an ordinary weekend



Nothing much happened over the weekend. Had to work on Saturday and went home at noon with plans of having a short little nap before starting on some ATCs and a quick shower before heading for One Utama for the show with the Phil for a Kiwanis dinner.

*sigh* ... plans tend to go awry.

So, I went home, set the alarm on my phone for 3.00 and promptly fell asleep. That was at 2pm.

Awhile later, I woke up thinking that it's weird that I felt like I've slept for a really long time and yet the alarm hasn't gone off. Lo and behold ... it's 5pm. The time that I'm suppose to be at One Utama.

A rush through shower and a mad dash drive later, I was there. Thankfully, they've yet to begin rehearsal; not like they could anyway seeing as how I have the pedal for the bass drum and the stool for the side drum(?).

All went well though. We rehearsed, had dinner and then it was showtime. The audience were very appreciative which is always good for us. So, yay!

friday five

1. What brand of toothpaste do you use? Colgate. I prefer the gel but sometimes if my parents buys them, they might get the regular ones. I'll just use whatever's available but will buy the gelled one if I'm doing the buying.

2. What brand of toilet paper do you prefer? Brand of toilet paper? Hmmm ... I don't buy this. I think it's usually cutiecompact or something like that.

3. What brand(s) of shoes do you wear? Most often would be my Renoma heels which I wear to work almost daily. Then there's the strappy heels from Vincci, a pair unknown brand which I got from Singapore, the yellow and the red Fila trainers which I share with my sister. Think that's about it.

4. What brand of soda do you drink? Coca-Cola! Have to support my aunt :D

5. What brand of gum do you chew? None. Don't chew gum but I eat lollipop though. Chuba chups choco-vanila flavour.

wasted opportunity

Empress, you're a sap!

Everytime someone gives you the chance to stand out, to audition for a solo, you decline. And yet, whenever there's an audition, you'd go. What's the deal with that?

Mr. Liau was looking for a shepeard boy last night. His original shepeard boy was a no show so he was auditioning the girls to look for possible replacements.

He auditioned the whole first row - the altos and sopranos one - but didn't audition the second row girls - the sopranos two - which I'm in. Someone pointed that out and he then pointed at me to audition. As usual, I didn't my "No lah. Don't want lah." routine and pointed to another girl.

Why do I do that?

I know that I'm not trained like most of them in the room is but if they took me into the chorus, that would mean I can at least carry a tune right? So, why do I lack the confidence to try something more than blending in the chorus? I know the worse that would happen was that I'd go out of tune and him not picking me for the part but so what? At least I can say I've tried.

But no. I didn't even try.

I wish I have someone to slap me on the head everytime I do something this stupid. Someone to say 'Just do it you dumb ass.'

Must look for Suzan about the book she has about crystals. She says there's a stone available for confidence boosting. The stones probably don't work and it's probably all psychology but if psychology works, to me, that's just the same as the stones working anyway cause without the stones, I wouldn't be psychologically psyched, right?

C'mon. Someone give me a good whack on the head for my stupidity.

Quiz

My results from The Princeton Review Career Quiz.

		People with yellow Interests like job responsibilities that include organizing and systematizing, and professions that are detail-oriented, predictable, and objective. People with yellow Interests enjoy activities that include: ordering, numbering, scheduling, systematizing, preserving, maintaining, measuring, specifying details, and archiving, which often lead to work in research, banking, accounting, systems analysis, tax law, finance, government work, and engineering.

		People with blue styles prefer to perform their job responsibilities in a manner that is supportive and helpful to others with a minimum of confrontation. They prefer to work where they have time to think things through before acting. People with blue style tend to be insightful, reflective, selectively sociable, creative, thoughtful, emotional, imaginative, and sensitive. Usually they thrive in a cutting edge, informally paced, future-oriented environment. You will want to choose a work environment or career path in which your style is welcomed and produces results.

Geez! Sounds like I'm prefect for my job as a programmer, don't you think?

FRIDAY FIVE (a few days late!)

1. What drinking water do you prefer -- tap, bottle, purifier, etc.? ice cold bottled water.

2. What are your favorite flavor of chips? ruffles' cheese and onion or is that cheese and sour cream ... i can't recall, it's cheese and something.

3. Of all the things you can cook, what dish do you like the most? my chicken fettucini which i got the recipe off the fettucini's wrapper.

4. How do you have your eggs? all ways. preferably scrambled with mushroom, green & red pepper and onions.

5. Who was the last person who cooked you a meal? How did it turn out? the guy who prepared the sushi this afternoon at sushi king. it was yummy!

skipped class

Well, I skipped class on friday. It wasn't compulsory to attend but is encouraged. I wasn't very encouraged when the time came and therefore did not go. Also there was the fact that my muscles were still very much aching.

Anyway, I've sent out my first ATC trade. It's been such a long time since I've done anything artsy that I have no idea what to do anymore. It may be because I'm not a natural.

Artist are born aren't they?

They were born wanting to draw, to create, to want to make interesting things with paints and papers and anything and everything that they get their hands on ... right? They just know what to do to create an art piece. It's just in their head.

I guess for the rest of us who are not so blessed we could learn to draw, to create but somehow the end product just might not be as inspiring.

However, I thought I was pretty good in art class when I was studying. Always got an A anyways. Would that mean I was good at it or does that mean that the teachers are pretty shitty and don't know what they're about?

I still have a few pieces that I painted but if you were to ask me to recreate them now, I'm afraid I'd be at a loss.

Maybe I just have to start again.
Maybe it'll all come back again.

Was it natural for me? Or did I just like art class cause the teacher gave me an A?

Anyway, it would be fun to make these little ATCs anyway. I had those I made scanned before I mailed them out. There's plan to make a site where I'll post up all the ATCs I've created or rather will create so people can take a look and hopefully comment on them. Hopefully they'll be honest with their comment. But if they're negative comments, will that deter me from creating more?

I hope not.

first class at batu dance

I don't want to walk down any steps today.
I don't want to walk UP any steps.
In fact ... I don't want to walk at all today if possible.

BUT ... it's a workday and so I'd have to.

The thighs, both inner and outer is really hurting after the two and a half hour class yesterday. First of the many that's to come if I don't drop out of it midways.

This is the one which I went for an dance audition a couple weeks ago.

It was interesting and was quite a workout. Must have been cause I'm feeling the effects of it now. Felt quite uncomfortable/dizzy in the middle of class though and I wasn't sure if it was because a) the room was hot (no air condition, just fans and open windows on a hot hot Malaysian day), b) I'm way out of practise and out of shape, or c) I didn't have any breakfast before.

Anyway, it was quite difficult for me because of my previous ballet training. I think it's quite different but there's still some similarity. Difference would be that we're not suppose to be poised and pull-up all the time but more flexible/maleable. I'm having trouble letting loose. Have always been too concerned on what everything should look like, where we should look, arms, legs; the whole package before doing the step and the letting loose technique kinda throws me off. I have to think, force myself to relax and just throw myself into the steps instead of thinking too much of it.

There's another class tonight. It's not compulsory and my thighs are hurting. I'm not sure if I'm going to go but I've already packed my stuff in case I decide to go which at this moment I'm kinda thinking of going.

Hope I won't be bed ridden tomorrow. :)

may day project

Okay, i've sort of completed my may day project. Well the pictures are all ready and six of them are up but there's two more. Didn't realise that there was an upload quota at fotolog. I'll upload the remaining two later tonight. Have a look at what I did on the 10th of May 2003.

my first friday five

1. Would you consider yourself an organized person? Why or why not? Yes and no. I organise almost everything except my desk. It's always in a mess. My family would tell you that I'm really organised though; almost like Monica from friends ... almost.

2. Do you keep some type of planner, organizer, calendar, etc. with you, and do you use it regularly? I have an organiser and several pocket calendar. Three/four of the pocket calendars I do use. They're just LOTR calendars that I got from a friend. If I ever get a PDA, I'll have less bulk to lug around.

3. Would you say that your desk is organized right now? No. Most of the books and files are upright but they're not organised in any manner. The papers that I'm currently using are strewn all over.

4. Do you alphabetize CDs, books, and DVDs, or does it not matter? I've alphabetized the CDs and DVDs that I have in my shoe boxes. Those in the CD racks were alphabetized until I added more; now they're no longer in ABCs. It doesn't matter really.

5. What's the hardest thing you've ever had to organize? A full moon project for Leo Club when I was in school. I've always been a silent member and then one day, they asked me to organise the full moon project. It had to have laterns and exhibition and activities. I have no idea what to do. They, the board members, eventually took over after they've heard of the dismayal progress I was making. :(

You are Beast!

You are brilliant and extremely clever. You can
handle almost any problem swiftly and
efficiently. You are devoted to philosophy and
are always up for a good discussion.
Sometimes, though, your anger gets the best of
you and you upset those whom you care about.


Which X-Men character are you most like?
brought to you by Quizilla

my fotolog

I've created a fotolog at fotolog.net. Check it out at www.fotolog.net/empress.

Also, will be participating in the May Day Project. Let's see what Saturday has for me. I'm excited.

second half

The weekend has been very eventfull (is this a word? if it is, is it spelt with a single or double 'L's?).

On Saturday, I met up with a guy who's looking for a latin dance partner. He says he competes at a level higher, back when he was in UK, than that which I'm doing so I'm not sure if he's still interesting in partnering me. We haven't tried dancing together yet. There wasn't time that day to try out as he was in a rush plus the studio that we we're gonna try out in was having a workshop. So, maybe he'll arrange something for this weekend. He's tried with a few girls and still have a few more girls to try out with. He also have some other guy friends who's looking for partners. If he's not suitable for me, one of the other guys might be. Hopefully something will work out. I've missed competing.

I might also be joining the Batu Dance Theatre. They had an audition on Sunday to recruit more members for their company. I went, did the sets and the liked me. Hurrah! I haven't seen any of their stuff though so I'm not exactly sure what they do. I know that they do contemporary dance but that's so vague. Contemporary dance could be anything. Hopefully it's not anything overtly weird. I've been told I'm very classical and that's probably true cause I don't like all those performances which are called dancing but which I think looks more like people just writhing around with no apparent structure.

Structure. That's the word. I need structure.

Okay, then this morning I got an email about the audition I went to last month. That's the Turandot audition. Guess what?! I made it! Yay! The show's gonna be in December with the last show being on my birthday. :) Rehearsals are suppose to start in September. Not sure which day yet and I haven't been given the contract. Hopefully there nothing unfavourable in the contract. They're not gonna pay much. Only RM500 for six shows. Three of which will be in Penang. But I'm only doing it for fun and, of course, to pad my all to empty performning arts resume.

Woo hoo! Lots for the second half of the year. Hopefully I can fit everything in and don't die in the process.

Oooo ... happy happy ... joy joy.

my leslie phase

His movies. His music.
I have been immersing myself with Leslie Cheung the past week.

When I heard about his death on April's Fool, I shoved it aside as some sick person's idea of an April Fool's joke. When the media printed stories and had tributes to this 'legendary' performer, I didn't tune in or pay attention to them. I'd even thought it amusing that some of the people in the studio cried while watching a video of his concert. Yes! I'm a unfeeling bitch who laughes at others' unhappiness.

Well, what was I suppose to do? Cry along? I didn't grow up listening to his music or his movies. Leslie wasn't much a part of my growing life.

I vaguely remember his 'Monica' playing over the radio while I was living in Kepong cause one of my aunt's a fan of his. About the only time in my life where I listened to chinese music. The same time I listened to Anita Mui and also the time I learned the words to a Malay song - Si Jantung Hati. After that, I hardly listened to chinese music anymore. The next time would be circa 1997 or 1998 when I saw some Sammi Cheng movie and liked the songs that were in there.

So, his death didn't make much of an impact on me.

His movie "He's a Woman, She's a Man" was the only chinese movie that I had wanted to own. I remember watching it at the pro-shop after squash training and loving it and the song Jui (Chase) so much that I tried to learn the song. Not an easy task as I don't read chinese and can only understand the basics of conversational cantonese ... but learn it I did. With the help of some friends, I wrote down the phonetics for it. I don't know where that piece of paper is now. Probably thrown away some time ago.

I had also always wanted to watch "Farewell My Concubine" cause I've always heard that it's a really good movie. I did and I loved it. There are some parts of it that I don't quite understand why it happened, probably missed something and would have to watch it again, but I liked it.

Then last week, I borrowed a CD of Leslie Cheung from a colleague. You see ... I was not familiar with his songs except for those mentioned above nor would I recognise his voice even if I had heard it over the radio. So, I was curious. Why was this man a legend?

I think he sings a little different from the current batch of male chinese singers. It has this floaty feeling to it. Somehow it makes me think that it's a little cantonese opera like. Although why I would think that quite puzzles me as well as I've never heard/seen a cantonese opera. I told my colleague that maybe that's the way that singers of his time, the late 70s early 80s, sang as his other contemporary, Roman Tam, sounds a little like that as well. Leslie's sounds more soothing compared to Roman though.

An article of a DJ turned singer who quoted Leslie as one of his idols probably had the best description of his voice ... sexy. And yes, I do agree. I think he's what people would call a crooner?

While listening to some of his songs and watching his movies, I came to understand why those people at the studio cried, why some would call him a legend. It was cause he was truly talented. His good looks helps as well but then he wasn't just a face. He had talent as well.

It's such a waste that he felt his problems could not be resolved and he had to take his own life. My sense of loss however is selfish. I would not be able to listen to him sing new songs. New movies will never star this actor ever again. There will no longer be anything new coming from him. I cannot be a fan of his and look forward to the day that I might see him live in concert now that I've discovered that I like his music.

No more.

Not any longer.

How sad is it that I am to discover what millions of others have known and enjoyed the past two or three decades only after his death? Are there more like me out there? More like me who appreciate him like Van Gogh; appreciated only after death? But he's probably more like Picasso, appreciated before and even after death.

gambling and ballet



Genting is a terribly boring place to visit.

What I meant was, it's boring if you don't do much gambling and you do not have any friend in which to venture out to the outdoor park for rides. Somehow the thought of going on the roller coaster, screaming your head off even though you're not the least bit terrified, doesn't feel the same without having some friends around doing the same. Which was why I didn't pay to go in the park.

Strange ... I remember the park being free when I was young. We didn't have to pay anything just to be there. Just had to pay for the rides. Now it's like Dreamworld or Movieworld where you pay the entrance and ride to your heart's content.

So, basically I spent most of the weekend roaming the First World Hotel. There's only so much to roam. It's kinda small.

Now ... why was I there and submit myself to such utter boring-ness?

For the ballet. The Russian Ballet - Revival was there. I wasn't even planning to go but then when my mum asked, I didn't say no. So we got tickets for it and there I was. The tickets were free! Mum's been collecting lots of points on her membership card from all her previous visits and we could redeem the points for tickets. :)

The company was good. I especially liked Olga Kuznetsova (I think), the soloist who did the Swan Lake pas de deus. I think she's got very good musicality(?). The other ballerina, Elizaveta Nebesnaya, who has a higher billing was really good as well, her extension was really good but she doesn't seem as expressive as Kuznetsova. Too bad I couldn't quite get a picture of her. Camera's too slow to take action shots. *shucks* These two were about the only good pictures of the dozen or so that I took.