It's like only the 2nd day of school and i can't believe that im actually studying.... Just finished 1 of my many assigned readings for sociology module while waiting for jwo...

i can't believe this man...

seriously...

It feels so surreal to be studying in school yet again after more than 2 long years.... I feel so out of touch with things .... to be sitting in seminars, listening to profs and mugging after dat....

One things for sure though... after seeing how the students of smu are like... it's gonna be another 4 long years of BLOODY WAYANG!!!!!

Malaysian Salsa Festival 2006 Part 3


Welcome back to cutmedowntosize.blogspot.com. Now, back to the 3rd and final installation of the malaysian salsa festival 2006 :)

Ahhhhh...

Day 3 was one of the most enjoyable days for me. The first half of the day was about the same as saturday. Wakey wakey, breakfast followed by a rush of work shops. In all, I took Son (which is another kinda dance) by Candice & Lautaro, Shines & Styling on 1 by jaime jesus & Liz, partner work on1 by them too and finally partnerwork on 1 by salsa sam... ...

Jaime and liz are cam whores too...hahahaha

1 with jaime and liz

Candice and Lautaro

As usual, i was racking my poor brain out trying to absorb as much as i could cos heck... i paid 414 bucks for this man...lol. The stuff that was thought was uniquely different. some of the moves were very challenging to lead... let alone follow...wahahahahaha. At least they were new stuff to me i guess...lol

Raymond playing ti cool with his ice cream in the frenzy

After the work shops, it was back to more camwhoring by the beach for jinn and me. Last day liao wad... must take more photos...wahahah. Spotted a couple of beach babes along the way too....hahahaha

Use colgate for sparkling pearly whites like ours...wahahahaha

Beach babe 1

Beach babe 2

After that, we split up and when about bumming our seperate ways. I went to play bridge with shirine and gang.

Yvonne the lawyer rocks at bridge ...

... however it's a different case for young....wahahahah

Bridge was a tad bit boring for us. Soon after, we went to check out the native wildlife and found this poor monkey chained to a volley ball net post. Being the nice human beings that we are, we decided to keep it compnay for a while...wahahahahahaha

Awww... cute lil' creature...

Dinner was soon after so i went back to change up. Dinner was 1 of the highlights of the day. Since it was the last night, the organisers made it extra special. There was a nice gateway, roaring campfire, nice tables with table cloths, free flow of syruped drinks... ...

We "delegates" came to discuss salsa politics?????

Roaring campfire?

Wonderful spread

To me, what totally took the cake was.... .... A FREAKIN GUPPY AT EVERY TABLE!!!!!! As part of an eleborate decoration, at the center of each table was a carved pineapple holding a cup of water with a guppy in it!!! Woah !!! I was so tickled by it man....hahahah. Should have played some lame game there and then and get the loser to gulp down the freakin guppy man...wahahaha.... The epitome of guppy sashimi man....lol

Nemo got lost again

Well after dinner, it was another round of cam whoring with many people that i could find. The JJ gang, ads gals, salsa sam... ...

JJ ROXS!!!

Bikini clad ADS Angels

Future salsa politicians?!?!?!

KC

Salsa Sam de Man

The final night of performance was up next. It was stunning as usual but i felt that the appreciation session at the end was a tad bit long and whiny. No offense but I JUST WANNA DANCE MAN!!!!! wahahaha.

There was a choice for the singapore participants to either take a special sunday night bus back to sg so that they would not miss work the next day. The bus was supposed to reach sg by 7am. Shirely, jinn and a whole load of people were going off so it was a final round of cam whoring wif dem.

Some malaysian babe

Stunning Victoria

Gals from LADC

The fellowship

Gary all so merry

SB7 @ the 2006 Malaysian Salsa Festival

Social dancing that night was the BEST of all 3 nights for me. Why? Cos my skin grew freakingly thick and i actually got to dance with many big names like... ... LIL LIZ, CANDICE AND SUSANA MONTERO!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lucky me =P like i said... being a little more thick skinned brings about many advantages..wahahahaha

Another malaysian babe
Shang hai hottie
I danced wif candice...

... and SUSANA MONTERO!!!! SQUEAL!!!!

I learned a lot about salsa that night. Many pros were ramming all their "turn patterns" from hell, squeezing in turn after turn after turn... ... As for me, i couldn't really match up with dem. However after observing for a while, i looked at the faces of the ladies and i realised one thing. They didn really looked like they were enjoying the dance.

It made me think. Salsa is so much more than bombastic turn patterns or spinning like a top. The most important thing is to enjoy your partner's company and live the moment of the dance... ... I noe that even till today, i still get carried away frequently. Rest assured, im making a conscious effort to improve:)

Anyways, since my room mates were gone, i spent a quiet and peacful last night all alone in cherating. Woke up the next mroning and crabbily took an 8 hour bus ride back to sg where a new chapter of my life was about to unfold... ...

My preciiiiiious.... ...

Sorry for such a late post. It has been almost a month since the festival. Blame it on my stats b assignment, sociology readings and other stuff all under the heading of school work. Nevertheless, i thank u guys for your patience. Hope u enjoyed this 3 part mini series...

:D

Malaysian Salsa Festival 2006 Part 2


Allo folks... Im back from my Freshman Team Building camp (aka orientation camp)... It was a fun 3D2N of sun sand and sea with kick ass company... wahahahaha... will blog about it soon when i get the photos and stuff..... but now, back to the salsa action!!!

Oki.... after the insanity of day 1, we turned in like super late. We actually intended to wake at about 8am but when my alarm went off, i just snoozed it and by the time we finally woke up, it was about an hour later.

We were late for the first workshop of the day, namely afro cuban by Gupson. So after the morning rituals of lai chuang and the fenzy of freshening up and gettin ready, we rushed down to join the workshop halfway.

Young looks like that at 9am in the morning

Afro cuban was interestingly refeshing but what really perked me up was.......... BREAKFAST!!!!! wahahahahaha :D. I must say that of al the meals at cherating, breakfast is always the BEST

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It is this first meal after maybe 6 to 8 hours of fasting during sleep that kickstarts your body's metabolism and when nutrients are most easily absorbed.

I love cherating's breakfast due to a few reasons. A, they provide fruit juice, milk, coffee and tea.... while you only get ice water for the rest of the meals. B, they serve a nice spread of food, stuff like bacon and eggs... i like:) C, the ambience is always all so relaxing and slow..... cos everyone just woke up... so its like chillllll brudder....... D, im always hungry by breakfast......wahahaha

Nice spread

They like breakfast too

However, what really perks up the breakfast..... is the OMELETTE STAND... and the adjacent roti prata/ chennai stand...wahahahahahah. This nice little corner of the restraunt has chefs serving up fresh omelettes. You can just tell them what sort of filling you want and they'll mix it all in and fry up your desired omelette right before your very eyes!!! Talk about custom made omelettes man... wahahahahahahha. If u just want plain egs for a sunny side up or maybe some scrambled eggs, they'll cook it up for you too. A pity that for they didn have cheese as part of their omellette filling though...... i really like some cheese with my eggs...hahahaha.

Cooking up a storm

After breakfast, it was chill out till 1pm when all the salsa workshops would begin. Jinn and shirely went to play beach volley ball with gary and some other guys. Me however was still woozy from a lack of sleep (I need my 10 hrs u noe...wahahahah). I decided to take things slow and soak in the beach.

It was great.... Strolling along the beach was soooooo relaxing. Soaking up vitamin D from the sun, feeling the cool sea breeze caressing you, having crystal clear water gently swirling around your ankles.... .... all while gingerly walking along miles of fine powdery white sand... ... None of the hustle and bustle of the city. All so serene and tranquil. I like...... ...... ahhhhhhhhh :)

My fav pic of the beach

Solitude

After the beach, i took a stroll around the resort complex just to get the blood pumping. Since it is a beah resort, the place also had a nice rustic touch to it all.

What's a beach resort without trees

Definately tropical... ...

At 1pm, after feelin all warm and fuzzy inside, the real action began. There were workshops from 1pm all the way till 5pm, ranging from street cha cha cha and rythm and music appreciation to intro to lifts and tricks.

4 hours of workshops aint no joke. It's down right tiring man.... rushing from workshop to another. In the end, i took introduction to dancing on 2 by suman, int partnerwork on 1 by Ashwin, adv partnerwork on 2 by Santo Rico and intro to lifts and tricks by Fasilito.

I learnt quite alot... but forgot even more...hahah... My puny brain was rather overloaded...hahah What i really enjoyed was the intro to lifts and tricks.... It was the first time i got to lift ladies up and tried to flip them over my back...hahahhahaha... freakin funny and tiring... I was successful for only 1 attempt when both of us weren't really thinking and during 1 try, the gal was stuck on my back....lol... Quite sorry that i dropped to ladies ... even though i managed to cushion 1 of their fall with my tummy.... hahahahah At this point of time, i'd like to thank the ladc gals fortheir kind patience and for trusting in me... hahahhaha..... I'll do better next time :)

Workshop frenzy...

After dinner, it was off to watch the performances again. It was good too... a maltitude of performances from diff countries. Candice and Lautaro from zurich, LADC exotic dance, Santo Rico from NY.... they all rocked...hahahahah

Candice and Lautaro

Gupson doing bachata

Jaime and Liz....

After the performances, it was another night of hot sweaty bodies dancing around to the grooviest salsa beats..... I met June and Jackson too.... took a pic cept my cam went wonkuy...hahahahah

Hot salsa action

Fuzzy pic with THE couple...wahahahaha

Oki... im off for lunch with joshua... stay tuned for the final installment of this 3 part mini seires...wahahahah :P

Malaysian Salsa Festival 2006 Part 1


It was a BLAST!!! 4D3N of hardcore salsa... ... Malaysia's first international salsa festival and i was there :D!!! sretching from the 4th till the 7th of august at the beach side resorts of Impiana and Suria at sunny Cherating, it was a weekend end filled with international performances, workshops ranging from son( another kinda dance) to introduction to lifts, tricks and aerials and nightly salsa parties!!!

Yes i know that this set me back by $414.95 but IT WAS WORTH EVERY SINGLE CENT!!!!! Seriously no regrets going for it man....hahaha

Well here's a little bit of what went on during the festival. To those who didn't go, TOO BAD!!!!! wahahahahha


DAY 1

It started relatively early for me. The bus was scheduled to leave from neil road at 8am to JB where we would change onto another bus to head for sunny cherating. I met alot of union regulars there. It seemed that union square was goin to be transplanted to cherating...hahaha
Anyways, jinn and shirley were to be my room mates for this trip. I know that it was last minute but thanks for inviting me nevertheless:)

Young looks like that when he has to wake up at 6am in the morning to catch a 8am bus.

When we got onto the coach at JB bound for Cherating, we realised that there was something amiss. It seemed that the bus driver was a fan of jay chow. He was swerving the coach while constanly overtaking other hapless vehicles on the 2 laned road. Talk about intial D man...wahahaha. I guess i was lucky to be alive.

The driver was a closet Ah Beng.... Disco lights on the freakin coach?!?!?!?

Anways, it was a bloooooodddddyyy loooooonnnngggg ride. We left neil raod at about 8.30am and got to cherating at about 5pm!!! Freakin 8.5 hr ride!!!!!! along the way we had 3 rest stops cos our bladders were just that small...hahahaha

My retarded travel companion

Malaysia for you

Big green sleeping mass

When we got there, we were too late for the bachata worksop by gupson.... oh wells... We proceeded to walk around, bumped into even more familiar faces, cam whored abit and waited for dinner.

Beach side setting

Coconut trees and more coconut trees

The usual suspects

Orangey Joyce

Gary, nicole and me

We took a walk around the place to get orientated. I loved the nice beach and constant sea breeze.... Ahhhhhhhh... all so relaxing. Perfect setting to hold a salsa festival man...hahahah

Lazy beach side

Prestine beach

Crystal clear waters

Captain Young

Human tripod

Cool salseros

So who's seducing who?

Met salsa sam along the way and had a chat to chat up wif him. Apparently after our previous SALSA NUTS trip to kl, we left quite an impression. After we left, he said that a couple of events were named like salsa nuits lunch, salsa nuts this salsa nuts that. It seems that the phrase " Salsa nuts" was very catchy adn many parties of people started to use it. Well done guys :) We have left our mark...hahahahha Btw, throughout the rest of the days at cherating i was pleasantly suprised that some people actually remembered me from KL... awwww...hahahah

Salsa Sam!!! He's really a nice guy :)

Shirley and THE man

Since it was a beach side resort, all the meal settings were that of an exotic beach side theme. Overall, the food for the whole duration wasn't all that mindblowing but it wasn't that bad either. That night, we had a bbq buffet. Lotsa lamb, chicken, sausages, fishes and prawns.

Prewwwty lights to set the ambience

Firery pit...

... that produced these heap of glorious BBQed meat

JJ group settling down for dinner

Bryan looks happy... must have been the dinner...hahaha

1 interesting thing to not that other than breakfast, there was free flow of ice kachang for every meal. 4 days of ice kachang... shiok...hahaha

Jerry looks so happy becos of his seat is strategically close to the ice kachang stall

After dinner, it was of to watch the performances. The first night saw acts from En Motion, LADC ( i felt they did a great job. Good work guys!!!), Bailattelo Dance Academy from Switzerland, Paradizo Dance from new york and many others. These performances very highly energetic and awesome.... truely WORLD CLASS ones.... I was starting to get my money worth.

Gary and Nicole

LADC peeps

Aerial salsa

SB7 roxs!!!

After that, it was the first of the indoor dance party.... Music was piped from 11pm till around 3am. The music that was played was great!!! Very groovy indeed... So unlike the boring generic crap we get at union.... blah!@#!... We'll it was great, got to dance wif many babes of differing levels. I really enjoyed myself.

Getting it on

It's gettin hot in here

Ok, this will be all for now... Am too lazy to blog out the rest ( and the blog entry will be too long if i did anyways) ...hahhaha... Stay tuned for more exciting salsa action, babes and all, from the malaysian salsa festival!!!