celebrating our nation's birthday
In our country, this is how celebrations for the nation's independance goes about:
- The parade is held at a historical location where our land was first declared independant. Roads are blocked, and bus routes are changed. No thoughts were given as to where countrymen attending the ceremony were to park their vehicles, thus leading to nearby shopping centre carparks being full. Shoppers heading to the buildings then had a problem parking. (But as usual for the lazy countrymen, if you park 2 streets away, you are sure to get some empty lots since most of us can't be bothered to walk even a short distance.)
- Fireworks were released to celebrate. All is nice and grand, but never forget to give credit to your sponsors. During the voice-over, it is vital to bring up the fact that even though 3 times more fireworks are released this year, it is all thanks to the sponsors that the budget for the celebrations were still met.
- A carnival was set up at Marina South and fun activites were organised to encourage the participation of the people, but private vehicles are not allowed into the area. Please take the MRT in (and pay), or SBS bus number 400 or 400A (and pay only $0.39 after rebate), or the River Taxi (and pay $4) and park your vehicles, if any, at stated carparks (and pay at least $2 per entry on weekends and before 5pm on weekdays).
- As per yearly tradition, a new patriotic song is composed by local songwriters and performed by local celebrities. The proud product then will be played over and over again on the airwaves and broadcasted on TV so that everyone will know the tune and the words by heart. This year, Singapore Idol winner Taufik Batisah and local singer/actress Rui En provide the vocals for the song "Reach Out For The Skies". But can anyone hear what they are singing without the lyrics flashing by at the bottom of the screen? I know I can't. I just hear rhythmic mumbling.
- Are you sure our country isn't racist? Why are the patriotic songs always in English and Mandarin? Why don't they write Malay or Tamil lyrics to the same tune? Taufik is Malay, isn't he?
- In order to allow more countrymen to join in the festivites, celebrations were extended to 3 selected heartlands. There were "interesting" programs like gymnastic performances, 100-strong choir ensemble, capability display from SAF and Home Team (like our footballers are the best in the world), Bollywood dancers (who were not from Bollywood and actually included a Chinese Fiona Xie who couldn't dance to the beat and didn't remember her moves), games and fitness stations (so exciting! I can do it in my neighbourhood park too!), a Mobile Column (huh? a what?!?) rolling in the heartlands, and of course, fireworks. (Please remember to give credit to our kind sponsors again for keeping our budget within limits.) The heartlanders sure had a lot of fun!
I guess I can safely conclude that our nation's birthday and independance celebration was a HUGE success. In fact, our nation is SO great that shoe company Rocket Dog ™ has designed a women's shoe and named it "Singapore"! If you love your country, buy the shoes!!
It's actually kind of pretty... I know someone who might actually like them! Puny? Peeee-Ewwwwwwww-Neeeeee Graaaace.......
- The parade is held at a historical location where our land was first declared independant. Roads are blocked, and bus routes are changed. No thoughts were given as to where countrymen attending the ceremony were to park their vehicles, thus leading to nearby shopping centre carparks being full. Shoppers heading to the buildings then had a problem parking. (But as usual for the lazy countrymen, if you park 2 streets away, you are sure to get some empty lots since most of us can't be bothered to walk even a short distance.)
- Fireworks were released to celebrate. All is nice and grand, but never forget to give credit to your sponsors. During the voice-over, it is vital to bring up the fact that even though 3 times more fireworks are released this year, it is all thanks to the sponsors that the budget for the celebrations were still met.
- A carnival was set up at Marina South and fun activites were organised to encourage the participation of the people, but private vehicles are not allowed into the area. Please take the MRT in (and pay), or SBS bus number 400 or 400A (and pay only $0.39 after rebate), or the River Taxi (and pay $4) and park your vehicles, if any, at stated carparks (and pay at least $2 per entry on weekends and before 5pm on weekdays).
- As per yearly tradition, a new patriotic song is composed by local songwriters and performed by local celebrities. The proud product then will be played over and over again on the airwaves and broadcasted on TV so that everyone will know the tune and the words by heart. This year, Singapore Idol winner Taufik Batisah and local singer/actress Rui En provide the vocals for the song "Reach Out For The Skies". But can anyone hear what they are singing without the lyrics flashing by at the bottom of the screen? I know I can't. I just hear rhythmic mumbling.
- Are you sure our country isn't racist? Why are the patriotic songs always in English and Mandarin? Why don't they write Malay or Tamil lyrics to the same tune? Taufik is Malay, isn't he?
- In order to allow more countrymen to join in the festivites, celebrations were extended to 3 selected heartlands. There were "interesting" programs like gymnastic performances, 100-strong choir ensemble, capability display from SAF and Home Team (like our footballers are the best in the world), Bollywood dancers (who were not from Bollywood and actually included a Chinese Fiona Xie who couldn't dance to the beat and didn't remember her moves), games and fitness stations (so exciting! I can do it in my neighbourhood park too!), a Mobile Column (huh? a what?!?) rolling in the heartlands, and of course, fireworks. (Please remember to give credit to our kind sponsors again for keeping our budget within limits.) The heartlanders sure had a lot of fun!
I guess I can safely conclude that our nation's birthday and independance celebration was a HUGE success. In fact, our nation is SO great that shoe company Rocket Dog ™ has designed a women's shoe and named it "Singapore"! If you love your country, buy the shoes!!
It's actually kind of pretty... I know someone who might actually like them! Puny? Peeee-Ewwwwwwww-Neeeeee Graaaace.......
Shelly breathed again at 7:00 PM
<< Home