Wow...

I am back, completed all the items of last week, it was like an impossible tasks back then. The dissertation will be submitted tomorrow. I scored a "Good" for my 3 days training course which is great which means I am now a qualified interviewer. I had applied for the jobs and prospecting some new ones this Friday. My workshop went really well, achieved its objectives.

Life is full of ups and downs and it is short. Therefore carpe diem which means seize the day.

A week in Kitty Wannabe's life...

1. I am pretty proud of UND, who started to realise and talk about safety in driving. She complained about being stuck in a 1/2 jam, please think of those who are stuck for 2 hours...life is short, why stress with the traffic, and lastly "heaven can wait".
2. Got the second final draft from Mr. Z, no significant comments...means YEH YEH
3. Need to then print and bind this Thursday
4. I am suppose to apply for jobs this week, but haven't even have a proper CV
5. To complete a 3 full days training course
6. Design my workshop and training programmes
7. Conduct the 2 day workshop in Bandung
8. Fly to SG on Sunday for a meeting on Monday
9. Attend to staff performance issues

Ok, I admit I am very efficient. Well done.

A Wonderful Day

Wow, it's almost the end now, I had send the second final draft to Mr. Z for comments. If all goes well, I will print on Thursday. Apart from this, I should technically be looking for a new job later this evening. Inspite of all of this, guess what I enjoyed the most, the 17inch LCD monitor and a pair of high end cordless mouse and super high functional keyboard.

Happy Birthday to me...:-)

Being Defensive (b)

Today is the practical day at the Police Training Centre, it was at first a bright and sunny followed by a midday storm.There were 3 instructors, we particularly like one of them, Amir, he is a very dedicated, meticulous and perfectionist. After some time, we decided not to argue and just follow, because following his advice produces result and confidence on the difficult tasks. We were told he was also an Akido expert.

An Experiment conducted today...
What is there difference in stopping distance between 2 speeds, 40km and 80 km/hr? The car used was a Vios driven by a professional.

Answer
Speed and stopping distance
at 40km/hr = 7m
at 80km/hr = 29m
Stopping Distance = Braking Distance + Human Perception + Reaction Time

Question
How many of us drive at 40km/hr and is following somebody at a 7m distance?
How many of us have a minimum 29m difference while travelling at 80km/hr? Not in city traffic. Low chances. Everybody is at bumper to bumper. If we are tired or sleepy, or the road is slippery, the stopping distance required is bigger. I have never thought that it took so far to come to a stop
until today.

The final test

This is the final test and the most difficult task we have to do, we drive the car approaching Box A at 60km/hr, and while we are in Box A, the traffic light will flash, if green, we will stop in Box C and if red, we will stop inside Box B. Stop means complete stop within the box, not skidded. The distance between Box A and B and C is like 15m, i think.

The test is designed to test judgement ability, reaction time and control. At 60km/hr, the decision and reaction has to be made in split of a second, it was very challenging. Many of us drove to wrong boxes, or ram the cones...ha ha ha. Happy to say that yours truly did very well in this test.

Anyway, judgement ability, emergency braking, maintaining control while skidding are the end objectives, it wasn't easy because we all have fears, fear to brake, fear of skidding, panic etc. Apart from the fear, we also neeed skills, how to break and turning the wheel at fast speed, controlling the car.

The only good news is practise do make perfect.

Being Defensive

Being defensive sounds a bit negative right? Well, that is what I found totally opposite today. I am so glad, what happened today is one of the most useful thing in my life and into the future...i attended a Defensive driving (DD) course. Tomorrow will be practical session.

What is Defensive Driving?

DD = Always thinking ahead and always prepare for anything that might happen

In the simplest term, it is about acting responsibly, controlling our emotion, respecting others, have driving skills, trip management, journey management, have knowledge about how car functions and always managing risks.

Well, what the instructor did not or cannot teach us is "to have courage to intervene" to change our current pattern for safer driving.

Intervene, intervene...

More or less half a life's work

It was a difficult time last week for some, the announcement was made on Thursday and it will change the course of life of many people. Looking back, we took the news pretty well, some are optimistic, some are dissapointed and all are uncertain. It is an interesting feeling trying to detach oneself from the situation and yet is influenced by it. I use the word influence, not "affected" because the difference is obviously in one's own choice. So;

Lesson 1 = External influence is not equal to free will

I would say despite doing all the right things, some influences are beyond our control. This is sometimes how things are. I am still strong believer of the 70-30 rule, 30% is destiny, 70% is within one control. Talking about control, which "circle of influence" are we operating in? Some are more direct, some are less. The point is "within one's control" therefore implies a consious choice and effort has to be directed earlier. In this case, control could also mean risk management, better planning or/and diversification of portfolio.

Lesson 2 = The choice is in our hand

What should we conclude regarding the 30%, shall we ignore, worry or be indifference? I somewhat believe that the 30% is also a result of choices, combination of our previous choices and others. I do not believe that we can predict future destiny or the end result, since it is yet to be decided by many and over time. (I must say that there is a scientific theory that could provide some explanation on different destiny but that is subject for another time). Enough said on the 30% and do not believe what fortune tellers may tell you, if they can predict the future they would have long taken the opportunity themselves. There should be no way to short cut the system, else this system wouldn't have existed. We would all be waving our wand and have our wishes granted!

Lesson 3 = There is no shortcut

Last night, I was contemplating on (Jensen 2002) "the objective function of the corporation is long term value maximisation", yes I read these things for fun :-). The arguments are clear and logical. Anyway, I was wondering, what is the objective function of oneself? and this one needs more digesting.

If I ask Kitty, he would look at me and imply, "why you think about all these things, look at what I am doing..."

Discussing Language

Yesterday, we were discussing in a group, that poor English language skills are blocker for working across cultures and Mr. Cliche comes up with the abbreviation (TRUTH). He explains it very well, so simple yet such a challenge for many.

T=Talk
R=Read
U=Use dictionary
T=Take it down, practise using the new word
H=Hear or Listen

About 3 years ago, I met a Vietnamese colleague whose spoken English is very good and I asked if he had studied overseas, he said he hasn't stepped out of Vietnam. So I ask him, what's the secret, how did he do it? He eventually explains that he sleeps with the background "music" on. However, this "music" is actually compositions being read. I am absolutely amazed by this method as he is using the extra time (while sleeping) and is subconsiously learning the language. I haven't tried this method myself on any language and am not sure if it works for everyone.

Tonight, I have an interesting discussion with a dear old friend about learning English and Chinese. My take away is that learning a language at a much older age strongly depends on the motivation (the reasons why) and excellent execution of TRUTH.

How difficult can it be?