Ciao for Now.......

It's good to have my buddy back! *grin* I didn't tell Stan this, but I did miss him on The Living Room the past 2.5 weeks. More so, I missed the chirpy, Smurfy cheer he brings to the office. As an on-air partner, Stan really looks out for me. I'm very blessed. He's a good friend.  

While Stan was away, Pam didn't much play. But she did have a good time getting to know her stand-in partner, Justine Moss. Justine and I bonded over morning chatter and our love for food. And of course chocolates.......

Justine & I drooling over Sins chocolates brought by our guest Kin. 

We were scheming the day before to get Cheong Chung Kin (pictured), founder of Sins Choc Shoppe, to bring some chocolates down with him. Well, he volunteered ~ without me even asking. Now that's the kind of guests we like on The Living Room! *chuckle*

Today, we interviewed Irene Jansen who published her first cookbook, Food Inspirations. Bless her heart, she brought for the 938LIVE team some home-made banana crumble. With all this food, you can guess what my New Year's resolution will be... *groan*

It's Stan's turn to fly solo next week. I'm going on annual leave till 22 Dec. It's my first real break since uprooting from Publishing and moving to Radio. I'm looking forward to slowing down, taking stock, and just being with my little boys... and ones I love. 

So enjoy your week with Stan as he brings you conversations from his recent trip to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Look out, too, for the photos he'll be posting on our blog to complement his interviews. It will be an exciting week, so stick with us! *wink*

As for me, I'll be lazing in my own living room ~ reading Raoul Dahl's Matilda. I didn't read it as a kid, so it's time for me to catch up on good literature. 

So for now, from Pam.... it's over and out. 

From Camp to Cambodia

It's good to be back (after spending 17 days away from The Living Room). I'm not sure how many of you can actually say you're thrilled to be back at work after spending time away. If one can say and feel that, I believe you've found a job that's meaningful to you, of good fit and consistent with your personal philosophy and values.

Pam's been running the show solo for an extended stretch of time and she truly deserves a toast all round, wouldn't you agree? If my ICT ended last week, where have I been the last few days? Well...I was 'out in the field' stuffing my microphone into the faces of many people, some Singaporeans, a few Cambodians, a South African and a Malaysian. While most of you were enjoying your public holiday last Monday, I was busy conducting interview after interview in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

I returned last night after a 3-day trip sponsored by the Singapore International Foundation. The trip was organised primarily to let media personnel see firsthand the work's that been done by Singaporean volunteers overseas, specificially physiotherapists from the Singapore General Hospital who've been spending the last year training their Cambodian counterparts and equipping them with more knowledge and skills to tend to their patients better. It's been heartwarming seeing firsthand the effort that's been put in by so many to help our friends there.

All of next week from 10am, I'll share with you the conversations I had on this most meaningful trip to Cambodia.

Magic... The Science of Illusion

When I was young, I loved public holidays because they always showed David Copperfield on TV. Then David Blaine exploded on the TV screen in the '90s with his sizzling street magic. I was totally blown away by him levitating off the sidewalk!

Magic. I know it's all explainable, that there's a slew of science, maths & psychology principles behind it. But still, it baffles the child in me. So when the Science Centre brought in an exhibition from California USA, entitled Magic: The Science of Illusion, I had to go check it out for myself.

I dragged Ning along (I interviewed her for Vanilla magazine's Oct 08 cover story), so that she could give me a running commentary on the various illusions. Well, you may know Ning as 'Magic Babe' Ning, Singapore's only professional female magician. Here she is...

Ning, levitating a stone seat... OK, this is not her usual style of magic! 

And here I am ~ or at least, my disembodied head!!!


How is it done, you ask? Well, take a closer look........

Secret of the "disembodied head" illusion..... mirrors!!!

Well, I did an interview with Dr Chew Tuan Chiong, Chief Executive of Science Centre Singapore, on The Living Room the day after I visited the exhibition. Yes, yes, I did my homework. Hey, who says homework needs to be boring? *grin*

Well, if you want to find out the secrets behind the supernatural, head down to the Science Centre for Magic: The Science of Illusion, which is on till February 2009. And in case you're wondering? No, it won't kill the magic in Magic for you.

Survivor

Stanley, Stanley.... where art thou?

It's been 2 weeks on The Living Room without my buddy, who is on reservist. And on this Friday night, I'm just about to pengsan!

My best friend's cat so reflects my state of mind as I'm blogging tonight!

But I had some pretty good conversations this week. My favourites: (1) Class 95's Carol Smith on Operation Smile Cambodia, (2) Susannah Gardner, author of "Blogging for Dummies", (3) Food personality Violet Oon. I've uploaded these for encore broadcast, which will be aired this Sunday 7 Dec, 2pm to 5pm. So if you missed these conversations, you can catch 'em again! *wink*

Next week, I'll be flying solo again, as Stan is flying off to Cambodia. The Living Room was invited to go along for an SIF trip to Phnom Penh! *gasp* Although it will be Round 2 of pengsan-dom for me, I'm thrilled that The Living Room is taking 'live' interviews outside of Singapore. It opens a world of possibilities, doesn't it? Maybe the station will send me to... hmm, let's see... the Maldives?

Win a copy of "Blogging for Dummies"!

Stan and I met Susannah Gardner, one of the authors of the book "Blogging for Dummies", when she was in town last month for corporate workshops. Because her schedule was so packed, we had to head down to Royal Plaza on Scotts and do a recorded interview with her in her hotel room. Poor Susie had to skip her lunch to speak to us, so for that, we really salute her!

Well, blogging has come a long way since the days it started out as online diaries for angsty teens. Businesses use blogs these days to improve image and increase sales. Individuals make big money from sponsors and advertisers on their personal blogs. And election results have been known to be swayed by politicians' blogs.

There's much to be gained by jumping on the bandwagon. So if you're keen to learn how, drop us an email at livingroom@mediacorp.com.sg and if we pick you, we'll send you a copy of Susannah's book to get you started. We've 3 to give away, so contact us now! *wink*

Food Kakis Unite!

I live to eat. Seriously, I do. Once I had a craving for chicken rice balls, and we drove all the way up to Malacca for lunch!

So you can imagine I was practically bouncing up & down my studio swivel chair when I had these food gurus on The Living Room to talk about *in a sing-song voice* FOOD, glorious FOOD...

Here's Violet Oon. She needs no introduction. But if you heard our conversation today, you'd have found out that (1) she is Singapore's food ambassador, (2) she is now going "the healthy way", and (3) she is 60! As promised, I'm posting her picture on our blog because I want you to see her complexion ~ it's better than mine!

Violet Oon: Does she look 60 to you? Her secret: She eats pearls! 

Last Friday, I had the pleasure of meeting the man behind Singapore's No. 1 food website, HungryGoWhere.com. To date, it boasts 370,000 hits by unique visitors per month and some 16,000 reviews. It even has an online delivery service, with gourmet restaurants on its list! So who says you need to order-in fast food & pizzas on weekends?

Here I am with Dennis Goh. We got along instantly. Bonded I guess by our love for food and the realisation that we were both from Hwa Chong JC. I got reminded of the Shan Ge (transl. mountain song)........ a Chinese school cheer this hopeless "angmo pai" girl had to lead when she was a student councillor there. Good grief.

Dennis Goh of HungryGoWhere.com, Singapore's No. 1 food website!

From Road to Runway

I'm into my second week of in-camp training and am missing the show, but Pam's really the hero these two weeks that I'm gone and she's getting a good grip of the show. The least I can do is to blog from afar off what's been keeping me busy while she's toiling hard to bring you your favourite weekday talkshow.

The big exercise that my squadron had been planning last week was over in just under 30 minutes yesterday. The lamp posts, street signs and bus shelters had all be toppled and laid to rest on its side. Ironically, it's by the Chinese and Muslim cemeteries. Location: LCK as how the sergeants and officers refer to it. For the layman, let's stick with the familiar Lim Chu Kang Road.

I got a little tan from my time out in the sun, but it was all worth it. At the end of the exercise, our base commander lauded praise for how well the NSmen had worked together to pull the whole thing off.

Prior to the commencement of the exercise, I'd already been appointed as the NSMan to be the squadron's spokesperson. Now wasn't that a strategic move on the part of my officers to place a media guy in front of the media? So there I was on the road fielding questions from the media about my involvement in the exercise as well as the squadron's.

It'll literally be five years down the road before the long straight will be closed to vehicular traffic and public access for our fighter and support jets to use it as an alternate runway again. Until then, it was a spectacular display of RSAF's sleek machines that sadly wasn't caught on camera by members of the public. Regrets I can't download more details/photos as some of these are classified information.