Playing against the World Champion....what???

 You know, after I finished my business degree in Australia, I started another in      psychology and used to bring my clunky books to modelling auditions hehe. It        used  to surprise some clients. Well, the size of the books at least ;)

So what I'm trying to say is that there's this whole studious aspect of me you could label "nerd" hehe. I'm being dead serious so when Go Communications PR Agency asked if I'd like to attend the World Scrabble Championship launch n play 5 moves against the World Champion I said "no way!!! I'd absolutely LOVE to!" PLUS, the Scrabble association was gonna donate RM10k to Shambala Kidz. 

I've been involved with Shambala Kidz for about a year now and I've been teaching the kids there how to tap and basic rhythm. That's Lina, below of Shambala Kidz who wants to reach out to more kids we could be helping if only we had the funds. So a huge THANK YOU to Mattel for this donation. We will put it to good use with the kids! :) 

That's the World no 1 in Scrabble on left looking a bit afraid coz us girls were gonna kick butt! No, la, I'm kidding. Stephanie Chai was stressing about her spelling and Xandria Ooi every so often asked Ganesh "what does that mean?" Put it this way, he may not be able to tell you the meaning of the word but all these weird words existed. Ganesh KNOWS the dictionary uh huh ;)

 

Think about it. If there was a sport you enjoyed playing and you were out of the blue given the chance to play against the World no 1, imagine how you'd feel? 

I was really excited n a bit nervous coz I wondered if I had a chance *eyes rolling* I know, I know, bit ridiculous but what if I could beat him....?

Well, you wouldn't believe it!! I was tied with Ganesh up until the 4th round! We both had 110 points each. Can you believe it?? Then he (Ganesh, above) goes and gets 32 points on his last move and the absolute most I could get was 30 *sigh* So close yet so far! But what I didn't know is that I was sitting on a bingo. I just didn't see it (well it had to intersect an alphabet to become a bingo) but Ganesh saw it right away! 

- L O I T E R E D -

When he ahem *clearing throat* sort of pointed it out, I saw it!! It was "staring right at me. So I went from being 2 points short, to a landslide victory! 

What a gentleman, seriously. He didn't have to. And I get to say I beat the World Scrabble Champion in 5 moves! (ok, ok la with a bit of help from the man himself but let me enjoy the moment ;) hehe

Shooting Nicolekiss...

I was caught off guard before shooting Nicolekiss on Project Alpha at Sunway Resort Hotel. I thought the crew were setting up in her room but they arrived at mine when I was still in my bathrobe! lol Then I got teased about my bantal busuk *eyes rolling* I'm convinced they were all ganging up on me coz NO ONE in that room had a "smelly pillow" or something they slept with which made me feel the odd one out but since the cat's out of the bag, u may as well know that I LOVE my precious pillow n travel everywhere with it humph!

No accomodation in Bali??

Here I was thinking (actually, not just me...my boyfriend too) that we would be clever and decide where to stay once we got to Bali. We feel like idiots now! We should've booked first.

You see, the last time we booked a package with great looking photos ended up being quite disappointing coz the photos didn't reflect the reality of that hotel! We even wished we'd only booked a night but we had already paid for our entire stay so we were locked in. Soooo, on this particular trip we thought it would be 'smart' to get one night anywhere in Bali and then go hunt around for somewhere I REALLY liked for the rest of my stay. As in check it out in person without relying on photos. Oh boy! Wrong move. We should've booked ahead. At least for the first night.

At the airport, we decided to get a simple hotel room anywhere coz we weren't fussed about this first night right? Well, we thought the guy at the airport was joking when he said "everywhere fully booked madam" but he started to get on to the phone anyway looking for hotel rooms, backpacker lodges, you name it, "Nothing madam. So sorry but I keep trying ok?"

I couldn't believe it. "Huh? How can it be?" Only thing avai was a crazy expensive hotel suite in Kuta for 4 people! Just not worth it and I didn't even want to be located in Kuta. It really didn't sink in just how fully booked Bali was. I mean, how hard can it be just to find one room right?

So we decided to book an airport taxi (we thought the airport hotel desk was exaggerating about no rooms. We figured it was just their official panel of hotels that were booked out) but we knew we were in trouble when our taxi man started calling hotels on his own (we didn't even ask him to) but call after call, we heard him say "oh penuh?" We then started driving into random hotels, even backpacker lodges. Same thing. OMG. This was getting kinda ridiculous. Even Sanur which was far away had no rooms!

I couldn't believe it! This has never happened to me. We were homeless on our first night in Bali and running out of options! Well, our super patient (thank God, seriously!) and did I mention kind taxi driver decided to ask a Govt consulate building if there were any more hotels we could check out in that area coz we had gone thru the whole street. You wouldn't believe it! He managed to get them to take us in coz they really pitied us. We'd been roving around for 2 hours with no success.

This building doesn't even house foreigners. It's not a hotel. It's for Sulawesi govt officials or something to that effect. Can u imagine?? They showed us to a spotless bedroom with air con, hot water, its own TV set and 2 beds (all for 50 bucks) but said we must leave in the morning by a certain time and did we want any coffee? I stared stupidly at this sweet man coz I couldn't believe my luck after such a shitty night "yes, thank you so much. That would be lovely" Moment the door closed behind him, I started cracking up.

This was just too funny! And we felt so blessed that we had a roof over our heads for the night. I thanked our taxi man profusely (couldn't have done this without him) and we gave him double whatever the amount was. He didn't even want to put a price on it. Said it was up to us. What a sweetheart!

What has been quite a disaster ever since arriving in Bali has become quite charming. I don't know any tourists who have ever stayed where we're staying tonight, that's for sure hehe. Funny thing is, I thought the taxi driver knew the folks at the "consulate" He didn't! He was running out of options himself and was just trying his luck. It took a local to get other locals to take us in. We r so lucky!! I mean, at the rate we were going, the taxi man himself would've had to bring us back to HIS home lol ;)

Strip for a good cause!

You know, the statistics on Breast Cancer are pretty scary. One in 19 women in Malaysia get Breast Cancer. In the US and UK, it's roughly one in 8 women! A woman should be checking her breasts at the same time every month from the age of 20 for the rest of her life. 

The shoot I did for Harpers Bazaar October is already out. They featured 5 women in Malaysia and we all had to make a pledge. For myself, I pledged to raise awareness of Breast Cancer to all women via my blog so here's a video on exactly how you should conduct a self breast examination. We have only one body in this life so take good care of it!

And here's the behind the scenes on the Harpers Bazaar shoot I was telling you guys about... :)    

When I first got told I would have to take most of my clothes off for this shoot, I was like "What? but it's for a good cause...


I've worked with Harpers Bazaar year after year on Breast Cancer and I know the stats. We women can't afford to be slack when it comes to this. No excuses. Lie down and check your breasts every month. You must and it only takes a few minutes

There were 5 of us on this shoot all supporting the Breast Cancer cause. Here's Camelia and Stephanie Chai (above) and Deborah Henry and Elaine Daly (below)

The behind the scenes fun pics you won't see in the print but here they are...


This was literally our male prop who was in most of the individual shots with us. He's a male model from Brazil. No complaints from the ladies ;)

Getting my make up done n returning business mails on my berry. My inbox really needed to be cleared out! 

Kenneth flew down from Singapore to style all of us. He's the Fashion Director at Harpers Bazaar. I really like working with him. He knows what he wants and if he's not feeling it, he won't compromise. He'll change the whole shot if he has to but only coz he wants it to be the best it can be. Patience is required on all shoots. 



There are some advantages of being a male model with short hair. Look how he can lie down without worrying about messing his hair up! 


Getting ready for the group shot..

Elaine had a racy bedroom scene for her individual shot. I won't spoil it for you but I took a peek and it's really sexy! 

Just looking straight ahead waiting for the eyeliner to dry and trying to keep my head perfectly still....

Camelia was saying she'd rather write only when she feels inspired and I totally agree. There's a big difference in doing something that you want to do and you're in the MOOD to do rather than feeling you HAVE to do it. In a creative line, it's so important to FEEL it and be in the right space so that you can CREATE whatever it is you're working on.

Deborah was the tallest on the shoot and I was the shortest so to close the gap, I had to use the tallest heels imaginable from the shoe sponsors. 


May as well have gotten stilts for me, the heels were that high hehe but what funky shoes ya?!

I found out I was gonna be shot in the shower with the Brazilian male model under it. Okaaaay....all for a good cause right? *laugh* Goodness, I can't wait to see how all these shots turn out but I have faith that they're gonna be really tastefully done. Sexy can be sexier when it's done artistically and with class.

And I was in such good hands. This lady here, Geraldine is an awesome make up artist. One of the most experienced you'll ever come across in Malaysia.

While they were setting up, they switched off the air con in the bathroom so that it would naturally steam up to get the "shower effect"

"It's getting hot in here so take off all your clothes...you know that song? Can u imagine hearing THAT on a shoot like this. Too funny! ;)


They needed my hair to be wet (shower scene right) and there was Geraldine and her assistant make up artist saying "be careful, don't wet her face!" so that the beautiful make-up would stay intact. David Shaw, the hair stylist says "Yes la, I know. Don't worry" and he didn't get a single drop on me *chuckle* Wah, everyone on this job so professional, I tell you, don't play play!


Even as I write this now, I'm excited to get a copy of Harpers Bazaar Oct. I haven't seen it yet myself but I've heard it's already on stands :)

Dynas, you called me.......what?

I was just watching the very first episode of Project Alpha featuring fourfeetnine.com and her unusual blog name reminded me of this video I did with Dynas at her shop. I mean, what can you do? If you're short, you're short! so I know how ya feel fourfeetnine! I 'kena' as well, bloody hell! ;)

My biggest turn off...

Ok, here are a list of things I love, appreciate or enjoy. I will simply call them my "turn-ons"

Walking barefoot on the beach watching the sun go down....

Hanging out with my amusing pugs on the couch...

Playing with my friend's baby because she reminds me to live in the moment

Cracking up with friends over jokes and not taking yourself so seriously

Watching awesome animals in action...

Now here comes my No. 1 turn-off. Poor personal hygiene. In particular, bad B.O. It's even worse when you're on an airplane, a crowded elevator or bus because you have NO CHOICE but to inhale the "aroma". And I know I'm not alone on this.

I have girlfriends who have been turned off guys with bad hygiene habits and guy friends who were totally put off by girls who they thought were hot until they found out they smelled bad. It's one of those awkward things people don't know how to tell someone in school or at work that they REALLY should consider using some deodorant and having a shower at least twice a day. I mean, we're living in the tropics. It's easy to sweat in Malaysia just walking from one building to the next.

One of my favourite deodorants partly due to its cool packaging but more so because it's so effective is by Adidas Action 3. I've been a user even before it entered the Malaysian market. I told my sister in Singapore "You wouldn't believe it. The main sponsor of the show I'm currently producing called Project Alpha is by Adidas Action 3! You know all those small bottles we have at home?" My sister said "for goodness sakes, please get some more of their stuff, Jo!" ;) Gee, what about congrats on filming Malaysia's first show about real life bloggers? Nope, she was already placing orders with me! *eyes rolling*

So there I was excited to be at the roadshow of Adidas Action 3 at Mid Valley because they were setting up all these challenges for the Project Alpha bloggers.

Kenny Sia and I were paired up on foosball. We made a brilliant team...

It drew quite a crowd and I remember Kenny saying "OMG, I'm sweating already" who would think foosball would be so intense? It was 5-5! So close!! but Kenny and I managed to win 6-5! :)

Beautifulnara and nicolekiss were knocked out. She was fine, just went off shopping for different deodorants

But entertainment blogger beautifulnara was doing the whole "I'm not worthy" tribute. It's not every day I have this effect on men. I loved it! haha ;)

As it turns out, Kenny Sia and I beat out all the other bloggers.

There was fourfeetnine who tried her best and almost made me miss the ball coz I was laughing so hard ;) She's not the most co ordinated of beings which seems to add to her cuteness. When I interviewed her on Project Alpha, her friend Jia Mei said she's pretty clumsy. You guys have to check out the episode where I'm trying to teach her some yoga. It was ahem...quite "interesting" shall we say? *chuckle*

Budiey and redmummy were the last pair against us

Since Kenny Sia and I were undefeated, we proceeded to get down on our knees and sing "We are The Champions" with great emotion. I know, I know, quite ridiculous but we were really happy we won this little foosball contest coz it wasnt easy! haha

I liked the backpack and so did Sixthseal. He said I had to win it first. This guy, I tell you. Always on the look out for a challenge! :)

Had a lot of fun at the Adidas Action 3 roadshow and we all went home with something so everyone was really happy :)

With an armful of every conceivable deodorant and shower gel for every occasion, we now have no excuse but to smell nice at all times :)