Rockstar nite

My friend Adrienne and I decided to go to NRSW at Sunway Surf Beach last Saturday just to see what the hype was all about. We went for our usual pump class which finished at 2.40pm. Adrienne told me Yanti would be joining us at 4pm...which meant we still have an hour plus to kill at the gym. We decided to spend that hour joining Body Balance instead while waiting for her.

When we arrived at the Surf Beach, there were already a few ladies waiting around. Apparently the whole area were not ready yet and the Nike and some FF staff seemed to be running around trying to get organised. As we waited, more and more women started arriving. We were very hungry and we had initially planned to get a bite to eat before the event started. However, judging by the number of ladies starting to arrive, we decided not to give up our spot..ok la...we were a bit kiasu. So, there we were, waiting in line... and it was only 5.30pm.

With nothing to do, we spent our time observing people's characteristics..and there were lots, I tell you. 2 japanese ladies behind us spent the entire time taking pictures of themselves on their mobile..giggling away, just like any young teenagers would. A group of ladies were showing off their abilities to boogie, some showing off their attire...macam macam. As for us, since we were hungry, tired, sticky, smelly, thirsty...we just couldn't be bothered. In fact, we were wondering why the heck did we even signed up.

Anyhow, you can imagine our relief when registration opened at 6.20pm. Some ladies tried their luck into cutting the line and were greeted by loud boos from the rest of us who had queued up much earlier. C'mon...did they honestly think they can get away with this?

As we approached the registration table, we were asked if we had registered already. We were honest, so we said yes. IF we had not registered beforehand, we can also be dishonest and said yes. Afterall, they didn't have any way of checking right there and then. I thought that was real stupid. Very disorganised. We then went on to pick up our early bird freebie (meant for the first 300 people), which consisted of a nike string bag and a little water bottle...hmmm, that's all?? As we approached the event area, we saw refreshments being served. Being hungry as we were, we waited not a single minute. Who cares if yoga and cardio were starting soon.. satisfying our hunger was more important. There was a booth for hair braiding and a long line quickly formed...to my surprise. I can bet you some of those people in the line had no idea what they were queuing up for. Main ikut saja.....

After we had eaten, we waited for the event to start. No announcement...nothing. After waiting for another half hour, then only the emcee announced the event will start at 7.30pm. By then, we were practically bored to death. Even as all of us were waiting at the main area, we still had to wait another 15 mins before we were allowed in.

The nite started off with 15 min of yoga. I can tell you it's a not a good idea to be doing yoga on slippery sandy tile floors. It was plain ridiculous and stupid. From yoga, we moved on to cardio, Combat style before the actual Rockstar routine kicked in. It wasn't easy to follow the instructors from way behind cos whomever that was handling the projector screen obviously wasn't very efficient. The nite also included a fashion show which showcased Nike's new summer collection, with the Jam instructors as models...ok la, got gaya. We left halfway thru the event so that we can beat the jam later on...yes, we were very kiasu... again.

We ended the nite with dinner at Lemongrass.

Will try to post some pics when available [:p]

Proper phone etiquette that we need to learn

Mobile users will never learn proper mobile phone etiquette no matter how matter times they are being informed. Mobile phones ring at meetings, seminars, cinemas, funerals, job interviews…u name it…no event is immune to it. Everywhere I go, mobile users are blurting out loud intimate and creepy conversations that we are forced to hear. Despite constant reminder, we are either ignorant or we just couldn’t be bothered by such rules.

Recently I was at a seminar in a prestigious new hotel in downtown KL and as usual, the speaker reminded the audience to switch off their mobiles or at least put to silent mode. As soon as he finished speaking, one mobile phone went off with its loud tone. The owner is so stupid cos not only did he let his mobile rang, he answered the call right there and then….somemore he was sitting in the front table…with the speaker just inches away. The kwai lou speaker continued his presentation but obviously he was a little disturbed by another voice speaking at the same time so he politely told the guy to end his calls. Hah…baru pandan muka! Does it kill the guy to just get up and take the call outside?

I guess Malaysians have real short term memory because during the event, ringtones were still going off. Aiyo…which part of "please turn your mobile off or to silent mode" do these people don’t understand.

2 weeks ago I was at a briefing event organised by one of the governent ministry in Putrajaya. Ring tones could be heard going off from one end to the end of the room numerous times during this one hour presentation. Loud ringtones somemore. C’mon…no common sense to turn to silent mode for just 1 ho ur? Or at least tone down the volume? What is so urgent that their mobile phones cant be put into silent mode? Or is this a competition to see who has the most updated MP3 ringtones?

Even the gym isn't spared. There were a couple of ocassions where someone actually brought his/her mobile into the yoga room. The phones actually rang...right in the midst of meditation time. WTF! If you are expecting any urgent calls, then don't join the class. I even noticed one guy answering his call right in the middle of a Combat class....

Where are our manners? We don’t need to be a brain scientist to realise that it is rude for ringtones to be screaming when we are in a meeting or any formal events. All it takes is pure common sense; which I find most Malaysians very much lacking.

Mobile users need to learn the basic of phone etiquette...

• Never take a personal mobile call during a meeting. If it’s really a matter of life and death, excuse yourself and take the call outside. Nothing is more annoying that mobile phones going off right in the middle of discussions. Not only that, it is damn rude.
• Never let your mobile go off during a seminar, product launches, conference. There are other people besides yourself in the room and these people are interested to hear what the speakers have to say, not what you have to say on the phone.
• Don’t use loud annoying ringtones….EVER! It is not cool to have a heavy metal ringtone ringing when you are trying to concentrate
• If you need to move abt in the office, bring your hp along. Don’t leave it on the table. You risk it getting stolen…worse still, the ringtones will only annoy your fellow colleagues. If you must leave it on your table, tone down the ringing volume so as not to drive others crazy with its constant ringing.
• If you are having a meal with someone, make your calls brief and to the point. Do not leave your friend sitting there looking like an idiot while you are busy chatting on the phone.
• If you are at a cinema, do not let your mobile ring in the middle of the show. We are trying to watch the movie. You are only disturning the concentration of other movie goers. Hey, we pay RM10 ok…we have every right to watch a movie without being disturbed by mobile phones or by you speaking on the phone.
• IF you are in an elevator, do not shout into the phone as if the other person on the phone is deaf. We all know that signals are poor when in an elevator. BTW, you should know too. Therefore, either tell the caller you will return call or just wait until you reach your desired floor before resuming the conversation.
• Do not have emotional conversations in public….EVER!

Burning the midnite oil

....or perhaps I should say, midnite and early morning oil. It is 5.15am as I'm writing this entry and I am still in the office working my ass off. Haven't gone home, haven't showered, haven't slept...oh well, I've pretty much gotten used to this type of crazy work hours anyway. I'm on a short break now; so hey, will not update my blog. I have 2 tenders to oversee and manage which are due by noon today; and while it is not my responsibility to be managing the technical portion of these tenders, it actually felt like I am. I'm basically doing everything...pau ka liau.

One account manager is a no show (which I just cannot understand the rationale...why bought a tender which you won't even stick around to do) while the other, though is more responsible, is on and off during this tender preparation process. One technical pre-sales is nowhere to be seen while the other depended heavily on me to complete the tender. So, I'm doing my portion as well as someone else. Thank god I have an assistant to help out in the photocopying or else I will sure die standing by noon. Technically speaking, I should be raving mad but for some odd reasons, I don't feel as pissed off as I should be. Maybe it's cos I'm counting the days when I will be officially off loaded from this current job scope....that's just another 2 1/2 more weeks away. Patience...patience...patience. In the meantime, tenders just kept piling up. Between now and April, there's another 8 more tender documents on my desk; staring at me..waiting for me to read, call for meetings, bla bla bla. By right, I should be crying right now...actually I think I have every right to be crying and not feel like I'm complaining..

On a brighter side, I get to have a whole day off tomorrow...oh wait...I mean, today. With proper time management, I think I can get some sleep and still have enough time to do some shopping...it is afterall, mega carnival sales. Who knows, maybe I will have time to attend my yoga class as well..

Body Combat 31 Launch

Last nite I had the opportunity to attend Body Combat new release launch at IOI. This is the first time I ever attended any launch events. I chose to stay away during previous launches; mainly due to the large crowd. The class started at 7pm with 25 mins of Intro. I wonder why is there a need for such long Intro. However, by 6.15pm the registration counter has already opened up and apparently people were already queuing up. I was still on my way to the gym at that time. My gym kaki, Kelly called me up and asked me to hurry. Luckily I was not too far away...but I had to walk so fast I was already sweating by the time I reached the gym. This is one reason why I don't go for classes earlier than 7.30pm.

The ladies at the counter weren't very consistent with the way they handled registrations. Sometimes they asked for ID card, sometimes they didn't. They asked some members to drop their lucky tags into the LD box..but sometimes, they didn't ask other members. There was no card given out so there was no way to track who has registered and who hasn't. Basically I can just walked into the class without registering and they wouldn't know either. They pay more interest at you if you bring guests in. More guests equal more potential sales.

The class started off with Intro done by the instructor, Swee. It was supposed to be 25mins (well...that's what the schedule says) but since most are regulars and already know their stuff, it only took 10-15mins. See...told you so. Swee looked at the clock...hmm...still got time left...oh, what the heck, start class la. The new release started off with pretty much laid back warm up...IMO la; before going into roundhouse kicks, jump kicks, evasive side kicks, speedballs, etc etc. I was sweating more than usual....but that's probably due to the 60 odd crowd in the room and aircond not switched on til the latter part of the class. With that many people in the class, moving around wasn't easy. Made some mistakes during the class...hehehe...but then, so did the 2 instructors.

After the class, Alvin and Swee conducted the lucky draws. I knew my name wouldn't be called since I never dropped the tag into the box...thanks to the ladies at the counter. Overall, I don't find anything special about this release. The music isn't that nice either. Dunno why some instructors said this new release is tougher than previous releases. I think they say that at every new releases. I like Combat 29 better. Anyhow, combat is still combat...tough or easy, I still like it.