Right to Play UofA Tunnel Ball World Record

On Wednesday, the official Right to Play club at my University-- the University of Alberta, attempted to gather enough people on the Quad to break the Guinness World Record for highest number of people to participate in tunnel ball. It was supposed to start at 3 o'clock but by then it looked like we didn't even have 50 people, so we waited, and waited. And then we begin a demo round around 4 which turned into practice which kept going for about half an hour. In the process we got more people to get in and by the end we had 129 people! The previous world record was a 120 people. I didn't think it would be that difficult to find 120+ people in a university setting but I guess it was. So glad we did it and managed to raise funds for the Right to Play organization. Definitely go check them out!

Banff and Elk Island National Parks

 

Banff

Last Saturday, I went to Banff and got to see Lake Louise! It was simply gorgeous and too beautiful for my eyes. The water was crystal blue and behind the lake was a spectacular snow topped mountain. Fortunately, I found out that my camera had a panorama option and took a few of those. I took photos of the lake in different angles so many times but couldn't get enough.

And the town of Banff was so quaint and beautiful as well! A major tourist attraction.

Elk Island

 

And then today, I went to Elk Island National Park and was hoping to see some wildlife, but only got to see Bison, which I guess was a great experience as well. There was actually one right on the trail we were walking but walked away once it saw us approaching. They're huge! But pretty docile I think. Apart from that, and maybe a beaver and a squirrel, we were not able to see anymore wildlife. Bummer.

And the weather was really quite cold today, not a good day to be outdoors, though the onslaught of Fall did bring pretty colours along with it.

The Colour Run 2014

On Sunday (yesterday) I went for the Colour Run KL, 2014. Basically its a 5 kilometre walk/run (whichever you prefer) and at every kilometre are stations with different coloured powder that gets thrown at you. The slogan for this Colour Run is The Happiest 5k on the Planet.

 

I was not expecting so many people to attend. I arrived quite late because of the traffic getting in, and also to find parking. But it didn't matter because the runners went in waves and there were at least 5 waves of 100 or so people in each.

The weather was, thank heavens, not scorching. But then again it was quite early morning. I woke up at 5.15AM and headed home around 10.30AM. It felt like so much time had passed but really it's because I woke up early.

To be honest, the colour run wasn't all that. Supposedly the happiest 5km on the planet was just 5km with coloured powder, and a mini rave at the end. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I had went with friends, but I couldn't find any to go with and so went with my cousins plus her friends and my mom and her friend who got free tickets. In my opinion this event was overrated and overpriced. We didn't even get much merchandise from the run itself except a shirt, a headband and temporary tattoos. I saw others wearing colour run sunglasses (which they bought) and that would've been a cool souvenir to keep.

Well it was still quite fun, but not fun enough to be RM75. (The clean up must have been hell, unless they just left the colours on the road.)

TEDxKL 2014

I'm sure everyone has at least heard of TED talks. No? Well here's their website; http://www.ted.com/ They go by the slogan, Ideas Worth Spreading. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend TEDxKL. Basically, TED talks first originated in California which attracted worldwide attention, and now, the conference has expanded globally. However, it is the local groups who organize and mainly local speakers who present in the talks under TED. The reason TEDxKL has and 'x' in it is because it stands for, "independently organized TED event."

I really did not know what to expect but was feeling pretty hyped about the whole thing. Of course, I had watched TED videos before, and even attended a talk by a speaker for TED while in University, but this was the real whole day conference. There were a total of 18 speakers and the topic varied from economics, humankind, the environment, to music, magic and robots. Here's a list of the presenters: http://www.tedxkl.com/presenters-2014/
It was really interesting to hear about topics that I knew of and to learn on others I knew little about.

However, I feel that there were quite a lot of economists, or speakers speaking of economics. And for some speakers, I had no idea what they were talking about or heading towards, which was a little tedious. Plus the theme for this TEDx talk was 'The Open Future' and though most tried to relate their talks to that, some did not and so felt a bit out of place.

Saying that, it was still a really great experience. The incorporation of a few music performances was a fantastic idea; it livened the audience and was really captivating. The magic performance as well was really fascinating, though it probably would have been better if he was not the last speaker, as a lot of people had left and some were rushing to leave (including myself).

And I did feel that the audience were not as responsive as could have been. I guess I am to blame as well. If any of the speakers are reading this, I just want to say that you all did a fantastic job and I was really impressed. Thank you so much to the presenters, sponsors, organizers and volunteers who helped to make this happen. I will not forget this experience, the first time I ever attended a TED talk!

First solo flight

I am now back in Malaysia for the summer, and boy does it feel like summer. If you have ever been to Malaysia -- or know how it feels like to be in a tropical country near the equator, you know how I feel. After 6 months of freezing cold to chilling winds and mildly hot days, I am now melting. Boy, have I have missed being sticky and sweaty.

Anyway, to get back to Malaysia I had to fly alone for the first time. I actually thought I would be pretty scared and nervous but surprisingly I was not. For some reason I was really chill, which makes me wonder if I was on some sort of morphine high or something because I was TOO chill. But it was a cool experience. I've been on a lot of flights before so I guess that helped a lot.

In total along with transit time, my journey took 25 hours. Well if I start from the time the shuttle picked me up, that would be 3 1/2 more hours, so 28 1/2 hours. And by the end I was feeling like I had been on a plane for my whole life.

And now that I am back, it feels as though I have never left. Still, it is too hot. Too hot. Can't wait to get back to Canada now!

World Partnership Walk

Celebrating its 30th anniversary, I was lucky to be part of this huge event here in Edmonton. I volunteered to help out and got assigned to be a route volunteer. The World Partnership Walk is a 5km walk to raise awareness and funds to end global poverty (especially those of mothers and children) and 100% of the proceeds goes to the Aga Khan foundation. A spectacular event with a huge turnout of more than a thousand people walking with a purpose. And I know approximately how many people walked because I had a counter (those old school clicky ones) and did my best to count every person that passed me.

It was a pretty fun day and I was standing 90% of the time, so am pretty exhausted right now. But the main advantage of volunteering at events like these (apart from helping a good cause) is that you meet new people and make friends. I have definitely become more open and less shy around new people since I've been here and that's a good thing. I'm not saying I'm no longer an introvert (I'm pretty sure I always will be), but that I am now less uncomfortable and awkward around those I have just met.

I feel like I am experiencing life right now, and what better time than in university huh? Being all on my own and exploring new places, opportunities, people. These few years are going to be fun. I'll definitely want to help out next year (this is a yearly walk).

To end, here is a picture of me at the event grounds:

Host Edmonton 2014

 

Host Edmonton is about Eat. Drink. Think. I'm not here to promote it or anything, but I got to volunteer at the event and it was a fun experience. Their website looks really professional and you would never think that this was their first year doing this. Here's the site: http://hostedmonton.com/.

 

It was a 4 day event from Thurs-Sun, but the core of it was on Friday and Saturday. I volunteered the whole day Saturday (yesterday). Honestly, we volunteers were unsure of what we were supposed to be doing, and just followed the core team's instructions and doing whatever they wanted us to. It may have been a bit chaotic behind the scenes, but overall I think it was pretty well done, considering that this was their first year (they hope to go on for three more years).

Also, it must have been a really big budget production. They had so much excess customized pens and notebooks and they got quite a few big shot names in the culinary world to come up and speak. However, the turnout wasn't as big as expected. Maybe they should have advertised it more because I certainly hadn't heard of it until it was posted on a volunteer page at my university.

Regardless, it was a fun day and I met a lot of new people and had fun coming out of my shell. I was greeting people coming off the escalators in the morning, then doing odd errands and staying at the registration booth for the remainder of the late afternoon-evening.

And I must say that the core team really took care of us volunteers. They fed us with good food, let us attend the talks, and gave us free drinks. And yes there were alcoholic drinks too, which we could try. A really fun day, and if they have this again next year, I wouldn't mind helping out again.