A Better Title

I went to watch the Complaints Choir of Singapore with Theresia on Sunday. Actually we asked Benny and sylv along, but too bad they weren’t free.

It was lucky that we got *ahem* invited (to quote from chillycraps) to the performance, since all public performances were cancelled as the police claimed that foreigners should not meddle in Singapore’s politics.

That means that the foreign members cannot sing if they want to perform for public, which was impossible since many of the members are foreigners and even the conductor himself is a Malaysian. The choir had to resort to performing at The Arts House by invite only for “friends” of the choir.

The choir itself was really good. It was funny and I could relate to most parts of the lyrics (read more to see). Maybe I’ve been staying in Singapore for too long. As you might be able to read in the lyrics too, there are not much mention about Singapore politics, mostly just complaints about daily life in Singapore.

When we were there, they even added a complaint on the banning of the public performance of the complaints choir. Talk about self-reference.

My only complaint (!) is that they sang a bit too fast, presumably because this is Singapore where everyone speaks really fast.

Also read mintea’s, chillycraps’s, rinaz’s and Nicole’s blog posts on the Complaints Choir of Singapore. They went a day earlier, which left me kicking myself for not joining them.

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For me, walking down Orchard Road is like walking down memory lane. After all, I’ve spent quite a lot of time in Orchard Road, considering the fact that the first residence I had in Singapore was only an MRT stop away, the second residence had a direct bus, and I did spend 6 months shuttling back and forth between Boon Lay and Orchard on weekdays when I was an intern at Autodesk.

After collecting my phone at the Sony Ericsson service centre (the dumb phone likes to perform a magic trick by switching off at random), I had the Scissors Cut Curry Rice at Wisma Atria’s Food Republic, which was one of my favourite food when I was still working as an intern. Then I took a slow walk inside Takashimaya with the intention of looking for Christmas presents. I haven’t really decided on what I’m gonna buy though. In the end, I spent a lot of time in Kinokuniya, thinking of picking up cooking or baking or handicrafts, just for the fun of it (or more).

The walk also reminded me that at one point of time I was exactly in the same situation, taking a slow walk from store to store in the shopping centre. The only difference was that I was single, and my only intention then was to window shop. Not that taking a walk while being attached (heh, this sentence sounds a little like a dog on a leash, but you get what I mean, don’t you?) is not nice or anything, but the feeling is just different.

I then took a nice slow stroll down half of Orchard from Ngee Ann City to Somerset, something that I have been longing to do for a long, long time. The cold, wet walkways after the rain, Christmas carols in the air, and the Christmas light-up hanging overhead set the perfect, peaceful mood for Christmas. And I must say that this year’s Christmas light-up was quite nicely done.

I witnessed a small accident when an MPV hit the back of a cab. It wasn’t so serious as I’m not sure what happened afterwards though as I wasn’t too kaypoh to actually stand and watch.

Got any necessary “chokage” meh? What’s a “chokage” BTW?