DOTS (Descendants Of The Sun)

the craze that is happening right now. and believe it or not, i actually have gone with the craze, together with darling. 

it all started 2 weeks ago, when we are lazing at home on a sunday morning, and darling happened to tune into the KBS channel. and it so happened that the channel was showing episode 1 of DOTS. and she found the drama quite interesting, and she asked me to watch together with her. so we watched together, and so happened that the channel is showing a DOTS marathon of episode 1 to 6! and ta da, we are hooked already. 

DOTS is broadcasted on KBS channel (Starhub Channel 815) on every wed and thur, 850 pm to 10 pm. 

and this is one of the soundtracks that i really like! 



this is the link to the official MV, which the user has disabled the embedding function: 
https://youtu.be/SdHQkkRc-hc

saturday post

just now darling and i hosted xuehong, nzj, laval + family, tuan (xuehong and nzj new house mate) and meizheng for dinner at our house. 

we prepared our signature dishes (actually it's the only dishes that we are proficient enough to cook): codfish soup, kimchi salmon, salmon with mustard and portobello mushrooms. we also got ready our air fryer, and we put it into good use, air frying chicken balls, seaweed chicken and spam fries! spam fries were really good, and super addictive. once you start, you cant stop. thank you xuehong for bringing the luncheon meat and cutting the meat into strips. 

it's great to see everyone and catch up with everyone! thanks for the housewarming gifts! :)

Easter Day post

very thankful for the public holiday today, because i can take a break at home. last week was the march holidays and i am really glad to recharge during that week, even though i went back to the workplace almost everyday to meet up with parents who missed the Meet Parent Session on 11 mar. on 11 mar that evening, the Meet Parent Session only ended at 1030 pm. omg. the professionalism of the teachers at the workplace never fails to amaze me. i am thankful to my colleague who replaced me because i was dancing for Space. Time. Mind. 

on wednesday i received a piece of shocking news. my ex colleague, Ms Marianne Wong, passed away on tuesday. 

ms marianne wong is at the right side of the picture, wearing a pink top, purple skirt, red necklace and a black pullover. 

ms wong teaches english and food & nutrition. she is a very happy and positive teacher, who enjoys singing. she always hums in the staffroom, and she was a member of the staff welfare committee, and when we celebrate colleagues' birthdays, she will gladly hold the mic and lead all of us to sing birthday songs. 

in 2014 she left tpss to join ngee ann sec as ngee ann sec needs food & nutrition teachers. the last time i saw her was last year, when she visited tpss. she happened to also be one of the teachers in-charge for dance, and hence she knew derek seong, and told me that derek sing high praises of me. 

yesterday i went to the wake. saw my ex colleagues there. as well as my ex students. students from ngee ann sec were there too. 

rest in peace ms wong. thank you for always being so cheerful. 

thursday post

invited some of my students to my new house this afternoon. 

all the students above are from show choir. coincidentally it was simin's birthday and i got a birthday cake for her to celebrate her birthday. 

later on wenping and shengrui (both from AVA) came, followed by chunying and yanan (both from modern chinese dance). 

wenping and shengrui are both very capable students. we worked very closely together because i was in charge of all the performing arts events, and every successful performance need a strong AVA team, and i am glad to have them. i wrote an article just for the AVA students for the school newsletter because they are the unsung heroes and their contributions always went unnoticed. 

as for chunying and yanan, i guess that they need no mentioning because they are always involved in my school performances, as well as the external performance by Xin Yi Dance Troupe that was successfully held in Dec 2015. 

had a very good chit chat session with everyone. the show choir students admitted to me that they were very scared of me because i always scold them during the B2B rehearsals in 2011. and in 2012 they were all so traumatised when they know that i am going to be their teacher in-charge. hahahahaha. but as time goes by they found out that i am a very nice person and they were glad to have me as their teacher in-charge. :p

thank you everyone for coming to my new house, and thank you for the house warming gifts. :) 

sunday post

i woke up this morning at 530 am, because i am going for Urbanthlon 2016 with my pe friends. a bit worried that i am not able to complete the run because i was not feeling well. 

thank goodness i still manage to complete it! all 4 of us have been participating in Urbanthlon since 2014. i haven't been running much before this and as a result i got cramps during the run and got an even worse cramp the moment i reach the tampines home. 

right after i showered i rushed to woodlands because darling and i are officially moving in today! while i was running the 14 km and clearing the 9 obstacles, darling and her family were busy moving the stuff and preparing for the official move in. thank you everyone for the great help~ 

the moment i reach our new house, we started to pray to 土地公 and also do the stuff that my dad instructed us to do. for example open the tap and let the water flow slowly, representing 财源滚滚. bringing valuables into the house to represent 财气入门. light up joss sticks and let the smoke from the joss sticks touch each room, each ceiling, each wall and each corner. then at every room must pray to the 宅神 to let me and darling 住的平安. 

and once everything was done, we have our first meal at the new house! 

don't you love our blue wall? it is so insta-worthy. :)

it feels really surreal that we have finally moved in to our new house. 3 months passed by so fast, when we first got our keys in late dec and we started renovation in early jan. 

i really want to thank my father in-law for making all this possible. he is our main contractor for the house. :) 

The Last Performance

space. time. mind was successfully concluded yesterday. emotions start to run through my head when the curtain call music was being played. i ended my stint with nuscd on a high by sharing the same stage with the BDA dancers, and i am thankful to have seen them right in front of my own eyes. 

thank you nuscd, and farewell. 

jingkai have posted some of the pics that he took and i like to share them here. :)

the prelude item by BDA was wow to the max. the thunderous applause from the audience testifies to it. 

First Light, the item that i danced in. initially i dreaded going for practises because i just finished the performance with 新艺, and my whole body was conditioned to become a mongolian dancer by BLS. then come back to NUSCD i must condition my body again to become a 身韵 dancer by DLS. but towards the last few practises i became more familiar with the steps and also became more confident. :)

for myself the whole performance went well but there was a small 遗憾. jiemin was my partner and when i did a lift with her and place her on the floor, i think i did not support her enough when she landed and she lost her stability and tumbled awkwardly on stage. after that item i saw her in tears outside the dressing room and i felt even more guilty. sorry jiemin for ruining your peformance. :(

dun you think the snow look so pretty? i am partly responsible for it once again as the snowman that pulled the string that allowed the confetti to fall off from the boxes that are attached to the flybar. thank you to the vice-president yoke kay (who was also my dancer partner in 2015) who asked me to be the snowman. thank you bin gege for nominating me to yoke kay to be the snowman. hahahaha. 

this item was right after the snow item, and we have only 40 seconds to clear away all the confetti. seriously dunno what the management was thinking. luckily we survived the ordeal and we managed to do the impossible of clearing most of the confetti in 40 seconds. this is NUSCD unity. anyway i love this item, titled Wonder. i love the costumes and love the music. and love the dance steps. it is a very DLS dance. 

the highlight of Space. Time. Mind was The Rites of Spring 春之祭. it was a collaboration between the nuscd dancers and BDA dancers. a very abstract item and when i watched the rehearsal a few times, i still cannot understand what the item is portraying. 

to end this post, i like to thank my ADSS colleagues and students for coming down to support me. i think i finally win zhunian with the highest number of tickets (43!!!). the past few years zhunian was always the winner.  

and from now on, i shall support NUSCD by being a member of the audience. 

Space. Time. Mind

NUSCD first invited Beijing Dance Academy here to Singapore was in 2011, for our performance titled 'Efflorescence' 《百花齐放》. 

during that year the dancers were quite young. i am guessing their average age was around 20 to 23. 年轻就是本钱, and they wow-ed all of us with their skills as well as techniques. 

i was very honoured to be able to perform 黄河 with them. it was a very memorable collaboration. :)

this year a different batch of dancers from Beijing Dance Academy are here, to collaborate with NUSCD for our upcoming performance "Space. Time. Mind". this batch of dancers are definitely more senior, as they are in their late twenties, with some of them who are already parents. and one of them is the world famous 孙科, and i watched his youtube clips many years ago. 

for those who are watching Space. Time. Mind this friday, please be punctual as you will live a life of regrets if you miss their opening item. i watched it for the very first time during yesterday's vetting, and i was so amazed and so in awe. 

TPSS Fiesta

went back to the previous workplace for the signature event, TPSS Fiesta. 

this time i have the freedom to walk around all the stalls, which i do not have this luxury in the past, as i was too busy running aesthetics performances. 

first i let 5N1 washed my car for $8. then i bought fried chicken from 4E4 for $1.50. bought a can of coke for $1 from 2E3, because my show choir student from that class keep pestering me to support her stall. and then i patronise 3T1's game stall and supported them by playing their football game. 3T1 was my form class for two years, when they were in sec 1 and sec 2. 

once again i felt all the love and warmth from all the students and alumni who greeted me. 6 years at this place has built alot of bonds with both colleagues and students. i am glad i am still being remembered all this while.