Kuok Foundation Get-Together 09

Last Saturday, I attended the get-together event of the Kuok Foundation current award recipients and also past recipients (alumni). They had it every year, but I have never attended any one of them because I am a loner by choice. Nah... actually, I didn't join the informal event previous times because I did believe the event was for undergrads awardees only! Postgrad were invited this year and what better opportunity to meet (network?!) with KF's alumni to 'polish some shoes' at these bad economic times. Kakakakakaa....Yah, my intentions were evil but isn't this what networkings are for?

I brought a whole stack of my name card (and eventually pass just ONE pathetic one, but not that all pathetic, because I passed it to Dr Gue). Dr. Gue was on the same table as I; a KF former recipient and my interviewer for my KF scholarship 3 years back who fortunately remembers me as an interviewee very well! He is a soil expert and his latest stint involves the Bukit Antarabangsa landslide and he was a consultant there. He gave me lots of advice and still remembered the questions he asked me on the scholarship interview. What a memory!

The informal get-together was at Armada hotel. I felt like a nobody amongst the many scholarship recipients! But later.... I found out I asked to sit on the VIP table!
Eveyone registered and got their tags (wicked! - my tag was different from the rest) :) I was walking around, unable to get into the mingling mood. But soon, I met a group of undergrads who were former classmates with one another and they accepted me into their click. Yeeeeeee.... dunno wanna be happy or not but I felt young again, and I loved them all!!! They were all formerly from a high-school in Malacca. I missed a photo with them because 1. I hate my pariah camera phone, and 2. I don't cam-whore. But truly a waste not to get a pic of me with them.

Aiseh....undergrads and FEMALES, mostly. Can't spot any cute guys. Most of them are either younger than I, or have clicked into their own (young) groupie or seemed tooooo smart for my liking. I like smart man, but some guys (even girls) have this cocky I-am-a-medic-student-and-better-than-your-agriculture-or-whatever-vege-you're-doing looks. Sorry, but as indicated in my earlier post, my EQ is very high and I can detect any cocky looks w/o the need of a single word to them. Maybe all my teaching swimming for 3++ years has improved my PR skills with many kids and parents and my increased ability to detect their thoughts. Sorry, but yah, now I sound cocky.
Advisors of the foundation, current postgraduate students. Dr. Teo (left) is a famous clinical psychologist.

The new trustee was Dato Seri Ong. Yes yes, I was sitting opposite him on the same table with other distinguished guests. Dr. Gue was the one in the dark shirt (pic below).

I have no comment at this point regarding my relation to all the guests, esp. with Dato Seri who was former MCA president. Kuok Foundation remains apolitical and so must I (at this point). If not, I'll be stripped. Not off my shirt (I wish), but off my award. So no comment of me being in the same table and in conversation with anyone. It's just that I am sitted on the VIP table to make my face more recognizable to the big-shots, rub some shoulders, polish some apple/shoes, exchange name cards and to find avenue to send my CV/resume in. Yah, sorry again, but that's what networking is all about, right?!

Dato Seri Ong, Dr. Geo and a Masters student in Engineering in Nottingham, Semenyih. We chat mostly about the education system in Malaysia, general stuffs about students, the brain, memory, some paradoxes and mostly education matters. We touched very little about politics, of course! But we did discuss about Alantuya and who they think did it :P

From top: Balwani, Me, Mei Leng and Lynette, GM of KF; Lim Teck Hoe, former KF award recipient, a memory expert and World Champion giving us a lecture about memory; 2nd place in a quite difficult ice-breaking game. I spotted Ai Y'ng 2nd from right! Woooo...at least there's one person I really know.