Ram, the Deputy Manager of Raffles, is away in India on holiday. It's so great!

Roni, the Manager - who is normally stationed in Stratford, is back to be in charge of Raffles while Ram is away. Like all the other employees, I have utmost respect for Roni because of the way he treats his colleagues and those working below him. He makes everyone feel wanted, and more importantly, motivated to do their job to the very best. Even as manager, he clears tables, empties rubbish, and sweeps the floor, something we would never see Ram do unless one of the bosses was around.

All the Raffles employees (myself included) are so much happier at work, and the air of Raffles has a certain warmth about it when Roni is around. Roni cares about the welfare and happiness of those around him, and earns respect before expecting it. Amazingly, no one cares if he leaves early to go home, because they all believe he deserves to relax! How rare is that?

27 days to go before Ram gets back. Better enjoy it while it lasts!

Highlight of the Day
Fruit Cocktail at work for playing Andrew Lloyd Webber, curry puff and good food at work. Just LOVE it when Roni's in charge!

Chatmate of the Day
Littl' Angel Herli. (aww..) I still need you to send me your song so I can play it for you. =)

I can't believe it's that time of year again. This time a year ago, I was stepping down as president to hand over to Ray and his mighty army, and yesterday, it happened again! Whole years are flying by, it's just incredible!

The meeting itself was one of a kind, with NO questions to the financial report - and why should there be? In one way or the other, Charles managed to secure all the finances, leaving the committee with a whopping £1000 to play around with, and managed to make a £7 profit for Malaysia Night! (oOo..) The VP's annual activity report had the most laughs, and there were THREE people running for President, and FIVE contesting for Vice President. Plus there was free food. Gotta love that.

With over 50 people running for post, the elections were a very long affair - even with Roy rushing everyone as best he could. I believe I asked many long-winded questions, but there were no complaints. *phew* Many congratulations to the new committee.

President
Ahmad Shahredzuan @ Ope

Vice President
Siti Azrina @ Nynna

Secretary
Michelle Lim

Treasurer
Low Kar Wai

External Officer
Diyana M.K.

Sports Officers
Annuar Rahman
Cheryl Lau

Cultural Officers
Sarah Tan
Zainal Amar (the dude from Imperial)

IT Officer
Woon Hon Win

Postgraduate Representative
Uncle Kelvin Chan

General committee members have yet to be finalised.

It was a good meeting, and all the best to the new committee, and to those running for the posts of general committee members.

Here's to another year of good ol' MSA! =)

Highlight of the Day
£5 tip and Rendang Daging. I love it when Roni's in charge at work. He's the best manager anyone could ask for.

Chatmate of the Day*
Cheryl (Lau). She's so funny!

* Due to most highlights being chatting, this is a new tingkle.com 'thing'. Weird, because I'm supposed to be too old and busy to be chatting.

After playing at Raffles for a year, I have managed to deduce the 7 "rules" I should follow in order to play a perfect evening of piano there. This is mainly for myself and probably doesn't apply to any of you, but it might be interesting to certain piano people, and give you a bit of insight on my very (un?)interesting life.

1. Sleep. Take a nap. Try and get an hour or more, because afternoons are sleepy, and the evening doesn't get any easier without a little rest.
2. Shower. A shower before work is a must. Sitting at the piano for 3 hours straight is not fun if you're uncomfortable or sweaty. Plus, your clothes are a little cleaner when you're done.
3. Nails. Cut your nails. When your nails are long, you can't play with your fingertips. You have less finger control, and your fingers get tired very quickly, as do your arms!
4. Dress. Look smart. Wear a black bowtie and clean pressed wingtip shirt with your suit unless absolutely impossible.
   
5. Eat. You don't need to eat before you go, but don't go on an empty stomach. You won't get dinner until 10pm, and sometimes later.
6. Watch./ Wear a watch so you know when to take your breaks, otherwise you have to put your mobile phone on the music stand, and it's annoying if it rings.
7. Time. Leave half an hour before, so that the manager doesn't give you weird looks when you come in.

I broke rules no 1 , 3 , 6 and 7 today. Not doing too well - even after a year. Maybe I'll do better now that I know what the rules are.

Highlight Of My Day
Chatting (how sad) with vEe & Debbie. They always brighten my day. :)

(Apologies in advance for going into great boring detail, but my mind's shut down a bit today.)

Don't drink and drive!

It was Big Band social night last night. We had a half rehearsal (which was amazing - apart from the gay reggae tune that no one managed to get right) and after that it was a social as the Brits know it - drinking, drinking, and more drinking!

It began with us gathering in the freezing cold piazza on campus for a glass of wine - and we were given silly name tags and inducted into a couple of games - one of which being every time you have a portion of drink, you must stick a dot on your face. Being one of the latest ones to get there, I got the last glass of rose wine - all the rest was gone! One dot.

Over to Rootes bar to have more drinks and play absolutely mindless games like "DARYL IS GAY" and "v vi vii" - I'm not even going to try and explain how they work. It was at this point that I met lots of new people - esp. sweet (then) Sarah and very sweet Laura (a.k.a. Mrs Prez). Amazingly, Sarah found it hard to down her Snakebite and poured me most of it which I downed for her. By then, four dots. (Is this getting dangerous?)

Then Varsity. I decided to take the car, and this was rewarded by a very happy Phil (or Bill - or PHBILLY) sticking his head out my sunroof and yelling at everyone on the way. Great :) - At Varsity, the true personalities of Big Banders were set off into full motion - with Sarah turning into a laughing hyena and Sweeney repeatedly asking Naomi for blowjobs - don't ask.

Three more dots, and Sarah decided to stick a whole lot more on me, and I have 14. She also went home with my name tag on. I came home early, but judging from the way I parked my car last night, I've decided that should never ever take the car if I intend to drink at all.

Don't drink and drive. Big Band rocks!

Chatterbox

Thanks for the activity on the chatterbox - it's going great!

Highlight Of The Day

Conspiracy Theory. My favourite Big Band song ever!

Currently watching : Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Raffles Restaurant, Kenilworth. Monday 11th October, 2004.

A director from Unilever sat at a table for one. He ordered a Singapore Sling*, 4-course meal with Penang Lobster as his main course, a bottle of red and two pints of Tiger beer. He then proceeded to complain about the gents' facilities before ordering a couple of double whiskeys and asking me to play some good ol' Andrew Lloyd Webber numbers, after which an Irish coffee.

If by some weird chance you haven't already realised, that's a LOT of alcohol.

He then decided to have a conversation with me about the business he's in. Having consumed all that lemonade, it wasn't surprising that he wasn't able to keep the conversation smooth-sailing, but instead kept twitching and looking down at his shoes. He began stuttering after a few minutes and kept saying the same things over and over again - and asked me 10 times whether I can remember the Unilever website address (unilever.com). My colleagues were pretty relieved when he decided to drag himself off his seat and leave.

Every day like this is an education in itself. People come and go, and have different backgrounds, personalities, and styles. Talk about coming to UK and getting an education. :)

* An inimitable combination comprising refreshing dry gin, warm and spicy cherry heering, tangy lemon juice, a drop of grenadine and a film of benedictine floated on ice to provide a truly memorable and heavenly cocktail. (quoted directly from the the Raffles menu)

The chatterbox is now up and running. This means that you can now leave your 2 cents (or 2p) worth!

Debbie, time for you to tingkle!

After half a week of being ill, I'm almost completely back to normal. Since Monday - when I woke up unable to move, today was the first day I didn't feel the need to take a long nap after lunch - one that repeatedly lasted until dinner time.

The busyness of last weekend was a real killer. I think that takes the prize for the most physically hectic time of my life - not to mention a jam-packed 3 weeks before. I most certainly won't do it again.

It feels great to not be weighed down by fatigue! :)

Thanks to those who showed concern - esp. Debbie, vEe, & Jen - you're all stars! Praise God for speedy healing - now I don't have an excuse for not showing up to lectures and seminars - although I might drive to Gibbet Hill tomorrow as opposed to walking.

Big Band rehearsal tonight was amazing, even though I had to leave the MSA dinner early, so I didn't get food. :( - Still I think it was worth it, I managed to pull off Count Bubba (which I normally mess up) - as well as play Summertime, Moanin' & Mambo Swing for the first time with hardly any mistakes. Amazing! I really owe it to Mike, Rich & James for showing me the way to excelling in Big Band. It's a pity our plans to sneak into the Freshers' Ball (without paying) didn't work - and also that Xanana's had no food for me.

I made my way to Tesco after rehearsal - where I met Eliza, Sue Fern & Sue I. Got my shopping done too - a perfect end to a near perfect day!

HIGHLIGHT OF MY DAY
Chatting with vEe. I really missed her while she was away!

Oh yeah - check out the pic of foXy Sam & me with the furry dice. My favourite picture!

(this blog entry has been shortened)

I played my first Big Band gig last night - and it was superb! It was our annual union gig for the freshers. Both us and members of the crowd were loving every moment of it! I completely messed up The A-Team and my solo during Santa Fe Trail - but I was told that for a first gig, I did exceptionally well - cheers you guys!

(The word onion in the title was intentional. Graham seems to have an unhealthy obsession with it.)