Monday, September 22, 2008

it's time to dance!

What’s up y’all? Now not only I’m busy with work, I’m also busy dancing my (poor,tired) feet away practically every night for our dinner party and dance show next month! Yup, it’s definitely very exciting. We’ll be doing from bellydance to ballroom, from hip hop to shuffle…u name it, we got it! We’ve been practicing for 2 ½ hours from night to night to another night…so for those who will be attending our show, you’ll totally not going to regret it! I’m like going to work from 9am-6pm…then off to dance practice from 8pm-11pm. By the time I reach home, it’s nearly midnight and that’s only when I get to eat my dinner! I go to bed around 1.30am and then wake up at 7 the next day and start the same routine all over again. So you can see why I hardly had the chance to update my blog hehe. So, I’ll be doing 3 dances (some only had to do 1 dance. Lucky them!) which are samba, bellydancing, and another type of bellydance but with drum music (very exotic one ehehe. And we’ll be wearing straw skirts with feathery head gear *wink*). Originally, I was included in hip hop…but apparently I was too small compared to my other dance partners who are more ‘berisi’ and terpaksa kena kicked out. Bummer!

Talking about dance, I’ll share with u a pic of our last dance performance at e-west, this karaoke place at Luyang. It was really funny ‘cos I was only told about it less than a week towards the day of the performance! Nevertheless, we did our previous routine and all went smoothly. This time we performed at a small function room and it’s completely different to performing in a big hall with a big audience. Somehow, I felt that the atmosphere was more intimate ‘cos we were just dancing few feet away from the audience (and smaller group of people) who can detect our moves and expressions at a closer view. But I didn’t let that scare me and we got extra ‘ang pows’ in the end hehe!

in colors of black and red :)

Oh and Mum, my aunt and me went to 1 Borneo today. I met up with my fellow Komulakan friend Gloria to find prizes for the games. I’m organizing this get-together event with Komulakans from all around Sabah so we’re going to have performances, games, and great food! Anyway, we went to the Daiso shop where all are priced at RM5. We got some real funny stuff like a paper fan, hand towel, shower gel, bedroom slippers to be given as prizes haha! Get-togethers should be fun, so we must do things from the unexpected point of view :)

And I got to do some shopping too! It’s my lucky day ‘cos I can actually find work pants my size! Normally I had to get mine done at the tailor’s. I found the perfect beige pants to replace my old fading beige pants at Urban Inc (Thank you Urban Inc!You’ll always be my fave store) There wasn’t any discount, but who cares right? Once you’ve found the one, just go ahead and buy it. Just like in relationships, once you’ve found Mr/Ms Right, don’t wait for a ‘discount’ (meaning surveying for other potential candidates) and don’t let your future partner go!

I also got this really nice foundation at MAC which is the SatinFinish range. Let’s hope that it’s as good as my Benefit foundation :) The guy at MAC who attended to my aid was very patient and helpful, thumbs up for MAC and I’ll definitely go there in the future for its great products and service!

For those who haven’t tried Dome’s Espreski drink yet, well you should. I tried the Chai Chiller ( I personally adore chai teas! ) and it was smooth (no crunchy ice cubes!) and not too rich. Ooh, and the whipped cream was absolutely yummylicious!

It was a relaxing weekend. I’d better get ready for another dance + work – packed week ahead. And good luck to you too!

Saturday, September 13, 2008

people come and go...but memories stay forever

Oh man…it’s been 2 months since my last blog entry! And I asked to myself, “Was I that busy?” Apparently, the answer’s a big, solid yes! No need to say about weekdays. I go home at 7 every night, cook dinner, have dinner, iron my work clothes for the next day, feed the dogs, prepare stuff that I need to bring to work, have a brief chat with my parents etc. By the time I’ve taken my shower, it’s already near to midnight and I have barely 5 minutes to glimpse through the day’s papers before heading to bed. And if I have dance class that day, forget about even reading the papers or watching 10 minutes of TV. Weekends are no help either. On Saturdays, I go to my weekly language class which took 3 hours. And at night, either I help Mum with housework or attending functions. It’s the same with Sundays. So you see, I practically have no time to even switch my laptop on to relate my goss of daily happenings. But I’m lucky today with few hours to spare hehe…will be going to a funeral later though.

Speaking of funerals, there are a lot of passings these few months. The latest were my late uncle M (my aunt’s husband), my another uncle’s late dad, and my bf’s aunty’s late mum. It’s a sad case for late uncle M, he’s still in his forties and has yet to reach the finer stages in life. He had been suffering from a long-term illness though, so letting go is also a good thing. On the other hand, he left behind a son and daughter who are barely in their teens. I know it’s very, very hard for them to accept the fact that their daddy will not be with them anymore. And I know it’s going to be twice as hard for my aunt to be a single mother and figure out ways to support her kids on her own. I’m not particularly close to late uncle M when he was still alive, but I pretty much 100% sure that he loved his family very much. He loved to joke around and not taking his illness seriously (which is another bad thing).

Anyway, the solemn event was a bit different from other typical Kadazan funerals. Before late uncle M passed, he requested that there will be no obituary about him in the papers and no gong instruments to be played during the funeral. Plus, he requested for the song, ‘Seasons in the Sun’ by Westlife, to be sung by us during the memorial service. What was originally a happy song turned into a sad, sad one. He even modified a bit of the lyrics so there were “Goodbye my friends”, “Goodbye my siblings”, “Goodbye my wife”, “Goodbye my children” etc. We were so touched by the wordings that we were too choked up to sing along. And at the burial service, everyone was crying, even my little cousins.

It was truly a gloomy event, but it has its creepy tales too! I personally didn’t see anything, but mum told me my other uncles and aunties did. Mum said late uncle M’s spirit was ‘fierce’ ‘cos he died young. Here’s the most terrifying one: late uncle M’s was known to always ‘hitch’ rides, be it anybody. So one night when his brother-in-law was driving home alone from town after buying medicine for his sick kid, suddenly he spotted from the rearview mirror that late uncle M was sitting in the back seat! Trying hard not to show his panic, he drove on as steadily as he could. The next thing he knew, late uncle M appeared on the passenger seat! If I were the brother-in-law, I would’ve stopped the car, get out and call someone to pick me up. But he didn’t stop (and trying his best not to look beside him) until he reached the family house (where the funeral was conducted). Once he switched off the car engine, he dashed out as though lightning had just struck him. And guess what happened next? The light inside the car turned on by itself! The brother-in-law saw it and assumed that late uncle M wanted to go out from the car as well. So he cautiously opened the passenger door, switched off the light, and closed the door back. Nothing more happened after that.

Sounds eerie? Here’s another one. Usually on the 6th day after a person has passed, the ‘momisok’ ceremony is conducted whereby all lights will be turned off at the deceased’s house so that the spirit goes back, take all his/her belongings, and to never return the house again. As late uncle M was a smoker and had a thing for ‘talak’, a local home-made alcoholic drink, we prepared a whole steamed chicken, peanuts, a bottle of talak, a ciggie pack, and a lighter for the spirit to take. We huddled in a group (with mixed feelings of scared and nervousness) and turned off all lights for a good 10 minutes. In the quiet darkness, we could hear distinct sounds of things being put down and barely audible footstep sounds from upstairs (Mum said that was the neighbour’s!). Apparently, one of my cousin saw a shadow descending slowly from the staircase and one of the aunties suddenly wept out of the blue. It was a really scary experience, but I push out all feelings of fear out of my mind (and managed to drive back home alone without having an extra ‘passenger’ in the back seat!)

Whatever it is, so long you have strong willpower, you will not experience any ‘disturbances’ from the dead. Lastly, I pray for late uncle M’s peaceful soul and that he’s doing fine at the other side. To my aunt and cousins, be brave to face reality and we will always be here to support you.