Thursday, November 25, 2004

The CV! Appreciation Night!

The CV! Appreciation Dinner at Grand Palace Hotel, Saturday, November 22, 2004.
Wore the same formal attire I wore that night for the Curtin Grand Ball... minus the blazer...
Iqbal finally came to my house at about 7pm or so....
Secretly brought in Abel's birthday cake and then I joined everyone else..... surprising some people with my sudden appearance...

OK... those that came to the dinner, I can remember, were... Abel, Iqbal, VJ, KC, Cucu, Jenny, Seryna, Snow Jae, Bay, Darryl, his gf (Sorry, don't know your name), Nadia, Azie, Stanley, Raymond Ting, his friend Ryan, Nichalos, Krishna, Edmund, Joana, Bella, Gretchel, Ron, Sara, Navodi, Fiona, Izzah, Zhung Yi... that's all...
It had a lot of fun... especially with VJ... hahaha! The night was definitely fun cause of you, my MC friend!


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Time for a toast!

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A Toast to CV! Cheers!

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(Inside joke) ABEL: The cake's so hard!
REPLY: That's because it's ice-cream cake.
IQBAL: It's not milkshake, but it's good enough.

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Abel & Azie singing as beautifully as always.

Dinner... one cake... some games..... a few karaoke... and lots more later.... and it was already near the end...
We had a round of appreciations... starting with Abel... He spoke out his appreciations to everyone that was still there....
After I don't know how long later... KC & VJ gave their speech of appreciation to CV! and all of us.... after them were... (Not in order) Ron, Bella, me, Iqbal, Sara, Jenny &
Joana...
It was kind of a sentimental moment for some of us... but it was great...
After that round of appreciations, we had to leave...
Most of us planned to continue the night.. with clubbin' at Cheeries Berries.... but some of us went home...Iqbal helped to send me back.... hahaha, though some of them, like Abel & even, Bella asked me to join them... hahhaa! Thanks guy, but couldn't...

Just to add a few information of what had happened that night....Krishna was wet...... after he got to dive into the pool.. along with his not formal attire....

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That's what you get for coming CASUAL to a FORMAL dinner at the POOLside.

VJ became really drunk at the end of the night.... (became apparent during the round of appreciation time)

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VJ: I'm not drunk! Stop treating me like a drunk man! SHUT UP!

Actually.... after the round of appreciation.... it got me to think.... like in the picture above...
Some of us were going to be gone by next year.... like Iqbal, VJ, KC, Jenny.. even Abel himself might be gone some time next year...
sigh... I truly wonder how things will be like without these guys...
It's been so fun.... I just truly wish that it could continue like this for a much longer time... like as long as my time in Curtin!!
sigh.. but that's too much to wish for, I suppose...
Well.... Life goes on always.... You just gotta be able to adapt to the changes...

Saturday, November 13, 2004

Meet the 'Family'

The SOAR Advisors of August Intake Orientation 2004
From left to right,
(Furthest row behind) Iqbal, Shenton, Ehon, Kian (Hiung), (Senior) Wong, Thush & Mark.
(Row in the middle) Bay, Dian, Izzah, Kimmy, Serena, Joana, Navodi & Giegel.
(Front row) Gretchel, Snow Jae & ABEL.
(Missing from picture) Michelle.

Dance For Humanity 2004
From left to right,
(Furthest row behind) Barke, Sara, VJ, Jack, Abel & (Me!).
(Middle row) Ehon, Iqbal, KC, Bella, Joana, Snow J, Navodi & Fiona.
(Front row) Liz & Gretchel
(Missing from picture) Eng Kiat
(Holding camera) Seryna

Friday, November 12, 2004

JCCM 2004 Archives

John Curtin Charity Month 2004 Archives
By Zack Tiang

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Friday, October 29

Before noon, we did some more CV! stuff at the cafeteria... did some more promo for the Charity Happy Hour that was to happen that night at Ciao Mien & Hot Beans Cafe...
Then comes afternoon already... Went to Ciao Mien & Hot Beans cafe to take care of the venue set-up for the event....
at first no idea how the table arrangement was going to be! but good thing had a rough idea of the arrangements...
sigh.. so much trouble... we were supposed to be done with the venue set-up at 5pm and then after that we were to dress up for the night...
but then.. with help coming late, the extra tables and chairs late, required items not yet there, it was so troublesome!!
but eventually... although we passed the time limit with the venue set-up... we did a good job of the place... it was GREAT!!

Night,
the Starlets (Azie and her family members) were still setting up their musical instruments and equipments on the red-carpet 'stage' for the night....
I got something to eat (with RM10) and just enjoyed the music... taken care of by the Village...
soon, the Starlets began to play their live band music... and they are DEFINITELY good!!Our special charity auction went fairly well in my view.... especially the girls that were auctioned.... heheeh!

Third highest bid... Giegel with RM35, bought by Abel...
Second highest bid... Bella with RM37, bought by Andy and his friends...
Highest bid for the night... Listiari (Liz) with RM40, bought by Lenny, her boyfriend...

the auction was quite fun... especially when you knew that some people really wants to buy a particular person....
unfortunately... we couldn't do the third set of the auction.. with Serena, Jack and Nicholas... and unfortunately also, Raymond Ting could not make it for the night.... for HIS auction....
overall.. the event was all right.. but the audience was not great.... turning the whole event to a dissappointing result of all of our HARD work to promote this....
sigh.. what happened to everyone!? sigh....

Photo taken from Gretchel's Blogspot --> http://gretchel.blogspot.com

From left to right,
[Back row] Joana, {ME} & Ehon.
[Front row] Bella, Gretchel, Snow Jae & Shenton.

Charity Happy Hour over.... the audience are gone... leaving only the CV! members eventually at cafe... boy... we re-arranged the tables and chairs back to the way they were originally... or at least... as close to the original positions as we could.

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Saturday, October 23

Morning was the Maths Workshop for some Form 4 students from SMK Dato Permaisuri (I think....) who were identified as poor in Maths...
CV! members involved were Abel, Daryll How (Person-in-charge), Seryna, Snow Jae, Liz, Nadia, Jessie, Jenny, Iqbal, VJ, Edmund, Amos, Ehon, Navodi & me..
there were 36 of them that came... and one teacher of theirs....
at first, we had actually predicted VERY naughty and 'sam seng' students... the ones that are usually going against the rules and being rude and all...
but it turned out to be otherwise! they were great 'kids'! better behavior than I myself had prepared myself for...
we had quite some fun... they were very sporting teenagers...the supposed reasons for their poor performance in Maths was their lack of the basics.... either from the fault of the teachers.. or their own... or both....

Anyway, many of us, the CV! members & the Form 4 students had fun... we WERE successful in making some of them start to enjoy Maths, which was a really happy triumph for us CV! members...
Most of the students wish for a longer workshop, which I felt like a really admirable compliment for us and our work...
they even wanted to spend more time with us.... two/three days and one/two nights!!

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Friday, October 22

This afternoon was the CV! visit to the Sunflower Center for Special Children....
and I was given the task of organising it....
There were eight of us that went... Iqbal, Zahoor, Jenny, Nadia, Ehon, Edmund, VJ, me and plus one, Abel...

[MORE INFO ON THIS VISIT WILL BE POSTED]

we had a lot of fun with the children there... the children loved the gifts we had for them...
it was a great experience.... (plus, we got to know how good Iqbal, VJ & Edmund were at making cookies!)

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Tuesday, October 19

The day fo the official launching of JCCM.... the MCs for the event were Bay & Renee...
while waiting for the hour of the launching, Jack had bought a container of biscuits from the Sunflower Center booth (RM10) and let everyone have some.
I had quite a lot, to be honest, but it was only because I hadn't had much to eat before this and the biscuits were REALLY GOOD!! (You guys should try some, really they are GOOD!)

Before the actual launching of JCCM... there had been a few speeches made... I can't remember all of those who made the speeches.. but I do remember two of them... the Dean of CSM and Raymond Ting, President of the Student Counsel...
I can still remember Raymond praising CV! for all of its great achievements and high reputation... Hehe! ^_^

Eventually, the last speech was over... then came our turn to dance.... and dance we did!
We sure livened up the place and to be honest, I think the audience were only interested to watch our dance, than the speeches....
Despite the tension and pressure I had to endure, I forced a smile on my face during the dancing....
Hahaha! It was for the sake of leaving a good image for the CV! members as that we are having fun and enjoy doing what we do, despite the fact of hardship, pressure and etc behind what we do...
But, hey! It doesn't mean that I don't enjoy doing this, cause.. I DO!!
always playing and being with friends.. why wouldn't anyone?

anyway... the second the dance was done with... I had to go and do some of my own work... course related...
So.. for information on the rest of the CV! event for this day, maybe Iqbal can fill in on that?

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Monday, October 18

It was afternoon.. and we had to take care of the CV booth at the cafeteria and also do the promo of the JCCM... and at the same time rounding up some charity donation...
The promo cheerleaders doing the promo were Gretchel, Bella, Joana, Liz, Snow J, and Ehon!
VJ, Nadia, Iqbal and some others were to help around at the booth....
Me? I was to walk around as the 'sandwich box man/boy'.... What's that?
well.... putting it plainly... I was to wear some signs on my body at the front and back and walk around, promoting JCCM....
I had a better audience than I had thought I would...
then, soon, my work added to distributing fliers of JCCM and then collecting donations for charity...
Hehe! I had to say, I collect quite a load.... but it's the first day of JCCM.. so I'm afraid I'm expecting a lesser haul as time goes by... which I truly hope won't be the case....
THIS IS CHARITY, PEOPLE!!
don't be so selfish not to continue donating after the first one in a short time...

Evening, worked some more at the LT Foyer (Lecture Theatre Foyer)....
arranged the tables... the chairs... help decorate the CV! board... before all of this, practised for the dance for a while....
BOY, were those mosquitoes kind enough to stick around all the while when we were there... so kind that we were getting SO ANNOYED by their company....

anyway... after we were done at the LT Foyer.. we went to the Library Foyer.. and counted the amount of charity donation we've rounded up for the day... and the number of CV! T-shirts...
the ones that were there were Abel, Iqbal, Krishna, Serena and Amos... including myself of course...
boy.. counting the coins were such a bother... Iqbal had miscounted them twice... and I made a BIG (troublesome) mistake when counting them all for the last time...
it wasn't long before Krishna and Amos had to go home... then later, Lis and Nadia joined us....
hahaa... then we went to the topic of the Ms. Curtin Top TEN candidates....
Nadia was SO OVERJOYED when Lis got a call that night that confirms her to be one of the TOP TEN!
Hahaha! Laughed til my abdomen was aching!
We got to find out that most of the candidates for Ms. Curtin were members of CV!; Lis, Nadia, Gretchel, Snow J, Giegel and Renee!

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Saturday, October 16

Morning, went on a visit to the Kidney Dialysis Centre with a group of friends... which included Abel, Serena, Snow J, Ehon, Fera, Jenny, Edmund, Wang Gek, and some others who I didn't know their names...
Boy, was the visit quite informative and as Abel commented, "An eye-opener!"...
We got to learn a lot about the kidney dialysizing process and the many causes of kidney failure that results to one needing this dialysis...

Did you know that they are NO synctoms of kidney failure and if you do see them, it is already TOO LATE!?
The only way to be sure if you have a sign of kidney failure is that you do a blood test at least once a year.
Morgan, who took us around the center, said, "Go to take a blood test during your birthday, as a present to yourself."
If you have kidney failure, you can live for like five years more or so, and with this dialysis, you can only PROLONG it to another fifteen or twenty years more.
that means having to do the dialysis process four hours each three times a week.. EVERY WEEK for the rest of your LIFE!!
if you go to the one that I visited, it costs RM120 per dialysis!! You do the math!!

Afternoon, after the visit, returned to campus... had lunch and then helped Seryna do some work at the LT Foyer...
Sara, Jenny, Lis and Nadia were there too, joined for a while by Benet, one of the student council (He's a nice guy)...
Sara didn't get to spend long with us there... and some time later, Jenny too had to go...
leaving only me, Serena, Lis and Nadia.... then Abel came back from a meeting and joined us....
It was great just to keep talking about... 'things' with one another.

Thursday, November 11, 2004

CV own Blogspot!!!!

I hence second our vice. President's official opening of Curtin Volunteers Blogspot...

Congratulation CV! on having "CurtinVolunteers.blogspot.com".

SomeBaL ;P

Notes of Appreciations from Abel & Serena

From Abel...

Special Note of Thanks to Curtin Volunteers! (CV!)

To all my "babies" of CV!Curtin Volunteers! At time of trying to put all these into words, i have a mix feelings about everything -it won't fit if I were to list them down in here. But I am sure of one, and that I am so proud of all of you for all the untiring support and effort you have put into making the John Curtin Charity Month 2004 a great success, despite of all the challenges coming our way. Zillion of thanks to all those wonderful people who were involved, for without their sacrifices, commitement and team spirit, JCCM04 could not have happened.

A saying goes "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give". Sowing seeds that benefit others probably won't mean traveling to another country to serve the poor or anything like that, but to help others in your own small ways like what you have done, whether it's sacrificing your saturdays & sundays to reach out the community in need, or putting your desires on hold for the sake of your team's success. Success in life has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It's what you do for others. The success journey will not look the same for everyone because the picture of success is different for every person. But the principles used to take the journey don't change.

My very special thanks to Serena and Jae - the two iron ladies who stand still with all the ups and downs ever since the initiation of CV in 2002. You both have brought CV to greater heights and remember, NEVER QUIT!

Gretchel - I could not have made Dance for Humanity a reality without you sacrificing your Hong Kong trip. Of course the rest of the CV dancers - Tiang, Ehon, Lis, Navodi, Iqbal, Jack, Kian, Barke, Fiona, Jae, Sara, VJ, KC, Azie, Bella, Joanna and the great Eng Kiat. We all were awesome!

Ehon - thank you for coordinating the Kidney Dialysis visit and the Love Box Campaign. Your spirit and enthusiasm are your strengths to share with others.

Iqbal - I have so much of things to say about you but first, let me thank you for coordinating the Blood Donation. I am always amazed by your friendliness. Your kindness and easy-going attitude have touched many people around you, and yes that is including me. I have no regrets that you are Mr. O-Week Feb 2004.

Tiang - with all the preparation you have done and your "never give up" spirit in coordinating the Sunflower visit, you have earned trust from others. From the moment of awarding the Mr. O-Week July 2004 title to you, I have seen big potential in you. Learn to grow and share with others.

Daryll - with a question "how can I help?", you became the head for the Maths Workshop facilitators. Thank you for a job well-done. The modules prepared are fun, inspiring and informative. Many thanks to the other facilitators - VJ, Iqbal, Serena, Jae, Jessie, Nadia, Lis, Amos, Edmund, Navodi, Bay, Jenny, Tiang, Ehon & Joanna. Great team!

VJ, Jenny & Navodi - Excellent Happy Hour for charity. My deepest appreciation for your hard work and preparation for a lovely night. My special thanks to Azie for without your live band perfomance, the night would be dull and empty. It is hard to imagine what some people had missed for not being there.

Bay - Your Charity Singing contest was a great success. I can still remember how nervous you were in the beginning, but hey, it turned out so well. To all my babies, the dancers - Gretchel, Giegel, Joanna, Lis, Bella & Icha: You guys were AWESOME!

Amos - i know you had lots of stress coping up with your studies and at the same time coordinating the Longhouse visit but it was fantastic. I must say, it's the best! For the rest who came, i can't thank you enough for your active participations.Mother Teresa once said, "we can cure physical disease with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair & hopelessness is love".You guys have brought that love to others and certainly to ME, and I thank you all, deep from the bottom of my heart.

Love - Abel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THIS IS FROM ME, AS THE VICE PRESIDENT of CV!, on behalf of CV! (I guess)

To Abel, thanx so, so, so much for everything, most of all you support for CV! all this while. If Jae and I (and once Deb) are the pillars, you ARE the FIRM foundation that keep us all standing. since 2002, when you first came to Curtin, you have always been there for us. I don't know HOW you can stand all the criticism for people but the way you handle them, it always gives us THE MOTIVATION to GO ON (esp our 'best friends'). I know there are times we don't do our work as well as you expected but we learn through time and I know, in time we'll improve. Look how CV! have grown (member wise and reputation wise). It's all through all OUR (you, then Deb, Jae, Me and of course, the members) hard work TOGETHER. I really appreciate your help, guidance and motivation. Thanx so much & I know, there's not enough 'THANK YOU's that I can say. Basically, there's no words to say how much your support means to US. Thanx once again for working together WITH US.

Jae... 3 yrs... It's a long time. Now it's up to us to keep the flame alive, to keep CV! alive. We've been through high and lows together and yes, some days of PMS, depressions and I guess, thr were one or two misunderstandings. Then again... I hope we can remain as we are work well together for CV! The PMS is normal for us right? Let no guy problems (esp. mine) keep us from doing our work together.

Hmm... everyone else... too many to mention.

EHON: thanx for organising the Love Box & Kidney dialysis. And of course, writing the minutes. Thanx so much for running around too... hehehe...

GRETCHEL: thanx so so much too for the dance team & the Cheerleading team. Without your help, support & enthusiasm thr would be no dance team and definitely no cheerleading team. Thanx thanx so much for your support and I hope we as CV! can work together for a long long time.

JOANNA: Thanx for your help and support too... both you and Gretchel were the backbones of the cheerleading team. Without both of you and your team... I don't know how the publicity for Curtin Carnival & JCCM would be. Thanx again & let's work together for CV! again next year ya!!

IQQY: Thanx so much for actually being able to understand all my ups and downs! I dunno wat to say... I guess you know wat I haf to say esp thank you so, so much!! Oh Abel says "my ass is bigger than yours" hahahaha.... You are a great guy and I really appreciate you handling the donation money (with Nadia) and most of all, the t-shirts. Hey, need my help to sell t-shirts next time?? If I'm free. after all, it's for the CV! we love. Thanx thanx so much.

NADIA: Thanx for helping to keep the donation money and helping to look after the booth. :-) And Yes, you were also a great MC at the Happy Hour!!LIS: Thanx for your support and participation in d dance & cheerleading teams. also, thanx for looking after the booth. :-)

JENNY: Yo! You put a lot of effort in the promo for Happy Hour & I really thank you for your help & support. Without you, Navodi & Vijay doing the promo & organzing the Happy Hour would haf not been a success. Thanx so much.

NAVODI: Sis, I really dun know wat to say. Just a simple thank you isn't enough. I know you sacrificed a lot of your time for CV! (like many others) and your lifely & happy -go-lucky attitude actually motivated (U din know, but thr were some bad days...)Thanx so much for working together once again. CV! would not be a lifely without you and these past 2 yrs since you were in CV! we've worked together... I dunno wat else to say... Love ya, sis!

VIJAY: Yes, the man. You were the core of all the promos man (of course, the Cheerleader, Jenny & Navodi too! ) But the way you handle the mic & catch ppl's attention in d canteen... I salute you. Charity Happy Hour... You & Nadia were great!!! Be our MC next year again can? ;-)

AZIE:
You haf a great voice girl!! Thanx so, so much for singing at Charity Happy Hour. Please thank your relatives too for their support! Oh yeah, you can dance too!

TIANG: Mr Pole dance... hehehehe... I'm so, so sorry I didn't attend the Sunflower visit & I'm really disappointed I didn't go. I heard it was great fun! Thanx so much for organizing it... You were also a great sandwichman!! I haf a cute pic of you... hehehe... Keep up the good work and hope that we can work together agian next year.

DARYLL: Mr Maths himself. I really salute you man, esp the way you did the maths thingy. So far, I know how to do question one already! hehehehe...

AMOS: Hey, u seemed so quiet all trip... I know you were worried about the Long House Trip but Hey! It was a success. I hope we can haf more of such activities. It's an eye opener for many especially the international and non sarawakian student. Thanx so much 4 ur hard work... next year ya!

To everyone else Thanx so much. Thr's so many of you that I wanna say THANK YOU to... Words can't describe the gratitude to all... Keep on working together for CV! and the community. Keep the CV! Flame burning and may we achive better things in the future. I'm so, so sorry IF I DID HURT ANYONE'S FEELINGS ALL THIS WHILE. SOMETIMES, AS WE ALL KNOW, WHEN WE ARE ALL BUSY, EMOTIONS TEND TO FLARE... So, so, so sorry... I dunno what else to say... Thanx so much!! :-)

I Love u all,
Serena.

Our own CV! Blogspot

Hey... I therefore lauch the CV! website!! :-)


Serena