This hobby of mine has really brought me to where no GP has gone before!
My latest appearance on the Mediacorp Star Awards to present the Social Media Award must be my most unnerving experience as I had to speak in Mandarin on live TV. When I was initially approached to do this, I had vehemently rejected it three times, but my friend Kok Siong, wouldn’t take no for an answer.
So there I was, having rehearsed my lines for the full dress rehearsal on Saturday, feeling confident that I would just breeze through it because I had never had stage fright in my life. Then it happened. As I walked to the mic, my co-presenter was lagging behind and things started to go wrong. I spoke the first line, missed a cue, and then stood there in a daze, stumbling with the Mandarin phrases which I thought I had memorized perfectly.
I learned a lesson about humility that day. I think God in his grace had allowed it to happen during the rehearsals so that I would realize that what I thought was inconceivable could happen. I spent the next 24 hours in deep meditation, both praying and rehearsing the scene over and over again!
I want to thank all my fans who have written in with their words of encouragement and your prayers.
Congrats to Jeanette Aw for winning the best social media award!
Thanks to my co-presenter Jamie Chua, Chen TianWen, and especially to Belinda Lee for spending her precious time coaching me in the afternoon! Thanks to Kok Siong for writing my script and insisting that I should do this. Thanks to Aaron from Justman Tailors for tailoring my suit. I didn’t exactly look like Daniel Craig but most people have noticed that it was a very nicely cut suit. I have to thank my makeup artist and hairdresser for giving me the kalipok hairstyle. Most of all I thank my wife Lisa for putting up with all the ranting and rehearsal over the weekend!
In retrospect, it was a great experience but only because it turned out well! It was in the words of Chen Tien Wen, un un un un beliberberl!
It’s the start of a second career on TV! That aside, am I the only one who don’t find that unbelievable song funny?
No, I am sure there are others who have a different sense of humour too.