..:: 658. The One With Aurangabad ::..

wah didnt know results out so fast! scrolling carefully one by one to see my grades. but was pleasantly surprised. got what i had expected so i was pretty much excited and happy. finally graduated. got A+ for hr metrics. unexpected but it pays off to be active in class i guess. thought my quiz was a goner but luckily everything turned out well.

had the best last sem but was also one of the most dramatic ones. worked with people whom i were eager to do project with but in the process, we might have disappointed each other in some ways but that is the learning process like what everyone says. i also have learnt: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. handling conflicts with friends requires ultimate tact since it will come around to bite your a** and also to prevent future awkward moments.

it just feels weird to know a person who doesnt like you. whether you should pretend the person does not exist, or continue to be friendly knowing the person dont really care.

anyway back to happy moments. all my alone journeys are quiet exciting. i left the hostel at 7pm to catch my bus to aurangabad at 8pm. the bus agent told me that it would take like 15 mins to reach the place to board the bus. as usual, the cab driver said he knew where to go and ard 730pm i got worried that we have not reached and decided to call the bus agent to tell the cab driver how to go to the boarding venue.

the cab driver didnt want to take my phone! wth.

in the end at 8pm, he managed to drop me at where i bought my ticket which was not the boarding venue. i was freaking pissed and had to pay the drive 250rs to not-my-destination.

luckily the bus agent was nice to ask me to take a seat to wait for the bus who will make a turn to his place. at 930pm, the bus never came. so i had to hop on to one random bus which brought me to another place for a connecting bus to aurangabad. totally different bus companies and i think they dont really care which bus u paid for.

in the end, all turned out well. i paid for a non-AC semi-sleeper and got an AC (aircon) sleeper bus. after all that trouble, i cant complain with that unexpected free upgrade.

as usual sleeping with a male stranger is nothing new. this time i had 2 different guys. but the "dolphin" bus (name of the bus) was really good, had good clean pillows and offered blankets. at about 5am, my bed mate alighted and another boarded. luckily i chatted with the second guy, cos he stayed near the hotel which i was supposed to meet yash and jaron. he brought me to his house for breakfast and his wife made great chai (tea). then he drove me to the hotel where i was so excited to see yash and jaron.

took a tuk tuk for 20rs to get to the government bus station for a bus to ellora caves. we decided to stop midway to explore the daulatabad fort which was like a freaking great wall of china. climbed thousands of steps and my legs almost gave way from the so-long-never-exercise period.

we then hitch a "car-pool" ride which squeezed 8 people in one cab to head to ellora caves. each person only 15rs. second day we visited ajanta caves which had more paintings and like ellora, after a while, the caves looked similar. we just gulped down tons of water...

most hotels in india have this 24-hour checkout system. doesnt mean you can check out anytime :P it meant you have to check out 24 hours after you checked in. and need to ask whether there is electricity the whole day. some places i stayed in, they switched off the electricity at certain times of the day. without fans in the freaking hot weather, we couldnt sleep on the second day when the fans went off at 5am!

our next destination: udaipur to see the lake palace. woo! going there is difficult.

we took a bus to jalgaon which cost 40rs and took about 1.5 hr. took a tuk tuk to the railway station (10rs) to find that there is no direct train. but there are a lot of bus agencies so we found "Hamsafar" which helped us booked a bus to Indore (300rs, non-AC sleeper, depart 9.15pm, arrive 5am; 7+ hours) and then train to Udaipur (410rs, non-AC sleeper, depart 8am, arrive 7.15pm; 11+ hours)

looking forward to my first inter-state train experience.

so sad, adam lambert didnt win american idol but will definitely support him. his live performances are so much better and engaging than kris's.

..:: 657. The One With The Heat ::..

i think the heat is making me sick. been drinking lots of water but the air is still so hot and humid. breathing was difficult especially when i was on the train.

caught the bollywood show which i couldnt understand what they were saying but roughly knew the plot. surprisingly dont have the mass-group dance that i used to see. cos the movie was in hindi, everyone was looking at me, thinking why is this guy watching a hindi film lol...

the salvation army hostel was alright... with breakfast, each night is about 200rs. today visited the mahalaxmi dhobi ghat (sounds like singapore's dhoby ghaut)... it is a place where people do mass laundry. saw a lot of people beating the dirt and washing and drying the clothes. my very own underwear could be there since i have sent some clothes for laundry. and i saw a small hole from my mr quiet shirt :( probably from the previous wash...

went to chowpatty beach which was nowhere near the standard of goa beaches. its like family gathering. so crowded even on weekday 4pm. got lots of stalls and i finally tried the paan which was a leaf wrapped in many stuff (paste, mints, cherries, desiccated coconut...

took a bus and enjoyed the sights... rush hour everyone heading home. i am preparing to load an album entitled "things you can carry with your head" lol... u will be amazed... my first attempt to jump up the bus failed :( the bus went too fast and there was an old man in front of me and i didnt have a free hand to grab. waited for more than 30 mins for a bus... took shots of people jumping up and down the bus. damn cool. u can practically alight anywhere... when the bus stops at the traffic junction, you can just jump lol.

..:: 656. The One With Mumbai Day 4 ::..

wanted to go to the "crossroads" which according to the lonely planet guidebook, it is the biggest shopping mall in mumbai. when i started to make my way there from mumbai central station, a shopkeeper told me it was closed for renovation :(

went to a nearby city central mall, boring like hell lol. cannot even fight my house's compass point or even bukit panjang plaza despite having like 4-5 floors. went to their electrical store "croma" which is like our harvey norman, courts, etc. bought a headphone from sennheiser. damn solid sound and bass. loving it.

my fren was driving me around and happened to chance upon this bollywood filming... so many people standing around and of course i wouldnt have known who were the actors/actresses.

my first day there, they were actually counting the votes for the election so once in a while you hear announcement from the loudspeakers informing the public the parties and their vote count. interestingly, everyone who voted had an ink marked on their left middle finger. this is done so that they could only vote once, the ink would last a week. i guess its just too many people to have proper documentation...

in the evening, my fren brought me to this members-only royal bombay yatch club... so atas.

i also went to catch doomsday. gosh the cinema experience was truly incredible india...

1. before the start of the movie, i had to rise for the national anthem O_O
2. half way through the movie, there was an intermission. ??? the lights suddenly went on and i thought what happened.

but the good thing is that the seats, they have this roller so you can slide and make your seat incline. damn cool. =)

doomsday just full of blood and gore. head and limbs being cut off, bodies run over by vehicles. at some point, i thought i was watching fast and furious with all the car racing and heads flying around.

one more day left and i must go the the chowpatty beach and try their desserts and snacks!

..:: 655. The One With Exciting Mumbai ::..

gosh, must share with u all the scary "excitement' i got...

i boarded the bus fully AC (aircon), expecting to find my inclined seater that i paid 800rs for. instead i saw rows of beds and when i saw an indian man on the bed i was supposed to be on, i was a little puzzled.

my ticket showed 12A and when i looked at the wall, it was labelled 12A, 12B. i thought 12B was the bed below cos i knew mine was the upper deck. when i bent and saw the label below, i was stunned. 11A and 11B.

worse, upper deck had little room for movement and it was like a freaking single bed for 2 guys! sian 1/2. the person bluffed me!

but the good thing was the bus was not full, so the guy moved to other bed, but that was not before he almost dozed off and breathed down my neck literally!

that was not the scariest part, i kept asking the bus conductor where i could drop cos i wanna drop at colaba. they didnt answer me, just uttered some hindi words which i cant find in my map. then i was sitting at the lower deck looking at the signboard... there was this couple who was going to alight so i asked them how much longer would it take to reach colaba, they told me another hindi "station name"... then the bus moved and made a turn, after some distance the bus conductor walked towards me and asked me to alight. Then i told him i got a luggage at the storage compartment which i needed to get down to take my luggage. he gave me the confused face and hurried me to go down. then he ran back to where the couple dropped and only then i realised he had actually left my bag there... i regretted then not to put my luggage up but i wasnt allowed cos no space...

i lost him half way as he ran. i looked confused in the sea of people. luckily i went straight out to the street and saw the couple. they were on the phone apparently trying to call the bus company cos they saw my bag. phew. they also shared a cab with me and told me it only took 40rs to reach my destination. never felt so relieved...

but once i alighted, i was swarmed by so many people trying to recommend me hotel and gain commission. so hard to ditch them. frustrated with that heavy load... and hotels in mumbai are so expensive. managed to find a real cheap 450rs per night. the rest were all 600 and above and its NON-AC :( the room standard i saw was like in bangalore kind just slightly better.

buildings in mumbai are damn nice, esp the taj mahal palace. walked and explored colaba, fort and churchgate area. my first experience of jumping off the train, it was so fun. also standing at the edge of the door-less train was exciting. sipped high tea and had great sandwiches and chocolate truffle recommended by lonely planet.

tml chowpatty beach and mumbai biggest shopping center!

..:: 654. The One With Goa ::..

finally caught american idol top 3 and america's next top model finale. gosh. surprise kris garnered more votes than danny... but kris really more original in his version of "heartless" and many of his songs. i hope adam is the one who trumps with one million more votes... excited about next week. hopefully the internet and computer are good enough...

really amazed by allison, she has the look that can go international. teyona :( dun look sweet in person, only does well in photos. lovin allison's walk in the runway, surprisingly great. but as expected cycle 3, 6, 9 and now 12 they have a black to win. so coincidental.

spent almost a week in goa now. been great. super relaxed. sun sea and the beaches. chilling out on the deck and ordering food and drinks while reading. visited calangute beach, then to baga beach and also anjuna beach and the flea market.

it's really good to talk to the local people and often we got free rides to wherever we wanted to go. i guess i was lucky travelling with a girl. every corner, guys with bikes will stop and ask whether she needs a lift. well lucky me. bikini on the beach sure draws lots of attention. felt like trying parasailing but havent got the chance.

partied 4 straight nights in a row. free entry, just popping cheap drinks... beers like kingfisher their local brand...

rented a bike for 300rs for 2 days and rode illegally. scary experience with heavy traffic and they all drove really fast... currently staying at marlin guest house which was so comfy and 5 mins away from all the clubs and nowhere near noisy dogs.

heading to mumbai this friday night, hopefully it will be as fun. overspent on shopping for gifts :(

..:: 653. The One With Kushalnagar-Mangalore ::..

took a bus from mysore to kushalnagar. decided to go there over breakfast lol. made a call and this helpful guy said we could go there without a permit though the guidebook said it was needed. cost about 75rs.

the area is the closest feel to tibet, very peaceful and serene. very different from the india we have seen so far. of course there is a chinese feel to it but they cant speak chinese at all, english was quite limited only those stall owners knew. we stayed at this great hotel (finally not hostel), with hot showers... at night when we slept, it was so peaceful, even though there were chanting and prayers early in the morning, we could still sleep till late morning.

in the day, we walked around the neighbourhood, explored their schools (secondary and university), temples. looked so grand. ky was on a monk hunk hunt where we stood outside our hotel which was a cross-junction between the schools and the prayer area. took pictures with both cute little monks as well as ky fave "hunks" who do not look like monks at all.

very cleansing meals cos its vegetarian and whole lot of rice and noodles.

decided to go to Mangalore as a pit stop before we head to Goa. initially wanted to go Gokarna but the only bus takes 8 hours and will reach there at 9pm :( not a good timing. and ky hurt her back from the bus ride to Mangalore which was so bumpy all the way.

while she rested at the hostel, i roamed about. went to this kadri temple which the guidebook recommended... there was this holy pool where mostly guys swimming in it. took some photos as they looked excitedly at my camera. took pics of the 1000 year old bronze statue. decided to sit near the entrance of the temple and observed how people enter/exit and pray.

when they go in, they would touch the step and then their chest(heart), as they come out, they would exit sideways then face the deity to avoid showing their back. touch the step again and chest.

was reading my guidebook where the kids from the holy pool recognized me and became excited with the guidebook again. there was this indian guy who approached me and asked me where i wanted to visit. he said he could show me around on his motorbike since he was staying near the places i wanted to go.

coolness. so i daringly went with him. took video and pics along the way. he pointed out to me the famous ice-cream shop near the bus interchange! he brought me to see the sultan's battery where i could take a boat ride to the opposite island. he shared with me how to get there, by bus 16 and an auto-rickshaw would cost about 40 rs. i thought he was "informing" me of the tips/charges i had to pay.

then he brought me to this gorgeous temple which was not in the guidebook. the buildings all glittered in gold. he showed me around and taught me what angles i should take my pictures. amazing. he also brought me into the temple and introduced the different gods they have and the custom they follow while praying. very interesting! then we met random people and i was also shown around the marriage halls that they have. nice... and it was marble-flooring.

at the end, it was around 8pm and i gotta head back before ky starved. lol. wanted to pay him some money but he declined politely. i was amazed. tried to stuff in his pocket but he returned to me and said he just wanted to show me around and hope i had fun. 0_0... such nice people...

now waiting for the sleeper coach to go GOA... excited about the beaches, another scenery different from what we have seen. and i can get to do some shopping!

..:: 652. The One With AI ::..

gosh. rock and roll week is totally made for allison and adam. they were great together. caught their duet on youtube, nice!!!

adam's solo as usual pawns everybody else.

..:: 651. The One With Bangalore-Mysore ::..

now in mysore, some internet shop, freaking hot. missing yesterday's weather already...

lunch was great. we had been trying to get to MG Road but to no avail. chanced upon this indian hunk who guided us to the internet shop yest. after surfing, we went back to the shop to have lunch. had fried fish and rice (a lot of rice but very nice)100rs + 20rs ... tried masala cola (20rs)which tasted better than ky's masala soda. lol.

then again lots of walking from the shop past KG road before we decided to hop on the bus (5rs) to MG road. when we reached there, we happened to see the tourism office at church street so we went to check out where else we could go. MG road good for shopping, is like orchard road and a few pubs and stuff. 15 mins walk you can reach commercial street selling more pasar malam kind of stuff. tried some fruit that tasted like coconut, 10rs for 4 pieces pics to be up on facebook hopefully.

we also had macdonald's coke float 25rs. we went to have dinner at nearby restaurant which was empty, maybe dinner at 7 plus is still early for them. had tandoori chicken (80rs) yummy. then decided to try smoking shisha (200rs)... went over to Le Rock, a rock pub and had Fosters. (120rs)

we tried to bargain for auto-rickshaw to bring us back to our hostel since its night time. 4km, we got 70rs for a ride, which i thought can still be a little cheaper but it was below our reservation price of 100rs, we were happy. our area, chickpet, unlike the street name, no "chicks" - all men.

left our hostel early at 9 and reach the bus station ard 930 to catch a bus to mysore. they should rename the place as my(butt)sore. sat for more than 3 hours of bus ride. tried for the youth hostel which was dirt cheap 45rs per night but its 4km away from the city centre. 100rs for the auto-rickshaw which made me wonder if it would be better if we pay more to stay in the city area at least transport would be easier.

there is a festival going on at 4pm. now waiting to check into the hostel... more updates soon...

..:: 650. The One With Bangalore ::..

what a way to start the trip... the flight got retimed from 830pm to 1030pm. then my friend lost her phone at the airport :( when we were queuing for the flight, it got delayed because one of the plane lights was faulty.

was queuing to check in when a family came to approach me to "borrow" my luggage space. they tried to help me source for accommodation and soon they started asking other people in the queue if they knew of cheap accommodation... soon i heard one big group of people shouting out names of hotels and some asking what the budget was... crazily friendly.

the flight there was bad. budget terminal motto - enjoy the difference. what's the enjoyment? saw a middle-aged lady beside me stretched her leg across the aisle and onto the husband's arm rest. couldnt sleep on the plane.

amazed that we were able to board bus 9 which cost us 125rps to get to majestic which is the town area. we were swarmed by people driving the auto-rickshaw asking where we wanna go and recommending hotels. the "auto-shaw" cost 10rps at night as we realised they go by meter in the day.

found one super scary hostel that was great for shooting horror scenes. the paint of the wall cracked, with the fan making funny noises, a basin, squatting toilet... could hear dogs barking at night, hard to fall asleep, reminded me of when i'm home where the dogs bark while i tried to sleep :(

morning i woke up trying to brush my teeth and the moment i turn on the tap, brown-coloured water came out. i was stunned. but it became clear after a while. used that to wash my face, no choice. hopefully i wont have pimple outbreak.

toured around the area, checked out the train and bus stations... chanced upon an indian wedding where the band was super enthusiastic to take pics. the groom had to sit on a "decorated" horse to fetch the bride.

lots of walking and had our first meal, dough like stuff called idli and vada which cost 20rps. mineral water 1L for 12rps... planning to go mysore tml! hopefully more natural scenery.

..:: 649. The One With Last Exam in NTU ::..

what? adam lambert bottom two this week? but i am glad he was in bottom two. quite a "strategic" move whether it was deliberate. him being bottom two this week, all his fans will call doubly hard next week so he will most likely sail through top 3. him being bottom 2 also gave a gauge on how much they need to call.

told ya, the show needs some oestrogen going on. i wont be surprised if kris is out next week. just like how fantasia kept being in the bottom two and managed to win in the end.



final paper! i was the first person for bh227. haha.

tml x-men movie gala at 3 and hopefully get to meet my clique after that. havent start packing! oh no.

..:: 648. The One With Last Paper::..

so excited about my last paper. first thing i did was to pack my travel guide book in my bag before my notes. lol

watched american idol always energize and psyche me up! adam. wow wow. loved his entrance, even jamie foxx, the mentor was full of praises for him. so what if he is theatrical and over-the-top, that's his style and uniqueness. lovin' it.



anyway left top 5, quite easy to make the prediction:

winner: adam lambert
runner up: danny gokey

kris allen
allison iraheta
matt giraud

close fight between allison and matt, whether to keep the girl or keep it an all-guy affair. their performances also on-par, really based on popularity. i would prefer some girl action though.

hopefully i get to watch top 4 when i am in india! 2 songs each.

haha. can see that i cant be bothered with my last paper already.

..:: 647. The One With India ::..

just applied for visa to india. here are some details if you ever need...

mustafa air travel is opened 24 hrs for visa application since the embassy does not provide the service anymore... you can apply any time but the application would only be processed in the morning when the staff from embassy come and collect.

59 bucks, payable by nets. as for the address of reference in india, they will give you a list of hotel so just fill in any.

ready in 2 days. i applied today (tue) and i can collect after 7pm on thur.

if u go to the other air travel agencies nearby, have to pay 60+ bucks and pay only by cash -_-

also went to nokia service centre to try and get my phone fixed before my trip. the casing out of stock so have to wait. its 40 bucks :(

comeon' let me strike 4D!

which D&G outfit nicer? thinking of tailoring it for my convo ball... both from Dolce & Gabbana Spring 2009

..:: 646. The One With Star Awards ::..

well. the annual "meat-giving" ceremony has come. this year with quite a twist.

1. having a buzzer to warn the winners they dont have the time of the world to deliver their winner speech.

2. magic tricks or special effects before announcing the results

Just when I thought Mediacorp could not get any worse, they just "outperformed" and proved me wrong. I guess the producers should have watched the oscars before and know that having a real buzzer doing the countdown is not at all classy. at least have some band music or even the "theme song" play as the countdown timer rather than the irritating "teng teng teng" sound.

Whats up with the magic tricks? adding spice is one thing but overdoing is another. i rather they give more time for the winners to speak and make it a more sophisticated event. I do however like the introductory shots of the nominees and the 5 or 6 panels they had on stage.

Mediacrap just gave a new definition to "best" when they gave best supporting actress to xiang yun (whom i think is a deserving winner for her tearjerking role) and huang hui (the undiscovered "servant")... are they giving a retiree award to xiang yun and an appreciation award to huang hui? looks like it.

i am glad best actress went to joanne peh. firstly, ntu alumni. haha. secondly, her acting is really better than ou xuan. sorry to her fans but its true. even chen han wei(best actor) gave her (ou xuan) advice that she should act with her heart not just having the emotions showed on her face. poor chen li ping, but i guess giving her 2 nomination for a category sort of gave her due recognition.

another thing i was very interested in the show was what the actresses/actors were wearing.

ou xuan or jeanette aw really dressed like a nonya kueh. lol. layered one.

you can always count on zoe tay for her (or the stylist) fashion-forward sense. simple outfit from alexander wang, spring 2009... just that the dress doesnt look as long on her :X

yvonne lim's christian dior looked really good as she sprinted down the stage.



now for joanne's best actress dress from hermes and the dress from herve leger she wore for being in top 10. nice and sleek.



though i thought she would look better in vera wang's

..:: 645. The One With HP329 ::..

glad that the paper was easy. heng, read the articles my prof wrote. hopefully enough to get A.

omg. yest was watching adam's performance. If I Cant Have You. I thought mad world was great, this one is even better. disco week, he chose a disco song but made it such a touching and inspiring song. and i love how he gave credit to those who helped him, the band, the person who helped him with the song arrangement ... reminds me of giving citation when we quote. lol.

i think matt, lil and anoop will be in bottom three. lil and anoop probably going home. i was thinking since matt is saved, the supporters should be calling their hearts out since last week he was almost gone.

we'll see tonight =) plus david archuleta on the show! dunno what he will sing. too little not over you?

..:: 644. The One With Distractions ::..

perks of studying at home:

no need to spend $ on food
cut down on travelling
readily available food
power-nap to maximise "absorption"
tonic! tons of ginseng and multi-vitamin pills

cons of studying at home:

DISTRACTIONS

firstly, xbox was introduced to the house yesterday and proved to be a major distraction! my friends and i were so engaged with the guitar hero game, where one person is the drummer, the other guitarist and last one vocalist. had so much fun playing and rotating from 7pm. then went for dinner and back home playing again.

harper island yet another distraction.

but seriously the game is damn cool. esp the singing, with the microphone that can detect your change in pitch and tone so u have to sound like the original. we played the career mode and after each "gig" we will get to see who earn the most $ within the band.

then with fastpass, i ended up catching project runway 5, but the designs were kinda :(

then online movies again, 17 again and bride wars. initially wanted to just let the movie run but my eyes cant help looking at anne hathaway and kate hudson... "sabo-ing" each other for their weddings.

3 more days to my psy paper. worse, there is no textbook so you dunno what you dunno. just tons of readings to do. sometimes just feel like going to school and study with the rest.

back to study!

..:: 643. The One With Waiting for Exams ::..

urh. i want my tennis and swim...

watched revolutionary road, it was great to see the chemistry between leo and kate again. some scenes were intense but ending was quite drastic. plot was ok, but the meaning behind the movie and the acting made it worthwhile.

anyway, matt was saved by the judges at american idol. interesting. they just had to use it now cos they are left with 2 more episodes after that, they cant use. they kept anoop so i think next week the 2 going to be eliminated will be an interesting "race".

i would think anoop is sure to go next plus either lil or matt (whoever perform worse). i think allison would be slowly creeping to the top, just like how season 3 fantasia who has been appearing in bottom 3 won the season at the end. furthermore, next week is disco week. what kind of music? cant wait.

was watching antm on youtube and found this clip rather interesting. yet another allison but loving her look with her large eyes. interesting looks usually dont go that far without personality so i am guessing she will hang around till top 5 and be eliminated. enjoy her while she's still here.

note the bitchy moments:

6:53 (sandra is weird and crazy) and 8:12



had a great presentation with tafep but news that we might have to present to MOM. scary. but that is not till i am back. gotta study now.

yea my fren got driving license. now can go for suppers and late night movies!

..:: 642. The One With Ms Kay ::..

i shall dedicate this post to my fave tutor from my years in NBS. Firstly, she is not only inspiring but also like a mother to us. Constantly giving us feedback and I am glad that I kept all her feedback so I can share with you guys. Maybe I shall start with the more inspiring ones then the random emails she would drop us throughout the course. jiayi and yash would enjoy reading these. haha.

learning, avoiding, proving orientations

Here is another piece of OB wisdom that is practical and useful.

You all know that in any graded exercise, some people will get better grades than others. Research has found that over an extended period of time, those with the best results are people with a learning orientation.

People who approach work, life or studies with an Avoiding Orientation are so focused on avoiding failure that they are too stressed to perform well. Either that, or they fear failure so much that they refuse to try hard, so that at the end of the day, if they don't do well, they can say "It was a lack of effort" rather than "I couldn't make the grade". Big mistake because the world is full of talented failures.

People who approach work, life and studies with a proving orientation are like sprinters. Good over short distances. These people set out to prove to themselves and others that they can. They try really hard and do really well until they meet the first setback which proves that they can't (or that it's impossible... or that the system is unfair etc...) and then they stop trying. Big mistake because life is a marathon. It doesn't end till you die.

People with a learning orientation focus on the learning value of every experience. They have no need to prove anything. They have no fear of failure. These people say "Never mind if I don't get that 'A' from Ms Kay, the experience alone has taught me so much". It sounds lame but research shows that people with Learning Orientation experience more and more success as time goes by. Time is their friend.

When learning snowballs on learning which snowballs on learning... success eventually comes.

12 weeks is only a VERY SHORT relay sprint in the whole race of life. If, in the first pass, you stumble and don't get up... what can be done for you?

Student to Ms Kay

Ms Kay,

Good Evening. I hope to bring your attention towards the instruction that you sent us this morning.

In my opinion, it is a little too last minute, since it is sent during the weekend, with our presentation on Monday. This leaves us little time to respond as most of us have already done up both case studies and allocated presentation slides accordingly. Changing the focus to one case study would require us to reallocate and modify slides, which require a discussion where all team members to be present, which, in this case, be very difficult as those living in halls may have went home, and each of us has different commitments.

However, I hope u understand that I am not questioning your instruction. In fact, I was wondering if this last minute change of instruction is a test of the efficiency of our teams, or our responsiveness towards sudden changes, or perhaps providing a chance for us to work virtually. All of us will be glad to take up such challenges. I just hope you understand that giving us ample time to prepare in reaction to early instructions will give us opportunities to bring you higher case study quality and presentation standards.

Student X

Her wonderful reply:

Student X,

You have written your feedback very well. It is respectful and argues a point clearly. I am also pleased to see that you have internalized the values I promote: case study quality and presentation standards. Added to that, your email shows very obviously that you took this seriously enough to start on it early in order to do a good job. That is another value that I have been trying to teach. I notice that Infinity is slated to present only in Tutorial 8. This leads me to conclude that you actually put due diligence into the defence cases even though the grades for defence don't count. There is not only no fault at all, but excellent due diligence.

You do notice that I always give early notice of what will happen in the following week's tutorials. In some cases, notice is given 2 to 3 weeks in advance. I am just as disturbed as you at this last minute change. I was away and came to know of the change yesterday. However, as that was the consensus, I had no choice but to implement as all my other colleagues. Testing your team efficiency may be a convenient excuse and I thank you for suggesting it. However, it would be dishonest to hide behind it. If it is really a test of team efficiency, based on my Para 1 above, you already pass with flying colours.

If you should come prepared and wishing to do 2 cases, I am more than happy to have 2 presented. I will defend you to my colleagues after the fact. If you should decide to do a single case, I cannot object because every other tutor is doing so. I will facilitate a discussion and come to an agreement with the whole tutorial on what we should do in the coming weeks. I will then proceed to defend our tutorial's decision as best I can.

For the groups who have to present this week, I will have wisdom enough to account for this unforeseen event when grading. You need only concentrate on doing the best job you can as specified in 060907 Expectations.

Please do well.

All tutors must be able to defend the "A"s to colleagues too in the same way that all managers have to put up strong justification to defend a decision to promote someone. Help me justify.

Other students, please note Student X's email. Read it carefully. Learn from it. It is respectful, mature, well-written and stands on a strong foundation of a work ethic I wish to see from all of you. And it demonstrates something called "managerial courage".

Thank You.

Rest a little

I am very aware that students in my 3 tutorial groups have had to spend A LOT OF TIME preparing case presentations from Tutorials 2 to 5. This has helped prepare you for Tutorials 6-9. I needed you to do that in order to teach you the process of case application.

Critical thinking can only be taught in class... In Tutorials 6-9, I suggest that attack groups can RELAX somewhat each week. You may not want to prepare as a group.

I am all for working hard but I prefer you to work smart. You've had an intense start in AB105, so it's time to rev down a little in order to catch a second wind that will bring you the the finish line.

Instead, you may want to start spending between 10-12 hours a week working on your OB&D case report so that you produce a high quality one.

I also suggest that you CONTINUE to make personal notes of each textbook chapter (whether we discuss the case in tutorial or not) because there is no way to tell which chapter will come up in the open book exam.

Further, do note that I intend to teach the process of Critical Thinking in the upcoming weeks. You will only be able to benefit if you HAVE READ the cases prior. So, though I suggest less preparatory effort in T6-T9, please don't decide to take a complete holiday. (love the last part)

Another piece of friendly advice

Gee... you people are turning me into a nag!

From T2-T5, presentation and essay grades don't count. However, they served as teaching sessions. Those who didn't observe due diligence generally are stressed out in T6-T9 because presentation grades do count now.

In T6-T9, attack grades don't count, but again they serve as teaching and feedback sessions for me to teach critical thinking. Those who do not observe due diligence in attack preparations make a choice... but please make that choice with EYES WIDE OPEN

=)

..:: 641. The One With Yr 1 Sem 2 ::..

well, sem 2 was not as exciting cos besides business law and bs803 elective, the rest of the modules were quite a bore. financial management, accounting, IT and biz communications.

the only exciting event i remember in the sem was that i went to finland for 2 weeks during the e-learning and chinese new year weeks. had a conflict with one of the instructor for my biz comms. shall dig up some shit. i emailed her regarding scheduling my presentation as I will be flying back the day we are having lesson. Here's her reply:

John,
you are really messing up my schedule. As it is you owe me one presentation. I will allow you this request, but do realise that it inconveniences me, your classmates and the video editor and its downright rude to continually assume that you can change the schedule around at your convenience. You are certainly not building goodwill here.

Well i guess having a MC for my first presentation definitely worsen the situation. I thought she would flare in class but luckily she didnt. She also told me i caught her at her bad moment. It also taught me to be less direct in making this kind of request.

i loved my biz law tutor, ms joy khoo. she is a very patient lawyer who explained concepts clearly and challenged our reasoning for the cases. I believe it was one of the courses that i talked the most cos the way i approached the case was different from most of the people in class. when i did my tutorial, i tried not to go for the most obvious way to solve but read every line and interpret carefully.

the elective i took was also very fun. biology in popular media. i was the pioneer batch for the course and every lecture the prof would play snippets of a movie and use biology to explain whether the things they mentioned in the film are fact or fiction. the lecture was always full-house, can still see people standing at the back of the lecture theater just to watch the movie. Some of the movies i remember vividly were the fly; matrix reloaded; jurassic park; CSI; jewel of the palace (the korean show - da chang jin).

i found something interesting. comments by my fave tutor of all time... organizational behavior!!! My group, doraemon was "owning" in the class haha.

"The best group in my tutorials surpassed my expectations of 1st year OB students. Their transcriptions and notes were very detailed. They actually researched on the qualitative research methodology called “Grounded Theory”, and tried to apply some of its tenets e.g., iterative coding (where coding is done by several people and the same text is coded repeatedly with new emerging themes in later transcripts being used to refine or change the thematic coding of earlier transcripts). It is a long and tedious process but the quality of their coding gave me the confidence that the issues they identified were real ones. What they did was so unexpected that I seriously suspected that they didn’t actually do it. Hence I probed sharp and deep, but found no fault in their responses to me. They did do as they said.

In reading their entire report, one gets a sense that their assertions are well-grounded in real data. Having identified the issues, they analyzed them with OB concepts from the textbook as well as OB concepts from outside the textbook. However, I was most pleased by their recommendations. Their recommendations were practical and workable, and they found research findings and theory from the literature to support their practical solutions – an artful marriage of theory, research and practice.

Unfortunately, they went way past the word count and I gave them a 1-letter downgrade. It really is a pity but one must be fair to other groups. They dropped from A+ to A-. (my own comment: oops... but no prize for guessing which grp)



Some groups focused a great deal on research, neglecting to apply the theory to the case in practical ways. Other groups analyzed their cases almost as if they had not learnt OB, nor been taught to do self-directed learning – their recommendations were practical but not research supported. Some groups wrote better English than others, used fewer words to say things, and thus could say more in 4000 words.

None of you had major problems with applying concepts and theories from the textbook. This should stand you in good stead for the exams because you really aren’t expected to cite very much from theory elsewhere than the textbook.

To assess Theoretical Basis, I was looking for evidence of research supporting both your analysis and findings. You would have needed to do more self-directed learning. Language is very little weighted. I look only for understandability. If it is excellent however, you get bonus extras. Rigour of Data Analysis is weighted less than Theoretical Basis and Practicality.

The above feedback points are the most salient differentiating factors in the quality of the reports. I use other sub-dimensions for assessment that don’t demonstrate great differentiation."

mmm... sometimes it feels good to read and think back how far we have come since year 1. so happy we had a great start in year 1 and built such strong foundation, thanks to our class and the inspiring tutor.

..:: 640. The One With Face-Off ::..

was researching more about Project GLOBE - Global leadership and organizational behavior effectiveness... there was this face-off between Hofstede, one of the originator of culture dimensions and a group of researchers who started the Globe study.

Firstly, the study had used dimensions that were not entirely from Hofstede's cultural dimensions and hence i think started with him "reviewing" this study through his article on "What did GLOBE really measure? Researchers’ minds versus respondents’ minds"

Inside, there were really strong words he used. He started by contrasting his research and the GLOBE study:

(1) Team versus single researcher. The analysis of the GLOBE data was a team effort, although closely coordinated by its designer Robert House. My analysis was a one-person effort (with excellent help: see the Prefaces), and in my 1980, 1991
and 2001 books I was the single author.

mmm... needed to state his position?

(2) Managers versus employees. The respondents in GLOBE were managers. The respondents in Hofstede (1980) were matched groups of employees in seven occupational categories, two managerial and five non-managerial. Measuring
leadership from survey answers by leaders is, in my eyes, a debatable approach. If you want to find out about the quality of a product, do you ask the producer or the consumers?

wow. ouch eh.

(3) US inspired versus decentered. The term ‘decentering’ refers to conscious attempts at avoiding ethnocentric bias. Robert House was conscious of the danger of ethnocentrism: in his Preface to the 2004 book he states: ‘Hopefully, GLOBE will
be able to liberate organizational behavior from the US hegemony.’ GLOBE’s network and respondent population were very international, but its project design and analysis still reflected US hegemony. The book’s 25 editors and authors overwhelmingly hold management or psychology degrees from US universities.

He also added the Long term-short term orientation which was formulated in Chinese to show that his was not entirely US-inspired. of course his comment was shot by the article written by the authors in response to his critique.

(4) GLOBE’s operationalizations of values and practices. My main concern about the GLOBE research is that the questionnaire items used may not have captured what the researchers supposed them to measure. He also mentioned that most questions were "as-in" questions. Asking ‘as is’ questions basically assumed that these people
were in a position to compare their society with other societies. This assumption, I believe, is naive – it takes international experience plus an unusually open mind to produce anything like a credible comparison between one’s own society and others.

wow. naive.

(5) Our minds have a limited capacity for processing information, and therefore dimensional models that are too complex will not be experienced as useful. In a now classic article, Miller (1956) argued that useful classifications should not
have more than seven categories, plus or minus two. He may still have overestimated the optimal number.

With nine dimensions of culture times two, the GLOBE researchers’ psycho-logic has surpassed the limits of our capacity for processing information. A form of data reduction is needed.

Now for the rejoinder... in their abstract, it was so blatantly written:

We show why there is no theoretical or empirical basis for Hofstede’s criticism that GLOBE measures of values are too abstract or for his contention that national and organizational cultures are phenomena of different order.

We also show why Hofstede has a limited understanding of the relationship between national wealth and culture.

Furthermore, we explain why Hofstede’s reanalysis of the GLOBE data is inappropriate and produces incomprehensible results.

Finally, we explain why Hofstede’s claim that GLOBE instruments reflect researchers psycho-logic reveals ignorance of psychometric methodologies designed to ensure scale reliability and construct validity.

gosh. if i were Hofstede, I would flip!

But reading such intellectual cross-fire is definitely better than reading some emails or fighting over blogs like xxue (didnt want my blog to appear in goggle search for her blog)

oh and guess what? Cultural intelligence (CQ) like your IQ and EQ was developed by Earley and Ang Soon. Ang Soon is now head of Strategy, Management and Organization Department of NBS. Earley? He was Dean of NUS Business School and Cycle & Carriage Chair for 2 years, now he is back to UConn to be their dean for school of business. mmm... He was in NBS before though. I guess like the Chinese saying goes, one mountain cannot hide 2 tigers. Ang Soon VS Earley. lol. My CQ prof, ng kok yee, co-written journals with him before. wow.

anyway was looking at nus business school website... they had the salary data across universities. are they trying to say that 3 years direct hons earn lesser than their 4 years hons? -_- we'll see. lol

..:: 639. The One With Results ::..

Ha. i was spot on!

Just that Lil was sent to safety.

Just heard adam's studio version of mad world. wow. haunting.

..:: 638. The One With Top 8 ::..

first off, adam was as usual A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. i always knew when he was the last few to perform, somehow the last few performers always performed superbly.



flashback: Votes (judges plus me)

black or white: 11/13 (5/5)
ring of fire: 5/11 (3.5/5)
tracks of my tears: 8/10 (5/5)
play that funky music: 8/9 (5/5)
mad world: 8/8 (5/5)

this week, all the judges gave standing ovation for adam. as far as i know, simon cowell never stood up for a contestant ever in the show for 8 seasons. i just cant wait for him to say what he told carrie underwood when she was in the top 4 show (i think) that "you have done enough to win this competition"

every week adam produced something special and i believe everyone looks forward to his performance, see what stunts he can pull up.

this week the contestants sang songs from the year they were born. was it challenge? no. most of them were born in the 80s which danny gokey was the oldest (1980) and the rest ranged around 82-86, only allison iraheta was 1992.

most memorable ones for me were Matt Giraud and Adam Lambert. However, i heard that those in the US using the DVDR were not able to capture adam's performance fully as the show overran. I dont think he will suffer in terms of votes though since i predict he has a strong fan base.

Now the fun part. guess who's the bottom three or the one most likely to be eliminated.

Group stages winner and wildcard: number of times in bottom 3

Group 1:
danny gokey
alexie grace (out)
michael sarver (out)

Group 2: strongest
adam lambert
allison iraheta (2)
kris allen

Group 3:
lil rounds
scott macintyre (1)
jorge nunez (out)

Wildcard:
matt giraud (1)
anoop desai (1)
megan joy (out)
jasmine murray (out)

Most likely to be in bottom 3:
anoop (ok but not great, may be sent back to safety)
lil (have yet to prove her ability, kept choosing wrong songs)
scott (bad performance)

i got a feeling its time for scott to go.

if lil gets the boot, i am not sure if the judges will use the "save" option as they might wanna keep it for allison instead cos she showed more potential but also one who keeps hovering in the bottom 3. i think allison should be safe this week, based on records, she is safe from bottom 3 when she delivers outstanding performance like in top 10. hopefully when randy jackson compared her to kelly clarkson, her votes can go up. she is as risky as anoop.

i dont think matt should get bottom 3 cos last week he didnt do as well for a song by the frays but he was safe. i think he is building his fan base slowly.

the top 3 in the end i think would be adam, danny and kris. but kris may end up bottom 3 to shock the audience cos he did quite badly this week, however he will definitely not be eliminated.

stay tuned for the results...

..:: 637. The One With Happy Moments ::..

ok shall blog about happy moments. i guess there is still a collectivist part of me where guilt is killing me! arghz.

decided to write this jiayi-inspired entry summing up my 3 years in NBS.

actually my uni life started with joining the sports club which was the right choice for an explosive start to school. everyone was so "on" and crazy. our group was not the strongest physically but we have smart people in our team so we won quite a lot of challenges. one of the more memorable ones was coming in 4th out of 16 teams in the 2-day amazing race. i could still remember some of the stations that we had:

1. kbox at cck lot one where the clue was an indian word that translated to cck.
2. tiong bahru market to finish one basin of rice! we apparently lost to a group of big eaters
3. kallang to do dragonboat and the clue was sign language. difficult!
4. bedok interchange food center... had to link words to buy different types of food
5. pit stop: pasir ris park and we slept over in tents.

the next morning:
1. east coast park to try the 360ski
2. west coast recreation centre to play bowling and forfeit to drink some weird stuff based on the no. of pins missed
3. qian hu fishing farm. drew lots to see how many different colour small fishes we had to catch. it was so difficult. needed a lot of patience.

the next most fun activity was the night trail at the old changi general hospital. i must applaud the acting skills of the seniors and the prop set up. all the calefare acted as wondering ghosts really gave us the chills and screams. still remembered one of the guys freaked out and ran out of the room. that was how scary.

the camp was also a platform for me to join the organising committee of surf and sweat which was a major national event that ntu sports club organises. learnt a lot from there and i had the honour of doing the explanation of the whole rundown of the event to all the participants despite having to do it for like at least 50 times.

Year 1 Sem 1

AB105 - Organizational Behavior & Design

it was quite amazing how the group was formed. random. started off with me and my marketing grp mate jiayi, then came a few other girls and then crappy guoxiang. there was some adjustment initially cos one group had to dissolve. then came all the weird "name calling" by funny emails. i still remember how our project discussion would go off track and guoxiang will always bring us back. in our conversation, there will surely be ob concepts and terms used.

a very "spoil market" module cos every group was trying to "up" their standard every presentation. it was this module that polished our research skills. we already started to research extensively using the database and learning how to cite professionally. All these were not taught by a prof but a phd student. i mean she is amazing minus the fact that she had a weird habit of turling the ends of her hair. there was a lot of critical thinking and even our Q&A, we had to "argue" using what we have researched from journals to support as in her own words she dont want any "coffeeshop talk".

i still remember she was very proud of our class cos we were very driven and produced really good work which she sadly told us it was unfair to "bell-curve" us cos the three groups were generally better than some of the other classes. i was glad that we all met her expectations and still kept in contact with her.

AB112 - Marketing

Same classmates so you can expect the "spoil market" effect to spill over. the tutor was kinda weird as she wanted quality research and that translated to producing 100+ slides. The first group that got A+ presented banyan trees... but i enjoyed all of the presentations. trying to sell our products and services and also on case studies.

AB103 - Statistical and Quantitative methods

tough course cos i not very good in stats. not much group work and there were not interesting either. lucky got math genius in the group, so the group assignments were not that painful.

AB106 - Principles of Economics

Didnt take it in JC and it was quite a challenge to cramp 2 years plus worth of JC stuff into 3 months. plus the prof was intimidating... after you are asked to present your solutions, she will ask questions to test your knowledge and understanding of the concept. must do tutorial faithfully, cannot copy from others.

quite a long entry... shall break up different semesters into different entries for easier reading.

..:: 636. The One With Misunderstanding ::..

I received an email...

"Wah Liew ey... John, i salute you. You very the pangseh KING leh. I think it's the 3rd time ?? Seriously. I only know that you are not coming, until I meet the rest lor (seems like only xx and xx knows abt it)!!! Some of us actually rush dwn from school just to meet Mdm Ho. You are always just too late minute guy. Seriously.

It's good that you are enthusiastic at project work because you want to score well for the module... but your enthusiasm is a bit temperamental. As your projmate, it's quite hard to tell when you are in or out. I understand previously you have HR Forum and FYP to deal with. But like the rest of us, we have our own stuff too. Seriously, I kinda felt disappointed. It’s not nice to make last minute "surprises" when it comes to working as a team. I hope you can understand that.

Anw, update you. We ALMOST din get to meet Mdm Ho because there's some miscommunication btwn both of you. She though that the meeting is cancelled since you have oreadi sent her the softcopy. Eventually, she came down just for "yi shi yi shi" because all of us were oreadi at AMK Hub. Probably what you shld consider in the future is to Cc all of us the emails btwn you and Mdm Ho. We almost bust into tears when we heard tt she's unaware of the meeting just now. "

-------------------------------------------------------------
my first reaction was "woo. that is quite a direct feedback"

the enthusiasm temperamental was a bit hard to swallow though...

miscommunication. didnt mean to drop the last min bomb. had to get urgent endorsement and approval that had to take priority over the meeting. didnt want to change the meeting just because of me and everyone wanted it to be over and done with. i got the notice late and i msged 2 of the key members whom i left their contacts with "mdm ho". bad judgment i can say but i guess i was expected to msg 5 other members?

the no turn-up of mdm ho was a stunner for me. cos i emailed her:

------------------------------------------------
From: #CHEN XING TIAN JOHN#
To: Mdm Ho
Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 1:00 PM
Subject: Report

Hi Mdm Ho,

I have attached our report. Sorry that I am unable to make it tml as I already had an appointment. However, my team mates will be there.

9xxxxxxx - xx
9xxxxxxx - xx

Thanks for agreeing to meet us.

Have a nice day.

Regards,
John

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

i even sent her a sms to remind her. mmm... guess when you are the one coordinating and not there, it can be a prob. and yea. should have cc-ed them. my bad.

as for the 3rd time thing... i didnt realise it was the 3rd time? cos i remember i attended all the meetings. anyway have sent an email to check what were the other 2 times. mmm...

well, another learning point for me. wake up, john!

..:: 635. The One With New Post ::..

recently, i saw an article on leadership written by one of the prof teaching me and also a representative from saf. then it struck me that i could actually request to post to the centre for leadership development (CLD for short) in saf. firstly, i get to work on the multi-year leadership project that saf has and at the same time, work with the professors i know =) Secondly, leadership is quite a niche area to focus on and i think the stuff i get exposed to will be useful for my future and also for red cross.

but my career manager had something else for me..

"we are clearing you to assume the appointment of SO (staff officer) wospec development..."

ok, wth is wospec? it refers to the warrant officers and specialists.

challenging was the first word that came up in my mind. though there have been efforts done to increase the attractiveness of the wospec, like the recent introduction of the new specialist cadet rank to raise the profile and status of a specialist, the process is not easy...

having done a survey with the wospec to get some ground sensing, there are a few changes they would like to see so being the "voice" for them, i have to juggle their expectations and the organization needs which i hope i will be able to achieve the balance.

anyway i am excited to be back in mindef, can see all my ex-bosses but that means i have to pay for my meals :(

cant wait to start work. sounds exciting.

sidepoint. tiger airways should get their customer helpline together. i tried calling once and was put on hold so for long. subsequently i tried to call back at different times, there was no dial tone. did the staff do something to the line?

..:: 634. The One With David Archuleta ::..

American Idol 7 Runner-up David Archuleta coming to Singapore! gosh. now i sound like a crazy teenager. he will be at iluma, opposite bugis junction at 7 Apr, 7pm!

anyone wanna go? lol.

been spinning lady gaga's songs. lovin' it. a mix of gwen, madonna. very club-able songs... which yash 100% wont like. haha. shall hum those songs when i see her.

just dance.
poker face.

..:: 633. The One With Spree ::..

no. i am not in a shopping spree... on the contrary, i am actually on a download spree. not music or movies but

journal articles!

so expensive to sign up for a database so i thought why not download all the relevant articles before i graduate lol. especially those classic founders of theories...

been searching for relevant topics that could be useful in my career and self-development... topics like:

leadership
teamwork
self-efficacy
culture and self-construals
job performance and job satisfaction
organization citizenship behavior (tough to do in military lol)
counterproductive work behavior (easy to find in military)
selection & assessment
stress and coping

and a few more... cant believe i actually made folders for them. haha.

and i cant believe this is making me high! woohoo~

..:: 632. The One With Final Presentations in NTU ::..

i'm officially done with my last presentation in NTU. how come i dont seem to be excited? i dont know why. i think there is still part of me that loves presentations.

but through today, i can really see how i have benefited from the training NBS has given me. today's finale presentations for hr metrics and cultural intelligence i must say were the most unprepared ones i ever made. but i was glad i could pull it through =) energy people!

at 3am i was still struggling to churn out content slides to send to yash. there's so much info out there with the helpful tool of scopus and google scholar. i found myself reading more and more. got intrigued by interesting studies.

when i was reading the same line twice, i knew my mind cant take in anymore curiosity. still must perform for my metrics presentation which i have not prepared at all. took a 2 hr nap and woke up at 6am. luckily one of my team mates drove so i had a free ride to school and found an alternative route to avoid the traffic jam by using the old lim chu kang road.

got 15 mins to prepare for my part and off we go. saw one team inside the seminar room being "grilled" by the profs. Their Q&A was kinda long...

was glad that our presentation went really well. the profs just raised some clarification and requested us to add in some linkages (considering they gave us only 3000 words limit???)

i was pretty tired then had to rush an abstract and touch up my part before i sprinted to another seminar room for my next presentation. cultural intelligence (CQ) was even more unprepared. cos i havent seen the final slides and not even sure what i was going to present.

but mighty groupmates, everything fell in place. i was shocked that though we went given 40 mins, when our 3nd speaker spoke, the prof told us we only have 10 mins left. so the 4 of us shared the remaining time and rattled fast enough to be comprehended.

faints. kinda sad when u researched so much then u cant get to share as much? :( but i guess the prof loved our presentation cos i must say ours had a super comprehensive coverage for expat development and going beyond the case. hope we get a really good grade...

flashback my pictures for the last presentations for my modules this last semester...

24 Mar, Tue. BH227 - Selection & Assessment with Prof Templar. er huh er huh... with year twos and siok wei & wen yee the old birds



31 Mar, Tue. BH225 - HR Research with Prof Violet Ho with the year twos



3 Apr, Fri. BH326 - HR Metrics with Prof Cheryl Tay and Prof Fang Yong Qing. 2 extreme profs in terms of style, content and behavior lol



3 Apr, Fri. BH331 - Cultural Intelligence at Work with Prof Ng Kok Yee and Thomas

..:: 631. The One With 2 Down 2 More To Go ::..

finally 227 and 225 are done. though both presentations seemed like going into warpath. lots of questions shooting without the prof even asking questions. dunno if the yr 2s found me very aggressive, somehow i have questions (and quite a lot) on their presentations. but i tried my best to ask in a non-intrusive way, also tried the complimenting first then shoot technique.

for 225, every group controlled for all variables except our group. every other group was shooting at us why dun we control, no harm etc. tried to explain but i think the prof had a final say and all of us took her words. having to control all variable will decrease the statistical power needed to test for significant relationships. so i gleefully crossed my finger, hope our report get A or A+ (even better). we thought we were the only group with the descriptive stats and inter-correlation table but damn there is another group who had it.

been quite a struggle editing the report i must say. contents were contributed but somehow lacked the persuasiveness... at first it didnt look like we answered the discussion portion well cos the lit review found didnt really address the question. :( double work, haiz.

anyway its over! now left with 2 more on friday. see everyone slogging for hr metrics. i hope i perform well for both presentations. cant let the groups down...

oh yeah! my friend's friend managed to find my thumbdrive! so happy... someone should invent a beeping system to remind user to take their thumbdrive!

..:: 630. The One With Crazy Schedule ::..

went for a norwegian party on fri night. so glad i went for it, made a lot of new friends including a few germans. it was really nice to just chill out and talk about stuff other than school and projects. went with my going-to-india friends. my nose decided to go crazy with me, cant say that the house is dusty but i think i didnt sleep well so it's like my body mechanism.

anyway, chipped in for my god-ma's birthday present. wow. 500+ watch from tissot and 200 bucks of m.a.c stuff.

i am having a crazy week.

1. project report and presentation due on tue.
2. project report and presentation due on fri.
3. presentation due on fri. yes. 3 things due on the same friday. and it is all happening from 830am to 430pm.

hope i survive to go geylang for durian spread and frog leg porridge.

:(

i still missed my thumbdrive. gosh when i am tired, dunno what grammar i am using. -_-

..:: 629. The One With Self-Indulgence ::..

k. i deserve once in a while to hao-lian.







and i found myself hooked on subway. eating 3 6-inch in 2 days.

..:: 628. The One With Projects ::..

so glad this sem the deadlines for projects are kinda staggered. tml i will be clearing 227, report sent today and tml presentation.

after class, work on 326 cos there is a meeting on wed.

after wed, work on 225 cos there is a meeting on thur.

after thur, study for 326 test on fri.

after fri, work on 331 cos there is work due on sat.

after sat, work on 225 cos the project is due on tue.

after tue, work on both 331 and 326 cos both are due on fri.

*faints*

..:: 627. The One With HRYF ::..

warning: lots of lashing out and if you are the unfortunate party mentioned, no offense. i know different people may have different ways of doing things but i just felt like penning down my feelings and how i would do it. maybe i have stepped on your toes or i sucked at some area of my job, you can skip the part about you if you are mentioned. no names will be mentioned and it is not hard to guess anyway.

working through the night was pleasant, though we were rushing last-min stuff like preparing name tags for the participants and facilitators, i enjoyed doing it with my fellow year 3s. however, i was doing up slides late last night which was not really my responsibility. sent questions out earlier but they were not included in the slides. when i requested for a copy of the slides so i could make changes to the questions, i had to sms 3 different people cos each one told me the other has it. greatness. blood pressure (BP) level 1.

slept at 5am and had to wake up at 6 cos we were meeting at 7. morning was not slow-moving which was unexpected. everyone did their part and participants started to stream in.

the problem came only during the arrival of guest-of-honour. he was there at the breakfast reception and we had to stall for time because one of the guest speakers was late. ridiculous right? how could you make the GOH wait for a guest? next thing was the person who will be sitting beside the GOH should be with the GOH and not doing some other things, right? BP Level 2.

In the end, the GOH had to go in and the seat beside him was empty -_-

everything was well until there was not enough plates and utensils for F&B but luckily someone noticed and we went to quad to buy more. there was quick thinking done to replace the rice that had been finished with leftover noodles from the breakfast reception. i was very happy with the initiatives. some facilitators were also interacting with their own groups which were commendable.

the second half was at LKC LT. luckily i pushed for it, it was initially changed without my consent, especially when i already told the judges that it will be LKC and also there will not be enough space for the games if it was not held in LKC. BP level 3.

when i was at lkc, i realised that there will be facilitators who will be joining us at LKC and hence i called for help to get the extra tee shirts from the previous LT. i received a curt reply "why dont u send some people over?". hello? my side only 4 people and there are tons of people at your side. when i ask whether you can help take the shirts over, i dont literally mean you. you can actually ask for help from others who are coming over from your side. BP level just raised to 4.

sorry for the sudden flare cos i was checking my mail and realised my 2 paragraphs i wrote for my project was deleted cos someone thought i was repeating myself. -_-. giving validity and reliability for selection tools is "too technical" for the client? i mean if you dont give the figures, you "bullshit" your way through for your recommendations? i mean come on, you know that the final product is assessed by the prof, dont you want to include things to show that you have learnt from the course? how can you see it as something extra? i just dont understand.

ok back to the forum, arghz.

at 345, one of my judges had not shown up. i was worried but i doubted he will back out. made a mistake, forgot to record his hp though i left my number with him. luckily he texted me at 355 that he made a wrong exit. requested the emcees to let the participants have a break while waiting for the judges. luckily he arrived at 405 and everything could continue.

i was very happy that 2 of the judges i invited gave very good comments and questions. grateful that they agree to spend their precious weekend to judge the competition. oh i should drop them an email.

during the break, i suggested that since there are spare questions left and we had lots of pens left over, why dont we ask the audience questions and give away the pens?

no, they look tired. anyway we are playing the video (showing slideshows of pictures taken)

fine. upset but i respect their decision. i could go up the stage to give but figured that it would be inappropriate to do that.

judges feedback and prize presentation. greatness. my bp level shot even higher. i told the emcees that the judges will give feedback and then someone will give tokens to them and then the prize presentation.

out of nowhere, someone suddenly came to announce the results. maybe its from my own experience in organising events in red cross, mostly involving prize presentations, that normally once you announce the results, no one will care (as much) about what you say later. hence, the usual practice is feedback, tokens, certificates of participation and then prize presentation.

so we had 3 judges standing behind while results were announced. the whole group who won came up and received the prize. then came the horrifying certificates of participation. announced team name but did not request whole team to come up and so we have 3 judges shaking one person's hand for the next 7 rounds.

since when do you see 3 award presenters except in the oscars and grammys. usually you rotate each person to give out different awards or stuff.

i saw the emcees standing there looking lost cos they have no "job" on stage.

once the event was over, everyone was just feeling happy and if i remember vividly, i wanted a shot of all the participants with the organisers in the earlier part of the programme but was TOLD it was inappropriate. i understand the difficulty in coordinating during the lunch break but after the event?

even though announcement was made, everyone started to stroll to the stage. i had to use the mike to get things going. had to wait for all to go up the stage before i invited the judges.

i felt bad while giving the debrief. lashing out my negative thoughts. i was disappointed, i could hide it by praising everyone but i know no one will say the bad things and in the end no improvements. i know i could sugar coat the negative so that they dont turn out harsh but i was tired and didnt want to prolong anyone's stay. our committee really had different views about certain issues and we were all insistent that our own way is better. we didnt want to step on each other's toes which have resulted a degree of confusion due to the frequent change of plans. there was a lack of a decision maker and hence boundaries were not drawn and authorities were not assigned. i didnt want to suddenly take charge cos i must admit i was not actively involved in the planning in the start. so i mostly gave advice.

but overall, i think everyone did their part and together we managed to pull off the event. i understand that things cannot always turn out perfect, just that when things go wrong and i know it should not have based on my experience. i get angry and frustrated with myself for not stepping in.

ok. done with ranting. couldnt talk about it cos had friends who had bigger issues to handle and i rather be their listening ears than to pour my feelings out to them.

..:: 626. The One With Sub-Standard ::..

dont you just hate it when people give you sub-standard work when you have such high expectations of them?

this is my Type A personality speaking and this is what is going to give me cardiovascular disease in the future.

arghz. where is the drive and motivation to do better? just satisfied to deliver the minimum or what was told?

..:: 625. The One With Project Meeting ::..

somehow somehow after fyp, my brain sort of cleared up and even though i am faced with 3 different project meetings, i feel that nothing can trump fyp in terms of difficulty. lol.

had 227 meeting (selection & assessment), all came to the meeting with their parts done, very efficient, meeting always lasted about an hour and we distribute tasks and get them done in just 2 days.

had 225 meeting (hr research), lasted about 2 hours but we were able to come up with the structure and hypotheses very smoothly. so now it is up to us to fill in the contents which i believe will turn out well as we did quite a good job for our literature review earlier.

had 326 meeting (hr metrics), lasted about 2.5 hours. struggled initially cos we had lots of content and lit review but just dunno how to make the report flow. pleased with my performance in the group, somehow managed to lead in working out the logical flow of the project. hope my group didnt find me too assertive. always wanted to work with my current group members cos in other modules, i feel that they have some kind of dynamics and really glad that i got a chance to work with them and get to know more people except chia yee and yashira. lol.

didnt have fyp meeting, which usually lasted more than 2.5 hours. we didnt talk most of the time but busy doing our stuff. occasionally questions were raised and very easily we find ourselves talking about stuff that is non-fyp related. sometimes i wondered if we deliberately do it so that we can have dinner together. haha.

which is in some way true. all my other projects, we didnt have dinner or any meal. perhaps not much bonding happened. maybe for our next meeting, i shall ask them to eat as a group. i think its through time that we spent talking about other things except the project that allow us to know each other better. just ask me what likes and dislikes, even attachment theory that my fyp mates belong to, i can rattle all day. lol.

ntu lifetime alumni membership at 100 bucks. anyone?

..:: 624. The One With NTU Open House ::..

was late today for quiz. i think it was that blood rushing to my heart cos i sprinted to class... forgot to reverse code one of the statement :( there goes my A+ ... haiz

open house was fun. took pictures and talked to a lot of people. but somehow more people interested in tourism though. next please. haha.

i would love to be a tour guide to bring the students ard ntu, think would be fun =) though most of the time i would be talking to myself.

thanks to dolly, she drove us out of school to avoid the crowd. didnt know she has so much "power", she is the one who chooses who to get into nbs. o_O wow. i would love to do that too. haha.

it's kinda weird to find that there were people who were scheduled for shifts but did not turn out. sick? got project? so is it to say that those who went had no project? mmm...

..:: 623. The One With Aftermath ::..

Still not getting enough sleep. had 830 class today and finally submitted the final copy to our prof. phew.

negotiation class was fun! i got more out of what i had expected. i thought my nego partner would not budge easily and might have to settle for in-between.

watched grey's episode 17 and started to tear a bit at the ending... sometimes the shocking news you have, you might not even want to share it with your closest friends... george offered a listening ear but izzie didnt want to tell him, at least not yet. if i were her, i wouldnt have told my best friends either. i wouldnt want them to get "hysterical" or worked up. i think the sudden "care and concern" will overwhelming and it will somehow make me go into self-pity and the whole emo cycle starts.

kept re-watching american idol top 13 performance especially adam lambert's black or white. really good. danny gokey's was a great one but adam's more catchy.

..: 622. The One With Partial Fulfillment ::..

somehow i love to see this line in my FYP...

Applied Research Project submitted to the Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University in partial fulfillment for the degree of Bachelor of Business.

The end is yet to be. as much as i hate doing fyp but i really appreciate having great teammates who...

1. willing to watch america's next top model with me and dun judge me
2. get chased out by the security guard and bitch about it
3. buy food for each other, come to think, yash bought supper, jiayi bought breakfast and i bought lunch
4. enjoy korean guy singing touch my body or widely known as tuts my barreh
5. randomly think of names for our children
6. share movie reviews
7. are unique individuals and always bring something new to the table

3 cheers to the chemistry and many years of friendship.

now i miss doing fyp... lol.

was reading newspaper and shocked to hear two news.

the nus hostel dudes who ran naked. bravo to them. i think it takes more than alcohol to do that. who cares about acts of indecency. haha. reminds me of the band camp, the american pie series, running nude in school.

next, the auto transplantation. something i thought i saw in grey's anatomy really happened in real life. taking out numerous organs and then putting them back again. somemore a young child.

now left with 3 projects in my agenda before my final exams. gotta catch some sleep. spent 26 hours in the reading room is insane! started a facebook group to vote for chia yee (jiayi) for valedictorian for convo 2009 business !!

..:: 621. The One With Research ::..

adapted from some website... damn hilarious...

Business is all about GROWTH & PROFIT!

Ignore HR in your business and you get GROWT_ & P_OFIT. You will never get what you are in business for.

like yash said, that's why HR is never taken seriously. lol.

..:: 620. The One With Security Guard ::..

arghz. got chased out from the seminar room by a security guard. must be first day on his job, so enthu. came into the room...

"you all got make booking? misuse the system ar"

o_O how he define misuse of system? in the end, we found that he managed to chase everyone out from all the seminar rooms. wow. his performance appraisal must be really good. compensation not just based on hourly basis but also commission based on number of students chased.

we are using the room to do projects, not sniff drugs... how i wish we could put up some struggle... he actually waited outside for us to clear the room. very rude when he ended "switch off the lights"...

now i rather wish the security guards were dozing off at their desks...

..:: 619. The One With Open House ::..

This sat's NTU Open House will be a light-hearted event for me...

i would have submitted my FYP and completed my test (in that very morning).

But i am still looking at 3 project reports to complete. This sem though having 5 modules seems a little easier than the last sem... maybe it is because of the modules i am taking.

Do come down to the open house to find out more about degrees offered in NTU. Sports Science is a new one, i am also curious on what are the modules like... but of course, how you could miss Nanyang Business School, top-24 business school in the world. I will be manning booth for the afternoon shift.

..:: 618. The One With The Bus ::..

was on the smrt bus today. at the expressway, the long bus started to swerve uncontrollably. you can see the first half and the second half of the bus moving in staggering mode. the people at the back of the bus were screaming. gosh, i thought the bus was going to crash at some point. and the bus driver didnt bother to slow down. maybe he couldnt but it was running into 2 lanes. now that is scary.

i thought my experience working with year twos was already quite hilarious and mind boggling at times, but seems like i am not alone! i believe working with fellow clueless yr 3s can be exasperating (not for me at least)

felt happy today cos i finally got the products my sis ordered for me from her company boss... got a natural spray from Issey Miyake, a super big Ralph Lauren duffel bag, products from Shu Uemura, Biotherm Homme, Clinque... i feel my face being nourished and pampered. haha.

i bought books from kino! the reader (which got yash exclaiming 'what?') and revolutionary road.

..:: 617. The One With Excitement ::..

gee... today while in class received a sms from my career manager to ask me to call her asap. i got excited cos i was thinking whether she had secured a position for me... and she really did. she intro-ed me the job title and it sounded cool. huge learning curve and she mentioned i will be very suitable for the job, knowing my interests and strengths.

been gathering feedback from my previous bosses,and so far all favourable and supportive. i hope i wont disappoint them, especially since it is back to mindef. ranked with all the other scholars, i am worried but i look forward to the challenges and hopefully i am able to unleash my potential and increase my CEP.

..:: 616. The One With Departures ::..

it is oscar/academy award winner of best foreign film. a japanese one. i love the synopsis given and was intrigued to catch it. it was definitely worth it. it is about a guy who lost his job and looked at the advert and found one that had something to do with "departures". He went for the interview and soon found that he was actually going to dress, wash, and put makeup on the deceased before the funeral. not really embalming cos it will involve the three goals of embalming which are preservation, sanitization and presentation (or restoration) of a dead body.[wikipedia]

haha citations! arghz so FYP. (final year project)

It is a ritual i think only in japan where the person will "cleanse" the dead and help them change clothes and do make up. everything is done skilfully and precisely and done in front of the families. the person has to ensure minimal exposure of the skin or body to the families and friends.

It was through the boss, he knew that the ad was wrong, they were looking for someone to deal with the "departed" and not departures which the guy thought it was a job in a tour agency! lol.

it was quite a emotional rollercoaster, cos you laugh at some parts even though it was a serious ceremony. at times u cry when u see the family cries and family problems start to surface.

it is sort of like the HBO series - six feet under which i loved it.

it was a tough job. partly due to the nature of the job. an on-call one and also depend on the nature of death. but the most difficult part is having your family and dear ones know and accept your job. Firstly it is look down upon because you earn money from a dead person and also some cannot take the idea that the very hands touching you have actually been touching the dead.

spoiler alert

the story does not explicitly explain why the job is admirable. after each case and with the conversations from the boss, the guy learned something that kept him in the job despite having to choose to give up his wife who later came to understand why he was so "hooked" to the job.

i also went to buy dvds of little children and vicky christina barcelona. great films. one for kate winslet, the other for penelope cruz and javier bardem (who weirdly look like jeffrey dean morgan, the guy as the dead finance of izzie in grey's)

..:: 615. The One With The Reader & Milk ::..

kate winslet delivered yet another stellar performance. now i know why she got the best actress... the reader was really spectacular. i was so intrigued by kate's acting. in there, she plays a middle-age woman who has a secret. at first, i thought it would be those secret that she is having an affair with a young boy etc but it was not.

spoiler alert.

when she went on trial, there was the best part she exhibited her acting skills. you can literally tell all the emotions she was going through in her face. a mixture of innocence, helplessness, having to suppress herself to keep her darkest secret. in the end, she had to shoulder the "crime" and got life imprisonment. her response to the judge, "What would you have done?", really blew me away. it really reflected her simple mindedness (that was related to her secret). it was just that she was in the wrong situation that she could not get herself out.

the young boy (Michael)she had relationship with was feeling puzzled. there were girls that had to be sent to death in the gas chambers and kate (henna in the show) had the girls read to her (*hint). Michael was confused whether she wanted the girls to read to her so that the death will be more bearable or whether she had them killed because they knew her secret.

very haunting experience. left me feeling pity for her.

Little note about the setting of the story and the gas chamber thing from wikipedia:

Prisoners were transported from all over German-occupied Europe by rail, arriving at Auschwitz-Birkenau in daily convoys. Arrivals at the complex were separated into two main groups - those marked for immediate extermination, and those to be registered as prisoners. The first group, about three-quarters of the total, went to the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau within a few hours; they included all children, all women with children, all the elderly, and all those who appeared on brief and superficial inspection by an SS doctor not to be fully fit. SS personnel told the victims that they were to take a shower and undergo delousing. The victims would undress in an outer chamber and walk into the gas chamber, which was disguised as a shower facility, complete with dummy shower heads. After the doors were shut, SS men would dump in the cyanide pellets via (depending on which crematorium) holes in the roof or windows on the side. In the Auschwitz Birkenau camp more than 20,000 people could be gassed and cremated each day

Do you know?
Stephen Daldry's first choice for the lead role was Kate Winslet, who originally turned down the offer due to a scheduling conflict with Revolutionary Road (2008). When Nicole Kidman accepted the role, the producers built in a hiatus in order to allow her to finish filming Baz Luhrmann's Australia (2008). However, by the time Kidman was set to begin her scenes on the film, she withdrew because of her pregnancy, vacating the role. Winslet, who was now available, agreed to replace Kidman. Imagine nicole kidman could have been in the oscars too.

i wondered how it felt to have a mature woman like kate naked with a 17 year old david kross... must be stressful for the guy to work with such an outstanding actress who bares all in the show. kate really aged gracefully.

Milk was great too... love the scenes where james franco had to kiss sean penn, disturbing but what can you expect from 2 hot dudes? the occasional spanking was funny. but franco looks like he lost his shape. anyway, i love the scenes where sean penn has to defend for gay rights, the witty conversations and debates were interesting. like one where the anti-gay minister wanted to sack all the homo teachers saying that since they cannot have children on their own, they want to "recruit" children. then sean asked "so how do you teach homosexuality? So you think homosexuality is like french?" haha. had great laughs.

kate winslet and sean penn, love them. you guys should watch the movies (think they are ending their run soon). wanna catch revolutionary road soon, the modern titanic. haha. where i can also see kate winslet again =)

FYP draft over! finally i can sleep well for at least one day.

watched american idol. round 3 so boring. only scott and lil' i think got chance.

but now hooked on david archuleta and david cook. gosh. two different styles and i love them. been spinning D.A's when you believe and crush (which yash absolutely abhors) and D.C's always be my baby and light on. didnt noe DA has vocal paralysis or some sort. but he still sounds so nice.

gosh now i hope i can play and sing "a thousand miles" like him.