Perspiration of a Group Exercise Instructor

Auditioning for Paper Crane

2012-01-31T00:01:00.001+08:00

And so, last night wifey & I went to the closed audition for Paper Crane, another klpac production.

There were a couple of firsts for us: 1st time doing a cantonese monologue, 1st time singing cantonese song in an audition(wifey did mandarin), and 1st time we both didn't have to go through the choreography segment of a musical audition because they know what we are capable of.

Whatever it is, the most important thing is of course whether we would get a place in the musical. Joe talked to the both of us before we started the audition(separately of course) and it appears that we would have to wait for another production to hope for any chance of playing lead roles together.

For wifey, Joe & Faridah informed her that there are 3 female roles in the musical made it clear that she was either too young or too old any of the roles. He therefore is auditioning her to be a featured ensemble.

For me, they told me there are 4 male roles and they may cast me as one of the 2 roles whose age are closer to mine(that, or I can pass as someone younger, I dunno). Joe was correct to say that I would not settle for just an ensemble. So if I am not cast as one of the leads, I would also be offered the featured ensemble thingy.

So what is a featured ensemble?

I googled it and found this on Yahoo! Answers:

"If you weren't called back for a lead, named role, chances are you're probably going to be put in the ensemble. It sucks, but that's theatre. If you end up getting a role as a part of the "Featured Ensemble", as opposed to a regular "Ensemble", then you're probably, but not for sure, going to be given a one-line solo or a couple speaking lines in the show. So to answer your question, if you're CAST as "Featured Ensemble", you'll probably be a more prominent ensemble member."
~ CourneysGoingToBroadway

And so, here lies our dilemma. It is for certain that we will be getting a call from Faridah, but do we want to do another musical as ensemble again? While it will be nice to be working with the likes of Joe, Mervyn & Lex again, wifey & I are looking for more challenge(or career development) and to be a featured ensemble, it is very similar to being just a regular ensemble. I want the challenge for performing in an english/cantonese fusion musical and I am sure she is too. Therefore, we will need to discuss this next week whether we will be doing this or not. If both of us are offered featured ensemble, I reckon at least 1 of us will not be accepting the offer.

If we say no to this, it is not because we are too proud to be an ensemble - ensemble can be fun too, but it's because we have just made career changes and we are still in the process of sorting things out in our work life. If there be another interruption in the form of a musical, then it must be worth the EXTRA effort we both would have to put in...

Decision, decision, decision....

Fri night thoughts: Death of a BODYCOMBAT DVD presenter & Amazing Grace heard on American Idol

2012-01-28T01:38:00.000+08:00

Tonight I went to see a comedy court production at PJLA by Allan & Indi. While waiting for the show to start, I check my FB and was surprised to discover that a fantastic BODYCOMBAT presenter Hernan Lopez just passed away.

Another harsh reminder to all that our days are numbered. So don't waste your time & energy on things that you don't have the passion for. Cherish what you have and learn to live life to the fullest. Nothing official has been mentioned about what happened, though someone said something about a fatal car accident. Regardless, I will remember him for his signature "Colgate" smile and his deliberate OTT presentation of BC40 Track 2 "I Know Kung Fu". Thanks Hernan for the memories & RIP. You will be missed.

Anyhow, coming back from the show(which I think it's a good way to relax be entertained), I almost wanted to skip tonight's American Idol repeat because it was showing at 11.45pm. Anyhow, I am so glad I didn't miss it. The highlight of tonight's show was definitely Ramiro Garcia, worship leader of Lakewood Church.

Ramiro was born missing one ear and the other one was only partially formed with just and ear lobe. His parents were told that he would grow up deaf and mute. Yet after going through numerous surgeries, Ramiro managed to woo the judges with his rendition of "Amazing Grace(My Chains Are Gone)". What a talent! He was born to sing & lead worship in spite of his "handicap".

It makes me think about church ministries. I firmly believe that if God calls you to do something, He will surely equip you with the tools to do the job. For example, if He calls you to be an usher, you will generally be patient and very warm. Same thing for worship ministry, where we are to "Sing a new song of praise to him; play skillfully on the harp, and sing with joy"(Psalms 33.3). Imagine a drummer who keeps playing out of time or a guitarist who can't strum the chords properly. While spirituality is an area we need to look at, there has to be a certain level of competency when in comes to the technical aspect.

I like what my pastor in Penang Christian Centre say: We give God our best, and that means serving with EXCELLENCE. Why must church music be second-rated compared to secular music, right?

Where do we go from here?

2012-01-26T22:52:00.002+08:00

"Today is the beginning of a new era, the end of the Malaysian Girls pageant..."

How true it was for the cast on 15 January 2012. After spending 4 months together, it was time to say goodbye and move on to other things. So what has been happening since? Well, a few girls are getting themselves busy preparing for other shows!

BB(JJ Adams), Alexis(Tracy Starr), Anrie(Lin Lin), Sandee(Cassandra Lee), basically dived into another production. BB is currently rehearsing for "Boom" which will debut on 17 Feb, whille the other 3 are rehearsing for "Dead Man's Cell Phone", premiering on 14 Mar, both at klpac. Interestingly, Sandee is also perparing for the restaging of "Shakespeare Demystified: The Merchant of Venice" at penangpac on 8 Mar. How she can rehearse for 2 plays at the same time is beyond me...

Amanda(Daphne Wong) was supposed to be in "Dead Man's Cell Phone" but somehow she dropped out - not sure what she's up to next but she was involved in "Relationship Status" which ended its run at selected TGV cinemas yesterday. If you didn't see it, it's your loss!

Freddy(Gucci Lim) has also started rehearsing for "Corporal PUNishment" as the director/writer. This should be a crazy show not to be missed. Who would want to miss Gucci Lim's first paid show as a director?

Tabitha(Serenity Billion) is probably taking a rest before starting her rehearsal for the restaging of "The Last Five Years" with Jon Chew, which should happen in June 2012. Probably the same for Aminda(Natasha B) has she has "Platform" slotted for May 2012. The same with Siti Farah(Jasmine Hibiscus), who will probably be involved in Kelvin Wong's last "Indicinelive!" in June/July.

Shiva(Rani) is in New York City auditioning for her Masters of Fine Arts. Hopefully I won't be seeing her soon. Character-wise, she was my favourite Malaysian Girl:)

Aliaa(Shakila Waheeda), the baby of the cast, is performing her umrah at the moment. Which means, I'll have to call her Hajjah Aliaa when I see her again. Hopefully she will be doing more shows and not stop here. She has much potential.

Pooja(Padma Padmavati) is in Singapore pursuing her studies and it will be a while before she steps onto stage again. Oh well, at least she is happy with her boyfriend there.

Aanantha(Ray Sanjay) is back on the airwaves with THR Raaga, Zoe(Sydney Belle) just came from Thailand celebrating her birthday, and Amelia(Charyse Devine) is probably preparing for Tapis Rouge Comedy Night : THE PLAYGROUND! which is happening on 31 Jan. Amelia was also the assistant director for "Relationship Status", by the way.

All 15 cast members accounted for... except yours truly(Bata Tan) & Mrs yours truly(Miss Lim). While I've started my new job as club manager in Gorgeous Fitness Bandar Puteri, she is in the process of handing over her job to her successor. However that doesn't mean we are not gonna be shaking our legs for 2012. More or less, we will be involved in Short + Sweet 2012, unless we have a paid production to do during the period of Sept./Oct. I sort of have 2 other projects in hand but I have not heard anything from the producer since we spoke in Dec 2011. Maybe I should give him a call....

Also, this weekend we'll be going to a closed audition for "Paper Crane", another Joe Hasham musical. While I am not particularly jumping with joy to do another Joe Hasham musical(dah basi!), I would, however, be excited if I can play a lead role for a change. It would be even better if we both can play the lead roles:)

Year 2011 has been great for both of us and hopefully 2012 will be even more interesting as we step out of our comfort zones and make some changes.

Oh, to those who are surprised, shocked, disappointed or upset that I am now working with the competitor, I only have this message for you:

The best pizzas....

2012-01-24T16:05:00.001+08:00

... can be found on the island of Bali.

Man, I think I wanna go to Bali again!

"Not-really-a-review": Relationship Status

2012-01-22T00:50:00.002+08:00

Today wifey & I finally got the chance to see this:

We almost had to give this a miss due to Malaysian Girls run in Penang but TGV decided to extend its run til 25 Jan 2012.

Before I give my take on the movie, let me start by saying that it is a good movie to watch with so many intertwined story lines. While some were more interesting than others, writer/producer/director Khairil M Bahar successfully connected the dots and everything makes sense, but not every story has a clear ending.

If there is a main story, then I would say that it the Gavin/Davina story. It is about 2 people who are in a relationship that is not clearly defined. Things are made complicated as Davina's Anna has a past that is stopping them from moving forward. I think both actors did well and they look good as a couple. However, I would say Tony & Daphne looked the best together as a divorced couple in this movie. I also like that their story ends with a phone conversation that indicates perhaps their marriage can have a 2nd chance.

Another story has fellow Malaysian Girls alumni Amanda Ang playing a girl whose bf just popped the big question. Unfortunately, May has a little bit of problem with the bf's bitchy sister, played by Adeline Ong, my director from Bars & Bedrooms. It's fun to see people you know acting in a movie and I find Adeline's line about how can one be successful in the film industry to be quite true for the theatre scene as well. (If I can earn a living by doing theatre, I would've quitted my job immediately!) Other stories include: a woman who found out by accident that her husband is flirting around online, a woman who is mourning the death of her husband, and a girl who realized that her bf may not be that compatible.

It is kind of cool watching 4-5 people I know acting in a movie. Khai's cameo was fun to watch and I wish I could see more of his story!

While I like the movie as a whole, some parts to me were a little draggy. Also, I don't think Pete Teo is old enough to play Adeline's dad and his character comes across like a chinese mafia when he was dealing with his family - maybe I still haven't forgotten him from Nasi Lemak 2.0, I don't know...

Do go catch it as it is currently showing in selected TGV cinemas.

Congrats to our local boys & girls!

My last day as Group Exercise Manager

2011-12-26T23:26:00.000+08:00

Tomorrow when I step into FF Menara Manulife... sorry, I mean tomorrow when I step OUT OF FF Menara Manulife at 5pm, I will be stepping out for the last time as group exercise manager.

Instead writing about how I feel leaving the company, I"ll just let some of the pictures express it for me:)

Loyalty has its rewards

2011-12-21T01:14:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday night was FF's annual dinner and ever since I joined FF, I have never failed to attend the annual dinner. But this this time round I had to miss it because of my ongoing musical at klpac.

Monday morning when I went to club, I was surprise to receive my LONG SERVICE AWARD for working with FF for more than 5 years!!!


The recognition:)

So what did I get for being loyal?


It's a... what is it?

I got this box and inside the box was this half crystal ball-like thingy that says "Fitness First Long Service Award". Looks nice, not sure what to do with it yet, but will figure it out eventually. I also received this:

A plaque to remember for life

Thank you so much!! I'm so happy to receive these awards. Back in the previous company I worked with, the only thing they gave for long service was RM1000 cash. With this plaque & crystal, I'm sure I'll remember this for a very long time,.... even after I leave next week:)

KLUE, DOH!

2011-12-03T00:36:00.001+08:00

Just came back from KLUE, DOH! and boy it was very interesting to watch!

A couple of months back during S+S Malaysia Musical, Jon told me that he would be in this "whodunnit" play where the audience would be split into 2 groups to watch 2 separate rooms within the same play. After intermission, the audience would then swap room to see the other side of the play to get the whole story. I was sold by then and was hoping to catch it. And I almost missed it!!!

You see, as I have Malaysian Girls rehearsals almost every evening, and I found out that about a month back that there was no rehearsal on 2 Dec and it would be the only evening to run BC50 tuition. It was later that I found out that 2 Dec was also the only day I could watch KLUE, DOH! as I would be at the rehearsals or performing as well on their other show nights. But since I have already set the date for tuition, I thought I would have to give it a miss. However last week, I realized that only 2-3 instructors signed up for the tuition. So I cancelled the tuition and asked the instructors to join the other tuition instead... And I am so glad I get to watch this play!!!

Unlike conventional plays, you actually need to see the 2 perspectives of the play before you are able to get to the bottom of this murder mystery. If you just watch one perspective, you will be left scratching your head wondering who the killer is. If you sit through both perspectives, regardless of where you are, everyone will get to find out who the killer is at the same time!

I think the play was well executed and I salute the cast for their effort. The cast are on stage 90% of the time as when they leave one room, they are actually going to the other room to perform. This also means that in order for the audience to see both perspectives, the actors have to perform the same thing twice every night!

Acting wise was good, with a few standouts; I thought Anne James was fantastic!! Overall, it is exactly what the producer wanted to achieve- to offer theatre-goers not just a play but an experience.

I highly recommend that you watch it at MAP Solaris. For more info on the play, head on to their FB event page.

Oh You Didn't Know?

2011-11-26T00:11:00.001+08:00

If you haven't heard, let me officially announced that I have tendered my resignation as Group Exercise Manager from Fitness First. My last day of work is end of Dec 2011.

Why?

In short, FF & I can no longer fulfill each other's needs and expectations.... kinda like what happens when a couple decide to break up, isn't it?

So what do I want?

If you have been following my blog, it is quite obvious that I'm very much into doing stage performances nowadays and I have been rather unhappy over the last one year. So, it is the best decision for both myself and the GX team.

What's next?

Well, there's a bit of uncertainty at the moment about what I will be doing but suffice to say I will be leaving Fitness First at the end of the year. My current project "Malaysian Girls" will start its run from 10 - 30 Dec 2011 in klpace before heading to Penang for 6 shows from 10 - 15 Jan 2012. However, I am doubling as assistant stage manager for the production, I will be heading back to my hometown 1 week earlier for bump-in.

With that, I leave you with another video clip of our media preview. For information on our shows, please click here:)

Malaysian Girls the Musical Preview

2011-11-25T00:47:00.000+08:00

What do you know, we are just 2 weeks away from the premiere of Malaysian Girls!

Last Tuesday we had a media preview at klpac and did a 20 minute performance for our sponsors & media friends. Below is the video edited by StageKL.

We'll be performing from 10th Dec right till 30th Dec at klpac before heading up north to penangpac for 6 shows from 10th - 15th Jan 2012.

For details on our KL shows, please click here.

For details on our Penang shows, please click here.

video: TWEET ABOUT IT

2011-11-07T01:25:00.000+08:00

This is the musical I did in September 2011 for Short + Sweet Malaysia Musical

How ugly can it get?

2011-11-06T00:33:00.001+08:00

We are approximately 1 month away from the year's most glamourous musical. Not only this musical will be performed at klpac, we are going to penangpac in January 2012:)

Presented by The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre & Celcom
Original concept and directed by Joe Hasham OAM
Written by Mark Beau De Silva with added material by Cast & Creative Team.
Original songs & music by Ariff Akhir, Ian Chow, Min’z, Khairil M Bahar, Wani Ardy
Executive Producer Dato’ Faridah Merican
Co-Directed by Kimmy Kiew
Musical Director Mervyn Peters
Music Arrangers Ariff Akhir, Loh Ui Li
Choreographer Lex Lakshman Balakrishnan
Set Designer Melissa Teoh
Costume Designer Dominique Devorsine
Lighting Designer Tan Eng Heng
Sound Engineer John Siew
Stage Craft Christopher Ling
Improvisation Facilitator Kelvin Wong

Featuring: Tabitha Kong, Siti Farrah Abdullah, Aanantha, Zoe Taylor, Anrie Too, Amanda Ang, Sandee Chew, BB Ostella Adam, Alexis Wong, Amelia Chen, Karynn Tan, Shiva Shobitha , Pooja Jugal Kishor, Aliaa Sharif, Aminda Faradilla, with Freddy Tan and Alvin Looi.

KL Premiere
Date & Time:
Opening Night: Saturday, 10 December, 2011 @ 8:30pm
Night performances: 11 – 30 Dec @ 8.30
Evening Performances: 25 & 26 Dec @ 5pm
Matinees Performances: 11 & 18 Dec @ 3pm
No shows on the 12th, 19th & 24th Dec
Venue: Pentas 1, The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre

For Tickets:
Weekend prices (Friday – Sunday)
Adult: RM110/90/70/50
Concession (*): RM88/72/56/40

Weekday prices (Tuesday – Thursday)
Adult: RM100/80/60/40
Concession (*): RM80/64/48/32
* Eligible for students, disabled, senior citizens, TAS card holders & UNHCR card holders

Penang Tour
Date & Time:
11 – 14 January 2012 @ 8.30pm, 15 January 2012 @ 3pm
Venue stage 1, penangpac
3H-3A-1, Straits Quay, Jalan Seri Tanjung Pinang
Tanjung Tokong, 10470 Pulau Pinang.

Ticket Price
RM60 / RM40 / RM30*
* Eligible for students, disabled, senior citizens, TAS car holders & UNHCR cardholders

(Launch date for ticket sales: 1 December 2011)

Video: LIFE DECISIONS

2011-11-03T10:00:00.000+08:00

Here is the play we did at S+S Theatre 2011. It was recorded on the 3rd nighte, which, IMHO, was our best performance during week 1:)

S + S Theatre: LIfe Decisions

2011-10-28T10:00:00.000+08:00

My involvement in late October's S+S Theatre can only be described as "full of drama"- I got in, I pulled out, and I got in again. Hmm... This could be a long story:)

OK, let's start from S+S Musical. The moment that I saw that my part in "Tweet About It" was a small one, I had hoped for something meaty in S+S Theatre. I could then have a bit of fun in the musical week and do more serious work in theatre. After all, I wanted to do something that is totally not me, so that I could learn and be a better actor.

I was very pleased to find out that I had 2 offers after the July audition and one of them was BB's "Life Decisions". The script was read in June's Baca rehearsed reading at The Actors Studio and I had a good idea what the story was about and what inspired her to write the grim tale. After reading the 2nd script, I picked "Life Decisions" which required me to play an senior business man who staged his own suicide to frame his enemies. Because I was busy stage managing Cartoon and also "Tweet About It", I was very diligent with "Life Decisions" - I started memorizing the lines from day 1 I confirmed my participation and within 2 weeks, I had memorized all my lines.

would you kill yourself to get back on your enemies?

Complications with the play started when I discovered that the director is based in Penang and would only be coming in early October to rehearse the play. To make things even more challenging, up till late Aug we still had not found a female actor to play the assassin. The director also had his own unique concept on how he wanted the play to be. I felt that I really needed him to be here in KL to guide me.

After he found the actor for the assassin, the director basically asked us to meet on our own to rehearse and he would come later to clean up the play. After meeting with my partner, I discovered that she was going away for 3 weeks in September! How are we going to rehearse then? I was beginning to doubt if this play was going to work.

All bruised

Then things sort of got to a point where I did not want to do the play anymore when the female actor pulled out from the play. I decided to pull out too and suggested to the director to assemble his own team in Penang instead.

And so I put my time and effort into "Tweet About It" and I had fun with the team. However, I was still not happy that I did not get to do something dramatic. Towards the end musical week on Saturday afternoon, I found out from BB that the Penang director had pulled out too and she was getting Nicole Ann Thomas to direct the play. They were also looking for a new cast. Inside, I was thinking perhaps I should "apply" to rejoin the production but I was already busy with the Malaysian Girls rehearsals too. I tried not to think too much about it then.

Conversation between Lee and Tevy

The event that helped me make my decision to rejoin "Life Decisions" was the S+S Musical competition results - wifey won the award for best female lead for her role in "Oriental Takeout". Like I said earlier, as a husband I was very proud of her achievement but as a fellow actor I was envious of it. It was not like I wanted to win the best male lead award as well but I was lamenting what I could have done with "Life Decisions". So within 24 hours I texted BB and asked if they had found anyone to act and offered myself. BB informed me that she would let Nicole know and it would be the director's decision to take me or not.

Fortunately for me, by the next day BB informed me that I was back in "Life Decisions" and we had less than 14 days to put up the play! Nicole managed to get one of her friends Hazlin to play Tevy. Hazlin is a very experience actress who sort of retired 3 years ago after getting married- I would later find out that I watched her performance in "The Odd Couple" back in 2005.. Another one of those "I-can't-believe-I-am-rubbing-shoulders-with-performers-I-used-to-watch" moments!

Regret? Fear?

Under normal circumstances, it would be alright to prepare for this play but with less than 14 days before tech run, it appeared to be one heck of a challenge for everyone! I am usually nervous when doing saomething new but I was really SUPER nervous with this one. I must thank Nicole and Hazlin for their guidance and help in this one. This is the first time I am playing someone older than my actual age. I already don't behave old for my age, what more now playing an Ah Pek?

Slowly, with Nicole, I managed to discover who Lee was for myself and began to become older. I still feel that I have not "aged" to the level I needed to be to play Lee effectively for the performances, but I was moving in the right direction - at least I don't sound like a youngster:)

"Is it selfish to want to die?"

To cut the story short, we managed to stage "Life Decisions" with less than 10 rehearsals and I must say it was tough and yet rewarding to see how far we've come. Our opening night performance was shaky at best, but the subsequent shows we got better. In fact, I believe our 3rd show was our best effort yet - I could sense the uneasiness among the audience watching the drama unfold.

Now that we are into theatre week 2, we will have to wait till this Saturday night to find out if "Life Decisions" will be picked for Sunday's Gala Night performace. If we make it, we'll definitely give our best effort to make this a play to remember. Unlike most S+S entries, it is not a comedy and it requires a lot of work to make the play believable. I do hope that we had managed to do enough to be selected:)

Update: We got in!!! We're performing tomorrow at Gala Night! :))))

"Tevy, what does your name mean?"

S+S Musical: Tweet About It

2011-10-24T15:50:00.002+08:00

Last few weeks have rather interesting. Besides attending the Malaysian Girls rehearsals as the assistant stage manager, I am also involved in the annual Short + Sweet Festival Malaysia as a performer in the musical & theatre categories. So let's start with the musical then:)

Attending auditions is one thing,.. to be offered anything sort of depends on your luck I guess. I am fortunately offered a part in a simple straight forward musical called "Tweet About It". Actually wifey was offered the lead in the same musical, but I encouraged her to accept the other offer which was more challenging as a performer. You can read about her experience here.

My role in this is a small one, so it's kinda stress free compared to other productions I've participated in. It's also a great to make new friends too. Check out our pictures, courtesy of DustyHawk.

Apart from the opening night, we performed to a packed house for the other 3 nights. It was a fun experience to do this. While most of the plays were either okay or very good, there were a couple that I didn't like(I watched the video taping). Well, I now know who to avoid in next year's musical:-)

Overall "Tweet About It" did okay- our supporting actress Sachie won the Festival Director's award for her performance and so we didn't go home empty handed. Big winers were "A Taste Of Love", "My Prince Will Come" and wifey's "Oriental Takeout". Wifey also took home Best Actress Award for her role as the prostitute. Was I happy? Well, to be honest, the husband part was very proud of wifey's performance but the actor part was envious that I didn't get something more I can work with.Eventually this led me to my re-involvement in S+S Theatre which I had pulled out from earlier... but that's another blog entry:-)

Priorities in Life

2011-09-26T08:21:00.002+08:00

Have been thinking lately on my priorities. It's interesting to note that priorities change as we age:)

When I was a little boy, my priority was to watch my daily cartoon at 5pm- not sure if the current TV scheduling is still the same, though. One of the memories of my childhood was my mom telling me to take a short nap at 4pm and wake up at 15 minutes before the show.

As a teenager, I would say my priority was sort of more religious- attending saturday youth service(Inter School Christ's Ambassadors or ISCA) and getting involved in church activities,especially Christmas & Easter shows. While I did ok in school, I was never the studious type as some of my friends were.

By the time I hit late-teen, I started focusing my time & energy on my first gf. We were quiet inseparable, which, in hindsight, was not a healthy thing. The relationship became quite exclusive to the point that I began to alienate my buddies.

Early 20s saw me doing my studies in Sydney, Australia. My priorities then were more of less to explore & learn from this new world beyond my own country. Yeah, I fell in love with someone I shouldn't have & suffered one of the worst heartaches in my life, but that too was a learning experience.

Back from Australia, it was more about finding a job than pursuing a career. What do I really know what I wanted to do right? I thought I did when I enrolled to study government & industrial relations. I came back at the time when Malaysia was still recovering from recession. As much as I wanted to stay in Penang, I couldn't find a job that I want. Eventually I landed in KL and got my first job as a management trainee in Padini. The proudest moment in my time there was together with 10-13 newbies like me, we opened the first 10 PDI outlets across Peninsular Malaysia.

Anyhow, I've digressed. After a couple of other jobs, I sort of missed out a bit on my priorities. I can't recall much at the moment but if I really have to pinpoint something that was constant then, it would be about spending time at home with parents & reconnecting with my friends. Oh yeah, I was back working in Penang for a while.

By mid 2000s, I was back in KL. By then, my priorities was perhaps pursuing my hobby in GX as a part timer & also establishing my relationship with then-gf(now wife). The hobby turned in a job/career and this is where I am now career-wise.

Then I got married and that triggered a fabric of events; Spending time with wife was getting more important. Pursuaded by wife to attend audition for a musical. Finding a new hobby after my old hobby has become a job.

So what is next?

I am interested to find out as well:)

Life of mundanity or excitement?

2011-09-05T19:49:00.000+08:00

Given the choice, what would you choose?

The usual stuff, day in & day out? You wake up at the exact time, you do the same thing, eat the same food, go back to bed.... and start all over again the next day?

Or would you look for something different, non conventional, challenging, exciting?

Finally...

2011-08-20T18:48:00.000+08:00

After doing this for the last 2 years, wifey and I will be working together in the same production!

What will it be? Will tell later, but suffice to know that this production will involve the Who's Who of klpac and a bunch of great performers!

Stay tuned for more:)

Who am I?

2011-08-11T20:14:00.004+08:00

Life used to be so simple. A couple of years back when people asked me what I do, my answer was quite straight forward -"I work with a medical supplier but I teach GX classes on a part-time basis."

Then it got even simpler:

"I work with Fitness First as a Group Exercise Manager and I teach GX classes."

Nowadays, I dunno what I should say... because over the last 12 months, I have done the following:

Performed in musicals

sang for weddings(a couple of occasions)

Emceed a wedding

Acted in a Maxis product launch

Took on a dramatic role

Sang in recitals


Emceed an event

And soon, I will be adding one more thing- stage manager...

So who am I?

Drums Alive Launch @ Miracle 2011

2011-08-09T16:23:00.001+08:00

(L-R) Cindy, Winnie, Me, Jacquline, Zila, & Nic

The ladies in front are from IOI Mall

First time see so many balls in a class:)

I reckon everyone did well as first timers

Thanks for your energy!

Miracle pictures!

2011-08-09T16:10:00.000+08:00

Have decided to ask Marketing dept for the pictures from Miracle 2011. Below are a couple of pictures from the day.

BODYJAM demo

BODYATTACK demo

BODYCOMBAT demo

Ben Sim teaching Lose It! Team Workout

Drums Alive as part of the opening ceremony

BODYSTEP class

Miracle Show Off #1

Miracle Show off #2

Easy Moves Class

Sh'bam by Tracy

Me auctioning Lorraine

Peggy in high heels!

Miracle Show off #3

Miracle Show off #4

Miracle Show off #5

GX All Stars - BODYATTACK

GX All Stars - BODYJAM

GX All Stars - BODYCOMBAT

Next entry will be just Drums Alive:)

Wasted Saturday night & Sunday morning

2011-08-07T20:17:00.000+08:00

Last night, when I was about to go to bed, I found out that the door of my bedroom was locked. After trying to open it with the key, I realized at the lock was spoilt. It was already 12am I tried to dismantle the lock. After much sweaty effort, I eventually managed to get both sides of the knob off, but the lock was still stuck there. I was still locked out... By then, it was already 1am.

So I decided to shower and slept on the couch.

Woke up the next morning and went shopping for new door lock- had to do it in the morning because afternoon I have rehearsal at klpac. So missed church. Went to Puchong shop opposite IOI Mall but it was closed- last time bought a reasonably cheap on over there. So, had to patah balik to Central Old Klang Road. Bought 1 cheap one(for the guest room as the door knob was loose already) and another expensive one for my room.

I thought I could install them when I got back home... only to realize that I got the wrong size! And so, I went back to the shop to exchange for the right size. For the size I wanted, the cheap one did not have that variation, so had to pay more for another expensive one.

By the time I reached home, I knew I was going to be late for my 2pm rehearsal. Immediately SMSed director to informed him and I quickly install my room's lock. Once done, I had another quick shower and rushed to klpac.

Finally installed the guest room's lock after returning from klpac.... *sigh*

Beautiful Contemporary from SYTYCD season 8

2011-08-06T21:15:00.002+08:00

Watch out for Marko & Melanie in Season 8! This is their week #1 performance!

S+S

2011-08-06T12:09:00.005+08:00

Usually in the gym when we say someone is SS, it's not a compliment. Being call "syiok sendiri" is not that nice, but then again some people may not care that much.

Anyhow, in the performing arts scene, SS stands for something else.

Short+Sweet is the biggest short play festival in the world. First produced at the Newtown Theatre in Sydney, Australia in 2002. All performances must strictly stays within the 10 minute time limit. klpac started the Malaysian festival in 2008 with dance and theatre, and they added musical last year. This year wifey & I decided to give the auditions a try.

While wifey wanted to dance and me theatre, we both went for the musical audition together. She sang "Summer in Ohio" from The Last Five Years and I did "I Believe" from The Book of Mormon. It was a good experience and we both got an offer for the same musical. However, she was also offered a role in another musical. She decided to accept the 2nd offer.

As much as we wanted to do the same musical, we both felt strongly that she would benefit more in terms of growth & development as a performer. Besides, it allows us to be like Gong Li & Zhang Ziyi.

"Now we are rivals."

As for the other categories, wife is performing bollywood in the dance category and I am doing a dark play in theatre. Maybe next year we'll do a dance together, if BB is able to come up with something:)

Do come join us if you are free- it'll be a lot of fun!

The dates for the festival are:

S+S Musical
28 Sept - 1 Oct 2011

S+S Dance
Week 1: 5 -8 Oct 2011
Week 2: 12 -15 Oct 2011
Gala Night: 16 Oct 2011

S+S Theatre
Week 1: 19 -22 Oct 2011
Week 2: 26 -29 Oct 2011
Gala: 30 Oct 2011

Why you should forget about Nike Free

2011-08-05T17:11:00.000+08:00

Shall give my feedback after trying them:)

Balance in life... Gym stuff!

2011-08-04T14:04:00.025+08:00

If you have been to Fitness First GX classes lately, the latest craze in the club are Sh'bam & Drums Alive. While Sh'bam is another great program from Les Mills, Drums Alive is a different ball game altogether, pun intended:)

If there's ever a program that is made for me, it would definitely by Drums Alive. Don't get me wrong; I love BODYCOMBAT a lot and it's the first program that got me started in GX... but I have been playing drums since 1990! To put it in Les Mills term, I have been in the essence for years!!

Training was done in June, we launched it in a big way at Miracle 2011 and now Drums Alive is available at the following gym: 1MK, The Curve, Damansara Uptown, Menara Axis, Menara MBF, Avenue K & Klang Bukit Tinggi.

Yesterday morning I taught my first class with Cindy. I have to admit, I wasn't prepared for the class as I was still thinking about the chorey when I was driving to 1MK this morning. However, the moment the music started and I got into the groove, the chorey just came to me so clearly! We both managed to have fun with the members and it was obvious the members loved the total feel of Drums Alive.

Shall do more homework and make next week's class better:)

All changes in time...even this blog

2011-08-03T14:00:00.002+08:00

Just been reminded that I haven't blogged since January....OK then, a bit of update since January:

The audition I went in Jan didn't work out and so I went for another one in February and landed a part in what I consider my proudest moment so far in my performing arts career(not that it's a long career, but you'll get the idea). While I like to act & do bits of dancing(if required), I have always considered myself musical person. Hence, auditions that would catch my attentions are, you guess it, musicals. I would rarely go for standard drama auditions and even if I did, it would be just for the experience and not expecting much. Hence, when I went for the Jan audition, it wasn't something that I was hoping to get into.

Anyhow back to the February audition. The event page on Facebook said there's a bit of dancing & singing, so I went for it, did my thing, made an impression and got the callback. At the callback, the guy got us into groups and we were supposed to play out bits and pieces of the scripts that were given to us. Oh boy, I thought. I was paired with this Kuching chic and we rehearse together. I have no idea how it turned up, but I didn't like the feeling of acting at all.

2nd part was checking our vocal range before we were left at the mercy of this lady BB to go through a little bit of choreography. Overall, I thought I did ok in choreography but I totally did poorly in acting. So I didn't think I would be hearing any good news from them.

To my surprise, a couple of days later I got a call asking me if I would be able to come for rehearsal on certain days if I was picked for the show. To make it short, I was picked for one of the stories and to funniest part was, I was going to play a junkie!! OK, I'm no Mr Universe but I was wondering why I was picked for that role.

For the next 2-3 months, however, I was given guidance from how to do research for a character I am playing, learn some dancing terms & moves like piroutte, make new friends.... and in the process, it helped me to break out from the mold I've set myself in.

It has been a wonderful journey and because of this, I now have the confidence to call myself an actor.

Thank you, creative team of Bars & Bedrooms!

What is there to do in 2011

2011-01-26T22:09:00.000+08:00

Hmm.. it's already day 26 of 2011 and my last blog entry was months ago!

Have I been that busy? Well not quite. It's just I have lost the urge to blog. Nowadays, it's just so easy to twit instead of blog. One liners are just a lot easier to type and send instead of blogging.

Why am I blogging now then? Guess what.. I'm going to an audition tomorrow and I am required to do a monologue in the local context. So I decided to look around my blog postings, and decided to write a bit.

Speaking of auditions, last year was interesting because I managed to do 2 musicals. This year, I am hoping to do 1 more musical, perhaps at the end of the year- I heard there's something coming up in Dec with Joe Hasham again. It's very good to work with him as he is a very disciplined director- everything is planned & laid out right from the start.

The audition I am doing tomorrow is for a play in March- no singing no dancing. Just trying my luck - don't think I will get in but it's good to get some experience.

OK, going to search my old entries now. Perhaps I may write again soon?

4 months on...

2010-09-03T10:06:00.001+08:00

Wow... haven't blogged for ages!

Well, probably have to thank my iPhone & Twitter for that. Nowadays anything I think of I will just twit instead. It takes so much time to go to the computer, log in to blogger before I can speak my mind:)

Anyhow, life has been pretty interesting lately. I have finished my show "Adam:The Musical" in June and will be doing another one end of Nov. This time, however, will be different because:

1) Practice time is only 2 months
2) Show is running for 10 days only
3) I am one of the principals
4) I am doing comedy for a change

Actually I auditioned for 2 shows and had to pull out of one. Not quite pulling out, since the director of the 2nd show was still deciding whether to cast me or not. Basically I had to inform him that I would take up the first offer instead of waiting for him.

If I had waited for the second show and if I got the role, I would probably be playing Joseph(of the new testament) and acting with people like Juwita Suwito and Liang. Instead, I have chosen to do a comedy directed by Mr Potato. Hope the other show does well when it opens in December - the music is fantastic!

Seriously, he is Mr Potato

We've been meeting up once a week for the last 3 weeks to do some mental exercise and have not really done much of the script reading yet. Some of the people involved are fasting. So, practice will pick up pace once Raya is over.

Shall write more about this when the day approaches! But if you know my boss(es), please don't tell her/them about this, ok?

Shhh....

Adam the Musical- media preview pictures!

2010-05-07T11:33:00.000+08:00

Last Wednesday, the Actors Studio held a media preview and below are some of the pictures taken.

scene from Lollipop

lollipop!

X-tra large JUMBO!

Zap!

The cast with our director Joe Hasham OAM

Please come see us at the Actors Studio!

Presenter The Actors Studio& the Malaysian AIDS Foundation
Date 12 May - 20 June
Time 8.30pm daily except 3pm on Sundays (no show on Mondays)
Venue The Actors Studio @ Lot 10
Ticket Price RM60 (adults - centre), RM40 (adults - side), RM30 (students, sr. citizens & the disabled)
Promotion RM30 flat for walk in purchase 2 hours before showtime (only at TAS, first-come-first-serve)
Box Office
Call or walk in | The Actors Studio @ Lot 10 (03 2142 2009 / 2143 2009 - ticket collection at The Actors Studio)
Call or walk in | klpac (03 4047 9000 - ticket collection at klpac)
Walk in only | Axcess HQ (Jln. Semangat), Axcess 1-Utama outlet & Alamanda Putrajaya outlet

Adam The Musical Promo

2010-05-03T14:33:00.000+08:00

If you are in KL between 12 May & 20 June... come watch the show la!

Interview: Cast of Adam The Musical - Miaw

2010-04-09T11:30:00.002+08:00

Ok, it's time to promote the show I'm involved in.

I haven't done an interview for a while and I thought this is probably a good chance to do it again. Today's feature is our youngest cast member of Adam the Musical - Miaw!

Miaw is so young that she just got her driving license and she currently studies at a local college and will probably be going off to Australia by the end of the year.

What motivated you to be involved in performance arts?

I joined a drama club when I was 8 years old. It's a long story. 

According to my  mum, on the 1st day of joining Drama Club, Madam Song Mee Lan (Our Drama  Teacher) and us were dancing, many parents were outside the  classroom peeking on their child (my mum wasn't there, cause  I'm not being pampered.) 

Those parents took notice of me, and they told  my mum, "Wow, your daughter is good. First time joining the class?" 

Mum:"Ahh.. Yes. Just wanted to let her try something out." 

Kids'  Parents:"Ehh, You should let you daughter join some performing classes  or something le.. She's good." 

Mum:"Ahh.. No larh.. Just let her having  some fun." 

So, that's when she started considering to send me to drama  class, singing classes, dancing classes and also various competition and  performances. Since then, I felt that I'm in love with the stage. I  love to perform just to entertain but not to show off. I never  experience stage fright during performance BUT I will have butterflies in  my stomach during audition and competition. 

Also, involving in Kaki Blue the  musical, made me felt in love with the spot lights. It was my first time  to experience the spot lights on me. It felt woah.. It's beyond words. It's  so bright like a star and you can't even see the audience. Basically,  it's something like that. x)

I can't even remember what I ate over the weekend... how come you can still remember your teacher's name?

Erm.. Oh well, cause I've  known her for years. So it's impossible for me not to remember my  teacher's name. Hehe.. Besides, she was quite famous over the days as a  news reader. =)

WHat was your first production?

My first production.. Hmm.. I think it's Kaki Blue The Musical which went on Last year 2009.... unless you consider the recording of MTV for chinese new year songs is a production. Personally, I don't think it is counted as a Production. Haha.. =D

How was Joe Hasham like in Kaki Blue?

Joe Hasham hasn't change much since the last production I'd worked with him. Oh! Except the new thing about him, He uses the bell, which I find it tiny bit annoying. (Shh.. Don't tell him XD) 

I personally think that he was slightly more strict during Kaki Blue. I'm not sure, probably this time around I got used to the way he handle things? =) Anyway, he LOVES to say this "I throw you out the balcony." Haha.. 

Now come to the serious part of the Director. I really really respect him as a director. I NEVER DONE ACTING before Kaki Blue. But because of his guidance, and the things he said, I finally done acting! Oh well, not very good, but acceptable I suppose. 

Joe Hasham said:"Acting is reacting. This is because you are reacting towards each other. And it comes from the inside, Feel it inside you. Every action has its reason behind it." Though these are simple sentences but I find it hard to achieve. Probably I'm not mature yet or something. But he guided me through the high mountains, and I don't regret with my performances in Kaki Blue as a beginner. 

Another thing amazing about Joe Hasham is he gives you the space of creativity to do your own acting. For example, acting as an old lady, You can choose to act as a happy go lucky old lady or you can choose to act as an old lady that always got worried about everything, AS LONG AS IT'S LOGIC TO THE STORY. Yeappy Yeap. You heard it.

What song did you sing and what monologue you did for the  audition?

I sang Shining Friends  from 2R during the audition. I googled the monologue I did. But I didn't manage to do my monologue cause when I started my  first 3 words, Joe said:" Okay thank you. Now please go back to your  seat." and I was like. O____O Scared the hell out of me. @_@

I remember you mentioned that you are in this not because of money... can I have your pay then?

Oh well, in your dreams that you can have my pay. =D Haha.. You should know that the transportation fee is not cheap. =)

What have you learnt from this musical practice so far?

What have I learnt from this musical practice so far.. Hmm.. Quite alot I suppose. But all of them are more of like a reminder in life to me.

For example, when you sing, relax, don't get too tensed. Look at the pink paper.. etc.. =)

If there's one thing you want the audience to learn from the musical, what would it be?

I will want them to understand how the AIDS patients think and feel. Besides, I will want them to learn not to criticise other people or look down at other people no matter what.

Thanks for the time, Miaw. I believe she's still single and available. Anyone interested, please leave a message and I'll try to hook you up with her.

ADAM THE MUSICAL will be staged from 12 May - 20 June at the Actors Studio @ Lot 10 Rooftop. For more info, please visit The Actors Studio. 

BODYCOMBAT ALLSTARS

2010-03-29T19:46:00.000+08:00

Fitness First IOI Mall gym floor was exceedingly quiet last Sunday....

Not just the cardio machines, but the weight machines too...

Have a good guess where the crowd was...

Believe it or not, 100 plus members waiting for the class to start.

It was BODYCOMBAT ALLSTARS: BRING IT ON!

It wasn't just the members who came and gave their best, all the instructors also performed their 100% for the class.

If Scott tried any harder, shit would coming down from his pants

I may be biased, but I dare say this is probably the best ALLSTARS event yet!

Thank you BC ALLSTARS.... KEEP SHINING!!!!

Why I've not been blogging lately

2010-03-16T13:16:00.000+08:00

As usual, the answer is... "BUSY-LAH...."

It's actually one of those good "busy-lah". I've been attending the musical practices religously and having loads of fun with the cast.

It's so great to have friends outside of gym- not that I don't appreciate them. But sometimes I look at the people I hang out with, they are either my gym members or colleagues.

Now, it's refreshing that I make new friends and at the same time, learning how to be a better performer on stage with guidance from our music director Tracy, dance choreographer Lex, & of course the big guy Joe Hasham. Incidently, Joe Hasham was awarded some title "OAM" by the Australian government. Wonder what it means.... Originial Australian Made"?

Besides having fun practising together, we had the priviledge of going out for one Fri night supper(coz Joe decided to let us off early) and also attended one of our cast member's wedding.

Wing Leong married his sweetheart over the weekend and we had so much fun with the impromptu dance for his entrance. Not forgetting, we had Tria Aziz singing "Sweet Love". She is absolutely fantastic. I would never ask her to sing for my wedding(if I'd known her 1 year earlier), coz she'd probably steal the show from wifey & me:)

Ee Wen also sang 2 numbers and the night ended with the groom singing a song for his wife.

Oh I'm so blessed!!!

Adam The Musical Week 2

2010-02-08T09:30:00.001+08:00

Last week's practices were somewhat affected by the sad news of the demise of our Music Director's grandma. Here I was, going there to look for her so that I could wish her "Happy Birthday", only to be informed by our pianist Elena that Tracy wouldn't be coming that day.

Still, the show(or rather, the practice) must go on and Lex atarted with us again before Elena took over with the singing. The singing focus was to get the phrasing accurate. With Lex, we have begun dancing to the song as well.

We welcomed Tracy back on Wednesday and we started with her instead. I guess it was so that she could leave early for her grandma's wake, since she didn't stay back till the very end. We sang the first song and she has a new song for us to learn. It's so different from the first song. The first song was Broadway-ish, while this song is err... sound a bit Ah-Beng-ish:) Not as catchy as the first song, but still fun to learn because unlike the first song which has only 2 parts for harmonizing ,this one has 4. With 4 parts, the song seem to sound "rounder" compared to the first one. we all had to learn the chorus where we sang "pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa.... ya!" in 4 parts I thougth they(musical notes) we simple though it has an off-beat feel.

Again, Lex added a few more layers to the choreography we learned the night before, which was quite simple to follow. I can almost see how we would look at the Actors' Studio!

Friday night, I was thinking of taking pictures of the production team but unfortunately, Joe, Dato' Faridah & Rosheen were not around. We had Aple, our 2nd stage manager, in charge, together with Lex & Tracy.

Lex taught us the last bit of the choreography for our first song. It's beginning to appear that the guys would not be on stage for this song, since the moves are quite feminine... Either that, or we would need to cross dress for the song:)

I was looking forward to learn the 2nd song because earlier I had already looked at the music sheets and learn how the notes sound. Actually for baritone, I got arguably the easier part, compared with the tenors. It's like we only need to sing around 4-5 notes which were repetitive.

Tracy got us all to learn the song and by the end,we were enjoying ourselves because of the funny lyrics. I felt weird singing the line "Before they come between my thighs"... not going to tell you what the title is and what it's about. You will need to buy the tickets and watch the show!

Anyhow, we managed to get the gist of the song and Aple asked us to know the song by heart for the coming week's practice. So far I've got 80-90% sorted out. I should be 100% by Monday night.

Hopefully get to take pics of the team this week. Maybe will take pics of the cast as well for the following week.

Adam The Musical Week 1

2010-02-02T19:00:00.003+08:00

And so, last Tuesday we started our practice for Adam the Musical.

I was a bit kiasu - I took the day off(part of my plan to clear my 2009 annual leave). I even left home to KLPAC at about 5.15pm. Reached Jalan Ipoh and had dinner at one of the stalls around 6pm. Still got lots of time left, and ended up going for round 2(dim sum) & round 3(Old Time White Coffee).

Nowadays, it's better to be very early then 5 mins late, no?

Almost all was on time - I guess nobody wanted a tongue lashing from our director Joe Hasham.

I managed to talk to a few people, including one Michael Chen who was recently in the show "The Swimmning Instructor". Incidently, Michael is now training Janis @ TNT Kickboxing.

First day wasn't much of a practice - we got the script for the show and did the reading. Took quite some time to finish but it did give us an idea how the show is going to be like.

Again, before we ended the night, we were reminded by Joe again that "There is only 1 director and nothing is more important than the production".

Wednesday was more interesting as we started with something I didn't expect to happen so quick - learning my first dance!

Stage manager Rosheen & Executive Producer Dato' Faridah Merican

We did some streching which included the Sun Salutation. Though I have never really done yoga before(the closest thing I ever did was BODYBALANCE), it was quite easy to follow our choreographer Lex since I've seen the moves so many times in our class audit(QCC).

Waiting for the practice to start

We then proceed to learn quite basic moves from Lex. The moves involves a bit of shoulder isolations(which took me 2 days to understand how to do them better). Thankfully, Lex did the mirror image method:)

More waiting

After we got the moves right, Lex then put in the CD and out comes Spice Girls' "Who Do You Think You Are" and we had to dance to the music!

Preparing to shake our booties!

I wasn't feeling confident about dancing again, and I began to wonder if I could pull it off.

Rolling the shoulders out, together with the arms

I started with quite few mistakes.

What have I gotten myself into?

That's Michael on the left

After doing it a few time, though, I began to adjust to the moves and eventually I was moveing rather well(or at least, I thought so). In fact, I was beginning to enjoy it:)

Lex looking pleased with the progress, apparently

After doing them a few times, Lex handed us over to Tracy our Music Director and we received our first song to learn. It's quite a Broadway-ish number and rather catchy too. In fact, I'm quite proud that a local song writer could do such a high quality number.

The practice was made simple with Tracy singing the melody for us. She was fantastic! The catchy tune is very easy to learn, but getting the phrasing correct is another challenge. Not to mention, we have to sing in parts to support the main singer Sandra.

Again I took leave on Friday. The practice started the same way with the warm ups and we had to do the dance again. This time, Lex added a few move arm/leg movements to the dance steps that we've learned on Wednesday(sort of like BODYJAM's layering, methinks). It wasn't that difficult to learn the additional moves once I've got Wednesday's moves right.

And again, we had to dance to "Who Do You Think You Are".... man, I feel like a Spice Boy!

Day 3 dance

Basically we've managed to learn the entire choreography for the first dance that night... unless Lex has something to add on to this week.

Tracy took over after that and we were divided into soprano, alto, tenor, bartione. Not surprisingly, I was in baritone. The good news was the guys got to sing the melody till the very end, where we sang the harmonizing part.

A few of us, including me, was still struggling with the phrasing but I am thankful that I could read the notes. Otherwise, it would be difficult to learn at home- so mom & dad did the right thing to send me to Yamaha Music School, despite me not keen on learning organ.

By the end of the night, Joe gave his pep talk again. He wanted us to learn the song over the weekend so that the next practice(today) we could do it without looking at the sheets.

Anyhow, I did my homework over the weekend and I can tell you that wifey can hum the tune already:)

Tonight we'll be practising again - hopefully I will not forget my phrasing and hopefully, I can impress Tracy and make her feel proud, coz today is her birthday!

BC 42 Launch in IOI

2010-01-15T21:43:00.002+08:00

Last sunday was quite happening in Fitness First IOI Mall, with 3 programme launches - BODYATTACK, BODYSTEP, BODYCOMBAT.

For me, I had the priviledge to launch BODYCOMBAT 42 with 4 other instructors.

(L-R)Jayson, moi, June, Peggy, JX(who's there as a participant), Simone

June started the ball rolling with the first 3 tracks.

our latest import from HK, popularly know as Miss 6-pack

Peggy was not supposed to be teaching that day, but we sort of have a last min arrangement.

She taught track 4 & track 5

And I took care of the next three tracks.

BC 42 theme was muay thai, hence the shorts

I would say it was a rousing success with the members flocking into the studio for all three launches. We have not experience such electricfying atmosphere on a Sunday for a while.

Jayson was entrusted to teach the conditioning track which was the Sean Kingston hit, "911".

One of the famous three Klang boys in Fitness First BODYCOMBAT team

And sweet Simone ended the class with the sweet cool down.

Wow... never realise she has a big mouth literally

I would say this is one of the few launches that I really enjoyed.

Thanks to the instructors who made it happening in all the 3 launches, and also to the members who came for whatever reason- nothing would have happened without your participation!

See you on 4 April for BC 43!!!

Happy New Decade!

2010-01-01T00:25:00.000+08:00

Bye bye 2000s, Hello 2010s....

Looking forward to great happenings in the new year!

Christmas Presentation 2009

2009-12-29T13:30:00.001+08:00

And so I celebrated Christmas 2009 in KL, my very first Christmas away from Penang. Even when I was away studying in Australia, I've always managed to be in Penang for Christmas. But this year was a bit different.

Also diferrent was this year marked my first time back onto stage play after a long hiatus.

Initially I was supposed to be in this 3-parter on 6, 13 & 20 Dec, but because of the Les Mills Quarterly Workshop with Dan & Rachel Cohen, I was only in for 13 & 20 Dec. The role I played? My favourite... muahahahaha!

Below are some of the pictures taken on 20 Dec, the finale:)

the final rehearsal in the morning

Make up for the devils

Believe it or not, this guy is actually quite good looking in person

Putting on the red face....

Wifey helped to make me look bad

Almost done...

It is finished!

A lovely hubby/wifey moment

mucking around

The cast

I reckon this can be a good ad for some jeans company

Gabe showing off his wings

The temptation recap

The Father

The angelic hosts

The Son

Overall, it sure brought back sweet memories of my previous involvement in Penang Christian Centre. I'm looking forward to a new challenge next year.

Next year, I hope that we would be able to put up a full-length drama that will run for a few days. In fact, I'm currently working on something to be submitted to the church leadership. God willing, it will be a good one:)

Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year!!!!

Adam the Musical's Final Call

2009-12-05T22:14:00.003+08:00

And so, 22 of us were chosen to be part of Adam The Musical!

Basically it was a short brieing session by Joe Hasham OAM, our director. He took some time to explain to us what we are going to commit to and how this would require a lot of hard work from everyone.

Among the things he mentioned:

"No one is bigger than the production"

"There's only 1 director, not 22 directors"

~~"People First, Performance Now"~~

Mark Beau also shared a bit a his experience on collecting information before writing the story to raise awareness on HIV/AIDS. The last thing, he said, people with HIV need is our sympathy. The more important thing to do is to create awareness so that people with HIV/AIDS will not be rejected by the community.

We were given the practice schedule and we'll kick start the practice on Tue 26 Jan 2010 Tuesday.

Before we left the place, we went around hugging one another and wish one another well.

I still don't know most of the people in the musical. but I'm probably the only first-timer in the group... which is why I felt priviledged to be part of this production. I look forward to the practices, even though I will have to give up my classes and drive from Puchong to Jalan Ipoh at least 3 times a week. I believe this will be a worthwhile effort.

I am thankful that my boss has given her blessings for me to pursue this. Otherwise, I may have to resign to do this:)

Anyhow, I will be sharing my experience in this production, from the first day of practice on 26 Jan 2010 to the actual show starting on 12 May 2010 at The Actors Studio in Lot 10.

I finally have something interesting to blog about besides gym- Stay tuned!

Auditioning for Adam the Musical

2009-11-25T17:52:00.004+08:00

Though I have been involved in church performance arts, I have never done anything outside the church. This is quite an odd thing and it is even odder that I'm venturing to the open at this age.

Anyhow, followed wifey to attend an audition last month. She got in, I didn't. Was so disappointed that I was very down emotionally. The funny part was I even dreamt about the director changing his mind and called me back because one of the boys turns out could not commit to the show dates. Alas, it didn't happen.

But I sure wasn't going to sit around and do nothing while my wife has her spot in the limelight. Just as I was looking around for something to do, Joe Hasham OAM called for an audtion for his musical "Adam: The Musical" which is slotted for May 2010.

And so, last Saturday I went to KLPAC to attend the audition. All the people in the production team were there- Director Joe Hasham OAM, Executive Producer Dato' Faridah Merican, Music Director Tracy Wong, Choreographer Lex, Writer Mark Beau De Silva & Song Writer Lim Chuang Yik.

The vocal warm up with Tracy

Me singing "This Is The Moment" from Jekyll & Hyde

Trying the dance choreography by Lex

Finally, my monologue which is a localised version of Rowan Atkinson's "The Devil"

It was quite a smooth audition. I was nervous but the previous audition experience sort of helped me a lot to control my nerves. I thought I did well enough to be called back for Tuesday's second round.

I eventually got an SMS from Dato' informing that I have been selected and I made my way to KLPAC again yesterday. When I went there, I saw that there were so many people(about 35 people I think) who were called back too & looking at the way they chatted with one another, it looks like I'm the greenhorn among veterans. Suddenly I didn't feel that confident anymore.

For the second round selection, things were even more challenging. After the vocal warm ups, we were required to learn this song:

fascinating rhythm
I'm always on the go
Fascinating rhythm
I'm all a-quiver

What a mess you're making
The neighbors want to know
Why I'm always shaking
Just like a flivver

Oh how I long to be the one I used to be
Fascinating rhythm
O won't you
Stop picking on me

After learning the song by heart, Lex took over and showed us a 32-count dance choreography. I sort of lost my confidence when I realised I had to learn the choreography, but I lost even more when told to do the singing and dancing together!

First all of us hummed the song and danced together. Later we had to do it in groups of 5. I had some difficulty learning the moves, no thanks to 5 years of Les Mills training. Lex wasn't doing the moves in the mirror image method and I felt that I was going to screw up this one. Imagine the horror when we had to present 1 by 1!

Fortunate for me, the ladies had to do first before the guys, all done alphabetically. So I had to time to see how the rest did and it helped me to remember the words and moves. When it was my turn, I thought I did okay. As I was one of the first guys to present, I got to see those who present after me and I realised that everyone was struggling as well.

Just what I needed! I got my confidence back and knew that I had a fighting chance to make it to the ensemble. We got a 10 minute break while the production team had their discussion.

It was good to have wifey around. She dropped by to bring me dinner(silly me forgetting to eat my dinner!), was there to see the whole process, and it helped me to put on my best to impress her:)

Finally we returned back for 2 more group performances and I made sure that I got the singing, the beat and the choreography as accurate as I could. Finally, Joe spoke to us about the audition and thanked us for coming. He said that Dato' Faridah would sms us by end of the night if we were chosen.

Going back, again I thought I did a good job and I stood a very good chance to get a part. Eventually I reached home around 1040pm and started waiting for the SMS to come.

11.00pm. Nothing.

11.30pm. Checked the phone again. Nothing.

11.45pm. Checked to see Maxis line is good. Nothing.

By 12am, I still didn't get any SMS. Sure, there was 1 sms and 3 phone calls but they were not Dato'. It was then I thought that again, I wasn't chosen - surely Dato' would be sleeping by 12am!

Anyhow, wasn't feeling too happy about it so I stayed up to watch Astro for a while.

Then at 12.21am, I received an SMS from Dato' Faridah...

"Congrats again! You are in Adam ensemble! See you tomoro night at 7.30 will not be a long night. Faridah"

What was my reply?

"and finally I get to sleep:) TQ for this fantastic opportunity!"

Was I happy? Of course! But I would've been happier if I get to be in the same musical as wifey. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the 2 auditions I attended and I'm pleased to get to work with Dato' Faridah and Joe.

Tonight I'm going to KLPAC again to see what I'll be doing for the musical. Hopefully I don't have to do too much dancing:)

What I've been up to lately

2009-11-12T02:18:00.002+08:00

Even though I've not been blogging lately, it doesn't mean I have been doing nothing. In fact, I have been busy with a couple of stuffs lately:)

1 MMA

I still recall when I completed my BODYCOMBAT training in March 2004, Tracy asked us to write down what we would do to become a better BODYCOMBAT instructor. One of the things I told her was I would sign up with a kickboxing gym in Penang and start training in the MMA so that I would understand the move and the feel of the punches/kicks better.

Sad to say, I didn't do it due to the busy-ness of my work and after moving to KL in 2005, my time was even more limited.

In early Sept, after delaying for so long, I finally decided that it was about time I stop giving excuses for not doing this. If I was really THAT busy, then I'd better work out my schedule to put this training if I were to continue to be the Head Teacher of BODYCOMBAT. So I search online for kickboxing gyms in KL/PJ. Instead of finding a kickboxing gym, I somehow dropped into this:

KDT Academy offers a wide range of trainings and one of the things they have was:

And since Oct, I've been attending CMD every Wednesday evening at 9pm. Physically it's now a little more challenging as this quarter I now have 2 classes on Wednesday (9.35am BODYCOMBAT, 7.00pm RPM Challenge). By the time I reach the place for CMD, I'm more or less around 50% of my physical best, but still I'm enjoying myself making new friends and learning new things.

My next step for this is to make it to the Sat afternoon open mat training which will allow me to hone my skills in boxing and grappling.

2 Teaching Freestyle Step

Fitness First Asia has just launched our 2 freestyle programmes and now I am teaching:

So far it's been a great experiene doing a class other than Les Mills programmes. As it's a entry-level class, the work demands are relatively lower compare to what I'm used to. After teaching it with a heart rate monitor, I realised that I am doing an average of 70% of my maximum heart rate and the highest I've achieve in a class was about 85%. Compare that to BODYCOMBAT or RPM which can reach average of 85-87% and sometimes I can hit beyond 90% in a class, this is a good option for beginner to try. Besides being easy on the heart, I notice that it burns around 520-530 calories per class, with 45-50% of it is fat.

Feedbacks from members have been positive. Sure there are those who find it too easy for them, but I taught a free class on Monday for my afternoon members to try and now they are asking for more! Will be looking to learn up more blocks so that I can teach more variety of blocks:)

3 Performing Arts

Back in my school days, I used to participate in a lot of church Christmas or Easter events. I've done acting, dancing, singing, script writing and -believe it or not- directing. Doing all those acting and dancing actually helped me in my development as an instructor. I have never had stage fright issues teaching my classes and I don't recall feeling anxious teaching my first BODYCOMBAT class- to me, it was just "Showtime!" The stage is something I'm so used to that it's just second nature to me.

I do miss doing those things but again, just like the MMA training, I've been busy with other things to do it again. Anyhow, I managed to do a bit of that for my wedding(musical theme) but something is still missing. So when the wife heard of this audition for a musical spoof that will be staged at the KLPac, she asked me to take part with her as well and I gladly obliged.

And so, Mon 12 Oct we went to KLPac and did our "thang" in front of the director. It was nerve wrecking as it's my first audition- usually in church shows, it's like "OK, you play the Devil... maybe you can try this role...etc" Anyhow it was a very good experience for the both of us and we were shortlisted for the second round. I was actually looking forward to it and I would be very happy just to be an extra for the show. Unfortunately, only the wife was selected this time.

Nevertheless, I am not giving up yet. There's another audition coming up next Sat for a musical and I'm going to try again. Even if I don't get selected again, I would still continue to try again and again, and again.

On another positive note, my church in Ampang has decided to do a couple of short skit for Christmas and, for the fourth time in my acting career, I will be playing the Devil. So no matter what, I still have something to do:)

Life is never boring!!!

Hard Rock Hotel Penang

2009-10-08T11:03:00.000+08:00

In case you haven't heard, Hard Rock Hotel is in Penang!

I was back home for 2 friends' wedding(they married each other) and took the opportunity to see the place since it was their soft opening(19 Sept 2009).

The Beatles at the entrance

As typical Penangites would do, we all decided to storm into the place see how it is. The Hotel used be Casuarina Hotel.

Hotel Lounge
Display at the lobby

Wife with the Beatles

Can't really say much about the place, coz there are just too many walking around.

The Hard Rock Cafe is on the left side of the building. If I'm not mistaken, that place used to be a disco back in the 90's. Think it was my first visit to the disco:)

Hard Rock Cafe Penang

some dude with the King Of Pop right outside the Cafe

At the hotel entrance
Hopefully business here would last. Maybe I can go back for the dining experience in Dec:)

hiatus

2009-08-24T21:19:00.002+08:00

Haven't been blogging... totally forgot I have a blog!

Just some updates, in case anyone is following.

Fitness First Malaysia will be launching the new BODYSTEP, BODYJAM, & BODYCOMBAT from 8-11 Sept for First Club members. If your membership with FF is more than 1 year, then you are a Firct Club member and you can register for the classes in the Klang Valley.

Anyway, Selamat Berpuasa to all Muslims!

Teambuilding

2009-07-02T14:25:00.003+08:00

One thing I hear a lot since started working is the word "TEAMBUILDING". It may sound like a positive thing where the department spend some time to do some activity to improve on the teamwork amongst the staff, but sometimes I feel that if a company/department needs teambuilding to this be function better, then perhaps there's something wrong in the group.

Over the last few years, I have my fair share of teambuilding experience. Some were just so-so, while a few were real great time together. One thing I notice, however, that will ultimately make the teambuilding activity a success... the attitude of the participants. Because only if everyone can start to think less of themselves and more of the team, the teambuilding activity would not do much good at all. So what if you tried to play some games to build the highest tower, the longer line when after that, things never change at the workplace?

Honestly, sometimes I feel those pre-planned teambuilding activities are over-rated. If each member of the team shows more concerns about the whole team than what he/she is going to get out of the work, the whole organization would function better already.

Doing those ad-hoc thing like going for lunch together, watching movie, go karaoke may sometimes be better teambuilding activities:)

Misled

2009-06-26T09:57:00.003+08:00

Don't you hate to be misled?

I suddenly thought of a childhood experience with this teacher. One day we were asked to do some homework during the school break.And so i did the homework to my best ability and submitted on time as requested. Then after marking the homework I was asked to come up to the front of the class. Right up to that moment, i was given the impression that I was going to get some reward for doing my work.

Mana tahu, i got a scolding in front of the class for not doing the work correctly.

To the teacher, I only have this to say...

You wanna whack me for the mistakes i made, fine. Just don't misled me the whole day. Don't ask me to wash my mouth if you were not handing out candies. I wouldn't have been that upset with you.

Sometimes when people don't do the right thing at the right time, they end up making things worse.

Miracle 2009

2009-06-19T13:23:00.002+08:00

And so, last week was another fantastic MIRACLE event at the Curve.

Anyhow, in case you weren't there, here's one tribe performance... Introducing the tribe from Klang- The Klang Bah Kut Teh- led by motor mouth Eugene Lim.

公正廉洁，义不容情

2009-06-03T10:00:00.000+08:00

简单来说，

我所做所为，永远公私分明，问心无愧，心安理得、理直气壮。

The greatest pleasure

2009-05-27T00:40:00.003+08:00

Mon morning I had an appointment to see a BODYCOMBAT trainee in his clearance class. Honestly I did not put much expectation in the trainee coz the last time he team taught with me 2 weeks ago, he had a very big issue with timing. And I was very honest with him, and I told him that he would really need to work on the timing if he were to stand any chance of clearing.

Spoke with his mentor as well and she also said the same thing about his track presentations. So today I was sort of expecting at best, an average presentation in the class. However, 2 weeks' of hard work sure did wonders for this guy. He taught a very energetic class!

The morning ladies in IOI Mall were certainly pleased with him and I was excited as well. Halfway passed the class, I text his mentor that if he continued his form, he will surely cleared the assessment.

Sure, there were a few spots where he lost the beat, but somehow he managed to get back on the beat without losing control of the class. And at the end of the class, after the feedback time, I gave him the good news.

I think the happiest person to hear the news of his clearance(besides him) is probably his mentor, because if I had a trainee under me who excels, I would be too. And based of the SMS between us, I can feel her joy and pride in seeing this new trainee succeed.

To think about it, when I first started teaching, the greatest joy was definitely being able to stand in front of the members and teach one heck of a class. Seeing another instructor teaching an awesome class would spur me to try to outdo the instructor, in a positive manner. Then, something happened: I became the headteacher.

Suddenly the focus was shifted. Instead of thinking of myself and my ego, I began to think about the whole team. When launch time, it's no longer about showcasing my ability. If the members prefer certain insturctors, then that's what they'll get. I will be equally happy to teach in a smaller clubs, as long as I get to contribute to the experience of the members.

Even in huge events like our annual Miracle charity event, there were times that I consciously chose to step aside and let the other instructors teach the tracks. As long as the launch was successful, it doesn't matter whether I teach or not. The team is more important than any individual instructor.

But today, after exchanging SMSes with the trainee's mentor, it just dawned upon me why the great pleasure for any instructor should be the success/grooming of another new instructor. As instructors, the joy of teaching an awesome class lasts only 1 class, even for a new release. After that, it's gone and you'll have to start all over again with another class. But when you successfully groomed a new instructor, the joy lasts so much longer... Seeing the person when he/she first started, how insecure and lost on stage teaching a track for the very first time.... till the day he/she can finally conduct the class alone.

Yup, nothing beats grooming new instructors!

Mandela, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr... and Zambry?

2009-05-13T10:00:00.002+08:00

Have you read Zambry's latest blog entry?

Menegakkan kebenaran bukanlah satu tanggungjawab yang mudah. Ia memerlukan pengorbanan dan kegigihan.
Nelson Mandela misalnya mengorbankan kebebasannya selama 27 tahun demi membebaskan rakyat Afrika Selatan dari cengkaman “apartheid”.
Mahatma Ghandi pula mengorbankan nyawanya untuk memastikan kemerdekaan India serta rakyatnya dapat hidup aman tanpa sempadan kasta dan agama. Perjuangan menegakkan keberanian ini memerlukan “keberanian”.

Mandela pernah berkata : “Saya mempelajari bahawa keberanian bukanlah bermakna tidak punya perasaan takut, tetapi Berjaya mengatasinya. Mereka yang berani bukanlah mereka yang tidak punya perasaan takut tetapi mereka yang mampu menakluki rasa takut itu. (I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. )....

....Memetik kata Martin Luther King Jr, kegelapan tidak akan mengatasi kegelapan. Kebencian tidak akan menghapuskan kebencian, hanya kasih sayang mampu mengubahnya. (Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.)

OK, so the guy's identifying with Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

Let's see what these guys' struggles were, according to Wikipedia:

-a former President of South Africa, the first to be elected in a fully representative democratic election, who held office from 1994–99.

-an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of the African National Congress's armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe.

-convicted of sabotage, as well as other crimes committed and spent 27 years in prison.

-a celebrated elder statesman who continues to voice his opinion on topical issues.

-1993 Nobel Peace Prize winner.

- pre-eminent political and spiritual leader of India and the Indian independence movement.

- pioneer of satyagraha—resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience, firmly founded upon ahimsa or total non-violence—which led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world.

- Honoured in India as the Father of the Nation

- Birthday on 2 October, is commemorated worldwide as the International Day of Non-Violence.

- led Indians in the Non-cooperation movement in 1922 and in protesting the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km (249 mi) Dandi Salt March in 1930,

- imprisoned for many years, on numerous occasions, in both South Africa and India.

- sworn to speak the truth, and advocated that others do the same.

- killed on 30 January 1948 while having his nightly public walk on the grounds of the Birla Bhavan(Birla House) in New Delhi.

- an American clergyman, activist and prominent leader in the African-American civil rights movement.

- led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president.

- famous "I Have a Dream" speech raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement.

- 1964 Nobel Peace Prize winner for work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means.

- assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee.

Very impressive achievements and legacies. Now, let's look at our boy's struggle:

- Did not follow proper procedure to be appointed Menteri Besar of Perak on 6 Feb 2009.

- Caused constitutional crisis in Perak.

- Giving BN a public relations nightmare to clean up BN's battered image.

- Desperately tries to stay in power in Perak by all means neccessary, except through a snap election.

- Dare not face the people of Perak in a snap election to obtain the mandate to lead a new government.

Somehow I don't see any similarity between him and any of the three people he mentioned.

Which leads to my question....

"What have you been smoking, Zambry?"

Dedicated to Dr Zambry and his illegitmate excos...

2009-05-11T16:25:00.002+08:00

Everybody sing now!!!!

OK, please pack your things and leave the office for the legitimate Menteri Besar, Thank you!

Wedding Dinner - Take 2!

2009-05-11T09:30:00.000+08:00

After our wedding in March, we went back recently to Penang to have another dinner for our relatives there.

Of course, I also extended the invitation to my friends from Church and FF Island Plaza.

With PCC friends

If not mistaken, mom-in-law's friends

We actually wore back our wedding clothes in March, as we bought them instead of renting- one of those things I learned from a show on E! channel.... Buy instead of rent for the most important day of your life.

Somehow I was distracted

At the entrance

With FF Island Plaza friends

Guess what? I'm now related to Dato' Lee Kar Choon!

Picture with my new uncle :)

Time on the invitation card stated dinner at 7pm but we only started at 8pm- not that bad, considering that the next day we attended my cousin's wedding dinner which started at 8.30pm.

We did the same opening in KL, with the video and singing. This time, the sound system was definitely better as we had rented the sound system.

Singing "A Whole New World"

Opening prayer by Pastor Lydia, one of the pastors from my home church Penang Christian Centre

At the table

The wedding in Penang was kinda packed with the traditional tea ceremony.

As I had about 20 tables of relatives, wife actually had quite a lot of people to serve tea to.

exhausting time!

On the other hand, she only had 4 tables so it was quite a breeze for me. I think it took me less than 10 minutes to settle her side while she around 45 minutes.

I was quite glad to have the ceremony done.

Daryl, the brother I never had

The first performance of the night, not counting our entrance song, was from my parents-in-law. Being professionals, they actually brought their own DVD to dinner for singing.

Grinning while I was introducing them

Singing 爱的路上只有我和你(old song, not that recent one)

Based on their singing, you can probably guess where wife got her talents from.

My 17-yr-old niece, Janine

After singing, it was the cake cutting and wine pouring time.

Deja vu

飲.........胜！

After which, I gave my "Part of my world" speech. Wife opted out as her "Finally" speech was not applicable in the Penang wedding.

All I'm saying... Thank you for being... Part of our world....

Finally came the long awaited first dance in Penang.

Started slow with Rod Stewart's "Till There Was You"

Just like in KL, there was a slight change of tempo halfway through.

"And I'm losing control..."

"Coz the power you're supplying...

"You're the one that I want... ooh, ooh, ooh.. Honey!"

That was the last performance from us. We didn't do the finale in KL as our dance crew were not with us.

As substitute, first I had my eldest bro singing.

The interesting thing about this wedding is I really had a difficult time addressing my relatives. Most of them I hardly see them at all, not even during CNY but are my mom and dad's cousins and uncles-aunties.
I honestly dunno who these people are

Anyway, we went back to the tea ceremony again but this time we were being served.

We missed our my sis-in-law in KL's tea ceremony

Finally, the highlight of the night was my mom singing 夜来香. Truth be told, my mom used to have a very good voice, but that was way before she had 4 children.

Now?

See my reaction.

Anyhow, mom did her thing and bro and niece decided to have a impromptu dance.

Doing the cha-cha

Mom still has her fans in the form of her cousins

Timing and pitch was good, just the quality of voice is not what it used to be

There was another last min performance from an uncle, at mom's request but timing was a bit out. Fortunately by then, we had reach the end of the dinner.

Overall if felt more like a wedding for us as we were in our wedding clothes the whole night, as opposed to KL where we changed to smart casual for our finale performance.

I think that was a kiss of relief

Is this necessary?

2009-05-10T00:09:00.000+08:00

How the West was won... the BN way

2009-05-08T14:18:00.001+08:00

Fast forward to 5:00 to view how the Speaker was "gently" removed from the assembly.

Video - FAMILY

2009-05-08T10:00:00.000+08:00

1BlackMalaysia: Democracy First, By-election Now

2009-05-06T13:42:00.000+08:00

Apparently tomorrow 7 May 2009 is a good day to wear black. Why? Coz it's a sad day for Malaysian democracy.

If you have't figured out, I played a part in knocking BN out of the Penang government last year. So far, based on what I've read and seen in Penang, I think I made the right choice. Besides, no matter how bad the current Pg government is, it can never be as bad as the one before:)

However, that doesn't mean I will always agree with whatever the PR coalition. For example, I am against the idea of assemblyman resigning to force a by-election. I am against the idea of frogs jumping to PR to force a change of federal government.

Which is why, I am not that happy with the situation in Perak.

Over the last few months since becoming the "2nd Mentri Besar of Perak", Dr Zambry is trying very hard to convince the Perakians that he is their legitimate Mentri Besar and not Datuk Nizar. If I were a reporter interviweing him, this will be my first question, "Legally, it is possible that your appointment is valid- we will leave it to the high court to decide but the more important question is...Morally, do you think what you are doing is right?"

My next question:

"Do you think the people in the state of Perak will respect you for the manner you seize control?"

To certain extent, can't really fault him for the mess in Perak. After all, he answers to a "higher authority". Had that person been smarter, the person should have been more patient. Show some work and serve the people of Perak well, even as the opposition party. Earn back the trust of the people and maybe in the next election, BN could win back the state. After all, they lost only by 3 seats last year.

But not, that person is so eager to start the year with a bang, to show how brilliant he is.

Can you trust a person like this to lead your country? Cakap tak serupa bikin. Kononnya "People First, Performance Now", tapi buat hal-hal yang mengelirukan. You want to take back Perak now, then let the PEOPLE decide.

As for me, I'm gonna wear black tomorrow to teach my classes for 1BlackMalaysia: Democracy First, By-election Now.

The Bali experience

2009-04-30T09:30:00.004+08:00

Bali is definitely one of the best destination for a good time. One of the things we did was of course surfing.

Catching the wave

The theory session conducted right before we hit the waves was quite helpful, but when I made my first few attempts, the results have been far from ideal.

Falling on my butt

Yes, collision can happen while surfing too

Wife also fell face first a couple of times

After numerous attempts, eventually we did get to surf successfully.

"Look ma... NO HANDS!"

Come to think of it, the fun was actually tumbling in our attempts.

Besides surfing, we also did some touristy stuff and visited a couple of places.

at the temple

Waterfall

The temple at Tanah Lot

Dinner at Tanah Lot

Sunset at Tanah Lot

We also did our own free and easy holidays on the motorbike. From this experience, I've learnt that I should always bring my driving license while going on holidays in a foreign country so I could feel at ease riding a rent bike without worrying about the police.

Even though by law we must wear helmets, we just followed the locals

At the hotel pool side

Taking a leak

The Bali Bombing Memorial Monument

The main street of Kuta

Overall, I find Balinese among the friendliest people I've ever met.

The orginal natives were so not so friendly, unfortunately

I enjoyed myself there and I wouldn't mind going for a second trip.

Thank you Bali for a wonderful honeymoon!

Signing my life away...

2009-04-29T10:00:00.003+08:00

No that's not my ride for the wedding. Just a bus my sister saw on the way to my wedding.

Anyway, back to mine. Actually I did my signing on 20 Mar 2009, one day before my wedding ceremony. As our church pastor is not a registrar, we had to go to a nearby church to do the signing instead.

So I took the day off on Friday and went to the church in Desa Melawati with my family and Leslie, my best man who arrived the night before from Singapore.

The Looi entourage having lunch in Batu Caves

Don't I look cute?

Waiting for the bride

Leslie and me

We had to wait outside for a while because wife-to-be went to have a quick lunch with her aunt.

In the church office with my nephew Daryl and sister Hilda

We had to wait for the pastor- probably having his lunch too- so I decide to play with the video cam.

When I grow up, I wanna be a director

Introducing the school debating representatives

Finally the pastor came and explained to both us the implications of putting our signatures on the papers in front of us. After that, came the most important part of the ceremony.

There wasn't any oath ceremony as we would be having our church wedding the next day, we would say our vow then.

Pastor explaining to us where to sign our lives away

Why am I smiling? Coz I got one heck of a deal

Her turn

With any marriage registration, there must be 2 witnesses. The church advised to get our parents as witness, I believe, as a sign of parental blessings. As my mom lives in Penang and I'm staying with OCD, I asked him to be my witness instead.

Believe it or not, he couldn't sleep the night before....

Why is he smiling? Coz he doesn't have to worry about his brother dirtying his condo anymore!

Father-in-law completes the marriage certificate

After that, the pastor officially congrats us as Mr & Mrs Looi.

The senior Mrs Looi giving the new Mrs Looi a hug

(L-R)Daryl Looi, Karynn Looi, Alex Looi a.k.a. OCD,

Tan Chong Keng, Hilda Looi, Alvin Looi

It's been more than a month and last Sunday our pastor asked if we're back from the moon.

The answer?

Still half-way there:)

Ahhh..... Bali!

2009-04-13T14:45:00.002+08:00

Definitely the best way to travel around the Kuta beach...

One of the reasons I've not been blogging...

2009-03-30T21:29:00.008+08:00

In case you didn't know, I just got married 2 Saturdays ago. And honestly, the whole ceremony and dinner were anything but conventional.

For starters, there's no customary "cip san leong". Instead it was just the best man Leslie and I going to her parents' place to fetch her and her sister.

the Looi clan with the Bentley!

Setting off to get my maiden

If you're wondering why we were dressed in such a manner, coz the wedding's theme is musical. So we decided to dress up ala the 60's like the movie Grease. Thank God I bought my uni jacket and finally put it to good use. :)

We were quite early because there's no obstacle and stuff to overcome. So what to do? Camwhoring!

Just when I thought everything was well taken care of, just as we were about to reach church that I realised I forgot to bring 2 very important things:

1) My shoes

2) The 2 wireless mic for the dinner

While The bride and the bridesmaid get their make up done, Leslie and I were rushing back to my place in his gf's car. It was quite an anxious moment as the traffic on MRR2 was horrendous as always. I was worried that I might be late for my own wedding!!

Fortunately, we still managed to get back to church at about 45 mins before the ceremony- pity Leslie didn't get the time to do his hair. So we just quickly changed into our clothes and got YH's hairsytlist to comb our hair.

All set to go

Ceremony was slightly delayed because my family thought my wedding was at 5.30pm. At about 4.30pm they were still in Kepong and it would take about 20 mins to drive to Ampang on a good day!! Arrgghhh...

Somehow, they all arrived just slightly over 5pm and we started the ceremony at about 5.15pm.

Father-in-law passing her hand to me

Ceremony was sweet with Rev Ronnie Chin of Revival Centre Kuala Lumpur sharing a simple message before proceeding to the vow. We had signed our marriage certificate the day before so the ceremony was even shorter compared to the ones I used to attend back in Penang Christian Centre.

"With this ring...."

Mr & Mrs Shades walking out to the song "True To Your Heart" from the movie "Mulan"

Looi clan photo with my uncle's family joining in

With friends from Penang

Dinner was at 7.00pm which was at Kelab Darul Ehsan. I had a difficult time deciding who to invite to the wedding and eventually settled for the GXMs, GXIs and the freelance instructors I consider close comrades.

6 of these people can collectively teach 9 programmes in club

My sis Hilda who's working in Beijing's Westin

My 26-yr-old nephew Daryl serving tea to his new aunt

The first part of the dinner was quite straight forward with only a duet "A Whole New World" which was preceded by a opening video.

Halfway, we had the speech time and both of us sang out our respective speeches- Me singing "Part of that World" and YH with Fergie's "Finally".

Then came the fun part- the first dance.

We started nicely with Rod Stewart's jazzy "Till There Was You"...

...which ended abruptly before Grease's "You're the one that I want" took over. The whole thing was supposed to be cheesey, so we just had fun with the song.

Shaking that shimmy, baby!

Before the end of the night, we came out again with another performance - Grease's "We Go Together".

Waving goodbye to everyone as we finish the dance and proceed to the exit to thank everyone as they leave the place

So unlike other wedding dinner where you sit down and watch some dance or listen to songs by professionals, here you get entertained by the bride and groom. What to do... ~~we're cheap~~ ~~We just like the attention so much~~ we just want something different for our guests to remember our special moment.

Picture with my ex-colleagues from my first job in Padini after graduation

With the GX people

With the matchmaker Zen

Honestly it was kinda fun doing all those things for my wedding. Before the actual day, part of me did not feel like doing the performances but the other part of me was saying "this is the ONLY time you get to do it" I'm glad we did it though it was tiring and we didn't get to eat much.

Looking forward to our honeymoon this Saturday!!!!

Umbrella - the blue black remix

2009-02-14T01:50:00.001+08:00

You broke my heart
And you treat me like another tart
May be in magazines
But I'll always have the scars
Baby cause in the dark
I still remember that you hit hard
And that's when you whack me there
With you I'm always scared
Because

[Chorus]
from the start you promised my father
Told him you'd be there forever
Said you'd always be a friend
Took an oath you'd stick it out till the end
Now that it's raining more than ever
You didn't treat me a little better
Just bash me with my umbrella
You just bash me with my umbrella
(Ella ella eh eh eh)
Bash me with my umbrella
(Ella ella eh eh eh)
Bash me with my umbrella
(Ella ella eh eh eh)
Bash me with my umbrella
(Ella ella eh eh eh eh eh eh)

These news reports, will never come in between
You're like a foul disease, here for infinity
When the law has done it's part
When the world has dealt it's cards
Even though the hand is hard, I don't think you'll ever stop
Because

[Chorus]
from the start you promised my father
Told him you'd be there forever
Said you'd always be a friend
Took an oath you'd stick it out till the end
Now that it's raining more than ever
You didn't treat me a little better
Just bash me with my umbrella
You just bash me with my umbrella
(Ella ella eh eh eh)
Bash me with my umbrella
(Ella ella eh eh eh)
Bash me with my umbrella
(Ella ella eh eh eh)
Bash me with my umbrella
(Ella ella eh eh eh eh eh eh)

[Bridge]
You promised me you'll do no harm
that I should never be alarmed
Oh silly me
(When you put on those boxing gloves)
You went on and close the door
Begged you to stop but you gave me more
Because

[Chorus]
from the start you promised my father
Told him you'd be there forever
Said you'd always be a friend
Took an oath you'd stick it out till the end
Now that it's raining more than ever
You didn't treat me a little better
You just bash me with my umbrella
You just bash me with my umbrella
(Ella ella eh eh eh)
Bash me with my umbrella
(Ella ella eh eh eh)
Bash me with my umbrella
(Ella ella eh eh eh)
Bash me with my umbrella
(Ella ella eh eh eh eh eh eh)

I'm hurting
Ooh baby I'm bleeding
Baby stop hitting me
Stop hitting me
I'm hurting
Ooh baby I'm bleeding
Please stop hitting me
Stop hitting me

I'm feeling pain
I'm feeling pain
Stop hitting me
Stop hitting me

Get well soon, Rihanna!!!

我们都是一家人

2009-02-03T09:30:00.000+08:00

(L-R)nephews Leroy & Daryl, OCD, Mom, me, Karynn, future sis-in-law, future mother & father-in-law, eldest bro Eric

The main cast for the wedding, minus sister, sister-in-law and niece.

Life as a musical

2009-01-22T09:30:00.001+08:00

Have you ever come out of a musical wishing that your life could be like one?

The Sound of Music

One moment you're talking normally, the next moment you burst out in songs?

West Side Story

Marry Poppins

Better still, the people around you start to dance together as if you've all been practising the moves for the last 3 months?

Grease
Hmmm... maybe my life could be one too?

*hint* *hint*

It's been a while....

2009-01-13T09:28:00.000+08:00

My my... after taking a break from blogging, it's so hard to start again!!

The fact that there are a couple of things I need to attend to over the last 12-13 days also didn't help the situation:

1) Wedding stuff

2) New condo repair

3) GX stuff

4) Annual dinner performances(yup, more than ONE performance!)

So basically both work & private lives were in need to serious attention. Sorted out a few things, but still got a few things to do. Things should be better by the end of the week when annual dinner is over.

I'm so looking forward to my CNY break!!!!

Blessed Christmas everyone!!

2008-12-25T00:00:00.000+08:00

Have a great year ahead...

Ad:Become an ACE-certified Group Fitness Instructor

2008-12-17T11:16:00.004+08:00

This is a free AD.

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Course Aims:

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Teaching methods:

Teaching will be in the form of lectures, group work, demonstration, work in the gymnasium, observation with complementary, private studies assignments and task coaching.
The module consists of both theory and practical work. Theoretical knowledge is bound throughout to the practical instruction exercises. It is expected that participants acquire certain areas of knowledge under their own initiative.

The course prepares participants for the American Council on Exercise (ACE) Group Fitness Instructor certification exam.

Course Description:

The 45-hour Group Fitness Instructor course is made up of five modules as follows:

· Professional Conduct covers the scope of practice, the role and responsibilities of the Group Fitness Instructor, ethical behaviour for instructors, critical issues of professional practice and business and regal considerations for the instructors.

· Applied Exercise Science includes fundamental knowledge of human movement, including anatomy, biochemical, kinesiology and nutrition.

· Participant Consultation explores the instructor role in encouraging participant to start and stick exercise programmes through health screening, fitness appraisal and goal setting.

· Principles and Methods of Training provides guidelines for exercise program design, teaching a group exercise class, adherence and motivation, disabilities and health limitations for each area and physical adaptations to training. Proper form, instruction and spotting techniques are also covered.

· Programme Design and Implementation reviews exercise principles and methods for designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating safe and effective exercise programmes for pregnancy as well as exercise safety, injury prevention and emergency procedures.

GX instructors who are interested to develop and go further in the industry should really give this a try. Even members who feel like learning more can go as well. The good news is there is a sneak preview this Saturday 20 Dec 2008(sorry, can't remember the time).

Click on the picture below for a bigger map.

For more info, please call 03-77260030 and speak to the staff there.

Sorry seems to be the hardest word

2008-12-15T09:00:00.000+08:00

No, this is not about the BC19 cooldown.

It's about how hard for some people to say sorry even after knowing they've done something wrong. The bigger the EGO, the harder it seems for the mouth to utter those so-called "humialiating" 3 words.

I too have that problem sometimes, but I'm making effort on that.

If we really think about it, saying sorry is never about losing face. It actually takes a real man(or woman) to take responsibility for the mistake/error made. If anyone sincerely realises his/her wrong and apologize to me, I would not think less of him/her as a person. Instead, the person will probably earn a new level of respect from me.

Unfortunately, some people may never understand this.

You is so cocky!!!!

2008-12-10T09:05:00.000+08:00

photo courtesy of Osmansany

Really cannot tahan him already....

As Christmas approaches....

2008-12-05T09:30:00.000+08:00

Here's a contemporary approach to a Christmas hymn.

终於学会用中文字写部落 a.k.a. November Recap

2008-12-03T22:30:00.001+08:00

原来是那麽容易...

已经差不多三个星期没有写了。那这几个星期里发生什麽呢？简单来说，应付一个很无聊的人。其实，原本是一个小事情。但是，有些自大的人就是要无事生有，把事情越搞越大，弄到大家都不高兴。到最后，吃亏的又不是我... 所以我说那个人很无聊，而且令我觉得那个人很幼稚。

OK, enough of mandarin for the day...

FF IOI Mall saw quite a lot of activities over the last few week in conjunction with the club's relaunch. One of the things we had was our Nov special Belly Dancing classes. Overall response for the class was good... now the headache is how to slot Belly Dancing into the regular schedule:)

We also had the special Freestyle Step with ABBA's music on Thurs 13 Nov, taught by Jeremy and Steven.

Dancing Queens....

Mamma Mia... here they go again!

Then the last week of November was quite an eventful week, with 3 events happening. First, we had a special GX INVASION NIGHT on 25 November with a couple of GX managers guest teaching the classes in the club. The response was fantastic with BODYBALANCE, BODYSTEP, BODYPUMP, BODYCOMBAT classes getting very good numbers.

Aubrey & Eric T

Aubrey, Jason K and Janis

Jacqueline Wong, our Regional Trainer

BODYATTACK with Jackson P

Jackson P in action

Jacqueline's BODYBALANCE

Sharon did RPM with me

Jason K and Aubrey getting ready to pump it

BODYPUMP class

Last class of the night- BODYCOMBAT with Cheng

2 days later, it was Retro Extravaganze BODYJAM with Ayzei and Juwita.

Why do they always end up with the same pose?

Ready to jive it with the ladies

Finally, we ended November with a special 90-min BODYCOMBAT Muay Thay Challenge with Janis, Cheng and me teaching on Sunday 30 Nov at 1.40pm. No pics for this one was response also was good with 35 people attending the class. Was it tough? I think it could've been harder... but Janis did complain of sore legs on Monday night.

So what's coming in December?

Les Mills Q4 Launch coming to Fitness First 23 - 28 December 2008. Coming celebrate the last few days of 2008 with a BANG!!!

Insecurity

2008-11-17T14:22:00.002+08:00

It's funny how some people react when they're insecure;

an insecure gf/bf may constantly seek the partner's attention;

an insecure small child may do everything to gain the parents' approvals;

an insecure colleague may try to eliminate the competition for a promotion;

Ever wonder what an insecure instructor would do?

Hmmm....

p.s. thanks for the small chat, ladynina:)

GX-PT Endurance Challenge

2008-11-06T09:30:00.000+08:00

Last night, IOI Mall had a rare event of seeing GX & Fitness Department working together to conduct a class for the members.

Calling it "ENDURANCE CHALLENGE", we wanted to do something different instead of the usual GX classes. As running the class will require a lot of space, we were estimating around 20 people to participate.

And we were happy to see 18 people stepping forward to try this new thing, out of which we had 6 members who usually come in the morning to lend support.

Members gathering

Briefing session

Dividing them into 6 teams, the briefing took about 20 min to explain how the challenge works. Once everyone is clear, we got the challenge started at about 9pm.

Komathi counting the squats for 1 team

The biceps/triceps station

Bench pressing as a team

Basically each team will have to stay in a station for 5 minutes before moving to the next station

More squat moments

The push ups were a tough time for the guys as they had to do it on their toes

Though we only had to watch the members' form and technique, the FIs and I really got excited with the whole challenge that we shouted and motivated them as much as we could.

All in all, the challenge lasted only about 30 minutes, I think it was the longest 30 minutes in their lives. One of the members managed to burn 361 calories during the 30 minute workout!

Celebrating the success

GX-PT collaboration

It was interesting to do and fun to watch the members participating. Maybe we can do this more often...

One more challenge coming up 0n 19 Nov 2008!!

I'm off to Genting in the morning

2008-10-13T10:54:00.000+08:00

4 years

2008-10-10T00:34:00.010+08:00

Looking forward to spending the rest of our lives together.

Wedding #3 in 3 weeks

2008-10-07T09:00:00.001+08:00

Seems like people just like to get married at the end of the year- I've attended 3 weddings in as many weeks. The last one was last Saturday in Penang. This one I was involved as one of the "heng tais" and also the MC for the wedding dinner.

The person getting married was Danny Chen, my church buddy whom I've known half of my life. In fact, I got to know him a couple of months before his whole family came to Penang Christian Centre- we were classmates in 1991.

Anyhow, had to wake up early on Sat morning and be at his place by 6.45am. Had a bit of breakfast and somehow we only went to pick up the bride Su Yin around 8.15am.

The entourage getting ready to leave house

The groom

The best man, Leslie, who's getting married in Sept 2009

This is Willie, also Best Man, and the groom's brother.

Four of us are quite close and Willie is the only one who's still single. He lamented that by the end of 2009, all his friends would all be married.... poor boy!

(anyone out there interested to help him? He's quite good with computers and has Australian PR status.)

2 best men means 2 vehicles

As Penang is a small place, we reached Gelugor from Tanjung Bungah in around 20 mins. It was drizzling a bit by the time we reach the bride's place.

As usual, the heng tais have to help the groom to overcome a few challenges from the bride's "SISTAS" before we could get the bride....

Disposable undies with alphabets...
Apparently we're supposed to spell the name of a place in Sarawak where the bride studied

Fortunately Danny knew the place and that one was done.

Groom had to sort out which are the bride's stuff

Overall the challenges were quite easy- in fact, Leslie managed to get one of the sistas to open the front door with an ang pow containing merely 99 SEN!!!!

Now that's value for money!!! Sista, next time remember to check the content first!!!!

Anyhow, the last obstacle was the door of the bedroom, We tried to push in but were blocked by the 2 bridesmaids.

"OK, heng tais... Do your thing..."

So the groom decided to take a nap....

"ZZZZZZZ..... I do... ZZZZZZZ

... while the heng tais did the dirty job and pushed....

"KEEP IT OPEN!!!! WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T LET HER CLOSE THE DOOR!!

...and pushed....

"AIYAK! MY HAND IS STUCK!!!!"

... and pushed...

"NOW MY FOOT IS STUCK!! DON'T CLOSE THE DOOR!!

.... still pushing...

"ARRRRRRHHHHHH,....

Unfortunately for us, we all forgot to take off our socks so the ground was too slippery for us to force our way in. At the end, the best men had to give their ang pows before the door was finally opened....

"Why your heng tais all so lembik wan?"

After much commotion, finally the task was accomplished.

Next stop: CHURCH!!!

Church ceremony was a simple one with about 100 people attending the ceremony.

Gracie(on the left) was the one who took the 99 sen ang pow and opened the front entrance for us

(from L-R)Rev. Isaac Chan, Danny, Wille and Leslie

Here comes the bride

Waiting for the moment to make their vows

Forgot to mention that beside the heng tai and the MC thingy, I was also asked by Danny to be one of the witnesses for their marriage certificates.

Putting my signature on the certificates

Willie sang a song while we were signing the certificates

After the exchange of vows, the signing of the certificates....

Ladies and gentlemen... Mr & Mrs Danny Chen

Leslie and the future Mrs Yim

photoshoot with the couple
The good ol' funny shot

Dinner was held at City Bayview Hotel. There were 46 tables - he invited quite a lot of church people actually.

Nonya and Ah Beng

Strike a pose!

Overall dinner was a nice time of catching up with old church friends. Our table was actually outside the hall and so we could basically talk about anything and laughed as loud as we could. No one near us- except maybe the other table which was outside the main hall with us.

I enjoyed hosting the dinner as I know about half of those invited. It's good to be able to be part of Danny's wedding and I look forward to hosting Leslie's in September. But first, priority is my own....

3 couples with 2 single guys

Congratulations again Danny & Su Yin.... may you have a beautiful & blissful marriage, "white hair till old" and "every year one expensive son"!!

Food glorious food!!!!

2008-09-30T12:19:00.001+08:00

Just celebrated my birthday with my IOI morning ladies.... YUMMY!!!

Shades in concert!

2008-09-25T15:47:00.001+08:00

Details next week!

Tian Jin #1's Wedding

2008-09-23T14:00:00.001+08:00

Last weekend was a busy one for me.

Sunday was church anniversary dinner, which I'll blog later.

First, there was this Saturday 4pm BODYPUMP tuition in Menara Summit which lasted 1.5 hours. After that I drove to KL Prince Hotel to attend Tian Jin #1's wedding dinner.

Reached there around 6.30pm since the invitation card said there was a reception at 6.30pm.
Didn't see many familiar faces except some gym members from Wisma Consplant. Only one I know by name is Wanie.

So took my time to walk around drink my 7-up...

some of the pictures on display outside the ballroom

Found what my table was and apparently it was a very good table next to the VIP table. Among those slotted to sit with me were Ann Jet, Calvin, Swee and Fatboy.

Ann Jet came a few minutes after me with her beau, Gabriel.

Ann Jet & Gabriel

Lorraine, Su Yee & Alex came later... good, got some instructors to chat with.

(L-R)me, Ann Jet, Alex, Lorraine, Su Yee & Jason
Later found the groom outside talking to people- managed to get him to take a couple of pictures.

Looks a bit too serious...

Much better!

They were serving wine outside the ballroom and I was wondering how come fatboy didn't turn up early for it. Even after the ballroom was open to us around 7.20pm, still he was there yet.

Finally he turned up with his FCI. ~~It's not enough that he took away my FPI title, he had to turn up wearing almost identicle attire with his FCI~~

Just the 2 of them

The dinner started around 8pm. Well, actually it began with Mr & Mrs Tian Jin #1 making their wedding vows that took another 10-15 minutes or so. Lucky I ate a bit of snack before I came...

Once that was over, the feast began.

Quite a pleasant dinner because we were seated with familiar people. Swee came in late because she too had a tuition to attend and had to come from The Curve.

Calvin, Swee, Lorraine, Su Yee

Trigger-happy Fatboy

Wonder what Swee is thinking of

(L-R) Alex, Ann Jet, Wai Yee(yhsmom), Fatboy

Ann Jet trying to make a point
Lorraine & Su Yee

Ann Jet eating a fish eyeball...
It's not that often you get to see Tian Jin #1 look so serious

The traditional yam seng

Me showing how you do a real yam seng!

mucking around

my dream launch partner and I

Kinda hard to imagine this lady can give you much pain

Guess who got the flower?

Trying to look cute

Congratulations to the newly weds. May you have a blissful life together!!

Leon's rendition of Mariah Carey's "Touch My Body"

2008-09-22T17:00:00.000+08:00

Ooooohhh....

Who says BODYVIVE is easy to teach?

2008-09-18T09:09:00.000+08:00

I'm getting cramps just by looking at this picture...

For your viewing pleasure...

2008-09-16T12:35:00.001+08:00

I've fallen in love...

2008-09-12T10:00:00.001+08:00

... with this song.

BUILT TO LAST
Melee

I've looked for love in stranger places,
but never found someone like you.
Someone whose smile makes me feel I've been holding back,
and now there's nothing I can't do.

'Cause this is real, and this is good.
It warms the inside just like it should,
but most of all it's built to last.

All of our friends saw from the start.
So why didn't we believe it too?
Whoa yeah, now look where we are.
You're in my heart now.
And there's no escaping it for you.

'Cause this is real, and this is good.
It warms the inside just like it should,
but most of all it's built to last.

Walking on the hills that night with those fireworks and candlelight
You and I were made to get love right

'Cause this is real, and this is good.
It warms the inside just like it should,
but most of all it's built to last.

'Cause you are the sun in my universe,
considered the best when we've felt the worst
and most of all it's built to last.

I'm not a squatter

2008-09-06T22:58:00.004+08:00

See?

change

2008-09-05T09:00:00.000+08:00

The only constant is change.

Sometimes an expected change is a good thing. Or least there should be proper notice before a change takes place. With proper notice, whoever is affected will at least have ample time to mentally prepare for the change.

If only I have that... *sigh*

This one, that one...

2008-08-22T22:30:00.000+08:00

One introduced me to Indian Mee Goreng.

The other introduced me to Kinder Bueno.

Another one got me my first mocha.

Then this one got me a mini-compo.

After that, another one got the worst out of me.

Finally, this one brought the best out of me and taught me to start thinking for the future.

GX Teambuilding

2008-08-10T23:19:00.014+08:00

Fri morning, all the GXMs met at Menara Manulife for our first ever teambuilding outing since April 2006. Interestingly, my first day at work as GXC in April was going to Sunway Lagoon with the team.

This time, however, it's not a one-day activity. Instead, we were going to Sekeping Serendah for 3 days!

All charged up for our 3-day trip!

Had our brunch nearby Manulife before driving there in 3 cars. The journey wasn't that long as Serendah is just right after Rawang. We reached there around 2 or 3pm and honestly speaking, I think most of us were sort of let down by the lack of activities within the area. Only thing that you can do in the area was swimming in a small swimming pool. The place is right in the middle of the jungle and with almost NO mobile phone connection - the only area to have a bit of connection is somewhere near the main entrance. Because of that, it's a great place to unwind because we were uncontactable by clubs and instructors for 3 days.

After a while once we've settled in, a couple of us managed to go swimming and later played "TABOO" together.

Jason playing while Eric making sure he didn't use the forbidden word, while I acted as the timekeeper

Playing poker using sweets as chips
The first night went without much action. The next morning after breakfast, we walked to the nearby waterfall for another swim.

Imaging us walking slowly ala John Woo movies
It was a short time but I believe we all had a lot of fun there.

The golden couple of FF GX

Afternoon, a couple of us drove out to Rawang to do some shopping for drinks/food for the night's BBQ. BBQ was ok, with Jackson acting as our chief cook. Everyone finished food and get back to our rooms to prepare for the highlight of the trip - TRUTH OR DARE with tequila shots.

The rule of the game was very simple: WHATEVER IS REVEALED/DONE STAYS AT THE SITE. Therefore, no pictures or stories to share from that. The whole thing finished around 1-2am. Most of us went to sleep after that but I stayed up chatting with Nick Heng and Sam. Just as I was to go to sleep around 3am, Aubrey came over asking for road direction out to seek treatment as Janis was stung by a bee on her arm. So I followed Janis and Aubrey out with Jackson driving. Fortunately, the 24 hour clinic was very nearby. Came back around 3.30am and went to sleep immediately.

Sunday morning was all about packing and getting ready to leave. Food was prepared by Sharon(I think) and it's good that we have 2 people and Jackson and Sharon who seem very comfortable with the kitchen stuff.

Teoh killing a leech with a mosquito repellent right before we left the place

Left the place around 11 plus and we finally went to Rawang for lunch at Kedai Ikan Talapia Lan Jie, recommended by Jackson's ex-colleague, before heading home.

Overall it was a good rest for me. As far as getting to know one other, I've managed to find out a few things that I was always curious to know and also help to give some feedbacks to a young GXMs to improve his club performance. And at Serendah, there was no NGXM or GXMs- just a bunch of friends having fun.

Except for the timber house(which was hot when the sun comes out), the glass & mud houses were quite cosy the whole day as there were shaded by the surrounding trees. Surprisingly, the place doesn't have a lot of mosquitoes. At night it can be very cold. If you are looking for activity-filled holidays, then this place is definitely not for you. Otherwise, it is a great place to unwind and it's less than 1 hour's drive from KL.

One for the album

Thanks for the experience!

Deposit

2008-08-04T14:29:00.001+08:00

And so the date & venue is set.

Weather forecast... a flu is coming

2008-07-24T09:00:00.000+08:00

Not feeling well on Tuesday morning - must have strained myself in Axis the night before teaching RPM without the mic. I had felt a bit odd after the class, but couldn't get someone to be on standby to cover my morning class.

Nevertheless, the show must go on. Went to IOI to teach my 9.35am RPM before going home to rest. Fortunately I went - 24 ladies attended the class. Had a box of tissue paper on top of the sound system. So there I was, riding the bike while showing the ladies how I wrap my wan-tans.

Went home after that and managed to get a sick leave from the doctor. After seeing this doctor a couple of times, I finally realised that he looks like a slim-down version of Pietro.

Woke up on Wednesday feeling much better but decided to rest again to prepare for the night's RPM Challenge. Probably couldn've gotten Brian to do a regular RPM class but didn't want to disappoint the members since it's the one and only RPM Challenge in IOI Mall.

Felt even better after lunch and I slept for a while to really give the body sufficient rest to push later. Went to IOI Mall around 5pm and did some chest & biceps workout since I didn't do any weight training the day before.

Overall a good class but not as difficult as the week before- body didn't feel that strong yet. Kinda feel sorry for the 4 newcomers. Of all the classes they could've gone to, they've decided to try RPM Challenge - hope this experience won't scare them away from trying the regular class.

On another note, my gym member lend me this book to read:

This book is by an organization called Exodus International, the largest Christian referral and information network dealing with homosexual issues in the world.

Basically it is about exactly what the sub-title says,.... stories of 14 former homosexuals. It's about how/when they found out that they were homosexuals, their convictions and struggles.
It's interesting to see how different ways they discovered single sex attractions in their lives.

fascinating indeed.

Last night's debate

2008-07-16T13:52:00.000+08:00

Didn't see the debate live but managed to get the video from Youtube. Also looked at some comments in other blogs and generally I agree with their reviews, that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim did a better job presenting his views on the petrol subsidies while Information Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek is still repeating the same reasons that has been reported by the media.

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim also seem more interested in the debate than the Information Minister who went on a couple of personal attacks while failing to answer the question from the panel about public transporation. Instead of talking about the petrol price and subsidies, Datuk Ahmad Shabery presented his "HARI INI DALAM SEJARAH" about Anwar's role as a student leader back in the 1970s.

Even when he managed to talk about the petrol subsidies, he made a couple of errors:

1) By comparing Malaysia with Norway and Finland, how the countries do well economically despite not giving subsidies. It was shot down by Anwar - Norway has a per capita income 10-folds that of Malaysians and this was not a basis for comparison.

2) Mentioning that countries like Venezuela which has cheap petrol with high inflation. Later on, he mentioned that we should not compare with them. (Wonder why he has a sudden interest in Venezuela... perhaps he watched the Miss Universe Pageant in the morning.)

I find that the government has sent the wrong person to debate with Anwar. I think they could have gotten someone who's more prepared to take on the PKR advisor and make it a real debate. This looks more like the government taking the opportunities to discredit Anwar as a person and not his arguements.

If you missed the debate, you can search for it on Youtube. Just type "Fuel Price Debate". Otherwise, you can also read the minuteby-minute summary here.

If you have watched the debate, then try look up today's New Straits Times on the debate.

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Wednesday/National/2295015/Article/index_html

The NST report seems to be telling a different story of how the debate went. If I had not watched the debate on Youtube, I would've thought that Anwar was grilled by Shabery. The Star did no better but at least it did not portray Shabery having the upper hand in the debate.

If Pak Lah says that we should not believe what is written on the blogs and internet, then please let the printed media be more neutral in their reportings.

BODYCOMBAT 37 Sizzler

2008-07-14T15:37:00.001+08:00

Fighters, welcome to BODYCOMBAT™ 37, where you'll witness the fitness! It's fully loaded with an arsenal of Strikes, Kicks and Blocks and will equip you with the tools you need to defeat the sedentary lifestyle that keeps creeping up on you. An Underworld/Blade Vampire theme has been chosen for this class, which comes out strongly in Tracks 4 and 10. You'll love those powerful menacing moments where you can get in the zone and really let rip. Watch out for the big focus on Brazilian Capoeira in Track 6 – the third combat track. Drills are used that take leg conditioning to a whole new level and you'll find out why after you've done the class a few times. It's a slow burn, with some awesome results when done correctly. And of course we've got some great sounds from Fallout Boy feat. John Mayer, Matchbox 20 and Rogue Trader that'll drive your energy levels sky-high. Enjoy BODYCOMBAT™ 37 and stay with the fight!

Underworld/Blade Vampire Theme? Sounds gothic....

My perfect match

2008-07-11T09:00:00.001+08:00

As mentioned before, I have a problem with my BODYCOMBAT launch team. If you look at the latest pic below, it all looks alright.

MIRACLE 2008

However, when you get all of us to stand properly together, you get this.

I stood out like a middle finger

I'm head and shoulder taller than all of them! Not that it's bad, just that it doesn't look pleasing to the eye. The most ideal person to launch BC with is probably another regular member of the launch team Swee...

Just to clarify, she is not grabbing my butt with
her right hand... I think

Early June we had this Les Mills Quarterly Workshop and there's this guy who showed up.

everything also panjang

Meet Jun Wei from Singapore.

check out the wingspan

Apart from Swee, I reckon he's just the perfect partner for me.

Check out the pictures:

I feel like Tom Cruise next to Nicole Kidman

I feel so tiny...
So that's how it feels like to look up when you talk to someone....

Pictures from Cherating

2008-07-06T15:07:00.004+08:00

When BODYCOMBAT instructors start dancing...

2008-07-03T23:43:00.006+08:00

Photos from Miracle 2008

2008-06-22T18:38:00.006+08:00

Just a quick one.

Thank you to all who have made Miracle 2008 an event to remember.

If you want the pictures from Miracle 2008, head over to http://www.andylee.com.my/.

Please follow the instruction on the site on how to get them at RM1. 50% of everything goes back to Pusat Jagaan Kanak-Kanak Kirtarsh and Mercy Malaysia. I know we are in the habit of sharing pictures, but since we can still continue to donate to charity, everyone please make your own purchases.

Last day of order is 28 June.

Thanks!

My tribute to you

2008-06-17T12:20:00.002+08:00

For 3 weeks you've planned your time to be at the gyms for the workouts and the challenges.

For 3 weeks you've tried all the Les Mills programmes, some of them for the first time.

For 3 weeks you saw the challenges got more and more physical.

YET YOU STAYED IN THE RUSH.

Collectively you have managed to sell more than 400 booklets and generated more than RM20,000 for MERCY MALAYSIA and PUSAT JAGAAN KANAK-KANAK KIRTARSH.

I only have 2 very important words to say...

THANK YOU.

pre-RUSH briefing

RUSH tasks - the classes

The final class - Ballroom dancing

The last RUSH - 3km on the treadmill

CONGRATULATIONS FOR MAKING IT TO THE FINAL ON 21 JUNE 2008 - YOU'VE EARNED IT THE HARD WAY!

Finally... let's salsa before we RUSH...

See you all at MIRACLE 2008 this Saturday 21 June at The Curve.