Last weekend I was at PWTC for the Youth 08 event and the 1st National Entrepreneurs Convention where I was invited as a speaker representing one of the said Top 15 or so entrepreneurs in Malaysia under the age of 30.

Now don’t be fooled.

My modest achievements there were dwarfed by the achievements the people I was put on stage had armed around their belts.

Take for example Kenny Goh (2nd row left) of Macro Kiosk Berhad, a CEO of a listed company at age 29 Or Ganesh Kumar of MOL Access (Seated in the middle) who also at 29 heads a huge listed company he founded along with Tan Sri Vincent Tan.

So if anything, I was learning from the speakers in the convention, rather than teaching as a speaker.

Soon enough it was my turn to go up and speak in front of the crowd of 500 people who paid good money to listen to me.Now I have given many speeches before… but this is the first time I had to speak in front of so many people. Naturally you can imagine how worried I was for one reason.

When I speak, I’m not exactly the kind of guy who can memorize a speech or read off powerpoints.

I’m the kind of guy who would prepare some pointers on a piece of paper even though I eventually never use it for anything more than a security blanket.

See that piece of paper in my left hand folded up?

At every speech I give, I always hold it… but never once open it up to look.
The night before, I thought of perhaps sharing some photos on the journey of Nuffnang since I was supposed to talk about Nuffnang.

I had photos of the initial team Nuffnang started off with, with the first clients we met and things like that but as luck would have it… for some reason, the computer at the convention couldn’t seem to open my Powerpoint file. So…. HO HO HO.

I was thrown on stage suddenly having to speak out of the blue.

Fortunately, when I was on stage I looked down at the crowd of people in front of me and saw the many people there quietly waiting for me to say something… as if they were going to write down every word I was going to say.

I decided
“F*** IT!!! Here goes…”

And started talking away.At the end of my speech… I was pretty sure I did a bad job.

But as I ran out of time and the moderator took the mic from me, the 500 people I just spoke to started clapping away which was enough to put a smile on my face.

After the speech, all the speakers including myself were given a ‘token of appreciation’.

Now in most cases, a token of appreciation would be an engraved plate or something… but the creative people at Youth Malaysia decided to make large blow-up pictures of us.

We each had one.

After we were done taking photos with huge photos of ourselves, it was time for us to go for lunch.

Before we all had a chance to… a swarm of people walked up to us and waited politely for a chance to ask us some questions. Many of which told me that they loved my speech… as much as I thought that it was a really really bad one.

I was asked all sorts of questions about entrepreneurship and I answered as honestly as I could.

Truth is… looking back… it’s a little surreal. I mean… Nuffnang is only 10 and a half months old and it was only one year ago that I officially started become and entrepreneur.

Sure our growth has been unbelievable and the things we managed to achieve in such a short time… so great that I’m not sure if I could ever duplicate this success if I had to do it all over again.

Like I said at my speech… Nuffnang is what it is today because of a lot of luck… and a lot of blessings and support from the right people that believed in us from the start.But here were new or soon-to-be entrepreneurs in my very same generation that was coming up to me for advice.

I was a little flattered… and also a little cautious of the high expectations that were put on me.To the soon-to-be entrepreneurs who came up to me for advice: Keep in mind that eventhough I might be a little ahead right now… I am still very much on the learning curve like all of you.

One day… some of you might truly achieve big success.. and I will be the one paying good money to watch you speak.

As for now… good luck on your many endeavors and remember my motto in live.
“Don’t be cocky… there is a lot the generation before us have to teach us”.

Okay two days ago I watched Cloverfield.

I must say… I thought it was a movie that I wasn’t gonna like.

I mean… just by watching the trailer you know it’s one of those movies that are made to look like the entire movie was taped on a camcorder.

That means… a lot of shaking around when the camera man runs.

Watch the trailer here to get a feel of that.

That really annoyed me in the beginning.

But as I watched the movie to the end, I kinda liked it.

It was a rather different monster/disaster movie…and it really really made the viewer feel as if he/she was really in that situation.

So I loved the movie… except for a few really really UNREALISTIC points in the movie.
Now I can accept unrealism in movies… but for a movie that tries to give a close to reality take on a disaster like that… some of the unrealistic parts in this movie were a little pushing it.

First of all… how is it that this chick Beth who was injured with an iron rod through her chest was able to walk, run, scream and hey… even drag Hud out of the helicopter wreckage.

Unless of course she’s WOLVERINE and heals as fast as you can say the word “BULLSHIT!!!”.
The second thing that I find that annoyed me was all the soldiers shooting their guns at the monster when they know it’s not doing anything.

Is that even natural?

Lets say you’re a little kid.

And you go try tickle your friend.

Then you find after a few seconds of attempted tickling, your friend doesn’t laugh or anything.

What do you do next?

A) Say “Oh … you’re not ticklish… I guess I’ll have to find something else to get you at“.

or

B) Say “KOOOOOOTCHIE KOOOTCHIE KOOOO!!!!!!!” and continue to tickle your friend.

Unless you’re a moron… your answer would be A right??

Same thing with the monster. If your rifle isn’t even denting the monster…. stop shooting and RUN AWAY.

Now the last and final thing that bothered me about the movie was…

Throughout the whole movie there was a bad monster turning Manhattan into an open air car park. Towards the end of the movie, we know that since the movie started, to the end it was about over 7 hours.

Now in that all that time…

WHERE THE HELL WAS OPTIMUS PRIME WHEN YOU NEEDED HIM THE MOST?!?!?!

I mean.. Optimus Prime would’ve pwned that monster!

Last night, Nuffnang was in the NTV7 News at 8.00pm.

I gotta say, this is the first time I’ve ever seen myself on TV.

I didn’t get to see myself the previous time round on Hello On Two because it was broadcasted live… but this interview session was pre-recorded so…. well.. it was… fun to watch.

Give a hand to the some of the Nuffnang team in the video though… can you imagine the temptation they had for them to JUMP in front of the camera and say
“HI MUM!!!! I’M ON TV!!!!!”

I also owe big thanks to Nazrul from NTV 7 on this.

Thank you Nazrul!

Anyway, if you’re interested, watch the video here.

HOLY COW!!!

I just had one of the busiest Saturdays I have ever had.

In the morning I had to go to PWTC to give a speech for our first National Entrepreneurs’ Convention.
In the afternoon there was Traffic Jam (Nuffnang Community Event) immediately after the National Entrepreneurs’ Convention.

Then right after that I had to go make it for one of my friend’s wedding dinner.

I am so tired and exhausted now after a long day but NO MATTER… BOSS STEWIE AIN’T NO PUSSY!!!

BLOGGING UNDER LACK OF SLEEP IS MY SPECIALTY so I am going to blog about my day now!

I shall first start by telling you bout my morning.

This morning I arrived at PWTC ….. ZZZzzzzzzzzzzz……….ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz…………

ZZzzzzzzzzzz………

This morning I was at Angkasapuri for a TV interview on the RTM 2 program Hello on Two hosted by Zamil and Annie.

I was pretty nervous being on National TV for the first time but after 5 minutes I kinda got used to it and well… I didn’t say “nipples”… YAY!!!

Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures in the studio… didn’t know if I was allowed to and I don’t have a video of the session yet but it looked something like this.
I’ll probably try to get one next week and post it up here okay?

Anyway, both my parents were watching the show and after the show I spoke to each one of them.

My Dad… had nice things to say… he said he was proud.

Now my Dad has always been the kind of man who believed that his sons should ALWAYS do better than him

He always used to preach: “Whenever you come up with a new version.. it must be better than the old right?”

Unfortunately the “old version” set too high a standard that I’m not even 5% of the way there to being even on par with him.

So you can imagine how nice it was to hear from my father that he was proud… (well not as proud as when I made it to the Top 25 Young Entrepreneurs in Asia on Businessweek but still proud).
Then it came to my mum’s turn to talk to me on the phone.

She said
“Son… everything went okay.. but I just have one thing I really just have to point out”.

Thoughts were racing through my mind… uh oh uh oh… did I say NIPPLES without realizing it?

Or did I do something even more embarrassing like scratch my crotch or dig my nose while on National TV without realizing it?

My mum went on to say
“Son… you better do some exercise.. you really are getting really FAT!!!“

I blurted out in my defence
“WHAT?!?! MUM!!! I’M NOT FAT.. I’M JUST BIG BONED!!!”

Fat would be like Hasan!!!

Right? (Hahahah Hasan)

My mum refused to give it to me.

She said
“No Son.. you’re getting VERY FAT… you’re not there yet but soon you will be if you don’t do something about it. Please go do some exercise… do you want to be a fit entrepreneur or a fat one”.

My lips almost automatically defended myself
“BUT BUT… I PLAY BADMINTON!!!”
She said
“Badminton isn’t enough.. you need to swim.. or go to the gym and burn off all that fat…”.

AUUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Somebody!!!

Please… PLEASE TELL MY MUM…. that.. that

I’M NOT FAT!!! I’M JUST BIG-BONED!!!!

And and…. that the camera adds 10 pounds!!!

I’m going to be on a LIVE talk show on National TV tomorrow to speak about being an entrepreneur and all.

Oooh ooh I’ve never been on TV before let alone National TV. So nervous… which is why I’m NOT going to say what time, what programme and/or which channel ok?

I mean… how can I go through with that knowing that people I know or who know me are watching in. What if I say something wrong… like if I suddenly say “Nipples” or something.

Oh well wish me luck everyone!

Many tourists look at Penang as a teeny little tropical island north of Peninsular Malaysia.
An island where people sip ice-tea and lie on the beaches.
You know what’s wrong with islands like this?

It gets mistaken as the kind of island where if there ever were a war, its native Penangites will defend the island with coconuts and fruit drinks.

Well HMPH!

That’s why to make sure that Hasan didn’t get the wrong idea about Penang,

I brought him to Fort Cornwallis while he was here in Penang.YES… PENANG HAS A FORT!!!

But NOBODY PAYS ENOUGH ATTENTION TO IT!!!

WHY?!?!?

Because everyone is too busy with Kota A Famosa in Malacca.
Ohhh ohhh!!!

Kota A Famosa this … Kota A Famosa that…

Does anyone not consider the feelings of the old Penang Fort up north?!?!?!

All it wanted was a little bit of attention!

But nooo…. Kota A Famosa gets all the fame and tourists all flock there to see one wall.

That’s right… ONE WALL…

Whereas Fort Cornwallis up in Penang has a BIG STATUE of Francis Light!

Guns and Hats for us to wear!

Lots and lots of prison to lock up bad people!

And four walls.

That’s right… NOT ONE… NOT TWO… NOT THREE… FOUR #*&*ING WALLS!!!!

And CANNONS too.

Not just ONE or two cannons.

A MILLION OF THEM… ENOUGH TO SHOOT DOWN THAT NAVY SHIP AT SEA!!!
So why does nobody care about Fort Cornwallis?

Is it because it has MORE than ONE WALL???

NO!

Is it because the Fort has NEVER seen battle before ever in its history?

NO!

IT’S BECAUSE OF THE DAMN CHAR KWAY TEOW!When tourists come to Penang… what do they come for?

They come BLINDED BY THE FOOD and NOTHING ELSE!!!

All that FOOD OVERSHADOWS our history and the existence of our FORT CORNWALLIS!!!

Shame on you Penangites for making such good Char Kway Teow.
One day… ONE DAY if our shores are invaded by an army of imaginary armoured monkeys shall you learn to appreciate our dear Fort Cornwallis.

If that day ever comes… I jom this cannon ok?I like this cannon. Can roll wan.

The rest of you can go fight for the other cannons.

I’m taking this one.

I was gonna write about a BIG ASS Plasma TV that I saw in KLCC. I had it all typed out and saved in the draft but I found out Nicole beat me to it two days ago!!! ARGH!!!! NICOLE!!!!!

Anyway…

Kenny was down in KL this weekend.

I had to meet up with him to pass him something so we decided to have Sunday lunch at our favourite Pan Mee place.
Since Kenny was around, I decided to call perhaps a couple more bloggers.

Somehow those few more bloggers called some other bloggers and we ended up with a small meet with some of Malaysia’s Top Bloggers and Nuffnang staff.

I guess one of the benefits of working at Nuffnang is at some point or another, you’ll probably meet some of the famous bloggers in Malaysia or Singapore.

Almost as good or even better than the famous one at Kin Kin.

So all of us decided to meet up there.

There was…
Seated on my left there was (from left) KY, Nicholas, Suanie and Cheeserland.

Seated on my right was (from left) Skyler, Pink Pau and Samantha.It’s nice to have Samantha around because for all of you who may or may not know… Samantha is the one who approves all the cheques for HSBC to send out each month.

Nuffnang sends out over a hundred cheques each month in Malaysia alone (not counting Singapore), and Samantha is in charge of making sure everyone gets their cheques at the right time.

And seated in front of me is… Mr Kenny Sia.

Now some might wonder what these top bloggers talk about when they meet up for lunch.

Well.. a little bit about Nuffnang, a little bit about the Innit Community… a little bit about work… but mostly casual fun things most normal people talk about.
Of course… we also make sure we have some content to blog about after our lunch so I asked everyone to make a face so I could all take their pictures and put it up on my blog.

So here’s Pink Pau’s.
Nicholas’s

Skyler’sKenny’s

Samantha’s
Cheeserland’s.

And Suanie!
Oh and lets not forget KY.

Speaking of KY.

He told us the most disgusting riddle of the day.
The riddle goes
“Knife can cut meat… what can meat cut”.

The first reaction was from Skyler who said
“Is this something pervertic?”

And Ky said
“No lah… it’s something really normal”.

Naturally we all couldn’t figure out what the answer was so finally Ky said
“Meat can cut Shit”.

All of us gave a very blur look… similar to the look Samantha gives when she’s confused.So Ky went on to explain
“Well when you’re on the toilet shitting.. at some point your butt would have to cut off the shit right? Like it or not.. you do it every day!”

Everyone went
“EWWWWWWWWwwwwwww!!!!!”

Except for me who went
“HAHAHAHAHAHAAHHhahahaha… wait… wait… I mean… EWWWWW!!!!!”

At least ONCE in his lifetime, every man… will have to experience shopping with a girl.

Many people somehow think that my life is really interesting, that I go through a lot of very fun things and adventures for the nature of what I do for a living.

The truth is… yes… there are a lot of things that happen to me and it’s a rather fun life.. but the sad part is… much of it are things that I can’t blog about.

*SNIFF*

So there are times like tonight when I actually run out of things to write…

It sucks to be a guy blogger doesn’t it?

I mean… it really REALLY sucks…

Why?

Well if I were a girl blogger… and I run out of things to do.

All I would have to do is whip out my camera….

and snap pictures of myself

over and over again.

And just post them up.again
and again.“PICTURES ALL STOLEN FROM SUET LI’S BLOG WITHOUT HER PERMISSION BWAHAHAHA”

And my readers would LOVE it … why?

Because I’m all hot and sexy and they love it when I camwhore… almost as much as they love it when I spend time to write my intelligent entries.

It reminds me of the time Kenny Sia pimped me.

It’s almost every blogger’s wet dream to be pimped by Kenny Sia… I mean why not… the minute Kenny touches you on his blog, your traffic will shoot up by the thousands in a day.

One day, Nicole messaged me on MSN
“Your traffic must be through the roof right now”.

I replied
“Huh? REALLY? Why?”

She couldn’t wait to break the truth to me.
“Kenny pimped you.“

So excited like a little Japanese school girl I called up my blog stats and looked at the referrals I had. I was imagining my stats to show a chart that spiked up like that.

I was so excited!!!

I mean there I was about to see for the first time ever… my traffic go through the roof.

Once I pulled up the stats, I took a good look and I couldn’t believe my eyes.

So I put on my glasses and peered really really close to the screen.. wondering if I got the number right.And the number WAS right.

Of the tens of thousands of people that read Kenny’s blog each day… do you know how many of them clicked on my link there to visit my blog?

ELEVEN

Yes… eleven. Not Eleven hundred… not Eleven Thousand… not Eleven hundred thousand.

ELEVEN

I couldn’t believe it!!! Why? What was it about my name that nobody wanted to click on?

Until someone brought this up.
“Tim… in Kenny’s blog you’re listed along with Nicole, Pink Pau and IcyQueenGoddess… with 3 other girls… do you think ANYBODY WILL CLICK ON TIMOTHY?!.”And it made sense.

So the next thing I know, word got around and Kenny heard about this joke so being the guy with a sense of humour, the next time Kenny posted me on his blog he had the caption with a picture of us saying
“Me and sexyshortskirt”, linking my blog to sexyshortskirt.

You know maybe if some guys think that sexyshortskirt is a nick used by a female blogger they might click on it right?
Well… IT WORKED!!!

I MEAN…

IT REALLY REALLY WORKED!!!

The number of referrals from Kenny’s blog had a more than 50% increase from the day before… from 11 to…..

*drum roll please*

EIGHTEEN!!!

*Sigh*

It does suck to be a guy blogger doesn’t it? (Unless of course you have a great sense of humour like Kenny)

Anyone else feel my pain?
PS: Kenny…I never really got to thanking you for pimping me twice a few months back… so thank you Kenny. There… I pimp you back now… (Ishh…. not like you’ll feel it).