talkshop

Thursday

    I met up with Alvin, Eddie and Roy to celebrate my birthday. Essentially, it could have been seafood since Alvin has some work cut out from As Louken. But… twas not to be.. Saturday will be eating into one of their plans of which I will not elaborate. (You owe us!)

    We met East Coast Macs of which I had the unpleasant experience of being late and getting off at the wrong bus stop.. Now remember: The underpass at Parkway Parade leads to the Golf Driving Range and Singa Inn Seafood Restaurant; whereas the underpass at Tao Nan Secondary School leads to the East Coast Macs.

    Thanks, Eddie, for the ride

Gee thanks!

    No pictures but I received 3 wonderful gifts of books from them, somehow I kind of get the hint that I am like all cooped up in a little box, needing to explore the world.

I received:
Being Happy (someone already gave me three books that Andrew Matthews wrote, wake up call: i need to re-read huh?)
The 8th Habit (the 8th habit is chockful of content, as much as the 7 habits.. maybe mastering this will be better than reading the book from 7 Habits hahah!)
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari (Out of the box, i know..)

    Guys, I promised summaries and it will be posted in due time heheheh..

    It was great spending time with them again. As soon as NUS semesters started, I hardly ever saw them compared to the weekly Cashflow games where we used to play, facilitate or chill out. So guys, when it is my turn to treat.. I promise it will be an upgrade. Heck I already got a place in mind!

    This subject title is copyrighted by Alvin’s post, as can be witnessed in his own blog title. But what the heck, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if I practised a bit of plaigiarism instead of making my own witty titles, heh.

    Apart from food, Alvin and I had yet another deep discussion on our goals, ideals and plans. also definitive was sharing what we had accomplished for the week thus far. Alvin is, as usual, surging forward with his clientele, ruby on rails development and blogging.

    On Tuesday, Alvin, Junkee and I were suppose to meet up for a get-together at the famous Block 85 hawker centre for some good food. After all, it’s for my birthday celebration.So Alvin, thanks for the sumptuous meal. No doubt, Chan BBQ was not open for business but still it was a great time! Junkee.. Why so busy?

Yes la!

    For a mere $20, we get mince meat noodles, oyster omelette (passionately aka Orh-Luat to us Singaporeans), fried Hokkien prawn noodles and bbq sambal stingray. Hmmm I’m not even sure if thats the price since Alvin was generous enough to treat me, haha

Sigh..

    Again,we had a discussion on our goals and the focus we needed to get it done. Of course, it is a terrible session, especially when you come to terms that no focus is sharp unless it is so pristinely clear that there is no room for misunderstanding. This is something I hope I can clearly tackle and come to an understanding especially with my degree.

How now, brown cow?

    The ‘what, how and why’ come into question when we talk about action, goals and the mother of all issues, the value that we can serve to people. And Senso comes into question. What for? One asks..*

    I sugessted providing a webapp to bring some marketing buzz (crowd puller) and ‘add’ value to our audience when they visit us. The bulletproof idea borne by me and Alvin became bullet-ridden when Alvin challenged every aspect and weakness of it.

To do List!

    Somehow,I had the feeling I was just doing shallow thinking and I had not dwell hard enough to really auger out an idea that would be worthy of the masses. That means I will need to spend more time refining it, after all there is no idea that comes out perfect at it’s first version.

*More of that in another post which I will focus (no pun intended there..) solely on Senso.

    I have a job!

"Job Hooooooooooo! Say! Say! Say! Say! Say! Say! Say! Say!"

Razor Ramon, HG

    Last Monday, after the briefing for the OCEANs’ Conference, I received a phonecall enquiring about my application to work at an engineering firm, UEL. I was asked to go for an interiew with them, of which I happily agreed. It’s not as if I am the busy working professional

    Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim! Hmmm, isn’t that in Tuas! *Gasp Quite a shocking relevation, I was under impression that it might be somewhere near Liang Court hahaha, I guess that is just the head office. East Coast to Tuas sure is a joyride especially when it will be a daily affair, hehe.

   Speaking of which, I made my way down to Tuas after helping out at the conference in the morning, listening in to Dr. Tamaki’s tutorial on AUVs. I arrived at Boon Lay early, figuring that I should be early just in case any emergencies cropped up.

"Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."

Murphy’s Law

    Despite my research from maps and bus services, I still got lost and ended up with an expensive tour of the Tuas area. Which means I was going to be late for my interview.. No choice, I had to call and asked for more time, I swear I could have heard a chuckle about my mishap. Nothing like a sweaty long sleeved shirt and a dishevelled tie won’t solve, the interviewer told me that I would get the job anyway since they needed a temp to fill in another leaving engineer. Oh well, no grueling interview, that’s a good thing.

    Wish me luck this Monday!

    I have never heard of this conference before until I have received email from IEEE NUS, seeking helpers to assist in managing this event as it runs its course in Swissotel Stamford from 16th May to 19th May in 4 full days.

    Fresh from exam imprisonment, nothing to do and brimming with energy, I signed up hoping to find good things as I help out in this important annual conference which jumps from one country to another, affliating itself with ocean science and marine technology. Professors, Experts and students alike come forward with papers and research results to discuss marine affairs that could shake the world once its firmed!

    Surprisingly, for seminar crew where you just hang about waiting to be called upon, it sure is a tiresome affair. Damn that I never took any photos, we’ll see about that in the remaining two days. Have managed to meet up quite a bunch of friendly guys over the conference days, a pity I will only be seeing most of them on Friday, maybe there will be photos then.

    I had a great time there, the lunch is fantastic, mind you! No sarcasm in that. I had sticked myself to talks mainly on Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV), its really cool seeing the things I learn in NUS come together. Although half the time I do not know what the heck they are talking about, sure is encouraging to be sitted with the giants of knowledge and forefront of technology.

    Detail… Next time.. 

    Hmmmm things didn’t seem to work out the way I wanted. I envisioned the clean Room to be spic span minimalistic. But still I cleared most of the stuff and new unfamiliar stuff flowed in to replace them.

    The cupboards that were filled with old stuff to the brim were replaced by others. They are lighter and hence they gave the cupboards a much needed stress relief.. Haha

    My living room is also much more clean looking too, now that their stuff is also stored in the space of my room. From that aspect, its good to know the family benefitted from my exercise. I am probably spoiled from the generous real estate afforded from living in Temasek Hall. Oh boy, how I yearn to ‘move’ back there now..

    My table did not get the extra desk space I was looking forward to.. 30cm is just not enough for me. But I, being penniless, have only my dreams!

    No bluetooth..no photos

    My room is a huge mess. Indeed, stuff overflowing, items being placed at the first convenient empty spot spotted. It is a hodge podge of miscellaneous trinklets lying all over, waiting for me to step on them and howl in pain.

    Meeting with Alvin, we both discussed and agreed on the advantages of having a clean environment. It is with such a good working table that aids in producing good work, maintain a better concentration and most of all, feel good about yourself.

    For tips wise, I cannot say im a guru after experiencing the near-hell effects of room cleanups. Afterall, it will take me a close 5 days to do the cleanup, given the procrastinating lazy bum I am. Or maybe it’s the post-exam fatigue, the need to look-blankly-at-the-sky-while-pondering-about-the-meaning-of-life look.

    A lot of my inspiration comes from Belief, the company that produced the short film: Common Desk in 2005. You will be needing quicktime for this film. Its a great video mixing in good adverts and main tips on how to produce a creative environment. Heck, its not what im suppose to make in my desk but it’ll do.

    Seemingly I have forgotten to take any good shots for the before and after effects of the cleanup. Hmmm, my mistake, I’ll improve I guess.. Do not really have much of a photographic equipment with me. My 3230 is not useful since I do not have bluetooth.

    Await the good results!
 

    I am a NUS undergraduate looking to make a difference while schooling. Difference, whose? Anything anyone but we will not know until we have made the first step. After making a short trip to the TP Department, which is a story I will leave for another day, I met up with Alvin a good friend of whom I have known since our Junior College days.

    A good question arosed. What are we doing with our semester break of three months? Slack it off? Hardly.. But then as lofty as our inspirations are, we cannot amount to anything unless we do soemthing. Doing is one thing, but what if you do not know what you are doing. Everyone talks about specialisation, USP or value, whats my value. Beats me.

"A journey of a thousand steps begins with the first.. "

                                                  by unknown

   So it is summarised, if you got something in mind, be it clear or vague, just hit the road and see where it leads you. You ain’t going anywhere by just thinking about it. And thats how this blog came about. To journal my growth, value and USP.