Obama signs note for girl who played hooky to see him

AFP, Friday, June 12
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20090612/tts-us-politics-education-obama-offbeat-972e412.html


President Barack Obama, who has two girls, swiftly sought to help a fellow dad out of a dilemma when he discovered John Corpus had brought his daughter to see him at a public meeting in Wisconsin, instead of taking her to school.

‘I am fortunate enough to be here with my 10-year-old daughter, who is missing her last day of school for this. I hope she doesn't get in trouble,’ Corpus told the president.

‘Oh, no,’ replied Obama, all ears.

‘Yes,’ came the reply.

‘Do you need me to write a note?’ asked the president.

‘I'll take you up on that, actually, Mr. President.’

‘All right. Go ahead. I'll start writing it now,’ replied Obama. ‘What's her name?’

‘John Corpus,’ replied the startled father. ‘No, her,’ Obama corrected him.

Corpus then tried to pose his question at the town hall meeting in Green Bay, when Obama interrupted him, saying ‘No, no, I'm serious. What's your daughter's name?’

‘Her name is Kennedy,’ the bemused Corpus said. ‘Kennedy. All right. That's a cool name,’ replied Obama.

A few minutes later Kennedy made her way through the crowd to receive her note from Obama written as the president was listening to her father's question about healthcare reform.

Tips for succeeding in the music industry
From ‘Jazz – Soul Food to Go’ by Serena Tan
Thursday, 18 September 2009
http://community.jobscentral.com.sg/node/757



1. Get yourself noticed. It’s no point having talent if no one but you knows about it. You have to make yourself and your passion known to people. Everyone knows someone, and that someone could open doors for you.

2. Hang out with the pros. Be humble and open enough to learn from those who have been in the profession longer than you. They can teach you what you might never learn on your own, and their experiences could even help shorten your learning curve.

3. Develop a reputation for excellence and dependability. If you want to go far, you have to put in the hours and keep practising till you’re perfect – and then practise some more! You also need to be known as someone who can be counted on, whether it is in terms of punctuality or taking the trouble to go through the score before a recording.

4. Be open to serendipity. Whether you call it chance or a lucky break, you have to be ready to move when opportunity knocks, because if you miss it, you might have to wait a really long time before it comes by again. Worse still, it might never come again.

5. Dare to dream. Better yet, dream big dreams. “When the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count!”

One month has passed since the end of examinations and the closure of school (6 May 2009). And I have been working nearly non-stop on the following since then:


- Peranakan Ball 《娘惹之恋》
I transcribed parts for the live band from Ah Bang’s arrangements and re-arranged the show’s theme song 如燕 in a style that fitted those times (I think it was set around the early 60’s).















- Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease Prevention Song for SPOC Solutions
Composed and arranged the music and supervised the recording. The singer Clarice immediately became a child talent for the client wanted a kiddier and so we digitally manipulated her voice.



- Several Milly, Molly episodes



- Pasar Theatre
《街头看戏乐》
Re-arranged that children’s song 小小羊儿要回家 for the finale, sung by an Chinese folk song singer, a jazz singer and a Campus Superstar winner (I can think of no better English translation for it than ‘Little Lambs Want to Go Home’. Bleah.)





- Vesak! Vesak! Vesak! Concert
Arranged and music-directed the show. Best of all was the company of the people involved. I have never felt post-production blues for a long time, honest.


















- The Emperor’s New Clothes 《皇帝的新衣》
This is a revival of a production done 12 years ago. The job of the creative team – including the music, lighting, set and costume departments – is to ‘update’ the show: you know, make it less of the kind of ‘children’s show’ from the nineties.














- Re-arrangement of Chung Cheng High’s School Song as well as composition of an song commemorating my alma mater’s 70th anniversary.
I feel so honoured to be contacted by one of my former teachers – now a HOD – for this gig. Having writers’ block over the music. And it’s due next week. Uuugh.