Monday, August 27, 2007

.|.Stuck.|.

Date: 27th August 2007
Music: All that Jazz, Chicago OST
Mood: Dreamy, *glances above*... erm... moody?

8:56 AM Z

0 comments

Monday, August 13, 2007

.|.Drama is love- Part 1.|.

Drama is love…

Date: 9^th August 2007

Blogging for: 5^th – 9^th August 2007

Music: Belaian Jiwa, Innuendo

Mood: Emo. [Yes, very straightforwardly, I am VERY emo and sentimental at the moment.]

I’m very proud to say and be able to blog about the fact that SMK Taman SEA’s drama team went to Langkawi for the National Level English Drama Competition. Just imagine.. On my side, at least.. Eight crazy drama girls [me, Lisa, Rhena, Evie, Fei, Kim, Yi Qun, Lyn] all packed into one hotel room for four consecutive days!!

At the moment, I’m sitting in my room, typing on the laptop, music playing in the background. Feels kinda awkward and strange, in an empty and quiet kind of way. For five whole days, I’ve been surrounded by people who not only have the same goals and hopes I do, but who also sayang me as much as I sayang them. Never for one moment was I lonely, let alone truly by myself. That’s probably why there’s the weird feeling. [Thank you, Captain Obvious!!]

I don’t think that this Drama excursion was all about acting, props, makeup, costumes, judges, or even the stage or prizes, recognition, or glory. That’s why I’m starting off with a spoiler that SMKTS did NOT bring back the big crystal trophy for the first-place winner, but we were placed as Fourth. Fourth in the entire country. Kinda huge for a school that has never made it past district. Must be one fantastic team, hey? Okay, will not praise the team anymore. xD I believe that this trip has been more about friendship, strength, faith, and most of all, love.

Will go in chronological order..

Day 1: Sunday, 5^th August 2007:

We left school early in the morning, by bus. Could tell that most of us were tired, probably from not packing until the night before, but we were all lively and happily chatting away, as we always are. However, we soon got tired and fell asleep.

Journey took about 6 or 7 hours by bus and ferry. Our first stop throughout the entire journey was at the Tapah Rest Stop, where we had lunch too. All the gila drama girls went to the toilet and found out that there was a “jungle” there!! Yes, right smack in the middle, the sinks surrounding the “jungle”, and the cubicles behind the sinks. Needless to say, we all cam-whored in front of the mirror as well as in the “jungle”. Mommy Doreen and Mommy Anne were walking far FAR away from our group so that they wouldn’t be embarrassed if people were to relate them to us. Haahaa. Then we went for lunch. Mommies as well as my bro disappeared to the mamak stalls while the rest of us ventured towards Baskin Robbins. Of course we weren’t going to eat there, since the actors and actresses had to save their voices. Which means no ice cream, no cold drinks, no chilli, no fried food, and definitely no straining of voice. I reckon we abided by all of those rules rather well, with the exception of the last one- not laughing and screaming with laughter until we’re hoarse is never possible in our drama group. xD

Anyways, back to lunch. Or rather, brunch. It was about 12-ish when we were at the stop. The majority of the group settled down in Dunkin Donuts while after I cursed the KFC for not opening until 3(I think) and depriving me of my mashed potatoes and coleslaw, I joined Lisa, Jit Yang, Jit Sun, Alwin, and Ka-Hui at the hot dog stall outside the outrageously priced Dunkin Donuts. Had my very first mushroom hotdog and a bottle of water. Yes, since I’ve been so conscious about saving my fading voice [due to a developing flu and cough], I’ve been drinking water like my pores are majorly overactive. It was nice, eating there and talking about how we’d be starring in Jit Yang’s future movies, in which he refuses to let us take on cameo roles. Lisa was busy documenting our lunch [including the tower of hotdog boxes], and Ka-Hui was eyeing the ice cream next door [being sound man, he doesn’t have to bother about conserving his voice]. We exceeded our 40 minutes of allocated time, so we rushed back to the bus, only to find that no one was in a rush to leave.

Back on the bus, we settled down once again and I was desperately trying to get Evie off her emo emo music, and plying her with happy and toe-tapping beats. Yes, it’s been my personal mission to make sure that naturally emo girl doesn’t be emo unnecessarily. Not when I’m around, anyway. However, when we reached the Paddy-plantation area, i got all morbid and psychopathic, telling Evie which swamps / overgrowths would be best to dump dead bodies once we've murdered them. Haa haa. Various failed attempts to got her off her emo music, about 5 sets of 40 winks, a toilet stop, and many hours later, we reached the jetty. I think it’s the Kuah Jetty. We had lunch at a small, empty stall, next to the Jetty. Imagine having to cook fried rice for 17 impatient people. I wouldn’t want to be the one doing that. Of course if I did, they would all have horrible diarrhoea, but that’s not the point. After lunch, many drama people went in search for a toilet. Then we went back to the bus to unload. Bags, suitcases, plastic bags, props, and so on came out of the bus. Yes, my dear brother was nice enough to carry my HUGE suitcase for me, instead of me struggling to move the big thing about. [It’s not all my clothes and stuff, alright? I’m not THAT vain.] I remember clearly that I was just standing there, listening to Mommy Ernice talk to the bus driver, then I saw the hand-carry bag fall off the suitcase it was set on top of, followed by a sickening crunch sound. I think my heart broke with it, and like the water that came seeping out of the bag, I reckon that’s what would happen to a heart that was cracked too, no? Well, Madam Vania’s crystal ball was gone. And that was just after I had mentioned that we should be on the look out for potential sabotage. Mommy Anne and Mommy Doreen were helping, or rather, doing most of the cleaning up of the remnants of the once glorious crystal ball, which was now reduced to the components of foul smelling liquid, pieces of shiny plastic shreds, and dangerous shards of glass.

Remember Chee Kong telling all of us to cheer up, and that it was Langkawi, we could easily find another crystal ball, and get it cheaper too!! Suppose that it wasn’t so much of how we got it, but more of how we would tell the owner of the crystal ball, who had so kindly lent it to us.

We had to wait in the “departure hall” of the jetty for a while before we boarded the ferry, or rather, the boat that was ferrying us there. [When I hear ‘ferry’, I think of vehicles on a boat, not just people seated in a boat..] We got into a rather cramped boat, loaded our luggage, and made our way to our seats, the last two rows belonging to us. I remember that Evie was feeling stressed and anxious because we saw what we thought was another drama team, come on to the same boat, bringing with them many many props. For those who don’t know, marks are also given for props used, and our drama “3 Feet Under”, has hardly any, something that we are actually quite proud of. Anyway, everyone [including the other team] got seated, and we were off. I know I slept through most of the journey, because the only thing I remember about the trip was that I had to lean on the seat in front because my neck was throbbing from being in the same position for too long, and that for a short span of time, I got to appreciate the beauty of the ocean, the brown, murky, polluted water left behind at the jetty, and admired the emerald waters.

We reached the next jetty just as my cramped legs were hollering in pain. Was a rather long walk from the arrival area to the exit of the jetty. Remember that the first thing all of us took notice of was “Choc Stop”, obviously selling duty-free chocolates. Waited outside for a while, then we left on a bus for Langkasuka Hotel. We were all wondering what in the world we’d do during free time [besides practice], then we reached the hotel. Die lor, Chee Kong went nuts over the fact that we had a cinema upstairs, and from the lobby of the hotel, we were actually directly connected to a shopping mall. Small, but a shopping mall nonetheless. Since Kim Lee flew there and reached earlier, she had checked out the hotel and so we knew that the registration was on Floor 4. Cool, right? So, the first group of people went up first, of course they couldn’t help cracking the joke that I [being the ever-suffering mother who gets stuck in the broken-down elevator with Derrick Chin] needed an entire elevator to myself to go up. So, while most of them went up, I waited downstairs with JYang for CKong, KHui and Aris [I think] who had dashed off to find out if we could watch The Simpsons on our free night. Jakun betul.

Well, got up to the 4^th floor SAFELY with the guys [no, the elevator did NOT break down], and we were just in time to receive our tags that said that we were SELANGOR’S team (!!) and to hear which rooms we were put in. I reckon that it went by state, then by alphabetical order, because 5 of our Selangor girls were in room 5508 while Lisa, Rhena, and I were put into room 5507, apparently with Melaka girls. Interesting. Guys were given the rooms in the older part of the hotel, so we went our separate ways.

On floor 5, us room 5507 girls made our way down the hallways and knocked on the door. A girl with glasses and fine light hair opened the door. We introduced ourselves, and the Melaka girls, especially Priscilla [the one who answered the door] seemed rather nice. Aside from the fact that they were rather ill and went straight to sleep, taking up the beds, I found them rather pleasant and was fully ready to getting used to and getting to know them more over the next few days. Lisa went to have a shower while Rhena and I went out to get something [I can’t remember what], then went to visit the girls in 5508. Fine, I admit. I felt kinda disappointed that we couldn’t stick together as the entire group of girls from the Selangor drama team. Yes sue me, hang me and stone me for doubting the nice Melaka girls, but moved props and makeup to 5508. Maybe it’s due to the whole shock of Madam Vania’s crystal ball breaking. *whince*

Anyhow, after a small bonding session with the 5508 girls [the 2 rooms are actually diagonally across each other], Rhena and I went back to 5507 to find the 3 Melaka girls snoring away, and Lisa sitting on the mattress that was laid out on the floor, writing in her journal. We all had our individual clean-up sessions, then we went for dinner, along with the 5508 girls. Another thing. Not only were we girls separated from the testosterone-filled members of our team due to the fact that their ‘living quarters’ were rather far away from ours, but for some weird reason, the teams were all split up during meal times too, the girls having to eat on the first floor and the guys, the second. Weirdness. After dinner came the ‘taklimat’. The faithfulness and obedience of our drama members towards our three teacher advisors/ mommies was uncalled for, when we waited for them to arrive before actually entering the hall on the 4^th floor, resulting in all of us having to sit at the back of the hall. Oh yes, and did I mention that since the pre-determined colour to wear [by our moms] was black, and someone said that it was going to be a formal dinner [dunno were that came from], the Cow was wearing a tie!!! Haha, a cow wearing a black shirt and a silver tie. Oh yes, and I seem to have missed out on the fact that because of the rise in pretty teachers teaching in our school, and them coming mostly from Sarawak, the boys [just Ka-Hui, Alwin and Aris, actually] were so eager to meet the Sarawak competitors. Talk about fraternizing with the enemy.

Alright, alright. The ‘taklimat’ was mainly to welcome all of the competitors, explain the schedule, where the actual competition was going to be held, time slots, practice allocations, rules, souvenier-presenting, etc. Then came the doode who came to explain the rules of the competition. All the chaos started when he asked if anyone had questions. Various members/ teacher advisors from different teams started to ask , no… DEMAND clarifications on thing, which in my opinion, if you’ve made it as far as National Level, you’d know those simple rules on drama. And that doode upfront wasn’t any better either, not speaking clearly and giving answers that either weren’t relevant to the questions asked, or he simply gave the ‘Tidak Apa’ attitude. Serious chaos was in the room when what seemed to be a debate to gain rights began. I’m so proud that our 3 moms just sat there, totally above it all. I mean, obviously, when the doode behind the mike doesn’t even know what he’s talking about, then obviously we’re talking to the wrong person here. Why bother wasting your time trying to confirm things with someone who is not remotely knowledgeable? Doinkz.

Had a briefing session after all the pre-drama drama was over. Fei was all tired and I reckon Aris and JYang were pretty agitated, but we sat there nonetheless. Meeting over, headed straight for bed. Yeah right. Oh yes, and after the meeting, we [Rhena, Lisa, and i] had followed direct orders from Mom Ernice and moved in with the rest of the Selangor girls, the main reason being our clashing schedules. [Selangor’s practice round: 9-9:30am, Melaka: 5-5:30 pm.] Would be unfair if we woke up early in the morning to shower and all that, disrupting the sleep that the sick girls so desperately need. There are other reason, go figure. =]

Anyway, moved the mattresses and pillows, dropping them onto the floor of room 5508. Mind you, this made 8 girls in one room. Well, everyone was too tired to care anyway.

More later.

Misc:

"Woh yao chwor moh-derl!!!"

[Chee Kong and my bro, having watched some competition on TV in Langkawi because there was nothing else to watch. This includes watching Ultraman, by the way.. xD ]

Sayangs,

~Lyn. =]

5:51 AM Z

2 comments

Thursday, August 09, 2007

.|.Home from home.|.

Date: 9th August 2007
Music: Belaian Jiwa, Innuendo
Mood: Emo-istic

Tomorrow is the first Friday without drama practice in a very very long time. Seriously, i'm missing drama already.

I just hope that tomorrow, i can find the strength to not tear up, but walk with pride and simply remember and cherish all those long, hot, but utterly joyful afternoons in the Dewan.

To my drama family, i miss you all. Remember what we promised for 5 years time, under the stars.


PS: Looooong post coming up!! xD

With lots and lots of love,
~Lyn.

8:06 AM Z

0 comments