Another singing invitation...

Another friend invited me to sing for his cousin's wedding come this December. He actually has a special request if I could sing this broadway song 'Someone Like You' from Jekyll & Hyde (great - it's one of my fav song) and will be accompanied by a strings orchestra - cool! I told him I shall try my best and will go learn the song first. I heard Barbara Streisand sang this song (I have her CD of her best hits in my collection) but I particularly like Lea Salonga version (see video below) - I'm just totally in love with her voice!



Singing makes me happy!

Art & Ghost

I drooled like a fool when I stumbled on this awesome blog ' Art & Ghosts' by Louise Robinson via decor8. I really heart her works - her art prints is one of the cutest ever! And I loved how different, eccentric, cool and SO creative she is - she's like the modern day Salvador Dali that her arts has some forms of surrealism touch. I really liked how she described herself - so unique! (Hi Ms Louise, I hope you don't mind me blogging about you & your beautiful works in here - I'm your biggest fan!).

If ever I want to write a children story book, I would love her to be my illustrator. My propose titles for my children book will be like 'The little girl who's afraid of the moon' and 'The girl and the mannequin' - sounds a lil weird too huh (?) and it's related to my lil girl, Carmen. Well, this is just a dream away.

Her lovely working space - I liked!

Two of her many cutest prints that I adores:

Just looked at what she reads - interesting books (see her reading list here)....no wonder her works of arts is different, so one-of-a-kind, strange & mysterious, beautiful, etc (I could go on and on just praising her works).

Lady Gaga's Alejandro

I often listen to this song 'Alejandro' by Lady Gaga in the radio and from her 'Fame Monster' album CD that I bought not long time ago but I never really care or notice what's the meaning behind it until I watched her 'Alejandro' video, which actually caused quite a stir & has contraversial imagery effects. But I think (or everyone knows that) Lady Gaga is one of the most daring, unique, amazingly strange especially in her sense of fashion, creative genius, too different and the coolest artiste there is after MJ. And I liked how eccentric she is both as an artiste and individual - a new legend is born. Did you know that she's also quite an accomplished pianist? My lovely beastie, Melissa also explained to me what the names - Alejandro, Fernando, Roberto and Hot Like Mexico in the song signifies about...read here:

Alejandro = man's defender and protector (GOD)

Fernando = ardent for peace (JESUS)

Roberto = bright or shining fame (HOLY SPIRIT)

Hot like Mexico = HELL

Try to incorporate this into the lyrics: "Don't call my name, Alejandro (God)", "I'm not your babe (child), Fernando (Jesus)", "Don't call my name, Roberto (Holy Spirit)", "You know that I love you boy, Hot like Mexico (Hell)".

The lyrics to this song really interest me and I salute the songwriters (Stefani Germanotta or aka Lady Gaga herself, Khayat & Nadir) for their creativeness. Reminds of another song with meaning behind it - the infamous old time rock song 'Hotel California'. To know/read the full meaning of the 'Alejandro' song - check here for 'The Occult Meaning'.

Lyrics to Alejandro:

I know that we are young. And I know you may love me

But I just can't be with you like this anymore. Alejandro

She's got both hands in her pocket. And she won't look at you, Won't look at you

She hides true love En su bolsillo. She's got a halo 'round her finger. Around you

You know that I love you boy, Hot like Mexico, rejoice.

At this point I gotta choose, nothing to loose

Don't call my name. Don't call my name, Alejandro.

I'm not your babe. I'm not your babe, Fernando

Don't wanna kiss, don't wanna touch. Just smoke one cigarette and hush.

Don't call my name. Don't call my name, Roberto

Alejandro, Alejandro, Ale-ale-jandro, Ale-ale-jandro

(Just stop. Please. Just let me go. Alejandro. Just let me go.)

She's not broken, She's just a baby. But her boyfriend's like a dad, just like a dad

And all those flames that burned before him

Now he's gonna fight your fight, gonna cool the bad

You know that I love you boy, Hot like Mexico, rejoice

At this point I gotta choose, nothing to loose

Don't call my name, Don't call my name, Alejandro

I'm not your babe. I'm not your babe, Fernando

Don't wanna kiss, don't wanna touch. Just smoke my cigarette and hush

Don't call my name. Don't call my name, Roberto

Alejandro, Alejandro, Ale-ale-jandro.Ale-ale-jandro

By the way, Melissa (Angus) will be my colleague once again for about a month...we are starting to get busy in organising the Sabah International Business Conference 2010 and Sabah International Expo 2010 (SIE) come this 15 - 19 Oct @ 1Borneo Hypermall. We used to work together since 2001 but now she's free-lancing as an event coordinator. This will be our 5th SIE together as part of the Working Committee. It's gonna be fun around the office - she's as bubbly as I am. I'll talk more about her in here later.

The Purpose of Life

After watching these documentary videos - '10 Questions for the Dalai Lama' and 'Red Flag Over Tibet' and hearing my sister, Debbie's experiences from her recent visit to Mcleod Ganj, Dharamsala, India and her close encounter with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama that I really got inspired with the teachings of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan Buddhism. I'm that kind of person that is SO easily inspired with anything that interest me...let it be the arts, music, fascinating people & etc. And I would love to visit Mcleod Ganj (also known as Little Lhasa) one day - if I could I would love to live there. It's where the 14th Dalai Lama lives and the Tibetan Government in exile is - cool! I also remembered watching 2 interesting movies about the Dalai Lama - 'Seven Years In Tibet' and 'Kundun' in the late 90s but I wasn't really fascinated about him at that time. Finding enlightenment in life & having good karma is always a cool thing to do!

Here are some inspiring sayings, quotes or mantra from the Dalai Lama that I liked on peace and happiness that I would like to share:

"There are many people who have wealth and power who remain unhappy, due to which their health declines, and they are always taking medicines. On the other hand, we find people who live like beggars but who always remain peaceful and happy. Therefore, in our daily life a certain way of thinking makes us happy, and a certain way of thinking makes us unhappy. In other words, there are certain states of mind which bring us problems, and they can be removed; we need to make an effort in that direction. Likewise, there are certain states of mind that bring us peace and happiness, and we need to cultivate and enhance them". - In here, I learned that when you have little, you have little things to worry about.

"It is very important to generate good attitude, a good heart, as much as possible. From this, happiness in both the short term and the long term for both yourself and others will come".

"Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions".

"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practise compassion".

"Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them.

What song to sing?

A friend of mine will be getting married this weekend and she requested me to sing at her wedding ceremony. It's been quite a while since I last sang at a wedding or at church...I was still pregnant then. Even during my maternity period, I was invited by a friend to sing at his wedding but have to turned his invitation down. Last night I went through all my wedding song books/files and I still don't know what song to sing. I'm bored singing the other wedding songs I used to sing for people's wedding. Anyway, I came across this song 'With You I'm Born Again' - I thought why don't I try singing this song as a solo, but I love how John Legend and Mariah Carey sang their duet version of this song. I've not been practising my vocal lately (well, except singing in the bathroom) and I hope my vocal range could suite this song well although it's pretty simple & easy - if yes then this could be the perfect song for my friend's wedding.

Wish me luck - I could still change my mind though.

Notebooks from India

My sister, Debbie just got back from her India Trip yesterday and I think she will brag about it very soon in her blog. She actually asked me to blog about her trip on her behalf while she was still in India and gave me permission to use her pictures from FB but I didn't have the time to post about it in here yet. But I liked the fact that she got the chance of lifetime to meet HH The Dalai Lama, who is living in exile in Dharamsala, India and is one of the world's most influential religious figure - and I'm a lil bit jeolous (hehe)! Deb is so kind to buy me a few souvenirs from India such as this pretty unique notebooks - thanks Deb! We both love to collect notebooks. By the way (just for your info) we are fraternal twins. I bought 2 pretty notebooks recently as well - will show those addition later in here.

Well, here's to share some of her photos from her trip.....just love those creative art & craft stuffs and the Himalayan mountain range (to Deb, thanks again for allowing me to use your lovely photos):

More later from Mama Rock:-)

Have a Cozy Weekend!

Weekend is here again - time flies! Not sure how my weekend will turn out this time. There's a camping activities going on at Dantai Beach, Kota Belud, Sabah and my husband is gonna be quite involve because it's a teachers camping retreat...but I don't think me & the children are coming along with him - scared of getting sick with 'Chikungunya' (lots of mosquitoes there).

So I might plan something to do like - do scrapbooking of the Twilight Saga & about my children; redecorate a plain notebook into something funky; update my blog; draft 1 or 2 short children stories or whatever. Not sure if I can ever start doing anything of these activities during this weekend but I shall try - but only when baby Chardon has dozed off:P

Wish to have a cozy weekend like this puppy - hope you too!

Black Swan

I think lots of women out there (me one of them) adores the beauty of Natalie Portman...who doesn't? - she is so simple but so beautiful (reminds me of Audrey Hepburn). Anyway, I'm looking forward to watch her upcoming movie the 'Black Swan' this December. I read that she did hours of extreme training of both ballet and crosstraining with swimming starting a year ahead of time to prepare herself for the film - wow that's really full of commitment & I'm sure she could be in the oscar's nomination list next year.

Synopsis: Nina (Portman) is a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life, like all those in her profession, is completely consumed with dance. She lives with her obsessive former ballerina mother Erica (Hershey) who exerts a suffocating control over her. When artistic director Thomas Leroy (Cassel) decides to replace prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Ryder) for the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake, Nina is his first choice. But Nina has competition: a new dancer, Lily (Kunis), who impresses Leroy as well. Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play both the White Swan with innocence and grace, and the Black Swan, who represents guile and sensuality. Nina fits the White Swan role perfectly but Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. As the two young dancers expand their rivalry into a twisted friendship, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side - a recklessness that threatens to destroy her.

Could be very interesting (although it's a psycho-thriller movie)!

'Orang Tua Kecil'

My baby son, Chardon Tristan has just turned 4 months old but my Indon maid called him 'orang tua kecil' (little old man) because he looks like a 'big boy' already - probably because of his hair (my husby was a lil mad at me cos I gave Chardon a haircut - his 1st haircut & quite a bad one I guess)...in KadazanDusun we called him 'pindik-pindik tagap' (haha). As his mommy - I think he's the cutest & the most adorable 'orang tua kecil'. Loved him too much!