fave flowers

Gerbera daisies. For their vivid vibrant colours.

I woke up too early today.

Foh San Ipoh has moved to its new establishment, which is actually pretty impressive. I love the old place for its authentic nostalgic feel, but this isn't too bad.

Dim sum is a must in Ipoh,

Li Ying

Save The Turtles!

Earlier this week, there was this very extremely piss-offing news in the media regarding the development of Pulau Upeh, Melaka. To begin with, there is an abandoned resort there that looks like a perfect filming set for a horror movie (see pictures here). So rationally, developing the island by building chalets is not only threatening the hawksbill turtle habitat, but also moronically redundant and a waste of resources.

Hawksbill Turtles are critically endangered

Leatherback Turtles are close to extinct in our country

"Turtles play a critical role in keeping marine ecosystems healthy; the same ecosystems which sustain our fisheries and tourism industries that provide food and livelihoods for millions of people. Marine turtles are threatened with extinction due to various factors, including: the practice of consuming turtle eggs, marine and nesting beach pollution as well as illegal trade of turtles and their parts. Leatherback turtles have already been declared functionally extinct in Malaysia. In the 1950s, there were 10,000 leatherback nests in Rantau Abang each year; now there are less than 10. Moreover, turtle protection laws are inadequate."

Please sign the petition and help save turtles!

AND if you happen to see a car that looks like a turtle, spare a moment to lend some support to the “Telur Rangers” – three young ladies on a mission to save turtles, in support of WWF Malaysia's Egg=Life campaign.

photo courtesy of WWF Malaysia
Just doing my part,
Li Ying

*grins*

We got the recognition we deserved. Like, finally.

The yellow banner :)

For our next stunt, frame climbing for fierce poses. Just hope they don't expell us for hooliganisme.

Thanks AhJim for the photo,
Li Ying

a day out of time

I'm two days late, but since it's kinda out of the perpetual momentum of time, it doesn't really matter, does it?

Jason Mraz explains about July 25th.

To forgive takes a lot on one's part, but at the end of it, I think it makes it easier to move on. On the other hand, I'm wondering whether labelling some things 'useless' and casting them aside is equivalent to 'forgiving'. Maybe not. But I don't really give a damn about that now. It's been so long anyway. Some things just hold you back. And these are the things that need to be cast off.

Recently I've been contemplating the state our country is in. We have people who are trying their best to get out hence draining the brains of the country. But we also have people who've been out coming back, and really putting their all into creating changes. We have people who kept on reminding some of us that we are 'outsiders' and we should be utterly grateful to be allowed here. But we also have people who are advocating equality.

1Malaysia may be a political foil, but then again, it is a vision worth achieving.

If only some people would shut up about certain things instead of raising hackles and driving a wedge into racial unity.

I'm currently reading this book by Alan Weisman.

Makes you think, and know your place in the infinite universe. I'm glad that environmental awareness is getting a lot of publicity now. Perhaps people will stop demanding more of the Earth and put a check on what they're doing to reduce our impact.

Every now and then, we should all just keep this in mind:

Without us, Earth will abide and endure, just like it had before the evolution of homo sapiens.

However, without Mother Earth, we will never be.

Also we should all have a moment of silence to remember a legacy of Malaysia's Film Industry. The demise of Allahyarhamah Yasmin Ahmad is indeed a great loss.

Blessed be,
Li Ying

more proud moments :)

SIFE Malaysia's wonderful video montage

Always an honour being a SIFEr,
Li Ying

of proud moments :)

Just so everyone who's reading this knows: I am back home! Being away for almost half a year really provokes one to feel awfully grateful to be back. And I got my hair cut :) which is awesome as I've been putting up with that long flat boring hair for awhile now.

I'm digressing.

I'm still feeling the afterglow of the victory earlier this week so I thought I'd put up some of those momentous pics I've collected from here and there.

going through the presentation, one last time

first round Q&A, which thankfully we survived
a very meaningful moment ~ everyone was applauding us
THANKS YOU GUYS!
being up on stage as champs was very memorable

SIFE UMS with SIFE UUM
the champs with Aidan and Michael

with Michael Teoh
National Cup baby had a seat in the plane back to KK

There's a whole lot of people to thank and I reckon Lia did a good job of it in her blog entry and Lawson did really awesome shoutouts on FB. Anyways, I'll just do a sincere short one:

LI YING WISHES TO THANK

EVERYBODY whom has somehow been part of this beautiful moment,

physically or spritually,

inspiringly and supportively,

to each and every SIFEr,

to my family,

to all my friends.

* * *


Sebby discovered sushi!

and my nephews rock! :)

Loving it back home,
Li Ying

the change...is NOW

Firstly, as a senior who has been through this before, I have to say:

I AM EXTREMELY PROUD OF YOU GUYS!

Lawson, Dalveen, Sharan, Lia

also Reena, MarkGoingtoSchool :), Ariff, Ismail, Peter, and Valentino.

A superb team, and, oh yea, a WINNING TEAM.

SIFE UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SABAH
will be competing in the
2009 SIFE WORLD CUP
in BERLIN, GERMANY!

Kain Sambitan ~ a product of success from SIFE UMS

At this point, words can't really do justice to how I am feeling, but I'll give it my best shot (you know, what with my declining writing skills and..wth rubbish! gah.)

The first word that came to mind was: SURREAL. It was a tad unbelievable (although practically the whole hall was cheering us on). When they announced that the first-runner-up is the long-standing champion, we just didn't know what to think. On one hand, there is the possibility that we've won, but on the other hand, it could as well be one of the other two competing teams.

When they announced that we are the National Champions, the tears just came. And the screams, and jumps, and hugs of joy. And basically the only phrase we used after that was "Thank you". Everyone was shaking our hands, or hugging, and congratulating us. The hall resonated with cheers of 'U-M-S'. And I would say we may be one of the quietest winning team ever, as all of us were still in a daze.

My personal note:

This time, I did not go as a presenter, but instead I have worked with my brilliant presenters and the awesome technical crew throughout their preparation for National Cup. Going through copy after copy of script drafts. Spell-checking, grammar-correcting, EDITING. Staying up late with Francoise going over the script over and over and refining it.

"Tell me what you want to tell me.
Tell me.
Tell me what you have told me."

Mock presentations, nightly practices, hauntings ;), and watching the improvements take shape.

I am extremely proud of the team and their team dynamics, how they improved drastically as we arrive nearer to the competition date.

The brainstorming sessions, prepping for Q&A. Being up on the stage with the team, answering questions.

6am and already camwhoring :)

Our Road to Berlin begins now.

2009 seems to be an extremely brilliant year :)


* * *

The 2009 Shell-SIFE National Cup Competition was held in Putra World Trade Centre, KL on the 20th and 21st of July, in conjunction with Global Entrepreneurship Week 2009, and supported by Youth Entrepreneur Malaysia.

the view from our room

One of the best memories of the competition was the amount of support all the other universities gave us (albeit the fact that we were all competitors). The enthusiastic cheering, the standing ovations, some tears spilled during our presentation. THANK YOU ALL!

To find out more about the life-changing efforts carried out by SIFE, click here.



Creating Opportunities, Breaking Barriers
Li Ying

7km in under an hour

Sutera Harbour 7k Sunset Charity Run today. My iPod and BEP's The E.N.D. were my best companions for most of the time.


I needed an excuse to run, and what better excuse than to give a bit to the Sabah Thalassemia Society? I reckon it's good to contribute something to someone. Getting to do something fun at the same time is a bonus.

I would say my personal time achieved today was satisfying. Especially when I haven't been running that regularly :)


Flying tomorrow, hoping my legs don't break
Li Ying

made for you :)

Remember how Mckers used to advertise that you can request how you want your burgers to be constructed?

I requested for lettuce in my double-cheeseburger and received blank looks in return. Took them awhile to get unmuddled and accept the fact that my request was not a joke.

And after even more befuddlement, they gave me this:

dear Golden Arches cracked me up

Inventing fuddly-duddly words,
Li Ying

*swoon*

What can I say? OMG Thank You!!! ThankyouThankyouThankyou!!

May I make more songs requests before you go off for your induksi? :)

This made my day although I had a crummy klutzy screw-up this morning,
Li Ying

goodbye girls!

Fare thee well, awesome jungle girls!

It's amazing how fast one year zipped by. Which, on the other hand, is freaking me out and my research progress omg

Anyways, we headed to, where else? The Loft again. And maybe 'cos everyone was rather in a denial to say goodbye, instead of taking photos and stuff, we spent most of our time robbing the menu of its stickers, got preoccupied with cheesecakes, filmed 'Blair Witch' videos, and got the monkey on fire.

fire breathing gorilla
(fire really does come out of its mouth!)

Take care and keep in touch,
Li Ying

Photo Roulette Sunday

Photo roulette - to walk around taking photographs at unplanned moments -- at a sighting of a dog, whenever a car horn sounds, or glimpsing people in a certain shirt colour, etc.

It was supposed to be fun, but we didn't get much shots though. Weather wasn't that good and there's nothing much to take either.

I got this famous shot finally though, after four years being here.

The 'complete' collection here

123456789...!!!

Because my blog has been so quiet for such a while that I thought I'd perk it up a bit with some randomness.

Firstly, Happy Birthday to Nikola Tesla! It's rather odd to be wishing that to a dead, albeit famous, man.

Did anyone realised that we celebrated 123456789 two days ago at 12:34:56 7/8/9?

They have yet again reverted the teaching of Maths and Science from English to Bahasa Melayu. BOO. Can't these people ever make up their minds?

Rupert Grint is recovering from a mild case of Swine Flu *gasp*
Btw, did anyone read the news about what those 'people up there' were debating and came to a conclusion about? "Yes, swine flu shall officially be called 'selesema babi' from this moment on.." wth...Is it even necessary? Like, aren't money, time, and effort supposed to be put into curbing the spread of the disease, or R&D for the cure, stuff like that? Come on...

In life you have to take all the good along with the crap...no matter how absurd it is. There was this saying: We would rather be ruined by praise, than be saved by criticism. True dat.

Anyhoo, have a great weekend y'all!

I traded in my old running shoes for a pair of new ones :)

Waiting for the jam to ease up,
Li Ying