Whoa!! A Busy Day Indeed!!

25 Jan 2011

Yes, it was totally a busy day for me as I spent most of my time inside the canpus. I went to Utar as early as 9.45am and only returned home around 12 something the next day (today). Wanna know what I did throughout the whole day? This is my story:

I woke up around 9am and had my breakfast before heading to the varsity. At first, I thought I was supposed to have directed study with Ms Joanna but unsure about the time whether is from 10am-12pm or 12pm-2pm. So I waited for her near her office. After half an hour her shadow still couldn't be seen, I texted her asking for the correct time. She replied saying it's 12pm-2pm. After received her reply, I headed to Block C Cafeteria.

While at the cafeteria, I went to help out with the fundraising the CF is currently having, selling apple pies and muffins of assorted flavours (blueberry, chocolate and strawberry) to raise fund for the upcoming CF camp in May.After having lunch there, I returned to Block A again and found Ms Joanna was in her room. We began the directed study and Ms Joanna wasn't sure how to conduct a directed study as this is the first time she's doing this. Anyway, I brought along the notes and we started working from there. As this was the first session, she requested me to read the chapter on the Indo-European family of languages and do a summary on it. She allowed me to go to the library to do the summary and hand in before 2pm if possible.

I headed to Block G after leaving her room. And I spent an hour there trying to complete the task but I couldn't. So I texted Ms Joanna, asking if I could hand in by tomorrow (today), and she agreed. After packing my stuff, I left the library and headed back to Block C Cafeteria. There, I dropped by the CF booth again and occasionally the ELS booth. ELS is having fundraising too, selling cupcakes for three days from 24 -26 Jan. There, I got to know more of my EL juniors, Puey Ru (chairperson), Esther Song and Natalie to name a few.

Around 4pm, once again, it's back to Block A again. This time I'm seeing Mr Soh for another session of directed study on Language Learning Theories. He and I discussed about whether I wanted to retain my previous coursework marks. And he suggested that I should retain it as my coursework marks was quite satisfactory. He explained that it would be burdensome for me if I were to redo my coursework. The only thing I need to work on was on the midterm exam where I faired extremely poor. Then Mr Soh asked me to read chapter one and ask him if there's any questions. Then, Nelson Kuah appeared at Mr Soh's office and Mr Soh was quite mad why he came late. Nelson explained that he encountered some problems in the DSA. Anyway Mr Soh told Nelson what he had already told me. We dismissed after that and Nelson and I parted ways.

Then, I headed in the direction of the Dry Cafeteria located btwn Block D and E. I decided to continue doing my summary and spent an hour there before going back to Block C once again to meet up with Kao Meng as he has summoned me to help out with the final preparation of the Welcoming Night. There were namy tasks to be completed but we settled one task at a time. Later more and more helpers turned up and they too started helping out. By 7pm, everyone was in their respective positions (after having dinner of course). I was in the ushering team together with a few CF members, Melody Leong, Cheng Hoi, Guang Yao, Wendy Lee just to name a few. Our duties was to welcome those who came for the event and guide them to registration counters. Church representatives and new members will receive a bookmark each upon registration.

Kao Meng summoned everyone to gather into 10 groups according to the number on bookmarks they had (CF members exclusive, they can just join whichever group they want). So I just simply chose and joined Tabitha's. (This was the 2nd time I'm in her group, having been in her group for welcoming prayer walk last week.) Kao Meng then introduced two games. First, one person has to say his/her name, the next person has to repeat the 1st person's name followed by his/her name, and so on. All the groups did this simaltanously, with whomever was slow or say wrongly a person's name would receive punishment from the game master. Each group would have one representative for punishment time. And I'm the 'lucky one' as I couldn't remember one of the girls' name.

The 10 people waiting for Kao Meng's further instructions. And I'm the 3rd person from the left.

The second game followed after this. This time around, all the 10 groups had to name themselves according to names of fruits, namely Mango, Apple, Orange, Durian, Mangosteen, Kiwi, Pineapple, Strawberry, Dragon Fruit and Avocado. What they needed to do was to bomb one another with the lines stating own group name and the targeted group's name (e.g "Mango bomb! Mango bomb! Mango bomb to Apple bomb!!"). Whinchever group made a mistake will be forfeited. In the end, Pineapple and Dragon Fruit were the joint losers and the group members were punished by writing UtarCF with their BUTTS!!

Okay playtime over. Let's get into business! Everyone headed into DDK3 and prepared themselves for a time of worship. Daniel Chi was the worship leader and musicians included Christopher, David and Wai Wai with Edmund controlling the slides. 3 songs were sung bilingually, namely How Great Is Our God, Lord I Lift Your Name On High and Beautiful Saviour. Later, emcees for the night, Mr Kuek and interpreter Chang En, welcomed everyone. Then they handed over the time to the CF choir. The choir consisted of 4 brothers and 4 sisters and they belted out several songs including I Will Follow Him and We Are The World.

After that, it's Pastor Nicky Ling's turn for his sermon and Chang En was the interpreter. In his sermon entitled Overcomer, he compared between life in schools and life in universities. At the end of his sermon, Pastor Nicky prayed for all who present before handing the time back to Mr K and Chang En. Then, everyone adjourned for light refreshments where this was the time that fellowship took place. There were several booths around the area where refreshment was served and freshies could find out more about various churches around Kampar. Soon, everyone started leaving for home and I'm no exception of course, having spending the entire day at the campus. And I arrived back in my own room at around 12.30am.

Yeah, that's all I wanna share. It was a great day indeed although I was tired. Oh ya, I didn't manage to snap any photos for the Welcoming Night. Do check out the following link for photos of this wonderful event: CF Welcoming Night Jan 2011

FusionExcel Recognition Dinner 2011

Miss World 2010 graced FusionExcel recognition dinner

Alexandria Mills launched Miss World Malaysia 2011 pageant

By ANTHONY CHAN

The poster says it all: A large poster on the stage displaying the event of the day which Mills is the guest-of-honour. On the stage was Gamul (left).

SERDANG: It was a dream comes true that a reigning Miss World visited our lovely country. And for the first time in 23 years, all the top three winners of Miss World 2010 pageant came to visit Malaysia. This time around, Miss World 2010 Alexandria Mills of USA was here on official business.

Mills, 18, was seen appearing at the FusionExcel International recognition dinner held at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS) in MARDI located here on January 23, 2011. She was here to launch the Miss World Malaysia 2011 pageant during the recognition dinner which is held once every six weeks. This time, there were a total of 200 tables in the multi-purpose hall, filled with invited guests and representatives from several countries such as Singapore, China, Thailand, India, Taiwan and the Philippines.

The event of the night began with the arrival of several VIPs which included Mills, President of the Miss World Organisation Mrs Julia Morley; 1st runner-up of Miss World 2010 Emma Wareus of Botswana, 19; Miss World Malaysia 2010 Nadia Heng Min Dern, 25; Miss World India 2010 Manasvi Mamgai, 22; founder CEO of FusionExcel International Mr Paul Ting, who is the franchise holder of Miss World Malaysia 2011 pageant; founder director of FusionExcel International Mr K.S. Lee; veteran singer Dato' Khadijah Ibrahim and ambassador of FusionExcel International's Hope for Children campaign Maggie Loo.

Star attraction of the night: (from left) Morley (partly hidden), Mills, Emma and Nadia

Then, the masters of ceremonies invited the VIPs to be up on stage for the official launch of the Miss World Malaysia 2011 pageant. After that, the dinner officially began with a long stream of young waiters and waitresses serving dishes to all the guests.

There were performances on the stage to keep the guests entertained while they were enjoying the dishes served on their tables. There were several dance performances by Sichuan district Guangzhou dance troop from China, which included a ballet dance. The Chinese dancers impressed the audience with their excellent dance moves.

Then, Dato' Khadijah stepped into spotlight when she was performing a traditional song on the stage. She is one of the appointed judges for the Miss World Malaysia 2011 pageant.

The next performance was thrilling as a young boy from the Philippines led the VIPs, who were invited to join him on the stage, for a song presentation. Clark Gamul acknowledged the distinguished guests before he started to sing Michael Jackson's We Are The World and the VIPs joined him. After his performance, Gamul received a birthday gift from K.S. Lee. Coincidentally, he turns 11 on the auspicious day itself and obtained a laptop. Gamul expressed his gratitude by saying, "I would like to thank FusionExcel for the gift I received. I really appreciate it."

Later, former Miss Malaysia Maggie Loo delivered her speech on the Hope for Children campaign developed by FusionExcel International.

Another significant event was the donation of one million sewing machines to one million Indian households. Representatives from India, including Mamgai and FusionExcel presidential director Rachel Thomas, made their way to the stage and revealed a mock sewing machine which was presented to them. They also received a mock cheque of RM150,000. The Indian community was rejoiced of the honour that they have received.

A time for celebration: The Indian representatives rejoicing after receiving the mock cheque and mock sewing machine. With them is Mamgai (first from left).

Last but not least, the highlight event of that night was recognition of directors, executive directors and presidential directors of FusionExcel International. Names were being called and those whose names were mentioned went up the stage to receive their rewards as recognition for their achievement in the organisation.

Of course, some of the participants were lucky enough to walk away with small gifts. Out of the large number of guests, only 100 were fortunate ones whose ticket numbers were randomly chosen through a lucky draw. They followed the instructions given by the MCs and redeemed their prizes.

At the back of the hall, there were counters where visitors can look at the various products of FusionExcel International displayed there. They can purchase the products if they're interested. The products available there were Quantum Pendants, Premium Quantum Pendants, Quantum Shields and many others. There was even a special where buyers can choose their own designs on the Quantum Pendants and have them decorated on the spot.

Up for grabs: The various designs of Quantum Pendants avaiable on display.

NOTE This event is written in the form of a news story as a contribution to the OJ news website assignment. The news can be found in the news site entitled newsflashutar.

YES! I GOT IT!!

Yes!! My application for Utar vehicle sticker is successful and when I checked the results thru the Utar portal, the status shows that it is SUCCESSFUL (First Ballot). Wow! It really surprises me. I obtained the vehicle sticker application by the FIRST BALLOT?!?! Anyway, I really thank Oh Chin Eng (SRC president) for the balloting process and more importantly, I would like to express my gratitude to God as I have prayed to Him the day before regarding this matter. God really answers my prayers and I'm really grateful that he's my Special One!
Now that my vehicle sticker online appilcation is successful, I have to submit my application to DSA and obtain that sticker allocated to me ASAP as the application period is from today onwards until Feb 11. Guess I'll get that done next week when I return to Kampar.

Another thing that happens today is that I received a phone call from Ms Joanna Tan. She knows that I'll be repeating 2 subjects and one of them is History of the EL. She takes over the subject after Mr Mahalingam resigned last year. She asks me whether I'm free from 12-2pm next Tuesday and I reply saying that I'm totally free on that day. So she informs me to bring all the notes for the subject and see her in her office. I guess Mr Krishnan has told her about my case. And I hope he'd assign another lecturer for me soon, for the subject Language Learning Theories soon (which I guess the lecturer would be none other than Mr Soh).

CF Welcoming Prayer Walk

The CF is back again, kickstarting the Jan 2011 trimester with a prayer walk on its 1st meeting. Supposed, the 1st meeting should be on Thursday but as tomorrow is a public holiday (Thaipusam), the meeting is brought forward by one day.

Anyway, the prayer walk starts around 5pm. A lot of members, both existing and new, are gathering at the Dry Cafeteria btwn Block D and E. The meeting begins with a praise and worship session led by David. We sing 3 songs, namely We're Together Again (this song will be sung on the 1st CF meetings for welcoming everyone back in the campus), We Want To See Jesus Lifted High and Every Time I Pray.

After that, Prayer Coordinator Ray Leong gives us a briefing before dividing all of us into several groups. There will be station masters to brief the groups about the prayer items. I'm in the group led by Tabitha (my fellow CG member), together with Parathy, Felicia and Kharis. Tabitha (or fondly known as Tabby) guides us to Block F, G and I to pray for the 3 blocks. While we're in Block G, a new member is brought by Ray to join our group and he is my buddy Kai Jun.

Among the items we've prayed for during the walk are:

Block G (Library)

• Pray for better security as students find their belongings missing
• Pray for sufficient reference books and system upgrading
• Pray for the experienced librarians for their commitment and services in the library

Block I (Lecture Halls)

• Pray that teaching and learning processes can be carried out in conducive environment and also the lecture halls will be well maintained
• Pray for the construction works (beside the block and I heard that it's gonna be students' hostels) and the workers' safety

Block F (Admin Block)

• Pray that the staff at Division of Finance and Department of Scholarship and Examination would be friendly and offer their best service
• Pray for Christian lecturers that they would find time to get closer to God despite their busyness
• Pray for UTAR President (Dr Chuah) and Vice-President (Dr Teh and 2 others)

After we're done, the 6 of us proceed back to our gathering place. While waiting the other groups to return, we take the opportunity for a short group sharing session and get to know one another. And when all the groups have returned, Ray asks if anyone wanna share their opinions and Derk shares his. He mentions that when his group is praying in Block A, another person joins in as well. And this person is Dr Sebastian, Dean of FAS. It doesn't surprise me as I have met the Dean before for my academc matters and Dr Sebastian mentions that he is also a Christian. Afterwards, Jensen says the closing prayer before everyone dismisses to go for dinner as the meeting finishes right on time at 7pm.

That's the end of the 1st meeting. Up next is the Freshies Welcoming Nite on Jan 25 (Tue). And I've offered my service to help out in this event in the area of ushering and setting up of booths plus refreshment. Looking forward to the exciting event. Oh ya, recruitment is still on this week(although tomorrow's off to give way to Thaipusam) and there will be fund-raising next week. CF will be baking tarts and muffins to raise funds for the upcoming CF camp.

With All I Am

Verse 1
Into Your hand
I commit again
With all I am
for You Lord
You hold my world
in the palm of Your Hand
and I am Yours forever

Chorus
Jesus, I believe in You
Jesus, I belong to You
You're the reason that I live
the reason that I sing
With all I am

Verse 2
I'll walk with You
wherever You go
Through tears and joy
I'll trust in You
And l will live
in all of Your ways
and Your promises forever

Bridge
I will worship
I will worship You

Let The New Trimester Commences

That's right!! Today is the very first day of the brand new trimester and I'm glad to be back in the midst of Utar environment again after the absence of 6 months (not a complete absence as I came back occasionally).

I cycle to Utar around 9.30am and proceed to class. When I enter the class, Samantha and Monica are already there and they give me a warm welcome back. Later, more and more of my friends turn up and they, too, are gald to see me again. Soon, everyone but Mei Yun and Bee Ling has arrived. We proceed to have our classes--Professional Writing lecture and tutorial with Ms Joginder and Online Journalism tutorial with Mr Teh Boon Teck. After the PW lecture, I go to Block C Cafeteria for lunch. There, I meet my fellow CF members and drop by the CF booth. The CF is having one-week recruitment drive at Block C and H.

After two consecutive tutorials from 12.30pm to 3.30pm, everyone dismisses. After that, I make my way to FAS FGO to see Cik Zuhairah in regards of the registration of the 2 repeat subjects but she is out for lunch. So I decided to walk around while waiting for her to return. Suddenly, I come across my new academic advisor's office. I decided to see him and introduce myself as one of his academic advisee. My new advisor is Mr Edwin Michael (previously I was under Mr Mahalingam, but then he resigned). After having a chat with Mr Edwin, I return to the FGO and Cik Zuhairah has returned. I talk to her regarding the registration matter and she will contact me for further actions as the HOD Mr Krishnan is not around. I thank her and head for home.

It's CGBC's Burger Nite tonight. Whoa... can't wait to make my own burgers again and have fellowship with my fellow Connectors.

Oh ya, I would like to wish my fellow coursemates, twins Ann and Jan, a happy 23rd birthday. It's nice knowing both girls and I hope they both have a wonderful day.

I Am Back

"I AM BACK!!!" ~Ian Hawke (Alvin and the Chipmunks: the Squeakquel, 2009)

Ah, I'm finally back in Kampar after a long absence and I'm geared up for the brand new trimester. For this trimester which begins tomorrow, I'll be joining back my original group - Eugene & Co. Supposed, I'm in Daryl's batch but most of them are away for their industrial training, except 6--Nelson, Brain, Dante, Jojo, Wei Yeng & Song Moi. The first 3 cannot have their internship done this trimester because of not enough credit hours, as for the 3 girls, they will be doing their internship in a kindergarten in Kampar.

Anyway, I'll be taking 4 subjects this trimester, namely Online Journalism, Professional Writing, History of the English Language (repeat) and Language Learning Theories (repeat). Registered for the first 2 subjects, but I need to register the latter two at the FGO. I'll get things done ASAP. Also, I have start working on my FYP proposal. Haven't thought of a suitable topic yet but I have chosen which area to concentrate--Psycholinguistics. Will refer to Mr Renu regarding this.

It's good to be back in the midst of my 3 families in Kampar--UtarCF, Campus Connect and EL. Looking forward for fellowship this trimester. There'll be Burger Nite at CGBC tomorrow evening. Pray that tomorrow will be a fine day. CF will be back as well, starting with a welcoming prayer walk this Wednesday. (Usually, the 1st meeting willl be held on Thursday but this Thursday is a pubilc hoilday--Thaipusam).

I hope that I'll enjoy a great year in the Year of the Rabbit as I am one myself. I'm all out to give my best (as I know God will take care of the rest) and make 2011 an awesome year. Oh ya, I would like to welcome Wendy Lee (my bubbly CG leader) back to the CF family. While she returns to CF after completing her intership, Kyle will be the one going away this semester. Anyway, all the best to Daryl & Co for their industrial traning.

Unexpected....

....but well deserved! Things always happen, even though you may or may not expect it to come your way.

Well, yesterday I went for Toastmasters meeting at YMCA Ipoh. I have been attending such meetings for quite a few times to improve on my public speaking skills. This time, I attended the meeting alone as my parents had something on.

Yesterday's meeting was the first one of the year and it started at 8.03 pm. It started off with Sergeant At Arms (SAA) Pak Peter calling the meeting to order. Then the President of YMCA Ipoh Toastmasters Club CG Huan delivered his opening speech and made several announcement before Toastmater of the Evening (TME) Jacky Chong took over the rostrum.

Jacky first called upon the inspirer Pradeep to give the members and guests some inspiration messages. The inspiration that Pradeep gave the audience was "In order to change the world, one must first change him/herself before changing others". I totally agreed with this!

Then, it's back to Jacky and he asked the guests to introduce themselves one by one. There were a total of 8 guests, including me. Many of the guests were new faces and the number has broken the record of the club. Up next on the agenda was the introduction of role players where Jacky introduced the role players (including himself) and their respective roles.

Later, Jacky called upon the Word Master Singarair to provide the word for the evening - pre-dominant. The Word Master explained the meaning of the word and encouraged everyone in the hall to use the word in their speech if possible.

After that, Puan Nur Aida, the Table Topic Master, took over from the TME and began the Table Topic session. Since there were no theme available, the topics that she has prepared were of everyone's interest, starting from new year's resolution to Facebook. There were total 12 topics and 12 people iccluding 3 guests were given the privilege to voice their opinions. As each speaker were speaking, their time taken were being recorded by Pak Peter who was the timekeeper. Some of them spoke very well, such as May Foo, Dr Ngiam, Peter Ng etc but it was no surprise to me as they were experienced speaker. One Indian girl, Kani, caught my attention as she was able express herself well despite speaking for the first time.

It's time for manual projects presentations and there were supposed to have 2 speakers for the night. But one of them was unable to make it or the TME said he has chickened out, leaving Dore Rajah as the sole presenter of the night. And May Foo will be evaluating his presentation. Dore Rajah spoke on growing dragon fruit and presentation slides was very detailed but too wordy and he has to rush his speech towards the end as he realised that there isn't much time left. Anyway, there's always room for improvement.

When Dore Rajah was dome with his speech, it's time to take a short break. During this time, it's refreshment and fellowship time as members and guests mingled with one another. I had a question in my mind: whether guests are allowed to take part in the humour session. So I decided to ask CG Huan's opinion. CG said ususally it's for members only but he referred me to Dr Ngiam who was teh Humour Master of the night. Heeding his advice, I conslted Dr Ngiam who gave me the same reply but he said I can take part if there were no other people who were interested. I'm satisfied with his response, at least I asked.

Break time over, back to the show. Jacky introduced Dr Ngiam as the Humour Master. Dr Ngiam shared a number of jokes. Then, he paused for a while and mentioned there's one guest who would like to share his joke with everyone, That person is none other tham ME!! So I stepped forward and went ahead to share my joke. Here's the joke that I told:

One day, a small boy was not feeling well and was brought to a nearby clinic by his parents. While waiting for his his turn, he sat down on the bench in the clinic. The little boy noticed a pregnant woman sitting beside him and wondered why she has a big stomach.
So the boy asked the woman, "Excuse me, ma'am, may I know why is your stomach so big?"
"Oh, there's a baby inside my stomach." the woman replied.
"Is the baby good one or bad one?" the boy asked.
The woman asnwered, "Oh you silly boy, of course it's a good baby."
The little boy asked a third question but the question he asked really surprised the woman. The quiestion was: "If the baby is good, why did you eat it?"
(I hope you'll get the joke!!)

It's back to Dr Ngiam again and he wrapped up the session after sharing a few jokes. Then it's evaluation time and the General Evaluator, CG Huan, gave his review on the whole meeting. During his evaluation, he called upon Grammarian Pradeep, Ah Counter Chin Kok Wai and Timekeeper Pak Peter to report their findings. After the general evaluation was done, it's for some Golden Moment in which all members and guests voiced out their comments about the flow of the entire meeting.

Last but not least, the announcements of winners. Actually this was suppossingly be done before the Golden Moment but it doesn't matter. CG Huan announced the winners: first, the Champion for the Table Topc Session was Dr Ngiam (my guess was May Foo to be 1st, Kani 2nd & Dr Ngiam 3rd); second, the best Humourist gies to..... "drums roll* ME!!! I was totally surprised. I thought Dr Ngiam was going to make a clean sweep, I thought. There's no way I beat him as his jokes were better than mine. But it wasn't my joke that has won me the award, it's my courage. As a recognition for my efforts, CG Huan rewarded me with a token of appreciation. Then he drew the curtains of the meeting down. I walked out of the meeting room with heads held high as I made another breakthrough, having spoken in the Table Topic session in the previous meeting (which was on 18 Dec).