S-O-L-O

Last Saturday during Wesak International Film Festival at Malaysian Tourism Centre, Kuala Lumpur, I had had my first solo performance with the i.gemz! I belted out my "signature dish" (so said Brother Nee Sern. LOL!) song which is My Beautiful Friend with a twist! I hyped it up by increasing the tempo. Hehe...

i.gemz did 6 songs that day and mine was second in line. When it was my turn, I was so nervous! After the first verse, I was totally BLANK! I forgotten all the lyrics! My brain just can't think! And I started mumbling..... I was like SHIT! And stopped............

*Bro Nee Sern's guitar kept playing*

*But I couldn't continue*

"I'm sorry... can we start again? It's my first time and I'm so nervous" I said and jumped a bit to shake off the nervousness. At that moment, I was SOOOOOO tempted to go backstage and get the lyrics out! Luckily the audience was forgiving and I saw my friends giving me support from afar....

*Bro Nee Sern replay the music on his guitar*

I sang the first verse again.... came the second and........

I managed to calm down and continue singing till the end. I wouldn't say it was perfect. There were a few wrong lyrics and a moment of pitching but luckily the whole song was delivered that day! Haha..... All the while I was focusing on my friends and that managed to calm me down a bit! LOL!

It WAS embarassing! Definitely! But it was also an experience not to forget! From today onwards, I will MAKE sure I will memorise the lyrics inside out before any performances! I guess I took things for granted. :P But yes...... I learn my lesson! Haha..... I did received compliments however. So it some sort of compensated. :P

I sooooooo wanna watch my performance! But too bad, no one took a video of it. :( If not, it would be something to be cherished for good. Oh well! :D

PS: Pictures were also rare. But here are a few:

Taming the Lion (City)

This week was GREAT fun! Actually it was more than that, it was AWESOME! Went down south to Singapore for 3 days for an annual dental students interaction event called MU-NUS! This is actually a friendly games between Malaya University and National University of Singapore. But then again, the games don't matter, it's the holiday in Singapore that is! Haha...... It was also my second time participating in this event.

Singapore has many great attraction sites. Because I've been there before in year 2009 (read here), this year, I opt to go to different places, other than those I've been to last 2 years. This actually gave the Singaporeans a hard time as there are basically 2 groups: fresh, new comers who never visited Singapore before; and me with a few others, old timers. So, throughout the 3 days, our trips were separated into groups that brought us around to our customized trips!

It was very enjoyable. I covered new places like the Marina Bay Sands casino, Marina Barrage, Geylang, Vivo City Mall, Eco trails and Clarke Quay. It's boring difficult to tell all the awesomeness in words. Let the pictures do the talking shall we? :D

All these may not be possible if not for the ever so friendly and fun NUS dental friends of mine! There are really cool people! They have again gave me a wonderful experience at Singapore! Thanks guys! You all are the best! :D

1st performance as an i.gemer!

Last Sunday, I went on stage to perform for the very 1st time as a member of the i.gemz at the 2011 Selangor State Wesak Celebration! It was kinda nerve wreaking and I don't know why! I mean.... stage performance was not something I am new to. Maybe it was the expectation of the fellow Buddhist audience on i.gemz freshies on how good are they in singing? I mean.... naturally people would like to know what's in us that makes the cut! What made us got in to the group of the leading English singing Buddhist group! So, maybe that's why I felt kinda nervous when performing that day. Whatever it is, it's done! I am happy for the experience. I can't comment much because I was positioned as the side, so the microphone monitor was unheard of. Hence, I can't hear my own voice! So I don't know how I sang. >.<
However, here's a video recorded by one of our member's wife. Enjoy! :D

To end the post, here's a picture of the i.gemers that perform that day!

PS: Next i.gemz performance will be this Saturday, 11th of June 2011 at 1.30pm at the Wesak International Film Festival. Venue: Malaysia Tourism Center, Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur. Catch me there if you are free! I will be singing a song solo! ;)

Animals in my mouth

INTRODUCING...................

*drum rolls*

*spotlights twirling*

*dum dum.... chaaaaaannnngggggggg*

The animals that stayed in my mouth!!!

First, it was Miss Fox. But she was too loose. She stayed for 1.5 months.

Then came Mr Kangaroo. Sadly, he was too tight. He left after a month.

Finally, Mr Bear! He was just nice. Actually I prefer Mr Kangaroo cause my teeth will achieve the desire results faster, but I've been warned of permanent root resorption by my orthodontist! >.<

Oh, Mr Bear was only needed for 1.5 months too! :)

In case you are wondering what the hell was I saying above. And what the heck are those animals doing there. Well, those are elastic bands that help retract my front teeth to an ideal 2mm gap (technical term called overjet) when measured with teeth clenched together from lower incisors to upper incisors.

Now, the real dilemma of this post is........... what do I do with them, the happy family? I don't wanna throw them away cause it's still a full pack of them remaining! Can I return them? Hmmm...... Anybody wants them?

Oh... and I've got these left too...

They are called interdental brushes! It's to clean those gaps in between your teeth! Very useful to clean in and around your braces! It's RM2.20 per piece. I've got 5 left. That's RM11 worth! Wonder if I can sell it back to my faculty? Hehehe.....

Can someone tell me what I can do with these things??? Any takers? :P

PS: Don't worry bout cleanliness. I am a clean freak myself! :D

Embrace the braces-no-more!

Last Monday, 30th May 2011, marked a historic moment (in my life calendar)! Ok...it wasn't that important anyway. But here goes.......................................................I TOOK OFF MY BRACES!!! Gigi aku dipagar no more!!!! LOL!!! :D :D :D

I wore that dreaded thing for 14 months and it's finally been taken off! You do NOT know how bad I want that thing off! Not only do I need to brush after every meals. my teeth tend to stain more often too! Luckily I have access to the dental chair almost every day and have a partner who is practicing to be a dentist too. She helps me scale my teeth whenever the need arises. Of course, provided I can curi a few minutes of spare time lah. Hahaha!!!

Even though my braces are off now, I can't help but to continue brushing my teeth after every meal before putting on the retainers! Sememangnya a dentist kan? LOL! The first 2 days of wearing the retainers were HELL! Oh, and I need to wear them for 24 hours a day except when eating. I almost cried!!! Literally cried because the pain was so bad! If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you probably read posts on how I hated and regretted putting on braces! Both during and after treatment! Call me ungrateful. But my advice to others who wanna do this, PLEASE think twice! IF you are happy with your current teeth alignment (which is mild and not too bad), FORGET about braces! Why the pain and extra expenses?! It's not cheap ya know! Having it done in a private clinic can easily cost you RM5000 - RM7000! I'm different case lah..... I am a dental student, so I only need to pay a fraction of the amount which is RM750. Still............ if the need is not there, it is therefore NOT NECESSARY! Yes, my teeth are straight now. Yes, I have a more beautiful smile now. But do you know there is a LOT of complications of an orthodontic treatment (alignment of teeth, for layman)??? High chances of caries, that's one. Permanent root resorption, "gummy" smile, yellowish teeth, gum recession are a few others!

Ok..... I shouldn't have said too much or else orthodontists out there will kill me for breaking the "rice bowl". LOL! Like the saying goes, "No pain, no gain!". Or "Beauty comes with a price"! Damn right, I would say!!!

Well, at least the pain is slowly going away now. Thank God! I am just counting the days to get the green light from my orthodontist to stop using my retainers. That's what I do ever since I put braces on, counting the days.................... counting and counting and counting and counting............................. :P

~My Vacuum Formed Retainers (VFR)~

~The after photo (with retainers on)~