SITI NURHALIZA'S - SATU

Last Sunday I had the chance to attend Siti's long awaited concert at Istana Budaya. It is not that I am a die hard fans of her unlike the Siti Zoners, (Siti's Fan club) but I did go to her previous concerts before, be it in Bukit Jalil or in RTM, bought almost all of her CDs and DVDs ermm..ok ok I admit, I like her as a singer..she is a good singer vocally and in this area, its pretty hard to find her competitors. Well she gave me goose bumps with her voice, dude..and that its all that matters. Other than that I don't give a shit about her personal life. Knowing Siti and knowing Istana Budaya (and the ticket price that goes with it), I anticipated it to be a fabulous show and I was right. The overall concert was pretty damn good. Fantastic choices of songs, perfect delivery (as always), awesome gimmick, dances and outstanding props making the overall concept was just right...not too pretentious...not overly glamorous but had a class of its own...she was more at ease with the audience, confident and enjoying herself on stage. To me the most important thing was that I really enjoyed myself that night and personally, Siti is still the best singer in Malaysia.

Other significant audiences that night was Y.Bhg Tun Dr. Mahathir and wife, the Malaysian artistes and celebrities. The infamous Indonesian singers Kris Dayanti and Rossa were there too.

The opening act was from the talented singer Aizat...he belted out 3 songs but none of it was 'Kau Pergi', the song that can touched others with its lyrics and melody...sigh..

Next.., am looking forward to Anuar Zain's concert at the same place this Thursday.. I don't mind paying double the ticket price from Siti's as long as I can have a good seat (In case of Siti's...well...I had no choice since I was unable to secure one. From what I heard from a member in IB was that Datuk K had bought most of good seats to be given to his staffs, business partners and friends etc..). Dunno if that was true....

Thank you Siti...and yes I am a fan....period...

'MANA SETANGGINYA' - AN EPIC ADVENTURE

Since not many big budget theater production come our way in Malaysia, I don't want to miss watching this at Istana Budaya last saturday.

Based on National Laureate Datuk Noordin Hassan’s book ‘Mana Setangginya’, this production has been dubbed as a Malay ‘Lord of the Rings’. Well, I would not put it that way, but the set decoration, designs and special effects were quite extraordinary and extravagant.

Even though it was in Malay, it does not deal with malay culture, far from it. It was in the era of old civilisation i.e where the Book of Torah was concerned. The end of civilisation to be exact when greed's, corruption, betrayal invaded a religious society with rigid rules and structures and the arrival of other forces which challenges the status quo and the harmony of a society.

The pictures below tells the story of this epic adventure theater.

Azizah Mahzan gave her best performance as usual

Tony Eusoff as Yuda and Sabrina Ali as Iryam were good too

Another great performances

An expert from US were flown for this flying faeries scenes

The costumes were outrageously magnificent

The big monster eel destroying the village..


An outstanding performance, a standing ovation

BB 7th ANNIVERSARY - CHERATING 12-14 JUNE 09

A and I was invited to participate in the BB 7th Anniversary in Cherating from 12 - 14 June 2009. There were around 26 participants for the occasion including one each from US, Indonesia and Brunei.

At 3.00 a.m (12 June - Friday) all of us met at the designated meeting point i.e at BP station after the Gombak toll plaza and departed for Cherating. After having stopped at a few rest areas, we arrived in Cherating at 7.00 am. After having breakfast at a stall we then check in to our respective chalet to rest.

A few chalets were booked for the occasion

After lunch, the first activities for the day was to make a kite. Each team of 3 were given the material to make one. The team who can make the most creative kite and with the ability to fly will be the winner.

A's team, making their kite..

By 5.00pm each team marched to the beach to display their flying kite skill and out of 7 or 8 kites, only 2 or 3 managed to fly for a short distance. Failure to launch was due to either the kites were too heavy, wrong design and the most important reason, lack of strong wind. Nonetheless, that did not stop us from having fun especially when lewd comments were thrown on each other because of this while eating cheap ice-creams.

Time to fly..ermm yup the owner's
of the kite himself were too heavy, I think... hehehe

My team..the kite was for display only, ok?

The winner... a beautiful 3 tails kite..

Dinner were served at the resort and after that, a few of us went to a karoke place which is actually a small hall in the resort. Unfortunately, the person in charge of that place were unable to retrieve songs from the laptop and asked us for help. Using his expertise, A managed to solve the problem and we had our singing session with a surprising good sound system until 1.00 am.

The next day, after breakfast, all of us went to Kuantan town, stopping at a park near the sea. There we ate 'kropok lekor' and 'ice cendol'. We then went to town to buy salted fish.

ermm...I found the clue to where the shop is.... hehe

We also went to East Coast Mall, supposedly a new mall in Kuantan where A and I bought a few T-shirt and a bag for A's laptop. We went back at the resort at 4.00pm and had our late lunch there. By 5.30am we went to play volleyball at the beach.

That night was the highlight of the whole trip...it was BBQ seafood dinner and each of us had to dress to suit the theme of the night which was PIRATES OF THE EAST...

That was A, a samurai pirate, 2nd place best dress..

The winner was the guy in the checkered green shirt..

ermmmm...I do not until now figured out why the learned judges that night chose this guy...coz if I remembered correctly, the theme for the night was Pirate of the EAST and not Pirate of the WEST???..ermmm..lu fikirlah sendiri...oppsss

Unfair...I need to kill someone that nite, hehehe

We had 2 other games afterwards before wrapping up for the night...

The next day, after checking out of the resort, all of us went to Beserah, i.e to a restaurant name FICO. One of the BB's member treated us lunch for his birthday on that place.

Plenty of food...nice place......

One of the chiefs of FICO

After that we travelled back to KL, stopping at Genting Sempah rest area for dinner. After saying good byes to all the participants, A and I went back home.

As usual, it was always fun to be with the BB group. A and I would like to thank them for inviting us again for their anniversary....best of luck...cheers.....

Nope, I am not the DVD pirate...

SNIPPET

Watch your thoughts, they become words

Watch your words, they become actions

Watch your actions, they become habits

Watch your habits, they become character

Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny..........

Be kinder than necessary,

for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle

DO I LIKE BEING OLD?

Someone sent me this email. I don't know who wrote it but I like what I read and I would like to post it ....so here goes...

I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly (opss not in that condition for quite sometime now). As I've aged, I've become kinder to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend. I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie (and lotsa ice-cream), , or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need (ermm buying that stupid boots and USB speakers and the list goes on), but looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.

Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60 & 70's (80's please...duran duran, nick kershaw, bonnie tyler, pat benater, cyndi lauper), and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love...I will.

I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set.

They, too, will get old.

I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things. Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car?(or jumped out of the window...waaaa) But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I have been blessed to have live long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face (make it go away Mr. Clarins, huhu). So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair turn silver.

As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned the right to be wrong.

So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day (if I fee like it)..

What do you think about the above statement?

KEDAH/PENANG TRIP 5 - 7 JUNE 2009

A and I had just got back from Cherating...we were there for 2 nights, attending BB 7th Anniversary. More on that will be posted later.

Before that, I had a family outing in Penang i.e my mum and my sister's family last week. Since A had to give a present to his friend's wedding in his hometown in Alor Setar, I decided to go there first before going to Penang.

On 5 June 2009 (Friday) A, using my car, picked my mum from my brother’s house in Shah Alam and then to my office to pick me. From there, using the north south highway, we went to A's hometown in Alor Setar. We reached A's house at 12.00am.

After having breakfast at A’s house and after going to A's friend to give her the wedding present, we went to Padang Besar to do a little bit of shopping. The last time I went to Padang Besar was ages ago…. I was pleasantly surprised that the shabby town I remembered before has now being transformed into a nice and well planned shopping area or complex.

By 2.00pm, from Padang Besar we went down to Penang and after crossing the bridge we stopped near Pulau Jerejak jetty while waiting for my sister's family arrival from KL. All of us then went to my niece condo in Queensbay.

With my fav nieces at Gold Coast Resort Condo,

you can see Penang Bridge from the balcony

Getting ready to get wet...

View from the pool - full moon and

Pulau Jerejak at the background

Night view from the balcony..with a next door condo..

At. 9.00pm, we went to the airport to pick my two other nephews and from there we went to Pan Mutiara Restaurant at Batu Maung, Penang most famous place for its fish head curry. I have read so much about this place in other people’s blogs so I was looking forward to eat here.

The best fish curry head I have ever tasted....simply delicious..

with such affordable price too..

The empty bowl hehe...nice ambiance too... a delightful dinner..

Next morning, all of us had a tour in my niece's working place..which is a factory actually.. The factory is in its final completion and will be fully operated by September this year. She is Head of Design in a manufacturing custom made industrial chips, the company itself is a subsidiary of one of the GLC's.

The interior designer of the factory, the younger sis...

We then had our lunch at a nasi kandar restaurant near KOMTAR. We then walked along Chowrasta Road, ate the famous cendol and ais kacang there before proceeding to Batu Ferenggi. While waiting for the stalls to open, we have our drinks at the Sunset Bistro.

Another cool place to chilled out...even in the hot weather...

A had a pleasant surprised... I know he enjoyed this...

Ready to fly..........

Up and awayyyyyyyy............

into the sun.......

Time to come down.... steady...steady..steady...

Opssssss not a perfect landing unlike in

Pattaya last year hehehe...ouchhh

Smiling...safe and sound, nothing's broken...

Sunset.........

Awesome view.......

Afterward, we went to buy a few DVDs, mostly TV series...had our seafood dinner at Bayan Lepas.. By 1.00 am, A and I were on our way back to KL. Actually, I really wanted to stay another day but I had an important meeting to attend too. We reached home at 4.30am, leaving me only 2 hours to sleep...peywai ooooooo...