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Ducky has a new hat and is looking mighty pleased about it. I have a new hat too, but I’m too lazy to model it right now. But it fits, which is wonderful and unusual because I have a big head and everything perches on it. Thanks, Andrea and Joyce!

To non-Muslims, Ramadan is all about the food. Take, for example, the food hampers that keep arriving at the office. A couple of days before Raya, we opened all 7 or 8 of them and had a huge sugar spread in the conference room.

Crazy, but I suppose that’s the only way you share the bounty with the whole office. Except those who were not in.

I’m not much of marathon Raya visitor so I went to a grand total of 3 houses, all either close friends or people I only see once a year.

But this October, I’ll be mostly occupied with making some Halloween costumes because we’re all project-powered at dresshack central. Fun!

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October!

1. Arab Rice @ tHe Spring

The Arab Rice at tHe Spring’s Food Bazaar has some really nice food. I’ve been meaning to go back since the review, but have not been hungry enough for that.

2. Dress hacked

We finished my costume. The hat is just part of it. For the rest, you just have to wait till after the photo shoot. Oh yes, Peggy’s tutorial for this hat was featured on Threadbanger yesterday.

3. Visiting Tunku Putra School

I almost wish I went to this school. “Almost” because I hated school. That’s Rin hard at work in the chem lab during the school’s Open Day.

4. Design King

Eric Leong was in town for a quick workshop. Although he was prominently advertised, his segment was just a couple of hours in the morning. This is him being interviewed by RTM.

5. Gang Starz 2008

Hotlink flew 6 East Malaysian press members to KL for the Gang Starz 2008 finals. You can’t get me to sit in front of the TV for anything at home, but live shows have an energy you won’t find in your living room. They put us up at Holiday Inn Glenmarie, which had a fantastic buffet.

6. Budget

I just thought this made an interesting picture. Reporters camped around the office TV listening to the budget report.

7. Hokkien-speaking Romans

I went to a Roman-theme housewarming party. I think that initially most people were going “what for?” when our hostess announced that it’s a costume party. But it did add a special element, and the camwhoring came out in full force. We’re already talking about our next one.

8. Habitat for Humanity project

After writing all those articles about HfH, I had a chance to get my hands dirty. Full post here.

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August in review

Yes, I know I haven’t posted almost all month. Updates will come soon. I will be spending my 31st with a bunch of bloggers building a house with Habitat for Humanity.

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All Roads Lead To Rome

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Did you find what you were looking for?

And I, I never thought I’d leave behind
My childhood dreams but I don’t mind
I’m where and who I want to be
No change of heart, a change in me

– “A Change in Me”, Susan Egan (Beauty & The Beast on Broadway)

I’ve loved singing for as long as I can remember, and I’ve love musicals ever since I got hold of the soundtrack of West Side Story in my early teens. Musicals combined my love for storytelling and music.

For a while, I tried piano but quite frankly, I got bored with the rigid syllabus and the unspoken race to have my piano grade catch up with my age (I started piano in secondary school when most kids my age are already Grade 3 or 4).

I’ve never officially blogged about starting voice classes in May last year, although my immediate circle of friends know that I am permanently unavailable early Thursday evenings.

There were two of us when we started. I’m the alto. Fariah is the soprano. About two months later, Henrick joined us and we have our tenor. The only voice missing here is the baritone, but between the three of us and our voice instructor’s  ability to improvise, it worked.

We don’t take exams, compete or perform. This is good because we don’t really have to beat a song to death before we temporarily shelve it for another song. We are all working professionals and not interested in additional stress. Voice class is something we all look forward to every week because we get to belt it out and laugh if we don’t quite get it right. It’s very therapeutic, and I guess it doesn’t hurt that we can harmonise.

Since we all love musicals, our files are full of scores from them - Les Miserables, West Side Story, Hairspray, Rent, Phantom of the Opera, and various other Disney animated movie and broadway offshoots. There are popular favourites, a few classics, and some choir standards. Most were easy, but a handful took months to master.

This week, we got our first Italian piece - Con Te Partiro (Time To Say Goodbye). Familiar song. The toughest part here is learning the Italian.

My current solos are “Beauty & The Beast” and “A Change in Me“.

And I love being the alto. I didn’t quite realise that this was what I’ve been doing throughout all my church band days. It’s like slipping into a comfortable old shoe.

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I have a love