i leave for hanoi on june 12. another one of those air asia free one million flights that allow me to enjoy the gift of travel. i set off alone this time. and i do it with a smile. :-)
much to say. more to do. therefore, i will make each part brief.
examination.
may 24. my sixth level exam on rfp (registered financial planner). there are seven levels. the seventh being the toughest.
the sixth level has a reputation of being easy. i wish it is so.
i sit for the 2-5pm paper. i finish in an hour, not for the reason that it is a breeze but because there isn't much i can do. i give it my best. tough paper. but i am positive.
i will pass.
my fair lady - the musical
may 19. raymond invites me to watch my fair lady in the plenary hall in the klcc convention centre.. a first for me. life truly begins at 40.
he buys the cheapest tickets (rm 100 each) and does not forget to bring his binoculars. i get a chance with it when he feels he wants to rest his eyes. we sit far far away ...hmm. right at the back. but we are not alone. :-)
getting acquainted once again with eliza doolittle and prof higgins does wonders to my soul.
anyone who plays eliza is bound to be compared with audrey hepburn and julie andrews, and in all reality they are the best.
i forget her name, (will check later with raymond), but she does an excellent job of originality. prof higgins is as good if not better. the rest of the cast makes the play an absolute thrill. i enjoy every second of my rm 100 seat. ;))
i sing along with the timeless songs of the rain in spain, i could have danced all night, wouldn't it be loveRly, with a little bit of luck, get me to the church on time and on the street where you live. so does raymond. we shout at the top of our voices and get glares from everyone.
the musical is long. almost 3 hours. i don't have time to stay back and talk to raymond about the play. i rush to catch the last lrt at 2345 hrs. the plenary hall is 25 minutes away from the lrt station. i walk super fast. walk. skip. run. walk again. run again. phew!! i barely make it.
migration.
two of our colleagues. gurbinder and his wife, ravin leave for adelaide. they have two lovely sons. gurbinder and i go a long way back. we are friends. ravin comes later into my life but we grow in laughter, sharing and in friendship.
may 10. a few of us get together. old and new colleagues of the insurance industry. we give them a farewell lunch party at bangles, a north indian restaurant just opposite great eastern life.
this again is a first. and definitely the last.
bangles is slow in service and uninteresting in cuisine. a regret for everyone, but an experience.
we all give speeches, individually. they are touched by it all. we bid farewell and part. this reminds me, i have to write to them tonight.
we promise to keep in touch.
mother's day
may 13. we celebrate ma's day in genting. i get a free superior room at the first world hotel. i take ma, didon, yana and putul. we have breakfast at home and drive up to genting in time to check in. we pack lunch and have it there.
in the evening we take ma around in the wheelchair and then send her back to the room along with yana and putul.
in the evening, i take didon for the fly defy-gravity show (which again i get free for two) at the pavilion. a great krypton stage with all the crystals pointing upwards, a master illusionist with sexy dancers and chinese aerial acrobats fill our two happy hours to the brim.
one thousand years into the future, 2 tribes - the waterlings and the skyfires, fight to survive.
the evil skyfires who are bigger and stronger also have the advantage of flight. with every full moon, hundreds of skyfires (the hua chen 14-member acrobatic troupe from henan province, china)take flight to attack the virtually defenceless waterlings. cowering in fear, the waterlings hide to survive.
desperate, they call upon yv to save them. yves barta fantasmagorie (yv)from france is the wizard savior of the waterlings. he tells them there is only way they can defeat the skyfires. they have to learn how to fly.
so can you imagine, we look up sometimes, at the stage some other times and on the sides so as to catch all the flying characters!! what fun. we keep pointing out to each other, look there, look here, look look look!! jeez!!
a great ma's day. being together means a lot. putul makes us beautiful cards with her crazy creative art work. one for me too. she finds a way to make me her mother. she insists that her head is from my stomach while her legs emerge from didon's. didon jokes saying no wonder she gets all the kicks.
it is cold. we buy dinner and walk back to the room. pizza and mcds. the day ends well. the next day, we wake up late, check out and drive back to the heat of kuala lumpur.
shrek 3
may 22. just two days before my sixth level rfp exam. i have two free tickets. didon is busy. she asks me to take putul. i do not want to take her. she is a professional at `not sitting still'. in the movie hall, she wants to go to the toilet every half an hour. she turns around and stares at everyone or walks the steps next to the seats. she is constantly restless. so i say no way. i love the first and second ogre films and i was not going to miss paying attention to this one.
so instead, charan, didon's colleague takes her place.
king harold dies. there are two heirs to the far far away throne. shrek himself and arthur pendragon, a nephew. however, prince charming wishes to get to the throne first. the story revolves around that.
oh yes. shrek and fiona have cute ogre kids. hehehehe.
merlin is there too. and arthur with lancelot.
there is a new addition. puss in boots (antonio banderas).
the donkey and dragon have kids? hmm.
all the fairy tales are here...as we know it and after we know it, the good, the bad the ugly, taking each others' places.
do i feel they are running out of stories? or is this sequel an absolute necessity? are they perhaps putting in a lot of stuff to distract the audience from the main story? or can it be that they have no more fresh ideas? well, i do not know.
it is just that the first two shreks still make me smile. however, it is easy to feel disappointed with this one. but then, i'll say this..that anything and i mean anything, with the ogre is always good fun for me. :-)
pirate of the carribeans - at world's end
may 26. two days after my rfp 6th level exam. thank goodness it's over. ;-) see, chee kiang, charan and i head for the cineleisure, 35km away from home to watch it. we are late. a friend of see's is in the hospital so he has to stop by for a while. i ask shamshul to meet us at the movie hall directly.
free tickets again. :-)
am i disappointed after the curse of the black pearl and dead man's chest? hell, nooooooo!!!
i love every moment of this mad fun. hehehehe. actually, how do they do the davy jones' beard thingy...full of worms? goodness! reminds me of the time i had to wash off the maggots from the dustbin. took me three hours to get rid of them completely.
however, i think, i seriously think some editing will do the film good. it is too long and some parts are unnecessary. well, that's what i think. :-O
we come back home late. everyone is tired. i still think of those worms. hope i don't dream of them. @#*!!
borders book club the curve damansara
june 1
we meet and talk of the life of pi.
brian is missing. it is only jade, sarah, dr roy, kim and me. kim walks in later though. lydia, hope the car gets okay and you are able to make it the next time.
we have much to contribute. the topics divert to other things. to youth, to education, to religion in malaysia, to bride burning etc.
we see this book theologically. but as the book promises the belief in god, we ask ourselves if our thoughts have changed.
we talk of animals, humans and the relationship with each other.
we talk of the zoo. and how we visit those animals behind the cages, and the irony of it all is that they see us behind cages too.
it is a book of fresh ideas, imagination and as jade says best discovered, not recommended.
kim walks in and comments on my blog. she says it has helped her to continue reading with a renewed interest. she likes the part where i say the book is a delicious treat to savour.
it is pleasure to know my blog can create a spark of passion in someone, anyone, to read. i am happy even if it is only a spark. thank you kim.
and at this point, i must bring in mj (maryjo), a very dear friend of mine in the US. she reads my blog and tells me that she will name her next pet orange juice. frankly, i do not know how to express this joy i feel. she gives meaning to the things i share with her. thank you mj for being as beautiful as you are.
sarah goes on about page 5 and how piscine gets his name. it has touched her soul and she plans to share this book with her students.
dr roy has much to say. pi advises parker cautioning him of his safety, he tells him, `beware of man',
food for thought.
we talk of the circles in our lives and what they contain. how many circles do we have? do we just live within these circles or do we attempt to go beyond them?
we talk of religion and how martel mocks it in a certain way, when the three religious leaders come together and are adamant that their religion is the best, and above that, condemning the rest.
dr roy says martel is smart to characterise pi's parents that way, making his father a non-believer and his mother the way she is. otherwise, just the mention of embracing islam will be explosive in any hindu household.
is this philosophical? is it a religious experience? or maybe a spiritual one?
it is great travelling with pi, being him at one time, being parker the next, or just experiencing and tasting the surroundings. i still love the algae island. :-)
will make the travel to hanoi a success before i come back and gorge on the time traveler's (it is spelt with a single t right?) wife. see you next month.
the namesake - the movie by mira nair
almost always i am disappointed when i watch a cinematic interpretation of any books i read. so since a year back i decide to watch the movies for what they present.
but do i still compare with the book? yes in a way, i do. but i also know that it takes a genius to present a movie the way i imagine it in the book.
in the namesake, i feel the characters and the main story is only partially developed.
after the book, the review of which i paste on my blog, i wait desperately to watch the movie.
as i enter the hall, i expect nothing.
and perhaps because of that, i think tabu does a great job. it is not over the top. seems simple and perhaps real. irfan khan is not that bad himself. i like the pace. but some parts seem disconnected. again, perhaps it is because i know the book and see things missing here and there.
zuleikha is prettier on the net pictures. she is ok. maybe, just maybe a few elements are missing in her part but i think she does a good job otherwise.
kal penn and sahira nair are fine too but no particular actor is outstanding. the movie seems mediocre.
didon likes it and perhaps for some it lives up to their expectation. to some others, it is just a pure bad film.
to me, it isn't such a terrible film but i think mira nair can definitely give more meaning to the `namesake'.
do i recommend it to others? maybe i will just say, to avoid disappointment, either read the book or watch the movie. don't do both. :-)
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1 comment:
I don't think Puss-in-Boots is a new addition. The character was present in Shrek 2....
Pirates 3 was utterly disappointing. A pathetic "kichdi" of a film, that only becomes "biryani" when Capt. Jack is on screen. I yawned through most of it.... sad, but true....
R
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