Time flies. No joke. As the semester approaches its end, so does HKSA. This Friday we had our last event of the semester - the Career Night and Election.For Career Night,we invited four speakers from different fields, such as engineering and finance, to give our members their perspectives of working in their respective field, as well as providing some general advice on finding jobs and interviews. Here I would like to, once again, thank all the speakers for sparing some of their precious time to share their experience with us. I won’t speak on behalf of our members, but for me, I did learn a lot about different career paths and know I can expand my options. And I’m definitely not changing my major. Go Berkeley engineering! XD (I know chemE is not in CoE, but, mehh, whatever)Last night was also a really significant day, because Joyce and Nelson are finally retiring as P and VP! Kudos to them for leading out team throughout the semester. And it was also time for us to elect the president and vice president for the next semester. Now I won’t bore you with the details on how the election process goes, because what’s important is the outcome right? And congratulations to Byron and Kirsten for being our president and vice-president of the next semester! I’m sure you guys won’t let us down.And with this, HKSA was done with its job for this semester. I can’t help feeling a ping of sadness, because HKSA is a huge part of my college life and it’s kinda emotional for me to see it come to an end. Hopefully next semester will be yet another challenge and sweet memories that make my life, and also yours too, more fulfilled.This is gonna be the last post by me being the Historian of Fall ‘09. I really enjoyed sharing my views and feelings on HKSA with all of you, and until next time, see ya! Goooood luck with your studies and finals! :D– [AC]Fall ‘09 Historian
Have you ever wonder how things look like when three competing teams, outburst with energy, collided head-on with one another to compete for the fabulous prize? Do you want to witness how teams pushed their creativity to the maximum when they have to finish their assigned task of singing and dancing in a short lapse of time. Welcome to – THE RACE! The mind-bobbling, adrenaline-surging and soul-enriching race around UC Berkeley campus that will guarantee to squeeze the very bit of laughter and tears from you.Right when the clock at Sather Tower struck six, the search for the ultimate winner began!
The teams must accomplish the assigned task in a given time frame. Every step they take is a race against time, against other teams. With one ultimate aim ahead of them, these teams put forth their best effort to pull through the countless obstacles. While racing with the time, the team tried their very not to succumb any blunder which could put their winning at stake.
After an intense battle between three outstanding teams the event continued with the grand final battle in which HKSA Officers and the participants in a fierce yet exhilarating battle of ‘blind chicken’. Only one team emerged as the final winner. In the misty night of California’s weather, the race was concluded with roars of applause from fellow officers and members.
Sorry guys I’ve been so busy with school stuff and midterms and all those other crap that I didn’t really have the time to blog… (and I wonder where the other historians are?!) But hey I’m back now! Updates time
So 9/11 was our K-Night. We went to Music Tunnel in the Pacific East Mall, and apparently what we did was… karaoke. We got ourselves 3 nice, cozy rooms and enjoyed the 2 hours we had a lot. I have to say there were a lot of amazing talents in the crowd that I didn’t know of. And then there were people that you just have to hear him/her sing. Just look at how Kirsten sprang up from her seat and rushed into another room when I told her Byron was about to sing.
We took a break next Friday and on Saturday (9/19) we went to the oyster farm at Tomales Bay. So apparently the spotlight was on OYSTERSSSSSS. LOTS OF THEM. And of course we didn’t only have oysters - we also have regular barbecue food. I don’t suppose you can stuff your stomach with only oysters right? Another good thing about this event was that the weather on that day was perfect. Sunny, but not too cold and the environment there was just really nice. The only downside was the 1-hour drive to the farm. Next time, I’m gonna bring more plastic bags.
FollowingOyster Farm was Game Night. Our highlight of the day - Mahjong! We had a competition with 16 people in the first round and narrowed down to 4 people in the second round. And after 2 hours of competition, we were delighted to announce our winner - Kelby! (Point of interest: He finished 2nd in our MJ competition last time. His friend Ringo, who got 2nd this time, was our winner last semester. Dude those two were just invincible) We also had a mahjong class with our own miss 山吹 (Casey was a really good teacher, honestly. I learned MJ from her). And other than MJ we had tons of other games like monopoly, aeroplane chess, card games, jenga and lots more. If you want to get to know more people and interact with new friends, this is one fo the best chances you have here.
Up next was our intern event - Mid-Autumn Jeopardy goes wild. Our interns really spent a lot of effort to reconcile the idea of jeopardy-ish game and the mid-autumn festival. For the first round, each of the 4 groups had to answer 10 compulsory questions that were 100 points each. Then for the second and third round, each group got to choose questions of different categories that worth 100-400 points. Of course, to emphasize on the festivity, there were questions related to the mid-autumn festival, and they worthed slightly more points than others. And the final round we had the ultimate jeopardy - each group had to decide out of the points they had, how many of the points were they willing to put a bet on. Then each group answer a question and the group that was most accurate won! The question: Name the 5 nuts in a mooncake. Or something like that. T__T Anyway, Wendy’s group was the ultimate winner (Grr), and the winners had wonderful prizes like our HKSA T-shirts or FREE K-CON TICKETS. Think you missed out? Oh well, there are lots of k-cons to come, so you have a lot of chances. (And even if you don’t have free tickets you SHOULD come to our show.)
And finally, last Friday we had a joint-club mixer with 5 other Asian clubs - CSA, CPU, TSA, TASA and SHKCA. We booked the area in Kip’s at Sun Hong Kong and apparently we had a very good DJ who worked in SF and Blakes on Telegraph before (woooot!). It was really nice to see everyone dress up and loosen up a bit (and a lot for some of us ) For those who were attracted by Jason Mraz at the Greek Theater instead, you certainly missed out! Next time we can trade places
*Photo courtesy of Captain*
Whew… So there’s the recap for the events we had for the last 5 weeks. Now I have to get back to homework again. I just don’t understand why I still don’t have a life even though my first wave of midterms has ended. Mehh whatever. Until next time, see ya!
Tonight was probably the best night I’ve had since school started. Before I start describing what fun we had, I want to apologize first for the sudden room change. I know many of you had trouble finding the new place, and I’m really sorry about that.
So WTH was just about lots and lots and lots of fun games. Guessing songs was a rather typical game we had, but there was this one group who got like 10 questions consecutively right (out of a total of 20), while one group got like nothing. Maybe the grouping should be adjusted a little…? But anyways it was still nothing but fun. Next we had 20 rounds of mini games in which a member from each group compete for their team, doing random stuff like peeling oranges, blowing up balloons and learning the MJ dance (Kirsten I’m looking forward to seeing your dance on youtube or something XD). Then comes the classic Big TV. A pretty easy one, eh? There was one twist though - we limited your communication with only Cantonese, Mandarin, English or just gestures. Not so easy anymore, huh?
I’m sad to announce that at the end, my team lost :(. But nonetheless all of us really had a GREAT time and the response was really positive. So we decided to carry on the hype and went to eat at Daimo near Ranch 99. People at my table were laughing like crazy because of the jokes overdose (together with some broken ones), and we found Byron’s twin! If you really want to meet his twin, come to our K-Night this Friday. He told me he’d be there
Simply a great night. Regretting you missed so much fun? Just come to our events on Fridays. They’re fun guranteed, so I’m sure you will have a really awesome time.
Finally! After a boring summer, I’m back to the times when HKSA meets every week.
Soooo first up was orientation. To be honest I was kind of stressed out about that because 1) it’s my first fall orientation! (we all know how many people got into Berkeley during the fall and so we need to woo them into HKSA. First impression matters) and 2) we were kind of slacking off and there were a little bit of hassle here and there during the preparation times. But anyways after all the drama we had our whole thing properly planned out.
For those of you who didn’t go to our orientation (which is a serious crime by the way), I’ll just do a quick recap for you. Basically we just had TV-shows-themed skits introducing our officers, Berkeley and the bay area, as well as our event. The response wasn’t as enthusiastic as I expected though. Maybe our jokes were too low…?
And for those of you who did go to our orientation and felt a little disappointed, I assure you our other events will be a lot more fun. Of course, being an officer I’m obligated to be commercial here, but speaking from personal experience, I do feel that HKSA is a fun social club that worths joining. Come to our WTH (Welcome to HKSA) tomorrow night, and I’m sure you will have TONS of fun. I know a lot of us are already swamped with school. Heck I even have pop quizzes and like 10 problem sets due already, and it’s just the first week of class. But it’s a long weekend this week, and you can certainly squeeze out some time to have fun and meet new friends right?
So hopefully I’ll see you (again) on Friday! For now, let me just get back to the annoying mastering physics…
My apologies for the delay in this blog as Valentine’s Day had passed for two weeks already…but did you really already forget all the people you’ve met that day, all the new friends you’ve made?I highly doubt so, as our games were designed to create within the participants profound impressions of each other!And to add to that atmosphere, the rain made the night even more memorable (for me, at least).But thank you, members and non-members, for showing us your support amidst the rain.
As I was only a stationmaster, and therefore have no knowledge on how the team gathering proceeded and went, I could only imagine how intense and entertaining it must’ve been, perhaps like an extended game of charades.So each team went on to their respective stations to kick off the night’s competition.At Station 1, participants were asked to get acquainted with a partner, and were then to answer as many questions about each other in a limited amount of time as possible.Station 2 was more of a physical than mental challenge – participants were required to execute different tasks, mostly to the entertainment of onlookers. xDAt Station 3, Twister awaited the challengers as they had to overcome time in spite of the many twists and turns.And lastly, Station 4 tested their willingness to approach strangers on such an occasion with a simple purpose of either taking a picture with them or getting their number.
After the four stations, we had a final race for them.Hidden away somewhere on campus were bags of chocolate toffee almonds for each respective team to locate employing the clues they were given at each station.Off they went through the rain, with Byron’s team heading in first and succeeding in winning K-Con tickets for each team member! And thus, an end to our Valentine’s Edition of The Race.
So thank you for coming to our event last, last Friday.It feels unnecessary to touch upon how discouraged we were when welcomed by the rain, but when we saw your faces, faith restored itself through your support, and we can never thank you enough.Truly.
Once again, another unexpected turn out!Might I take this chance to thoroughly thank everyone who came, everyone who spread the word, and everyone that simply enjoyed themselves last night?Honestly, it is simply not possible to express how awfully grateful I am.
Being one of minimal MJ knowledge, the MJ contestants were, to me, in their own worlds.But it’s probably the tension of their own worlds that allowed for such suspense and excitement.Underdogs clawed their ways to the finals, lessons of “expect the unexpected” were realised, and adaptability was constantly challenged as the clock gradually hit 9:30PM.Whether they walked away with a win or a loss (congratulations, Kelby!), there was no suspicion of the reason the competitors gathered: a keenness for the game of MJ.
This keenness apparently spread to others, as the table for teaching MJ was wholly surrounded.Those that gathered at the back table ingeniously improvised cards for poker chips, and everytime that I passed by, I was able to feel an air of intensity that cloaked the table and those sitting around it.Uno and Deuces games carried out in different parts of the room, and Twister, despite the lack of any domino-like tumbling of the players, was interesting to watch as the players crossed their arms and legs all over the mat.The best, without a doubt, was definitely the Jenga games that were occurring.The punishment being a song performance, the anxiety in the players’ stomachs was exposed as everyone else stopped their games to watch the players, one by one, pull and stack the wooden blocks.(I even recorded videos!Go to Nelson if you want them. XD) Charlene, one of our new interns, unfortunately felled the stack.Along with Wilkin, the previous victim, they sang the theme song of IQ博士 to the amusement of many.
So whether you competed in our MJ Competition, bet your cards as chips, or placed yourself in the spotlight as public entertainment, thank you, truly, for making Game Night as magnificent as it was!In return, I hope that all of you walked away with lightness in your steps, new friendships, and satisfaction in your decisions of coming.
I’m not too sure for the rest of you, but I know my first two weeks were a bit hectic and brain-juice demanding.And as someone who likes to sing, no matter how jarringly, K-Night was quite a nice way to finally get away from the dismal academic atmosphere that endlessly shrouds Berkeley.Fresh faces and familiar faces both attended last Friday, which allowed for much befriending, interacting, and bonding.One member even brought a deck of cards, and Deuces, or perhaps you know of it as Big 2, kept most attendees occupied as others poured their hearts out over the microphones.It was undoubtedly a rather enjoyable experience; we all saw something that had never happened before – Byron singing karaoke!
Overall, it was a supportive and lively atmosphere with much laughter, cheering, chitchat, and much-too-sweet milk tea.Dinner at Daimo after K-Night was a pleasant way to wind down and finally get to know each other over a decent conversation without having to shout at the other person.This event was undeniably a relaxing and delightful escape away from the responsibilities of classes for me, as I hope it was for you!
And it was also time for us to elect the president and vice president for the next semester. Now I won’t bore you with the details on how the election process goes, because what’s important is the outcome right? And congratulations to Byron and Kirsten for being our president and vice-president of the next semester! I’m sure you guys won’t let us down.And with this, HKSA was done with its job for this semester. I can’t help feeling a ping of sadness, because HKSA is a huge part of my college life and it’s kinda emotional for me to see it come to an end. Hopefully next semester will be yet another challenge and sweet memories that make my life, and also yours too, more fulfilled.This is gonna be the last post by me being the Historian of Fall ‘09. I really enjoyed sharing my views and feelings on HKSA with all of you, and until next time, see ya! Goooood luck with your studies and finals! :D– [AC]Fall ‘09 Historian
幾乎每個SEM 都會搞一次GE K-NIGHT, 今個SEM 都唔例外. 雖側話啱啱開學, 畢竟大家都係BERKELY 學生, 甫開學頭兩個星期, 功課, 甚至MIDTERM 都已經接踵而黎, 所以今次GE K-NIGHT, 除咗令果D 好耐無唱過K GE 朋友, 可以再次以超低價錢享受到唱K GE 樂趣之外, 又可以拋開平日GE 功課壓力, 同時又識到新朋友, 真係可以話係一舉三得!!當晚GE 人數雖然比預期少, 可能適逢農曆新年, 有唔少人要番屋企補食團年飯. 不過出乎意料之外GE 係, 人少都有人少GE 好處, 就係當大家都聚集係同一間房GE 時候, 就會多咗傾計, 令到我地OFFICERS 可以更加深入認識到D MEMBERS. 當晚每個人都玩得好開心, 唱歌GE 唱歌, 而唔係唱緊歌GE都唔會話悶. 因為有其中一位MEMBER, 帶咗副POKER CARDS 去玩, 所以即使無咩點唱歌GE MEMBERS, 都可以鋤下大DEE. 整體黎講當晚GE 氣氛係十分之好!!完左之後我地去咗DAIMO 食飯, 大家坐埋一齊, 有傾有講, 令大家對對方GE認識更深!! 整體黎講,今次GE K-NIGHT 都幾成功, 人雖然唔算太多但總算可以比到機會我地去進一步認識大家. 期望往後ge hksa 活動, 會有更多人黎參與之餘, 我地都依舊可以加深對大家ge 認識!!Nel
