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I do not know whether Penangites have awareness of what people from other states describing us - the so called 'island mentality'......honestly, l am not mad of what others have told at all, as l know they are telling the truth, as a person who has been living in Penang for my whole life, of course l know what is this Island mentality about.....

Sad to say, the majority have this terrible symptom, this is being imparted from last generation, and l am worry, if we do not make a change, our next generation will be affected for sure, and this is very sad to see.....

What is island mentality? It is all about the terrible mind set which they thought they are always the best therefore they refuse to listen to others as well as refusing to any changes.......they are exactly like the lonely island in the middle of the sea, thinking and living on their own way regardless of the environment's transformation....

For example, our state government is working very hard to appeal for 'no plastic bag', but if you go to those hypermarkets on those days the hypermarkets are allowed to supply plastic bags, you will see, those aunties and uncles are packing every single item with one plastic bag, because they could not get plastic bags on 'No plastic bags Days', so they want to get more when they have chances to get it......so, what is the meaning of 'No plastic bag days' huh? Don't they see the huge changes of the climate and the seriousness of polution? Yes they saw and they know, but they thought this is not their business, as they are just staying in a small island which is far from the world, the end of the day will not reach them.....

In another word, one of the symptom is - selfish!

Are there rich people in Penang? I can tell you, a lot, but....when it comes to charity, Penang is always one of the poorest states, for example, recently, there was one big charity show performing by the disables and professional dancers from KL, the response was very bad in Penang, raising the least fund compare to other states, it was full house in other places even in the mainland and the fund raised was more than double of what they got in Penang!

I went to the show when they were in Penang, my heart was touching to see the professional performance from the performers, at the same time sad to see the response from the audience.....

This is so called Island mentality, they are living in their own circle, refuse to see what is happening around and not concerning to give a hand, because they thought this is none of their business.....

Of course, not all Penangites like this.......but l would say, many la.......

When it comes to something related to the benefits of themselves, then the situation will be changed entirely. For example, when they are buying something, 'Discount' is what a must from their mouth, they will get angry when there is no discount as what they have requested. In Zero,l have many members who are asking to waive the enrollment fees or giving discount to the package they sign, when l say 'no', some will get very angry and show me their behavior in anger, sigh.....come on, this is not a flea market or pasar malam, no bargain as everybody is paying the same, l do not mind if they just ask for it [ see, you have the right to ask right?], but l am very mind, if they get angry when l say : 'sorry, we are charging the same to all, it is not fair to others if l am giving you special price.' I don't understand why they get angry? Do they have the right to get angry?

Yesterday a lady came to my belly dance class for a trial, she was late for 15 minutes, she was supposed to pay RM15 for the trial before entering the studio, but because she was late, my staffs allowed her to go to the class so that she will not miss too much, the thing is, there is no appreciation from her. after she came out from the class, she refused to pay for the trial fees because she was late, when l said 'sorry you are not the only one who are late, but they all paid...' She got angry with me and complaning that l am not flexible in running a business! She told me l should give her a free class because she has missed out the first 15 minutes!

What is this huh?

Towards the end, l was frustrated and told her : Please, please don't be like those Penangites who are asking for discount all the times regardless of the quality, please respect my professional career.....

Sigh.......but again, l have to say, not all Penangites like this, if all like this, l think l will commit suicide!

But every time when l walked around the street, l have to tell myself to calm down when l see people throwing rubbish from the car or to the drain, when l see people parking their car right in the middle of the road, when l see those shopkeepers greeting me with 'no expression' face.......

Where is the passion of life? Can a selfish person contributing his concern to the society? Where is the hope of Penang if people are acting cool to what is happening around? Dear Mr Lim, do you know if you want to see the changes of Penang, you must first educating Penang people of what is island mentality about? If not, all your effort will be wasted, and l really do not wish to see that.......

The island mentality - selfish, greedy, self centred, ego, stingy,calculative, kaput, conservative, stubborn, not reasonable, no co-operation.......and then when something 'big' happen, they will hide or run the fastest.....'kia si' la!

Again and again, l have to say, not all Penangites are like this, at least, many friends and students of mine are not like this even though we are from Penang, but our power is limited, we are not able to change Penang people's mind set, we could only reminding ourselves not to follow the ugliness.......

If you are reading this blog and you are the one who own the island mentality, please don't get angry with me, instead, l hope you could make a change, l don't think you want to see your kids following the same character right?

Think of our next generation please, it is time to change!

We are having the new beginner class for belly dancing this Thursday 6:40pm.

It is always a lot of fun to teach new students as they are like baby in belly dancing, they are excited to all new steps and willing to learn with heart. Ever since l teach all belly dance classes myself, l found things are much easier for me, as l could change the routine anytime according to the class's situation, at this point l am able to make the class more fun and achievable, yes, trust me, you will have fun in the class for sure.

Do join us if you are ready to shimmy, belly dancing is such beautiful art to me and l am ready to share with more and more people who enjoy dancing like me........

Big Big thanks to our 4 official photographers of the night - Calvin, G3K, Andy and Alan.

If you have visited the workout column on our website, l am sure you have read this :

Shaperobics 

A specially designed creative cardio workout with towel and chair created by Zero for fat burning and shaping. Movements are fast but gentle.

Conny, with her experience and knowledge in workouts has invented this popular workout. The idea behind this workout is to replace the bar used in the gym with a towel. This special workout upon its introduction 8 years ago gained very good response and from then on, Conny has modified and improved the workout to include more cardio, toning and shaping exercises. This workout is one of the most popular workouts in Zero. It is fun, mild but very effective. And most importantly, it is only available in Zero.

I started Shaperobics many many years ago and l am the one who named this workout as this exercise is designed mainly for shaping up. Over the years, there were fake Shaperobics everywhere,we know some people came to Zero to attend or observing the class then created something similar called Towerobics or any other name, l know, it is difficult to control and l do not really mind, as they are not using the name l created, unfortunately, finally, it happened......

One of the music centres in town having their new intake for workout and dance classes, and they have all workout classes exactly the same as Zero, in other words, they copied everything without any modification, the reason why l am dare to say this because l am not only invented Shaperobics, l am the one who named Yogarobics, Cardio dance and Aerotone too, ok, l am not sure whether others were using the name of Cardio dance and Aerotone before, but as for Yogarobics, this is the same as my Shaperobics, l created this workout and named this from many years ago. Ha ha....may be l should feel proud on this because this proves that l have created many good names and good workouts so people imitated entirely..... 

Sigh....just to clarify here, Zero does not authorize any other party except Zero ourselves to conduct Shaperobics and Yogarobics classes, l could just say they are the fake one, because they did not take any classes or training from me as well, so, please be aware!

Finally l have paid the donation to the two beneficiaries of Malaysia 3rd World Belly Dance Day Charity Event....

Paying the Children Protection Society, we donated RM14,424,82 to this society this year, they are helping children being abused, most of the kids are from poor family, besides a shelter support, they are helping to support the kids for their study till 18 years old too.

We have donated RM20,000 to Women Center For Change this year, last year we did not include them as we helped Sam Cheng Everloving Care Welfare for poor children's education instead, so this year we gave them a little bit more. This organization is helping single mothers, providing them a shelter and courses for them to learn to earn a living, these women are usually poor in education so it is very important for them to be able to work for themselves and the babies.

I have finished almost all the tasks except only the dvd.

And l am still very very busy, few performances are waiting for me and l have to spend a lot of time in choreography for classes, Zero's business is affected by few new fitness studios that launching recently, it is getting tougher in this line now so l have to spend more time in the business, l really don't know how to remain the spirit if this is not my passion and talent, ha ha...to be optimistic, when there is competition, there is improvement if we do not give up.

I am dare to say, it is a huge waste if you are learning belly dancing in Malaysia but you did not come to her workshop, l told everybody Aziza is one of the best dance teachers l have ever met in my life of learning dancing, this was proven again in her workshop in Zero last two weeks.

She teaches with heart, passion, patience and humour, what else can a good teacher offer? She deserves the love from all her students.

I always say, a good dancer has to be a good person, Aziza has strong personality that makes her choreography unique and interesting, if you know how much effort she has put in drilling herself in this art, you know how much she worth it for gaining what she has today. She reads a lot, and learn a lot not only in dancing, she is learning to be a good person, the same trait could be found on Tamalyn, Sadie and Nath too, l strongly believe this is the way......

The workshop is packed, but it is not a problem for an expert, she knows exactly how to handle the crowd, everybody told me they enjoyed the workshop and have learnt a lot from her, l am really happy to hear that, this is the main purpose l am organizing the workshop, we are not good in belly dancing yet, we have to learn from the professional, unfortunately, many of my students did not support this point of mine, only few students of mine attended the workshop, most of the participants are not from Penang, people spent money, took leave and travelled to attend the workshop yet those who could easily attend simply ignore this, sigh....Penangites, can't we be a bit more aggresive in learning huh?

To me, Aziza 's drum solo is no doubt superb, but l like her veil technique more, she plays the veil like her second skin, l told her, l think there are many good drum solo dancers in the world, but not many for veil, she is definitely one of the best.

Another thing l have learnt a lot from her is about the ' muscle memory', l started to understand why the tribal dancers have strong muscle control, she has shared a lot of useful knowledge with me, the only way l could thank her is to drill myself to be a real good dancer, and to share with people who appreciate and love dancing like me.

I am such a lucky student, in these two years time, l have learnt a lot from many experts in this art, Sadie, Nath, Sahara, Samantha, Aziza.....again, the only way to thank all these great teachers is to be a good dancer and good teacher, l am on my way....

I am in front of the computer with my mind blank now, ha ha, it has taken me forever to this column, l feel a bit strange to start writing again.... I was extremely busy for world belly dance day for the past few weeks, believe it or not,l worked more than 10 hours a day no off, l was like a 'xiao char bo' everyday, could not even talk properly as l was in a rush for this and that most of the times. Many people curious of my tight schedule, they do not understand why l am so busy...... There are many things to follow up for world belly dance day, ticket selling, workshop registration, hotel booking, program, performers, front and back stage....l had to spent time to reply emails everyday, many from other states or overseas transfered money to wbdd account for registration, l have to make sure there is no mistake with a proper record. I have Zero's staffs to help me, but their full time job is Zero, not wbdd, they also have their own tasks to complete, hence....l have to be the only full timer for wbdd. On top of that, there were non stop of performances, classes, rehearsals, choreographies and blar blar blar.....Can you imagine that?

I was too tired to practise my peacock dance even, many asked me why l only did a short performance this year, ha ha, l think l will admit to hospital after the show if l do another piece extra. I had to squeeze time for own practice, the peacock dance of mine is short but tiring, when l performed, my legs were too tiring to support the moves and there were few times l nearly falled on stage, it was not a good performance of mine definitely, sigh....and l looked terrible under the make up and hair do, sigh......hopefuly l could be better next year.

The event is over but my duty has not, l have to close account, chasing the photographers and videographers for pictures and videos, finalizing every task, and the same, non stop classes, performances, choreographies and blar blar blar....also have to resume all my private classes, so sorry to my private class students,l  sacrificed their classes during that time, so now is time to resume their classes. Most of all, l have to go back to my full time job - The principal of Zero Fitness Dance Studio.

This is the first time in my life to experience the procession with 20,000 dancers and 10,000musicians parading through the city over a route of four kilometres. I was very excited when l reached La Paz, the capital of Bolivia for this festival, so l bought a mask as a souvenier for myself, unfortunately, l lost it during the carnival, arhhhhh......Luckily l have taken picture with the mask.

The whole country was busy celebrating for the festival, this could be seen on the streets.....

The Carnaval de Oruro (or Carnival of Oruro) is the biggest annual cultural event in Bolivia. It was declared one of mankind's masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity by the Unesco in 2001. The carnival is held in a mining town of Oruro in Bolivia at 3,700m above sea level.

The carnival is unique in the world by its religious sense, it invocations to Pachamama ( Mother Earth ) and to Tio Supay ( Satan Uncle). The performers represent various indigenous dance forms, and are accompanied by several bands. Their costumes were truly impressive to me!

The carnival was more exciting towards evening, unfortunately we did not stay due to the long journey back to La Paz.....and l did not have chances to dance with them...by the way, l did it in Puno of Peru, dancing on the street with the locals during their procession, how l wish l could dance a little bit longer......

I believe many wish to start something new after Chinese New Year, so, here you are another new intake for belly dance beginner class in Zero!

As usual, the class will be conducted by me. This new class is on every Wednesday 7:40pm, think this is the best timing for those working huh.

I always hear people telling me :  Conny l want to join your belly dance class, l want to dance like you! Oh some have been saying for years but have never taken any action.....ha ha.....hope l could see these people this time. Sometimes l wonder why it is so difficult to start something we like, l think people use to drag because we thought we still have plenty of time, and it is never too late to start a 'hobby'. I don't know why but l have different thoughts. I believe hobby is very important because l am happy when l am doing something l like, and happiness is what l must pursue in life.....yes, money is important, to survive is very important, but life is not only 'to survive' right? That's why l dance, l travel, and l learn, how l wish if l could start these hobbies much earlier huh!

By the way, yes, it is never too late to start!

An 80 years old Chinese lady told her grandson : I wanted to start learning English when l was 70, but l thought l might not be able to do it at this age so l gave up. l am 80 now and how regretful l am of this abandonment, now only l realize l was 'young' that time, if l did not give up, l must be able to speak fluent English after 10 years of practicing!