To Market, To Market, To Buy A Fat ***

*Title censored for religious reasons

Exam blues are here again repeating itself at the end of each 6 week cycle. This time around, its "Marketing". Egad, didn't realize how much research and analysis that goes into determining consumer's buying behaviour and business markets. Wish me luck! *SIghz*

My Badminton Musings...

First off, some history behind why I started playing badminton in the first place. Bear with me, peeps! =P

I think it was the during the Thomas Cup of 1996 that I first got interested in the game of badminton. It was the craze during that time especially encroaching upon the final stages of the Thomas Cup.

Everyone would be playing badminton! My neighbourhood was full of young children playing badminton using their gates as the fence, some playing in the open field and even some particularly brave ones playing in the middle of the road!

Anyway, I got together with a group of friends from secondary school with the same interest and we began to play around once a week at the local neighbourhood badminton court. It was an open air court so we could only play when the weather was good and it wasn't raining but it was free, so nobody complained.

Also, it didn't have a badminton net, so we pooled together some money to purchase a net and we took turns bringing the net to the court everytime we decided to play. This was during my secondary school days. I remember we had lots fun trying out new kinds of shots and swings based on what we saw from the badminton matches featured on the television.

My dad did play his part to encourage me to take up the sport as he too was a frequent badminton player and still plays to this day. He was the one that bought me my first racquet and occasionally brought me along to his sessions where I could see better players in action.

Most of time, I would be practising my badminton shots with the wall as nobody could spare the time to play with me =(

When I was in Form 5 seconday school, my parents decided to send me to a professional coach, a former Thomas Cup player apparently. It was during these weekly sessions that I honed my badminton skills. However, my classes were shortlived as SPM was heading close and I had to stop after 6 months of badminton tutelage.

After moving on to college, our weekly badminton sessions with my secondary school friends began to become less and less frequent. As we were all attending different colleges, meeting up for a badminton match became harder and harder and in the end we stopped playing altogether.

It would be only 6 years later that I would resume playing badminton with the same group of friends...

Due to work commitments, some of my friends were posted overseas; myself included. Hence, we were unable to resume our badminton sessions. Only in 2005, did everyone make the effort to get together to have some semblance of our former badminton sessions. Even then, we were all so busy and had other commitments.

I was forced to be satisfied with a badminton session once every 1-2 months. Needless to say, after such a long badminton drought, my skills had dropped considerably and I was deeply frustrated at this.

I knew that this few and far between badminton sessions will continue to be the norm as no one was willing to make a strong effort to get everybody together. Hence, when my dad early this year that his badminton group was looking for players, I jumped at the chance however I was in for a few surprises...

First off, his group consisted mostly of older men in their 40's. They have mostly been playing for at least 10-20 years and thus needless to say, are much more experienced than myself. My first match with them ended up in a horrifying defeat.

Mentally, I was not prepared to an opponent that possessed skills far greater than my own. Thus, I was making silly mistakes most of the time and did not perform to the best of my potential. But that was not the biggest problem...

After the first session, I noticed that my Dad had began dispensing his advice to make me a 'better' player. Not that I dont appreciate it but I felt very frustrated that I wasn't able to understand how to apply his advice to my playing style and he kept criticizing me over and over again.

Of course, after a few more sessions, I improved considerably and thankfully, my Dad commented less and less on my playing style to which I was very grateful. But there were still other things that were bothering me about the badminton group.

Top most on my list of worries were the simple fact that I was still not as good as the majority of the group. Because of that, everytime I played a game, I got the feeling that the rest of the players were just humouring me and not playing their normal game. Also, because of this, I spent alot of time watching the others play from the sidelines.

Perhaps at some point, I felt embarassed that I could not play at the same level as them. It was only when they were satisfied after playing a few games amongt themselves would they invite me to play with them. This infuriated me to no end but I realized that this was the only way I could improve my game.

At least, they were still giving me a chance to play with them and learn from them where as I wouldn't be entertained at all in other groups. So in the end, I ended up playing less games than I normally did when I play with my friends but at least I found each game very challenging and satisfying.

Looks like I will have to be content with this arrangement until I manage to improve my game to be on par with the group....

Why All The Unsolicited Advice???

*Warning: Long Ranty Post*

Is it just me or does everyone else respond negatively to unsolicited advice? I mean who in their right mind actually welcomes advice especially when someone comes along and forces it down your throat?

I strongly believe that learning should be self-initiated. If anyone else forces knowledge upon you, chances are you won't be in the proper frame of mind to receive it and end up rejecting the information at the end of the day. The result is both the people that give and receive the advice become frustrated!

A very common example would be my Dad. Every now and then, he tries to force his style of accomplishing certain tasks onto his children. I admit there are certain tasks that he is greatly more experienced with but the delivery method of this information is all wrong!

Just because I am not doing a certain task as well as him doesn't mean I want help! First off, I have to acknowledge that I'm not doing it correctly in the first place. It so does not help the situation when you begin your sentence with "You're Doing It Wrong! Do It This Way!" I automatically become defensive and its highly unlikely I'll learn anything at that point in time.

Instead, it would be so much better if the sentence went like "Do you know there is a better way to do that?". At the very least it would have given me a chance to agree or disagree and justify myself instead of suddenly getting defensive over how I carry out a specific task.

Its even better when I get to realize my own mistakes. That way I will be extra eager to find a much better way to perform a certain task either by conducting self-research or asking a more experienced individual. Whatever information I glean at this point of time will be earnestly accepted and most likely be used the next time I go about executing a similar task.

I believe that this is a far superior approach in teaching knowledge rather than resorting to forcefeeding people with information. People are generally proud and most will not willingly accept that others are wiser than them regardless of whether its the truth or not.

Not only that, even though by nature older people tend to possess more experience and may be more knowledgable in most things, there are still times when they are caught by surprise when introduced to easier and faster ways of accomplishing certain tasks.

This is the reason that everytime, I'm teaching anything to anyone, I try to make it a point to ask whether that person already has any prior knowledge or inclinations on that subject. Not only does that person feel happy to be given the chance to share his or her own opinion but I may also pick up certain things that I wasn't aware of before.

Hence, a 'win-win' situation =)

Caffeine and me...

In the past few months, I have been resorting to caffeine to get me through each day. Not surprisingly, my MBA programme also started around that time as well as other more 'welcome' distractions =)

I personally dislike caffeine in all forms. Anything that has the potential to rob me of my beauty sleep should be shunned and avoided like the plague! If I remember correctly, I only tasted my first cup of coffee at the age of 17 during preparation for my SPM exam.

I was forewarned by my mother that this exotic beverage would cause me to stay awake at night but I insisted in order to gain precious study time. I still remember my first taste of this bitter concoction otherwise known as 'coffee'..

It was around 9pm at night and I was desperate to finish my Biology revision. All the diagrams of the various parts of the human anatomy were beginning to cause my eyelids to droop. It was out of wanton panic that I decided to resort to the caffeine-rich beverage.

The taste was very strong as I decided to take it 'black' for maximum effect. It was akin to drinking chinese bitter tea! But to cut a long story short, I was completely energized and managed to pull an all nighter to finish my revision. Never mind that I was so tired and lethargic the following day, I slept pretty much the whole afternoon and evening =P

These days, I only consume this dreaded beverage when I absolutely have to. Mostly at work, where I can't afford to be sleepy. I certainly hope that my body will begin to adapt to the reduced hours of sleep so that I can begin to wean myself off coffee. Wish me luck!

Happy 1st Month Anniversary!

It was merely a month ago that you became mine;
Only 30 days, yet it seems longer for reasons I can’t define;

I want you to know certain phrases are very special to me;
Words in phrases that I would never use untruthfully;

I wanted to take some time to think it through;
And now I’ve come to realise I really love you…

I love how comfortable I am around you;
I love how you laugh at every lame joke I tell you;
I love the way we can talk about anything under the sun;
I love the how much fun we have when we constantly tease each other;
I love how your infectious smile instantly makes me forget all my worries and troubles;

Most of all, I love the fact that you accept me for who I am…Happy Anniversary, Baby!

My Frustrated Self...

-- 9.37pm --

I don’t know why I’m feeling so frustrated at the moment. I just came back from fetching my sister back from work as she had to work late today. My mum wanted to follow as she wanted to know the route I was using to fetch her back so that she could use it the next time. The thing was she wanted to go to her dance class as well, so she asked me to pick her up from her dance class on the way to fetch my sister.

This was at 8.00pm when she told me this. I had a badminton activity scheduled at 9.00pm but since my mom was worried about my sister, I agreed anyway. When my sister messaged me at 8.15pm to pick her up, I told her I would be 10 – 15 minutes away and rushed out of the house. On the way, I picked up my mum from her dance class and I headed off to pick up my sister.

And that is when the problems started…

Firstly, I made a mistake in my intended route. I had earlier asked my sister to go across the road to the bus stop on the opposite side of the road thinking that it would be on the way of intended route. My mum immediately gave me an earful worrying about my sister having to walk across the road at night. At this point, I admit I wasn’t taking into account my sisters safety as a top priority as I was trying to rush back in time for badminton.

I got a shock, when my route put me past the bus stop and I could not access it. At this point, my mum immediately scolded me again for taking such the wrong way and I was again given a piece of her mind with me being unable to do anything except apologize profusely.

I immediately picked up my phone to call up my sister meaning to tell her that we were changing the pick up point to the front of her work building but I could not get her. At the same time, my mum asked me to concentrate on driving and she started calling my sister instead. This was around 8.28pm.

Being unable to reach my sister on the phone, when we reached the bus stop directly in front of my sister’s work building, my mum rushed out and dashed across the road to see whether my sister had arrived. I was getting very alarmed when I saw that the initial intended bus stop was empty.

I started getting worried about my sister’s safety although my logical brain kicked in at that moment and told me that it was highly unlikely anything unfortunate had happened to my sister but I was getting more and more worried as each second grew by. I immediately called my dad to ask him to go ahead with badminton as I had no desire to go to badminton anymore.

I glanced across the road to my mom who was still dialing furiously at her hand phone trying to get in touch with my sister. I also tried calling my sister’s handphone only to be directed immediately to her voicemail. This series of events did nothing to allay my fear and I decided to walk to the front of her building to get more information.

At her building, I asked the guard whether anyone had walked out of the entrance recently and the guard informed me no one did. So I surmised that my sister had been held up for work and could not get to her handphone. I then called my mum to ask her whether she had any updated news. She informed me that she managed to contact my sister and that my sister had gotten a lift from a friend to go to the bus stop at the opposite side of the road.

By the time, I walked back to the car and waited for them, it was 8.40pm. I don’t know why but I began to feel very frustrated. Whether it was due to me being unable to go to badminton due to my refusal to drive there myself or it was in replacement for the relief I felt after finding out my sister was safe or perhaps it was due to her not informing my mum or myself that she was deviating slightly from the original plan and thus would be a few minutes late.

So here I am planning to skip badminton today as I was too frustrated to go anyway, typing out this post in an effort to calm down and figure out my frustration. Well, for the most part, it worked and I feel better. I’m no longer angry but perhaps slightly disappointed that I missed badminton. Or perhaps I should head there now? I think I will =)

-- 11.07pm –

Egad, looks like going to badminton wasn’t such a good idea after all. I was criticized by my dad due to my poor shots and my inability to take shots. Darn, I really dislike partnering my with dad during badminton.

Well, on the bright side. I did get to release a lot of pent up tension and there’s a wonderful day to look forward to tomorrow. Yay! Now to get some sleep…

Feeling Rather Slow Today...

Conducted a presentation this morning to one of my company's potential clients. The presentation went quite well but during the course of the presentation, I could tell the CEO wasn't really paying much attention.

After I completed, he started to ask about some of my company's previous projects which I gladly shared with him. Then I was stunned when he began to ramble about his company's history and his political connections and what not for at least an hour! So there I was with my manager listening patiently to him go on and on and on... Nothing we could do except sit there with smiles on our faces and politely laughing at his jokes. =)

Still..it was interesting listening to some of stories about his connections in the Malaysian political arena and how he got to know them. At the time, I was thinking to myself, HEY! there's lots of money to be made in politics. Maybe I should give it a try...

Oh well, wont ponder on that for too long. Got more important things to do...

Difference between a Psychologist and a Psychiatrist???

Something that Wawa and I were wondering about the other day....

The simplest way to describe the difference between them is that a psychologist primarily aids the depressed patient by counseling and psychotherapy. A psychiatrist may also perform psychotherapy; but, in addition, can prescribe medications and perform ECT (electroconvulsive therapy). A psychiatrist is a medical doctor. A psychologist may hold a doctoral degree (Ph.D.) and be called "doctor"; but, is not a medical doctor (M.D.).

So, NOW you know... =)

My Kiasu Self…

A series of events that occurred recently made me realize that I’m indeed a very ‘kiasu’ person. ‘Kiasu’ is a Chinese Hokkien term loosely translated as ‘cannot lose’ which basically means the inability to accept failure.

Come to think of it, this is not the first time I have been labeled competitive. Throughout school, college up to the working world, I have been constantly trying to improve myself whether it’s

a) studying for an exam,
b) working on an assignment,
c) conducting a presentation,
d) preparing tender documentation,
e) completing a work related task or even
f) playing sports,

I always try to find ways to outperform everyone else to emerge at the top.

Deep down, I believe the reason behind all of this is I really fear complacency. I am terrified of losing my drive to work hard in life. The thought of living an average life is really scary to me. Sometimes, I ask myself the defining reason behind my need to achieve something with my life.

After doing some soul-searching previously, I finally decided that the main reason behind wanting to achieve some success in my life is so that I would be able to bring up my family comfortably. To be able to support them in a manner which they deserve. The question is how much success is enough? Hmm….

 

Stressed Out!!!

Extremely insane deadline
+
Completely new subject
+
Lack of research material
=
Massive headache!


Arrghh..wish i can find a hole to crawl into until next week =(

Happy June!

This post is merely intended to wish everyone a very Happy June 2006! =P

I can't believe I forgot my parents wedding anniversary yesterday! Oh well, better late then never i guess..

"Happy 26th Anniversary, Mum and Dad!"

Hope you guys have many many more to come...