I'm a published writer!

okay, so it's just a less-than-30-words snippet but what the heck! i'm going to stroke my ego indulgently until my bloated head bursts *grins*

my submission to "Things That Make Us Singaporean", the NDP book that will be distributed as part of the funpack this year, is accepted! I received 2 tickets to the NDP Preview as a reward!

--Come this August, i will have gone to 3 NDP Previews when i turn 23. i think this makes for a kewl piece of trivia

I Am
--determined to be a participant or spectator at the actual NDP one fine day.

--looking forward to this year's NDP Preview because winning the tickets makes me feel like i have worked for the privilege.

--honoured to be included in such a symbolic event, albeit in a small way.

--excited to receive a book in which i can recognise my own writing. It seems surreal that my writing is actually *gasp* published and will be read by tons and tons of Singaporeans. I hope the national libraries carry this book

--curious to see the drawings or photos that will appear alongside my submission

--hesitant to spend $8 on a Giordano red "I Love Singapore" T-shirt, even though i know part of the profits will be donated to the Community Chest

--paranoid that i would fall sick on the day of the preview and not be allowed to attend. i will make a conscious effort not to eat too much fried food or keep late nights or engage in rigorous activities and stuff like that.

--soooo happy, more so since i was a bit bummed as i believed that my submission wouldn't be accepted. Success tastes sweeter after you are convinced that you have failed and hence harbour no expectations

"So what's the big deal about attending the NDP Preview? i won't attend a event reeking of such propaganda even if you pay me to" you may feel this way and accuse me of making a mountain out of a molehill

Well. though the NDP Preview is a mere shadow of its more glamorous counterpart, being able to watch it means a lot to me. And i'm not embarrassed to admit it:P

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1) We complain loudly when subjected to inconvenience but are willing to stand like penguins for hours to secure freebies

2) Carrying tin cans, our teenagers brace the elements and glares from unmoved strangers to raise funds for the less fortunate every Saturday

I reckon the 2nd submission got me the tickets? I'm embarrassed though to say that i thought i had penned down a gem, something that would dramatically highlight a long-overlooked Singaporean phenomenon when i wrote the first one. Turned out that quite a number of the submissions were about our penchant for queuing. Argh!