| Monday, September 04, 2006 |
| Videoke Showdown |
I invited my friends to celebrate my birthday (and Merdeka) at Red Box. Red Box is a famous karaoke bar that I used to hang out in Manila. It actually originated here in Malaysia and I was very happy when I found out that there are a lot of Red Box “outlets” here.
Originally, I invited 7 people to come with me for lunch - Nina, Massi, Minnie, Mars, Gen, Zari and Rey. Unfortunately, the last 2 people didn’t make it because of work. So it ended up having 6 of us doing the showdown.
The room assigned to us was a party room and boy, you can really party. The screen is so huge (around 40 inches) and it has a dance floor in the middle that can accommodate 10 people. It was really exciting. All the singers in us were unleashed and we got crazy. In fact, when Macarena was played, we all danced and people are peeking in our room, probably wondering why all the people are dancing. It was really fun that we’re planning to make Red Box as a venue to celebrate our birthday.
On this day, I received gifts from my guests: a wallet from Minnie, Gen and Zari and a handbag from Nina and Massi. Thank you guys for the gift and most importantly, thank you for making my birthday special that I never realized that I was away from home.
So when is our next videoke gimmick? When we celebrate Mars’ birthday. What’s more exciting is that Ryan is in Malaysia at that time (yes! Phil Idol hahaha!) and I’m really looking forward for that. Reunited na naman ang mga mahihilig kumanta hehehe |
posted by subhuman @ 5:43 PM  |
|
|
|
|
| Felicidades |
My 25th birthday is special for me since this is the first time that I’m in a foreign country. So here’s how I planned to spend it - cook pasta and invite my friends Minnie, Zari and Gen for dinner, watch the fireworks near Petronas and prepare ourselves for the next day’s Red Box showdown. So at the eve of my birthday, I cooked my own version of the Filipino-style spaghetti.
My birthday also turned out to be the eve of Merdeka (Malaysia’s Independence day) which is a big celebration here. Unlike in Manila where the Independence day is just treated as an ordinary holiday, the Malaysians celebrate Merdeka the way how the Filipinos celebrate Christmas - flags are posted anywhere for the whole month of August. A few hours before the Merdeka day itself, parties are held in different locations and is concluded with fireworks showcase at midnight.
Our office is celebrating Merdeka on my birthday so it was decorated with balloons and Malaysian flags. Teasers were also sent that there will be some games and food at the pantry in the afternoon. I told myself that I’m lucky that the office is having a feast on my birthday.
I received an email inviting all the Filipinos from my project to an acquaintance dinner at New Paris in Section 2 so that we would get to know our Ates and Kuyas in the project. Since Minnie and her housemates are coming, I opted to come as well. I invited Mars to come with me as well although she’s with a different project. We decided to eat the spaghetti that I cooked for lunch instead.
At lunch time, Mars and I went to Section 14 to buy some food. Mars bought a chocolate indulgence cake from Secret Recipe (Thanks Mars! =D). I went to buy a blueberry flavored ice cream and a roasted chicken (which costs RM 9.90 per bird according to the store sign). We ate spaghetti and the chicken and returned to the office.
Earlier that day, we decided to join the game in the office for the Merdeka celebration. Five of us, Minnie, Mars, Lawrence, Michael and I (who all used to work in my previous company) volunteered to join our company’s Project Runway contest. So we registered and called ourselves Orang Asli which refers to the aborigines in Malaysia.
At 3:00, all 10 teams were asked to get the materials and were given instructions. Our task is to create a Kebaya (Malaysia’s national costume) out of vegetables, leaves and fruits. We were also provided with thread and needle, cutter, a 3-yard flesh silk cloth and cutters. Here’s the catch: the Kebaya must be worn by a female and must do the catwalk to exhibit each team’s output. My team mates decided me to be their model since it was my “birthday“ (yeah right!).
In a span of an hour, we researched the net for a sample Kebaya and brainstormed for the design. Mars suggested to create some accessories such as necklace and a headdress for more impact for the costume. After an hour, I wearing a headdress made of carrots, leaves and onions; an apple necklace and a kebaya made of carrots, garlic and some leaves.
Okay, for the most embarrassing part, all the models were gathered to do the catwalk in front of the whole company wearing those vegetables, err, I mean Kebayas. There are 2 groups who joined that was composed of Filipinos: Orang Asli (our group) and Noypi. A loud music was played and the host called each group’s name as a cue to start with the catwalk. Our group’s name was called and to my horror, all the employees are watching. Another thing, there are a lot of cameras taking our pictures and videos (shit! Pang-blackmail ito!) as if it was a real fashion show. Since I was in a humiliating position, I just need to do it with poise. So I did the catwalk with all the cameras flashing and hid immediately.
Not contented with the humiliation that all the models were subjected to after doing the catwalk, we posted with the Merdeka cake and did more pictorials (at that time, I wished if I could use the Memory Charm on all employees). The judge’s sheet were tabulated to determine the winners. We ended up on the 5th place and we won a month supply of biscuits and cookies (Is this worth the humiliation? I don’t think so!). After the contest, everyone were served with carrot cake, sandwich, spring roll and a dimsum with spicy coconut (I forgot what it’s called).
After office, we went home immediately to prepare ourselves for dinner at New Paris. Michael went home with us, carrying the biscuits and cookies that we won. We later invited him to celebrate my birthday. Later, the rest of the Orang Asli people came with us to celebrate our “victory party”/my birthday.
At around 9 PM, we arrived at the New Paris restaurant. It turned out that it was also a farewell party Cate, who will be leaving Malaysia after 4 years. It was nice to get to know my Filipino colleagues in an informal setting. We get to sit with Donn, who used to work also in my previous project, who’s very talkative. We were served with prawns, crispy pata (yum yum!), chicken and tofu that night.
At 10 PM, we called it a night. Mars and I were tired for all the activities that we decided to go home. Minnie and the rest of the gals headed to KLCC to watch the fireworks. Mars and I chatted at home, without realizing that it was midnight so we watched the fireworks at home from the 13th floor. The fireworks is really good.
It was a tiring day for me as I experienced a lot of things. This birthday is one of the best birthdays that I had so far.
|
| posted by subhuman @ 5:25 PM |
|
|
|
|
| Thankful |
I’ve just turned 25 a few days earlier and I’m really thankful for living a blessed life. I would like to thank first and foremost, our Lord Jesus Christ for the love that He gave me and for all the blessings that He granted me for the past 25 years. If it’s not for Him, I wouldn’t be where I am right now. He led me to make the right decisions in my life and I’m really grateful for that. The blessings that He poured me amazes me that I couldn’t ask for more (sounds like a title of a song hehe) because He knows what’s good for me.
Second, I would like to thank my parents who guided me for the past 25 years. You’ve molded me to become the person that I am right now and supported me in all the decisions that I made. I really appreciate all the sacrifices that you made for me to provide all the things that I need as I grow up. I don’t get to say this very often but I love you both so much and I miss you. Too bad, this will be my first birthday away from home.
Third, to all my friends who make my life more meaningful and for accepting me in their lives. Thanks for inspiring me to become a better person.
Lastly, to those who touched my life who also made me realize how I should live my life. |
| posted by subhuman @ 5:20 PM |
|
|
|
|
| Homesick |
Even though this is not my first time to be away from home for a long time. I feel homesick. Here are some of the things that I miss:
- the kwek-kwek at Balut Express that Myla and I used to eat before we ride the MRT. Kwek-kwek is a Filipino street food that is made of quail eggs that dipped in flour with orange food color; deeply fried and can be served with vinegar, chili sauce or sweet & sour sauce.
- Heaven & Eggs where my former officemates used to eat during Friday lunch or meet my college friends for dinner. This restaurant is similar to IHOP or Denny’s but also serves Asian Cuisine. I usually order their omelet or the pork chops.
- Jollibee for food trip (sarap ng Chicken Joy at ube keso Iced craze!). I usually to this if I would stay late in the office, or buy pasalubong for my family or just as a meeting place with my dormmates.
- Jeepneys and the variety of its sound.. Whether it’s the plain trumpet sound or the one with a high pitched male laughing sound, it never fail to amuse me (although it’s noise to most people). Here in Malaysia, I never heard any vehicles honked even if you’re close to be hit. In fact, Malaysia has a high rate of hit and run cases.
- the cassava cake that I eat while reading the Inquirer every Sunday morning.
- people having similar features and speaking the language that I understand. Here in Malaysia, the people are so diverse: there are Malays, Chinese, Indians and other races. Since they’re from different races, they speak different languages as well which I don’t understand.
- understanding the language of the shows in television. We don’t have a cable subscription yet so we would just watch whatever’s in television. Most of the shows that we’re shown are in Bahasa Malaysia. Also, I miss watching the ETC channel especially it’s shows such as Queer Eye for a Straight Guy, Nip/Tuck, Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien.
It’s a good thing that I’m surrounded by Filipinos at work and we usually cook Filipino foods in our unit which really helped a lot for me to deal with homesickness. Aside from that, the only time I feel that I’m closest at home is during Sunday morning when I hear the mass at the St John’s Cathedral in Kuala Lumpur. Even though it’s far from where I live, I like going there because most of the people that I see are speaking Filipino and there are people selling Filipino foods such as bibingka, cassava cake, pinakbet and pork binagoong. I don’t care even if the Filipinos who are hanging out in that area are comprised mostly of domestic helpers who are taking a day off from their work.
There’s still no place like home. The longer that I’m away from it, the more I want to come back. For now, I need to settle with what I have. |
| posted by subhuman @ 4:39 PM |
|
|
|
|
| About Me |
passionate about music; an aspiring teacher; a frustrated mathematician; an explorer |
| Recent Post |
|
| Archives |
|
| Template-By |
|
| Top Links |
|
|
