The dinner that was

Yang kurik kundi yang merah saga
Baik budi indahlah bahasa
Oh... oh... oh...
Pantun lama tinggi kiasannya

- Siti Nurhaliza's "Kurik Kundi" -


I’ve never seen so many batik shirts on so many men, all in one place, on one night….

Last night I attended the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communication’s Annual Dinner at the PWTC..it was a last minute thingy, so I had to follow my boss home and borrow a “sopan” outfit from her (read: baju kurung, beads optional)…I was actually dressed in a white linen shirt and checkered pants yesterday, but being clumsy, had 2 curry spots on my chest..i thought wearing them would be ok, and proceeded to wash the stains out with a little bit of purple Dynamo..the stain did went out, but now I’m left with 2 purple spots…how the hell did that happened?

Called up my mom to ask her if its possible for them to pick me up after the dinner, and she reprimanded me for even THINKING about wearing a non-traditional outfit to a Kementerian affair…pfftt….so I had to slink into the baju kurung, which, thank god, fit me well….

The dinner was VERRRYYYY so-so..the food was not at all anything to shout about…Chinese course meal always gets me excited as I await one course after another..but the food last night was quite, simply put, boring, therefore, tasteless…the dessert made up for it though….dah laa we were told to observe the food presentation, the lights dimmed and then Lou Bega’s Mambo No 5 blared out, as we waited in anticipation…half the song went, and nothing…then we saw the waiters and waitresses riding out Fifties-style on motorbikes into the hall..oooh, how impressive….*rolls eyes*

Entertainment wise, haaa, this was quite entertaining…we had 3 unknown singers at first, singing the “Dia dating, jeng jeng jeng..” song, with one of the guys who must have missed his 2nd round of hair rebonding session *shudders*….then we had some gambus players *I love looking at them, so serene*..and then….Rosma and Bob from AF! Waa….i was quite curious to see how Rosma had turned out…hmm, slimmer and with better fashion sense :p she sang a few songs, one of her own, and Siti Nurhaliza’s Kurik Kundi…nevertheless, her showmanship was impressive and she sang and danced naturally…

Bob, however, didn’t have luck with his Cinta Seorang Teman song..apparently, the song died out during his performance, so it seemed as if he was miming :p then he sang 2 60-an songs I did not recognize…and then this TNB staff who apparently is their resident singer :p performed a couple of Tom Jones, Frank Sinatra and some oldies, which sounded quite good la, although his recycled jokes left a lot to be desired (“We 4 Tom brothers are quite famous you know, we have Tompel, a brother who moved to Thailand, calls himself Tom Yam these days, then there’s Tom Jones and our youngest, Tom Cruise”..cue: mouth ternganga because that was a REALLY lame joke!)

But the best was when Deja Moss came on stage..she is a great singer! Like, wow!! She sang Ruth Sahanaya’s “Keliru”, her own song, then a medley of Liza Minelli’s “Big Spender” and Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York”, Metallico’s “Love” and Michael Buble’s “ Sway”..*sigh* best, best! If I can’t get any of my friends to sing during my wedding, I gotta kumpul duit so I can get her instead, hehehe….

The audio system was a bit of a mess...Telekom apparently had this pantomime that won awards or something..but i think only Telekom people got the jokes, as the rest of the show was basically embarassing static or silence, coupled with bungled powerpoint images...the applause at the end was just out of politeness...kesian la pulak...

I left after Tan Sri Lim Kheng Yeik’s entertaining speech…he is a man of many words, but most of them funny, so it was really easy to concentrate on what he was saying…he told us how that after his Ministry has been known as Kementerian Tenaga, Air dan Komunikasi, KTAK (pronounced ketak), people in the Parliament have been calling it Kementerian KTAK...tee hee…

Nevertheless, I left the hall last night, sneaking through the back door with a bunch of batik-clad men, feeling verry much like a government servant…