Sunday, September 30, 2007

Congratulations, Lyn May & Alvin! 29.09.2007

I recall receiving a phone call from Lyn May when I was out doing CNY shopping at Mid Valley last year - she and Alvin have registered.. as in husband and wife in the legal context.

My surroundings were noisy, yet I could practically hear her happiness and felt my very own :) I was beaming as she broke the good news. She said they were planning to have their wedding ceremony and reception some time the following year - September 2007, and she wanted me to be her bridesmaid! What honor :) :)

Lyn May is like a childhood friend to me. We got to know each other since Primary 1 and we were only 7 at that time. We were classmates for a couple of years. Lyn May is quite an adventurous person, and together we've had our "adventurous" moments. In a way we have quite some similarities in the sense that we're both the only child, and our birthdays are just 2 days apart.

We went to the same high school too :) Though we were never in the same class, but throughout the 5 years we car-pooled (we stay very near each other too!), so there's always a bond there. Throughout the years we also went to the same tuitions, and I remember us taking an art class together, where we would sometimes just go playing at the field and the nearby playground. In highschool we also joined the Girl Guides and eventually the Ranger's Unit, and had been to some camps together. Those were the good ol' days :) :)

Lyn May left high school for college, while I stayed on for Sixth Form.. but we always met up for drinks and we would catch up from wherever we left from. Subsequently I left Penang for KL for uni, and now for work.. but whenever I'm back in good ol' Penang.. she's definitely one of whom I would call out for drinks.

Thanks, May... for being one whom I can call a true friend :) I may not always be able to catch up with you given the distance, but I want you to know that you're always close to my heart :)

Ok now back to the present: Before I knew it, more than a year and a half has passed and it was their wedding already! I felt bad I was not of much help, with me being here in KL and them in Penang. I headed back to Penang on Thursday, and had the last minute alteration to the bridesmaid dress sorted out. On Friday night went over to Lyn May's place for a buffet dinner.

Came Saturday morning, as I was driving along the road to Lyn May's house, it felt really unusual. It wasn't like any other time when I would just drive to pick her up for drinks or whatever, but I was go to attend her WEDDING!! The feeling was hard to explain, but every bit of it was happiness for her and Alvin.

I was very excited for her, but don't think I showed it. Must maintain calm so as to not make the bride feel anxious as well! She looked absolutely gorgeous in her wedding gown.. it was not only the gown.. it was the glow of happiness that made her shine. Her parents are really happy too.. oh such a happy occasion!!

At about 10.15am, the loud sound of prolonged honking announced the arrival of the groom and his party. The "ji-muis" were giving the groom and the "heng-tais" a tough time downstairs, but later on I heard that the tasks were not that merciless. Alvin and gang fought their way upstairs and before we knew it, the door flew open. I guess Alvin has long awaited this moment, so lets pardon him for not knocking before entering :P Well, there Alvin is.. looking handsome and macho.. rest assured he has already won Lyn May's heart!

After fetching the bride, we proceeded to the groom's house for tea-ceremony. On the way there, we passed by our old primary school - SRK Bukit Gelugor along Yeap Chor Ee Road. Fond memories of us playing our little childhood games at the school grounds came flooding by :)
It was quite entertaining what the "aunty" said during the ceremony.. we had some good laughs. Having done with the tea-ceremony and the family phototaking, we returned to the bride's house for another round of tea-ceremony, for the bride's side of family. It ended at about 1pm. Boy I was pretty exhausted by then!

The wedding dinner was held at Tanjung Bungah Hotel. Went early at about 3pm. Poor Lyn May and Alvin had a lot of finalizing to do. Getting married is not easy at all! The dinner started with the grand entrance of the groom and bride, with Alvin singing the chorus part of "I Swear". Awww that was sweeeet!! My job for the day was almost done by mid-dinner, after Lyn May had changed to her final gown of the day.. though was on stand-by mode whenever needed. I noticed however, that the bestman was a photographer that night so his job was not quite done yet :P Quite a dashing one - I must say!

The dinner ended late, as everyone had a great time and never wanted it to end. I left at about 12.30am, all exhausted but very happy for both Lyn May and Alvin :) :)
To Alvin & Lyn May: Here's to everlasting love and happiness *cheers*

I do not have pics of their wedding yet, as I was quite occupied that day and did not have the time and chance to take pics :( Here's the only one I have for now (thanks, Raymond!)
Will upload when I have more :)




Lyn May and I, taken before Alvin and gang arrived :)

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Walk for Justice - 26.09.2007

Decided last minute that we (Tania, Alan and I) were going for the march! ... The Walk for Justice. We reached Putrajaya at about 10am.. and the FRU and police were already there on guard.

...pics taken on my camera phone.. not properly equipped :(

In front of the Palace of Justice




The 3.5km ‘Walk for Justice’, organized by the Malaysian Bar, was intended to urge the setting up of a royal commission of enquiry on the video scandal evidencing the telephone conversation of prominent lawyer VK Lingam, which revolves around the promotion of the judiciary top posts.


Bar Council President, Ambiga Sreenevasan:
"When lawyers walk, something must be wrong."



Members of the Bar who came in chartered buses from Dataran Merdeka were stopped by the police from making their way to the Palace of Justice. Undeterred by the abrupt change in circumstances, they walked from the police block (not far from the entrance to Putrajaya) right to the Palace of Justice. The Walk, which was scheduled to start at 11am, was put off until 12pm, as all were waiting for the arrival of these lawyers who had to make their way on foot. All who were already gathered in front of the Palace of Justice cheered upon sighting of their arrival :) :) I suppose things like that don't really dampen your spirits, it only adds on fire to it!!


At about 12pm, everyone was in high spirits and ready for the march. The Walk from the Palace of Justice to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s office was participated by a strong crowd of 2,000 lawyers and members of the public. I must say it was indeed quite a scene!!









In front of the PM's office

It started pouring shortly past 12.30pm, and everyone ran for shelter. Luckily I received a phonecall from Chun Ming at that time, who called just in time for rescue. Apparently his car was parked nearby and he offered us a ride to the car.


We were wet, but not drenched.. I had to rush over to the KL Court for a matter in the afternoon anyway. We left at about 1pm. Am glad to be part of this historic event (at least it is so in the legal profession :P)

Saturday, September 15, 2007

The Year of Jacky Cheung World Tour 2007 - 14.09.2007

Couple of weeks back I was contemplating going for Jacky Cheung's (张学友) concert. He's my favourite one of the Hong Kong 4 Heavenly Kings. But alas, I could not find anyone to go with :( so I didn't think that much further into it..

Then I saw Kah Khoon's post on MSN.. apparently he had gotten a ticket but couldn't make it due to last minute changes in plans. He was asking if I wanted to buy his ticket at RM150 - he got the RM199 ticket - originally that was the ticket I wanted to get! But friends were either not interested, or got the RM399 ticket which I could not afford! So dilemma then was: whether to go or not? I would be going with his friend, whom I've not met.. so would it be awkward later on if I get all excited and wanted to scream my lungs out along with his fans??!

Finally the decision was made: I'M GOING!! Just a few days before the concert, I looked for some of Jacky Cheung's songs on YouTube.. just to familiarize myself with his songs :) I mean, I know his old songs.. but not that familiar to the extent that I can attempt to sing along!


Excitement mounted up as it drew closer to the concert. My first concert ever.. yay!! Finally, it was 14.09.2007! As it was a Friday, I left sharp at 6pm from office, went to pick up Thien Thien (Kah Khoon's friend who came from Penang, and was gonna be my concert kaki for the night!) from the KTM station. We got along great in an instant, so I thought *phew* I can just scream my lungs out later :P


We reached Bukit Jalil National Stadium at about 7.15pm. Parking was still ok as it was still early. We however did walk quite a distance to the designated entrance by ticket pricing. We got pretty good seats for the RM199 category.. thanks to Kah Khoon and Thien Thien who booked the tickets early :)

The concert started at about 8.40pm.. pretty sharp :) The crowd went wild.. OMG he's finally here!! I was reallllllly excited!!

He started with the song 爱火花 (ai huo hua - "Love Fire Flower") and it was a great song to start the concert with. His dance moves were sexy and the fans went even wilder!! :P He has the most captivating voice! Among the songs he sang that night were 吻別 (wen bie - "Goodbye Kiss"), 想和你去吹吹風 (xiang he ni qu chui chui feng - "Wanna Go for a Walk With You"), 每天愛你多一些 (mei tian ai ni duo yi xie - "Loving You More By The Day"), 忘記他 (Cantonese: mong gei ta - "Forget Him"), 爱是永恒 (ai shi yong heng - "Love Is Forever") 情书 (qing shu "Love Letter"), 李香蘭 (li xiang lan), 离开以后 (Cantonese: lei hoi yi hao "After Leaving"), 月半弯 (Cantonese: yut bun wan), 只想一生跟你走 (Cantonese: ji siong yat sang gan lei zau) and many others... He dedicated the song 讲你知 (Cantonese: gong nei zi - "To Let You Know") for his wife and Yiu Yiu for his daughter. He was also a great entertainer and shared some jokes with his fans.. to which the fans responded with screams and laughter :) And yes, I did scream too.. and I screamed loud :P How could I resist??!! It was therapeutic I tell you!


The best part I loved about his concert is the when he sang a few songs from his celebrated work, Snow Wolf Lake (雪.狼.湖) and the musical Perhaps Love (如果.爱). This was the part where I felt his voice practically embraced you.. it was amazing!! I fell in love with the song 如果.爱, and found the lyrics, especially the opening stanza so meaningful. And the song was well-delivered with expressions :) I could feel the song, feel the lyrics.. *dreamyyy*


Jacky's encore session lasted almost an hour - it ended at about 12am. The last song he sang for the night was 祝福 (zu fu - "Blessings"). I felt so sad it had come to an end, but soooooo glad I decided to go for his concert. It was worth every penny and more!





Jacky Cheung - definitely not awarded the title of "God of Songs" (歌神) for nothing!!
Perhaps...Love?

Perhaps Love (如果.爱) lyrics:


每个人都想明白
谁是自己生命不该错过的真爱
特别在午夜醒来更是会感
慨心动埋怨还有不能释怀
都是因为你触碰了爱...


如果这就是爱...
再转身就该勇敢留下来
就算受伤, 就算流泪
都是生命里温柔灌溉
哦爱... 在回忆里总是那么明白
困惑的心, 流过的泪
还有数不清黑夜等待...
如果这就是爱

如果你... 当时明白
后来的生命里是快乐还是悲哀
特别在夜深人静时想起未来
是否能平静不会想现在...
只是因为你拥有了爱

如果这就是爱...
再转身就该勇敢留下来
就算受伤, 就算流泪
都是生命里温柔灌溉
哦爱... 在回忆里总是那么明白
困惑的心, 流过的泪
还有数不清黑夜等待...
如果这就是爱...
如果这就是爱...

Listen to the full song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A1iszQELNE

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Putrajaya Fireworks

Fireworks are such pretty sight... they are like flowers blooming in the sky.. or like droplets of diamonds against the dark skies (oh yes, how I wish!! :P) So romantic, aren't they?



Was really excited when I heard about the Malaysia International Fireworks Competition to be held in Putrajaya from 18 August till 2 September 2007. I brought my mum and we went on Wednesday, 22 Aug - the country competing that night was Australia.

At about 10pm, the skies just lit up with colors.. as if the night has just come to live! Indeed they were just sooooo pretty, even more so as they were musical fireworks, and they're pretty synchronized. The fireworks lasted for about 15 to 20 minutes.








I bought tickets for the Finale night on 2 Sept.. so we could get a closer view from the observation deck. We undoubtedly had a much closer view, but I was pretty annoyed at the fact that spectators stood on the chairs instead of sitting on them. As it was musical fireworks, there were some really low ones so we were unable to watch those. It was like a distorted picture.. the piece of art was just incomplete :(

Well, nonetheless I've seen the prettiest fireworks ever. Thank goodness for the close view, those fireworks that really shot up to the skies were amazing! I love the feeling of watching them at a close distance - the feeling is even more magical.. like it's raining diamonds!! It was a magnificient thing. Mum enjoyed it very much too. Am glad I brought her.. wouldn't want her to miss such fine things in life!

The Australian team won.. which was the team of the first night we came for! The fireworks display lasted for about 30 minutes, as it was the Finale, so we managed to catch a glimpse of the work of each competing country :)



The jam was bad... really really bad. But the picture of those beautiful fireworks re-playing itself in my head makes up for everything else :) Hopefully there's another one next year!! (probably then I'll bring my own chairs :P)