NDP 2014; Our People, Our Home

Sunny Island

I love Singapore

Next year you'll be fifty

Going strong as you can be

As always, can't wait for the parade

Platform decorated to commemorate

Over head the fireworks are alight

Raising our heads to see such a sight

Every year I can't wait for this, to celebrate my nation's birthday with my family

-Acrostic Poem by Siow Lee Xian

(ohkay the above was to participate in this Line competition and the first two lines were already given. but i liked the poem that i made so i decided to post it here too :3)

guys! it's national day today!!!!! do you know what other day it is today??? yes, Victim of Conformity turns 2!!!! i can still remember sitting at this same computer two years ago as my mother watched the ndp parade on tv to create this blog (: 

i think it's an accomplishment for me to have had this blog for two years now, albeit recently i haven't been posting much. because i've never been able to keep a blog/diary for such a long time. i usually give up after a while and it's really amazing to me that i've been able to keep this blog running for as long as it is now (: 

but more importantly, i want to talk about national day!!! Singapore's 49 this year, and i'm happy to say that even though i did not managed to attend the actual ndp, i went for the rehearsal last saturday! 

"if it's a picture of yourself, it's a selfie. if it's a picture of you and a group of friends, it's a wefie!"

firstly, i was late. why? because we woke up a little bit late (yes we were all taking a nap cos we were tired from waking up at 7 to attend kor's ocs family day) so we left house a little bit later that we wanted to.

then after that, there were a few road blockages and stuff so daddy had to go one big round ): and then we almost lost our way again if not for the people directing the traffic to tell us where to go, since we had gotten the vip tickets and had a place to park in the Singapore Flyer carpark.

then after collecting our bags and everything, we suddenly stopped at the staircase there to enter the platform for whatever reason and i was getting quite annoyed cos we thought that it was bag check or smth but the queue wasn't moving at all. so mummy told me to walk in front and see and when i did that the people facilitating were staring at me like wtf hahahhha xD then later i asked them and they said that there was a lockdown because the vips were coming. WOW THANKS AND HERE I THOUGHT WE WERE THE VIPS ahhahahha xD

talked to this mother and son while waiting, and was oso texting the girls who were in the vip lounge. they got ice cream for me!!! awww <3

then when we finally were able to go up, da sis said that she was at the entrance so i was like looking left right up down for her HAHA and then i found her! were supposed to go somewhere else to sit, but then realised that they had seats so we joined them! yay! first time celebrating ndp w the girls!!! xDDD

and then she handed me my ice cream which she claimed was melting HAHA

da sis' poor ice-cream-less cone. she had been cheated of her happiness xP

and then yeah! the parade! i think i took a few pix w the camera but my com has problems accessing the memory cards so i can't upload them... sorry ): but anyways, you can just watch the parade on tv what hahha x)

and so yeah! one funny thing was that after all the contingents (?) had finished marching, we were all singing the ndp songs and they were singing it too! it doesn't sound funny like that, but it's freaking funny watching them cos they were singing such cheerful songs with such straight faces HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHA

then after that oso got the "please rise" for the ministers but of course, "this is a simulation" there were a few people that didn't wanna rise but then i think the motivators or who kept telling everyone to stand up ahahha. and then after that there were people walking in holding the gigantic "MP" sign and waving to the crowd LOL and i was just like "CAN I VOLUNTEER FOR THIS NEXT YEAR" i get to be treated like royalty and i get to watch the ndp from a v v vip's pov!!! xD but then da sis was like "you have to be a boy!" pls, there are female mps too kay

another funny thing is that there was another marching segment too and when they zoomed in on their faces, can see that they were all going "left right left right left right" cos they HAD to get the timing right. they are so in sync lor!

and then of course there's the mandatory singing of the national anthem and saying the pledge as the helicopter flies by!

pictures are taken by mummy kay

then there was also the red lions! ohkay what i'm saying might not be in chronological order, since i can never remember stuff in chronological order >< but there was the first female red lion! oh yeah~ she stumbled a little in her landing though, had to kneel down >< but i watched today's one and she did really well!!! :D they all landed so well omg. landed so perfectly!!! although there was a difference between those that have jumped 1000 times and those that had jumped 700 times and those that had jumped 300 times hahaha. they also showed how high they were and omg my acrophobia kicked in la lol. i was screaming at the tv kekekke.

then of course, this also happens every year - they flying of the jets!!!

mummy takes really pretty pictures :3

oh yes, and then there was also the military um.... machinery too!!! and it was so cool cos they were talking about who was the one that was leading it (?) and they said "she"!!! the person who was leading it was a girl!!! omg xD hahha it's so cool and interesting to me cos girls aren't usually associated with the army??? hehehe. and then after that wah damn cool siol. like they all come out then pretend like they in battle like that go shoot shoot shoot hehehe. then shoot finish already right, instead of getting back into the car, they step on the side of the car and like hung off it (a little bit my bob the builder) and i was joking over how we could do it to our car cos our car also has the thingy on top to put bicycles which we could hang off from :B but our car doesn't have the platform (?) to step on while hanging of the car HAHA

there was also the scdc (?) the firefighters that came and then they showed us this new equipment, which was automated to help in fighting fires. cos it was a machine and was operated by a remote, it could get really close to fires when putting them out so it was a plus point ^^ and then they decided to show us the machine by spraying the water at us!!! hahha xD and the really cool part is that even though it didn't look like much, and it was really misty and we thought that it wouldn't be able to reach us, it still did!!! the water can reach such far and long distances!!! completely wasn't prepared to be sprayed hahhahahah

so after songs and everything were the fireworks!!! there were so many this year hahhaha. it's really amazing. but my favourite is still the rainbow smoke! if you're able to find a pic of it, good for you! this year there's rainbow smoke at the back of the display thingy at the platform after some performance or something and it's really just so nice! :D

the whole ndp was really nice la, hehe :3

then after ndp ended, the girls had dinner for them so we separated and went for dinner! initially didn't wanna have dinner, but then i ended up buying satay at Singapore Food Street. daddy had prawn noodles (like usual) and mummy and bachormee (which is also a little bit like usual). i wanted to drink sugar cane juice, but then no more left ): dang it. but then later daddy bought me soya milk ehhehehe. the satay queue was really long tho :\ and the guy didn't have exact change. so had to change money w the lady behind me so that he'd be able to give me change. wow like what store doesn't have proper change lor. but it was the end of the day la, so maybe all the change used up alr o.o

daddy went to look at ice balls (they're literally just balls of ice with sugar syrup) but apparently it wasn't made the way he's used to so he didn't want it. do you know what's the way he's used to? he says when he was young, an ice ball cost prolly around 5 to 10 cents (well yeah. you're paying for frozen water and sugar syrup) and how they made it was that they'd grind the ice, then catch it in their hands. they'd use their hands to pat the ice into a ball then put the syrup on and then pass it to their customers' hands!!!! like woah. much germs HAHA. but it's ohkay, all the current working population that are a little older grew up just fine!!!! x) kindda scary tho if ice balls were still made like that now o.o and daddy oso said that it's v fun cos the ice is so cold and you have nothing to hold it but your hands xD

then after that we went to look at this corner where they showed all the items from the olden days and omg they really are old! like my parents' generation kind of old! i probably have only seen one or two in action in real life HAHA

it was really cool and it was cute how mummy and daddy were so excited over seeing the things that they had during their childhood, even testing me if i knew how to use some things or even what they were called x)

first up, we have the ice kacang machine!!!

daddy was all like "do you know how this works? you know how it's made? do you know what it's for???" hahhaha xD 

i don't think i've seen this in action irl before, but i know how it works hehe 

now we have our jukebox!

daddy was pretty shocked when i said that i knew how to use a jukebox xD 

it's because i used to see it in Billy Bombers, this restaurant i used to go a lot with my family when i was young xD we usually went there every time someone had a birthday and there's a jukebox on every single table. if you put in money you can actually play a song, i think. but i think all the songs were really really old so.... heh ^^;; didn't bother playing any songs xD would really like to use one irl though! 

above that, we have the tikam tikam!!! 

it's kindda like the luck-fire-luck game that Koreans play hehe. 

it's just strips of paper stuck to a board, and there's a number behind it. so you pay five to ten cents to take one. if you get a certain number, you can get a prize! the prizes range from those really lame ones to really cool ones!!!! xD there're also those that don't give any prizes. daddy says some of the prizes can just be a few sweets o.o 

then after that, i learnt how people in the olden times made checks!

i honestly had no idea how to use the machine until daddy stepped in to help me ohkay haha xD it's really cool though! v fun to play xP 

and next to it, THE TYPEWRITER :D

#secool #actonly xD

it's really so cool omg! a funny thing is that when i was typing, i typed something wrongly and was searching for the backspace HAHAHAHHA. see how used i am to modern technology now? now that we can use backspace and everything, we forget the pain of our ancestors when they had to use typewriters xD it's still really cool though and i really want to try typing on one to type out a SHORT message. cos i'm sure that if i were to type anything longer than a few words i'd screw up somewhere. like do you have any idea how my times i've used my backspace button???? xP 

as you can see, there's actually a phone next to it. the olden phone. really wanted to use it and everything but unfortunately it wasn't working anymore. as in those old phones right, the dial should turn back as you dial the number but the spring was gone so even if the phone did work and we could use it at home, we can't dial a number :\ 

the next two are just pix of the place x) 

can you see that gramophone (?)??? xD 

daddy says that in the past, when the cd got some problem, the same part of a track might keep repeating. like: singapura, oh singa- singapura, oh singa- singapura, oh singa- 

hahahhahaha xD and then to fix it would be just to shift the needle a little :3 and it's really cool cos i think there're different lines on the disc (is it called a disc? cos i've heard that it's called a vinyl record too or something??) and each line probably represents a different song xD 

i don't really have anything to say here hahahha. mum took this picture (actually she took all the pictures la haha) so yeah x) 

then after that just below that, we found an accordion! 

yeehee childhood bucketlist check! 

really. when i was young i used to see people playing accordions on tv and i've always wanted to play one but omg accordions are so heavy i admire those people that actually play it!!! i picked it up thinking that it was probably nailed to the stool it was on but it wasn't! so then after that i tried pulling it because that's how accordions are played and sound really came out!!! omg it was really cool though!!! really wish to try playing the accordion again! like know how the different notes are made and everything ^^ 

there was also a sewing machine there!

act only pls xD hahaha i actually know how to use this one ohkay!!!

there was another sewing machine nearby, but we didn't take a pic of that one, i think. but anyways, that one that we didn't take a picture of, is the one that's currently at my grandparents' house now!!! of course, the rubber and needle has been taken out since nai nai has dementia and doesn't use it anymore. and the cabinets have been locked because yeye was afraid that nai nai would open it and mess up the things inside (besides i think there're sharp things there so it's dangerous) but it's the same sewing machine!! i remember using it when i was young, for fun and how nai nai panicked over me using it cos "oi! 等一下你会扯到你的手！！！！" i also remember nai nai using it to mend my clothes when they tore, and how she used to promise that she would be able to make a dress for me using that machine (: 

and now... last but not least, the trishaw!!!

had to ask a passer-by to take this for us xD

but it's cool right??? xD mummy was going on about how waigong used to ride the trishaw at night (i think?) to earn money for the family and everything (: 

overall, i really enjoyed my time last saturday but there was one thing that kindda irked me. it was of how these parents took care of their children. no, no abuse is not part of it. it was more of how they didn't say anything even when their child nearly just destroyed an antique display. so before i used the typewriter, there was this little child play at it. so i didn't really look, but i just know that the parents were silently watching her (i think) play with it. so when i got my turn on the typewriter, i pressed down on the keys expecting to hear the clicking sound and for the keys to go down (cos that happens to all keyboards duh) but no such thing happened. so at first i just let it slide but then i realised that something was wrong. you know how each letter in a typewriter is attached to this one metal thingy that prints the word on paper, right? yeah. all of them were stuck together, no doubt from how the child before my was just happily banging on all the keys. i'm just kindda annoyed over how the parents didn't say anything. like HELLO did you not just see your child freakin' smash all the keys on a typewriter? something's bound to go wrong there ._. even if they didn't know that that would happen to the typewriter, they shouldn't just let a young child smash something like that, right? i think it's common sense that freakin' smashing something with your entire hand does no good unless you're making prata or bread or something ._. managed to fix it back though. it was easy haha. just untangle all the metal thingies. 

another thing is that because i type really fast, so sometimes when i type i might push more that one key at the same time but because of a slight difference in time when the key goes down, my letters actually come out correct. yeah i can't do such a thing with the typewriter cos the keys would be stuck together HAHA. it's still really cool though and i really want to try to use a typewriter!!!!!!!!!

when we were leaving, we walked past this kacang puteh stall. and daddy was all like "you know how now y'all have the white colour paper to hold your kacang puteh right? you know in my times what they used? newspaper. newspaper or the phone book. they would just rip the pages out, wrap it up and then put the snacks that you want into it." WOAH hahaha. really jia la sup (eat rubbish) grow up one. HAHA jkjk xD 

so yeah, that's my day! glad that i managed to finish this before national day ends hahaha. i've been writing this since afternoon o.o

last thing: THE PARKING WAS FREAKING $13.50 WTH

Hope™