Wrap Up: May 2012

It felt like only yesterday I wrote the warp up for April. Ok, so I was late for April. Not gonna let that be a habit, so here I am writing this little post up for your viewing pleasures.

Started with a bang - the Ajahn Brahm Public Seminar and also the Selangor State Wesak Celebration MC gig. Read about it here.

Most prominent project in May? For any other Engineering student in my batch, they would probably say TRC3000! Well, that and the MyMonash Moments short film competition! The video has been completed and was submitted just this afternoon, but I'm not sure if I can publish it just yet. It is a competition after all.

But throughout the writing and filming and editing of the video, I have learnt SO MUCH! I met so many people, or rather so many sides of the people I thought I knew, people I pass by in the corridor but never really talk to. It's just such an amazing experience. Which reminds me that next time I start a project, I should probably write a day-to-day journal on the project since I have kinda short term memory for new things.

But luckily, there was Project 365 Grateful as an incentive to write down what little I'd like to share with the blogosphere.What I'll say is this: It's not easy casting people, but most everyone I asked sportingly agreed to help out :) And for the part of the friend whom I pass by in the corridor but never really talk to, here's a snippet I wrote about him:

"Grateful to finally found a friend who has and who is willing to lend me his DSLR so I could record my video tomorrow. I know I've not been the best of friends with him, and yet, the fact that he so willingly lent me his RM3k++ camera without a second thought just blows me away! Even friends that I know weren't quite as willing. So from now on, I pledge to try my very best to be a better friend, to not judge and to open up my heart and give everyone a chance. Grateful to find such a beautiful soul =) Thank you for showing me that."

I asked many people, most don't have the kind of camera I need, others not so willing to trust me with their gear, and when I almost almost hit a brick wall, I decided, you know what, let's just ask. And he immediately agreed! No second thought. I.am.blown.away! And not just one day, but I extended a bit and then borrowed again for the second part of the shooting. Couldn't have done it without him!

Another side project of mine was helping my ESC course mate do a voice-over for their presentation (Sakyamuni Dharma Centre). It's yet another new experience and yes, again I'm very happy to be able to help! I'm trying to get the slideshow so I can post it up here. Look out for it!

Also, May marks the end of the semester. All that is standing between me and freedom are four bloody   paper. Wish me luck!

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The Calm Before the Storm

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The Bee Gees

The Bee Gees. Where so I even begin?

A couple of week ago, for some reason, I stumbled upon Bee Gee's Too Much Heaven, and starte listening to their songs. Before that, a search in my playlist for Bee Gees would turn up only Let It Be(i don't know why it's here, should be The Beatles), You Win Again and Words.

I wouldn't say I haven't heard their songs before, but I never knew it was them! It's just soooo high pitched and I initially thought it was sung by a girl - think How Deep Is Your Love and Stayin' Alive.

Well, now I know better. And as I ran through one clip after another on YouTube, I kept seeing prayers like "keep fighting, Robin" all across. So, naturally, I started to wonder what's up?!

A little bit of googling and Wikipeadia let to a reading their biography of sorts. Initially, I didn't even know that they were a group of brothers! I knew they were great and all, but being brothers and 2 of them twins! - it's just s amazing!

Well, last Monday morning, I heard the news of Robin's passing away from cancer and immediately, Bee Gees was on replay. I couldn't understand why, but I guess all the names I grew up listening to are passing away one by one. And to think that I have just discovered their songs makes it even worse!

Anyhow, I'm sure the Bee Gees music will live on forever and I'll keep tuning in to find more undiscovered gems of theirs. May peace be with you, Robin, and godspeed.

Here is a poem I wrote on monday night:

Roses are read,

Mondays are blue,

Robin, you're dead,

We'll miss you. 

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Quote #13

I had this thought while I was stuck in the jam. Many people, Malaysians in particular are very concerned with studying. Not to mention having a very straight-forward, maybe even naive mindset of "I go to school to study. I shouldn't be wasting time doing anything else, otherwise I would disappoint my parents, become a road sweeper, bla bla bla". I would have to disagree.

I believe that

"We were born to learn, not study." -Le me

Learning is different from studying. Learning comes from many different sources and can occur at any point in time, anywhere, anyhow. Learning is what we make of a situation. It can be an obstacle or a lesson learned. This is different from studying. Studying in itself is not bad, but to say that I go to school simply to study is wrong and should be discouraged!

Besides, the concept of studying is reading, understanding and being able to somehow apply or regurgitate back what we read. Things we read from books someone else wrote. Someone else who thought their way is the best. Someone else who thought the system would fit everyone. Someone else who thought it he understood you better than yourself.

So you see, the "learning" system, or the "education" system is flawed in that it tries to fit everyone into a system designed by one person, who from his point of view would have greatly benefited himself. But not everyone is the same, not everyone fits into the mold, we're not cookies.

This is where learning differ from studying. Learning is questioning something simply because we're curious about the answer. Learning sparks interest. Learning doesn't feel like a chore, or a responsibility, or studying.

 "Learning is not compulsory, it is contextual. It does not happen all at once, but builds upon and is shaped by what we already know. To that end, learning may be viewed as a process, rather than a collection of factual and procedural knowledge." Wikipaedia

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Ajahn Brahm Public Seminar @ Sunway

Since this is a delayed post, and way too far back for me to remember much details, I shall just copy and paste what I wrote in Prohect 365 Grateful: 

D-Day. Alarm rang at 6am. Woke up at 6.30am. Supposed to fetch 2 people at 6.30am! !@#$%^&*! Anyhow, rearranged a few things and luckily I managed to keep my cool as I know I'm one of the few who take punctuality seriously. And I was right. People kept pouring in after me. Anyhow, I'm really happy to be taking photographs of all the people there. Helping out here and there and basically be a free agent. :) See here. Also met a lot of new friends, public, renewed old friendship. Very grateful for all that. 

The pictures are uploaded in Facebook. And only today, I managed to find some time to finally sort and upload the remainder of the photos I took!

Part of the Monash crew!

The registration booths

Ushers at various entrances

Packing up the hall

Ajahn did a brief walkabout much to the delight of the snappy happy folks

Lunch Dana for the VIPs

and canteen food for the mortals..LOL

Booths selling books, t-shirts and lots of stuff!

Ajahn says Y U NOO HAPPY? =)

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Wrap Up: April 2012

April. *sigh* then *smile*. What a month it has been! As you no doubt have noticed, it's already May as I'm writing this wrap up thanks to my super busy schedule. Not to mention also that I've failed to update Project 365 Grateful as frequently as I would have liked.

It's not that I chose to be (maybe I did, but for good reason too), but things just seem to move very quickly during the sem. One thing after another, and another, and another. But I'm still glad I did what I did and didn't do what I chose not to.

Early in April, I was pleasantly surprised when I stumbled upon old blogs, some dead, some revived. I still remember how nostalgic it made me feel. Of what I could have becomed and who I am now aka The Road Not Taken.

Another eye-opening event in April happened on the 12th with my joining the TaraBuddy group to a Spastic House. All along, I have blissfully ignored/overlooked this group of people till that day. I presumed that they were unfortunate and that I sympathised with them. I just didn't know how much till today. This is what I wrote in Project 365 Grateful:

"Spastic House visit in the morning! First off, grateful that I'm actually awake! Let me detail the visit here in brief. Assembled at Lagoon View with all the Indonesian friends and off we went. We were divided into various classroom. I was in the music/morning exercise room, where we helped the parents of the spastic children exercise to nursery rhymes. This is because for some, their bones are heavier and their muscles have difficulty of some sort (I'm not really sure). But basically, most of them are angled towards one side, not by choice, and we have to exercise the other side by bending their limbs for them. And it's painful on the patient! But they're not the only one suffering. The parents actually get tired very easily because spastic children are very strong. They resist the exercise. For me, I was working with Aisyah and her Mom. She was the happiest of everyone I've seen there! She's always smiling and the moment we walked in, her mouth was already wide open with a big grin! Her condition was quite severe (can't walk, can't eat, can't speak, can't control her movements). But I went up to her anyway, cause they needed someone strong large to keep up with her. Le me got sucked in. But I'm grateful and very happy to attend to her :) We then proceeded for a break, where some of them ate, some of them played. Aisyah couldn't eat solid food, only crushed bread and milk. That also, she will regurgitate back out because she can't control her tracts. I really respect her Mom. I'm gonna repeat. I really respect her Mom and all parents with spastic children. Their love made everything possible. Just think about it. No parents go through pregnancy expecting a spastic child! Hell, no! You don't get a choice! But when you do realise that your child is spastic, it would appear that your whole world is crashing down upon you. What was supposed to be a wonderful childbirth suddenly becomes your death sentence of sorts. But these parents stuck with their child. Aisyah's Mom told me this: "We have to wake up early around 4/5am. Bathing her takes an hour. Brushing her teeth takes 10 mins. Even feeding her takes 20. Then you'll have to take her to the spastic centre. Exercise with her. Etc. etc." This already takes up half a day minimum! And we're talking about working adults here, not housewifes or anything! Can you imagine that?! I..I am really moved by their patience, dedication and love for their children. 'Nuff said. Besides the kids, I myself have learnt a lot! First, to make new friends amid the language barrier. I'm a bit sesated among the Indons, you see. Then it was dealing with the spastic kids itself. It hit me really hard as I never really paid attention to this group of people. I did a lot of soul searching and zoning out and realised that I have to be grateful for everything I take for granted. My parents, my family, my body, my friends. Thank you Tarabuddy for this meaningful trip!"

Another life changing or rather brave moment came in the form of a competition! It was held in conjunction with the My Generasi video by JinnyboyTV. I have always wanted to shoot videos, but perfectionism and procrastination were two very effective bouncers. This time, I knew what I wanted, I knew what I had to do, and I did it without a second thought. No doubt the video is not the best it can be, proven by the fact that I didn't win that darn Galaxy Note, but I'm still proud of my decision and of what I did. All the time and effort sacrificed (Edited till 5 in the morning!)were well worth it :) Watch it here.

Then came the finals of the Effective Speaking Course! Of which I did some really last minute adjustments to further dramatise my performance after watching all the awesome performances from my fellow friends. I did  emerge champion, but I had already won when I decided to give my all. Still, thank you for the recognition :)

The champion title does comes with its perks, if you would call it that. I was made emcee for 2 events. The first being Ajahn Brahm's Dhamma Talk at BGF on the 28th and the second being the Selangor State Wesak Celebration at Shah Alam on the 1st of May. It's something I enjoy doing, some times, but it does require sacrifices of time and energy.

30th April and 1st May was dedicated to Ajahn Brahm's Public Seminar(yet another delayed post!), which explains why I didn't manage to type this out earlier in the month of April.

I foresee the month of May to take a slower run in the extra-curricular side while the academic side should be full steam ahead! I do have some posts lined up stored in my phone, cameras and whatnots. Cheers!

Top 3 posts in April : Rosemary Lemon Chicken Baked with Cheese, Titanic., Draw Something
Total page views in April: 759

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