Lo and behold, I sang at Tekka Market this morning!
As part of Starhub’s “Happy Everywhere” movement (to spread happiness to pockets of people across the island), I was invited to do a surprise performance at Tekka Market for the stall holders! (It was really a happy morning until something marred the rest of the day for me; see below)
After performing onstage for a while, we all decided it to be a good idea for Sky and I to stroll round the market to get closer to and interact with the stall holders. Strolling is usually not my kind of thing, but under this premise, it seemed totally justified..It has been ages since I last did strolling (I still remember it to be at HDB’s headquarters, for Valentine’s Day), and feeling rusty, I was a bit nervous. But with only 15mins to spread happiness, things like nerves couldn’t really survive in my system once we start.
It was a really great event, and I got to meet Mr Brown and Mr Miyagi! There was a misunderstanding, and to be honest, I was down the whole day thinking about this while painting walls in my new house. It went like this.
After my 1st set of performance, I was resting, seated behind a huge Starhub poster. I was talking to Sky, and I saw Mr Brown walk past behind the poster. I exclaimed, that’s Mr Brown! (On hindsight, I was a bit embarrassed, because now that I recognise his cap, I realised that I was smiling really widely to that man with a cap behind the camera, without knowing who he was. He must have thought that I was nuts. Reason: I make it a point to smile nicely if you want to take photos of me while I sing, because otherwise they could turn out ..eeks!)
I quickly went to get my phone, head for his direction wanting to get a photo. He said okay, and I turned to the man on my right, and asked if he could take a photo of us. A lady near us exclaimed, “*gasp!*, you DON’T want to take photo with Mr Miyagi?!!!?”
I looked at the man whom I passed my camera to (squarely in the face this time), and …shit..that’s really Mr Miyagi! He was visibly embarrassed; I was stunned, and very very embarrassed. I was so stunned at the misunderstanding I walked into, that I couldn’t master a sound to defend myself.
I can’t recall what happened at all after the lady made the remark; somehow we all grouped together to take this photo below. It’s not everyday that I got the wrong man to assist me, and to make matters worse, have someone make a remark which embarrassed both of us.
The truth was, I really did not notice him. In the first place, I wasn’t aware that both of them were present when I performed. On hindsight, I recall 2 men in red and blue standing offstage. But… when I perform (I’m sure as with many performers), I don’t look at everyone in the face. I look far, sing, look at lyrics, then scan across people offstage if there’s time.
While I was painting the walls the whole afternoon, I kept wondering, what would have happened if she had instead said, “Oh, that’s Mr Miyagi you’re talking to” (with a smile). Potentially, I wouldn’t feel like words were put in my mouth (–> you DIDN’T want to take photo with him??!!). I was really hoping that she was saying that for laughs, but she was frowning and shaking her head. I don’t know who she was trying to embarrass, if it’s to embarrass only me…well things are not quite simple like that. How ironic that it happened at an event intended to spread happiness (and positivity).
It was a genuine mistake. Lesson learnt – no matter how excited or in a hurry you are, always look at the person in the face if you need a favour. For all you know, it could be Lee Kuan Yew.
