Alvin’s POP ~audience perspective~
Just a few months ago, I was in that spot on that fake patch of grass, doing all that marching, all that saluting, amongst other random stuff…
And yesterday, I was an AUDIENCE!!
That feeling is so different~ It’s almost like watching yourself from a different perspective but you know that it’s not you.
So, lots of my friends POP-ed (“Pass Out Parade” turned into a verb; Singaporean’s are really good at breaking the laws of English) and I attended it. Even though I did not meet all of them (probably because they didn’t even know I attended it in the first place), I still wish them all the best!
Now~ The pictures, which I honestly took like an audience without all the photography gimmicks and stuff… Okay, I lied but I wasn’t really concerned about the compositions and stuff because it was too challenging for me and time was of the essence.
Together with Yahya, Yin Zhi and Hazel (who were late :P), we went to the Marina Floating Platform and yes, we were late and that’s why, the first shot of the day was this picture. Okay… Look on the left now… The second block of tiny toy soldiers from the top left down is W coy; Alvin’s company.
And thank god the weather was not harsh on us. It was extremely cloudy (bad for photos but heck~ it was cooling). Probably also because the sun was still pretty low in the horizon so we did not get toasted in the grand stand. The skyscrapers of Singapore looks magnificent, no?
Yin Zhi watching the parade.
One of those photos that requires touching up to make it look so much more dramatic~ I love the colors of this photo and the hint of a blue sky on the right edge of the photo. Too bad there are some construction cranes in the front, creating some disturbances.
The Singapore Flyer… had nothing to do with the parade whatsoever.
And after that long speech from this woman who looked extremely small from where I was standing, the troops marched off to return their weapons and change out of their helmets and utility vests. Do you know that the helmet and vests are very heavy? That’s what I call “design that doesn’t work”. As if fighting a war isn’t tiring enough, you have these burden on your body.
And the audience started to stand up to take pictures of them marching off. There were ushers there to make sure that people do not block the views of the other audience and sadly, I was told by one of them to move away while I was filming the process.
I don’t know who she is but I like this picture.
Notice the darken streaks of grass on the field? You can tell where the troops were standing and where they marched through from these darken spots. Good thing the grass is fake, otherwise, it would cost a bomb to replace.
During the interlude, out of nowhere, these canoes appeared on the left of the stage. Totally random. But they disappeared shortly after that.
And here are the troops marching back in. Yes, it’s messy but why don’t you try! It’s difficult okay~
Look on the right side of the stage. Bet lots of people are wondering what that enormous gap is for. And now, look at the left side of the stage. 2 companies merging as one. Biggest stage fault of the entire parade.
And they tossed their caps after finishing the hair-standing BMTC roar! I actually took a video of it and this is just a screen capture of part of the video. If you want to watch the full video (which includes an unexplainable long roar [I know the reason why~ :)] and the actual cheer itself), visit my facebook page.
Watching them do the roar was really an indescribable feeling because I did that! I laughed at myself and now, it’s my turn to laugh at the others. :P I still can’t understand why they want us to do that in front of the public? To prove that we are fierce? NAH~
All hell breaks loose…
After the parade, the visitors are allowed to go down to the stage itself to rendezvous with their sons/boyfriends/friends/strangers. However, trying to get down to the stage itself is a challenge because of the huge crowd and the limited number of staircases. And to make things better, you have to squeeze through a whole troop of people/soldiers and you know what I mean…
After fighting/shoving/making body contact with strangers with sweaty arms, we finally found Alvin and his family~ And of course, I offered to take their picture~ Presenting to you Alvin, his mom and his dad!!
The fantastic friends Alvin have who came to witness his POP. Don’t think any of my friends are that nice to come all the way down early in the morning to visit me though… :P If you disagree, please enter your excuses reasons in my tagboard, thank you very much. :P
Me and my new yellow shirt and Alvin in dreaded green. Please tell me I don’t look fat in this photo :P
Alvin and his buddy who’s name is a real tongue twister. Coincidentally, Alvin’s buddy is the boyfriend of my CTPP classmate, Daphne! What a small world!
Apparently, they have a hand sign that I have no idea what it means…
So once we are done with taking pictures in the swarm of green, we shoved made our way out of the floating platform and walked towards City Hall MRT station but before that, I took a picture of Alvin and his mom with the skyscrapers as the backdrop.
Flash saved this picture because the cap was casting a shadow on his face, making his details less sharp. I can’t wait till I get my external flash!! There’s so much I want to experiment with~
Knowing that he will definitely be thirsty and sugar-deprived, I bought him a bottle of green tea while waiting for Yahya and the rest to arrive at the MRT station. I’m so thoughtful, no? :)
Alvin and the chipmunks friends!
During our New Year celebration at Woodlands Waterfront, Alvin fell down while bringing in the pizza and his plasters are still on him until today. And I thought “X” plasters are only used in cartoons though… Notice Yin Zhi at the back? He’s in the process of folding his arm.
Clever soldier left his wallet deep inside his field pack and he had to dig for it by the Singapore River. I mean… for such an important item, I would put it somewhere accessible like in the side pockets mah~
Apparently embarrassed? :P
In case you’re wondering, the field pack weighs between 10kg to 12.5kg. That’s almost a whole sack of rice! Actually, I think the field pack is an amazing piece of equipment because you can really stuff a lot of things inside, like your utility vest with the helmet. But sometimes, you feel like you’re packing for a 3 weeks holiday with a single bag because you have to really maximize every single pocket and every single bit of space.
So we finally reached City Hall MRT station, not before me heading over to HMV to find ayumi’s “Love songs” but sadly, it’s not there. The rest of them went for breakfast while I tagged along with Alvin and his family to go back home.
Reached “home” and I slept! Instead of the soldier who walked over 24km plus the parade sleeping, I was the one sleeping because I was tired! Alvin claimed that he wasn’t tired and there was no kidding about it~ He didn’t even catch a single wink of sleep AT ALL!
Maybe the soldier in me is dissipating but honestly, who cares right?
After resting at home, me rest he played games, we went to AMKHub to meet up with the rest to have lunch.
Okay. WE didn’t have lunch. Only Alvin and I did because we didn’t eat anything at all, other than the few pieces of Oreo cookies. I had this new burger!! The McBistro Chicken Sandwich. My brother told me that it’s been on sale for quite long but you can’t blame me~ I haven’t had McDonalds for very long!
The meal is quite costly in my opinion, costing $8.05 without upsize. BUT the burger is really good! The patty is 1.5 times bigger than the McChicken one and so many times better and crispier! I love the huge piece of leafy lettuce they used (as seen above) and the cheese and tomatoes! The sauce is very good too! The bun is AH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had never imagine myself singing praises for McDonald’s burgers but it’s really good!!
After lunch, we went to walk around and yes, that’s about the end of my day…
I have to book in later and that makes me sad. Hopefully, next week will pass by faster than this week. Now, off to have home-made lunch and then after that, I shall finish the remaining pages of “The Lost Symbol”!! :)
