Walked into the contest ground as the first contestant. Freaking out. I did quite a few mistakes in public speaking, which I personally aware of - like rolling my eyes upward when I forgot one whole paragraph of the prepared content, swaying on my ground and the serious crime of all - I did not apply my 3-second rule. Knock. Knock. I think that's why I was the first contestant from the belakang.
I will continue to add oil to conquer my fear, so, I can speak in free tone in front of people. Nevertheless, just wanted to share this story of my dearest Auntie Tin, who has been an inspiring figure in my life - learn as you live. My story about her starts after this picture!
Auntie Tin has been a full-time teacher for almost 30 years. The most difficult situation for her as a teacher is not the spoiled kids, not the hyperactive boys, not the cry babies, not the misbehaving students, not the lazy students, not the chatterbox in the class, but is the transition from handwritten era to computer era.
The changeover to the computerized system in her school occurred during my late high school time. Back then, I was the Computer Queen in the house. As I had good training from my IRC and ICQ experience, I was the great savior for her school paper work and examination papers. Slowly but surely, she adapted herself to the computer. After 10 years, she can now handle almost all of her paper work herself without my help, but remained as an internet dummy until six months ago.
During her primary schoolmate reunion, one of her old friends from New Zealand asked for her Facebook ID to stay connected. But, she did not have one. This event triggered her to register an account for herself. I could not recall whether the Facebook account sign-up was very straight-forward or not as I had done mine years ago. Surprisingly, she did it without calling me.
She started to explore the social network by adding my siblings. Then, I showed her on how to find her friend in New Zealand by using “search” function. She smiled ear-to-ear after seeing the profile picture and excitedly claiming, “Yes. Yes. That’s her. Add her to my friend’s list.” As her usual habit in picking up the “executing sequences” for computer processes, she wrote down her step-by-step for friends finding, photo uploading and status updating.
In about two month’s time, she successfully grew her network. Basically, she was addicted to it. She switched her dial-up to Streamyx because the photo uploading speed was snail sluggish. I only found out about her Streamyx installation when she asked me on how to fix the wireless router. Again, I was amazed by her sudden independence on computer related tasks.
Ever since she got her Streamyx, her activity on the Facebook was even more frequent than me. Through her Facebook, she also got herself a few part-time jobs. In the morning, she is a hardworking farmer plowing her land. In the afternoon, she is an adorable waitress sending food to the dining tables. In the night, she is a piece of cute tofu racing against pig and flying giraffes.
During her school holiday last December, she discovered many minor functions on Facebook by herself, such as tagging photo, hiding unwanted newsletter and sending event calendar. Besides, for the first time in my life, I even received a “Christmas gift” from my aunt in Facebook.
Facebook has not only helping Auntie Tin to keep her network together, but it also provides the platform for her to learn about internet Driven by her pure interest in Facebook, she took up the challenge to learn about the internet. Now, she moves on to use her yahoo mailbox diligently too. Sometimes, when I am exhausted due to a long working day, I would receive a mail of encouragement with a beautiful theme. So, Facebook is not just a supplementary for the youngsters, it is transforming the oldsters.
A few weeks back, my aunt updated her Facebook during her office time. I thought she was not feeling well and was resting at home. So, I left her a message to convey my thought, “Did not know that you are sick; Get well soon.” A few minutes later, she wrote back, “I am teaching the computer class. While waiting for my students to finish their lab work, I am actually surfing illegally. LOL. The class is almost over. I am logging out now, TTYL.”