Singapore NDP 2012 | B for Bun Bun

What a great honor to be part of this year’s Singapore National Day Parade! And representing Bun Bun Makeup Tips at that! High fives with Bun Bun *clap!

When I was young(er), I used to watch in envy the National Day Parade performers strut their stuff on stage to showcase what they had been toiling under the sun and rain for for the past few months, dressed in outrageous costumes of rainbow colors, painted in glittery makeup, carrying huge smiles on their faces. Smiles that shone through the cameras and screens to convey feelings of excitement, accomplishment and pride.

While I never got the wonderful opportunity to perform at this annual special event, I did get to be part of the live audience at the Singapore National Stadium, which is currently under reconstruction. Those were the days when you had to actually queue for the precious tickets.

People queued overnight in pitched tents, brought their guitars and pocket radios to entertain themselves, brought food and card games to keep their mouths and minds occupied; the air was filled with great excitement as morning drew near when the gates would open to give out tickets. I didn’t queue; I heard all these from my admirers friends who gave me tickets. Heh heh.

Anyway, those were the days when the tickets were really precious, I would think more precious than those today as people can now ballot for them online or at AXS machines.

I don’t know why I didn’t get to attend the NDP parade preview when I was in Primary 5 as part of the National Education Show. Maybe my second primary school wasn’t that popular. I had three primary schools - confusing childhood HAHA. But I’m contented that I did get to attend several parades later on in life.

Ever since the celebrations moved to the Marina Floating Platform and the acquiring of tickets went beyond physical locations, I lost my chance of being a live audience.

So when my Nuffnang agent, Gabby, asked if I would like to be a part of this year’s NDP I was like ‘OF COURSE!’. I prefer to refer to Gabby as my ‘agent’ instead of manager as the former sounds more sexy, like some secret agent swiftly sprinting around in a black tightfit costume. Like Catwoman. Lol.

First Meeting At The Wine Company

And it's fast forward to the very first meeting with this year's NDP Chairman and executive committee! It was held at the cozy, albeit a little humid, The Wine Company at Changi Village Hotel. The Porta Rossa Moscato d'Asti Frizzante NV DOCG was heavenly! I usually don't like wine or champagne, not even sparkling wine, but this Moscato I had three refills! Must order this when I go back some day. 🙂

So romantic...

I liked that the mood was relaxed and the lovely ambiance helped alleviate my nervousness (the moscato probably made me feel very happy :D). Mind you, I was sitting beside Chairman EXCO Colonel Desmond Tan okie. But everyone was so friendly and I felt at ease after a while.

It's awesome that the NDP committee this year is embracing social media at such a scale; it's the first time bloggers are involved and so many other interesting engagement activities are created to hype up the days towards 9 August 2012.

We talked about our experiences with NDP and I shared what you read above. We also talked roughly about which part of NDP would we, as bloggers, want to be involved in.

Wore an oh-so-popular-these-days-but-going-to-die-down-soon high-low skirt

Nuffnang is still in talks with the NDP committee and they'll let us know if they can accommodate our daring (maybe ridiculous lol) requests. I hope we can fly in the helicopter that carries the flag and I want to press the button that releases the fireworks. DREAM ONLY.

Second Meeting At *SCAPE

The second meeting at *SCAPE was more activity-filled!

To signify launch of Building a Loving SG Charity Project

Looks like red and green chillies before getting pounded into sambal belacan!

This is sambal belacan, which consists of chilies, belacan (Malaysian shrimp paste), kalamansi lime (limau kasturi), and salt and sugar (to taste or optional). YUMMY!

Placing the Lego seats one by one

Volunteers from NYP, Pathlight School, AWWA, *SCAPE working together on the Lego project

For a S$5 donation, you get a pair of Lego figurines - one will be placed on the Lego-made Marina Bay Floating, the other you get to keep as a remembrance that you played a significant role in NDP 2012! Proceeds will go to The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund to help low-income families.

You've got to hurry though! The last date to buy your Lego men is 24 June 2012. 0900-2100, at Funan, Tampines Mall, Bugis Junction, JCube.

Me, Xiaxue, Qiuqiu, Maureen, Rachell

Whatcha lookin' at? (alternative: KUA SI MI?! lol)

Yup, it's the Xiaxue we all know 🙂

We also 'showcased' our vocal chords in the LovingSG singing booth. That's Qiuqiu in the booth. It's really quite fun to do it, with the karaoke-esque system and earphones and the need to split your eyes into looking into the camera while reading the lyrics to Majulah Singapore. LOL!

We all know Majulah Singapura by heart, but there's something entrancing about lyrics that get highlighted one word at a time.

Just.Cannot.Take.Your.Eyes.Off.Them.

I'll talk more about the LovingSG singing booth in another post! Stay tuned! 😀

Gabby and her harem having high tea at Antoinette after the media event.

This was my eye makeup look of the day which received plenty of compliments. I seldom wear false eyelashes and instead prefer to focus on eyeshadows, as you guys would know already. It's more challenging and you only get better each time.

I'll do a makeup tutorial on it soon! Look out for it! 🙂 (Update: Here's the makeup tutorial!)

Third Meeting At The Float@Marina Bay

The third media briefing was where they introduced the parade elements and a little catchy tune by the name of A Nation's March, performed by Key Appointment Holders for the NDP 2012 Parade & Ceremony committee.

I really like it a lot! They're all not professional singers, which makes the video even more endearing coz it's so raw. The tune's been in my head for days! You should check out their behind-the-scenes video too.

This song should join the ranks of 'We Are Singapore' and 'One People, One Nation, One Singapore'. So meaningful and catchy!

iPhone takes awesome photos in daylight. When I took it, I actually could not make out much of what I was taking as the sun's glare blacked out my screen. Turned out pretty good! 😀

Everybody's cameras above my head.

The NDP 2012 stage structure in progress. This place holds fond memories for me as this was where I got the Bun Bun rubber figurine made during Chinese New Year.