..:: 746. Emcee duties ::..

after being emcee for (1) friend's wedding and (2) RCY current affairs competition/recognition day on 7 Jul and 21 July, i realised:

1. i need to write down my thoughts before i verbalise them.

2. i think too much.

my brain dont work in point forms, so the more things i tried to recall to say, the higher the chance i fumble over my words. to make things worse, i tend to speak fast. gotta slow down!

anyway i had great time in both emcee jobs cos i had 2 great partners who were spontaneous and willing to "impromptu" to add spice to the boring scripts.

i guess that is how great hosts on tv work, they feed off each other's vibes and poke fun at each other.

chanced upon 8 days horoscope readings:

this looks like a period of hope and renewal. you may be celbrating the end of one personal phase and the beginning of another. in many ways, your role is to make partners feel better.

emcee partners?

on a side note, completed my cadets' commissioning parade and ball. gratifying to see my first batch become officers. hope i have taught them well and they will continue to do well in their units. highlighted to my upperstudy who to "recruit" for the new officers cos when i take over, i will have them! forward planning :)

got to complete my SOP to table for the next conference. i had to stand in for the secretary for that conference... hope everything goes well.

..:: 745. A year on in 2012 ::..

wow my blog site still existed! 2011 has been a blast for me, key events for me were:

- conceptualised the Army HR seminar and run the whole show (with help from my colleagues of course)
- travelled eastern europe (prague, vienna, salzburg, solvenia, croatia) with 2 awesome girls!
- lost my iphone 3G during songkran
- got super sick after europe trip (had morphine for the first time in hospital)
- move to my new job and had trouble keeping up with the tempo :(
- gave up my trip to hongkong and bali

well, had my fair share of ups and downs.

i have one unfinished goal - to complete my ACTA certification.

signing off from my first holiday/leave since start of 2012. where's the work-life balance?

..:: 744. Random Scribblings ::..

Attended a course on effective strategies for speech writing. Interesting one conducted by a SMU prof. First day he spent sharing his experience, with occasional mention about SMU. One has to be a good observant of life to draw relevant examples to connect to the audience. Stark examples like mee siam mai hum shows disconnection.

Role of speech writer is to make the speaker look good. Discussed several techniques and I like the idea of translating monetary value into equivalent daily items to connect with the audience you are targeting.

I also got to know why ITE does not have swimming pools. Maybe one campus has but not all.

After attending this course, I'm sure to be all on ears for the upcoming GE rally speeches.

Afternote: I saw one swimming pool in ite college east.

..:: 743. Ushering 2011 ::..

after watching my travel bud's homemade video of her travels this year, i was so tempted to do one but i dont think i have the patience and determination to filter the pictures, let alone finish the video. for someone who edits her photos before loading up on facebook, you can tell i am not the kind of video person.

xmas have been a blast! i decided to move my lazy bum and show up at the gathering/party. at the same time, i also wanted to practise shooting with my new camera, sony alpha 33. it takes amazing photos (without the need to edit). i always enjoy gift exchange when the other party takes effort to buy it. it is quite amazing that i was "aiming" for the loccitane gift but ended up happier when i got a super shockproof mug that had a 5 yr warranty. sometimes in life the things that you want may not be the best for you. lol. john, dont think so much, its just a gift exchange.

xmas party at the fullerton hotel was even more amazing. a presidential suite was booked that could accomodate 300 people. atas life to the max. that's not all. DJs were hired and there were two different themes, hip hop and trance rooms. hot hunks and babes who had just enough cloth to cover their vitals were serving the guests. unlimited booze was like heaven but heaven was not so kind cos it rained intermittently and it kinda spoilt the mood a little. worse thing was the management had received complains (as expected) for the loud music and noise. first time i saw security standing outside the suite. overall, it was great, catching up with friends, people-watching and awing at people who had great style.

checklists are my favourite things in life or rather my personality, i figured i should do up a list to see what i want to achieve in 2011.

- travel to eastern europe and another new destination
- go somewhere with my travel bud
- save 20% of my salary
- complete my ACTA certification
- go for photography course
- buy a zoom lens up to 105mm
- explore other volunteering opportunities outside of red cross

...:: 742. Closure to 2010 ::..

another year has whizzed past. it's the kind of reflection you will do when you are bored at home and the posts that you re-visit and laugh about.

work: pretty satisfied with my performance so far. been given extra tasks to prove my worth and so far my reputation seems alright. hope this year's ranking will be good. 2011 will be my last year for this current appointment. besides the collaboration with NYP in my to-do list, i need to come up with some projects to end my tour in a good note.

friends: kept to my resolution to have gathering every month, at least for my fyp mates, we are still keeping contact :)

vacations: known as the seasoned traveller by many, i still have 3 days of leave left. pays to be a planner.

Jan - BKK
Feb - Sri Lanka
Apr - KL, BKK
Aug - BKK/ HCM
Oct - Phnom Penh
Dec - BKK/ Taipei

Others: Glad that I started my quest on ACTA. Looking to do NLP Certification but am unsure of its prospects. More involved in Red Cross this year, going into international humanitarian law and manpower aspects.

..:: 741. Networking 101 ::..

Networking 101: never close doors of opportunity even if you do not want them. It's the first impression that counts.

one going-to-be big shot (which I didnt know) asked me to join him. i was not interested in the specialization that he does. hence i said "dont think so"

my big boss told me, "wrong answer".

even if i decide not to choose that spec, my first impression created was "this guy rejected my offer".

bad move.

..:: 740. $$$ ::..

this year is a good year for bonuses :) got my annual variable component in july, getting my variable market bonus in oct and market adjustable component in nov.

can save up for my europe trip and my year-end party trips.

did a survey which both my sisters did.

Spontaneous Idealists are creative, lively and open-minded persons. They are humorous and dispose of a contagious zest for life. Their enthusiasm and sparkling energy inspires others and sweeps them along. They enjoy being together with other people and often have an uncanny intuition for their motivations and potential. Spontaneous Idealists are masters of communication and very amusing and gifted entertainers. Fun and variety are guaranteed when they are around. However, they are sometimes somewhat too impulsive in dealing with others and can hurt people without really meaning to do so, due to their direct and sometimes critical nature.

This personality type is a keen and alert observer; they miss nothing which is going on around them. In extreme cases, they tend to be oversensitive and exaggeratedly alert and are inwardly always ready to jump. Life for them is an exciting drama full of emotionality. However, they quickly become bored when things repeat themselves and too much detailed work and care is required. Their creativity, their imaginativeness and their originality become most noticeable when developing new projects and ideas - they then leave the meticulous implementation of the whole to others. On the whole, Spontaneous Idealists attach great value to their inner and outward independence and do not like accepting a subordinate role. They therefore have problems with hierarchies and authorities.

..:: 739. Some things should not be stiff ::..

and i meant my neck. gosh, 4 days of pain. even lying down or getting up hurts. seen 2 therapists, 1 acupuncture and 1 doctor. i wear salonpas more than i wear my branded clothes. got a major paper due and i have yet to touch it.

i almost didnt make it for my bali trip cos i reached the airport 1hr before the flight and apparently the counters had closed. luckily i did online check in but to my initial horror, the staff could not find my record.

as she kept refreshing the data, i showed my successful online check-in page. it was frustrating to hear her say "sorry sir, we dont have your record here.".

finally, she found and printed my boarding pass. we heaved a sigh of relief. that period was not a good time for travelling as i was involved in fire fighting back in office. overall was ok as we managed to visit quite a few places given our short stay. next time i would want to experience their night life.

next trip cambodia... to go wedding or not? no bandwidth to think about it anyway.

back to salonpas.

..:: 738. Coffee Stained ::..

what a trip to saigon. second time there but felt so different. no shopping. plain scouting for food and drinks. didnt know i am such a coffee addict.

came back drank my canteen coffee. took a sip and passed.

i have 5 days of leave left to spend in the month of sep and nov.

dont ask me why i can travel so much. face it. life is unfair.

..:: 737. Professionalism ::..

my facebook status:

professionalism: one should not bad-mouth another especially if the person is not even in the meeting. apparently one senior commander doesnt have it. i am not surprised.

this bloody fucker has done it again. accused me of something and mentioned it to my boss. worse thing is that i am not there to defend myself.

teach me how to smile when i see him.

..:: 736. June Summary ::..

in the end i didnt make it to bali. sick. good thing was that i saved another 2 days of leave. it was nice to be back in office to receive all the congratulations for my emplacement/promotion. felt the pressure to perform putting on the new rank.

jun 18. promotion ceremony. sadly this year they chose to exclude those on emplacement, meaning to say i wont have a chance to go up stage and shake chief of army's hand. made myself useful by helping out at the registration. all the scenarios that you can think of: promotees coming with their spouses and did not rsvp. some even brought their kids despite advice not to. NS men who did not know how to wear uniform properly.

the month of june was spent drinking wine and watching world cup. watching the opening match between south africa and mexico at chijmes was a great experience. went to catch the "unmistaken child".

looking forward to my bkk trip and the book-over-dinner-trip to HCM, vietnam.

..:: 735. LTA no more ::..

yea. last day wearing that rank... been a hectic week to rush to clear my ippt and the next day my annual currency shoot.

looking forward to bali...

..:: 734. Pray ::..

finally told my big boss my interest to do internal swop. praying for my replacement to come.

..:: 733. Non-toxic weekend ::..

over the week, caught ip man 2 with my travel bud. surprised chinese movies are her cup of tea. especially with the actress "with 2 expressions" or so she claimed. throughout the show, i was busy exploring my new iphone. surfing has never been that fun on the phone. downloaded a must-have app that came as a shock to her.

fri - 7th may was my branch cohesion. went helix, MBS and thereafter minds cafe. met an idiotic driver in the morning. argh. how come i dont meet friendly chatty cab drivers? made a booking in the morning and waited ten mins but no cab. only then the driver called me and told me his problems (i was running late, give me solutions, not problems). when i boarded the cab ten mins later, he didnt even know that there was a circle line station promenade. while i was playing with my iphone to calm myself, the driver asked me to use his phone for gps function. i looked at his phone, clearly no gps function.

"then how you get gps"

i was damn pissed. being late meant i had to treat everyone for the game session later. i kept quiet and continued to use my iphone.

"you also using nokia right? how come you have gps, i dont?"

clearly not in the mood. so bloody obvious it is iphone.

"just head to rochor road" i snapped. he just have to catch me at my bad mood.

but iphone does take great pics! bought a viva world cup series iphone cover :)

first healthy weekend without booze. had korean dinner then bowling and movie - back up plan. lopez's ass still as hot.

sun went out for dinner and bought a laneige sleeping pack - hydration masque.

booked my trip to Phnom Penh in Oct and my boss just approved my leave today! some of my friends decided to go tpe over aug holidays. mmm... bkk or tpe?

why i should not be a drag...

..:: 732. April Flashback ::..

wow. april just flashed past. though i look forward to june, i still want to enjoy my aprils and mays.

new development in office - had a new guy from hci, finally someone sporty as we usually get those who can only do clerical work, if you know what i mean.

decided to venture to the clubs over weekends alone to push my networking limits. saw familiar faces and had a great time. no expectation usually leads to happier ending.

shit stirring up back in office. as usual, my name got mentioned for negative stuff. easy target being in the junior ranks. so glad my boss was inside to lend support for me. i generally dont like to be mean but sometimes when you know the person wont be going anywhere and wont budge, you can only hope for something to happen.

i need my weekly outing with my frenz to vent all these work frustration. best, cos you cant talk to your colleagues about such stuff.

end of the month, got my sleep test results and doc told me i stopped breathing for 18 times per hour when i am asleep. astonishing results. i can fall asleep within 2 mins.

my ENT doc said my tonsils are too small, so no point removing them. gave me some medication. i have so much problems. look at the bright side, i can get them treated before it develops into something serious like stroke.

friday night dinner @ east point was cool minus the location minus the drama. threesome has never been that fun. lost my voice from trying to be heard amidst the band. i also realised that supper would taste exceptionally well if i have danced crazily. you also know a date is good when you actually plan for the next date during the date. wah so many dates to remember.

may day holiday. not for all. poor unionists had to be rallied for a good cause while my bed was full of clothes. not sure what to match and wear. went for my red cross peeps birthday celebration. then to desmond's birthday celebration at the pool side. then to party. back to house-warming at 2am.

that is why i aged like crazy. next week farewell party for a friend. not forgetting pay day.