For the past few years, I went to university open house events as a prospective student. This year, it was different. I was there as a student helper. My role there was to usher people into the function room for the talks and out to the other levels and talks. However like all jobs, there are always hidden roles and responsibilities. [Wanted to link a video on the above sentence from TED.com, but it was since a year since I last saw it. Sorry about that.]

What they tell you about the job: Ushering and a bit of crowd controlling. Especially at the end of the talk.

That is the main point of me being there. The number of prospective students and parents attending talks is more than ever. We had to turn away people from entering the function room due to the lack of capacity, even the standing capacity. I feel rather bad to turn away people from the last talk at the last day. But hey, no worries, there were information booths where questions and doubts can be answered.

What they did not tell you about the job: Co-workers who are jokers and interactions with the prospective students and parents that are quite enlightening.

The co-workers part is minor, but it makes the job easier. There were many Year 0s and 1s helping out. It made a great time making friends, enquiries on being a Year 1, and helped to pass time easier. The interactions part was a great experience actually. Me and another guy, Samuel had to turn away one parent from the last School of Economics talk due to lack of capacity in the function room. Instead, we kindly suggested to her to proceed to level three for more information from the faculty booth. However she said that she had just came from there and that she wanted to listen in to the talk.

So instead, she had us talking about studying here and about choosing business (Samuel is in there) and balancing out CCA commitments. Apparently she was worried that by coming to SMU, her child may invest more time in CCA than in studying. Being Year 0 students, what we could share was limited to stories that seniors has told us and whatever we could come out with. Finally, all we could say that time management will be critical in anything we do and peer pressure here will help to keep things in check.

What went through my mind after chatting with her were two thoughts. One, NS did really mature me in a way or another. I had the “CCA comes first!” mentality that her child has now when I was still an enlistee. The thought process now is: “I like being in my CCA. But without the grades means not being able to go to school. Not being able to go to school means not being able to enjoy my time in the CCA.” This is a huge difference.Two, I am still handicapped by the fact that I do not have much working experience to make a god and persuasive argument.

OH well. I guess this can be gained in time to come.

Picture credits: SMUAdmissions

OK, who the heck pranked call me this late at night at this number: +65-62575310. I do have caller ID on my mobile. And no, I won’t be taking down the number unless the person who did it fess up.

And oh, if the prank caller wanted to wake me up from my sleep, it failed.

I probably have the time to finish re-organising my table (yet again), start studying, finish up the midis, learn the songs and sleep more.

Before the dust can settle on Haiti’s earthquake disaster , Mother Nature unleashed her fury yet again.This time, it is an 8.8 magnitude on the Richter Scale. With death toll in the hundreds from the Chile quake, we are fortunate enough not to have major tsunamis striking the countries that are in the Pacific Ocean region.

Do your part in the humanitarian efforts. One way is to donate money to the American Red Cross society’s International Response Fund:

You can help the victims of countless crises, like the recent earthquakes in Chile and Haiti, around the world each year by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross International Response Fund, which will provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support to help those in need. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster, please do so at the time of your donation by mailing your donation with the designation to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013 or to your local American Red Cross chapter. Donations to the International Response Fund can be made by phone at 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish) or online at www.redcross.org.

BAK2u.com has thrown in an incentive for all donors through American Red Cross. It is giving away free anti-thief software for Windows platform within 24 hours upon receiving your receipt of the donation. Please proceed to the website for more details.

Note: I have no relations with BAK2u, except for receiving a free copy of the software due to donation to the Red Cross for Haiti. I believe in doing charity and having the free copy is just an unexpected benefit to it. This is a free advertorial with just one specific goal in mind: to raise awareness to the need for donations to both countries by all means.

Release of results, which are not good.

Shifting of office to a holding area due to office renovation.

Joining of SMU choir. (A post may be done on this.)

Results will be available from 0500 GMT, Monday 22nd February.

I am not looking forward to it… And I foresee a 404 error for the first hour.

Sigh…

Me and my lil’ cute cousin.

As the Chinese New Year approaches, I hope to draw more inspiration in fine-tuning the design of the site. Oh ya, I do need some suggestions for robertsky.com… It is left as a lifestream for the time being…

This blog. Customisation. Debugging.

Microsoft Excel. Formula. Work.

Handphone. To upgrade or not to upgrade?

Life. A series of random events.

I just watched an episode of All About Paper, an infotainment show which re-ran on Channel News Asia. Surprisingly, even a 2008 show can be refreshing! It showcased on how paper can be a material used for functional home furnishing. The episode featured three products made from paper. They are Honey Comb Lamp (pictured), FlexibleLove and Recycled Paper Table.

The Honey Comb Lamp is made from denguri paper. It is a type of paper used in Japan. Out of the all three products, it is the cheapest at 41 USD (white) and 60 USD (red). The way the paper lamp opens up reminds me of the lanterns we carry during the Lantern Festivals. I commented to my mom about having one for any events in the house. When not in use, it can be packed away with minimum space taken up. It is available at designboom shop. I probably be getting one. The only consideration that I have is where to put the lamp in my house. It is cluttered as it is without having anymore white elephants. Endoh asked an obvious question on plurk: Will it burn? Well, I say, have some faith in the designer.

The FlexibleLove is a chair made from recycled honey-combed paper. It can sit up to sixteen people at any time. It can be a good conversation ice-breaker, but at a cost of 500 USD. The Recycled Paper Table can be customised to individual’s needs. However, it comes at a hefty 3398 USD.

Picture credit: designboom

This what Senator David Adelman said in his Senate hearing,

I intend, if confirmed, to use public diplomacy to work towards greater press freedoms, greater freedom of assembly and ultimately more political space for opposition parties in Singapore. (via)

Make no mistake, I am not a fan of politics, but I would love to see him try.

Credit: Speakers’ Corner picture from Wikipedia.org. Read about Speakers’ Corner at Wikipedia.

We order grilled salmon and cod. They served us just the fish. There was no offer of rice made by the staff when we first ordered and I had to go back and ask for the rice. The staff is from PRC and I think who did not go through a rigorous service training. Another colleague had to “self-service” his bowl of noodles and he complained why there is a service charge of 10% then?

When we exited the store, there was one cashier and a long queue. There are 3 counters and only one is opened. The cashier had to go over to the other POS machine to get change for someone ahead in the line. Whatever had happened to accountability? It was lunch time and the store should be expecting more customers than off-peak period. There should be at least 2 cashiers operating. And oh, it was hot in there. Who turned down the air-con in there?

Ratings:

Food: 7/10
Service: 3/10
Ambience: 4/10

I would rather head down to the Shodoku area in Jurong Point. At least there is a better service and ambience there.

It is here again. Honestly, this is the only event that gets me excited as an alumnus of YJC.

Tickets are priced at $10/-. They can be bought at the event itself or from any existing YJCians, students and teachers alike. If you see any YJCians on the street, stop them and ask for a ticket or two.

The event will be held on the 27th Feb 2010, 9am – 5pm. It is a Saturday, exactly a month away. Cross the date out for this funfair! There is no excuses such as you have to work or it is for family only. If your family day on Saturdays, CVD makes a great event for your kids to come. There are events targeting children and teenagers. If you are lazy to wake up from a long week at work, that’s what the 5pm end-time is for. If you stay in the east side of Singapore, that is what the 5pm is for too.

This is for a good cause. Proceeds from this year’s CVD will go to Singapore Disability Sports Council. In addition, to reflect Singapore as the host city for the inaugural Youth Olympics Games, CVD ’s theme is “Fiesta de Olympic Agones” (Fiesta of Olympic Games). So do expect a day filled with games and fun!

Enough said, do visit the College’s CVD page on school website or make a reminder or two at Facebook or in your calendar!

Poster Credit: Yishun Junior College