Talent Time

Last Saturday I was given the honour to be one of the judges at a talent contest. This contest was organised by the Music and Theatre Club of High School Muar and it was open to all the high school students in Muar. The theme of the contest was 'BACK TO BASICS' and all the contestants got to show off any kind of talent like singing, dancing, performing on music instruments and so forth.

I must say, youngsters nowadays are entirely different compared to our time (Ahem, I'm referring to the early 80s here....). I was really impressed with how talented they were. The teenagers sang latest hits from popular singers, formed their own band, did hip hop, breakdancing, jump dance, just to name some. Some came charming the audience with the guitar, even the 'er-hu' and 'gu-zheng' (both Chinese traditional musical instruments).

I had been invited to judge in a number of singing contests in the last century. Since this time was not just a singing contest, the variety of talented performance certainly did not make judging easy for me, based on a 4-part judging criterion of originality, presentation or showmanship, costume and X factor.

As usual, every judge was presented with a souvenir at the end of the show before the announcement of the results. Yet this time, even the 'souvenir' too, was different from before. It was in the form of cash. I thought that was practical. So if I ever had the honour to perform a judging task again in future, I sincerely hoped that I would be presented with a bigger 'souvenir'.

Travel when we are still young

Few days ago, I was chatting with a friend and we talked about travelling. When she named the many places she had visited such as New Zealand, Australia, the USA, Italy, Spain, Africa and so on, I curiously asked her why she did not visit any South East Asia countries and our local towns. She explained that we should visit the farther countries when we are still young and reserve some nearer ones for our old age due to the following reasons :

1. Age permits - At a younger age, we can walk faster, cover greater distances and travel longer hours, even put up with tough situations without much problem.

2. Health permits - If we ever fall sick on a trip, our younger body will usually recover sooner. We are physically more adaptable to weather or climate changes, time difference(quicker recovery from jet lag!), different food and eating habit etc.

3. Financial status - Normally, from 30 to 50 years of age are considered our most productive years in life. We can make more than enough money for a living and thus can afford to spend more on travelling. We can even afford luxurious trips with extra earned from overtime work or a part-time job.

4. Our older age - when we reach certain age, our health will not be as good as our younger time. We can then choose to travel to nearer countries or make short local trips. The schedule and itinerary of such a trip may not be as tight and jam-packed as a package tour to Europe. We may only have to take short-distance direct flights to our destinations, and food and weatherwise will most likely be quite similar to our own as well.

Sounds reasonable, right? I've been to a number of countries both in the Southern and Northern hemispheres and I think my friend is right in a way, what do you think?

Share your love

Hi there, I've created this blog for those who need love, who know how to love and who are willing to love others. Everybody is too busy nowadays. They don't have time to love. They don't even know whether they love, they are loved in a relationship, or just because of responsibilities and obligations. Sometimes we become used to where we are and take things for granted. So for those who live in happiness and are contented with love, please give a helping hand to those who need love. On the other hand, if you are in frustrated, desperate, despair, depressed or unhappy, don't give up, show up and write something here.

There are times when we feel happy and times we feel down. When you are happy, share your happiness, when you are unhappy, let others cheer you up. I hope this blog will touch the bottom of your heart. No matter how strong we are, how capable we are or how successful we are, there is always a place in our heart, ready to give and receive love.

I hope this is a full-of-love blog.

各位朋友,欢迎来到爱的部落格.有时我们想爱却不敢爱,有时我们想爱却不知如何去爱;有时我们想放弃却没有勇气. 想起巫启贤的一首歌,歌词是: " 爱与不爱, 都需要勇气, 于是我们选择了逃避 " , 是不是很多人的写照? 告诉我们你的故事, 你的经历, 尤其是那些 " 不在乎天长地久, 只在乎曾经拥有 " 的故事, 有些已经深深地烙印在我们心里, 却不敢说出来. 那就写出来吧.

有时越强悍的人,心里越脆弱; 越有成就的人, 心里越空虚. 朋友越多的人,心里越寂寞.或许是掩饰, 或许突然觉得成功不过是如此, 或许朋友间没人有时间有心情去了解. 写些心情吧, 我们需要互相鼓励.........................