Listen To My Heart (A Night of Songs from Musical Theatre)

Hello,

I'm inviting you to our concert of musical theatre tunes, "Listen To My Heart" on the 28th and 29th November (Sat, Sun) @ 8pm. This will be staged at The Arts House Living Room.

Featuring songs from:
Wicked
Man of La Mancha
You're a Good Man Charlie Brown
Rent
Chess
Miss Saigon
And many others...

Featuring:
~ Edwin Cruz
~ Joanne Ho
~ Joy Yu
~ Ogie Gimao
~ Pearl Bantillo

November 28 and 29, 2009 (Sat, Sun)
The Arts House Living Room
8pm
$20

Ticketing :
E-mail: ltmheart@yahoo.com.sg
Call: (65) 83052270
or get your tickets from me! :)

Appreciate if you can pass this invitation along to your friends as well! Hope to see you there!

/Ogie

Ordeal in the MRT

Whenever I’m in the train to and from work, I’m always reading a book to pass time.

So this morning started out just fine, but by the time the train hit Eunos station, I felt odd.

My eyesight became suddenly blurry and my head was throbbing wildly. I can’t read anymore so, I closed the book and looked around.

To my horror, I can see dark spots and my eyesight is failing and I felt collapsing anytime.

I experienced this before when I was doing my ROTC training back in college, so I know what was happening.

I held onto a railing and at the same time, I tried not freak out since the train is obviously crammed during the morning rush-hour.

I didn’t know what to do. Instead of alighting in the next stop or even phoning anyone before I lose consciousness, I did something expected I feel.

I decided to ask help from above. In my haste, what I can remember uttering over and over was: “Lord, please, ‘wag naman po sana akong himatayin dito, nakakahiya.” ("Lord, please, don't let me faint here, I'm embarassed.")

In a few moments, I regained my sight, my headache eased-up and I regained control. I can’t thank Him enough.

True story.

n.b. I probably need to consult a physician 'bout this no?

Manny Pacquio Vs. Ricky Hatton

Watch Manny Pacquio Vs. Ricky Hatton LIVE!!!

To Be or Not To Be ?

That's the question I'm finding difficulty to answer. See, I went to this government site and after feeding it with personal information, it decided that I'm actually eligible to become one of them. For years now, I was holding back, for good reason. I'm one of those (few) people who still believes in my homeland. For me, becoming a naturalized citizen by this country (or any other country for that matter) equates to abandoning the country that was home for me for a good two decades. But as time passes by, and I grew older, my view on this matter changed as well.

I won't detail the pros and cons of holding a RED against a GREEN passport. Since I'm a SPR for six years now, there's no major differences if I do decide to transfer my allegiance. I would, however, describe my personal pull and push factors.

A major pull factor for me is my retirement concern. I don't want to retire and grow old (heaven permits) in this country. I still want to go back home when I'm done and dusted with. With this, comes the issue of my CPF savings. If I do intend to go back home after retirement, then I can't withdraw any of my savings under the care of the CPF board - I've to wait till I'm 60 before I can get a hold of my hard earned money from the government - in installment basis at that.

A major push factor for me is travel. With my line of work, I need to travel. Having a green passport can always be a hindrance outside the ASEAN member-nations as you would need to pre-apply a valid VISA to gain entry to those countries. There were countless times that I need to be urgently deployed but can't as visas, depending of the country, requires several working days before a stamp is pasted on my passport. Additionally, there are several government incentives as well if I'm naturalized -which ranges from health care, housing and educational assistance.

Maybe I'm over simplifying things. Or maybe, I'm not seeing the big picture. Whatever it is, I'm still confused. A green light can sometimes be misleading, so I'm deciding to push the hazard button and park myself indefinitely.