Pictures of the future from the past.

There's also going to be an online exhibition on March 7th. Check that outhere.

Taxes and Receipts

Tis the end of February which marks the time to begin gathering all that is required to do your taxes. For the first time since I began working, the Internal Revenue Department finally mailed me my tax returns form; the first year I had an exemption and the years after that I had to go to the office to get it in person. Anyway, I've been searching high and low for all the receipts I have kept for this particular purpose. Tax exemptions. Mainly receipts for books and magazines purchased. Made several purchases over last year. Subscribed to Wired as well, although that's not turning out particularly well.

Now ... I remember placing all these receipt into a nice little envelope so that I have everything in one little packet when I need them; except, I seem to have a) misplaced the envelope, or b) thrown it away during one of my mail/bill clearing sessions. *sigh* There goes a few hundred ringgit that I was hoping to minus off.

Error in template

Seems that there is something wrong with my template. Blogger can't seem to publish my site properly. If I'm not mistaken, it's a 503 error. There is a write-up on a 504 error in the 'How To/Discussion' area but no 503, or is it the other way 'round? Anyway, it most probably is a template error since this temporary template went up without a hitch. I'll try to fix it and put it up again in a few days.

Pyra's sale to Google must have really affected the search results. I received a comment from one of the auditioners from Natra and I can't believe one of them actually got to my blog! Too bad I don't know which one it was. I need to enforce that people at least leave their name when they drop in a comment. So, En. Zulkifli / Mr. Jacobs / En. Johan, thanks for dropping by and taking the time to read my whiny entry of my audition experience. Next time put down your name, alright?

It's a good thing I don't often put down my real name on this blog. Otherwise whoever it was could have just gone back to their stack of application to look over who this whiny, insecure person is and blacklist me or something.

Note to self: Modify comment template so that people have to write down their name before posting comments!

Bahasa Malaysia

During a break for the soprano section at choir tonight, I turned around and looked over at what Sheila was reading. Something for her presentation tomorrow. Something in Bahasa. Something I'd probably need to spend quite some time to digest if I were to read it; my A2 in Bahasa is but a distant memory now.

Anyway, I was just kinda peeved that a lot of the words used in it are Malay-ised English words. I see words like 'bajet' (budget) and 'metodologi' (methodology). It is not as if a suitable word in Malay does not exist. Nor is it a scientific name that do normally localised for lack or an equivalent. Why substitue belanjawan with bajet and kaedah with metodologi when the original serves? Whatever happened to being proud of our national language? Why are they infusing and replacing Malay with foreign substitute?

Sheila says that it's because the Prime Minister thinks that the word belanjawan, which can also mean expenditure, sounds too wasteful; we're spending not earning. What a weak reason! It's just one of the meaning of the word; the other means budget so what's wrong about using it.

What about the 'Cintai Bahasa Malaysia' campaign that was run a few years back when the government feel like we should raise the awareness of the people to the importance of having and knowing the national language? I actually even liked the theme song they've composed for the campaign.

People don't even remember the song. Now it's all English this and English that. They're even teaching math and sciences in English at schools. All this the effects of globalisation and the need to compete with the rest of the word.

Yes. All this sounds a little hypocritical coming from someone who refused to attend the local institutions of higher learning due to the Malay being the medium of conduct at such institutions. But that's just me and my preference. My preference due to what my choice of course. Appropriate substitutes for words in my course have not been properly set up therefore I think that that would impede my understanding of the subject. Plus books for IT were all in English, they weren't going to give us a second degree in translation so why bother?

That aside, I do hope that the government and Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) do decide as to what the actually want of our national language. They've decided things and changed their minds so often. Is it that difficult to decide on how you want your national language to be spoken? The proper grammer decided? The words to use? I've gone from non-baku to baku and back again cause people at the DBP decided that that's how the language is suppose to be pronounced. I am told that we're back to baku now.

Does anyone know for sure how our national language is suppose to be? Or what the DBP has decided so far? Is there a site that I can refer to?

In the mean time, I'll just stick to English. Not my first language but it seems to be the language that I think in and the one that I'm more comfortable with. Heck! My English vocab sure beats the hell out of my Hokkien any darn day!

Discouraged

*sigh* Failure. I'm an absolute failure. Went for two auditions and didn't even get in any.

The first one was a long shot anyway. An opera. I'm not classically trained so I'm not surprised. Just went for the heck of it. Ended up having the auditioner giving me an impromptu lesson on breathing. Hee hee.

But the second one. The second one I was hoping I could at least get into the ensemble. I know I sang pretty okay but I couldn't feel the piece and didn't manage to act it out. So, that's bad. The monologue was absolutely horrible. We can conclude now that acting wise, I'm absolutely useless. I knew right away that I'm definitely not getting a callback cause those who do are told to arrange their callback time at the front desk. All I got was a "thanks, we have your number".

I'm discouraged. I should just sing in choirs. Never to try for another musical any longer. :( I'm an absolute nervous wreck when it comes to auditions.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Chinese New Year and auditions

Two more days left of the 15 days celebration of the Chinese New Year. I'm not feeling the festive-ness of the celebration. Have not been in a very festive mood for several months now. Must be tired.

Anyway, this week is a week of auditions. There's a sudden deluge of productions especially musical productions this year and they're all recruiting this week.

On Monday, the was suppose to be an audition for a production of 'The Merry Widow'. Suppose cause when the auditioner came in and said some sentimental mush about how he doesn't have to heart to reject anyone (we were having our regular choir rehearsal). So, the entire choir's in the chorus.

There's an audition for Tosca tonight and tomorrow. Not sure if I'm going to audition cause I don't know any arias but I'll be going there to meet some friends and if I can gather enough courage while I'm there, might audition with 'I Could Have Danced All Night'. A pseudo-classical-ish piece would fare better for this audition than if I were to sing 'On My Own' wouldn't it?

Then on Saturday and Sunday, there's the audition for 'Natra - The Musical'. Might do my default audition song for this - 'Surrender' from Sunset Boulevard. I am freaking out on the monologue part though. Never acted before. Don't know the first thing about how to do it. However, I am only going to audition for the ensemble. Hopefully for ensembles they won't put that much emphasis on the monologue.

Hope I'll get in at least one of those auditions though. The Natra one will be my preferred choice cause I've always wanted to be in a musical. Tosca, not so keen, as I'm not trained in classical and won't be surprised if I don't make it for the opera.

At least I'm definitely in The Merry Widow. :)

One Day by Sissel

Here I am, on my own again
All alone but not afraid
Here I stand, nowhere near the end
Time to go a different way

Cause another day will come to those who dare
Believe in something new

When you follow your shining star
Leave all your fears behind
You will find love no matter where you are
And all your heart will say – one day

When you’re down, and you haven’t found
Where you think you want to go
Do you search for higher ground
Deep inside you really know

Cause another day will come to those who dare
Believe in something new

When you follow your shining star
Leave all your fears behind
You will find love no matter where you are
And all your heart will say – one day

I know it’s hard to leave
The future seems so far away and,
Believe that all you need will come to you – one day

Follow your shining star
Leave all your fears behind
You will find love no matter where you are
And all your heart will say
You will find love no matter where you are
And all your heart will say – one day
***

A mass mail told me about this singer Sissel. I'd never heard of her but I was curious and followed the provided link and dutifully downloaded the sample songs that were available there. She's sounds quite nice actually. I have yet to see her albums anywhere in the local stores but then I haven't been really looking. Anyway, I really like one of her song called One Day. One fine day, I'm going to burn all my findings onto a CD so that I can listen to them over and over again in my car, at home, in the shower, ... etc.

So, mass mail can be a good thing sometimes ... but they're usually rubbish most of the time. One in a while, you find a gem.

The Pianist

Unbelieveable! I can't believe I just spent almost 2 hours on the piano. I've never practised so hard when I was learning to play that block of wood and ivories!

All this due to Nocturne No.19 which I heard on the site for Roman Polanski's new film 'The Pianist'. Heard that piece and I wanted to play it. Downloaded it from the net and brought it home to try playing it. Try!

For all that time I've put in, I only managed to play the first 6 bars with a semblance of what it should sound like. Gosh! Will probably be able to finish the whole piece in oh ... maybe six months? if I spend the same amount of time practising every single day. :) Would be cool if I could play it. :)

Nice feet

No not in the fetish manner.

Someone commented that I had 'nice feet' after a trial adult ballet class on Saturday. Yes. I'm yet again forraging(sp?) into the possibility of getting back into ballet. Anyway, back to the feet, saying that someone has 'nice feet' is really a compliment. What is a constitutes 'nice feet'? I haven't the faintest idea. I hear it often enough in ballet movies (eg. Center Stage) but I never knew what it meant. Was never told be my ballet teacher what it was. *shrugs*

Then the next trial class on Monday at another studio, the teacher said I have nice point. Now THAT I understood although I find it quite odd cause I did not have a good point when I was doing ballet. Has my point improved since? Can lack of practise actually improve a condition? Or was it just the split sole jazz shoes that I was wearing that gave her the illusion of a better point that it actually is?

Nonetheless, all very encouraging comments for me to restart my ballet passion. Now all I have to do is find a suitable class to take. Those trial classes were for beginner, as in those who've not taken ballet before. I was a little bored during those classes, maybe not the Monday one cause the teacher did so some not beginner moves and I feel sorry for the other two girls was in the class; the looked at a loss. Might try that studio's major classes but they're rehearsing for their annual concert and won't be done till May. Does that mean I'll have to wait till May? Maybe, I'll wait for their call. The teacher said she'll talk to the studio owner and then call me.So, I wait.

Quotable quotes

I've learned-
that you should never tell a child their dreams are unlikely or outlandish.
Few things are more humiliating, and what a tragedy it would be if they
believed it

I got this off an email a friend of mine sent. Emails should have been invented when my parents had children. Then maybe they would have gotten this mail and wouldn't discourage all their kids of their 'outlandish' dreams. I did believe them and it is indeed a tragedy! I still believe them although I know I shouldn't. Maybe it's due to the fear of failure or maybe it's just me being realistic but I do not dare pursue my dreams. And they are très outlandish.

prozac nation

Just finished reading the book.

I really don't see what the big deal is. The entire book is so basic. There's really nothing much going on. Only about how the author is depressed all the time and her telling her what happened during her time of depression. I guess, if you are able to describe that whole experience in over 300 pages, one could consider it an achievement.

Maybe all this reading on depression has gotten me depressed as well.

I have not felt motivated to do anything; anything at all since I got back. Mel got a dance gig and asked me to be in it. I accepted, although I'm not jumping for joy at the opportunity. The DFP (Petronas Philharmonic) is working on something for April and needed more people in their chorale; I tagged along with some of them who've been in one of their production last year. Again ... not jumping for joy.

All I feel like doing right now is to stay at home. Lie in bed. Read a book. Watch a video.

I can no longer muster up the energy required to finish the project that I so desperately need to finish sometime really soon; at the end of this week or maybe beginning of this week. However, if I don't do any work, the project will never finish and that would probably make me feel depressed?

I'm not even sure what I'm feeling is depression, just plain laziness or simply boredom.

i hate sql

Urgh! I hate this thing! Dammit! Why won't you just give me the results the freaking way that I want them.

*sigh* Told the client I'd try and give it to them but when I say that the system can't cater for it they insisted. I did say that all I can do was try. And they did say ok. But when you finally say NO. They won't accept it.

What do I do?

Just give them the version that more or less works but is not exactly like they asked I suppose.

The perfectionist in me is not happy with that but ... tough!

presents exchange

They're still exchanging presents! The committee members are still exchanging presents. :{ I didn't get anyone any. Now I feel guilty. Now I feel like I'm obliged to get presents. Which means I'd probably be hitting the shops tomorrow to see what I can pick up for nine people. *sigh* What should I get them? Buying non-functional presents is definitely not my forte.

jetlag???

My internal clock is royally screwed! The times I keep now is so weird I'm not sure if I can attribute it to jetlag. I don't fly often enough to know if this is truly jetlag but shouldn't I be cured of it by now? It's been 5 days since I got back from London. 5 days is plenty of time to recover from jetlag isn't it?

Someone needs to explain to me what jetlag is. I'll describe my situation. I get sleep at 7pm. Wake up at 11pm. Go back to sleep at 4am and try to wake up at 7.30am to 8am cause of work.

Now, what weird timezone am I in?

Saturday, 21 Dec - We arrived, my sister and I, safely after a 13 hours flight from KLIA to Heathrow, at 5am in the morning. Thinking previously that it would be quite fabulous to be able to spend my birthday in London, I was reminded by the gentleman sitting beside my sister that today was to be the shortest day. I did know that but have quite forgotten about it.

Nevertheless, we did spend quite and enjoyable, if a little tiring, day.

Directly after checking into the hotel and leaving our luggage there, we went to Notting Hill in search of Portobello Market, I think it was called, cause someone recommended that I visit it. Neither one of my aunts have been to the market before but they did have a vague idea where it was so, we didn't really quite get lost. The market was very interesting and colourful with all sort of crafts and knick-knacks on display.

When our stomachs started complaining of hunger, we went to a little basement tea shop and had tea and scones with jam and fresh cream. They were good but I remember the scones I had during the adventure trip in Australia was much better.

Next we were off to the city to look at some shops before retiring to the hotel for a little rest before starting off again to the city to meet Robin, my little cousin Fehn's godfather, for dinner.

And after dinner, my first musical at West End. My Fair Lady at Drury Lane.

The musical was very good and so was the cast and costumes. I had never imagined, however, that the scene at Ascot would be done all in black. That was quite an oddity to me. I'd always thought people dressed exceedingly ridiculous and overly colourful for the races so this was quite a change. But it was all good.

And so ended my first day in UK.

Buskers at Covent Garden


I thought the violinist was quite adorable. ;) If you know him, tell him I said so.

Happy New Year!

Still in Liverpool. Still the same routine. Eat, drink, TV, shops. Oh yes, and still struggling to hook up the 3 PCs in my aunt's place. Managed to get 2 of them to work. Only one left. That on's been giving me lots of problems. Feel like throwing it away! Bah!

Hmmm ... still hoping to watch Joseph sometime before I leave Liverpool for London before I head home on Saturday. Maybe we'll get tickets for tonight? We're going back to London on Friday so the only day left would be tonight.

Then in London, hoping to steal in one more before I go. I'm undecided as to which musical I should watch. There's Bombay Dreams, Lion King, Mama Mia or Chicago (which I have seen before). I'm leaning more towards Bombay Dreams and Lion King at the moment.

liverpool

Have been in England for about six days now. Wow! That's almost a week and I've only one more week left.

I think I like London, but I'm not quite sure as I haven't seen enough of it to make up my mind about it. What I've seen so far however, I do like. didn't manage to catch as many shows as I would have like either. Only My Fair Lady so far. Hopefully, will be able to catch a matinee show when I get back to London before my flight home.

Currently in Liverpool now. Not doing much here. Eat, watch the telly, open presents. Nice relaxing chill out time. :)

More when I get home.

money, money, money



Whoo whee ... that's the biggest stash of RM50 notes that I have ever laid my hands on. Not even when I was working in TGV do I remember that high a stack of cash.

Sadly though, almost the entire stack has an allocated purpose ... payment for flight tickets ... payment for credit card (I forgot to sign my cheque again!) ... stack to be converted to pound sterling. Don't have much left to buy the rest of the presents. Luckily, there's only three more presents left to get. For Stef, for bro and for grandma.