Utterly Envious

I'm not a person who gets jealous or envious easily, but let's just say I'm totally 'sour' right now!

For those of you in the know, BC40 was filmed on Monday night in Auckland. With a release every 3 months, we get 4 releases a year, that means Bodycombat celebrated it's 10th year anniversary.

How time flies, and I must say that BC is one of the programs that has witnessed the most transitions and controversies ever among all the LM programs.

I'm so envious of the people that managed to take part in the filming! I was just chatting to Jitsuko, my BC coursemate, who flew all the way from Japan to Auckland. I also found out that Toshie and some instructors/members from Cali Singapore went there as well. The atmosphere, according to Jitsuko, was electrifying. I can imagine it, 40 releases, 10th year anniversary, I'm sure it must be.

I've said this many times, I'll say it again. Only those who have been to Auckland will know what it's like behind the scenes and experience first hand the passion of so many instructors/participants around the world. So to all you LM junkies out there, what are you waiting for? Plan your next trip to Auckland now!

I would have loved to go there for BC40 filming, but Auckland is not exactly like Malaysia or Thailand where I can probably go anytime. First of all, it's not exactly cheap. Air tix are about $2,000 and we haven't even thrown in accomodation/expenses. Secondly, it's not easy to take a 5-7 days off work. And my opportunity cost for work is actually higher now. One less day of work means less money.

Furthermore, I used my year end 10-day compliance leave to go for BC39 filming, so it's a bit extravagant to go so soon, having gone twice in 2008 (BC36 and BC39). And also, now recession lah.

Btw, I forgot to mention that NZD is real cheap now. It's trading at NZDSGD ~0.7650 now, so SGD is way stronger at the moment. It will not be as expensive as I went the first time round (Feb 2008) when I changed my NZD at 1.16!!!!!!

What's there to look forward to in BC40? Well, I don't know myself since I didn't experience it first hand and I am not the sort to pretend like I know what it's all about. Let those who have experienced the magic share it with us.

Reading what all those people have to say about filming sends the heart tingling again. How I long to be there again. I do have another 10-day compliance leave to take again this year, and I can almost guarantee that I will make a trip there this year since all my long distance travel kakis (Europe, US) have all shelved their travel plans due to recession.

May looks to be out for me, so I'm looking at August and November filmings. Anyone interested can give me a shout. I'm looking to form a Singapore contingent. Got potentially 3 interested parties for August.

If you're interested, budget around S$3,000, maybe less depending on which airline, accomodation, and your sightseeing needs. But from personal experience, if you are a true blue LM junkie, you'll probably be spending most of your time attending all the LM classes at the gym and going for D&R combat so as to familiarise yourself in the new release and not embarrass yourself during filming. =)