My very 1st seminar course!

Today was a very very interesting day.

Yesterday, at the very last minute, my boss called me and asked me to replace her at today's seminar because she simply had no time to attend...

Righto, you didn't see wrongly, neither did I type wrongly... she really called me YESTERDAY, on a SUNDAY! Oh yeah, I just remembered, she did tell me that her pc was going in for service today (mon) so maybe she went back to clear her last minute things before her pc goes into repair.

So anyway, she told me that there was no way she could attend today's seminar so I went in her stead. Boy was it a good one! I absolutely enjoyed myself and I learnt so many new things!

Today's course was all about thinking Laterally.. that's Sideways for us laymen.. Not, up, not down but left and right. It's really cool because Lateral Thinking employs the use of various hats that actually help to segregate problems for effective problem solving.

Better still, being equipped with lateral thinking tools actually help us to think out of the box, truly! I know this is a very common phrase that is often used, this Out of the Box thingy, but the fact is, the box is born out of the environment that embodies our community and the logic in which we function. Hence, therefore, since our experiences are part of what forms our logic, we cannot really effectively think out of the box because the best brainstorming ideas will only come from the richest experiences that we have ever been through.

Therefore, if you are faced with a situation that you have never encountered, there is no way for you to effectively come up with a "think out of the box" answer because you have never had the relevant experience.

But, though the help of the 6 hats and lateral thinking tools, you can actually create innovative solutions to situations you have never encountered because of the mere fact that the way of thinking is different.

I am of course barely equipped with the mere basics and therefore cannot endeavour to teach you guys reading my blog anything with depth.. However a simplified form of such creative problem solving is using a random word to spout into related solutions for a focus issue.

E.g. Focus ---> To be the voice of The Clan
Random word ----> Lemon

From the word LEMON, we can think of various associative words, e.g. sour, yellow, tangy, flavouring, fragrant, dishwashing detergent, fruit, cooking, pickling, etc..

Then from our choice of associative words, pick a few and create solutions out of them. At this stage, we are employing the Green Hat, the hat of possibilities and therefore there is no solution too stupid that we cannot listen to..

E.g. Sour - Even if the relationships between our colleagues sour, we should still retain our role as ambassdors of The Clan

E.g. Yellow - We should always maintain a bright and positive attitude like the colour yellow despite the shit we have to go through..

E.g. Dishwashing Detergent - Always keep our professionalism clean, bright and shiny even when others try to tarnish us..

Try this with any focus and any random word that springs into your mind and you'll be surprised at the results! Of course, if your random word doesn't work out for you within 20 minutes then change one.. and make sure that your random word has absolutely nothing to do with the focus... e.g. Work and Boss... Clean and Clothes etc...

Job Hunting Season is Closed!

Hmm!! Job hunting is finally over...

Happily, I am glad to report that I have found a job that I like, with people I like.

OK, maybe that's being a tad overly optimistic since I have yet to officially start work. But still, I am glad!

Looking forward to working with my nice girl pals again... Hurrah for 2 hour lunches and 20 minute toilet breaks! Haha, yea right.... Unlikely to be happening in this organisation. But still, glad glad glad glad!

See ya soon girls!

I never appreciated S'pore more than now!

I seriously don't understand those Singaporean Quitters.

I mean, come on! Where in the world except in Singapore than you can still go shopping for a TV at 12 midnight?! Cheap and of good quality somemore! Note: I said cheap and good quality... Asda and Tesco is not of such... cheap? well... definitely lose to Asia!... quality... erm.... depends....

And where else can you still go for supper at 2 or 3am except in S'pore?! Those ang moh countries? Come on! The shops close at 5pm when the sun is still shining until 10pm! And to think these are the people who came up with the idiom, "make hay while the sun shines"... Don't see why they are not applying that rule to making money...

Sometimes I seriously wonder why people idolise those Ang Moh?

Only in Ang Moh countries do they put the laundry room in the attic. I mean, duhz! Where's the common sense?!!! Moving the washer and the dryer in would involve climbing many many steps (again, because they see little need for lifts, makes you wonder about their disabled and elderly care). Then, replacement would involve dragging it down again those multiple stairs, not to mention the pumping of the dirty water down many many floors (rather than to simple put everything on the 1st floor and then let the dirty water drain directly into the drains).

Only in Ang Moh countries do you see them putting VPN even on the campus... then in the end, everything also cannot surf.. but then if you live out of school hostels, you can access everything, internal or external even without using VPN!

And these technophobics still dare to discrimate and despise us Asians when we are so obviously stronger, whether academically, morally or linguistically. Can you believe it? Those Ang Mohs even ask my hubby to help them with spelling.. I mean duhz! You guys invented the whole language leh!!!

Sometimes I feel, the more I am around them... the more stupid and dull-witted I get...

Still, there are occasionally some Ang Mohs that I take my hat off to. Today, I was having tea and this Ang Moh came in and spoke in Singlish to the waitress who of course answered him in perfect Singlish.

I am glad that this Angmoh actually thinks that Singlish is not below his level of intellect and had decided to Singaporeanise himself adequately to mix with the locals.

Despite the fact that the government constantly promotes speaking better english, to me.. there is nothing better than speaking Singlish or Chinglish.. Simply because it is a bond that no one else can break!

If even foreigners are speaking Singlish now, then we the citizens of Singapore ought to do it too!!

People come and people go.... So what's new?

Recently, the university people and I met up to celebrate Jon's bday.

Maybe because I have gone abroad, maybe because our lives have diverged.. I realised that actually, Phoenix and Sher and I have nothing to talk about. Caught them rolling their eyes at each other. Maybe it was something I said, or maybe they were just teasing each other. But that's not the issue.

The issue is, Daph hit the nail on the head. Although Phoenix told me, I somehow just couldn't remember the place that she was interning at. So when Daphne asked me the date of Phoenix's bday and the place she is interning at, I told Daph, I honestly could not recall.... Daph looked pointedly at me and said quietly, "So I figure your relationship with them doesn't go all that deep, huh?"

I went home that night and was kept awake by her question. Maybe its true, maybe we are really not that close at all? Ultimately, its still Daph , YJ and Jon that I chat the most with. If I didn't find out that evening, I also didn't know that Sher was working at CBank too!

Funny... that evening... no one asked me about Scotland... no one asked me about my job search and no one asked me anything... Sorry if it sounds like I am sour grapes... Being Jon's bday, of cos it is right for the focus to be on him... Still... maybe its just me... I felt like a stranger amongst familiar faces... a lump of cold unburning coal in a roaring fire...

In contrast, even though I didn't speak to Reg and JL for close to one year... when we met again for lunch, it was as if we just met yesterday. I still knew about the animals in the zoo, I could understand what they were talking about.. it was as if I was tuning in to a radio which I had been listening to all the time...

Same with Andrea... she is still the same kind of jolly ol' voice and her signature, "How are you, madam?!!"

Am I growing up too soon? Or is it that my friends have outgrown me?

Just for Laughs

Cool sticker! Reminds me of the joke about Singaporeans throwing their condoms to Malaysia to make chewing gum... Haha!

Don't know what to drink? Get Whatever!

Everytime when someone asks, "What would you like to drink?" What's your most common answer?

Chances are, you're going to be saying, "Anything" or "Whatever".

So some smart alecky Singaporeans have come together to give you exactly that!

Nickie's bad day

Poor Nickie,

Things just didn't go well for her after she checked out of her hotel in Spain..

First, she had nowhere to put her luggage so she had to carry it about town after check out. Then after checking-in at the airport, her flight got delayed.. After that, she came back home really late and didn't get to chat with anybody..

Sob sob... Poor thing...

The bright side of it is, perhaps it's just meant to be this way.. because sometimes, farewells are just too painful...