Music makes the world go round.

I love music! As a little girl, I used to listen to my Mum play the organ and sit beside her singing along to songs. When I was 4, she discovered that I could play by ear and decided to enrol me in Yamaha Music classes. Later, I got my very own piano and started piano lessons.

Over the years, I've been into all kinds of music and still enjoy listening to a wide variety of genres depending on what mood I'm in. My favourites would have to be Jazz, R&B, Soul, Pop, and Classical. I also enjoy listening to soundtracks, and good old 80's and 90's music!

Earlier this week, we were lucky enough to be invited to see the Renaissance Chamber Orchestra of Armenia. The orchestra performed at the American University of Dubai and it was our first time there. The acoustics were [surprisingly] great and we really enjoyed the concert.

Tonight, we've got tickets to see Boyz II Men, followed by live DJ acts courtesy of Claude Challe and Pete Tong. What a blast from the past! I can't wait.

Nip / Tuck.

A couple of weeks ago the 3 seasons of Nip / Tuck we ordered from Amazon.com arrived. We finished watching the first season last week, and haven't really watched much more this week as Gypsy Boy's been working late. I'm not watching it during the day 'cos I'd probably finish all three seasons in one week, and then have to sit through them again while Gypsy Boy slowly catches up.

So, I'm looking forward to more Nip / Tuck over the weekend. Oh, that and satisfying some of my cravings. I've planned out just about all our meals for the next 2 days.

Happy weekend!

Finally, an iPod!

The LCD display on my old Sony stereo has given way for the third time in about as many years. I picked up this little baby from Tokyo's 'Electronic City', Akihabara, during the summer holidays of my first year of university while on my travels in Japan. At the time, the model was pre-world release (test market for Japan only), and I still remember asking myself if I'd gone mad while I lugged the box along with my suitcase along the subways of Tokyo during the last leg of my trip.

...My old faithful...

Now - almost ten years later! - I can say that it's served me well and apart from the display, it's still in excellent working condition. However, instead of sending it off to get fixed again, we decided it's about time we invested in a new sound system for our bedroom.

...our new iPod and Jamo docking station...

We didn't want anything big or bulky and decided that an iPod would be perfect for our needs!

Alias Season 5.

Yay it's arrived! I pre-ordered this from amazon.com in August, waiting for the DVD release which was 2 weeks ago.

We were a little concerned about receiving packages here, but seeing that this got delivered fine it looks like we can do a bit more online shopping!

The Roti Man!

As a little girl living in Malaysia, my brother and I used to wait for the 'Roti Man' to come around on his motorbike every evening.

He'd simply drive around the streets of the neighbourhood and beep his horn calling out 'Roti!, Roti!' meaning 'bread' in Malay. Mounted on the back of his bike was a box full of bread, and hanging on the outside of the box were bags full of delicious chips, sweet bread and other types of goodies. It was a junk foodies dream!

As soon as we heard his cries, we'd run to find our mother and ask her if we need any bread before pestering her for 10 or 20 sen for our favourite junk food purchases!

It's interesting to see the humble and familiar Roti Man has made it onto a TV ad for Malaysian Idol!

It's Showtime!

We decided to subscribe to Showtime last weekend and the installation guys came to set it up a couple of days ago. It's actually the first time we've ever had pay TV in the Gypsy household, and we are lapping it up.

Both Gypsy Boy and I are self confessed TV addicts so it's a good thing, as well as a bad thing if you know what I mean!

Swan Lake

Performed by the Imperial Russian Ballet - this was a real treat. I love the ballet, and upon hearing that the Imperial Russian Ballet were coming to town, this was definitely not a show to be missed!

Act II was my favourite, when the 'swans' first appear, and when Zigfrid swears his eternal love to Odetta. The ballerinas were so graceful they really did seem to assume their roles as swans, and the scene was just so mystical and magical.


My only gripe would be that Tchaikovsky's music was not really done justice. The music was not performed live and unfortunately was not played on cue. Nevertheless, the costumes were so beautiful, the performance spectacular. Worth every penny!!!

Basking in wireless glory

Since we got to Dubai, we signed up for wireless broadband which is fabulous. This allows me to move my laptop from the lounge, to the bath, and even to bed while still being online. To think we were still using dialup in New Zealand just 4 months ago...

Last night, we did a little shopping at the Mall of the Emirates, and picked up a new Sony Home Theatre System. The best thing about this is it's wireless. It has a 5 disc changer. And it's oh so compact with just 1 console?! I've been playing around with the settings and features, and I have to say these have come a long way from say 10 years ago when we had a then new [what we thought was so cool] Sony Home Theatre System which had 5 consoles!

Now all we need is one of those 40 inch Sony Bravia LCD TV's!

Harlem Globetrotters

Last night we went to watch the Harlem Globetrotters. These guys are absolute entertainment. They played a team from New York, but before during and after the game they do all sorts of tricks. You definitely get to see some awesome basketball and get lots of laughs at the same time.


A couple of the guys from the team and the ref have microphones on and you get a running commentary of what's going on, on the court. Lots of audience participation, it's more a show with comedy, athleticism and great entertainment all round.


Fan or not, if you do get a chance to see these guys, you'd be in for lots of laughs and good times.

Dr. Zhivago

Last night was movies at the beach night again! Gypsy Boy, Fullofit and I took ourselves down to the Jumeirah Beach Club Resort and Spa and for the first time in our lives watched Dr. Zhivago.

We found the movie to be a little dry and hard to follow, so we just kicked back in our beach chairs, enjoyed our beers, wines and shisha and did some serious stargazing.

I also recently found out that there is also a free movie night at Le Meridien Mina Seyahi Beach Resort on Mondays and one at Wafi City Rooftop Garden on Sundays! Each screening different movies every week, we are really spoilt for choice!

Who needs a free lunch?

Movies at the beach

Last night we went to watch one of my all time favourite movies, The Shawshank Redemption, at the beach!

The Jumeirah Beach Club Resort & Spa is a gorgeous setting and as we walked through its beautiful landscaped grounds and inviting swimming pools to get to the beach, it reminded me a lot of our time at The Fijian.

The beach was picture perfect. The movie screened on a projector screen with a beautiful backdrop of rolling waves and distant ships on the horizon. There was a choice of either lying on carpets with cushions, sitting at the bar, or relaxing in a beach chair - all right on the soft sand and under the stars!

What's more, you can get popcorn, a glass of wine or a beer, hot food and shisha! With 5 star waiter service, you don't even have to leave the comfort of your beach chair.


It's hard to believe movies screen for free every week! We're already planning on going back next week for more...

The Dubai World Cup

The richest horse race in the world was on here in Dubai last night, The Dubai World Cup.



Unfortunately, we were not able to go see the races live, but it did look just amazing on TV. The horses were beautiful, as were some of the hats and dresses! There were fireworks and dance performances - truly the social event of the year, as it is said to be...

Electrocutionist, a 5 year old locally owned horse won the race, taking the winnings - a whopping $6,000,000 USD. Wow.

Welcome to DXB!

Good news. Our amazing salsa dancing friends from NZ have just moved here! They are on a 7 month dance contract here and we're really looking forward to seeing them perform and spending more time with them. Yay!

A stormy weekend

The weather over the weekend was dreadful, most unusual in sunny Dubai! We had a sandstorm and a thunderstorm so we took the opportunity to pay a visit to our local DVD store.

Pleasantly surprised by the rates, it costs just 10dhs to hire a DVD [$2.70USD or approx $4.30NZD]. Regardless of whether it's a new release or The Sound of Music, it's all 10dhs and they all have to be back within 24 hours. That's simplicity for you!

We decided to get Crash. It's no wonder this won Best Motion Picture of the Year. In my opinion, it was fantastic.

Chillout

We got tickets to go to The Dubai International Jazz Festival, a 3 day long festival, held at Dubai Media City. It was very cool. The atmosphere was electric and the venue was just beautiful. At a park by the lake, you could either grab a seat on chairs or one of the comfy bean bags! There was a huge turnout and the set up was really impressive. There was lots of food put on by the Hilton and we had enjoyed scrumptious spring rolls, burger & fries, wine and a grape shisha listening to fabulous jazz.


We got to the festival just in time to catch the end of Mojo featuring Salha, had a look around and got some dinner and drinks before settling down to listen to Chico Freeman - Hilton Ruiz! He was fantastic. Silvia Droste was next, also known as Germany's First Lady of Jazz.

...Kool & the Gang...

Last was Kool & the Gang, needless to say they were awesome. These guys performed their greatest hits such as *Get down on it*, *Celebration*, *Let's go dancing*, and *Ladies night*. What a night!!!!

Sushi, anyone?

If you have not already seen this video clip, I highly recommend it. Especially if you like Japanese food. [Click on the image below to start]