TEDx - a level higher

TED came into my life earlier this year with TEDx Happy Valley, giving me the opportunity to meet inspiring people around the world including US and Israel; and the few lessons I've learnt have already proven to be useful in just this short period of time.

What happened helped me evolve as a person, and I have then been hoping to participate in more TED(x)s in the future; but I would not have expected then that such an opportunity is just around the corner.   

It was amazing to sit in the audience and be inspired, but to be part of the team and have the chance to interview the speakers and listen to their story is beyond mind blowing.

A mother that supports the LGBT community, a musician who has tried and succeeded, a designer that started small but came out huge, and a drama enthusiast who had recently held her own art exhibition; all their stories and messages are food for thought and seeds that would potentially grow into something as inspiring.

Having to meet four adventurers of life in two hours is not an easy thing, and one can easily be overwhelmed by the inspiration in the room; while most people would see this as the formula to success and try to fit it all in their life, I believe it is more important to be inspired and write our own equations to conquer the challenges in our lives and hope to then inspire others to do the same

#ibwsc13 @hk #TeamMedia #Reflection?

Week by week, it feels like that time is slipping away unnoticed, and it is almost late August now that I finally have time to account for all those happened.

Undeniably, the IB World Student Conference (ibwsc13) is one of the most incredible experience I've had for a long time, and that is not just because of the thought provoking lectures and the good meals, but also of the amazing crowd and also the constant growing community that has evolved from this event. 

Being part of the media team definitely let me look at this conference from a completely different angle and  perspective if I were to be a participant. As a matter of fact which may also come as a surprise to some, I actually had no clue what I had to do as part of the crew, as there were no instructions nor goals; and the only things provided were a "media crew" name-tag and the rundown for the week. This ended up taking away most of my time at the conference scrambling to do as much as I could, so hopefully I would have done something right, forcing me to focus on the 'media' part instead of the 'social' portion, leading to this problem of proportion within 'social media'. However, it is due to this lacking of directions that I had more room to explore and was allowed to do whatever thing that came up in this wacky brain of mine. Which I ended up trying out things I've never done before and also had the opportunity to see the effectiveness as they take effect, giving me tremendous experience that I would not have gotten any other ways, and that made me grew as an individual and also as a part of the media crew.

Word Collage #1 #ibwsc13

It is a real bummer that I didn't get more time to interact with the participants, but thankfully I did manage to make a few friends with the chaperons and staffs, who are all inspiring and overwhelmingly awesome in their own ways. 

Concerning my working approach, some people say that I'm crazy and more importantly unrealistic for working my butt off on everything even times when I'm not get paid. And no doubt they are right about me being crazy, as I take every project/task really seriously without taking my payments into consideration. #ibwsc13 is one of those events that I have skipped dinner four days in a row just to finish off my work, get prepared for the next day and also get as much sleep as I possibly can; and looking back at what I have done, I am really pleased. Also, when you are working for someone who is willing to stay up all night preparing for a presentation, skipping meals to go for perfection isn't that unreal after all.


Everyone please feel free to tweet me @chaimli (or add me on Facebook if we have ever had a conversation longer than 5 secs). Also, anyone want the word collage files can simply reach me on any social media platforms!!!

The journey of Volunteering (part 1)

While people are busy socializing and partying till late, you would find me dedicating my time to volunteering, sometimes at children centers, others at environmental organizations; to me it is nothing but volunteering.

In this modern world, working yet not getting paid seemed like the last thing that would come up in people’s mind; and probably for that reason, a lot of people have asked for the reason behind my choice. I used to tell people that being a volunteer is a way to give back to the community (and it's definitely better than having hangovers every other day). That is true, but only to a certain extent, because that is not the main reason why I chose volunteering.

The real sad reason is because I have always been a lonely person living in my lonely world; I never really had a friend , let alone invitations to parties or events, so it was not that I chose volunteer over others, but rather volunteering was the only available option.

Though volunteering may sound like the consolation prize to me, but if I didn't accept it back then, I’d never have discovered how amazing this will turn out to be. 

     

TEDx: A talk on different sexualities

TED: Ideas worth spreading

I cannot possibly agree more.


It was quite a surprise for me as I attended my first TEDx talk earlier during April. Not to mention the spicy lemonade (can't believe pepper and lemonade is such perfect match), delicious pizzas and also well decorated berry mousse cakes; but the real shock awaiting was actually a talk on homosexuality, or more specifically - what should we do if we are gay and we feel alone?

There have been handful of talks before on discrimination, or about being in face of rejection, gender discrimination has been one of the most common ones, yet not many people are willing to discuss about LGBT issues, let alone present a TED talk on it.

Though I admit that I didn't learn much from the talk, but it definitely succeeded in acting as a gesture and is undoubtedly a big step forward for the gay community; and I hope that this talk won't be the last one, but the first of many to come.

Feel free to get on the TEDx page and check out the talk, and I'll end by quoting our dear Mr Das 'It doesn't matter if you are gay, just don't stop digging.'

How it all begins

Prologue is always an important part of a book. A fiction's prologue can help to set the whole story in play while some others may let you look through the eye of the author for the reason behind his/her creation.

And life is just like a book, our childhood always take an important role in defining who we are, and what happened then often had great impacts on us many years to come.

A lot of things happened when I was young, most rather unwanted, but that's what make me realize the power of writing. From writing blog entries to writing books, writing is the way for me to express myself and tell my story, and this is how it all begins.

Growing up being beaten up and insulted most times at home, while being ignored and called off at others, I never had a chance to understand what 'love and care' means, nor did I understand the importance of having a supportive family. On top of that, problems within my family caused me to pay visit to social workers, and all it did is remind me how lonely I am in my little world.

I was never well treated by my father, and that had impacted my seriously, my sexuality. I don't mind admitting that I am gay, and that I'd love to be loved by a man and of course the other way round. Being gay may be something that defines me, but certainly not something that will confine me. (According to the experts, my sexuality may have been a result from the lack of fatherly love, and the urge to be cared. Or maybe I am already born this way, and it just made my urge stronger, But I'll never know.)

After all, as Mr Coelho said, the victor would come out only after being severely tested, I believe that things happened for a reason and that was just of those challenges for me before I can reach my pot of gold (figuratively speaking, not literally).