I am alive!

Here's another quick update, considering that the last one with slightly more content was done in early March..

So yes I am doing well as always... since IPM in Macedonia, followed by the short trips to Bulgaria and Turkey, I've visited Japan as well to facilitate at the Asia Pacific Exchange Leadership Development Seminar, a 1 week conference for Asia Pacific... (I had 1 week in Singapore from the previous trip before jetting off again) it was a great experience seeing highly motivated and very fresh members from all over AP, and also experiencing the diversity and professionalism of like 12 other facilitators from around the world.. not to mention the 5 days we spent in Tokyo after the conference... highlights include Disney Tokyo, Kamakura, lots of walking, lots of sushi and lots of photos :)

Getting back in end March saw crazy preparation for the AIESEC Symposium 2008, that we were proud to be hosting together with AIESEC International. with 60 corporate representatives and 30 AIESEC youths from Asia Pacific, we convened in the Fullerton Hotel for a day of speeches, sharing, discussions and networking around the topic of Youth Talent: Leadership and Innovation.... really enjoyed myself... such an eye-opening and fulfilling experience...

after that, it was great times with Shirley who was in Singapore on country visit... I think the elects were really challenged and have emerged wiser and more motivated... it was crazy social times too with what felt like the world visiting Singapore... Cyrus from HK, Sandy and James from Malaysia, Won from Korea, Aman and Rishabh from AIESEC International, Fish from China, then Pui from Thailand, Yuichi from Japan... fun times :)

so yeah.. here's the update thus far... will be in conference from tomorrow onwards till 11th May... Am chairing the EVOLVE Conference (5 days, 120 delegates of which 105 are foreign, lots of external particitation)... after that, will be leaving for Guang Zhou for Asia Pacific Member Committee Transition Camp 2008 from 20th May till probably end of the month...

stay tuned!

Hail all moms in the world!

Life is a gift - some really powerful stuff

Quick Update

Just so you know, I am alive and well...

currently writing this from the airport in Istanbul...

this has been quite an intense travel experience...

from Singapore to Istanbul to Skopje to Ohrid,

and the Ohrid to Sofia (Bulgaria) - 8 hours plus of bus
Sofia to Istanbul - 10 hours of bus
Istanbul to Dubai - 4 hours flight
Dubai stopover - 8 hours
Dubai to Jakarta for quick stop and then Singapore...

Looking forward to home :)

more updates maybe in April...

Next stop... Leaving for Japan on 13th March!!!

The sequel to that

I love my team :)

AIESEC Singapore MC 2007/2008

AIESEC Singapore 2007/2008
"Powering Forward"

(from left to right: Alvin Hong - LCP NTU, Tiang Ker Ying - MC Honorary General Secretary, Shubhangi Faujdar - LCP NUS, Mohamad Imran - MC Vice President External Relations, Sharon Tan - President, Visayon Viravong - MC Vice President Finance, Cheryl Chen - Branding and Communications Coordinator, Pamela Su - LCP SMU, Mayas Singh - MC Director of Programmes Outgoing Exchange, William Yang - Global Exchange Partnerships Coordinator)

my latest love...

The Sony VAIO SZ433N
Click HERE for a 3D view...

Dilbert and Information Systems

I love Dilbert :)

Good post

I read this on Nicholas' blog... very meaningful!

The Key to Escaping Toxic Motivation

Motivation can be split up between two different categories. The first is passionate motivation, this comes from craving to do something. The second is wealth motivation. Wealth motivation is craving to have something. The differences between the two may be subtle, but the impact is tremendous. One builds enthusiasm, while the other can be completely toxic.

The difference between these two drives is almost completely hidden. You can’t usually make a distinction from a written goal or mission statement. But the results are far apart. Passionately motivated people can easily overcome stress, pain and obstacles. Wealth motivated people are often frustrated, impatient and depressed at the slightest failure.

Wealth Motivation is Toxic

What is wealth motivation? It isn’t specifically being motivated by money. It simply means being motivated by outcomes over process. Wanting to be rich instead of being interested in earning money. Wanting a relationship instead of being interested in other people. Wanting a healthy body rather than being interested in healthy eating and exercise.

Wealth motivation isn’t, in itself, a bad thing. The problem is when it is used to disguise a lack of passionate motivation. When you aren’t intensely interested in the process, getting to the goal is going to be painful.

The best way to tell which type of motivation fuels you is to look at your goals and the pursuits required to reach them. Which draws you in more? Are you more interested in school or the degree? Are you more interested in running a business or being a successful businessperson?

Toxic Motivation Doesn’t Last

Wealth motivation might get you started, but it can’t finish the marathon. Every successful person I know got to where they are because they had at least some level of passionate motivation. Of the extremely successful people I know, passionate motivation is almost so high that it can often be hard to discern exactly what their external goals even are.

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• Would you keep doing it even if eventual success was impossible?
• Would you keep doing it even if you couldn’t enjoy the rewards?
• Would you keep doing it even if failure was almost guaranteed?

How to Replace Toxic Drive With Enthusiasm

Just let go. The toxicity of your drive happens because you clutch onto it. The result has become so important to you that your willing to put up with the frustration, poison and pain that you have to go through to reach it. The first step (although certainly not the last) is simply to let go of this old drive.

When I used to run in track, our coach would explain that if you run up a hill lactic acids can build in your legs. It’s important to jog out the muscles a short time so that they won’t build up and cause problems later. I think sometimes the only way to get rid of a toxic drive is simply to jog it out. Get detached for awhile so you can begin fresh.

Win-Win or No Deal

Once you’ve detached from your goal, the only way you can create a healthy drive is to force an ultimatum. Either commit to finding a way to be wildly interested in the process AND the goal, or walk away from that area until you do.

Here are some applications you might want to use:

• Health - Don’t force yourself to get thin unless you can find an exercise, diet or health philosophy that you can become enthusiastic about.
• Money - Don’t try to earn more money unless you can find a process for making money that fascinates you.
• Work - Don’t do work that doesn’t make you passionate. If you can’t find passionate work do the bare minimum to survive and move up until you can find passionate work. Money can’t buy your soul.
• Relationships - Don’t force yourself to date, meet people or attract without becoming interested in other people.

Enthusiasm Hurts!

Passionate motivation doesn’t mean that everything you do should be easy or painless. Many of the things I love involve a lot of pain, challenge or scare the hell out of me. The point isn’t to have a pain free, relaxing stroll but to be involved in a process you are fascinated by and care about.

I’m not interested in being rich. I live a comfortable lifestyle and I could live on a minimum wage salary. Being a millionaire doesn’t motivate me. But the process of owning a business, investing, selling products and earning money does. I’m interested in becoming a millionaire, not being one.

Being interested isn’t the same as expecting ease. In fact, I probably wouldn’t be interested if I thought it were easy. It is because I expect it to be challenging that creates the drive.

A Drive for the Game

When you play a game, you are driven out of the fun of the play. The spirit of the game is what makes it worth playing, even if your goal is to win. In life you can also have strict goals, deadlines and objective results. But if you aren’t playing for a love of the game, you might as well quit because you aren’t playing at all.

Germs on my keyboard!! :)

1,617,840How Many Germs Live On Your Keyboard?

Happiness...

is fighting for Ice Cream with the team you love...

thanks for a great meeting, great dinner and great dessert session that day!!

What a Diwali that lights up my world!

Burn

turned on the radio to hear this song playing... for some reason it just seemed to speak to me...

in thoughtful mood these days...

--------------------------------------
Burn
by Tina Arena

Do you wanna be a poet and write
Do you wanna be an actor up in lights
Do you wanna be a soldier and fight for love
Do you wanna travel the world
Do you wanna be a diver for pearls
Or climb a mountain and touch the clouds above
Be anyone you want to be
Bring to life your fantasies
But I want something in return
I want you to burn, burn for me baby
Like a candle in my night
Oh burn
Burn for me
Burn for me
Are you gonna be a gambler and deal
Are you gonna be a doctor and heal
Or go to heaven and touch God's face
Are you gonna be a dreamer who sleeps
Are you gonna be a sinner who weeps
Or an angel
Under grace
Ill lay down on your bed of coals
Offer up my heart and soul
But in return
I want you to burn
Burn for me baby
Like a candle in my night
Oh burn burn for me burn for me
Yeah
Ooh
I want you to burn baby ooh
Laugh for me
Cry for me
Pray for me
Lie for me
Live for me
Die for me
I want you to burn
Burn for me baby
Like a candle in my night
Oh burn burn for me burn for me
Yeah
Ah yeah
I want you to burn
I want you to burn for me baby
Ohh yeah

I'm alive!

wow it's almost been 3 weeks since my last posting... so here's what's been happening since Oct 8, 2007

Charity Change Challenge 2007
The effort from the BEADS team paid off in their Charity Change Challenge on 11th October 2007, as they set the record in Singapore for the longest chain of coins. The event was aimed at raising awareness and funds around HIV/AIDS, a pertinent but under-exposed issue in Singapore that AIESEC has chosen to address. Good job to the team for this record!

AP HEROES Conference 2007
The 2nd HEROES Conference in history of Asia Pacific Growth Network, and now a formal and official GN conference! Also my first time facilitating at an actual AP conference :)
Heroes was from 18th to 21st October, and GN board was in KL, Malaysia since 15th Oct for meetings and preparation... Heroes prep took up quite a big chunk of time as well since my last blog update.. but it was a great experience... totally loved it!

hmm seems that aside from those 2 big events, I've just pretty much been busy with meetings and other usual AIESEC work stuff...

Some things that have been keeping me happy include:
- Conclusion of the ICX Killer Cup weeks, with lots of sales activity going on in the LCs, and which has translated into lots more raises!
- all in all, lots more results flowing in, and lots more on their way to come!
- Taekwondo training has been good... after finishing with grading, now the focus is around physical training and practising fundamentals of the different kicks... so far we have done a lot more legwork and even sparring... lots to learn still but totally enjoying it...

and yeah that's it for now.. I am starting to think my AIESEC journey posting will only be out in Dec, after NLDS cos that's the next break for now!

Lovely photo

Found this on Beatrice's blog

What a lovely photo of lovely people! :)

Taekwondo update

Went for my grading yesterday (Sunday) and am happy to say I am no longer a white belt! Have passed and gotten white belt with yellow tip... Next grading is about 3 months from now...

• 10th kup (white)
• 9th kup (white with yellow stripe)
• 8th kup (yellow)
• 7th kup (yellow with green stripe)
• 6th kup (green)
• 5th kup (green with blue stripe)
• 4th kup (blue)
• 3rd kup (blue with red stripe)
• 2nd kup (red)
• 1st kup (red with a black stripe)

The nine degrees (dans) of Black are organized into skill levels:

• 1st-3rd dan (Novice) with the title of Assistant Instructor (Boo-sabum)
• 4th-6th dan (Expert) with the title of Instructor (Sabum)
• 7th-8th dan (Master) with the title of Master (Sahyun)
• 9th dan (Grand Master) with the title of Grand Master (Saseong)

Latest "project" - My AIESEC Journey!

I was blog surfing around some of my fellow AIESECers' blogs.. both local and overseas ones.. and then it just came to me... this is my 5th year in AIESEC... and lots have happened... what would it look like to map that out and to tell that story?

so stay tuned! in the meantime, I need to start digging out some of my photos from younger days :)

Update update

Ok so I have been somewhat inactive on the blogging scene...

so what's happened since my last book reading marathon? Can't remember much really...

though some things that definitely stand out in memory include:

Meeting up with school friends
these people have been trying to book me since June/July but as most AIESECers know, that's like the busiest months with transition and planning, followed by the crazy period just before IC, the traveling to IC, then there was the craze with our National Induction Conference... yes I think you get the picture...

well things have moderated out since then (well kind of) so I've so far met with a group of high school classmates, and with a bunch of my Junior College training mates... been great to get back in touch with these people... pretty much talked about what's going on in life now that we've all graduated and are working... most people seem envious of my job even if it is quite different... think the opportunities for traveling, network and doing what I like at a kind of flexible working rate helped in that...

Getting fit again
Since studies are officially out of the way, and driven by the need not to get fat, flabby and decadent, I've signed up for Taekwondo classes... actually I joined the club in SMU which would make going to training easier once we officially move into our office which is located in the SMU underground... I just got back from my 2nd training actually... nice feeling to be a newie again... great feeling to be moving and stretching and getting back into shape... and definitely looking forward to more legwork and techniques to learn... not forgetting it's cool to meet new people outside of AIESEC :)

Doing AIESEC stuff
hey it's my job... of course it stands out in memory... been working quite a bit these days... even Saturdays are not spared (but I expected that when I signed up so it's cool)... but I'm enjoying the fact that now I'm more used to this full time thing, and am able to take time off on some weekday evenings to just chill and get away from work... been totally enjoying my Sundays as well since it's kind of reserved for my day off... definitely getting the hang of doing this full-time and still maintaining some sort of balance...

and that's what's been up these days... next travel stop will be KL, Malaysia in mid-October... looking forward to the makan sessions then...

Book Review!!

After getting hold of some discount vouchers at the book store, I treated myself to a book shopping spree...

Unfortunately, the 4 books were only enough to last me 3 days... but here's a quick review anyway...

A Child Called 'It' by Dave Pelzer

This is one amazing account of a boy's will to survive. Set in the 70s, it depicts the horrors of the author's childhood between the ages of 5 to 12 as he suffered, survived through and escaped from terrible abuse under his mentally deranged and alcoholic mother.

The Lost Boy by Dave Pelzer

This is the sequel to A Child Called 'It' and talks about his life as a teenager between 12 and 18 years growing up under the care of different foster homes and parents. The book depicts his struggles of fitting in with society, something he has never learnt as an abused child. Despite his terrible childhood, he is still constantly drawn to his mother and father in his quest for answers to the kind of life he had to deal with. The author also never fails to talk about his learning points and his determination to survive and do good in life.

A Man Named Dave by Dave Pelzer

The last book in the trilogy describes Dave in his adulthood as he starts his career in the air force. Determined to become a pilot, he works through countless challenges, starting as a cook and working his ass off before he got to where he wanted to be. As an adult, he has to deal with issues such as career, future, managing a relationship, marriage, fatherhood, divorce, while constantly still on a quest to get closer to his family and to find the answers to his childhood. In this book, he learns to forgive the atrocities committed by his mother onto him, he learns to love and open up and he finds his place in the world through a career as a speaker and helper around child abuse related issues.

All in all, the three books are written in an extremely real way... it's very real because the author reveals his emotions and thoughts in the way someone at that age would really do so... so it's not written from the perspective of "this happened back then and I reacted so" but more of "This is happening now and this is what I am thinking right now"... the issues brought up are also extremely real and pertinent, yet the author doesn't go overboard in self-pity or expounding the evil that he has witnessed in his life... Definitely a very inspiring set of stories that shows the power of love and the human spirit...

p.s. There's another book that I have bought and finished reading but the nature of that book is so different from this series by Dave Pelzer that I will save that book review for next time :)

Turkey photos with people in it!

The Turkey experience wouldn't have been as entertaining and enjoyable without the company of some wacky and spontaneously crappy people... :)

Us inside the Blue Mosque

Us having tasty Turkey lunch

Us at Cappadocia

Us taking a rest in one of the cave homes... we were visting this Greek cave city in Cappadocia that was destroyed by an Earthquake... the city was pretty much carved into the moutain side...

so we climbed all the way to the top of the mountain (more than 200m high for sure!) That's me, Cheryl and William sitting on the edge of the cliff... amazing view...

Us on top of the world at Capadocia

Us outside our hotel in Capadocia... the orange bag has a striking resemblence to Visayon smuggled into a body bag...

IC and You Can delegates at Global Village

National Leadership Team of AIESEC Singapore 2007/2008

and the poser version...

Sights from Cappadocia, Turkey

We spent 2 days in Cappadocia, which is about 11 hours south of Istanbul (Asian side) by bus... it took a while traveling and definitely wasn't that comfortable to be sleeping on the bus... but definitely a worthwhile trip to experience some amazing scenary and geology, all of which are unique to this part of Turkey due to the major volcanic activity in this area many many years back....
we visited underground cities, climbed hills, visited cave dwellings, hiked for 5km, went horse riding in fields and beside the river, learnt about geology, got sun-burnt and all in all had a really good time before the conference started...

Cappadocia for me was very special, partly because the sights in Istanbul weren't that new to me considering that I have been to Egypt.. of course the structures were still beautiful and the history of both countries is quite different... yet it no longer held that much of an awe factor... Cappadocia was all about returning to nature and exploring a part of history filled with persecution, fear and of course survival... it was more sporty, more natural and all in all a place to really feel... ALIVE...

Conical fairy chimneys, the highlight of Cappadocia. Volcanic eruptions led to layers of rocks of different nature, wind and rain eroded the softer parts away to form such unique structures.

you can clearly see the different rock layers from this photo. The pale rock at the bottom is soft as opposed to the harder and darker rock at the top of the mountain.

Mushroom fairy chimneys. This one with people in there just so you get a sense of size :)

Cities carved from stone by the Christians who lived in faith and fear of persecution

Beautifully painted interior of these cave churches

Town and nature.. hard to tell them apart here...

I have a photo like this from almost every country I have visited for an AIESEC conference... hahaha