The Young & Restless

Sunday, 26th

I was awaken by 2 loud snorers in the room; Finrod & Jon. Whoa..you can’t imagine how loud they were..guess Finrod was too tired as he never slept for the entire Saturday. Tried to get back to sleep but man..couldn’t anymore..and I didn’t feel appropriate to confront them while they’re sleeping. So tried as I might to close my eyes.

It’s 11am. We packed our stuffs, ensure nothing’s left behind and before we left the room. A little picture to indicate that we stepped foot in this room..8243.

Creative aren’t we? LOL

When we were down at the lobby while awaiting for the check out process, one by one, all 11 Idols were seen scattered around the area. I for one wasted no time snapping our last chance of pictures with them. I’d upload the pictures at the side. Ostrova and the gang had decided to have a game of bowling before we depart. Tried to get Trish & Farah to come but in the end they didn’t turn up. Instead we got Daniel and his family. Hehe..better than nothing. As we made our way to the Genting Bowl at First World, I noticed people were all pointing and looking at our new Idol and I had this very satisfactory feeling that he’s already a well-known person now and we’re all like accompanying he and his family from the back, as if like bodyguards LOL.

Caught this picture of him practicing climbing before we entered Genting Bowl.

Within seconds, he’s already up there. Wow, he’s fast.

Our bowling picture with Daniel & family.

After the gam, we bid goodbye to Daniel and his family and also to Kai Ma & Kai Ye. All 8 of us, me, priest, Finrod, Jon, Ostrova, Teng, Evonc and Revo went to the Skyway and together we took the bus back to Terminal Putra.

What an effortless journey. I really cherished every moment spent up there..yes..those long 2 days..

24th September

Beautiful clear morning.

View from outside my room.

Anyone for Solero Shot?

Think I went off to sleep about 7..couldn’t take it..I don’t want to be too tired for tonight’s result show or in case the Idols show after party. At 1.30pm, there was the 3 judges’ meet the fans session at First World and we heard they’re giving away VIP passes to the Idols show party. 8TV Quickie’s Rina and another host I don’t really quite recognise were entertaining the crowd below. They were giving away freebies from JJ’s Clean & Clear Skin while the judges signing autograph behind. When it came to questions for the VIP passes, it took all of our attention as our main target are the passes. Teng got the pass by answering a question, Ostrova got too by presenting breakdance on stage. They’ve got enough passes for 6 people but 3 of us (Me, Finrod & Jon) are still empty-handed. They also brought up 3 audience from below to sing in front of the judges but only 1 of them would get the passes. First gal sang Alicia’s If I Ain’t Got You. Not bad actually. Second gal sang Hillary Duff’s Wake Up. Sounded too plain though. Lastly a little gal..I’m guessing her age must be around 8-9 years, she sang Whitney & Mariah’s When You Believe. LOL unbelievable with her soft voice, she managed to pull the song through. Then Rina made the crowd to decide who sang the best out of them three by clapping the loudest. In the end, it was still the judges; final decision to pick though and unamiously they agreed that the first gal who sang If I Ain’t Got You was the best. Thus, she got the passes. The crowd wasn’t satisfied as they clearly wanted more passes. That’s when Rina announced to catch the 8Team parked right in front of the entrance of First World at 2.45pm later as they will be giving the passes again.

Fair enough, we waited at the entrance of First World as they unload their vehicle. In order to win the ticket this time, we have to play a little game, someway similar to the musical chair..you know the one you walk in circles of chairs and when the music stops, the last one remained standing will be eliminated one after another. Since there is no chair, we have to land on our butts and for that matter, the floor is made of brick and you have no idea how much it hurts to quickly sit on the floor every time the music stopped. As the people grew lesser and lesser, I was among the last 5 persons and the only male left in the game but nevertheless I failed to make it to the final 3. Damn man..I couldn’t really listen to the music properly whether it has stopped or not and I kept going down and when the music really did, I was too late. But 2 of Ostrova’s gang, Evonc and Yumi made to the last 3. Here’s the final challenge of the game. Each of them had to eat 3 packets of tiger biscuits. Whoever swallowed all 3 packets the fastest wins another pair of passes . We gave our full support, encouragement as they gobbled the biscuits like hungry animals but Evonc quit midway through as she couldn’t bring herself further anymore. It all depends to Yumi now. However the other gal took down the last chunk before she could and just like that she got the tickets. We were downright disappointed. Evonc saw the gal (who just won) cheated by passing a few biscuits behind the crowd. Teng wanted to bring the matter up to the crew but we prevented her as it wasn’t really appropriate cos Evonc and Yumi cheated as well (they only passed 1 biscuit only compared to her). Our final chance of winning the passes was to catch them right in front of the arena at 5.45pm. We all went back to our respective rooms to prepare earlier as not to miss the 8Team unit in front of arena.

Suddenly I got a distress call from Ellyse. She seemed upset about her trip here. There was some misunderstanding caused in the process apparently. I felt so bad. We were all suppose to enjoy the trip up here and unfortunately shecouldn’t join us for the results show tonight. Anyway I told her it was alright really. If certain things are meant unavoidable, we can’t help but accept it the way it is.

I quickly took my bath, get dressed and rushed down to the entrance. By then, there was already a crowd and true enough, chances of getting the passes were nowhere possible. Priest was saying to try to sneak us in like they did last year but I doubt the security wasn’t any stricter this year.

Well, since we’re already in front of the entrance to the arena, we just waited till 7pm. Fortunate enough today the VIP seats below was rather empty so the security asked us to fill up the seats below and we got to watch closer than yesterday. Only problem was the long camera supporter frame sort of ruined a portion of the left view a little.

The show began with the rejectees from the earlier round of auditions i.e. Britney Boy, Siti Nurhaliza wannabe, Michael Jacko and Zombie gal!! Woohoo!! I’ve been looking forward to seeing her tonight an my dream came true! =D Hehe..she was so entertaining man in the KL auditions..the way she sang and jump like a cute gal during the chorus Zombie..zombie..zombie eheh eheh eheh eheh owok owok LMAO!! That was so hilarious I tell ya! Moving to the part where all season 1 & 2 finalists came on stage at the end of Ferhad’s Higher Than Mountain, Deeper Than Sea was the most memorable scene I’ve seen in MI. Seriously I don’t think any Idol shows out there had this performance planned at all. Even when all 9 finalists doing Medleys were spectacular. Best finale results I’ve seen so far, in my opinion of course.

Before my cellphone battery went dead (should have brought the charger silly me), couldn’t believe when Mel said she still hasn’t voted for Nita. Wey..at this time few hours before the results are reviewed, it’s not guaranteed you’ll get any confirmation message from the votes. Finrod and Jon were complaining that their DiGi line didn’t receive any confirmation..till hours later.

Finally the verdict of the results, crossing my fingers straight and hope that Nita wins.."The next Malaysian Idol as voted by you is….," Jien said. "DANIEL!!" both Jien & Cheryl shouted. Silence. Utterly disappointed smearedin all our faces, but nevertheless I stood up and clapped as a sign of respect to the final outcome.

Daniel after being crowned the title.

I know tonnes of messages will be jamming up my phone..the outrage..the overjoy..but hand phone no battery lah..geram..wanna complain also cannot..but we take the results as it is. I know Mel must be damn pissed right now..hehe

That night, while priest and the others went for the aftershow party, the rest of us lazed around the hotel while I started playing PSOne. Lowch1 hang around later.

Fuh…got back about 8pm on Sunday. Dad picked me up from the LRT station and boy was I freaking slumped back..was damn exhausted. Gotta head to pasar malam immediately…wasn’t even walking straight by then LOL. But anyway, flashbacks fpr 2 days of my crononical events before I head to Genting.

Friday, 23th

Alarm clock rang at about 11 plus and surprisingly I jolted up faster than any other days I had (LOL obviously..too excited). Priest (Kok Hou) called to meet at the Subang Jaya KTM commuter by 2.30pm (Lai lai will be driving us up while Jon will be going up taking the LRT and bus service). So I get myself changed, bathed before I leave, ensure that I have all my stuffs packed, nothing whatsoever left behind and I waited patiently..when it started to rain cats and dogs at about 2pm. You can’t imagine how infuriated I was. Of all the time it had to rain this heavy when I was about to leave. What the heck, Mum drove me to Subang, slow and steady in the heavy rain.

Arriving at the station, Mum had to pay RM2 just to get into the entrance. What crap! If it wasn’t for the damn heavy rain I could have just walked for a distance. However, the rain was just too heavy for me to get down. Called priest but no one answered, till his mum picked up to tell me that he was out getting something. Needed to exchange plans so I told his mum to inform him to meet up in front of Carrefour’s bus stand instead as it’s not possible to meet up at the train station with the rain this heavy. Called Finrod (Winson) to find out his whereabout. He has been waiting in the station for 15 minutes. I lead him out of the station to my car and mum dropped us at the bus stand. He went in to Carrefour for some munchies and snacks needed for the trip up there while I waited in the bus stand in case priest arrives. Lai lai (Amin) reached at about 3.45pm and we wasted no time stuffing our luggages into the boot and board on. Genting here we come ;). 

Inside the car, priest played all the Idol songs that were sang from the start of Workshop all the way to final Spectaculars and we were all singing along, reminiscing the memorable songs performed (Big Spender, Angin Malam, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, Don’t Let Go to name a few). Mind you, all 4 of us in the car are avid Farah fans and we could not help but talk about why Farah was eliminated just a week before the finale due to the fact that we never got over it. If she was in the finale, our anxeity of the trip could have been even greater than ever.

Upon reaching the slopy roads all the way up, we started counting how many buntings and banners they as we passed. I know, it’s silly but we wanted to see the hype it gives. The more you put the more anxious you get. Visibility on the road isn’t perfect, added that it was still raining and thick mist on the way. There were mixed number of buntings..with TMNet and MI. Even singers Jenny Tseng and Francis Yip seemed to have more buntings. Hoi..apa ni..patut more what..MI..international show leh..more publicity lah. But as we went higher, more MI buntings noticeable amidst the thick mist. Alas.

While waiting for priest to do the check in at Theme Park Hotel, smsed Mum, Ellyse and Mel that I’ve finally reached. Minutes later, we bumped into Kai Ma, Kai Yeh and their family descended from the lift. Had a little chat with them. From a distance, I could see Jon coming. They (KM & KY) told us that we had better queue up as early as 6pm as last year people started the line really early. All 11 Idols are staying at the 7th floor and most of the forummers are on the 8th floor. We tried to get one at 8th and fortunate enough, we got room 8243. 4 rooms away were Ostrova and the gang. Man, can you imagine having to fit 12 people into their room? LOL…6 is already a whole lot and I think this could possibly recorded into the book of records for having the most people stayed in 2 nights here =P. No guessing where the rest will have to sleep..or probably just stayed up all night XD. We received our key cards and went to our room. Lai lai wants to record the show live so he brought along his laptop and while he’s busy setting up the equipment to the tv, we hang around, get dressed, do what we had to do and prepare ourselves for the big showdown.

A view of our room, (From L-R: Lai lai, priest, Finrod & jon)

After that, we went down to First World Plaza Burger King to grab a late minute bite before the show begins. We clearly noticed a number of Daniel fans here as they are all dressed in pink (Daniel’s favourite colour), even the guys!! We were like giggling at the corner, commenting, making fun of the craziness of their fans as how far they would go to support him. As we’re making our way to Arena Of Stars, I was calling Ellyse like mad cos I thought she couldn’t enter as her tickets are with me. Anyway we’re getting late and I’ve called her for over 8 times but no one picked up the phone. Couldn’t delay any longer so we went in and waited at gate F, the furthest to the left of the arena. Big crowd was already cheering. Oh wait, as we were walking along the aisle to arena, there’s these 4 really young gals dressed in pink with the words Vote Daniel encrypted directly at the front, screaming their Idol’s name and running all around. I was like my god..how extremely maniac can his fans go..

So we waited patiently till the guard allowed the clear sign for us to go in. Waiting was boring. Some of us decided to bring up some fun started screaming for their Idols. DANIEL!! DANIEL!! DANIEL!! I joined in the crowd to shout NITA!! NITA!! NITA!!. LOL the feeling was unbelievable. Never in my life I had felt such excitement and adrenaline pumped up to shout and scream all my might for an event and this show succeeded to open out my timidness. And out in the blues, Jon shouted MAWI!! MAWI!! LMAO!!! We started to laugh and then people pula started shouting the AF finalists pula..Marsha! Felix! Amylea!! Hehe..it was so cool I tell ya.

The doors finally flapped open and we made ourselves in..pushing and edging our way. We sat on the yellow seats all the way to the middle of the screen. Each seats are placed with TMNet hand pads written Daniel on one side and Nita the other. So whoever you’re supporting, you could switch either way to show the cam who your support goes to.

The handpads. Whose your pick?

Inside the arena from my point of view. Located near the stage, Daniel’s family and supporters are all seated on the left while Nita’s all the way on the right.

Look at the amount of audience!

The show commenced at about 8.40pm with the arrivals of VIPs and celebrities on the red carpet interviewed live by Adam & Marion outside. As the celebrities made their ways into the arena, we noticed immediately last year’s Idols namely Nikki, Zamil, Jac, Rydee etc. Surprisingly Andrew and Fahmy who both went hiatus were also present. However, Vick and Dina were nowhere in sight. A few minutes later, Paul and Kak Jee came and the crowd went wild. Strangely, Roslan wasn’t with them. I thought all 3 should arrive spontaneously but this was not the case.

Okay let’s skip to the part of the opening act by our Top 9 starting it of with Pop Ye Ye and Shut Up. LOL Shut Up was a weird group performance to sing..don’t get me wrong, I love how they sang but it wasn’t really suitable..as if requesting for the 2 finalists to shut up pula =D.

Daniel started off first for the night with the winning single, Mimpi. It sounded pop-ish and wasn’t really vocally challenged like last year’s Gemilang but I like it. Makes a good studio recording. Ooh..he didn’t bring the song well..the sound in the arena was too loud and we could not even listen to a single word he sang..towards the end  the pitching was clearly all over the place. Bad start. I was expecting the judges to give bad comments but nolah..they’re praising him! Shocked as I can be, even Paul wasn’t really throwing him down with the razor tongue but true comments. All he said was his obvious pitching.

Nita was up next with Berhenti Berharap. Did as amazing as during the Unplugged week. All 3 judges gave good comments.

With his second song, Daniel rendered Heaven Knows better than Mimpi. It was his audition song back in Penang so no surprises if he picked this song to sing in the finale. Once again, all judges gave good comments. I think at this point, the judges had very much toned down their bitter judgement on the Idols. It’s already the end of season so it’s best to describe the best for both of them to let the viewers decide. Well, if the mistake was clearly made, then no choice but to critic lah LOL.

Nita’s second song, Big Spender..her outfit didn’t quite fit with the song. Someone even mentioned it made her looked slutty on the stage. LOL aww..that was harsh but she brought the song as good as she totally blown the auidience and viewers during Classical week.

Daniel’s final song given by the judges was Angin Malam. Gotta admit he made wonder to the song by adding the nice waves with his decent falsetto. It fitted and his voice blended perfectly. No wonder gals were even more captivated after he sang this during Classical week.

Daniel singing Angin Malam

Nita’s final song..the winning single Mimpi blew the arena to bits. It was awesome, it’s no denial that she nailed all 3 songs and the title of the next Malaysian Idol should be given to her..but we know the chances are..having to compete with Daniel’s overboarding passionate fans wasn’t an easy task.

Nita singing Mimpi

The show ended with the both dueting Tarzan’s soundtrack which they sang bilingually (Kau Di Hatiku or You’ll Be In My Heart) and slowly the rest of the 9 Idols emerged from behind, surrounding Daniel & Nita. Excellent, we all gave standing ovations to mark the last for tonight.

Daniel & Nita with Kau Di Hatiku & You’ll Be In My Heart

All 11 Idols on stage.

As we exit the arena, went back to our hotel to check on Lai lai’s recording. We played back the performances again beginning with Daniel’s Mimpi. Surprisingly there wasn’t any audio fault on tv but we all agreed it was very loud and clear in the arena. Whoa..towards the end of the song..memang his pitching lari habis. Clear cut across that Nita was the best for the night. I took out my handphone and without any hesitation, started pressing on V,O,T,E then space N,I,T,A. Couldn’t really vote much. Been spending hundreds of votes for Farah in the past 3 weeks…credits very limited at this point so I’m only giving 15 at the max. It’s all up to the entire nation to decide who do you want your Idol to be.

We then went to Starbucks down at First World Plaza with the availability of internet connection and the forum was the first place we typed in. A report from forummers live from Genting LOL.

At Starbucks. From L-R: Jon, Me, Finrod, priest, Nim and Lai lai

Michael joined while we all sat down and talked about the overall show just now. Forummer lowch1 appeared and we introduced each other. Lai lai’s initial plan of staying at the hotel with us cancelled as he had things to do early next morning so he had to drive back to KL on the night itself and will be up again the next day for the results show. On the other hand, priest wanted to hold the Idols sleepover party at our room but by then the Idols were all already too tired so never happened on the first night. I think it was about between 1-2 am that we left and we went to Nim’s room at First World.

Uggh..I finally got to look at how ’small’ the rooms were and boy they weren’t kidding with the size of the toilet LOL. The bed was like a ruler long from the wall and you gotta watch the tv sideways. How uncomfortable man!! We started chatting, joking, laughing, everything till it was about 4am that we finally left the place.

While walking to our room, I guessed our conversation alarmed Ostrova and the gang when they popped open the door and man..you won’t wanna look at the sight of the room with stuffs and bags from 12 people scattered all over LOL. We hung out about 20 mins by the door when he finally got back into our room.

Finrod and I stayed up all night, playing PSOne which priest brought while Jon was already in bed sound asleep. Priest wanted to lay his eyes for 15 minutes but he eventually dozed off till the next day LOL.

To be continued…..

Okay, this wil be my last post for these 2 days. In 12 hours time, I’ll be off to Genting (hehe jangan jealous ya XP) for 2 straight days for you-know-what-occasion. Have my things 3/4 packed now. Will leave at 1.45pm tomorrow to Subang Jaya KTM station. Lai lai will be picking us up from there. So here I am signing off for 2 days and to those Malaysian Idol fans out there, catch the Grand Finale live on Friday, 8TV at 8.30pm and the Results Show also at 8.30pm the following day. All the best to Daniel & Nita vying for the title. Over and out!

Yup, this Friday for the Grand Finale..can’t wait for it..though Farah’s no longer in, I’m still gonna enjoy myself in Genting. So wanna meet up with the happening forummers, looking forward to the Idols sleepover!! Woohoo! Since priest is bringing along his PSOne, I decided to borrow a game from Adrian today, so we had lunch together with his dad at about 2pm at a coffeeshop near my place. It’s been a while since I last met him. Surprisingly, his parents follow Malaysian Idol too and from what I gathered from his dad, they support Nita. Oh whatever, whoever wins is not important to me. Just hope may the best wins and have a great time up there.

I kept my fingers crossed throughout the entire results show. I said my prayers in my heart for Farah to be the Final spot. I voted 56 times for her this week. What was the result they gave me? Farah was eliminated. One step. Just one step to the Grand Finale next week. Stunned. Disappointed. Frustration. Depression. You named it. I wanted to cry, I tried to…but tears just couldn’t flow..Just couldn’t. Tears of enjoyment and sadness filled the studio. The Farahnatics in the studio were left utter speechless with the outcome. We did our best we can to maintain her position but it just wasn’t enough. Daniel’s maniac fans are way owerpowering ours. Sigh. Let him hold the title. I don’t give a damn.

Hehe..finally met my very own stalker, dear Ellyse..after failing to caught sight of you yesterday. Was over at Carrefour, Midvalley to catch the 11 Idols finalists but I arrived a little late, crowds were already forming all around the stage. Ostrova and the gang were late, so was Finrod and Ellyse. When the Idols were on stage, I noticed Ejay missing. Saiful was there as usual. He started off with the song Ku Juga Mencintaimu while pulling an audience from the crowd to sing with him. For that the lucky gal won a pair of tickets for the Grand Finale.

Daniel, Farah & Nita’s cheer were among the loudest. Even orang kampung, Faizull’s share of fans were almost has happening in the crowd but Daniel’s fans were the loudest, high-pitching scream..whoa..I was like..walau..so many fans..sure voted for him like mad, definitely securing a place in Final 2 already. That leaves Farah & Nita really really vulnerable. Not good. Not good at all. Hopefully, throughout the nation..they voted wisely, clearly Daniel’s journey has to end now. Please vote for Farah & Nita..they deserved very much to be in the finale.

Fuh..we’re getting really closer as the grand finale is just around the corner (that’s week that is!), will be going for tonight’s specs and I’ve already got a pair of The Grand Finale tickets secured hehe..Wonder who’ll make it to the top 2..please it let be my Farah :)..Have been voting hard for her since the past 2 weeks..and this week is gonna be crucial for her. PLEASE VOTE FOR FARAH! Type VOTE FARAH send to 33722 or dial the landline number where you can listen to her sweet voice at 13723 this week. She’s the only one with the most consistent performance and a vocal range to hold the title of Malaysian Idol 2!!

Woohoo..it’s so nice of Bluehyppo to allow 25 forummers (I was one of them hehe) to join the Top 3 for a chat session in TMNet clickers today. Arrived at around 2pm++, was rather early though as I don’t see much people in site. Smsed Kok Hou on his whereabouts, replied he’s in McDs a couple blocks away. Inside, I saw Teng and her gal gangs (The Danielians) sitting at a corner while Nim, marina, chris, aja, uptowndragon and him a table beside them. Was shocked to know that he actually skipped school today! Wey..said liao after school only come but ponteng school sumore..LOL really Idol freakier than me XD. What was even more shocking, he was here since 9 am.

So we waited till about 3.15pm and marina asked us to wait inside the clickers’ meeting room. Before the Idols can meet us, they’ve got the Cakap Je Chat online chat going on so we mingled among ourselves to pass time. LOL it’s amazing how much of jokes was created in such short period of time.

So when the Idols finally stepped into the room, all of us shouted our favourites respectively and hands shaken, hugs were given. Really, I am so caught up with Idols this year, no idea why. Probably because I have very well a favourite and you guys know who that is..;)

Gonna upload the pics in the album, check it out ya.

Managed to get Nita and Farah to sign on an empty transparent CD I brought specially for this occasion but dang..I missed out Daniel (hehe HF disappointed is it? Not to fret, will be going to the specs again this Friday for the Final 3 showdown..whohoo! Hope it’s gonna be a blast! In case you guys haven’t a clue what the theme is, it’s songs from movie soundtracks. There ya go.

God..it’s about time my room need an air cooler. Seriously, having a fan itself isn’t helping much..and I can’t install an air-cond due to my nose sensitivity. And that brings to the problem; my room faces to when the sun sets, and it’s freaking hot and humid inside. Man, the heat now is awfully killing!! What’s more, my comp heats up easily too (using AMD leh..no doubt they rectified the heat sink problem, well actually it still rises easily) and the CPU’s alarm triggers. Ish.

So decided it’s high time to get one and since now I’m so free, might as well do it now. Went with mum to Carrefour. I actually laid my eyes on this Takada brand air cooler but it’s about RM239 and mum said it’s rather expensive. She wanted to check out the one which was being promoted on the flyouts, costs somewhere RM129. This one was brandless as it was specially made for Carrefour (hence why the promotion I see). Tested it, wasn’t too bad…cooling.

Oh, since I still haven’t purchase the Malaysian Idol 2 compilation album and I’m in Carrefour itself (CDs here one of the cheapest compared to the major record stores out there), why not check out the price. RM32.90. Hmm..I remembered someone mentioning that the Carrefour in Wangsa Maju sold it for the price of RM29.90..was surprised it was greatly lower than the usual compilation album’s price. I gave it a thought..decided to drop by Victoria Music Centre and checked out how much are they selling. RM30. LOL only 10 cents more. Hmm..wasn’t satisfied yet. I know I can get a cheaper price than those two.

Will be meeting the Top 3 of MI 2 tomorrow at TM Net clickers in Kelana Jaya around 2pm. I could check there, see how much are they selling then.