To whom it may concern (me?)

Came across an interesting dialogue between Richard and Liz Gilbert (aka Groceries) in Eat Pray Love.

Initially, I just wanted to copy a few sentences and paste them on my Facebook wall. But doing so makes it so incomplete and inadequate and therefore I have decided to excerpt a few paragraphs here.

Enjoy reading - especially to whom it may concern!

"People think a soul mate is a perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that's holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true soul mate probably the most important person you'll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then they leave. And thank God for it. Your problem is, you just can’t let this one go. It’s over, Groceries. David’s purpose was to shake you up, drive you out of that marriage that you needed to leave, tear apart your ego little bit, show you your obstacles and addictions, break your heart open so new light could get in, make you so desperate and out of control that you had to transform your life, then introduce you to your spiritual master and beat it. That was his job, and he did great, but now it’s over. Problem is, you can’t accept that this relationship had a short shelf life. You’re like a dog at the dump, baby – you’re just licking at an empty tin can, trying to get more nutrition out of it. And if you’re not careful, that can is gonna get stuck on your snout forever and make your life miserable. So drop it.”

“But I love him.”

“So love him.”

“But I miss him.”

“So miss him. Send him some love and light every time you think about him, and then drop it. You’re just afraid to let go of the rest bits of David because then you’ll really be alone, and Liz Gilbert is scared to death of what will happen if she’s really alone. But here’s what you gotta understand, Groceries. If you clear out all that space in your mind that you’re using right now to obsess about this guy, you’ll have a vacuum there, an open spot – a door-way. And guess what the universe will do with that doorway? It will rush in – God will rush in – and fill you will more love than you ever dreamed. So stop using David to block that door. Let it go.”
....

Eat Pray Love - Memoir of Elizabeth Gilbert. 

Final Evaluation

*** Still recovering from my recent happening***

*** Lazy to write a full post***

*** just to show a video and the script ***

Here's the script

Imagine how good it feels to enjoy in fame, doing things you like, what you are doing is earning you a substantial sum of income and you can do it at home! Don’t you feel envious to have such a job? Don’t you want to have a life like this?

            Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. My name is Kang Kar Kee. I am a third Manufacturing Engineering student. I am honoured to be given this precious chance to address such a distinguished audience. I’d like to talk to you today about the advantages of writing a blog. The purpose of this talk is to share with you the benefits you can gain through writing a blog.  I plan to be brief. It should take 9 minutes to finish my talk. I’ve divided my presentation into three parts. Firstly I would like to show you how you can express yourself through a blog. Secondly, who are the famous bloggers and what have they achieved in fame. Lastly, I would also like to tell that writing a blog can improve your writing skills. I know you will be curious to ask and I’d be glad to answer your questions at the end of this presentation. And also don’t forget about the refreshment that has been prepared for you at the end of this talk.

Ladies and gentlemen

One of the main advantages of writing a blog is to share your  thoughts with the world. Anyone of same minded can visit your blogs to comment and reply to your topic. This will encourage the exchange of ideas between authors and visitors of blogs.

Besides that, there are some people who are keen to show their achievements and experience. These people will usually set up blogs that aim to teach people. For example, those who enjoy bakery find sharing their bakery tips with others is rewarding.

Next, there are also many who write to vent their emotions. This becomes their personal online virtual diary and there’s a proof stating that writing can relieve emotions.

In addition, some bloggers enjoy recommending things.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Who are the popular bloggers you know? Have you ever heard of XiaXue? Well, she is the most popular blogger in Singapore and has been recognized as the blogger queen in Asia Pacific region by Nuffnang.  

Before gaining massive popularity, XiaXue was just a teenage girl who used to write her diaries on blog. She  has gained fame by writing many interesting articles and a few controversial posts which managed to capture the public attention.

Being in fame has its perks. XiaXue now always gets discounted or even free products from her sponsors. And in return, she writes advertisement for the products that are sponsored by various companies. Through this mutual relationship, the sponsors get to advertise their products through XiaXue’s popular blog whereas, Xia Xue can enjoy using free products! 

For your information, XiaXue is a housewife now. She is the best living proof that blogging can be a full time job. She earns her income by writing advertisements for her sponsors. Also, she works from home, with flexible working hours and freedom.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Lastly, writing blog can also help improving your writing skills. By constantly updating your blog, you get to learn how to use correct grammar while writing. You will pick up new writing styles and structures once you are better doing it. Moreover, the fascinating articles you write can promote readings amongst your closed ones and this is especially important to Malaysian who averagely read less than 2 books per year! Ladies and gentlemen, please be reminded that writing is a skill. It is a talent comparable to drawing, singing, sculpturing, etc…

So, that completes my presentation. I’ll briefly summarize the main points that I have mentioned. Firstly, a blog serves as a space for people to express themselves. Secondly, popular blogs can earn money and can become a permanent job for some people.  Thirdly, writing blog can also hone our writing skills and at the same time promote reading. As you can see, writing blog is profoundly beneficial. Therefore, I would like to suggest that we start to write blog and make this as our habit. I hope you will find this talk advantageous to you. Thank you for listening. Now, let’s see if any one of you has any doubts of the topic that I have just discussed with you.

Thanks for asking.

******************************************

So, what are your comments?

Last Lesson With Mrs J

Time passes fleetingly. With a blink of an eye, today is the last lesson with Mrs J.

It is needless to say that Mrs J is our inspiration and idol. Her sedulous effort to train and teach us so that we will become a better presenter has not fallen into deaf ears. We adhere to her advices and teachings intently.

In this last lesson, every student came prepared with their final presentation slides for the evaluation which will be conducted next week by another lecturer. Mrs J wants us to keep and maintain the standard of our language she reckons we ought to have. Hence, Mrs J and my classmates have taken the extra miles to work on our presentation slides before the final presentation day comes.

Of course, our works are not impeccable. Errors like inconsistent sizes of font, use of the non-standardized fonts, spacing, distracting/unprofessional backgrounds, grammar, etc could not escape under Mrs J’s hawk-like eyes. She is always meticulous in our presentation, especially this time, for we will be presenting in front of the other lecturer. She wants us to be professional and competent, to have less (or none at all) grammatical errors in our slides and to enjoy our presentation.

Throughout this course, she has always emphasized on our grammar because she believes that a good command of grammar shows how well a person is truly mastering the English language. Besides that, she also wants us to record our presentations so that we can view and come to palpable realization of the mistakes we have made during our presentation. And this method is known to be efficacious in teaching a person to spot the mistakes he/she does in a talk and hence be able to act on the mistakes accordingly. Like for my previous presentation on the ending of my topic (Katy Perry), I acted stiffly and tensed. I showed no natural hand gestures at all. I could see my hands hanging stiffly in their sockets and my face was taut. I mumbled through my ending with a rocket speed and as a consequence, my speech had come out slurred. I was quite discontented with my performance. However, I am grateful to Mrs J and the student (Soo JS) who has taken the trouble to record our videos because without them, I would never realize I had acted so unnatural that time. Though it is always funny and embarrassing to watch back our own performances, this is the effective way to learn!

Mrs J also wants us to have fun in presentation. Only when we are relishing in presenting, we will stand up and speak out confidently of our topics. Furthermore, when you know how to enjoy in presenting, you will tend to be more humorous, and thus able to captivate the audiences.

Back to this particular day of our last lesson. Mrs J presented with a bright yellow-orange circular patterned dress, matched with a beige scarf which was knotted snugly around her neck. The overall image has imparted an aura of bliss and formidable strength. When she smiled, it was as if I was staring into the bright sun, basking in her merciful warm radiance, washing away the lugubriousness that has been haunting me for these few days. Our class was ended with photo taking session with Mrs J. Though there is always reluctance in parting and separation, we did not leave the class with feelings of poignancy at all. At the end of the class, everyone was seen rushing impatiently to the front of the class to take their pictures with Mrs J. And don’t you think I would miss out this precious chance to have a picture with Mrs J who has inspired me so deeply?

Class photo with Mrs J. Can you spot her out of so many people?

Look at the big cheerful smile she always shows

My coursemates and Mrs J

Chemical Engineering students with Mrs J

Bye Mrs J.

First launch day of The New iPad in Malaysia

I totally do not expect myself to be there!

This is my second time to be there doing the same thing all over again, except that this time I waited for a few more hours compared to the previous launching of iPad 2 in Malaysia.

Oh. Don't start to get jealous or critisize me for wasting money on the new LUXURY. I must clarify that  instead queuing up for myself this time, I helped others to buy the new iPad.

So yea, Kyle and I arrived at Mid Valley at 4am, hours before the break of dawn when many people are still catching their elusively impalpable dreams in the faraway slumberland. As you all know, shops in the mall open at 10am everyday. This is no exception even for the first launch day of the New iPad by Machine (the premium authorized reseller of Apple products). So, can you know now how many hours had we waited until that damn shop opened? 6 Hours!!! ( do i have to answer my own question for such a simple mathematics question?). Yes. It is six hours. *stop rubbing your eyes, you do not read wrongly*

I did not sleep at all for the whole night. Before going out to buy the iPad, I was rushing, burning the midnight oil, to complete my assignments until my friend came knocking at my door. I am grateful that I managed to finish my assignment before I went out to do the crazy thing!

Wondering of what I had done for the whole damn-slow-snail-moving hour? Well, I took a picture of my hairy legs, of the eager fan of iPad, the empty mall....etc...I did plan to bring a book (currently reading The Magic by Rhonda Byrne), but, at the second thought that I was already worn out by the activities in daytime and my assignments, I decided to let myself to rest until the shop opens.

My hairy legs.

Empty Mid Valley megamall.

Fanatic The New iPad fans waiting impatiently to get their hands on the new toy!

They provide us water and a chocolate bread too!

Final wait. See the door of the shop has already opened?

Then, 10am finally arrived. Before that, we could see their staff lolling around nonchalantly,as if nothing BIG and extraordinary gonna happen later ( I must assure you it is BIG and EXTRAORDINARY for the fans), discussing among themselves before they opened the shop. It was a pair of Malay couple who managed to grab the first spot of the long line. Reporters were there too to snap pictures and do some interviews with some of the enthusiastic iPad buyers. You might already read about the news on TV or night paper of today 20/4. As the staff allowed the first batch of customers (sad, we were in the second batch to go in the shop although our position is 15 and 16 in the queue), those customers were showered with rapturous applause of the Machine staff.

Then the rest of the story, well, basically went on just like what you usually do when you are buying things, except that the whole transaction was taking place in an inner room ( of higher security, may be?) of the shop. Then my friends and I went back happily, tugging 4 The New iPad ( I still can't get over to call this New iPad as New iPad over and over again..lalalal).









P.s: I was zombie like when the whole above "event" happened. I was too tired to drift along the ecstasy emanated by the other customers.

My lovely iPad2. Still love him very much. It is my very useful "personal assistant".  Thank you!

A Chill Weekend Getaway (Part 1)

As I am munching on the Kuih Bahulu (yea, non-eating when at home..eat ALL the food!!), lamenting on the hot weather, I can’t help but images of my last week getaway to Cameron Highlands flashing through my mind! Guess my mind is trying to convince me into thinking in a more positive way (by conjuring up those cool images) than to blaming the weather.

                It wasn’t a planned trip. There was no itinerary (at least this is my case and not the “organizer”). My friends and I went there to celebrate a friend’s birthday. I must say that I am grateful to the “organizer” for such a brilliant idea to bring us up to the cool refreshing mountainous Cameron Highlands and thus extricate me from all these unbearable heat lately.

                After a 3-hour journey from KL, (did I mention I don’t like to travel up to the mountain or down to the sea?? Well, these two routes often make me feel dizzy and uncomfortable before reaching the destination) we arrived at the WaterCress Farm.  This was my first time here. I really don’t know how to describe this place. It is pleasant. It is green. Streams of water gurgling rapidly through the lush greenery (as if snake meandering between the grass..lol…that is creepy), irrigating the plants. Though there are not many things to see or do here, seeing those plants sprouting vivaciously and enjoying the chill cool ambience is not something to be missed.

En route to Cameron Highlands

WaterCress Farm

Lush Greenery with streams of water flowing serenely underneath 

                We stayed at the farm for just a little while before we moved on to check in Parkland Apartment.  

                After taking some time to rest and gussy up (for someone who is vain like me, to fix my hair which was crumpled by all the morning activities), we drove to a nearby market to buy some fresh succulent vegetables for dinner (it is not really a market, just rows of stalls selling stuff alongside road). Again, we did not stop long here as it was already raining cats and dogs when we arrived here. Then, we went back to our apartment to prepare for our steamboat dinner!

Me at the balcony of our apartment @ Parkland Apartment

View opposite our balcony

                Of course, it wasn’t me who took the job to cook the broth. I don’t know cooking. But, I did help out in the kitchen!

                Skip the whole scrumptious steamboat dinner part. Just imagine us having a good time gobbling down all (not all, we couldn’t finish them at last) the nice food while some of my friends watching the 90-ish sci-fi horror movie on the TV (nice combination huh?). The aliens/monsters are not as modern and computer animated compared with the contemporary ones, but hat off to the details and effort put in the making of the costumes! And, I sincerely want to thank A for preparing us this delectable meal!

You don't expect us to drag all those seafood up the mountain ba??

                Next A brought out ALL the alcohol. There was gin, vodka, sake, etc. I typically love gin because it is mild and does not have that choking taste compared to the others. While savouring our drinks, we had an a cappella session too! 4 of us (3 went out, another 1 slept in the room) were standing in a circle, face to face, singing to the songs of the appointed singers. It took me a while to warm up and stop feeling shy to sing in front of the others. My friends did help me by singing along with me so that I would feel less fear. One of my friends even went on to say that this could help me to boost my confidence to speak and present in front of people next time!

                When 3 of them came back (they told us they bumped into Jeff, the handsome Malaysia male model), it was time to celebrate my friend’s birthday. We were joking around, saying that each of us must sing a different version (like hip hop, rap, jazz, indian style..etc) of birthday songs to the birthday boy. However, it was just a mere thought which never carried out afterwards.

Happy birthday J!

                After having our strawberry cake, 3 of them (the ones who went out just now) went to bed, leaving the rest of us in the living room to catch up with each other’s recent updates. Then, at 2am, we retired to the night, ending the first day of our Cameron Highlands trip.

PS: I am not sure if I will have the motivation to write part 2 XD

Wednesdays with Mrs J

Third consecutive blog entry talking about Mrs J. Have I been poisoned by her? No, I am not. She is my inspiration to work harder and improve. She shows me that age should not be treated as an excuse to stop learning. You can achieve what you aspire as long as you plan systematically, work sedulously and be ready to accept failure but never let yourself to commit the same mistake twice!

                This was my sixth class with Mrs J. We were taught on the use of visual aids in presentation in today’s lesson. As usual, she came in the class with her bouncy and bubbly steps; cladding in a zesty red suede jacket with a light beige shawl wrapping around her neck, flashing a row of pearl white teeth which are covered under the luscious red lips, such is Mrs J who has never failed to impart us her relentless enthusiasm to teaching and doing any other commitments in her life. She started the lesson by showing us a video which was made by her former students who are engineers in a company, which had hired her to improve the employee’s English proficiency. Initially, these students were being so shy when they were required to speak in front of the others and interact with Mrs J (this is the typical reaction shown by the Malaysia students who do not do so well in English). But, Mrs J always has her own expeditious way to teaching. Soon, these students were seen moving along, dancing jubilantly with Mrs J. They were less afraid now to express themselves with English and, when interviewed, they tried their best to speak in English with no hints of shyness on their faces anymore. The video was made in the dedication to Mrs J’s unremitting passion in teaching and as a token of appreciation and gratitude.

                Besides that, Mrs J also played us a poem about life, The Dash. (You can find the poem here). Not only does she emphasize on the importance of Effective Presentation, she loves to share with us her stories about life. In the Facebook group (yea, she created a group to interact with her students and other avid English learner. She believes in continuous teaching!) she also mentioned a book written by Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie (this leads us to the title of this blog entry). The book depicts the life of an erudite Professor, how he struggles in his dying days. For me, this book is deep. It touches on many aspects of life that you may not even realize if you never came across this book. I could feel my eyes were brimming with hot tears as I read the last few pages (of the dying of the professor). I can’t say that I fully comprehend the book, but I believe that, as future unfolds, my experiences and life events can prove and show me what the book literally means.

Here are some of the meaningful quotes from the book that worth to be pondered on:

 “Death ends a life, not a relationship.”

“If you’ve found meaning in your life, you don't want to go back. You want to go forward. You want to see more, do more.”

“You have to find what's good and true and beautiful in your life as it is now. Looking back makes you competitive. And, age is not a competitive issue.”

“Do the kinds of things that come from the heart. When you do, you won't be dissatisfied, you won't be envious, you won’t be longing for somebody else's things. On the contrary, you’ll be overwhelmed with what comes back”

“As long as we can love each other, and remember the feeling of love we had, we can die without ever really going away. All the love you created is still there. All the memories are still there. You live on - in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here.”

“There is no formula to relationships. They have to be negotiated in loving ways, with room for both parties, what they want and what they need, what they can do and what their life is like.”

              

  So, what does life really mean you?

(sorry for the abrupt stop to this entry as the class continued with Mrs J’s teaching on the topic in our Presentation book and I don’t feel like to elaborate on that part)

Have a nice weekend to everyone and a great one week of holiday for myself!

My first presentation with Mrs. J

Time marches on relentlessly.

In the blink of an eye, here we are – in the 5^th week of this semester. You might wonder why I keep on emphasizing this 5^th week and this particular day? Well may be this is just another ordinary day for you, but it certainly is a BIG significant day for us, the students who take Effective Presentation Course with Mrs J. We were assigned to talk on the introduction of our respective topic.(you might think ceh, just introduction only mah). But, let me assure you, in that mere few minutes of time, innumerable mistakes could happen.

A picture paints a thousand words.

How about a video?? It depicts millions or billions of words? Certainly, I am not going to count on them ( don’t tell me you are going to do it!). Here’s the video recorded when I was giving my presentation.

Just in case you can’t hear clearly of what I had said, let me translate the video into words (lol, you are not going to see billions of words at below).

I have chosen the topic to talk on the renowned Pop singer, Katy Perry.

Due to jitters and butterflies in my stomach, my speech wasn’t perfect and it is still far from impeccable. But, I don’t think I loused it up either. Here is the introduction I meant to deliver during the presentation.

Playing Katy Perry’s song – Firework as attention getter. Then start by saying these:

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. My name’s Kingsley. I am Katy Perry’s backup singer (LOL) who has been working along with her in many live performances and concert tours.

Today, I am elected to be given this opportunity to stand here and deliver a speech on Katy Perry. The objective of my talk is to introduce Katy Perry to you, to talk about her background, things she does and her achievements.

My talk shall only last 10 minutes. Besides that, I’ve also divided my talk into three main parts. Firstly, I would like to talk on Katy Perry’s musical style. Secondly, we will move on into her wardrobe, to see what she wears in her daily life and during live performances. Lastly, I would love to talk about her other business or artistic ventures too.

I’ll be glad to answer any of your questions at the end of my talk.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I have a great news to tell. As you leave this hall after I’ve finished my talk, please feel free to pick up a free copy of Katy Perry’s latest album at the exit.

Thank you.

Have you managed to catch up Mrs J’s comments on my presentation? What do you think about her comments and my presentation? Please don’t hesitate to comment. Be it a good or bad one, I will endeavor to do my best in speaking English and be able to deliver an efficacious presentation next time!

Before I end this post, I would like to thank Mrs J for her ceaseless effort in guiding us to be a better presenter/person (yea, she talks other things too besides giving lectures). She is very patient, encouraging and meticulous in giving her comments/while correcting our mistakes.

Thanks, Mrs J. I must say that I have had a good fortune to be in your class!