Another round of fireworks. Australia or rather Australians sure do have a lot of money to spend. Just a few months back, they had fireworks to celebrate Buddha’s birthday. Now it’s River Fire 2010! This year’s River Fire is special because it will be the last year they will be flying the F-111 and having it execute an maneuver called dump and burn. The Australian Government has already signed to retire the F-111s by 2010. My first time watching the River Fire and the last time the F-111s would fly by. Just great Didn’t take much pictures. Actually gave up because I didn’t have a tripod with me nor a good spot. Took the video with my iPhone though. I realised that Windows Movie Maker loads MOV files without its audio. Is it an Apple vs Microsoft thing? Had to convert it to AVI first. Enjoy!

Even at 4PM, the place was already packed. Other than the fireworks, there were other sights as well. For some reason, Japanese girls were in their Kimonos. Mmmmmm.. Kimonos… ahhaha

So I’ve experienced the MSLS for the first time. I must say, that it was a totally enriching experience! Other than it being boring for a few sessions, the highlights of the event really made it worth attending.

Then again, I wouldn’t be able to make comparisons as I missed the last MSLS, of which I forgot to register for it, but made sure I made it this time round.

For those who have never heard of the MSLS, its a forum organised annually by the UKEC, known as the United Kingdom and Eire Council for Malaysian Students since 2007 when the summit first kicked off. Political leaders/big shots, business leaders, young entrepreneurs are the usual speakers on the list, where students sign up for the forum to come together to discuss national issues or rather, have a better understanding on what issues that are currently facing the nation.

Sounds boring to some of you? Well then, its time you fine tune yourself to have more concern for your beloved country. but well, I guess thats inevitable, I don’t wanna be ‘accused’ of trying to force my ideology on others when all I did was just ask of people to be more concerned for whats going on in their country. *shrugs* Meh.

Anyway, for an event which was free, yes, free. It means you don’t have to pay a single cent to attend, all you need to do is register. So for an event which was free, there were huge loads of freebies that were distributed though. Got a 4GB thumb drive among the freebies too. Hey, I was suppose to make a trip down to the upcoming PC Fair for one, gah I am cheap, sue me.

The 4th MSLS was held in Nikko Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. I think it has been held there for the past 3 years as well. This year’s summit featured some of the nation’s political powerhouses, ie. Tengku Razaleigh, the Deputy PM YAB Muhyiddin Yassin, Tony Pua, Dato Sri Mustapa Mohamed, Ibrahim Ali, Khairy Jamaluddin, Khalid Samad and of course the Home Minister, Dato Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein.

For those who were following me on Twitter, or even have me as a friend on Facebook would have had a rough idea of what happened throughout the summit.

Probably the main highlight of the event was the topic of whether does politics of ideology trump that of race, which featured a three-way-debate between Ibrahim Ali, whom we heard enough of from all the PERKASA hype, Khairy Jamaluddin, who represent the ruling coalition and also UMNO Youth, and lastly Khalid Samad, being a representative of the opposition Pakatan Rakyat and also of PAS. If you own a Mkini account, its updated there already. If you don’t, you can always view it on the Malaysian Insider.

I was actually planning on just attending the 1st day, since I’ve got photography duties in church on Sunday so I thought might as well skip the 2nd day. It was this session particularly that led to my change of mind on Saturday evening, true enough I was glad I never missed it live.

One of the few things I really like about the MSLS is that, it provides a very good avenue for networking. Not to mention the many intellectual conversations that I really enjoyed having with some of them. One of them even asked me about Coffeestops, haha oh boy was I surprised.

Thanks for reading, if you still do read.

So all in all, now that the 4th MSLS is over, I’ve kinda had nothing much to look forward to.

Oh wait, have I updated you guys that I will most likely start working on the 16th of August? Fellow authors, I’ve (almost) secured a job offer!! Just pending a medical check-up which is due on Tuesday.

You could say I’m looking forward to work for various reasons, but then again its only human nature to say I would be missing the times of bumming around. Hmm, never satisfied with life eh?

I certainly hope I will be available for the 5th MSLS next year though, if the workload allows for such day offs during the weekend, haha. Well till then, I guess now I gotta shift my focus to career building.

Wish me luck, guys.

This is an event with the theme “Garden of Eden” so dress up in earth-ish colours (think green, brown, white) or anything that’s Garden of Eden-ish (decent dressing, please. Don’t come covered ONLY in leaves!)

Here is a short video promo of the event! Enjoy!

There are great prizes to be won for the “Best Dressed” title such as Haagen Dazs vouchers, SHOPPING vouchers for girls, and really awesome headphones for guys! There’s also gonna be lucky draw!

The speaker for the night will be Pastor Jonathan Bonython (JB) from Paradise Community Church, Adelaide!

So INVITE YOUR FRIENDS and come join us for a GREAT time at FGA USJ!! Admission is free!

NOTE: For those who don’t know where FGA USJ is situated at, you could check it out at http://goe.youthnited.com/venue.

For more information or enquiries, kindly contact :

Hannah (012-3829449), Amanda(014-7367261)
Or visit our website at http://goe.youthnited.com/

*For non-muslims only

It doesn’t matter where you came from – An Australian is an Australian

As the veterans marched by, some clapped their hands while others waved the Australian flag. ‘Thank you’s could be heard from the crowd as well. The veterans were like celebrities! They waved to the crowd and the crowd waved back. Some of them still had it going – they fired up the crowd with their antics! Veterans bound to the wheelchair were also in the march. Shows how committed they are to their beloved country! Malaysia should have Veteran’s Day to commemorate our perajurit-perajurit negara. It will definitely boost patriotism and a sense of national identity – that’s my opinion though. One group of marchers stood out among the rest. They were not white but yellow skinned. They were the Vietnamese Division of the Queensland Armed Forces (Hope I’m right on this). They too drew cheers and applause from the crowd! If you’re an Australian, you’re an Australian. It doesn’t matter where you’re from. That’s what I saw that day.

Can you find something close to home in this picture??

Let’s talk about lighter stuff – maybe it’ll put a smile on your face . Joining the parade were livestock! There were horses – fine, horses are expected and common. But wait, there was a dog! Fine, that might be slight uncommon but that’s nothing to jump up and down for! I was surprised to see a ram! A ram is like a sheep, but with curved horns! What a spectacle! Having livestock in the parade comes with a price as well. They answer nature’s call as and when they need do. True enough, there were horse droppings on the street. I wouldn’t have spot it if not for the kids who were making a big fuss out of it! Poor marchers! They had to keep going – nothing was going to stop them from soldiering on! At the end of the parade, there was no poop in sight. Poor guys, hope you managed to clean your pristine shoes real good!

It is definitely nice to be appreciated for your sacrifices and services

I am glad that I decided to go for the ANZAC Day parade. It has given me a whole new experience – Australian Culture and a little on world history. Maybe I’ll attend the ANZAC Day parade at another location next year! Oh, there were fighter jets flying above the city as well! However, we could only view them for a split second as tall buildings were impeding the view. Go figure! Wish I had a Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM with me too . But that’ll weigh a tonne. Another thing to note is that shops are closed during ANZAC Day – those which are open, would only open after noon. If you’re planning to visit Australia during April, make sure you experience ANZAC Day! It’s on the 25th of April every year. Don’t forget your ANZAC biscuits too!

Ahh, so they say, you’re only 21 once. Not the usual tradition to celebrate my birthday ala any grand methods, I decided to ask my mum to open up the house for a belated birthday bash. (I had a progress test on the 8th of February)

On the 11th of February, a total of 34 guests turned up at my humble home, which consists of both ACCA old and new batch, high schoolmates and also churchmates. I think this was the 1st time I had THAT many guests in my house, hopefully it wasn’t too stuffy for any of the guests.

I was lucky to have the services of both Eugene and Christopher to take on the roles of official photographers, only that it was all done using my kuchimeow Nikon D40! As compared to the giant gears both of them are used to using. =P

The Old Man, as everyone called me. or 老人家 as my mum labelled me that day. LOL! You know, I never knew how the cake got there without me noticing anything, not to mention the size of it. Its either I’m really blur or my parents are good at keeping it out of my sight!

As the food was served on the table, we gathered around for the traditional birthday song! Somehow, I wasn’t always used to being in the limelight, but surprisingly I was actually glad I could celebrate my 21st with these bunch of close friends.

SMK USJ 12! =D

Sunway ACCA! =D

FGA USJ IMPACT! =D

Nothing beats having the sounds and laughters of your fellow friends to usher in the 21st year of your life! So yea, anyway thank you all for coming once again.

While everyone continue to dig into the food (oh my mum signature Nasi Lemak! Andrea was waiting for it after 2 years. LMAO!), I went around to take pictures!

My favourite lecturer back in CAT, Ms. Gita! Its amazing how we could still keep in touch till now, that I’m doing my final two papers in ACCA. She taught me in my 1st semester of CAT! Can you imagine how long ago was that? I’m glad we still keep in touch after so long. =D

After some time, I realise some of the ACCA bunch were planning something in my kitchen, since I was kinda restricted from even stepping near the kitchen. My goodness! Well I kinda know they were going to do something to me, just didn’t know what, what more when Sue popped a question during dinner time, “Nick, you gotta promise me you’ll be sporting tonight!”. That just didn’t sound good at all man LOL!

When I was halfway mingling around outside, Ding Yan emerged from within the house, singing the happy birthday song, with a plate of cream and a candle sticking out.

You know… it was actually pretty obvious what I was gonna get. That was the exact same thing I said. HAHA!

I just didn’t have any idea how the execution was gonna take place. Whether I’ll take it point blank at my face, or any other disgusting means you could think of. Only thing that followed was, Melody creamed my face. I mean… okay that’s not so bad, considering what I had in mind.

Then, Melody and Ding Yan started arguing. Seemed like some failure in coordination. Oh well, that didn’t really matter to me, I have more than enough time to make a counter attack. XD I instantly grabbed a handful of cream and WHAM! all the way onto Ding Yan’s face. and of course I got it back in return too HAHA!

… and everyone started screaming and ran away from the both of us. Typical. HAHA! Everyone was afraid we might smack our hands onto anyone near us.

Both of us cleaned up after the ordeal. And I couldn’t take the smell of cream thats starting to make my whole body feel sticky, so I went to change my clothes. Good thing Ding brought an extra clothing too (wonder if he kinda knows he’ll get something like this xD).

Everyone went back to doing their thing. The weather was extremely hot though, it was as though all of us were chatting in an oven, despite the ceiling fan outside and air-conditioned inside.

This is EPICNESS! – Hear no evil, See no evil, Speak no evil!

The DSLR Trio, as Pei Yi named us long long time ago.

This picture does tell a story on its own. Hehe, I’m just glad everything is resolved now. =D

Not forgetting OurCoffeestops authors! though missing a few. =)

My highschool buddies, Vincent and Kim Leong! Classmates since Form 1 to Form 5. =D

The beloved sister, Riley managed to come for my 21st birthday bash! =D

The main photographer for the night, Eugene Lee Eu-Juin!

There were times I stood and look at everyone and I thought to myself. How amazing human ties can be. You know, some of them that I grown close to, if not for a significant event I wouldn’t even have gotten any opportunity to know them.

Take Eugene for instance, if not for prom, and not for me asking Christopher for assistance to take on the jobs of the Official Photographer, I wouldn’t even have met him. If I hadn’t known him, I wouldn’t even have any chance of knowing Su Yi, considering she’s a junior in ACCA. Of course, I wouldn’t have also known Jason Goh (smashp0p.net) and many others. (Just incase he reads this and sound me for not highlighting him again LOL!)

Truly, God is great. I really thank Him for all the friends He has placed in my life.

Some of them decided to stay indoors, thanks to the blazing heat outside. What else other than Monopoly Deal to keep themselves occupied? XD

Meet my nanny, Lydia.

Apparently I was discharged that night itself. Haha!

Sue (or Suet Yee), the brains behind the whole face creaming thing. =D

A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU FOR COMING ONCE AGAIN! Thank you for the gifts, some of them were really unexpected. I teared when I see some of them, really touched. Some of them wrote me love letters, haha. Its the heart that counts at the end of the day!

Lastly, thanks, Melody. for everything. =)

So, here’s to the ultimate legal age of 21!

P/S – The rest of the pictures can be found here.

As we all stepped into a new decade of the 2nd millennium, we at OurCoffeestops would like to take this opportunity to wish all readers a blessed and wonderful New Year! Happy 2010!

A new year, a new resolution, lets all hope all things would get better in the new year. Mend the broken friendships/relationships, rejoice at the fact we lived, and of course we hope all things end well for you readers. For I quote Ang Jian Wei, “every beginning has an end, and every end has a beginning!”

A new year would also mark the start of a new life chapter for some of our authors, so I would also like to take this opportunity to wish everyone all the best in your future undertakings! Fellow authors, spread your wings and fly, know this that no matter where any of you are, we are family.

From the sincerest of hearts,
Nicholas CK Wong.

Last Tuesday (the 15th of September), Paradise Band came to FGA USJ for an awesome service! For all of you who missed it, here’s a summary of the event!

Hailing all the way from Adelaide, Australia, the band takes its name from its place of origin, Paradise Community Church!

Here’s a little something about the Paradise Community Church, the Australian Idol winner, Guy Sebastian, grew up in the church and was a long serving member of the worship team before becoming one of Australia’s favourite celebrities.

The music of Paradise Band is energetic, passionate and vibrant. Fromt their first to last bar, the Paradise Band takes the worshipper on an exhilarating journey through euphoric, high-energy praise, iconic anthems and intimate ballads.

The Paradise Band’s previous album releases, “Adore” (featuring Guy Sebastian), “Over and Over” and “Only by Grace” have given birth to a large array of songs now sung in churches the world over and include well-loved titles such as “Hosanna”, “Over and Over” and the powerful anthem, “I Surrender”.

Well that went without saying, how powerful their Praise & Worship session over at FGA USJ on Tuesday night was. I’m glad I was able to attend it despite having P2 Corporate Reporting the next day LOL!

Well I don’t think words alone could describe the moments with them, nonetheless it was an opportunity not to be missed! Chris and I, armed with our DSLRs set out to capture the memorable moments!

Pastor Matt, one of the lead vocalist, proceeded to deliver God’s message after the P&W. A man filled with humour, he managed to entertain the congregation, which includes fellow IMPACTers as well!

The IMPACTs (formerly known as Youth Fellowship) were all excited about the event, almost the whole IMPACT turned up. Bravo! Being IMPACT, we wouldn’t miss the chance to take photographs with well known people too. w00t!

Samuel Lee.

Nicholas Chen and Christopher Ho.

Daryl Lim and Christopher Ho.

Brandon Tham, Hannah Lee and Amelia Yap.

Amelia Yap.

Brandon Tham.

Aung Ren Yau, Hannah Lee, Brandon Tham and Amelia Yap.

Hannah Lee, Amelia Yap and Brandon Tham.

The Paradise Band albums were on sale at the back of the sanctuary after the service ended. I didn’t get a copy of it though.

Without staying back too long after, Chris and I decided to head home as both of us were pretty exhausted after the whole day having classes. We bidded everyone farewell and raced home thereafter. LOL!

So that concludes our FGA USJ’s Paradise Band experience! =D

MTV World Stage is making a splash in Malaysia on August 15, 2009 at Sunway Lagoon Resort in Kuala Lumpur! The rollicking outdoor concert will feature riveting live performances from chart-topping UK band Kasabian (making their debut live appearance in Southeast Asia), The All-American Rejects, Malaysia’s fan-favorite Estranged and more!

“To ramp up the exclusivity factor, entry to this mega-music bash is strictly via invite, and 15,000 lucky fans will get to revel in the festivities.”

Taken from http://www.mtvasia.com/News/200907/17018248.html

Wow, only 15,000 lucky fans!?!? I must be very very lucky indeed! To make my day better, I got the Mosh Pit pass ( I was told it’s where you can stand close enough to snatch the performer’s shoes away! ) thanks to the guys over at Effguide.com. So yea, any special request? You want some celebrity leg hairs too? xD

The organisers have banned us from bringing awesome DSLRs to photograph our idols at their best worst. Somehow the constipated look on their faces are coming into my head now.. hhahaha! Thanks to engineers, we have cameras inbuilt on our hand phones! But heck, the picture quality is still way behind even a normal compact camera! Still, a picture is better than nothing! Watch out for videos too! I hope my memory card doesn’t crash…!!!

Oh, the organisers have also reminded us that since its the Ramadan month, we are advised to avoid wear excessive skin baring outfit. Nicholas and Ying Wei, don’t get jealous! Oh wait, Jian Wei too. =P

It’s been 3 years since that day passed.

It was our school’s open day. The morning was just like any other morning – duties here and there; parents sitting patiently while waiting for their individual numbers to be called; the sight of students fidgeting with a little uneasiness, wondering what remarks would their teachers dispense. Beneath all that normalcy, lies a tinge of excitement for a number of us. It’s an odd sort of excitement – a nice mixture of anticipation and worry. Hopeful of the future but worried whether we could ever step out of the brilliant legacies that our seniors have bestowed.

I remembered it well.

While there was a huge brimming of activity on the ground concourse of our school, little did most students know that simultaneously there was also a rush of rehearsals going on in ‘Bilik Teraputik,’ where a group of prefects were frantically patching through the last details of their inaugural play: The Lord of the Pens. Boy, wasn’t those moments great! I recalled exactly our antics in the prefect room, cracking lame jokes and whiling the time away as we tried to put together a comical plot for the rest to see.

I remembered it well.

“ANG JIAN WEI!!! You better faster come here and see for yourself! The stage so small!! How to perform??” screamed a frantic Irna on the other end of the phone. It was pouring then, which resulted in a massive traffic jam towards Holiday Villa. I was stuck in the car, rehearsing my speech that I would later deliver to my retired mentors. Like any other events, it was a science of equilibrium: an art on how to elicit a sense of calmness in public but scuttling behind the scenes to manage unforeseen deviations. Our rehearsal till 4pm was in vain – as the envisioned stage was too small and time didn’t permit us to perform. Nazir, our MC for the day and one of our leading actors, came down with a bad throat after an exhausting rehearsal and after belting out two songs. The walk with Ms Balvinder (now in NZ) to Holiday Villa’s main lobby to catch her a cab was still so vivid in my mind – her words of encouragement and the slight pat on my back: “You’ll do well Jian Wei! I enjoyed the dinner. Thanks so much for the invitation.” It was the Prefect Night of 2005.

I remembered it well.

Hypermedia Library and Burger King were our fortress. I guess much to their annoyance and chagrin, I would cajole Irna, Wei Ling and Sarven to Hypermedia Library for our weekly “G4″ meeting. We would run through the events that had transpired during the week and plan for the next. We were always entertained by the gossips shared and also the funny sight of Sarven throwing his 3310 Nokia phone at the wall – assuring us that it would never break. We would stay there for hours. Lunch was usually at Burger King. We ate there so often that we seriously wanted to start buying shares from it – which obviously didn’t happen. I wonder whether that tradition is still held today.

I remember it well.

Things weren’t always beds of roses. I still cringe at that ONE month – when Irna and I were practically in cold war. Looking back now I couldn’t help but to laugh. But beneath the nostalgic laughters I know that I have lots to learn from that one month. It was just the classic scenario of me being to big headed; too proud to admit that I was wrong; too egoistic to come to terms that I pushed my teammates too hard, sometimes without the considerations of their feelings. I don’t regret the unfolding of these events for I am glad to say that I am now a better person because of it.

I remember it well.

It wasn’t just those potent moments that are currently stuck in my head. It was also those mundane daily routines. The sight of grey skirts and trousers rushing down the stairs for their short 10 minute recess and how we hated lining up for food after we retired. My daily rounds around the school while snapping: SLEEVES DOWN BUTTON UP! My grey Amway water bottle and I, constantly making it through the flight of staircases and endless lanes of corridors. The handshakes, the smiles, the “Jangan lari!” or “Jangan pijak rumput!”…..

I remember them all.

But now I can unequivocally say that I am no longer the same person who was installed as the 3rd Head Prefect on the bright sunny skies of July 14th, nor I am the same guy who retired on the refreshing morning of August 12th. I have seen lots, grew so much, and I’ll let history judge whether I have turned out for the better. Though without much empirical substantiation, I can honestly say that this also applies to the other prefects of 2005/2006.

Sadly and regretfully, I have lost contact with many of you. I don’t know where most of you are, nor do I know how life is treating you now. Whatever the reasons – whether it’s due to my inefficiency of keeping in contact with friends, or it’s just the solemn truth that after secondary school, we all marshaled forward in separate directions, forging new friendships of our own – the fact is we are all so different now. And probably if you put us all together in one room, we would have to start the process of “re-knowing” one another; reheating the warmth of friendship that has intentionally been left to cool.

BUT!

Irrespective wherever you are, or what ever you are pursuing now, or however life is treating you, do know that I shall always be proud of the times we had together in that 5 short years. And nothing in the world can ever erase those memories. Even though our paths may diverge too far for us to remain close knitted friends, do know that once upon a time, we shared a history – a common history – and it was a hell of a good one! So blaze your own paths my friends! Make yourselves proud! Carpe Diem!

All that I ask of you, is that you allocate a small portion of your time, on the dawn of July 14th, to stop and remember those times; those memories and come to know that there is always one boy at a small corner of this earth who will always chant the theme:

I am so proud to have served along side with you! My teammates! My comrades! My friends!

Happy 3rd Anniversary to the Prefect Board of SMK USJ 12 05/06!