Whoa..

Punyalah busy, I almost forgot. Tomorrow is AJL 26. Sheila Majid will be performing the opening act. Yippeeeeeeee

Let's take a close look at the finalist:

1. Kalau Berpacaran oleh Shohaimi Mior Hassan/Ana Raffali/Altimet (Shohaimi Mior Hassan Shohaimi Mior Hassan / Ana Raffali / Altimet) --> A good song to start the night with

2. Karma oleh Faizal Tahir (Audi Mok/Faizal Tahir/Audi Mok/Faizal Tahir) --> Tak tau lagu ni

3. Penakut oleh Yuna (Yuna/Yuna) ---> Ini agak bosan, ini agak bosan.. eh lirik dia ini tidak adil, ini tidak adil..heheh opps.

4. Sedetik Lebih oleh Anuar Zain (Edry Abd Halim/Edry Abd Halim) ---> Aha, might win. Wish Ah Vang Nuar would sing this himself

5. Gadis Semasa oleh Yuna (Yuna/Yuna) ---> Tak tau lagu ni

6. Awan Nano oleh Hafiz (M.Nasir/Budi Hekayat) ---> My pick for Best Song! I lobes this song!

7. Cinta Muka Buku oleh Najwa Latif (Najwa Latif/Ika Latif) ----> Cakap la apa pun, sebab budak ni dari Batu Pahat, aku cakap lagu ni best. A 16 year old to write, perform and sing, market and brand herself out on the net deserves nothing more but total respect!

8. Beribu Sesalan oleh Ning Baizura/Jaclyn Victor/Shila Amzah (Kevin Chin/Tinta) ---> Aha, might also win. Also look out for adegan sabung menyabung suara. Might turn out beautiful.. or ugly :p

9. Kekanda Adinda oleh Atilia & Monoloque (Monoloque/Monoloque) ---> Annoying.

10. Wanita Seluruh Dunia oleh Projek Pistol (Boy Clifford/Boy Clifford) ---> Close 2nd Annoying

11. Sungai Lui oleh Aizat (Aizat/Anas, Aizat/Anas) ---> Lagu ni sedap, sayangnya there are stronger song out there.

12. Kisah Hati oleh Alyah (Manusia Putih/Manusia Putih) ---> Lagu ni pun boleh la. But don't think it can win.

So kita tengok esok, will I be singing a different tune, ke out of tune langsung with my prediction ni. Akhirkata, Awan Nano and Herman Tino rules!

Everytime You Go Away

Last week, me & my colleague discovered that some verses in this song indirectly represents exactly what we felt forthis particular bi-weekly meeting that everyone dreaded. Memang lawak. Either way it's a great song. I like the version in Rebound. How cute is that guy singing it at bedtime ;)

Everytime You Go Away - Hall&Oates, Paul Young and tah sape lagi

Hey
if we can't solve any problems
and why do we lose so many tears?

Oh
so you go again when the leading man appears.
Always the same theme
can't you see
We've got ev'rything going on and on and on.
Ev'ry time you go away you take a piece of me with you.
Ev'ry time you go away you take a piece of me with you.

Go on and go free
maybe you're too close to see.
I can feel your body move
does it mean that much to me.
I can't go on singing the same theme'cause can't you see
We've got ev'rything
baby
even though you know:
Ev'ry time you go away you take a piece of me with you.
Ev'ry time you go away you take a piece of me with you.

Can't go on singing the same theme'cause baby
can't you see
We've got ev'rything going on and on and on.Ev'ry time you go away you take a piece of me with you.
Ev'ry time you go away you take a piece of me with you.
Ev'ry time you go away you take a piece of me with you.
Ev'ry time
ev'ry time you go away - but I don't care -
You take a piece of me with you. Ev'ry time you go away -
Ev'ry time you go away - don't leave me all alone

And breakin' up a piece of me. Ey'ry time you go away.

You Can Do It!

I dedicate this song to the Australia Open 4th Round match between Li Na and Kim Clijsters. Exciting match, true fighting sprit from both ladies. Kim won even when she had to strap down her ankle. With a set down, she managed to claw her way back in the 2nd set, winning a tie breaker though she was 4 points behind. Let this be an inspiration for 2012.

Lobes you, Kim!

Keep Your Head Up - Andy Grammer

I've been waiting on the sunset

Bills on my mindset
I can get deny theyre getting high
Higher than my income
My income's breadcrumbs
I've been trying to survive


The glow that the sun gives
Right around sunset
Helps me realize
This is just a journey
Drop your worries
You are gonna turn out fine
Oh, you'll turn out fine
Fine, oh, you'll turn out fine


But you gotta keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down, eh
You gotta keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down, eh


I know it's hard, know its hard,
To remember sometimes,
But you gotta keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down, eh.


I've got my hands in my pockets,
Kickin these rocks
Its kinda hard to watch this life go by.
I'm buyin in the skeptics,
Skeptics mess with, the confidence in my eyes


I'm seeing all the angles, starts to get tangled
I start to comprimise
My life and the purpose
Is it all worth it,
Am I gonna turn out fine?
Oh, you'll turn out fine


Fine, oh, you'll turn out fine


But you gotta keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down, eh
You gotta keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down, eh

I know it's hard, know its hard,
To remember sometimes,
But you gotta keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down, eh.


Only rainbows after rain
The sun will always come again.
Its a circle, circling,
Around again, it comes around again


Only rainbows after rain
The sun will always come again
Its a circle, circling,
Around again, it comes around,


But you gotta keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down, eh
You gotta keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down, eh


I know it's hard, know its hard
To remember sometimes,
But you gotta keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down, eh


Keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down, eh.
Keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down, eh.
Keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down

1st Concert for 2012

Yes, it's Awie & Ella... at Istana Budaya no less.

There are 6 shows, and we chose the one in the afternoon. Macam tak kuasa nak keluar malam-malam and nak cari parking kat Istana Budaya tu kan. It's not that it does not have enough parking, it's just that there's no parking at all! Apakah all cultured people (kononnya) nak watch arts-whatnot-kesenian, naik helikopter nak pergi sana? Or naik bas atau kayuh basikal mungkin? Apakah.

Ahh who cares...

We only care about the show! And what a show it was. 2 hours non stop of songs upon songs. Awie and Ella playing tag entertaining the audience. No intermission. Bak kata Awie pun, boleh kena buasir! For the first time for a long time, I didn't even record any songs on my phone, sebab nak concentrate punya pasal. Dah la sekarang ni acik-acik kat Istana Budaya dah pakai laser beam power zass. Siapa-siapa yang nak capture picture or record anything kena la pancaran laser.

The concert is suppose to start at 3. Tapi biasa la, pukul 3 tak penuh pun lagi. Memang tak paham bahasa. I suppose half of them got free tickets, so suka hati la nak datang pukul berapakan. Macam open house gitu. The show start at 3.10pm. Nasib baik... kalau tak dah nak terlelap dah. Ada jugak orang yang masuk dekat 4.30pm. Salah print apa ticket? Tergangu aku nak feeling-feeling.

Awie and Ella was not disappointing at all. Very impressive energy and vocal performance, though they already had 2 shows before. I suppose back then, to make it, you must really, really have the chops. Suara depa memang maintain! Speaking of maintain, Ella tersangat la slim! 45 years old looking fine..Damn!

My favorite song? From Awie... most probably Tragedi Oktober. Oh of course, Iris! Then from Ella, (since she didn't sing 'menyonsong matahari' aku), perhaps Sembilu... it's because she got down and run around the crowd. That got everyone in shrieking frenzy. I also love Pengemis Cinta arranagements. And the closing ... I lobes Gemilang and Terima Kasih. Seronok dapat jerit2 macam orang gila. I just wish that Ella sang Permata Biru instead of Awie.

Akhirkata, boleh tak saya nak tahu saloon mana Edrie, Ella and Awie pergi? Edrie dengan Ella... sebab rambut is to die for! Gila cantik ok. Err... Awie.. supaya aku tak pergi kedai tu :P ..heyy but I'm still a fan!

Dengar kata lepas ni Anuar and Ziana pulak. Dah perform kat Espalande, Singapore... takkan tak nak perform kat Istana Budaya ;)

Better Things

It's already a week into 2012. Still feeling uninspired. Instead of writing up that resume or getting on that cross trainer, I'm browsing thru the net, looking for a pick-me-upper song. Here's some that I like:

1. Maybe This Time (from Carbaret) - performed by Kristin Chenowith
2. Home Sweet Home - Motley Crue (but do check the one with Sponge Bob on YouTube! hahah)
3. Stop Crying Your Hear Out - Oasis
4. Time of My Life (from Dirty Dancing, Patrick Swayze can't get any cuter!) - Bille Medley and Jeniffer Warnes
5. Call It What You Want - Foster the People
6. Tonight Tonight - Hot Chelle Rae (La La La Whatever!)
7. Smile - Charlie Chaplin

My favorite is this one from the Kinks - Better Things

Here's wishing you the bluest sky,
And hoping something better comes tomorrow.
Hoping all the verses rhyme,
And the very best of choruses to
Follow all the doubt and sadness.
I know that better things are on the way.


Here's hoping all the days ahead
Won't be as bitter as the ones behind you.
Be an optimist instead,
And somehow happiness will find you.
Forget what happened yesterday,
I know that better things are on the way.


It's really good to see you rocking out
And having fun,
Living like you just begun.
Accept your life and what it brings.
I hope tomorrow you'll find better things.
I know tomorrow you'll find better things.


Here's wishing you the bluest sky,
And hoping something better comes tomorrow.
Hoping all the verses rhyme,
And the very best of choruses to
Follow all the drudge and sadness.
I know that better things are on the way.


I know you've got a lot of good things happening up ahead.
The past is gone it's all been said.
So here's to what the future brings,
I know tomorrow you'll find better things.
I know tomorrow you'll find better things.

Here's to better things in 2012. Aminnn.

And for goodness sake, please let it be Barney and Robin's wedding!

Amsterdam - 25th March 2011

I'm sure you have watch one of those funny Mr Bean episode where he's doing something completely innocent and then he gets into a spot of bother that turns into a full blown madness, ended up with him naked somewhere in a ditch? Hold your horses, this story will turn out to be one of those episodes. By far this is the best Klutz Cop story there is yet.

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We woke up at 5 am in order to catch our train to Amsterdam if not mistaken around 6.00 am. The streets were deserted but there's a few cars passing by. We just walked to Gare du Nord from our hotel. Dah sampai, sempat pulak posing dengan train dulu. Sempat jugak pergi kareb sementara tunggu train.

Gare du Nord heading to Amsterdam

We only had a email copy of the ticket. The bar code looks macam tak lepas je. So we asked at the ticket counter and the clerk said that it's perfectly acceptable. So we head to towards our coach which of course had to be at the very end.

And that's when the adventure begin.

We were suddenly stopped by two plain clothes lady police! WTF! But since we were not doing anything wrong, we were calm. We answered their question and showed them our tickets and passport. They went thru our stuff and finally let us go. Tah kenapa la dalam ramai-ramai orang, kitaorang yang kena check. Macam penjarah ke muka kitaorang ni.  Actually we were stopped again at the Paris airport on our way home. Banyak la jugak soal. Dah la aku tengok police tu lagi macam gelabah sebab kena cakap English dengan kitaorang and our English seems more fluent than them. Anyway, we didn't give it a second thot and went on to locate our coach and seat. Again before we enter the train, we show it to the officer by the door, one glance at the printed email, he showed us to our seat.

Please note, at least there's already 5 people looking at the printed email ticket including us.

So all settled. I'm so happy to be on the train again. The Thalys seems more comfortable than the Eurostar that we took from London to Paris a few days before. Suddenly a guy approach us and saying that we got his seat. Puzzled, we showed him our ticket and true enough, we are in the correct seat. So the guy just didn't make a fuss and went to look for another seat. I notice that everyone seems polite and don't mind changing seats. Kalau kat Malaysia, mau dah terkeluar anak tekak bergaduh.

Finally the train made its way out of the station and it is on! Sebelum trip ni, macam-macam la aku berangan nak buat kat Amsterdam. Memang semua tu evil thots la kan. Hehehe. The ride is about 2-3 hours. With some stops at Brussels, Antwerp and Rotterdam. Kitaorang pun apa lagi, zzzz.

An hour in the ride, the conductor start to check tickets. When she get to us, she had trouble scanning the bar code in our email. She apologizes because there seems a little problem with the system. So kitaorang pun sambung zzzz lagi. Half an hour later she came back to us. There's a problem. Your ticket is on the wrong date. It's for yesterday. YESTERDAY?

OMG! Apakah yang telah kulakukan? Semalam aku sedang berpelesaran di Eiffel Tower. We quickly read the email again. Indeed it the ticket was for yesterday. Aku rasa muka aku masa tu dah cuak campur takut campur rasa nak mati semua la ada. I can hear my heart beating in my ear! The lady conductor bless her heart, assured us that not to worry. "I can see how you might have made the mistake. You bought the ticket on 25th of Jan. You think that the ticket is for 25th and not 24th". She told us, that we can stay on till we reach Amsterdam. But we need to sort out of return tickets. I can't thank her enough.

Darn it! Dah la train ni nak stop banyak lagi tempat ni. The seat might have been reserved by someone else. What else can we do but to feign sleep for the next 2 hours. Adooi... terseksanya la. Tutup aje mata. Aku dengar commotion around us. Agaknya ada orang bising kitaorang ambik seat depa. Tapi memang kitaorang buat bodo je la. That was the longest 2 hours of my ride. Kalau dari London ke Paris ambik gambar sampai seribu. Ni takde satu pun gambar aku ambik. Takut punya pasal!

Nak jadi lagi cerita lawak, train tu pun kena detour sebab ada train lain pulak yang rosak on the track up ahead. Shit happens in multiple kan. We are still counting sighhh.

Finally we made it to Amsterdam with heavy heart. On the platform, we met the nice lady again. She told us not to worry. Maybe you can talk to the station master to explain your problem. Siap cakap have a nice day lagi tu. Semoga dia murah rezeki. Kalau dia evil, kena pulak aku turun tah kat tengah ladang lembu siapa kat Belgium ke tadi. Pengsan!

So now semua evil plan is put on hold. We need to sort out our return ticket. Sighhh. I know this is gonna cost. Goodby cheap ticket. We get to the ticket office and got a number and waited for our turn. Sekali tu, nak jadi cerita burung bayan.... tetiba ada pulak police officer datang ronda-ronda kat situ. He saw a single briefcase that was unattanded befhind a pillar not far from where we were seating. He was asking around who's bag is that. Takde siapa mengaku. I have a bad feeling about this.

5 minutes after that, he came back with a police tape and a few of his friends. And to my dismay, he open his mouth and said "Everybody out! Out!" Shit ada suspected bomb pulak. Celaka la siapa punya bag tu. But thinking again, if the police start to ask around, kitaorang la in deep shit. Looking at our ticket, we shouldn't be here today. Kitaorang pun cepat-cepat cabut. Jangan toleh belakan!

Damn it Malik! Memang la stress tapi bila dah ada bomb scare pulak aku rasa mcm sangat ridiculous... aku pun tergelak. Goodness, what else will this day bring. Kakak aku dok membebel, ha tu la kau ... ha tu la kau tu la kau. Adoiii...To calm us down, we went out from the Central Station and into a cafe by the cannal. Minum hot chocolate and chill kejap. After an hour, we try our luck and seems that the ticket office is open again. Well suffice to say we had to purchase a new ticket and it cost a bomb. But after a day that we had so far, I'm not arguing about money.

By the time we buy our day pass, dah penat dah. Takde mood pun nak buat apa. But since we are there, we try to cover what we can. I find Amsterdam noisy and smelly and haphazard. Bila nak cross jalan, you have to watch out for bikes, trams and dogs. Perhaps sebab dah ada blunder ticket tu jadi tak seronok. Hahahaha

We went out the cannal tour ride, Rijkmusuem, Van Gogh museum, Red Light district (hahaha), take picture at Iamsterdam. And yes, we did find Hard Rock Cafe and buy loads of t-shirts. And yes, we did ride the tram. We even tried the herring. OMG tak sedap! If given chance we would want to check out Kuekenhof, to see tulip in bloom, but there's not enough time. We didn't visit Anne Frank's house as there's a long queue. You could take in Amsterdam in a day. Dari pagi sampai petang boleh la habis. But if you want to go to Kuekenhof, that will be another day I guess.

Here's some of the pictures

Centraal Station Amsterdam

  

The famous canal



Mari beli t-shirt lagi

I amsterdam with Rijkmuseum in the background

Van Gogh Museum. Beli poster yang tak gantung lagi

'Coffeshop' near Red Light District. Tak berani pulak nak masuk.

 Tried a bite of fresh herring. Fav snack of Amsterdam. Rasa nak pengsan ok.

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With that, I end my 2011 entries. May 2012 bring new adventure that will take me to new (hopefully far and exotic) places. And hopefully no more encounter of the Klutz Cop kind.

Happy New Year!

Getting Crabby

We always wanted to eat Chilli Crab in Singapore. Tah berapa kali pergi asyik tak sempat aje. So this time around, dah siap-siap google nak cari Chilli Crab yang halal. Surf punya surf, a lot of people recomended this place, along Changi Road name Kampung Chai Chee Restaurant . Check out their website

Walaupun aku tetiba telah demam and had breakouts all over the body. The symptoms were all pointing to measles. Gosh bila yang aku pergi Singapore tak sakit. And we also had to ditch the idea of going to USS. This happen masa pergi tengok Belinda Carlisle and gang. Alhamdullilah diberikan jugak kekuatan and rezeki and dapatlah merasa chilli crab ni. Kitaorang naik cab aje pergi. Bagi address kat cab driver. Habis cerita.

Chilli Crab cecah dengan fried bun. Sedap gila bun tu!

Closer look

Nasi goreng kampung yang masih terkenang sampai hari ini

Memang sedap and price is reasonable. Tapi if nak belanja orang kat sini accept cash aje. So if rasanya nak melantak tak ingat dunia, bawak la duit banyak-banyak ye. Will definitely come back next time.