A niece, a cousin, a daughter and a star in the making, all at once

My elder son in his cool pose (Apple iPhone 3GS)

In London, that was the first time I saw Mamma Mia the smash hit musical. If my memory doesn't fail me, it was in the spring of 2007 at the (always) crowded Prince of Wales Theatre down in Leicester Square. Growing up in the 70s and 80s meant that I was no stranger to songs like Dancing Queen, Voulez-Vous, Super Trouper, Chiquitita, Take A Chance On Me, The Winner Takes It All, et cetera. My other half and I really let our hair down that evening, singing and dancing along as the performance went on. And of course it wasn't just us singing off-key, the whole room stood up in unison, performing as best as they could, as if we were back-up cast members. Even after the curtain call, we were still yearning for more. Depeche Mode! Depeche Mode! Yikes, that's a different show and should be in a different post. Sorry, I digress.

When my brother-in-law tipped us that her daughter will act a role in her school production of Mamma Mia, we couldn't resist the thought of reliving that one steamy evening in the English capital. And I'm sure my boys will not mind seeing their cousin on the stage again. You see, my niece has always been inclined towards the performing arts. I'm certain she did not take that after the parents because I know my sister and her husband do not play any musical instruments or have starred in any musicals before. On the contrary, their only offspring has got a few shows under her belt already such as Rubiah the Musical, Sparks of Broadway, Dancing Thru Broadway, Christmas Carol, The Ruler, a number of voice-over and children's TV programme hosting jobs. And she's only 16. Not bad right? We know we are in for a treat.

As usual, we arrived at the venue in good time but the tickets were held by the actor's parents so we couldn't go in the hall as yet. As the ushers went around to inform the guests to make their way to the hall, there was still no sign of my sister and her husband. I never like to be late for anything but especially so when it comes to movies and things like this. Not only we would interrupt the other guests by our finding our way in the dark, more crucially is we would miss the opening which sometimes can be a key scene in the story. So I approached this sweet girl (one of the ushers, not just any sweet girl) and explained to her the predicament we were in. She said it shouldn't be a problem to bring us in, the least she needed were the seat numbers. So guys, if you are reading this, I did not speak with the Principal about our problem. Gotcha!

My younger son holding a custom box, meant for his cousin. It's not an empty box (Apple iPhone 3GS)

The show began promptly as the organiser said it would and thank goodness we were already settled. But shortly before it did, my sister, my brother-in-law and my mother walked in. So technically-speaking, they did not interrupt the guests.

Donna, who is the leading character in MM was played by this very talented young lady and so was the character of Sophie, Donna's daughter. My niece played Lisa, one of Sophie's girl friends. Briefly this, MM tells the story of Sophie who is getting married soon but wishes for her dad to give her away at the wedding altar. The problem is, she grew up without and not knowing who her father is so she invites three of her mother's old flames to attend the reception, hoping that in the process she would be able to identify one from that lot. Her mother is not appreciative of what she has done behind her back. Andddd... I shall stop here. Why don't you do me a favour and google Mamma Mia to find out more.

Blame the camera I (Apple iPhone 3GS)

My younger son who is always big on catchy beats could not resist getting down to some of the tunes with his trademark moves. This he did in between Angry Birds on his iPod Touch. But when Dancing Queen came on air, he sang the chorus together with us. I was surprised he knew the wordings because he is definitely more of the JB and Jay-Z generation. All around us, I could see the audience shaking their heads and clapping which means that they were really enjoying themselves. In the last number, the cast went down to the floor as part of their routine and encouraged some members of the audience to stand up and dance with them but no one was brazen enough to rise to the occasion. If only I was seated alongside the centre aisle!

I have to reconfirm this with my niece when I meet her next but it felt like the school production stayed true to the original MM scenes and sequence. I can't really tell if there were omissions or major amendment: all I heard was the phrase KL added to the script during a scene where some of the young islanders talked about where they had been and up to. Throughout the two-hour ABBA song fest of course there were the occasional shortness of breaths, hit-and-miss audio quality, sporadic out-of-pitch solos and props that could have been slightly more elaborate but they don't matter to us because the cast and production team had done an utterly brilliant job and they did it like bona fide professionals. Who are we to talk about the technicalities anyway. Bravo to all who were involved and that includes my niece!

And that pretty much wrapped up an otherwise ordinary weekend. It's back to work tomorrow.

Blame the camera II but this is meet-and-greet the fans session (Apple iPhone 3GS)

My niece's small fan base (Apple iPhone 3GS)

Groupies? (Apple iPhone 3GS)

I'm feeling very, very nerfous at the moment

My other half had been wanting to go to Semua House to find ribbons that she claimed are sold either cheaper or unavailable elsewhere or something like that. Obviously I did not pay attention. But I just don't like us going to that area of town with two boisterous boys who will not take an instant liking to anything that they see. It's just a bad combination.

The day has finally come and we discussed that we should split: one car will head there and another to Pavilion. No prize for those correct guesses on which car the boys ended up in. The car that headed towards Semua House was a friend's, she dropped by our place to catch up with its occupants and somehow did not mind to be the driver. But before the emporium, my other half had to stopover at Menara KL to make an event on her boss' behalf. The final rendezvous would be at Pavilion. This meant we (passengers of the second car) did not have to leave home so early.

Fast forward to Pavilion, we reunited and had dinner at the food court in the basement. I had Taiwanese, something called spicy salted chicken and it was not that bad. The choices made by the others were not as adventurous, it read like this: grilled Dory with cheese sauce; fettucine carbonara, nasi paprik, char kuey tiaw and popiah. See what I mean? Everyone ate their meal quietly. I was sure they were worn out from the earlier shopping sojourn.

Following the refuel, we climbed up to the topmost floor to the Times bookstore. Our friend needed to pick up some books that she had pre-ordered. No wonder she agreed to drive us. But please, she's a really nice and kind person. Meanwhile, my elder son mysteriously disappeared with her aunt (cum nanny). After some time, he strutted back into the book store, carrying this...

The bag did not have a kiddish look so I did not suspect any foul play at first (Apple iPhone 3GS)

I peeped inside and saw a packaging that I was already very familiar with by now. His aunt had bought him a NERF N-strike Barricade RV-10! Apparently, it was a present from her for his birthday but his birthday had passed. In March. I suspect something amiss but keep it to myself. I could tell that my other half sensed the same but hey, it's a private affair between her sister and her nephew. After all, the damage was only RM75.

The Barricade RV-10 could trace its roots in the 19th century Mauser automatic pistol, considered to be the world's first successful automatic gun. Please don't believe me, I made that up. But seriously, there's semblance. You could argue that anatomically it is far by a mile from the much respected German-made weapon but that's because NERF have made the Barricade sexier by slapping on it a big muzzle and a bigger revolving barrel. But the Mauser is black steel while the Barricade is yellow and orange you say? I think we are not on the same page here...

He was very persistent, the one in the background, to be in the frame (Apple iPhone 3GS)

Powered by three AA batteries, I was impressed with the shot accuracy, compared with the other NERF weapons we store at home. Okay, the bullets still swayed but they were not far off from the target. I also fancy the realistic weight but perhaps a tad front-heavy that holding it for too long will not be good for your wrist. With this latest addition, my elder son is very well equipped to inflict total carnage on my army. (that would be me, myself and I). His arsenal comprises the Stampede ECS, Nite Finder EX-3 and now the Barricade RV-10. Mine is only the Recon CS-6. I have to come up with a plan fast!

I'm very nerfous. Very nerfous and scared (Apple iPhone 3GS)

Feeling very nerfous about keeping guns at home

I didn't expect this but we spent a long time at Guns "R" Us deciding on a model. I began to take into account bullet velocity, muzzle energy, clip capacity, coolness and streetwise factors. I'm envious that my son got the Stampede first because it is powered by six AA batteries which makes it a very powerful blaster. I like the sound that it emits and the subtle but unmistakable vibration it gives every time I pull the trigger. I admire the simple on/off switch which is akin to an automatic gun's safety lever. I am thrilled by the rapid discharge of the bullets ala a GPMG. To be more accurate, I'm just worried that I will not be able to defend my fort for long, should my enemy (the son) decide to launch a blitzkrieg.

But for the record, he was the one who helped me arrive at a decision, an honest help without the slightest design to sabotage. At the gun store, we discussed the merits of the models on display and the annihilation that they were capable of delivering. We studied the literature and diagram on the packagings like journalists from Guns & Ammo. We watched the promo video although the picture and sound quality was utterly terrible. We blasted question after question to a staff but we did not get anywhere as the poor guy only started working that day. I really hope he did not quit his job.

A little over an hour after, we had our eyes trained on the Recon CS-6 and Longstrike CS-6. The former reminded me of Heckler & Koch's MP7 while the latter a garden variety sniper rifle but it screamed menace all the same. These two guns were decked with the right parts and certainly looked the, emmm, part. My only beef with these two was that they were not motorised which means I will surely lose out to my son and his Stampede any time we go to battle. There were long pauses and longer whispered monologues but with my son's constant encouragement (actually more of pestering), I finally settled on the Longstrike with its striking blue paint job. Blue also happens to be my son's favourite colour.

Half way to the till I suddenly u-turned and headed back to the gun rack and retrieved the Recon CS-6, much to his chagrin. I convinced him that I much prefer the sportier and more robust design of the Recon. Besides, I can't picture myself doing a Vasily Zaytsev of the Enemy at the Gates fame... I have high astig.

The Recon CS-6 looks at home with the Marine, pictured here wearing a standard sea blue combat fatigue

(Apple iPhone 3GS)

But deep down, I feel good that my other half did not have to fork out RM179 for a plastic toy gun. I wrote earlier that I won't pay a lot of money for it so I shouldn't turn greedy just because someone I love dearly offered to pay for it. The Recon was only RM99.

With an investment of under RM100, I now feel so much safer for the protection the NERF Recon affords but feeling quite nerfous about maintaining an illegal armoury at home. I hope the neighbours won't notice anything abnormal.

The gun is heavy and huge, even for a tough Marine (Apple iPhone 3GS)

Land grab of the lawful kind

Shopping for a plot of land is not an easy thing to do in comparison to shopping for a house. There are no colourful brochures with fake smiles and wooden actors to entice you (or turn you off). There are no showhouses for you to visit and disappear to a discreet corner before entering to take off your socks because they have got holes on them. And there are no ads in The Star to oogle at that feature fake smiles, wooden actors and paste-on cars that are not proportioned to the size of the advertised property.

That's because a vacant tract looks the same any how you dressed it and your reference in the advertisements are not helping either. You won't get the sense of its value or potential even after reading the fine print that presents its location and development in the surrounding areas. The staid looking photo can't beat the fake smiles and wooden actors, even for the little impact that they could make. If you scour the dailies, you will find pages and pages, depending on the day of the week, of ads selling them. But don't expect many inches of column per spot because there isn't much for the advertisers to showcase in the first place. Even in the Internet: there is a stark contrast between an ad for land and one for house. So, the opening line of this paragraph stands. The best way (there is no other way actually) is still to pay the prospect a visit.

Very helpful right? (Apple iPhone 3GS)

When we were in the market we happened to be living overseas so for us the hunting was exclusively done on the Internet. The site that we frequented much was called iProperty.com. We loved it for its great detail, world-class feel and overall user-friendliness. How is this possible? It's because iProperty was started by Steve Jobs as part of his expansion of Apple to venture outside of technology. So the innovation that goes into the iPad and iPhone was felt thoroughly in iProperty. Really.

My other half reminisced that it didn't take her a great deal of time to happen upon the winner, it was as though her guardian angel guided her to it. But apart from this possible divine intervention that made her quest relatively plain sailing, it was probably due to the fact that we already had in our minds where we want to locate in the future and more importantly, how much money we were able to splash. Having prerequisites before going out to the market certainly help but they almost become compulsory especially when it involves giving away (at least) a couple of hundred thousands of ringgit. We decided that the PH should be built in the state of Selangor, specifically within the vicinity of Sungai Buloh, Kota Damansara, Kampung Melayu Subang and Shah Alam. Why? That's because we had and are still living on this side of the world and are getting very comfortable with the landscape. Additionally, people we are close to like siblings and relatives are also nearby there can't be a better location. After identifying a land in Sungai Buloh that met our desired pricing bracket, we rang the estate agent to talk things.

The terra firma in question was an agricultural land by status but had been converted to a residential/mixed development few years ago. The entrepreneurial spirit in the developer drove him to purchase the land and split it into 12 parts of more or less equal size and sold them as individual units. Another selling point would be its freeholder standing. I shall not bore you on the differences between freehold and leasehold but suffice to say that the hydrogen-powered car driving kin of yours will not be bothered to move out of the property when the period of 99 years is up because with freehold ownership, you own the land till the end of time or till you sell it off in which case the new owner will own the land till the end of time. Basically a cul-de-sac, we got really anxious to look at it in its full glory. As a homecoming trip was around the corner, we resolved to visit the prospect before we ink the deal.

This ad gives lots more but then I'm not Sime Darby (Apple iPhone 3GS)

If you think seeing the land in the flesh will make you excited, well, we only experienced half of it. Let's face it, no barren land is going to make you jump in joy and do the chicken dance, especially when you see few skinny cows that you know don't belong to you grazing the sparse green patches. When you are faced with such situation, your mind will start to wander. You may flirt with the idea of looking at an alternative offering or worse, giving up this complicated mess and just buy an off-the-shelf house. These reactions are natural human behaviour and it really depends on how serious you are with your original intention. In our case, we put aside the cows and just imagined a custom dwelling unit in its place, replete with a room for each occupant and a long garden for outdoor activities. In this visualisation of ours, everyone smiles. Every other month or so we invite friends over for barbecue or for a round of Taboo. This was one of the things we did to stay strong. Eureka was the word we exclaimed next but you GOT to know I made that up. Nobody ever says that word anymore nowadays. We are not in a movie, come on...

Not exciting right? (camera make unknown as it was not shot by me)

So you like the land and before you agree to the price tag, make sure that it is at the prevalent market rate. If the developer offers to sell you at a ridiculously low amount, don't take it. If you went ahead and then erect a certain kind of Balinese palace, and not be truthful about the construction cost when asked, you could end up in court one day. Bottom line is, make sure everything that you do is aboveboard.

Next up was the trip to the bankers to sort out the financing bit. And yes, the quotation that we had agreed to was in line with market rate.

It does not look exciting but we bought two plots

(camera make unknown as it was from the same photographer)

Do you have the nerfs?

My elder boy bought himself a NERF N-Strike Stampede ECS yesterday. Bought himself, get it? I would have not forked out RM249 for a plastic toy gun. Anyway, just to clarify that further, he plonked in only RM100, the balance was donated by my other half. Still, I would have not donated RM149 for a plastic toy gun. Check out the gun below...

There is a shorter clip (Apple iPhone 3GS)

Quite impressive right? Technically speaking, it is a fully-automatic assault rifle but the product is called a blaster, to sound less suggestive and politically-correct. Specced with 3 extended clips, the (toy) weapon packs a total of 60 foam darts. In NERFdom, it would be capable to mete out total carnage. NERF stands for non-expanding recreational foam, created by Parker Bros but now owned by Hasbro. It is absolute, unadulterated fun and pretty harmless. For that investment, he also gets a blast shield and a pop-out bipod. Check out the assault rifle, I mean blaster, with the complete getup below...

It's rather a heavy thing to lug around (Apple iPhone 3GS)

NERF is not just toy guns, there are NERF balls made from the same material but the former has been the market since the 70s and I think they are bigger. It's been the rage in the US for some years and now is catching on in Malaysia. If you have time, key in NERF on Youtube and entertain yourself with various choreographed NERF wars, model walk-through demonstrations and even top ten ranking of its top guns. Super Soakers and Lazer Tags are two more brands under the NERF umbrella. In my opinion, they should not be positioned under NERF because they are not using any foam-based bullets but never mind, this can be tackled in another post.

Unbeknownst to me until few days ago, my son has had a sidearm for some time already. He claimed it was his brother's but who is he kidding here. The picture below shows the NERF N-strike Nite Finder EX-3...

The design is not too hot (Apple iPhone 3GS)

It comes with an el cheapo laser guide and a pull-back cock but I must say it is not as interesting as the Stampede. If this was a real gun, it would be a Smith & Wesson. I prefer Glock. I'm sure both makes can shoot well but I just thought Glock is more macho-sounding.

I've had a few go with the Stampede and thought that investing in a NERF weapon is not an ill-conceived idea at all, you know, for self protection. My son welcomes very much my proposition. My other half overheard our conversation and offered to gift it as a Father's Day present. Better still.

So, we'll visit Guns "R" Us at IPC tomorrow.

Mull over first and you will be a happier person

A man's home is his castle or so the saying goes.

Before you go ahead build that dream castle, you need to first decide which route do you want to take: i) buy a pre-loved unit; ii) buy a new unit from the developer/owner or iii) buy a land and then build the house.

Design-wise with the first two routes, you are basically stuck with what the developer has conceived. When you do your rounds on the show houses, you imagine what you can and want to do with each living area as you move from one space to another. On the grander scheme of things, you need to decide whether the ubiquitous pseudo Roman pillars are your thing or not. And as if to compound that issue further, you now have to limit your imagination in terms of what you can do in the backyard because the land is only enough for a clothes line or two. Some members in the house may have to share rooms, if you have a large family that is. But, there are few of us who already prefer the condo lifestyle i.e. safe, no garden to tend to, in-house swimming pool, gymnasium, laundromat and even a multi-purpose hall.

The one on the right has peanuts but he might prefer full caramel (Apple iPhone 3GS)

The third option gives you a bit more leeway. You buy a land, engage an architect, design a blueprint that you specify and then build. Actually, that's a lot of leeway. Only, the journey is not as straightforward as the first two options'. Procuring the land can take a long time unless you have a pocket that is as deep as the Mariana Trench. Everyone has a budget and every tract of land has a price tag. The kind of price that you are willing to part money for may end you up somewhere far in the jungle. As a rule of thumb, the closer the land is to civilisation, the more expensive it is. And then, the architect. Which architecture style tickles your fancy or maybe rather, what is your taste like? You then together with the architect develop the design and erect the building. So, yeah, it doesn't sound that easy does it? In fact, it begs the question why would anyone want to go through that.

In the quest to find the right house, there will be many considerations to make. Issues like what kind of lifestyle would I lead or what do I like to do in my free time or how can I make the house functional or how many cars would I have in the driveway would come to mind. These are to quote some examples.

In our case, after a long and hard deliberation, we decided to go with the last approach. Yes, building it. The bottom line is, do yourself a big favour by allocating a budget and have a real think through for the type of dwelling unit you wish for yourself and your family, if you have one or are planning about having one in the future.

Not an easy decision to make (Apple iPhone 3GS)