RAG week

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Total = £540!

RAG week has been fun, and meaningful to me. I had successfully raised £540 (thanks to Aizat's help too) to meet my target of £500 to fundraise KOP! Yay!!!!!!! If you think £500 is a lot, then think again - the top collector had a total of £5000! Yeah 5000, in one week!

London people are much like other people around the world too. Some are very supportive (someone gave £20 into my bucket); it sincerely made you feel really good for RAGging. It was even much more meaningful when the very people people who are actually the recepients for the donations came to us and thank us for doing such a wonderful effort. Even some a lot of the TFL officers and policemen were very gentle towards us, and some even donated (although they still discretefully and tactfully warned us that we are not suppose to 'beg' underground)! Thanks a lot for all your support!

On the other hand, some people are really nasty, whom I was very glad not to have met any one people like this. They scorned you and they accused of laundering money, just to name a few.

I guess that's fair enough if they do not trust you. Someone has to do the dirty job. There's sort of a balance between opposite poles in every thing.


Out of the comfort zone!

I am very proud of myself to have collected £540. Up to Thursday, I only managed to get £260. So Friday had to be £240! On Thursday, I was really about to give up - I really don't like to ask people for money. I don't like to be outside my comfort zone! I even had considered of just taking it out of my own pocket, the easiest way. However, something inside me screamed at me to NEVER DO THAT; I must demonstrate my dedication to myself, that I AM doing RAG for a cause! Yeah, I've proven that to myself! That made my effort worthwhile!!


I treated myself for that success with a wonderful serving of Italian "Marilyn Plate" ice cream that night.

My most memorable experience

I guess would this: After I finished collecting donations from a carriage, a real beggar came into the very same carriage that I was in , asking for money but nobody responded. Then he asked me if I had 'done' this train, and I didn't quite know why gave small chuckle as I replied him 'yeah'. Then he said back, "it's not funny, man. We both are making money".

That very last sentence strucked me profoundly, and it left me emotionally paralysed because it made me really feel like a hypocrite! I was extremely saddened by the fact I'm doing this for some charity in some faraway land and yet..... I cannot even help the very needy person right before my eyes! When I think of it, my primary aim of RAG was to raise the funds for the KOP organization so that I can go to Kenya. And not really about raising funds. Then my utiliratarian side of my soul argued that as long as the outcome is right, no matter how it is achieved, it still a valid action. I was extremely confused! I kinda wept as I blurted this out my RAG 'partner', Sam.

Then the next thing she told me was very reassuring: it is for people like them too that we all raise this money for.

I'm going to rag tomorrow

I hate doing last minute essays a lot! Stress! At this point of time 10.47pm GMT, this is how my room looks like. Macam kena landa tsunami!Still doing my MedSoc essay. 30% to go!!! Dateline tomorrow morning!

Tomorrow I'm going to do RAG (Raise and Give). I just need to collect £500 to enable this donation go to Kenya Orphanage Project (KOP), and this enables me to do volunteer work there during summer for 2 weeks! I already have my £650 sorted out - this is the other 'personal' expenses estimated for that trip. Yeah it's £1150 (close to RM8000) in total! This is probabbly my one and only most expensive trip ever made. Even my ticket to go home last year was just £800 (although my recent enquiry predicts that I might just be able to break the record). But I guess this would probabbly a rare and wonderful opportunity to do it together with a group of friends. I hope it will be an invaluable experience that I want to share with all of you.

About raising £500, it's not as hard you think it is. When I did RAG last year, for just 4 hours of effort, I managed to collect £95. Even that I adopted a quite wrong strategy in picking the which tube lines I shoud take. When I first did it, like everyone else, I was skeptical about even raising £30. I was scared too, since I'm not the kind of person who actually is brave to ask for money from strangers. But the tube offers a lot of surprises. People can be more generous and supportive than you think they are to this kind of effort. And that what keeps you persistent (and brave enough) wade through all challenges ahead. Some of us managed to even get £700-800 a day! I know one person collected £5500 in total throughout the RAG week!

The only thing that worries pisses me is how unsupportive sometimes the TFL (i.e the tube people). Why can't they just allow us to do it for one week? It's only one week! TFL doesn't quite like RAG, so some of the unfortunate us got fined, warned. Even more ridiculous, they are even thinking of bringing us to court! For what?!?? For trying to do a good cause for humanity?
Not like we beg or force people to donate. We just... ask.

Guess what, TFL...many universities in London are doing this, every year. How will you stop us? If so, why not bring all these thoughtful, human institutions to court too?

Meawhile, more TFL officers would probabbly be lurking around the tube station this week...they all look the same

Class reunion, London

Class M03P, Kolej Mara Banting, Batch 2003-2005:
4 years and for a very, very, very long time ... we're still together
(reunion in London 13 -15/04/2007)

"...best thing was that evryone's still as bengong, kecoh, kaki-gossip and tak-leh-blah cam dulu." -Iylia

Barts' Choir

Here's a proof that I'm part of it. Heh. The booklet = £2. My name inside = priceless (click to enlarge, if you still don't believe me =P)

Barts choir is the largest classical choir in London. Would you believe if I say that there are about 300-400 people singing together? And I was part of the team. Just had choir concert, performed by Barts' Choir, singing Berlioz' "Te Deum" yesterday.

This concert is held annually in support of SHAPE, a charity which works to improve access to the arts for deaf and disabled people

"Shape is the largest arts development charity working with disabled and deaf people in the UK. Since 1976 Shape has played an active role in the disability rights movement, pioneering the active involvement of disabled and deaf people in the arts and cultural industries – as participants, artists and audience members."

Was conducted by Ivor Setterfield. He's no ordinary man. He's one superb, famous conductor in the classical music realm!

And the concert was performed at the world-renowned Royal Albert Hall. Yeah, THE Albert hall. I had been on the STAGE, performing.

Yeah, this is mine.

Aaron. Right: that's Yi Wen, the person whom I stole almost all of the pictures from (including this one) in this blog entry .

Here are some pictures, how Albert Hall looks like. Thanks to Yi Wen! The pictures from my baby not-so-good-multipurpose-PDA-camera which 'illegally' snap some shots inside the hall are not great. I should have just brought my camera into the hall; many (from both audience and choristers) made obvious flashed snapshots across the hall despite photography being prohibited inside there. Argh!

During the rehearsal, few hours before the concert. Have you a seen red piano before?

Red piano

The audience arena. There are seats at where the bright lights are. You pay £12 for that level. Below that layer is the £35 per seat - the most expensive of all tickets - of course with the best view and acoustics.

Empty stage from audience view. You pay £18 to get this view

The Almighty Organ. You must have wondered what's that huge brown stretch across the stage from the picture above, right?

Royal Albert Hall before the concert started

Concert time! (From stage view). Those people in black suits were the performers (i.e Barts Choir - us! me!)

The Audience - Almost a full house that night!

The concert itself was beyond words. It was just extremely fun to sing such a challenging yet wonderful piece!!!! I'll most probabbly join the summer term concert, although that won't be in Royal Albert Hall. But there's gonna be in November. The reason being for my contemplation is finals (yeah, the big "F") and work (if I get one) in July, and Clincals in November. These actually are not much of a problem. Besides, they are not even here yet. So, why worry? Just give it try.

It just occured to me that how much I really wanted to learn back playing an instrument - the piano and violin in particular. I awed those talented musicians whenever I see a concert, this concert being the most recent one. Not that I cannot play the piano; I simply whacked them without actually needing to sight read any musical score. I can't help but continously longing to be drenched with feeling. If only I was a lot more persistent in learning the instrument when I was 12 years old (that's when I decided to stop learning). I stopped learning not being equipped completely with the adequate music skills I wished I had today.

I kinda know what I want to do if I didn't want to be a doctor - somewhere in the music field!

Oh well... some things don't change

The ressurection

Hello people. This will be my 'new' blog site. Well, I had created this account since Oct 2005 but kinda have forgotten about this.

Easter had just passed. So I guess this is the 'ressurection' bit. Heh.

Friendster's blog sucks. I guess the only reason I stayed with that was so that it is easier for people to access my blog (since everyone then had friendster only). Now, the internet dimensions have evolved, and while Blogspot offers more options in designing blogs, Friendster slacks waaaaaaaaaay behind. Of course, Friendster will still be fine if you are the kind of person who only uses words when blogging.

Some things do change.

Anyways, I'll re-post some of the things from my old blog to this.