I guess the posts below have very well summed up how BRATs Penang 2010 was like for us. 

We all had our moments of ecstasy, frustration, star-struck period and blues. 

I have to admit that I was very relieved when BRATs ended but somehow it left me wanting more. I’m sure many of you agree with me as well.

To be honest, BRATs in Penang wasn’t the greatest 4 day camp if you’re gonna put it up against scout camps in a jungle beside a river. Even the food from the hotel wasn’t exactly top notch and definitely lacked the whole Penang flavor. Work was tedious and exhausting (I ended up going to bed every night just wishing everyone goodnight and not bonding more with the others). We didn’t get a free-and-easy time to really check out Penang and shop for local food (except that small 2 hours lunch at the char kuey teow + cendol stall).

But for some reason, it felt like a good and complete programme! 

• We learnt a lot, that’s for sure. 

As Himmat said, “There’s more to journalism than just writing articles, there are videos and photography involved!”

Some found their new passion and probably new talent in those field while some found it in others; like how John found the weaver in him. 

Doing a simple “Sean Sing, The Star, Malaysia” in front of the camera isn’t easy after-all. 

There are rules and lines to follow in photography? 

• We now know how big a role social media plays.

Twitter helped save a fire according to Niki.

Jessica and Niki earn money through her blog. (I know many went and ask Jess how she does it coz i did too) 

• We learnt new games and had fun.

Algorithm no machi! Jibunde no machi!

Aiyo-Ping-Pong-Piang-8 (seniors group)!

• We made new celebrity friends.

James the Awesome, K-Kellies Kelvinder and Keeshanan with their debut single “i believe i can eat”, aza iza the head of her cheerleading squad, carlson the sepet and tasha the…erm nvm.. along with many others. ( you know who you are! =D )

and last but not least,

• We found out our true inner-selves, with help from Ivy.

 No, its not the Glee in us,

its the “Lembap mampus” in us.

Wait wait, is that sharm in the front..?

nah, must be my eyes. haha

ANYWAYS, now that BRATs is over, bring on them Facebook tags and reunions! =D

Keep in touch ya’ll.

Until next time, 

seansing

The night before heading up to Penang, I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turn and found myself lying wide awake. I tried to imagine myself with a group of teenagers sharing the same interest with me in the same room. ‘Will I fit in?’ ‘I am even worth being here?’ these were the questions that have been haunting me for the past couple of days.

I woke up at five in the morning feeling more energetic than I actually was despite the fact that I hardly slept the night before. It was the day of the big day. The day I have been anticipating.

The flight from Malacca to Penang was faster than I thought. I reached Cititel Hotel a little earlier than scheduled. The hall that we were supposed to meet at was filled with teenagers around my age. The moment I entered a couple of them came up to me and introduced themselves. That was the moment that I knew that I would blend in well.

The Editor of R.AGE, Ivy Soon introduced herself and got us to play a simple game as an ice breaker. Okay, I won’t go into details as I’m sure this will bore you. (Plus, I’m sure reading the others Brat’s post, you already know what we’ve been up to right?)

I shall now let my heart do the talking:

Journalism as I thought was that if you could write well, you can be a journalist. But little did I know that I was wrong. So wrong in fact. Journalism includes interviewing, photography skills and video tapping. The latter is one that I have yet to master.

I also learnt that you must be confident when you communicate with people. You can’t fumble your words; neither can you fidget in front of the public. You have to speak well and always believe in yourself, reminding yourself that you are capable to achieve excellence. Years of practice and up bringing have taught me these simple values. Perhaps this is the ultimate fact why I always push myself further. Quoted by Ivy Soon while she was advising me during the camp, ‘We must always aim higher and with that we will reach higher.’ This is one of those sayings that I will keep in my thoughts forever.

The people I met were awesome. It was almost as if we were one big family, living together and working each and every single day to meet the deadlines. I felt like I have known them for decades already. I shared secrets with them while those were secrets I doubt so I will ever share with my closest friends. It made me feel that working as journalist you have to master the importance teamwork as well. ‘Nobody is a one man’s island.’ You have to hold on to each other’s back and together you achieve the top.

In my seventeen years of living, this is THE BEST camp I have ever been to. What else more can you ask from life when you get to spend four days with people who love the same thing that you love. This is one of those camps that I will treasure in my heart forever. It has indeed create a huge impact in my life. One that when I think of, I think about good memories.

May every single memory remain in our heart.

Proud To Be A BRAT,

Jasmine ♥ 

   Although the workshop ended close to 24 hours ago, I am still feeling the whole BRATs vibe going on’. The Algorithm March song is officially stuck in my head, replaying every single moment of time. Hence, the post title. Nevertheless, the mucho-entertaining learning experience of the Algorithm March was just a tiny part of the entire workshop.

   Having to come from team Awesome was just…. awesome. No other adjectives, nothing fancy-schmancy, super-flowery and uber-mellifluous words are needed in this context. I’m sure all the other BRATs had fun as well in their respective groups. Saw the enthusiasm and passion in these teens, something very rare in peeps like us. As I came from the humble town of Ipoh, seeing (almost) all these urbanites in ‘action’ was pretty overwhelming. I just sat back and watched these ‘kids’ do their thing most of the time. I mean, imagine the good writers, photographers and videographers being grouped together and were kept in this 20x30ft space (I assume) most of the time, the result: unimaginably interesting.

   As cliched as it sounds, I’ve learnt so much. Acquired the know-how-to tell stories. Went out to the the streets of Georgetown to do research. Interviews, photo-taking, video-shooting, and yada yada. I got to rattan-weave which was not simple. Period. Even though the concept is just to weave up and down, it is not that easy. Some of us vented our frustration during the process, although Jonathan and Claire’s craft were not that bad. But then again, the process of rattan-weaving is like life. You go up and down. When you put in effort, concentration etc., it’ll turn out to be a masterpiece. And when you do it with a lackadaisical attitude, it’ll just turn out otherwise. But all in all, patience is key.

   One of the highlights of the assignments for me was to interview Joe Sidek. Meeting this positive, flamboyant, multi-tasking man was inspiring. Despite being the Managing Director of Chemdyes, a textile chemical company, he also runs Sentuhan, a shop selling crafts made by single women. So basically, he helps these women and gives them a “lifeline” to begin with. Tell me about philanthropism eh.

   Besides the assignment and all, the overall experience was GREAT. 4 days 3 nights stay in a decent hotel with good food and all for RM120 only, it’s a very good deal. And of course meeting the other amazing BRATs along the way. There were conflicts but they were equally covered with much gaiety. From testing Amanda’s apple-related innocence (Awesome’s inside joke) to watching Sing is King’s performance, it was a blast. Miss you guys, other BRATs, senior BRATs, and the facilitators.

   We are indeed awesome. That’s why we’re labelled as ‘Team Awesome’.

Awesome flossom.

Signing off,

Angelyn, still a kid at heart. ;)

Many(if not all) would agree that the performances put up by all 3 teams during our last night was awesome to the max. Even Niki (and yes u know I’m talking bout Niki Cheong) said, ‘I have to say that was very entertaining’. I couldn’t think of a better person to quote..if u know what i mean :) Anyway, team Awesome entertained us with a rendition of an original song dedicated to the facilitators and of course: to fellow BRATs. So, here’s the lyric (and please try not to weep, guys :)

—————————————————————————————————

we wrote a song..we wrote a song for u

and all that we’ve been through

we’re gonna be missing u

Ivy Soon, oh let us start with u

u know that we love u, oh yes we’ll always do..

even though, we’re bodoh and lembap

we’re gonna change because..we’ll always remember u..

oh Bangsar Boy, now let us move to u

we’ve learnt so much from u

we’ll all start twitter-ing too

and hey there Sham,

we know Sean’s stalking u

we just might follow suit: being ‘on the scene’

to all the BRATs..

it’s really been a blast

we were strangers but that’s all in the past

to all the BRATs…

we’ll leave with something else

we’ll leave with something else..

———————————————————————————————————

that was a nice one,ryte?

Lots of love,

Izuan

  The people in BRATs are lame. I am dead serious! You might not see the lame side of us via the articles we write or the videos we make. But if you could just spend an hour with us here in Penang, this expression would be carved permanently on your face, T.T”

  Being lame is not a bad thing actually. I’ll try to break it down for you. Being a young journalist ain’t as easy as blogging. When you are blogging, you can say that sleeping an hour pass your curfew is news-worthy. And all of us BRATs are all so full of ideas but combining every good idea will just make the end product bad, y’know. Just imagine having oreo, pancakes and spaghetti together. Does it sound delicious to you? That’s how it’s like with writing, so the writing process together was a bit of a challenge.

  When we were all stressed out and about to pass out due to the lack of sleep, the BRATs people will entertain us with their lame jokes and games.

  One of the few memorable lame jokes I’ve heard from Aisha, the Queen of Lameness was, “How do tortoises communicate with each other?” Give up? The answer is by using Shellphones!

  Hahaha, it may be lame, but when we were all so pressured by completing our assignments before the deadline that even the tinsiest thing could tickle our funny bones.

  The fascillitators are professionals in this field, too. They made all 40-something of us BRATs danced to the Algorithm March. Wait, if you have never heard of the Algorithm March before, go watch the video now! It is EPIC!!!! The march is amusing and the song is really adorable even though I have no idea what the lyrics meant since it’s in Japanese. Here’s the link.

  There was also the pencil game, the Grandma game and the clapping game, which all required you to think out of the box since the solutions to the game are really really super duper uber lame. No joke. And these games are all thanks to the coutesy of Niki Cheong. Who would expect him to be such a lame dude?!

  Anyway, all in all, we had a lot of fun here. We work hard, we play hard, too! Maybe next year, some of you future BRATs will get to test out Niki’s games and wreck your brains for the answers. It is quite satisfying to solve the games, after all. ;)

xo Trecia the tattler

FINALLY. After hours of constant straining, we (Sharannya and I) have finally managed to complete the article that almost sapped all of our brain juices (Yeah, it’s just an article. And it takes FOREVER to not get distracted while writing it.) Well, I have to admit that I’m not good in writing general articles, though I have learned a great deal from my beloved teammates. Sing-is-king, you guys rock!!! :)

Today, Greg, Isaac, Sharannya, Aminah and I went to ‘Kawan’, a shelter that provides food for the homeless. We had a lot of fun with the social workers (most of them were from foreign countries such as Korea and USA) and no words could describe our feelings when the homeless people flashed their beautiful smiles at us. We served lunch to them, and had fun talking about their life-changing stories too.

The people we meet and the images we saw will be etched forever in our hearts. :)

Before I end this post, I would like to thank all the Sing-is-king teammates for rocking my day!

hahahhaha,

Haan Ming

Hello!

Choong Hou and James Thien here reporting from laptop number 3 at the BRATS program in Penang.

You know what, this is just a thought, but is it normal to say ‘good night’ to someone when you meet them?

‘Cause most people these days think of the words ‘good night’ as a OH-YOU’RE-GOING-TO-SLEEP!-BYE-BYE thing.

=/

Sorry about the randomosity. Obviously the night-time hormones are going to my head.

It is the last night of the program and we are really tired.

At the same time, we wanna enjoy our last night/morning of this program to the fullest.

=D

While the teams were updating their projects and articles for tomorrow, some of us were outside in the hallway talking about relationships!

Well, in our defense, we DID finish our assigned jobs beforehand.

=)

Right now, I can hear the faint sounds of sleepy people getting their final details right and the strumming of a guitar in the distance (probably Ben).

Alright then, ‘till tomorrow morning, good night everyone!

Bye!

It had been a very busy day since yesterday.I mean really, Really, REALLY busy day! But it was a lot of fun getting to run around and be busy.To act,wait….to really be a reporter. We even had a chance to go shopping (can’t blame us. the things are supper cheap!) Even me, a person from Penang, didn’t know there was actually a market in Jalan Kuala Kangsar.

I didn’t even know the street existed! (yup!that’s me. a ‘claim to be penang person’.) XD XD……..Anyway, it was a whole new exprience after the assignments. It really gave me a view on how Stars reporters actually work. (if you think it’s a relaxing work,scratch that out from your mind!:cause it’s not)

Apart from that, i got another inspiration to do my next short story. (thanks to some people!) easy to say, it was really hectic but we had so much fun.

Veronica

Hello fellow BRATs & other humans out there,

Firstly, truly sorry for those who din make the cut! im truly thankful and blessed tho. i thot it was just a small thing.. :P Anyways, its been great so farr! Except for the fact that my WISDOM… tooth lah. it hurt & hurts like crap ! it made my whole left cheek bloat!!!  bleh.

Other than tht, met so many awesome people! :) like… (insert name) :P The experience is very good. very very different experience altogether compared to the previous camps i’ve  been going to :) My team “AWESOME” is just AWESOME. we have high n low times i think. esp, when us 4, ehem.. went out to ‘adventure’ on our own. which caused major havoc. but all in all, we’ve learn many lessons. i did my very first interview! it was nerve-wracking indeed!

The streets of Penang is interesting. The food is YUmmy-licious! it inspires me more to want to try it out n be a chef. it shall be my inspiration. :D  

Tammy says she LOVES me.. awwwww

Hopes to see all of u, fellow brats members again! cheers!

XOXO, c to the YAP!

p/s: no pics la. GO FB!!! XD

KONNICHIWAAAA :D

okay so this is Tasha the complainer here >;D

so maybe the first day wasn’t THAT exciting..

the second day turned out to be a great improvement. seriously :D

we went to do an assignment in Chowrasta Market and had a real experience.

my team was group 2A which included Yam Calson, Techy Kaelan, Eureka the Can, Pravini Thesaurus & yours truly, Tasha Lim. 2B consisted of Nikon Jasmine, Benjamin the dude, Veronica the smarty, the adorably cute Kevin and the cheerleader Iza.

so.. the experiences of team 2A. enjoy the awesome pictures.

the cool people ;)

we had gone to do an assignment in a recycling centre today.

it was quite an experience.

look out for the sound slide in youtube guys. KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED >;D

the SHORT BRAT :D

Tasha Lim