national day

national day holiday...
i didn't go anywhere the entire day,
apart from buying the newspapers
and some bananas (haha i love bananas, they are cheap n good you know!)
from the stores near my home in the morning.

and i've heeded my own advice-
to do the important and non-urgent things (Priority 2 things -refer to my july 29th post below) when i can.
so i've started writing the qualitative remarks for my sec 1 classes.
have done nos. 1-15 of 108 already.

things to do over the next few days....
1) mark the sec 1 sia scenario writings
2) mark the sec 4 prc scholars' srq writings
3) continue writing the qualitative remarks for 108 and 107
4) do the unseen prose revision lesson plans
5) be at the gala dinner music rehearsal from noon at raffles city on saturday

i had the luxury to practise the piano for 1.5 hours today.
1.5 hours' not too bad and i'm quite pleased with myself.
it's difficult to put in that amount of time during school days.
i'm practising for a concert i'm playing with some friends in october.
the piano part for mendelssohn's piano trio is not easy...
i must really practise hard
so we can resume rehearsals soon.
well...will talk more about the concert next time.

i watched the ndp telecast on tv just now.
i've attended 2 live ndps,
once when i was very young (the details i can't recall at all)
and the 2nd time in either 1998 or 1999.

this kind of event is supposed to instill
a sense of patriotism in the citizens.
and it's very effective i should say -
seeing the impressive-looking military fleet marching past,
the beautiful formations executed by the fighter planes,
the heroics of the marine and air divers and so on.
this is what they call psychological defence (re - NE)
and to cap it with the singing of the rousing national day songs,
i bet many would gladly sacrifice themselves for their beloved country after this!

anyway, the 1st part of the parade,
with the various military displays,
was rather spectacular.
added on to that
was the scenic watery surroundings
and the beautiful Shenton Way skyline.

this year's ndp was rather artistic
and highly representative in nature.

they had 3 roller bladers dressed like characters from 'transformers'
and they spouted 'mythical' lines
about mother nature, water, the earth etc

there were also
people dancing with strange spiky things protruding from their backs;
a male singer with highlighted hair, all dressed in white,
emerging from an all-white car to sing a national day song;
and even the new song was delivered in an operatic version first
before they tried a more contemporary style.

not surprising as the creative director, goh boon teck
is one of singapore's most promising young theatre directors.

anyway, kudos to the organizers for the great effort put in.
the nation enjoyed the solid military display,
the rousing fireworks (especially spectacular this year),
the singing of the familiar old favourites like
'stand up for singapore' and
'count on me singapore'
at the beautiful marina bayfront.

happy 42nd bday, singapore!