New Year Resolution

Two. Zero. One. Two.

It's a whole new year and that means it's time to spell out a whole new resolution!

I've done it... writing down everything that I would like to achieve by the end of 2012. Hope this would lead me to live a more meaningful year and enjoy my day to the fullest!

A snapshot of what I've written down.

Well, my new year resolution is somewhat directed towards personal development. Career wise, not so much. Maybe because I'm still in this Management Associate Program (of a beverage company), of which will only end by December. So, there's nothing much I could do for career progression as it's pretty much fixed. Or perhaps, I've no enthusiasm in what I'm doing slash the company. It's pretty bad and I'm a messed-up, I know. So, to fix this, I turn towards looking for my interest. Seriously, I don't have any specific interest that I can potentially turn into some kind of big project or career to work on. So, this year, I'll focus on finding that interest.

In case you didn't notice, I've also included the punishment if I were to fail to accomplish everything that I've written down, at least those with the due date of 31st Dec 2012. Try to hunt it in the photo posted above. Gee... It's actually quite scary. Couldn't imagine myself with, or should I say, without it, which is of utmost important to a girl/lady/woman. I've said it and there is no turning back. Well, it's also somewhat a good way to motivate myself to move forward.

Hmmm... would very much like to shift my mindset into thinking positively. So, instead of using a punishment to push myself to move forward, I should be eyeing on a reward to motivate myself to gear forward right? But I couldn't think of a satisfying reward for myself should I manage to accomplish everything, well, again, at least those with the due date by the end of this year. What should be the reward?

Vacation at some exotic place? - oh well, I am already scheduled to go somewhere this year.
Shop more? - as if I don't already do that...
Dine at some really nice restaurant and indulge in some really good food? - that would defeat my resolution right... and I'm not quite the person who fancy food that much though...

What else than?

Can't really think of it so if you have any idea on how to reward myself, do let me know. Or, share with me on how you have rewarded yourself in the past?

Perhaps, the ability to accomplish the new year resolution is already the reward itself! The process of achieving those is pretty much rewarding as well. So, maybe I should just focus on harnessing my energy towards achieving them. Real rewards, can come later.

Great!

Uncle Duck Fishball Noodle

So I went to shop for some new clothes for Chinese New Year, third time already for the same reason. Gosh!

My third destination – Times Square. I used to hate shopping at Times Square because, let’s face it, there is always jam at KL, parking is an issue, and most important of all, Times Square is just like a big pasar malam (night market) that is covered with roof and real outlets instead of stalls. I hate having to ‘fight’ to get something I want. Also the very reason I hate walking into a MNG outlet when there is sales.

Hahaha! A really scaring thing to bump into!

But now, not anymore!

Used to have a friend who always wore nice pieces of clothing and curiosity got me asking where did she bought them. You knew the answer! Times Square. And at very cheap prices that I wouldn’t believe my ears when I first heard of the prices that she mentioned. For those who have been to Times Square, you know the pricing of clothes over there. Almost all outlets put up banners that spell “All at RM20”, etc. Well, you really can get your hand on some really nice piece of clothes if you look carefully.

RM25 – RM40. That’s the range of prices I got for all the 5 nice pieces of clothes I bought from Times Square tonight. Walking out from Time Square feeling rather accomplished! Well... As for what I’ve bought, will be posting them only during the festive yeah!

Okay back to the topic, as titled, that I wanted to write about initially. Gosh… shopping does get me talking non-stop. *Squint*

So we were driving back home. We were talking about what to have for a late dinner, because it’s really late, like 10:30pm, oh we should be having “supper” instead of dinner. But none of us have any idea of what to have. To make growling stomach even worse, we were in amidst of losing our way because of a wrong turning.

Then babe spotted a restaurant that his dad used to brought him. In split second we decided that this is where we will have our dinner, sorry, supper - Uncle Duck's Fishball Noodle.

What we saw from our car, almost passing it by.

Don't know where is the exact place but

it's located near Jalan Pasar, KL.

The inside of it.

Now you can see "Uncle Duck, Hong Kong Restaurant".

Yup the interior was designed to look really much like a Hong Kong restaurant.

Finally! Food is here!!

The fishball vermicelli noodle is really good. They have spicy red chillies and this home-made prawns paste, which is a little bit spicy, for you to go with your dishes. Really yummy that I can go for a second bowl. But for the sake of not overeating, I stopped. After all, the restaurant is only operating till 11pm and hence we kind of need to rush to finish our food actually. 

Well, a wrong turning brought us to some really good food. So, lesson learnt that sometimes when something goes wrong, don't be frustrated over it because, something good might be just around the corner waiting for you to stumble upon it. Yay!

The First Party of The Year

Five… Four… Three… Two… One! Happy New Year!

Wishing for a great year ahead for two zero one two and may everyone always be in the pink of health.

I did not go for any countdown. Was asked to go for a drink at IOI Boulevard and countdown with fireworks but turned it down as I was too lazy to do so. Guess because babe was not here with me, he was working as an emcee for a friend’s wedding, and my dear family is too far away. When your love ones are not by your side to celebrate a special moment, it ain’t a special moment at all… Sad right. Moreover, I don’t wanna be celebrating the end of something, but instead to rejoice for the start of something new. I guess probably because 2011 was not really a good year for me. I wanna pump up the kicks in 2012! Rawrrr…

And so, we started the New Year with a BBQ party. It was initially intended to be a small and warm gathering of close friends. But 17 of us turned up instead. Anyhow, the more the merrier, so we welcome everyone with open arms.

Hot hot hot dogs

But first and foremost really need to thank Edmund for allowing us to use his house as our party's venue. A big and magnificent house, just nice for house partying. Not forgetting his mom, who as I heard, prepared the beehun and curry, and spaghetti. Other than that also need to thank Nicholas's mom for marinating the chicken wings. These are all nice foods that are essential for a BBQ party. And certainly need to thank Kelvin for organising everything and making this happen.

My sis and I.

See I bought the same clothing for both me and my new iPhone =)

The one who barbecued everything for me
Thanks sis! XD

Kelvin and I beside the fiery barbecue pit

Babe testing out the front's camera of his new iPhone 4S

Honestly, as much as it pains me to say, the quality sucks

But them both are funny ^.^

My bunch of friends and a special guest =)

After a 3-hour of non-stop barbecuing (ok I did not barbecued anything, my sis and bf did it for me), and eating, and chatting, and eating, we finally went up to the third floor for karaoke. Yes, Edmund's new house has a karaoke room. How cool is that!

Where we sang our lungs out!

But how come everyone chose only emo songs! It's the new year peeps!

Oh wait... Forgot about something. We toasted! Yeap... we did the traditional chinese's Yummmmmmmmm Seng! Toast to a great year ahead!

Coming up - surprise surprise! It's one of our friend's birthday. 

So sorry I cut into pieces before you can take a picture of it.

Anyhow, happy birthday Mok! =)

Group pictures are a must too!

What a 'big family' we have here =)

Two hours of singing is just enough. Instead of having free flow soft drinks, we had free flow hard liquors. Lol. How can we not have some booze to celebrate the new year?! Thanks again to Kelvin, Edmund and Tim for sponsoring some of their 'collections'! =)

We played some card games

with the intention of finishing every bottles we had here! Gosh... Guys!

Funny Hong... Who said he was "thirsty"

but then the first who rested on the sofa after a few "hirst quenching drinks"

These are not the only ones we finished!

We had Cointreau and Black Label finished as well!

*Party rocks*

 The effect...

A GG'ed friend xD

*Giggles* It was really a great party! I will always remember this in mind. Looking forward to having more. Need to sleep now... Signing off! Oh wait... one word before I go to sleep. Drink sensibly. ^.^

The Smarter Phone

Finally it’s here! My iPhone 4S!

Strange I got one. Because I was never a big Apple’s fan. Note the was. It is not until Steve Jobs passed away, that I fall in love in Apple’s products, because I fall in love with the great man’s vision. Period.

I’m not always the first mover for IT stuff. Perhaps never even a laggard. Because the dough that went into buying all the so-called piece of arts for IT geeks, I would definitely rather spend on my wardrobe. But this time, I made an exception, though I’m not the one paying for it. Jobs is no doubt one of the greatest marketers of all time. Selling his vision instead of the product(s), and successfully persuaded ME to into getting an iPhone that cost my babe a large chunk of $$$!

For those out there who aspire to become a better marketer, clicking on the video attached below is a MUST!

Now you know why some brands became the best-selling products in the world. Now you know why all those peeps out there queued up since morning in front of the telecommunication stores/ Machines, and even camped for the night, as I heard happened in some others countries, just to get their hands on iPhones.

Simple trick is to sell your “why”, aka your vision. People buy a product because of what it represents. Not how many or what godlike functions it have.

Hereby would like give a big big hug and thanks to my babe! Thank you so much for this gift. I may not be able to reciprocate in the same way but I’ll do my best. And I just want to let you know that I appreciated i

Now you know why some brands became the bestselling products in the world. Now you know why all t and you, especially. XOXO ♥♥♥

Carlsberg Where's The Party

Guinness: "Rawr... Arthur's Day is the party of the year!"

"Ya right..." The crowd half-booed. As if their energy dries off. Perhaps drained by the intolerable and suffering massive jam.

Guinness: "6 million pints of Guinness is consumed daily worldwide. Here's to Arthur!"

"To Arthurrrrrr..." Again... the crowd said with a drowning rrrrr. Half raising their glasses to cheers, if only they have one in their hands.

Carlsberg: "Step aside! Come with me if you wanna know Where's The Partyyyyy!"

A robotic voice pierced through the night air! I thought it sounded almost like Optimus Prime. In no time, the air above swirled, winds beating on our faces and oh my hair! And o.m.g... is that a... wait I don't know what it is called. A helicopter? A spaceship? Hell I don't care... It's coming for us. I don't know how but I just knew it! I reach out my hands to it. Hoping for some miracle to happen, like being sucked into it and transported to wherever the party is. Soon enough at a blink of an eye, I'm there!

Ftw! I just telepathed!

And oops... Carlsberg just kicked Guinness on the ass!

_______________________________________________

First thing first, don't get me wrong. I love the Guinness brand, thought it looks cool with all the black and gold colors combination. I love drinking Guinness too, especially from the bottle, the draught one tastes a little bit more bitter though.

But put aside my love for Guinness, Guinness Arthur's Day 2011 sucks. And that's a fact, at least to me. If the Guinness team wants to brand their party as the party of the year, they better put in 120% more effort the next time.

Okay, enough about Guinness. Let's talk about Carlsberg's "Where's The Party". If I'm not wrong, this is the second installation of such themed event organized by Carlsberg. From a consumer point of view, I think it is really an interesting, out of the box branding idea. The alcoholic beverages industry in Malaysia is a semi-dark industry. With so many restriction imposed on the industry, marketing has become very challenging. I applause for the ones who thought about this. It manages to significantly differentiate itself and stand out from its competitors of which I will not name; instead of creating the usual buzz about a party/event of the scale as big as this, the title and mystery in itself creates wonders. The way the Carlsberg's marketing team made it so secretive is actually kind of alluring to many party peeps out there. Whether you like it or not, we people always are being pulled into some secretive and forbidden agenda, and that's why the Twilight Saga made such a big hoo-hah. And Carlsberg manage to bank on this dark side of human.

So, where's the party this year? I heard babe said the party was at Sepang Gold Coast last year and there were so many interesting games to play. I really am anticipating somewhere some place like beach side... until we were brought to... Carlsberg's factory. What a surprise *duh*.

Arriving at Shah Alam Stadium for registration

Met someone there

After registering ourself, each of us have one of this

The RFID tag which is linked to your Facebook account. 

Now this is cool!

Us in the bus waiting to be ferried to the party's site

which the ambassador still remained very secretive of it at this point of time

It's raining heavily out there

But it doesn't stop the people from attending this awesome party

Finally we arrived to the secret destination
Carlsbery Brewery
My heart sinks a little, honestly

We were approached with a very warm welcoming

with pretty chicks and drum beats

See the foods stalls and beer booths?

Everything FREE FLOW all day long

See... Babe was so happy seeing all the free satayyyy that he can have

It's best to eat some ice creams when it's chilly

Met my colleagues - Jimmy & JenQ

Alex finally arrived

It looks like they have moved the entire fun fair here to this factory site of Carlsberg. I was quite taken aback, in a pleasant way, when I discovered that games are prepared for us to explore. There were also prizes to be won by playing and winning over the simple criteria of the games.

The magnificent Ferris Wheel :) 

The Pirate Ship... Probably the scariest of all that I've ride because there was no safety belt for you to buckle yourself up!

Didn't manage to ride this because the queue is crazy.

Should be fun!

There were so many mini games we couldn't care less to take any photos but just to enjoy them... Here are some of the photos show casing the some of mini games available. Taken from Carlsberg's albums @ Facebook.

Night befall upon us and hey, the party still keep on going because the night is still young! It's time for the concert now! Let's rock!

What makes this party even more awesome was when Soren, the managing director of Carlsberg Malaysia, came on stage and did some rapping! He totally rocked the stage. Seriously, I salute him. How many managing director would actually do or can do that? Greattt... Just greattt!

The crowd

We left earlier before the party end, catching the first bus back to Shah Alam stadium where our cars rest.

There are some rooms for improvement though, like better location and giving us a list of the mini games available for enjoyment so we wouldn't miss any bit of them. But, in conclusion, this party totally rocks!

Carlsberg, totally the party rocker! Yeah!

A Magical Night Out

A whole new world

A dazzling place I never knew

But now from way up here

It's crystal clear

That now I'm in a whole new world with you

That's right. If you manage to hum the above lyrics to the tune of "A Whole New World", a ballad sung originally by Brad Kane and Lea Salonga, then you are no stranger to the 1992 animated Disney tale, Aladdin.

Almost 18 years later, in present time - 2011, Aladdin flew (I still want to believe, in his magic carpet) to Malaysia, granting us Disney's lovers our wishes, by performing live in Sunway Lagoon. (You bet. I always wanted them, and all Disney's fairy tales to come alive, when I was young. A brain spoiled by fantasy huh...).

So, here I was, sitting at the bench of the Amphitheatre of Sunway Lagoon, eagerly waiting for the Musical to start. But firstly, I would like to extend my thanks to Feeq for presenting me with this chance, and Pat from Avante, the organizer, who saved me two tix so I could attend this magical musical with my love one. If not for them, I wouldn't be able to be here warming the bench with my a**. xD

If you think this musical spells geeks and nerds, or that it is only for children and hence you worry it would be boring and dull, fret not! Because this is not your typical Disney musical. First thing first, as all live musical would have, the production brings us special stage effects such as flying carpet, pyrotechnics, some real living livestock running wild on the stage, and snow or I should say bubble snow! Snow in Malaysia? Just you wait and see! Should you ever decide to see the performance for yourself, do anticipate the entrance of Aladdin. It's extraordinary! 

As for the numbers, they are a mixture of classical songs and contemporary ones that you are so very familiar with, I bet you won't be able to contain your giggling and laughter. The plus point of all, do anticipate the crème de la crème of the musical, a rapping genie, who dresses in sparkling gold outfit. How about that for a musical, huh! 


On top of that, just when I thought the cast will be lips-sync-ing, they actually sang throughout the entire stage performance, like for real. And they don't sound a bit awful, at all. The octaves Aladdin and Princess Jasmine can hit and the stability of their voices singing while dancing are just great. How cool is that! Considering this point alone, your time and money spent are already worth it for sure.


All are perfect, except for one things that is missing. Where is Abu, Aladdin's kleptomaniac sidekick pet monkey and best friend? Still remember this cute little creature? How could this cute little friend not being cast in this musical? Well... guess the troubles it takes to train a monkey may be too much. Haha.

If there is only 1 thing that I would complain, it is with regards to timeliness. If I'm not mistaken, the musical is supposed to be starting at 7:45pm, or so it is stated in the tix, but it did not begin until it was 8:15pm. So that was a half an hour wait, and the 2-hour performance ended more than half an hour later than it was supposed to be. After which we were caught up in the after-shopping-hour massive jam. Thanks to the rain as well. Speaking of which, kind of ruined the supposed-to-be fun train ride. 

Oh did I mention there were these toot-toot-trains prepared for us, bringing us back and forth from the Surf Beach entrance to the Amphitheater? How thoughtful! But the rain made me asking for more, and I wished that they could provide umbrellas or shaded walkways as well. How unappreciative I was back then huh... But seriously, the wet jeans and shoes kind of drown the mood a bit. I do appreciate the thoughtfulness though.

For those of you who plan to get tix to this musical, don't bother to pack any foods or beverages because they will be confiscated at the entrance. But don't freak out on not having anything to bite on during the show as they have this concession booth selling a numbers of snacks and drinks. Nonetheless, I seriously hate that they mark-up the prices. RM5 each for a cup of sweet corn, a bagful of popcorn, a bottle of 500ml mineral water, etc.? Thanks but no thanks, I rather eat air.

Lol, so, that's not 1 but 3 things I complained about. Anyways, all of these are no big deal when you really enjoy the show. And trust me, by the end of the show, you will find yourself standing up on your feet, dance and shake and sing along with the cast!

If you are a big fan of musical, and especially a Disney's tale musical, or if you want to take a date for a memorable night out, or if you just want to spend a fun weekend with your family and kids, why not check out Aladdin The Musical! It is ready to bring you to a whole new world from 25 Nov 2011 - 2 Jan 2012. Plan which show time to go from this chart:

Note from the chart that the musical will be staged once a day at 8:00pm, and twice on Saturdays at 7:15pm and 9:15pm. Bear in mind that there will be no show on Tuesday though. Good news for you peeps who are looking forward to have a memorable Christmas and New Year celebrations, as Aladdin The Musical is putting on an extra show on the 25th of Dec and 1st of Jan (both Sundays)! Yay!

Below showed the price of tic for adults and children:

So, remember to book a tix today! :)