Marina’s Bloggariffic

Mr Chandran, my literature lecturer, approached me to do a photoshoot of a play that he was directing. It turned out to be a really interesting and facinating experience.

I was to be at the Arts house in the Old Parliament road. After riding on the road for about a month now, I had very little problem getting there as i was a little more used to the different roads (with a little help from Streetdirectory.com).

I reached the arts house in the late afternoon and was amazed at how beautiful the entire area was. this was strange to me because I often walked around the parliament road, but this was an area that I’ve never really spend much time at. There would always be nook and cranny that I’d miss.

A couple of my kids from my previous school at the Parliament House

I tried to find some place to park my scooter, and after riding around the area I couldnt find any. Not wanting to be fined by overzealous parking attendants, I went to seek help. I saw a couple of men in uniform. They were valets on the job.

Me : Excuse me! Hi! Do you know where I could park my scooter?

Men : Well, you can park it here (by the roadside) We’ll take care of it for you.

Me : Wow! Really? You are so kind. Thank you so much.

I approached the Arts house. It was gorgeous. It was like a palatial building with all the lights and old charm decorations. There were people lounging and sitting around artily on the seats outside. They were probably waiting for a play to start.

I went upstairs to one of the rooms where the actresses were putting on make up and trying out their costumes.

Hi everyone! I’m Marina. Nice to meet all of you

Diane (in white) helping to apply make up on a fellow actress

I noticed a familliar face. One of my classmate from night class, Diane was there and we talked excitedly.

Diane : What are you doing here? Are you acting too?

Me : Oh yes, I’m acting. I’m playing the part of the photographer. Heheheh.

I met this gentleman called Goon, the assistant director for the play and he tells me what type of shots he wanted.

Mr Chandran and Mr Goon, you cant miss him, he’s got a huge silver earring on his left ear

Goon : I want mood shots. These images will be used for the website.

Me : Will it be used for posters or brochures?

I was concerned about the dark lighting which will impair the images. Printed images needed a high resolution for it to look good.

Goon : It’ll only be for the website for now.

Me : Awesome. Thats great!

I saw them play-acting some parts and I found out that the title of the play was called ‘Horse Face’. The gist of the story was about a village of girls in India, trying to find a husband. A potential man arrives. The girls try to different ways to get him to notice them.

It was facinating looking at the girls. They were so pretty! Some of the girls looked fit to be a model. The costumes eccentuated their allure.

Mr Chandran and Goon were discussing director-y things with the girls and we wrapped up about an hour later and some final shots.

The play will be opening somewhere in October. How exciting! Come on and give support to the play, if you can :)

Look at me … Too cool for wind-blowers

Link to the event here

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Anyway, I’m liking my new chair

Its easy to assemble and quite comfortable. Trying to juggle this on the scooter is another story though! ;)

My helmet got stolen recently. It made me extremely upset when I came down to see it missing.

I spent the night at Narimas after a friend’s wedding. We spent the time talking, laughing and watching tv together. I noticed that it was getting a little too late, so I said my goodbyes and went to the parking lot.

When I rode off, I realised that there was something missing. I wasn’t wearing my helmet. Where is it? I left it on the seat, now its gone! I just freaked out.

Granted that it wasnt very expensive. But it was just the idea that someone would be so heartless enough to steal it was extremely upsetting to me.

A quick phone call to Narima soothed me a little.

But there wasnt anything that I could do. A police report? My helmet was generic and did not have any special markings on it. Nothing much could be done anyways but to be more careful in the future.

Though I had a spare one, I still needed a helmet for my pillion, so I decided to go to Yahoo Auctions to scour for affordable helmets online. Its been a while since I last done any online auctioning. I remember that I had a blast of a time rummaging around for hidden treasures, then buying nice things and selling off of items.

After a few minutes of browsing, I found a relatively good and affordable one and bidded on it. After much anticipation, the rush of winning was there again. I saw the name of the top bidder - I won the bid!

The dealer suggested to do a meet up at the Caltex Petrol kiosk along Bukit Batok for the transaction. So we agreed to meet after my night class.

I usually filled up my scooter at the SPC Petrol Kiosk so I saw for the first time how it was at Caltex. It was impressively larger. In the cool night air, the place shone like a drive in movie theater. I saw men with suds, washing cars by hand and I went in the mart. There was a place where I could sit down, and have a cuppa. And I waited.

I didnt wait too long, the dealer came soonafter. The transaction was done pretty speedily. I checked the condition of the helmet and handed him the money and we left.

Pretty easy.

I remember the things I used to get from Yahoo Auctions, things like the unused Fancl Facial Set, the Levi jeans, computer books which I used while studying computer science back then. All these would be more expensive if I bought it first hand.

Using that as a justifyable move, I could buy more items like a polarizer filter for my camera. It would be nice to take a nice, crisp blue sky instead of the grey shots that I keep getting. I wonder if I could get a suitable prime lens too.

And on that note, I could sell away some items too. Like the Estee Lauder perfume that I bought on impulse while attending their makeover session. I keep wondering why I bought it … I dont even use perfume!

Anyone wants this?

Too bad I cant buy a new throat on Yahoo Auction

*cough cough cough*

A new throat would be nice.

Somewhere in Singapore, the full moon shines and gazes down peacefully at the view beneath her.

But the peace and quiet is soon broken …

What will our heroine do?

Never fear! Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa cough syrup is here! With 15 natural herbs to blast away those sore throat and coughs! Recommended by all chias worldwide!

So drink your Nim Jiom Pei Pa Koa today!

I do so love my shoes.

I may not be the most gentlest person with shoes Being a rather rough person, regular shoes typically dont last more than a month with me. In the end, I’d usually encounter footwear calamities like this that I can only laugh at days after.

But that doesnt stop me loving beautiful shoes.

I was walking around the Jurong Point Shopping Center when I found these very pretty and colourful pair of wedges at Charles and Keith. It was love at first sight. I just had to try them on. It looked as good as it was comfortable to wear.

It was so comfortable that I had no problem wearing when riding my scooter.

Another pair of lovely that I found was from Bata. Even though Bata has a reputation here in Singapore, as being ‘Buy And Throw Away’ for not lasting very long, undeniably, there are some very lovely designs there, such as this green and pink cork wedges that I found.

It was extremely sexy. And I loved how it immediately made any outfit feminine. It was a timeless design. The only minus point was that it can get uncomfortable after a while because of its gradient. A day at work with these shoes wont be practical.

The funny thing is, I dont usually wear these shoes and my other pretty shoes to work anymore. Instead, I wear a pair of mocassins thats almost disintegrating already but I just dont have the heart to replace.

Do you have any objects that you absolutely adore like I adore shoes?

Ah! Its so nice to meet up with old friends again!

Sheedah invited me to her wedding. Sheedah was a friend and an ex colleague from the previous school that I was attached with. I spent about two years there and had very fond memories of the school.

I messaged Narima if she wanted to go with me. She affirmed, so I fetched her on my scooter, and together we went to the ceremony.

A dance for the bride and groom

It still tickles me when I think about us wearing baju kurong (traditional malay wear) on two wheelers. Me in my orange gold dress and my wedges and Narima in her Kebaya must have attracted quite a few shocked motorists on the road. I imagined that they were thinking, “Crazy Women! Why on earth are they wearing fancy clothes like that on a scooter?”

When we reached there, I saw so many of my ex-colleagues. We looked at each other and started to talk animatedly, excited to see each other again. I missed them so!

We entered the grand hall and waited for the bride and groom. It was so lovely, the sound of the malay drum beating in chorus, and adorable little girls strewing flower petals on the floor. Sheedah looked radiant and her husband, Suhaimi looked equally dashing.

The chandelier almost covered my face

One could see the love in their eyes as they smiled and glanced at each other.

It was so lovey dovey. It makes me feel like wanting to get married too.

While watching the emcee talk, I updated my friends on whats new in my life while they updated theirs. It seemed that there are quite a few changes in the school - quite a few staff has left or thinking of leaving. Some going for new pastures, like teaching in Hong Kong.

Peiyi : Hey! You look so nice!

Me : Not as nice as you :) You look beautiful in that outfit and that hairstyle.

Peiyi : I thought you were coming with your boyboy?

Me : No, he’s coming in December, thats why I sms’ed you about Tea Chapter

Sherry : Its popular with tourists.

Xiaofang : Boyfriend?

Peiyi : Where is he from?

Sherry : What is he working as?

Peiyi : How did you guys met?

Me : Erm .. erm ..

I was really happy to be around these wonderful people.

Mr Loo, Me, Hasnah, Waheeda, Linda and Narima

But the night ended too quickly and we had to say our goodbyes too soon. But what a lovely night. Being among good friends is one of the most priceless things one could have.

By the way, the post to be Marina’s husband is now open. You may apply here

I’m liking the new Blogger. I’ve finally have what I’ve always wanted to have - labels! Now I can categorize my posts and choose to read which category I want at one click.

There’s also the ‘widget’ feature which I like, once I’ve adjusted it, it will stay the same, no matter what template I change to. But now that Blogger has upgraded from CSS to XML, I believe alot of blog-skins will cease to work. Fortunately for this blog, it has a very simple design. :)

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I had a lovely day on Thursday which was the eve of Teachers’s day. I still went to work even though I had another day to rest - I was concerned as there wasnt anyone manning the pictures and the video for the school. I was feeling better anyways.

I watched the school concert put up by the school students - some were dancing, some formed a band, there was even one who did beat-boxing.

I felt well enough to attend the teacher’s day lunch. I asked Sophia, the admin manager, where the place was

Sophia : Its at River View Hotel

Me : Err .. Where’s that?

SOphia : Do you know where Havelock Road is?

Me : No … Where’s that?

Sophia : Its near Zouk (a night club)

Me : I dont go clubbing

In the end we consulted streetdirectory and read the directions from there but just to be double sure, I asked some of the staff who were driving if I could follow their car.

V : I’m not sure if that’s a good idea

Me : Why not?

V : I’ll be driving quite fast

Me : Just say that you dont want me to follow you

V : Its not that, I’m not sure if you can keep up

In the end, I said nevermind. It was obvious that he did not want me to follow his car so I proceeded to go to the journey by myself. Should be easy. Ayer Rajah Expressway leading to the Central Expressway, turn right and then ride along Havelock road.

I rode along Ayer Rajah Expressway, and then exited the Central Expressway as I was supposed to but I couldnt recognize any landmarks. What made it worse was that it started to rain heavily. Raindrops started to fall on me like tiny spikes. I never realised how painful it was to ride in the rain.

The Tanjong Pagar Railway

I stopped by the Tanjong Pagar Railway to consult my streetdirectory book and after getting the directions proceeded on my journey again.

Cold, soaking wet and miserable, I finally found the right road but I still couldnt find the hotel. It was so annoying.

Only when I left that I finally found the building. Printed on the high rise hotel in red words, River View Hotel. I could almost hear the angels sing.

The beautiful Kat

So stressed out I was, I signed up for the karaoke competition on a whim. And guess what? Me and my partner won first in the duet category!

Hee Hee hee!