Review: Richard Branson - Losing My Virginity

I have always been a fan of Richard Branson (read: Hollywood Bug). And recently, my choice of reading materials have changed from general fiction or chic lit to autobiographies or true account or motivational (sudah tua!) So my current read is Richard Branson's 'Losing My Virginity - The Autobiography'

A lot of people in my office that saw the title of the book gave me a funny look, because they didn't know who Richard Branson is..wth right???

But anyway..I can't seem to put the book down and always end up missing my train stop when I'm reading it (the only time I get to read is when I'm commuting to/from work) Its funny, personal and most definitely inspiring. He has been at the bottom of the wheel for many times in his career but has always persevered and took the risk to push harder. Obviously he's succeeded..

The thing about him that I discovered from the book is that he works crazy hard and a fair man in running his business, believing in taking care of his employees first, followed by the customers and then the stakeholder - which makes a lot of sense actually. He gets his inspiration and ideas from the surroundings, always wanting to provide what's missing or lacking in the current scene, wanting to make the world a better place. He sees the niche in the business and takes action upon it. Something I lack..taking action.

But most importantly, I think the secret to his success are the people that surrounds him, mostly his parents. They've been his biggest supporter right from the very beginning. If I were ever able to do the a piece on the success of Richard Branson, I would start by interviewing his parents. They've put up with all his adventures and pulled him out from his mishaps. Supporting him all the way.

I wish to one day be as supportive to my children as the Bransons were to Richard. Hopefully they'll be as successful as he is one day..

Most of the parts in the book that would make me laugh are usually of conversation or statements that Richard's father made..a excerpt from the book

More than anything, I marvelled at the sense of humour of the man who had seen it all! One fantastic example of this was early one morning on his birthday; we'd all just woken up and were quite grumpy after a night in the tent but Dad was beaming. We were all intrigued until he said: 'If I was Catholic I'd be doing penance today. I had the most wonderful dream. It involved a girl.'

'Did you misbehave with her?' I asked.

Quick as a flash Dad replied: 'I don't know what you mean. Well I behaved. She was outrageously naughty!' And this from a man in his eighties!

I haven't fully finished the book, on the last 2 chapter of it. Secretly delaying the book hoping there is more because I enjoyed it too much. Don't know if I would enjoy his other books as much as I've enjoyed this one, but maybe I'll give it a try after I've finished reading my Big Bad Wolf purchases! (made some delightful 'damages'!)

Nazar & d'Extensions

So buih is part of the band Nazar & d'Extensions and the band has been nominated to perform at Urbanscapes happening on 16th July. Coolness..

The not-so-cool part..they need to get people to vote them in.

So here I am, asking for a favor to all of you to please vote for them here! Now! There's no limit to voting and GOOD NEWS, Top 10 voters gets free tickets to see the show!

We've only got 5 days left to put them on the lineup! Go ahead! Vote NOW!

vote for them at http://everyoneconnects.net/urbanscapes/?page_id=1535 

*psst..even if you're not in Malaysia, would be great if you could vote too!every single vote counts!*

And just for a taste of what they can offer, this is their original song, Kali Pertama. Enjoy!

Review: Arrested Development @ HRC, KL

Fine..so maybe I'm a HRC whore/junkie. So whatever band that performs there will get my review. But hey..this was one show I was GLAD I went. I mean, even suami (who was kinda clueless on who Arrested Develeopment was - WHAT?!?! haha!I tried my best singing my rendition of 'Everyday People' to him and he was still clueless *blur*) who has a thing against clubs, congested with people (it was PACKED!!) AND cigarette smoke combined, stayed THROUGH THE ENTIRE GIG! Not even a toilet break! He never left his spot!

And we had a good spot too thanks to our new found friends - Ben and Luke from Melbourne, who said "Hello" to us first because both suami and I was wearing the Wallabies Jerseys (matching..we're corny and sappy like that :P). We got there at 9pm and HRC was already charging the door charge (RM55/person). Our plan was to have dinner too but they refused to give us a table saying that it was already reserved (am not very happy about this arrangement actually..They shouldn't refuse dinner patrons before 10pm! HRC KL, please take note..you guys had empty tables for the whole entire time. We wouldn't have minded if you guys told us in advance that we would have to move by 10pm to make way for the reservations!) The bar was packed from the Happy Hour crowd who decided to stay on for the show. So yeah, we were really grateful for Ben & Luke letting us scoot in their spot. The fact that they had the best spot in the entire place was a big bonus too!:) But we still didn't have any dinner coz it was too uncomfortable so instead, we got to know our new friends better.

The rest of the gang came later, when the show was just about to begin. And I think it's safe to say that it was the best 'Celebration' (as Arrested Development like to call their shows as) EVER! The music was AWESOME! The energy was AWESOME!(Eshe was really working that bod!!) even have to give kudos to the crowd coz mostly were ol'skool party people..(no rempits to be seen!!!thank god for that!)

I was too busy enjoying the show, so I didn't take photos. I think I would be missing out if I was too busy trying to take pictures. So it was 100% dancing and singing and screaming for me! *note achy bod and sore throat today* But I think Peah took some and will steal ask him for some and post em here.

So to those of you who missed it...you missed an A-MAH-ZING party..

To those of you who went "badaba babai badaba babai badaba babai HEY!" is still ringing in my ears!!!

One love.

*note: Arrested Development will be performing at Hard Rock Cafe, Jakarta on the 14th Jan and Hard Rock Cafe, Bali on the 16th Jan*

Sorry Harimau Malaya..

too hot!hahahahahahahahah!

Sekian...

*psst..he's 22 so it's legal to ogle..LOL!*

They're Back!

It's confirmed!they'll be back on air 3rd January on the Mix.fm Breakfast Show!! Heard the ad on Mix the other day! yeayyy!! (secretly wonders what will happen if Serena C were to join them and be a 3team Breakfast Show like before when it was Serena, Pietro and Ika)

On a different note..the offer came. But sadly am declining as it is not up to my expectations plus. It's not that I'm being greedy, but I do have commitments and it just won't cover it. I am however, truly upset about it :(

So I am still in town folks!

My Morning Radio is Killed!

I'm more of a radio person. The only CD I would listen to over and over again would be Project Pop. But even then, the mood has to be right.

So it would be typical of me to listen to the radio while I drive to work in the morning. I used to listen to the Mix.fm Breakfast Show back when it was Serena C and Pietro doing the slot. They had great chemistry and had great topics to talk about every morning. Plus they didn't have those prank call slots (ugghh..i hate those slots). Plus, Mix.fm plays old and new music. Perfect for me. Then I don't know why, their topics started to get a bit annoying and next thing I know, they were off the air. I don't know why coz I stopped listening to them.

Serena C and Pietro (source:chinfern.blogspot.com)

But I was ok. My friends introduced me to Red.fm. Initially it was because they played a LOT of my favorite songs from back in the days. Similar to Mix.fm, but a tad bit more variety. Then I started listening to their breakfast show. At first, I didn't really like Dilly's voice. But she kinda grew on me and I really enjoyed listening to her and JD. I loved the 'Thousand Ringgit Minute" slot which no one seems to win. Couldn't call in coz I'd be driving during the slot but I loved trying the trivia out by myself. And now..even they are taken off the air!

JD & Dilly (source: The Star)

I hate the other morning shows that are available now. I ESPECIALLY hate Hitz.fm morning crew (oh how I wish for the days when Lil'Kev and Flyguy were on air! Those guys were PHENOMENAL!). However, I secretly enjoy Richard Reid's gossip slot and that's about it! I think Ean is plain rude (he seems to cut off his callers mid-conversation) and don't get me started on the prank calls. Same goes to ALL the stations who has those prank calls slots. Hello!! It's lame!

So now I skip stations every few minutes. Sometimes Fly.fm is not so bad, until they get to the Alarm Call slot. I wish they could be a bit more original with their slots (psst..the musical clip Phatfabes and Ben did together with Hunny Madu was great..start there!).

And the new team for Mix.fm hmm..eh! Sorry..but listening Kimberly and Reefa, it could cause a driving hazard for me. You guys don't have the chemistry like Serena and Pietro did.

And PLEASEEEEEEE dont' get me started on Rudy (taking over JD & Dilly's slot)!! The dude mumbles and talks like there's something in his mouth! Its probably all those sock people tell him to shove up his mouth! He's boring and sound soooo self-absorbed! It was better when Jeremy and Pietro took over for a bit. They should've just continued with those guys! Rudy's Recruit??????? It's more like you're the one who needs to be recruited!

But I heard news that JD and Dilly will be 'MIX'ing back starting January 3rd! Yeay!!!!!! I look forward to my morning fix..thank god!

So I guess for now, the cds will just have to do or keep on station hopping..January please come quick!

Welcome to my Paradise! Day 2 til Day 4

So okay..Day 2 in Bali.

After a good night sleep (ooohhh!!!after 6 months!!but my body clock kept waking me up at 4am and 6am - CKD's feeding time!) and yummy breakfast at the hotel (sorry..no piccas of breakfast buffet..too hungry to bother!) we got our fave (our only actually) supir - Pak Eddie to take us around Bali at 9am.

Macet!

Our first stop for the day was at Sukawati Market. If you ever go to Bali, Sukawati Market is the place to go because all the things you see them selling at the shops near the beaches, you can find all of them here at the fraction of the price (after rigorous bargaining of course!). Much of the damages to my wallet were made here. I bought 2 pairs of slippers, 7pcs of dresses for CKD, 3 jumpsuits and a dress for moi, 4tops for my mom & MIL, 2 sets of mengkuang bags (6 bags!), 3pairs of kids shorts made from indonesian batik, 2 pair of shorts for suami and 1 for me and suami bought a wooden hand-carved chess set and a ciggie box (for Hasno) all around Rp800,000 (approx RM280)...heh! Bargain much??? Umar bought 2 HUGE paintings for about Rp300,000..and Tariq did some damages too (but he actually managed to get lower prices than we did!!!)

Sukawati Market - you can also buy other art crafts & paintings here.

 We came in early because they were just opening their stalls at the market. It's VERY congested in the market so I was feeling a bit claustrophobic for a while, and all those incense they were burning (a constant smell in Bali..they burn it everywhere!) caused suami's sinuses to act up. So we took a short break and had some Bakso & teh botol by the roadside! YUMMY!!!

brunch! Bakso & teh botol

food stall beside Sukawati Market. Halal food.

 After the damages done at Sukawati Market, Pak Eddie took us to this place to have lunch. Sorry I can't provide you further details as where and WHAT this restaurant name is coz there was no signage whatsoever. Suami merely mentioned to pak Eddie that he wanted to eat Bebek Goreng (fried duck) and he took us to this beautiful place with delicious food!! At first I thought it was someone's house due to the lack of signage, but it was a really nice open air restaurant somewhere in Sanur area.

small pondoks as the seating area

the ever famous indonesian jus alpukat - Avocado & Chocolate juice. Tastes like soursop to me. Pak Eddie said it's good to help reduce high blood-pressure.

my lunch - bbq fish, with vege, soup, sambal & rice - Rp 17,000!!!and it was REALLY yumms!!

suami doing his Ong Bak pose at the entrance to the restaurant.

 After that we stopped by Pasar Oleh-oleh Bali in Denpasar to get some more crafts. The place is like a big warehouse selling crafts, aromatherapy oil-soap-salt sets, and more. Tariq found a nice Rose aromatherapy set that he bought for his wedding hantaran here. I found some nice mengkuang coin purses I bought for my officemates and suami got his fridge magnets. The stuffs sold here are at a fixed price so no bargaining done, but it's not so expensive either. However, the choices are quite limited. I personally feel the Geneva Wholesaler warehouse in Denpasar (kot..) has better choices although the price are quite the same.

It was also here that I won an RM10 bet with Umar..heheh!! There was this HUGE metal dick (yes..that part of the male anatomy) outside of the store and Umar said "If you take a picture hugging the dick..I'll pay you RM10" hahahah! I'm not posting the pic here (it's on my fb tho..) coz posting it up my blog was not part of the deal!hahaha!

Next stop was at Discovery Mall at Kuta which is your typical shopping mall. We went there coz I wanted to look for some Project Pop CD. CDs are soooo cheap in Indonesia, especially if it's their local artistes! Sadly I didn't find any, but instead I got Glenn Fredly's album (forgot the name) and Tevin Campbell's (yeah!ol'skool!!) album for Rp25,000 each!

outside Discovery mall. They were already posing towards me until a little boy wanted to inter-frame but changed his mind on the last minute. Hence the guys laughing and looking right towards the little boy. I think the picture turned out better than i intended it to be.

<3 this pic of suami & i

After that we headed back to the hotel. It was about 5.30pm but it gets darker earlier in Bali so we thought it was almost 7pm or something.

We got back, rested for a bit and then thought of having dinner at the same Nasi Padang shop we discovered the day before. But it started to rain so we just had dinner at the hotel. We were planning to go to Hard Rock Hotel that night to check out a friend of mine performing at Centrestage, HRHBali.

Widya and her new band - Sterling Band was rocking Centrestage that night. Glad the guys enjoyed the band and was nice catching up with Widya too. She was one of the original T-Rex Band members, but decided not to tour anymore. So I didn't see her the last time T-Rex was in town.

Rock-on!

Widya rocking the stage with the band

Even Widya commented that I'm bigger now..sigh..takpe! I have a plan underway!!

The boys shooting some pool..

Cool poster by the toilet..:P

Sheila on 7

We did do more cam-whoring after the show but it's in Tariq's camera coz I ran out of battery for my camera.

Day 3 we all decided to just stay-in and enjoy the beach and the hotel for a bit. The boys went surfing..AT NOON..with NO SUNBLOCK! So padan muka suami who suffered massive sun burn afterwards!heh! I was nicely sleeping in the room and when the boys got back, they took it to the swimming pool pulak. So I sat by the pool and did some catching up on my reading (Lipstick Jungle by Candace Bushnell that has been collecting dust in my room for almost a year now!)

from far it looks like from a james bond movie

but the love handles..cannot tahan!!hhahahahaha!

Evening came and we were supposed to go to watch Kecak dance at Sanur. But dear Pak Eddie got stuck in traffic for 2 hours because of the ceremony in and around Kuta. So when he finally got to the hotel we said lets go for dinner. He took us to this local food court at Tiara Dewata Shopping Center in Denpasar. Food was so nyums I forgot to take pictures..heh! After dinner, suami wanted to get a motorcycle helmet for himself by the many helmet shops along the road. He found one full-faced helmet that has dual visor for Rp540,000 which is considered WAYYY cheaper than here in KL. But the helmet hunting experience was fun coz I got my ultimate fave pic throughout the entire trip..

Priceless!

 On the way back, we got stuck in traffic again in Legian street. But we didn't mind so much. There was a lot of interesting stuffs to see along the streets of Legian.

music was blaring so loudly from this club..vi ai pi..VIP yo!

The Legian Monument for the previous Bali bombing..ironic that it's right next to the vi ai pi club. you won't see me clubbing there fo'sure..

this dude was actually spinning on the back of a pick-up truck by the road in front of HRC Bali! damn cool!

Suami and I decided to call it a night after that. But the boys went out to Centrestage again afterwards but was disappointed by the band performing coz it was not Sterling. Sterling was performing at HRC that night.

Last day in Bali..Morning was spent packing all the stuffs bought. Had breakfast and chilled out for a while before checking out of the hotel at 12noon. Our flight was at 9.25pm so we had loadsa time to kill before heading to the airport. I still had a few stuffs I wanted to get for Matahari Mall at Kuta Square so the gang decided to rent out motorbikes to do our final exploring of Kuta before leaving.

Pening layan mat rempit 3 orang ni!hahahaha!

Mushroom heads exploring the streets of Kuta & Legian on motorbikes!

 As much as I had fun in Bali, I was more than glad to leave..Who wouldn't when you have this bundle of joy waiting for your back home!

was missing her all thru the trip!

I had loadsa fun in Bali and having suami and the boys made it even more fun..it was a much needed break for me, but I'm happy to be back. Wouldn't mind another similar trip, but maybe not anytime soon..perhaps next year..

Welcome to my Paradise! Day 1

*cue lagu Steven and the Coconutz - Welcome to my Paradise*

Yeah!Just came back from Bali on Monday from a 4D3N trip. Best! This was my second time in Bali and I told suami that I want to do and go to places which I didn't get to the first time we went there. And explore we did!

Our flight was at 9:30am on Friday morning and we almost missed it! haha! what a great way to start the trip eh? Ni adalah gara-gara tak cek boarding time and semua dah lepak mode! haish! So anyway..we were the last few people to board the plane..habis tercungap cungap berlari dari departure area!hahah! owh..LCCT has changed..makin besar dan agak confusing at first..oh well..

preparing for take-off

hehehe!did i ever mention that suami HATES flying?

oh!just a word of advice, if ever you're flying Air Asia, please don't take seats on row 11 or the hot seats..you can't recline your seats...think sitting up straight on a 3hour flight....

blue skies!!

Welcome to Bali! Yeay!!

Our UNdesignated tour guide..Umar!hahaha!

Umar's 'other half' Tariq!:P

We arrived at around 1pm. There was a bit of traffic all around Denpasar and Kuta because of some full moon ceremony that apparently happens only once every 10 years. I asked a local and she explained that it was a 'Cleansing Ceremony' that takes place throughout the week up till the full moon. I tried asking cleansing of what..but didn't understand what she was explaining..But..the ceremony caused 'macet' (traffic jam) all over Kuta.

We checked-in to our hotel in Wina Holiday Villa, Kuta and found out that we got upgraded to the suite! YEAHH! Thank you Husni!! Guess all those recommendations we made to friends going to Bali actually paid off..:)
*psst..psst..anyone going to Bali, give us a holler so we could hook you up on a good deal for your room rates!

Totally 'Suite'!

Just FYI, ALL Holiday Villa hotels (there's 2 in Bali - Kuta & Sanur) and 2 other (i don't remember..but one is in Nusa Dua) are the ONLY hotels that serves halal food..

So after we have chucked our luggage into our rooms, suami was already hungry-borderline-cranky..but since we haven't explored the town yet, we decided to just have McD as our first meal in Bali (so adventurous..NOT!!)

After that we walked all the way to Kuta Square and back to Kuta Beach. Did some damages at the shops there but I think my sunhat was worth it (Rp60,000 for 2!)

I didn't go in..but the pinky-ness is soo cute!

my Rp60,000 sunhat modeled by suami and me!

Spot the real monkey plis...

Layan je lah..

Kuta Beach..cranes are from this soon-to-be BIGGEST hotel in Kuta

the boys..

Didn't try his bakso..funny!!

Then we took the wrong junction into our hotel and ended up exploring the streets of Legian..One wrong turn we didn't regret..hehe! Discovered some interesting shops and items..including a mat salleh running butt naked on the streets!!hahah! What an interesting first day in Bali kan?
 

It's legal there..they even make deliveries to your hotel. I don't do organic nor any sort of 'happy' substances so..sorry, no review :P

Suami purchased a few. I think the guy selling the stickers had more fun reading them to us than we did!haha! Or he was prolly on some mushroom juice..

Wall of stickers..

A wall of graffiti we came across. Apparently there are quite a few of these "Love, Hate, Love" graffiti around Bali.

Like art burst from his belly

Diamond idea!

Our first night there was spent chillaxing at the hotel. We had nasi padang at a shop we discovered on our wrong turn and it was yummy!!

So okay..that's it for day 1. Overdose on pictures already. I'll update on the rest of my trip next!