Last night was Phantom for Sarah & me. We were pretty early so munched on Mrs Field's cookies & went into a shop that sold costume jewellery with coloured stones. Picked up a pendant for Sarah & ring for myself. Then on to the performance.

Beautiful stage sets & lighting. Very good singing by Phantom himself though I still prefer Michael Crawford's version. Surprisingly I actually felt Sarah Brightman sang better than last night's Christine (dunno her name). Raoul was okay I guess but the girl who played Carlotta I thought is a very good opera singer.

There was an orchestra pit with an orchestra which made me wonder about Notre Dame again at Indoor Stadium. Where was the orchestra or were they lip syncing ? You can hear the orchestra warming up, different instruments going before the performance began at Phantom but there was none of that in Notre Dame.

There were a couple of scenes which made the Phantom seem wimpy. He isn't supposed to be wimpy. He is the Phantom, strong in character. He can show the tender side of him, the dejection & rejection but not wimpy. Those bits were disappointing. Raoul & Christine's scene on the rooftop was not soft, tender & romantic enough. Raoul came across as a hormone-raging teenager. But otherwise, very enjoyable overall.

The legroom space between rows of seats was not generous. They just fit. They should have a look at Cathay Cinemas, loads of legroom. But I guess the Esplanade was looking at fully employing the space for seats. It was really uncomfortable navigating past those who were already seated. But I was particularly annoyed by 3 ladies who didn't move a muscle when Sarah & I had to shift our way past them. If they were lazy to stand up, they could have easily slanted their legs to one side. Sarah & I did that to accomodate others who had to go past us to get to their seats. These 3 ladies just sat there & I swear, they didn't shift in their legs a little, just moved their shopping bags aside. And me being me, said so loudly ...aiyo, why can't they even move a bit. And they were same when others had to navigate past them. Its these things/people which spoil an evening out. Sigh.

Then when the performance started, we could hear someone tapping his/her feet to the rhythm of the music in the row behind us. We found out it was a she & I'm surprised the people sitting directly infront didn't ask her to stop because even Sarah & I could hear though we were a few seats away. But I guess people turned around a few times & she stopped midway in the 2nd half. Either that or the tunes abit slower so tapping rhythm not so fun. lol.

There was a couple directly behind us with 2 kids aged below 10. They were such angels, you didn't even know they were there. No chattering, not knocking on my seat, no fidgeting during the performance.

Better becareful..don't say the word "bomb" at our airports. The silliness of the situation is read by all since it was published in the newspapers. All the mother did was answer her daughter's question. That the security wanted to check for bombs. What is so wrong about that ? Then check for what ? If say "drugs" then what kind of what reaction I wonder. Maybe the mum should have said looking for brains, someone lost theirs. Or see whether got toe jam.

Poor family got intimidated & missed their flight & holiday. Guess the airport authorities had no choice but to compensate them otherwise they would be in a bad light. Already in a bad light with the attitudes of those security officers.

The security guy asked the lady to repeat what she said & so she did. She was merely replying to his request & then kena blamed for saying "bomb" word twice. I mean WTF ? I know the security were being vigilant as we all have to be in such times. But the whole incident made the security look ludricrous. They reacted at a word without viewing the situation in entirety. Oh I know there will be comebacks like...what if there was a bomb then everyone will be in danger. But that's what the security are there for, to check. Not just hear "bomb" word & jump up & down & detain them.

Is it illegal to mention the word "bomb" ?? In what context ? Can I say "The other night I was watching Discovery's Detective series & they were showing a case about a guy making bombs & how they caught him" How ? Or I say "this week's CSI NY is about a bomb case".

Someone told me two guys were talking about bombs at the airport. An Indian lady airport police officer overheard & told them rudely, "You all talking about bombs. You know you can be arrested". The two guys looked at her, flashed their ID passes & said, "we are talking about work". She must have been really put out that she couldn't glorify in an arrest case. And she didn't apologise for jumping.

Later in the evening...

Went to do our Singtel shares at Singpost today at Toa Payoh. That place is crowded ! There was some strongman contest going on as well as a bodybuilding contest. We were walking to the other end to get to the spectacles shop & the MC was saying to the bodybuilding contestants, "turn & face your rear to the judges....now flex your rear". Lolol how to flex your rear ?? Clench the butt cheeks hah ? lol

After doing the contact lenses we headed to lunch then dropped kiddos off to catechism class. Hubby & I went to United Square as I needed to change a couple of t-shirts for Sarah at Esprit.

Lo & behold as I am walking away from the store, I see a primary school friend ! We call out each other's name at the same time. We exchanged numbers & promised to get together soon.

This particular friend, Jackie, was in the same class from P1 to P6. We were in the same secondary school but different classes so we didn't meet up much then. I remember where she lived as I'd visited when we were in primary school & I remember the names of her dogs as well as her sisters. She remembers where I lived as a kid. My Chinese was very very poor when I was in Primary school (and its still terok !) so I used to get scoldings & punishments from the Chinese teacher all the time. And I also remember trying to copy Chinese spelling from Jackie who was annoyed & covered up her book. LOL.

I wonder if its true that as we grow older, we remember the past with greater clarity ?

Lament for the Day : Imagine the Idol contestants playing the roles in Phantom, with Sanjaya as the Phantom & Antonelli (or wadever her name) as Christine.