There's a new TV in my room. A 29" Sony Triniton. Great isn't it?

Well, I'm not so sure. For one, I didn't buy it. My dad did. It's only in my room cause it was previously the dining room and we've always had a TV in the dining room and so the aeriel cable is there. There are plans of moving the cables to the hall ... or maybe the soon to be AV room that is to be built (god know when). So, for the time being, it's in my room. According to my sis, Stef, this proves that I'm papa's girl. He gets a new TV and it's placed in my room.

Actually I'd rather not have the TV in my room cause then my grandma, sister or whoever's on that floor at the moment who wants to watch TV will be in my room. The whole point of me having a room for myself is just that ... so that I HAVE a room for myself. Not shared with everyone else. I can't even change in peace cause my grandma would probably be in the room and I really dislike chasing her out of the room when she's watching the TV.

Thirdly, the money used for this recent purchase would be from my dad's retirement funds. It's okay if he wants to indulge a little but a new TV on Sunday and a whole speaker system and DVD player two weeks before that is really expensive. The money will dwindle away and where would he get more? He has plans of having his own GPRS mapping company, which he has already registered for, but who's to know what business is going to like? He might profit ... which would be great ... but he might also make a loss and then where would he be with all the money gone? Of course, I'll try and give whatever I can ... I won't see my family starve ... I'm not entirely heartless ... but I'm not exactly making a whole lot. Just enough!

Why is he acting like he's as rich as Croesus when he's not? Mid life crisis?

Sometimes I think parents are just like us. They like to indulge in things that pleases them and would do it whenever the opportunity permits. Just that when they have kids to support the opportunity doesn't permit that often especially since the cost of a University education is so bleeding high now. However, I still think papa shouldn't be using all this money to purchase all these gizmos. He still has two daughters that are still in school. One of which should really, really be enrolling for University SOON! The other has one more year of high school before University. That'll be two kids in University in one go. That's a lot of money. Hopefully, they'd be able to get scholarships. They're pretty smart unlike their dumb geek of an elder sister. ;)

Still ... like us, when our parents tell us not to do things that we want to do, parents don't listen to us either. So, what we have here is a deadlock. We don't listen to them; they don't listen to us. We can only hope that the outcome is not disasterous.

I never knew singing can be so exhausting ... but then, I don't know a lot of things and that's just another thing I've found out that I know I didn't know.

Saturday's performance with the Selangor Phil Choir was pretty good ... meaning, we didn't get booed, we didn't start at the wrong time and did things as we were supposed to do ... although we did start about half an hour later than scheduled. We, the choir, blame Phillip (the conductor) for that cause he was late! ... as usual. He in turn, blamed it on the traffic; which was really very bad that day. And then he had a little spat with Cris when she complained about him changing the music arrangements, yet again. Things were okay once we started singing. It was at Starhill, a shopping complex. Not much audience audience there. People are too busy shopping.

After that was the small choir's turn. We're called 'Streetvoiz'. Things were so-so. I wouldn't say great. Okay. ... up to the last song that is. We kinda bungled up 'Feliz Navidad'. The piano started in a C. We practised in G. And we couldn't really hear the piano cause it's muffle; it's a clavi, not a real piano, so we kinda didn't know when to start. We sounded really bad for that and had to restart the song. Sounded passable after that.

A few of us went to have dinner at a place near our next performance. I had capati with curry mutton. Yum! Haven't had that for quite awhile now. It was delicious. Then headed back to the hall where we performed on Friday night to fix up the decorations before the performance starts. Apparently the decorations were kind of a joke. Was told by some that the decorations were falling down while we were singing on Friday. Wow! Must have been a rousing performance! Haha.

The audience was more responsive that day compared to the night before. They sang with us when asked and clapped more! :) We did make a mistake though in one of the song. Phillip forgot to cue us in and we were waiting, unsure as to whether we should go ahead and sing or not. Thankfully he cued us in at an appropriate time and kudos to Wen Li for improvising on the accompaniment.

Was totally drained when I got home on Saturday night.

Slept till late on Sunday and then had to get ready to go for more performance in town. Streetvoiz had two sessions and Selangor Phil had one. Everything went well. Streetvoiz got an encore on the second gig ... planted audience from the Selangor Phil choirsters. Thanks all the same guys. Thanks to the few groupies we have as well.

Exhausting work, singing. Can't wait for next week when we'll do it all over again. Next weekend only Streetvoiz will be performing at the shopping complexes while the Selangor Phil will be singing to a group of nuns at a convent. After that we will have a Christmas party a week after that.

Yay! Paaarty!

Changed my comment system to SnorComments. Didn't notice that Reblogger was down. Should pay more attention to what's going on with my blog!

I don't know what's wrong with me. I know I have a long day today. I know I have work today and I have to wake up early (for a saturday anyway). ... but when a call came in yesterday asking if I'd like to clubbing at Movement that night, I said 'YES!' ... AND that's after my choir performance ... after a full day of work. I was really tired after the performance but I changed and drove out anyway, with the hope of a night of hopping and bopping. I guess I should thank my friend's bosses that they changed their plans and spent the night at a pub instead. These were guys from BAT (British American Tobacco) so there were a lots and lots of smoking and drinking and pool. Pub scene is really not my thing. I don't smoke and I don't drink. Which is why I like going to dance clubs. At least I can dance there. Anyway, since they were just going to hang out at the pub, I made my exit early ... at about 2am! If we had gone to Movement, I do not doubt that I'd only leave at about 5am. I guess you can say that dancing kinda reenergizes me,

... but really, I'm grateful for the change of plans cause I'm still dead tired now. Alarm rang and I just slapped it off. Not like I don't do this every single day ... just that today, I really went back to sleep instead of just lying in bed for a few waking myself. Didn't get up untill half hour later and I've got bags under my eyes and the feeling of numbness in my head from lack of sleep. I think it shows cause someone said I looked 'blur' when I came into the office.

I really need to discipline myself to say no to an invite to a night of debauchery ... more so when I'm tired. Perhaps I'm trying to catch up on my late teenage years. I hardly ever go out at night when I was a teen. Not even when I was old to enter a dance club legally. In fact, I bet I can count the number of times I've been to a club on one hand. Guess I was kind of a geek then. Still a geek now. (a dumb geek ... according to my sibs) People don't really change too much do they?

Did a test and here's the result

If I were a work of art, I would be Edgar Degas' Dance Class. I appear soft and gentle, but hide a core of rigid structure and discipline. I work hard and follow orders, because I am determined to succeed, but remain attached to displays of frivolity and maintaining my appearance. Which work of art would you be? The Art Test

Well ... didn't quite finish my post yesterday. Got too busy and now I don't feel like finishing it. If I ever do feel like finishing that I'll edit it. Otherwise, just ignore it. It was only going to be some stoopid thing about how I don't feel mature yet. Don't feel any difference from when I was 15 or now ... 15 days to 2 dozen years. Just a stupid blah blog.

Ignore it. Ignore it.

So tired yesterday. Only got home at 11.30pm and didn't even manage to get dinner. Had choir practise till 10.15 (sang our throats sore ... performance is this Friday!) and then went to pay my credit card bill in town (there's only one center where I can pay it ... unless I mail a cheque ... but I don't have a chequeing? account so that's moot). Was dragging my feet when I got home. Had my dinner, shower and went straight to bed! Didn't even watch the telly. Quite a first for me ... being a TV addict and all. But I was too tired. Fell asleep with the lights on. Woke up in the middle on the night/early morning and switched it off.

Why or when do we say that someone is mature or immature? How do we define maturity?

I got the following definition off www.dictionary.com.

mature adj 1: characteristic of maturity; "mature for her age" [ant: immature] 2: fully considered and perfected; "mature plans" [syn: matured] 3: having reached full natural growth or development; "a mature cell" [ant: immature] 4: fully developed or matured and ready to be eaten or used; "ripe peaches"; "full-bodies mature wines" [syn: ripe] [ant: green] 5: (of birds) having developed feathers or plumage; often used in combination [syn: fledged] [ant: unfledged] v 1: develop and reach maturity; undergo maturation; "He matured fast"; "The child grew fast" [syn: maturate, grow] 2: grow old or older; "She aged gracefully" [syn: age, maturate]

oops! will be back. boss is around the vicinity. must act busy.

*snifffff* ... MMmmm .... the smell of coffee. Delicious. Just the thing to wake me up on a day like today. I'm not much of a coffee person. Sometimes it works in waking me up and sometimes it doesn't. There are some people I know who drinks coffee in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening and then at night. Basically, they drink coffee all the time. Not sure how good it is for their health though. Some researchers found that the acidity of coffee's not good for health ... but then researchers have also said that chocolates weren't good for health once but now they are. All depends on the researchers huh?

Wonder why coffee works on some people and not on others. And for me, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Really don't like a coffee high though. Especially after an all nighter. I'd be like a zombie after taking coffee after an all nighter. My head would feel like all the blood's up there over on my forehead area. So, everthing sort of concentrated there. And then I won't be able to sleep when I really need to! Eyes wide, coffee high, tired as hell and can't sleep. Terrible.

I've finished my coffee now. Nope. Doesn't work this time. I'm still real sleepy. Maybe I should have gotten a bigger cup. Took a small cup this time.

Racheal must be thinking this girl's crazy. The other day she's talking about chocolates and now coffee. Haha ...

Am doing some window shopping when I fell upon Topshop which had internet access. So I thought I'd do a bit of blogging.

So, the operetta last night was 'interesting'. The show was 'Porgy and Bess'. Porgy had a magnificent voice. Really booming. Bess had a pretty nice voice as well and so does the rest of the cast. However, I don't think that Kallang Theatre's such a good place for an opera where the singer do not use microphones. Y'see, when the singers are upstage, they sounds really good and really clear. Well, as clear as any opera singer can sound anyway, pronunciation wise that is. Anyway, when the move further inwards on stage, their voice doesn't really come out. So you can't really hear what they're singing about. Plus, I sat at the stalls, which was downstairs, the slightly pricier seats. Not a good investment, I'd say. The seats are not very well raised and they did not place the seats in such a way that the person behind a row would be able to get a clear view. I had a tall woman sitting in front of me. I'm really short. So, I had to seat a lot to my left so that I'd be able to see what's going on on stage. Does my side hurt after the show.

Well, I'd better go. It says maximum usage for this terminal is 30 minutes. I'm sure I've not exceeded it but I've got more window shopping to do. Will blog more when I go back to Malaysia.

What a great night. What a great meet. I don't believe I know when I'd laughed more. The musicals crew meets at last. More than three person this time. This time there were seven people. Seven! What a feat! Congratulations Grace ML for achieving this. We had a great time celebrating Alex's birthday tonight. Alex, tonight, was the thorn among the roses, james bond with his bond girls, a maharajah with his harem .... haha ... he was the only guy who managed to turn up. Besides being the guest of honour of course. We had a bunch of starters. Nobody ordered any meals nor did we have deserts. Weird dinner huh? Was good enough though.

So, what does a bunch of ex-musicals course people do after dinner? Sing of course! After cake, we adjourned to the karaoke on the third floor. Sang our heart out. The song changer was chronic though. Had to wait a century before they load our songs. OMG! I love Fang's voice! Wish I could sing like her! Left slightly after midnight. Rach's got a curfew. The rest had to work. Should have done this on a weekend instead but I wouldn't have been able to attend if they did.

Great night. Can't wait for the next meet. Hopefully the next time will have all these people as well rest of the crew. That is, if they can spare some time from their busy life to attend.

I've finished packing for Singapore and am watching Roswell now. Bachelor Girl's song is in this episode. Can't recall the title of the song off my head but it's cool that they are in the show. Didn't know anyone outside Australia knew them. Don't think anyone in Malaysia still knows them either after their mini concert eons ago.

Anyway, will go read Rach's blog now. She's amazing. Love the way she writes.

Just took two paracetemol. Feeling a little sicky. Think I caught the bug yesterday from Prem last night during our tennis session.

Urgh! Tennis. Played really bad last night. I mean, I don't play well on normal days but yesterday was, like, super bad. I mean, couldn't get anything in the court! Everything went mile high and my double handed backhand ... nowhere to be seen! Horrible. Horrible. Should really just stick to squash.

Hmmm ... just reread my previous paragraph. Sounded a little like my sister, Stef, talking there. With all the 'I mean's and 'like's.

Hope I don't get sick. Suppose to go down to Singapore tomorrow. Got an SMS from Prem & Push after I got home last night saying that they'll be leaving on Friday after all. Their original plan was to leave tonight after work. Thanks guys. Now I don't have to travel on bus. Yay!

Okay time to go pick Mel for lunch with this other bunch of people I hang with. We only seem to have time for lunch and only during work days. Haven't gone out with them anywhere else for a long time now.

Well, I'm off.

Ta.

Was just about to eat the chocolates I bought during lunch when I remembered that I've left it in the car. Remembered it when I got back in my cubicle and sat on my chair. Too lazy to climb that flight of stairs and cross the street back to where the car's parked. Thought I'd do it after say five or ten minutes.

That was at 1.30pm. It's now quater to four! Went to the car and got the chocolates out. It feel soft ... really soft ... all melted.Boo hoo. Can't have my chocolates now. I've placed them in the refrigerator at the office upstairs (no fridge in our pantry ... bad!) They're recovering now, I hope. Will check up on them at say half an hour's time.

:( ... I have a chocolate craving. Serves me right for my procratinating nature.

Tough empress, you'll just have to go without for awhile!

A little something I concocted for my friend the other day. I call it a good weather spell. Her wedding was on the 24th. I wrote this before that.

...
...
...

abracadabra ...

hocus pocus ...

zim zam zoom ... *poof* (smoke effect)

viv will have lovely weather
on a day like no other
when she will say 'ay'
pledging her forever and a day
to the man of her dreams
in a dress of ivory and cream.

*no guarentee the spell will work. It's just for fun. :)

Had a gruelling class last night. Was corrected so so so so much by Mr Lee.

No floppy arms! ... Look up! ... Sharper turns! ... Shoulder leads before head and legs follows! ... Cha-cha-cha must be done step-by-step! Don't run through them! ... Create space for yourself! ... More shoulder movement! ... More hip movement! ... Remember to create hip movement before starting! ... etc.

Was poofed after class. Didn't even bother to stay back and practise. My limbs felt a bit unnatural after that.

Argh! So many things to remember! Have will I manage.

I have dance class at 7.30pm. Wondering if I should go home or go directly to the studio from work. Do I have time to go home?

Let's see. It's 5.45 now. 30 minutes to get home = 6.15, 20 minutes to the studio = 6.35. So that's almost an hour to spare.

I think I'll go home.

Ta da!

Still healthy. Sickly taste must have just been something I ate after all.

Choir practise was good. We timed 'The Living Creche'. It's about 35 minutes. After that, didn't have much time left to time 'A Night Of Wonder'. Will probably do that next week.

Conductor wasn't there yet again. Second week in a row. He's performing in 'The Fantastiks' in Bangsar. Replacement performance for the cancelled show due to the King's death.

The small choir's going to have practise again this Thursday. Yups! The same day I'll be meeting with the musicals group for Alex's birthday dinner. Oh yes, the small choir has a temporary name now. It's called 'Streetvoiz'. Cris has even set up a yahoo group for it!

Anyway, I'll be skipping that practise. Told them I'll practise at home myself ... yeah right!

I'll be off to Singapore on Friday! Yay! This time to watch Porgy & Bess. Hmmm ... still haven't got the bus ticket. Let's see if I have time to get it tonight after dance class.

Eeewwww! I've got the sickly taste on my tongue.

Why's that? I though I've had enough sleep to recover from the marathon.

Not sick yet but the bad taste should be an indication of the coming doom. Bones not aching yet though, which is a good sign. Maybe it's just something I ate.

Had a sleeping marathon yesterday.

Well, really needed it due to the VCD marathon early Sunday morning. Aunty Gnoh was gonna take the Korean series back to Ireland with her so I had to finish them before she leaves for the airport later that morning.

I think I watched from about 1am till 5.10am.

Then at 7am, my dad woke me up. They needed another car to go to the airport. Urgh! Bleeding brother won't wake up so I had to drive.

After the send off, felt hungry ... went for breakfast but couldn't eat. Not enough sleep I think.

Got home. Slept till 5pm.

Have to call Adrian. We've been planning and scheming a rescue mission. The mission is to get him to come out with us and the aunties without the parents.

He's quite a mama's boy and Aunty Maggie loves going on and on about 'My Adrian'. How smart he is, how sociable, how tall, how good looking ... etc.

Urgh!

Agreed he's smart. He went to Cambridge and all but the rest of us are not total idiots ... thank you very much.

Will make that call now.

Harry Potter was, as my 10 year old cousin would say, brill!

Daniel Radcliffe was so adorable albeit a little rounder than what I had in mind for Harry Potter but adorable all the same. Throughout the movie, I was going ... they've skipped this part, they've skipped that part, they've changed this part and they've shortened this part. Aunty Jackie says that if they do film the whole thing as per the book, the film would be 5 hours long.

Hmmm ... guess they should have made it into a miniseries instead.

Anyway, I liked the part when Harry went to Ollivander's. Loved it when he blew things up testing his wand and also the effects when he found his wand. Only complaint would be that he found his wand a little too quickly. Not that they should show them going through each and every wand but maybe just show a pile of wands of rejected wands after testing the first few wands before finding THE wand. Ollivander didn't quite fit what I had in mind as well. He was a bit too moody. I had a cheerier person in mind who speaks a little fast and would scurry from one side of the shop to the other.

The quidditch game was amazing even though the special effects could have been much much better. Plus, there should have been more quidditch games. Doesn't look right for Harry to be so unstable in his first game. He's suppose to triumph instead he adding fodder for critism for Malfoy.

They one character that I think was superbly casted would be Hermione. She's exactly what I had in mind. Irritating!

Oh yes, when I saw Snape, I kept wondering what the actor's name was. I know I've seen him in Sense and Sensibilities with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet but just can't seem to recall his name. I asked my aunt Chris who was sitting on my right who he was and she said he's Snape.

Haha ... I know he's Snape but what's his name.

We stayed until the cast credit came on and I finally found out his name ... Alan Rickman! Yep! It's Alan Rickman. He's also in one of Texas's music video. What was that song called? Don't remember. Nice song ... I think.

So, in conclusion, Harry Potter is definitely worth the watch. It's BRILL!

Oh no! It's raining!

We were suppose to have BBQ tonight! How are we going to do that if it's raining?

Come to think of it, how will I get to my car? Don't have an brolly with me.

Darn!

I managed to get through to the booking. Alas, Harry Potter tickets reserved for phone booking have all been booked! Have to go there in person.

The cinema's were closed. Didn't get to watch Harry Potter. Couldn't book nor purchase tickets for today from the counter when I checked at the cinema. Weird.

Found out why I could never get through to GSC MidValley. They only have one phone line open for phone booking.

ONE!

Can you imagine that? There is almost 18 screens there and they only have ONE phone line for booking! It's no wonder nobody can get through. It's like calling into a really popular radio station.

Trish will try to book some tickets for tonight's show at GSC Summit ... closer to home but not a very cool place to hang. If she can't get them, I'll have to go to MidValley to purchase them during lunch.

Oh yeah! Have to get mummy's present as well. I'm thinking ... those chains that's attached to your glasses and hangs around the neck. She should have one. Always misplacing her things. This from someone who keeps saying that papa needs to eat Gingko to improve his memory and that all of us are not ... what's that word??? 'Mindfull'. Another word for awareness, I think.

Not sure where I can find those chains. Maybe one of those stall that sells knick-knacks. Otherwise, I'll check at the optical shop. They should have some right?

Hurrah! Tis done. I can go home. It's still light outside. Been a long time since I've gone home while the sun's still shining.

Yay! Can have lunch now. Stef actually called to ask me to go home for lunch over an hour ago. Now I can.

Hurrah!

The King is dead

Well, it's a public holiday today ... and again, I'm at work. This is turning out to be a really bad habit. Can't really help it when that idiot keeps giving me things to do and not the time to do it. What does he think? I don't have a life? And to have all this work when my Aunts are down for a visit is just extremely bad timing!

Might not be able to watch Harry Potter today. All the entertaiments in the city area's suppose to be close as a sign respect to the dead King. Not too sure whether the cinema's are open. *fingers crossed* Please let them be open.

Still at work ... AGAIN! SMSed SM to cancel dance practise. Not sure if he got it. Will call him if he doesn't reply by 8.15.

C'mon! Hurry up and finish, emp!

Harry Potter

Woo hoo! I've just booked 6 tickets for Harry Potter tomorrow at 6pm. It's opening tomorrow and I've got tickets!

Hurrah!

Plus ...

it's been declared that tomorrows a holiday. Double hurrah! Shouldn't enjoy that too much as the cause for holiday is cause the King is dead. Should be a solemn day. Not one for celebration .... but then ...

I don't know the King personally and we are a country run by the parliament to it's not too much a biggie.

Yum ... no more growling stomach. Stomach feeling contented.

*Grrrroowl*

That's my stomach. I'm so hungry my stomach's growling! But alas, 30 ticks left till lunch.

grrrroowl ...

shhh ... hang in there. Only 30 minutes more.

My Aura Color

Groovy, baby! Your aura is a bright, shiny Gold — which means you're a kid at heart with a happy, generous nature. - Emode!

Haha ... kid at heart is true enough. Not so sure bout the happy and generous part though. I'm a bit of a scrooge.

I had a dream ...

It's not often that I have a dream when I go to bed at night. Even more so, a dream that I can remember when I wake up. Last night, was one of such rare occasion ...

I dreamt that I was at a party. No clue whatsoever what the party was for but ... everyone was drinking champange or something and talking and mingling when out came the guest of honour? Not sure but he seemed to be the one that everyone was waiting for.

It's Russell Watson. He came in and was requested by someone to sing for us and he did. I don't remember what he sang but he sounded great.

And then, he requested a volunteer to sing a duet with him. Guess what? To my surprise, I volunteer. My dream self seems to be a very brave soul indeed.

So, I went towards him and was given the lyrics.

It was in Mandarin.

I don't read Mandarin. So I told him and the guy who gave me the lyrics my dilemma.

I was so embarrassed, me being a Chinese and not being able to read Mandarin. Even more so when Russell spoke in Mandarin espressing his surprise at my lack of knowledge of my own mother tongue.

The two guys were nice enough though. They translated the lyrics to hanyu pin yin, Mandarin written in English letterrings. And we're ready to go.

Russell starts the duet and then it was my turn.

Don't remember how I sounded but I remember I've started at least a line of the lyrics before I woke up.

Couldn't get back to sleep after that. Tried but failed. I laid in bed and sang Russell Watson's songs in my head until my mobile phone's alarm came on.


I wonder what that dream was about? Was it to tell me that I should learn Mandarin? Should I be taking up vocal lessons? Or is it that the Barcelona CD that I've won a month ago, that I thought was lost in the mail, was finally going to arrive?

30 minutes more to go before I get off work. Can't wait!

I won't stay back today to finish my work. Nope! Not gonna do it. I did that the whole of last week and I'm sick of it.

I'm gonna go home and lay on my bed. My back feels like it needs cracking ... y'know like how you crack your knuckles. I wish I could just pull it out and just give it a nice good stretch. *CRACK*

My aunt says that there's this machine that they sell in the US that allows you to hang yourself upside down. Maybe that'll help me in stretching my back. Can't seem to get a good stretch no matter how I twist and turn.

Started a new blog.

Not so much as a blog as a list of what I eat everyday. Blophie85 advised me to keep a list of all the things that I eat for my weight loss attempt. She says it helps when you know what you've eaten and how some of those things could be cut down to keep off the blubber. Also advised me to keep off the carbos. Kinda difficult being a chinese and not eating the carbs. Rice is eaten almost everyday and if it's not rice, it's some sort of noodle.

Will try though ... will try.

Just got back from lunch. As usual am really full and sleepy. Haven't started on any work today. Have been busy replying mails that are more than a week old!

Got a mail from Cris from the Philharmonic. She needs another soprano for the small choir for Christmas and asked if I was interested. Since I don't have plans, told her I was. Will be getting paid for this gig. It's about $50 bucks a pop and there's 3 gigs so that's $150. I'd do it for the heck of it but I never say no to money. ;)

Practise is this Thursday at 8pm at Susan Ho's. Still waiting for Cris to reply with the address. Will have to call her if I don't have the address by Thurs morn.

Dance practise tonight at 9pm ... maybe ... if I don't feel too lazy.

Back in my cubicle

Have had 5 days of holiday. I feel even more tired than before the holiday started. Didn't have the type of holiday I'd consider a good holiday.

Was awaken everyday in the morning by papa to go for breakfast ... ideally, won't have to wake up till noon but that didn't happen ... nope, not even one of those five days did I sleep past noon. Urgh ... bad.

The eating part was good enough. Could have had more hawker stall food but that was limitted by papa's friends who wanted to treat us for dinner. Plus, the food prices in Penang have shot up considerably. It's almost as expensive as KL ... another bad.

Nothing much happened during the holidays. No gorgeous guys sightings as like last year. Not enough of assam laksa and durians eaten. Not a very good Penang trip, I would say. Too much sitting in the car heading somewhere or the other.

Luckily we didn't have the day trip to Haddyai as originally planned. That would have included waking up at the ungodly hour of 6am, a drive of 1-2 hours to the Malaysia-Thailand border, non-stop shopping (window shopping for me) of sub-quality? items and then another 1-2 hours drive back home to Aunty See's place. Bleah! That would have been dreadfull for me.

Hopefully the trip to Kraabi would materialise next year. Don't mind a few days of lazing on the beach. In fact, that's my idea of a holiday. Nothing but lazing and playing ... no rushing off to anywhere for whatever reason. Ummm ... have that song by All Saints playing in my head now. The one they did for the movie 'The Beach' with Leo DiCaprio. Don't remember the song title. Movie was total crap but the beach looked absolutely brilliant.

Oh well, that's not till next April ... maybe

For now, tis back to work. Was just given another deadline. End of this week ... rather by Thursday. For another stupid hack job.

Penang

Am currently in the land of food, food and more food ... oh yeah ... there is the beach as well but don't have a chance to get to it yet. Don't think we'll make it to the beach this trip.

Waiting for my sister to finish showering so we can go for breakfast.

OK ... she just finished. Now ... for her to dress and then we'll go downstairs to wait for my aunt.

More about this trip after I get home or when I get back to the office. Should be going home tomorrow. Maybe I'll take Tuesday off as well. A break to recover from the holidays?

Until then.

.

Finanlly!

Next stage ... TESTING

OH NO! It's already 3pm and I'm still coding!

Still need to test the program.

I'm in the office.

Working.

On a HOLIDAY!

Darn! I was hoping to finish my stuff before today.

Last night at about 8.20pm, had to rush off for the squash dinner. We had dinner at Madam Kwan's at Bangsar. Nice atmosphere. I had the assam laksa. It was so-so. Not exactly good but not bad. Not everyone was there. Melvyn's wife must be in town and whenever she's in town, you'd not see him - she's a flight attendant. Solomon's gone back to his wife's hometown to celebrate Deepavali. I don't know where JC is ... nobody told me. Probably had some important dinner with VIPs and don't have time for us little people.

I told them I had to get back to work after the dinner. Even told my friend that I couldn't make it to his Deepavali open house. I ended up agreeing to stop by at the karaoke for a few songs.

Huh ... some few songs! We ended up leaving at 2am. I had wanted to leave around 11.30pm but we went to the karaoke place in one car; my car was parked near Madam Kwan's. After about 12.30am, I gave up the idea of going back to work that night and we continued singing. It was fun.

So ... here I am. At work on a holiday.

Won't be going to Penang until tomorrow ... maybe

Fuh! I'm stuffed.

Now I'll never wonder again how people can have just a salad for lunch. I just had a ceaser salad and a twister at Dome with Stef and my aunts. Very nice.

Hmmm ... I wonder if I just have salad everyday for lunch, would I be able to lose some weight? Of course, it's gonna cost a bomb to have salad everyday at Dome's. Not to mention the 15 minutes drive just to get there and another 15 back to the office. Maybe I could make some salad myself. But I'd have to find a nice salad dressing to go with it. Time for some grocery shopping.

Ah well, will start trying this salad thing next Monday; after my holidays. You can't go to Penang and be on a diet. You just can't! Too many good food in Penang.

Mmmmm ...yum ... assam laksa here I come!


Oh yes, the squash celebration dinner is finally on. It' gonna be tonight at 7.45 or 8 ... thereabouts. Kudos Lorrin for managing this feat!

Just received a slew of mails from the musicals groups as well. Some of them will (hopefully ... fingers crossed) be meeting up to go watch 'Charlie's Aunty' this Saturday. And this time it's not just gonna be the three graces (ie. Grace L, Karen and yours truly) meeting up. If all goes well Rach, Alex, Fang and Grace ML will be going. Bad timing though. I can't make it. Will still be in Penang on Saturday. Have a fab time you guys!

Arghhhh!!!

Another discussion, another frustration. I should stop discussing with TL!

Almost everything he said I shouldn't do for the program, he now says is viable. Said that wasn't what I said the other day! WHAT THE FUCK!

I was so frustrated I had to go for a walk! Couldn't talk to him any longer. I'll just do things the way I think should be done and he just have to fill in the database they way my program works! I don't care! It's totally acceptable to have data formatting in data!

I'm gonna work at home. I don't think I can be in the office with only him and me. Might feel like punching him till he bleeds if I stay in here longer.

Ta.

Yay! Compile successfull.

FINALLY! Something to test out.

It's not the complete codes as yet. Just one of the multiple selections have been coded but if this work, the rest should be a matter of cut and paste.

Wish me luck.

And now ... back to work ...

Today I'm in a mood. Even my colleague noticed. Maybe cause I was very abrupt with her when she asked me a question.

It's all due to my lack of sleep and the fact that I'm suppose to have my program done by not but am still NOT done with it! TL gave me a new deadline. 'Till the day after Deepavali.

Thanks but no thanks! Deepavali's on Wednesday and that's a holiday. Plus, I'll be on leave on Thursday and Friday. Won't be back till Monday next week. Which means ... I'd have to finish this thing by tomorrow evening. Written, compiled and tested!

Hope I'll be able to make it. Lorrin hasn't called whether the squash dinner tonight or tomorrow or ever. Mogan called to invite me to his Deepavali open house. I'll try and make that if I'm done with my program. Guess I'll have to skip choir tonight. Unless I stay up late tonight to get some work done ... again.

I think almost the whole family plus my two aunts have gone up to Genting today. Not too sure whether grandma's gone with them. My brother's got some tickets for the Lion Dance competition that's going on there. Should be quite interesting.

Wednesday just can't come soon enough. I need a holiday! ... like RIGHT NOW!

Urgh! Forgot to get my cup of coffee from Coffee Bean during lunch earlier. Eyelids are swooping shut right now.

Mummy's in one of her moods again. Stef pointed out that she gets this way everytime my aunts come for their holidays. I didn't even notice that it's cause the aunts are coming. I thought it was just one of her moods. Stef can be quite astute sometimes. Maybe it's due to all the time spent at home with mummy. She can read her moods better I suppose.

Papa's on the way to the airport now with Stef and Aunty Ko. Aunty Ko came this morning. Gave me a wake up call this morning at 7.30am saying she close to the train station near my house and to come get her. I was so sleepy. After I got her, went straight back to bed. She was hungry but I just couldn't get myself to go out and have breakfast with her. Too sleepy. Wonder if she did get something to eat?

Anyway, I'm about to go for my facial appointment. I take it that I have to drop my grandma off at the church first since she's still at home. Nobody tells me anything. I have to make all these assumptions. If I'm not free to do the stuff, I'll be on everyone's bad side then.

Ah ... ces't la vie.

Well, celebration dinner with the squash team has been post-poned ... for the third time. This time, Anne can't make it. A case of possible chicken pox. ... and there I was thinking that it was really late for me to get chicken pox when I was 21. While on the phone with Lorrin about the dinner confirmation, I'd warned her that it'll be a really tough job trying to get everyone together for anything. I should know cause I've been trying to get the musical group together for the past year without much success. Best of luck Lorrin.

Oh yes! I forgot. Happy Birthday, Papa!

It's papa's birthday today! Happy 55th!

With this cancellation, I'd be able to have the birthday dinner with him after all. The siblings were planning on what to do for papa's birthday last night. This is what they came up with ... I wasn't much into participating last night ... too tired after the dance practise. So, it's to have a family dinner somewhere and the we'd get the Gold Class movie ticket for him and mummy for 'The One', Jet Li's new movie. All siblings will then be able to do as they please. I have dance class at 10pm so I'm occupied.

This means I'd have to go home early. Meaning I have to really concentrate of finishing my codes before 5.30pm ... that's like in 4 hours time! I don't think I'd be able to make it! Looks like it's gonna be a long day tomorrow at work.

Okay. Have to get moving on those codes now.

Ta.

They must be doing some maintenance work at the office. Where's the memo on that? Didn't get any. For two days, after 5.30pm, the proxy was down. No access to the net. No blog!

Not that I have much to blog about the past two days.

On Wednesday ...(flashback)

ermmm ... can't really recall what I did at work today. More table designs for the extra functionality for the project ... I think ... or was I wasting time chatting with people and searching for places to stick my resume on the web??? I think I did do some thinking on the tables. I'm not a total slack at work, ok?!

After work, went home and later on went for dance practise. Forgot the steps we changed last Friday. Timing's a little off and balance is still missing. Must check with Mr. Lee later on the new steps. Went to bed quite early at about 11.30pm.

Thursday ...

Yay! Finished my table designs. Spent quite a lot of time explaining and reviewing it with TL who's in charge of the project. Added some other fields and changed some of the datatypes. After that, typed up the whole thing in doc format for KB, the database guy. He's in another office which is about 45 minutes away from mine.

Tried to send in the file via Yahoo! Messenger but that seems to fail ... don't know why. Has anyone tried sending files with Yahoo! Messenger? Does it work?

Anyway, I mailed him the doc and then asked him to review it. He's the database guy, I'm not an expert in that field. In case I created some useless stuff, I'd like to know about it. He wanted me to explain how the tables would be used ... so we had a short chat. Short cause by 5.30pm, everything stopped. Connection lost! KB's still confused on how I used the fields I want created to get the stuff that I need.

It looked like it was about to rain. So I went home before it started to pour. It didn't though, but I'm home anyway. :)

Had dinner, watched Roswell and then off to dance practise ... again. Mr. Lee was there so we checked with him on the steps that I was unsure of. He must be so tired of me rechecking my steps again and again. I keep forgetting one part or another of the routine everytime I go for class. Must find a way of writing the routine down ... and then write it down!

Back to the present

Several things to do today:

1. Call Lorrin to confirm regarding celebration dinner/karaoke ... will do this right after I post this blog!


2. Start coding on the function


3. Change leave application ... must try to get it approved before boss leaves ... tomorrow?

Well, that's not too many things is it?

ARGHHHHHHH!!!!

Why is it that everytime after I've discussed something with him I feel like screaming and pulling my hair out!?!!??! It's so frustrating!

ARGHHHHHHHHH!!!

I don't think I'd ever work well with this co-worker of mine. Urgh! Still frustrated. I need to smash something!

Let's try another topic.

My mom just got her mobile phone number. My dad's friend gave him a mobile phone for his retirement during the retirement dinner they threw for him. He's retiring on the 9th, this Friday. They actually asked him what he wanted as a retirement present. 'Would you like a watch?', they asked. 'No, I just got a watch from my brother recently. How about a mobile phone?', says Dad. And they gave him a phone! So nice of them. And then, my dad gave the phone to my mom cause she's the only one in the family, besides my grandma, who doesn't have a mobile. Awwww ... so sweet.

It's not like my mom really need a mobile. She's usually at home. Her only busy day would be on Sunday when she helps out at the Vihara (Bhuddist temple).

Hmmm ... where was I? Had to go move my car out of the parking lot to avoid paying double the fee.

Okay, I think that's all I have to say today. I'm going to go home now. My eyes are so dry and a little red from staring at the screen all day. This happens occasionally.

Ta.

Oh yes! I'm also on the lookout for my latin costume. If anyone sees one over the net that looks nice, reblog me the link.

Thanks.

Jogging

I'd originally planned to wake up at 6am for a short jog before going for work this morning. My memory's quite vague as to what happened this morning. Don't remember if my mobile phone's alarm went off or not but I missed my jog.

The next thing I knew, my mom was waking me up. It was 7.30am. My usual wake up time for workdays.

Why I am jogging ... (Planning to jog anyway)

I saw pictures that this other dance couple took for their competition entrance next weekend. The girl, in real life, is this skinny long limbed dancer's body kind of girl. In the picture, she didn't look that skinny. Maybe it's cause she's not very toned, especially her stomach, quite flat but not toned ... does that make sense? Anyway, if I can see her stomach in those pictures, I wouldn't like to see what mine would look like! I've gotta find a costume that hides this but I really like those latin costumes that have slits here and there on the waist area. Really sexy!

... So ... that's why I'm jogging. I'm trying to lose fat! Since reducing my food is next to impossible for me, I thought, if I exercised more, I'd still be able to loose weight or at least tone up. How's my hypothesis? Workable? Let's hope so.

I'd missed my jog today. Must remember to do sit-ups tonight. I'll try the jog again tomorrow.

Hmmm ... remind me to borrow my sister's discman for my jog.

*Yawn* really sleepy but I thought I'd blog a bit before bed.

Woke up this morning when my sister came in with Dee Dee looking for a panty liner in my cupboard. Couldn't go back to sleep after that so I just laid on my bed and finished the book I was reading ... and pretending that I'm still asleep. Whenever anyone comes in, I'd drop the book under my quilt and close my eyes. Don't fell like getting up yet.

Gave up pretending after I finished my book. Since I can't get to sleep, I might as well get up and do whatever I have to do today. I needed to go the bank to deposit the cheque for my credit payment. There's only one branch of that bank that has 24-hours banking and drop-in cash and cheque counters; and that's in the city. My mom needed the car, she's going for a perm, so I was going to take a train near my house that requires me to change train. Luckily my dad came home just in time and was going to a place near a station with direct train service to that bank area.

I felt so stupid trying to fill in the fast cheque form. I didn't know what I was doing. Had to ask people around me what I am suppose to fill. Hopefully I've filled it in correctly. *Praying*

Then I went for a little window shopping at KLCC ... one of my favorite past-times. Saw two really gorgeous dresses. They were similar dresses but had different cut on the neckline. You wouldn't believe what it cost! Over a thousand dollars! What can I say? I've got expensive taste. They are really gorgeous but I might not be able to carry them off. It'll look nicer on a person whose slim and tall. I'm neither of those!

Found a new shop there. An aromatheraphy shop. Sells candles and incense and oils ... you get the gist. I bought a purple candle holder and three woodies - little scented wooden balls. The woodies and at work right now making all my clothes smell nice. I've placed them in my cupboard. Candle burner's at work as well. I'm burning my strawberry scented candle in it. The scent from the candle's gone though. It's been a long time since I bought those candles. Just haven't had the chance to light them up.

Rushed back from the city to try to make the 4 o'clock appointment my mom has with this vocal teacher she's planning to take lessons from. The teacher has placed a flyer in the music school's notice board for singers for his choir's Christmas programme. I was late. My mom's left without me.

Later, I went out for dinner with my brother and Stef. Came back from the dinner, had a quick shower and I'm off to my choir's Annual General Meeting (AGM). I thought I was late for the meeting but I must have gotten the wrong time for the meeting. I was sort of early. Meeting hasn't started. Forgot they were providing dinner so I didn't have much cause I've already eaten. After the dinner, we had a singing session. Some people would go up near the piano and sing. I'm too shy to sing in front of this bunch. Most of them have vocal trainings. I'd never had a vocal class in my life. But it was fun just singing along to them. Some of the guys were singing in falsettoes! Lots of laughes.

The whole thing ended almost at 12am. Call Prem to check where they were. Brendan was having his birthday party at the same time of the meeting and I said I'd see if I could make it. I missed the party. Prem was in Jenny's house bumming and watching VCDs. I joined them. We watched 'Heartbreakers' starring Sigorney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt. I'd seen it before but I don't mind watching it again if only for the clothes that Hewitt wears in that movie. They're great! I must be really tired cause I dozed off for a few seconds while watching the movie. After the movie, we left Jenny's place.

And now, ... here I am.

Off to bed now. Ta.

Just got back from dance class. We've finished our cha-cha routine and will be polishing up on techniques next week. I feel a little unstable on some turns. Most of my turns are done on my weaker foot, my left foot. I even have to do a full pirouette on my left. Must remember to spot! Oh yes, must remember to look up as well ... another reason for my lack of stability ... I don't know why I keep looking on the floor. I'm not even looking at my feet! Will have to practise, practise, practise.

Prior to class, I met up with Grace and Karen ... as I've predicted the only two who will turn up for the meet from my musicals clique. I had my shepherd's pie ... mmmmm, yummy. Grace joined us later, she was meeting with a prospect. She works in insurance. She didn't have anything to eat though. I asked her about the Stage Management opening I mailed her about a week ago. She said she received a favourable reply and that the position is actually for Deputy Stage Manager. They guy offered her the job and the rehearsal for the play is to start in Nov 10. She declined saying that she's going to Australia but the guy said that as Deputy Stage Manager, she only has to start work in January. The position's still open to her ... I think ... but she did give the guy contact numbers for other people that she knows that could fullfill the position. Awwww ... wasn't that nice of her?

Just mailed my aunt. She's braving the possibility of a hijack and will be flying home from Ireland for a holiday. Must remember to apply for a leave of absense on Monday.

I'm quite tired. I even forgot to stop by the bank to drop in my cheque for my first credit card payment. Will have to remember to do that tomorrow. Due date for payment is Nov 5.

Off to reply a mail from a quite yummy guy I talked about a few weeks ago.

*Yawn*

Nite!

... ermmm ... Morning.

... whatever!!!

Hasta!

Have you seen this video? Click on launch video and watch Enrique Iglesias's music video Hero.
Enrique Iglesias
Hero

I love it. Enrique's gorgeous and so is Jennifer Love Hewit ... MAN! Wish I had a bod like hers.

My co-workers, Danny and Kevan, ditched me during lunch. They each had face-to-face reports to make to their other halves. ;-)

Without a car and with no other co-workers who owns a car around, me and another co-worker, TL, had to eat at the cafeteria. TL doesn't mind eating anywhere so long as they have rice! I hate rice. Especially for lunch since I'd be having rice at night anyway. I'm Chinese. We have rice every night. Come to think of it, most races in Malaysia have rice during dinner anyway. Malays, Chinese, Indians ... we all have rice. Maybe not the Indians so much cause they have other carb based food, ie. the various type of 'roti'-s (bread), like nan, roti canai, chapati and such.

Anyway, tonight, hopefully, I'd be having shepherd's pie at Finnegan's. Yay! No rice!

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

They're not showing the third season of La Femme Nikita. *sob* Maybe in a year or two they'd bring it back ... maybe ... hopefully ... PLEASE!

I was late again this morning. It's becoming a really bad habit. About as late as yesterday. My dad's car should be ready by tonight. LET IT BE READY!

A car is so convenient. Oh how I miss it now that I don't have that convenience. Can't even go to a mall during lunch for a bit of window shopping. Have to depend on where ever my other co-workers are heading for lunch.

Having dinner with Karen from the musicals group tonight before my dance class. It's not confirmed as yet and nobody else in the group has replied to the mass mail. It'll probably just be me and Karen and maybe Grace ... AGAIN. Only the three graces, meeting again.

Found a limitation in an old program that's currently being used by one of the internal department. Huh ... will have to modify the codes of create a new module to add the required functionality in. Haven't coded in PHP for quite awhile. Hope I still remember how to do it. Will try it tomorrow.

Dad's downstairs now. His car's in the workshop and so, he's driving my car. I don't know why it's there for overhaul? Don't know. Have to go now.

I quit ...

Not like I really started anyway. I'm talking about my diet. The one my dance teacher advise me to take up.

I've realised that since that day, the more I try to watch what I eat to make sure I eat less, the more cravings I have. For chocolates, for cakes, for sweets, for ice-cream ... I even eat bigger portions during meal time. Don't know why that is but it is. It's like when your parents or an authoritative figure tells you not to do something, the urge to do the forbidden gets greater. Know what I mean?

My squash team is trying to set a date for a celebrative get together. Originally planned for tomorrow, Lorrin just called to say that some of the others are busy and would like to change it to Monday. Well, I'm busy on Mondays. Mondays are choir nights. So that's out. Azlan can't make Thursday and I'm sort of only free on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Might have dance class on either Tuesday or Friday so I didn't put those days out as my free days. Hope this get together works out. I have another group of friends, the musical group, that have been trying to get together for the past year but to no avail. Everyone's always busy on various different days. Hopefully we'd be able to meet on of these days.

Why is it so difficult to get together for something is not compulsory or of not much importance? We didn't have any problem getting people to attend training or classes? ... but otherwise, there just doesn't seem to be time. Priorities, I suppose.

Went to the mall last nite after dinner to look at furnitures.

Yups! Still looking at furnitures. Remember my list? Well, I have yet to get a single thing from that list.

Alas, nothing came out of this venture. The furnitures there were too serious. Teaks and stuff. Definitely not for my room.

Got to work 45 minutes late this morning. Forgot to wake my brother. I was too busy shifting through the new cable TV guide to check out new programmes to watch for this month. Hmmm ... what looked interesting this month ... there's 'Blonde' - a story on Marilyn Monroe, 'Prince Charming' - I think it's a frog prince story with time travel ... a few more which I don't remember the titles.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! ... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRISH!

It's halloween's and to me, this also means the birthday of devil's child aka my sister, Tricia.

She's on her way to Macau now for another competition so we had to celebrate her birthday a day earlier. Not much of a celebration. Just a family dinner at a nice restaurant. Not everyone managed to make the dinner anyway. Brother had a meeting and grandma had a last minute call from grandaunt requesting her presence cause she's feeling really sick. My mom say's it's all in grandaunty's mind, cause she's old and a lot of people she knows is dying. I hope I don't get like that when I'm old or if I get old.

Let's get away from morbid stories ... anyway, after dinner, we were all suppose to go home for the cake. The cake's my present for my sister. On the way home, Trish called and said she's on the way to meet her friends and won't be back till about 11pm. I was hoping to get the cake cutting and everything out of the way cause I'm having this pounding headache, results of the lack of sleep ... more about that later. Okay, fine, so we'll have the cake later.

I decided to take a little nap till Trish gets home. Stef, my other sister, said she'd wake me when Trish gets back.

Next thing I knew, it was morning. I didn't even change into my PJs but at least the headache's gone.

Managed to catch Trish before she left for the airport this morning to cut the cake. She oooh-ed and aaah-ed when she saw the cake. She's never had that cake before. It's called 'Heavenly'. Taste as good as it's name. I got it from this Norwegian restaurant called 'Nouveau Paradis' in Damansara. My friend took me there once for that cake. The cake cost a bomb, $80, but it's worth it. Delicious. Anyway, Trish cut about a quater of the cake for the road. She didn't have time to eat it at home. Hope she likes it. Even if she doesn't, at least I had 'Heavenly' for breakfast this morning.

Oh yes, my lack of sleep ... just that the bus ride from Singapore got to Kuala Lumpur at 3am yesterday morning. Got to bed about four something before waking up to go to work at 7 plus. So that's less than 3 hours. Also had a bitchy argument with Trish while she's driving me home from the bus terminal.

Y'see, I borrow her sweater a long time ago and she was going 'Why didn't you ask me if you could borrow it?'

I was going, 'It was ages ago. I don't remember whether I did ask your permission or not.'

Then she went, 'It's not my fault. You're not even apologizing for not asking.'

I was a little confused there cause I didn't know I'd put the blame on her. Anyway I was peckish after the long ride and the ungodly hour and didn't want to back down so we just went on bickering for a few more moments. About me being bitchy and rude, which I said I was just following her example. She said I shouldn't be following what she does cause I'm the elder one. I went, 'Oh well, I can't help it. You're such and idol.'

I gave up after that. Didn't speak till we got home.

Her boyfriend was also in the car. He must be thinking that Trish must be so pityfull to have a sister like me. If he only knew. I thank them both for picking me up from the bus terminal as sweetly as though that bitchy incident never happened.

So, I'm a bitch. So what? Sue me!

Monday ...

Woke up when I heard the sound of my friend preparing to got to work. She was wearing her punjabi costume and was stuggling with the string of her pants. It's a drawstring pants and the strings dissappeared into the ... what do you call that part where the string goes through for a drawstring pants? ... anyway, I tried to get it out for her after she gave up and I did manage to get it out.

Tried to get back to sleep after that but couldn't so I just lay in bed and read.

My alarm rang at 9am. I was still to lazy to get up so I continued reading till about 9.30am. Then I got ready for a shower. Walked out to the hall and got distracted by some magazines. Finally got into the showers after about 45 minutes. Packed up everything that needed to be packed and then called Anne ... I was suppose to join her today. Anne said that I was to meet her at Lucky Plaza at 12pm and we'd be going for hi-tea later.

Got to BK's too late for a BK breakfast so I had a bacon and cheese burger meal. Next went to Lush to get Mask of Magnamity for my sister. As usual, it's out of stock. They asked if I wanted to be included in the waiting list. Yes, there's a waiting list for face mask! This face mask sells like hot cakes. Don't blame it, it feels incredible when you put it on and your face feels really clean after that. It's about 12pm time to meet Anne and Regina.

Called Anne from a public phone at Lucky Plaza. They're still at home! Will probably get there at about 1pm.

Okay, let's listen to some music in the mean time. Headed toward Tower Records. It's missing! I wonder where Tower's went. Couldn't find it at the place where I saw it the last time I came a few months ago. In it's place is Lifestorey - a furniture/interior decor store. Pretty nice pieces. Expensive though.

Hung around Borders looking through all the 2002 calendars and listening to Harry Connick, Jr. and Ella Fitzgerald. Couldn't find a recording for Babes In Arms. All my watches are dead so I don't have the time. Asked a passing guy for the time ... It's 1.30pm! I'm late!

Rushed to Lucky Plaza ... a difficult task in the long sarong wrap around I had on. No Anne or Regina to be seen. Called them again. They're one stop away from Orchard Road - location of Lucky Plaza.

They finally arrived half an hour later. We went shopping at OG Plaza. Not a place I'd go on my own ... I'm a snob. Got a pair of shorts there though. So that's okay. Saw a pair of sandals which was quite nice but expensive. Not worth the price.

Time to fill the stomach. I was still a little full from my late breakfast but I never say no to food and besides, my legs are kinda tired after all the walking. The hi-tea was okay. Not fantastic but I filled my stomach to the brim anyway ... do stomachs have brims? They wanted to do more shopping so we went. After that, it was time to go home for a little rest before heading for the bus station for the journey home. I thought there was still some time so I said goodbye to them and went to browse HMV for about an hour.

Got home to Thana's place. Someone's home. It's her co-worker. I've talked to him on the phone before earlier today when I was looking for Thana. He said Thana gave him a tongue lashing for not informing her that I called earlier. Haha ... can't imagine Thana getting angry at anyone. She's got this cute looking face like a little girl's. Anyway, I called Thana to check whether she'd be back before I had to leave but she has to work late so I'd probably see her maybe next month in Penang. That's where she lives and my aunt lives there and when my aunt in UK comes back in November, we might go up to Penang. Had my shower, flipped through a mag and left the house.

Anne and Regina will be picking me up at a taxi stand near Boon Lay MRT station. I got there early and had a drink. They came and we drove to the interstate bus station. The bus was already there and people were boarding it but it was still early. We're suppose to leave at 10pm. So we stopped by at McDonalds for a short while cause Regina's children wanted to eat. Anne and I said goodbye to everyone and boarded the bus. We were the last to board. More goodbyes and promises to visits later, we were off. Goodbye Singapore ... see you in a month! I'm watching Porgy and Bess next month.

Flashback ... the final installment!

Sunday ... last day of comps

Our game's against the Plantations team this morning with the finals this afternoon. Highly likely we'll be in for the finals. Just have to win 1 match today but 2 matches would provide better security. They rested me for this game. The 2nd ladies who moved up to play first ladies lost ... *boo hoo* ... plus she got a muscle pull. Have to give credit to May of Plantations though. She played really well today. Maybe she's taking revenge for having lost to the SSC lady. We won the second ladies and 2 other mens so WE'RE IN THE FINALS!!!

Another miserable lunch ...

The finals ...
We play SSC again. I felt more confident playing this time around. Don't remember the scores but I played better this time. Still some faults on services though. Hmmm ... have to work on those. The 1st men singles played before I did and we won that. So the score was 1-0 us before I started. Then 2-0 us after I finished. The third game was a close one. a 5 setter. Melvyn (2nd men's single) won the first two game but then dropped the next two. Luckily he managed to stay on during the fifth game. We were making so much noise during his game, shouting and yelling encouragement as well as laughing at his silly mistakes ... we can do this for Mel's game cause he laughs at them himself. And then VOILA! We've won! The 2nd ladies and 3rd men's singles were also played as a formality. Final score was 4-1 SDSC ... YAY!

We were the last game to finish. Everyone was waiting for us at the fields for the closing ceremony. There was a little performance for the closing ceremony. They had an all female bagpipe group playing and also a girl doing that Scottish dance with the sword. People in my groups keep asking me to go up and join the girl cause the skirt I was wearing was also a red plaid skirt like hers except mine was a lot shorter ... it's a sports skirt. I didn't go up of course. Didn't want to steal her thunder ... heh heh ... actually I didn't dare go up ... me chicken. Prize giving ceremony. Our group got load and loads of prizes. Champs for 3 games, runner up for 3 or 4 other games and we won the overall champion cup! Yay! Yay! Yay! Lot's of picture taking followed.

SSC the organiser for this year's games then gave us hi-tea. Better food that the lunches they gave us. Lots of food to go around as well. Went back to the hotel tired but happy.

A quite shower and a phone call later, I was off to meet my friend who's on a project in Singapore. My teammate, Anne, was also staying back in Singapore for an extra day. The rest of the team will be heading back for Malaysia at 10pm tonight. Anne's godsister Regina came to get her and dropped me off at my meeting point with my friend. I didn't know exactly where she lived but I knew the MRT station that's near both mine and her place. My friend, Thana, arrived at the same time I did and her place was only 10 minutes walk from the station. Short walk but with my heavy bag and racquet, I was sweating buckets by the time I got to her place.

After resting a few minutes and a bit of a chat, haven't seen her for almost a year!, we went out for dinner at Sketches. I like going to Sketches. They have a very interesting concept. Their usual menu is a list of choices you can have on your pasta, a lot like making your own pizza. You chose the type of pasta you want, the topping, the sauce, whether you want cheese and the size (hungry or famished!). Cute. One of the waiters chatted with us a bit after his shift. Only a short chat. He doubled back to get our numbers but I didn't give it to him cause 1. I live in Malaysia, 2. he's not yummy, kinda geeky ... I know, I know. I should judge a person by their looks. Just call me superficial. I like people who looks good or at least I think looks good. We were stuffed after dinner and decided to walk off our dinner. Took the MRT to Raffles Place and walked along Boat Quay(again!) and across the bridge all the way to City Hall. We saw Chjimes near City Hall. Our original destination for dinner except I don't remember how to get there and neither did Thana. So I suggested Sketches and since she has never eaten there, we went. Took the MRT back to her place and went to sleep.

Flashback ... continued

Saturday ...

First day of competition. There's an opening ceremony. The weather was ultra humid ... it always is in Singapore. We had a march pass in the open field. Thankfully it was a little cloudy else I might just have fainted in the middle of the ceremony. I was getting a little dehydrated by the end of the ceremony. Nothing fancy about the march. Just a bunch of people babbling on a podium, a brass band playing, the various colors of each team's tracksuits, oath recitation and lighting of the torch.

Time for the first match. Here's how it goes for the squash competition. It's a team event consisting of 5 players (3 men and 2 ladies) and 3 reserves (2 men and 1 lady), played round-robin style. The 2 teams with the highest score at the end will play in the finals. Game play goes 1st men, 1st ladies, 2nd men, 2nd ladies and lastly 3rd men. I play 1st ladies. Today we play team Dunlop Malaysia (DMIB) in the morning and team Singapore Sports Club (SSC) after lunch. My first match was a breeze. Team DMIB didn't have a ladies team but the men wanted to play so they roped in a girl who hasn't a clue how to play the game. Beat her 9-0, 9-0. Me big bully ... *heh* *heh*. They could have rested me for this game. My 2nd ladies/3rd ladies could have taken her without a sweat. 2nd ladies got a walkover cause they didn't have a player. We also won the men's games. Don't remember if we won all 3 men's. But we beat DMIB. Time for lunch. Pathetic excuse for lunch provided by the host. We had rice with 1/2 a bunch of 'siew buk choy', 2 fish balls and small amount of sweat sour chicken ... cold.

Second match. I was a bit shaky for this match. Saw SSC's 1st ladies play against Sime Darby Plantations. She's got beautiful serve. I'm not too great a receiving volleys especially backhands. So, I kinda freaked myself out even before I went in for the game. I do that a lot. Managed to beat her 9-0 in the first game although with loads of mistakes. Second game was even worse. Multiple service faults!!! Service faults! Hate that. What the heck went wrong with my services that afternoon I have yet to find out. But they were horrible. I'm lucky to beat her 9-6 or was it 9-4 ... something like that. If I had playing my usual game with no sense of fear whatsoever, I think I should have been able to beat her 9-0, 9-0 easily. Stupid me. What's wrong with me? Why do I scare myself silly even when I know I'd be able to beat her? Nevermind.

It was easy victory for the 2nd ladies again. The men usually have more to fight out that the ladies do. But in the end, SDSC (that's my team) still prevailed. Yay! However, there was an incident, our 1st men single knocked and dislocated his knee during his game. Had to be taken to the hospital although he insisted that he could still finish the game. We didn't think he could and told him so and made him go with the medic to the Medic Room before he could be taken to the hospital. He's okay now. Not too great an injury but he couldn't play anymore and so his wife drove him home the next day

That night, the 2nd men single, Azlan, gave us a dinner treat that night, he's a manager. He said he'll claim it from the MD - our 1st men single. Not sure if he did. Anyway, we took the MRT (Mass Rail Transit), Singapore's rail service, to Boay Quay. Had a delicious, hearty dinner of seafood with the Singapore River as a backdrop. Lovely place. Boay Quay is a stretch along the Singapore River which houses numerous little pubs/discos and eateries ranging from seafood to indian food. They're celebrating Holloweens a little early in Singapore. We saw several vampy looking girls and skeletal guys, a french maid, a girl in arabian costume and a whole lot of other costumes. I think the french maid and arabian girl needs a little more assets to fill out their duties. ;) ... back to hotel and to bed. My roommate, team captain, Lorrin must have been really tired. She flipped through several TV channels before settling on a beach volley ball game and fell promptly asleep ... ha ha. I was reading my book and one moment she's awake and the next time I looked up, she KOed. :) I went to bed too as I was falling asleep reading.


... watch out for Flashback ... the final installment!

I'm back!

We won the squash champion trophy and the overall champion trophy! Yay! ... and since it's the third time we've won these 2 trophies, we get to keep them for good. They'd have to get new trophies for next year. Oh ya, we also won 2 more champion trophies and several runner ups.

Flashback ...

On Friday, the journey started late cause they left the first pick up point at 3pm; the appointed time for pick up point #2 (where I was waiting). Anyway, the bus was pretty nice. I've got both seats to myself. Lots of room to stretch ma legs. Down point of the journey, the utterly incompetent tour guide and bus rules. We weren't allowed to eat in the bus ... and there I was stocking up on munchies before the journey. What a waste. The tour guide also tried dispensing some jokes which nobody laughed at. He always ends up laughing at his own jokes. He even said so himself, he said 'I'm so embarrassed, I told a joke and I'm the only one laughing'. I don't know if his jokes were funny or not cause I wasn't paying any attention to him. I had my book and I was happily reading it.

When we got to Singapore, we got lost a little. The bus driver knew the road in which the hotel is located but not exactly the location of the hotel. Once again, the tour guide's incompetence came into the limelight. Firstly, he didn't have the lot number of the hotel. So even when we were on Geylang Road, where the hotel is, we didn't know whether we were going down the correct way along the one-way road. Luckily, my team captain had the lot number, I remember it being on the briefing handouts that were given to us. Surprise, surprise, we were going the wrong way. Fine. So the easiest thing to do now would be to turn back where we came from before getting into Geylang Road right? NO! I kept telling the guide that we were going the wrong way and that we should turn back. He didn't want to listen and just kept going further and further down that road until we got to the end. All this while, I didn't know he had a map which directs us to the hotel. Finally, I took the map from him and me and another guy, Raslan, I think it was, tried to make out where we were suppose to go. I remember passing Sim's Avenue which was on the map and asked the bus driver to go there. That's the main road that goes along Geylang Road. Common sense says that since we were heading towards the wrong end of Geylang Road and since Geylang Road is a one way street, all we had to do was to go further along Sim's Ave. before turning into Geylang Rd. ... and now that we have a map, we know exactly when we're suppose to turn. Lo and behold, after say 15 minutes, we got to the hotel! It was 11pm. We should sack that bleeding useless guide. After settling in, we went to a nearby stall to have supper. We had something called a Roti John (John's Bread). It's half a french bread stuffed with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese and fried egg topped with mayo. Delish. I was told that they serve this in Malaysia as well. Hmmm ... never eaten that nor seen that on the menu before. Must not be too popular where I live. Next it was off to bed on a full stomach after a long day of travelling.


... to be continued

Yesterday after work, I went to a briefing for the games this weekend held at the company's main office in the city. There was the usual talk about the necessities like passport and who sits in which bus and who's sharing a room with who and such. Oh yes, there was a bit of a hoo hah when we were told how much allowance we will each receive for our dinner while in Singapore (all meals provided except dinners). We'll be getting a whoopping S$15. Hahaha! I'm wondering what food I can actually buy with that measely amount. I'll be in charge of a room on the last day. They've secured several rooms in the hotel on the last day for us to dump our bags and to refresh ourselves. No use wasting the money for all rooms used by players if we're not going to stay the night. 'Waste of money', they said. So we're divided into several groups and I'm in charge of the room key for one of the groups.

After all the speeches, we had ourselves some food. The sports club provided dinner for the briefing. We were also given our stuff. 2 t-shirts (1 red, 1 blue), a pair of tracksuit (in red and silver ... I thought it looked like umbrella colors), a large sports bag (also red and silver) and a document bag given by the travelling agency that's handling our travels. Not a bad haul.

So, since I've got a sprained ankle, I cancelled dance practise with my dance partner. Got home and felt like I needed something to do. My sister was around so I asked her if she wanted to watch a movie. There aren't many movies playing that we haven't already seen or was interested in watching. We decided on watching 'Spinning Gasing'. It's a local production. From what I've read about the movie, it managed to get into some film festivals in America and was quite well received by the critics. But does anyone really listen to the critics anyway? I certainly don't. I've enjoyed quite a number of movies that the critics gave the thumbs down and slept through several that they described 'riveting' ... 'absolutely marvelous' etc ... noteably 'Chungking Express'. I just don't get that show. Didn't think there was anything interesting in that movie.

Back to 'Spinning Gasing'. For this movie, I quite agree with the critics. It was a pretty nice movie. About love, culture and preservation of culture and personal identities. My fave character would be the gay guy played by Edwin R. Sumun. Edwin Sumun was just hilarious in this movie. Granted, his character seems pretty easy to portray ... the typecasted behaviour of a gay guy with the pretty walk and highly expressive hand movements. He delivers his lines so effortlessly you don't even know a funny moment's coming up. Funny, funny guy. Must remember to catch him live in a play or something. He's a prominent figure in the local theatre scene. The male and female lead were okay and so was that Chinese-French girl. The ending was kinda abrupt though. I agree with my sister when she said that the ending made you just think 'okay ...'. No 'awww ...' or 'ahhhhh ...' just 'okay ...'. Think the ending could have been better but all in all an enjoyable film.

When I got back home, I just got into bed and read a little. Kept dozing off so I decided to sleep.

It was early in the morning when my sleep was disturbed. My sister ... other sister ... just got back from Melbourne. Everyone was in the hall talking. Everyone being my mother, brother and two sisters. I thought I could just ignore them and go back to sleep. Tried and tried but just keep hearing their voices. I don't know how long I tried going back to sleep before I finally dragged myselft out of bed and just shushed them from my room door ... my room door faces the house's front door where they were gathered. I heard my youngest sister say something like '... now look who's the grumpy one ...'. I just thought whatever man! I need my sleep. They dispersed after a few minutes and I managed to go back to sleep. Ahhhh ...

Got an SMS from my co-worker asking me to inform our company secretary that he and another co-worker are at the Windows XP launch. I've completely forgotten that the launch is today! It was a good presentation except the 'Remote Access' demo didn't work. They blamed it on the wireless LAN they were using. Heh heh! It's Windows. I think that's quite expected. Anyway, XP looks pretty good for a Windows user. Linux and Solaris users should be used to ability to have several people using the same PC without logging off. There are other features as well that other little softwares out right now is capable in reproducing. So, the good thing is all this is now available to Windows users and all in one package. Can't list the features cause I didn't get the broucher package. I was late for the event. Saw a co-worker of mine got a CD carrying case from Intel. I should attend more of these launches and seminars to collect all the freebies. :o)

And now I'm back in the office 'working'. The email feature for my program still isn't working. My co-worker's still tyring to configure sendmail to get it working. Hopefully it'll be up by today.

Hmmm ... what do I have to do tonight? Nothing I think. Will get to watch Roswell and La Femme Nikita tonight. There's also the other series Boston Public on the other channel. Not sure what that one's like. Haven't had time to watch it yet. I used to have dance class on Thursday.

Haha ... just had a little salsa lesson for my co-workers. Right in the middle of the office. ;) Yups, sprained ankles and all. What??? Tis only a lesson and I was teaching the guy his steps. I don't have put that much effort in it.

I should charge them for the lessons, should I?

Bad luck ... a whole string of them in less than an hour.

We have a saying in Malaysia which goes 'Sudah jatuh, ditimpa tangga'. Literally translated, it says 'You've fallen and a ladder falls on you'. Basically, one bad luck after another.

That's what it was like yesterday. Everything started out like a normal day. Go to work etc etc. Being a Tuesday, squash training as well. First incident - twisted my ankle playing with one of the guys. The game is this weekend. It feels like only a slight sprain ... so hopefully will be able to recover by this weekend. Still have 2 more days recovery period. I can walk and everything just that I can feel something ... the sprain ... around my ankle. A bit cautious about running. Which reminds me. Have to cancel dance practise with partner tonight. Must remember to call SM.

Got home for dinner. Incident #2. My brother's finished all the food. He usually doesn't even eat at home. Why did he have to eat yesterday?

Oops! That was actually incident #3. #2 should be when I got to the door and discovered that my Dee Dee, my dog's, bitten off my slippers. That's the second slipper she's destroyed. Now I have to go find another. Good. Will do this as well as find myself another strappy heels for clubbing. A heel on my last pair of strappys mysteriously broke. Don't remember it being broken the last time I wore it. It's a mystery.

So, had to go out for dinner. Wore my sister's slippers cause mine's totally unwearable. Felt something poking the bottom of my feet when I got out of the car at the restaurant. Ta-da! ... a tiny little piece of glass. This on the same foot as the sprained ankle.

'Twas just not my day!

Another uneventful weekend.

Spent the whole day Saturday sleeping. Well, not really the whole day but most of the time anyway. First I got up late, didn't have work that day ... hmmm ... I can't really recall Saturday. Can't figure out what I did between the time I woke up till the time I went back to sleep again in the mid afternoon. Did I watch the telly? I know I read a little before I slept again ... but what did I do before that? C'mon brain, work!

This is why I should write in my blog daily. I can't remember things that happened 2 days ago. Don't even ask me what I did when I was a child! I think I've got RAM for brains. Everything clears out after 'shutdown' at night.

Anyway, after I woke up about 6pm ... mainly cause my sister and brother's girlfriend Renee was making a racket in the kitchen which is next to my room ... I felt really hungry ...

Oh! I just remembered what I did between my sleeps! I saw Angela's Ashes over on cable. Really good show. Liked it a lot. It's based on the book of the same title by Frank McCourt. Haven't read the book but I'll try and read it once I've finished all the books I've rented and borrowed. Yes, you can rent books in this country. Works like the video store except it's books instead of videos. You'd think this service should be provided by the library didn't you? Well, lets not get me started on the state of our libraries. I usually refer to them as the archives. I wonder if other countries have stores that rents out books as well. Are there?

Okay ... where was I? Hunger. Felt really hungry and a little light headed after I woke up cause all I had all day was instant noodles. So, I went to the mall with my parent to have dinner ... sis, bro and Renee didn't go cause they made dinner, which didn't include the rest of the people in the house, selfish aren't they? Happens really often this exclusion. I'm immune to it. Whenever they prepare dinner/meal, I'd just assume that I'm not included.

Later, went to the Rouge for some dancing with people in a class I help assist at my dance school. We stayed till quite late. I think it was about 3.30am when we left.

Sunday was quite uneventful. Had a facial appointment at 11am. Alarm went off at 10am. I finally got up at 10.30am. Headed straight for the showers with my dad bellowing through the door that I'm to send my grandma to church. I thought well okay, it's kinda on the way so I'll only be slightly late. Sure no probs. Finished showering, heading to my room, dad yelled that I'm to pick up my mom from the temple and bring her home. I, in turn, yelled back that I'm late for my facial and can't do that cause I'd be really late. Went in my room, changed and by the time I got out, my dad and grandma was out the door. ... 'Okay. Whatever.'

Went for facial ... only 5 minutes late ... came back, went for lunch. Came back just in time to watch the rerun of the Roswell pilot. Not a bad series. It replaced Buffy. Not a bad replacement. Dance practise right after Roswell ... 30 minutes late. Do I sound like the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland?

Got home, watched 'La Femme Nikita' which my mom taped for me on Thursday. Great episode. It's the one where Nikita first meets Adrian. Don't know the episode title but it's in the second season. They'll be showing 'End Game' this Thursday. If I'm not mistaken, that's the season finale? Hope they'll continue with season 3.

End of weekend.

Imagine that! I came in to work today as usual. Turned on my PC and started to tune in to my usual NetRadio showtune channel. Imagine my surprise when I got the announcement that they've closed down for good. I was just listening to them yesterday and mentioned it in my previous blog!

So now, I have to search for a new showtunes radio station to listen to. Currently listening to the one in Barnes and Noble. Not very good. Sound dynamics varies too much. I keep adjusting the volume knob. Plus, there isn't a button to stop play. So, I'm still searching for another.

Went for more salsa last night. This time I went with my co-workers and some of their friends. Was pretty good except this time I had to pay for lessons ... 20 bucks. Me being a cheapie and all might not go again next week. And there I was raving to my friends about how great the lessons were and held at no cost. Sorry guys, my bad.

My friend called me and said that friend asked for my email and wanted to ask me a question. I have yet to receive any email from the guy. Wonder what he wants to ask me. Don't really know the guy. Actually only met him twice. Once for a pool game and another clubbing at Movement till dawn. That was pretty fun. I don't know, I keep wondering what he wants to ask.

Listening to Season's of Love. Ah ... reminds me of the Musical Theatre course I took last year. We sang this song as a group. Check out NetRadio. It's an online radio. There's this station that plays showtunes all day long. That's what I'm listening to now.

Just came off another presentation. This time it's a tool for development. The presenter's such a bore. I could hardly keep my eyes open. Was trying hard not to look like I'm falling asleep cause my boss was in the room as well and it was a tiny presentation room. It's a very expensive tool. I don't think the management will go for this. We'll probably stick with what we're using which is FOC ... less functionality but FOC all the same.

It's my senior's last day at work today. He's off to greater and better things. He says he's kinda feeling the pressure to perform. Seeing as he's gonna get more money from that company. Need to show them that he's worth what they're paying. I'm sure he'll do just fine. Good luck Adam!

Ooooo ... Judy Garland's on! ... *Putting on the Ritz ... ta ta ta*

Will be having dinner with Adam and other co-workers. Sort of like a goodbye/good riddance dinner. Maybe dance practise after that. Still waiting for a call from my dance partner for confirmation.

Mmmmm ... choco vanilla chupa chups. Yummy.

My counter seems to go offline pretty often. Hey bravenet! If you don't buck up, I'd have to go look for a new counter service, y'hear?

Ack! I'm freezing. My fingers are numb. Can't type. Can't work.

*Yawn* 2 1/2 hours of presentation. Admittedly, product was pretty impressive. Much more impressive than the one I'm writing anyway. Haven't seen similar products yet ... or have I? Okay maybe 2 other. Most impressive one so far.

But who really want to hear about this stuff?

Didn't do much on Saturday. Worked till about 2.30pm, went home and straight for some much needed Z's. Got up at 6pm. Had some pasta salad my sis made for a BBQ she's going later. Met my friend to go for this presentation of a direct selling product. That sucked cause we were stuck in a jam for about 1 1/2 hours and then the presentation was in Mandarin (Chinese dialect), which I did not understand. After that went for dinner/supper and homeward bound.

Sunday ... my dad told me that the car wouldn't start! OMG! I was suppose to have dance practise and then later that night my friends gig at No Black Tie in town. A day when a car is despearately needed. Had to hitch a ride from me brother for dance practise and then from my dance partner to Prem's place cause she's going for the gig as well. Blah, blah, blah ... dinner sushi ... yay! .... Friend's gig - They're called the Maharaja Commission. Alex's drumming was good ... singing not good (whatever I managed to hear of it anyway). Couldn't really hear the rest of the band. The bass sounded pretty okay, treble - can't hear at all except for the beginning of one song - was alright but the rhythm was bad. That guy's got no sense of rhythm! Performance wise, bad. Everyone of them was facing the Alex. All we saw were their butts and backs! We left early cause a friend wanted to go home. Didn't want to take a cab home (didn't drive remember?) so I went home as well. The headliners for the event has yet to perform so I missed that. Alex says the lead singer's a little like Kurt Cobain ... could have been good.

Monday ... got my car back. The alternater had a leak. Battery didn't get charged properly. My pocket's lighter by 220 bucks. Went for choir, got home, went for ice-cream (there goes the diet ;o) ...), watched Ally McBeal. Slept.

I was thinking about the diet and suddenly this lyric popped into my head ...

I need three more weeks to get these thighs in shape
No more carbohydrates, don't be naughty
...
...
...
No more crow's feet, no more flab
No more love handles to grab
You'll be so thin they'll all think you are
Walking sideways like a crab           *I like this part! Heheh!

It's from Sunset Boulevard's 'Eternal Youth Is Worth a Little Suffering'.

Phew! Took me such a long time to finish my apple. Yes, I don't feel like chewing either, even though my stomach was begging for instant refill. That's another thing. Now I have to watch what I eat. I've been advised by my new dance teacher, after my first competitive latin dance lesson, that maybe I should go on a diet. He says that I'll look better for the latin dance if I'd lose a little weight. Hmmm ... I guess being at the apex of normalcy of the ideal weight just doesn't cut it for a dancer. Okay ... I'll try but I've never been any good at losing weight. I'm always hungry and looking for things to snack on. Which reminds me that I have a chupa chups stashed somewhere ... but I digress.

Okay where were we?

Oh yes, dance class. The class went pretty well. He changed some of the routine my partner did with his previous partner and then taught me basic cha-cha motion with the hip motion. Press from the inner edge of your foot, turn in your knee and as your straighten and the hip will come naturally. Problem is, I find it difficult to turn my knees inwards. I've had almost 10 years of practise turning out my legs from ballet and that kinda stuck with me after I quit. Of course I'm not as turned out as I used to be but it's still there slightly. Must practise, practise, practise ... will probably rub the inner edge of my feets sort from that! Press ... straighten ... press ... straighten ...

Right all that was before the clubbing I mentioned before. And even before class, I've had my usual friday squash training ... except today it wasn't quite the usual. We usually do not do the one minute lap run. The one minute lap run is where you run the length of the squash court as many times as you can manage within one minute. Coach said that we'd only do it once so I went all out! Managed 21 laps ... used to be able to do 22 laps way back then. And then ... surprise, surprise! He asked us to do another lap. I was huffing and puffing harder than the big bad wolf by that time and he wanted another lap. After about a minute or so of walking around to catch my breath, we did another lap. I only manage 19 laps the second time around. He says that's good ... so that's good :o).

Have to get to work now. Don't want to have to stay back to finish my work like I did 2 weeks ago. Need me beauty sleep.

Urgh!!! I'm at work. Don't feel like moving. Just feel like staying still and not do anything.

My hands feels heavy. So does my legs. How am I suppose to work today?!?

Didn't get home till 5.15am this morning. Was out clubbing with a friend, his colleagues and his visiting colleague from Down Under. 'twas at Movement that we did party. Music played were house-trance ... or so I'm told. Not really clear about the categorisation of dance music. Trance, house, garage ... all sound almost alike to me. I can just hear all the dance music afficianado going 'No they don't!'. Well maybe not to you but it does to me, so there!

Need a rest ... will be back soon.

I didn't know Hotmail limits the number recipients to a mail. Guess that's just a step to prevent people for mass mailing junks. Anyway, to anyone interested, the limit it 50 recipients.

And now on with the show ...

Salsa was fantabulous. Granted I'm no Salsa queen as yet but it was still great. Instructions were better compared to the other free Salsa class I went to which was at El Nino. When I went to El Nino, what the instructor did was just start dancing and then hope that you catch the step and then she'd change into new steps and then another new one and so on. She would point to the left, point to the right, point to the front, point to the back indicating the direction we'd be going ... and all this without even speaking or explaning a single thing ... not one word came out of her mouth ... NONE! ...NADA! ... ZIP! Didn't even introduce herself and her face was constantly in a frown. Now how inviting was that!?

Now, this instructor at the Orange was different. He'd explain a step and then show it and then we'd do it along with him. His partner would go help out those who can't quite catch the steps. Isn't that good? He taught us the basic mambo, the victory step, a side step thing ... which I can't recall what it's named except it begins with 'M', and 2 more which I'm not sure what it's called, one's like the Alemana from Latin Ballroom ... I think that's called sibele or something like that and the other is something something cross over. That's all the steps. After the lessons, we just practiced whatever he taught us. Then he and a bunch of us more daring people tried the 'Rueda' (I think, not sure about all these Spanish terms) where we all dance in a circle and change partners. We made quite a mess but it was great fun. Later, he and a few people who actually knows how to do the Rueda, showed us what it was suppose to look like. Wouldn't mind taking lessons from this guy. I like the way he moves. Very relaxed. Natural.

All in all a good session. Hopefully I'd be able to make it next week again and see what else I can pick up. Usually have dance lesson on Thursdays though but I'll probably be stopping that class cause I'm starting my private class today. That private class is really expensive but need it if I wanna go for competitions. :o)

Karen, if you're reading this, he teaches Salsa at the school in KL Plaza. The one you're taking Tango lessons, I believe. You're starting Salsa right? Make sure you get Sam or his partner Margarite. They're good.