Ok I haven’t been able to update the past 5 days in Hollywood as I’ve been occupied with the competition here. Guess what?

I won Gold (1st prize) for Original Composition – “Jika Engkau Pergi”,
Bronze (3rd) for R&B/Jazz/Soul – “One Last Cry”, and
Bronze (3rd) for Broadway/Musical – “Maria”.

I got tops lah for Best Original Song!!! Thanks everybody!!!

More pictures when I get back!

Oom Nanan miss you Dada.

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I got so jealous when I saw the Malaysian team are all decked out, even the photographers, make-up artistes and accompanying assistants. They were all wearing everything from Baju Melayu, Indian, Chinese, Thai, Iban costumes, and they did a whole ‘Dia Datang’ performance. And the Filipinos broke into song, in perfect harmony, everytime they get together. I wore the Singapore flag as a cape and said hi to everybody who spoke English.

That’s it, next year, we’re taking part again, you hear me National Arts Council; models, actors, singers, juniors, seniors, instrumentalists, dancers, the works. And don’t forget the bloody halal chef, you hear me!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunrise is at 5am, and sunset is at 9pm. The mornings at windy, the daytime is blazing hot, and night time is freaking cold. There was a parade at 9am, and I couldn’t sleep the night before, so I ended up ironing every single thing I brought along that I tucked into the luggage.

Love the weather.

ps: Spent so much time trying to align-center this post. Screw it!!!

Imagine everybody from around the world arrived at the same time? No wonder the Asian girl at the counter wasn’t so friendly. The hotel’s kinda old, considering it shot Arnoldschwarzenegger during True Lies in 1993. He’s the mayor of the state now. It does remind me of the older shopping malls in Singapore. Westin Bonaventure is in the smack of Downtown LA. Nothing really if you walk in circles. Desperately looking for kosher meals.

Registration was quick. I got the schedule breakdown and felt butterflies in my stomach, especially when the lyrics of Michael Jackson’s “Heal The World” just up and disappeared from my brain. I am to sing that song during the Pop category.

Ireland had 92 delegates, Malaysia a great 30, Phillipines had a big group too, Trinidad & Tobago, Sweden and South Africa too and Singapore, its just me and Sean Wong. It doesn’t matter how many people you send, but it’s the idea that everybody was in uniform colours, carrying their flags around, with banners and banging drums to support each of their own participant made me feel really small. Well, no wondering how Greece felt;  they sent only 1 delegate.

I hardly sleep at night. Sleep in throughout the daytime.

After rehearsals I had so much time to myself so I decided to catch Bruno. For a movie without an actual plot or objective, its doing so well. I thought Borat was funnier, but Bruno was just as entertaining. You know, the theatres here do not have seat numbers. You can sit wherever you like. People have no problems getting split from their big groups because when they go and watch movies, well, they are out to watch movies. Instead of pre-show ads, they show RSS feeds/screen captures of popular websites. Cool huh?

I learnt quite a mouthful of Tagalog from Catherine (pictured above) who was last year’s Junior Category winner, and this year she has returned, courtesy of the organizers, to grace the event. Later that day, we were going to move from Glendale to the event premise at Westin Bonaventure in Downtown LA. When I got the schedule in hand, it says the bulk of my shows will take place during the same time as Beyonce’s Staples Centre show. Argh!!! Oh my gulai!

By the way, I miss you Nasi Lemak Panas & Ayam rendang Mdm Kwan.