Goodbye MHI. Au Revoir Media Prima.

I'm writing this on a Monday afternoon, which can only mean I'm either on leave, or I'm in between jobs. And if you do follow me elsewhere in the social media realm, you'd know it is the latter.

Yup, last Thursday was my last day as an employee of Media Prima, a company I've been through so much with for the past six and a half years. And if you know me only through my hosting gig on Malaysia Hari Ini (MHI), I humbly invite you to click on the "gua.com.my" and "tonton" tags positioned on the right of your screen to see some of the stuff I've been humbly part of.

I might write more about some of the more memorable experiences I had there, but for now, I just wanna say my deepest thank yous. First up, to the top management of MPB including the group managing director and the chairman. And of course, my immediate boss, Ahmad Izham Omar, the CEO of Primeworks.

Izham and the Primeworks HODs threw me a farewell do at One World a week before my last day, which was a complete surprise. I was told to attend a meeting with the sales group, but it turned out to be my farewell. I actually wanted to meeting postponed at the last minute!

And before that "meeting", my own new media team along with the marketing communication side also bid farewell to me, where everyone took turns to feed me cake. Hehe.

Then, it was my "old" colleagues of Alt Media's turn to give me yet another surprise when they ambushed my department meeting to say their goodbyes. I must say that I did pretty well holding back my tears on all these occasions.

And finally, I said my goodbyes last Wednesday to the team and audience of MHI, the morning talkshow on TV3 I've co-hosted for the past three years. I came closest to bawling my eyes out then, but seeing how everything was unfolding on NATIONAL TV, I restricted myself to a couple of sniffs.

I also had a nice lunch out with two of my closest buds at Kokopelli but keeping in mind where I'll be going next, we knew this wasn't really a goodbye.

Again, I just wanna thanks to everyone for your kind support and cooperation all these years and thanks for the warm goodbyes, gifts, cakes and balloons. May God bless all of you always. Till we meet again...

Umrah 2013: The Journey Begins

It has actually been four days for me here in Makkah, and what a journey it has been. We arrived here on Tuesday and proceeded to perform our first Umrah.

It was an emotional occasion for me as tears flowed when I saw the Kaabah for the first time and did the tawaf. After a 13-hour flight and a 2-hour bus ride from Jeddah, we were physically spent, but our spirits were high and the desire to please the Almighty carried us through...

Since then, this trip has been all about spending time at the greatest mosque of all, Masjid Al Haram, praying, seeking God's forgiveness and contemplating every aspect of my life; my past, my future and my relationship with Allah.

I have experienced unexpected miracles and feelings I never knew I had in me. And all will be shared once I return home, Insya Allah. Meantime, if you have any doa for me to recite for you here in Makkah, do message me and I will do my best to fulfill your request. May Allah bless us all always...

Showdown: The Movie

Yes, the word is out. My latest screenplay that will go into production soon is "Showdown: The Movie" (working title, of course). And yes, it IS based on the dance reality show on 8TV, but this is not a docu-drama, but a full-fledged feature film using the popular series as the backdrop for a fictional story.

The idea for it came sometime back, but after discussions with my Primeworks and Grand Brilliance mates, I actually sat down to write it in October last year. It took me one and a half months to finish the first draft and to date, I have done four different rewrites and updates.

The film will be directed by Khai Bahar, with Showdown the series's executive producer Sunil Kumar being a big part of the whole set-up. Renowned choreographer Pat Ibrahim is also onboard and it will be shot in Penang and KL.

Things are really getting exciting now as last week, we held auditions at Sri Pentas 2, mainly to find dancers and crews. And we had some powerhouses and familiar names coming over to be a part of this historic film (yes I'm hyping this baby up really good!).

We've also confirmed some of the leads for the film but really, it's not easy finding the right talents for this, the major question being; do we hire actors who can dance, or dancers who can act?

A second round of auditions will be held next week, so spread the word if you know of people who would be perfect for this!

I'll be away for close to two weeks starting Tuesday, but will post more exciting updates when I get back. See ya till then!

Transformasi!

No, this post has got nothing to do with politics and the upcoming general elections (yes, don't think we've forgotten about it, hehe), but more on my own personal physical transformation, since it's been a while since I last shared any real updates.

Anyway, at the beginning of March, I made the switch from Celebrity Fitness in One Utama to Fitness First Platinum at The Curve. I must say that it took a while for me to adjust to the environment, as I've been using the same facilities and seeing the same faces at CF for the whole of 2012. It's still more or less the same distance from the office though, and I'm keeping to my routine of working out during lunch hour.

And the great thing too is that if I'm too busy and can't make it to FF, I'll make it up by just hitting the gym at the condo. Although I would be confined to just dumbbells and a couple of machines.

So, what else has changed for me? Well, last year was about fat-loss mostly and some muscle-building. That was how I managed to trim down to 78kgs from 93kgs, my weight in mid-2011. I stuck to mostly the same workouts, but in all honesty, did not really push myself too hard.

Still, by early this year, I've shrunk to size M, and a 32 waist. It's quite incredible really when I look at my old clothes. Besar gila siot!

It also means that I've been revamping my wardrobe. Yup, transforming oneself costs money. In my case, I had to buy new pants, shirts, T-shirts, belts etc. The suits I bought in the UK that I used to wear on MHI can no longer be worn. In fact, I passed some of my still-good blazers to the wardrobe department for them to use. Hehe.

Back to my workouts, I have decided to complete the transformation by going heavier and pushing myself past my limits. If last year, I would stop after a few reps, now I basically push to failure while lifting heavier. And yes, I'm seeing good results.

My weak spot is still my abs, as I'm still just too lazy to go beyond the obligatory planks and crunches. Arghhh!

As far as supplements are concerned, I consume whey protein, but that too on a somewhat irregular basis, which is a bit of a waste, really.

What about running then? Well, it was always my routine to alternate my days between running and the gym, and I have in fact clocked solid mileage these first three months, but I'm afraid I will be cutting down on it starting this month.

For more muscle growth, I need to do less low-impact cardio exercises and stick to the high-intensity stuff. I would probably run twice a week with a lot of sprint work thrown in, but I have to give up my long-distance dreams.

Ironically, my biggest challenge now is my food intake. Not that I can't leave behind the typically oily Malaysian fare, but having discovered I'm actually lactose-intolerant sometime last year, I have had problems staying away from dairy. Susah ok?! What happens if I do? I get really bloated and massively gassy. It's not a pretty picture at all, I tell ya.

That apart, it's been a great journey of transformation and I hope to have that much-coveted cover model body by the end of next year. So, as the cliche goes, do watch this space! :)

Legoland, Malaysia: The Highs & Lows

So, during this past Chinese New Year holidays, we finally made our way to Legoland, Malaysia which (in case you didn't know), is located right in the backyard of my kampung, Johor Bahru. I had promised the little one a trip during the first term break in March, but being the awesome dad I am (ahem), I naturally over-delivered.

Anyway, since we were staying in the centre of town at KSL Resorts, we got out reasonably early that day and took the new coastal highway to Legoland. And what an easy drive that was. The signboards came rather late, but it was pretty much a straight line once you get into the highway. And no, I didn't remember paying any toll. So I guess we're safe, at least for now :)

Once we got within the vicinity, all of us just went "Whoa!" when we saw the huge Legoland sign ala the world-famous Hollywood one. THEN, the first sign this was still in Malaysia happened...

Despite being early, we had to queue for a long while to get into the HUGE parking area, just because they made us stop and take a ticket from this ONE guy operating the barrier manually. Ugghh. Seriously, I've raised this matter before when the other Johor attraction, JPO, first opened. Why the need to profit from parking fees?

With Legoland, I had already paid RM390 for tickets, and there was no doubt I'd be spending more on food and merchandise, why so "hadap" on the parking fees? I'm sure the management team have made their "lawatan sambil belajar" before the park's opening, so surely they must have seen that such a scenario does not happen in Australia, Korea, the US etc. Priority should always be on customer convenience. Especially with a location like Legoland where most people would go there in private cars, easy access into the parking area should be of paramount importance. And for what it's worth, the area was not even properly tarred!

OK, OK, let me move on now. And it didn't look good immediately though as we were then faced with a slew of ticket touts. Most of whom were conducting business under signs warning us about dealing with ticket touts! Sigh...

I can go on and on, but let's get to the good stuff now... Starting with the absence of queues at the entry point, hurrah! And just standing there taking photos gave us a sense of fun and joy as a feel-good soundtrack played over the PA system.

It was rather dark that morning though, but we were still determined to make the best out of the day. Armed with the park map, we started exploring the various rides and attractions. Kiddo had a great time taking her Legoland driving license, and despite the drizzle at this point in time, it didn't ruin her semangat in any way.

We also got to the Miniland area, which drew oohs and aahs from us and the rest of the visitors. The structures were magnificently built! Definitely the spot for cool photo opps.

We also caught a show at the auditorium and guess what, yours truly was pulled up on stage to show off his percussion (non) skills during the CNY-themed show. Hehe.

Then it was time for lunch and we made our way to the Market Restaurant which had local and western set meals. I think I paid RM27 for the western and RM25 for the local chicken rice meals. I've read on some blogs complaining about the price and I have to say that I agree. I was prepared to pay a bit more, this being an international theme park, but I really think food prices here could be 15-20% cheaper.

But what was most shocking about the Market Restaurant was... the various leaks in the air-con vent! Yup, we had to move places a couple of times as the areas were getting somewhat flooded. I then did a quick survey and found leaks elsewhere in the restaurant. Yes, a ridiculous thing to happen at a newly-opened place!

The fun then continued at Lego Kingdom with more cool stuff to explore.

But just as we got to the Imagination area, a thunderstorm broke out and dozens of us got stranded under one of the play areas for close to an hour. We were warned by many about the blistering heat before going there, but what we experienced was exactly the opposite! When the rain subsided, we went on to catch the 4D show. It was cool in the beginning, but there was a technical glitch halfway thru that left everyone going "huh?" at the end of the show. Hope they've got that fixed.

Before we proceeded to Lego Technic, we stopped by the Lego train station for a ride around the park. There was already a long queue, but what irked everyone was the lack of announcements by the staff on the status of the train. True, the rain must have screwed up operations, but it wouldn't have hurt to inform everyone of the estimated waiting time. In the end, we quit the queue like most everyone else.

We then walked past Lego Technic but since it was already close to 5pm, we decided to call it a day. But not before checking out the merchandise store. Bought a few things, but again, I thought prices could be 15-20% cheaper. I mean the stuff was definitely more expensive than, say, Dreamworld and Movie World in Gold Coast Australia.

So, final verdict? I'd still give it 4 stars out of 5. It's world class alright, but the stuff I mentioned above should be rectified immediately. We'll definitely go back since there's still a lot more to explore. And it was actually good to see so many foreign tourists around, but I couldn't help but overhear them comparing Legoland to Universal Studios in Singapore and other theme parks around the world. So, do take note, Legoland!