Wow...just simply wow

Yesterday was the Installation Night/Club Awards Presentation ceremony which was held in Pan Pacific at KLIA. INTI Christian Fellowship got nominated under 9 categories and they are:

Best Event Review: Beau Bristow Concert
Best Camp: ICF Camp
Best Progressive Club Award
Best Exhibition: Christian Awareness Week
Best Club Publicity
Best Religious and Cultural Society
Best Secretary: Me..lol =p
Best Treasurer: Shu Jin
Best Associate (Or in other words..Best Club)

Of all the 9 nominations, ICF achieved three, Best Exhibition for Christian Awareness Week, Best Progressive Club Award and shared the coveted Best Associate title with Stact Club. Haha..CAW was awesome and I'm glad to see it getting recognition. To some extent, CAW was our fueling factor to push ICF to greater heights. We had gathered much momentum at that time, and the people in the organising committee for CAW had the blueprint to push ICF to grow further in its potential.

I think we were already contented to be nominated to be in the running for Best Associate but we never dreamt or anticipated that we would actually win it! To see ICF's name being engraved on the trophy and to be remembered..it's just emotional. As I said, it's all by God's grace. The award belongs to all ICF members because all of them played different parts, no matter how big or small, in making our fellowship a homely place to be.

Praise God. All Glory be to God :)

Farewell Kak Yasmin

Malaysia has lost a bright talent on 25th July. Yasmin Ahmad tragically passed away at the age 51 years old due to a stroke and brain hemorrhage. Many Malaysians fondly remember Kak Yasmin for her love and touching creative works in the media that transcends the boundaries of race and religion. She was a true advocate of the spirit of muhibbah. She used her talents to build bridges between the different ethnic groups. She presented to Malaysians, a vision of what being a "Malaysian" should be.

Of course, I remember her for all the wonderful Petronas festival ads that aired on television that was directed by her. They are not lavish or complicated stories. Just simple presentations of everyday Malaysian life on issues like filial piety, tolerance and love. The message in those small little clips were warm and sincere. It never cease to amaze me how she could actually direct ads that are culturally unique to each ethnic group and at the same time, appeal to them eventhough she's not from their culture. Kak Yasmin's artistic skills were so renowned that even the Singaporeans approached her to direct one of their government sponsored ad on marriage. It must be said that ad in Singapore (titled "Eulogy") was also given thumbs up by the Singaporeans themselves. I am sure her passing away will impact the Singaporeans as much too as it hit the Malaysians.

Kak Yasmin's films were never shy of controversies since they explore many topics which the government of the day or even Malaysians themselves consider it to be taboo. Sepet was the one which stands out the most among her work. Her recent film works include Muallaf and Talentime. This is a huge loss for Malaysia. The amount of years lost, and all the films. ads and ideas that she would have in her mind for the nation. I think to some extent, Petronas ads during festivals will never be the same again. I just felt a huge void there and I hope Kak Yasmin's efforts will inspire many more young Malaysians to follow her footsteps in using their creative ideas to bridge the divides. Her last blog entry stops at 22nd July. It will remain there untouched forever but it shall never be forgotten by us.

Rest in Peace Kak Yasmin. You have done your nation proud and we Malaysians feel thankful for the little life lessons that you have provided us in your creative works.

Last week for CF activities

Oh well..we have came to the end of the semester for the activities of ICF. It has been the last week for many ICF events and meetings, but of course, we will still continue to meet each other for dinner outings etc. On Monday, since it's a public holiday in Negeri Sembilan, there were no classes. The whole bunch of us made a dinner trip to Kajang for Kajang satay and we were led by Qin Le there since he is a resident of that place itself. Mhmmmm..I ate about 15 sticks but it's not that filling since I didn't eat any other stuff. I have to say the satay sauce is really delicious though and they allow us to have free refills..haha.

Wednesday was our last official CF meeting and it's also the closing ceremony for the May semester. We had a farewell ceremony for Kelvin, Nic and Shu Jin since this is their last semester. I think the CF folks will miss them very much. Kelvin has been a constant and visible figure at CF and I've known him since semester 1. I feel that CF has lost a very capable and loyal servant, since Kelvin has always been there to ensure things like logistics and sound systems run well before the meeting. Not only that, he's also one of the few worship leaders that we have. For Nic, most of us definitely wished that he's with us earlier. Lol..he only came to know us in his last semester. Nic's a fun fella to be with and hang out. We wish all the best to wherever he may go. Shu Jin has been a wonderful sister-in-christ to many and I believe that she had led the Chinese CG well. Though quiet, she has done alot in the background that many do not see. We wish Shu Jin the best as she goes back to Sungai Petani. Maybe I may bump into her in the future if I do go there to visit my aunt..haha.

On Friday, instead of having our regular CG meetings, we had a final CG makan outing at KFC. We had a change from Pizza Hut for the last 3 sems..lol. Yup, a massive group descended upon Nilai KFC and we needed about 5 cars and double trips to get everyone there since all three CGs are going there. We had a great time fellowshipping and I think half of the lower floor of KFC consisted of our group..lol.

I wanna thank everyone at ICF for helping the new committee in making this semester a success. We had completed 1 semester term and we had certainly learn alot of things. I will definitely look forward for next semester's activities! Btw, ICF is being nominated for 9 categories for Installation Night/Award ceremony tomorrow. Hopefully, with God's grace, we can win a few of the awards..hehe =p

United States of Eurasia

You and me fall in line
To be punished for unproven crimes!
And we know that there is no one we can trust; 
Our ancient heroes, they are turning to dust!

And these wars, they can't be won
Does anyone know or care how they begun?
They just promise to go on 
And on and on

This is just fantastic. One of my major favourite bands (Green Day) released their new album in May and now another of my major favourite band (Muse) is releasing theirs in September :) "The Resistance" has already being dubbed to be the finest album that Muse will ever produce. Given Matt Bellamy's musical inclination and Muse's creative tendencies to mix rock and classical music together, they are now bringing rock music to a level higher - an album with a kaleidoscopic combination of rock, orchestra and opera together for a grandeur experiment.

Matt Bellamy and co. has never been straightforward with their fans..haha. Thanks to Muse's love for conspiracies, they always present opportunities for their fans to interact and obtain their music through cryptic puzzles. One of the songs in the album, "United States of Eurasia" is released in such a way. Six different USB keys were distributed around in 6 cities around the world- Paris, Berlin, Dubai, Moscow, Tokyo and Hong Kong and fans are invited to search for the "agent" that hold these USB keys. Each of these cities are coded as a "station", similar to the concept found in Lost..lol. That is not the only thing to do because fans later have to solve a series of puzzles after entering the code found in the USB key onto the website. These puzzles include anagrams and numerical sequences. For every station that is unlocked, Muse will release a portion of the song. All six parts will be combined as a clip and released the moment after all 6 stations are unlocked.

A seventh station in New York was shown and the final puzzle was released for the fans to solve, with the tagline that US of America must recognise US of Eurasia in order for the outro (Collateral Damage) be released. A time limit was also given for that "recognition". On 21st July, USE + Collateral Damage was released as one single track which could be downloaded free from the website. This is awesome..we get to have a first hand experience on one of the songs from the new album!

There are lots to comment on Muse's new single song. Firstly, it's a super way of releasing the song..haha. The title of course, carries lots of connotations with the most obvious ones being a reference to the superstate of Eurasia in George Orwell's "1984", which happens to be a rival to Big Brother's Oceania. The lyrics drew heavy pointers from 1984 too, with references to thoughtcrime, the never-ending war theory from Goldstein's manual and the the decimation of Rutherford, Aaronson and Jones. I absolutely loved these pointers to 1984 as these are sort of tributes to George Orwell himself.

Musically wise, the style of USE is reminiscent of Queen and its structure is similar to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". I've always enjoyed piano intros in rock music and then followed by heavy electric guitar accompaniment later. The strings accompaniment in USE enriches the track in a way that it makes it grander than usual. The outro (Collateral Damage) is Matt's rendition of Chopin's Nocturne Op.9 No.2. It's a brilliant transition from USE at the end, sort of a reminder of the piano solo at "Butterflies and Hurricanes". I got so inspired by the outro that I've decided to make Nocturne Op.9 No.2 as my next piano piece to master..lol. Afterall, Chopin is also one of my favourite piano composers.

Ahhhhhh..I can't wait for September 14 to come!! It'll be the same feeling of anticipation when I waited for 21st century breakdown..lol. I'm looking forward to hear Exogenesis actually. According to Matt, it's a 15 minute space rock orchestra..hehe. I'm indeed curious to see how it'll turn out especially when it's played life. Till then, we can only wait for "The Resistance".

Manchester United in Malaysia!!!

It was a Glory Glory Man United weekend. The sea of red. The sweat. The roar. The jams. The crowd. All of them right at the heart of Malaysia in the Bukit Jalil Stadium. I was feeling excited with eager anticipation when United announced that Malaysia would be their first stop of their Asia Tour.I've been waiting for the very moment when United will return to Southeast Asia to visit Malaysia. The last time they came to Malaysia was way back in 2001. This is big. Wayne and Ryan with their team mates right on Malaysian soil and the chance to watch them in real life instead of the television screen.

My Man United weekend started right from Friday evening. After CG lunch, Reuben and me made plans to head to Bukit Jalil Stadium to watch the United team in training. Last week, I've managed to scout the entrance to enter Bukit Jalil after the Sungai Besi toll but on that Friday itself, I somehow ended up missing the turning junction. Anyways, I made a U-turn and before long, I managed to get myself on the right track. There was already a jam building up at the highway even before I enter into the stadium area. The jam made us reached a little late and United were already training on the field. Even for a normal training session, I could say easily about 20 000 fans turned up. I could practically feel the roar echo from the crowd. Wow, for the first time in my life, I witnessed the Man Utd squad with my own eyes. One of the first few players that I had spotted was van der Sar and Anderson. It's kinda easy to pick out Owen from the squad since he's one of the shortest there. After training, we hanged out a while around the stadium to wait for the jam to subside before we went off. For dinner, we ate at Mines since that's the nearest shopping center to the stadium. I got a last-minute call that I have to replace the drummer on Sunday, so this means that I had to wake up extra early for practice.

At the next morning, I only had a few hours sleep before heading off to church for practice and workshop. After lunch, I headed back to campus to get Reuben. Kevin and Grace are going to the match too but they're going first after dropping Tze. However, I got news from them later that they were stuck at the Sungai Besi toll area since the jam had already stretched all the way over there. I expected it to be so considering that on Friday, training itself can already generate such a bad jam. Reuben promptly called his friend who explained to me the alternate route to get to Bukit Jalil by avoiding the Sungai Besi area. I was going around all circles listening to him at first but thank God, I managed to get the road right at the first time round! We reached Bukit Jalil without any jams at all except for the part when we were around the stadium area. The traffic scene outside the stadium is chaotic. I think the entire traffic police force in KL is being mobilised for this. People were parking at the road side, on the curbs, technological parks and petrol stations. I spotted a few Singaporean cars there and I bet they are feeling "syiok" to park illegally since it is rare and hard for them to do so down south. After squeezing and tussling through the jam, we managed to find the entrance the stadium car park and we parked at the same place we did on Friday. The funny thing is that everyone got too paranoid and panicky that there will be no parking at the stadium. Everyone thinks that they were the only smart ones to avoid parking at the stadium but most of them apparently thought that way and as result, the stadium parking in reality was much more emptier that what it was supposed to be..haha. When I zoomed in to the stadium parking area and parked my car easily, I was 'lol'-ing in my mind on the mass hysteria that was being generated at the outside road.

I wore my season 06/07 Giggs jersey rather than my latest season 07/08 Ronaldo jersey for the match. Convention dictates that one should avoid wearing the jersey of a player that had just transfered over, so I've decided to wear a more respectable shirt instead..haha. So, shame on those that wore Tevez and Ronaldo jerseys on that day! By the time we enter the stadium, it was already almost fully filled already. Finding places to sit was almost impossible. We had actually planned to sit horizontally across the VIP stands but from the looks of it, it's not possible to do so because we can't even find the path to get across to the other side. So we randomly entered the Red Gate which is still RM98 so as to find a way. Just 10 seconds of walking, I heard my name being called and lol, Kevin and Grace were sitting around there! Woah, of all places in the stadium and among the sea of red! I've never expected us to be able to meet up but it's a good coincidence. After thinking awhile, we decided to stay in that area since the view was not too bad. I think to some extent it turned out to be a blessing in disguise coz I don't think it's that clear at our original planned seat. Our new "accidental" place was good in a way that we could actually see van der Sar and the United defenders quite often since they are always staying behind.

The entrance of the players was greeted by a resounding roar from the 85000 capacity crowd. The starting line-up players were van der sar, Evra, Evans, Ferdinand, O' shea, Nani, Anderson, Scholes, Gibson, Rooney and Berbatov. Of all the players, Ferdinand was a pretty obvious figure on the field given his tall height, and John O' Shea is the clearest player from our seating since our position is closest to the right back lane. Rooney opened the scoring for United with a super blast and Nani added the second. Lol, he did his famous acrobatic cartwheel flip celebration on Malaysian soil! It looked like a typical United mow-down routine and the Malaysian team looked like they're gonna get thrashed. However, the whole stadium was silenced when Amri Yahyah did a stunning lob over van der Sar to beat the United keeper. Vds tried to trace back but he was too late to stop Yahya's ball from bouncing into the net to reduce the deficit to 1 goal. Lol..I bet Yahya is not gonna be able to sleep on that night. He had just beaten van der Sar and could perhaps be the only Malaysian to do so! The first half ended with the score of 2-1 in favour of Man Utd.

Second half was much better for our side because it's the side in which United is gonna attack more often. Previously, we had seen a lot on the defenders. Now, we will get to see a little closer on the strikers and midfielders, and especially when they take corners at our side. There was a change of goalkeepers as Ben Foster took the position instead. The Malaysian team showed further that they are a plucky side and are no pushovers. Amri Yahyah punished Ben Foster for slipping up by snatching a second goal to his name. Incredible! The Malaysian team had drawn level at 2-2! Who would have imagined such a scoreline? Malaysia boleh!..lol. The Malaysian in me is feeling proud of the brace but the Man Utd fan in me is feeling embarassed over the conceding of 2 goals. Now, if only the Malaysian players were to play like this in every game. Then we would not have been in the last few in the FIFA rankings. And we will qualify for World Cup 2014..haha.

Fergie then later introduced a series of subs, and one of them was Michael Owen, to the delight of the crowd in the stadium. He did tried a few times to score but it was snuffed out by the defenders. Later in the game, the fans started to chant for Giggsy to be unveiled following unsuccessful attempts by United to score the winner. Around 80 plus minutes, poor handling by the Malaysian keeper gave the opportunity for Owen to pounce on a free ball and his predatory instinct kicks in for him to score the winner for United. Mark this historic moment! Owen's first goal for United was on Malaysian soil and witnessed by 80000 over Malaysians on that day! =D.

The match ended with a 3-2 win in favour of United. It was a barely scraped through match for Man Utd and perhaps the Malaysian humidity and heat is an unfamiliar condition for the Mancunian army to play in. Oh yea, there was a pitch invasion after the Man Utd team went to four corners of the field to thank the fans. A fella just ran towards the players in a hysterical manner, not sure whether that being excessive adoration or incessant insult. I don't know how that guy could get on the pitch because I don't really expect anyone being able to get through the heavy security. However, he certainly got very close to the players and they were all looking at him..lol. Perhaps that is what he wanted all along! All the bouncers immediately sprung into action to restrain him from going any closer. The only thing missing from him being called a streaker is his clothes being off.

Haha..after the match, Reuben and me acted like crazy fanboys when we joined the mob that lined up the street to block the team bus. Haha..the police had to push this whole mob to make way for the team bus. I managed to spot Sir Bobby Charlton sitting at the front of the bus..lol. As usual, after the match, we waited for an hour or so at the stadium grounds before making our way out of Bukit Jalil. For our dinner, we went to meet Erwin at Subang Jaya where we ate at some professional looking mamak stall..lol.

Overall, I would say I'm very pleased indeed with the match even though many would have expected the match to produce more goals. The red atmosphere in the stadium was totally awesome and it's always the case in live football matches. It's something that cannot be reproduced by the television. I've watched my heroes in action on my own homeland soil and yea, one of the memories that I will remember for a long time. Well, United team, till we meet again at Old Trafford in 2010! :)

30-Hour Famine

I did it! I survived 30 hours without biting anything! It was torturous for the final few hours but I managed to cross the finishing line. The temptations as an organizing committee member is higher because of the amount of power and freedom that was accorded. It's harder for regular campers to curi makan or find a secret spot to eat. For committee members, I can just walked to the medic corner to grab a bite if I want to and no one would notice that. But I do wanna take up the challenge to see how long I can go without food and it's an appropriate timing to test my endurance level..hehe.

On Friday, the prelude to the famine, I drove to KL to settle a few stuff. First, is the irritating DBKL "love letter". Prior to that, I've actually done extensive research on the route to reach there by checking it out at Google map. So, I had a rough idea on how to get there and it was possible to reach there without losing my way on the first try. It was a smooth journey until I reached the main town where there's a massive jam buildup. Got stuck there for quite some time before I managed to reach DBKL headquarters itself. Lol, there's actually a 'kaunter rayuan' or appeal counter there for the samans to be reduced and I managed to get mine down by 50%..haha. Whew! When that's settled, I proceeded on to the next course which is to go to Bandar Tasik Salatan for the briefing on my part-time job at KLCC book fair. Eden, Lerdie and two of their friends tagged along also for the briefing. I think the salary is pretty decent for staying up for the whole night..haha.

After the briefing, I had to rush back for our performance practice in the music room. By the time we finished practicing, it was the event briefing and preparation at the hall itself. Ahhh..it's quite a bad timing since it clashed with my CG's steamboat gathering. But I managed to alternate between two since the gathering was just below the sports hall at the dining area. The rest of night was spent completing my publicity stuff with Erwin and Zi Liang since we, as the publicity managers need to handle the exhibition boards and the banner. We were sleepy and drained by the time we finished which was around 2am or so.

On the next day, we placed some final touches on our publicity materials. Then Erwin and me went to have our final filling meal before the famine begins at 12pm. Well, we had various kinds of activities. The interesting one that we had was the refugee race, where it's kinda like a mini real-life RPG. Each committee was assigned to one station and I was in charge of the jail with Zi Liang..haha *grins*. The fun part that we committee have was to destroy the shelters during the tsunami and the earthquake! Poor campers had to watched helplessly the first time but they learnt their lesson the second time when they tried to block us from wrecking havoc..lol.

To some extent, a camp without dinner or food slot is kinda weird. After the refugee, it's time to prepare for the performance. ICF band is performing in this one with me on the drums, Erwin as bass/lead singer, Timothy as acoustic, Nic as electric, Lerdie on the keyboards and Lynne+Shirley for backup singers. Ugghhhh..SAO refused to let us use the new uber drumset, so we had to settle with the old one that is falling apart and is beyond redemption. Seriously, the snare drum doesn't even sound like one and that's how bad it was. I had to replace the cheapo high hat imitation crash with my personal titanium Zildjian one. Oh well, I guess we had to make do with whatever resources that we had. It turned out well in the end and a really big thank you to all our friends who came to watch the mini concert and gave ICF band the support :)

All of us slept on empty stomachs at night and we managed to shrug off thinking about food for about 6 hours since we're in slumberland. The next day, we had more activities to mass distract our minds..haha. The most evil portion of the camp has come, it's "cooking but not eat". Awwwww..this is the most torturous part, since by the 25th hour or so onwards, the hunger pangs started to come. The smell coming from the cooked food is just intoxicating. It's within reach of our mouths but we had to resist all the temptation. We took some time off for a break after cooking and when the 30th hour mark is fast approaching, we did a countdown before dunking soya bean and bread down our throats..haha. Inilah dipanggil buka puasa.....lol

At night, after all the tiring job of cleaning up with the other committee members, I went to raid McD with a couple of my CF buddies. I drank 4 cups of drinks on that night and Big Mac and fries never tasted so good in my life..haha =p

An interview with a gentleman

Yesterday was a big day for the law magazine. It was the long awaited interview with Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Dr. Khoo Kay Kim at the University of Malaya. I've been a long admirer of his work in History and indeed it's a privilege to have this once in a lifetime opportunity to interview one of the major kingpins in History. Well, most of you know that I'm massive fan of History and meeting plus exchanging a words with Professor Khoo is like one of the greatest achievement a history fanatic can get. Seriously, I've never imagined that I would one day be crossing paths with him and speaking to him in person. Professor Khoo himself is also one of the main constructors of the Rukunegara and is a well-known Malaysian historian.

In the morning, the three of us (Shehan, Su Wei and me) set off from campus at around 11.30pm. The interview was supposed to be at 2.30pm but we took some precautions just in case we get lost in KL while trying to find UM. Anyways, I did manage to find UM on the first try and we didn't get lost as what we have prepared for..lol. In fact, I realised that UM is extremely near Mid-Valley and Bangsar. So, since it's still early, we stopped by at Bangsar to makan lunch. It was obvious that Bangsar is notoriously known for people who park everywhere including double parking. As most car are just left there at the roadside, I thought that it would be safe just to leave mine there too since we would just be eating for a while. We ate and discuss happily at Subway about our stuff. When we got back to our car, I had this horrified look on my face when I noticed a "love letter" attached on the windscreen of my car by DBKL. *&#*$&@#!! Lol..I looked around me at all the KL cars that are parking all over the place and all of them never kena anything. Wahhh..my Penang car kena liao lor because of its number plate! I should have parked at the housing estate behind and walked the extra distance. I was a little annoyed, but I've got a task ahead so I gotta concentrate on it.

After a few wrong turns and jams, we managed to reached Professor Khoo's office. We were greeted warmly by the Professor who in turn was surprised to see us in full formal clothes..haha The interview that we had intertwined with many issues pertaining to the Federal Constititution and other historical matters in Malaysia. Professor Khoo is a very well-mannered and approachable person. One would feel comfortable in speaking and conversing with him. The amount of knowledge that he has about History is amazing, especially on local Malaysian history. Many of the facts that he had provided us were surprising things that we never knew of or thought of while we were in school. He would never shy away in giving his views. Haha..in fact, he shares my sentiment that school children and parents in Malaysia are not paying enough attention to History and humanities subjects and too many of them are focussed on Maths and Science, resulting in the lack of creativity in many students. I think all arts people think alike on the education system today and how too much dominance is given to Maths and Science..haha.=p

The interview stretched to about 2 hrs and I believe all 3 of us enjoyed the interview time as well as learning many new historical knowledge. Professor Khoo is indeed the pinnacle of the achievement of the arts fratenity. I would definitely love to have another chance to speak with him on many other historical issues. There are so many more that I wanna find out, especially on the paths that many have not ventured before. With that being said, it's been a privilege to have this opportunity to speak with Professor Khoo :)

Owen to United

Michael is now part of the Mancunian Army

Last week, the transfer market was shaken by the shocking news (and quite an amusing one too) that Michael Owen had became a Man Utd player. This would have been unthinkable 7 years ago back in the days when Michael Owen used to rule roost as the top English and Liverpool marksman. The favoured son of Anfield was one of the most coveted property in the early 2000s. Alongside with his best buddy Gerrard, Owen was considered to be one of Anfield's finest soldiers from its academy. Of course, it all went downhill to moment he went to Madrid. And it went worse when he signed for the Magpies and the Geordies look up to him as if he was Shearer No.2. They looked up to him as a leader and by all means, they tried revolve the club around him as a talisman. Owen spent a tormenting period at Newcastle and tried to overcame a series of unfortunate injuries. His injury spells were so bad that he was branded as "Glass Man".

The rumours were always there of course especially when Newcastle got relegated. When the transfer window was opened, only Hull and Stoke were interested in signing him. The top clubs are not taking risks with him because they were unwilling to pay a high salary for someone who's spending lots of times on the bench. It's known of course that Owen's salary at Newcastle is astronomical for the club.

In a season where Madrid seems to be one that grabs all the goodies, Fergie gave a call to Owen on one Wednesday breakfast morning. It was a quick snap up by Fergie before any of the mid-table clubs tried to grab him up. Of course, some may question Fergie's wisdom on this but I choose to look at it in a postive light. In fact, I'm pretty excited by Owen's arrival at Old Trafford. Perhaps he could be the answer for the "van Nistlerooy" figure that we have always being looking for. I don't think there's much to lose for Fergie since it's a free transfer plus Owen is taking a pay-by-u-play way of salary. This meant that in times of injury, Man Utd won't be wasting money and if Owen's in a hot-form, it's United's gain. Owen looks like the kind of dude that gives much but expects little in return. I won't be surprised if he can become the next Solskjaer in Man Utd. It's a good bench to have an experienced fella like Owen there instead of relying shakily on inconsistent young guns like Welbeck and Macheda in times of crisis.

The Anfield crowd definitely won't love him for defecting to Manchester. But Owen may just be in the right place to revive his career. The physios at Old Trafford will do a better job than those at St. James Park to maintain him..haha. I do believe there's still striking venom left in Owen although his potential has been hampered repeatedly during his time with the Geordies. Anyways, I'll be looking forward to see him in action at Malaysia :)

Inti Ball 2009

Yesterday's Intiball was fantastic. But let's recount back what happened on Friday. It was a pretty packed weekend. After CG on Friday, the whole lot of us went to Macs to have lunch after a few weeks of having food at the cafeteria. Then at 4pm, I went to have a look at the JPA orientation, hanged out and chatted with friends. I only had an hour's rest before I had to make my way out again. A whole bunch of us actually planned to watched Transformers at Putrajaya after dinner there. However, by the time we reached Alamanda, the tickets were sold out for the 8.30 pm show and even the 12am show was gone. Since we were there already, we might as well watch something and we decided upon Ice Age 3 where the only timeslot was 12am. Apparently, the 9.30 pm slot was full for that show. (which meant that lots of kids were there) Lol..I can't believe that we stayed up all the way to 12am just to watch Ice Age..zzzzz..

On the next day, which is Intiball day, there was a workshop at church and unfortunately, I woke up later than the agreed time at 9am. Uhhmmm..I hope Maddie and Lerdie didn't wait too long for me to get down. But anyways we managed to reach in time for the workshop..haha. By the time we finish makan lunch etc, I managed to reach back at campus at around 3pm or so. So many things to prepare, but thankfully, guys need not prepare as much for girls for prom. Just slip onto a black suit, and voila, it's done! Since we didn't book the Inti bus on time, Jason drove us to the venue. We had to do some car following before reaching our destination.

Legend hotel looks neat. I feel lke a VIP in my black suit when I walked down the walkways..haha. I thought that the entire ballroom was very well decorated. Our table had 7 people and that was me, Maddie, Jessica, Lynne, Yuen Chern, Jason and Erwin. Anyways, the ball started off with some performances first. It was quite some time before we were allowed to eat from the buffet line. When the signal was given clear, I hastily walked over to take the food before the large crowd descended upon it. Well, it does help to have a table that is placed near the buffet line..lol. I was very hungry by then and I was quite pleased with the selection of food that had over there. There's pasta there too and I find them to taste better than the ones at Law Nite. In addition to that, there's lasagna, sliced fish in creamy sauce and the chinese 'kong po' chicken. Ohh, it's nice to see that there's fresh brocolli there with butter and they're one of my favourite veggies to nibble at. The soup was great too and it tasted superb with the bread dipped inside. The ballroom staff's service was kinda good, because they serve the all the folks the soup, made the napkins for them and the refills came in quite frequent in the beginning. However, they stopped with the refills later when they should continue. And I thought that they cleared the buffet lines too early..hahaha. They should have left the food there and wait until the event is over first before clearing it up.

The finale performance was by Erwin's band, funkonexion which included Julian as the lead guitarist and Calvin as the drummer. Haha..that was a superb performance of many songs and that's a gathering of all the powerhouses of music that one can find in the campus. Lol..at one of the songs, the dancefloor crowd actually went on stage and rock on alongside the musicians and our whole CF table went to crowd around Erwin. I enjoyed the night overall and had a great time 'cam-whoring' with the CF table..haha. I'm just annoyed with myself a little on my camera battery because it didn't charge properly when it should. The result was that I only managed to take a handful of pictures before I had to depend on Jason's camera for pics..haha.

After all the DJing dancefloor and stuff, we went to take a table group pro shot. It was kinda tiring by the time we got the car and we reached back at campus at around 1am. Mhmmm..I won't mind going again for the one next year provided that I have people that I know going there.

Working in Singapore? Noooooo...

Last Wednesday was a particular interesting experience. The Law office asked me to attend a tea session that was organised in conjunction with the Job Career Fair. I wasn't sure what it was and I thought it was one of the typical firms that are finding new people to join their company. When I received an e-mail information about the tea session, I had a chuckle. Apparently, the "typical firm" turns out to be a job agency from the Singapore government. And they are there to promote about working and living in Singapore! Haha..ok..this is hillarious. Here I am trying to get away from the southern island and now they're recruiting me to go back? Nooooo...

The tea session was a light and easy meeting. Basically, the agency promotes and gives information on finding a career down south. Haha..as usual, we were given brochures and plenty of information booklets and that is a typically Singaporean thing to do. Maybe I should term it 'propaganda'..haha. They asked us to pass them a copy of our individual CVs and I'm just curious how they would react if they found out that my secondary school and A' Levels entries are stuffs from their land when my nationality is Malaysian. Mhmmm..so, I just played along and acted like one of the Malaysians that are wide-eyed about the opportunities down south and have no in depth idea of the stuff there.

The agency also had this 3 days 2 nights exposure camp to the industries at Singapore. No, thank you. Being there for 8 years. Done that. Seen everything. I was tempted to say, "Can I stay over in my Mama's house for the camp?" or.."I know about the ERP, James Gomez and Botak Jones!" Okay, on a serious note, u gotta take your hats off to LKY's government in scouting for talents and running the economy. This is how they take the best brains from around the region and have follow-ups with them. Now, if only Malaysia had a similar scheme or have something to make sure that the JPA scholars stay to serve the country. Then perhaps our country will be handled by capable hands instead of goons.

I asked something about the legal field out of curiosity and it seems that I can't get any good information out of it. Clearly, LKY's government does not provide much opportunities for many people to enter into their legal market. This confirms my point that the legal field over there is reserved afterall for the higher echelons of the society there.

It's a great to be back at my home country in Malaysia but at times, I can't deny it that there were some sense of nostalgia of the 8 years of experience in Singapore. But I would say a majority of them are due to the good times that I spend with my best buddies over there. Whenever a Malaysian talks about his/her working or studying experience over in Singapore, I would always recall back the funny and wacky times I had there. I've been there before and it's deja vu hearing it all over again. The system efficiency and all the red tape over there.

It's really not that blissful once you look beyond the dollar exchange rate. This is especially true if one is a small fry when attempting to enter into the fabric of the Singaporean society. I can't foresee myself getting into that kind of rat race where at the end, I can't realize my full potential just because I missed it by 0.5 points or because I do not fit into LKY's economy scale. Well, it's a weird combination but I always find myself to possess the knowledge infrastructure from Singapore but have a very Malaysian heart inside me. That is why I would disagree on many of the things that they do down south. There is no way I would conform to the way they think although I may possess many of their knowledge in me. No matter how nonsensical Malaysia can get, it's still home to me afterall and I enjoy the freedom that I have here :)