Was i ever a teenager?

Went to NUS last weekend, after a long long time.....havent been there since 1997 when i was doing my degree course and used to treat the library as my second home. i was there to sort of support a friend who had a stand at the cultural centre selling jewellery and stickers. wondered if i could still remember my way around the chanllenging up and down steps of of kent ridge. took the old faithful 33 right till the end and yes! i could still find my way easily.
much has changed, except noticed a lot of foreign ...many of them. as i walked thru, i heard chinese nationals, ABCs and indian nationals....spore has changed a lot...just stand at any bus stop now, and what you hear are a spread of foreign languages buzzing away. dun only hear sporeans talking that much now.

the fair was not really crowded, they were holding an arts festival and had many performances through out march. there was an olio dome at the cultural centre and my goodness the sandwiches were $9.50!! isnt this place for students...i guess inflation went up that "much"!
soon, a group went up to stage, it was a duo....malay singer and chinese guitarist. all young. they did some covers...not too bad and the malay guy sang a jay chou song...aiyooo is this necesary??
the teens nowadays are not shy or reserved at all......in fact they are rather professional and sort of street wise. although the audience was only a few pple, the singer tried to create some interaction with the crowd.

there were 2 kinds of pple at NUS.....one was the pretty and happening pple (eg gals who had good figures, usually long groomed hair, "sexy" and confident dressing, quite tall...and guys who were hunky and attractive)...they talk loudly and practically know everyone that comes by. some are really quite fake and unnatural, but of course some just naturally bubbly and well liked. then they are the second group of pple....the more reserved, 3-4 girl or guy clique....usually simple in dressing..like jeans, cheap skirts from far east plaza...talk softly and modest make up. they are interested in all these events, but usually dont stand out in the crowd or express themselves outwardly.

the crowds suddenly started to come in about 7.30pm...ooohh...there was a HIP HOP contest going on....! this i gotta see man.....very curious to know what is the HIP HOP standard in spore....i always see them practicing in the underpass near esplanade...they dun look very good lah...haha. The MC was a guy and gal, all dressed up in their hip hop street wear gear. the girl looked so hip hop korean babe...in a black tight singlet tank top, track pants, trucker cap and long straight black hair in a ponytail. heavy mascara. cool....at least the dressing is correct for a start.

they were pretty good at hosting and quite natural....maybe like MTV pple wannabe but at least they set the tone for this kind of competition....you gotta speak some street language. the contestants were pretty ok, 2-3 very impressive, the did free style to music they didnt know. but most still not enough energy. the defending champion was a gal who could really shake her bootie...she wore this really low low pants and of course showed off her "six pac" . for guys, the most impressive was a korean guy who came from korea just for this (?)...not sure if he is a student but he had the groove...very good dance steps to fit the music. and very smooth too. he was a crowd fave. the audience had to vote for their fave by coming to the front to put their cans into the contestant's bag....quite silly and waste time but hey students organise one...haha
some guys couldnt dance very well and still join....wear some silly shirt over jeans..and jumped up and down like a hippo or something. i think they just learn maybe for 2 weeks?

the korean guy was out in 3rd round cuz in this round there was some obiang woman who came up like in line dancing costumes or dated paula abdul 90s dressing. she is ex NUS committee or sum'ting...and they had to follow her kinda paul abdul moves....eee...the contest suddently took a turn into the 90s. (sadly my prime teenage years were in the 90s....one of the worst era for pop music....chessy and horrible. the only good thing was brit pop and some alternative US grunge but that wasnt really thruout the 90s or that maintream....pple who ruled 90s were very varied...spice girls, NKOTB, 2 Ulimited, Aqua, a boring mellowed madonna, vanilla ice, michael bolton and lots of one hit wonders...ok you get the picture...). Anyway, he was out cuz he couldnt really follow her moves, it was just not his style. the defending champion girl was good, she could follow and memorise well. i couldnt really see the judges in the crowd but they sounded like old lecturers...haha

overall, it was interesting to watch this competition or observe what do these teenagers like nowadays..or how their behavior is....funnily i released if i was 18 right now viewing this....i would have just view it the same way i feel now at 30. dun think i would be extremely excited or anything ....just observe u know....which makes me think was i ever young once? with youngish thinking and behavior....i think not so...i am all along the same! with that same matured thinking even at 16, 18....when u look at some teens, they usually have foolish actions or some complicated BGR stuff....but i never "fell" into that which i wonder if its a good or bad thing...haha... in sec sch, i could see the reason for my frens to sit on buses which passed certain bus stops to view some guys or wrote love letters to their crush...it just seemed meaningless to me. and i didnt find any guy good looking too! haha..the only guy which i sort of liked was my fren's on off bf....cuz he knew brit music and stuff.... but thats about it. .
as a teenager, i was only keen to listen to BBC for the latest brit charts, reading smash hits, going around the malls for sales, going to book shops and CD stores....lying in bed..doing nothing.

now at 30, nothing has really changed much (except got $ to travel)....maybe i should go in reverse gear.....where others are starting to mature....... hmmm..weird...