《写歌的人》音乐会 The Songwriters' Showcase Series #3

It's back!

We're very excited! The line-up for Series #3 is simply fantastic... You've gotta come on 21st May (Monday). Come hang out at The Bee, Publika @ Solaris Dutamas. Show starts at 9pm, but come over and have a nice dinner and drinks with your friends. You won't be disappointed.

More information at our FB events page: https://www.facebook.com/events/414524225234911/

Free admission.

See you!

Adobe CS6 + Menya Musashi + Bumping into and Meeting with Friends & Family

What a day it was today.

I reached One World Hotel at around 9:45am. I felt a lil' awkward. It's been some time since I last attended a function this scale. Alone. And I was representing VIP for the first time officially. I told myself to relax, be cool and just enjoy the moment. So I did.

The Adobe Creative Suite 6 launch was pretty... normal. Nothing to shout about at the beginning. I did bump into two friends before the start of the launch. One was Chee Seng, an old friend back from primary school! He was very famous back then for his talent in art. Everyone knew he could draw. And guess what, he's now a creative designer in a well known publishing house :) 

Another friend that I bumped into, he's a high school friend. He's now a lecturer at my old college-IACT College! Nice to see familiar faces at unexpected places. 

Oh, I manage to catch up with Nelson, the Adobe speaker. We knew each other way back when I was still with Sapura. We actually visited a few schools together and I helped organized some Adobe events for them. 

The entire launch overran a lil'. Photoshop CS6 was placed at the end of the show. Upon first reveal of the interface, it reminded me so much of Aperture! Then the speaker demonstrated new features after new features, and some of them are really super fantastic! It really lived up to their promise of 'it's magic'. Wow, simply mind-blowing. 

And then, the epic moment of the entire launch was the lucky draw-one creative suite to be won, worth over USD 2,000! Sadly, I wasn't the lucky one. Sigh...

After the launch, I headed over to 1U's Isetan. I wanted to surprise Yn at her new workplace. I haven't seen her for quite some time and it's nice to see her big bright smile. Alvin was busy manning the kitchen so I didn't go over to say hi. 

This bowl of noodle is incredible. The broth is really special and you know what? This meal last me the entire day! The noodle texture was just-nice; broth was hot, thick and fragrant; the meat was at the right thickness... I highly recommend Menya Musashi! It's located in Isetan 1 Utama, you can't miss it :) It's a bowl of comfort food. Plus, it'll last you the entire day! Seriously, you don't need to spend on dinner with a bowl of noodles like this, lol.

Said a quick goodbye to Alvin and Yn, then made my way to a golf club nearby to collect a check on behalf of Target Marketing.

Guess what? I met my old boss-Mr Hong! He's now the Club Manager. We did some catching up and gosh, it was great talking to him. It's like meeting a long lost friend :)

After a while, I made a move and traveled to The Curve to meet with Sh'n. I enjoyed a drink and a nice tea-time chat with her-both work-related topic and girly stuff :)

Then, around 6pm, met up with Jia Jia and talked about music stuff. We bumped into Will Ng and his wife. Small, small world, today.

Phew, that was how my day went...

So, today was simply awesome because:

- Bumped into many friends. I think I should hang around Damansara area more often :p

- Visited Yn and Alvin at Menya Musashi, and had a great meal.

- Another kind driver slowed down just to let me turn into a junction! The same junction!

- Walked around in heels the entire day but feet didn't kill me. Must go back to the same shop to buy another pair of heels from them. You don't find comfortable heels often.

Today's boo boo went to:

- The jerk promoter for WWF at Ikea. When I was walking pass by them, he said out loud, 'Are you a writer?'. I thought he knew I was a songwriter. Maybe he attended some of the indie songwriter gigs before and he recognized me. So I turned around and he said, 'A book writer?' My heart dropped. And he immediately said, 'Come, come sign on the board'. I just said no thank you and walked away. I felt lousy because I felt cheated... he cheated me to turn around just to make me sign the board and perhaps, pester me to donate or something? Sigh...

- Not being the lucky on winning the Adobe Creative Suite 6! SIGH...
- Mr Hong said I look more matured already... a nice way of saying I look older already, boohooooooo~

Puppy Playdate

© Jasemaine Gan. Do not publish or distribute all contents in this blog without written permission.

All photos taken with iPhone 4.

After a long, long wait... finally, Lassie got her last jab and we can take her out for a run! 

It was her first time out in the nature. When we were traveling towards the park, she was sitting quietly at the passenger seat. Very alert and cautious. Maybe she thought I was gonna sell her off or something, lol.

Once we reach the park and upon her first step on the grass, she was super curious of her surrounding and she sniffed fiercely at almost everything.

We were alone at the park, which was fantastic. I took her for a round, hoping to tire her out a lil'. After the lap, I was ready to bring her in the gated compound but the guard asked me to register at the clubhouse. That was when Wawa smsed me saying she's coming! So, Lassie and I waited at the steps outside of the club house. Relaxing and enjoying each other's company.

This is us sitting at the steps. She seems happy :)

When Wawa, TC and Kobe arrived though, Lassie squeal and bark with fear. It was her first time seeing another dog other than Bibi. After calming her down, Kobe, as always a gentle-dog, came to Lassie and said hello. Lassie was OK but she still seem uncertain.

Wawa went to the club house first to register, but she came out shortly to tell us that it's a whopping RM 150 per year membership! Nah, we'll skip that... the park itself is more than enough for the dogs to have a good exercise.

So we went for a walk...

And chilled out for a while at a shaded area. Took pictures, talk and relaxed...

Lassie stayed very close to me throughout the outing. It's a nice fuzzy feeling to know that you're loved by a non-human being. Strange but nice feeling :)

After the lap, we went to the patio area and chilled out. It was a great place... free wifi, cooling fan, comfortable cafe chair/table... with the dogs relaxing at our feet. 

Around 12PM, it was time for me to drop Lassie off and for me to grab lunch. 

This is Lassie crashing out at the passenger seat on our way home. Heheh. When we were almost reaching home, she was daring enough to come to my side and make herself comfortable at my lap; she was looking out of the window, seeing the world, trying to lick my face and just soaking in the day.

What a great day it was :)

Zebratree

Hey guys!

Just to share with you a new business my brother and I are working on together. It's called Zebratree and we bring you premium fashion brands which are directly imported from the U.K.

Now, we realize there are tons of online shops and blogshops around, so what makes Zebratree different, you may ask?

First of all, 90% of the designs (and some brands) displayed at Zebratree are not available in any Malaysian retail stores. This means, whichever product you purchase on Zebratree, it's one-of-a-kind.

Secondly, Zebratree offers at original U.K. retail price. Branded goods are expensive in any Malaysian retail stores because of sales tax, transportation, ROI etc. Most of the prices are 100-300% marked-up price! But not at Zebratree, nuh-uh, Zebratree offers you the original U.K. retail price; no tax of any kind and no hidden cost. You can be sure of that because the original price tags are all attached to the goods.

What else?

Zebratree offers further discounts, on-top of the original U.K. retail price! Insane?! You bet we are! But we're happy to do so! 

What we do to make it even more interesting is that we will do wild-card promotions periodically. Some days (depends on our mood, lol), certain products will have additional discounts for limited time only! Our tip? Keep checking in our website and facebook page every day so that you won't miss out.

That's not it! We are offering free delivery within Peninsular Malaysia! 

So there you go, ladies and gentlemen-Zebratree.com.my, the only Malaysia online store that brings you branded fashion at a super fabulous deal.

Other things you should know: Customers can pay with credit/debit card (paypal) or opt to make a direct/online cash transfer.

We appreciate feedbacks to further improve Zebratree! You can write to us at zebratree.malaysia@gmail.com :)

Everyday Happiness

Things that made me happy today:

1. Got answers to some questions; doubts are cleared and the path ahead seems good.

2. Bought a red color leash and body harness for Lassie. I can't wait to bring her out this weekend for the first time! Time to get some exercise Lassie girl!

3. 'Me' time at Popular bookstore @ Curve. My favorite place to unwind. Bought two books and a document organizer. The desk at the factory needs some organizing!

4. A nice driver slowed down just to let me turn into a junction. What a great feeling... the driver's kind gesture made me feel special. Thank you for making my day!

5. A good morning wish and chat via Whatsapp from Boonyee who is currently in Germany. 

6. A nice chit chat session with mom and dad, as usual, everyday.

The Sweetest Show Ever

Following my recent craze over Ryan Gosling, I discovered that he acted in a low profile movie called 'Lars and the Real Girl' 

This must be the sweetest show I've ever watched. Simple, sweet and super touching. I've watched it many times since and still manage to cry every time.

At first, when I read the synopsis, it sounded so bizarre... a man, a love doll and a small quaint town... how can a story unfold with seemingly unmatched, weird and boring characters?

Oh, I was so wrong.

This story is about a man coping and trying to overcome loneliness and being socially inept. His mother died while giving birth to him and his father, was broken ever since. Lar's brother, couldn't stand being around a sad and grieving father, which led him to leave the house at early age, leaving Lars alone with the father. 

It seems that Lars is afraid of being close to people yet, he craves to be close to people.

Lars decided to get a companion in the form of a love doll one day. Her name is Bianca. Dr Dagmar, the very kind and patient family doctor diagnosed Lars with delusion. She is vital to Lar's road to recovery... she was the one who told Gus and Karen to 'go along with it', until Lars does not need it anymore, that's why Gus and Karen (sister in law) and the entire town bend their ways and went along with Lars, treating Bianca as a real person, in order to help Lars. Everyone was so willing to do this because Lars is a sweet, harmless man in need of help. 

With Bianca's help, Lars started to mix with other people and expressing himself in ways he never did. The part where he was in the car with Bianca (after leaving a colleague's party), when he cried and told Bianca, 'No I'm fine... I'm just happy', shows that he's been craving to be around people for a long time. That scene broke my heart :'(

At the end of the story, it appears that Lars is ready to let go of Bianca. She fell sick and eventually passed away... which also symbolizes that Lars is ready to face the real world and be a part of life again. The movie ends with Lars asking Margo if she'd like to take a walk with him.

A wonderful, wonderful show to watch!