Rockeoke Night in Manila

I just had a very very fun first night in Manila.

It started off with dinner with the PH Nuffies.

This is Eric and Jay. Our partners in Nuffnang Philippines!

And here's the Nuffnang Philippines Team.

Can't believe how it has grown. Used to have like.. just one person in Nuffnang Philippines when we started about one and a half years ago.

Dinner was great. Good company, good conversations and great laughs.

After dinner though we headed to this bar called Mag.Net for its famous Monday Rockeoke Nights. Now Rockeoke is where there's a live band and anyone who wants to request a song can go up and sing.

It doesn't matter if you're good or bad, the crowd's just really supportive either ways. The last time I was at Rockeoke I chickened out of singing in front of the crowd and I really regretted it.

This trip back in the Philippines I decided that I just HAD to do it. You only live once!

So I mustered the courage to go up to sing. At first I requested to sing Yellow by Cold Play but the band decided to sing it as one of their opening songs and they sang it so damn bloody well I changed my mind about singing that song. So I picked "How to Save a Life" by Fray.

The whole night was so much fun!

We were all singing along with the other people who went up on stage to sing. Cheered for them. Danced along with the music and had lots to drink. That was pretty obvious from the colour of my face. Red as Sebastian.

Here's a picture of Ming and I with the host that night.

He was really funny. Made all sorts of jokes to get the party going.

Okay I really thought long and hard before sharing this video of me singing with you guys but okay... I've decided to be sporting and share it (Yes don't worry, I will keep my day job).

Something tells me I'm going to regret this. Singing ain't exactly a talent I have but it was so much fun being up there on stage. Almost made me feel like I was in an actual band. Like real-life Band Hero. WOOHOO!!!

Thanks for the great night out Nuffies!

On to a full day of meetings today!

Manila Mari

I woke up at 4.45AM this morning. Waking up that early in the morning has got to be illegal in some countries but well awake I was.

I sent out a tweet thinking that nobody else would see it but apparently I wasn't the only one awake so early.

I quickly showered, got dressed then hopped on to a flight from Penang to KL and then KL to Manila.

I reached Manila to have Patty, one of the Nuffies from Nuffnang PH pick me up from the airport with a big sign!

She said she didn't realize how big her sign was until she was standing next to everyone else who appeared to have signs the size of a piece of paper.

I'm now at the hotel. Ming is arriving soon.

I'm so tired. I need to sleep first.

Long work trip begins.

Good night world!

St Patrick's !!!

I'm in Penang now. Just drove down this morning. Came back to see my family for a day then Monday morning I have to wake up at like 4AM and catch a flight to Manila. Aihh... my life.

Last night though I went for the Guinness St Patrick's Day celebration at 1-Utama and I had soooo much fun. I had fun at last year's event too but this year's was a class of its own. I went really early. Like it starts at 6PM and I was there even before that, having come straight from a meeting.

Walked around 1-Utama for a bit and waited for the rest of the Nuffies to arrive. Linda was the second earliest Nuffie to arrive and we decided to walk around and take some pictures.

Here's me with the huge St Pat's Day clover made out of balloons.

And check out the huge Guinness pint made of balloons behind me. Gotta be the most creative use of balloons I've ever really seen.

While I was having my picture taken, a friendly stranger popped in to take a picture with me too.

The whole event had a very carnival-like feel. There was a huge stage where they had bands playing all night long.

They had a comedy tent where they got Douglas Lim, Kavin and Jenhan to perform stand-up comedy.

and they had food stalls that served great food.

Even one from J&R.

I actually just had J&R for lunch that same day but I decided anyway to pick up some Guinness.

And what they call a "Guinness Pie". I'm assuming a beef pie with some Guinness in it.

They even put the Guinness logo on the pastry.

Linda didn't feel like pie so she had a hot dog that was apparently really spicy. I call it a hot hot dog. It was also around then when she told me that she had never once in her life tried Guinness before so I made sure she got one.

Guinness to me is a bit of an acquired taste (if you don't like it, go acquire some taste... haha just kidding just kidding. I learned that line from one of our PH Nuffies). The first time I tried it I didn't quite like it but after drinking more and more of it I began to grow to like it.

My staple drink is still Heineken but there are times when I'm in the mood for a Guinness. Like you know, there are so many of these Irish Pubs popping up around KL. The kind where you go in and everyone else is drinking Guinness. Makes you want to have one yourself.

Anyway back to St Patrick's Day. We were all in time to watch the first stand-up comedy session with Kavin and Jenhan. Linda and I went in early so we sat at one of the front rows. Halfway through Jenhan's performance Tziaa called me to tell me she was here. She wanted to know where I was.

I picked up the phone and spoke very very softly for a few seconds but Tzia couldn't hear me. Then realizing that I was being very very rude to Jenhan performing I quickly hung up and text her to tell her that I'll call her back. Sorry Jenhan... won't be so rude ever again.

Just as well though, for some reason Tzia managed to guess that we were in the comedy tent and met up with us after the performance.

Say hello to Tzia and Adele.

There were a lot of other bloggers there. Including Vvens, Ginny and Superwilson here.

And Ringo too.

I heard Kimcun and Shaolin were there too (from their tweets) but I didn't manage to spot them. I did manage to find Sixthseal though.

At the rate he was going with the booze, I found myself wondering if St Pats had enough Guinness for him.... but they did. I think they must've brought truck loads of Guinness.

And of course the Nuffies all made it too.

Here's Jestina, Michelle and Karen looking pretty that night. They brought all their clothes to office and changed just before they came straight after office.

Michelle is that a Chanel you're carrying?

I wish I had taken a picture of the rest of the Nuffies there but I was too distracted by all sorts of different things. Like the great band music.

Or the fireworks they had at around 10PM. Man that was FREAKING AWESOME!

I've seen so many fireworks but this one really made me go wow because it was all happening so close to me.

The night ended with me finally reuniting with Princess.

Yes that's her in the big St Pats hat and the weird glasses. Can't you tell by her height? She insisted on putting on her disguise because she had been working and she thought she looked "ugly".

But of course she didn't. She always looks great.

Thanks for the great St Pats Day Guinness. Looking forward to next year's.

Ok everyone. Time to go spend time with family now in Penang. Dreading my early morning flight on Monday... uggghhhhhhhh

The Value of Life

Today was a normal work day for me. In fact it was more than normal. It was a very eventful one. I started off going to work in the morning and catching up with the Nuffies. Then in the afternoon we went for lunch and then off to AMP Radio and met some of the DJ's at Era Fm.

Then I came back, had dinner with some of the Nuffies and played Band Hero with some of them in the office until almost 12AM. Then when we decided that we've been playing for way too long, we all went home.

When I got home my brother told me some news. He told me how someone we all knew had gone missing for the past 7 days. No sign of him, no call for ransom or anything. Nothing. Just recently they found him.... murdered.

I don't want to go into the identity of this person nor do I want to go into what happened but I don't know how to describe how I feel about this now. We read about these things in the papers almost every other day. Someone gets raped, someone gets murdered or something else equally as bad happens to someone. To us we all read it as a piece of news because we don't know that someone.

When it happens to someone you know it finally hits you. Suddenly a person that you felt would always be around just suddenly disappears from your life. You think of your last memory of him and maybe the last conversation you've had with him and then poof it's all gone. I can't even say I was really close to this someone and already I feel very sad. I can't imagine how his family must feel.

Why are there such cruel people in this world?

God please help us...

Decepticon Bumble Bee

Was at Princess' house the other day and I saw this car parked outside.

It wasn't just ANY beetle.

It was a Decepticon beetle!

What do you call a Decepticon Bumble Bee?

On another note, I met a reader at the Mobile Youth Unconference the other day. Her name is Vickie!

Pic: Stolen from Vickie's blog

Say Hello to Vickie!

I visited her blog and she seems to have quite a misconception of herself referring to herself as an "aunty". Please go over to her blog and tell her how wrong she is. Call her... "young hot chick" or uhh... Princess suggested "Sweet Young Thing".

What Tiger Woods Really Meant to Say At His Press Conference

I'm sure all of you know what's been going on with Tiger Woods right? How he's been having a little bit of a bad time for being caught cheating on his wife and all that. He's even had a press conference not too long ago to issue an apology. The public has been putting him through so much shit that I actually feel really sorry for him.

It's politically correct these days to say Tiger Woods deserved whatever he's getting and all that for what he did but I'm just going to say it. I think it's too much. While he has done wrong by cheating, why should everyone continue to crucify him for his suffering marriage? Who are we to say that we will never make any mistakes like this at any point in our lives? When we judge him, what is it that makes us feel we're more perfect than him?

Anyway a few days ago Princess sent me one of these forwarded e-mails that she gets from her Dad. Yes her Dad haha and I thought it gave a different perspective from how we're all used to seeing this situation which I thought was a little over the top but worth sharing anyway.

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What Tiger Woods Really Meant to Say At His Press Conference

Let me just say to all my fans that I feel sorry for everyone who criticized me for my extra-marital affairs. You must live a miserable existence if you have nothing better to do than read about my personal life in the tabloids. But I suppose I should provide an explanation about my behavior so that you will continue to buy the products I endorse.

So here goes. I am an average looking man of mixed racial descent. Like most men, I had trouble getting pussy before I became a famous multimillionaire. I did okay at Stanford because I was on the golf team, but the women there graded out with a “B” because they were leftovers that players on the football team didn’t want. Before that, I got nothing because I have a bland personality and big lips.

Then, I win a few golf tournaments and women are lining up at my door. Of course, I took advantage of my opportunities. These were women who wouldn’t give me the time of day if I sold insurance or worked on a used car lot. They wanted me so they could brag to their friends about having sex with a celebrity, while holding the belief that one day they would live a life of luxury as the wife of Tiger Woods. When that didn’t happen, they seized on an opportunity to sell their story to the tabloids, all the while looking the part of a woman scorned.

Now I want to discuss my wife.

When I met Elin, she was just like the others, except she played the “hard-to-get” strategy that women often use to corral men. It worked. She had all the qualities I wanted in a woman: pretty face, nice tits, nice ass, and an inviting personality. We dated for a while, had wild sex, and we genuinely enjoyed each other’s company. When I asked her to marry me, she accepted. Why wouldn't she? Only an idiot would say no to a lavish lifestyle that most people only dream about.

Our marriage was okay. We have two wonderful children and Elin is a good mother. But since she had those kids, she’s become a bitch, and doesn’t want to have sex very often. And, she won’t accompany me on road trips, except to the major championships. Unfortunately, my job requires that I travel to a different city every week where women nod approvingly at me where ever I go. Do you see the problem here?

To all the men out there: What would you have done in my shoes? Would you have said no to all the woman who lined up to meet you, especially after listening to your wife bitch at you over the telephone for not spending enough time at home with her and the kids?

And to all the women: How many of you would have turned down an opportunity to spend a night with me, knowing that you could sell your story to a tabloid for 500K?I feel bad about the potential damage my actions might cause my kids. As for Elin, I can think of at least 300 million reasons why she will be okay if we divorce and she is forced to survive on her own. And don’t forget that vast support network she will have after appearing on Oprah and The View.

As for me, I have paid dearly for my transgressions. I have lost millions and might lose custody of my children. Almost everyone who sees me takes great pleasure seeing me in pain.
The letters "Saint" or " St. " do not precede my name. Your telling me it's O.K. to screw everything in sight and be a politician, but you can't be a pro-golfer???
Did I become famous for being a model married man, or was it because I'm the best damn golfer in the world???

Now here I stand, while you sit there anxiously waiting to hear my heartfelt apology, when all I really want to say is “Fuck Off!”

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Mandarin Grill

Last weekend I went for one of the most expensive meals I've ever had in my life. Here's how it started.

I wanted to catch up with Xes for dinner.

Xes is a lawyer and a good friend of mine. He's a good lawyer too. So me and a lot of the other Nuffies bug him every day for help on legal advice and he even gets down to doing some legal work for us sometimes ... for free. You know how some lawyers can be very calculative about their time.

Heck I have an Aunty that I will call here Aunty Elizabeth. Now Aunty Elizabeth was a really successful lawyer in her days. One day many years ago I asked her for some legal advice and got some very vague answers.

When I wanted to go into the details she insisted that I speak to a proper lawyer about it and refused to say anything more to me. Like each word that leaves her lips is worth RM10 or something that she won't even share any advice with her nephew.

I've met lawyers just like Aunty Elizabeth and lawyers who are on the other hand always very helpful to share their knowledge of the legal world. Xes is the latter. He's the best and he's the kind of friends you want to keep.

So I wanted to go somewhere nice and I asked Boss Lepton for a suggestion. I said I wanted to go somewhere nice, slightly fancy but not over the top. Boss Lepton suggested "Mandarin Grill" in Mandarin Oriental. I thought okay... won't that be a little expensive but I trusted him when he followed on to say "No lah... not that expensive".

When I walked into the restaurant I began to like it already. I liked the ambience.

Felt really grand and exclusive.

The waiters too were really friendly.

Then I opened the menu......

and my whole night changed forever!

I remember some blog reviews saying that the steak there was supposed to be good. Naturally I looked at the steak prices and the cheapest steak cost RM115 while the most expensive steak cost something like RM460. Not to mention, that was just the cost of the steak. Not inclusive of any sides.

I took out my mobile phone and Tweeted to ask my followers if I should get the hell out of there and run... RUN and DON'T LOOK BACK!!!

This is me getting ready to bolt!

But nobody replied me so I decided to stay.

Princess tweeted too.

Soon Xes arrived with his beautiful girlfriend Angeline and we started dinner.

We didn't order any appetizers for fear of adding on to the already impending bulge of a bill but the chef from inside the kitchen probably took pity of us and gave us a small helping each of complimentary pumpkin soup.

It was fantastic!

After some chatting and all, the main course came soon enough.

To enjoy our main course, we didn't just use any knives. The waiter opened up a case of all sorts of custom steak knives and got us to pick them.

They steak turned out to be really really really really really good.

I asked everyone how they thought their food was and they all loved it.

Princess.. in going with her 'cute' image decided to go for the cute food. She ordered a little baby Wagyu burger that I could've sworn was on the Kid's menu if they had one.

Then came the time to order dessert. Xes has a sweet tooth. Actually he has sweet TEETH. So we ordered a Creme Brulee to share.

And cake with ice-cream.

Both were lovely!

To top it off, at the end of our dinner the chef gave us yet another complimentary treet!

Macaroons!

The bill at the end of the night. RM1,200 for 6 people.

I'm glad we didn't order wine. Probably the last time in a looooong time that I can afford to eat in a place like that but I had a good experience. Thanks also to the chef that kept giving us all sorts of complimentary stuff!

Good food, great service and fantastic company!