Busy weekend

The exhibition in conjunction with International Women's Day went into full swing over the weekend. With more crowd anticipated, many activities were held during the weekend.

I had however promised Kerp that I'd be attending his wedding reception in Kelana Jaya, so Saturday was my off day. After all the obstacles Kerp & Pinky (his wifey) had to go through, I made it a point to attend. I still went in the morning to Kinta City Shopping Complex to help set up the Buddies booth, and once the volunteer on duty arrived and after briefing him on what to do, I left things to him.

It was about 10.20 am by the time I made a move from Ipoh. I had promised an alumni senior of mine that I'd notify her once I leave Ipoh. She wanted to pass some goodies for me to distribute to the poor HIV families under my care, and she thought it would be better if she caught me before the wedding reception. I told her I'd usually reach the Damansara Jaya exit in 2 hours, and since yesterday I needed to take the Subang exit, I told her it would probably be 2 ++ hours.

But hey, I actually made it to Subang toll in 2 hours. I stopped after the toll, and noticed there was a text message from my senior, to say that she was waiting for me by the roadside in front of the CGC building. Got from her some clothes, pillows and a pair of ladies shoes.

Then off I went to Dewan MBPJ Kelana Jaya, where the wedding reception was held. The moment I got to the parking lot, I saw Raden Galoh and her family. RG too wanted to pass 3 bags of toys to be given to the infected/affected kids under Buddies. Ahh... great! I always prefer to make my trips to KL or anywhere else more than just a single purpose trip. This time, other than getting to attend Kerp's wedding reception as promised, I also managed to get a load of stuff to be given away to the poor HIV families.

Sorry, I didn't bring my camera along to the wedding, so no pics from me. But I did get to meet quite a number of fellow bloggers, among them were Dato Rocky, Kak Ena, Kak Ton, Mat Salo, Shah, Zorro, Elviza and of course, Raden Galoh. Many of Kerp's wheelchair friends also came.

I left right after the arrival of the royal guests, HRH The Regent of Perak & his consort. (Oh, bukan tak hormat my raja, but I had already eaten and was already outside the dewan when he arrived).

By about 4.30 pm, I was already back in Ipoh. It did occur to me to just drop by Kinta City for the exhibition, but I finally decided not to. I needed some rest myself. Besides, today, the last day of the exhibition, I was on the morning shift.

But hey, I still managed to mow the lawn (yep, using my brand new "kerbau") this morning before going for the exhibition!

Together with me on the morning shift was a young "temporary" volunteer. Temporary? Well, she was interested to become a volunteer, but she will only be around until August or so, as such we can't really take her in to meet our PLHIV clients and all (due to confidentiality issues). But taking her in to help with exhibitions and awareness campaigns wouldn't be a problem at all. And it would be good exposure for her!

2 volunteers and 2 buddy bears

Right behind our table, there were handcrafts... nope, these were not made of rattan, they were actually made using recycled magazines! Anyone interested to find out more, or if you wish to order (manalah tau, nak buat bekas hantaran ke, or nak buat souvenir items ke), you may contact Rita.

Performances on stage began at about 11.30 am or so. The Pink Champion of Perak (support group for breastcancer) started off with a mime.

Then the DJ called for 5 women to come on stage for a game. The game? Since the theme of IWD is "Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities - Progress for All", the women were supposed to spell Progress for All... backwards!

Next up, JAZZERCISE!

The jazzercise instructor and her team performing.

And this was the scene when she got members of the audience to join her on stage!

Oh no, I didn't join the jazzercise! Didn't want my body to shake on stage in front of everybody! Shy lah! After all, I had my share of exercise for the day when I mowed the lawn at home earlier in the morning!

But I did join the next event called "Drum Circle" organised by KAMI. Right now I can't for the life of me remember what KAMI stands for, but it's a family support group for mental illnesses. By this time, my shift was just over, and 2 other volunteers came to our booth to take over.

Yep, that's me on stage with a kompang just waiting for instructions.

Then a few of us exchanged intruments. First the kompang, then I got to hentam the... errmm... whatever-you-call-it drum.

There were a few other performances after that, but since my shift was already over, and I figured I needed some rest after a stretch of activities for the whole week, so by 3 pm I left.

Tomorrow, after office I'd better go to my NGO center to make sure that all the reports for our coming AGM are ready to be distributed. We need to send out the notice and reports to all members ASAP as our AGM will be at the end of this month.

I'd also better check out on Halimah... if her baby has been discharged from the hospital. She did mention to me that the baby had some "jangkitan kuman", but I don't really know what kind of infection she meant.

A blog reader has also donated some money through me to be given to Lin, who needs to go through an op in early April to remove her fibroid, so I'd better make sure I pass the money to her soon so that she doesn't worry too much about her finances for the time being.

Ah yes, back to normal routine...