Had lunch with a friend today at Edelweiss.
I consider it a good lunch if we can just catch up with each other.
One of those topics we broached was business since she runs her own business too. As a copywriter, she helps clients produce clear content either through writing, editing, proofreading or translation into European languages.
Whether it is in design or writing, clarity is never to be underestimated. And we both felt that today’s communication isn’t doing its job because a good piece of design or writing should immediately let the consumer know what’s needed and what’s the next step.
It is a bad piece if I pick up a flyer and don’t know what to make of it. What does this business sell? What is it trying to tell me, assuming there’s something to be told?
She recounted how she saw a flyer which incidentally advertised a friend’s business. The flyer wasn’t clear enough and she thought she would do her friend a favour and let him know what could be improved.
All she got was a curt thanks.
He never appreciated her advice and thought she was trying to ‘sell’ him her copywriting service.
Which is a pity because if only he acted on her advice, he would be connecting better with his prospects.
When I get junk mail/ junk flyers in my postbox, I give them a perfunctory glance and chuck them aside to be recycled.
I don’t bother.
Unless the flyer is so good and compelling.
Which most times aren’t.
All I see these days are flyers crammed full of colours, shapes, photos but paltry text. Not a shred of information.
Yes, yes, it’s good for the creatives but tell me, what is your product and why should I even care?
Far too many creative types think creating/designing a flyer with the colours of the rainbow is what consumers want to see.
What happened to real communication, the basis of design?
What happened to clarity?
What is the flyer/brochure trying to sell?
Once, Nic’s friend asked,” Why is it that you English-ed types like to have things plain and white?”
(This guy likes his brochure splashed with colours that boggle the mind. Bright pink, yellow, green. It’s like a candy store.)
I wonder if the type of schooling affects how we design or how we appreciate design.
You know, white space for most people is a waste of space.
Every inch of the flyer MUST be covered in colour or design. Otherwise, wasted lah all that money I pay to the designer.
I call these Jinjang Joe design.
Just because you know all the Photoshop tricks doesn’t mean you have to use everything!
And on top of that, the flyer has no worthy content! That’s the worst crime of all.
If there’s content, be afraid. Be very afraid because somehow there’s bound to be some weird sentences. Weird because they’re translated literally from Mandarin or BM or Tamil. Or spelling so bad it’s hilarious.
I am not trying to be mean or nasty but designers should always understand what they’re trying to do with their design.
So this friend of mine is considering using a blog to help people along to see how bad copy can be improved.
Yes, do that, I tell her. Most people don’t know what rubbish is like.
By highlighting such ‘junk’ on her blog, maybe people will sit up and take content seriously, instead of it now being a stepchild to design. And maybe, her friend won’t be so supercilious. Oh and I advised her to charge for her advice too. Free advice is often sneered at and undervalued.
Design and copy must go together. Good design is enhanced by good copy.
What do you think? Do you cringe when people write badly? Would you correct them or would you let them be?
Krista Goon
Full Moon Vigil at Dewan Sri Pinang
This year has been quite interesting!
On my birthday this year, I was at one of the biggest opposition rallies at Han Chiang College. I sat on the wet ground with an ever ready poncho and umbrella in case the rain came. It did but I still didn’t leave.
And yesterday, while we were supposed to celebrate Mid Autumn Festival with mooncakes and lanterns, it turned out to be another interesting night.
Michelle had sms-ed me the night before that a candle light vigil would be held at Dewan Sri Pinang to support the immediate release of the ISA detainees.
Of course we went.
There was no hesitating.
Nic told me specifically to wear sandals and not my usual heels “in case we have to run from the police.”
Ha ha. Nice one.
I wouldn’t be silly to wear heels to such an event. Yes, I did think of it – maybe they might spray water at us or something awful and then I would have to run for my life. So I wore my most practical footwear – rubber sandals!
But then again, this is the Penang Government run by the Pakatan Rakyat. Lim Guan Eng was once on the OTHER side and nah, I went with full confidence that we were going to a candle light vigil and we would be OK.
Like the March 8 episode (where those in the know wore red shirts and red baju and red scarves), those who came out last night wore black t-shirts in a show of solidarity. Last night was a show of true Malaysia Boleh. We were like a Yasmin Ahmad-Petronas ad – people of all shapes, sizes, backgrounds. Malay girls with black sequinned head scarves, NGO people, church people, Chinese aunties, Indian uncles. Every facet of Malaysian race was represented.
And we came together for a reason – to call for the release of civilians who were detained.
No one believes the crappy reasons that 3 Malaysians were detained for their own safety. If that’s the case then why the trip to Taiwan for some people? Might as well put them under ISA because it’s for their own safety ya?
Lame excuses.
Here’s Nic in his fave colour
Anyway, I didn’t go with any candles being a virgin at this sort of event (my first time ok?). Nic did tell me that we should bring some but I thought someone would pass candles around.
Okaaayyy…. nope. They passed flyers about but no candles.
When we arrived (we’d walked from Leith Street where we had dinner) at Dewan Sri Pinang, a large crowd had gathered. Most wore black, most held candles. What a carnival atmosphere though we saw many policemen milling about.
And many knew each other – just shows how small Penang is or rather how many NGO folks are on this island. Either way, there was much camaraderie amongst everyone and they greeted each other with pleasure (and of course with outright complaints about how unfair it all was!)
Mustafa Kamal (my lecturer when I was studying Mass Comm in USM) and ALIRAN exco gave a short speech, so did the Penang Deputy Chief Minister I, Dr Ramasamy. And everyone thronged forward and cheered when Tan Hoon Cheng appeared. Fabian who had reached earlier said a few songs were sung too.
Carry a lantern if you don’t have a candle..this is what the woman is doing! Clever!
Cars honked in support as they passed by and by 9.45pm, we were told to disperse peacefully. Still many lingered on and waved to passing cars and showed their placards.
Fabian (a friend and a Catholic priest) said he was conducting a special morning mass this morning (8am) at his church – the Holy Spirit – to pray for the detainees.
Tried taking pictures with my Canon but full moon or not, it was a bit too dark to get good stuff. I did go home and ate some mooncake but I thought this gathering signaled that we Malaysians or at least Penangites want justice and we can be quite adamant when it comes to our rights as citizens.
Any Vigils Here?
It’s a horrible day when you wake up to news about 3 people being detained under this stupid ISA (and 2 of them are ex-USMers! This is certainly the week for USM to be in the news both positively and negatively!)
It’s unfair that the whistle-blower gets ISA while the perpetrator gets a slap on the wrist and he gets to go on a roadshow!
What is freaking wrong with Malaysia?
So does this mean that I can say whatever I want and I can get away with it? That seems to be the precedent. If you report it, you get thrown into jail. If I were a journo, I would mogok and not cover any event at all. How sure am I that I wouldn’t be thrown into jail for reporting the event?
This is sick!
I’m usually not the sort to resort to expletives but this makes me want start cursing at the bloody unfairness of it all and yes, go out and do something, anything.
A candle light virgil is good. Anyone knows any happening in Penang?
I thought Myanmar was bad enough. But that’s like Third World and controlled by military junta.
But hey, look at us in Malaysia now.
We’re back to competing with Myanmar!
A Burst of Sunshine
I got a call from M, a friend I hadn’t spoken to for a long time. She called to say thanks for thinking of her and by that she meant the postcard I sent. She’d received it and felt appreciated and thought of our friendship.
Throughout our 20-minute phone call, she kept saying how thankful she is, that I didn’t ‘give up’ on her. You see, we belong to the same group – actually a business networking group which a friend and I started two years ago. M was one of the earliest friends I met at our networking teas but she kind of drifted off and never attended our gatherings after that one time.
I had lunch with her one day where she told me her story, how she came to inherit a business she didn’t want, how she had bouts of depression. That was maybe a year ago.
I had heard from another friend that M was suffering severe depression and had a husband who didn’t treat her with much kindness. The last I heard, M had gone off to KL for a month, to think things through about her family and her business.
It’s tough when you hear such stories about friends.
But the call yesterday was surprising and refreshing. She sounded much calmer and dare I say it, happier. Her voice tinkled.
She kept saying thank you to me and how I didn’t ‘forget’ her even though she has hardly been coming to our WomenBizSense meetings.
“You are so positive and encouraging! Most people are not this way. Especially my family.”
I can still recall that burst of gratitude from M as she said this over the phone.
When the call ended, I thought to myself – why aren’t people more supportive and encouraging towards each other?
Especially family.
I am an optimist. This I know for sure. I can be down in the dumps for all of 10 minutes before I start berating myself about it and end up bouncy and soon I’ll be in a better state of mind. I like a good cry and I like getting all weepy and sentimental but that’s like a passing cloud. Once the cloud leaves I’ll be right as rain.
It’s easier being an optimist and people love being around you because you are a burst of sunshine. Far too many people wallow deep in negativity. They like shooting down other people’s dreams. It’s easier to live life this way – you don’t get your hopes too high because what if you don’t get what you want?
Ya and go through life being a wet blanket! Duh!
I have always felt that it’s good to encourage friends’ endeavours particularly if they’re practical and meaningful. I always say, go for it. I never discourage. I think life’s more fun when you think you can reach for the stars.
But maybe I’ve had the good fortune to be brought up by parents who believed in me from very young.
They never told me I couldn’t do anything. If I said I wanted to be Supergirl, they’d probably say, OK, go for it. In fact they always supported me in whatever mad things I wanted to do but most times they listened to a young gangly girl of 8 – listening to me as I begged to be sent to boarding school (I can’t believe I wanted that and that’s mainly due to my best pal’s mom who wanted to send HER off to one), how I wanted to start a pet centre right in school, how I wanted to learn gymnastics so I could be like Nadia Comaneci. I wanted to be a lawyer when I was 16. I told Mom and she nodded. Not a word of discouragement. The list went on.
But that didn’t mean my parents were indulgent. No, far from it. I got my share of rotan when I was young, mainly because I refused to go to school and I was chased by Mom right into my favourite hiding place till the coast was clear – the bathroom! I still got nagged like crazy when I was in Form 6 because I missed curfew – my Cinderella hour was famous among my friends. If I got home past midnight, man, I’d get it from Mom immediately.
Mom was strict but my parents never said no, you cannot do it.
No such negativity escaped their lips.
I was always told to try out for things I wanted (joined storytelling contests even though I sucked in telling stories!).
I was always given the freedom to choose what I wanted (from switching to Arts Stream in Form 6 after 2 years in the Science Stream, taking English Lit when no one taught the subject, made up my mind to enter USM when I was 16 etc).
I was always taught to make decisions on my own and stand by them.
And if things didn’t go right, figure out why and keep getting better. (It helps that missy here loves a fine challenge. I hate being challenged but when I am challenged, I am in my ‘in the zone’ mode.)
But seriously, challenges aside, most of us always think that we have to do big, impactful stuff to make our mark in this world.
It’s not necessary.
You just need to reach out and impact others positively and soon you will see big impact as this effect ripples.
Being an honest and encouraging/positive friend, reaching out, being there can be just as impactful as any other meaningful stuff.
The world is better off anyway if it’s full of positive folks!
I'm a Moderate Greenie. You?
Don and Mylene had invited us to their ‘filming’ on Sunday afternoon.
I say ‘filming’ because they were going to be the stars of an eco short film to be made by Ong of PenangWatch with a grant from USM. The venue was at a three-storey building along Weld Quay.
When we arrived, the filming was in process so we quietly slipped into the audience, most of which, according to Ong are friends and ‘cast’ from his other short films. (Ong’s film on the Chew Jetty was one of the winners at last year’s Freedom Film Festival organised by KOMAS.)
Don and Mylene are firm friends of ours, despite the age gap. I enjoy their no-nonsense approach to greening the environment and their philosophy is, start with yourself and your home.
A good idea because far too many people want to hug trees, wear eco t-shirts and plant trees once a year but it’s actually simpler and easier to do it slowly, do it consistently and do it proudly in your home.
This couple got our attention so much so that we decided to sponsor them a website so they could do their eco-work and activities more efficiently.
After all, their premise is simple: they can teach you and your taman how to recycle and how to raise funds for charity at the same time. You turn trash into cash for charity.
A delightful 2-in-1 approach. You help Mother Nature, you help the underprivileged.
Anyway, they’ve been doing this for 12 years now. They give free talks if you invite them (although they don’t say it outright, it’s nice if your taman or group or factory can reimburse their petrol or toll lah, after all they don’t charge a single sen for teaching you their method which saves space, saves headache and won’t turn your garden into a dumpster!).
The filming will be edited down into a 15-minute segment and submitted to an eco film festival, according to Ong.
While we have listened to Don and Mylene’s passionate talks for a while now (and now that we’ve become more green and eco-friendly), it’s always great as a refresher!
But what really spoiled my day was meeting an overzealous lady who was part of the audience. She just came up to us without as much as a hello (because I didn’t know who she was!) and started unzipping a little black pouch to show us her steel chopsticks, her cutlery, her plastic packs, etc.
She completely bulldozed her way into the conversation (we were having a break between filming) telling us what SHE does in Japanese restaurants (“I don’t use the disposable chopsticks” – excuse me lady, I didn’t ask!) and that she does this and that.
She asked Nic, “So what do you use when you go to Japanese restaurants?”
Nic’s retort was priceless. “We don’t go to Japanese restaurants… we eat at home.”
That shut her up completely. I bet you she was waiting to pounce on us once we said we ate Japanese.
I spot a wannabe martyr immediately.
There’s persuasion and then there’s stubbornness. For her, it was the latter trait which I dislike completely. Oh and add lots of high and mightiness.
Sometimes, the message is clearer if we don’t push too hard. Push too hard and people go ‘bleah’ and refuse to budge.
That’s what I often see. When people start getting their socks in a knot about their newfound passion in life, they get overzealous and start being preachy to everyone. Like they’re the only ones who’ve seen the light. Like if they don’t keep bugging us, they’ll get no brownie points.
I mean, come on. Did she ask if we’re recycling? (That afternoon, we lugged a bunch of recyclables to the recycling centre in Tmn Sri Nibong.) Did she ask what sort of lifestyle we led BEFORE dumping her philosophy on us?
This very LOUD woman stood up to declare she rummages through the rubbish in her apartment complex to separate out trash and recyclables. Good for you, I say, but that’s how you choose to be a martyr. (I kind of suspected she wanted her 5 minutes of fame during the filming too! She complimented the speakers, Don and Mylene for their eco efforts but I dare say much of the rhetoric that afternoon was purely about her and how she’s helping save the world.)
I help spread the awareness by doing other things – sponsoring a website, saying Tak Nak to plastic bags offered at cashier counters, bringing my own bag when shopping and buying less consumer products.
What would you do if you met such people in your life?
OK, besides sighing with exasperation!
What would you do? What would you say?
Animal Farm
I could rave and rant all day but this tale sums up a lot of stuff that’s going on in our Malaysia now.
A lot of people, good meaningful friends included, always tell Nic and me to migrate when we still are young and have lots to offer.
I think I’m stubborn. I also think I’m not an immigrant. This is my home, this is my land as much as it is theirs. Come to think of it, why should I leave and play into their scheme?
I have brilliant Malay friends but I have never looked at them as “Malays”. They’re friends. Period.
I have friends who are Muslim converts.
In fact, my youngest sis is a Muslim convert. And my parents, though initially upset, have gotten over it. I was far more upset in the first place! But see, even me, stubborn old sis, has come to grips with the idea. It’s her life. Let her live it her way.
Perhaps someone should ask us Chinese, what makes us cringe? What are the policies that make us so mad? What is it that can’t get through to their heads? What? Is it that we are pork-eaters? Is it that we make more money? What? What is it?
We cannot live together until we get that resentment out of the system.
What’s good these days (post 8 March, post 26 August) is that the worms are crawling out of the woodwork – worms which have been dormant too long. Once the worms are purged, perhaps there is hope for a better Malaysia.
I say a better Malaysia because we live in an abundant land, we speak a multitude of languages, we are far more competent that we let on. We have skills. We have resources. We have diversity.
And we certainly have more than that little island down south. (But that little island down south has exceptional marketing. They can turn anything into something. This happens when they use their brains for real stuff, not for fighting each other. That’s the difference.)
But why oh why aren’t we using what we have to go further?
Why are we still battling each other, 51 years after Merdeka?
Roz wished me Happy Merdeka when I met her last Sunday.
We aren’t really in the Merdeka state of mind if we still have pettiness in our hearts.
Wear a Socially Conscious Skirt
Over the past week, I’ve been thinking of what to write.
It’s not that I am at a loss for ideas.
I got around thinking this because this blog is for friends and family to catch up with me and my adventures (though most times, the adventures aren’t the Rin Tin Tin type!). I am a regular person, running a business and on the side, I run other things too (cue evil Madame Cruella cackle).
As it’s for real people, I’m not going to write fluff.
And you guys know me better.
I won’t write fluff.
I’m sensible in that sort of way.
And I always want to make this blog as meaningful as possible too. I won’t write crap though crap is sometimes so much easier to spew.
I won’t write anything that isn’t positive or life-affirming.
So that’s why sometimes there isn’t an update for a whole week and then comes a flood of stuff. I only want to share the best with people I love and people who know me and hopefully, love me (yeah, I know you do…. just kidding ok).
I’ve been approached even to put ads here. Yep. On this blog.
But no, that doesn’t feel right. This is Mayakirana, after all. I make enough money running my business and I know the few cents from running an ad won’t be enough to buy me Wall’s Moo ice cream (which, by the way, is my favourite ice cream this season – it’s ice cream sandwiched between 2 chocolate biscuits.)
Anyway, in a world where every blog is overrun by ads and blinking-in-your-face-audacity, isn’t it a relief to visit a blog that’s so Zen and advertisement-free?
And today,today I have something inspiring to share. It’s a beautiful forwarded email from my best pal, Jana.
The email was about Letha Sandison who started a social entreprenuership project in Uganda. The project helps Ugandan women earn a living and help themselves. It read:
She founded Wrap Up Africa which is an organization that helps provide jobs through local partnerships where the profits will be funneled back to community support programs through non-profit partners. Wrap Up Africa collaborates with the Uganda Cancer Institute in Kampala, Uganda to help with the growing and often unrecognized needs of the patients.
Letha has designed wrap skirts to fit any body type. She then trains local Ugandans (many of them are parents of cancer patients) to sew the skirts…providing them with a job that not only helps their family live a little more comfortably but helps care for their dear child who has cancer. She gets so much joy out of seeing these parents feel as though they have a sense of purpose now because sitting around and waiting was just too painful.
It says, “A skill, a skirt, a life saved” which cleverly epitomises what Letha’s Wrap Up Africa (WUA) project is about.
WUA teaches Ugandan women tailoring skills and lets them use sewing machines at the Ugandan Cancer Institute. Later these women sew wrap-around skirts which are then bought back by WUA to sell back in the States.
The profit made from selling these skirts are used by the cancer institute to fund programmes and activities for cancer patients such as cancer treatment, nutritional programmes, scholarship programmes, therapeutic arts programme for cancer patients, setting up a library and buying basic necessities like mosquite nets for the patients.
I thought it was a fabulous way to give back.
A simple idea becomes a life-saving idea. You get a skirt, the Ugandans get to live, you feel damn good parading in your skirt.
Shouldn’t life be meaningful like this?
The Wrap Up Africa skirts are sold on Etsy at 100 dolllars a pop.
Turning Life into Stories
If you’re a closet writer (like me lah) and want to learn from a real writer for free (and get to ask all those burning questions on writing short stories etc), do make yourself free for Robert Raymer is coming to Penang this Merdeka weekend.
He will be doing a whirlwind promo tour of Penang to promote his new book, Lovers & Strangers Revisited. (He lives in Kuching, by the way).
Tomorrow he will be at Institut Perguruan Persekutuan P.Pinang from 9 am to conduct a workshop on “Writing Narratives and ‘Neighbours’: Making Choices” This is open to the public.
You can also catch him at MPH Gurney Plaza at 3pm tomorrow where he’ll teach you how you can turn your ideas into short stories, using examples from Lovers and Strangers Revisited.
Finally, if you’re still keen to learn more from the man who recently won 4th place in the 2008 USA National Writers Association Novel Contest, you can still meet him on Sunday (Hari Merdeka) at the Little Penang Street Market. He’ll be selling books at one of the stalls and giving a reading at Segrafedo at 12 noon.
I’ll be there as a friend and supporter as well as pick up a few writing tips myself.
So if you love writing and want some tips to hone that craft of yours, make a date with Robert this weekend!
Missed Me? I Missed Me Too!
My blog title says it all. I missed my blog. I missed rambling like some old nenek. I have lots of stories to tell. In fact, sometimes I think I have so much to tell that I don’t know where to start.
This blog got cranky the past few days and I got booted out. Couldn’t log in. Couldn’t do a damn thing. Nic asked me if I had backed up the blog posts. Like yeah, maybe a month ago! Don’t do this to me, oh Blog. Don’t wipe out my entries. They’re hard work. But Nic’s my husband for a good reason – he can perform some IT miracles. Finally, my Baby (Blog) is back.
And now Maya can get down to updating all and sundry about her 2 weeks!
Well, first off, I didn’t win in my Science & Tech category that night at the MWW Gala Dinner. But chill people. When I SMSed a friend, she shot back: “Woman, you are among the 18 chosen women of Malaysia! That’s a big win.” Yes, my dear. You are so right!
Another friend told me she bought MWW and showed “me” off to everyone! Hey, thanks Dot for the life-affirming gesture. I’m proud that you’re so proud of me!
Actually I’m not even disappointed (oh god, I must be aging gracefully! I was a competitive maniac when I was in school) – I was enjoying myself so much that I quite forgot that I didn’t manage to get that Royal Doulton vase (masquerading as a trophy). I invited Lisa along and she had a grand time, being made up by the Guerlain girls in black and having her hair styled.
What I loved most was meeting Jun Lin (artistic director of the Rainforest World Music Festival), Alecia (of Gorgeous Geeks, what a name for a group of IT women, love the name!), Dr Tang (Malaysia’s only pediatric rheumatologist), Cynthia (a retail consultant for One Utama), Hoong Ling (exuberant gal with such a brilliant smile), Maple Loo-Asaro (the really beautiful owner of JapaMala Resort Tioman and Samadhi Retreats), Regina (love her elegant hair do), Prof Dr Halimaton (she won in my category by the way but we had a great time chatting during dinner… she looks so much like Marina Mahathir!) and Shanti Jayaram (who was the Most Inspiring Woman of the night – she told the story of how she was nominated by her boss at Zerin Properties – what a boss, right?).
I was there with these accomplished, beautiful and fabulous women. Looking at them all, I think Malaysia’s in no way short of talent or skills. We’re all doing something fantastic in our own ways, helping the community and in a way, helping ourselves to grow.
As we were all being fussed over by hair stylists and make-up girls in a private room which gave us a stupendous view of Pavillion KL across the road, I felt a bit like an awards winner! Everyone was truly down-to-earth, especially the women team of Malaysian Women’s Weekly: Tara Barker (the editor-in-chief), Elaine Kwong (MWW editor), Melati (MWW writer with a hidden talent for designing evening gowns), Rina, Geetha, even to that sole guy graphic designer who shyly asked us to pose for a photo!
Ning Baizura sang a few Whitney Houston songs as we dined on a 3-course dinner (no photos of the food due to the subdued lighting and I had to listen attentively to my dinner companions right? Would be kind of rude to whip out my camera every 5 seconds).
My dinner companions that night included Dr Farrah-Hani Imran (remember the gymnast? She’s now a medical doc) and her cute brother, Dr Amran as they were seated at our table. Dr Amran looked like a spitting image of RPK with a deliciously wicked sense of humour.
Everyone had their five minutes of fame as we were announced by Lina Teoh (who did an amazing job emceeing that night – the right dose of wit!) to go onstage, accompanied by male models, to receive our orchid bouquet from Tara. Nominees in each category were next photographed together. Each nominee received a Guerlain Paris Orchidee Imperial, Patchi chocolates (divine!), an autographed copy of MWW by Ning, a certificate, Royal Albert silver spoons and a bouquet of white lilies and orchids.
I’ll let the photos do the talking… it was a perfect night where I felt like a princess! Thanks to a special friend who nominated me and gave me this chance to try something totally different from my usual Penang routine. Thanks to everyone who SMSed the votes. Thanks to everyone of you who believed in me. Robert even intoned me to visualise winning using the law of attraction! (We’re both serious junkies of The Secret!)
Related links:
http://mayakirana.com/blog/2008/06/a-hurricane-of-a-trip/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kristagoon/sets/72157605952122481/
Wish Me Luck!
I won’t be posting for a few days as I am off to KL for the MWW Gala Dinner tonight.
Shall be going with Lisa and we two are quite excited despite having to arrive at 3pm at The Westin for a rehearsal.
Yes, you read right. A rehearsal! *making me slightly nervous now*
Ning Baizura will be crooning some songs, Lina Teoh will be the emcee.
A few days ago I got the dinner programme from Rina, the deputy editor of MWW and it seems we’ll be made up by professional make up artists and hair stylists. Am I relieved I don’t have to lug my sister’s Philips hair styling tools to KL. As it is, there’s a lack of leg room on AirAsia planes. Am I relieved I don’t have to do my own make up!
Anyway, thank you my dears for your SMSes and support and calls. You know who you all are.
I am so grateful to everyone who voted for me. I am going without any expectation of winning because I want to have a fabulous time and I want to meet the other amazing women too! If I win, that’s a bonus! And the Montfort Boys Town will probably be the recipient of the RM5,000 prize….already Nic’s adamant that this organisation should get it. I think so too.
Other than that, I shall have more news and more photos when I get back to Penang next Wednesday!
Until then, wish me luck, my dears!
