Posted on 29 November 2004 @ 01:01 in Family, Personal
When I heard that Mei Hua would be coming back for a quick holiday in November, I asked her if I could buy stuff online and have them sent to her address for her to bring back for me. She said no problem.
By the way, this is the same Mei Hua whose engagement I’d written about in my Chet’s Chatter v2, and which is now archived here.
This evening, I received the things I’d bought, altho not directly from Mei Hua, which was most unfortunate. What happened was she and her fiance Rob had arrived at KLIA on the evening of Thursday, 25 November 2004, and driven straight back to her parents’ house in Ipoh. So I have not seen her yet, altho, to be honest, I was more interested in the stuff she’d brought back for me than in seeing her. 
Good thing my niece had gone along for the weekend in Ipoh and had brought back my stuff for me.
Here’s what I bought:
Two of Janis Ian – Live: Working without a Net and Billie’s Bones (CDs)
Two of Amy Bloom’s A Blind Man can see how much I love you (books)
Two Sanford PhD 3-in-1 pen, mechanical pencil and stylus (pens)
My niece asked if one copy of the Amy Bloom book is for someone. Yes. Well, initially, yes, at the time I bought it. Now I’m not so sure anymore. I don’t mean I’m not sure about the message conveyed by the title of the book, but I’m not sure whether that someone would accept it or laugh and throw it in my face.
As for the Sanford PhD 3-in-1, one’s green and the other’s blue. I know … not good enough reason to buy two of the same. How about this – one’s a back-up in case I roasted the other on the dashboard of my car again? Yes, that’s what happened to the first Sanford PhD 3-in-1 I had.
As for Janis Ian … well, it’s Janis Ian. What more reason do I need?
About Mei Hua’s visit, I’d written that I can’t wait to meet her fiance when they visit in November. They’re here now, but it looks like I won’t get to meet him cuz they won’t be stopping in KL at all but will spend all their time in Ipoh and will be going directly to KLIA for their return flight. 
Well, Mei Hua – thanks for bringing back my stuff for me. See you at your wedding dinner next year. 
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Posted on 28 November 2004 @ 23:57 in General
I just came back from a festive open house organised by my company for its business associates and customers. No, I wasn’t invited; I was there to work, altho’ I got to enjoy the spread, too, after the work was done. And wow, I’m so full now.
Last Thursday evening, we had the festive open house for staff, open to all staff at the corporate head office and 50 representatives from all our divisions and subsidiaries.
Let me tell you, I work for a big company so the number of attendees for both functions – Thursday evening and this evening – was HUGE. So much so that, on both evenings, at one point, guests had to stand and eat as there were no more seats left.
Did we underestimate? Probably.
Why didn’t we hold it somewhere with a bigger seating capacity? We can’t, cuz we own the venue for both functions. ‘Nuff said.
What’s this festive open house all about?
Well, from what I know, this open house concept came from the Chinese and their “habit” of visiting relatives and friends during Chinese New Year. It got to a point where the more well-to-do and well-known Chinese families started organised these visits better. Instead of having relatives and friends drop by throughout the 15 days of Chinese New Year, they organised such visits on a certain day, and then between certain hours on a certain day.
The idea caught on, and soon companies were having open houses, too, as well as political parties and just about anyone with the means and the venue.
Today, the open house function is a part of Malaysian festivities, with the biggest and best-attended being the one organised by Barisan Nasional, the ruling political party during Hari Raya Puasa, a Muslim festive event that celebrates the end of the fasting month. There’s also one organised at the Agong’s palace, the Agong being the appointed King of Malaysia. During both functions, Malaysians from all walks of life queue for the chance of a lifetime to shake hands with the Malaysian Prime Minister at the Barisan Nasional open house, and with the Agong at his palace. Even tourists who happen to be in the country at the time of the functions join in the fun, too.
In recent years, the open house functions have gotten bigger when two festive occasions fell on dates very close to one another. For example, a few years ago, Chinese New Year and Hari Raya Puasa happened on consecutive days. This was followed a couple of years later by Hari Raya Puasa and Christmas happening very close to each other. This year, the Hindu festival of Deepavali happened just three days before Hari Raya Puasa. All these joint festivals have meant that bigger official open house functions have been held. I remember when Hari Raya Puasa and Chinese New Year occurred very close to one another, my company’s open house function was called “Kongsi Raya Open House”.
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Posted on 28 November 2004 @ 12:19 in Writing
Part 3 of Leah Ray’s series on NaNoWriMo 2004 in the Sunday Star carries excerpts of email interviews she did with us, and I’ve been included! Wow! The last time I was in the papers was about eight or 10 years ago.
Screenshot of my part of the article:
Full article here:
Nearing the goal
Thanks, Leah (aka Miss Wonderly)!
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Posted on 27 November 2004 @ 10:49 in Music
Jean Michel Jarre’s “Fishing Junks at Sunset”, which he wrote to commemorate his first concert in China in 1982, is one of my all-time favourite pieces of music. Needless to say, the double “live” album it’s featured on, Jarre’s Concerts in China, is also one of my all-time favourite “live” albums.
RRP, someone who was briefly in my life at that time (and who I haven’t heard from since), had recommended Concerts in China to me and I’d bought it. In those days, there was no CD so my first copy of Concerts in China was on vinyl; my next copy was on CD. I went on to buy two other sets, one as a housewarming gift for my cousin, and the other for my sister cuz she wanted one.
While I’ve heard “Fishing Junks at Sunset” countless times – I even had it looped on a cassette which I played every morning during my final exams at UEA in 1989 – I’ve never seen Jarre perform it “live”.
Well, now I have.
Jarre was in China last month (October) for a special performance to mark the start of the French Cultural Year in China. The concert was staged in Tiananmen Square (’nuff said). I didn’t know anything about it until I googled for it about 20 minutes ago; all I knew was I had downloaded this JMJ video from the Net and it had the word Beijing in the title.
JMJ + Beijing could possibly mean a “Fishing Junks at Sunset” performance. I was right.
Of course, 22 years from the first time he performed this amazing piece of music, it’s different now. Compared to the original, the 2004 version is more subdued. I don’t mind. I finally got to see JMJ perform “Fishing Junks at Sunset” “live” and with the Beijing Symphony Orchestra no less. WOW WOW WOW.
I also got to see him play his legendary laser harp:
Mad musical genius.
There is actually some dispute that JMJ did not write “Fishing Junks at Sunset” but had found an old Chinese melody and modified it. I wrote about it here but have not explored it further. For now, I think it’s enough and absolutely wonderful that a French man had helped to bring old Chinese music to the rest of the world.
More about the JMJ Beijing Performance:
Jean Michel Jarre lights up China
Jean-Michel Jarre in Beijing
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Posted on 26 November 2004 @ 22:02 in Friends, Writing
Well, yes, me, but also my NaNo mate, the gentle hearted scarfer aka meiteoh.
She recently used the Dana to write her NaNovel, and here’s what she has to say about it.
And … and … she called me a babe! I feel like such a failure.
*hangs head in shame*
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