Confessions of a City Slicker

15th March 2008 - All the anticipation, the preparations, the hardwork, and finally the day arrived.

1.00 pm sharp and I was out of the office and speeding towards our venue, Red Rock Hotel in town for a short rehersal before going our separate ways to get ready for the night.

The hotel was newly taken over from a previous establishment but still old, nonetheless.  The auditorium used to be a cinema which explains the stadium seating arrangement.

Although it can easily accommodate 300 guests, believe me, dancing space was considerably smaller than our dance studio where we had ample space to dance.

Here, we had to be mindful to take baby steps lest we bump into each other.  And of course we can’t stretch our arms out too far or we will be invading each other’s spaces.  Also the occassional hitting our neighbor’s hands was inevitable.

And oh yeah, did I mention that the front line, the line I’m in BTW, was only about 3 feet away from the VIPs?  Talk about piling on the nerves.

While the other groups have about only 7 dancers, we were 18 dancers strong.  Coordination was all the more important to ensure no unecessary accidents occur.

And don’t get me started on the changing room.  It used to be a toilet and probably the only part of the building they missed during the refurbishing process.  Although the floor was relatively clean, you won’t dare step foot inside the stalls.  Yuck!!!!

I didn’t have the foresight to wear my costume under my clothes when I left the house, so I had no choice but to change there.  Lucky I’m not shy about this.  A few brave souls actually dared to venture into the stalls for some privacy.

I did my makeup at home but brought my stuff there just in case.  Ended up being make up artist to some of the other girls.  I guess that means whatever skills I managed to pick up from YouTube.com is passable?

First performance of the night is called "Beautiful Arms" which we nicknamed "Octopus" because of the variety of arm movements.  As the name suggests, this routine focuses on the arms.  All dancers were involved with only the main dancers facing the audience.  The rest of us had our backs to the audience, so that pretty much settled the nerves.

I guess it was a good thing that our routine was #10 on the list.  This gave us time to settle into the environment and that kind of calmed us down a bit.

Our performance was called "The Dance Of Sensuality" which requires a certain degree of hiao-ness.  "Just zoom in on a leng chai from the audience and make eyes, pass electricity, whatever, at him," my teacher would tell us

How did it go?  I’ll have to check out the video of the dance when I get it back.  I’ll upload it to YouTube.com when I have it, ya…

Well, I can be certain of one thing.  If no one remembered our performance, I think they will remember us for being the noisiest group that night :p

The only time we were quiet was when we were performing.  Before and immediately after our performance, the tongues couldn’t stop wagging.  Ha ha…

We’re moving up to the advance level after this.  I’m pretty glad I stayed with this class.  My teacher actually asked me to move on ahead of them to the advanced level first but then I would have missed out on 3 additional dance routines if I had move on.

Besides, the class is held during Saturday afternoons, the time when my engine has the most trouble starting.

Looking forward to World Belly Dance day on May 10th.

Exactly what does it take to prepare for the hafla?  We found out we were going to be one of four classes that will be performing as early as last year, so a huge part of every class is used to practice for that routine.  Our teacher added some sugar & spice to the piece so that it’s not so boring.

Practice, practice, practice

As early as a month ago, we started to get together for additional practice sessions on Saturday mornings.

The Costume

Too many chefs spoil the soup, so they say.  It was not a good idea to have too many inputs from too many people so we decided to let a small group to pick out the costume.  Once we’ve agreed, there came another problem.

The shop didn’t have enough bras to supply all 18 of us so we had to buy our own bras then give it to the shop to have them sequined for us.  With so many orders, we only got it back about 2 weeks before the hafla.

The skirt was so sheer that there was no possibility for me to go commando in it.  So I went to a tailor to have a lining sewn in along with a few alterations.

It was too long and I didn’t like that the waistband was elastic, therefore giving me the muffin top appearance around the waist.  So I asked my tailor to put a zipper in and make it so that the skirt just hangs around my hips without hugging.

The Makeup

At first a cosmetic company was supposed to come in and do our makeup, but they just didn’t have enough manpower to handle so many of us.  So I turned to the only other source to get tutorials - YouTube.com.

Two weeks of practicing with what limited makeup I do possess before finally creating a somewhat messy smoky eye look that I am satisfied with, without looking like a hooker.

The end result - will have to wait until I get the pictures back first to find out :p

So exactly how expensive is it to attend a hafla where you will also be performing?

• Ticket = RM30.00
• Costume = RM85.00 (This only includes the price of the skirt and labor charges to sew sequins on our bras)
• Cost of altering the skirt = RM19.00
• Bra from Tesco = RM19.90
• Hip scarf = RM35.00
• Rental of dance studio for practice sessions = RM6.00

Total cost to attend this hafla = RM194.90

Normally, if we were not performing, we would just make do with what we have, maybe get some additional enhancements from the usual shops like Sam’s Batik or Chinatown Fashion.  Since we were performing together as a group, we had no choice but to have some sort of uniform costume.

Here’s what our costume looks like.  Sorry, no pictures of me in it yet.  We actually brought our cameras but since there were professional photographers there, we might as well request them to take our pictures.

I’ll add the pictures later on once we’ve got them back from the photographers.

So exactly how expensive is it to attend a hafla where you will also be performing?

• Ticket = RM30.00
• Costume = RM85.00 (This only includes the price of the skirt and labor charges to sew sequins on our bras)
• Cost of altering the skirt = RM19.00
• Bra from Tesco = RM19.90
• Hip scarf = RM35.00
• Rental of dance studio for practice sessions = RM6.00

Total cost to attend this hafla = RM194.90

Normally, if we were not performing, we would just make do with what we have, maybe get some additional enhancements from the usual shops like Sam’s Batik or Chinatown Fashion.  Since we were performing together as a group, we had no choice but to have some sort of uniform costume.

Here’s what our costume looks like.  Sorry, no pictures of me in it yet.  We actually brought our cameras but since there were professional photographers there, we might as well request them to take our pictures.

I’ll add the pictures later on once we’ve got them back from the photographers.

A huge crowd of sore losers gathered for a protest in Komtar yesterday morning.  As early as 10.00 am my phone was going off with SMS alerts.

This started a chain of events which included police checkpoints in several places and a massive jam during the evening rush hour.

I pity the folks who have to rely on the bus services.  This gathering was right smack in the middle of the bus routes to the bus terminals in Komtar.

Don’t these people have jobs to go to?  Unlike that other group who had their gathering during the weekend in the Federal Capital last year, yesterday was a working day.

Well, I guess not, because their bone of contention was because our new CM has plans to run the state "free from the NEP that breeds cronyism, corruption and systemic inefficiency".

The "story" goes that they are afraid their interests will take a backseat under the new administration.  Yeah, right.  Aren’t they more concerned that their privileges will be take away from them, that they will have to be independant from now on and not rely on a nursemaid to provide for their needs?

If our new CM can pull that off, maybe from now on we will see that equality of rights for all races as provided for under the constitution protected.

"When did you buy that shirt?!  It’s so big," Mom said to me.

I looked at her puzzled.

"What do you mean when did I buy this shirt?  You’ve seen me wearing it before.  Maybe I don’t wear it so often because it needs ironing."

"Well it doesn’t fit and looks so untidy hanging on you like that," she said.

Ha ha…she obviously has a short memory.  A few months ago this shirt was just fitting.  I had to sew press buttons between the buttons on my bust line and belly so that the gap between the buttons don’t open up.

Usually by the end of the day there will be an obvious line below my bustline and on my belly button, the space in between those lines being the bulge of my huge stomach.

Being on duty during the election, my lunch and dinner was provided.  I expected that feasting on tomato and briyani rice with all their rich accompanying curries will show up in my next body scan.

Hehehe….they didn’t.  In fact, I actually lost fat.

Penangites woke up to a new order today after the landslide victory of the opposition party in the latest general elections.  We all expected the opposition to bury BN this year, but we didn’t expect that BN was not only buried, but buried 6 feet under.

The people has spoken and clearly made their choice.

So BN thought that they can control the swing of votes by controlling the media?  Everyday when we read the papers it’s all news about them and their preparations, their promises.  Turn the radio or TV and we see advertisement telling us to "Vote for Malaysia, Vote BN".  Not a peep about the opposition.

Well, guess what, the voices that you try to shut out, the things that are not said, will resound louder in our ears than any advertising campaign.

You have to understand that the people of this country will not stay ignorant for long.  You can control the media but you can’t control the other streams of information that is available today like the internet.

Sooner or later, we will wise up.

We are not saying that you are not doing a good job.  To be fair, there are some good people in the BN.  What we want is a check and balance in the government.  We want to ensure that no one party gets to be in the driver’s seat all the time.  There must be a balance.

It’s good to see that democracy is alive and well in this country.

To the people we elected, you have the next 5 years to prove your worth.  Don’t let us down.

Penangites woke up to a new order today after the landslide victory of the opposition party in the latest general elections.  We all expected the opposition to bury BN this year, but we didn’t expect that BN was not only buried, but buried 6 feet under.

The people has spoken and clearly made their choice.

So BN thought that they can control the swing of votes by controlling the media?  Everyday when we read the papers it’s all news about them and their preparations, their promises.  Turn the radio or TV and we see advertisement telling us to "Vote for Malaysia, Vote BN".  Not a peep about the opposition.

Well, guess what, the voices that you try to shut out, the things that are not said, will resound louder in our ears than any advertising campaign.

You have to understand that the people of this country will not stay ignorant for long.  You can control the media but you can’t control the other streams of information that is available today like the internet.

Sooner or later, we will wise up.

We are not saying that you are not doing a good job.  To be fair, there are some good people in the BN.  What we want is a check and balance in the government.  We want to ensure that no one party gets to be in the driver’s seat all the time.  There must be a balance.

It’s good to see that democracy is alive and well in this country.

To the people we elected, you have the next 5 years to prove your worth.  Don’t let us down.

When I volunteered to help out DAP during this round of elections, a lot of people predicted that I’ll be roughing it out in a shack 30 meters from the polling station monitoring the situation.

Reality, I found out tonight that I will be right in the middle of the battle field.  I had signed up to be a polling agent and after that staying back to monitor the vote count.

I had to attend a final briefing tonight where they told us of the rules and regulations.  Amongst them, no cell phones (bummer), formal attire which means no jeans and T-shirts (aw man!).  But most of all, keep our eyes peeled throughout the whole proceedings and watch the officers on duty.

Politics is a dirty business, after all.  It’s a good thing our team captain is a very experienced man with 4 general elections under his belt.

We actually have the power to question anything that goes on during the proceedings if we feel the need to.  This is a huge responsibility, considering the ambition of the opposition this year, which is to retake Penang.

Yeah, we’re so gonna bury BN this year.

As a side note, that huge crowd that turned up for BN’s concert and ceramah the other night were not all locals.  Sources said they chartered about 20 buses to ferry supporters from out of state.  Phantom supporters?

It’s gonna be a long day tomorrow.  But if I’m not too tired, I’ll update the blog when I get home.

I don’t think the counting will go on until the wee hours of the morning, though.  I know one year my dad was a counting agent, it lasted all night and into the morning.

I’ve come a long way since the day I first got started on Herbalife.  People are starting to notice the difference.

The biggest difference for me is since I’ve been able to have a meeting with Indah Water everyday, my skin problems have started to diminish.  That’s one more problem solved.

Nowadays, I don’t leave the house with so much concrete on my face, although, some is still required.  Hey, it never claimed to be a miracle cure, after all.

I’m back to mixing the shake with milk.  It didn’t taste that good with the soya bean mix that I used last month and there was none of the feeling of satisfaction I get with milk.

I worked harder to keep to the program this week and kept off the snacking so my numbers are back to normal.  I still have some ways to go before I reach my ideal body weight, but I’m getting there.

At least I won’t look too bad in my belly dance costume.