Today’s blog should have read Sydney Spring Cycle 2005. Jeanne (my first Maria) and I have just completed a 50km journey across Sydney to the Olympic Park on a bike. This is my fourth year in this event and Jeanne’s second. For us who are not terribly fit, this is no ordinary feat and I’m very proud of Jeanne for doing it. This year was a lot easier than last, simply because we did not have to cycle on a 38 Celsius heat. It was still hot, towards mid day it must have reached 25 Celsius, but the ambulance were not as busy as last year.
There were also substantial changes in the route this year as it features more magnificent views of Sydney (pictures to follow). It includes lots of largely undiscovered cycle paths (at least undiscovered to me and Jeanne). It also ended at the Olympic Park instead of the traditional Paramatta Park. The Sydney Bicycle Exhibition was also on. After the ride, we had enough strength to attend the exhibit and tried riding the folding bike ‘Birdy’ and also a recumbent bike.
Reaching home at 6:00pm, our night was just beginning. Celine has already left to attend a talent quest, more of that later. We are attending it and Jessica (my third Maria) will be driving. Until now, Jessica has not driven over 11 kilometers in 1 trip. She has been driving short trips regularly for the past 2 months. Her confidence on the road is very noticiable but to let her drive tonight was not an easy decision. Canley Vale, the place we were going to, is over 50km away and we are not familiar of the place. This brave young girl is undeterred even as I have given her a back-out option. She drove through multi-lane roads with ease. She drove through detours due to road constructions and as expected we also missed some exits and had to stop and re-map our trip. She was confident, relaxed and composed even when there were times I freaked out, panicked and sometimes confusing as a supervising driver. She’s really done well taking us there and back, which means that by the night is over she had clocked 102 Km – not bad for a skinny 16 year old 🙂
The Talent Quest – Celine (my Second Maria) was invited to compete in a Talent Quest regularly run at Cabravale Diggers Club. This was no Karaoke contest – each contestant will be paid whether they win or not, so the 8 contestants are expected to be good and can join by invitation only. They are accompanied by a live band, each of the contestants must bring their sheet music, and had very little or no rehearsal with the band at all.
We got there just in time to catch the last 3 contestants. Celine was the last contestant. The first 7, we learned, are regulars and judging from what we saw it is a tough competition. They were confident and very entertaining.
Celine was introduced as a new blood into the contest. She sang 3 songs – “I Enjoy Being a Girl”, a lesser known number in Miss Saigon, and a pop number. The judges comment on her was : “You can tell that Celine’s voice is suited for the theatre and she styled each song differently. Her choice of a less popularly known number in Miss Saigon is very brave but she was very effective. She’s a new blood in the contest and were glad to the kind of talent she brings into the contest.”
At the end of the night, people were coming to Celine asking her to come back again and sing more of her songs. It’s a refreshing change to the usually standard songs they hear in the contest. They are referring to popular music, Celine’s choices of music (to borrow Jessica’s description) is obscure. I bet noone of you have heard “I Enjoy Being A Girl” – it’s a fast and playful theatrical number which captivated everyone in the audience. Celine did not try the easy pieces – she always pushes herself.
We were not expecting her to win. We did not hear the first 4 but we heard they were good. If I am to judge solely on the last 3 performers – I’d even say that Celine has an even chance. Celine won the 3rd place for the night but the winners (both from the first 4) hugged her like she was the winner.
What a day – I’m so proud of my three Marias.
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