Blessed!

on monday i was in a super negative downward spiral mood. we have been yet again been denied another grant application.

we scratched our heads. we think and thought. and we began to be more bugging to the various people that we have approached.

one of the things we might have to do was cut down on the food variety (quantity still same but less variety), and that really was our last resort. i really don't want to get there.

so when Ka-Mun, our sponsorship man texted me a good news today, i was surprised and relieved at the same time! i really didn't expect such an amount to be given to us - but basically now we dun have to cut down the food variety. yay! i'm so so soo thankful!

thanks Ka-Mun for your persistence! thanks MSD for being so generous! and thank God! wow! yay!

we still have a couple hundreds to raise to give subsidies to the committee and performers - will continue to work harder!

mind you, asking for money is one of the hardest thing ever! a lot a lot of courage and a lot a lot of thick-faced-ness! sometimes i have to practice my 'speech' over and over again before entering a shop and speak to the owner.

ah! come on!!!! few more hundreds to go and all will be sweet as!!!!

gambate!

Peek...

the whole team is super swamped for the last week of term, so we put a temporary halt to the preparation. things are more or less much settled and all those details will be finalised next week. time FLIES! man! only 11 more days to Malam.. no.. actually.. 10 and a quarter day...

anyway, just some updates...

Logistics
today our conference manager gave us a call and asked if we would like to have a peek at the hall since there was a dinner function that night. Would be good for us to have a look at how they set up.

Ing Chia (thanks for the ride :D), Merlin and me went and had a peek ^_^ man i loved it! :D it's really cosy and classy! and with our deco team going all out to spice things up - man! i'm so excited to see how the hall is gonna be transformed during the night! :D


Sponsorship
the sponsorship team is still on the go. i remember vividly what Seng Cheong (year 2006 Malam organiser) told me repeatedly when i met him few months ago: "start your sponsorship hunt early!!!"

i totally understand where he is coming from right now :)

we have been receiving pretty disappointing news these few weeks. Was pretty disheartening but that will not stop us from working harder and brainstorming to get the funds in!!! we have 11 more days.

quoting my flatmate: "Pressure is Privilege." :)


Protocol and Events
Prior to organizing Malam, i wrote down for myself a few goals that i wanna achieve for each team. And i'm really pleased that the events of that night will be meaningful and purposeful and not just some act/event for the sake of having one. Each performance you see, each event happening during will have a message behind to link with our theme, 'Home'. Good job, P&E team! :D

What's left now are full rehearsals and stage managing to ensure a smooth and well-coordinated flow during the night. Ah. and those minute details! Man. it's gonna be a crazy week! We call it 'the Malam week' btw :p


Affirmation
We are very encouraged by each of you who went to the booth and wrote on the affirmation cards. We will have another booth this Thursday, 12pm - 1.30pm at the UCSA. Do drop by and write on a card. Else you can contact Ka-Mun at kml64 and arrange a time with him. Preferably during the holidays though if you wanna arrange a time :p


Okie dokie. That's about all that i am able to update on. Back to uni work. Oh and if you haven't gotten your tickets yet, do drop by our booth or contact us! We really hope to see you there!

All the best for the last week of term!!! And keep warm too - it's been a crazy wet windy hail-y snow-y winter!

Time flies!

it's august!!!

it's gonna be Malam soon!!!

:D

exciting exciting exciting!!!

(...and a lil stressed.. will be more than happy if someone can belanja me bubble tea :D hehe. anyway, i believe that all the hard work will pay off! yay!)

what's up so far?

Ticket Sales

NZD45.00 per person :)

the team is subsidising NZD11.00 per person (actual food price is NZD56.00). After all we are all still students :)

we are still working very hard to raise funds for the subsidy and also for various equipment hire costs and decoration costs and all other costs. please do keep us in prayer and well wishes!

Don't forget to get your Malam ticket from any of our committee members or e-mail us at malam.msia08@gmail.com.

You wouldn't want to miss out on this year's Malam! :)


Publicity
We will have a booth at the UCSA on the following days from 11.30am-1.30pm:
August 11, 13, 15, 19, 21

And we will be on RDU98.5 FM too!

Listen up during the following slots (one ad per slot):
11/8 - 15/8 (except 13/8)
0700-1000
1200-1300
1600-1900

13/8
1000-1200
1200-1300
1600-1900

18/8 - 22/8
0700-1000
1600-1900

Affirmation
look out for Ka-Mun's post!

if you are a member of CMSA, you would have been e-mailed about this!

see YOU at the booth on Monday! :D

News

before i start, all the best to the Bersatu warriors who are currently at Wellington! Go CMSA!

hope you guys have a good time up there! :p

back to Malam.

Money Matters
we are currently awaiting responses. and we are still applying for grants and funds; whilst also going to SMEs.

so if you would like to join us in the sponsorship hunt, you are more than welcomed to join us! we appreciate YOUR help!

Logistics
talking about this, ingchia, sorry i haven't gotten back to you yet. will do so by end of this week.

i realised one thing: the more detailed you get into things - the more the cost increase. e.g.oh, s we'd need this extra cable. oo, so this would cost. oo, ok, the piano needs to be re-tuned if we wanna move it. and the list goes on.

right. good to know and be more expectant next time!

Decoration
met up with Merlin the other day and am excited about the decoration! it's gonna be awesome!

Protocol and Events
waiting for the auditions to commence!

Publicity
our poster is coming out soon! be prepared to see our posters and promo items everywhere once uni starts! it's gonna be all-out!

mr video man is currently in wellington for the games. hope to get the trailer out before semester starts :)

i think that's all. feel free to throw me any questions.

happy holidays!

Some Updates

monologue:
we should do some template editing to the blog some day... when the posters and logo are out then we will decorate this blog a bit lar ok? :D

ok. :p)

so where should i start from?

Malam Updates

• worked super hard for the grant proposal! thanks to Wan Yin, IngChia, Ka-Mun, Firdaus, Nat, Elyana for going through this with me! we learnt heaps, kan? :D
  
  
• a lot of fine-tuning of the venue, menu etc etc. won't bore you here with the details. just be rest assured that the team is working very hard for Malam :) very very hard. but as the nagging goes: rmb ur priority is your STUDIES!!!
  
  
• you should be seeing posters and chalking around uni once the semester starts - look out for our marketing stint! ;) oo, and our trailer too! :D exciting exciting!
  
  
• please support our chocolate fundraising efforts!!! :D thank you thank you!
  Wan Yin and her team are working super hard for this as you can see! Man, Alip does make a good model! :D
  
  
• till then, pray and hope together with us for financial assistance! you also want cheap ticket price and good food kan? :p
  

The Journey from the LB (dunno why they call me lady boss.. :p)

• i wan to study!!! super super want to study! i have had enough of Malam for now. luckily this month is exam month, then i can concentrate on my research dy.. :p
  
  
• on the subject of e-mails:
  i said: "please reply my e-mails lar friends"
  Ka-Mun said: "bullet-point, bullet-point :p"
  Bern: "rather have a lot of emails than LONG e-mails."
  
  oklar, i will keep the e-mails short and simple.
  
  but people, next time, when you are in a leadership position, you will know the MOST frustrating on earth is when you need feedback and NO ONE's replying you. ok, wait, i should give credit to those who replied, thanks peepz! :D
  
  i'm not exactly complaining - coz can also understand that everyone's mind is super saturated with uni work. i guess i have to change on my part too: write my e-mails in such a way that ppl will be able to understand quick, read quick... and reply promptly :) (btw, i'm pretty notorious for long e-mails.. ask my friends, they'd know :p)
  
  
• Open and Honest Communication
  i think this is what my team is - super honest with themselves, super honest with me, super honest with everyone. and i'm super proud of them! :)
  people, i cherish all truthful communication :) it helps us to deal with issues in a more efficient way, and not to harbour any unhappiness against each other. so ya, keep up the good job! be loving and truthful ya! :D
  
  
• Learning from each other
  i take this whole Malam thing as a new learning experience. It's stretching me a lot in many ways. Write proposal. Budget flow. Communicating. Listening. Making decisions. Muka tembok. The list goes on.
  
  in many things i dun have the experience, and i'm learning as i go. and i'm super thankful to have wise and experienced people to help out. i guess this is what you call.. equipping and empowering :p
  
  i promised that i will work on with the team with any changes after they've submitted their plans etc. feel bad for not consulting before i do the changes. Sorry ya. Will work on that part :) a good leader must let the team know that he/she trusts them too! :D
  

ok, enough of my rants. till then...

study hard and smart!

the exams are here!!!

(^^)9

on the subject of exams...
"Who invented this evil?"
Lam, 2008

ps: that's why eat chocolate :p (refer to WanYin's post.. ekeke..)

The Journey

Last Friday, Glo, Wan Yin, Emma, Mun Yee and Jasmine (and Merilyn) journeyed to the city to look at the prospective venues where Malam could be held. They were eating and drinking at Starbucks in between venues going hard out at the library.

"Don't pray pray"
WY looking for inspiration through that art and craft book

Our Lady Boss thinking
Can see the booooooks?

Then on Saturday, the whole team met to brainstorm about the theme and other stuff. However, being Malaysians we always have food first! =) Tuna and mayo sandwich + chips courtesy of Lady Boss. My guess is that was to make sure we were awake and thinking hard! Heh.

Then we had our 'family' photo:

Clockwise from back:
Emma | Jasmine | Yuen Leung | Merlin | Bernard | Benjamin | Jacky | Firdaus | Ka-Mun | Ing Chia | Natasha | Q | Gloria | Mun Yee | Li Ying | Sharon | Wan Yin

Mamat and Hafiz were the only ones missing. (I think)

"Bernard not cool pun" - Firdaus aka Zai Pong

In action:

I agree!

p.s. As mentioned in previous post, theme and venue will be announced later this week.

First Meeting and Deadlines

So we had our first meeting. Seems like these people have a lot of crazy ideas. The only main issue of concern now is funding and some twitchy-ness (as Ka-Mun puts it) here and there about various issues. But i believe that we can pull through.

Main focus now: proposal and budget allocation for grant applications; fundraising activities; sponsorship hunt.

i will leave the theme and what-not to the brainstorming session later this month. From the way things are going, i'm sure we'll be able to come out with something awesome. Right, team? :D

And now, some deadlines:

May
Finalize venue and theme

June
Teams at work; exams.

July
Teams at work; Rehearsals; Promotional activities; Ticket sales start.

August
Promotional activities; Full-dress rehearsals and anything necessary

August 30 2008 - MALAM!!!

Right. Glad that things are moving and the ball is rolling a little faster.

Back to uni work. Btw, this is gonna be super random. But you know what, TXT2000 rockssssss! :p

ps: Thanks to Azmir and Raymond who attended the meeting and gave much input and advice. Good to have you there! :)

Wan Yin and me

Seems like we complement each other quite well :p she's more practical and down-to-earth; keeps me in check whilst i go all over the emotional side of things. It's been great working with her! thanks Wan Yin! :)

So now we more or less have our committee set up. Waiting for a few more people to get back to us. First committee meeting will be on 10th May 2008, Saturday. Time and venue TBC.

Talked to the LMSS rep yesterday. He will get back to me soon about the collaboration after discussing with the club's president. He was quite surprised that we have not set up our committee till yesterday...

ya. i admit that we are quite late compared to 2006; my main concern now is the venue, food and WHERE TO GET MONEY!! duit duit duit!

We are kinda racing against time; sponsors, grants... and if you want more than on-par performances...time does play an important factor too. We are, after all, busy university students who have to study, work part-time, amongst other stuff that defines a 'university student'.

Whatever it is, we will endeavor to deliver a great Malam! (^^)9

Will post up the deadlines here so that you guys can keep us in check and make sure that we are on track.

Till then, nitez. i'm tired from all the texting and talking :)

ps: keep warm!

Welcome Onboard!

So we now have 3 more people in the team:

Bernard as the protocol guy.
Ka-Mun as vice-secreteray.
Natasha as vice-treasurer.

Bernard has organized formal dinner functions before and is very much experienced and familar with all the formalities and such. He will be looking for a sub-team to help him with the frontline stuff.

Ka-Mun is the secretary of CMSA and Nat is the treasurer. One of the reasons why we are putting them as the vice is that they would be able to assist the secretary and treasurer of Malam - nak 'train' member dan raise leader kan :p

So welcome onboard! Look out for their posts! :)

On another note, my flatmates were giving me some ideas on Malam today.

What really stood out to me in the discussion was:

Think big, as if you have no restraints on the budget. Let the creative juices flow during the brainstorming.

Then when it's time to be realistic, when the limits of the budget kicks in, scale down.

i liked that. i don't want to think within a box. it feels good to have the box of budget lifted away, though temporary, but at least, it allows more room for the creative juice to flow.

we then also discussed on the ways to integrate the theme into Malam. The problem of audience participation came in - even if an idea is good, if there's no participation...well, maybe it wasn't that good an idea after all..

my friend concluded: looks like it's a hard task ahead!

i smiled: i know. but since i'm in it, i will take it like a man.. :p

4 main principles that i will stand firm on:

• Can't please everyone - no matter how good something is, there's bound to be criticism. i'm prepared for that.
  
  
• Trust - trust that the team will do their respective tasks well; and not taking everything into my own hands - not a one man show kan? :p
  
  
• Decisive - firm and with wisdom.
  
  
• Let go - when things don't turn out the way i want it or we want it, we'll let go and think of a better alternative.

last but not least, like Bern said to me once:

Enjoy the whole process! :)

Will be meeting up with the LMSS rep sometime this week! Stay tuned for that! :)

The Ball is Rolling

to start the ball rolling was no easy task. i had to struggle to push myself to get things started.

studies are getting tougher; time is scarce; and Malam is not an easy event to handle. sometimes i even wonder whether i am able to put this together.

but i am thankful for friends who said that they will be behind my back to help me through; i'm grateful for Wan Yin, my lovely assistant and friend who will be coordinating this with me... :)

And so, what is next on the list?

• set up a committee
• discuss the possibility of collaborating with LMSS (Lincolm Malaysian Students Society)
• get a venue!
• food!
• hope to get the ticket price to be not more than NZD45.00.
• sponsors!
• what performances?
• what events?

Wan Yin and me have been going through some ideas; but right now, we need a team to get things started. Hope to get a team by latest second week of May; set up deadlines; and get about doing things!

Remember, no matter how tough the going is, the tough gets going! :D

Fighting! :)