2008

In a few days, the year 2008 will be over. I have mixed feelings about 2008, I mean it's the one year of my life that I felt so much has happened. This entry is to remember what I did in 2008.

In 2008.

1. Gave a speech in January at the National Entrepreneurs Convention in PWTC to a crowd of 500 young aspiring entrepreneurs.

It was the first time I had spoken to such a big crowd but the crowd was if anything really really accommodating. I didn't think I did a good job but after the speech a number of people came up to me to tell me that they enjoyed my speech and they found the story of Nuffnang some sort inspiring. 

I'm glad I was able to inspire a few people here and there to do bigger things than I have managed to do myself.

2. Bought a RM1,000 bottle of water for charity.

I had never spent so much money on a bottle of water before. The funny thing though is that once I got the bottle I immediately opened it to take a drink. In fact I was so thirsty I gulped half the bottle down. 

The people around me gave me the biggest GASP like I had just killed a chicken or something and that I should be drinking it like you drink a RM1,000 bottle of wine. Here's the real joke, after drinking half the bottle away, I accidentally left it somewhere and went home so I totally lost this RM1,000 bottle of water.

3. Scratched my cornea on more than one occasion. 

If you're asking for the most pain I've experienced in 2008, it's got to be from my scratched cornea. Talk about sharp and sudden pain, then couple it with the fact that you can't open both your eyes for a 4-5 days until your cornea heals again.

I considered putting on a helmet when I sleep to prevent me from rubbing my eyes in the middle of the night.

But I later realized that I was actually suffering from a Recurrent Corneal Erosion where because my healed cornea was weak and because morning dryness would cause my eyelid to stick to my cornea, when morning comes and I open my eyes it rips off my cornea with it. 

Went for an operation the same year where the doctor lasered my eyes and I had to be awake to see the whole thing. The operation seems to have cured it so far *Fingers crossed*.

4. Celebrated the Nuffnang 1st Anniversary along with 300 Nuffnangers at the Nuffnang Chipster Pajama Party.

Probably one of the best parties I had ever been to in my life! 

I remember standing in the crowd by the side of the stage looking at the big crowd and smiling at the Nuffnang community of bloggers having fun and going wild.

5. Signed the weirdest autograph I ever had to sign: On Adrian's tit.

6. Watched Chelsea play Malaysia at Shah Alam Stadium. 

Actually found myself supporting the Malaysian team for the first time eventhough everybody knew that chances are we would lose.

Still.. I thought the Malaysian team fought hard!

7. Traveled to Bangkok, Vancouver, Manila, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Macau. 

Some for leisure.

and some for work.

8. Gave a speech at the Malaysian Media Conference about Nuffnang. 

I gave many speeches during the year but this was probably the most stressful of all for me because the audience were all industry leaders, CEOs of listed companies and very very important people in the media industry.

9. Moved the Nuffnang KL team into a new office. 

Always conscious about costs, we took the longest time ever to actually move out of our old tiny office in the same building until we were totally sure that we can support the rent that costs multiples more.

10. Appeared in a number of magazines and newspapers.

11. Expanded Nuffnang to the Philippines.

One of my favourite moments of 2008 is having the opportunity to expand Nuffnang beyond Malaysia and Singapore to the Philippines. 

I feel so blessed having met our partners for Nuffnang PH: Eric and Jay and even more blessed to have such a capable team of Nuffies there to run the show.

12. Put up the first Nuffnang Outdoor Ad in Manila.

I never got to see our ad on the giant LED board but one of the Nuffies there were nice enough to send me a video of it.

13. Expanded Nuffnang to Australia

While I was busy with Nuffnang Philippines, Ming led the expansion in Nuffnang Australia with the opening of our Melbourne Office.

As of December 2008, the Nuffnang Community in just these four countries consist over 70,000 bloggers.

14. Embarrassed myself on TV 3 times. 

Once for the National Entrepreneurs Convention on "Hello On Two", once on NTV 7 Prime Time News and once on the NTV 7 Breakfast Show for Maxis Wild Live Blogging.

15. Then went on to embarrass myself on Radio at BFM (I never learn).

16. Grew the Nuffnang Team that I see every day and have begun to see as my extended family.

 

Looking back, 2008 was quite a year for me having gone through so much both in my personal life and in Nuffnang. When people look forward to 2009, they list down a list of things that they want to achieve in the year and sometimes even a thing or two about themselves that they want to change (ie New Year Resolutions).

The one thing I hope for in 2009 is that I will learn more as an entrepreneur. Something my father has taught me is that when doing business at such a young age, the main priority should be to learn and to experience, not necessarily to make big money. 

In fact my father believes that I shouldn't make too much money while I'm too young, he fears that will make me too comfortable to achieve my full potential when I reach the later years of my life.

When I read the biographies of many billionaires today I see that I have merely learned 1% of whatever there is to learn in order to be a successful entrepreneur. 

2008 was a year of rapid growth and expansion for Nuffnang and with that I have learned how to keep up with growth and what a growing company demands ie certain procedures, check & balances and the likes.

I have for example not yet learned how to manage a company through a bad economic recession. 

As my father always tells me

"It is only through severe adversity will you be able to differentiate the boys from the men".

This is something I think 2009 will teach me for it is the year that will see Nuffnang go through the worst economic recession the world has seen in decades. We've made preparations and we've built large cash reserves, now it's time to sail through the storm.

I can't wait to see what I will learn and how the experiences and challenges I face next year will mould me to being a better entrepreneur. 

Popcorn and drink in hand....

Here I come 2009!!!

vPost-Nuffnang Christmas Party of 2008

Last week I attended the vPost-Nuffnang Christmas Party in Singapore, along with some of the Malaysian Nuffies. It was the first large scale cross-border Nuffnang party (think Nuffnang-Chipster Pajama Party) held in Singapore for both Malaysian and Singaporean Nuffnangers in collaboration with vPost (SingPost).

Just like all other Nuffnang parties, this was a costume party. The theme was that you were supposed to dress as anything that starts with any of the letters in vPost.

So you could dress as Vendetta or a Porn Star or even Timothy Tiah (For the letter T :) ). So we ended up with some pretty interesting costumes. Let me show you guys a few pictures I took from the night.

I went as a Popstar (well actually a Korean popstar), so I dressed myself up a little bit and stole one of those giant stuffed mics I found in the Nuffnang Singapore office.

The girl next to me is Cindy from MDG, she went as Venus the Goddess of Love.

Our dear friend Kenny Sia went as an Old Man. Nobody recognized him there behind that mask. We were all queuing up to get into the event and when I told one of the bloggers in front of us that the Old Man standing next to me was Kenny Sia, he didn't believe it.

All the Nuffies went dressed as something too.

Raine went as an SIA Air Stewardess but I can't remember what Clara was supposed to be that night though. Clara please refresh my memory.


Ginny went as a Playboy Bunny and Vivian who is further to the right went as a Student. Sooo cute!


I also bumped into the famous Chipster Girl from Dweam who went as a Soccer Fan (or a Soccer Player).

Audrey went as a virgin bride and KY went as a Pirate. Not one of those Pirates of the Caribbean kind of Pirate but I think one of those Somalian pirates kind of pirate. A modern pirate.

The simplest yet one of the coolest costumes of the night though has got to be from FA who went as a.... guess what she is.

Yes... shopaholic. And all she had to do was grab loads and loads of shopping bags and carry them to the party!

The guy behind her is Jasonmumbles. He was dressed pretty normal armed with his usual camera but when I asked him what he was supposed to be he said "Photographer" (ISHHHhhhhhhh......).

The night was full of games with loads of prizes to give away with some really cool stuff that vPost managed to bring in. For example, when we all got to the party we had professional photographers take pictures of us behind the vPost-Nuffnang Christmas Party backdrop.

Then by the end of the party, everyone left with those photos printed on to official SingPost stamps. That means you actually had stamps with your photo on them and not just any stamps but stamps that you could actually use in the post office to send letters to your friends. I thought that was a pretty neat souvenir.
All and all, I gotta say the Nuffnang Singapore team did a wonderful job in putting the party to go. I myself wasn't involved so it was actually my first time going to a Nuffnang Event actually pretty much as a guest more than anything else and I actually had a lot of fun that night.

The next major Nuffnang event in Singapore is planned for March, for our 2nd Nuffnang Anniversary. The first was held in Malaysia (the Pajama Party) where we brought down 100 Nuffnangers from Singapore down to meet 200 Nuffnangers in Malaysia. I guess we're having this year's in Singapore and bringing down the Malaysian Nuffnangers.

It's still pretty much in the works so don't get your hopes up ok people?

If things go well for Nuffnang, maybe next year we'll do our 3rd Anniversary in Manila and the year after in Melbourne, Australia.

Curling Irons are EVIL *Updated

Guess what just happened not too long ago.

I got burnt by a curling iron that looks like this.
Don't ask how, don't ask why, don't even ask who it belonged to...

THESE THINGS ARE EVIL!

I've got a burn blister now for Christmas.
Yes... it hurt. I shouted so loud it sounded as if I was yelling into a huge microphone.

At first I rushed to put toothpaste on it, then once I told my dear mother that I just burnt myself she jumped and said "BUTTER BUTTER... PUT BUTTER INSTEAD TO STOP A BLISTER FROM COMING UP!!!".... so I washed off the toothpaste and put Butter.

Did it help?

Well... you tell me.

Update: I woke up this morning and realized that somewhere in my sleep last night while I was rolling around in bed or something, I burst the blister so this is how it looks like now.
I guess it's going to scar now.

I should learn how to sleep without moving around like a groundhog.

Nuffnang Christmas Lunch

It seems like we've made it a ritual where at the end of every year, we would have a Nuffnang Christmas Dinner/Lunch among the Nuffies from the KL, Singapore and Penang offices (all meaning as many of them who could make it).

The Christmas meal is also when all of us give each other our Secret Santa presents. That means weeks before the meal we are all assigned a person we're supposed to buy a Christmas Present for and on the day itself we get to give that person the present.

Always adds a lot of fun to it. Of course, so that we make sure that it's not about who buys the most expensive present, we make it a rule that the maximum cost of a present should be no more than RM100 (although Ming has broken that rule two years in a row).

This year we had our Christmas meal in this nice quaint restaurant in Singapore.

And rather than give us many long tables as would be the case in most fine dining restaurants, this restaurant gave us a nice private room with a big square table so everyone on the table can talk to everyone else.

The restaurant was a beautiful one, and the food was great but not as great as the company we had. Let me show you guys some pictures of the great Nuffies that always make me chuckle and laugh.

Here's one with Robb and Nicholas.

With Cherie, Pinky and Clara.

Firdy, Lee Meng and Hui Wen


Tim 2, Raine, Vernice and Robb again.

And Yee Hou!
And if I missed you out, like Ming then it's because I don't have your picture ok? :( But it doesn't mean you're any less important.

Ming and I both gave a good speech to the team about Nuffnang to look back at how far we have come this year but also to look forward at the mounting challenges we have ahead for next year (next year will be a difficult year).

Then Ming had a surprise for everyone, something he asked me about before but he has to take credit for actually getting it done.

He made special Parker pens for each and every Nuffie in the team with their names/nicknames engraved on it.

Mine had "Boss Stewie' engraved on it. I promised to use this pen to sign our million dollar deals from now on. Heck the pens that I've been using to date are like... free premium pens that I got from clients or some events I went for. I'm such a cheapskate when it comes to pens.

After we were done admiring our shiny new pens, we had our wonderful lunch with lots of jokes and laughter, ending with dessert.

And by the time coffee was served.... it was the time everyone was waiting for.

OPENING THE SECRET SANTA PRESENTS!!!

We took turns and went round. Basically if it was my turn to give my present to whoever I was Secret Santa to, I had to give clues on who that person is.

So say if it was Firdauz then his Secret Santa would say
"This person laughs like this: 'Hur hur hur'".

Or like when it was me my Secret Santa just pointed to the part of his face where a mole would've been if he were me.

And the presents were all given out.

Firdy got Clara for his Secret Santa and she got him a very nice customized Nike shirt with the words "Firdy" on it and with an "Afro" cartoon on it.
Pinky got this bag thingy from Vernice.

Hui Wen got a book.

Nicholas got a mug with candy in it from Firdy.

Ming got a scarf from Lee Meng.

And Yee Hou got a kinky G-String from Cherie that came equipped with an attached cock-ring.

Reminded me of the Christmas song we used to sing in school. It went like this.

"On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me, one Nintendo, two coffee mugs, three leather wallets and a G-String to keep my balls warm!"

Haha no no that was his "prank present". Cherie actually gave him one of those Nike sports bags.

Nicholas gave Vernice a pretty cool present. Two tickets to watch a Gold Class Movie for her bf and her. That means all the space you want in a cinema Vernice. Just no cuddling or hugging bf during movie times because he'll be so far away you'll be lucky if you could reach him with your toes.

But heck who wouldn't want Gold Class Tickets. Check out Raine's face when she saw Vernice take out the tickets. It looked like she was saying
"OHHH MY G...... IS THAT GOLD CLASS?!?! YOU BITCH!!! GIVE IT TO ME"

I didn't give Raine Gold Class Tickets :(

My present to her was a Lava Lamp!

Because when I think of "rain" I think of sun, so when I think of sun I think of light. So I got her a lamp! But not just any lamp! A lava lamp!

The kind of thing that is nice to have but you never really would buy with your own money because you know it's just going to be a little bit of a waste of money.

Finally after it went through everyone, it came to my turn and my Secret Santa was Robb.

Man look how excited I was about my present.

I practically ripped the wrapping paper to shreds... a disgrace to the typical Chinese family that likes to carefully remove wrapping paper and recycle it.

My present was two ready-to-play decks of Magic The Gathering cards.

Robb got that idea because he recently found out that I used to play the silly card game 10 years ago when I had barely turned a teenager.

Don't know if I'll start it again though, costs too much money and I seem to have grown out of it a little unless I play it for fun.

We ended the lovely lunch 2-3 hours later, one of the longest lunches we've ever had but even then it was cut short... why? Because a client was chasing us to have some work sent in before a deadline so we all had to rush back to the office in Singapore.
I'm looking forward to next year's Christmas Lunch and wondering how many new faces we'll be seeing there. Hopefully some of those who missed it this year will be able to make it next.

It's Christmas Eve tonight, Merry Christmas everyone!

I love this time of the year!