Boys' Concert Part II - The Show

The opening gong with pyrotechnics. Pew! Pew!11 o’clock sharp when the VIP arrived. They were taken through a procession upon entering the hall, all the way to his seat. After a couple of short speeches, he sounded the gong, and the show was on, with an accompanying firework. My Dad noted that there were no doa, something that I thought they overlooked.

The choir with its ultra-energetic conductorFirst up were the school choir. They sang a rendition of a local folk song which I couldn’t recall, followed by Lady Ga Ga’s “Bad Romance”. The Ga Ga number was quite fun I thought. This was followed by the kindy shows.

Kindy 2 showWatching Irfan strutting his stuffThank God there was no stage fight!First up were the children from Kindy 2 - 5 year-olds. This was followed by Irfan’s class - Kindy 1. Irfan was the star of the show. They did a Chinese dance with fans, and Irfan was a complete ace. I was worried that he will have a stage fright, but how wrong was I? He was so cool, remembered all the steps and was fantastic. His steps were much more difficult than Idlan’s actually, and since there were just six of them on stage, he was remarkably brave.

Idlan in his MJ-esque costumeHave you made a wrong turn?Next was Idlan’s Kindy 3. They did an Indian number, a la Bollywood, complete with a breakdance routine in the middle - which Idlan did not do thankfully. It was a crowded stage of around twenty plus, so the choreography needed to be simple to follow. No problems there either, but compared to Irfan, even his costumes were pretty simple, although he was ten times more excited with the whole thing. I managed to squeeze myself right in front of the stage to take some videos and pictures.

Yay! It was over!Starving in the endSince the children were released straight after, we had to fetch them and after a short meal - they were starving - we left, straight for lunch with their grandparents. The school concert for this year were themed on a musical. Reading between the lines and from the line-up of characters they had, I think it was based on American Idol with the contestant being school bands from around the world, a la Glee. It was a shame that we had to leave, as I thought that could be pretty exciting. I couldn’t expect my parents to be able to hang around for the next 3 hours for the whole concert.

So what did we do next? Lunch at Victoria Station. It has been a while since I went there to be honest. More about that one later!

Part I of the concert was blogged here, and the slideshow can be seen here.

Original Copy

Nagen doing some DIY on his photosCertainly it had been a cracker of a weekend for my 7D. Yesterday with the boys’ concert and today - Sunday - the scouting for the upcoming photowalk and then the trip over to the Curve to meet up with my fellow KLickers at the Laundry Bar. A couple of the KLickers were invited to talk about environmental photography as a theme for n event organised by Aesthetics online magazine and the Malaysian Nature Society.

The two speakers, Javad and Prakash - the boys from BombayOne of the six exhibitors was my cousin, AdiI wonder what Ripi was up to?More discussionsGetting the remote to work - it was all high tech stuff!We also had six of the photographers exhibiting their work at the venue. This was followed by a talk by Prakash Daniel, a fellow KLickr. He talked mainly about the effect of nature to our surrounding urban environment, and the pictures he exhibited were simply amazing. Unfortunately this was let down by the AV equipment they had at the venue. It was out of focus and just simply cannot cope with the contrast of the photographs being projected. This was made worst by the fact that the second speaker - Jaavad, the original Prince of Persia - he was from Iraq - had most of his photos in black and white.

Prakash - "It's showtime!"Javad - the original Prince of PersiaMinus his slippersJaav talked about his recent trip to Sri Lanka and how the interaction between the people and environment were a lot more direct there compared to here in Malaysia. He noted that since there were no refrigerators, food were cooked fresh and produce were bought and consumed on the same day. He also pointed out that since the country was in the process of rebuilding themselves after the bloody civil war, they were very happy to have tourists and photographers going around taking photographs of their country and the people. They were very willing to pose, and then will thank the photographer. For them, it was an opportunity to make the beauty of their country known to the whole world. I don’t think you can have any of that here! Look at Pavilion for a start. The moment they see a group of photographers lurking around, the security - who were mostly foreigners - will usher them away! Confusing wasn’t it?

The photographers about to introduce their workAfter the talk, the photographers who had their work on display had the opportunity to introduce the photos and ask for critique. We also introduced our group, KLickrs and our upcoming activities - to include the 1000 portraits of Kuala Lumpur for the upcoming Urbanscapes. Unfortunately I will be giving a lecture in Lumut that very day! We also had representatives both from Aesthetics and Nature Society making their appearances as well.

We then adjourned to .....This was how the photos would have looked like without the projector making a mess of themThe talk adjourned by half past 5 and the KLickrs then headed for ‘Waroeng Penyet’ for a quick tea and further chat. I also had the chance to get some take about the upcoming photowalk I was trying to organise. I had to leave early after some drinks as it was already getting late.

Slideshow for the event can be seen here. More info on KLickrs here.

Boys' Concert Part I - The Preparation

“I’m excited”, that was the first words that came out from Idlan’s mouth that morning as soon as he woke up. It was his school concert day, and he knew he had to be up early to be at the concert hall by 10. It was just past 7.30, and he was getting anxious that we might be late. I remember from last year that the concert used to start after lunch. It would start at 11 this time around, and it was at a new venue as well, about 15 minutes drive from here in Sentul. A newly renovated Chinese school event hall. A nice little place but less spacious than the previous hall the concert was held in Cheras.

Idlan's hair full of gel and glitterFirst order of business was to get the boys ready. Puan Anita had to dress them and sort the make-up and hair. No complains from her as she seemed to have enjoyed that a lot. Foundations, lipstick, eye shadow, the whole nine yards. It was bordering on child abuse to be honest! I am sure some of the photographs wiil haunt them for the rest of their lives should their future girlfriends got hold of them!

Last minute practice

We finally got everything ready by 9.30. Tok Abah and Tok Mak went along, and we finally got to the venue by 10.15. We were hardly late. After sending the boys off to the teachers, we went on to take our seat in the main hall. The hall itself could easily have accommodated 3000 people. It was three-quarters filled up by the time the show started. The hall was very well sign-posted from Jalan Genting Kelang. In fact, we scouted the hall earlier in the week. Unfortunately the parking space was rather limited, and we had to park our car at a nearby parking lot and walk across. It was a bit of a hassle for the grandparents. The entrance was only a floor up by stairs, although the stairs were rather steep. 

Tok Abah and Tok Mak at their seats. Tok Abah looked like Simon Cowell with the stare.On taking our seats, we noticed that there were a couple of big screens on the sides of the stage. There were video cameras recording the whole show and the feeds were projected straight onto those screen. Therefore, we did not have to rush to get a good seats in front. My Dad preferred to sit near the toilet due to his medications. Anita sat with her parents, but I sat nearer to the aisle to be able to sneak onto the front during the performance to take some photos.

Irfan ready to take the stageBoy! Does he look excited?These must be for the welcoming parade

The boys seemed pretty settled when we left them with the teachers. The had their final costume adjustments and final make-up applied. We were worried that Irfan would throw a scene, but he was completely cool with things instead. Idlan never had a problem mingling around with his classmates. He was certainly having fun with them, joking around and pointing out at their costumes.

We finally got ourselves settled in and the call were made when the VIP arrived for the opening ceremony at 11. I will write about he show on the next entry.

The slideshow can be seen through this link. Here is part II of this entry.

Irfan ........

I had a long Friday and was looking forward to sit it out in front of the television for the opening event of the World Cup. But guess what? I had to take Puan Anita to KLCC instead. For what you might ask? For make-ups!

Idlan uninterested as usual

It was not for her however. Saturday will be Idlan and Irfan’s school concert and Anita was asked to ‘prepare’ them, complete with foundations and glitters. Idlan’s hair needed to be spruced up with gels and stuffs. Well, a Dad got to do what a Dad got to do. He has to get some make-up for his boys …. And the rest was history!

And sagu gula Melaka for dessertWe stopped over for dinner at Madam Kwan before going home though. Irfan had 4 bowls of rice, but he vomited them all out shortly after since he was too excited and was running around too much. Luckily, the staff at Madam Kwan was really great and got everything cleaned up without a fuss, in under 3 minutes! That was service if you asked me. Irfan did make a proper mess mind you.

Anniversary Dinner

It was not actually our anniversary - yet! We celebrated my in-law’s 50th anniversary the other night, but unfortunately none of their other children were able to make it. We took them out for dinner, just the four of us and them. We initially wanted to bring them to Seri Negara - the other, some might say the better, half of Carcosa Seri Negara. We got in the act rather late, hence the place was already fully booked with a corporate event.

The next choice was Shangri-La. Again, the places were already fully taken up. We had to settled with our usual Chinese eatery at Corus Hotel - used to be called Ming Court - the Ming Palace. Anita did the booking, but we let the happy couple do the ordering. The dinner was delayed by the unexpected heavier traffic than normal leading out of Jalan Ampang. The boys were already grumpy by the time we reached there.

The condimentsIdlan just about managing it with the chop sticksMing Palace serves mainly Szechuan cooking, but the thing we likes about the place is the fact that we can modify the orders if we like to and even order off menu. This is important so that the boys can get what they wanted to eat. Corus has a few other eateries, such as the Japanese and Thai downstairs. Therefore, if Puan Anita decided to sneak in some tom yam if she liked to, she can just order. No issue. The service was also very prompt and most of the waiters already knew my Dad-in-law from his various visits there entertaining his business clients. The lady who served us also remembered Idlan from his birthday dinner we had here last year. 

The food for the boys arrived first, and after the finished up, there started to go hyper. I ended up having to chase them around the rest of the evening! Spoilt brats.

For starters, we had four season salad and crabmeat soup - I’m not a fan of shark fin. The best order for me that evening was the steamed cod. It was lightly marinated by soy sauce and some ginger, but otherwise left untouched. I ended up finishing it off and sipping the sauce. For dessert, we had longan and sea coconut. The ambiance was what you would expect from a decent, established Chinese restaurant, and so was the price. It was on the expensive side I must say. The service was prompt and the waiters certainly knew their menu and helped in making up our order.

The sea coconut and longanIt will not be fair to ask me whether we will come here again, since it is one of my in-law’s favourite joints. They have private rooms to accommodate business dinners, and family occasions. My children liked the privacy of the rooms. They can run around the table without the worry of knocking anything. As mentioned, the price was a bit on the steep side, but they do great seasonal discounts and good deals with credit cards payments - you get discounts of up to 20% with certain credit providers. But, no, I will not be taking friends here - it was far too expensive!