La La La...

Lucky..lucky..lucky.. I should be so lucky when I got the ticket to Kylie Showgirl yesterday evening. I rushed to KL Sentral after work. It is gonna be my first concert in Singapore. I had made plan to fly to Hong Kong when first heard that Kylie is bringing her Showgirl tour to HK on June 23. But when I got an sms from Ken yesterday saying that she will make a stop over in our fine neighbour, Singapore, I was ecstatic. June 17. Hey! It will be during the Great Singapore Sales too! Two birds, one stone! Double whammy! I am a fan of Kylie Minogue since she made her first appearance in the UK Chart with that infectious pop ditty – I Should Be So Lucky. I think it was in 1987 when she charmed the world with squeaky voice over Stock, Aiken and Waterman compositions. Her songs – super infectious. They stick to your brain like superglue. Her image then was sweet and innocent. A couple of albums later, she discovered sex. Kylie grew up and shed her clothes faster than you can say “silicon implant”. She stripped in her Better the Devil You Know video and cavorted with the hunky black model who covered Kylie’s nakedness with his own. Wah! Watch grandpa’s specs steam up. Few hits later she was almost forgotten when she tried to covert herself into jingly jangly alternative singer. But she bounced back to do what she does best – pop songs with her Light Years CD – in that trademark super skimpy gold hot pants which she spun and butt-slapped her way back to the no.1 with that disco floor-filler Spinning Around (co written by Paula “the useless Idol judge” Abdul). Then, came the ultimate pop song – Can’t Get You Out of My Head, a song that is impossible to get out of the head once it gets in. (Hmmm…that doesn’t sound quite right, does it?? ;) ). She scores with hit after hit in her Fever and Body Language CDs. I still remember Mariah Carey Charmbracelet Tour with no change of clothes in KL. She sang the whole night in her pink top (which can barely hold her bursting melons) and blue denim as her other clothes were too revealing for the Malaysian audience according to our moral guardian – the Malaysian government. Thank God Mariah has the pipe to hold the audience without slipping into something skimpy. But can Kylie do the same? Hmmmm……Kylie is well known for flashing her tushy than her singing skills. So, I should be so lucky to get tickets for her Singapore gig. I can’t imagine how she would water down her acts for the Malaysian government if she decide to stop over in our holier than thou country. When I checked at the Sistic counter at Sentral, the SGD 180 tickets were almost sold out. I would have grabbed them but the seats left are at the far ends, so I decided to downgrade to SGD 150 ticket. Prefer to sit at the center. After buying the concert tickets, I quickly dashed to the KTM counter to buy my return train ticket to Singapore. Now, I’m counting days for the Showgirl concert. At the mean time, when I go running, I listen to Kylie hit songs. When I commute, I listen to Kylie remixes. When I sleep, I dream of Kylie…..When I am awake, I daydream of Kylie….Omisgosh! I Can’t Get Kylie Out of My Head.(Insert La La La here)

Walk With Goodies

Sunrise! Sunrise! (Sing like Norah Jones) The Guardian Charity Walkathon 2005 was organized by Guardian Pharmacy, one of the largest pharmacy chains in Malaysia in the benefit of NASAM – National Stroke Association of Malaysia. The venue: Car Park A, Bukit Jalil Stadium. Start time: 8:45 am. I didn’t know what to expect from this walkathon when I signed up for it. Amy helped me to buy the RM10 voucher from Guardian Pharmacy. It turned up to be quite a fun activity for a lazy Sunday morning. Thanks to Amy’s eagerness who wanted to be first in line for the T-Shirt and registration, we arrived at Bukit Jalil Car Park at 6:30am. The organizers were still setting up. The t-shirts have not even arrived yet and Amy already started to stand in the queue. Yup! A great example of kiasu-ness (afraid to lose mentality) at its best. So, what did I do to pass 2 hours of free time before the starting? Too early for warm up! Too late to go back to bed! Yawn! Was still sleepy. Anyway, I managed to read an entire copy of Sunday Star, cover to cover while listening to my iPod. In between those activities, I was distracted by the glorious “ham tan” or egg yolk in the sky. The sun was rising and it was beautiful. If not for Amy’s kiasu-ness, I would not have caught the nice sunrise over at Bukit Jalil Stadium.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow We were ready at the starting point at 8:45am. A very late start for a run/ walk event. But hey, they had to cover the speech protocols and had to thank the generous sponsors of the event. A mock check of RM8,000 was given to NASAM. At the briefing session we were told that we had to perform some tasks at the 4 pit stops. So off we went like a bunch of little ants walking from Car Park A to the little hill next to the stadium. Pit Stop no. 1 - On top of the hill. After huffing and puffing, shaking my behind up the hill, I reached the Himalaya’s Pit Stop. I had to fill in a coupon in exchange of a bottle of garlic capsules and a small bottle of anti-dandruff shampoo. Just what a runner like me need - great smelling hair and garlic breath! Pit Stop No. 2 - What goes up must come down. We had to descent the hill along zigzag pathways down the slope. At the base, the L’Oreal Pit Stop awaited. The task - write the word L’Oreal with some shimmering make-up liquid on our arms. Upon completion, I was given a tube of anti-aging face wash and a bottle of anti-aging toner. Hmmm….What was L’Oreal trying to tell the participants?

Pit Stop 3 & 4 and then some more dancing. Pit Stop No. 3 - I arrived at the Panadol Pit Stop with the Loreal make-up smudged up my t-shirt sleeve. The task - shove a giant Panadol into a giant mouth. Easy peasy. I saw one walker secretly walked away with the styrofoam pill. Wonder what he is going to do with it. Shove it up his a**? I just don't understand why would people want to steal something so useless? Moving on, I collected the Sensodyne tooth paste, some colouring books, a bundle of Ribena drinks, a box of Horlick sweets and a panda magnet. Pit Stop No. 4 - More stairs to handle but no problem. The next pit stop was located right underneath the LRT track. I managed to snap the picture of an in-coming LRT train. The task - spell "Royale Health" on the board in exchange for a cute calculator cum clip. Not really a challenging task. I strolled back to the finished line where more goodies were waiting. Redeemed my breakfast - 1.5 liter of Guardian drinking water, an egg sandwich, a cupcake and a packet of crackers. Had my breakfast while watching an old uncle taught the public how to gyrate to the sound of Mambo. Hmmm.....I think I had enough of group dancing. I still remember last week’s aunties line dancing at Then Hou Temple. I wonder if this will be the new slogan for all the future run events in KL - "If you can't run, group dance!" I decided to pass my lucky draw coupon to Amy and headed to the LRT station. I didn’t feel like a lucky punk. I also didn’t bother to have my fortune read at the Tarot Card booth. Nor I was interested in having my face caricaturized or painted with butterfly. All I thought of was my comfortable bed.

My Goodies! My Goodies! (Sing it like Ciara) One thing that I like about this walk is that we were each provided with a drawstring knapsack get to collect our goodies en route. In true spirit of Kiasu-ism, I love everything that is free and enjoyed the process of push and shove with other participants to get my share of the goodies. I think that is all for now. I have to go wash my face with the anti-aging L’Oreal sample that I got from the walk. Goodies! (Insert happy squeal here!)

Running to Borders

Inside Borders I was elated when I heard BORDERS would be opening a branch in Times Square, KL few months back. I have always been a fan of BORDERS, in Singapore that is. A trip to Singapore is not complete without a visit to Wheelock Place which houses BORDERS, Singapore. So, when I heard about the grand opening of BORDERS in KL yesterday, I made it a point to rush down to KL from Rawang (was there for work related business) after work. I was not disappointed when I reached the book shop! BORDERS, KL is huge. I think easily twice the size of the Singapore one. Two floors with a Starbuck cafe and a section of World of Feng Shui. The sport section was well stocked with books on running. I counted - 1 and a half bookshelf was filled with running books which I can only see in the net before. I grinned and salivated like a mad cow while thumbing through all the running books. Grabbed a stack of books on running that caught my eyes and plonked myself down at the chair to read. So many books, so little time. I finally decided on two books - Runner's Yoga Book and I Run Therefore I am - NUTS. I checked out the magazine section too - FREE BROWING! Yippee! No sterile shrinkwrapped magazines like the rest of the kedekut (stingy) bookshops like Kinokuniya. Found the latest copy of Runner's World (May 2005), selling at RM24.90. Expensive. Other bookshop sell it at RM20.90 only. I am still waiting for mine in the mail. Took a copy of TIME magazine featuring World's 100 Most Influential People. The CD/ DVD section were very disappointing. They have only the locally pressed stuff. No US imported version, unlike its Singaporean branch! So, therefore, I am looking forward to June when I will make a trip to Singapore. I dislike the locally produced stuff, even though slightly cheaper but the printing quality is usually shitty. Hence, I don't mind paying a little extra for imported goods. Apart from this, I think BORDERS is fab! On the way out, picked up - An Unofficial & Unauthorised Guide to Every Episode of Sex and The City - Jim Smith". This would be a complement to my VCD/ DVD collection of the whole series. I miss Carrie and the girls!

Running Underneath Blue Sky!

Jogathon Warisan THE 5TH JOGATHON WARISAN 2005 VENUE: THEAN HOU TEMPLE DATE: 17 APRIL 2005 The eight cemeteries/ crematorium located around Jalan Dewan, Jalan Loke Yew and Jalan Sungai Besi in Kuala Lumpur have a long history and witnessed the evolvement of Kuala Lumpur into a modern city today. The organizing committee has successfully organized the jogathon since 2001with the theme “Appreciate our historical relics, cherish its historical value”. The Jogathon Warisan is also dubbed Larian Kubur (Graveyard Run) for a very apparent reason – the route led us around thousands of old graves in Kwangtung Cemetery. The starting point was at Thean Hou Chinese Temple. I think it is the biggest and most beautiful Chinese temple in Malaysia. This jogathon actually clashed with another run in the KL city – Larian Mesra Rakan Cops. I decided to participate in this one because I have not run this one before. I did Cops twice.

Starting Point The run started at 8 am after some speeches and balloon releasing cum officiating ceremony. There was also petition to sign against Japan’s bid to be the permanent member in the UN Security Council. I did sign the petition. Japan cannot just simply whitewash Japan’s wartime atrocities from the history book. I still remember my grandmother’s account of her frightful encounter with some Japanese soldiers in Malaya. She was hiding behind a door when one of the Japanese soldiers swiped his samurai sword underneath it. At that time she was pregnant with my father. Luckily, she managed to get through the whole ordeal without being discovered by the Japanese soldiers, if not there won’t be me sitting here, writing this blog. The run was not as morbid and eerie as I perceived earlier. The sun was bright. The birds are chirping. KL Tower and KL Twin Tower skyline was seen peering from the lush greenies, which were soothing to the eyes. I tried not to focus on the old tombstones along the road. The thoughts of Chinese vampires (kiong si) hopping out of the grave did flash into mind but I quickly wipe them out by shifting my focus to the runners in front and the blue sky. Yes! Blue sky! Blue sky! Blue sky! Slow and steady I ran along the winding road, passing by thousands of old burial plots and sometimes caught a whiff of burning joss stick in the air. There were plenty of families at the cemetery to perform the Qing Ming ritual – to visit and pray the ancestors’ graves. Qing Ming (equivalent to All Soul’s Day) usually falls in the month of April. Family members gather at the graveyard to pray. Candles and joss stick are lighted. “After world money” is burned as an offering to the dead. Graveyards are cleaned and weeded. It is a once a year ritual. This also caused the road at the cemetery to be packed with cars this morning.

Larian Kubur Overall, the route was challenging with many slopes. This is expected as Chinese burial plots are normally situated at hilly areas for good Feng Shui. It was quite a scenic route if not for the tombstones. I just don’t have good feelings around them, especially at one particular point where we have to step very close (few inches) to the graves to cut to the other road. Amy told me that she chanted “Amithaba” along that way. I just shift my thoughts to the blue sky! Blue sky! Blue sky! Blue sky! The organizer had put up a very good effort for the run. Lots of volunteers along the route to show the way. Getting lost in the cemetery is NOT a very comforting thought. One point down for the organizer is there was not enough water at the water station. Luckily, I brought my own supply of isotonic drink.

Dancing Queens! I hung out for a while at Thean Hou Temple after the run to watch some cultural performances (Cher Ying - some kind of spinning wheels on string) and line dancing. I saluted the line dancing golden girls for their efforts to entertain the crowd by shaking and twirling to the beat of Scandalous (Mis-teeq) and Let’s Get Loud (Jennifer Lopez) which are not your typical line dancing tunes. Will I be back next year? I don’t know. (Insert blue skies thoughts here! Blue sky! Blue sky! Blue sky!)

Run Anyway!

If other runners are faster, stronger and have more medals than you. RUN ANYWAY! - Runwitme.

Green Green Walk

Panda You don’t have to go great lengths to save Mother Nature…It all starts from…one green walk. What? WWF Walk-A-Hunt 2005 When? On Sunday, 8th May 2005 (Mother’s Day) Where? At PUTRA & STAR LRT Stations How much? RM20 per person (2-4 persons in a team) Who? For enquiries, please contact Adrian Pereira at (603) 7803 3772 Web? Click here to WWF website What is it in for you? Each participant receives an exclusive WWF T-shirt and special goodies!! 30 Fabulous TOP prizes to be won!! Special gift for the first 100 mothers who sign-up!! This walk is not about who has a pair of powerful legs. We have to use lots of brainpower for this one apart from the observation power. Puzzle solving skills. Clue deciphering. Code breaking. Analytical thinking. Lateral thinking. Out of the box thinking. Lots of thinking here and I see a big headache coming during the walk. Ugh! I can feel it already LOL. I really look forward for this fun-filled, educational and adventurous, Amazing Race-style 'treasure hunt cum nature walk'!! p/s.Closing Date for Registration: 22nd April 2005. So hurry.

The Ultimate Resource for Running on Film

runningmovies.com I stumble upon this fabulous website while I was surfing for marathon resources. Running is my passion. Watching movies is my passion too. So, watching movies about running should be a double-whammy; ka-pow; ka-boom-bang; passion on top of passion thingy. While surfing through this site, I could feel my fingertips tingling with excitement. My heart was beating faster and faster. My breathing became faster. My pupils dilated. I let out a sigh! Almost orgasmic. Hahah! This site entices with over 590 film, movie, and video descriptions that contain various aspects of running. I have a few in my collection – Without Limits, The Long Journey, Forrest Gump and Power Yoga for Runners. Very few compared to the amounts of movies listed here. Is God sending me a message to increase the running movies in my collection? Hmmmm…I think I need to tighten my belt and save first. At the meantime let me drool over the amazing movie titles available here. (Insert saliva dripping sound effect here!) Click here to go to runningmovies.com

Walking without a Clue

Treasure Hunters I participated in The SUN Walk Hunt at Sunway Pyramid yesterday. I was a fun and nail-biting experience. I teamed up with BW. Amy teamed up with her daughter Gracie in the family catergory. Fenny and Kris were in a team. This was my second time attempting a mall hunt. The first time was donkey's years ago at The Mall. My brain has got a little rusty. I went to to Pyramid a little early to watch Be Cool with BW. The movie was trying too hard to be cool. Laughters came from The Rock (with hair! shock!) who plays a Samoan gay bodyguard and Vince Vaughn - a white record company manager who tries to be black. Would I buy it on DVD for my cool collection? I don't think so. We cluelessly registered ourselves at the counter at about 2:30pm. After a short briefing session from the Hunt Marshall, we cluelessly walked the three levels of Sunway Pyramid for the answers. The questions were freaking hard for newbies like us. We combed through the LL1 level twice without getting any answers. Hopelessly, we we dashed to the ground floor where our luck got a little bit better. Managed to solve some puzzles. We were given 1 hour and 15 mins to return to the station with the answer sheet and 2 "treasures". At 1:10pm, most of our answer sheets were still blank. I think we only managed to solve half of the questions and we were not sure the answers were correct. Sigh! Anyway, we quickly dashed to Giant Supermarket to purchase one of the "treasure" - a Maggi Hot Cup instant noodles. We were clueless about what the other treasure was. We submitted our answer sheets and prayed that we at least would not be the lousiest team. We chilled out at Coffee Bean while waiting for the results. My feet were tired. It felt like I had walk miles and miles. My head was spinning too, from too much thinking. Hahah! At approximately 5:45pm the results were announced after the ice-cream eating competition. We were all in the top 10 in our respective category! I am really clueless on how we even got there. The other teams must have been even more clueless than us. Each top 3 winning team was given a hamper and the rest - an Alam Flora plastic watch and an Alam Flora yellow sling bag. I gave the watch to BW and took the bag. Now I am cluelessly a proud owner of a bright yellow bag from Alam Flora - our friendly neighbourhood garbage disposal company. (Insert applause here!)