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We are all discoverers... travelling the world, learning its truths, its people and its meanings every single day. Grab your backpacks and let's embark on this journey of mine, one that holds a lot of meaning to me... Lilypie Kids birthday Ticker

Thursday, August 03, 2006

 

The Day I Dialled "Triple Nine"

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Today, the Japanese delegates were supposed to visit my office and this really got me panicky... weeks of planning now come down to these two hours and I just prayed and prayed everything will turn out well... In the end, I would say that everything went relatively well... in fact better than I expected and now that everything is over, it is really a relief...


"Teamwork 3" by jf

It All "Clicked Together"
It's amazing how everything just clicked together and even though some things did go wrong, I am just amazed how things just eventually worked out. Like those award ceremony, now is my "thanksgiving" time... I thank God for:
  • sufficient rest; I just don't ever seem to get enough rest and have to struggle with getting up every morning... interestingly though, I woke up at 4am this morning and felt like I have slept for a whole day. What is more surprising is that I am on time for work today!
  • friend who blessed me with breakfast; I am thankful to EM who called me in the morning to ask if I wanted breakfast. Yum yum... got my egg mcmuffin
  • colleagues who are quick to help;I am grateful for colleagues who responds so quickly when needed and helped make today's visit a success.
    • I thank PL, MN, CT, AH and PM from my department who helped me with setting up the AV equipment and also prepared and distributed the PR materials to the delegates, who promptly helped to get drinks for the delegates when prompted by my boss and helped with getting the plaque done up.
    • I thank my boss, despite being a head of department herself, took up the task of inviting the other head of departments to gather to welcome the delegates
    • I also thank PM who helped me with welcoming the delegates and entertaining them and
    • SH from another department who helped me with the seating and rushed up with me to the 3rd floor to get chairs when my boss prompted me that there weren't enough chairs.
    • Not forgetting IP and YF who stayed around to help with photography and
    • all others who helped to make the delegates feel at home, ushering them and patiently waited for the delegates to return from group photography before starting on the morning tea
    • AS who kindly loaned me some DV tapes and PL for willingly taking up the task to help capture video footage of the visit from the very beginning to the very end
    • FL who helped to coordinate refreshments for the delegates
    • and finally all the officers and head of departments who really helped facilitate the sessions and played host to the delegates
Looking at the list, many of the things have not been planned for (despite my "font size 8 programme plan") but I am really just amazed how everything just gelled together and everyone chipped in to make the visit successful... Thank God!

Uninvited Guest
Today, there was a bit of "drama" and I have come to realized I am such a horrible brother. It was mid afternoon in one of my organization's centres and just as the bus pulled into the centre with the delegates and I was getting ready to welcome them, my sister called me on the phone... she told me that she is outside our house and she is stuck not knowing what to do; she is on her way out but there is a small snake on our door handle so she could not go back into the house nor lock the door... I remember telling her that I need to go because the delegates were alighting and I was like the only one there to welcome them... wrong move... when I eventually called back a few minutes later, I realized that my sis was upset and was sobbing; feeling lost with no one at home and no neighbours around to help.

She eventually got one of her friends who agreed to come down all the way from Bugis (wow, actually quite impressed with this friend of hers... I am not sure if I would do the same if my friend was in a similar situation). Anyway, decided to do a little "damage control" and excused myself from the delegates (hope the centre manager don't think I went to "eat snake") and continued to stay on the phone with my sister. Later, after struggling for a while with who to call, decided to try calling 999 to get the police to "arrest" the snake (since I did not have the number to the nearest neighborhood police post) and surprisingly, they agreed to despatch officers to help. Anyway, am glad all ended well but still could not believe I did that to my sister... sighhh... horrible!!

Anyway, my sister just told me that the snake is dead... apparently, seems like one of the officers panicked and stepped on it so maybe that dealt it the fatal blow... even though I did loathe the snake (even though it was a small one) for putting my sister through the ordeal, I can't help feel bad for the snake for dying such a horrible death... but one thing remains a mystery... how did the snake get to my house? Live in a flat on the higher floors so how did it ever get up to where my flat is? hmmm...

My sister also later related to me how comical the whole incident is... apparently, the police were getting ready to come and handle a large snake, so I was told they appeared with big tools to catch snake so when they arrived, they did not see the snake and kept asking my sis where the snake was... then later, they smsed my sis and told her that "they are sorry to inform that the snake is dead" haha...

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

 

So Far So Good

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Have been coordinating an exchange programme with some Japanese delegates for the past 1-2 months and since this is the first of such exchange I am planning for, you can imagine the kind of "panic attacks" I get... that's just me; a perfectionist, constantly stressing myself out worrying about things. As a result, I ended up drafting a detailed itinerary and task list for the days my organization is involved. It was so detailed that some of the fonts used are like font size 8.

But this time, things are a little different. For once, I tried to not do everything myself and enlisted the help of my colleagues... am really so so glad that my colleagues readily jumped in and said OK to helping... I figured that I was not going to be able to cope with the whole thing myself and for once, put down my "feel-paisay-to-ask-for-help" attitude and really ask for help... It is really difficult but I realized I can't always be this way and tire myself out by wanting to do everything myself...

Anyway, the Japanese delegates have arrived in Singapore yesterday and today I attended a welcome dinner for them in one of my organization's homes. I was so thrilled to see everyone really enjoying themselves and although there were some language barriers and people were quiet at first but soon people warmed up to one another and started to enjoy each other's company... this is so great!

As usual, I did try to mingle around but most of the time, I would find myself quiet and withdrawn in a corner just observing others... Frankly, I am happy being in the background. Seeing today's evening celebration has made me realized how happy I am just to be doing work behind the scenes and seeing people enjoy themselves. True enough, at times, I would appreciate some limelight but most of the time, I am easily contented with just being behind the scenes...

Learnt something from the celebration as well... the performances by the beneficiaries were far from perfect but everyone just had so much fun during the process... guess sometimes it is not how well things turn out that is important but how much fun people have while in the process of doing things and how meaningful the process has been... The beneficiaries has taught me an important lesson which I do not hope to forget, something to the effect "Stop being so uptight about success and excellence but enjoy the process".

OK, tomorrow, the delegates will come to my office for visit and I foresee being uptight about things again... but shall remember the valuable lesson learnt from the beneficiaries... Time to sleep soon...

Today, I also heard that one of my friends from another department is leaving... sad but it would be a better career move for her... Will wish her all the best and will miss this friend of mine...

Sunday, July 30, 2006

 

Putting Down the Baggage

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Time really flies and it is really frightening... it was almost a year ago when I started this blog and I remember blogging after coming back from a 民歌 Cafe with my friend. That was my first blog entry.

I have always loved 民歌 cafes... like the experience and the atmosphere. Somehow, the cafes always have this friendly feeling to it... the people, singers and staff are always so friendly. Time seems to stand still while you kick back your shoes and enjoy the singers' s-o-o-o-thing rendition of pop songs, requested by people whose lives and paths cross just for these few hours.
Today, we decided to celebrate a friend's birthday in a 民歌 cafe and we chose to go to the one at Marina Square... really enjoyed the performances... I have always enjoyed seeing how people work so well together on stage... they are just such cheerful people and seem to enjoy each other's company so much... makes me think: why can't I be like them? Why am I so uptight about people?

I want to be cheerful (again) and just enjoy connecting and interacting with others. Of course, I know that the main reason why I am so withdrawn is because I can hardly trust people easily after being hurt a few times... but now, I come to realize that as long as I carry this emotional baggage and not forgive the people who have hurt me... I will have to continue to suffer in silence... And so, I made a decision... a decision to forgive the people who have hurt me... something that is not going to be easy but I am going to try. I am going to try to put down my emotional baggage...


How heavy is your emotional baggage?
"Old Suitcase" by petr0

For example, for the friend "who was beginning to hate me", I have to actually thank him because without the trial faced almost one year ago, I wouldn't have came back to Christ... I am going to forgive every single one who has hurt me... including the one friend who I had some struggles with his self-pity and another sister-in-christ who had hurt me through her words.

Surprisingly, when I tried to put my past baggages down , I found more peace talking to these friends.

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