No Black Tie - Rachel Guerzo

Yesterday out of the blue Cynthia suddenly asked if I wanted to go No Black Tie to watch Rachel Guerzo perform that night and since I had no plans for the night I decided to join her there and that was about 7:30pm. Finished off whatever work I had and manage to reach No Black Tie slightly before 9pm and since I was early I decided to head in and get a drink first before Cynthia arrives.

The place was quite empty and even by 10pm there was only a handfull of us and I manage to meet Rachel, Fly who plays the bass and and John Thomas on the drum. It was a truly amazing night and I felt like I had my own little concert playing just for me. I admit that I'm not a very big fan of the local jazz scene and I have no idea who is who but seeing that this is the second time I'm going to No Black Tie and I'm already hooked. Rachel definately knows her way around the piano and has a lovely voice to go along her awesome personality. If only everyone was as passionate and committed as she was we would definately have an awesome jazz scene locally.

As I sat there sipping my wine and enjoying her performances. Not to forget Fly who plays the bass who had his moments to shine as he showed the crowd his skills. John Thomas on the drums was almost another amazement. Being so young and talented he definately added his character into the music.

Before long the night was over and it was time to say goodbye but not before we went to have some beef noodles. Myself, Cynthia and Rachel made our way there while Rachel's brother was already there waiting for us. Supper was awesome and I got to hear a bit of Rachel's lovely chilhood and how her brother used to take care of her .. hahahahahah.. . It was a fun night out and I got to meet a truly talented singer and Rachel still owes me a song !!!! hahahah

Technorati Tags : rachel guerzo, john thomas, fly, jazz, no black tie, changeiam, change.i.am, 2007

Ipoh pigi

It promised to be quite an emotional roller coaster weekend but at the very last minute I decided to take control and decided that I shall join a group of friends on a trip to Ipoh and forget about the worries and problems in KL. At least I will have the chance to enjoy myself and my holiday to the fullest before hitting back to work today.

Intially the plan was to wake up before lunch and head down to Ipoh for lunch but due to the fact that yesterday night some of us stayed out quite late it was only around 2pm when we actually manage to meetup in KL to have lunch and then leave for Ipoh.

Lucky the road conditions were favourable with some downpour along the way but the traffic was smooth sailing which is what we really prayed for. We reached the hotel and the first thing we did was try to figure out how 6 people are going to sleep on 2 single bed. We practically tore the place apart and then lo and behold we got it all sorted out.

6 people + 1 room + 4 single mattress = HAVOC !!!!!

We took a short nap before heading out to dinner but to our dismay it was pouring cats and dogs but we still manage to eat some famous ipoh chicken though we had to wait for almost forever to get a table. I heard my stomach growling in protest a few times .. hahahhah .. we had our dinner and decided to proceed to discuss what we should do next ..

Apparently there was not many places to go at night in Ipoh so it was either we go clubbing or head over to sing karaoke. I was rather doubtfull of the second choice but somehow or rather we ended up going karaoke anyway.

KBOX ROCKS !!!

It's my first time stepping into a karaoke joint and I had no idea what to expect but luckily I made sure that one thing familiar to me is there to accompany me which was my good ole friend chivas.

Have drinks will sing

Initially we started off slow as everyone started to warm up their voices and by end of the night we were going out full swing with some of us who don't know how to read chinese being able to sing chinese songs ... hahahaha damn hilarious lor .. but I didn't know go sing K can be so damn expensive man but I guess is about the same as going clubbing minus the crowd and the sweat ..

We got back around 2+ am and some of us being tired and half drunk decided to call it a night but not before we had our late night supper ... the chicken was awesome but it was a bit small though and cold but still deliciousssssssssssssssss !!!!!

Salted herbal chicken .. awesome too bad it was a bit cold

Next morning we planned to go to Cameron and we were suppose to leave the hotel around 9am for breakfast and then straight to Cameron. We went to this dim sum place and it was packed like mad. I think we almost spent 1/2 hour just waiting for a place to sit. The weird thing about Ipoh is almost everywhere we went we had to bloody stand and wait for a table and the best part is I think the people there are used to other people standing and watching them eat over their backs. Damn stressfull man .. plus the hunger was getting to me and I started to get damn bloody irritated especially at this uncle who was taking his own bloody sweet time reading paper and enjoying his tea ... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Chee cheong fun

Pork ribs .. yummiess

Desserts .. some fruit jelly thingy

So after refueling our bodies with food we made our way up to Cameron Highlands. I haven't been there in ages and lucky we had a nice day ahead of us to enjoy up there.

It's a beautiful day

The first thing we did when we reached there was to find a place where we could pick/pluck strawberries. They charged about 20 bucks for 2 person for 1/2 kg of strawberries and since I've always only bought strawberries but never had the chance to pick them I decided to have a go.

Strawberry plantation

Up up and away

Jackpot !!

There were some mutated berries also

How come we never encountered any giant ass berries
when we went picking .. they must stash the good
stuff somewhere else and sell them at a higher price !!! damnits

Our treasure of the day and we manage to finish 1/2 kg in 1/2 hour !!! hahaha

After the strawberries and stopping for some grub we head over to the cactus farm where we were greeted with this.

Such a lovely sight

The red top .. cute looking cactus

It's called ayamas .. don't ask me why ..

Even a cactus needs a hug

This is one kick ass cactus with it's long "tentacle" hahahah

Looks familiar ?? hahaaha

After having enough of Cameron we decided to head back down to Ipoh where we will be joined for dinner with one of Christina's friend. After running out of ideas on where to eat we ended up in Friday Greentown. The place was okay but the food was awesome .. or it might be cause we were too hungry but doesn't matter I wouldn't mind headind back there again for a second time around.

Food glorious food !!

Loaded potato skins

All makan habis already

Friday cafe where your 9 cents means something

It was a fun but tiring day and it's back to KL again the next day but somehow we ended up sleeping around 2am only after having a few games of poker and some midnight snack.

Ipoh hor fun

We spent almost an hour looking for this shop. Suppose to have some kick ass hor fun and since it the first time I'm eating it so I can't compare with anything else but it sure did taste good. All that wait was worth it. After our brunch we head over to a shop to buy some ermm tambun biscuit and a few other biscuits and to KL we gooooooooooooooooo ... it's been a very long and tiring weekend and I was damn glad I decided to follow along .. so when is the next trip ?? muahahahahahah

Technorati Tags : holiday, ipoh, strawberries, cameron highland, cactus, changeiam, change.i.am, 2007

The holidays are over .. boohoo

Just got back after my trip from Ipoh. I'm so damn tireds. More updates later. Need to sort out the pics and do some resizing before uploading them. For now it's sweet dreams and good night.

Technorati Tags : ipoh, holiday, personal, life, 2007, changeiam, change.i.am

My Chinese New Year

Ok usually my Chinese New Year is spent at home or in a shopping center or going for a holiday but this has been one of the most hectic, tiring, awesome CNY I have ever had. I've been going out visiting friends houses for 3 days in a row and ended up having less than 5 hours sleep daily and being out of the house for more than 12 hours daily.

Who knew having so much fun can be so tiring. There was a lot of eating, some drinking, some gambling and whole lot of laughter. I also learnt to play mahjong ... hahahah .. though I probably only know the basic but it's kinda fun once you know the theory behind the game. Overall I think I did loose some money but who cares it's CNY anyway and I was having too much fun to keep count.

Once again Happy Chinese New Year !!!

Technorati Tags : chinese new year, 2007, changeiam, change.i.am

Tireds ..

I'm so sick and tired of being the predictable, dependable nice guy that everyone can count on. Whenever I feel this way the only thing that I can do to retaliate and change the way things are is to just disappear and disappoint the people who once thought they could always count on me no matter what.

Is it so difficult or too much to at least show some appreciation for the things that I have done ? I'm not asking for the world just to know that I'm not taken for granted. Why is it when things go bad people come looking for me but when things are good I'm just left out ? Is it the way the world works nowdays ?

Well paybacks a bitch and what goes around comes around. My conscience is clean and I will just accept whatever that is coming my way.

Technorati Tags : life, personal, 2007, changeiam, change.i.am

Kong Hee Fatt Choy!

Chinese New Year is finally just around the corner with tomorrow being the eve where family members gather around and have their traditional reunion dinner.

To all my friends celebrating it Happy New Year .. may this year of the pig bring you good health, wealth and success. For those who are driving back to their respective hometown please have a pleasant and safe journey. For the rest who are enjoying the time off and going for a holiday do take care and leave KL for me to terrorise ... muahahahahah

A traditional and comfortable year of consolidating. Not a good year for great changes but rather for contemplating your future. During 2007, when in doubt or trouble others are prepared to be your safety net and benefactors abound. Go ahead and lean as hard as you need to and ask for assistance if necessary. Emotionally, Horses may be pulled in two different directions romantically. Pull any weeds of misunderstanding, even if it means inflicting a temporary broken heart on an admirer. Be true to yourself but be gentle with feelings as well. Be cautious in sports or play not to re-injure a joint or knee. A year to put ideas up like a fine bottle of wine to age and wait patiently for opportunities to come.

My horoscope for this year of the pig. Let's see how true it's going to turn out to be. I wan go yee sanggggggggggggggg

I want a camera also to capture all this moment .. grrrrrrrrrrrrrr .. can I resist the temptation or run out and get a camera this weekend ?? hahahahahahah .. Wanna go roaming around town looking for lion dancers to take picture of ....

Technorati Tags : chinese new year, pig year, yee sang, lion dance, kong hee fat choy, changeiam, change.i.am, 2007

My Valentines Day

So finally Valentines day is over and everyone can go back being a normal person doing their normal stuff. Still don't understand why we need to celebrate such a commercialised day but to each his own ..

So I initially thought of just staying at home hiding under my blanket and watch a movie but a group of friends wanted to meetup for dinner and then later head to Settlers cafe to chill and enjoy some games. Despite my laziness and reluctance of going through all the hassle and traffic to go for dinner I decided to just go anyway and true enough the roads were packed with cars, everyone trying to make it in time for dinner. I managed to reach Atria slightly after 8pm and was suprised that I was among the earliest there.

While waiting for the rest to arrived we play The Great Dalmuti which basically is a card game.

After a few rounds the rest arrived and we proceeded to a Thai restaurant to have dinner. I forgot the name but it's located at the shophouses near Atria. The food was good but the drink was something else. I ordered green mango ice blended. It kinda looked funky and when I drank it first thought that came to mind was .. you know the assam people usually put on their jambu ... it so tastes like that except it's in liquid form .. hahahha .. quite sweet and sourish

After dinner we headed back to settlers to continue our games. The group broke into two and half played Dalmuti and the other half played Havoc. My group continued playing Great Damulti and I made it to be the Damulti 4 times in a row but soon luck ran out and I was Asshole for the next 4 rounds in a row .. hahahahahahah

After a while we got bored and the other group just finished their Havoc game so we decided to swap. Ah Wai, Kenny, Cody, Kelvin, TingTing and myself tried our hands at Havoc. For most of us it was our first time and Cody and Ah Wai were trying to explain how the game goes and what's the objective is. All I heard was blah blah blah blah .. hahahah .. so we decided to start the game and before the 2nd round was over everyone had on idea on what needs to be done and we were on our way to create HAVOCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC !!!!!!!!!!!

We were so engrossed with the game that by the time we actually finished it was around 1:30am .. and I lost by 1 point !!!! grrrrrrrrrrr so not satisfied lor ... I want rematch !!! HAVOCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC !!!!!!!!!!!

So ends my exciting and different Valentine's day this year :D

Technorati Tags : settlers, valentines day, havoc, dalmuti, card games, changeiam, change.i.am, 2007

Between needs and wants

Accompanied some friends to do CNY shopping last weekend in KL. Yes yes I know with all the last minute shopping and traffic jam plus the fact that some of the roads were closed due to Tour De Langkawi made it all even more tempting to just stay at home and hide under the blankets but I just wanted to go for heck of it and torture myself ... and I got more than I bargained for ... ended up walking around Sg Wang, Low Yat and Times Square for almost 8 hours .. my legs going to drop off alreadyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy ...

In between all that walking and shopping and waiting I got a chance to have a look at some new gadgets and it's really temptinggggg .. grrrrrr .. I've wanted to get a camera for the longest time so decided to check some out. The prices of a digital slr is really tempting with prices as low as RM 2.5k for a Canon 350D which is more than adequate for me to play around with it until I learn the basics of good photography .. on the other hand if I were to get a slr I would definately not be bringing it along with me everywhere I go hence defeating the purpose of getting a camera in the first place .. so I shifted my focus to compact cameras with some degree of manual control and saw two models that particularly attracted my attention were

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX2

Canon PowerShot G7

Both the camera have enough manual control and costs roughly around the same price with the Canon being slightly more expensive. The Canon also has a hotshoe for an external flash which is also compatible with it's digital slr brother which makes it all the more interesting. Have still not decided which one I should get or should I even get one in the first place or just jump straight to a digital SLR. Do I even need a digital camera in the first place or is just another spur of the moment kinda thing .. but one thing for sure photography is something I've always been interested in but just didn't have the time to really get involved .. we shall see how it goes ..

My mp3 player is also giving me problems and the headphone connection is not so good. Sometimes only one side of the headphone works and sometimes it has static sound. So a new mp3 player sounds feasible and what better player to get than the Ipod video .. 80gb of pure uncompressed music loving ... plus I can get to load up some movies as well to watch while I'm sitting around somewhere doing nothing and just waiting .. hmmmm now where and when would I do that ... never mind I still want one !!! hahaah


My headphones are also giving me problems ... I have 3 .. the Senn HD497 which one speaker doesn't work .. a Senn PX100 which sounds distorted at high volumes ... the Koss KSC75 which the volume control knob doesn't work properly causing distortion and sometimes only one side to work .. which boils down to me needing a new headphones for my new player ... hahahaahh .. I've boiled it down to two choices .. one is the shure earbuds .. whichs I've heard before paired up with the ipod and it sounds awesomeeeeeeeee !!! plus it's able to isolate most of the outside sound without using any weird frequencies allowing me to enjoy the music so much more

Shure E2c

I've also got my eye on the Senn HD600 or HD650 .. both of which are almost the top of the range audiophile grade headphones from Sennheiser so both of them costs a bomb .. I've only heard the HD600 before but it was paired with an amp so it was unfair for me to make a decision but oh boy do they sound awesome and I could tell the difference between an mp3 file and an uncompress version of it playing from the ipod ... it just sound awesome .. OMG drooling already thinking about it ... grrrrrrrrrrrrr ..

HD600

HD650

Last but not least .. no money no talk ... hahahahaha

Technorati Tags : digital camera, hobby, life, personal, photography, headphones, sennheiser, hd600, hd650, shure, e2c, ipod, ipod video, changeiam, change.i.am, 2007

The hyped up day

So the big V day is approaching and you can't help but notice people around you getting all worried and hyper trying to make plans for tomorrow. Isn't it funny how a single day can release so much stress especially for guys since the girls will be expecting something.

So who died and decided that we need a day to shower our love for our loved ones ? He must have been a genius, because of him florist prosper on this day and not to mention restaurants and gift shops and greeting card companies and a whole other range of opportunists who try to squeeze as much money as possible from us. Buying flowers on Valentines day is just ridiculous, you probably can get a whole bouquet of roses for the price of a single stalk on this auspicious day. Oh well who am I to complaint as I've also been trapped in the whole Valentines day thing and end up spending more on things that costs a lot lesser on any other day. Maybe this year I should be the one walking around with roses and selling them to couples and instantly becoming slightly richer.... muahahahahaha ..

Since I will be spending V day all alone I did some searching on google and stumbled upon this page on wikipedia. Let all the single people unite and celebrate Singles Awareness Day (SAD) hahahahahhaaha. You can read more about it here

So to all those who have plans for tomorrow have fun and even though V day will come and go cherish the company of your loved one throughout the year and not just one day. To all my single friends HAPPY SAD yooooooooooooooooooooooooooo :D

Technorati Tags : valentines day, personal, life, changeiam, change.i.am, 2007

My trip to China (Shanghai & Beijing)

Just managed to upload some pictures to Flickr from my trip to China (Shanghai & Beijing). Here's a slideshow of the pictures. Will update the post again later. In the meantime enjoy.

Flash Slideshow

Technorati Tags : holiday, trip, personal, changeiam, change.i.am, 2007

The Holiday

Was feeling a little down today and didn't want to go back and stare at the walls or in front of the computer so decided to make a trip to the movies. So with the last minute planning manage to get 5 people to follow me watch The Holiday.

The movie stars Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Jack Black and others. Okay I'm a hopeless romantic and love to watch this type of movies even though the plot is predictable and more often than not it involes either a sad or happy ending.

The movie is basically about Cameron Diaz (Amanda) and Kate Winslet (Iris) who have issues with the love life and decide that moving to a different country will give them the space and time to forget about everything and move on with their lives. Little did they know that no matter how far they run they magically find a man and somehow fall in love again.

Well I enjoyed the movie and it has it's funny moments. Although it did jog back some bitter memories but at least it left me leaving the cinema with a smile on my face. Plus Cameron's smile is extremely intoxicating. REALLY !!!

Technorati Tags : movie, the holiday, outing, gathering, changeiam, change.i.am, 2007

Hp Interactions - 5 countries 1 night 1 event

Got an invite to attend the event and since I had nothing else to do and was suppose to meet Tyler and gang in Maison later I decided I had nothing to loose plus they did promise free flow drinks. Arrived around 8pm and the media briefing just ended so I was one of the first ones in and immediately the kind waiter approached me with a tray of drinks. My new favourite drink vodka lime. Hahhahaha I think I had .. wait a minute I lost count how many I had ... LOL The new notebook from HP is also awesome with loads of features .. how I wish I could have one ..

Tyler arrived slightly later and since he didn't have dinner yet and the actual event of broadcasing live to 4 other coutries was starting only at 9pm. Went to have dinner and when we got back the place was already pack and suddenly we found ourselves surrounded by alot of technical people .. haahahahah and some of them were really funny .. :D

We were suppose to go live around 9pm but Taiwan was having some difficulties with the line and the live broadcast was delayed. DJ Kentaro performing in Singapore was awesome ... though it sounded more like drum and bass compared to hip hop .. Too Phat were also there to represent Malaysia. By the time the event was over most of the people that were actually there for the HP event were gone and the Maison crowd starting pouring in and before midnight the place was packed once more.

Left the place slightly earlier compared to before since I had a meeting today. It's amazing what technology allows us to do nowdays even though we were oceans apart. Too bad I didn't have a camera to take some pics. Will try getting some from those who were around.

Technorati Tags : hp interaction, tx1000, event, maison, party, changeiam, change.i.am, 2007

Sadness ....

Yesterday was such a heart wrenching experience for me. I got home from work around 8pm and the house was empty and I headed up to my room and while I was just lazing around the room I got a phone call from my dad saying that he's in the clinic now and our dog got injured badly because of a fight with another dog. At that exact moment I could feel my heart just skip a beat. He's been with us for almost 10 years now and is a part of the family and hearing such news is devastating.

I quickly drove to the clinic and when I saw him on the table with his tongue sticking out and trying his hardest to move his head to acknowledge my presence I felt my heart just dropping to the floor. He looked so helpless and I felt so useless not being able to do anything other than hold his little head in my hands. The doctor said he has tried his best to save him and because of the internal damage and his age the doctor asked us to keep him as comfortable as possible and pray for him.

Today as I was leaving for work I just gave him a gentle pat on the head and hope that he will recover soon from his injuries. Really saddens me to see the active little bugger sitting in the corner so helpless with his wounds and stitches.

Update - My dad just called me and said that he's more serious than we thought. His back bone is broken and so is his legs and he's now in the hospital under going surgery and will need to spend the night in the hospital. I feel so helpless ......

Technorati Tags : dog, injured, personal, pet, stitches, changeiam, change.i.am, 2007

I bought a pendrive from China and I copied the pictures I took so I could come to the office and upload them but it stopped working when I tried plugging it in the office pc. It can't even detect it to format the damn thing. It worked perfectly fine yesterday night when I copied the pics into it. Stupid made in china products made to last for just one day ?? Will try it again tonight at home .. hopefully it works or else ... to the trash bin it flies

Technorati Tags : life, personal, changeiam, change.i.am, 2007

I'm back !!!

Finally back in KL after almost a week in China ... have tonnes of photos to go through and will do a post on my trip to China soon ... :D for now .. it's good to be back though I do miss the coldness !!! hahahahah

Technorati Tags : personal, life, 2007, changeiam, change.i.am