AXA D&D, AXA Idol 130407

I really must write short-winded lah... i have a knack for being too detailed that this post which started on Monday still havent been finished yet!

BEWARE! Long Entry ahead. Skim if you hafta

Theme: Hollywood
Venue: Park Hotel ex Crown Prince
No of Pax: 212

I am participating in two segments: 1. RecClub Committee Catwalk 2. AXA Idol

The Catwalk was about the committee member dressing up to a certain movie theme and then enact some part of the movie lah. There were Pirates of the Carribean, of course James Bond, Miss Congeniality, Curse of the Golden Flower and the TOP BOSSes went as GLADIATOR. hehe i was paired with Ashok for Lagaan. and we went for a typical Hindi movie action. ie he went out looking for me and then i walked out covering my face with the shawl and acting SHY. Hubby was there when we rehearsed and afterwards he said he was jealous though he contained the expression very well. i love him for understanding and trusting me.

Next up is the AXA Idol rehearsal. For 1.5hr i kept blabbering to the bear about my worries that my song i've been practising hard (Diana Ross' When You Tell Me That You Love Me) will not be playable then i will die if i hafta do Mariah carey's I Still Believe bcos the karaoke version's tempo was SUPER Fast!! the story is i cldnt get a proper karaoke version of the Diana Ross song so the excellent hubby found a vocal eraser software and managed to remove 90% of Diana Ross' voice. But unfortunately the monday before the D&D, the event company said it doesnt sound nice esp if they blast it in the hall. Finally, when i came for my song... the CD was playable and the voice hardly listenable. But i was reminded to keep the mic close to the mouth cos they couldnt hear me during the first two verses of the song.

Well.. there are 5 other contestants in order of appearance: Meredith, Jeremy, Audrey, Sharon and Nicholas (i'm the last one) of which 4 of them are singing chinese songs. during the rehearsal, Jeremy didn't sing just talked his way out and the event organiser said he doesnt have a CD... Hubby remarked that Meredith sang with so much emotion and told me to do better than her... and Nicholas' shouts and Dance moves might just catch the audiences' attention. While i thought that Sharon wasn't a threat, at the same time i know that Audrey is popular amongst the crowd and her singing during rehearsal was on par with mine. But i thank god that this year's hall wasn't a high-ceilinged one and it felt cosy and not threatening at all.

Oh btw, the judging criteria will be 50 - 50 Performance and vocal. and 50 - 50 Judges and audience votes. 2 judges are from AXA who i later know are Soon Loo and a Kit Tong. the third we were told is gonna be from the event company which on that night we found out was the host himself! and no wonder it's so bcos he can sing, perform and host very well!

God the evening just went forever! Of course we started like about 30min later than in the program... then i came on stage for the Catwalk first.. it was hell backstage bcos Soon Loo, my partner for badminton the other time, tripped on my skirt and hit some metal!! Poor him! But it went on smoothly..

And then there were endless games and introduction of the evening's food lah bla bla bla... Seriously... i didn't eat but just a morsel of food bcos i was afraid it would affect my voice. But there was TOMYAM SOUP for god's sake!! I wanted to cry but i was too anxious to mind that much...

In the mean time, at the halal table, the girls were crooning at my dress and i explained that the mother-in-law sew it for me all the way from Pakistan. and when i showed them hubby's picture the person next to me said "Oh Ashok takde chan lah ni" translation: AShok has no chance to capture my heart.... bcos the husband's so good looking! and i told her "RIGht On!"

The HR manager said to me, "you very on for the competition eh? your name was first in the list" and i said, "hehe Yeah.. actually i wanted to go for Spore Idol audition but i didnt dare to bcos of the media coverage.. Later, all my parents and ustazah will glare at me."

At one point i was going thru my song in my head and suddenly i felt afraid i'd forget the lines as i faced difficulty running thru it smoothly. but later i attributed it to loud noises and other disturbance and reassured myself that when the music comes out it will flow naturally. and while in deep thought, my friend asked me, "Are you ok? you dont look ok" and abashedly i replied, "oh im just going thru my lines... hehe" and another said, "eat lah something.. take this fish.. fish is ok.." In the end i just took the fried rice but after tasting that it's so hot i stopped..

First contestant started beautifully as predicted by hubby. but the judges said that she had a bit of a problem towards the end but said prolly she was nervous being the first one and all.. and God she was serenaded by one guy from her table who gave her flowers... and then by ASHOK who asked for her signature!

Second contestant began with a Good evening ladies and gentlemen bla bla bla... Jeremy who was wearing a yellow chinese costume for the catwalk has now changed to a white apek t-shirt and a black apek pants which he folded till half his calves and also spotted a RED LONG HAIRed WIG. He said... "Being a Singaporean or if you have stayed in Spore for at least 5 years.. u must know this song" and he went off with a Baritone's Majulah Singapura!!! Yeah it was funny and entertaining but if it was just a tad bit more exaggerated i would say he was mocking the national anthem! Judges commented that he had full marks for performance.

Third was Audrey... she changed from a Geisha for the Catwalk to a black dress... and to my surprise about two tables worth of people were standing, waving posters and those light sticks in rhythm to her song. it was all the pple from her dept. She sang good and got positive reviews from all judges except that she should have used more of the stage bcos it was quite a quick tempo song.

Fourth also had supporters from the audience. and in addition the supporters went up on STAGE to WAVE the banners! haha oklah some decoration. but poor her also.. .she's just practised this chinese song... if not, it would have been a Chicago song (English). she might do better there i suppose.

Fifth had the same supporters as third bcos they are from the same dept and had an electrifying performance with his "gelek". *shiver* i just closed my eyes but kept my ears opened. The host/judge said he is the self declared Jacky CHeung of Singapore. Half way thru this performance, Mike came to me and said, "U have a good chance bcos all 5 have been rubbish so far!" heheh Nice motivation..

Finally i was up... I was already quite familiar with the stage so not nervous...
the host asked me how m i lah bla bla bla i said im good only my skirt is a bit too long i'm afraid i'd trip. and then he asked me what m i gonna sing and when i said Diana Ross' When You Tell Me That You Love me... that indian broker Mukesh at the VIP table shouted, "Finally an English song!" and i warmed up already =)

However, through the first stanza i found myself running further ahead than the music. i think i might have started a beat too early somewhere. i was confused and i think my face showed it. but i told myself ok let's wait for the 2nd stanza calmly... and oh yes! bring the mic closer! and then at the end of 2nd chorus and all part of the high-pitched bridge i lost my voice!! i freaking lost my voice!! i dont know what happened i was singing as usual but no voice came out... my throat felt dry.. hahah cos i didnt dare to drink too much water lest i had to go to the loo! Oh serves me right.

First judge to comment was the host. first thing he said was, "Alah comelnye.." yes he used the word COMEL which means Cute in a kiddy way. He continued, "With a voice like that, you could do better with a song like OVer the Rainbow.. u lost your voice towards the end.. but ok we'll give u benefit of the doubt that it might have been cos of the food!"

Soon Loo said, "I didnt expect to hear such a sweet voice.. but i think u could have moved more on stage"

Kit Tong said, "Good voice. and good engagement with the audience. you looked right and left etc... Good." and the Host commented again, "Yeah i especially liked the part she went like *spreading arm action*" hahahaha i didnt even realise i did that!!

Back to seat, the Muslim table was saying good job and now we can eat. Two mouthfuls and we were called back on stage for the voting... it was chaotic as the 6 of us were holding a cardboard getting sticker votes from the audience/colleague. my dept and the pple from the Muslim table rushed to me to paste stickers... and that Mukesh also... and that Matrix guy, some Japanese guys and other VIPs or non-Chinese and the CEO Patrick Font also came to paste a sticker for me while saying, "OKlah.. vote for you" He's french and he's already caught the Singlish bug... but anyways i didnt notice who voted for other pple but i think the CEO prolly pasted one for each contestant hehe cannot show favourtism mah... and then that Mukesh came back... TWICE.. he said he's been looking at other table if there's any left overs to paste on my board. Awww soo sweet. Thank you!!

My board;s almost full and I looked around at other contestant's board and only one came close to mine... Audrey's!

I felt pure relief after that.. like i've done the deed and just left with the judging... what will be will be... and i finally could eat peacfully. but by the time, the waitress had already taken my soup away... there's chicken and some thing.. but still i just ate a tiny bit...

oh yes in the mean time, all this while, my husband was hanging around outside around Orchard since after maghrib... Initially, i told him just send me to the dinner for the rehearsal and then u can go back but when i smsed him he said he's still in orchard and he planned to stay right from the start... He is soooooo sweet!! He told me he went for chicken briyani for dinner then tea at Toast Box and was listening to some music performance by the streets and he felt like performing also! Ohhhhhh He wanted to see Singapore at night right.. there he got it. But i got reprimanded by my family something like i made him wait and didnt arrange for his dinner and Orchard's not the safest of place to be on fri nights with drunks and all. Thing is, i have asked the person in charge if hubby can sit in cos there's an extra seat at the halal table anyway and she has replied me that no it's strictly for employees only. and during the rehearsal, she has already met my husband so i cldnt sneak him in. :( Besides, i told him to go home but he insisted on waiting anyway. Sightseeing at orchard albeit alone is better than sitting at home, hai na?

ANYWAYSSSSSSSS RESULTS time!!!

We were asked to hold hands on stage like they do on American Idol... First to go was Meredith... At first i was confused i thought he was calling the first contestant for further scrutiny and comments but i saw her leaving the stage and i realised she has been eliminated... Second was Sharon. Third was Nicholas. at this time, pple were chanting "KELONG KELONG" which means something like "Unfair and u must have taken bribe heheh" and to my surprise i was in the top 3 and iw as happy already no matter what position i got. Before the competition, i calculated i had 50% chance to at least win $100. and now at top 3, 100% to get at least $100! But the host called out Jeremy's name and left Audrey and me on stage... audience were chanting "AUDREY AUDREY AUDREY" and i told myself it's ok to be 2nd... it's $150 for me... The host passed the mike to the CEo to announce the winner and he asked, "You want me to call out first or second first?" hehehe pple were shouting FIRSTTTTTT ... he gave some tot... "No... i'll announce the second first... AUDREY SEE....." and i was like GAPING man! (with mouth covered!) Oh me lord! I'm the AXA Idol?? That can't be... i lost my voice in the middle of the song! Oh i dont know how i won but i love it! Yes $200 come to mummy... hehehe I was also presented with a Champion's trophy! Weeeeeeeeeee........ Alhamdulillah........

Then i was to sing encore.. at first i winced... but luckily the organiser whispered to me that they will just play the first half of the song ... but as i started the song i felt more confident this time having won the title and felt sad that i cldnt finish it... oh well.. And the host was asking for a guy to accompany me on stage singing and this Jeremy came up quickly.. he was even given an umbrella for the "I wanna hold u close under the rain" line. HAHAh

and i must say this D&D is a totally different experience for me. i was an unknown in AXA before... and now most pple will recognise me and therefore i cannot do any one wrong thing.. haha i wonder if they'll call me for performance? hahah my colleague even asked me, "So what? YOu'll be the judge for next year's is it?" hahaha No lahhh i dont know how to judge one... my husband can though *grin*

Anyways, we went home with a ride from Kak Yati from Processing Dept. Thank you Kak.