Anne Goes Offline

Photo credit: ROFLCAT

I surrender.

Sending the laptop to HP today for repair.

That means i wont be blogging or blog hopping until i get it back.

Unless i tak tahan and go to a cyber cafe....(possible!)

Here In My Home - Malaysian Artistes For Unity

52 Malaysians including filmmakers, dancers, singers, producers, musicians, actors, entrepreneurs, designers, footballers, activists,

celebrities, students and a florist

got together to make

an anti-racism national unity song and music video.

Its called HERE IN MY HOME.

Nobody got paid.

They did it only because they love Malaysia.

Click on the banner and read their story.

C'mon. Show your support for unity and upload the song to your blog.

Naik lagi ke?

Dari Berita Harian, 28 Mei 2008

Langkah atasi krisis minyak Jumaat
Oleh Magendran Rajagopal

KUALA LUMPUR: Kerajaan dijangka mengumumkan beberapa langkah bagi mengurangkan kesan kenaikan harga minyak terhadap rakyat dan ekonomi negara selepas mesyuarat Jemaah Menteri, Jumaat ini, kata Datuk Seri Najib Razak. Timbalan Perdana Menteri berkata, mesyuarat Jawatankuasa Kabinet Menangani Inflasi yang dipengerusikannya kelmarin membentangkan beberapa cadangan berhubung perkara itu dan ia akan diputuskan dalam mesyuarat Kabinet pada Jumaat. "Ada beberapa langkah dikemukakan dalam mesyuarat itu semalam (kelmarin) kerana kita bincang banyak perkara dan ia akan dibawa ke mesyuarat Kabinet pada Jumaat ini.

"Selepas itu, kita dijangka buat satu siri pengumuman kerana kita amat terperinci dalam isu ini," katanya kepada pemberita selepas mengadakan perjumpaan dengan komandan kem Pusat Latihan Khidmat Negara (PLKN), di sini, semalam. Najib diminta mengulas ura-ura kerajaan akan mengumumkan kenaikan harga petrol dan diesel Jumaat ini bagi mengimbangi kesan peningkatan harga minyak mentah yang mencecah AS$133 setong di pasaran antarabangsa, semalam. Beliau yang enggan memberi bayangan pengumuman itu walaupun didesak wartawan, sebaliknya meminta semua pihak supaya bersabar sehingga Kabinet membuat keputusan.

Katanya, keputusan menguatkuasakan larangan penjualan petrol dan diesel kepada kenderaan asing oleh semua stesen minyak dalam lingkungan 50 kilometer (km) dari sempadan negara mulai Jumaat ini juga adalah antara yang diputuskan mesyuarat kelmarin. Selain itu, mesyuarat berkenaan juga menggariskan beberapa pendekatan lain yang dikenal pasti sesuai untuk membendung masalah kenaikan harga minyak secara khusus serta menangani inflasi umumnya. "Larangan menjual minyak kepada kenderaan asing ini bukan untuk menjimatkan kos tetapi lebih berlandaskan kepada prinsip kerana kita guna wang cukai rakyat untuk subsidi minyak dan hanya mereka yang berhak harus menikmatinya. "Ini adalah isu moral kerana subsidi yang kita beri setiap tahun untuk mengurangkan beban rakyat amat tinggi. Pada pendapat saya, tidak wajar orang lain menikmati subsidi daripada wang rakyat kita," katanya.

Arahan bertulis mengenai larangan itu, dibuat mengikut Akta Kawalan Bekalan 1961, akan dikeluarkan kepada 200 hingga 300 pemilik stesen minyak dalam masa terdekat. Najib juga menafikan tindakan itu boleh menjejaskan kemasukan pelancong asing kerana mereka masih perlu membeli minyak di negara sendiri dan sewajarnya tidak mengambil kesempatan daripada subsidi yang ditawarkan di Malaysia.
**********************************************************************************

Gosh, i hope not!...dah la income merosot je. Since i changed my car and kerja sendiri, my consumption memang tak banyak macam masa kerja one year back. But still every time refill petrol, terasa la jugak. and usually any rise in oil prices will result in rise in price of other essentials kan.....Dah la harga beras pun naik melampau. What is happening to the world, food crisis, oil crisis....We wait and see Friday ni....suspen jer!

My Lappy is Sick

Symptoms:

1. The battery is charging, but when its on cable, power only last for 5 minutes.

2. The fan is louder than usual.

3. The keyboard and touchpad gets really hot.

I checked my receipts, i got the laptop on 12.6.2007, which means the one year warranty will be expiring soon. I'm trying to finish some paperwork by today so that i can send it to the HP service center, maybe tomorrow.

I dont know how long it will take them to fix it :-(((((( Mati kutu la.

Konsert Akhir Akademi Fantasia 6

The Results

1. Stacy

2. Riz

3. Nubhan

4. Toi

5. Nadia

Yayy! Its a relief that AF6 is over. My least favourite season. A so-so final concert, not much excitement.

Things i like about last nite's finale.

1. Malaysia voted Stacy as the champ, a well deserved winner.

2. Both girls saved the night with energetic performances

3. Nubhan's new song. (boleh pulak dia kurung angsa dia;-D)

4. Adlin's blunt honesty.

5. AC was told-off by Ogy & Ning (after Nubhan's 2nd song) (padan, nak buat kelakar salah time, salah tempat)

(Malas pulak nak review each performance. Season pun dah habis. Astro website pun belum update gambar. tengoklah kalau rajin later.....)

Check out detail reviews here:

sultanmuzaffar

ceritera eddypurnama

Kerja Gila or Gila Kerja

Its 4.26 a.m.!!!!!!!!!!

I havent slept a wink.

There is a meeting/ presentation to a client at 10.30a.m., and i was only informed yesterday morning.

Jill is doing her part at her apartment. She dozed off earlier and i sent all the audibles in YM to wake her up:-)

6 hours to go. Only 80% done.

TICK TOCK TICK TOCK!!!

I can still smile and crack jokes. I am not even sleepy. Must be pure adrenaline rush to work at this 11th hour.

Gila kerja ke kerja gila. The latter i think.

David Cook Wins American Idol

The results are out.

Picture credit: MTV.com

After last night, it was almost a sure thing that Archuleta will take home the title. A record breaking 97mill votes later, Cook steals the title.

It doesnt matter really. It was my favourite 2 finalist ever...tho i do feel sorry for David A., he did so well last night.

The finale/result show today was the best i've seen. My favourite had to be the guys singing summer of 69, Heaven and with Bryan Adams.

Picture credit: MTV.com

I'm sure both of them will go on to have successful careers.

My favourite Idol season!

The Battle of the Two Davids

Picture credit. MTV.com Photo by Fox

Tonight is the showdown.

David Cook

David Archuleta

Who is the next American Idol?

I like them both in different ways, but based on the showdown, i have to pick THE David ARCHULETA

Simon said:

"Round 1 to Archuleta"

"Round 2 to Archuleta"

"You came out tonite to win and what we have witnessed is a Knock Out" (after Round 3 to Archuleta)

I couldn't agree more.

Result show 6pm tomorrow local time, we will find out how America voted.

If you watched tonite's show, who's your pick?

Anne's leg, arm and the Big News

The long weekend felt very looooooooooongggggggg.
Apart from YM, sms and phone call, there was no real human interaction.

My leg still sakit, so duduk diam diam je. Because i use my arm's strength to support bila nak get up, i think i've hurt my arms as well. :-(

Sepatutnya petang ni i have a meeting in Putrajaya for kes Tipah Tertipu, but i dont think i can manage the long drive. Hari ni the leg feels a bit better, nanti kalau drive takut sakit balik.

Add to that, sakit perut pulak pagi ni (read: that time of the month).

Work wise sepatutnya a new project starts today with a workshop. Lucky client push to June. Masa tu i was slightly irritated with the delay, tapi tu la orang kata hikmah Tuhan kan....kalau jadi macam mana la i nak handle today dengan kaki sakit, dengan perut sakit.

The big news of yesterday, Tun M quit UMNO....

Sedih you all. Not so much about sokong parti mana2 but he was so significant in taking the country to where it is today, and the whole history of his as pemimpin Melayu. Having said that he was never shy to state his opinion, always bold and brave. I just wish the two leaders will just sit down and sort out their differences untuk masa depan bangsa and rakyat. I doubt that will happen from what i saw in the news last nite. See what happens. Sungguh interesting political developments since post election.

Konsert 9 Akademi Fantasia 6

We are one concert away from the final. Usually, I would feel rather sad to see the end of an AF season, but not this time. Its like a relief to finally see the end of a long, uneventful, forgettable season.

So Stanly didn’t make it to the final. I am ok with the results, except I would have liked it if they booted Toi out as well. But rezeki orang kan.

Official AF votes ranking (Before):
Stacy 19%
Riz 19%
Nadia 17%
Nubhan 17%
Stanly 14%
Toi 14%


Official AF votes ranking (After):
Toi 19% (OOOOMMMMMMGGGGG!!!!)
Stacy 19%
Nubhan 17%
Riz 16%
Nadia 15%
Stanly 14%


Stacy (Beat It)



Overall I thot she did OK. Her articulation wasn’t good but it was a tough song, and difficult choreography. If anybody out of all the remaining students could pull this off, it would be Stacy. Looking back the entire 9 concerts this season, Stacy has earned her ticket to the final.


Toi (Kau Yg Bernama Seri)



Ok he improved, by Toi’s standards mind you. But Malaysia went craaaaazzzzyyy and sent Toi to the top of the rankings. I’m scared. Very scared. What if Toi is crowned AF6 Champion???? Now, that would be one to remember…



Stanly (Kerana)





A long overdue farewell to Stanly. He has suffered long enough. Correction WE have suffered long enough.


Nadia (Lelaki Buaya Darat)




The song suited her vocals. It looked easy for Nadia to pull off this song. Horrid baju tho, ala-ala baju hujan plastic yg jual kat hardware store. I’m glad she got into the finals…hamper hampir terkeluar. If Nadia got voted out, and Toi got into the finals….i would be fuming angry.
Nadia reminds me of Amelya from AF3. Great powerful vocals, but never really the clear favourite. She’s worthy of a finalist, but I am quite sure she wont be crowned champ.



Riz (Rock around the clock)




It wasn’t good for me. Better than last week though. Its fair to say Riz only sings well when given songs in his favourite genre…that is R&B and ballads.
This performance reminded me of Vince singing Bunyi Gitar.

Credit goes to Cikgu Genervie on keyboard. I loved that jazzy solo piano part!.


Nubhan (Tapi Bukan Aku)





This is one of Nubhan’s wish list song. I expected this would be THE performance from him. (I love this song by the way) I feel like beating the boy up. It sounded flat to me at the beginning. Angsa somewhere in the middle. Very awkward hand gestures and purposeless walking around during the bridge. Then he sreamed out his emotions dengan sumbangnya towards the end.
Tapi Ning didn’t comment much on his vocals, so tak tau la if I sorang je rasa tak sedap.



The Duets ( Why tak ada kritik for the duet performances as well)

Stanly & Toi (Lagu Jiwa Lagu Cinta)



Letak tepi the sumbang mambang, the 2 guys look like they were having fun on stage….and I was singing along at home…hehe, if you cant beat them, join them.


Riz & Nadia (Endless Love)



It wasn’t perfect, but it was sweet. Macam betul2 in love je. There was one of the practices in the Diari when I thot Riz sang better than in the concert. Anywho, it was alright. My favourite duet of the night.



Stacy & Nubhan (Ada Cinta)



Stacy has been singing rather upbeat numbers the past few week I almost forgot how good she sound on slow ballads. Nubhan managed to survive the duet without any ‘angsa’. This couple remind me of scenes from Korean drama serials, kan?



One more week to go, any predictions anyone?

Anne Cedera

After working her butt off over two weeks, anne cedera. Kaki sakit. The last training she had on Tuesday, it started early morning when she woke up. The cause is unknown. She had to bear with it throughout the session, on high heels. By the end of it, she was almost in tears walking to my car.

Since yesterday Anne took a break from work. Anne left it to Jill to do all the typing work, and just sat and watch...(macamla dia kerja pakai kaki kan)

All client meetings will have to wait.

Anne wants to put her leg up and rest.

Pic by Jill Yusoff: 6 May 2008, Grand Blue Wave-Shah Alam

The Mango Sorbet Story

Konsert 8 Akademi Fantasia 6

Malas pulak nak review sebab dah hari Rabu - basi dah konsert ni. Cerita kontroversi Nadia and Riz tak jaga mulut lagi best untuk dilayan. It will be interesting to see if this will affect the votes for those two. Anyway, review lite-lite je la for this non elimination concert buat cukup syarat sebab every week buat review. Close of votes after konsert 8 was quiet surprising with Nadia at last place. Rezeki Nadia tiada penyingkiran. She deserve to be in the finals compared to Toi and Stanly.

Toi: It was bearable. (OMG, cant believe i just said that)

Nubhan: Sumbang & forced

Stacy: You're a STAR baby (hideous outfit though)

STANLY: Seksa. ('so what if i oversupport my notes', katanya!!)

Riz: Worst performance of the night. Sumbang mambang.

Nadia: OK. Had the attitude to carry the song.

AC: Blunders, blunders and more blunders....ada ke tanya ida nerina ada masalah keluarga????

Kerja Kerja Kerja

Busy preparing for tomorrow's training. Penat tapi cant complain, rezeki kan. Anyway, esok workshop on a topic that i enjoy speaking about. I just hope i am sufficiently prepared to handle the class.

Nanti esok malam i will update Konsert AF Review.

Have a productive week everyone.

The Mad Rush

The plan was to miss sleep and work all night last nite. At 9.45p.m. i had this brilliant idea that if i take a 2hour nap, i will be fresh to work through till morning. I set the alarm, and snooze it twice. The next thing i know, its 6.45a.m. Urghhhhh!!!!

I am conducting a training next Tuesday, plenty of time to prepare but the organisers want the materials today itself for printing etc. Remember i had a 12 hour workshop last tuesday, and wednesday i was just super tired. Yesterday i was half blur and half running around here and there. So today was the mad rush. From lepas subuh until 4pm. Tak mandi pun, mengadap computer je. Mamam pun mihun leftover from last nite sambil taip, zohor pakai baju tidor hehehehe......tak pernah lagi.

Lepas dah email the stuff, mandi and all after 5pm went to Curve to meet Jill to discuss some work issues. Lepak kat Big Apple. I got the half dozen, makan 2 and save the rest for the weekend. Love them cold doughnuts from the fridge;-)

www.flickr.com

Jill tak makan, diet...............hehehe.

I will have to work through the weekend, but at least it wont be a mad rush. (i think!) Happy weekend people.

Anne is Smiling Today

This morning, bangun2 je i found a reason to smile. I'm smiling silly. When i'm not smiling pun, my heart is smiling.

Kenapa? ade laaaaaaa....heheheh. (Nak jadi jahat, tak nak bagi tau)

Kerja banyak ni, deadline besok, penat kelmarin pun tak habis lagi.....but i'm still smiling.

Thank you so much to THAT person who got me smiling silly.

The Workshop

Its the morning after The Workshop, and my body is aching like i just ran a marathon. Thank God everything went ok. A few things i could have done better, but its always like that. Anyways, its my first time facilitating a brainstorming workshop - mana tau ada lagi opportunities lepas ni.

The nite before Jill and I had very little sleep, i memang macam tu - nervous. And Jill suka work under pressure tau, her last minute preparations.

These are the pics from the nite before

Anne going thru the 'storyboard'

Jill making 'toys' for the groups

My living room jadi shipwreck

Pictures from the workshop nanti have to wait for Jill to download from her digicam.

At the end of the day, if the client feels they have paid their money's worth - i am happy.

Konsert 7 Akademi Fantasia 6

The Opening

Very simple, walaupun Less is More, i expected something spectacular sebab this round the venue is Istana Budaya.

Medley lagu bonus

Biasa sangat…takde semangat or excitement bebudak ni nyanyi. I didn’t enjoy it.

Overall, i didnt find the concert spectacular, i suppose with the student's capability this season, semua orang have learned to accept and expect less from them. Here are my take on the concert, as what I heard from my living room. I'm sure if you are present at IB, it may sound different.

NUBHAN - Dealova

It wasn’t too bad. He started out good and somewhere in the middle he just lost it. A rather safe performance. It lacked emotion I suppose which would have made it better. (Trivia: Faizal dah nyanyi lagu ni masa AF4 kan....hmmm, this is the first season yg they allow repeat songs.)

STANLY – Footloose

I was scared to watch this. How bad is this gonna be??

He tried no doubt. But cmon, it wasn’t good. Ning kata this is your best side….ya la all the other concerts scary side je….hehe. He’s always trying too hard. Adlin spot on…sifat perasan bagus dia kept him going. It’s the 7th concert, I don’t think Stanly deserve a spot in the final.


ALIF – Rozana

Berani mati statement Amy, if you fail deliver you should quit from singing. Hahah. Alif tak paham kut. Muka blur je.

I find it boring, macam takde emotion, but then Alif nyanyi lagu apa pun macam ni. Adlin cakap macam video klip murah-murah kat karaoke….hehehehehehe. Spot on Adlin, tiada cacat cela, tapi hambar je. Having said that, in my opinion Toi and Stanly should go first before Alif.


TOI – Shakila

To be fair, ada la nampak dia attempt some improvisation in the song. Malas komen la. AF dah jadi level program Audition kat NTV7 dulu kalau setakat level Toi ni sampai minggu ke 7. He just doesn’t have it in him. Adlin again statement berani mati, macam prebet kena tembak mati 13 kali.

NADIA– One Night Only

A difficult song for this young lady. Have to give her credit for being able to carry it. She had confidence issues the whole week, and she did well considering. Nice of Adlin to ask for the applause kasi Nadia confident sikit. Amelya and Zarina wasnt audible at all. (Cuma kesian Amelya and Zarina macam waiting for something to happen je lepas habis nyanyi, kalau Aznil dulu dia mesti layan kejap, at least salam2 cakap sepatah dua. AC tak layan je)


RIZ – Memburu Impian

Sedap pulak lagu ni diorkestrakan…credit to Pengetua for the arrangement. Masa Ning mintak appalause for the arrangement kesian pulak Riz dah pejam pejam mata suka ingat for him. Anyway, he did well…..of all the guys, Riz is the best for the night. And yes, Riz needs a haircut.

And that whole Mat Motor scetch was lame and felt like forever.

STACY – Hati

Stacy did well, as usual. Tapi for this concert, I prefer Nadia’s performance, maybe sebab lagu ni boring sikit.

Music of The Nite

It was better than I expected. No one was expecting spectacular I suppose. It wasn’t great but Stacy and Riz saved the Pengetua from embarassment. Anyway, that’s my opinion. Tak sabar nak tengok their Monday performance review.

Menuju Puncak

This week tak boleh nak miming sebab different arrangement kan. Tapi kenapa Stacy sorang je nyanyi. Yg lain tu nyanyi one line je part lain malas. When it comes to singing the AF anthem, ni la batch paling teruk.

Malaysia voted. Alif is out.
(Toi n Stanly ada lagi….ish ish)

Urgggh...the whole season is dragging along miserably....everything is just not working out, the new host, the students, the gimmicks. Tenaga Pengajar and Sarimah je ok. Letih, sedih.......

The pressure is ON

I was supposed to hibernate at home on Thursday & Friday, and do preparation work for the Training i'm gonna run on 13 May - but that didnt happen. My mind was just elsewhere. To top it all up on Thursday, there was some development on 'kes tipah tertipu' - not good developments!. So i was mostly irritated after i got the phone call - story ni simpan hari lain la ye. Nanti i emo pulak.

Anyway, we (as in my company) have this tentative booking for me to facilitate a brainstorming workshop on the 6th. So i woke up yesterday morning and realised its May 2nd already. Like OMG Jill, its the second already...and esok weekend!!!!!!!!!!....So after some smses and phone calls, the client (the Pulau Indah client) agreed to meet us dekat their branch at Amcorp Mall at 3.30pm to finalise things. (Yayy, its confirmed!, yayy...dapat duit masuk sikit!)

So Jill and I met up kat Subang to have a working lunch - prepare for the meeting. This is Noodle Station @ss15 Subang Jaya. Second time here.

the waiting area is comfortable...boleh duduk minum-minum

Best makan kat sini, sebab 1. Cheap (start from RM4.50 je for noodles/nasi goreng), 2. nice comfy place 3. banyak choices of food and drinks 4. free wifi. Parking je crazy kat sini. Got to know this place pun from Wahdi If you are ever in Subang, give it a try.

Cold green tea

Wantan noodle with BBQ chicken, served with soup

Jill, who wont start eating till she get that perfect shot of her food. (tau la phone baru kan Jill...hehehe, jeles)

As usual, kita orang mesti sampai awal...ye la, respect client's time kan. As usual jugak, client made as wait sampai almost 5pm to start the meeting. Lucky all went well, but they have high expectations....so the pressure is on to deliver.

at the meeting

Lepas meeting, client lapar pulak....layan la... belanja makan kat Sri Melaka at Amcorp Mall. I had the sago gula melaka, Jill minum je. Takde pics la, malu pulak nak snappy snappy depan client kan.

Habis makan, teman Jill pusing pusing Amcorp Mall tengok baju. Banyak small-small shops kat sini.....then i sent Jill back to her car in Subang. Lapar la pulak, we went to SS19 stalls, makan tomyam for dinner.

Tengah programme otak for this intensive working weekend...'WORK is GOOOOD', WORK is FUUNNNN!!', "WORK BRINGS $$$$$$$'....ehehehe. Have a good weekend people!.

Anne's Friday Reflections

www.allposters.com

“Tiada suatu bencanapun yang menimpa di bumi dan (tidak pula) pada dirimu sendiri melainkan telah tertulis di dalam kitab (Lauhul Mahfuz) sebelum Kami menciptakannya. Sesungguhnya yang demikian itu adalah mudah bagi Allah. (Kami jelaskan yang demikian itu) supaya kamu jangan berdukacita terhadap apa yang luput dari kamu, dan supaya kamu jangan terlalu gembira terhadap apa yang diberikanNya kepadamu. Dan Allah tidak menyukai setiap orang yang sombong lagi membanggakan diri.”

(Al-Hadid: 22-23)

"Dan sungguh akan Kami berikan cobaan kepadamu,
dengan sedikit ketakutan, kelaparan, kekurangan harta, jiwa

dan buah-buahan.
Dan berikanlah berita gembira kepada orang-orang yang sabar.
orang-orang yang apabila ditimpamusibah, mereka mengucapkan:
"Inna lillaahi wa innaa ilaihi raaji'uun".
(Al-Baqarah [2] : 155-156)

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I'm going thru very challenging times right now, career wise, financially, personally - kadang-kadang rasa nak give up. Bila baca terjemahan ayat-ayat ni (the above), its like chicken soup for my soul. Giving me a little strength to go thru it all. Just sharing it here for you to reflect ataupun maybe like me, your soul needs it.

Happy Birthday DAD!

I just got off the phone with my Dad...sedih pulak. I wished him Happy Birthday. Today is his 77th. I wish i'm at home and can make a fuss all over him. These days he stays in bed mostly and can only walk slowly around the house.

I missed those days he and mum will come and stay in my apartment, and i take them jalan-jalan. Dad loves to eat out. Dulu-dulu, he even enjoys it when i take him to watch movies at the Cineplexes (without mom). Its sad to see Dad so weak these days. He and mum dont travel anymore. He is most comfortable at home.

I miss buying him those huge bars of chocolates at the airport before i take a flight home. These days he has to watch his sugar intake. I miss buying him McChicken and Fillet-o-fish which for some reason he doesnt enjoy them anymore. I miss getting him Hello! magazines which he doesnt read anymore. I miss getting him Frank Sinatra CDs which he doesnt care much about anymore (altho he still loves it when i play him the songs). I miss taking him to bookstores and buying him crime storybooks, and the way he will always conteng-conteng any blank pages with his so-called book review. I wish I had given him more of everything while he could still enjoy it. Now the best thing we (the family) can give Dad is to make him as comfortable as possible everyday.

Happy Birthday dear Daddy. I pray to Allah for your good health, panjang umur and murah rezeki. I love you very much!

(and sorry i just mailed your birthday card yesterday!!!!)