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Memories...

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Attended another PAYM forum on Sat evening, at Tiger Live at St James Power Station. Haha, yeah, i tot it was a really cool idea that PAYM organized the forum at a club, esp with the theme of the forum being "Singapore's Nightlife- Is it Really That Happening?" Long time nightlife mogul Mr Dennis Foo was there, (CEO of Devil's Bar and St James), as well as Ang Mo Kio GRC MP Dr Lam Pin Min, who both provided interesting insights and responses to the questions raised regarding Singapore's nightlife. One from the private sector perspective, and one from the public sector perspective.

I have worked in the night industry before, and the name Dennis Foo undoubtedly rings a lot of attention and respect from others in the business. Therefore it was a real delight and pleasure to meet up with Mr Foo face to face, and fire questions at him haha. It was apparent that he is a really charismatic man. When he talks, everybody perks up and listen. And he possess this really lao3 jiang1 jun1 (old general) face that seems to signify that he has really seen a lot from his decades in the nightlife business. Generous too, as always with club managers. Drinks were on the house for everyone present.

As for Dr Lam, it was the first time i have met him, and really heard of him to be honest. Did a little research on his background, and realized that he is an eye surgeon, and a 1st-time MP. Throughout the forum, he strikes me as a very very warm and polite man, haha, and of coz, gave a lot of views from the govt spectrum. He brought up the point of Formula One coming to Singapore as well, and expressed that it was very likely that the bid would be successful, given the strong backing from the govt. He also talked about how these are "exciting times" for young Singaporeans like us, who would undoubtedly see many more changes in the entertainment and nightlife industries in the upcoming years, esp with the induction of the IRs.

All in all though, both gentlemen expressed confidence in Sg's no 2 ranking in the Country Brand Index of nightlife ranking, and shared the view that nightlife doesn't comprise of just clubbing and pubbing. Instead it engulfs other aspects such as nighttime and overnight shopping, culinary options, good and wide variety of food, safety at night, relative transportation ease, and compact interconnected nightlife outlets. This was also this observation by them that in a lot of other foreign countries, not many possess the facilities and options for nightlife activities.

I also managed to meet up with a lot of PAYM and YEC members, and network with them. It was also the 1st time that Princess Shuang Er and me visit St James, and i must say, its really huge man. Saw Su Weitong as well. Haha! Sure glad to see the dude happily enjoying life man.

Was really tired when i reached home. Had woken v early in the morning to help out for Arts Quiz again, and i m really glad that everything turned out well in the end. 1 and a half years ago in Sept 2005, during ROP Camp for the 26th, seniors such as Big Ben and Steven were skeptical about the feasibility of Arts Quiz and whether it would succeed, coz it was never done before in the history of the club. No doubt that there are still many areas where this event can improve upon, but i m positive the Club is moving in the right direction to enlarging the scale of this project.

And i only have 1 deadline left, which is the MNO project. Haha, happy man.. =)

The Incredible Hock