BRB

Honestly, maintaining a blogsite takes a lot of discipline...you tend to be lazy and procrastinate...

As you can see, my last post was in June...
Since then...

August - I attended my graduation ceremony in Adelaide. Had loads of fun...
September - Went to Phuket
October - Nothing much has happened!
November - My birthday celebration, and I am selling my car...finally... Sigh!!

Must make an effort to update...!!

Ko Dok Mano?

Kito doh sampeh nie...!!

Doh sampeh mano?? Nu kat stesen... !! Ko nunggu sat...

First 10 mins on the train!!

First hour!

3 hours before arrival...

Welcome to Kelantan! or should I say Kelate... the only place where the Malay language is spoken in an accent that even we couldn't understand.

Eric had his wedding ceremony last Friday at his hometown Kota Bharu. After a hell ride of 19.5 hours on the train, the first thing was to look for a SHOWER...

Where's the shower??

Kaven: Too tired to move...

We had initially planned for Perhentian if we had arrived earlier. Sigh!!

That night we went for dinner @ Eric's...

Red Devil pens...

Dinner time...

Realised that alcoholic beverages cannot be purchased anywhere like in KL... we forgot we were in PASland...

Luckily Eric had some stock kept for us... Thanks man!!

There were lots of Kelantanese whom I can't tell if they are Chinese because they speak the Malay language as well as the locals, if not better. Some looked very much like Thai but they speak fluent hokkien and mandarin....

Anyways, dinner was awesome...

Later than night, Rahul, Theresa, Evelyn and myself decided to check out Kota Bharu town and Pantai Cahaya Bulan while the rest of the crew called it a night. Nothing much to do, we just sat by the beach and chatted all night long.

JJ, this is prove that we were on the beach...

Some of you may have gotten this on MMS...

According to Eric, Pantai Cahaya Bulan or in short 'PCB' used to be known as Pantai Cinta Berahi also in short 'PCB' until the PAS government renamed it to Cahaya Bulan because Cinta Berahi literally means 'Lustful Love' in English. Interesting...I wonder what the locals do there!!

The next morning, Eric came for his bride.

Kaven (not in pic) standing at the entrance, first gatekeeper...
Guys, if there is one thing you should never do before your wedding is to introduce your girl friends to your future wife because they're gonna gang up to 'torture' you at the entrance. We, the guys, the so called buddies were made to do push ups, eat some weird looking rice and sing a chinese love song.


OMG!!


Err, sorry ladies, can I pass??


Negotiation begins...

What? ME? I ain't gonna eat that! Migao, don't hide, time to show that you're heng dai enough...

Ewww!!

Yummy!!

Where's my wife??

The Chee Muis with the bride...

Lunch was next @ Eric's.

Gaya nampak...

Did some last minute keropok shopping before we boarded the 6.45pm train back to KL.

And to Eric, thank you for having us. From the KB Crew, we would like congratulate both you and Jayne; wishing the both of you a happy marriage life.

19.5 Hours Hell Ride...

If you're thinking of travelling by train to any parts of Malaysia, please reconsider!

Take a bus or ride a bicycle, I guarantee that it'll be faster than the KTMB (Keretapi Tak Mau Berjalan)...

Last Thursday, the crew went to Kota Bahru to attend Eric's wedding. We (Rahul, Theresa, myself, Celine, Michael, Li Li, Elvin, Daryl, Kaven, Patrick & Evelyn) boarded the train at 8.30pm, knowing that it's gonna be a blast on board. The ETA was supposed to be at 9.36am the next morning and I was pondering how precise can they estimate. If KTMB can print 9.36am on the ticket, it has be 9.36am arrival.

Reached Seremban station after 2.5 hours when it was supposed to take 1 hour 15 mins... The train stopped for another half hour. A miserable start to a very very long journey!

Arrived at Gemas station, the last southern stop at 1.20am, at least 3.5 hours behind schedule.




Gemas Station


We realised something was wrong when the train stopped for more than half hour. When we asked one of the KTMB staff, they told us 'Sekejap lagi boleh jalan' and this was the same answer we got for the next 2 hours. Took a short nap and realised the train was moving a little. I woke up again at 4.20am, the train was still at the Gemas station.... OMG!!!



At 1.20 am...








5.20am... Still hasn't moved!!!


Apparently, the pressure to the brakes on each carriage was malfunctioning!!! As the technicians went around knocking and banging the undercarriages, the rest of the crew were sound asleep.




I found this guy at the wheels falling asleep!!!


Rahul, Michael and myself 'lepaked' at the cafeteria till about 6.00am before the train finally left the station...

Guess what, we reached Kota Bharu at 4.00PM!!!!!

I WILL NOT take a train anymore in my life!!!


KL to KB - 19.5 hours

Time spent in KB - 26 hours

KB to KL - 16.5 hours


At this time, my body is still disoriented and disillusioned from the bumpy train ride.

DOUBLE DOUBLE…





I’ve been asked this question a lot of times. "If you’re such a hard core Manchester United fan, where’s your say on the DOUBLE?" Honestly, I am still lost for words since that fateful night!


Somehow I sense it has to be a double or nothing at all for Manchester United. We had planned earlier to watch the game somewhere. ‘We’, referred to not only United fans but a Chelsea fan as well. OHhhh there was also this sesat Liverpool fella who joined the Chelsea Supporters coz he was really sore about United being in the final. He would rather see Chelsea win the Champions League, the team who kicked Liverpool out of the semi finals. How sad! That’s why they always walk alone!


I joined Rahul (hard core Red Devil), Stephanie (new found love in United), Jon (the Liverpool fella I was talking about) and Theresa ‘Blue Angel’ Soh (the Opposition) at the mamak stall for dinner before heading back to Rahul’s for the game.


Before the game started, Rahul and I concurred that Manchester United will win if we observed the following customary superstitions:-

United will win in the home red AIG jersey, white shorts and socks.

Rahul must not wear a United jersey, instead he has to stick to a red t-shirt.

Andrew must be wearing his 1968 European Cup winners jersey, with no. 7 and Best printed on it.

Manchester United has never lost when Rahul and myself watch it together.


The build up was really intense with all pundits including our very own Shebby Singh voting for Chelsea to win 1-0. Jon, Rahul, Stephanie and myself were entertaining ourselves with ‘drinks’ as Theresa had earlier went in to the bedroom to have a nap before the game at 2.45 am.


After the ceremonial parades, the Champions League Finals officially kicks off. Chelsea, a first time finalist in the history of the club was expected to give a tough fight to Manchester United. First half was dominated by the combination of United’s young talents and old guards with almost 65% procession of the ball. Rahul and I literally brought house down when Ronaldo scored but Chelsea equalized through Lampard just before half time. Darn!! Back to equal…


Second half was more intriguing seeing Chelsea having more of the procession in their attacking play. Eventually they hit the post twice before going into extra time. Extra time saw both teams playing cautiously and not to mention that Drogba was sent off for slapping Vida… I mean how idiotic can he be? That c*** must be fuming mad coz Vida sticks to him every time he gets the ball. But for a guy the size of Drogba, he falls way too easily. What a w***er!!! Anyways, Giggsy almost had it in the dying minutes of extra time only to be denied by Terry.


Penalty Kicks!!! OMFG…


Ronaldo missed the goal at the third kick, allowing Chelsea an advantage. At that time, we thought that's it for United.


Captain Terry stepped up to the spot to take the kick for the first title in the history of the club…but he slipped and missed… how unlucky was that? A lifeline for Manchester United. Giggsy and Anderson subsequently scored for United and Anelka fumbled the last shot as van der Sar guessed the right side.


And there you have it, MANCHESTER UNITED ARE CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE for the third time in history.


I vividly remembered Rahul was jumping with joy, Jon was sitting quietly (he just lost a hundred bucks to Rahul), Stephanie was also excited and Theresa, being the only supporter of Chelsea and Terry, was speechless. As for me, a heavy breath of relieve.


We were literally walking zombies the following day at work but we still took the productivity level to the highest. (Just in case the bosses are looking at this!!)


My heart goes out to John Terry for missing that penalty. It took a lot of guts to be the final penalty taker. Having said that, I am still very much an ABC (Anything But Chelsea)…


To all you Red Devils out there, I present YOUUUUU the Champions of England and Europe.

Glory Glory Man Utd!!!

Puffery...

Many strategists would agree that an effective marketing communication strategy, if targeted to the proper audience using the right form of media or channel may have an impact on the sales of product and increase the brand awareness...
*Of course it has to be other factors as well la... advertising and promotions alone will not solve business problems right??*


But then again, how effective is effective?


Do you proclaim that your brand or product is THE BEST, THE MOST RECOGNISED, THE TOP???
*Do you? Do you not?*


Think again...


Are there any justifications or proof to claim that you're best or the top? If you claim that your product is world acclaimed, which part of the world that says that?


In communication terms, this is what they call as 'puffery'... as the word suggests, it is how a brand or product boost itself as being the best in order to influence the public to buy their idea.
*The longest, the shortest, the widest, the clearest, the biggest, the smallest....*


Now how ethical is that?


So if brand A says that they are the most recognised and brand B claims that they are world renowned, which one would you most likely pick?


I read with great interest this lil' piece of advertorial I saw today on The Star about this college advertising one of the programmes they offer. I say it is more of an advertorial rather than an advertisement because there are a whole load of 'puffed' textual information in there...

It goes:
Malaysia's ONLY accredited architecture degree*
If you read the fineprint, the asterix means 'By Private Institution'... so meaning to say that they are the only private college where their archi programme is accredited. Fine!
*If you've been offering that for so many years, obviously it would be accredited, wouldn't it?*

Then comes the interesting parts:
Accreditation unmatched by other institutions in Malaysia with half the staff being industry practitioners.
PUFFERY!! How do you know that you're unmatched by others? Maybe the others have 75% of their staff from the industry?
*Heard so many of their so called 'industry practitioners' have left??*

Benchmarking by Consortium of International Universities testifies to global standards.
Now if the Consortium is made up of your own clique, then it's like telling them to mention "Please say we are of global standards". There are actually no testimonials.
*Geez, no comment*

And the best one!!

Global Experience makes you a global graduate, world culture savvy, multi skilled, talent and confident.
If I had financial difficulties, then there will be no global experience. If you meant global experience as to be studying with foreign students in hot sunny Malaysia, there isn't much of a global graduate capabilities that I will have... So what you mean by that??
*No comments either*

So the conclusion is, Don't say what you're NOT. If you're yellow, please don't say you're black...

Tappin' Their Design Potential...

How many times do you choose a product based on its sleek and stylish design although it costs you more?



LIKE ALWAYS!!!!





Would you rather have this??




Or this??


In the modern world that is filled with a multitude of products, many businesses rely on outstanding design to create a strong identity for their brand and stand out from the competition.


The Design School @ Taylor's recently organised the Creativity Encounters Workshop for over 80 youths to learn about the importance of design in the business world and explore their design potential. The workshops allowed participants to understand and maximise their personal creative and design capacities as well as understand the career opportunities available in the creative industries.


Thanks to their participation in the workshops the youths discovered that creativity is not a trait of which only a select few possess. But it is inherent in most people and can be developed in an enjoyable and interactive manner.




The Tower Challenge...



Sketching...



The Participants...

CandleLight Warriors & Human Machines...

No no...this is NOT from a fictional or sci-fi movie...

It's the activities we did for the recent SMJK Katholik Teambuilding and Leadership Camp 'Teens Helping Teens' at the Trolak Country Resort in Sungkai from the 4th - 6th April.

41 students and 6 teachers... That is a lot to handle for Daryl and myself being the facilitators from Taylor's.

We left the school at about 1:30pm for Sungkai Hot Springs prior to checking in to the resort.

Trolak Country Resort is located within a Felda settlement between Slim River and Sungkai. If you exit at the Sungkai/ Slim River on the North South Highway, it takes approximately 15 minutes for you to reach the resort via the trunkroad.

The first activity we conducted was a brief lecture on leadership "Why Leaders Fail?", followed by a Night 'Soft Drop' Walk.

The following day we had raft building, and yes, the teachers and the facis took part. Eventually we emerged winners because we had 2 extra horsepower. We conducted the 'Human Machine' after lunch and thereafter spent the entire afternoon going through the low and high ropes plus the flying fox activity.

After dinner, we briefed the students and gathered the learning outcomes from all the activities. Then we proceed to conduct the 'CandleLight Warriors' where 2 teams pit against each other to extinguish tea light candles using the water guns.

And thanks to the students, Daryl and myself got splashed with endless pails of water after the activity. * i know u all are laughing at this Dan Shiow and Leon*

We left the camp the following afternoon, and we surely hope that they have learnt a thing or two on LEADERSHIP and TEAM DYNAMICS...

Trolak Hot Springs - Students having fun!!

50 degree celcius - I ain't putting my foot in...

Sharing sessions!

Anything would be cooked at a 100 degrees!

Guide: "Don't answer if someone calls your name in the jungle!!"

Student: "What if it's cikgu yang panggil??"

Guide: "Cikgu pun tak boleh answer!!"

Raft making


The teachers and facis team - anyone from SMI remembers Shirlena Ting from USA3??


Can hold the weight ar??


Get set!! Goooooo!!!

"Why not we imitate BumbleBee, one minute a car, the other minute an AUTOBOT!!!

High Ropes


Flying Fox


Commando Climb


Low Ropes


"So what have you learnt??"


"Sorry ar cikgu but I still have to shoot you!!!"


CandleLight Warrior

Discussion - Human Machine


Remember Koe Yeet? Looks familar? She is the girl who has a role in the local Singapore production 'Ah Long Pte Ltd'