First after some time Part 1

One thing I realised having not updated this blog for some time, err actually long time is the change I have experienced as a person all those years. What different experiences I’ve gone through from that point and how they’ve affected and changed me as a person. I firmly believe all of us have our own “default setting” as human beings. Expressed in simpler terms if you have laziness (probably not a good example but this will do. Sometimes your creative juices don’t flow as well) as your default setting, you carry this trait all your life and it takes a major effort to reset the settings. As for me, one of my default settings is I’m not a morning person. I don’t mind working late into the night but early mornings, not so much.

But I digress. Earlier postings reflect on my state of mind which was inevitably influenced by my situation then. The last time this blog was updated was in March 2014. Well, it was that long ago. When I was still in Johor. For some reason there was a topic on politics; which I do not usually write about. The hot topic of March 2014 (or thereabouts) was the NFC “lembu” scandal. Apparently a company close to one of the ministers of the previous government was given a huge sum of money (which in the bigger scheme of things was dwarfed by another government vehicle) to “meet the goals and objectives in accordance with the National Meat Policy (Ruminant Sector) 2006”. The people responsible for it bungled the amount of money big time resulting in lawsuits etc.

So I felt rather strongly about politics at the time. I still feel strongly about it now but to write about it here, which was somehow rather uncharacteristic meant it did strike a nerve. There were also postings about predicaments I faced at work. I know a blog is an online forum accessible by everyone with reasonable internet connection but somehow I have a way of expressing my thoughts just vaguely enough and of course I don’t mention any names for obvious reasons. I guess there would be much less, if any postings about work since I’m quite happy where I am now doing what I enjoy. Well mostly what I enjoy with good culture.

Moving on swiftly, this weekend has been a good one. Zaime, a good friend from my VI Band days invited me to become the Chairman of two events he was organising which was band related. The Asia Junior Marching Band Championship and the Marching Band Malaysia Championship 2018 was held to celebrate marching bands from the Asia region showcasing their music and showband skills. The festivities were held over the course of three nights – 12th to 14th July 2018. So I had the chance to rub shoulders with renowned names in the marching band industry as well as the VIPs amongst others the Chief Minister of Selangor. Young and utterly pleasant chap. I also had the pleasure of meeting the ADUN for Bandar Utama, YB Jamaliah Jamaluddin. Who came to the final day of the competition in a Myvi. Not your typical YB eh? Oh and met the Mayor of Petaling Jaya too.

In shameless self promotion and gloating, I present to you yours truly from festivities…

My message from the programme. Felt kinda good to be honest. Surprised myself with the minimal time taken to draft the message as well. Nothing like having your creative juices flowing at the the right time, isn’t it?

Selangor’s Chief Minister, Tuan Amirudin Shari giving a go at the gong to officiate the competition at the MBPJ square. The first strike wasn’t as clear as the final two. He made it a point to tell me, “I didn’t strike it right the first time.” Somehow I could tell he was a perfectionist. PJ’s Mayor stood next to him.

The backdrop, the VIPs and me. I don’t consider myself as one of the VIPs. I’m just humble like that…

The MB and me having a funny moment. More like the MB listening to me and thinking “Now I have to put up with another guy trying to impress me with his knowledge on something I won’t even remember tomorrow…”

This is me with YB Jamaliah Jamaluddin and Tuan Haji Rashid, a big shot from the Ministry of Education. This was when I realised VIPs eat what you serve them out of courtesy. With the amount of functions they attend, understandably they’d have to watch what they eat.

Zaime and me at the Dataran in PJ. I’m eternally grateful to him for giving me the opportunity and trust to be the face of the competition. Looking forward to the next one!

You may wonder why I’ve not posted any performances of the bands here. Two reasons. One, I have no photographs of the performances (I’ll try to find some), they are all videos. Two, I have to upgrade my WordPress account to post videos. Err damn you WordPress.

Zucca Studio, where Farah attends her dancing class had their concert this weekend. Farah and her group performed their freestyle dance routine during the concert. More about that in the next entry. Till then.