Happy Birthday Ariel

16th September was my other significant other's :-) birthday.
25..all matured and macho.

Sighhh...
This photo was when he came down to KL for the MotoGP in Sepang. And I didn't go for that!!! Grr...#^#&#()%* *slaps head*
Up until last few days I got to know..Ark!!

Lunch and stuff

Days before Ramadhan. Everybody seems to be rushing to eat out. To eat everything that they haven't. To indulge in restaurants they have mentioned before. To try out food they have never tasted before..Yes my friend. Better do it now, while you can. While you can eat at anytime of the day. While you can hang out at cafes in the middle of the day without getting stares from people, or worst, get caught by authorities. Ha..I'm just being a little melodrama here. Ramadhan is a great time to diet, to save money, and to lose those flabs that been stuck to you forawhile now. In health perspectives, doctors have admitted, that fasting is a good way to let your stomach rest, from all those heavy spicy food we always take. So it's vacation time for the tummy..soon. Before that, I'm still rushing here and there to gobble watever I can. Last weekend, me and hubby's usual mall ratting activity at KLCC. We were spose to makan at Noodle House upstairs, but didn't know they are closed now! Replaced with Little Penang Kafe,

so we had that instead. My curry noodle was delicious. Last Thu, my office department makan together at WaterLily restaurant in Puchong. Nice bbq food. SLOW service.The following Fri, we makan at Kopitiam in JJ Tmn Equine. Ah I was fascinated by their signature dish which is the icy toast bun (there wasn't anything icy or cold about it tho..weird name, but yummy taste). I met my gf for lunch at The Coast. Was hoping to see similar lunch set menu as I saw in their branch in Alamanda, but the one which we went to (Plaza Damas) had less attractive sets, and no free brownie..sigh. Hangin out at her shop, I can't help to snap one photo of where I was seating, while 'taking care' of her shop..I felt so important. Then we modelled infront of her brand new Sony digital camera..Phewitt! After meeting Mira, I stop by Miko hair salon. My first time trial, and my hair came out great. I had a trim, treatment and wash. Love my straight, healthy and shiny hair!! So I enjoyed it while it last, and of coz snapped one for ya. Oh heyyyy..it's our dear big boss birthday this week, so yeay, another makan, and what a coincidence, this time buffet lunch at Shangri La Putrajaya..phuhh..overdose of Shang for me dis week..I tell ya..Love it. Shang Putra lacks in terms of slow refills of food..uh ha..that's important man..The satay is so good, people were literally waiting by the edge of their seats, to go grab some as soon as a new batch is cooked. The cake for boss Lucas was complimentary from the hotel..we requested chocolate cheesecake with strawberries..

The Red Devils

Put on your shades now if ya can, coz this post is like a red light district. Got you excited didn't I? This year I was extremely priviledged to be a part of the Shell Games again..to represent what else..netball. And this year's netballers are all my buddies. The captain herself, the kepohci Shida, is the most generous and responsible captain I've known. We got the tshirts, pants (wooh, this time it's a front tie..ya go figure), socks, towels, and not to mention bangles from HongKong! OK, too much? It happens so, Shida went to HK just few days before the game, so she HAD to get us something (haha!). And captain went out and shopped for all the above for her ladies. Whom sad to say..didn't win..no further comments. Dun wanna get emotional, dun wanna start over analysing. But look at these photos y'all, and you would think we were the champs right? The important thing is to have fun...and so we basked in our
non-glory..*grin*

Mega Combo

No I'm not talkin bout McD's combo meal, but it's another day, another concert. Attendees: Me, hubby, Lyn and Hanna. This time it's a mega combo because huge rock names from Malaysia combines with Indonesia. I wasn't too keen on the idea of this combo. Malaysia and Indonesian rock music are totally different. Sad to say (hah), I prefer Indo rock music. This concert features, Search, Wings, Lefthanded, Ella (from Msia), Dewa 19, Ratu, Ari Lasso (from Indonesia). I was mainly excited to watch Dewa 19..one of the hugest/experienced rock bands in Indo. But I was also curious to see Ratu, Ella and Search perform..curious ya know..
The show suppose to start at 5.00pm, but as any concerts, it was delayed. But not too bad, before we know it, the speakers were blasting music from Lefthanded. Bandhi the Amuk vocalist, was surprisingly the host for that day, who is insanely funny. This guy whom I thot was weird, insecure behind his mask, is actually very lovable, just coz he's funny lah. Then, Ari Lasso came out.. I was impressed, as his performance was clean and good. His backup band is pretty interesting to watch too, aha..Then Ella came out. Awhh..she is so gedik..Her voice is still powerful after all these years, but her showmanship is still gross to watch. She even tried to hump Apek (who was guest) while she sings the famous 'Gol & Gincu' soundtrack called 'Teruja'. *eyes rolling* Anyways, then, it was Wings' turn..And my stomach turned as well. I've started to hate Wings, especially the arrogantly and extremely fat now Awie. Their music suxx, no rhythm in the songs, so I just stood yawning. Not many applauded either. Then, the drama queen from Indo came out, who was Ratu. Mulan sexy as usual, kept jumping here and there, and smile/grin as wide as she can, but I know it's alll fake..Yeeap, I've seen and encountered them up close and personal, and they ain't all smiley and jolly as ya see on stage. They r so gorgeous tho, well, with all that make-up. Maia is

prettier, and also the victim, of that Dhani/Mulan scandal. Ergh..well..Thennn my idol band came out.. Woooh, the sight of their Laskar Cinta symbol on their drum set was enough to make me shivers with excitement..*grin* Ark..I am so glad the crowd is still we behaved, and may not be many Indonesians in the audience. Dewa 19 belted out their songs one after one without any errors. Dhani with his pointy skull cap, and Once the ever cool and warm looking bro, both of them fronted the stage. When Andra goreng his guitar, my friend Lyn goes mad (she digs him). Yuke seems to be in his world on stage. And argh Tyo is not on the drumsss.. :-( yup, Tyo is still recovering from his injured leg, or he's due to be undergoing minor surgery for it or something..Sigh, less one cutie to watch. Anyways, Dewa still rocked the house.

Me and Lyn noticed that mostly we sang to their songs whole heartedly, and are realized by Once (mostly!) and Dhani too!

Yeah right, you say?These two dudes often look at us when they're singing, for real. Wohooo! Call me perasan, but I only do when there's a real reason to be. It's always nice when your fans can sing along. And it's nice when your idol appreciates your appreciation of them...hehe.. Wattever..hoh. Yay, didn't have enough of Dewa 19 of coz..Last to perform was Search. Ark! It was already 12midnight at that time. Yikes and I have an early day trow..netball..Sigh..Was too tired by the time Amy Search rocked the stage. Wasn't too impressed with his weird moves and 'feel'. So glad, when Search decided to cut it short, and ended the whole concerto. "Phewittt.." was Amy's trademark shout-out. He's a cool old rocker nevertheless. Sigh, satisfied I came, glad to be heading home..Twas a great show.

Welcome to the Malaccan Empire

This year's Shell IT annual dinner was the most extravagant I think. The theme was 'Zaman Kesultanan Melaka'. Ahh we haven't gone traditional for quite awhile, and I thought it was a brilliant idea. I didn't have a clue about the theme beforehand. Firstly a few of my gal pals asked me to join in with Annual Dinner performance, and it was said that there would be malay traditional dance involved. I thot, hmm.."the last time I did traditional dance was back in secondary school", and I feel my body stiffening up just the thought of doing traditional dance on stage..eee..shy lahh. Buut..my good old gal pals persuaded me into it, furthermore there is a pretty attractive catch to the involvement; dancers who are selected will be given free make-up and costume to wear on that day! Hurrah..well, what more would a girl ask for?
Only after 2 weeks signing up, the first training/briefing session started. At first there was much anticipation with WHEN the bloody practice will start as all of us were anxious to know if we are as graceful as we'd like to think. Then it was the anticipation of getting the choreography completed, so that we can practice and memorise steps, and try to look like a pro as much as we can. There were a few frustrating moments, when we all came, but no instructor was around, as miscommunications occurred somewhere. Also many times whom came for practice, just a few of us, which result to full rehearsals failed to execute. Practice sessions were held almost daily and ended up to 9pm sometimes. The sessions were always fun though, bonding with new friends, hanging out, chit chatting. I would have never met/knew these bunch of people so well, if it weren't for this production. I also was surprised that I am more graceful than I thot..wooh. And so to much excitement, I was picked for the core dances, and got to wear one of the prettier (I thot lahh) costumes they have. The core dancers are called the Inangs, and the rest of the girls, the dayangs. Erk..these are 50s palace language ya.. At the very last minute, literally a few days before the annual dinner, the dinner committee decided to add a segment in the performance which is the Food Presentation. This involves a short dance routine similar to the PGL (Puteri Gunung Ledang) moves. And as I poked my face too much in the committee's chats, I was picked among a few of my buddies. And our dearly sexy Fernli was to pilot the dance as the PGL herself. But in that few days, we were to think up of simple moves to fill a 3 mins PGL song..wooh..tough. But we managed to 'wing-it' in the end.
And so practice after practice, nights lacking sleep, and zombie days (sleepwalking in the day), ze day came..too soon, but we were ready, anxiously ready. This is the first time Shell IT used a fairly large number of its staff to perform in a big production.
The venue is Palace of Golden Horses. The place is haunted they say. The dancers and committee members are asked to arrive as early as 12noon on that day. Dancers especially had a last rehearsel to attend, before going to make-up and costume. It was exciting, despite of exhaustion and hunger (we were only fed Domino's pizza that afternoon, which we didn't have much time to gobble up in between rehearsels).
And before we know it, our faces were slapped with heavy foundation, blusher, eye shadow, etc. Our hair was tied up in buns and flowers were pinned into our skulls to make it pretty.
Once done, we all walk out to our spouses and friends, where they didn't recognise us at all..Hah. The first dance I was to do is the food presentation. This was my favorite, as I love the PGL production, and to have a short stint that's similar is a great experience by itself. Ahh..during the dance, I dunno what has gotten into me, but I found it difficult to smile! Eeek..I wasn't that nervous, and I wasn't having stage fright, but my facial muscle just frozed up. I heard people whispering "Smile Muni.." Hehe..Oh well..Oh I also made one obvious mistake on stage! Ark..I made a 360deg turn, the wrong way! Shoot! When the dance was over, I asked around, no one noticed the mistake..phewh..(I'm such a dork..) Then me and PGL buddies rushed to change to another costume for the long drama tari routine. We have about an hour before that starts, so all geared up, we walked to our dinner tables to grab whatever dinner's left for us. My poor hubby didn't see much of me that night except on stage..*grin* The food was ok, nothing to shout about. Malay style rice and dishes. The most memorable was the spicy sotong (squid) and dried chili prawns..yumm. Then before I had time to wash down my food, we were called to stand by for the drama tari routine. We hung out outside of the ballroom, till it was queue to start. And then the show began...Amazingly, this time, I was even more relaxed. Maybe coz they were many of us performing together. and the PGL routine earlier had taken away my butterflies. And this time, I really had fun. We all looked great, and performed like a pro. And then it was over, we were done! The curtain call really showed how reliefed we all were, but happy and proud at the same time. Ya ya enuff of the corny-ness, then quick change of the costume to err..not that I had a fantastic evening gown to wear, I just put on my most comfy kebarung, and continued to enjoy the night. Which was not much. The band performed so-so, no fav songs of mine. Our guest artist Adibah Noor was magnificient tho with her strong vocals and humourous audience interactions. But the saddest part of the night was, I didn't win ANY lucky draw prizes, just like in the previous years...SIGH. sob!sob! I can just rely on the door gift, which has a brilliant keris letter opener, a small packet of dodol and pareo (or scarf) packed in a cute basket. But all in all, this is the most memorable company annual dinner I have been to!