I’ve been going for a handful of plays and theatre productions across the past month, with the most recent being Ankur: Under The Kayon Tree last weekend. Presented as part of the Shantanand Festival of Arts 2017 held at The Temple of Fine Arts Kuala Lumpur, the showcase featured storytelling + drama + music artistically directed by Jyotsna Nithyanandan Prakash, a multiple Boh Cameronian Arts Award winner.
I had no idea what i was going to watch.
I didn’t know any of the names involved,
i didn’t know what i was going to watch,
i hadn’t even gone to the Temple of Fine Arts for a show before (except to eat and for Aps’ wedding haha).
I quite like the intrigue of watching a show (be it a movie or stage production) not knowing its premise. I like to think my intuition led me to watch that show, and allow the element of surprise to take over the experience.
What struck me most was the 14-instument multi-ethnic ensemble that comprised of a melange of traditional Malaysian instruments (Malay kompang, Chinese lion dance drum, Indian tabla drums) and classical Western ones (bass, drums, harp, violin, piano, etc). I’m so accustomed to listening to one of those instruments at a time, but listening to them all go at it via compositions written especially for them as a unit was wonderful to behold and hear.
It was like listening to an adventure unfold with familiar sounds stepping in. Familiar when heard by itself, but new and wondrous skipping alongside each other. I felt like dancing and just listening to the different solos filled my heart. My fave was the comedic banter amongst the three percussionists. I would gladly watch them all again anytime!
The Ankur Orchestra performed original compositions under the musical direction of Jyotsna Nithyanandan showcasing their theatre and dance adaptations of legendary Malaysian stories like those of Langkawi’s Mahsuri, Parameswara, and Hang Tuah. One of my favourites was by ballet dancer Chi Ying, whose performance was accompanied by the most perfect dress that flew around her as she twirled, and scores of petals raining down on the stage and audience for many minutes. It was magical.
Just before Aps & Jamie’s wedding in Kuching, i booked a sess @ Centro Hair Salon and showed Han the colour of my bridesmaid’s dress so he could pick whatever colour/s he wanted to dye my hair.
As usual, i’d brought my laptop to work from cos it takes so many hours – the salon is my office all day. If someone wants to see me on a particular day i’m doing my hair, they gotta come to me cos i certainly can’t move around much! Jason + Neena + little Aaron were in town from London, and the only pocket of time we seemed to have was… when i was in the salon. So the trio came by- Neena got her nails done, and Aaron managed to get (forced) a haircut too.
In the middle of the session, Jessica of Centro expertly hijacked me for a photoshoot which she promised wouldn’t take more than 10 minutes. Which is true. The entire bulk of the day was spent getting my hair to look like THIS >
This morning i woke up happily squirming in bed like a little fairy unfolding herself out of a smooth leaf, and hummed to myself softly before rousing from bed. I had gone to bed at 11pm, and was asleep by midnight. Glorious!
I think it’s such a gift to be able to wake up like this.
A few years ago the way i woke up would have either been either of the below:
– wake up and check phone for messages and start replying them frantically
– wake up in horror panicking about all the things i needed to get done for the day
– wake up in a burst of energy and happiness jumping out of bed like TADA HELLO TODAY!
It was either one extreme or the other, and more often the panicky kancheong type, which really isn’t a sustainable way of sleeping / living!
I started altering the quality of my sleep from various bits of info i picked up over the past 5 years, and find myself regularly lecturing friends about the importance of sleep, so i thought i’d share all my sleep tips. Or maybe, i just want to lecture more 😆
You’ve heard the typical drill on improving sleep like exercise regularly and not to consume caffeine at night (duh).
The below is a set of personal beliefs i have…
I practice all the below, sometimes i may miss one out but i don’t stress over it.
Sleep meditation music
Whenever i have friends telling me they have problems sleeping, my first suggestion would be to try sleep meditation music beforehand. There are tons on YouTube, and they play at specific frequencies which will get your body to rest mode. Sniffing some essential oils can help calm your state down too.
One of the beautiful things i love most about Jun is his immense compassion for animals. When we first met in 2015, he sent me a picture of a dog he’d just saved – his 5th rescue named Poppy.
Jun’s first rescue, Pickles, was a scruffy-looking tricolour terrier with the sweetest face and intelligent piercing eyes.
He first found her in early 2011 when he was on the way to an important function where he was to cook lunch for a board of directors. The car in front of his accidentally hit a dog. Jun and the man in front got down from their cars to scrutinize the dog who couldn’t get back up. She screamed every time she tried to stand cos her hip had got hit. The man placed his hand on the dog’s head, said “I’m very sorry i hit you, dog”, got back into his car and drove off.
Jun couldn’t stand leaving her there with the knowledge that the 8:30am rush hour traffic directly behind him would drive over her bringing her to an end. He carried her to the roadside, and got help from two kindergarten teachers nearby who took over, leaving him free to hurry on to his work.
Throughout the day, he couldn’t stop thinking about this dog, and called every vet in Subang and Sunway to check if she had been brought in. With no news of her admission to be heard, Jun drove back to the kindergarten at 7:30pm and followed one of the teacher’s leads all the way to Puchong – where the dog had been taken in by a renegade hippie-like veterinarian who treats strays or animals who doesn’t necessarily have anyone to foot their bills (bless these hubeings!).
I keep having this intention to blog one post a day but this stream of ADULTING just takes up so. much. time. There’s always an email that urgently needs to go out, something in the house to clean, some bill to pay, some friend to take care of, and after spending so much time on the laptop and phone, the last thing i want to do is spend MORE time staring at the screen to blog!
Well here i am now. READY! I took a break in between laptop time today by dancing crazily to Roxette’s The Look in the kitchen then having dinner. Then cleaning again. I don’t understand how despite having the cleaners over, there is always something to wipe / tidy / fold / water / scrub / wash. “That’s cos you’re OCD / anal” say Rudy and Jun. Well, you know what boys, at least i’m a lot tidier and cleaner than you two!
So about Good Vibes Fest! After The Color Run on Sunday morning, i got back at 11am, showered, stuffed food into my mouth, took a short nap, then forced myself to get up and get my face on for GV. Rahul had booked a party van to take a bunch of us up and down safely, but he and Nita couldn’t make it last min cos of a family emergency, as did a few others.
Then there were 6.
Alet said to meet in TTDI at 3pm.
I said let’s do 4pm to be more realistic cos Didi was still sleeping.
Alet compromised to 3:30pm.
I was at the meeting spot at 3:30pm, and noone was there -_- Why does this always happen to me.
Luckily i bumped into Ezra, and we excitedly discussed the art of getting rid of dust mites from our beds and pillows #conversationinyour30s
The rest arrived soon after with Alet nonchalantly strolling in.
Me: Didn’t i say 4pm was better, why don’t you just listen to me!
Alet: Ala chill la Joyce
Me: I could have stuck more sequins on my face!
We had kickoff drinks while the driver waited for our leisurely asses, and we finally left at 4:40pm.
In the van.
Alet: Eh, watching Okja makes me wanna eat pork man. They made it look so damn good! Okjaaaa! Okjaaaaa!
Didi (who’s transitioning into being a vegan): You’re so annoying
Me: Ok don’t fight don’t fight
