DIVA at War

Last two days, I've been working on writing the part 2 of my Monologue " Diva - Being Intelligent". However, I seem to be having mood swings. I didn't feel like doing anything which violated my number one DIVA rule, Being Diligent.

How ironic..

I've been siting in front of my laptop for the last two days and doing all I can to stay focus on being diligent while having a major war going on my mind to be "intelligent". Let me get hold of myself and I'll be back soon.

Additional Scene: I'm glad I've overcome my mood swings and had completed DIVA - Being Intelligent Part 2.

Deepest Sympathy

My deepest sympathy and condolences to Simon Wong and his family on the demise of his beloved wife PeiQi who passed away peacefully on 23rd June 2008.

It's not easy for a couple to stay married as divorce seems too easy these days. Marriage is really a big commitment and seriously how many can really last till the "till death do us part"? Simon, who I worked with during 80's Rewind, had sure live up to his marriage vows to his beloved wife when he said "I do". I admire Simon, for he is a man who had proven his words by going through thick and thin with his wife all the way even when cancer took his beloved wife away.

DIVA - Being Diligent Part 1

Diligent
adj. Marked by persevering, painstaking effort

Diligence

n.

1. Earnest and persistent application to an undertaking; steady effort; assiduity.

2. Attentive care; heedfulness.

The word says it all be it in noun or adjective form. It is also the foremost important part of being an actor. To be an actor, one has to be prepared to go through a life long learning process.
That means, to put in a great deal of effort in learning. It's not enough to be good in doing something because everyone is good, one has got to be great. The secret for being diligent is simply not to give up during the learning process. There is no short cut unless one decides to quit acting.

One of my acting coach once told me, the minute you have keen interest in something, that is the minute you start to develop a talent for it.

To learn acting is like a chef learning culinary skills. Everyone and anyone can cook. The minute you make half boil egg for breakfast means you can cook and can start to call yourself "The Great Chef" in your very own kitchen. Yes, only in your very own kitchen. LoL

The question is, how many times have you overcook or under-cook your half boil egg before you perfect the skill of getting it right? So the story moves on to one fine day you became so good at half boil egg, you decided to make scramble egg and the whole process of trial and error begins again and again and then again. You then became so good with cooking eggs in 101 different ways, you move on to making sandwiches or baking bread for breakfast. Suddenly on one morning out of the blue, you decided that you were wasting too much time making your own breakfast and decided to order in. That's the day you stop being a chef. The same goes with acting.

So what's there to learn as an actor besides acting? For example let's just say when a scene requires an actor to be a chef , an actor has to know at least the correct way to hold the knife or wok in order to make the scene work. Of course, an actor does not need to murder someone before acting as a murderer in a scene. It's also important for an actor to know when to draw a line.

One may ask why does an actor got to learn all these skills beside acting? You see, as actors we audition for roles just like anyone who goes for job interview. In many cases, actors may lose their chance to be cast in a film/Tv series because he/she does not have the "special skill" such as rock climbing, horse riding, or swimming required for the role. Yes, in a few special cases the actor will be sent to classes for whatever special skill that is required for the role but this is rare although it happens. Once I lost a role because I can't drive a car. The other time I was lucky to be sent for special dance lessons required by the role of geisha when I was casted in "Dance Of A Modern Marriage".

As there are one million things to learn as an actor such as the acting, singing, voice training, accents, dancing, martial arts, foreign languages and etc etc, the hardest part is to keep one's interest in learning. The moment one starts to lose interest in something, the usual "excuses" will be:

A) I have no time.
B) It's boring.
C) This is too difficult.

This is the time when the "Intelligent" part comes in. Come back soon for DIVA- Being Intelligent Part 2.

I'm still in the process of learning to be Diligent in everything I do. Just like how one can't drive or operate a vehicle simply by learning the basic or advance theory, one has also got to learn the practical part before getting the driver's license too. Which means to say, I'm now learning to put into practice of what I had learn in theory.

So where do I get these "ideas/theories" about acting from? Acting books, acting coaches, autobiographies of great actors/ great acting teachers and many veteran actors I met on set.

All the above are my daily struggles and my learning process in general as an actress and I'm glad to share my 2 cents POV here with you.

Blessed

On Saturday after the HPB Road Show, I joined the rest of the Jteamers at Bright Hill Monastery's fund raising event for the SiChuan Earthquake. By the time the fund raising event ended, I was half dead but happy to be able to do my part to help. This event made me realized once more just how much I was blessed in life.

Sometimes one just gotta take a look at those less fortunate to appreciate the blessings in one's life. My mom taught me this when I was young. We were on vacation to China, and visited the house that once belonged to my great great grand father somewhere in a village near Canton. I saw a young boy about 3-4 years old, he was removing meat from a hill of oysters using a sharp pointed tool with his tiny hands. My mom said to me "Never compare yourself to those people who you think that are luckier than you, see the little boy over there working? Now who is really the lucky child here?". I was that lucky child on vacation for one entire month with my family.

I'm thankful my parents are still in pink of health. I'm thankful to be surrounded by everyone I love. I'm thankful for having food on my table. I'm thankful to have a home. I'm thankful to have the two monsters (my beautiful nieces ) cheering me up everyday. I'm thankful to be able to follow my heart in life. I'm thankful to be alive.

I hope the less fortunate will be blessed with beautiful things in life and the fortunate ones will appreciate for what they were blessed in life and for that I will be thankful too.

Additional Scene: I found an interesting English audio on the website of Kong Meng San Phor Kark Monastery / Bright Hill Monastery by Venerable Tenzin Palmo on Transforming Problems into Wisdom.

Teaser: Being DIVA

So what's really the meaning behind Diligent Intelligent Versatile Actress ?

Come back next week for the real drama in Being Diva Being Me!

Comedy Of Errors

"If It Ain't Broken, Don't Fix It."

This is whats happening to my blog now because I tried to change the blog skin.
So meanwhile please kindly bear with the layouts and stuffs while I'm on my way out to get myself a copy of "The Complete Idiot's Guide To Blogskin" .

Additional Scene (2hours later): Guess I kind of like the way my blog looks for now. I mean you should have seen how I freak out just now after uploading a new skin and got everything messed up and missing. Oh well, at least I kind of fix it back to what it look like before.

Think Twice

Does anyone ever have to call the AA in twice in the middle of the night just to jump start the car engine?

We did.

0114am
Prince's car Tobey died on us at Orchard Road after we picked up our friend whom we had made plans to go for tea together somewhere out of town. We had no choice but to call the AA in. Luckily we didn't have to wait for long. The nice "uncle" who drove a van from AA recharged the car battery and advised us to replace the battery the next day. He also said it should be able to last us for a night. So off we drove our way to our usual kopi place and it was then I randomly decided to name the car Tobey.

Three over hours later at 0430am
When Prince was about to send our friend and me back home. Tobey died on us for the second time. Maybe the car didn't like its new name...

At 0500am, here comes my dramatic moment
When the AA tow truck arrived, (yep this time is a tow track not van) I was thinking to myself, if a tow truck were to tow a vehicle and passes through the ERP, does this mean the same vehicle that is being towed has also got to pay ERP?



Is there any difference between the pic above and below? So its one or two vehicle? Chicken & Egg question! LOL




You can't blame me for asking this question at 0500am after being wasted from 3 big cups of tea. I mean, to me technically it's only one vehicle passing through the ERP gantry. Think about the container truck, you'll get what I mean. If one can attach the container to the truck and still count it as one vehicle, how about the tow truck? Yes, on the surface it's two vehicles passing through the gantry but the one behind has no driver and not moving on its own which is the same case as the container.

Yeah I know... Our friend rolled her eyes on me after I asked her the same question. The last time I check, I wasn't blonde. Maybe I should get myself a new mirror, a driver's license and some sleep.

Additional Scene: I can't believe I am back to add pics to this entry. I should just GET OVER IT! LOL My contradictions........

From The Internet

This is indeed touching and inspiring. However on the second thought I'm just wondering, does such BF really exist? It's really as hard as hitting the jackpot to get that triple 7. Everyone hit the jackpot at least once in a lifetime. The question is, do you see it or you don't?

Being Me Now

My Sunset



My Ancient Wisdom



My Impulses



My Brain Food




My cravings



Yay! I'm enjoying my 3 off days now.

HPB Road Show

The road show for Diabetes Education Campaign organized by Health Promotion Board begins today. (Special thanks to Ms Eileen Cheah for the pictures.) For those who wanna know more on the danger of Diabetes, interactive exhibition will be held at the following venues:

Suntec City Mall: 7th - 11st June
Junction 8 : 20th - 22nd June
Tampines Mall : 27th - 29th June
AMK Hub : 4th - 6th July (B1 Exhibition Hall)
IMM : 11th - 13th July

Looks like I really gotta cut down on my favorite desserts and start working out at the gym...

A Bundle of Joy

Children, they are sure full of surprises. No wonder they were named "A bundle of joy". My youngest niece, had truly warm my heart tonight. Just when I thought the world was crashing down on me, she came to give me a hug. That's why I always keep an open mind for the my two nieces whenever they come running to me even when I'm in a hurry, foul mood or whatever PMS thing...

They always have time for me and that's why I make sure I'll always have time for them. You may say they are just kids and when they grow up, they won't make time for me anymore. I say no. Making time for each other doesn't mean staying in the same room or space at the same. Making time is a moment when one reaches out to you and you are there truly, fully and nothing else is on your mind except the person. The energy exchanged at this point can be amazingly fulfilling and beautiful. Both parties do benefit from this moment. The exchange energy of giving and receiving from first party to second and then from second back to first. That's the basis of love. As grown ups we all tend to overlook this point most of the time or even all the time because we are always caught up with "things". What most of us didn't know is that 5-10 minutes is all it takes to experience the priceless joy of love and to build an ever lasting chemistry between the two. For example, you need to build a house on a vacant lot and this will be home to you for a lifetime. You start to invest painfully in the best builder for building the best foundation by using the best building materials you can find. 20 years later after the house was built, you are still glad and proud of the home you built. Why? It saves you money and lots of time and only a small sum were needed to spent on home maintenance each year. Imagine if you had spent less effort and was stingy about your investment, just how much more time and energy within the 20 years will be wasted on? Don't forget the amount of money too.


Children are the masters in the art of listening and being present and they really do if not how would they have learned what they were taught like language, behavior and words? They can learn any languages much faster than any adults as kids operate like sponges. They are open to anything at anytime. As adults we just have too many inner dialogues that distract us from being open. The true reason of why children as they grow older stop listening to adults has to do mainly with the parents or adults around them. Picture this, a child reaches out you but time after time the energy let out to you was not received and returned. What do you think will happen in the long run? The child will start to shut his/her energy from you for the fear of rejection. So when they become adults themselves, they do the same to their kids and everyone around them because the great fear of rejection was imprinted in their mind. Once bitten twice shy.

That's human nature. We all fear rejection. This does not only apply to the relationship between any adult and child but also applies to every relationship from lovers to friends and every human relations.

So when was the last time you were truly fully present for someone? You better be there for that person next time he/she reaches for you because if not, that maybe the last time you see them. Never assume there's always a next time too. If only adults were as open as a child in the first place, the world will be a much beautiful place. The older we grow, the less we are open to learn. I must say at times adults have to learn from kids too.

Just my two cents on life.