Results Day

The results came streaming in by Wednesday 3rd Decemeber and the last two results came in on December 4th. Well, if you ask me, did not do as expected but was rather satisfied with the results except for strategic management. Guess that was the big bomb shell that everyone was waiting for.

When i got my all my assignment results, the group project was far below what we expected. Frankly speaking, I still think we deserve better so I am waiting for the hard copy to be recieved before I can say that i accept the grades. Not that I am a sore loser but many of my team members also feel what the hell. We know we did better than some groups in terms of quality yet we get much worse off results, its not for the marks that I am upset but I feel that my work has been insulted by the assessment.

This semester i miss another hd by 2 marks over my market research module which frankly speaking i am not that upset because i think i tried my best and if thats the mark i get so be it. Compared to last semester's result i felt much better not that the results are any better. Last semester, i felt somewhat being drag down by some factors which i not going to mention again which was at my expense but at least this sem i know this is what i can do so i feel so much better.

Anyway this is my last major exam, only one more module that will contribute to my GPA and seal my fate, WIL 2 which i heard is another module that drag the GPA down. So will be channeling resources to nail that down and yes it will be the end of my school life at least for now. Well, not forgetting i still cannot fail the other subjects that i will be taking over even though its just a pass or fail.

Clubbing at ZOuK

This is definately a very late post probably a month late but have been really busy with my trip planning and some stuff back at secondary school. Partying hard at Zouk on Mambo night after the exams. Haha, guess i am getting old, very long never go Zouk liao and don't have the kinda energy like before. Early aging. Haha.
The guys of our class with their 20 shots.

This is what happens after drinking the shots, Eugene getting drunk and trying to kiss "Lao Da" a.k.a Waihao.

My group members for Market research apart for Kang which was on a flight to China on that night. Before he left, he was still complaining to us about the Air China in flight entertainment system. Hahaha.

Busy Busy Busy

I think the holidays is more busy then during the school days. Initially, i thought i can put up the old trip photos, now i can't even get the more recent event photos up in time. Haha. Well will try my best to get it up as soon as i am done but now the priority is still getting my compile version of the trip guide up which i would say is no less extensive than a real project. I am trying to create a guide book that is comprehensive enough that i do not need to refer to other materials to at least get most of the information. Hopefully, i can finish it by tomorrow since we have already set up the guidelines.

Getting outta here

Finally, settle all the visa issues, health check forms and orientation form. The most important things, I got my and Rikki's tickets which means i can confirmed now that i am leaving on the 9th January. Zhong Hao's ticket are still pending. However, i still have to settle the bills which is a headache cause the main coordinator is on maternity leave and i have not got a reply on the procedure from her assistant yet. So many things need to plan and execute. This is certainly no free holiday as people would think.

The motivation is the holiday trip. There are three parts that are planned, the first is the North Western Seattle portion. The second is the Northeastern route comprising of major cities in that area such as New York and Washington DC. Lastly, the southwestern route across three mega states, Arizona, Nevada and California. This is really one mega trip. Just in terms of planning for it will be a headache but a happy one cause when its time for the execution, its gonna be fun. After 1 year of preparation, its almost time. As you can see, I have already put up the countdown timer haha but before i can celebrate, there is one more important date that is 4th December, the date of the release of the results.

The burning flame

Our senior, Ms Ong Pei See lighting up the campfire (or my cadets call it tinfire). Just to let you know her impressive history, she went for exchange to Canada when she was just in secondary 3, i had to wait till i was in JC 1, oh ya and Capt J, my host in Canada have reminded me to mention that we stayed in the same house haha and yes many of our cadets also met Capt J when there were in Canada :). She is also the first female in our unit to get the airborne badge and is also the first female parade commander of the NCC Parade which happens to be also the 100th year anniversary of NCC at SAFTI MI. She command a combined contingent of more than 800 with the Prime Minister, Mr Lee Hsien Long as the Guest of Honour. She also got the first Indian Glider badge in our unit. Currently, she is a pilot with Jetstar Asia and guess what she is just 2 years older than me. Man... envy, i asked my mum to sponser pilot training, she asked me go fly kite... hahaha. So next time, my friends who got some misconception that i am impressive or whatever, please see this and you will know I am just average. It's good to see the spirit of the unit carrying on both in the ex cadets as well as the juniors. This year's Cadet Officer night was an event of unprecedented scale. We had ex cadets that had graduated from 1998 that came back for this event. I am actually surprised by the turnout. I was expecting around only 30 cause its a weekday and we had so many batches held up by school, work or national service. From the ushers to the reception, the door gifts, the seatings, food and the performance, i think it was really quite impressive. I think we deserve the above all title. Even when the school itself poured much more resources for a reunion dinner two years back, there were probably something like 200 ex students that came back. For a fraction of that cost, we got this amount i think its really impressive. Having a bit of difficulty taking this group photo. I must say i like this kinda difficulty as it is a demostration of our unit's strength that i think hardly any other CCAs in AMKSS can match.
Finally, the group photo. Although there were some hiccups here and there, the performances were actually better than expectated and for those who know me, i am quite stringent with my evlautation. Good job to those involved and to the support staff working behind to ensure the success of the event, you have impressed the guest that night.
Its really great to have so many seniors coming back. Finally, i am not the most senior haha. There were many more who cannot make it because this event is held on a weekday, maybe the next one which probably will be a few years down the road will be held over the weekends. Anyway, its a pity Mdm Wan was held up, i will be sending her the photo.

My NCOs when i was Sec 1. Hahaha. Just imagine.

My batch of NCOs, a pity some of them could not join us because of exams. Many more of our ex cadets are held up by exams in ntu, nus, smu and for national service. I am thinking if they all come hahaha, the number would have easily balloned with at least another two to three dozen easily. To those who had serves, serving and will be serving may 'We always be above all'.

Mummmy.... It's Over WHAHAHAHAHA

YES ARH! The exams are officially over. My last semester, I hoped in SIM and my last exam in the grand hall. I am a bit slow compared to shaun and kang in updating the blog cause of the us trip preparation plus a major cleaning up operation of my room which is filled with stacks and stacks of material. I really almost spend 24 hours just to clear them away.

We must be the craziest and wackiest group around, while everyone is chionging to collect their SM individual project, we were the only jokers fooling around in the grand hall.

Semester 5 ... A semester that totally caught me off guard but i still felt much more relaxed than semester 4 with respect to the work load factor. Unlike semester 4, there was no warning of the tsunami of assignments and their close proximity. But as Obama's now famous timeless creed put it, 'Yes we can' and we did. We lost one of our member to reservice and the fact is we did not even have the maximum number to start with for our last project and yet we still secured a decent grade. I think the rest of the group members are as proud as I am on this one but there are more results to be release soon. Hope we do well. For all my group members who will be here during semester 6, all the best.

Helping hand or ...

After 5 semester of projects, i think we have seen the best and worse of people through the projects. Some just simply heck care, some knew that their best friends will cover up for them and do their best to exploit while some will fight and stick with you till the end.

I have done it in my way by trying to help them improve their abilities in one way or another and in the midst of it being accused of being autocratic, selfish or described as a tyrant. However, when i look back and reflect on what i have done, i think i have done my best as a friend. One of my friend was kicked out by me during an earlier semester, i had warned him that he is going in the wrong direction and indeed that was what happened. He even had to meet the programme director to review his case, cause yah SIM-RMIT do kick people (I have witness 1 case). I think during that time, i was the only one who still talk to him and try find out what he can do. Many people who said i was mean when i scolded him earlier, was just avoiding him. Today, this friend of mine is a changed man, more responsible, motivated and have a sense of direction where he is going. Sometimes allowing people to fall and helping them to stand back again might actually help the person to be much stronger than before.

In another case, which i also had to kick someone out, the situation turn ugly but still i find that it benefited the person. The person had a poor attitude, the ironic thing was she kick someone out earlier because of the same problem, in the end she still feel that we gang up on her ... so whatever. But my last word to her is this, she got 3 excellent grades for free for nothing. We remove her before the last project started and not during so that she can find another team. If we wanted to play her out as she had claimed, i guarantee i would have make sure she got no chance of finding another team, that's really playing out but we didn't. If she had not got out then and we let her continue and say during semester 5 in her own words, just tell the person we got enough people and kick her out on the spot, wouldn't the damage be much greater? Definitely yes, i think those who went through sem 5 would have known how important the group is. I also believed, she knew she would be left behind if she had shown the same attitude therefore she would have buck up to impress her new team mates and in turn save herself for the claws of killer subjects like SM. As i said, she is not without capabilities, its just her attitude of not wanting to work to her best.

Lastly, a thought on the helping hand. what is actually helping this people. Is it helping them to cover what they should be doing and allowing them to go out to play gai gai? I know some groups have done that but i see the permanent damage they have done. I think the difference between this method and mine can be described as follows. I push my team members down to the pool and they got to swim but if i see they cannot float, i will push them up a while and tell them how to float then send them back into the water. Eventually they will float, its just a matter of how good or bad, subjected to individual capability (the nurturing has been done but subjected to the nature of the ability). The other method looks more to me like always giving the person a float, he or she knows the instructor is there to back them up hence it breeds complacency, laziness and eventually they learn nothing at all. If you take the instructor away, they are just a bunch of helpless people struggling to keep their head afloat but eventually many will die. In the midst of that, they may also out of panic in keeping them heads afloat try to climb and push people down to stay afloat and innocent people will be push down by them.

Although no method is perfect and this is a subjective topic, i think the results will be known probably some time later and we will see where everyone is standing.