BOH Cameronian Arts Awards 2006
Heading off to the party
you know you should always bring your own camera when you want the pics fast. lot's of people say, "Sure, I'll send it to you" or "I'll burn a copy for you"....but it almost never gets done...haha...and we rarely get mad at each other when it happens....i was gonna take that "risk" at the 5th Annual BOH Cameronian Arts Awards...just the thought of having to dangle that heavy camera on my wrists wasn't inviting especially when I'll be wearing a long dress and struggling on my 3 inch heels to stand right! I am a sucker for "killer" heels. otherwise, i'd just go on flats. why bother elevating yourself at all if the heels are too puny? i think they look kinda strange when they're just little stumps it's gotta be Stilettos or flats, no in betweens for me. anyway, thanks to the Phantom's (for those of you who still don't know who that is....find out here)persistent "Of course you should bring your camera!", I did. I only wished Kakiseni really gave me an extra ticket to bring my mom or dad....
making full use of my camera before entering the ballroom…hehe
a little reunion.
oops…we missed some of the fellas…
Douglas and I, just before we enter the ballroom
Looking back...
honestly, when a friend first called me to inform me about my nomination for the awards, i had no idea what it was. being new to the industry and having been ignorant to the life of the performing arts in malaysia before, i never realised they had something like tony awards here to acknowledge talents from our local theatre scene. after many other "congrats" from other friends, and having googled the awards myself, then only did i realise, there really was such a thing!
and then it struck me, "huh? i'm nominated for an arts award for my debut in theatre?"
Keeping it a secret
time slipped past quickly and i never gave much thought or spoke much about it to anyone. my family and friends seemed to be pretty oblivious to the award as well, and i figured it wasn't much to mention about since i was pretty sure i wouldn't win. i looked at the other nominees and i thought to myself, "my, did they make a mistake? how come i'm nominated against the other veterans in this industry for best solo performance - voice? even if i should be nominated, shouldn't i be nominated against newcomers in the most promising artist or newcomer category?" i'm still relatively new, and broken bridges was my first show. i only did one solo and it wasn't even longer than 2 minutes! it didn't make sense. nevertheless, i was more than happy to be nominated at all. it was a pleasant surprise, one that i consider a great blessing to be juxtaposed with talented artistes like the superstar douglas lim, veteran of the amazing "footstools" colin kirton, powerful and classically-trained singer, Fang and the award-winning cheong whye mun. except for whye mun, i've witnessed all of them in action and i know just how incredible they are. And mind you, these people have been involved in theatre or tv for more than just several years, we're talking about long-timers here.
Surprise, surprise
anyway, meeting up with friends again at the awards was more than uplifting. this year, i've been focusing more on my music instead of theatre (apart from those done or associated with GT) so i've kinda forgotten the feeling of chilling out with these "gila" people haha. i also made some new friends, all of which are warm and friendly. i haven't met a single "lansi" person in the industry yet, only met those who think i am....haha...for only God knows the reason why!
i took a personality test before and noted that my melancholic levels were way higher than my other temperaments (sanguine, phlegmatic, & choleric) but i don't mean to offend anyone. there are times when i am a real extrovert and can be really noisy & hyper, but there are times i am so quiet and serious it seems as if i'm anti-social, sullen & to my latest knowledge from friends, aloof . well it's NOT REAL and not on purpose. i'm not the friendliest sort, but I never attempt to build meaningless friendships or relationships. i believe in Ali G's "keep it real" motto...haha.
the stage.
back to the subject. so there we were, at mandarin oriental's ballroom, my friends from Broken Bridges and I, seated side by side on a long stretch of chairs covered in white sheets. my white dress blended in so perfectly to the colour of the covers that I looked as if I was integral to the seat. still, nothing could ruin the mood then, we were all smiles. artistes from other productions were seated gleefully in their numbered spots too. we were all set. come whatever!
all of us seated in a row….
the commencement of the welcome to the introduction of the nominees of the awards passed swiftly. Edwin Sumun & Jit Murad were pretty entertaining hosts, not because they're funny or voluble, but simply because they seem to be very "themselves". I've always drawn a liking for people who are not afraid to be themselves. anyway, as a team, we (the broken bridges people) held our breaths and cheered with all our mights everytime a friend's name was mentioned as a nominee, and our hearts also sank together when they didn't win…but when it finally came to the announcement of the award, "Best Solo Performance – Voice" and the stills of the nominees came up on those 2 gigantic screens on the vanguard of the stage, i suddenly lost my sense of emotions. I glared at my pic on screen and thought "ew, why they put that pic of me there? yucks"….and as soon as jit said, "and the awards goes to…." i went a little faint for awhile. but finally, for the first time, I actually started to feel a little anxious, that perhaps, perhaps, I might actually win?
"….Janice Yap"
what? did I hear right? i turned and looked at james boyle sitting on my left. He nodded excitedly, clapping hardly. I looked at jia wei on my left as I clumsily got to my feet, struggling with my broken strap on my heels. She smiled widely with soon yoon cheering me on at her left….and then I did the most embarrassing and typical thing most girls would do. I went "oh!" and covered my mouth with my hand, "…I can't believe it!", but no, there were no tears...
walking to the stage, I felt a little light-headed…and when I received the heavyweight pewter trophy, I stood awkwardly in front of the mic, wide-eyed and abruptly silent. And jit in the background urged, "go ahead, it's all yours…"
"Erm…I wanna thank Joe, Faridah and the 2 scriptwriters, ky-gan & chuang yik for giving me this opportunity; for taking a chance on a newcomer. Er, I also want to thank my family & my friends for their support…and God….and you too, thank you"
not a very elaborate speech ay? Colin was right. you should always prepare a speech, just incase….but too bad.
believe it or not, I only took 2 photos with the award I received that night…this is one of them, with the babe of all babes that night! miss eva!
this is the other shot with maybel.
some friends suggested after the awards, "so, don't you think this award is really worth all your tears in broken bridges?" I disagreed, "You mean it's worth all the slaps that I had to endure from maybel". For those of you who don't already know, during Broken Bridges, I was slapped on the face every night, for every show….yes, it was a real slap every time. Again, as Ali G would put it, "Keep it real!" haha….
Heneiken's post party
pacific grill at mandarin oriental was quite alright. They cleared up much space to create a dance floor. not everyone stayed back for the party, but I thought I'd do so just so I could spend a little more time with friends and snap a couple more shots. We had quite a few things to celebrate – our reunion & the 5 awards that Broken Bridges bagged that night in at the BOH Cameronian Arts Awards 2006. The awards included, Best Musical Direction, The People's Choice Award, Best Production Values, Best Group Performance & Best Solo Performance-Voice. And since I just realised I didn't snap much photos at all through out the night, I thought it be my last chance to make up for it! So here's every one of them…not a lot, but better than none!
the phantom and i. did I mention that he's very good at taking self-shot photos?
so what next?
Shortly after the awards, Fang pulled me aside and said to me very sternly, "Girl, after all this, please don't tell me you're still thinking of going back to a normal 9-5 job! Don't be crazy." Fang was my director for Okiku, and a wonderful friend I met from Broken Bridges. She knew, I contemplated on rejecting a few opportunities because I was making plans to get back to a full-time job. Crazy?
I don't know.
Awards and recognition for something you do is not everything. It can be an ego-booster or in this case, as it is for me, a great encouragement to keep it going. I did think that as much fun as it was for me to work on Broken Bridges, my contribution to the whole production would have been as easily forgotten, but I'm happy that I was proven wrong.
Recently I've been nominated and am currently a finalist of the Blue Chilli Awards by KLue Magazine. They asked me, "What is success?".
I believe success, is living your life to the fullest; being who you are destined to be without forsaking the needs of others and the people you care about. Having said that, I really only want to continue pursuing my aspirations to be an international singer-songwriter & actress if it is God's will for me. I'm sure that if He had something else in mind for me, I'd be the happiest doing just that. I could be just one of the volunteers in church helping out with the performing arts team and a visual effects designer by day, or just a missionary at Bangladesh again and a indie-singer-songwriter doing my "thing" at gigs by night, or I could be back at being a full-time visual effects designer, or a full-time housewife in future or whatever and I'd still be happy if it was what I was meant to be and I could simultaneously touch the lives of others and bless the people I care about.
I'm taking it a day at a time.
Slowly but surely, although I'd always rather move much faster, with much prayer and hardwork, He will make things clearer.
But until then, thank you, my family, phantom, and my friends, for all your support and love.