and for the future, please go to rockybru.com.my. Somewhere in the deep recesses of Interim Committee of All-Blogs Prez Datuk Ahirudin Attan I hear echoes of reaching the higher realms of dreamland within striking distance of Putrajaya for BUM2011, and all Desi can see in his surreal world the past weeks was/is/will be accompanied by the theme song from Dr Zhivago's : "Somewhere my love there will be songs to sing, Although the snow covers the hopes of spring..." I don't know why...
At BUM2010 (see aMore at bum2010.wordpress.com...) at a homey abode, a tribe of Bloggers, both socio-political like Desi and DonPlayPuks, and non-, like adapted handles aweOFhelen, "princess" Primrose, et al (a short often used by lawyers -- and I read somewhere you make an excellent Blogger if you also sit near the Bar! -- often undertake an annual challenge, but in my eyes more a pilgrimage to refresh ourselves in wells of hope and idealism for a one-day outing named Bloggers Universe Malaysia, evolved from virginal Bloggers United Malaysia. It's oft said that as individuals, we are weak, but when banded together, we can make a substantive difference, hopefully, to make Malaysia a better place. Hence, the "Theme: Bloggers - Moving Malaysia Forward". That as chair for four years, I believe my fellow organising committee members come back, like little Oliver and Olivia, "asking for more", though I add one members had dared voice her pastry thought allowed, ala Malaysian blogospheric taiko Jeff Ooi: "I think Desi you have a masochistic streak taking on such a stressful assignment."
It all started when Howsy, then a PhD student based in London, floated the idea of a social gathering -- throw in tehtarik, some e-roti-c canai and steaks of satay, and satu lagi tt, kurang manis! -- the gathering bloomed and balloooned into more than 100 tables for ten each. Mainly because that guy called Desi, full of ignoramus gung-ho spirit, and half drunk on rut bir, got diverted into a dreamland named Lake View Club. And a media crony named Lee CH and his Boss of more than a decade -- won't name him here, but he has been extremely supportive and generous to throw in one lamb for the inaugural because they must have heard we grew up humming Mary had a little lamb, who unfortunately in the neighbourhood of "rogue" Bloggers -- more like blogheads! -- misled the poor animal astray to Warren Buffet's table. The gerosity flowed to two for BUM2008 and three for BUM2009, and some sour grapes made an issue of "three lambs" marching to Subang Jaya from a neighbouring country. And virginal commenter at bum4msia.wordpress.com revived Desi's nightmare, posing the challenge, unspoken:
++++ "'Sei'" check, izzzzit?"
+++plus+: in Kantonis represent the numeral "four" and the traditionalists believe it's "bad" fortune. But blardy writHers like Desi -- poet-aSspirant summore, as stated in his hi-profile! -- continue to challenge feng (the wind) and sui (the water) because as a BUMmer, you must be a contrarian, like Mary-lah,always going against the grain. Otherwise, life is so boring, rite? And dear esteemed readers, that's a rhetorical question; I picture myself back at the rostrum wreaking havoc at the audience of100 to 200 -- sorry I ain't no mathematician or reporter yesterday, when all my troubles luckily Beatles inspired went so far away! -- some who weren't even present and dared ask: "Why-lah you have mostly speakers who ain't qualified, and cannot deliver?"
Yeah, one insight I meant to share as Organising Committee (OC) chair, but did not because I feared my time over-running was: Did you know that even one day before D-day (Friday, May 21) and two days prior (Thursday), I still had to amend the panellists, by deleting one, and not including wan, respectively? And my great regret was just thee days before May 22, my good and reliable and constant speaker who never said "no" for the past three outings, had to take leave because of an "urgent outstation assignment". Thanks Citizen Nadeswaran anway for your constant support; I must thank a newshound buddy Ms Wng Choon Mei for coming to my rescue at short notice to join the panel; and also more thanks to "Big Dog" who answered my SOS call just 30minutes before the Media session started -- it became a sort of "fifth estater" enhancing the input-value about the MSM, the 4th estate!
So as the Bard -- were he to sit as chair, would smile: "All's well that ends wellA!" Desi once a w'ile would like to show off he can quote from the greatest writer ever lived -- did I say more than once that sometimes the lessermortals claimfame by association. If I fell back on my DDC -- which stands for Da Desi Code, using lots of tongue and blogspeak only desiphered by these blogheads -- I would use "aRsEsciaton" but many BUM attendees hail from civil society, so this host'd refrain. (BTW, which is 'by the way' for Blog novices hear/here!, I trained for more than a decade at a diplomatic mission in KL:)
I must thank the Selangor MB's office and the Ministry of FT and Urban Wellbeing for their RM10,000 each as a gesture of support for BUM2010, and also helped the organisers achieve that "balance" many critics have been lambasting the OC about previous BUM affairs, accusing us of lacking "the balance" in terms of representation from both sides of the political divide. The sponsirship also partly explains the generosity of the BUM OC's gift of a free T-shirt which was of limited edition at BUM2009 and became a collector's item. Just a whisper **here/hear: I fopped off on a DPP last year's T, for 300, but he handed me the dough in an envelope, and I later discovered the currency was in Rupiah! Did I digress too ***much/mush?
NB: *** mush and **hear would qualify as DDC. I'm educating my expected tsumic arrival of new readers as a result of BUM2010; then I can fop off my Midnight Voices blog for 20million. I was told that there's a sucker born every nano-scond, no more every day, since the advent of the Internet.
I had urged the audience to take up blogging because one privilege you can always abuse is to "digress"from the subject.You are king on home turf, yes! So you B2B -- which stands for BUMmer or Blogger To Be, or not to be, that's your question...)
So back to yesterday, I must thank all the esteemed speakers who volunteered the time, and more importantly their ideas and thoughts with fellow countrymen and women, so that we can banter and debate with no malice, but in candour. I quote from panellist Sdr Dr Dzul A, and methinks he's paraphrasing VOLTAIRE's credo which without fail I had prefaced my chair's parting: "I may disagree with what you say but I will defend, to the death, your right to say it." I shall engage the Islamist democrat more, and aMore,on a topic based on a knotty question I had asked of him relating to religion-based political parties. Always an optimist, dare I challenge -- at BUM2011 maybe? That challenge is actually meant for brother Rocky who was referred to by our VIP minister-guest as a"millionaire-blogger". I did not have the op at tea time -- or more likely the lack of guts -- to ask the esteemed Menteri to elaborate on what he wanted to mean!
Chow!
Which can mean~~~
See you again later,
OR
Come, let's eat,
I had quietly tapau-ed *one/wan leg/kaki of the lamb!
PS: Lust night I intimated maybe next May for BUM2011 we may meet in the Bahamas, rimes wit' BUMmers ma and pa! Actually I originally wished for CASABLANCA, but that would be too nostalgic for Desi, and mGf KimQ says his BUD-get doesn't allow it!; afterwards we jom at Ricks cafe, K. But on immediate basis,Desi's invite to the supporters who parted wit' RM60 each to make the event highly successful -- by my standdard OK! -- within this FurongKnight's budGET, let's jom so-ON at Temiang Corner, then Jom2 to Butterfry Varrey...
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