May-Zhee was a guest speaker at a forum at the festival, held at the PWTC. Today was the last day of the festival which started on Friday.
Petite and pretty, she wrote her first book "Vanitee Bee" at 15 and her second - bestseller "Sweetheart From Hell" when she was 17.
"The first one's about stuff relating to teens. The second is, you know, a chick lit....," she told me, as we chatted in the waiting room. I had finished my session and she was about to start hers.
May-Zhee, eldest of three children (she has two younger brothers and her parents are business people) - is from Klang and was a student of Mont Kiara International School.
Blogger Syed Akbar who himself is an author of 3 books, remembered her as the other writer at a booksigning at MPH a few years ago.
"She was 16 when I met her," remarked Syed Akbar who was a speaker at an earlier forum there, with Rocky and me.
May-Zhee remembered Syed Akbar too.
With her was a young marketing/business consultant, Michael Teo who was moderating her session. They were among the many young people we met at the festival. Awesome people, these kids.
I felt like I was in a world run by young people. From those manning the counter, at the door, at the kiosks -- everywhere -- young people running the show. And so well too! Proud of 'em!
A festival by the young for the young. I definitely was one of the few oldies there, but, heck, I felt so young.
I told the young audience at the forum that I felt really so young and how amazing it was to meet so many exuberant, bright, energetic and dynamic young Malaysians.
So many events were organized from music and dance shows to conferences. And there were kiosks and booths promoting food, music and a wide range of products. There was even a Sudoku booth.
The place was packed by the time we had to go. So happening, I tell you!
This was the third such festival. Some 80,000 people came to the festival, more than the number (60,000) at the one in Putrajaya last year.
Amazing. Awesome. And I had an incredibly wonderful time.
Now I must go get May-Zhee's bestseller.
Read Rocky's take on Youth10.
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18 comments:
Went to the young girl writer blog's and found this poll question ...
" DO THIS POLL. SERIOUSLY. Girls only, have you had an orgasm before?"
I don't get it! what's going on in their mind?
Thank you so much for this lovely blog post! :)
I like the accuracy of the details. I don't know why but somehow everytime I'm talked about I'm always misquoted or something's just wrong somewhere!
It was so nice meeting you, Rockybru and Syed Akhbar again. This encounter really made my day. If you ever need any help, know that I'll just be an e-mail away! :)
AtanJS: i hope you are over 50 yrs old. becos, statistically, people over 50 are not able to comprehend pop culture, and teen issues and angst.
oh, AtanJS...biarin saja! Let them have their fun. :-)
Nanti, i issue a warning about opening blogs of people below 30! :-)
take care! hati-hati bila buka blog2 anak muda.
May Zhee: the pleasure's mine! and thank you..also for taking time to read an old lady's blog!
it was so lovely to have met you!
all the best, and hope to see another bestseller by you, on the bookshelves....
and i'll take you on that "offer"..one day!:-)
Please decide if you want to be a blooger or the managing editor of NST. You should not be both. Thank you.
ZAzali
ZAzali:
and says who?
Lu kalau berani, lu cakap dengan gua depan muka gua. :-)
ZAzali:
gua cakap lu bodoh. the word is BLOGGER.
i usually don't layan anonymous commenters like you. but i'm in a nice mood.
kak ena,
woo hoo.. ini mesti orang NST. ada orang jealous dengan kak Ena-lah.
oi! Zazali mangkuk hayun...jeles, kah?
Keep it up Kak Ena..Keep blogging. YEZ!
ZAzali. your brain must be in your butt. Nuraina's advantage as an editor is that she is a blogger.
you must be asinine. Most of the best newspapers in the world encourage their journalists to blog.
where u been living? in a lobang somewhere?
Dear Puan Nuraina A. Samad,
You don't have to be sarcastic. I'm almost 50 years. So what have that got to do with price of eggs? The young like to experiment and to experience new things. How else do we explain the drugs addiction and the "buang bayi" syndromes in our society? These "gejala sosial" are yet to be solved.
Do not encourage them. Some girls/boys may want to find out what's its like to have an orgasm just to respond to the poll? Is that not possible?
Maybe I'm too old to understand all this.
I find your sarcastic response a bit funny
Dear AtanJamilSelamat,
My apologies if I sound(ed) sarcastic. Perhaps my lighthearted response was poorly delivered and you took it the wrong way.
In all honesty, my message is - it is okay if we over 50s (I myself am over 50) just don't get it -- about these kids.
They speak a different language, they perceive things differently.
we all have been there before. in my time, it was the drug era and i have seen people close to me went down because of drugs (heroin).
It worried me so much that i made sure my younger brother, and sisters, and my nieces and nephews were constantly reminded of this scourge.
i told myself - never never drugs.
When I had my own kids -- I never stopped worrying about the negative influences around us.
We try to teach our kids right and wrong, good and bad -- so that when they are old enough and on their own, they can make right choices, do the right things.
and then there are the religious and cultural differences. and so on and so forth.
may zhee's thinking and attitude may not be what you feel is right.
but she is her own person, an individual in her own right.
everyone is free to criticize her. being a blogger, she has opened herself to criticisms and so on.
may zhee may appeal to some youngsters, and not to others.
for me -- i say, let them be. you may not like what they're saying and doing but it's their own choice, their own life. as long as they don't hurt people.
i can go on and on. but i will leave it at that.
again, my apologies if I seemed sarcastic. that was not my intention.
salam.
rasputin:i wouldn't know whether this Zazali is from NST or not.
It doesn't matter to me, at all, one way or another.
sabera: some people are better off living in caves. what do you think?
Nuraina,
Wat is age but numbers only mah! Seen many a 20-yr.old act like they are already osteoporosised - sikit2 penat! Some already have high-cholesterol,hypertension, diabetes at a young age now.In stone-age and medieval society, we are lucky if we get to see our 40th birtday or we are good as dead! So old habits hard.
Atanjamilselamat-
I would start worrying when they ask me that question at this age : )) Orgasm has been around for a long, long time but discovered only recently mah.
Dear Nuraina,
Zazali said: "please decide if you want to be a blooger or the managing editor of NST. You should not be both. Thank you."
I'm wondering - is it an issue at all? How petty.
many journalists/editors took up blogging -- way after nuraina became a blogger. Not just journalists. Tun Dr Mahathir and Datuk Seri najib became bloggers and using the social media like there's no tomorrow!
so, if that is the case that nuraina has to choose, should they - datuk wong chun wai, datuk ahmad a talib, a kadir jasin, ashraf abdullah and so many journalists -- chose to be either s journalist/editor/publisher, or a blogger.
Zazali -- either you are plain moronic, or you simply cemburu.
Atanjamilselamat, well if you really want to know what I had in mind when I did that poll, let me tell you.
It wasn't purely a question asked out of fun. I made that poll because of my interest in gender issues and, more particularly, the subject of sex. It is a field that as a writer and thinker, I intend to delve further into some day, so to me it's more of an intellectual subject, rather than just a teenage thing.
I won't go into further details here, but I think the female orgasm is a subject that is worth pursuing. The fact that only half of females have had it (well according to my poll) is something that can be looked at in many ways. I see that not a lot of women are educated in sex as much as the men are, and a lot of women don't believe it is their "right" to have orgasms ... I personally did not even think women could have orgasms until a few years ago. This highlights a very interesting issue about society, the people's mindset and gender differences.
So to me, things that I talk about, like orgasms and sex, are more of an issue that relates to human nature and society more than anything else. I like questioning things like that. I think it's healthy. I hope this gives you a different insight into the things I talk about, rather than what's on the surface.
That was a typo error. It is my view you should decide, if you want to be a blogger or the managing editor of NST. Cannot be both. Choose one. It is my view.
ZAzali.
Zazali,
yes. i'm sure it was a typo.
yes, you are entitled to your view, whoever you are. and your view is based on ..what? but doesn't matter.
and i am entitled to my view, which matters and is far more important. so thank you. and i will keep on blogging.
Zazali,
Jadi blogger ni "part time", walaupun ia mengambil banyak masa. For socio-political bloggers, especially, blogging is a passion that does not help them put food on the table. So kenalah ada kerja yang bergaji.
Misalnya,
Jalan Sudin is ME of NST, OutSyed the Box is a Masjid India trader, Big Dog is a property developer's marketing director, Jahamy is a top-grade lawyer, Wee Choo Keong an MP, and so on and so forth.
Kat blogroll saya saja, ada lebih 10 orang wartawan yang juga pengendali blog.
Selagi blogging tidak mendatangkan apa-apa pulangan kewangan, maka kita semua kena bekerja.
Harap simpati dengan kitorang.
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