BRATs Taiping 2008 Fourth/Last Day (16 March)

src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_BAOFtljCnSE/R-4u9ZaARRI/AAAAAAAAALM/01ZglsNr8lk/s400/DSC_0075.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5183131853476873490" border="0" />
Today BRATs Taiping comes to an end. We had a late night sleep so I woke up late. I could feel the strain in my eyes from finishing out video assignment. A glance at the mirror made me realize that my eyes showed a slight shade of red.

We (me and roommates) woke up exactly 10 minutes before breakfast! NOT wanting to miss it, we rushed down after taking care of all our hygienic needs. Everyone was cam whoring and getting each other personal contacts.

Then one of the most fun thing happened. We had self-defense classes! One of seniors Hoei is an Aikido Instructor. WOW! I wouldn't want to get in trouble with her. It was cool learning all those slick moves. BUT IT WAS PAINFUL! I think I dislocated all my joints by the end of the day. We learnt how to response to some basic harassment.

Example:
- Someone not letting go of your hand
- Touching your shoulder (Yeah! Thats harassment)
- Touching your waist
- Etc

I enjoyed the class. But some people were REALLY into it...

After that, we showcased all of our video assignments. Ju-Eng and Niki gave us final advises and pointers on how to improve in certain areas.

It was then time to say goodbye. Everything was really solemn, obviously we were sad that the workshop was coming to an end. So here's some pictures to sum everything up!




Bedazzled: Alex is a budding lomographer. Don't know what that is? Google that!



Owhhh!!!: She just realised its the last day of the workshop!




Darling reporters: They (Kingsern on the left and Shanuja on the right) were great throughout the entire duration of the camp. I know I'm a fussy editor but they still stuck on with me. I'll always remember the phone interview =) *inside joke* And thanks to Amrita for being such a wonderful sub-editor (the one sitting in the middle).




Group senior: Thanks Muzani (the guy sitting down) for going tirelessly through all our articles and giving pointer here and there.




Mom and Dad of the camp: They were awesome. You can really feel the love every time they scold us (YES...we got plenty!). Ju-Eng(left) and Niki(right) were the ones who taught us all the stuff during the workshop, from writing to taking pictures. And is amazing to see people who are more...hmm...say...erm..."mature" than us who are as/more hip than us. I've never heard of online radio till' the workshop......lolz. To me they are like high profiled(I think they already are) people and superstars in their own rights.



Video lady: Thanks for all the pointers on making our awesome videos! Karr Wei (left) handles all the video equipment. We got to use HD Camcorders during the camp!!! HD!!! HHAhaha...the geeky side of me.



Cool: She helped out with my group's article a little bit here and there. And I think she might be the first one to remember my name =) And also...I get so excited when I see their(facilitators) articles in the newspaper. So far I've spotted Niki's and Sharmila's article. I would be going "WOW! I know her/him suddenly".



And to the very appreciated BRATs Seniors....(as requested by Melissa)

Miu Kee(left) and Melissa(right): Hahahah....I still can't figure out that question the Miu Kee asked!!! It goes like this...

Papa mama can touch,
Koko jie jie cannot touch,
What is that?

I remembered everyone started giving answers like, "Erm...Miu Kee....isit dirty ah...you know the...arm....you know lah" And I can't believe you are past 21 years old! You still look young and I thought you were like......18-ish.

Melissa, the Sarawakian girl. Nice vibe and hyper! Caries that favorite pillow of hers everywhere she goes. And apparently BRATs brought out her "inner-camwhore" =)



Yin Hoei and Muzani: I found out Yin Hoei have been teaching Aikido at my school for a few years already! All these while and I've never met her (its such a small world). She demonstrated the skills in Aikido at the end of the "Self-defence" workshop with Ju-Eng and she can do one mean flip.

Muzani as I said earlier have been such a great help. I think he guided the group based on his experience in HIS BRATs workshop.



Back row from left: Sean, Stanley, Jeremy
Front row from left: Christina, Kingsern, Shanuja, Xin Lin, Amrita

Finally: M.U.S.E (Made Under Student Empowerment) members! They were such a joy to work with. Jeremy and Sean with their photos. Christina with her excellent job holding the mike (you'd know if you watched our video project) and doing such a good Paula Abdul impression! Kingsern, Shanuja, and Xin Lin were the official reporters. As I said earlier they had to put up with all my antics. Amrita for being such a good sub-editor. My special thanks also goes out to Joshua and Jeffrey who are not in the photo. Joshua was wandering SOMEWHERE and Jeffre had to go back early. Joshua did a great job taking the video. Jeffry is my second sub-editor, full of ideas and creativity. We should all have a reunion one day :) Perhaps regroup, go somewhere and write an article for "Ole Brats".................. =)

ps: If any one of the facilitators are reading this, I KNOW I have lots of vague informations here like age.....full name with proper spelling.....and inaccurate quotes. Cut me some slack okay =)

BRATs Taiping 2008 Third Day (15 March)

Here it is, the third day of BRATs Taiping Workshop 2008! We have our individual assignments today. Unlike other days where we go in one big group, today we would be going in our individual groups.

My group was given an assignment on a temple. My first impression was "What?!!". Not that I have anything against the monks or Buddism but its just more of a taboo to me. But still I went there with a mind as open as I possibly could. After all, I thought it would be interesting to do something that I have never done before.

The nice mat layed out for us to sit on

Our interview with the monk went pretty well. I think we learn a lot in the past few days and we are kind of slowly putting those things in action. The monk's name is Phra Korn Thammawaro.

Interview session with the monk

I found his character really interesting. As me and my members poke into his life during the interview sessions, everything somehow clicks (ignoring the fact that there were few non-related-random-questions). Phra Korn was simple one interesting monk!

Phra Korn

He is a Taiping born boy and his parents migrated from China to Phuket to Malaysia. Why did he become a monk? He accidentally knocked down a girl when he was 38. So he turn to religion, naturally as he was brought up in a "religious" environment, raised in a temple community. He prayed that the girl would be well. True enough she recovered. So he payed respect back to Buddha by becoming a monk.

His open view to religion also appealed to me. It was nice listening to someone talking about religion as in such an open way. He said it in such a way where you don't feel threatened.

Well, after that we went back and discussed with Ju Eng and Niki the perspective of our stories. Seems that my group was supposed to do the story about the Thai community there. OOPS!!! HAHahah...but we did managed to pull our information together and submitted two articles later on.

I was mostly busy with the video assignment! It was really tedious work but it came our great in then end :)

Night time was FUN. It was our last night so we had a GREAT dinner! The hotel did not allow us to BBQ on our own so we had 5-star hotel BBQ! It was awesome, the lamb was really tender.

LOOK AT THE SPREAD!!!

We had group presentations later. Had great time watching all the teams coming up with hilarious ideas. I got the recording but I accidentally deleted it!!!! ARghhhhHHH!!!!!! We stayed up late playing all sorts of RIDICULOUS games which I don't get....

BRATs Taiping 2008 Second Day (14 March)

It was an early start to Day 2

Second day of BRATs Taiping Workshop 2008. Ah, what can I say. These TWO days have been full of scolding and time of "correction and reflection".

Into the unknown

This day started early. We had to wake up at 6! Today we are going to the Taiping Zoo for our first assignment. We all practically KINDA messed up with our interviews and stuff. We TOTALLY forgot about our common manners of asking questions.

Our big "screw up" was during the interviews. We asked some pretty silly and repetitive questions and really "got it" when we got back for our dear Ju Eng and Niki :)

On a positive note, we had fun doing some community work at the Taiping Zoo. My group did the crocodile section. We splashed the mirrors and washed the floors (exterior). How naive of me to actually think that they would let me in the crocodile pen area :) I thought maybe I could get a nice shot of my head inside the crocodile's mouth!

You should have seen me getting their attention :)
I was doing lots of crazy stuff from jumping and shouting to singing!

Whats more?!! The day was not over! After a fun small group game with Musnarizal, the head of the Zoo Department I was in for a shock! He brought out a 40 kg, 4 feet long phthon!!! I was like "God help me!". I have this snake phobia. Its that bad that I really keep note of my surroundings whenever I walk in my garden.

He called 10 volunteers to hold the snake. I naturally politely declined. It was partially de-stressing for me. So those 10 volunteers went up and held the snake.

Then this happened....

The snake lashed out at them with its tail and started wrapping its body around those unlucky young journalists. My camera went clicking as I thought "Man! This is gonna make a great story!". They all screamed in pain as the snake's grip slowly tightened. Their eyes bulged out as they started to struggle for air. It was a great mistake as the snake's grip grew tighter as they try to suck in more air. I heard their bones crack as their heads go limp.....

Hahhah....just fooling with you! But perhaps that could illustrate how scared I am of snakes. Regardless of that, I still not far away from danger. Murnarizal said...

"Now, everyone has to take turn kissing the snake. Line up in a line behind those 10 people"

OH SNAP!!!

My one of a kind experience

I had my turn kissing the snake. Its body was heavy and its head gives off a "snaky" aroma. The most funny part was when it was Kingsern's turn to kiss the snake. The snake wanted to "tongue" her! Every time her mouth approached the snake, the snake puts out its tongue trying to give her a passionate kiss......

Another highlight was touching and feeding the elephants. We were given a rare opportunity to go up close to these friendly beasts. I saw the big elephants pushing a little elephant aside, competing for food. I just went *aww* and immediately gave my little piece of bread to the little guy.

Night time was occupied with us BRATs finishing our articles on the zoo. It was a great day despite our random errors which costs us dearly :) But we shall face the next day with even more vigor and enthusiasm. Breaking out of our comfort zone ain't easy!

BRATS Taiping 2008 (13 March) --> First Day

BRATS Taiping 2008. First day. One word. Intense. Just as I expected.

My gear!

Room mates :) Jeremy and Sean

Yeah! That was it. Yesterday was really intense. The very first day itself we were thrown into crash courses as they (the STAR journalists….I’ll introduce them to you in a few days and perhaps a photo) try hammer in the concept of journalism into our brains.

“Its about others, not you”.

WOW! Obviously its something new for me. Check out the title of my blog. That tells you lots about my writing style. “Me and the World”. Its ok-LAH if it’s a personal blog like this but writing for a newspaper is entirely different.

We covered many areas like writing, layout, interview skills. They caught my attention with the photography category. I really benefited from that being a shutterbug.

First rule of a journalist: Curiosity

They brought us to Kek Lok Tong cave on the first day. There were so many photo opportunities. It was great to everyone being so excited and really looking forward to whatevers happening.

A friend jolting down notes

This whole program really is not about them teaching us about "The-Way-Of-The-Journalist". It about us getting an "experience" which will hopefully change our lives and the way we looks at things.

Alright, quick summary of what happened!

Stanley arrive at Taiping -> Stanley registers -> Stanley listens to talks -> Stanley goes to cave -> Stanley takes pictures -> Stanley very happy -> Stanley eat dinner, listen more, sleep

Hahaha.....vain me.

Ok, I better sign off now. Its time for lights out. Don't want them catching me blogging past. curfew ;)

Me and What would I do if I were an Ah Long?

First of all let me illustrate the meaning of an "Ah Long". An "Ah Long" is a loan shark! Scary right......



So what will I do if I were an Ah Long. First of all I would bring about world peace.There is so much I could do with the Ah Long status. Perhaps I might be named "Saint Ah Long". I will campaign as a candidate in the next general election. My catch slogan will be...

Vote Ah Long, Vote Change (as in money)

You must be kidding me! That would be the last thing I would do? Come on, that goes against all the code of the Ah Long found in "Ah Long for Ah Long Dummies". I would strike fear in all my customers. Those brats that come to me for money....hmpph....I'll teach them a lesson how to NEVER pay me late. I teach them good.....

(This is what I will do)
Me: I wanna play a game
Customer: ???!!! What.....(shivers) No...No!!!
Me: You have borrowed so much money from me and now what? How do you repay me??!!
Customer: I can pay! Just give me one more day. Please....please...
Me: Your incompetence disgust me. We shall play a game now.
Customer: What game?? What game??
Me: Monopoly (jeng...jeng....jeng.....*cue spooky music)

Let be realistic here? They don't pay me and you expect me to go and give their house a new coat of red paint. That is so not productive at ALL. Torturing is the way to go. Perhaps I could use that ball cracking technique in James Bond.


Now this is a chance for you to win movie tickets to Ah Long Pte. Ltd.! These are the details.

Date: 18th March 2008 (Tuesday)
Time: 8:00 PM
Place: Cathay Cineplex @ Cineleisure Damansara, Damansara Perdana


Just write a post like this! Its as simple as that. Head to Advertlets for more detail.

And have I told you how much I LOVE Advertlets?? Advertles is totally amazing. It changed my life forever. Its like OMG, Advertlets.....the sound of it makes my heart leap with joy, its music to my soul, the very essence of life. To express how much I love Advertlets I wrote a poem dedicated specially to Advertlets.

Advertlets,
You light up my life,
You give me hope,
I cut a cake with a knife,
And....erm.....something that rhymes with "hope"

Me and Sri Kdu Sports Day 2008

Last Friday my school had its annual sports day or as the MCs have been saying throughout the WHOLE event "Sri KDU's Annual Sports Day 2008". I was involved in the Red Crescent Society march pass. So I had practice all week with other march pass platoons rehearsing the opening ceremony again and again.

Here's a small summary of how the practices went:

(Grand opening song)
- Opening dance
- Teacher was not satisfied with it
- Do again
- Opening dance
- Torch run
- The "torch runners" did not run according to how the teacher wanted
- DO AGAIN
- Opening dance
- Torch run
- I died

Just kidding there but it was one LONG day. The actual day was quite fun with the events going on and the crowd going wild every time someone wins. I personally enjoyed watching the teachers running event. So much spirit. So much enthusiasm. So much effort. But not so much speed.

Thanks to me I made them looks much faster on camera :)
But kudos to them for such great sportsmanship.

For me it was a historical day. It was the day I, Stanley Liew won a gold medal. Never in my life have I won a gold medal for sports. It was for "tug-of-war" but I don't care. "Tug-of-war" is a sports event SO it IS a sport. Its my last year in school so its definitely a sports day to remember.

Its so shiny......*applause*

Despite the sweltering heat of this tropical country, the students of Sri Kdu have shown great spirit and enthusiasm. Even though Blue House lost to Green and Red in overall points, its Blue House that have won the hearts of the crowd with their outstanding support for their house representatives.

Tagged: My 5 Favourite Sites

I was tagged by Zhoe Wynz. Have been putting this off for such a long time BUT I am going to do it for you Zhoe because you're so sweet.

1. Youtube.com
- I practically go there everyday to check out videos. I watch everything from American Idol clips to lame homemade videos.

2. stanleyliew.blogspot.com
- Call me vain but its the truth! I visit my own blog few times a day to check my updates and to update.

3. Hotmail.com (my e-mail)
- To check updates on my blog and other stuff. Its just routine....

4. Facebook.com
- I connect with my friends there and superpoke them everyday (you would know if you use facebook)

5. Zhoewynz.com
- On of my frequent reads and reader!

Who I tag?
EVERYONE who has read this post and have not posted this thread.

Me and BRATS!!!

A guy called me from on the phone yesterday, his name was Harry by the way. He said he was from Star Publication. I was like WOW. Its gonna be damn big if a newspaper calls you. I was given good news that I was accepted to join BRATS!

I've always wanted to join BRATS for like forever! I remember from when I was a kid, there was so much hype about this BRATS thing and they even get their own section in the newspaper.

For those who are unfamiliar with the term "BRATS", it stands for Bright Annoying Roving Teens. Its all about Malaysian teenagers participating in a journalism workshop and learning about journalism (duh...) . After that, these teenagers become "BRATs" and they would write for the "Ole Brats" section of the STAR newspaper besides doing loads of other cools stuff like community and youth projects.

I would be joining the workshop in Taiping NEXT Thursday till Sunday. I am expecting intense training and lots of fun. So excited :)