Happy Independence day! (Or belated Independence day)
For those of you who don't already know what the aforementioned occasion is, Independence day is basically the day where America got their independence. It's their national day I guess.
So Winona, my best friend from the Land of the Free, invited me to tag along for an American style Independence day celebration at some place in ....Sembawang? I think? I'm not too sure of the venue. All I know is that it's big and grassy and at that point, dominated by Americans living in Singapore.
There were cardboard mats laid out all over the field, and we were able to find one cause Winona's family friend was there. Course we had to pass through security first in case anything happens, so I didn't bring along a backpack(for those of you who know me, you'll see why that's a big problem). So after we dumped the stuff on the mat, Winona and I walked around for a bit to see if there's anything interesting. There was a kid's play area, omplete with inflatable bouncy castles and bungee lines. Not the big bungees, just the ones you strap yourself to and hop around. The Bungee queue was supposed to close by then, but they kept it open cause they didn't want to disappoint the kids queued there. That's good customer service. Then of course they were kind enough to place the cotton candy line right next to the playground, and of course everyone with a sweet tooth immediately formed a conga line. The Americans are really friendly with each other. They started talking to the person in front and behind them on the line even though it was a complete stranger. But then I guess if you're in a foreign territory you look out for your own.
There were also FOOT LONG hotdogs an sale for like what, 3 bucks? FOOT LONG. Their burgers were also nuclear mutants. Canadian pizza had a booth there too. And they had BEER! Now it's a PARTAY! Of course they didn't give any to us. The party poopers. But since Win and I didn't really fancy the queueing we headed back. When we got to the mat the band onstage (some guy called David Bowie was on guitar, not the "real" fella though.) was about to play the anthems, so all of us had to just stand. They played the Singapore anthem first, to the bemusement of Winona, then they played the American anthem. Man, show of Patroitism. The Americans just naturally bellowed the anthem and cheered when it was over. Not that I'm telling you to do the same for Singapore of course, just merely trying to emphasise the Americans' love for their homeland. But you won't catch me doing the same for this country anytime soon.
Shortly after the fireworks started! YAY! But since the mat was dominated by the kids the chairs would have to do. The fireworks display was bloody amazing, with some formin heart shapes in the sky and like space explasions, some of them were so huge I was afraid the shrapnel would fall on me. Although our necks hurt like nothing I've ever felt from gazing at the fireworks, the pain was worth it cause they display of colours we saw simplt trumped the ones we saw at NDP. For once the smoke didn;t get in the way of the light shows, and no one was blocking your view, everyone was patient. They're so nice these people. But I kinda felt sorry for the bats there cause the fireworks problably stressed out their hyper sensitve ears cause some of them were flying in circles and chirping like crazy. Aw well.
So then later in the night Winona decided to hit the dance floor because people there decided to, after a couple led the way. Like it wasn't already awkward for me, caught without a backpack and feeling like a Singaporean intruder, I was now trying to "dance" after my dear friend dragged me out. So the band played tracks like "Play the funky music", "Superstition", "I will survive", "where is the love" and plenty of other favourites while the Americans there were just bopping and groovin their way through. Once again I'm amazed at how they just clicked with the stranger next to them and started dancing with each other. Then Winona wanted to move closer
to the front and for a minute I was kind of worried she wanted to go to the stage. Thankfully that didn't happen.
After the whole thing, which should have ended at 10, but we left earlier.
Winona might gather more people for next year, and I do hope I'm one of them, cause this party is something Singaporeans should experience. The whole thing just went so smoothly and everyone was so cooperative the police there didn't have much trouble and seemed to enjoy thmeselves. No One was screaming(at each other), no one tried to puch authority...ARE YOU LISTENING YOU CHINGAY AND NDP ORGANISERS?!

Da_movie_kid was shot at 3:26 PM