The only reason why I took part in the singing competition called 'The GroupM Idol' at my company's Xmas party was because I knew response was bad, and that the organizing committee was getting worried and felt like the whole party will turn to be a flop.. that's when I volunteered and self-nominated myself as one act.
Being a solo act not only requires a lot of courage, but also need to be confident that your performance ain't going to turn the crowd away; and that it's only you and yourself up there on the stage! Bearing all that in mind, I went ahead and ended up being exiled from the committee just because there will be a COMPLIANCE ISSUE if I actually am part of committee and compete for the winning prizes!!
Well, it turned out that I was better off not being in the committee coz they were really a disorganized lot; and many of their BIG plans were just brag and never carried out.. However, it would be injustice if I say the whole party was a failure coz people did enjoyed themselves despite some minor hiccups.
Maybe it was just in me, an occupational hazard which drove me down to all the details of the party, from the start to the end. It wasn't too bad a venu - Indochine is pretty done up in the sense that it's not too shabby nor unexciting. But the layout of the place made it quite hard to get everyone's attention on the VIP's speech, the emecee, the singing competition, games and even lucky draw!
Probably the first thing the committee should have done would be to check on the audio. The microphones sounded terrible with echoes, until when Daniel Kwek (supposedly to be just an invitee to the party), helped to fix the problem! Next was Linda (my training director & emecee for the night), her voice was already croaky since she came back from Vietnam and I really thought the committee would have found someone to replace her. Well, she struggled and managed the job before leaving for Sydney the following day.. She and her son are going home for the festivities!
I was the second act to go on 'stage', after The Hari's Angels : Hari, Lindia, Jeannie, Linda and Pooja, who sang 'Hark! The Carol Angels Sing'. Honestly, I was quite nervous singing in front of a crowd with Junior 'exploited' for the first time. Somehow or rather, that fear instantly diminished when I was standing there with the mic; and very naturally I blown the audience away with Whigfield's 1997 'Last Christmas'! The crowd loved me, and applause was everywhere after the song was over!! Even the most unexpected person said "Well Done!" to me!
I was more or less relieved after I had delivered the song, and was sitting on the comfy couch with Lindia, See Chin and the rest, slipping some really tasty strawberry margaritas. Not expecting to win anything from the contest, though I would love to win the first prize of $500 travel voucher in the lucky draw. When winners of the 'GroupM Idol' was announced, I was happy that Jeannie's group won! In fact, they deserved the first prize for their efforts spent in rehearsing so many times, and for their investments in the angels' wings. I have to say there was no disappointment in me, though I thought my performance was worth at least a 3rd prize, if not 2nd.
But then, people were screaming excitedly and telling me that I am the winner of the singing competition! I was as confused as anything I could be, not knowing that there were actually 4 prizes for all the 4 acts. So, the last name yet to be announced is the first prize winner, which is ME! The new COO of our company gave me the prize - cash money of $300, and requested for an ENCORE. I really didn't want to sing another time, so I dragged more people onto the stage and groove along with me.
I guess there were quite a lot of folks who actually voted for me, thank you all! I am both thrilled and proud to win, and extremely glad to have little Junior as my best partner! Although I didn't win the grand lucky draw prize, it was still a night of harvest for me.
Jeannie had lots of pictures taken of me, already posted on Facebook.. hee, the singer's album. I hope I don't look like a clown..
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