Auto Show Fiesta 2007

The Auto Show Fiesta viewed from the helicopter (yep, it's me on a helicopter ride again!)

Have you always wanted to see car and motorbike maniacs do their creative crazy things? You should have come to the Auto Show Fiesta at Gelang Patah Rest Area, Linkedua, Johor on April 22, 2007. It’s an auto mania! You could go crazy looking at their heavily accessorised cars - stuffed toys, audio systems, cosmetic bodies, sporty steerings, chrome tyre rims and even playstations.

Look at this babe in blue…

And this sexy pinky too…

The bikes were not left out. Like this jungle themed scooter…

 And The Chicken Little one…

Formula One 2007

Dearest Ferrari, 

I know you didn’t come out first at the Sepang F1 Circuit yesterday, 8 April 2007 (oh yessss… I know because I was there at K1-stand), but I want you to know, I will forever be your die hard fan. See you next year. 

Yours truly,

jimy.the.storyteller

‘The Dracs and The Vamps’ Night

It’s bloodsucking cool to have a party much like what the draculas and vampires had back in the old time. Gothic but yet phenomenal. Symbolic and memorable. A touch of red that symbolizes the blood and black as a symbol of darkness of the inner earth. 

                       

Such party was organized at The Sanctuary, The Curve, Kuala Lumpur on 7th of April 2007 and it was marked as the most bloodsucking night ever. All 10 vampires, dressed gracefully in blood red, sauntered into the Sanctuary Chamber together with 9 dracs, attired in suits as dark as the midnight. Not even one of the vamps looked less sexier than the other vamps and not a single dracula missed the taste of their blood and glimpse of their sexy bodies.

As for the vamp who wrote this post, she was there, suckling the juice out of the lime fruit floating in her drink, watching every move of the other vamps made, watching at how they playfully batted their eyelashes and effectively used their bodies to seduce the dracs to get them into steamy conversations, to get their attention and to ‘touch’ them.

At 3.00am next morning, the Vamps and the Dracs were all worn out and it was time for them to go back to where they belonged.

Across The Thailand’s Border

I went to Hat Yai, Thailand end of March 2007. People said not to go there. It was not safe at the moment.

But I went there anyway.

It was an unplanned trip. Old friends called up one Friday morning and suddenly I was already in a bus that night of the same day. The bus took us, five crazy people, direct to Hat Yai.

Here are the highlights of the trip:

a) Thai massage - 2 hours for RM30.

b) The Paragon and The Hansa Cabaret Show at Raj-Uthit Road - 2 hours for RM60 (inclusive of dinner).

c) Facial treatment - 1 hour for RM50.

d) Hatyai Bazaar - a place to shop for cheap low-grade immitations (it was so not the place for me but what the heck…).

e) The Big Buddha - RM40 per trip on a cozy cab.

Perfect Pratice Makes Perfect

It never seems enough for me. All that piano playing, scuba diving, kayaking, horse riding, shopping, snoring at home, no, they don’t seem to be fulfilling my time enough.

I have been playing piano too much. And eating and sleeping too much too. It’s not that I’m not passionate with the piano anymore. I still love ‘caressing’ those white and black keys. They give me sweet music (only if I hit the right keys and the play the right notes… he he he). But I need something that makes me work out. 

One day, I watched the Company’s GTF Tae Kwon Do students do their moves. All that punching and kicking and gruelling exercises, kind of beckoning me to join them there and then. It looked rough. They were tough. And I liked it!

Tae Kwon Do (also written as t’aegwondo) is a modern martial art originating from Korea and characterised by its fast, high and spinning kicks. The coloured belt system was introduced to represent the progression of a student from white, the innocence of a beginner, into the maturity of the black belt, who is impervious to darkness and fear (the sequence is as shown below). 

Kup	GTF Belt Color
10th	White Belt
9th	White with Yellow Stripe
8th	Yellow Belt
7th	Yellow with Green Stripe
6th	Green Belt
5th	Green with Blue Stripe
4th	Blue Belt
3rd	Blue with Red Stripe
2nd	Red Belt
1st	Red with Black stripe

Generally, a dan is used to represent the progression of the black belt holders. A dan is either an unadorned black belt (the same for all ranks), or has a stripe across the tip for each rank (usually gold, silver, red or white). If I am not mistaken, in the GTF, the maximum rank is 9th Dan.

During the classes I learn some Korean commands such as charyot which means attention, kyong ye for bow, baro for return and joonbi for steady. There are more Korean commands actually but I can’t quite make out what they are.

I’m just a beginner and I don’t feel enlivened by that white belt. The black one seems to be perfect on me, hehehe… But like what the sifus, Sir Sharifudin and Sir Faizal, always say, practice makes perfect and a whole lot of training can change the colour of your belt. So I have to be patient, pratise a lot more and kick harder.

Blast From The Past (1993 - 1998)

Back to the time when I was taking my Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor (1993 - 1998), I had a very difficult life to live. But I knew how to make my life more cheerful, fun and fulfilled.

Besides attending the classes and group discussions almost everyday, I also had to attend boring seminars and courses at least once a month. Feeling succumbed to the ‘extreme torture’, I decided to find something fun as a hobby.

And I didn’t expect it to become a habbit after I joined the university’s recreational club. Temporarily boycotting the books, I got really involved in kayak soon after signing up. My first kayak expedition was the ‘Jelajah Kepulauan-kepulauan Malaysia Barat’, an exploration to the islands on the west-side of Malaysia.  Second expedition was a more challenging one, ‘Jelajah Kepulauan-kepulauan Terengganu’ (exploration to the Islands of Terengganu). Here are some of the kayak and other recreational activities I had gone through between the year 1993 and 1998:

• Gunung Pulai Mountain Bike Expedition 1993 (Location: Gunung Pulai, Johor)
• Mersing Kayak Expedition 1994 (Location: Mersing, Melaka).
• Full Star Award (Placid Water) Certificate for Kayak Instructor by Kuala Lumpur Canoe Association 1994 (Location: Penyabong, Mersing).
• Johor Kayak Challenge 1994 (Location: Pantai Lido, Johor)
• Regatta Kayak Terengganu 1995 (Location: Tasik Kenyir, Terengganu).
• Regatta Kayak Johor 1995 (Location: Sebana Cove - Tanjung Belungkur - Sebana Cove, Johor).
• Kayak Marathon in conjunction with Canoe Fest 1995 (Location: Tasik Bera - Tasik Chini, Pahang)
• Kayak Regatta Melaka (Location: Pantai Klebang, Melaka). 
• Wall climbing competition (Location: Kompleks Kotaraya, Johor Bahru, Johor)

Still oblivious, or rather pretended to be oblivious that the mid-year exams were just about to come around the corner, I pushed myself further more into involving in other sorts of competitions such as the Iron Man Competition (1996) and UTM Mountain Bike Challenge (1995) and I had also stolen some of my time to climb the Mount Ledang, Mount Belumut and Mount Angsi. Life was beautiful back then. Nowadays, life is just about lying on the bed and looking back at the photos of the old times. I really miss that glossy black kayak and my cute purple booties and that shining yellow life-vest and the rough blue water and the playful dolphins and… and… everything! Hmmm… Look, look at the photo. The photo of me with some rugged water-demons.

Oh by the way, I did pass the mid-year exams with flying marks. Glad, glad!

Black Holes and Revelations

Muse, an English rock band was formed in Teignmouth, Devon in 1997. The band comprised of Matthew Bellamy (lead vocal, lead guitar and piano), Chris Wolstenholme (backing vocal and bass guitar and Dominic Howard (drums and percussion). Their sound is a blend of alternative rock, indie rock, classical music, electronica, heavy metal and progressive rock. Their fourth album, Black Holes and Revelations, is a major hit!

God, I love this band and I love the music they play. When they landed in Malaysia on Sunday, 25th February 2007, I was lucky enough to get two tickets for their show at Stadium Negara Kuala Lumpur. One for me and the other one for my supportive other-half.

The crowd was wild. All that pushing and pulling made them look like a tidal wave that flowed over the stadium floor. Tilting my feet, I managed to capture a few shots of the band while they were on the stage. My feet hurt due to too much of tilting and being stamped on occasionally. But when the band started to play ‘Starlight’, I forgot everything. I forgot the camera in my hand. I forgot about the aching feet. The band went on with the ‘Time Is Running Out’ song and the crowd went wilder. It’s so wild, I thought I was in a zoo full of jungle beasts.

Apart from the wild crowd and my swollen toes, I really enjoyed the concert. It was a perfect end to the perfect weekend. MUSE amused me!