My "First" in 2008

With 2009 coming real soon, it is time for us to reflect on what we have done over the past 12 months and hopefully, we can set some target to look into for the next 12 months.

2008 has been an interesting year for me. I made my first career change in 2008, moving from Accenture to JobStreet.com . I would say that my time in Accenture really helped to build me up and now over at JobStreet.com, it has been great learning opportunities and I am given quite a lot of chances to carry out plans that I hope to implement.

What else in 2008? What are some of the first time that I have done in my life?
January 2008 - Gave a couple of talks on Scholarships at open stage at Putra World Trade Center during Youth'08 from 18th to 20th January. It was a great experience, trying out how to speak to a general public audience in a fair. For the first time, I spent 3 days manning the booth there! It was great that photo on my graduation day was printed on the wall of the booth too.

February 2008 - Press Conference for MCA during the 12th General Election. On 28th February 2008, I was given the opportunity to joint in the Press Conference for MCA on Education with Tan Sri Wong See Wah, Datuk Hon Choon Khim, the late YB Senator Lee Sing Chooi, Dato' Wong Mook Leong and Thai Chiew Yen. It was a great experience, especially with the number of questions being bombarded by the reporters from various media and attempting to answer those questions in 3 languages.

March 2008 - Thanks to Dato' Wong Mook Leong, I got the chance to try out speaking in front of the people at Padang at Taman Megah on 4th March, just 4 days before General Election, before Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun and Victor Gu arrived to give the speech. I voted for the first time in my life too. Attended Cornell Alumni Gathering in Asia Pacific for the first time in Singapore on 15th of this month too. The gathering was actually on the eve of my birthday. It was fun mingling with fellow Cornellians from around various parts of Asia Pacific and also some Cornell staffs from Ithaca! This is the month that I tendered my first resignation of my life, after coincidentally gotten my first promotion of my life to be a consultant in Accenture.

April 2008 - Laptop - Yes, in my whole life, I have never bought any computer before, until this April 2008. In my Cornell days, I used computers from computer labs and when I was at Accenture, I used the company's computer. So, my Acer 4920G is my first laptop! :) This is the first time, I took 3 days trip myself to go up Genting and just spend time holidaying on my own. :)

May 2008 - I joined JobStreet.com on 5th May. In my week 2/3 in JobStreet.com, I got the chance to attend the World Congress of Information Technology on 19th May. Thanks to Wee Khang for this opportunity. It was a great exposure attending the talks, hearing all those experts speaking and seeing Bill Gates "live" in 3D hologram technology.

June 2008 - Thanks to Mark and Simon, I was on Astro Awani in 7th June 2008 for a talk show, which discusses about Foreign Grads and Local Grads. That one was in Malay Language, and it was an interesting sparring with various alumni representatives, student council representatives etc. Then went on NTV7 Breakfast show for the US Education Fair with MACEE Executive Director on 16th June 2008 and this one is in English.

July 2008 - On 6th July, I was a co-MC for Li Li's wedding, when I spoke in Mandarin. That was an interesting experience! Thanks, Li Li. I represented Malaysia for the first time in a competition too. Yes, until this point of my age. I haven't done that before till 12th July 2008, when I went down to Singapore to take part in Brands Asia Pacific Sudoku Challenge. It was an eye-opening, although I didn't do too well. Was ranked 36th in Asia, but it is good experience! On 13th July, I gave my first seminar on blogging to Selangor Wanita MCA. On 29th July to 1st August, I visited Manila for the first time too! :) It was my first flight on Air Asia too!

August 2008 - On 5th August, I managed to get opportunity to speak for the first time at Rotary Club in Klang. Thanks to the invite by Johnson Wey. It is interesting to see how ceremonial they do their event. This month seems a little dry of new things I tried. Between 14th and 17th August 2008, I attended Harvard Business Conference for the first time too! The opportunity to mingle with fellow participants have been very memorable!

September 2008 - As of now, I couldn't recall any "first" that I have done in this month.

October 2008 - On 20th and 21st October 2008, I got my first opportunity attending Khazanah Megatrends Forum. It was really an eye-opener, where I get to see how the country's who's who discuss on various issues concerning our country.

November 2008 - Took part in my first treasure hunt on 2nd November 2008! Yes, I have set the questions before in 2007 for Accenture Charity Hunt, but I haven't taken part in any treasure hunt. Thanks to Kok Ghee for sharing the information, Wee Khang, Jonathan, Suresh and I are in the same team taking part of The Sun Treasure Hunt. We should be finishing around 170th placing, but yes, great experience. Watched live A1 Grand Prix at Sepang F1 Circuit. It was a great experience on 23rd November 2008, when JobStreet.com being one of the main sponsors of Team A1GP Malaysia, managed to get a whole bunch of tickets. So, it was great to get the chance to be there greeting those attending the race and also get to watch the race together with Yan Min, Jing Jet and Laura. I bought my first 3G phone too - E71 this month! Thanks Daryl/Simon for the recommendation!

December 2008 - On 1st December, Ching Yee from 8TV interviewed me for their Mandarin News. It was my first interview on TV for Mandarin and first time for a news. This hasn't been screened yet, but it would be 8pm Mandarin News on 8TV. This makes it that I am on air in 3 languages (Malay, English, Mandarin) in 3 different channels (Astro Awani Channel 501, NTV7 and 8TV) within the same year! :) Went on Bernama Radio 24 too on 11th December for 10 minutes on air in Malay Language. Thanks Mark and Simon for both the opportunities. On 14th December 2008, for the first time, total visitors count for this blog exceeds 500 and total page views exceed 800.

Hopefully through this capturing of a bunch of "First" in this year, it is a good reflection for me to see whether I have fully utilized this year.

As this exercise is just being done as I am typing on my laptop, so I am sure I might have missed out quite a bit of "first" that I have done this year.

Thanks for reading this lengthy post.
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Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share!