Matriculation Fair

This year is my 3rd year of matric fair helping experience. On the first day of the matriculation fair, I did not know what to do. Despite being experienced, I had already forgotten the strategies and tactics to lure freshmen to signing up for a club. In addition, I didn't have the mood to actually talk to them. I felt very not responsible/attached to the club that I was promoting. After a while when more freshmen came, all I did was just pass around the flyers.

On day two, when Ah Loon and I were manning the booth, I remembered how it was like to handle matric fair. I motivated myself to approach the freshmen but selectively. It was only when KY came that changed my work pace. It was his first experience at matric fair and enthusiasm of recruiting is in him. I saw the passion in him and was motivated further to work.

At the end of the day, we recuited quite a number of people and the following tips were noted for matriculation fair recruitment:
1. Think positively and be happy
2. Set target of how many recruiments to be made
3. Apply marketing strategy -> Customize and re-brand the product for each individual faculty/student. Talk to them, learn a little about them, package the club's positive points to suit their needs/wants

Anyway, after 4 days of matriculation fair, I find that my throat is now sore and I'm down with a cold. The selling points are ingrained in me. Fortunately, this is my last matriculation fair helping? From this experience, maybe I can do sales liao? Hahaha... maybe not.

New blog skin?

My blogskin has changed? I didn't remember clicking on the save button.... argh.. I lost my previous customized skin.. Anway, the previous one wasn't that nice also...I want to change my blog skin to something that I like. Someone teach me how to code those cool tables and colors schemes... Any blog coding tutorial around?

Graduation (My Long Over Due Post)

After 3 years of studying in NUS, I have finally graduated. During and before the graduation ceremony, people around me asked how I felt about graduating. Truthfully speaking, I don't feel any different from before. Maybe it is because I am still hanging around in PGP often and have yet to get a job interview. *sigh* .... I am very eager and excited to start my first full-time job. Ironically, just about a year ago, I felt insecure and scared because I know I was going to graduate. I felt like my world is coming to an end. However, as the semester progressed, I started to look forward at the exciting new possibilities. By the start of last semester, work was on my mind.

Commencement 2005 - I was expecting something bigger and more spectacular as it was the centennial commencement. Maybe my expectations were abit too high. Anyway, the ceremony was just like how a ceremony should be. Everyone wearing formal, act well behaved, silence throughout the hall as the names were read, clap boringly....... except for 1 of my classmates who lighten up the scene by hugging the Dean of SoC when presented with his scroll. That made everyone laugh and gave him a good applause. The loudest and longest applause went to a handicapped graduate. He was on wheelchairs. Sign of respect to him for not letting his handicap bother his studies.

After the ceremony, I was stuck in the hall because of the heavy rain. The UCC was so packed with people because no one could leave. Fortunately, the rain stopped about an hour later. Afterwhich, I went back to PGP to had photo sessions with my PGP gang. =)

Time Spent Back Home

I know I made a resolution to finish blogging 3 posts before the end of last week... It seems that I can't fulfill it. Before the end of this week, confirm can... =P

Well, my previous post was about my flight back home. The flight experience was cool! (which led me to blog such a loooong post about the flight) Anyway, the first few days I was home, I spent most of my free time sleeping. I slept early at around 10pm every night and woke up early at 7am every morning. In addition to the normal sleeping hours, in the afternoon, I would also take short naps of 1-2hours. I don't know why but it was kind of stressful to be sleeping all day like that. I don't really want to sleep so much but I can't help it if I'm tired. My mom didn't seem to mind me sleeping so much so it was ok (because I fulfilled her requirement for me to sleep early and wake up early). Instead she asked me to rest more. Maybe I was trying to catch up on all the lost sleep for the past half year.

My final semester in NUS was one of the most packed schedule semester I have ever had. I started off the semester thinking that I will sit back and enjoy the final semester, singing "Let it be, let it be". Ironically as the semester progressed, I worked harder and harder. Kiasuism has been ingrained into me. I know I don't need to worry too much about my grades BUT I felt bad and insecure everytime I ignored my assignments. I would wake up every morning with a shock and my body wet with cold sweat. I told this to some of my friends back then. This led to me making the resolution to focus on my assignments. At the end of the day, I guess, it was worth the effort. Looking back and saying - Oh wow... my final semester... I had worked hard and played hard as well (although it was more of play hard initially then work like siao at the end)

Anyway, back to the main topic. There are so many changes in Brunei over the past 1/2 year I was away. When I went back in December, there were a number of constructions taking place. This time I was back, the new buildings/roads are up. New hang-outs. New people around. However, somethings never change. Every Saturday, tamu at Seria is still filled with the familiar aunties and uncles, buying their weekly fresh groceries. Whenever I walk around Seria town, I would take my time to scan faces of people who are there. Once in a while, I'll meet someone I know. It could be a friend; it could be my teachers from my previous schools; it could be just shop-owners who have been running their shops in Seria for decades. It makes me feel nostalgic to think of it.

Most of the people whom have not seen me for a long time are have this same comment - "哇！你这么白阿". My GP teacher on the other hand commented - "You look like a typical Singaporean". I don't know how to reply to these comments. My GP teacher could be right as I peppered my conversation with lah's and lor's. My skin very fair? I think it has been fair since I was young especially before I was a teenager. Every time I engage myself in physical activities, my whole face would turn red. My best-friend from primary school, MK nick-named me apple-face.. Don't know if he still remembers. I don't know when my skin became 'thicker' such that I'm no longer apple-face. Abuthen har... 2 years ago, the PGP gang discovered my red ears... which I don't know why they turn red. They say that I am embarrased over those issues but I don't. If embarassed, my would be face turning red, right? It still remains a mystery to me......

Anyway, distracted again. Ok... This time I was back, I don't watch as much tv as I used to. I spent more time on my brother's computer though - playing "Feeding Frenzy". This game is cool! I have it in my laptop although I don't play it as often these days. When I was back in Brunei, I didn't get to meet up with my Brunei friends. I wonder how they are. All I know is that most of them are having industrial attachment. I managed to meet up with a friend who recently got married. He was a great athlete and the fastest 100m dasher from my secondary school. I think he ranked 3rd in the district. These days, he doesn't look as sporty as he used to and have gained some weight. Nonetheless, I still can't out run him. Hahaha.... I met up with KY and JH once in a while though to go yum cha with JH's cousin. Now, I'm wondering when is the next time I will be back in Brunei since there is no fixed holiday season for me liao once I start work. I also wonder what the market condition in Brunei would be like 3 years later....

Updates!

Oh my, my poor blog.... I've not updated you for nearly A MONTH! I wonder if there are still readers to my blog.... I've also been wanting to change my blogskin for so long now... :s

Well, there are a lot of things I want to blog about. However, as soon as I start my laptop, I can't find the mood to blog. There are so many distractions - anime, DOTA, mails, blog-reading, etc...Quick update on what I've been doing so far - graduation ceremony (Centennial Commencement... Cool :P), job hunting - sent plenty of resume to apply for jobs.

I shall make a resolution to blog the following before the end of this week:
1. Time spent back at home
2. Graduation
3. Uncertainties of my future now that I've graduated

Flight Home

It was drizzling in Singapore at about 8am yesterday morning. I enjoy the feeling of the dark and cool weather but at the same time, I was getting drowsy. I did not sleep the night before. This is because I played DoTA with my friends till early dawn. After that, I left at 6am to catch the first bus 200 out to Buona Vista MRT station. I carried my luggage up PGP road. The walk made me sweat profusely. KN who went with me was also sweating. We were very eager to get on the bus as soon as possible because we expect the bus to be air-conditioned and cool. To our dismay, the first bus that came was non-ac. We waited patiently till we can enjoy the ac from the MRT. It is interesting to note that they are quite a number of people on the MRT despite it being 615am in the morning. Most of the people are from the older generation but there are also white collar workers who got off at Tanjong Pagar, Raffles Place and City Hall. It makes me wonder what they are doing that early in the morning. On the other hand, maybe they are meeting clients for breakfast? Or maybe an online conference with their counterparts who live in another time zone?

Anyway, I’m feeling very pleased with myself to have chosen Singapore Airlines to fly home this time. My flight was serviced by a Boeing 777-200 aeroplane. This is the long range aircraft. I’m not sure why they are using this type of plane for a short 2hour flight. The only reason I could think of is that they are using it to fly the huge number of passengers from Brunei who are visiting Singapore for the Great Singapore Sales and other events. The plane is the largest plane that I sat in. In the past, whenever I fly into Changi Airport from Brunei, I would feel sad to compare the size of the plane that I was in with the other planes parked there. A small Airbus versus Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet or Boeing 777s – there is no way to compare the size. Finally, my dream of sitting on a large plane has come true! =P In addition, every seat has its individual LCD TV and entertainment system.

On my previous flight back home to Brunei, I was cheated. Although I bought a Singapore Airlines ticket, the service was operated by Silk Air using a small Airbus plane. At that time when I went into Changi Airport, I was very surprised to see why they gave me a Silk Air boarding pass. I didn’t think much of it until I went to the gate. As there were so many planes parked at Changi Airport, I walked slowly to my departure gate while admiring the beauty of those planes. (I love aeroplanes! In the past, I collected plenty of pictures of aeroplanes especially fighter jets). The planes parked were all huge (mostly Boeing 777s or 747s). I was thinking: “Wow! Do I get to sit in one of them?” However, upon reaching my departure gate, I was so shocked to see the size of my plane. It was dwarfed by all the other planes. You can’t imagine how happy I was to fly in a 777. When I got off at Brunei airport, I walked proudly out of the plane because all the Royal Brunei Airlines planes were dwarfed by the Boeing 777-200. It was at least 1/3 bigger than the biggest RBA plane around (a 767, I think). :D

Ok, back to what happened during my flight. It was a rainy weather but not pouring heavily. The rain was just drizzling lightly but visibility was still low. Therefore, most of the runways were closed. At Terminal 2, there was only one runway opened for all flights departing from there. All the planes had to queue up in a line to take off. I was very happy that I had chosen the window seat earlier. The view from the window seat of the planes taking off was magnificent. First, the plane would be parked there waiting to be cleared by the control tower. Once cleared, the thrusters from the wings will start. The sight of the water from the ground being blown back, displaying the monstrous power strong enough to lift the heavy bird. On a side note, I visited the Royal Brunei Airlines hangar before and learnt from the engineer that the force of one thruster is sufficient to blow a person *100 meters away. (*I could have remembered the value wrongly as this was more than 5years ago) There were about four or five planes in front of the plane I was in. I enjoyed seeing each and every one of them taking off. I think I can sit there all day. =P

After they had all taken off, it was my plane’s turn. As the plane slowly accelerates, the rain drops on the side window can be seen to trickle slowly. Then, the plane increases its acceleration more such that the force of the plane can be felt. The experience is something that I always look forward to. I love the experience of the force exerted on me and the speed of the plane. It satisfied my need for speed although I would have loved it if the force was greater. This I think can only be satisfied by a fighter jet. When I was young, I dislike flying. I had a fear that the plane might drop from the sky. Every flight, I would be holding very hard to the armrest and ‘biao leng han’. Minor turbulence or adjustment of the plane’s altitude would cause my heart to sink and grab the armrest harder. Once, I grabbed it so hard that I pulled the adjustable armrest up. It is then I realize that it wasn’t that safe to hold it tight as well. Nonetheless, I still held on to it to provide myself comfort. It was only 3 years ago, when I flew to Singapore, I realize that the fear is no longer there. I don’t know how and why it disappeared. I loved to fly in an aeroplane ever since.

Back to the description – During the acceleration, the rain drops trickled past the window so quickly that the window was dried quickly. As the plane lifts off, I was able to see the wings cut through the mist. I am unable to describe my feelings of awe and the view of this event well. I can only say that it was an event that I enjoy. Once in the air, we were above the dark clouds, there wasn’t any new or exciting to see. This is when I start trying out the in-flight entertainment. ‘I very the sakai’. First thing I tried, was the radio. There is nothing special about this because it is available in most planes. After that, I tried the video game! I was gaming for about 10minutes playing the classical SNES game – Blackthorne. I completed the game before. I got bored after a while because the game would pause whenever an announcement was made. Then I tried out the movie channels. To my delight, it was showing Hitch!

Although I watched it before, I didn’t mind watching it again. There were other movies available such as Robots but I preferred Hitch. It was heart touching and hilarious to watch Hitch again – Alex Hitchin’s role in trying to set up the slob but genuine good guy Albert Brenneman with the beautiful and rich Alegra Cole. Alex Hitchin, the date doctor creates opportunities for the ‘poor’ guys who can’t seem to get anywhere near the girl of their dreams.
“1 dance, 1 date and 1 kiss is all you get. This 1 chance to make it ‘Happily Ever After’ or wake up feeling regret for the rest of your life because she’s with the wrong man”
“At any day, any woman can be swept off her feet with the right broom”

By the way, I didn’t sleep on the plane despite planning to, neither did I sleep the whole day. I conked out at 8pm last night and officially went to bed at 9pm. I was just relaxing in my brother’s room then accidentally doze off on his bed. He chased me back to my room at 9pm. This morning, I was forced to wake up at 7am because I had to meet my relatives for breakfast. I think, if my mom didn’t drag me out of bed, I would have slept till 10 or 11am. I actually conked out again at about 5pm earlier this evening and had a good 2hours of sleep before taking a shower and eating dinner. I think I’ll go to sleep early again tonight. It seems to be a policy for me – “Come back to Brunei to sleep”

‘Cool’ Birthday Experience

First of all, I would like to thank my friends who organized my birthday celebration two nights ago. The experience was chilling especially when I entered the airconditioned r2 tv room after the fountain event. To tell the truth, I was surprised. I didn’t think much of what happened when KY switched off the lights in the TV room. I was concentrating fully on the game and didn’t give a second thought on what had happened. KY came over and said “Wah, zhe yang juan xin da game ah?” Even with those words, I didn’t pay much attention to him either and continued. It was only when the people behind started to sing “Happy Birthday”, I realize that they were throwing a celebration for me. Hahaha…. Good one. This is really a big surprise.

My experience in throwing birthday parties – First time, can catch people by surprise. After that, no more surprise liao. For my birthday celebration – last year was the ULTIMATE. Really original idea – Triple celebration, none of us three knew what really happened. Wah lao… I would like to congratulate whoever it was to get me DoTAing because I would be caught by surprise by the event. (My weak point – concentrate on game too much. =P) When they asked me if I was surprised, I answered “Partially”. As I was usually the one who organizes the birthday parties so I roughly know when and where it would take place. I had a feeling about it earlier in the day but totally forgot about it when we were DOTA-ing so much.

During the speech request, I said my speech topic would be “为什么你们不可以丢我下水” and NOT “为什么你们不丢我下水”. I was already preparing a wonderful speech on all the reasons why you should not throw me in. BUT! All of you have filtered out what you want to hear. Poor me. Poor my ‘bad attitude’ when I said those words. I was just trying to act cool. Of course, maybe it was also partially due to my poor command in Mandarin where I was corrected later – “为什么你们不应该丢我下水”. This would be less confusing. Basic Chinese 4 for me next semester! ….. Wait… I’ve graduated. No more Basic Chinese modules for me. Honestly, after 1 semester of not studying Basic Chinese, I can observe that my Mandarin is no longer as good. I can’t speak as fluently and I’ve forgotten a lot of characters. I guess I’ll have to practise often to keep it smooth just like English. Before coming to NUS, I can safely declare my English is good. Now, I don’t take care in using the correct grammar as long as the message is conveyed correctly to another person. On the other hand, I can say that I speak Singlish very well (which is nothing to be proud of, because I’m not Singaporean). I spiak very the good Singlish lah. If u all nid tuition for Singlish, I can b ur cher – Best in S’pore, JB and some say Batam. Dun play play orh. I also realize that I think more in Chinese rather than in English. In the past, I only think in English because I studied in a mission school.

Thank you all for the celebration. My birthday is actually on the 21st of June. My family celebrates it on the 11th day of the 5th Lunar Month which is why I have to be home before 17th June (which corresponds to 11/5 of the Lunar Calendar this year). Thanks for the wonderful sausage pig BUT NOT for the embarrassing pose. Wah lao eh you guys. I’ll get you guys for that!!! Grrr!! Have a good holiday everyone.

My First AIESEC Welcome Reception

I had previously written a very long post relating to this event. Unfortunately when I tried to save the post, I lost the entire post. :( ... Now no mood to type a long and detailed post liao.

Anyway, last Saturday, I went to the airport to receive my first trainee at 1020am. She took a flight from India by Malaysian Airlines. First off, I brought her to Potong Pasir. As this was my first experience, I forgot a lot of necessary steps to take. For example - I should've asked if she needed to change money, call home, etc. I just hastily asked her to follow me to a cab.

Afternoon, went to Suntec City, helped her get phone cards. Let her call home. I made a mistake of thinking that she would enjoy shopping. I forgot that her needs is to get all the necessities first. I was feeling guilty as I was walking around Suntec for a while before I realise our initial goal was to get her a phone card. After that, I brought her to Orchard at her request. She seemed bored because there were so many people and the weather was very hot.

Finally, brought her back to Potong Pasir. Night time, brought her to a party organized by an AIESEC alumnus. Very wonderful experience. I met a lot of interesting people - a very beautiful Egyptian trainee who can belly dance, a very charismatic Thai trainee who lifted the mood of the event, a very rude Indian who grew up in Canada, an American teenager who jumped off the balcony - fortunately landed on a ledge - he left everyone in shock - very bad joke. End of the party, I made new friends and contacts for job hunt. Bwahaha... I didn't realise the potential and importance of networking until now when I'm desperately searching for a job.

This post is so lousy. I'm just typing out points. I wish I had the passion and motivation to type the same post as I had before.

Updates

I'm not very sure what I've done the past week. I finally did send out my resume and cover letters which seems to be abit late. For this, I comfort myself with the saying that goes "Better late than never". I know I'm cheating myself but it at least covers my guilt for delaying the job search. I should have just checked out all the MOE Tuition grant stuff earlier. It is sad that I can't go on a traineeship.

Anyway, for the past week, I managed to get the information I was looking for regarding student's pass, employment pass and society stuff. I'm going home next Wednesday. Hopefully I don't get any job interviews for the 2 weeks that I'll be home else I might turn the interviewers off. Holidays getting too long liao. Most of my computing friends already have jobs. It's giving me some pressure to get a job quick.

Coaching for the future

Yesterday I attended another seminar organised by AIESEC. It is part of the AIESEC-Differworld series which I've been attending for the past few months. This time, the speaker, Mr. Manoj Sharma facilitated the session. He is a very charismatic speaker who has plenty of experience with the corporate world. However, one friend commented that it is people like him we have to becareful. They have the ability to use words to blur the line between fact and fiction. It can be used either to influence people to be better or worse. Anyway, he's quite a nice guy. The coolest thing about him is the way he treats us students as equals. After every session, there is always a feedback form for the participants to voice out opinions and sharing points of each session. He takes into careful consideration the feedback we gave and improves himself every session.

The session yesterday was on "Coaching". Difference between coaching and training? Well, his definition is quite straight forward but many of us couldn't think of the exact definition when he asked us. Organisations in the 80s focused on developing managers. Later, in the 1990s, more focus was placed on having leaders in the organisation. These days, coaching skills need to be develop in addition to the management and leadership skills. An organisation with a high staff turnover rate would not be able to make much money even if they can save on the pay increments and bonuses of long-term staff. Understanding the relationship deeper, new staff require training and familiarisation with the organisation before they are able to be at their peak productive level.

The main learning point from the seminar was again - Communication. There is so much to learn from him about how to speak/talk. We talk to people - our family, our friends, etc. We all know how important communication is among people to develop relationships and improve understanding between people. However, most of us would just anyhow talk - with or without purpose. With purpose but without a clear purpose. Talk all the time and never giving people the opportunity to talk. Passive listening such that the mind wanders off from the conversation. Some of the above list occurs once in a while for us. The two important points for communication is

1.Active Listening
2.Intentional Speaking

It isn't easy to do either. Imagine trying to give full attention to someone talking and not daydream. Being aware of yourself and your mind's situation. Intentional speaking is the most difficult for me. I usually find myself having an intention to say something but I couldn't say it out. Thoughts like - "Will they accept my idea?", "Oh no, if I say this, I might be the odd one out. People will laugh at me.", etc. Due to this, the first few words will come out from my mouth softly and then turn to mumbling. Is this some sort of speech deficiency? Maybe :P but actually it is more of myself not being confident enough to convey my intention. However, if the intention is clear at the beginning, even if mumbling, the message will still be clear. This is true if the listener is actively listening. So, another thing about going to this seminar is that it builds up confidence. My resolution is to have confidence in whatever I say. It may not be accepted by others but at least my voice is heard. Let others correct me rather than wait for the general consensus. I asked Mr. Manoj on why people like me tend to be this way. The reasoning is that I am quite"B&W" with issues. However, in this world we live in, there is no clear cut distinction between black and white. Instead, so many issues fall in the grey area. 'Do not be afraid to be wrong because there is no right or wrong' (Hehehe.. say all these, but I doubt I'll change much unless I keep myself aware of these 'concepts' when I engage people over a period of time)

I've always kept this motto close to heart - "if it is to be, it is up to me". The first time I heard this was when I realised my ability to pursue my dream of coming to S'pore to study. Preservering through the hardships of A levels and achieving the 'impossible'. Nothing is impossible if one dares to dream.

Hmm... I seem to have written an academic article here. Disclaimer: This article is written based on what I heard and my personal feelings after listening to the seminar. Any copyright infringement or harm inflicted is not intended.

Slow day... reminds me of Sundays!

Today was a very slow day. It started off with me going about my early morning 'rituals'. I went down to R2 tv room as usual and went about continuing all the adminstrative stuff I have to do for BINGO's bank account and also my personal cover letter. Lunch was wonderful thanks to JH. After lunch, watched an incomplete HK movie.

The feeling of the hot weather and watching this HK movie gave me the feeling that today is a Sunday (although today is a Friday). Every Sunday when I was in Brunei, my family and I would visit our relatives. We would have lunch together with them and then watch the HK movies shown on TV2 at 2pm. After that, my parents would chit-chat with my uncles and aunts. My cousins and I would then be around them, fooling around, making plenty of noise because we didn't really understand what the grown-ups were talking about. Sometimes we would be scolded and asked to go play elsewhere. So, usually end up playing at my uncle's farm behind the house. I had lots of fun at the farm especially when I was a little boy. There were so many 'toys'; which in fact are farming tools (well, I was an imaginative kid). There were also farm animals such as chickens, ducks and pigs (before the nation-wide ban). Sometimes for fun, I would scare the chickens silly by creeping up to them then shout out loud. This may be fun to me BUT my grandmother thinks otherwise. I got scolded by her when she found out what I did. Reasoning was because the chickens wouldn't lay eggs well. Anyway, after another national rule for 'halalness' in Brunei, my uncle stopped rearing chickens and ducks because of the need to prepare them confirming to the Islamic rules. It is not easy to sell non-halal chickens/ducks.

Anyway, back to today... actually there's nothing much to blog about for today. It's just a very hot day with me doing nothing productive.... almost nothing. I finished my cover letter!! :P An achievement? Nah.. my classmates already have jobs and I just completed my unsent cover letter and resume. I admit I'm a slacker. -_-

Exam results

OMG!!!!! I'm SUPER SHOCKED! I'm disappointed and I'm super happy. The subjects which I expect to get A or A-, I got a B+ and B respectively. The subject which I expected to get a C+ after the traumatic project which barely made the grade, I got an A-.... I'm laughing like mad in the tv room now. At least for the other remaining 2 modules, not much surprise. Kind of expected the grade. My CAP went up though. Wahahaha... But then again, doesn't make a difference.

I've finally made up my mind. I will postpone my traineeship till dunno when. Now, looking for a full-time job in an IT field here in Singapore. Anyone got recommendations or contacts? =P

Weekday Movie Session

Earlier tonight, my friends and I went out to watch Madagascar. We planned it for quire sometime liao and chose to watch on weekday because it was quite expensive to watch during the weekends with the price hikes. Anyway, the preview and sneak peeks for Madagascar was very promising. However, after watching the show, the "I like to Move it, Move it" song is still playing in my head but there was a feeling inside that something is missing. The show is trying to show that the friendship and bonding between the characters in the movie is much stronger than *censored*.. But something is missing. Story isn't deep enough. Sure, there were some good humour. I love the cute penguins. They are so 'professional' in what they do.

In my opinion, I feel that if the story was around the penguins' adventure, they might be able to develop something interesting. The Madagascar storyline is actually quite simple. Like how +1 puts it - 'Best suited for children'. Oh well... I guess their intended audience were children in the first place...我们这些老小孩... cheated.

Learning Points from AIESEC conference

For the past two days, I attended the AIESEC conference titled "Succeeding in the Global Arena". Once again, these AIESEC conferences challenges my way of thinking. Despite the similiar topics and themes during the conferences - generally about cultural differences and adapting to them, this conference brought another question to myself about how I live my life. Previously I was already struck down and shocked when I don't know what my passion in life is. During the previous camp, when the facilitator asked me what my passion in life was... all I answered was "er...".. then he quickly stopped me and say "Er? You don't know what your passion is. Go back and carefully think about it." Like I said in my previous posts, this is something that is still stuck in me. I think about it daily which makes me think also "Am I thinking about my passion seriously or am I just daydreaming?"

Anyway, in this conference, there was a session about 'culture changing and shifting viewpoints when one moves to a new environment'. I can reflect upon my life before and after coming to Singapore. There are many changes, some for good, some for worse. The way I think and act, my judgements are shaped by the environment that I am in. I'd like to discuss about some of the issues that were discussed in during the 2 day event but it would be a super long post. In short, something that really hit me hard again was "What do I really want in life?". This question is very similar to the question about my passion in life if not the same. hmmm... suppose to have more to say but I think I lost my thinking again.

The people of Nacirema

Read this. This article describes the interesting cultures of the people of Nacirema. I first read this article during the AIESEC preparation seminar. It was a case study for us to understand the meaning of cultural sensitivity. If you were a tourist, would you like to visit Nacirema? Why or why not? Do you think the people of Nacirema are barbarians because of those "Body Rituals"? Can you tolerate the way they treat each other?

Appreciating diversity is what many people and leaders of the world stress on. Learning the ways and tolerating the differences. We have to first tolerate the behavior of others before we can be sensitive about the way they live? These questions are something that have also been stuck in my head ever since attending the AIESEC conferences. Why is the world so divided and why little issues can lead to great catastrophe? Almost everyday, somewhere around the world, people die because of terrorism. Elsewhere, people suffer from hunger and natural disasters. Sometimes I tell myself that I'm stressed out with my life but thinking about these made me feel grateful and at the same time sad. I struggle and feel stress to do well for my university education, someone else around my age, somewhere around the world is struggling hard to live so that he/she could see the next day. Of course, this doesn't mean that I shouldn't struggle hard because there is no point as in the end I'll also die. It just means that I have learnt to appreciate my life better and do my best so that I'm not wasting my time and opportunity given to me.

A question that I still ask myself - "What is my passion in life?". Once in a while, I feel that my passion is to help people who are in need through volunteering in activities. At the same, I question if this is what I really want? What is my motive in joining these? Altruism? Naiveness? By the way, in economics, there is not such thing as altruism. There is always a motive behind every action. e.g. Being happy is a product of helping others, so seeking happiness means that not altruistic behavior. (Once, my econs tutor was asked the question about the switching costs of mobile phone companies and how he avoided the lock-in and switching costs issue. He said this "I use my sister's hp plan after she got a new one after 4 years." So he enjoys the loyalty benefits (discounts in the plan) of long-term customers. Beware of economists! I don't know how true this is though. Anyway, he's a nice fellow. I like his tutorial lessons. =P)

Hmmm.... what am I saying here? I think I've lost the logic in my post. There doesn't seem to be any logical flow. hahaha... jump from Nacirema to diversity to my passion in life =P... I need sleep.

Lazing around?

When I started this blog, I told myself that I have to update it often. It seems that I can't keep up to that. I would like to say that I'm busy but it's not like I'm really that busy now that I've graduated and looking for jobs. I spent most of my free time the past week gaming. Too much DoTA is bad :S.... addiction is hard to control. Anyway, starting yesterday, I managed to get back on track. Resumed my resume writing (I do have one. I just need to improve on it.) and called the bank to try and settle the account for BINGO. Unfortunately, I couldn't settle the bank account issue again because the lady wasn't at her desk when I called her. Guess I'll have to call again.

Other things that I've been doing the past few days, well, there was Karaoke session yesterday. Karaoke here in Singapore is super expensive. The operators sure do know how to make money. All they have to do is state the basic price and add "++" to it so that it is attractive to customers. A "$58++" can become $98 on the bill just because the fruits and towels are compulsory. Anyway, overall the session wasn't that bad. A little cheated by the initial price quote - yes but still oklah.

I'm also feeling abit lost these days in whether to wait till June where my traineeship application starts or quickly apply for jobs here. I think I should defer my traineeship instead of aiming for it this year. Better to settle all the MOE tuition grant and PR issues before leaving.

Dubious Job Offer

Yesterday, I was able to get hold of the New Straits Times' Classifieds. I went through the list and filtered out some potential work. After making a few calls, I went for a walk-in interview at Bugis. The job as advertised states "Charity fund raising". I was quite happy, thinking "Hey, I get to earn some money while doing some good".

The location of the office is quite 'ulu'. Although I've been to Bugis often, this is the first time I enter Midlink plaza. (For the past few holidays I've been working at Bugis, so am familiar with the area =P) Anyway, first impression on entering is "Freaky Elevator!". I don't like the elevator because the lighting is abit low and yellowish lights with mirrors on three sides. It scares me. Look left, see my reflection but abit dark. Look right, also see my reflection with dark shadings.... Alone in the lift, though is day time but feels like night. I think the idea is to make the place look classy but the lift feels scary rather than classy. As soon as the door opened, I ran out. I didn't dare look at the reflections on the sides. Lucky for the trip down, I had someone else taking the lift. phew~ ... think I think too much liao =P.

The building is filled with offices. The place does look quite classy. On reaching the office, I stood outside examining the surroundings. The other offices have clear windows where you can see what is in their office while this particular office has tinted glasses. I thought "Weird, this doesn't look like any charitable organization". Went inside and saw many empty chairs and a secretary on the phone and application forms. The application form was also 'bad'. It requested for some personal information such as family members, their salary, 3 friends information. I ignored those sections in the form. This is what happens after studying all the privacy issues in NUS... become paranoid =P... Previously, I would be happily filling up information as requested.

After the interview, I went back to check out the website stated on the bookmark. Either I got the website address wrongly or it was a scam. In the afternoon when I checked the website, there was only a banner. At night when I checked it again, new sections were added in. It gave me and uneasy feeling. I don't want to be supporting a dubious organization. The next morning, I tried calling up the company before 11 to tell them I quit but no one answered the phone. Only at around 1105 then the secretary called to ask if I was going. This made me confirmed myself that I should quit.

Traffic Jam

Yesterday was my first time experiencing traffic jam in a 'big city'. It was horrible. Look left, look right, see cars and cars with frustrated drivers in the car. The traffic jam occured on AYE starting from Clemenceau Ave near City Hall and ended at Buona Vista. We took a cab from Bugis. When we reached AYE, we were surprised by the number of cars and the 'stop & go' movement. Initially my feelings were like: "Hmmm... traffic jam, cool!" I looked up at the electronic signboard along AYE and it states "Traffic Jam. Up to B. Vista"... The cab-driver was also feeling very frustrated as he kept "tsk", "tsk" all the time. I felt uneasy and my feelings were elevated to frustrations as well. This occured when after 15minutes into the journey, I saw the sign - AYE 3Km.... Buona Vista exit is AYE 8Km.... which means that after only 15minutes, we travelled less than 1Km on AYE. In fact, the whole journey took about 1hr and 15minutes. >.<"

What's worse is that looking over to the other lane of the expressway towards the City, cars are zooming past as speeds of over 100km/h with our lane, a Ferrari on the right moving very slowly. There was a point where the driver asked if we should exit to Bukit Merah and go from there... Looking at the exit, cars were also quite stuck and we still have to exit to AYE because South B. Vista road is along AYE. So, he chose not to. Aiyah... maybe I should've told him to exit to Keppel Road then go along Pasir Panjang. Would've saved us the trouble of waiting along AYE (>.<"). Oh well, this is a lesson to avoid cab drivers who don't listen to the road report on radio. But then again, thinking about it..... the traffic jam wasn't that bad (only ~6km stretch filled with cars on 4 lanes). Other countries have jams of up to 4-5hours. I wonder how the people handle those. :S

Recess

I just read a letter to the New Straits Times (15th May 2005) regarding the recess time for primary school children to be too short in some schools. According to that letter, 20minutes isn't enough because some teachers will teach and eat into the recess time. This reminded me of my primary school days. Although I seldomly experience teachers taking up much of the recess time. If there are instances such as that, at most 5 to 10minutes to finish up what he/she started teaching BUT rarely. (occurs once like in a few years =P) Anyway, most importantly, I recalled a particular teacher who "likes" giving students detention back then.

Detentions are supposed tactics/scare factors to control a class of noisy students. There was once or twice back in Primary 4 that my entire class was kept back throughout the recess. I remember my feelings back then. I was very angry with the teacher and actually, that was the first time I "survived" through recess without eating anything. It has been a habit for me back then to at least eat something during recess else I'll be starving. Back then, I also couldn't understand how some of my friends can play all through recess without eating anything. Thinking about these puts a smile on my face.

Anyway, back to the story. If I remember correctly, it was because the teacher has already warned us that she'll detain us if we make more noises. Most ignored her warning and she was very angry. She kept the whole class back during recess. I think the entire class was in shock and quite sad. Being primary school children and not playing during recess.... it was a sad moment. Everyone peered outside the window longing to play with friends from other classes. After recess, another teacher took over. We complained our situation to the teacher. Although I don't remember this teacher's exact reaction but I guess she must have felt quite shocked (I'll explain later). She gave us permission to go buy food at the canteen to eat in class. After that day, whenever it was that teacher's turn to have her lessons before recess, I would prepare snacks before hand to eat during detention. Hehehe... sneaky me.

To add on why I say that the teacher felt shock to find out that we were detained - Being a relief teacher for 3 months back in 2002 helped opened my eyes to what goes on behind the scenes. Some parents can be very fussy and nasty at times. Despite trying to discipline their children, they take it that one is abusing. It makes one wonder, some parents leave it to the school to educate their children and expects their children to be disciplined but yet schools no longer have the authority to hand down "magic-stick" punishment (I love this metaphor from the late Dr. Wee Kim Wee's book). This is quite a major issue that even the Japanese TV Drama - GTO tries to address

School life - the best times of our lives? =P

A cold rainy day

It was raining when I woke up around 9am this morning. I was feeling very cold in my room despite having my warm and cozy blanket covering me. I'm glad I bought a blanket this semester. My mom has been chasing me to buy one since my first year. I never did because I never saw the need to use. When it got too cold, all I had to do was wear thicker clothes and switch off the fan. Anyways, was good weather to sleep in but I have slept enough. Today was time for me to do some serious work.

I went out to BINGO room this morning and made a few phone calls to the previous founding members of BINGO to settle the accounts issue. Hopefully can get all these settled by the end of the month as we need the money to do our BINGO projects.