Merdeka Eve BBQ

When? 30 August 2008, Where? Sumitra’s House Taman Tun Dr Ismail
Report by Rtr David Lee

What were you doing on the Merdeka eve? Staying at home or squeezing with strangers at Merdeka Square? We RACKLians were having a barbecue party at our PD director Sumitra’s house for the celebration.

Incidentally, we also decided to have our Installation post-mortem meeting before the BBQ so we were all there early. Around 7pm, we finally wrapped up the meeting and get ready for the party.  Mei Han had brought an instant barbecue grill but despite using all sorts of Macgyver like strategies and several attempts, nothing was lighting it. Without hesitation, our Prez Kavita decided to dash to the nearby One Utama with Sumitra and buy a new grill set. What a brilliant idea! While waiting for it, the rest of us played Taboo with our guest Rotarian Firas from Lebanon.

With all the hustle and bustle (installed the new grill set, smashing charcoals, setting fire etc.), finally the grill was ready by 10pm! Special thanks also goes out to Rtrs Praveen and Rajen from RAC Bangsar who stopped by and were drafted to help out. Whilst the weather had also been a challenge with a sudden rain, it didn’t dampen our spirits. The chicken wings were a fave amongst all and got snatched within minutes. Not forgetting, we even managed to throw in a surprise birthday for our club secretary Mei Han. It was a fun outing and hopefully more acquaintance get-togethers can be planned as such in the future

Trippin’ in Seoul, Korea

When? 17-23 August, Where? Interota 2008 Conference in Seoul, Korea

IPP Neeraj Chhabra and past International Service Director Tang Weng Cheong tagged along District 3300 (Malaysia)’s delegation to the 2008 Interota Conference that was hosted in Korea this year. The two thoroughly enjoyed themselves (so much that for them to tell us all their adventures would require a blog of its own!) as many unique events were organised as part of the itinerary and from what we hear, the Koreans are amazing hosts who were out to make sure everyone had a good time.

Smashing Badminton

 When? 23 August 2008, Where? The Challenger Badminton Courts, Tmn Len Sen Cheras

Inspired by Malaysia’s achievement of the silver medal in the Male Badminton Singles at the recent Beijing Olympics, we decided to take to the courts. Granted, most of us hadn’t lifted the racquet since our school days eons ago but we gamely plowed on for two hours smashing and serving the feathered shuttlecock in singles and doubles matches!

Matter Over Mind

When? 9 August 2008, Where? Shangri-la Hotel KL

It didn’t take long for us to warm our seats before club secretary Mei Han led the ice-breaking session and got us doing some exercise. Singing the scottish traditional ditty “My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean” (ed’s note: MH’s giant lyrics board got some attention on the street too when some tourist went “hey i know that tune” and started singing it!), we had to get up everytime we sang a word that started with a B. As the tempo got faster and faster, we realised one thing – there were waaaayyy too many Bs in this song!

Next up was our Professional Development speaker – Dr A.J.A Peter, who was here to share with us his theory “Matter Over Mind”. Dr Peter has close to 40 years of experience in the field of “mind training” (he is a certified Neuro Linguistic Programming and Silva Mind Control practitioner as well as holds a doctorate in psychorientolgy) so we were on the edge of our seats to hear what he had to say.

According to Dr. Peter, a lot of our behavior as an adult is inherently affected by how our parents treated us as babies. I.e if your parent keeps telling you “stop doing that” when as a baby you are trying to explore and climb stairs, you grow up with a fear of taking risks.  There was a lot more that certainly got us thinking on how we should raise our kids in the future too.