Truth be told, I was seriously contemplating this purchase, considering that I only got myself an iMac a couple of months back. But I’ve heard so much about it, and I really enjoyed messing around that my friend Nicolas owned that I decided – oh screw it, I’ll get one. Except that no one in the US could get their hands on a set for me, and while the iPad in Australia costs less than the one in England, I had no friends returning from there to bring it back for me.

But then I remembered that Redmummy was in Europe so I got her to help me search for a set. She walked around France but it was sold out, so she searched London for me and managed to get me a set!

I met her on Monday to collect it from her (she returned home on Sunday and was jetlagged!) over lunch and she was telling me how the queue was really long in London but she managed to get it anyway. She also said that she had to lug it with her everywhere she went and from her flight from London to Amsterdam to KL, she had to carry it as hand luggage. So I am very, very grateful RM!

Truth is, I am still figuring the whole thing out. At the moment, it’s looking to be quite an awesome reader – I use it to catch up on news. The user interface for many of the magazines, newspaper and some blogs is really good and makes reading easy. I am still experimenting with the games and other features. It’s proving as a great tool to while away idle time. In the mean time, I’m trying to figure out how I can use this as a productivity tool.

I’m going to have to leave you with the picture above of me and my new love. Some people have asked for an unboxing video (similar to the one I did for the iMac where I made fun of Smashpop’s video) but I’m passing this time because … er, malas a bit. I did get a video of me and my colleagues checking out the iPad as I opened it though but for the life of me, can’t find the footage anywhere! I’ll edit it and upload it the moment I do though!

Okay, enough blogging. Time to go play with my iPad.

Pics taken with Cybershot TX5.

9.17am Malaysian time (+8 GMT)

I had previously blogged about this event a couple of times, and even organised a couple of meetups for people from social media who wanted to register. Last Sunday, a few more people came by including Nurul Izzah and SmashpOp among others, to register (some just came to show support and make donations).

With their registrations, I had met my target of registering about 30 people, which is really what I was hoping to get so I was very happy and excited. I’m not sure yet how much money we raised as yet as I have yet to receive the amounts from them but if we can make RM3k I’d be very happy although I was hoping for RM5k. Oh, and ShaolinTiger and Kimberlycun dropped by as well!

There was an article in The Star the next day about our meet-up. It also mentioned the meet-up by celebrities held the Thursday before organised by Yasmin Yusuff where she’s bringing over 30 personalities from various fields together for the event as well. In fact, it was Yasmin who got me involved in Relay for Life, when she invited me to be part of her group last year and where we collectively raised RM22,000.

Here is a picture we took that Thursday:

Anyway, here are the most important details of the post!

1. You can still participate! Come by tonight (on-the-spot registration should be open by now as I write this). RM15 for registration gets you a T-shirt and entry band. Best thing is, it goes to a good cause!
   
2. If you can’t make it, you can still help with fundraising. Go make a donation here (or get your friends to donate) and 100% will go to NCSM!

Thanks guys! Those who are joining us, see you there! Those who are not, thanks for all your support!

4.35pm Malaysian time (+8 GMT)

I meant to blog about this on Monday (busy weekend and I only got it on Friday evening) but problems with my blog meant that I was having a hard time trying to fix it and sorting it out. But all is well now! So I can share the new love of my life and my joy with you.

TADAH!

Yes, it is a 27″ iMac and it’s so beautiful!

Truth be told, this is a bit of an indulgence. I mean, since my desktop PC died last year, I had meant to get a replacement but I got so busy and I was still trying to pay off my credit cards so I didn’t spend too much time on it. I had my laptop after all. But then last week, when Ian and Ivy ordered their Macbook Pro, I was so tempted to get one too. But practicality got the better of me (I am a Virgo after all), I decided that getting a MacBook Pro as well was too much of an indulgence considering I already had a laptop. So I looked into the iMac instead and well, you now know what happened.

I went around asking friends, Tweeted about it and I don’t remember getting a single – Don’t get it (short of one but I think he was saying it in jest). I even asked Dad who I thought would stop me, but the conversation went something like this over dinner:

Me: Thinking of getting an iMac.

*waiting for mum to roll her eyes and dad to grumble*

Dad: Get lah. You’ve always wanted a Mac anyway.

*surprised by jumping for joy inside!*

I was on leave from work that Friday and then left after lunch to head to Bukit Bintang Boys School to teach the kids how to do the Glee Flashmob dance with Zain. By the time I got home that night, I was carrying the heavy box into my house. Couldn’t wait!

So yes, that is my story. I want to thank all the millions (okay lah, hundreds) of people who gave me advice. One, in particular, directed me to a video. I was wondering what exciting thing I would learn about the iMac from this video. Well, apparently, I learned how to unbox it.

So, in mockery tribute of SmashpOp’s video which you can watch here, I created one of my own which I edited for the first time using iMovie! Woot!

10.32am Malaysian time (+8 GMT)

So I decided to be nice *cough* and split it into two post. Here goes, the second part of my retrospective on 2009.

JULY

My cuti-cuti Asia plans continued in the second half of 2009 as I made my first ever trip to Bali. It’s a place I have wanted to visit for a very long time, and I am very happy that I did. I love the place! So much so that I dedicated five six blog posts to it. You can read them here, here, here, here, here and here. It was a pretty fancy and luxurious trip but hey, I barely paid anything for it. How’s that for a highlight?

I have always been a Manchester United fan (yes, yes, I know we just got kicked out of the FA Cup). Well, not always but since the days of Eric Cantona – my sister was a big fan. Sure, I’m not like Ian Yee (pictured above) who is brinking on fanaticism but still. So, imagine my excitement when I got the chance to meet some of the current team players including Rio Ferdinand, Darren Fletcher, Nani and Darron Gibson!

AUGUST

Whatdyaknow? I’m back in Bali in August, twice in a few weeks is more than I can ask for. Better still, the trip was free! Okay, sure, it was work related – I was there to cover the Internatonal Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP), the first time I’ve attended it since it was hosted by KL in 1999. HIV/AIDS has always been a cause close to my heart, so I really wanted to be there. Plus it was Bali. I also met a really good friend there in the form of James Chau.

SEPTEMBER

I’ll keep this short ‘cos September is a long entry! That is Sharmila and myself taking our first sips of the day (besides our Sahur,t hat is), the first time I ever puasa. We were both fasting in conjunction with Fast For The Nation. Read about it here.

Together with @ling_chan @davidlian @suanie @radianceleong @eevon and @nigelais, I helped organise Kuala Lumpur’s first Twestival. We mobilised over 200 Twitterers in the country to come together to raise funds for Destiny Starting Point. We raised over RM11,000, way beyond our initial projection. Look out for Twestival Global in KL come March!

I turned 30 in September last year. Okay, so this has got to be the milestone of the year. Not many things could compare to it. My family were there, my closest friends – some of whom traveled from out of KL to join me – too. I was going to write a lot about it, but I think the pictures say it all. So head over to my blog post on it to see it all (link to my Flickr photo set of the birthday party there too).

OCTOBER

In October, I was asked to be part of the Nike+ Human Race 10K Ambassador’s Challenge. Across the globe, Nike gets local personalities to be part of a campaign to promote the actual race (which I ran again for the second year in a row). I was part of team Rojak Runners alongside SmashpOp, 8TV’s Zher Peen and radio deejay Nana. We won by the way and RM10,000 was donated to WWF, our charity of choice! I was very honoured to be part of this campaign!

I have never been asked to give out an award before, so my experience of giving two out at the MSC Malaysia APICTA (Asia Pacific ICT Awards) 2009 Awards was indeed a thrill. I didn’t know what to expect, so I was quite amazed at how elaborate the event was.

NOVEMBER

In November, we introduced four new columns to R.AGE to go along with the new R.AGE Blog. My column, What The Tweet is on social media. Sure, it’s not very active (I really should work more on it) but I am trying to improve the content of it. I’m still figuring it out but I thought this was a nice landmark towards the end of the year. My second column in The Star.

DECEMBER

One of my highlights of the year has for sure got to be the play in which I performed in alongside Davina Goh and Michael Chen. The Swimming Instructor, written by Singaporean Desmond Sim and directed by Chris Ling, went on for almost two weeks at KLpac. We didn’t sell out the production but general feedback was very positive. It was one of my best acting experiences ever.

One of the last events I attended in 2009was just prior to Christmas. I was on leave from work after that, and I had kept my social calendar free to just – well, rest. The said event was the Starbucks Malaysia’s 11th anniversary where they also launched their Facebook Fan Page. I was very humbled to have been invited to help launch the page. Wowza!

If you read my post yesterday, I mentioned about how social media has changed my life. December cemented that for me when I was featured on the cover of August Man magazine, along nine of its other Men of The Year including such personalities as Joe Flizzow, Hans Isaac, Henry Golding and Afdlin Shauki. I was selected to represent social networking. This has got to be one of the biggest moments of my life!

As if the August Man honour was not enough, Martell VSOP also decided to help me cap 2009 and make it my best year ever in terms of my public profile and professional career. I wasn’t one of the nominees of the main Martell VSOP Rising Personality campaign, but they introduced their first ever sub-category – the Martell VSOP Rising Media Personality. It is a peer-nominated category, and honours media personalities who are involved in other activities outside work. I was nominated for being a journalist-actor and … well, I won. Oh, I’ll be heading to France in March too as part of my winnings!

Sorry for the long post, but that’s why I split them into two. And December was pretty long too, but you’d have to agree that those were big moments for me!

And now, do you believe me when I say that 2009 has got to be one of my best years ever. I certainly think so. Wonder what 2010 holds for me? Only time will tell. Best wishes for the rest of the year all, and let’s make this one count more than the last.

12.56am Malaysian time (+8 GMT)

As a whole, I really shouldn’t complain much about the year. Though it was far from perfect, so many good things happened for me that I am extremely honoured, humbled and most of all, grateful. I can’t thank everyone who has helped me and been there for me the past year personally but I hope you know who you are.

And on to the list!

JANUARY

Okay, fine. So it really isn’t about me. But hey, it was a slow start to the year.

Truth be told, though, Obama’s “Yes, We Can” slogan really set the tone for me this year. It was what drove me. I’m not sure if it’s because of the hype, or that I was determined to be more pro-active this year.

That, and the the fact that I dedicated four blog posts to him (and did my first ever Live Twitter event on my blog), makes his inauguration my moment for January.

Read my blog post here.

FEBRUARY

February was all about my kampung, Perth (blog post here). It was my first return there since 2004 so the trip was indeed a long time coming. I had spent over two years there right at the start of the noughties, and miss it dearly. That said, I don’t think life would ever be the same there again if I ever returned.

The trip was special – I was there for work to cover my first ever Big Day Out (where I got to meet and interview Sneaky Sound System and Cut Copy) but I spent an extra few days catching up with friends, visiting my former university and catch the a Fed Cup tennis tournament.

I had also written about Perth being my kampung for my The Bangsar Boy column, and received hate mail for it. The writer demanded an explanation on why I would consider a foreign country my home (and essentially called me a traitor). I dealt with it the way I always do my hate mail – I ignored it.

MARCH

I discovered a new sport in March! My wakeboarding experience was so much fun that I told myself I’ll keep going back. Er, it’s January now, I’ve not been back since. But I really did enjoy it and I really want to go back. Maybe that should be my 2010 resolution?

In March, I also found out that the one movie that I had done in my life – as a teenager – was an Oscar-nominated film. I kid you not! What happened is way too long to tell so you’ll just have to read my previous post about it. I may have only had a small part, but hey, sure looks good on the resume, no?

APRIL

Theatre isn’t new to me, but Shakespeare was. I’ve not read a single of the Bard’s work before I took part in From The Page and Unto the Floor, an acting workshop focusing on Shakespeare’s works organised by KLpac and run by Jeff Kevins. I really enjoyed our workshop performance as well – me playing Romeo to Davina Goh’s Juliet – that it was no doubt one of my highlights of the year.

In April, I also introduced a couple of social media elements to the way R.AGE, The Star’s youth platform, including our first live blogchat where I did a live review of the American Idol finale. Speaking of American Idol, a few days after the finals, I also got a chance to meet David Archuleta (well, I kind of stalked him as well as it was the first time @thestar_rage was doing a live Twittering session on the go). Since then, we have done several other social media based projects including the new R.AGE blog, our World AIDS Day special and I also help run The Star Online’s Live Chat series of interviews.

MAY

In May, Dato’ Yasmin Yusuff invited me to join her and other local personalities for Relay for Life, in aid of cancer. I was very honoured to be invited and together, we collected over RM20k (just the celebrity gang). It was a great experience, good fun and also poignant as I walked for someone who is close to my family as well. Among the personalities who walked (you can see in the picture above or read and see more pics in my post) include Jaclyn Victor, Samantha Schubert, Hans Isaac, Chelsia Ng, Jehan Miskin and more.

I grew up watching TVB serials. I think it was those shows, and not my mother’s attempts at getting me and my siblings to speak Chinese, that taught me Cantonese (I jest, of course). Well, this year, I finally managed to make a trip for the first time to Hong Kong – the setting for most of those shows – and with my best friend Adam to boot.It was also a continuation of my “Visit Asia” policy where I hope to visit a new Asian location or two each year.

May was also the time when I was invited to be a judge for local social networking site Ruumz’s Most Wanted Ruummate competition. It was the first time I was invited to judge something with this profile (it got media coverage, dammit!) so I was very honoured. Actually there was the Spa and Wellness Awards last year too but that was pretty last minute. It would also be the first of quite a few things I was invited to judge this year.

Yes, I know this is quite a lot of things to feature for one month but I can’t help it. In retrospect, May was probably the month in which things really started happening for me professionally and personally in 2009. One of the events that led to that of course was my article on Twitter on the cover of StarMag. It really increased my profile as a proponent of social media.

JUNE

In June, I gave my first talk as a “blogger”. Public speaking is not new to me – I have been invited to give talks on journalism to college students for many years now – but this is the first time on a social media element. Besides reconnecting with my old uni mate Kenny Sia, the event was also where I met some of my closest friends now including Soon Wei, SmashpOp, Amanda and Rames.

Another first in June! This time, I made my first appearance on television (well, with a credit mention at the end of each episode that is). The show was called Alamak! and aired on Astro Ria. It is a show featuring comedy sketches in Bahasa Malaysia and I feature in six different skits throughout the season.

And woah, it’s taken so long – and I’m only six months in. I guess the second half of the year will have to come in another post. For now, good night folks.

1.48am Malaysian time (+8 GMT)