Dear Dodger,
I am really sorry for misspelling your name on my previous post and I hope that you can forgive me.
Yours truly,
Bin Sheng
Now that the first round of American Idol Season 8 Auditions have finally finished airing on TV, I shall do a quick summary and comments on some of the contestants that I really like. =)
Adam Lambert auditioned in San Francisco with "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen. I was immediately attracted to him when he started singing the song. It was so emotional and I think that he really did a good job. Here is something really cool about this guy, he is actually the cast of the musical "Wicked", and that explains his incredible and somewhat theatrical voice and performance.
Von Smith sang "Over the Rainbow" for his auditions in Kansas City. He seemed pretty nervous at first, as can be seen from his coughing and throat clearing at the start of the song. He, however, to my surprise, did an amazing job on the song, though I was a little bit irritated when he over did his melisma.
Salt Late City's Taylor Vaifanus performed "Joyful, Joyful" for her American Idol Audition. She is only 16 and she reminds me of Jordin Sparks, the winner of American Idol season 6, who both possesses a beautiful voice. I think that she has one of the, if not, best vocal in this competition.
Scott Macintyre shares a common trait with the winner of Singapore Project Superstar, Kelvin Tan. They are both, blind. To be more accurate, Scott is visually impaired, as he can still see a tiny bit through his eyes. He auditioned in Phoenix. I am sure that he would definitely get some sympathy vote if he manages to get into the top 36. But despite all that, he is really a good singer, though not the best, but nonetheless one that has great potential.
Oooh, relax, she is not a porn star, as many of you might think when you first see the picture, she is Casey Carlson. She shot a series of pictures wearing only Bikinis for this organization called Campus Girls, a charity organization which would auction off the Bikini that she wore and donate all the earnings to a breast cancer foundation in America. Besides having a sizzling hot body, she could also sing really well. She sang "A Thousand Miles" by Vanessa Carlton for her audition for American Idol Season 8.
There are my top 5 contestants for the show so far. There are rumor online that they are already in the top 36 of American Idol Season 8. I hope that they can go really far and succeed in the competition. I am really looking forward to the next episode of American Idol, which will be the most exciting part of the whole audition process, the Hollywood Week.
p.s. if anyone of you want to see their performances on American Idol Season 8 Audition, you can do so by searching their name on Youtube.
What a memorable and fun trip, I must say, for my short excursion to Genting and stay at Vincent's house over the week. Here is a summary of the trip.
Warning: This blog post is going to be extremely long.
Day 1 (15-01-2009)
Had to wake up pretty early in the morning as I needed to change my bus ticket. Departed from JB Larkin bus terminal at around 9 and reached KL Puduraya bus terminal at around 2 in the afternoon. Boarded a bus near the Puduraya bus station to Sunway Pyramid, in which Vincent would be fetching me to his home. Waiting anxiously at his home was this little cute dog name Georgia (I assume that this is the correct spelling from the way he pronounces its name, correct me if i am wrong), which surprisingly did not bark at me, a stranger, when I first arrived at his home. I helped to prepare the food that we were going to bring up to Genting at night, together with Vincent and Kelvin. It was really an eye opening experience for me, for this is my first time seeing people cooking and preparing western food. I helped to cut some ingredients and wash some dishes. We ordered Domino's Pizza delivery for dinner, but it seemed that we have "over-ordered", as there were a lot of leftover, two regular pan pizzas to be exact, which we decided to bring them up to Genting.
Day 2 (16-01-2009)
We went out to have a nice Dimsum brunch before we headed toward the Awana Resort at Genting. We began our journey at around 12.30pm and it took us around 1.5 hours to reach the destination. Along the way, we once thought that we were lost, for Vincent's mum was not very familiar with the route to Genting. But luckily, we managed to get the correct route and arrived at the resort safely, without any problem. While waiting at the reception counter, we realized, from a little wooden board hanging on the wall, that the apartment that we would be staying in actually costs around RM360 per night. Sounds expensive? It really is, but we only needed to pay a total of RM360 for our entire stay in the same apartment, thanks to the Room Share Service that Vincent's family owns. Apparently, his family owns a hotel room in some Malaysia hotel and this allows his family to book and stay in other hotel rooms or resort apartments, in Malaysia or other countries, that have also been bought by other people in the Room Share Service for a week, with a nominal administrative fees, for a maximum of 2 weeks per year. In addition to this cheap accommodation, we have also received a total of 42 free skyway passes, with a unit price of RM10, from the Awana Resort, which allowed us to travel up and down Genting via the cable car for free! The apartment was rather spacious and beautifully decorated, with an adequate supply of kitchen appliances and cutlery, though not very clean, and two toilets, with a jacuzzi in one of them. After a short rest in the apartment, we ecided to go up Genting to do some "fog-clearing" and explore the area. Back at the apartment at around 8pm and we started preparing our dinner, which was the two Domino's Pizza we have over-ordered on the previous night. Watched American Idol Season 8 Audition after having our pizza dinner.
Day 3 (17-01-2009)
It was a nice and windy Saturday morning, a perfect day for people to visit the Outdoor Theme Park at Genting. We, however, decided not to do so as Kelvin suggested that many people, especially family, might choose to come up to Genting for a short weekend getaway on Saturday and that the theme park might be filled with these people. We then walked around the small shopping center at First World and decided to watch a movie to kill some time. The movie that we have watched was "Body of Lies" by Leonardo Dicaprio and Russell Crowe, a movie about an American CIA operative, Roger Ferris (Leonardo), who goes to Jordan to track a high-ranking terrorist. It was actually quite nice and not as scary or violent as I initially thought the movie was going to be. We continued to walk around the area and finally decided to head back to our apartment. Had my first foam bath in the jacuzzi. It was not as nice and comfortable as I would have expected from a foam bath that I always see on television and so I did not really spend much time in it.
Day 4 (18-01-2009)
It was the day, the day we have all been waiting for, the day that we would be going to the Outdoor Theme Park. Woke up pretty early in the morning at around 8. Much to our horror and surprise, the shuttle bus that we normally took from the Awana Resort to the Genting Skyway was actually full. Every single seat on the shuttle bus was filled and that we have to stand in the bus for the entire trip. We must all thank Kelvin for his "wise" suggestion that "more" people would visit Genting on Saturday and "less" people would visit Genting on Sunday. Luckily the Outdoor Theme Park was not as packed as the shuttle bus and there were still considerably fewer people in the park as compared to that of a peak season. Due to the J-Card discount, we only needed to pay the price of 2 tickets to get 3 tickets. The Outdoor Theme Park was really fun and amazing. We played almost all the rides, excluding those meant exclusively for small children. The top five rides in the park, in my personal opinion, are Flying Coaster (You need to pay an extra RM10 to take this ride, but trust me, it is definitely worth your money.), Pirate Ship (My all-time favourite and we managed to ride the Pirate Ship for three times, though still not enough in my opinion.), Spinner (Though it might look quite childish at first, it was really exciting and fun to play.), Space Shot (My first attempt on this incredibly frightening ride. It was really thrilling and exciting.) and last but not least Corkscrew (The one and only roller coaster in Genting worth playing.). We had our lunch at the Old Town Cafe near the park and let me recommend something really delicious from the store, the Nasi Lemak. It was probably the best Nasi Lemak that I have eaten for my entire life. We continued playing after our lunch and we ended the day with the best and most exciting ride in the Genting Outdoor Theme Park, the Monorail. -.-
Day 5 (19-01-2009)
This day was probably the most boring day of the entire trip. As there was no J-Card discount for Indoor Theme Park tickets, we each have to pay RM26, a Ringgit more expensive than the Outdoor Theme Park ticket that we have bought yesterday with the J-Card discount. The Indoor Theme Park ticket was super not worth the money as there were only 3 thrill rides in the entire park, namely Bumper Car (which was still fun and worth playing.), Euro-Express (a lame indoor roller coaster running through the shopping center) and 4D Motion Picture House (The 3D effect was pathetic and the story line of the film sucks). And so we wasted our time "playing" in the Indoor Theme Park and walking around the shopping center, which we have walked for like a million times, for the entire afternoon. Back at the apartment, we decided to cook spaghetti and beef patty for our dinner.In the end, although we did successfully cooked the spaghetti, the taste was completely off, thanks to the rotten and spoilt garlic, and that the noodles was completely tasteless. While the beef patty was still edible, we did not really eat much for the night. What a disastrous dinner! It was all due to the lousy electronic cooking stove, which does not seem to be able to heat the food, and the bad garlic.
Day 6 (20-01-2009)
After days of walking in the one and only shopping centre at Genting, we began to feel bored and decided to go back. Vincent's mum drove up to Genting early in the morning to fetch us down to his home. But, unfortunately, his mum's car suddenly broke down on her way to Genting and we lost our one and only transport back down to KL. After some discussion, we decided to go down to KL via the bus service at the Genting Skyway, while leaving our luggage and stuff behind at the resort apartment, in which we would be coming up again on the next day to fetch them back. We had to walked from the Awana Resort to the Genting Skyway, as the shuttle bus had just left and Kelvin suggested that it would be faster for us to travel by feet than waiting for the next bus. It was really tiring walking such a long distance, especially after months of slacking at home with no exercise, but, eventually, we still managed to get ourselves to the Genting Skyway, in time for the bus from Genting to 1 Utama, one of the largest and best shopping centre in Malaysia. The bus ticket cost only RM3.50 and the entire journey down Genting only took around 40 minutes. We shopped around at 1 Utama and had our lunch at the McDonald. Vincent bought a new pair of shows, a cap and a pair of jeans. While randomly wondering around the super big shopping mall, we suddenly went pass Machines, a Mac Retail shop in Malaysia, and saw a very familiar face. We saw Eddy working at Machines! We went to say hi and talk to him for a while. I was really shocked to see him. Due to the heavy jam in KL, we had to wait until 8pm for Vincent's mum to come and fetch us home. We had our dinner at Old Town Cafe again and this time everyone of us ordered the Nasi Lemak. Told you that it is nice. Went to do some grocery shopping after dinner at Jusco. I was really tired at the end of the day and my legs hurt from the long walk from Awana to Genting Skyway and the shopping at 1 Utama.
Day 7 (21-01-2009)
Had Sarawak Laksa as lunch today, though the taste was not exactly the taste of real authentic Sarawak Laksa. Began our journey up to Genting, again, to get back the stuff that we have left in the apartment. Reached Genting at around 3.30pm and we rested for a while before heading down to Kelvin's house. Said goodbye to Kelvin in the late afternoon and we were once again trapped in the huge traffic jam in KL on our way back to Subang Jaya. Back at Vincent's house at around 7pm and we had Bak Kut Teh, that was made up of chicken and not pork, as dinner before we went to Sunway Pyramid for another round of shopping. This time, in addition to the little gifts I promised to buy for my three sisters, I also bought a new pair of shoes, at 70% discount, and a new pair of shorts for myself at Springfield. Had a waffle as supper before going back to Vincent's house. We waited until 12.30 midnight to watch American Idol Audition as we have missed the one showing at 8pm.
Day 8 (22-01-2209)
All things must come to an end and this day was the day that I must say goodbye to Vincent and go back to Johor. We had the best Hainanese Chicken Rice in the entire Selangor, as claimed by Vincent, as our breakfast, before we headed towards the Klang Central, a newly built bus terminal which looks very much like an airport, but in minuscule size. We chatted for quite a while while waiting for my bus and I had to finally say goodbye to Vincent and his mum at around 12.15pm. My journey back home took an unexpected 6 hours (For your information, I only spent around 4 hoursto travel from Johor to KL) and I was really tired when I reached my home.
What a long post. I have spent almost two days typing this blog post and I am really getting sick of typing in front of my computer. The thing is, I still have not writting!!!
Before I end this post, I must express my deepest gratitude and appreciation to,
Vincent, for allowing me to stay at his home and cooking for us for the trip.
Kelvin, for accompanying me over the week and doing almost all the washing after meal.
Vincent's mum, for driving us around and treating us to delicious meals.
Vincent's dad, for fetching us back from Sunway Pyramid to his home.
Georgia, for not barking at me.
Now, this post has finally and officially ended.
Happy Chinese New Year in advance.
Okay, this completely stuns me, David Archuleta even has a Chinese name. The lyric of "Crush" has also been translated. This is an official TV music video shown in Taiwan and not just any fan-made crap.
Oh my god, I am still in shock.
I know that I have not been very active in keeping my blog alive for the past few weeks. So here is some of the things that i have done or have happened to me over the past few boring weeks.
My laptop was finally repaired and it cost around RM700 after a RM100 discount.
I have been cruelly rejected by oxford. Congratulation to those who have been accepted and good luck to those who are still waiting for replies from Cambridge.
I am currently playing Jeanne D'arc on my psp and it is really an interesting game with nice game play and amazing graphics.
I have received emails from the HCtutor and apparently there are several tutoring assignments available but I doubt that I will accept any of the assignments for the earnings for each session can barely cover my transport fees from my home at Johor to Singapore. And since now I no longer get to enjoy the student concession bus fares benefits, there is more reason why I should not spend my effort on this job.
I have been watching television all day for the past few weeks. The Little Nonya (小娘惹) was surprisingly nice, though the ending was a little bit too disappointing and rush in my opinion. Channel 8 have not been producing really good shows for years. Campus shrewd (不良笑花) was also quite interesting and funny. Now that the two shows that I loved have finished airing, I certainly hope that the shows coming up will not be too lousy.
That is it. What a boring life indeed. I just hope that I will not get too fat for always slacking at home.
I am going to watch my TV shows, again.
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