Citrawarna

• Since I was "bujang" last weekend, I went along with the others to Citrawarna. Macam rombongan Cik Kiah - penuh satu van. Hifzi, Zainal, Zairol, Yusman, Hafiz, Zul, Zainee and Mior Azlan.
• Sampai awal, tak tau apa nak buat. Bebudak lain adala kerja nak set-up tripod camera segala. Decided to jalan-jalan merewang-rewang sepanjang Persiaran Putrajaya.
• Rupanya at the far end of the stage ada smaller stage where they showcase pre-event show. So dapatler tengok bebudak AF 5 nyanyi - Dafi, Dekna and Shawal. All our favourites dulu.
• Was the show good? I would not really know as all I can see was belakang photographers and cameramen yang ramai tu sahaja. Adalah sekali dua bangun2, tinjau2, dan tengok2.
• A highlight for me was when Jaclyn Victor, Vince and Farhan from AF4 (the only reason why we watched AF 4) sang the finale song. Nice song and yang penting finally dapat tengok Farhan sang live. She is truly fantastic.

Stupid, stupid trip

Me (extreme right looking postively bored) next to Zul (in black). Sebelah Zul is my ex-room-mate from UM, Alias Hamzah.

I'm not really a political person (although I do have a strong political stand and affiliation ... but I'm not telling anybody), so imagine my trepidation when I was told by the office to attend a launch of a Public Speaking Course for KL/Selangor UMNO Youth at the Awana Genting last weekend.

Since the boss could not make it for the event, Zul and I were told to "show face" as it was politically correct thing to do - more so that the course was being officiated by the Minister of Tourism himself. So there was I, on behalf of the office. Imagine a travel magazine writer attending an UMNO event. My first. And I was miserable throughout.

The thing about attending such obscure political event was that you have to suffer throughout the long winded speeches (kena pulak this was a public speaking course) and of course you have to listen to a certain Minister bashing and lashing out at a certain Opposition leader. Tak sah ler kalau tak buat macam tu kan. I'm so not okay listening to people bashing out others, more so when that other person was not there to defend himself. It makes you look stupid, actually.

Anyway, I must say that the ride up to Awana was "thrilling" as we were late. So, Zul drove like he was a former mini bus driver in KL in late 80s. Melayang-layang. Nostalgic betul. By the time we reached Awana, my hands were cramped as I was holding hard onto his dashboard, for my dear life.

Then I met my former room-mate, Alias, during my first year at Kolej Ketiga, Uni Malaya. The last time we met was like before we graduated in 1987. Although we were roomies, we were never particularly close - different courses (I did Ecnomics and he, Arts) and different set of friends. I did remember the first day we registered at the college though - after having our first hostel lunch that afternoon in July 1984, Alias took a nap. Then his father came by to the room to bid him bye bye. Bila tengok anak dia tidor, bapak si Alias nih boleh pesan memacam to me and I was like, "what the hell was he talking about?' Punya ler banyak pesanan penaja, sepatah haram tak faham. Yes, my first encounter with a Kelantanese. Lepas tu pakcik tu blah. I was left there speechless. Then I simply woke up his son si Alias nih and told him that bapak dia dah nak balik... kan ke senang macam tu.

Anyway, I was dumbfounded jugak masa the launch in Awana the other day as Alias was the one who led the bacaan doa. I was left speechless again...

AFUNDI MILA!

Sementara menanti my new hobi timbul - apa kata kita Afundi Mila. Setelah last year Farhan was subjected to ridiculous challenges, apa kata kita upkan si Mila ni. Go Girl!

But then again deep down I know that Aswad will win it all (just like Faizal last year). Although we were pretty upset when Faizal won last year, we would be even more upset if Aswad wins. And the saddest thing is that he is going to win. Dah lah masa last konsert boleh berehat-rehat bersenang-lenang sementara orang lain susah payah perform segala.

Anyway, tetap Afundi MILA.

Waaah!

Waaah! Sudah lama tidak berblog. I'm suffering from writer's block. Well! It's plain lazy, actually. In fact, I'm seriously thinking of not blogging anymore. Sudah sampai tahap boring dah ni. Thinking of looking for a new hobby. Any ideas?

Pesta Buku 2007

As yesterday was a public holiday, we went to the much awaited Pesta Buku at the PWTC. Manusia punya la ramai. Oh pening!! Tapi it was still fun. Buku dimerata-rata. Siapa kata orang Malaysia tak suka membaca..

Lihatlah beberapa orang perempuan seperti gambar di atas ini sedang memilih buku-buku. Seronok betul Asma sebab buku ada disekelilingnya. Tapi on the way back she macam nak cabut rambut sebab di tak dengar bila bapak dia cakap, "ambikler banyak mana buku yang Asma suka." Tapi dia amik satu jer. Bapak dia pulak innocent, cakap sekali jer, tak de pulak nak ingat2kan anak tu. Dah lah tu sampai rumah jer dah habih baca buku tu. Sekarang meroyan nak baca buku orang lain.

Dalam kata tak banyak beli buku tu, ini dia penuh jugak satu meja kami borong tadi. Murah ooooo. Ada diskaun sana sini.

Lepas kat PWTC, kami gerak ke Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman (kat Euro Moda lagi) untuk cari kain baju kurung untuk majlis Farhana nanti. Kat sini bapak sakit hati sesangat. Bebudak tiga orang ni bukannya nak diam. Suruh pilih kain, tercangak2 ler pulak. Lepas tu gelak2. Tapi apapun kain kelas ler jugak. Tapi Asma nak cakap kat Mak La dia yang dia beli kain baju ni kat Dubai. Kirim ikut kawan bapak dia yang pergi sana. Nanti kita tengok, Mak La dia percaya ke tidak?

Lepas tu on the way balik, we singgah kat my favourite supermarket of all, TMC kat Bangsar. After all these years, tempat ni still happening. Nak tengok artists do their grocery shopping, kat sini ler tempat nya.

Lepas tu balik rumah. And penyudahnya, I'm having a severe back pain. Now. This very moment. Aduh sakitler. And I've to work on Wednesday when most people are still holidaying. Crap. Esok MC.

My beautiful Arissa

Isn't she pretty? My baby Girl.

TV Watching - End of April

Thursday (26.4.2007)
It's a holiday for many due to Pertabalan Yang DiPertuan Agong. Woke up late and rushed to the office. Still sampai lewat. 11am baru menyelinap masuk. Anyways, at home, the ladies were watching the pertabalan ceremony live.
Second Daughter: Mak, macamana kita nak masuk istana? (Impressed giler dengan all the splendour and colours of the ceremony)
Mak: Ikut pintu ler... Kenapa?
Second Daughter: (without missing a beat) Arissa, kamu kahwin ngan anak raja lar. Senang sikit hidup kita nanti.
And then the mother quickly and smartly pointed out that the best royal house to tackle would be to cross border into Brunei. Yeah, dream on....

Friday (27.4.2007)
Entah macamana during sesi switching channel, we ended up at RTM1 and a certain live telecast was on that evening. It's called Hits Satu or something. Somewhat similar to TV3 Juara Lagu. And we watched, at long last, Diana Naim in action.
Both husband and wife were rendered speechless and numb. I'm sure many more Malaysian suffered similar fate. What the hell was that?? Seriously. And they complained about how bad the AF 5 students were. Enuff said.

Saturday (28.4.2007)
Akademi Fantasia 5. Aizat found himself eliminated. Lawak lak tengok Hattan bangun marah-marah kat audience. Nampak sangat people do not listen to the judges. But l liked the choral version of Joget SiPinang Muda. Apapun memang tak patut ler jugak si Aizat tu keluar because he clearly performed the best. And clearly jugak, Aswad is being pushed to become the next juara - thanks to the drama 'ayah dan ibu' at the end of the concert. Although mamat ni ada suara, but please ler, the way I see it, he can only reprensent the rock kapak segment of the industry. And although many people complain about Aizat's attitude in the diary, but me and wife are more irritated by Aswad's attitude. Such a cry baby and he's the oldest. Whatever.

Sunday (29.4.2007)
Satu family sedang menonton one HBO movie (can't remember the title)
Mak: Hero ni macam very familiarler?
Bapak: Lar, kan ke Bruce Willis tu. Takkan tu pun tak perasan.
Mak: (Mulaler nak merajuk) Ya lar, kita tak pandai banyak benda. Buat apa kahwin dengan kita (Very drama kan?). Lain kali kahwin dengan orang yang pandai.
Bapak: (sambil senyum) Lain kali?
Second Daughter: Bolehker?
Bapak: Apasal lak tak boleh?
Second Daughter: Masalahnya ada ker orang nak?
Bapak pun came down crashing back to mother earth, berguling-guling.