I haven’t finished blogging about our Malaysia trip yet, and here I am blogging about the aftermath of that trip. I’ve mentioned several times before that I’ve been having cravings for nasi lemak ever since I had that at our Air Asia flight going back to the Philippines. It basically made me regret not trying that when we were in Malaysia because the Air Asia version was quite good. I’ve been on the lookout for good restaurants in Manila that serves nasi lemak, until I chanced upon Chef Gene Gonzales’ review of Nasi Lemak Restaurant in Robinson’s Galleria. He pronounced it as authentic, so of course I had to try it. Somehow, the fact that I botched my China visa application worked to my advantage and I had to meet Ann again last night at Robinson’s Gelleria to fix that. Since we’re there, we ended up having dinner at Nasi Lemak.

The place was full when we got there and only the outside tables were available. We initially wanted to eat inside because we felt so ‘exposed’ as Ann and I have this habit of ordering too much food (which shouldn’t be an issue because we’re gonna pay for it, anyway, so who cares?). But we’re too hungry and I really have to satisfy my craving so we did end up getting an outside table. We perused the menu and it’s actually a combination of Singaporean, Malaysian, Thai, Japanese and Chinese cuisine. It took some time before Ann was able to finalize her order. On my part, I just want my nasi lemak fix so naturally, I ordered the nasi lemak set.
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I’m so tired.

What I really want to do right now is to rant non-stop about my current situation at work, but somehow, words fail me. Is it because I’m too tired this past (Hell) week that I don’t have enough energy to rant anymore? Is it because I’ve numbed out? Or maybe because I know that in the end, it’s not worth it? Or simply because ranting on the internet have caused other people to lose their jobs so it’s better safe than sorry? I have security of tenure, though, and ranting about my boss on the internet doesn’t qualify as a ground for dismissal from government service in this country. It could be a ground to have me moved to another team, though, which I’d welcome anytime. Actually, I am due to be moved to another team. However, I heard the working conditions in that team (namely: the boss) are pretty much the same as my current one, so now I’m down to this decision: Should I stay with the known evil, or move to the unknown evil?

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On to the more interesting topic:

I really wonder how fans from other countries - China and Japan, in particular - were able to find out where exactly Rain is and where he will be next? I’m asking because, as you all know, my current predicament as the so-called leader of his supposedly official fan club in this country is that everyone seems to know that he’s coming to the Philippines except me.

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Edit:

Aaaand… hell week is over. I think I’m just gonna crawl on my bed and sleep the entire weekend. For some reason, my body aches like crazy, like I’ve just undergone a strenuous physical activity when in fact I just sat in front of the computer and finished 15 reports in two days (supposed to be 19 but the other four had not submitted their financial statements yet). And yet this lovely boss of mine still had the temerity to say, “only 15 reports?” with marked disappointment on her face. Uh boss, those 15 reports are all mine; the other 11 is YOUR assignment, which YOU assigned TO YOURSELF, and you haven’t finished yet. And you even had the nerve to ask me, “Paulette, do you think we’ll be able to finish everything today?” To which me, with my sharp tongue that managed to finally wag after several months of holding it, blurted out, “err… I’m already done with my reports, ma’am.”

I’m gonna majorly slack off next week. Maybe I’ll finally be able to post all my Malaysia blog entries…

People travel for different reasons. For some, traveling allows them to explore new cultures and experiences to widen their perspective. There are others who travel purely for business, and there are those who travel purely for pleasure (and a few lucky ones who manage to do both at the same time). There are those whose trips won’t be complete if they don’t go shopping, and there are those who can’t live by without taking a snapshot of every nook and corner he or she goes to.

For me, I’ve discovered that I travel because (1) I want to see how people in other places live their everyday lives; and (2) I travel to eat. Photography, as I’ve found out in this latest trip, is just incidental to the entire thing.

This trip to Malaysia was funded almost entirely by my friend Ann aka. this blog’s resident Psychic. This is only her second trip outside the Philippines (the first being a trip to Bangkok with a few officemates last February, which she didn’t fully enjoy) and the first time for her nephew and his new bride so she asked me to accompany them. She availed of the Air Asia promo from last year and got tickets priced at just below php400 (less than USD10) one way, inclusive of fuel surcharges. She took care of my airfare and accommodations; the only thing I have to pay for are travel tax, terminal fee and pocket money. How could I say ‘no’ to that?

We spent the past 6 months researching about Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu, and that’s where I fully realized what my interests are when it comes to travel. I declined to take the HOHO bus because the stops were almost nothing but museums, and I have no interest in museums. One museum trip is enough for me. (It is for this same reason why I don’t take the Seoul City Bus Tour: because one palace and/or museum visit is good enough for me.) I don’t have to enter mosques, because I’m fine with just looking at the facade. I don’t mind if I don’t climb the Petronas Towers or the KL Tower. Why should I look at the view from up there when the towers themselves are the view? In short, I’m not really a “I must go to as many tourist spots as possible!” kind of traveler. I’m more interested at taking my time observing what the locals do in their everyday lives, which is also the reason why I am drawn to visiting shopping places. Not because I want to shop, but because shopping is a culture in itself. I was amused at the amount of information I gathered just from hanging out at shopping malls.

Of course, the other stuff that I took note in my research are the must-go places to eat.

And with that long introduction, I commence blogging about my trip to Malaysia.

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My staff gave me a surprise belated-birthday bash at the office last Thursday. They even wore my pasalubong Kuala Lumpur t-shirts for the occasion. It feels great to know that even if the higher-ups don’t appreciate me as a person, some people at the office still do.

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Anyone here knows where I can get some nasi lemak in Manila? I’ve been craving for it for almost a week now. I’m craving for it so much that I want to jump on the next Air Asia flight to anywhere just to order their in-flight nasi lemak.

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I have exactly one week to finish all my reports and yet I’m not flustered at all. I think I’ve come to the point that nothing, work-wise, makes me care anymore. I’ve been numbed out.

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I’m actually more concerned about other matters concerning my everyday life. One of which is: I should be posting my Malaysia blog entries by now, but I haven’t done so yet.

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The other being, why is it that everyone, as in EVERYONE in the Philippine Kpop Community seems to have at least heard (for some, they are dead sure about it) that Rain is having a concert in the Philippines very, very soon (September, from what I heard? They didn’t say what year, though) EXCEPT his own Philippine fan club?

I find it very insulting because if this is the case, apparently, the local promoter is seeking promotional assistance from somewhere or someone else that is not Cloud Philippines. And as far as I know, there is no other Rain fan club here aside from CloudPH, unless someone is secretly plotting on creating one that will only sprout once the concert is confirmed. Hey, it’s not like fan groups that suddenly appear once the artist is in town and act as if they’ve been there all this time has never happened before, ya know.

And I find it very amusing that even if I quote confirmed sources like… I dunno, Rain’s agency J Tune … they’re still like, “there’s been talks about it for months now”.

Dear Pinoy Kpop fans: In Rain’s world, “talks” doesn’t equate to “confirmed”. In fact, in Rain’s world, nothing is confirmed until he’s actually there in the flesh. In fact, he could be there in the flesh and it may still get canceled at the last minute. If you’re really his fan and not just a simple bandwagoner of Kpop, you would know this very, very well.

I honestly can’t see how he could hold a concert here when his filming schedule is so packed and he doesn’t have a scheduled Asian tour at the moment. Someone said maybe he would do a concert especially for the Philippines. My reply to that is: “I’m sorry, but we’re the Philippines; we’re not Japan.” And ok, assuming that it’s indeed true… September 2010? Are you kidding me??? It’s one week ’til August now and we’re hearing NOTHING about this concert yet. What is the promoter planning to do, just make Rain appear here out of nowhere with near-zero promotions and insane ticket prices? Do they want another U-KISS/Beast-KHJ?

I read somewhere that even if you ask J Tune now, they wouldn’t even confirm his filming schedule for Fugitive here in PH even if press releases have been saying that PH is one of the filming locations (which leads me to believe that there is a possibility that he won’t be in the scenes to be filmed here). Then again, it’s J Tune. That company doesn’t know anything at all.

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Call me selfish, but my mood now is, I don’t want Rain to come here and be hounded by fans who are not really his fans but mere bandwagoners declaring to be his fans but if you ask them some Rain trivia, they don’t know shyte about him. They just want to see his hot body in the flesh, period.

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Speaking of Rain fans: I wonder what’s gonna happen to Cloud8? With all the trouble J Tune is facing now, I’m a bit apprehensive as to how they are still going to manage this. It’s been badly managed even when J Tune wasn’t in trouble, how much more now?

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Aaaand speaking of J Tune… I’m sorry, no offense to the other Clouds, but I really don’t see how trending a topic at Twitter will help solve this issue. I actually think it will make it worse. Why? Because right now, only those in Korea and overseas fans who have been following the Korean news about him religiously would know about Rain’s issue with J Tune stockholders. If this topic trends at Twitter, now all the world will know about it. That’s not something worth shouting to the world especially if we’re trying to build Rain’s image in the international scene, right?

Oh well. Your choice, your actions.

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Edited to add:

I decided to just include this here instead of writing another blog entry since it’s full of random thoughts.

Charice is back for the 3rd time at the show that officially gave her the big break in Hollywood: Star King. Here are the clips (credits to TheSpoopke at YouTube):

Part 1

Two things I want to note on part 1:

(1) I love how Kang Ho Dong looked like a proud father when Charice entered the stage;
(2) I love it even more how Charice was not “sapaw” in her duet with the girl (meaning she didn’t try to outsing the girl even if she clearly can do it). Certain female singers from that Sunday noontime musical variety show from her home network here in PH should learn a lesson or two from Charice.

Part 2

I think I got more jealous that Charice got to hug Ho Dong and CNBlue’s Jung Yong Hwa.

Part 3

I think Charice was told to sing like the way she used to just for Star King. She doesn’t belt this way anymore because David Foster taught her to tone it down. Still, the improvements were very obvious, especially with the tone of her voice. Not to mention the vast improvement in her clothes and make-up as compared to how she looked like when she first guested at Star King where she was made to look like a kindergarten student.

Final random thought: Comments at YouTube pointed out the lack of reaction on f(x)’s Sulli’s face when everyone else were excited about Charice. Some said maybe Sulli was jealous; I say maybe the plastic on Sulli’s face doesn’t allow her to react anymore.

This entry is also known as, “a blog entry to give the opportunity to all lurkers of this blog who are just waiting to pounce on me and all BiKyoers because that’s the only reason for their existence.” (And because… the truth will hurt. hahaha )

1. This clip was posted by wloi at the Comments section of the entry before this one. Credits go to her and all of those indicated on the video:

Those who depend only on certain English websites probably don’t know this, but most of those who were at the Saitama concert last 18 July and heard this statement had the impression that Rain currently has a girlfriend and that girlfriend is that ex- that he has been talking about since 2008. Do take note that the translation on this clip was done by a Korean and it was a direct KOR-ENG translation.

2. Curiously, on the other side of BiKyo, quite a number of articles on Song Hye Kyo came out yesterday talking about her Taiwan trip from way back April 2010. If you only depend on certain English forums/sites, you would think that they were only discussing her fresh look. But actually, most of the articles about this old event were talking about how she never mentioned her so-called boyfriend in any of her interviews on that trip (even if he was the leading man on that drama that she was promoting, if I may add) and the Korean media and netizens are now wondering if the rumors about them breaking up are true. Of course, AM Entertainment denied it, but I don’t count that because, hello, it’s AM. We have yet to her what her side says on the matter. And when I say ‘her side’, I meant SHK herself, not Eden 9 or whoever. (Come to think of it, is she still with Eden 9?)