Company Trip to Pangkor Island

Recently, I went to a company trip to Pangkor Island (3 days, 2 nights). Pangkor Island is not new to me and I look forward to the trip to chill with my colleagues :). I have been to that Island a few times before this, mostly with family members. I practically ate and slept on this trip. Came back to KL renewed and recharged and ready for the next mission. 

October 2011

Can't believe October is here !!!! Today is the 4th of October and this means that year end is around the corner which means less time for me to complete my projects........arrgghhhhhh...help :)

Meet Someone Passionate

I met a lady at work this morning and what strikes me most is her passion.

When she speaks, you can feel her passion about the subject - so much so that you are drawn into it as well. She's highly competent and looking through her portfolio, you can see that she has accomplished a lot and more importantly she walks the talk.

She's highly motivated, full of energy with bright eyes, no nonsense approach, will not take a "no" as an answer and yet very down to earth.

Yeah, it was a good morning. An inspiring morning indeed.

The Verdict: All Went Well

Bosses were in a good mood and that's a plus :)
I was not too bad ...... but there's definitely room for improvement. Something which I can work on. I also notice that I don't stick to my script/lines and there's no such thing as overly prepared!!
Guess those are my takeaways :)
Am just glad that it's ALL OVER..

The One Thing I Hate

I hate public speaking.

I can be loud and I'm loud, most of the time...... but deep down, I am really an introvert and extremely shy. Honest. But whenever I reveal this to any of my friends, none of them believe me!!!. They do not see it as a problem as they know I can pull it off. But how I loath doing it as well as the risk of looking stupid for saying the wrong things ..... Am I making sense here?? !!!!

So I usually go to the extreme to avoid public speaking. However, for the past few years, I have been forced to do public speaking on a few occasions. While I may look alright, I was melting and dying inside of me. I am fine to conduct meeting though but no public speaking.

However, tomorrow, I will need to do a 5-minute presentation to my bosses. All I have to do is to explain that 1 slide......1 miserable slide which I have staring for the past 2 days making corrections after corrections, adjusting the fonts size and God knows what else. Most people will find this a breeze but why am I so nervous?

Since the presentation is 18.5 hours away and I have a co-presenter, there's nothing to worry about and it's also way too early to panic. But I am starting to feel butterflies in my tummy.

I read somewhere that it's a good sign. Hm....I think I better go and work on that 1 slide again.....I think it need a teeny weeny adjustment somewhere. Once done, I will stare at it again and when the presentation is over, I can even reproduce that 1 slide in my sleep.

I will definitely post the outcome of the presentation tomorrow and fingers-crossed. All will be well.

Teambuilding @ Gopeng with Nomad Adventures

I was away for a few days sometime in February for my company's teambuilding. Needless to say, when they broke the news to me, I was so not looking forward to be away from my family and I dread that day.

But that day came and on the way to the camp site, I was busy thinking about the stuff I planned when "it's finally over" ..... so that I can get on with my life !!!

But life is indeed full of surprises and I actually had fun when I was there. I did whitewater rafting (level 3), rock climbing and I did the "leap of faith" where you are suppose to just jump down a platform with safety harness attached. It's some sort like bungee jumping but much, much milder. I did not join the rest when they went caving. But that was okay, especially when some of them saw a small green snake among the rocks. Eeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuu....scary, I am frighten of snake. Any kind. Yikkkeee.

All in all, it was fun be doing things which I did not even thought I would be doing in the first place. Here's a summary of what happened:

Whitewater rafting
We rode behind a lorry to the destination which was a 15-minute ride. It was hot and I can feel the lorry going up and down, up and down, sway to the left, up and down and soon enough, I felt nausea. Me and my motion sickness. I ended up vomitting even before the first activity.

I was then given the option to go back to the camp site to rest. But I decided to give it a go. What makes me pursue when they gave me an opportunity to chicken out? I'm not sure how to answer that and what came over me. I do know however that if I do not give this a go, I will regret it, for not trying. And it was horrifying. I was nearly flung out of the boat thrice. Thanks goodness for Apec, the Nomad facilitator who "saved me" by holding on to my life jacket while trying to make sure that the boat remain afloat and safe. A big thank you to him for making my first and last water rafting an enjoyable experience.




Rock Climbing
I don't think they took any photos of us doing rock climbing but I did it even though the climb was just a short one. The most important lesson here is I tried.

Leap of Faith
Now this is something which I did not planned to do....I can't see myself jumping down from that platform....no matter how safe it is and no matter how my other colleagues manage to do it. I was among the last few who attempted this and I do need to give myself a pat at the back for conquering this fear. Would I do it again, I dunno. Life is too short to be wondering about it. I will decide when the time comes.

I have a good time there and I came back home with a renewed feelings. There are many lessons learnt there. Many are for keeps. I know now that:

Sometimes, it is us who put the boundry of what we can or cannot do. In any given situation, we should first conquer our fear. As I have experienced, when we start doing the task, we will find that it is not as difficult as what we perceived or make it to be in the first place. Along the way, with each and every small victories, one will be more confident to move forward and before you know it.......it's done.

We are capable of doing much more if we allow ourselves to try it in the first place. "I think and therefore I am".......... if you think you can, you can. Therefore always think positively.....about yourself and your ability.

This trip have indeed left a good impact on me.

Eat Out: Bubba Gump

Me and a bunch of colleague went to Bubba Gump restaurant for lunch on Friday. The theme for the restaurant is based on Forrest Gump’s life, philosophy and love of shrimp. And every corner of the restaurant, its deco and everything reminds you of Forrest.

We really enjoyed ourselves, the food is great with superb service. And the portion is huge, six of us cannot even finish the dessert.

I need to bring hubby here one of these days.

Cloths for baby

One of my colleagues who just joined the department is a proud mother of a 6-month old baby boy and a 4-year old girl. When she got to know that I need to replace all the mittens and booties as the ones from Ryan (6 years ago) cannot be used anymore, she gave me all her baby's cloths, mittens, booties and caps. They are all in very good condition and I'm so grateful. Thanks Fid.

Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone

Although Melinda admits that she would prefer to stay out of public view forever, her older daughter got her thinking. "I really want her to have a voice, whatever she chooses to do. I need a role model for her". "As I thought about strong women of history, I realised that they stepped out in some way," she said.
Melinda Gates Goes Public (excerpt from Fortune, January 21, 2008)

Reading this article makes me realised that in order for me to make an impact and to move forward to greater things, I cannot shy away from doing things which I don't like. There are prices to pay and sacrifices to be made. You just have to decide what you want.

Recently, I have been asked whether would I consider moving to another area/department. After all, I have been doing the same job (plus minus) for the last 10 years and here is an opportunity for me to learn new things. But I have been rather comfortable (actually very comfortable) in my current job as everything here is very structured.

The new job is rather challenging and fluid as it's a new department and well, new department means that you have to start everything from scratch. Then, there's timing; I will be giving birth to my second child soon and there will be adjustment to our family life once baby arrives. Would I be able to handle all all these changes?.

Although I have wanted to move on but not at this point of my life. But like what my friends said, " There's never a right time and opportunity does not come every day".
I am going to think real hard on this and hopefully, it would be something I won't regret.

Feeling blue? Life still goes on ....

I have not be blogging for the past few days. Why?I have been feeling "blue" and the worst thing is that I don't know why (I think I have blogged about feeling something more-or-less-like-this-before. So maybe it's a cycle).

As usual, whatever state you are in there are lessons to be learnt and here's what I have learned for the past few days:

• Even when you are down, you still have to do whatever that needs to be done (e.g. cleaning the house, watering the plants, entertaining Ryan etc) eventhough you don't really feel like doing it and ended up doing it half heartedly. Routine helps. Otherwise, you will feel worst especially when you reliase that there so much work not done yet. It can be a vicious cycle.


• There will always be ups and downs in our lives and hopefully, the downs are shorter than the ups and we will learn to manage in each and every situation.


• Understand that we are not robots and that we need time to chill and rejuvenate/recharge.


• Find inspiration in your surrounding.


• Stay close to friends and loved ones.

And hopefully just as how it suddenly appear, it will suddenly disappear and you are back to your old silly self once again.

Away on a Course

I was away for a 4-day course, work related and I was looking forward to learn more about the subject from the experts. However, I was a bit disappointed but nevermind, I have learn to make the most out of the situation, any situation. It's not that I did not learn anything, maybe not at the level that I would have wanted but nonetheless, it was a great exposure and experience.

I took the opportunity to mingle with other participants and to get to know my own colleagues. In the office, we tend to confine our conversation to work related issues so it's refreshing that I get to know them better and on a personal level. So, the course was not that bad after all.

Cutie piggy

I love cute things and as I was born in the year of the pig (I'm chinese), my family tend to get me piggy items and over the year, my interest grow. So I just cannot resist this cutie piggy - I have 5 of these at home (in pink, gold, black, red and white) and another set of 5 on top of my computer - staring at me every day.

In one of my moods

I have a temper. Period!

It’s not something I am proud of and it’s something which I cannot hide. Anyone can tell that I'm angry by just looking at my face and I can tell you that's not a good thing, not good at all. Actually, my temper is like a curse and it gets worse. When I'm angry, I have no control over my big mouth and all kinds of filthy words can just come out of it, profanity (although limited to the F-word as that is the only one I know), sarcasms, hurtful words and I will go on and on and on until the anger subsides – basically I need to vent out my anger. I wish there is a better way.

The only good thing is that once everything is out, I will be okay. I can forget about the whole episode and move on as I will not keep score. The bad thing is – the people I screamed at – can’t and I don't blame them.

Therefore, I have to constantly remind myself not to blow my top, no matter how mad I am – and the result so far, fewer blowing up session and a calmer me for the past few months. Then it started. I am having a tough time at work for the past few weeks and have been trying hard to keep my temper check. Was successful until this evening – never mind, what’s done is done. Shall bite my tongue harder the next time, if it happened again.

Perception

I had an interesting discussion with hubby on this.

Let us start with the basic. What is perception?
The Oxford dictionary (http://www.askoxford.com/) defines it as:
noun
1 the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses.
2 the process of perceiving.
3 a way of understanding or interpreting something.
4 intuitive understanding and insight.

Let's explore further on item 2: the process of perceiving.
Perceive is a verb with the following meaning:

1 to become aware of, know, or identify by means of the senses
2 to recognize, discern, envision, or understand
Synonyms 1. note, discover, observe, descry, distinguish.

Therefore, in a workplace, when you need to manage people (your bosses, subordinates, clients etc) perception, giving them the right perception would mean that we consciously perceive them to let them note, discover, observe, distinguish certain information and character which we want them to be aware of. How we do that?

Projecting the right image, branding, doing and saying the right thing at the right time, being seen with the right people is now so important. All this just to get certain message across and to get ahead of the game. How scheming!!

My 2-cents - Just be yourself and above all be sincere - when you work with your heart you can never go wrong and don't worry whether it gives people the right perception or not. It's anytime better than being a fake.