Came Sun and Rain

Phuket

2006-06-21T00:16:00.000+08:00

I went on a company trip on 28 April to Phuket Thailand to work at one of the Summit. Though I have travelled to oversea to Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia before, this would be my first time flying on a plane. I took Air Asia and sat next to the window. I was excited at first but when the plane about to take off, I find myself freaking out. My fear of height was overwhelming, I hold on to my seat with all my strength as the plane boosted momentum to hit the skies. Nonetheless I managed it and then it was heaven. Cloud passing by and everything was beautiful.

My three day in the Summit was a mixture of being blur and pressured. Made a few mistakes here and there and being half as efficient as usual. But I was glad to be able to make it here and meet with all my clients I have talked to so many times via phone. They came from Thailand, Singapore, Pakistan, India, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mongolia, Middle East, virtually anywhere and everywhere in Asia. My fun was going out with them at night to drink and party - all mid age senior management of their organization and yet friendly and funny.

I stayed at the Crowne Plaza for event, a 5 star hotel and is perfectly beautiful. Cozy and big room and unlimited view to the sea and horizon.

I stayed on another two days in Phuket at the Lagoon Resort Hotel after the event ends. It was spent mainly on the beach on evenings. Shopping for gifts in the night and party on until late night. It was so hot that I have spent mornings and afternoon in the hotel.
One of the day I went out with one of my client who is the head of a prominent Bank in South Asia. I helped him to shop for gifts for his family and within 2 hours, two of us have no spare hands to carry anything else. He is a funny guy and very friendly for a CEO of huge financial house. We went for foot massages and eventually partied on through the night at the local famous gogo bars and bars(both flirting with girls, haha)...

I came back to Malaysia all drained and tired. KL seems so unfamiliar when I reached, though so near, Phuket and KL are both world of their own, a different dimension all together.
Overall an unforgetable experience, especially when I counted how much I have spent. Also, I should have taken more pictures...

World Cup

2006-06-14T00:01:00.000+08:00

World Cup is back. It all started when DeutscheLande kicks off with Costa Rica last Friday and won 4-2.

Not a big soccer fan myself, just occasionally watch some on TV and read the results on Newspaper.

But happening every four years, I would never miss World Cup. Not for the game, but for the memories. If I would look for milestones of my life so far, I just have to think of things that I am doing during times of World Cup.

Four years back (Japan/Korea 2002) I was still doing my freelance Video and Graphic Design Job in Singapore. I remember watching almost single match at my friends house while rendering my videos.

Another Four years back (France 1998) I was in middle of my hostel orientation, first year in University. I was helping my Hall (Hostel) to build the orientation float(a big spider to be mounted on the truck).

Another Four years back (USA 1994). It was the year that Baggio misses his penalty shootout that cost Italy their Worldcup Title.(Still can remember the shot clearly, way high above the net). It was last year of Junior High School, last year I will be wearing school uniform with shorts (Seniors' uniforms are with long pants). It was also the year I took both government exam - PMR and the private exams - Unified Examinations for Junior High Schools. Both exams contains over 10 papers. And I wondered how I actually managed those times.

Another Four years back (Italy 1990). I was too young to remember anything. But I do remember I did watched the finals between Argentina and West Germany in Middle of the night...or did I?

NOW this year (Germany 2006). I was sitting in front of the computer typing this blog with France playing Switzerland live on TV. Many years later probably I will think back on this very day. The same day Korea won their first world cup match in Europe (beating Togo 2-1).

ROJAK!

2006-06-06T23:00:00.000+08:00

It happened early January when I went to audition for a youth theatre "Oral Stage" (It's supposedly the phrase used to describe life stages when baby starts to speak by the way, nothing "ORAL" as you think) and I got the job as their Technical Director. As far back as I could remember, the last time I was involved in a play was about 5 years ago when I was still in the University. That last play I directed was a stage triller, the who killed who kind of S***. (Erhem...this shit is actually the product of 10 years accumulated scums since I started acting on stage :P... Ewww...Yucky!)

It is a good to be involve in theatre again, really makes me feel young and doing what I enjoyed most as a past time. This group of young rascal running the theatre actually did a splendid job (Originally I thought they were much older and more amateur in plays, AHEM...I turned out to be the oldest person in the lot :P). They turned out to be very good, writing wonderful scripts and attracting almost full house in most of the 6 runs.

My job started March, sitting in on the rehearsals, familiarizing the scripts, selecting the right songs for each title opening, training up my sound crew on paper work, planning my lights designs...PHEW...It did breaks me into pieces, hard core pressure. Work in rehearsals after WORKing in the OFFICE. REALLY KILLS...Thank god I have survived... A bit of brain damage though...may be permanent...haha

The show ran from april 13-april 16 at Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPAC), six runs in total. The bump in date was on the 12 April. It was the nightmare before "Christmas". I started my day by arriving at the theatre at 8 am on 12 April with my Santa's little helper - Q and JO (both of whom I thanked so much for their giving support).
Started rigging up the lights and sound systems. The rig which suppose to end at noon continued until 1pm. Then came my focussing session which sees me standing consistently on stage for the next 11 hours on stage, focussing all my 84 lights. It was not until everything is done, I felt the pain and ache all over my body. THERE IS just not enough time....SOB SOB...
As expected the focussing did not meet my demands and just have to make do.

Next day eight again I was down at the theatre. This time programming all 140 cues and thank god by 4pm everything was done (with much unsatisfactory to myself, sigh).

Well thank god, the outcome was not as bad as I thought, seems like my skills may be off but the "idea" is there...haha...

I must thank all the wonderful people who I have worked with (especially the directors K and P, the Stage Managers L and E, My technical crew Q, JO, J, A and SY and all the casts and crews). I was given another chance to present myself, as an artist, to use my creativity to create a wonderful piece of art. It's been a great two months.

Self satisfactory 100%!

The Oral Stage Website: http://theoralstage.blogspot.com

LONG TIME NO BLOG

2006-06-06T22:25:00.000+08:00

Hmmm... It's been a long long time since I blogged...Not that nothing has happened (in fact a lot of great exciting things happened) Not that I cannot find time...I guess I was just plain lazy...
Anyways I will need to put down all the exciting things that happened to me for the past few months in the next few days...instead of having all of them going down the memory lane....:P

Memoirs

2006-01-17T21:34:00.000+08:00

"Every step I have taken has been to bring myself closer to you..."

My blog is increasingly becoming a movie review site. Mmm... perfect results of a movie fanatic.

Last Friday I went to watch Memoirs of a Geisha, the much disputed film, with the Chinese and Japanese shunning it due to cultural and historical reasons. The Japanese accused the film maker to be insulting Japanese Culture, the depiction of Geishas is untrue and they took it negatively.

On the other hand, the Chinese criticised the three chinese female cast as traitors of their own country by portraying their historical enemy, the Japanese.

Mmm...a simple movie with an innocent storyline, I can't understand why these people have to take advantage of it to express selfish, irresponsible comments.

Before I step into the cinema, I was anticipating for a meaningful show with ummm... boring parts. Considering it was already midnight, I might need to focus really hard to understand the essence.

Surprisingly throughout the movie, I was not bored for a single moment. The show was smoothly arranged, well directed and easy to follow.

I must praise the three female chinese casts on their splendid acting especially Gong Li and Zhangzhiyi.

My gain from the movie is about Faith. Sayuri lived a life with no choises it seems. She was sold and forced to be a geisha. She was forced to be a slave to the "Mother" after she failed to escape. But she held on to a faith, a dream: to be with the Chairman. This faith brought her choises she could never dream of, and a purpose. As she says, "Every step I have taken has been to bring myself closer to you..."

Life is a dream, all memories chained together in a strange way. Somethings we remember clearly and some do not. Sometimes when I looked back, I have not recognized the paths that I have taken. But where I stand now is a result of my previous choise.

Am I straying further and further away from my destination? Is every step I take brings me closer to where I wanna be?

Eventhough I enjoy the show in overall, but I am still very much disgusted with the love of the Chairman and Sayuri. Not that their huge gap in age, but the idea of the 30-40 year old chairman falling in love at first sight with a 9 year old girl. Perverted old man!

Anyway, Great show worth 2 hours and 15 minutes of my time.

Official Movie Site: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/memoirsofageisha/

Dreamcar

2006-01-09T00:13:00.000+08:00

Recently a lot of people asked me what is my dreamcar, well here it is, at least for now:
Nissan Fairlady 350Z
-3.5-liter V6 engine
-6-speed manual transmission

A totally beautiful car, with a reasonable pricetag
On-The-Road Price (Peninsular Malaysia) RM 571,875.74
(Private Registration inclusive of 1 Year Road Tax RM 4,386.00, 1 Year Comprehensive Insurance Premium RM 14,640.50 with a sum insured of RM 551,000.00 and Ownership Claim Fee RM 50)

Interested, just have to knock your head out and grab it, will cost around 12K a month for 7 years if take up full financing+insurance and roadtax. very affordable. :)

Consider a 2002 version second hand at around 250K

View the gallery and details at http://www.nissan.com.my/vehicles/coming/350z.html

An Evening with MPO

2006-01-07T00:11:00.000+08:00

Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, I always wanted to attend their concert but never did.

Well, opportunities came by when CC 'jiou' me and RT to accompany her.
Excited as we are, after getting coats from their counter(apparently everyone have to wear coats, quite redundant 'cause everyone's taking them off once inside), we sat down at the first circle, a bit far and high up (how come so high and far cost more than others below?).
The evening started with pieces from the Latin American, orchestra with the latinian twist. Very enjoyable with me enjoying most pieces. After the 20 minutes break, we back to hear the Waltz which I find quite boring except one piece. Not too much to comment about as I am very amateur about orchestra and stuffs but overall a very enjoyable 2 hours. The arrangement and music is great but some how I expected more and felt the impact was lacking.

RS in Gleneagles

2006-01-02T22:29:00.000+08:00

Fortunate RS is recovering well in "Hotel" Gleneagles.

One of the biggest events occuring over the turn of the year: RS had a head on collision with a car at Jalan Ampang on 29 December around 1130pm. Her bike was totally wasted, her right wrist was shattered and her right thigh broken. wasSounds serious but she is actually quite fine, well at least she can still joke about it. Some passer-by hailed a taxi and sent her immediately to Hospital Besar Kuala Lumpur. She is not so fortunate being conscious, grieving in agony all the way to the hospital.
My involvement in the event occurs on the morning of 30 December, 8 hours after her accident. I received a call at 7:40am from the Hospital, awaken from my sleep, still hanging over from the bottle of wine and loads of beer I drank last night.

Nurse: "Ini Cik Calvin Pang?"
Me:" HUh....nak cari siapa ni...apa hal?" (Still dreamy and angry)
Nurse:"Ini dari Hospital...

The nurse apparently still call me cik even after hearing my manly voice. By the time I reached the semi critical ward in the hospital, it's already 8:45am due to the jam. RS was asleep and the nurse say that they could not contact her dad since last night. RS refused to go into operations and waiting for her dad to arrive from Penang. So I called her dad, found out that he will only be arriving at 2pm in the afternoon. I asked for his consent for the operations and immediately arrange RS to go operations.

KL Hospital has one of the rudest staff, RS was forced to take multiple X-rays because they mixed up with the X-rays. The way they handled the patients are not proffessional and rude. I am surprised to find their motto is to provide the best to the patients. But I guess I can't blame them but there are certainly rooms (or planets) for improvement.

RS underwent operations in KL hospital and got transfered to Gleneagles on 30th night. She had fever and limbs swollen on 31st and was in a lot of pain. She was injected with Morphin to numb her pain causing her to stay semi conscious. Hopefully the worst is over. By today, 2nd of January, she felt better and remained active the whole day. She will undergo another operations on Wednesday to insert in rods and metals to her limbs. It will probably take her a month or two to fully recover. Do drop her a visit. Just ask me and I will tell you the location.
Please do not buy any food! She is already well fed by us...Your visit will be just fine...though she asked for a new laptop, a tv and stuffs...haha

The bright side is: She is fortunate to "walk away" from the accident and hey it is New Year!

The Conspiracy against Children Finally Revealed

2005-12-26T02:22:00.000+08:00

[Caleuter] Earth, The greatest fraudulent scheme in history was finally uncovered today, there is indeed no Santa Claus nor any solid evidence of him ever existed, according to Dr Calp Ang, leading researcher of mythological studies in NUK. This is his second disclosure of similar global fraud in the year, as he has earlier revealed the non-existence of the Valentine's day Cupid.

Thorough satelite scans and years of examination in the North Pole did not support the presence of Santa Claus Industrious Limited Headquaters. No red nose reindeers, no cheap Elves labour, no ultra-efficient global logistics delivery on a flying sleigh and definitely no overweight, heart disease prone Santa Claus.

The children globally have been misguided to believe in a thousand year old scam which endure them to behave good throughout the year in order to receive presents from a bearded man dressed in red. "Letters to Santa in North Pole are gathered by parties who conspired the schemes. It is just another scam for data miners to get the mailing lists of children so that the information can be sold to marketing agents. It is also to a scheme to get into the minds of children so to launch new products based on children's demand," said Dr Calp.

He also mentioned, "Continued embracement of the mythological character has fueled growth in the children focused industries like entertainment products, toys and clothings." Parents and adults worldwide are obliged to purchase huge ammounts of Christmas presents annually, and even dressed up like Santa to keep the "Santa Dream" alive.

Dr Calp Ang himself has bought toys (as shown in the picture) for his niece, Ivy and nephew, Jonathan so that they would not be dissapointed. However, as he mentioned, the joy of the loved ones meant more than anything in the world.

The article above is completely fictional and based totally on the personal opinion and creative imagination of the writer. The writer will not be liable for any damages, physically or mentally sustained by the readers due to the study or publishing of the above post.

Salsa! Salsa! Salsa!

2005-12-22T11:43:00.000+08:00

Last Friday I had my company year end party. Wonderful night but it took me sometime to have this posted because somehow it is an embarrassing experience (and also because I just received the photos).

The theme of the party is Salsa! Salsa! Salsa!. Everyone supposed to dressed up like sleek hispanic guys and dolls. I realised that there are more beautiful people in my company than I thought... I think at least 100 staff actually turned up. It was the night when all the guys and gals dressed up to their best, I am amazed of how some of them looked so charming in their appearance eventhough I see them everyday in the office.

I enjoyed myself, dancing with gals, cracking jokes, playing "cai mui" and drinking some beer, actually lots of them...
Most unwantedly, I was completely gone by the later part of the night and start talking "cock". The worst thing is a big chunk of the things I have said or done was not registered in my brain...whank! Some of them I got only to know when JW and JKo told me. And of course being laughed at for the rest of the week of the cocky things I have done.

For a great night, it is most regretful, I wanted to enjoy it to the fullest by being sober and also not wanting to be a burden to the others, I wanted my friends to enjoy with me not taking care of me...sigh... but nonetheless I would still say it is the best company party I have ever been to. :)

link to more ME Party Photos: http://mekl.fotopic.net/

The Gatherings

2005-12-22T01:08:00.000+08:00

"Time it is not about the length, it is about how it is spent"

After our team year end dinner at Sri Hartamas today, I gave CC, NN and AB a ride home and went up to hangout at CC's place. Cozy as the place, we started chit chating and sharing, cuddling in big cushions on nice red sofas.

We talked about a lot of things about life, relationships, personal goals and problems. I found myself encouraged by and supporting the others. The conversations were sincere and not skin deep. The best is there were no bitchiness...pulling each others tails or proving who's right or wrong. Instead, it is filled with sense of constructive support. There were laughter mixed with deep thoughts. Unfortunately, these conversations come rare nowadays.

At one time the gals shared about "How gals are turned off by men's behaviour". Eating with mouth close, no dirty long fingernails, no nosepicking in public, burping and basically personal hygines. Things I am well aware of but never really pay attention to. It is right that it percepts how a person is brought up and in someway how a person is deep inside.
A man who takes care of his behaviour in front of a lady respects the lady and definitely know how to takes care of himself and others...
Points to ponder...

The gathering at CC's place was enjoyable, a quick visit turns to few hours of non stop conversations. Time and chance have brought us wonderful moments. A great Christmas gift. :)

Narnia

2005-12-21T00:16:00.000+08:00

Recently there is a great deal of good huge productions. Usual trend of a Holiday Season, Christmas just around the corner!

Today I went to watch Narnia - The wardrobe, the lion and the Witch...or was it the other way round?? Anyway does not matter...

It is a great movie although not as captivating, deep and good in art/direction as King Kong. It is obvious that Digital Graphics have reached another new height as I was trilled by the creatures (a lot of them fully digitalized!). It is as if the children were walking to real life mythical creatures.

The storyline is simple and yet entertaining and delightful. Some movies (like Aeon Flux) tried too hard to be complicated and yet failed badly.

End Result: Felt young and hopeful again. This is the kind of movies that makes me see through the eyes of children, ever loving caring and hopeful. Makes me believe the goodness in life and feel the strength from within.

Narnia Official Site:http://adisney.go.com/disneypictures/narnia/index.html

Skills forgotten

2005-12-18T14:32:00.000+08:00

Ever not done something for sometime and completely forgotten how to do it?

I realise computing is one of them.

Unlike cycling or swimming which should follow someone for life, computing deteriotes, too much brain thingy I guess.

I have used the past 2 days figuring out how to program again and make adjustment to my page. Having not done any syntaxes, codings and HTMLs for ages now, I find myself a complete amateur again to graphic design and programming. (It took me a day just to even understand the CSS Systax for this blog).

Hmmm... frustrating and yet interesting

Kong is the King

2005-12-15T21:01:00.000+08:00

Chased by one creatures after another, all ready to grab and eat her, how unlucky can Ann be? No wonder she is sad...

Last night, I watched King Kong, the new remake by Peter Jackson.

A movie with it's own touch, successfully creating a dark, down and gloomy mood throughout the movie with an occasionally glee.
I noticed that the movie is "dark" and gloomy because no one ever actually smile, at least not whole heartedly. The leads only smile are when they look into their lover's eyes.
Set in the 1920-30, the gloominess is a good portrayal of the Great Depression era when Americans are living in poverty.

Is Kong in love with Ann? Did the Beauty kill the Beast? This is some questions that linger...
Kong is the last of its species, with several of his breathens' bone still up in his lair. Would he fall in love with Ann, a fragile living species so small and delicate.
I do not think he is in love at all. A companion, a special soul but definitley not a lover.

Kong is in depression with no one to turn to, no family and no friends. He lives in a harsh environment, having to fight off other creatures everyday to survive
Ann is in depression after losing her job, no food to eat, no friends and do not believe in good things anymore because they are not forever. She lives in a "man eats man" world and strives to make a living.

The two character though in a different place, suprisingly have similar background and emotions. In a lot of ways,

Kong is Ann and Ann is Kong.

Overall, great show with fast paced actions, touching moments and thought evoking. Definitely worth sitting 3 hours in the cinema...

To be Me?

2005-12-13T20:50:00.000+08:00

Again quotes from my favourite movie:

Jenny: Do you ever dream, Forrest, about who you're gonna be?
Forrest: Who I'm gonna be? Aren't, aren't I going to be me?

Today CC said that I sounded negative recently. My sentences always ended with "but" "however", etc. This has not been helpful in our tense working environment and it has in someway affected people around me. CC wanted to see me the old me, someone who inspires not someone who drag people to their grave.

It is true that me being down has affected me unknowingly. A transition period for me for the past few months have left me quite a bit of self doubt. Somewhere somehow I washed my confidence down the drain somewhere.

I have lost somebody and thought being somebody else would let me be me but in the end I am nobody.

Having the talk with CC was good. Self doubt has no place in me. Me is me and forever will be. Positively put words into action and just do it. Create values and results is what I want.

In my jobscope, negativity is the last thing I will need. I want to go all out and create the high attitude then performance will follow.

Worst Jam in ages

2005-12-12T23:26:00.000+08:00

East Asia Summit today means only one thing to common citizen like me...terrible jam! Especially when my office is in the middle of the Golden Triangle. Smooth traffic from Cheras until suddenly WHAM! Stuck in traffic with no where to run. Have to make a big detour, park further than usual.

Hit me with this stupid thought, what gave these international leaders rights to get thousands of us stuck in a jam? But then...on a second thought their meeting here do means a lot to Malaysians... to everyone of us, even for us stuck in the jam for hours...investments and international cooperations are something common folks like us may not understand... (eventhough on paper it may seems it is just a venue for people to play their political games and strategic practices: Australia refuse to sign non aggresive treaty against the other countries so that they could continue to wage war against terrorist in SEA; US pretend they are still in the game eventhough they are not invited; Japan wanna show face to prove they are still around and not want China to overshadow them, etc)

sigh...political shit...could something be done without affecting us? like having it in a not so populated place like Langkawi instead? If the leaders wanna see KL why not just send them a "Malaysia truly Asia" video.

I know I am being irresponsible with my arrogant comments, but what the heck, I am but a common folk...not a politician...(chinese attitude with a smile)

Well, thought that was over....then came rush hour after work...since I have been through it in the morning, well what can be worst? Then worst came with a drizzle then a pour...sucks I have never felt so ridiculous on a what would seems "everyday stuck in traffic routine"...no wonder most my foreign friends hate KL two times a day.

PS: They are showing Miss World on TV at night...now that is a international cooperation I enjoy Haha...(Duh...SHALLOW!)

Beginning of a Journey

2005-12-12T01:00:00.000+08:00

Flipping Through Pages of Blogs makes me wanted more than just browsing...

My decision to have a blog is greatly influenced by my childhood buddy. The idea of expressing myself on the web seems rewarding... sometimes I just wanna write something for myself and could share my thought with my friends...

Funny it may seems...I used to do it quite often during sleepover with my friends, and talk ourselves to sleep...not that I do not do it anymore...just that now it is done mostly over a cup of "teh tarik" and conversations are often half heartedly or ended as a joke.

I started the blog with the idea I got from my favourite movie . The movie makes me feels life...

As Forrest quoted:

"Sometimes it would stop raining long enough for the stars to come out and then it was nice.

It was like just before the sun goes to bed down on the bayou.

There was always a million sparkles on the water like that mountain lake,
it was so clear, it looked like there were two skies one on top of the other.
And then in the desert, when the sun comes up...
I couldn't tell where the heaven stopped and
the earth began. It was so beautiful."

Life is beautiful...