Celebrity

Recently I chanced upon a blog of somebody who referred to herself a “celebrity blogger/model/DJ”.

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She’s not a bad-looking chick and from what I can see she’s quite talented. Good for her.

What irked me was that she’s calling herself a celebrity on her own blog, and yet I have never heard of her. Come on. If you are really a celebrity, then you shouldn’t really have to tell people, right? Much less publicize it all over the blog.

I won’t mention any names, but I do know she’s not the only person out there referring to herself as a “celebrity”.

It seems like in this day and age, we seem to have “celebrities” in everything.

Celebrity bloggers. Celebrity models. Celebrity DJs. Celebrity photographers. Celebrity chefs. Celebrity interior designers. Celebrity Feng Shui masters. Celebrity fitness centres.

Heck, even a celebrity octopus!

How the heck did this come about?

Why are people suddenly so obsessed with the tag “celebrity”?

And how could people be so kiasu until even they introduce themselves as celebrities?

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Perhaps I have written so far may raise a few eyebrows. After all, sometimes people do refer to me as “Kenny Sia – celebrity blogger”.

The difference is, I have NEVER EVER sold myself as a “celebrity”. If you were to do a search through the entire kennysia.com archives, you will never see me introducing myself as a “celebrity”. Although i do acknowledge that I have achieved some recognition in blogging, there was never an occasion where I self-proclaimed, “Hi! My name is Kenny, I am a celebrity. Give me fame and money!”

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If people do think of me as one, most likely it’s because it’s a tag given to me by the newspapers or magazines, and obviously I cannot control what they write, right?

Nobody deserves the tag “celebrity” unless you are so damn famous that you cannot even walk down the street without an army of bodyguards pushing away the paparazzi snapping your photos.

In Malaysia, that does not really happen. Unless it is Anwar Ibrahim when he goes to court. In fact, none of the local actors, musicians or models I know call themselves “celebrities”. They all know they are successful in what they are doing, but they are always firmly planting their two feet on the ground and remain absolutely humble about it.

Maybe I’m a little traditional, but I think humility should not be sacrificed in a person’s quest for success. Just because you got a little bit successful in what you’re doing does not mean you are a celebrity. Just because you appeared in the media from the time to time does not mean you are a celebrity. Just because a couple of people recognized you on the streets does not make you are a celebrity.

And just because you call yourself a celebrity, most certainly does not make you a celebrity.

Sleep Test

Today, I got admitted into hospital.

It’s nothing serious! But I checked myself into Mt Elizabeth to seek a permanent solution for a curse. A curse that has befallen upon every single man, and their wives/girlfriends, in the entire Sia household: SNORING.

Snoring can be cured. But as part of my treatment, the doctor advised me that I had to do a “sleep study” first.

The results of the “sleep study” will tell my doctor how bad my snoring is, whether or not it is a worse condition called sleep apnoea, and the appropriate steps to take next.

To do the “sleep test”, I have to go to sleep while being hooked up to a machine that measures all the different signals my body emits.

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The unfortunate side effect…

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Makes me look like Darth Vader! Blardy hell.

Paul The Octopus

The biggest thing coming out from World Cup this year wasn’t the fact that it’s been the year of the underdogs.

The biggest thing coming out from World Cup this year was the fact that an eight-legged creature had correctly predicted every single German match since the start of the tournament. Every single day for the past one week, members of my fitness centre were talking about how amazing this “jiu hu” is.

Paul the Octopus was so accurate in its prediction that it even successfully predicted German’s loss to underdog Serbia, and Spain, and impossible win over Argentina.

Apparently, this wasn’t the first time he was noticed.

Back when not many people knew about him, Paul The Octopus correctly predicted 80% of the matches during the 2008 Euro Cup Finals.

Before this, Paul The Octopus had also made some lesser-known predictions.

Did you know Paul The Octopus correctly predicted that Brazil would host the World Cup in 2014?

He also predicted yesterday’s 4D results.

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And in 2008, he predicted that Barison Nasional would triumph over Pakatan Rakyat in the Elections.

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And that Najib would eventually become our new Prime Minister.

What a smart octopus.

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Villa Jajaliluna

In Bali, there’s one type of place to stay that’s rarely found elsewhere in the world.

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You see, a lot of Malaysians go to Bali and stay in hotels.

Not because hotels are nice. It’s because we are so used to it, we don’t look out for other accommodation options.

 

There’s nothing wrong with hotels. The thing is, hotels can be found everywhere else in the world. After a while, they are just the boring same ol’ same ol’.

Seriously, who wants same ol’ same ol’ when you’re in Bali?

In Bali, the thing to do is to stay in a private villa.

This makes sense especially when you’re travelling with a group of six or more. Instead of booking 3 separate hotel rooms, it’s so much better to book a 3-bedroom private villa, and have the whole entire place to yourself!

For a wonderful 2 days, everything you see in these pictures belonged to us!

The tables, the lounge decks, the chairs, THE POOL!

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Everything!

It was like something straight up of an MTV rap star’s videos. We were in our own paradise and we didn’t have to share it with strangers we don’t know.

Not only that, we had our own butler, our own security guard and chef to cook for us whenever we felt hungry.

That means you can play the music as loud as legally allowed, swim in the pool naked, throw your own Playboy Mansion party if you wanna (but must BYO Playboy bunnies lah).

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Can you swim naked in a hotel?

No you can’t.

Unless you don’t mind holidaying in Bali for a very long time in jail.

 

In Bali, there are literally hundreds of private villas in different shapes and sizes  throughout the island.

Almost all of them are extremely spacious, tastefully designed and amazingly well-equipped – all ready to rent alongside the services of an entire team of villa staff.

Because Bali is such a popular holiday spot, a lot of people invest their own private villas here on the island. During most parts of the year when they are not around, these villas are rented out to holidaymakers.

The villa we stayed at – Villa Jajaliluna, is one such private villa.

Villa Jajaliluna is owned by an Australian family. It is a quiet sanctuary hidden inside a narrow alley, just off the main street of Seminyak.

The location is what made this villa such a winner. While most villas are located in the middle of nowhere, this one is literally just around the corner from KuDeTa bar, which means it is walking distances to all the conveniences.

The villa compound is ridiculously HUGE.

As soon as we enter, we were greeted by this large T-shaped swimming pool flanked by 3 separate pavilions.

To the left is a dining pavilion and a lounge area to chill at.

To the right is a two-storey building with 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and 2 separate lounging area.

There were soooo much space to move around/play hide-and-seek/do cartwheels in.

We couldn’t believe we had so much space. It’s mindboggling.

So mindboggling that I saw Taka hugging a beach ball, drifting aimlessly in the pool.

I think he was still in awe.

My room alone have a grand total of two standing showers and one outdoor bathtub.

I didn’t have the chance to use the outdoor bathtub, but I let the girls have fun in it. They enjoyed bathing under the stars.

I had to resist the urge not to peek. I was scared they might smack me over the head, THEN I’ll be seeing stars.

But the good looks of the villa is just one thing. The fantastic staff is what made staying here all the difference.

Just about anything you want them to do, they’d do it willingly.

During our stay, we had our clothes cleaned, our massages arranged and our private chef cooking us a FEAST from the groceries he bought for us from the markets.

It was the very definition of bliss. We were living like kings.

Why go all the way to Ubud to have Babi Guling when our private chef can make it fresh from our kitchen?

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Villa Jajaliluna is just one of the many, many private villas in Bali available for rent by BHM Villas. It is great for family holidays, company trips and even buck/hen nights.

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At US$825 a night, it seems a little expensive at first, but when shared among 10 people, that works out about the same as staying in 5-star hotels – except we get to have EVERYTHING.

Now you know why I go to Bali every single year.

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