Bye Bye University

Most people know anyway, that with the final year project and all that, I am in my final year of study of university...

so anyhow, the results for the last exams of my last semester of my last year in university finally came out last Friday...

All I can say is that I am very happy with the results and relieved as well that it's over for real... now... just waiting for the graduation ceremony in late July...

byebye university... hello to great big world out there, which has shrunk considerably actually thanks to AIESEC :)

My Current Laptop backdrop

Took this shot from our faci room while in Penang, Malaysia for the AP MC Transition Camp... Love the scenary... makes for a great backdrop too...

Another quick update

Lots to do these days... so here's another quick update

Got back from the 1st ever AP MC Transition Camp in Penang from 24th to 27th May. such an amazing experience, and so inspiring to see the future leaders of AIESEC in the AP being so committed to driving performance in their countries and leveraging on the APGN initiatives!
it was also great to see so many familiar faces.. Sandy, Beatrice, Cyrus, Geralynn, Ren Chang, Rina, Nadya and not to forget, my beloved AP sisters Anisha, Mindy and Pui! Got to meet so many new people as well.. 0708 is definitely a term to look forward to!

that aside, went for an interview yesterday afternoon for this Professional Engineers Board Gold Medal Award... enjoyed myself in the interview... they were asking questions about my involvement in AIESEC (as usual) and what impact did attending so many international conferences leave me with... one of the panelists even asked how AIESEC international conferences are rotated among countries and whether Singapore has hosted any before! when I told them that was in late 1970s, she then asked if we are intending to bring one to Singapore any time in the near future! haha.. definitely interesting... even if I didn't get it, at least it was an enjoyable experience... besides, my interview took about 15 mins while the guy before me was in and out in only about 5 mins! heheh

but yeah.. that's what been happening... that aside, it's the usual of transitioning, preparing for new term, and holding the fort for some current stuff like Incoming Exchange...

Just want to make a public note that I am very very proud of AIESEC in NTU, NUS and SMU for such drive and effort in raising exchanges with companies! Current numbers stand at an average of 5 realisations per LCs, with more in the pipeline... total LC driven ICX realisations stand at 14 at the moment, compared to 6 in the whole of 2005/2006! that's almost 150% growth, with another 1 month to go before July comes along!

Well done to the LCs!! You have proven that AIESEC in Singapore can and will leverage more on the external environment here in Singapore!!!!!!!!

Quick update

Been really busy these days... so not much time to update the blog...

but very quickly...

• having MC Transition this whole weekend
• preparing for sessions to be delivered at the AP MC Transition Camp next week
• Finish up the FINAL FINAL thesis report
• leaving for Penang on 23rd May for AP MC Transition Camp, reaching back in Singapore on 28th May
  
• getting ready for MC Consolidation and Planning, and of course National Planning
• getting transition from Suchith for AP Chair
• getting ready for my trip to Taiwan to chair their Nat Con and of course for some relaxation... reach Taipei on 3rd July, pre meeting in Kaoshiong from 5th to 6th July, Conference from 7th to 10th July, own travels from 11th till 15th July...

and beyond that... well we will see :)

Random Reflections...

Now that the school stuff is over... can take some time out to think about stuff...

so I thought hey why not reflect abit about the 0607 term so far... so what have I done/experienced since being elected in Jan 2006?

• Travelled to my first European country, the Netherlands, on my own for IPM


• Saw snow and hail for the first time there


• Felt lost, confused, in awe, excited and happy in the same time


• Learnt what it meant to be myself, to walk out of shadows


• Connected with amazing people across 2 weeks, people who have left an impression for the rest of my life


• "Bridged" ties with a neighbouring country


• Did AIESEC every weekend for 1.5 months in transition and planning with currents and elects team


• Bonded with a great team, one that I love and perhaps should have told them so more


• Ran sessions on AIESEC 2010, Balanced Scorecard and our new planning process


• Started my final year in university


• Did a speech at the NTU Welcome Tea, and had applicants quote me in their application forms


• Went through a crazy period in preparing the team for IC 2006


• Visited Amsterdam on stopover and met up with an old friend


• Visited Poland and had a great time experiencing the differences


• Travelled in Warsaw and Krakow with AIESECers from Malaysia, further bridging the ties


• Met up with more old friends at IC itself, noticed things about some people that I never noticed before


• Lost 2 kg after the whole IC experience


• Became part of a sisterhood (two actually if you count the AP one)


• Planned and conducted National Induction Conference in post-IC mode and timezone


• Juggled school work and AIESEC


• Missed my AIESEC friends like mad, made the most effort to keep in touch


• Felt my heart break for what a friend was going through


• Worked with an interesting facis team for NLDS 2006


• Had the past come back to haunt me at NLDS... felt attacked but having to be objective and move on


• Experienced the best NLDS I ever had... most number of local and international delegates, most number of international facis... most amazing sessions and feedback... most amazing closing plenary


• Started my final semester in university


• Made a decision that would change my life, simply because it wasn't a common decision


• Ran for MCP second term, full time


• Had "painful" sit down sessions with some of the MC members... resulting in tough decisions by the team to say "sorry" and "goodbye"


• Went through a whole lot of stress


• Felt happiness and excitement for a friend, only to feel sad and lost at the end


• Looked forward to Egypt, old friends and new friends


• Visited the Pyramids of Giza and strolled along the River Nile


• Loved my AP Family to bits, affirmed my love for Thai instand noodles, among the many other things and people I came to realise how much I love and miss


• Felt lost at IPM 07 closing plenary... goodbye to some and see you again for others


• Worked on pushing for exchange results, worked on ER Corporate Breakfast which was a great success


• Felt attacked, misunderstood, totally wrecked by what someone would say.. yet having to stay devoid, emotionless and objective...


• Poured my heart out to friends who would listen...


• Forged a much closer friendship with someone from Thailand


• Worried over completing the MC team


• Had a great time catching up with Ryan, listening to his plans for the future, eating cheap and delicious Nasi Lemak after company meetings


• Got through final exams of university... felt shitty after some and good after others...


• Finished my thesis report, and in the process killed so many trees


• Finished my thesis presentation, and wondered how I would fare


• Went down to the LCs during their transition sessions, and realised how much I miss being in the LCs and how amazing and fun these new EBs are


• Felt happy for my friends who were moving on to a next stage of their @ XP... yet felt sad knowing that they won't be that close by physically for some time


• Felt scared and uncertain at some points about what was to come and how I was to cope


• Felt RESPECT for a friend who had the guts to speak her mind, something that I haven't been able to bring myself to do... and that I am still pondering

and here I am today.. thinking back about all these things...

what an experience it has been...

Almost entirely over!

Just finished my thesis presentation today... summarised in less than 30 mins what I spend almost the past one year doing...

and exams were over since last Friday... so it's just making final changes to the thesis report before submission by end of this month...

and then.. officially over with school! wow... feels kind of weird..

but otherwise, busy with AIESEC stuff as usual... but looking forward to end of May to be spent in Penang and perhaps Taiwan in July??

and then there's Turkey in August.. and who knows what else might come up? :)

Some English is more English than others...

Presented by Ruby Pan at Talking Cock in Parliament

Talking Cock in Parliament

Part of the IndigNation "campaign"...

This series of talks by various names in Singapore addressing pertinent issues in Singapore in a tongue-in-cheek and often hilarious way.. featuring people like Ruby Pan (joking about accents!), Hossan Leong (great entertainer on all fronts! stand up comedy, acting, cross dressing in plays.. lol), Dr. Kirpal Singh (who lectures at SMU by the way), Mr Brown and Mr. Miyagi (famous bloggers in Singapore), and Alex Au (otherwise know as Yawning Bread, another famous blogger and local gay activist)

and the best thing is that they secured the Parliament House for this!

So I present.. Talking Cock in Parliament!!

Check them out here!!

and if you wanna find out more, check out http://www.talkingcock.com/ for more local insights and local perspectives! Be forewarned that the site contains a fair amount of Singlish.. but worry not.. they have a Coxford dictionary for you to use!!

p.s. it is set up by Colin Goh, who wrote a very meaningful article once.. will be posting that in future

The world today...

I remember posting up the article itself some weeks back... nicely made into a video with good pictures.. notice that Singapore is actually one of them...

p.s. If I had the time, I would edit out the front and back to make this look less like an advertisement for AIESEC. But I don't have the time.. besides... you can find out more about AIESEC anyway now =)

Another time

I FEEL SO HAPPY AGAIN!!!

HAHAHAHAHAH =)

Reflecting...

I seem to remember hearing this read to all of us then elects... in a cosy room in an old chapel building in the Netherlands....

and I remember the voices of those who read it... deep and robust...

Found it on Jorien's blog...

Brings back a lot of memories...

and instigates lots of thought as well...


It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing. It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain! I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithlessand therefore trustworthy.I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty, every day,and if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

I AM SO HAPPY TODAY!

Just needed to post something like that...

hahahahahhaha....

If Everyone Cared

"Never doubt that a small group of committed people can
change the world.
Indeed it is the only thing that ever has"
Margaret Mead

What are YOU doing today
to change the world and make it a better place?

If Everyone Cared
Lyrics - All The Right Reasons :.

From underneath the trees, we watch the sky
Confusing stars for satellites
I never dreamed that you'd be mine
But here we are, we're here tonight

Singing Amen, I'm alive
Singing Amen, I'm alive

If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
We'd see the day when nobody died
And I'm singing

Amen I, I'm alive
Amen I, I'm alive

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along

Singing Amen I'm alive
Singing Amen I'm alive

If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
We'd see the day when nobody died
If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
We'd see the day when nobody died

And as we lie beneath the stars
We realize how small we are
If they could love like you and me
Imagine what the world could be

If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
We'd see the day when nobody died

We'd see the day, we'd see the day
When nobody died
We'd see the day, we'd see the day
When nobody died
We'd see the day when nobody died

Save the Trees! Save the Environment!

perhaps what the world needs are children who see the graveness of the matter and the simplicity of the solutions...

perhaps the diplomats and government officials should really be made to visit the villages in Africa, or the ice caps in the Artic, or the dying coral reefs and rainforests around the world...

I am thinking about it... what I can possibly do...

updates on this soon...

I know I'm morbid because...

I find this amusing...


Attention: The picture you are about to view may be disturbing. Not suitable for young children, pregnant ladies and people with weak hearts (or weak stomachs for bloody stuff)

perhaps that is you playing your WoW?
or trying to break your record for typing speed?
or trying to ensure that your Final Year Project report is properly aligned across all 100 plus pages?
or trying to reconfigure/set up/format (and everything else related to the messing around with the internal runnings of) your computer?

Thank you for the note...

I won't give up... I am sure you guys know that... but sometimes... one just needs that space to doubt, to question and to refind some answers...

Have you ever...

Have you ever felt like you dunno who you are anymore?

especially when you are challenged for being who you are, for what you believed that you believe in and value for most of your life?

and that because of who you are and the way you are, the consequences are such that even those around you get hurt in some way?

and because of that, you question yourself on who you are and you wonder if it really is about YOU being what they say you are - emotionless...

I don't know if I have found the answer...

but I think I can say that I have moved on... perhaps grown a bit stronger...

but I just somehow feel that in moving on and beyond the experience and the feelings, I have lost some part of myself... or is just a mechanism for escaping, that the best way to move on is to become more emotionless so that it doesn't hurt anymore in that way? and in moving on, one would chose to move on from other stuff as well...

why the mellow posting you ask...

I don't know either.. haha

Latest Fave Song

Far Away
by Nickelback

This time, This place
Misused, Mistakes
Too long, Too late
Who was I to make you wait
Just one chance
Just one breath
Just in case there's just one left
'Cause you know,
you know, you know

[CHORUS]
That I love you
I have loved you all along
And I miss you
Been far away for far too long
I keep dreaming you'll be with me
and you'll never go
Stop breathing if
I don't see you anymore

On my knees, I'll ask
Last chance for one last dance
'Cause with you, I'd withstand
All of hell to hold your hand
I'd give it all
I'd give for us
Give anything but I won't give up
'Cause you know,
you know, you know

[CHORUS]

So far away
Been far away for far too long
So far away
Been far away for far too long
But you know, you know, you know

I wanted
I wanted you to stay
'Cause I needed
I need to hear you say
That I love you
I have loved you all along
And I forgive you
For being away for far too long
So keep breathing
'Cause I'm not leaving
Hold on to me and, never let me go

__________________

I know I know it sounds so sappy.. but soft rock... always liked the band... you can check out the music video HERE
(click List and select Far Away... gotta wait for it to stream though)

and if you have the time, watch "If Everyone Cared"... very good song and video...

The Dating Game

(Found this in the papers today... some excerpts from the full article titled "Getting to the of the dating game")

But, she says, it all boils down to her deep personal belief that everybody wants to find that special someone.

'Is that a lot to demand? No and yes. We have so many problems, it is mind-boggling. We live in such a densely populated space and yet we find it so difficult to find the right person. Sociologically, I find that question so challenging,'' she says.

Dr Straughan heads the Social Development Unit's (SDU) regulatory arm which will look into the accreditation of dating agencies now that the Government's matchmaking arm for graduates has decided to take a back-seat role.

(funny isn't it? there used to be a specialised service for graduates.. just goes to show how much they need it.. hahaha)

Research figures support Dr Straughan's belief that everybody wants to settle down.

According to an SDU/Social Development Service Perception Survey in 2005, more than 90 per cent of the 1,500 single respondents said they would certainly or most probably get married one day.

This bears out the findings of the Survey of Social Attitudes of Singaporeans commissioned in 2001 by the then-Ministry of Community Development and Sports which showed that eight in 10 out of the 1,481 Singaporeans polled felt it is better to get married than to stay single.

(didn't realise that many Singaporeans want to get married...)

Between 2000 and 2005, the number of marriages here remained fairly constant - from 22,561 in 2000 to 22,992 in 2005 - while a relatively high proportion of men and women in their 30s were single in 2005.

Among those aged 30-34 years, 34 per cent of men and 22 per cent of women were not married.

Also, the proportion of older singles in the population increased between 1995 and 2005. Among those aged 40-44 years, some 14-15 per cent of men and women were single in 2005. This is higher than the 12-13 per cent in 1995.

There are currently 600,000 singles over the age of 20 in Singapore.

(now that's a big difference between the ideal and the actual reality)

'Before people can start a family, they must first have the freedom and time to enter into a courtship,' says Dr Straughan.

'And it's not just going out for a movie when you are free. It's a sustained commitment.

'If you go out with a guy to whom you are clearly second fiddle to his work and other commitments, you are not going to think seriously about him.'

Ms Chiang agrees.

'There needs to be a balance. So when you cannot switch on that emotional time, to be emotionally prepared to connect, to savour that two hours after work, then all is lost.'

(hear hear... some of the other parts of the article are quite funny... especially about some disasters at matchmaking sessions.. haha)

More from MM Lee Kuan Yew

(continued from previous posting. This is an interview by a reporter by the way.. :P)

I want to ask about ministerial salaries. Your view on how well the system has worked to bring in talent?

Every time there is a pay revision to catch up with benchmarks, this debate will come up again.

But you ask yourself: Do you want the present system where it's completely above board?

And while we are not recruiting all of the very best, we are recruiting some of the very best, because quite a few of the very best do not want to give up their private lifestyle and their family life.

Yes, you can get a person to give up and make a sacrifice for one term.

But will you get a man or woman to serve successive terms, gain experience, become a really competent person, a very competent minister and sacrifice his family, their welfare, their comforts and their children's future and education, going abroad etc? It's not possible.

They're at the top of their cohort. We talent spot. We headhunt for people who not only have just academic qualifications but track records of performance.

How did I learn this? Because in the early days, looking for talent, I put in bright PhDs. Didn't work. We even had a Rhodes scholar.

We found that we needed other qualities: character, motivation, judgment, stability, temperament, ability to connect with people.

So, finally, we worked out a system where we looked at a person in totality: How does he perform in real life, whether as a businessman, as a CEO, as a doctor, as a lawyer, whatever?

Supposing I had served just one term. Would I have known this? No. Because I've served since 1959, and successive elections we fine-tuned and learned in the process.

You go back to a revolving-door government: the first two years you learn how to do your job; next two, three years, you begin to do the job. Before you know where you are, you're out. Next government comes in.

And that's what's happening in many parts of the world.

Carefully consider.

You know, the cure for all this talk is really a good dose of incompetent government.

You get that alternative and you'll never put Singapore together again: Humpty Dumpty cannot be put together again... and your asset values will disappear, your apartment will be worth a fraction of what it is, your jobs will be in peril, your security will be at risk and our women will become maids in other people's countries, foreign workers.

Just think. We have a population of three-point-something (million) and we are carrying and able to give jobs to another 1.3 million people.

How does that happen? Why can't the 1.3 million people get jobs in their own countries?

It must be something that we're doing which is right, that creates economic prosperity, that creates growth, that requires talented people to join us, to help us produce all these extra goods and services.

You know the absurdity of all this?

The total cost of ministers' salaries, of all office holders, the present cost is 0.13 per cent of government expenditure (and 0.022 per cent of GDP).

It amounts to $46 million. We are quarrelling about whether we should pay them $46 million or $36 million, or better still $26 million. So you save $20 million and jeopardise an economy of $210 billion? (This was the size of Singapore's GDP in 2006.)

What are we talking about?

You know fund managers? I'm chairman of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) and we put $5 billion, $10 billion with top fund managers, just to benchmark how we are performing against the best in the market.

We have about three or four top US investors and we track what they do and we compare what we are doing.

And you have to pay them not 0.13 per cent. Win or lose, whether the stocks go up or down, they take their cut. You ask GIC employees; I'm the chairman of GIC. I'm being paid as Minister Mentor, the Senior Minister before that, and even as Prime Minister before that, a fraction of what the top managers in GIC earn.

But they are handling over US$100 billion (S$151 billion). They make a mistake, we lose $10, $20, $30 billion overnight when the stock market collapses.

So for the average family earning $1,500, $3,000, we are talking of astronomical figures.

But for people in government like me, having to deal with these sums of money which we have accumulated through the sweat of our brow over the last 40 years, you have to pay the market rate or the man will up stakes and join Morgan Stanley or Lehman Brothers or Goldman Sachs. And then you've got an incompetent man and you've lost money, by the billions.

So get a sense of proportion.

Would you like to share how much you are paid?

It's in the Budget. I'm paid $2.7 million. A top lawyer, which I could easily have become, today earns $4 million. And he doesn't have to carry this responsibility. All he's got to do is advise his client. Win or lose, that's the client's loss or gain.

But there are top people in other countries who don't get paid as much but who are also corruption-free, who have also done a good job.

Let me put the American system and then you will understand why if we ran that system, we're in trouble.

If you become President of the United States like Bill Clinton was, or George W. Bush, you earn about less than a million dollars. But you have the White House, you have Airforce One...When you leave office, you write your memoirs, you're paid by the tens of millions. And Bill Clinton, for every speech he makes, it's at least a million or half a million or he doesn't go. And he starts a foundation. They all do this.

You take Alan Greenspan. He sacrificed his earnings as a very expert financial specialist and he took on as a job as chairman of the Federal Reserve, at a pittance. As Paul Volker did.

But he's already got a huge sum of money and when he leaves, he can increase the huge sum of money because of the standing that he has.

He makes a statement and says there could be a recession in the second half of this year and the world stock market goes down.

Can we afford a revolving-door government? Suppose after five years, I go out and say 'OK, I write my memoirs, I become a lobbyist'. How does that get the country going?

I say this is a system we worked out. It's above board, it's working. And if you're going to quarrel about $46 million, up or down another $10 or $20 million, I say you have no sense of proportion; you don't know what life is about. And just think, what would your apartment be worth with a poor government and the economy down?

We talk about the Government as fu mu guan (a Chinese phrase that refers to public officials as parents who care for their children). So people hope that leaders are not there for the money, that they are willing to make that extra sacrifice.

Those are admirable sentiments, but we live in the real world. It took a lot of persuasion to get Ng Eng Hen, Vivian Balakrishnan, Balaji Sadasivan to give up their lucrative practices and become ministers and ministers of state, and no guarantee they would succeed.

Ng Eng Hen six years ago, when he first entered politics, was making $4.5 million and he came in and took a job that paid him about $600,000.

Balaji was earning also in the same category. He was a top brain surgeon with very high skills. He took a chance. When he was not made a minister in the selection process, Goh Chok Tong, then Prime Minister, said 'Would you like to go back to your private practice?'

He says 'No, I'm going to do this as a senior minister of state'. But he's made sufficient to look after his family and children, and his wife is a doctor. So I think that's a sacrifice.

I started off as a socialist, believing that all men should be given equal opportunities and equal rewards. I know that doesn't work.

You have competition and reward the winner.

You look at golf, tennis, swimming, badminton, anything you like. The first prize is an enormous sum. And to get that first prize, you start spending your life, sweating your guts out to master a certain skill which (is) admired and supported by hundreds, if not thousands of millions of people watching you.

It is a competitive world in which we live and if we can't compete, we're not going to live well.