The Day I Share A Sneak Preview of HTC Tattoo

Guess what's coming to town? :)



Stay tuned for more updates!

The Day I Talk About POCC

POCC is short of Power Over Cervical Cancer, a movement by The Society of Colposcopy & Cervical Pathology of Singapore to help raise awareness about the disease and to reduce cervical cancer rates in our country.

Some Facts About Cervical Cancer:

1) Cervical cancer refers to cancer originating from the cervix, which is the lower part of the womb (uterus) and is often called the neck of the womb. It is the 6th most common cancer among women in Singapore and the 3rd most common gynaecological cancer. About 200 new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed every year.

2) Before cervical cancer develops, precancerous changes occur in the cervix. These precancerous changes, which usually do not have any symptoms, can be detected by the Pap smear. Precancerous disease of the cervix is easily and effectively treated, thus preventing cervical cancer. The disease is caused by a common virus known as human papillomavirus (HPV). However, it is important to note that not every HPV infection is destined to become cervical cancer.

3) Early cervical cancer may not have any symptoms. The most common symptom of cervical cancer is abnormal bleeding, such as between periods or after intercourse. Often there is also a smelly vaginal discharge, and in women who have had their menopause, there may be some new bleeding. Women who have had their first sexual intercourse at an early stage or who have had many sexual partners, or have partners who have had many sexual partners, have a higher-than-average risk of developing cervical cancer.

4) Smoking also increases the risk of cervical cancer.

5) Precancerous disease of the cervix and early cervical cancer can be detected by having regular Pap smears. In Singapore, this should be performed every 1-3 years in sexually active women aged 25 onwards.

6) Incidence of cervical cancer has declined significantly due to increased Pap screening. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle, getting regular Pap smears every three years for early detection and with appropriate treatment the risk of developing cervical cancer can be greatly reduced.

7) It is now possible to prevent infection against cervical cancer through vaccination. When you are vaccinated, your body creates specific defenses against the virus so that you can be protected, should you come into contact with the virus.






Please come and support this event!! Visit http://pocc.sg for more details.


How To Get There:



I will be performing "I'll Be There" at the POCC Jam.
Hope to see you guys there! :)

Hello Blogosphere, it's been awhile. A long while.

I haven't felt the need or the urge to blog for the longest time, what with Facebook, Twitter and even YouTube (cos of my YouTube page), but I've decided to come back because nothing beats penning down your thoughts in prose. Yes, 140 characters is never sufficient when you need to rant or talk about certain issues (I'm looking at you, fail whale aka Twitter :P).



As many of you may already know, I'm one of the Top 13 of Singapore Idol this season, and it's been a wonderful experience. I've got to experience and learn about how the show works and at the same time, made friends with a bunch of very beautiful and talented individuals. My journey may have ended this week but it's definitely not the end for me. I will continue to make music, but that will have to go on the back-burner for awhile because I'm starting my life as a college student.

To my fans, I'd just like to say a big THANK YOU for all of your love, support, encouragement. I wouldn't have made it this far without each and every one of you. Also, fret not because I still have my Facebook Fan Page and YouTube Channel where you can keep in touch with me and my music. Plus, I am still be involved in the upcoming President's Star Charity Show (11 Oct 2009, Sunday), the Singapore Idol Finale as well as the New Year's Eve Countdown party. So I'll be around. :)

In the meantime, I'll leave you with my performances from the past couple of weeks on Idol:

Singapore Idol Piano Show #2 - So Sick



Singapore Idol Spectaculars #1 - Heartless



Singapore Idol Spectaculars #2 - Together Forever



Lotsa Love xx :)
JJap

The Day At Sunset Bay

Last Saturday, Gabrielle arranged an intimate dinner for the group of us at her mum's restaurant at East Coast Park (check out their reviews here. It was really fun to have great food with even better company. Can't wait for our next get-together!

The Day I Talk About My Genting Trip

This is long overdue.

I realized that I've been too lazy to blog, no thanks to my new love, Twitter. And so, instead of posting tl;dr paragraphs that may bore you to death, I decided to make a slideshow that includes all the photos that I've taken during the trip. This is what I call the magic of iPhoto '09. Simply upload photos onto iPhoto, select a theme for your slideshows, export & voila! You've got a made-to-order video for viewing pleasure.

Enjoy!

The Day I Share A Video For My Tweeples

Like I promised, here it is (if you haven't already seen it).
Thanks for all the love & support! :)

The Day After Pink Dot

Last November, one man stood up for what he believed in, and like minded individuals stepped up and gave him a hand. We believed in it and spread the word. Six months later on 16 May 2008, we made it happen and history was made.

Over 2500 people turned up to participate in making a stand against misinformed prejudice and discrimination. It was heartening to see a collective of gay people and their friends and family, straight and gay, turning up and showing their support for the freedom to love and the freedom to be loved. The reality was this: the weather was horrible, and yet people still turned up in throngs to make a statement.

I didn't actually feel it until the events started and saw Hong Lim Park come alive with sincerity, happiness and genuine love. When you're surrounded by everything that represents what you believe in, it really hits home. No words can begin to describe the amazing feeling of being understood and embraced. The formation of the Pink Dot was like an unspoken declaration, of emphatic unity and our collective hope for a better, more inclusive future.



It was a moment that I'll never forget.

I am proud to have been a part of Pink Dot and what it stands for, albeit only having played a minuscule role as a volunteer on the actual day of the event. I feel that by giving as much as I can to something I believed in, nobody would be able to take it away from me.

Today is also the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO). May 17 was chosen as the day of the event because homosexuality was removed from the International Classification of Diseases of the World Health Organization (WHO) on May 17, 1992.

In the words of Neo Swee Lin, "We are born alone. We go to our graves alone. But there is no reason why any of us should have to live alone in this life." Support Pinkdot. Support the freedom to love. I look forward to the next Pink Dot and more in the years to come.

The Day I Pledge My Support For Pinkdot.sg

To find out more about Pinkdot.sg and pledge your support, please visit the official website here.

I'm making a stand.
Are you?

The Day I Talk About My Malacca Day Trip

The day trip to Malacca was a rather eventful and fruitful one. I managed to discover and learn more about Malacca in a day than I have on all of my previous trips there collectively. You really do learn more about a place by walking around and interacting with the locals instead of driving through the streets and passing by everyone without so much of a second glance. Since this trip was mainly for the purpose of sending Mummy on her business visits, I spent most of the day with Dad. As I barely hang out with him anymore, I felt that it was a good opportunity for the two of us to bond.


1) Coconut Milk + Gula Melaka + Crushed Ice + Kachang = Cendol



Our first stop was Tan Kim Hock. It is Malacca's most famous tourist pit stop for a pick-up of durian dodol (durian flavoured sticky cake) as well as the state's renown gula melaka desert, cendol. I ordered the normal version while Dad had the durian one. Personally, I found the cendol a tad too sweet for my liking, and the coconut milk that was used didn't taste very fresh. The durian cendol was basically what I had, except that is was topped with mashed durian dodol. Nothing particularly spectacular.

2) Pose, Snap, Snap...and Scene



After the refreshing dessert, I told Dad to leave our car at Tan Kim Hock cos we've never actually walked anywhere in Malacca before except in the shopping malls. He was hesitant at first because he felt bad for parking there and not buying anything but I reminded him that our 2 bowls of cendol cost 7RM (at that point he went "Oh ya hor.") And off we went. We walked along the old shop houses and marveled at how Malacca has managed to keep the "colonial feel" of its ancestors handiwork.

And you know how trigger-happy my Dad is when he's with his camera around (and how much of a camwhore I really am). So I shall let pictures do the talking:









3) Somewhere beyond the sea...



Along the way, we passed by the Maritime Museum and decided to pay a visit to it since we have yet to set foot in there before. And at 3RM per person, it wasn't too expensive. It was very informative and detailed how the control of the Straits of Malacca had changed hands from the Portuguese to the Dutch and ultimately the British before the eventual independence of Malaysia. More photos:


I love this shot!


I approve.


View of the canal from the museum.


Daddy is a camwhore too!


...and he thinks he's the next Jack Sparrow. Not.

4) Jonker Street



After the long walk, we headed back to our vehicle and drove towards our next destination in search for our lunch: Hainanese Chicken Rice Balls. Before long we found ourselves cruising along a stretch of road that vaguely resembled out Chinatown back home. We were in Jonker Street (also known as Jalan Hang Jebat). The buildings were very well maintained and filled with many antique shops.


The Geographer Café


A shop selling their local brand street-wear


Entrance of the Hokkien Huay Kuan (福建会馆)

As we were happily snapping and jalan-ing, we came across a stall selling what we were looking for and proceeded to have our lunch. What we had was this: 9 rice balls, Hainanese steamed chicken, lotus root and chicken feet soup, stir-fried vegetables of the day, and home-made barley water. And guess how much it cost us? Only 14.80RM (SGD$6.40)!



Before


After

You see, grown men don't waste food! We are gluttons! I actually prefer our local Hainanese chicken rice to the rice balls tough. The balls have an...acquired texture to it. I guess novelty is novelty, eh?

5) Chilling & Passing Time



Well-fed boys need to rest, and so we did. Daddy drove us to Mahkota Parade (a very old shopping centre which I've been going to everytime we visit since I was in Primary school) and we sat our fat-asses down at Starbucks for 2 hours. I have never in my life seen any Starbucks as empty as the one in Malacca. Maybe it's because one drink costs 13RM and for a Malaysian who works and spends in RM to spend that much on coffee is actually pretty ridiculous.


Emptiness...

6) Sayang Sayang



Our usual dinner-place (Ole Sayang) was closed, as they usually are on Wednesdays, so we went hunting for a new Peranakan restaurant. Mummy's sharp eyes almost immediately caught sight of one called Manis Sayang in the parallel street. The food there was actually better than Ole Sayang's (in my opinion)! Their cendol was heaps better than tan Kim Hock's. It had a more balanced flavour and they used very fresh coconut milk, so it was really delicious. Will definitely pay them another visit the next time I'm there.






After dinner, we headed straight for the Causeway and managed to make it back to Singapore in less than 3 hours. I enjoyed myself tremendously (good food does that to me). It would've been better if I wasn't down with conjunctivitis though (see the last photo for evidence of my red-eyes). And that's all I have for today.

Till next time.


Footnote: All of the photographs were taken with my iPhone.