Welcome the Year of the Dog!

Dog-dog-chang! Dog-dog-chang! Dog-dog-chang! I haven't heard the barking version of a traditional lion dance, but I bet it must have sounded like that. It's the year of the dog and I heard that it's a good year for all you people out there born during the year of dog. Marlou was born on the year of the dog. That wholy explains why he barks at me nonstop LOL.

We started the first day of the Chinese New Year with a family lunch at JP's place. We had a chance to meet his sons and grandkids. JP opened a few bottles of red wine in respect to the occasion. It wasn't my first time to drink red wine at lunch, but the wine really got me, or maybe I've had a glass too many.

When we went back to the hotel at almost 5PM, after passing by Secret Recipe to buy a cake, I was so sleepy and a bit tipsy so I just had a nap 'til 7:30PM. Thought I was going to have my first hangover at night! Hahaha!

Brice and I were in our "cheongsam" mini-dresses and Marlou was in his Chinese suit. I had my hair done up in two buns and tried to look very Chinese. People then called me "Chun-Li", after one of the successful female fighters from the video game Streetfighter LOL. My "cheongsam" has been with me and has accompanied me during the past Chinese New Year's day for the past 5 years. Damn, it still does fit me! But since the material wasn't stretchable, it was kinda hard for me to bend over or really take a deep breath because my cheongsam might just unexpectedly burst or the zip on the side might just open up in the middle of the set. But I'm proud to have endured 'controlling' myself until the last set. The crowd was great though, lots of regulars and friends around.

After work, we ate supper a bit and then went to Concorde to share with them the cake and wine that was left over during the lunch today. But we got hooked and was asked to go to the lounge to join some Filipino bands. It was already the last set of The Ventures. They asked me to jam with them, I was still with my Chun-Li hair. Everyone was having so much fun. We all ate supper together at the back of Concorde and shared the cake. As JP would put it, "The food is not important, it's the company that matters".

Happy Chinese New Year again!!!

Gong Xi, Gong Xi, Gong Xi Ni!!!

Gong xi fa cai to everyone... hmmm, that's the reason why my palms got very itchy these past few days... ampaooooo!!! nyahahahaha!

Let's all welcome the year of the dog! *bark*

Gotta go for work now, tah-tah!

Missin' my baby

I'm on the phone with Selena now. Missing her so much. I'm happy for her because she's enjoying her time in school. She boasted that she's doing very well in school and that she's studying very hard for me and her dad. Very sweet girl... miss her...

PDA blogging


I haven't tried blogging from my Palm Tungsten C. I tried to open my blog server, but I couldn't access it. So I'm trying to blog from my email on my PDA.

My new iPAQ works fine but since it's not built-in with a wi-fi, I will have to connect to GPRS for me to access net with it. Of course I can buy a wi-fi card for it, but I really don't mind carrying both my Palm Tungsten and iPAQ with me. Plus I still carry around my camera with it. So might as well carry all of them! Hahaha!

Let's see if this entry goes through... Hmmm... *click!*

iPAQ at last!

Remember in September when I was getting confused of which PDA to get for my birthday? Well, I got a great surprise from one of my friends who gave me an HP iPAQ HW6500 Mobile Messenger PDA. I got the parcel from the concierge the moment I walked in the hotel from a day-off in Ipoh. What a pleasant surprise! Thanks, Ron!

Offday in Ipoh

Whew! Just got back from Ipoh an hour ago. We left at 2:30AM yesterday and reached Ipoh at 4:30AM. But, the driver wasn't really familiar of the town so we spent an hour looking for Excelsior Hotel where we all stayed. We checked-in the hotel at almost 6AM then hit off the bed right away.

Yesterday, hen we got up at noontime, JP has already arrived from KL. So we washed up and prepared for lunch with the Filipino band, Charisma, who's been playing in Excelsior Hotel for 6 months. After lunch, we left JP in the hotel and we went to the "cave temple" where they've got Chinese and Indian temples around and inside it. We just took some photos and then went back to the hotel because it started to rain. We had snack in the room while we all chit-chatted. Some of us washed up and prepared for dinner. We had great Chinese food with occasional "yam seng" of brandy and whiskey. We had so much food. After dinner, we just hanged out in the room and chit-chatted before retiring back to our own rooms at 1AM. I just watched a movie on TV while doing my assignment for my boss. Went to bed at 4:30AM.

Today, we got up at 11AM and checked out the Excelsior Hotel at 12 noon. We had our lunch in a very good curry restaurant in Ipoh before hitting the road back to KL. We reached the hotel at 3:45PM.

It was a rather adventurous offday for us. We had fun and relaxation at the same time. It was our first time to go to Ipoh and it was well spent with friends. I'm looking forward to spend more offdays out of town, somewhere near KL lah!

Busy weekend

It was a pretty busy weekend for us. Our close friends in KL, Papa Jamal and Mama Norsiah, celebrated their birthday on Friday. Yes, they share the same birthdate that's why they're so compatible. They're the first couple I've known who share the same birthdate.

I was asked by our boss to help our company's IT guy Magen with revising the company's website. So I took home the work and trying to work on it now. Hopefully I'll get it done soon.

We're leaving in an hour's time. We'll be going to Ipoh to have our offday there. We haven't been there so this is the chance for us to go there since JP is also going there. Coming back to KL on Tuesday afternoon.

That's it for now... take care you all!

Newly uploaded year-end pics

At last! You can find new photos on my online gallery because I've recently uploaded photos from Christmas 2005 until New Year 2006. You can find them in my KL 2005 gallery:

www.pbase.com/saritajc/back2kl

Skin breakout

Por Dios por santo!!! I hate to look at myself in the mirror nowadays. I've been having skin problem since the end of October. It all started with a small bite of seafood. And knowing that I'm allergic to it most of the time (yeah, sometimes it doesn't affect me), I had no other choice then but to give in to seafood. I came back to the hotel with an itchy forehead and that started it.

The allergies were so bad at one time, acne here and there - mostly on my forehead. There was even a time when I wanted to cut off my hair with my paper scissors and have some bangs or fringes just to cover them up. But then again, it won't be advisable to have them because of sweating when we sing. Concealers don't actually work, it only worsens them because of the chemicals.

If there's only an overnight skin regimen that will make my skin clear... ho-hummmmm...

Healthy living

I'm not really focused when I do certain things. It means, I start something and then when something else comes my way, I'd leave the present for the new one. That doesn't apply to people though, just want to make it clear ok? I'm talking about deeds that I do. Oh well, let's just cut it short and refer to my workouts, diets, etc.

For the ummmmpth time, I am hitting the gym again. No, no, no! No heavy lifting and no cardio workouts. Just going back to the stuff that have worked for me - Pilates and Yoga.

Didn't you know that Pilates was actually used solely for dancers a long long time ago? Yes, it was created by a German guy named Joseph Pilates. It was in fact the dancers' workout which started in New York years ago. And now, Pilates is one of the effective way to firm and tone the muscles, especially the abdominal part.

And it worked for me - with "worked" being the word, you absolutely know what I mean. I started doing Pilates in 2004. It's the best exercise for me because I am not allowed to lift weights due to my hernia and thyroid problems.

Yoga and Pilates are both mind-body workout and it takes a lot of patience and hard work to see the results. Not to forget a good balanced diet, too. But when you're in Malaysia, you'll be a very brave human being if you don't move your fingers an inch once you see the dishes they have here. Hmmmm yummy...

Vacation plans

Last night, we met up with our boss to voice out my concern about my hernia. I need to have it operated since it's been bothering me unexpectedly since last year. My boss willingly agreed that I do it after our Shangri-La KL contract which will end in 1st of April. So maybe I can stay for 2 weeks in KL, I want to do it here.

My boss agreed that I should take a rest after the operation for 6 weeks. I think that's enough. Besides, I really think I deserve a much needed break - healthwise.
After getting an ionizer, which purifies the air and making it clean and fresh, I've had heavenly, undisturbed sleep since then. Say, 10 hours sleep? Not bad huh? I really swear by this ionizer. It's really great and our room smells so fresh. We thought it smells like ice cream or candy. But anyway, that's just maybe sweet-toothy me.

It's our off today, I got up at 4PM. Marlou and I went to Berjaya Times Square to stroll around. I missed Selena so much because she's the one who would drag me into the shops and sometimes, she'd be the one deciding what's good for me. Oh yeah, my 6 year old princess has an exquisite and elegant taste just like Mommy and Daddy. But, there's one flaw, she's too conservative! She would make funny comments on my clothes, how they're so bare and how they might fall off if I dance. Hmmm, more conservative than the Dad I guess.

So anyway, we just stayed there for an hour. Dropped by Imbi Plaza to see what's new with technology and then headed off back to the hotel to change. We met up with our boss at 8PM, but he was so busy doing work so Marlou and I had to staaaaarve until 10:30PM. We had Indian food in Brickfields. Afterwards, we went to Istana Hotel to see the Filipino band. The Musictheque bar was empty when we came in and until we left. We met the band who was also from Cebu. The keyboardist was even a close friend to Marlou's younger sister when they were still in highschool! It's a small world indeed!

We left Istana Hotel at past 1AM. Marlou and I walked and strolled along Jalan Sultan Ismail until we reached Concorde. We were supposed to just peep and say hi to the band. But a Turkish friend, Cem, saw us and invited us to have a drink. So we stayed for the first half of the last set of the Peach Apple Tree before going back to the hotel.

We just stayed in the room with Chona, Sarah and Wacky after having a hearty meal for supper. We watched "Wedding Crashers" until 7AM.

Great evening at the lounge

When the new year commenced, people were in hibernation from going out to the mere fact that they were exhausted from celebrations here and there during Christmas and New Year. Or maybe, they spent too much at that time, so they're saving up some money to spend again, hahaha! And also, school started last week as well as offices started their work for the new year. Some people are rushing their work right now for the coming Chinese New Year. The lounge was always full at those times, but mostly foreigners on weeknights.

Tonight was a great night. I saw a lot of our regular guests in the crowd. This week has been great for me anyway. I was at my best after being ill for a week. Since there was a concert of the great Filipino pianist Reynaldo Reyes at the Shangri-La Ballroom, there were lots of Filipinos in the crowd, too. We were so honored when the great pianist himself came to the lounge after his concert with some of the respectable people from the Filipino Community in Kuala Lumpur.

After work, we then proceeded to Concorde for supper. I had my usual mee mamak which is my favorite food, but I must admit that sooner or later, I will be fed up of it. In fact, I have gained so much weight that I'm deciding to go on a diet. I've restarted my Pilates and yoga a few days ago so I'm hoping I can lose some weight. We went back to the hotel at almost 5AM already.

Uploading December pics

I haven't completed my December Pix 2005 gallery yet. Christmas and New Year pix are yet to be uploaded. I'm in the process of collecting pictures from friends as well so I can include them on my PBase. For the meantime, please enjoy some of the pics on my PBase gallery.

http://www.pbase.com/saritajc/back2kl

Feelin' better

Thank God, after a dozen of tablets and capsules that I have taken for more than a week, I'm feeling better now. But I really trusted Clarinaise (or spelled something like that) when it comes to colds. It's just that I forgot about it because my brain wasn't working very well at that time after a very tiring year-end happenings.

Also, I am feeling better now with Selena back to Manila. Not happy, just better. I re-read my blog entries during her last day here and I remember how I felt when I was writing those entries. Oh well, Selena is back in school now and she's really excited to see her friends.

Gotta go to bed now. I have an appointment with a doctor at 10:30AM for my thyroid and my hernia. Gotta go zZZzzzZZZ for a couple of hours...

Am I making money on this?

I was once asked if I'm getting paid for my website or for blogging. How I wish!!! By coincidence, an ad from Google appeared on my browser about how to make money by blogging. Was it a sign? So I just clicked on it and I was taken to a money-making blog site. I checked on it and I might give it a shot. Who doesn't like money anyway?

So in response to the question whether my site is making money, I should rather answer "not yet", instead of "no". In fact, everything is paid on my website: the webspace, the photo websites of Pbase and Picturetrail and my domain. Everyone who makes website know about these things, so this is just for the benefit of the others who don't really understand a thing about making websites.

Replying Chatul

Comment from Chatul:
"Hi. You live in China, right? If yes, please answer on my question. I heard that "admin of China" commissioned to Microsoft, in order to Microsoft block in Internet search, words "democracy" etc. It's true? And sorry if in this comment are mistakes, I'm from Poland so my english isn't very well.. "

Hi Chatul! Thanks for dropping by my blog. I hope you can get this post as well. No, I don't live in China at the moment, but yes, I stayed there for quite some time. I am actually peeved of the "censoring" or "blocking" of some websites in China. In fact, webpages or sites from "free websites" like Geocities, Fortunecity, Xoom, Angelfire, Tripod, etc, are still not accessible in China. Even my own website domain www.saritac.com!!! I remember there was a time when Washington Post, New York Times and even Google websites were blocked. Even CNN was blocked at one time, I guess.

I guess the Chinese government has a total control over the internet usage in China. Even the internet cafe owners must install a software upon approval from the government with their license to operate their internet cafe's. Even VoiceIP will be blocked by China this year, I heard.

That's all I know for now and I know that cleared your mind a bit, Chatul. Thanks for posting.

Selamat Hari Raya again

We just got back from Papa Jamal's house where we spent the night. Today is Muslim's Hari Raya Haji, the day when they make sacrifices and prayers. This is also the day when thousands of Muslims around the world would go to Mecca and pray.

Talking about sacrifices, I want to tell you one story that happened last night. We were on the way to a Chinese restaurant with JP, but we were wondering why there were lots of firemen there and the gates were closed. Apparently, there was a COW, yes a cow running wildly in the carpark infront of the restaurant. These firemen were trying to catch the cow, until they pinned it down and tied its feet.

At first, the sight was exciting for me because I haven't seen a situation like that. But when I knew the story behind it, I felt so sorry for the cow. It turned out that it was a sacrificial cow for the Hari Raya Haji. It escaped from a mosque along the highway and ended up being captured again.

I was told that sacrificial cows actually know that they will be slaughtered on this very day. Before they are slaughtered, the one who donated them to the mosque MUST have a talk to the cow to explain that he will be slaughtered and sacrificed, and that he will be fed to the perished and the poor. And believe it or not, the cow would really cry, with streaming tears, as if it understood that it doesn't have any choice but be slaughtered.

That must be the reason why the cow tried to escape from the mosque. It ended up being captured and tied and jacked into the truck. I was able to take a bit of video but there was only a little source of light so it wasn't really clear. We then proceeded to eat in Purple Cane, a Chinese restaurant which uses tea to cook dishes, even rice.

It wasn't really a pretty sight seeing the cow being captured like that. But then again, that is their role in this world. So the next time I eat beef, I will always remember how it cried before it was slaughtered - if cows not only cry during the eve of Hari Raya Haji.

Emotional morning

We were just in time for check-in when we reached KLIA at 5:30AM. We just had a little food in McDonalds and I was quite thankful that my Aunty Susan was with us. She's very funny like my mom that I even forgot that we were already at the airport. We had some breakfast in McDonalds before I said goodbye to her and Selena. I was taking it easy and putting it all out of my mind.

As they were walking to the immigration gates, I felt pinching in my heart. It got worse when Selena turned and waved goodbye to us. So I just took the camera and just took her pictures while they were in the queue. When they finally got in and waved goodbye before they were gone, I suddenly felt like crying. But I composed myself and just walked fast to the waiting car. JP sent his driver to drive us to and from the airport.

I slept in the car when we were on the way back to the hotel. But when I went into the hotel, I felt like bursting into tears. I got so used to walking into the hotel with her, letting her press the buttons on the lift. Especially when we got to our floor, I remembered how she would jump on only brown boxes on the carpet till we reach our room. The worst was when I opened the room and found some of her things scattered around. I had to lock myself in the toilet. I'm not used to being seen crying, even by Marl. But back to reality, I had to convince myself that this is life and we'll just have to deal with it.

Life sucks sometimes, doesn't it?

Selena goes back home

In a few minutes, we will be fetched by the driver who will take us to the airport. Selena will be going back to Manila with my Aunty Susan today at 7AM. I've been trying very hard to not think of it the past few days, yet, the day has really come.

I will surely miss Selena. Her shrieking voice at 3AM, her constantly pulling my arm to accompany her to the toilet, her kisses and hugs, her "I love you's" and "Muah-muah's"... everything.

She has left her Barney hotdog pillow with me. She sealed it with a kiss and told me, "Mommy, I will leave this with you so you will always remember me. Always hug this, ok?". She also has a heart pillow in Manila which she embraces to sleep. Marlou gave that to me on Valentine's 2005.

She will be going back to school anyway, so she will be very busy there. If she won't be able to make it for the 3rd Grading/Quarter, maybe I can ask her to come back here again. Hmmm, not a bad idea, huh!

Anyway, gotta spend more quality time with her now...

Just unwell

I still have the freaking nasty flu. I still sounded bad onstage - not that I sound good most days, it's just that having a flu really ruins my night - and still couldn't reach high pitched songs. But I was kinda confident to sing operatic songs and I was kinda surprise when I sang one. But the rest of the songs, especially slow ones, I really messed them up a bit - if not much.

Hopefully I'll get better soon...

Lonely - coming soon

As I watch Selena sleeping at this moment, loneliness starts to creep in. In exactly 24 hours, she will be on her way to the airport to go back to the Philippines. I know it might be a shock to some of you. But it was a last minute decision to let her go back to the Philippines. I would really love her to stay here with us till we finish our contract but circumstances didn't allow us to do that. Maybe there's a reason behind it. I believe so.

Unwell

It's been a very exhausting day for me. I had to wake up very early today for the birthday lunch the wife of the Sultan of Kelantan. URB Band had to sing for more than an hour for one big table of 9 persons. While they were enjoying their lunch, we were suffering from difficulty in singing. Plus, today was the worst of the 3 days I've been sick of flu. I didn't know where to get the voice, didn't know how we actually went through it without a sign of frown from the royalties. We sang for an hour and a quarter.

I took Selena for a walk to KLCC. She needs a breath of fresh polluted city air, anyway, after being locked up in the room by the homebody mom. We just went to the Kinukuniya bookstore on the top floor, and she enjoyed reading for a while, before we ate at Burger King.

Tonight was a total disaster for me. My speaking voice sounded ill and I really sounded bad during the set. But at least, I got through it and I must say that I did a pretty good job with the performance. That's the least I can do for myself I guess.

After work, we went to Concorde with JP for supper. I had breaded chicken chop which I shared with Selena. I got corrected by my new Turkish friend, Cem, that I misspelled his name the other night on my blog. I wrote Jam, as I phonetically heard it when I was introduced to him. His name is actually Cem. Sorry pal! LOL

We saw Jason and Amor in the coffeehouse, too. Funny thing happened when Jason lifted Selena up to give her a big hug, Selena shouted "King Kong!". Everybody just burst out laughing.

Although my day started not quite right, I must admit to say that spending the last hours with your friends and sharing stories and laughter with them was the next best thing that happened today. The best thing was of course spent with Selena, who will be leaving on Monday for Manila.

Busy weekend ahead so gotta go zzZZzZZZZzzZzzz... Tah-tah!

Busy start

I thought that after the New Year's Eve, we're gonna be relaxing and enjoying life. But we're even busier because of the hotel functions we had to attend to.

This afternoon, the excoms of Shangri-La KL performed the Christmas Carols we've been rehearsing for the past 2 days. I had so much relief when it was done because they really did great. I was the conductor and Marlou was the one playing the music. It was also my first time to eat in the staff canteen which they call Cafe KL.

Tomorrow, we have to perform for the Sultan of Perak at noontime. So I need to go to sleep now. I still have a bad flu and my guess is it'll be cough soon, hopefully not. Anyway, gotta go now...

PS: Happy Birthday Alex of Venture Band!

Not well

I’m down with a flu. It just suddenly attacked me after work last Tuesday night. Must be all that stress that’s making my resistance low. I got help from my friends Chona and Sarah who gave me some flu tablets when I went to Concorde just now. We haven’t seen each other for almost a week now.

There’s also a man named Jam from Turkey who went and said hello to me. At first I was taken aback when he approached me as I wasn’t feeling well and I really couldn’t talk much. He said that he has been reading my blog daily. I never met him before but he just surfed on my blog while searching for the names of my friends from the Peach Apple Tree. See how Google works huh! Thanks, Jam! Please keep on supporting my site with your hits LOLZ

Anyway, gotta go to bed early now. Still have a function to attend to tomorrow. The hotel ex-com’s are performing tomorrow. It’ll be their post Christmas and New Year gathering. We’ve been rehearsing with Christmas carols since Tuesday and I think they’ll do just great tomorrow.

By the way, it’s a lunch break performance so I really gotta go now. Besides, the medicine that I took makes me feel drowsy now so I really hafta go! I wanna go zzZZZzzzZZzzz…

First off for 2006

I guess it's just fair to be given an off after very stressful weeks - especially for Marlou. Marlou hasn't enjoyed any off on a Monday since we started playing here in October 2005. Lately, he has felt that he needed a deserving break. It wasn't really easy to face music every night, even to those music lovers out there anyway.

Our day - off day actually - started at 4PM. Selena and I went to Lot 10 to bring back the Zang Toi gowns me and Brice wore on the New Year's Eve, while Marlou went ahead to KLCC to have his wifi break at the Starbucks Coffee on the 3rd level. Then we proceeded to KLCC, hoping to catch a movie with Selena. In fact, it would have been our first movie in a cinema together as a family. But being the 2nd of the year 2006 a public holiday in Malaysia, we didn't anticipate the big crowd queueing for their ticket. We wanted to watch "King Kong" or "Cheaper By The Dozen 2", but the queue was so long and it would have been impossible to catch the movie on time. So I just took Selena to Petrosains, but it wasn't our lucky day because we arrived there during their closing time.

Nowhere to go to in KLCC, no playgrounds for children and couldn't bring her outside coz it was drizzling. So I brought her to Kinokuniya bookstore to find any interesting book for her. I was feeling so bad for her because she was really looking forward for this particular offday so we could catch a movie for the first time. But she got all excited when she saw kids sitting on the floor of the children's section, reading their favorite books. It's nice that they actually allow people to read books there, they even have people who puts the books that the children leave on the floor back to their shelves. So Selena spent quite a while sitting there and reading children's books. At around 6PM, we went to meet up with Marlou but he was still into his wifi surfing. So we left him again to go to Toy City and bought Selena some play doughs.

We got a call from our friend from the Immigration Department to get Selena's passport back. She only managed to extend her stay until the 10th of this month. The problem lies now whether to let Selena stay here or not. We still don't have our passports from the hotel and there might just be a little time to get Selena's visa extension done. But we will try. It breaks my heart to let her go while she's enjoying every bit of her stay here with us.

After going back to the hotel to shower and change, we met up with JP for an Italian dinner at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel, at the Villa Danieli. Afterwards, we went to the lounge to listen to the new American singer they've got. She's really good but the sound system was not, but we did enjoy another bottle of wine. JP sent us back to the hotel. He also gave Selena some DVD's to watch so when we arrived the room, Selena insisted that we should watch "The Sound of Music", one of my favorites.

It's a rather good off for us, I've enjoyed it. I actually have enjoyed every bit of it coz Selena made it different. She asked silly questions that I don't even know how to answer cleverly. Or maybe, I just might have left my brains in the hotel for a good off, too. Yeah, I'll have to agree with that.

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year!!! It’s the first day of the year, and it's raining heavily outside! But I just would like to wish each and everyone a very prosperous year ahead for the year 2006. May this year be filled with lots of love, success, good health and happiness for all of us.

The New Year’s Eve Party

The New Year’s Eve Party

As I mentioned on my earlier blog, we had a hell of a day yesterday afternoon with all the rushing around, last minute fitting for the gowns, etc. But I had to admit that all of it was paid off the minute I set my foot up on the stage. This New Year’s Eve party is indeed the most attended party as we have lots of guests this year. It’s easier for me to break it down like this:

5:00 PM Relaxed a bit while having my foot spa in the room with my small machine
6:00 PM Started preparing, did my own makeup while waiting for the food I ordered from the room service
7:00 PM Did my hair done at the hotel’s salon
7:20 PM Went up the room and ate a little of my steak
8:00 PM I dressed up and turned a normal girl into a fabulous mermaid for the night LOL
8:30 PM Went down to the lobby
8:45 PM Opening gambit for the show and we did our first set
9:20 PM I facilitated the 1st lucky draw with 10 prizes
9:45 PM 2nd set for the URB Band. Mind you… dancing with our gowns! LOL
10:20 PM 2nd lucky draw of 10 more prizes
10:35 PM Went up to the room to do a quick change to a shorter dress, my only time to drink water!!!
10:45 PM 3rd set for the URB Band with lots of danceable hits. Makeup was being melted by the heat of the spotlight and by my constant gyrating LOL
11:20 PM Last lucky draw with 5 major prizes. The 1st prize being a 3 night complimentary stay in Shangri-La Fijian Resort, Yanuca, Fiji Islands
11:45 PM Last set for the URB Band, played party songs
11:59 PM Paused and invited everyone to come to the dancefloors of the main lobby and the lobby lounge as we do the countdown
12:00 AM Welcomed the year with a bang… of the thousand balloons! URB Band sang the Auld Lang Syne as I used my heels to burst the balloons on my feet.
12:03 AM Party and dancing continued as we played more dance hits. I was shaking my ass off but I was really enjoying myself. I didn’t care about my skirt flipping and my bum being seen LOL
12:45 AM URB finished for the night. DJ took over as I bid everyone goodbye, party continued till 3AM

I forgot the mention that all of these things I mentioned actually happened in the main lobby where the buffet dinner was. They have also setup a dancefloor at the lobby lounge and it was also full of guests. Like last year, there’s a big screen on our usual stage in the lobby lounge. During the lucky draw, I was almost losing my voice because I was actually shouting out the numbers, hahaha! But it was fun and exciting. I really enjoyed being the host this year. There were no pressures or great expectations. I just let myself go and I was just being myself. I also enjoyed dancing during our last set. Had they not put carpet on the dancefloor, it will be easier for me to move. I put on my dancing shoes and I had suede soles so it sometimes gets stuck with the carpet.

After our work was done, we went to the lobby lounge and greeted everyone there. I danced with our friend’s daughters and the staff who were enjoying themselves on the dancefloor. I also danced with Selena, she was so hyper and she was so happy. I took off my shoes to let my feet rest for a while. I had a few drinks but I wasn’t drunk. I was totally enjoying myself.

At around 2:15AM, we went behind Concorde to have something to eat with our close friends in KL. When we went back to the hotel at 3:30AM, the party has already finished and they were already cleaning the whole lobby. At 4AM, after putting Selena to sleep, I was damn tired and exhausted that I even slept sitting on the floor while trying to clean the mess I made while preparing for the night’s party.

It was indeed a great party and I am definitely proud to be a part of it! Happy New Year to all!