Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Everything under the sun and now, the sea

On Sunday, I woke up at 8 a.m. to catch the MPO Open Day performance at noon.

It’s not that it takes me two hours to choose want to wear and make sure that my shirt matches the colour of my eyes, but the ticket booths open at 10 a.m. and it is gonna be free.

Free – the word that makes normal Malaysians go wild and kiasu (Hokkien meaning "scared to lose out").

Or is it the word "sale" instead? LOL.

Anyway, what was supposed to be an MPO outing with AC turned out to be a group one. This was because they (the same people from the day before) decided that they wanted to go as well – they like to do something they haven’t done before.

AC and I reached KLCC a little after 10 and the queue was unbelievably long. My friends coming along turned out to be a blessing in disguise as they managed to get tickets for themselves and us.

However, they got circle seats (the expensive ones) leaving me with AC sitting at row K. Which I didn’t mind really. At least I have someone who can explain what instruments the people on stage were playing and other information about the MPO.

I know I shouldn’t be complaining, but I wanted the circle seats too! Hmmph.

A few movements, concertos and overtures from Mozart, Strauss, Beethoven, etc were performed, conducted by Datuk Ooi Chean See, who (if I am not mistaken) is the only female Malaysian conductor.

By the way, the new MPO season starts this Saturday.

It was my first time at the MPO and I admit that I was truly impressed with the hall and the performance. An absolutely wonderful introduction for me to the world of live classical music.

An hour later, I emerged from the hall feeling a bit light-headed. Most probably from the knock on the head yesterday. Or it could be hunger.

But the girl who is leaving next week wanted to check out the Aquaria (Singapore Sentosa Island’s Underwater World equivalent right in the heart of Kuala Lumpur).

The school holidays have just started and needless to say, the queue to the Aquaria was as long as ... er, I don’t know actually. We were coming from the car park and we could only see the end of the queue.

Yup, we couldn’t even see the head of the queue. The Aquaria guy told us that it’s a two-hour wait to get in.

Two hours? Forget it.

So we left the Aquaria.

Walking back to Suria KLCC, one of my friends, SZ was being friendly and chatted with AC. I am not sure what they talked about, but it was then that it struck me.

OMG. I forgot to tell AC that they know about my sexual orientation. Therefore it would be perfectly logical of them to think that I was on a date with AC.

Which means that they know he is gay too.

Which is not something he is comfortable with – being out to five other people at one go. And definitely not something he wants.

So I made him feel anxious again. Hmm ... I do have a tendency to do that to him, huh?

Another one of them asked me whether we are going out. And whether we are on the same channel (same wavelength).

Sigh. I was so not in the mood to explain. For crying out loud, it was just our second meet!

We split into two groups as they wanted to buy something, and suggested we go our own way as it would be boring.

So AC and I went to have lunch at the recently renovated Signatures foodcourt. And I was reminded why I loathe coming to KLCC on weekends.

It’s the people. Or more accurately, the number of people. The Chinese calls it yan san yan hoi (literally means mountain of people, sea of people. Figuratively, it means very crowded and people as far as the eye can see.)

I apologised over lunch about not telling him earlier about my friends knowing about my sexual orientation.

We talked about other stuff – the guys he liked before, the cute guys he likes to watch on screen, the guys he likes who are almost always straight, the guys who asked him awkward questions and er ... I don’t really remember what I talked about.

I usually put people to sleep at ease. And I could tell he was getting more comfortable with me, not taking into account his "accidentally being outed" incident.

After that, we caught up with the rest who were having drinks at Chocz. Everyone was tired from yesterday’s excursion (and maybe the classical music too?) and decided to call it a day.

Initially I wanted to go to PT Foundation’s Sunday Session and AC was interested to go too. It is from 3.30 till 6. But I had to leave at 5 for dinner and it wouldn’t be nice to just abandon him there, would it?

We then decided to go another time. He went to Sungai Wang and I walked around a bit more before leaving for home.

I was so tired that I went to bed at 10. Before my eyes closed, I wondered, "It’s back to work again tomorrow. Damn, where the heck did the weekend go?"

["Everything under the sun" is Suria KLCC's tagline.]

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aquaria... that's like "Happy Ah Kua" isn't it? :P

Anonymous said...

wow, 2 hours to get to see a bunch of fish tanks? I am glad you passed. :-)

Sounds like you had a meaningful classy day. I so miss ordinary dating. Happy Wednesday!

Anonymous said...

hi derek, its my first time commenting here. actually i'm a holder of mpo season tickets. may be u can join me next time. and its the premium A seats too. heheh.

-teekay-

Anonymous said...

Glad you like the some of the performances. Forgot to thank your friends for getting the tickets. They are great, I don't mind being outed all five in one go although it's an amazing feat for me (phew! glad it's over), but since they are ok with you, then they should be ok with me as well.

Thanks and hope you are relieved from your head pain.

Will said...

So happening! I was in KLCC on Sunday too, and I also checked out Aquaria at about...3pm or so. The line wasn't very bad at all actually, but we decided not to go in because someone had to go back and watch the Tai Cheung Kam run at 4pm on Wah Lai Toi.

Now that you mention it, Weeshiong...LOL!

Anonymous said...

"We talked about other stuff – the guys he liked before, the cute guys he likes to watch on screen, the guys he likes who are almost always straight, the guys who asked him awkward questions and er ... I don’t really remember what I talked about."

The guys I like are almost always gay. :(

Derek said...

weeshiong: At first, it was food, and now this??!!


shigeki: Thanks, darling.

Two hours spent in the Aquaria is more fun, ain’t it?


teekay: Hi there, teekay. Welcome *rolls out red carpet* to my blog. Good that you finally introduce yourself. ;P

Woo, season tickets to premium seats. You definitely know the way to a guy’s heart, don’t you? LOL.

Yes, it will be my pleasure to join you.


alex: I am feeling much better. Thanks.

Yup, they are nice people. Should I thank them for helping you come out to more people? ;P


wingedman: I have no idea who that someone is. Wanna give a hint? ;P


kerfy: Whoa, another newcomer. Welcome, Kerfy *rolls out red carpet again*. Do come back often.

The guys you like are almost always gay, you say? Pass them this way, honey! Pass them this way!

My phone no is 016-.....

Ooh, and you love QAF UK version huh? You are definitely one cool lady!

AJ said...

KLCC on a sunday? EEeek! So crowded! But I can't wait to stare at the fishies there tho. Need to "fall sick" one of these week days and find myself surrounded by fishies... not people... bubble bubble

Anonymous said...

Only if you pass your straight ones to me.

Excellent, you love the UK version as well? I've been trying to make EVERYBODY watch it! But they seem to find the US one better. *muttermutteraidangillenmutter*

Derek said...

androjane: Oooh, so you love goats and fishes .... you merman you.


kerfy: Yes, let's barter trade. *smiles with glee*

Err, I haven't watched the UK version, even though I have Season 1. And yes, the US one do have better looking guys. ;P