It was meant to be a gathering for my TPGS friends but things fell apart as the hours approached. So in the end, everybody except Cuiyan put aeroplane for various reasons. Well, she had to be there for the entire duration as she had to do a 2000 words write-up on the merry making event at Esplanade. Hey not bad leh, where else can i land myself a job which let me report for work at 5pm at SPH, go over at over New Year 2007 countdown @ esplanade and all these counts as a working day ? Think of the hours you can pig before reporting to work. *drooling*
The standing order of the night was :
- Watch the whole thing
- Interview a couple, not necessarily male-female
- Interview a angmo, someone who is from far far away
- Interview a group of friends
- Interview a family
- Watch the aftermath
Anyway, after a 点心 dinner at It's Dimsum resturant at Marina Square (food is not bad), we caught the first round of fireworks blasting from the NTUC towers rooftop at 10pm. It was quite nice but was sadly, incredibly short. The whole thing went for 2 mins tops. Joy quickly turned into disappointment. Everyone's reaction was like, WTF, that's all ???!?!?!
That's right folks, just right under 2 mins of kaboom. The next 2 fireworks displays were just as short. In-between the 2nd and 3rd display, heaven was just as pissed off. So we got drenched in short order. Everyone tried to get into the nearest shelter at the Esplanade but expectingly, it's already jammed packed with people. Fortunately, heaven didn't have a full bladder that night. The rain subsided as quickly as it came and left the night cooler than before.
The countdown didn't actually happened. There wasn't any countdown to be heard from the organisers and so the festive feeling was missing. The year 2007 started with spectacular fireworks, blowing tens of thousands of dollars with every bang. The background music was missing though. Basically the fireworks display was similar to the national day 2006 version, with an new addition which looks suspiciously like signal flares. Despite the shortcomings, the crowd clearly enjoyed the show. The finale lit up the entire sky in dazzling golden shower. I really wonder how much did they blew up this time round.
After the fireworks, as we waited for our pre-booked cab, we took a break at 2Hot cafe at Esplanade. The aftermath of the event was a badly littered park. As Cuiyan went off interviewing the cleanup supervisor, I sat back at the sight before me. As half a dozen cleaners cleaned up the grass field before me, people kept throwing more rubbish onto the ground. A lazy restaurant employee conveniently pushed out rubbish from the restaurant premises onto the grass field. 好顺便阿! 干得好!
Oh by the way, what are the chances that you meet 2 out of 3 groups of 早报 photographers in the huge crowd of 160,000 ? We did. Wow. Must buy ToTo this Thursday.
Also watch out for lurkers around every corner for nig brother is everywhere. The next time when venturing outside your home, it's best to watch your tongue and put on your best behavior . You never know when a media photographer and journalist will sneak next to you and ask you for an interview. A journalist can decide to write something about what you have done and they don't walk around with a sign board screaming their occupation. They are like everyone else. Scary bor? From my observation, there is a 100% snaring rate. Everyone approached by Cuiyan agreed to be interviewed. The only concern was from a local family who didn't want to have faces on the next day's papers.
Being a journalist have it's bright side too. Most people have this fear or maybe even hatred towards strangers who approached them on the street. Approach anyone and identify yourself as a journalist, and they eventually help you with your job. I shall name this behavior trait as the anti-credit cards / anti-salesman / anti-insurance reaction. The reaction is always the same, the skeptical look, the attempts at evading even before the start of the conversation and the stunning relief that it's not another salesman. Maybe she needs some "preventive measures". I believe that by not taking out a little notepad and pen before approaching the target victim interviewee, people will not run away so much. If you must make a difference between yourself and some other salesman, this has to be it. Salesman approaching you from the street with a notebook ? Shooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!Go away... Gooo !!
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