JUDGING MRK 2014 'THE DASHING YOUNG MEN OF BORNEO'

What an honour it was. Met a friend at a Corporate Hari Raya luncheon the other day and after the usual greetings, he asked me if I could be one of the judges for the annual search for 'BUVAZOI TAVANTANG 2014' or 'The Dashing Young Men' popularly known as 'Mr Kaamatan 2014" (MRK2014) to be held at a hotel in KK on the 31st August 2014. I was taken aback a little but flattered as I had never judged a 'Male Contest' before though I have witnessed this annual competition a few times, maybe this the 4th time.

Judging beauty contest is of course not something new to me having been invited  to several beauty contests before but a Male Hunk Contest?  Gosh, what do I know about judging Men Hunk?  It was an honour even to be considered of course, and after a slight hesitation and asking whether it involved having to see half naked men in their trunks and he said no. .and it was not a contest where they will show muscles or something in their skimpy trunks.....pheww.. that would have been awkward. Not that I do not appreciate 'beauty' in men but I have this tendency to giggle and not able to look at them with a straight face. That is NOT what a judge should do. Being objective, professional and be ethical  is. So that being cleared, it finalised my resolute to say ok.  I was told that they would ONLY be judged in their traditional costume. 

Actually it wasn't much different from having to judge ladies' beauty contest. Or was it? There were 21 contestants.  They were made to appear on stage in 5's and each had to introduce themselves in any Kadazan local language of their choice and do a catwalk along the walkway with their own individual pose. They were judged on Looks,  Confidence/Personality, Costume and Posture/Catwalk (or something like that).   They came out fully attired in their most elegant and resplendent Male Traditional Costume, each representing a district in Sabah.

Yours truly and fellow judges

Re-calculating my scores..hehe

Gosh, it was harder than I thought..  Still as usual, I couldn't keep my face straight. They did their pose, strutted their best walk, engaged each judge with their best smiles and flirty eyes and more poses. All did very well and it was obvious that they were prepared for the competition and had practiced a lot. I could hear the audience cheering, whistling, clapping.  It however, didn't stop my funny bones from reacting. It wasn't funny like a funny haha ..and they actually looked quite elegant so I do not understand why it tickled my funny bones to the core.  It was so difficult to keep myself in check.  I had the deep urge to laugh out loud. I didn't want to appear rude and but it was compounded when I saw some of the audience laughing.

I know it was inappropriate to laugh and I felt very bad but the more I tried to control, the harder it became. I tried to look away, pinched myself, bite my inner cheek, I tried holding my breath, then hearing my fellow judges giggling, it just squeezed my laughter out even louder until I cried.. and I thought my gosh, my mascara must be running now and me looking like a panda and the thought made me laughed even more!  

Oh guys, I am so very sorry for laughing.. I know it was not a laughing matter but I just couldn't help it. It however, did not affect our judgement and those top 7 finalists chosen were the best of the lot! To the guys who didn't win, it wasn't that you were not good, just that your luck was not there that night and well, there's always next year.

All in all, it was a fantastic experience and I did have fun and wouldn't mind being invited to more Man Hunk Competition, as long as no swimming trunk please.   

Nigel, the winner of MRK 2014. 

 Esther Appolonius, a very talented lady, one of the entertainers that night.  She's hot! Sabah's answer to the legendary Anita Sarawak..

Buvazoi Tavantang "The Dashing Young Men'

Sorry, I laughed..

Cheers everyone..

P/s: Pictures are courtesy of Nikko San and Nelson Michael Photography

LADIES TALK - GIFT IDEAS ..Part 2...

But first, would like to update my last post... Gift Ideas.. and yes the birthday lady, a very dear friend likes it..phew! Thanks for liking them Jo..and wearing them too. Happy birthday once again and God bless.

Ms Joanna Datuk Kitingan is the Sabah Museum Director and also the sister of the Sabah Deputy Chief Minister. This ever youthful mama of 6 grown ups is also the Chairperson of the State Level Unduk Ngadau Kaamatan and holds high posts on several other NGOs, which makes her one of the busiest personality around. 

I remember this year alone, she has flown to Brazil, South Africa, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore and goodness knows where, some for work.  Don't even mention the number she flies within the country.. Oh Jo... you have wings on your heels!  hahaha.. But she is a lovely lady, deeply religious and a loving mother.

Anyway, would like to show some of my latest creations.. but before that, would like to give my special thanks to a beautiful blogger friend... Ms Indamarya for liking my creations. Thank you so much my beautiful friend... much obliged and I would like to dedicate to you a song by the legendary Broery Marantika "Permata Hati".   This song I used to sing in some functions a long time ago. Have also recorded it in radio way back accompanied by just the piano ..  

 

Cheers and have a great weekend everyone!

LADIES TALK .. GIFT IDEAS..

What do you give to someone who has everything?  Was thinking about this for a friend's birthday and then a mutual friend texted me.  "Gie, perhaps you can make a set of those handmade accessories for her, a necklace, earrings and a bracelet. We can split the cost".   Gosh, of course!! Now why didn't I think of that before.  They would not be the most beautiful gifts but would certainly be the only  one of its kind as they are personalized and handmade especially for her.  I hope she likes them. If she doesn't wear them, then at least it could perhaps serve as some decor on her dressing table and be a topic for conversation ..LOL.

My tools have been left collecting dust in my tool box for ages now. Almost forgot how to handle them. Been side tracked by other stuff and also after doing so much of it, I kind of got a little bored. What happened to that hobby that I used to be so passionate about?  There was a time when my daughter and I, had just started discovering this hobby. We would sometimes stay up so late without realizing until the cock crows.  Each 'handiwork' would bring so much pleasure.. never mind that they weren't perfect! hahaha..  I like the tagline that I read somewhere  'if it was perfect, it wouldn't be handmade'  and looking at some pictures of my earlier work, ahemm.. some makes me cringe but there are those that are quite nice, I would buy them myself.. hahaha...ok, nuff blowing my own trumpet.

Wearing a bracelet, one of my creations for MandyNikko's Collections

Some have been bought by friends, some sold online with the help of my daughter of whose name I used as the label for our work.  She was responsible for taking photos, coding as well as marketing them and deliveries, sometimes hand delivery while I took care of the pricing and purchase of materials. She also did personalized designs, but she too stopped after her graduation and became gainfully employed.  

While this hobby didn't make us rich, it certainly gave us some joy.  Perhaps I should pick up the tools again, look again at all the pictures that a dear friend sent me a while back -  for inspirations he said.

Above:  one of the pictures a dear friend sent to me.. for inspiration.. Love  it so much.

Pics below:  MandyNikko's Collections

The set that I made for my friend for her birthday gift 

The strawberries of course have no business to be there.. 

It just happened that my daughter, Mandy

came home with some fruits for me - strawberries one of them
 and I thought I could use them for prop..

Below:  our earlier work.. most have already been sold. But remake is

possible subject to availability of materials. 

Cheers everyone...

MandyNikko's Collections are available

in Facebook or for more info, you may text or watsapp

me at 012 8313033

OF STINKY FRUITS..

The house reek of fruits, mostly the seasonal ones.  Yes, tis the season of fruits after all usually between July to December.  What with durians, cempedak, bambangan, tarap, belunu  (wild fruits found only in Borneo) lying around the corner and so the mixture of the scents kind of become a little musty. I would of course eat some but how much can one eat. Except for the durians, most would just go to waste. (Must remember to give some of the belunu fruit to Agnes.) And then there are fruits that do not smell much like rambutans, langsat, pineapple and mangoesteens. 

Durians

"the king of fruits"

Above: My favourite - the Langsat

 Tarap fruit, found only in Borneo. Strong smell but sweet and taste heavenly

when chilled.  

(Tarap pic courtesy of the Web).

I was groaning with an acute tummy ache just a few hours ago..hmm.. must have been too much of these fruits - eating them on empty stomach is a no no.  Silly me, after piling myself with lots delicious food during the Hari Raya and made me a feel wee bit uncomfortable especially the waist area,  I thought I could pass the carbo, skip rice or proper meal and have these fruits.  Big mistake.. Anyway after taking some tables for acidic tummy and rubbing vigorously with some 'buang angin' medicine, am feeling a little better. No more of these fruits for a while.

 Some of the food that I indulged during the Hari Raya visits to friends.

But really the smell of these fruits triggers in me senses very familiar and makes it a little nostalgic.. that brings me down memory lane of those days when I used to live with my grandmother.  I spent most of my young childhood years with my grandmother and those were real happy times, being spoilt rotten by her, bless her.

 Fruit seasons were the best and I remember waiting with my "Ina Laayng" as how I called my grandmother a little away from the belunu tree to 'mokiloo' or wait for the ripened belunu fuit to drop usually after a little breeze and hearing the sweetest sound of 'crash buk' when the fruit fall from the trees.  There would be a scramble to look for the fruit among shrubs or bushes. As with belunu, this is also how we used to mokiloo for durians. Finding a perfect fruit would bring me so much joy as there were times when this joy would turn to dismay when fruits would have already been half eaten by squirrels.

 above: Belunu fruit (pic courtesy of the web). 
Remove skin, soft, white fleshy and sweet but there are some sour ones if unlucky.

This is the only way to get these fruits as belunu trees (at least those that I have seen) are very big and tall and impossible to climb. Also there is a danger of catching that illness 'bunduon' that would make your whole body swell and make you look like a monster.  It is non-life threatening but still unpleasant enough as it lasts several days. It is still a mystery why this happens. It however does not strike everyone.  Could it be that some are allergic to something from the belunu tree?  My late father was notorious for catching this 'illness'. The story goes that my dad only has to look at the tree from afar, and he would start to feel the itch and swell especially on the face!! Strange but true.  It was and still is, believed that the antidote is to tie a piece of red cloth around the trunk of the belunu tree and after that, the swelling will go down!

 Sunday: Belunu fruits which we gathered from the jungle.

Some are rotten... so just leave it there.

 My brother and sister looking up at belunu tree and also durian tree. Ensure no fruit fall on our head while we search for fallen fruits..

Belunu tree.. big and really tall. Trees takes maybe more than 10 years to bear fruits..

 A type of durian we call 'Dahit' looking like critters 

Flesh is orange, very rich, not very sweet.. doesn't stink too much too.
Love this.

Yours truly, sweaty, taking a breather on a hammock.. 

see behind me.. fertilizers for plants

Last Sunday, during one of our 'ladang' visits, my brother and I was talking about our childhood  how much the seasonal fruits used to bring us joy and how much we enjoyed eating them those days but that our kids nowadays seems not too keen on them let alone eat, with the exception of durians of course. 

Nangka tree

 our shed made of bamboo..

That orange coloured flesh durian is Dahit , rambutans and cempedak 

 first fruits of the rambutan

It brought us much delight that our 'ladang' or orchard which my siblings and I and our respective families started clearing and planted some fruits just about 1 1/2 years ago has borne fruits, namely the rambutans and pineapples, tapioca, some lemons and a couple of mangoes. Not much but still it is something. May the fruit trees continue to grow well especially the durians and bear fruits in the not too distant future.

durian flowers

Above: Pic courtesy of my sister in law, Zie.