Monday, January 29, 2007

Shall We Dance? Blek~!

Everytime I meet somebody new, or just anybody, there will be a 68% probability that he or she will throw me a question:

How did you dance?

I wished I could tell them the whole story, but it will be as long as a commentator will talk over a football match between Manchester United and Arsenal. Or at least I could print out four pages of my story to save my enzyme amylase from depleting. Now, I found a solution. Blogging.

Here goes.

At the age of 9, I attended a meeting in Damansara Jaya (If I'm correct, it is Mr. Chai's House). There was a solo "Michael Jackson" dance performed by a young guy. He just wore a simple shirt, jeans and sunglasses. He was dancing to the tune "Rock With You" by Michael Jackson. In the middle of his dance, suddenly he walked up to me and try to pull me out to join him. I was very, VERY afraid. So, I didn't budge at all. The man used all his effort to pull me out, but I guess my buttocks get heavier everytime he tried to pull me. Hey, come on, I was only an innocent naive kid who gets freaked out at this situation.

In the end, my buttocks won. The man reluctantly gave up. I think I spoilt his show.

Since that day onwards, I started doing silly things for no reason. I would take the cushions from the sofa and lay it on the floor. Then, I would jump over it again and again and AGAIN as though I have built a mine field. Sometimes I would try to imitate Michael Jackson's move by simply jumping and kicking my legs all over the place. I can still remember myself asking my brother innocently: "Is Michael Jackson a boy or girl?" I could not convince myself that Michael is a guy.

Slowly, I began to slow down my moves, but still kicking. My hands will be the "ke-le-feh" as my legs flung all over the place. In some occasions, I will be asked to dance in front of my friends and everybody else. The adults will say, "Wow, so cute~!" Sadly, no one says I'm talented. Sob. [Got a slap in my face from an unknown force]

At the end of the year of Primary Six, my school (Yuk Chai) organised an inter class dance competition. So, the whole class were excited and there was up and downs during practices. Louise made a tape with combination of many songs. She did it one whole night, but in the end, we did not use it. As I think back these days, I felt sorry for her. The class also broke up into two groups with two different songs. After many quarrels, in the end one group compromised. And as the actual day arrived, something happened.

I felt sick!

I was forced not to go to school. I was forced to pull out of the competition. I was crying at home thinking how much fun that my class was having. I was frustrated, angry at myself. That is when I actually stopped dancing completely.

Two years later, suddenly Eng Eu asked me join in a performance during Secondary Two. At first, I wanted to decline the invitation because of what I went through. But since Eng Eu is my friend, I reluctantly accept it. I did not know this will change my life completely.

I met this guy name David Hie. He is a big fan of Michael Jackson (I was a fan of Michael Jackson, too, but not as much as David). He taught me a move that I was longing to learn since I started dancing: Moonwalking. From here, I started to like dancing all over again. I began to test some moves in front of a mirror. Practicing with the class made me happy and high like I never used to.

Guess what, during the actual day, I felt sick, again.

This time, I pushed myself over the limits. I went up on stage and start performing. I could still remember myself forgetting the last few steps and made up some moves of my own on the spot. After that, I walked around the school, trying to get rid of the headache and the faint feeling. In the end, I black-out. My friends rushed to me and try to massage my legs and hands to keep me awake. Pn Betty was really kind to help me too. After the small drama that I have caused, finally my father came to picked me up to go home.

Since then, I started dancing like crazy with passion.

I learned popping, robotic, gliding, old-school and many other form of dance from the Internet. I find every dance interesting. But still, I couldn't find the kick. So, I start messing around all the dance. It's like making chinese rojak. I mixed up every ingredient I knew. If there is a rule book for dancing hip-hop, I believed I have broken every rules inside the book. Every steps and dance I do is improvisation. I will dance first, then only I will think what am I dancing. Act first, think later.

Voila, I captured the essence of freestyling. The rest is history.

Now, I wished I could learn how to breakdance. All I could do for now is Six-steps, Swipe, Headstand, Switch and Three-steps only. I am hungry to learn more. Aiks, that reminds me. I'm hungry now. [stomach rumbling]

For you dancers out there, learning is a neverending journey. There is no such thing as a happy ending. There is no such thing as "END". It will just go on and on until eternity. Everybody have limitless potiental, but it's up to you to unlock it or not.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Life is Just Like That

Everytime I found a coin,
It'll surely be gone, that's the point;
Everytime I draw a bird,
Passer-by likely says I'm absurd;
Everytime I say my vow,
Many rolled their eyes, saying, "Wow.";
Everytime I blinked an eye,
One by one, my loved ones will say goodbye;

Everytime I found a love,
Something surely hit back, just observe;
Everytime I watch the clock,
The hands kept moving, as though it is a mock;
Everytime I state my case,
People loves to disagree, as always;
Everytime I seek a world,
It always ended up in a blur;

Why life is just like that,
Many thinks, "It's a matter of fact",
Why don't you look at it as a beautiful set,
A play that is for you to learn and act...

- Daniel Siow <28/1/2007>

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Part-Time Job...

One day, Daniel walked straight into a wall and got his head hurt badly... but a realization came into his mind...

Time to get a part time job.

Aiks... I found a job in One Utama (do not know why suddenly I liked the place). Actually, my old classmate said that since she resigned, so there is a vacancy in Everkids. I went into Everkids and without interview, I got hired. Weird.

Everkids sells furniture for kids. So, the showroom is very, VERY cute. Really. Anybody who pass-by the shop will exclaimed, "Wow, Barbie is so cute~~!" (Barbie is right in front as a display set... already out of stock in few days). Although the price is high (a simple MDF board chair costs RM284...), but it is well worth it. Being a part-timer, I have seen many kinds of people. A tycoon actually carries RM10000 in his hands. He paid RM16000 by cash. Whoa. CASH. Not cheque.

Somebody even bought the Barbie collection set (Bunk bed and a pull out for three person) for her three maids. How you wish you were one of them.

Recently, I have a customer who wants to buy furniture for her nine brothers and sisters. I was thinking, "You have an hyperactive mother...". One customer asked me to do all the measurements for every furniture and send it to him by email with pictures. When I sent it for the first time, it is 3 Megabytes. His email account is so "cacat" that the email is too large for his email account. What the...

Although I only have worked for three days, I learned a lot from the people from all walks of life. Each person has a different personality. Everybody has a different point of view and perspective. It is a must to respect everybody point of view. Do not disagree or criticise their point of view. Just give suggestion. It is up to them to decide whether to accept your suggestion or stick to their perspective.

But I have to agree that some are still very stubborn. =.="

Monday, January 15, 2007

Freestyling...

Check out my new dance video. Drop in comments on my dance. Hope you all enjoy it!

Saturday, January 13, 2007

A Very Weird Mathematic's Problem

This is freaky...really freaky.

My brother asked me a very weird question and it involves mathematics' solution. I am very into anything that has to do with numbers, especially maths. But today, I was dumbfounded. Until now, I have no solution. So is my brother (this question was asked by my brother's friend to him).

Here is the question:

There are three guys in a mamak store: Ali, Abu and Ahmad (names does not matter at all). After having a satisfying meal, the waiter came and told them that the total price is RM30. So, each paid RM10 to the waiter. But when the waiter gave the money to his boss, his boss told him it is actually RM25.

The waiter faced a dilemma now. He has to return RM5 to the three person. He could not find the way to divide RM5 to three person. Suddenly, he had an idea. He told the three person that he will give RM1 to each person, then he kept RM2 to himself as a tip. They all agreed.

So, let's look at the overall picture: Each person actually paid RM9. So the total is RM27. The waiter took RM2. Total: RM29.


So, what happen to RM1?????


I will be grateful if anyone can help or tell me the solution. Maybe there are some twist of words in this question (I'm suspecting the overall picture statement is the one that confused us). Tell me also if you don't understand. Gambatteh~!

Sunday, January 07, 2007

"I'm coming home, I've done my time..."

The title of this post is actually from the song "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree" by Orlando Jones. It's one of the Rainbow Junior Choir's (RJC) song. I can still remember myself conducting this piece of song and it's so cute to see the juniors hop around to show their back at the end of the song. Now, this song brings a true meaning in my life. (Only the first phrase...)

I'm back. From SPM.

It's a late comeback to the choir group. Reason: I was enjoying my holidays in a month. (Just joking...) It's so touching to be welcomed back to the choir and serve as a Person-in-charge. I was very surprised that the choir had learnt so many songs in four months only (I was absent for four months due to the major examination). It is also gave me a shock when the fact that the choir had improving so much in four months only. The new teacher (Zhang Lao Shi) must have really gave a big impact in them for four months only. (Notice the repetition of a phrase: FOUR MONTHS ONLY)

No wonder they were invited to perform with MPO (Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra). Wow.

So much things has changed as time flew by. The main person-in-charge (Yap Yuan Tian) is really good in leadership already whereas the assistant person-in-charge (Cheah How Yuen) is willing to play the "bad-guy" (Which means the fierce one, as nobody including me not willing to play that role...). I could not have imagined that Yuan Tian and How Yuen that entered choir same time with me [seven years ago] one day would lead the choir. As for me, I'm playing the friendly role in the choir. Getting "bullied" by the juniors is my hobby in the choir, but actually it is more than that (More on that in the later post). We three and some other seniors are the faithful ones in the choir. Thank you all so much for the support!!!

Later in the afternoon, I reunited with my dancing group, Hibiscus Artistic Dancing (HAD) group.

I realized that I have deteriorated so much in the sense of dancing. I have to repeat my steps again and again, unlike last time I could catch new steps fast. I had lost touch to the world of dancing already. I actually thought that this week's dancing steps is really hard. Oh dear. This is a real bad news to me. I have to start training my split all over again. Due to my fault of not doing my own stretching session at home, all my bones grew. My legs are so numb right now.

But this would not discourage me from dancing. I have to take this as a challenge. It is not the end of the world.

How I wished that the HAD have a freestyling session so that I can compare my freestyling moves with the experts. I believe that there is a sum of people that can freestyle really well. I want to learn from them!!! [Daniel, don't be so desperate...]

Here is a lesson to everyone: It's easy to stop what you are doing, but it is hard to continue from where you have stopped. You need effort and passion to continue. Nothing in this world doesn't need effort and passion.

Monday, January 01, 2007

One Utama's Countdown to 2007

How exciting it is to know that 2006 is about to float away underneath your feet and a new year is about to come? Today is the transition from year 2006 to 2007!! It is the year of James Bond 007. So get ready to expect a lots of action in this year. Wow, I can be a feng shui master already.

My R2P2's bunch of friends and I went to the countdown in One Utama's central park. Some fanatic friends of mine, especially Lee Mei, reached One Utama at 12pm. By the way, the countdown concert starts at 7pm. Lee Mei, you're crazy.

We manage to get to the front of the concert to get a clear view of the concert. The performance by local artistes are quite good. But the main reason why it has attracted more than 10,000 people is the two main artistes that made it to Taiwan: Gary Cao Ge and Nicholas Teoh. Must be their looks.

Ching Ying is the most fanatic person I ever seen. She kept screaming non-stop throughout Gary's and Nicholas' performance. An unknown guy in front of her actually closed his ears to prevent the piercing scream of death from entering his ears. I do really pity him.

Among all performances, Cao Ge singing Frank Sinatra's "My Way" made me screaming like Ching Ying. Maybe you won't believe me, but I was actually stunned by his performance. He was singing while switching between two voice which are low pitch and high pitch. It was as though there is two different person singing. And there was not a single flaw at all. His low pitch sounded exactly like Frank Sinatra and his high pitch sounded like Wang Lee Hom (not exactly, but if you actually heard it, you will fell in love with it).

Atak brought us to the open field across the lake to get a good view of the fireworks before 12am. From the field, we could see two different fireworks display: One Utama's and The Curve's. It really worth it, especially when you are lying back on the grass looking at the fireworks display as long as 7 minutes. It is as though the firework is right above you. Such impressive display, thanks to Atak!!

During the concert countdown, I lost my brother in the crowd. It is actually just a simple scenario of "getting lost", and it is supposed to be easy to locate him by calling him. But there was no reception for Digi's service in the central park, which makes life so much more difficult. I lost my brother the entire night until after the fireworks display. It is such ironic, where Digi is sponsoring the concert with the Digi center placed near the stage and they advertised themselves as "Wide Coverage". Hahaha. That is soooo wide. Maybe I should boycott Digi.

Overall, I had a lot of fun in the concert, singing along (or screaming along) with so many recognisable songs. Nicholas Teoh's "Dang Ni Gu Dan Ni Hui Xiang Qi Shui" is the main cause of my sore throat. Thank you R2P2!!!

And now, it is year 2007.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!!