Malaysia’s Golden Jubilee

Happy 50th Merdeka Malaysia!

Counted down at MIFC, Putrajaya. Was there 3 hours earlier, took 2.5 hours to reach home, almost slammed into a car and a lorry, not to mention almost hitting many dividers coz I was super sleepy from only 4 hours sleep the night before, but ah, it was all worth it.

One word is enough to sum up the 20 minutes fireworks performance from Japan:

Spectacular!

It was definitely nothing like I’ve ever seen before. Those people with their cameras on their tripods made me feel kinda wasted that I did not have a good camera with me. Had to make do with my sad camera phone But it was better than nothing-lah! These are the best I could snap.

I love how the sparks lingers and kinda slowly falls to the ground…
It’s like many meteor rains pouring down!

They were shooting heart shapes, planets, stars and many different designs!

The grand finale!

Was walking around searching for lavatories when we met a few cows from other countries. There were about 22 cows from 22 different countries. They must have had some Cow Convention or something. The photo most right above shows a cow bearing the advice: Milk is good for you. (Yes, I know, but I still dislike milk )

We took like a 20-30 minutes stroll from PICC to the government buildings not-so-nearby to hunt for a loo despite there being portable mobile toilets located around the area. So why the 20 minutes stroll? This is why.

It was the longest queue to pee I’ve ever seen! The queue went right up to the road.
One of the pee-ers commented: “Memori indah ni. Beratur untuk kencing”. Obviously it came from a guy coz as we know, guys rarely need to queue to pee, unlike us ladies

LOL.

Oh and I must mention that the architectural design of the government buildings are something we should be proud of. Again, sad sad coz no cam. Did not realize we had such cool structures and layouts here in Malaysia. Call me ‘the frog under the husk’ but I bet 50% or more of the thousand of people there would not have visited Putrajaya for ‘no special reason’.

Happy 50th Merdeka!

Say YES to harmony, unity and trust.

God bless Malaysia!

Just a 2.5 minute clip out of the 7 miutes that I took on the fireworks. Not as impactful as it was watching it live. But again, better than nothing-lah! (Watch it all or Fast forward to the last 1 minute for the best part of the clip )

 

Convocations

Backdated post.

On the 12th of August 07, MMU had its 8th convocation which was spread out over 3 days! I pity our chancellor,Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah. She really looked like she’s gonna break (hehe).

Anyway, this convo kinda reminded me of mine. Not much changes to the campus since I last visited it 1 year ago during my convo. Except well, there’s a freakin’ pool and stadium!! Why do I ALWAYS missed out on good stuff like this. Apart from the more carnival-like atmosphere, I would say that last year’s convo was more interesting. For two reasons. It was MY convo and the weather was superb compared to their dreary rainy day hehe.

Anyway, Photos time! Some from my convo and some from this year’s. (I just don’t want this year’s graduating batch to steal all the limelight hehe).

I shall start with a few photos from my good ol’ days

Up goes the mortarboards. Woohoo!!

My evil second brother, Jesse-ca.

Partners-in-crime. We have one thing in common in this photo. Our eyes hehe.
Check it out. Click to enlarge

She’s the MAN!! haha my MANly sista, Mandy!

Dr. Cheng! She taught the only other subject which I apply in my work. Econometrics, and stats being the other hehe.

Ahh and now we move on to this year’s convo…

My balding third bro, Franus

My scrawny fourth bro, William/Keith (He can’t decide which is better LOL)

 

Darren!!

and another Darren!! (below)

 

Sim City! hehe…

 

Jee Wei, the guy who went MIA for awhile.

 

Jasmine (left), the gal who zoooomed back to Seremban in an instance. Glad we caught you. (And I wonder why am I in the middle when she’s the graduate)

Sher Ling. Her convo was on the day before but she brought her robe to the next convo day to snap with her friends haha.

My girlfriends, people whom you can’t live without

Snapped with a few others but I’m too tired to upload now.

Laterz!

Nights

 

 

Your Weekend, Their life…

When was the last time you were so hungry you ate a rotten banana?
When was the last time you worked your ass off just to buy rats to cook for dinner?
When was the last time you were so thirsty you drank the water from the stream despite it being flooded with Guinea worms?

To every question above, I bet your answer would be ‘Never‘.

And by saying ‘Never‘, you are luckier than more than 850 million people around the world who are living in poverty each and every second of their lives.

For that 850 million people, eating a rotten banana and drinking water with Guinea worm lava in it scarcely explains what they go through to only barely survive each day. A Guinea worm lava could last up to 1 year in a human’s stomach, after which it will crawl down to a person’s leg or feet and form a lump. The worm will then try to find its way out of the person’s leg and will eventually tear through the person’s skin. The pain from the burst of the skin due to the ‘activity’ of the worm is unimaginable. Yet, the children in Africa drinks the water because it’s their only source of water. 4,500 children die each day from unsafe drinking water. How can you help?

Today, I attended the volunteer’s training for World Vision’s 30-Hour Famine Camp to be held on 15-16 Sept 2007. 700 volunteers rendered their support, time and energy to ensure that the 30-Hour Famine Camp would run smoothly. It is indeed the first time I’m participating in such a large scale event and I believe it will be rewarding. We were brought to realization the state of poverty over 850 million people around the world are in. Through videos, games and talks, we were pulled out of our comfortable lives and zoomed in to feel, just for a moment, how these people living in poverty feels each day. Yet, I know that what we felt was nothing as compared to their reality.

30 Hour Famine is a global movement against hunger. Like what it implies, the camp participants forgo solid food for 30 hours. And because this year it is World Vision’s 10th anniversary in Malaysia, the Famine will be held in Bilingual (English and Chinese) for the first time. Previously 2000 participants attended the Chinese Famine Camp while about 600 attended the English Famine Camp. This time around, WV is targeting 5,000 participants.

Throughout the camp, participants will experience hunger pangs like never before. Nevertheless, that aside, participants will set to gain and understand deeper the lives of those less fortunate through activities like games, videos, quiz-shows and short-talks. Apart from that, there will also be a movie screening and a concert at night. Celebrities like Fish Leong, Daniel Lee, Nicholas Teo, Francissca Peter, Juwita Soweto and Sarimah Ibrahim are expected to grace the stage for a good cause. One thing is for sure, the participants will bring home a different perspective on life.

So often we talk about the hunger of the children of Africa. So nonchalantly we tend to say “Think of the kids in Africa” each time someone wastes their food. We know, we pity, yet we act not. Touching nearer to home, it is somewhat hard to believe that 16% of the people in Sabah are living in poverty. 21% of the children there are not given education. The next poorest state is Kelantan. Seeing how much our country has developed (with our 1st – 9th Malaysian Plans to eradicate poverty and all), it came as somewhat a surprise to me. These people mostly live in villages. Not many know about them, not many care enough to know.

The theme for this year’s 30 Hour Famine is ‘Hungry for Hope’.
What can you do to bring hope to the hungry?

If you would like to know more about the camp, or would like to participate, please direct your web browser to: 30 Hour Famine – Hungry for Hope

 

We wake up thinking what to eat.
They wake up thinking if they would eat.

Be grateful for all that you have.

Make a difference, today.

 

 

 

Management Associate Forum 2007

The pioneering batch (a.k.a. guinea pigs) of Management Associates 2006 from United Overseas Bank were given the opportunity to organize this year’s forum for the potential Management Associate (MA) candidates.

Given merely 3 weeks to come up with an event that will entice the potential MAs to choose UOB was a challenge. 10 heads got together, had some clashes, got shocked from the miscommunication of ballroom choices, emcees and speakers getting all tensed up, but in the end we were thankful that it was all praises.

I personally had a great time running around getting the banner and the layout and the setting of the hotel ready. I definitely felt more energetic organizing the forum compared to my current role at the office. (Kinda makes me wonder where I belong).

All in all, 72 MA candidates, 15 Head of Divisions and 90 UOB staffs showed up to render their support. The assessment tests held on the following day showed that there were definitely slightly more than a handful of very very potential MAs this year. And till we find out who’s the 16 that made the cut, the 10 of us will just watch from the sidebench and nervously bite our nails in preparation for the challenges ahead!

The Potentials

 

Our panel of Head of Divisions (HODs)

 

The pioneering batch of MAs