A Replacement to Writing? 2006/2008: VillageTalk

I'm aware that I'm short of a few entries these few days. Many apologies. Have been so busy (kind of) with birthday parties that I couldn't find the time to blog. Each entry take me about an hour or so as well as a hell lot of brain juice, so since I usually wake up wasted, I cannot even bring myself to type in blogger's URL.

Ok, I'll start with Friday's VillageTalk event. VillageTalk - "My One Wish for the Future" is organized by Ridzuan and Kelvin. Simply put, it involves getting people around who have great ideas and get them to talk to people across all groups - students, professionals, the common people etc. in the hope that these ideas can become reality. Village is based on the same idea as TED.

Before I actually attended the event, I had zilch idea about what it was. It all seemed pretty fake to me. Another motivational talk? I asked myself, but still signed up because Ridz is my friend, and cousin told me she'd be going too. After I sat through half of it, I realized it's more than just motivational talk. It's completely unlike those motivational talks which charge you thousands to create that ra-ra effect. In fact, I wouldn't even equate VillageTalk with motivational courses.

Speakers:

1) Ikram Choudhury & Uzyn Chua (grativibes.com)

2) Professor Ho Khai Leong
Author of "Shared Responsiblities, Unshared Power: The Politics of Policy-Making in Singapore"

3) Bernise Ang
Founder of Singapore International Youth Council

4) Paddy Tan
CEO & Founder of BAK2U.com

5) Adrianna Tan
Author of Propagandhi.com

6) Uzyn Chua
Founder of ping.sg

7) Harish Pillay
President of Singapore Linux User Group

8) Darren Ho
CEO & Founder of MGX Pte Ltd

These speakers share frank, sincere happenings and thoughts. They make you sit and think about your own life, others lives, and those around you. Why do they do what they do? Some of them aren't even making money out of what they do. They are doing what they do because of passion and what they believe in. They do it because they want to change things around them for the better. You start to realize that there are things more than the certificate that you are chasing, things more than the money that you are earning.

VillageTalk, in my opinion, was a huge success. Small as the event is, it created huge ripples and that is what is important. You can tell it's successful when people walk out seriously thinking about their own dreams and when people who did not even attend the event talk about it. First steps are always important and this is a successful first step.

Of all the times Ridzuan tried explaining to me what this event about, I never understood until I actually sat in one of it. It is an event you should really attend. The next VillageTalk should be in September 2007 and it's free.

Contact info:
Ridzuan: ridzuan.ashim@xsmatter.com
Kelvin Quee: kq@kquee.com

On to more personal things. Originally signed up as audience, ended up helping as a receptionist. Uzyn was asking me why I am so nice. Didn't quite get it until I realized that Hougang is quite far from NTU, which is why they were teasing me, and I only realized the distance during their registration. I think I'm pretty used to traveling long distances. I was stuck in jams for more than 2 hours before and my butt ached like hell. To me NTU was almost the same distance from my house as from NUS, so not much of a diff. Told Uzyn that if he needed help I would also be there and I mean it.

The only thing is that my feet hurt like hell after that and despite it being 2 days after the event, they are still aching. Blame the shoes I got. They were either the wrong size or the wrong type of shoes for me. I've got 4 blisters from wearing them and limped home the entire way. Lessons learnt: Firstly, don't buy pointed shoes. Secondly, don't buy cheap shoes. Thirdly, from now onwards, (almost) all my heels will be open-toed.

Uzyn was so nervous before the talk that I heard he kept punching DK and during the talk itself he suddenly sputtered that he doesn't know how to give speeches because "he's a nerd". =D He's so cute lah!