Thoughts about last few days...

Haven't been living my week well for the last few days.
Can't sleep properly, headaches with studies.

I think I lived life better when I am not in Uni...

Well, last few days to go, I pray for divine Mercy.

"Believe In Tomorrow" by Sunflower's Garden

A song from the anime "Hunter X Hunter" OVA3 - Greed Island Final

The lyrics are quite inspiring - describing what I aspire to be...

Getting to know AIESEC... My Story...

Hmm... Well, let me see, the first time that I see the name AIESEC was actually when I receive the freshmen orientation package - I recall seeing the AIESEC's phamlet recruitintg for their FOC, but the phamlet was really a lot of words but nothing visual. More importantly, other big clubs such as CAC, SU, Sports Club etc are promoting with really attractive colored phamlets which made them hard to ignore (in the end, I joined the CAC's FOC and Hall 3 FOC - which are also fun :) )

The second time that I see about AIESEC was when my friend joined the welcome tea, the idea that she had about AIESEC then was that it's an organisation that allowed members to travel overseas - it did sound attractive to me, but I had already committed to Hall Activities as well as a main comm. position for an event, so I didn't really think much about it. She joined the orientation later on but the details about the camp was explained in quite a blur fashion, so my feeling was, it isn't really that good.

Then later on, my impression of AIESEC just died off, till there was this seminar about leadership development, which really struck onto me since it's on personal empowerment; time management etc. I was really interested in it but I had some tight schedules and the venues wasn't really accessible (Yes, you guessed it, it's in SMU/NUS far far away from Pulau NTU) Well, there goes my chance to know AIESEC better.

The next seminar that attracted me was the "Cooperate Social Responsibility Seminar Series" which I felt intrigued to know then. Also I noted that one of the speaker is Ms Claire Chiang - Just to sidetrack a bit, Ms Chiang is a person that I respected. I got to hear her speak a few years back when I was organising NP's student forum on the issue of "Family Matters". Her charisma as well as wisdom back then left a deep impression in me. - Anyway, back to the seminar; I was quite impressed by the way the seminar was organised as well as some new insights that I learned about AIESEC – that it’s more of a student society about student empowerment and not "*blah* in excessive *blah* every conference" (an AIESEC joke) Something else that quite struck me then was that the facilitator had been on an internship to taiwan - I was thinking - that's really cool and something I am looking towards to – international exposure.

The conference really left a good impression of AIESEC so much so that I looked more information on AIESEC and eventually sent an e-mail out to Sharon (then VP Learning) as well as Terrence (hmm, this is something new that I realised when I looked back on the email, wahaha...)

Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2005 10:24 AM
To: sharon.tan
Cc: terence.seah
Subject: Interest in joining AIESEC

Hi,

I’ve attended the CSR Forums conducted by AIESEC and was quite interested in AIESEC activities.

I am interested to join in as a member and would like to know what are the commitments that an AIESEC member has.

Thanks

Nicholas Ong

And soon enough, I got a reply from Sharon addressing every single concern of mine.

From: Sharon Tan
Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2005 11:14 AM
To: #ONG YUH SHEN#
Subject: RE: Interest in joining AIESEC

Hello Nicholas,

Glad to know of your interest in joining AIESEC. Well, traditionally our recruitment for members is only open once a year in the period of July and August, which means that you might have to wait till next year 06/07 to apply and join us.

Nevertheless, we are working something out and there may be a small recruitment in the next semester in January. I will keep you informed about this.

In terms of commitments, AIESEC members start off by attending our Recruitment and Orientation camp. After that there are gatherings and training sessions so build up the knowledge of what AIESEC does, why we do it and how we do it. Some activities are held on a national scale (involving members from NTU and SMU as well) and these are usually held on Saturdays. We also have learning activities with our AIESEC interns, these are either in the evenings of on the weekends as well. At the same time, members are involved in a department which they have chosen and will be doing the core of each department (under guidance of seniors). October and April being exam preparation periods don’t usually have many activities, though things do pick up after exams, like conferences in Dec, Feb and June.

That’s roughly the kind of activities our members get involved in so I hope I have addressed your question. In any case, should you be interested in applying to join us as a member in 06/07, I would recommend that you join us in the meantime for some of our activities that are open to non-AIESEC members. We are having a Developing Leaders Day in Dec as part of our national conference and it would be great if you could join us. J

Anyhow, just feel free to drop me an email if you have further questions. I will be glad to help answer them.

Cheers
Sharon Tan
Vice President Learning
AIESEC in Singapore 2005/2006

I think this e-mail I received made AIESEC activities and commitments quite clear, it'd also gave me quite a deep impression about the people in the organisation - commitment and enthusiasm. Sharon sent out further events updates (I didn't managed to attend due to other commitments) reinforcing my impression about AIESEC as a very enthusiastic organisation (and it is!)

After my IA, back to school for 06/07, and the rest, as they say, is history (of coz it is not to you, if you didn’t took part in AIESEC activities =P )

Venting my anger about Creative... (updates)

*Just a follow-up on this post*

Well, friends at the hardwarezone forums pointed out that the issue was more of a lack of knowledge on how lithium use...

Well, I guess I have to read more on new technologies...

For those who don't know about lithium
- heat shorten it's lifespan, hence when using it in the power supplied laptop, remove it when fully charged.
- it's okay to do frequent short charging for lithium batteries, meaning whenever possible, just charge your lithium batteries, same principles does not apply to NiMH (commonly used for AA/AAA)
- most of the devices are using lithium rechargeable nowadays, however, do check the battery's label to be sure.

Hope this will help other tech dummies. ^_^

-------------------------------------------------

Something for those who are considering Neeon 2.

Well, I'm a techie and techie normal do stuff in the most efficient way, meaning, batteries are supposed to discharged completely before a recharge. And what I know next, my Neeon 2 blacked out, unresponsive to any charging via computer USB port or by self-powered usb hub.

My mom helped me brought it to Marina Square and according to the staff, the issue was a totally flat out battery cannot be recharged using either method - what a design failure - you must get the Creative Charger to charge the Neeon.

If I had known of this sucky design, I would have stayed away from it.

What worsen the fact was I got it at staff price (from friend) just 2 weeks back, and they now seemed to have it on promotion sale at $238 w the charger, which cost a cool $49 separate. No way am I going to buy it.

Well, I'll need to consider my options next time I were to get anything made by Creative - to think I was a loyal supporter of the company...

Wishing all a blessed Easter =)

What is easter, you may ask,

Well, here's an extract from about.com

On Easter Sunday, Christians celebrate the resurrection of the Lord, Jesus Christ. It is typically the most well-attended Sunday service of the year for Christian churches.

Christians believe according to Scripture, that Jesus came back to life, or was raised from the dead, three days after his death on the cross. As part of the Easter season, the death of Jesus Christ by crucifixion, is commemorated on Good Friday, always the Friday just before Easter. Through his death, burial and resurrection, Jesus paid the penalty for sin, thus purchasing for all who believe in Him, eternal life in Christ Jesus.

Maybe for all my dear friends who are not Christ believers, you may just treat it as a day where delicious chocolate easter eggs can be found everywhere. Alternatively, treat it as a day for self-reflection - to think about our past behavior and how how we should act for the better. Either way, it's up to you :P

Life down the road... Are you ready to adapt?

It's quite amazing how the world changes...


Extracted from Nabeel's post

Prangstgrup - Reach! A Lecture Musical Prank!!

Rene shown this to us in NTU the other day when he came down to NTU's AGM.
It's quite a show of the student vibrancy in other Universities, but who knows, maybe something similar might happen in NTU in the near future.

More blogthings...

You Are a Natural Flirt

Believe it or not, you're a really effective flirt. And you're so good, you hardly notice that you're flirting. Your attitude and confidence make you a natural flirt. And the fact that you don't know it is just that more attractive!

What Kind of Flirt Are You?

300

Just a short after-thought seeing the movie - 300.

Put in your all when pursuing your dreamz. Never retreat, never surrender - only fight till the end. That what we should do to live a fulfilling life, face all challenges by the front and live through it.

Teaserz...

Hmm, okay, I'm gonna re-do the article on Ryan's visit, I didn't really put what I had learnt from Ryan into it... hehe

Also, I'm intending to put an article detailing about my AIESEC journey....
You know what - it actually started from Oct 2005... Wahaha, why? You'll know later...