its not over tonight..

"it's not over tonight, just give more 1 more chance to make it right... i may not make it through the night, i wont go home without you..."

this song always reminds me of my previous job. for all who don't know, just not too long ago, i was still a trainer. my main audiences were school kids of various ages. so one of the things i conduct are leadership workshops, and camps. if you go behind the scenes, parents will wonder why are such workshops costing so much?! hahaha..

anyway, my ex colleagues, always use this song at the end of teambuilding camps, after they done "colours of life". colours of life is this exercise, where everyone goes around and write nice things about one another on their coloured paper. it is suppose to give people the rare opportunity to appreciate others. my ex boss will always start with this story.. it goes something like this:

"i was walking towards my class, when i past by this classroom. it was a P1 class, and the teacher wasnt around, so there was this small boy in front, with a chalk in his hand. behind him, there were names on the blackboard. he continues to write down more names even though the class was very well behaved. so I waited, till i get an opportunity to talk to that boy. so i asked him what was his secret to the class being so well behaved, he said that all he did was to write down the names of people, who behaved on the board. as leaders, we often just point out people's mistakes, the bad things people do. how often do we, like the P1 kid, take note of the good things people do?"

till today, i dunno if that story is true, but to some extent, i do believe that it inspired quite a few people. anyway. like i said, if you ever go behind the scene, you will be amazed that such workshops actually... managed to inspire some, if not all students. anyway, back to that song. one time, that i seen it with my own eyes, that it actually got everyone closer, was during this kent ridge sec leaders' camp...

from a bunch of misfits working on their own, how they come together in just 2days and 1 night, is just really good to see. and to end with colours of life, with people hugging, crying, jumping, singing along. even if it was just for a short time period, i think it will make a difference to their life....

like how... one teambuilding camp, seems to have changed my path along life completely... (to be continued... hehe..

in a sleepy little town far far away..

took a wrong turn and found himself going down a deserted road all by himself. speeding up to find his way back to the big road, he caught the attention of a police car. he panicked. speeding recklessly, he found himself in a little town, and destroying that only road that goes through it.

that's how he found himself in that little town of radiator springs. ring any bell? this story isnt about me, but, i just caught disney pixar's car. big shot found himself in one of those little american town. so small that only 1 road runs through it, and there's only like 1 of every kind of shops selling very basic things. in the case of this show, just a petrol station, pub, motel, tyre shop, organic petrol and a very small town hall.

people always talk about retiring to some quiet and slow pace town. i always picture something like that. going somewhere where the pace is slow, and you can do whatever you want to. but being a city boy, even in the small country of singapore, i have always, for the past 27 years, stay not more than 15mins from the city center. i dont even experience the slower pace and much greener little "towns" such as sengkang, as someone told me. the thing is, i dont think i can ever adapt to a slower life. i love the fact that i can get to everywhere in the country easily, the fact that my house is near the intersection of the 2 most important expressways, the fact that i can find everything in the shops and malls nearby, the fact that family and friends are not far away.

i think i really cannot move out of singapore. even 1 year ago, i was given a very decent opportunity to work in vietnam for at least a year as a management trainee. and half a year before that, i just visited vietnam, and i must say i had a really enjoyable trip. but, the idea of moving to somewhere that is slower, that is so far away from some where that im really familiar with, felt really weird. with that, i turned down that offer.

i always admired my friends, who can easily go to various countries to work. they are so adaptable, so independent. im sure i wont die outside singapore, im street smart after all.. hahaha.. but will i really enjoy it... im guessing no.. but i think i would never find out.

bread of life

in the middle of sengkang, right beside compasspoint, there is this still rather new and clean kopitiam foodcourt. when it first opened, i remembered it was packed with people and stalls. singaporeans being singaporeans, everything new also want to be part of it.

soon, the crowd starts to get thinner, and following that, stalls start to close down. turns out that rent that is like $5000 a month.. according to huimin of course. turned out that because kops (as how smu students call kopitiam) has an outlet inside compasspoint, they have to win the bid to operate at this foodcourt so as not to lose business to other operators. we all know what happens when a company go all out to win a bid for something, look at the BPL (barclays premier league for those who are still in the EPL days) bidding by singtel. so, in a random conversation with huimin today about rents, along with the confused look when we tried to do the math, turned out that rent per day is 166... and not counting other costs... that is 47 plates of ba chor mee.

back to the topic. so, after months of seeing this stall being vacant, some bakery decided to set up shop. the name of the bakery is "Bread of Life" and on their sign, they wrote the bible verse (John 6:35) where they found the phrase "Bread of Life". although im not suppose to judge a book by appearance, I tried and guess if they were christians. for some reason, im under the impression they arent. the point is, they have totally used the wrong phrase if they look at the context. in that verse, the idea is that we follow Jesus who is the Bread of Life, we dont have to worry so much about where our food is coming from as we will never go hungry (non-christian friends, if you are interested, i can elaborate... hahahaha). i really wonder what is the message they are trying to say though..

in other f&b names i encountered, the most "interesting" one would have to be the western food stall in one of the coffee shop at Serangoon Gardens. Taking over what used to be Astons, iSteak (yes... no typo there) took over. i know there's a trend about putting i infront of everything, but previously, i can see some sense in it since it's still in the electronics / technology area... but iSteak? it's really going a little far.

back to the old school..

with me new job, it means i had to get to work in a different way. my new journey requires me to walk past a kindergarten at the next block. how nice and colourful kindgartens look nowadays, compared to the one i used to go.

back in those days, it was just a dark classroom with little else. i remember my favourite item was this A-stand, with paper clipped on it. Beside it are diluted water colour, so diluted that you can barely see any colour on it. And yet, i still bring home every proud art work of mine in the past.

gone are also old rusty windows where parents can look into. now, they are replaced by nice windows, and attached to it are curtains. so that the kids wont be distracted by whatever's happening outside. i still remember, when i was little, i went with my older cousin to her first day at kindergarten. she cried the whole week and i cannot figure out why is that so. soon.. my turn came, well.. i think i gave her a run for her money in terms of duration i spent crying on my first few days in school. sigh.. what a baby..

kindergarten was such stressless days. looking forward to the yummy fish porridge, to the macdonald's birthday party one of the more well off kid's parents organized, looking forward to go home with 3 stars for assignment. maybe, just maybe i'll go back to the kindergarten some day. (not as a student of course..)

Pedro

Introducing Pedro.

This is my not-so-secret room mate, that has been bunking with me for some time.

So what is Pedro? He is a wolf, in sheep clothing! black sheep to be exact. Well, it's more of a funky hoodie than anything else. with a nice little pocket.

He is really a misunderstood wolf. He's really a good wolf. You may ask why then is he trying to pretend to be a sheep? Of course it wasn't to get near to them to eat them. the story is like this. pedro had a difficult childhood, and he didnt have many friends. One fine day, he was taking a quiet walk in the park, and then he saw a group of sheep. He saw how much fun they were having, and at that point, he never wanted friends more. Never had a proper education, he didnt know that sheep run away from wolves. Oh well, he did learn that soon after. The sheep, all looked at him, decided he cannot be trusted, and ran away, refuse to talk to him. (huimin.. your jolly is probably one of them.. hmph) Pedro is not one that will give up easily.

He had a brainwave, and decided to sew himself a nice sheep outfit, complete with a little hoodie. But unfortunately, he did not think about the significance of colours. You see, in the sheep world, a black sheep is always an outcast.

Till today, no one trusts him, no one wants to befriend him. People actually frame him, of being a rapper by day, geylang mob boss by night. There are also rumours going around that Pedro the shoe shop, is owned by him, for him to wash all the money he has in his paws illegally.

Thankfully, his master is a kind soul, seeing his pure heart inside him, giving him a shelter, and a bed.

Not so ranty and rambly anymore?

So. it's almost a year ago, since i last blogged. from being unemployed to being in the 3rd week of my 2nd job. so many things have changed. i'm sure, if i was in the blogging mood any time during the past year, i would have many things to say, about my old job of course. anyway, that is in the past now, and i, never liked history as a subject back in school, shall not bring up history.

all the bad things aside, i did learn a lot the past 1 year. learning to work with different people, manage super tight timelines, and growing the confidence to stand in front of a group of people, and hope to impart something, yet making sure its entertaining.

i have moved on. so here i am, starting something new. hopefully something that is much more cheerful, much more positive.

(but let's admit it.. these's nothing better than rants and rambles.. haha...)

for those who are interested in what i left behind, here it is: http://wildarms7.livejournal.com/