it's really ironic how all day i can think of so many things to blog about but when i'm actually sitting in front of the computer, all my thoughts are gone... so now, i'll just start with what i did today... hopefully it'll lead me to remember what i wanted to blog about initially.
i started the boron calibration last friday and it was so demotivating!!! the procedure involved evaporating the standard solutions on a steam bath (which took about 4 hours for 100ml standard solution), refluxing the dried standard in a muffle furnace at 550 degrees celcius for 1 hour, adding acid to dissolve the residue, centrifuging the resultant solution, adding 2 drops of concentrated HCl and 10ml concentrated sulfuric acid, waiting for the solution to cool down, adding the carmine reagent (which was practically concentrated sulfuric acid with red carmine powder) and waiting for 45 minutes for full colour development before taking its absorbance reading on the spectrophotometer. (see how long the method is!!!) on thursday after i'd finished the phosphorus calibration, i tried reading the SOP (standard operation procedure) for the boron calibration and half way through the procedures, i came across this phrase "... and triturate with a rubber policeman to dissolve." at first i couldn't believe my eyes, i thought i was seeing something wrong... what do policemen have to do with calibration methods? so i asked the lab technicians and they too didn't know what it was about... in fact, everyone had a good laugh over it! jokes were flying about non-stop till work ended! even the chemist didn't know what the phrase meant and wrote it off as a typo error. before i went back, i asked my supervisor what it meant (while trying very hard to stiffle a giggle) and turns out, it wasn't a typo error and simply means agitating the solution by blowing bubbles using a dropper (rubber policeman is the term used for the black rubber bulb)... i felt so stupid after that...
anyway back to my story, it took me the whole day to prepare the standards until the centrifuging part and i had to continue on friday morning. the results were totally and utterly out of the expected range! it was a total failure. i had to do the whole thing again (my supervisor suggested not diluting the stock solution this time). so i did everything again and had to stay till 6.15p.m. (overtime) to finish the calibration. again the results were as bad as the previous time... i think my supervisor kinda guessed i was getting abit fed up, so he asked me to redo it on monday minus the drying and centrifuging steps. it worked! and i'm so happy it's finally done and over with... whew!
ok, i'm starting to nod off... i've lost my train of thoughts. so i'll end here. i guess i didn't get to recall what i wanted to blog about.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
My ignorance!
a couple of days ago i was reading the standard operation procedure for the ferrous iron calibration method and i came across this apparatus called Erlenmeyer flask. somehow i seem to remember hearing of such an apparatus before but couldn't put a picture to it in my mind. so, i set about asking the lab technicians what it was. and they were like, "what's that? should be a volumetric flask... but we don't have 125mL volumetric flasks... hmm..." and in the end they asked me to just ignore that and proceed to the next step. so that was that!
when i read another method for a different procedure, i came across this Erlenmeyer flask again. and to prevent myself from sounding really brainless, i refrained from asking my supervisor (who was right next to me) what it was... vowing to look it up on the net as soon as possible. after so many days of forgetting (when i was online) and remembering (when i was at work), i finally got down to checking it out on wikipedia just a few minutes ago... and after all the enigmatic thoughts, turns out it's just another name for CONICAL FLASKS!!! i can't believe i'm so silly!!! (to cover up these silly mistakes/discoveries, i'm keeping it from the knowledge of the chemist and my supervisor... after all, they'll be contributing 40% to my assessment!)
when i read another method for a different procedure, i came across this Erlenmeyer flask again. and to prevent myself from sounding really brainless, i refrained from asking my supervisor (who was right next to me) what it was... vowing to look it up on the net as soon as possible. after so many days of forgetting (when i was online) and remembering (when i was at work), i finally got down to checking it out on wikipedia just a few minutes ago... and after all the enigmatic thoughts, turns out it's just another name for CONICAL FLASKS!!! i can't believe i'm so silly!!! (to cover up these silly mistakes/discoveries, i'm keeping it from the knowledge of the chemist and my supervisor... after all, they'll be contributing 40% to my assessment!)
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Scammers
last week or so, i read an article about the top internet scams/chain mail on yahoo and i was directed to a magazine article about this guy who was an american christian psychologist (or something to that effect) who was swindled by some africans via email scams. i've received some of these emails in my junk mail but rarely. today, i decided to open my alternative yahoo mail which i used for my form 6 editorial board stuffs and my inbox was filled with these similar emails!!! here's a sample (to the readers, please don't believe any of such emails, do not reply because they will call you and sound very convincing) :
MRS LILLIAN NDULOVU. Address 48 Venderbeek Edenvale South African. E-MAIL: mrs_lillianndlovu01@yahoo.com Tel:+27-76-32-67-690 PROPOSAL FOR URGENT BUSINESS ASSISTANCE
Dear Friend
My name is Lillian Ndulovu , the wife of Mr. Daniel Ndulovu of Zimbabwe. This might be a surprise to you about where I got your contact address. I got your address from the South African Chamber of Commerce in Johannesburg, South Africa.
During the current war against the farmers in Zimbabwe from the supports of our President Robert Mugabe to claim all Opposition Party farms to his party members and his followers, he ordered all white farmers to surrender all their farms to his party members and his followers.
My Husband was among one of the best farmers in our country and because he did not support Mugabes ideas, Mugabes supporters invaded my Husbands farm and burnt everything in the farm, killed my Husband and made away with a lot of items in my Husbands farm.
Before the death of my Husband he deposited with one of the Security Company in Johannesburg, South Africa the sum of US$26 Million (Twenty Six Million United States Dollars). After the death of my Husband, we decided to move to the Republic of South Africa where he
had deposited the money in the Security Company as valuables.
So I and my son (Henry) decided to contact overseas firm and companies that will assist us to move this money out of South Africa because as asylum seekers we are not allowed to operate any bank account within South Africa. We have agreed to offer you 20% of the total sum for your assistance, 5% will be mapped out for any expenses that may be incurred in the course of this transaction and 75% will be for us and the family to invest in your country.
All I want you to do is to furnish me with your entire personal phone and fax numbers for easy communication, or you can contact my son(Henry) on this his telephone number +27-76-32-67-690 Note that this transaction is 100% risk-free and absolutely confidential.
Thanks and God bless. Regards, Mrs Lillian Ndulovu My personal email address: mrs_lillianndlovu01@yahoo.com
MRS LILLIAN NDULOVU. Address 48 Venderbeek Edenvale South African. E-MAIL: mrs_lillianndlovu01@yahoo.com Tel:+27-76-32-67-690 PROPOSAL FOR URGENT BUSINESS ASSISTANCE
Dear Friend
My name is Lillian Ndulovu , the wife of Mr. Daniel Ndulovu of Zimbabwe. This might be a surprise to you about where I got your contact address. I got your address from the South African Chamber of Commerce in Johannesburg, South Africa.
During the current war against the farmers in Zimbabwe from the supports of our President Robert Mugabe to claim all Opposition Party farms to his party members and his followers, he ordered all white farmers to surrender all their farms to his party members and his followers.
My Husband was among one of the best farmers in our country and because he did not support Mugabes ideas, Mugabes supporters invaded my Husbands farm and burnt everything in the farm, killed my Husband and made away with a lot of items in my Husbands farm.
Before the death of my Husband he deposited with one of the Security Company in Johannesburg, South Africa the sum of US$26 Million (Twenty Six Million United States Dollars). After the death of my Husband, we decided to move to the Republic of South Africa where he
had deposited the money in the Security Company as valuables.
So I and my son (Henry) decided to contact overseas firm and companies that will assist us to move this money out of South Africa because as asylum seekers we are not allowed to operate any bank account within South Africa. We have agreed to offer you 20% of the total sum for your assistance, 5% will be mapped out for any expenses that may be incurred in the course of this transaction and 75% will be for us and the family to invest in your country.
All I want you to do is to furnish me with your entire personal phone and fax numbers for easy communication, or you can contact my son(Henry) on this his telephone number +27-76-32-67-690 Note that this transaction is 100% risk-free and absolutely confidential.
Thanks and God bless. Regards, Mrs Lillian Ndulovu My personal email address: mrs_lillianndlovu01@yahoo.com
Industrial training
working has been really tiring... it's not really the work that tires me but more of the journey to and from work as well as sitting around trying to figure out what to do next. i'm doing my industrial training in Permulab and i've been placed in the water analysis lab. i've to admit that i didn't do my research thoroughly when i applied to this lab, so now i'm stuck doing chemistry lab work (which is not really related to biochemistry, but on the other hand will help very much in improving my lab skills)
from my experience in working at the kindergarten and this lab, i've found that there are good days and there are bad ones. i don't know what makes them good or bad, it just happens. in the kindergarten, the children could be devils one day and and angels the next. in this lab, things would go smoothly one day and terribly tiring the next day. perhaps it could be me... my mood or something... but somehow, i've never really experienced this in school or uni.
my first day was pretty good... my supervisor came in late, so i didn't get to speak to him until the end of the day. however one of the chemist taught me some stuff... basically i helped him to prepare stuff... not the real sample analysis. the next day, he was on leave so i really had almost nothing to do... sitting around wasting time... it was a bad day. i thought my third day would be the same but then my supervisor saw me with nothing to do and so he let me read up the manual on free chlorine testing and later try to do the spectrophotometer calibration. so that turned out to be quite a good day. my fourth day was so-so, i spent half a day pouring samples into plastic centrifugation tubes for the aforesaid chemist (who was back from his leave) and the other half calibrating the older spectrophotometer. the fifth day started out good with me calibrating the newer machine but after showing the results to my supervisor, i had to repeat some steps a couple of times. after which the results were still not satisfactory and i had to try calibrating on the older machine. i kind of felt like i was in the way of some of the lab technicians... my day ended by helping the chemist to pound some solid samples into powder form and helping him do some other miscelleneous stuff. (sometimes i get the feeling that the chemist is just using me to help him do stuff... but i guess that's what a trainee is for right? so i must abolish that thought!!!)
i have no idea what's in store for me this week... which starts tomorrow...
from my experience in working at the kindergarten and this lab, i've found that there are good days and there are bad ones. i don't know what makes them good or bad, it just happens. in the kindergarten, the children could be devils one day and and angels the next. in this lab, things would go smoothly one day and terribly tiring the next day. perhaps it could be me... my mood or something... but somehow, i've never really experienced this in school or uni.
my first day was pretty good... my supervisor came in late, so i didn't get to speak to him until the end of the day. however one of the chemist taught me some stuff... basically i helped him to prepare stuff... not the real sample analysis. the next day, he was on leave so i really had almost nothing to do... sitting around wasting time... it was a bad day. i thought my third day would be the same but then my supervisor saw me with nothing to do and so he let me read up the manual on free chlorine testing and later try to do the spectrophotometer calibration. so that turned out to be quite a good day. my fourth day was so-so, i spent half a day pouring samples into plastic centrifugation tubes for the aforesaid chemist (who was back from his leave) and the other half calibrating the older spectrophotometer. the fifth day started out good with me calibrating the newer machine but after showing the results to my supervisor, i had to repeat some steps a couple of times. after which the results were still not satisfactory and i had to try calibrating on the older machine. i kind of felt like i was in the way of some of the lab technicians... my day ended by helping the chemist to pound some solid samples into powder form and helping him do some other miscelleneous stuff. (sometimes i get the feeling that the chemist is just using me to help him do stuff... but i guess that's what a trainee is for right? so i must abolish that thought!!!)
i have no idea what's in store for me this week... which starts tomorrow...
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap
today was my 2nd day at work. it wasn't too bad but it wasn't too good either... the chemist who taught me yesterday was on leave today and so the lab technician had to teach me... i did pH, turbidity, colour, total suspended solid (TSS), total disolved solid (TDS) analysis today. however the latter 3 were practically demonstrations. so i had alot of time to shake leg... yesterday was better, i managed to do alot of sample digest and a couple of sulfate concentration analysis.
since i had alot of time today, i read some of the labels of the water samples and found that some were from dams etc and there were sewer water samples too... however they were pretty clear, not murky and shitty as i thought it'd be... perhaps it had already undergone treatment... i also noticed that reservoir water were around pH7... so if our tap water was acidic, i'm guessing it was contaminated while travelling through the underground piping...
ok i'm totally dropping off to sleep now... hopefully can type more tomorrow.
since i had alot of time today, i read some of the labels of the water samples and found that some were from dams etc and there were sewer water samples too... however they were pretty clear, not murky and shitty as i thought it'd be... perhaps it had already undergone treatment... i also noticed that reservoir water were around pH7... so if our tap water was acidic, i'm guessing it was contaminated while travelling through the underground piping...
ok i'm totally dropping off to sleep now... hopefully can type more tomorrow.
Friday, May 04, 2007
Idle
i'm amazed that my one week of pure holiday is almost over... i start my industrial training next monday! i hope i'll fit in alright and actually learn useful things. one problem i might face is language... i have a feeling most of the employees are chinese... another problem is i don't have enough pants to wear, since i can't wear jeans and skirts...
my last paper was biochemistry of food & nutrition... it was by far the worst paper for me! i thought it would be quite ok at first, but turns out that the lecturer asked questions that required 10% knowledge from his notes and the rest we have to have super duper general knowledge!!! i wasted so much time reading his notes! i've noticed that people who are clever at talking (glib) usually are really unreliable... you mustn't trust their words 100%... if you do, you'll end up like me... i just hope that i don't get any C's this semester... if i do, my CGPA might just drop to 3.00 or lower... that would be really bad for me...
so lately, as in the past few days... i've been busy designing stuff for a HP contest... i've noticed that my designs are so amateurish; it's due to my minimal knowledge of adobe photoshop and illustrator. so i've been trying to learn illustrator online for the last 2 days... i used to think photoshop was better than illustrator, but now i think the opposite! illustrator has so much potential, just that my capabilities are so pathetically insignificant... but i've learned how to create a brush and use it to design a very simple swirl... now i just have to figure out how to put stalks to the swirls so it looks more elegent. another thing is, i'm hooked on vector designing... it really gives that smooth modern feel to the artwork! as for the contest, i hope i can get by just by my ideas rather than the quality of the artwork... although i'm pretty certain that every aspect counts and have equal weightage.
while researching for tutorials i found a really good website http://www.bittbox.com for adobe photoshop, illustrator and flash. so far, i've only explored the illustrator section. it's just amazing what websites have evolved into... for instance, mika's website is so "cool" (i feel so cheesy for saying that word, but that sums it up!) http://www.mikasounds.com ... i love the leaves clearing away when you scroll your mouse over it and also the pidgeon releasing a good dose of bird dropping when you click him! from that website, i visited the web designer's site http://www.holler.co.uk and it was really sleek and high-tech (whoa... my vocab makes me sound like an 80 year-old spinster trying to be up-to-date). anyway, it really showed me how much you can actually do with flash! i really want to learn flash now!!! but everytime i open that program i just go blank with all the complicated features and it really doesn't help that i have no knowledge of programming... back to the story, i found out that this holler company designed a website for the 2005 mtv video music awards http://vma.mtv.co.uk and i was so "wow-ed"!!! i wonder how much they charged for that website... every page was really interesting... i think i'm a really backward person because i don't come across sites like these often...
ooh... i totally forgot for the moment... we're dog-sitting aunty chan's poodle pup LV... she's so adorable, cute, beary, delightful and mischevious.... she keeps bullying zack, trying to play with him but infinitely chasing him around and finally upstairs. i think she's just craving to nip at his stump of a tail... zack had an episode of low self-esteem when LV first arrived... he was sullen and kept to himself all day hiding upstairs and hiding behind the palm tree in the garden when LV was nearby. now, he's starting to open up but still is keeping the poodle pup at an arm's length.
my last paper was biochemistry of food & nutrition... it was by far the worst paper for me! i thought it would be quite ok at first, but turns out that the lecturer asked questions that required 10% knowledge from his notes and the rest we have to have super duper general knowledge!!! i wasted so much time reading his notes! i've noticed that people who are clever at talking (glib) usually are really unreliable... you mustn't trust their words 100%... if you do, you'll end up like me... i just hope that i don't get any C's this semester... if i do, my CGPA might just drop to 3.00 or lower... that would be really bad for me...
so lately, as in the past few days... i've been busy designing stuff for a HP contest... i've noticed that my designs are so amateurish; it's due to my minimal knowledge of adobe photoshop and illustrator. so i've been trying to learn illustrator online for the last 2 days... i used to think photoshop was better than illustrator, but now i think the opposite! illustrator has so much potential, just that my capabilities are so pathetically insignificant... but i've learned how to create a brush and use it to design a very simple swirl... now i just have to figure out how to put stalks to the swirls so it looks more elegent. another thing is, i'm hooked on vector designing... it really gives that smooth modern feel to the artwork! as for the contest, i hope i can get by just by my ideas rather than the quality of the artwork... although i'm pretty certain that every aspect counts and have equal weightage.
while researching for tutorials i found a really good website http://www.bittbox.com for adobe photoshop, illustrator and flash. so far, i've only explored the illustrator section. it's just amazing what websites have evolved into... for instance, mika's website is so "cool" (i feel so cheesy for saying that word, but that sums it up!) http://www.mikasounds.com ... i love the leaves clearing away when you scroll your mouse over it and also the pidgeon releasing a good dose of bird dropping when you click him! from that website, i visited the web designer's site http://www.holler.co.uk and it was really sleek and high-tech (whoa... my vocab makes me sound like an 80 year-old spinster trying to be up-to-date). anyway, it really showed me how much you can actually do with flash! i really want to learn flash now!!! but everytime i open that program i just go blank with all the complicated features and it really doesn't help that i have no knowledge of programming... back to the story, i found out that this holler company designed a website for the 2005 mtv video music awards http://vma.mtv.co.uk and i was so "wow-ed"!!! i wonder how much they charged for that website... every page was really interesting... i think i'm a really backward person because i don't come across sites like these often...
ooh... i totally forgot for the moment... we're dog-sitting aunty chan's poodle pup LV... she's so adorable, cute, beary, delightful and mischevious.... she keeps bullying zack, trying to play with him but infinitely chasing him around and finally upstairs. i think she's just craving to nip at his stump of a tail... zack had an episode of low self-esteem when LV first arrived... he was sullen and kept to himself all day hiding upstairs and hiding behind the palm tree in the garden when LV was nearby. now, he's starting to open up but still is keeping the poodle pup at an arm's length.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Transposons!
a couple of minutes ago, i just found out that transposons are responsible for the multi-coloured corn kernels (black, yellow, red etc) on some corn cobs (especially indian corn)!!! for a biochemistry student, it's pretty sad that i only know this 2 days before my final exam... and this i found out on the web, not through my lecturer's notes (which induced a panic attack in me 2 days ago... i don't know why, but the more i read them the more confused i become)
anyway, i had my first finals paper yesterday (toxicology to be precise)... i thought i did ok till we started discussing the answers after the exam... and i'm pretty sure i've lost 30 marks or so... hopefully i can get better than C for this paper as i really did memorize alot (and actually enjoyed studying) for this subject... my problem was not reading the question properly and hastily answering it... i didn't have time to think my answers through... all my thoughts just went straight from my brain to my pen via action potentials transmitted through my neurons with nitric oxide as neurotransmitter in my brain synapse and acetylcholine as neurotransmitter in the neuromuscular junction. an action potential along the axon of the presynaptic neuron stimulates the influx of calcium ions which then causes the release of acetylcholine into the synapse and stimulates the nicotinic cholinergic ionic channel receptors which causes an EPSP and as a result muscle contraction occurs. probably half of that is inaccurate, but that's just a taste of what i had to come up with in my exam... the best part was that i started to memorize the lipid peroxidation pathway for linolenic acid at 9 a.m. and that question came out in our 11.30 a.m. paper! Thank God i memorized that! (and actually could remember it during the exam!) i need supplements for my brain... i think i'm extraordinarily "nyanyuk" (forgetful) for my age...
anyway, i had my first finals paper yesterday (toxicology to be precise)... i thought i did ok till we started discussing the answers after the exam... and i'm pretty sure i've lost 30 marks or so... hopefully i can get better than C for this paper as i really did memorize alot (and actually enjoyed studying) for this subject... my problem was not reading the question properly and hastily answering it... i didn't have time to think my answers through... all my thoughts just went straight from my brain to my pen via action potentials transmitted through my neurons with nitric oxide as neurotransmitter in my brain synapse and acetylcholine as neurotransmitter in the neuromuscular junction. an action potential along the axon of the presynaptic neuron stimulates the influx of calcium ions which then causes the release of acetylcholine into the synapse and stimulates the nicotinic cholinergic ionic channel receptors which causes an EPSP and as a result muscle contraction occurs. probably half of that is inaccurate, but that's just a taste of what i had to come up with in my exam... the best part was that i started to memorize the lipid peroxidation pathway for linolenic acid at 9 a.m. and that question came out in our 11.30 a.m. paper! Thank God i memorized that! (and actually could remember it during the exam!) i need supplements for my brain... i think i'm extraordinarily "nyanyuk" (forgetful) for my age...
Friday, April 13, 2007
MYC!news article which i wrote... they've probably edited it...
Having Fun Helping the Needy
Saturday the 24th of March, 2007 marked the opening ceremony cum fund-raising concert of Young Visionaries 2007 (YV’07). This community-based project organized by AIESEC in University Malaya (UM) started in 2003 and has been successfully running for the 4th time in 5 years. This time around, YV’07 has adopted Trinity Home and Agathians Shelter for two months in which specially selected international trainees will facilitate weekly activities at these orphanages.
To get the ball rolling, a two-day carnival held at the car park area of Perdanasiswa, UM preceded the fund-raising concert. Participants of this carnival include NGOs and merchandisers.
The YV’07 fund-raising concert held at the Dewan Tunku Canselor, UM was officiated by Mr. Ambhihabathy Ratnam, Assistant Head Registrar of Student Affairs and Alumni in UM. This star-studded night hosted by Jules of Fly FM and Shamser Sidhu, started off by a stunning break dance performance by the children from Agathians Shelter. Next in line, fellow AIESEC member James Loh cooled down the excitement with his soothing ballads. Local band Borange then raised the tempo with their original numbers followed by a cute Indian dance by the children of Trinity Home. Marionexxes and Flirting with Sleep were next with their hardcore experimental music. The final band FasyLive “wow”-ed the crowd with guitar, drums and bass solos incorporated into their tight set of blues/rock songs.
As the saying goes ‘save the best for last’, the headliners of the night were Karen Kong and Juwita Suwito! Karen hooked us with her sugar sweet voice, singing “Juli Doremi” and “Cinta Hello Kitty” from her debut album “Mulakan”. After which Juwita Suwito mesmerized us with her version of Alicia Keys’ “If I Ain’t Got You” and two more songs from her current album “For Real” – “Teman Sejati” and “Walk Away”. The latter song she performed by popular demand from the crowd.
Other highlights of the night include lucky draw sessions sponsored by The Body Shop and bidding sessions for three 3 months memberships to California Fitness. The audience also received goodie bags sponsored by myc!news on their way in.
The funds raised from the carnival and concert will be used for the weekly activities to be held at the two orphanages. Any surplus would be donated back to the orphanages. Among the weekly activities planned are pot-planting, craftwork, puppet show, brunch sponsored by Paddington House of Pancakes, watching movie, tutoring, games/sports, scouting experience and an excursion to Gardenia.
Interested to know more about AIESEC or YV’07? Visit http://youngvisionaries.bravehost.com. Perhaps you’d like to volunteer, please contact Ms. LS (xxx-xxxxxxx) for further details. Donations in monetary or in kinds are most welcome (Please contact the abovesaid person). Let’s make this a Mission Possible!
Saturday the 24th of March, 2007 marked the opening ceremony cum fund-raising concert of Young Visionaries 2007 (YV’07). This community-based project organized by AIESEC in University Malaya (UM) started in 2003 and has been successfully running for the 4th time in 5 years. This time around, YV’07 has adopted Trinity Home and Agathians Shelter for two months in which specially selected international trainees will facilitate weekly activities at these orphanages.
To get the ball rolling, a two-day carnival held at the car park area of Perdanasiswa, UM preceded the fund-raising concert. Participants of this carnival include NGOs and merchandisers.
The YV’07 fund-raising concert held at the Dewan Tunku Canselor, UM was officiated by Mr. Ambhihabathy Ratnam, Assistant Head Registrar of Student Affairs and Alumni in UM. This star-studded night hosted by Jules of Fly FM and Shamser Sidhu, started off by a stunning break dance performance by the children from Agathians Shelter. Next in line, fellow AIESEC member James Loh cooled down the excitement with his soothing ballads. Local band Borange then raised the tempo with their original numbers followed by a cute Indian dance by the children of Trinity Home. Marionexxes and Flirting with Sleep were next with their hardcore experimental music. The final band FasyLive “wow”-ed the crowd with guitar, drums and bass solos incorporated into their tight set of blues/rock songs.
As the saying goes ‘save the best for last’, the headliners of the night were Karen Kong and Juwita Suwito! Karen hooked us with her sugar sweet voice, singing “Juli Doremi” and “Cinta Hello Kitty” from her debut album “Mulakan”. After which Juwita Suwito mesmerized us with her version of Alicia Keys’ “If I Ain’t Got You” and two more songs from her current album “For Real” – “Teman Sejati” and “Walk Away”. The latter song she performed by popular demand from the crowd.
Other highlights of the night include lucky draw sessions sponsored by The Body Shop and bidding sessions for three 3 months memberships to California Fitness. The audience also received goodie bags sponsored by myc!news on their way in.
The funds raised from the carnival and concert will be used for the weekly activities to be held at the two orphanages. Any surplus would be donated back to the orphanages. Among the weekly activities planned are pot-planting, craftwork, puppet show, brunch sponsored by Paddington House of Pancakes, watching movie, tutoring, games/sports, scouting experience and an excursion to Gardenia.
Interested to know more about AIESEC or YV’07? Visit http://youngvisionaries.bravehost.com. Perhaps you’d like to volunteer, please contact Ms. LS (xxx-xxxxxxx) for further details. Donations in monetary or in kinds are most welcome (Please contact the abovesaid person). Let’s make this a Mission Possible!
YV'07 flyer!!!
this is the YV flyer that we managed to get printed. California Fitness printed it for us with thei advertisement on the back. negotiationg for this is another long winded story that i'll just let lie...
i had to redesign this countless times!!! but actually it's kind of simple la...
Thursday, April 12, 2007
How hope crumbles!
first paper is next wednesday at API... where that is, i have no clue but i'm supposing it'll be the best looking building in um... since API stands for Akademi Pengajian Islam... hint hint
well, what's been happening for the past month? basically, YV'07!!! i've been designing and designing and designing publicity material for Young Visionaries 2007, half of which did not materialize in the end due to financial constraints... terrible... i just feel terrible... not about my designs but rather about the whole concert big hoo-haa thing... personally i think we bit off more than we could handle! the idea of the whole thing now seems absurd in hindsight. organising a full blown concert in 2 months and all of us green horns in that kind of events management? wttw had at least 6 months of preparation and their target was the exhibition and cultural night. we had 2 months to plan the carnival and charity concert and also take care of the weekly programs for the orphanages! personally i feel that we all lost the main focus of YV in all the hustle and bustle of planning this elaborate event...
i really can't believe that 70% of the time and our plans were dependent on the false hope of a sponsor (a major telecommunication company). time and time again i stressed on the development of a backup plan... but NOOO... we're still hoping on xxXxx to back us!!! and when desperate times called for desperate measures... still, they looked down on quite established local indie bands (which they the OCs might have never heard of... but believe me that these bands are leaps and bounds better than some of our performers!!!).
i know that i've never organized anything close to a concert let alone a stage performance, but i've heard so much from LK for more than 5 years about band performances and the equipments etc... hell, i even became roadie carrying guitars and effects pedals!!! and so i offered some advice like thinking of where to rent mics, mic stands, drums and guitar amps from and holding an audition to see the suitability of the band's materials... to the former, the response was "i'm sure that the musicians will bring their instruments" and the latter was just ignored... so to those who know the current situation of local indie bands, i rest my case.
time for promotion... ok, i admit that i did not approach many people in the faculties, but i did my fair share during the college roadshows... besides i am the one who stayed up till 5 a.m. everday just to rush the redesigning of our flyers etc!!! and to make my day, some "so-called-volunteers" start making snide remarks about how we run our roadshow!!! if you're so bloody clever, then why don't you get off your fat brown-nosing ass and actually help out like what volunteers are supposed to do! if not, just shut your gap and stop posing as a noble volunteer!!! honestly, i'd rather have no volunteers than have this kind of NATO idiot! but just for the record, there were really really sweet and helpful volunteers... in fact the rest were really great... Hari was so helpful and supportive!!! only about one or two posers strutting their stuff instead of helping out... and interestingly, i found an SMKS9 junior in AIESEC! i can't believe we were in choir together!!! such a sweeet cute girl! i think she's the only ex-SMKS9er that i've come across in UM!!! perhaps there are others... but i don't know them
so comes the big day! rush here rush there... ML and i carrying the heavy VIP armchairs (the ones with wood carving and padded upholstery) with FC and Jasper... volunteer A looking on and hollering "eh, where were you all har?", not lifting a hand! i really wanted to answer back, "we were riding in a next-to-condemned lorry rounding UM for the umpteenth time looking for the VIP furnitures! being sent back and forth between stores and rumah universiti... and then the 4 of us (2 guys and 2 girls) lugging the 4 darn chairs and 2 tables down a slippery flight of stairs and hoisting it into the lorry!" i really despise people who simply shoot their mouths without knowing the current situation! like Mr. JP used to say, "don't thought, think!" to people who make excuses like "i thought ar..."
the concert night... technical problems... again volunteer A was partly responsible for that... but of course the severity of the whole let down was also contributed by the dissappearing act of our dear OC member... and it is so dissappointing to state that some of our own OCs lacked committment on this night... the night where every helping hand was so important in its success... i really don't know how some people can promise the sky and not even deliver the earth/soil (whatever)... nothing, totally nothing... our opening ceremony power point presentation which was delegated to someone more than a month before... end up cutting and pasting my slides from the publicity materials (that i did in one night, mind you!)... so, unwittingly i have done someone else's job! How Grreat!
but by far, the worse part was seeing the audience flee the horrible performance by our very own UM band, Marionexxes!!! (Please voice out those words with over-exaggerated sarcasm!!!) because that's what they think of themselves (the best band in the woooooorrldddd!!!) GOODNESS, these people need a REALITY CHECK!!! i'm sorry but i have nothing but snide remarks when i think of them! they text us offering to play for free (to help the children yada yada yada...) and then after they chase away our crowd and eat up all our VIP food, they expect us to pay them RM100! do we need to spell it out for them (not like they'd even understand then...) C-H-A-R-I-T-Y concert!!! we started out with ZERO for capital and ALL our other performers (which are more established than them) Juwita Suwito, Karen Kong, FasyLive, Borange, Flirting with Sleep, James Loh... didn't require any payment! even our MCs Jules from fly fm and shamser sidhu did it for the sake of charity! these UM people try to be so arty farty by playing the chinese instrument erhu (which was more than not out of tune) and claiming to have a new zealand didgeridoo player (which turned out was a malay guy born in NZ)... Have they no cow sense? Do they not have any receptors for embarrasment? THIS really tops my list of UNBELIEVABLE events that's happened to me in my life so far! I'm still dumbfounded by all this... my brain can't accept that there is such imbecility in this world! and in an institute of higher learning... a place for supposedly intellectual thinking and appreciation of the power of knowledge!!! i hope that this is the only case of such detritus mindset in UM or any other universities in the world!
you know, i've vented this dumbfounded-totally-speechless feeling so many times to so many people but i still can't shake it off! I am totally undoubtedly spooked out with this experience! things just get worse and worse... i've never thought it possible... but seems like it is!
well, let me now dwell on the better part of the concert! Juwita Suwito was incredible... she was so sweet not to get upset because the band that shall not be named chased away her audience (she was the headliner and hence the last performer!)... she obliged us with an extra song too... joked with us, autographed our cds, bags, shirt etc. and she came for the sound check and actually did a sound check! (unlike the other ppl!) sheesh... i should've went for calvary church's fund-raising dinner for CCC... she performed there too...
karen kong was really cute and she sings well in live as in her cd! quite hard to find that quality in malaysian artists... even the veterens aren't as well prepared... to me, she was really sweet and CUTE! that epitomizes her!
i really liked FasyLive... they were really tight... timing and rhythm changes were all there and precise! albeit a little technical problem with the bass amp (which is our fault la)... their solos were really impressive! drummer had his double pedal and all... bass solo whoa!!! although they were quite loud, they had a tune goin! part of the reason they sounded good was because they brought their own sound engineer! i think that could've been their smartes move and i put my hats off to them for being so well prepared and just so.... chun!!!
well, what's been happening for the past month? basically, YV'07!!! i've been designing and designing and designing publicity material for Young Visionaries 2007, half of which did not materialize in the end due to financial constraints... terrible... i just feel terrible... not about my designs but rather about the whole concert big hoo-haa thing... personally i think we bit off more than we could handle! the idea of the whole thing now seems absurd in hindsight. organising a full blown concert in 2 months and all of us green horns in that kind of events management? wttw had at least 6 months of preparation and their target was the exhibition and cultural night. we had 2 months to plan the carnival and charity concert and also take care of the weekly programs for the orphanages! personally i feel that we all lost the main focus of YV in all the hustle and bustle of planning this elaborate event...
i really can't believe that 70% of the time and our plans were dependent on the false hope of a sponsor (a major telecommunication company). time and time again i stressed on the development of a backup plan... but NOOO... we're still hoping on xxXxx to back us!!! and when desperate times called for desperate measures... still, they looked down on quite established local indie bands (which they the OCs might have never heard of... but believe me that these bands are leaps and bounds better than some of our performers!!!).
i know that i've never organized anything close to a concert let alone a stage performance, but i've heard so much from LK for more than 5 years about band performances and the equipments etc... hell, i even became roadie carrying guitars and effects pedals!!! and so i offered some advice like thinking of where to rent mics, mic stands, drums and guitar amps from and holding an audition to see the suitability of the band's materials... to the former, the response was "i'm sure that the musicians will bring their instruments" and the latter was just ignored... so to those who know the current situation of local indie bands, i rest my case.
time for promotion... ok, i admit that i did not approach many people in the faculties, but i did my fair share during the college roadshows... besides i am the one who stayed up till 5 a.m. everday just to rush the redesigning of our flyers etc!!! and to make my day, some "so-called-volunteers" start making snide remarks about how we run our roadshow!!! if you're so bloody clever, then why don't you get off your fat brown-nosing ass and actually help out like what volunteers are supposed to do! if not, just shut your gap and stop posing as a noble volunteer!!! honestly, i'd rather have no volunteers than have this kind of NATO idiot! but just for the record, there were really really sweet and helpful volunteers... in fact the rest were really great... Hari was so helpful and supportive!!! only about one or two posers strutting their stuff instead of helping out... and interestingly, i found an SMKS9 junior in AIESEC! i can't believe we were in choir together!!! such a sweeet cute girl! i think she's the only ex-SMKS9er that i've come across in UM!!! perhaps there are others... but i don't know them
so comes the big day! rush here rush there... ML and i carrying the heavy VIP armchairs (the ones with wood carving and padded upholstery) with FC and Jasper... volunteer A looking on and hollering "eh, where were you all har?", not lifting a hand! i really wanted to answer back, "we were riding in a next-to-condemned lorry rounding UM for the umpteenth time looking for the VIP furnitures! being sent back and forth between stores and rumah universiti... and then the 4 of us (2 guys and 2 girls) lugging the 4 darn chairs and 2 tables down a slippery flight of stairs and hoisting it into the lorry!" i really despise people who simply shoot their mouths without knowing the current situation! like Mr. JP used to say, "don't thought, think!" to people who make excuses like "i thought ar..."
the concert night... technical problems... again volunteer A was partly responsible for that... but of course the severity of the whole let down was also contributed by the dissappearing act of our dear OC member... and it is so dissappointing to state that some of our own OCs lacked committment on this night... the night where every helping hand was so important in its success... i really don't know how some people can promise the sky and not even deliver the earth/soil (whatever)... nothing, totally nothing... our opening ceremony power point presentation which was delegated to someone more than a month before... end up cutting and pasting my slides from the publicity materials (that i did in one night, mind you!)... so, unwittingly i have done someone else's job! How Grreat!
but by far, the worse part was seeing the audience flee the horrible performance by our very own UM band, Marionexxes!!! (Please voice out those words with over-exaggerated sarcasm!!!) because that's what they think of themselves (the best band in the woooooorrldddd!!!) GOODNESS, these people need a REALITY CHECK!!! i'm sorry but i have nothing but snide remarks when i think of them! they text us offering to play for free (to help the children yada yada yada...) and then after they chase away our crowd and eat up all our VIP food, they expect us to pay them RM100! do we need to spell it out for them (not like they'd even understand then...) C-H-A-R-I-T-Y concert!!! we started out with ZERO for capital and ALL our other performers (which are more established than them) Juwita Suwito, Karen Kong, FasyLive, Borange, Flirting with Sleep, James Loh... didn't require any payment! even our MCs Jules from fly fm and shamser sidhu did it for the sake of charity! these UM people try to be so arty farty by playing the chinese instrument erhu (which was more than not out of tune) and claiming to have a new zealand didgeridoo player (which turned out was a malay guy born in NZ)... Have they no cow sense? Do they not have any receptors for embarrasment? THIS really tops my list of UNBELIEVABLE events that's happened to me in my life so far! I'm still dumbfounded by all this... my brain can't accept that there is such imbecility in this world! and in an institute of higher learning... a place for supposedly intellectual thinking and appreciation of the power of knowledge!!! i hope that this is the only case of such detritus mindset in UM or any other universities in the world!
you know, i've vented this dumbfounded-totally-speechless feeling so many times to so many people but i still can't shake it off! I am totally undoubtedly spooked out with this experience! things just get worse and worse... i've never thought it possible... but seems like it is!
well, let me now dwell on the better part of the concert! Juwita Suwito was incredible... she was so sweet not to get upset because the band that shall not be named chased away her audience (she was the headliner and hence the last performer!)... she obliged us with an extra song too... joked with us, autographed our cds, bags, shirt etc. and she came for the sound check and actually did a sound check! (unlike the other ppl!) sheesh... i should've went for calvary church's fund-raising dinner for CCC... she performed there too...
karen kong was really cute and she sings well in live as in her cd! quite hard to find that quality in malaysian artists... even the veterens aren't as well prepared... to me, she was really sweet and CUTE! that epitomizes her!
i really liked FasyLive... they were really tight... timing and rhythm changes were all there and precise! albeit a little technical problem with the bass amp (which is our fault la)... their solos were really impressive! drummer had his double pedal and all... bass solo whoa!!! although they were quite loud, they had a tune goin! part of the reason they sounded good was because they brought their own sound engineer! i think that could've been their smartes move and i put my hats off to them for being so well prepared and just so.... chun!!!
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