Temporary Stasis

24th July marked the end of the 7th Asia-Pacific Dance Competition organised by The Commonwealth Society of Teachers of Dancing [CSTD]. Most of the categories were of modern dance nature with some fusion from ballet and jazz as well.



Unfortunately their main website was down so I compensated by posting a picture of their publicity poster.

Although we were rather disappointed at not being able to secure a winner in the Open Category, we were rather glad that the winner was from a Ballet Dance Company based at Manila, Philippines. Apparently they have 4 male dancers who had already secured a minor fan base with some of the girls in our dance group. I sincerely believed they deserved it as well, given the amazing techniques that they showcased.



A combined picture of our Fast Forward Team and the "Angels" [Team name] from our affiliated Dance Synergy. I trust you should not have too much difficulty recognising the potential costumes for which team.

That also brings me to the main point of my post today. I am now declaring a state of temporary stasis for my blog because I am going to revamp the blog layout for my dance group Fast Forward [yes you can click on the link to view the current state of construction].

I'm not sure how long it would take to properly complete it because I am rather limited in my personal knowledge of blog designs and html codes. Moreover I'm talking about a total makeover because this time the design will be fixated and be presented for future potential sponsors who would like to take a look at the blog. Anyone has any idea if flash can be supported on blogspot?

Rest assured though this doesn't mean I'll phase out totally because I'll still find time to drop by your blogs and read your posts and leaving a comment or two as well.

Note: Final Photo has been removed.

Carpe Diem folks, I'll seeya around soon.

Alternate Meanings

I was chatting with an old friend yesterday and we came to realise that sometimes out in the working world certain terms offered aren't just what they really seem to be. Let me quote some examples -

"I'm a very meritocratic person"
What they might mean is - You don't perform, out you go asshole.

"We believe in democracy of opinions"
What they might mean is - We [supervisors] can speak freely and you just need to listen to them.

"We can offer you the expected salary"
What they might mean is - Work your ass off and no overtime pay including weekends as well and yes you might be able to get your salary on time.

"You can expect attractive remunerations and benefits"
What they might mean is - Claim for any medical fees beyond $XXX and the rest is on your own.

"You should be able to enjoy a 5-day work week"
What they might mean is - Even if you have to come back on weekends to finish up your work you will do that without complaints.

"Rest assured we will understand that you're studying night courses"
What they might mean is - Just make sure you finish your stuff before you leave, even if it means staying until 9pm and your class is from 7-9pm.

"Do you have any medical history?"
What they might mean is - If you're not healthy enough to slog for us then.. next!

"What is your expected salary range?"
What they might mean is - You had better not be too greedy or.. next! [again; fine I shall not use this line anymore]

"We would take your offer into consideration"
What they might mean is - You just sit in one corner and freeze your butt off waiting for our reply.


And of course.. this one had the deepest impression on me!

"Salary is negotiable"
What they mean is - The lower the better.

Disclaimer: Comments are not to be generalised.

Singapore Dance Theatre's production titled "The Little Mermaid" on 10th July. Absolutely Lovely. Sigh~

Deviant Desire

Ever wished you were different from the rest? The ability to "stand out" from the crowd with some unique characteristic that would differentiate you from the normal, average person who walks on the street and no one would give a second glance nor turn their heads to look after passing by?

Some people labelled these subjects [those who seek attention] as "attention whores" which of course we have heard this term raised fairly often from a well-known local blogger. Other terms that might have been coined are terms like "exhibitionist" and "show-off".

Exhibitionist - ex·hi·bi·tion·ism
1. The act or practice of deliberately behaving so as to attract attention.
2. Psychiatry. A psychosexual disorder marked by the compulsive exposure of the genitals in public.

Oh dear, I never realised there're actually sexual innuendos attached to the meaning of the word. Words indeed are sharper than a double-edged sword at times.

Well then, what gives rise to this compulsive behaviour? The desire to attract attention that is; not the psychosexual disorder.

The most common explanation given is perhaps that the personality of the intended subject had been deprived of the needed attention at a very early stage[usually assumed from childhood]. It would sound logical enough because it is often widely acknowledged that we covet what we do not possess just that it varies in intensity as according to specfic individuals.

I would not like to call it so much as personality driven but rather the amount of education and self-reflection that the individual has been exposed to. For example, the category of education need not necessarily refer to academic texts but they can stem from life's education as well. If you had been educated in the ways of the street it is possible that you would be very clear about certain consequences when you perform certain actions. The upcoming Reality TV show "The Apprentice" has advertised in its second season that they will pit the "Street Smart" versus the "Text Smart" thus I am inclined to believe they're testing the potential of these two extreme forms of education.

Now then, back to the possible reasons for wanting attention.

I titled this post "Deviant Desire" simply because I hold the belief that people who wanted attention is simply because they wanted to be different. What about the logic that they were deprived of attention since they were young? Simple, because they did not stand out from the rest of the siblings [under the assumption that it's a very large family]. For nuclear families especially the case of a single child it could possibly mean that the parents could not regard the child as a different state of required attention in comparison to the other priorities they might have in their lives; meaning to say that the parents could not differentiate the need to pay attention to their child any different from the need to pay attention to their work or hobbies or other priorities they would have.

Therefore their subconciousness tells them in order to get attention from your intended target, you must be different from the rest of the priorities that surround the intended subject's life. Thus the desire to deviate is born. This theory might actually provide some insight as to why some children choose to take the path of self-destruction - because they believe it makes them very different from the kids who simply go to school, eat from the school canteen, take classes then go home. The desire to deviate - skip classes, aneroxia and violent behaviour - reaches new levels of intensity and unfortunately the juvenile deliquent is born.

Can this desire be inborn? Meaning there are scenarios where rich kids with good grades in school and loving parents still deviate? Yes it is possible which in this case they could be suffering from "expected development" from peers and family members alike. Parents shower love and concern on the child expecting the child to shine, peers envy the loved child's background and likewise expects the child to shine as well. The child is thus led to believe they can only choose this path and the subconciousness might actually instigate the child to believe that if they develop as according to "plan" they would never possess anything "special" or "unique" that they can call their own. So they deviate.

Does this provide any alternate insight into the increasing number of cases of juvenile deliquency? I hope so. On a twisted perception, the continual emphasis on "creativity" might actually have an indirect influence as well because by nature, you have "deviate" from the norm before u can create. To create is to be original and to be original you have to be different from the rest.

It would appear then the current younger generation is pretty obedient in an ironic sense.




This is my state of exhibitionism that any restaurant who takes in our dance group for sushi buffet must be prepared for heavy losses. Oh by the way, that was not the full amount. Most of us were worried it might topple.




Joke of the Day!

Son : Dad, I have to do a special report for school. Can I ask you a question?

Father: Sure son, what's the question?


Son : What is politics?

Father: Well, let's take our home for example, I am the wage earner, so let's call me the management. Your mother is the administrator of the money, so we'll call her government. We take care of your needs, so let's call you the people. We'll call the maid the working class and your baby brother we will call the future. Do you understand?


Son: I'm not really sure, dad. I'll have to think about it.


That night, awakened by his baby brother's crying, the boy went to see what was wrong. Discovering the baby had seriously soiled his diaper, the boy went to his parents' room and found his mother sound asleep. He then went to the maid's room where, peeking through the key hole, he saw his father in bed with the maid. The boy's knocking went totally unheard by his father & the maid, so the boy returned to his room and went back to bed.


The next morning -

Son : Dad, now I think I understand politics.

Father: That's great son, explain it to me in your own words.


Son : Well Dad, while management is screwing the working class the government is sound asleep. The people are being completely ignored & the future is full of shit.

School Scenery

Stumbled upon these forum threads when I was looking for online tips on how to appeal for my friend's renouncement of PR status. Well I'm not exactly familiar with his exact case details because I was informed of his predicament by his girlfriend.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was initially interested about the heated exchanges concerning the Foreign Talents [FT], Foreign Workers [FW] and the Permanent Residents [PR] and their possible benefits and work status in Singapore.

The titled links are as follows ~

Sg PR. Not happy here? Give-up PR loh!

Applications for NDP Parade available to PRs

However the discussion rapidly degenerated into varying areas like NUS Hostel seniors playing mind games with naive and nubile young maidens so as to transform them into sex toys, DSTA engineering the singapore population for the future and all the different genetic terms and explanations for inbreeding.

I'm stumped for words. However, you can read the thread for some mud slinging humour if you like. *shrugs*

After reading Anna's post on annoying things at work I've decided to categorise some people I have seen in my years of studying as well.


The Shrieker - She shrieks at the sight of a cockroach crawling approximately 10 metres away from her, she shrieks at a lizard which happened to run across her path, she shrieks at the fly which flew past her shoulder and she shrieks when some of us run across the road and she can't because she's afraid the cars will bang her despite the 100m difference.

The Slumberer - He sleeps in lectures, he sleeps in class. He sleeps while studying at Macdonalds and he'll probably doze off right in front of you while you're talking to him. The bed is his shrine and the pillow his stature of worship.

The Impressionist - She comes into school with the latest trends [think wearing wristbands without the slightest idea what they stand for], bitches loudly about poorly-dressed individuals and stops by a mirror [even though its a toilet mirror where the door happened to be opened wide] and starts to adjust her clothes, tug at the sleeves and turns left and right examining the different angles.

The Arnold - He walks with an air of natural superiority due to his bulging muscles and skin-fitting T-shirt because of those oversized cup-shaped things he calls "chest" & upon the slightest request he strikes a natural pose, flashes those big gums, teeth and lips and suddenly the air around your surroundings drops by at least 20 degrees celsius or more.

The Eminem - He's fair, thin and is always seen spotting a cap with the occasional over-sized cup things [pun intended] on his ears which he calls headphones blaring with the latest hiphop tracks. He walks around with a slight bop and swings the hand-sign for the thumb, first and last finger extended with the middle and ring finger closed [the sign for hiphoppers] and goes "Yo! Wats up dawg!" which I swear he makes my nerves get absolutely taut till the point I could wring his neck, strip his skin and leave him hanging on a limb. Hmm.. dat actually rhymes...

The Chocolate - He's rich, he can be nutty at times and he always thinks he can bring women lots of pleasure and sin at the same time. Often spotted to be hanging around female companionship and would usually be accompanied by a car. He loves to club and thinks nothing of offering to give a girl a lift from Jurong when he stays in Pasir Ris yet comes up with the most pathetic excuse for a lift to the nearest MRT which is, incidentally, along the way of some girl he happens to sending home from school.

And yes, yours truly - The rambling author who solemnly decides that all these blogging is affecting his rate of data entry and decides to fully go back to concentrating on finishing his work. Signing off.

Daniel Powter

Muscles aching from continous training for an upcoming modern dance competition on 24th July, chereography's almost complete but the stretching and physical conditioning is getting tiring because the main focus of this chereography is "Long Movements" so our muscles need to be as soft and flexible as possible in order to maximise the visual effects of the chereography.

I swear I'm beginning to walk with legs slightly open. *Groans*

Daniel Powter's "Bad Day" had been stuck in my head with its infectious radio-friendly melody.

Where is the moment we needed the most
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost
They tell me your blue skies fade to grey
They tell me your passion's gone away
And I don't need no carryin' on

You stand in the line just to hit a new low
You're faking a smile with the coffee to go
You tell me your life's been way off line
You're falling to pieces everytime
And I don't need no carryin' on

Chorus ~
Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day
You had a bad day

Well you need a blue sky holiday
The point is they laugh at what you say
And I don't need no carryin' on

Chorus

(Oh.. Holiday..)

Sometimes the system goes on the brink
And the whole thing turns out wrong
You might not make it back and you know
That you could be well oh that strong
And I'm not wrong

So where is the passion when you need it the most
Oh you and I
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost

Chorus

Had a bad day (x5) to fade..


Note: Reading through a some threads on this forum called Young PAP on foreign talents [FT] ,foreign workers [FW] and Permanent Residents [PR]. More updating soon.

What Women Want

Got this email from an online friend and decided to share it with you all, it's basically a humourous jab at ladies whose expectations varies as according to their respective age categories -

At Age 16
Must be Good Looking
Must own a Car
Must be tall
Must think that I'm very important to him
Must call or sms me at least once a day


At Age 20
Pleasant looking
Charming
Intelligent
Athletic
Financially Successful
Sweet and Understanding
Dresses in style
Cannot be bald
Pays for my purchases
Appreciates the good things in life
Full of surprises
An imaginative lover


At Age 30
Decent and preferably with hair
Opens the car door for me
Holds the chair when I sit
Can dine at a fancy restaurant every month
Laughs at my jokes
Carries my shopping bags
Appreciates home cooking
Remembers birthdays and anniversaries
Wants to make love at least once a week
[Oo.. parental guidance advised. LOL, jus kiddin]


At Age 40
Not too ugly, can be slightly bald
Has a stable job
Takes me out for dinner occasionally
At least nods his head when I speak
Able to use shirt to cover his stomach
Remembers to put down the toilet seat
Remembers to shave
Wants to make love at least once a month


Age 50
Trims his nose hair
Does not burp in public
Has sufficient savings to live normal life
Does not repeat same joke over and over again
Wears matching socks and changes underwear
Appreciates a good TV dinner
Shaves every now and then


At Age 60
Remembers where the toilet is
Not too expensive to maintain
[meaning relatively healthy I guess..?]
Must not snore too loudly
Must remember why he's laughing
Healthy enough to stand by himself
Must remember where he left his spectacles


And presenting our all time favorite granny!!

At Age 70
Must be able to breathe normally
Must hit the toilet seat when he pisses
Must be able to recognise my face
Must be able to remember my name

Disclaimer: The above reference is purely fictious and does not address any particular person or celebrity, if found to possess similar characteristics is purely a matter of coincidence.

Enjoy my friends. *winks*