Effort speaks for itself

Just before the presentation and interview, with all the butterflies in my stomach

"No" has always been the answer in my life. Rejected by Matriculation, JPA.

I never blame, maybe I am not good enough.

Stephen Fernando once said, "The journey of a thousand mile begins with first putting on your shoes." Indeed, you need a pair of good shoes. In other words, you need to equip yourself with sufficient skills and right focus for the goals you want in life.

New things are never taken as a challenge as I see them as an opportunity to grow. This sounds philosophical but that is the reason why I enter Hitachi Young Leaders Initiative.

You must be the change if you want others to do so.

In the interview, I was asked,"what would you do to let people around you to listen to you? You are still so young."

I answered,"Age is not a factor. I have to become a leader if I want to change people. But to be a leader I must learn to sacrifice. Leader does not mean I am the one with the spotlight but the one with the most humble heart to serve. Take Mahatma Gandhi for example, he was chosen by his people but yet he was so humble in everything he did. People were inspired, not forced to obey. That's true leadership."

If you want to touch the crowd, you must first touch their hearts.

If you want to touch their hearts, you must first touch yourselves.

I guess I have touched theirs.

The more I grow, the more I learn to let go. I was confident but never over. I'll get it if I really deserve it. And it turned out to be great. I'm going to Hanoi, not to mention Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO Heritage Site. I'm so happy and even if I have to sacrifice my final exam. Oh well, to be a leader, I'm learning to sacrifice.

After all, I did put a lot of effort to learn and finally, I got the answer, "Yes".

And for the first time in my life, a 5 star experience. I feel like a princess. =D

Hot shower, cozy bed, things I can't afford, the minimum stay is RM700!

Oh yeah! 5 star cuisine. Too pretty to eat.

Haagen Dazs unlimited. The prefect treat after presentation and interview.

Help

One can have many friends but not many helpers.

One's life is written by itself.

Help will not always come to it.

If you want to know who is being helpful to you, put yourself into something that others are better at. You will learn who is being a helpful friend to you.

But never give up when there is no help. As you are the factor to determine success. Even when there is no help, you can help yourself.

This is life. You decide on what you want to become.

And people will look at you differently when you do succeed.

This little place of mine

This is a place where I can escape from reality. Things start to pack up in my first week, and it shows no signs of slowing down. I hope I don't go down.

I can no longer commit to old things that I love. I need to make sacrifice. To choose what is more important for me right now.

I must learn to face every challenges and remain standing at the end. It's tough and I always tell myself to get ready.

Stay strong, stay focus. Don't go down even when my shoulder is over-burdened.

A friend says,'learn to let go.' Another friend says,'don't give up.' I can't decide now. I need this little place to store my burden, till I'm ready to take it up again.

legendary athlete from my eyes

'Legend' means one that inspires legends or achieve legendary fame. In sports, world legends are often named for athletes who have won championship titles or made great contributions to sports and other athletes. In my opinion, not all world champions deserve the word 'Legend'. I have paid lots of interest in sports since young and I would say that my active life is very much inspired by some athletes who earned my respect as 'legendary athletes'.

Yelena Isinbayeva, the lady who always strives to go beyond the limits. Being the first woman to clear 5 meter height in pole vault, she is in the class of her own by breaking 27 world records and completely unbeatable from 2004-2009. I wonder how she can stay focus and handle the pressure as top athlete while delivering flawless jumps in every competition.

Lance Armstrong, the man who rise from the bottom of his life to win Tour de France for 7 consecutive years. He was a testicular cancer survivor and he had certainly inspired many cancer patience that 'it's not the end of your life when you are diagnosed with cancer'. He is a positive thinker and never take impossible as his answer.

The journey called life

When I was 10, I wished I can grow more in inches.

I was the shortest among my friends. I entered standard 5 and often got teased for my height. All I did was to smile and pretend that they were just joking with me, not laughing at me.

When I was 13, I wished I can grow more in courage.

I was over confident for a race and I was defeated despite it was an all out run. I laid on the grass, tears bursting out and I wondered. Why I couldn't take that failure. What's worse than losing to others is to lose to yourself.

When I was 14, I wished I can grow more in strength.

I won 800m and 1500m and I was just short of one more victory to claim the best female athlete. I failed. I was just not strong enough. I took failure with calm and humble.

When I was 16, I wished I can grow more in confidence.

I never believed I won the title which I've been fighting for years.

When I was 18, I wished I can grow more in leadership.

I wanted to help my coach when I returned to the school team. They lost the year after I finished Form 5. I wanted to boost their spirit, I should be their leader. But I wasn't good enough.

When I was 20, I wished I can grow more in effectiveness.

Laziness has no cure. My lay-back personality must be changed. I need better self management.

I realised that I chase after different things in different stages of my life. In the end, I need lots and lots of wisdom. This is life, journeyed by my feet, authored by my hands. What I have in mind---keep going, you will never know what's around the corner until you reach there. Know what you want and you will reach there. Eventually.

Budi bahasa budaya kita ?

13 Julai 2011- kereta yang dipandu Jing Yi telah dilanggar oleh sebuah kereta. (malas nak jelaskan prosesnya) Si ayah itu keluar dari keretanya, bersama dengan dua orang anaknya.

Saya memandu dalam si kuning.

Ayat pertama yang dia katakan pada saya, “Saya ‘stay’ dekat ‘lane’ saya”. (nada suara yang yakin).

Saya tersenyum, “macam mana encik nak ‘stay’ kat ‘lane’ sendiri sedangkan saya pandu kat ‘fast lane’? ‘Main road’ ni ada dua lorong dan sekiranya encik nak masuk dari simpang jalan pun kena ikut lorong kiri dulu baru masuk ke ‘fast lane’,” kata saya. (handal betul bahasa rojak saya sekarang)

Saya tak pandai berdebat tetapi saya berkeyakinan. Dia terdiam. Memang pun dia yang bersalah.

“Anak encik ‘OK’?” Tanya saya.

“OK…” kata dia sambil merokok.

Kami menunggu lebih kurang 45 minit untuk ke balai polis. Sepanjang masa itu, Jing Yi menunggu. Habis rokok lima puntung si ayah itu. Jing Yi menunggu, menunggu satu perkataan. Nampaknya perkataan ‘sorry’ adalah suatu perkataan yang menjatuhkan air muka.

Jing Yi tak marah tapi hanya hairan kenapa orang sekarang amat pentingkan air muka. Mungkin si ayah tersebut ingin kelihatan bermaruah di depan anak-anaknya. Tak berbaloi marah kerana orang yang angkuh dan ‘bermaruah’ itu.

Budi bahasa budaya kita

Teras panduan hidup manusia

Nak jadi rakyat kelas pertama

Jauh lagi perjalanannya

Adakah budi bahasa masih wujud dalam kalangan masyarakat kita?

when silent speaks

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
-Martin Luther King Jr

I respect this man for his bravery and contribution to civil rights. He is a hero. I do not know that our dear prime minister is a big fan of him too until today. I wish everything would turn back to normal after the peaceful rally by Bersih 2.0 until he lied. The rally shows the world of our maturity, unity and desire for clean and fair election. I am proud to be a Malaysian.

Our prime minister is really good in speaking, i think he took Martin Luther King Jr as his role model in speaking. Tell you what...you failed in imitating his style especially the enthusiasm. As you were talking, your eyes were filled with fear, fear of the lies coming out from your mouth. You could not even look into your people's eyes when you are speaking.

He said the rally only represented minority and he urged those 'majority' to voice out their opinions. I classified myself as one of the majority in this matter (since I did not go to the rally) and this is what I want to say about Bersih 2.0.

My Saturday should be a relaxing and calm one but I couldn't stop myself from browsing through the internet and look for the latest news about Bersih 2.0.

I should be there.

If not of the stupid 'Akta Universiti dan Kolej Universiti 1971' which I had signed in order to enter local university I should be walking on that streets with those people. They were once the 'silent majority'. They are just ordinary people and do you think they would risk their lives just to create havoc out of nothing? They are Malaysians who can no longer bear your cruelty. They stood up for us and I salute them.

The best thing I had ever done on my 21st birthday was to walk to the post office and register myself as a voter. I can still remember that moment...

The officer at the counter was starring at me and asked,' do you want to register today? Why so soon?'
And I replied,'do I have to be 21 year and 1 day old to do this?'
And for the first time ever I walked out from post office with a big smile.

I am patiently waiting for my first general election and here is my message for our dear prime minister...

"Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase."
-Martin Luther King Jr

We are just ordinary people but I believe that we can be the heroes in ourselves.