24.03.13
Since it was two days before the real event starts, quite a number of the local Accompanying Officers started flooding in the exhibition hall to meet up with their liaison officers (us!) to, ONE, pick up their delegate's welcome packs from the Delegate's Counter and TWO, to be briefed about the route they'll be taking with their respective international delegate so that they won't be a lost sheep.
Knowing that my AO was coming in the next day, I went to work without a specific task-to-complete in mind 'cause most of the work have been completed the few days before. So, practically I had the mindset of just walking around the hall, assisting the newbies, creating more exhibitor's lists if needed, mingling around with the newbies and filling up my camera memory space with great memories. But of course, that wasn't the case. At. All. In contrary, it was the one day that I required me to be really in full-on work mode and it quickly climbed to the top of my non-existent Busiest Day List!
Here's the lowdown of the situation.
So, remember the task I was in charge of out of the six tasks that we had to complete as soon as possible? (What six task? Read here!) When the AOs went to the delegate's counter to claim their welcome pack which carried programme booklets, delegate + AO badges and invitation cards, everything was complete except the AO badges. I was in charge of dealing with the badges so it was only logical that I was the one being hunted down and 'hammered' down by Mr. Suren, who was Head of Registration. Initially, I seriously did not believe that the badges weren't in there 'cause everything was done (colour-coordinated too, mind you!) and Amir and I checked the damn bulk of badges against the delegation list for umpteen times! So, it was near impossible, in my mind.
It wasn't until a few mad-cow-running trips, to and fro the registration hall and the organizer's office, that I sourced out the problem. The thing was, the badges were there in the Organizer's Office, but the problem started to unfold when the volunteers who put together the welcome packs the night before, didn't include the AO's badges and left them in Organizer's Office. To rot. I think by that time, I hadn't even had the time to get pissed at anybody 'cause in my head, I was just thinking "Okaaaay, solutions solutions solutions!" and "Thank God they didn't just throw the badges away!" I think I wouldn't died, if they did.
Not to throw myself a pity party, but it was such a crazy day! I skipped lunch, not that I had a filling breakfast in the morning, had to deal with pretty ruthless, I-want-them-badges-now people and my feet were practically giving up on me. Plus, I think my face was a wreck! Apologies to my fellow volunteers if I've scared you a bit or if I've been a sour Grinch to you that day. Especially to the delegate's counter peeps. The girl was flustered, tired and hungry! hahaha
I think I should stop the complaining streak. I know of some of my other counterparts who had it worse. I wouldn't want to be like some of the newbies who sat in the volunteers' room, waiting for a task to do! Waiting, is so not a friend of mine! Plus, I'll admit that once I got a chance to sit down and catch my breath in the evening, I actually enjoyed the adrenaline that whiffed through me the whole day and liked being all busy. I guess I just like the feeling of being useful, in a way :P
Just when I thought the storm was over and I survived it, life made it rain more lemons. I think there was some miscommunication that happened which led up to most of the volunteers heading home at 7pm when there was clearly more work to be done. On top of that, we got news that MINDEF, who was supposed to print out the programme booklets for the Navy delegates, left out the exhibition programmes. Which means, we had to make up the routes and print out back-up programmes for Navy delegates. Unfortunately, my delegate is in the Navy. Fortunately, Vern, being big boss, distributed the work for the newbies (who had Navy delegates) to finish up all navy booklets, in hopes that they'd know what to do come next LIMA. To train them, so called. Ahem. I thought, what are the chances of them coming back next LIMA since most of them are in their 2nd year of uni? But nevertheless, I was glad I didn't need to face the PC.
So, since they split the Navy booklet tasks to the newbies, about 10 of us leftovers had a new task to complete and that was to prepare a total of 1000 welcome packs for the opening ceremony, which consisted of a bottle of water, the LIMA overall programme, airshow schedules, a fan, earplugs and a packet of wet tissues. We organised ourselves and formed a pretty efficient working line, I'd say. Each of us played a part; the guys brought in the stock whilst the girls inserted each item into the bag. Izzat Aziz (da bawse) and the guys made the process pretty enjoyable, with their jokes and funny antics while working. We dubbed ourselves "Kilang LIMA" as we seriously felt as if we were those smooch machinery in factories, and partly because we were all slightly sleepydrunk already. Though it took out a lot of energy from us that night, but it was all worth it 'cause I knew my arm muscles were growing ;) We finished all 1000+ packs (we lost count!) by 11+pm and we got good Sheraton supper to refill our energy tanks.
This year round, the delegate I'm in charge of was the Assistant Commander-In-Chief of the Royal Thai Navy, Admiral Polawat Sirodom. It was kind of a breath of fresh air for me to actually feel a tad bit confident this time that I could pronounce his name. There were names that were just impossible to pronounce without doubt, so I'm grateful. haha So, whilst chilling out for a while at the Volunteers' Room, preparing myself for my meeting with my AO, Cdr Khairul, expected at noon, I suddenly got a call from him, asking me to meet him at a booth at Hall A right away. I sprung out of my chair at that instant.
Walking towards me so effortlessly as if he was gliding on an invisible conveyor belt, Cdr Khairul was exactly how I imagined him to be like, after having some conversations with him on the phone. He gave me the impression that he was one of those friendly sweet-looking Malay pak ciks you'll see at a kopitiam, sipping at his kopi and flipping through his newspapers with a slight furrow between his brows whilst waiting for his wife to finish up with the marketing at the local wet market. A friendly face, I'd say.
We sat at the delegate's lounge after getting the welcome pack for our delegate and I briefed him about which booths we were going to go to at what time, how long is designated for each booth and which lounge to have lunch at while the admiral have his feast at the outdoor pavilion. The admiral's assistant joined us for the second session of briefing after lunch. The admiral's assistant was this slightly chubby and bubbly man with a particular serious air that he brings. But nothing too intimidating, really. Brought them both on a mini tour of all three halls according the line-up in the programme booklet for the delegate and then they started bombarding me with questions (see picture above) which I answered a very neutral reply to each one of them, getting back to them later. The briefing and discussion ended with "See you tomorrow!" which didn't happen. Wanna know why? I'll tell you why in the next post! Hint: Najib :O
Got back to the OO once we bade our mini farewells for the day to catch my breath and chill with the girls. Everyone was pretty tired but I guess, one of the many perks of working with like-minded and fun-loving friends, is that no matter how tired and jaded you feel, laughter is just a conversation away. I swear throughout the whole LIMA prep period and even the real event days, we would somehow come back to the OO and someone would somehow or rather tell us something funny that happened to them or something hilarious that they observed, and we'd just burst into a ball of laughter. It made my whole working experience a darn enjoyable one, really.
Gup and I sat this massage session out 'cause I don't know, since I had my eczema problem, I've been really self-conscious about my flaky dry skin. So, for someone to touch or what more, massage my feet was definitely a no-go, for me. Anyways, the massage was an hour long and after that, it was a snooze party back at the motel 'cause we knew it was necessary for our jaded bodies to recharge for the official first day of LIMA the next day!
Stay tuned for my next post where I'll be giving you the insights on what happened whilst the PM was doing his tour, or what went down when the opening ceremony was going on, especially if you want to see your names mentioned, LIMA'13 volunteers! ;)
Knowing that my AO was coming in the next day, I went to work without a specific task-to-complete in mind 'cause most of the work have been completed the few days before. So, practically I had the mindset of just walking around the hall, assisting the newbies, creating more exhibitor's lists if needed, mingling around with the newbies and filling up my camera memory space with great memories. But of course, that wasn't the case. At. All. In contrary, it was the one day that I required me to be really in full-on work mode and it quickly climbed to the top of my non-existent Busiest Day List!
Here's the lowdown of the situation.
So, remember the task I was in charge of out of the six tasks that we had to complete as soon as possible? (What six task? Read here!) When the AOs went to the delegate's counter to claim their welcome pack which carried programme booklets, delegate + AO badges and invitation cards, everything was complete except the AO badges. I was in charge of dealing with the badges so it was only logical that I was the one being hunted down and 'hammered' down by Mr. Suren, who was Head of Registration. Initially, I seriously did not believe that the badges weren't in there 'cause everything was done (colour-coordinated too, mind you!) and Amir and I checked the damn bulk of badges against the delegation list for umpteen times! So, it was near impossible, in my mind.
It wasn't until a few mad-cow-running trips, to and fro the registration hall and the organizer's office, that I sourced out the problem. The thing was, the badges were there in the Organizer's Office, but the problem started to unfold when the volunteers who put together the welcome packs the night before, didn't include the AO's badges and left them in Organizer's Office. To rot. I think by that time, I hadn't even had the time to get pissed at anybody 'cause in my head, I was just thinking "Okaaaay, solutions solutions solutions!" and "Thank God they didn't just throw the badges away!" I think I wouldn't died, if they did.
Not to throw myself a pity party, but it was such a crazy day! I skipped lunch, not that I had a filling breakfast in the morning, had to deal with pretty ruthless, I-want-them-badges-now people and my feet were practically giving up on me. Plus, I think my face was a wreck! Apologies to my fellow volunteers if I've scared you a bit or if I've been a sour Grinch to you that day. Especially to the delegate's counter peeps. The girl was flustered, tired and hungry! hahaha
I think I should stop the complaining streak. I know of some of my other counterparts who had it worse. I wouldn't want to be like some of the newbies who sat in the volunteers' room, waiting for a task to do! Waiting, is so not a friend of mine! Plus, I'll admit that once I got a chance to sit down and catch my breath in the evening, I actually enjoyed the adrenaline that whiffed through me the whole day and liked being all busy. I guess I just like the feeling of being useful, in a way :P
Just when I thought the storm was over and I survived it, life made it rain more lemons. I think there was some miscommunication that happened which led up to most of the volunteers heading home at 7pm when there was clearly more work to be done. On top of that, we got news that MINDEF, who was supposed to print out the programme booklets for the Navy delegates, left out the exhibition programmes. Which means, we had to make up the routes and print out back-up programmes for Navy delegates. Unfortunately, my delegate is in the Navy. Fortunately, Vern, being big boss, distributed the work for the newbies (who had Navy delegates) to finish up all navy booklets, in hopes that they'd know what to do come next LIMA. To train them, so called. Ahem. I thought, what are the chances of them coming back next LIMA since most of them are in their 2nd year of uni? But nevertheless, I was glad I didn't need to face the PC.
So, since they split the Navy booklet tasks to the newbies, about 10 of us leftovers had a new task to complete and that was to prepare a total of 1000 welcome packs for the opening ceremony, which consisted of a bottle of water, the LIMA overall programme, airshow schedules, a fan, earplugs and a packet of wet tissues. We organised ourselves and formed a pretty efficient working line, I'd say. Each of us played a part; the guys brought in the stock whilst the girls inserted each item into the bag. Izzat Aziz (da bawse) and the guys made the process pretty enjoyable, with their jokes and funny antics while working. We dubbed ourselves "Kilang LIMA" as we seriously felt as if we were those smooch machinery in factories, and partly because we were all slightly sleepydrunk already. Though it took out a lot of energy from us that night, but it was all worth it 'cause I knew my arm muscles were growing ;) We finished all 1000+ packs (we lost count!) by 11+pm and we got good Sheraton supper to refill our energy tanks.
 |
| inside the notebook // questions to no answers |
25.03.13
This year round, the delegate I'm in charge of was the Assistant Commander-In-Chief of the Royal Thai Navy, Admiral Polawat Sirodom. It was kind of a breath of fresh air for me to actually feel a tad bit confident this time that I could pronounce his name. There were names that were just impossible to pronounce without doubt, so I'm grateful. haha So, whilst chilling out for a while at the Volunteers' Room, preparing myself for my meeting with my AO, Cdr Khairul, expected at noon, I suddenly got a call from him, asking me to meet him at a booth at Hall A right away. I sprung out of my chair at that instant.
Walking towards me so effortlessly as if he was gliding on an invisible conveyor belt, Cdr Khairul was exactly how I imagined him to be like, after having some conversations with him on the phone. He gave me the impression that he was one of those friendly sweet-looking Malay pak ciks you'll see at a kopitiam, sipping at his kopi and flipping through his newspapers with a slight furrow between his brows whilst waiting for his wife to finish up with the marketing at the local wet market. A friendly face, I'd say.
We sat at the delegate's lounge after getting the welcome pack for our delegate and I briefed him about which booths we were going to go to at what time, how long is designated for each booth and which lounge to have lunch at while the admiral have his feast at the outdoor pavilion. The admiral's assistant joined us for the second session of briefing after lunch. The admiral's assistant was this slightly chubby and bubbly man with a particular serious air that he brings. But nothing too intimidating, really. Brought them both on a mini tour of all three halls according the line-up in the programme booklet for the delegate and then they started bombarding me with questions (see picture above) which I answered a very neutral reply to each one of them, getting back to them later. The briefing and discussion ended with "See you tomorrow!" which didn't happen. Wanna know why? I'll tell you why in the next post! Hint: Najib :O
Got back to the OO once we bade our mini farewells for the day to catch my breath and chill with the girls. Everyone was pretty tired but I guess, one of the many perks of working with like-minded and fun-loving friends, is that no matter how tired and jaded you feel, laughter is just a conversation away. I swear throughout the whole LIMA prep period and even the real event days, we would somehow come back to the OO and someone would somehow or rather tell us something funny that happened to them or something hilarious that they observed, and we'd just burst into a ball of laughter. It made my whole working experience a darn enjoyable one, really.
The day ended with a good hearty meal for dinner and Nay went for her long-awaited foot massage at this quirky little place called Teratai Reflexology which is about a 5 minute walk away from our motel. It started with a half-an-hour-long foot spa which was when Nay's feet were socked in bubbling warm water. Followed by another 30min massage by a masseuse while we all utilised the free WiFi and ran along Whatsapping cute emoticons to each other when we were practically right beside each other! hahah
Gup and I sat this massage session out 'cause I don't know, since I had my eczema problem, I've been really self-conscious about my flaky dry skin. So, for someone to touch or what more, massage my feet was definitely a no-go, for me. Anyways, the massage was an hour long and after that, it was a snooze party back at the motel 'cause we knew it was necessary for our jaded bodies to recharge for the official first day of LIMA the next day!
Stay tuned for my next post where I'll be giving you the insights on what happened whilst the PM was doing his tour, or what went down when the opening ceremony was going on, especially if you want to see your names mentioned, LIMA'13 volunteers! ;)
previous LIMA'13 posts
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