I initially did not intend to put this down on my blog but I was encouraged by all the unspoken support from all my readers who still pop in at a regular basis to see how I am doing so I'll just do a simple blog post about how I spent my last Saturday having some me-time. Recently, the glut of work has quite overwhelmed me that I have little energy to attend music-related events (there are none that caught my interest as well) so I chose to spend last Saturday enriching and resting myself at the same time.
9.30am Woke up by the sunlight from the window. I loved those mornings when I woke up naturally rather than by the alarm clock.
10.30am Hotcakes with Sausage Meal, washed down with iced milo. Slow breakfasts are a blessing, especially when I have tasted those 10 minute ones during my military assignments days.
11.30am Started my regular gym training session. I need all the strength and stamina in preparation for a possible new charity camp in the horizon. With no camp guidelines yet, I assumed I may be needed with any possible tasks or missions during the camp itself.
1.30pm Lunched at PastaMania with my favorite Carbonara and iced lemon tea. Was giving myself a treat since I tended to rush my lunches during my working days.
2.30pm Bought myself Kungfu Panda VCD to watch in the evening because I was looking high and low for it but never really found it until yesterday as I browsed through the shops leisurely. Fate at work again.
3.30pm Settled myself down at a Coffee Bean outlet to enjoy a nice slice of Tiramisu cake whilst I leisurely flipped through a voluminous novel about Crusades in The Holy Land of Jerusalem.
4.30pm Headed home for a nice afternoon nap after checking up on my Facebook's Dungeon and Dragons: Tiny Adventures. My poor Dragonborn Fighter keeps failing his quests but oh well, adventuring is like that - you win some, you lose some.
6.30pm Woke up to have dinner at home before I propped myself heavily with a dessert of glass jelly and continued working on my personal project. Some decent work was done but I still have a long way before its completion.
8.30pm Watched Kungfu Panda on my home PC and had a great time watching how Ooogui Shifu was trying to teach the philosophy of life using the peach tree.
10.30pm Joined the rest of my family watching some TV before retiring for the night.
Quite an eventful day for myself. I had received invitations to F1 race, some music showcase at Singapore Art Museum, a cruise trip to Malaysia but I turned down the former two invitations because I was too tired to drag myself to the city again. I loved the idea of the cruise but that is still so tentative until everyone else can confirm their leave schedules.
Well, that's it for this blog post. Hope to write more once new adventures in my life appears. For now, I'll have to brace myself for another week since in one hour's time, another week of hectic work begins. Time really flies.
蔡艾珈、黄智阳、郑可为和Olivia受邀参加“指定PK”环节，明天将重返《星光5》舞台。（图/档案照）
- Olivia Ong获照顾唱英语歌
- 狮城落选选手 却受邀“指定PK”
更多精彩内容，请翻阅8月29日《联合晚报》。
《星光5》早有內定？台湾PK參賽者不满，博客上爆內幕，殃及本地PK选手！
台湾《超级星光大道5》上一场PK踢馆赛本月16日举办，日前，参加前一天彩排的陈文杰在博客批节目内定，并指台湾节目工作人员明显对来自新加坡的 “内定人选”有特别的礼遇，不仅彩排时忙着为他们试音，他们彩排的时间更长达一小时，与其他参赛者仅有10分钟彩排时间比较起来，节目明显有差别待遇！
陈文杰指，本地的几位PK参赛者不仅有随行的摄影师，还有节目工作人员跟着忙进忙出。他随后一问才知道，原来新加坡参赛者是确定隔天踢馆的参赛者； 据悉，15日彩排的海内外参赛者一共18人，但隔天正式录影PK的参赛者却只有8人，其中蔡艾珈、黄智阳、王顺达、郑可为和Olivia Ong共5人是本地代表。
他还抱怨，每个人的彩排时间大概只有10分钟，偏偏新加坡参赛者优先上场彩排，一个人就要走了1小时。本地参赛者有工作人员为他们试音、对key，其他参赛者遇到有段落不清楚的地方喊停，却被工作人员喊“这里不是KTV，不是你们说停就停，彩排是要时间的好吗？”
特权 1 出场大阵仗
早前从《超越星光5懈可击》脱颖而出的几位本地代表蔡艾珈、黄智阳，以及后来被《星光5》制作单位点名PK的王顺达，至今已有两次赴台PK的经验。据悉，除了参赛者外，由于《超越》是由电台1003及星和视界联办的活动，故双方都有派工作人员到台观赛。
据随行的电台工作人员表示：“除了参赛者和工作人员外，我们也在台湾聘了3名当地的摄影师，帮忙拍一些幕后花絮、访问等，片段经剪接后在本地播出。 包括《星光5》的一名企划宣传，我们一行共约12人。”她解释，外人看上去会认为是“大阵仗”，实际上，陪同“跟进跟出”的台湾工作人员之有一名。
特权 2 工作人员态度落差大
据电台的工作人员说，彩排前一天（14日）是台湾的八八赈灾募款晚会：“大家自前晚的筹款活动都很累了，所以隔天中午的彩排，工作人员都显得比较不耐烦。”
虽然有说制作单位对本地参赛者较“仁慈”，但王顺达说：“没有啊，到我的时候，沟通上出了一些问题，工作人员也有点不耐烦说：‘你既然来到了这里， 就应该做好准备！’”他还指：“像黄智阳是当天第二位上场彩排的人，因为时间很紧，就算他key没对好，如果要再对key，就得等到6点多，这样对其他参 赛者也比较公平。”
另外，据悉为配合节目录影时间，每位参赛者的歌会被“剪短”至约2分钟，故参赛者彩排时一般上都会自备摄像机，录下彩排情况，“之后回到酒店再好好练歌，因为歌曲被剪短，所以进来的部分、key等可能都会不一样。”
特权 3 彩排有礼遇
陈文杰指，本地PK选手享有不同待遇，彩排时不只有优先权，第一位上场彩排的本地PK者就用了约1小时彩两首歌，之后还“贴”上王顺达当天彩排时的照片；相比之下，其他参赛者彩排时间仅仅10分钟。
王顺达表示，当天第一位上场的其实是蔡艾珈，他说：“由于我们几个是第一组彩排的参赛者，所以技术上出现小状况，大家用了一点时间去调，也没1小时那么夸张啦。”
在场的电台工作人员说：“我们平均每个人彩排时间约30至40分钟吧，看情况而定，绝对没有1小时！”被指享有特别待遇，她则回应：“彩排时间是由台湾制作单位之前就定的，况且，彩排下午1点开始，我们另一参赛者郑可为也是等了几小时才轮到她彩排。”
(Images and Article source: http://showbiz.omy.sg/Showbiz/E-News/Story/OMYStory200908291616-86825/2.html)
My thoughts:
Our PK representatives are just there as guests challengers to add color, flavor and excitement to the Taiwan singing competition and I suppose they are just being polite to accede to the requests of the competition organizers when it comes to the details of rehearsals, song choices and even chances to continue as PK challengers to the competition.
Personally, I thought it would be unwise for any of the PK challengers from our country to try and interfere or even inject their own opinions on how things should be done in any measurement of fairness since I believe our representatives are wise enough to let the organizers decide for the entire group of contestants and PK representatives from all the various countries about what is best for the competition.
In short, 我们是客人，当然只能尊重主人的安排，并给与最大的合作。
With regards to the results of the 5th round of PK for our representatives (http://showbiz.omy.sg/Showbiz/E-News/Story/OMYStory200909010039-87219.html), I am actually not surprised.
劉明湘 《危險情人》/李玟 16 vs Olivia 《Bleeding Love》/Leona Lewis 20 (胜)
Olivia is the most experienced singer amongst them all and relatively still the freshest representative compared to Zhiyang and Aijia.
梁曉珺 《寂寞保齡球》/張惠妹 17 勝 vs 鄭可為 《第一個清晨》/王力宏 16 (败)
Kewei is not experienced enough in competitions and probably had not gotten over her phobia for singing in such contexts.
徐詠琳 《雙棲動物》/蔡健雅 16 vs 蔡艾珈 《飄著》/孫燕姿 16 (和)
Aijia is already tired from all the flying with the burden of schoolwork nagging behind her mind.
楊駿文 《遺失的美好》/張韶涵 17 勝 vs 黃智陽 《如果你也听说》/张惠妹15 (败)
Zhiyang has more or less showcased his intended skills in singing and does not seem to want to venture to impress the competition judges at any other deliberate lengths or platforms.
With regards to the article about Aijia saying no to the invitation to join 超级星光大道 6 in 2010 (http://showbiz.omy.sg/Showbiz/E-News/Story/OMYStory200908311530-87177.html), I think it's a wise decision right now.
For those who are close enough to Aijia to speak to her, here's what I want to relay to her and let her figure out what my thoughts are about this whole thing:
势别用尽, 艺别展尽, 不然缘份必尽.
^__^