firstly, i shall focus on the show itself. i know i've been commenting (or rather, complaining) alot about my involvement as a traffic marshaller. the long hours, the blazing sun, the rude commuters...but i digress yet again. i would like to say that i really enjoyed the parade this year. i found it refreshing, exciting, dripping with youthful exuberance, yet faithful to the traditions and heritage of Singapore. i did indeed feel an unexplainable sense of pride seeing the 27000-strong audience waving their flags, and seeing the contingent marching in. i like that they really thought of the audience this time, moving the stage nearer to the stands and coming up with the anti-terror drills. it was different and definitely an excellent show staged. whilst many of the previous NDPs went to town with massive pyrotechnic displays, elaborate displays, they never really seemed to touch a chord with the audience. i must admit i did feel that there was something different, something heartrending in this year's parade. perhaps it was the Pledge Moment, perhaps it was the video of the boy who wanted to grow up to be the President, or the musings of the residents of Singapore's last kampung about how much the country has changed, or the pole dancers, or the thousands of heart-shaped lights forming a glittering mosaic on the floating platform. it was indeed a special day for all Singaporeans i suppose...

now that national day is over, army life will return more or less to normalcy. normalcy in the army does not necessarily imply a good thing. normalcy can mean mundaneness, inaneness, idiocy, and the like. however it may also imply stability, structure and safety. it's hard to tell.

i've been enjoying myself the past few days. on saturday, i attended tracy's wedding. it was a beautiful affair, a buffet dinner by the poolside. the atmosphere was buzzing, the theme and decor was indian cum national day and the guests were plentiful and happy. it was a wedding quite unlike any other that i've attended. for a start, instead of abalone and shark's fin, we had masala, dhaal and sambal fish. it was great, great spicy indian cooking. i thoroughly loved it. then, there were no lame blindfold games where the bride had to guess who her husband was by touching the leg hair of the four or five men unlucky enough to have to show their naked legs to the whole room, instead, there were two speeches, by the brothers of the bride and groom, talking about how they were going to miss their siblings and giving them their best wishes for the future. Derek made a great speech, it was emotional, but sincere, and he nearly stole the show i suppose. what made it even more special was the dancefloor at the end of the dinner. there was bhangra music blasting and lots of enthusiatic indian people in colourful saris and suits dancing away to the thumping and infectious bollywood music. it was utterly interesting to watch. i suppose i went away with a greater understanding and appreciation of indian culture. maybe, with all this talk of racial harmony going around, getting youth to attend weddings of other races may actually make them more appreciative of other ethnic cultures.

i went out with the RJ people yesterday. we went to this restaurant with quaint french decor and cute waitresses with japanese accents. it was quite an interesting fusion concept. the place was Ma Maison, in Bugis Junction. i had this steak set, and it was one of the best steaks i've eaten in quite a long time. it was tender, but more importantly, it was flavourful. the sauce was savoury and i really enjoyed the potatoes that accompanied the steak, they were crispy and extremely delicious. it also came with a choice of rice or bread. i had rice, and it was fluffy japanese rice that was served, which went well with the beef, so it was quite a nice lunch. also, i got to catch up with some of my RJ friends, some of whom i probably haven't seen since A Level results day. or mayble later, i can't remember. but at least i got to see them and get to know how everyone is doing. afterwards we went to visit Yvonne at Raffles Hospital. she was down with pneumonia, but is on the upswing and she'll be fine soon i guess.

after Bugis, i rushed down to sengkang to what i thought was a life group outing, but almost the whole Livewire turned up, and it was a pleasant surprise. i realised that it'd been quite awhile since i hung out together with them like this. it was nice to see so many people turning up for the outing, and we flew kites, played soccer, frisbee and captain's ball in this huge field in sengkang. the kite-flying was an epic failure though, as we didn't manage to get our kites flying. but i think the most important thing was that everyone was having fun and we got to hang out together on a holiday. so it was quite good.

here are some of the photos:

see the moon and the stars,
look how far we have come.
look around at our faces
they shine brightly in the sun
with our hopes and dreams
imagine what tomorrow it may bring
what do you see?