Introducing Ariel

Hello. My name is Ariel (it used to be Bulat but somehow my new masters decided to rename me). Anyway, I’m one year old. I used to stay in Bukit Jalil until two months ago (or was it three months?). Now I lived with a family of five in USJ, Subang Jaya. I don’t really know why these people adopt me. Maybe they wanted “someone” to provide comic relief for them (as whenever I did something that’s remotely funny, they’ll laughed their heads off!)

Sometimes, I just need to put on my cutest face, and they would go “auwwwwwww”!!!! Pelik la humans ni!

Cute la sangat kan..

But having said that, I must say living here, now, is okay. They, the masters, feed me well. I can’t possibly ask for more, right? But it can be boring too – especially, for some reasons, they don’t allow me to step outside of the house.

that's me... bosan ya amat!

So, I try to sneak out whenever possible, especially when they are opening the doors to go outside. But more often than not, they manage to stop me from doing so. On those occasions when I managed to get out, they would usually scream in horror, as if something bad just occurred. Strange people, they are. For goodness sake, I only wanted to take a bit of fresh air and roll around outside. (okay, maybe find a boyfriend too la… but don’t tell them!)

So most of the time, I’m cooped up in the house. And most of the time, its up to me to amuse myself. Tough.

...So I roam around looking for things to do or some insects to play with...

.. or I play with plastic bags - my favourite thing in the whole wide world. It doesn't matter how large, how small, or how full the plastic bag is, it is mine! If I cannot fit my entire body into the box, then I use whatever part of my body that fits to assume ownership of the said plastic bag. (I have used one or two paws, my head, or even just my tail to gain entry and each works equally well for a truly restful sleep.)

or if there's really nothing else to do, I usually take a nap.. here's me at my favourite napping place...

..me sleeping some more....

And let me tell you about my masters (bodek sikit la)... there are five of them in the family...

The first one is the only male in da house... they call him Bapak (although one person call him abang, I have to check why). I'm guessing that this person is rather afraid of me... as he hardly pick me up. He will only pat me or tickle me occassionally. But I know he's harmless.

Then there's this lady they call Mak (or Yan as the only male call her... again I have to check why is this so). She's hillarious, I tell you. And she's motherly too... so that's why I always like to snug up to her especially when she starts to sit in front of her PC. (like above....). She always laugh at the slightest antic that I make.

Then there's this girl call Alia. I am rather perplex as she's the only one the house who doesn't have a room mate. Yes, she has a room all to herself. I suppose I was brought in to be her new roommate (and I like her room too as I can while away by the window and look at all the yummy birds outside). But she always close and lock her room making it so susah for me to enter. How la like this? I wanna be your roommate, okay?

Next is Asma. She's hillarious too. The other day I caught a cicak and I was so proud of my self and brought it to her to show off la. And she had a major freak out moment then and there. Heh. Strange creature this girl!!

And finally, the youngest of them all is Arissa. She's the closest to me. And she likes to dress me up like the pix above. I look ugly, right? And she likes to play plastic bags with me too. In my book, that's a cool person.

Oh yes, there's one other person at home currently. I'm guessing she's the mother of Mak. I call her Opah. She's a gracious lady and always talk to me like I'm a baby. She's funny too. She always got my name wrong... sometimes she calls me May (or something like that la) and sometimes sesuka hati sahaja she calls me Danial and Aidill(!!!@#$$%%???). Euwww that's boys' name!!!!!

Shout! Absolutely fetching!

The Stars: The delightful Tisha, Shaney, Ning, Nikki, Tria and Joanna.

Its a good thing that I have absolutely no idea what Shout! The Mod Musical is all about when we went to watch it on the opening night at KL Pac last evening. I was rather busy earlier in the day so much so I had forgotten to Google the musical, as I usually do if I’m to watch a movie or go for a show.

And I’m glad I didn’t (Google it, I mean) as what happened in the end was a real super pleasant surprise. Shout! The Mod Musical is indeed an excellent off-broadway show.

The musical was Broadway Academy’s debut presentation, featuring golden songs from yesteryear. Apparently, BA is the first Malaysian company granted professional licence to produce Broadway musicals from New York with homegrown casts.

Set in Britain, the musical is about modern magazine Shout!, which focuses on 1960s music, fashion and liberation. It revolves around five girls – homebody Orange Girl (brilliantly played by Ning Baizura), slutty Green Girl (delightfully funny Tria Aziz), awkward Red Girl (versatile Shanel Shanty James), icy but beautiful Blue Girl (the classy Tisha Zarina) and loud American Yellow Girl (fabulous Nikki Palikat).

With a shimmy and a shake, the girls (in patent leather high boots, tight skirts and psychedelic outfits from the 60s) belted out hit songs from that era such as To Sir With Love (Lulu), Downtown (Petula Clark), Diamonds Are Forever (Shirley Bassey), Wishin’ And Hopin’ (Dusty Springfield), These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ (Nancy Sinatra) and Georgy Girl (The Seekers).

Besides singing, they talked about new fads like Beatles, Twiggy, face creams, the Pill and independence. They also sent in lonely heart letters to Agony Aunt Gwendolyn Holmes (played by the amazing Joanna Bessey) who thinks every problem can be solved with “a fetching new hairstyle” or “a new shade of lipstick”.

We certainly have loads of fun watching and ‘experiencing’ the musical. Yeah, it was an experience. Ning and gang were all equally fantastic with wonderful voices and brilliant comic timing (ntv7's Audition season one champ Tria Aziz is simply hilarious. The music was great and the choreography was easily eye catching and feet stomping. The crowd really got into it.

And as I said earlier, I'm glad I didn't read about this show before going as I might want to cmpare these girls with the original performers (but when I got home, I've youtubed and watched another mat salleh's off-broadway version.... and I have to give our girls the thumbs-up).

I believe that if you are into musicals ala Mamma Mia, this one is not to be missed. Naturally, this high-energy musical held my undivided attention throughout. It brought me back to the lively music of the sixties. A nostalgic trip, indeed. (no, I’m not that old - started my schooling years in the 70's okay!)). But really, if you are from that era, you can't miss the joy. I was smiling the whole time. My teenaged girls seemed to enjoy most of the 60’s music for the first time as they were tapping away in their seats.

So if you are wondering what to do these next few days, why don’t you check out this musical. It’s magically groovy!

Shout! The Mod Musical runs from July 15 till 21 at Pentas 1, Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre, Sentul Park, Kuala Lumpur. Showtime is 8.30pm (with extra 3pm shows from July 16 onwards). Tickets are priced between RM96 and RM225. Tickets can be purchased at Axcess ticket outlets or KLPac’s box office. For details, call 03-7725 6175/4047 9000 or browse broadwayacademy.asia.

Cerita Bola Saya.....

I’ve never been a fan of football.... so it’s no biggie that the on-going World Cup does not affect me. For instance, you won’t find me staying up to watch the matches (why, even the 7.30 pm matches also I don’t really watch) – and that will definitely include the final.

That doesn’t mean I do not follow the goings –on of the matches. Being a perpetual couch potato, more often than not, I found myself veering off to the sports channels just to keep up with the latest score. Yeah, I love all those trivia things and I guess learning, as an example, about France’s spectacular exit from this year’s tournament is rather thrilling.

What astonished me the most, however, is the fact that my two oldest girls are into this World Cup. Naturally, they are rooting for Argentina, or to be more precise Lionel Messi (whom I only realise existed when he was used by Astro in that World Cup ad where he uttered “in HD” to that young girl and her parents).

Speaking of rooting, I still do not have a team to support although I am really leaning to see a new nation to win the World Cup this year. So it means, I’m definitely not supporting Germany, Brazil (am still heart broken when they were ousted by Italy in 1982), Argentina (sorry, girls), Italy (still cannot forgive you guys for that 1982 turn of event) and good old England (still think, they are the most over rated team this year). Somehow, I’m okay if Uruguay wins their third trophy this year, though).

See, I’m big on trivial and useless information – I can remember all those historical (if you can call it that la) facts and figures – like that 1982 Brazilian tragedy. Although, I’ve never once stayed up to watch any of the World Cup finals in its entirety, I can still recalled the heroic Mario Kempes in the 1978 final, the entertaining Dutch team led by Johann Cruyff in 1974 and the hugely tedious 1990 final between Argentina and Germany, because I did watch highlights of those matches, and many more, countless times.

Anyway, because this time around there’re two ladies who are following it more closely than their Bapak, the World Cup do creeps into our conversations at home and we have had some good laugh at that...

Conversation One:

The Two New Fans (aka Alia and Asma): Yeah Argentina won!!!!!

Bapak: (Looking bewildered)

Mak: Mak tak tahu la nak sokong siapa this World Cup ni.

Alia: Sokong Argentina la....

Mak: Ha dah tahu.... Mak nak sokong Turkey!!!!

Bapak: (dah gelak guling2 with the girls) err Turki tak masuk final la this time...

Mak: Laaaaa... tapi orang Turki handsome2.... and then dia orang pulak tu Islam.

(So, How?)

Conversation Two:

(this during a chat session over FB between me and my friend Hazel (with apology ya Puan!)

Mior: .... tu la kan..... masa Argentina lawan Greece yesterday.....

Hazel: Wait! Greece ada masuk World Cup????? Bukan negara dia orang dah bankrupt ka? Apasal dia orang main?

(Mior then gulling2 jatuh ke lantai again)

Conversation Three:

(This was when the girls were watching the replay of Argentina Vs Greece)

Mak: Heyyy... ni dia mamat yang kat dalam iklan tu (obviously referring to Messi)

The Two New Fans: Ha betul la Mak... tu lah Messi!!!

Mak: Haaaa... Maxis?

(And I rest my case!)

It's the girls' day out ..... with Bapak in tow (muahhaahhaa)

This school holiday, we didn't go anywhere (as if we always go on vacation during holidays la pulak ya). But nevertheless, I still feel guilty seeing the girls got cooped up in the house throughout the two-week holiday. So I did the next best thing - I ajak them jalan-jalan to shopping malls whenever I got the time. Like last Saturday.... my two oldest girls and I (their mom was busy with her work and needed to be online the whole morning while their youngest sister .. well... she just went to sleep after staying up all night doing her anime stuff or whatever that she's doing) went to Mid-Valley and Suria KLCC (which was a quite an event for us la on account that we normally lepak2 at Sunway Pyramid or at those wonderful Mall in Mutiara Damansara sahaja).

We left early and by 9am we were already driving into Mid-Valley car park. I was extremely excited no doubt looking at the near deserted parking lot and quickly parked the car right in front the entrance's escalator. The reason for that early morning sojourn was that we wanted to check our the Scholastics' Book Buffet promotion. As we were very early, naturally they were not opened yet. However, we got to check out the books there first la and it was decided that although the titles were interesting, Asma really wanted to get hold of Michael Grant's Gone novel (as she already bought the second one in the series and couldn't really understand what's going on... until she reads the first one).

So we decided to lepak-lepak at McD while waiting for the bookshops (mainly MPH) to open. We also took the oportunity to jalan-jalan ke Gardens.

Gardens is as always... more quiet than Mid-Valley. But then the girls found it nice...

... especially when Alia found out that there's a totally kick-ass art store there... can't even remember the name of the store

Then we stumbled upon Borders... woohhoooo (that's me trying lo look cool...)

... but it didn't work out kan? I mean, me trying to look cool.

Anyway, Borders didn't have the book that Asma is looking for.... so

... we made our way back to Mid-Valley and into MPH... where the search continued. The thing was that upon checking with their computer system, the elusive book was stated as available... but even with the help of the good people at MPH, we still could not locate the book.... hrmmmmph! So it was decided then that dah alang-alang keluar ke kota raya, we might as well try our luck at Kinokuniya.... So off we went to Suria KLCC pulak..

... and yes we found the book at Kino finally. Lega. And then we had lunch. Japanese. Nyum...nyum..

The End.

Bila jumpa balik.....!

29 years later. (from left Ooi Lee, Nora, Sumawati, Salina, Azizah, Adzman, Mior , Amran, Azhar and Harman)

For some reason, I never really fancy myself going to reunions… be it school or college reunions. Numerous American TV shows that depicted reunions as a painful experience somehow contributed to the feeling. I could feel my stomach curdle just thinking about it. Why would anyone subject themselves to secondary school or college again, even just for a day or night? Surely the only people who actually go to those things are the wildly successful with something to show off.

Don’t get me wrong. Secondary school wasn’t that bad for me, compared to some of the tortured stories I’ve watched from those TV shows. I had some good times, made some good friends (which, unfortunately, went separate ways once we got our SPM/STPM results), and tried to be under the radar most of the time since I was devoid of any talents whatsoever. And I also tried not to fail exams (which I was not very successful at, though). I think I learned a few things in school here and there, but math DID turn out to be useless just like we all contended. I definitely had my insecurities and embarrassments, but I got out relatively unscathed.

But last weekend, saw me attending my very first reunion (more like a mini reunion, really) in Ipoh. And you know what, I enjoyed it tremendously. And I want to do this more often now. I realise I have lots of friends and I want to stay in touch and be friends all over again. Life’s too short not to be cherished this way.

Masih muda

Catching up