It wasn't easy

My heart was thumping real fast.... I was over-ventilating...... lack of sleep.....

12 hours earlier...

I was walking around restlessly in my room, choosing which shirt to wear, tie to match, which suit to put on. I repeatedly going on and on, trying my best to memorize a 10 minutes speech. But it was already 12 midnight, and I should be on my bed, asleep! I refuse to let what happened a year ago to repeat itself! No way! But I could not fall asleep as I was too anxious to go through what was waiting for me the next morning. Without a doubt, I walked to the shelf, open my medical box, took sleeping pill, and I swallowed it.......then the rest is history.

6 hours earlier...

My alarm was ringing, so I opened my eyes to shut it, but I could barely felt my feet, thanks to the sleeping pill I took earlier. Just waited a couple more minutes to have my entire body awake, I started repeating the speech in my head. I brushed my teeth, took my shower, wore perfume, and my suit. I still had my speech on my mind. I then made a cup of coffee, a thick one, with a bowl of cereals. Soon I took my car keys and left my home, heading to Taylor's University College which is about 20 minutes away from my home, without of course congested traffic. I drove slowly, but I clearly realized that I was not paying attention on my driving, I was STILL repeating the speech in my head!

I finally arrived at the venue, and I saw many familiar faces walking towards the same place I was heading to. Many of them met me at the main entrance, at the stairs, at the door to the hall, along the way. They wished me luck, gave me big hugs of support, talked to me to make me feel better. Very very nice and supportive friends I have, and I am thankful.

An hour earlier.....

About 100++ people came in to the hall, and we closed the door and was ready to start the morning. National anthem was played, we introduced the chair of the event, speeches were given, and they went through the agenda flow. I had butterflies in my tummy. And I kept drinking water, tried to breathe slow. As we went through the details of the agenda, it showed that MY moment was just less than half-an hour ahead.

The much anticipated annual gruelling event...

Now.....

30 minutes has passed, and the time is now. I was immediately told to leave the hall and being escorted out, and they closed the door. Geralynn was outside with me as well, as she was also going through the same thing as I was. Eventhough the door was shut we could still hear what was going on on the other side, and that did not help the situation! And then it went silent. All of the sudden, the door was pushed open, and my name was being announced out loud and clear! The guy at the door told me to walk in right away, which I did. Thunderous cheers and overwhelming claps welcomed me as I walked through the door and the moment went slow motion from my vision. I was embracing the atmosphere that I've been longing for, people rooting for me, cheering for me. I ran up the stage and without hesitating I grabbed the mic and started my thing.

10 minutes passed like the speed of light, thank god. And another roar of loud cheers complete with clappings and whistling sent me off the hall. And I felt entirely relieved after that 10 minutes of breathtaking, nerve-wrecking moment. Then next up was Geralynn and I wished her well.

Right after Geralynn's turn, we both had to enter the hall together and two sets of table and chair was visible on the stage from where we stood. We walked towards the stage again, gave each other a hug and sat down facing the 100++ strong crowd. It was question and answer. We were both given 30 seconds to think, 2 minutes to answer each question. All Local Committees, the Member Committee, and observer had to go through a rotation system for the questions they've prepared to ask us both. It was not easy at all, and I had cold sweat throughout this whole thing, and I've got so much to say but too little time! 60-70% of the questions was specifically for me. Ouch! Maybe it was a good sign, as they need clarifications for the points I've made, the speech I've given and the strategies I've put forward.

Q&A from the national plenary

Me answering questions, lots of questions....

Then the next round was sitting together with all other candidates (Vice Presidents) on the stage for an external forum, conducted by Fabien from France, and Chair of EUMCCI (EU-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce & Industry). This was more relaxing, and it was all about getting to know us a little bit more, by throwing a series of intellectual questions to us. At least both Fabien and the Chair of EUMCCI was engaging and nice hehe. So I had a great time here, compared to the two stages earlier on. I shared and laughed with my fellow counterparts, and I believe not many of them have seen me this way, as I truly believe many people think I am a little aloof. Yes, just a little. ;)

Sharing my thoughts in external forum...

Following was casting our votes, to the fellow friends who we think they are worthy to be chosen and lead. Funny thing was many people were confused on how to cast their votes haha. After a while, all ballots were being collected, and the committee observed by our president had to move to the ballots-counting room (which I don't know where it was). We waited patiently in the hall, listening to songs, dancing along and chatted with one another to kill the nervousness of ours.

Clock was ticking.

I want to know what is next for me. EVERYONE wants to know what's next for everyone!

We were then told to leave the hall and move to the carpark of Taylor's University College, and Sandy has this upset look on her. Gut feeling told me it was something bad. Holy. A set of chairs, total 8, were being placed in a row, and we called the VPs candidates to step up on the chairs. Then about 5-6 six of us in the then current team stood behind 8 of them, holding a 1.5 litre of water in a bottle. Moment of truth. Apparently only 4 out of the 8 got enough votes of confidence, which means another 4 have to leave the place disappointed. The chair announced and we poured the water on the 4 lucky ones! I mean, literally. Cafrey (UPM), Sharon (UM), William (UPM) and Daryl (TUC) got it!

Daryl's name was announced, hence water all over him!

Right after that everyone went silent and the committee took 6 chairs off the ground, leaving 2. For the 2 candidates running for presidency, it was very much a nail-biting situation for all of us present. Myself and Geralynn had fun pouring water on the VP candidates, but now it is our turn to be wet! But only one of us WILL be wet! And this time around, we WANT to be wet! Because it is something GOOD! Well, well... I need to be mentally prepared for the worst, I HAD to!

Sandy with a BIG pail of water to be splashed on the newly elected president...

All the best to each to other... Geralynn & myself

"Member Committee President of AIESEC in Malaysia 2008/2009 is........." the Chair announced........

......silence in the air.......

"JAMES LOH!!!" he announced and I actually didn't hear it properly as my mind was off somewhere else, the only thing I noticed was this big pile of water rush passed my face, washed off my glasses and went into my ear. Geralynn gave me a big hug to congratulate me as I was officially elected, having landslide victory, was simply amazing. I did not expect it at all as she was a much experienced candidate compared to me. My blazer was drenched. Wow. Just wow at that moment. Hordes of people came congratulate me and we hugged.

Wow.

I can't believe it.

I am the next President of AIESEC in Malaysia. Leading a team of young individuals comprised of diverse background, and nationality. I am running the Malaysian chapter of 600 members, thousands of alumni, running multi-million ringgit project, managing corporations and partnerships, making global and country decisions, developing more youths to become leaders of tomorrow, just to name a few.

Wow. And I am doing it.

Me and most of my national committee (we call it Member Committee) team...

I am going to go through the most intense experience of my life, being the "CEO" of the world's largest youth organization, run by youth for youth in Malaysia. I am glad I made this decision.

Thanks all for believing in me. Love ya. :)

My December

Was a hectic month. I landed in Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam, caught helplessly by the heat in Malaysia as well as jet lag. I got fever immediately after that. The first thing I had to do was to put my baggage back in my room, did not even have time to unpack 'em all filthy clothes. I drove my lil' car all the way to the office and met the facilitators and my fellow MCs, all expecting me to bring of course souvenirs. I somehow managed to make everyone glad with packets of Stroopwaffles, but they are not so keen on the favorite of mine.......THE LIQUORICE!!

My favourite Liquorice!

I spent a couple of days and nights, and erm...midnights to plan and prepare for the largest AIESEC Malaysia's conference National Leadership Development Seminar (NLDS), with my nose sniffing, sore throat, cough, and fever. My laundry were still stuffs in my Deuter 80litre backpack, left idle in my room.

I then left for the conference, which took place in somewhere REALLY near this time around, oh man so happy! It was just a stone throw away from my house in Section 16! University of Malaya it is!! The conference took place for 5 days, very intense, enjoyable, and made so many new friends. Me and my team also motivated and inspired 500 youths throughout the whole conference, which was really nice! Some of them had already turned leaders today! How cool is that?

I also remember clearly how I felt right after the conference. It was a very physically demanding conference, you know, not enough food, not enough sleep, overworked, jet-lagged, and so on, I totally needed a long, deep sleep. I went to bed and slept off 16 hours straight, wonder how my body sustained itself lol, and the only thing I did was going to the loo in between. After my super long sleep, I woke up, sat still on my bed, and felt so empty. I've never felt so empty before in my life. All the great individuals I've met and worked very hard with in the conference, all the 500 delegates, the fun and quality conversation we've had. All these! Gone in just one night! I was missing everyone pretty badly!

The MCs and Facis!

My MCP gave us a 5 days off from office if I remember it right. I went home in southern state of Malaysia, spent quality time with my folks, watched some TV (yes, I am deprived from TV!). I also self-reflected what I should be doing next, as the conference made me think a lot about that.

As the days went by, it is time to head back to the capital city Kuala Lumpur, reporting to my duty as VP SI...still a lot of partnerships to sign, seal and deliver. As me and my team were busy completing respective tasks, the looming festive mood was obvious.

Jingle bell, Christmas trees, mistletoes, white snow (yes, we get fake white snow in malls lol!), lots of drinking and fun! The team met up at Sandy's home on Christmas day itself and we were all fed and stuffed with so much food, prepared by her and her mum. Jasper ate a lot, I mean, A LOT. We exchanged gifts, sang carols, played some games WITH drinks, and got pretty drunk. Jasper threw up, Nick slept with Mr.Spongebob, William spoke to God through toilet bowl, Geralynn left early with her love Alan, I pretended to be drunk, and many other happenings. We left at about 5 in the morning I think. So much alcohol consumption, hmm!




Then the next few days was all about shopping, Boxing Day sales is always good! Preparing for New Year's bash, receiving many invites to many of those bashes I was talking about. I showed up at Anand's apartment, we had a lil' pot luck dinner, took LOADS of pictures, had fun again, and lots and lots of whisky, vodka, beer, and alcohol-filled pudding (Rene made it, it was quite gross!).

Counting down....10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

That was how My December went......so much fun, friends, love, and alcohol!

And I Am Back....

For real this time around!

I know, I know! Stop rolling your eyes! And stop judging!

It has been a rough first half of the year 2008, rough but undeniably exciting one! I clearly understand that I need a balanced life, not only work, but also you know, hanging out, movies, writing blogs.....

I am writing this blog at 9.30pm from my office, see!

I promise I will back track till the end of year 2007, since I stopped blogging after my expedition to the West, in the land of Tulips and Windmills (by the way, the only windmills I saw were the wind-powered energy windmills!).

Okay, I will see you in the next post.

Signing off....

I totally forgot about this!

I met an old buddy of mine back in High School, Wilson, who went to London to pursue his Law degree and has returned to Malaysia a few months back! It was so nice to have met him again as I barely see any of them these days, thanks to all my work and traveling!

Wilson told me sometimes he follows my blog, AND YES, he reminded me that I HAVE a blog, a memory which I have completely deleted from my braincells! Arghh..! So what if I have a features-packed PDA phone but I don't contribute to my own blog anymore, I am simply too occupied by checking emails, work stuffs, etc.

Check: Last post was 17th December 2007.....which was almost 5 months ago!

Alright, alright my bad, I am back here writing and apologizing and whining and whatever. Anyway, it was really great to meet the old friend of mine! I miss high school and gang!

G to the C to the GCC!

AIESEC International's Global Communication Crew 2007/2008 had their first ever GCC Physical Meeting in Rotterdam, The Netherlands from the 24th-27th November 2007. One of the best AIESEC Xp for me so far......

It was such an amazing experience, to travel 13 hours from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Schipol Airport, Amsterdam, all by myself. Well, it's quite a biggie for me as it is my very first time going to such a faraway foreign land all alone. But it felt like a business trip for me though, nothing exciting (as I thought at the beginning...) walking around at the airport, with my laptop bag, passport and a cup of latte, waiting to board, and again, all alone. What I expect throughout the whole trip was having random chats with random people at random places, which only happened once in a while as I was too lazy to even speak.

KLM, best known for its interesting services and gorgeous eh-hem, EH-HEM air stewardess. 13 hours on its plane, without private screen, and we were all served with cold food and cup noodles, yes, you did not read wrongly, cup noodles! Funny to hold a pair of chopsticks slurping noodles from a cup while watching The Simpsons, and I was the only Asian in the radius of 5 meters. Oh, and I didn't speak to anyone for the entire 13 hours journey (except asking for beer, wine and nuts from the crew).

I arrived at Schipol at 4.30am (what a wrong timing), took a train from the airport to Amsterdam Centraal, reached the city centre at about 5.30am. It was freezing for me, 5 deg Celcius, which is not too cold for the locals I believe. Most of the people were wearing black outfit, and the place is dark, and not too clean. Quite freaky at some point and this is how it looked like.........................

Amsterdam Centraal at 5.30am...

Sun rises at 9am every morning, and sets at 4.30pm, rainy and gloomy. It was pretty depressing as I hail from a country where it is hot and sunny! But I managed to "adapt" entirely without suffering from any culture shock (other than seeing almost naked ladies standing in windows waving at you, and going to coffeeshops that sell joints). Amsterdam is an amazing, massive, well-developed, bicycles-friendly and expensive city. Girls are beautiful, and train system is efficient. The city is filled with great architectures and beautiful canals with geese and ducks swimming all over it.

Robin and Guido, the two tall and handsome Dutchmen who came to Malaysia for 2 months under the Dutch Ambassadors Program were my dedicated tour guides. As expected, the first place we went to was the Red Light District, followed by smoking weed and eating raw herrings! Went shopping near Dam Square and had beers at bars. We also went to the Amsterdam market, Rembrant house, Anne Frank House, and many more attractions in Amsterdam. I stayed in Amsterdam for 2 days.

Dam Square...

Guido & Robin

The 1st ever Starbucks in Netherlands, in Schipol Airport

Canal in Amsterdam

Also in Dam Square...


BIG CANALS...

lovely scenery of Amsterdam

this is not what you think it is... and they sell more than what you think they sell hehehe

cycling in Amsterdam is something REALLY common...

Then I took a train from Amsterdam to Rotterdam, an hour trip which costs me about EU10 one way. When I arrived in Rotterdam Centraal, Amy picked me up from the train station and we walked together to AIESEC International office, THE place where all AIESEC members world wide wish to visit, if not work there. I was greeted by some of my GCC Teammates, which was an amazing feeling to finally meet them in person, after working together for a few months virtually! I have a very diverse team, Mike (Canada), Michael (Germany), Rita (France), Mary Anna (Ghana), Saba (Jordan), Divyanshu (India), Geet (Croatia), Cyrus (HK), Lina (Colombia), Petra (Czech Rep), Damjan (Serbia), and myself (Malaysia Truly Asia!!), and not to forget, my BIG BOSS Michelle Gallant (AIESEC International VPC). A very intelligent team and so much fun!

We had a 4 days intensive meeting together, planning, strategizing, conducting classes, and brainstorming. At night we went to bars for lots of beer after the meetings. The awesome part was all of us are caffeine addict! We discussed on Brand Xp, I am an AIESEC'er Campaign, communication plan, brand audit, secondlife, GCC+TMU+XMU strategies, secondlife, and secondlife. hmm...

Rotterdam, surprisingly, is my favourite city in The Netherlands. It has a modern city skyline (yeah, it actually HAS a skyline), very creative architecture, and most importantly, clean! Anisha hosted me in Rotterdam, in her very Christmassy room, she also cooked some Malaysian dinner for me and Amy, for our Malaysians in AI gathering!! But too bad I didn't have time to actually sit down and catch up with her throughout my whole stay as the GCC meeting took most of my time. The Netherlands is quite pricey, compared to Greece. I paid EU1.70 average for a kebab in Athens, but it costs me about EU3-4 in Tulipsland!

intensive GCC meeting...

Rotterdam skyline...

I THINK its the city hall of Rotterdam

me and some of my GCC teammates having coffee break hehe

AIESEC International office!!!

Another great experience for me was being stranded in Schipol Airport on the way back from The Netherlands to Malaysia. All the KLM passengers were waiting for quite some time to board on the plane, then we heard this anonymous voice saying "Dear KLM passengers heading towards Kuala Lumpur, the flight will be canceled and bring forward till tomorrow 12pm as we could not locate the plane at this point of time". WTF! Then we were given a hotel room each at the Schipol Airport hotel, with dinner, breakfast, and beer provided for free, in order to shut us up! Well, I didn't mind, once I heard we will be given free beer hehehe!

One more night in Amsterdam, hung out with random old Dutch guys talking about politics and economy while drinking beer, which was quite interesting. The next day we have to re-checked in, and then the flight was delayed for another hour (typical), but finally we departed to KLIA after that, and the rest is history...

Now I am back in the sunny and beautiful country of Malaysia! Hope to have another trip soon!

It is officially over

13th of November 2007:

The clock was ticking, the place smells sterilized, it was cold as usual, and it was 11.30am. I thought it was a nice sunny day but I had a second thought on that. I was surrounded by hundreds of equally scared (I think they were...) peers, which made me even more anxious.

11.30am: An unfamiliar voice said "Candidates, you may start writing now..." This was the most fearful thing to hear (at least for me) and my heart-stopping moment was when I opened that piece of paper and hopefully seeing what I wanna see. I opened it, speechless and did not move a muscle...

11.34am: I was still looking into space at the paper....

11.40am: I hold my pen tightly, started writing on what I could think of on whatever was on the paper, as requested...

tick, tock, tick, tock....looking here, there, and everywhere....it was freezing as always....

12.30pm: time passed by fast and I was still anxious, and trying to jot things down, of all those vague memories flashing on my mind....

1.15pm: we were officially "quarantined" and not allowed to leave, as we were told by the unfamiliar voice once more....

1.30pm: The speaker played "Please stop writing"....it's done, it's official, and I'm done....this time around, it's REALLY OVER~ I just realized I will not be entering this hall anymore in my life (well, that is if I make it through this one), and I am officially done with my STUDIES....

Best moment of my life, indeed....even though it was not easy to get through this rigorous 3.5 years of my university life. And in fact, 17.5 years of education from preliminary to a BSc. And I did it....

Loathe

I am pretty sure I am not alone on this! At this period of time of the year, when exams ARE your life for a month, you will be thinking of studying heaps everyday, BUT you just can't do it!!

Instead, I will spend hours on Gmail, Wikipedia (reading random articles OMG...), and now, worse, Facebook!!! I find approving friend requests, checking out people's pics, etc as my sub-conscious priority...

I just loathe burying myself (literally) into the whatever DNA, human physiology or Genomic books!!

Are you facing the same catastrophe? Tell me you are.......please.......

Addiction

well, I don't mind getting addicted to these hehe...

Wake up in the morning...or sometimes noon...

boil water...make coffee...morning shower...go to school...

lunch...buy a cuppa coffee...back to school or work in the office...

then go off for dinner...with another cuppa coffee...back to office...

sometimes (or most of the time)..."bancuh" another cup of coffee in the office...

what am I gonna do? 3-4 cups a day...I am officially an addict to caffeine...

I need rehab...

That Isn't Fair...

I was just wondering why people pin point at faults, but never look at the good others have done...

it seems that the metaphor proved to be right; when you have a piece of white paper and a black dot on it, we will only notice that black dot and eventually the entire piece of paper is no longer "perfect"...

people also tend to forget what contributions you've made before, and hoping that you make mistakes so they could feel better about themselves by making you feel terrible...

it is time to grow up people......grow up......

Where Next?

The land of cheese, tulips, clogs, windmills, dikes, red-light districts, brownies, and supertall people! I will be there at the end of November!!! Woohooo~~ I'm gonna be there for a 5 days meeting with my fellow team mates from 11 countries and of course, some traveling around the country, see some interesting places, try interesting stuffs, and many more to do in this "free" country!

Amsterdam canal....

windmills and tulips...

the Dutch people...

Million thanks to Unilever for hosting us and AIESEC International for making it possible for the Global Communications Crew (GCC) to have our meeting in Rotterdam!!

Where East Meets West

Istanbul is one of the most culturally diverse city I've ever been to. It is a fusion of Europe and Asia in one city as this place is where the European and Asian continents meet. Today, Istanbul alone has a population of more than 10 million people, imagine, 5 Kuala Lumpurs combined!

We signed up to join the 2 days Pre-IC Istanbul Tour for EU$30 (which ended up to be EU$50.. damn it!) together with more than 100 other IC delegates from more than 100 countries. It was an amazing trip as Istanbul is really unique! And having so many friends from all over the world hanging out in the same tour group was simply fantastic!

the Basilica... an underground place with lots of pillars and water...

it's Medusa, no kidding...

my favorite place... the Grand Bazaar...

the typical Istanbul city landscape... pretty messy...

me and the Blue Mosque!!

me and other AIESEC members from Germany, NZ, Taiwan, China etc...

Levent, the modern side of Istanbul...

the Blue Mosque...

at the Bosphorus....

i don't remember this one.... :P

Seriously, I don't mind going back to Turkey again as there are so many other places that I have yet to discover! Well, I just have to wait till I have the $ to do so...

Ελλάδα

Well, that's Greece in Greek writings... Ohh I just love this country, fascinated by it's beautiful and friendly people, Acropolis is just spectacular, the girls, Parthenon, Temple of Zeus, the girls, Ouzo, and so much more.......................arghhhh I wanna go back to Greece!!!!

And English language is widely used thanks to tourism industry, compared to Turkey, which people can only say "hi, bye, yes and no"...or maybe a lil' bit more.

Greece left me a deep impression also because the AIESEC Greece National Team's awesome awesome hospitality... thanks to the team for bringing us around and trying some really cool local coffee, gelato and Ouzo!!!

But getting to Athens was a painful experience. Try going to a totally foreign country without proper plans, the AIESEC Malaysia delegations were really daring. We went to the train station only with some simple information provided by AIESEC Greece members, we purchased the Balkan Express train tickets (which were quite cool, just pay EU$50 for a 5 days pass and you can use the train service to any countries in the Balkans, which includes Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia etc). But instead of EU$50, we spent an additional EU$50 for night-sleeper (with Bed) for both ways. It was painful because it was 12 hours from Istanbul to Thessaloniki (2nd largest city in Greece where we transited), and 6 more hours from Thessaloniki to Athens!!!

When we arrived in Athens, we did not have any place to sleep, which means we have to find ourselves beds to rest our backs after 18 hours of tedious journey! We found a pretty decent place, for EU$17 per night, and its located right in the heart of Monasteraki (the place where everything a tourist would like to visit, in an average of 5-10 mins walk!).

We went to the must-visit-places such as Acropolis (doink!), Plaka, Syntagma Square, Olympic 2004 Stadium (but we didn't visit the stadium where the first Olympic Games were held.... cannot find it lah!), and some other places. Shopping in Athens is pretty nice as well, Zara is everywhere, and it's relatively cheaper than Malaysia! My teammate extended her trip in Athens just to shop!

I've taken so many beautiful pictures in this country.... you don't need a good camera or photography skills, this country is just so picturesque you won't need any of those...

following are just some pictures that I took during the trip...

the temple of Zeus...

love arts.... ;P

Plaka near Acropolis...

getting drunk on Ouzo, the Greek alcohol. They drink it with honey...

Pui (ex-MCP AIESEC Thailand), me, and 2 AIESEC Greece National Team members..

worshiping the Greek flag!

he looked like he's in heaven...

only 2 out of the 6 are real, the rest are in museums in London & Greece...

Acropolis from far...

some street in Athens...

trying hard to read, but it's in Greek...

lovely place...

one of the theatre lah... don't remember the name lol...

advice from me, go to Acropolis as early as you could so there'll be no crowd!

everyone's favorite, the Parthenon!! (but too bad it's under renovation)...

For some more pictures, do check it out on my Facebook...