Thaipusam

Yes, I know Thaipusam is long over and I am, here, writing about it.
Thaipusam, a yearly affair for me and my family. last year, we went to the Waterfall Temple at 5am but this year we arrived long after the sun was up.

Thaipusam is widely celebrated by the Hindus and also the Chinese in Malaysia. Here, you can truly see a fusion of culture between the different races in Malaysia. Something I dare bet you dont find it anywhere else on the face of the earth.
Here, I will briefly describe to you the "process" undertaken by a devotee:
#1 Get a coconut
#2 You do this: Smash the coconut as hard as you can with hope that it breaks.
WHy? It is an act that symbolizes how determined you are to achieve whatever you prayed for.
#3 Get to the main altar to offer your prayers to the GODS.

Additional photos ( robotics competition)
me AND my trademark pose........

Update for last week till today

tHIS POST will give a conclusive update on this saturday and the last saturday where i had two competitions _ Robotics and Maths Quiz

Today 26th January 2008

Morning:

slept at 12.30pm after coming home from the second night of performance for STORM IN A BOX.

woke up at 4 am and went to my aunt's house for some F5 AddMaths guidance for the upcoming Mathematics Quiz at 8am today, that's four hours from now.

Had roti tisu (an Indian delicacy) for breakfast with my aunt at the nearby coffeeshop at 7.30am

8am Met up with my team mates for the registration for the Maths Quiz. I was the last to arrive, as usual, noticing the fact that I begin to like big entrances......

9am entered the exam hall. didnt expect so many schools and students to come.

9.15am played around with my camera while waiting patiently for the question papers to land in front of me.

9.30am after listening intently to the vice dean of the Mathematics Faculty of USM, the question papers were handed out to us. 1st question till 15th question, I could, at least complete it and obtain the answers but the task of answering the remaining 35 questions were like trying to locate a packet of rojak in the Himalayas...... Insufficient time- played the guessing game..

11.30 left the exam hall together with the other students smiling like a fool who underestimated the toughness of the questions... i wasnt alone!........Had lunch.... Happy USM kept to their promise as stated in the papers - no more styrofoam boxes for rice. replaced by cardboard boxes although they are much expensive but I am still proud of USM for having the iniative to do this. Hopefully, other universities,colleges,schools and even the Malaysian society can adapt to this measure to save the world.

12.30 announcement of results. Told myself: No hope. Made a promise to my teammates: if we were shortlisted into the 5 best school teams, I would place both of my pure feet into a toilet bowl.

12.45: went numb- got shortlisted. scored 1 point out of the 20 questions. Jit Sin, the defending champions succeeded in securing their position by getting 4 or more questions correct.

1.15: Chung Ling Butterworth gets 2nd runner up. So, for 1st runner up, it was only Chung Ling or Convent Green Lane. CL vs CGL...............tense...tense.... if we lost to them, we may be in the 4th placing, that is short of one further step to obtain a hamper and the prize.. if that happens, we would have to "am tehhhh"(hokkien word)

1.16 Chung Ling High School ! overjoyed. oversatisfied. shocked. grateful to Mr Chua and Chiew Kok!!!

INTI RObocon challenge on 19th of January 2008

stayed back everday till 4.30pm to work out our robot. the robot's main task was to follow the track using light sensors and pick up a can and finally complete the track and drop the can into a specified zone.

1pm Arrival.

1.3pm Speech by the HM for INTI

2pm reconstruction of robot on the spot starts

realized that we were misinformed about the rules and regulations- paniced- applied self-improvisedmethods into the robot.

realized the organizers didnt do a good job preparing the track which was all bumpy and dirty drawn tracks. ( affects the sensitivity of robot)

4pm Race

we were forced to hand the robot in b4 we even had the time to do final adjustments and update the final computer program into our friend's brain. TOugh luck!!!

robot failed to function as planned. disastrous....

5pm announcement of results. we lost. but at least 3 out of our 11 teams entered the circle of the final 4 titans...

7pm- dashed to Alpha Utara Art Gallery for the launch of our photo exhibition regarding the last 24 hours of 2007. 8 of my photos were on display(2 on the wall) Hehezzzzzzz.

11pm-went home and fell straight onto my bed.

ATTENTIOM BOYS AND GIRLS ALL ALSO TO THOSE IN BETWEEN~!!!!!

there will be an additional sea-side performance in PENANG this coming on 24 th January 2008 reserved for solely students as the tickets will be only RM5 -half of the original price. SO sorry adults, you will have to go on the 25th n 26th January. For USM students who wish to go on THursday (24thJan) you MAY go to USM and there will be a shuttle bus to the performance site

www.storminabox.blogspot.com for more details!

Date25 & 26 January 2008 Time8.00PMVenueSea FrontField opposite St.Xavier's Institute

ENTRY BY DONATION ( MINIMUM RM10 )

LIMITED SPACES AVAILABLE
BOOK EARLY TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT!

FOR ENQUIRIES OR BOOKINGS: 012 361 9113 ( yokepin )
OR EMAIL ombakombak@gmail.com

Supported by:

&&&&&>...........................................................me(Hehezzzz)

Photo selection Session

This was the photo selection session for the NYFC photography exhibition. The main theme of this exhibition was the last 24 hours of Penang 2007. These were the two photos selected to be displayed :

Another of My Amateur Video shot in Queensbay

2008 New Year Resolutions

1) be a MUCH disciplined boy and ORGANIZED boy
2) deBlur myself = Stay focus all the time
3) BE PUNCTUAL although it was on my new year resolution since 2003
4) study and revise everyday for at least 2 hours.
5) Do Add Maths, BM and Chinese model exercises everyday (especially __thurs,fri&sat)
6) finish revising my history textbook for form4,5 within 1.5months at most
7) participate in a human rights camp
8) sign up to be a volunteer for any charitable organization
9) start writing a book in Dec which I should have started writing since last year
10)apply for an AFS student exchange program to either Austria,Deutschland or ___Switzerland
11)be able to play guitar and not only the G7 and C chords
12)be able to converse in basic Deutsch & a little Japanese
13)complete a clay model of me
14)make my parents happy and not disappointing them by eradicating all or at least ___60% of my bad habits such as doing everything at the last minute
15)lead a guided heritage walk for schoolchildren
16)really go into Buddhism and really understand it
17)be an active activist against child abuse and global warming


---- Happy New Year ALL! and may my resolutions this year be finally achieved-------



my resoltuions 18,19,20,21,22,23,24,................ will be updated on another post