Happenings in July - Shaolin + Birthday

Friday 22/7/16

Began my weekend watching a spectacular SHAOLIN show at MasterCard Theatres, It has been a very long time since I last went to MasterCard Theatres for a show. I was elated to be back here, thanks Luxe Society for the tickets.

Feeling excited for the show.

Brought Jasmine along with me for the show. 

Shaolin Kung Fu is a traditional Chinese martial arts, developed by Shaolin temple in Henan.

Now, we got to witness the the ultimate traditional Shaolin Kung Fu in the display of theatre and physical prowess. 

Started from the Shaolin temple in the foothill of the Song Shang mountain range in the China's Henan province, the 20 member cast performed incredible "superhuman" feats, making an exciting return to demonstrate the authentic martial art expertise.

The show combined traditional Shaolin Kung Fu choreography with dramatic lighting and sound, bringing the traditional performance to a whole new level.

Some of the performance got us amazed, especially the use of knife, sword, spar and bricks, demonstrating their qi gong.

Personally I think there is still room for improvement for the storyline. I couldn't understand the whole story or couldn't see the link between the story and the performance. But I do enjoy the martial arts performance.

Saturday 30/7/16

Gosh, I am another year older and hopefully I am also another year wiser. Can't believe time passed so fast and I'm going to hit my big 3 very soon. Hopefully I will have some achievements by then.

This was how I spent my day:

姑姑 dropped by my house the day before and got me some cakes from Bengawan Solo. Thanks for the sweet gesture, 姑姑 always shower me with lots of love ♥

I ate the fruit cake before I headed out to meet my girls.

Met up with the girls at 3.30pm to spend our afternoon at The 50 Cents Fest. The fest was held at Chinatown Food Street starting from 3pm onwards. We thought we were early but many people were even earlier than us and long snake queues were forming at every stalls. 50 cents food clearly attracted many here. 

The 50 Cents Fest transported us back to 1950/60s of Singapore's street hawker scene.

Why 50 cents for the dish?

This is because back in the olden days, the value of a 50 cent coin was enough for a sumptuous meal, the endearing phrase “50 cents is bigger than a bull cart wheel” will ring true at The 50 Cents Fest.

We decided to try rickshaw noodles as the queue was the fastest.

Rickshaw noodle was one of the staple food you can find back in the olden days of Singapore. It was a popular food choice of rickshaw pullers.

It consists of yellow noodles, vegetables and minced meat, they were cooked in a big pot. 

We have a bowl of cheng teng too, I must say the ingredients given were generous.

Reminisce the old good times with old good friends - Jas and GF.

Over the last 4-5 years, we built up our friendship and still stay strong even when our friendship were put to test.

Thanks Jas for the group photos.

Eve though Ryden didn't join us today, he has specially prepared egg mayo for us to eat. He personally prepared the mayo sauce and eggs. That's so nice of him.

Kelvin and GF brought us to Geylang lorong 32 for ban bian.

This place is famous for their ban bian and indeed the best ban bian that I ever eat. I like the soup base very much. Decided to try the dry ban bian since I have never try before.

After the dinner, we headed over to Jas's new home for a cosy movie night gathering.

Knowing that it was my birthday, Jas went to buy me a mango cake and have a mini celebration at her home. My friends are so sweet (:

Thanks girls for making your time for me.

I don't need a big celebration, I prefer it to be a small and cosy one.

That concluded our day, thanks Jas for hosting us.

National Day Parade: NDP 2016 Preview

So happy to score a pair of tickets to this year NDP preview. 

Though it is not the actual NDP, but I am equally contented to have a chance to watch the preview.

2016 marked the first year of NDP's return to our new National Stadium located at the Sports Hub. With a seating capacity of 55,000, the venue can house more NDP enthusiasts for them to enjoy the live atmosphere.

Though it is not the actual parade, we were encouraged to dress in red or white.

I wore my only red top out with me.

I need to add more colours of clothes to my wardrobe.

Wishing Singapore an advance 51st birthday.

I love my nation and I'm always so proud of her and proud to be a Singaporean.

While waiting for the segment to start, Linda and I were chatting away.

Due to our individual commitments, we haven't been catching up with one another for a long time.

Here came the arrival of Minister of States.......

People were still waving their flags enthusiastically 

We immersed ourselves into the sea of red and white.

Raising our flag and let it fly high.

Police motorcars were patrolling around the National Stadium.

Being in the indoor National Stadium, we were missing out on various outdoor segments such as the Red Lions, air craft performance and helicopter fly past. 

With the military band marching out, the Parade and Ceremony will begin soon.

The troops of contingents were taking their places and marching into the Parade in a orderly manner.

The contingents on parade represents the five pillars of Total Defence that underpin the resolve to ensure a sovereign and secure Singapore.

We were seated in the yellow sector of the National Stadium and were facing the back view of the Parade. Hence, we couldn't catch a glimpse of the Guard of Honour contingents.

When singing the National Anthem, instead of the usual National Flag fly past carried by the helicopter, the National Flags were carried by the volunteers up the steps with the spectators passing the flag backwards.

The crowds were waving their flags to the acting President when the vehicle passed by their areas.

The Parade and Ceremony has ended and there was a special segments by the marching contingents.

The contingents performing an onward march, where marching contingents come up close to the audience.

And the PAP group will be marching up our lane.

We were waving our flags at them when they marched past.

With the Parade and Ceremony ended, it's time for performance. 

This year performance used all the high technology LED, lasers and light.

Instead of the usual lightstick that was given in the fun pack, this year we were given a LED wrist-tag which will automatically changed its colours according to the different performance colours.

The legend of Badang and the discovery of Singapore Stone.

We celebrated our rich heritage through the story of Badang, who represents the strength and resilience of our nation in the face of hardships and challenges.

Singapore is an unicorn that has its own character and spirit that inspires dreams and hopes.

We were all captivated by the unicorn that were flying up high.

Prior to the start of the show, we learnt song signing of the familiar NDP songs like 'Count on me, Singapore' and 'Home' from the volunteers.

And now we did song signing together with the special needs participants. It's really meaningful and showing that we care for one another.

The programme ended off with an outdoor and indoor fireworks.

For the outdoor fireworks, we could view it from the small opening space of the National Stadium.

I like the theme song this year, it's quite catchy:

Dream away

Take the world by the hand

Cause Tomorrow's Here Today

Dream away

Come let's go right away

Cause Tomorrow's Here Today

Thank the organising committee and all the participants for putting up such a wonderful performance. You guys did well and hang on there, National Day is coming soon.

Launch of Paradigm Premium Wireless Speaker Series

Paradigm has been an international leader in speaker design as well as leading edge of speaker technology, achieving the ultimate in sound for music and home theater.

Paradigm has just introduced the premium wireless speaker series in Singapore.

Having the convenience of wireless speaker, it does not sacrifice the performance.

It combines DTS Play-Fi wireless streaming technology that allows us to experience the freedom of wireless audio streaming with bold, dynamic performance.

At the launch, we experienced the high resolution audio through the demonstration of the different models of wireless speaker.

The sound output was really clear and perfect, so amazing. Technology really does wonder.

Paradigm's Premium Wireless Series products provide listeners the freedom and flexibility to stream their high-resolution music wirelessly over an existing Wi-Fi network to any number of connected speakers that use DTS Play-Fi technology once paired with the Play-Fi App.

User can use the Paradigm PW AMP to instantly stream high resolution audio to existing traditional speakers or in-wall speakers. 

We can now access personal digital audio libraries from anywhere in our home with the touch of a screen. Take advantage of endless choices from online music streaming services from any device, Android or iOS mobile or PC.

Premium Wireless Series product performance is enhanced by Paradigm's exclusive Anthem Room Correction (ARC) technology. 

With this technology, it can optimise speaker performance in any room very quickly and easily, adjusting the speaker's output for perfect sound.

The series received Premium Award-Winning sound by the top audio magazines and audio professionals worldwide.

Paradigm's Premium Wireless Series products can be easily incorporated into existing control systems with the help of Fusion Research's Ovation Play-Fi server.

Fully powered stereo speaker with built-in Anthem Class-D amplifier that streams lossless audio wirelessly over standard Wi-Fi networks. The 3 models of Premium Wireless Series are:

Premium Wireless 800 Stereo Speaker

Premium Wireless 600 Compact Stereo Speaker

Premium Wireless AMP 2-Channel Amplifier

Besides the wireless speakers, the launch also featured the next generation of award-winning high-end A/V receivers from Anthem Electronics. 

The latest MRX A/V new features and improvements includes supporting the latest UHD video formats, immersing audio decoding and providing new standard in high-end home theater receivers.

We have a cosy audio experience at Fullerton Suite @ Fullerton Hotel.

The trio.

Great to have them with me at the launch. So happy to see them again, we have so much things to catch up on.

A OOTD shoot at the hotel lobby to end off the post.

For more information about Paradigm Premium Wireless Series, please visit http://www.paradigm.com/wireless/