#bratsthrowback

Why hello there, I'll 'try' my best not to make this post cheesy, as we only need cheese on pizza and burgers. Nothing else. Well, maybe a lil on this post as well..

I arrived at the BRATs camp with zero expectation, I mean, it wouldn't be any different from the camp we can get outside, right? With the bus trips and all. And when I arrived at the hotel, I was really overwhelmed by the participants because they were all talking to each other as if they known each other for YEARS. And for someone who tend to start out every single event attended as being a social inept, found it hard to make friends, I honestly thought I would be, like alone, throughout the whole camp.

And that was until I met (?) Team Not Lembab. (Yes, I was the one who gave our group the name. #pride) No offence, but let's be very honest, I could count at the top of my fingers the people I didn't like amongst the group within the second I got grouped together with them. (You know I love you guys so much now right?) After our first interview with Samuel #1 (the photographer), I tolerated them a lil more, I guess, seeing that we had to work together for our next assignment. 

On the second day, we bonded over the despair in the Chang Jiang White Coffee assignment (we all know what happened. *sigh*) And that was when the trust kicked in and I was more comfortable talking to them and voicing my opinions.

Well, the third day was just history as we worked quite well. We had the Kuala Sangga assignment and, Jane and I must agree, that Tiger Bites Lion is the best. drink. ever! Well, the third night was dope, man. I mean, who knew Jonathan could lead us run through a limbo-dance thingy. If you've got a chance, you've got to see Sharm jam to some songs. It was epic! And, to the other teams who stared at us in awe when we handed in our assignments on time, I'm sorry but that's how we rolllllllllllllllllllllll.

Forth day, well, it was sad. Yet happy. I don't know. I never knew how to express myself with all these mushy mushy feelings. When it ended, not a single tear was shed, because that wasn't a goodbye, it's a start to the road of being a BRAT. That means more meetups. And more 'HUAT AH!' sessions. And more scream-shouting lyrics on the bus! (x

I would like to give a shout-out to Team Not Lembab's leader, Susheena, for being a great leader. You've a bright future, my friend. Aina and Marissa, for being an awesome camera crew. The pictures and videos wouldn't have been as great as it is without you guys! The Fab Four, for being fab and for all the puns and laughs and teh tarik and everything else that came with it. Janessa, for being there and helping me. I am terrible friend, I know. You should NEVER trust me in writing an article alone HAHA. Sun-Xin and Shan De, for simply just being there. You guys are silently loud. Rachel, for giving us the stare when we were being overboard and overload. That kept The Fab Four sane. (actually not really, The Fab Four never stops partying). Alex, for awesome captions, and forming my fav OTP. (#JOLEX) Samuel #3 (the participant) , for being serious. Very serious. Thurga, for being smiley and friendly. It was never tough to approach you. Ian and Sharm, for being serious when it's time to be serious, for being fun when it's time to be fun. Danielle, Jonathan, Samuel #2 (the senior), Kamila, thanks for checking our work constantly and not grumble when we need help. Samuel #1 (the photographer), for taking awesome pictures of us having fun! Jason, for educating us on techniques for photography. I laughed at my dad when he claim that phone photography isn't near as good as a proper digital camera. Vivienne (oh gosh i don't know how to spell her name, sorry, Vivienne), for being epic. She's just so silently strong. I admire her for that. All the innocent MH Hotel staff who had to witness our insanity while working and partying. (I think Team Not Lembab have rad partying skills!) I must say, I was shocked when they didn't kick us outta the hotel. LOL. And last but not least, all the people we've interviewed, without them, we wouldn't have done 2 videos, 2 photo essays and 6 articles that were all approved by Ian and Sharm. (let's hope they are all approved. *fingers crossed*)

One thing I've learnt from BRATs, or shall I say, learnt from Team Not Lembab is the work hard, play hard term doesn't work, for us. You should totally mix work with fun. The outcome is spectacular (;

Sorry if I insulted or offended you in any way throughout the camp or even in this post, I'm just being completely honest. And sorry to Samuel #2 (the senior), for dragging him into joining us dance when he just doesn't wanna dance. And to Sharm, I DID NOT INTEND TO BREAK YOUR TOE. And to all grammar Nazis, sorry for having grammar mistakes and typos. 

HOLY HEY HEY HEY HOLY HEY AH HEY AH HEY! 

Honestly, I would've just loved to say "Whatever Vincent said", because honestly, what he said was quite accurate for me, but honestly, I didn't think many would approve.

Just fyi, when I keep saying honestly, it shows I'm nervous.

BRATs has been awesome for me. Heck, "awesome" is like the understatement of the year. It was everything I never expected it to be, but in a good way. I've been to many camps and workshops before, but never one as fun as this. Like, serious fun. Camps are usually grueling hard physical and mental torture. I mean, they deprive you of sleep and expect you to rush around doing this and that and all kind of stuff. I do NOT appreciate sleep deprivation. I'm not saying BRATs is different from that aspect, but BRATs has a bonus element of fun that makes all the hard work and lack of sleep worth it. It makes you forget that you're working, forget your tiredness and that you're supposed to be frowning at your workload. We don't just "work hard, play hard",  for us work flows into play and play flows into work. There's no timetable for us, no "Time to work!" or "Time to play!", just having fun as you work and working hard as you play.

The best thing? The friends. The supermegawesome friends I made at BRATs, that now give me a reason to go on Facebook. (Yes, honestly, my life was just that sad back then.) I mean, with me being always so weird and sometimes to the point of awkwardness(you guys from BRATs Ipoh know what I mean), I don't really have many friends. Other people just don't appreciate my kind of normality. But you bunch of awesome people(ie. Louisa, Vincent, Alex, Susheena, Isabelle, Shande, Aina, Samuel, Cassandra, Grace, Rachel(s)......I'll probably just crowd up this post with names) just accepted me(kind of) and had fun with me and messed around and was just plain old normal weird. You have no idea how much that means to me. Unless you were me, of course. Then you would understand. Also, before I forget, I need to thank most of you for having such memorable names that I actually remembered them. That in itself is a feat.

Even the seniors(Danielle, Jonathan, Samuel #2, Siti and...... was Vivian a senior or a mentor?) and mentors(Ian, Sharm and Samuel #3. Oh, and also Jason) were awesome and great fun. (Right, at this point I should start substituting "awesome" with something equally awes---I mean, wonderful) The seniors were very friendly but also strict enough to ensure we hand in our assignments on time(well, that's referring to the second dateline), and some of them was hyper enough to make things funny. *cough* Jon- *cough* -athan. Danielle and Vivian were wonderful in that chatty and cool way. Siti and Samuel were more quiet, but hey, who says you can't be quiet at the same time that you are friendly and helpful? 

Then we have the mentors. For the first time in my life, I see TWO mentors who are about as crazy as......well, everyone at BRATs, really. They're not the kind who go all strict and I-will-scold-and-humiliate-you-should-one-teeny-toe-ever-step-out-of-line on us. The Ian and Sharm duo are really the kind of mentor that actually makes you look forward to the next time we gather around for a "lecture". Sam and Jason were great in explaining the art of photography (Sam is more kind of "when you ask"), but as we only saw Jason for one day, and Sam mostly just ghosted around taking photos, I can really only comment from what I do know of them. Which is awesome! (That word is out again. Damn)

Oh, yeah, and I think I should thank those people we met on our assignments too, regardless of whether they see this or not. After all, it's the thought that counts, right? So first off, here's to Mr. and Mrs. Kong and the workers from the Chang Jiang Coffee Factory for tolerating my team as we ran around like excited headless chickens(mostly at the beginning), and to Mr. Khairul and Mr. Hisham for giving us a tour of Kuala Sepetang(I swear we had never had any intentions of capsizing your boat, Hisham. We just got overexcited when we saw the pink dolphins), and to Mr. Beh of the coffee shop at Kuala Sangga(the Tiger Bites Lion is wonderful, btw). There's also the bus driver to thank for driving us around and not getting mad when we went on party mode that night we went for Lou Wong Chicken Rice(I am so sorry I did not get your name) and the MH Hotel staff who either got mad at us for getting too rambunctious or those two guys at the Pinnacle who were so amused by out dancing skills.

Yeah, I think that about sums things up. And because it was that awesome, the next time I take part in an event that is equally awesome, I'm probably gonna say that it was a "Brattily awesome" event, or something like that. I doubt I'd get to use that expression though. =(

In short, BRATs was a wonderful experience for me, and it's all thanks to you wonderful people mentioned above.

.

.

.

Oh look, however did a "I'm gonna make it short and simple, maybe just one paragraph" post turn into a "ten-paragraphs-isn't-even-enough-to-explain-everything-properly-you-can-only-understand-what-I-mean-if-you-join-BRATs" essay?

Sincerely and somewhat hyper-ly,

Jane Lee

Hi guise. This is Vincent from Team Not Lembab hijacking the starbrats account (shh don't tell anybody). Before the password changes and I get kicked out (again) I want to say a couple of things about the BRATs program in general (All good things, don't worry).

Honestly, coming in I had really, really big misgivings about the BRATs program in general. I don't work well with people, and I have real problems with the whole workshop format to begin with. So I came in with low expectations. Which is good, which means it was easy for the BRATs team to BLOW MY FREAKING MIND (which they would have anyway).

LIKE OH MA GAWD. WHERE DOES ONE START WHEN DESCRIBING THE BRATS EXPERIENCE. THERE ARE SO MANY GOOD THINGS THAT IF IT WERE LIKE HIGHLIGHTING A PAGE IT'D LOOK LIKE THIS

(credit to google images)

(I'm really bad with tumblr)

Hmm. I'd start with mah awesome group TEAMNOTLEMBAB. These people are in a word, awesome. Like maybe I didn't like some of them at first but over the course of four days and working with dancing and generally being crazy vincespired with these awesome peeps I grew to see them like extended bros and sis(sis's? sis'? what is the plural for sis anyway). Anyways these guys might not be the best or most efficent team of the bunch but they sure as hell are the most fun. Special shoutout to Sushee for doing a great job leading, Merissa for her awesome photography, the Fab Four (you know who you are) for being fabulous and cool and everyone for being BAMFs in general. DFTBA YOU GUISE <3

Of course there are the seniors. Sadly I can't name all of them (because I have the memory of a 16 y'o with alzheimers D: SORRY GUISE) but they sure as hell played a part in ensuring that our articles didn't suck were good. Of course I was a bit pissed at them sometimes for being too strict and thorough in their editing but in hindsight my work really needed that. So thanks :B

And of course who could forget our sifus brournalists teachers mentors Sharm, Ian and Sam Sr. Always ready to give us a hand and also being generally awesome (Sharm and Ian jamming to HUAT A HUAT A HUAT A is a sight to behold), they're truly some of the most awesome people I've had the pleasure to work under with. And no I'm not saying this cause I'm being paid (although now that I mention it... [ps that was a joke])

So yeah. This post was cheesy and cliched as hell but every word of it is sincere and I'm not ashamed to admit that. So, with that, let me just say that it has been a honor and a privilege, and you guys collectively kick enough ass to power the next mission to the moon and back. Stay cool and LET THE FATES TRANSPIRE THAT WE SHALL MEET AGAIN.

Now if you'll excuse me I have to punch a tiger to feel manly again after that outpouring of cheese.

I'll leave you with the highlights of our uhmayzeballs 4 days below

Sharm demonstrating how not to suck at interviewing

A factory worker at the Coffee Shop (spoilers)

Jane in workmode with Louisa 

Behind the scenes of the amazing mugshots by Merissa

Team Not Lembab: Work Mode Activate

Just another day with Jane

Ian summing up our experience on a super detailed board of journalism

Cassandra's don't-mess-with-me-face spoiled by a smiley face placard

Our amazing guide on the river tour, Mr. Khairul (again, spoilers ;D)

IS THAT? COULD IT BE? SHARM DANCING TO MAN IN THE MIRROR (YES IT IS OMG)

Brought to you by:

I would like to dedicate this post to all the facilitators to show how much I appreciate them for putting up with us brats.

Thanks for being patient with us, Ian! You shall be known for your football analogies that no one really understood. Also, I will always remember your motto: "I belong here."

Next up is Sharm! Thanks for bringing the party with you. Sorry for this not-so-flattering picture of you. I only had one. :P

Thanks seniors for helping us out in our assignments.

Without all of you, this workshop wouldn't have been such a blast. You guys are the bomb! :D