this fella was more like a camp mascot. a.k.a. camera shy dude.pondering long over the BRATs advertisement was exactly what i did before working on the required essay. journalism and its family (i.e. photo essay) had been a hobby of mine for as long as i could remember no matter how sucked i thought i was at writing. i knew i did not go all out on working on the essay even though i wanted so much to be a part of it. well. i guess i was a lazy dreamer and a drifter after all. so upon submitting my form, i didnt think i stood a good chance at getting selected as i knew many people wanted the place as much as i did (and also because of my sucky essay, i think. LOL*).so just imagine the joy when i got the news...but the thought of staying at a MOTEL...(i have to admit, accomodation is very, VERY important to me)but yet, i took this workshop real seriously than anything else i could ever imagine (or remember).the first day of camp left me shell shocked for a moment. motel sri pantai doesnt even look like a MOTEL. it was wayyy better than i expected. seriously.like, what more could you expect from here. nice beaches. nice food. night entertainment (although we had our curfew yet we tried our best to break them). nice little boy to entertain us (look up!) nice rooms (hey, mine had a mini spa beside it!).and who could forget the facilitators. facee #1 : hard-on-us but know-how-to-have-fun JU ENGfacee #2 : multitasking-lover DEBBIE with nice big tattoofacee #3 : "ham sap lou" AARONfacee#4 : VILLA a.k.a Queen of Chingia with her "all chingian talk" and match making lessonsfacee #5 : we-love-his-laugh MAKfacee #6 : NAVIN with its-all-about-the-scrums during rugbyfacee #7 : ALVIN a.k.a rosemary chinfacee #8 : im-all-out on "char siew pau" JIRWANfacee #9 :
TIFFANY a.k.a. sexiest woman alivefacee #10 : we-owe-her-for-our-face-in-the papers! LAY PHON
facee #11 : i-dunno-how-to-describe MALIS
yup. do correct me if im wrong bratssie!oh well. i'll just cut it all short and let the pictures do all the taking aight. here are some of the selected photos i managed to capture during camp. urm. pardon the "rojak-ness arrangements".* all pictures can be clicked to enlarge.
the seniors and us. just right after rugby and "pepsi cola". speaking of being childish!
urm. well. deceiving orchid in my room? what? they do looked real!
members of otopot. last day of camp.
from left : farah.melanie.mindy.me.
otopot's first group photo. tea time. char siew pau was somewhere i think.
first day of camp and i took these people. sheesh. looks like the ad of cybershot T-9. two guys and two girls perhaps?
left is cat yeoh's. right is mine. this is the "too-free-syndrome".
this little guy caught my eye some sixty feet away.
butterfly seashells. pretty. loads of them along the beach.
from left : room mates yi min and catherine. right is clara a.k.a. extreamly nice girl.
not very nicely sprawed. but oh well. Bright Roving Annoying Teens.
one far far away tiny weeny island.
gorgeous. we had the luxury of watching the sun settting right after the ice-breaking "ceremony".
my figurine. well. the arrow actually points to momo a.k.a. buttcrack but she doesnt knows that. or did she?
nice pose jirwan! navin got chased for it after that.
too many cameras to look at. the best thing to do is to burst out laughing. noone can see your eyes then.
it is what its called.
exhaustion? my room mate and i after the ferry street poll.
again. the "too-free-syndrome". left is mine. right is cat yeoh's.
villa doing her thing. us bursting into more laughter.
us again.
yau char kwai shouldnt have been in this picture.
third day of camp : otopot went to the floral fest at the botanic gardens.
know your plants well people.

above to bottom : the monkey cup (you wouldnt wanna touch them. diediedie!). more monkey cups. then there's melanie. she's playing the "guess the water source" at Water Watch Penang's booth. and yes. an unidentified plant.
nice fingers on yau char kwai.
me and abigail.
last night of camp. heart to heart and "why did you joined BRATs?" talk.
above to bottom : otopot's maggie ad . otopot's sketch with jamaican "paulshaun" . more sketch.
senior's sketch. introducing rosemary chin and johnny johnny johnny johnny whoops johnny whoops johnny johnny johnny johnny.
3/4 of the 5 a.m. gang at our room #7. the guys got busted at approximately 2 something a.m.
me and elyia, our friend from tamparuli, sabah.
4 out of 5 of the 5 a.m. room #7 gang.
more of the otopot members. last day of camp.
posers incorporated.
second day of camp : our first street poll.
for a moment this man looked like a ferry street beggar. doing it standing.
"too-free-syndrome" period over. get busy everybody!
just to make sure you people dont forget how the penang ferry looked like.
otopot's editor conducting a street poll with sister angelina from Good Shephard Sisters, sabah.
yeah. i know you guys are jealous with our mini spa. just beside room #7!!
you guys had a lot of courage to take over motel sri pantai's night performers man. cherrios!
beautiful. taken on the first day of camp.
this is actually not our motel. this is kaza hotel. its beside motel sri pantai. sister angelina stayed there during the whole workshop, i think.
mindy and li san and li san and mindy. chilling at the beach on the first day of camp.
my room mate, cat yeoh and i. again.
julian cheong a.k.a the ladies man? i heard that somewhere.
julian and i.
"look up everyone!", said saiha.
erm. i dont know how to describe this.
hui wenn and G a.k.a. G-sport? nawh. sounds cliche already.
me (with eyes semi-closed) and daryl a.k.a. green day fanatic.
the other julian and i. picture imperfecto for the third time.
we just dont know where to look now, do we? arghh!
yeah. look right! look right! sehh weet.
from BRATs we learnt that if "we work hard, we get to play twice as hard". there was also the formation of the BRATs family ala madeline where we should always learn to "love our bread, love our butter, and most of all, love each other" =)
with each passing day of the workshop, not only i was left with a better picture of the journalism world, but also with lessons in life. the true value of friendship. we had our friends, earnest and elyia from sabah who knew the exact meaning of hardship. we learnt new bajau words. we existed the co-existence of dumblondes and EUT (Extreamly Unidentical Twins). we multi-tasked and thought outside the box. and most of all, we had to expect the unexpected in the real world.
i left BRATs with a little of a heavy heart. it was surprising of us to bond quickly as we spent 70% engrossed in our assignments. maybe because of the curfew free on the last night of camp. all of us are so different yet we are so much alike.
BRATs did left me with a black ring around my eye, got me drained, a little homesick, with the sounds of the mini waterfall beside my room and full blast air-cond (we didnt know how to operate it then!) but it was only a small price to pay for what ive gained out of it. this was one of the things i would never trade it for the world.
cheers!