Templehunt in Melb,Australia

Alhamdullilah!Hallelujah!Sadhu!ThankYou!Yay!Excellent!XieXie!Bravo!Grazias!

Smilies!!

Mr&MrsK brought me to a SriLankan temple(location:Dandenong) which,in short,it's like Nalanda/BGF concept.(Or Nalanda/BGF Concept is like their concept?Hmm..watever..)A housing area(2hses I think)made into a hall.As I pay respect to the resident monks,then the Buddha,and offered flowers,I can't help it but notice that all eyes were on me.I feel like a foreigner,but speaking the same language,prostrating and paying respect the same way they do.The attention was made even more obvious because I was wearing a pink shirt with black pants when all of them(except the two monks of course)...were wearing WHITE.(including those offering food )(Just imagine a group of Uncle Vijaya's around!hhahha!)

It was also during the dana session(offering food)when we went.So, I get to dana to practicing nuns/novitiates observing the 8 precepts.I was TOO HAPPY to see so many ladies/nuns observing for the day(almost all) when at home,they're ALL FOR GUYS/monks!!SADHU!!!

During dana,everyone was just rushing to dana!The papadam which I had on my plate,had little to offer because everyone just had it on their plate already!!It was stressful because I wanted SO much to at least give ONE to each of them,in the end,I realize,all you had to do is,just politely insist on putting it on their plate.No choice!

When I reflect now...during dana,since I was bit embarassed with my clothing and feeling-out-of-place and with all the attention,I even FORGOT to dana to the MONKS!gee?!They are the most important ppl...!!AGH!HAHA!!**slaps my forehead**

Finally!!!!I have found a theravadan novitiate program for ladies.Now,all I have to do is enrol in one and request the Dhamma talk to be in English and not Sinhalese.Don't worry,I'm just going to aim for a day retreat,observing the 8 precepts...with a group of females(theravadan style) AND WEAR WHITE(robes?)!!!

Mr&MrsK will bring me to another one,where Dhamma talks will be conducted in English(due to many'foreigners' like me).After that,I still have 2 temples to visit(a Mahayanese one I came across a few days ago-on behalf of my parents, and another one by Ajahn Kalyano my friend(ML's BF-HX) was telling me about)

Just wanted to share this!SADHU!! YIPPEE!! HEHEE....

Think about it: The Theravadan Buddhist practice which we are accustomed to now,has its 'cultural' values borrowed from another country-SriLanka.Our resident monks in M'sia have a rich culture in Sri Lanka brought to nurture and spread across our country.Chief Reverend(Dr.K.Sri Dhammananda)-you come from a very beautiful country and a gentle community.SADHU!SADHU!SADHU!

24th INCOVAR Dhamma Camp

Date : 8th Dec 2005 - 11th Dec 2005
Venue : Sau Seng Lum, Puchong
Theme : Closed Eyes, Open Mind

...dhamma inspiration thru music...

...3rd december 2005. i.gemz album launch...

a huge success. more than 130 turnouts; all stuff into the small space of bgf. not enough chairs to accomodate everyone also. loud cheers were heard from the back...people asking for more songs. clearly the few songs rendered by the singers were not enough. everyone wants more of the live performance.

siew chan's my beautiful friend was indeed a big hit among the crowds. the reporters were seen snapping pictures all the way; right in the nose of the singers. i was like, wow...more yau yeng than mj snapping pictures!

more than 200 copies of the cds were sold that day itself (not inclusive of bulk orders). a huge success and a big milestone for i.gemz-mers and bgf.

yes, we will be in bgf on dec 15 for musical puja. if you have missed the launching and getting your cd autographed, do come and meet the us. get a copy of the cd before its sold out ya.

and those who will be in the 24th INCOVAR Dhamma Camp, you will also be able to get copies of the album that time. remember to get it autographed ya.

Some pictures during the launch.

sue lynn(left) during the autograph session













andrew sia(in orange) from the star interviewing the singers















a picture for the press


















i.gemz :: dhamma inspiration through music















...i.gemz believes that their music inspires people to find strength within and live a meaningful life...

i.gemz Album Launch Event

*drumroll* Finally! The long awaited first album launch for i.gemz is here!!!

The i.gemz album launch event will be graced by
Datuk Dr Victor Wee, Sec. Gen. Ministry of Tourism, Malaysia

i.gemz is the inspirational music group from BGF.

There will be welcoming speeches, opening performances,
official launch ceremony, showcase by i.gemz,
press conference, and CD sales session.

Additionally, you will have the chance to meet the artistes,
get exclusive autographs and photograph opportunities.
We will also be carrying out a membership drive to recruit
i.gemz members to join us in our roadshows

and other activities in future!

The first 100 CDs purchased on the launch day will also
come with a limited edition i.gemz postcard.

Light refreshments will be served.

For more information contact ::

Nee Sern at nskhoo@gmail.com/016-2011550.

See you there!

...we inspire through music...

i.gemz event management

...Closing Date Extended to 19 Nov...

~*~Greetings to all brothers & sisters in the Dhamma~*~

Have you made up your mind to register for the 24th INCOVAR Dhamma Camp? *Hurry up as the closing date has been extended to 19 Nov 2005, from the initial 12 Nov!*

If you are having your holidays in the month of December, why not spend your valuable 4 days in this experiential learning youth camp? Meet new friends and nurture a family of Kalyana Mitras. Join us and experience Closed Eyes, Open Mind.

Click HERE now!
24th INCOVAR Dhamma Camp
Date: 8th - 11th December 2005
Venue: Sau Seng Lum (Puchong) Exhibition Centre
Theme: Closed Eyes, Open Mind

because @ INCOVAR

...we inspire...

2nd MPO Gathering

The 2nd MPO, was held last Saturday (29th Nov 2005), and we had quite a number of new faces this time round. Let's see what Daniel, our coordinator for that day has to say about the session...

"The Saturday session has been really fun for me, and I hope enjoyable and refreshing for everyone who attended.

Feedback that it was great since we thought them new Buddhist songs. This time mostly my songs. Some say that they were impressed and asked me why they have not heard such songs before. (That's because no one has asked me to play it and I have no where else to showcase it... thanks to MPO, now I have another place to show what I have written)

The session started with a brief ice-breaking session, to get people relaxed by introducing themselves where they were from, what expectations did they have and their favourite food. That did the trick. Everyone opened up. Before long, the session ran itself.

Food was served in the middle session. Everyone donated some food, especially Sis Barbara Yen. It was good food too.

Everything fell into place. The mood was overall warm, friendly and cozy. Anson and I presented all the songs sitting down, so it was very relaxed. It had structure, but very "homely".

Cindy Yeap was very frank about the "truth" to music and how to best learn it. Sis Pamela was very good and witty / funny with the crowd. She thought us the basics, just to to get us aquinted to using our voices better. Lee Yen taped the whole session on her handphone.

It ended later than planned at 6pm. It did not feel that long. I truly enjoyed myself.

daniel kwok"

Not only Daniel, the rest of us on the floor had a great time too. Lots of laughter throughout the session - definitely a bright and cheerful afternoon. To elaborate on Daniel's message, we sang four songs in total, two fairly familiar songs:
"The Metta Metta Song", and "His Lovelit Image" (which was sung in "round-singing", hint: great song for beginners in guitar playing),

and two fairly new songs
"Love Will See You Home", and "The Bodhi Tree"

Hymns need not be "I sing, you follow". Daniel gave us some background on the meaning and significance of the songs, the different ways to sing them, how to teach the songs to others, etc... making the true meaning of the songs sank deep into us when we finally sang together with him and Anson...

When Cindy shares with us her love for music, education and career in music, you can really gain an insight into a musician's life... what you can do with music - teach, create, produce, manage/admnister. Cindy also touched on a wide array of music-related issues - song-writing, can Buddhists sing, the do's and don'ts in a child's music learning process, etc..

Then Sis Pamela came on board and got us to stand up. She said we had been sitting on the floor for too long... :) Sis Pamela introduced a number of things, some of them are listed below:
- Vocal warm-ups: shoo-be-do-be-do-be-do-be-do sung in the notes of do-re-mi-fa-so-fa-mi-re-do and the dolphin sound for a super-fast-warm-up for the entire vocal range
- Hints on singing high notes loudly and softly
- What you should eat and shouldn't eat, which apparently there are no really stick-fast rules, some people are so lucky, they can eat anything and the voice will still be there. Anyway, sipping water from time to time when you're singing, especially in a cold and dry environment, will help greatly. And there's no need to open your mouth too wide, you'll only make your throat dry up quicker.
- Sis Pamela also chose a few participants to "play with her toy" (a pink elastic band) and to "sing to the plant" (apparently singing to the plant worked more effectively than singing to a person!)... to get these participants to feel the tension on the appropriate muscles which are working when we are singing...

Lastly, we had more singing, this time a Christmas song, "Do You Hear What I Hear", where we had xylophone as the accompaniement...

That's a quick recap of what took place. How do you feel about the session? Does it raise any questions/doubts? Also share your experience, hints and techniques on singing (or any other music-related subjects)...

Look out for the announcement on the next MPO gathering, there'll be more activities in store. See you there!

24th INCOVAR Dhamma Camp is now open for registration

Sukhihotu.. Sawadeeka.. Salam Sejahtera..Hello..

Brothers and sisters in the Dhamma,

The 24th INCOVAR Dhamma Camp is now open for registration! This time, the camp will be held at Sau Seng Lum in Puchong in Selangor, a relatively new place, from 8 - 11 December 2005.

The theme for this camp is "Closed Eyes, Open Mind" where you will be able to experiene the inspiration of mental development. Come and discover the joys of metta, samatha and vipassana meditation. Experience the beauty of mental happiness as you close your eyes to the distractions of the world.

You'll be happy to realize just how easy it is to stay focus, or to increase the power of your memory and concentration! See the world in a new light with an open mind, practicing mindful living every day. Imagine if, you won't forget where you placed your house keys ever again!

Learn the Dhamma in a fun and experiential way with inspirational talks, games and workshops. Meet new friends and nurture a family of Kalyana Mitras. Join us and experience Closed Eyes, Open Mind.

Date :: 8th - 11th December 2005
Venue :: Sau Seng Lum (Puchong) Exhibition Centre
Theme :: Closed Eyes, Open Mind
Camp Fee:: RM70

*free gifts for the first 20 early birds who register for the camp!

For online registration, please visit our INCOVAR website or contact us through
email :: info@incovar.org
sms hotline :: +016.616.1516
yahoo :: msn :: qmeijoon

because @ INCOVAR
...we inspire...

MPO.Circle is born!

The kick start of the MPO gathering on 1st October 2005 was a promising affair. We were proud to have UM, UPM, D2Y, SJBA, BUBS, MOD, Kang Kee (from Singapore) & other inviduals too.
Because of all your support, this MPO.Circle is created!

You can access your group using the link below
* Your group information:
Group name: MPO-circle
Group email address: MPO-circle@yahoogroups.com
Group home page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MPO-circle

* Get started now:
Just send a blank email to: MPO-circle-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Then you may start posting your email to:MPO-circle@yahoogroups.com
During the 1st MPO kick start event, we had the priviledge to listen to the D2Y music group. Further on, we had group sharing amongst all music group & individuals to create the awareness of MPO being the Central Network for Buddhist Musicians.
The closing of the event drew everyone's aspiration for the next course of action. The 2nd MPO gathering, is set for 29th October 2005. A Saturday of course! Block your calender remember, 2.30pm onwards :)

INCOVAR Roadshow @ PBUPM

To promote the coming 24th INCOVAR Dhamma Camp, the Publicity team planned a roadshow for UPM Buddhist Society. The crowd were mostly 1st & 2nd year students. We joined their Dhamma talk, conducted by Rev. Kai Zhao, which was quite inspiring. Although the talk was in Mandarin, it was not too deep to grasp the essence of the sharing.

Other than our camp, there were other camps that were being publicized to the same audience... hmmm competition! Well, I guess we have to keep the faith that INCOVAR will continue to attract participants, from all diverse background to attend.

I'm grateful for bro Kong Joo's support in making this roadshow possible! Hope to see more representatives from UPM for this 24th edition of IDC... (ahem my uni, of course must promote to them to join :P)

A splendid Mid-Autumn Festival night out

On 18th of September, in conjunction with the Mid-Autumn Festival, BGF organised a potluck Musical Puja with a slight twist! First everyone was ushered to have their dinner, before arranging the cushions for Musical Puja.

Alex was the MC, Swee Feng and Gary were the Puja leader and bell boy. After the Puja is over, we had a short presentation about INCOVAR, followed by a fun game session we all call it "Helium Stick". It's wonderful to see the crowd coming in together, probably not knowing each other, young and old alike having a good time!

What would Musical Puja be without the musical performance! That night, we had the well-known I-Gemz group rendering songs from their upcoming album, soon to be released. Incovarians are already familiar with the songs, so it's wonderful to just to sing along.

And what Mid-Autumn Festival musical performance be, if without singing songs about the moon! After what seems like an unplug concert, there was a little surprised at the end before we call it a night! Alright shall not brag on... think cake!

It was a spended night out, to be with my fellow friends...

~Invitation to MPO kick start gathering~

Attention to all Buddhist music groups, choir groups, bathroom singers, musicians or any Idol-wannabe!

Have you ever thought if you could sing like Jacky Cheung or play the piano like Richard Clayderman? Or maybe render a song full of emotion like Faizull in Malaysian Idol?

Would you consider improving on your stage presentation in any event? Maybe you are merely hoping not to sing out-of-tune during karaoke sessions with your friends or clients? If you have the passion for music, lend me your ears.

BGF Training and Leadership Development portfolio with the collaboration of INCOVAR and the BGF Welfare team would like to invite all of you for our inaugural kick start of MPO.

MPO stands for Music, Passion, and Originality. It functions as the Central Network of Buddhist Musicians, to leverage from musicians, singers and music lovers who come together as a synergy to share music knowledge, songs, organizational skills and personal strength.

Details of MPO kick start event: -

Date : 1 st October, 2005 (Saturday)
Time : 2.30pm – 6.30pm
Venue : BGF Centre, 60A, Jalan 19/3, 46300 Petaling Jaya.

Through this MPO effort, we provide the avenue for musical performance enhancement and training opportunities to you or your music group.

Come and join in the fun with "Roslan, Kak Jee and Paul" of BGF on October 1, 2005 at 2.30pm.

Pass on this message to your friends or anyone you know who would be interested.

Like the jellyfish and the snail, participants of this MPO programme and BGF can be seen as in nature, a symbiosis ongoing process. This relationship of mutual dependence and mutual benefit can demostrate the evolution of Dhamma Inspiration Through Music .

For further enquiry & registration, simply email us or drop us a Y! message:

1. Khoo Nee Sern @ xerxesxerxes@yahoo.com
2. Mooi Chee Onn @ cheeonn@yahoo.com
3. Quek Mei Joon @ qmeijoon@yahoo.com

Inspiring the Future,

Khoo Nee Sern
Exco - BGF Training and Leadership Development
Contact : 016-2011550

www.incovar.org
incovar.blogspot.com
forum.incovar.org
bgf.buddhism.org

24IDC Committees Induction Camp

It was a one-day camp held for all organising committees of this 24th Incovar Dhamma Camp. The focus for this camp will be shifted to "Mental Cultivation". We had bro Lee Lee Kim to share with us his profound knowledge on Bhavana (Mental Cultivation in Pali). On one side there are the 5 hindrances, on the other side there are the 5 faculties. Then there the 4 guardian of meditation and 4 foundations of mindfulness. *phewww... can you remember all that? Well let's see how the camp programmers will extract all that info experiential learning for the camp!




Rounds of group discussion were held to present some ideas. Wonder how a butterfly relates to a lightbulb and then to Taiping hill? Well, anyway we went to Paris for dinner (please allow someone else to order the dishes :P) and later in the night we had rich chocolate cake for supper! (Mama Mia... my mama made the delicious cake :P) What happened in between will be sworn to secrecy. It's for us to know, for you to find out!

All in all, it's a fruitful Induction Camp for everyone, having quite a number of us coming together for the highlight in the evening :) We'll make aspiration for this 24th IDC, may this camp be another successful chapter for Incovar!

Musical Puja :: September :: Mid-Autumn Festival

(ed: Venue for all Musical Puja will always be in BGF, unless stated otherwise. BGF is located at 60A, Jalan 19/3, 46300 Petaling Jaya.)

New Moon Musical Puja
4th September (Sunday)
8.00pm

Mid-Autumn Festival POTLUCK DINNER Musical Puja
18th September (Sunday)
6.00pm
Performance by : I-Gemz

The Mid-Autumn Festival (Zhong Qiu Jie) originated in China and is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month and may have started as a harvest festival. On this day, the moon is round. To the people, this signifies completeness and wholeness. Families therefore took this opportunity to come together to celebrate the abundance of their harvest.

On this special occasion, BGF would like to invite all our friends to join us for a potluck dinner from 6pm onwards. Remember to bring along your family and friends to this meaningful event!

It's a great September indeed :)

MPO

Music...
Passion...
Originality...

Inspire the world with the infusion of musical and spiritual harmony.

Coming soon to INCOVAR... do you want to be part of MPO?

Stay tuned...

24IDC kickstart gathering 17.08.05

Alex is the new chairman for the upcoming 24th edition of the Incovar Dhamma Camp. With a new chairman, coming from a training and development working background, it's not surprising to see a more systematic pre-planned approach to conducting this kickstart meeting. If you're interested in training, go find Alex! Haha...
The meeting started with Aaron (Lee) explaining about Buddhist culture. Then a round of ice-breaking followed by explaination about BGF and Incovar. Further on we shared about our experiences in Incovar and what is our expectations!

There's quite a few new faces lined up as committees for this 24IDC, namely Pevin (actually returning committee), Ern Huei, Kar Kin, Gary, Suk Fong. There are some others who're interested to join but couldn't make it for the 1st meeting tho'... hope we'll see them next Wednesday!

[Event] Full Moon Musical Puja ~ 19.08.2005

There will be a Full Moon Musical Puja as follows:

Date: 19 August 2005 (Friday)
Time: 8.30pm (please come before 8.30pm to get the front seats!)
Venue: BGF Center

We have started out a new concept in BGF. Bring-a-friend-along! Come, bring a friend along and let us all make this Full Moon night to be an inspiring yet exciting one. Dont forget to introduce your friend to us!

On this Musical Puja, you will be inspired by the singing sensation of some youth and an enriching talk by Bro Tan Ho Soon. This short talk will be beneficial to the younger generation.

Dont miss this opportunity to come and gather in BGF on this auspicious day and make aspiration.

So see you there! If you need transport, please buzz MJ @ qmeijoon on Yahoo/MSN.

|musical|puja|05082005|

musical puja last week. some inspiring moments to share from that day.
sometimes, being too tied up with work, struggling everyday to survive, making sure that we perform well at work, and etc...we sometimes move too fast and forget to stop and think.

hei, its musical puja again, new moon/full moon day. a day where the gravity pull of the earth is the strongest and its a day when we make aspiration...

let musical puja be a reminder for us all to gather again, to make aspiration, to make the world a better place for all sentient beings - our vision for incovar.

lets start by gathering @ bgf for musical puja. next mp is on 19082005 and bro tan ho soon will be giving an inspirational talk...

because @ incovar, we inspire...

Who are you?

Remember this interesting session we have in the last IDC? I somehow am so into these four temperaments at the moment... have been searching for tests and reading up a bit... going to read more... but today, at this hour, just want to post this blog, and for those who are interested you may take this test again...

Visit here.

The Perfect Melancholies, you want to do the test, do it the right way, haha, so on this site the definitions of the terms are right beside the characteristics! And the more you do, and analyse, the more accurate it will be, or the more you will understand the thing. Being the Perfect Melancholy that you are, it doesn't hurt to do the test one more time!

The Popular Sanguines, let's do it the fun way! Tests are always fun, share it with other people and it will be even more fun (or so I think, mm... I'm no sanguine at all...)

The Peaceful Phlegmatics... let's do it the easy way, what better way than to have the definitions right there, without having to search for it, or to count your scores, cause the website has it all... you just need to tick tick tick...

The Powerful Cholerics... who likes to do it their way, I don't know whether this is your way or not... but as a choleric who will just get into action, well, just do the test and don't think so much lar... just get the results!

Go search search a bit if you want to find out more... plenty of descriptions on the Internet...

Now... let's start with me... I'm a Perfect Melancholic... so I'm always analysing things, sometimes maybe a little too much, so you just need to shake or wake me up into reality, just stop analysing and don't take things so seriously!

Anyone else would like to share who they are?

[Event] New Moon Musical Puja

There will be a New Moon Musical Puja as follows:

• Date: 5 August 2005 (Friday)
• Time: 8.30pm (please come before 8.30pm!)
• Venue: BGF Center

Come with your friends and family to experience spiritual peace of mind, relaxing atmosphere and contemplative surroundings. Chill out with live music and inspirational speeches. Make new friends, foster existing relationships.

Because at BGF... we inspire the future...

An excerpt from our discussion in yahoogroups:

Ceremonies and rituals are vehicles for spiritual _expression. In fact there was a survey once done by Reader Digest that show 80% ppl who partake in a religious ceremony periodically in their life, lives longer than those who don't. However this could be just a general survey but it tells us alot.

Puja have a very strong implication to our spiritual practice. I would concur that it us who have to walk the path ourselves and not rely on others or even be aping others in performing religious practices without knowing what we are doing. After all, we are all educated and have a good reasoning power unlike previous generations that perform certain rites "only" out respect for the previous generation.

However being or joining a Puja session is very important. It helps to develop the devotional aspect of our practise, moreover when a Sangha member is present.

We must always remember that Sangha members we meet and have contact with today are representations of all the great Sangha members, from the time first five ordained Bhikkhus to Sariputta and Moggallana to all the great Patriaches.

So if we could develop the same sense of respect everytime we meet a monk as we were meeting Sariputta, it have a great impact on us.In fact i'm sure if we meet famous contemporary masters, even without talking to them we also feel so awed! And this is something i know from experience. Moreover the sight of a Sangha (or as mentioned in the Sutta, Samana-holy people) is a true blessing in life - Mangala Sutta.

Having periodic devotional practise will help us to lead a more humble and respectable life. Everytime we pay respects to the Triple Gem, we humbled ourselves to bow down, to accept that we are in this path of perfection and the Triple Gem are our noble examples of enlightenment and purity. We condition the mind and the body to internalise this purpose. With that we have a great foundation for our other practises.

I feel that going for pujas for the right intentions and right views would yield splendid results. Communal gathering is an excellent support for spiritual practise. After all the Buddha did corrected Ven. Ananda once that friendship is entire of part of spiritual practice. I have been reading the life of Sariputta (http://accesstoinsight.org/lib/bps/wheels/wheel090.html) and found that noble association actually helps one and the other for spiritual goals. Both Sariputta and Moggallana have been friends aeons and asshankheyyas ago since Buddha Anomadassi's time and made the aspirations together to become a future Buddha's chief disciples.And many lifetimes they were also friends, until the finally achieved their spiritual goal.

Thus to summarize!
1) there are 1001 benefits of attending a Puja
2) however one can only reap full benefits if done with right intentions.
3) communal practise is very important. spiritual friendship can support one all the way for spiritual attainment.Kindly attend a puja today....

metta mudita,
mui han

What being "holy" means?

I was taken aback when I mentioned about my Incovar friends to my not-so-holy friends (I meant dont-go-temple/church people). I was telling her about this hip hip dance class to be held, and how there's this boy (ahem referring to Alex) who can dance so sexy-yau yeng type (ahem *cough cough). Then you know what my friend commented??!

"Buddhist society friend? I thought they're suppose to be 'holy', just a masquerade..."

I was like, do you 'know' what it means by being "holy"? Where and how on earth people had the impression Buddhisty society members dont dance?! Its like, sometimes I wish people can be more open-minded, so to speak.

Remember when I was nicknamed "the holy one" by my ex-colleagues who are all non-religious, just because I started preaching about citizen's responsibility to vote, or not smoking. What do people at large really mean by 'holy'? Since when did I give the impression to people that I'm holy?

Anyway, if more general public were to discover more about Buddhist values, hmm... not a bad idea. More people to share my views with. Most of my friends are just clueless about the world and life, not like how I'd have the world of crap to yak about with them.

Blah - your say.

What's heartbeat gotta do with it?

In the last vocal training lesson, our teacher asked all of us to count our own pulse rate. I kinda lost count as the 'clock ticking' sound was too distracting (yes, I get distracted easily), but I know my heartbeat is generally faster than normal people my age.

Teacher said that we should click or understand people better if they have the same heartbeat rate as you do. Hmm.. so I wonder who's rate is about 90/min? Teacher was guessing that I'm the sort of girl very impatient, couldn't wait to get things done, and get excited easy.

Yes, maybe because I had hyperthyroid? So she asked "What caused your hyperthyroid"? Well, that's like a chicken and egg question. How would I know, if "impatience" had caused my hormonal imbalance or was it the other way round where the bodily hormone changes that had affected me to be impatient?

Anyway, in Buddhism, we learn alot about meditation and staying calm. The teacher was teaching us the proper breathing method, focusing on expanding and shrinking the abdomen. At the end of our lessons, the teacher assured us that our waistline will be in shape! (*Ha, we'll see about that!) Last lesson, she explored further on the breathing, using the mind to imagine a beautiful picture outside the window, and that after a few times breathing, we all felt 'brighter'! Sei mei...

I was reflecting on how this heartbeat rate could relate to human lifes. Like for my case, if my heart keeps beating too fast, at the end, just like a battery, it will die faster. Its true! Remember once Mabel, sleeping beside me in camp saw how my bodily rise and fall is so much faster compared to hers. Losing breath is due to heart beating fast. Teacher said, by the time when we're in mid 30s we should maintain a pulse of 60-70. Wow, imagine I could achieve that. Actually that is what I aim to do, just try to be mindful always, just as what I've been learning all the while from Sunday school.

I hope through learning how to smile using 33% muscle, lift the "uvula", and talk like you're talking to a little child ^j^, I can be in tune with my body, mind and heartbeat. I see Dhamma in every answers that I try to find.

For now, let's see HOW can I lower my heartbeat.

Breath in......

Venerable Dr. Yifa

Dhamma Enrichment Camp 930am-500pm.18th June 2005.
Topic on : Prajnaparamita Sutra (better known as Diamond Sutra)
-Intro to Diamond Sutra, Non-Dualism & The Principle of Reality & The Real Meaning of Emptiness.

Venerable Dr.Yifa obtained her Law degree from the prestigious national universtity of Taiwan and later her MAA in Philosophy in the University of Hawaii.She later went on to obtain her Phd in Religious Studies in Yale University and am currently the professor of *Mcquire Uni?She has been ordained as a nun in Fo Guang Shan since she was in her early 20s and been nominated as one of the leading women in Taiwan.

How admirable.Not much of her titles,but more of her as a person.She has this-..just something about her that I definitely look up to.
I went for her talk a year before this on the topic of the Heart Sutra-by Avalokitesvera(wrong spelling?),better known as Kuan Yin Pusa.

Overload of information,I came home with a headache.
:) Maybe in due time,I'll get the concept of the Diamond sutra.
In summary,she tries to help us understand the major idea/structure and language of the sutra,in which,deals with lots of repetition.She began with explaining several important words-sunyata,paramita,the main idea of buddhism,why things change,madhyamika and then on towards vajracchedika(the diamond sutra)

What is the main idea of Buddhisam?
The core idea deals with patitasammupatda(wrong spelling),the interdependent origination,cause and effect,in which,is the universal truth.

Why things change?
Anatta-non self nature in which the Diamond sutra helps us to further understand anatta.Self should not be confused with 'I' factor but rather,Self should be defined as,something which is -unchangeable,independent and indivisible.Ppl suffer because of the idea/concept of self(i.e,definition above).,that things are permanent,rather,unchangeable.Non-self,on the other hand,should be approached as changeable,interdependent and divisible. (And,that is how we should look at life?)

After understanding the destruction of things as they are(anatta),we need to reconstruct and lead on with the provisional self.Meaning,even after we have understood anatta,non-self concept,we should still take things as they are.In which-is the middle path.This,is -what the Mahayanese approach on non-dualism.

It talks about reality and non reality.(non dualism).Not real does not mean do not exist.Not real means, temporary existence.In which,all conditioned things are like a bubble,dew,mirage, dream.It does not mean it does not exist,but rather,it's only temporary.

Then,move on to vajracchedika.The 2 kinds of illusion and ignorance-on person and illussion on the dharma(the teachings of the Buddha).
She then went on to explain the hindrances which is caused by our defilements/afflictions,our emotions and by our wrong views.Then,on towards the technical part of the sutra(several verses through the text) and ended the session with a thorough read through of the Diamond Sutra.

Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu!

@ Marché in The Curve on 18/06/05

First there were JS and CO, followed by MJ and LY, then Fred and Ann came, later joined in by Jo and Aaron! It was not a 'buffet' dinner but somehow, these bunch of people just wallop the food at Marché (French word for market) like its free :P well sorta... we must all thank JS :) our camp chairman! Hahah... just too bad SF was too exhausted to join us that night, and we miss AR, CH, Sue and Oscar.

The 1st group photo was taken, as Jo & Aaron had to leave early.
but the dinner did not end there!

Just when all of us were really full, BTatt, Mabel and Adrian arrived. By then I think I'd had enough of chocolate icecream and fresh fruit juices! Everybody was taking a sip from everyone's glass of various flavours. Rootbeer was nice, my orange + lemon was unique, the kiwi mix something was special... I think everyone was high on overdoze of drinks!

There was this Johnny the clown that came to join our table, playing magic tricks and singing "Happy Father's Day" song to Adrian, and "Happy Mother's Day" song to Mabel. I was just the video-camera girl, the clown was trying to live up to his pranks and wits for the video-shooting. Here's Johnny and the rest of us :)


The 23IDC was over 2 weeks ago, and this appreciation dinner was held for all the committees. We wish that the memories remain and the friendship last a life time!

23rd INCOVAR Dhamma Camp - report

If the previous camp (22nd IDC) was the sweetest camp, then this time, the 23rd
INCOVAR Dhamma Camp is the most motivating or inspiring camp! That's just my thought,
as I see the smiley happy faces of the participants, and hearing compliments from
participants on how inspired they were with our activities! Even the talks were NOT
boring and infact mind stimulating for most of them.

I wished that I was there for day 2 of Metta session which something new. But I'm
thankful to have all the invited guests to grace to camp from 1st day to the last day.
*drumroll* we had Uncle Vijaya, Datuk Dr. Wee, Bhante Aggacitta, Sumi Loundon, Bro.
Tan Ho Soon, Bro. Hor Tuck Loon, and finally Bro. Oh Kim Leng! These are very
prominent and well-known speakers within our community.

Day 2 was the most happening day! From station games in the morning vis-a-vis
waterballoon scare, to upclose with Sumi Loundon, not from London but from Boston.
Then everyone immediately went down for Dana with Bhante Aggacitta, followed by this
cool Thai dance-along session. Then there's talk by Bhante followed by workshop2. In
the evening we had this memorable offering session, then for the 1st time we had a
different style of "Metta" meditation session conducted by Bro. Hor Tuck Loon. Heard
that it was creepy to stare at another person for so long - but that sounds fun to me!

Day 3 started with us the committees and facilitators leading the pack with Dance
-along Incovar style! Big thank you to sis. SeenLan and gang for dropping by at night
to teach us the dance movement to "Reach" by SClub7 and "I Lay My Love On You" by
Westlife. It keeps the spirit alive to move everybody to dance along together with
some powerful songs.

Workshop 3 saw Fred & Aaron telling stories. In the afternoon we had the most loud
applauding performance by who else ::I-gemz:: They almost brought down the SJBA Shrine
Hall with the never ending applause! Thanks to the whole bunch who turned up. Later in
the afternoon, we had Bro. Tan Ho Soon with the "Rewrite Your Destiny" talk. From then
on, it was silent-mode for all, as we geared participants for the highlight of the
night -- IXP! Well, you just have to 'hear' it to believe it yourself. This time we
did it rather differently, not without the major support from all the helpers and
facilitators. A huge stage setting up was taking place in the out-of-bound area and
the highlight ended on a very inspiring note for everyone. Just wish that participants
will relish and appreciate the experience unfolded for them.

Then night ended, really late... actually I went to sleep as I was so sleepy by
the last programme but participants continued sharing. It was a really tiring day for
me, being programmer of the day nonetheless it was sweet and rewarding.

On the morning of day 4, the invited speaker Bro. Oh Kim Leng, came down all the
way from Melaka early in the morning with his friends! The talk by Bro. Oh was
empowering and always inspiring. He was even funnier than Uncle Vijaya (for me :P)!
Well that's just my viewpoint, because its not very often I get to listen to Bro. Oh's
moving yet light-hearted talk, especially for the Malaysians, when he used Malay and
Hokkien for his jokes. Pity the Thais, but everyone seemed laughing along altogether.

Then we have D2Y choir to perform some acappella before we finally wind down the
camp eventually. When I made the announcement "the camp is official closed" -- I
breath a sigh of relief. Then came the desire to go round hugging everyone! It was
sweet farewell for the Thais and Malaysians of course.

A bus came to pick up the group from YBAT to return to Penang, then another bus
came later to pick up the DKF group. Parents and siblings came to pick up the
Malaysians. Some stayed back to help committees to pack up the hall before we all left
SJBA with a heavy heart.

All in all, this camp was just amazingly wonderful. I wish I was a participant!
*When will I see you again?!

reported by Mei Joon23iDC - Programmer

Songs for Incovarians

As an Incovarian, especially of the 23rd INCOVAR Dhamma Camp, this is a list of must-have songs, some are "people specific" must-haves... those who know will know who lar... :p

1. Perhaps Love by John Denver and Placido Domingo
2. Reach by SClub7
3. I Lay My Love on You by Westlife
4. The Lion Sleeps Tonight (I like the acapella version by Kingston Trio)
5. What A Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong
6. Blue Moon by The Platters, as performed by D2Y (and you will find dozens of other versions online!!!!)
7. Short People by Randy Newman (lots of acapella versions are available online)
8. If We Hold On Together by Diana Ross

The I-Gemz songs no need to mention lar... we wait for the CD!!!

Feel free to add to the list... and vote for your fav songs?

p/s: I actually have the audio files of the above, but due to copyright issues they are not posted here...

Quick Recap on 2nd Metta Session by Bro Hor

Seems like most of the committees missed the second metta session of the camp... should I say I'm very lucky to be able to join some of the sessions, which turned out to be great for me...

Ok... Bro Hor Tuck Loon makes the session a "fun" one, and get the participants to move around... a quick recap:
* First, he asked everyone to face the person beside them, anyone sitting beside you, look into your partners' eyes for a couple of minutes, of course people start laughing...
* Then he questioned, why did we laugh? Cause you are not comfortable with the person you are with, your heart is not open to the other party.
* He got us to move around, just walk and look at people, the next round shake hands, then bow to each other, then bow with hands clasped together in a salutation posture, then salutation posture again but with the hands at the forhead (semething like this, can't remember the exact sequence)
* Now, sit back with the same partner and look into each others' eyes again... you may close your eyes if you feel uncomfortable, and open them again when you are more relaxed, close and open as many times as you need to... do you feel more relaxed and open up, more trust in your partner? Feeling warm? Cause you are generating metta... we turned the air-cond stronger, lower the temperature... can you believe we did this, for the first time, when usually participants would be asking to lower the power of the air-cond/raise the temperature!
* Next, form two circles, a smaller circle within a bigger circle. Hold hands, close eyes, think of the person right of you, left of you, in front/back, the world... radiate metta, feel the vibration... in my case, I felt the pulse of the two people beside me, left and right, were exactly the same...very strong pulse in their fingers as I was holding their hands... Bro Hor said can happen... the vibration passes in the circle... Wonder good or bad, cause I was kind of electrified when I realised the pulses were the same that I missed his narration on the radiation of metta...

Let's try this again if we have the chance... Sadhu sadhu sadhu, a great session indeed!!!

23rd INCOVAR Dhamma Camp

The 23rd IDC was held from 2-5 June, 2005 at SJBA.
The theme for this camp was "Live Wisely; Rewrite Your Destiny".

If the previous camp (22nd IDC) was the sweetest camp, then this time, the 23rd INCOVAR Dhamma Camp is the most motivating or inspiring camp! That's just my thought, as I see the smiley happy faces of the participants, and hearing compliments from participants on how inspired they were with our activities! Even the talks were NOT boring and infact mind stimulating for most of them.

I wished that I was there for day 2 of Metta session which something new. But I'm thankful to have all the invited guests to grace to camp from 1st day to the last day. *drumroll* we had Uncle Vijaya, Datuk Dr. Wee, Bhante Aggacitta, Sumi Loundon, Bro. Tan Ho Soon, Bro. Hor Tuck Loon, and finally Bro. Oh Kim Leng! These are very prominent and well-known speakers within our community.

Day 2 was the most happening day! From station games in the morning vis-a-vis waterballoon scare, to upclose with Sumi Loundon, not from London but from Boston. Then everyone immediately went down for Dana with Bhante Aggacitta, followed by this cool Thai dance-along session. Then there's talk by Bhante followed by workshop2. In the evening we had this memorable offering session, then for the 1st time we had a different style of "Metta" meditation session conducted by Bro. Hor Tuck Loon. Heard that it was creepy to stare at another person for so long - but that sounds fun to me!

Day 3 started with us the committees and facilitators leading the pack with Dance -along Incovar style! Big thank you to sis. SeenLan and gang for dropping by at night to teach us the dance movement to "Reach" by SClub7 and "I Lay My Love On You" by Westlife. It keeps the spirit alive to move everybody to dance along together with some powerful songs.

Workshop 3 saw Fred & Aaron telling stories. In the afternoon we had the most loud applauding performance by who else ::I-gemz:: They almost brought down the SJBA Shrine Hall with the never ending applause! Thanks to the whole bunch who turned up. Later in the afternoon, we had Bro. Tan Ho Soon with the "Rewrite Your Destiny" talk. From then on, it was silent-mode for all, as we geared participants for the highlight of the night -- IXP! Well, you just have to 'hear' it to believe it yourself. This time we did it rather differently, not without the major support from all the helpers and facilitators. A huge stage setting up was taking place in the out-of-bound area and the highlight ended on a very inspiring note for everyone. Just wish that participants will relish and appreciate the experience unfolded for them.

Then night ended, really late... actually I went to sleep as I was so sleepy by the last programme but participants continued sharing. It was a really tiring day for me, being programmer of the day nonetheless it was sweet and rewarding.

On the morning of day 4, the invited speaker Bro. Oh Kim Leng, came down all the way from Melaka early in the morning with his friends! The talk by Bro. Oh was empowering and always inspiring. He was even funnier than Uncle Vijaya (for me :P)! Well that's just my viewpoint, because its not very often I get to listen to Bro. Oh's moving yet light-hearted talk, especially for the Malaysians, when he used Malay and Hokkien for his jokes. Pity the Thais, but everyone seemed laughing along altogether.

Then we have D2Y choir to perform some acappella before we finally wind down the camp eventually. When I made the announcement "the camp is official closed" -- I breath a sigh of relief. Then came the desire to go round hugging everyone! It was sweet farewell for the Thais and Malaysians of course.

A bus came to pick up the group from YBAT to return to Penang, then another bus came later to pick up the DKF group. Parents and siblings came to pick up the Malaysians. Some stayed back to help committees to pack up the hall before we all left SJBA with a heavy heart.

All in all, this camp was just amazingly wonderful. I wish I was a participant! *When will I see you again?!

reported by Mei Joon 23iDC - Programmer

chat about the 23IDC :)

Participant says:
...all I can say is you guys were amazing to be able to come up with such an empowering camp
MJ says:
I told u, how u'd like it. not only u met Sumi Loundon, the lady herself, am sure u've "discovered" certain things abt urself and how you'd wanna rewrite your destiny, and take the effort to be a better man.
MJ says:
what was the most inspiring moment you felt during the camp?
Participant says:
the Metta one
MJ says:
1st or 2nd metta?
Participant says:
2nd 1
MJ says:
I missed 2nd day Metta. Heard it was great.
Participant says:
Really had to re-open some things that I just sorta ignored.
MJ says:
what really happen in 2nd metta?!
MJ says:
am really curious! How cud i MISS that?!
Participant says:
we had to stare at each other
MJ says:
were u staring at a girl!?
Participant says:
ya.
Participant says:
if guy ah habis lo.
MJ says:
how does it feel staring at another girl?! for how long?
Participant says:
around 1-2 mins
Participant says:
me was blank coz I was telling myself that I am only staring at eyeballs.
MJ says:
so how does staring at eyeballs moved u?
Participant says:
that didint but what the speaker said did.
Participant says:
that when u love someone u do not expect a return
MJ says:
wow..
MJ says:
even bro. Oh Kim Leng said something abt love
Participant says:
coz..like so far
Participant says:
I fall in love with a girl, try to impress her, give her love and now i find out it isnt.
MJ says:
yes... u were hurt...
Participant says:
very
MJ says:
.. I first heard from Bro. Tan Ho Soon... in one of incovar camp long time ago "True Love is letting go"
Participant says:
which is y I let go my ex
Participant says:
coz I realize I was limiting her from her true potential.
Participant says:
so let go...
MJ says:
hey... i wonder... what its like for girl to stare at another girl!!
Participant says:
I dunno but I certainly wont feel comfortable if a guy stare at me
MJ says:
haha
MJ says:
must be a pretty Thai girl u were staring at!
Participant says:
nolah
MJ says:
so all in all.... im glad to know that it has really benefit u, not in 1 way.. but in a more deeper meaning way
Participant says:
in many ways, it was very geng
…
…
Participant says:
anyway, how did u guys came up with the idea for the experience
MJ says:
what was the significant part of the experience?
Participant says:
the sharing was the most significant. made me feel like crying. But the rest of the elements did play a very important role in setting the right mind frame
MJ says:
did anyone in your group cry?
MJ says:
of cos it's secret
Participant says:
everyone did I think
Participant says:
I did a lil too
MJ says:
I've been holding the secret of IXP for every camp.
MJ says:
u cannot reveal ppl's ixp secret.
Participant says:
Yup. At least not anyone within incovar.
Participant says:
like, briefly for me to explain to friends when necessary.
MJ says:
yeah..
Participant says:
I mean before starting to teach people how to prepare to accept other people's problems...
Participant says:
like counselors do. its amazing that u guys actually did all these for free,,.
MJ says:
Its Incovar that's why
MJ says:
the tag line .. we inspire ...
MJ says:
can i save this conversation?!
Participant says:
sure.
Participant says:
I think more importantly as Buddhists we should be able to sorta like learn about true love and show the world that Buddhists truly love instead of being like the rest
MJ says:
u dun have to show
MJ says:
love will conquer hate
MJ says:
that's the 1st verse in Dhammapada
Participant says:
yep
MJ says:
thanks...
Participant says:
but then again since only Buddhists have the privilege of learning what true love is compared to other people who just play with the word I love you
MJ says:
people are just people, with flaws… people have not learnt the meaning of love...
Participant says:
and also bout friendship
MJ says:
u should probably take pity on them, instead of getting hurt by them...
MJ says:
cos someday, u can inspire people to truly understand what love means?

One Voice :: a sharing of minds

Sukhi Hontu! We, the Dhammaduta Youth (D2Y), together with the Buddhist Missionary Society Malaysia Youth Section (BMSMYS) would like to invite you and your fellow Buddhist youth members to come and participate in:

One Voice: a sharing of minds

Most Ven. Dr. K. Sri Dhammananda meets the Malaysia Buddhist Youth

An evening of celebration, discussion, and understanding as Chief Reverend shares his thoughts and his vision on the future with the Buddhist Youth. This is an interactive
event whereby the youths will have the opportunity to present their concerns and questions through this dialogue.

Held on Saturday 30th April 2005, it was such a sweet event. Not only were there meet-ups with so many other youths from various organisation, the event itself was noteworthy and I personally felt the D2Y organisers deserve a big pat on their shoulders. The gathering and sharing essence of a culturally diverse group of youths today within the same Buddhist community is undeniably the primary aspect that Malaysian Buddhist leaders should take lead in bridging for fellowship & understanding.

There were booths set up by Incovar, SJBA, BISDS, BGX (from Penang), from BMSYS, D2Y, ShahAlam, BUBS, PBUM, from Hilir Perak and this Chinese Buddhist musical group (I should have got their group name) who composed and make popular many nice melodious Chinese hymns. I just enjoy this kinda gathering, although the initial target for Incovar was probably for publicity & to promote the camp. Well, we did get quite a number of people to write down their names and has shown interest. Well, Aaron will have to call them up to make them apply!

The message by Chief Reverend, although I didn't pay much attention (due to my restless non-focus mentality), was predictable to me. But the best thing that I heard (or probably the only message I happened to have opened my ears) where, on the part about how the recent Tsunami had brought uimaginable distraught to mankind, Chief holding up a picture of a statue of Buddha still intact... and the Chief punned "the God that created the Tsunami must be a Buddhist".

(hey, sorry I laughed, but Chief could tell a joke!! In public infront of a large crowd!)



Hey, also check out on the postcards printed and distributed for this event! Choose your favourite design :>

Yasmin Ahmad @ setenang.org ;) We successfully screened Rabun (uncut) to a total of 17 lucky guest ;) Eventhough it was an incovar.org publicity event, no one from incovar attending except Soo Teng and myself. But, fingers crossed, Yasmin has agred to screen SePeT in the near future ;)
http://www.feichai.info/

Come one, come all incovarians! Nice leh ;) Rabun & appearance by Yasmin Ahmad @ Setenang.org on the 24th of April 2004
http://www.feichai.info/

Latest Definition

A good read :)

Divorce: Future tense of marriage.
Cigarette: A pinch of tobacco rolled in paper with fire at one end & a fool on the other.
Lecture: An art of transferring information from the notes of the Lecturer to the notes of the students, without passing through the minds of either.

Conference: The confusion of one man multiplied by the number present.
Compromise: The art of dividing a cake in such a way that everybody believes he got the biggest piece.
Tears: The hydraulic force by which masculine will-power is defeated by feminine water power.
Dictionary: A place where success comes before work.
Conference Room: A place where everybody talks, nobody listens and everybody disagrees later on.
Classic: A book which people praise, but do not actually read.
Smile: A curve that can set a lot of things straight.
Office: A place where you can relax after your strenuous home life.
Yawn: The only time some married men ever get to open their mouth.
Etc.: A sign to make others believe that you know more than you actually do.
Committee: Individuals who can do nothing individually and sit to decide that nothing can be done together.
Experience: The name(excuse) men give to(for) their mistakes.
Atom Bomb: An invention to end all inventions.
Philosopher: A fool who torments himself when alive, to be spoken of when dead.
Diplomat: A person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip.
Opportunist: A person who starts taking his bath if he accidently falls into a river.
Optimist: A person who, whilst falling from Eiffel tower, says in midway..."See, I am not injured yet."
Miser: A person who lives poorly so that he can die rich.
Father: A banker provided by nature.
Criminal: A guy no different from the rest...except that he got caught.
Boss: Someone who is early when you are late and late when you are early.
Politician: One who shakes your hand before the election and your confidence after the election.
Doctor: A person who kills your ills by pills, and subsequently, kills you with his bills.

Incovar BBQ Fellowing Gathering Photos

Courtesy of Fred Wong Chow Cheok

This BBQ was organized by the publicity team after the Faci Training on the 26th of March. It was held in the new center, setenang. An orange house with this proton wira aeroback parked at the entrance. SO that left us a little space to bbq the food. But lo behold the food got cook and all had a good meal . Some participants came and some old comm came to attend as well. The buddhist house was a nice house, the interior was calming and it should serve well as a buddhist house. Good job to the people who decorated the house. Later during the bbq some furniture came and the guys helped move the furniture in.. now we know why Adrian had the bbq on that day hahahhaha..... . Let us have more gatherings for the incovarians and invite even more participants so we can have more fellowship among all incovarians, yound and old, known or unknown.......

PCIC for 23rd IDC

So what's the story for this PCIC held over the weekend? Last minute Jowynne couldn't make it, that leaves 8 of us and we packed ourselves in 2 cars. On the way up to Selesa Hill, there was a massive crawl. Everyone was making guesses to what caused the jam. Along the way there so many overheated vehicles.

Finally we saw charred remains of a big bus, hopefully there were no casualty. Actually SelesaHill is just so near. I tried driving Fred's Wira for a short while, and felt the whole car was sooo heavy! Check out picture of his car boot.

Anyway, I think I had one of the nicest spaghetti ever.. although I thought I already know how to cook spaghetti, but it's just not the same as how Fred made it! With butter, virgin olive oil, without the spice, with beef?!! *shrieeekk!!

Straight head on to workshop discussion which took almost 3 hour.. or more ... I guess everyone was brain drained by the talk of 3rd Workshop. Some how we just stop there and proceed with steamboat preparation!

This time, everyone missed having Mabel around, the reminiscence of Mabel & balls !! We didn't have so much 'balls' thie time, alot of vege and mixture of everything and eventually I felt bloated.

After bathing, we thought of using downstairs (yeah our bedrooms are downstairs with aircon) as it's so much more cooling and unlike the hot living + dining room upstairs. Everyone stuffed themselves comfyly with pillows, on the bed, tightening the nuts and bolts of ixp flow. And Swee Feng hand was 'raised' when asked for volunteer to produce ixp script!

Somehow session ended early. So we revert back to Workshop 3. That's when all the crazy ideas started pouring in - maybe these bunch of people are "night person" not "morning person". It's almost bed time... when the ideas went so humourously yau yeng we have to see how the actual implementation of workshop 3 would turn out to be

Then with this hyper mood, everyone was on the bed. What now ?! hmmm...

let's Sing!!

That's IT!!! Havoc! That got Swee Feng to jump up spontaneously to be Ryan Seacrest... and she kick started the Incovar-home-made-American-Idol short clip, recorded by Fred using his 1GB card. There.. you just have to watch it yourself, if you ever have the chance.

Ohya before that.. somewhere at night, Beng Tatt came to join us and he didn't miss the fun of the night!

The next morning, no breakfast, just drink cold zappel juice and watch boring TV before everyone finally got up and proceeded with what's left to refine.

After checking out at about noon, Fred lead us to his favourite Laksa stall in his territory - *hot!!hot!!hott!!! Those assam laksa was undoubtly... good but I still prefer KL-style asam laksa!! Through having laksa lunch together, we found out Beng Tatt dont eat laksa, Aaron's tongue is so sensitive to "heat" that anything we call "hot" is "burning" to him, and Ann's parents who wouldn't take Malaysian food.

Well well, that's for all the report for now. Pictures in here and here sooner or later. :)

...logo for camp...

2 design to choose from.

choice A:


choice B:

Which logo design better?

Thanks for input :)