Challenge Accepted ! Difficulty Level #23
First of all, a BIG THANK YOU for all my friends aka readers who supported my (rather) last minute blog post to join the hunt for World’s Coolest Intern ! You should have seen the look on my face when I sat down at McDonald’s with my salt-less fries and turned on my laptop, welcomed by this flood of ‘CONGRATS!’ msgs without knowing what’s going on. Took me awhile to figure out what’s going on and *BAM* – it felt like someone just announced my name ‘Ingrid Mak‘ as Miss World 2010 *sniffles -waves- sniffs* moment. Haha!
Kinda surprised to be on the Top 23 list along with other brilliant candidates whom I’d never imagine to categorize myself with…like I said in my application entry, competition is tough and I wasn’t very confident to begin with – definitely lose out on the technical skills and not having a fanbase (But hey ! I have an awesome FRIENDbase) It is a pleasant surprise to see my name on Breeze’s blog (and damn,I should have changed my twitter DP if I knew it would be on the blog..haha) Quite an honor to be part of this Top 23 finalists as World’s Coolest Intern – quite a personal achievement already (If my parents are reading this – now you can stop nagging about me wasting time infront of the computer and bringing home only the electricity bills ! hehs) and definitely an early birthday gift to start the month right !
So what happens after being on the Top 23 ? Nothing ! (Ok, maybe I’m just still quite clueless what’s expected of me at this stage….lol)
[Update : Oh, a video post is required ! Hmm...I will....sleep on it. (Don't you know sleeping on a problem is the best method? hur.)]
But you can expect my regular Artist Of The Week (AOTW) posts, an awesome HP party post coming up and more…not forgetting a casual reminder to support my birthday wish ! *coughs*
Pretty much still the same old me who will blog what I want to say…not going to pay extra attention on the way I blog or the language..and I will not hesitate to say this to my readers….”I CONE TESTICLES *which refers to <3s aka hearts* YOU(s)!” =P Like I said, same old @iammyy !
P.S : If you’re on twitter,
if 140 characters is too difficult to understand – basically tweet to “@stanchartbreeze (inserts reason why I should win) #wci” ! Thanks =)
Once again, whether I make it to the final 2 or not – I want to thank everyone for the well wishes and support ! Not forgetting the new friends I’ve made through this…was nice to see other candidates congratulating each other and those who unfortunately didn’t meet the cut to wish the final 23s best of luck. It’s not just about a competition…There’s still love all around =) *awww*
[In addition : Sorry to those who are following me - I know my #WCI posts and tweets are probably getting annoying and flooding your timeline...but please don't love me any less ? ^^]
Movie Buzz/Event : ‘Sex And The City 2′ Gala Premiere
Courtesy of HP, I had the chance to attend the Sex and the City 2 Gala Premiere @ Golden Village, VivoCity with my bestie, Rachael ! I’m ashamed to say that I am no huge fan of the TV series nor have I watched “Sex and the City” before the event, so I went into the theatre pretty much with an open mind and the idea that the whole show is about – 4 manipulative women in NYC with the most gorgeous dresses and a lifetstyle to die for…and I came out with the same conclusion !
This highly anticipated film, well..put it this way – if men have porn, women have Sex and the City. The fashion is to die for, the lifestyle is to die for, the men are to die for. The story gets drowned among the blings and backdrop, a typical chick flick about relationships, sisterhood, women empowerment – the men just don’t get it ! Girls gone wild but a more mature version and bringing the glam factor to the max. If you’re a film critic, you might want to skip this film but you must watch this if you’re a fashionista or follower of SATC the series. I’ll pretty much spoil the entire show if I were to comment on the story (yes, it’s THAT shallow and the plot is absurdly over-simplified) so I shall keep my comments to myself. Let’s just say that I can relate to Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) most because of her relationship problems and craziness while with her friends. I can almost imagine myself telling my future husband “Me and you, just us two”. On a side note, I must say it is quite an interesting topic to discuss if this film were to be alil more political – they were (almost) certainly mocking the Middle East in a way ! (haha)
Anyways, back to the event itself ! I had a great time checking out the HP products (look out for the gorgeous HP mini in the show itself ! ) and catching up with other bloggers. Thanks HP once again for the great night ! As you can see, it’s rather rare for me to post up pictures of myself on my blog but the SJP perfume is my current favourite ! Will someone please get it for me ? (puppy eyes) Hur.
I’ll give this movie a 2.5/5 but a 5 for the gorgeous dresses and yummy eyecandies ! They coo, we coo and coo some more together..that’s how the movie goes.
Blog A Trend: Forging Our Future Friendship
I forgot where I’ve heard this being questioned : ” Who on earth still receives mails in their mailbox from friends anyways ?”
I still do ! But that’s beside the point – it’s just so amazing to see the ‘revolution’ of friendship with the help of technology. I still remember writing letters and notes to keep in touch with friends, say 10 years back. It was a regular thing to do with my overseas friends and funny enough, I still keep most of them since I’m pretty sentimental. But with the introduction of emails, IM and mIRC in those days, writing and snail mails are long forgotten.
One thing that really allowed me to make more friends was those mIRC days in secondary school. Who can possibly forget the numerous nights you spent infront of the computer at various #, ‘fighting’ to become @op/+v randomly having people asking you “a/s/l?” Surprisingly, I’ve met several friends on mIRC and we’re still friends even though mIRC is like, dinosaur era for us.
Not forgetting social networking sites like friendster and facebook ! Many ‘old friends’ are found when everyone starts using facebook and looking up for eachother via the internet. I’m happy to have found most of my friends back in primary school and of course those who are overseas, facebook really made everything more convenient for us to keep in touch.
Having friends overseas is a huge problem back then, because it takes weeks to exchange letters ! Now we can just skype or call directly from computer-to-landlines to keep in touch. I really survive on skype with my friends on exchange although my current dinosaur laptop doesn’t have a webcam *coughs* (haha). But it’s almost like we’re at the same place when we do get to ‘see’ eachother…perhaps next time it’ll be a 3D-call ! Who knows, that might just be the new trend in years to come.
Moving on, now we have Foursquare which is a mobile app to ‘follow’ your friends when they are out. I don’t know if I want to let my friends know whether I’m a few blocks away from them or ‘stalk’ me virtually. But I see the advantages for those who are around the area and wants to meet up for a short gathering. In fact, if you’re adventurous, you can probably meet new friends if they happen to be on Foursquare too ! Mobile is like the next important thing now, I definitely think we will be relying on the mobile platform to keep in touch – and not just via calls and smses.
It’s probably a good thing that we have so many various platforms to keep in touch with our friends and technology has indeed make things alot easier. However, I think having such ‘virtual relationships’ still can’t be compared to a ‘real friendship’. Worst of all, now we have robotic friends/pets that keep the next generation company. Will our future generation forget how to interact with a real human being and just maintain such virtual/digital relationships in the future ?
It’s rather sad to see couples or friends sitting at the same table with their faces plastered to their mobiles/laptops. As much as I appreciate the technology, I truly agree with this quote I’ve found off the net,
“True friendship isn’t about being there when it’s convenient; it’s about being there when it’s not.”
So spend time with your loved ones, not because it’s ‘convenient’ but because you love them and want to be with them. Technology can only help you that much, it takes your individual effort to keep in touch afterall !
Blog-A-Trend : MYY FutureIs ?
Last Saturday, I had the privilege to attend this blogger event/panel organised by HP and Microsoft. The event theme was “Envision the Future” and 6 panelists shared their thoughts on the future. I enjoyed the event alot because it was an eye-opener to see how different individuals see the future as in different perspectives.
School is getting busy so I’ll update more about the event and my thoughts after the discussion in abit! As for now, I’m here to share some good news ! Here’s your chance to win something awesome from HP !
On a side note, it was also my first visit to Giraffe Restaurant & Bar, food isn’t too bad at all !
HP’s new campaign called “Blog A Trend“, Here’s the details !
What Is “Blog A Trend”?
It’s the simplest ideas that change the world. We believe bringing minds with various insights and ideas will certainly spark a revolution.Blog A Trend is how you get to start your very own future revolution.
How Blog A Trend works:
Pen a blog post (of at least 300 words), or create a photo story, or even produce a video clip about the most compelling vision of the future. Once it’s up on your blog, email your post to us with the permalink to futureis@ waggeneredstrom.com by 28th February 2010.Blog A Trend is eligible for bloggers residing in Singapore only.
What you should blog about:
Tell us about the future and what trends define it. Here’s a tip: think about people, think about what they like, what they don’t like and how those behaviors will be redefined in the future. Your submission can even be your opinion on a trend you see emerging. Share these ideas with your readers and generate a discussion – your first step in starting a revolution.In short, tell us what you believe will soon become part of our everyday lives and then, get people talking. If our judges think your post has generated the most interesting discussions, you’ll get to win the latest gadgets from HP’s latest line-up of computers
Official site: HP Future Is.
What’s Your City Of Dreams ?
Thanks to Amelia from Waggener Edstrom for the invite, I was at the spanking new mall Ion Orchard on Friday night for HP’s City of Dreams Blogger event. This is part of HP Digital Festival by the way, happening all the way till 13th August at Ion Orchard Basement 4 !
HP has always been part of my “design life” in a way since most of my internship work was for HP various projects, so it’s no surprise that HP is heavily involved with the arts and design. I’m quite happy that HP is taking the lead to produce work stations that are specially designed for designers/artists. Sure, Apple may still be more commonly found as the love of all design addicts but it is still easier to switch from softwares to softwares on a PC and once in awhile, you meet clients who do not know how to deal with MAC formats (which honestly, I don’t find it a problem till I met some people who really just don’t get it.)
Anyways, the event was pretty fun ! We sat through the prize presentation for the winning digital arts & animations from ‘HP Lightropolis’ competition. Then we were caught by surprise when we were divided into groups for a small design challenge ! (Thank God that my “artistically inclined” boyfriend isn’t on the same team..HAHA!) I have to comment on the HP workstations, perhaps it was because there were no other running applications, but the computers were really fast – even when we opened like 30+ vector graphics all at one go. I’d probably get the “blue screen of death” if I tried to do that at home ! Winning the challenge with our random-chunk-everything-together-and-change-color-”masterpiece” was a bonus for me and the 2 girls on my team that night ! (Though I wish it was a netbook or the workstation that I carried home instead, teehee!) Oh, we got to take pictures with Ben 10 too ! I’m sad that I didn’t manage to find out whether it was a guy behind the female character’s costume !
At the end of the day, I think it was not about winning the challenge or the workstations but how companies are taking a lead in encouraging the Arts scene in Singapore. I really appreciate how some organizations are putting in the effort and not just looking at making profits because one thing for sure, consumers are smarter than before. It’s not just about the price but how a brand leaves an impact on them or the society as a whole. At least for me, that’s the case. So 2 thumbs up for the HP people and of course thank you to the organizers+team behind this event ! (Just that I’d prefer to have less surprises or guess-what-will-be-coming-up-next in the future..haha!)
And what’s my city of dreams ? It’s white because it’s blank ! =P
note: can’t seem to get the pictures up from my cam..will try again tomorrow!
PC Show 2009 Hype
Despite the economic downturn AND H1N1 saga, PC Show 2009 at Suntec was flooded by people. You practically have to squeeze and push (or in my case,being pushed) your way through the human jam. I guess the fact that I went there on the last day explains the crowd as well. However it didn’t take me long to notice that the down-escalators were packed with quite an amount of people who left empty-handed.
Question for all consumers out there : Why do you go down for PC Show ?
If you wanted to do market research, online is probably the best place to do so I believe. The entire price list is being uploaded and the leaflets were even scanned by kind souls out there. The price won’t be much of a huge difference on the spot as well, so isn’t it easier to find your “potential” buys before heading down for an aimless stroll with the smelly crowd in that stuffy hall ?
Another thing worth mentioning is the amount of leaflet littered on the floor – do these companies even need to print these leaflet outs ? I appreciate the people who shared the information online and taking the trouble to scan them in. I did my own research with those digital leaflets before heading down, that saves me alot of time and the hassle to go through the papers on the spot. Eventually these leaflets are of no use and it just contributes to the big hoohaa about “recycling” and “global warming” issues.
IF employment is the key factor here, then why not hire those part timers and train them properly to promote your products instead of getting them to stand around to hand out paper that are to be thrown on the floor after a few steps ? Kudos to this promoter at the S-brand booth for sharing his insights about the ext.hdd that I was planning to get. He was so sincere and honest about how their competitor ext.hdd is probably a more suitable choice for my usage instead of desperately trying to con me into buying their item. I actually felt like I’ll buy the ext.hdd from him instead if I’m less practical/logical ! I almost had a sorethroat from the “yelling” conversations because of the various sound setups. (haha)
My dad was complaining about how they should hold the PC Show at EXPO instead of Suntec after enduring the not-enough-parking-issue,the human traffic madness and poor air ventilation of the halls. From an event organizer’s point of view, I guess a centralized location matters most. However, I do agree on the poor air ventilation issue especially with the H1N1 paranoia, I was actually surprised to see no signs of any mask-wearers !
I guess it just annoys me alil when there are people who are there just for the sake for “yes,i’ve been to the PC show” or er…”experience the PC show hype” when they are not there to buy anything or without the intention to ? It causes people who really wanted to buy things alot of inconvenience and the crowd may not be necessary if not for these random aunties/kids/window-shoppers. In addition, after comparing prices online, I believe that Simlim or Funan provides the same offer etc. In fact, we got our webcam at the creative shop itself instead of PC Show which was pretty empty and better service provided.
Can you imagine if just 1 or 2 people were H1N1 carriers ? Sheesh. PANIC SINGAPORE, PANIC !!!
but of course I didn’t go there just for a “site visit” and I didn’t do my online research for nothing. (hur)
Loots : Seagate 1TB ext.hdd xtreme , creative live webcam , 2 HP printer ink
picture source : square75@blogspot
