If I had sat down to blog about it right after I got home that night, this entry would have been much shorter. But three days have passed since the Ping.sg 1st Anniversary party. I’ve had a chance to reflect on the event and to read other bloggers’ responses. Which gives me more to say.
So, let me start by saying that Nanny Wen and I had to take the MRT to the party because Makkuro wasn’t home. We camwhored at the MRT station. What a great way to pass the time while waiting for a train that’s taking too long to arrive.
When we arrived, we found Arzhou posing at the Geek Terminal entrance, beside this plasma TV showing the Ping.sg website showing a live streaming video of the festivities inside.
(Except the festivities inside haven’t quite started yet thanks to a favourite Singaporean hobby known as latecoming.)
Apparently, there’s something very fascinating about the plasma TV showing the Ping.sg website showing a live streaming video of the festivities inside.
That must be why Chillycraps just had to take a picture of it.
Well, my opinion is that people make better subjects in photography, so I made Nanny Wen stand beside the TV to illustrate my point.
I’ll bet this photo is more attractive than Chillycrap’s photo of the TV.
Now, my turn!
Nanny Wen (who took this following photo) must not like the TV very much. She shot me ALONE.
I don’t know if that’s good. I suppose it’s subjective.
Continuing with our experiment in photography, we thought that tables and chairs might make good subjects.
(It also appears that badly-lit, out-of-focus photos could possibly be the rage these days. You never know. Nanny Wen might just start a trend in photography.)
Anyway, photography is tiring, whether you’re the photographer or the model, so that’s all for experimenting with creative photography today.
I have to talk about the party!
Much has already been said by the bloggers who didn’t sit on this task for three days like I did (I very busy lah). So I am faced with the unique challenge of reporting on a three-day-old event that more than 30 other bloggers have already reported on.
But don’t care. Don’t people like reading the same stuff all the time, anyway?
So, first of all…
I Didn’t Win
To those of my readers who are still wondering, I didn’t win anything. I already told you lah. But I love you for voting for me. You’re the best! ;)
I don’t think my blog will ever win any awards because it’s so… random. It’s not a very focused blog. But that’s just me. I’m not a very focused person (except when it comes to my acting work), having too many interests and too many personalities (which helps in acting).
The Awards Ceremony
I think it was really cool that the organisers tried to make the whole thing quite formal, almost Hollywood style. Of course, this being a scaled-down version, the event wasn’t exactly grand. It was obvious that the event wasn’t planned to perfection. The MCs didn’t have any rehearsals, the award presenters weren’t given briefings and the pace of the ceremony was quite slow.
But we don’t expect perfection here, do we, this being a low-budget community event. Everything was done by Ping.sg members with little or no experience in such matters, under a deadline, while struggling with day jobs. They’re not even paid for it. I think what they’ve achieved is great and the event flowed quite smoothly, all things considered. I believe the committee members and helpers did the very best they could and that’s what’s important.
Whether or not you enjoyed the event, I think everyone should appreciate the organisers for their hard work. And, since it’s a community event, I think every single member has the responsibility to help make the party as fun as possible.
So, if you didn’t enjoy it, it’s your own fault! =P
Some random photos from the ceremony.
Arzhou and Estee presenting the first award – Most Entertaining Blog.
Me and Daphne presenting the Most Entertaining Post award.
DK giving one of his award acceptance speeches.
Chillycraps double-checking the result slip to ensure that DK really won fair and square and not because he bribed the presenters.
Sexy Veron receiving the ultimate Blog of the Year award.
Veron giving a speech.
The Award Winners
There were a total of 11 awards but only six winners. Which is cool. Some people do have the tendency to sweep awards — that’s the nature of the game.
Here are the winners:
Veron
– Best Blog Design
– Blog of the Year
Eastcoastlife
– Most Interactive Blog
– Most Controversial Post
– Most Entertaining Post
– Post of the Year
DK
– Best Citizen Journalism Post
– Most Insightful Post
Chillicraps
– Most Entertaining Blog
Cobalt Paladin
– Most Insightful Blog
Keropokman
– Best Photo Blog
Congratulations, all! I voted for four of you. But I’m not saying who. Haha.
The Birthday Cake
What a sweet birthday cake! Arzhou and his partners from SweetHut contributed this cake. Totally yummy!
But my photo sucks, so check out the gorgeous photos of the gorgeous cake by Keropokman.
The Ping.sg People
Camwhoring time again!
Really, what else is there to do at a party after you’ve devoured all the food?
I was happy to finally meet Kevin with the nice nose.
He’s that “Mr Walking Camera Guy” I illicitly took a picture of at BlogOut 2007.
Remember… this photo?
He brought his walking camera again, but this time it was just for show. Hahaha, how funny!
Pretty Estee also wanted a picture with him.
Wow, I think they make a really attractive couple.
Uh… not starting any scandals here, ok. I don’t even really know them that well. Maybe they’re both attached, and not to each other. I don’t know! I’m just saying they look good together. In this photo.
Kevin was a hapless hijack victim this night. He was on the verge of leaving the party when I first hijacked him to take a photo with me. When he tried to leave again, Estee hijacked him.
Then, in the middle of taking photographs, he got hijacked by Ming, who wanted to talk business. But before the business was done being discussed, Nanny Wen hijacked him to take more photos. Haha.
You can see how he was still talking business when we made him stand in position to be photographed. I wonder if he felt like a zoo pony or something with people queueing up to take photos with him.
The final hijack by all guilty parties!
My next victim target was Ming from Nuffnang.
He is Nanny Wen’s boss and my source of income (from Nuffnang ads, haha).
Next up: Just the gals! Nicole, me and Estee.
I don’t know why Nanny Wen wasn’t in this shot. We had made a pact to be Siamese twins throughout the event but she kept detaching herself and disappearing. Tsk tsk.
Oh, and here’s the most important person, without whom this party would never have been. Ping.sg founder Uzyn! Whee!
During the founder speech, Uzyn happily advertised the fact that Ping.sg was born as a bedroom project. Some bloggers tried to scandalise this bit of trivia by honing in on the word “bedroom”. But Uzyn stressed that he was alone at the time of conception of his baby. And, anyway, Uzyn is too steady a sort of person to be scandalised.
Another photo.
Nanny Wen finally resurfaced to attach herself to me again.
Only to detach herself yet again to take a photo with DK.
How come DK never take photo with me??!! Idiot. Not only did he not give me a laptop, he posed for photos with Wen and not me! Hmmph.
Mmm. Maybe I forgot to ask him. Hahaha.
Estee and me, Estee and Wen. Estee is a hot girl!!
Estee and Wen have hairstyles that are symmetrical to each other! Haha!
And, finally, me and Ming Yeow, founder of The Digital Movement.
I regret not having the chance to take photos with more people, but one can’t be camwhoring the whole time. Like I said before, photography is very tiring. There are other things to be done, food to be eaten, conversations to be had, hijacks to be executed.
I love the people at Ping.sg. Everyone is so friendly and it was great meeting them all. Well, I didn’t get a chance to meet everyone, but that’s how it is. A party isn’t like speed dating, and friendships are sometimes forged by chance.
Like maybe you’re hanging out in a group and, suddenly, everyone has to go to the toilet all at once, leaving you and an almost-stranger to hold the fort. And you’re forced to talk to each other whether you like it or not. You may end up liking it. Or not. But you get to know someone a bit better by chance.
I hope to meet and get to know more Pingsters in time to come.
The Flame War
There was some unhappiness over the way the Blog of the Year winner was chosen. A harsh blog was written and feelings were hurt. Cross words were exchanged, some words got twisted, reputations got hurt and friendships were torn.
I have nothing to do with this unpleasantness, so maybe I don’t know how the involved parties feel exactly, but I want to say this: Take it as a compliment.
I feel that success can be measured by how much crap and criticism you get. If you’re a nobody and don’t mean anything at all, nobody can be bothered to criticise you. And, most of the time, people who make negative comments are the very ones who are seen in a bad light by casual bystanders, so they’re only shooting themselves. Most readers are smart enough to figure out for themselves what’s right or wrong.
Cheer up, all who are involved. I hope it all turns out to be a big misunderstanding and friendships can resume.
Post-Party Posts
So many members blogged about the party. Some of them posted three, four, five, posts about the event. For three days, Ping.sg was continuously inundated by party posts. The top 10 most popular list was totally monopolised.
It’s interesting to read all the different perspectives from different bloggers about the same event. Yes, I read all of them. To prove it, I’ve compiled and categorised all the links. (Please don’t kill me if I missed out your post, I’m only human.)
Photos and Videos
Ping.sg turns 1, The Slideshow of 58 photos tells the story – by Keropokman
Photos: Ping.sg 1st Anniversary Party (plus blog award winners) – Kevin
The ping.sg 1 year old Birthday Cake – by Keropokman
Ping.sg 1st Anniversary Party Photos – by Adam Zhang
Behind the scenes of the Ping.sg Party – by Rinaz
what the fish – by Chillycraps
A video guide to the Ping.sg celebration – by an absentee – by ClappingTree
Ping.sg 1st anniversary party – by sylvdoanx
Reflective
The 3 Persons I met at Ping.sg anniversary – by Paddy Tan
The 3 person I regret not talking to at the ping.sg anniversary – by DK
Ping.sg 1st Anniversary Party – DK’s self debrief – by DK
Communication101 for Pingsters – Jayson Ang
Could have been better – by Claudia
Ping.sg’s 1st Anniversary Party! – by Farinelli
Ping.sg’s first anniversary party by Yuhui
Ping Pong-ed at Ping.sg 1st Anniversary Party – by Teeming
Ping.sg 1st Anniversary Party – by Hendri Budi
Narrative
My first ping.sg gathering – by Daphnemaia
Ping.sg 1st Anniversary Party… – by uglyfatchick
Ping.sg 1st Anniversary Party – by Simply Jean
General
pinging party – by Chillycraps
party supporter – by Chillycraps
Ping.sg is One Year-Old – by Brennan
Ping.sg Party: A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL – by Arzhou
Just short update for ping.sg gathering – by hg86
My 2nd time to go Geek Terminal to attend Ping.sg – by Surfslayer
The highlight of the ping.sg anniversary party… – by ntt
Ping.sg and Bloggers Celebrates 1st Anniversary – by Hongkiat
brief entry of ping.sg bash :) – by Nicole
07/07/07 – Ping.sg Bash – by Nicole
after thoughts. – by Nicole
Ping.sg Party – A Late Rerport. :P – by Xizor
Ping.sg Party @ Geek Terminal – by Izel
Ping.sg anniversary party: Thank you and feeling good/much better – by Mark Choon
the beautiful, charming and lovely rinaz aka My First Ping Event – by Jzin
Winners
Thank you for your support – by DK
And the Winner is ……….Eastcoastlife! – by Eastcoastlife
Ping.sg First Anniversary – sparklette.net Thanks You! – by Veron
most entertaining blog – by Chillycraps
Ping Anniversary Celebration – by Cobalt Paladin
A close up of the Ping.sg Plaque – celebrates with the NDP Rehearsal Fireworks – by Keropokman
Post-Party Commotion
And the best loser award goes to…….. DK – by DK
The most hurtful things a friend can say – by DK
Backstabbed – by DK
You are SO MEAN! – by Princess Sabrina
Aftermath: Ping.sg Anniversary – by Paddy Tan
Flame war in ping.sg? – by Defector
For ping.sg Community.. – by Defector
Final Words
Okay, I’m seriously exhausted after writing the longest blog entry I’ve ever written. This report is far from comprehensive, but I’m not going to say anymore because I’m tired. Haha. So I’m just going to end with a summing up:
Thank you, Ping.sg.
It was an awesome party.
Woah…that was probably, wait… i think IT IS the LONGEST and the most comprehensive report on the ping.sg anniversary par-tay (i have read so far aniwaes)!
thanks fer compiling all the links and blogs related to the event too. must be super duper ultra hard work! GOSH…categorised some more!
Wow… must have spent a long time collecting your thoughts to post such a long entry! :)
Ya, I think the event was a success and great for all of us to finally meet up. Though there are always rooms for improvement, I am sure all the more we work on it, all the more it will get better.
I had a great time that day, but too bad could not stay on for the after party event, and no good chance to talk to you as I was in a hurry to go off. But, with blog, we can visit each other and find out more! :)
WOW… this got to be the best post about the party.
Oh ya, because you din ask to take photos with me, then I thought you think I not worthy mah. That why no photos. OK OK, next time I’ll ask u to take photos with me.
Wow! And you actually had the time to compile the list of blogs who talked about Ping.sg! I’m amazed! Haha…
And yeah, this has got to be one of the best posts about the party.
Thanks Sheylara. I think u have the most comprehensive (and longest) overview of the event (and post event). Wish i had gotten to meet you too. :D
Cheers.
Best ping.sg party post of the year! =)
My gawd. This should win the Best Citizen Journalism Post for the second anniversary. I’m so, so impressed! Very comprehensive and detailed. I don’t think you left anything out.
Jzin: Yeah, it did take quite a bit of time to compile the links, but I had fun doing it because I love organising stuff. :) I didn’t plan on categorising it, but it looked so ugly to have one long list of links, and I thought more people would be inclined to click on the links if I categorised them. ;)
Izel: Yah… three days after the event is quite a lot of time to think about stuff. Haha. It was nice to meet you at the party. Hopefully the next time we meet, we’ll have the chance to talk more! ;)
DK: Thanks! I just hope people enjoy reading it. :) And how could you think I would think you’re not worthy?? You are award winner leh… I think should be the other way round.. I not worthy! Haha.
Hendri: Thanks, thanks. Yah… I spent time doing bo liao stuff like that instead of memorising my long script for this weekend’s shoots. Haha. Have to “pia” in the next 2 days.
Miccheng: Thanks for your comment! Um… were you there at the party? Looking forward to meeting you in the future!
uglyfatchick: Thanks, babe! :)
Veron: *blush* Thank you for the compliment. Erm… next year’s award… a bit far off lah? :P I won’t exactly consider this a citizen journalism post… it’s not thought-provoking or controversial enough, lol. And I think I talk about myself too much. Haha.
Nah… Would have wanted to be there. Am still stuck in Gold Coast, Australia. Miss all the Pingsters, man.
Yes, it is THE best entry! Why is it not up in ping.sg? This should be in the top 10 Hall of Fame!
that’s really a looooooooooong post .. anyway .. CONGRATULATIONS to all the winners :)
Miccheng: Ahh… ok. Next time, then, when you’re back! ;)
Cobalt Paladin: Thank you! I don’t know why the ping didn’t go through. Coincidentally, the post I made about your video also didn’t get pinged until like the next day. So far, these are the only two posts that have problems getting pinged. Quite ironical that both are about the Ping.sg party, lol.
SC: Yup…. I hope people don’t fall asleep reading it!
alter your post timing and manually ping it? hehe.
Haha. You’re a smart cookie. But manual ping doesn’t work leh. Cos the last time when the video post didn’t get pinged, I manually pinged it and it still didn’t appear until the next day. And then I also got double pings for my older posts because of the manual ping.
Happy post. It’s so embarrassing seeing my face so many times, though it’s always fun to pose with you and Nanny Wen (why nanny?). Estee should go with Ming, not me! :P
If it makes you feel better, I didn’t win either. So I went home to cry.
U’ve got it all covered gal! Nice work!
Oh btw, I agree that camwhore-ing is the best pass time activity! =P
hey Sheylara,
this is indeed the longest post i’ve ever seen in my entire life!
and yeah, i’m honoured that you listed me in your post!
under the Reflective category…
Thanks!
See ya.
Very interesting event! But too bad I don’t blog, I only write crap on other people’s blogs…..like yours. :D
Hi Qiaoyun,
Cobaltpaladin emailed me about your pinging problem. I’m not sure what the issue is. I tried manually pinging for you and it works.
BTW, don’t be afraid to manually ping. It will not duplicate any of your entries. The earlier duplication was due to the fact that you were trying out feedburner’s reader tracker (with feedburner’s permalink instead of your usual blog permalink), hence different permalink for your post, causing Ping.sg to think that they are 2 diff postings.
Thanks Sheylara. Nice party report!
THanks for the wonderful party report! You have covered everything and wrote it from so many different perspectives! :)
Didn’t have the chance to take pictures with u. The next gathering we die die must take picture together okie!
I think that this one qualifies for the “citizen journalist” award for the next set of awards.
Readers take note to nominate!
Hey, QY. Thanks for the link to my video guide. Thanks too for the photos in this truly long and comprehensive report. Now, I can attach more faces to the nicks. ;-)
Congrats to Qiaoyun too, eventhough you didn’t win, you’re always a winner in my book. :D
Wah!!! Who is Veron and Estee? Can I date them?
Mother: And I only read crap written on people’s blog.
no KK u only can date me!
Wow, that is a whole motherload of coverage on the event!
I’ve kinda accepted my fate destined not to be any part of these gatherings due to my proximity away from SG. Oh well….
As for the sour grapes, they are everywhere in every part of life. My personal brush was a tournament where I came in runner-up and people protesting the format of the competition and I got heck of a lot of stick given that I was also part of the organising committee.
Hurtful things like “If you gian the trophy so much, why don’t you just tell me and I’ll go buy one for you?” kinda spoiled my mood for what otherwise was a smooth and well-runned tournament that took 1 month to complete.
WOW… thanks so much for compiling all of the post… :P Next time must get u to take more photos with me… lol :P
I agree with the rest, best post for the party!
Would’ve love to drop by and join your mega-camwhoring fest but timing not good … sigh.
hiya sheylara!!
actually I commented to this post, but think it ended up in your spam =P
anyway what I said was, your article rocks! Actually I was taking taking video of rinaz talking in front of the webcam, thus i was aiming at the TV.
BTW, your socks rocks!
I know this is unrelated but…I like your shoes >.
Great Post. Look like or rather the Ping’s official post for 1st Anniversary (provided Uzyn dont object lah).
Kevin: Don’t be embarrassed. You’re famous, so you should get used to it. Haha. Nanny is nanny because she looks after my dog. :P
Claudia: Thanks! Ok, so you’re another one who likes camwhoring. Heh. I think it’s one of the most popular pasttimes now.
Jayson: You’re welcome! :) Pretty good post you have! ;)
Mother: Yah, you don’t only write crap on people’s blogs. You crap too, literally. Hehehe.
uzyn: Thanks for the manual ping! Actually I do have duplicate entries if you check my user profile. On the first page. Got about 4 duplicates. You can see, those entries with 0 pongs. Er… but I don’t really understand what you mean about the reader tracker and all that. I never use feedburner wat… But you can explain to me next time we meet! ;)
Sek Ling: No problem, glad you like it! :) Yup yup looking forward to taking pictures with you!
Jesta: Hehehe, another citizen journalist nomination? But I really think it doesn’t qualify cos it’s too me-biased, don’t you think? All my opinions and my photos, hahaha. Totally unobjective.
ClappingTrees: You’re welcome~! You mean you never met the Pingsters before?
modchip: Thank you so much!
The Goonfather: You can go ask them yourself. Hahaha. My blog got their blog links, go visit them lah.
JayWalk: Hmm… feel sad for you. But you will come back to SG for good one day, won’t you? Sorry to hear about your story. Quite tragic leh, win award but cannot enjoy it!
nicole: It’s my pleasure, and thank you. ;) More more more photos!
Miss Loi: Next time sure got chance!
chillycraps: Ah, did it? lol… what did you type in your first comment to get spam filtered? Sorry you had to retype everything. :( But thanks for the compliments… and sorry for making fun of you, hehe, but it was all in good humour, hope you don’t mind. :P
Steffi: Haha, thanks gal!
hhdkk: Thanks! :) Well, it’s a long post, but probably cannot be official post lah… too many photos of me, haha. :P
no pic of the food beside the cake????
QY, so far, I’ve attended Nexus, a Ping.sg meetup and the BuyButtonz flea mart at Far East, but missed BlogOut and the Ping.sg anniversary. Met some Pingsters. Still don’t know many others. And there will always new ones. :-)
Yooohooo!! Good to meet u and we took sooo many cool pics ! :)
See ya soon!
OMG! Kevin’s my SISPEC platoon mate in my NSF days! I remembered this navigation exercise we went to in Marsiling, I was partnered with him… We lost our way (a little) and he was moaning “Oooohh nooo, we’re lost” through the rest of it…
Scary how the embarrassing past always comes back to haunt you :D
chak: Hahaha. I’m not really into food reviewing to tell the truth. Cos every time the food appears in front of me, my first and foremost thought is, “DIG IN~~~~~!!! YUMMY!” Where got time to think of taking photos and all that for food review? lol.
ClappingTrees: Haha, so you missed exactly those that I attended. :P Well, next time then! ;)
eStee: Hello hello! Bet we’ll see each other soon! ;)
Alvin: OMG hahahaha so cool can! So many long lost friends found each other through my blog leh. Can I collect commission? :P :P
K um this is abit late, but…
Your compilation of “ping’s-1st”-related is amazing! Actually, I’m not exaggerating, it was breathtaking. My mouth fell open. No wonder you were exhausted after that. ^^ Nice job!
Hey, it’s never too late! Thanks for dropping by with your comments! :)
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