Just random stuff that are on my mind right now

Presentation pitch – Nervous about a presentation pitch to our division director this Thursday morning. Hopefully the team will get a nod of excellence again like we did when we showed her the first cut of the presentation.

Pecan pie – yea have this crazy craving for it. The last time I tasted pecan pie that was ceiling crashing, floor tearing good was in Detroit. Shahnon’s [my ex] sister who’s living in the States came by with her boyfriend and they brought me some goodies which included slices of pecan pie. Have yet to find one here that can match that “pecan pie delight”.

Body Step- by hook or by crook and no matter how tired I am, I need to catch Body Step at least once this week. Have only been working on the treadmill, doubt that’s enough considering how much I pig out on trans fat, cholesterol, sugar laden food. And yes I know I’m petite, slim, kurus, whichever, but that doesnt mean I’m entitled to eat-all-I-want, it’s all about inner health and making sure I treat my body right so that it’ll serve me better and longer hence, must go in for Body Step.

IIUM@ Royals- the Royals Intervarsity Debating Champioship 2007 [national tournie for all local universities, the trophies will be presented by the Agung, hence the Royals name] is going on right now in UITM and IIUM have not won Royals since 2005- which was when Raihan, Azrul, Fareez and I were in a team, and we won the senior category. Hopefully we’ll bring back the trophy this year. Good luck guys.

Kimora’s Life in the Fab Lane-love her & the show! yes she’s loud, bitchy at times, but I think she’s great. Mum, mogul, model. ya-ah! All that I want to be, except for the model part, am quite sure I dont meet the height requirement hehe. Her kids are just A-dorable and her label, Baby Phat’s logo, the cat thingy, is spot on.

the little black dress – I feel like getting one and wearing one. no reason. just cos.

Have got a few more things on my mind, but they’re a bit too personal. So let me just keep that with me and not place it here on this blogosphere.

Night.

Kodak Moment!

I’ve been tasked together with Shuq to take shots of Malaysia’s eating delights to be featured in WUPID’s magazine. It took Shuq and I some time to shortlist the food that we’re going to feature, since Malaysia is such a food-heaven [But nasi lemak, roti canai made the cut pretty easily].

Above is one of my favorite shots [Shuq helped me edit it- he's a magician when it comes to editing. I've yet to learn the ropes of Photoshop ;p]- at Syed, 3 mins drive from home. I rarely go there, only do when I get the sporadic craving for roti canai at night.

Well, not wanting to scare anyone, I told the guy that i’m taking shots for a magazine, and would like to take some pics of him tossing the dough etc, and promised him a copy of the mag.

He, to my delight said ok, and instantly did his thing, tossing, flipping, and all the other roti canai tricks possible. I went shutter crazy!He was an excellent subject! Wasnt camera shy at all, making sure he made eye contact with the camera all the time.. so Mamak Next Top Model haha. 

Aaah yess..it’s such a satisfaction to be able to frame lively pictures. Can’t wait to see all the pics in print!

WUPID..happening soon.

It’s going to be a blast!

Lurve the video.

Let’s Debate

I spent the last weekend listening to 40 speeches from almost 30 debaters that were trying out for spots to represent IIU [my beloved uni] and compete in the upcoming Worlds Universities Debating Championship in Thailand, Oxford debating tournie in UK and another tournie in Dhaka, Bangladesh end of this year.

Aaah yes, one of the perks of being a debater..travelling all across the globe to compete in international tournaments. I certainly enjoyed the travelling.

The university can’t send all the debaters to compete, so usually depending on the budget, number of teams allowed per uni, format of the tournament.. the top 10,6 [number varies] debaters out of the whole lot will be selected, they will then attend intensive trainings and continue to be in the running [read that line the Tyra Banks style haha]to be Champions.

So I was tasked along with a few other former debaters to judge the performance of those trying out and select the top debaters. Debaters had to debate for 5 rounds, over Saturday and Sunday.

Not easy okay, considering that some of them are neck-to-neck close in ability, style.

It’s all done systematically and very transparent, speakers are given scores and ranked after each round, marks are averaged out and become a reference for the selection committe to delibarate on. very serious business.

Selections can be nerve wrecking..I know..cos I’ve been through quite a number during my debating days. Some of the nerve wrecking bits are:

1. Knowing that there are limited places and there’s a gazillion people trying out
2. Competing against your seniors for a spot.. nervous + intimadated = not a good combi
3. waiting for your speaker positions [debaters you know how no one wants to go 1st speaker Opening Gov or PM in Asians] 
4. Getting the motion
5. Selectors having that glazed out look while they’re listening to your speech
6. Someone pointing out that you had a contradiction in your speech [die la]
7. The long wait [it's actually just a day or two] for the results

But after all that.. the adrenalin rush, pressure from your peers and yourself to do well, beating yourself up after everyone round cos you’re not sure whether you gave a good speech or whether the judges cum selectors liked your speech..it’s a pretty overwhelming feeling to finally read your name on the list of..

 Top Speakers Selected to Represent IIUM at the Worlds Universities Debating Championship

It feels great! It makes all the effort worth it. And I know some debaters are feeling it now, cos they’ve got 3 different countries to travel to in the next 2 months and make their mark.

Those that didnt make it, they’ll be devastated..but I can bet that I’ll see them again in the next selection for the next set of tournaments. Debaters dont give up easily and that’s an admirable trait.

So, congrats to those that made it & I’ll see you guys at training!

Below: Baby Hannah, the debater in making made a special apprerance at selections, both mum and dad are debaters. Isnt she adorable..look at those cheeks! I nicknamed her Sandwich :p She loves the camera.

Not So Weekend

Zoey Ink 

Ok before I even start to blog away- I must document my sorry to Zoey for not helping her out with her Miami Ink project. I just couldn’t find an ideal time to do it, once I’m home after work.. I’m often just too tired to do anything but have a quick chat with my folks, shower, chat date with Kuc then sleep.

Takpe Zoey, Miami Ink will wait for you ;p and I’ll send you a balloon bouquet..pink hearts and smileys? Sorry Zoey! Cupcakes on me this Friday eh.

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This week was crazy- I was entrusted with another portfolio. Yikes! I really hope I can come up to speed fast enuf-very nervous about it,but it’s great exposure, even more direct dealings with intermediaries, good!

Like always I looked forward to the weekend, not like it wasnt as hectic as the weekdays that passed cos my weekend was filled with “things-to-do” too.

Cancelled plan for Body Step at Axis

Was supposed to go for the Body Step class at Axis @ 3:15pm yesterday- but Dad wanted to leave for my aunty’s pot luck early and I was too lazy to drive there on my own- so my plan for a good leg + thigh + ass workout was bumped off.

I consoled myself by the fact that I went for Line Dance Funk on Monday & Body Step on Wednesday- so requirement for cardio workout this week- done.

Although I totally pigged out at my aunty’s place yesterday-so much for burning calories.

 Judging Friendly Tournie

The Australasian Debating Championship will kick off this Wednesday, UITM is hosting the tournie this year- they won the bid against New Zealand.

International teams from Australia, Singapore, Korea etc have started arriving since Saturday and  also began sparring sessions with the local teams.

Sparring sessions= warm up= spying out for competition before the tournie begins ;p

I had to go to campus and judge a few rounds today, IIU & NTU (Singapore) sparring  - deciding over motions arguing Aborigine politics in Australia to the military govt in Thailand- fun eh for a Sunday? haha.

And I pigged out again- we had Domino’s for lunch. I couldnt resist. IIU always provides good food..aren’t we spoiled ;p

Pic above: School debaters who came to watch the sessions waiting to snap some slices.

So..weekend’s almost over and I’ve not had any “me” time yet. Blurgh!

I’ll just go do up a foot soak for myself, grab the latest Economist and chill. [I realised after the debates that I've lost track of quite a number of the current issues-shame on me]

This coming weekend should be exciting-there are goats involved (ye kambing..kambing hidup ;p)- so watch out for that post.

Whoop It Debaters!

I remember complaining and whining quite often at debate tournaments.. (actually I shouldnt just implicate myself.. all the debaters whine! haha) some of the most common things we complain about are, in no particular order:

• The Tab: usually cos it’s late (Tab= results from the last round which determines match-ups for the next one) Why does it take so long? most of the time its cos the adjudicators take too long to fill in the scoresheets and when they do.. they sometimes mess up the scores which screws up the tabulation process.blurgh!

• Sucky run-down motions- (motions= topics we debate on) anything that has to do with the Israel-Palestine conflict is run down (no not cos I dont think the issue is of global importance.. it is) but not to be debated till its death at countless tournaments.Camp David repeated 100 times..not fun.

• Lousy accomodation- yes debaters have all had their share, although we are sometimes spoilt.I  had cosy acco when I was in Melbourne, it was in Melbourne unis dorm- but it was single occupancy AND had a fire place (beat that), South Africa-Stellenbosch uni wasn’t too bad either..room had a priceless view. Usually international tournaments are ok but lcoal tournaments…depends on your luck and the host.

• Horrible food- ahh yess.. so they say the tummy offers the nastiest critique, we’ve had everyhting from packed nasi ayam..to no-flavor-bland veg pizza!  The worst thing is when you’re overseas and organisers have difficuly finding halal food..then no choice..unless we choose to knot our tummies and try finding halal food in a foreign town.

So there you go..the list of complaints..owe up guys I’m sure at one of the numerous tournies we’ve competed in, Australs, Worlds, AUDC, Asians, Royals..surely something must’ve gone wrong..oh yea I forgot the king of all complaints…I can bet my last sen on this one..debaters must have at least once complain that..

they had  bad adjudicators judging in their room (bad= the judge gave them the loss) and we’d all have the reasons why we think the judge was lousy..he read into the debate, he was bias,it was his first time judging..bla bla..haha. Well I’m guilty.. I’ve lost rounds too and yes unfortunately thanks to bad judges.

Well peeps the organisers of WUPID (CIMB World Universities Peace Invitational Debate) are making sure that none of the debaters competing at the tournament will whine, complain, or get worked up over anything else but silly rebuttals or arguments ( believe me debaters confidently arguing nonsense can be quite irritating). H&G is the event organiser (great job my lil Kuc!)

I wont spill the details, you can and must check out WUPID’s website or WUPID’s blog..by the way funky name eh..pronounced Whoop-it..haha.

Motions will be fresh, sure we’ve all had peace as end-objectives for our cases but this time they must be the gist of your arguments. Debaters will get a chance to attend a Corporate Social Responsibility Conference (if you dont know what that is- dont call yourself a debater) and since it’s invitational…you’ll be debating against the best of the best.. Oxford A anyone? (hold on.. they still the top team? I’ve not checked the rankings).

It’ll be held end of this year.. so watch that space.