Update

Whiling away twenty minutes before Spanish class. Hmm... last week seems worth blogging about.

Monday was a bit annoying with all three seminars in a row. Had to scramble the day before to get all the work done (last minute, as usual hehe). Spanish was quite good - with only four of us bothering to turn up, the session was more intensive and satisfying than normal. I really have to buck up with memorising my vocab if I want to get anywhere with only 10 1.5 hour Spanish lessons under my belt.

Tuesday evening Yew Hoong and I went to the meet-and-greet session at Midlands Hotel. The guest of honour? PubSec for the Singaporean Minister of Defence. The event? Launching of the Singaporean Overseas Community for students. Quite amusing that the PS came and shook my hand, and started to make conversation. He was actually trying to seem interested in me and what I do, but the moment I told him I was Malaysian he said, "Oh!" and then somehow wandered away. Cheh. And there I was telling YH we're part of the "honourary delegates from across the causeway" while the S'porean PubSec himself didn't seem too eager to foster a dynamic relationship with us Malaysians hahaha... Anywayz, felt obliged to mingle and "network" a bit just to show I wasn't a freeloader who only turned up for the food (unlike some other M'sians who arrived totally overdressed and then headed straight for the food and hardly talk to anyone but themselves - no names! heehee). =D And speaking about food.. mmmmm not bad, not bad. Though I did expect something better from a 4-star hotel. Highlights were the white wine and chocolate dessert.. ohh man!! Really nice time talking to some of my S'porean friends and catching up with Yew Hoong over some good food.

Quite interesting comparing this event with any Malaysian parallels. When Nazri, member of Badawi's cabinet visited late last year, the gathering was held at Jati - venue was "Malaysian" but the space was way too small to accommodate the number of people who turned up. Indeed, it was mostly Malays present and the event was hardly publicised to us students. In fact, my group only turned up because we heard there was free food, not because we were aware some politician was here to visit. Nazri's speech itself was rambling, unfocused and very, very long. I have nothing against it being in Malay - after all it's our national language and the event was for Malaysians. What rubbed me the wrong was was that there was hardly any purpose to this courtesy call, hence no focus at all in his speech covering the hot news back then which was of course, Squatgate. The S'porean PS's speech was very articulate, precise, rightly patriotic and with just the right touch of informality. He stirred in me something quite close to a longing to be Singaporean... comparisons demonstrating how time and again, we Malaysians and our government always seem to miss the mark; Singapore seems a utopic paragon of how to do things efficiently, diplomatically, and just spot on. A gal just wants to be proud of her country for the right reasons, ya know? Sighhh...

Wednesday went to this Thai restaurant, Koi Samui with "The People" (Shyan - they're formerly known as as "The Party Animals" lah). Truckloads to eat, quite good, rich food but somehow not spicy enough. Damn the gwailoh palate!! Heard from QiLian & Kuan Ching that MAS is discontinuing the KL-MAN direct flights from May... damn damn damn!

Friday had a great time with Lizi at RNCM's Symphony Orchestra concert. Stravinsky's Fireworks got the programme off on an explosive start. Lulu Yang's applaudable rendition of Saint-Saens's 2nd Piano Concerto was both strident and delicate. Amazing how that small-sized girl can pull off that intensely physical piece with such virtuosic panache. Rachmaninov's highly Romantic 2nd Symphony was a wonderful counterpart to the earlier shorter pieces. Sublime music-making from the musicians and conductor Paul Daniel, though I didn't quite like his style of conducting. After that, St. Patrick's Day drinking with RNCM and Mgt chums! And, I even bothered to put on a green halterneck top, no less.

Remember, remember, the twenty-second of December... Haha just my own birthday take on V for Vendetta's cheesy but strangely haunting opening (it's actually meant to be the 5th of November, Guy Fawkes Day). Saturday late afternoon met up with Ainun, Shyan and Enn Yong. Finally saw that gal after so long! I swear she's spending more time in Liverpool than Manchester. The movie was not bad at all, pretty interesting in its own way, and admittedly a lot better that the Wachowski brothers last writing attempt - Matrix 2 & 3. I enjoyed the "look" of the film more than the ideas which weren't exactly revolutionary. That Britain's a totalitarian state was amusing, but the Chancellor's rather Hitler-esque figure and takeover was a bit disconcerting, if not insulting. V's ultimate reason for wanting to destroy the architectural symbol of a government was not quite clear in the end - did he do it because the goverment was stifling its people, or because he wanted to avenge what they did to the actress in the next cell? Natalie Portman, the so-called thinking man's sex symbol gave a very solid if not exactly Oscar-worthy performance; Hugo Weaving - ah, what can one say of the actor versatile enough to handle both Agent Smith and Lord Elrond with such incredible skill? Oh my, his projection of physicality and sheer persona from behind an all-enveloping costume of mask, coolass black outfit complete with cap and hat was simply stunning. Ya had to be there.

After the movie we headed to Pearl City - Enn Yong can really order food heeheeee... Had something similar to kangkung belacan, a claypot seafood dish, n pretty damn nice lamb with bamboo shoots and foo juk in a large claypot over our very own stove! The lamb came with a lovely sauce of fermented beancurd and rice wine (so they guys tell me) with fresh chopped chilli. Exciting stuff.

Sunday early afternoon met up with Shyan at Cornerhouse. We wanted to watch the very noirish Spanish/Cuban Homigas en la boca (Ants in the Mouth). Tickets were sold out so we went for Habana Blues instead, a Cuban take on the "musical film", relationships and opportunities. Interesting, seeing the slightly grittier side of life. S'been quite a while since I last got teary-eyed in the cinema; this time was when Ruy and band sang his farewell song - Arenas de Soledad - to his ex-wife before she and their two children illegally cross over to the USA in a "raft". Music was wonderful, very different fare from my usual Chopin et co - listen to three tracks including Arenas de Soledad under "Musica" on the website.