After a prolonged hiatus

*sorry my dearest blog..I have forsaken you. I promise not to do it ever again* moving on...

Currently, I am at home for term break. My second term in KTJ was..to sum it all up in one word-gruelling. My sleeping time seemed to have diminish drastically over this term. Just a quick recap on what had happened.

1.Athletics
I took part in High Jump and got a gold for that. Jawahir totally conquered the entire event. We won for both juniors and seniors. For Juniors, we only won by a small margin..one or two points. But for seniors, we vanquished the other house, sweeping every single gold medal except for discuss. I can't believe it myself but we did it...


There wasn't really much of a competition for high jump. I only did 5 jumps and won the event. In fact, I killed all the rest with 120cm and it wasn't really that high either. But I can tell you, I was shaking like hell just before my jump. It was seriously nerve-wrecking, sitting on the grass, waiting for your name to be called, watching others taking their jump, praying that I could get over the next hurdle. Anyway, its all over now..and I won!!!! *victory dance*



2.Midsummer Night's Dream
Well, it went on pretty smoothly despite all the drama...It was held in the hall for the first two days because of the weather. I actually preferred the hall as it is air-conditioned and mosquito proof. Anyway, it was fun though a bit boring cause I had long intervals between each dances. All I had to do was learn 3 dances with the weirdest movements imaginable, stroke the donkey's ears and...Miss Sarah's favourite word...SMILE...

looking adoringly at the ass

At least I had Tania to accompany me throughout the whole process of this play. My costume was made by Miss Lek and she did a terrific job on it. However, I must admit that the wings were pretty annoying. The wings were stapled..yes..STAPLED onto my bra. The worst part about the whole ordeal was that my bra couldn't support the weight of the wings and started pulling upwards. You can imagine how I felt during those 3 nights...One more thing, Ms Nathalie literally glued my body and poured all the red glitters on and I was the brilliant one that suggested it to her after discovering we had no red body paint. The glue glitter looked amazing but believe me, its not worth the pain of having to peel it off after the show. Anyway, the whole thing went pretty well and everyone had a good time.

we are pretty SMILLING fairies

3. North Korean Art Exhibition
I don't know how she does it but Jessica managed to persuade me to go with her to an art exhibition by North Koreans. Honestly, I like looking at at pieces when I have loads of time but not during an exeat where I just want spend whole day long in some ginormous mall. Fortunately, the exhibition was pretty small but I've got to admit, I was pretty impress with the work that was exhibited. Jess got all excited that she gets to meet North Koreans. I just walked around and randomly took pictures of art work that I liked while Jess took pictures of every single art work there is. There seem to be a theme for the whole exhibition cause most of the art work are of animals especially tigers in the safari. I think some of the artists went on a trip to Africa because I don't think that there are any leopards or zebras in North Korea. Here are some of my favourite pieces:

A tiger enjoying the view

believe it or not..this picture is entirely made up of sand

reminds me of what Ms Carol calls, the sublime

And finally, my favourite piece-A tiger waiting to pounce on its prey, silently waiting for the right moment, eyes focussed, ears attentive to the surroundings, camouflaging among the grass..just waiting for the precise moment. Love it


I had a another good term. Now I just have to prepare myself for the upcoming exams. I can do it. It's not that hard...I hope....

Outings and Excursions!!

I went out a lot in January, practically every chance I get. Chillies was our first stop during exeat due to Jessica's weird obsession for it. I went with Shaf, Brandon, Tania and Evan. The trip to KLCC was kinda interesting as Maxwell seemed to have ways to make our hearts skip a few beats..Anyway, we spent the whole day at KLCC then went up to Chillies for dinner. This time, we had Margarita Presidente as our 'special drink of the night'. As we all seem to have bad estimation for food, we ended up over ordering and jamming down the chocolate cake.

a tradition

Next was The Curve. I found this sandman at IKANO. He doesn't sprinkle sand into children's eyes but he does fill bottles with sand and create a pattern in them.

The next Sunday, I had a drama excursion to KLPac for open day. And boy, did I have a great time. KLPac was as alluring as the first time I saw it. All the props and costumes were displayed at pentas 2. It feels weird going into pentas 2 as the room looked so much bigger when I saw Psychosis.

Costumes for Cinderella

I went to the belly dancing workshop which was really fun. I pulled Tania and Anjali into joining it with me and we all had a good laugh as we tried to follow the instructor and ended up looking pretty much like three very ungraceful geese.

London bridge is falling down...

As we came down from the studio, we saw this Japanese Buto performance,Curse of the Forbidden Palace, which was pretty intriguing as the actors were dressed up like clowns. They walked around like expressionless dolls and posed for people to take picture of or with them. One gave me quite a scare when she refused to let go of me after grasping me around the neck...

Buto perfomance. He actually reminds me of Goofy..

Then we just strolled around the place looking at interesting things along the way. We went to the Koi Garden which was simply divine. With the beautiful landscape, nicely trim tress and the gentle gushing sound of water, who wouldn't feel at ease there..

and you could also see people wearing kimonos around..

Overall, the trip was fun. Here are a few random photos to sum everything up.

Foyer of pentas 1

Performace by Balletbase

Rehearsal for 'Three'

View from the ligthing room

Pentas 1

Summary of January

Ok...So I haven't been writing much on my blog due to my hectic time schedule and the fact that I have as much energy as a sloth. Anyway, I will just sum up all the interesting bits of January. 

January 2008 had been one heck of a busy month. Lets start with House Night. JAW finally managed to get the pool after one and a half years of waiting. The lower sixers were in-charge of everything and overall, I say we did a good job. The best part of the night was when me, Cher Waye, Tania and Anjali attempted to get a good photo of us jumping into the pool. And we managed to do so after a whooping 24 attempts. 

Just splashing about in the pool

Picture perfect

Next up is Sixth Form entertains. I was suppose to do a ballet parody but it was cancelled at the last minute due to the passing away of Mr Quah. At least I did managed to have a good laugh at the guys during rehearsals. 

Then came cross-country. As I said before, I hate running. Its not that I am not fast or anything, its that I really don't have the stamina for long distance running. Practices started the first day I went back to KTJ. As predicted, I usually ended up walking or trying to jog with Tania or Stephanie. The real thing was more strenuous than expected as it started at 5pm where else our training was usally at 6.

Grape and Orange Fruit Salad

I finished in time(yay!!) with a position that is not worth mentioning..However, I am still pleased that I managed to cross the finish line with some people still behind me. 

and we still have some energy left to camwhore!!

Hand in hand we dragged each other back to the house

Another drama excursion, and this time to KLPac once again. Its KLPac open day and I had a wonderful time there. The performance were delightful and the place was as gorgeous as ever. I Think I will blog about it in a different post since I have so much so say about it. 

I am still in basketball and volleyball for some unknown reason. I got the part of Mustardseed for the school play, A Midsummer Night's Dream, I have to choreograph something to Kate Bush 'Moving'(wwwhhhhyyyy!!), as well as be in the costume crew. 

Man, I sure have dig myself into a grave...Oh well...

   

Inferno

Everything feels wrong. I am constantly angry. Life in KTJ hasn't been easy lately.

1. Taking four subjects isn't the smartest choice. Math. I hate it. I really do. But being the pure Chinese that I am, I am obliged to take it. Geography. I am enjoying it. That's the weird part. English Literature. Love the lessons, hate the prep. Drama. The biggest risk I have taken so far.

2. Cross-country. I hate running. End of story.

3. I miss ballet. I miss it dreadfully. I miss being in the small air conditioned room, surrounded by mirrors, with the smell of rosin in the air. I miss stretching on that pathetic excuse for a barre. I miss tying my slipper ribbons and cursing like hell when I can't untie them. I miss the pain on my butt after an afternoon of class. I miss ballet...

4. The accumulating pile of unfinished preps. Miss Ng gives a staggering about of unnecessary work. Mr Suresh's essay are impossible. I am actually hoping for Geo prep, but she doesn't seem to give any.

5. Sixth Form entertains. I am kinda disappointed that my ballet thing got canceled, cause I spent a LOT of time going to Irinah practicing. Oh well...they have their reason...

Basically, life sucks at the moment. Never mind, Chinese New Year is a week away. At least I get to go back to that meager town that I love so much :)

Arrivederci 2007!!

I've neglected my blog for some time now, in fact, almost a month. Since its almost the end of 2007 or already the end of 2008 depending on where you are at this particular moment, I think that now would be a great time to recollect all that had happen in this rather special year. 

Lets start at the beginning of 2007, 1st of January 2007 to be exact. I was still in Italy, having a party in a not-so-close-to-Andrea friend's house. It wasn't a great party but its an eye opener to how Italians celebrate New Year considering that I had spent the last 17 New Years doing nothing but wait for the fireworks. For that one and a half month left in Italy, I continued with my weekend habits of going clubbing, travelling with AFS, flunking in school tests, and stuffing myself with as much pasta as possible. To sum it all up, my life in Italy was easy and blissful as all I need to worry about is not getting run over by a FIAT. To complete my stay, my host brought me to Venice. Ahh...Venice..Truthfully, it really isn't as nice as I thought it would be. All of the buildings are old and look as if it might crumble down any moment, plus the stench of the clogged up canals and the incredulous amount of tourist, I wasn't exactly excited to be walking along the streets of this floating city. However, it was still an enjoyable trip. Basillica San Marco was absolutely breathtaking. From the gold mosaic of the facade to the sacred feeling inside the church, it is just beyond words. Italy was fun, life was easy, but all that change once I got back to Malaysia. 

Once I was back home, I had to fulfill my 'duty' to the country. Yes. I just happened to be one of the lucky 30% of 18-years-old to get selected for National Service. To all that says National Service was the best thing that happened in their life (believe me, there are people like that), well, I am glad that you enjoyed it and hope that you benefited from it more than I did. As for me, I despise the whole concept of it. Sorry for being blunt, but I absolutely hated the whole thing. I hate being told to do things that are unnecessary and non-beneficial in any way to me. Ask me if I am more patriotic, I could laugh this instant. Despite all the stupidity, I managed to survive the three grueling months and made a couple of friends along the way. From NS, I learnt that I am an expert on portraying a sick person till the extent of receiving an injection and really getting sick. 

After NS, I had a month of freedom. Yes. A month of doing absolutely nothing but sleepovers at Gracie's or Glad's. It was during this month that I did some of the lamest, moronic, retarded things ever. From doing a music video of Spicegirls, 'Wannabe' to baking a cake that wouldn't solidify to dancing on the para-pare machine. I believed that IQ has seriously decrease a few notches during this period. 

(as I type this, 2008 had just arrived)

As August approaches, I prepare myself for the ultimate challenge of the year. Boarding school. I didn't have the slightest clue on how boarding school life would be like. I actually assumed it to be like something out of an Enid Blyton story, strict rules, midnight feasts and so on. After my first term in KTJ, I have to say that I actually quite enjoy it. The rules isn't as strict compared to Metho's and my schedule is pretty packed. Well, if Bio, Chem and Maths is the death combo as Jade had written, then my combo could as well be called the doom combo. I seriously didn't expect myself to be taking such a combination. Math, I am a chinese, of course I have to do math, its tradition. English literature, all I can say is Andrea better be right that literature is useful. Drama, I guess NS had actually helped me discover my desire for it. Geography, a tribute to Mdm Choa. KTJ might come off as a jail to some but the highly adaptable me is still ok with it for now. 

As for the one month holiday, I haven't exactly done anything productive. I think I manage to loose a bit of weight during all the practices for the showcase. The performance that day didn't go as well as I had hoped. My foot is still giving me problems and I am already on the verge of giving up entirely on taking the ballet exam. Oh well...blame it all on basketball. On another note, my solo went perfect, well not exactly perfect perfect, but just perfect for me. I really enjoyed being alone on stage, doing my own choreography. Finally, months of watching videos and planning had paid off. I love that feeling of having the power to perform on stage, to show off everything I had to offer, to mesmerize (well, hopefully) the crowd, to hear the applauding crowd at the end...ahhh...no wonder ballerinas love their job. 

Moving on, I went to Sabah for Steven's wedding. I seriously can't believe so many of my many cousins are getting married. Anyway, I stayed with Tania in her ginormous house for two days before leaving for Hyatt. Best part about the whole trip was going into 'Shinanegans' with Nat, Dan and Lenny. This is the first pub I went in Malaysia since coming back from Italy. The pub was crazy!!! It was packed, the noise was deafening, people were scuttling up the bar to get their drink, all in all, it was Crazy with a capital C!! Lenny ordered me a Mai Tai which of course I don't know consist of what but drank it anyway cause it's sweet. There was this crazy German couple who could really move on the dance floor. I had a heck of a time. 

My holidays are almost over and I still have an essay to complete. Looking back at 2007, its been a wild year. I had done things which I myself never expected myself to do, I went half way round the world, I went skiing, I went clubbing, I did lightings for a musical, I choreograph a dance, I pretended to be a guy. To sum it all up, I learnt a lot about myself and people around. 

Arrivederci 2007 e Benvenuto 2008!!

A Promotion and a Funeral

I just got the news yesterday that Maurice Bejart had passed away!!!

RIP

Modern Ballet has lost one of its most important choreographers....

This is shocking news to me as I didn't anticipate that he would be gone so soon. Just think of all the wonderful creations still inside his mind that had died together with him. He revolutionise the ballet world, modernizing his work yet still preserving the excellence of classical ballet. A great lost to the ballet world..

Moving on to some good news...There is a new Etoile in town.. PRESENTING:

Dorothee is now Etoile with Paris Opera. Truthfully, I didn't expect her to get promoted so fast, a few more years as Premiere Danseur would have been good to gain experience. Anyway, congratulation to Dorothee, now she joins the rank of legendary stars such as Guillem and Chauvire.

I love this picture of her.

The perfection of her body line, enhance by her high arches, head held high according to the height of her arabesque, strong yet soft at the same time...Just a perfect picture...

My 18th Birthday Bash

For the first time in 18 years, I didn’t wake up to the sound of mum calling me down for breakfast on the 6th of November. Instead, I woke up dreadfully sleepy and having 10 minutes more to rush to class.

At 12.30 am that day, Suba threw a surprise birthday party for me at LR 8. Well, it would have been a surprise if Christin was a better liar. Anyhow, they got matron to buy a cake from Mantin earlier that day. A few upper 6ers and lower 6ers came to celebrate this ‘wonderful’ occasion. Well, to cut the story short, we had cake, chatted for a while before the u6ers have to leave to study for the econs paper the next day. In the end, there was only Tania, Cher Waye, Tian Huey and Miao Shan in the room and they stayed chatting till 2am. Well, that explains my weariness in the morning.

I was kinda zombie like when I reached math class. Once I got in, I took my seat and went straight back to sleep. I didn’t really remember much of what happened then. I just remembered that Pobee was sick and we got a bunch of work from Mr Venga but we were free to go. Oh yea, just want to thank Zhi Wei for being somewhat enthusiastic about my birthday….

Anyway, I went back to my room and slept until Christin woke me up to go to English lit class. Jessica got me a present, wrapped in Golden wrapping paper and asked me to open it in class. And guess what!!! It is a piggy bank….a most peculiar piggy bank I assure you…it goes ‘oink oink oink’ when you put coins in….The whole class was pretty amused with it. I asked Mr Suresh for a coin to test it…He gave me his perpetual dumbfounded look when I told him I wanted to test it. Too bad he didn’t have it so I tried stuffing a paper down to see if it worked…and it did!!! ‘oink oink oink’ and was followed by ‘ooo’s and ‘aahhh’s from the others. So the piggy was passed around for everyone to try and more ‘ooo’s and ‘aahhh’s followed.

Mr Suresh: ‘apparently, it isn’t hard to amuse lower 6ers’ (in his usual sarcastic tone) Then he did the most horrific, awful, horrendous, dreadful, appalling, despicable, wicked, vile, inexcusable thing ever!!! He took my piggy….and put it beside him…everyone sat silently staring at the piggy, before he decided that he better put the piggy on that chair instead. Well, the lesson went on as usual until the ‘crocodile’ incident…That was the funniest, lamest, hilarious, stupidest thing that has I have ever encountered in my 13 years of school life…and best of all, it all happened on my birthday.

For drama, we went up to Miss Belinda’s flat to watch the last act of ‘Top Girls’. The perfect way to end the day’s lesson. For dinner, Jessica brought her Balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Nesha started the birthday song… ‘Happy birthday to you….happy birthday to Debsicca…..’ I found that hilarious… We wanted to offer a bit of vinegar to Mr Suresh before realizing we better not in case we accidentally send him to the hospital again.

To sum it all up, it was an exciting day especially in Elit class. To all those who wished me a Happy Birthday: Thanks sooo much. Love y’all. Muaks!!!

ps: the croc incident is a secret between the elit students but I think word would get around somehow…