Finally, it has been another year for me working in this company. Annual dinner is reminder that a full cycle has been completed and thus marks time for performance appraisal and increment too. This year, the Annual Dinner for Old Town Group of Companies was held at the Royal Perak Golf Club. Alas, I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't held in KL as all these years it was in Ipoh, hence no opportunity for clubbing travelling to a fresher environment.
This year's theme was Retro 50-70s. I think it suits most of us in the company since they are born in this era, but younger blood like us have just the slightest idea about it.
I think the organizers have done a great job in getting this year's Annual Dinner a success. I was not involved in this year's committee as I would like to enjoy the dinner as a whole without running around. But.......
Well, things never change. The custom of having a table Ang Pow, 10 packets each containing cash ranging from RM10 to RM100 in denomination of RM10 difference. This year, I only managed to get RM40 compared to last year's lucky pick of RM90...
The dinner kicked off with some performances by a Music Studio sourced from outside, belting out oldies. A boring effort to fill in the time while waiting for the VIPs to arrive. To officiate the opening of the dinner, our Group Managing Director gave a speech over laurels and milestones of OldTown Group and its path towards listing in KLSE.
The RPCG Jubilee Ballroom does host a grand atmosphere with a total of 44 tables altogether that night, combining colleagues from Ipoh, KL, Penang and JB. But how does the food fare???
The food was disappointingly below average. Well, perhaps it's hard to find HALAL Chinese food. To have one that taste good, it's almost impossible! Having said that, I did not bother to review bout the food served during the dinner banquet, prepared by Fairway Restaurant. I had a look at the quotation and the menu before this and I can confidently say that, the taste and the food itself did not justify the price tag.
Okay, screw the food then. Let's move into the highlight of the night. A showdown between the Northen Region and the Central Region Teams. Each region are to send 3 groups to battle in 3 different rounds, 1 sketch and 2 dances! And the grand prize of RM5000 awaits the winning team. Here, you see the opening act/cheer from the Ipoh Team (left) and the KL Team (right)
The KL Team gave a rousing appearance in their entrance and with their first round of performance. The Ipoh Team was stunned and shaken a little by their colourful costume and upbeat tempo coupled by the blowhorns and cheerings from the audience.
I mean, if you were to compare to costume like this. Its quite a clear cut who has the upper hand at first. This group from Ipoh staged a 1Malaysia dance, a remix of the 3 major races portrayed in a medley of cultural dance. Seriously, I don't buy this "1Malaysia" race harmony theme, but since our distinguished VIPs consist of more than 1 race, perhaps hypocrisy it may work.
Next, the groups respresenting the Ipoh Team staged a sketch with the Black Rose - Lei Kei theme. Quite funny indeed. Well, at least they managed to stick by the theme, and I guess they put up a great effort compared to the KL groups which staged a P Ramlee-ish sketch. I seriously couldn't recall what they are staging, just that they are good in flattery, more of a OTWC advertisement with a mamak shop setting. In the third round, the Ipoh Team again turned things around with a Grease-inspired dance medley to retaliate against KL's dance of Para Para -Nobody Nobody. DUH!
The Saturday Night Fever from Team "Go Go Grease" sealed the win for the Ipoh Team, bagging the RM5000 to be shared by 3 groups inside the team. On top of that, the best performing group walked away with RM3000. The Lei Kei group won 2nd prize and the 1Malaysia dance group with 3rd prize with RM2k and RM1k respectively. Seems a bit cruel to the visitors that homeground does plays a slight advantage with the Ipoh groups making a clean sweep of the competition. Now this proves that flattery brings you nowhere! Make sure you follow the theme of the night. Better luck next year! As we the Ipoh-ians will try to stomp in your own yard and win all the prizes again!
There - a group shot of the Ipoh Team. I was told that a team member from the best performing group each got around RM600+ after dividing the cash prize. They proudly claimed to have practise around 8 sessions only prior to the competition. Say.... 32 hours of practice in in exchange for RM600+. That makes around RM150 for 8 hours (standard working hours). Damn! It's even pays out better than my daily wages! I shouldn't have declined when they wanted to rope me in their group initially. =
Nevertheless, I also received a simple RM100 for impersonating some Retro popular figures for the Grand Lucky Draw segment. Not bad, costume is sourced for me, I get an angpow for auspicious purposes because of Chinese custom, its "supersitious taboo" to impersonate the dead. No prizes to guess what character I was assigned to impersonate. =p
These are some of the people impersonating the celebrities- P. Ramlee, Elvis Presley, Bruce Lee, Teresa Teng, Marilyn Monroe. Ironic huh? The famous sex symbol of the 60s is played by a guy here! =p The lucky draw finale of RM3000 for the grand prized ended the night for some..... As some made their way back to KL, some back home/hotel to sleep, some went to check out the OTK Karaoke Studio.... and some went to club. =p
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