Monday, March 31, 2008

X'mas Trees Hunting~

I can't believe it either. Took me 3+ months to write this blog which happened on X'mas Day 2007 XD

Well my darling twin sister, Xuan, proposed a crazy idea of snapping photos of X'mas trees in the major shopping centres of the Kinta Valley. All done on X'mas day. Come on, you have to admit it's a monumental task! I think it's crazy enough for a nice X'mas day, so I latched on to the idea like a leech!

Dear Joe promised Xuan for an outing that day, so he was the unsuspecting follower, and I succeeded in "convincing" (ok, conning) Myen along as the designated driver XD Well actually if given the chance I would drive the whole way, but Myen thinks I'm a road-hazard, so... *shrugs*

Did I mention they were completely clueless about our little treasure hunting? Yes they were conned into following us two crazy girls around Kinta Valley. You should see the looks on their faces when we kept on announcing "Next destination!!"

It was a crazy ride, sorta like our very own "Amazing Race - X'mas Edition". Xuan was our cameraman; I was the backup (I think); Myen was the driver; Joe was just along for the ride. Xuan and I even planned the whole route the previous night, complete with Estimated Time of Arrivals and mealtimes! That's how ambitious we were!

9:00am Xuan arrived at my house. Took off in Xuan's adorable car for Myen's house. It's a manual car, so I couldn't drive.
9:30am Reached 1st Sucker - Myen's house. 2 minute upon reaching, we found out he was still sleeping = = Afterwards we switched to driving Myen's car. I was denied my driving privilege because I was labelled "Road Hazard". (I didn't do anything!)
10:00am Reached 2nd sucker - Joe's house. Take off!

10:30am 1st destination: The Gardens (Breakfast at Kenny Rogers)
1st tree caught!

Myen looking distinguished.




Xuan posing with tree.

11:00 2nd destination: Mid Valley
Very impressive centre court. A lot merrier than The Gardens.


Xuan and me acting silly.

Finally, our group photo! The uncle taking the picture was a bit intimidated by Xuan's pro DSLR XD The picture didn't turn out as good as we expected. The image is blurry and the X'mas tree is missing.

So we had to take another photo of lonely X'mas tree.


Initially we planned to visit KLCC for its famous HUGE X'mas tree (which I saw a couple of days ago. I thought it looked like the tree grew fungus on the top = =) but we were WAY behind schedule. So, we ditched the idea. But we would have gotten lots of X'mas tree photos if we did go T T.

12:00 3rd destination: Low Yat Plaza

And I thought I was taller!


12:15 4th destination: Sungai Wang
Cool X'mas tree!

The centre court.


12:30pm 5th destination: BB Plaza (at least I think it was...)
Hey Joe, nice balls hehe...


1:00pm 6th destination: Pavillion (Lunch at Sakae)
In my opinion, the coolest X'mas tree yet!

And it changes colors!

I've always loved white X'mas trees.

Centre court viewed from the top.

Sakae's own little X'mas tree, looking so dainty. And the food was delicious too!


Unadorned and uninspiring X'mas trees outside Lot 10. What a waste, they could have been so pretty.


By the time we were having lunch in the very comfortable Sakae restaurant, our determination had deteriorated somewhat. We were supposed to visit Times Square, Lot 10, Sunway, 1 Utama, The Curve, Ikea, Ikano, and Cathay next. But...curse you, comfortable and determination-ebbing Sakae, you! We faltered in our task because of your delicious sushis!

It's nice to be able to blame someone else :)

Finally, we closed the day's adventure with ice-cream in KL Central. We thought there was a Baskin Robbins in KL Central. My Baskin Robbins coupon said so. But we were tricked! There was no Baskin Robbins! We had to settle for McDonald's sundae = =. And the parking fee there was sky-high @ @. So not worth it for a McD sundae haha.

All in all, it was a fun experience. Can't wait for the next crazy adventure!

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Sense of Security

My parents go for their daily morning walk at Titiwangsa Lake Garden. They always go at 6 something and are back home before 7, before the sun even comes up.

But looking at the current crime rate of our country, I think it's not really safe to go to a park/garden at such an hour, be it Central park in New York, Tuileries Gardens in Paris or our very own Titiwangsa Lake Garden.

As my parents approached our car this morning, ready to go home, they spotted 4 young men smashing the window of the driver's and passenger's seats. They saw my parents, but instead of running away, they taunted my parents more. My dad ran ahead - which, in retrospect, is pretty reckless - to chase after them. Luckily they sped off. They got away with only a cloth from our car, which made this incident even stupider.

All this happened with a guard house beside the parking lot. Most days there would be a guard there, albeit almost everytime my parents see him, he would be fast asleep, totally oblivious to his surroundings. Obviously to him, ignorance is bliss. But today, the guard house is empty.

So we wondered, what's the point of having a guard house if it's not occupied all the time, and even when it is, the guard's asleep?

My parents don't want to report this to the police. They say it takes far more time than it's worth it. I've heard the same comment from several people as well. Those that did file a report, say the police couldn't do anything as well, and it took them the whole day in a police station, with no results, mind you. Crime is still prevalent in their area. In fact, this is the 2nd time my parent's car got smashed in the park. And they think it's the same group of men.

I do lament the state of security of our country is in, where snatch thefts have become the norm. It's hard to find a person who has never been robbed these days. Like, how sad is that?

It used to be that the rakyat's guardians would take care of the bad guys, but now the people have lost faith in them.

My parents only wish to reinstall new windows, got to the park much later in the morning and hope this incident won't happen a 3rd time.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Things to do in the office

Things to do in the office (when the sleep bugs bite):

1. Twist your chair till it breaks.
2. Decide on how to torture your Sims.
3. Head bang to music that only you can hear.
4. Slap yourself silly.
5. Play the 'What's for lunch?' game. Winner gets to eat the food.
6. See how long you can go without blinking your eyes.
7. Go pee-pee every 10 minutes.
8. Count the number of arm hair you have.
9. Count how many seconds there are in a minute. You are allowed to look at your watch.
10. Decide on how to torture your Sims, again.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

《雪域上的光芒—文成公主》


在3月8日(星期六,国家大选、妇女节)那天,我和我父亲有幸得到亲戚两张《雪域上的光芒—文成公主》免费戏票,还是VIP席。

我从报纸上知道这部高水准的音乐剧。假如你听过《释迦牟尼佛传》,《天心月圆》和《圆满的生命》这三部大受好评的音乐剧,那这部就更不应该错过。这四部都是同一个本地杰出音乐舞台工作室的呕心沥血之作。《雪域上的光芒—文成公主》更是四部中耗资最大,最华丽的大型中文音乐剧。

先去了解剧情和介绍吧!
应该是官方网页吧,但是是英文的:
http://www.musicalonstage.com/concert.html

剧照与简短剧情介绍:
http://www.mybuddhist.net/cms/shishidongtai/localbaodao/tebiebaodao/2008-03-03/2917.html


呵呵呵,我还是第一次到Istana Budaya呢。本地有本事建筑如此高水准的建筑物,真令人高兴。但愿它日后能有更多机会筹办类似的演出,而不让它沦落成就在它隔壁的那座建筑物那样,被人投诉漏水等问题,搞到别人都不敢将自己的作品在那里展出 = =

如果有机会,大家也要常到Bangsar Actors Studio、KLPAC和KLCC的MPO去观赏演出。本地不乏高水准演出,最重要是要大家去支持。
http://www.theactorsstudio.com.my/
http://www.klpac.com/
http://www.malaysianphilharmonic.com/index.php
如果有什么演出你想去看,但是没人陪,约我吧!呵呵!如果有什么值得去看的演出,也要记得告诉我!我最大的烦恼在于没人陪而已,哈哈。

说回《文成公主》,真是让人感动。音乐剧由女主角一首动人的独唱拉开序幕。唉,就是那首曲子,让我在不到一分钟的时间就彪出眼泪了 = = 其实整部音乐剧我都在强忍着眼泪,因为怕模糊了我的妆扮,呵呵。这部音乐剧就是那么令人感动,简直是我的死穴。

最让我回味的舞蹈演出是千手观音出现那幕。或许他们的灵感来自中国的残疾人艺术团表演的《千手观音》。但是无可否认,是非常杰出的演出。我非常喜欢他们将背景设定为快速移动的星空(就像以前Windows最常见的screensaver那样,哈哈)。千手观音在舞动时,我简直忘了那是舞台。

音乐也写得非常动人。通常能让我掉泪的音乐就是好音乐(有点高抬了自己哈哈)!我也不是什么专业音乐家或评论家啦,就只是学了那么几年的钢琴音乐指导而已。以我肤浅的音乐鉴赏水平,我是觉得音乐非常棒,只是歌词稍微有点牵强地配合音乐,有时会没有很流畅的感觉。但是说到演员们的歌喉,那我就佩服得很。最让我印象深刻的是文成公主和吐蕃国王赞普松赞干布的嘹亮,和吐蕃大相禄东赞的强劲。

故事方面就和许多的音乐剧相似,不乏紧张和刺激,以及动人和欢喜的剧情。要把文成公主的感人故事放上舞台上固然不简单,但是他们却做到了,还很成功,因此各处对他们的回响都是肯定的。马来西亚的艺术水平不再落人后了 T T