Saturday, January 10, 2004
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to Benson
Happy Birthday to you
Zhu Ni Sheng Ri Kuai Le! (4x)
Gong Hei Lei! (2x)
Today is The Chancellor’s Big Day, so us Pipilanders celebrate this festive occasion with a picnic at the beach. Dawn whipped up the food, while the rest brought drinks and bread and the picnic mat. The Turtle baked the cake herself – pandan chiffon (her favourite green colour). Of course there were no candles, but the birthday boy just cut the cake with one of Dawn’s pink knives (what a kaleidoscope of colours).
Halfway this guy called Nick (short for Nicholas) came along and offered us to make dedications in front of the camera for MTV Asia. Dawn, Khan and Yuanxin were excited about the prospect, but the rest of us – Chancellor, Duchess, Bee and I – were camera-shy people who got cajoled into appearing for the show. The four of us conspired to stand at the back and make a dash for it if when a chance presented itself. For me… I would only appear on Arts Central or perhaps one of BBC’s arts programme, but MTV: no way. A classical musician should know how to behave himself and only be seen on an appropriate media channel.
The MTV crew was filming at McDonald’s at East Coast Park; the three girls sat at the table nearer to the camera, while the rest of us took the table at the back. One of the ladies in charge said, “Only three people can be shot by the camera at one time, so the rest…” obviously beckoning to us “…perhaps would like to wait outside, because we will be filming outside as well…” What she really meant, to us, was: “Okay, this is your chance to escape! Run!” To confirm that we were not going on air, I quibbled, “Oh, don’t bother carrying your cameras outside… they’re too heavy…” and we dashed out, only to be given a dirty look by Nick. Thank heavens we were not going on the goggle box!
Sometimes one will get a good turn, and we did. One of the Chancellor’s seniors was doing a survey for Bossini about casual wear: the enticing part was a voucher of $20 for doing the survey. Of course we did it enthusiastically, to the extent of circling whatsoever convenient option on the paper for the sake of the voucher. Damn! I should have waited for this moment before buying my white polo t-shirt for my job at John Little!
Time to cut the cake. The cake was a pandan chiffon, personally made by the Duchess. Of course, green is her favourite colour – pandan is green. No candles, but we just cut the cake, so after all we adhere to the customary birthday ceremony.
Dawn gives the Chancellor a huge sports bag, for his use in National Service. I give him a CD of Wagner’s music, played by, of all ensembles, the great Berliner Philharmoniker. I apologise that I cannot remember what the others gave, because I am writing this a great length of time after the event.
In the late afternoon we go to play pool. Ever since I played the game for the first time in four years during the Ruan outing last Saturday, I have been hooked on it. Just think, the sensation of the cue sliding between the thumb and second finger! Hearing the whack of the balls is just pure adrenalin. It is ecstasy when the ball drops into the hole! Argh, I just want to play it again! It is the BEAUTIFUL GAME!
The Chancellor and I are the most ardent players. I have lots of freebies from the Chancellor, who keeps fouling and allowing me to have a free ball, which I gladly use to win goals. There were some miracle performances: once an orange ball rebounded so hard that it slid along the top of the edge of the table and carted off one of the edges onto the floor. Or the white ball would do a flying tackle and instead bounce off the table. It is the first time that Bee plays pool, and she gets the hang of it pretty well. She’s scored some incredible goals.
I think we played about five rounds, shooting past the time I’m supposed to arrive at Wilfred’s house to rehearse with him for a mini performance for his class. Anyway, I quickly jump onto a taxi, carrying the titbits and drinks that we didn’t open, and in my mind, the excuse I was to give, thanks to the Pipilanders.
Anyway my bike is chained to a fence outside the Parkway Builder’s Centre. I have to go back there to retrieve it at night. ¶ 1/10/2004 10:34:00 pm
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to Benson
Happy Birthday to you
Zhu Ni Sheng Ri Kuai Le! (4x)
Gong Hei Lei! (2x)
Today is The Chancellor’s Big Day, so us Pipilanders celebrate this festive occasion with a picnic at the beach. Dawn whipped up the food, while the rest brought drinks and bread and the picnic mat. The Turtle baked the cake herself – pandan chiffon (her favourite green colour). Of course there were no candles, but the birthday boy just cut the cake with one of Dawn’s pink knives (what a kaleidoscope of colours).
Halfway this guy called Nick (short for Nicholas) came along and offered us to make dedications in front of the camera for MTV Asia. Dawn, Khan and Yuanxin were excited about the prospect, but the rest of us – Chancellor, Duchess, Bee and I – were camera-shy people who got cajoled into appearing for the show. The four of us conspired to stand at the back and make a dash for it if when a chance presented itself. For me… I would only appear on Arts Central or perhaps one of BBC’s arts programme, but MTV: no way. A classical musician should know how to behave himself and only be seen on an appropriate media channel.
The MTV crew was filming at McDonald’s at East Coast Park; the three girls sat at the table nearer to the camera, while the rest of us took the table at the back. One of the ladies in charge said, “Only three people can be shot by the camera at one time, so the rest…” obviously beckoning to us “…perhaps would like to wait outside, because we will be filming outside as well…” What she really meant, to us, was: “Okay, this is your chance to escape! Run!” To confirm that we were not going on air, I quibbled, “Oh, don’t bother carrying your cameras outside… they’re too heavy…” and we dashed out, only to be given a dirty look by Nick. Thank heavens we were not going on the goggle box!
Sometimes one will get a good turn, and we did. One of the Chancellor’s seniors was doing a survey for Bossini about casual wear: the enticing part was a voucher of $20 for doing the survey. Of course we did it enthusiastically, to the extent of circling whatsoever convenient option on the paper for the sake of the voucher. Damn! I should have waited for this moment before buying my white polo t-shirt for my job at John Little!
Time to cut the cake. The cake was a pandan chiffon, personally made by the Duchess. Of course, green is her favourite colour – pandan is green. No candles, but we just cut the cake, so after all we adhere to the customary birthday ceremony.
Dawn gives the Chancellor a huge sports bag, for his use in National Service. I give him a CD of Wagner’s music, played by, of all ensembles, the great Berliner Philharmoniker. I apologise that I cannot remember what the others gave, because I am writing this a great length of time after the event.
In the late afternoon we go to play pool. Ever since I played the game for the first time in four years during the Ruan outing last Saturday, I have been hooked on it. Just think, the sensation of the cue sliding between the thumb and second finger! Hearing the whack of the balls is just pure adrenalin. It is ecstasy when the ball drops into the hole! Argh, I just want to play it again! It is the BEAUTIFUL GAME!
The Chancellor and I are the most ardent players. I have lots of freebies from the Chancellor, who keeps fouling and allowing me to have a free ball, which I gladly use to win goals. There were some miracle performances: once an orange ball rebounded so hard that it slid along the top of the edge of the table and carted off one of the edges onto the floor. Or the white ball would do a flying tackle and instead bounce off the table. It is the first time that Bee plays pool, and she gets the hang of it pretty well. She’s scored some incredible goals.
I think we played about five rounds, shooting past the time I’m supposed to arrive at Wilfred’s house to rehearse with him for a mini performance for his class. Anyway, I quickly jump onto a taxi, carrying the titbits and drinks that we didn’t open, and in my mind, the excuse I was to give, thanks to the Pipilanders.
Anyway my bike is chained to a fence outside the Parkway Builder’s Centre. I have to go back there to retrieve it at night. ¶ 1/10/2004 10:34:00 pm
