Anger

Last Friday to Sunday, I joined the MSA FOC senior camp as a programmer sub-comm. The camp was a trial before the actual MSA FOC camp next week and I specifically came back to Singapore early just for this camp. The senior camp itself began on a quite cheerful note for me as we went to Sentosa Island and Terror Sea Scout campsite on the first day. The second day, the orientation groups traveled around Singapore playing station games from morning to evening and I was stationed at Orchard as the programmer for the station with Poh Ai, my fellow CBE coursemate.

Things started to turn a bit frustrating on the night of the second day. First, I went back to my room for a shower and discovered that my body shower and shampoo were stolen because I left it outside my room. Then, I was stationed as a programmer to replace one person for the Human Pinball game where two teams try to hit a soft ball into a goal using plastic bottle. Perhaps I was affected by the earlier incident where I discovered my body shower and shampoo were stolen, I was a bit aggressive and shouted when I was trying to control the situation in the midst of all the noise during the Human Pinball game. 

To my utter surprise, during the debriefing of the second game, one person pointed out during the Human Pinball game, one of the programmers(did not mention name) is a bit too aggressive, which literally means putting me on the spot during the debriefing session. My initial reaction was putting an oblivious face and kept playing with my smartphone. However, when I thought of other main comm people shouting to control the crowd when it's too noisy to give instructions, I felt anger towards that person who put me on the spot in front of everyone. I retaliated by giving back the instruction booklet for the station games on the 3rd day that are not part of my job scope to the chief programmer in charge. 

Of course the news of my retaliation spread among the main comm(at least) since my retaliation occurred in front of all the chief programmers. The chief programmer who asked me favor to take on additional roles outside my job scope is one of my OG people from last year, and he tried to convince me to forget about the debriefing incident and said I did my part well in contributing to the camp as a whole. He also tried to persuade my to take back the role for the station games on the third day but I was having none of it because the anger is still very much there. 

The night after the debriefing incident, I had lots of thinking about the incident and why I acted/reacted in the way I did. I concluded that it might be due to the fact that I was feeling unsatisfied about my current life, be it academically,socially or personally, and the dissatisfaction bottled up in me. No matter how much I convinced myself to accept my current life(which I did not) and face it(which I have no choice), the dissatisfaction just won't do away and it bounds to cease out of my control sometimes like during the Human Pinball game. 

I have come to accept the fact that I need to face my current life whether I like it or not. But it's obvious that it's not a healthy method since I still could not come to terms with the life I'm living now and the life that I thought I deserved to have. I am merely turning all this hard feelings on myself and telling myself that I need to achieve great things, no matter I'm happy or not. Friends have been telling me to be happy while chasing my dreams and goals but the fact that I'm not doing as well in life as I would wish for just make it tough to feel happy. 

Anyway, the debriefing incident actually got me into considering whether I should went back to my university counselling to talk about the way I'm feeling towards my life and for anger management. Of course, I have a friend in university now who is always willing to listen to my stories and I'm very grateful for that. I also told this particular friend about the debriefing incident and I felt much better after that. So, I am still torn between whether the debriefing incident that got me losing my emotional control is significant enough to have a confidence crisis about my mental and emotional health. 

Ironically, before the senior camp, I managed to find a book titled: The Pursuit of Happiness - How to Stop Chasing Perfection and Start Living a Richer, Happier Life by Tal Ben-Shahar. The book talked about the characteristics of a Perfectionist and how perfectionism shapes the thinking of Perfectionist towards success, emotion and reality. It resonates with me so much because many of the things mentioned in the book fits my personality and the way I see things in perspective. I would have love to do my first book review on my blog about this book but I doubt that I have the patience and time to review the book. 

Anyway, the main reason I'm mentioning this book is that this book is exactly what I feel many people would think it's a perfect book for me to read and learn from it how to start living my happy life. The book talked about how to change from a Perfectionist to an Optimalist in order to live a richer and happier life. Like the book mentions, no one is 100% Perfectionist or Optimalist. The idea of being a bit more Optimalist seems enticing to me considering the state of unhappiness in my life now but after having some reflection, I still think I would prefer to be more of a Perfectionist than an Optimalist because perfectionism got me all the achievements that I worked for and I'm willing to trade happiness for success by continue following the Perfectionist's mindset. 

Dr Phil Test

http://www.slideshare.net/VistaComm/dr-phil-test-1670404

I came across this test couple of years ago on Gwen's blog. I couldn't quite remember whether I took the test that time but I definitely did not blog about this. So as I was reading people's blog finding motivation/topic to blog, I stumbled upon this Dr Phil Test and here's my results:

"Others see you as sensible, cautious, careful and practical. They see you as clever, gifted, or talented, but modest. Not a person who makes friends too quickly or easily, but someone who's extremely loyal to friends you do make and who expect the same loyalty in return. Those who really get to know you realize it takes a lot to shake your trust in your friends, but equally that it takes you a long time to get over it if that trust is ever broken."

Except the second sentence, I think the rest are pretty accurate. I'm definitely not a modest person and for 21 years, I couldn't find areas in which I'm gifted or talented. The friendship and loyalty part certainly describe me well.

For those that I just got to know, feel free to take this test and share it to me(if you're interested to be more than just hi-bye friend with me) so that I can know more about you. =)

Holiday in review

Today is my last day in KL before going back to Singapore tomorrow to resume my tertiary education. When the holidays first started following the end of my year one in university, the only reason that made me decided to come back Bolehland is to spend more time with my family. I'm not too sure I spend enough quality time with my family since I was always meeting friends and playing basketball during the time I'm not at work. I just hope that my presence in the house is gratifying enough for my mum who is the main reason that I decided to come back.

Looking back at this holidays, I must say it's the most eventful one yet in my education years(since there's no more long holidays when I step into the working force). Yet, it does not feel equally fulfilling in my heart. I guess it must be due to the fact that this is the first time I spent my holidays well and it feels like there are still so many areas that I can perfect the way I spend my holidays.

Firstly, I'm not sure whether I spend enough time and effort preparing for my university's ECA for the coming academic year. It's hard to discuss things with the President and Vice President of the club when we're in different places plus the fact that my division has yet to have its Project Manager. I just hope that the consequences would not be severe as I enter the tough 2nd year in engineering. Secondly, I wish that I have do something that is once in a lifetime experience. Coming back to M'sia caused me to miss a lot of events that are happening in my university and Singapore, the most prominently one being the 2015 SEA Games. I saw many photos and updates from my university friends regarding the oversea trips and activities they done in Singapore. I've made a mental note that I will plan my next academic year end holidays better and participate in more meaningful activities like joining Heritage Club's oversea trip or go on a personal trip or (if lucky) do an internship. Thirdly, I would love to learn new things as well, be it picking up a new hobby or learning a new language. Haha I'm probably asking too much for just a short 3 months holidays. =/

Getting back to reviewing this holidays, I had said earlier this is the most eventful yet. Firstly, I'm not spending the majority of time rotting at home as I had my second job in my life. I must say it did not end nicely as there are issues about my last day of work and my salary with my employer. Nevertheless, this job gave me valuable working experience(be it good or bad) and I've met new people through working(most of them female! xD). Secondly, I've played basketball more frequently than any point in my life so far, perhaps even more frequent than those time when I was playing competition in the past. I'm so happy that I felt I have improve a lot by playing frequently. Big gratitude has to be given to Jeff and Adrial for jio-ing me to play basketball throughout this holidays.

This holidays is memorable as well because I went on vacation twice in the same year, the last time being my final year in primary education. The Penang trip was wonderful because it's my first time travelling in Penang and I enjoyed every moment spent with my university coursemates. Let's hope there will be another trip in the next academic year end break. I also went on a day trip to Malacca with the friends that are dearest in my life: Ming Yang, Kar Leong, Kanesh and Pauline. Even though the trip is only one day, it felt more satisfying than the previous one I had because there isn't a small-air person who ignored me the whole trip. #justsaying

Holiday is of course the perfect time to catch up with friends and have gatherings/reunions. I met with two of my primary schoolmates, Xin Le and Nico and it's nice to catch up with them because it's very rare for me to meet my primary school friends. Not forgetting meeting up with my Xue Ji friends from 23, 24, 25 and 26. And of course Ming Yang, Kar Leong, Kanesh and Pauline who I enjoy catching up with the most. There are certainly more friends to catch up with but it's weird to meet them in person instead of a group. Hopefully, more efforts will be taken in the future to have a large gathering to catch up with my friends.

Lastly, I'm kinda happy and proud that I managed to revive my blog and also update frequently throughout this holiday. It's nice to be able to detail this holidays in so many posts instead of just tweeting about it or posting new photos on Instagram. I know it's a bit outdated to still writing blog and who knows how many friends still read my blog, but it's pleasurable to write and it gave me some satisfaction to write even though I'm an engineering student.

To conclude this post, I hope for a better and more memorable holidays in the future as I try to make the best out of all the remaining holidays that are left. However, the most important thing to do in the holidays remains spending (quality) time with my family, especially my mother who I love and appreciate dearly. I really hope that there are more days to spend with my mum in which I can earn more money to travel with her or buy her the things she like(it just creeps into my mind that the time to spend with her is getting less and less). It's now or never and I will strive to repay my mum for all that she has sacrifice for me. I love you, mum!

That's all for this time. BYE!

Work life ramblings III

16 July 2015 marked the last day of work for my second job. It was by luck I was able to extend my working period to 16 July when I was supposed to be replaced by a new incoming staff on 3rd July. However, she found the job too tedious and doesn't quite match her own expectation. And so I was to extend my stay in the company for another 2 weeks.

I went to work on that day feeling considerably light-hearted as it's my last day of work before going back to Singapore. Just when I thought I was going to have a rather smooth-going day, I was proven wrong when I received a call from my boss asking why today is my last day at work. I was surprised at first he asked this question because I thought it is by mutual understanding I will work until the time I'm going back to Singapore. The irritating part was that he insisted I told him I will work until 23 July when the actual fact is that I said I have to be back in Singapore latest by 23rd July because I have senior camp for FOC on 24 July. I also remember clearly that I had only promised to work for another 2 weeks when he asked me to extend my stay in the job since the new incoming staff decided not to take over my role. Really pissed me off because he expected me to work extra couple of days when I need to go back Singapore to resume my study.

I'm not putting the blame solely on my boss because there is a communication breakdown between us since I did not state clearly the exact date I will stop working. What really got me fired up is that when I asked him for the salary of my extended working period, he refused to give me immediately and said by office procedure, the salary will be only given at the beginning of next month. Of course it seems right from his point of view that the salary should only be released at the beginning of next month but I'm going back to Singapore on 21st July and it will be easy for both of us for him to just write a cheque to me. And also speaking of office procedure, the boss did not give me an appointment letter as well when I started working. I turned a blind eye when he did not give me appointment letter but he was quick to have a fuss when I did not follow office procedure whether in taking leave without informing(I did! ==) or din inform properly my last day of work.

He brought up the point that I did not inform him properly when I will be leaving and causing him trouble now that there is no staff in place to take over my role. I thought he was taking me for granted. During the interview with the female boss(the boss's spouse), we had agreed that I will be working until I go back Singapore to resume my study(that is around 20+ July). I did not raise an objection at all when they told me my working period was until 3rd July since there was a new staff to replace me. Even more ridiculous is that he mentioned I should have hand over my tasks and roles properly to the new staff but now I'm leaving earlier than he expected. FUCK YOU LA! You had interviewed so many people during my working period and it's not my fault that you did not manage to hire a staff to replace me before I leave. o0o

Another thing that pissed me off is the EPF for the month of June. Initially I thought the employer will settle for me but then my boss said I should settle it myself. Understandably if he wanted me to bank in the cheque for the EPF myself, he should have at least give me the cheque first before I can proceed with it. Even more ridiculous is that his company's EPF account has already been cancelled due to long period of inactivation and he did not even tell me when I went to bank in the EPF myself. So I did stupid thing rushing to settle my EPF without success. In other words, I think he was fooling me around. ==

The incredible thing that I found out from office gossiping is that it's not only me that is holding grudges against the employer for their lack of professionalism. One of my colleague that was previously working full-time but not anymore since the beginning of July also shared her side of stories dealing with the employers regarding her work and salary. What I found out is that the employers had delayed giving her salary for two weeks and also deducted her salary after they found out she went home earlier from work. The female boss continued to pass instructions and tasks for her to work but when she asked the female boss how is the company going to pay her for that(since she no longer work full-time), the female boss kept quiet.

Enough of abusing my employers, I have to say it's great meeting new people in my work(excluding my employers). Two of my working colleagues even belanja me for lunch and movie on my last day of work as some sort of farewell for me. Though it did not end nicely, this job certainly gave me a valuable working experience(good and bad) and prepared me better for the cruel reality in the working world.

That's all for the latest installment of work life ramblings and it will be quite some time before I ramble about work again. Signing off now and Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri!

Thanks but no thanks

I should have sleep earlier but instead I spent time trying to find a topic to blog about which ended as an unsuccessful effort. Nevertheless, I decided to do a short post this time just to speak out my feelings.

I know there are things in life you couldn't change/get and I need to leave it behind and look forward to making a better future. The thing for me is that I am looking forward to making a better future but I couldn't quite leave the past behind. I'm (still) feeling hard done by what I couldn't get in the past despite the hard work and effort that I put into it.

I appreciate the words of bracing from you but only because the words came from a friend that I really treasure like you. I know that feeling hard done about not getting the thing I wish for won't give me a happy life. In those moments of emotional struggles, I sometimes welcome that feeling of emotional pain and the state of oblivion because it allows me to feel that I should have let go of everything and just give up.

I've faced with this kind of situation before during my college life. At that time, I was able to turn those feelings into motivation and subsequently push myself into achieving(almost) the target that I set. Yes, it came at a heavy price in sacrificing my social life, well-being and happiness but as you once said 'The end justifies the means', I did not regret at all for how I went about my college life.

Now, I'm faced with a tougher struggle with myself emotionally. I've hit a heavy road bump and at one point almost give up everything that I had worked for. I'm glad that my perseverance got me over the idea of giving up and gave me the strength to continue. I know perfectly well the road ahead is much tougher and longer than the one I faced during my college life. I am ready to take the same approach in dealing with myself emotionally as well as my life(albeit, and hopefully, with a little more wisdom). At this point in my life, happiness is a reasonable price to pay for chasing the success and dream that I want.

I also know there is no guarantee of success for the fact that lady luck has deserted me many times before. But as people says the fear for failure will only separate you from success further, I am ready to give everything that I got to chase that elusive dream no matter what the end result is.

Malacca One Day Food Trip

Hello dear readers out there. Welcome back for another latest update on my rather fulfilling holidays so far. Yesterday, I went for a one day food trip to Malacca with my buddies for life: Ming Yang, Kar Leong, Kanesh and Pauline. It was indeed a tiring but wonderful trip for us as we drove around Malacca and filling up our stomach with amazing foods. =D

The day before the trip, Kar Leong and I went to stay overnight in Kanesh's house. We planned a little for the timeline and location for the food trip initially before getting into a discussion about the 1MDB issues. As I was the one that will be driving for the trip, I got into sleep much earlier than I would like to as I had to abandon the Wimbledon men's single semi-final match between Roger Federer and Andy Murray. I woke up on 5.10 a.m yesterday followed by Kar Leong and Kanesh. We planned to leave Kanesh's house at 6 a.m. to pick up Ming and Pauline but we couldn't due to Malaysian Standard Time(MST). After picking up Ming, we went to MCD opposite Taman Midah and I grabbed myself a chicken muffin with egg for light breakfast before we went to pick up Pauline.

The drive to Malacca started around 7 a.m. During the journey, the rest of them talked while I focused on my driving. First time in my life hitting the 170km/h mark. I was feeling like Michael Schumacher during the drive and we managed to reach Malacca in 1.5 hour of driving. When we reached Pusat Bandaraya Melaka, it was a bit of a surprise as the shops were not opening yet. Got a little help from an old lady about where to buy the parking tickets.

Let's selfie first before we go hunting for food

First stop, we went to eat the chicken rice balls on Kedai Kopi Chung Wah. Queued for the food about 15 mins before there were seats for us. The food is so so but sort of a must try in Malacca.

 Chicken rice balls

After the rice balls, we walked around Jonker street for sight seeing and photos taking. Here are a few selfies taken: 

Both from Ming's phone

Next we headed to Bukit Rambai to taste the famous Aunty Koh's Cendol. The cendol is really tasty as it is served with three scoops of coconut milks as well as Gula Melaka. About the purest form of coconut milks you can ever get. The cendol is so nice that we even volunteered ourselves to watch our bowls and spoons. After that, we went to Klebang to taste the original coconut milk shake. I guess the milky cendol we tasted earlier caused us to feel a bit so so for the coconut milk shake. Nonetheless, vanilla ice cream on top of the coconut milk shake still made up for it(for me at least). =)

 Aunty Koh's Cendol

Klebang Original Coconut milk shake

After having enough coconut milk, we planned to go for satay celup at Mcquek but to our disappointment it only open at 5p.m. Instead, we went to have pork satay at Sun May Hiong Satay House. After pork satay, we went to have nyonya laksa, pie tee and popiah at 486 Baba Low's and then went to buy some kuih-muih at Baba Charlie. 

The best part of the trip had to be the Baboon House's burger. The inside environment is nice and the burger is tasty. We couldn't take photos inside the Baboon House because it is prohibited but I still managed to find the photo in Google Image. LOLS

The Baboon House 

Highly recommended even though it's a bit pricey.

On a side note, saw a really beautiful mansion and I decided it is worthy to be in my camera roll. 

Chee Ancestral Mansion, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Malacca.

For the last stop of the trip, we went to meet with Xiao Ran, Gwen, her boyfriend and cousin at a mamak and had cheese naan and chicken tandoori. Nice to see Xiao and Gwen. (no photos taken =((( )

We set off back to KL around 7p.m. I did not speed all the way this time as I slowed down to enable myself to join in the conversations Ming, Pau, Teo and Kanesh were having. Reached KL around 9.45p.m. and after sending Pauline home, the guys went to play darts at Q Club opposite One Shamelin. Exciting last game of crickets as I managed to edge out Ming 384-370 for the win. =D After that I went back home and had three shots of red wine using the shot glass Ming bought for us as souvenir from Edinburgh before went to sleep.

That's all for the Malacca trip and stay tune to the next update. BYE! =D

Week in review (29/6 - 5/7)

Hello everyone out there! So June has come and gone and soon it will be my holidays. As the month of July dawns upon me, I realised that I got another 2 weeks or so before going back to Singapore to get ready for my 2nd year of tertiary education. Sob sob =(((

Anyway, it's kinda of unbelievable that I rediscover my interest in blogging during this holidays. 15 posts(including this one) in the space of less than one month. Compared this to 6 posts in the last three years, it's really an amazing feat for me. I can't be sure whether I will blog as frequent once my 2nd year in university resumes but I do hope I could manage some satisfactory number of posts for my own(and my close friends') leisure reading.

As the title of this post suggests, I want to do a little review of last week because it's been quite an interesting week for me, at least in terms of my working and leisure time.

28-30 June
I began last week with the thought of these two days might be my last couple of days in my current job. This is because a small mistake on my part the previous week caused Michelle(boss's wife) to inform me I will only stay on the job until the end of June. Although William(the boss) did not give any hints of anger regarding my mistake and my colleagues reassured me that Michelle's words were out of anger, I took Michelle's words for real(albeit with a little doubt) and so I wasn't really feeling that focus at work.

Monday's work began with a big shouting and argument between William and Michelle in the morning. I wasn't sure what they were arguing about but it was ugly. The shouting went on for about 10 mins and the whole office was in a tense mood. First time in my life witnessing such shouting at work.

1-2 July
Went to work on Wednesday morning and met a new colleague. Her name is Chiew Wan. I know it's pathetic to feel as such but I was disappointed to see her because I thought: Oh, she must be the new staff that is going to replace me. Sure enough, Michelle told me to teach and pass on my duties to her and William told me I will work until the end of the week. I must say I was rather impressed with Chiew Wan as she seemed ready to learn and work right away when I was teaching her. Not to self praise but she have me to guide her and pass on the duties while I came into this job with no predecessor guiding me.

To my surprise, Chiew Wan is a very talkable person and I shared some personal conversations with her regarding my work in the office. On Thursday, when she and I went to AIA headquarter(part of the job routine) at Jalan Ampang, she told me the job did not match her expectation and she was having second thoughts about continuing the job. Again, it's pathetic to feel joyful at this but I definitely prefer to continue working until I go back to Singapore and earn more money, though I plan to focus on my university ECA if indeed this is my last week at work. Lols

3 July
After the morning meeting between the agents, Chiew Wan had a discussion with William and Michelle regarding her decision to leave the job. Obviously William and Michelle would have prefer Chiew Wan to stay in the job and replace me for long term, but Chiew Wan secretly told me she made up her mind to leave(she did not say this to the employers, of course). The day at work turned out to be rather free as I spent the hours after lunch not doing any work in particular and reading random articles about various famous CEOs.

At night, went to play basketball with Jeff and Koon Thong at Ampang. Finally got to meet Koon Thong this holidays after he came back. The three of us had some fun shooting hoops for practice, especially teasing Koon Thong because he shot badly(lots of air balls) in the beginning. The first game we played, we were behind very early on as we struggled to find our chemistry after such a long time not playing with each other. We did not lose too badly in the end as I was able to score a couple of baskets in a row late in the game. Overall, the night was fun enough(for me at least) as we had a great time and Jeff praising me for being the one with the hot hands. Hahaha sorry for the self praise.

The night ended with me and Jeff eating at mamak at Pandan Indah. Ordered two pieces of roti naan butter and again I was wrong to order two pieces as I never expect the roti to be so big. I was able to finish most of the two pieces(Jeff ate one quarter of one piece for me) anyway.

4 July
In the morning, I went to a political forum at Corus Hotel, Jalan Ampang together with Ming Yang as well as his father. On a side note, his father said that I seemed fairer and I was really like lmao. Anyway, the political forum was organised by the Institute for Democracy and Economics Affairs(IDEAS). The title of the forum was 'Is Malaysia Ready For A Liberal Political Party'. The panelists included President of Liberal International, Dr Juli Minoves and two local politicians, Mr Khalid Jaafar(PKR) and Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad(PAS) while the moderator was the Chief Executive of IDEAS, Mr Wan Saiful Wan Jan.

I did not record things mentioned or discussed in the forum on my smartphone like what Ming Yang did. To sum up my experience attending this political forum(my first, incidentally), it was certainly an eye-opener for me in terms of being introduced to the concept of Liberalism and learning more about the place of liberalism in Malaysia's political scenes. I was very impressed with Mr Khalid Jaafar's response to several audiences' questions because the way he answered questions is certainly much more sensible compared to the statements made by some Barisan Nasional's politicians who must competing to see who's more idiotic. As Ming Yang put it, Mr Khalid Jaafar can't be Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's press secretary for 10 years for nothing.

After the forum, Ming Yang and I went to eat 'dai bou mee' at Pudu nearby Pusat Tuition Martin. We had a short chat and also saw Jeff and his family driving pass by us along Jalan Pudu. After Ming Yang left, I went to Hoops Station to check out Air Jordan shoes as I received my salary just a couple of days ago and intend to buy after my mother gave the green light. To my disappointment, all the Air Jordan models(the older models) that I wish to buy is for display only and not for sale. I did saw a couple of nice Air Jordan 29 but I decided to try my luck and search in Singapore before I make the decision to buy.

At night, my family(including my sister-in-law) and I went to Sunway Pyramid to have a late parents' day dinner at Shogun Japanese Buffet restaurant. I began the dinner by eating aggressively the salmon fish as I love it so much and my mum won't let me eat raw if it is eaten at home. Too much for my own good, I ate until I was feeling a bit sick of the salmon fish and my mum prohibited me from eating more. Nevertheless, the other foods were good and I ate until stomach a bit uncomfortable. So much so for eating fast that we ate and left in less than two hours. Lols

After the dinner, we went to have a ride on the new Bus Rapid Transit(BRT). Since BRT is still free until the 2nd of August, we took the ride from end to end to have a view on Sunway. It's certainly amazing how Jeffrey Cheah developed Sunway into one of the most popular place in Selangor. Caught a glimpse of Sunway and Monash University and I must say the two universities look too good from the outside not to be attracted to study there.

5 July
The morning began with a chit-chat session with Yu Han, Yan Chun and Kah Yee(all Xue Ji) at VIVA Old Town. It was great chatting with them and listening to their stories about their university life. I was listening to the three of them talking about economics and finance as I am the only one studying science-related course there. After that, Kah Yee and I went to Wings Cafe to meet up with the rest of the gang. Those that came(all Xue Ji as well) include Wei Xin, Yan Ting, Siew Hui(25), Yong Yi(24), Mun Xuan, Ah Weng, Seng Yang and other 26s that I not sure the name. Had a great time chatting there too and we attracted lot of attention since our table is the loudest in the whole cafe(thanks to Wei Xin, Yan Ting and Siew Hui). Haha.

After meeting up with all the fellow Cheras Xue Ji, I went to play basketball at Pandan Indah with Jeff, Koon Thong, Adrial and Kai Hoong. Kai certainly still have his moves although he did not play basketball for a long time due to knee injury. I did not play too well as I couldn't find my rhythm at the Pandan Indah court. The shots just don't fall in. Still we had fun and then went to One Shamelin Wong Kok Restaurant to have dinner(minus Kai) after that. The chit-chat session was even more enjoyable as we had fun talking about girls, relationships, basketball and football(guys' topic).


That's all for the review of last week and I'm signing off. Night fellas! =D

Five Ways to Maximize Your Internship - Dan Schwartz

Came across this post on Linkedin and decided to post here as a note to self. Here's the full article:

If you are a college student or recent graduate and have been fortunate enough to land an internship this summer: Congratulations! Internships are becoming more prevalent in today’s economy. But with more and more internships becoming available, the competition is increasing and the likelihood of receiving an offer at the end of an internship may require you to step up your game and take your work to a new level.

I personally completed four professional internships and got the opportunity to expose myself to a wide variety of corporate experiences before settling in on a career in talent development. Although none of my experiences led to a full-time job offer, I still value each one of them for their own reasons and attribute them to my ultimate success in launching a solid foundation to my career.

During those summers, I recognized that the responsibility was on me to make the most of my summer and to create value for the organization. I came into each experience with a goal and a strategy so that, regardless of how well the internship was designed, I would be able to come away with something that would propel me into the future and fuel my search for my first post-graduate job.

But I know that my strategies and tactics were not limited to my personal success. I had many peers at K-State and other universities that have gone on to do big things in the working world and make an immediate impact in their organizations due to a few simple tactics that they employed both in their internships and post-graduate roles.

Below are five things I did during my internships to make the most of my experiences. Implement these strategies and you are sure to increase your chances of having a great experience: 

Take Projects Seriously

I had internships with other college students who failed to take their project work seriously and painfully watched their experiences suffer as a result. Not only did they waste company resources but they missed out on opportunities to learn and grow professionally. Complete your projects as if your job depended upon it and strive to make a difference in the bottom line of the organization. If you are given a simple project to complete, take it a step further than your supervisor expected and not only will you make a lasting impression, but you will also be invited to higher-stakes meetings and future projects.

View Your Role as a Permanent Employee

I have heard many interns say that their work doesn’t matter and think that the company will just throw away their work once they walk out the door. I recently reached out to one of my intern organizations to ask them if they still had a presentation I gave and they did! I was able to use the information that I presented on for a project I was currently working on as a full-time employee. Although your physical presence may leave after a few months, your work will never die. The work you do over the course of a summer has the same impact as permanent employees so treat your job as such. Feel free to speak up at meetings, ask questions and get involved just as you would if you were there permanently.

Ask for (and Graciously Receive) Feedback

Many internship programs do not offer formal performance evaluations. Rather they assign you to give a presentation at the end of the summer based on your learnings. Take the initiative to ask for feedback on your work and your big projects. This shows that you care enough about the work to care how you did and how you might be able to improve in the future. When given feedback, graciously receive it and be sure to say “Thank You” to the person who gave it to you. Make sure they know how much you appreciate their input.

Find a Mentor

Whether it be your supervisor or another key employee at the company, seek out an individual who is willing to lead you and guide you throughout your internship. Lean on this person to provide guidance when you are struggling with a concept or project and leverage their expertise as much as possible. Your mentor will also be the person who you might continue to connect with after the internship is over as a key contact. If you are fortunate enough to be in an internship where there is a formal mentoring program available, be sure to take full advantage of it!

Set Up Networking Meetings

Using your mentor and/or supervisor as a resource, communicate your passions and interests and ask them to connect you with people who can tell you more about their job role and a particular part of the organization. In addition, use networking meetings to find out more about what it takes to be successful in a certain industry. Ask them what their background was and what got them to where they are today. Finding out this information will help you build your network and gain industry knowledge, which will go a long way in the interview room.