You Whine, I Whine

: jin_han; October 21st, 23:14

Current Location:: home

Current Mood:: envious

Current Music:: 摇滚怎么了!!

Today, I was penning the wedding invite in office. If you are one of the "privileged" few who knows of this blog's existence, it means you will definitely be invited!

Just that it won't be anytime soon.

Late afternoon today, a colleague was drafting an email wedding invite to be sent out to the department, before she hand out the actual invitation cards upon receiving the RSVPs. She told me that her draft sounded weird, so I offered to help her edit and do some re-phrasings here and there, before she finally decide on the final version.

As I was penning the invite, I had mixed feelings. On one hand, I was happy for my colleague who have found her special one. On the other hand, I felt worried. Last month, I attended my primary school buddy's wedding dinner. Last week, my army mate from my NS days invited me to be part of his entourage of brothers for his wedding next year. Everyone around me seems to be getting married !

Just like the St. James Chief commented that Singapore tourism is 7 years behind, I seem to be 7 years behind my peers in terms of BGR. Oh wait, BGR? That is so secondary schoolish! Everyone is talking about marriage, yet I'm still stuck at the BGR stage...no, i cannot be considered to be in the BGR stage since I'm dating no more! Now you have an idea how backward I am in this area...Sigh~

As much as I'm enjoying the privileges of singlehood, having full control of my own time and all, there is a voice in me that keep telling me to buck up and find my special one. Even my mum seems concerned. Recently, I casually commented that i enjoy singlehood because of the freedom, she replied telling me that it's ok to enjoy, but not for too long, and told me to go find a girl friend soon.

Besides telling me that I "cannot make it" that's why cannot find a girl friend, many friends also say I have overly high expectations. I don't consider this as having overly high expectations. Instead, I think I'm just trying to be fair. I won't get a girl friend simply because I need someone to celebrate V-day with. I won't get married just because I want to settle down. Doing that will not be fair to myself, because I will probably be with someone whom I do not truely love, and it would be even more unfair to my partner if that was to happen. Hence, I won't get hitched unless I found my special one. Once thought I was finally shot by cupid, but I think he misfired eventually. Aim properly next time la bro...I do hope you still have arrows left for me ok...

Back to the wedding topic, at this rate that I am attending weddings, I think I need to ask for a pay adjustment soon!!!

We have always been using the abbrevation "RSVP". I finally checked up the dictionary and it actually stands for "répondez s'il vous plaît" or "respond if you please" in French. Why so chim? In Singlish, we can just ask "On boh?" So much easier isn't it?

The Herbal Tea Theory

: jin_han; October 3rd, 22:18

Current Location:: Home

Current Mood:: contemplative

Every now and then, I would tell myself "how nice it would be if things that we enjoy are also things which are beneficial to us".

Chocolates, Coke, fast food, computer games, facebook, watching tv etc. Most of us enjoy these items/activities, but their costs out-weigh the benefits. If taken in excess, it may even be hazardous to mind and body. On the contrary, salad, brown rice, herbal tea, exercising, education...these items probably do not rank high on most of our wish-lists. Yet, these are the things that are good for us. Ironic isn't it? It seems we cannot have the best of both worlds.

This view was reinforced when I read the comments for my probation review. The comments were fantastic, and it occurred to me that I probably owe it to SMU's pedagogy and culture - something which disgusted me while I was going through it.

Some excerps of the comments that I received:

"An innovative individual who provided an automated worksheet for collating data statistics which was being manually done previously".
The Excel skills that I picked up from the SMU compulsory module - "Computer as an Analysis Tool", enabled me to carry out this automation. Then, I dread the class thinking that it was boring and evetually got a very poor C grade for the module.

"Good team player who interacts well with his peers. It didn't take long for him to synergise with the team as well as the HR Direct he works with. Communicates well".
SMU is known to drown students with countless projects and working in project groups was a everyday thing. Having had run-ins with my project mates, I'm not sure if I'm a good team player, but having had the opportunity to work in numerous different project groups definitely helped in developing my ability to adapt to new personalities, new working styles.

"Forthcoming and did not hesitate to take up the challenge of doing a presentation during one of the HR inductions".
Presentations in SMU are usually done in front of an audience of about 40 or so, all eagerly awaiting to shoot you down during the Q&A session in order to gain some class participation points. After going through these so many times, doing presentations became sort of a routine for me.

Never was I ever going to fit into the SMU culture, because i found the place so competitive, and "wayang" is part and parcel of life. However, I cannot deny that SMU has indeed geared its students for the corporate life.

No, SMU did not comission me to advertise for them. This is to reinforce the point that we don't usually enjoy what is good for us. If only I could master the art of liking what I don't initially like.

Guys have MORE to LOSE

: jin_han; September 2nd, 22:51

Current Location:: Home

Current Mood:: sleepy

Current Music:: 我不配

Lately, I began to think and feel that guys have more to lose when boarding a blardy crowded train. Few days back, I boarded a horrendously crowded train on my way to work (what's new) and it was literally sardine-packed. This girl in front of me was backing into me due to the sheer force of the incoming passengers and there was no room for me to make any more space available. So this girl was literally leaning on me.

Ok, I know the burning question must be if the girl is pretty? Yes, she's rather pleasant to the eyes, but that's not the point. She is half a head shorter than I am. She had short hair and she had a mini-pony tail or whatever you call it and here comes the nightmare. Everytime the train moved, her spiky pony tail was tickling my adam apple, causing me to ITCH throughout the trip! I didn't know whether to laugh or what because it was really ticklish! I suppressed my laughter nevertheless, not wanting to appear crazy or perverted, laughing to myself. When i started to convince myself that i can control my feelings, that it wasn't that ticklish afterall, i began to worry if my neck will get rashes !!! Hence, i started examining the girl's hair and thankfully, no dandruff spotted. Soon, another worry crept in. I was wondering what if she turns around, give me a tight slap and scream "MOLEST!!!"?!! The thought of it sent a chill down my spine (Haven't used this phrase for a long time!).

Having seen women telling off men on trains "please stand properly and don't lean on me!", I'm rather apprehensive about standing near women or ladies on board crowded trains. You see, when guys get accused, no matter whether you are innocent or not, you are bound to be disadvantaged in such situations since it is easier to believe in the victim than to doubt her.

Moving on to the next point, women are not the only ones who feel intruded in crazy crowd. Men feel the same way too! Alright, maybe not for all men, but there were instances whereby I did feel intruded! I have no idea why, but working aunties (not all of them of course) don't seem to care and they would just "lean" on you. Couldn't recall there were how many times i wished the auntie leaning on me was a pretty girl instead! opps! Also not forgetting the countless times i get "poked" by the petruding handbags!!! This is blardy sickening and inconsiderate!

Which is why i say guys have more to lose when boarding a crowded train. Not only do we face the risks of being accused of molest, some of us "get molested" as well! I related this theory to my colleagues over lunch and they didn't buy it. Of course, since they are all women.

Forgot to mention that throughout the trip when the girl was leaning on me, the advertisement board facing us read "XYZ-brand condom- the thinest condom in the world".

Getting Dusty; Getting Boring

: jin_han; August 4th, 0:25

Current Location:: home

Current Mood:: awake

Current Music:: 不要说话

Just as I'm getting fed up with Jacky Cheung's choice of songs and his procrastination at releasing a new album, the less than 10 or so readers who know my blog are getting fed up with my entries, or the lack of it. One complained that my blog is getting dusty, the other commented that my recent entries are not as entertaining as before. Probably the rest have already stopped checking back. I'm sorry to disappoint, but I'm just following my favourite singer's example! As to why my recent entries are "not as entertaining as before", oh come on...you don't expect someone 18 to continue writing like a 12 year-old right?!

Into my 4th week in office, the induction program and trainings being rolled out are suprisingly organized. I would say it's a steep learning curve and also a humbling one. Steep because I have to learn everything from scratch and humbling because I'm now belonging to the lower echelons of the hierarchy, learning from people some of whom have lower education qualifications than myself - not that I'm complaining, since this is precisely the reason I chose the private sector, the place where you get to prove your worth with your job performance and not with paper qualifications. Being the only guy in the department, it can get lonely at times because the girls don't seem to understand all my humours...then again, the colleagues have been nice and helpful so far. The only thing which I would love to complain about is the constant scruntiny that I get. I'm still under probation by the way. It got so rediculous that I was asked to go for a pep talk session with a senior because the previous day, I looked overwhelmed with work - Well, I appreciate the intention but not the excessive attention. I can see that this team works and play hard. Sometimes, I'm a little concerned that I might not perform up to expectation, especially the "play hard" part. Just into my 2nd week in office, I was dragged along to a drink session for "training" and upon knowing that, my Senior Director, who's based in England sent me an email as follow:

Jin Han, I understand that the team is going out for drinks tonight.

I wanted to reassure you that it is Ok to have self respect and principals. Do not let THEM make you compromise and do anything you know in your heart is wrong or bad for your health.

They are dangerous and have low morals. What they call I “training” would be illegal in most countries

Good luck and be strong

Such English humour! And I'm glad I survived the "training". Next, I hope I will survive the probabation.

Last Saturday, when I was all prepared to head to school to return my graduation regalia, my dad insisted that I take a picture with the same pose as the one I did in K2 i.e. 6 years old (right) and I unwillingly obliged, so that I could make the 5pm dateline to return the gown! Many have said that I look much better when I was younger and would follow up with "what happened to you?"...it hurts!

To end off, since I'm being criticized for not being as entertaining as before, I shall lift something from someone else's blog which I thought would bring a laugh:

#1
Buddha sat under the bodhi tree to gain enlightenment. 明义 probably chose Bintan's Banyan Tree.

#2
Don't blame 明义 for spending A$48 on indoor tanning. He was only trying to be the next 十八铜人.

3ple HAPPINESSes this week !

: jin_han; July 8th, 17:59

Current Location:: home

Current Mood:: lazy

After experiencing the lows in the 3rd quarter of 2008, situations have since improved for me and I'm experiencing the high this week !

First, I learned that I will be uncle (a very young one) to 3 newly arriving nephews by the end of this year. Yesterday, I was informed that I've gotten the job which I have applied for, after going through three rounds of interviews. Then come this Saturday, I will officially graduate with a Bachelor of Business Management Degree from SMU.

I'm glad that I've learned from others' experiences, not to be defeated by setbacks. Instead, learn from the setbacks, do what you are suppose to do and try your best in whatever you do. Opportunities will come and when Lady Luck do shines on you, you'll be ready to seize the opportunities. When in a high, cherish and make the best of it because it will not last forever.

The ability to make the best out of situations you are in, is the best survival skill.

On a side note, I went SAFRA Jurong to swim with two of my friends yesterday and guess what, when I was making payment for my entrance ticket to the swimming pool, the lifeguard actually asked me "are you above 18?". Well done. I've become "不老的传说" !

看港剧得来的启发

: jin_han; June 3rd, 17:06

Current Location:: home

Current Mood:: peaceful

在上个周末，我迈进了人身第二十五个年头（很多人还是以为我只是十八岁！）。非常感谢朋友们给予的祝福。让我觉得惊奇的是，怎么今年所收到的祝贺大多是从外地来的？可能是因为当你问这些身在外地的朋友， "What do you miss most about Singapore?" 他们的答案都是 "Jin Han"?! 我知道当然不是这样的，不过，让我做个梦，开心一下嘛。。。

这几天，想了想自己过去二十四年的人身。虽然一路走来不是平坦的，不过也算不上是坎坷的。老天对我也算是不薄了，每次遇到不顺心的事，体谅我的家人都会给予有建设性的意见和安慰，当然没有忘记那几个知心的朋友，每次被我抓出来听我诉苦。开心的时候，也有这些重要人物陪我分享。

过去的一年，其实不是过得很开心。因为不好的事情很像一波未平，一波又起似的，在我身上频频发身。在最糟糕的那段日子，白发都冒出来了！（还好这根显眼的白发最近突如其来地消失了）

现在我越来越像个“师奶”了，在找工之余，我就是做家务、睡觉、看电视节目、运动等等。我也还有一个咨询的项目未完成。只缺我不会打麻将，不然就能叫三姑六婆和七婶来开台，那时我就可算是100%师奶了！还好不是！哈哈！不久前在看港剧时听见一句对白，觉得很有意思：

“不快乐的经历，不完全是不好的。过了一些时间，也许细节已经忘了，但是却换来了一个经验”

我很同意这个说法。人就是要不断地吸取教训、经验，才会有进步。只要有进步，就是对自己的目标迈进了多一步。就算最终达不到目标，有进展也算是个安慰奖。（我看港剧不但只是看女主角有多漂亮，我也有分析戏里的对白ok? 哈哈！）就拿我最近的体能测验来讲吧。我需要考三次才好不容易的及格了。不过我从来没有灰心过，因为每次的成绩都一次比一次的好。我知道及格是迟早的事。不过体能真是大不如前了。以前学生和当兵时期，“闭一只眼“都能轻易通过体能测验。现在成熟了，要付出的代价竟然是体力衰退！别提了。。。

所以，如果遇到什么不如意的，就往好方面想，告诉自己如果能通过这次的考验，就算是更有经验，有进步了。以后遇到同样的情况也比较能够应付，甚至还能把弊变为利。最可怕的就是什么经验都没吸取，原地踏步。我高中的级任老师成经跟我说：

"Once bitten, twice shy. Twice bitten, go and die!"

有点极端，不过我同意这句话的用意。

加油吧！

Friends

: jin_han; May 9th, 3:03

Current Location:: home

Current Mood:: contemplative

Current Music:: 心如刀割

During my secondary school daze, each week we had this public speaking session, whereby students from each class were to choose a topic, prepare before hand, and then give a 5 minutes speech in front of our peers. At the end of each session, a "best speaker" would be chosen while those who flopped were made to redo the following week. For some strange reasons, students who either did last minute preparations or even went unprepared for some cases, tend to choose the topic "Friends". The only remotely logical reason that I can think of is that during that point in time, the sitcom by the name of "F.R.I.E.N.D.S" was a hit, so "Friends" seem to be a friendly enough topic to do a speech on even if the speaker is not prepared. Not exactly. I still remember one of them started off by saying "Friends are the most important thing in our lives, without them, we will die..." and the he went silent. The teacher gave him a tongue lashing for his sloppy presentation and he was made to redo the following week.

As for myself, of course I went prepared, presenting on the topic "The History of Public Speaking" and doing it without referring to script, while establishing eye contact with the audience throughout the 5 minutes. I was able to do so without getting nervous or distracted by my classmates who were making funny faces at me, because I did not put on my specs and it was done on purpose. Without specs, it felt as if i was just reciting a piece of prose to an open space. Eventually, I got the "Best Speaker" award for that session and the reward for that was a phone card worth $5, i could still remember.

Alright, all that I have just mentioned is not relevant to this entry at all and I reserve the right to write out of point !

Recently, I saw a Facebook announcement by an acquaintance that "put me to shame" momentarily. It read "So-and-So just reached a milestone by having the 1000th friend on Facebook!". I was amazed. The number of "friends" he has can actually fill up a quarter of a neighbourhood stadium! The egoistic me then did a check on my own friends count, and was subsequently flabbergasted by the pathetic figures. To add salt to the wound, I think the number seems to have shrunk! I have no idea if somebody deleted their accounts or they have deleted me from their list of friends. If it's the latter, it's tragic.

After doing a "post-mortem", I came to the following conclusions to explain my lack of "friends":

I do not go around adding people, simply because they are mostly acquaintances and we don't usually have much to share with one another
I do not accept random people who add me for no rhyme or reason but to make me part of the statistics to boost their friendship count !

I must confess that the result of the "post-mortem" was tailored to make myself feel better.

Not a social butterfly to begin with, I am a person who believes in the quality rather than the quantity of friends. A friend is one who shares not only your joys, but the woes as well. A friend is one who have no ulterior motives. A friend is one who can put up with your nonsense and still be able to laugh it off. A friend is one whom you can share your darkest secrets with. A friend is one with whom you dare to be yourself. A friend is timeless.

How many of our Facebook "friends" qualify to be our friends?

To lift a quote from Lee Iacocca, "My father always used to say that when you die, if you've got five real friends, then you've had a great life."

I think I have just under 5, and that's not too far off from living a great life! :)

Seoul Intriguing

: jin_han; April 26th, 1:04

Current Location:: living room

Current Mood:: peaceful

Spent the previous week in Seoul, doing a free and easy tour of the cosmopolitan city which houses 10.5 million people. I guess this was a so-called grad-trip for me, though I did not have the intention to travel since I had already embarked on my "grad-trip" last December, to Vietnam. Hastily arranged it was, but kudos to my travel mates who are seasoned travelers, the trip was enjoyable and enriching. Some of the more interesting places which I have visited include the following:

Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) - the demilitarized border between South and North Korea
N Seoul Tower on Mount Namsan - where you get an aerial view of Seoul
Gangnam Terminal Underground Shopping Center - World largest underground shopping center
The Korean War Memorial - World largest war memorial
Changdeokgung - The most well preserved palace of the Choseon Dynasty designated as a UNESCO World Heritage
Dongdaemun - Another shopping paradise for those who love trendy fashion items
Ewha Womans University - students there are known to be intelligent and good looking

Compared to the last time I went to Seoul 10 years back, I find Koreans more welcoming and helpful towards foreigners this time round. More Koreans are proficient in English too. There were instances whereby Koreans walk up to us and offered us help and direction when we were visibly lost. I also find Koreans very gracious. Seats in trains that are reserved for those who need them more are always available and passengers usually don't occupy those seats unless they are eligible to take it. I also saw a Korean girl offering help to an elderly when she saw her carrying heavy stuffs while climbing the stairs. Food in Seoul is marginally cheaper than Singapore, especially Korean food. One thing that puzzles me is that there seems to be no price-differentiation for food served in restaurants and those in food courts. The streets seem safe enough to travel by yourself and staffs in the service line are especially polite and helpful. On the whole, Seoul is an up to date city that uses the latest technology, at the same time, it is a place that is rich in history, culture and heritage. Certainly a pleasant place to visit!

More pictures of the trip with descriptions can be found at the following links:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=118267&id=556196627&l=05a1c61d33

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=118282&id=556196627&l=6579dd1493

Enjoy!

My First "A"

: jin_han; March 23rd, 0:44

A quick entry as this was my first "A", "A" for "Accident".

Instead of spending the night rushing never ending reports, I ended up drafting a Vehicle Accident Report. While driving to school this afternoon, the rear of my car was bumped into by a Vios driver, as he failed to keep a safety distance and didn't manage to stop in time when my car stopped. Through the rear-view mirror, I could see the Vios fast approaching and then bumping into my rear. All the while, I could do nothing about it. It felt like waiting for doom. Then I felt a strong jerk and I stepped hard on my foot brake to prevent my car from knocking into the other car in front of mine as a result of the impact.

When I got down to check the condition of my car, I think my face was as black as the colour "black" and the Vios driver kept apologising to me. Then I saw his wife, baby and maid in his car and I told him to check if his family was alright. Fortunately, no one was hurt in this accident. As a result of the accident, the rear bumper of my car is dented and so is the boot lid and it cannot be opened now. Hopefully, the compensation claim from the Vios driver's insurance can be settled without much difficulties. And, I am so guilty that I've spoilt my dad's relatively new toy!

Ironically, the previous night Neo gave me an ornament from China which has the Chinese characters "平安" embroided on it. Or maybe it could have been much worse if I didn't receive that "lucky charm"? More tellingly, two weeks back, Denise msn me saying she dreamt that I died. I could sense that it's bad omen, but I was still curious enough to ask her if there was anyone attending my wake. I guess that is when you will get to know who your true friends are, albeit a little too late. Haa! I also asked if I died young and she said I did. Morbid.

I guess I should really start living a meaningful life and stop worrying about insignificant issues!

Who is Foolish?

: jin_han; March 10th, 23:29

Current Location:: home

Current Mood:: sleepy

While having dinner with SH this evening, she was telling me how enjoyable her Spanish classes were and I also found out from her that the Dutch actually learn 4 languages in schools, something very impressive I thought.

The conversation reminded me of the letter that I read from last Saturday's Straits Times Forum page entitled "Foolish to advocate the learning of dialects". The author, who is also the Principal Private Secretary of the MM, was responding to an observation that "One generation - that's all it takes for a language to die"- a reference to the current state that many of us cannot speak our own dialects proficiently.

In a gist, the author said, "To keep a language alive, it has to be used regularly. Using one language more frequently means less time for other languages. Hence, the more languages a person learns, the greater difficulties of retaining them at a high level of fluency...Singapore's experience over 50 years of implementing the bilingual education policy has shown that most people find it extremely difficult to cope with two languages when they are as diverse as English and Mandarin. This is why we have discouraged the use of dialects. It interferes with the learning of Mandarin and English...Many Singaporeans are now fluent in both English and Mandarin, It would be stupid for any Singapore agency or NTU to advocate the learning of dialects, which must be at the expense of English and Mandarin. That was the reason the Government stopped all dialect programmes on radio and television after 1979..."

I am rather surprised by the author's views. In a globalized economy that we are experiencing now, I believe having the aptitude to command several languages is a truly valuable quality, which is also the reason why we often see job ads stating requirements like "able to command several languages/certain languages is a plus/must". More importantly, being one who lives in a cosmopolitan society, I feel that it is important to preserve our own heritage and identity, so as not to be "colonialized" by the Hollywood culture and the likes, and one way to do it is to speak our own dialects. Moreover, it is true that English and Mandarin bring us to places and allow us to do business around the world, but wouldn't it be a bonus if Singaporeans are able to speak one more language which is our dialects? For example, being a Cantonese who can speak the language, it would help me a great deal if I were to work in Hong Kong or Kuala Lumpur someday. Other dialects like Hokkien can be used in Taiwan, Teochew in Bangkok and Hainanese in China to conduct businesses, just to quote a few.

From my point of view, the reason why dialects were discouraged in the past is due to the fact that previous generations generally spoke in dialects while the government wanted to "mould" Singaporeans to be competent in English and Mandarin for pragmatic reasons. Now that we have achieved bilingualism, I think there is more good than harm in picking up our own dialect or even a forth language.

It is unlikely that learning a third language would hamper the ability to speak fluently in the first two since most of us are brought up in English or Mandarin-speaking families and we use the two languages for majority of the time. Also, like what SH said, "you need to be interested in it (learning the language), if not, it will be very difficult". I think this applies to everything we learn or do in general. Hence, I feel that the focus shouldn't be on discouraging the learning of a third language because it would affect our fluency in the first two. Rather, attention should probably be spent on how interests can be best stimulated in the learning of both English and Mandarin, so that Singaporeans can truely be effectively bilingual. When this is achieved, the fear that "most people find it extremely difficult to cope with two languages when they are as diverse as English and Mandarin" will no longer be warranted. Consequently, Singaporeans in general will have good foundations in the first two languages. Armed with that, there shouldn't be too much "side-effects" if we were to pick up our own dialects or any other languages.

Arguing in a lay person's manner, why do we learn so many subjects in schools since subjects can be as diverse as Moral Education and Science? Shouldn't we just concentrate on one or two subjects if learning more would hurt our ability to absorb and apply the theories that we have already learned? Let us not under-estimate our brains' capabilities. Picking up one more language, a language that will help in preserving the people's identity, why not?

Not Letting this be a Titanic (Part II)

: jin_han; February 13th, 1:49

Current Location:: home

Current Mood:: tired

Current Music:: I Wish You Love

In response to my request (mentioned in previous entry) to meet up for discussion, 3 out of the 6 of us showed up for the meeting on Thursday morning. This was despite the fact that we were expecting 5 of us to be present. Also, knowing my group members' psyche, I deliberately arrived 30 minutes late and still, I found myself being the earliest to arrive.

Hence, my reaction to the abysmal attitude shown:

Hi all,

I believe I have to take this opportunity to bring this issue up.

There were only 3 of us who showed up for today's discussion. Being a team that scored the lowest mark in the first project, the fact that we are not even on par with the group that comprises of international/exchange students, I think we should really do some self-reflections before it's too late.

Being absent during presentation day, absent from meetings, absent without prior notice, absent with last minute of notice, not contributing during discussions, failing to adhere to datelines and punctuality issues...Being responsible adults, I feel that we ought to show more class than this.

If there is any issue with the team, please bring it up, we can always thrash it out, settle the issue and get on with our tasks. If it is personal problems, everyone has problems. Everyone has the same 24 hours per day and are being chased by datelines, bounded by responsibilities. I understand that all of us are busy at this period of time, but this being a team project, I feel that it is not fair that the bulk of the work is always shouldered by the same few members. If there is personal issues that is preventing any of us from contributing to this team and it cannot be solved, I would suggest the person(s) withdraw from the module, settle the problems and then take the module again when ready. This would be beneficial for the person(s) and be fair to the team as well.

If the problems continue to plague our team, I would have no choice but to highlight it to the Professor as there is only so much understanding we can show. I welcome any feedback.

After our second mini-project, we have a 40%-weightage project coming up and I hope we can show a mark improvement as a team and make up for lost time and lost marks!

All the best for mid-terms exams.

Regards,

Jin Han

Suffering in silence is no longer my forte. I have learnt about the importance of "constructive confrontation" from my previous work experiences- If there is a problem, analyse and find out what is wrong and try to solve it, give pep talk and encouragements if necessary. If the problem persist and there is no good reason, send out warning. If the warning doesn't work, remove the malignant tumour!

If this entry is ever going to be part of a trilogy, it would mean that I have escalated the matter and will try my best to get rid of some useless speciments!

Not Letting this be a Titanic

: jin_han; February 10th, 3:31

Current Location:: Home

Current Mood:: Pek Cek

Current Music:: Nocturne

My response to a 14/20 presentation score:

Hi guys and girl,

I've put some thought into our next presentation and I've recorded them in the word doc. Pls take a look and see if it's fine. More inputs are needed.

Our last presentation was fine but I think we really left things to last minute and didn't give our presenter enough time to prepare, which was unfair to Tim and also didn't do ourselves justice. So shall we start earlier this time round and try to achieve a good grade?

I believe we are unlikely to meet on Wk 7 because of mid-term exams. Can I suggest that we meet this Thursday (12 Feb) from 7-9pm to discuss? Once we got the points, allocate the parts to research and so on, then we will probably meet once more in early Wk 8 to tie things up and we'll be ready to go.

Kindly repond with your availability.

Thanks,

Jin Han

14/20 was possibly the lowest score achieved among all groups.

I was ignored when I sent out our first meeting request. During the first meeting that took place much later than i wished to, other than myself who arrived on time, the "earliest" group mate that arrived was 45 minutes late and there was 1 absentee.

Throughout the preparation phase, I kept nagging, trying to instill some sense of urgency in the team, but i was told that i'm too paranoid. I was told to relax.

So relax I did, giving a chance to self-management and see how things go. In the end, the relaxations and procrastinations meant a fantastically poor start for our team. The presentation slides weren't ready until hours before the presentation. Our presenter read off from script and our content was simply superficial. During the Q & A, I answered 7 out of the 9 questions fired at us when I wasn't even the presenter. Why? Because I kept hearing whispers "jin han, u answer this", "jin han u should know this" etc.

The only positive I could draw from this episode was that I was singled out by the Professor for handling the Q & A exceptionally well - I was the only one in class to be praised in terms of presentation skills and I have to say this once again, I wasn't even the presenter. The Prof even pointed out a "difficult" question posed by a coursemate which he said "If I were in his shoes (my shoes), I wouldn't even answer your question because it was out of point, but he (referring to me) helped to rephrase your question which made it more relevant and then duely provided the answer. So students, please put yourself in the shoes of those presenting before you shoot them with difficult questions". I wasn't exactly happy despite getting praised because I know we were screwed. In soccer terms, it's like getting the "Man of the match Award" but your team got mauled.

Initially I thought of giving up on the module. Then again, I couldn't stand rubbish work being associated with my name. I am going to take control. If I fail to control, I will do a "one man can make a difference". Hopefully it doesn't have to come to that. At the end of the day, I will make sure this is not turning out to be another Titanic.

I may sound cocky, but I'm merely stating facts and letting off steam.

Let's Do Our Own Small Part

: jin_han; January 15th, 23:55

Current Location:: home

Current Mood:: tired

Current Music:: 小城大事

Today I learned something interesting from a coursemate in class. We were discussing on ways to reduce energy usage so as to reduce the impacts of Global Warming. One of the suggestions was to use Blackle (the predominantly black version of Google) instead of the normal Google when we need to use the search engine.

Apparently, "a given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen." Roberson et al, 2002.

http://www.blackle.com

The Blackle page also displays a counter on the watt hours saved. The last count was 1,032,741.247 Watt hours saved.

Another coursemate added on to that point by saying that Apple's Macbook has this function whereby the display can be set to black and white, which also helps in reduced power usage. Coincidentally, the coursemate sitting beside me was a Macbook user. Hence, I asked him to demonstrate the black & white display function, and it looked cool! At least it's refreshing for a change. Simple and classy looking.

Though I'm unlikely to switch to a Macbook because of compatibility issues, I am already a Blackle user. I have also developed other habits for reduction of energy use. For years, I haven't been switching on the air-conditioner when I sleep at night. In fact, my air-conditioner is seldom being utilized because I have a low tolerance for coldness. I'm a warm person after all ! I have also stopped the bad habit of flooring the accelerator pedal whenever I am in a foul mood on that rare occasion. That's because before the recent drop in the price of oil, petrol use to cost as if it was gold ! These days, I try to keep it under 100 km/h, for safety, for thrifty as well as for the environment's sake. Switching off the power sockets whenever not in use is also a daily ritual. This is to lighten the burden caused by the crazy utility bills!

You may think that hey, all that you are doing are not because you want to save the earth. Rather, you do it to prevent a burnt in your own pocket. I agree. Nonetheless, it contributes to energy saving and ultimately, reduces the impact of global warming. Global warming is getting very real- you can literally feel it through the rising temperatures. We are all stake holders to the earth and so I say we should start doing our small little part in saving it，at least in ways that we can. Start by making Blackle your default search engine!

2009

: jin_han; January 13th, 0:23

Current Location:: home

Current Mood:: contemplative

Current Music:: 红色

With 2008's memories still fresh in mind, I've set foot on 2009. New year, new beginning, new friends, new challenges and new opportunities.

Nonetheless, things don't look as promising as we all hope to be. Besides the global economy downturn, 2009's arrival also witnessed the continued battle between the Isrealis and the Palestanians on the war front. The Satyam Crisis (India's equivalent of the Enron Crisis caused by accounting fraud) also shook the business world on the economic front. Locally, we had an MP and a grassroots leader getting torched by a mentally unsound, elderly man who was disgruntled at not being selected to receive a red packet. With all these and many other negative news being reported, it makes it slightly easier for one to appreciate the phrase "no news is good news".

It is also during such difficult times that our character and resolve is being put to a litmus test. There will tend to be temptations to take the easy way out and along the process, go down the wrong paths. Some mistakes can be so dire that it reaches a point of no return. A case example would be the melamine incident in China. The chief of the now defunct Sanlu Group is currently facing charges for selling sub-standard products containing melamine, killing at least 6 children and causing illnesses in nearly 300,000 others. If convicted, she faces the death penalty. As such, it is good to always remind oneself to do the right thing. I find this Golden Rule paricularly meaningful as it is relevant to everyone no matter what nationality, race, religion, gender or age the person belongs to.

These days, opportunities may be limited and resources, dwindling. Though being so, I believe we should all try to stay positive, continue to fulfill our duties and if possible, upgrade ourselves. In this way, we will put ourselves in better stead to make the most of the opportunities when they do come knocking.

Saying is one thing, doing is another. My personal goal for 2009 is to stay down to earth, do things the right way such that it doesn't prick my conscience, and start learning to be more positive.

I stumbled upon this piece of poem while surfing the net a few days back and I thought it is very relevant to the political/economical climate which we're currently in.

Don't Quit
Author Unknown

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road your trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and its turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When they might have won, had they stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow,
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victors cup;
And he learned too late when the night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when your hardest hit,
It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit!

Two Parallel Movies

: jin_han; December 27th, 2008

Current Location:: home

Current Mood:: tired

Current Music:: Fairground

Spent the afternoon watching two movies back to back on HBO. Directed by Clint Eastwood, "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima" depict the Second World War from the perspectives of the American and Japanese soldiers respectively.

There is no absolute attribution of good and evil. The camaraderie forged at the war front, soldiers fighting to defend their land and love ones, families waiting anxiously at home, fear, the sense of loss, nihilism, are all common factors shared by both camps. Soldiers are just following orders.

At the end of the day, what's left are the debris and broken hearts.

May peace prevail.

X'mas

: jin_han; December 26th, 2008

Current Location:: home

Current Mood:: peaceful

Current Music:: dreamer

Unlike previous x'mas, this x'mas was spent at home trying to complete a job application. Though there is still one semester to go, I thought it is necessary to embark on my job hunt early as times are really bad.

I've received a couple of invitations to apply, but this one which caught my eye, is also the most tedious. Spent 2 days on the application and still hasn't complete. There are a number of sections to be filled and most require mini essay writing.

I've learnt from HR that such tedious application procedures are meant to act as form of selection process- to sieve out the half-hearted applicants who are turned off by the long application process. I was told by the hiring manager that the company is looking for only one position in S'pore. I may fare well in terms of my job experience, the reason why i was invited to apply, but I definitely don't meet the academics criteria - first class honors degree. Nonetheless, I shall give it a try. I would have gained experience if I'm invited to go for interviews, even if I'm not getting the job ultimately.

My supervisors from the companies that I've previously worked in, have also expressed interests in rehiring me. I thought this is the best form of compliment one can get for his/her job performance. At least I know I have done more right than wrong to be still under the radar of my previous employers.

Received a couple of x'mas cards and I'm made to feel very guilty that each year, I have failed to reciprocate by posting greeting cards as well. In this digital age, it is always special to find written greeting cards addressed to me in the mailbox. Some of my friends included a liner asking if i've found a girl friend. I find it rather amusing that this question is becoming an obsession within my circle of friends!

Well, merry x'mas to all and may your dreams come true!

My dream: to call that black t-shirt mine in 2009!

A "Hairrowing" Experience

: jin_han; December 10th, 2008

Current Location:: home

Current Mood:: depressed

Current Music:: 圣诞节

I had another harrowing experience at the JE interchange yesterday. A pleasant-looking lady approached me. No, this time it wasn't the insurance agent asking me to sign up for policies, nor was it "volunteers" soliciting for donations.

She went, "Hello sir, do you want to do a check up?". Not survey, not asking for "donation", i thought this was a refreshing pickup line. Usually when approached, i would avoid eye-contact, smile and dribble past them. This time, i was curious what it was all about because i heard something new.

When i established eye-contact with the lady, i could see this exact same large banner looming in the background...

I was appalled. I could think of 101 ways of giving her a tongue lashing! I felt like asking her "do you think i need to have the check up??!" but at the same time, I was afraid that the reply would be "yes, u better do it!". So i politely declined and moved on.

From the days of being "talent-scouted" to audition for some dubious modeling agency (obviously I didn't take up the offer) to the present day of being offered a complimentary haircare checkup, I'm confident to say that I've definitely come a long way...downwards that is!

World Peace

: jin_han; November 29th, 2008

Current Location:: home

Current Mood:: lazy

This week we witnessed another tragedy which took place in Mumbai. My heart goes out to the victims, one of them, a Singaporean.For the past few weeks, there were riots and large scale demonstrations taking place in Bangkok, culminating to the shut down of the Suvarnabhumi Airport.
Adding to these, there was the sub prime crisis in U.S, which led to the crippling of the world economy and not forgetting the Sichuan earthquake, all these catastrophes make the by now almost forgotten incident of Mas Salamat's escape, seem almost inconsequential.

The unfortunate happenings are threatening to make 2008 a year to forget.

We seem to be paying the price for lambasting beauty pageants who wish for world peace. Now that they have stopped making this wish during the beauty contests' Q n A section, we are now getting what we wish for - no peace! However, as my good buddy says, there's always a silver lining to every unfavourable situation. So i hope we're now experiencing the worse and have already hit rock bottom, so the only place we can go is up. May 2009 be a better year ahead!

My department is having a x'mas gift exchange and we were all given a x'mas tree-shaped paper to write our wish list. Knowing that all my wants will surely exceed my colleague's budget, hence I wrote my wish list as such:

JH would...
LOVE to have a pretty girl friend,
WANT more free time (i.e. less OTs!)
NEED more $
MISS sleeping

When Ms. Hill saw my wish list, she suggested two names who "fit" the "pretty gf category" and asked me can or not. Being a professional HR personnel, I had to be diplomatic (opps!) and hence replied, "sure sure, anyone will do". To that, Uncle commented "I thought you are very fussy?" and I confidently replied "oh yah hor, since i'm the most eligible bachelor in HR, I should be more fussy!". Upon finish saying that, all my colleagues concurrently broke out in laughter!

I was hopping mad and felt so insulted! Am I that lousy? What's so funny about that statement?! There's only 3 guys in HR and of the 3, 2 are married, so doesn't that make me the most eligible bachelor in HR dept??! My colleagues didn't buy my perfectly sound and valid argument, and continued laughing!

2008 is really turning out to be a bad year.

雨天的日记

: jin_han; November 19th, 2008

Current Location:: home

Current Mood:: gloomy

Current Music:: 你让我忘

很久没在这涂鸦了。

现在窗外正在下着雨，心情就跟雨天一样gloomy的。也不知怎么的，就是提不起敬，什么都不想做。幽默感都少了一些，想blog些可笑的东西也想不到要写什么。难道我未中年，现menopaus? 有什么不可能的？几天前，我的香港领居才说我未中年，先发福，叫我要去运动！那时，我多么希望自己听不懂广东话！

最近上司又放长假去了，我又变成了她的接替人，每天都被大老板缠身。天天也有不同部门的同事来向我要这个，要那个，真是烦啊！今天还必须为我的部门作账。我的accounting是"C"grade的，要我作账，而且是天文数字的账，真的是蛮要命的，搞得我午餐都没时间和同事们一起去吃。不过，趁现在是在打假期工，有那么多的机会让我去学习以及吸取经验，我也没有什么好埋怨的啦。讲难听点，就算搞砸了，也不是我去承担，我就尽量做好本分和我上司那份,然后hope for the best!

总是觉得好的事情或事物都轮不到自己，而都是发生在别人生上。总是埋怨这个埋怨那个，不懂得知足，心胸也不够广阔。或许是因为这样，搞得自己感到不满足。难道真的要知足常乐？放宽心胸？别人捅你一刀，也带着微笑原谅他/她，那样才会比较开心吗？也许这太过偏激了。先从对知己好一点开始吧。对知己好一点的第一步就是照顾身子。我要让我的身体和心灵休息去了。

The Senoko Waste

: jin_han; November 7th, 2008

Current Location:: home

Current Mood:: cynical

To sum up this exercise, those who should go are still there, while those who were conscientious in doing their jobs are axed. I think this is ridiculous to the point of capital F. The worse thing is when you are facilitating the good man's exit.

I understand that performance is not the only criteria. I believe they also take into consideration the salary, the level of responsibilities, the level of indispensability and even family background etc. However, the resultant decision does not seem justifiable. Do those on top know what's going on? Probably the lofty positions are casting dizzy spells on them, too dizzy to know what's going on. To save on that 10 cents, you have dispensed with one who can help you earn $10. You pay $5 to keep the monkeys to perform for you- the all time favorite act is the art and fusion of meditating and generating what seems like a snore-like melody. "I very busy! I very busy!"(and then making a 100m dash away from scene in 7 seconds, beating even Usain Bolt) is the close runner up on the all-time most-watched video. I'm sure these are infested all around the place.

This is the irony of life. Giving your best does not necessary equate to success or simply some form of appreciation. The imbeciles continue to strive or rather, skive. Work so hard for what? Just say you are busy and run away! Why try your best? Just fall asleep and let others solve your problems! Don't even bother being nice, at the end of the day, good guys are the ones who get the chop.

Your progress is constantly being impeded by else one's incompetence. Such a working environment, one might confuse it with the Senoko waste plant, but one that is without an incinerator.

Just hope that the ex gratia would help the good ones move on to a better opportunity. They deserve it.

Previous 20

jin_han

You Whine, I Whine

Sincerity & Perseverance;诚毅

Advertisement