//beconfused

Well, I am one day late for this because the previous day I was doing something very important, i.e. to play an online game with my girlfriend. Well, here it is though.

There’re several highlights of the National Day Parade (NDP 2004). There is the fireworks, the Indian president, the parachuters, last but not least - the goodie bag.

I recall years ago, some people go for the National Day Parade just to collect the goodie bag. They would get the free admission tickets, get the door gift which is probably worth around US$15, then leave immediately.

Now “security” measures have been imposed to discourage offenders. They decide to impose a rule that says once you enter, you stay and will not be allowed to leave the stadium.

It makes me wonder if the door gifts are really that fantastic. Well, let’s take a look.

The goodie bag, as the name suggests, comes with a bag. I would say this year’s bag is the nicest one that I have seen in the recent years. I am sure not many would bring this bag out after National Day though. Most considered it cheapskate. I wouldn’t mind bring this out if it’s without all the logos and stuff, it spoils the bag.

And in the bag, there is always a book that welcomes you, give you a little bit of history lessons here and there. It also contains the event listings and description to them.

Well, what about the introduction of the emcees? A free copy of 8 Days is included to cover it. The previous years, I recall seeing iWeekly which is the Chinese Language version of 8 Days. 8 Days is a local entertainment magazine published by MediaCorp.

How can a National Day Parade go without the state flag? Well, of course it’s included and a mini flag stand is handed out for patriotics such as my father to put it on top of the television set for worshipping purposes. The cap sucks by the way.

The fan is always but of the goodie bag just in case overly-pampered Singaporeans complained about the absense of air-conditional in the open stadium. There’re also tattoo for the nation’s die-hard fans. It can be applied and removed with water. I imagine a street gangster walking around with a body full of those, lol.

For audience participation, every year some toys are given. These are the basic ones. There is this drum and shaker. The shaker (tin can) looks really ugly by the way.

Since the National Day Parade happens in the night, torch lights are handed out so that you can wave them about and they’ll look nice on the telly. This year, they were made to look like Nokia phones, which is rather creative in my opinion. So a side note, the girl sitting next to my girlfriend holds a Nokia phone that looked quite similar to the torch light. So she’s got two, hahaa.

You bound to get hungry at some point of time so snacks are provided. Although they aren’t in generous quantities, they are enough to boost your energy a little. If you’re still hungry, well, you can buy hot dogs from stalls I believe, or you could prepare some fried rice and bring it to the stadium and sit around us to tempt us.

Enough of food. It makes you thirsty, so here are the drinks. I never tried before any of these drinks actually. One of which is Slim Water, I drank it and it taste like normal water. After weighing myself, I don’t think it works, in fact the water added weight to my body. I guess I’ll try weighing another time.

From the left, you see poncho, tissue paper and Sakae Sushi wet towel. Poncho is a rain coat by the way, it’s just in case it rains. I can understand why tissue paper is provided, however I don’t see the point of the Sakae Sushi wet towel.

It’s the true Singapore spirit, it can’t be without discount coupons. It’s everywhere, even McDonald’s issue them all around. I checked out the discount coupons, they’re not very useful. Still, nice print.

Get the wallpaper (284 kb)!

That’s all folks, I don’t think there’re any thing else in the goodie bag. And by the way, today is National Day for Singapore - August 9th. Enjoy your holidays. If you’re going to watch the parade, you better pray that it won’t rain. Those staying at home can watch it on television. At fifteen minutes past 8, there is the premiere of Singapore Idol. Do check it out.

Also, since you’re surfing the internet anyway, you may want to visit the National Day Parade 2004 (NDP2004) web site.

Tags: birthday, occasion, singapore