Serendipity

Nine Ringgit? Man, they don't come cheap these days, I thought to myself as I reluctantly parted with my RM10 note at the cashier counter. I lost the patronage to all women's magazines since resigning from the industry two years ago, but I was curious this time to check something out.

The November issue of Female was the thickest mag I had ever come across: as thick as a telephone directory and dense enough to ensure success in a physical act of self defense. With the pages seemingly spilling forth, I thumbed around to the 50 Gorgeous People 2006 spread, gasped, giggled, and hurried back to my office.

That same evening I was scheduled for a long-overdue appointment with my sweetheart of a friend, Razif. Catching up on life with him has never been a dull affair, although his depth of both rational and emotional intelligence occasionally makes my own aptitude quiver like cold tofu.

We engaged in laughs and conversation over a cheap but hearty dinner, and I caught hold of a comfortable silence to toss him a coquettish flutter of the eyelids.

"Raaaaz?"

"Yeeees?"

I pulled out the magazine from my knapsack, split it open in the middle, and slid it across the table.

His eyes popped at the left page,


While mine had already popped at the right.


All we could do for the five minutes thereafter was laugh, laugh, and laugh a bit more.

"You didn't tell me you did this!"

"YOU didn't tell ME you did this either!"

We gawked at our pictures placed side by side.

"This is PURE FATE, man!"

When I was shortlisted to be part of the shoot back in July, I hadn't thought anything else of it until I received an email from the magazine last week informing me that I made it to the final fify. I was dreading to attend the publicity events on my own, a black sheep amongst forty-nine outwardly hot human beings.

And to find out that I know one of them, it's now going to be one heckuva party.

Female's 50 Gorgeous People will be making an appearance at the magazine's Bumper Roadshow at 1 Utama (Highstreet), 12th November, 3pm - 3.30pm. The Finals will take place at Zouk KL, 2nd December, 7pm - 10.30pm. Votes for the Most Gorgeous Male & Female can be made via SMS. Details in Female's November 2006 issue, and also in the follow-up blog entry.