one more rehearsal

Last rehearsal for The Merry Widow tomorrow. I'll be a tech run but we haven't done a full dress yet. Full dress was suppose to be tonight but it didn't happen. So, we might do that tomorrow as well.

Hopefully, we will have a run through with everyone ... and I do mean everyone. Soloist and choir; both. Haven't had that either. First we've seen of the Singaporean soloist was the tenor playing Danilou and the soprano who plays Valenciene during rehearsal tonight. The widow has yet to make her grand appearance.

I'm exhausted. It's gonna be another long rehearsal tomorrow. Thank goodness I'm taking leave on Friday. *phew*

Oh yes! My second submission to the Mirror Project has been approved! Yay!

artsy fartsy

A bit of an artsy fartsy this past few days. Went to the MPO on Friday to watch Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush with music conducted and composed by Carl Davis.

I thought it was just gonna be another orchestral performance but with a big screen in front of it. But I truly truly enjoyed it. Not just plain 'like it' but really liked it. Although, halfway through the movie I'd forgottend that it was being accompanied by a real life orchestra. Would definitely go watch it again if they're gonna do another one of this silent movie with music thing. The movie was really good. Much better even than some of the things that we see on our cinemas these days. There has been a lot of crap showing at the movies. And I don't remember Charlie Chaplin movies being so long. It was all of 96 minutes. Chaplin is a genius. I wonder where I can get my hands on more Chaplin movies. I remember they used to show it on the telly but that was pre-idiotic-make-no-sense-cencorship. They even censored 'Mind Your Language', c'mon! Thank you though for showing that series again. Hmmm ... I wonder how they'd show 'The Benny Hill Show' these days ... but I digress.

Next up, 'Spilt Gravy On Rice'. Award winning. 'nuff said.

Actually, I think I'll say something about it. It's no surprise why they won so many awards at the recent Cameronian Awards. The cast were strong, the set was brilliant and the lighting very well done. Plus, they were so funny! I laughed my head off.

Earlier today, went to watch 'The Goldfish Tale' cause Fang's in it. Thought I'd go support her on her debut performance. She was quite good in it. Not much can be said about her performance cause it was quite small but she did have a scene with another actress and she was really good in it.

NOW this show struck a chord cause I went through/am still going through what the role Seng (played by the toast of the local critics, Gavin Yap) went through. The need to runaway. To escape. To leave all the problems of family life and wanting to live your own life without the constant criticism by family members. Seng, I feel for you man!

Choong Chi-Ren, the playright, must have written this from his own experience. I guess it's a common enough experience by students returning from their overseas studies, having tasted the joys of independant living away from know-it-all and I'm-doing-what's-best-for-you parents, away from what they think is a problematic home life. He wrote about how we expect certain events will evoke sudden transformation in a person. About how this is so unrealistic. That people don't change overnight just because something happened. So true. And I know it's true as well that we shouldn't try escaping the problems but whenever something comes up again, you just can't help but rant and think about it. To get away.

To be able to think about it is my means of escape. That there is a possibility of getting away from it all. I cling to that possibility ... although I know that I'll probably never act on it. Knowing that that is no way of solving the problem.

... but I cling to it nonetheless.

It's my version of hope in Pandora's Box.

Four weddings ... and hopefully no funerals

Well, the first wedding engagement that I have been invited to has come and gone. The first and the last one that I got the invite to that is. Actually, didn't even get an invitation card. She just called all of a sudden and asked if I could go to her wedding dinner. I didn't have anything scheduled and it would be nice to see her again. I haven't seen her for a long time. Last time I think was when I bumped into her on the streets of Sydney during my one month of bumming around Australia before coming home ... which means, it has been more that 4 years!

I have some pictures from the wedding dinner but I can't put it up yet cause I haven't been able to get my hands on the single workable machine in my house. My parents went up to Genting (they didn't tell me about it, just up and went) and therefore haven't seen hide nor hair of my sister either. And she wonders why we're suspicious of her coming back to stay. Now that she's got the car and laptop. Hmmph!

Anyway, will post it up as when I can.

The rest of the weddings are at the end of the year. Two in November, with all possibility of it being on the same night, and the last one in December.

So many weddings this year all of a sudden; when previously, I've not been invited to any. Well, not any of my friends anyway. None got married; that I know of.

I suppose being of a certain age, one should expect to receive wedding invitation to their friend's weddings. Mid twenties seems to be the favoured age for marriage. To start a family. To start a new phase in life. It's the time when you've had a few years of work in your belt, feel secure about your job, feel that you have some worth. Worthy enough to share that life with the another person; with your soul mate. To make the ultimate commitement. To click on the old ball and chain. Hee hee.

Ah ... it's all good when you've found the right person. Just hope that the parental units didn't take the jibes about me being next seriously. Yes, they knew the parents of the bride, which is how I got to know the bride as well. As I was saying, hope the don't get their hopes up, I don't see that happenning anytime soon ... or anytime at all.


Update: Pictures!

moonbeam


Staging directions by Mr Phillip Chai is simply disasterous. It's all a mess but he seems to like it. Am feeling quite at a loss as to what we really are suppose to do on opening night. Hopefully the Malaysian-Singaporeans involved will do something about it this weekend.

Lew says he's gonna reject the offer for Natra - The Musical cause they only gave him an ensemble part and is only paying RM6000 for 4 months of work. Quite a low payout considering the number of hours they are requesting; 7pm-11pm weekdays and whole day weekends. I also know of one other guy who's gonna turn it down cause he got a role in Tosca and would rather do that to Natra. So two's out.

So, since his no longer doing Natra, Lew, now, has time to finally do the intermediate level of his Musical Theatre course; which he asked me to ask the rest of them from the Intro class if they were interested. Promised him that I'd send out an email but haven't done it yet. I'll go send one out now ... although, judging by what we went through in the Intro class, I would hazard a guess that a majority of them will not be interested.

just browsing

While awaiting someone else to finish their part before resuming with my work, I browsed ...

• Real life 'Face/Off'
  I'm wondering how friends and families of the deceased would react. Also, will the face look the same once it's transplanted? If you had almost different bone structure from your donor, would you still look like your donor? Or would bone structure be one of the criteria when choosing a donor?



• Indian-American Child Having Difficulty Finding Bicycle License Plate With His Name On It [The Onion - VOLUME 39 ISSUE 10]
  I don't know what he's been complaining about. I've been searching for the past 25 years for a paraphanelia bearing the exact spelling of my name to no avail. Think I'll have to manufacture my own if I badly want one. Good luck kid!

shoot the messenger

After 25 years, you'd think I'd have learnt my lesson.
And yet, it happened again yesterday.

My brother moved out a couple weeks ago. Thing is, he's moved out but hasn't cleared out.

Plans have been made, not by me, for me to move into his room so that my dad can convert my room into his office cum entertainment center. So, problem is, in my view, I can't move into his room until he has moved his things out. AND in my view, I shouldn't move his things out for him, as suggested by everyone else in the family, because it's his private personal things. ... plus, there is quite a lot of things left and I do admit that I am too lazy to do it ;)

My dad told me to give him a ring to ask him to come pack his stuff.

I did ... and got an earfull from him for asking him to come back now to do it. Somewhere along the conversation he also picked up that I asked him to do it in two hours. I did not specify a timeline. What I said was, papa wants to set up office in my room so I have to move into his room, so, could he come over and pack up his stuff or would he rather I do it for him. The come-back-and-do-it-no edit was relayed to him after my dad yell that message over my shoulder.

He came stomping back while I was in the showers. Mood blacker than any cloud I've seen and of course most of that anger directed at him for having been the 'bringer of glad tidings'.

Back in the kitchen, got another earful from my mom for calling my brother and not just clearing the room as she asked. I argued that it's not my right to clear his room full of personal things. He wouldn't like it ... I know, I've experienced this when someone cleared up my room while I was studying and came back roomless, all my worldless possessions in a tiny little box.

Of course, I get another lecture about how this is not how things work and how I'm so totally idealistic and shouldn't go by what I think is right but what everyone is actually doing instead. Maybe I should enrol in some finishing school instead just to learn how I'm suppose to act! Besides that also got the I'm just trying to teach you how you should be acting and how you should learn of my weaknesses ... mainly the raising of voice when I'm angry/piqued and not smiling enough. Plus how she's not trying to insult me; that it's all for my own good. Oh yes! Not to forget ... I absolutely have no friends to speak of!

Lemme see, when was the last time she praised me? I remember she told me I was never very good at ballet (althought I am usually among the top in the class with several Honours to my belt). How I'm always to sulky and pessimistic? How I don't know how to talk to people (this one's partially true). Right ... she told me that she envied that she can't play as well as me on the piano during my last 2 hour stuggle to play a page of Chopin. Wonder if that's what she's talking about?

After I've finished helping her in the kitchen, I hightailed to the car to escape to the movies. Wanted to watch Star Trek - Nemesis. Got to Summit and even parked my car but didn't watch the movie.

I forgot my wallet.

Thank goodness I had enough coins to get out.

Just wasn't my day was it?

Red/Green/Blue:
To you, the world is logical. Everything happens
for a reason, life is scientific. You like to
find solutions. I doubt you needed to take this
quiz in order to realize this.


What color do you see the world in?
brought to you by Quizilla

Holy! How the heck does it know? That's exactly what I think.

Lo Lo - A Grissette of Paree ...

Ah ... the first production of the year. Two weeks and a half to showtime. Tickets for the Merry Widow concert are/should be on sale at ticketcharge. However, JasonC informed us that it's not - available at ticketcharge ... yet. I'm sure they're going to get a wee bit of tongue lashing tomorrow from Phillip. For those who are interested, there's only one day to watch it - 29th March. The 27th March show is sold out.

Anyway, rehearsals been going great. Blocking is still kinda messy but I suppose that will get sorted out when we practise with the soloists. Oh yes and the choreography for the Grissette piece has yet to be done but Suz will be figuring that out. Should be fun. :)

After that, have to see if we can get a venue for the PCP. Forgot to ask Karen earlier today if we could use her place. Hmmm ... otherwise we'll have our club night sometime later and no PCP.

Right that's Merry Widow ...

saw: interesting piece on rock candy on the news. very pretty candies.
didn't see: La Femme Nikita ... thought I'd at least manage to watch the second half of the show when I got home late but it was not there. There at the time that it is suppose to be showing as stated in the TV Guide. I'm pissed. I've missed quite a number of episodes now. Urgh! Luckily, managed to watch the episode where they move out of their operational HQ. v.v. important episode. They were in gay Pareee! I'd always thought they were either somewhere in America or in London. Don't know why. Just do.
to-do tomorrow: Loreal product launch at Emporium? To go or not to go?

Birthday Colour Codes

MAROON
You are intelligent, and know what's right. You like to take things go
your way, which can sometimes cause trouble or not thinking about other
people's feelings. But you are patient when it comes to love... Once you
get a hold of the right person, it's hard for you to find a better love.

That's mine. How true it is? I haven't a clue. If you want to know yours, just email me and I'll mail you the list.

Breathe ... Breathe ... Breathe.

*sigh*

The heart is pounding. The body is jittery. The effect of lack of sleep? I hope so.

I've got way too much on my plate now. Definitely taking more that I can chew. Why did I want in on this new company? Why? Just cause I really sick of the PM and the direction the current company is going? Do I really see a potential in this company? If not, why am I pumping money into it?

Granted. It's not a huge sum of money but it is a still a sum. A sum which needs monthly input. Am I willing to give up all the frivolous spending on expensive coffee and cafe food? On those pirated DVDs and movies that I'm addicted to? But not only monetary also the time required for this effort. Less dancing (which is already in effect whether or not the company happens or not) and definitely less choir practise. Instead to spend more time in front of the PC doing everything that I do in the AMs but now in the PMs as well?

*sigh*

I sincerely hope so; although I'm not entirely certain. Please work!

Pray. Pray. Pray.

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.

candlelight carols

My submission to the Mirror Project has been approved! Yay! Check it out.

SURPRISE!!!



There is actually a whole week more before my actual birtday but since I won't be here this time next week, my friends have decided to celebrate it today. I was actually meeting up with them cause one of our ex-uni mates was coming down from Penang. The last time I saw her was months and months ago. We didn't spend much time together though. Ended up mostly preparing her for her company's dinner (the whole reason she came down) ... but it was nice to see her again. She hasn't changed one bit. Still the same ol' same ol'.

Anyways, I got the cake (a tiramisu) and a CD - Brian Setzer's Boogie Woogie Christmas. Woo hoo. Will be having a swinging Christmas. And guess what? Just in time for the choir's Christmas party tomorrow (tonight).

bitter broccoli


These are the bitter-est broccoli I've ever tasted. EWWW YUCKS! It's bad I had to trash it and I've NEVER thrown broccolies(?) away. *sigh* They are usually so yummy. Wonder what happened to these.

Hello, my name is Empress ... and I'm a shopaholic

Slowly but steadily, I'm turning into a shopaholic.

Well ... relative to my usual shopping habits that is.

I have only recently purchased a mini-hifi with DVD playback and twin deck cassette slots(?). That was less than a week? A fortnight ago? Then yesterday, I bought a new pair of shoes and a digital camera.

The shoes I can justify purchasing cause I've been looking for a pair to replace my old black pumps/court shoes that I use regularly and have absolutely worn out the heel. It's so worn out that the plastic in the inside of the heel is showing. So, a replacement was necessary. When I saw that pair of Renoma at RM70 I snapped it up. Nice gorgeous sexy shoes. I'm still surprised that I can wear a size 6. I'm usually a size 6 half or 7 depending on the cut. Renoma must make shoes for people like me. People with broad feets. Cool. Should buy more Renoma shoes now. It was quite a bargain as well cause the salesgirl said that the regular price was actually RM170+. RM70 is much cheaper than my old el cheapo Vincci shoes which was actually not that cheap in the first place. I think I bought it for about RM120.

Hurrah! New shoes!

Next, after much surveying for the digital camera, I went back to the camera shop in Bangsar, which I checked out about two weeks ago, who gave me the best price for the Olympus Camedia C-730UZ. The snobs at Sungei Wang quoted me everything between RM1750 to RM2200. Bangsar quoted RM1650.

I bought an additional 128M SM card and a battery charger along with the camera. I'm more that RM2000+ poorer now.

Wowzers! My credit card bill's gonna be sky rocketting the next time it arrives. Eeps! And the guy at the bank call this afternoon to tell me that I forgot to sign my cheque for my card payment ... again! Sheesh! Guess I'm not too good at using checques to make payments. Out of all the times which I have made payments with a cheque, I've only managed to do it properly twice! Should probably stick to cash.

So, I'll be learning how to use my camera for the next few days and hopefully by the time I'm off to the UKs, I'd be familiar enough with some of the functions to take some decent pictures.



First picture taken with my new camera. It's the mess which is my bedside table.


I'm testing the zoom with this picture. It's Joe Bear!


Joe Bear again!

Yes! Finally, finished one of the additional hacks/codes needed to get things to work with the utterly idiotic engine.

Actual use of the function is to be implemented by one of my programmers. No not the slow one, the other one. The one who finishes really fast. She's probably a better programmer than I am.

Am having a bit of a problem with the SQLs required to get the reports up. My databse guy is hating me for passing him the task of generating those SQLs. I'm thinking that if it's possible, and if they're in a rush, we'd hand over the project minus the report module ... for the time being. Then after it's finished, we load that up for them later. Hopefully the client will go for it.

Work aside, am currently contemplating if I should audition for a solo part for 'It Came Upon A Midnight Clear' for the Christmas programme. Some of them had the audition on Monday. Some people think I should but I don't know cause my voice really shakes when I'm nervous. And I will be nervous when I have to sing solo in front of a bunch of people.

Another strange thing ...

I saved codes which I worked on last night (or rather early Monday morning) onto my floppy to bring to work later and when I opened the file, it wasn't what I saved. I thought it was strange cause I specifically remember doing a Save As ... before succumming to the sandman's call. Fortunately I remembered most of what I did and it didn't take me too long to reproduce it at work.

And then a few moments ago, I opened the same file, which I continued working on at work, to work on it, whatever I saved at work wasn't replicated in my floppy. Craps! What is wrong! Why isn't anything working today? Urgh!

I hope that whatever I've changed is still in the copy at work. I'll work on something for tonight and then I'll try integrating it with the codes at work ... it that is still there. Otherwise, a whole day at work has just gone to waste.

Shoots! Have a meeting at 9am. Hope that doesn't take too long. I'm never going to finish my project. I never ever want to head a project any longer. I utterly despise Project Management. Let me remain a programmer for the time being please. Project Management is pulling my mind at so many directions I don't have time to do my part of the development!

Mess ge l st in cyb rsp ce ... p ckets m ss ng

Messenger programs seems to be out to get me. There I was honestly using it for work purposes during work hours and my posts seems to get lost in transit. My colleague's screaming at me for not reply when I have. Lines of sentences which I have entered/posted seems to sporadically appear on his screen. Testing confirmed that not all my messages are going across to him.

me: 1
me: 2
me: 3
me: 4
me: 5
me: 6
me: 7
me: 8
me: 9
me: 10
him: 2 3 5 6 7 9

What gives? Where did the rest go? and it's not only Y!Messenger. Apparently my messages to someone else in MSN Messenger isn't going across either. That someone got quite cross cause he thinks that I was deliberately ignoring him which I vehemently denied ... at least this time I wasn't lying. I do sometimes ignore that person.

Must check that PC is not infected with virus tomorrow morning.
*slaps forehead*
How could I have forgotten to check on that?
What were you thinking about Empress?

The Swingle Singers were incredible. Their arrangements were superb, their harmonies and sound effect incredible. Nothing much to say about it except that it was great.

The new Esplanade by the Bay in Singapore was gorgeous, well, what little I saw of it anyway.

Prem got the timing wrong and so, we were late for the show. However, managed to get into the theatre two songs before the interval. At least we didn't miss the whole of the first half.

Fired due to SMS

This is a warning to all you people whose lives depends on SMS. The next time you bitch about someone over this media, be careful. Someone might be watching.

Cripes! Now wonder I don't see any changes! I'm not even working on the correct module. Doh!

The result of staying up watching movies up until the wee hours of the morning. Spent the night watching the Gilmore Girl episode and the first part of Annie that I taped with the last part of 10th Kingdom in between the tape and Sweet November afters.

Hmmm ... Sweet November seemed sadder the first time I saw it. Especially when Enya's song came on. A sob story ... well the first time anyway. Didn't sob any yesterday. Still sad but no sobbing in sight.

How can the King of Pop hates pop?! That's just not right. Shouldn't people only create things that they like and care about? Especially the arts?

Sunday: Remember my ranting about my partner? Well, he beat me to it. I was gonna talk to my teacher before approaching him but he approached me first.

He asked me if I was still interested in competitions.
He felt that I think that I was the better dancer.
He says that I don't practise my steps during disco practises, that I just sit and wait when the others are being corrected.
He said that I was the one who wasn't free for practise the past few months when he EXPECTED me to be free

YES I am interested in competitions. I thought that he wasn't cause he's been concentrating more on disco that latin the past few months.
NO I don't think I'm the better dancer. I know he's like a rubber band and can gyrate better than any girl can. I just correct him to be able to do my part. I'm totally selfish in that part. But whose fault is it if he doesn't correct me when he feels something doesn't feel right? I can't feel it for him. He NEEDS to tell me when something is wrong. Like I've stated before. I'm no mind reader.
YES I don't practise my steps much unless I'm not sure of the steps. If I think I know the steps and you don't correct me otherwise, what do I need to do? I do it when the music comes on.
WHAT THE FUCK! I'm not a robot for god sakes. I've got a job with a deadline which has been changed again and again, I have to practise disco 3 times a week for disco, I've got choir and ballroom once a week. It's not like I have been going out partying the whole time. I haven't seen my friends for ages! If he'd stuck with the once a week disco practise as was previously agreed, I would be available for latin practise.

Urgh!

Anyway, we talked to the teacher. He says dissatisfaction with the partnership happens all the time. Suggested we cool off competitive practise for the time being and just do social. Says that we should discuss when we have a problem and need compromise more and if we can't solve a problem then ask him.

Well, we're cooling it for the time being. Don't know for how long though. Will need to ask my partner soon. Haven't seen him since Sunday.

I've signed-up for secret santa again.

Last year I got a Lavay Smith CD which I absolutely love. Wonder what I'll get this year.

Quickie update!

Only managed semi-finals in the Malacca competition for both the categories we entered; Novice & Pre-Amature.

Update:
Well, I wasn't dissappointed that we didn't get into the finals. In fact, I'm surprised that we made it into the Pre-Amature semi-finals and relief that we did manage the semi-finals for the Novice category.

Obviously, my partner didn't feel the same. He sort of went into a pout after a couple hours of waiting and then found out that we didn't get into the finals of the Novice.

I don't know what he was expecting anyway. We didn't put much effort into practising and we missed 2 classes prior to the competition and managed to scrape in a class on the Sunday(?) before the competition.

Two reasons why we didn't practise much.

1. I was busy. So many things seems to be happening this past few months. It's tiring.
2. My partner was more interested in practising for all the disco performances that we were asked to do; only one out of the 3 or 4 performance was a paying job. He actually wanted to practise disco on that last Sunday prior to the competition when we do not have anymore performances scheduled.

*sigh* I don't know. I get the feeling that he's no longer interested in competition. But if that is so, why the sulky biz about the result?

I'm also feeling that my style of dancing and his style does not really seem to jive (pardon the pun) too well. We seem to have different ideas on which beat of the dance to emphasize on. Well, me anyway. He's style is more of the smooth flowy thing throughout. Gorgeous for modern ballroom but we're doing latin here! Just seems to me that style of dancing doesn't really suit latin.

*sigh*

I don't want to be wasting my time and just competing for the sake of competing without the possibility of being able to win but if we can't compromise on a style to take on, I don't think we'll have the chance to win.

What do I do? What should I do?

Still want to dance. To compete but what if we're really ill matched?

If we split, I would have a harder time looking for a partner than he would. A guy who can dance well is a dime a dozen compared to the number of girls who can.

*sigh*

The New Guy ... Almost

We almost got a new project manager.

*phew* About time! Most of us thought. Of course, we also went "ha ha ha, there goes the idiot's chance. Bye bye idiot, you're not getting the job although you act like you have the job."

Alas, the new guy decided to pass on the chance of working in this shit hole. Very smart of him.


oops! Not so smart after all.

Just got a call for our Business Development Exec saying that there was an error in communication. He just couldn't make the 9am meeting that was planned. Therefore the meeting has been pushed to 2pm. He's still accepting the job and we (those who have projects ... ie. all except the programmer who can't program) still have to present our projects to him.

Blergh!

What Is Your True Aura Colour?
brought to you by Quizilla

Thurs, Nov 7 - Went for dinner with Grace. Main reason was to get my Cats program back. Signed by members of the cast. You might remember that I wasn't really that taken with the cast. So, why did I want their markings on my program? I don't know? Cause I could. The Fame program was the first one that got signatures and the Chicago program had two cause two of the performers were in Fame as well. So, I want signatures on all my programs if possible. I don't think I'll be able to get signatures from the performers when I go for the shows in London. Would be great if I could but I highly doubt the possiblity.

Anyway about the dinner ... we had a great blast talking about the show (Cats), her experience working as a dresser, what she planned to do, what I wish I had the guts to do, etc... etc... So much fun talking. Mostly cause we were talking about Music Theatre. I get really excited talking about Music Theatre. Grace has signed up with a placement agency which places people with jobs in the UK. It's mostly going to be washing dishes or waiting tables at some dingy restaurant but she doesn't mind cause she'll try and source for internship or volunteer at the numerous theatres there in London (if she gets to work in London). *fingers all crossed for Gracie*

I told her how I wish I had the guts to do Music Theatre and she said that I should just go for it. She think I have the voice for it and that since I dance as well ... well, that's a plus! Thanks for the vote of confidence Grace ;) Also told her about my wish to migrate to Australia cause the chances of getting it is higher than me trying for the UK. If I ever do get an offer for a job in either place, I'd jump at the chance. Just pack up my bags and go. As it is, I'd have to stop procratinating soon and finish up that resume of mine and send that and the form that Tim's friend (he does migration stuff) passed to me back to him for processing.

We ended the night with me passing her almost all of the musical CDs that I own. In fact, I think that is all my musical CDs. Missing them much now. :(


Fri, Nov 8 - Nothing much happened. Work. Streetvoiz* practise. Shasae** practise. Sleep.

Sat, Nov 9 - Last ditch search for a nice dress or long skirt for dinner this evening. Managed to find a nice skirt. Gorgeous in fact (to me at least). It's a long flowy skirt in red with a black gauze like layer over it so it looks maroonish. There's also one in blue and black which looks purplish(sp?). However, they don't have it in my size. I think that range was made for larger size women. Although I consider myself petite, I'm not of the small size but still their smallest size was a 8(US), I think. I could probably fit in something which was one or two sizes smaller. If they only had it, I would have gladly paid the RM99 bucks for it. A huge discount from the original price of RM199. I think it would have been a worthy buy.

Sadly, I placed the skirts back on their racks and went to pay for the nail polish I picked up earlier. A Revlon Chrome polish in Silver; it's not called Silver, I'm sure it has some fancy name but I don't remember it. I don't need the polish but I just couldn't resist buying it. Then went to get more of those tiny grips for the hair.

Headed for the rehearsal before the dinner. I'm late. They've only practised once. (Thank goodness!) Pissed Sae Min off cause I told him he was out of time. It could have just been me but I really think it was him a part felt a little rushed and we were out of time after that part. He's pissed and I'm pissed. So, what else is new?

The performance went ok. The dinner was ok. Not great.

Dashed to Corus Hotel for the Choir AGM. Big surprise! (read that dripping with sarcasm) Got elected into the committee again. Sat around and went home.

Got home, remembered that I left my dress at the dressing room at Eastin (where the dinner was). Called Sae Min about it. He still there and said he'll check it for me.

Sun, Nov 10 - Picked up aunties from KLIA at 6.30am. I went to sleep at 3.30am so you can see how groggy I was when I drove. Groggy driving at high speed not a good combination people. If you ever see a red Kancil heading your way, stay clear!

Nothing much after that. Dance class and much needed nap after that.

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."
Robert Bruce(1274-1329); King of Scotland.

I've used that quote above so many times before but I never knew its source.

BAD SKIN AND BEAUTY CONSULTANTS

The problem with having bad skin is that people who work in the beauty industry (read: skincare sales people) like to approach you. I know cause 1) I have bad skin and 2) I've been approached by two such persons in as many days.

The first was on Wednesday. I had just ordered the nice 'Wan Tan Mee' that I'd just found in SS2 (stall 31) when I notice the girl at the table in front of me staring at me.

At first I thought I was just being egoistic. Why would she be staring at me? I wasn't wearing anything particularly extravagant nor am I such a head turner (boy! I wish I was!). So, I just ignored her thinking that she's probably looking over me and read my book and continued waiting for my food to arrive.

I was halfway into my meal when she came over. As it was raining, I couldn't hear what she was trying to tell me but she handed me a card. I'm assuming that she's suggesting that I go to her for a consultation. Since I've never had any luck in the skin improvement department, I politely told her 'No thanks!'. She insisted I keep her card.

I did. I'm using it as a bookmark for the book I was reading. :)

Then the next day (yesterday), while I was in Sonny San at One Utama, the salesgirl for Aesop approached me just as I was walking out of the store.

So, now, self esteem is at a slightly low phase(?).

QUIZ TIME

YOUR PERFECT MATCH ... cosmo quiz result - I scored a 10

7 - 14 Your perfect match - PROFESSIONAL GUY
This guy is sophisticated and knows all about the finer things in life. He knows all the hippest restaurants and bars and knows how to woo you with his quick wit and charm. If you like a guy who can clinch a major business deal and has your wants and needs sussed, professional guy is your perfect match.

RSVP Online dating has hand-chosen some guys who just may be your perfect match.

Click here to find out more about
your RSVP perfect match - Nicho.


Isn't he cute? :)


Also ... courtesy of astroGirl

Destiny number: 3

You've got an awful lot to express, so your life will involve several creative projects, either because you chase a hobby or interest that turns into your passion, or because you are lucky enough to end up in a job where you can show off your creativity. Having a Three Fate Number could turn you into an author, artist, musician or entertainer. You may find you have to make a choice between money and security, and the freedom to be yourself. It won't always be easy, but a boring job that turns you off could turn out to be your biggest life lesson. Three Name Numbers of Fate Numbers will link up to you.

The 3 Choir concert went on ok. Not fabulous but it didn't exactly tank. So that's good.

Some of us were only hoping that we'd not be singing to an empty room. I did wonder however if we would still sing if the room was indeed empty. They do say that 'the show must go on'. I'm only wondering if it would indeed go on with no one to perform to.

Prem came to watch on Friday. She bought a ticket. I offered her a complimentary ticket through an offline message in Yahoo. I guess she didn't go online prior to the show.

We went for supper after the show and I got stopped by the police on my way home. I'd forgotten to turn on my headlights and I just made an illegal U-turn. I didn't even see the group of police on the other side of the road and I U-turned right into them. Hence, I paid my first bribe. I really didn't want to actually but the policeman who stopped me was explaining something which I still can't understand what he was trying to say but in the end, he was quite obvious when he asked if you'd just like to pay here. So I did; cause I was still confused by his explanation and I couldn't be bothered trying to figure it out.

Watched Red Dragon with Mel on Saturday. I really liked it. Maybe I should go watch Hannibal. I have been avoiding Hannibal cause I didn't hear too many people who liked it. Maybe I would like it. Some critics didn't like Red Dragon but I did. Maybe I'd like Hannibal too.

Met up with Mel again on Sunday after my morning dance practise. I was free the rest of Sunday cause my partner had to work so no more practises. Yay! Although a little worrisome cause we haven't practised much for our upcoming competition. Urgh! I'm hating the lack of practise.

Anyway, had a drink with Mel at Dome before heading to my place. I offerred to show her my copy of the New York City Ballet Workout book cause she's considering buying that and the DVD.

Monday was dance practise, bithing about my dance partner during lunch and dress hunting for the dinner this Saturday. Still haven't found my dress yet. I need a dress for dinner. Could be a two piece. I'd like a bustier type top and wide long skirt but I'm not sure if I can carry that off. Haven't tried those before. Must fine a nice one to try it. Anyone know where I might find something like that? It'll be a plus if it's cheap. :) Oh! It's needs to be a little glittery as well cause the theme of the dinner is GLITTER.

Hello Kitty. The cause of low birth rate in Japan. Ridiculous or no?

Here's something for all the Jane Austen fans. Pride and Prejudice ... Bollywood style!

It's gonna be set in contemporary England and is to be directed by Gurinder Chadha who's recent film 'Bend It Like Beckham' was recently shown at GSC's International Screen. Did anyone manage to watch that? I saw it on VCD months before it came to the cinemas and I liked it.


On another note, I just found an internet radio station that plays song from musicals. Hurrah!
The last one I listened to, NetRadio, has shut down. A disadvantage of this station is that they don't give out enough information about the song currently being played. All they show is the song's title. No information of which musical it's from. No information about the singer or if it's a cast recording. If I find a song that I like and would like to know which musical it's from, how do I find out? That was what I liked about NetRadio. All the information.

Whoops! I was mistaken. There's a button on the player which does list those information. My bad.

Ever heard of the joke about testing condoms? Well, it seems that the test actually exists! This condom company has openings for condom testers. However, openings are only for Brits.

Talk about dream jobs!

Sime Darby Group Games

Well, we didn't win the games this year; I think we came in third. However, the squash team managed to retain the squash cup for the 4th year running.

Hurrah to the squash team!

Expecting a celebratory dinner sometime soon. Hope the don't forget li'l ol me when that time comes.

Me muscles are aching right now. Must be getting old. :)

I'm trying to find that blog which the blogger claims to be a vampire. In the blog, she writes about how she became a vampire and how all the other vamps are pissed at her for writing in her blog.

If any of you have seen it, please drop me a note.

Nothing much today.

Just work and reading up on XML and RSS. The latter are my own interest. Not for work.

Skipping squash practise to go for choir practise at Istana Budaya tonight. Then after that, dance formation practise or class. I'm not too sure yet. Mr Lee said that he's changing our class to Friday at 10pm and I've asked Sae Min to call him to confirm. However, up till now, he hasn't called me yet. I'll just have to make sure I'm there by 10pm. Class or practise won't make much of a difference.

*sigh* I need to take my new practise shoes back. It's too narrow. I wonder if they'll change it for me.

Yummy, yummy ... BRAINS

1st runner up

... which means we lost. Or if you're the optimistic type, we won second. For this matter, I'm gonna be the optimist so, hurrah! We won!

Of course, I'm talking about the cha-cha competition at Orange. What else could it be? What else did I have on that's a competition?

Well ... besides the company games that is coming up this weekend.

Anyway, I'm sort of relieved that they even gave us second placing cause we did a lot of mistkaes. Mistakes after mistakes. Forgotten steps, loss of balance, muscle cramps, the whole enchilada. Both of us.

Sae Min's cramps were due to the hair show he did back on Tuesday. Mine? I don't know where it came from. I don't usually get muscle cramps.

Not when I swim without warming up.
Not when I play squash without warming up.
Not when I dance without warming up ... up till today.

About ten seconds into our routine, during the solo portion of the competition, this is where we have the whole floor to ourselves, my right calf muscle started cramping. I know this cause I do a lot of spins where I land with my weight partly on the balls of my right foot; therefore flexing the right calf muscle. So, I couldn't do a full flex and this was also a cause for my loss of balance. The other reason is that I'm just not very good at stopping after spinning.

The right leg would have helped a little but without it, I'm a lost cause.

La di da ... that's over. Guess it's just more practise, practise, practise in order to remedy that.

On another note, the cute guy I've been eyeing happens to be Margaritte's son. Margaritte's got a bad throat and can't MC today so she asked her son to help out. He seems like a nice boy; helping out his mom almost every week. Well, I'm not quite sure if it is every week but for all the time that I've gone to Orange on Thurdays for the salsa class last time and the past two times for the competition, he was there. Cute and filial ... mama's boy?

I had a good time 'cuci-ing mata' tonight. There's mama's boy and then there's Estaban. I still think he looks sexy when he danced. Sexy ... mmm mmm mmm!

Also, met Jason tonight. Danced with him some. One thing though ... "Jason, you need to learn your timing for salsa. I know I'm not an expert but I think you're starting off on the wrong beat."

Plus, c'mon, honestly, tell me what you think of my dancing.

C'mon spit it out.

You don't have to be nice about it. Tell me what you liked and what you didn't like. I need to know so that I know what needs to be furthur improved on. Ok?

Right then. Time for a quick shower and then ... TO BED! TO BED!

The scrabble battle has ended.

Thanks guys. That was fun!

I keep buying chocolate bars and not eating them.
Last night, I bought a Kit Kat Chuncky.
Two days ago, a Time Out.

They're both sitting on a tray in the fridge at home now.
Waiting.
Waiting.
Waiting to be eaten.

I wonder when I'll eat them.
I wonder if it'll still be there to be eaten when I want it.

I wonder what chocolate bar I will be getting tonight.

Update: Time Out is no more. Long live Kit Kat Chuncky

It was a restful weekend.
Didn't do much on Saturday. In fact, can't remember what I did on Saturday.
One sec, let's have a look in my planner to see if it might enlighten me a little.

Ah yes.
Watched James Dean on Astro at noon, squash training at 5pm and Billy Elliot at 10pm. See, a planner is a good thing. It reminds you what you have to do and also what you have done.
Good old planner.
Now, if I can only make my stingy self go buy one of those fancy palm top; I'd have a planner which actually gives out alarms as well. Something that would remind me that I have something to do without me having to open it up and look in it.
Yes. The ultimate lazy tool.

Then on Sunday, the usual dance practise was cancelled. Yay! More time for sleepin'.
Like a pig, slept till 12.30pm then went for bak kut teh.
Man! This is the life.
Eat.
Sleep.
TV.

Wasn't totally stationary though. Had dance class at 4pm, then practise till 7pm before rushing home to treat the family to a dinner cause I got my bonus.

Oh yes, installed a program for my dad on Saturday as well.

Found a new paper to read on Wednesday. It's called Faces: Of the night (I think). It's a fortnightly paper where they report events (read club events) which have gone on in the past fortnight and also reviews on fashion, food and places. A pretty interesting paper with lots of pictures. However, I would think that for such a paper, they would have a list of events that would be coming up so that the readers will know what's the next 'happenning' thing/place to go to.

I was actually at the magazine shop to look for the August issue of Wired. Being the el cheapo that I am, I was waiting for MPH to bring in their stack of RM24.50 Wired for that issue and didn't buy the RM31 copy that I saw. Somehow, I must have missed it cause I can't find it anymore. So now, I'm scouring the back issue magazine shops. Have to check the back issue shop at Sungai Wang then. The one in Damansara Jaya doesn't have it yet?

Also, I got my new pair of latin shoes from Superdance. It's a plain black, 3 incher with flare heels. Costed me RM118. Considerably cheap. Needed a new shoe for practise cause may old pair has a huge hole at my left little toe and it's sort of loose now therefore I'm having trouble trying to balance in it.

Hmmm ... I'm feeling a little Memento effect here cause the events stated above was in reverse chronological order.

It actually went shoe --> look for Wired --> found Faces.

My first layout change. What do you think?

Great movie deal at TGV. RM3 for movie tickets this coming Monday and Tuesday. Whoo hoo! Gotta jot that down in my planner.

Which Disney Princess are you?

Chicago ... can't wait for this movie to come out! Saw the musical almost 2 years ago and loved it. Wonder if the pirate copies are out yet. I'll have to keep my eyes open.

I got a strangely huge number of hits (for me anything > than 30 is huge) from blogger on the 11th and 12th.
Strange.

Anyway, Monday was work for a whole 13 hours.

Since I didn't manage to do any installation on Saturday (server wasn't ready) and Sunday (had to rush for the ad rehearsal), I thought I'd get in early on Monday to have it all done before official work hours began. The installation shouldn't take more than 2 hours really. The program had a setup program and after making sure the setup is correct, all I had to do is transfer my modified codes from the other server.

Simple si?

Well, it would have been if everything with the server is going fine and the codes worked perfectly. The codes were easy to fix once I found out what was wrong and searched the net for the fix. But the server ... the server we still have no idea what is wrong with it. The new server is suppose to be online so I'm suppose to be able to be able to access the application from any network. However, it works fine for one network and goes off and on on another.

Chang, one of the network guys around, thinks it might be the php configuration. Since I have no clue whatsoever about php configuration, we have to wait for the idiot to get to it.

So, we wait.

Yesterday, was a day of almost no work. Had to go to Putrajaya to check out why the Human Resource project people can't update information.
Problem easily solved.

They didn't click the save button.
They made changes, walked away from the application.
Application timed out.
Data not saved.

See, this is why I told Azreen (the business guy) I didn't want to go there. It had to be something stupid like this. Urgh! And then, Aishah, the lady who gave me the requirements for the application, got confused with two of the fields that she told me to include. Also, she requested for some changes. She's already signed the User Acceptance form. So, in truth, I've handed over the project. It's done. I told her she had to talk to Azreen about the request since I don't know if it would be a chargeable modification. I think it should be though. She has agreed that the application fulfilled the requirements so, any additional thing should be charged. Right?

During lunch, skipped over to Subang Perdana?, the area after Giant USJ, for a short preview of our cha cha sequence to a client for a Friday event. Sae Min called me later to tell me that they didn't want the cha cha sequence anyway. I had a feeling that they didn't during the preview cause they didn't look thrilled with it. I think they wanted something more acrobatic, something with lifts and stuff which is not permissable in competition hence not in our routine. Consolation is, I'll be getting Rm75 compensation for having gone there twice for previews which in total must have lasted a whole 20 minutes in total. Cool!

After getting back to the office, I had a meeting with the boss and a few other colleagues. There's a new project. I was really reluctant to go. Another project? OMG! I already have two that's in the back burner right now waiting for the WTS project to finish before I continue with them.

Thankfully, it doesn't look like I'll be doing this one. They're either going to use Mei Ling existing application which she's built for another client or create something based on the idiot's 'super' engine. Yes! So long as they don't ask me to work with the idiot, it's good.

So, one more bad news and good news before I go.

Bad news ... I didn't get in on the ad. Mel called to ask if Jacklyn called me for the dress rehearsal scheduled for today. I didn't. So, I shot off an SMS to Jacklyn to check if I'm still in cause during all the rehearsals, they haven't made up their mind?! Few minutes later, Suhaimi called; all appologetic and everything saying that he's sorry that I had gone to all the rehearsal but they're not taking me for the ad. I told them it's fine but that they should have at least called to tell me that. I mean, it's the decent thing to do. Whether I'm in or not, they should tell me.

Good news ... we're in the cha cha competition finals. Wonder how they got they result so early thought, since the second heat hasn't finished. That's scheduled for tomorrow. Ah, who cares. I'm in. I'm in.

Server installation didn't finish until about 12pm yesterday. Which gave me only 30 minutes of official working time to install my app and see if it's workable. Mind you, the server installation wasn't tested. Rosli, the guy who installed the server, have no idea if the installation MySQL and PHP will work together.

I couldn't stay back too long to finish up work cause I was suppose to go to Kampung Baru for the advertisement rehearsal. I knew something was terribly wrong when I got to the place at 2.30pm and there was only one car at the parking lot. Started making calls to Margaret, a friend (although I'd consider he more as an aquiantance than a friend) and Jacklyn to check on the venue. Nobody answered their phones, so I left messages and sat there waiting in my car for someone to call back. I've decided that I would wait till 3pm and then I'll leave if no one returns my calls.

Just as Josh was going into the chorus of 'Gira Con Me' my phone rang; which I think was quite cool cause that's my ring tone - the chorus of Gira Con Me. :)

Anyway, Jacklyn called to say that the venue has been changed to the gym at Crystal Cown? or Crystal something or another ... it's where Coffee Bean and Bravo is, near Modesto's KL.

Unlike what I was told by Marg and Mel, there were quite a number of chinese girls there. According to M & M, there was only 3 on Thursday. Where the girls popped out from they have no idea.

Rehearsal was quite fun if a little messy. Can't remember the steps sometimes. Then at about 5.30pm we stopped rehearsing and waited for the director who's suppose to have been there at 4pm. He finally arrived at 6+pm.

After about 2 runs dancing in front of the director, I told Jackly that I had to go cause I had a show at Holiday Villa later tonight and that I should have been there at 4pm. Actually, I have been trying to leave even before the director arrived cause of the show thing but she said that he was gonna arrive soon. So I stayed.

So, M & M and I left. They have had enough as well cause it seems that not everyone who was there was already casted. They're gonna do a re-casting. While we were waiting for the elevator, Jacklyn rushed out to ask us to do another run through for the director.

I was torn.

On one hand, the ShaSae people have been at Holiday Villa since 4pm and it's unfair for them that I'm not there with them. On the other, I might be in a commercial. A new experience for me. I'm already there so why not? M & M gave the nod and so we went back in the gym.

I've already taken off my slippers and was in the process of putting on my shoes when Jacklyn came back and say that we didn't have to do it. *eyes rolling in abundance*

We finally left. I dropped M & M at Brickfields and headed for Holiday Villa.

When I got there, they had only just begun rehearsal. It seems that the sound man has just arrived. So I put on my shoes and jumped into the dance.

We didn't get to practise all the dances cause there were already guest trickling in. The organiser told us to cease.

The show went on pretty okay. Again, some mishaps happened, wrong steps, forgotten steps, wrong placing etc but luckily, no revealing boobs. :)

Jacklyn SMSed to say that there will be a shorlisting at 10am today.

At 10am this morning, I was still at home.
Eating my curry flavoured maggi mee with two eggs.
I was feeling tired from last night and Mel called to say she wasn't going. Didn't feel like going so I went for my latin class instead.

So, here I am now, at the office, writing on my blog instead of working like I should be since I have to go for the ad thing again at 5pm.

Mel called to say that Jacklyn asked Margaret to beg us to come back cause the director said that the SYTs from yesterday were too young for what he had in mind.

Hmm ... I wonder if that was a compliment or an insult. They're begging us to come back but that's cause we don't look young?
Hmmm.

Starting work now. [Click]

More dancing last night. Practising for gig tonight. We practised until 1am. I got home at 2.30am. The dancing if feeling more and more like a second job now except there's no consistent pay. Slept at 3am after listening to Stef's cold war (read: argument) with mummy and trying the last remaining piece of Tim Tam that was left from the pack that I bought about a week ago. Darn it Stef! Stop finishing my food! First the ice-cream now my Tim Tams.

Working on the report module for the WTS now. I'm hoping and praying that we will be able to meet the newly revised timeline which I just mailed them yesterday. The new schedule allocates 10 more days of programming. *fingers crossed* Please, please, please let this project be finished. I'm so sick of it already! The engine sucks! I don't want to use it anymore.

Hmmm ... I wonder if my new server has been installed. Am suppose to install one of the apps I'm handling into the new server after the technical guys have finished installing the web server and PHP and MySQL.

The callista.f2o.org page seems to appear fine in IE6. Wonder why it looks weird in IE5. Odd.

Much rescheduling yesterday.

The ad rehearsal changed venue for the third time. It was somewhere in a kampung in the middle of the city. I don't know how to get there and the map that Jess faxed over isn't much help. Mel called today to say that it was indeed a difficult place to find.

As you can tell, that would mean that I didn't go for the rehearsal.

Jess confirmed that the shoot will be on next Thursday instead of Wednesday. My cha cha competition's heat was scheduled for next Thursday. Meaning I can't compete and still be in the shoot.

Luckily Sae Min called the competition organisers if we could compete in last night's heat instead. They agreed. So we had our heats last night.

We haven't practised our cha cha much this past couple of weeks so I'm kinda worried that we might forget our routine. Added to that, the first two competitors that I meant when I first got there compete in the Amature and Pre-Amature level. I'm only a Novice! Ack! Pressure.

Anyway, I think we did quite okay. Not sure if we're gonna be in the finals yet. Will have to wait until after the second heat finishes next week. *fingers crossed*

After the competition, the organisers got Esteban Cortez & Evelyn Rivera to dance a tango for the audience. They're from Uruguay and according to Margaritte, the organiser, are the premier Uruguay couple in tango. Their dancing were gorgeous. That's the kind of tango I'd like to do. Esteban Cortez was so sexy when he danced. God! Yumm. He didn't look sexy when he was just sitting around and judging or talking but when he danced ... Ma Ma Mia!

Ad rehearsal was post-poned to later today. Instead of yesterday ie. it's now on Thursday instead of Wednesday. Some of the people at the studio said that RM150 for a day shoot was a bum deal. However, if the ad requires lots of people, > 20, which is the case here, that's about the correct price. Still quite low. Don't think it even covers my salary rate for a day, which I would need to take, a day off, work to go on the shoot. But I'm going for the experience. I thought I'd find out what a shoot is like. It might be fun, it might be boring as hell but at least I'd done it before. Have you?

Since the rehearsal was cancelled, I was able to attend my ballroom class. More tango today.

After that, Sae Min and I practise our cha cha routine. We tried doing the routine at Soo Ping's wedding and we couldn't remember it. Thank goodness we're not going into the first heat of the cha cha competition that's gonna be held at Orange beginning tomorrow. That give us one more week of practise.

Thank you Mr/Ms Organiser.

Hmmm ... my page at f2o.org is not appearing correctly. I wonder what is wrong with it.

Anyway, La Femme Nikita season 3 started. Yea!

Last night, after running around the confines of the squash court chasing the little black ball and getting all sweaty and further placing more pressure on my never-gonna-heal right foot, I rushed home for a quick shower and change before heading off to the dance studio where we were suppose to meet before heading for Beach Club to meet the visiting Aussies. [Hmmm ... that was a pretty long sentence.]

Soong, Sae Min and Vivian were watching the tape of the studio's dinner and dance. They've taped the rehearsal in the morning as well as the performance at night.

I finally got to see how dangerously low that white tube top of mine fell.

It was really low.

We've decided that we're gonna all add halter straps to that costume. Lest we give another striptease performance the next time round.

Anyway, we didn't make it to the club.

The Aussies were still busy packing for their flight which, if I'm not mistaken, was suppose to have departed at 0630hrs this morning.
I don't understand why it would take them so long to pack but Sae Min said that when he saw them at Sungai Wang in the afternoon yesterday they had bags and bags of stuff with them. They must have had a brilliant time shopping in Malaysia. Everything is half price to them. Maybe that's the cause of the never ending packing.

So, basically I rushed home to get all gussied up and rushed to the studio; just to sit and watch the performance we did last Friday.

Bummer.

Kevin Mitnik's Toshiba Satellite T1960CS, 486 laptop computer seized by the FBI on February 15, 1995, in Raleigh, NC, during his arrest, was sold at eBay for USD15,200.

Just got a call from the lady at the casting agency. I went for a casting call two weeks ago.
I've been shortlisted for the deepavali ad. First rehearsal is tomorrow. It involves dancing. Hence the rehearsal.
Don't know where I'm suppose to go yet. The lady's suppose to fax me a map to the rehearsal venue.

Checked. No fax yet.

Another one bites the dust

First it was Cats, then it was Miss Saigon and now Les Miz.

Guess that means that should I ever get the chance set foot on good old Broadway, I'll never be able to watch one of my favourite musicals there.
Maybe I should catch some of those big musicals before they close in the East End as well, when I go to UK at the end of the year.
Should experience watching those shows where they are originally opened and have regular shows throughout the year.

I am of course assuming that these people would be better than the touring cast. Not to say that the touring cast are not good. I am just assuming that the non touring cast will be better.
What am I basing this assumption on?
Nothing.

*Phew* Two shows down, one more to go, plus some competitions coming up as well.

The dance studio's dinner and dance was a huge success! ShaSae, our dance group did two dance pieces as one/two of the performances that were shown that night. The Kylie piece, 'Can't get you out of my mind' was embarrassing and hilarious both at the same time. Why? You see, the girls costume were black pants and a white tube-corset like top - basically a piece of rectangular cloth with four holes at each of the two short ends, held together by a length of string. Looks kinda cool huh? Yeah but the thing is, you see, it's dangerous. Dangerous for us girls cause of the risk of exposure. During the full dress rehearsal, our tops were slowly sliding lower and lower, revealing more and more skin (is the polite word for it, tits for us less refined people) but still not so much that it was absolutely indecent. Just a slight slip down south. On Friday, for reasons unknown, maybe it was because we were putting in more ummph into the performance, maybe we didn't tie it tight enough or leave it loose enough, two of us, yours truly and Soong, almost gave the audience more than they've paid for. :D I did realise that the top was slowly sliding lowere but didn't think that I was in extreme danger of my nipples showing but looking around the dinner tables, I see familiar faces giving me indications that I should pull my top up. I wasn't too sure if they were indicating to me or my friend but I did adjust the top. Everyone must have seen me adjusting it. I know I should be fidgeting during the dance, might not be the profession way to do it but c'mon! I'm not a striptease act alright!

Anyway, the second piece (Madonna's 'Don't tell me') went off better thanks to the safer sleeveless t-shirt as costume. After that was a whole lot of dancing and bumping into people on the dance floor.

I must say that I have never, I repeat, NEVER ever been to a dinner where the dance floor was so jam packed. Can't say that I am surprised. It was a dinner and dance for a dance studio so it's easily assumed that all the people who would attend the dinner are dance nuts. And they were! Good surprise.

Soo Ping's wedding was nice. She looked absolutely gorgeous. Our performance for her (Madonna again) went well, almost without a hitch. Almost, except for the front part where Sae Min misstepped. But it was ok. That was really at the beginning of the whole thing. The rest of the dance went well. Then everyone from the dance studio dominated the dance floor. :)

And now the time has come for me to head for bed. Practise tomorrow starts at 9 am. Full dress rehearsal for the high school reunion gig on the 12th.

Oh yes! Finally bought Sarah Brightman's Time To Say Goodbye album today. Have already listened to it on my newly installed car CD player.
Thanks pa, for installing it.

Cats - the musical

The show finally came to Malaysia. Ticket response to the show has been incredible; so good that they have decided to extend the season for a further eight shows. All this on top of the Vanessa Mae performance which was held last Sunday - the opening weekened of Cats!

My, my. It seems that we Malaysians are just soaking up each and everyone of them that comes our way.

[empress raises her hands high] Yup! Me included.

I was one of the few kiasu people who booked the tickets just as soon as the online ticketing service opened the booking for the show. Being a Maxis One member (or rather, I could get hold of someone who's a member), I managed to get a 40% discount for the tickets. The seats were excellent. Not too close (like when I saw RSC's Merchant of Venice) or too far (my seats for Fame). As Miss Little Red Riding Hood would say, '... it's just nice.' *sigh*

The show was quite good. I don't think there was much of a storyline. The whole thing was about a bunch of Cats who called themselves Jellicle(sp?) cats and the ball which they have once a year where the big shot among them decides which of them gets to be reborn ... I think. It's based on a T.S.Eliot poem. Since I'm not much of a poem lover, I don't know how true to the poem it is. :)

But anyway, I watched the whole show with a smile on my face. Mainly cause it had lots of dancing. The whole show was dance dance dance. My fave type of musicals.

Now for the things which I didn't like about it. Not too much that I didn't like really. However, I do think some things could be change? Improved on?

1. Rum Tum Tugger - couldn't they have picked someone sexier? He's suppose to be the cat that all the ladies faint over. This fella didn't have that air about him and his fat tummy doesn't help much with the image either.
2. Don't like the lady singing Memory. Her delivery seems too practised. Too technical. Emotionless on such an emotional song.
3. The lady accompanying the lady singing Memory - her voice was kinda flat. How did she get casted? Do they not have anyone better?
4. The staged seems too cramped for all the felines onstage.

Things I liked ... (yes I do like some stuff sometimes!)
1. The choreography and dancing ... of course
2. The white cat and also the main cat (the one who started singing and kinda have the role of MC or something like it. easily noticeable by his proud stance)
3. Jennyanydot sequence.
4. Train cat sequence.
5. The lighting.

Yeah ... so, there you have it. Something I did last Friday which I've only posted today. Something that I think I should have recorded somewhere.

... it's recorded.

as predicted, i failed my java exam.
yes. failed.
big fat 'F'!

hmmm ... wonder if the company will pay for a resit. if yes. i'd probably do it when i have time to actually study!

this is the first time i have ever felt so totally unprepared for an exam. there have times when i felt unprepared but this time was way way way unprepared. i had 3 days to finish 13 chapters. didn't even manage a first reading of all the chapters much less understand them. this is so bad. so bad. i feel so bad.

i have never ever ever failed a programming subject! this is an absolute first. i am so pissed!

Wow! I just read the feedback about the Seven Deadly Sins performance. So cool!

I heard a rumour that the next installment of Survivor, I think that would be Survivor 6, is currently being filmed at Pulau Pangkor. Seems that a friends aunt who is a nurse at a local private hospital treated Richard Hatch, the winner of the first Survivor, recently. It is said that Mr Hatch who was participating in S6 had been voted out by the tribal council and was seeking treatment at the hospital.

Which made me think.

How did he get to play the game again?
He's played it before and in fact won a million bucks at that.
Why is he allowed to play it again?
Isn't there a rule barring previous players from playing again?

Which also made me wonder if the rumour is indeed true.

So, has anyone heard anything about Survivor and Pangkor Island?
Can someone heading that direction check if this is true?
I don't really want to know. Just a little curious.

The organisers seem to like Malaysia quite a bit if the rumour's true. First Pulau Tiga. Now Pangkor.

[ something from the email network ] WARNING

We have just been notified by Security that there have been 6
suspected terrorists working out of your office. Five of the six
have been apprehended.

Bin Sleepin, Bin Loafin, Bin Goofin, Bin Lunchin and Bin Drinkin
have been taken into custody.

Security advises that they could find no one fitting the description
of the sixth cell member, Bin Workin, at your office.

Security is confident that anyone who looks like he's Bin Workin
will be very easy to spot.

If you are reading this you are obviously not a suspect at this time.