As a little birthday treat, my friends took me to Thailand...

We got a bargain deal, thanks to a friend, at a stunning resort on Bophut beach called Anantara Resort. The decor reminded me a lot of Morrocco when I visited there last year, I loved the lights and the candles and the stained glass!

On one of the rainy evenings, we went to watch Thai boxing... I thought I'd enjoy it after all the training I've been doing recently for the film, but found it slightly too violent for my tastes... It was pure pugilism, a fighter wins only when he knocks out his opponent stone cold. Unfortunately we had to witness one fighter get his ribs broken... It was not a pleasant sight and made me want to throw up. I realised later I had more appreciation for the art aspect of martial arts rather than the combative aspect. I definitely do have respect for how tough those guys are though!

Spent a full day doing a Thai culinary course at the resort rather than endulging in spas which are over-rated. I learnt to carve tomatoes (yup I carved those!!!), decorate the lime, make Green Chicken Curry, Prawn cakes and Pad Thai noodles. I can make a mean dish now, I can tell you that much... I shall be cooking these dishes for my friends soon. I didnt realise how many herbs Thai people use until I visited the markets myself with the chef. Not sure I can still remember the names, but I do have a recipe book now with all the little photos hehe :) I'm such a geek!

The rest of my time was obviously spent at the beach... we didn't take many photos though... we either didnt bring the camera because we were worried it might get stolen while we jetskiied/ we forgot to take photos because we were having too much fun. I read one funny  and light book 'Why men marry bitches' and started a much heavier philosophical one called the 'great transformation'. That is the beauty of life,  the beauty in learning, contemplating and enjoying every moment to its fullest. I feel so revived!

Thought I'd share with you what I did on my birthday, we went PAINTBALLING (it was my very first time)!!! Which was a ball of fun! Amazing times :) ... Altho I do have a few bruises after Timmy emptied his 20 pellet magazine on me in 2 seconds on automatic at 3 ft distance... He was just upset our team was slaugtering them! Go Armagetchas go! Our team song - one way or another, Arma-getcha Arma-getcha getcha getcha getcha one way or another, Arma-getcha Arma-getcha getcha getcha getcha.....

Thank you all for your wonderful birthday wishes, another year has passed, and it's been 2 years since I graduated from LSE - oh... how time flies...

This year's birthday party which was meant to be held last Saturday was unfortunately called off due to the black rainstorm which was a bit disappointing, we originally planned to go paintballing and even planned all our strategies, but unfortunately the weather was not on our side... so you can imagine what joy it brings me to see the sun shine in this morning :)

We ended up going out at night, 30 of us, and spent the night dancing away which was really fun, as my friends would know, I haven't really gone out to party since the dawn of time hahahaha :) I tricked ppl into thinking I was drinking alcohol, but in fact I was keeping it low with the virgin cocktails ***shhhhh it'll be our little secret :) Anyway, it's always more fun, when you actually know what is going on and by the next day, you'll have enough incriminating evidence to make fun of all your friends for a year ;) hahahaha

Anyway, thank you all very much for being so kind, and leaving those wonderful messages, they are heartfelt and grately appreciated :)

Lots of love, Celina xoxoxo

My week

I am sooo proud of WuJing, he is in SiChuan right now setting up tents for the victims, giving out food, books, blankets to them...  I really wish so much I could've been there to help out! But work keeps me here, so I had no choice but to go back to Celina's persuasion and force people to donate hehehe :) I was really happy to find that Gold-Label raised HKD 700,000 for the relief efforts, go team go!

http://www.wujing.com.cn/bbs/showbbs.asp?bd=1&id=3630&totable=1

Looking at the photos made me tear. Contrary to what one may think, or should I say what we are spoonfed from the media every day, some victims are optimistic and strong about getting their lives back together. Some even stronger than us who were not there. It is amazing to see how people work together to overcome hard times like these, unfortunately it took such a catastrophic event to see it. But you know, it's never too late, any effort towards unity should not be discounted, despite its origins.

I attended Movie Matters http://www.musicmattersasia.com this week, I love this conference, ever since my first time last year, I've made it a must-attend. Ppl from all over the world fly in to discuss the future of the entertainment industry in Asia, I'm always the geek in the front row taking notes! However, it was somewhat depressing to hear some pessimistic experts say that piracy in China is causing record labels to not invest in new artists since a viable business model does not exist. To be honest, games are pirated too, and the gaming industry went from nothing to a 1.2bn USD business in a few years. Piracy is an issue, but perhaps they are dwelling on it too much.. Why are ppl not focusing on finding innovative solutions to give our audiences what they would prefer instead?? I can think of a few ideas off the top of my head already, but I shall not bore you with this. When there is a will there is a way, right?

I heard an amazing singer perform on Tuesday night at the opening of Music Matters at JJ, the girl - Tia Ray gave me shivers down my back, she could sing as high as Mariah, it really made me give a kick in my own ass to work harder in the vocal department. She was a wonderful personality too.

I spent some of my time speaking to Terry McBride (CEO of Nettwerk Records and Manager of Avril) about meditation and yoga other than work abviously, which was an interesting conversation since my family are all very spiritual in that way. Which makes me think, have you guys watched 'the Secret' and the documentary 'what the bleep do we know'? If not, you have to check those out if this topic is of interest to you ;)

I met Terrence Yin as well, who participated in one of the panels on Wednesday, very eloquent man, and a nice one it seems. I'm glad to see these types of ppl still exist, too bad we didn't get to talk more... Anyway, I took the liberty to become his fan :)

On Wednesday night I made a guest appearance at one of Hong Kong's most famous yearly comedies 家有喜事 2009. I had one line, but it was fun nonetheless, I took the opportunity to say 恭喜發財 to the HK ppl and had the honour to work with director 谷德超 which I think is worth it ;)

And to end this blog, I saw an interview with Hugh Grant where he was asked to describe acting. His reply was 'acting is many hours of boredom with bursts of sheer terror' I thought it was great and I'll tell you why. Obviously the boredom lays in the many hours of waiting and being on standby, but the sheer terror lies in going outside of your comfort zone, being a person, or should I say bringing out a personality that you have never experimented with before. For example, I am a happy person generally optimistic, and having to cry in front of a crew of 30 ppl is like lying stark naked on a marble floor, a feeling of total vulnerability! When I am asked to run and jump onto tables, the terror comes in the form of, oh my god, I hardly even jump on my bed, can I do this? Will I get hurt? It; really is quite an amazing experience, as it stretches the mind and its belief in oneself's ability and creativity. When I heard Hugh Grants descrīption, I couldn't help but laugh to myself....

A really sweet girl from JIM models in Bangkok sent me this today, she was so kind to scan them in, its the first time I've seen these photos :)