A happy recollection....

Around 2 weeks ago, an Alvin Tan called me on my phone, asking me if I remembered him, he was from 4S1 with Eugene Chen. I was thinking hard for quite a while; I should have looked up on the year book - what a waste of brain cells thinking. Anyway, I didn't see my year-book then so I was like, heck, I'll recall when I'll recall.

There is a few more conversations made through the SMS made me more uncertain of me knowing him. I thought I knew him from army days back in 2002 - 2003; as there's another Alvin from Catholic High; it turned out negative.

Only today, when I was chatting with Eugene over MSN did I had another image popping up and they are from my Primary 4 days - talk about the amazing sub-conscious - a few more checks with Eugene confirmed my suspicion, he is Alvin Tan whom sits beside me during Primary 4 year; I guess age does make it a bit more difficult for memory work, especially when it's like 16 years ago. LOL

Gave him a called back immediately to tell him that I recalled and sent him my seasons greetings. A short call though since he's busy for the moment, I guess it'll take a while before I could find out how he's doing over the years. Heard from Eugene that he's a doctor now and got married - sounds so much like a perfect life that Singaporeans parents wished for their children. But I believe that in between those years that we last met, there must be loads of interesting experience. =)

Sudden realisation...

When I was at Grace place today, someone asked me this question, what's the BEADS project about. I thought for a while then realised how little that I know of the project. So now back home I started searching the LC-NTU's blog and I came across this -

What is BEADS all about?
Being Engaged And Dynamic in Society

What are our aims?
Over the academic year 07-08 we aim to provide:

- Capacity building for Non-Profit Organisations
- Awareness building and fund raising around the issue of HIV/AIDS
- More volunteerism opportunities for young people

If you are interested in knowing more about social entrepreneurship, volunteering to work for HIV/AIDS patients in Singapore, embarking on overseas community building programs and work with other NGOs, then come and join us!

I then realised how little I know about the projects that are being organised. Even those conferences that I had joined - such as Ripples and START! conference that I joined earlier as a participant, faci faded away deep within my mind.

The fact of this realisation meant that I need to be more aware of what I'm doing, to have a clear focus / vision before, during and after each event so as to effectively share my knowledge that I gained from the conference instead of appearing like a dummy to those who seek that knowledge.

This will definitely be a work in progress and it does not only apply to AIESEC events but to all my daily activities - to know my goal, how my actions will contribute to it as well as a clear vision of what is to come.

Asking the Right Questions

A great article that I found while reading, I thought that it is something that we could apply in our daily life. Good examples that I found that I could use is "How can I improve myself to be a better person?", "How can I make make my friends feel more appreciated?", "How can I make my time more productive?" I hope that you too would learn how to ask the questions that has the most productive results. =)

Extracted from Steve Pavlina

Asking the Right Questions

Tony Robbins says that thinking is a process of asking and answering questions. He stresses the importance of asking the right questions to get the right answers and therefore the right results. I agree with him. Most people ask lousy questions that cripple their results. Lousy questions turn your focus away from what you want and towards more of what you don’t want. And since we ask and answer mental questions every day, our questions wield great power over our results.

Here are some examples of weak questions vs. strong questions:

Upon waking up early

Weak: Can I fall back asleep again? Should I go back to bed?

Strong: What would be the best way to start my day? How can I energize myself? Where can I find something inspirational or motivational to read right now?

When contemplating exercise (and feeling unmotivated)

Weak: Is it too hot/cold to exercise? Can I skip it for today? What difference will it make if I just skip a day? Don’t I deserve a day off?

Strong: Won’t it feel great hitting the showers afterwards? What should I listen to while I workout? Won’t it be wonderful to achieve my fitness goals? How can I make this session more fun?

When considering a dietary improvement

Weak: What foods am I going to have to give up? How am I going to deal with the deprivation? Am I going to have to eat like this forever?

Strong: What foods that I like will I get to eat more of? What new foods can I experiment with? Won’t it be great when I reach my goal weight? Won’t it be wonderful to finally master this area of my life once and for all? Once I succeed at this, who else can I help?

Nearing the end of the workday

Weak: Have I done enough that I can justify quitting for the day? Is this a good time to stop? Can I finish this tomorrow?

Strong: What’s next? How can I complete one more task? How much more can I get done today?

When spending time with the kids

Weak: Why do I have to do so much childcare? How can I keep the kids from draining my energy this evening? What’s the bare minimum I can do to keep them out of my hair? How early can I put them to bed?

Strong: What can I do with the kids that will leave me feeling energized? What do I appreciate most about my kids? What would I enjoy doing with them this evening? What would happen if I let my kids direct how we spend our time together?

When facing an unfamiliar social situation

Weak: How can I avoid looking like an idiot? What should I talk about? How can I keep from being too nervous or shy? How did I get myself into this situation? Can I get out of going?

Strong: Won’t it be fun to meet some interesting new people? If I see someone there who’s a bit shy, what can I do to make him/her feel more comfortable? What can I expect others at this event to have in common with me?

When feeling depressed, anxious, or otherwise negative

Weak: Why do I feel so down? Why can’t I be happy? How come I never get any time to myself?

Strong: What can I do to energize myself? Who can I talk to that would help cheer me up? What can I read or listen to that would inspire me? Are these feelings trying to tell me something — should I go journal about them? How long can I hold a fake smile before it forces me to start feeling good again?

What’s the difference?

Weak questions are disempowering. They keep your focused on your own ego, your problems, and your shortcomings. Weak questions keep you focused on what’s wrong… on what isn’t working. That might seem like a good idea, but all it does is further reinforce the situation you’d like to change. Weak questions will lead your brain to come up with answers that are useless, circular, or even destructive.

Yet weak questions are addictive. At first glance they may even seem helpful, and that’s why they’re so insidious. You might think that if you’re depressed, the best thing you can do is to ask, “Why am I so depressed?” Perhaps if you could diagnose the problem, you could cure it. But it doesn’t work that way. When you’re in a negative state or situation, you aren’t thinking clearly to begin with. You’re in no position to accurately diagnose yourself. Effectively you’re blind. So the answers you get back will be worthless. At best you’ll merely come up with a temporary solution, but the underlying condition will remain, and the problem will simply submerge and crop up again later, sometimes in a different form. Asking why you’re depressed merely feeds your depression. In answering the why question, now you’ve added a story on top of your depression. That goes way beyond acknowledging your depression and trying to do something about it.

Strong questions are empowering. They keep you focused on solutions, on what you can control. When you focus on what you can do, you avoid falling into analysis paralysis. Ultimately the way out of any negative situation is right thinking. Wrong thinking leads you in circles. Right thinking leads to action.

Going back to the depression example, the first thing you need to do is to get yourself to a more positive emotional state. And with practice that can be done in a matter of minutes — even seconds if you’ve studied NLP. Strong questions will help you shift your focus away from depression and the thoughts that reinforce it and towards action. When you focus too much thought on what you can’t control and don’t like, depression is a natural consequence. When you ask different questions to focus on what you can control and what you like, depression will lift.

Mediocre results largely come about from asking mediocre questions. Great results come from asking great questions. If you don’t like the results you’re getting, try asking completely different questions from the ones you’re used to asking. Ask questions that turn your focus towards your goals instead of away from them. Ask questions that allow you to enhance the pleasure in your life instead of creating greater pain.

Short post on NLDS 2007

Well, once again NLDS came and left in a flash.

While I was half-hearted learning parts of a vehicle up north in Sembawang, the delegates of NLDS 2007 in Singapore are having a hell of a good time learning from experienced AIESECers like Sharon, Dei, Mayas, etc. It's somehow was depressing for me because I really wanted to join in the NLDS in a more delegate sort of position.

Right after Fri's evening class, I went back home, packed a bit and took a cab down to Sheares Hall to join their Global Village. It took the delegates more than a while to reach the venue, since they are engrossed in a sharing session that was prior hand. By the time they reached, the hall is turning warm since the booking was made till 1030. Never the less, we remained there through for the country presentations, it'd have been more interesting if we have more delegates from the same countries. The flow was not as smooth as last year, it lacked a bit of order. Still I think most of the delegates enjoyed themselves, and I think that's what matter the most.

Booths setup by the OC

Costumes and events going on

That evening, I had quite an unusual surprised, Zhang Xuan had only spare room available on a female floor; it didn't really matter much in the room, but I'm feeling kindda weird when I stepped out heading towards the ground floor where the guys toilet is, thank god that along the way down, no one is around to noticed my presence, which I think might take some explaining. LOL.

The next day was DLD, gosh, trying to help the OCs in the ways possible to settle all logistics stuff; a bit lacking this year was the fact that no one was trained to use the AV in SMU, and yeah, that definitely needed some training as the system is quite complex. Luckily I managed figured out with a bit of tinkling with the system. Noon was rush time as I and Hongyu settled the T-Shirts collections. Meanwhile, Soo Yan worked on her tasks of getting porcelain wares for the Gala that evening, thanks to her persistence, we managed to get the issue ironed out. One thing for me to remind future OCs, get the expectations of big events such as Gala dinner settled out - what may be practical for the budget might not help much in the image. We should however, work within the budget - thankfully, we had Jeremy to settle this out.

The OC and their "under table" business

Delegates enjoying sumptuous dinner

After the dinner, everyone is in a photo frenzy, taking photos with each other in their finest wear. It took quite a while before the OCs managed to shoo everyone to the waiting area for the bus to pick them up. We then proceeded to do a bit of cleaning up to do since the dining wares and the caterer are different vendors - meaning we are on our own for keeping the wares while the caterer keeps theirs. Every OC member did their bit - clearing up the plates, bowls and cups, piling them together then temporarily storing them in the AP office (hopefully it didn't smell bad) till the next working day where the vendor will pick them up.

After all the pack up, we took a few more group pictures before proceeding for supper at a prata shop where we chit-chatted a bit about prior to returning to NUS and discussed about preparations for the next day.

Group photo prior supper

Impromptu shot during supper

Less than 4 hours later, we are back on our feet, carrying stuffs and the lot to the NUS Business School where the remaining sessions are held. What's memorable for me on the final day is the simulation that's going on for the delegates. It's actually quite similar to what we had in the START! Conference in Taiwan, where delegates will use the skills that they picked up from previous sessions to seek out for potential TNs. The whole process was quite fun, and I thought that the delegates also gained a lot through the simulation.

Towards the start of the final session, I left for home in preparation for class the next day... missed out the best parts of the conference, still, life must go on. Hopefully, next year I would be able to just sit in throughout the whole conference and enjoy the process of being in it instead of out of it. -nic

Looking at others....

Well, it's been a day since the last post, felt like writing what had been or will be happening to my friends instead.

AIESEC in NTU
I just saw some of the great wonderful experience that my friends in NTU are enjoying, first, the post exams celebrations that was on 30th Nov. They seemed to have a lot of fun as well as delicious food. Kindda pity that I was busy getting sick instead of having fun :/

The next day, AIESEC in NTU had more fun, learning from experienced @ers like Celine and Sharon ranging from the topics of event management to conference agenda planning. Gosh. I think I should get a copy of the presentation slides.

AECians
As usual, the AECians will be having our own small Christmas party coming 22nd Dec. With a potluck party and many people bringing so many good food to enjoy and make merry; it just seems an awful day knowing that I'll be staying in my camp in Stagmont guarding the perimeters for the whole day.

Close Friends
Was surfing my close friends blog and discovered that my friend KM just changed job, working in a foreign bank as a wealth manager and is also doing a Masters Programme in SMU. He sure is good example of one who pursues his interests and does his best in developing himself.

Jason is also another friend who constantly motivates me by setting an example - he has strive hard in the line of IT work achieving a whole list of IT credentials such as MCSA, MCSE, CEH, CHFI, etc. and is still doing his best to develop his potentials by reading up on IT materials + he is taking a part time Degree. Now that's what I call motivation!

A lot of good things has also been happening to WeeBeng, a good friend whom I've known since Sec School. He's a motivated personnel that made losing weight seemed nothing of an obstacle but rather a matter of discipline. He has also took up so many responsibilities at work; though not willing, but still, put in his best to make each task a success. On top of all those stuff, he further pursues his interests / self-development by studying for the CFA level 1 exams. Now that what I call not resting on his laurels.

More interesting updates to come.... Meanwhile, I think I will rest for class tomorrow :)

1 month has passed

1 month passed in a flash since my last entry. Reflecting back, the month of Nov hasn't been a good month for me. Spent a couple of days in Tekong, did guard duty, spend a day in Sentosa for Coy cohesion; well, these isn't really the things that I dread - at least not for Sentosa.

What I dread was I fall ill towards the end of the month. Spend 2 days sick at home - one of the days was supposed to be my off-in-liu that I got for the weekend in Tekong. Thereafter, I skipped the Stand-Chart, the first time after taking part for the last 4 years, because of persistent cough.

Then I fall into a depressed mood that I spent my entire block leave at home rotting instead of doing something positive... Sometimes I wonder why I allow myself spiral into such a depressing situation - perhaps it's because I was sick pior hand so I didn't really draft the list of things to do. Or perhaps, sub-consciously, I just wanted to rot for a while so that I could know what good things that I could spend my precious time achieving. Whatever the case may be, on hind-sight, I could have spend the time more productively.

Perhaps what I should do from now on is to draft a list of items that I could do when I'm in top condition and some of the less straineous stuff I could accomplish when I'm not feeling that well.

Well, then I think I should act on this now.

List of things to do for the next 3 months; when I'm feeling well
- review and edit my resume
- CCDA revision and scheduling for exam preparation - target exam date is end of Feb
- Fitness regime

Things that I could achieve when I'm less well
- search for a suitable SN taker / also concurrently search for suitable positions
- Complete 2 books that I recently got from Popular Book Store
- Pros and Cons comparison of going on Exchange and working

Well, I think I will stick to this for the next 2 weeks. No point looking too much into the future. Meanwhile, I will just enjoy the activities that remains in the last 3 weeks of december which includes NLDS, Weekend guard duty on 22nd (not really looking forward to that but bo bian) Christmas as well as New Year which will mark the last 2 months of my National service.

Sure felt much better after venting all my frustrations through writing. Okay. Time for rest.