30hr Famine

Last weekend, I spent it with a bunch of crazy colleagues and friend starving for 30 hours without any food or calorie containing drinks.

Why did we torture ourselves that way??? All for a good cause. It was for the 30hr Famine by World Vision. Many people would ask "What would starving yourself for 30hrs do to help those who are faced by famine and strife in lands far far away from here???" I asked the same question when I was first asked to go for this camp.

But I went anyway, and I learnt the answers to my question just being there at the camp. It was a fruitful and heart-tugging 30hr where we learnt not just by watching something on TV, or on the internet but we experienced what it would be like to be those people in developing countries.

Before the 30hr hunger journey, as typical Malaysians... we stopped for makan first. ;)

Then we arrived at the destination of our campsite, in Port Dickson... a simple but cosy house by the sea.

Sista was so nice to have joined me although I was the only person she knew at the camp at first. But later she made plenty of new friends.

Hungry sampai nak bunuh diri??? No la... drama je

Group-shot of some of us Abbottian campers

We still had some time to monkey around...

Yes, really really monkey around ;P

The Famine Challenges: where we learnt a lot about the tough choices the mothers in developing nations have to make. How do you make a choice on basic necessities??? Food or shelter or healthcare or education or hygiene or job??? How can you live if you can't have it all?? Every choice has its consequences and they have to live with these consequences because the MUST make a choice no matter how difficult. And they cannot have it all. Unlike us.

Reenactment of the scenarios: A widow and her child

A husband forced to join the army leaving his wife and kids behind to fend for themselves.

A drunken and abusive husband forcing the wife to runaway with her children for the sake of their safety.

We had to be in the shoes of either one of the 3 families above... and are faced with difficult choices? What were the options??? What were the consequences of our decisions?? It seems in the end that no matter which path they choose, there are negative consequences 1 way or another. Because they do not have the choice to choose ALL the things that are important. Teaches us that we are sooooooooo abundantly blessed that not only do we have the choice to have it all, we even have more than what we need. Simple things that we take for granted each day, are precious treasures to these people.

Some even brought along their little ones and they fasted with us... for 8hrs. You need to teach them from young to appreciate what they have.

Other than learning and suffering hunger, we had loads of fun too!! Sista & I did each other's make up blindfolded. Not bad leh??

Musical cotton ball, siapa lambat dia keluar!

Cert presentation to us campers

Then we all proceeded to Stadium Putra Bukit Jalil for the final 4hr countdown together with about 9000 other campers from other campsites.

Guest appearance by Angry Bird!!

Amazing how our energy was still up after zero calorie intake for 27hours!!!

Ah Niu was the finale performer for the day... he really raised up d energy level for everyone in the stadium!

Even our youngest camper stayed till the end!!

The final countdown! 5-4-3-2-1!! Buka puasa!!!

V-Soy never tasted so good in our entire life!!! :)

Congratulations to all the Famine Warriors who campaigned and stand up for a good cause. World Vision raised RM1.5million for all their relief efforts in developing countries as well as some local beneficiaries like retirement and disabled homes. Our hunger definitely made a difference in the beneficiaries' lives. And that, was the answer to my initial question!! :)

Short & Sweet Festival 2011

I will be in not one but TWO Short and Sweet Festivals this year!!! Yes, the over-ambitious new-comer is gonna juggle 2 festivals and another full-length musical.... oh, and then there is my day-job too. :p

I auditioned for S+S Musical wt hubby and we both got through... He'll be the bf of an social media addict while I will be... ahem... a prostitute!! Where can I learn how to be a prostitute?? The Obedient Wives Club!!! hehehehe... whatever it is, it's gonna be fun. The script is crazy funny!! Haven't heard the songs yet though. Can't wait for rehearsals to start! :D :D

I auditioned for S+S Dance and got 2 offers... both for Indian Dance-styles!! Omg... I soooooo love Bollywood!!! So, naturally I picked the Bollywood piece!! The other was a classical Bharatanatyam piece... dah Youtube it, macam susah leh. My choreographer is Shobana Sahajananan and she is wayyyy cool & can really really MOVE IT MOVE IT!! I can't wait, can't wait!!!

Hubby also auditioned for S+S Theatre & is playing a suicidal fler who hired an assassin to kill himself. Dark emo-stuff by a happy-feeted cheerful playright BB. Can't wait to see it!

So, if you guys are free... please do come to Pentas 2, KLPAC and watch all of us in the Short + Sweet Festival Malaysia 2011. Am sure you will enjoy yourselves!!

S+S Musical Performance: 28-30 Sept
S+S Musical Gala Nite: 1 Oct 2011
S+S Dance Performance: 5-8 Oct 2011, 12-15 Oct 2011
S+S Dance Gala Nite: 16 Oct 2011
S+S Theatre Performance: 19-22 Oct 2011, 26-29 Oct 2011
S+S Theatre Gala Nite: 30 Oct 2011

I like to Move It-Move It!!

It was National Rheumatoid Arthritis Day several weeks ago. I know that I always post only events about kidney disease but this time, I volunteered to help my colleague out in her disease area. Since dancing is my thang! ;)

the RA patients rolling their shoulders... macam thriller MTV zombies pulak. Perhaps that song will be the next dance class with them??? ;)


You wanna stretch it-stretch it??


Bollywood Jai-Ho!!


J.Lo's On the Floor... erm, I guess Latin stuff is not a good idea wt RA patients. Need to keep that in mind for future.


Me & my dancing team!!!

I wonder is there a job out there where I just organize patient activities???? Across any chronic disease....

Actress... me??

Did my first ever pure acting job in theatre. I've always been a singer first, dancer second and an actress last. Never thought acting was in my DNA. So, even the acting jobs I took were those with singing and dancing involved.

But thanks to the lovely Alissa Roslan who casted me as her magnificent immortal queen... I have learnt that I CAN act after all. Through the games that we played before each rehearsal, I realized that I can embody and become a completely different person once I am engrossed in the character and the situation she is in. I even cried... which was surprising as I have always thought it was ridiculous that those Taiwanese actresses can cry so much. Haha. I could actually feel the sorrow my character felt. Weird but true *twilight zone music*

Anyway, after weeks of practice... finally... my debut as an actress.

Queen Ashalia, realising that her land is about to be conquered and her people has to leave her.

Chief Minister Graham

King Agares, the conquerer of kingdoms

Stab!!! Ouch

I am dying... there is no such thing as immortality

It was a really good experience to learn how to feel what the characters feel rather than just memorizing a bunch of words and saying them out faking the expression. The emotions real or fake, will be felt by the audience. So, acting is not faking it... it is believing and actually feeling it. It will make more sense if you actually try and do it. But I guess the danger is, can you always snap out of it at will?? Can you switch the character's ways, feelings and world on and off at anytime you want?

I still have a lot to learn in acting. This is just the beginning of another beautiful journey down the artsy path I have chosen. :)

Miss Mis - A Celebration of Two Legendary Musicals

If you're wondering what Miss Mis is, it is the combination of songs from Miss Saigon and Les Miserables... the two beautiful melodious musicals with stories so sad, you'd cry everytime you listen to it all the way. I know I do. So beautiful, yet so so so sad.

Once again Broadway Academy has organized these monthly recitals for us to showcase the school as well as ourselves... muahahaha. All thanks to our wonderful music director Dominic. :)

This recital was different from all our previous ones because, ahem... so many of performance arts world's who's who were there!! Can you imaging the performers i.e. moi, being starstruck by the audience? Eh... terbalik nie... Joanna Bessey, Janet Lee, Michael Voon, some producer dude from Broadway New York, all were there!!! Stress right?? But sure was exciting, performing with us was also a celebrity:

Douglas Lim!! Besarnya mata in this photo:

Moi, Shahila & Soon Yoon

The one & only photo of my solo, blurrrrr!! Sad!!

Groupshot!

Crazee groupshot

Our beloved goddaughter Miaw also came to support us, never fail... every single recital she's there!! We'll miss her once she goes off to further her studies. :(


Isn't it ironic how we have 2 cat-kids with human names & 1 human kid with cat name??? Hehehehe

Da-do Run Run Run, Da-do Run RUN!!

Not talking about the old song by The Crystals but all of us first timers managed to finish the Standard Chartered KL Marathon in the Half Marathon category last Sunday!!! Yayy for us!!

Chris, Chloe, Sista & me managed to conquer the dreaded 21km that we didn't quite have the time to train for. Hehehehe.

All of us took d shuttle bus to avoid driving into with all the roads closed, super early in d morning. The sun wasn't even up yet!


Along the way, sempat lagi I take some jakun photos of our good ol' KL the way we have not seen it before... on foot!! :p


When I saw the 20km milestone, boy did I RUUUUNNNN for my life!!!


Have never been so happy to see this tall flagpole before in my life!! :D :D :D


As I crossed the finish line, I saw the clock 2:31:xx.... shucks!!! I missed my personal target by slightly more than a minute!!
But the next day when the real results tracked via our RFID tags were out online, it was 2:29.07!!! Yippppeeeeee!!!! Achieved my target ya'll!! *spasm dance* Rank 179 in the Women's Open pulak tu... *extra hyper spasm dance* :D :D :D

Happy happeeee sista & me wt our medals


Chloe, sista & me with our medals!!! Yay!! We have earned the right to SS... woohoo!


Full marathon next year???? Erm... *gulp* tak nak pikir dulu la.

A Royal Appointment

No, I do not have any appointments with any royalties... but I have been cast as a queen in the next edition of The Platform at KLPAC, in July 2011 in a play entitled Shevat by Alissa Roslan.

Why is being in a 15min play so exciting to me? Other than getting to play a mythical immortal royalty and the lead... this is my very first real acting role!!! No singing or dancing involved. :) I've always ranked my talents as 1. Singing, 2. Dancing and 3. Acting... so acting is the last of the 3. It will definitely require more practice, effort and time for me to embrace the essence of this character but I am sure it will be well worth the effort. Me?? An actress?? *_*

Look out world... here comes Karynn the actress, and here comes Ashalia the queen.


Date: 4th July 2011
Venue: Indicine, KL Performing Arts Centre, Sentul
Time: 8.30pm
Tickets: Free admission
(we artists are not the most practical people around, we even work for free... :p)
It will be a collection of 7 short plays.

Do come!! Watch and support us budding performance arts folks... brand spanking new writers, directors and actors alike. Since we are newbies, please do let us know what you think... we will appreciate the grind that will help us become better performers!! See you there!!! :D :D :D

A Dear John Letter to....

Dear Corporate Race,

It's been nice knowing you. You have taught me much and made me the resilient person I am today. I have ran the rat race well and have arrived at the place I thought I wanted all these years. Somehow, it is not as I have imagined. Perhaps I had imagined it wrong? Or perhaps I have changed "wants"?

Whatever it is... I have decided it is not what I am looking for and it is not what I want. I will miss some of the happy moments I had with you. I will miss some of the perks I had being with you. I will miss the pride & the glamour of what you have to offer. But little did I know that all that "high" comes with the price. A price I do not have the strength to pay for. So, I have to do what my heart tells me to. To be happy, I need to be at peace with my heart.

It is not you, it is me. I guess I had put the wrong or unrealistic expectations of what life with you would be like. Now I realize my mistake and I want to make this right. I think you will be better off without someone like me anyway. I can continue this race but my heart will not be in it and I know that will affect you too.

I wish you all the best for the future. Now, I need to take that leap of courage to step out of the familiar comfort of you so that I can finally be me.

Thank you for everything and we can still keep in touch. Take care old friend.

Love,

Karynn...

not the salesperson, the marketeer, the BUM, the corporate rat... but the real true Karynn. :)

My Mediterranean Adventure

God is so good!!! Eversince several years ago when my ex-boss came back from her wonderful vacation in Spain, I had wanted to go to the Spain and the rest of the Mediterranean. She knows me extremely well, and if she said I would like it, I just knew I would! I just never found the time, the people, the money to do so. But my first travelling experience with my new job, I had to travel... all expenses paid to not 1, not 2 but 3 Mediterranean country!! This job which also God so graciously provided despite me doing a no-no during the interview to prioritize my passion over this day job. hehehe. Amazing right? Or my current bosses must be crazy muahaha.

First stop: Porto, Portugal. Met some new friends, tried some new food but not much time to see the place due to a super packed schedule.

Second stop: Español!!! And I had a weekend over there so I had time to walk around Madrid and experience the city, the tapas!!

However, I had the first adventure when I arrived. Flight delayed over 3 hours so I arrived in Madrid in the middle of the night. Took the first taxi I could get as I was totally exhausted. But the driver turned out to be a dishonest taxi and took me on a wild goose chase to the hotel which I had know was only 10mins frm the airport. It was damn scary as I was all alone in the cab so I didnt want to protest. The fare came up to €70!! Ridiculous! But I was thankful to be safe & sound in my hotel.

Third stop: Athens, Greece. My arrival was yet again greeted with a scary adventure. My airport transfer could not get to my hotel due to a public worker strike at the square in front of my hotel. So, I had to walk through a bunch of police in gas masks and shields. The police were kind and showed me the way but I could still smell the pungent leftover tear gas. Once I got to the hotel, I stayed put and ordered room service! Which was da wise thing to do as d next day, I saw d news reporting that protestors were throwing molotov cocktails around even at the normal civilians and the shops!! @.@

Strangely enough, although my new company is treating me well.... I miss my ex-boss and my ex-team. I also miss performing in a real production... nowadays, I don't even have time to make it for auditions. I had the best team in d world previously, still I left. Now, I have the best benefits and perks I could ask for, still I am thinking of leaving. Perhaps no matter which company I go, I will never feel truly fulfilled. Perhaps God gave me this new job to help me realize the epiphany that corporate jobs are not my calling??? Hmmm....

Sista & my story in the news

Our MBA testimony were featured in The Star Higher Education & News Straits Times!!! Woooohoooo!!! Excitednya!! :) :)

** I know its a tad microscopic, just right-click to open in a new window to read ;)