My Four `Entertaining' Weekends..

It's been a month of Chinese entertainment overload..!! Ya, I think I've had enough of Chinese live-shows and concerts for a while - for the last four weekends, I've attended four shows! Half of them for work and half for leisure.

This should be the record since I left my life as a entertainment (read: Chinese entertainment) journalist with the paper almost three years ago..

No, i'm not complaining - it can be tiring but I thoroughly enjoyed almost all of them.. and would have wanted to watch it anyway and ended up I didn't pay a cent for it.. :p

1.
The first one - Astro Star Quest Finals - would not be something I would have watched live - maybe on television. And this year I didn't even follow the competition at all... Then just a day before the finals in Putra Stadium, Bukit Jalil, an ed called me up and since I do need jobs and money, of course I made myself available..

I was seated in the comfort of Putra Stadium press seat with a table.. and it was actually quite entertaining and enjoyable despite I had no knowledge of these up-and-coming youngsters were. Must say I was quite impressed in particular by two of them - Kah Fai and Min - who eventually emerged as first runner-up and the winner!! The only grouses was the whole thing was pretty long as there were many rounds of contests - and all those commerical breaks in between since it was aired live on Astro.. And as the responsible (ahem) writer that I am, I also stayed back to interview the winners although I had not much space for the write-up anyway..

2.
Then the following weekend.. was a show I really wanted to watch. Although no one asked me to review it, I was fortunate to obtain two comp tickets from the organiser of SuperBand - that's made up of four unique and talented musicians/singers from Taiwan - Lo Ta-yu, Jonathan Lee, Wakin Chau and Chang Chen-yue.


My sis in HK has watched this concert and told me it was really good (and she is the picky type when it comes to concerts) and so I was really looking forward to it and definitely I was not disappointed. In fact, I rated it as the best concert I've been to this year and maybe even in recent years!! Their repertoire was splended and nostalgic (ok, I'm from some their eras) and they really showcased what they could do with their voices and instruments individually and as a band. And boy, just loved the way they jammed together.. Their combined age was 190! But to me, they beat any young hot boyband hands down. :) And so ya, myself and my friend really enjoyed it.. the bonus was I daringly mingled myself into the press seats (which were better than my ticket seats) after there were extra seats there!

3.
I attended the Michael Hui's press conference a few weeks earlier and was quite keen to catch his talk show in Genting Highland. Unfortunately, the editor I was contributing to did not want a review but fortunately I know the organiser's boss whom I've covered quite a no. of his shows and he has asked me to just go. But because it was a hot sold-out show - Michael Hui's first ever show in Malaysia or outside HK for that matter - I was told in the last minute that I could get into the stadium but there were no seats allocated for me!!


But again, my lucky (entertainment) star was shining and my friend and I who specially drove up to Genting were `rewarded' with seats - quite good ones too - among the photographers. And we had such a good time laughing our heads off with his jokes. Michael Hui has many interesting stories and anacdotes to tell.. The audience loved it so much that he obliged by even singing a song at the end.. And like I put on my FB, it is a refreshing change from the usual concerts! Great show :)

4.
Finally.. (I really hope I don't have any concert next week.. :S) I thought I would have given Eason Chan a miss this time as I mistakenly thought the concert was on Saturday and I was on worship duty on early Sunday morning. But turn out I was asked to do a review and the concert was Sunday evening.. at Sunway Lagoon Surf Pool - the same stage of MTV World Stage Live the night before.


For once, I was shocked to find out that they did not allocate any areas, let alone, any seats for the press! I was ushered to this `red zone area' - already jam packed with people right in front of the stage.. I squeezed myself through but guess what, I was blocked by a few tall guys and hardly had space to move let alone jot down notes for my review! The speakers were blaring and made my heart thump. Seriously, I'm not fit nor young enough to stand in such condition for 3 hours!!

To cut a long story short, I squeezed my way out of that crazy zone and stood at the side where some reporters were.. but 20 mins later, I already felt tired and spotted some chairs by some food stalls so there was where I sat by myself the whole night..

Fortunately, Eason's wonderful performance and music redeemed that earlier terrible experience.. Although i could only see the screen from side way and hardly the stage.. I still enjoyed the concert. He even did a medley of the 80s classics including Alan Tam's Love Trap and his own beautiful numbers.. It was even better than his first concert I watched I felt.. so much so I stayed till last song and as I walked out, fireworks broke into the sky.. a very long and elaborate one.

I guess Eason's concert - plus all the three previous ones had inspired me to blog despite my tiredness.. (got up at 6:50am this morning!)

What a crazy life for a aging freelance (entertaiment) writer who should actually settle for less `exciting' jobs :p But no, I'm not complaining.. :)

Thank You For the Memories.. and Laughter!

I just returned from a wonderful long weekend at Port Dickson - from an occasion that can be considered `historic'

It's the first alumni retreat of the College and Career Fellowship (fondly known as CCF) of my church - the peer group I've joined for close to 15 years!

In the mid to late 90s, a group of swinging youngsters - then in their 20s and early 30s - not only came together on Friday night for Bible Studies but had built up deep friendship and fellowship between them. At those `hay years' of CCF, there were so many activities going on - from putting up evangelistic events like camps and variety shows to outstation trips, casual outings and gatherings.

Fast forward one-and-a-half decade on or so..

Many of the CCFers of those days had got married and started their family. So naturally, they had left our peer group and either set up or joined cell groups that are home-based. But most of them had never lost touch with their old friends, in fact, most of them are still in the same cell groups. And then there are also a fraction of us - the singles - who are still with CCF among the younger generation..

I know it's unfair to compare but the peer group today is unalike that of yesteryears'.. not only the numbers have depleted, but somehow it's not as close knit nor united, and besides the clock-work Friday meeting for Bible study, the social events of any kind are few and far in between.. In fact, we all who are still there have to face the fact that it's underdoing a crisis.. and we just have to pray for wisdom and ask God for wisdom..

But back to the retreat..

The idea of a reunion/alumni retreat had been suggested since early last year but no one cam out to organise it, until our dear former `first lady' and welfare coordinator Koots decided to spearhead this to reality. A few more people came on board to take various tasks and in two months or so, this alumni retreat was happening!

It was held at the Golden Sand Baptist Assembly - the familiar camp site of most of our church camps. Most of us went without any expectation.. but I dare to say each and everyone was truly blessed and happy to have gone!

We were honoured to have our former pastor Soo Inn, who also played apart in the formation of CCF in the early 1990s, as the speaker. And indeed what a great and charismatic speaker he is. He just recently turned 54.

It was a really fun, wonderful and unforgettable weekend. In just 48-hours or so, we did so much! The theme of the retreat was Abiding in the Vine and there were three sermon sessions, followed by group sharing. They were all very relevant and practical topics - trusting God in tough times, mariage and singleness and about work. Although many of us had heard these topics before but it was a fresh and timely reminder and there were new things I took home.

Yesterday afternoon was dedicated to personal sharing. So many came forward to attest of how CCF had became an intergral part of their spiritual life and many talked about the precious friendship formed here and how their life had been changed.

All of the sharing was interesting, encouraging and yes, nostalgic. Some of them were so funny (yes, we have a number of really humorous characters around) while a few were truly moving and caused me to have tears welded in my eyes.

The schedule was rather relaxing, understandably so as most of us are no longer young.. and also many parents brought their young kids. There were 25 kids in our midst! Our smart organiser even `imported' an experienced Sunday school teacher couple to help give the kids their own program during the talks.

The highlight of the retreat must be the fun variety show last night. True to the spirit of CCF where we had put up so many skits and shows in the past in our evangelism programs, last night's `show' was a blast!!

You know what, I bet I laughed more and harder last night than I did in a year!!

First we had the return of the Pantai Boys - and I was even `planted' to go for the audition but of course, I'm not a guy thus `lost'. But gosh, my `competitor' was really a riot with his dance that combined break-dancing and strip tease! I laughed till I could not even dance anymore.. Today, remaining members of the Pantai Boys, who are now much older men, were still in their elements and gave us a string of songs.

And then we re-staged a skit that CCF did in 1996 - which was totally unrehearsed. Somehow I also got roped in to play a small role. Basically it was acting out the creation story in Genesis 1&2. It was quite amazing that the main cast of were all there to re-enact their roles! We got to see the original version too on video but I think last night's version was even better - and funnier too!!

Finally, there was the award-presenation - of course it was just for a laugh. Imagine award titles like the `Best Nip and Tuck' , `The Drama Queen Award', `The Rojak Mixed Up' and many other long and hilarious titles!

But the night did not end there. A camper, also a keen party host, created his version of a game - ACTS - combining Articulate with Charades, Trivial and Serenade. Well, it became the battle of the sexes and finally the fairer sex won by two points! It was really a fun and quite challenging game indeed.

It was really great to see the former CCFers who are now dads and moms still so full of vigour and energy.. and after so many years, the bond between all of us are still strong. I didn't manage to talk to everyone but at least I caught up with a few especially my roommate Jenny who has immigrated to Australia for many years.

But like what Koots said, we did not come to this retreat for a feel-good time and to reminisce about the good old days.. rather, it is meant to encourage and spur us on to continue to walk with the Lord and serve Him and others which ever phase of life we're in.

Indeed, personally I have benefitted from the talks and encouraged tremendously by the sharings. Ithank God that I'm part of a family whereby I've grown in the Word, as a person, and also having good friends whom I can count on.

So, thanks Koots and all those who have put in much effort to make this retreat a reality. And thanks CCF for the fond memories!

Presenting another new look! :)

Yes, I changed the layout again because I needed to!!

I didn't know that people using I.E. browser could not view my blog for the last three weeks after I changed it - to the chihuahua with specs background.. I don't know why. But when more than three or four ppl told me the same thing, I think something must be wrong. So finally I checked using I.E. and yes, the text was all missing!!

Sigh.. so sorry if you were trying to read my blog for the last couple of weeks..

So ya, I needed to even put aside work (well, it's Sat after all) to fix my blog..

Can't believe I spent 3 hours selecting a new template for my blog.. I had trouble with certain downloads - could not open zip file or just having errors with the HTML code.. but finally found this gem of a site that has some of the most lovely templates by this lady called Lena. There were so many very pretty ones so I had to try out quite a few.. Best is, the HTML code work!! Good things meant to shared so go here if you wanna change your template for Blogger!

I really like this template and everything is quite clear - not like the previous one though cute - the doggie was kinda in the way as the text bit was translucent..

Went for karaoke earlier in the evening - my first time to Pavillion's Redbox Plus. I think the last time I went to karaoke was last Dec for my birthday! All in we sang for five hours! I realise how old and out I was when the younger among us could sing all the new songs and I had to sing songs from the 80s and 90s (both Chinese/English) . And though it was easier for me to reach higher notes but still not very happy with my vocal.. especially now that I am gearing for my first vocal examination next May.. a lot of work needed!

But ya, had a good time singing.. its a good stress-reliever. And much thanks Wisun and Christine for their generosity and company! :)

Argh! now I'm faced with those deadlines and I've only 10 days before I leave for China.. :S

p.s. oh, hope u like this new look . I'll likely stick with it for a while..

Chronicle of an Untypical Happening Sunday

Oh.. how I missed my room, my PC and my bed!

Have been out 12 hours and covered so many places and did many things - all on another sweltering hot day with me not in such good physical condition too..

It's not normally my thing to do this but since it's a pretty untypical Sunday, I thought I should just jot down what happened in brief - just for the fun of it! :p

10:20am - leave home to pick up May from Bangsar to go to church

11:ooam - arrive at church and attend service with a very interesting sermon on finance.

12:35am - service over, say hi to some friends and then leave.

1:00pm - lunch at a coffee shop in Lucky Garden, Bangsar.

1:30pm - walk to nearby pharmacy to get medicines and vitamins.

1:45pm - buy fruits at the stall nearby

2:00pm - decide to check out the Bijou Bazaar at the new Jeumpa D'ramo (a swanky boutique hotel) along Jln Maarof. However, it is rather quiet and not that many stalls and merchandise.

2:30pm - back to May's apartment and take a rest there.

3:20pm - say bye to May, leave for assignment at Park Royal Hotel - on the way, pump petrol.

3:50pm - reach the hotel. Interview Jolin Tsai and director Wu Nien Chen who are the Taiwan's tourism ambassadors. Sorry have to add that Jolin is probably one of the most bland and stuck up artistes I've ever met! (This is the 2nd time I talk to her so confirms it) The interview lasts 11 minutes!

4:10pm - wondering where to go and kill time before the Cantus Musicus rehearsal at 5:30pm

4:15pm - find myself at Pavillion! Happy happy do some shopping - buy a pair of black pants and eye cream - both are necessities!

5:30pm - reach 16, Jalan Kiaping - the Germen Ambassador's residence -where we are going to perform to his guests on Wednesday night together with the High Wind ensemble - it's called `Voices in the Wind' (more on that later!) So it's rehearsal time.

7:30pm - rehearsal ends. Leaves the mansion to join parents and uncles and aunts for dinner in Cheras.

8pm - reach Eight Treasures restaurant at Connaught after a slow drive. Wait for the rest to come.

8:20pm - all arrive and have a sumptuous dinner of homecooked-style food!

9:50pm - buy some breads from bakery nearby

10:00pm - drive home with dad as company (to check my car) and on the way, drop by ATM and am happy to see another payment is in!

10:10pm - reach home. Play a while with the two Js.

10:30pm - room sweet room. Check emails, blog, shower, read etc... (ok, can spare you the details now!! :p)


Gosh, that's quite a lot of things I did in one day.. definitely not a typical lazy Sunday!

The things we eat - well, I did!

I went for a Christian Cantonese musical on Saturday night with Evonne. It was a full-house affair and since my car was stuck at the carpark as every vehicles were trying to get out through one small exit, I decided that instead of waiting and wasting time in the car, why not we go for supper at this place which is famed for its Hokkien Mee. It's just a stone throw away from PGRM building where the show was held.

Well, it was dad who introduced the place, curiously called `mou jiu pai' (No Name/Label) to me and I have been there a few times, always supper with dad and mom. We usually had to wait for a long time before our food arrives because only one person is frying with one wok at a time! I remember once we waited more than 30 mins.

But this time since both of us were quite hungry, I decided to take a chance and just eat there. Sure enough, the place was packed (half of the patrons were audience of the show) and about 90 per cent of them were waiting for their food! At least we got a table so we just sat down and order. I pre-warned Evonne that we have to wait at least half an hour for the food to come.

But guess how long we waited? It was ridiculous and I was really losing my patience already! We were sitting at the rundown hawker in a side lane for 50 minutes before we could have our supper! It was also sweltering hot and I was wearing long sleeves. Plus I was not really feeling that well.. To be honest, when the food came, I wasn't really in the mood already. But still we finished it la - cos we were hungry and we waited so long! And it took us less than 20 minutes to consume our food..

Tell me, would you wait 50 minutes for these two dishes? (for the uninitiated, the top dish is the famed Hokkien mee (plus a few strand of mee hoon) and the bottom one is `loh mee'.

Well, I told myself I would never go there and eat again unless the place is empty. But that is quite unlikely. It just goes to show how Malaysians will go out of the way for the food they like!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Looks like I'm jinxed by this `Black Week'! On Thursday, I suffered a whole day of headache and then on Friday I was having such heavy head and stuffy nose that I felt I was coming down with a flu.

Mom heard of my complain and was so sweet to get some Chinese medicine for me from the shop down the road. It came in the form of medicine power. Actually I have taken the same thing in the past and it did work to a certain extent.

So that's what I've been taking in the last two days.



Looks quite yucky right? In case you're curious what it taste like.. to me it smells and tastes very much like `yun nan bai yau' (a type of Chinese powder medicine which you apply for wounds and cuts) It also resembles some `tit tar' medicine smell.. bitter and `kam' at the same time.

For someone who's used to Chinese herbs and medicine since young, it's quite bearable actually. But I find it so amusing when I let my Indon maid have a smell, she reacted in such a repugnant manner that as if I was eating cockroach droppings or something!!

Oh well, the two-day course is completed and I'm not fully recovered. So now I'm back to Western medicine and LOADS of vitamins!!

a cosy little bloggers-meet

Since i started blogging and reading blogs, i've been acquainted with a small no. of bloggers but our communication is limited to online. Liz is probably the blogger i've met earliest.. was quite impressed by her blog and thus i chose to interview her in one of my blogging articles. And then I also got to meet her in person too due to our similar profession.

Then there are some others whom I became `friends' with over blogs but whom I've not met..

Over chat a week ago when we were excitedly exchanging views on the election results, Liz invited me to her apartment for a potluck dinner. I missed the last do at her place where I heard a number of bloggers i read were there. I gladly said yes since I thought it would be nice to catch up with her and also meet a few new friends!

So last night, I was quite excited when I met Lynnee and Irene for the first time. I did know how they looked like but it was different actually talking to them in person! Liz has also invited a couple from her church - Eric and Amy and their two adorable children.

The food took up the whole dining table and we made ourselves cosy squeezing around the table. It was a pretty sumptuous and varied fare. There were home-made sushi made and brought by Lynnee, mash potatoes by Amy, two types of roast chicken by Irene, fried rice, fish and green salad by Liz, and I brought my `tried and tested' tomato salsa and potato salad, as well as a bottle of red wine from dad's stock.



Even though none of us are SoPo bloggers, the subject of politics just naturally cropped up and dominated our talk throughout dinner. I mean the recent winds of change was such an exciting affair that it just got everyone talking - as long as you're Malaysians but even our American friends on the table chipped into the conversations too.

Gosh all of us were so full. I think I really overate again as there were more than enough food..!

Amy and Eric had to leave early as it was way past the kids' bed time. So there left the four of us and we really made ourselves at home in Liz' living room.. chit-chatted for a while and also watched some DVD - a new series called `Gossip Girl' - whereby I found the protagonist way too old as a 16-year-old school girl! But it was kinda interesting in an obscure way :p

Before we went home, which was already close to midnight, we thought we should camwhore a bit.. after all, for me at least, it was the first time taking photo with them!

And so both Lynnee and I tried out our camera's self-timer function. For me, it was the first time I used it! We placed our cameras on the television. And hey, it didn't turn out that bad.. ok, I did do some heavy cropping..but after that they looked quite ok.

Then we decided to change poses a bit and make ourselves look more relaxed..and silly! :p





We had a good time! Thanks to Liz for opening her home. I hope there will be more to come! ;)

My Singing Stories..

I have something to disclose.. it's a little bit embarrassing.

You see, since young I had a secret dream of being a singer - like my favourite Canto-pop singer, holding a concert in a large stadium. Yep, I liked to sing. During the hay days of karaoke, it's one of my favourite pastimes and i would hog the mike every time - since I could sing English, Mandarin and Cantonese songs..so much so that some of my friends were scared (and probably bored) of singing with me!

On the more serious side, I have been singing in school choirs since primary school days. In secondary school, I have sung in choruses for musicals like Cats and Gospel, and in the U.K. during university years, I joined the Opera Society whereby I not only got to sing but also to act in Verdi's operas no less! I was the only Asian and some of them were semi-professional singers!

I joined my church choir for a year or two in the mid 90s but slacked and stopped for a number of years before I rejoined more than two years ago, and even sang a small solo part in our Christmas Cantata. In the last few years, partly because of my role as a worship leader in church and also the opportunities to be in touch with both classical and pop music as well as meeting professional artistes at work, I became more interested in singing. I think it was around 2004 that I started learning from Soprano Tan Soo Suan of Dama orchestra. But the lessons were only once every month or so since she's based in Penang.

Not long after, a group of us from the worship team started taking up vocal lessons with one of the top sopranos in Malaysia - Cecilia Yap, and that went on for about two years or so but I did stop for a term as I have another ministry commitment. Although we weren't really given songs to sing as our teacher really drilled us to get our basic singing technique right, I think those of us who stuck on with her have benefited and improved our vocals in some ways.

However, we had to stop lessons with Cecilia a few months ago as her voice was strained. I continued with Soo Suan. And then the beginning of this month, I started learning with a new teacher, baritone Cha Seng Tiang, who runs a vocal college that my parents are taking lessons from. In a way, I must say I was inspired by my parents as well as my friends who are taking singing very seriously.

So that was just a brief background.. and now onto my `singing adventure' this weekend!

It was another of those weekends when I inadvertently ended up singing quite a bit! It started on Friday evening.. when I was helping to song-lead for the church prayer meeting. We had the practice just before the prayer meeting proper.. so effectively I sang more than a hour.. I would have sung even more but because of an assignment in the early afternoon, I had to reschedule my vocal class.

Saturday was the vocal masterclass that Soo Suan had organised for her students. And although I have officially stopped learning from her as of this month, she still included me in and had even chosen the song for me to sing - `Think of Me' from the musical Phantom of the Opera. I grew to like that heartfelt song more and more, and had been practising quite a bit but not in the last 3 days due to deadlines and busyness! I had even memorised the lyrics.. or so I thought!

I was the second one to sing.. in front of about 20 people. I even had dad recording it using my new camera. I know it was not a performance nor competition but still.. I wanted to do my best. I couldn't believe that I couldn't even reach a note in the first and second line! Gosh it was quite a disaster! I had to request to start again and even as I sang, I had forgotten the lyrics at two places.. during my own practice, it was never half as bad as this! But as a saving grace, at least I managed to sing the ending - a cadence that leads to the high `B flat' - without croaking

Soo Suan went through the song bit by bit again with me.. and when I got the chance to sing for a second time, it sounded better. I still could not forgive myself for forgetting the lyrics once I was standing in front of an audience! When I told my mom this, she laughed and sarcastically said she thought I am normally fearless! hmmm..

Then today, just as on a normal Sunday, I sang at church during worship session and then after lunch, had two-hour choir practice. We were singing a couple of the Christmas carols had very high notes and at a point, I felt my vocal was strained.. maybe too much of singing?

But like any other skills.. the more you practise, the more you would improve. I mean, just as far as just 3 years ago, I could never imagine I could sing the high B flat comfortably! But of course it helps if you know the proper way to sing.. So, with the guidance of a professional and as my love for singing is growing, I am determined to just sing on and better my vocal skills..

Well, I know I will never realise my secret childhood dream, but maybe one day I can be known as the writer/journalist who sings! :p

The longest drive to Genting ever...

I guess what I'm going to write here may sound frivolous and maybe even `selfish' in the light of the historical Bersih Rally which saw 40,000 took to the street to protest for a free and fair election yesterday afternoon. (Malaysiakini had summarised the events that unfolded at various parts of the city and culminate at Istana Negara.)

But since I wasn't at the parade though I believe it is a good cause and I'm in spirit behind it.. I can only `report' what I personally went through since this is my personal blog after all!

I was STUCK in a HORRENDOUS traffic jam on the way to Genting Highland. It took more than 3 hours to reach the mountain top! You see, I've booked tickets for the musical `Rose, Rose, I Love You' online from Hong Kong as Sat was the only time I was free and not thinking to the `causal effect' of the rally.

Actually I already experienced a jam thanks to over-zealous police that set up road block as early as 7am! I woke up early for a prayer meeting (and was quite happy for an owl like myself managed to do it) only to be stuck at stand-till traffic along the Cheras-Kajang highway!! The prayer meeting only lasts an hour and there was no point to go all the way to Subang after stuck in that 3km jam for more than half an hour.. I ended up helping mom to go marketing instead.. and took a nap in the late morning again.

But that jam was NOTHING compared to what we encountered along Jalan Kuching towards Batu Caves. It was already 5-ish and we were heading out of town. But guess what, it was totally congested along the highway leading to the huge roundabout (Kepong, Ipoh and Kuantan). Even though I was driving an automatic car, it was really tiring.. What would have normally taken just 5-10 mins took us TWO whole hours!! It was just crazy!!

And at that point, shoot me if you want, I blamed it on the darn rally but more so on the police! I actually didn't know what really caused that jam but it seemed to spring from the roundabout which had traffic going into town.. On that roundabout itself, I could have taken a nap and wake up and still not moving an inch!! It's that bad..

But thankfully, we made it for the show just in the nick of time, having grabbed a quick dinner.
Well, it was entertaining and fun and I must say it's a very creative show.. but I really don't know whether it was worth the trauma and hassle of going through all that..

Fortunately I wasn't alone. Or else I probably may end up in tears or yell out in frustrations!

Ok, that's just my personal experience. I'm sure many people also got stuck in a jam for maybe matters more urgent. And although under my breath I was`cursing' the rally then, I must say I'm proud of my fellow Malaysians for standing up and doing something. Like an article I just read on the e-mail, who says the voices only appear online/blogs. I'm sure not all the 40,000 people who took to the streets were SoPo bloggers..

Also, it's all the road blocks and police `security checks' there were causing congestions everywhere! Hmm.. maybe I should've joined the rally and exercise my human rights... it beats just sitting in the car for hours..

Oh well...

a Happening Weekend

It's already the 2nd day of October!!

The end of September ie. last weekend had been great but tiring, so much so that I'm still recovering from it.. also because i have not been feeling well.

I'm a bit behind in my posts. And although I could put a few posts of the things that had happened over the weekend, I think I shall just do one `monster' post to chronicle the `highlights'. It certainly was a pretty eventful weekend - as opposed to my usual mundane ones. It was so packed and hectic that I needed to take Monday to recover.. though I also went and watch `Lust Caution'.

Ok, so here's what had happened..

FRIDAY

On Friday afternoon, I submitted my last article for the month (it all starts again this month) in the early afternoon and decided to go and check out The Gardens at Mid Valley which just opened two days ago. Well, I would love to check out the swanky Pavillion KL but it's right in the heart of town centre and I only had two hours.. also I planned to take sis there when they're back on Sunday!

I won't say I was either impressed or disappointed with the shopping mall.. but it's definitely more spacious than Megamall and more up-market of course.

Due to time factor, I just breezely browsed around the store - which has two anchor tenants at either end - Robinsons and Isetan. I was quite pleased with myself that despite many new and chic labels (for handbags and shoes esp) I didn't buy anything! But still ended up buying a couple of skincare items but they're consider essentials anyway..

Still, I was stuck in quite a bad jam at the MV ringroad when I left - there were those leaving home to buka puasa as well as those coming into the shopping malls for their Friday evening leisure! Thank goodness the highway back home was clear so I hurried get ready and have dinner and drove back to PJ for our peer group meeting.


SATURDAY

Day
Got up a bit earlier than usual for brunch with some friends, a reunion of sort for Mr&Mrs Ng from Hong Kong. Actually they're Malaysians but now residing in HK. We went to a Jarrod & Rawlins, which features quite an impressive deli-counter. So while some went for the set breakfast, a few of us including myself chose the items from the deli.

I think there were close to 20 of us.. and it was great catching up with one another. I guess the chit-chat saved the day as the food took AGES to come!! It's good thing that I seldom eat until lunch time so the hunger pang was still bearable but maybe some of my friends were starving!



You can see some of us are still waiting for the food while some luckier ones are already eating (having also waited for some time!)

And I couldn't say much about the service either.. in fact, i was quite disappointed! I ordered bottled fruit juice and had drank less than half of it with a glass still full.. and then a fly dropped into my drink! So when I notified the waiter and asked him whether he could get me another juice, he said he couldn't! But he could replace me with bottled water.. I mean, it wasn't my fault at all that the fly dropped into my drink.. more over the fly was at their premise! I think the least they could do for the sake of good service (which they lack of obviously) was to replace me a drink. That's why I'm impressed with Starbucks which has no qualms replacing me a new cup of coffee when once I accidentally spilt it! And that was my fault! unlike the stupid fly..

Anyway, enough ranting.. to show my `protest', i told the waiter in a calm and smiling voice that I won't be recommending any of my friends there cos they have bad service! :p

That aside, it was the fellowship that counted and the food was pretty ok too. We were there like three hours!

And then I went to do some errands and then come home to rest a bit before sis and brother-in-law arrived! They have specially flown back from Hong Kong for the weekend to attend the Double Celebration dinner of my grandma's 90th birthday and my uncle's wedding.

Night
While the rest of my family could take a longer rest before the dinner, I had promised uncle to be at Hakka Restaurant at 6pm. I was to be the emcee so had to sort out a few things esp. on the P.A. systems and the overall sequences of events. But mind you, I have no experience really on emcee-ing! But well, I guess I can't say I get `stage fright' either thanks to the experience of song leading at church services.. but seriously, I had not really figured out what I would say, but I know it would be quite minimum!

We had around 130 odd guests, and almost half of them were uncle's friends and staff while the other half were relatives. Some of the guests were already there early, in particularly the Muslims for buka puasa.

(As it was a double-celebration, the bill for the dinner was split - half was footed by my uncle for his wedding and the other half split among all the working grandchildren of my grandma.)

Almost all of the Chow-clan relatives were here, including some who happened to be back from overseas! Most of my cousins from Singapore also came so it was quite a nice reunion except that half the time I was busy going up and down the stage.. it was kinda stressful for me (a novice!) but at least the atmosphere was informal and relaxed.

The first part of the party was the wedding celebration.. so the usual cake-cutting and champaign pouring was done.. and then we had some entertainment! Cousins Vivian and Mandy did some pretty amazing modern dance.. I also sang a song dedicated to my uncle and Annie. Yeah I kinda volunteered my `service' :p But alas, my voice was in quite a bad condition due to a prolonged flu and also had been talking too much! So while the first part of `Power of Love' went ok.. gradually I knew my voice had gone strained and the result wasn't good.. :( Could have done much better on another day and time! But I did try my best and the response was pretty encouraging..

It was a moving moment when a slide show containing photos of grandma was played. It felt kinda heart-wrenching to see how beautiful, happy and strong she was in the past.. and now because of stroke and also aging, grandma has been bedridden for almost a year.. and also suffers from Alzheimer. She was sitting on a wheel chair throughout the evening, almost oblivious to everything going on in the party..


I've ordered a 6.5kg birthday cake - Espresso banana gateau from Celicakes. It looked very presentable and tasted good too! But because some of the guests had left, we actually got to tapau home.

After the cake cutting, the dance floor was open and uncle's dance classmates all sportingly took to the floor. They danced for quite a while - from cha-cha, rock&roll and even Latin style.. So my duty was officially over.. and finally I could relax and also got to socialise a bit more!


(left) Grandma with her children and their spouses; (right) and surrounded by her grandchildren


(left) The radiant bride and groom with mom, sis and me; (right) `the girls' at the end of the party.


SUNDAY

My mind was still too active from the event of the dinner that I had difficulty sleeping.. but I knew I had to sleep early cos I needed to get up early to church for the choir presentation. We were supposed to be at church at 7:45am thus I set my alarm clock at 6:45am.

But guess what? when the alarm went off and I opened my eyes, I sensed that something was not right as it was bright already! I looked at the clock and it read `7:45!'!! My gosh I have inadvertently set it an hour late!

Knowing that I would be megalate but still could make it before the service start (8:45am) I got ready at full-speed and grabbed a few pieces of bread and drove like a mad woman.. setting a new time record from my house to church! I know this is bad but.. so I managed to reach the hall by 8:25am.. explained and apologised to the conductor in front of everyone but he didn't seem angry (phew). So I missed the warm-up but at least I got to sing and didn't waste all the weeks of practice!! Praise God everything went pretty well too..

After singing for the 2nd service, I left to meet up with dad, mom, sis and B-I-L for lunch. Yes, we went to Pavillion KL! Ate at Madam Kwan's which food was not that good anymore and then spent the whole of the afternoon browsing the new mall and shopping! Well, more like dad and I accompanying sis and mom to shop. B-I-L very smartly went his own way to Sungei Wang, and even had a massage!

Pavillion is pretty large and has an interestingly lay-out. A little like Suria KLCC but even more spacious and modern in a way. We checked out Tang's, which interior decoration is very chic with slight Medditaranean feel. It's quite small though, just two storey of fashion mainly. But I am particularly impressed by Parkson which is really quite upmarket! We ended up having afternoon tea and its delicious chocolate banana cake at the Zang Toi cafe inside Parkson.

I was upset that I've left my camera inside my other bag in my car, which was parked in Bangsar.. so no photos of the day but here's just one that shows the interior of the mall, photo credited to another blogger - shoppingNsales.com/blog



We only had half-an-hour to shower and get ready for dinner with the newly weds, ie. uncle and Annie at Unique Seafood in Cheras.. Well, uncle said he wanted to treat all us for our help. We had Nyonya fish, clam soup, steam prawns, fried crabs etc... yum.. the food was very good.. and the price reasonable too!

When we reached home, sis and B-I-L packed and had to sleep early as their flight was very early the next morning..

I heard sis was really tired when she reached HK.. I don't blame her, I myself have yet to recover from it too.

Or maybe I should just sleep earlier tonight :p