The Day Not Only We Are Young But..

Dear Diary,

Not only we are young and (allegedly) successful,
during the 2^nd National Youth Entrepreneur Convention (NYEC) last Saturday,
we have also proven that,

being young, successful and famous do not guarantee THAT
1. you won't be nervous (knowing that the participants paid good money to hear you talk,
so my bad, YOUTH '09 the event was open to all, but the admission to NYEC was not)
2. you won't be cold (I swear our hall in PWTC was a freezinggggg box)
3. you won't f**king swear
while delivering your speech.


Most memorable quotes from the evening:

Joyce Wong, before her speech,
"Haiyaaa, our green VIP tag doesn't go with my outfit! Grrr..."

Aimann Faiz, during his speech,
"I love my job because I love women and I loveeeee drinking."

Kevin Zahri, when asked if the speakers can swear onstage,
"What the hell? HELL YEAH!"

Anna-Rina, who took Kevin's joke tad too seriously,
"I don't fucking know what else to say. Oh, fuck!"
And yes, with someone from the ministry in the audience,

and Joe Flizzow as the final speaker, in a paragraph of his speech,
"Like what Ninie said earlier, be nice to everyone.
You'll never know in which lifetime you'll need their favor
to save your life or to make you very rich!"
(of course I cannot NOT emphasize this, Joe Flizzow quoted me, yo y'all! YA A' AUWW!)

And since I don't know if anybody would remember anyyyything I said,
or if they even stayed awake for that matter,
I'll let my pictures (from my new digicam ;D) do the talking.












That was Kevin reminding the Media Entrepreneur speakers
not to use the F word so much.













The boldly bald Joyce, which you can only see her head.
During my turn, I think the audience can only see my hair.















Five of us as Lifestyle Entrepreneurs speakers;
Shan Lee, Joe Flizzow and The Yoga Instructor in their businessmen mode.
Although to go to work in real life, all of us dress least like this!


















Lovely Fiona Jane Gomez and Anna-Rina who can't stop swearing
(I almost tak mengaku she's my housemate if not for the fact that she drove me there)

















Our individual portrait
(oh, I love mine, thank you YOUTH '09) from HSBC
as their token of appreciation.




If I wasn't one of the speakers,
if you can believe me,
I'd still say, the 2^nd NYEC is a huge success.

I felt so small, almost like a tiny little ant (only smaller) being there,
in between and side-by-side with the rest of under-30 Malaysians
- one, who has sold his company for RM20mil,
- another one, who's awarded Dato' at 27 years old
- the famous one, who has sold-out albums and smash hits collaborations with Warren G and Datuk Siti

and I can easily say,
I'd fork out my money to join next year's NYEC
just to learn from those who have made it, to feel like I take take over the world
and to be truly and highly-inspired.


























I can't possibly finish without this.
Without this line that I can't remember who I heard / read it from
(either Noel Gallagher of Oasis or Boyzone's Stephen Gately, SERIOUSLY!)
without this line that concluded my interview in the 2^nd NYEC magazine,
without this line I keep telling myself on and on over and over everyday,
"IF THE DREAM IS BIG ENOUGH, THE FACTS DON'T COUNT!"

Seriously guys,
EVERYONE has the same two hands, two legs and 24 hours.
If we they can,
YOU CAN!

The Day If Jumbling Words Can Churn Me Millions

Dear Diary,

I jumble my words A LOT.

When one's brain works faster than the mouth,
these are what others usually hear from a particular yoga instructor:

Two weeks ago to Supertall and Henry, I was caught saying
"I think the thieves jompat from the corridor to our kitchen balcony."
(Jompat = Jump + Lompat)

Two years ago (apparently these are classics to MK and her clans),
I was the laughingstock when I apparently said
1. to mamak Devis Hartamas: "..Narlic Gaan satu!"
2. during a guessing game, still at Devis Hartamas: (dengan confidentnya) "Calipornia Fizza!"

Some unlucky beings who attended my yoga classes
at the brink of my time of the month would have heard,
"Lengthen your neck and rest the back of your head to the elongated part of your leg."
(I meant that 'leg' to have been 'neck', you see. Some obedient ones still did try aaaanyway!)


And the following is bar none the most unforgettable to my yoga students
from the memorable years we were at Yoga House:

Student A: Ninie, there is this one pose that you mention almost ten times every session,
every one else seems to know how to do it but I can't even pick up what you say.
The Yoga Instructor: Ohhh ok.. How does the pose even look like?
Student A: That's the thing, I don't know how to begin describing it.
The Yoga Instructor: Okkkkkkk. Then the next time I say it, you point it out, stop me and I'll explain in to you OK?
Student A: Perfect!

Two minutes later,

Student A: That's it! That's it! That's the pose. Say it again!
The Yoga Instructor: But this is just a Forward Bend!
Student A: Before you told us to go to Forward Bend!
The Yoga Instructor: Errr, Mountain Pose?
Student A: After Mountain Pose!

(everyone else still suffered and moaned in an endless Forward Bend screaming, "Faster Ninie!")

The Yoga Instructor: Errrr, I just asked you to breathe and take an inhale to bend forward..
Student A: THAT'S IT! CANNING HILL! WHAT IN THE WORLD IS CANNING HILL?
The Yoga Instructor: When in the world did I say Canning Hill?
Student A: You just did!
The Yoga Instructor: Oh you mean, or you thought, 'take' (ha haaa) 'an inhale' (ha haaaa) is
'Canning' (ha haa) 'Hill' (hee hih heee hu hooo)!!!!

The laughter from those who were suffering from enduring
a-seemed-forever Forward Bend sent us to a deserving five-minute break,
if I recall that one right.

Anywayssssssssssss,
that Student A is on the cover of this month's Malaysia Tatler

























and is the owner and iron lady behind KL's finest and most celebrated restaurants
Soul'd Out (Hartamas), WIP (BSC) and 7ate9 (Ascott).

She is obviously one of my personal idols to being a successful businesswoman
who is still highly-friendly, dangerously stylish and infectiously funny!


If you think I AM somewhat a businesswoman in my own way OR
if you want to hear never-published-before insights
of how I turned myself and yoga into a combined brand,
of being a young yoga business operator in-the-making,
of how I stayed strong when some of my investors pulled out during the yoga fatwa dispute,

drop by PWTC tomorrow for the YOUTH MALAYSIA '09's 2^nd National Youth Entrepreneur Convention.



































My session titled Stretching Beyond Limits starts at 2pm where I'll start the talk followed by Fiona Jane Gomez (founder of Talent Hub), Anna-Rina Rahim (Photography Entrepreneur), Shan Tan (founder of Rockin' Reptile) and Joe Flizzow (founder of Kartell Records & Clothing). Among other speakers are Joyce Wong (blog entrepreneur and founder of Tongue In Chic) and Aidan Aquinas Chew (winner of Nescafe Kickstart Season 1 who is also the director of Traffixed).

The mentioned have inspired me and I am sure, thousand others
to have dared to not makan gaji the conventional way and
to have turned our their passion and strengths into big money.

Again, our session starts at 2pm tomorrow (Saturday, 10 January 2009),
the location is at Tun Dr. Ismail Hall, PWTC and the best part is,
admission to this successful-recipes-revealing-session is absolutely FREE!

Hope to see you tomorrow!

The Day I Am Proud To Be (and to be in) Malaysian Today

Dear Diary,

I shrieked and mengucap panjang when I received an SMS a couple of weeks ago saying,
"I read about you in MALAYSIA TODAY! Congratulations!" from a friend.

WHAT HAVE I DONE NOW
to get mentioned in Malaysia Today?

I looked up the website but failed to see
any Ninie Ahmad or The (Not Banned) Yoga Instructor
anywhere on its headline.
Biar betul!

When all else fails,
there's always Google.
I keyed in ninie ahmad malaysia today
and found this instead



(click at image to read full article)


Laaaaaaaaaa, cakaplah MALAYSIAN TODAY.
Tak kelakar beb, getting mentioned dalam Malaysia Today.
Lagi tak kelakar kalau jadik yoga instructor pertama kena !S@.

That article of me in Malaysian Today is in anticipation of Youth Malaysia '09 which will be held on January 9th next week, of which I am invited as one of the speakers alongside Joyce Wong, Joe Flizzow and Anna-Rina, to name a few of konon-kononnya 12 successful young Malaysian entrepreneurs under 30 (notice how I loosely use the term 'konon-kononnya' because I am allegedly successful).

Yes, Anna-Rina that other housemate of mine, yes.
I shrieked (that's the second time I used the word 'shriek' in this post and my housemates so know how many times in an hour I shriek) when I found out Anna was one of the speakers for the event as well. I told her, "Either Malaysia is really small or they really can't find any other 'successful and young entrepreneurs'. And you are really not that young, woman!"

Yes, yes.
Not only I am TOO MUCH,
I am also a reallllllllll bad housemate.





















Image from Postsecret



Tapi saya rajin cuci pinggan mangkuk cawan mereka.
No judgment.