WHEN I MET G...

Guess who was in town a few days back..?? G..!! G..!! Haha, cannot stand it.. Need to say it twice.. LOL.. Anyway, G is Gandalf Archer, Program Director for BodyJam also choreograher extraordinaire and inspiration for all BodyJam instructors. He is like THE MAN for BodyJam. Like nobody owns BodyJam but him. Ok, I'm starting to swoon. Ahha. So it was like a totally surreal experience to see him with my own two freaking eyes and my BodyJam team even got to be on stage together with him. WITH HIM!! Sorry, freaked out again.

 We met him several times during his visit to KL. The first ever was at the LesMills Quarterly Workshop at the Twin Tower Fitness center. Even though I was kinda tired from Sh'bam seing him come from the prep area was like unbelievable. Plus, the Herbalife shake I had in the morning really helped..!! (ye, ade iklan sekejap) Everyone kept screaming when he came and when he was teaching we laughed at everything he does. Most of us were like schoolgirls meeting their first crush. I think he likes that. After BodyJam he did some freestyling before education. Super FUN..!! Then everyone was like scrambling to get photos with him. He was in a hurry so he couldn't entertain everyone. Bummer.

We met him again for rehearsal at the MBf for the O.M.G. event. It's an event organized by Fitness First where we danced for more than 2 hours and the proceeds go to charity. During practice I kept asking myself whether I was dreaming. Haha. The rehearsal was fun though. We didn't manage to do the BodyJam 62 dance school because G changed the routine around, but sill we were all very satisfied. The boyband stuff was highly entertaining. After practice, there was a long line of BodyJam instructors wanting to take pictures and get his signature. He signed my shirt and shoes. He also signed my phone but by the end of the night that was gone. Sobs..!! We had another rehearsal at the actual venue, Neverland.

And it was time to get ready. The BodyJam team had hair and make up done by A Cut Above. Made my eyes pop..!! We took pictures while waiting for the members to register. G also shared the same prep area with us so I took a while to stop staring at him. Haha. After the briefing by Ken, our amazing BodyJam Head Teacher we went down to mingle with the members. Lots of them came. The management only targeted about 250 people to join, but 400 turned up, which was why the place was uber packed..!! Being on stage was mind blowing. Everyone I saw had such a great time. We were supposed to have one more block to present but G had to cut it short due to lack of time. So he was just winging it towards the end with all the BoyJam team on stage with him. WITH HIM..!! Haha.. During the closing nobody wanted to leave. G was like, "Get off the stage and go home..!!" But he did say to the crowd "See you next year" wchich brought up lots of cheers and woot woots. We had a lot of nice comments about O.M.G. afterwards. Even G said what he saw that night was something totally not BodyJam and it was next level stuff. He even said the F word so he means business. Ahaha.

So, that's one of my ultimate wish list done. I'm still having withdrawal from all that awesomeness. Seeing G on stage really made me learn a lot of things. Like how to be a better instructor and how its all about putting everyone around you at ease. Getting along with all levels of people and even how to let go and just have fun with the dance. G, U DA MAN..!!

BANGKOK - TILL DEATH DO WE PARTY

I mentioned about a surprise trip a few posts back and OMG it was totally life-changing. Me and a very good friend Nik went to Bangkok for BodyJam instructor workshop and it was an experience like I have never had in my life. And for me one of the challenges was we didn't have one single clue what we got ourselves into. We had no idea where the training was and that our hotel though fairly comfortable was a bit out of the way and quite difficult to find. And our total ignorance of the Thai language made things harder.

The taxidrivers were a bit cekik darah, especially the hotel ones. Other than that the Thai people are really friendly and sweet. I especially love how they greet each other, it really reflected how much respect they have for everyone. But I think they must've thought that we were also Thai because almost everyone would talk to us in Thai and we would correct them and ask them to speak in English. LOL.

Fitness First

Let me just say this. The Fitness First where we trained were soooo frikking HUGE. You can throw a party at the lounge. They even have a juice bar. And the changing rooms have two entrances each. And get this, TV in the changing room!!! How cool is that. The cycling studio has like 4 rows and the Mind Body studio is like three times as big as the one in KL. And my favourite is they have TWO GX studios. TWO!! And both were the size of two studios here. When we first saw them we were totally in jakun mode it was not even funny. And the gym was the THIRD biggest in Thailand. It boggles the mind how big the BIGGEST would be.

Anyway, we spent a good three days in the gym and the people there definitely made us feel welcome and for the both of us it definitely will hold a special place in our hearts. Its where we had our first taste of what it feels like to be an instructor. Where we had our Masterclass with the coolest trainer, Arnold Warren from Phillipines. BTW, the Masterclass was mind-blowing. I had soo much fun. The FF there was also where we met a few incredible friends. Most of them don't speak in English but they were still awesome. And most importantly that was where we received the official recognition of being a BodyJam instructor trainee.

Fashion Island
Fashion Island is literally located in the middle of nowhere, yet the stores in there are largely recognized brands. I guess Thais don't really mind the travel because on weekends there seem to be much activities going on in the open areas, especially for children. Arnold even showed us a space used by kids to practice dancing.
-Starbucks
We spent some time in Starbucks, even sat for a good two hours there talking and finishing up our pizza. I tried the Peppermint Mocha (not available in Malaysia) but no drink can ever top Toffee Nut in my book and both of us got the Happy Birthday Starbucks card.

-Pizza
On our first and last day at the mall we ate at this Pizza Place. You wanna know why. They have Cheese Garlic Bread. We bought one each the second time. At first we ordered the Tom Yum Kung Pizza. It was OK. Our waitress was soo cute, she didn't understand English, so we ended up pointing our orders on the menu. And she would write down our orders giggling.

-Movie

We had some time to kill on the first day, so we thought why not catch a movie and it turned out Sherlock Holmes was on as we were buying the tickets. As we took our seats, we were surprised when suddenly everyone stood up. It was to sing their national anthem, which I thought was a good practice to instill a bit of patrioticism in their citizens. Anyway, the movie was nice. The Thai subtitle were a bit distracting but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Thong Ta Resort and Spa
The hotel that we stayed in was near the airport but was bit far from Fashion Island. But our room was quite spacious (Queen beds for each) which made it easier for us to practice for our presentations. I would however like to apologize to the people below us (as we were jumping quite a lot) if somehow we annoyed you. Haha. We met a nice staff whose name is Earth. Very original. And I love how they folded our towels after we checked in.

So that's about it. Our very first step in our journey towards becoming an inspiring BodyJam instructor. We couldn't get over how lucky we were to be training in Bangkok with Arnold, doing BJ 59. It was like fated. Can't wait to see and face our challenges ahead. Dear God, please give us strength, courage and determination in our new endeavour.

BEGINING AND ENDING

If one is to begin the other has to end

But is the other's end at one's fault

What if both one and the other continue on

Will there be enough for both

Or will one be left with dashed hope

Maybe the other will also have a new beginning

At least the other can still smile in the end

And one is utterly content with the new beginning

SECRET SANTA

After the semi-successful November babies birthday celebration in Times Square, (I say semi-successful because we were kinda complaining towards the end.. Heh..) Kevin was in full organizer mode. So he proposed another get-together for the gang... SECRET SANTA!!

After much planning and changing dates and venue, he finally decided presents were to be exchanged on the 20th December at the KFC near Menara MBf at 9.30pm. Names of Santees were drawn four days before and I have to thank Ecah for drawing out my Santee because I was out of town for the ceremony. I was however a little pressed for time and only barely managed to get the present(s).. Hee~ Just one hour of shopping yo.. So apologies to my Santee if my gift(s) were short of your expectations.

Kevin had a last minute shadow at Axis, so we started the party without him. We pooled all the presents on two tables and then ordered food. Most of us just finished Zumba with (none other than) Uchop and were absolutely ravenous. I only got a tiny cute little chicken wing, corn on the cob, Twister and Oreo Krusher.. Suddenly that sounded like a lot, LOL.. And Sherli even brought candies for everyone.. Nice~

After Kevin came, there was a bit of photo session going on and not long after gift exchanging time..!! One by one names were called and each time everyone wanted who their Santa was. And surprise surprise yours truly got TWO presents. Haha.. My friends joked that the other was from a Secret(?) Admirer. As it were I would once again like to thank whoever it was that gave me the gifts. They are lovely.

It was a bit late by then and we were tired out from the workout and the fun. I was among the last to leave as I had another business about an unexpected, awesome and most probably life changing trip. Stay tuned for more..

NOVEMBER BABIES

Just got back from my fourth surprise birthday party this month. Haha. It just so happened that there were a lot November babies among us and we got addicted to throwing suprise birthday parties for some of them at the gym.

First up is dearest Ecah. Her birthday surprise clashed with a dinner I had at a nearby hotel, but I braved the drizzling rain and were there to sing "Happy Birthday" with the rest of the gang at Menara MBf. We smeared some cake on her and presented her with a birthday card. Then, they trooped into the studio for BodyJam and I took my leave for dinner. However, I did manage to catch the end of the celebration back at Avenue K, where the girls thoughtfully kept some cake for me. Thanks...

We had a surprise celebration for Uchop after his Drums Alive class in Mont Kiara. Tila and I rushed out as soon as the class finished and then we turned off the lights in the studio and came bearing cupcakes with candles lit. This was a smaller celebration and we brought the cupcakes out to the lounge for some munchies and keropok.

A few days after, Nik organized another celebration for Uchop in Avenue K. There were more people this time and we had a to-die-for cute cake and cupcakes made by our own Shireen. Nik brought out the cake after Uchop's cardio Dance class, which meant BodyJam that day started a bit late. And also that the cakes had to wait until class ends before being shared with everyone.

And then totally last minute, tonight we surprised Sherlin with a birthday cake after BodyJam at Mont Kiara. It was a belated celebration so we didn't manage to prepare a birthday card but I'm sure it's the thought that counts. We munched on the goodies and took pictures. All in all, fun night.

I enjoyed and had fun at each and every celebration. I especially LOVE their reaction when we present them with the cake; singing "Happy Birthday". Priceless I tell you. I certainly hope that made their birthday extra special. Hee~ OK, now gotta burn off all those cakes. Ciao~

FRIENDS FOREVER

28th November 2011 for some reason was celebrated with both old friends and also newfound ones. Err, family time will be reported in the near future.. LOL.. Here's hoping that the friendship forged will last a lifetime.

So I woke up quite early and inexplicably unable to go back to sleep after Subuh. Which meant I was ON TIME picking Illi up and also despite a brief detour was half an hour earlier than Ama's promised pick-up time. Not really a good thing for Ama because her nap time was cut short. Heh.. The get-together was agreed upon a while ago and by this time both soon-to-be mothers are showing significant baby bumps.

When we got to One Utama, Seoul Garden wasn't even open yet so we walked around a bit. Into a candy store, into Himalaya, into a collectibles store... But when we made the turn around back to Seoul Garden, there was already a long line at the counter. What the.. 0_o After confirming and paying for our order, we were shown our seats.. Right at the back.. Thanks..

I took the Coffee Chicken (it seriously tastes like coffee) and the beef. Ama can't really take chicken, so the beef was mostly gobbled up by her. The kimchi this time was surprisingly nice. Illi was the veggie freak as she came bearing one whole plate of greens to our table and Ama got busy with her mushrooms. As per usual, we spent more than an hour eating through the food, talking all the while. Seriuosly, not even one moment of quiet. Mostly we were updating each other of our stories. Ama and Illi exchanged pregnancy stories. I find it extremely cute that Illi is still undecided on what her baby will call her. Ibu? Ummi? Bonda? LOL.

In the end, we were unable to finish all the food we took. Tummy. Too. Full. So we upped and left. Ama suggested we walk around to let the food settle, so we looked at a few sports shoes and items. I NEED NEW SHOES!! It was raining when we got out of the parking lot. We stopped by Ayam Kampung to buy lunch for Ama's parents. After dropping her and Illi off, I headed straight to Berjaya Times Square.

Uchop was invited to do the Sh'bam launch at the Sports Toto Fitness Centre that evening. When I got there, everybody had already arrived. Since the theme for the class was red and blue I decided to dance in my jeans. Aah, the DIVA in me. Hee~ The class was absolutely fun, with all of us dancing to all kinds of music. I LOVE the studio. I could totally check myself out dancing with the full length mirror at the front and at the side. Nice~ However, due to the intensity of the workout I almost felt like all the food I had before was slowly making its way upwards.. Ugh..

When the class was over, there was the usual camwhoring session and then all of us trekked to the changing room. I must say, I also love the shower room here. It's much more spacious than at Fitness First. It took a while for the gurls to finish getting ready (makeup and all uolss..) we were at Johnys by 6.30ish where Kevin and Sean were waiting with a looong table. Nik brought a HUGE teddy bear for Uchop and a Cute one for Emmyl, the November babies. All of us ordered the rice/noodle set, which IMO was a bit of a waste because going to Johnys and not having steamboat is like going to Venice and not riding on a gondola.. Haha.. Sorry, couldn't find a more apt comparison.. Anyway, I had mee hoon tom yam and a sundae (even though it's a Monday LOL and I'm still suffering with a flu).

We finished eating at 8pm and had approximately 3++ hours to kill. The gurls headed to the bowling place for a couple of sets, Uchop and Nik went to find a massage place and Kevin went to look for new shoes. I sneaked out and went to Starbucks and Krispy Kreme with Fendy and Emmyl. Then we met up with the gurls and it was karaoke time. Tila and Fendy kicked off with "Dua Insan". I sang "This I Promise You" and had a duet with Tila ("Hati Kama"). Ecah and Shahnaz also had a turn with the mike. We had fun with "Stop" and the encore song was "Oops I Did It Again". Brilliant.

By this time we had almost an hour left, so we decided to just sit around listening to the music blaring from Kenny Rogers while the crew was cleaning up. Most of us were pretty much tired and sleepy by now and just about ready to collapse. So at 11.40pm we trudged into the cinema for "Breaking Dawn: Part 1". I must confess this is my first time watching a Twilight movie at the cinema. Heck, this is my first time seeing a Twilight movie. Not counting the snippets I caught of the first two movies so I was completely ready to fall asleep. Therefore it came as a pleasant surprise that the story moved with a realistic pace and I didn't really feel out of loop. It was however a shame that they cutout the delivery scene because we were left wondering what happened to Bella after she gave birth to Renesmee. The movie finished at 1.30am. We said our goodbyes and all headed home. Gotta work in a few hours..~ ~