So what is Nuffnang to me?

Nuffnang is so many things to me because of how attached I’ve grown to them even to the extent of perhaps calling them my blogging family.

I’ve stuck around since they started not really knowing who they were or what their intentions had been.A mutual friend had been working in the company and i placed their banner ad in my blog just as a sign of support not really expecting much of anything. However, they’ve surprised me over and over again with memories i can never replace.

As much as i would love to write a long sappy story about my attachment to Nuffnang, i figured this summary post would be sufficient enough =p

Wondering why i’m in every nuffnang blogging event in the start of the first 2-3 years?

Haha.

Well. I was their appointed event nuffie before they expanded and had a whole lot more staff. So if you’ve been around long enough you’ve most likely seen me around though probably not so much anymore as i havent been around all to often anymore.

But I loved working as a “part time nuffie”. Every party they’ve hosted had been amazing fun and they were undeniably one of the best employers i’ve ever had and for that i am always grateful.

They have also taken me on various trips and one of them had been to Singapore for a Christmas party. This was super cool because it was actually my first time in Singapore in years and we were placed in J.W Marriot which was AMAAZZINNNGG. I remember how obsessed i was with the swimming pool and all the fun I had.

Muahahhaa. Are you jealous yet?

I’ve also won some stuff from Nuffnang including this Coach bag at the Vaseline event for best dressed. And more recently i won their Lancome blogging competiton! So in a way, they’ve been my lucky charm because i rarely ever win anything =p haha.

I love Nuffnang.

I really really do =)

Not for the money or any other reason but for the people behind Nuffnang whom have always been very supportive and in their earlier days much treasured friends. Alas, things have gotten busy for them as well as for me and we may not meet as much but Nuffnang will still always be in my heart!

Heck!

Here’s a funny random true story.

Some of the people of Nuffnang *cough. Tim. cough. Nic* were the first few people to actually meet my current boyfriend. And this was really funny because at that time we had just been friends and the Nuffnang team ironically sat behind us and started spamming my phone with *cough. not so appropriate* messages =p

They then proceeded to continuously wink at my “now boyfriend” and a banter of “no laa. we’re just friends” — “dont lie” ensued.

Sharp eye they had because not too long later, we really did end up together.

Haha.

2 years ago.

Wow. Time flies.

I’m also extremely thankful to Nuffnang because of all the friendships they have given me. Many of which most of you may know but i will not really talk about here but a few of them have been a great light in my life especially people like Suet. The rest need not be mentioned as you guys know who you are

And of course, who else to thank if not Nuffnang for bonding me with the fishball members Natalie and Vvens so much closer. It all started with the Singapore Nuffnang Awards and the rest was just well, history.

Yes yes, we had always been pretty close friends but the trip was a huge highlight in our friendship as it was out first trip together anywhere and that sort of sealed the deal between the 3 of us

So there you have it.

2 Years down the road, and here comes the most anticipated blogging event again! The Nuffnang Blog Awards 2011!

Come 16 December 2011, 500 bloggers from around the Asia-Pacific region will flock to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards 2011 in Putrajaya Marriott. The Awards aims to not only honour the region’s best bloggers, but also to bring together blogger communities from across Asia-Pacific. The Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards is brought to you by Volkswagen Malaysia and Putrajaya Marriott.

Being with Nuffnang all these years, how could I not go for this one?

It would almost be like a friendship reunion of the fishball clan and I.

Haha =p

Unexpected.

That was my first reaction stepping into Kechara House for the very first time. The centre looked more like a boutique hotel than a Buddhist centre. My initial reaction when Ginny first received the invitation for us to attend HE Tsemtulku Rinpoche’s 46^th birthday, the Guru of Kechara House, was a mixture of amusement and uneasiness.

I mean seriously, what’s a twenty-one year old asian girl like her with almost-blonde hair suppose to be doing in a holy person’s birthday? Jump out of a cake and sing La Bamba….in Tibetan?

The feeling of uneasiness soon eased away the moment I stepped inside the lobby of Kechara House right around 7pm on a Monday night. The centre was just outright chic and modern. Nothing like a conventional temple at all. Hey, we might actually enjoy this. 

“ Hi, Welcome to Kechara House” a lady at the concierce beamed with a smile so wide I wished I had brought a present or something instead of a sheepish grin and an empty stomach. After all it’s not everyday one gets to attend a holy monk’s birthday coupled with the hordes of his friendly staff ushering the guests around. A simple card would have left me a little less guilty. 

“Hello, I am a blogger under Nuffnang, and this is my guest” Ginny replied. A couple of page flips later, she discovered she wasn’t in the list.

 “You are an evil demon disguised as a blogger to ruin this holy occasion!!!!”…..screamed the concierge. 

Ok,  I made that up. But that’s how it kind of felt when your names were not on the invitation lists like its suppose to be… impostors.

“Its ok, our list seems to be missing. We’ll place you guys in the media section where the bloggers will be seated”

After climbing a flight of stairs , I was inside a huge hall with a few hundred people already seated and right in the middle of that hall was a humongous statue of a deity. It must have been almost 20 feet tall. I mean, that’s really huge for it to be placed indoors. I later found out that his name was Lama Tsongkapha, a really holy being that existed thousands of years ago in Tibet.

“Here’s your gift pack with some information about Kechara House and His Eminence” the lady handed over. I rummage through the nicely prepared pamphlets and little books about Tsemtulku and discovered that he was going to perform a ceremony to ordain four people as Buddhist pastors at his birthday party.

Somehow, you gotta hand it over to the holier folks. I mean, on my birthday I would be eagerly waiting for presents and trying to get my friends drunk. Here instead, they give you presents and try to give their friends a holier life with a higher status. Perhaps it’s time to re-examine my priorities in life.

After about an hour of gazing around the huge hall and watching some very distinguished Datin-like ladies sauntering around in their beautiful evening gowns, the emcee announced the arrival of the birthday boy followed by the sound of some ominous trumpets blaring across the hall. His Eminence strolled in, wearing traditional monk robes and flashed smiles and greetings to the audience. He is definitely a lot bigger and taller than I had actually expected. I mean, if he ever needed a career change, he could guarantee himself a place in the World Wrestling Federations’s Hall of Fame without breaking a sweat. 

Strangely though, his presence emanated a sense of dignity and calmness that descended upon the room the moment he appeared. Maybe, just maybe this is the powerful aura a higher being possesses that is often explained but seldom witnessed.

As he got unto the ornately decorated chair which is referred to as “the throne”, we all waited eagerly in anticipation. Thus, began one of the most sincere teachings I have heard in a long time, Buddhism or otherwise.

 Tsemtulku started by explaining the reason why he wanted to ordain four of his followers as the first Buddhist pastors in the world and we were all witnesses to the first event of its kind. He said that to expect people wanting to be monks and nuns in today’s world is almost impossible, as lay people like us would find it very difficult to give up the life we have right now. Hence, the Buddhist pastors would serve as a halfway house between a lay person and monkhood. Whoever says that innovation is dead in Buddhism gotta check this out.

Suddenly out of nowhere, Tsemtulku blurted out that he likes Oprah’s style of connecting with her audience and climbed down from his “throne” and started walking closer to us. I liked him better already.

Tsemtulku spoke english with a strong American accent. It was kinda surreal listening and watching it all as this person dressed in tradition Tibetan monk robes dished out a Buddhist talk with a Californian drawl. Kinda like watching an Asian flick translated into English.

His teaching was about “changes” and in a nutshell he says that it is better to change oneself than to expect others to change. This simple but profound insight struck a chord in shallow me that somehow always expected the world to change accordance to my whims. The best part was Tsemtulku spoke to us not like a teacher to a student but as one friend to another with a good dose of American humor thrown in that drew guffaws from all of us and actually drew us closer to him.

 There was a moment of sadness when Tsemtulku told us that he has been diagnosed with an incurable disease and he had no more than a few years left in this world unless a miracle happens and if so, he would be granted another 16 or more years before he leaves. He said that he was not afraid at all because all have been foretold by one of his Gurus. We all felt his courage and the lightness he placed on his own life. I later found out that his failing liver was the cause.  

 The whole talk lasted a good two hours but it was one of the shortest two hours of my life. I wanted more. Even my empty stomach was no longer hungry. He was seriously that good.

 His 46^th birthday party ended up with four of his followers ordained in a somber ceremony of hair cutting and mantra chanting. The generous Tsemtulku presented some of the guests with Buddha statues and his coffee table biography “The Promise”. Yes, we were one of the few fortunate people who got a copy of the book. Beautifully written and visually exciting.

 I left at about 11 pm that night from Kechara House with a feeling best described as strangely happy and light-hearted. Those few hours virtually changed my whole perspective about Buddhism. The whole experience including the beautiful and modern centre, the smiling and friendly people and the super charismatic Tsemtulku kinda made religion fun again for me. 

The wise once said that if we are really lucky, we will get to meet people and visit places during our short journey in life that will change us for the better. I honestly think that this chance encounter with His Eminence and Kechara House is one of those rare moments.

 Happy Belated Birthday Mr. Tsemtulku and thanks for everything.

 - Arthur

(Ps. the Queen claims shes going to do another post regarding this so wait up for that next week as well)

An old video taken on my 17th birthday in the female toilet of i think equitorial hotel? er.. dunno.whats that hotel thats now millenium?

have been having a bad weekend so far and someone sent me an old video which somehow linked to this and it made me genuinely smile today so figured i’d share it =)

Gosh, this is actually pretty insane! I swear i thought the previous past year spams were old but holy crap im back in front of my desktop and old takes a whole new level!! HAHAHHAHA. i am actually officially 2 fucking years backdated!! HAHHHAHAHHAH!! EPIC MUCH?!?!

OH WELL, who cares!! old or not pics are pics and memories are still memories =D i swear me doing this whole backdated picture spam thing is seriously nostalgic. its like HUH? ITS BEEN THAT LONG AGO? seriously?? 0_o

Jet Law who likes to hide his face. wtf

My laksa which looks really really good. or maybe im just hungry right now.

hungers.

actually not very nais only. i remember it being quite tasteless. yes. i remember food. ZZZ. loser face.

it’s a funny story really. i came to watch dirty vegas with Jet but he had an emergency and left me here ALONE. but i insisted on staying because i really wanted to watch dirty vegas =X

AND I HAD HELL LOTS OF FUN!! i remember it being crazy good and the energy level of this really pretty girl whom i think looks like sarah lian or may have been her upfront with me. It’s been a long time since i’ve last sweated it out at an outdoor event that happily. HMMMM..

itu andy kho la. lihat watermark dia.

bumped into Tian Chad and his friend whom im sorry i cant remember anymore T_T

AND THIS OF COURSE IS DIRTY VEGAS!!! i heart heart them okay!!! and man do i look tiny. LOL

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

speaking of old pictures, it’s ironic really because i’ve been wanting to post this one particular pic for the longest time but i keep forgetting about it!!

so here it is!

not too long back, a friend of mine actually sent me this pic she found telling me how cool it was. the only reaction i had was erm.. yeah okay. its a really nice picture of the twin towers?

UNTIL i noticed some of my other friends posting pics they took with a similar symbol of the lights in the pic above!! X_X

how weird is that wei?? i really thought it was just some light flare thingie at first wei.

i mean if it was a lighting effect understood la, but then the symbol actually started appearing here and there so i just had to open up this pic again and look. AND WAHLAH! it really is the same symbol leh!!!

why so suspicious wan!?

anybody know what it is?!

is there something im missing?

hullo hullo??

This is Polo. Polo is not his real name, just a given nickname. In fact, Polo doesn’t even have a real name because he was abandoned as a baby by his parents and was left in the room they had rented.

Yup, you got that right.

Polo is not only an orphan, he isn’t even considered a citizen despite living his entire 9 years of life here as he is stateless and without an ID. This is very bad because despite his temperament and learning capabilities, he is not even allowed to go to school here =(

How did we find Polo you ask?

Well, after being abandoned, Polo was taken care of by the original landlord of the place. Unfortunately, his guardian is no longer capable of taking care of Polo and has no choice but to give the poor boy up.

This gorgeous lady here, Mei Sze has sent out a plea of help and it made it’s way to me from a mutual acquaintance.

She is now trying to find willing families who will legally adopt Polo so he is able to obtain an ID and go to school where he can learn to read and write like anyone else and have a better shot at a fruitful future.

If you are interested or know anyone else who is interested, please email her at mschoo116[@]gmail.com

Polo is normally found here at the Kechara Soup Kitchen in Jalan Imbi if anyone is interested in doing a story on him or visiting him to see his condition.

However, it is advisable that you contact Mei Sze and make arrangements with her as not to confuse the people at the soup kitchen.

Come on guys, how can you resist that adorable little face. And knowing what he’s been through yet he is still sweeter than most kids, you know he’s gonna be worth saving