Woo... I haven't been blogging for quite awhile. Poor blog. I'm not going to blame work this time. I was just plain lazy. Kekeke.

Anyway, since my last very happy post, there were two rather sad events that have taken place.

Firstly, one of my housemates from uni passed away in Oct.
Secondly, one of Ian's closest friends (also his housemate) also passed away in Oct.
I spent my Hari Raya holidays attending funerals and prayers.
It is so sad simply because they were both so young. 25 and 28 respectively. One can only wonder why they had to go so soon, but I suppose death is one of those mysteries in life that we will never understand. One thing for sure, this series of unfortunate events clearly made me think about my life, and how much I take it for granted. It sounds cliché , but I really want to life my live to the fullest now. Cherish every moment. Even the lousy and stressful moment becauce you never know when it will be your last day here on earth.

On a brighter note, I've started planning my wedding. Hehe. Well, not much progress so far. But I've been looking at wedding photographers. I absolutely LOVE Jessica Claire's work. She's a US-based photographer. Obviously WAAAAYYY out of my budget. The 2 other photographers I might consider are Jenny Sun and Anna Rina. I love the natural-look of their pictures. I can't stand studios who over-edit the pictures until the couples look as if they're in some fairytale or dreamland. Like, hello, I want to look like ME. Not some pore-less, flawless china doll. Of course I welcome any friends who would like to volunteer their photography services. We can discuss the fee in private la ok?And if any of you got some great photographers to recommend, do let me know!

I've also been looking at dresses. So far Pretty In White seems to have a nice (although slighty pricey) selection. Again, all you newly-weds are more than welcomed to offer some advice. :D

What else. Hmm... Christmas is coming, and I've applied for leave from 14th Dec until Jan2010. Woohoo! That's 3 weeks of FUN and REST. And, I did the unthinkable - I JOINED A GYM! Hahahaha. Celebrity Fitness to be exact. So happened that they opened a branch near my house. It's good la, can work off those Christmas yummies. :D I plan to go for Yoga and Dance classes. Not really a fan of the machines. They're rather itimidating, and some are not friendly to short people.

I'm going for an Olympus user gathering tomorrow at the Royal Selangor Visitors Center (which is just 5mins from my house!). I'll get to test the brand new Olympus PEN EP-2! I'm sooo excited! :D

Maybe if I don't feel lazy, I'll post an update on that next wekk. Hopefully, with photos.

I'm a shy person. I don't really like to be in the center of attention. So even though many of my colleagues have had roses sent to the office from various romantic guys, I've explicitly told my prince "YOU ARE NOT TO SEND ANY FLOWERS TO THE OFFICE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES - BIRTHDAYS OR ANNIVERSARIES INCLUDED"

So imagine my horror when a HUGE bouquet of red roses arrived at the office on Friday.



I was actually having a quick lunch because I was about to leave for a presentation at a client's place. As I walked back to my place, Sharon, our receptionist was grinning at me saying, "Hey, there you are. There's a delivery for you." And Jackie, our traffic manager was grinning as well. And I was like' "Huh? What's happening." Typical blur me. Jackie then escorted me to my place right at the back of the office. She said, "There's a big big big surprise for you... hehehhe..." Then I saw it. 24 red roses sitting on my desk. Nora said,"They'd better be from your boyfriend!" LOL. That was funny. Imagine if they weren't! Hahahaha.

So anyway, I opened the card, and it said,"From my heart to yours. Lovey wovey you. See you at 8. XOXO, Ian" Instead of swooning like half the girls in office, I called Ian immediately and said "Idiot! I told you not to send flowers to the office! What are you doing? What did you plan? What's the surprise? Tell me now!!!!"

He just laughed at me. As usual.

Since I had to rush off for my presentation, I left it at that, and headed off to sell some scripts. Along the way I kept demanding to know what's the surprise and he wouldn't tell me. Argh.

I got back to the office at about 4 and went straight into a con-call. By then, half the office knew I got flowers. (Thanks to all who tweeted about it) I tried to finish up as much work as I could before 8pm. But it was quite difficult as I was bombarded with a slew of questions from my lovely colleagues. The conversations I had were mainly like this:

Colleague: Wah! Roses. Are they from your boyfriend?
Me: Yes.
Colleague: Oh? Is it your birthday? Anniversary?
Me: No. He just sent me flowers to annoy me.
Colleague: *gasp* He's going to propose!
Me: No. He is doing this to annoy me.
Colleague: How long have you guys been together?
Me: 5 years
Colleague: And how old is he?
Me: 28
Colleague: *gasp* He is going to propose!!!!

-______________________- "

Soon it was 8pm, and I promised my dear friends and colleagues that I will tweet as soon as I find out the prawn behind the rock (udang di sebalik batu)

My prince arrive on time. I asked him what are we having for dinner. He said Victoria Station. And I said I felt like having Japanese. And he said he already made reservations. So I said nevermind. Steak it shall be.

But like all things with Ian, you can never quite be sure if he is conning you or being serious. True enough, we did not end up at Victoria Station. ARGH again. Instead, we ended up at Nikko Hotel. And HE DID MAKE RESERVATIONS.... AT A JAP RESTAURANT!

-______________________- " again!!!!

(Do not read on if you are fasting now. Food pics galore.)

Apparently his cousin recommended this place - Benkay Restaurant. A top restaurant in Tatler for 2009.

So posh hor?





My fave salmon sashimi:



The real Jap tofu. (All those round tofus sold in supermarkets are just Jap tofu wannabes!!)



The crispy soft shell crab roll.



Avocado and Eel roll:



The SUPERB Australian Wagyu Beef:



Green tea ice cream and red bean for dessert:



After the lovely dinner. I saw him taking out a red box and I freaked out "HEY! What are you doing?!!!" 

And he grinned.

And I went, "No. You are not proposing to me in this restaurant! Shy leh!"

And he grinned.

And I went "Nooo.... don't laaaaaa"

And so he didn't.

He paid and I was silently congratulating myself for having escaped a public proposal when I realised we were standing in the lobby, in front of a GIANT wedding cake (talk about signs), and a live band. And he said," How about here?"

And I went "NOOO! This is worse! I'd rather we go  back to the restaurant.

And he grinned.

And I went "Don't you dare... Don't Don't Don't!"

In the end we found a quiet spot near their indoor garden, and he proposed there. And I said YES!

(Looking back, I feel so bad for not letting him propose wherever he wanted to. But I'm positive I would have died... which would then defeat the purpose of the proposal)

So that was the prawn behind the rock of roses.



A diamond ring. A new chapter in our lives.

Dear, I believe in angels, simply because you are one to me.

And God, thank you for this wonderful moment in my life.

I love animated movies. And UP, the latest masterpiece by Pixar did not disappoint. The storytelling was lovely. The effects, perfect. It was funny when it was meant to be funny, and sappy when it was meant to be sappy. However, much to my horror, one of 8TV's Quickie hosts called it a computer-generated movie. Like er, CG stands for Computer Graphics, not Computer Generated! Things don't just animate at a click of a button!

Anyway, that got me wondering… how is the animation industry doing in Malaysia. Just the other day, my lil’ sis lamented, “Why all the cartoons in Malaysia not nice one? The animation like not very detailed and the colours are very ugly. So far I think Upin & Ipin is the best lor, but still not as nice as Ice Age all that leh.” (My 11-year old lil’ sis is quite the critic eh?)  

Sadly, I have to agree with her. I’m sure we have very talented animators here. But it seems as if they reserve their best effort for overseas work. Is it because local clients don’t see the value in good-quality animation? Or maybe it is just a budget problem.

Having said that, I was pleasantly surprised when a friend of mine sent me these two links. Bird  and Elephant. They’re two locally produced animation for Ruumz - A Malaysian social network portal. Although I don’t see the need for a localised social network portal, I have to say that the animation produced for it is pretty nice.

Hm. Maybe there is hope for the animation industry in Malaysia after all.  

Wow! 2 entries in a day! Quick, go buy number!

Hehe, I was just reading my old entries, and came across the one where I wrote my wishlist for the year 2009. Since it's like August, might as well see how am I doing.

- Write an award-winning radio ad.
FAIL

- Win an international award.
FAIL

- Rekindle my love affair with photography.
NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

- Manage tai chi masters better.
GOT IMPROVEMENT

- Perfect my salsa spinning techniques.
FAIL. I STOPPED MY SALSA LESSONS.

- Try to save more money.
FAIL. I BOUGHT AN APARTMENT AND WENT TO BANGKOK

- Try to earn more money.
FAIL

- Spend more time with my family, friends and prince.
FAIL

- Play more Wii.
FAIL

- Find time to volunteer.
MASSIVE FAIL

- Find time to go on a retreat.
MASSIVE FAIL

- Find time to talk to God.
FAIL

In short, I'm a huge fail whale.



But strangely enough, I don't mind being a failure. I've never had the privilege to fail any subject in school. I was an all-rounder, an overachiever, a multitasker, a tuition-hater, but never a failure.

I think I need to fail at least once in my life. And I'm glad that today, I have officially failed. 

I can't remember if I blogged about buying an apartment. If I didn't, well, I bought an apartment. The loan is in my name but of course my parents paid the downpayment. I contributed to the lawyers fees and other minor expenses. We've been wanting to buy our own place for quite some time now, so this is really a happy moment for us. So, we moved house last week, and this is the 1st week we're staying in the new place. Unfortunately I've been working late this past few days, so I haven't really had the chance to enjoy my new place as much as I want to. There's still quite a lot of stuff at the old place. Plan to move them over this weekend.

I don't really know how to end this post.

So I'll end abruptly.

 It's JUNE! Whee... What better way to welcome the month of June than with a birthday celebration? :D 

I received countless of wishes on SMS, Facebook, MSN, Twitter and the like. So thanks to all who wished me. *hugs*

My birthday celebration this year was simple and sweet. On Sunday (May 30th), my prince and I headed to Westin Hotel for their Dim Sum Buffet brunch. We looked at the menu for 10 minutes and gave up because we've never had to order dim sum from a menu before. Usually we'll just take whatever we want to eat from the tray that goes from table to table without knowing the name of the dishes. Seeing that we were rather jakun, the waiter offered to bring a bit of everything for us to try. The food looked good and tasted great. We couldn't stop taking pictures and the head chef soon noticed our antics. Surprisingly, he came over to chat about cameras, and how he loves taking photos of food, which in turn made his boss really happy because he can cook the food AND shoot the photos for the menu. Cost-cutting indeed. 

After stuffing ourselves, we headed across the road to Pavilion to jalan-jalan a bit before going to Bangsar Shopping Center to meet Mary and the gang. We arrived at Coffee Bean around 2pm at chilled til about 6pm. It was great fun meeting up,talking crap and making a mess of the table. Haha. Made me miss uni terribly! Our yum cha session ended with a plan for a road trip in July. All in all, a very fruitful meet-up. :)

We got home and soon it was time for dinner with my family. (Yes, as you can see, the whole day was just about sitting and eating) We wanted try out the relatively new seafood restaurant nearby but it was packed like nobody's business. (Well, technically it's their business) There was also a wedding dinner going on upstairs. We stood around for about 5 minutes and no one entertained us so we left. It started to rain so we decided to go to our usual 'peng-leng-jeng' (Cheap, nice, tasty) restaurant - Tian Tian Lai (Every Day Come). Although it wasn't a glam place, I was really happy, simply because I was having dinner with my family - something that doesn't happen often. 

The next day (1st June) was my birthday! Yay! But it was also a Monday. Boo. Had to leave extra early to make it for our weekly Monday meeting. Stepped into the conference room and was greeted by a chorus of HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Thanks peeps. I know it's not easy being cheery and perky on a Monday morning. Got some birthday gifts and had lunch with the creative peeps at Decanter. It was also a fellow colleagues birthday that day, so it was a fitting double celebration.

Went home relatively early. Stepped into my room and found my earring box on my desk instead of my dresser. Puzzled, I turned to look at the dresser only to find an earring tree in its place. I've always wanted an earring holder and my prince remembered. :) He had hung all my earrings on the tree too! There was also a blueberry cheese cake waiting for me, my fav. 

So was it a happy birthday? 

YES. 
  

 

 

It would probably win Grand Prix.

Why?

Reason #1
Everyone could relate to it. The idea was simple: Sing a great song and sing it well.

Reason #2
There was a twist. No one expected her to sing so incredibly, but she got almost everyone on their feet by the end of the performance.

But most of all...

Reason #3
The response was overwhelming.
- 26 million vuews on YouTube alone.
- Press coverage from Australia to United States.
- News reports and interviews from major TV networks like CNN, CBS and BBC.
- Millions tweet-ed about her on Twitter (including Ashton Kutcher and wife Demi Moore)
- Appeared on the Larry King show. (And apparently, Oprah has invited here to be on her show as well)
- 34,000 blog search results on Google.
- 3 million search results on Google.
- Thousands of fans in Facebook.
- A wiki entry!
- A fan site!

And all that in less than a week. I think she's more popular than Earth Hour by now.

Personally, I'm just so inspired by her performance, and her optimistic view on life. She's so genuine... something that's rare in today's world, especially in the advertising industry.

And she has made me realise, that if she can live her dream, so can I.

Susan Boyle, I wish you all the best. And don't let Simon Cowell boss you around when he signs you up!

Every year, BBDO/Proximity Malaysia sends a few people to Adfest. However, due to the tough economic situation, our company has decided to break that tradition. So, I actually contemplated paying for my own airfare there, and somehow, try to sneak into the festival. :P But due to my own tight budget, I've decided that I wouldn't be able to attend Adfest after all, which is quite sad, coz I've been hoping to go for it since last year.

Then just one week before Adfest, my boss tells me that I'm going to Adfest! This decision was based on our regional creative awards. Teams who win best of category get to go to Adfest, courtesy of BBDO Asia Pacific! I was shocked... and happy... so happy that I couldn't sleep the night before take off.
















Adfest was a real eye-opener. Seeing the quality of work submitted, I now understand why we have to rethink our ideas again and again. The standards are impossibly high, and your work must really stand out from the sea of entries in order to win. It has to be cutting edge.

I learnt a lot about advertising in Adfest. But most of all, I learnt a lot about myself.
















I learnt that I need to be able to talk to strangers better.
I learnt that I need to be more proactive.
I learnt that I need exercise.
I learnt that I'm really lucky to get this opportunity.
I learnt that I'm a long way behind many of the world's greatest creatives.
I learnt that I can do more if I believe in myself.
I also learnt that I would like to go for Adfest 2010...

My trip cost BBDO Asia Pacific about RM4500 (Flight + 3N accomodation + delegate fee).
And all I paid was RM45 for a 90min Thai massage.

I think the true payment lies in the amount of awards I can win for the coming year.

It will be tough, but for the sake of Adfest 2010, I will try my very best.

Yesterday, I found out what you can do in 6 hours:

You can miss a farewell party for 2 colleagues.
You can think of many possible campaign names and not end up with a single definitive name.
You can eat 1 maggi cup, 5 pieces of nuggets, 3 strings of fries and 1 cup of nestum for dinner.
You can listen to people talk about random things til 4am.
You can miss out on a lovely home-cooked meal.
And, you can put up with all this because you know that single idea is bigger than anything you've ever thought of.

Heads up: This post has nothing to do with the subject of this post.

I don't know why...
But I just don't have the urge to blog anymore.
And, I've also lost interest in shopping. Even if I like something, and it's only RM20, I will think really hard before buying it. If I don't absolutely need it, I will not buy it, even though I absolutely like it a lot.

But the good thing is... I've started reading again. And it made me realise how much I miss the feeling of reading.
That feeling of taking a journey without leaving the house.
That feeling of getting to know different characters without having to talk to them.
That feeling of seeing the world in a different light at the end of a story.
That feeling of being in an invisible realm with words that speak to the heart and teachings that stimulate the mind.
That feeling of accomplishment having read a book from cover to cover in one sitting.

It's time to set aside reading sessions for myself.