I'm leaving on a jet plane..

Going to Tasmania for a 5-day holiday. Tata!

The Big Night

This is the culmination of 6 week of hard work: A two hour plus extravaganza.

'Stitches in time saves nine' was indeed a night to remember. This is the biggest project I had ever been involved in. There are numerous moments of self doubts, frustrations and tons of stress prior in the run up to this event, but the resounding success make it all worthwhile. Here are some pics of the memorable night:

The opening act: My 6 cents' worth


Dreams. A very sweet-sounding duet.


The strings triplet from VCP.


JinSern, whose voice can melt all gals' heart.


Steve Romig, one of the invited singer who performed for free.


Jessica Paige, another of our invited guest singer.


Full house: nearly 200 people turn up for the event.


The MC team ended the night with a poignant rendition of Words.


Aftermath: Me posing with some PISA members. Note my bow-tie. LOL

Me with one of the kids of Operation Stitches, the organisation where all the money raise will go to, and Claudia, who is the inspiring director of this event.

Besides the entertainment night, PISA members also canvassed for donations in all year levels and also in Melbourne Uni and RMIT. All in all, we managed to raise around $2000 for the charity. That was a lot of money. Thank you all who came and support this event.

P/s: This event is the reason I haven't post anything on this blog for 1 whole week.

13 days...

13 days to Merdeka...

I just want to put a flag on the wall
and show it to all:

That even in a land afar
Malaysia is in my heart and never far.

Sometimes its hard
to express your love for the country.

Someone tried to rap the Negaraku
ended up defending his kuku.

Someone wanted to draw the flag on cake
but if cut it its disrespect.

Someone hang it down their building,
copped a 'must be horizontal not lateral' scolding.

Wearing the flag around the body,
Is also subject to rules aplenty.

Oh why the hassle, why the rules
as long as the heart is true.

I sat here and ponder thus
wtih 13 days left to the 31st of August.

Tim Tam Slam

Tim-tam is a very Australian thing. I am sure all of you had indulged in one before. If not, you are missing heaven.

While surfing the net yesterday, I came upon a very novel way to enjoy Tim-tam, In fact, it had acquired a name: Tim-tam Slam. I tried it today, and it really add a new dimension to the already delicious Tim-tam.

Here's how you do it:

Step 1:

Get your hands on some Tim-tams. Any variety will do. If you are in Malaysia, make sure it is refrigerated coz it need to be hard and firm.



Step 2:

Bite of two ends of the Tim-tam as illustrated below.



Step 3:

Use your tim-tams as an ersatz straw and suck up any beverages you like with it, usually tea, coffee, cholocate or in my case, milk.



Step: 4

When you feel that your tim tam straw is nearly crumbing, put the whole thing into your mouth and enjoy the sensation. Delicious!



Actually it takes practice to perfect the art of tim-tam this way, but who cares rite? I just gave you an excuse to enjoy more of this chocolaty delight!

Enjoy!

Trivia of the day: Tim-tam is named after a horse. Fancy that =)

Stitches in Time Entertainment Night

Charity should make the giver sing,
Happy in the undertow of sharing.
A gift should not be given out of duty,
Remiss in both its pleasure and its beauty,
Intent on rectitude, bereft of caring.
The burdens of the world may be worth bearing,
Yet gifts should still a certain lightness bring.

~By Michael Praetorius. ~

Parkville International Student’s Association (PISA), a club which I am involved in, will be holding this fantastic entertainment night called ‘Stitches in Time’ to help raise funds for Operation STITCHES. Operation STITCHES is a Christian based NGO whose vision is to help kids living in inner-city high-rise estate, changing their lives for the better.

‘Stitches in Time’ will be held on Friday, 24^th August 2007 at Cossar Hall, Victorian College of Pharmacy, Monash University. It will start at 6.30pm and end at approximately 9.15pm. Tickets cost $12 each and come with a number of complimentary vouchers. All profits will go to Operation STITCHES. We hope to raise at least $2000 for them via this event.

They will be a variety of performances from students of Victorian College of Pharmacy, Melbourne University and RMIT. We also have two well-known guest performers: Jessica Paige, a multi-award winning singer and songwriter and Steve Romig, who is awarded Melbourne Blues Association Song, Band and Male Artist of the Year awards 2007.

They will also be a variety of dances, a magician show, bands, a string quartet and solo singers: all performed by talented students. Light refreshment will be served prior to the start of the event.

Tickets are on sale now. If you are interested, please contact me at khoboonphiaw[at]hotmail[dot]com for the tickets. I do hope you all can support this event and tell your friends about it. It will be fun and indeed hugely rewarding.

Thank you in advance! =)

Heralds the new dawn

The English Permier League is on again!

After a three months hiatus, I can now look forward to wake up every Saturday and Sunday morning and go online with a surge of excitement and anticipation to find how my team did the previous night.

Sometimes its bad when the team you supported isn't one of the main team in the EPL. It just isn't fair coz the cable TV here always show Manchester United or Liverpool. Actually I hasn't seen my beloved team play at all in the past seson. Mainly because it was a bad season last year adn I couldn't bear to watch them play.

If you know me well enough, you should know that the team I supported is Newcastle United. Been supporting the club since the 95/96 season when they are a strong team, when they are able to trash Manchester United 5-0. Hopefully this year, Newcastle United can grow to be a team to be reckon with again, since they have a new manager and some excellent players.

Anyway, if you didn't know which team is Newcastle United, its the team Michael Owen is plaing with now. You mean you don't know who's Michael Owen?..well don't bother reading this then.

My favorite player in the current Newcastle United team is Shay Given, who is the goalkeeper. He is so brilliant and I just love to watch him play. His reflexes are astounding. My favorite player used to be Alan Shearer, who was once the world's most expensive striker when Newcastle brought him for 15 million pounds in 96/97, but alas he already retired.

Other players I like in the Newcastle team is Steven Taylor, who is a young and promising defender. I always like new exciting players. In the midfield department, my favorite is James Milner, because he too is young and promising. Striker of course is Michael Owen. Although he is old and slow now, he still can score goals.. I used to like Michael Chopra after Alan Shearer retired, but he got transferred. Still felt its a wrong sale. And he just scored the first goal of the new season.

Haha.. feels like I had just wrote a primary school essay on my favorite football team. To cut a long story short, long live Newcastle United!

I only trust myself

Yeah.. the problem is I know I know too much.

I have a problem.

This problem had been there for ages. I acknowledged the problem but there never seems to be a solution.

The problem is I do not trust other people.

Trusting is difficult. Because by trusting others, you are making yourself vulnerable.

Perhaps this stem from the fact that I never believe others can do a better job than what I did in anything.

Since younger days, I always had been the dominant one in doing group projects. I don't care doing most of the job because I wanted the thing to go my way. Because I always believe my way is the way. I always believe in my way. And all the good results in the group projects seems to justify my stand. And if I can do it my way, I prefer not to have group projects at all.

Actually, I don't like group projects, mildly speaking. Perhaps this is a trait of being a perfectionist. I can't stand sloppy work. And if you work with others.. However, the main reason I can't work in a team because in a team, I need to trust others.

I knew deep inside, no single individual can beat a good, dynamic team. Having good teamwork skills is vital to be successful in life. No man's a single island. In these few years, I tried to improve my teamworking skills. In teams I joined, I tried to let others do the job instead of having a control in everything. I tried not to get involve in jobs that are not my responsibility because I trust other team member can do it. I tried not to go for all the top positions because I am sure there's always someone better to do the job. I know deep down if I become a leader, I will be a dictator. There's no other way I will do it. I tried. I tried. I really tried. I hoped I can grow to trust others. But it is not to be. I always need to control things. I always need to say what should be done. I still can't find someone who can form a perfect team with me. Someone whom I can trust 100% in a job. Now I began to think, perhaps the problem is with me..

I always consider myself to be a student on leadership. I am always interested on how to be a good leader and what are the characteristics of a good leader. I had been to numerous leadership camps and read tons of books on leadership. Now I think that my focus is wrong. Starting from today, I think I will start to look into how to be part of a team.

Perhaps if I can learn how to be part of a team, I can start to trust others.

Salsa and Open Day

I learnt Salsa dancing.

Even though its only a few basic moves..

Its definitely a good feeling to had learnt something new.

The Salsa dance is part of the Global Friendship Series, which is sort of a group of people in uni running free activities to promote integration between students. Being part of the group, its definitely rewarding to see so many people turn up and had fun learning the Salsa - and then ask whether we can have another one next week! Well, I think th answer is 'no', coz I am now a non-believer of successfully running a same event twice in a row. Most young people's interest are so fickle. Sort of 'Been there, done that' mentality.

One of my job is also to make announcements about the event to student. I used to envy the bravery of those who have the courage to go down there and speak. But after doing it for 3 times for 2 different audiences, I felt that it is no big deal after all to stand right down there trying to get the attention of all the students in the lecture theatre. After the first word, everything is easy. That said, I hoped now got people envy me being able to speak in front of a crowd. After all, public speaking is the greatest fear on earth.

Last Sunday was also Monash Uni Open Day. As a volunteer, I was stationed at Clayton (Monash Uni's main campus) and my job is to get prospective students to get on the shuttle bus to the College of Pharmacy. What got my atention is that the majority of students are only concerned with the results needed to enter the course. They have no interest what-so-ever on how life is going to be in uni. I was like 'how can this be? You are going to spend 4 years there!' Then I realised that I didn't care too when I applied for Uni... it's always the Entry Score and how reputable the Uni is. Who cares how life will gonna be.. Well, maybe as you grow older, you kinda began to notice these things.

Well, guess that's the end of my weekly musings. Hope I can post something more substantial on next week. Seems that a few of my frenz are also slacking in updating their blogs. Everyone's busy? Or had the bubble burst?

Medicinal Truth

Truth is stranger than fiction.

It really is, especially in the world of health and drugs and medicines.

Just yesterday, I read that brushing your teeth twice daily can reduce your risk of acquiring heart disease. Fancy that. How can this be? ....




Well, it turns out that by brushing your 'pearly whites', there will be less bacteria in your gums (makes sense), which in turn will lead to less bacteria inflammation throughout the body, including in your arterial blood vessel (a little far fetched for me), hence reducing your chance of a stroke or heart attack. And yeah, to make it more convincing, it can also reduce your chance of miscarriage and premature birth. So there.

Should you believe it? Well personally, I don't see the harm of believing it, coz its good to have good oral hygiene. Besides, the article is in the New England Journal of Medicine, which is like the 'Vogue' of Medicines. In simple terms, it is in one of the most prestigious Medical magazine.

After studying so much on drugs and medicines, I am now a firm believer that it is best to keep off drug when you're sick (See Hua will be glad to hear that), coz there's just too many side effects and you body defense system is the best medicine anyway. Okay this is so bad for my future business but you didn't hear me wrong.. the body work wonders. But yes, there's a catch: you must believe in it.

That may be the best explaination why someone who is not taking medication for being HIV positive outlive someone who had (I read it on yet another article). She believed in her body. Oh yes, you also need to have a healthy lifestyle, especially eating a balance diet and exercise regularly. Coz that's how the body maintain its defense system.

So yeah, believe in yourself. There's not magic bullet in medicines.

Now I see the ingenuity of Homeopathy.

At last I wrote something related to my future profession. =)