Part 3 - New Year at Rita Handicapped and Disabled Welfare Home

As we were driving back from KL few days before new year, Sujen suddenly blurted out " We are going to do some charity work on the 3 of January, so don't make plans." "Why?" I asked, but I didn't mean it like "Why on earth would you wana do that?" it was more like "you caught me out of surprise".

Sujen's friend Vasdave and his girlfriend Tessy were going to a welfare home on that day and had sent a message inviting those who were interested to feel free to join in. Tessy's family had organised lunch and had planned to prepare the kids for the next day which is 4 January - the start of a new school year.

I was excited but a admittedly a little nervous. It's not like I've never been to a Welfare home or an Orphanage before. It's just that deep down inside I feel like as if its unfair to turn up all of a sudden and try to make a change in their lives. I shamefully admit that I feel so small and the emotions that run through me are too intense that they swallow me. I kept on wondering how I would make a connection with these children...

When we reached the kids helped unload the cars filled with goods for the Home. Real tiny kids insisted they could carry heavy boxes even I found heavy.

We then walked in awkwardly. Everyone gathered around and ogled at a healthy 4 month year old baby boy - the newest addition to the home. Someone said out loud "Yeah, lets start with the youngest". True. I thought to myself.

I then asked Sujen, "What do we do now?". As we approached the Dewan and sat on the platform, he said "I guess just sit down and wait for them to come to us". Just as I was about to disregard his suggestion we were swarmed by kids of all ages. The little boys got Sujen and the girls came to me, forming two distinct circles.

They had SO much to say. They started by asking me who my favourite Tamil Movie actor and actress were. I told them it was Surya and Simran and later added Jyothika too. I also tried to put it to them that there were better things to watch other then tamil movies all the time. It was sadly obvious that these kids spent too much time on tamil movies.

Next I found out within the first few minutes that they were sitting around me, they were actually scrutinizing me and they expected me to do the same too. How I realised this was while I was having a light moment with them, oneo f the girls pointed out that I have a dimple when I smiled =) It was shocking cos people don't usually realise my dimple and them spotting it made me smile =) After that they asked me how many moles they had on their faces. I felt so moved and it was black and white that all these kids really wanted was a little attention. Someone to hold. Someone to hug.

These kids brought the Tau Foo Fah too me and asked me to feed them. I played the Aeroplane trick my mum use to do with me. It was so nice to see them giggle and eat. This picture was taken by one of the 12 year olds.

As we were chit-chatting and playing with them, our friends handed Sujen and myself a box pf packet drinks each to hand out to the kids. Within moments they were diving for it, but at the end they made sure that everyone had one including me. I said its ok cos we brought it for you guys. They then told me, " No, You have to drink with us, if only a little, please". So I joined them sipping Lychee from a box.

The kids seem to love snapping pictures - I refused to give them mine cos it was my new N97mini. I wasn't being mean but I just can't afford a new one and of course I'm not gona ask the Home to reimburse me for it. That would just be wrong! hehe

....and love posing for pictures

The lunch bell then rang. Everyone ran to thier canteen and got seated. The Home, houses elderly people as well as mentally and physically disabled children and adults as well. We (the volunteers) then made sorta like a chain belt dishing out and serving the food to the kids and adults. Once everyone got thier food, they said a short prayer and thanked us.

Tessy's family had also organized a Tau Foo Fah man to come with his Tau Foo Fah truck to serve it as a dessert nice and hot.

After lunch and dessert, there was just more playing around, a photo op and handing out of stationary sets.

This pretty little girl was part of my entourage - she told me I have to come back there. I promise I will.

Sujen - helping to hand out the stationary sets

Photo Op - The volunteers and some of the kids. Where am I? Behind the camera.

As we left , they waved to us and invited us to come back for Ponggal. I shall make it a point to go back there. If anyone is interested, you are most welcome to join us.

A smile. A laugh. A moment lost in each others eyes. This was indeed the icing of my New Year cake. Thank you guys for letting us be a part of this.

The Most FulfillingNew Year Ever Part 2

The 1st of January 2010 and the 2 of January 2010 kind of fused together for the Markandoo family. After ushering in the new year me and Sujen left around 6.30am after helping mom clean up. Some of the cousins slept much later which was a good thing cos it was like sleeping in shifts. Don't get it? Well we did not have enough rooms and bedding for such a big crowd, so the first to sleep were the uncles and aunties and when they woke up the kids went to bed =)

Keashaav - the youngest addition to the Markandoo family. He's adored by all. He doesn't cry either! Just d occasional "uwaa!" for milk.

My dad had planned another fun outing for us all. We were to go Go-Karting at noon. Eventhough everyone was still tired from the night before, we made sure we woke up in time to take to the tracks. We were not sure if the two little ones could ride the Go-Karts as well cos we knew there was bound to be an age or height limit. They were obviously a bit disappointed when I told them on the way to the circuit that they have to be prepared to be not able to race with us. But i quickly added that if that were to happen I promise to take them to the game arcade so they could race there.

We were lucky that we reached there at 1.45pm cos we found out when we reached that they were opening at 2pm that day.

Dhiva - playing with the signage while waiting for the tracks to be readyDhiva - as the pit girl =p

After signing the waiver we got down to business =) 8 cars n 8 racers. Cos my dad and my brother are frequent visitors to that place we got a good deal. Instead of RM 20 for 10 mins we got 14 mins and it was broken up to two rounds. If you go kart often you would realise that its dirt cheap the price I just quoted here. SO if you are thinking of going there its in MARDI but I have to warn you that all the cars are not synchronized to the same speed so its kinda hard to gage the true winner. Oh and the helmet and the hand guard is not properly cleaned either =p Haha so perhaps you could bring your own gear?

After the group race we watch Ian and Sujen battle it out on the Go Karts. Too bad that one of the karts was uder powered.Sujen zooming past

After go-karting and returning for lunch and tea it was another long night of family time. Just chilling out. The next day would be my nephew's 3rd Birthday celebration.

Lil Sanjay - The Birthday Boy

The party was every kid and over grown kid's dream come true complete with a visit from Mickey and Mini, a cute Clown that entertained the kids with a Magic Show and lotsa fun games, and a temporary tattoo corner.

Damn...He can't even see properly and is lifting a kid in one hand and waving at me.

I was given the task of video recording the event. It was apparent that the kids really enjoyed the Clown's performance, but it was the older brother's and sister's that were making much hoo-ha to the point that the Clown called up my brother Ian as one of the volunteers or should I say victims.

That is when we found out that Lolly the Clown was Indian. When Ian went up Lolly put his hand around him and my cousin voice could be heard in the background "Kai vetchitaaaan". Lolly then paused and looked in her direction and replied "Yenna? Kai vetchitaaanaa?" , that shut her up for a moment. ROTFL
[Translation : Cousin,"He's got his hands on him!". Lolly,"Whaaat? He's got his hands on hiiim?"] well it's a lot funnier in Tamil i gota tell you that.

He then asked my brother Ian to pick two pretty girls and he just HAD to pick me and my cousin Loshny who made that funny comment! I wanted to smack him LOL. But in the end the joke was on Ian cos the trick was like this:

Lolly: What's your name?
Abs: Abs?
Lolly: What? Abs? Like Abs? (while rubbing his clown belly)
Abs: Yes (nod)
Lolly: And your name?
Loshny: Loshny
Lolly: Waaaa Like Lotion is it?
Lolly: Do you think you are pretty?
Abs: Er I dunno
Lolly: Do you think you are pretty?
Loshny: Yea I guess so...

Then he tied two handkerchiefs together and put it in Ian's front pocket. He made us hold it on either end.
Lolly: Okay...you girsl dont pull ah.

He said some abracadebra thing and the kids chanted along with him as he tapped Ian's belt.
Lolly: Don't pull ok. I said dont pull. (he hold our hand and tugs the handkerchief)

TADAAA appears a huge pink granny panty between the handkerchief.

Lolly: Hey I said don't pull! Why you pull? Hey handsome boy, why you wearing pink underwear?

The kids loved it!

When Lolly was done with the kids show we kidnapped him over to our table and he amused us with his Balloon art and layan us kacauing him =p

Cousin Promo with the sporting clown. I told my mom and my husband that I want a clown for my birthday too.

Sujen and me took our leave early cos we had bought tickets to Dr. Parnasus at 12am. While waiting I beat Sujen and a coupla guys in Daytona eheh. I just had to annouce that.

The Most Fullfilling New Year Ever - Part 1

Wow its now 3 nights into the New Year and the first time in the past dew days that I had a good rest. Slept at 3pm and woke up just about 8-ish. Well there goes a good night sleep! So I thought hey! why don't I finally do what I've been meaning to do but keep putting it off? Yeah, blog. I always want to write something but am afraid of coming off lackluster. Putting my inhibitions aside, I wanna tell you just how fulfilling my new year was.

This year I didn't go out and get drunk. This year I didn't party like a rockstar. This year I didn't countdown with my best friends. This year I didn't see no fire works display.

This year it was about family.

As boring and solemn that may sound, it was indeed far from that. You see, 10 years ago when we ushered in the new millennium we had had a rooftop party at my parents old house over looking the KL city scape. The highlight of that party was a time capsule. Yes thats right, at the strike of 12, january 1, 2000 we put in notes in a little bottle, sealed it and kept it guarded for 10 years.

We promised to have another party 10 years after to open the capsule and reveal it contents. In it were dreams. In it were aspirations. In it were hopes and goals. Would we have reached them in 10 years? 1 January, 2010 would hold the answer to that question.

BOLD NEW Frontier - that was the theme of our time capsule revelation party.The theme was about looking forward, embracing change and about simply being brave and out of the box.

Oh and might add that it was a costume party! My aunts n uncles were so sporting to go all out to get into character as well. Kudos for that.

Our time caspule was placed in here. Thanks to uncle Mohan's special effects.

Mom unaware we snapped a photo pf her at TESCO. We tried to talk her into coming as a school girl. We told the sales girl it was for her daughter that was the exact same size and height as her. hihi. Don't know if she bought it tho. But mom didn't buy the pinafore for sure.

Instead she came as an Arabian Dancer - Her costume was homemade by the way. Here is Aunty Gnanam as an Egyptian Queen.

Pirate Sujen with another homemade number and Shalny as an English Lady

The Pirate and the Geek - Sujen and Ian think that mine cant be a considered a costume cos I am a geek =p

Cowgirl and Captain Crook =p

Prince Ian and Robin

Uncle Mohan@Gladiator striking a pose at the photo wall

Pops as a Hip Hopper

Keashaav the little Zebra

The all of us

Hawaiian Girl happy to be held captive by the Cowgirl?

Promo as a Sharman and Vino as Queen Amidala

We divided into 3 groups - each with fairly even number of people from all age groups. The first game was a sketch. We were given 15 mins to discuss and 5 mins to perform. Then we played win lose or draw and charades while we feasted on lotsa of different items of food. There was Meehoon goreng, popiah, papaya n mango salad, roast chicken, rojak, pasta carbonara n blognese, potato n shrimp sausage salad, nasi dagang, pudding, jelly, chocolate cake and Im sure there was more that I missed out. You would also notice that the common indian dishes like mutton curry n chicken curry etc is not in the list...that's cos just like the Out of The Norm theme of dressing, the food followed suite.

I was a bit nervous when the time to Unveil the Capsule and its content's came. I couldn't remember what I had wrote 10 years ago. What if it was a dream that I never achieved? As I waited for my paper to come up I listened to others read out what they had put down on paper. Some were ambitions some were hopes, some were met and some not. Some were in progress and some were changed along the years.

Finally it was my turn :
"Wow im 26 now. It has been 10 years already. I hope everyone is doing good. Peace Ya'll."
then in a little box i wrote:
"I love mum and pops and everyone"

LOL. I guess at 16 i was just a simpleton =p

The night ended with us writing another note and stuffing it the little bottle and this time there were more notes cos the family had extended with the additions of brothers in laws and younger cousins and a nephew. We havent decided if we wana open it in another 5 years or 10 years but this time my note was very much longer.

What can I say but we had a blast of a night.

its all about the Pussy in The Philipines...

Heluw

We just recently got back from our island escapade in Boracay, Philippines. Tho the tittle may have mislead you a wee bit its not totally off tangent either. Here are some funny things we saw that got us ROTFLOAO! Enjoy

.................a Soup consisting the innards and probably 'outards' of a familiar domesticated animal (I found it weird that you dont see many (any) cats and dogs running around freely there like in Malaysia. Hrmm you do the math! haha)

.....as opposed to a dead one?.......and at 220Peso/kg?


I think it means this:

Pantat Hidup - 22/kg
Saya Mahu - 270/kg
ABodo SAngat GATAl - 300/kg

From Geisha to Galiano

Bibo n muah

Cover Story: Double standards the fashion?

NST

Cover Story: Double standards the fashion?
2009/11/03
ZUHAILA SEDEK

Is there any truth to the grouse that foreign models are taking over jobs from local ones in the country? ZUHAILA SEDEK speaks to those in the industry.

THE Malaysian fashion scenario today is such that modelling may promise glamour, but it seems the limelight is not so easily won if you are not Caucasian.

Many feel that there are too many foreign models on the runways, depriving locals of the chance to prove their worth.

And it’s not for the lack of local talents. From way back in the ‘70s right until recently, we’ve produced many credible catwalk queens.

(Datin) Adib Yasmin, Juriah Jamil, Shasha, Shigim, Nik Marini, Yvonne Blake, Yvonne Gabriel and Christine Lim were among those who had carved a niche for themselves in the industry at the time when local models were most appreciated.

The scene today, however, is not like what it was those days. Names such as Nasha Aziz, Tengku Azura, Tinie, Anita Aziz and Amber Chia still rule the catwalk but some of them have been around for about 10 years.

Read more

The part I paling tak tahan in this article........
Drum roll please..............
..........
.....

" Nineteen-year-old Annabelle hopes Malaysians won’t create a fuss about the presence of foreign models here. “I really need this job. My family in Uzbekistan is poor. I’m glad to be given the opportunity to work. If you were to take this away from me, my family and I would be in trouble. "

I just have to say one thing....Habistu kalau aku makan rumput takpe ke? Man... why dont my parents just invite a begger to my house and I'll sleep outside... you can sleep on my bed, eat my food and wear my clothes while you are at it. After all, if I take that away from you, you will be poor again. Boo Hoo. So yeah its ok that my own parents threw me out. Its ok cos you think I will survive somehow even though Im not blue-eyed and fair skinned. And its ok that I actually have more poise then you. If my own parents don't want me Im sure it will just make me a stronger person right? Maybe I shall save my money and buy my parents a freaking mirror.....

Mirror mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all? Well one thing for sure my parents face will definately NOT appear cos thier are far from fair, they are very dark :

They are unfair in treatment as

Thier thoughts are darkened

Yeah it might sound a little too harsh coming from me but enough is enough. The industry is seriously like an evil step mother. In other words its a like that thing that rhymes with 'itch' and its not switch or pitch.

Tolong laaaaaaaaaaa!

Fashion Week - Pavillion - nothing fancy - no pictures - speedy typing

So like its Malaysia International Fashion Week again but this time is different cos I didn't get called by the agency to sashay down the runway (or rumour has it a flight of stairs; its held in Pavillion this year and the models would be strutting down stairs). Of course I expected to be called, I did MIF-W ever since I started this career! So naturally when I didn't get the call i was a bit mentally and emotionally agitated and questioned myself 'why?'

But I got a call from a designer, Fie his name, a designer from Singapore ( I sound like Yoda?), he asked me if I would walk down the catwalk in his outfits along side Tengku Azura. I was shocked, being put on a pedestal alongside my idol is a big honour. I humbly except his offer and we arrange for a fitting session and showed me drafts of his design and the material. This was really different as usually when you get booked by the agency you just have a mass fitting session where u wear anything you get, no one has time to discuss with you about how you would be the best person to pull it off. I really like his draft design...all black, lace, jacket, pants, killler shoes, very strong look.

So there I was assured that eventhough I wouldn't be part of the agency models, my presence would be felt there as an invited model. Yeay I get to go to Mifa afterall!

Then around the same period of time another designer...my ex student who is still in his final year told me that he would be showcasing his designs and mind you not in the student category! He is doing mens wear and he told me he would give me invites to watch his show. I was so excited that I would get to see his creations, afterall which teacher wouldn't? Well I may not have thought him fashion but I believe I did have a hand in some way or rather during his first year (or I hope to?hahaha) after all i did teach Creative Studies!

So yesterday we arranged to meet at his workshop (where they were busy doing pricing) to collect the tickets. He suddenly asked me if I would rather be on stage then watch. I was like "Er....anything" the lack of enthusiasm is not cos I was not interested. I was caught by surprise and I had been planning on what to wear to the show all this week! And this was menswear! "please jay, can u try this on, i wana see how it looks on you, its not really manly stuff, its like can be men or women, i thought of showing that" and it appears that he would be using celebrities at the end...Im like yeay! but Im not a celebrity! But them on anyway and they look jes great! Simply fabulously androgenous outfits. So like you can buy it as a gift for you man and you could wear it too! haha. oh btw...his stage name is MadMub which translates to AhMad Mubaraq! Geez i thought it was cos he was Mad like the Mad hatter!

I thought it was just that but now I have another show which would be my first show tommorow. Not to sure what or whose garment Im wearing but the stylist is the talented ever young cutie Cris Yong. He told me the call time is 5am! "What? 5am? how many shows?" then he replied.."Ok 6am then, the make up very drama la". It's gona be awesome I'm sure! All I need to do now is find my camera charger! DAMITTTTTTTT