Meeting people: networking or socialising?

Its been hell of a week! I only attended classes on Monday and Wednesday. Tuesday had to lepaskan secara tak rela kelas Multimedia Puan Gina because the appointment with MiSC corporate affair representative was on the same morning. We - Phia, Arie, Cwoo and I went there not expecting much. Maybe just a simple interview. We were surprised that they actually prepared a room for us, made powerpoint slideshow regarding the topic we need (Corporate Comm dept, CSR and internal programmes), projected and presented it as if we are investors for their company and gave us goody bags to bring home! Damn they're good! They really take care of the company's image.

I was almost in love with the presenter. Cik Hanim Hamid is young and yet she's the Group Corporate Affair Manager. She controls one of the division which handles MiSC and its 8 subsidiaries. I was in awe when she started speaking. Fluent English with articulate diction. And I absolutely love the fact that she can pull off a pixie cut do eventhough she is chubby. Her presentation was perfect. I didn't get to ask much question because she will answer it while presenting or I asked it ahead of time before she got to the topic. It was indeed well prepared.

Learning about MiSC surprises me, didn't expect a shipping ad vessel company to conduct CSR programs. And they do it many times annually. Its actually handled by the departments individually rather than 1 program per company. But they do have 1 main program - Navigate Your Career (NYC). It is targeted for both university students and school students but with different objective. For university students they are offering help in soft skills such as preparing for interview, polishing presentation and speaking skills as well as teamwork. reviews shown that a lot of them who joined the event made tremendous changes. 1 particular FELDA boy who was very shy was grabbed by Bank Negara even before MiSC got hold of him upon graduation. That's how great the programme was. Of course I wanted in! As for school students, the objective is more on promoting ALAM (Akademi Laut Malaysia) for them. As for this one, Arie wants in.

We forgot to take pictures with her but we got nearly 2 hours of video footage. I can't show you that, its too boring. Who would want to see it. Kesian Arie lenguh-lenguh tangan record video. And Cwoo tak habis-habis mengantuk . Going for the interview was definitely worth it. Walaupun parking charges RM8, its worth it. If they prepare breakfast, lagi worth it!

Next!

Thurday and Friday I went to an international conference hosted by UNISEL at Grand Bluewave Hotel. I was among the 4 students who were selected to represent our F-cult to do coverage of the event. Imran and Aking were assigned as photographers while Fiefie and I will be writing about the event. The 2 day programs was FUN! We got to work with people from both Unisel campus. Lets face it, all of us is under the same organization but we didn't know each other existed. That morning, the head MPP - Shafrizal (waaahh tau nama dah!) actually asked which Unisel I was from to give my tags. Sedih kan?


Whilst there, I got to know:

• the kakak-kakak from finance who we all loveeeee to hate,
  
• the very very very soft spoken MPP boys (memang tu requirements jadi MPP ke?),
  
• kakak librarian who are actually twins - I never knew that,
  
• the who's who of Unisel: Prof Zaidi, Prof Kushairi, Ibu Fonny, Puan Yuslina, etc,
• educationalist from the South East region and a few other countries,
  
• prominent business entrepreneur like Madam Noni Purnowofrom of Silver Bird (an Indonesian taxi service company) and Pak Mustain Sjadzali of PT Citra Panji Manunggal (an Indonesian pipeline company. Fiefie and I have a minor crush on him actually. He's such a gentleman!)
• the 8 psychologist to be from Unisel BJ - Naz, Vino, Ara, Mizi, Uan, Along, Amy, and Fatihin
• my current role model: Cik Wan Puspa Melati Wan Abdul Halim, 27 year old beauty with brains, HOD of psychology in Unisel BJ, Oxford grad, was the psychology lecturer at my F-cult and currently pursuing her PhD. Wow! (Just googled her and she's in portal perfileman Malaysia? hihihi)

It was great fun, great exposure and definitely a tiring experience. Oh! May I add there's a few Filipino boys who caught my attention? He was tall and fair and bald very much like Samuel Rizal. Turns out his father was one of the speakers there.The other is his friend who has a mullet haircut but got the long hair braided. And, I got harrased by 2 busboys. Scary kot! Everytime I pass by or look up I 'll catch them looking at me. On the final day Miss Ad actually told them off "tak malu ke kacau anak dara orang?" and they replied "Nak malu buatpe?"

Ewwwwww! Memang taknak lah kan! Of all the people, I mean there's almost 300 delegates and organisers, why you 2?? WHYYYYYY!!!!!
Thank you Puan Azian and Miss Ad for the opportunity. Really appreciate it.


Next in my list SEAchange conference in Putrajaya on 18-21 November. Hwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee accept my invitation if I sent you suggestion or email of it. It will increase my chances on winning the trip. Nak bayar sendiri tak mampu. Its RM3 frikking thousand! Menetes air mata tengok tadi. Literally okay! If I got the chance to go, I'll get to meet Nando Parrado, my hero. He's the ultimate survivor. You've seen the movie ALIVE starring Ethan Hawk? Or know about the plane bringing a rugby troop heading to Chile but crash in Andes mountains? I was about 10 when I watched the movie. This movie shocked me because in order to survive they resorted to cannibalism.They have to eat and there were not other food supplies other than the deceased. I always thought there were only 2 survivors from the accident and I never knew their names. I only remembered 1 character who refused to eat his friends and will always check if they are eating his sister or mother. He is Nando Parrado, one of the 2 who hike the mountains to get help for the 16 who survived. And he, will be speaking at the SEAchange summit.

I cried reading about him, talking about him, watching the movie, and now for the little chance of me seeing him in person. I hope I'm selected for the event. If that didn't happen, Mr. Parrado you always will be my hero.