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| Yep it has started again. Another choir tour series for me. Feels like only yesterday when I posted entries with photos about my first tour with the guys. This time around, we're going to several states, all of which we didn't go to last year. They are Perlis, Melaka, Johor, Negeri Sembilan, Kelantan, Selangor, and maybe a few more. The tour had already started from the 31st of October until the 3rd of November 2008. Kelantan (31/10 - 2/10) This is the choir's first ever trip to Kelantan. So naturally, everyone was excited. As for me, I've been here countless times before, so it didn't really turn out to be that interesting. The journey from KL to KB took 9 long hours, and I basically hibernated for most of the journey. Only woke up for prayers, food and toilet. Thank God I brought my bantal busuk along. Sedap sikit tidoq in that bus with a driver that I suspect is a huge fan of the movie Tokyo Drift. Upon arrival to KB, we were sent to the Pantai Cinta Berahi Resort (I know the beach has a new name, but let's just stick with the good ol' one hehe). My roommate was and will be Fairuz for the entire tour. He's one chubby pianist, lol. Our performance was held at Pengkalan Chepa and it was pretty good, I would say. The sound system works nicely (which rarely happens, based on my experience from last year) and I'd say people were happy judging from their response at the end of the show. The audience's favorite was Brindisi, probably because of the high notes Violetta had to sing at the end of the song.  
The resort we stayed in. Nice huh? My chalet's the one closest to the beach.   Briefing before rehearsals & sound check  
Celebrating our manager(the one in yellow)'s birthday 
After the performance, we headed to USM's hospital to do some charity work for cancer patients in the pediatric ward. We hung out, entertained the kids and parents, gave presents and took pictures. I don't have pictures of that right now, maybe I'll post 'em later. I actually didn't stay long in the ward. You can say I'm a sucker when looking at poor kids whom had to deal with cancer at such young ages. After talking with some, actually 3 of them, my eyes already went blurry with tears. But overall, I'd say the trip was fun and very fulfilling. I really enjoyed the whole experience, except the long hours in the bus, of course. Perlis (2/10 - 3/10) We went straight to Perlis after the charity work in Kelantan. It was yet another 9 hour-drive. *sigh* Very exhausting and the journey was terrible. We had to cross banjaran Titiwangsa, and the route we took was very bumpy, zigzagged and just plain unpleasant. I guess we took the road not taken, the one less travelled by . Along the way, the bus had to stop a lot of times to allow people to puke. I was among the few who didn't get sick. Maybe because I just slept along the way. During our stay in Kangar, we stayed in this one hotel(forgot the name) by the sea. Great view and awesome service! We performed at Taman Budaya in Kangar later that night. Our performance wasn't very good, actually. The sound system kept ringing, the monitor was inconsistent and the mics didn't really help in balancing our voices together. Apart from the technical glitches, I guess we didn't perform our best because we were affected by the long trip. Fatigue definitely took a toll on us. The day after the performance, we did another community outreach. Went to a school and did the usual stuff for kids with difficulties in education. Then, we visited Gua Kelam, and headed back to KL, which took another 8 hours  
Singin' & dancin' for schoolkids  
Visiting the cave of the golden roses. Mana ade. Gua Kelam je As you can see, I don't have many good photos, but when I do, I'll upload 'em later. Daa ~ | | |
| The greatest sporting event is here again! Am I thrilled? As a sports junkie, I am obligated to! Hahaha it seems like only yesterday when the curtains of Athens '04 were lowered down. I just finished SPM at that time and was unemployed, thus I made it my business to sit in front of the TV all day and watch almost every sports available! From the well-knowned events like athletics and swimming until the other sports that I'm kinda unfamiliar with (rowing, wrestling, fencing, etc). Of course, most of my attention would be on sports that I really like. In men's gymnastics, I've already expected the US wouldn't pose much of a threat to the mighty Chinese, considering the Hamm brothers were injured. But still, I didn't know the Chinese can be so dominating. Payback for their poor showing in the last Olympics, I guess (payback's a b***h, some people would say lol). And then there's the Nastia Liukin-Shawn Johnson rivalry in the women's event. Certainly adds a lot of flare to the competition. Another sport that I like is obviously basketball. Would be interesting to see how the US team (fully-packed with NBA players) fare this time around. Would they lose again to the likes of Argentina (all hail Ginobili!) or even Lithuania? Kwang, kwang, kwang just have to wait and see. In table tennis, most of my fav paddlers had crashed out. Samsonov, Boll, Schlager... only Wang Liqin remains and I sure hope he can get the gold.   Nastia Liukin (USA) & Manu Ginobili (Argentina) 
Wang Liqin (China) But, no matter how good all the athletes perform, the spotlight would still be on the greatest Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps. Yep, that greedy son-of-a-Debbie just had to grab 8 gold medals at a single Olympics! I mean, how cool is that?! How I wish he was Malaysian, lol. 'cuz then we wouldn't have to wait another 4 years to try getting our first ever Olympic gold medal. Lee Chong Wei came very close, but alas... it was not meant to be. At least he tried, and we should be satisfied with a silver. Hey, something is better than nada, right? 
In a few days, Beijing 2008 will come to a close, and hence will begin another 4-year wait for the next Olympics: London 2012. Err... I'd be 26 by then. Kinda make me wonder what will happen in the future. Yikes!! 
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| I finally get to keep my promise and update my blog! Yahaha but in this entry, I'm just gonna write about the National Choir stuff I did back in July, which were the KL Festival Opening Ceremony and the Classical Night during the KL Music Festival. Here are some pics for the 1st event, which was held in Suria KLCC: 
 
And then during Classical Night in Istana Budaya, we performed a classical choir piece entitled 'Horrortorio', which tells a story about Count Dracula's daughter marrying Frankenstein. It's a very nice and funny piece, very different from what we used to do, but it was really interesting and fun! We had to dress up as ghouls who are attending the wedding and hear stories about how the unlikely couple met, the process of them getting married and so on. Here are the 'gruesome' pics: 
Mr. Hafiz as Frankenstein (the Groom) 
Choi as the Butler (also the narrator) 
Amri Zain (Count Dracula) with yours truly 
Sukri Sabri with Irma Lailatul Munira (Dracula's daughter/the Bride) 
The one with the blonde hair is Biella, who performed as Frankenstein's mama And here are the rest of the ghouls who attended the ghastly wedding, hee hee hee...  
 
 
Overall, it was a good performance. The reception from the audience was rather cold, maybe because it's an operatic, foreign piece. But still, we had a blast and enjoyed ourselves. Congratz everyone for a job well done!! | | |
| been almost 5 months without any new entry and determined to change that. but I have nothing to write about. ...
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| Another BIG election is heading our way in what? 2 weeks? Though I'm not really ecstatic about it, the 'poster war' has already began. Everywhere I go, there'll be lots of posters hanging from lamp posts, trees, and God knows where else. A lot of people has been caught up with the voting fever. A pillar of our democracy, the leaders would say. But strangely enough, I could care less. Although I am of age to vote, I didn't even bother to register with the SPR. Why am I so ignorant? Gee, I dunno. Maybe because I don't think my one puny, weenie, little vote could pose much of a change to the world. I'm not being negative here, just being realistic. Besides, voting would mean I have to travel far to the south of the peninsular to my home town for 3 hours++ and I would have to be back in Shah Alam for classes the day after I drop that stupid piece of paper into the transparent, aquarium-like ballot box. Not really accommodating and practical, nay? And yet there are some stupid dumbasses who dared to criticize me for not having the itch to vote.  I say mind your own business, boneheads. There's a lot to be done by SPR to lure the young, ignorant voters like me to vote, lol. Until then, off I go to my daily routine. Oh and by the way, "Whoa! Willow" will be staged this weekend at Panggung Bandaraya KL after being postponed two weeks before. The reason I didn't post any entry regarding why the show got postponed? Well, I'm not allowed to. Or rather, we are not allowed to. Just to avoid further, possible controversies I guess. When the timing is right, I will write. But for now, we need to focus on the play. PLEASE GOD, HELP US MAKE THIS PLAY A SUCCESSFUL ONE!!! | | |
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