Tuesday 17 November 2009

About salsa and babies....

If my blog was my child and each post represents each meal i feed him/her, it would mean that i really suck as a parent. My last post being on 9 September and today being the 17 of Nov shows that my kid hasnt eaten in about 9 weeks. Thank God me blog is no kid of mine and i'm no father.... However, I am an uncle! That's right, my sister gave birth to a healthy baby boy on 7 October 2009. So guys say hello to my nephew ... 'Master Seth Arjuna'.


Yep, that's the crazy uncle with his unkept hair, still in working attire although it was like late at night. Oh, and that's the little baby.... isn't he just simply gorgeous??


Ah, here's a better picture of the little angel without the crazy uncle. Me friend Dom labelled this picture as 'the little torpedo head'.... maybe i'll start calling him that when he grows up. So little kid, say HELLO TO THE WORLD my dear Seth Arjuna. With lots of love, your crazy Uncle.

Now to the salsa bit. No not the sauce, the dance.

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One of the few reasons why i don't blog so often is because there's just no time. In the past, I used to blog and read blogs during office hours. However of late, I can't seem to find any 'me' time at work and I'm resigned to the fact that my only blog time are those of seeking info on the next treasure hunts. Yes treasure hunts is my latest passion. This is the first year that I decided to hunt on a regular basis and i think we've been doing well. Winning a couple of hunts, beating masters, making money; its all in a day's work. Can't wait for the next one this weekend.

Back to salsa. i just returned late last night from Singapore. I was there for the Singapore International Salsa Festival 2009. It was a fantastic event with international greats such as Mario, Albert Torres, Imagen Latina, Sabor Colombiano, Pretty Boyz and Girlz, Masacote, U Tribe and Pablo and Diyana. What was extra great about it was the fact that I was part of the Havana Estudio performance team. I must say that it was a great experience and extremely nerve wrecking.

Its my second congress/festival related performance and my 4th in public. However, this was the first time out of Malaysia and first time i wore so much PINK! Even if our performance sucked, it was perhaps my proudest moment yet.

Here's a quick montage of our performance.

And here's a montage us fooling around back stage....


And lastly - how can we not include the 'happy family pic'.... TEAM HAVANA ESTUDIO!



With em wide smiles on me face, its obvious that i was a happy camper and extremely proud of our performance. It was a great experience and one i'll remember for a long time. The rest of the festival was great too... LOL.. and the New Swing Sextet were awesome on stage! How not to dance to em cool jazzy groovy numbers?

Ok - before me signs off, please check out the video below. Its the video of our performance. Its not a very good angle. However, when i do get the rest of the pictures and videos, I'll upload more here.


Till the next!

Wednesday 9 September 2009

i'm on holiday

eh peeps... it a shame that i let this pet project of mine, i.e. 'the realm of the endless', left to rot in cyberspace. Its been 9 months since I blogged. Do you know that almost everyday, i have some brilliant idea for a blog entry, but when it comes down to doing it, I bail. Not because i don't want to, but more towards having different priorities. As always, the main few topics that I had planned to blog about has remained the same, i.e. politics, music and football. As such, hope you find today's picture less rojak of a blog entry, entertaining. Salam kabare.

Malaysian Politics
I'm no political analyst, but it doesn't take a genius to realise that the state of Malaysian politics is extremely embarrassing. I remember when I was a kid, I used to idolised our then PM, i.e. the great Tun or Dr M. Every merdeka day I would look out for him or articles about the great Malaysia and the struggles of our forefathers. Many people also know that I truly love Malaysian history because of how unique and beautiful Malaysia is. At one point in time, I was very proud of how Malaysia became Malaysia. I was the kind that was truly patriotic and believed we were living in ONE MALAYSIA. You know, the kind that was proud to wave the nation's flag about and knew the lyrics to Jalur Gemilang.

But that kid finally woke up. Learnt the hard way that Malaysia is a sad sad sad place. A country that once carried so much potential, is nothing but a joke to the developed world. Think about it, for a country that has achieved so much, that is able to spend money (unnecessarily) on things like a huge Jagung metal structure in town, a space tourist, Formula 1, etc, etc.... we budget each year with a deficit. With an empty promise of surplus the following year which never happens, as we've been in a deficit for as long as i can remember.

Why is this so? Where has the money gone? Don't get me started on kickbacks.

In a company, the CEO and CFO should be 2 different people. For simple reasons. The CEO would want to expand, entertain, PR, etc, etc... the CFO would want to control costs. As such, its best 2 have 2 people to handle these 2 functions independently and as such achieve overall success of the business. If not, a company may suffer the fate of over trading like the fate of such a great brand/product, i.e. CROCS.

If you're wondering what this has to do with politics, well if you noticed, our PM and Finance Minister has been the same person since DSAI was sacked. So go figure!

Apart from that, Teoh Beng Hock's death, anti ISA march and cow & temple business is just so upsetting to read. The mainstream papers are so obviously pro-UMNO. That's pretty obvious cause its owned by UMNO. The non-mainstream news portals on the other hand are so anti-government. So where do we go to read truly independent news? Answer is : NOWHERE!

Utusan Malaysia forgot what their paper represents. Once upon a time, it was the paper that used to provide the people information about the unfair British rule. News like that help boost nationalism and speed independence. HOORAY.... or not... think about it, if we remained a British colony, things could be different and I may just have an Anfield season ticket!

So now, the Opposition has some power. So is it good for the people? If the Opposition wins the election one day... does it mean the ROCKET and the HARAKAH will become the STAR and Utusan Malaysia? which means that in 50 years the rakyat will start to hate the Rocket and the Harakah.

I really don't know. All I know is, both sides are too FUCKING BUSY FINDING FAULTS WITH EACH OTHER AND ARE TOO FUCKING BUSY TRYING TO DISCREDIT EACH OTHER THAT THEY FUCKING FORGET THE LITTLE THINGS LIKE THE FUCKING RAKYAT!

I really wish they start working for the people and showing that how and why they are the right one for the people and not so much showing how good they are at arguing, disagreeing for the sake of it and name calling. I think a good way to start is by showing some concern like the H1N1 problem. We should have proper education and crisis centres. Instead i noticed a sudden influx of Aedes related awareness campaigns - WTF?

I just want this all to come to an end. I agree with one thing, we need a change from BN.... whether the PR be any better? Maybe... just maybe... better than nothing....


MUSIC
Music can soothe the savage beast. So can good radio stations! It was on a road trip to Segamat in Adam's car some many months ago (for Ron's wedding) that I discovered a new radio station called BFM 89.9. BFM - the business station is FUCKING AMAZING! Throughout the entire 4-5 hours we listened to FANTASTIC MUSIC will minimal interruption. The station plays primarily rock music from all the eras. Its probably the only station that will play Led Zep, Deep Purple, Sabbath, Iggy, Hendriz, Pink Floyd, Queen on a daily basis. The best part is, somehow or rather, they'll play CCR at about 9-10pm... which is the time i'm normally in the car heading home.

This station has an unique format. During the day, it'll play brilliant music in between great interviews. They provide all kinds of news / interviews that revolves around the economy both locally and globally. In the evenings on Mondays and Fridays they'll be some footie talk. On match nites they have life coverage of the matches - how cool is that???.. Other than that its music galore. After midnight till about 6am... they play Malay ROCK JIWANG - i likey!

The interviewers used to be crap - but I must say they have improved tremendously and provide great interviews in the morning. They have some serious pressing 'grilling' interviews and some very light hearted ones. They interview all kinds of people from Tony Fernandez to the guy that runs some small time business to Chef Wan. One interview that really impressed me was how 4 dudes (slackers)... who loves football.... borrowed money from their parents to set up a futsal court. Today... they run a full fledge business with various outlets and they even set up a franchise model that goes all the way to INDONESIA AND SINGAPORE! Wow - makes me think whether should I consider leaving working here and instead borrow money to set up a restaurant - which has been a life long dream.

And the music - oooo the sweet music. How can you go wrong with CCR, Blind Melon, Pearl Jam, etc, etc, etc ringing in your ears everyday??? If you like rock music and into business/corporate stuff... tune in to BFM 89.9!

Also in the past 9 months i discovered the best watering hole with the best live music ever - HOWL AT THE MOON in SINGAPORE... its a must!

FOOTBALL
Hhaahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahaha..... cause my beloved liverpool is a joke. 2 losses in 4 games -its like WHAT THE FUCK! I don't really think its because of Alonso - but one thing's for sure... LUCAS IS NO FUCKING ALONSO.... HE'S A LOSS DUMB BLONDE POODLE THAT CAN'T KICK FOR NUTS!!!! arrrgghhhhhh.... so is Babel btw!

Thank god Man Ure - is CRAP thus far... and ARSE has been unlucky..... or rather - Van Persie is unlucky..... I feel for Eduardo..... though i believe that it is about time that the 5th official is introduced and divers/simulators should be punished (like eduardo)... but to be banned after the match or rather... AFTER THE REFEREE HAS SEEN THE INCIDENT AND MADE A DECISION... i think its very unfair. Mr ballless Blatter and Platini - Please do something!

SPURS will run out of luck soon..... But City and Chelski has been impressive. They play and win matches like champions. Either by dominating and scoring high or controlling and winning by the odd goal!

As for Liverpool - thank god the losses came early in the season. There's still hope yet. Think about it... we've got 6 points from 4 matches so far. Meaning 9 from a possible 15.... Man Ure did 5 for 15 in their first 5 matches last season... SO I THINK.... WE STILL GOT A SHOT... no???

TILL THE NEXT! - will try to blog more real soon! - as for the subject... well i'm going on leave for like alot of days... not for any trip.. but just to stay home and sleep... i really can't wait for it!