I was the judge for an inter-shopping centre staff karaoke competition. How cute right? It was held inside a movie theatre at Pavilion. There were 14 contestants, and I think the best one was this Chinese fella who sang over Michael Buble’s “Love”. So much for karaoke. There was an Anuar Zain impersonator and he imitated every single bit of “Keabadian Cinta” right down to the same hand gestures as the video. It was mostly the pronunciation of the English words in Diana Ross, Elton John and Robbie Williams numbers that got me tickled but heck, they were having alot of fun and so was I. I was out right after I gave the scoring, so I don’t know who won. GSC is Golden Screen Cinemas, by the way.

The trip to UTP took longer than expected especially with the traffic from highway to highway being so unpredictable. We would be chasing from tail to tail, and the cars would be packed bumper to bumper, and all of a sudden, traffic is clear. No accident, no break downs, no roadworks. I don’t understand it at all. UTP is beautiful just like what Cheryl said. She was there last year. We were given an entire guest house to stay in. It was too late at night when we got settled in, but only in the morning, I realised we were infront of a magnificent lake, facing the mosque. It’s like a city. They have a post office, a bank, car rentals (quite underground, that is) within the university compound. It’s in Tronoh, near Ipoh in Perak Darul Ridzuan, 3 hours away from KL. We were there for Euphonious Band Competition held at their marvel of an architectural piece, that is, the school auditorium. 23 bands competed that night, down to the final 5. Each did 1 compulsary piece selected by the judges, and 1 song of their own choice, in which, more than half were all Indonesian songs, let me tell you that. What is happening, already? I was probably the most poppiest act to appear, followed by my fellow guest artiste, Farah Asyikin from AF2. The crowd was great though. I told everybody to add me on Friendster and the numbers did jump! Check out www.friendster.com/imranajmain if you don’t believe me! I would go back there anytime. I suppose it is a huge consolation that their environment is beautiful considering all the students are so far away from home, for the foreigners even. UTP stands for Universiti Teknologi Petronas.

I disagreed with Aszuad when he said that we’d drive back to KL at 3 in the morning, especially after having Thai food at 2. So he said that we’d try 6am. I nodded but I know that won’t happen either. True enough, we all woke up after 9am. I was to visit my uncle’s place at Ipoh, he said was half an hour drive, but we made circles in a town called Pusing, and then Pasir Putih, and when I saw Taman Chempaka Sari, that was when it all came back to me. I was there maybe 15 years ago with my cousin Hidier, and my parents, for Kak Zarina’s wedding. I didn’t get to meet her, but I met Abang  (and wife and kids), Mak Jan, Pak Achid, and Dzack, my cousin. He is going to get married this year or next, and I still see him like a cereal-loving child that he is. He doesn’t eat rice at all, after all this time, it never changed. His father and my father are siblings, but he married a Malaysian and spent the rest of his life there in Ipoh. Mak Jan had cooked breakfast, that was, Singapore-styled gado-gado but we arrived at lunch-time so might as well. I was taking pictures with the neighbours, and the neighbours’ children, and the passerbys walked into the house to join in. It was nice lah but it would be another 3 hour drive. We had to reach Seremban in 3 hours, and it’s already 1pm. The gado-gado was fabulous, reminded me of my mom’s. (Mak Jan and my mom got the same recipe from their mother-in-law, that is my late Nenek).

Jam, jam, jam, it was jammed everywhere in Seremban. Almost an hour away from KL. I had a meet-the-fans session at this shopping mall. We came late and some folks had left. Got to meet Faliq from UIA who’ve been cheering me on for the auditions I blogged about the other time. Plus I met Dzack’s Serembanese fiancee, what are the odds kan? This rap/r&b group (I didn’t catch their name) opened for me; something I would have done in Singapore, then I sang my lungs out to 4 songs. Only at the last song I realised the stage had been decorated with my posters and styrofoam cut-outs to form my name in large fonts, very 80s. Faliq, Nadya, Aszuad and I ordered anything and everything from A&W (something I personally miss because SG does not have it anymore), and it was all FREE. I went crazy with the root beer floats and I signed a poster for them. SCTP is Seremban CentrePoint. It was off to AF for me.

KL folks are big on freebies, hook-ups and such. If you want something, you need to know somebody, and you should always make the effort to make calls to get that thing you want, at no charge to you. Like CDs, DVDs, tickets, especially tickets. When I heard (or read more like it) that Stanly was going to sing “Sudah tu Sudah”, I got excited but never had planned to actually sit in for the concert. My housemate slash part-time assistant Nizam has been following AF religiously and he said we should go. So with one fonecall or two, I’m in the frontrow, complete with the scripts of the host AC Mizal all changed to include me and my name in it. I sat next to Saerah, Siti Nurhaliza’s younger sister, whose leg-crossing and uncrossing habit made her apologize so many times to me because she kept kicking me that night. I was just more excited about my song actually. Stanly’s voice was not meant for those kinda songs lah. But I’m sure he had fun. Ning said that he tried to be me. All that was important to me is that she said my name. Fazura saw me smiling from cheek to cheek. Haha. I met Aidit Alfian for the 2nd time in my life, and we reminisced the lost years (and that lost song). AF is Akademi Fantasia and this is the 6th year, and I learnt the meaning of ‘function whores’ there; something that we might not come across in Singapore because of the lack of such activities for artistes or the likes. Artistes, usually small-time/freelancers/contest finalists/newbies who’s got nothing to do with the show will always be the one trying to steal some air-time on live television and they come in big overdressed rowdy groups, I tell you. Please do remind me not to be one of them.

Packed to spend the night at Genting, even brought my own pillow because I heard we were sharing a huge room. But come to First World Hotel for a third world experience, we were saying. The room is so small like nobody’s business. I turn left to the toilet, right to the bed. Cheryl, Jihan Miskin and I were getting ready, being rushed by everybody who’s already downstairs. My date, Amylea, who is actually my neighbour where I stay in Bukit Antarabangsa was already waiting for me. Amylea is also from AF. This would be my 2nd red carpet, right after Anugerah Juara Lagu. The place was packed with singers, actors, dramatists, veterans, newbies, their overdressed wives and assistants, and drag queens takde effort, and plentiful of friendly faces. I hung out with Liza Hanim and Atilia when I lost my gang to the currypuffs. I was not nominated, I got ousted from Top 100 to Top 60 to Top 20, I think. I was hoping to perform but no, I went to the Terrenganu roadtour with them with hopes that I’d get to, at least, present an award. Ah well. This energy-absorbing experience is already a milestone for me. My manager scored for me and Cheryl the beat seats. (She was nominated). Bob gets full score from me today, and Anuar Zain, and Siti, too. No points for Kak Engku for hurting Nora Danish’ feelings on national television, and Fasha Sandha who transpired it. I was shot on camera everytime somebody gets nominated, and they all eventually won. Apa lagi, sms dari Singapura terus masuk lah. Sempat comment pasal bow-tie batik. The theme was Batik Glamour; Shegar gave me a shock when he said he’d forgot my bow-tie. I even tried tying Nadya’s scarf around my neck. Dinner was on me, I insisted. We skipped the post-party for it. We pretended I had just won the Best Newcomer category, beating Dafi, and that my acceptance speech was one that I got to cover everybody right before the strings started to play to signal no time left. Ate to our hearts’ content at OldTown White Coffee (it’s the new Starbucks, they have it everywhere!) Invites to 2 front row seats, full fledged red carpet, cameras on me all the time, sponsored designer Ermenegildo Zegna suit, post-party, free ride to & from Genting, 1 night’s stay with breakfast, and I’m not even nominated. You hear that, sweety? Watch and learn, why don’t you. ABPBH stands for Anugerah Bintang Popular Berita Harian and it was the highlight of my week here, which wrapped up another productive weekend in Malaysia.