Happy Year of the Rooster

It's a yearly tradition with this gang. This time, theme was "dressed in our auspicious colours for the year". So we did. :) And welcome Keong to join us this year.

Throwback to the Sports Themed Dinner

Following Rio2016,  let me do a throwback to our sports themed dinner last year. A successful one which everyone dressed the part as a sportsman.

Thinking back it was pretty funny to see all of us in sports jackets when the weather was humid. But I think it was worth it... for the fun of course.

We had dinner at Char, followed by our sports showcase at Kallang Stadium. LOL! Lastly we ended with some cuppas at Starbucks in Kallang Wave Mall!

Jason and Lyn's Wedding

Eventful Week

This week, full of events, finally ended. For the first five days, it was liaison officer duties for a ministerial meeting held in Singapore. And yesterday, it was a performance item with some colleagues for our organisation's dinner and dance.

Liaison Officer

The week started off on a somewhat bad note unexpectedly. The delegates lost but recovered a huge sum of cash. I had to spend the rest of the week facilitating between the delegates and the hotel for the investigations whilst performing my liaison officer duties for the minister. Despite this distraction, I enjoyed introducing some of our local attractions to the minister although this came at the expense of shut-eye time. They enjoyed a one-hour plus stop at the Night Safari followed by chicken rice and pork satay at a coffee shop along Syed Alwi Road. I also brought them to try some local hawker fare at Chinatown. The minister quipped that he will be bringing his family along for a visit when his schedule permits.

(A group photo with the minister and delegation before his departure at Terminal 1)

D&D Performance

Our preparation for our performance item was not smooth sailing as well. We abandoned our initial plan involving the use of instruments. Our final item had us singing and dancing to Michael Buble's Sway. We were let down by a poor sound system and not so professional sound engineers. I was particularly dissapointed when my wireless head-mic failed just at the start of our performance. This has taught me a valuable lesson in performance -- never use a head-mic unless it really is meant for singing. And I should have insisted a on sound check before the item.
Still, I enjoyed the week immensely having had the opportunity to make new acquaintances and to work together on a project with a team of young people.

Recce at Hort Park

Recce for LO duties at Hort Park for CGS 2010.

You only have one FIRST TIME

Recently, I had a new big boss and in our weekly meetings with him, a few of us were caught by surprise at his interest in details. Monthly reports that typically will pass without further questions got queried line by line.

At first, the joke was he had too much time. But after a few months studying him, and noticing his quick grasp of our work, I now know that his method was deliberate.

What I learnt from him was that you only have ONE chance for a first time.

When you step into a new job, there is only one FIRST time you see a paticular report or supervise a particular operation. Especially if you are in a relatively senior position, this is the chance for you to ask the fundamental, basic questions without the risk being seen as stupid or incompetent.

So grasp the first time. Go detail. Line by line, word by word, figure by figure to totally understand the concept.

Hari Raya Open House 2009

I was very privileged to have been invited to Dr Yaacob's house for a Hari Raya Open House which I attended with S.

Office running group - best turnout so far

Very heartened to have 12 runners (including me) today. We attempted a new route which minimises running along the main road, which during eveing peak hours is quite hazardous to health due to the vehicle fumes.
Waiting for the rest of the runners to arrive before heading for the post-run drink.

Enjoying a well deserved cold isotonic drink.

Office Running Group

It is not easy to sustain a chore like running, although it is essentially a good thing to do. Come to think of it, good things like eating healthy etc. is always not easy to start and to continue doing.

So, the turnout for the second run was unsurprisingly not as good as the first. But the important thing was some of us perservered. For me, I enjoyed running with a group because I would never have ran the full 40 mins if I had done it at home. And I could see the benefits of my improved fitness and stamina when I played my weekly badminton. Against more skilful players like Mr O, my only edge over him is my superior fitness.

Keong smsed me the other day. He said he was inspired by our 40min running group that he started running 40 mins daily. Good for him. And he should! haha

Office running group

Colleague and I trying to start a running group in the office. First run today for 40 mins. Not bad, a little tired.

Keong back in Pek Kio

Keong, you trying too hard to push your chin out lah...your jaw line isn't natural.

That plastic bag is a little distracting.