With my exams and the semester finally over, I'm finally able to sit down and properly write about this. It's been a crazy couple of weeks for me, with almost everything converging together. If I haven't been sleeping till the late afternoons, I would definitely be suffering from severe fatigue. But despite all that, when I was invited to be part of AirAsia's first ever AirAsia Blogger Community party about...a month ago (yes, I know I'm super, super late with this blog post), I had to fight off all my tired panda eyes and prepare myself for the awesome takeoff.

 I kid you not, I even got my very own boarding pass for takeoff, absolutely free of charge. I'm pretty sure a boarding pass like this costs a whole lot of money under normal circumstances.

We were told to be there at the AirAsia Academy approximately around 1.30pm. But because I am a Malaysian and therefore prone to the terrible, terrible disease known as Malaysian timing, I only managed to reach the Academy at about 2pm. I say Malaysian timing because AirAsia also invited other bloggers from all over Southeast Asia; with Thai, Singaporean, Indonesian and Filipino bloggers all converging together for this first ever AirAsia Bloggers Community party. None of them were late, which only strengthens my point that Malaysian timing is a real, and very, very annoying disease.

Thankfully, all the AirAsia's staff understood my incurable disease, despite being trained to be punctual all the time. I was greeted with the usual AirAsia style; brilliantly white smiles and a chirpy "Welcome, Sir!"

Though I think that the air stewardess was disappointed that I was late.

All the bloggers were given some time to mingle around before the official games began. Yes, we were split into groups to duke it out with other teams, with plenty of fantastic prizes up for grabs. Being an AirAsia event, the prizes could only mean one thing: air tickets. Nothing else needed to be said to fuel the desire for every team to win.

 Determined faces. The offer of air tickets to anywhere can really change a person.

 These are the Malaysian bloggers. That guilty look on all our faces is because of Malaysian timing. It's seriously something that affects every Malaysian.

 With the clever monkey, Henry.

 Hypering it out with the big small boy and avid traveller, Rayyan.

This is the awesome White group, including (from L-R: Shannon, Sy, Haffiz, Rayyan, Evelyn and Nuea)

Of course, what is an event without the obligatory group shot?

Tan Sri Dato Tony Fernandes then appeared to give a welcome address to all the bloggers present through a televised message. There were alarm bells ringing in my head the whole time. You know who else gave televised messages prior to games? Jig-freaking-saw from the Saw series, uttering his classic "I want to play a game" line.

"I promise I won't kill you."

We had to split up to find our stations to finish certain tasks in order to win. So basically, for the 2nd time in a month, I was running around ala Running Man completing tasks and playing games. The only thing which left me feeling unsatisfied was the lack of nametag tearing, which is an integral part of Running Man. The AirAsia Academy itself was a fantastic place for running, plenty of corridors and places to hide. 

Wait. I'm trailing off about Running Man. My apologies.

First station we stopped by was to learn how the air traffic controllers do their jobs on the runways. Y'know, those guys who direct the freaking plane with nothing more than 2 glowsticks. So yes, badass doesn't even begin to describe them.

 The man in black is supposed to be the plane. 

 Rayyan played the role of an air traffic controller...

 ...while I became the plane. Have you ever seen a more dashing plane? I was tempted to do whooshing sounds but I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of grown adults.

The next stop was every kid's dream. Since the days of Icarus, mankind has always wished for the power of flight. But unlike Icarus, who ended up turning into a crispy heap of feathers, we got to actually sit in the cockpit and pilot the plane.

 We weren't allowed to access or disturb this one because an actual pilot was doing his training inside. 

 Doesn't the training pods look like something out of a Star Trek movie?

 All those knobs and buttons and switches are insane. This is why you need years and years and years of practice before getting behind the pilot's seat.

 An appropriate expression for a newbie pilot. I think I was either heading into a nosedive, or tilted upwards. I forget, but either way, no one on my flight survived.

I don't know how Rayyan can be so cool and calm. He actually flew the plane without autopilot, and still managed to not kill everyone. 

Granted, we would have still ended up a crispy heap in the middle of a desert somewhere because our pilots felt that Instagramming and taking pictures of the view was far more important than, y'know, actually piloting the plane.

Pictured: Not piloting the plane.

I saw the F1 Caterham model race car and sneaked in to snap a picture. This is what the police will be distributing when a real F1 Caterham race car goes missing.

In another game, our team was subjected to intense questioning about AirAsia's history. If not for the fantastic Nuea, whose knowledge of the entire AirAsia past and present was somewhat faster and more efficient than the Internet, we would have fallen down flat in this level. For the second part of the game,we also had to join together and become an airplane.

 It's just like Power Rangers and their Zords, minus the everything.

 Yes, this is just as hilarious and ridiculous as it looks. 

The final stop was the mock flight cabin, where the craziest bunch of AirAsia crew members were waiting to ambush us with games. Take note that the captions for the two pictures below should be read with non-sexual undertones.

 "And this is how I buckle. Ladies, calm down. The oxygen masks only appear in emergencies."

 "This is the only thing I'm going to put on for you."

 Rayyan, Shannon and Nuea showing everyone how they buckle up.

 Me and Sy preparing to evacuate the cabin. We would make terrible air stewards. 

I guess my efforts in clearing the cabin (rather violently, I should add), did not sit too well with the cabin crew. To gain extra points for the team, I picked up a hula hoop and just began to hula hoop. I don't think many people know this but when I start shaking my hips, the hoop does not come down.

 I could do this for hours, but only if I had a legitimate reason. Air tickets are a legitimate reason.

 And despite my bulging Adam's apple, I can also hula hoop on my neck. I'm a human hula hooping machine.

And that's the end of the games. Below are all the random pictures after the entire event. Read the captions to find out more.

 The triumphant White team.

Evelyn and Sy won themselves air tickets. That's me in the background pretending to be happy for them on the outside, but inside, I'm weeping softly.

With Jason, more commonly known as SmashPOP (that's how I read his name) and Henry with our free Ninetology phones. FREE PHONES!

Does this cat look familiar? Yes, it is THE one and only Miao aka Jian. Since he's more cat than human, this is precisely what he would like me to show. 

A person that is absolutely not Jian aka Miao signing on the wall. I'm serious, that is not Miao. Nope. Not in a million lifetimes.

A huge thank you to AirAsia and all its staff for hosting us at the AirAsia Academy. I'm really excited to be a part of this AirAsia Bloggers Community and I'm only hoping that there will be more awesome parties (or trips, y'know, just putting it out there *nudgenudgewinkwink*) like this in the future.

The people who made this party unforgettable.

Cheerios!