Concert! Day 2

Actual date: 30th March 2008
Taken from my ballet journal ^^

Thus arrives the final day of our concert.
I had to fetch Chia Hern (Ok, technically it was Dad who fetched her) again, and when we got there, the Haiwaiian girls were sitting on the audience chairs again like yesterday.
(Of course, the audience hadn't began to fill in yet, after all, we were told to come about 2 hours before the performance to get ready and stuff.)

Then we (Chia Hern, Lika & I) put our stuff on the chairs behind the VIP seats (for the time being).
Then we began chatting and putting on makeup (Chia Hern hadn't put on her makeup yet, and I didn't put on my lipstick).
We were later joined by Chien Yi, and then we got to taking pictures, because we hadn't managed to to take any pics the day before.
Oh, and Chia Hern went on a hairspray frenzy (literally, the can of hair spray, not the musical Hairspray).
On me. >__>
I swear that girl gets hyper at the weirdest moments. xDD

Before the hairspray incident.

I admit I sort of dreaded to handle all the girls of Premier Dance Academy by ourselves, but thankfully, they turned out to be better behaved than we give them credit for.
We were given water and bread again, this time the cream bun kind.
I didn't take one as I had something light to eat beforehand (and by that I mean 4 slices of bread. =.=), but which I am now regretting as I write.
(A/N: Remember that all these events happened on the date above, not the date I'm posting this.)

When the orchestra started off the first agenda, I literally had no mood to dance (due to certain reasons).
I felt like going home and just sleep instead.
But as our first dance Dramatique drew nearer, I found myself getting nervous.
And rightfully so.

• While dancing, my scarf got caught in my hair bun for a while when I was supposed to flip it.


• A bit of Chia Hern's skirt got hitched up as she stretched her arms to lift her scarf up.


• Jovy almost went in the opposite direction when we were 'running'.

Wow. That's a glitch for each one of us.
Maybe Lady Luck got tired of us and went on a vacation.
Yeah, that might be it.

Oh, and did I mention that today was our turn to have the air cond on on our side of the room? ^^
It was Shu Cia's side of the backstage room that had no air cond this time. xD

Just before the orchestra that was meant to be played before Krakoviak, we had this certificate presentation ceremony for all exam girls of 2007.
Nothing worth mentioning there.

All in all, although the changing rooms were not as crowded nor as sour-smelling as yesterday, I have to say that I preferred the atmosphere better yesterday.
And it also took less time for the girls to clear out of the room after everything was done.

Oh, and judging by the kind of 'cream bread' that was given today, yesterday's sandwhiches were better too. =3

So after the concert, Mum went backstage to congratulate me and inform me of what was the plan.
Then Hong Wen came too, and waited for me to pack up so he could send me home, as Dad's car had no more room to fit me and my bags.
We (Hong Wen & my family) ended up in the Cendol shop, to 'indulge' in the hot weather.
And I took 2 bowls of cendol. =3

......
....
..

Guess who's craving for cendol now?
xDDD!

Concert! Day 1

Actual date: 29th March 2008
Taken from my ballet journal ^^

Well, here it is.. Concert day #1.
I did my hair and makeup (ok, Ashley did my hair..) at home, then went to Taman Budaya.
I put my things in the room backstage, then went to go help Lika in organizing the younger students.
They were, to say the least, a big bunch of noise, but at least I can take comfort in knowing that they weren't too stubborn to begin with, and complied when we asked them to keep quiet (even if for a while), unlike that other group who sent us death glares when we told them nicely not to be so noisy.

The concert did not start at 8pm sharp (call it Malaysian time, if you will).
Instead, it started about 8.10pm.
Oh, and we got sandwhiches earlier on, too.
There were 2 boxes of sandwhiches (1 box sardine, 1 box turkey ham.. I think), 1 box of bananas and 12-3 boxes of mineral water.
I didn't eat my sandwhich until probably the 2nd half of the itenary.
Was busy helping in getting the students to follow orders.
Which was a challenge on its own. >___>

And since the younger girls were told to stay in the room backstage if it wasn't their time to go up on stage, it was pretty crowded when we went to go change for Mazurka & Valse.
And what's a concert without mishaps?
Someone spilt drinks on the floor, making most part of the room wet.
Which makes it even harder to change without getting our leotards dirty.
Thankfully, it sort of dried off when we went to change for Valse.
Stains on white would look very unpleasant, thank you very much.

I managed to exchange a few words with Ee Loe as well. (Btw did I mention that the last bit for Mazurka was played a tad too fast?)
And for Jovianne's group's chinese dance, LiXian and I had to help put the firecrackers at the front of the stage.

After the finale bow, the VIPs (who, up till now I have no idea what their names are, =3) went up to the stage and took photos with the group.
I heard that it might come out in the papers, though I didn't check.
Meh.

Anyways.. By the end of it, I was pretty much damp with sweat.
I went home, had a hurried shower, changed, then went with Lika and Gino for supper.
Gino would also be going back to KL that night, which means that Lika and I are left to take care of the kids all by ourselves the next day.
*gulp*

2008 Ballet Concert Rehearsal

Actual date: 28th March 2008
Taken from my ballet journal ^^

10 years ago, I had my first ballet concert at Taman Budaya.
I enjoyed it very much, and was anticipating the next concert to come.
I guess you could say that it was after that day that I found my passion for performing.

But 'next time' never came.
5 years passed, and still no event of any sort.
7 years came and went, still nothing.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that well, finally, the time has come.
10 years into my first ballet concert, we are finally going to do another.
And again, it would be with Khoo Academy.
*Insert silent squee here*

I was 10 years old when I participated in that concert 10 years ago, and I'm 20 now.
Wow.
I feel old. >__>

The concert will be held for 2 days, March 29th and 30th.
And I'll be doing 3 dances.
Meep.

Anyways, on to the rehearsal..

You know when you've had one of those really long days that all you wanna do when you get back is have your dinner, shower, and go straight to bed?
Well, it's one of those days for me.
And what a day it was! *phew*

It was the day before the Saturday performance, and we're having a full dress rehearsal, complete with makeup, but minus the wardrobe change.
As was usual, we practised first without the orchestra (they would be coming later).
We had to be there from 6pm-Godknowswhattime.
Seriously.
The first practise last week ended up finishing an hour late.

One thing I learnt today though, is that when you're tired, sleepy, and hungry all at the same time, God seems to have a sense of humour.

When the orchestra arrived, Mr Khoo suggested that we go through the program accordingly (not that it's bad, though).
So, we did.
Then came Mazurka De Salon.
As the lights dimmed, we went on stage and got in our positions.
Then, the pianist started playing.
And the music was probably 2 times faster.
(I don't blame her though, it's only her 2nd time playing the piece.)

As our dance finished, we went backstage, panting, only to have Mr Gino call us out to do it again again.
Only this time, he stood next to the pianist to guide her through the tempo.
Yes, we were tired the 2nd time around.
Yes, we were sweating and panting (if not more than before).
What did I tell you? God has a huge sense of humour. =3
(With all due respect, I meant that as a joke. In case you didn't get it.)

Finally, we rehearsed our finale (no pun intended, lol) and by the time everything was over, it was close to 11pm.
Wow, now where did the time go? *sarcasm*sarcasm* Lol.

I was so hungry that dinner (grandma's roasted honey chicken) tasted exceptionally good.
Of course, not that it wasn't before. Just.. Extra good. xD
After dinner, I was stuffed.
And I practically hibernated on the downstairs couch for a little over half an hour.

Beauty & The Beast Musical

Actual date: 30th June 2008
Performance date: 29th June 2008
Taken from my Livejournal.

EDIT: I added the pictures! ^^

I actually wrote the first part of this entry on the night I came back itself, but then I fell asleep on the entry. Yeah, tired much? *^-^*
So, I had to rewrite the entry which, thankfully, wasn't much because it was mostly crappily written anyway, and only a few lines which were very poorly put together.
(And no, my use of bad english is not part of my exhaustion. Blame it on Lika.)
So here's my rewritten, and hopefully better version of yesterday's escapades:

Our bus was to leave the station at 9am, and Lika was holding the bus tickets.
I arrived a little later than I normally do whenever I was going to KL, and that was around.. 8.45am or something, I think..
I smsed Lika to ask where she was, but no reply. Dad offered me his phone to call her, so I did.
Several times.
But she didn't pick up her phone.
Finally, I just decided to go wait at the platform she mentioned earlier. (Platform 5)
There, I tried calling her several times (again), and after what seemed like the umpteenth time, she finally answered with a hurried "Yeah yeah, I'm on the way..!"
So I waited.
And waited.
When did she arrive?
At least about 9:01am.
Thankfully, I had told the bus driver to wait a while for a friend.
Otherwise, I think they'd have left us. Phew.
I saw Lika running towards the bus, bus ticket in hand.
She huffed, then muttered a sheepish apology to the bus driver (who just smiled) and handed our tickets.

Lesson of the day?
Never let Lika hold the bus tickets again.

So anyways, we got on the bus and headed off to KL.
The usual happened, listening to out iPods (or in Lika's case, her PodPod), chatting, and attempting to sleep. Nothing worth mentioning, yeah.

When we arrived at KL, we made our way to the LRT station to go to KLCC, which sees us having to change LRT stations to get there.
It was also then that I found out my so-called Touch N Go card doesn't work.
Wtf. =.="
So anyways.. We made our way to KLCC and got there at about 1 something (which by then had me pretty much sweating already).
Our original plan (and thought) was to get to the main entrance of KLCC (according to the message mum sent me), get our Beauty & The Bitch (as Lika put it,) tickets and have lunch. But I later reread the message to find that it said 'Main entrance of the KLCC Convention Centre'; not KLCC main entrance, as we thought, after failing to spot the ticket booth at KLCC's entrances.
Yes, we're dumb.
So instead, we had lunch, walked around a bit in attempt to find Dona a birthday present, and then went to KLCC's Convention Centre to collect the tickets.
We asked around as to where to get it, then went to a little reception kinda booth and collected the tickets.
After that, we loitered around the foyer for a bit (seeing as it was almost time for the show anyway), looking at the souviniers on display.
A certain key chain cought my attention, as it could open up and in my opinion, double as a locket.

We told the guy there that we'd come back after the show to continue looking around.
All in all, our seat this time was fairly closer to the stage than the previous musicals that we attended (My Fair Lady & Chicago), but I still wore my glasses for a clearer view. ;)

It was, by far I think, the best musical out of the two I've seen in the past.
Although I didn't really fancy Beauty & The Beast, this musical performance amazed me.
There were several touching parts that almost brought me to tears (ALMOST!), and it was much funnier than the cartoon (Lumiere & the Beast).
One of my favourite lines:

Lumiere (to the Beast): "Say something about her dress! (reffering to Belle's dress)"
Beast (to Belle): "It's red."
xDD

After the show we went back to the foyer, and in the end I bought the program book and my favourite keychain-cum-locket. *beams*

Lika got herself the charm bracelet.
Upon entering KLCC again, I met Uncle Kenneth. We talked for a while before taking off.
Then Lika & I took off to Kinokuniya to browse books, and went our seperate ways, promising to meet at the shop entrance later.
Surrounded by books, we ended our little shopping spree a little behind schedule.
I didn't even get to see the Entertainment section of Kinokuniya! T__T *sobs*
All the while, I kept my eyes on the lookout for books/magazines on DBSK (they have a rather big section of Japanese mags & books! ), before realising (very) later on that DBSK was mainly a Korean band, although they do understand/speak and sing in Japanese.
Slow much? Wth. =.="
I ended up only buying an English Bleach manga.
So with that, we went to Genki for dinner, only to see that it's been replaced by a Sakae Sushi.
As we didn't have much time on our hands, I only ordered fresh Salmon with rice (forgot the exact name), though I wanted to try the Gyoza (*cough*Arashi*cough*).
After that we managed to make our way to and change LRT stations without hassel.
The hassel, however, came when we had to walk to Puduraya from the LRT station from Pasar Seni.
It was drizzling then, and we had to walk all the way there (about 20 mins walk), asking for directions on the way.
And let me tell you that sweat and rain don't go well together.
We weren't soaked when we reached Pudu, but we were damp.
Let's just say I was glad when we were abroad the bus.
However, I couldn't rejoice 100%, as the bus was not a very new one and I saw a baby cocroach (and 2 other little baby cocroaches I think, which I killed.) lingering on the wall near my seat.
Urgh.

Lika and I slept through most of the journey back, we were tired (and Lika exhausted).
Oh, and another teeny weeny problem?
The bus was too.friggin.cold! (the cockroach probably froze to death over this time period).
They had those air conds where you couldn't shut them, cause they had air cond coming out of both ways.
I swore everyone was silently freezing to death, until a guy went up to the bus driver during the break and must've told him to turn off the air conditioning.

Lesson 2: Bring a bigger, warmer jacket next time.

It felt good to finally be back at Kuantan again, and on the way back home I got dad to stop by at McDonalds and get me 20-piece chicken nuggets. ^-^

Aah.. That was a long day, was it not?
Nice, but a long and tiring day nonetheless.
Feels so good to be able to sleep properly (not to mention cleanly!) in my own bed.
Oh, and another thing DBSK-related..-

Because I've been seeing DBSK lookalikes throughout my time in KL.
Wtf.
First, when we were at Sakae Sushi, I swore I saw a guy looking like the younger version of Yunho.
He must've been working at KLCC, since he wore a black long-sleeved shirt with a tie and black pants to match.
He was cute, but sadly, he hardly noticed me.
*sigh*

Then, as we were making our way to Pudu, we passed this phone shop and there was another boy who I swore resembled Yunho in the slightest. And I swore he looked at me as we walked past.

And then there was that one guy in Pudu who looked like Changmin. I didn't really get a good look as we were passing through, but from a glance/from the expression he was making, he definitely reminded me of Changmin.

Oh yes, there is one more.. This one just walked past us, but I was so sure he reminded me a teeny bit of Jaejoong. I never got a second glance.

*sigh*
Someone needs a life..

Advanced Foundation in KL

Actual date: 22nd April 2007
Taken from my ballet journal ^^

Ok, so this time, the 3 of us are going.
And again, we would be going by bus (only this time, to KL. Yeah. =3 ).

The journey there was uneventful, though more eventful than when I went to Terengganu.
(Shu Cia resumed her hibernation process, but at least I had Lika to talk to this time. ^^)
I didn't exactly sleep much in the bus. Maybe a few winks.
Maybe it was due to excitement or something. (I'm going to KL! With my friends! ^^ It's been a while since I last went, the last time being when I went on a school trip in std 6. =p )
I didn't eat anything when we stopped at the rest house in Temerloh too.
(Saving for the proper lunch at KL perhaps? xD)

When we finally arrived at the bus stop in KL, we took a monorail to Sentral, where we were supposed to call Gino.
He came shortly after and took us to Ms Tam a.k.a Sue Yin's place.
The dance studio turns out to be Dance Plaza, only at a different venue.
Dance Plaza was the place where I had my grade 8 exam rehearsal (or was it exam too? Ah well..) almost 3 (now 4,) years ago.
Back then it was at the old location.

Ms Tam's place was decent (ok, screw decent, it was nice).
She even had a maid to clean the studio (I'm guessing everyday, or at least on working days), and then there was the studio's chubby pet cat.
Back at the stairway (at the bulletin board alongside it), there was a flyer stating that a 'friend' was missing.
And that 'friend' happened to be a dog.
When we saw the chubby cat, Shu Cia grinned saying, "Guess where the dog went?"
LOL. xD

We had wanted to go for a light luch before class (seeing as none of us really ate much during the bus break), but we were told to wait for another lady, as we were supposed to go for luch together.
But by 1pm, the lady was still nowhere to be found (class started at 2pm), so we decided we'd better get a move on or we might not get to have luch at all.
We went to the nearest stall, which happened to be a Mamak shop.

A guy came to take our order, and for drinks I asked for blackcurrant.
The guy pointed at Coke.
I told him no, and I repeated that I wanted blackcurrant.
Then he pointed at Vanilla Coke. =.="
By now, both Lika and Shu Cia were sniggering.
I got up from my chair, went to the fridge and pointed at the one I wanted.
Blackcurrant.
I sat back down as the guy took the drinks and gave me... F&N Orange.
What.The.Fish.
How blur can you get?? =.="
*sighs*.

Then came time to order the food.
There were no menus, so Lika asked him (the same guy that took the order for our drinks, btw.)what they had.
Shu Cia ordered roti canai, and Lika and I ended up ordering Maggi Goreng Pattaya.
Obviously, Shu Cia's came first, then Lika and mine.
As he served one dish first, Lika told me to have it.
I tore the layer of egg open to find rice staring back at me.
Rice. Nasi.
I swore I almost headdesked in frustration.
Lika got the same. Rice.

Not bothering to complain, we finished, paid for our luch, and left for Dance Plaza.
Then we changed in the 'changing rooms' upstairs.

The teachers entered late, so to fill up the time where we spent waiting for them, we joked about.
And laughed. Hard.
Until my tears came out.

Ms Tam was a kind lady, as we soon found out.
But like all other ballet teachers (probably excluding Mr Gino.. Heh), her performance expectations were high.
Her students could do triple pirouettes like a walk in the park.
And to think, I was having trouble doing double. =.=
Oh, and she allowed us to have short breaks and drink some water in between, when she was discussing with Mr Gino and that other lady teacher.
(Ms Chua had not approved of us drinking water, when we asked if we could drink back at Terengganu, she replied with a "Huh? So little while want to drink already? If class is 5-6 hours then I'll let you have one break la.." I swear that woman is loco. =.=)

After class, I was hot and sweaty, yes, but not too tired.
Heck, after surviving 3 straight hours at Ms Chua's, 2 hours seemed.. tolerable. xD
Lika, however, was exhausted.
Don't blame her though. At Gino's, we do talking most of the time. xDD

We changed our sweatily-clad ballet leotards to regular clothes, and Mr Gino sent us to KLCC, where we had Genki for dinner. xDD
The salmon was heavenly, btw. ^^

After dinner and browsing about KLCC, we made our way to Pudu.
It was crowded with people and trust me, being a girl and all, you wouldn't want to find yourself alone there.
I sat myself and my bag down on one of the benches.
Not-so-good move.
Because I've been carrying that knapsack around since after class, the moment I slipped the shoulder straps off, a layer of wetness had formed where the strap used to be.
*__*

Once in the bus, both Lika and I were tired, sweaty and exhausted.
THANK GOD the bus had air conditioning, or we would have died.
Literally.
At least I know I would.

Going To Terengganu for Advanced Foundation

Actual date: 3rd December 2006
(Yes, you read right.. 2006. It was that long ago.)
Taken from my ballet journal. ^^

Shu Cia, Lika & I would be going, with me taking notes of the counting/steps etc, and taping the lesson, if I can get dad to lend me his camcorder.
We would be going there by bus, and the fees divided, both Lika & Shu Cia would have to pay RM75 each for the class that day.
I, on the other hand, didn't have to pay since I wasn't gonna be dancing.
Or, as Gino put it, "You watch them suffer." xD
Indeed, as class would be 3 hours straight! O.o
No doubt they're gonna suffer.
Well, Lika at least. =3

But as fate would have it, Lika texted me the day before out little 'field trip' to say that she had a fever, and that if it didn't subside come nightfall, she would not be coming and I might have to dance in her place.
(That is, if Ms Chua still collected the RM75 despite Lika not dancing.)

So on the day of departure (did I mention that this would be a one-day affair? Because it is. our class starts at 4pm and ends at 7pm, then we'd be taking the 8.30pm bus back), I brought along my leotards, tights and shoes, just in case I'll be needing them later.

I arrived at the bus stop at about a quarter to 11am.
Shu Cia was already there, so I joined her.
Shortly after that, her husband came with vegetarian food for her for the journey.
(Shu Cia is a vegetarian, if you haven't figured that out already. =) )
Terengganu had only 1 vegetarian store, she said.

The bus came not long after, and after checking the tickets, the bus left at 11am sharp.
The journey wasn't very eventful, considering Shu Cia took out her inflatable pillow, blew it up, and was out cold even before the bus left the station.
=.= Okayy...

So I spent the journey looking at the scenery and sleeping.
I decided agianst listening to the mp3s on my phone, just in case the battery died on me along the way, leaving me unable to contact mum and Hong Wen until I reached Kuantan safely.

We arrived at Terengganu at around 3.30pm, leaving not much time for us to find a taxi to take us to our destination.
That, and one wrong turn/wrong information, and we're screwed.
Literally.
Luckily though, we managed to get a taxi, went through the correct roadways and arrived at Dance Dimentions on time.
When we turned up at the studio, however, we learned that Ms Chua had not arrived yet.
But there were grade 7 girls practising in the studio by themselves.
And joking around, of course. Still, they at least were much more hardworking than Gino's students ever were, me included. =3
Shu Cia then rather dashed to the toilet, having been bursting to go since in the bus not too long before we arrived. xD

I contemplated if I should change to my leotards or not, just in case I had to dance also later.
I asked Shu Cia, and she said why not, might as well.
Plus, I'd be having the benefit of the doubt.
About 10-20 minutes later, Ms Chua arrived, and we started class not long after that.
And yes, I had to dance too.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~A gruelling 3 hours later~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

My feet would've been shaking had I not controlled it.
My toes felt as if they were gonna drop off (though we hadn't done pointe work, THANK GOODNESS for that), my left leg felt as if they would have a major cramp up with one wrong foot move, and I was so hot and tired that I could barely jump an inch off the floor anymore.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, earlier before we stepped out of the taxi, Shu Cia managed to get the taxi driver's phone number, so we could call him to get us once we were done.
So Ms Chua then suggested we call the taxi service, which we had trouble with, resulting Ms Chua volunteering to send us to the bus station in the end.
The next trouble was that there were 2 bus stations, and we hadn't known which one we would be taking off from.

After we found out and Ms Chua dropped us off at the respected station, Shu Cia and I had our so-called dinner, consisting of pastries (A/N: Dammit, now I'm craving for pastries.. xp), and waited for the bus back home.

Then, another problem arose.
(We seemed to attracting a lot of problems today ne?)
Our tickets stated that the bus is at 8.30pm, but when we found the respective bus, the bus driver told us that it wasn't that/his bus.
It couldn't have been the other one, as it leaves at 9pm.
And from whatever little experience I've had with busses (only one, actually.. This was my first time =3 ), the busses leave quite punctually.
We searched the station, and there were no other busses to Kuantan that would be leaving at 8.30pm.
To be honest, I was rather nervous that we'd miss the bus or take the wrong one.
If that was the case (God forbid), we had to buy another return ticket and find a budget hotel to stay in for the night.
And it was my 'time of the month' too, and I don't think I'd have enough pads (or money to buy the pads for that matter,) to last me till tomorrow.
Ew. Not nice.

Anyways, to cut the story short, turns out that our bus to Kuantan was actually the one leaving at 9pm.
Yippee.
Oh, and the bus was freezing too.
The air cond was the two-way kind, thus literally freezing me to death.
Even though I had my jacket on, the air cond was blowing at my nose. *__*.
Major brrr.
I managed to sleep a few winks though, and that was saying something, seeing as I probably looked like Rudolph, what with my nose freezing despite my attempts to cover it up with my jacket (it kept slipping off!).

Having said that, I guess you could say that it felt good to be in Kuantan again.
Home sweet home.
With warm toasty blankets. ^^