Diversity at work

I know everyone comes from very diverse background, culturally, economically and academically. My HR project was on diversity and the benefits of embracing it in wide open arms. Maybe I was too engrossed in promoting diversity at workplace, I myself totally believed in it. The joy of working in an environment where diversity thrives is something that I once looked forward to. With different inputs, ideas and perspectives, complimenting each other, great things are just waiting to be achieved. One small flaw in this hypothetical situation is the assumption that everyone one will contribute constructively. There just seem to be a special breed of people who just know how to make non constructive protests to stop work from being done, including endless excuses to not work, creating unnecessarily delays and making life difficult for everyone, in short kpkb. Sometimes I really wish these people will just shut up instead of opening their mouth. If I have the chance, I would make some minor amendments on my HR project and emphasize more on the word "constructive". This led me to another question, how did kpkb-ers get recruited in the first place.

Murphy's Law

Even when works of many dedicated, hardworking and really smart statisticians say that there's a really minute chance of an event happening, that event almost always happen. Or so it seems. Well, the famous murphy's law has been busted by Mythbusters, haven't it? So what makes murphy's law so endearing to most people? I see it this way:

When everything goes according to stats, you/me/everyone will most likely treat it as a normal occurrence and pay a normal amount of attention on it. After a few days, weeks, months... that occurrence will simply be eased from our memories to clear up spaces for more normal occurrences. What people usually remember, for a really long time are the anomalies. i.e. events when murphy's law strike. These are usually traumatic events like going all in with ACE pair only to be beaten by someone with 8 3 offsuit without even seeing the flop. These get ingrained in the memories and being really interesting stories, are retold, reiterated and refined many times over. After a few cycles, they become long lasting memories together with other ML events. If you live long enough, engaged in a little socialising, you should have gathered enough ML stories to share and when such stories are traded, everyone gets the illusion that ML events are occurring everywhere. When in actual fact, life is still very well predicted by simple and boring statistics.

The most superstitious people are gamblers. The very gist of gambling is the excitement of beating the odds. Luck is an over-rated factor here. If anyone can quantify luck, please contact me, I would love to meet you. So when weird events happen at a gambling table, superstitious ideas and really weird suggestions appear to be the most obvious thing to do. Some times, high stakes are even more powerful than intoxicants like alcohol. Don't you just love gambling.

Commencement

Finally a graduate! Although I don't mind a few more years of lectures and tutorials, they have to be put on hold for a while, at least. Who am I kidding right? Like I really love to attend lessons. What I actually miss is the freedom that allowed endless mahjong sessions, spontaneous suppers, drinking and talking cock sessions.

Rantings

This few weeks easily qualify as the busiest period of my entire 4 years in NUS -- which isn't what I envision my year 4 life to be. I don't know why but I am actually typing this despite the need to hand up my second draft in 6 days time, Materials homework in 5 days, and term paper in 2. Something, maybe my inner devil, is always telling me official works can wait.

Imbal photoshopping

Sheares Hall Dinner & Dance 2009 - Photoshop Timelapse Video 1 from Ervine Lin on Vimeo.


Sheares Hall Dinner & Dance 2009 - Photoshop Timelapse Video 2 from Ervine Lin on Vimeo.

Floorball

Being the last year that I get to play IHG, naturally I wanted it to be a good one. Well, it was almost good. Last year I flew off after the third match. In the first three matches, I was literally flying everywhere in the court. I picked up floorball thinking that it is a technically inclined sport that don't not have much body contact, I was so totally wrong. The rude realisation happened during IHG last year. This year I went in mentally prepared. However, being IHG, where hall pride is at stake, people tend to get carried off more easily. Obvious fouls and tackles were still committed despite repeated warnings, manhandling seemed to be the norm. So I managed to stayed on the ground for the first 4 matches and started flying only on the fifth when it seemed like I was in a match with one team trying to play floorball, the other trying to play wrestling.

With that being said, I think the most difficult role on the court in the fifth match (against raffles hall) was definitely being the referees. Numerous times, they must had been wondering if they need to go on their knees, slap the floor and count to ten. They better be paid quite a lot to go through such a traumatic experience. I admire the RH players for putting their heart and soul into the game, squeezed a win against KR with the wrestling tactics. Played really hard against all KE, EH and TH which they gathered so many fouls and send off that would have qualify them for the "smelliest" team ever in modern history. To name an example, the RH keeper hug the opponent players to prevent him for scoring (maybe the opponent was too cute for him to control his inner desire). Maybe it's not players fault, most of them seem really convinced that they did nothing wrong and even tried arguing with the referee; someone must had taught them this and it's that someone's fault. I really don't understand how can a team be happy when they know they don't deserve the result, getting a 4th placing is really unfair to the other two halls which played much better and fairer.

Being IHG and being SH, there will be supporters during games. That's something Sh do best and the convening comm should seriously give an award hall with the best supporters. Then we can definitely win something every year. Then comes the egoistic part of players. The need to impress suddenly set in when we are up against a technically less gifted team, everyone wanted to play and maybe show off too. Repeated failed solo dribbles and refusal to substitute yourself when you know you are useless on court aside, complacency creep in. From one goal up to a draw. Something seemingly impossible happened and everyone panicked. People get frustrated, dejected, demoralised, and things never really pick up from then on. That was quite a sad ending to an otherwise wonderful IHG outing.

Race of Life

When we were young

Age must be catching up with me. Suddenly, I feel really old, even though I am not even a quarter of century old. It must be the younger ones, filling the atmosphere with so much energy. Either that or it's all the reminiscences during all the drinking sessions, meetups or even random spontaneous talk cock sessions. Maybe it is the year of Bull again. 2 cycles. Many years ago, 1 cycle seem eternity. Now it just comes and goes. Or maybe, my friends are getting married; it just shows we are moving on to the next stage in life.

Then, the stupid thoughts I held when I was young came flowing back to me. There was this project in primary school where we had to research on Singapore history and make a scrape book (yes, that was in primary school). I went to the library, found a nicely illustrated book for just that, describing Singapore history. Thinking that I can't do a better job than the author (I was 10 years old then), I zapped part of the book, binded them and hand up to the teacher, thinking that I am so gonna do well since after looking glancing through my classmates' works. Then the mother of all horror struck me, my teacher told me that my work was not up the standard.... slip short.... badly done..... I went like, how an it be, mine definitely has more "stuff" than all the others. The concept of plagiarism wasn't really made clear to me. How dumb I was. Maybe I was just plain lazy. All I need to do then was rewrite everything in my ugly handwriting, editing is totally unnecessary, rearrange some of the pictures, add a cover page... then I would have done a magnificent job (by my teacher's standard). The power of packaging.

Rise of the machines

Interesting find.

WHY do human beings grow wisdom teeth? It doesn't make any sense to me and why hadn't natural selection removed it from human? They serve not much purpose in processing food with eight other molars in front of them. Even their name is oxymoronic. Having them don't make you any wiser. After plucking them out, you will most likely be stupider for 3 days. The pain, numbness, and the inability to enjoy your meals will definitely affect your intelligence, judgement and reasoning skills. Since wisdom usually accumulate with age, theoretically, elderly folks should have wisdom teeth, but the teeth don't last that long. Most would have been extracted in their teens since they have been know to cause splitting headaches and teeth misalignment. Even if they survived past the teen stage, due to their awkward position, they are most likely to decay and have to be extracted in time to come.

The one and only purpose that I see in wisdom teeth now is to support the dentistry industry. I still don't understand why it cost a few hundred bucks just to pluck one out. Multiply the price by 4 and wala, easily a thousand bucks gone to suffer in pain and agony for days or weeks. If some one actually manage to find a prevention for wisdom teeth growth, he should be awarded with a nobel prize.

Quantum of Reds and Blues

Caught Quantum of Solace aka latest 007 offering at the cinema. One of those days where you know being a student is great -- unless you are a senior citizen, you can't get a cheaper rate for movies. Quantum is really not my typical James Bond movie. He is supposed to sleep with the female lead, have lots of cool gadgets, drive a supercar load with weapons in all possible compartments and look cool and witty throughout the movie. Somehow, he behaved more like Jason Borne from the Borne trilogy, especially the Jason in Borne Supremacy. Constantly looking tired and almost always never smile. Fights and actions were leaning towards to more realistic side too, just like the Borne series. Overall, it felt more like a Borne movie than a Bond movie.

Walking back to an MRT station brought us across SMU. It was a mini adventure by itself. We being "mountain tortoise" NUS students, were in awe of all the publicity display/posters that SMU students put up. One word, rich. Either that or they have a really cheap source of printing poster on canvas sheet.

Then we come across a really interesting art display. It is part of the Singapore Biennale 08. Basically it's a pic that consists of two pics. It was late, sun was down, so I couldn't get a decent pic with the blue and red filter. So I took a pic without the filters and prayed that photoshop will work. Well, it did and the results below.

The orignal pic on the facade of Raffles City

What you are suppose to see behind the blue filter

What you are suppose to see behind the red

This was followed by a mini debate on the interpretation of its true meaning. Of course it don't really have an conclusion. It's art and we are suppose to be open to it's underlying meaning and message.

Ave Q

First time in Esplanade made me feel like a sua ku. If not for Ave Q I think this experience would have been postponed another few years.

Suakuness aside, Ave Q rocks. I never knew watching puppet have sex can be so funny. I wonder what's going though the puppeteer mind while acting out that scene. Behind all the humor is a plot that really touched on the relevant issues that people face. Unemployment, singlehood, sexual orientation, commitment... ... i.e. whatever make life suck. It also bring out some facts of life about human nature in a refreshing way; "Everyone is abit racist" and "Internet is for porn" should be included in the syllabus in school.

The complete trio

Now all three haos have the same style of display pic.

I am not sure if KH changed it intentionally but who cares?

Stability fail

Display pics

If someone had told me that from the MSN display pic (dp), one can infer the name of the owner, I would had gave them two slaps and brush them off as being nonsensical. But after a message from Tianhao, 1/3 of the odac Haos, with a dp that bears such a striking resemblance to mine, it is scary. So now, we just need to check with the last 1/3 of the Haos who is in Hongkong now, to prove this hypothesis.

Meaningless rants

The whole of September passed without a single blog post. It has only been school and hall, nothing out the blue. October came and started off with one hell of a devastating incident: Jessie caught us playing mj and confiscated a mj set. Suddenly and really drastically, every thing around me seemed to turn gray. I am not kidding on this. Only 3 days without it, half the regular mj-ers are showing signs of mj withdrawal. Till now, we are still spending every awake hour devising plans to play mj. We thought of playing it at level one so that we will be such a huge noise pollution that she will relent and let us play when and where we want it as long as we free her from the noise treatment. We also thought of using mj cards or even viwawa but there were strong objections due to the lack of "feeling". Next, we thought of organising mj outing just so that we can play mj. Too much of a logistical hassle I would say. The dumbest suggestion is playing it at $1 -$2. Then it is possible to win more than $50 to pay the fine for playing mj.

I just simply don't understand why MJ is banned and so strongly reinforced. I can understand its ban if it disturbs people, causes fights and anything that causes someone life to be worse off than without it. However, it cause any disturbance, since we play it in a sound proof room. Furthermore, from what I know, it keeps brains active and has been scientifically proven to ward of old age diseases (we are just preparing way in advance). It is a good form of socialising and identifying people's characters (wise people have said that a person's character is best judged through gambling). In the long run, mj is a no win no loss game so it is really a lesser evil than betting on soccer or even poker. Singapore is liberalising in a lot of ways, why can't they allow mj? Alternative activities like DOTA can be more time consuming and dangerous for the dynamics of a block. Flaming and quarrels in a DOTA game is so common I gave up keeping track years ago.

My 3 years old ascis shoes has its sole coming off. In came a new pair of Nike which attract a lot of negative reviews from my neighbours. I know nike shoes are not durable from my own experience but since I am using it purely for running, I hope it will last a longer than my previous pair which I wore almost every day in school. It cost a total of 112 bucks. I still feel that I am over paying for it.

F1 came and went. Lots of buzz and inconvenience. Since it is held in sg, I watched my first ever race. Overall, its boring, saving grace was all the pit stop drama and crashes. Can you imagine the whole race went without a single hitch. Every pitstop is perfect, every turn is executed nicely. No overtaking no crashes. Isn't it all the drama that attract fans? Stupid calls from referees has the same effect. Just look at the UFO goal. Although I shout referee kelongs lots of time but when the kelong is to my team or the team I am supporting benefits, I enjoy it. If everything is so perfect, top teams don't need to play with the bottom teams. On paper, and in a perfect world, they would win. We know life isn't perfect, live with it, don't be a sore loser.

SNDC 0809

My 4th and last SNDC, which also happened to be the second one that I actually get to sit down and enjoy the dinner. I must say, this year SNDC is much better than the last, in terms of organisation and execution. It would had been better if they had served us food instead of the buffet style adopted, which had been tried and tested last year. The only benefit it brought seemed to be creating a window for cam whoring and people watching. I am pleasantly surprised that everyone and a stage can be squeezed into the tiny comm hall -- we tried and failed last year. What surprised me more is the number of cultural group members in Blk C-- C can officially be know for cultural. From geyao, shacapella to band, you can find your favourite neighobours performing. But I still think last year's program and decoration is much better (hmm, I think I am being biased here).

The girls and the President

Japheth acting "innocent/cute/incredulous"

Dry swimming khakis

My date and I

Me, Ben and Sab

Venture Era (part 2)

I've found the advert that tricked me into making a wasted trip across the island!

---Starts here---
Local business firm in Singapore is now looking for personnel to work in the company. Your role will be involved in the marketing, customer service and other sector.

People that can apply : - Students
- Ns men
- Working personnel who are looking for an additional income sources.


To apply, you must be : - Singaporeans
- 18 and above

Requirement : - NO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED (duh, experienced people won't be tricked)
- Training provided

Working Hours : - Flexible
- min 2 to 3 days / week

Payout wise : Part timer avg $800 - $1200
Full timer avg $1200 - $1600

If you are keen to learn more about the scope of the role, please sms your FULL name, age this year and contact number to 96716986.

Hurry as positions are filling up fast! (this is obviously a lie)

Our coordinators will give you a call within the next 24 hours if you are being shortlisted for the interview.
---Ends here---

Note:

1. no mentioning of venture era. Try smsing them your contacts, I am positively sure they will refer themselves as VE, Not venture..

2. No mentioning of sales.

Ippt

Took my 4th IPPT since stop donning my uniform on a regular basis. One more to go before I graduate. Just like any other IPPT, I am stuck at silver. The elusive 234cm is still a few cm ahead of me. What is worrying is that my 2.4 timing is on a continuous upward trend. At this rate, I wouldn't even get silver for my next test.

Venture Era wasted my time

Feeling bored, I googled for part time jobs hoping to earn some extra bucks. Then I came across this post in a forum looking for part timers that only has to work during evenings, nights and weekends. The job scope includes helping business manager setting presentation, and some logistic assistance. Sounds good doesn't it? I sent my contact and someone called me the very next day. He mentioned the job scope once again, the name of his company conveniently shortened to VE and described it as a "marketing company" and eventually told me to go for an interview at 3pm the next day. Although part of me felt like slacking at home, playing CS or watching a movie, I still went all the way to Eunos MRT for the interview. Upon reaching, I received more information from a girl/lady with problem pronouncing "o" (I suppose she has a short tongue or something) on how to get to their office. Why couldn't these dumbos just let me know the exact address so I could save some walking distance. It's not that far but enough to make me perspire under the hot and humid weather of Singapore. Finally arrive at MDIS building, where their "offices" are located, the first thing that greeted me was a signboard, Venture Era Pte Ltd. There were chairs and tables, teenagers dressed up in suits and ties, trying to act professional and plenty of "healthcare" products being on display. If you are like me, who had attended one too many MLM presentation, you should know by now, VE is a MLM company. At that point of time, I was cursing and swearing at them, using such underhand methods to attact young and innocent students to attend their interviews. However, I didn't leave, hoping that they were really hiring temps to help them out with logistic and presentation to lure other people to join them. I had already spent 1 hr traveling there, what's 10 min more to hear what they had to say. Then this young girl with an really old fashion specs, wearing dress that is too mature for her age came.

Ugly specs: (feeble attempts to start some small talk) ....... have you heard of netw_rk marketing
Me: yup, been to one MLM presentation before
Ugly specs: oh, Venture Era (note, it's not VE anymore) is different, it's netw_rk marketing... (went on to explain the difference)
Me: so you want me to join as a member of VE to promote your items?
Ugly: yar

TMD, I haven't really use vulgarity on my blog because I am trying not to be vulgar in cyberspace. This CB company actually made me travel all the way there using deceit. I maintained my composure and told her, let's not waste each other's time. She even suggested a way for me to save some traveling time home. Being me, I said thanks. Being a pissed off me, I added with a smile, "Well, if you had told me that it's a network marketing company in the first place, you could have saved me hours".

It made sense now that they didn't told me the exact address, worrying that I may find out about its identity before reaching there. It also make sense that they use VE since Venture Era is quite infamous for being an MLM (being around for 7 years get you some reputation, albeit negative). What doesn't make sense is why students, the future of our nation, products of on of the supposedly world best education system, actually fall victim to MLM. Who in the right frame of mind would think that Magnetic pillows, overpriced air cleaners and vitamin pills with calciums (without any scientific evidents to substantiate its claims) would be a great hit with the mass market? Young and navive students, thinking that MLM is the way to get rich, do.