Monday 31 March 2008

Little Stone's first birthday

I just came across this video of Little Stone's first birthday. It's so funny!! For those of you who don't know, Little Stone just turned one last week. It's Chinese tradition that on the baby's first birthday, the parents would lay out several items and see which one the baby crawls up to first. Mom said I grabbed a pen on my first birthday...

In this video, Stone rounded up Little Stone's 4 cheeky uncles who each brought along items for Little Stone to pick (err.. mahjong tile??!! calculator?? Xbox controller?? What were the guys thinking?) It was so funny when Little Stone's uncles all got so excited and shouted so loud that the baby got scared 

In the end Little Stone went for Masa's typewriter.. so I guess Little Stone is gonna end up as a writer like his dad? :)


Sunday 30 March 2008

Nasty DT

Yen Lee sent me the link to this really funny video at YouTube last week. It was recorded by a fan at David Tao's Hong Kong concert last weekend, where DT played 3 nights at the Coliseum. In the video, DT had asked a fan to sing "Rain" then upon realising how high pitched her voice was, mimicked her and then pulled a really ugly face and went "I am very scared" in Cantonese.. what a meanie!!!

DT is in Singapore this weekend to promote his upcoming SG concert and according to Fei, tickets on sale today at the autograph session were sold on a buy 1 free 1 basis (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) WTH are ticket sales so bad? :P

Din Tai Fung

Had lunch at Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐) today at The Gardens. I didn't realise until I had stepped into the restaurant that Kwong Hwee took me to the Singapore branch at The Paragon, Orchard Road about 2 years ago. Right outside the restaurant they had a huge board plastered with newspaper clippings of some of their famous patrons which include Leehom, Ang Lee, Chow Yun-Fat.. (I was too engrossed in watching the chefs making the Xiao Loong Baos I had forgotten to snap a pic of the Leehom and Ang Lee newspaper clippings)

Din Tai Fung specializes in Xiao Loong Baos. They come in baskets of 5 for RM11.00. 5 in a basket isn't a whole lot. I can easily finish a basket or 2 myself cos they are so yummy :D

yummy xiao loong baos

Menu is pretty limited.. they only had la mien, fried rice, dumplings and udon. I ordered the seafood udon which wasn't too bad but the portion was fairly small. Service was quick and efficient, even at lunchhour when the place was packed we didn't have to wait long for our orders.

Wednesday 26 March 2008

You are beautiful 2 ^____^

My obsession with this video XDDD This one is taken from a different angle by Cynthia 

I am gonna plaster the video everywhere on my Facebook and YouTube :)

Why is Ashin shuttering? Or is he struggling with his poor English? hehe


Monday 24 March 2008

I am a CD junkie

I found some time to finally put away the stash of Mayday promo CDs I got from Singapore. Once again, thank you Rock Records!! Thank you Masa, Monster and Ashin!! You guys ROCK! It's about time I had them put away, they've been sitting in my cupboard for the last few weeks. I also got around to reorganising my entire CD collection. Over the years I've amassed a collection of over 530 CDs (yes I do keep count) I used to house all my CDs in my bookshelf but when it outgrew the bookshelf I bought a CD shelf from Ikea and now that shelf houses about 3/5 of my collection. The remaining are housed in the bookshelf.

I have the complete album sets of all my fav artistes; Oasis [totalling more than 80 discs!!], Ash, The Bluetones, Wang Leehom[王力宏], Mayday[五月天] and David Tao [陶喆] :D




more CDs!

Sunday 23 March 2008

You are beautiful ^__^

A big thank you to Baby J for recording and editing this video of Ashin & me.. awww he's so sweet ^____^

Saturday 22 March 2008

R.I.P granny

My dear granny was laid to rest on Friday. Today is the 7th day of her departure. The Chinese believe that the dead will "return" on the 7th day. Late this morning we performed the 7th day prayer before leaving Benut for home. We have to return again on the 49th day for the next round of prayer [which is gonna be my 6th trip to SG this year (!!)]

When we arrived at gran's place in Benut just before noon on Wednesday, everything was already in place. A large tent occupying almost the entire road in front of the house was set up, the caterer was busy at work cooking lunch and granny was already placed in the coffin in the driveway together with all the paper offerings. In the living room, my aunts were busy sorting out the funeral gear for the prayer. Over the next 2 days, I saw so many relatives that I have not seen for years. Granny's house became ground zero for several days as almost everyone came from Singapore. There weren't enough sleeping room so some of the guys ended up sleeping in their cars!

The prayers went on for almost 2 full days and turned out to be rather gruelling. I don't know how my aunts and uncles managed cos some of them are well into their 70s and 80s! My legs were sore the morning after the prayers!! And we weren't allowed to wear any shoes during the prayers, only white socks. On Friday we had to walk the van carrying granny's coffin from the house onto the main road.. in socks!!

There were 2 session of prayers, the afternoon and night session. Afternoon session ran from 2-5PM and night session continued after dinner from 7-11PM. There were 3 priests (Sai Kongs) and a funeral band but it was the main Sai Kong who lead most of the prayers. Prayers were conducted in Hokkien.. my uncle had arranged for a Hokkien funeral. Both my grandparents are Hokkien. My grandpa passed away when I was 11 so I have little recollection of his funeral but I was told grandpa's funeral lasted almost a full week. It was held entirely in Singapore cos my grandpa had passed away in Singapore.

Many relatives had turned up on Friday morning. There was another round of prayer before we burned the paper house etc and all the paper money.. (there were so many huge bags of rolled up paper monies.. mom said granny could open a bank with all that money). Right before the burning the Sai Kong sprinkled flour around the paper offerings and poured boiling water around it (so that no one else can receive them except for granny).

Then the coffin was sent to the nearest town to be cremated. The journey to Kulai took almost an hour. Right before the coffin was cremated we had yet another round of prayers before the coffin was sent into the crematorium furnace.

The last round of prayers was at home in Benut right after we had returned from the crematorium. We had to pray in front of granny's makeshift altar. After a late lunch, most of my relatives made their way back home to Singapore. Everyone was so tired by then.. I don't think they got much sleep in the last few days.

Early the next morning we went to the crematorium to collect granny's ashes & bones. Granny's ashes were placed in an urn and ferried all the way down to Singapore where it was to be kept in the same place as my grandpa. It was a rather long journey cos we had to stop in the crematorium in Johor Bahru to get a certification from the Health Ministry. The urn was sealed with a wax seal by an officer from the Health Ministry (for custom purposes when we get into Singapore) Waited almost an hour for the health ministry officer to turn up!! Then we got stuck at Woodlands immigration checkpoint for another hour.

We finally arrived at 1PM where everyone was waiting with the Singapore Sai Kong since 11AM. There was a prayer before the urn was moved inside. Then a round of lunch at Tiong Bahru foodcourt before we head back to Benut. It was an early night for everyone cos we had to prepare for the 7th day prayer the next morning.

It's sad to see granny go but she's already so aged (she's 93 this year) and has been unwell for the past year.. I guess it was time for her to go. Granny may you rest in peace. You will be sorely missed by us all.

Monday 17 March 2008

Black Sunday

I spent almost the entire Sunday stuck at work in client's office. What a horrible way to spend my weekend. I should be at home in bed napping :P

My grandma passed away on Sunday evening. She had not been well for the past year or so. Dad left for Benut early this morning. The rest of us are heading down only on Wednesday as the actual funeral is on Thursday. Mom said grandma will be cremated in Johor Bahru then the ashes will be housed in a temple in Singapore. My granddad's ashes is also housed there.

I went through my wardrobe today cos I needed to pack black clothing for the funeral.. then I realised I don't have enough black clothing! I found a couple of dark coloured tshirts but they had red coloured fonts on the front.. Bro said I should just wear my Stay Real tee. No way am I gonna wear that to a funeral !!

Ashin and I have the same Stay Real tee!! 

Saturday 15 March 2008

Stereophonics at Fort Canning Park

Just found out yesterday that Stereophonics are playing Fort Canning Park in Singapore on April 28th. I've been asked if I wanna go.. Well, as much as I would like to but I am afraid I will have to give this one a miss cos:-

Firstly, attending the 'Phonics gig mean I would have to stay in Singapore for at least 4 days (cos I will be attending Mayday's gig on April 26th)

Secondly, the lads have just released their sixth studio album.. I have not heard the previous three, thus I will be very lost if they play their new or recent songs.

Thirdly, I have seen them live before :) It was many years ago at T In The Park in Scotland. I remember Kelly smashed his guitar onstage.. though I don't recall much of their performance as I was too busy trying not to get trampled in the moshpit. LOL!

Friday 14 March 2008

Wear Stereo. Wear Stay Real.

At long last!!!! My Stay Real tee arrived in the mail today. It's been a long 2 week wait. Been awhile since I bought anything from the internet, I had forgotten how much I hate waiting for parcels to come in :P

The tee came housed in a heavy duty zipper bag and attached to the label on the collar are 2 Stay Real tags (as pictured below) There's also a paper bag with a King Kong inspired pose by 阿信. Looks cute! Someone told me the other day that Stay Real are strictly limited edition tees. Ahh.. no wonder the tee comes with a 1180元 price tag! (Mind you, that's about US$38 / RM120 equivalent)


Mine is a S size which fits alright but I would prefer if it was a wee bit smaller cos it's a lil baggy for me (I like fitting tees :D) Hmm.. I hope they will introduce XS size in their catalogue soon.. surely there is a market for that. I came across a post at a forum the other day, someone was in Taipei in January this year and she went to 2 shops looking for Stay Real tees and believe it or not, at both shops all the S size for every single design were sold out (!!!) She was complaining bout how 阿信 should realise that those who are willing to spend up to US$40 on a tee must be MD fans, and most likely girls who generally need to wear the smallest size in a men's line.

What I like best about the tee design are the two straps on the shoulder. Now I can slide my earphones through the shoulder straps to keep them from falling off. Hmm.. is that what the straps are for? Suda51 reckons it's to keep suspenders in place.. Which kinda makes sense considering that 阿信 loves suspenders

Sunday 9 March 2008

五月天 and me :D

Boy am I knackered! I finally got to sleep in today then drifted off to sleep again in the afternoon.

Baby J didn't managed to get any pics when I was onstage with Mayday so I tried searching at the forums and LOL I came across this post:-
i went yesterday too! and that m'sia fan who went up to play games with
mayday was omg CRAZAYE! hahaha she was standing next to me and when she came
back,she kept jumping on my toes and my shoes turned from white to grey.
LMAO!!!!! OK I was probably so high when I got off the stage that I didn't realise.. *ahem* sorry to whoever it was I had trampled on your shoes :P

Someone was kind enough to share pics from the promo that day and there were about 20 pics of me onstage.. pretty clear shots too!! Weeeeee!! Mostly shots of me staring intently/drooling at Ashin :P Thank you also to Cynthia who posted the vid of me onstage at YouTube and who had kindly shared her pics.

Monster passing my banner to Ashin!!
Me staring intently at Ashin, not noticing the other guys onstage :P
umm.. I'm being interviewed by the lads LOL
Ashin handing me the goodie bag right before he said to me "U are beautiful" :D
(and I nearly passed out hehehe)

Wednesday 5 March 2008

「回到地球表面」签票會 Bugis Junction 4.3.2008

I've officially 離開地球表面.. and floating now LOL cos I'm so high from last night's Mayday concert promo in Singapore. I got up at 6:00am yesterday and caught the 7:30am bus to Singapore. Upon arriving, Baby J and I split up cos I had to head to Tanjong Pagar to get the Mayday concert tickets from Fei at 1:00pm and Baby J went straight to Bugis to check-in at the hotel and then rushed over to Bugis Junction.

The event was scheduled to start at 7:00pm but the Q started to build up fairly quickly after we had arrived. Baby J was quick enough to be first in the Q :) I guess they must be quite popular in Singapore compared to Malaysia, judging by the number of fans who turned up wearing Stay Real tees and how quickly the Q grew. By 4Pm the place was almost packed.

The lads arrived a little late at around 7:25pm. Again they picked on Guan You to do most of the singing. Those guys are so funny.. why do they keep picking on Guan You? The guy can't even remember his lines when he sings!

The highlight of the event was when I got picked to go onstage with the lads!!! :D OMG I didn't see that coming cos I was standing on the railing and had my Ashin banner high up when the guys were about to start playing a round of games with a lucky fan. And guess what??? Masa went "pick the girl with the Ashin banner" For a moment there I was dumbfounded. Baby J kept pushing me to GO GO GO

When I got to the stage, Ashin was standing right in front of me.. holding my banner!!!!! While I was making my way onstage, Monster had asked for my banner to be passed to the front. Too bad Baby J didn't manage to get any pics of me and Ashin together onstage.. though she video'ed it and there were many vids on YouTube :)

Ashin holding my banner :)
I got to stand beside Ashin throughout the Q&A session (and yes we were very close.. hehe)

Each of the guy took a shot in asking me a question.. in English!! (sorry guys.. if only you knew prior that Mandarin isn't my strongest language) It was absolutely hilarious. The funniest part was when I was asked the name of the new tour. As I turned around to take a peek at the concert poster behind me, Ashin and the rest of them moved quickly to cover the name of the tour with their hands!! They're so cute LOL. As if I didn't know the name of the tour!

And when Ryan wrongly asked me what time is the concert - he confused "date" with "time", the lads couldn't stop laughing. HAHA

I felt like I was onstage for the longest time.. Ashin was nice enough to hold the mic for me :) I'm soooooo happy that I got to stand right next to Ashin and talked to him. He's quite tall (I'm a shortie) and he's so dreamy :))

At the end he gave me a goodie bag from Rock Records.. and he said to me in english "you're beautiful" LOL!! OMG that was really sweet of him :D Baby J managed to catch it on vid heh heh

Inside the goodie bag were 11 Mayday CDs.. promo discs from their previous albums. And some are signed by the band. Very nice collectible items :)

goodie bag content - promo CDs galore!
Mayday (from l-r: Masa, Monster, Ryan and Ashin)
sweety Ashin :)
hmm.. what are they looking at?
my signed concert ticket

Monday 3 March 2008

The hunt for Stay Real

Must be my lucky day. I found the Stay Real tee I wanted from a store in Taipei. The chap running it was really efficient and helpful and he's pretty conversant in English too.. thank goodness LOL. He's even invited me to go visit his shop when I'm in Taipei to pick up more Stay Real tees but apparently I may have to place an order in advance cos they're selling real fast and the supplier takes awhile to restock!

The tee costs NT$1180. That's approx RM125 equivalent. It'd better be worth my money since it costs so much :P

Sunday 2 March 2008

Mayday fever 離開地球表面 馬來西亞歌友會 01/03/2008

Last night's Mayday Malaysia JUMP concert promo at Sg Wang was a BLAST!!

We went a little too early cos the rest of the peeps only came about an hour or so before the event was due to start! I went early cos I wanted to get to the front with my Ashin banner. It was drizzling when we arrived, then it stopped. About 5PM it started pouring cats and dogs!! Luckily I had my raincoat and BJ brought along her brolly, but my poor converse shoes were soaked right through!! I left them out overnight and they're still wet..

Disappointingly (but not surprisingly), the lads didn't sing. Well Guan You did sing a verse from 離開地球表面. It was so funny. Stone was absent due to some family problem. Well that's OK.. so long as Ashin is present :)



I got my concert ticket and flyers signed. I'm still upset cos I didn't get my Escape to Japan book signed. The organiser lady didn't allow it!! *pouts* The lads were really nice, everyone seemed to be in high spirits, especially Masa and Monster. Ashin was so sweet, I gave him an Astro Boy can gift and he looked at me and said "xie xie ni" whilst clutching the can in his hands.. Awww.. Poor Abby, she was standing right behind me and she didn't get to shake Ashin's hand cos he was too engrossed with the Astro Boy gift. LOL!!

I cannot wait to see them in concert again in April. They promised that the Genting concert is gonna be at least 3 hours long! :D I'm gonna catch the final JUMP concert on 19th April and the first Down to Earth concert on 26th April. Cool.

Next stop Singapore on Tuesday. Boy this is gonna be fun.


Mayday minus Stone. Why is everyone looking away when Masa is talking?

cutie pie Ashin :D cuter than a button LOL