PHOTOS: Penang CNY 2009

Yeah yeah I know CNY was several weeks ago, but I've been putting off displaying pics cuz there are just too many. Anyway these pics should be of some interest, cuz they're actually pics of when the whole family took a free shuttle bus (one of the new government's attempts to improve the island, yay!) around central Penang. I just snapped some interesting sights from my phone. Nice for those who've never been to Penang :)


Our starting point, the CAT (Central Area Transit) signpost at Komtar. It was really difficult to find actually.


View inside the shuttle bus. Pretty comfy.
Below are various scenes along the route. I put them all together cuz there were too many to display individually.




At the end of the route, waiting for the next shuttle bus to take us back :) Note the CNY redness hehe. And I dunno why Arya's (the little girl in front) face is like that...


Really nice architecture on this old building.


Old houses/buildings. Penang is full of 'em. How quaint.


Sorry, can't remember the name of this road.


Money changer street.


Gem and jewel street.


Colonial building. Penang has a few of these too, especially mansions.


This is near the ferries which cross back to the mainland. They have a few mini Big Bens on the island :)


The area behind my grandma's apartment has been transformed into some sort of park with interesting walkways... we explored one of them. Kids love walking around these 'secret gardens'.

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Finally done!!

And I'm rather excited about the coming weekend. Tonight, jazz at Souled Out, tomorrow... we'll see what happens!

PHOTOS: Really random

Need to clear my desktop up, so I'm uploading these two random photos.


Doesn't everyone just love receiving parcels? And this is a huge one too... lovely!! Inside was my excellent Eiffel Tower wall decal that I put on my Christmas 2008 Wish List. Thanks to G for making the effort to send this over - twice :) Once I finally get round to putting it up on my wall, photos will be here.


This is one very big reason I love living where I live. Not only in KL, urban jungle, but in this lovely home of mine. I just love the city lights! I could really just pull up a chair and watch this view for hours. Honestly.

Weekly round-up #2

It's Tuesday and I can't focus on work. That's the thing about having Mondays off (public holiday)... when you do get back to work, it's suddenly Tuesday and you've lost your Monday. I know that sounds strange, but that's how I feel today. What happened to all the things I have to do on Monday?

Having Monday off did allow for a super fun, albeit tiring and confusing Sunday.

Anyway, first things first... as I haven't been writing for a few days now, I should do another weekly round-up!

Thursday was Mumsy Bumsy's birthday, so Yelleh Belleh and I made dinner - experimental Aglio Olio. It was a fun and nice night.


Mumsy Bumsy at work while her two girls potter about the kitchen.


The dinner table setup.




Yelleh Belleh working the garlic.


Draining the water from the pasta.


Lovely view out the window when any of us cooks. That's what makes me love living in the city.




Happy birthday!!

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Friday was some Chivas launch party at Euphoria, MOS. Heard it was free flow so obviously put my name on the guestlist haha! The other attraction is that the venue is smoke-free woohoo! It was lovely getting home after and having normal smelling hair.


Only took 2 photos from my phone cuz I didn't wanna look too cheesy haha. This was one of the first acts, DJ Blink at the console, playing with live guitarist, bongo player and violinist. Very cool indeed.



Needless to say, I got kinda hammered. Awesome night indeed.

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Saturday went to watch Sarah Brightman in concert, on her Symphony tour. It wasn't as good as when she came a few years back, cuz this wasn't a real performance. She just stood around waving her skirt, singing. When I saw her a few years ago, she did the proper stage dancing, flying about stage with costumes, props and the whole caboodle.

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Sunday, Tequila Lin wanted to take advantage of the Monday holiday so we went to Sky Bar, along with a number of her other friends. Had really good wine, one of the only times I actually manage to select a good one. Think it was Green Point Shiraz, Yarra Valley.

Had a reeeaaalllly long night of it... adjourned to a guy's house after closing to continue the merriment. Tequila Lin was falling asleep towards the end, so we decided to leave soon after. Got freaking lost on the way back cuz this guy stays in Bukit Antarabangsa, and I found myself on the road to Genting and Zoo Negara... I think it took me an hour or so to get back to a familiar place!

Still a fun and very interesting night... ;)

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Just found these old photos of Schrobbenmaster Rik and I having dinner at an English pub, The George and Dragon in BSC. The food is actually really good!

Thank goodness this English pub had chilli sauce.


Pretty authentic looking.


My fish and chips. It was yummy!


His bangers 'n' mash. Smelt yummy!


He's really killing the bangers over there.

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Got a work meeting in a bit, so I'm off now.

Birthday Wish List 2009

Just over 2 weeks more to my birthday, so here's my list up again because the first one is waaaaaay down below, and I know no one can be bothered to scroll down in these times of extreme laziness.

• *NEW! A shower FM radio
  
• *NEW! Artsy/designer/vintage tableware (plates, cups, cutlery)
  
• *NEW! Any perfume in a beautiful bottle (btw, my Coco Mademoiselle by Chanel is finished)
  
• Wine glasses (at least ONE matching pair)
  
• Comfy, soft, thick bathroom rugs (the larger the better)
  
• A short break to Bangkok, Thailand
  
• 3 months in Paris, France
  
• La Senza shopping vouchers (a gal can't have too much lingerie)
  
• Vodka or whisky (as stock for my next party - which the giver will most definitely be invited to)
  
• A large living room rug, preferably dark (black/brown/grey) and furry/hairy
  
• All-white plain/textured (NO patterns) tissue box covers
  
• Big white artificial flowers (roses/lilies/etc) - 20 of them would be lovely :P
  

Puteri Gunung Ledang

I watched Puteri Gunung Ledang two weekends ago. It was the last show of the season and very well done. I really appreciated the subtitles at the side of the stage, because I could hardly understand anything they were saying! Flowery Malay language and Bahasa Indonesia can be really difficult to follow.

Tiara Jacquelina was amazing, with a really beautiful voice... can't say the same for Stephen Hughes, unfortunately, who showed more personality and charisma in the last 20 seconds of the show when he was bowing and showing some breakdance moves to the thunderous applause than in his whole performance as Hang Tuah. But the person who truly stood out for me was AC Mizal as Gusti Adipati. I'd always thought he was some silly idiot on his AC Di Sini TV show and commercials, but watching this show, within the first few seconds of his appearance onstage, I was thinking, "Wow, who's this guy? He's really brilliant!" And he had oodles and oodles of charisma even from where I was sitting (which was the length of two football fields away).

Anyway, the music was really good, singing was brilliant... only thing was that the love scenes tended to drag on for too long, making me feel a little bored. Cuz obviously we know you're in love, could you please stop singing so many five minute songs to show it?

Next season is a must-watch for those who haven't seen it. I don't know who's taking over Tiara's place as Gusti Puteri, but I'm sure she'll be just as brilliantly cast.

Last week round-up

So anyway, the police came and got my formal report. They were really nice... I believe they're from Internal Affairs. And they haven't contacted me for further information, so I guess that episode is over. What a relief! It was a good experience, though. I suggest to anyone else out there, if you're unhappy with any of the police services, just go ahead and make a report. We should be able to feel safe in the presence of our police force here, so people, do your part and give back to this country!

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What else is new?

I've started teaching an art class for kids at my ballet school (which is actually a performing arts school, teaching music, drama, art and dance). I've been teaching about 3 weeks already, and it's getting better. At first, the kids were a nightmare! But I think they're getting used to me being there and being in charge. I've been taking some photos of their finished artwork, so I might put them up here some time in the future (when I'm not feeling so lazy).

Have I mentioned that I've taken up jazz dance classes? If not, then yeah, I have. Two weeks going now, and it's been really great to be able to dance something else other than ballet. It gives more freedom than ballet and I think it just helps me get used to moving around the dancefloor and express myself through the movement.

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And onto the usual stuff...

Last Saturday was a big night at Zouk. The place was heaving! Everyone was trying to get into Phuture and Barsonic. We wanted to enter Barsonic, but they'd blocked entry for a while as it was too packed inside. We eventually did get in, though, and omg was it hot and sweaty in there! Thankfully, tall Schrobbenmaster Rik spotted a section which had less people, so we moved in there and enjoyed a reprieve from the hot and sweaty breaths of the Barsonicers.

It was Shinichi Osawa up there, which A was really hyped up about. I'd never heard of him, but he seems to be hot stuff, and his DJing was great. Had so much fun there!

After it all, we went back outside and I found all my friends friendly and tipsy from their night at Phuture. It was quite funny really. Then bumped into another old acquaintance at the exit, almost didn't recognise him! All in all, a great night and worth the lack of sleep it entailed.

Police abuse of power

Just came back from the IPK KL - Ibu Pejabat Kontinjen KL / Contingent Headquarters KL - ie. the KL police headquarters. Had a meeting with a top top police official, whose name I'm not sure I should say here. An extremely nice and friendly person.

My dad, me, Schrobbenmaster Rik and the top guy from NST met with this chief to report an incident which happened last Friday, February 20th.

I'm pretty tired of writing what happened, so just go read Schrobbenmaster Rik's version of events. Click on 'The Kawasaki Incident'.

Basically, we were driving in town when two motorcyclists swerved dangerously in front of us, causing us to honk at them twice. They then started following our car and knocking it telling us to stop. We obviously were pretty nervous about the situation and wondered what to do. Then they claimed they were Police. Flashed a card at us too. So we decided to stop and confront them, since we didn't want them harassing us all night.

They started flexing their muscles and acting arrogant with us, showing how 'powerful' they are. We wouldn't take any of it. Asked for their badge numbers. They refused and became defensive. Hailed a patrol car down to prove they really were policemen. They still refused to give us their badge numbers. The uniformed patrol policemen (who were calm and more professional) settled the issue and left. The bikers had no option but to leave us because they clearly knew they were abusing their power.

I was very indignant at their behaviour and promised to take this matter seriously. After all, if it happened to us, it could happen to lots of others. And not many others have the access to top officials that we do.

This is a little something that I can do to help the ailing public police system in our country, and I'll do what I can to make it a place people want to stay in and fight for, rather than leave for Australia at the slightest sign of trouble.

ps. Just got a call from an officer to make an appointment for further details tomorrow evening. I hope this officer is receptive and treats us with respect.

Doesn't it suck that we have to worry about our police officers not being respectful towards us?

Friday at Zouk KL

Last Friday I went to Zouk for Tequila Lin's colleague's birthday. Didn't know anyone but her and Schrobbenmaster Rik, but thought it'd be a good opportunity to meet new people.

As is the norm (for Malaysian-Chinese yuppies), it was Phuture that we all headed to. I hung out there for a bit, then decided to take a look round the other rooms with Schrobbenmaster Rik. Steve Lawler was spinning in the mainroom. Stayed there for a few minutes, but it didn't get any better so we left for Barsonic.

Barsonic was much more awesome and we ended staying there the entire night (apart from occasional forays back to Phuture to not seem antisocial!). Bumped into a few friends, and Schrobbenmaster Rik met a fellow Dutchman who looks like Keith Urban. As the good wingman he is (or trying to be), he pointed me out to Keith, but apparently I was too busy staring at the bar so we didn't get introduced. I've proper nagged Schrobbenmaster Rik about that already.

Do you know him?

Did you look twice at the guy on the left??

I did! I thought "Omg, what's Daniel doing in that video?!". And although I knew it couldn't be him, I just had to really look hard at it to convince myself.

What do you think?!

PHOTOS: Mogwai in KL

I've recently signed up for Twitter, recommended by Schrobbenmaster Rik... and after I heard that Chris Moyles was also on it, I just had to join.

Search for me if you're on Twitter - you should know my nickname.

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I went to watch Mogwai at the KL Convention Centre some time in January. I'd never heard of them or heard any of their music before that... I had to get on to Youtube to listen to a couple of songs. Sounded pretty good so decided to go. Good concert!






The only thing I saw out the corner of my eye was this white blob going up and down. Imagine my surprise when I suddenly found myself standing to this beanpole of a Singh, with a bright white turban and bushy black beard, headbanging next to me.

PHOTOS: Recent Gatherings #1

My stupid internet has been very picky over which sites I get to visit over the past weekend. Luckily for them, everything's up and running again today. So here are some photos from a few of the get-togethers over the last week or so.


First off was my CNY party at the end of January (5th day). Here's Stryker Nins helpfully cleaning up my house cuz he was just so grateful to be invited to my party. Okay, he's actually mopping up the beer that Kenny T spilt. I didn't manage to get a pic of him wiping the floor with a rag, looking like Cinderella. Dang.


Just check out the sultry expression on his face in both pictures!


At the end of the night it was just the 5 of us left: A, Schrobbenmaster Rik, Dan The Drinker, Tequila Lin and me. Since the two of them are looking so civilised, I'm guessing the infamous *ahem* incident hasn't happened...


This looks more like it.


No comment. I don't remember this photo being taken.

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The day before Valentine's, on Friday, Tequila Lin and I hung out at Dan The Drinker's for some board games. Here's Dan The Drinker and Schrobbenmaster Rik having an argument on how to draw the word "downstairs". I know... quite intellectual, aren't they?


"I'm sorry we argued, Daniel, please sit a little closer to me."


Gotta love their expressions!


I think Tequila Lin was feeling a little exhausted from all the text messaging with a certain someone. Hehe...


Schrobbenmaster Rik was the one who started the portrait drawing frenzy!


Dan's laughing at the drawing... but can he do any better? Let's scroll down...


That's Dan The Drinker's representation of Tequila Lin (top) and me.


Schrobbenmaster Rik's attempt at drawing Dan. This is my favourite!! Check out the walrus nose and receding forehead. Plus the schoolbus-shaped profile.


Schrobbenmaster Rik by Dan The Drinker. I love this too.


Me by Schrobbenmaster Rik. Hmm...


Tequila Lin by moi. She finally succumbed to her boredom at our drawing game.

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Oh gawd, there are more??!!

On Valentine's Day, I had dinner with the girls at Sharry Berry's place. We had special Singlong Fried Rice, courtesy of Mumsy Bumsy's recipe.


Sharry Berry was Professional Long Bean Cutter. I was Professional Fryer, and Quebec Jo was Professional Recipe Reader. Look how seriously she's taking her job! :P


Quebec Jo and Teng, who's boyfriend was off for a 2-hour massage that night. Don't ask, I don't know either. Hehe.


I know... not the best picture of Ryan, but I realised I didn't have a photo of the special Fried Rice, and by the time we yelled at him to stop eating... he'd already wolfed down most of it.


Our reward for all the cutting and frying - Sara Lee Chocolate Bavarian.

After a nice and filling dinner, we headed to town for some alco-fueled cheer :)

Birthday Wish List 2009

It's a little over a month more to my birthday, but since I always can't think of what I want when people ask me, I thought I'd put up my Wish List a little early this year. I'll probably be updating it as time goes by, but if I don't, just use this initial list as a guideline or inspiration when you go shopping for moi.

• Wine glasses (at least ONE matching pair)
  
• A billionaire sugar daddy
  
• Comfy, soft, thick bathroom rugs (the larger the better)
  
• A short break to Bangkok, Thailand
  
• 3 months in Paris, France
  
• La Senza shopping vouchers (a gal can't have too much lingerie)
  
• Vodka or whisky (as stock for my next party - which the giver will most definitely be invited to)
  
• *NEW! A large living room rug, preferably dark (black/brown/grey) and furry/hairy
  
• *NEW! All-white plain/textured (NO patterns) tissue box covers
  
• *NEW! Big white artificial flowers (roses/lilies/etc) - 20 of them would be lovely :P
  
• *NEW! A shower FM radio
  

So Randoms.

It's amazing how Jay Manuel can keep bleaching his hair and still have hair.

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I was having coffee with Sugarlips Nat this evening at Starbucks 1U, when the couple behind him caught my eye. Well, to be technically accurate, it was a male and a female, and they weren't a couple... yet.

The girl was attractive, fully made-up, dressed in hotpants and a stylish top, and 'f**k me' slip-on heels. She clearly wanted to impress this boy... this boy who thought it would be appropriate to go out for coffee with a hot girl dressed in board shorts and t-shirt.

You know what... boys are lucky that (most) girls are not completely into appearances and always look for the inner man.

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I finally had my car washed yesterday and picked up some groceries. Sometimes it's fun sitting in the Car Wash machine and watching the thing do its thang... yesterday though, it was boring. Cuz I was in the mood for Radiohead, and I can't sing along to Radiohead. Thank goodness for groceries. Had a nice little picnic in my car.

Unfortunately, after that, I left Bangsar at a bad time... rush hour! Some of you know I really hate being in traffic jams. But it's not nearly so bad when you have a tube of Pringles and a big bottle of water in the car.

I wonder if... we were in a really bad jam on the highway, say, and we called McDonald's McDelivery... would they deliver to you right there? I think people would be a lot more patient if they could have a picnic in their cars while stuck in a jam. Maybe McD's could even make it a sort of charity thing. A "Do your bit for road rage and road accidents" kinda thing.

PHOTOS: Deutsches Gasthaus @ TTDI

Forgot to post these photos up from Friday night at Dan the Drinker's new place. We went over for gambling and a DVD, and then the guys wanted to continue gambling while Tequila Lin, Rik the Dutchman and I wanted to drink/socialise, so the three of us walked out to Sid's, but their bar was already closing, so we went to the German bar a few doors down and had some beer!


Emm... what an interesting way to walk down the stairs, Rik...


Rik wanted to capture my first sip of the frothy, huge Hoegaarden.


Lin regretting not ordering the pint.


Apparently we were too smiley in the first photo together, so we tried being a little more serious... for two seconds.

Back to my routine Saturday!

I realised last night that I hadn't been out clubbing/barring in a long time when I had my first lychee martini at Luna and found it to be extra strong. Took me far too long to finish it, but then, I was also trying to make it last as long as possible so that I didn't have to order another drink before Regs (who's back from Australia for a few days) and her boyfriend Lorimer arrived.

However, I had such a great time chatting with A that I just ended up finishing it - and received a snobby dirty look from the bartender when I told him I wouldn't be ordering another.

The four of us who were there first, Tequila Lin, Rik the Dutchman, A and I, were sat at the bar, and our friend If the bartender gave us a round of tequila shots, much to Tequila Lin's delight, I expect! Then after I finished my martini, the snobby-dirty-look bartender served up a delicious milky liqueur-filled cocktail for me... and a more manly drink for A. How brilliant... three drinks for the price of one!

When Regs and Lorimer arrived, they got their drinks and took a little tour of Luna and its spectacular views of the KL Tower and Twin Towers. It wasn't very happening up there so we left soon after to Changkat, where we met Sharry Berry and some other friends at Werner's.

I'm not a fan of Werner's so we only stayed for a glass of beer (which A amazingly - or worryingly? - chugged down in a couple of gulps), and adjourned to, where else... twentyone.

Great night!! Ooh, and a public holiday for Selangor tomorrow... sweeeeet!!

Screwing the little people over

You know how all the tollbooths now have little boxes for motorists to conveniently donate to Palestine's aid? They even announce it on the traffic report signboards on highways.

But I just thought to myself... is this another way to extort us motorists?? Yeah, I know their need is great and we ought to help them in any way we can. But... I dunno... you guys already know how I feel about toll operators. Look at the bloody Kerinchi Link which is RM1.50... pretty pricey! And Touch 'n' Go also charges 10% extra when you use it to park in BSC. Why can't the toll operators and Touch 'n' Go donate a percentage of their toll earnings to the Palestinian fund, instead of (or, as well as) making it convenient for us - the little people - to donate?

It's Friday! It's Friday!

Was rudely awoken early this morning by someone from UOB Bank telling me that I had to bank in some money for my mum to top up the balance so her cheque wouldn't bounce. Apparently they couldn't get hold of her all morning so they contacted me.

Was a little suspicious so kept calling my mum to confirm it. And yes it was true, so it wasn't a scam. But what a good scam it would have been! Call at 9.15am and say that I have to bank in a small amount of money, say RM10-50, and that I have to do it by 10am. So there's hardly any time to double check anything even if you are suspicious.

Anyway, I had my hair cut yesterday... not sure what to think of it. I don't instantly love it, but I think it's better than the overgrown mop I had before.

Leaving my place in a bit to pick up two cheques... TWO CHEQUES!!! Yayy... I can finally pay some people back. Tequila Lin's brother is coming back from Langkawi today and hopefully he brought back a bottle of Grey Goose for me. I asked for Chopin as well, but poor thing probably can't bring back so many bottles. One's good enough, anyway!

Gambling at Dan the Drinker's tonight... la di da!!! It'll be my first time at his new place, and I'll try to remember to bring my camera so at least this blog has some pics from CNY this year.

Okay shucks I have to go get dressed now for cheque collection - and a brief (hopefully) meeting with Slavedriver.

Money talks, not dresses.

I'm just about to leave the house to get my hair chopped off. No idea what style I want yet, but William had better be having a good day today.

The initial plan for today was to visit a (relatively established) fashion designer to help her out with some patterns she wanted redone digitally, and to tutor her a bit in Adobe Illustrator. She was ever so long-winded when I spoke to her last week, but we finally settled on a day to do it. Then she calls a few days later to tell me that she has to postpone it a day later, so I said that's fine, but where are the patterns you were supposed to email me prior to our appointment? I needed them in order to write up a quotation for her.

When she heard that I had yet to give her a quotation she hesitated and said "Quotation?" and I was like, yes... a quotation for my services. And she said "I thought I'd give you a dress to contra your services".

Okay... if you're Donatella, Giorgio, Alexander, Marc or John, I'd be right in there and say wahooey yeah, that sounds great! But no, you're not... so please... give me money! Well, I just told her that I would have to look at her latest collection and decide for myself. I'm not going to do work and then be given any dress that I might never wear (unless it's a piece from any of the above designers). Not a fair deal, in my opinion!

No word from her since.

Reflection on a Dancer's character

Been watching some ballet videos on Youtube... read some of the comments below those videos, and found an interesting note.

There was a ballet called Afternoon with a Faun by Jerome Robbins, and in it, a male and female dancer dance very closely with each other, they dance as though they were in love with each other... but according to Robbins, they are actually looking at mirror images of themselves, and all their feeling is poured into the mirror image instead of the person dancing with them.

Here's a quote from Wiki on how the ballet is staged: "A ballerina enters and they dance facing the audience as though looking into the mirrored wall of the studio. He kisses his partner on the cheek, and she bourrées out of the studio and off-stage. He returns to his initial supine position."

Apparently, he's claiming that dancers, most especially ballet dancers, are narcissistic and rely on the mirror image of themselves to feel beautiful and loved.

It is true that ballet dancers (as are other dancers) have a close relationship with the mirror because it helps reveal the perfection or the flaws in their own movements. On that point I'd have to agree, since I look in the mirror often to see if the position of my body and limbs look like how they're supposed to. And when they do, I can't help but feel self-satisfaction that I've done it.

But I don't know if I'd go so far as to say I love my mirror image more than I love another person.

Thinking of supper?

So now I know that if I feel like having supper, mamaks are not the only places to go. Just found out last night that Kimgary at Mid Valley is open till late as well. I think last orders are at 11.30pm? And they still serve proper food too... I had their Baked Cheese Curry Pork Chop or some such name. Not too bad. And my companion had some sort of pork thing with corn sauce. That wasn't too bad either.

Looking forward to try more things on their menu in the future. Much easier to go there for supper than for dinner when you have to wait 2 hours for a table!

A CNY quickie

Firstly, a shout-out to Lapsap Kel for leaving a one-liner of encouragement. It was such an effort and I appreciate it.

Okay, it's Chinese New Year and there's nothing else to do when you visit people's homes than to gamble.

I lost my own money when I played it, but strangely, people seemed happy to give me their money to play with. So I did. And I won a decent amount with their money and got a share in the profits. So on the whole, I did get quite a bit of money this CNY. How awesome is that? It's like profit-sharing... you don't bear the losses but you get the profits.

On Friday night (30 Jan) I had a gathering at my place. Loads of people turned out which was really great! They split themselves into the blackjack group and poker group. I had no time to gamble since I was hosting, and I also really wanted to talk to the people who weren't playing since I hadn't seen some of them in years! The most interesting dude who turned up was ex-schoolmate Wes who at one time we all thought died of drug overdose... but who is now actually a Muay Thai welterweight champion in Canada! What a change, eh?

It was really great catching up with everyone who came that night and I'd like to yell a big THANK YOU to you guys!

Unfortunately, no pictures.

CNY is actually a great time to catch up with old friends... last night, I went to visit Nat Sugarlips at home (haha... I wonder if you'll like that nickname, Nat!) and ended up playing lots of poker and winning him some moolah. Also met a couple of ex-schoolmates there, one of whom is a kinda local celebrity... and I'm a tad embarrassed not to know that, but in my defence, the local entertainment scene is not very well-promoted.

Okay, I'm bloody hungry now and Quebec Jo wants to meet up for coffee in 2 hours so off I go. Photos from my Penang CNY trip coming up shortly!