Flu Flu...

It all started yesterday afternoon....

Keith has fallen sick with flu & fever since Sunday and actually he has not fully recovered till date. As he falls sick more often than I do, I like to tease him for being weaker than me and stuff sometimes.

On Wednesday night, he warned me not to drink from the same bottle as he coz he worried he might spread the virus to me. Oh well, I've been drinking from the same cup/bottle with him since Sunday, so I thought if I would have get it, it wouldn't take so long to infect me. So I berlagak (action) lah.... I told him I'm much stronger & healthier than him and while telling him that I showed of my biceps (to further prove my point).

And I spoke too soon....

I woke up with a slight sore throat the next morning. In the afternoon about 5pm I suddenly realised my left nostril is blocked and my right nostril is feeling rather dry & painful. I didn't know why but I suppose it was due to the air-cond and since I can't leave office just yet, I took a piece of tissue to cover my nose and continue working.

Came home after work and felt miserable coz it hurts so much to breathe. Every breath I take is hurting me so bad, but I can’t stop breathing either. I have to choose between enduring the pain or stop breathing and die!!! Of course I don’t want to die. Not now!!!

I had to sleep without air-cond so end up Keith had to sleep in the living hall coz he wouldn’t be able to sleep without the air-cond. It was very warm for me too but at least my nose wouldn’t hurt so much as compare to sleeping with the air-cond on.

Woke up this morning, luck was not at my side. I woke up with a slight runny nose but damn… the pain just wouldn’t go away. My right nostril is still feeling dry & painful each time I breathe even with my nose fluid flowing down (running nose mah). As I have loads of things to do in office so I was very reluctant to take sick leave but then I know I wouldn’t be able to take the cold air in the office without any protection for my nose, so I had to wear mask at work.

Everyone was asking me why was I wearing mask and they laughed at me. They laughed!!! How sympathetic they are. :P Hahahaha…. They said I look cute and wanted to take picture. *&@*?#*!$*”^)%.....

One of my colleagues saw me, laughing non stop then he showed all kind of funny actions & shouted at me: “Hikkk! POWER RANGER!!!”, I shouted back: “No!!! I’m NINJA TURTLE!!!”. He kept calling me Power Ranger but I insisted I’m TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja turtle), then he gave up and called me ‘Turtle’.

Then late in the afternoon another colleague came in to office, saw me wearing the mask, he frowned and asked me: “Why are you wearing mask? SARS happen again?”, so I played along, “Yes, yes, SARS! SARS!”. All these jokers! :D

Oh I forgot to mention, I went to see doctor after lunch wanting to get the nasal spray & some medication. So I walked to the clinic (nearby my office). I registered myself and was called in to the consultation room shortly. While walking towards the room I saw a young Chinese girl sitting in the room and I was wondering why the doctor calls me in while he/she has another patient in the room. When I reach the door, I realized she is the doctor on duty (name, Michelle). I was very surprise as I’ve never seen a young Chinese female doctor before. Ok I lied, I’ve seen young Chinese female doctor before but the reason I was so overreacted is because this young doctor is quite pretty looking. So I was very excited and happy (ok I must stress that I’m not Bi nor Les, ok?) coz I like to see pretty girls.

Anyway, many people said want to see my TMNT look in my FB today so I purposely took a shot of myself.

So this is for you bunch of ‘Kepochi’!!! (Busybody) :P

Hope I recover soon coz as I'm typing this blog, my flu got worse but the dryness & pain is still there. How can that be?? I'm having running nose and yet my airway is dryand it still hurts at every breath I take. Really don't understand.... :(

Blown Away....

Keith & I always love to enjoy relaxing live band performance at the hotel lounge while slowly sipping our drinks after a nice meal.

We have seen and heard many live bands performing in various hotels in KL/PJ and the live band in Shangri-la hotel is the best thus far.

This band hail from Philippine (as most of the live bands are) comprised of 2 girls & 1 guy. The reason why they are our favourite is because not only they can do all kind of songs but all 3 have really nice vocals.

What impressed me the most is not only they can do songs ranging from oldies, contemporary, fast and slow beats, they can also freaking do Classical!!! How many live band you come across can actually deliver a song like Time To Say Goodbye (Por Ti Volare)?

Most male keyboardist/pianist cum singer in the live bands we've seen everywhere don't really sing that well, but my my, the male member in this particular group will really blow your mind when you hear him sing this lovely song.

So next time if you are there, go ahead & dedicate this song and be really really impressed!!!

I told Keith that I'm gonna dedicate this song everytime we go to the lounge so that I can listen to the awesome vocals again... :D

And not forgetting the female singer (the prettier one) who is always so energetic, passionate, sexy, sweet, funny & with such great showmanship. She is the soul of the band. :) She is just awesome (wish I can perform like her though).

This video is a version sang by Andrea Bocelli & Sara Brigtman - Time To Say Goodbye....
It was delivered beautifully & powerfully by the lounge singers at Shangri-la hotel. I had goose bumps all over when they came to the finale of the song...

Enjoy! :)

Terminology of the Women's Vocab... :D

1. Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up

2. Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

3. Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

4. Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!

5. Loud Sigh: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)

6. That's Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

7. Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you're welcome. (I want to add in a clause here - This is true, unless she says 'Thanks a lot' - that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say 'you're welcome'. that will bring on a 'whatever'

8. Whatever: Is a woman's way of saying F--- YOU!

9. Don't worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking 'What's wrong?' For the woman's response refer to # 3.

Women...don't you feel like strangle them sometime?

This is for the guys.... :D

Free...Really?

I know it is a normal reaction whenever we are being approached by stranger, before really listen to what the other person has to say, our very first reaction or answer is always 'No'.

I was given lots of free movie tickets & free popcorn combo set passes by my bro in law for movies at Cathay Cineplex. Keith & I had our movie marathon 2 weeks ago on our own for we only had 8 tickets. We gave away our popcorn coupons as we didn't want to waste it. That was easy.

This round I was given even more tickets and I shared them with my friends & even FB friends. each movie passes comes with a popcorn combo set.

We went to another round of movie marathon with 4 other friends today. As we don't intend to use all the popcorn coupons so instead of wasting it, again I gave it to some lucky strangers who were queuing up for their snacks & movie tickets.

And that's when I truly understand how it feels like when you offer to give away something free and people actually turned you down!

So, the incident was like this....
Me as L, Keith as K and the stranger (Chinese guy) as S.

L: Hi! are you planning to buy the popcorn set?
S: Ya, I am.
L: Alright, may I know how many set do you intend to buy?
S: Mmm.. think I'll buy 2 sets.
L: Oh, that's great. Actually I have some extra free popcorn combo set coupons, so I would like to give it to you. Don't worry, it's free.
S: It's free? Ermm..no thank you. I think it's ok.
(My brain was clotted for a split second and I was stunned for a while)
(This guy just said 'No' to my offer of giving him my free coupons?!?!?)
That's when Keith walked up next to me and came into my rescue...
K: It's really free... (and I quickly added)
L: Ya..it's free and there's no catch.
S: It's free, is it? Oh ok, thanks a lot.

So I quickly tear down 2 coupons and passed it to S and walked away. I still had a few more coupons at that time but I was kind of offended by S's reaction so I passed the rest of the coupons to Keith & asked him to gave away the rest.

So S went to the counter and passed the coupons to the cinema's crew. And I think when he found out that it was a real deal, he turn to face me and thank me furiously, twice.

See, want to give away free stuff also not easy as no one believes there is such thing as 'free' coz in order for us to get 'free' stuff, we must always spend a certain amount of money first.

Well, to me when I have goodies & free stuffs and I know Keith & me can't utilise it all, I rather share it with my family, friends and yes, even strangers because it makes me happy when I make someone happy. :)

So you people out there....I'll love to share it again if I get any free stuffs in the future. So, watch out! :P

When The Door Of Opportunity Opens...

I received the following article 2 days ago in my mailbox.

Anybody can achieve anything. Do you believe that? I do.

But there is a caveat that must be made. Those who succeed are those who walk through the door of opportunity when it swings open. That we know. But what is the secret to getting through the door of opportunity?

Being outside the door when it swings open.

As the story goes, Frank Sinatra got his big break while working as a waiter. One day, as he was waiting tables, who does he see sitting in the restaurant, but one of the biggest names in the music industry. Old Blue Eyes did the unbelievable: He cleared off a table next to the gentleman and got up on it and sang! He knew he was done at the restaurant for doing so, but how many times would this door of opportunity open up? Needless to say, the rest is history.

You may remember my article about the stagehand for Kenny G who one day was in the auditorium with Kenny, just the two of them, when he started to play every song for him on the piano that was set up. Kenny didn't even know the guy could play the piano. Guess who is now the lead keyboardist for Kenny G? You got it!
You see, you never know when the door of opportunity is going to open wide. For some, the big break comes early in life and for others later on. But for all of those who become successful, there is one key similarity: They were ready. And for every one of those who were ready, there were thousands more who weren't.
So, the principle for us is: Be ready!

Are you ready? Here are some thoughts for you to consider. Are your skills as sharp as they could be? Are they enough so when your shot comes you can perform? Is your character deep enough to handle success? Let's face it; you don't want big success if your character won't be able to handle it.

Are you working hard to position yourself now? The job to do while waiting for the door to open is to develop your skills and your character, so as to position yourself to get through that door before it closes. Your door will open someday. It opens for everyone. It may only open once or it may open many times. It is different for everyone and life just isn't fair that way. But everybody gets a shot. Will you be ready? When that huge door of opportunity opens up, will you be able to walk boldly through it?

Do everything you can to be ready. Don't just sit and wish and dream. Be proactive and make sure that you are the most qualified when the door opens. Make sure that you are the hardest worker. Make sure you are the closest to the door.

When it opens – Be Ready!

Shhh. Do you hear that? Hinges creaking! It is the sound of the door opening. Your door of opportunity! Are you ready?

The door of opportunities were opened for me couple of times but I did not grasp it.... perhaps I was too young at that time and lack the maturity & self confidence.

To be a singer is my dream from young. I’ve started singing even before I could talk (that’s what my mom told me) and I’ve joined many singing contests since primary school till college. And I was once a part time wedding singer during my secondary & college days. I was once approached by a local producer but guess I took things too easy. Coz how many people got the chance to be approached by a producer and yet I did not do what others might have done. I didn’t show much interest and enthusiasm wanting to be a recording artist…. Well, the rest is history.

Oh, you might be wondering why I’ve stopped being a part time singer since I love singing so much. 2 reasons, I started work after college plus I was sexually harassed by my then manager. So I quit.

I’ve always thought that the reason why I didn’t end up to be a singer was because I’m not as lucky as others or I did not try hard enough to achieve my dream. But looking back, the truth is, I did ‘Nothing’ at all. I was waiting…and waiting….and waiting…. Seriously I didn’t know what was I waiting for, coz I’ve missed the opportunity when it came knocked on my door. I could have been more aggressive and took the initiative to look for the opportunity. But, I did nothing.

I know I must do something. It is never too late to try to achieve my dream because singing is a timeless thing. It has no age limits. One can be as young as 2 or as old as 80, as long as the passion is there, one can sing until he/she swallow the last breath.

I’m not afraid to fail after trying, what scares me the most is not even trying and spend the rest of my life wondering what could have happen if I try and succeed. I believe I can do it and in the end if things don’t work out as planned, at least I know I’ve done my best and I’ll have no regrets.

I’ve started taking vocal class to further improve my skill and will slowly get myself involve in live performances. I want to be the one who is up the stage singing & performing instead dreaming & wishing that I’m the one singing every time I see any live band performance. :D

Opporunity doesn't come knock on everyone's door all the time, sometimes, we need to create our own door(s)...

So, wish me luck!!!