Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Some of the favourite cartoon songs









Tuesday, April 10, 2007

the 2 project groups in ntu

HRM



We've spent so much time on the project that it feels weird not to have project meetings now. haha. For a short review on the course, I think Choon young summed it well:

"I heard about the nightmares HRM gives its students, but found that it's not true at all after I took it. I don't even have time to sleep!"

ES102



Alan... your head big sia...... wahaha













no.... it's not the position or the angle or the lighting or the weather or the camera lens.....

your head BIG......








And the review of this course..... eh...... we learnt about...zzzz.... moti... zzzz..... motivatio....zzzzzz

Shiok..... 2/8 completed..... 6 more to go

Saturday, April 07, 2007

The story of the jar and 2 cups of coffee

Somebody sent me this story and I thought I should post it here so I'll remember it.

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A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar.
He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

Next, the professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "YES." The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things God, family, children, health, friends, and favorite passions -- things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car. The sand is everything else -- the small stuff.”

"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. So... Pay attention to the things that are critical to your
happiness. Play With your children. Take time get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. "Take care of the golf balls first -- the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

Monday, April 02, 2007

3rd april

The finale of the semester is coming, right after i finish the last project of the sem.

And at this point of time, I'm watching my friends dressing up for interviews and planning what they should do with their future income. Apart from feeling envious, I wonder if i'm ready to work if i'm in their shoes.

I guess not, so maybe I'll try to prepare myself more in the next one year.

Super working man in the making....

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Blog revival time!!!

arghhh.... did something stupid and lost my post... so here's a summary

was reading dunst's blog and found something really inspiring

"The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway."

That's line number 6 of the paradoxical commandments. I especially like this line because it's telling us big dreams and thinking tend to go unappreciated and even attract hostility, but why would that matter? At times like these, you should remind yourself to continue thinking bigger and broader so you can rise above the situation.

This would be very helpful if I had seen it earlier.

Looking back, the past few months were really very meaningful. Even though it was not always pleasant, i have learned a lot of things, especially things on people and managing relationships.


In the past few months, I have experience more teamwork than i ever had. I was involved in a total of about 7 teams, some of which i was a team member, some of which i acted as a leader and some of which I was more like the observer. In any case, I have seen many faces in a team and that gave me many valuable lessons.

I learned that when fatigue sets in, it is easy for a disease to spread in a team. This disease is highly contagious and if not carefully controlled, it will plague the whole team and corrode the entire structure. I have no name for this disease but i'm well aware of the symptoms. it poisons the brain in the following ways:

When people question me, they're picking trouble with me
When people criticize my ideas, they are attacking me
When people don't do their job well, they're not efficient
When I can't do my job well, it's because people are always hindering me
When people are angry, they're showing temper
When I am angry, I'm bringing out a point
When things don't go well, somebody should be blamed for it

It's amazing what this disease can do. It poisons the brain so much that the affected person will have problem doing a simple moral education question

Question: If there is someone you do not like, you should
(a) Ignore him
(b) Approach him and try to settle matters with him
(c) Minimize contact
(d) Go out of the way to embarass him

Of course we know (b) is the ideal answer, but how many of us really can do that in real life? In my opinion, (a) and (c) are not wrong too, but don't be surprised to find ourself choosing (d) at some point of time.


Strangely, in other groups that I have worked in, the disease was almost non-existence. I was really surprised to see some groups click while others break, given the same conditions. The pressure was there, the deadlines were there, the differences were there, but the blaming and the hating weren't there. it was then i realised that there's a powerful medicine that counters the disease, it reverse the thinking in the following ways:

When people question me, I should try my best to answer them
When people criticize my ideas, I should listen so i can improve
When people don't do their job well, I should encourage them more
When I can't do my job well, I know I'll have the support of my friends
When people are angry, I should be understanding to their feelings
When I am angry, I should calm down
When things don't go well, we should try to improve the situation together

This medicine is respect

When you have respect for yourself and others, you recognize people are not out to get you. And when you know your team mates are not there to work against you, you will see that everyone is working towards the one common goal, and we shouldn't really question who do more or who do less, who should be blamed for which mistakes.

I remember my lecturer talking about 'Mian Zi' and I should link it to image. Is the term talking about how you should uphold your image? It appears to be more profound than that...

How should I behave so I can uphold my image?
How should I behave so you can uphold your image?
How should I behave so you will help me uphold my image?

It's never about ourselves.....