Jay Chou's 2010 ERA Concert

I just watched Jay Chou (周杰伦)'s - The Era concert over the weekend and I was totally blown over by it! The special effects they presented live in front of audiences these days is just fantastic! Thanks heaps to dear Pal who bought the set of DVD and Music CDs for me. It even came with a set nun-chucks imprinted with the concert title. Every concern is different and magical and the last one I watched was his 2007 one.

The special edition album with the set of nuchucks.

There were lots of elaborate stuff and and dancing as well as electronic animations going on throughout the show. Though I didn't like some of his lacy girly costumes, he's still the same great performer. He's so talented and plays quite a few different musical instruments as well. But of course the piano is still his forte. And he's now also a music producer / director, setting up the company called JVR Music. Here's a preview of his ERA 2010 concert:

The DVD also had special back-stage filming showing how he and his crew practiced so hard and organised everything so that the concert will go smoothly. He also has his parents and his beloved grandma who attends a lot of his concerts in the back-stage filming as well. And you can see how much his family means to him in the short clips, its just heart-warming.

I always dreamed of going to Jay Chou's concert live one day. And the closest he has been was in Sydney. He wasn't performing when I was working back in Singapore / Malaysia, though I know his first concert was in 2001. That time I probably wasn't so into him yet and by 2004 I was already here in Melbourne.

So yeah, here's hoping that he will make Melbourne one of his concert destinations in future and there's already a facebook campaign that someone has set up to try and do that, of which I most definitely clicked "YES" on it. 永远周杰伦! :)

Easter trip back to Malaysia and Singapore

Tubbs and I decided to use the Easter holidays this year to make a trip back to Malaysia / Singapore. It was not the usual holiday back to only visit family and friends, but more for getting some wedding preps done as well as familiarizing and spending time with the future-in-laws.

I was also really happy this time to be able to get more acquainted with the future-in-laws. They even went with us to choose our wedding bands. And it was the first time I visited Tubb's home in SG even though we have been together for 6 years+ now. We also got our pre-wedding photo-shoot done, met up with my bridesmaids to sort out their dresses, and got my wedding and evening gown sorted out.

Crazy shopping day spent with mum and chaboh Len.	Chaboh Len and I at the bridal studio to pick out gowns.
Stoney, Aunty Margaret's dog - she's a friend of mum's.	Walking down Chinatown again in Singapore was nostalgic.
At Crazy World Cafe, Dan bro's sister and bro-in-law's restaurant	Yup that's the future-in-laws, a shot that I thought I would never have gotten

Much time was also spent catching up with friends whom I only get to see only once a year or two. It was the usual shuffle in between of Singapore and Malaysia. But I spent less time in SG this year as compared to the last due to the things that needed to get done, and so the schedule was really packed.

With high sch besties Wen and Ren	Tigger and Pooh! One of my Bridesmaids!
With mum and my beloved Niece and Nephew	With Chaboh Liliz on her birthday!
With Pal S.K, Thanks for the seafood treat!	Kitty and Pooh! One of my uni mates.

I organised meet-ups for lunch and dinner in one day with different friends just so we get to meet up, in however short an amount of time we had. I was also really happy to see my beloved niece and nephew, they just grow up so fast and time really flies! Also big thanks to my Pal who treated me to yummy seafood at East Coast.

Marina Bay Sands Hotel, newest attraction in SG	Dar and me inside the hotel cum shopping mall
My sister-in-law and me at Marina Bay Sands	Marina Ba Sands Hotel interior

And hehe, I think we acted like "tourists" back there as well, visiting the newly opened Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Shopping and Casino. There was a fee to pay to take a ride to the roof top viewing area with the swimming pool and stuff. But we decided we'll do that end year instead, when we go back again. And if time permits, I'd also like to make a trip to Universal Studios!

And so in that short amount of time and the things we did, I'd say it was quite a fruitful trip! :)

TVB International Talent Singing Competition 2011

Anna, a friend of Ammie's whom I met at a Karaoke session, loves to sing and participate in singing competitions. When we chatted more and she found out I used to perform during Uni days, she told me about this singing comp that TVB was organising. Anyway to cut a long story short, I decided to join for the fun of it and also for missing those days of performing in front of a live audience. Here was the video for the night: Tue 5th April, I sang - S.H.E's Never Mind.

It was the preliminary rounds and I didn't get through to the next round because I know myself. I can pull off some songs pretty well but my voice wasn't powerful enough nor was it able to hit some higher notes. Plus I felt I didn't put my 100% in that night as I did with all the performances for Uni days. I wasn't even sure if I wanted to join in the first place due to the age of the crowd which I knew were all gonna be youngsters. But I'm glad I did anyway, all for the joy of singing live again and the experience.

Group photo before all 16 of us started singing	All the supporters and audiences looking on
Thanks guys for coming to support	Girl power, ladies D & Aims who came to support
Mr. Self-Obsessed, past year's winner performing	The exciting moment announcing the 5 who get through
The lucky 5 who got through to the next round	One more final group photo of all 16 of us

It was good fun and I really felt happy being able to sing on stage and perform in front of an audience again. In the past during Uni days, I always had a friend singing beside me or friends performing acts beside. But this time was different. It was a competition and I was singing alone and you had all these eyes staring at you. It was honestly the first singing comp that I sang alone and thus was a little nervous.

But it wasn't the first one that I joined. An ex-friend and I actually came in third place in a singing comp during our Polytechnic days in Singapore. And I'm still happily holding on to our trophy till now. I would say there will be more singing days to come as it's just something that I love and hearing my favourite songs just make me wanna sing along naturally; even at work and especially in the car driving, I can sing as loud as I want! :p

My Birthday Celebrations 2011

Last year's birthday was a special one because it was the day that Tubby and I got engaged, but this year's birthday is also special because it will be the last birthday as a "status single" lady as this time next year (fingers crossed everything goes right in Oct), I'll be a wedded woman. LOL.

Because of the different groups of friends, I decided to span out the celebrations, make it last a week like the last year as well. The week before I organised a karaoke session at Party World in the afternoon. We sang crazy new songs and oldies and laughed to our hearts content. Also thanks to the gals for getting me a cake. muaks!
After the karaoke session, we headed to Cookie Restaurant on Swanston Street for dinner. Weichao, Daisy and Ed only joined us later for the dinner as they are probably not singing fanatics like us. Well then again Tubby wasn't either as he was too shy to sing, but he didn't have any choice but to follow. hehe...


We needed to tables for the 15 odd people! From my side of the table, D and gang Ming Chu and Xiao Wei, Ed, Weichao, Daisy and darling.

The other side of the table to my left: continuation of D's gang Christine, then Aims and her gang, Anna, Laisa, Brendan and Han! Thanks to all of you who made my day! :)

On the night before, Tubby gave me with the first installment of the present: a Wii Fit. Not that he thinks I need more exercise, but wants me to quit the gym and exercise at home. And then on the 23rd, he surprised me with flowers delivered to my office as I didn't take leave this year. :p
Dinner was a nice yummy treat of Japanese Cusine at Shyun from him as well. And dear Michelle also baked us cupcakes and gave me a little camera keychain as she said that made her thought of me.

The following weekend, Tubby organised a buffet dinner a Chinabar Restaurant along Springvale Rd and Burwood Highway. We had wanted to try them out for awhile now and so this was a good chance. They had quite a variety of food and I especially love their different soups and the seafood section!

The lovely friends we all got to know from tennis and I always refer to them as the tennis group. LOL.

After that we returned back to our humble abode to open the pressies they got for me as well as for some chilling out and games. Thanks for all the cute gifts! Andy joined us later because he had something on earli and he came with this funny UFO gift which everyone wanted to try out. Apparently if you twist it properly, it floats in the air for awhile.
We also finally opened my LEGO Creationary and played it for awhile. It wasn't easy having a set time and building stuff from the limited amount of bricks. In the end, people were describing what the thing was instead of building it for people to guess! Also check out "Princess" a.k.a Troy trying out this new Hawaii Beach Sports game, one of the pressies they got for me. He was doing the Hula Dance! LOL.

And that it! My week of birthday celebrations! Don't worry next year there will be an even better excuse to make the celebration a big one again. And I won't tell you why yet! Haha!