When when is the next treasure hunt? Just like the addiction to running, my addiction to treasure hunt had peaked at the end of the year, and then, eh? When is the next treasure hunt?
The treasure hunt bug bit us in end 2006/ towards the whole of 2007. The real sting which got our adrenaline pumped was definitely the highlight of the entire thing, to win the company treasure hunt. Albeit this was a bit of uncontested, I had a good time giving the prize to myself (almost). The feeling on the stage was interesting as I was going from 5th, 4th, 3rd, and finally 2nd, and we did not hear our name!!! Of course, dozens of people wonder why I take part in treasure hunts in the first place, and also with a really interesting bunch of people, my colleagues and to some cases, even my client members!
Firstly I have to say, I have the greatest respect for my colleagues and my client.
I am also mentally challenged by treasure hunts, no matter how tired the week has been or the challenges of the day, to look forward to a different kind of challenge on the weekend was very fascinating.
What was really interesting was also that there were ordinary folks and also well established folks who took to the same interest to the streets every week. It is also humbling to know what you do not know.
I am one who is optimistic. In every hunt, I know I could do better. I am not yet a veteran, but I am confident this year, my team can make the top 5.
As part of my analysis of the hunts I've participated in I thought about listing out what worked and what did not. That would be privately shared with my fellow hunters, but below really is just a couple of comments, and really it is just these hunts below I've participated in (maybe about 10 years ago, I did a couple of hunts, but I've laid of hunting for that long until end 2006)...
2006
Awam Hunt (Womens only) - I drove in this hunt, with 3 other gals. I was blissfully happy in the aircond car when they ran around. I also found myself to think better in the cool aircond car and spotted well from the car. We won something, maybe 8 position, can't remember.
Tiger Hunt Berjaya Times Square - Nasty walking and running around Berjaya times square hunt. Did not win anything, but discovered a new treasure hunt mate (the cap harimau washing detergent man).
Malaysian Mensa Hunt - We challenged ourselves here. TKM our driver's car window broke down in the beginning of the hunt making it a very hot hunt. We also did lousy on time. I think we were about 25 out of 35 consoled ourselves that the audience was too chim ... heheh...
2007
Company Treasure Hunt (Internal) (PD) - 1st 1st 1st, it was very fun, because established the team very last minute, just for fun. Young newcomer hunter hit my non-driving car at the parking lot!!!
Kiwanis Hunt (Melaka) - Biggest lesson of the year, was DQ'ed due to time. Felt disappointed, but met grandmaster CFS.
Multiple Sclerosis Hunt - Eh, what is multiple sclerosis? Did badly 15 of 22 but happy that we were on time after kiwanis...
Lexis Nexis KL Bar - Tough against lawyers.... I think I drove and we were at a 3 person car. Mistake to think 3 can think for 4. And I realise that I may perhaps contribute more on the thinking than driving.
Atmah Hunt (PD) - Eh, we did a right thing, we told ourselves we were novice, and got a novice 1st!!! But I never saw the prize... my fellow hunters ATE my share... :-)
Sun Motor Treasure Hunt - Wow, I love this hunt. The prizes were up to the 100s and the cars 250. Crazy... We got 45th position, and a lousy rice cooker. Just because of treasures ...
Franchise Walk Hunt - Can't believe we signed up for this. We got a newbie, CY, and walked and picture spotted ourselves to 10th position. I guess we still could have been better in the first half when we walked the wrong direction!
Old Georgians Association (OGA) Hunt (Seremban) - Kiasu-ness drove us to explore the neighbouring state, drove ourselves to a non-prize winning position, but mostly quite bad got lost and missed the treasure again. Had a ball of a funny time though...
Amazing I could remember all this... bring on the next hunt please...
Monday, January 28, 2008
Technology and Kids
Kids learn about technology so fast nowadays. My 6 month old niece who was featured in the last post, was absolutely fascinated by the simple camera phone. The technology consulting gadget savvy Aunty ie. me, took to simple tricks like trying to con a 6 month old baby with pictures of her sister, her father, her mother and even herself.
What was most fascinating was that the baby clutched onto the phone and loved her ownself and was absolutely trying to fathom how could another baby emerge on a device or how there are two versions of her mother or father.
So, I put the camera in the baby's hands, opened the lens, let her have a look at the phone picture of me, seeing she was able to be a bit curious, helped her pressed the button with her tiny fingers, and voila, you have a picture of aunty...
Pic 1 - can you see the halo around me :-) angel aunty...
Pic 2 - young camera-kids, soon they will be teaching me how to set iso and aperture... :-)
Both pics taken from my 1 year old K800i
haha...
Kids nowadays really knows how to use the digicam better than me...
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Innocence
The look of innocence, of my 6 month old niece whom I met for the first time last week.
Life, many many years ago, as a baby was just so simple and peaceful, sleep, eat, cry, seeing things, learning things, daddy, mummy ...
I wish I could move time backwards not because of regrets, but because of just envy for the bliss of innocence...
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Nostalgia - my San Francisco days...
Postscript - I could not resist - both photos here added 
later, intentionally small as it is intended only for those who know them. They are dated 1997, and used my K800 phone to photo a photo. I am in the second photo below.
Pic 1- Hari Raya and Chinese New Year in SF
Pic 2- Looking across at Alcatraz
-----
There are people who look back at photos and pictures of the past and feel, wow, this was what I was then, there are people who look back and wonder, wow, what has happened to these friends, and then there are those like me, I feel nostalgic.
If there was one project or assignment which has really been in my memory for my career, it would be the time we had spent in San Francisco, as a first leg of a project using a global asset for a local client. We were there for 6 months and our motley crew was a handful of american, canadians, and a handful of us malaysians, and a Frenchman, and a HK guy. That was 1997, 10 yeara ago. 10 years has passed very quickly.
I had a few encounters with this nostalgic 10 years encounter recently.
I met LH, my ex-supervisor who is back in the same company, she had left just about 9 years ago, just after the assignment where I was in a short sojourn in San Francisco. She looked older, though what did I expect, it has been almost 10 years. The old LH emerged, I could see she was still a very focussed, go-getter, though I did not know her too well then. And suddenly, here I was, at the same level of the organisation with her. And through 10 years, I've kept the same path with this company, and she has taken another, which brought her to Australia now currently back in employment with us. I was not sure to treat her as a supervisor which was the relationship we left off as, or as a friend, whom it never really had been or as a colleague, an equal. LH, I respected you a lot and will always respect you, you gave me the foundations of being a survivor in this organisation, many years back. And we had a blast in one of my most memorable assignments.
JR, whom I've been in contact with and had been for more than 10 years, shared also the same experiences we had in San Francisco, 10 years ago. Dear JR just got married to a lovely bubbly lass, and looks likely to be coming back to working closely with us again in the near future. JR, whom I've had the pleasure of knowing since he was part of the firm more than 10 years back, whom I've had the pleasure of many ski trips with then when we were all bored in San Francisco. Years has passed, and you have never changed, you have the passion to enjoy the best in life. Congratulations and all the best.
SL, after 10 years, and a few meet ups in between, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Beijing, you are back in lovely KL for our friend's wedding. Can you imagine, meeting up in 4 different countries, and if you throw in KL and SF, we'd have had met in 5 different locations, which is truly, a global connection. I admire your courage to do things differently and wish you all the best in your new job. You have indeed the individualistic and unique style which is admirable and also noteworthy. I am sure you will find what you want in everything that you do.
I can't help to be nostalgic. On my way out of the house, I actually accidentally stumbled upon a stack of old postcards, cards, photos from those old days in San Francisco. More than anything, I was there with you guys, and the others not on this list, SL, SR, JF,... 10 years and yet we remember those good old days... (When I have time, I'd post the photos here)
You know what they say, you are old when you ramble of things which has happened 10 years ago...
later, intentionally small as it is intended only for those who know them. They are dated 1997, and used my K800 phone to photo a photo. I am in the second photo below.Pic 1- Hari Raya and Chinese New Year in SF
Pic 2- Looking across at Alcatraz
-----
There are people who look back at photos and pictures of the past and feel, wow, this was what I was then, there are people who look back and wonder, wow, what has happened to these friends, and then there are those like me, I feel nostalgic.
If there was one project or assignment which has really been in my memory for my career, it would be the time we had spent in San Francisco, as a first leg of a project using a global asset for a local client. We were there for 6 months and our motley crew was a handful of american, canadians, and a handful of us malaysians, and a Frenchman, and a HK guy. That was 1997, 10 yeara ago. 10 years has passed very quickly.
I had a few encounters with this nostalgic 10 years encounter recently.
I met LH, my ex-supervisor who is back in the same company, she had left just about 9 years ago, just after the assignment where I was in a short sojourn in San Francisco. She looked older, though what did I expect, it has been almost 10 years. The old LH emerged, I could see she was still a very focussed, go-getter, though I did not know her too well then. And suddenly, here I was, at the same level of the organisation with her. And through 10 years, I've kept the same path with this company, and she has taken another, which brought her to Australia now currently back in employment with us. I was not sure to treat her as a supervisor which was the relationship we left off as, or as a friend, whom it never really had been or as a colleague, an equal. LH, I respected you a lot and will always respect you, you gave me the foundations of being a survivor in this organisation, many years back. And we had a blast in one of my most memorable assignments.
JR, whom I've been in contact with and had been for more than 10 years, shared also the same experiences we had in San Francisco, 10 years ago. Dear JR just got married to a lovely bubbly lass, and looks likely to be coming back to working closely with us again in the near future. JR, whom I've had the pleasure of knowing since he was part of the firm more than 10 years back, whom I've had the pleasure of many ski trips with then when we were all bored in San Francisco. Years has passed, and you have never changed, you have the passion to enjoy the best in life. Congratulations and all the best.
SL, after 10 years, and a few meet ups in between, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Beijing, you are back in lovely KL for our friend's wedding. Can you imagine, meeting up in 4 different countries, and if you throw in KL and SF, we'd have had met in 5 different locations, which is truly, a global connection. I admire your courage to do things differently and wish you all the best in your new job. You have indeed the individualistic and unique style which is admirable and also noteworthy. I am sure you will find what you want in everything that you do.
I can't help to be nostalgic. On my way out of the house, I actually accidentally stumbled upon a stack of old postcards, cards, photos from those old days in San Francisco. More than anything, I was there with you guys, and the others not on this list, SL, SR, JF,... 10 years and yet we remember those good old days... (When I have time, I'd post the photos here)
You know what they say, you are old when you ramble of things which has happened 10 years ago...
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
The Shoes are Back on!
It has thus far, been a reasonably healthy new year.
I've taken the "initiative" to laze off a bit on the second day back after new year's day, and went to the gym, at Fitness First menara maxis, for the first time since I signed up. The truth was, I've always imagined myself to be doing the menara maxis gym because it was nearby the KLCC Twin Towers where I occasionally am there almost 50% of the time. Moreover, I've actually met quite a few people who go to the gym and it is kind of like a home gym, I've double signed up California Fitness and Fitness First because I got a free year from Cal Fitness, but MidValley is a dreadful deadlock everytime anytime of the day.
So, just the second day after new year, I stopped by the gym at Menara Maxis, for a short workout, and a short run. These days, I'm tired even after 4km, which in the speed I run on treadmills is about 30mins. However, it is kind of interesting that as I pick up back the gym course, I could actually run faster on the treadmill without getting too tired.
The gym was also the place where I have decided to embark upon more strength training. I am hoping these will help me get back in shape and also fitness for the 20km GE race I signed up for. Was almost tempted for 30km, but in no way was I in shape..!!!
On Saturday, I did another round in the gym, thus on Sunday, my choice of Bukit Aman vs Bukit Tabur (Klang Gates ridge, a hike organised by some colleagues) was good - my Bukit Aman conquer of Double Hill never felt so good despite at least about 5km I did it on my own. However, there were many runners, so there was no fear for safety. I also counted many houses where there were security guards, so it felt safer and I would speed up when I was near them.
This Thursday, and coming Sunday, I'm looking for increasing the distance to 15km and 20km, so that I could have a good race on the 20th Jan.
I've taken the "initiative" to laze off a bit on the second day back after new year's day, and went to the gym, at Fitness First menara maxis, for the first time since I signed up. The truth was, I've always imagined myself to be doing the menara maxis gym because it was nearby the KLCC Twin Towers where I occasionally am there almost 50% of the time. Moreover, I've actually met quite a few people who go to the gym and it is kind of like a home gym, I've double signed up California Fitness and Fitness First because I got a free year from Cal Fitness, but MidValley is a dreadful deadlock everytime anytime of the day.
So, just the second day after new year, I stopped by the gym at Menara Maxis, for a short workout, and a short run. These days, I'm tired even after 4km, which in the speed I run on treadmills is about 30mins. However, it is kind of interesting that as I pick up back the gym course, I could actually run faster on the treadmill without getting too tired.
The gym was also the place where I have decided to embark upon more strength training. I am hoping these will help me get back in shape and also fitness for the 20km GE race I signed up for. Was almost tempted for 30km, but in no way was I in shape..!!!
On Saturday, I did another round in the gym, thus on Sunday, my choice of Bukit Aman vs Bukit Tabur (Klang Gates ridge, a hike organised by some colleagues) was good - my Bukit Aman conquer of Double Hill never felt so good despite at least about 5km I did it on my own. However, there were many runners, so there was no fear for safety. I also counted many houses where there were security guards, so it felt safer and I would speed up when I was near them.
This Thursday, and coming Sunday, I'm looking for increasing the distance to 15km and 20km, so that I could have a good race on the 20th Jan.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Happy New Year 2008!
May the new year 2008 bring all of you health wealth and happiness.I was at an office nearby 1-Utama, where I captured this, with many spoilt ones as well, as you would know, never take first times for fireworks - ie. it was my first time using my tripod (it was flimsy), and it was my first time taking fireworks!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
