduled to run through the whole of "Courtesan Yu Tang Chun", but we ended up only rehearsing the prologue and scene three of the show. These 2 scenes had been rewritten to incorporate some dance, and is one of the highlights to the latest rendition of this show. This is how one of the dance segments is supposed looked like:

And this is what happened during one of the "trial runs" of the same dance!

I'm Leaving!

“Do you have the intention to resign?” my boss asked me out of the blue during our morning meeting today. I was emotionless on the surface, but I was grinning widely inside me.

I don’t like my job, and had actually thought of resigning since May. However, due to various reasons, I had not expressed my intentions to my boss at all. My colleagues, however, knew that I wanted to leave. Not that I’m wishy-washy, but there were a lot of things for me to clear, and I did not want my boss to think that I’m trying to flee in time of trouble. Now that my boss had actually asked me first, it was a big relief for me.

Actually the decision to leave the company was not an easy one. If my company and management were as bad as my previous one, I could have just thrown in the resignation letter without much consideration. However, the company has been very kind and lenient to me, my boss and my colleagues had helped me greatly. It’s just that I’m not cut to be an engineer, and as a matter of fact, I could be sacked long ago if I am in another similar company now. Anyway after the meeting, my boss still took us out for lunch, a thing he always does if he comes to office and to work through the afternoon. We still talked like per normal (less worked up with me now, in fact), and he even asked why did I join and left my previous companies, and what plans do I have after leaving.

The only thing now, is when I will be able to leave officially. It could be by the end of this week, end of next week, or end of the month. But anyway I’ve given him the promise that I’ll settle all my outstanding things nicely, so that I can leave with a clear conscience and my colleagues coping well without me around.

Change of Hairstyle

It has been over a decade since I enjoy visit hair salons, because I dread looking at myself in the mirror with a horrible haircut. Last Saturday, however, I was excited about visiting one, reason being I was about to have a change of hairstyle.

Just a few days earlier, I went to have a haircut at the same salon, and the hairdresser asked me if I had considered doing a perm on my hair as well for a change. That came as a coincidence as I have been thinking of doing so of late too. I had wavy hair, which can be abit hard to manage when it gets a bit too long. I could have cut my hair short, but that's not what I like to do, for firstly I don't like short hairstyles, and secondly I'll look even much younger than my actual age. (Already there're people who thought I looked like an early-twenties) That left me with no other alternatives, and hence the thought of perming my hair came to my mind.

To cut the story short, the style I was introduced to is called "twist perm". I know nothing about such styles, so I asked my hairdresser for a sample picture which I can relate to, but they do not have. He then pointed out to another hairdresser in the salon and said that he was spotting that kind of perm. I thought it looked cool, so I felt much at ease with the perm. What the hairstylist did was to twist my hair into spikes, wrapped them up in aluminium foil and then pour perming gel into them to set them into shape. It was a very long and process which took over 2 hours, and the initial stage of hair-twisting was a bit uncomfortable; sometimes I was worried that the hairdresser would pull out my hair instead of setting them in place!

After a long, long wait, the perm was finally done and I was excited at how my hair would look like. The results wasn't quite like what I had expected, and I thought my hair looked more like pork floss! It looked nothing like the other hairdresser in the shop, but I thought it still looked acceptable. Perhaps when my hair starts to grow a bit longer, it would look nicer.

That evening, when I arrived at Konghuay, my hairstyle became a centre of attraction instantly. Some commented that they didn't know I was so "in", whereas some said that my hair looked too dry and frizzy. To be honest, I don't even know if my hair is damaged or not; I don't even know if this is the characteristic of this style of perm. But anyway, I can only live with it for the time being, till my hair either becomes longer, and then I'll decide whether I'll keep the hairstyle or to snip them all away. But now I have another thing to crack my head about: how am I going to style my hair so that I do not raise eyebrows in office!

Chinese Temple Performance

It’s the 14th day of the 6th lunar month, and like the previous three years, we were scheduled to perform in front of a Chinese temple in Jalan Bahar in conjunction with the birthday celebration of the temple’s main God. Unlike last year where we had to act as the eight immortals, this year we were only doing minor acts to link up the different performances that were to be presented at the temple’s altar together with our Konghuay's own dance troupe. This is their debut appearance in this temple's annual celebration.

The weather wasn’t too good as it was drizzling slightly when we arrived by chartered bus. Well it was kind of good for us from another angle, as it meant that we do not have to follow the rest in the procession around the neighbourhood. I’ve done that before, and it wasn’t a good experience, especially under the hot sun and we were all in thick costumes and makeup. Anyway, another advantage of not following the crowd is that we could make use of that period of time to have our final rehearsal on the actual performance ground. Rehearsing back in our headquarters is never the same as rehearsing in front of the altar because the dimension and direction sense of both venues are completely different!

Not long after we finished our rehearsals, the procession crowd returned. This was followed by a religious ritual of welcoming the Gods back into the temple. The various Gods of the temple (represented by their various statues), who had paraded around the neighbourhood in holy lifts during the procession, were to be carried back in the same manner into the temple. During the process of doing so, the lifts would rock a lot. According to Taoist beliefs, this is actually the works of the Gods, and not deliberate acts done by the lift bearers. I was quite used to seeing this as I was practically involved (in a way or another) in the performances for the past 3 years. This year, however, the situation is slightly different: the lifts were rocking rather violently, and from what I could see, some of the lift bearers were actually being possessed. This was the first time Amai took part in such shows and she was shocked by what she had seen. Even Juan (XJ), who had been performing in front of the altar for all previous years, was scared stiff when the lift bearers for one of the holy lifts actually fell to the ground near her. Fortunately everything went on smoothly and nobody was hurt.

After the rituals came to an end, the actual performance kicked off. I was in charged of giving cues to the sound engineers on the music playback and microphone control. It was quite a mess for me, as I have to co-ordinate eight microphones and 5 CDs, and there were only 2 CD racks. Luckily there was no hiccup during the show, except some of our members had slipped a bit during the performance as the floor was full of water and flower petals that were thrown during the praying session after the ritual to welcome back the God. One thing I wasn't happy about, was that halfway through the performance, the emcee of the temple actually made an announcement of a Getai being held at the open field a stone's throw away from the temple. And it wasn't just once, but twice, and they did the same thing last year too, to ask the vehicle owner of a certain car to shift. How rude and disrepectful to their Gods can they be!

We left the temple at around eight o’clock and headed back to our headquarters. Tonight’s performance might have been a very minor one, but it was hectic nevertheless as we had to stand for a long time in a stuffy and crowded environment. However hectic, we were still full of nonsense after we got back to our “home”, as you can see from these clips below!

Juan (XJ) still fluttering around when everyone had started removing their makeup.

Amai complaining about using real hair as compared to wigs in performances.

Amai and Juan making fun of Art (WMY) about her spiky hair; parody of Zhuang Jinmei's "Love Triangle" melody.

Juan still fluttering around with her wig half-falling off.

Being a Chinese Opera Actor

Being a Chinese opera actor is not easy. Not only do you have to remember your lines, songs and stage movements, you also have to keep your emotions in check. Take a look at this NG scene from our rehearsals, one moment we were laughing away at some blunders made by other actors, and the next moment, we were all serious and into our roles again!

The Pencil and the Brush

I love to draw, and the pencil is my best friend in the world of stationeries. However, I can't say the same for it's near relative: the paintbrush. I loathes it, because to me, it is more like a weapon of mass destruction to my artwork. In short, I can't paint to save my life! In fact, it was only in recent years that I started to get a little more comfortable with coloured-pencils and markers on my sketches.

It's such irony, that I've been longing to be a graphic designer, and is currently doing scenography works, and yet I don't know how to handle the paintbrush. Somemore, it was my childhood dream to become an artist one day! Anyway, I picked up my most dreaded paintbrush today again, as I have to make some hanging props for my opera troupe's performance next month. The picture I had to paint is actually quite simple; just an abstract dragon design in the middle of a circular flat using only three colours. Yet, I still have to spend 2 1/2 hours to get it done. And it's not even totally complete yet!

On a side note, I think I might have to work alongside with my "foe" more often in the near future, as my responsibilities as a scenographer cum stageart maker (for small performances) will be getting heavier and heavier. By hook or by crook, I'll have to brush up my skills or else I'll have a hard time delivering my works

Watch out, paintbrush! I'm out to get you!

The Budget Terminal (part 2)

The day before, I sent my father off to the Budget Terminal, and yesterday, I went back again to fetch him back. You might be wondering why he's only going for a day. Well, the fact is that all he needed to do was just to fly over, meet his person-of-contact over at Hatyai airport, pay him the money and collect his medicine, and that's it! So in fact, my father could jolly well go and return on the same day, and he'd be more than glad to do so. Too bad Tiger Airways only has one flight daily to and fro Hatyai, and the timings simply do not match.

Anyway, back to the Budget Terminal, I arrived at the departure hall at 12.05am with my mother, 10 minutes before the scheduled landing time of my father's flight. However, I realised that the flight had actually touched down at midnight. Lucky for us, none of the passengers were out yet, as I had not told my father that we'll be picking him up. While waiting, I surveyed around the arrival hall. This hall looked much smaller than the departure hall, and there isn't any eatery outlets at all, only some snacks and drinks vending machines at a corner. I wonder what can one do, when the flight of the person he's picking up has been rescheduled or delayed at the very last minute!

My father came out soon after along with other passengers of the same flight. He was full of complaints the moment he saw us. Not because of the plane, but the design of the arrival hall. In Terminal 1 and 2, there're conveyor belts and escalators for people to use, but in this Budget Terminal, there's none of these, and everyone had to walk all the way from the moment they get out of the plane. And it wasn't a short distance too! Many other passengers, mainly the elderly, were complaining about this problem, and some had to stop for a few times along the way to rest their feet.

So it seems, while the Budget Terminal is trying to provide only the basic facilities so as to reduce cost of operations which in turn will be beared by the passenger, they should still take into considerations of people with disabilities. What I could not understand is, while they have got facilities outside the terminal for the disabled, there seemed to be little of such within the terminal. Something for the authorities to think about!

Prologue of "Lord Of The Ring" On Local Television

For the past 2 evenings, Channel 5 had airred "Lord Of The Ring". For those who still can't get enough of the show, here's a video clip (not done by me this time!) from one of the episodes. But be warned; It's a parody!

And another parody!

The Budget Terminal

Yesterday evening, I sent my father off to the airport as he was heading off to Hat Yai to buy medication. This wasn’t my first time driving my parents to and from the airport, but this time round, my father’s taking the flight from the Budget Terminal.

My initial idea of the terminal was that it should be located somewhere near Terminal 2, and perhaps interlinked with the skytrain. I was wrong! I had to make a u-turn somewhere before reaching Terminal 1, and made some more confusing turns and lane-changing before I reached the Budget Terminal. From the exterior, it looked more like Tanah Ferry Terminal than the other 2 terminals. It looked well-designed anyway, but my praises for the terminal was cut-short soon after, when I was trying to park my car. The parking slot seemed much smaller than normal carparks, and the space between the vehicles on my left and right side were very narrow. This was despite the fact that both vehicles were parking right in the centre of their slots. I then decided to shift to another lot with an empty adjacent one.

The interior of the terminal’s departing hall looked spacious and a bit empty too. Well what more can one expect, when there’s only 1 carrier flying there at this moment. There weren’t anything much to do at that terminal too, if you’re not a travelling passenger, as there is only a Hans eatery outlet within the terminal (and outside, excluding the area beyond the check-in zone). My parents and I had not had our dinner, so we have no choice but to patronise Hans. Luckily for my parents, they do have Chinese (local) food there. However, their menu was designed like a traditional flight display system, without any accompanying pictures for reference. My mother was upset as she wasn’t sure what they had to offer. Finally, under my recommendation, she decided to order a plate of Hor-fun, while my father settled for just a piece of tuna roll. I ordered a grilled fish set, and though it was more expensive than my mother’s Hor-fun, I find it quite cheap, since it comes with soup, drinks and dessert. My mother was initially grumbling about the price of her Hor-fun, but later dismissed it as she find the Hor-fun quite delicious.

After our meal, my father proceeded to his check-in while my mother and I headed home. The sky was turning dark now as the sun had completely set. The lit terminal looked more charming now than when I first arrived, but I was not in the mood to admire it; I just want to return home fast and remove my working attire!

Tragedy of the Benny Hill Palace

There's a theory that says if you speed something up and play the Benny Hill theme song, it will become funny. I'm not too sure how true it is, hence I've decided to try it on a clip from "Tragedy Of The Song Palace"!

The Real Essence of "Duan Wu" Festival

It's the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, a day which we Chinese call it the "Duan Wu" Festival, or so-called "Dumpling Festival" in English. It was said that this day was set aside to remember an patriot from the Warring States period of Chinese history by the name of Qu Yuan, who had committed suicide by jumping into a river to show his loyalty for his country. Common folks who heard the news quickly went out in boats and threw rice balls into the river, hoping that the fish in the river will not eay up Qu Yuan's body.

This may have been the history of the dumpling we eat today, but this story is however, not the main essence behind this festival. In ancient China, eating dumpling and holding dragonboat races are just part of the observations for this festival. The 5th lunar month, back then, was considered a "month of sickness", as this is the time of the year whereby spring and summer intersects. The change in humidity and temperature gave rise to the breeding of insects, and many people tend to fall ill during this period. Hence, this is the time whereby every household will do thorough cleaning of their house, and to hang a kind of herbal plant called "Ai grass" at their doorsteps to ward off "evil spirit". Ancient people, who lacked scientific knowledge, assumed that all these sickness and epidermics during this period were acts of the evil spirits, but little did they know that it was actually the smell of these plants that actually help to repel insects. Another thing people would do during this festival is to drink "Xionghuang" wine, a wine that is said to be have the same effect as the Ai grass. Who those who know the story of Madam White Snake should remember a scene where Bai Suzhen, the snake demoness, drank a cup of the wine and revealed her true self in front of her husband. These practices had been in existence since the Zhou dynasty, many centuries before the Warring States period.

With the advancement of technology and science, the practices of hanging Ai grass and drinking "xionghuang" wine were no longer observed. However, eating dumplings and dragonboat racing were still in practice today, but it is no longer a day to commemorate Qu Yuan; it is just an ancient tradition passed down for generations.

American Idol

The latest season of American Idol finally came to an end and Taylor Hicks emerged champion. As much as I am happy for his victory, I am still quite disappointed as my favourite is actually Katherine McPhee.

Anyway, now that the American Idol and Singapore Idol 2 is coming up next, I thought I'd want to show you the following clip: a parody of American Idol by MadTV!

Clip of "Jao Mae Gwan Im", a Thai Lakhorn Snipplet (part II)

This is another clip from Thai lakhorn "Jao Mae Gwan Im". The costumes looked familiar right? I believe these were actually borrowed from their local Teochew opera troupes, but since no one taught them how to wear, and who to wear what, the costumes were mismatched on stage. Listen to the tune at the beginning of the clip. Does that sound familiar?

Clip of "Jao Mae Gwan Im", a Thai Lakhorn Snipplet

My blogger friends had been uploading snipplets of Chinese opera shows of late. I thought I might as well do something a little different!



Don't ask me if I really understand what the actors are speaking. In fact, I can only understand 3 sentences in this entire clip (guessings not counted), but nevertheless I still enjoyed watching this show.

Disclaimer: do not expect these actor to act and dress like a real Chinese opera actor, because this is NOT Chinese opera!

Happy Vesak Day!

It's Vesak Day today, a day where Buddhists worldwide celebrate 3 major events together: the birth, the enlightenment and the passing away of the Lord Buddha.

Due to the assimilation of the Buddha's teachings into various cultures as the religion spread from India to every corner of the earth, the Vesak Day is celebrated differently in different countries. One thing in common though, is that this day is celebrated as a religious festival and not a festive occasion. However, depending on individual's stand on the religion, the religious observations of one devotee may vary from another. Offering of flowers, candles and joss sticks to the Buddha in temples is the standard practice, together with the "Buddha bathing" ceremony. Some may also stay vegetarian for the day as well. I always do the former, but not the latter. Not that I'm less religious, but I feel that if you truely believe in the idea of vegetarian, you should practice that daily, and not just for a day in a year or month. But of course, I must admit that as compared to some other devotees, I'm not too religous too, as I don't go to the temples a night before to chant sutras and undergo the candlelit procession. Perhaps my faith in Buddhism is half-religious and half-philosophical!

Nevertheless, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish all Buddhists world wide a Happy Vesak Day, and may them be blessed by the Triple Gems.

A.C. the Swordsman/ Samurai

Those who have visited Amai's blog would have seen our latest candid Chinese opera pictures. Fro those who think I looked like a samurai/ bandit, how about this one? Looks cool right?

Frozen in Time: A Small Hawker Centre at Pasir Panjang

This morning I was at a customer's office in The Comtech, and by the time I left the place, it was already 12.30pm. I was hungry then, and hence decided to just have a simple and quick meal nearby. The first dining place that came to my mind was a small hawker centre just across Pasir Panjang Road.



I've never been to this hawker centre, but merely passed by years ago. Back then, during my navy days, I once took a wrong bus from Pulau Brani and ended up in Tanjong Belayer camp, which was right at the end of the same road in which this hawker centre was located. My only memory of the hawker centre is that it was a very small and quiet hawker centre. I was surprised by what I saw the moment I reached the place: it was indeed very small, with only about 6 to 7 stalls and 20 over tables. The place was quite run down, and seemed like it had never been renovated for decades. It was almost like frozen in time, or that I'd arrived at a small town in one of those Indonesian islands just south of Singapore. The only hint of being in modern Singapore were perhaps the row of Singaporean cars parked just outside the hawker centre, as well as the hawkers' hygiene certificate hanging outside their stall. Thankfully there were wall fans to help bring down the temperature of the blazing afternoon.

In terms of food variety, it was quite limited there, as all stalls were selling Malay food. However, one particular stall caught my attention with their fried chicken hanging at their glass display. I saw that they were selling my favourite mee siam, and was about to order, but ended up buying nasi ayam goreng (fried chicken rice) instead. The fried chicken rice tasted nice, but I find it rather expensive, considering that it WAS indeed just "nasi" and "ayam goreng" only and nothing else! Well they did serve me a bowl of soup too. It tasted good too, but it was simply too oily for me to dare drink more. Anyway, someone else who shared the table as me ordered a plate of mee maggi seafood (instant noodles fried with seafood), and it seemed more appetitising to me. I should have ordered that!

Before I left, I decided to snap a few pictures of it with my handphone. Too bad I did not bring my digital camera along, or else I'd surely snap more. Such a nice and nostalgic place, I really hope this place will not disappear in the near future at the expense of developing the area.

First Ride On Public Road

I was very excited as I was waiting for my riding lesson to commence, as today is the day I can finally ride out of the driving centre. Not that I've never navigate on the road before, but the feeling of driving a car out and riding a motorcycle out onto public road are two different feelings.

Lucky for me, it was already 9pm, and the big trucks, which are a common sight around that area during the day, were out of sight. That would mean clearer traffic and safer roads for us trainees. Everything seemed easy for me on the road, since I myself already hold a class 3 license, and has been driving for the past few years. However, I did not manage to pass this lesson, as I had just too many points deducted along the way. I guess it's my bad road habits which had accumulated over time that affected my performance!

While flipping through my coursebook, I realised that I am already at lesson 6, and I had 3 more lessons (including this one) to clear. Does that mean I can accomplish my goal of getting a riding license by July? It's hard to say for now. From what my instructor told me, the rules and regulations for riding tests are getting stricter by the day, as the number of road accidents involving motorcycles increased dramatically. "Everytime an accident occur on the road, the number of people passing their riding lesson the next day will drop!", so he said. Then I better pray for all motorcyclist to ride safely, and all big vehicle drivers to give way to the motorcyclists everyday!

My next riding lesson is on Friday. Hopefully I'll be able to remember all the mistakes I've made today and improve, so as to clear my lessons as soon as possible and be a proud class 2B license holder!

Miscelleneous Thoughts After A Performance

On Saturday, our opera troupe had a performance at Fajar Neighbourhood Shopping Centre. This performance was sort of a last minute engagement, and we only had about 2 weeks to prepare. Luckily for us, the core programme of this performance is an all-time familiar "The Teacher, The Thief", and hence we could skip away with a lot of the rehearsal to concentrate on 2 new actors who had were roped into the show to replace 2 other actors who could not make it for the performance.

Unlike previous performances whereby we started performing at 8pm, this show was scheduled to run from 7pm to 9pm. Hence, I had to go to konghuay for my makeup an hour earlier too. I reached the destinatation at around 4pm, and everyone else had already started to make up. It wasn't my style to start so early, so I walked around leisurely to get my makeup box and accessories ready.

One of the practices of our troupe is that all actors are to wear white pants beneath their opera inner garments, for the thinness of these garments will reveal the colour of the clothes you wear, and it will be very unsightly. Hence, it is not uncommon to see people turning up in all white whenever they had to perform. I am one of the "rebels" who actually didn't follow that practice. In fact, I turned up wearing a beige t-shirt, a winter cap (I just dyed my hair, and my hair were very dry and were standing up like hay) and brown 3-quarter pants. I think I looked more like a "mat-rocker" or "hip-hopper" than a Chinese opera performer! However, I always make it a point to wear 2 layer of opera pants in order to hide the colour of my pants.

For those who do not know, I have the reputation of being the fastest actor to finish making up. In fact, there was once whereby I arrived at my performance venue just 10 minutes before the show commence and managed to complete my makeup in 5 minutes! But no way am I going to do that again, because it was simply too rush, and there is totally no room for any mistakes. Having said that, I am not someone who will take ages to complete his makeup, for I simply don't have the patience. And starting my makeup early will tempt me to experiment with colours, which usually will produce devastating effects. Hence, I am more comfortable with using just shades of red and orange on my face, unlike my other troupe members who uses other colours like blue, yellow and green (Amai excluded!). Sticking to these colours also mean more efficiency for me, since I don't have to search for one eyeshadow after another. I know some people would frown on me for sticking to the traditional way of makeup, but I don't quite care, because we all looked almost the same once we stepped onto the stage!

We left konghuay in different batches at around 6.15pm to our performing venue by taxis. This is how we usually travel to our performance venue, if it is near our headquarters. I'm not too sure if the taxi drivers get a shock initially when they saw us, but we're already so used to travel around like that. Years back we even walk straight into MacDonalds to buy food and drinks in opera makeup and costumes as well!

The sky didn't look good, and threatened us with a slight drizzle. We were worried, as the temporary performing stage, though built with a canopy above it, was still vulnerable to rain. The sound crew were equally worried, because all their equipments were fully exposed to the weather. Luckily the sky cleared soon after, and we started our show at 7pm sharply. We performed 3 shows: scene from "Romance of the Dragon Princess", excerpt from "The Arrogant Princess" and traditional short opera "The Teacher, The Thief". I was the busiest crew of the day, as I had to double-up as the chief percussionist during the first 2 segments due to the absence of our chief percussionist. Anyway, the 3 segments were staged smoothly, and the audience liked us. (So far I've never heard or met audience who don't like us!) The only hiccups with the performance though, was the design of the stage. It was simply too small, and the lighting system of the stage was simply unsuitable for acting. (4 spotlights were placed on the floor and shining up at the actors' face)

After the performance, the stage crew packed all our belongings into our vans while we actors leave first to standby unload at konghuay. While waiting for the rest to return, we decided to take some candid photographs for fun. This is how we are; we can be very serious on stage, but once off-stage, we can be cheeky and fun-loving like anyone in the streets!