A while back we had a barbeque at my house. I think it was for New Year’s Eve. I downloaded the photos to my computer, and totally forgot about it. (Yeah, what else is new eh?) Anyway, we had a blast, and I think the photos pretty much tells that.
Haha…Baby squinting because of the flash. I had no idea how to use the camera in low lights when these pictures were taken. So don’t make fun of him..he was the official cook for the bbq!
Some of you may have already seen it on Facebook. Most had no idea about it. And all, was a little confused.
You see, earlier this month, I became slightly engaged. No, not engaged just yet, only slightly.
On the 7th of March, me and Baby’s family came together for a “Hantar Tanda” ceremony. Hantar Tanda is not unlike the merisik, but it’s definitely got more of a note of finality to it. After meeting a few weeks before to introduce the immediate family members to each other, we discussed on how we were going to do the Hantar Tanda. We decided to hold it in early March.
Our side of the family was going to be small. Tiny in comparison. My brother wasn’t even coming back from Terengganu because of something or other. And the rest of my Malay cousins in KL got misinformed of the time, so in the end, it was only just the five of us…five including Abang Lan. Kak G was out for the count since she was down with high fever. That’s ok we thought…we didn’t need a whole lot of people. It’s just a simple ceremony.
And then they came…11 cars in all. And according to Baby, that’s like 1% of his family. Hehe…it’s always nice to have big family gatherings.
I wasn’t too sure what happened outside…as I was safely tucked in the bedroom. I whiled away the time by reading Harry Potter…again. It must have been the third page when Kak Hamidah came into the room, and asked me to come out.
Awww shucks..so this is the part where I blush. Kak Hamidah then slips the ring to my finger, and we all embraced.
This was perhaps the most flattering picture of me in the bunch. I look funny in the rest. And we all had a nice lunch afterwards. Everyone had second helpings to lemak cili api ikan masin, sambal udang petai, pucuk paku and ulam. His side of the family was relieved that it was not briyani. Hehe!
You would think there should be at least one picture of me and him together. But alas…I managed to get saddled with the guy who is camera shy. Ah well..he makes it up in other ways 
We prepared gifts for each other – the hantaran. Simple ones, since it’s just the Hantar Tanda. We had custom made cupcakes for them. They were so pretty, it was hard to eat them!
Baby and his family had a custom made cake for us.
Carrot walnut cake covered in cream cheese. Needless to say, we finished it within a day. The cake was made by Azreena who also made cupcakes for our last Hari Raya open house.
What about a picture of the ring you say? Ah well…for that privilege, we’d have to meet up.
So, that’s the story of how I got slightly engaged. So I’m sure by now all of you are wondering when the big day is. That’s another year to go. Me needs to save up. And lose weight! Rest assured, when the time comes, you will be in the know about it. I promise (crosses fingers!)
I saw the article a few weeks ago in the papers. The Actor’s Studio (TAS) at Bangsar Shopping Centre (BSC) is closing down. Many years of procrastination has finally caught up with me. I have always wanted to go and see the plays there. The art of poetry declamation, passionate people on stage, who want nothing more than to be well received by the small crowd of 260 seat hall. It was not like I could not afford to go. Most of the time, the shows were free of charge.
It was no different on Sunday, when Baby told me that Kevin was performing there at 3PM. We headed there as soon as I got off work. (yup, working on a Sunday…sucks huh?)
We got there just in time. Got our free tickets at the ticket counter and went into the small and humble hall. Kevin was there, as if he knew we were coming. But he didn’t. And it was great to see him again in his trademark red shirt.
The day’s concert is part of the Gala Farewell, a one and a half week event where old friends of TAS and artistes who started their career on its stage come together to say goodbye for one last time.
Fahmi Fadzil was our MC for the day. I kept saying to Baby how familiar he was, but I couldn’t really put my finger on it. It wasn’t until later that I realised that Fahmi is also the host for the local quirky online show called “The Fairly Current Show”.
First up was what was supposed to be a poetry reading, but turned to be an impromptu comedy stand-up by Pappi.
He did impressions quite well. After that was the first set of the singers, featuring Ian Chow, Jasemaine Gan and Otam.
Ian Chow has more folksy tunes, while Otam has a bit of the blues vibe going on. Jasemaine clearly had the best vocals, and her songs felt very Taylow Swift in a way. You gotta be there to get what I mean.
Before the next set of singers, Farah Rani made an appearance, and read a few of her poems and some of her own favourites. She came off naturally, and nothing like some poets I’ve seen that could come off as a little pretentious.
The next set of singers were Rashdan Harith, Izzy Mohamed and Kevin Brokenscar (yay!). Rashdan had really nice vocals, and so did Izzy. Kevin was clearly the more seasoned perfomer, and was rocking the stage with his acoustic guitar! All three were accompanied by Ronny the violinist. He makes it look so effortless, playing along side the three. And I think the sounds of the violin added a little something extra for all the songs.
Rashdan had more of the pop thing going on, and had catchy songs and ballads. Izzy also had the ballad thing going on, and it suited her. She also sang a song which was dedicated to the Palestinians called “Fade Away” if I’m not mistaken. I loved it.
Kevin moved around a lot, which proved hard for me to get a clear picture of him without using my flash. But there are a couple of good shots. And I think it captures what he’s all about.
All four performers teamed up for one last song to say good bye to TAS. A song aptly called “Goodbye”.
TAS, who has for a long time been supported financially by Bandar Raya Developments Berhad (BRDB) will have its last performance on the 28th of March, after which it will be closed down, and make way for a more profitable business: A gymnasium.
What an ironic end to a hall that has seen such great art and music over the 8 years.
But good bye rarely means its the end.
I was in Taiping recently for a student event, and caught this photo of one of our students by accident. I loved it immediately.
We were also at the Taiping lake Gardens, and had a blast taking some landscape shots. Here they are.
Have you seen anything quite as beautiful? Well…maybe far far away in New Zealand where they shot Lord of The Rings. But Taiping is definitely a close second.
We also indulged in ice-cream sandwiches. I remember eating them when I was a kid, and the ice-cream man was going around rather often in our housing area. I think it’s a dying service now, and certainly one that is sorely missed.
Because the ice-cream man was going to call it a day, he gave us extra ice-cream and lots of nuts inside. Hea-Ven-Ly!
My colleague Lee Yin. She’s always giggling!
Another colleague, Terry. Also one of the lead guitarists for Altered Frequency. He is still trying to get me to buy their CD. So I asked, “Can I download it on Limewire?” Terry: “WHattt?!”
Kidding dear, will get the CD in time.
Before that we had lunch at the Taiping food court. Since it was a Saturday and it was 3PM, none of us thought it was any harm in parking the car without paying at the parking metre. Apparently Taiping’s town council parking attendants are very hard workers, and half an hour later, we found the pink slip on the windscreen.
According to the slip, if we paid on the same day, the fine would only be RM10. So we decided to all chip in, and headed to the town council to settle the fine. Guess what? It was close. This was before 4PM. A man who was hurrying by asked us to come back the following week. “Oi, we’re from KL la, mana nak datang balik?”
Expectedly, we were ignored. So we all resolved to not pay the fine.
It was still a frustrating episode, as you can see on Terry’s face.
But all in all, I enjoyed Taiping. But because the days there are so laid back, no true KL-ite could stand staying there for more than a few days. You’d have to admit though…the place is beautiful.
I usually make it a rule to never blog about work. But I just had to write about last night’s event at the University.
Dubbed as the UniFest, it is all about the students’ turn to celebrate our recent conferment to University status. So what was it students knew how to do best? Party like there’s no tomorrow of course!
The event however pleasantly turned out to be a great concert, with honestly, some of the best band and music selection that I have ever seen. At par even with those that are organised by professionals. There were some bands last night that I’ve only heard for the first time, but it’ll definitely won’t be the last.
Below are some photos of the event. For more, click here, here, and here!
Note: Click on the photo for a larger view. (You will not be navigated to another window, as I’ve installed the Lightbox widget)
Been busy recently. (What else is new?) And I have neglected my blog for awhile. I wish I could update it as frequently as I could have, but with added portfolios to my job, I find my time at work to be increasingly occupied. It’s all good, because I enjoy what I do.
Until I could post something better, here’s a short update in photos.
My certificate etched in acrylic
I left behind University life for good after finally graduating in late November, and have started working full time for the past six months. It’s a whole new world for me, and despite the great recognition I receive at work, I still can’t get used to life outside of the education world. As me and Sarita mused one day, graduation have been rather anti-climatic, leaving us newbies in the working world with a semi-permeanant “So, now what?” kinda feeling.
Me and Baby was in Midvalley recently, and although we have been there many times before, we have never really stepped into RockCorner, a music store next to Pet Wonderland on the third floor. We were pleasantly surprised to find every imaginable record or album at the shop. I found some of my favrourite, and rather hard to find jazz favourites, such as Etta James and Sergio Mendes’ older albums.
Shelves and shelves of beautiful music
Seeing all these CDs makes me resolve to start collecting them before they die out a natural death like 8 track cassettes did. With the advent of the internet and file sharing, everyone downloads their music now. And although it does satisfy my music cravings, I find them to be a cheap imitation of the original. Nothing beats having the actual album, to be able to sift through the album sleeve, and read the lyrics, and find out the true genuises behind each song by reading names of writers. With MP3s, people are nowadays finding it hard to even name the title of the song. Sad ain’t it?
Sitting pretty?
After vaccinating Kacik aka Sayang aka Mol (what is her name anyway Baby?) she is growing nice and round. (According to hearsay anyway :p) We vaccinated her a few months ago, and switched her food to IAMS, which she took to very well. All she needed was premium RM66 per bag cat food. Typical diva. Hehe… Hopefully she’ll be nice and healthy and grow big until I get to see her again. (Wonder when, huh?)
When your cat takes after you, she needs to diet too
Although, we hope she won’t need to take after her owner, and go on a diet as well! Hehe…
RM 2.70 per litre meant RM50 filled hardly half of my MYVI's tank
Most Malaysians’ wish came true, and petrol prices have continued to drop, and currently sits at RM1.90. Funny thing is, although our petrol price is now lower than the staggering RM2.80 we were paying a few months back, we are actually subsidising the government. Petroleum per barrel as of today is $44, and is expected to go lower with decreased demand in the commodity, since the economy is in such a shitty state now. Its bad enough that vegetables and other groceries are hitting sky high prices, (cabbage is now RM3.60 per kilo vs RM0.80 only a few months ago) but as Shahrir (that moron) holds on even tighter to keep petrol prices high, things has become even more dire for the average Malaysian.
Peace, Love, Happy
I was at a pre-school today. (Don’t ask why) And came across these bottles on the reception desk. The liquid inside seemed to shimmer and light up as you shake it. The idea is that, everytime you need peace, love or happiness, you pick up the bottle and shake it, and make believe that the magic potion will give you that emotion. Simple but rather therapeutic effect I say. Amid the craziness that is going on in our benighted country now, we all deserve some Peace, Love and Happy potion of ourselves. In whatever form it may come to you.
I meet many interesting people on the job. Some are shy at having their pictures taken, others are forward when interviewed, but once in awhile, I meet this really cute person, that makes you go “awwwww”
Girl wondering, "What is that xiexie doing with that big black contraption?"
Girl at her attempt to smile after realizing that I am taking a photograph of her.
Girl giving a big grin after I showed her picture on the small LCD screen on the camera.
Kumaran’s attempt at breaking the record for the slowest bowling ball throw. Needless to say, the ball stopped dead in the gutter instead. A very pissed off girl who was on duty had to push the ball.
I pass by this house everyday on the way to work, and finally managed to get a shot of it while I was driving. Can you imagine the owner giving directions to his house? “Just look for the aeroplane!”
Rizal Shahputra. Tsunami survivor. He was at sea for 8 days until he was rescued by Malaysian fishermen. Now studying for his degree in English Communications here. He really is a nice guy. 
Kumaran’s attempt at breaking the record for the slowest bowling ball throw. Needless to say, the ball stopped dead in the gutter instead. A very pissed off girl who was on duty had to push the ball.
I pass by this house everyday on the way to work, and finally managed to get a shot of it while I was driving. Can you imagine the owner giving directions to his house? “Just look for the aeroplane!”
Rizal Shahputra. Tsunami survivor. He was at sea for 8 days until he was rescued by Malaysian fishermen. Now studying for his degree in English Communications here. He really is a nice guy. 
