Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Micheal Jackson.. oh! michael jackson!

hah!! poor sod. Got himself all "gang banged" with the trial and now the parents even make appearance on TV. To set the record straight they say, but me not sure that it helped though. Come on! Would it help when your mom and dad came on air and have differing opinion about you. Aiyoh!! even Mr Noodle can figure that out. Heck, Even Dorothy the pet fish would too. Duh!

ermmm.... that it won't help poor MJ that is. Just in case you haven't figured it out yet :D

anyway, poor MJ with his troubles. From king of Pop to king of errrrrr..... errrr..... (pls fill in anything that rhymes with Pop with bad meaning here, thanks!).

Really.. pity the poor sod from such height to lowest low. But fear not! Even with all the problems and bad press you know you're still famous and popular when you have this!



AHAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAAA!!!!

Found that at KLCC and just couldn't resist to snap a pic.

AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!

Monday, February 21, 2005

I Will Not Kiss Thee

for thee, my knight, just drank a soya bean.

HUH!

smell of ciggy I heard of
did not brush the teeth is pretty common
alcohol? I can accept it too
but Soya Bean?

SOYA BEAN!!!???

Aiyohhhhhh...... Soya bean also cannot?

**insert dead people emoticons here

Friday, February 18, 2005

somebody crash into my baby!

nope! not fun!

some bloke decided to reverse into my car and dent my front left wheel arch and then scratch my entire front left door. Stupid!


**notice how the arc have a dent? might seem small in the pic but when you consider there's a outward kink to the wheel arc design it is pretty deep.

and scratch my entire left door too!



As a result of that dent my inside firing (the one to prevent water/dirt from the tyre splashed to the engine / body) was warped. Whenever I brake a lil' bit hard the tyre would scrape against and and it is darn farking irritating.

ugh!!!

Of lunch areysha and me

It has been quite a while since our last lunch date, a good 4 months to be exact. For some reason all the previous plans never materialised. Called her yesterday and she was conveniently in a conference and the reply sms that I got was “sorry darling.. I’m attending a conference at a hotel.. :( esok ok tak?”

How on earth can you say no to someone who called you darling?

So this morning after a flurry of activities running here and there I gave her a call and voila! I’m picking her up at her office at around 12.

YEAY!!

Today she is at her shabbiest (according to her lah). She got a black blazer/blouse with faint white vertical stripe pattern on with a matching skirt. And stripe everything. With a ponytail tied hair, and the usual gait and putting on her usual big smile some 20 metres away, she heads towards my car. Once she got in, the first thing she mentioned was “oh! Shookme! I looked sooo shabby” in her sad conspiratory voice. Like that will make me let her off for being late lah. Duh! Upon sensing she’s not gonna get away with it she just apologise profusely and ends with that huge “stitch” smile.


Aih! How can I argue with that.

Well, She might look shabby to her but to me she’s look rather “classy” and the vertical lines clothing actually make her look better. Off course there’s the issue of the newly plucked eyebrow lah. But come on! I find it ridiculous. When we’re amazed with something we’ll raise our eyebrow and women with plucked eyebrow? Well, they are in perpetual amazement.

Well I digress.

Anyway, remember the theory I have about those in the news industry? It is on my first post back in Oct ’04. Well, it was proven! She might looks classy but there’s something off. Not much but there’s something lah.

Digressing again.

Back to Areysha

Since both of us need to do some banking and got some time to spare so we drove to KLCC and have our lunch there. As usual she don’t eat, citing she’s fat.

HUH?

BLUNDSCHWEIGEN!!

If she’s fat then I’m Michelin Man on Steroid man!!! There’s no telling this girl that she need to eat to have bit more flesh. **sigh

Anyway, it was a beautiful outing. While driving we spoke about many a thing, from silly stuff, to matters of grave concerns and even world issues. The thing I love bout talking to her is that, no matter how grave or serious the issues there will always be this tone of lightness and “cheerful” thing to it. It will always be pleasant and nice. When one is down the other will balance it out and we will always be in this ethereal, special level.

We met a few old friends too. The last one though was rather funny. There we were walking out of the bank and there’s this 2 person walking towards us and I notice somebody who seem vaguely familiar (Areysha didn’t notice cause she was busy talking to me). Once it dawn on me that it is an old friend I told Areysha “Hey! That’s Skimpy!”

Areysha have that blurred look on her and I continue to prod her and say
“HEY! It is skimpy! You’ve been asking about her for quite sometime and go and say hi! GO! GO!” me pushing her away.

While running towards Skimpy she shouted “which one?!” and I shouted “the one with the blazer”. All this in KLCC mind you. heheheh!

And so she went and met Skimpy. Barely a minute pass and came Areysha with a face full of regret and irritation and this is what she said to me:

“euuuuuwwwwwww… how I regret ever doing that! Here I was terkejar-kejar saying hi to her and she treat me with indifference and say “I’m with this established firm! Are you still with that paper? Eh! I have a meeting. Later lah!” all in that voice! And when Skimpy’s friend look a bit impressed with what I do I do the stupid thing and said “it is nothing”. Gosh! I’m so stupid, never should have done that and should have flaunt a bit where I am now”.

AHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!

Funny innit, after not meeting your friend for quite sometime and you still want to compare and showing off your ranks instead of just pure open joy and be… well, friends!

That is something that you can never say of Areysha. Here we are 11 years on and we still have that special thing intact. She once categorised me as her soulmate (whatever that is) and I for the life of me I can’t still make out what “category” she’s in. But one thing I can tell you though is that Areysha, my 11 years girlfriend is still something.


Areysha deary, I am so sorry for actually pushing you towards skimpy. I really am. But we had a good laugh about it afterwards don’t we? ;)


And with Areysha, laughters is a plenty


11 years

Saturday, February 05, 2005

Singapore, Airlines & the free market

Economics and business. Two of my favourite subjects. However I didn't write that much in the blog for some rather "interesting" reasons. Among them I've discussed/write about it in some other forumn(s) and also I don't want some characters come in here and start a whole debate on it and waste my space and time. However this one I absolutely have to share. Of course I didn't include the boring proper economic stuff. But interesting nonetheles.

Read on!

SINGAPORE (Reuters) -- An Indonesia-based budget airline has dropped
plans for flights between Indonesia and Singapore after failing to secure
landing rights from the wealthy city-state.

AWAir, a unit of Malaysia's AirAsia, was last month forced to cancel its
maiden flight to Singapore when the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore
(CAAS) rejected its application for landing rights.

The regulator said the airline had failed to file proper documents.

In a statement on Friday, AWAir said it would shelve plans for the route,
having waited more than two weeks after it filed the additional documents
requested by the regulator.

The cancellation comes nearly two months after its first application to
CAAS on Dec. 15.

"We are very disappointed and puzzled over the lack of response from the
CAAS," Sendjaja Widjaja, AWAir's President Director said in a statement,
adding that there was no indication of a resolution.

Passengers who had made bookings for the route could obtain a refund from
the airline, he said.

A CAAS spokeswoman had no immediate comment.

Singapore, Asia's sixth-biggest air hub, is seeking a slice of the fast-
growing low-cost carrier market in the region and is constructing a new
terminal dedicated to budget airlines to position itself as Southeast
Asia's hub for short-haul flights.

Singapore budget carrier Valuair also cancelled its maiden fight to
Jakarta last year after Indonesian authorities denied it landing rights,
forcing the airline to transfer passengers to another carrier.

The Singapore government, which controls flag carrier Singapore Airlines
Ltd, also has equity in two budget airlines.

Its state investment agency, Temasek Holdings, holds 19 percent of Qantas
Airways Ltd.'s JetStar Asia and 11 percent of Tiger Airways, set up with
the founder of Irish discount carrier Ryanair.

-----------------------------------------------------

My Comment :

Singapore's licking its own spit (on the ground no less) by doing this. HAH!! So much for "free market" champion eh?

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Concert FR : Sting - Sacred Love World Tour - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Sting - Sacred Love World Tour
1 February 2005
8.30pm
Stadium Putra, Bukit Jalil.

On this concert I can't really comment on the sound system as I was seated next to the stage this I am not qualified to do so. However from where I sat it can be assumed that is quite decent.

Going back to the concert. it starts around 15 minutes behind schedule. While waiting there is this weird yet funny yet disconcerting announcement that went something like this.

"to the owner of car WET2149, a BMW okease gi ti the foyer to meet the Police"

everybody just laugh when they heard the announcement though I can't help but wonder what had happened.

Anyway while waiting I took a photo of the stage.




As normal the "various artiste pre-concert music" was played on the sound system prior to the concert. I honestly can't point out who is the singer though. At around 15 to 9 the music was phased out and was replaced by the intro to the Sacred's love album.

The light dimmed and the empty instruments are now being played and there he is in full black suit and red/skin colour shoes going into the "Send your love" song. The stadium suddenly brimming with energy, he grab a bass guitar and seamlessly continue with "Message in a bottle". Without stopping a beat suddenly the music turns jazzy and the jazz-up (or down if you like) "If you love somebody set them free" was performed.

after the trio of song he took a break and starts adressing the audience. To our amusement he starts with "Selamat Petang" before folowwed by "Apa khabar" to a huge cheer. He later continue with "Apa khabar semua?" with rather "believable" accent and later said he need to say this right and utterred the word "Malaysia Boleh". AHAHHAHAHA!!!! that's hilarious! the promoter must have hijack his PR person and ask him to say "Malaysia Boleh" at a concert. So not "suitable".

Anyway, he mentioned that it has been 9 years since he last here in KL and feels good to be back.

He then grab an acoustic guitar and starts to sing "dead man's rope" before going to a more upbeat "Brand New day", "Shape of my Heart" and the surprisingly energetic "Englishman in New York". In all this Sting's jazzy tendency which sometimes appear but kept in check in his album was, for better or worse, unleashed.

The were variations, improvisations and the band work so well together that the raw and playful energy was evident. It is clear that most of the band members have some jazzy influence in one part or another. The most evident is the drummer where his kit are place rather different than the normal set-up that you see. The back-up singers were also lively and add to the entire presentation.

He then pick up a clasical/spanish guitar and slow things down with "fragile" before going to my favourite "Fields of gold". A bit later he sang "Whenever I say your name". The female duet part sang by Mary J blige in the album was taken over by one of the back-up singer by the name of Joy Rose. Believe you me, there is nothing lacking in her delivery and they even went for an extended ending when she belt out at the top of her lung, demonstrating her unusual vocal range from the highest up to the lowest low. She actually took centre stage at that moment. Also it is obvious the musician in Sting actually enjoys just playing the instruments and let others take the lead.

That is pretty much what happened the rest of the night. Refreshing, energetic and beautiful arrangement of songs was performed admirably and you do feel that for Sting the performance it is not about him only but the whole band too. He will changed his instruments from the bass, to spanish guitar, to electric, to acoustic according to the need of the song. A true musician this.

The first break came after some 14 song or about 1 hr plus into the show. There are no gimmick of ending the show and no drama. As smooth as he appear the first time, he appeared the 2nd time in the same way, and intro music being played and out come "Desert Rose", "If I ever lose my faith in you" and the crowd favourite "Every breath you take". Though the wonderful voice of Cheb Mami is missing in Desert Rose, the energy and the multi-layered beautiful arrangement more than make up for it. While "Every breath" just got the crowd wild.

Time for another break and when he come back it is for the last time when he play the electric guitar and sang "a thousand years". It was around 10.50pm then, a good full 2 hours later.

Overall it is a solid performance and a thoroughly enjoyable night. Though I get the feeling that he is capable of delivering a hell lot more. Well, maybe we'll have to wait for his full jazz jamming session with no time restriction for that.

Stars : 4 1/2 out of 5 (the 1/2 star short to 5 is because I'm not sitting right in front of the stage)


Below are the full list of songs for the night

1. Send your love
2. Message in a bottle
3. If you love somebody set them free.

..............

4. Dead man's Rope
5. Brand new day
6. Shape of my hear
7. Englishman in New York
8. Fragile - He plays Spanish guitar
9. Fields of Gold
10. Sacred Lov
11. Whenever I say your name - duet with back up singer Joy Rose
12. Every little thing she does is magic
13. Never coming home
14. Roxxanne

1st break

16. Desert Rose
17. If I ever lose my faith in you
18. Every breath you take
(non-sop in between song)

2nd break

19. A thousands years - playing electric guitar

Photos :

Lights on!


The man in close-up


With Binocular? Watching F1 ke?

** note : Initially I sat next to this 2 old couple went on a double date. I have the feeling that one couple is playing cupid to the other. I later moved farther a lil' bit as it is increasingly difficult for me to stop from laughing everytime i notice one of the guys using the bino. Like want to watch birds only lah. AHAHHAHAHAHHA!!!

Sting & Me - Preconcert rant & Concert seating tips

Got the ticket, take a 15 minutes nap and I was off to the concert venue at 7.45 pm. Arrived there in my cargo shorts, All blacks Jersey and my trusty old Asadi sandal. Looking at all the others who dressed up I looked soooo out of place :P

Anyway, threre was no free seting at the stadium. Everyone have their alloted seat and my oh my aint the seats 1 size too small for us to sit comfortably.

I requested for seat facing the stage, but my dear Areysha upon listening to the advice of the ticketcharge people decidesd to get me the side ones. Reason being it is closer to the stage thus I can see better.

Well, obviously the ticketcharge doofus have no idea about sound movement. We're talking about a concert here and not a shakespeare play. Thus being in front and facing the stage will ensure you in the sound sweet spot. In other words you'll get the full array/range of the concert. Being at the side is akin to hearing a mono instead of a stereo.

Can't blame Areysha though the silly Ticketcharge people should be burnt!

Areysha dearest, we'll do our lunch this week ok? I owe you big time

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

STING & ME part II



Thanks to Aresya I manage to get the ticket. Am furiously finishing up some work and hopefully I'll manage to catch some sleep before the concert tonight.

Right now I hope the client give the all go for the just submitted report.

*praying very hard

oh! its about to rain. Nice to sleep in :D

The Boy Who Sits

Was down with fever + migraine + cold last night and still haven't sleep save for the 45 minutes at around 2 am that I absolutely have to take or risk severe loss of productivity. Work is only 50% completed and due, yet again, in the next 5 hours. Though the fever + migraine + cold have somewhat subsided the effect is still there.

Later, will pick up Areysha and collect the Sting (not the wrestler) ticket and I sure hope it won't affect my work performance and deadline.

The aircond to the office was busted yesterday and it was ........ really uncomfortable.

and I'm at the office since 10pm last night.

A good recipe to be misereable.

NOT!

my son! my firstborn! general pride of the family! sat yesterday.

Yeap! Unassisted. Not with some assists, subsidy or helping hand. Surprising since he can't even crawl yet and he is just 6 months plus. Off course I didn't see it first hand lah cause as usual the babysitter got the "honour" and not this dad. But me still happy nonetheles

HAH!

next thing you know we'll be watching footie at the stadium together!

YEAY!!

*shookme beaming with pride

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