The Interview

It's kinda interesting to be invited as an Alumni Interviewer for the HKDSE Early Interview Scheme. 

It wasn't a very hard task I would say, but still considered challenge as you are given the responsibility to grade those students' performance in various aspects and give them a score on whether we would highly recommend them for admissions to our UG program for the year 2012/2013.

Enjoyed it (Although it took up a full day of mine lol)

Overall, I think most of the students (I think aged 17?) are pretty brilliant. At least more brilliant than me when I was 17? haha....And they were pretty good in discussions too. And some of them were REALLY EXTREMELY IMPRESSIVE. I mean way more impressive than the majority of university students and I couldn't imagine how were they brought up which made them so mature and so wow, adult-like. 

Impressive. 

So this made me think a lot. I should kinda 反省now lol.

Life of people at Cheung Sha Wan

Our activity for today's SLAM gathering is to bring our mentees out to the neighborhood and capture some interesting photos of people's life in Cheung Sha Wan. This is my first time doing this and I do think it's pretty fun. At least, I had some fun taking photos, although they don't really look good.
And it's also to prepare for our SLAM Social Project, the Photo Competition and Exhibition, so do stay tuned! ^^

Hong Kong style stalls by the roadside. Mostly owned by the elderly.

Trying to make a living on a Saturday.....

Well, something I consider...not so good. You know what are these guys doing?
Yeah you got it right, Hong Kong Jockey Club is just right beside and these people are looking at the results, sitting everywhere by the streets and smoking. 

Well, some after-event sharing. I am actually touched by one thing that our mentees mentioned during the ice-breaking game --pictionary. When we asked them for some reflections after playing the game, some of them actually said "Now we can really understand how hard is it for people who can't speak to express themselves, and that we must appreciate that we have this ability to speak." And I was like...WOW. How many of us, could actually come to this thought by just playing pictionary....
And after the photo taking session, we also shared about the photos, where we see witness the love shared among the elder population in the area, and we witness the huge population of the elderly in this area where some of them are homeless. And that leads to a lot of further thoughts...will, the society, or the government somehow help these people...? How's life goinna be like during one's 70s 80s or even 90s in this district?

It is, a fruitful day for me :)

Super cool beatboxing

I had another busy day.
Classes, meetings, paper checking, attend peer counselor's monthly gathering, and finally attended the HKUST Talent Contest 2011.
I enjoyed the last part of my day most. Watch this video and you'll know why :)

Isn't this super cool? ^^

And something to share from the peer counseling session. If you're free, you may try this out if wana know your character strengths from Positive Psychology perspective. You may need to register for a login ID before proceeding to the survey"VIA Survey of Character Strengths. There'll be a brief result after that too...

Next up, I'll be Thai for one day!

Tibet trip sponsor :)

It's a good piece of news. I GOT the Dean's Service Awards.
Yay, and now I don't have to worry about how could I sponsor myself for my graduation trip to Tibet...

YIPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~

hmm...well actually I received the news from Roy To Community Service Award before the other one. Mr Raymond Tang told me that there is a better nominee so I didn't get it. I did expect this cause they're only giving out ONE award, and I didn't feel like I've performed well enough in the interview. And the Director of SAO actually interviewed me for Dean's Service Awards so probably she knew that I'm already getting this one so might as well give Roy To's to another student. Haha....it's just my assumption :)

Anyway, I got the one with the higher value tho...HAHA. Good, at least I'm getting a little something back for all my contributions these 3 years...Dad and mum will be so happie^.^

The cohort is goinna organize the Turkey Run soon, (inspired by CENTRAL Rat Race) in conjunction with HKUST's Service Learning Day, and to raise funds for the victims of Japan earthquake and Tsunami. It will be an interesting one I believe, so do come over and support!!

After meeting for the cohort thing, I helped in the HKUST Business School Branding Activity. I didn't really know how they chose me tho, probably because I was way too active all the while...haha. But it was interesting, interesting to give opinion about the Business School and what we think the school could do to brand themselves in the public. It's good to hear about what other students think about UST and the school too....so I'm pretty happy to be part of this, although I can't contribute much regarding the local student's and community's impression regarding UST, and the process of choosing a uni during high school.

Goinna share one really nice song today. I love Khalil too ♥♥♥

方大同 - 好不容易

靈感：因為最近很多朋友都結婚，所以覺得很開心，覺得要找到可以和自己像隻相許的人真的很不容易， 所以寫了這首歌~~ 曲：方大同 詞：方大同 編：方大同 監﹕Edward Chan / Charles Lee / 方大同 太多人失意 太多人忘記 太多人都說愛情失重無影 愛 也許是我的 愛 也許是他的 愛 也需要你做媒 聽說人呻鳴 聽說人分離 聽說人都說愛也無法證明 壞 別在數我的 怪 別在訴她的 再也不視你的美 *我在這裡 帶著你 很值得 一直我會愛著你 心服的 心不捨 一切都不可思議 因為愛的只有你 我已換了自己 我意識到 好不容易 好不容易 好不容易 愛到你 總有人堅定 總有人相信 總有人懂得愛能深刻無底 愛 也許是我的 愛 也許是她的 愛 也許要你做媒 我還有萬事不會 已聽不少無可到老的承諾 世界裡有多少胡不歸 而我有我知己 陪我度過四季 沒有什麼在這一生可求

The Certificate is Here!

Received a parcel notification when I came back to my hall this evening. I once thought, "woah, so good, someone sent me something and this will make my day!" Well I really love receiving parcels and letters (not those from banks or organizations but from friends la...). A little bit disappointed when I saw the envolope, it is from South China Morning Post. Must be the receipt that I've previously requested.
And tadaa...................

Remember the Operation Santa Claus initiative I mentioned before? And I won the Best Presenter Award thingy...and they sent the certificate with my name on it to me (pasted on a super hard cardboard somemore..haha, I can frame this up~Dad and mum will be happie)! Along with the cert, they also gave me a thank you letter :) This reminded me of the small yet meaningful deeds that I've done before...and yeah, it did make me feel better....

****
Apart from that, I wana mention some stuff about the Mayday concert tix presale. OMG, it's sold out in like maybe 5 minutes max? Not that I tried buying during presale cz I really don't trust presale tix seats. Just that I'm kinda worried if the same thing will happen during normal tix sale tho...does that mean that I havta wake up at like 6am and queue up for the tix?

OMG I MUST WATCH 陳信宏(Ah Xin) IN HK THIS YEAR! I CAN'T MISS IT!

Some "reliable source" claimed that there might be additional shows on 22nd and 23rd. I seriously hope that it will HAPPEN. I just hate these presales where they allow people to buy up to 20 tix per transaction. Stupid kah? People will just buy it and resell it at a higher price to make profits (that's just what happened with Jay Chou's concert last year...9 shows and still, everything was sold out in split seconds)...stupid BEA Credit Card. Haha.

ANYWAY, yes I must see HIM see THEM.

J A song that I love a lot....to share~

夜訪吸血鬼  詞/阿信 曲/冠佑 

滿懷憂傷卻流不出淚 極度的疲憊卻不能入睡

只能夠日日夜夜 然後又日日夜夜 無盡的日日夜夜 永遠的深陷在人間

在鶴藪當農夫的一天

其實很累，但這經驗挺不錯的。

之前去了那個“黑暗里的大自然”的活動之後，覺得挺有感觸，所以這次報了這項活動，想體驗一下，香港的農民的生活。

一整天，我們開始從斬草除根，到鬆土，到吃大家一起分享的有機午餐，到悠閒休息時間，到下午的做畦、播種、疏苗、施肥、淋水，還幫忙開通渠道，有時很費力，但挺有趣的。最後，大家還到一個有機農場去收割我們的晚餐，拔蘿蔔及挖番薯實在太好玩了……呵呵。還有，看到好幾隻很可愛的兔子。然後，大家生火準備晚餐，煮了粥、雜菜湯、還有炒了好幾碟菜。哦，我也幫忙準備了一碟沙拉哦！J興奮……呵呵。



The rabbit photo....The camera focused on the wrong thing! Haha...

其實偶爾有這種感覺真的很好，我會回憶以前女童軍出camp的日子。大家很賣命地過原始的生活，不忘了什麽是簡單的快樂……

嗯，大家欣賞照片吧^^

Lunch time and homemade sushi!!

Fresh vege

Dinner for 20 people...

Organic salad

This made me think of Malaysian Sambal Eng Chai (Is that kangkung? hehe...)~

And she did it again....and others.

Be tolerant.
Mum always tells me that.
BUT.....how can I do that when she wakes me up for the the first time, but second and third and....from whatever dreams I am having which its story is not yet complete... 
...endless. toot.

Some people advised me that I should just go straight to her face and tell her that I can't stand it. I tried...really. Well not directly maybe. But how could you actually do that effectively, without making the person feel that you're so fussy and stuff?
Something to learn I guess.
To give you a better understanding about what I am talking about, she speaks loudly when her phone rings early in the morning (even louder than my alarm), she switches on all lights when she comes back to the room late (she stopped doing this for awhile, an improvement I guess, thanks to the person who told her not to do so...), she uses the hair dryer (super loud, I dunno how many dbs =.=) while I was sleeping, owh and she doesn't shut the room door if she were to sleep after me (yay, let's welcome intruders)....and the list goes on.
Isn't this common sense? Seriously com'on. This is university man...and when you're staying with others shouldn't you know that you should respect each other.
Hmph. It's okay. 2 more months. Only 2 more months I told myself.

*****
Wanna share something really interesting here. I think this was initiated by a friend. I am soooooo impressed.

This is something I really wana learn. To really think OUT of the box and initiate something that no one has ever done it before...
And to give you another great example, Su Ann initiated this, the Pray for Japan project.

And yeah, support support support!^^
May more interesting and good stuff happen before I leave uni!

With Meetings...

Well it's just another day with 3 meetings, and nothing much else. Luckily the meetings weren't too long and at least I got something done in each of them.

Received an email from the university regarding one minute of silence for Japan, tomorrow at 1.46pm. It has been 7 seven days since the devastating earthquake and tsunami. The death toll has hiked up so rapidly and thousands of people are still missing. Relief has been provided by nations around the world, and support has been given by people across different continents through various means especially on Facebook. The nuclear plant phenomenon has worsen the situation in Japan. Everyone started to worry about the nuclear radiation and some Hong Kong people even died from eating too much salt as there were rumors saying that salt might protect you from the radiation. Don't get exposed to the rain, even it's just a few drops. People start forwarding messages about being more cautious regarding this radiation....
Panic is everywhere.

I hope this will end sooner.
And I'll share this video, well, part of education I believe :)

Tea Party

I'm kinda excited about this. Yay....meeting the person who actually made me decide to come to HKUST. Seriously without this lil amount of money, I wouldn't be here today.
It's the Joseph Lau Luen Hung Charitable Trust Scholarship Tea Party at the President's Lodge. We had a rather informal chit chat with Mr Lau (actually it's his son haha), he introduced us to an initiative launched last year - Hong Kong Spirit Ambassadors, and talked about how those who are eligible will spend the HKD6,000 from the goverment, and what we think about this HKD6000 giving out policy. Prof Tony Chan was there to join the conversation too....
And then we had a some tea (light food and refreshments) and I spoke with some Professors while trying to grab my dinner :)

With staff from the Scholarships Unit, and with Prof Hui (ISOM)

Prof Tony Chan, President of HKUST, and his home :)

And one exciting thing. Mr Tony Lam, the Associate Director of the Scholarships and Awards Unit, could remember that I actually registered for Summer@UST 2006! Haha, and he remembered that I rejected them for 2 times~~
I guess it's because my name is pretty special to them.

BUZZ Magazine

Yay! It's finally out: BUZZ February 2011 Edition.
I helped reporting on two articles last sem, one with a HKUST student (she's a cricket player!), and another with a wine expert who owns a French restaurant in Causeway Bay, and it's now officially published! Owh there are some photos of me with the Business Cohort Community, and a short article regarding my trip to 東北 (Norther East China) too...so check it out people!

Owh, and it's White Valentines today! 白色情人節快樂!

City Adventure

Top two: Mentees trying to figure out where to go, and doing one of the tasks which is to play scissors, paper rock with a kid and lose to the kid for 5 times. Haha.
Bottom two: The Fighters! We were 2nd in the Adventure Game! And some snacks for us as a reward~

We went out running around Cheung Sha Wan area for today's SLAM Mentees Gathering!

Before that, we had a mini ice breaking game, called "I....". So it goes like this: We sit in a circle, and there's someone in the middle of the circle, and will say something related to him/herself, e.g. "I am wearing a watch", and everyone else in the circle who's wearing a watch has to switch to another seat. And the last person who can't find a seat will have to be the person in the middle of the circle...

The whole event was pretty fun actually, and in the City Adventure run, me myself got to know a few interesting places in Cheung Sha Wan. The mentees will have to figure out the places to go to, and the tasks they have to complete/the questions they have to answer at a particular venue.

I think they learned something from the activity, to cooperate with each other and to plan before acting. Well overall it's really nice to meet them once a month!

Thoughts from SLAM Social Project

I'm getting better...YES!
Full day classes. Started with an extremely sleepy mood. Again got some freebies from the promotion period of Nominated CabinetS of Accounting Society, thankfully they even gave out coffee! 

Was doing a lot of preparation for the SMU APEX Global Case Challenge dummy case and finally today's the day to present to our coach, Prof Michael. Havta admit that I didn't spend too much time rehearsing my part, which is well of course not so good. But, well, we got some really constructive comments and feedback from him by the end of the presentation. Yeah, we've moved a big step forward towards handling the challenge!

Had SLAM meeting after that. Ahh....spent around 2.5 hours discussing about social projects as well as our upcoming gathering. Seems that we have a lot to plan before implementation. As we were discussing about some key issues of the Sham Shui Po community for the project, I was thinking that there is so little that we could do to create an impact, as most of them are related to how the society works at large. A friend pointed out that some of them in poverty have been in a vicious cycle of despair, and we should give them hope and perhaps they wouldn't give up trying to get out of poverty....but, how much will that motivate these people? I'm not questioning the idea itself, but instead I'm just not confident that poverty issues could be tackled in anyway in Hong Kong if the society and perhaps regulations still remain the same way as it is.
And this led to another thought of mine. Does freedom of speech means democracy? I'm starting to doubt and question this statement. Will the authorities listen to "your speech"? Ah....

Momina's my mentee for the SLAM project, sweet :)

And so I only cooked dinner at 10.30pm. Ate at 10.45pm. And hea till.....err. who knows. I really enjoy more doing these stuff. Time-off HKUST.

OSC Closing

Ladies!!! ^^ And finally we've completed our mission.

I guess I really didn't prepare myself much towards winning any title from this closing ceremony. But then, I did it :D I guess it's something good to share...tho I'm sick and I only had like 2 hours to prepare for it...but still, glad that I made Prof Art and Daisy proud.

Looking a lil stupid at this solo presentation. Hah.

Wanna start learning some video making skills. hmm, when I have sometime...I believe it would be handy.

Sometimes I do wonder where will these skills bring me to...hmph. A inspiring speaker still?

I'll try...and work towards it. 

Well, I'm being really bad => pizza+pork ribs+spagetthi+cold dessert when my throat is still kinda suffering from pain.

This is the one!! Yummy~

Haha...who cares, the food is free, and life is short XD