Hi everyone. Please read the following. This is a true story and I think we should all do what we can to help this brave girl keep her eyesight. The great thing is that she’s not trying to just ask for charity, but she is doing so much more than waiting for handouts. Please do what you can for her!

This letter was written from a friend of mine, Soo Wong, in an appeal to all her friends. I’ve pasted it verbatim because she has written about Yvonne’s appeal very well.

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Dear friends,

I am writing this to share with you all the story of 22 year old Yvonne Foong who is in need of funds for urgent Radiosurgery to save her sight.

Yvonne was diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis Type 2 (NF 2) six years ago and has undergone surgery several times since. NF 2 is a genetic disorder that makes tumors grow in the brain, spine, and along peripheral nerves.

Presently her right optic nerve tumour is inoperable as it would make her blind. Since she is deaf and her left eye is underdeveloped, the remaining sight in her right eye must be preserved. She needs Radiosurgery as soon as possible to stop the tumour from growing.

Together with her friends, she has created the Heart4Hope t-shirts and proceeds from the sale of the t-shirts help fund her healthcare. The goal behind Heart4Hope is also to spread awareness about Neurofibromatosis.

I am helping Yvonne to sell her t-shirts, Ladies have a choice of white or brown and they come in 4 sizes; S, M, L and XL while the Men t-shirts are in black; sizes S, M and L.

Your help would be most appreciated, You can place your orders for the t-shirts through me (016-2107628) or directly with Yvonne. You can also help by sharing this with your friends, relatives and associates.

For further information, please visit her website http://www.yvonnefoong.com.

Thank you very much.

Warmest regards,
Soo

I got tagged in Facebook for this. It’s really cute. I took liberties with some of the real/middle/first name thing though to get a “cooler” name… hahaha.

1. YOUR REAL NAME:
Hoo Sze Yen

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of real name plus izzle).
Szeizzle [gosh, how do you pronounce this?]

3. YOUR SPY NAME: (favorite colour and favourite animal).
Purple Dolphin [now THIS is cool!!]

4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (your middle name and street you live on/or neighborhood if it’s a number).
Sze Taman Megah [how unglamorous!!!]

5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, and first 2 letters of your first name).
HooYe or YeHoo. Take your pick.

6. YOUR SUPERHERO/CRIMINAL NAME: (your 2nd favorite colour, and favourite drink).
Blue Milo

7. YOUR IRAQI NAME: (2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, 1st letter of your last name, 2nd letter of your moms maiden name, and 3rd letter of your dads).
Zohwk [If I add the "!" in front, will it sound cooler? !Zohwk!]

8. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (parents middle names).
Hokswee [still sounds Chinese]

9 . YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one of your pets).
Black Kimoputih

10 . YOUR HOOD NAME: (first 3 of your first name, and add -iqua).
Yeniqua

[This was taken from my Notes in Facebook. Too good not to share on my blog ]

Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s supposedly because I want to know more about you, but I don’t really mind if you don’t do this note; so it’s more like I’m tagging you because I want you to know these 25 random things. Anyway, most of you’d already know most of these 25 not-entirely-random things about me.

And the main reason I’m doing this is because I got tagged by 2 people (curse you, Lyn Li and Sean. Ok not really, I love you two too) and this note is way overdue. I was supposed to complete it before the Internet became obsolete. It?s not obsolete yet (at least, I hope not) so I?m still early. In a manner of speaking.

If you do decide to this list too, remember to tag me!

1. I am an adrenaline junkie. I’ve tried bungee jumping, tandem skydiving, Zorbing, surfing, skiing and snowboarding. Dying to try paragliding, hanggliding, and those crazy roller-coasters in Disneyland. Name me an insane adrenaline-kicking activity, and I’ll be the first to sign up.

2. I love dancing. Really, really love dancing. I would like to try every dance form just once, if possible – with the exception of breakdancing and the Melbourne shuffle. But I can’t really dance to save my life.

3. …. and yet I like going for dance competitions. As in competing in them, not just watching them. It’s that adrenaline rush, I suppose.

4. I love dark chocolate. The darker the yummier. Other chocolates (milk choc, white choc) are also good, but I LOVE dark chocolate.

5. …. but I can’t stand cheapo chocolates, especially those horrible cheap fake-tasting things they sell to kids. And I don’t like Ferrerro Rocher.

6. I’m always late. I have to make a conscious effort if I ever want to be early. Tardiness seems to be part of my DNA.

7. I hate it when people try to tell me what to do, in the everyday sense. Oh, I can take instructions from my superiors and clients; that’s different. But I mean when people tell me, “You should do this…” as if they know so much more than me. There’s only one person I can take this from, and it’s not my mom, and it’s certainly not you. [The one who is, well you know who you are :-* <3 ]

8. I always like to finish what I start, in a very complete sense. If I?m taking up a course, I would try if possible to go through the entire course from beginner all the way to advanced.

9. I can?t speak any Chinese language or dialect. Enough maybe to order food, but not enough to carry on a meaningful conversation.

10. I have a civil engineering degree. But right now I?m a Science teacher in a private high school, and on the side I do website design. And prior to teaching, I was working in the IT line for a few years.

11. I?m a very technical person. I usually drive a lot of people nuts by talking about angles and parallel lines, and relate everything back to Physics as much as possible. In fact, I even look at dancing as one big Math problem (which is why I remember dance steps so well. Weird but true).

12. I?m a gadget geek!!! I love computers and the Internet. And other things with bits of electronics in them. I spend most of my money on things like computers, cameras, and the like. And I don?t like going into IT shops because I?ll be seeing too many things I want to buy but can?t afford to

13. And unlike most girls, I don?t like shopping or window shopping. I don?t like going into store after store to look for pretty clothes or just to try things on. Whenever I go shopping, I typically have a shopping list or know exactly what I need to buy, and I make a beeline for those items.

14. I don?t like my hair because it?s frizzy and wild and so hard to manage. But yet I wouldn?t trade it for anything else. I would never straighten my hair or go for a permanent perm.

15. Bad spelling drives me nuts. Bad grammar I can live with (provided I understand what’s trying to be said), and typos are forgiveable but I can’t stand bad spelling. I’ll be itching to circle the misspelt words with a thick red marker pen.

17. I love reading!! I like curling up in bed or on the couch with a really good book. Some of my favourite authors include Terry Pratchett, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Roald Dahl. And yes I also read Harry Potter.

18. … but I DON?T like reading romance novels and chick lits. And I?m proud to say that I?ve never read any. *pats self on back*

19. I?ve got scoliosis. Yeah, that was random (it IS supposed to be 25 random things). If you don?t know what that is, look it up. And I?ve also got flat feet, which is a killer when I try to walk for a long time, plus it makes dancing much harder.

20. I don?t watch much TV. But I do have a few favourite series, including Bones and Heroes. But I don?t watch them on the telly. I erm, have other sources (not stating them in case the Internet police clamp down on me).

21. I actually don?t like dressing up. I?m most comfortable in a T-shirt, sweat pants, and sports shoes.

22. I?m not the type who can sit still. I like to be doing something all the time. Idleness drives me nuts.

23. I don?t believe in ?dieting?. I have never dieted or starved myself in a bid to achieve ?beauty?. When I put on weight, I usually go, ?Oh well.? And somehow that extra weight usually goes off by itself eventually.

24. I can say the alphabet backward. And no, I never practised. It’s just that I know the position of each letter in the alphabet without much effort; name me a letter and I can tell you which letters come before and after it without much thought. One day I decided to test myself and found that I could rattle the alphabet from Z to A without pausing much. I think it’s because I saw the alphabet as a big Math problem. Yeah yeah, I’m weird that way.

25. By the way, did anyone notice I skipped #16? Waahaahaa….

OMG. I actually typed up the entire post and THEN Firefox tells me it fails!!!

So I have to retype everything. Here goes.

I went to Bali over the CNY holidays with my sister. It was nice, but it was really HOT. At first we planned to stay 2 nights in Kuta and 2 nights in Ubud; but we changed our minds when we went on a local tour.

We booked this tour for our second day through a brochure we found at our hotel on the first day; and this tour took us to many places throughout Kuta and Ubud. I was surprised at how much we could cram in one day; but then there wasn’t that much to see in each place. We watched the famous Barong and Kris dance (a one-hour performance on a local legend) which was a bit lost on us in spite of the paper handout with the synopsis – it wasn’t all that entertaining anyway. We also saw the silversmith (which gave us an explanation on how handmade silver jewelry was made) and the woodcarver (and a bref explanation about the different types of wood used) – both of which were just excuses for us to buy things to provide commission for our guides.

We saw the Tegenungan waterfall, and had lunch overlooking the Mt Kintamani volcano. We also had a stop at the spice garden where we were served welcome drinks of hot chocolate and ginger tea (and where my sister was kinda goaded into buying the hot chocolate and ginger tea powder mixes). We took a look at the monkey forest in Ubud, the elephant cave in Bedulu, took photos of the rice terrace, and finished off looking at Tanah Lot.

Sounds like a lot, right? We managed to cram all that in one day because we didn’t spend more than a few minutes at each stop. There wasn’t really much to see anyway.

Because of what little we saw in Ubud, we changed our plans and decided to stay in Kuta for all 4 nights. Ubud was a fine art village, but neither my sister and I are artsy persons. And there was no beach!

The third day was spent walking along most of the streets looking at shops, and hunting for different places to try to eat. Indonesian cuisine isn’t very fascinating. It’s similar to Malaysian food (except for their famous babi guling, of course), except that Malaysian food tastes way better.

I got my hair braided and nails painted on the beach. My sister and I also tried the Balinese massage. It was really good!!

I wanted to go surfing on the third day, but there wasn’t much time so I had to do it on the fourth day. I managed to stay on the surf board all the way to the beach on my first attempt… and last attempt!! I kept falling with all the attempts in between. I didn’t mind the falling. It was the salt water getting into my eyes, nose and mouth that I didn’t like.

My first attempt at surfing, caught in video. Yay, me! Yeah I know it’s not very graceful but bear in mind it’s my first time, and I hadn’t even learnt to steer.

Oh, and I got a pretty bad sunburn because I didn’t wear a wetsuit. I did put on sunblock, but at high noon it was of course not enough. Fortunately I only tried surfing for two hours. If it was the whole day I don’t think I’d have been able to walk thereafter due to the burn.

Couldn’t sleep well that night because there was kinda like a furnace under my skin. In fact I suffered the next few nights, but fortunately I was home by then. Now I’m peeling like an onion. Ugh.

What I didn’t really like about Bali was how aggressive the hawkers can get. There were plenty of “independent” hawkers… like when we went on the tour, a lot of the stops we made had many people selling useless trinkets and they taught their children to run up to us and wave them at our faces. And they’re relentless. Even when we say NO and we’ve gotten back into the car and shut the doors, they’d still wave them at us through the window.

Even along the streets, the hawkers would make catcalls, and someone even offered to be our giggolo (ugh!!!). And on the beach, there were plenty of freelance surf teachers, masseurs, hairbraiders, nail-painters (calling them manicurists/pedicurists would be a crime against nail art!!!), and temporary tattoo-ists who often harangue and shove their services in our faces, even to the point of touching us and grabbing our arms. It was enough to spoil the beach, which was actually quite pretty. It certainly didn’t make us stay to enjoy the beauty of nature; we always felt like leaving so that we could be left in peace.

Click on the photos below to view my photo album for the trip. There were actually 1100+ photos/videos on my camera and 480+ photos on my sister’s camera but I figured no one would have the patience to go through them all online… so I only uploaded the most interesting

Monkey faces!!! (Bali Album 1)

Kiss kiss! (Bali Album 2)

Oh, and while we’re on the subject, here are my Bali travel tips! Bear in mind that they only apply to Kuta because that’s the only place I went to (the rest don’t really count because they were part of the tour).

1. Pack light. You don’t have to pack enough clothes for the entire duration of the trip. There are plenty of stalls selling cheap great-looking clothes that are suitable for the local weather – which you are sure to buy at least one!
2. Be wary of your bags. Lock up all outside pockets on your bags which you check in. It’s been known that drugs have been slipped into unsuspecting bags. Like Malaysia and Singapore, drug-smuggling is a crime punishable by death in Indonesia. You don’t want to have your head on the chopping block when you’re innocent!
3. Another reason to watch your bags: at the airport, porters will help themselves to your bags and carry/wheel them for you from the luggage carousel to outside the barrier (barely 10 feet away), and then have the cheek to ask you for a tip. If you have no objections to providing a tip for this unnecessary help, by all means go ahead. Otherwise, take your bags BEFORE anyone moves them. Even if someone’s already carrying them, take them firmly from him. I was nearly a victim; and I did not see the need to pay a tip for such little exertion! I only had one really light bag that I could manage on my own, thank you very much. By the way, this doesn’t only happen in Indonesia, it happens in many undeveloped countries too.
4. Indonesia charges IDR150,000 per person for airport tax, so be sure you have enough cash. No one told my sister and me this (not even her faithful Lonely Planet book… or maybe she missed that part) and there weren’t even signboards in the airport except at the very counter we were supposed to pay at (at the entrance of immigration). Luckily my sister had enough cash on her to pay for us both … I had very little rupiahs left!
5. The prices of items in the stalls are not fixed. I find that most hawkers pluck a value from the air when you ask them how much an item costs, and it’s rarely anywhere near what it’s worth. If you want to buy something, bargain, and bargain hard. Keep in mind that you should be aiming to pay less than half the original amount quoted, so always start off with a value less than that. However if the value you quoted is really too low, the hawkers usually won’t even try bargaining. If you’re unable to reach an agreed price, don’t go back!!! The price will be jacked up even more. Be prepared to walk away; if the hawker is desperate, he’ll agree to your price. Also, never let a hawker bully you into accepting a price you didn’t agree on. There’s a tactic I’ve noticed a lot of hawkers use by suddenly saying “OK” and they start wrapping up the item even though you haven’t agreed on a price yet. I always had to stop them to find out what this “OK” price was. If you don’t agree on the price, walk away; I find that they end up agreeing to my price in the end.
6. If you have agreed on a price, honour your end by paying!! Never change your mind and say you don’t want it after all. I have never experienced this for myself, but I’ve heard that in Thailand, whenever a customer backs out, ALL the hawkers (even from the other stalls) gang up and beat the customer up. I’m pretty sure the same happens in Indonesia too. Be fair to them; they make their living by selling through bargaining, and if customers don’t honour their end of the bargain, they can’t survive.
7. Wear a wetsuit when you go surfing!!! Don’t be an idiot like me. It’s no fun not being able to sleep at night for the pain in your back, and my skin is shedding like a snake. Actually, more like an onion, cuz it comes off in bits of dead skin. Snakes shed their skin whole.
8. [Added 2 Mar 2009] I can’t believe I forgot to add this: BRING YOUR OWN SOAP AND SHAMPOO! Most hotels and even lodges provide soap and shampoo and towels… but not in Bali. If you’re lucky, the hotel or inn you’re staying at will provide towels, but nothing more. They don’t even have liquid soap. So make sure you bring your own soap and shampoo. While you’re at it, bring your own towel too. Just in case. Trust me – we went around enquiring at the other budget hotels.