2007 "deeperanddeeper" Love Log

Looking Forward 2008

Dare I?

2007 "deeperanddeeper" Travel Log

I usually don't travel much, but this year alone, due to work commitments, I was required to travel to India (twice), Thailand (once), Singapore (once), Korea (once) and Indonesia (thrice). Locally, there's Penang (countless), East Coast, Johor, Kuching and Labuan. Mostly, I didn't have the time to do sightseeing, and the places that I go to are uninteresting. But there are quite a few very interesting and memorable places which I have captured on camera:

The Church of Bom Jesus, Old Goa. More photos here.

Beautiful geological outcrop 120 km south of Coimbatore.

Well-maintained pre-war shophouses in Singapore

Well, it ain't that nice if you travel alone. It is always the companionship of friends that brings the joy of travelling to a much higher level. Apart from the Christina Concert trip to Singapore, I also had a very enjoyable road trip to Ipoh, Kellie's Castle and Cameron with the gang.

We spotted this cutie up at the mountains. (Hope he didn't mind his pic here)

Looking Forward 2008

Not too sure where else I'll be visiting next year. But definitely the state of Gujarat, India, for work in the next month. I don't mind a cuti-cuti Malaysia, but I'd like to spend a few days away from KL. Hmm... maybe that Serendah place that a few other bloggers visited this year? Or perhaps, somewhere bitchy (hehe... no la.... beachy).

I'd love to laze around by the beach under the sun with this guy.

2007 "deeperanddeeper" Music Log

For me, it has been a very exciting year for me! Two live concerts!!!

Christina Aguilera in Singapore (June 30, 07)

Gwen Stefani in Kuala Lumpur (August 21, 2007)

Then, there was the much awaited release of Kylie's new album in four years. I instantly loved it the moment I put the disc in the player. Welcome back, Kylie!

Kylie in 2 Hearts

Well, then of course, there was the Live Earth Concert on TV where Madonna performed Hey You, Ray of Light, La Isla Bonita and Hung Up. It is also the first time they showed Madonna's live performances on national TV. They usually edit her out.

This is also the first year that two major divas did not place a single in the Billboard Hot 100 single chart. Madonna has continuously charted in the Hot 100 chart since 1983's Holiday. Mariah has also placed a single every year in the Hot 100 since Vision of Love in 1990.

But are Madonna and Mariah fans worried? Should they be? Perhaps a little bit, in the era of Beyonce, Rihanna and Fergie. But both stars have been around for a very long time, and have developed a very large loyal fan base (just do a search on the net and you'll be amazed by the large numbers of established fan sites). Industry experts reckoned they'll continue to do just fine with the new albums out in 2008. While the topic is on Mariah, I'll just sneak in here a favourite mockery of Mariah (which I have posted before... I can never get tired of reading this funny album cover).

Click! Click! To read a larger clearer version!

Looking Forward 2008


So what's in store for 2008?! I don't know if there'll be any more interesting concerts around this region. At the moment, I am looking forward to see what is Kylie's next single would be. Rumours have it that it will be Wow, or In My Arms, but I hope it receives better reception than 2 Hearts. And I wonder if she'll ever come to South East Asia for her concert??


I am so looking forward to Madonna's new album, in which she collaborated and reportedly even did duets with Timbaland and the hawtness below:

2007 "deeperanddeeper" Gym Log

This year started off with a bang! It was about the tailend of BodyJam 38 then. Yes, with the gang, all addicted to BodyJam, we were almost in all BodyJam classes at Manulife, except classes during working hours. Being regulars, we soon made friends with other regulars. We travelled "cross- country" to IOI (to lend support to our then favourite instructor) and to LeisureMall (to check out what masculine Jam is all about - orgasmic!).

Then, Sindy upgraded to passport apparently for "convenience and health reasons", but we all knew it was for better opportunities in the pursuit of a mate. We were right. In less than 4 months, he got attached! Since then, he would only attend a Jam class in Manulife at most once a week.

As the year progressed, our favourite instructor began to fall out of favour amongst us. The unnecessary teasing/humiliation in class. And the same few tracks repeatedly (but in retrospect, I don't think the instructor is to be blamed on this one though, apparently, some members prefer to do the same tracks over and over again every class. Phuh!).

As year end approaches, after comtemplating long enough, I upgraded to passport to have a taste of variety of classes and instructors. Cardiodance became an instant favourite, but still have a lot to work on those challenging moves. Our interest in Jam waned quite drastically. 3 - 4 classes a week became only at most 2 classes currently. I intend to reduce it to only once a week next year!

Healthwise, it was a terrible year! I visited the doctor on a monthly basis for all sorts of ailment, but mostly due to fever, cough, sore throat, dizzy spells. I estimated that I was sick for at least 120 days this year! And right now as I am typing this, the recurring blockage of my right ear is irritating me, and i have a terrible painful mouth ulcer that has lasted a week! And of course, with my poor health, my weight training regime suffered. Earlier this year, I have managed to toned up to almost 59 kgs from 55 kgs. Friends were giving good feedback on my improved shape, but that was soon lost due to recurring sickness. I am now back to 55 kgs! Damn!

Looking Forward 2008

But regardless, I am looking forward to the New Year and I wished very hard that there will be fewer impediments to my weight training regime and cardio classes.
My target classes to attend (per week):
- BodyJam: 1
- Basic Step*: 1
- Cardiodance: 1
- Pilates*: 1
* On trial basis for 2 months.

Weight training:
- 3 - 4 times a week
- Up bodyweight from 55 kg to 57 kg (1st quarter)
- Up bodyweight from 57 kg to 58 kg (2nd quarter)
- Up bodyweight to 60 kg (by year end)

My inspiration?

Great size and shape for a bod, isn't it?

Scar

The flesh and the fantasies
All coming back to me
I can barely recall
But it's all coming back to me now...

How could I ever let this year pass by without remembering the 10th anniversary of the two very significant events in my life? As I was reorganizing my personal files in my drawer today, I came across an old folder where I had kept some of my most intimate and private letters and pieces of journal entries, where I have poured my heart out, documenting every little detail on the year that was: 1997. I have somewhat forgotten exactly how it had been... until today.

How could I forget?

Yes ..... July 2, 1997 ...... the day I finally liberated myself and first came out to Michael, at Light's Vision (or "The Park" as we fondly called it). There was no other way around it. It was such a relief, and Michael, the youngest of the brothers from Darwin, who was just going on 18 then, was as supportive as he could ever be. But I sensed it was somewhat a burden to him, for he knew something no one else did. Within the next two months, I came out to a few more friends. But the sense of relief was shortlived and I was back all gloomy again. I realized that no matter how selfish it was, for the sake of my sanity, I needed to liberate myself once again, and it was probably the most difficult thing I ever had to do in my adult life.

3 am, Sept 20, 1997 ..... Margaret Street ..... one night before Impressions. As I uttered the words "I like you Michael", I instantly turned away. Embarassed. Shy. Unable to bear the awkwardness of it all. Afraid of what will happen next. Michael stepped forward and looked at me and said "It's alright."

I probably freaked Michael out big time, and now in retrospect, he was probably the coolest dude I've ever known from the way he handled such situations.

Back then, there were lots of crying and I was a wreck. But over the years, my heart has turned hard and cold. I had never shed a tear or truly loved anyone since. And now, I realized I had possessed a somewhat distant soul.

My first love. The scar was deeper than I thought.

The Lazy Post

As the year draws to a close, I have so many thoughts, but lazy to put them in words. With so many public holidays and leave, I have more than enough time to put something down in writing, but my brain refused to work. I'm just plain lazy! Here's just a few pics that sums up the events in the past 1 week or so...

My birthday dinner with a few dear friends Pat, CK, Fable, LS and Eve at Moussandra.

Thanks for becoming such a meaningful part of my life!

An old lady at the Zoo in my hometown.

Dad and I took almost an hour to make these spherical "Eee".

The "Eee" offering to my paternal and maternal grandmoms and granddads.

And as the year end approaches, God has refused to let me remain "unsick". Although I don't have a flu or fever, I am feeling just as sick as ever as I've got various disorders from head to toe:

(1) My right ear is blocked, with that ringing feeling, and I am a little bit off-balance. And my stiff neck is probably related to my blocked ear as well.

(2) I bit myself and my cheeks are sore now. Eating is very painful.

(3) I've got haemorrhoids from over Stepping and over Jamming two weeks ago.

Arrgh!!!

Smoke Gets In My Eyes

How could clubbing be such an ordeal?

Just a few years ago, I used to go clubbing like twice or thrice a month, dance like crazy and sleeping at 4am was not a problem.

Last night, I almost slept. I was yawning away, feeling extremely tired. The smoke irritates my eyes and the music is merely noise to me. It was extremely difficult and painful to endeavour to keep awake. I wished that I was home sleeping instead. Age is catching up with me.

Will this be my last club entry stamp on my arm?

The College Boy

The warmth of his youthful smile beckoned me. He led me up to the little room up the spiral staircase, as if I was a fragile little child that needed to be handled with extra care. "Careful, he might break", I could almost hear him say....

[Post exported]

Spice Up Your Life With X

Yesterday, I spent a tiring 8 hours in Bukit Bintang area and what did I buy?

Kylie's new tenth album, aptly named X, and yes, the Spice Girls' Greatest Hits album. I'm a BIG fan of Kylie (and and in some ways the Spice Girls too), so that's why I always buy ORIginal discs when it comes to artistes that I appreciate, and especially those albums that I know I will never get bored listening to. Furthermore, both are sold at RM38 each, and both comes with DVDs. Kylie's album comes with a bonus DVD of an interview, photo gallery (with White Diamond music in the background), and the MTV for 2 Hearts. The Spice Girl's DVD contains ALL the girls' MTVs.

I also bought three books for the price of two. I absolutely loved the movie version of Notes On a Scandal so I wanted to read it again. The other two sounds interesting, Man Walks Into A Room and Can't Wait to Get to Heaven.

I think I'll do a review of the books after I read it, if I'm not too lazy. But for now, here's my review of Kylie's album, X.

I have heard this album three times now. It's been like 4 years since her last album Body Language was released. I didn't think too highly of Body Language. There were only a couple of great tracks: Slow and Red Blooded Woman, and perhaps Promises. As for the other tracks, I just don't get it. Body Language was pale in comparison to Fever.

I think X has a good blend of the new Kylie and a sprinkle of the old Kylie here and there. I can't quite describe the new Kylie, but the old Kylie is the bubble gum pop and very campy at times. The new Kylie here is very distinct, somewhat electronic and I think this new theme and sound bind the whole album together.

Unlike the songs in Body Language, I could connect with all the songs in this album here. I got a bit of deja vu here and there as a few songs sounded typical of a few artistes. For example, Speakerphone sounded like a recent Madonna record with all the vocoder, and the way she sang All I See sounded so Janet Jackson. In some instances, you'd think of Gwen Stefani in Heart Beat Rock and Nu-Di-Ty.

The One is just sooo campy... so Kylie in I Believe In You, but better. Perhaps, a little too campy for this era. Haha! Wow started off almost sounding like Holiday (Madonna) and A Public Affair (Jessica Simpson), and it has that familiar background beat throughout the song. But I think Kylie successfully made the song her own with her signature style. But in certain parts, it reminds me of that Lene (?) girl in Aqua singing Doctor Jones.

There's this track, Rippin Up the Disco isn't actually on the CD but you can download after following a link when you pop it into your PC.

My immediate favourites? 2 Hearts, In My Arms, The One, Heart Beat Rock, No More Rain, All I See and Wow. The rest will surely grow on me as I listened to it more. No bad/lame tracks!!! This album is comparable to Impossible Princess in terms of listenability (is there such a word?) and creativity. Thumbs up for Kylie! Love it! Love it! Love it! I am so happy! :-)

BodyStep, BodyJam and CardioDance

After horrifying weeks of doing Canned Heat, Buttons, Boom Boom, Hips Don't Lie and GoodLuck repeatedly, I finally waved them goodbye.... at least for another 3 weeks. Yes, the new release is here!

Today, there was a sneak preview class for BodyStep and BodyJam at Manulife. I just don't know why they have to call it 'sneak preview' instead of a launch. After all, they did the full new releases. Anyways, after more than a week of lack of gym, I headed to the gym just before the BodyStep sneak preview. I rarely go for step classes. Was afraid of the board after I fell once. But Jam will only come on in another hour, so I gatal and decided to join in the step class. It was more interesting than I remembered, perhaps the new release contain quite a number of tunes from the 70s and 80s. It was fun! I have never stayed on in a BodyStep class in its entirety, but today, I was full of energy and stay till the end. I think I'm gonna start picking up on step classes.

After one tiring hour of step, I stayed on for the new BodyJam 43 release. It wasn't as drama as the previous few releases. The first block supposingly had a disco feel and the second was supposed be 'house'. Whatever, but I didn't really think the first block was disco at all. Yes, it had a bit of 70s and 80s tune to it, but definitely not disco. Most of the moves were quite new and somewhat difficult to execute on first try. Tonite, sure suffer one, after back-to-back step and jam classes.

Yesterday, we had a very enjoyable CardioDance session. We paired up boys and girls, and it wasn't until when Jimmy put on the music near the end that I realized that we're gonna do Grease-type of dance! So fun! But we didn't have enough time to familiarize ourselves with the music, so a bit of havoc when we had to dance it out twice as fast as when we practised it. Yes, definitely more Cardiodance classes for me!

Campy Cameron

With my week-long flu refusing to go away, I was forced to take a medical leave for the second time that week. My head was spinning, my throat got re-infected again, and my fever had returned, threatening to make me pull out of the Cameron trip. Sindy had said that perhaps I would heal better up there, but I was worried it I would more likely to suffer than to heal. So I drank several cups of hot Hor Yan Hor tea that evening before our departure. Supposingly, it would cool down a 'heaty' body. Miraculously, it worked, and I was all well again later that night, except that it kept me wide awake until 3 am. Yes, if you are in desperate need to get well from sore throat and flu, try Hor Yan Hor tea... guarantee to make you well instantly!

With just 3 hours of sleep, I woke up the next morning and was set for the much needed holidays. So, the four of us straight-acting macho gym boys, two of whom are sinful bloggers, set off our road trip first to Ipoh for breakfast. Then we visited Kellie's Castle for cam-whoring, before driving up the winding road to the Camerons.

The hills are alive with the sound of music

With songs they have sung for a thousand years...

Yes, the hills were alive, until the cool pristine ambience was shattered by high pitch squeals, as the straight-acting macho gymmers transformed into the campy drama queens....

The hairpin bends on the very winding stretch of the road up the hills proved too much for the queens.


There was plenty to eat and drink throughout the trip, except for cocks, balls, nipples, cum and assholes. The drama queens abandoned their normally gruelling gym and diet plan in favour of Ipoh's famous Salted Steamed Chicken, yummicious Ipoh Dim Sum, the 3-colour drinks, Cameron's sweet honey corn and fried mushroom, more tea, and steamboat. On the way back, we had to make a mandatory stop in Ipoh again to try out the special Curry Chicken wrapped in bread.




And of course, there was plenty of time for the drama queens to hiao in the hotel room. As night fall, and no hunks were spotted at the highlands, the queens grew more and more restless and desperate. Yes, desperate they were, as they proceeded to show more and more skin, unnecessarily proclaim love and affection to one another to the extent of engaging in mock sexual acts. Unthinkable!

The drama queens not only hiao in the privacy of their hotel room, they also shamelessly hiao in public! Shameless!!!



Definitely, this is a trip to remember and cherish, as the bond between the drama queens grew stronger.



Yes, they even planned for their old age.... as they made a pact to grow old and retire gracefully in Cameron Highlands. With their savings, they would buy and live in a bungalow with a little garden manned by a few hunky workers.




As the drama queens made their descent, they also pledged to return very soon to Cameron. There is a very good reason to come back and enjoy the stress-free environment (except for the horrendous traffic jam).

And of course, that one good reason is this:

Selected pictures courtesy of BravingKL.