As promised...the dance performance for Unity in Diversity. I only danced the first and third part. Enjoy people..
Showing posts with label palmerston north. Show all posts
Showing posts with label palmerston north. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Monday, September 08, 2008
Merdeka?
This is an overdue Merdeka post. I really did want to write something on Merdeka day, but due to technical problems with the video I wanted to attach to this post, It comes almost 10 days overdue.
Honestly, I wasn't feeling very patriotic on the day itself, when I normally would in previous years. I guess I was thinking about a situation in Malaysia about a friend that made me sad. But i'm not at liberty to discuss that here. The day was spent, firstly sending Imran and Nana to the bus stop, sending Harris back home, to the rec center for "Merdeka Volleyball", bit of badminton, lunch with Qi Su and Meqsu in town and Merdeka cake made by Hani at Rotary court. Not very exciting.
So, Merdeka? I myself truly believe that Malaysia is a special place. If we really try to see everyone as the color grey, and think of ourselves as Malaysians, Merdeka would truly have lived up to its true meaning. I remember in primary school, my best friends were Amritpall Singh and Nicholas Tan. It was never about race then, and I think I'm not the only one that feels that way. Somewhere down the line, people change, people grow up, and more variables come into play. I love the idea that Malaysia is a country with racial harmony, and I want to be able to be friends with people that have different religious beliefs and are from different races. I want to be free to be happy for them when they celebrate their festivals, and I want to have the freedom to share my joy with them when I celebrate my festivals.
I am guilty of the occasional racial name calling, and I know its just not me who does it, but honestly, its more out of habit than malice. I mean, If I hate someone, its because I hate someone, and not because of the race that person belongs to. Maybe that's just me. But even in the this name calling context, it would be better if people say "bloody Malaysians !" rather than specify to any particular race. Hahaha. At least there would be unity even in our negatives.
51 years? My god, time flies. Still, after all those years, we're still struggling, and the sad part is, its amongst ourselves. I guess the world doesn't really see Malaysia that way, and I guess one thing that all Malaysians do best, is not showing the world our true colors.
Happy belated birthday Malaysia. I hope that the drama that is unfolding is for the best. I still love you Malaysia, and believe in the idea of you.
I leave you with a video me and Lutfi made for Malaysian Night 2008, with help from Worm and Haizat. Its called,
"How far has Malaysia really come in the eyes of the World"
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Reality Check
It was a busy weekend for MUMSA last week, as we had 2 events in succession. The first was the Unity & Diversity show, where MUMSA is again participating with a dance performance, and also the next day, we had our Annual Malaysian Night dinner.
UNITY & DIVERISTY PERFORMANCE
I know I said somewhere that it would be a long time before I danced on stage again, but that was then, when I was what people called a noob, unaware of the joy of performing especially something that you would never think you were capable of doing ever in your life. It falls under the same category as bungy jumping, you never thought you would do such a thing, but you did, and you would do it again.
Dance practices started about a month before the show, and ideas of what we would be performing came pouring in. At first we wanted to do a five piece performance, malay dance, chinese dance, indian, kadazan, and a modern dance which involved hip-hop and break dancing. Yes it sounds scary, thats what I thought anyways. We ended up doing just the malay, chinese and indian dance. This year, it wasn't just 6 dancers, but we had 19, and that made practices fun. Once again, Caroline correographed most of the show, while Hani and Laili took care of the Malay dance. I have to honestly say, that after watching last years show, Hani and Laili made this years Malay dance simple, compared to Elun's piece. But, it was for the best, as Caroline's correography for the Chinese and Indian dances were intense, and the simple start at the start was needed, especially for the dancers who had to dance all 3 dances.
At the end of the show, we won best unique performance, which I think we deserved because of the different elements we showed in our dance.Video of the performance will be posted as soon as I get a better copy of it, as my copy was shot at an awkward angle, so not everyone is seen, including me..hehe.
MALAYSIAN NIGHT 2008
Due to last years success, organisers Lutfi and Jace decided to stick with the costume theme. This year, it was Hollywood, Bollywood & Mallywood.
Once again a video was needed for the night, so me and Lutfi got to work starting on Friday. We shot more footage on saturday, did the editing saturday night till the night of the dinner. I came up with the idea and so it wasn't that great of a video. It was meant to be more, but I think I did not execute it as well as I wanted.
I went to Malaysian night dressed as a gangster, Al Capone style, American gangster style. It wasn't much dressing up really, believe me when I say others dressed up, with make up and props, but me, a pinstripe suit, and put on my normal face, and I'm a gangster (coz people always say I have a unfriendly face).
People who have known me since high school will probably know that I was supposed to sing at my prom, but that never happened, so at Malaysian night, I made up for that, and performed. Hahahhah. It's funny how this year, Haizat transferred from Albany and he asked if I wanted to join him in performing for Malaysian night. What the heck, bila lagi kan. Good thing the performance were watched by friends, and our mistakes while singing were forgiven. It was good, bit nervous at first but by the time the second song came, we were comfortable.
Video me and Lutfi made will be posted up soon as well, and video of the singing will not be posted.
The night was fun, and of course the photo sessions, with all the different costumes. I even got the best dressed, just because Iylia won already for most photogenic. Look at the pictures here
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=150568&l=a21ff&id=673915175 , and you'll know why he should have a clean sweep for the awards.
The night ended smoothly, and kudos to Jace and Lutfi for organizing a great event.
REALITY CHECK
P.S : I am officially tired of it. My efforts have brought me nowhere near, instead has made me bitter. I am switching off. I am officially crawling back into my sanctuary where its safe.
UNITY & DIVERISTY PERFORMANCE
I know I said somewhere that it would be a long time before I danced on stage again, but that was then, when I was what people called a noob, unaware of the joy of performing especially something that you would never think you were capable of doing ever in your life. It falls under the same category as bungy jumping, you never thought you would do such a thing, but you did, and you would do it again.
Dance practices started about a month before the show, and ideas of what we would be performing came pouring in. At first we wanted to do a five piece performance, malay dance, chinese dance, indian, kadazan, and a modern dance which involved hip-hop and break dancing. Yes it sounds scary, thats what I thought anyways. We ended up doing just the malay, chinese and indian dance. This year, it wasn't just 6 dancers, but we had 19, and that made practices fun. Once again, Caroline correographed most of the show, while Hani and Laili took care of the Malay dance. I have to honestly say, that after watching last years show, Hani and Laili made this years Malay dance simple, compared to Elun's piece. But, it was for the best, as Caroline's correography for the Chinese and Indian dances were intense, and the simple start at the start was needed, especially for the dancers who had to dance all 3 dances.
At the end of the show, we won best unique performance, which I think we deserved because of the different elements we showed in our dance.Video of the performance will be posted as soon as I get a better copy of it, as my copy was shot at an awkward angle, so not everyone is seen, including me..hehe.
MALAYSIAN NIGHT 2008
Due to last years success, organisers Lutfi and Jace decided to stick with the costume theme. This year, it was Hollywood, Bollywood & Mallywood.
Once again a video was needed for the night, so me and Lutfi got to work starting on Friday. We shot more footage on saturday, did the editing saturday night till the night of the dinner. I came up with the idea and so it wasn't that great of a video. It was meant to be more, but I think I did not execute it as well as I wanted.
I went to Malaysian night dressed as a gangster, Al Capone style, American gangster style. It wasn't much dressing up really, believe me when I say others dressed up, with make up and props, but me, a pinstripe suit, and put on my normal face, and I'm a gangster (coz people always say I have a unfriendly face).
People who have known me since high school will probably know that I was supposed to sing at my prom, but that never happened, so at Malaysian night, I made up for that, and performed. Hahahhah. It's funny how this year, Haizat transferred from Albany and he asked if I wanted to join him in performing for Malaysian night. What the heck, bila lagi kan. Good thing the performance were watched by friends, and our mistakes while singing were forgiven. It was good, bit nervous at first but by the time the second song came, we were comfortable.
Video me and Lutfi made will be posted up soon as well, and video of the singing will not be posted.
The night was fun, and of course the photo sessions, with all the different costumes. I even got the best dressed, just because Iylia won already for most photogenic. Look at the pictures here
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=150568&l=a21ff&id=673915175 , and you'll know why he should have a clean sweep for the awards.
The night ended smoothly, and kudos to Jace and Lutfi for organizing a great event.
REALITY CHECK
P.S : I am officially tired of it. My efforts have brought me nowhere near, instead has made me bitter. I am switching off. I am officially crawling back into my sanctuary where its safe.
Monday, July 07, 2008
BERSATU 08 : Style over Substance
The long awaited BERSATU games in Wellington ended with mixed emotions for me and my team. MUMSA obtained its first gold medal in the history of the games, but really, we were unlucky not to add to the tally. Takder rezeki.
Preparations for the games, besides the obvious deed of training, consists of fund raising, rallying supporters and keeping everyone on their toes. We did a pretty good job for fund raising, sausage sizzles, and also the selling of Nasi Lemak and other Malaysian goodies, which contributed greatly to the final amount. Kudos goes to everyone involved in making those two fund raising activities a success.
As for the games itself, we left for Wellington on the 28th of June, on the bus, and arrived a few hours short of the opening ceremony. This years opening ceremony was simple and I guess its how it should be. Our contingent arrived in our brand spanking new MUMSA t-shirts, which I thought was the paling semart out of the others. As head contingent, had to go through the baca ikrar, and some introductions on stage, which was all good. No speeches.
The night went on with introduction videos and performances from WMSO, a dance number, as well as the Haka. Ceremony ended earlier than expected, and all went back to the backpackers, to get ready for the first day of games.
Everyone was pumped up for the first day of games. All were on time. Only thing was the weather made the organizers have a headache. Football was canceled, and moved to the last day, while Touch was now to be played indoor. Netball went ahead despite the roaring winds and pouring rain. Badminton was on schedule as planned. First day was a bit of a bore, as the team split up into 2 as venues were different. Full support couldn't be given and to me that made us suffer. We bowed out of Touch in the group stages, but definitely with a fight. We were unlucky with netball and badminton, but didn't make the semis due to goal or points difference. Bad first day for MUMSA.
It was the same story for the second and third day, where we challenged but not making the semis again. Even lost my cool, my temper during handball, and I apologize to all that were hurt if any. The girls made a valiant effort in Futsal, and I felt had a great chance to make the semis if not get a medal. But due to a tactical error, we bowed out in the group stages as well. Despite the losses, I am proud to say, that our supporters were the best during the games. Our cheers and chants made a difference, and I could safely say, we all lost our voices supporting each other. Even WMSO who had the biggest number of supporters did not come close to our supporting power. MUMSA supporters ruled the whole of BERSATU. I say thanks to those who led the cheers, who till today still have not recovered from all that screaming.
It was the last day, and there were 2 sports left for MUMSA to get a medal. Football, which was now to be played indoor, went on first. We were up against the defending champs, and expectations were high. We won 2-0. We broke the curse, we won our first football game at BERSATU ever. Morale was high. Too high, as we switched off against CMSA, which left us vulnerable to get kicked out of the tourney yet again. We won our 3rd game against Otago, but then had to depend on the match between CMSA and WMSO. Everything was going smooth, until CMSA scored with 12 seconds to go. The group was now tied 3 ways and due to some technicality, we were out, WMSO and CMSA were in. Potential out the window yet again.
All of us went up to support Takraw, the last game. I got a text on the way there saying we made the semis. I was overjoyed, at least points for MUMSA. When we got there, another fight with WMSO, although it went to rubber set, the experience of MUMSA shone through, and carried forward to the finals. The abang-abang post grads showed us experience, as well as moves no one at the BERSATU level has seen. MUMSA got our first gold. We were ecstatic.
That night we had our closing dinner. The venue was great, some hiccups, but overall an enjoyable night, even more so when MUMSA won the video competition with this video
The audience responded positively, reacting how we expected them to react, many of them asking us for the video to keep. Credits to Imran for showing us the video, Matt Harding for the inspiration, and Lutfi for making the video a reality.
We left the games this year with a new and improved reputation, that MUMSA were contenders, not just another team making up the preliminary stages, but challengers, tough challengers that other contingents should be looking out for in years to come.
Friday, May 09, 2008
A month disconnected
Looking at the date stamp of my last post, it has been exactly a month since I updated. Why? The answer to that would be my laptop is not functional, and still not functional. I haven't been totally disconnected though, thanks to the Massey computer lab, and the 24 hour access card.
A lot happened in the last month, a bad luck month really for me and my flatmates. The car was acting up again, and took 2 weeks to get well again. Safwan's car blew up...well the engine did, which meant its not functional and meant there is one less car at the house. Iylia can't drive anymore, because he got pulled over by the police, and he's still presenting a Malaysian license, which goes invalid after a year. Well he can drive, but if he gets caught, he'd be imprisoned, and the car he drives would get impounded. Sam's power supply blew up, which was the most minor of all our bad luck. And of course my laptop is unusable, which i'm predicting to be the motherboard, and if it is the problem, I won't bother and continue being a bonafide student in the computer labs.
So enough of the tales of bad luck.
I cut up my first whole chicken this month. It's good cutting steaks into small pieces, but tearing up a whole chicken with a meat cleaver is wayy better. I have pictures of the event, but due to the laptop not functioning, I have limited access to the pictures, which are in Safwan's cam. I promise you the grit and determination of dismantling that piece of poultry was caught on camera.
BERSATU games down the block and around the corner. MUMSA has been appointed co-hosts, with Wellington Students Organisation, with the event being held in Wellington this June. The top committe of MUMSA will be involved with the actual games, so they have appointed a few select people including me, to handle the contingent in their place. The top committee say they're busy with BERSATU, but I think they're just dumping their load on to us "choice" slaves, haha.
There was a leadership meeting/seminar in conjunction with BERSATU games down in Wellington at the Malaysian Students Department. I was not even supposed to go but due to transport and Razif unable to get an extension, I replaced him, and along with Iylia, Sheng and Eugene drove down to Wellington for the ANZAC day weekend. Left Palmy early and reached Welly around 10 ish. It was quite empty, mostly because people were still in Church for ANZAC day appreciation.
We were all seperated accomodation wise, with the reason of mingling with other leaders of other contingents being thrown at us. I didn't mind that, pretty valid reason. I did mind however mind that MY accomodation looked like a whorehouse from the outside, and Iylia's looked like a modern motel, and even had Sky TV . Woo-saaah. I started to dread the trip, After settling in (if that was ever possible in that building), we were told to be at MSD, and so we were. It was my first time being at the MSD, and I was quite impressed. Went up to the dewan for a briefing with Aunty Rose, the student attache here in NZ. Aunty kept repeating "Expect the Unexpected" and after all was done, it was exactly that.
After the briefing, we played frisbee. Fun? not when you play it in the dark. Aunty said all events on the schedule must be performed, and because we were late with the previous item on the schedule, it was already dark by the time we were done. Everyone was still up for it, some groaning of course, but generally looked lively. It all went well and we actually caught the darn thing while in the dark, except for Iylia, who tried to catch a pass, and bumped into a team mate, and fell down spraining his ankle. What most of us were annoyed about at that point, was that aunty refused to call the driver to pick Iylia up and back to MSD. Instead, we as a group, took turns carrying him from the park we played, which was down a hill bout 10 minutes from MSD. It was good that we came together, but in a way dangerous, for Iylia, and for us as well. That invariably left him useless when it came to activities over the weekend as he was on crutches. Alas, all was justified by aunty at the end of the seminar. The night ended late, even more for me as I went for coffee after.
I didn't get much sleep in Wellington, because its damned noisy at night, and it was early starts each day. The second day was mainly for BERSATU, where the committee presented their presentation to the contingents. It got quite heated and it will be a different BERSATU next year if proposed changes are approved.
The third day was the best, and all the stress of no sleep and high levels of annoyance with aunty's mental tests were gone as we participated in an "Amazing Race" kind of activity called senses. Kudos to the organisers of that, coz it was really a great experience. It helped me bond with new comrades as we sang, laughed, guided and made fools of ourselves together as a team. My team would have won too, if I hadn't broken an egg. I would have never seen Wellington if not for that activity, and again that made the whole weekend worth it. That night, tired bodies sat down for a final talk with aunty, where she explained herself to us. She was testing us with , in her own words "putting you out of your comfort zone", which was spot on. She justified her actions, and I personally think its a loss to MSD in NZ if she was not there working with us students. She refused to take credit for the success of the weekend, but she got us there, and that deserves credit.
So that was my month disconnected. Sorry there are no thousand words worth of pictures.
A lot happened in the last month, a bad luck month really for me and my flatmates. The car was acting up again, and took 2 weeks to get well again. Safwan's car blew up...well the engine did, which meant its not functional and meant there is one less car at the house. Iylia can't drive anymore, because he got pulled over by the police, and he's still presenting a Malaysian license, which goes invalid after a year. Well he can drive, but if he gets caught, he'd be imprisoned, and the car he drives would get impounded. Sam's power supply blew up, which was the most minor of all our bad luck. And of course my laptop is unusable, which i'm predicting to be the motherboard, and if it is the problem, I won't bother and continue being a bonafide student in the computer labs.
So enough of the tales of bad luck.
I cut up my first whole chicken this month. It's good cutting steaks into small pieces, but tearing up a whole chicken with a meat cleaver is wayy better. I have pictures of the event, but due to the laptop not functioning, I have limited access to the pictures, which are in Safwan's cam. I promise you the grit and determination of dismantling that piece of poultry was caught on camera.
BERSATU games down the block and around the corner. MUMSA has been appointed co-hosts, with Wellington Students Organisation, with the event being held in Wellington this June. The top committe of MUMSA will be involved with the actual games, so they have appointed a few select people including me, to handle the contingent in their place. The top committee say they're busy with BERSATU, but I think they're just dumping their load on to us "choice" slaves, haha.
There was a leadership meeting/seminar in conjunction with BERSATU games down in Wellington at the Malaysian Students Department. I was not even supposed to go but due to transport and Razif unable to get an extension, I replaced him, and along with Iylia, Sheng and Eugene drove down to Wellington for the ANZAC day weekend. Left Palmy early and reached Welly around 10 ish. It was quite empty, mostly because people were still in Church for ANZAC day appreciation.
We were all seperated accomodation wise, with the reason of mingling with other leaders of other contingents being thrown at us. I didn't mind that, pretty valid reason. I did mind however mind that MY accomodation looked like a whorehouse from the outside, and Iylia's looked like a modern motel, and even had Sky TV . Woo-saaah. I started to dread the trip, After settling in (if that was ever possible in that building), we were told to be at MSD, and so we were. It was my first time being at the MSD, and I was quite impressed. Went up to the dewan for a briefing with Aunty Rose, the student attache here in NZ. Aunty kept repeating "Expect the Unexpected" and after all was done, it was exactly that.
After the briefing, we played frisbee. Fun? not when you play it in the dark. Aunty said all events on the schedule must be performed, and because we were late with the previous item on the schedule, it was already dark by the time we were done. Everyone was still up for it, some groaning of course, but generally looked lively. It all went well and we actually caught the darn thing while in the dark, except for Iylia, who tried to catch a pass, and bumped into a team mate, and fell down spraining his ankle. What most of us were annoyed about at that point, was that aunty refused to call the driver to pick Iylia up and back to MSD. Instead, we as a group, took turns carrying him from the park we played, which was down a hill bout 10 minutes from MSD. It was good that we came together, but in a way dangerous, for Iylia, and for us as well. That invariably left him useless when it came to activities over the weekend as he was on crutches. Alas, all was justified by aunty at the end of the seminar. The night ended late, even more for me as I went for coffee after.
I didn't get much sleep in Wellington, because its damned noisy at night, and it was early starts each day. The second day was mainly for BERSATU, where the committee presented their presentation to the contingents. It got quite heated and it will be a different BERSATU next year if proposed changes are approved.
The third day was the best, and all the stress of no sleep and high levels of annoyance with aunty's mental tests were gone as we participated in an "Amazing Race" kind of activity called senses. Kudos to the organisers of that, coz it was really a great experience. It helped me bond with new comrades as we sang, laughed, guided and made fools of ourselves together as a team. My team would have won too, if I hadn't broken an egg. I would have never seen Wellington if not for that activity, and again that made the whole weekend worth it. That night, tired bodies sat down for a final talk with aunty, where she explained herself to us. She was testing us with , in her own words "putting you out of your comfort zone", which was spot on. She justified her actions, and I personally think its a loss to MSD in NZ if she was not there working with us students. She refused to take credit for the success of the weekend, but she got us there, and that deserves credit.
So that was my month disconnected. Sorry there are no thousand words worth of pictures.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
this is getting ridiculous
What is New Zealand known for? Its a tie between dairy products, rugby, the place they shot Lord Of The Rings, and undoubtedly sheep. Sheep outnumber humans here in New Zealand seven times which basically means there are seven times more sheep than there are humans. Thats a whole lotta sheep.
I was out with Rahmat to get some stuff for the car (which we didn't get because it was easter, and nothing was open), when Iylia texted me, the text read "we have a new pet". I replied asking what pet?, but he never answered. When we got back to our house, we found out what the pet was....
It was a sheep or a ram to be exact. I certainly did not expect this. I was seriously thinking we had a rat in the house, or a cat suddenly decided to call our flat its home, but a ram in our backyard? never. Sam actually discovered it and ran in to get Iylia, who went out and petted the ram, and when he tried to tie the leash (it had a leash, sort of, which led to us concluding that it was someones pet) to our clothes drying thing, the ram got mad and chased Iylia all over. Luckily, Adzhar happened to drop by, and took control of the situation and proceeded to tying the animal to the clothes drying thung....all of this happened before me and Rahmat came back, which was a shame, because Iylia getting chased by a Ram should be an amusing sight.
Iylia called animal control, and we just hung out there waiting for them to come. The ram was actually very friendly, but it did leave presents on our lawn, and a bit on the pathway leading to the clothes drying thing. While waiting for animal control to come, we did what anyone would do in this situation...took pictures and videos of it, as I don't think it would be happening again anytime soon. Check my youtube for the actually aimless video of the ram. Haha
After 20 minutes of wholesome sheep fun, someone came and asked "you guys didn't happen to see a sheep running around did you?" which would have been a really weird question on any other day, Turns out it was the neighbor across the street from our house who was the owner. Iylia immediately called off animal control and our excitement for the day was over. Only in New Zealand.
On another note....my cousin Kak Intan got married yesterday, without any complications and was told Fahmy lafaz skalik jer...bravo. I am really happy for her and her husband, but yet a bit sad because I couldn't be there with my family to celebrate the occasion. So to Nor Intan and Fahmy, Selamat Pengantin Baru, semoga ke anak cucu.
I was out with Rahmat to get some stuff for the car (which we didn't get because it was easter, and nothing was open), when Iylia texted me, the text read "we have a new pet". I replied asking what pet?, but he never answered. When we got back to our house, we found out what the pet was....
It was a sheep or a ram to be exact. I certainly did not expect this. I was seriously thinking we had a rat in the house, or a cat suddenly decided to call our flat its home, but a ram in our backyard? never. Sam actually discovered it and ran in to get Iylia, who went out and petted the ram, and when he tried to tie the leash (it had a leash, sort of, which led to us concluding that it was someones pet) to our clothes drying thing, the ram got mad and chased Iylia all over. Luckily, Adzhar happened to drop by, and took control of the situation and proceeded to tying the animal to the clothes drying thung....all of this happened before me and Rahmat came back, which was a shame, because Iylia getting chased by a Ram should be an amusing sight.
Iylia called animal control, and we just hung out there waiting for them to come. The ram was actually very friendly, but it did leave presents on our lawn, and a bit on the pathway leading to the clothes drying thing. While waiting for animal control to come, we did what anyone would do in this situation...took pictures and videos of it, as I don't think it would be happening again anytime soon. Check my youtube for the actually aimless video of the ram. Haha
After 20 minutes of wholesome sheep fun, someone came and asked "you guys didn't happen to see a sheep running around did you?" which would have been a really weird question on any other day, Turns out it was the neighbor across the street from our house who was the owner. Iylia immediately called off animal control and our excitement for the day was over. Only in New Zealand.
On another note....my cousin Kak Intan got married yesterday, without any complications and was told Fahmy lafaz skalik jer...bravo. I am really happy for her and her husband, but yet a bit sad because I couldn't be there with my family to celebrate the occasion. So to Nor Intan and Fahmy, Selamat Pengantin Baru, semoga ke anak cucu.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
The story so far
Reporting after the last out of place "emo-ish" post.
New Zealand the second time round for me was exactly that, revisited, no thrill of the guy who left home the first time, but someone coming back home to his current home base. Everything was pretty much where it should be when I came back to Palmy. The flat was kinda hectic, with most of the guys holding up here to avoid starting paying for the halls too early. That meant stuff were lying everywhere, living room packed, mine and iylia's room had visitors, and I lived out of the suitcase for another week. After most of the guys moved into the halls, I cleaned up my room, unpacked my stuff, rearranged my furniture in my room, started making it my own again.
Anyways, house matters aside, MUMSA had its clubs day booth up, and boy oh boy, we had loads of new members signing up. To date, there are, if not mistaken, 12 new scholarship students from the respective sponsors. Thats an increase from last year. Either Massey is becoming a popular destination now, or we (the "old" students) did a good job of marketing Palmerston North, and Massey, either by word of mouth to respective juniors, or we just made this place "happening" because we are that cool. haha. Not counting the scholarship students, we have a handful of new private students as well, making this year, undoubtedly the largest number of members for MUMSA.
The kickoff event held by MUMSA was the bbq, held at the ICC (again),which would turn out to be a bit on the small side, as almost all that registered on clubs day turned up plus Mr.Prez decided to include the post graduates and their families to join as well. The event was really organized from start till finish, which led to Eugene commenting, "Malaysians ker nih? semua dah prepared before hand, and on time pulak tuh", which I thought was funny and honestly a very sensible question to ask. Food was prepared almost a day before, and chicken was pre-cooked (so that people won't have to wait long for their chicken to bbq) with 3 hours to spare. People turned up on time, and as I said before, the place was packed. But all in all, MUMSA collectively did a great job in my opinion.
The haunted maize maze was revisited again. The event this time was joined by some members from WMSO. The venue was different from the last time MUMSA went. It was in a place called Marton before, 40 minutes away, but now its a brand new maze, in Sanson. 25 minutes away. I have to say, it was nowhere near as scary as the one in Marton, and half the time to complete it. But to look at the glass half full, we had a good time, hanging out with the newbies, and our friends from WMSO, which is all good.
Oh yeah, classes. Started, 3 I like, 1 don't like mainly because of the lecturer, and out of the 3 classes that interest me, only two I actually pay attention to everyday because of the excellent lecturer who makes you participate, so you don't really have time to let your mind wander off.
New Zealand the second time round for me was exactly that, revisited, no thrill of the guy who left home the first time, but someone coming back home to his current home base. Everything was pretty much where it should be when I came back to Palmy. The flat was kinda hectic, with most of the guys holding up here to avoid starting paying for the halls too early. That meant stuff were lying everywhere, living room packed, mine and iylia's room had visitors, and I lived out of the suitcase for another week. After most of the guys moved into the halls, I cleaned up my room, unpacked my stuff, rearranged my furniture in my room, started making it my own again.
Anyways, house matters aside, MUMSA had its clubs day booth up, and boy oh boy, we had loads of new members signing up. To date, there are, if not mistaken, 12 new scholarship students from the respective sponsors. Thats an increase from last year. Either Massey is becoming a popular destination now, or we (the "old" students) did a good job of marketing Palmerston North, and Massey, either by word of mouth to respective juniors, or we just made this place "happening" because we are that cool. haha. Not counting the scholarship students, we have a handful of new private students as well, making this year, undoubtedly the largest number of members for MUMSA.
The kickoff event held by MUMSA was the bbq, held at the ICC (again),which would turn out to be a bit on the small side, as almost all that registered on clubs day turned up plus Mr.Prez decided to include the post graduates and their families to join as well. The event was really organized from start till finish, which led to Eugene commenting, "Malaysians ker nih? semua dah prepared before hand, and on time pulak tuh", which I thought was funny and honestly a very sensible question to ask. Food was prepared almost a day before, and chicken was pre-cooked (so that people won't have to wait long for their chicken to bbq) with 3 hours to spare. People turned up on time, and as I said before, the place was packed. But all in all, MUMSA collectively did a great job in my opinion.
The haunted maize maze was revisited again. The event this time was joined by some members from WMSO. The venue was different from the last time MUMSA went. It was in a place called Marton before, 40 minutes away, but now its a brand new maze, in Sanson. 25 minutes away. I have to say, it was nowhere near as scary as the one in Marton, and half the time to complete it. But to look at the glass half full, we had a good time, hanging out with the newbies, and our friends from WMSO, which is all good.
Oh yeah, classes. Started, 3 I like, 1 don't like mainly because of the lecturer, and out of the 3 classes that interest me, only two I actually pay attention to everyday because of the excellent lecturer who makes you participate, so you don't really have time to let your mind wander off.
Monday, August 27, 2007
For Opah
When the date 31st of August is mentioned among Malaysians, we automatically know people are talking about our independence day. This year we are celebrating our 50th year of independence from the British. Despite the various discrepancies throughout the years, I am still proud of this achievement and proud to call myself a Malaysian, a fact that is sadly lacking in our youth these days. Anyway, every year, I celebrate 2 occasions on that date, m country's independence, as well as the birth of my grandmother or Opah as I call her.
Puteh binti Abdul Rahman, my Opah will be celebrating her birthday this 31st of August, and being abroad, this is actually the first time I won't be joining her on her birthday. So, I thought to myself, what would be something special that I could do for my Opah, with me being away, and on a tight student budget? Well, an opportunity presented itself 2 weeks ago when one of the committee members of MUMSA sent a mass text to everyone, asking for volunteers. They were looking for 3 guys and 3 girls that were willing to participate in a performance, a dance to be exact for the Unity in Diversity Week held by Massey in 2 weeks time. I was reluctant to join at first, but then it came to me, how special would this be if I dedicated this to Opah. Anyone who knows me personally would know, how unlikely it would be for mr to do these kinds of public performances. So, I volunteered, and the fact that Iylia joined as well cemented the decision. 2 fools on stage would be better than 1 fool on stage I thought.
The day came for our first practice, and after 15 minutes learning the first step of the whole routine, I started having doubts about my dancing career. That relatively simple first move took me a whole practice to get right, added to that people telling me that my body was too stiff.....of course lah stiff...i'm too macho you know.
Few more practices came after that, and I have to tell you, when you get the moves right, a feeling of accomplishment comes over you, and that leads to the whole performance being fun. Each practice, the choreographers add new moves, which seemed impossible to me at first but, as the saying goes, "practice makes perfect".
On the 22nd, we had our full dress rehearsal, and the last practice before the real rehearsal at the venue, which is at the Globe Theater. So all of us dressed, and I have to say, we don't look half bad. Me in "Hang Tuah" red, Iylia in "Hang Lekiu" blue, and Hadi in "Hang Jebat" Yellow all of us with matching "tanjak". The girls looked the part as well, with gold "sanggul" on thier heads, we definitely looked the part. We went through the routine with full costume on, and everything went well. Nothing dropped, and everything was flowing when all the moves were in motion. Feeling satisfied, we waited till the next day for the rehearsal at the Globe Theater.
We were one of the first groups to arrive and that meant we could rehearse early and go back early. The stage was just the right size, and coincided with how we practiced before. Although there were only maybe less than 20 people in the crowd that night at rehearsal, my familiar feeling of nervousness in front of public places came about as usual. Our song came on and we proceeded with the routine. Everything went well I guess, with a couple of mistakes from each of us, all down to nervousness again I suppose. Clare the coordinator asked if we wanted another run, and we said yes. Second run went better, with me being able to give some facial expression, something i did not do in the first run. Second went better, and all of were satisfied but also decided to go back to Massey to have another practice.
The day of the performance came. All of us reached the theater at round 6.30 and again we were the early ones there. We chilled out in the dressing room, they had those mirrors with the light bulbs all round like you see in the movies. At around 7, the coordinator informed us that we were the 12th group to perform. We all moaned, the tension was killing us, and having to sit backstage and wait would be absolute murder for our nerves. So we chilled backstage, watching performance after performance start and end. We only got fully dressed 3 performances before us. We recapped our routine once again in the crammed space of the dressing room. It was getting closer to showtime.
It was now 2 performances before ours and the coordinators signaled us to get into formation at our entry point. Butterflies fluttering in the tummy like it was going to explode. The last performance before us was about to finish. Everyone restless all muttering under their breath all manner of praises to god, praying that nothing too massive gets screwed up. And at last, the last performance before us was over, and the stage was dark once again, the crowd hushed, anticipating the next performance. It was showtime.
"Diciptakan seorang insan...." Siti Nurhaliza's voice came on. That was our song, that was our cue to enter. And we did. The crowd applauded, the loudest coming from the Malaysian's who came to support the team, as well as friends of our dancers. I think a visual representation is needed at this point....
So that was the nights performance. Feedback from the crowd was good, and also the coordinators loved it, maybe they tell all the performers that night the same thing, but it was good to hear nonetheless. We did have one thing that the other performers didn't get that night. The Omani Students Association, who had an opening event for thier Indoor Soccer Tournament the next day, invited us to perform and pay for our services. So we must have done something right that night.
That night was definitely a night to remember, because its probably going to be a long time before I do that again, and also, I achieved my goal to do something special for my Opah this year.
Puteh binti Abdul Rahman, my Opah will be celebrating her birthday this 31st of August, and being abroad, this is actually the first time I won't be joining her on her birthday. So, I thought to myself, what would be something special that I could do for my Opah, with me being away, and on a tight student budget? Well, an opportunity presented itself 2 weeks ago when one of the committee members of MUMSA sent a mass text to everyone, asking for volunteers. They were looking for 3 guys and 3 girls that were willing to participate in a performance, a dance to be exact for the Unity in Diversity Week held by Massey in 2 weeks time. I was reluctant to join at first, but then it came to me, how special would this be if I dedicated this to Opah. Anyone who knows me personally would know, how unlikely it would be for mr to do these kinds of public performances. So, I volunteered, and the fact that Iylia joined as well cemented the decision. 2 fools on stage would be better than 1 fool on stage I thought.
The day came for our first practice, and after 15 minutes learning the first step of the whole routine, I started having doubts about my dancing career. That relatively simple first move took me a whole practice to get right, added to that people telling me that my body was too stiff.....of course lah stiff...i'm too macho you know.
Few more practices came after that, and I have to tell you, when you get the moves right, a feeling of accomplishment comes over you, and that leads to the whole performance being fun. Each practice, the choreographers add new moves, which seemed impossible to me at first but, as the saying goes, "practice makes perfect".
On the 22nd, we had our full dress rehearsal, and the last practice before the real rehearsal at the venue, which is at the Globe Theater. So all of us dressed, and I have to say, we don't look half bad. Me in "Hang Tuah" red, Iylia in "Hang Lekiu" blue, and Hadi in "Hang Jebat" Yellow all of us with matching "tanjak". The girls looked the part as well, with gold "sanggul" on thier heads, we definitely looked the part. We went through the routine with full costume on, and everything went well. Nothing dropped, and everything was flowing when all the moves were in motion. Feeling satisfied, we waited till the next day for the rehearsal at the Globe Theater.
We were one of the first groups to arrive and that meant we could rehearse early and go back early. The stage was just the right size, and coincided with how we practiced before. Although there were only maybe less than 20 people in the crowd that night at rehearsal, my familiar feeling of nervousness in front of public places came about as usual. Our song came on and we proceeded with the routine. Everything went well I guess, with a couple of mistakes from each of us, all down to nervousness again I suppose. Clare the coordinator asked if we wanted another run, and we said yes. Second run went better, with me being able to give some facial expression, something i did not do in the first run. Second went better, and all of were satisfied but also decided to go back to Massey to have another practice.
The day of the performance came. All of us reached the theater at round 6.30 and again we were the early ones there. We chilled out in the dressing room, they had those mirrors with the light bulbs all round like you see in the movies. At around 7, the coordinator informed us that we were the 12th group to perform. We all moaned, the tension was killing us, and having to sit backstage and wait would be absolute murder for our nerves. So we chilled backstage, watching performance after performance start and end. We only got fully dressed 3 performances before us. We recapped our routine once again in the crammed space of the dressing room. It was getting closer to showtime.
It was now 2 performances before ours and the coordinators signaled us to get into formation at our entry point. Butterflies fluttering in the tummy like it was going to explode. The last performance before us was about to finish. Everyone restless all muttering under their breath all manner of praises to god, praying that nothing too massive gets screwed up. And at last, the last performance before us was over, and the stage was dark once again, the crowd hushed, anticipating the next performance. It was showtime.
"Diciptakan seorang insan...." Siti Nurhaliza's voice came on. That was our song, that was our cue to enter. And we did. The crowd applauded, the loudest coming from the Malaysian's who came to support the team, as well as friends of our dancers. I think a visual representation is needed at this point....
So that was the nights performance. Feedback from the crowd was good, and also the coordinators loved it, maybe they tell all the performers that night the same thing, but it was good to hear nonetheless. We did have one thing that the other performers didn't get that night. The Omani Students Association, who had an opening event for thier Indoor Soccer Tournament the next day, invited us to perform and pay for our services. So we must have done something right that night.
That night was definitely a night to remember, because its probably going to be a long time before I do that again, and also, I achieved my goal to do something special for my Opah this year.
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