尊师敬艺六十载 - 朱敬芬

A tribute to Chee Kin Fen for her 60 years' unwavering dedication to Cantonese opera - 21 September 2013, Kreta Ayer People's Theatre

朱敬芬

淩东明, 朱敬芬

陈泠孜, 朱愛芬

严忠胜, 朱少芬

李建昌, 賽雪心

陈绿漪, 黃少珊

Collecting things

When I was young I used to collect stamps. It started with letters sent to my father by his relatives in China. I collected the stamps on the envelopes. Later, in the same way, I collected stamps from my sister's oversea pen-pals. I also collected first day covers on suggestion from a friend. However, I was never serious about collecting stamps. I stopped the hobby after some years.

Then I collected coins – commemorative coins issued by the Singapore Mint. Again, not really passionate about it. I have stopped collecting coins. 

Here is  one of the coins - a 1976 $10 silver proof coin with the picture of a ship on one side.

Next, I started collecting Cantonese opera magazines. After a few years I had a few dozens of them. They take up space and you need to take care of them so that they remain in good conditions. I have stopped buying them regularly.

We read about people collecting things – dolls, toys, clocks, posters and so on. Some spend a lot of money on their collections and have hundreds and thousands of the things they collect. It can be a joy but I think it can also be quite stressful taking care of them.

If you collect things like wine or art pieces, maybe you can drink your wine or sell your collections or give them to your children when you lose your passion for them. But for clocks or opera magazines, I guess you can only give them to others who have the same interest.   

龔耀祥生日

Last Saturday I attended the show at Marine Parade Community Club.
The compere said that the performers of the opera excerpts that afternoon were students of Gary Kong. One of them is his senior student. The others are probably quite new.

After the show there was a little celebration for Gary Kong as it was his birthday. 

Happy birthday to Gary. The lady beside Gary is Wong Fei, 黃妃

宏茂橋雲峰古廟大伯公誕街戲

Street opera at the group of temples at Street 44 Ang Mo Kio - 7 September 2013

生: 詹浩鋒, 裴駿軒

旦: 紫伶秋, 林子青

紫伶秋, 裴駿軒, 莫醒麟, 何波, 詹浩鋒, 林子青

邵振環 Siu Chan Wan

Last Saturday I watched Siu Chan Wan perform an excerpt at Kreta Ayer People's Theatre. It was only the second time I watched him. The first time was in 2002 during Pat Woh Wui Koon's 145th anniversary celebrations, also at Kreta Ayer People's Theatre (see second picture).

This is Siu Chan Wan. My camera was not functioning well. The flash didn't work, so this blur photo.

 

From his performance that night I think he must be an outstanding and competent xiao sheng during his prime years, handsome and with many many fans. One opera fan said he is 82 but some believe he is older. Anyone knows?

香港青苗粤剧团

22 to 25 August 2013 at Kreta Ayer People's Theatre

Myanmar beauties

Last Saturday I was going to the Kreta Ayer Community Club to watch a Cantonese Songs Concert when I saw some pretty girls in costume outside the Kreta Ayer People's Theatre. Then I found out that there was a Myanmar Culutral show in the theatre. 

Unfortunately, I had no spare time. Otherwise I would go in to watch an item or two. Although a ticket was needed, I thought I could persuade the young man at the entrance to let me in.

Some people were taking photos outside the theatre. So I joined in. Here are some beauties .....

Miscellaneous

I believe all of us have prejudices of people and things. Once I bought a Panasonic camera. I found that it was not easy to use. After that, when I want to buy a camera, I will not consider any Panasonic brand.

I was trying to see if I could find my old classmates, old colleagues and old NS comrades on Facebook. I was disappointed. I found only three. A few have the same names but no photos, so I don't know if they were the ones I was looking for. Actually few of my friends have FB accounts. Even those who have accounts are dormant users, seldom posting and I guess only going online occasionally.

I bought a green papaya (as shown in the picture below) about three days ago. Now it is still green, but a lighter green. How to make a papaya ripe faster?

weaknesses

In recent weeks I met two old friends whom I have not seen for a few years. Both have put on considerable weight. I was not surprised. I myself have also put on some weight. I think this is a result of eating more but without an increase in physical activities.

Actually I have decided to do something about my overweight. But I have not started on my plan yet – delaying and delaying. It is like people making empty resolutions at the beginning of a new year.

This is procrastination, one of the human weaknesses. 

However, after seeing how fat one of the two old friends has become, I am confident that I will start on my plan soon, .


We still read about Singaporeans being cheated by scratch-and-win scams in Malaysia. I am certain these victims know about such scams. So how come they still fell for them? Is the chance of getting something free so irresistible? Or are the tricksters so good at it? 

I cannot say I will not be a victim myself because greed is another human failing.

董永重會七仙姬 之 仙姬送子

Too much of a good thing is not good

When I was a kid, char siew was a rare delicacy. We had it only on certain days like on my father's pay day. When my uncle visited us sometimes he would buy some char siew and bring it to our house. We kids loved char siew and looked forward to eating it. To us, char siew had a certain allure and prestige.

Nowadays, I can eat char siew every day or even at every meal if I want to. Although I still enjoy eating it, it has lost its allure and prestige.

I think it is the same with other good things. Once you get too much of a good thing, it loses its charm or mystique or whatever appeal it used to have.


Another example is movie shows. When I was young I enjoyed going to the cinema and used to wait eagerly for my favourite TV shows. 

For many years now I have not been to a cinema to watch a movie and I don't have any 'must-see' shows whether on normal TV or any other media channels. Even when I read very good reviews about some shows, there is no urge to go and watch them.

food

There are foods that I like but seldom eat. Laksa is one them. Another is roast duck.

I like seafood and eat fish often.

I think I mentioned this fish soup and duck stall before. It is at Geylang East Hawkers' Centre. 

I have not eaten there for quite some time. Last week I intended to eat there. It was past the afternoon lunch hours and I did not see many people waiting, but the stall assistant  said I had to wait for about 45 minutes. She said there were people who had booked or ordered in advance. I asked her if  I could order a day in advance. She said yes.

Even if you have ordered in advance, I think you still have to wait because the cook cannot just prepare the bowls of fish soup in advance and leave them there for too long.

I didn't want to wait for 45 minutes, so I ate something else.

梨园乐韵聚八和2013

6 July 2013 at Kreta Ayer People's Theatre

Opera @ Hougang

A friend called to inform me of opera performances at Hougang Ave 5. I went down on the last day to watch. Arriving at the scene I remembered I came here about 2 years ago. At that time my impression was that the place was very small. This time it looked even smaller because some area next to it was fenced off for upgrading work.

 The shows ...

The lead artistes 任丹楓,紫令秋 ...

That afternoon the audience was quite small, about 50 ...

The show ended quite early as it was a shortened version. Another thing - there was no yang qin player in the orchestra.

Altinbas melons

About two weeks ago I saw these Altinbas melons which are from Turkey at a FairPrice store. The price was more than $9 then. About two days later, it was $7.50 and after another day or two they were on special offer at $6.95 each. So I bought one.

It is not very big, good enough for two persons. The seeds are yellowish and the flesh is pale green. It is sweet, but I think it is not good value for your money.

Prima Laksa

If you like laksa, I think you would like this :

Cook according to the instructions given. I used thick bee hoon, big prawns, fish cake slices, cockles and bean sprouts.

錦江詩侶 之 傷別

新馬南遊團

Have you heard of this opera troupe? It sounds more like a tour group.


The troupe performed in Singapore in the 60s. Prices of tickets were from $1 to $6. Notice that at that time telephone numbers had only 5 digits.

This troupe performed at Happy World (later changed to Gay World) in the 60s. The sheng was 邵振環. The dan was 陳美玲.

馬林百列廣東戲曲團十周年紀念

on 1 June 2013 at Marine Parade Community Club Theatre

粵韻心聲十載情

Waiting for the guests ...

Guest of Honour, Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, and his wife arrive ...

Taking photo with members of the Marine Parade Community Club Cantonese Opera Troupe ...

Taking photo with the orchestra ...

A light moment - ESM Goh and Wong Fei ...

Wong Fei, Leader of the MPCCCOT, with Gary Kong ...

Curtain call ...

Another photo with guests and GOH ...