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IDD 2007 was a cool event this year!

[Photo-intensive entry inside]

This time, it was held at MoS instead of the previous family-friendly places like Bugis Junction and Takashimaya. The committee also came up with the idea of having Mr & Ms IDD 2007. No no, there was no sexy swimsuit segments. Only rock, retro and formal segments.

The gung ho contestants.

The committee were all over the place, making sure that everything ran smoothly. Thumbs up!

Since when does xtomic not participate in such a big event? Hee. Someone submitted our Bone Marrow Donor Programme group photograph to the committee.

Fellow volunteers who helped out with all the dance items in IDD 2007. I wonder how many times a week they went to SADeaf to train all of us. Super onz!

Camwhoring with Jay Chou. He is our friend lah. Ahem.

Hina was a Ms IDD contestant!

A lot of time was spent waiting for our turn to rehearse on stage so we used the time to put on our makeup and err.. take photos.

We were preening, trying to take a ‘cool’ shot [in the Ladies, no less] when Nix walked in and we dragged her in with us. Ha ha.

They look like the Harajuku people! So cool, right?! I secretly took this shot when they were posing for other cammies.

Unidentified people being dao.

This time, we dragged JasK [another 'JK', welcome to the family. :P] into the picture. Hur hur.

Staff terp, ex terp and err. m.i.a terp. *dart eyes around*

I was laughing really hard here when the photo was taken ‘cos Gee was muttering, “my leg, my leg!”. Some of us were balancing parts of our bodies on her legs, pressing her down and I could feel her body trembling to balance. Ha ha. Oops.

Still camwhoring away.

We were too free and too bored.

People started trickling in in their Saturday clubbing best at 5.45pm and when the place was filled up [really, like there was no space even to breathe properly], IDD was off with a bang!

The contestants started off with an opening dance in their Harajuku gear. It was a pity the stage was so small, else the dance would have looked better.

Eunice was the guest of honour and judge for this event. CL terped for her. Eunice recalled the time when she first got involved in the Deaf community ‘cos two volunteers *cough* approached her about the issue of captioning of the news. She also mentioned, in her speech, about the music therapy programme held at my workplace earlier this year [where she was the G.O.H too]. The whole idea was to drive home the point that the HIs are just like any other people [and not stupid, dumb people], and that music appreciation is not an impossibility for the HIs.

Eunice is my friend [err, this one is really true].

Ms IDD contestants in retro gear with Emcees Terence and Kelvin. Someone is missing, right? O_o

Mr IDD contestants in.. Idontknowwhatkindofgearthisis.. their gear, and no Emcees with them. Ha ha!

Half the time, the xtomicers were somewhere around at the back ‘cos there were simply too many people upfront. So I don’t know what the contestants did for their retro bit as I’m quite vertically challenged and was unable to see past the people in the front of me. -__-” We were also standing at the back ‘cos somebody was eyeing all the chocolate eclairs and waiting for dinner to be announced.

Interesting thing is, when it was time for dinner, this guy came up to the xtomicers to ask about sign language. Some of us had noticed him some time ago ‘cos everytime we passed by him, he looked as though he wanted to speak to us. Apparently he saw the publicity on IDD 07 and went ahead to purchase the ticket for the event. *impressed* The ticket was not cheap, and he went there alone. And it takes guts to approach a group just like that.

It was formal wear thereafter, with each couple being given two minutes to display their talents for the audience and judges. There was drama, dance, and song-signing items.

And then it was our dance! I like this shot that was captured.

During the break when voting for the top 3 couples was going on, I went over to chat with Eunice and couldn’t help but feel distracted by all the flashes going around us. People was busily snapping shots of us talking. -___-” She then got me in for more shots, along with the 3 emcees, and the many cameras were just flashing and flashing. Yikes, I feel so out of place!

Kelvin has silver eyes.

It was lucky draw time and we all listened intently for our numbers. Ha ha. Sister won third prize for the lucky draw. Wheeee!

Top 3 couples were announced. Each couple took turns to be on stage [while the other two had to stay backstage and stay clueless] and was given instructions to act out a proposal scene with no sign language involved. There was a surprise element involved which surprised even the audience. A pity I didn’t record the first couple’s performance, they were so off-balanced that they went off-stage!

The second couple. She looked totally shell-shocked when ‘audience’ came on stage and interrupted their act, and was shell-shocked all the way to the end.

The third couple. I love their act! They were confused for a split second but reacted fast and even completed their act with determination. Ha ha! *applause*

Mr & Ms IDD 2007 - the crowd and judges’ favourite.

We ended rather abruptly cos we had to clear the place by 9pm for the public to enter. The lot of us headed over to the hip hop area for some music and dance and it was fun(ny). For hip hop, there is this reuda style [I don't know if there is a right term for it] by which people dance in a circle and the dancers could enter the circle by himself to display his hip hop skills and movements. The xtomicers formed this circle by chance, along with Nix and JasK and another dance instructor Mq, and somehow the circle and crowd grew when they noticed the instructors entering the circle one by one. There were easily 60 -70 people? All the ???. Not many people entered the circle though. Sister whispered to me, “After the 3 hip hop instructors, of course nobody else dare go inside.” Laughs, how true. I looked out occasionally and saw other people [not from Deaf Night Fever] staring at us curiously. Heh.

At MoS entrance,
How come I don’t remember taking this photo??
Gathered together.

Many of us left early, pleading tiredness, and so take a bow, the night is over.

s t a r m | s t October 6th, 2007

• the fun xtomicer , the volunteer