French Film Festival 2012

About a week ago, I had the chance to work with a bunch of my classmates for the French Film Festival in Singapore (well, duh. But felt like I had to add that in)

The film festival aims to promote French films and the culture in Singapore. Our knowledge of anything French is rather insignificant if you ask me. It's very much limited to Bonjour.

Ha-ha-ha. I try.

Anyway, our job there was to help usher the VIP guests, French celebrities and directors to different venues. Simple as that. Initially we were supposed to be part of the paparazzi, but ushering works as well.

Like most people, my French knowledge is kind of non existent. So you could say I had celebrities walk past me without even batting an eyelid.

Except for this one though...

Michelle Chong!

Managed to get a picture with her before she rushed off. Really lovely lady! And tall. Saw Gurmit Singh and Hossan Leong as well, but it was just a one-glance-and-for-the-rest-of-the-night-they-seemed-to-have-disappeared kind of thing. Our inner typical Singaporeans showed when we saw them, especially after seeing Michelle Chong cause we kind of had a mini freak out sesh.  

Such jobs are interesting because you'd get to meet many different kinds of people. From what I had experienced that day, I can say that you truly can't judge a book by its cover. The most intimidating looking people are usually one of the nicer ones. So don't be too quick to judge.

Setting aside a few hours of a school night to spend time and earn some money with the classmates/schoolmates was worth it. It was fun fun fun.

Lastly, many thanks to my classmate Shaz for introducing this one day job to us! :)

TEDx

While all you people were catching up on your beauty sleep on a saturday morning, I had to get up at 8 and drag myself to an event. Believe me, it was a challenge alright.

"TEDx was created in the spirit of TED's mission, "ideas worth spreading." The program is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level."
- An extract from the TEDx website

If you're lazy to read that text, the event basically features a series of talks given by different speakers.

Huh, talks ah..... Sure very sian one what.

YOU ARE WRONG, MY FRIEND. So wrong.

18 years of my life (not very long, but still). All the talks that I have attended. The torturous assembly talks I have sat through in school. I was pretty convinced that I would switch off during such an event. Miraculously sat through 7 hours without any head bobbing. Now that's an achievement unlocked.

The speakers were undoubtedly brilliant.

Talk after talk, thoughts added up in my head. Making myself question what I'm doing with my life right now and the decisions I've made. Pretty big question, I know. Can't help but to think of it from time to time but the talks really amplified these thoughts.

As a teenager, you know how sometimes you feel like doing certain things, but you hold back because you'd think, "Would people judge me for this?" Truth is, society isn't gonna welcome and accept you with open arms. That's just how it really is. Self acceptance is vital for survival. It is that, or be crushed.  I truly believe that when you have accepted yourself for who you really are, flaws and all, that is the time when others will start to accept you. It isn't gonna be everybody, but it will be enough. You don't need everyone's stamp of approval to follow your heart and be who you really are. Y'know, being weird really isn't as bad as it seems. :)

Speaking of following your heart, you'd recall the different movies that constantly remind you to follow your heart and pursue your dreams? Mostly cheesy, but I like them anyway.

We all have dreams, be it big or small. It's no walk in the park to go after your dream, that's why people always say you have to work your way up. You don't get to your dream through one big cosmic event, but through a sum of small choices. Mess up, and you'll still have the time to start again. It's the journey; the multiple failures you will face that make you who you are.

"The value of the dream is more important than the probability of success"

Everybody is silently climbing their own Everest, so you're not alone. We're all simply taking different routes. As I quote from the ever-popular "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus,

It's always gonna be another mountain

I'm always gonna wanna make it move

Always gonna be an uphill battle

Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there

Ain't about what's waiting on the other side

It's the climb

Hopefully through my post, I have somehow messed with the thoughts in your head like how the speakers messed with mine. To say that they have truly inspired me would be an understatement.

No regrets spending my saturday at TEDx whatsoever. It was a really impactful and thought triggering experience. If you ever have the chance to go for TEDx, GO. It's amazing.

Now, I shall end my post with what I wrote on what I would call the "board of dreams".

Live for yourself, because no one will live it for you.