INCOVAR Blogspot

So the first post has been uploaded. And currently we have 4 team members: MJ, elsf, AR and myself.

How to make it known to the public? I have absolutely no idea. AR mentions something about submitting it to Google, and some other gobbledygook which I do not understand at all. So I guess I'll have to leave it to him.

But what I really want to achieve with this blog is to create a virtual space where any of the INCOVAR Committee can log in and type in anything they want regarding our INCOVAR family. I believe that this can help us maintain the contacts and relationships with our Incovarians. I will be gathering the sheep into the bandwagon and hopefully create something that will be well-known by the world :) *kembang*

On work-related matters, I am having difficulty performing my tasks today. The server is experiencing some slowdown and had to be disconnected from the network. Thus I am unable to run any scripts which are needed. Hence, I can only do the work tomorrow. Which means that I had just spent the entire day unproductively. I guess I can tell how THAT will look in my timesheet this month!

It's just finished raining about an hour ago. I am anticipating frustrating traffic on the way home later. Wishes of best luck to myself and all drivers!

Air Cond Down!!!

This morning was like any other. After a decent amount of sleep (translation: 5 hours), I dragged myself out of bed and stepped into my car. Surprise surprise! The air cond switch is blown. AGAIN! Stupid Proton. How I wish I had a Honda City :-S

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Went swimming in the club yesterday, it has been ages. The feeling of cool clear water (albeit heavily chlorinated) surrounding me as the high temperatures of the day loomed around was certainly a heavenly experience.

Been having meals at Asia Cafe for the past 3 days. Still haven't sampled everything, there's so much to choose from! So far, only tried the sarawak noodle, bread crab, grilled fish, char hor fun, char koey teow, fried mushrooms, mee goreng... hmm, come to think of it, that's a lot of food! :) I foresee that this will be THE place to hang out for times to come.

Today is Maning's last day in Siemens Malaysia, she will be headed back to Thailand. We just had a farewell lunch at Screaming Bananas, as usual I was late to arrive, but received my food and finished it before Ming even got her order! Sat at a lonely stool sandwiched between Angie and Rhea. Overall a good meal. ALL THE BEST Maning!

Then after lunch, we rushed back to the office to sing a birthday song to our boss who's currently in Bangkok for training. Quite fun, all of us packed in the planning room and sang through the speaker phone. Several curious heads turned our direction to see what the noise was about :)

I'm starting up an INCOVAR blogsite, hopefully it can be used as a place to communicate our private thoughts, experiences and also any publicity material. Blogs are powerful these days. We tend to learn a lot from blogs rather than traditional media. I don't know how successful this idea will be, but I guess if one never tries, one will never know.

We had the privilege of having a home-cooked lunch in Datuk's house yesterday afternoon after our i-Gemz practice session. Daniel, Siew Chan, my bro, Datuk, Mabel (Datuk's sister) and myself had spaghetti with mackarel sauce, sweet corn, salad with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, passion fruit juice, and local fruit spread. Thanks for the sumptious lunch Datuk! May we be able to complete recording and printing of our CD on time!

Reach Out

Hooray! Today I managed to finish recording the main vocals of Reach Out in the studio, so I'm currently free from singing assignments! So, we now have 8 vocals done, we are left with 3 more songs:
- Ray Of Dharma
- The Dharma Shines In Me
- Ever Shifting Universe

And we have to complete this in March, so that the album will be on schedule for post-production. All looks well!

Had a phone chat with Jean, she came back for a 9 day break, so just talked nonsense and surprisingly we can chat well ;) I guess some things never change!

Today there's induction camp for 23idc, but I did not join this session, as I felt just going in and out like that won't be such an appropriate thing to do. I mean, today was recording session, then tomorrow there's practice session in Datuk's house. Anyway, hope everything will turn out to be great in this coming INCOVAR camp.

On related news, the 1st INCOVAR Facilitator Training Workshop will be held on 26 March 2004 in SJBA. Interested facilitators are encouraged to contact me! This is a great opportunity for you to learn from the experienced Facilitators just what are the skills required to be an effective facilitator and friend. There will be theory sessions, games and experiential workshops. Also, you will get the chance to chat with seasoned Incovarians, plus get a first-hand view at the upcoming 23idc programmes!

Might be meeting Sie Sing later for supper. Kesian him today home alone :D but I also had to teman my mom, coz she's also alone. Yup, my family went to Kota Kinabalu, leaving her and myself alone!

SePeT

I've recently watched this locally made movie by Yasmin Ahmad in TGV KLCC. I've posted a short review here. Go watch it. Support the local movie industry! You will not regret it.

So CNY has come and gone. Yesterday we had a Chap Goh Meh musical puja in BGF Center. Had lots of food, followed by musical performances by D2Y and i-Gemz, fellowship games and lots of mingling. Quite an enjoyable night.

Work here in Siemens has so far been ok. I believe I'll have more chances to learn new things here, as the network of contacts here is so vast. There is a wealth of information within the organization that I've yet to tap. So, looking forward to greater opportunities. On other news, Maxis has announced their Q4'2004 financial results. Looks like although they're the bloodsucking, arrogant company that some people are not very happy with, Maxis is still very, very strong.

On more interesting news, Telekom Malaysia announces VSS!!! I wonder what masam2 will say to that :)

oh dear...

It's official. I have to sing Reach Out! The difficult song that nobody could sing. After rehearsals in Datuk's place, it's deemed that 19th February (i.e. this Saturday) is not going to be the recording day for Reach Out. I need more time to learn the song and to internalize it. Geez... at the rate this is going, I truly don't know if we will be able to complete the album on time! :(

So far, Siew Chan's doing well, just need to work on the pronunciations. Wee Fah will be doing Anson's song, which needs a little modifications on the lyrics. Daniel has been missing rehearsals lately (preparing for wedding hehehe). And we have to complete 4 more songs by the first half of March.

This is turning out to be a challenge!!!

HAPPY CNY

Chinese New Year is in the air!

And I'm still working, stuck in office! :(

Listening to lovely CNY tunes now. The only way to keep me sane throughout this day :)

Can't wait for reunion dinner tonight.

Can't wait for the long holidays!

To everyone.
Happy New Year!
Xin Nian Kuai Le
Wan Shi Ru Yi
Pu Pu Gao Sheng
Long Ma Jing Shen
Gong Xi Fa Cai

happy CNY

surprisingly, recording on saturday was great! we finished the recording in about 2 hours, post-processing took a half hour. it was interesting because the recording was not done conventionally. usually the singers will sing a few takes of the whole song, then greg will select the best of each portion of each take, and piece it all together to get the final track. but for this time, he asked me to sing each verse separately as each verse had enough difference in dynamics to use that type of approach. hmm either that or he sensed i was straining to sing the whole song in one go.

overall it turned out really great. i'm moved by the arrangement, and it will be great when the strings and the choir voices go into the final mix.

we didn't manage to collect the CD coz greg had to rush off to a wedding. maybe i'll drop by the studio to get it later.

happy chinese new year!