love, life, school and coffee.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Parody of Sorts

KFC Surf and Turf Meal
Barber: The usual?
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Mamak shop owner: The usual?
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Guy with funny hair: The usual, please.
KFC counter girl: Si Mi usual? KFC is only sell chicken one! You want 2 piece or 3 piece?

Ask James
Tai tai 1: Eh, I saw Mdm Tan drive in a new Honda Jeeveek. Her husband not reech, so how she afford one?
Tai tai 2: Don't ask me, Ask James
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Kroo 1: Eh, what's going to happen during CCA day?
Kroo 2: Where the hell are banners going to be hung?
Kroo 3: Eh, which photoboards are we going to display? Display by team, or mix n match?
Kroo 4: How much space are we allowed to use? How much space can we actually use?
Kroo 5: Freaking hell, don't ask me. Ask James la, dammit!

Monday, August 27, 2007

Management School

You'd think that being in a management school trains the "bright young minds" of our nation to be good businessmen. You'd think that with our "broad-based curriculum", us students will be able to tackle the hijinks of the workplace. If that's the case, we're in a very sorry state. I present to you exhibits A and B.

Exhibit A
Before the summer holidays, I had arranged a meeting with this person to discuss the handing over of an activity. Unfortunately, it was very close to the exams, so we put it off till the summer holidays. However, he got an internship at Thailand (Ny's motherland), so we had to put it off once again.

Before school started, I emailed him to pin down a date we could meet up. There was no reply. At least not until school started, when he asked if I'd be free later that day, and that he'd call me.

He didn't respond to my reply that I'll be available after lunch. No email, no calls. He didn't even reply to my SMS providing him my location if he wanted to look for me. When I got tired of waiting for him, I went home, only to see his reply at 11pm saying that he had lessons on from 12pm onwards. You'd expect that he'd have replied with that fact earlier.

The events panned out in an eerily similar fashion the next day. He told me that he'd call, but never got down to doing so. I stayed back in school another day for no apparent reason.

This is a management school we're in. They teach you things like crafting emails to request and reject clients. They teach you how to dress to impress, how to ace that interview and how to give suave and slick presentations. If they expect us to go through so much trouble for our clients, we should also treat our peers and colleagues with some amount of respect right? Who likes working with someone who doesn't keep to a promised call, someone who can't even shoot off a quick email reply that he'd be busy that day so we'd have to reschedule. He isn't the only busy person around.

Exhibit B
I worked with this person to claim money from his CCA. His club sent people down for our event to have some fun. However, their members weren't willing to pay entry fees and we made an arrangement with their club president to buy tickets on credit. I had to collect the accounts receivable from him as he's the club's financial controller.

I passed him the receipts for the tickets to expedite the admin he needed to do on his side. When doing so, I also told him which receipts were for amounts already paid, and which were for amounts that I need him to pay me.

He didn't take note of all that. About a month later, he sent an email asking me how much exactly his club owes our club. "Hey, was it $60 I'll need to claim for you guys?" As I had mentioned so many times previously in my emails to him, his club was in $102 of debt to us. Did he bother checking those emails out? Apparently not. But never mind, I replied him once again with a breakdown of how his club owes us $102.

Two weeks later, I received a cheque from him for - wait for it - $60. Okay, I'm still calm, so I ask him, "So when can I expect the rest of it? 42 dollars?" I even helpfully attached the email reply I mentioned above. He still had the cheek to reply "Huh? We owe you more than that? Where does the $42 come from?"

We're taught to be businessmen. And in businesses, money is everything. You think your suppliers will be patient with you if you keep asking them how much you owe them? You think they'll be willing to work with you if you short-change them? Do you expect them to read your emails for you?

So there you go: two samples of Singapore's very bright future. -Jimmy

The SMUGS President


This is the SMUGS president. He was voted into kroo like the rest of us, and he was voted into position by the kroo.



This is our president sleeping on the floor during CCA day. We don't blame him. Sorry guy was busy running around the previous night making sure things were up to mark for SMUGS recruitment.



This is us playing a prank on our dear president. Nope, I assure you that despite what it looks, we weren't going to rape him.


Our president has a happy tummy.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Leadership?

Here's the irony: I study in a management university. (Gee, no prizes for guessing where I'm from now.) The university prides itself in moulding future leaders with its blend of broad-based learning and technical skills. They churn out "well-rounded individuals" from their conveyer belts. Our compulsory courses include "Leadership and Team-building" and "Management of People at Work". You'd think I'd know a thing of two about leadership.

Here's the irony: I don't know shit.

Some people were born knowing how to lead. (For further reading: Neil Gaiman's Sandman, Vol 8. Read the story of Prez, the kid president. Although the story brings to light the ideals of a leader, there is a dark undercurrent to it. I shan't spoil the fun.) But me, I've always been content being the executor. Someone who will do what is given to him. And given my wallflower tendencies, I'd rather keep a low profile instead of leading a charge, a bold change in any organisation. Don't expect me to be the one chastising a team-mate for lax work. I'm non-confrontational; if I can let it pass, I will.

I dunno why I ran for Kroo. Maybe Yam knocked some love potion no.9 into me. Maybe I felt I had it in me to be at the helm of SMUGS. Maybe cos I wanted a learning experience and I was quite sure I'd have friends with me in it.
But I can't lead. I hadn't considered how in gaining experience to add to my hilt, I could very well be jeopardizing my team. I hadn't considered that while I have friends running with me, they count for nothing if I can't be totally, brutally frank with them. I hadn't considered that while I may be at the helm now, someone better could have been in my place, spotting the rocks faster, steering the boat with more finesse, avoiding the huge waves to keep the boat stable.

The previous team manager passed me a book about leadership called "The 360 Degree leader". It was an inspirational read; one can be a leader no matter what position he's in within the organisation. Early on in my term, I decided that I'd lack the charisma to lead like Er Jun when the took D2D. He was the kind of leader you'd listen to, the kind that makes you hang on to his every word to do up his requests to the best of your abilities. I took on a more sublime take on leading my team. I don't order; I request and suggest. I'd like to believe that my team does things not because I'm telling them to do it but doing it as a favour.
It fit my style. But it has shortcomings. You end up spending a lot of time on the ground, and you find that you can't push things at a more strategic level. I've put off driving an aggressive marketing campaign like my predecessor did. I've held back on introducing new initiatives, cos I've enough on hand as it is.
And when things like this happen, you begin to wonder: did they make the right choice voting you into office and giving you this power to be the leader? What makes a good leader in the first place? Do I count as a good leader? I mean, you're looking at the guy who has not transferred out cable-ski to the Wakeboarders.

I think a leader is someone who gets things done and does it with his team. D adds that he must also do it efficiently, and his team must do it to his specifications. Well, I've tried telling my team to do things to my specification during the recent SMUGS camp. It felt like I was being the "bad cop". That i'm anal, uptight and by-the-book. It doesn't help when your fellow leader gives the impression of nonchalence. It also doesn't help when you use your initiative to get things done, but you fail to get recognision from fellow leaders, but you end up irking your charges for making them pull extra duty.

After one term as a "leader" and 2 years in a management school, I still know nuts about being one. One day down the road, I might blog again ranting about how I still have no idea how to lead. I should be better off as a wallflower. -Jimmy

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Another Birthday

Since my parents stopped buying me presents, birthdays have had very little significance for me. I mean, it’s just a date when I officially add one year to my age. Nowadays, I don’t even care what date it is, I take my age based on the year, as if my birthday is the first of January (yes, old age does that to you).

I know some friends who will fuss over their birthday and make it known to the whole world. They build up their excitement in the days before their birthday comes, they plan out what they want to do on that special day and they are absolutely beaming when people remember to wish them happy birthday.
I prefer to keep a low profile. The less people remember about my birthday, the less they’ll make a fuss. And the less they make a fuss, the better.

Firstly, I don’t fuss over someone else’s birthday. If I happen to remember it, then I’ll send an SMS. If I don’t remember it, forgive me, ok? Since you can’t expect me to remember and fuss over your birthday, I don’t expect you to do the same for me.
Secondly, even if someone fusses over my birthday, my social ineptness guarantees that you’ll be disappointed at my response. I won’t be all excited, and jumping up and down saying, “Wow! You guys remembered! I’m so surprised! This is my bestest birthday ever!”
It’s more like, “Oh, gee. Thanks.”
Better that people don’t remember it, so people won’t fuss, so I won’t have to feel uncomfortable that I actually mean something to them.

My 23rd birthday came along recently. I knew the Kroo will find a way to celebrate it like they do for every other member of the Kroo. But that’s about all I expected, which is fine, cos I could rehearse my surprise and “oh, gee. Thanks.” And I hoped everyone else forgot.

But they didn’t. Tf managed to get a muffin during her lunch break, gather all the interns at the fish tank, and get Pi to trick me into going there. (Sorry, Tf, but the muffin really was gelat.) I had no idea to respond to that. The nice perm staff sitting around me got wind of my birthday, and they bought a slice of cake, a card and a 4D ticket with my birthdate, all during office hours, and all co-ordinated without me knowing. (The numbers didn’t strike. I do not have a lucky birthdate.) The Kroo snuck a cake into the dance concert we were watching, and tricked me into going out to blow out the candle that was on it. (I’m starting to believe I get tricked easily. The next thing you know, you’ll prolly hear me ranting about some salesmen selling me valuable “healing stones”.)

Then there were the nice SMS and emails that I got from Mr. President, Bene, Lt Goh, Fenny, H’s wifey and L. (Although L was one day late. But I didn’t mind. The less people know about my bday, the better.)

For all the people who bothered, thanks. For those who didn’t know, it’s fine really. I can’t guarantee I’ll remember your bday. When 1st Jan rolls along next year, I’ll be 24. -Jimmy

Short Story Project - 2 Aug 07

“My racing heart can’t explain,
How a girl like you so plain,
Can bring me such joy,
When you your giggle employ.”

“So?” Sam raised his eyebrows expectantly.
“So what?” Elijah looked bored. He was slouched on the couch; the newspaper he was reading was crumpled in a haphazard pile over his nearly horizontal belly. At least he had the decency to remove his music player’s earpieces, which were still blasting out music so loud Sam could hear it from where he was standing.
Sam waved the stack of papers with all his scribbling in front of Elijah. Despite his seemingly lazy vibe, Sam noticed that his good friend’s eyes were still sharp. I bet he’s calculating a firing solution on one letter on this piece of paper.
“So?”

“You’re turning into mush over a girl, Sam.” Elijah answered simply.
Bang. That firing solution was dead on.
“And rhyming poems are so… Never mind. Look, I don’t mean to be mean, but besides suddenly realizing that having a member of the fairer sex can make doing the most mundane things fun, besides finding out that you converse over very different things as compared with conversations with me, what else is there to it? If you’re asking her into a relationship, what is there in it?

“Think about it, if there is nothing else special about it, what difference is there between a girlfriend, and a girl friend? Think about those stories you hear about people who go on rebounds, breaking up and finding a new girl shortly after. Do you seriously think that they have something special? That ‘snap!’, and ‘hey presto!’, new girlfriend? Are you itching to be in this relationship just so that you can be in one?”

Sam twitched. Elijah plugged his earpieces into his ears again. I don’t know, El. I just don’t know. -Jimmy