The Labuan gig...

It felt very refreshing to be finally over with the Supplementary Exam and the pressure to perform set in really quick the following day when I had to go to Labuan for a gig. I was really nervous about the whole situation mainly because I had just completed the exams and my mind wasn't really set to perform. Barely had enough sleep thanks to the exams and the last thing I needed was such stress. But the show must go on and everything went extremely well...

So I arrived in Labuan and the first thing we did was to go check out the venue of the function. It was the regular semi-ballroom and after a few adjustments and double checking the schedule, we headed off for lunch in town. Jacky mentioned that it was the best chicken rice in Labuan. To be honest, I hate it when people recommend food to me and claim it to be the best. I just think that different people will have different perspectives. Just like beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. But...

The chicken rice was REALLY good. Well, I won't contradict what I have just said. It was really good to me. I have no idea if its the best chicken rice in Labuan but it definitely is the best chicken rice I've tasted so far. The secret to making a good chicken rice is not in the chicken but in the rice. Nothing more to say about it. I gotta hand it to Jacky for this one...

Then there was the shopping. After lunch I wanted to get some stuff for the darling and my parents so we went shopping for chocolate and liquor. The chocolates were really cool and fancy and I went cross-eyed looking for a good one. But even imported Cadbury's are hard to find in Miri so I ended up getting brands I actually know. There was a Japanese branded chocolate bar that caught my eye. It said 99% Cacao (cacao is another word for cocoa). Regular Cadbury's had around 70-80% cocoa but this was 99% cocoa! I had to and I did get myself a bar of that. That bar of chocolate deserves a special review post to it... Got a carton of Marlboro Reds for Azrul and it was quite cheap. Kinda like a sign of thanks to him for tutoring me for the Supplementary. Other than that, I bought a bottle of Mozart chocolate liqueur for my parents. I've tasted coffee liqueur but never chocolate ones so that itself was motivation for me to get it. There was even chocolate vodka but I decided to get it another day. Anyway, like the Cacao chocolate bar, it deserves a review in another post...

Now, back to the show...

I'm still tryin to get pictures from my performance in Labuan so they will hopefully be up in the next couple posts. Fingers crossed. Jacky invited me over to perform in good faith of what I can do and it was my job to make him look good by entertaining the guests (Kim found out that I was performing there and he gave me a call a day before I went to Labuan and it was good to see him again). It wasn't as hard as I imagined and the crowd was wonderful. It was the kind of crowd that performers would love to have. Enthusiastic, supportive, and most importantly for magicians, skeptical. I am proud to say that I have converted a couple of skeptics that night. A few unexpected twist of events happened along the way as I performed but all turned out amazingly well in the end.

I managed to meet Natalie and her boyfriend Charles after my second sequence. Apparently Charles was into magic at one point but stopped halfway. So I kinda performed for them and it got Charles wanting to learn magic again... The night ended with a supper with Jacky, Kim and their girlfriends.

Exhaustion made me pass out till the next morning...