my first gig

Yesterday was a colorful one.

I started the day getting out of bed to read the phone text sent by Z. Actually I was not really sleeping well, being quarter awake the whole night. Anyway, the rest was still enough for me to be out in the morning to have breakfast with Z at his Subang town.

Then I went to KL for a swim. It has been a while. It was nice to swim at the seventies Chinese pool again. You can wear colorful polka dots retro swimming trunk there too if you want.

I went back home to hang my swimming trunk to dry, and dashed out with my bike hat and jacket to go and buy groceries. Money is really scarce nowadays, so I wanted to buy sausages, bread and baked beans for dinner everyday. Healthy and economical.

Dashing out of the house resulted me accidentally leaving the keys inside the house. Everyone please give a big clap hand.

I called my housemate and he was out at Times Square. There’s no way he’s going back early, two cities apart, just to hand me a piece of house key.

I pondered a while and hesitated, but finally decided to take public transport and meet another friend because he also has the key.

At first I wanted to take the cab, but there was a bus.

I went aboard, after the conductor confidently said that they will stop at Kerinchi; the condo where my friend stays.

The bus took its sweet time to have a tour at Uptown Damansara, SS2 Damansara, and Asia Jaya. When I thought we almost reaching there, it just went pass MegaMall without even stopping at Kerinchi. I ended up following the rest of the passengers going down the bus at Central Market, and took an LRT there straight to my friends condo.

Talk about convenience. I wasted two hours.

After getting the key, I head home by a cab. There was no time to buy groceries or even catch a breath. I had to wallop my chicken rice and bath, to meet Babi-Hu for our final practice and performance that evening.

Our performance was just me with the trumpet, Babi-Hu with the saxophone, and another girl with her keyboard. We had to play Christmas songs and also other pop tunes to entertain the guests at a Christmas party of a very rich family.

The house was colonial British, white-washed, on a hill. The husband and wife are CEOs of a bank, and all who came were the classy people.

There was a bar, where the maid would pour bottomless red and white wine, and also orange juice for the non-drinker. There was a cute Pan Asian Chinese waiter with blue eyes, offering people a glass of drink. All of the maids and waiters wore their red and white Christmas hats.
Asean paintings were hung everywhere, and one which caught me was the one with green and red parrots. Small porcelain English dolls wearing dresses were arranged on the glass rack.

The furniture setting is of antique British India wooden racks, and modern cream colored sofas. There were few huge Christmas trees inside the house, and white canopies for those who prefer to eat outside.

After a while playing music, suddenly the crowd gathered and sang along Christmas songs with us. Some were high on wine, and they all even danced. The crowd really enjoyed themselves.
When we have done our job entertaining the guest, we packed our instruments and went to the table where they have the food. Imagine this huge whole poached salmon at the center of the table. One small chunk of that would have already cost me a one day expenditure. I straight away took a plate and ate the salmon with three different dressings until I was full. Besides that, they also have strawberries dipped in chocolate. Talk about indulgence.

As I entered back the house, the host had turned their mini compo on. It was a small sized Bose CD player, similar of the size of a shoebox; but the sound was amazing. It was like listening to a big hi-fi. Impressive.

After the party ended, I went home and got myself prepared to hit a club in KL. I really missed dancing. Although it was kind of late, but I felt that I really must go.

I went all alone into a sleazy club, but that did not affect the fun at all. The club was packed with people, and one guy even daringly touched me. But I did not allow him to go further though, because I think that was too much. Haha.

And beyond my expectations, I suddenly bumped into my close friend and his partner, and I was really happy. What a pleasant surprise.

Since I came to the bar late, I had little time to dance before it finally closed for the night. I had coffee with my friend, but he had to go back home early.

Finally. I decided to go to another mamak shop where all the guys would flock with their gang, checking out everyone else there. Alone, I sat by one table, slouching, drinking coffee, and smoke cigarettes.

I observed people around me.

There was this table of four hearing impaired guys of my kind. They were expressively gossiping among each other. I could imagine that beyond the silence, without verbal sound, it is actually really noisy in their own world. I wondered how did they enjoy being in the club with all the rest of the people. Perhaps they appreciated the thumping sensation and the wild lights as they jump on the dance floor with the rest.

One pretty queen entered the restaurant and she had muscular, smooth fair skinned legs. Uniquely, these pair of legs really fit her; like Madonna and her well-toned arms.

It was really fun chilling out.

I arrived home in the morning, took a shower … and went to bed. Yeah, what a day.