+ Life | National Online

No, nothing serious or political about this entry at all.

I received a letter from the Ministry of Manpower or MOM to take part in the national Labour Force Survey being conducted from 21st to 31st May 2006.

My household has been selected to participate.

The survey "seeks to obtain key national statistics on employment and unemployment to help in the formulation of manpower-related policies."

Did not see a clause if I could turn down the offer to participate, but has "under the Statistic Act (Chapter 317) which requires you to furnish the necessary information."

Well, what the heck, its for nation's well being right?

I logged onto MOM's website http://www.mom.gov.sg/mrsd/ihss to participate online with the given Household ID and Password.

In about 15 minutes, all was done and I submitted the survey.

I then received an email alert from a friend. "This, just in! National Day Parade 2006 tickets are up for grabs through "e-Ballot!"

Wow, never had that early a chance to ballot for tickets before. Never have we actually attended the NDP live before either. This is a great opportunity to attend instead of watching it on TV.

So, I logged onto to Singapore NDP website http://www.ndp.org.sg/ to ballot for tickets.

With either to ballot for Preview on 29th July 2006, or on National Day on 9th August 2006 itself, I bid for the preview, since it is on Saturday with Sunday to rest.

Our National Day is on Wednesday, so not a good idea for me to go to work the next day. I might as well enjoy the day with a family outing instead.

The bid has options to either select 2, 4 or 6 tickets. I chose the last one, thinking maybe my parents would like to attend too.

They deserve to celebrate with the nation since they have been contributing to it for the past 80 years or so.

Maybe they may even make newspaper headlines for being the oldest couple to attend NDP celebrations!

Sounds wonderful, the planning is great, but only if we get the free tickets.

All successful bidders will be notified via SMS between 13th and 16th June 2006 to collect them. Hope is high.

The fact that it will be memorable for me personally as this will be the first time for all of us, and especially with my parents... Just awesome.

The fact that I can get to see their reactions to this mammoth patriotic annual celebration... Priceless!