No regret

That’s it. This chapter has finally come to an end.

I started this chapter in May and after 8 months, I am proud to say that I have no regret. Definitely one of the best chapters of my life.

Greatest decisions in this chapter:

1. Taking up dancing lessons
2. Moving into my new house

Highlights of the chapter:

1. Making lots of new friends, especially in the dance class
2. Attending lots of dance parties (Pontian, Kota Tinggi, JB, Kluang)
3. A day trip to Batu Pahat
4. Visiting friends in KL
5. Surprise birthday celebration
6. Trapped in a crowd of screaming fans of Linda Chung

Kinda sad to close this chapter. But really excited about my new chapter. I promise myself that the new chapter will be:

1. A healthy one (gotta look for a new yoga class, and hopefully dance class as well)
2. A colourful one

…. And most important of all, it will not be my last. There will be many more exciting new chapters to come.

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank my source of inspiration, even though you don’t know who you are :p

Note: I do not have broadband at home yet, so I might not be able to post anything in the next few weeks (unless I could sneak some time off to post something in the workplace :p)

Christmas Eve and Cookie

Had an enjoyable Christmas Eve party last night. It would be my last dance party before I leave home in a few days' time.



The party was held in another town about 1.5 hours away. We gathered at my yoga instructor's place before leaving.



And I had a picture with Cookie..... not christmas cookies...



...... but this.....


That's Cookie, my yoga instructor's pet dog. Isn't she cute? (Sorry I forgot to fix the red eye, so it looks scary :p).... I don't usually touch animals because:

1. I'm scared of them :p
2. They might be dirty
3. They're wriggly and squirmy and I'm afraid of hurting them
4. Afraid of their lapping tongues and dripping saliva

But Cookie is just too cute to resist. She kept jumping up to me, so I took that picture with her hehehe......

Anyway, we left for the party not long after that. It was held in a large ballroom. There were about 200 people attending. There was a big stage and a large area of dance floor.

Dinner started at around 8 pm. While eating, we were presented with a line of Latin dance performances by different age categories, from as young as 8 years old to as old as 50 years old.


Remember the poster I mentioned in my previous post? That's them. Look at her sexy and glistening outfit!

Sexy dance move!

There were also two Indian dance performances by a group of dancers specially invited from a neighbouring town.

After the performances, it was time for us, the audience, to dance!

Blasting loud music, great disco lightings, blinking spotlights... everything was perfect. There were cha-cha, off-beat cha-cha, square rumba, rock n' roll, twist, samba, disco rock, waltz, free-style, Mexican dance, chicken dance, Malay joget... and even tango! We did not know all the dance steps, so sometimes we just stepped and jumped around for fun hahahaha..... Not many people knew how to tango, and in the end, only one old couple was left tangoing on the dance floor. And everybody clapped when they had finished.... the only thing missing was a stalk of red rose on the old lady's mouth :p

At one point, loud bumping disco music was played. We made a circle and took turn (several by several) to go to the centre. Everybody went wild and started shaking some assets! :p

Reminds me of Destiny's Child's Bootylicious ..... I don't think you can handle this!

We stopped for a while to sing birthday song to those born in the month of December, then continued dancing.

There was a sudden blackout. Then we started the countdown to 12! Merry Christmas!

Santa Claus appeared and started throwing sweets and candies around. Everybody wished everybody "merry christmas", shook hands and hugged (ladies with the ladies :p). Maybe I was small and light, there was this lady who hugged me and then lifted me off my feet and whirled me 360 degrees around! Hahaha..... We formed a human-train and snaked around the whole dance floor while Christmas songs were played in the background.

The party ended around 12.30 am.

Took a photo with my yoga instructor

My ears were half-deaf after that cuz we were seated right beside the amplifier. Even now, I think my hearing has not returned to normal yet.

Overall, it was a crazy but fun-filled party! One of the best parties I've ever had!

Last classes

Had my last yoga and dance classes in Johor yesterday.

Instead of repeating each posture 5-6 times, we only repeated twice because my yoga intructor wanted to let me try as many different postures as possible in my last class.

And of course, not forgetting to take some pictures of me in action hehe...

That's me in my black-orange-white yoga outfit....

Cannot seem to make out the location of my head and limbs? :p

Here's a side view:

And of course, a group photo at the end of the class....

Me and my yoga instructor and class mates

After yoga class, it was supposed to be my dance class. But since it's my last class, we turned it into a pot-luck farewell dance party. Each guest brought some food, and thanks to the contributors, we had a variety of nasi lemak with shrimp sambal, fried noodle, fried vermicelli, fried kuey tiaw, popiah, chicken curry, wild boar curry, chicken feet in vinegar, pudding, fruits, snacks and red wine!

As it is still the school holidays and university semester break, most people are not around. But most of the uncles and aunties who I am closed to attended the party. We had a nice time dancing all the social dances that we have learnt so far... from cha-cha and rock-n-roll to off-beat cha-cha, samba and square rumba. There were also a few performances of Latin cha-cha, jive and rumba.

After a few hours of merry-making, people started to leave and only those of us who are closed were left. Of course I took that opportunity to take some nice pictures with them....

Not just your average pictures....

But some sexy, sizzling hot dance postures.....

We are, after all, dancers..... :p

Are you ready? Need any napkin?

Ok, I boasted a little..... :p

..... but still...

I like the pictures!

One of the postures in our Latin cha-cha choreograph

A pose invented last night.... :p

Another one....


A pose in our Latin rumba figure, the right sideview

The left sideview. Can you believe he's 60? 60 and still looking fit and strong!

Trying to imitate the poster behind :p ...... the dancers in the poster are some of my instructor's best students who have won international dancing competitions.

And some silly pose hahahaha........

That's Teoh and his wife... Mr Teoh, are you trying to suppress your laughter at this silly pose? :p .... looks like some Indian dance movement, eh?

Alright, let's get serious, ok?

That's more like it :p


Presenting to you, ahem.... the most potential dancers for the year 2009:


From left: My yoga-instructor-cum-dance-classmate, Mr Lee, me and Mr Lee's wife.

I took a picture with my dance instructor too.... but he's the type who likes to keep a low profile... so I better not put his picture here... let him remain anonymous :p

Ok, I gotta stop now. Need to get ready for the Christmas dance party tonight. If I'm not too engrossed in dancing or enjoying performances, maybe I'll snap some nice pictures of real dancers for your viewing pleasure tonight! Stay tune!

Christmas announcement

Christmas is just around the corner. Have always like Christmas even though I don't really celebrate it. All the X'mas trees, decorations, colourful lights, snow (I mean the white cotton wool in Malaysia :p), the jingles, Christmas songs, and most important of all...... great shows on TV! :p

How are you going to spend yours?

Me? I'm going to spend my Christmas enjoying my last few days in Johor, finishing some reports and packing.

I've been keeping this news for almost a month now. It has now been confirmed. I'm moving back to my hometown next week..... to start yet another new chapter.....

Kinda sad to leave as I have bonded well with the people here, especially the people in my yoga and dance classes. Even though I've only known the 'aunties and uncles' in my dance class for half a year, they have been nice to me... and we have attended a few parties together. And of course, my friends here...

I remember that I really disliked it when I first came here. Kept complaining about the food and the place..... but I end up spending the longest time here among my coursemates. And a few years down the road, it now feels like a second home....

Had farewell dinner with Alvin, Janice, Mun Yee and HP last Fri. Farewell lunch with Shek and KL yesterday. And later today, there will be a pot-luck dance party organised by my yoga instructor and dance mates, also as a farewell party.

I'm going to spend Christmas Eve attending a dance party organized by my dance instructor in his hometown.

Wanna make the most out of these few days before I embark on a new journey next year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Mom's latest toys

Remember my trip to Penang last weekend? Well, I stopped by at home for a few days.

And my mom was busy with her latest toys!

These are my mom's latest toys:

Doggie on the run....

No, she doesn't play with them. She makes them!

Being a full-time homemaker, my mom likes to find new things to do, especially handicrafts. And being her daughter, I naturally 'inherit' this from her :p

We usually learn from many different sources. Friends, self-learning, reading books.....

We have done lots of knitting, cross-stitching, sewing, origami, paper flowers, weaving using rattans, dolls.... making use of unwanted materials, ribbons, threads......

These are the ones I made:

A pair of doggies enjoying a scenic view....

Aren't they cute? They look very lively and real too!

I only managed to make two in that short stay at home. And my fingers ached for a few days after that. But it's all worth it.

Not only is it a good way of recycling, they make nice decorative items and gifts too!

Star-struck

I was in Penang last weekend. Was there for only a short stay at my brother's place and thus did not inform any friends there.

Anyway, on Saturday afternoon, my brother took me to one of the latest and most popular shopping complexes in Penang. The Queensbay Mall. It's also the nearest from his place, within 5 minutes' drive.

And guess who I met?

Linda Chung (鍾嘉欣) of TVB! She was there for an autograph session to promote her latest album. Yup, she has released her own album. Typical of TVB artistes.

Anyway, I did not go there purposely to meet her, of course. Only knew about it that afternoon. Since we were already there, we decided to join in the fun. The event was supposed to start at 8pm. By the time we neared the stage, it was already crowded... it was lined with masses of people everywhere, up to the second floor!

I was standing quite far behind, and with my height, it was very difficult for me to see the stage. Ok, I could not see the stage at all :p

Everybody waited and cheered whenever they thought she had arrived.

She finally arrived around 8.30 pm.

People kept cheering. Hands were raised with cameras, it was even more difficult for me to see the stage :p

She greeted the audience in Hokkien, since it's the unofficial language of Penang. After a short banter between her and the MC (a Myfm DJ) in Cantonese, she sang one song. She left the stage for a short break afterwards, followed by a session of games and photography.

Linda Chung and the MC

While she was singing.....

Finally, it was the autograph session. People kept pushing from behind to reach the stage, and suddenly, I found myself standing in the front row, right below the stage hehehe.... so I took some pictures of her. Unfortunately, I did not bring my digicam, so I could only use my handphone.

The autograph session

Linda Chung was very tall, with a pair of slender long legs. Very sweet-looking and cute. Not the typical fair-skinned Chinese artistes, but a little tanned and looked athletic.

Tall and slender

Up close and personal

She seemed to be a nice, sweet and friendly person. This is the kind of people I'd like to see achieve success. Well, to be honest, I would not say she's a great singer. It's quite obvious she's not a born singer... but who knows, with lots of hard work and training, she could make it big in the singing industry someday. After all, Andy Lau was an actor first.

As for her acting skill, let's just say I've seen her improving a lot.


One thing is for sure. She has a lot of fans among teenagers. While trapped in the crowd, I overheard some conversations among the teenagers standing around me and I guess they really liked her. They cheered very loudly with phrases like "love you!" and "support you forever!".


I did not cheer or scream. Maybe I'm over that period. Or maybe I'm not a big enough fan. Hmmmm... wonder if there would still be any celebrity who could make me scream my lungs out? :p