The day I'm ready to let go

I'm blogging this as I pack my things up in the office and after I got off the phone with lil miss bestie, Shura and her brothers, Zariq and Zafir! I swear if I could get into the phone, I would have. Just to give her the biggest hug. Tomorrow is the new year btw. But right now, on this very last day of 2010,

Meeting with our Shariah scholars from Middle east - DONE

Speak to Shura as soon as she lands in Malaysia - DONE

I know everyone was all excited about the holiday today, and I think we have our football team to thank. They've definitely given us a good gift to welcome the new year indeed! :) Well, whilst others were on holiday, we had to work. Not because we're losers like that, but because we've made a promise. A promise to meet our Shariah scholars who flew down from the Middle East.

Having graduated from my training programme not too long ago, this was my first time meeting the Shariah scholars, and we had one quite complicated a paper to present to them for their review and approval. So, as much as I was happy that we got the unexpected leave, I was EVEN MORE excited to go to work on the last day of 2010 - to get to know these scholars and be in a meeting with them. Something you can never buy with money - experience.

The day my colleagues did not recognize their own team mate. Well, I have to dress appropriately! :) 

Well at first I did get a lil nervous earlier in the morning, seeing them make their way into the meeting room (without even looking right or left), dressed in full length long white garment with long sleeves (aka thawb), complete with the head wear, called ghutra. The red and white ones are called shemagh btw - plus I'm new and did not know what to expect, and it's Shariah. You don't know man. Anything can happen. What you're proposing may just not be in accordance to Shariah. Or perhaps it's acceptable but they would want you to strongly justify your points. Not to mention the fact that they at times would jump into their own world and converse in Arabic language and that would leave us a little lost thinking "Huh? What did they just say? Did we just open up the gates to hell with out proposal?" haha! Ok la, not so harsh la. I was just giving an example :)

I got used to the atmosphere along the way, and these scholars are impressive! They're no bankers, but the way they tackle the issue and question you, you'd better well make sure it's in accordance to Shariah, or don't even go close to stepping foot into that meeting room! It's nothing to joke about, seriously. At this point, it opens up my mind to understand things from their perspective, and subsequently pushes me to understand my religion at a higher level.

This whole week has been hectic for me. Meetings with our Indonesian counterparts, our Shariah scholars from middle east, the unexpected leave that left Bankers in a rush-mode because technically, end of the year was yesterday since market is not open today, so that was a 2 crazy days of work packaged into 1 yesterday. Schedules for my professional qualification exams 2011 is finally published, classes schedule that seemed to clash with my work trips. My work scope that has been stretched and projects that I will be thrown into come next year, bigger portfolio and responsibilities and a new proposal that I was honoured to take on. It's C.R.A.Z.Y!

I became a little scared to end this year and go through next year at one point. Yesterday, I found myself walking up and down the aisle at work feeling stressed! When this happens, I have colleagues who would just know the right thing to say/do. We'll end up either gymming and destressing or grabbing dinner and catching a movie whilst destressing.

One thing's for sure, everytime I think about it, I'm THANKFUL. I have an amazing team at work, I have excellent teammates who never fails to answer and teach me, even if I asked them the stupidest question. Their patience level when things get a lil too much and the most important thing is they understand me the most to be able to make me happy! I'm thankful I'm stuck with them :) There is never a day when I don't feel thankful that I am in a team with them.

For now, whilst I'm done with work on this 31st December 2010, the carpark in the office is still full with cars! Like I said, the unexpected leave that we got was so uncalled for that we all volunteered to work today to make sure we clear everything before the new year. I'm proud of the people in the firm.

For that, I'm happy my 2010 has been as such and I'm thankful I've gained a lot! Have a good new year everyone :)

Today has definitely turn out to be a good way to end my 2010. The scholars made it better by telling us "It's a genius idea!" this paper. I'm ready to welcome 2011 now.

This post will go up at about 11.59pm, 31 December 2010

Excellent New Years Gift

SHURA'S HOME!

I'll see you guys in a month's time! If you cannot find me, try searching Shura's house. or try calling her siblings. Or perhaps you just wait till she flies back to Melbourne. I'll reappear then

Our usual 'family' time. This time with the Shukors straight after she landed in Malaysia

Never Never Land on Christmas Night

I remembered one day after musical rehearsals, and I was telling Sya about it. The next thing I know, we were talking about Peter Pan the Musical, a west end production that was down here in Malaysia. Sya saw posters advertising the show all around Subang and Sunway and managed to get me as excited! Disney and Musical, something we share in common. 

So whilst we were planning for Aiman's surprise birthday party a few weeks ago, we were talking about musical and broadway in between. Guess what? After Aiman completed his CIFP papers for 2010, on Friday he told me "I got us tickets already for Peter Pan tomorrow!"

YAY!!!

At first I thought I shall dress up in green since it was Peter Pan afterall. But then, I started looking like a tree, so I decided on just a green hairband. Look who turned up in full green like Peter Pan and in all white like Wendy!

I personally thought it was very creative that they had the set up in Sunway Lagoon, inside the safari park. It was an outdoor setting and getting there was an adventure itself! Imagine we had to walk across the safari park, having time to appreciate the flora and fauna as we brave through till we got to the base of the hill. I was already starting to sweat I swear. It didn't stop there btw, the amphitheatre was nowhere to be seen! Next thing we were instructed to do was to hop on into one of the mini-train vehicle that "choo-choo"-ed us all the way to the set. My goodness, adventure much?

 The three of us all set for the show!

The show lasted a very good 60 minutes. It was rather short, but nevertheless happy! To add to the topping, it was Christmas night, so they did a christmas carol combo too. What do you think, it's Disney. It's always happy, if not happy endings :) 

It was indeed a very good show (though it was made short for some scenes). The casts had powerful voices, it was amazing! Set up and props were good too. For this one, I'd say the crowd interaction was super. The casts were fantastic at communicating with the crowd, especially the lil kids who came and how they managed to get the crowd involved too. It's more exciting when done this way :) Unfortunately, there was only one drawback. It's outdoors, so the voices did not 'bounce' back as fast to the audience. Nonetheless, it was still awesome happy happy joy joy! :)

The happy night did not just end there, we headed for Japanese afterwards. 

JAPANESE = Happy food!

Happy food means happy people.

Until a bug actually flew in between us and interrupted our conversation and got all three of us up up and away! How rude of these random bugs. Pfft...

All in all, it was an excellent and happy night out. A combination of Japanese food, Disney and Music. Just perfect :)

Some Enchanted Evening

Exactly a week after YCM Summit 2010, I had this. I can't sit still and just sleep at home, can I? *smacks forehead*

Some Enchanted Evening the musical, brought to you by Broadway Academy!

Since our inception, it has only been our 2nd show, with the first one being SHOUT! The Mod Musical. However, the excitement and adrenaline rush outdid the nervous feelings come show time. I'd say one of the best part was the preparations behind the scene.

It was a nice kind of chaos. It's like everything was happening all at the same time. One time you'd see Rachel walking to get changed whilst doing the "la la la la la la la la la", practicing her voice, then you see Casey and Dom doing sexy poses at one corner, not noticing that people spotted them. Afterwards come Shanel suddenly scaring everyone with her sudden powerful voice, and Eunice running around stripping to get changed into her lil cheongsam and I just tend to either disturb Mr Make up artists or be a curious cat testing the manuka honey for my throat. Well, it helps with the singing ok. Vincent singing his la la la's in the toilet too.

...and 5 minutes before the show. ALL READY!   :)

Rodgers & Hammerstein. It has become an integral part of our everyday lives. Don't tell me you don't sing Cinderella's 'In my own little corner', or '16 going on 17' or the likes of it. Don't lie. Pfft...

Anyway, this stunning collection of composition was set out in a theatrical setting - first "backstage", where the songs are sung as personal interplay, and then "onstage". What I love the most was the fact that not only did it offer us an opportunity to explore the songs within our own styles and sensibilities, but the crowd! The whole 4 days when the show took place, the crowd was amazing! Just fab  :) So engaging and so supportive, it was very motivating!

To be honest, none of this would have been possible without the most talented of all! Our two lil pianists. My God, I thought passing through all levels for piano when I was younger meant I'm qualified to be a teacher...NOT. I might as well throw those qualification out the window now and start learning with them all over again. They're definitely the true definition of fantastic!

If anything, the 4-days show went excellently perfect! Undoubtedly, it was the talent and passion combination that got us singing our hearts out and made it absolutely beautiful :)

Every night was a beautiful night!

Well, that's done now, and it went great. So, here's a sneak peek of our next one.

DREAMGIRLS

Auditions for this one went oh-so-very-very-well, I can hardly wait for the real practice to begin already homaigod! You tell me to do performing arts anytime of the day, I'd do it even if I had a broken leg. Ok, I didn't really mean that, but yeah, you get what I mean la. I'm excited ok, so let me be!

Coming to you

 KUALA LUMPUR

JULY 2011

So stay tune! :) I might just *ahem*...tickets? Hmm... 

To the people who came to support our show, a big thank you from the bottom of our hearts and much love from us. Btw, just in case any of you are interested, we have just open up our classes here in Broadway Academy. Come join us at the school and be a part of our show in the future! Email me if you guys are interested otays :) The broadway team makes an awesome group.

See you guys at our next show!!

Teach For Malaysia

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has"

Today, I was a very proud friend, junior (intern in PwC) and fellow convenor (in YCM) as I witnessed the launch of Teach for Malaysia (TFM) - a programme that will complement the current initiative by the Government of Malaysia to raise the quality of education in this country. Our YB Deputy Prime Minister has acknowledged that this was because the programme was closely linked to the policies under the 10th Malaysia Plan aimed at developing human capital of excellent quality.

TFM is very much skewed to providing teachers of quality to primary schools which are performing poorly, based on the concept of teaching while serving the country propagated by the global network 'Teach For All'. Teach For All gives an opportunity to outstanding graduates to serve the country by joining the teaching profession after completing their university education. One day, all children in malaysia will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education, InsyaAllah.

Currently, Malaysia is the 1st in Southeast Asia and 3rd after India and China to implement the important initiative, and based on the success already achieved in the US and the UK through the 'Teach for America' and 'Teach First UK', there's no doubt that this will definitely contribute immensely to the development of the country. It's true when YB DPM said that "We will always remember our favourite teachers". Very true.

The event was so important to us, that we made sure, on behalf of Young Corporate Malaysians, we were there to support our fellow convenors whilst they created history. To the Co Founder of TFM, Dzam and Keeran, a big congratulations to the both of you and your team, for if not for you guys, there will be no such powerful initiative. An initiative that will bring so much changes and differences to the country, for the better. and oh, I also super loved the personalized invitation from you two! Probably one of the reasons I actually made sure I was there early to spend the morning with you guys before the launch ;) Thank you very much!

When I was an intern, they were my seniors I'd go to to ask questions. Then, we became fellow convenors in YCM before they decided to fly high and took it a step further and make good for the country :) The Co Founders, Dzameer and Keeran

Young Corporate Malaysians at Teach For Malaysia's launch - 24.12.2010, history was made

May YCM and TFM live to continue contributing to the nation and the country in the future :)

The final days

It's 10 days away from the new year.

There's so much to reflect on, so much planning to do, so much to clear up before 2011 arrives and most significantly, just overwhelmingly a lot to strategize on how I want my 2011 to be. 

I love having a plan before me - knowing what to expect or at least know what to head for. A goal and a direction. 

Right now, I'm very contented and thankful for what I've been through in 2010. Couldn't ask for it in any other better way. I like it just the way it is. Hopefully it will end nicely too, InsyaAllah. 

Work has been piling, but definitely manageable. I'm happy with how things are. So many things I've learnt, so many things I'm grateful for and so thankful of all the experiences I've managed to get through. Happy that I'm filled with much positive thoughts everyday.

10 more days to plan out my future :)

SURPRISE!

It has become 'sort of' a norm that when December falls, my YCM Summit will 'conveniently' fall exactly on this special girl's birthday! I said sort of.

So last year, we celebrated after her real birthday, and it was all just us, the girls. No boys allowed. 

This year, gosh, I tried so hard not to organize the summit on her birthday, and guess what?! That was the only date available to have it. Well, we tried persuading her to come to the event, saying that "See, we invited a thousand people to the summit on your birthday to celebrate it WITH you!"

Nah. She didn't buy it.

So this year, Fadza and Ajjie had pre arranged her surprise birthday party - a week before. You guessed it right if you figured how sad I was. I had to RSVP with a 'maybe attending', though I know it was gonna be difficult. 

I know I was gonna be the busiest bee a day before the summit, which was conveniently also a day before her birthday. So two days before, I woke up and messaged Fadza first thing in the morning. Conveyed to him my surprise plan and lil Mr Boyfriend was oh-so-very-helpful - telling me of her whereabouts and schedule and at the same time told me to go do some work at FV. Pfft...

SURPRISE! 

Happy birthday darling!

Birthday girl and I

She was shocked alright! I was happy in return. Yay! :) Fair.

So, I celebrated her special day with the whole of her construction and FV colleagues 2 days before! Sadly, I couldn't pull Fadza out of work, but I was indeed glad that I made time to surprise her, coz like I thought, I didn't make it to her surprise birthday party on the real day. It was an awesome celebration btw on the real day. But she understood that I had work. 

This girl has been nothing but AMAZING since the day I knew her. The one I can just rant and rant till I'm not stressed anymore, who knows how to make me happy, or plain go "Let's go for a happy breakfast tomorrow?" on weekends or one who will message me at 3 am to strategize breakfast plans. She's the loveliest person ever and I've been so proud of how she has achieved so so much at a very young age. I promise, next year, I will TRY VERY HARD to pass across the message about NOT having YCM Summit on your birthday ok? Love!

Then came Aiman's.

BBM sessions with Sya started 2 weeks prior to YCM. I don't even know how to explain the busy-ness we had to go through to get YCM Summit all prepped up - running around like headless chickens, fitting in YCM-related work in between working hours and after work. Liaising with companies and working out the logistics. Hectic!

So hectic that Aiman started waking up, panicking. My only helpful solution for him was, "Listen la to Disney songs!", coz it was so early one morning, I actually did not even realize he was THAT panicky.

Then, he and Firdaus fell sick.  A wek before the Summit! Argh!

Afterwards, I thought, this boy has YCM Summit 3 days before his birthday, exams, wedding to attend, studying to do. He has definitely forgotten his birthday. Partially if not fully. That's when the whole contacting his batchmates all around the world came to play. Where to do it? What cake to get? Resorting to BBM and SMSes to get his friends to write the card that Sya has prepared!

It was pretty difficult to keep it a secret though whilst I worked with him for YCM. Everytime I get close to hinting to him, I start to BBM Sya. Anyway, all prepped up, YCM Summit done, his exams done for the week, his project done during the day and the time came and...

he was an hour late. Earlier during the day, I tried to hint to him to get his project done ASAP, go have fun at night, I was busy at work, everyone in the world is busy, just so that he doesn't suspect anything. True enough, he took his own sweet time to get back, showered, get ready....and then lil sister and big brother did an excellent job dragging him out of the house!

SURPRISE!

He loves his POLOs alright, and I just got lucky that he wore the exact same colour that night! The cake was just excellent :)

He was surprised! Yay :)

The siblings

The hungry attendees

The amazing girl who made the surprise happen, Sya

Birthday boy and I

We actually stayed past 12 that night

Too many events happening in December. I haven't even gotten pass my YCMS-lag even! Last night was the Broadway musical, and it was awesome too :) Will blog about it soon! Right now, I need some sleep to stay sharp on what seem like a hectic working day tomorrow. And oh, good luck with the rest of your exam papers Aiman. No more surprises after those papers, definitely. 

We're Going Live in 3 Days!

"You are 16 going on 17

Baby it's time to think

Better beware

Be canny and careful

Baby you're on the brink

I am 16 going on 17

I know that I'm naive

Fellows I meet may tell me I'm sweet

And willingly I believe"

I may be able to play music. I may be able to dance. But one talent I have not mastered, but definitely love to do is, sing! :) I'm sure you guys do sing in the shower sometimes, or when you listen to music or even when you're exercising. Come on, don't lie. Pfft. 

For that, I am always thankful that I have been a part of Broadway Academy, where I can sing my heart out, whether in the key or not, that's besides the point la ok. Being corrected where I can improve and being an understudy of the great casts. I mean, I need a break from corporate (read : YCM) too sometimes. hehe :P Yes, I don't just do my Young Corporate Malaysians! :D

and this week is gonna be one of the busiest. You know what else is exciting for me this week? We're going live in 3 days! Yup, 3 days! I haven't even been able to get over my YCM-lag yet. I swear I was struggling to survive work today, what more on the day when I am half awake - half dead, so many deals came in! WHOA.

Anyway, we just finished rehearsals, and it was nothing less than amazing! Excellent energy, beautiful voices, amazing cast, did I mention very very super powerful voices? and an energetic team. We're so anxious and at the same time nervous about this Thursday. It's kick starting this Thursday, all the way till Sunday. 

My oh my, singing for long hours in the studio everyday just makes me happy. When you sing your heart out, sometimes you just forget. It seems like nothing else matters anymore and the world seems like the most perfect place!

My vocal teachers, Dom and Rachel. 

I think I might just be the most out of tune understudy! Well, practise makes perfect, so hopefully by the time we get to our next show, my voice will get there ald!

'Dreamgirls' *hint hint*

Trust me, it's definitely a show not to be missed. The talents performing are just EXCELLENT and have BEAUTIFULLY POWERFUL VOICE! ( If you exclude me, of course! I provide only croaking sounds...I'm quite sure). Performing scores from New York's Broadway, it's as good as watching the Broadway shows in New York itself.

If you guys are interested to get tickets, do let me know, or alternatively drop me an email :) If you want to find out more about it and even book online, follow us at http://broadwayacademy.asia/enchanted.php. Details are as follows:

Some Enchanted Evening the Musical

16th December - 19th December 2010

Celebrities Hall of Music, Solaris, Mount Kiara No 2

The full cast for "Some Enchanted Evening"

Me, Dom, Vincent, Shanel, Rachel, Eunice, Elaine, Ui Li and Casey :)

Watch us go live 3 days from now! Wish us luck! and hope to see you guys there! Let's do this team :)

Young Corporate Malaysians Summit 2010 - Thank YOU!

The 2nd Annual Young Corporate Malaysians Summit

SUCCESSFUL

Those many months of running around and feeling dead tired. Those many months of worrying whether the summit will take off. The many months of debating on whether we will make it in time to have enough funds execute the project. The many months of scratching our heads and wondering when will the speakers confirm their availabilities.

Those many months of uncertainty. 

Yesterday, 11th December 2010, Nikko Hotel Kuala Lumpur - all those uncertainties were replaced by a confirmed agenda and event flow. 

Thank you to all that have come and supported us in taking it to another level and making it happen! Everybody played a part and therefore, everyone deserves a big congratulations :) After everything we've been through, it was only fair for us to celebrate last night. How? SLEEP! Duh

I actually fell asleep whilst Firdaus was talking to me

Public started confusing us with Pandas already! Gosh... I don't doubt that we could have made it more perfect, but what we have managed to execute yesterday, as a team was an effort worth acknowledging.

Well done team! :) 

Btw, do give us your feedback. What would you like to see more, what do you prefer, what did you learn from this year's summit. Next year, we'll definitely look into doing a discussion session coz I'm pretty sure you don't just want to listen but definitely would love to contribute, right?

...and this is to everyone who have supported us in everyway.

 Click here

YCMS Captured on Leica - Sleepless Night