Contradictions; Happy Birthday to Me

Yesterday (24th October) was a pretty eventful one for me. It was my 29th birthday, which also coincided with my employer’s 51st Annual Dinner, which meant I was working the entire day on my birthday.

Thus, as I’d like to joke, I should be grateful that I had such a big bash to celebrate it, and with a Minister in attendance, even! (It was Lawrence Wong) Haha.

Colleagues pulled a couple of surprises for me:

1. The very public one at Hard Rock Cafe RWS, where my birthday was announced to all diners there (mostly Caucasian tourists – an Australian even came up to me and wished me well as he headed off to pay for his food). The wait staff then got the whole restaurant to sing a birthday song, and I had my face dunked in whipped cream ice cream to hunt for a cherry that was purposely buried inside.
2. Cake was brought out, a song was played at the end of the Dinner, and the whole team present sang for us (there were 3 October babies, if I remember correctly our birthdays fall within a few days of each other).

The effort made was certainly very touching. Though I didn’t immediately feel super-duper-fucking-happy-high, it is comforting to know that I still matter to some people other than my parents and my close friends.

I disabled my birthday on Facebook just to see if anyone would remember. Indeed, I didn’t get any well-wishes from there – it worked for me this year since I was so busy that I would not have had the time to reply to every single greeting (which I normally do). But my main point is not to prove anything negative about the state of society – we’re only human and there’s only so many things we can remember. I would like to clarify at this point that I don’t remember the birthdays of a lot of people, only a select, select few, and I rely on Facebook to remind me too, so I’m just as complicit in it all and have no moral high ground whatsoever.

Regardless, it felt good to celebrate it and I hope I can be a part of the same for others in the coming days. Every well-wish counts in my book, whether or not the speaker meant it when they said “Happy Birthday” or were just performing a perfunctory social action.

I had originally planned to go low-profile about it all and get the day done with, but I did tell a few people eventually, and the word spread (unequally) in the office; a few people only knew it was my birthday on the day itself. Of course, HR would know the exact day as well so that’s probably another info source.

Which brings me to this point: I think I’m a pretty contradictory person.

• I crave attention, yet I go around trying not to act like I want it (being low-profile and all). I am just humble, I tell myself, but reflecting on things, I probably am the exact opposite (why did I tell people if I didn’t want all the attention? :/)
• I like girls who exercise but don’t really make an effort to myself.
• I want to get attached, yet I don’t make an effort to improve my attractiveness (skills, appearance, etc) to the opposite sex (I do dress up when necessary, but that’s about it).
• And so on (I think there was one other fault I wanted to pick up, but I’ve forgotten about it now)…

Now is time where I wax lyrical about my impetus to change, right? I don’t have anything concrete in my mind actually. Uh… let’s see how it goes, eh? Haha.

Oh and special shoutout to my boss Desmond and colleague Fenda zehzeh for celebrating it in advance the day before – the lunch treat was awesome.

Thanks also to my uni mates who’re planning a gathering this coming Sunday. You guys are all that I have… :’)

 

Na Han 呐喊

It’s been a long while since I’ve posted anything substantial. I just looked back at my last post, a rant, and I realise this one is going to be the same again. Whoops. Whatever happened to blogging about planes, or military affairs and such? Nah – out of the window the ideas go. Heh.

So it’s been almost a year since I last updated, and, looking at what I wrote then, everything is pretty much still the same. I masticate. I work. I play. I sleep. Life at IES is frustrating at times but nothing too crazy for me, except perhaps the increasingly long hours I put in for mega projects. It is otherwise still relatively stress-free, I’d say, although there will be additional work responsibilities coming up in the next few months (no, not a promotion).

To me, Ch’te is just a colleague now, not so much a friend, after I (we?) decided to leave it and cool off. To me, no point punching a wall. I do what I can to help where necessary, but nothing out of the ordinary. I know I tend to overthink things but I guess I just want to do right by people.

We got a new colleague, PeQ, who’s been here for more than half a year. I guess you can say I switched targets. I find her cute. And we can talk, too. Although our interests are quite divergent, I must say. Also taken. I only want to be friends… right?

Went out for karaoke with her and some colleagues today and I found out that she can sing VERY well. That’s it. I’m smitten. Haha. Not surprising since she has some grounding in instrumental music and maybe some training in singing techniques? Actually everybody else was really good and I suddenly just felt like I was the most useless person there.

The reason why I go for songs that are off the norm language-wise, and my preference for fast numbers, is perhaps that I crave attention? I don’t know – for an only child, one might expect me to get all the attention I wanted from my parents. Perhaps they did, but at this stage, it’s not right for me to demand any – I should be starting to take care of them instead.

So where does that leave me? Alone probably. I have my bunch of close uni friends but everyone has their own lives too, so… that’s that.

She blue-ticked me too though it’s 4-freaking-am, I guess she is (no one is?) not obliged to reply me. I’ve kinda lost my thoughts now though so I’ll just leave this here. At least I got most of it off my chest.

How do I get out of the doldrums and also… meet my destined partner?

Protected: Recent worries and mundane troubles

This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Reflecting on the General Elections 2015

Before I continue with this post, let me present a snapshot of how the 17th parliamentary general elections of Singapore went (forgive the subpar formatting):

Parties and alliances	Leader	Seats won	% of valid vote	% swing from last GE
People’s Action Party (PAP)	Lee Hsien Loong	83	69.86	+9.72
Workers’ Party (WP)	Low Thia Khiang	6	12.48	-0.34
Singapore Democratic Party (SDP)	Chee Soon Juan	0	3.76	-1.07
National Solidarity Party (NSP)	Sebastian Teo	0	3.53	-8.51
Reform Party (RP)	Kenneth Jeyaretnam	0	2.63	-1.65
Singaporeans First (SingFirst)	Tan Jee Say	0	2.25	(new party)
Singapore People’s Party (SPP)	Lina Chiam	0	2.17	-0.94
Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA)	Desmond Lim	0	2.06	-0.72
People’s Power Party (PPP)	Goh Meng Seng	0	1.13	(new party)
Independents	N/A	0	0.12	N/A
Valid votes	2,257,016		97.95% of total votes cast
Invalid (blank or spoilt) votes	47,315		2.05% of total votes cast
Total votes cast	2,304,331		Voter turnout: 93.56% of eligible voters.
Did not vote	158,595		Total residents: 3,891,370
Eligible voters	2,462,926		Total population: 5,469,700

In 2011, I wrote a short piece about the general elections then and how it was a watershed one for the country, since the opposition were out in force and managed to win six seats. They gained another one in a by-election two years later. Buoyed by my own sense of idealism then, I spoilt my vote in protest against the ruling party, as well as to show my contempt for the opposition party that came to contest in my constituency.

Since then, a great many things have changed, not just within the political landscape, but also in myself. As with every other human being, my experiences during this intervening period have shaped my perspectives along a new path and in so doing, affected my actions as well.

As I have alluded to in my previous postings, I became involved in grassroots and community work. It all began out of curiosity, but I soon found myself getting sucked in deeper and deeper because of two reasons – I seldom say no to requests made of me, and when I commit I tend to want to see things to the end, and also because I’ve met a good bunch of people who were a great pleasure to work with; that made me feel like I was part of a team. In addition, we rallied around a leader who ran a pretty tight ship, the current Minister for Social and Family Development Tan Chuan-Jin. In the past 1.75 years, I have grown to like and respect this man, even if I am not sold completely on the party’s cause.

I had wanted to remain neutral, without ever choosing a party or sides to align myself to, because I wanted to maintain that seed of journalistic impartiality within myself. To simply watch the world go by (or burn), and report on its happenings. But because I began my adventure through MPS (Meet-the-People Sessions), which is actually a political activity, I found it increasingly difficult to do so. It does not help that in Singapore, the lines are blurred between the ruling party, the government, and this particular avenue of community service.

I am not going to talk about the wider implications of GE 2015 in general or analyse the results. Instead, this post is about what I’ve seen and done, opening yet another chapter in my political awakening.

Two posts back, I mentioned that I had agreed to do something related to politics. I agreed out of curiosity, as usual, jumping at the chance for a new experience. What was it? It was to help the PAP with it’s campaigning for Mr Tan.

Not wanting to show my support in public, I decided to work from behind the scenes. Our work was to monitor the online media space for the sentiments of netizens, and to engage in and shape discussion where necessary. Suddenly, all the lessons I learnt in university about astroturfing and such made a lot of sense. Compared to the last GE, this time all parties involved had an even greater presence than before. There were discussions, some much heated, by supporters from both sides of the line.The digital battlefield was every bit as big, if not bigger, than the physical one, and the contested space needed to be filled with messages aligned to our cause so as to push forward the agenda.

In so doing, I put aside my principles of detached neutrality, and got into the thick of things. It was interesting for the most part of it, and I did get carried away while still being myself – it was the seemingly the best of both worlds. I learnt once again that once someone is firmly entrenched in their beliefs, confirmation bias would set in and it would be difficult to convince someone otherwise even in the face of overwhelming evidence. Thus, the middle ground were the targets to be courted and I realised ultimately that one had to choose sides, especially in cases like this where the stakes were high, and the future of the nation was also up in the air. The middle ground, in a certain sense… were the pawns.

I believed, of course, that the other side were using similar tactics in an attempt to start conversations or level allegations against our side. I think I did see some signs of it online, but this is something I will never be able to confirm. What I found interesting was that a new way of commentary was taking traction this time. Instead of penning one’s thoughts per a normal Facebook comment, for example, people were posting pictures to make their point, be it a funny one (e.g. PM Lee and ESM Goh praying to the now-deceased Lee Kuan Yew), or ones with the relevant symbology that could be allow others to instantly identify his or her political leanings (e.g. a picture of Marvel Comics’ Thor, who wields a hammer -> implied to be WP supporter, since their logo is that of a hammer).

At the very last moment, I also volunteered to be a Polling Agent for Mr Tan because the Branch still needed people. Our role was to observe the electoral proceedings to make sure there were no foul play. At my station, though, I was left alone since my opposite numbers and my colleagues chose to sit together amongst themselves. Without anything to cross-check with, all I could do was stare and let my thoughts run free. I was incredibly restless an hour into the shift, yet I had to remain professional for the most of it. Mr Tan did drop by for a visit somewhere in the middle, though there wasn’t really anyone around at that time so he came and gone. At this point, I would like to acknowledge the civil servants and volunteers who were activated as Presiding Officers/Assistant Returning Officers to facilitate the entire process of this exercise in citizenship. Good job and rest well today, guys.

This experience was definitely an interesting one and an eye-opener for me. Like the movie villains who fall into the dark side after their initial taste of things (usually out of curiosity, too), I think I have subconscious floated closer and closer in terms of support for the PAP. While I am cognizant of the fact that much more needs to be done on their end in terms of communication, policy work and whatnot, I have seen the good work done for the people in the area where I serve.

Although Mr Tan does not represent me directly as an MP, I am glad that our efforts have paid off and that he can remain in service to the people for another term. This time round, the choice was clear for me.

General Elections 2011 [Archive Post]

Reposting this here from my other blog that I’ve had from 2005 – 2011:

Election fever

May 8, 2011, will be etched in the annals of Singapore history for it marked a watershed General Election, with a unprecedented 82 out of 87 seats contested, a younger electorate, ageing population, many issues contested, and for the first time, the massive (and generally clean) use of social media in campaigning.

Results-wise, it was even more… impactful. The opposition Workers’ Party have managed to capture a Group-Representation Constituency (Aljunied), or 5 seats, away from the ruling People’s Action Party. They have also retained their former stronghold of Hougang, which netted them one more seat. At the same time, veteran Member of Parliament Chiam See Tong has lost in his attempt to go for a GRC, and his wife has also lost the party its seat in Potong Pasir Single-Member Constituency. Tin Pei Ling, much flamed by netizens online, was elected to Parliament, and at the same time, we have lost a very capable Foreign Minister in George Yeo.

My feelings on this are truly mixed, so much to the point that I have become a tad blank in my head and heart. Certainly, the costs of this election has been heavy for more voices in Parliament, and perhaps the Westerners will see us as more accomodating in terms of human rights and media freedoms (hey, even the local media aired some dissenting views this time round) after this election. Whatever. But now, all parties know they need to work harder to build up their support base, and for those elected to Parliament, work together to serve the interests of all citizens. These are big words, but I sure hope it will happen.

And out on Facebook, I feel like I’ve been championing the spoilt vote option, running around to defend the stand against some of its detractors. Hmm… as much as it is an exercise in futility.

Else. It’s over now, we will wake up to a new reality tomorrow. And… life goes on. All the thoughts have evaporated from my mind. WATERSHED.

The future awaits.

In the blink of an eye, countless days, weeks and months flew by. It has been eight months since I left my previous position at The Office (FPL, for those who know what I’m talking about), and many things have happened since then. I’ve run through a rollercoaster of emotions, at times feeling happy, at times feeling superior, even cocky, but most of the time, I felt quite down in the dumps and rather impotent.

Why? I would attribute it to the search for employment, I guess. After a short break plus my involvement in a big grassroots event (One Community Day) at the beginning of this year, I began my search for a new job in earnest. I was full of hope – my qualifications weren’t shabby, and I had a brief stint in a pretty big place. Off I went, targeting mostly civil service jobs and the occasional private one that interested me. The days went by, with no replies. Soon after, I started widening my scope to not just what I did in uni + my previous vocation, and lowered my salary expectations. I asked my contacts for help, as did my dad and mom, who most graciously supported me to the best of their abilities during this trying time. But still, nothing much came around. I did get called up for interviews, but failed them. It was then I realised I was lacking in this aspect. The stint at The Office turned back to bite me as prospective employers seemed to make negative judgements based on my length of service, and perhaps not so much the work I did.

My unemployed friends soon found employment one after another, leaving me alone. And then my other employed friends having those dream jobs posting about their exploits on social media – well those hit me pretty hard. The proverbial nail in the coffin hit me sometime last month, where I was simultaneously rejected from two government positions that I thought I was well-qualified for, with one of them being the workplace of my dreams. I was utterly crushed, and sent out resumes to random places in desperation. Living every day without knowing when the journey would end sapped the life out of me. Apart from my commitments to grassroots work, my freelance job assignments and my family and friends, there was nothing to fill me. As with my previous life posts, I dug myself deeper into the bubble I had created around myself, and tuned out the outside world, with regards especially to the current affairs I so liked to follow from before.

Well, to cut the long story short, one of my personal efforts finally clicked and I will be starting work next month. I’m not quite sure about this next job, mostly because… I’m not quite sure what I want anymore. All I know it, I must do something to survive, and grow my skills where I can. I definitely hope I can stay in this position more than twice as long as my first job, before taking stock of my life and trying to chart out where I would go next. I would expect though, that I’d return to cherish those short gaming sessions I always had when I returned home from The Office. Break time’s over, boy!

The big question now for me is really, “WHAT AM I DOING WITH MY LIFE, AND WHERE DO I WANT TO GO ON FROM HERE?” Of course, the heart is still empty, but it’s always been, right? Mmm, not too sure about that one. On my volunteering experience – I find it ironic that the more I think to extricate myself, the deeper I end up sinking into. What started as a way to pass time last year (right around the birth of Codex Omnibus), broadening my horizons and getting in touch with the various happenings on the ground, social issues, etc., has turned into quite a big commitment for me, relatively speaking (Disclaimer: Not as big as the amount of time and effort the senior volunteers have put in). I’ve had two events under my belt, and helped out at the Branch for more than one-and-a-half years now. I just agreed to be involved with one more event, and have been bestowed with greater responsibilities for that one (how terrible!). And only a few hours before this post, I also agreed to help out with something I never thought I would do. It’s related to politics, which runs against my principle of staying neutral, but I wanted to learn more about publicity, running a campaign, and responding to the myriad discussions in the public sphere… and this… is a platform that is going to be quite interesting, I think. Or perhaps one hell of a ride. I’m feeling uneasy about  agreeing to do this, though it is in a role that doesn’t require me to be at the front. I hope I have the resolve to pull out of this one if the need arises – at least that’s what I’m telling myself.

Do I like helping out here, or do I just not like to reject others, and then do things out of obligation? I have no idea, you know. I mean, I do like the rush of happiness after each event is conducted and all, and regardless of allegiance, this is a rather valuable network… but I just keep sinking in deeper? I hope this latest commitment will be just that – a learning experience. I would rather not have to choose sides when the time comes, unless I am sure I firmly believe in the cause.

There’s all these concerns, and work too. The future awaits, indeed. S-steady as she goes?

Farewell, PM, SM, MM Lee, for the last time. 一路走好！

(Above image courtesy of Facebook user Pok Pok & Away)

29 March 2015: 7 days after his passing, the man who was at Singapore’s reins during her formative years was finally laid to rest (at the private cremation ceremony, which will probably take place in another hour so from the time I started this post).

The live telecast of his state funeral has just ended. Many dramatic and poignant images were captured by the cameras, as hundreds of thousands lined the streets along the route in which his cortege passed by, from Parliament House (where his body was lying in state) to the National University of Singapore’s University Cultural Centre (UCC) for the State Funeral Service. In the hours leading up to the start of the whole ceremony, and for most of it, it rained, at times rather heavily. It seemed as though the heavens itself was grieving at the passing of a great man. Strangely, it cleared up just as the last eulogies were delivered at the UCC. Despite being an agnostic-atheist, sometimes I wonder if occasions like this are more than just pure coincidence.

During the funeral, our citizen soldiers performed flawlessly – the well-rehearsed honour guard, the coffin-bearers, the artillerymen manning the ceremonial 25-pounders… not to mention the pilots who pulled off a Missing Man manoevure (though there was no media footage due to the bad weather), and our seamen, who saluted him with a sailpast off our southern coast. Oh, and not forgetting the police officers, and the men and women of the Civil Defence Force – although Mr Lee was not a military man, this was a ceremony fitting for someone who had worked so hard over the years to help build the country. Helmed by the armed services that he saw was a necessity to maintain our sovereignty, I’d say he deserved nothing less.

Such an outpouring of grief on a national scale is without precedent. As a Chinese saying goes, 前无古人，后无来者。There was none like him, and no one will probably come close in the next few decades to come. Singaporeans from all walks of life, and even foreigners, who deeply respected Mr Lee, turned out in droves today. Nearly 1.5 million (including double-counts, I’m sure) went and paid their final respects to him over the past four days, and many fitting tributes have been written over the past few days as well. Today, the eulogies gave intimate little details of how Mr Lee was as a father, the leader of Cabinet, union representative, and such during his life. Some were more engaging than others, but they all sought to paint the image of a caring man who shielded his family from the media glare, a hard taskmaster and a pragmatic man who also fiercely defended his ideals.

For a military enthusiast like me, stuff like bugle calls and bagpipes always get me. On Wednesday, when his cortege came to Parliament House, it was the bagpipe rendition of Auld Lang Syne. Today, it was The Last Post. *sighs* But, like playing The Rouse after The Last Post signifies, those of us still living must continue waking up, for life goes on. Amidst all this thoughts, feelings and emotions though, one thing is for sure: Mr Lee’s passing, united Singaporeans into a cohesive whole for once, though I think it’ll likely go back to the same in the days to come. There have been emotionally-charged statements, and those made by clear minds – here’s hoping that the level-headed ones prevail in the coming days.

Looking back, the past four days have also seen an upswelling, and proper demonstration of the Singapore Spirit. Our leaders had been hoping for a revival of the “kampong spirit” of old, but I feel that we transcended that during this period. I say this based on my personal experiences on the ground. On Thursday, I joined the queue at the Padang so I could pay my respects to Mr Lee. It certainly moved around in an orderly manner, and I did not notice people cutting queue. Newcomers who didn’t know where to start asked those of us in the queue kindly for directions, which was provided. Everyone shuffled along, although they did surge at certain points, for some weird reason.

We had volunteers tirelessly handing out water, biscuits and umbrellas. Soft apologies were made when we accidentally bumped into each other with our sweaty limbs. Near Cavenagh Bridge, someone was distributing other foodstuff (more biscuits, I saw, but different from the NTUC ones that were making the rounds at the Padang), and those closer to the biscuits started grabbing them… and passing it along the crowd to people who were out of reach. What touched me the most was when I made it past the bridge and was outside the Asian Civilisations Museum. Heard shouts from the back. Someone beside me thought it was “Mr Lee, Mr Lee”, coming from the river, but as the shouts grew louder, we realised it was “Medic! Medic!”. Apparently someone behind collapsed, probably due to the strain of being trapped in such a huge, moving mass of people. There was confusion at first, but a loud voice behind took charge. “Everyone echo ‘medic’!” he said. At that instant, we all did so in unison, and a couple of police officers appeared soon after to assess the situation.

I covered my journey to pay respects to Mr Lee on my Instagram account, @duckrain02. So most of what I observed is there as well. Though I was in Parliament House for all of a minute, (or two) bowing and saluting him, I realised it was what I saw during the entire journey that mattered more. Little things like the above gave me some faith, faith in the humanity of Singaporeans as a whole, and faith that country has what it takes to last in times of adversity.

Majulah Singapura!

I end this post with two images from the telecast of the funeral service, sourced from the live coverage from MediaCorp and the Straits Times respectively.

A soldier, standing alongside his compatriots in the rain, forming a line of honour for Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

His cortege passing through Kampong Bahru Road. The shophouses in the middleground of the picture and the towering skyscrapers/modern housing in the background provide a comparison of Singapore’s past and present.

 

A nation grieves: My humble POV; a choice collection of words

Rest in Peace, Mr Lee Kuan Yew GCMG CH, 16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015

The news came in in the wee hours of the morning. Mr Lee Kuan Yew, widely regarded as the father of modern Singapore, passed away due to complications from pneumonia. An infection in mid-March, while he was on life support, weakened him day by day until the inevitable.

What was I doing then? At 3.18am, I was fighting a Golden Rathian in the game Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, scrabbling with the controls on my Nintendo 3DS handheld console. Pretty mundane stuff, hardly amusing or special or whatever. It was only at 5am when I stopped to take a look at my laptop, and saw the first shares on social media start to stream in with the timestamps dated back an hour ago. My immediate reaction was, “Oh well,” something that I shared on Facebook immediately.

I guess it wasn’t such a big shock to me after all, given his advanced age and generally failing health (not turning up for major constituency events, less public appearances, etc.). For many Singaporeans too, probably. But the collective denial, as I call it, of a nation, wishing the best for a great man and hoping he would make it through, was nothing short of amazing. I’d never thought I’d see this moment – for once, the heart of nearly all Singaporeans beat as one in remembrance of a great statesman. The news of his passing is a indeed seminal moment in Singapore’s history, which has largely been peaceful and trouble-free since independence.

Many other things amazed me in the past 12 hours or so, which I will describe further on in the post. It’s definitely a shame that he couldn’t live all the way to see the nation he so painstakingly built celebrate her 50th birthday, but then again, he’s probably had a really good run in this life.

At long last, news outlets around the world could announce his passing safely, without ridicule (here’s looking at you, CNN and CCTV News!). Their pre-packaged stories and segments on Mr Lee could now be broadcast and sent to print, no problems. As a media student, I’m supposed to know just how well-oiled OUR own state-run machinery is. But the information that came out in the next hour or so amazed me again with how smooth it all went.

Boom, came the media releases. Info on a week of mourning. When citizens can go to pay respects to him. Initial details of the state funeral and wake. Prime Minister addressing the country at 8am… and then the tributes from our main media outlets, etc. Special print editions of the daily broadsheet and tabloids were available at 12pm (tracing back, delivery ~2 hours, printing ~ 1 hour, sending for print should be at around 8am?) Our radio and TV stations have been on interrupted programming since then, playing sad music, their logos shrouded in a shade of grey/black… I’m supposed not to be fazed by this, but the realisation of it all, and seeing it in action, still made me gape.

As the morning went by, people started to change their Facebook cover/profile pictures in mourning Mr Lee’s passing. Even WeChat, the Chinese-developed social messaging app, sent a message of condolence to all its (Singapore-based, I’m assuming) users. On TV, many people who were interviewed shed tears of sadness. Some of my friends, too. Me? I don’t know. I’m not sad, neither am I overjoyed. There’s just this heavy sinking feeling in my heart, akin to what I usually feel when some major character in an anime that I’ve been following dies or something.

My newsfeeds continue to fill with messages of tribute, condolence, and news updates about event cancellations, so on and so forth. I’m pretty sure that physical tributes have also been flowing non-stop; according to the 1pm news bulletin, the slots for condolence cards outside the Istana were filled within four hours.

Now the respect such a man commanded is really beyond measure. Mr Lee was a rare breed, I’d say. A no-nonsense, no-holds-barred man who had a vision for Singapore, and dared to take charge. His efforts, along with that of the Old Guard, the first generation of Cabinet ministers, were what took Singapore on this journey, the oft-repeated “from third world to first”. A quick read of the tributes/obituaries on The New York Times and BBC, for example, would give one an idea of his achievements, of how his team and himself (I always stress that it is a team effort) ensured that our fathers and grandfathers had proper homes, sanitation, water, education and jobs. Essentially, fulfilling all of Maslow’s basic needs. Which is why people of my generation can then exist. In all journalistic fairness and balance, one must consider his less-than-perfect image, as well. Western media sources tend to like to pick on his ruthlessness, and the sacrifice of personal liberties, as well as that of the media, when it comes to this. Apart from acknowledging all these, there’s also his elitist worldview that one might need to contend with.

Personally? I have a whole lot of respect and admiration for this man. While I only learned about the good stuff in my teen years, I came to know more about his ‘darker’ side as I entered university, what with the freedom of access to alternative points of view. Despite this, I still feel that his foresight and vision for the nation, his ability to take charge – all of these were crucial factors in leading up to the Singapore we all live in today. Looking back, he certainly did make/have an impact on some unpopular decisions, but to a certain extent, one can attribute it to the necessity of the times. But to say that he was merely reacting to the situation isn’t right at all. Circumstances make the heroes out of men, but here is one man who also made the circumstances. He was THE man who led his merry band of brothers into building up a Singapore that was dependent on the British for everything into an independent, sovereign nation.

So what about his “faults”, and how do I reconcile myself with those? Off the top of my head, Mr Lee was responsible for some policies, and had values that I disagree with. For example, the stamping out of dialects in an effort to promote better use of English and Mandarin, which was the cost of making Singapore economically competitive, and his nods towards elitism (and eugenics?) which resulted in things like the Graduate Mothers’ Scheme… with some shades of it in the bureaucracy today, too (please correct me if I am mistaken). But every decision, good or bad, has a cost to it. Paraphrasing the words of a source I encountered online, why continue to look to the past in hatred, when we should look to the future, and apply the lessons learnt from the past?

For some things, I can only hope lessons will be learnt. For others, measures to rectify the damage wrought in the past have already begun taking place. Hospitals, for instance, are sending healthcare staff for courses in local vernacular so that they can understand the elderly better, since they are more conversant in those rather than the English and/or Mandarin that was implemented after their formative years. Without him, however, is not the end. We must to move forward and continue to prosper on our own, and to carry on building a nation that would make Papa proud.

I sincerely hope that above doesn’t make me sound like an ungrateful prude. In the end, the reason I am able to sit here in my home, and post this, can be linked to him in many ways. To sum it all up, my emotional journey was thus – apathy -> a state of calm -> amazement -> emptiness of heart. As I come privy to more information and anthologies of the great statesman that was Lee Kuan Yew, my opinions of him may have a nuanced improvement, or not. I am keeping an open mind, but I feel whatever it is, I will continue playing devil’s advocate in my mind’s eye – one must see the full picture instead of ‘only hearing the good stuff’. Yep, he’s a really jolly good fellow, but one must never go down the slippery slope of whitewashing his less palatable deeds (which, isn’t a whole lot anyway. I mean, he ultimately had Singapore’s interests at the forefront of his thoughts). If I may be allowed to put this out, Mr Lee probably wouldn’t want this (the whitewashing) to happen anyway.

Thus ends my attempt at eulogising him and trying to pen down the thoughts of the moment before I lose them. I have included the video of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s announcement at 8am today of his father’s passing. It is actually a very sad moment, and twice he had to pause to regain his composure. The pain of having to tell the whole nation that you have lost a loved one, who was also greatly loved by his people, is nothing short of unimaginable. See below 😦 –

I have also collected some articles and quotes from various sources, which I found poignant.

“We won’t see another man like him. To many Singaporeans, and indeed others too, Lee Kuan Yew was Singapore.” – PM Lee Hsien Loong

“Hated as a tyrant, adored as a saviour of the nation. In truth, these extreme positions are neither accurate nor adequate. Lee, for all the pop-cultural-like portrayals of him, is human. As a politician, few would see his parallel, particularly for his ruthlessness. As an administrator, we marvel at his efficiency and doggedness. But as a human, we have to criticise his lack of vision for a Singapore that must go beyond his time and beliefs.

It is in this light that I have chosen to see Lee Kuan Yew: A patriot who has dedicated much of his life to our lives – for which we should be grateful – but at times not in the best interest of us or the nation – for which we need to apply a generous dosage of humility to the public service and our leadership, if we want Singapore to live beyond him.” – Howard Lee, for The Online Citizen (http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2015/03/lee-kuan-yew-people-policies-and-the-politics-of-life/)

“Credit him for spearheading the policies that turned Singapore from third world to first world. That took leadership, grit, guts, daring, cunning, showmanship, political acumen, smarts and sheer hard work.  These are all exceptional qualities that Mr Lee possessed an abundance of and Singaporeans have both benefited or fell foul of these same qualities depending on which side of the political fence one fell on.

But at the same time, Mr Lee was not someone to trifle with. He is not known for mercy, compromise or the middle way – it is his way or the highway (and sometimes, even detention without trial). In our rush to commemorate him, we must not forget that like any other man, he had his faults – and sometimes one’s best qualities are also one’s worst shortcomings.” – “Ghui”, for The Online Citizen (http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2015/03/civil-and-political-rights-after-lee-kuan-yew/)

Brief timeline of reactions to Mr Lee’s passing – http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32012879

“And as a nation mourns in some relative comfort today, we worry about a future without him, we chafe at the restrictions he instituted, and we fail to realise how much more we can continue to build on his legacy if we worked together.

The last time Singapore worried about its future in this manner was half a century ago, when we were kicked out of Malaysia to become a newly independent state. Lee Kuan Yew seized that moment to make us prosperous.” – Ng Yi Shu, for Mothership.sg (http://mothership.sg/2015/03/a-millennials-perspective-on-lee-kuan-yew/)

A well-written, if negative, look at what Mr Lee did for Singapore –http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/22/lee-kuan-yew?CMP=share_btn_fb

Some admiration and thinly-veiled criticism, especially from the POV of a media practitioner – http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/03/lee-kuan-yew/388397/?utm_source=btn-facebook-pin 

The most interesting criticism yet, linking Mr Lee’s legacy to implications on the world stage. Tyranny in Russia and Eastern Europe – http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/03/lee-kuan-yew-legacy-116317.html#.VRJByTuUcvP 

*this post has been updated on 25 March 2015 to better reflect my thoughts, along with new material that has come up over the past two days.

Anime Festival Asia 2014 Part II: I Love Anisong concert (Day Three)

Source: Anime Festival Asia Facebook Page

Previous post: AFA14 Part I – Summary and thoughts 

Bridging the gap with (anime) music

As I’ve mentioned in Part I, AFA14 is my third time attending this event. If memory serves me correctly, I bought only the entrance ticket in 2010 and the main exhibition + stage event in 2011. You can start to see a pattern here – of me progressively trying out what the entire event has to offer.

So I decided to go for the I Love Anisong (or I ❤ Anisong, if you want to fit the emote in, Anisong being a portmanteau of “anime” and “song”) concert this year, having had my “resistance” to attending these “eroded” with the few K-pop concerts I went for in my uni days (and that I’m more able to spend now).

Excluding a processing fee of $3 per ticket, the most basic ticket category cost $58. Standard tickets were $88 and the VIP ones went for $158. For Basic and Standard, it is first-come-first-served, and standing only. VIP tickets entitle the holder to a seat, and stuff such lightsticks (to wave crazily during the concert) and a chance to get an autograph with some of the artistes. The graphic on the left, reproduced from the official AFA14 webpage, shows you how well the various ticket classes can see the stage. The blank space in the middle between VIP and Standard contained the platform on which the official video cameras were deployed, which effectively meant that a large portion of Standard didn’t have direct line of sight to the stage. What about Basic? It’s virtually impossible to see the stage from Basic, so you’ll just have to be content with looking at the footage from the screens placed above the stage itself, like these –>

Which pretty much means I bought the Basic ticket, right? 🙂 Now, with all the admin info out of the way, let’s go on to talk about the artiste lineup. For the three days of AFA, the organisers managed to get an impressive number of singers/groups in to fill each evening’s concert with a different artiste (so if you’re a big die-hard fan of anime songs and singers, you would have gotten the $428 package which includes access to ALL three days of the event and concert).

Friday’s lineup saw concertgoers treated to performances from angela (2nd appearance at AFA), Kitamura Eri, DJ Kazu and Horie Yui. On Saturday, it was fripSide (2nd appearance), THE IDOLM@STER, LiSA (2nd appearance) and yanaginagi’s turn to charm. Sunday was probably reserved for some of the better acts, with a bumper crop of five artistes performing: FLOW (2nd appearance), GARNiDELiA, Aoi Eir (2nd appearance), ROOT FIVE and May’n (7th appearance).

Since I had other things going on over the weekend, the choice of which day to go was obvious for me: Sunday, because I am somewhat familiar with the most number (four) of performers for that evening. After bumping into a friend I hadn’t met for years and doing a quick catch up, I headed straight to Hall 406 to hopefully get a good standing spot… which I sort of did, but when you’re all the way back and get blocked by everyone in front and all… well, what is see is what you get, yes? (I shall resolve to get the more expensive tickets next year… cash flow permitting. :P).

An almost nerve-wrecking one hour wait descended upon all who entered. But when the lights dimmed, everyone immediately got to their feet, and the hall echoed with cheers from the audience. Lightsticks were activated/lit up, and it was pretty cool to see all these little pinpricks of light form a cohesive moving mass in time with the music. This fascinated me for most of the night.

Going with the FLOW

Left picture: From left – Bassist Got’s (Gotou Kasutarou), vocalist Hayashi Keigo, vocalist/guitarist Asakawa Kohshi, drummer Iwasaki Hiroshi and guitarist Take (Asakawa Takeshi) (Source: CrunchyRoll). Right picture: Keigo and Kohshi belting out their energetic tunes, driving the crowd into a frenzy.

The opening act was five-member Japanese rock band FLOW, who immediately brought the house down with their fiery rock numbers and extensive stage presence. Vocalists Keigo and Kohshi ran and bounded from one side of the stage to the other, jumped on and off the speakers and platforms located on the rim of the stage, and would have had the audience eating out of their hand if it were possible, I think.

Keigo drew laughter from the audience at his attempt to speak Mandarin to introduce FLOW and say some nice things about Singapore. Kohshi’s excellent English, on the other hand helped by making it easier to communicate with us all and announcing their intentions… which was “Do you remember the last time we came, due to time, we couldn’t perform all our songs … but this time, BECAUSE WE’RE THE OPENING ACT, WE HAVE MORE TIME TO SING!!!”

That they did, with a full 45 minutes of hot-blooded, manly anime theme songs such as “World End” from Code Geass R2 and “Cha-La Head-Cha-La” from Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods. It was paced by slow ballads like “Ryuusei (Shooting Star)”, to which Keigo mentioned, “There is a huge distance between Singapore and Japan, but we are connected under the same guy, and our music, to you,” which was a pretty “awww!” moment for me.

For their excellent stage presence and seemingly unlimited energy (okay, so they were both panting when they stopped to interact with the audience, but hey, that’s a plus in my books for effort!), FLOW truly heated up the concert hall with a performance worthy of the opening act, and deserves a solid 10/10 for their hard work.

The Ethereal Bride

GarNiDeliA is a relatively new music unit consisting of vocalist mizuhashi Mai (also known as Maria) and composer/keyboardist Abe Yoshinori (also known as Toku). They debuted in 2014 and have released three singles so far (Left picture courtesy of Sony Music).

GARNiDELiA came up next, and went through a couple of songs before stopping for Maria’s short speech with the audience. Decked out in a sleeveless silver dress with furry trimmings, and a cut-off skirt skewed to the left (please advise me of the proper term for this attire!), she looked every bit as exotic and pretty as she did in GARNiDELiA’s music videos – refer to her AFA14 message video to have an idea of what I am talking about.

To be honest, her speech was kind of flaky, and the only notable comment I picked up was that it was rather hot in the hall (I didn’t feel anything, and it sure must be up on stage, with all those lights shining down on her and Toku). Perhaps it was their first overseas performance, and Maria wasn’t so sure of what to say (Toku was silent, if memory serves me correctly). Whatever the case, the whole experience was somewhat of a downer after the high standards set by FLOW in the preceding act.

On that note, Maria stopped several times to wipe her sweat with a towel (?) during GARNiDELiA’s set (This is an assumption; it looked like so from where I was), which wasn’t so cool (pun intended) in my opinion. To add to the bewilderment, someone, apparently a famous Nico Nico Douga performer (NND is Japan’s analog of YouTube) came in as a backup dancer during one of their songs, and left right after that. While it brought attention to the fact that the song had a dance element to it, I was puzzled by the brief appearance of the other lady.

That aside, for a rookie music unit, they still made a good showing of themselves, with songs like “Ambiguous” from Kill La Kill and “Blazing” from Gundam Reconguista in G. It is always a pleasure to listen to songs live, and testament to the skill of the performers when they sound the same live and in the studio. 7/10, I say.

Headbanging Ah-lian?

Aoi Eir started Singing since high school, and worked briefly as a Gravure model after graduation before committing full time to her singing career (probably got scouted by a record label, I guess?) Currently signed to sony music entertainment, the 26-year-old is making wAVES IN THE ANIME MUSIC INDUSTRY, HAVING DONE SONGS FOR A FEW HIGH-PROFILE anime SERIES. IT REMAINS TO BE SEEN WHETHER HER STAR WILL CONTINUE TO SHINE (PICTURE SOURCE: JHOUSEROCK.COM)

This pretty lady with a powerful voice was the third “battleplayer” of the evening, and definitely put her best effort into her singing. From the camera close-ups, I could see her vocal cords tensing, and really do appreciate all the labour that she (and all the other singers) have put in to ensure an awesome night for the few thousand of us gathered here.

Bringing to us songs such as “Sirius” from Kill La Kill, “Innocence” and “Ignite” from the Sword Art Online series, Aoi-san also introduced a new song (the title of which escapes me) to the waiting crowd. She was especially fond of climbing up and down the stage-rim platforms, and headbanging with all caution thrown to the wind. Coupled with her very simple attire (sleeveless top, shorts, and a cardigan), she looked like a talented ah lian singer who somehow found her way into a concert and began performing. It was a little disappointing, considering that she actually has more elaborate set-ups for her other concerts. For the awesome music and dat headbang, 7.5/10.

One tough mathematical operation

 

Root Five (√5) is a japanese vocal unit formed on nico nico douga. the way i understand it, amateur singers come together on NND and collaborate, forming groups as and when circumstances allow. the really good ones do end up going pro, like these five young men here. This makes them the equivalent of youtube celebrities in the western media context. From left: pokota, kettaro, Koma’n, Dasoku, Mi-chan (Source: Anime Festival Asia official webpage) 

The fourth and shortest act came from ROOT FIVE, a group which I knew nothing about until Sunday’s concert. Their performance felt like that of a typical boy band, nothing noteworthy, with the boys singing to minus one tracks and no live band backup. They had a brief self-introduction and interaction with the crowd before going off as quickly as they had came, with a repertoire of roughly five or so songs. This was probably due to the fact that they were the least experienced out of all the five performers, so their time could have been considered more “expendable”. Unfortunately, although they did songs to anime that  I have actually heard of (Saint Seiya Omega and Fairy Tail), audience reaction to them seemed muted as compared to the other artistes. Poor guys. Ganbatte kudasai, ne? 6.5/10.

Sultry and cute, all rolled into one.

May’n, or nakabayashi mei, is a regular performer at AFA’s I love Anisong concerts. she debuted as a singer back in 2005, but only got her big break in 2008 as the singing voice of sheryl nome, the “Galactic Fairy” from the anime macross frontier. her carrier took off from that point on, and she has released a fair amount of albums and songs for anime, tokusatsu, and mainstream j-pop. Welcome back to your home away from home, May~n~! (Source: May’n official blog, http://ameblo.jp/mayn-blog/)

I had somehow misled myself into thinking that LiSA was the last act. So it was a perceptual bonus for me when it was the Ginga no yousei (銀河の妖精, Galactic Fairy) herself that appeared on stage. For the rest of the fans all around me, I’m pretty sure this was the moment they were waiting for. May’n went on further to tease us with a popping/jazz/jitterbug dance performance from her backup dancers for around 5-10 minutes, before finally stepping out to the cheers of all present.

Clad in a black halter top with floral prints, showing off her toned, sexy arms, and matching hot pants, May’n sizzled on stage, beginning her performance with the sultry number “Welcome to my FanClub’s Night!” (Macross Frontier). After a couple more songs, she stopped for a breather, and mesmerised many of bus boys with dat toothy, megawatt grin. She was also the only singer to have a sense of space, even asking “those of you at the back” if we could hear and see her (YESSSSS! Said everybody).

Next to FLOW, her audience sense was the best. Ever since Macross Frontier, I’ve kept a lookout for her performances every once in a while, and this is what I like about her: She can turn up the heat with her songs (especially the MF ones, since Sheryl Nome was supposed to a sexy singer), regale her listeners with those uniquely-voiced ballads, yet become a total cutie when conversing in grammatically-correct, Japanese-accented English.

This time, she revealed that she went shopping at Orchard Central, Ion, and Marina Square (wished I had caught a glimpse of her up close!), and bought clothes and stuffed hippos -> she apparently likes that animal. Her voice somewhat scratchy (from all the singing), she also declared, “My favourite food is roti purata (sic)! Rot purata should come to Japan!” Who wants to volunteer to open a prata shop in Japan just for her? Haha.

Saving the best for the last, May’n closed the evening with the high-tempo “Lion” from Macross Frontier and “Chase the world” from Accel World. After wishing us well for the night and thanking our attendance, she disappeared quickly off-stage. And so four hours of music came to an end, just like that. The main hall lights that snapped on brought me out of my reverie and I shuffled out with the rest of the people, beginning to plan for this blog post. May’n certainly did good. While I wished she had the time to do more of her MF songs, the rest of her performance was totally worth the effort of standing there and craning to see the screen properly. 9.5/10.

Epilogue

In closing, the concert was, overall, a good experience. However, standing for four hours is no joke – I must be getting old! Thankfully there was this intermission period between every performance (for them to get ready, I guess), where everyone gladly took the opportunity to sit down and rest. The acoustics were too loud for my liking though; I only got used to it after an hour or so. You could feel the bass thumping through your body… definitely not for those with weak hearts. But being able to see some of the artistes in action, and observe the fandom going about in their acts of devotion (those coordinated lightstick waves, the chanting of names) adds to the aural and visual adventure. Kudos to the event crew who were very vigilant and on-the-ball in stopping photography and videography, which was supposedly prohibited.

Looks like I will be back next year!

P.S.: For those who missed it, here’s some video highlights of the day’s happening, courtesy of the official AFA YouTube channel: 

Anime Festival Asia 2014 Part I: Day Three summary and thoughts

Prologue

There is a first for everything, isn’t it? I mean, I’ve covered events and written about them for university assignments and also for the publications I handled at my former workplace, but this is the first time I am doing it as a blogger, and for this blog as well.

Before I bore you, the reader, with my rambling nature (Warning: long post ahead!), here’s the link to my Facebook photo album which contains the photos I took during the event over the recent weekend, minus some stuff that will be exclusive only to this blog’s coverage of Anime Festival Asia 2014.

Setting the scene

Anyway, first things first. For the uninitiated, Anime Festival Asia (AFA) refers to a series of anime conventions and peripheral events that are held in Southeast Asia, with the core event taking place in Singapore, where it all began. Since 2008, AFA has been held annually in November/December at the Suntec City Convention Centre, moving out once in 2012 to Singapore Expo due to renovation works at Suntec. The core convention in Singapore can be considered to be the biggest anime and Japanese pop culture event in the calendar of us anime/manga enthusiasts and Japan aficionados.

From its inception, AFA has been organised by Singapore-based entertainment and event company SOZO, together with concert organiser Zepp Entertainment, and Dentsu Group, a Japanese advertising and PR agency that offers services across a wide variety of portfolios around the world.

I have been an anime fan (and as a result, I read less manga) for roughly two-thirds of my life. It is a natural progression for me to want to “get more into it” with cosplay, attending cons such as this, and so on. For those who know me, I went down quite the different route of tactical simulation/reenactment – need a better term for this – in the end. But it was through this and my interactions with my new-found buddies that I finally came to be aware of events such as AFA, Cosfest, STGCC that the fandom attends every year, much like how religious devotees make pilgrimages to holy sites whenever they can.

However, since I left the army, I’ve had less time to follow as many series as I used to before, that being taken up by other pursuits and commitments. This was already starting to happen when I attended my first AFA in 2010. To a certain extent, I was also getting lazier. My 2011 album and the sad lack of photos can attest to this somewhat. Maybe it’s because I am actually not fazed by the exhibition – I am not one of those who will queue up hours before the official opening, rushing in when the doors swing outwards, grabbing merchandise this way and that. I prefer to saunter in, look at cool things, stroll around a bit at my own pace… you get the idea.

AFA14… is it any different?

It was with this relaxed attitude that I faced this year’s edition of AFA. I should go and take a look, right? Since I missed it for two years while I was in Australia (and opted out of a anime con there because the ticket was too pricey T_T). But I wasn’t going to rush, anyway. There were two ticketing options: For $13, you will get access to the main exhibition areas, which is about 80% of the floor space. Top up an extra $10, and you will be able to enter the “Stage” area, which, I believe was a section reserved for performances and activities related to Japanese video-sharing website Niconico (formerly known as Nico Nico Douga).

I decided to go for the latter option, buying the ticket for Sunday (the final day) because I didn’t want to go all three days and blow all my money on this (Yes, money is a central theme in this entry :P). When I bought my tickets last Friday the girl at the counter gave me this neon-pink wristband (see picture; left) and warned me not to lose it, and that it would not be removable once locked.

Sunday came and off I went! I waltzed in to Convention Hall 401 – 405 at around 3pm, and quickly made two rounds, looking at the merchandise. and exhibits on display. Among other things, there were official artbooks, doujin, paraphernalia like badges/magnets etc., toys, figurines, T-shirts and swords. Yes, everybody loves a (wooden) katana or two. No more merchants selling metal blades, like the one guy in 2010 who was later hauled away by the cops, I heard. I didn’t find anything special that I really wanted or needed, so I snapped pictures and moved on.

There were some pretty interesting exhibits though! A huge motherload of Gundam figurines in a variety of colours, commemorating the 35th anniversary of the venerable military science-fiction/space opera/real robot anime franchise, Gundam.

There was also an Oculus Rift demonstrator, which was used at the Sword Art Online (SAO) booth. Oculus Rift, in technical jargon, is a “virtual-reality head-mounted display”. In simpler terms, it allows one to experience a different world through the glasses you wear. Apps and games have been developed which enable you to manipulate the virtual environment as seen through the glasses, and it is widely seen as the next step in creating an even more immersive gaming experience, among others. Sadly though, at the SAO booth it was little more than a glorified pair of 3D glasses, that let you see in 3D a battle scene from the game Sword Art Online, which is what the anime of the same name revolves around.

Apart from that, pretty standard convention fare I guess. Console games, card games and other promotions rounded up the booths that offered stuff to look at. Oh, and there were mini photoshoot studios with certain landscapes/scenes set up inside them for cosplayers or guests to have a cute shot or two. The Moe Moe Kyun and Atelier Royale maid and butler cafes were conspicuously absent though – just when I had gathered enough courage to queue up for one and blow my hard-earned money on it.

On to cosplayers. I’ve noticed a fair bit of youngsters; boys and girls younger than me, stalking the grounds and getting photos taken and such. I feel old… but that’s besides the point. I think most of them were out on Level 3 basking in the limelight, what with the legions of pro and amateur photographers queuing up to take shots of the better-dressed ones. From my travels across Facebook and Instagram, it seems like every cosplayer had fun, which is what matters. 🙂

As with other cons/events, many characters were from series I didn’t know, but I did find several from the American animated series RWBY, as well some really good ones from the second season of SAO! Especially this trio of Vietnamese cosplayers, whom I tracked halfway across Level 3 before successfully taking a shot of two of them. 🙂

As for mini-events, well, I can’t say my opinion is completely objective, nor complete here since I did miss quite a fair bit of stuff in the day, coming just in time only to catch a couple of performances from people I didn’t recognise, the Manga Battle thing, and watching people queue up for autographs. The gruff event security crew (they’re just doing their jobs, I guess…) hustled us along to make way for Matsuoka Yoshitsugu when he arrived, which was pretty sad. Mr Matsuoka is the voice actor for Kirigaya Kazuto/Kirito, the lead character of SAO. Maybe I should have joined the queue?

Didn’t really stick around for anything. It was a case of “document it, and move on”.

Exhibition thoughts

All up, the exhibition ran rather smoothly I suppose. I didn’t see hiccups, the crowd wasn’t too bad, traffic flow went generally okay, and the various booth staff (heaps of kids earning pocket money for the school holidays xD) were all quite courteous. As a guest, I didn’t have any problems or feel it a particularly annoying experience to walk through the grounds.

While some exhibitions did catch my interest, the rest of it was by far pretty run-of-the-mill in my opinion. This, I acknowledge, is tempered by my preconceived apathy for most of what was happening on the ground, my ignorance perhaps in following some of the newer cultural trends (I have never been an early adopter) and the actual time I spent at the exhibition area itself (Remember, I came at 3pm, while the mini-events had started unfolding at around 10.30am). Maybe I was also influenced by the fact that I went alone, and didn’t have anyone to share in this here burning passion that we all have.

On a side note, I did spot a couple of parents who were trying hard to rein in their children, but were pretty much led from booth to booth by them instead. xD

In retrospect, perhaps I should not have topped up the $10 for Stage access since I rarely ventured into the stage area. There didn’t seem to be strict access control restrictions once you were inside too, but this is an unqualified observation on my part. It has come to my attention that I missed the stage area entirely (Hall 406). I need to be more prudent next time…

Thus, in between acknowledging my perception bias and giving credit where it is due, I would rate my re-immersion into the whole AFA experience a 6.5 out of 10 points.

In the next part, I shall review the concert proper. Stay tuned for that! 🙂