New phone... BIG hole in pocket :o(

...sigh... my almost-100%-trusty 2-yr-old Sony Ericsson T610 has decided that enuf's enuf. On Monday, was supposed to meet a friend at Sri Hartamas. I got there, took out my phone to call her when I noticed that it wasn't powered on. Fine, it's happened before so I just hit the Power button. Hourglass symbol came up but it hung at that screen. So I took out the battery, put it back in and tried again. Same thing. Tried it a few more times, getting panicky each time it didn't work coz all the numbers that I need are in the phone and I obviously wouldn't memorize ALL of them so I was like 'shit, how am I ever gonna call her and let her know where to meet me?!'... and that's why it hit me that i'm so totally reliant on my phone that if it ever broke down, I'd be so totally lost coz all my contact numbers would be GONE! (Note to self: Synchronize phone book to PC so that I'll have a backup of all my info). Anyway, i did the battery thing a few more times and was finally able to get it started. Phew! Then on Thu, was talking on the phone when it just suddenly died... TWICE! And this wasn't the first time either.

So my next step?? SOS-ed Merv, my trusted PC and Phone walking encyclopedia to find out if I should get my phone fixed or get a new one. Btw, my model's obsolete already. So was ding-donging on the idea of getting a new phone (this was NOT in the plan at all for this yr since I'd already gotten my laptop!) and finally decided that i WILL get the phone... just to put my mind to rest and not having to worry that my phone would just die on me at any moment.

So now, am a proud (but terribly broke!) owner of a Sony Ericsson K750i... and this phone is soooo freakin awesome! lol! Yes yes... i'm an SE person allllll the way. Tried to convince myself to get the Nokia 6230, which is cheaper but i couldn't do it. I just couldn't make myself get used to the thought of being a Nokia user, ridiculous though it may sound. Ah well... we all have our quirks and eccentricities. Here's my new baby, who'd costed me an arm and a leg:

One down!!!

Wooopeeee!!! We've chosen and edited our song for the salsa competition. Man, I didn't know just selecting and editing a single song can take such a long time!!! Phew... anyway, we were at the studio till abt 1am this morning... but we finally got our song done!

Now... gotta figure out the moves and costume... and practice, practice, PRACTICE!

Gawd, I still can't believe that we're actually gonna go thru this! *GASP!*

Of numerology, life paths, salsa competitions, and crappy finance/HR ppl

A few days ago, over lunch, JFK did a simple numerology reading for a few of us. My Life Path is a 9 (sum of birth date reduced to a single digit). According to JFK, I'm a HUGE flirt and a survivor i.e. I can overcome anything that's thrown my way. Me, being my usual inquisitive self, decided to check out more on numerology (it does sound quite interesting) on the net. Came across a couple of interesting sites that explained in detail, the whole deal on numerology:

• Astrology-Numerology.com
• Numerology-Free.com

I guess the main reason numerology piqued my curiosity was coz it had to do with numbers, and numbers always make sense to me in that there's always a logical reason behind a number e.g. 1+1 is always = 2 and such. Though Calculus formulas never made sense to me, at least there was always a systematic approach to reaching the final figure.

Anyway, there was a whole looonggg write-up on the Life Path of Nines, as they called it, some of which are as follows:

• The keys to the nature of a Life Path number 9 person are compassion, generosity, and a very humanitarian attitude
• Usually this number produces an individual that is very trustworthy and honorable, and one unlikely to harbor any sort of prejudice
• A person that feels very deeply for individuals less fortunate than yourself
• The 9, being the highest of the single digit numbers, holds an elevated position and poses certain responsibilities. The purpose of life for those with a 9 life path is of a philosophical nature. Judges, spiritual leaders, healers and educators frequently have much 9 energy.
• The number 9's very deep understanding of life is sometimes manifested in the artistic and literary fields. Here you may be able to express your deep emotional feelings through painting, writing, music, or other art forms.
• You have the ability to make friends very easily, as people are attracted to your magnetic, open personality. You have a special gift of understanding people, which if used correctly can be of great benefit to others. Your interest in people tends to make you quite social. People just naturally like you because you are so sympathetic, tolerant and broad-minded. *i wonder if this relates to the FLIRTING bit that JFK mentioned coz I tried a few others sites but none mentioned anything abt 9s being a flirt! lol!*
• It is not uncommon for persons with the 9 life path to fight the realities and challenges of purpose imposed here because selflessness is not an easy trait. You may have difficulty believing that giving and a lack of personal ambition can be satisfying. It must be realized and accepted that little long-term satisfaction and happiness is to be gained by rejecting the natural humanitarian inclinations of this path.
• The Nine holds the vibration of universal love. It teaches us how to accept each other. By having such a vast overview, the nine becomes a bridge to many qualities like:
  - creativity
  - imagination
  - benevolence
  - impersonality
  - intuition
  - philanthropy
  - emotion
  - generosity
  - devotion
  - dedication

After class on Tue, the salsa gurus showed us a flyer for a salsa competition that's coming up in Nov. After much bantering around, we were like, 'hey, why dun we enter the competition?'... sooooooo, wat we have right now is Wen + Kenneth, me + Chin Lai... and a few other couples on the list of competitors! Lol! Gawd, I can't believe I'm actually gonna be doing this! Am gonna be such a clown coz (1) I can't spin for nuts; and (2) I can't groove for nuts either! Let's just hope I dun make that big a fool of myself that I can't show my face in the salsa scene anymore after the competition, hehe. I guess it'd be a good experience... and if we take it more as a 'fun' thing, it won't be as pressurizing? Oh well... I did mention before that I like performing... so this is my chance! haha!

Gawd, sometimes the Finance/HR ppl just drive me up the wall! Was just asking them when would this agreement that I'd sent in a month or so ago be stamped and was it ready coz the vendor's asking me abt it. All I got an impatient response that it wasn't ready and I'll be informed when it's ready. I'm like, 'WTF?!' I asked u a simple question and u bite my head off? Hallo?! It's been sent in for more than a freakin mth! And u can't even tell me WHEN it will be ready! Geez... I can't believe this... I always work around dates and timelines, the least u could do is at least let me know when the hell the thing would be ready so I can inform the corresponding parties appropriately. Sometimes, they act like they're such Gods and we're all just at their beck-and-call... sheeesshhh...

Power of the MIND

Just saw an interesting program on TV just now... The Mentalist... where this guy, Gerry McCambridge, has conditioned his mind to an extent where he can read ppl's minds and predict wat they're thinking even before it happens! Apparently, he practises an art form called Mentalism, which involves controlling a person's thoughts, a form a mental misdirection, so to speak. It was quite cool actually... some of the 'stunts' that he did were:

• He asked one studio audience specific questions and for each question, he'd write the answer on a sheet of paper and hold it away from the person and he'd guess the answer to each question correctly.
• He went to a hypermart, picked 3 ppl at random, told them to choose an item and wrap it up in a box so he can't see the items. While they were doing that, he was at the cashier, counted $228.08 and gave it to the cashier. When the shoppers were done, he correctly guessed each item in the box and correctly guessed the person who chose each item. And the total of all 3 items? U guessed it! $228.08!
• He went to the streets of NY, picked 2 ppl off the street, got them to each pick up a magazine at a newstand, open a page and focus on a word. He guessed correctly the words that they picked out: 'colors' and 'classified'. One of the guys was an Irishman who played in some Irish football game or some similar sport. Anyway, his team just won some games and this Gerry guy kept picking up the scores from this Irishman's mind! And he was correct with the scores!

Quite amazing... still trying to figure out if it's all a scam... can check out Gerry's website here.

Finally!!! .... but....

weeeellllll.... I finally got to meet up with the hot shot, and he's literally one coz he was 2.5 hrs late!! Due to work, apparently... hhmmppphh... should've just called and rescheduled, rite? That's wat i would do if i know i was gonna be late for an appt... sheessshhh...

Needless to say, I was quite pissed when he finally showed... though he was apologetic and all but I wasn't impressed coz NO ONE has ever made me wait blurdy freakin 2.5 hrs! 'Cept docs, but that's an exception. Thank goodness i wasn't alone, else i would've left after the first 30 mins. Anyway, his details:

• A vegetarian, who's a free-thinker!! Gawd, wat're the odds?!
• A dog-person... he has a dog/dogs he saved from getting shot(?)
• A smoker... darn :o( But I think he mentioned he was trying to quit...
• Very married to his job... double darn
• Seemed quite open... based on the topics we touched on
• Has 1 sis in the US, lives with his family
• Wakes up @ 9am on Sunday to get porridge, then heads back to bed (gawd!)
• He knows my Odissi guru... they organized an event for him some time back. Cool thing was, when he asked if I'm learning Indian classical dance from Ramli Ibrahim and I answered yes, he exclaimed "I know that guy! He's amazing!"... which is cool, since not a single guy I know thus far (I think) and some girls, don't even know who Ramli is, let alone know wat an incredible dancer he is.

That's all I remember at this point... anyway, he said he'd make it up for being late yesterday but we shall see... given that his track record isn't very impressive at this point, am not holding my breath at all...

In dilemma...

Gawd... am in such a dilemma over my job situation!!!! Got a potential offer that's quite attractive BUT it comes with a lot of stress and long hrs and very IT-related... but it's a potential stepping stone to what I wanna do i.e. project management. But I'm quite accustomed to my worklife now and i've more time for myself and my activities outside of work and am not willing to give them up... though I dun prefer to do support work. I would say my job now is 50% support and 50% project managing, which is manageable thus far.

But then i think, i'm still young so why am i not driven to work harder and achieve more??? Why??!! Well, maybe it's coz I've done the late nites and stress before and I dun ever wanna be in that situation ever again! It was horrible!!! Not to mention that I totally lost my personal time and social life coz when I finally got off work, I'd be busy sleeping trying to make up for the sleep I'd lost and had no energy to go out and meet up with friends *shudder* Plus currently, I have a lot of flexibility and independence coz my boss is not in the office a lot so I need to be independent and look for solutions on my own as I can't afford to wait for my boss to come in to refer to her. Also, I think that this job allows me to meet more ppl and thus, widen my network.

Sooooo.... hooooowwwww????? I think i'm more inclined to stay where i am right now. But am feeling rather guilty abt giving up the offer. I hope it's the right decision... sigh... why do i always suck at making decisions like this.... :o(

Julia's Hen Nite Pics from Chris!!

Finally gotten the full set of pics from Chris' camera, of Bee Suan's hen day + nite! Wow, there were 200+ pics! OMG!! Chris certainly was very trigger-happy that day... hehe... here's a pictorial story of our day (go to my old blog to read the entire story)...

EVENT #1 : KARAOKE @ REB BOX, LOW YAT PLAZA

EVENT #2 : CHECK IN TO APT @ SUITESTAY (AMPANG) & PICTIONARY!

EVENT #3 : DINNER @ HARD ROCK (& 3 TASKS)

EVENT #4 : POST-DINNER BONDING SESSION

Unbelievable!!!

Oh WOW!!! I'm still too dazed to string a proper sentence together... but to cut a long story short, I think I may get to meet up with that Hottie after all!!!!! I hope I'm not dreaming *pinching myself* Owww!! hehe...

YES! It's DONE!!

Phew!! Finally!!! Made it thru the performance today... and survived to tell the tale! lol! One down, 2 more to go... i.e. temple performance on Sunday and Vijayadasami next Wednesday.

Was on half-day leave today. Went to meet Christine @ Brickfields to do some last minute shopping for our Navarathri items and had lunch. Went to do my eyebrows and got home @ 4pm. Packed my stuff, plucked my chrysanthemum petals... before I knew it, it was already 4:30! Shites! Was supposed to leave house @ 5pm coz Christine told me the day before, her friend got caught in a massive traffic jam from Subang to KL (he'd left @ 6pm and arrived @ Sutra after 9!). So did my hair and put on part of my make-up and dashed outta the house coz I figured I could to the rest @ Sutra. At least I'll get there early and not have to rush. So got outta the house around 5:50pm and arrived @ Sutra around 6:40pm. Put on the rest of my makeup (it was minimal this time around, just the dots around the pottu and eyes drawn, of course). Tied my saree and then it was time for warm-up.

After the warm-up, was standing around... coz it seemed that it was raining/drizzling so we were to perform in the studio itself. But I guess the rain stopped so thank gawd, the audience moved back outside! Unfortunately, it was still drizzling so the floor was quite slippery :o(

Item #1 : Bakra Tunda
I think it started out ok... the floor wasn't really wet yet. But it continued drizzling... and the standing around after the warm-up had cooled down my muscles so I couldn't balance for shite! Wat's worse is that Bakra Tunda has soooo many of those one-leg balancing poses! I didn't manage to do it all of it... had to put my leg down on some coz i was just too unstable and unfocused coz all i could think of was, "damn damn, the floor's wet.. better spin/turn slow so I won't fall flat on my face!". On the whole, I could remember most of Bakra Tunda so it wasn't as bad as I 'd thought, though obviously there were mistakes here and there...

Item #2 : Lakya Sindura
After Bakra Tunda, the junior group did Lakya Sindura while we caught out breath and got ready for Shtai.

Item #3 : Shtai
Of all the Odissi dances that I've learnt thus far, this is the most familiar and comfortable dance for me coz I've done it millions of times and as soon as I hear the music, I'd know wat to do. But guess wat??????? The only dance that I had to screw up badly, right in front of the audience (coz I was standing in front), was this dance! ARGH! Wat's wrong with me?! ok... wat happened was (1) When we'd entered and starting walking around on the stage. Heard the music and thought "oh no, oh no! we're supposed to 'open' soon" coz the entrance music was short. So I made a sharp right turn (a BIG NO-NO) and got to the front, coz that's where I was supposed to be... (2) Right smack in the middle of the dance, my mind started drifting and next thing I know, I totally blanked out! ARGH! How absolutely horrifying!!! And I was standing right in the blurdy front! Dammit! It was terrible coz I made that "oh-shit-wat-the-hell-am-i-doing" face and obviously the audience could see that... so no choice but to recover as fast and as natural as I could and continue. But it was soooooo freakin awful! I guess this was a case of overconfidence.. bah! Got thru the rest of the dance without any other incidents.

Item #4: Lalitha Lavanga
This item was ok, not too bad coz we'd done it tons of times during our Alarippu to Moksha rehearsals early this year. Still got mistakes here and there but as I was standing somewhere in the middle right, it wasn't too bad coz not smack in front of the audience.

Item #5 : Kalyan Pallavi
This is the killer dance... coz it's soooooo long (12+ mins) and very vigorous almost throughout the entire song. Each time I do it during class, I'd be panting by then end of it! But most surprisingly, I felt ok today... it wasn't as strenuous as normal. And the blank-outs that I was expecting didn't occur! WOW! I managed to get thru it without any obvious mistakes! Maybe it was coz I was somewhat relaxed already and not nervous. See, goes to show that mustn't ever be too confident, else something will go wrong!

Item #6 : Shankarabaranam
This was done by the seniors... didn't get to see it coz was busy recuperating after Kalyan Pallavi.

Item #7 : Mohane Deli Chahi
This is another dance that I'd never learnt right from the beginning, just picked up bits and pieces as we went along. Slow enuf to cheat a lil' here and there... hehe...

Item #8 : Moksha
This is the best item coz (1) it's short, only 2 mins (2) it's a dance of joy and release (3) signifies the end of the entire program i.e. last item in the program. Sometimes, Ramli would join us for this dance. How cool is that?? Our guru dancing with us... hehe...

Well, here u have it! chronology of events for tonite. Am writing this @ 1:28am so i hope there's not too many errors! lol!

Navarathri : 3 days to go and counting...

oh maaaannnnn!!! Just got the Navarathri schedule! My class(es) are gonna be doing 6 outta 8 items! *GROAN* How I'm gonna find the stamina to dance all 6 items, I have nooooo freakin clue but I better find it before Wednesday!!! *WAAIILL!*

Anyway, just a short description of wat Navarathri and Vijayadasami's all about (taken from Sutra's note/leaflet to students):

Vijayadasami or the victorious 10th day is celebrated @ the conclusion of
Navarathri, a 9-day festival for the worship of the cosmic Energy in the form of Divine Mother.

The advent of the 9-day prayers is on the New Moon, the 1st day of Navarathri. The Goddess is characterized as Durga on the 1st 3 days of Navarathri. Durga represents the destructive force of negative attitudes, outlook, and beliefs in the individual. She is invoked in an effort to "cleanse" the mind of all negative tendencies that would impede spiritual progress of the aspirant during the 9-day prayers.

Having successfully invoked Durga, the destroyer of the negative, the aspirant seeks the blessings of Goddess Lakshmi, who personifies auspiciousness (and not just wealth).

During the 2nd 3 days, Lakshmi is invoked to develop the potential that is inherent as all beings : Divinity.

The last 3 days of Navarathri is the worship of the Goddess Saraswati, the personification of Wisdom, whereby the Supreme Mother Saraswati is invoked. This word means the Essence of the Self, which again, the aspirant is seeking in the journey to the Divine.

Having sought to destroy the negativity within, establish auspiciousness in its place, the aspirant realizes the Essence of the Self : Divinity.

On the 10th day, the aspirant achieves some degree of spirituality by conquering the negative and establishing the positive and in so doing perceives life and living as one blissful event of dance and music. Dance and music then become a fitting gift to the Divine.

Vijayadasami is considered one of the most auspicious days in the Hindu calendar, when new lessons are initiated to students by their teachers. In return, students pay obeisance to their teachers, not just for what they are about to be taught but as the teacher represents the personification of Knowledge.

In conjunction with this event, the students' presence will be auspicious for the beginning of a new lesson. Traditionally, a student establishes and strengthens the student-teacher relationship with a traditional offering to the teacher and obtains his/her blessings before the start of another year's study.

We've also been scheduled for a temple performance in Kajang (of ALL places!) on the 9th... and and... Ramli's decided for 5 of us, including me, to do Bakra Tunda!!! Of all the items, he had to choose this one! Maaannnn.... this is like, the one item that I'm sooo not confident in doing coz we've only just learnt it and haven't gotten it down yet... ugh... looks like additional practice sessions are gonna be needed BEFORE next Sunday... sigh... :o

Am actually rather excited and psyched up abt Navarathri coz we haven't performed since January this year, which was when we did our Alarippu to Moksha show. But am also quite worried coz am soooo afraid of screwing up in the middle of any item (i.e. blank out and forget my steps! God forbid!) especially Bakra Tunda and Kalyan Pallavi... :o( Items to be performed on 5th Oct:

1. Bakra Tunda*
2. Lakya Sindura
3. Sthai*
4. Lalitha Lavanga*
5. Kalyan Pallavi*
6. Shankarabaranam Pallavi
7. Mohane Deli Chahi*
8. Moksha*

* items that I'll be performing...

Gawd, let's all pray that I'll still be able to stand after Kalyan Pallavi! lol!

Blurdy RHB!! ARGH!

Am so freaking pissed with the blurdy RHB cash deposit machines!!!! Had withdrawn my pay from SBB to deposit into RHB coz I use RHB to pay all my bills. Yesterday, after my ankle massage, went to the RHB @ Subang SS15 to deposit but it said "Temporarily out of service". Fine, I thought they're doing their regular maintenance (though that machine seemed to say that each time I try to use it). Nvm.... just now, @ 11:15pm, went to the RHB @ DU.... and the damn blurdy machine also said "Temporarily out of service"!! Wat the #$%^?! Hallo??!!! Some ppl are trying to put IN money but they're not allowing ppl to do so!! ARGH! Stoopid!! If the machines were down for 1 day, it's acceptable but 2 blurdy freakin days?!! ARGH! I can't believe this! Sooooo blurdy f#$%^^g pissed!!!!!