2007 Dinner and Dance

So year 2007 is drawing to a close. Only 7 more days till it's over! In December especially, my place of employment has been truly busy. With resource management to take care of, announcements to make, events to attend, employee appraisals to do, myself to be appraised -.-"

December was also a month of many firsts. E.g:

First annual dinner event that was organised by a committee.

Previous dinners was planned by my manager mainly. Had the do at this little hideout called Rahsia, near Jalan Tun Razak in KL.

First dinner event with a dress code

Besides the dinner event planning by a committee, another first was that there was a dress code for the night. Whites for gents, and ladies in red. They were even giving out some prizes for best dressed and best hairstyle.

First time Jack made any effort to dress up

I actually went around Sunway Pyramid one weekend to look for white pants. Settled on a pair of Lois jeans. Another weekend was spent looking for a shirt. Found a nice one in Key NG. The design was simple, but it had some cool details like seams sewn with multicolored threads. Also found a cheap (RM40+) but nice pair of Bata brown shoes.

I quite liked the color and simple design. Bargain price too!

Besides clothes, I also attempted to change my hair. Read somewhere that the spikey look is simple to do with a hair dryer. So I borrowed my mom's and experimented. Below is a sample of where I got to.

Experimenting, experimenting!

I thought it looked quite ok actually. Unfortunately I didn't understand that to maintain this spiky look with hair that is as long as mine, you need industrial strength hairspray or gel to fix it. After about 30 mins, the hair dried, and became frizzy. I couldn't be bothered to try and salvage it. I'm such a fashion disaster ^.^

Can you see my fluffy hair?

Anyway, I need not have bothered with dress or hair. I didn't win anything. Best dressed went to my friend below instead.

Spence (far right), I salute your fashion

Dinner was okay. Had higher expectations on the food though. Service was not as quick and food portions not of the size I was expecting. But we had a great time anyway. Alcohol makes pretty of many things, so they say.

To many more happy times ahead!

Some of the gang decided that the night was still young. So we dropped by at Aloha after the dinner event concluded. Group of 12 went to "attempt dancing", and drink more alcohol. I think I gotta really go learn some dance steps. Been to clubs few times already, and all I can do is bop my head around, and do the hand movements for YMCA. Ordered 2 small bottles of JW Black, and between 12 people, we finished 1 and a half bottles.

Quite abit of JW went to Shoon's stomach? :)

Around 2:30am, I had to get out of the club hall to get a breather. Haven't drank much whisky lately, so I was feeling the effects. Have to admit that age is catching up maybe? At 3am, we left Aloha to get something to eat at a nearby mamak, which served the worst fried kuay teow I have ever tried in my life. But I downed it anyway because I was so hungry. Witnessed one my junior colleagues puke at the mamak. I however commend him on doing it in such a calm and cool manner ho ho ho....

Reached home at 4am. Woke up at 8 am. Why? Because MPSJ decided that 8am that day was a good day to cut grass at the field in front of my home. So I awoke, whether I was ready to or not, to the sound of grass cutter machines in all their entusiastic glory. Felt poorly the whole day. At night, at 8pm, crawled back into bed, and slept all the way for 12 hours till the next morning.

Ahhh... 2007 company annual dinner was quite fun wasn't it?

Style Anxiety

Tonight is my company's Annual dinner. The event committee has dictated that guys dress in white.



I have so far only purchased some white jeans. Besides that I have no idea what to do for a shirt.



Panic Panic Panic



Part of the committee also highly encouraged guys to get accessories (ties, watches etc etc).



Stress Stress Stress



We are also encouraged to do something different with hair



Anxiety Anxiety Anxiety

Tennis in Malaysia, Pastures in Australia

Recently, one of my friends offered some free tickets to watch the semi final matches for the Malaysian Tennis Open Festival. Before you jump to conclusions, this is not the high profile Nadal-Gasquet and Sampras-Federer matches.

Malaysia Open, held at the National Tennis Centre, Jalan Duta KL

Nevertheless, it was a good game to watch anyway. Thank you very much Sharon! I made it a family outing, bringing mom and dad along, and also my cousin Poh with her little boy An-An. We manage to catch a Croatia vs Australia men's singles, and a men's doubles between India and Australia.

The shiny and beautiful National Tennis Centre, Jalan Duta KL.

Shiny empty seats hahaha!

As you can see, the Malaysia crowd support was sparse. The stadium itself was very comfortable, and it was roofed. It was kinda fun to watch all the outrageous 200kmph serves from the skinny players, almost all of which were aces. I do miss the older playing style though... where players relied more on strategy and did rallies that tested skills other than returning a serve. Also, these semis used a different scoring system, only needing each side to win 2 sets instead of the usual 3. Each game ended in about 40mins.

Had a catch up with old pals Sharon and David. Once again, we spoke of their affirmative to migrate to Oz. Also found out that an Australian Matriculation education does not exempt you from needing an English proficiency test like IELTS. Again, a good example of red tape without logic. Seems like Malaysia is not the only one. Did you also hear about New Zealand's example of red tape? If you are too obese, you can't apply to be a permanent resident, else you will put the country's medical care system under undue stress. I'm sure that there is a better logical explanation for the refusal of entry for the poor, overweight soul, but NZ felt it better to go with this one instead.

More pals of mine are seeking greener pastures outside of Malaysia. Some going as far as doing a complete career and training turnaround to pick up 'hot market skills'. E.g. nursing, .NET to Java because Java is hotter in Oz. I do applaud the confidence and self belief my pals have in making a drastic change. Heck, it is actually such risk takers that come out far ahead in life anyway. I do admit I am tempted to get away from Malaysia myself, and Oz does look very tempting he he he! Hate the drought though. There are some distant family members in Oz too, and of course some good friends in Melb, Perth, Sydney. Ahhh... let's do some research for shicks and giggles.