Baby Driver Pink Carpet Malaysia Premiere 2017 (17/717)

  My final examination for the first semester in university has ended. Finally, a break is needed after all three months preparing the examination! To celebrate, I have the chance to go to the pink carpet of Baby Driver at Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia! Thanks to my sister who wins the tickets through a contest.

  After arriving home from university, a rest is needed to charge up my energy before the big night. At around 3.00pm, I put on a recycled red dress number by H&M. I wore it on CNY 2014 and 2016 respectively. I paired with a pair of my trustee bronze Pazzion flats. Half an hour later, a taxi picks us up to Pavilion. Once the car comes to a complete stop, my mum get my "wheelchair" out of the car, I hop on. After adjusting myself, it's time to head in. 

  Unfortunately, there isn't a lift inside so I have to walk down a few steps. When we arrive at the pink carpet, the place is packed with fans of the movie. My sister goes to the counter to redeem her ticket and the movie's merchandise while I read a book to let the time pass. I even take a photo of the word sign of Baby Driver along the carpet. What's with a premiere movie party without any food right? I have two cups of popcorn, my childhood friend, Nicole and my sister thought I have 5 cups of popcorn. 

   As the skies darken, fans start to pile up the fan box which is kinda stuff but luckily one of the crews who notices me in my wheelchair, tells my mum to put me in the guest box. Two emcees, who are Fly FM DJs are hosting the premiere night. While waiting for the Hollywood superstars to arrive, DJ sandman cranking the music up to keep us entertained. 

  Around 7.45pm, the stars are here! I have regret standing up because I'm squash by the fans who are eager to see them. Luckily, I'm just playing cool. After a few meetings with the Malaysian stars, it comes to the same old tactic for international stars. I'm a huge fan of Lily James! You know her from hit British series, Downton Abbey, then you know the girl who played the Disney live action of Cinderella! 

  I'm meeting my favourite Disney princess in person! When Lily comes to our side of the guest box, everyone is rushing to her direction, I almost can't breathe! "Hi Lily!" I greet her. "Hi, how are you ?" she asks me. "I'm good! I'm a big fan of Cinderella!"Lily says: "Thank you so much!" I also have the chance to get a selfie with her too. Ansel Elgort is such a gentlemen, he takes with selfies with the fans and even signed their tickets! 

   It's time to head the cinema hall to watch the show. We haven't dinner yet so my dad buys each of us a hot dog, two cups of coke and popcorn. Before the movie even starts, we are digging in our hot dogs but the other two have to wait until the film rolls. The movie ends at 11.30pm. The stars of the movie are in another cinema hall! Time to head back and have a good rest! 

  I'm looking forward to the next Hollywood movie premiere in Malaysia! A warm welcome to the cast of Baby Driver: Selamat datang ke Malaysia! (Welcome to Malaysia)! 

MITEC Raya Open House 2017 (15/7/17)

  I haven't been to any of the Raya celebrations this year as I'm busy with university's first semester examinations during these past weeks. Luck is on my side as I attend a Raya open house at Malaysia International Trade Exhibition Centre (MITEC), my dad was invited by one of the staffs who works at the centre and we're on the VVIP guests list! Around 3.30pm, my mum gets me ready for the big celebration. I wear a green and black long sleeves shirt, alongside with black long pants and my trustee bronze flats from Pazzion to finish off the look.
  The centre was just a stone's throw away from my KL home but ends up, we take a longer way instead of a shorter one to reach our destination, I find it quite weird but what's more important is to go there to have fun. My dad drop mum and I off at the entrance. We can't where is the lift, luckily the securities show us the way and inform us that the open house is at the third floor. The floor was slippery and I almost "slip" my way in to the lift. For safety wise , my mum hold on to my hand. Like I said earlier, it's exam season for me so I don't want to have any injuries.
  When the lift reaches the third floor, there's a red carpet for guests to feel welcome for the celebration. Somehow I feel like a superstar. The staffs greet us warmly upon arrival. As we enter the hall, we are shocked because it fills with people from all walks of life coming together to celebrate the Raya joy! We manage to find seats. They have a wide array of traditional Malay cuisines from ketupat, satae, lemang, kuih bangkit you name it!
  There are performers who perform traditional Raya songs to keep the guests entertained. While I'm enjoying my satae, the emcee's voice blast through the speakers "Good afternoon everyone, we here at MITEC wishing you all Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri! Later on, we will be welcoming HRH the Raja Muda of Selangor," A celebration with Selangor royalty! Around 4.15 pm, we all stand up to welcome HRH the Raja Muda of Selangor. I want to go in front to have a good view but I'm stopped by my parents, might as well enjoy the food. Now I know what is the purpose of the red carpet for.
  I want to have ice cream but my dad comes with a bowl of cendol instead. It kinds remind me of the dessert back home, Melaka. After a second cup of orange juice, we leave the celebration at 6.50pm. I have so much fun celebrating Raya with Malaysians. A photo opportunity of the decoration outside is not to be missed!

Wacana Conference 2017 (1/7/17)

  The second half of 2017 is here! Half of the year had gone in just a blink of an eye, which means more challenges are waiting for me to conquer one by one. I attended Wacana Conference held by Nalanda Buddhist Institute Malaysia in conjunction with its 10th anniversary, at Saujana Hotel, Subang Jaya, Selangor. The theme of the conference was- The Buddha's World: Discovering the Essential.

  The registration form was put up online two months prior the conference, we were a little hesitated because we couldn't decide whether to go or not. After much discussion, our former president, Hon Pong, encouraged us that all of the current committee of Sunway University Buddhist Society should go to the conference. Unfortunately, the registration closed a week earlier before deadline due to the massive response. Our chance almost blew off but since I'm the correspondent (aka, the secretary), I managed to get all of us in!

  The day has came, I woke up as early as 6.00am. I put on the SBS' attire, paired with my trustee light blue jeans and a pair of Sketchers sneakers, I'm ready to go! I was the first one among the committee to arrive Saujana Hotel. The members of Nalanda Buddhist Institute welcomed me with opened arms, I already had breakfast at home so I was still stuff but I'm saving all that space for lunch time later. I searched high and low but none of the committee members were there, time for us to go in if I waited longer. Not long after I entered the ballroom, one by one the committee members started to slip in.

  Just in time for us to welcome the monks and venerable, we started the conference with a short verse of prayers before proceeding. A total of 637 people attended the conference. Wow, what a huge crowd! The speakers on the stage said: "Brothers and sisters in the Dharma, we are gather here today to rediscover our concepts in Buddhism and the teachings of the Buddha," I tried to concentrate throughout the conference, turned out I almost dozed off because the air conditioner is too cold, like the ones on campus.

  At 11.15am, it's lunch time! We had a hard time finding a seat as most of the rooms were packed up. We finally found one table at the Mutiara Wing. Before eating lunch, we had to say a short verse of prayers. I still left a little food on my plate, I wanted to finish up but I was too full, my tummy was super happy. Chia Tee said:"Katelyn, if you can't finish your food don't force yourself." The boys, Hon Pong and Yee Tang told me to finish up. Bro. Ajit came over to check on us, "How's everything so far?" Chia Tee and I told him that the conference was like having lectures on campus. "There's another forum for you guys to attend later. It's time to head back to the ballroom soon, I'll see you guys at the forum later," Ajit said before leaving.

  On my way back to the ballroom, I bumped into a few VIPs- Datuk Charlie Chia and Uncle Vijaya. Nalanda Youth Choir Group sang Buddhist hymns to entertain the guests before the Nalanda Award. A short video was presented to the guests to show highlights and achievements that Nalanda had been throughout the 10 years. Five forums are held during the afternoon session of the conference. We were under Forum 4- Empowering the Youth, which is appropriate for us. Youths like us need to a stage and platform for us to shine because our voices and thoughts were not heard.

   Tea time at the fountain view- it was so relaxing! The incessant sound of the water, calmed your mind down. I took a few pictures. One final bell has rung, time for us to head back to the ballroom for the closing ceremony of the conference. All speakers of the five forum summarised their presentations, a last prayer was recited and Wacana Conference 2017 had come to an end.

  A photo opportunity at the fountain view is a must to wrap up our day. I'm looking forward to the next conference. I'm sure my knowledge on Buddhism will expand after this.